The Inside Scoop on Gaming

As if there were any doubt, Last Unicorn Games has produced another fine supplement for their Star Trek: The Next Generation Roleplaying Game. An attractive hardcover book, The Price of Freedom, details the United Federation of Planets in all its glory. Because this book is so good, I thought it best to begin my review by pointing out its few flaws and move on from there. Most obviously, the book's title is highly inappropriate. As many of you no doubt realize, the title derives from a quote attributed to US President Thomas Jefferson: "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." Whatever the intent behind Jefferson's original epigram, since the Cold War it has been adopted by all manner of right-wing organizations as their motto and as a justification for their activities. Needless to say, I doubt that this is the image that LUG wished to conjure up. Indeed, I can hardly think of a more incongruous association than the Federation and a group like the Michigan Militia. The ideals of Star Trek would have been better served by a different title.

The second fault I find with the book is its poor editing in places. Perhaps my eyes are simply overly sensitive to grammatical errors, but I spotted several rather unfortunate mistakes. Chief among them was the misuse of the contraction "it's" in place of the possessive pronoun "its" on the back cover of the book. Consider this nitpicking, if you will, but it makes the book look amateurish. Likewise, the Ship Reference Chart at the back of the book includes a header entitled "Chapter Name." I could point out several other such mistakes as well. I'd recommend that LUG devote a little more effort to proof-reading and editing before it publishes any further books. If they have difficulties finding someone up to the job, I'd be glad to offer my services ;)

I'm also still displeased with the quality of the original art in Star Trek supplements. Given the full-color, glossy layout of The Price of Freedom, complete with dozens of photographs from the television series, it looks even more shabby in comparison. I'd really recommend that LUG take some time to find artists whose styles are better suited to the aesthetic of the Star Trek universe, as West End did with its Star Wars materials.

With these minor quibbles out of the way, I can now turn to the rest of the book. The Price of Freedom is a well-written and organized book. It begins with a discussion of the history of the Federation and its founding members. I very much liked the emphasis placed in the history on the brutal and war-like pasts of the five species that founded the UFP. Their eventual triumph over their darker natures and subsequent creation of a government dedicated to peace and exploration are the stuff of great drama. Another chapter describes the way that the UFP is structured and how its government functions. This is an important section, as it includes numerous details that a Narrator will find useful in running his own series in the Star Trek universe. Additional sections detail how a world becomes a member of the Federation, its responsibilities once it is accepted, and the UFP's relations with other powers. This last section is quite nice in that it includes references to the Gorn and the Tholians, two enigmatic races from the Original Series that remain favorites among the fans. My one complaint here is that there is a section detailing the Son'a, the villains from the recent movie Star Trek: Insurrection. While I can appreciate LUG's desire to capitalize on that film, I think it's a bit inappropriate to put such a minor species on par withe Klingons or the Cardassians.

Later chapters include information on the structure of Starfleet and its missions, as well as the Federation Merchant Marine. Both of these chpaters are excellent and should provide plenty of food for thought. I must confess that I especially enjoyed the Merchant Marine chapter, which includes a complete character generation sequence for these "star sailors." I very much like the idea of the Merchant Marine and can easily see how they could become an integral part of any Star Trek campaign. For that matter, there's plenty of information of how to run an entire Merchant Marine campaign, something that might offer a nice change of pace from the typical Starfleet games. The chapter on Starfleet itself is also quite excellent, providing details on all of Starfleet's branches and activities. This chpater too includes new overlays for specialist characters, like Theoretical Engineers and First Contact Specialists.

As you might expect, there's also a chapter on technology that describes a variety of pieces of new equipment. In general, I don't think that this sort of thing is appropriate to Star Trek. I know that the series have introduced new tech into the setting from time to time, but Star Trek has never really been about cool gadgets and weapons. As such, I could have lived without the stuff included in this section, although I am sure it will appeal to the techno-fetishist in most gaming groups.

The final chapter of the book details the starships of the fleet. This chapter is very useful, as it details the roles played by the various types of ships in common service. In addition, it details fourteen new classes of ships, including the Sovereign-class Heavy Explorer. I am sure that Narrators and players alike will find these additional ships to be of great use in their own games (although the "Niagara" class is mispelled –– another regrettable error). The ships are all given stats for the game, as well some nice illustrations of each of them.

The Price of Freedom ends with an appendix describing the stats for the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. While it's nice to see information of everyone's favorite crew, I suspect that it will lead to some players seeking to best this character or that in some area of expertise. Being able to say with certainty that "My captain is better at Poker than Picard" is now possible and I regret that. I had thought that part of the genius of the Core Rule book is that it didn't include stats for the Enterprise crew. That way, neither players nor Narrators felt any need to "size up" to the most celebrated crew in the fleet. They were then free to find their own way and enjoy their own adventures. No more. I am also sure that it'll lead to endless arguments over whether the stats are right or not. Just wait until we have information on the old series crew in some future supplement. Then the "Kirk is better than Picard" dispute can continue to new heights of ludicrousness. Joy.

