The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I'm gonna be brutal, I'm gonna be honest. I hated the original Star Trek, and even The Next Gen drove me crazy sometimes. I did, however, love the last couple of movies - and so when I saw this book I just had to have it.

It was an impulse buy that was well worth it.

ST:TNG RPG is a brick solid book.

Physically the book is very impressive, it's a solid bound hardback with heavy semi gloss paper, giving it a great look and feel. (I love heavy books - I just love them). It also seems like a book that will stand the wear and tear of time with more grace than most RPG books - so I won't have to be rebinding this sucker a year from now like I did with my B5 RPG book.

The art is great - the vast majority of it being shots from the series and the movies. Rather than seeing some lame drawing of a Borg we see pictures from the First Contact movie and the various series appearances. There is some orriginal art - and most of it is farily decent to good (none of it made me want to poke myself in the eye - something FASA and White Wolf haven't been able to acomplish lately..). The overall effect of allt he pictures is very good - giving a solid series feel to the book, and keeping the feel close to the orriginal.

The one problem with the layout of the book is that some of the tables are located slightly akwardly - appearing too far off to the side, or interupting a paragraph in mid sentance. All in all though this is a minor quibble.

The book is devided up into three Sections, all titled with names of various ship departments: Operations, Command, and Science.

The first section, Operations, covers the history of the federation, the nature of Star Fleet, and character generation - ending with rules for character and ship combat.

The history is well done, and none of it that I cuaght conflicted with the show - and in fact put a lot of things into perspective for me. Simmilarly the Federation section was well done. None of this information is hugely in depth - but it gives a good solid overview and is well written.

Character Creation is interesting - consisting of choosing various packages based on race, profession, and history (it is possible to freeform generate characters as well, but this is relegated to a little sidebar). It works fairly well, though there are some things that could be a little clearer. Go through it a couple time though and you should have a solid understanding of it. Characters come out with an impressive array of skills (as they should to reflect the series) without being superhuman (once again a very good thing).

The rules of the game are fairly solid. Nothing to write home about - but they work quickly and without much fuss, fitting into the setting quite nicely. There are huge and numerous examples of nearly every rule, many of them quite cleverly written, that explain everything quite well. This section is very clear and straight forward - and very well done. Same goes for combat and spaceship combat - both do a very good job of replicating the feel and pace of the series, while giving enough detail to keep everyone happy.

The next section, Command, is essentially how to run (Gamemaster, Storytell, referie - whatever) a ST:TNG RPG game. It gives solid rules and good advise all around, as well as some pregenerated adventures and settings. Quite good stuff, and should help people new to role playing get into the groove easily and quickly.

The last section: Sciences, is maybe my faveortie section of all. It is here that we get in depth write ups and solid, comprehensive rules for hundreds of ships, weapons, races, planets, creatures..... I could go on and on, but will just let it go with this - it is awesome. I wish that other label games did such a thorough job.

So in summery - this book is solid, well done, well wrtten, and beautifully laid out. If you want to play Star Trek games you simply must buy this book.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Star Trek: The Next Generation Role Playing Game
Author: Edward Bolme, James Cambias, Andrew Greenberg, Harry Heckel, Kenneth Hite, Ross A. Issacs, Robin D. Laws, Steve Long, Christian Moore, Tim O'Brian, Chris Pramas, John Snead, Greg Stolze Category: game Company/Publisher: Last Unicorn Games Cost: $35.00 Page count: 306 ISBN: 781889533001 Capsule Review by Brand Ambros on 12/28/98. Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future Space	I'm gonna be brutal, I'm gonna be honest. I hated the original Star Trek, and even The Next Gen drove me crazy sometimes. I did, however, love the last couple of movies - and so when I saw this book I just had to have it. It was an impulse buy that was well worth it. ST:TNG RPG is a brick solid book. Physically the book is very impressive, it's a solid bound hardback with heavy semi gloss paper, giving it a great look and feel. (I love heavy books - I just love them). It also seems like a book that will stand the wear and tear of time with more grace than most RPG books - so I won't have to be rebinding this sucker a year from now like I did with my B5 RPG book. The art is great - the vast majority of it being shots from the series and the movies. Rather than seeing some lame drawing of a Borg we see pictures from the First Contact movie and the various series appearances. There is some orriginal art - and most of it is farily decent to good (none of it made me want to poke myself in the eye - something FASA and White Wolf haven't been able to acomplish lately..). The overall effect of allt he pictures is very good - giving a solid series feel to the book, and keeping the feel close to the orriginal. The one problem with the layout of the book is that some of the tables are located slightly akwardly - appearing too far off to the side, or interupting a paragraph in mid sentance. All in all though this is a minor quibble. The book is devided up into three Sections, all titled with names of various ship departments: Operations, Command, and Science. The first section, Operations, covers the history of the federation, the nature of Star Fleet, and character generation - ending with rules for character and ship combat. The history is well done, and none of it that I cuaght conflicted with the show - and in fact put a lot of things into perspective for me. Simmilarly the Federation section was well done. None of this information is hugely in depth - but it gives a good solid overview and is well written. Character Creation is interesting - consisting of choosing various packages based on race, profession, and history (it is possible to freeform generate characters as well, but this is relegated to a little sidebar). It works fairly well, though there are some things that could be a little clearer. Go through it a couple time though and you should have a solid understanding of it. Characters come out with an impressive array of skills (as they should to reflect the series) without being superhuman (once again a very good thing). The rules of the game are fairly solid. Nothing to write home about - but they work quickly and without much fuss, fitting into the setting quite nicely. There are huge and numerous examples of nearly every rule, many of them quite cleverly written, that explain everything quite well. This section is very clear and straight forward - and very well done. Same goes for combat and spaceship combat - both do a very good job of replicating the feel and pace of the series, while giving enough detail to keep everyone happy. The next section, Command, is essentially how to run (Gamemaster, Storytell, referie - whatever) a ST:TNG RPG game. It gives solid rules and good advise all around, as well as some pregenerated adventures and settings. Quite good stuff, and should help people new to role playing get into the groove easily and quickly. The last section: Sciences, is maybe my faveortie section of all. It is here that we get in depth write ups and solid, comprehensive rules for hundreds of ships, weapons, races, planets, creatures..... I could go on and on, but will just let it go with this - it is awesome. I wish that other label games did such a thorough job. So in summery - this book is solid, well done, well wrtten, and beautifully laid out. If you want to play Star Trek games you simply must buy this book. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Star Trek: The Next Generation Role Playing Game