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The Last Warhulk

Author: Richard Baker
Category: game
Company/Publisher: TSR
Line: Alternity / Star*Drive
Cost: $13.95
Page count: 64
Capsule Review by Papyrus on 08/02/99.
Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future Space
64 pages and perfect bound, it's professional appearance speaks well of TSR's $13.95 cover price. The art work is above average though there is a curious lack of any representation of the outside appearance of the Warhulk starship and I found that disappointing and distracting. Also disappointing, the deck plans show the ship to be hardly "massive" at all, 280m x 70m.

This is probably the most scripted adventure I have ever read. I've felt more freedom of choice reading a "choose your own adventure" novel. For a science fiction game it is also very deadly, what without access to magical instant healing. The environment is like HAL9000 on steroids, and with military training.

Players are recruited to join an expedition to stop an automated warship from continuing to fight a war that has been over for decades. The destructive capabilities of the warship are such that it's success would be devastating in loss of life. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) onboard is "best of the best" technology for automated fighting machines and has a dry sense of humor. In the process the PCs discover a double agent, a competing team of agents, the just awakened back up maintenance crew freed from cryogenic suspension, automated starfighters, security robots and beefed up maintenance bots. The "script" does allow for some alternate paths but provides little support for them as opposed to the detail given to the predetermined set of events. The players are led through several puzzle and hostile encounters all leading up to the climax with few options to change the outcome nor any real detail on what happens if they fail, like where would the AI go next?

I suppose The Last Warhulk would make a fine tournament adventure, or a "let's do something different tonight" game session. I'm afraid most gamers will not appreciate the fatalities nor the lack of options afforded them to affect the story line. There are too many statements like "make sure the players do/don't complete this section too quickly/slowly/in the prescribed manner". A creative GM should be able to fill in the empty details needed to deviate from the course laid out in the text. Nicely done, but buyer beware, this is not "your adventure" it's someone else's.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

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