When all is said and done, though, The Price of Freedom is an excellent book and pretty much essential for any serious player of ST: TNG RPG. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Besides being extremely attractive to look at, it is chock full of useful information. By that, I don't mean just trivia and background details (which are nice), but information that can really contribute to the running of enjoyable episodes set in the Star Trek universe. If LUG can continue to produce supplements of this quality for their various Star Trek lines, there can be no question that they'll have genuine success story on their hands. That's something that we can all be happy about.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

The Price of Freedom –– The United Federation of Planets
Author: Various Category: game Company/Publisher: Last Unicorn Games Cost: $25.00 Page count: 160 ISBN: 1-888953-03-9 Playtest Review by James Maliszewski on 03/25/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Space	As if there were any doubt, Last Unicorn Games has produced another fine supplement for their Star Trek: The Next Generation Roleplaying Game. An attractive hardcover book, The Price of Freedom, details the United Federation of Planets in all its glory. Because this book is so good, I thought it best to begin my review by pointing out its few flaws and move on from there. Most obviously, the book's title is highly inappropriate. As many of you no doubt realize, the title derives from a quote attributed to US President Thomas Jefferson: "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." Whatever the intent behind Jefferson's original epigram, since the Cold War it has been adopted by all manner of right-wing organizations as their motto and as a justification for their activities. Needless to say, I doubt that this is the image that LUG wished to conjure up. Indeed, I can hardly think of a more incongruous association than the Federation and a group like the Michigan Militia. The ideals of Star Trek would have been better served by a different title. The second fault I find with the book is its poor editing in places. Perhaps my eyes are simply overly sensitive to grammatical errors, but I spotted several rather unfortunate mistakes. Chief among them was the misuse of the contraction "it's" in place of the possessive pronoun "its" on the back cover of the book. Consider this nitpicking, if you will, but it makes the book look amateurish. Likewise, the Ship Reference Chart at the back of the book includes a header entitled "Chapter Name." I could point out several other such mistakes as well. I'd recommend that LUG devote a little more effort to proof-reading and editing before it publishes any further books. If they have difficulties finding someone up to the job, I'd be glad to offer my services ;) I'm also still displeased with the quality of the original art in Star Trek supplements. Given the full-color, glossy layout of The Price of Freedom, complete with dozens of photographs from the television series, it looks even more shabby in comparison. I'd really recommend that LUG take some time to find artists whose styles are better suited to the aesthetic of the Star Trek universe, as West End did with its Star Wars materials. With these minor quibbles out of the way, I can now turn to the rest of the book. The Price of Freedom is a well-written and organized book. It begins with a discussion of the history of the Federation and its founding members. I very much liked the emphasis placed in the history on the brutal and war-like pasts of the five species that founded the UFP. Their eventual triumph over their darker natures and subsequent creation of a government dedicated to peace and exploration are the stuff of great drama. Another chapter describes the way that the UFP is structured and how its government functions. This is an important section, as it includes numerous details that a Narrator will find useful in running his own series in the Star Trek universe. Additional sections detail how a world becomes a member of the Federation, its responsibilities once it is accepted, and the UFP's relations with other powers. This last section is quite nice in that it includes references to the Gorn and the Tholians, two enigmatic races from the Original Series that remain favorites among the fans. My one complaint here is that there is a section detailing the Son'a, the villains from the recent movie Star Trek: Insurrection. While I can appreciate LUG's desire to capitalize on that film, I think it's a bit inappropriate to put such a minor species on par withe Klingons or the Cardassians. Later chapters include information on the structure of Starfleet and its missions, as well as the Federation Merchant Marine. Both of these chpaters are excellent and should provide plenty of food for thought. I must confess that I especially enjoyed the Merchant Marine chapter, which includes a complete character generation sequence for these "star sailors." I very much like the idea of the Merchant Marine and can easily see how they could become an integral part of any Star Trek campaign. For that matter, there's plenty of information of how to run an entire Merchant Marine campaign, something that might offer a nice change of pace from the typical Starfleet games. The chapter on Starfleet itself is also quite excellent, providing details on all of Starfleet's branches and activities. This chpater too includes new overlays for specialist characters, like Theoretical Engineers and First Contact Specialists. As you might expect, there's also a chapter on technology that describes a variety of pieces of new equipment. In general, I don't think that this sort of thing is appropriate to Star Trek. I know that the series have introduced new tech into the setting from time to time, but Star Trek has never really been about cool gadgets and weapons. As such, I could have lived without the stuff included in this section, although I am sure it will appeal to the techno-fetishist in most gaming groups. The final chapter of the book details the starships of the fleet. This chapter is very useful, as it details the roles played by the various types of ships in common service. In addition, it details fourteen new classes of ships, including the Sovereign-class Heavy Explorer. I am sure that Narrators and players alike will find these additional ships to be of great use in their own games (although the "Niagara" class is mispelled –– another regrettable error). The ships are all given stats for the game, as well some nice illustrations of each of them. The Price of Freedom ends with an appendix describing the stats for the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. While it's nice to see information of everyone's favorite crew, I suspect that it will lead to some players seeking to best this character or that in some area of expertise. Being able to say with certainty that "My captain is better at Poker than Picard" is now possible and I regret that. I had thought that part of the genius of the Core Rule book is that it didn't include stats for the Enterprise crew. That way, neither players nor Narrators felt any need to "size up" to the most celebrated crew in the fleet. They were then free to find their own way and enjoy their own adventures. No more. I am also sure that it'll lead to endless arguments over whether the stats are right or not. Just wait until we have information on the old series crew in some future supplement. Then the "Kirk is better than Picard" dispute can continue to new heights of ludicrousness. Joy. When all is said and done, though, The Price of Freedom is an excellent book and pretty much essential for any serious player of ST: TNG RPG. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Besides being extremely attractive to look at, it is chock full of useful information. By that, I don't mean just trivia and background details (which are nice), but information that can really contribute to the running of enjoyable episodes set in the Star Trek universe. If LUG can continue to produce supplements of this quality for their various Star Trek lines, there can be no question that they'll have genuine success story on their hands. That's something that we can all be happy about. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

The Price of Freedom –– The United Federation of Planets