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FrontierSpace Referee’s Handbook
Wow! This book made two very strong first impressions on me. The first is the speed at which it came out. I never expected to see the Referee’s manual so fast on the heels of the FS Player’s Handbook. It’s rare to see such good production quality and well-timed execution from a game company.
The second very good impression this game made on me was, at first glance, I was almost looking for a boxed set with the Player’s book, some maps, player handouts, cardboard counters, a poster, some plain dice, and a crayon to “ink” the dice. Then I realized the sheer volume of this book. While I wax nostalgic for the good old days of boxed sets which are now all but obsolete because of prohibitive costs, this really did remind me of diving into one for the first time.
As gamemaster books go, this one is by far one of the most well put together, professional, and useful I have seen in the last twenty years of being a player, gm and writer. I love everything about this book from cover to cover. It shows a real passion for not just the game and the genre, but for being a referee as well. We know this game has its roots firmly in old school Star Frontiers, and this book not only emulates those golden days of sci-fi gaming, but goes far beyond the scope of quality the old T$R designers could have only dreamed about back then. This is one of the few Referee/GM/DM guides I have ever dove into and gone from cover to cover just amazed at everything. I can only think of a handful of gaming books that have ever captivated me this much. Thank you Bill and Larry. It brings me back to my younger years.
A quick romp through all of the chapters. Chapter 1 is a basic Referee’s how-to for running the game itself. There’s an alignment system of sorts; earning/spending DP; a lot of the standard RPG fare of how to deal with combat, injuries, repairs, etc; npcs; and psionics. Normally psionics in any game is a major turnoff for me the moment I see them. (I feel like it turns every game into a supers campaign of sorts.) However, FS saves the day on this by giving differing levels of psionics available and leaves it in the hands of the ref up front. Thank you for that!
Chapter 2 is all about technology. I found some of this chapter reminiscent of Covert Ops, which is cool because I like that game and the weapon quality table therein. This chapter does a lovely job covering all of the mundane-ish aspects of life in space and helps a GM decide where he should probably set the tech level for his campaign. The weapon, robot, vehicle, and starship qualities tables really add to the game, should you choose to use them.
Chapter 3 is so outstanding, it could have been an entire sourcebook by itself. Back in the day, it probably would have been a couple of pages in the GM Manual and a separate $12 sourcebook later on. Regardless, this chapter covers everything you could ever want from a xenomorph with acid for blood all the way up to all the freaky looking aliens wandering around in the cantina or zocalo of your favorite sci-fi franchises. Yes, there’s probably even a way to build those honor bound warrior aliens with the ridges on their heads and arm them with their ‘battle-eths’, etc.
Chapter 4 is also a tip of the hat to Covert ops, but provides a ton of really good mission/adventure building stock. Combined with the beautiful material from Chapter 5, it really would make for a really cool hex crawl in space campaign. Again, Chapters 4 and 5 could probably stand on their own as a sourcebook.
Chapter 5 boldly does what many other hard sci-fi games have attempted before. This chapter covers the generation of planets, planetary systems and sectors. It’s clear, concise, and useful without going overboard. It’s not a catalog of everything possible under the stars, but enough for most referees without having to go to work for NASA.
Chapter 6 is not long, but inspiring nonetheless. There’s a good primer on sci-fi games which a lot of old school gamers already know, but invaluable to a new ref. The storytelling advice is brilliant for any ref, and greater for a novice referee. There are also forms in the back of the book for everything discussed in the chapters which prove very useful.
I’d also like to compliment the artwork in this game. Even the headers look great. The layout of this book is clean, too. Overall, I can’t say enough good things about this book. If you’re looking to run a science fiction game of any kind, this book is definitely worth a look. Even if you’re not planning to run FrontierSpace, it’s a great resource for any space-based game.
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