Strike Force Seven has a lot of good points; it’s an utterly brilliant work of art. However, it’s a emininately Republican work of art, and it espouses some politics I disagree with. However, politics aside, Strike Force Seven is an excellent buy. Or would have been, if not for the back cover.
The PDF includes a well thoughtout, well described origin for SF7, which neatly blends real world events and spy fiction nicely. Likewise, the setting’s main adversary, the terrortist group Skorpion, is fully fleshed out and has an interesting philosophy behind it- imagine Ayn Rand’s objectivism on crack, and backed by acid bullets and power armor, and you’ve got a good idea of what Skorpion is all about.
Incredibly cool new vehicles, weapons and gadgets are presented, fully in keeping with the source material. In the words of Warren Ellis, the Anubis Warrior’s grav-skiff, battle pike and enhanced ammunition are emminently ‘toyetic’. The vehicles and weapons used by both sides perfectly mirror the nearly-plausible but awesome HISS tanks, Dragonfly attack choppers and VAMPs I grew up playing with. In terms of new setting information, SF7 shows it gets the vital elements of the ‘liscense’ more than most officially liscened games. Playing a game of SF7 would feel like reading a really good, Larry Hama scripted issue of GI Joe.
In addition to emulating the GI Joe source matieral, SF 7 nicely expands on it. Real world conflict is integrated nicely into the fictional war in the setting. A favorite passage is an excellent sidebar dealing with the legal status of captured Skorpion agents; the answers the game provides (to wit: Skorpion agents are illegal combattants and are going to be taking a long vacation at Gitmo) are logical and argued compellingly. SF7 is equally well described, and provides enough detail about military life to allow gamers who have never served to run a compelling military-action game.
That “Republican” thing.
Rather than describe in detail exactly why I consider SF7 to have an explicitly Republican/conservative bent, I’m going to reprint this paragraph, in its entirity, from page 50 of the PDF.
" Skorpion is also active in the media of several nations, attempting to influence the public by showing the government in a bad light. Watchdog groups and investigative journalists are just two of the methods that Skorpion uses to expose the activities of Strike Force 7, who engage in illegal activities such as kidnapping of foreign nationals, assassinations, and assaults on foreign soil without benefit of declaration of war, all for the ‘good of the world’. Likewise they expose the actions of traditional armed forces and the blunders of governments; Skorpion is one of the major forces behind the outrage over not finding WMD’s in Irag. In adition, Skorpion has recently started developing projects for television, movie and book arena, all aimed at promoting the concept of a meritcratic society while generating more revenues to fund terrorist activities. "
The concept of ‘if you’re not with us, you’re against us’ and ‘good journalisim= aiding the terrorists’ have been Bush-administration talking points for nearly eight painful years. Are you, like the media in the SF7 world, enraged over not finding WMD in Irag? You poor soul, you’ve been brainwashed by Skorpion propaganda.
This paragraph hit hard and connected solidly, taking me rightout of the game world and enraging me with realworld issues. However, in and of itself, page 50 is not going to cause me to negatively review this book; at this point I can still give this book a great review.
I actually applaud Caias Ward for producing a cohesive, intricate fictional universe which reflects his beliefs and politics, and I’m glad someone out there is putting political content into RPG gaming in an intelligent way. Politics in gaming (when well done) helps the industry move forward from ‘hobby’ to artform, and produces more intelligent products. If not for page 82, this book would be a game supplement I may of disagreed with, but enjoyed reading. If not for page 82, you’d be reading a four star review right this minute.
Page 82. Page 82 hurts me badly.
Strike Force Seven was doing excellent; it was winning the race, but it stumbled and suffered a compound fracture two feet before the finish line. SF7 is the only roleplaying product I can think of which has ever FAILED solely because of its’ back cover.
The back cover is one of the two pieces of art in this PDF, with the other piece being the front cover illustration. The cover depicts a tough male soldier in stylized military garb pointing directly at the viewer. And if you’re a fan of the game’s source material, you’ll recognize the image immediately. It’s a picture of Hawk pointing towards the Joe team during a briefing, taken from an early issue of the Marvel comics series, and illustrated by Herb Trimpe. The image has been crudely photoshopped, so that Hawk’s hair is a light brown, and he’s now holding a SF7 ballcap in his offhand, but the image is instantly recognizable.
Now, the entire product is a homage to GI Joe, but it’s not a theft. It’s a polished game supplement, which imitates and expandss on the source material, which has consitantly displayed a spark of originality throughout the preceeding 81 pages.
THIS IS A THEFT.
Otherworld Creations stole an image from another publisher, and more importantly stole the image from the artist who originally drew it, and used it in their own for-profit game product. There’s no way they can justify this act- this single ruinous mistake. This plagarism can’t be called a homage; it can’t be justified as parody. They didn’t hire an artist to recrate an iconic image within the genre. It’s theft pure and simple.
At this point, I’d recommend the production and release of a second edition PDF, removing the stolen artwork, and a public apology to anyone who’s bought the product- not to mention one to Herb Trimpe and Marvel Comics.
[Editor's Note: If the reviewer's accusations are correct, this wouldn't be the first time that plagiarized artwork has shown up in a gaming publication. The most famous case was probably when some of Frank Frazetta's artwork was traced for use in Avalon Hill's Powers & Perils game. However, that case highlighted the fact that such theft is rarely an indication of anything but inexperience on the part of the art director, who wasn't able to recognize stolen artwork that was submitted to him. As such, blaming Otherworld Creations is probably painting with too broad a stroke, and definitely an independent author would have had nothing to do with the situation. --ed]
