Disclaimer: I’m biased. You might call me a Macross Purist. I have tamed some what with age. Palladium is what I learned to Game Master with. I don’t use it anymore. Mekton is my default Mecha System. I still think Palladium works fine for some S.D.C games. Not a big fan of how they do M.D.C stuff. I wrote this review without reading a copy of the main Shadow Chronicles book.
Presentation I hate gimmicks. Publishers might try to make things sound new and inventive but a lot of them are just gimmicks. To me Manga sized RPG books is a gimmick. Sure it is more portable. I suspect it also cost less to make. It is slightly larger than a paper back and at $15.95 seems a tad expensive. Interior pictures are about the same size as they would be in a standard size RPG book. Text font is smaller but you won't strain your eyes reading it. Unfortunately the smaller size causes problems. It won’t stay open on your lap or table. There is less room on pages for text. Mecha Stats can cover several pages. For game play it is much easier to reference a single or double page spread. Maybe the smaller size will appeal to Stores. The book requires less space to the store. The size doesn’t hinder reading. Only possible hindrance I see is referencing the book during play. Layout and interior design is standard Palladium. Is there New Art? Define your definition of new art. If you own books with original line art you will be able to see that Palladium’s artists just drew copies of them. How about some new angles and action poses.
Mecha Statistics It is in my opinion that games should reflect their settings. I want things to work in games like they do in the book, cartoon, comic or movie they are based on. Some can argue that this leads to shorter Character life spans. Stats are often raised up to increase player survival rates. M.D.C. armor and weapon damage levels are products of the game designers for game play. I might not agree with the numbers but I understand the author’s intent. I will only draw attention to this when it is an extreme case. There has been a general increase in M.D.C levels and weapon damage in the game. Most game stats for mecha are pretty comparable. It might not play exactly like the anime but it seems playable.
I see no major faults when it comes to possible Mecha vs. Mecha issues. I do see a major fault when it comes to Conventional Ground Vehicles. You know cars, jeeps & trucks. They are all M.D.C rated and pretty tough too. What use to have an average S.D.C/M.D.C. of 500/5 for the Main Body now has an average M.D.C of 50. With the previous stats a handful of guys with automatic weapons or one with a bazooka could destroy your generic ground transport. Try doing that with one rated with 50 M.D.C for the main body. Windshields now got about 10 M.D.C. Conventional Ground Vehicles don’t need to be such strong M.D.C. structures. S.D.C. weapons will have no effect on them. Palladium seems to have a solution for this. Conventional man-size weapons can use either standard S.D.C or M.D.C ammo. A human (not in Mecha) can pose a threat to Mecha and dangerously strong jeeps. Yes the amount of damage from these weapons seems pretty high for their size. Now consider this, your basic UEDF Pilot Suit has a Main Body S.D.C. of 75. I can see problems using M.D.C ammo in a conventional gun when you have to switch from an M.D.C Conventional Ground Vehicle to a S.D.C. Human target.
Character Stuff Character Creation Process has gotten an over haul since the original Robotech & Macross II RPG. I like what I’m seeing here. More options might increase time to make a more specialized character. You will need the Shadow Chronicles RPG to make a complete Character. I admit I am seriously tempted to buy the Shadow Chronicles just to make some characters. This part looks like it would be the most fun for me.
There are new stats for famous Macross Saga Characters. Each has new write ups. At first I suspected it just a bunch of “facts” made up by Palladium but the write ups appear to match the official character profiles on Robotech.com. I guess I missed some Retcons. This is Robotech after all. We only see two ships on screen in the final episode of the Macross Saga but, since they say there are three, people accept it as canon. I will assume that all back ground text in the book no matter how much it doesn’t make sense is likely correct. I see several nods to fan speculation. It has heavily used the Robotech Reference Guide. Some names of Mecha (specifically the Zentraedi ones) will be new to you. Some are the original Japanese Macross names others are fan fiction creations from the Reference Guide. I believe that guide helped Robotech.com as well. Palladium seems to use them to the fullest. If you and your buddies debated about certain things or adopted official nick names chances are that Palladium has borrowed your ideas.
Random List of Good and Bad Things
Good Thing: They increased the Stats of your favorite Macross Saga Characters. You can still debate about who should be smarter or stronger but as a whole they look better. Character’s P.B. is one more noticeable increases. Lisa formerly a 12 is now 14.
Bad Thing: You determine the Zentraedi Overlord P.B. with a 10+1D4. The Overlord would be Dolza’s R.C.C. Does he now have a P.B. of 11 to 14? Remember Lisa’s is 14. Is her P.B. roughly the same as Dolza? He looks like a giant butt with pock marks. What an insult to Lisa.
Bad Thing: Claudia and Lisa have what I consider some impressive Hand to Hand combat stats. This is really just a flaw in Palladium’s Leveling System. Every skill increases as you level up. Not very realistic since it allows non-combatants characters with more experience to out class combatant characters.
Bad Thing: Lisa is 6th Level, has P.E. of 12 and 72 Hit Points. Assuming Palladium still uses P.E. +1D6 per experience level for Hit Point it is impossible to get 72.
Good Thing: Some infamous mistakes like the Lancer I Space Fighter have been corrected.
Bad Thing: Some crew numbers for certain Mecha/Vehicles are incorrect. Example the Tomahawk is listed as having a crew of two. In the animation we see the crew appear at least twice. There is only one crew member. Robotech.com lists one crew member. On Palladium’s message board the book’s author explain this error.
“That was a game design decision I made. There's no way in the world that one man could pilot that thing and fight it in any sort of efficient way. I don't care how smart your computers are, there are too many weapon systems on that thing for one man to use and pilot the battloid and use any sensors/radio/etc.”
Now I just want to scream stupid RPG hack! Robotech is anime. Ever heard of “Anime Magic”? If the sources indicates one Crew Member you go with the sources. This is just like the previous classic mistakes from Palladium’s past. Now we find out they may have been intentional mistakes. If I read that post before I bought a copy it could have been a deal breaker for me. I now doubt the accuracy of the rest of the book. Besides Role Players this book can be marketed to Macross and Robotech fans. These fans enjoy having long internet discussions over the smallest things. I think some of them can excuse an RPG for filling in the blanks but disregarding known facts is almost inexcusable
Summary This is Palladium. If you like their stuff you will like this, if you don’t you won’t. It is good to see an Official Game back in Print. There isn’t much that is ground breaking here. I do like what I see related to making new characters. The Mecha vs. Mecha stuff seem playable. Yes it is still inaccurate; Yes Palladium’s system has flaws. Yes it doesn’t reflect the setting but you can use it and have fun doing so. Even with all its flaws I enjoyed playing Palladium’s previous version of the game. No reason why you or I couldn’t have fun with the newest version. Should you buy it? If you are someone who collects it all then you already have a copy. If you already own the previous books and already made your own “corrections” just keep using those. If I pick up the Shadow Chronicles book and start playing maybe the Macross Saga Source Book will grow on me.
