The introduction to Imperium Chronicles is simple and straightforward, but sets up the game perfectly:

"WHAT IS THE IMPERIUM?

The Imperium is an interstellar empire founded by five powerful families of royal blood. For 700 years the empire has flourished, even in the face of outside foes and rebellions from within. As a player, you take on the role of a character in this sci-fi universe as you search for adventures of your own."

Using his own universe which he has written fiction for, Mitchell's Imperium has a fairly detailed history that is outlined in this book. You get just enough material for the GM to work with without turning the game into a huge minutiae-fest (although I'm sure there's potential for dozens of expansion and fluff books with this game). I'd say the overall flavor of Imperium Chronicles seems to rest somewhere between Star Wars and Traveller (which I've still never gotten to actually play), with maybe just a hint of the original Battlestar Gallactica thrown in for good measure. This doesn't mean the game is a complete rip-off of anything in particular, but it does borrow some of the key elements from the space opera genre. If there's a complaint to be found here, it's that the setting is ever so slightly vanilla. In the grand scheme of things, I suppose the author is still developing his world and giving it a sense of identity, but I couldn't help but feel that certain elements were just a tad generic.

There are seven major races to play as: the ever-present Humans, reptilian Draconians, the slender and erudite Dahl, the canine-like Vogar, the warlike Magna (who look like big, green demons), feline Akiak, and the stocky, ugly Gordians, who fulfill a role similar to Orks in many other role-playing games. Interestingly, there is no class system in this game. A player simply selects the race they wish to play and is assigned a default set of ability scores (here we have Strength, Stamina, Dexterity, Intelligence, Charisma, and Psionics). I'm personally of two minds about this. I don't mind about having a classless system, but I'm not all that keen on default stats for each race, as this can limit the 'uniqueness' of characters (you get a small pool of points to raise whichever stats you wish as you're creating the character, but I feel like the author should have just inserted a complete point-buy system into the game instead).

That said, there is a very detailed skills and abilities section which indeed allows you to tailor your character as you see fit. You can easily groom your character to be a crafty merchant, a slick diplomat, a cunning rogue, a savvy tech-expert, a calm under pressure starship pilot, a jack-of-all-trades, or just a good old fashioned ass kicking mercenary. Again, I'm personally not the biggest fan of skills and abilities systems, but my grumpy, old-school personal preferences aside, Imperium Chronicles has a nice selection of skills to choose from without going completely overboard with an overwhelming or unnecessary number of choices.

I believe this game could attract some combat-junkies towards it, as the section on weapons and armor is quite intensive, and the actual combat chapter itself is long and involved. First of all, weapon selection is very good, you've got weapons that seem like anachronisms in a futuristic sci-fi world, like battle-axes and daggers (even the 9mm pistol seems ancient in this setting), mixed in with the blaster rifles and disruptor pistols one would expect of a high-tech galaxy (The coolest weapon in the game? The chainsword -- it's a sword, but it's a chainsaw too... br00tal.). Also included here are a number of vehicles, gadgets, nano upgrades, and gasp drugs for your characters to exploit in order to leave their enemies lying in a heap.

I don't envy anyone trying to mastermind a combat system in a sci-fi RPG. You've got so many different scenarios to think about: melee, gun fights, ship-to-ship combat, underwater battles, tanks blasting the hell out of one another... However, while the combat system has quite a lot to digest, it still appears to be efficient enough to hopefully finish a battle in a respectable amount of time (I say hopefully because I've not play-tested this game at all, this is merely a guess). Then again, Imperium Chronicles also seems well-suited to some long, epic fights. Judging by the first two add-ons released for this game, a set of cardboard miniatures and a set of paper walls and floors, the game definitely has a bent towards those who like to play with minis and stage huge combat sequences.

There is a bestiary in the rule book, which surprised me a little. I apparently forgot that other games besides D&D actually put their monsters in the main rule book instead of a separate, wallet-draining book. There's some sweet beasties and robot type creatures to battle, but the finest specimen is the Tubby Wubbie, a moment of golden comedy that comes out of left-field in this mostly serious rule book. The author explains it best...

"Tubby Wubbies are the result of toy marketing and biogenetics gone horribly wrong. In an effort to create the perfect holiday gift, a toy company turned to genetic engineering to build a living, breathing teddy bear. Due to corporate shortsightedness and a desire to save money, the company used a subcontractor to design the brain for the Tubby Wubbies. The end result was a cute and lovable toy that began exhibiting psychopathic tendancies shortly after going to market."

