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I am experimenting with a new style of my reviews. I will review by chapter, giving the factual review of its contents, and then give the good, the bad, and the ugly (if needed) for that chapter. I will close each section, where possible, with a salient quote from the book. Then I will give the miscellany and the final verdict.
Chapter One: Introduction to Lightspeed
It's the prerequisite in all role-playing games. Been there, done that. Let's just skip over it, shall we?
Chapter Two: The Intersteller Era
This chapter (roughly 30 page) opens with quick descriptions of the four quadrants of the Lightspeed universe, and quick descriptions of the major political powers in each (including megacorps).
Then, it moves on to the Technology descriptions, which has more detail; you'll understand exactly where Galactic technology has gone. Starships fall into three weight classes -- Starfighters, Starrunners, and Starships, in increasing order -- and their speed is measured in terms of light years per hour. ("Older civilian spacecraft from the less technologically advanced Old Earth Empires are often unable to exceed even several light years per day!", it informs us in a shocked tone.) FTL travel is accomplished by partially submerging the craft in Hyperspace, a "strange dimension where space and time do not exist". The more one submerges into Hyperspace, the faster one goes, but the longer it'll take to get your ship back fully into Realspace. Power is generated by a mixture of Zero Point Energy Converters (free energy -- with catches) and Fusion drives; gravity manipulation, from ship's gravity to antigrav flying vehicles to tractor beams to fine manipulations of spacecraft flight. Medicine take modern-day medical science, and adds cybernetics (supplementing flesh), bionics (replacing flesh), genetic engineering (improving flesh), anagathics, and regeneration to the mix -- and yes, there are gengineered and 'uplifted' races. 'Blasters' are used for offense and defense, and computers and robots are suitably advanced for the era (yes, there are true AIs, but you've never met one). And the entire galaxy can theoretically be liked together by the Hypernet -- a FTL communication system similar to the earthly Internet. (Just what we needed: popups at twice the speed of light.)
Then, the timeline of the Interstellar Era is detailed, over 600 years of history (beginning, appropriately enough, in 1947 Roswell). It's only two pages long, so not much can be gleaned from it.
After the timeline is a description of the Interstellar Federation, and its military arm, StarForce -- stop me if you've heard this somewhere before. It's a democratic republic of about a thousand member worlds (plus 25'000 'associate worlds' and 'colonies' with less rights); comparisons to 20th century America are largely valid. After this are detailed notes on the command, organization, and modus operandi of StarForce. After this, is information on AstroPol (the core world's police force) and the AstroPol Rangers (roving police of the remote colonies). Detail is similar to that given to StarForce, with more of an emphasis on what an Officer or Ranger is expected to do and what they might face. (And you don't find this out until page 101, but yes, Security Officers in StarForce have red shirts.)
Next is the Pan Solar Empire -- three guesses where it took its influence from. There's a dark, forboding Emperor (whose throne is a suitably arachnid walking wheelchair), who use AT-ATs, Stormtroopers, and Infantry -- I'm sorry, Death's Head Transports, SAMAS, and Grunts -- no, I'm sorry, Terror-Striders, Shock Troopers, and Conscripts (finally got it) -- to project his military might. The Emperor has been the leader for 330 years, using the vast economy available to him to secrely push for cybernetic and anagathic research -- so he may be the permanent leader. Children are chipped at birth, which is part ID chip, part tracking device, and part implanted shock collar; parents who cannot afford the birth tax are taken by the state, who have for the last ten generations trained the children from the age of 3 to be loyal to the Emperor and Empire above all else. And of course, the Empire has its Rebels.
The Old Earth Empires shows the game's influence from Traveller and Battletech. FTL isn't quite as fast here, and the world isn't quite as advanced. Japan's Space Defense Force is the most advanced on Earth, but held back by constitution and tradition; the USA is a corporocracy, with politicians requiring corporate sponsorship and political parties being replaced by franchises; the EU is torn from stresses within and without; other nations have colonies, but are usually too busy bickering with each over to ever meet the strength of the three greater nations. Even with tens of billions of people, being technologically backwards, and not as rich, most Earthers prefer the overcrowded, backwater planet to leaving their homeworld. Be it ever so humble...
