Reviews
This is the review section for the products
for Alternity.
***** = Excellent! Get it for sure!
*** = Ok, but nothing phenomenal
* = Lets call a spade a spade: it blows!
Player's Handbook
Absolutely necessary if you want to play Alternity.
Contains almost all of the rules needed to play the game. The artwork
is very good as well. Includes a fast play section to get players
into the game quickly. An excellent book, and a definite must have
to play!
Rating *****
Gamemaster's Guide
Companion to the Player's Handbook, it too is a must
have to play Alternity (you could play without it, but it's easier if you
have it). All the rules of the game from the GM's point of view are
presented here, along with rules for star ships, mapping systems and galaxies,
and other general campaign construction info. Great artwork too.
Also includes a little first time adventure.
Rating *****
Star*Drive(tm) Campaign Setting
A huge hardcover book detailing TSRs first Alternity
campaign, Star*Drive. Personally, I don't care for the campaign itself,
as humans seem to overwhelm the other races in sheer number and importance
(fraal, etc.). However, that aside, this book contains a vast amount
of info about the Verge, the Stellar Nations, the independent colonies
of the Verge, and the politics and history of Star*Drive. If you
aren't running a Star*Drive campaign, don't go out of your way to buy it,
although it still might provide you with some useful ideas for your own
campaign.
Rating ***** (if running a Star*Drive campaign)
or
** otherwise
Arms and Equipment Guide
Even though its a Star*Drive accessory, it is very
useful to any campaign. It provides alot of new things like weapons,
armor, cybergear, and vehicles. It also provides info on how to make
ordinary items into very useful things (i.e.. a trench coat made
out of Stealth Weave, or a machine gun brief case). Not necessary,
but good if you have a little extra cash.
Rating ****
Alien Compendium
Some useful critters are located here for when heroes
land on planets. Useful in either Star*Drive or your home campaign,
but nothing a GM with a little imagination couldn't do. Still, it's
a time saver with plenty of pre made creatures to fight, run from, adopt,
etc. If you're going to buy it because of the promised "half-a-dozen
new player character races", don't bother. Why? A) Half-a-dozen
equals 6, not 4. And B) (and this is my opinion only) the new races
are pretty crappy (except for the deepfallen). The best part of this
book is the last chapter, detailing a variety of very interesting aliens
know as the externals.
Rating ***
Campaign Kit
Provides a good GM's screen as well as character
sheets for each type of character. Also sheets to keep track of vehicle
status. The biggest problem isn't really that big. You must
have access to a photocopier to make use of these sheets as there's only
one for each type of character. They are meant to be used as templates,
so in other words: DON'T WRITE ON THE ORIGINALS!!
Rating ****
Dataware
Very useful for people running a Grid hacker's campaign.
Provides details for many new programs for computers. Also gives
rules for making AIs, robots, and a host of other related things.
It may just be me, but in some places it was hard to understand (however
it is a well established fact that for some reason I can't grasp the concept
of Grid combat very well :) My favorite part of this book is that
it tells how to make robotic PCs!!
Rating ****
The Last Warhulk
An excellent adventure, but it can be a DEATH TRAP
if the PCs are A) newbies at role-playing, B) hack and slashers, or C)
governed by a sadistic GM! There is alot of time to role-play, and
there are some very intriguing characters. Once aboard the Warhulk,
very combat intensive (of course, how different GMs run the adventure will
change this). Although meant for Star*Drive, this adventure is easily
converted to a home campaign (assuming PL7 and AIs exist).
Rating ****
The Lighthouse
If any of you play AD&D planescape, this is the
city of Sigil in space. A center point where characters can rest,
buy supplies, be hired for missions, etc., this book shows the Lighthouse
in GREAT detail. Unfortunately, this is one of the more useless products
for those of us running a home-made campaign. While it contains some
nice ideas, it contains nothing a GM couldn't do on his own.
Rating **** (if running Star*Drive) or
**
Black StarFall
A great little start-up adventure that came with
the first printings of the Player's Handbook, perfect for players and GMs
alike to get the hang of the Alternity gaming system. Interesting
ways to test the players' skills at a variety of tasks. And hey,
the price is right!