Included with the entry is a picture of a cutesy panda and grizzly bear, which reminds me of Kuma and Panda from the Tekken series of fighting games. Very funny. Perhaps the Tubby Wubbies could become to Imperium Chronicles what the spidergoat has become to Mutant Future, a silly yet iconic monster representing the game.

Speaking of pictures, and aesthetics in general, the Imperium Chronicles rule book is laid out in a very neat, easy-to-read manner. Any charts or tables are colored and easy on the eye, and the cartography towards the later half of the book is excellent. However, the art is all computer-generated, and while it indeed looks proficient for CG pieces, some hand drawn illustrations would really help this game come to life. As it stands, the CG art looks very... well, artificial. Of course, this game seems like it was for the most part a one man operation, so I can understand if the art wasn't one of the top concerns. Still, something to think about for any future editions of the book (Might I suggest ATOM for the job?). There were a few spelling and grammatical errors that slipped through ("Climbing a shear wall", etc), but overall the editor seems to have gotten everything in order.

Honestly, if I played this game, I wouldn't know where to start, as the scope is quite enormous. There is a section towards the end of the book that gives GMs a few adventure ideas and hooks to focus on, which seems an inspired decision given the vast sandbox galaxy you've got to work with here. I particularly like the plot that asks players to locate an aging, bloated rock star who's gone on the run within 48 hours. For some reason, I'm imagining Disaster Area's Hotblack Desiato from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in this scenario.

So, maybe it's not exactly my cup of coffee, but I think some of the hardcore sci-fi geeks looking for a new fix will get on board with this game, in addition to those who simply like to show support for independent RPGs.

• Summary

I believe that the ruleset of Imperium Chronicles shows promise, but the setting, while workable, is sub-par compared to the standard Traveller setting, the main competitor and inspiration of this RPG. I admit, the comparison is unfair – Traveller has been under constant development for decades now, with multiple rulesets to suit your taste – but it’s exactly the comparison most interested buyers will make.

• Provincialism

The setting is a transplant of the late medieval/absolute monarchical Europe of the 1400s - 1700s to space. Fair enough. However, the claim that the Imperium = humanity is risible. There is no way that the Indians, Chinese, Arabs, or Africans are going to live in a single human empire without reshaping it their way. As there is no evidence of their political philosophies or cultures in the Imperium as described, they are either simply absent or make up a tiny and/or unimportant minority of the human population (cough).

Even Second Edition D&D got past such provincialism, back in the 1990s!

I have no particular gripe regarding Medieval Europe in Space! as a RPG setting, but I do dislike treating 9/10ths of humanity as nonexistent. To make the Imperium Chronicles setting more plausible, I suggest that the history be slightly rewritten, with the Imperial stars initially settled by politically romantic humans of European extraction who wished to recreate a medieval era without a medieval church. Perhaps they were fleeing a politically correct regime, or squeezed out by a Chinese or Indian hegemony. At least some nod to reality would be appreciated.

For the science fiction fan, I should note that this version of Medieval Europe in Space! has no Universal Church: the presuppositions of the secular materialism undergird both the universe and the world of the mind. This Imperium has made many scientific discoveries - mainly to improve it's ability in war against her peer competitor, the Magna Supremacy. Despite it's Medieval European trappings, it's far closer to a secularistic, static version of Rome, Greece or Babylon than it is to Christendom.

So why the medieval pose? Most likely, due to the influence of classical D&D on the author. The 'class war' framework is also woven into the basic assumptions of the universe, and is easier illustrated in a feudal setting than elsewhere.

• That bugbear, religion

The author's phobia on religion - a venerable tradition in the sci-fi field - may originate in the fear of giving offense, or in a personal distaste for the concept. In any case, it lends an air of unreality to the universe – especially when describing the Underclass. I quote: “Disenfranchised, any of the poor have turned to organizations on the fringes of society for both money and self-worth. These include criminal syndicates and the pirate clans, as well as radical environmental groups."

The omission of religious & revolutionary ideological groups is so obvious as to be hilarious. Of course, we all know why: serious, widespread religious & ideological differences will blow up an Imperium grounded only on tradition and guns. That’s why real Empires are all grounded in a particular religion (or its imitation, political ideology.) Naturally, no Empire has ever been truly universal, ruling all humanity, as large groups people differ strongly on the One True Faith/Ideology, and are quite willing to express their differences with lethal force if pressed hard enough.