The description of the Megacorps immediately following has a cyberpunk-ish influence. Megasoft writes the rules on computing (but no note on whether MegaApple, MegaLinux, or some other newcomer ever successfully challanged it); Consolidated Aerospace continues today's trend of constantly merging aerospace corps into one single space corp; Eurofahren has moved from just making high-quality sports cars (like the companies it bought out) to making high-quality gravcars, battle striders, and powersuits; InRo (Interstellar Robotics) controls domestic and military 'hardtech', while Manticore Biotech controls domestic and military 'softtech' (and both are restricted outside the Old Earth Empires). ("No longer do Megacorporations need to pressure a host government to invade another country for more resources. Now, they simply hire an army of mercenaries and do the jobs themselves.")
Then, it moves on to The Galactic Frontier -- and don't read Shatterzone or watch Cowboy Bebop while reading this section, because you'll want to move characters from there to Lightspeed. The Frontier is like Antartica, or the Old World a few centuries ago -- many empires claim large portions of it, but lack the power to control what really goes on. StarForce has some AstroPol Rangers garrisoned in the Galactic Frontier, but all they can do is honor requests for aid, not enforce their government's system of law over the rapidly-expanding, sparsely-populated Frontier.
The next section describes crime in the Lightspeed universe -- yes, Man (and just about everything else) is going to be as petty as they are now a few centuries down the road. Descriptions are given on the major criminal organizations. The 'Nova Syndicate', a combination of the Mafia, the Yakuza, and the open-source movement, is the major thorn in the backside of governments everywhere. Piracy is also a problem, and their tactics and ploys are described tersely. Finally, a description of the legal system of the Federation is given, with the suggestion that it is the basis of law in other corners of the world.
Finally, there is a description of the history of alien contact in the Lightspeed universe, with a over a dozen races detailed, from the prerequisite Ancients, to alien 'greys' (Reticulans), to Predator and Klingon knockoffs (Hunters and Krung, respecively), to cute fuzzballs (the Nerfel), to fuzzballs that aren't so cute (Mronians), to Borg-esque robots (controlled by the Nexus virus -- hmm), to races that conjure up images of Spelljammer (the Kk'kk *zz*), Gamma World (the Ss'lock), and Star Frontiers (the Yuzri), and a mix of almost-but-not-quite human races (similar to Rifts' D-Bees or the various Trek humans-with-funny-skin-color races). You even have Jawas (called 'Gremlins' here) and braincontrolling parasite (like Yeerks or the brain parasites of ST:TNG). And that's not all the races listed.
The Good: A huge, well-fleshed-out setting, that works not by trying to set it self as 'unique', but rather by embracing every genre cliche it could think of.
Every sci-fi cliche I could think of is represented in the races.
The Bad: In the Astropol section is a description of Astropol gear. Doesn't that belong in... oh, I don't know... the equipment chapter?
Also under Starforce, it varies sometimes on whether there are six or seven divisions. Fighters Pilots are sometimes considered their own division, and sometimes part of Security.
The Ugly: One of the alien races is called 'Heshians'. Does Mr. Conkle want to be accused of racial hate speech?
Chapter Three: Creating A Character and Chapter Four: Advanced Character Options
The system used in Lightspeed is the Fuzion system, which can be summed up as 'Hero seen through an Interlock-colored lens'. Character are rated in ten stats, which each are rated from 1 to 10 (and up, for exceptionally heroic characters); stats average 2-3 for mundane characters, 4-5 for heroic characters.
Complications can be taken at this point, to earn extra points to spend later; although it's possible to be a one-armed, ill-reputed, enemies-around-every-corner combat machine, you have to take more disads in Fuzion than in other RPGs to reach that point.
Skills are rated from 1 to 10 (again, with possibly higher limits for exceptionally heroic characters); Talents are either one-shot benefits (Martial Arts maneuvers, Ambidexterity, Blind Fighting) or improvements of a character's normal abilities (Conditioned, Lucky, Tough); and Perks are things the character has that take more than simply money or skill to buy (Contacts, Hidden Identities, Followers, and the like). Finally, equipment is bought, using Galactic Credits; the list of equipment and weaponry is concise and nondescript. If you want to take an alien race, they are bought with OP; all of the races can be bought, even on the low OP budgets of an Everyday hero.
The Good: It's Fuzion. Character creation is straightforwards, fast, and requires no table lookups at all; it can be done in under 30 minutes your first time, well under 10 every time after that. And even if that seems complicated, sixteen archetype templates (GURPS-style), fourteen educational templates, and 'advanced memberships' (more detailed versions of the normal Memberships) are there to help you out with character creation.
