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This review is based on the PDF version, and was purchased by myself.
About me: I really dig mecha. I have since I was a kid, and still do today. So, it should come as no surprise that I like Heavy Gear (HG), as it’s arguably the best western example of the genre. Don’t get me wrong, Battletech is good too, and but HG just feels truer to its Japanese influences. (I'm not forgetting Mekton, but it's another type of beast.) I was first introduced to HG in the pages of Mecha Press #14, so I’ve been familiar with the franchise since the beginning, even if I didn’t much keep up with it after second edition came out. I’m not new to this, and come to it with affection; maybe even some bias.
Anywho, 4th edition is an ambitious, meaty game. The PDF comes in at 483 pages, including the spine (for reasons), so it’s a big, big book. If you don’t like big, big books, then HG 4e is not for you. That said, to make the obvious joke, I like big books, and I cannot lie. The layout, for the most part, is your basic two column spread with ample art, and is pretty easy to follow. The art is mostly manga-style, but there is some western comic-style art mixed with a few more realistic pieces. It doesn’t clash too much, but I prefer the more manga-looking work over the rest, it just feels more authentic to the franchise. That said, I did notice that a lot of the art is reused art from earlier editions, the Ghislain Barbe art mostly, and the new art tends to be the more western looking art.
The system itself is a d6-based dice pool system, with variable difficulties, though 5 is the default difficulty. This is augmented various ways you’d expect it to be, including an advantage/disadvantage mechanic like D&D 5e (and every other RPG now) uses. While I haven’t brought it to the table, it does seem pretty easy to pick up, even for a novice player.
For character generation, it’s mostly point based and/or freeform. There are archetypes available for those who would feel more comfortable with more structure to their character creation, plus it introduces rank levels to character types that give one’s character a special ability. Not all archetypes use this, but it is handy. Skills and attributes have their own chapters after the archetypes chapter.
Combat, as per HG tradition, comes in two flavours: Blitz and narrative. Narrative is a much simpler, maybe too simple for some, theatre of the mind style choice over the tactical Blitz rules, named after, and based on, HG 4e’s sister game. Blitz is fairly complex, and it defaults to expecting you to be using minis and terrain. (It does touch on battlemats, but assumes you’re playing without one.) Personally, I’ve never been a real fan of HG combat since the beginning, as I’m not big on the tactical rules, and the narrative rules have never felt meaty enough. Mind you, this is just me, and not a failure of the rules, so I don’t count this against it.
There are chapters on equipment crafting, vehicle customization, and electronic warfare, but I won’t go into detail with them. Also, there are a few of chapters on player and GM tips, adventures, and teams that feature sundry rules that don’t really fit anywhere else. Rounding out the book is over 160+ pages of vehicle and critter stats which are a damned if you do/damned if you don’t inclusion. Some, like me, will like the inclusion, but others will think it’s overkill. Earlier editions featured a few Gears/Striders in the core book, with separate guides on the various nations’ vehicles, so I find that more choice in the core to be friendlier on my wallet, but your mileage may vary.
So far, I’ve been pretty positive about the book, and I do like it overall. There are, however, a handful of real problems that the book has which will polarize people.
First up, the layout of the chapters can be a little wonky. It’s not too distracting, but there are some head-scratchers, like why the Vehicle & Creatures chapter isn’t directly before the vehicle and creature stats. Some don’t like that the character creation chapter is before the rules chapter, but that’s just personal preference for the most part. Sure, there will be some flipping between chapters, like between character generation and the skills or attribute chapters, but that's par for the course in rule books.
Secondly, and more importantly, the editing is very weak. I won’t count typos and such, as they’re common across the board with modern RPGs (I've seen better reviewed games with the same amount of them), but the actual writing is the issue. The book reads like it’s written by someone who knows what they’re talking about, but has trouble articulating it, and I suspect that this is because it seems that it was edited by contributors, and not a professional editor. This isn’t like other games, where the publisher does an early PDF release so that the public can report typos and such before it goes to print, this is the book dearly needing another editorial pass to catch problems with the actual writing. The writing isn’t bad, per se, but there is a sloppiness to it, where it meanders before getting to the point, and it loses some clarity of what they’re trying to impart to the reader. That said, I didn’t find this to be a fatal problem, just an annoying one, but I understand where others might think differently.
Thirdly, there's the elephant in the room: the price. The PDF is very reasonable, and in line with other core rulebooks, but the POD is incredibly steep. If it were a premium print, with better paper and ink, I'd understand it, but this is just a standard quality print that's way more expensive than comparable books. I figure that Dream Pod 9 sees the PDF as the primary product, but it's really a shame they decided to price the print version out of the reach of many. Here's hoping they drop the price in the foreseeable future, as it deserves a wider audience to renew interest in the mostly forgotten franchise.
So, that’s my take on the Heavy Gear Fourth Edition Rulebook. There’s a potentially great game in there, but it’s just missing that greatness. I’m not particularly disappointed with it, but I am somewhat frustrated. Again, if they had that (presumably) missing editorial pass, they’d be able to shine. As it stands, there’s a decent game in there, and a great one is waiting in the wings if they revise it. I look forward to whatever comes next.
Cheers, folks.
(Addendum: So, I, uh, bought the print version, and I was pleasantly surprised. The paper quality was good, better than I was led to believe, and the print quality was sharp, though obviously not as sharp as a premium print is. I was expecting something of much lower quality, as standard quality can be hit or miss, but this time it was definitely hit.
That said, the question remains, is it worth $125 (or more)? No. No, it is not, but if you do decide to fork out the cash for print, you can at least be relieved that you're not getting a low quality book. It's not an offset print, but it's actually pretty decent, if a bit unwieldy due to size.)
(Note: This review was actually 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. I’d been flip-flopping between 4 and 4.5, but it’s been two decades since a Heavy Gear RPG has been in print, so call me nostalgic with the rating. Also, since I wasn’t a backer of the Kickstarter, I did a little research into things (as that price warranted it), and I understand that the road to publication was somewhat bumpy due to people quitting the project, so I also took that into consideration.)
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