The Inside Scoop on Gaming

There I was in my local game shop, torn between Jovian Chronicles Mechanical Catalogue (henceforth known as MC) and Over The Edge, 2nd Edition. Now due to DP9's deplorable inability to actually put a blurb on the back of a book, I had no idea what the MC might contain, and I surmised (reasonably in my opinion) that it might contain the construction rules the lack of which had blighted the main book.

How foolish I was..

So I bought it, construction rules being the key part of any mecha campaign. Opening it up,I examined the contents page. Hmm.. no construction rules? Nope, not even one. They then kindly add insult to injury by giving us entirely peripheral sheets for our own ships and mecha. How pray tell are we supposed to create them? Sure, we can rip off much of Heavy Gear and interpolate their mechs, but frankly I do not enjoy paying £13 for a book of other people's mechs. This insult is again compounded by the ge nericness of many of mecha.

So what is good about DP9's cruel joke of a sourcebook? Well, the artwork as ever is great, the spaceships are quite well done (normally, I can't be bothered to design many ships) and the best thing for me was the CEGA campaign setting. CEGA, for those of you not in the know, are the "bad guys" of Jovian Chronicles (the Evil Empire if you will) but quite frankly (as with many villains), they're so much cooler than the "good guy" JAF. The CEGA suffered from being ignored somewhat in the main JC book, bu t this mistake is largely rectified.

The mecha are quite good, if generic, and I love the dinky worker robots. However, once again the mechs and technology are weighted in favour of the JAF. I don't know, but I prefer a level playing field.. there's little heroic in shooting those who are technologically inferior to you.

So to conclude, it's not a rip off. There is probably just enough here to justify the price tag, but I was intensely disappointed by the lack of construction rules. No great shakes though.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Jovian Chronicles: Mechaical Catalogue
Author: Marc A. Vezina Category: game Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9 Cost: £12.99 Page count: 136 ISBN: 1-896776-18-3 Capsule Review by Professional Cynic on 10/08/97. Genre tags: none	There I was in my local game shop, torn between Jovian Chronicles Mechanical Catalogue (henceforth known as MC) and Over The Edge, 2nd Edition. Now due to DP9's deplorable inability to actually put a blurb on the back of a book, I had no idea what the MC might contain, and I surmised (reasonably in my opinion) that it might contain the construction rules the lack of which had blighted the main book. How foolish I was.. So I bought it, construction rules being the key part of any mecha campaign. Opening it up,I examined the contents page. Hmm.. no construction rules? Nope, not even one. They then kindly add insult to injury by giving us entirely peripheral sheets for our own ships and mecha. How pray tell are we supposed to create them? Sure, we can rip off much of Heavy Gear and interpolate their mechs, but frankly I do not enjoy paying £13 for a book of other people's mechs. This insult is again compounded by the ge nericness of many of mecha. So what is good about DP9's cruel joke of a sourcebook? Well, the artwork as ever is great, the spaceships are quite well done (normally, I can't be bothered to design many ships) and the best thing for me was the CEGA campaign setting. CEGA, for those of you not in the know, are the "bad guys" of Jovian Chronicles (the Evil Empire if you will) but quite frankly (as with many villains), they're so much cooler than the "good guy" JAF. The CEGA suffered from being ignored somewhat in the main JC book, bu t this mistake is largely rectified. The mecha are quite good, if generic, and I love the dinky worker robots. However, once again the mechs and technology are weighted in favour of the JAF. I don't know, but I prefer a level playing field.. there's little heroic in shooting those who are technologically inferior to you. So to conclude, it's not a rip off. There is probably just enough here to justify the price tag, but I was intensely disappointed by the lack of construction rules. No great shakes though. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

Jovian Chronicles: Mechaical Catalogue