Complications are simplified in this version of Fuzion; you add the Frequency and Intensity of the complication, then multiply by the Importance. The results are the same as in normal Fuzion, but the math is much easier to work.
The 'advanced occupations and memberships' section tells you exactly what to expect out of a member of Agency X, at Membership Y. These 'agencies' include most of the military and police forces in the Galaxy, plus various private and criminal organizations.
The improvement of derived attributes is now done with Talents, instead of the expensive and inconsistent special rule of core Fuzion. Mr. Conkle, could you and Mr. Dour buy Fuzion from R. Talsorian for me? Thanks.
The Nerfel ("Cute fuzzy-wuzzy furballs from a primitive culture with an instinctual need to be loved") have a special power that allows them to block attacks by being too cute for a human to target. Rock!
The Bad: The character's Luck stat is described as 'Average of Characteristics x 2'. As well as an unusually complicated departure from normal Fuzion, wouldn't it have been easier to say 'CP / 5' (mathematically the same, but without having to average) and be done with it?
The Movement stat is still an outlier. Argh.
Evasion is still done with skills. This is one oft-abused element of Interlock that has to be taken out of Fuzion whenever possible.
The Ugly: The Hunters. They are uhgg-ly!
Chapter Five: Never tell me the odds!
"Lightspeed characters don't just sit around philosophizing all day. They're out saving the Galaxy and getting things done. You can't save the Galaxy without busting a few heads and stepping on a few toes."
This chapter covers the resolution systems of the game, for skills, combat, and healing. Fuzion's basic resolution scheme is Stat + (skill if applicable) + 3d6 versus a difficulty number; essentially, it's Hero or GURPS turned into a rollover system. (The full version of Fuzion offers other options, but Lightspeed is not meant to be a generic game system like Fuzion Core.) In a departure from standard Fuzion, a natural roll of 3 is an automatic failure, while a natural roll of 18 adds +3d6 more to the roll (but stops there, so you'll never have to deal with the science officer who just rolled a skill total of 135).
Combat works by spending 'phases' (one every three seconds) performing various actions; 'Attack Values' are rolled versus 'Defense Values'; damage is listed in d6s, and subtracts defenses. Hardy groundbreaking, but it's familiar and it gets the job done
After this are the systems for computer hacking -- as simple as d20 Modern or Bubblegum Crisis's -- and Lifting and Throwing, which now uses the standard Fuzion resolution system instead of the Fuzion Core's special exception. This chart is handy, so I'm going to be taking it for my other Fuzion games.
After this, are the rules for Healing and Recovery, and the Environment. In general, these are the same as Fuzion Core's, but have been modified to work more for sci-fi. For example, Medpacks allow for instant healing, while Corrosive atmospheres are handled like Poison, Drug, or Disease -- a good use of an existing mechanic. After this, are the rules for breaking stuff (and you know you want to) and wrapping the chapter up is an example of man-to-man combat.
The Good: Fuzion's combat system is a mix of Hero's (where the ability to be able to handle all kinds of crazy things, yet use the same set of rules, is important) and Interlock's (where the biggest need to handle things fast and furiously, in order to treat cyberpunk and animé right), and the resulting mix works like a dream. When players of either Hero or Interlock complain about their faults with Fuzion, it's never about the combat system; it's fast, flexible, and straightforwards.
Although combat is more descriptive than tactical, the option to use hex maps is presented. It's there for those who want it, it's not in the way for those who don't.
The Bad: The terminology used for skill rolls is a bit unfamiliar: sometimes AT (Action Total) is used, and sometimes AV (Action Value) is used, where normal Fuzion just uses AV. There's a difference, but it's confusing.
Is Falling damage stunning or lethal? It doesn't say.
The Ugly: Presence 'Attacks' haven't been fixed, but instead work like in Hero. Why bother having social skills at all if all social interactions boil down to is whether you roll a high damage effect on your energy blast presence attack? I almost took off a point from Style because of this, but luckily, it's not integrated with the rest of the system.
Chapter Six: Shields Up! Fire All Missiles!
This chapter covers spaceships and vehicle combat... what can I say? It adapts the normal Fuzion system to the needs of high-tech space combat, including hyperspace, sci-fi sensors, and a multi-fighter revision of the normal dogfight system to be used for great space battles (and yes, 'evasive maneuvers' are used).
