In the mid 80s, a couple of TSR vets broke off and started their own company, Pacesetter. It was during this period that RPGs were attempting to break into the mass market, with simpler games targeted at the masses. One of these games, and the subject of this review, was STAR ACE. Of course, the mass market bid failed for all RPGs, and as a result, several good games disappeared (again, this includes STAR ACE). I wanted to do this review because there isn’t one on this game in the archives, and I like to inform those that are curious about retro-games they may never see. I also wouldn’t be surprised if this little know gem is just the type of game a number of new gamers have been searching for.
This is sort of a mega-review, as I will not only cover the rules (boxed set) but also every supplement ever produced for the game (that’s 4 adventures, a book of aliens, and a GM screen). I hope it is informative, and that anyone with questions asks them in the forum, before it disappears from the front page :). I also hope that any old time fans of the game offer up any opinions and comments on the game, and help me to answer questions, so we get some different points of view.
The last thing I would like to cover in the introduction section, is the fact that the rights to this game has been purchased a while back. It is being produced as a d20 PDF. While personally, I’m not a huge d20 fan, and I’m not keen on PDFs, it looks like some real neat things are being done with it. I would have preferred to see it produced in regular book form and a system a bit closer to the original (according to Philip Reed, me may see that in the future :D), but this is much better than seeing a great game bite the big one. Visit the site, and check out the free download, it will give you a good idea of what the Pacesetter version is like, since the 11 page Primer is almost (if not exactly) word for word the same setting material and race descriptions as in the Pacesetter game.
http://www.staracerpg.com/
THE TONE:
The thing that sets STAR ACE apart from any other science fiction RPG is it’s tone. “Star Ace is a free-wheeling game of swashbuckling adventure in outer space.” SA is very up front about the flavor of this game. “This is a game of action and adventure-it’s not a game of science theory and fact. Hard scientific theory (or even fact) does not play an integral part in the game system.” If your looking for hard science you’re in the wrong spot. If your sick of hard science, or just never had a taste for it at all (like me) then, SA might be just the game for you! If I was asked to describe SA, I would say that it is very much like comic book science fiction, or saturday morning cartoon science fiction. Good clean action packed fun! And I wouldn’t have my space adventures any other way!
THE SETTING:
SA takes place in a HUGE galaxy around the year 3512, with over 8,000 inhabited planets in the Empire, and over 2,000 in the Alliance. Between the Alliance Federation space and the Imperial Zones, lies the “neutral” zones, known as the Wilderness region, and the Storm region. Off in an unknown sector is the Galactic Core, where a race known as the Xenophobes, makes it’s home (but more on them later!). The main setting area is in the Wilderness region, and to a lesser extent, the Imperial Zones, although adventures can take place anywhere the GM (actually called CM, Campaign Master, in this game, but I like GM better) wants.
There are nice little sections in the rules books about the history of the Empire, Alliance, and the Star Teams role (the groups the PCs belong to). You also get stats and details on the important NPCs. It is enough information to give you a very good idea of what is going on, but not so much that it overwhelms you. The basics are that, after Earth had it’s nuclear holocaust in 2054 they were aided by some of the alien races, and soon spread throughout known space. An ambitious, barbaric human, with the aid of one of the less scrupulous alien race, conquered a few planets , and declared himself Emperor of the Galaxy. Of course, the rest of the galaxy didn’t take him very seriously, but they didn’t take into account his brilliant son, and successor. In 64 years, the new Emperor conquered 7600 star systems. The Empire is feudal, granting control of star systems and planets to relatives, followers, and nobility. Each overlord runs his own provinces as they wish. All the Empire demands is loyalty, money, resources, and manpower. Needless to say, the Empire, and most of the nobility are terribly corrupt, and spend most of their time plotting against each other. Fortunately, this Emperor died eventually, and for a while there was a lot of power struggling going on. The current Emperor is a complete incompetent, pretty much a vain cruel figurehead (and in the picture he has a mullet, and that alone is worth picking up this game! :)). Of course there are plenty of nobles, councils, ect. to keep the Evil Empire running.
