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In Short

There are problems here, however. A great deal of the mechanics add little to the product and are of dubious use to many consumers. Dawning Star makes frequent reference to other products, such as Helios Rising. While those products are not necessary to enjoy Dawning Star, this product provides only a skeletal survey of the entire setting. Nevertheless, this is a complete setting that has a lot to offer d20 Future fans.

The Physical Thing

The Ideas

About 50 years have passed since the Dawning Star landed on Eos and now several different cities have begun to pop up. Eos is a wild frontier, with strange alien life living alongside horses and other species brought from Earth. Strange ruins of an ancient civilization dot the landscape, and humanity has already made contact with two alien races dwelling on the planet. Eos, and the whole of Helios star system, are ready for exploration and adventure.

Under the Cover

Chapter 1 History 12 pages.

A strange dark object hurtled towards Earth, causing humanity to band together in order to evacuate the few citizens they could in massive starships. These ships stumbled upon a strange alien device at the edge of the solar system and, in short order, the Dawning Star was alone in a strange new star system. This system, Helios, boasts robust adventuring opportunities but this product focuses on Eos (the world now inhabited by humans) while providing a broad overview of the setting.

Upon colonizing Eos the humans met two alien races. First, they encountered the Velin. The Velin look extremely similar to humans except they have less hair. They function at a much lower tech level, and are a nomadic hunter/gatherer people. Second, they encountered the Tentaari. The Tentaari are the greys from popular media, gray skinned aliens with large black eyes and thin frames. The Tentaari have only a very small presence in the Helios system, but they have established a trade relationship with the humans.

This chapter presents the very basics of colony formation and growth on Eos while giving the reader a general setting overview.

Chapter 2 Characters 52 pages.

This is the core of the rules additions for Dawning Star. Based off the d20 Modern and d20 Future SRDs, this product presents a variety of new classes, feats, skills, and other options.

This chapter begins by presenting the available races for Dawning Star: Humans and Velin. The Velin get +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Int, -2 Cha along with low-light vision and a few other bonuses. They’re played up as tough, less intelligent tribal folk and are all at Progress Level 3 (as opposed to 6 for humans). I was disappointed that only one alien race was available, and that it was little more than a “noble savage” concept. However, this is meant to be a game that involves human colonization of a new world as a central theme so I do understand the importance of encouraging human PCs.

The new Talents are a large mix in quality. Gravity Resistance Talents, for example, just don’t do anything on Eos – they would be more appropriate in a product that detailed the whole Helios system. Both Strong Heros and Tough Heros gain access to a line of three Rage Talents. These Talents are similar to the Barbarian Rage from 3.5 D&D and provide a temporary increase to Strength and hit points. However, the whole Talent chain is printed twice but with the word “Strong” Rage replaced with “Tough” Rage. While these three redundant Talents are the most extreme example of iffy content, there are others.

Some Talents are particularly narrow in application. Most are focused on the frontier aspect of the setting, presenting little science fiction flair but otherwise providing a good option for ruin exploring adventurers. Appropriate new Occupations are introduced as well.

New uses for old Skills are introduced along with two new Skills – Barter and Terraforming. Some of the new uses are neat, such as using Forgery to forge an artisans mark. This is worthwhile since most goods are crafted by individuals and not factories. That’s not really a new use, but it’s a good example of how the Skill can come into play.

Barter is a merchant skill used whenever a character buys or sells goods. I’m a little uncomfortable about the skill as it seems like Barter-focused characters could easily become very wealthy while those without Barter will have significant problems (losing twice the Wealth bonus they normally would). However, it looks to be a fun and flavorful addition and I can’t speak to how it works in actual play. In a setting and system like this, wealth is very important since it can be turned into powerful advanced technology.

Terraforming, however, seems like a pointless skill for all but the most long-term of campaigns (focused around Terraforming, for that matter). The check DC tends to range from 15 to 40, the skill takes the DC in days to make a check, and the terraforming takes the DC in years to complete. Even if the PC is involved in several mundane terraforming projects they will not bear fruit for 15 years. I would be surprised to see this Skill used in a game to any worthwhile end, and it seems like a poor investment for many players.

The new Feats largely represent small mechanical bonuses, such as bonuses to Skills and Saves. Additionally, there are a number of specific Feats that offer interesting and flavorful abilities. Street Irregulars allows a character to recruit flunkies from the community, for example, while Velin Exorcism Dancer allows the character to give her friends combat bonuses against the Vaasi (an evil alien race, see more below). The Feats further emphasize that, while this is a science fiction setting, the focus here is really on frontier colonists.

Two new Species Classes are introduced, the Human Survivor and the Velin Hunter, and each grants several useful abilities including +3 to stats. Each tries to stress the inherent strengths of their race – adaptability for Humans and tribal warrior for Velin. Eight new Advanced Classes are presented, and they’re a huge mix of usefulness and interest. The Gunhand, for example, is a sickly potent gunfighter who, in addition to full BAB progression, gains a variety of direct combat bonuses. The Rebuilders, on the other hand, are dedicated to repairing the city of Dawning Star through sophisticated know-how. They gain tool weapons, poison/disease resistance, several other relevant abilities, and a Sworn Enemy in vermin or animals. With Ranchers, Lawman, and others the Advanced Classes cover a good variety of sci-fi frontier roles. Two Prestige Classes, the Republic Ranger and Velin Chief, offer characters the opportunity to become truly powerful members of the setting at high levels.

On the whole the mechanics do a good job of supporting a frontier sort of play environment, though I anticipate that some of the Advanced Classes will be much more desired than others.

Chapter 3 Technology 46 pages.

