This is an excellent little supplement that gives new background packages and training packages for the Stars Without number.

A few of the packages reminded me of the old Traveler: Supplement 4 characters and some are straight from popular sci fi. For example a package to make mentats from the Dune books is included.

I was actually surprised that some of the packages hadn't been offered in other SWN products before too. Cyberninja and doctors are mentioned in the core SWN book but no packages existed for them until now.

The only problems and things that could be improved I could find in the PDF are these minor ones, (some of which can be easily fixed):

1.) The Free Merchant package on page 6 (7 in the PDF) is out of alphabetical order.

2.) The Pugilist on page 9 (10 in the PDF) has Artist/Martial Art as a skill. I don't follow the logic of this. Martial Arts are a Combat Specialization according to the Mandate Archive Martial Arts published by Sine Nomine for SWN.

.A Martial Artist would have been nice to include instead or in addition.

Maybe adding in a boxing Martial Art, to go with the Mandate Archive Martial Arts rules, and letting the Pugilist have access to it. would be something to add in an update.

3.) The letter first "g" in gamling needs to be capitalized in the Entertainer's skills on page 5 (6 in the PDF).

4.) The Machine Empath on page 7 (8 in the PDF) is best suited if if your using Thunderegg Production's SWN product The Machine Symbiot, but no mention of this product is given in the PDF. The new psychic powers in that product is a perfect to use with this package and I don't see getting much use out of the package unless you have that Thunderegg Productions book.

5.) One or two of the Packages was a little surprising into what class it was assigned to and what skills it got. The Cop for example is an expert yet I can see how the character could be a Warrior.

6.) As this is a character options book one thing that I also would have liked to have seen mentioned in the intro is the increasing the skills gained per level by class by 1 to bring the characters more in line with other Sine Nomine games. (This is on several websites that have compiled errata/rule clarifications for SWN that Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine gave in the past).

Overall, this is a great product and I'll definitely be picking up more SWN stuff Stellagama Publishing releases.

A great little bundle of new skill package options for player character generation in Stars Without Number. What's great about these options is that they give players what they want--more options, more choices--without unbalancing anything at all. Some of the class-specific packages are intriguing, and occasionally much needed: the Vehicle Specialist Warrior allows players to generate fighter pilots as well as tank commanders. The Psychic Navigator is exactly the package needed to combine precognitive powers with space navigation, and the Diplomat and Detective are great Expert skill packages for players looking for sci-fi staples from a variety of genres. There are many great options, and combined with the different packages provided in the published SWN line, players are spoiled for choice regarding their PC's starting skills.

There are a couple of discrepancies that creep up here and there in the text: the Pugilist might be better served with Combat/Martial arts (as per the free Mandate Archive), and the Engineer doesn't really need Profession/Engineer, when the package has three Tech/Any skills. But these are small details that individual GMs can fix to suit their campaigns.

What I would have liked to have seen in Character Options are suggestions for changing class skills to better suit a character concept. The aforementioned Psychic Navigator should probably get Navigation as a class skill, but would have to drop something like Tech/Medical, Religion, or History in exchange. The same goes for the Vehicle Specialist Warrior, who probably needs Vehicle/Any as a class skill, in exchange for Stealth, or Survival as class skills. These make sense for specific character concepts, and it's important to mention them in a book listing character options.

But regardless of the little things, this little pdf is jam-packed with useful, evocative material for any Stars Without Number GM or player.