Meanwhile (before the current Emperor), the worlds still free of the Empire began long negotiations, and formed the Federal Alliance, for the sole purpose of preventing further imperial aggression. For most practical purposes, the Alliance are the “good guys”. Of course, the formation of the Alliance just pissed off the new Emperor (at the time) off, and he declared war on the Alliance. For the next 400 years the 2 powers fought. During this time the STAR ACE TEAMS were formed by the Alliance (more on them later).
After one huge final battle, the Alliance main fleet was destroyed, and they asked for an armistice. The Empire, who’s losses were also huge, agreed, and they set up the neutral zone of the Wilderness region (which contains Earth, the only planet that the Empire demanded control of in the region) between them.
Of course further negotiations failed, all the while the Empire was rebuilding it’s forces much faster that the Alliance. The Alliance was saved from eminent destruction by the appearance of the Xenophobes (remember?), a mysterious alien race bent on the conquest of the entire galaxy. Fortunately for the Alliance The Imperial Zones lie between them and the Xenophobes, so, for right now, it is the Empires problem.
So, Imagine an Empire fighting a war on 4 fronts, first with the Alliance , then the annoying STAR ACE teams , third with the Xenophobes, and last, all the internal struggles, fighting, and backstabbing that goes on in a totally corrupt government! Now this is good stuff for a high action role playing game! :)
Where do the PCs fit into all this? They are members of the STAR ACE teams, of course! Star teams are small bands of highly trained and loyal (to the alliance, at least during the war. Now they operate more or less independently. The Alliance sends some funding on the sly, but the Star Teams are mostly self sufficient, surviving off of privateering and smuggling. They get funds weapons, ammunition, and spare parts by running blockades, smuggling illegal cargo ect.)) warriors. The Star teams operate out of secret bases located on Wilderness, in the Wilderness system, in the Wilderness region (get all that?). The Wilderness system is considered uninhabitable, which saves them from any Imperial entanglements there. Star teams handle all types of missions like smuggling, espionage, stealing, rescuing, helping rebel uprisings, hell, almost anything a GM wants to write an adventure about. The main thing is to be a major thorn in the Emperors ass! The Star Teams are organized into 4 free orders, named after the suits in a deck of cards. Each free order has a separate area of skill specialization. STAR ACEs start at Deuce level, and work their way up to ACE (get it :)).
As far as races, there are supposed to be countless different races out there. The main rules focus on 4 main races for PCs (Humans, Crystal Clones, Kleibor, and Traka) and 6 other races, mostly used for NPCs (Crassites, Tarsans, Gorlons, Zoe, Crystal Folk, and Xenophobes). All the alien races are described mentally and physically and illustrated. The neat thing is they are unique enough to be cool, but humanlike enough to be playable (except the Crystal Folk, which are an energy based life form). Highlights include the handsome and mischievous Traka, the Huge Telepathic Polar Bear like Kleibor, the Fat greedy snouted Crassites, and the nasty lizardmen, the Gorlons (just a note, Gorlons can regenerate, so any called shot to a limb blows it completely off...oh what fun!). I won’t spend pages describing them all, you’ll just have to trust me that they are fun, and are the driving force behind giving STAR ACE it’s unique feel. They all have individual abilities and cultures. The Aliens supplement expands the list of races, but that comes later :)
THE PRODUCTION VALUE:
The rules for STAR ACE come in a box set, with saddle stitched books. All 4 adventures are saddle stitched about 30 pages long, the Aliens book is perfect bound. All the books are black and white interior with color covers. The type is easy to read, and well organized. The interior artwork is all black and white line drawings, and , while by a few different artists, all have a very similar appearance that gives the books a very uniform look. While the art is good, I would have to describe it as average, but it does help to set the tone for the game, and that is always a good thing.
The biggest thing I want to mention is that all the books covers are color artwork surrounded by a blue frame, with the STAR ACE name/logo in huge letters across the top. To me, this is just awesome. All the supplements for this game look so uniform, like they belong. You just look at them and right away you know...this is a STAR ACE product. I personally think this is a very professional approach that is ignored a lot today.