The Good: Vehicle combat works much like the normal combat system (unlike in some games, like d20 Modern, where the vehicular and creature combat systems are wholly unrelated).
The Bad: Some Hyperspace maneuvers double the DV. That goes against the grain of Fuzion. I almost took a point off of Style here.
Chapter Seven: Creating A Story
Unlike most games, which give generic gamemaster advice, this game gives advice to gamemasters on how to run specific kinds of stories. For each story type, it gives descriptions of what players should expect out of that kind of game, and a few plot hooks specific to that kind of story. After this, are guidelines for quickly statting up NPCs. After this, comes the description of the Rule of X, a tool Fuzion uses for balancing superheroic stories, and somewhat of an outlier in the world of Lightspeed. It is finally wrapped up with the Experience section.
Chapter Eight: Enemies and Allies
Every game needs NPCs, and Lightspeed gives you them by the truckful. It comes with 52 premade NPCs, from every race, power level, and walk of life -- most illustrated, each fully fleshed out. Of course, if you use them as pregens for PCs new to Lightspeed, nobody will ever know...
Chapter Nine: Starships and Vehicles
Of course, all those pregens are going to need something to ride in. 31 starships, 12 mundane vehicles, and 4 battle-striders (mecha, which are 'inspired by' Star Wars and Heavy Gear in the same way Robotech 'inspired' Battletech and RIFTS). The designs are done in a Star Wars d6 style: if it works, use it, and don't overcomplicate things.
The Good: You see a lot of familiar designs. The Chi-Frame, Dagger, Dreadnought (and Super Space Dreadnought), Federation Assult Grav-Vehicle, Lancer, Nebula, and Peacekeeper come from Star Wars; The IU-9 may have come from 2001: A Space Oddysey; the Mako and Orion are from Star Trek; heck, there are vehicles that look like designs from the pulp comic's view of space travel, as well as ships that look like they came from SeaQuest DSV.
The Bad: Some of the art in this chapter looks like it was done on a Macintosh SE-30. I'm sorry, but just because your design is polygonal does not mean it'll look good in that 'retro' look.
Miscellany
Included in the download is Instant Lightspeed, a quickie version of Lightspeed based on Instant Fuzion. You can download it yourself, as well as view the sections 'cut out' of the full book and see previews of the materials within, at http://www.lightspeed-rpg.com/.
The art is a mixed bag. While some of it is good (the Rangers on the cover and page 103, the characters on page 48, the thief on page 79, the ship on page 135), some of it is mediocre -- thankfully, there is a lot of color in these artpieces, and no piece of art is inappropriate of jarringly out of place. The author himself does a lot of the art within -- and in places, it really shows.
With all the stuff in the book, an index in the back would have been nice. At least the PDF file includes bookmarks.
Although the Fuzion Core Rules itself is nice to have, it is not necessary for this game; absolutely everything you need is in the Lightspeed .PDF.
Mr. Conkle is a talented writer, and he can really make the Fuzion system sing. He may be the sign of where the system is going in the future -- and if it's going this way, it's a good sign.
Nearly half of the links in the back of the book to good Fuzion websites are now invalid. GRG took the Fuzion system, divided disadvantage costs by two and called it the Action system; Atomik Vortex Studios took their Fuzion plugins, did a few global search-and-replaces, and called it a 'generic game system supplement'; TUFW has been claimjumped; FuzionPrime just isn't there.
Where can I get it?
Although previously available at RPGnet's own store -- and the official website still links us to RPG.net -- Lightspeed is now solely available through RPGnow.com. And for a short amount of time, Lightspeed is just 50% off, so get your copy while this deal is still around.
The Final Verdict
Have you ever gone to one of those buffet places, and made yourself a huge ice-cream sundae? You know the kind I'm talking about, with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, caramel, hot fudge, nuts, sprinkles, M&Ms, those little gummi bears, candy orange slices, and anything else you can fit on? Well, that's exactly what Lightspeed is: it's not two great tastes, it's two dozen great tastes, all wrapped up into one massive sugar rush.
I have never given a perfect rating to a game before, because I don't like to cheapen its significance; a game that is given a score of 5/5 should be something special. (Go ahead, click the link to the side and look at the list of my previous reviews. Heck, a game made by a personal friend of mine has only been given a 3/4.) And, after careful consideration, I found that Lightspeed is special. Very simply, it is the best written, most complete system for science fiction selling today, and it is the standard by which other sci-fi games are measured.
