A Review of Starblazer Adventures: The Rock and Roll Space Opera Adventure Game
First thing, this has nothing to do with the japanese cartoon.
Now, I like D&D quite a bit, especially 4th edition, but I have the attention span of a cocker spaniel that eats lead, so I like to collect and read (and occasionally play) other games as well. This latest is "Starblazer Adventures", a game I could have totally been in the playtest for but chose not to, not realizing at the time how cool it was. Oh well.
Starblazer Adventures (or SbA) is inspired by the 1980s comic series of the same name, an anthology of action-packed science-fiction featuring a complete story in each issue, but without a single setting, per se. So it's kind of weird that this is a licensed product, though I guess it does try to quantify most of the history, culture, races and technology found in the series.
The physical book is an impressive phonebook of a thing, hard bound and running over 600 pages. The cover is very nice and eyecatching, and the inside is filled with black and white art from the comics. It's a little cheesy at times, but come on, it's from an 80's comic. What do you expect?
The system uses a variation of the FATE 3.0 system as popularized by Spirit of the Century, but instead of using a handful of "fudge" dice, it simply uses 2d6, one subtracted from the other and added to a skill modifier (like in the old game "Feng Shui"). If you beat the target number (or opposing roll), you win! That's pretty simple, but there's more, and this is where FATE shines. Each character has a list of descriptive "Aspects" and a pool of "Fate" points. For the cost of a Fate point, you can call upon any Aspect (yours, an enemy's, the environment's, etc) that seems reasonable, explain how it helps, and then either reroll or take +2 to the roll. It's a way of letting your character's "fluff" effect the mechanics. How do you get Fate back? Well it refreshes partially with every new session, but you can also earn it if your Aspect gets you into trouble. The GM might say, "Hey, that guy just insulted your mother. It's obviously an attempt to bait you, but it says right there that you're a "Hot Head", so I'm offering you a Fate point to do something about it." At this point, you can take the points and do something "Hot Headed" (you get to decide what that is, exactly) or you can pay a Fate point to keep your cool. It really sets up interesting situations and allows for creativity in conflicts.
Characters also have skills, a few strong ones and many weaker ones, and "Stunts", which are special abilities that break the rules in some way. Think "feats" from D&D.
What about combat? When conflicts get drawn out, like in combat, that's when the characters' "Stress Tracks" come into play. You've got a short track for physical damage and another for emotional damage. When you get hit in a fight, you mark off the box that matches what your opponent rolled, or the next highest if it's already full. If the damage goes off the end of the track, the opponenent gets to decide what awful thing happens to you. You can keep this from happening by taking "Consequences". These are long-term injuries reflected as Aspects like, "bad limp" or "sucking chest wound". A Consequence soaks some of the damage you would have taken on the track, but now your opponent is free to use your injuries against you. If things look grim, you might want to just give up for your character. This way, you can say how your character gets taken out instead of leaving yourself to your foe's whim. Social conflicts work the same way, only it uses the emotional track and there's less running around and shooting.
The game handles crazy combat (or social) maneuvers with "Maneuvers", which are actions that place temporary Aspects on a target. If you trip a guy successfully, he might get the Aspect, "Prone" which can be used against him just like any other Apsect, ecxept that the first time it's free!
Movement in a fight is through "zones" on a map. This isn't a grid, but more of a loose collection of shapes, sort of like the old "Marvel Super Heroes" game maps, only usually with larger zones and more meaningful placement and not just a random jigsaw assortment.
And that's FATE 3.0 in a nutshell.
The rest of the book covers all kinds of great things and is very thorough, with lots of examples. Yes, it's a big book, but you don't need to use all of it all of the time. If you aren't using psychic powers right now, then you can ignore that section, for example. There are rules (and chapters) for Equipment & Gadgets, Character Advancement, Alien Races & Mutations, Star Monsters & War Machines, Star Empires and Battle Fleets, Starship Creation and more.
Some clever highlights from the game:
The character generation system creates characters with shared backgrounds so you don't have to worry about why they'd hang out together.
Skill "trappings", special tricks that skilled characters can perform, like the Burglary skill covers casing, infiltratin, locks and security.
Rules for mionions and companion characters.
Rules for creating playable organizations with thier own stats and aspects.
Starship creation and starship combat.
Random character, adventure and planet generators.
Characters don't keep bags of credits under their mattress. A "Resources" skill reflects thier relative solvency and credit rating.
Easy to use "gadget" rules (because sci-fi loves the crazy techno-doodads).
The "Aspect" system lets the GM know what kinds of things you're interested in having happen to your character.
The combat system means that death is only really a concern if you want it to be.
The "Plot Stress" track option helps pace the story based on the characters' actions.
The "social" combat rules allow you to add structure and consequence to social interactions when plain roleplaying isn't getting anywhere.
LOTS of useful tools for the GM including the "Adventure Funnel", a neat trick for brainstorming adventure ideas.
Pages and pages of great GM advice.
I ran a one-shot game of Starblazer Adventures set in the "Fading Suns" universe and we had a pretty good time as I recall. I really should play this again sometime.
Overall, a great book for the price ($34.99). If you prefer a game with more setting, they've come out with an action-packed transhuman setting called "Mindjammer". I'll be covering that, too, as soon as I get it.