The Inside Scoop on Gaming

(Note: I wrote this back in September, while preparing to leave for a patrol in Alaska. The disk turned up last night. It just looks like I'm the last guy in the universe to pick it up. Forgive my tardiness and the roughness of the review; the excuse isn't even too daffy)

I had started to despair that the great potential of Jovian Chronicles as an RPG would be completely overlooked. On a recent trip to a games store in Berkley, I was stunned to see a blue book in the Dream Pod 9 section. "Solapol?" The interplanetary police agency? How could they put the standard DP9 tech drawings and mecha rules in with that sourcebook? To my complete amazement, "The Solapol Sourcebook" is an honest to Jupiter sourcebook for role players. The JC setting can now be used for more than simple clashing mecha. Player characters have a place in the potentially dramatic and exciting setting.

Not only is "The Solapol Sourcebook" a good departure from the normal crop, it's a good sourcebook by any standards. Loads of background info, toys, character templates, villains, criminal organizations, and suspect operations. All are well done and provide numerous adventure hooks.

From a role-playing standpoint, the Chronicles have been rather dissappointing over the last year. More warship parameters are just not going to be appreciated at this point. Had this book been postponed due to the release of more warship deckplans, I had already sworn to throw my books overboard (i.e. over the side of the warship I live and work on). "Solapol" contains only three new ships and one new armored suit. The rest of the book is filled with extensive information on the history, branches, organization, and foes of Solapol.

The interior art is nice. Surprisingly, not a bit of it was done by Ghislain Barbe. Racine's illustrations are less anime than comic book. Many of the new weapons were depicted. Score. Dossiers on the major players of the setting looked good enough to be player handouts.

Gripes? Of course there are a few, but all are minor. Undershirt armor is mentioned, but no armor rating is provided. The fewer times I have to dig out the core rulebook to rediscover basic stats, the smoother the game runs. Grammatical errors abound. The last gripe: it's taken two years since JC was re-released for product this good to augment the line. A really good Earth sourcebook would complement this perfectly (HINT HINT). I've never met a JC tactical player, but this is the only good non-tactical supplement I've seen so far. Don't stop now.

The final judgement is this: buy the book. If you're already a JC fan, it is an excellent addition to the game. For those who are still debating whether or to get into Jovian Chronicles as a role playing game, "Solapol" is the first sourcebook to pick up. Books this full of info, decent writing and good artwork are too rare to be passed up.

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

Solapol Sourcebook
Author: M. A. Vezina Category: game Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9 Line: Heavy Gear Cost: 20.95 Page count: 128 SKU: DP9-308 Capsule Review by C.H. Gallant on 01/17/00. Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future Space Anime	(Note: I wrote this back in September, while preparing to leave for a patrol in Alaska. The disk turned up last night. It just looks like I'm the last guy in the universe to pick it up. Forgive my tardiness and the roughness of the review; the excuse isn't even too daffy) I had started to despair that the great potential of Jovian Chronicles as an RPG would be completely overlooked. On a recent trip to a games store in Berkley, I was stunned to see a blue book in the Dream Pod 9 section. "Solapol?" The interplanetary police agency? How could they put the standard DP9 tech drawings and mecha rules in with that sourcebook? To my complete amazement, "The Solapol Sourcebook" is an honest to Jupiter sourcebook for role players. The JC setting can now be used for more than simple clashing mecha. Player characters have a place in the potentially dramatic and exciting setting. Not only is "The Solapol Sourcebook" a good departure from the normal crop, it's a good sourcebook by any standards. Loads of background info, toys, character templates, villains, criminal organizations, and suspect operations. All are well done and provide numerous adventure hooks. From a role-playing standpoint, the Chronicles have been rather dissappointing over the last year. More warship parameters are just not going to be appreciated at this point. Had this book been postponed due to the release of more warship deckplans, I had already sworn to throw my books overboard (i.e. over the side of the warship I live and work on). "Solapol" contains only three new ships and one new armored suit. The rest of the book is filled with extensive information on the history, branches, organization, and foes of Solapol. The interior art is nice. Surprisingly, not a bit of it was done by Ghislain Barbe. Racine's illustrations are less anime than comic book. Many of the new weapons were depicted. Score. Dossiers on the major players of the setting looked good enough to be player handouts. Gripes? Of course there are a few, but all are minor. Undershirt armor is mentioned, but no armor rating is provided. The fewer times I have to dig out the core rulebook to rediscover basic stats, the smoother the game runs. Grammatical errors abound. The last gripe: it's taken two years since JC was re-released for product this good to augment the line. A really good Earth sourcebook would complement this perfectly (HINT HINT). I've never met a JC tactical player, but this is the only good non-tactical supplement I've seen so far. Don't stop now. The final judgement is this: buy the book. If you're already a JC fan, it is an excellent addition to the game. For those who are still debating whether or to get into Jovian Chronicles as a role playing game, "Solapol" is the first sourcebook to pick up. Books this full of info, decent writing and good artwork are too rare to be passed up. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)