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.