A large and fantastic variety of weapons and armors are presented here, covering everything from frontier crafted firearms, saddles, and melee weapon compositions to lightsabers, plasma rifles, and powered armor. Every item is illustrated, and while the illustrations seem a little high on artistic design and low on functionality, they do capture a certain unique feel. Complete stats are provided for everything, and for equipment junkies this is an enjoyable chapter.

The vehicles include dirt bikes, helicopters, giant tanks, hovercraft, mecha, and starships of all sizes. Every item is illustrated, flavorfully described, and has a full stat block. It’s difficult to imagine how the designers could have produced a better equipment section, as everything here neatly fills a potential story need.

Chapter 4 World of Eos 22 pages.

This chapter begins with a general overview of the world followed by a simple global map. Eos is extremely Earth-like, thanks to terraforming, and the lack of any truly alien environments is both a disappointment and a blessing. It allows for roleplay in an environment players are familiar with, but which holds unexpected surprises. On the other hand, some folk may find it to be too derivative of Earth.

Every major outpost on Eos is given its own entry, which includes everything from population to exports/imports to difficulty to contact the black market. All told about 14 groups receive an entry, ranging from 2 pages to a quarter of a page in length. The largest city, Dawning Star (made from the original ship), gets a large map as well as a detailed entry. Important areas across the planet and major political factions also receive some attention, a few pages each.

The chapter wraps up with about 5 pages of example NPCs, from major named NPCs to generic NPCs that any GM can easily insert into their Dawning Star campaign.

Chapter 5 Galactic Survey 6 pages.

This is a simple but extremely well done overview of the Helios system. A large full page chart shows the nature of the system, right down to asteroids and moons. I commend the author’s knowledge of astronomy, as details such as gravitational stress destroying a world that got too close to the star and a moon with a close orbit causing giant tides have been included and add a lot of spice to the star system.

While this brief chapter is one neat plot hook after another, there’s really not enough information here to do much with it. Still, it’s nice to have some information on the Helios system outside of the colonized world of Eos.

Chapter 6 Xenomorphs 26 pages.

The first half of this chapter is dedicated to the strange creatures living on Eos. Fish, insects, mammals big and small – every single entry is illustrated, has complete game stats, and is very flavorful. Next to the Galactic Survey this was the most impressive part of the book for me. I will, without a doubt, be using some of these critters in other games.

The second half deals with the Tentaari and the Vaasi, the two older races that live on Eos. The Tentaari (the greys) have existed for millions of years, back to the ancient days of the Star Confederation. The Star Confederation was at war with the Vaasi and, ultimately, the two powers largely destroyed one another. Before the destruction of the Star Confederation they gave their wondrous technology to the Tentaari for safe keeping. This includes the jump-gate like devices that brought the Dawning Star to the Helios system.

Despite the many years the Tentaari have had to study and understand this technology, they never quite got around to it. Thus the interstellar network is falling apart and these Tentaari are trapped in the Helios system. Now, with their incredible intellect and powerful psionics, they seek to intimidate and control the humans in order to ultimately convince them to repair the jump-gate device at the edge of the system and perhaps other technology as well. Only a very small number of Tentaari live in the Helios system.

The Vaasi are a lizard/insect conqueror race that seek to destroy all other races, except the few servitor races they create. Towards the end of the war with the Star Confederation the Vaasi attacked the Star Confederation’s homeworld, Eos, and the last great battle was fought. The Vaasi ultimately won, but afterwards had no way to leave the planet. Now they’re still there, waiting for rescue, and they launch secret raids against the existing intelligent races while they bid their time. They make for good black hats (at least, their servants do) and remove most moral considerations involving killing enemies.

Both of these races have fantastic technology, knowledge beyond human understanding, psionics, and are meant to be plot devices and occasional allies/adversaries more than anything else. They add another element of mystery to the planet, but they just don’t work well for me. Their existence in the setting feels a little artificial, in part because it seems like only the humans can solve various problems which seem much more appropriate for these elder races to be working on. However, I’m sure that many readers will enjoy having ancient evil and beings of fantastic knowledge in their game.

Chapter 7 Master Control 10 pages.

This is the GM chapter of the book, offering the secret history of the Dawning Star setting along with a variety of plot hooks and game themes. The secret history is largely what I have sketched out above while discussing the two elder races – that the Star Confederation was at war with the Vaasi and Eos was where the final battle was fought (thus the planet is covered in technological ruins and strange spacecraft). There are several others, some of which I found to be quite interesting while others felt a little too artificial and forced. However, I’ll leave those for the folk who choose to purchase Dawning Star.

I really liked that the plot hooks reflect the sort of human colonization / frontier game that Dawning Star strives to be.

Chapter 8 A Day in the Life 18 pages.

This example adventure accomplishes several goals. First, it provides for a wide variety of challenges so that every character will likely find something of interest. Outdoor areas, storms, offline terraforming outposts, and other interesting locales and situations exist to challenge the characters. The adventure is written at three difficulty levels, so it easily scales depending upon the number of players and their starting level. All NPCs and challenges are clearly written out so it’s easy for a GM to use them in play. All in all this seems to be a fun, well done adventure.

However, during the course of this adventure the characters are likely to acquire a potent artifact. The adventure strongly recommends getting it away from the players soon, for balance reasons, and suggests having pressure put on the characters to sell it. I didn’t care for this part of the adventure so much, and feel like an example adventure shouldn’t require the GM to introduce and then find a way to take away a powerful artifact.

My Take

If your group enjoys d20 Future but wants a little bit less technological sophistication and a bit more frontier exploration then Dawning Star can take care of all the details.

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