The Inside Scoop on Gaming

SHIPS OF THE FRENCH ARM, OVERVIEW.

Every science fiction RPG needs spacecraft and as a result every sci-fi RPG has at least one book dedicated to providing the GM with spacecraft. For "2300AD" that book is "Ships of the French Arm".

As can be guessed from the title the book deals with those ships encountered in the settings French arm of exploration.

The vessels covered range from two man fighters to spaceliners. Each vessel is covered with a picture, a short history and a stat's page for use with GDWs "Space Cruiser" board game.

SHIPS OF THE FRENCH ARM, COMMENTS.

The cover art is by "2300AD" regular Steve Venters and depicts a "Marseilles" class spaceliner and another ship not featured in the book orbiting an earth like world. While the cover art is good, the interior art varies from some very good illustrations by Tom Peters to some cartoon like images produced by "GURPS" regular Steve Crompton. One amusing touch is that some of the ships illustrated by Tom Peters have insignia taken from the television series "Star Trek".

However the one of the books main problems lies not in the illustrations, but in the fact that the book is intended to serve both the "2300AD" role playing game and the "Star Cruiser" board game, as a result, the book contains space-to-space missiles and two battleships. The missiles are items that should have been included in the "Star Cruiser" rulebook, while it is unlikely that the average PC group will come into contact/combat with the battleships.

Another problem with this book, I feel, lies with the decision not to include deckplans. While not strictly necessary, deckplans assist GMs in planning adventures aboard particular ships. In "Traveller", the 'Suliman' class scout, 'Beowulf' class trader & the 'Empress Marava' class Far Trader, were the main PC owned ships and as a result each of these vessels were provided with deckplans. In "2300AD" the equivalent vessels would appear to be the 'Thorez' class courier, 'BC-4' freighter & the 'Commercant" class frieghter. Unlike "Traveller", only the 'Thorez' class was provided with deckplans, in an article published in "Challenge 34".

One thing I did like is that for once, it appears that the writers and illustrators did work together, two of the illustrations show armed variants of the ships discussed and the writer covers the game effects of this modification.

SHIPS OF THE FRENCH ARM, VERDICT.

As might be guessed most of my dislikes about this book, relate more to the publishers decision not to properly support the product, than to anything concrete. This book appears to be the only source for "2300AD" spacecraft, aside from those ships in the "Star Cruiser" rule book, and any that appeared in "Challenge" magazine.

As it stands this is a strictly average piece of work, it does, what it is intended to do, but does not really stand out.

Ships of the French Arm
Ships of the French Arm Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 09/10/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) While a useful book, it was poorly supported by the publisher. Product: Ships of the French Arm Author: Timothy B. Brown Category: RPG Company/Publisher: GDW Line: 2300AD Cost: Page count: 96 Year published: 1987 ISBN: 0-943580-34-X SKU: 1011 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 09/10/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Space	SHIPS OF THE FRENCH ARM, OVERVIEW. Every science fiction RPG needs spacecraft and as a result every sci-fi RPG has at least one book dedicated to providing the GM with spacecraft. For "2300AD" that book is "Ships of the French Arm". As can be guessed from the title the book deals with those ships encountered in the settings French arm of exploration. The vessels covered range from two man fighters to spaceliners. Each vessel is covered with a picture, a short history and a stat's page for use with GDWs "Space Cruiser" board game. SHIPS OF THE FRENCH ARM, COMMENTS. The cover art is by "2300AD" regular Steve Venters and depicts a "Marseilles" class spaceliner and another ship not featured in the book orbiting an earth like world. While the cover art is good, the interior art varies from some very good illustrations by Tom Peters to some cartoon like images produced by "GURPS" regular Steve Crompton. One amusing touch is that some of the ships illustrated by Tom Peters have insignia taken from the television series "Star Trek". However the one of the books main problems lies not in the illustrations, but in the fact that the book is intended to serve both the "2300AD" role playing game and the "Star Cruiser" board game, as a result, the book contains space-to-space missiles and two battleships. The missiles are items that should have been included in the "Star Cruiser" rulebook, while it is unlikely that the average PC group will come into contact/combat with the battleships. Another problem with this book, I feel, lies with the decision not to include deckplans. While not strictly necessary, deckplans assist GMs in planning adventures aboard particular ships. In "Traveller", the 'Suliman' class scout, 'Beowulf' class trader & the 'Empress Marava' class Far Trader, were the main PC owned ships and as a result each of these vessels were provided with deckplans. In "2300AD" the equivalent vessels would appear to be the 'Thorez' class courier, 'BC-4' freighter & the 'Commercant" class frieghter. Unlike "Traveller", only the 'Thorez' class was provided with deckplans, in an article published in "Challenge 34". One thing I did like is that for once, it appears that the writers and illustrators did work together, two of the illustrations show armed variants of the ships discussed and the writer covers the game effects of this modification. SHIPS OF THE FRENCH ARM, VERDICT. As might be guessed most of my dislikes about this book, relate more to the publishers decision not to properly support the product, than to anything concrete. This book appears to be the only source for "2300AD" spacecraft, aside from those ships in the "Star Cruiser" rule book, and any that appeared in "Challenge" magazine. As it stands this is a strictly average piece of work, it does, what it is intended to do, but does not really stand out.