Once upon a time, sci-fi was about a realistic attempt to See the Future. Now, with The Future looking dark for the West (but great for China, India, and even Africa) it's about the bizarre attempt to recreate a comforting, blinkered version of the Past.

• Races

In contrast to the unreal political situation, the assorted player races is reasonably satisfactory, if cliché. The cat race, the elves, the reptile men, the orcs – we’ve seen them all before. Filing the serial numbers off isn’t fooling anyone, but people do like familiarity, and besides a certain boredom with the paper-thin characterizations I don’t have much against them either. I do prefer the Traveller races though - they're not that much more creative (wolf-men, cat-men, crab-men, centaurs on a vegan crusade, invisible flying monkeys, swarthy mysterious wizards (err, psions), corporate drones, and space nazis) but they do have the benefit of a long, carefully though-out history and decades of characterization & lore.

• Rules

OK, enough with the background of the Imperium Chronicle universe. Anyone with some knowledge of history – or even a consistent interest in modern politics and culture – can write up their own setting to taste. (Or just port the Traveller setting whole-hog.) I will now focus on the major contribution you bring to the table, your ruleset. Is it better than your main competition, the various Traveller rules (Classic, GURPS, Mongoose?)

Well, there are real advantages to the Imperium Chronicles ruleset. First, it obvious that most of these rules are inspired by D&D 3.5 mechanics, which is a good thing as it lowers the learning curve for most pen and paper gamers. Skills are OK, but the time penalties are too rigid, and need to be scrapped, or at least modified to fit the circumstance. The sample role modifiers for a given action is appreciated. Treating psionics as magic is an incorrect use of the sci-fi concept, but quite helpful in-play to most RPG players. The expected weapon, vehicle, and toolkit tables are present, and the cybernetic implants and combat drugs are nice to see, adding to the rather thin sci-fi feel of the same.

(When I say ‘thin sci-fi feel’, I mean that there is little science or sensawonder in the Imperium Chronicles setting, but lots of military support and a good (if incomplete) feudal/class-warfare social framework.)

The combat section and animal section hews close to the D20 standard, and is useful and reasonably realistic – which is all I ask of RPG combat. ‘Reputation’ is acceptable as a soft-skill mechanic.

• Technology

A nice, fat section of easily-built robots is nice to see – and is something notably lacking in many Traveller incarnations. (I blame the unworkable mechanics of the Classic Trav robot book [published 1986] myself.)

Starships are much more easy to build than in most Traveller rulesets, but as a consequence lack distinctiveness. It’s a trade-off that some guys will like, and others won’t, depending on their gear-head quotient. The lack of tech levels is reasonable - today, Africans peasants get the prices for their produce via cell phones, just like trader in New York do. The determining factor is money, not technology. Still, it mildly disappoints my gear-head instincts. 'What if I want to make a Saturn V rocket?'

System generation is close to the Traveller standard, with, again, the interesting exception of tech levels. There is a map of the heartland and capital world of the Imperium Chronicles as the default setting – an interesting contrast to the usual Traveller preference of working in the fringes of Imperial rule. The introductory map of the monastery is classic D&D: providing the setting and NPCs before some adventure nuggets is a workable idea, but the section isn’t organized clearly.

• Maps

Empires are based on maps, more than anything else. And this Imperium has been backed into a corner by the Magna Supremacy. Relatively few systems have changed hands, out-and-out war is rare, and the Imperium is capable of self-defense - but, besides exploring & settling isolated star clusters, there is no way for the Imperium to outflank the Magna Supremacy. Thus, there is little space exploration in this setting, but lots of potential for war. So this Imperium faces one enemy on a long front, and the void: compare this to Traveller's Third Imperium, which is surrounded by two large, organized enemies on her borders, three large, organized neutral states, one long and deep zone of chaos, and a hostile neutral which is too far away to give a proper beatdown.

There are clusters of Imperial and Magna client states, which provide variety; note that the two groups of clients are quite distant from each other.

An oddity: Provincial (NOT Subsector ) listings stress the star type, rather than the population. Frankly, traders, military men and adventurers are much more interested in population and wealth than in star types. (A consequence of removing the technology levels is that there is no way to know how wealthy a world is.)