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Dhur Naal Dwarven Mine Map Set
by Lennon D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/07/2022 16:33:44

Map is good quality, very detailed and with lots of variety. However, the PDF's description of the various areas is clearly unfinished, repeating the same descriptions which were obviously for a different map entirely.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Dhur Naal Dwarven Mine Map Set
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Wolverine class Marine Assault Transport Deck Plans
by David T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/25/2021 11:07:16

Gorgeous plas for a marine assault transport reasonably priced, great



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Wolverine class Marine Assault Transport Deck Plans
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Hell Station Mine Outpost Map Set
by David T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/24/2021 12:31:05

A sumptuous mining outpost over 5 levels in full clour. Absolutely gorgeous maps and at a very reasonable price, excellent.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Hell Station Mine Outpost Map Set
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Peregrine class 1200 ton Fast Diplomatic Sloop Deck Plans
by David T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/22/2021 13:54:23

a very nice space yacht, nice colourful plans at a reasonable price



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Peregrine class 1200 ton Fast Diplomatic Sloop Deck Plans
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Interstellar Cargo Transport Ship Deck Plans
by Alan G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/22/2021 17:28:19

-There is no full size image of the full ship in the zip, god knows why, even though there is a low res version of it in the pdf. -Despite the other review and followup, there are still plenty of typos in the pdf. -The entire ship is made of low quality premade assets, and it is very clear not a lot of effort was put into polish. -There are many places in the image where you can see those preused assets overlap and clip -Several walls that should be part of the ship (IE. between rooms or separating rooms from space) are just missing, which is ridiculous -The PDF says that the Zip file should include JPG and PNG images (including transparent ones). This is NOT TRUE. There is no transparent image set. There is no PNG.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Interstellar Cargo Transport Ship Deck Plans
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1880's Train Car Map Set
by Martin R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/17/2020 00:48:56

Found this item deeply disappointing. Images are of far too low resolution to be used in either VTT or printed as a physical battle map.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
1880's Train Car Map Set
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Neptune Undersea Station map set
by A customer [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/09/2019 18:12:04

For an aquatic station map this one is quite sprawling, and offers multiple levels with enough detail for tactical combat and interaction scenes.

The actual interior locations might be a bit less intractely detailed than one might desire, but the resolution is high enough to work nicely in .vtt and GM's can easily add their own furniture tokens and other bits to liven the place up if so desired.

I had noticed in the original version it had some corruption with one of the floormaps where they would not line up correctly, however after mentioning it to the publisher they corrected the problem in less than a week, which is pretty outstanding customer service on a product 4 years old. (For that level of customer service alone this company is will worth supporting imho.)

All in all it's a excellent map for a ocean based location and absoltely worth it at $3.99.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Neptune Undersea Station map set
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Complete Mecha Factory - CO-4E Mecha Entertainment Capital
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 04/05/2019 05:07:43

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive book clocks in at 127 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC,1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 122 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was requested to be moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review at the request of my patreons.

After a brief introduction and in-character prose, we are thrust into CO-4E, the Mecha Entertainment Capital, also known by its proper name Aridia. The sun-system, which features a colossal rock belt and notes about sun size, notes on moon presence and distance etc., generates a nice introduction to the region – though one that sports a couple of typo-level glitches in the descriptions of the respective movers and shakers. Still, this is a nice start – particularly considering the nice full-color map of the star system.

There is a significant difference between power armor and mechas – and the pdf states that mechas can scale up in size to Colossal starship! On the other hand, power armor is supposed to increase up to Small starship size. A note: Size categories in SFRPG are capitalized. There is another thing that kinda struck me as odd: SFRPG RAW has no power armor. Just powered armor. There’s a difference there. Anyway, this pdf refers to power armor, and suggests, when using them in conjunction with mecha, to treat them as an armor category beyond heavy…which the SFRPG rules already do for powered armors. So yeah, this generates a bit of unnecessary confusion, when the book actually does use the powered armor rules…it just mislabels them as “power armor”. (And yes, this is a nitpick, but it really is confusing in the beginning.)