Another small point worth mentioning, is that the box from the box set is large enough to comfortably hold all the material that was published for the game. Kind of depressing, if you think about it, but it makes for a nice neat package on your bookshelf.
The boxed set sold for $12, while the adventures were $6 apiece, I’m not sure on the Aliens book, I would guess $9.95 basing it on prices of the time.
THE RULES:
-Character Generation: Character generation is fairly quick and easy. You start by deciding what race and order you want to belong to. You then get to choose 3 skills in addition to the skills every starting character knows (every character can fly a spacecraft, something I think is cool, and often overlooked in space opera games. Who wants to wait forever before they have all the prerequisite skills or level to effectively fly a spacecraft?). Then you randomly determining ability score numbers you then assign to the abilities in any way you want (usually depending on what order you want to belong to, and restrictions from the race you decide to be). After this you use formulas to compute a few other statistics, like wounds, unskilled melee, ect. Then you fill in the background and details. All STAR ACE characters receive some standard equipment, including a FX-80 Phoenix Starfighter, and some cool weapons (no scrimping and saving in this game to afford your first laser pistol!).
-Action Resolution: At it’s heart, STAR ACE is a percentile system. All actions, including combat, are preformed by rolling percentile dice in one of 2 ways, general checks or specific checks. General checks are made against an ability score (or some other predetermined chance of success), if the number is less than the score it is successful, if not it is a failure. Specific checks are made using a universal table. First you roll to see if you succeed (as a general check). If you succeed you determine the difference you succeeded by, and cross reference this with the resistance on a universal chart. This gives you the level of success for the action. Now, this is pretty cool and can work nicely in a lot of instances and adds a bit of color to the game. On the other hand, sometimes it can be a pain. If you’re a rules lawyer (or a GM who has problems improvising), you have to refer to each skill entry every time you make a skill check to determine the exact result. It slows combat down a bit (and can get a little tedious) because you have to roll to hit and add modifiers, roll to defend (against missiles) or determine a defense based upon your melee skills, subtract, cross reference on the chart, and then usually roll for some type of damage. It gives satisfactory results, and works, it’s just a little to much for me personally (I just like rolling to hit, and then for damage.) . Of course, once everyone gets used to the way the universal table works (about 1 game session) it becomes a lot quicker to use, as players can help with the subtraction and declaring the defenses they are using.
-Space Combat: STAR ACE in general, and some of the supplemental material seem to put a lot of emphasis on space combat. I’m not sure why, since these rules cover a scant 9 pages of the rulebook (and 2 of those are diagrams of the spacecraft available in the game). These rules are also fast and easy, and work well during the course of the game. It is also nice that they are included, making STAR ACE a truly complete space opera rpg. On the flip side, some people will find them a bit lacking if they enjoy a good tactical wargame style space fight. It is just basicly moving and shooting using specific checks when making tricky dogfight moves, shooting, or attempting to rescue players who’s ships have been destroyed. It is played out on a hex grid (provided in the boxed set along with counters). Again, as a rpg supplement, it’s cool to have included in the system and I think that’s why it is included. As a tactical miniature game, it just doesn’t stack up. Take that for what it is worth.
-Everything Else: besides that we get all the other miscellaneous rules you usually get in a RPG, equipment, NPC reaction tables, economy information, GM tips, ect. All in all a nice complete package. There may be some small holes, but nothing players of the game won’t be able to easily handle.
THE STAR ACE BOXED SET:
The rules for the game (the actual rules are described above) come in a boxed set. In the box, you get a 64 page Basic Training Manual, that contains most of the actual rules for the game. You also get a 32 page Wilderness Briefing Manual, which has most of the setting material, as well as helpful hints for the GM. You also get a large fold out map. One side has the Wilderness region mapped out, not super dramatic, but nice to have, since a lot of action will take place here. The other side of the map is a large hex grid, needed for space and ground battles, and handy for use in other situations. You also get a sheet of cardboard counters, one side has characters and aliens, the other has spaceships and ground vehicles, nice. The last thing you get is a 16 page adventure Deuces Wild.
