The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Love 'em or hate 'em, equipment guides are a staple of science fiction roleplaying. I remember that my old gaming group loved the classic Traveller Book 4: Mercenary as much for the hoards of new equipment as the advanced generation system for military characters. I must confess that I too have always had a secret fetish for books of gear. I think, however, that this tendency in me was put to rest due to over-long exposure to interminable Chrome Books in the bad ol' days of cyberpunk. Nowadays, I'm very wary of equipment books. A catalogue of weaponry does not impress as it once might have. To hold my attention, you've got to pack a little more into your equipment guide. A good example of what I'm talking about came in the Arsenal supplement for the little-mourned Shatterzone game. Arsenal was a good equipment book because it actually added more than just new weapons to the Shatterzone game: it added background and some little bits of flavor. Heck, it even had rules for weapons permits. When was the last time you saw that in any game, never mind an SF one?

The Arms & Equipment Guide for TSR's Alternity game is not as good as Arsenal, but neither is it a mere list of weapons and armor. Intended for use with the Star*Drive setting, the Guide does contain an extremely long list of new weapons and armor, far too many if you ask me. Given the rather durable nature of Heroes in Alternity, the last thing that the game needs is more weaponry and armor to prolong the combats. At the same time, the weapons and armor in this book are generally well-conceived and described. It's also nice to see that the "brand name" mentality that (I must admit) cyberpunk added to our gaming consciousness is here in full force. Now, you can buy, say, charge rifles from a variety of manufacturers and compare their quality. I've always liked this idea and think it adds a lot to the feeling of place necessary for any setting to succeed. Given that Star*Drive's 26th century is a little bland, this is certainly a good thing.

However, the Guide contains plenty of additional items beyond the obvious. I was particularly taken by the section that describes clothing. Without going into excruciating detail, the Guide offers a variety of pieces of clothing that tell us a little about the Star*Drive setting. These are, admittedly, small details, but it's little details that lend a verisimilitude to a setting. Knowing that a particular style of jacket stems from an earlier era when men regularly went about with holstered weapons adds flavor and I appreciate that. Too many game settings lack the little details that make them seem real. The Guide is filled with lots of little details like that, whether for weapons or cybernetics or vehicles. The descriptions in this book are not all dry and filled with game statistics. Beneath it all, you can find information that contribute to a sense of place.

The book also contains a too-brief section detailing some of the technological assumptions behind the Star*Drive setting. Meant as a complement to the main Star*Drive hardcover book, I would have appreciated more information of this sort. In running a SF game, you can never have too much information about how technology works. This too is a vital bit of information that a GM needs to make a setting come alive.

Overall, the Arms & Equipment Guide is a solid piece of work. It's not new or innovative, but neither is it a simple catalogue of new gadgets. If you're running an Alternity game, especially if it's in the Star*Drive setting, you may find this book useful. At the same time, it's hardly essential and there are better supplements for Alternity than this one.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Arms & Equipment Guide
Author: Richard Baker Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR, Inc. Cost: $16.95 Page count: 96 ISBN: 0-7869-1214-6 Capsule Review by James Maliszewski on 03/24/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future Space	Love 'em or hate 'em, equipment guides are a staple of science fiction roleplaying. I remember that my old gaming group loved the classic Traveller Book 4: Mercenary as much for the hoards of new equipment as the advanced generation system for military characters. I must confess that I too have always had a secret fetish for books of gear. I think, however, that this tendency in me was put to rest due to over-long exposure to interminable Chrome Books in the bad ol' days of cyberpunk. Nowadays, I'm very wary of equipment books. A catalogue of weaponry does not impress as it once might have. To hold my attention, you've got to pack a little more into your equipment guide. A good example of what I'm talking about came in the Arsenal supplement for the little-mourned Shatterzone game. Arsenal was a good equipment book because it actually added more than just new weapons to the Shatterzone game: it added background and some little bits of flavor. Heck, it even had rules for weapons permits. When was the last time you saw that in any game, never mind an SF one? The Arms & Equipment Guide for TSR's Alternity game is not as good as Arsenal, but neither is it a mere list of weapons and armor. Intended for use with the StarDrive* setting, the Guide does contain an extremely long list of new weapons and armor, far too many if you ask me. Given the rather durable nature of Heroes in Alternity, the last thing that the game needs is more weaponry and armor to prolong the combats. At the same time, the weapons and armor in this book are generally well-conceived and described. It's also nice to see that the "brand name" mentality that (I must admit) cyberpunk added to our gaming consciousness is here in full force. Now, you can buy, say, charge rifles from a variety of manufacturers and compare their quality. I've always liked this idea and think it adds a lot to the feeling of place necessary for any setting to succeed. Given that StarDrive's 26th century is a little bland, this is certainly a good thing. However, the Guide* contains plenty of additional items beyond the obvious. I was particularly taken by the section that describes clothing. Without going into excruciating detail, the Guide offers a variety of pieces of clothing that tell us a little about the StarDrive* setting. These are, admittedly, small details, but it's little details that lend a verisimilitude to a setting. Knowing that a particular style of jacket stems from an earlier era when men regularly went about with holstered weapons adds flavor and I appreciate that. Too many game settings lack the little details that make them seem real. The Guide is filled with lots of little details like that, whether for weapons or cybernetics or vehicles. The descriptions in this book are not all dry and filled with game statistics. Beneath it all, you can find information that contribute to a sense of place. The book also contains a too-brief section detailing some of the technological assumptions behind the StarDrive* setting. Meant as a complement to the main StarDrive* hardcover book, I would have appreciated more information of this sort. In running a SF game, you can never have too much information about how technology works. This too is a vital bit of information that a GM needs to make a setting come alive. Overall, the Arms & Equipment Guide is a solid piece of work. It's not new or innovative, but neither is it a simple catalogue of new gadgets. If you're running an Alternity game, especially if it's in the StarDrive* setting, you may find this book useful. At the same time, it's hardly essential and there are better supplements for Alternity than this one. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)