After this, we’re introduced to mechas: Mechas behave akin to starships, and have 4 firing arcs – forward, aft, left and right arm- Standard mecha do not have turrets, and two weapons may be mounted on each of the arms – these automatically count as linked when fired at the same target. Mechas require one “turn per size” to enter and activate– that should be one round per size category, or per point value associated with the size category. It may be hacked with Computers (erroneously called “Computer”) and gets rules syntax rather wrong: This immobilizer requires a Computer skill of DC30 + (security features + tier of mecha). You can’t have a Computer skill of DC 30 + anything; you can make a Computers skill check against a DC. It’s clear what’s meant, but deviations from proper rules verbiage like this compound and add up and require some firm understanding of the system – otherwise they can, quite needlessly, I might add, become confusing.

Piloting can be used to pilot mechas, and the pdf mentions three specific Professions: Mecha Pilot, Mecha Technician, Stable Gofer. In a pure mecha fighting scenario, one movement is equal to a hex; when used in conjunction with ships, mechas suffer from 1 speed less than them, to represent how ships tend to be more swift – it’s small touch, but one I enjoy. This section also clearly states the necessary abstractions from character to mecha to spaceship regarding movements. These are necessarily quick and dirty, but they do their job without being intrusive.

An important difference: Mechas with a certain maneuverability get autoturn – at the end of the turn, you can choose their facing. The pdf even notes how mecha weapon affects character scale x10 damage, though it’s much harder to hit those small targets – unless it’s specifically designed to be that way. Mechas can carry twice the tier times the mecha size in bulk – I assume this to be the size modifier for them, though the pdf doesn’t state so. Mechas have positions for crew, pilots, gunnery, science and captains, and the respective actions are noted by position: Firing on the move, defensive stances, combat steps, evasive action, forward slide, purposeful full body attack-collisions (less damage for attacking mecha). As an aside: Resolve is capitalized in SFRPG.

The gunnery actions include sniping, which is unlocked at 6th level, and requires that the mecha hasn’t moved - this nets +4 to hit and deals +25% damage versus mecha that have their shields depleted. Why only against mecha? Not sure. It should be mentioned that, while similar to the gunnery position of a starship, sniping, for example, does not require Resolve expenditure, and that there are only 3 actions here. Now, I know, I may sound harsh here – and I frankly am. But the thing is that the rules presented per se? If you can get past the needlessly obtuse deviations from rules-language standard…are actually pretty elegant. You don’t have to relearn a system – this tweaks starship combat to a different medium and does a pretty solid job doing so.

After this, we get a mecha-build checklist – with size and scale (first entry in scale column is not properly aligned with the column’s header). Familiarity with starship rules will make this pretty easy to grasp – we get maneuverability (which denotes speed in hexes), Hull Points, Damage Threshold, Critical Threshold, etc. You select frame, propulsion, packages, weapons, shields and optional features. And then, we get a metric ton of mecha frames: Arachnids/arthropods? Check. Bipedal? Check. Zoomorphic frames? Check. Hover frames? Check. Weapon platforms? Check. Scrapped together mecha? Check.

Engines may include afterburners, wheeled engines, thrusters, etc., and sensors include extra packages for seeing through, blindsight, etc. The engine allows for further customization via mecha packages, which are basically the equivalent of armor upgrades, and shield generators, armor, weaponry , a whole table of hand-held equipment, rules for physical shields, disposable missile pods, a mecha critical effect table….the engine per se is mighty indeed. It feels like the author genuinely cared. I just wished someone had cleaned up the formatting and rules language integrity.

Beyond the mecha-creation engine, we also have a slew of powered armors – pardon, “power armors” by this pdf’s parlance. This section also includes one of my favorite artworks herein, apart from the cover – a shark-like humanoid in a shark-y powered armor. Really neat. There are power armors here that do not replace e.g. the wielder’s Strength, but instead augment it – it’s available in +2, +4 and +6. Plenty of sample power armors are included. The expansion bays, alas, tend to get bonus types wrong, and it is here in the more finicky rules that the lack of precision regarding rules language comes more strongly to the fore. On the interesting side of things, bays that may only be attached to vessels of a certain size? Yeah, makes sense! And from terraformer to mecha bay, these are massive and make sense of big frickin’ vessel.

The third chapter deals with mecha games – think of robot wars and similar classics. We begin with tables for random faction ideologies and alignments, and a brief similar table for resources and staging area are part of the deal. 8 sample factions (all with their custom icon) can be found within. Then, we get some global rules for different arena fight settings, competitions and prize fights.

