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This is the second book in the Alternity series, and it contains the much anticipated starship creation rules. I'm kind of weird in that way, but I've judged every science fiction game since Traveller by its starship creation rules. There's just something visceral about being able to create, or as a character buy, this vehicle to the stars. The rules here are quite nice, and they seem to be easy to use. Yet the starships also end up being a lot like the characters...they take a licking and keep on ticking. It takes a heck of a lot of luck or something to dismember these things! However, the rules are easy to use...no calculators or spreadsheets, like in Traveller's Fire, Fusion and Steel, or GURPS: Vehicles. The rules also do a good job of giving everybody something to do in space combat. Everybody has an important role on a starship, and during combat everyone should be involved in the action.

There are some nice rules regarding vehicles, and their modifications, yet the rest of the book feels curiosly empty. There's some nice stuff on system creation, but no way to create a complete ecosystem like in Traveller (rules that are missing in GURPS: Traveller). I also enjoyed the rules for converting magic, and characters from AD&D. That's everything that was really new or enjoyable in the book. The rest rehashes the player's book...more slanted to the GM's point of view, but that's it!

This stuff could have been in a smaller book, or squeezed into the player's book. In more ways than one this book is a waste of money. It contains some wonderful and essential rules, but much of it seems to be filler. The starship rules keep me from downgrading it more harshly, so I'll give this book a "C."

This book also came with a free module "Red Starrise." The story involves exploring a planet that has been cut off from a galactic federation for years. Its okay, but not as idiot proof, nor as much fun as "Black Starfall." This gets a "C."

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)