Deuces Wild SPOILERS! To me this is a very good introductory adventure. It is broken down into several small encounters. They are very easy for a new GM to handle, with enough detail to run the adventure and also a little room for him to get a taste of improvising. It also has a decent little plot that experienced GMs and players will enjoy, so it’s worthwhile to newbies and vets both. The plot is that the PCs are sent to find an overdue Star Team agent who was collecting intelligence information from a contact on a planet in the wilderness sector. The PCs meet up with the contact on the planet, but find imperials waiting to arrest or kill them at every turn in their investigation. Later it turns out that the contact is a “traitor” due to the fact that his family is being held prisoner by the empire. The PCs get a chance to rescue the family, and then the missing agent. The adventure starts and ends with a space battle, and there are plenty of fights in between. If there is one problem with the adventure, is I think it’s a bit overpowered against the PCs. There is a lot of combat with a lot of opponents without much time to rest in between. An experienced GM will know to cut back on the opposition, however a newbie GM who runs it out of the book with less than 8 players are going to probably wind up with some dead STAR ACE team members. GOODBYE KANKEE (adventure):
SPOILERS! In Goodbye Kankee, the PCs are hired to pick up some gems, smuggle them to another planet where they will be paid for them, and bring the cash back to their boss. Unfortunately the PCs get screwed (given counterfeit chips!). To repay their debt to their boss, they must steal the ship of the person who screwed them. Unfortunately, they also accidentally kidnap said person, who just happens to be the daughter of the guy currently in charge of ICE (Imperial Command Inforcement...the secret police if you will). Once word gets out that the PCs have her, the offers start pouring in to acquire her. One organization wants to kill her and the PCs, one wants to reclaim her and kill the PCs, and one wants to discredit her father and doesn’t give a rats ass about the PCs.
This adventure has several things going for and against it. It does take you to several different locations to give you a feel for the universe of STAR ACE. The adventure itself is a fun read, with some funny bits, and some original ideas (like the bar where the patrons literally dance on the ceiling). You also get a good taste of the way the Empire nobles stab each other in the backs. For all practical purposes it is playable. As an introductory adventure it will be appreciated, but experienced gamers will be annoyed by the way the PCs and the GM are hauled around by the nose ring. Every situation described has the outcome with almost every PC action predetermined and described (right down to NPC quotes and actions), and most lead to the same end result one way or another. The worst part of the adventure is the fact that every encounter ends in unavoidable combat, either on the ground or spaceship, which really takes away from the actual role-playing.
There is a good plot here, and an experienced GM can certainly make something out of it. A Newbie with newbie players will certainly have a good time playing it. Those who have grown tired of combat, but don’t have the GM skill to tweak a published adventure probably won’t appreciate it.
LIGHTSPEED RAID (adventure):
SPOILERS! In Lightspeed Raid the PCs are sent to Ruoka (the home planet of the Crystal folk, and main galactic source of Xantium crystals, used to power everything important) on a fact finding mission after a group of Star Team members attacked the Alliance mine there. The crystal folk have banned the Alliance from their planet because of this. Of course this is an imperial plot. The supposed Star Ace team was actually hired thugs. Once the alliance is kicked off planet, the local Imperial noble plans on moving a small force there to “Protect” the Crystal folk. Once this happens the Alliance will surely complain, and the Empire will “agree” and send a large force to the planet to “remove” the noble. Of course this is a trick to get a large Imperial force on the planet to take it over before the Alliance knows what is going on, and can put up a fight. Needless to say, the PCs get a chance to find out the plot, expose the evildoers, and bring the thugs posing as Star Team members to the justice of the Crystal Folk.
There is a great plot here, and the adventure is fleshed out pretty well. However, due to the fast paced nature of the game, again, there is very little deviance of the plot allowed. Also, following the example of the first adventure, every encounter ,except the first, ends up in a combat situation. Of course this one isn’t so strict that players can’t get around a few combats, but still. One of the coolest things about this adventure, is the fact that the PCs can make a MAJOR change in the campaign world. If they do something stupid, or really screw up, the alliance can loose it’s ability to get the crystals they need, or worse (and very possible) the Empire can take control of the planet (and it’s going to be downhill for the Alliance if that happens!).