The world of Aradia is further detailed as well – it comes with a solid map (though I wished it was included in a jpg as well), and then proceeds to note the unique features – acid rain, blades[sic!] ice, etc. The latter states, fyi: “Non-mecha creatures attempting to enter this hazard have to make a DC 10 plus 4 per tier of bladed ice.” No, the rest of the section does not make clearer what the flying f*** we’re supposed to be doing. Damage, further down, is not properly codified. Skills are not capitalized. This collides, painfully, with the per se interesting backdrop and its zones, which btw. come in a massive bunch of archive folders that allow for VTT-use, though assemblage here can be a challenge. A roll20-folder is included. A ginormous space station, with its zones stating mounts, expansion bays, etc. in impressive detail – both as a potentially combat relevant entity, but also as a setting to explore. Building and facility creation is touched upon, and two sample cities – Hopperton and Grimmson, are also provided.

The pdf provides a new class, the Mechaneer, who gets 6 HP, 6 Stamina + Constitution modifier per level, 4 + Int skills per level and he uses Intelligence or Dexterity “as the primary stat.” THERE IS NO SUCH THING IN SFRPG. It’s called key ability score, FFS! Literally one glance at ANY class can show you that. Proficiency includes basic melee, grenades, small arms, light armor and heavy armor. These are NOT capitalized in SFRPG. The class table’s columns and values do not align, making it look like a mess. The class gets ¾ BAB-progression, and uses non-standard save progression – bad idea for a game as tightly wound, math-wise, as SFRPG. The table is missing plusses before the saves and BAB. The class has powered armor/mechas hardcoded into its design, but since the rules-language is so wonky, it’s basically impossible to judge it properly. This issue extends to the 5 themes. “Jink Dance (Level 6) Allows the pilot to increase the Piloting, Gunnery and AC by +2.“ You tell me what that’s supposed to mean; it doesn’t take a seasoned designer to note that this is NOT how rules-language operations work in Starfinder. It looks obvious at first glance, but once you think about it for a second, you’ll realize that you have no idea to what this is supposed to apply.

The equipment section includes mining lasers, modular shelters, armor, weaponry, vehicles (including mecha transporters) etc. The bestiary gets the XP by CR wrong (CR critter with CR 4 XP value), and fails to format defensive properties right: Weaknesses and Immunities are listed separately, not as part of defensive abilities. They also fail to specify type. There is no “crawl” speed. Damage type indicators are missing from attacks. There is no sonar sense. That is handled via blindsense (sound). These errors? They all were just in ONE of the statblocks. Yes, they extend to ALL of them. If you have any standards whatsoever regarding statblock integrity, you’ll skip this chapter.

We close, thankfully, with a better section, namely a massive mecha reference for your convenience, with a ton of premade ones.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are, there is no two ways around that, pretty bad. There are a lot of typos, and the less said about rules-language integrity, the better. Layout adheres to a two-column full-color standard, and interior artwork ranges from solid to goofy. Cartography is nice, and the VTT-jpgs are a plus, but assembly help would be nice. A huge no-go for a book of this rules-density, and one that further compounds the primary issues of this book, would be the fact that this has no bookmarks.

Yep. A 100+ pages crunch book sans bookmarks.

I couldn’t believe it either, particularly when Gamer Printshop provided bookmarks in previous offerings.

This is one of the most frustrating books to review that I’ve seen in quite a while. It is painfully evident that Edward Moyer and Katrina Fuchs love what they’re doing. This does not, not for a second, feel phoned in. And in fact, as far as the mecha part is concerned, this is pretty decent. But it comes down to one thing, the issues of this book, beyond obvious glitches that should have been caught by even a cursory glance:

Rules language. The rules language is strangely bipolar: When it comes to starships/mechas, an arguably complex subsystem, it may not be perfect, but it’s something you can use. When we go to the VERY FRICKIN’ BASICS of the game, though? Totally falls apart. The syntax is not correct. The semantics are thoroughly compromised due to the deviations from basic verbiage. Deviations that should have been caught by even a cursory glance at the reference rules. This is almost like the designers actually hadn’t learned the system, just the subsystem for starships. The glitches are also not nitpicks. We’ve been adding plusses in front of BABs and saves since the advent of d20. Heck, I SUCK at doing anything aesthetically pleasing, and I can make a word-table that aligns columns and values properly. How can you screw up walking into a field of damaging stuff? It’s one of the most basic rules operations ever. The bestiary is a train-wreck as well – one that shows that the Alien Archive was obviously not properly consulted. “Large Creature Combatant Array” – the book EXPLAINS how to make critters. I would have understood getting adjustments wrong, but this? That’s critter-design 101, and it has been for…how long…20 or so years? Damn, I’m getting old.

