Life on Utopia is a source book for the continuing expansion of the Heavy Gear Universe, mixing material for both role-players and tactical (miniature) gamers. The book deals with a former Earth colony world - Utopia - once ravaged by nuclear/anti-matter war and now, once again, under the control of an occupational Earth Colonial Force (CEF).
I have to say up-front that I like the book a lot. It's 'hard science' treatment of a world full of promise ruined by global war are reasonably logical and well thought out. Dream Pod 9 however have added a further, more human edge in considering the effects of the war on the outlooks of the population. Rather than a sourcebook concentrating on 'mutants' and 'Rad-Zones' the book paints a broad picture of industrious survivors, paranoid governments and a populous ground down by generations of soulless war.
The book suffers from a few minor problems, most of which I'd guess could easily have been caught at the editing/proofreading stage. It's these mostly minor glitches that stop the book from getting a top rating, more on them later...
Physically the book is 112 pages, laid out in a format consistent with other books in the Heavy Gear range; a glossy, colour soft-cover with a black & white interior. The text is, as ever, clear and easy to read and the artwork is well about average for the gaming industry.
The book's chapters each deal with various aspect of the colony of Utopia. The first chapter lays out the basics of the world, the fact that the surface is largely irradiated and that the planetary eco-system has long since broken down. As a result of this much of the population now live in huge underground cities, called Deep Cities. Overlaid onto this is an army of occupation.
The second chapter deals with the history of the colony, from its discovery, terra-forming and corporate-driven colonisation through to the 'present day'. Various tensions, skirmishes, wars and eventually nuclear strikes are outlined in a reasoned and believable tale of human posturing. The years after the war(s) are described, telling how the populous began to adapt their underground shelters into the Deep Cities, how setbacks like the Bellflower plague have left their mark on the Utopian psyche and how the shattered and much reduced population came to depend on machines and automation. The arrival of the CEF and the details of how they conquered the Utopians is also included. The planet's history is full of evocative names and events which helps build the setting nicely.
Chapter three is concerned with the planetary system and off-world assets of the colony. The main asset, a huge shipyard called Praxiteles, is in the process of using local resources and expertise to build further invasion fleets for the CEF to use against other colony worlds. This is fairly standard stuff.
Chapters four & five returns to Utopia and examines the four 'nations' native to the world. Three are true nations, the imperial, militaristic Republic of Steelgate (who received aid from the CEF in order to conquer the planet in recent years), the scientific/manufacturing elitist Industrial States of Kogland and the more bioscience orientated Greenway Alliance. The fourth 'nation' of independent city states along with unaligned groups like the fledgling resistance (to the CEF occupation), the surface scavengers (Wastrels) and the surface traders (Higglers) are also covered. National outlooks, international relations, army compositions and Deep City plans are all included in enough detail to kick-start any Role-playing game. Utopia seems ideal for lots of different gaming groups and adventure styles, from the oppressive deep city life through to rad-waste raids and salvage opps. the hooks are there. Chapter Six goes on to deal with the day to day of Utopian life for Deep City and surface societies and their extensive use of computers and Autos (ie robots) for everything from city control and construction to warfare. Several pages are devoted to the concept of the Deep Cities.
It is in chapter four that I started to really notice the minor problems with the book. Scattered throughout the book are annoying typos/layout mistakes but here I ran into a slightly more worrying problem. Try as I might I cannot reconcile the plan of Deep City Giza with it's cross section. Assuming I'm not stupid this either means that the diagrams are wrong in some way or that the text just isn't clear enough.
Chapter seven is a grab-bag full of goodies. Heavy Gear GMs get some sample hooks for a Utopian campaign, rules to deal with radiation and computer use (which won't look new to Jovian Chronicle players) and a few local creature templates; role-players get notes on creating native Utopia characters, native equipment and sample character templates.
Tactical players are treated to numerous Utopian vehicles; APES (Augmented Power Environ. Suit) are the smaller, local equivalent to the Terra Novan Heavy Gear. Ground and air transports, LOTS of Autos (semi-intelligent robot units) and Drones (remotely controlled units) and a centre-piece of the Utopian battlefield - a large command tank - to control all those drones.
For tactical players skirmishing on Utopia is something a bit different. The Utopians make heavy use of drone units (as human life as a commodity is considered too valuable to field regular infantry). While APES are conventional, crewed units, autos & drones require a controlling unit to activate them (ie give them actions). This could easily lead to a situation where there are more units on the board than action to go around...
As far as I can see there is only one big problem here for tactical gamers. The rules for drones are not included in this supplement (but the 'tech manual' supplement it seems). The vehicle write-ups could be a little clearer as the line between autos and drone is blurred. The battlefield AI unit for example seems a bit strange as it has no move, very poor fire control (but several weapons?), and no sensors and thus poses little threat unless it is mounted in a Battletank's cargo bay (which I assume is the case as the two have the same dimensions?).
For Heavy Gear role-players the book is a solid buy although getting existing characters onto the planet is not necessarily trivial; for Heavy Gear tactical gamers the book is also worth the money and may introduce a subtle change into your gaming although you will need to make sure you have access to the appropriate rules. For gamers using other Sci-fi systems, the war-spoilt planet detailed in Life on Utopia could be dropped into most any game to provide a rich setting in which to play.
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