CAMPAIGN MASTER’S SCREEN (GM screen and mini-adventure):
What can a guy say about a GM screen? :) If you like them, you will like this one. I personally like the art on the front. The skill chart on the players side is pretty useless, since they will already have this information written down. The stuff on the GM side is all the information the GM will need for melee and space combat in a nice location, very handy. Also, the defense column chart corrects the type from the rulebook, Surprised defenders use column 1!
Along with the screen itself, we get Ace in the Hole, an 8 page mini-adventure, and several photocopiable character sheets (that have the character stuff on the front, and the universal table on the back. Very handy!). The adventure itself is a nice little package. SPOILERS. The PCs are sent to help another agent who has a price on his head due to a gambling debt. This involves “taking care” of the bounty hunter that is after him. After that, the PCs must rob the casino that put a price on his head, to teach them a lesson about messing with the Star Teams. A fun, 1 night adventure.
FIRST STRIKE ON PARADISE (adventure):
SPOILERS! In First Strike on Paradise, the PCs start out stranded in the hostile wilderness of wilderness (that isn’t a typo :)). Forced to seek shelter in a cave, they meet a new race, the Kayels, distant relatives to the Tarsans (and a NPC who accompanies the characters throughout the adventure, Tweeba). The Kayels society is based around watching and contemplating old American Earth films (?) (It’s a long story!). In any case with Tweebas help, they make it back to base and the real adventure begins. They are sent to Shamba to investigate rumors that the Empire has discovered and plans to attack the Rebel base there (that also doubles as a Star Team base). To find out the facts, they must bug the imperial leaders office. The officer just happens to be a old movie buff, and Tweeba has a bunch of old movies...get it. In any case, if things go well, the PCs learn when the attack is going to take place and spearhead a counter attack on the imperial base in order to save the rebel headquarters.
Hmmm, there is a lot to say about this adventure. First, it has a few more typos that the rest of the rather professionally produced line (although nothing major). Second, the author seems to think he is a lot funnier than he really is, fortunately you get used to his little “jokes” and there aren’t to many. On the good (or great) side, is this is the first STAR ACE adventure that doesn’t revolve around combat. In fact, almost every episode involves role playing, and other than the last 2 (the assault on the Imperial Base, and a space battle as they leave the planet), they can be avoided with wise role playing. The whole “old movie” thing was kinda silly to me, and Tweeba is annoying as hell! A good GM can work around this (or replace those elements altogether) if he wants to (who knows, you may like the novelty of the old movie thing??). To sum it up, this adventure starts out lame, gets really good in the middle, and then ends lame. A GM willing to rewrite the end encounter (or delete it, it’s just a space battle that really has nothing to do with the adventure), and possibly rework the movie angle (and initial encounter, which could also be deleted) will have a really good solid fun adventure using the middle bits (IMHO).
THE GEMINI CONSPIRACY (adventure):
SPOILERS! This adventure starts with the PCs being called to attempt to apprehend a group of terrorist who took to space after taking hundreds of hostages. When this is unsuccessful (it is), the PCs return to the planet to get copies of the Holo-vids taken during the kidnapping, to get a list of those kidnapped. Of course, as the PCs arrive, the vids have just been stolen by a group of thugs, who make a mad dash for the Imperial Embassy. Hopefully the PCs get the vids before they make it. Either way, they discover that one of the hostages is Helen Holms, the “parent” (the human that the crystal folk got a cell from to create the crystal clone) of Diana Freze a crystal clone in charge of the Alliance Fleet. See, what the Empire has found out thru experimentation is that crystal clones and their “parents” act and think very much alike. By brainwashing and drugging Helen, and putting her in tactical simulations, they can find out in advance how the Alliance fleet will react to situations. (follow all that?). Of course to find this all out, the PCs have to bust into the Imperial Embassy, and then to the secret lab where Holmes is, rescuing her, and destroying the data of the experiments. The adventure ends with a HUGE space battle, where the PCs success or failure weighs heavily on the outcome of the battle.