Rating ****
Red Starrise
Finally managed to look this one over.
A cool follow-up adventure to Black Starfall, this one has an optional
section in which the GM can introduce space combat. Interesting supporting
characters, and nasty aliens, as well as a good plot. The weak point:
I found it wasn't as easily convertable to a home campaign as Black Starfall.
.
Rating ***
Starships
One word: EXCELLENT! This book covers chapters
on alternate FTL methods such as jump gates and space folding (as well
as a psionic drive for you Dune fans), gives numerous deck plans for ships,
and a wealth of new equipment and weapons for ships. It gives alternate
methods for space combat, including one for 3D space combat, the vector
system (don't get too excited, PHD in physics and calculus required:) as
well as numerous optional add-on rules to make space combat more exciting.
Includes ship stuff from progress level 6-8. The best add-on yet
in my opinion!
Rating *****
Planet Of Darkness
Ok, this adventure is awesome, but let me explain
why I rated it the way I did. First, the good points; excellent
story line, and a good mix of role-playing and fighting. The players
will constantly be interested and challenged, and will most likely remember
this adventure for some time to come. The two major flaws;
first, some of the rewards are a bit outrageous (one person offers the
PCs $600,000 to protect her!!!) but this is easily changed by the GM, so
it isn't my major beef. The other (bigger) problem is for those of
us running a home-made campaign, it is virtually impossible to convert
this adventure into a home-made setting, as the Star*Drive universe is
so deeply ingrained that you'd have to basically re-write the adventure
to make it fit into a generic campaign. But if you're running a Star*Drive
campaign (or if you just want something to read), for the love of God,
GET THIS ONE!!
Rating **** (if running Star*Drive) or
* otherwise
Outbound: An Explorer's Guidebook
Well, this was a disappointment and a half.
First off, the good points. This supplement provides a few interesting
new pieces of equipment (and I mean a few), and is easily convertable
into almost any home campaign. Now, you get to hear me b*tch :)
First, I found the three systems presented weren't anything that almost
any GM couldn't imagine up in about 10 minutes. They each had a couple
of small interesting features, but nothing spectacular (a klick base, an
alien pyramid, and a race of subterranean creatures are the biggies).
The book promised to look at old perks and flaws, which it did, and that
wasn't too bad. It also promised new perks, flaws and careers for
scout campaigns. The end result was 2 new perks and 2 new flaws,
along with 1 new career for each class (1 for Free Agents, 1 for Tech Ops,
etc.). Finally, the last chapter of the book deals with every hero's
favorite pass time: filling out surveying forms!! (Yee haw!).
Yes, the last part gives an extensive form template for the players to
fill out to "add to the role-playing experience". Just as in real
life, I hate filling out forms. BTW, I'm no art critic, but the art
was pretty bad as well. At any rate, there's the review. I
hope April's releases will be better.
Rating: **
Tangents
This is, if nothing else, an interesting read.
It offers the possibility of infinite alternate planes, some of which contain
magic, elves, and sentient planets. It explains how superspace works
(the dimension between tangents) and gives examples of how virtually any
PL can go paraverse-hopping. Although not exceptionally in the style
of Star*Drive or my VoidRunner universe, this is still a nifty little book
with some really crazy theories in it. :)
Rating: ***
Threats from Beyond
Not what I expected, this book doesn't tie up any
loose ends or reveal any great secrets. Rather, it provides a wealth
of new ones. Its more of a collection of Verge conspiracy theories
than anything else (and I was disappointed with how many of those conspiracies
had nothing to do with the externals). At any rate, it provides
numerous plot hooks, but the GM will still have to do the majority of the
work with regard to adventure design, etc. What it doesn't do:
provide statistics, go into any depth about any external species (none
of the book is concrete fact: its written from the perspective of a possible
conspiracy nut), or present any new external races (at least that I've
found), contrary to what WotC said it would do. Overall, not too
bad, but not too good either. I hope Klick Klack is better.
Rating: ***
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