[RPG]: Starblazer Adventures, reviewed by Mike Fischer (5/5)

[RPGnet Reviews]

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14289.phtml

Mike Fischer's Summary:

Well written and comprehensive, ideal for beginners as well as advanced players.

Go to the full review for more information.

[the_green_man]

Originally Posted by Mike Fischer

In addition it may be the best introduction game I’ve run into so far (with the possible exception of Zorcerer of Zo, ironically another FATE product).

Zorcerer of Zo is a PDQ game, not FATE. The people at Atomic Sock Monkey Press and Evil Hat do seem to be close though.

And as a pet peeve of mine, I don't think "irony" means what you think it means. I blame Alanis Morissette. In fact, it would be quite appropriate if both games had used FATE.

[smascrns]

623 pages!?!?!?

I'm sorry but you didn't provide the smallest glimpse of what can be contained in - let me breath - 6 hundred and thirty two pages. Yes, the game is about sci-fi. Yes, the game is based on Fate. It could be 32 two pages as well and still be about sci-fi and based on Fate. What's there in the other 600 pages that justifies interest?

[Mike Fischer]

Green man- The "ironic" comment being a holdover from my blog post. I had reviewed Zo previously and recommended it as a beginner's game (as well as an excellent game in it's own right of course). I thought it ironic that the two games I had liked out of a number of reviews had similar systems. But that's a lesson for me in doing better editing when transferring text between forums!

Smascrns- sorry you felt the review was lacking in specifics as to what the game contains. I meant to convey that the rules are quite comprehensive, include chapters on a variety of science fiction elements, and have a great deal of inspiring illustrations and helpful explanations. Clearly I failed to do that in your case but I hope that doesn't stop you from considering the rules as a science fiction option- I had no hand in writing them so they're quite a bit more clear!

[iago]

Point of order -- Zorcerer of Zo is based on the PDQ system, not on Fate at all.

[R00kie]

Am I to understand you got a real physical copy of Starblazer adventures to review? What was the print quality like? How is the binding? Does it look like it will hold together? How much does it weigh? (600 page Hardbacks tend to be rather heavy to carry around)

I know Chris Birch said it would only be a couple of weeks before the Pre-orders shipped, and he said this a couple of weeks ago, but I must admit I took this with a pinch of salt. I was actually expecting mine about the same day as the Dresden Files RPG

Starblazer Adventures is an incredible product - or at least the pdf is. I'm dying to know what its actually going to be like in print. I would probably rate Spirit of the Century as a better beginners game though.

[wraithform]

Say, did anyone mention that Zorcerer of Zo is based on the PDQ system, not on Fate?

Kidding, kidding.

I, for one, enjoyed your review. I admit I have most of the same questions about the print product that R00kie has (quality of binding, etc.).

600+ pages is a lot, but you need to consider that a) there are a crap-ton of B&W illustrations throughout the book, some which take up more space than the rules on that page, including approx. 8 - 10 pages of the Starblazer comic book and full-page illustrations for each chapter break; b) there are 32 chapters, not including the appendices...THIRTY-TWO!!! of them; and c) there are roughly 8 - 10 pages of comic book reviews/summaries in the appendix. I used Acrobat to edit down the PDF and it only brought it down to a 575 page, 49.5 MB file!

The book (dead tree version) has just moved from my "maybe" RPG queue to a "must have" queue.

[Mike Fischer]

I did not get a physical copy of SBA. It's my hope that the binding and quality will be high and based on Cubicle 7's Qin I think there's good reason to be optimistic.

Wraithform does sum up what my review may have neglected. There are a lot of chapters and a lot of illustrations in this book. Full starship rules, world settings, robots, space monsters. The comprehensive quality of the rules is just impressive.

In addition I may have failed to make clear just how much work the authors spent explaining and illustrating rules and story mechanisms. That's one quality that makes SBA seem like a great beginner's game- both in the sense of beginning players and beginning GMs. There's lots of room for in depth experienced play but for someone who is just starting out and unclear on concepts we take for granted this book goes the distance in explaining virtually everything. At the same time all that explaining does eat up some pages...

That being said it's not the Only beginner's game out there and I wouldn't try and say which is the best. It is an option that I would put on anyone's short list tho.

M.

[mannydipresso]

It's important to stress too that Chris Birch and co. wanted to pack this book with a lot of stuff so that it could be a stand-alone game. In other words, the 632 pages represent an effort by the company to give players everything they need to run the game. Although they have other stuff in the pipeline, you won't need to rush out and purchase it (though it will be cool material, no doubt)--you can run the game with just the one book.

Second, the price point on this monster book makes it an exceptional value for its size.

And finally, you don't have to absorb all 632 pages in order to run the game! A number of the chapters are there simply to provide support if you need it. You may never need to consult some of the chapters. On the other hand, if your players want to play aliens or mutants, there is a chapter available that gives you everything you'll need to make that happen.

Frankly, Chris and co. have made a fantastic game, with lots of great tweeks on FATE. Building ships as characters (complete with Aspects) is just some of the goodness you'll find inside. Fred Hicks is to be commended too on his superb layout work on this baby.

I'm eager to hold my pre-order in my hands. Not much of a wait now!

Cheers,

Eric

[wheloc]

Originally Posted by the_green_man

Zorcerer of Zo
And as a pet peeve of mine, I don't think "irony" means what you think it means. I blame Alanis Morissette. In fact, it would be quite appropriate if both games had used FATE.

Do you know what is ironic? Entitling a song "Ironic" and then not actually singing about anything ironic. Morissette has transcended to a state where she's either a genius or an idiot; she's abandoned the middle ground.

Back to the review at hand, so the game is based on a comic? Is the comic any good? What's it about? ...and it doesn't have anything to do with "Space Battleship Yamato", right?