A solid treatment of an X-Com like response to hostile alien intrusions. All player Characters are humans with a couple extra “base” skills and two new optional skills. Since there are no arcane backgrounds there are no arcane skills. Several edges have been removed as not appropriate for the setting (including all Weird and Power edges). While no new edges are added, Leadership edges are expanded to cover the PCs as well as NPCs. Gear is appropriately laid out but is mainly focused on military hardware (and money is ignored focusing on assigned materials and limited options). The game assumes players are mainly heading out to battle the invaders, collect bodies or prisoners, and return. Healing will primarily occur between missions with extra characters encouraged so a wounded character can (and should be) left behind to heal up if not at full health. Military rank is addressed, relying on character rank for advancement. Personally, I would change this as it doesn’t make much sense for a “squad” of 6 Captains to head out with no more than two other soldiers with them. Based on the focus, I would have kept the advancement in the lower ranks up to Sergeant. A new rule for ammunition loss is included that leaves it to a special dice rolled (die type based on the weapon) for each Shot taken. Fear and Panic are also addressed. Gear is well written but does not follow the gear (particularly armor and armor piercing) progression in SWADE. Advanced Gear is part of the very nice BASE development rules. These allow the players to choose which advance their base receives (that they qualify for based on what they recovered from the mission) after each scenario. This includes both human and alien research. The mission Generator has been given a lot of thought. Much like X-Com, this covers most of the basic entries – Crashed UFO, Alien Raid (called Invasion), Infiltration, Collaborators, Rescue, and Terror attack. Combined with randomizing where (both continent and location) the event happens and the recommended use of google maps to identify the combat area, this becomes a real treat! The scenarios are scaled to increase in difficulty as the number of missions (and thus, the rank of the PCs) increase however this might be too fast based on the fact the PCs, unless the same one is used in every mission (discouraged), will soon be left behind by the alien invaders. A game master might use the table as an average of the ranks of the PCs’ rather than the number of missions played for both the difficulty and the opportunities for Base Advancement. The final section gives a nice Bestiary of Aliens including really nice survivor descriptions, from different points of view, as well as the statistics and powers. Only issue I have here is all the Aliens have boosted Toughness that is not recognized in the “Special Abilities,” ranging from 1 to 6 points.
Allowing this to be used for donations to Doctors Without Borders was inspired. It was well worth the price and can easily be adapted for other ideas in the genre!

The system was nice and clean and had a nice host of setting ideas. I also liked the Space Craft and Mecha thoughts. The 'systems for generating planets" really were nothing but a random table or two. The financial system seemed to be an afterthought without any guidance. Unfortunately, for me, the system really failed in two big areas - advancement and equipment.

Most role playing games give players a chance to advance their character and to improve. This system is one that pretty much what you start with is what you end with - there is no advancement. While I think this is fine for short convention games, I believe it falls flat in campaign settings. In addition, due to the limits in weapon use there is no future Seal equivalent, dangerous in long range, short range and melee weapons - only the specialist with one of these areas. There were no skills - only professions - with the onus placed on the GM and player as to coming up with appropriate skills a profession might have. Those with great imaginations and/or good arguments will soon dominate play.

And then there is the equipment - or lack there of. In science fiction equipment and technology is a big deal. In this system you have either "black-box xeno technology" or color. Apearently a buck naked individual is just as able to survive being shot or stabbed as someone in powered armor. As stated in the rules, armor has no mechanical impact on the game. Of course that makes sense when a person with a switchblade, slingshot or crossbow is as equally deadly as someone with a laser sword, blaster rifle or bazooka. And there is no mechanical impact for using inferior technology so the flint dagger armed naked warrior can easily match the plate armored knight or power armored space trooper. Yes, most of these things can be address easily by the GM but a few simple mechanics could have gone a long way to solving these things in a consistent manner.

There are good ideas here, and for $5 you can't really go wrong, but for a science fiction role playing game, in my opinion, this one is best used by experienced GMs for introductionary and convention style games.

This is a finely written game that allows any anime giant robot (or armored suit) type of setting you would like to try. Using the combat circle takes a bit of getting used to but the abstract nature allows for everything from simple skirmish encounters to full on city invasions. The focus stays on the characters and the unique, structured role playing cycle allows every character to get a moment in the sun. Three settings, called "setting Reference Schematic" or SRS, are given with great intros and enough detail to take a group right into some fascinating action. I was luck enough to play in a setting at KantCon in KC and discovered just how flexible the system was. Not only did we have four battles (from a simple skirmish to the climatic final battle) but we went through three full role playing rounds where everyone had a chance to explore the town, hunt down hidden agenda's, and even attempt to start a bar fight (which was ever more fun because the the character actually failed to do so - being laughed out of the bar!) Note that all this was acomplished, including the GM giving a full description of the setting and the game, in just four hours. I would probably not recommend the system for a long session as, being d6 based, it can get godlike fairly quickly as characters will quickly - in my evaluation - top out their skills. However for short campaigns of a half dozen sessions (like a single season) the game should be fresh and fun for all. The author even gives a good outline of how to get your group to help create, and thus invest in, the setting and story. Really good information1

This product has a number of useful descriptions of places a pirate may end up, visit or just hear about. If you are running a pirate campaign, with or without fantasy elements, this free product is well worth your time to peruse. It is system friendly as everything is in narrative form without statistics but the descriptions are useful and quite colorful.