So, the question is: Can you look past the lack of bookmarks, the glaring and pronounced issues of this book? If you can, if you invest the time to polish this, then you’re rewarded with a mighty and pretty neat mecha engine, one that, with the right amount of polish, could have been awesome, could have been a must-own recommendation. But it’ll take TIME and WORK, for, as written, it is mired in an amount of glitches that, no matter how much I want to like the mecha-engine, I can’t let stand.

I wanted to love this so badly; I can see its clearly evident potential. But right now, as written? I can’t rate this higher than 2.5 stars, rounded down. If you’re willing to put in the effort and flex your design muscles, this can be an extremely rough gem, but it’ll need a lot of polishing. More than most folks will be willing to put into it.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Complete Mecha Factory - CO-4E Mecha Entertainment Capital
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The Haunted Dive
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 12/07/2018 14:58:34

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This adventure clocks in at 91 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page introduction, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 85 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

Okay, so first thing you should know, is that this module uses the rules from the Starship, Stations and Salvage Guide. It has a ton of supplemental rules included, but does not reproduce these. It is possible to run the adventure without owning said book, just to make that clear.

The module spends a lot of pages on rules, so let’s take a look at them first:

The supplement comes with 3 new expansion bays, which do focus on a leitmotif of the adventure (see SPOILER-section below) and includes stats for luxury escape pods. This also ties in with the new ship defenses. There is a computer augmentation that clocks in at level 10, which allows the user to add Intelligence bonus to other functions in the ship, which can be pretty excessive. There is a nice, new ship hazard. The pdf also includes equipment rules for back packs that allow for battery combination, which is per se cool – and yes, it may be rigged to detonate. There also is an odd one: Emergency Survival Boosters ”Adds an additional tier of level to any clothing or armor that its[sic!] attached to…” – and no, I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean. There is a gauntlet that does not properly denote the damage type it causes, and the generators noted also suffer a bit from wonky verbiage.

There is a cybernetics section that does not properly denote the system into which they’re implanted. There is a lens that grants you infrared vision…which does not exist in SFRPG. One glance at the core manual will show you that infrared sensors translate to darkvision in SFRPG. Low light vision does NOT have a range. There is a section on using VR in conjunction with the Computer rules, but it doesn’t properly codify all of them as per subset of computer features. The new armors are solid, and there are some armor upgrades included.

The pdf contains two variant classes – a VR-based version of the mechanic, and a mystic variant.

…there is no nice way to put it, so here goes: They deviate in a TON of ways from proper presentation and rules-language standards. It begins by the tables being internally inconsistent (one class lists full save names, one abbreviates Fortitude to Fort, but doesn’t abbreviate the others; saves are listed first before the BAB, for maximum confusion…particularly in the second class, which also hasn’t properly aligned columns…) and goes on from there. Even when an ability like bypass provides a clear example to follow, the classes somehow get that wrong and put it in an awkward way. Stamina and Hit Point correlation are dissolved in one instance, which may be a typo. There is so much wrong with these, I frankly don’t know where to start. To give you an excerpt from one of the mystic spells: “This counts as a DR5 vs force and kinetic attacks. This replaces the Major version of Force Shield.“ This is not how DR works. The spells don’t list spell levels in their descriptions spell (you need to default to the list for that!), and this weird “replaces” makes no sense – the old spells are not lost! These classes are trainwrecks and don’t contribute anything of significance to the pdf.

The pdf contains VR-Rules, which list the following: “A Diver begins with a Virtual Hit Point

equal to his base HP. When this reaches 0 they are automatically removed…” Okay, does this include Stamina? If not, why? If it goes directly to HP, there is a whole array of questions left. You have a virtual AC (VAC) of “10 plus their intelligence per level.” No, I am not making that up. If you want to use these rules, you better do some serious fixing first, for RAW, they simply are not operational.

