Just picked up Orbital Blues? Taken in by the piles of fantastic artwork in that book but want more? Or maybe you're interested in how the art came together, or the thought process of the artist behind all that work? This book is for you!

Wayward Stars is an artbook examining the primary pieces of art in the Orbital Blues RPG corebook and both how they were made, and the thinking behind them. The book is laid out in the same minimalist style as Orbital Blues, giving each piece of art its own room to breathe, and never crowding the text.

The book not only presents its art with all the care you'd expect after seeing Orbital Blues, it is also interlaced with little lore snippets from the Orbital Blues world itself. An excerpt here describing a city, some fictionalized ad copy for a weapon or vehicle there, the book is an excellent secondary source of inspiration for any Orbital Blues game you might run, and helps to lend yet more weight to the world the authors have so finely crafted.

If you like Orbital Blues, you'll like this book, and you owe it yourself to pick it up. Just like with the corebook, come for the art, but stay for the game.

Orbital Blues is, quite possibly, the most stylish, most gorgeous RPG corebook you'll ever read. Following a recent trend in RPG books of presenting eminently readable rulesbooks, it's one of the few books I've read cover to cover a couple of times and never once did I feel bored or zoned out. Forget having beautiful artwork, every two-page spread is beautiful artwork; the entire book just drips with evocative art that not only sells you on the intended tone/genre of the game, but also helps to effortlessly transport you into the game's world itself. Each piece of art is genuine, and offers so much authenticity to the game itself that you'll inadvertently imagine scenarios, story beats, and entire campaigns just from their viewing.

Beyond the presentation lies a game that is simple in its execution. This is not a crunchy game, and eschews massive skills list and endless math for a clean and simple 2d6-based system. The stats lend themselves to proper character development; your numbers and bars won't just go up, your character will grow and change as a consequence of the events happening around them. It's also got the coolest death mechanic I've ever seen in a game. And just as easy as it is for players to get into playing this game, the book's section for GMs - or "Storyteller" as the game calls the game runner - is superb. It not only walks you through what being a GM means for the game, it immediately points out some common pitfalls your typical new GM might fall into, and then goes on to describe in simple terms what sorts of stories might work well in the system. There is never a feeling of hand-holding though, just good advice.

In all, I cannot wait to run this game for my friends. You'd do yourself a favour picking it up. It's a smart game wrapped in absolutely gorgeous artwork, with an amazing layout, and it's sure to please anyone with even a passing interest in the media that inspired Orbital Blues, such as Firefly and Cowboy Bebop.

Come for the art, stay for the game.