[RPG]: Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles Role-Playing Game, reviewed by Mark Hall (4/4)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13715.phtml

Mark Hall's Summary:

A good source for Robotech games, using Palladium's system.

Go to the full review for more information.

[cj.23]

I must say I thought the price was rather good - I may have to pick up a copy, as while I have no idea what Robotech is or the Palladium system is like, having read your review it sounds fun and even at my level of penury rather affordable!

Thanks for the review
cj x

[SurfingOnSineWaves]

330 pages for under $20? That's absurdly well priced. It could be... uhm, something terrible and I'd probably buy it. And I HATE giant fighting robots!

[Charles Gray]

Originally Posted by SurfingOnSineWaves

330 pages for under $20? That's absurdly well priced. It could be... uhm, something terrible and I'd probably buy it. And I HATE giant fighting robots!

I will give palladium that-- they are consistantly the cheapest per/word product on teh market, which I consider a very good thing. Snark aside, and I know it sells better for some, but I wish some other companies would focus more on keeping the costs down as opposed to glossy paper and such. (Very much a personal liking, OTH). Palladium I think has had the lowest "price creep" of any other company, with thier books still very close to what I paid for them in the 1990's.

[Jmacq1]

Originally Posted by Mark Hall

The confusion with the Marines is further enhanced by two notes on page 94. The first, before the progression of ranks, says that “The highest ranking Marine officer is the Commandant, a position which is not currently filled.” The second note, after the progression of ranks, says “However, Lieutenant General Reinhardt, as the highest ranking general officer, also holds the title of Commandant and answers only to the UEEF Admiralty.” Which is it? These are separated by less than a page.

Yeah, it's not written very clearly, but I think it's basically saying that Lieutenant General Reinhardt is the "acting" Commandant for the time being. It's not an uncommon practice in the military to temporarily fill a vacant post with an officer that's technically lower-ranking than the post would usually require. Sometimes it's just pending that particular officer's promotion, or sometimes it's just so that the job is still getting done until the next guy shows up.

Basically "General" (0-9) is a rank, and apparently there's only one "slot" for it in the UEEF Marines, which presently is not filled. "Commandant" is a title, and while normally it would be assumed by the sole General of the UEEF Marines, it falls to the next highest-ranking officer if there's no General present. In this case Lieutenant General Reinhardt.

[tldenmark]

I do love Palladium books, they are so meaty and fun and filled with good ideas, but the Palladium system needs the next gen treatment.

In the same way D&D was updated in 3.0, Kevin needs to find a Jonathan Tweet level designer to bring Palladium into the 21st century. The danger is in avoiding what befell GURPS 4.0

[Dosoga]

Originally Posted by tldenmark

The danger is in avoiding what befell GURPS 4.0

I thought GURPS 4.0 was a fantastic update to a great concept. I know this is out-of-thread, but what "befell" GURPS in your opinion?

[Josh Crowe]

I normally lurk these forums but upon seeing this review I had to come in and call shenanigans.

Do not commit any money on this book until you give it a solid once over for yourself.

I have purchased at least 50 Rpg books in the past year and this was the only one that flat out disappointed me.

Honestly, praising this book seems ludicrous. I could see a rationalization like "despite the books low quality it is a good purchase because..."

So maybe you will want to get this book, but it is not a 4/4. Mark meant well but he may have overstated his cause.

[Jmacq1]

Originally Posted by tldenmark

I do love Palladium books, they are so meaty and fun and filled with good ideas, but the Palladium system needs the next gen treatment.

In the same way D&D was updated in 3.0, Kevin needs to find a Jonathan Tweet level designer to bring Palladium into the 21st century. The danger is in avoiding what befell GURPS 4.0

I dunno anything about GURPS, as I've never played it, but revamping the Palladium System, while probably long overdue, is equally likely to never happen.

Quite frankly, I don't think Palladium has the resources or manpower to do a ground-up reboot of their system, and Kevin Siembieda isn't likely to let someone else write his in-house rules system. Plus, with Palladium's usual scheduling/deadline problems, it'd take them another 25-30 years to revamp and re-release all their in-house RPGs to reflect the new system.

I think Palladium just accepts that they have their loyal audience, and is content with relatively minimal growth. It's a playable, if flawed system (and it has been "tweaked" quite a bit over the years, though the basic mechanics remain the same), and people still seem to have fun with it despite those flaws.

[Nilus]

Originally Posted by SurfingOnSineWaves

330 pages for under $20? That's absurdly well priced. It could be... uhm, something terrible and I'd probably buy it. And I HATE giant fighting robots!

Well its simple. Printing it Manga style translates to small little book(less paper = less money). Printing in black and white helps. Add in the fact that Palladium recycles so much art and you can see where they can keep costs down.

Sure other game companies books are costing more and more. But they are inovating things. I can't remember the last time Wizards has recycled a piece of art work more then once. Most of the big companies are printing in full color, glossy page and hard cover.