The pdf also includes a new race (see Spoilers) – that is more min maxy than SFRPG races should be, with +4 to an attribute, -4 to another. The race has a fly speed, but doesn’t denote maneuverability or type of fly speed, and labors under the misconception that there is a blanket energy resistance as a rules term. There is not. These glitches tend to also find their way into the bestiary. The presentation of statblocks is not unified, and the critters presented are off in pretty much every conceivable way. Effects that should be noted as critical aren’t, type is off, damage values are pitiful. Damage types are not noted correctly. Skills are off. Plusses are missing. Formatting is wrong. A CR 20 critter is noted as 6000 XP. Statblocks are oddly aligned in some instances. To give you an idea:

“Init +3 Senses Low-Light Vision as per

normal vision Perception 12

HP 72 EAC 20 KAC 15 Fort 6 Ref

11 Will 8

Offensive/Defensive Abilities

Universal Expression, Quick Inspiring

Boost, Focus, Heads Up, Desperate

Defense, Expert Attack

Speed 30ft“

The bestiary section is a bit better...but the NPC section and the new race and related statblocks? Oh boy. Also: There are plenty of lines that read “Will Immune” That is not correct. The section has some guidelines regarding VR creatures and haunts, which is per se cool, but is also contingent on the VR-rules. Which are not operational. And I haven’t even touched upon the fact that formatting is wrong and inconsistent. Skills are not properly capitalized, rules-language is off, things that shouldn’t be capitalized, are…the list goes on.

Okay, that was not what I was hoping for.

Let’s see how the adventure section holds up, shall we? It should be noted that the module does contain proper and player-friendly maps of the vessel, as well as a long section of introductory prose and notable questions that PCs may ask – as far as that aspect is concerned, the adventure presents a neat level of guidance for the GM. The following contains SPOILERS. Potential player should jump ahead to the conclusion.

..

.

Okay, only GMs around? Great!

So, as the introduction noted, the inspiration for this adventure was “Ghost Ship” – and while I’d argue that the movie is not an efficient horror movie, I do concur with the statement that the Final Destination-ish mass death scene was indeed well-executed. It also does something interesting, in that it features two distinct tags for descriptions: “Before” and “After”, which means you could conceivably play the adventure as things are happening, or as explorers that happen upon the vessel after the disaster. Another option would be to play its “Before” state with one-shot characters. So yeah, the set-up reminded me of one of my favorite OSR-adventures (review forthcoming), so that’s a good thing.

The Vestige Voyage, the ship, is properly statted and lists its amenities and the like in a concise manner. A brief table allows for random encounters/creepy things happening. The story, alas, is not presented as clearly. Basically, a technomancer has found a new type of creature, quantum fey. (These also would be the new race mentioned earlier.) That idea is amazing. Alas, the synopsis refers to two different characters as “The technomancer”, which can be confusing. Plot-wise, a queen of the quantum fey was imprisoned and driven mad; when freed, she lashed out, and the dying good technomancer uploaded her mind – now struggling with the mad queen for supremacy, she triumphs, but is cursed with undeath. This happens as a gala is held, much akin to aforementioned movie.

Yep, you’ve probably pieced it together by now: Basically, the module uses holograms and VR to account for haunt-like effects, creatures, etc. The adventure itself is presented in a classic way, in that the pdf describes the locations of the “Vestige Voyage.” There is an overview section for the exploration, presented for the GM. Self-destruction of the vessel is a distinct possibility, just fyi. The information-presentation is rough, though. It helps that “Before” and “After” are bolded in the text, but the other pieces of information need to be puzzled together, and enemies are noted in the text sans highlight or stats. The constant issues in rules-language and presentation further hurt this: “Any Engineering 30 and computer check 30 will override the bridge lockouts.” Even casual familiarity with Starfinder ought to tell you that this is not how the like is worded and formatted.

