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Blue Planet is a high-end, realistic "waterpunk" (cyberpunk on a waterworld) RPG, the second product out from Biohazard Games, and their flagship game.

I was lucky enough to catch a demo at Origins and managed to get the rulebook hot off the presses, and rarely have I been as impressed with a science fiction setting in any medium, whether movie, novel or game (the rules aren't bad either). The rulebook, weighing in at just under 350 pages, is almost a worldbook, with about five-sixths of its length dedicated to the alien setting.

And what a setting...

Most of the time, especially in television, films, or gaming products, "science fiction" or "sci-fi" is just a label given to anything with props of the genre, such as robots, aliens, space travel or high technology. Unfortunately, most of the time, there is no science behind the fiction, such as the computer virus in "Independence Day" infecting an alien computer system, or the technobabble that explains nothing in "Star Trek," or the unrealistic effects of explosive decompression in most movies (hint: people do not explode when exposed to vacuum). Although science-fantasy can sometimes work right (like "Star Wars"), I've often wished for more realistic, hardcore, science fiction.

Blue Planet is unique among sci-fi RPGs in that it has one of the most believable and rigorously detailed settings ever (more so than Traveller - no psionics!). The creators paid strict attention in making the game setting, Poseidon, a highly realistic alien water planet, with believable climate, geography, ecology and political situations. While even an oceanographer would admire the details (not surprising, since Jeff Barber teaches oceanography when he's not working on Blue Planet), it's hardly boring or staid. Poseidon is a frontier planet rife with danger, intrigue and possibilities a dozen campaigns.

200 years from now, the human race has pretty much wrecked its environment. Uncountable plant and animal species have gone extinct, and humanity has just begun rebuilding in the wake of a 75-year worldwide famine. Just before the disaster, a mysterious artificial wormhole was discovered a fair distance out beyond the edge of the solar system. Expeditions discovered that the wormhole led to another star system 35 light years away. The second planet of the system covered with a single vast ocean and amazingly suitable for human life, was named Poseidon, and one major colony ship was sent there before civilization collapsed on Earth, and the colonists were given up for as lost.

Recently, however, the GEO (Global Ecology Organization) and various Incorporates (read: Mega-Corps) have rebuilt the Earth's economies (but not ecology) and have recontacted Poseidon, only to discover that the colonists have gone "native," abandoning their run-down technology for simple, tribal life as fisherfolk. When the discovery of a "xenosilicate" ore revolutionizes genetic engineering, a new gold rush brings new settlers, greed and Incorporate warfare to the planet, threatening to destabilize the ecology of Poseidon. Some natives start ecoterrorist groups to protect their oceans from being despoiled, while the GEO tries to maintain law and order with their genetically engineered Supertroopers and Marshalls. Meanwhile, the rarely-glimpsed and enigmatic aborigines which dwell beneath the ocean surface begin reacting to the human presence in a decidedly unfriendly manner.

The rulebook presents this future setting and Poseidon itself in exquisite and entertaining detail. Every page is info-dense and text-dense, but readable, with professional layout, well-written fiction boxes, maps of the planet and the main island archipelago, and "GM-only" data windows with lots of secret information, most of which give good plot hooks for short adventures or longer campaigns. Although there's a lot of scientific data in here, it's mostly in layman's terms, and the articles read more like National Geographic than like a textbook. There are extensive sections on the natives, the new colonists, the GEO, the various Incorporates, five of the main settlements, the ecology (both surface and underwater), mining of "Long John" (nickname for the ore), the fierce hurricane weather, and the ancient legacy of the mysterious aborigines and their seemingly empathic powers (there's even a good scientific explanation for these! Agent Scully would be proud). Suffice it to say that the aborigines and their secrets turn out to be quite neat, but some of the cool details have been left for future sourcebooks.

I would have expected information on Earth and the solar colonies in the 2199 setting to have been saved for a later sourcebook, but there's an entire chapter given over to it, with a large portion dedicated to Earth, even more dirt on the Incorporates, and enough information on the Lunar, Martian and Jovian colonies to run adventures on any one of them.

The whole book is black and white, but the visual design is really good. There are sparse but decent illustrations of daily life, and a wildlife overview with excellent (but too small to appreciate) pictures and game data of local flora and fauna (ranging from airborne hydrogen-inflated jellyfish to 75-meter leviathans that eat submarines for lunch), which is one of my favorite sections. The equipment section, which has a comprehensive selection of computer technology, sensors, survival gear, weapons and vehicles (much, much more complete than "The Babylon Project," and comparable to "Shadowrun"), has good design art, too, albeit not as much as a Palladium game. The only thing missing, I thought, was a sample layout of a typical underwater dome, which is where quite a few adventures might take place.