The only thing I can really say about this adventure is that it is unremarkable, There is nothing to really love or hate about it. There is a decent plotline, and decent situations the PCs are thrown into. I haven’t played this one, so I don’t know, maybe it will be a lot more fun in the actual play, shrug. If I had to point out some things I liked, it would be the fact that we finally see the Zoe take some action in the published STAR ACE product line. If I had to point out something I didn’t like, it would be that the adventure takes up far to much space showcasing a bunch of new spacecraft. In a game where the spaceships have 4 stats (basicly, the amount of damage it can take, the percent chance of performing difficult moves, how far it can travel in a turn, and the crew size) it’s hard to get worked up over new ships that I could have written out in about 5 minutes myself. Another thing I found unsettling in the adventure, is that the Imperial Embassy seems almost impregnable...but yet the PCs are expected to slip in without alerting the guards, something that seems impossible without some GM alteration.
The battle at the end is worth mentioning, it involves 46 imperial ships, and 20 Alliance crafts (plus the PCs), if I counted right. I already mentioned that the STAR ACE spaceship combat system is no war game, so the fact that they have this huge space battle might be a bit difficult to run, boring, or a whole lot of fun! Someone who played this one (or a battle this large), let me know?
ALIENS (supplement):
Aliens was the last product (and first supplement) produced for STAR ACE. And did they go out with a bang! Aliens is by far the best book in the entire series, the most professional, and the best illustrated. While Aliens is a decent name, A Guide to the STAR ACE Universe Vol. 1 would work too. The book details 16 alien races (they don’t mess with humans, whoohoo!) 8 of which are from the original boxed set, giving deeper insight on their societies and customs (the Gorlons were particularly interesting to me). New Aliens include the lizardlike violent Humanoles, the hostile shapeshifting Demoreans, winged humanoids the Hawkmen, the intelligent virus the Ferm, the shrimp bodied squid headed Nautiloids, the thrill seeking little green aliens the Blinkers, the huge barbarian humanoids the Targa, and finally, more information on the dreaded invading vermin Xenophobes that were barely touched on in the Boxed set.
But, not only do we get all kinds of great details on the alien races, we also get details on their homewords, complete with a world map, and major points of interest and NPCs of importance. Each world is inspiration for a dozed adventures (or more).
Now, if all this sounds like a great supplement in itself, you haven’t gotten the best piece yet! In each chapter (describing the alien race and it’s homeworld) we get a paragraph to a page of a continuing story. The story is very entertaining and humorous and a great read all by itself. It documents the voyage of Balik the Kleibor and Guba the Trakan as they hop from planet to planet, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident. Each passage is relevant to the alien race and planet being described. It really helps to tie everything together, and make the galaxy feel like a real unified whole.
If You have been thinking about getting any of the books I’ve mentioned here, this is the one to put on the top of the list right after the boxed set. Unfortunately, I think it may be (and that’s a big may! (I imagine some people are running to put their copy on eBay right now)) a kinda rare item. I’ve only seen 2 copies in my life. One in a used box about 10 years ago, and the copy I have.
GRUBMANS CONCLUSION:
Whew, this one took a little while to get to the end of! :) I hope the reviews of the actual game and mechanics helped you to understand what STAR ACE is all about. I also hope the description of the supplements, along with my personal takes, helped you to decide if you want to search out these products. Sometimes an opinion that you don’t agree with can be just as helpful as one you do.
How do I rank STAR ACE? I think it’s pretty cool. It is a nice little package, and very playable. It has an interesting high space opera setting, that some people who like their science fiction light on the science, heavy on the fiction will appreciate. You have to accept it for what it is, and the tone it tries (and succeeds) to set. If you take your science fiction to seriously, you will probably be disappointed. On the other hand, don’t write this game off as an immature stupid kids game. The setting is solid as are the mechanics. It is professionally produced, and anyone who enjoys this kind of fast paced, high action space opera will surely like it.
I can’t leave my personal favorite space opera game, STAR FRONTIERS, out of this review! STAR ACE is a very good mate for Star Frontiers. With very little effort, all the STAR ACE stuff can be adapted or converted to Star Frontiers, including the entire setting! If you love Star Frontiers, and are disappointed because you have a complete collection, and there is nothing else to get...by all means, check out some STAR ACE stuff!
