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This is the 1st book of a trilogy that will detail the Lurian Trailing Cluster for the Star Withou Number (SWN) RPG.
Before I continue with my review I will mention that the publisher did update the PDF shortly after it was released so my review is going to be based on the updated one.
It starts off with a simple intro of what books are needed and which additional ones are recommended.
The only one you definitely need according to the intro is the basic SWN rule book.
Suns of Gold and a copy of Skyward Steel are also recommended as the detailed systems it gives give material for use with some of the rules in them.
A short history of the cluster is given along with some info on the deluge, which is what the scream is called in this area.
2 new Tech Level are covered next, though these levels appear in Expanded World Generation product.
A table covering the main worlds, tags they have is next, followed by a GMs map, and a brief description of the major world.
The planet Lur uses 2 of the new Tags from Expanded World Generation, and the publisher did reprint the description of those Tags for those who don’t have that product.
The number of gas giants in the location of each system a world is in is covered along with the stars in the system. No information is given on how these were generated.
One thing that would be useful would be an appendix just listing the star types with star color, etc. I actually had to look those up in other books.
One problem I had is that the worlds descriptions are given in order based on the hex number they are on instead of alphabetical. So this can be a problem if you’re trying to find a particular planet and then realize you need to look in hex number order.
The world descriptions are very well done.
The major factions of Cluster are detailed next.
This chapter is extremely well written and was a pleasure to read.
Two of the factionare connected to Camros that is a government (world) beyond the Cluster, but no details are given on the Camros, where it is, etc.
Camrosan Hierarchate Intelligence could be developed in to a Darkness Visible agency at some future point it looks like, since the faction is meant to represent only a small part of it (agents) that are in the Cluster.
I was wondering if that other Sectors connected to the Cluster after I got to those 2 factions.
Finally, we get details on 3 of the star system that contain 3 major worlds of the cluster.
These worlds which in an early chapter just got a paragraph or two, now get a map for them, detailed backgrounds, societies, etc. and we get info on the other planets, asteroids, etc. in their system.
Information on spacecraft fleet resources by mentioning the Build Points it has, what ships it has, the starship building/maintenance resources the world has is given for those with Skyward Steel.
For those running Merchant campaigns using Suns of Gold a trade goods table is given, along with the Friction, etc. for use with the supplement’s rules.
No ship stats, NPC stats, creature stats are given in the book.
The enemies and friends could be fleshed out more than what is given for the detailed world. They are to barebones maybe giving each a paragraph or more might be something to do in future volumes.
I could see a future supplemental book giving stats for the various spacecraft specific to each world and the cluster. I can easily see them being built with the Reduce Fuel Bunkers from the old Infinite Stats fanzine being a fitting on several ships, given that some are patrol craft just made for system defense.
The Engines of Babylon product might also useful to design ships from as it covers system ships in detail and some world don’t have the capability for TL4 ships and those ships could be found on TL3 planets that are working to or had TL4 interstellar space flight, If the spacecraft of the various worlds were to be detailed at a future time in addition to the basic SWN rules.
The book concludes with a player map done in a similar style like the Hydra Sector one in the SWN rule book.
The worlds with a short sentence or two description bellow the map are again given in order by hex location instead of alphabetical one. This might have been better put in alphabetical order as you can already info on the page on the left of the map.
One error on the player map is that you see a question mark for some world’s names on the chart next to the map but you can clearly see the world’s name on the map. Moloch is an example of this. The hex map also has some worlds marked with question marks, with the world name bellow the mark, and the world is named and has no question mark on the chart to the left. The world Vanth is a good example of this on the map.
I’d most likely redo the player’s map handout to make it appear more attractive, using a mapping program like CC3 or Hexographer, along with a graphics editing program and have the description section is done in alphabetical order instead of using the one in the PDF.
One thing I noticed when just doing a quick attempt to redraw the map in Hexographer and latter with some other mapping software is that the hex numbers that are generated are not going to match up and you’ll have to change the hex location for some planets for it to look right. This is due to what hex number those programs assign to a hex not matching. For example, in a recreation done in Hexographer, Kadmon is in 0607 instead of 0606, but Moloch is still in 0506, and a few other planets had to be moved to an adjacent hex for the map to look correct. So do be aware of this if you redraw the map or wish to incorporate it into a larger map, as most GMs I'm sure will do.
A few of the planets have routes that go to locations not depicted on the map at all. Where they go is going to be up to the GM to determine.
One good thing I did like is that the player’s and GM’s map both indicate that the distances are meta-dimensional and do not reflective of real distances.
That Sector Maps are meta-dimensional is something that I’ve seen have to be stated a few times when on various forms when various people asked about the distances on sector maps in SWN.
Future books in the series are going to cover in detail the other 11 worlds in the extended detail and give 2 campaign settings.
When all 3 books are released it might be a good idea to put them all in a bundle. Another idea might be when all 3 books are done for the setting is to combine them all into a deluxe edition, and maybe add in some new content or set it up so it can be ordered in a print version based on how big it is
One thing I did like is that color art was put in various places among the book and it had full color planet surface maps for the 3 worlds it covered in detail. The art images fit perfectly and made it a little more enjoyable to read and look at, along with giving it a more polished look.
An index might be useful to add too or a consolidated index to cover all 3 Volumes to show up in the final volume.
One other thing that could be done is put in a one page ad for other Stellagama products that are out or will be out soon.
This is definitely a 5 star product despite the few little minor flaws I found. Plus, the worlds with a little work can easily be used in other sci fi games.
I’m eagerly awaiting Volumes 2 and 3. Plus I do hope we will see more products like maybe a full adventure, etc. for the setting.
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