For cyberpunk fans, the cybertechnology and "biomods" are well-thought-out and useful. There's an emphasis on technology for surviving on an ocean planet (rewiring your metabolism to enable you to drink salt water, or to even breathe through gills) and not on toys for combat monsters (except for the Supertrooper package and the Accelerated Neurons), unlike some cyberpunk games I will not name.

Oh, and did I mention the uplifted dolphins? Blue Planet has a dozen pages or so focusing on cetaceans who have been genetically altered to attain human-like IQ levels. The rules for playing a dolphin or killer whale character are mostly sufficient, although it's up to the GM to adapt the given human professions into cetacean professions (with some guidelines provided). Rather than looking like something slapped on as an afterthought, uplifted cetaceans have been written into just about every chapter: there are dolphins and orcas among the natives descended from the first colony, as well as cetaceans working for the GEO, cetacean cybertech to allow for interaction with surface-dwellers, and even an all-dolphin Incorporate state.

For most of its length, Blue Planet is more worldbook than anything else. Unlike "Star Wars" or "The Babylon Project," it doesn't have an extensive introduction to roleplaying, just a token page and a half which makes it clear that this is a product aimed at mature, experienced gamers. The system itself is made up entirely of simple percentile skill-based mechanics, with personal attributes (which provide modifiers to skills) in percentile as well. In practice, I've found that the system works about as well as any other percentile-based game, such as "The Call of Cthulhu."

The only problem I have with the system is that it has an overly involved character generation system. While it doesn't run through the character's entire past life (like in "Traveller" or "The Babylon Project"), the sheer amount of work needed to make a character rivals that of "Twilight 2000." We're talking about 14 personal attributes and 5 secondary attributes based on Awareness (yes, the 5 senses!), and lots of point allocation for all the skills, based on any one of 40 profession templates. In other words, expect to take close to an hour for each player to make a character, at least the first time around. Yes, there are character worksheets to be photocopied.

On the other hand, making a character is pretty flexible, with no arbitrary restrictions on wealth, education level (which determines how many points you have for skills) or number of biomods except for what the GM puts a cap on. This system does not have many built-in balances, as it is assumed that the GM and players are already experienced enough to balance themselves.

Combat is fast and very lethal in Blue Planet, which again reflects the fact that this is a realistic, not cinematic, game. There are no "hit points," but rather a trimmed-down version of the hit tables from "Killer Crosshairs," the previous Biohazard product, and culmulative "trauma levels" to roll for, for remaining conscious. The concept of rolling for Initiative checks, and not getting to act if one fails, is definitely not a familiar one to most gamers, and takes a little getting used to.

There are rules for 3-D vehicular combat (the lack of which is another beef I have with "The Babylon Project") for anything from submarine warfare to aerial duels, which seem simple enough, although I've yet to try these in playtest. I'm a bit annoyed at the fact that the vehicles have stats for combat movement, but no actual speed in kph for long-distance travel. Luckily, a conversion multiplier is given (useful if you want to run Blue Planet with a different system; however, combat damage is measured with a sliding scale, making weapons stats harder to convert).

There is no introductory adventure provided, which annoys me. Then again, the game has been written specifically for experienced gamers who ought to be able to take the ball and run with it. While the overwhelming quantity of "GM-only" information on various people and organizations provide plot hooks, the GM is going to have to do a lot of preparation for a game.

Finally, the index is pretty good, but not entirely inclusive, owing to the fact that there's so damn much to cross-reference.