…and, honestly, it sinks the module. Not on its own, mind you…but in conjunction with the rules that are supposed to provide a unique angle, the rules that don’t work? Yeah. It does.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are bad on a formal and rules language level. There are copious amounts of typos, and worse, there are a TON of issues in pretty much every aspect of the rules language. Layout adheres to a solid two-column full-color standard, and the maps presented for the vessel are nice and full-color. They are, hands down, the strongest component of this adventure. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

This module was shocking for me. Edward Moyer’s rules language tended to sport some inconsistencies and issues here and there, but this module is a whole new level. Basic things that have been staples since the inception of 3.0, things that I haven’t seen done wrong in a while, are simply not functional. The rules for the VR-gimmick, on which much of the module hinges, simply don’t work.

Gosh, this was frustrating. When reviewing adventures, I tend to focus on the story, on how it plays. I am a bit less picky than when I’m reviewing books intended to primarily serve as crunch resources. Up to a point. Here, the editing (or lack thereof) actually sinks the entire module. The rules are nowhere near operational. As a developer, I’d send this back to the author and tell them to read up on the rules and how they’re formatted, rewrite the entirety, and then get back to me. I looked at the rules, and even casual observation provided so many issues that I frankly didn’t know where to start when complaining about them.

And, you know, usually, I’d try to see this as something like “Okay, rules are bad, but if you look at just the adventure section…” – but that doesn’t work here. This tries to be a highly technical adventure, with a ton of entwined rules, a whole system for VR with its own intricacies – perhaps because the base adventure section is neither creepy, nor particularly original. Some concepts are really cool, but they are mired in the execution, like dinosaurs, conserved in a tar pit. The main issue, though, is that this simply doesn’t work. The adventure is utterly reliant on these new rules, and when they fail to work, so does, by extension, the adventure.

I so wanted to like this. I adore scifi horror. But unlike “Rogue ‘s Run”, you have no chance of ignoring the broken aspects here. There are no two ways around this – this does not work. And this is so frustrating, because the adventure does have a great angle, a great twist on a classic trope. It has creative ideas, but the execution of said ideas is, at best, in a pre-alpha stage. There is potential here, and had this been presented in a tight manner, it could have scored as high as 5 stars + seal of approval. If you invest a LOT of time, you can make this an interesting and creative module, but expect more than a few hours.

But what we get here, alas, comes nowhere close to that. My final verdict can’t exceed 2 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
The Haunted Dive
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Rogue's Run
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 11/06/2018 04:16:45

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module, billed as an extended one-shot (or two-shot) clocks in at 70 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page blank, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 65 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing-queue as a prioritized review at the request of my patreons.

All righty, first things first: If you’re looking for a one-shot for 7th level, this module can easily be condensed to be a smaller module, should you choose to do that; it’s also important to note that about ½ the page-count of this pdf deals with supplemental material. This may sound like much, but in this case, it generally should e considered to be a plus, as it does offer depth if you choose to dive a bit deeper – at least in theory.

The module does sport well-written read-aloud text for your convenience.

All righty, this being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. I will denote the end of the SPOILER-section further below, as the supplement does contain a ton of supplemental materials we should discuss. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.

..

.

All right, only GMs around? Great! The pdf assumes that the PCs are trader-smugglers/for hire with their own Medium starship (the Jack of Diamonds, as an example for the like, should your PCs have none, is provided with full plans and pictures!), and the basic premise is a pretty simple one: The PCs are to pick up goods and deliver them from frosty Niflheim, a mining planet to Port Carthage, which is a rather notorious pirate haven – somewhat akin to Freeport in space, if you will.

We thus join the PCs as they can explode the icy outpost Hvergelmir (including a fully-mapped inn/tavern, player-friendly, I might add!), and as a plus, their contact gets stats. These are incorrect in a variety of ways, but thankfully, they probably won’t impact the game and should be considered to be optional.

Anyhow, the issue of the smuggling is as follows: Hostilities between the MegaCorps and Port Carthage’s pirates have recently escalated, and a corporate navy has basically created a huge dimensional lock-like effect to prevent Drift access as part of the blockade of Port Carthage. Thus, it’s up to the PCs to engage in some old-school, pre-Drift smuggling via the old smuggler’s route, the eponymous Rogue’s Run. Exiting Drift near the begin of the notorious route will have an Adam 12 sector-police patrol (fully mapped and statted) on the PC’s trail. Two statblocks for the police are provided, and the good news is that they are more precise than those provided in the appendices (more on that later); they do have a couple of glitches and lack plusses for skills, and equipment/damage values for melee attacks. In fact, they don’t seem to have melee weapons. Oddly, all seem to have awards for heroism as per the morale line. They seem to have been built with PC-rules, but regardless of whether you look at them with PC-rules or NPC-rules, there are serious glitches here. If correct statblocks matter for you, then this will have you grit your teeth. (As written, they, as level 6 and 8, can be mowed down by PCs without much hassle.) No values are provided to bribe/fool the police.

