Introduction
Spacemaster has always been a
favorite of mine for the science fiction genre in its three iterations. The latest deeply resembles the Rolemaster
line, which is good in that it is a solid game system that caters to my taste
in gaming. Future Law offers many new
options for a Spacemaster, but it also shows what has
plagued Iron Crown’s products in recent years:
more is not necessarily better.
Part I: Introduction
Your usual introduction to Iron Crown’s
games and concepts, nothing notable here...just filler and advertising.
Part II: Privateers Extended
This section introduces four new races, three new
professions and a gazillion training packages.
Of the new races, three are playable while one is just for the sake of
being complete (the Xatosian Queen). None of the particularly got me all that
excited, but other than including a non-playable race there was not anything
that I objected to. The new classes
(academic, bystander and entertainer) feel more like NPC classes rather than
anything a player would use. I would
argue the entertainer and academic could be rolled into the bystander as that
class has rules to cover specializations for what they do as a profession.
The training packages are a hodgepodge of good, bad and duplicated
efforts. Many of the military and
profession oriented training packages are very redundant, for example: a
surgeon and surgical specialist. What is
worse is there is a bad combination of trying to make the professions
Privateers oriented and generic science fiction also. I think a more generic approach would not have
taken anything away from the setting presented in this go around of Spacemaster as it has so many options within the setting
that it has something for everyone.
The additional skills are adding more complexity to a game
that is already complex. But I will say
that the martial arts sweeps and adrenal moves are old friends from prior ICE
games.
Part III: The Character Expanded
This section offers all sorts of new background options for
a Spacemaster character and offers guidelines for
building said character. If there is
anywhere in this supplement that a GM needs to go over with a fine toothed
comb, it is this one. Like a similar book
in Rolemaster and Spacemaster Companion 2 from the
prior edition there is much in here that is worth merit and expands the
slightly tired background options offered.
On the flip side there is also a good deal of garbage and game balancing
issues squirreled away in here. As well
some of the perks are questionable (since when was suffering from dwarfism a
good thing?). The section on defining
your character is standard fare that has been seen in a many games, articles
and websites and reeks of filler material.
Part IV: The Rules Expanded
There are a bunch of optional rules and clarifications of
rules presented in this supplement. The
particular rules for the new background options should have been in that
section to begin with, but otherwise most of this material is optional and
entirely for a GM looking to add more rules to their Spacemaster
campaign. I did like the verbiage on
using Silent Death for space combat.
Part V: Tables and Record Sheets
A utility chapter of tables and character sheets for Spacemaster covering the rules introduced in Future Law.
Conclusion
Future Law offers a bunch of material for a Spacemaster game.
But when the trend in gaming is a streamlined sort of game, Future Law is
a shotgun blast of rules and options that a GM will have to dedicate a fair
amount of work to select what works for them.
At one point ICE had made it a point when it was converting from its
bloated second edition games (when Rolemaster had 7 compainions
and other rule books…) that it would have a simpler, streamlined game built
upon its previous games. While I like Spacemaster and enjoy it’s setting
and mechanics, supplements like Future Law prove that ICE did not really mean what
it said some ten years ago. The belief
that more is better is a fallacy that Future proves, no matter how much good
material is in it.