To sum it all up, you can take or leave the game system, but the source material for the Poseidon setting (over 280 pages) is rich enough for two or three sourcebooks for any other sci-fi RPG. Blue Planet, I'm told, has been several years in the making, and it really shows in the information density. It's well worth your $29.95 [Editor's note-- the actual price is $27.96], and in keeping with its environmentalist theme, 10% of the profits go to Jacques Cousteau's (to whom the game is dedicated) Calypso Society. That is, if the game takes off turns a profit. A friend commented: "They have _got_ to be losing money on this." I just hope that he's wrong, that there's a market out there for a truly intelligent science fiction RPG.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Blue Planet
Author: Jeff Barber Category: game Company/Publisher: Biohazard Games Inc. Reviewed by Tun Kai Poh on 08/03/97. Genre tags: none	Blue Planet is a high-end, realistic "waterpunk" (cyberpunk on a waterworld) RPG, the second product out from Biohazard Games, and their flagship game. I was lucky enough to catch a demo at Origins and managed to get the rulebook hot off the presses, and rarely have I been as impressed with a science fiction setting in any medium, whether movie, novel or game (the rules aren't bad either). The rulebook, weighing in at just under 350 pages, is almost a worldbook, with about five-sixths of its length dedicated to the alien setting. And what a setting... Most of the time, especially in television, films, or gaming products, "science fiction" or "sci-fi" is just a label given to anything with props of the genre, such as robots, aliens, space travel or high technology. Unfortunately, most of the time, there is no science behind the fiction, such as the computer virus in "Independence Day" infecting an alien computer system, or the technobabble that explains nothing in "Star Trek," or the unrealistic effects of explosive decompression in most movies (hint: people do not explode when exposed to vacuum). Although science-fantasy can sometimes work right (like "Star Wars"), I've often wished for more realistic, hardcore, science fiction. Blue Planet is unique among sci-fi RPGs in that it has one of the most believable and rigorously detailed settings ever (more so than Traveller - no psionics!). The creators paid strict attention in making the game setting, Poseidon, a highly realistic alien water planet, with believable climate, geography, ecology and political situations. While even an oceanographer would admire the details (not surprising, since Jeff Barber teaches oceanography when he's not working on Blue Planet), it's hardly boring or staid. Poseidon is a frontier planet rife with danger, intrigue and possibilities a dozen campaigns. 200 years from now, the human race has pretty much wrecked its environment. Uncountable plant and animal species have gone extinct, and humanity has just begun rebuilding in the wake of a 75-year worldwide famine. Just before the disaster, a mysterious artificial wormhole was discovered a fair distance out beyond the edge of the solar system. Expeditions discovered that the wormhole led to another star system 35 light years away. The second planet of the system covered with a single vast ocean and amazingly suitable for human life, was named Poseidon, and one major colony ship was sent there before civilization collapsed on Earth, and the colonists were given up for as lost. Recently, however, the GEO (Global Ecology Organization) and various Incorporates (read: Mega-Corps) have rebuilt the Earth's economies (but not ecology) and have recontacted Poseidon, only to discover that the colonists have gone "native," abandoning their run-down technology for simple, tribal life as fisherfolk. When the discovery of a "xenosilicate" ore revolutionizes genetic engineering, a new gold rush brings new settlers, greed and Incorporate warfare to the planet, threatening to destabilize the ecology of Poseidon. Some natives start ecoterrorist groups to protect their oceans from being despoiled, while the GEO tries to maintain law and order with their genetically engineered Supertroopers and Marshalls. Meanwhile, the rarely-glimpsed and enigmatic aborigines which dwell beneath the ocean surface begin reacting to the human presence in a decidedly unfriendly manner. The rulebook presents this future setting and Poseidon itself in exquisite and entertaining detail. Every page is info-dense and text-dense, but readable, with professional layout, well-written fiction boxes, maps of the planet and the main island archipelago, and "GM-only" data windows with lots of secret information, most of which give good plot hooks for short adventures or longer campaigns. Although there's a lot of scientific data in here, it's mostly in layman's terms, and the articles read more like National Geographic than like a textbook. There are extensive sections on the natives, the new colonists, the GEO, the various Incorporates, five of the main settlements, the ecology (both surface and underwater), mining of "Long John" (nickname for the ore), the fierce hurricane weather, and the ancient legacy of the mysterious aborigines and their seemingly empathic powers (there's even a good scientific explanation for these! Agent Scully would be proud). Suffice it to say that the aborigines and their secrets turn out to be quite neat, but some of the cool details have been left for future sourcebooks. I would have expected information on Earth and the solar colonies in the 2199 setting to have been saved for a later sourcebook, but there's an entire chapter given over to it, with a large portion dedicated to Earth, even more dirt on the Incorporates, and enough information on the Lunar, Martian and Jovian colonies to run adventures on any one of them. The whole book is black and white, but