Usually I'm a huge fan of products from The Forge Studios. The other three books in the Useful Maps series have been great. The maps in this book are still good, but the layout of this book is very poor.The maps are now much smaller, with two per page, and often two of the maps on a page are not associated with each other. This makes for a layout that is far less consistent than previous volumes, and really lowers the usefulness of this volume. If the layout were the smae as previoous volumes, it would get a 5/5.

This is an outstanding product. Every image in here is extremely well-done and of high quality. One of the best yet, far better than "Mechs and Robots" which had a more 'steampunk/fantasy' feel to them.

The SAR-78 Mining Colony is very well done, for what it is. It is not something you can just pick up and use without some improvising. However, you can easily use it with just a small amount of preparation time. It is not a set of battlemaps that you can plonk some mins down on. It is more useful than that, at least for the style of game I run. It creates a scene and setting, and can inspire an adventure (or several) just from the images.

This is the first of the Terraformer products that I've purchased. Sad to say, I likely won't purchase any more. The writing is fine, though the layout is a little cramped. Material seems to be good, but, like most of the inexpensive pproducts, images are sadly lacking. When I buy a PDF on trains, I would expect to see a picture or two of trains, aside from the front cover, perhaps even a car layout or two. Here, not so much. Something like the Shadow Rising Adventure, while only a few dollars more, is a much better value.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Well-written, good supporting material with a great deal of detail on trains in the world of Dawning Star.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Cramped layout, and the absolute lack of any pictures.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>

A good efffort, with some good example airships. Quite well-written, with only minimal typos. Suffers from a lack of any sort of illustration, but that is the norm for LPJ books. Keeps the costs down, I suppose, but I would still like to see a picture once and awhile.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Some good examples, very good layout and design.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Page after page of text unbroken by anything save sections headers and the occasional table.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

Just picked this up, and to be honest I didn't much like it. I realize that it is Pulp (or neo-Pulp, if you prefer) but the idea of herds of 70+ feet tall robots is just a bit too much. But to top it off, in the pages of the booklet, there is not a single illustration. It is only a few bucks, but at elast a couple of images in a listing of giant Pulp-era mecha isn't asking for too much, I think.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Writng was acceptable, layout was good, and it did include a great many mecha. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: As I noted above. I would have also like to have seen other mechanical constructs, like aircraft, massive juggernauts, that sort of thing.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>

As usual, this material is fantastic. Though this ship is less immediately useful to me that some of the others, it is still a very good design, and I would love to find a use for it.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Excellent artwork, and a good, solid design with excellent rationale for the design choices.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Umm, nothing. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

The Jo Lynn is a relatively small ship ideal for a small group of players. Despite the D20 stats, it seems to be ideally-suited for a Serenity game, which is how I use it. Also included is the gunship variant, with stats and eckplans, so there is a great deal of value in this product. Excellant artwork and deckplans, too.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great art, great deckplans. Very useful for a small group, and very useful as an opponet vssel for boarding actions.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing really, aside from the D20 stat, but it is a D20 product...<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Like all Future Armada products, this was very well done. My favorite was the Remora, and the Valkyr was useful as well. The last, the Mercury, rather less so, but I tend to play grittier-style games (Serenity, Traveller). All very well done, with excellant art and well-thought-out deckplans. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great art, great deckplans, all immediately useful for my next game (well, except the Mercury...) <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I don't play D20 at the moment, so the stats weren't useful, but that's a quibble. Also, the Mercury doesn't fit my style of play, but it was still well-done.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

This product was really well-written, and the station is well thought-out. I really liked the two different descriptions, one for an operable station, one for a derelict station. However, I am a very visual person, and that's where this product doesn't meet my needs. Layout-wise this is very well done. It looks very professional, and is easy to read. But there's only one image. There are no maps or diagrams. I realize that for an inexpensive product like this that there may not be a budget, but some images would have helped a great deal.

EDIT: However, on a more careful read, I've discovered that the description are good enough that you almost don't need a map. Teh only description that I found lakcing was of the staff hab module. There is no reference to size or number of rooms, though this could be extrapolated.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Very well-written, very descriptive writing.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Only one illustration. Should have at least had layouts of the habitation modules and the Vicar's.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

Just picked this up, and it looks great. A well-designed station that can serve as the backdrop, or the focus, for any campaign. I don't plan on using it with D20, but rather adapting it to my new Serenity game. The station is relatively small, but that's fine. It even includes stats/plans for the two armed skiffs, along with the station's escape pods. The station is big enough to hide in and/or have a fight, or stage a jailbreak, but small enough that it won't require a tree's worth of paper to print it out. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great artwork, great deckplans. Very well put together.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing really. The D20 stats aren't currently of any use to me, but that's just a quibble.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Another great-looking starship product from Ronin Arts. Unfortunately, it's actually too good-looking. The previous starships deckplans were much simpler in layout, with lots of white. This one has lots of color, which unfortunately ate through a great deal of toner. That aside, it's a good little book.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Good deckplans, added tiles. Added rules for non-lethal weapons and live-capture hunting. Vehicle stats (though an illo would have been nice). <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Too much toner-wasting color. That's it, really.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I first got into Lightspeed with the free Instant Lightspeed version. At first, I admit that I was put off a little by the generic quality of the setting. But it grew on me. It's extremely easy to introduce the setting to people. And it's a very wide-open setting, one that you can do anything with. Space opera, military SF, super-heroes (Psi characters), cyberpunk, and space pirates. Because it uses the Fuzion system, you can also integrate anything from any other Fuzion book out there, even magic should you desire. When I purchased the full version, I was struck by the art. the book is heavily illustrated, and very well illustrated too. The game plays well, with lots of room to do your own thing. As far as the setting goes, Star Trek vs. Star Wars pretty much sums it up, with Predators, Aliens (the scary movie kind) and a dash of Bladerunner. The only thing I have against it is one of the alien races. I really hate the Nerfel, Ewoks with guns. But that's really the only fault I can find with it, now that I've grown used to the all-inclusiveness of the system. I really like this game, and would encourage you to buy it. Thanks.

I see my orignal review somehow got deleted. Anyways. Game information appears to be solid. Illustrations (aside froma few "issues") are about average. My only issue with them is the quantity. Though descibed as extensively illustrated, there are only 24 illustrations, all of them of guns, and primarily 20th century guns. Only three advanced weapons are illustrated, and 2 of those have issues that I'm currently in discussion with the book's writer about. No other illustrations, of equipment, armor or anything else are present. Using the term "illustration" implies a graphic image, not a detailed textual description. That's my only issue with the book. the information seems solid, but I would to see more advanced weapons, and fewer 20th century guns. Images of gear and body armor would be appreciated as well. On written content alone, this books hould be at least a four, but issues with the description of the book, and the illustration issue, bring that down.

Thanks.