Good 360 view gives a nice feeling of being in the room. There were not enough details to really make the 360 view worth much time though. The floor plans were very helpful and the place feels like either a mansion's personal library or a private lodge's library. It is a nice intro into the kind of material produced by the company and the value you get. Certainly being able to print out the floor plans in the various ways will make those needing a battle board very happy! What was missing was a book holder for placing books on that had been removed from the shelves. The single book left on the table was a nice touch. It would be nice if there was some way to add elements (books, dead bodies, etc) to the floor plans ;>)

This was a nice teaser for what could be a very interesting premise. The characters were not given enough screen time to get to know them well but they seem to be non-ordinary and have some intrigue to them. the drawing style is a bit more stylized than I am used to but it seemed to fit the setting.

This is a fantastic setting of a future-past steampunk world. It allows time travel although a seperate book will be produced to handle it thouroughly. By itself, however, it is a journey into a world of villians,heroes and pirates--who may be either or both!

It uses what I call the bucket'o dice gaming system where you are rolling multiple dice looking for successes. If also has a method for altering outcomes, sometimes dramatically! This is best used by game groups who are very mature and ready to accept outcomes that are hard to predict. Game Masters be warned - thinking on your feet will be an absolute must if you use all the aspects of the game!

It has an interesting mass combat system where entire crews are treated as a single NPC with the quality of the crew impacting the results. Used with the system it looks very workable. As with any game system, you should probably try a few games, preferably with someone who has grasped the intracacies, and then decide what you can live with.

It rounds out with some creatures and villians, explaining what is going on. The adventure is reasonable with a decent amount of dering do and political manuevering before the big clash. As these are supposed to be novice characters many of the options may need to be explained to the players if they are unfamiliar with expectations.

Overall a great setting with a good foundation but rules that will need a good read through and testing to ensure they work for your group. Of coures the music that it is based off of would be a plus in any steampunk setting!

This is a great setting book that follows the published books very well. It allows play from all aspects (good or bad) and gives plenty of ideas and adventure seeds. It is a sourcebook so don't expect a complete adventure. It does everything it promised though and is a fantastic bargain!<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The wealth of material you get for play. A whole world developed and ready to adventure in!<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: It would have been nice to have at least a short finished adventure that mirrored one or two of the books, just to get a feel of how to set one up. Mainly because I'm lazy though! You have all the info needed to play!<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Wow! What a great adventure for our time! Superb use of the Savage World system and a real challenge for players.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Pretty much everything. The adventure was well written with fine detail. It delivered the atmoshpere of building danger and would make a super intro to a modern horror campaign. The Savage World system is custom made for the heroic events this adventure leads to. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: It is a VERY deadly adventure to players (not surprising as it was a one-off for conventions) so a word of warning for those wanting to use it as a springboard is in order. Of course some may feel this is just another bonus! <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Interesting varriation and expansion of the original. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Expansion rules for smaller ships, machine guns, and other nice explainations of the system and adds. More trifold spaceships expanded the options available and the costing of the new expansions.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I was expecting more of a mini victorian space campaign which this did not have. The additional scenarios are ok but not really useable as a interrelated campaign.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Very nice Age of Ironclads in Space system including everything you need to play and develop your own ship designs. Good for those needing a space combat system for victorian age space combat but far from a complete setting. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Allows the development of space ships of your own immagination. Gives the information you need to play and provides stand up starships. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Background leaves many questions unanswered and the impact of some of the events is ignored other than to justify the development of Space travel. The background indicates huge, worldwide devastation but then continues with most world events as normal with no impact to the major players.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Wow! What a great add on to any Savage World game. You can really let your players have a bigger hand in the story if you use these great looking, and playing, cards.

A new take on Zombies! Very enjoyable and a great way to pass a game night or two. A couple of good twists keep the game flowing and the support material is stellar!

A very nice treatment blending mass combat and individual missions together. For the wargaming groups the army details are enough to use any other mass combat system out there. For those who are more into role playing, the mass combat treatment gives the details needed to resolve these big battles quickly, but still give the players a feeling of importance. The first attempt to incorporate the two types together was pretty successful!

Probably the best Savage tale to date. This one is a mini-campaign that will have players on the edge of thier seats just trying to survive! And when they get used to dealing with Zombies, the fun really starts! The opening may be a bit linear, but after that, wow! Moreover, it is easy to add to and expand on. As is, this will last at least 8 sessions of average length. Can't reccommend enough!