the visual design is really good. There are sparse but decent illustrations of daily life, and a wildlife overview with excellent (but too small to appreciate) pictures and game data of local flora and fauna (ranging from airborne hydrogen-inflated jellyfish to 75-meter leviathans that eat submarines for lunch), which is one of my favorite sections. The equipment section, which has a comprehensive selection of computer technology, sensors, survival gear, weapons and vehicles (much, much more complete than "The Babylon Project," and comparable to "Shadowrun"), has good design art, too, albeit not as much as a Palladium game. The only thing missing, I thought, was a sample layout of a typical underwater dome, which is where quite a few adventures might take place. For cyberpunk fans, the cybertechnology and "biomods" are well-thought-out and useful. There's an emphasis on technology for surviving on an ocean planet (rewiring your metabolism to enable you to drink salt water, or to even breathe through gills) and not on toys for combat monsters (except for the Supertrooper package and the Accelerated Neurons), unlike some cyberpunk games I will not name. Oh, and did I mention the uplifted dolphins? Blue Planet has a dozen pages or so focusing on cetaceans who have been genetically altered to attain human-like IQ levels. The rules for playing a dolphin or killer whale character are mostly sufficient, although it's up to the GM to adapt the given human professions into cetacean professions (with some guidelines provided). Rather than looking like something slapped on as an afterthought, uplifted cetaceans have been written into just about every chapter: there are dolphins and orcas among the natives descended from the first colony, as well as cetaceans working for the GEO, cetacean cybertech to allow for interaction with surface-dwellers, and even an all-dolphin Incorporate state. For most of its length, Blue Planet is more worldbook than anything else. Unlike "Star Wars" or "The Babylon Project," it doesn't have an extensive introduction to roleplaying, just a token page and a half which makes it clear that this is a product aimed at mature, experienced gamers. The system itself is made up entirely of simple percentile skill-based mechanics, with personal attributes (which provide modifiers to skills) in percentile as well. In practice, I've found that the system works about as well as any other percentile-based game, such as "The Call of Cthulhu." The only problem I have with the system is that it has an overly involved character generation system. While it doesn't run through the character's entire past life (like in "Traveller" or "The Babylon Project"), the sheer amount of work needed to make a character rivals that of "Twilight 2000." We're talking about 14 personal attributes and 5 secondary attributes based on Awareness (yes, the 5 senses!), and lots of point allocation for all the skills, based on any one of 40 profession templates. In other words, expect to take close to an hour for each player to make a character, at least the first time around. Yes, there are character worksheets to be photocopied. On the other hand, making a character is pretty flexible, with no arbitrary restrictions on wealth, education level (which determines how many points you have for skills) or number of biomods except for what the GM puts a cap on. This system does not have many built-in balances, as it is assumed that the GM and players are already experienced enough to balance themselves. Combat is fast and very lethal in Blue Planet, which again reflects the fact that this is a realistic, not cinematic, game. There are no "hit points," but rather a trimmed-down version of the hit tables from "Killer Crosshairs," the previous Biohazard product, and culmulative "trauma levels" to roll for, for remaining conscious. The concept of rolling for Initiative checks, and not getting to act if one fails, is definitely not a familiar one to most gamers, and takes a little getting used to. There are rules for 3-D vehicular combat (the lack of which is another beef I have with "The Babylon Project") for anything from submarine warfare to aerial duels, which seem simple enough, although I've yet to try these in playtest. I'm a bit annoyed at the fact that the vehicles have stats for combat movement, but no actual speed in kph for long-distance travel. Luckily, a conversion multiplier is given (useful if you want to run Blue Planet with a different system; however, combat damage is measured with a sliding scale, making weapons stats harder to convert). There is no introductory adventure provided, which annoys me. Then again, the game has been written specifically for experienced gamers who ought to be able to take the ball and run with it. While the overwhelming quantity of "GM-only" information on various people and organizations provide plot hooks, the GM is going to have to do a lot of preparation for a game. Finally, the index is pretty good, but not entirely inclusive, owing to the fact that there's so damn much to cross-reference. To sum it all up, you can take or leave the game system, but the source material for the Poseidon setting (over 280 pages) is rich enough for two or three sourcebooks for any other sci-fi RPG. Blue Planet, I'm told, has been several years in the making, and it really shows in the information density. It's well worth your $29.95 [Editor's note-- the actual price is $27.96], and in keeping with its environmentalist theme, 10% of the profits go to Jacques Cousteau's (to whom the game is dedicated) Calypso Society. That is, if the game takes off turns a profit. A friend commented: "They have _got_ to be losing money on this." I just hope that he's wrong, that there's a market out there for a truly intelligent science fiction RPG. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)