The Ultimate Vehicle weighs in at 232 pages and provides the reader almost everything they need to know on creating a vehicle in the Hero system.
The book is broken up into nine chapters. The biggest and most important of these, are Chapter One, Vehicle Creation Rules, Chapter Seven, Vehicle Equipment, and Chapter Eight, Vehicular Combat and Adventuring.
You see, Chapter Two through Chapter Six, cover Ground Vehicles, Water Vehicles, Aircraft, Space Vehicles, and Mecha but they're really not meaty or vital to the book. They take the creation rules and add little tweaks to them and suggestions to simulate the type of vehicle and present sample vehicles to get you going and see how the system can handle the various types of vehicles out there. For example, under Water Vehicles, you buy swimming and have to decide how this vehicle is going to be powered. Will it use Rowing with it's many built in cost savings like Surface Only, OAF, and costs Rower's Endurance? Or will he go with Propellers or Wind Power? Lots of options included in each section.
The real beef though isn't these tweaks and examples, but the rules themselves. Chapter One covers all of the basics of vehicles. Need to know what type of talents, perquisites and other goodies a vehicle can take or what effects being a vehicle has one these abilities in the first place? For example, vehicles are considered to have ambidexterity for free and don't suffer an off hand penalty. How about simulating recording equipment with Eidetic Memory? How about using the Defense Maneuver for a quick vehicle or using the PRE stat for impressive vehicles? Consider chapter one your primer on using basic hero rules when dealing with the vehicle. This works well as it treats the vehicle almost like a character, minimizing the differences and allowing the reader to take knowledge they already have, and see how it fits onto a new subject.
Chapter Seven, Vehicle Equipment, is another useful section as it provides a ton of information for the reader. Now this being a role playing game, can you guess where a lot of time is spent on? If you said weapon systems, you are correct. The information here covers not only additions like targeting computers and statistical data like how much mass and volume said weapons take up, but example weapons like knockout gas grenade launcher and mega blasters. How about ion cannons and EMP generators? All covered. Of course some, like myself, wonder why the material wasn't incorporated when necessary into the text. For example, perhaps Mecha Weapons could've went with Mecha? I can understand how some of these weapons are all purpose and need would've liked to have seen that break.
Other important materials focus on providing the rules already in existence in game terms for vehicles via example. This works well when you're trying to tweak out your machine but you'll notice that the costs can add up quickly. Take Self-Destruct System. If the players are paying for their own vehicles, it's going to cost them 126 total points to get this at the level listed.
Chapter Eight is another important section, Dogfights, Car Chases: Combat and Adventuring. There are rules for entering vehicle combat, rules for having characters fight vehicles and all the situations that happen in combat. When do you need to make a control roll to keep the vehicle on the straight and narrow? What effects do different terrain have on the control rolls? What about vehicle speed and sample vehicle actions? All provided with examples and charts to help the material go down smoother. The rules allow GMs to simplify multi-weapon combat, for example when larger vehicles are fighting one another that have tons of weapons, as well as crew casualties.
Those who love tables will get their use out of Optional Hit Location tables that range from tank and Submarine, to Ship and Starship. Each includes a hit location table and an optional effects table. Useful for making combat more than a game of Battleship.
Chapter Nine is more for the players who deal with the vehicles. The mechanics, racers and inventors including archetypes, important skills, perquisites, talents and disadvantages. It's a short section and GMs will probably use it more than players as it's perfect for creating the Alfreds and other backup characters common to vehicle use but still useful for players who may want to try something different.
The book uses a three column layout with two columns being normally used and the third being used for pull out information. GURPS and a few other companies use this style of layout. Art ranges from fair to good but there isn't enough of it, especially with the example sections. Interior covers aren't used. Half a page is used for ads while that last page is blank. White space is use is fair in the text, as many times the pull out column isn't used and at the end of some chapters, there is extensive white space, made up for by the density of text in the main columns.
The Ultimate Vehicle book isn't for everyone. It doesn't break down the material by time frame or genre, but by type. Useful for those who want to see everything in that field, but less useful for someone say, running a Steampunk or Far Future campaign. The examples are well done and serve as excellent inspiration for the reader. The book takes current Hero rules and augments them without making them overly complicated. If you've got a hankering to play Mad Max or Night Rider, the Ultimate Vehicle book has something for you.
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