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What is it?

Jovian Chronicles takes the best of giant mecha anime and hard science fiction and successfully mixes them together. The game is set in the early 23rd century and the human race has managed to colonize a lot of the solar system. Colonization was neither quick or easy and do to problems on Earth many planets and orbital stations have become their own independent nations. Now these nations are on the brink of war and use large space craft along with 50 ft mecha to fight their war.

What is Inside?

The Jovian Chronicles: Players Handbook is less a player’s handbook and more an introduction to the setting. There are no rules in the book and you will need either “Core Rules” from Dream Pod 9 or a version of the OGL/d20 rules as Jovian Chronicles (2nd ed) is OGL compatible.

Chapter 1: The Future is Here.

This is the introduction to the book and gives brief descriptions of setting, players options, themes, genre points (from Core Rules), and history. The chapter gives a good idea of what Jovian Chronicles is about and what to expect from both the book and game play.

The history of the setting takes up most of this chapter. It basically states that Earth was having economic, political, and environmental problems that could not be avoided. As a result many people looked to the stars as a possible escape and space missions became very important. Over a 100 years man colonized the inner planets, asteroids, and Jupiter and Saturn. Soon after Earth’s problems consumed the planet and a World War occurred causing Earth to isolate itself from its colonies. The colonies had to survive on their own and they succeeded. As a result many of the planets created their own nations. By the 23rd century Earth, now under a militaristic government, is back and wants to reclaim its lost colonies.

Chapter 2: The Solar Nations

This chapter gives descriptions of all the solar nations. Each solar nation gets about 3-6 pages of description. In the description we get the nations culture, politics, military, economy and other important aspects of the nation (such as the terra forming on Venus, or the alien life form on Jupiter.) These descriptions are detailed enough to play the game and give an idea of how the solar system is placed and interacts. The nations consist of:

Mercury - mercantile society
Venus - Japanese like corporate superpower
CEGA (Earth) - imperialistic superpower
Orbitals - loose group of mini nations
Luna - hard working and strict mining culture
Mars Federation - imperialistic power
Mars Republic - Individualistic idealists
The Belt - tribal communities
Jovian Confederation - hard working democracy

Chapter 3: Organization

The Solar Nations are not the only thing influencing people in the solar system. Many new organization have great pull throughout the system. Each organization get 1 to 2 pages of description. Not as much detail as the Solar Nations but still enough to use them in a game.

Venusian Bank - Huge bank that has much control over the inner planets.
Mercurian Merchant Guild - huge trade guild
United Space Nations - Basically the United Nation but for the Solar Nations
Solapol - solar police and intelligence
Solar Cross - emergency medical care
IGS - geographic society
Zonet - news and information network

Chapter 4: Character Creation

Character creation is assumed to be done mostly in either “Core Rules” or OGL/d20 game. However, this chapter gives many suggestion on how to flesh out your character for a Jovian Chronicles game and includes some other options. It also reprints some of important character creation tables from “Core Rules.”

Jovian Chronicles includes some race modifications for Lightworlder and ZeeGees (people who live with little to no gravity). Next are common stereotypes which give variants to character creation and possible “anime powers” to use in the game. Finally, we are given a selection 8 possible templates.

Chapter 5: Living in Space

This chapter is the hard science fiction section of the book and can possibly be used for many other games that take place in space. It covers: space stations, space travel, the general economy, and law that affects people in space. Everything is covered with enough detail to give you an idea of what life in space is like.

We are also given suggestions on how to use elements in the game along with what to focus if on if you are more interested in running a hard science fiction game than anime action.

Chapter 6: Useful Items

The stuff chapter of the book includes descriptions of weapons, space suits, food, living quarters, and tools. Once again everything is covered in enough detail to play the game and want to use the items enforcing the hard science fiction and anime feel of the game. Special mention goes to 10 pages of information on space suits which are vital to the setting. Everything from use, design, and repair is covered.

Chapter 7: Mechanical Catalog

This is the vehicle chapter of the book that cover the exo-armors (50 ft mecha), space fighters, and the large space craft. We are given a brief description of each vehicle type and than possible maneuvers and problems vehicles can find in space. We are than given a list of 12 exo-armors, 2 space fighters, and 7 large craft. The descriptions range from 2 - 6 pages and giving all the statistical information for the craft along with a brief descriptions. Some exo-armors like the Jovian Pathfinder and CEGA Wyvern get six pages of detail giving extra information on model types, what the inside looks like, and pilot’s view on flying the craft.

Appendix:

Finally, we get an appendix that includes a random adventure generator, the Open Gaming Licence, character sheets for both “Core Rules” and OGL, an index, and a glossary of common terms.

What do I think of the book?

This is a beautiful hardback book at 255 pages it is well worth the $40. Everything is here that you will need to play the game (with the exception of the Core Rules, or d20.) However, it is by no means perfect and still has many grammatical errors along with weird mistakes like the word “Character Sheet” appearing in the middle of the character sheet and Elysee misspelled constantly through the Mechanical Catalog. Despite this it has great art that manages to capture both the anime side and the hard sci-fi elements.

If I had any major complaint it was the difficulty of using the “Core Rules” stats in the Mechanical Catalog. Using Jovian Chronicles: Players Guide and Core Rules together became tedious and if you don’t know exactly where everything is in “Core Rules” you might end up getting extremely confused. A recap or page reference to “Core Rules” pages would have helped.

Who should buy the book?

Any fans of mecha anime or hard science fiction will find a definite interest in the book. If you found Tranhuman Space a little dry (or wanted an alternative to the GURPS system) and want something to spice up your solar system game the anime flare might be what your looking for. Especially fans of Cowboy Bebop, Gundum, or Robotech should take a close look.

Extra Stuff:

I had a copy of Jovian Chronicles 1st edition and will add some of the differences.

1. Increased information on the World Cyclopedia. There is almost twice the information.
2. There is about half as many archetypes but now they include stereotypes which are a bit different and add elements like anime powers.
3. A ton of information has been added on living in space and weapon and equipment.
4. A number of exo-armors and large space craft have been added including: The Retaliator, The Vindicator, The Stormrider, Syreen, Cerebrus, Fury, Minotaur, Falconer, Athena, and Ebiiru (note that the Explorer, Javelin, and Defender have been removed)
5. The rules have been removed and placed in "Core Rules"

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