Now, the first part of the route would be the Hellgate – passing it will take a tool – 1 Hit Point…and on a failed Fort-save after the journey, that loss will be permanent! OUCH! Pretty epic, though: exiting the portal of pulsing flames will have the PCs immediately facing a minefield and a centurion class mine laying vessel – passing the field may rock the vessel, but soon thereafter, the PCs can witness the sight of the Sisters – twin black holes…and, to make matters worse, the minefield#s rocky ride has caused a crate to burst open – and now a crazed assembly ooze is on the loose in the ventilation system! Corralling it into a trap can make for one cool mini-game – and yes, ventilation system maps for the ship are provided! The PCs will also be seen by a star-eater nymph, a ginormous thing that may take the ship for a morsel. It may be dissuaded with some pain, though.

Easily my favorite encounter of the whole module would pertain the Sisters. Their Event horizons spin in opposite clockwise direction – and they can, when timed properly, act as basically a horrid super-catapult. Personally, I made timing this a proper mini-game where the PCs could show their knowledge, and then handed out the cool diagram for passing them as a reward-handout of sorts. I think that this encounter could have used a bit more mechanical meat on its bones. Arriving near Port Carthage, the PCs are contacted by the Cyberian, obviously a pirate vessel, which requests their aid triangulating an out-of-phase corp ship that may be responsible for the Drift-blockade.

Arrival at port carthage will show that the PCs have not been the only ones dealing with crazed oozes, and indeed, the PCs will get a chance to impress the Baroness of Port Carthage in a final conflict with a more…massive ooze, potentially starting a promising career as smugglers/space pirates!

END OF SPOILERS

The first of the aforementioned appendix-sections details the Kronusverse, the implied setting that was introduced in “Dead in Space” – I welcomed the brief introduction provided within, since I don’t yet own that massive book. The ideas presented are pretty interesting: Earth, turns out, is actually a sentient plant, who proceeded to receive an ultimatum from the being now dubbed Kronus, who pronounced a 1-decade countdown: After that, it would destroy any remnants of mankind left on it. Thankfully, humanity had already taken to the stars. After that, the underclass)es) sought freedom from the reign of the MegaCorps and ventured forth into what is now known Colonial Space, to differentiate it from Corporate Space. (Odd here: The first sentence of this section is printed twice.) Beyond even the frontier of Colonial Space lies the stretch, as of now the true frontier of humanity exploring space.

The second appendix gives us a summary o Port carthage (bonus points if you quote Cicero), a station salvaging vessel built into the shell of an asteroid, the slowly turned into basically a planetoid-sized station with the help of assembly oozes. Led by Admiral Baroness Ching Shi as a constitutional monarchy, where your profession and standing determines the amount of votes you get. A kind of pirate constitutional monarchy, if you will. Pretty cool: We not only get more detailed descriptions, we also get a fully mapped version of Port Carthage, with a separate pdf for full one-page-sized maps as well. Indeed, as always with Gamer Printshop, the map-support is extraordinary: The pdf comes with no less than 6 (!!) bonus pdfs containing read-to-print maps. Only one of them, the Outpost Hvergelmir, does have somewhat jarring labels on it – the other ones all could be printed and used as hand-out-style maps, if you want. For me, that is a huge plus.

The pdf does come with 5 pregens, though it should be noted that the formatting of this pregen presentation is very busy and cluttered – it makes more sense to take a sheet and fill them in. Plusses are missing before skills, attributes lack modifiers in brackets, and so on. Spells are not formatted correctly, etc. Personally, these made me twitch and I’ll pretend that they’re not here. Yeah, sorry, but the formatting’s that messy.

Unfortunately, this extends to the next appendix, at least to a degree – here major NPCs (Including a really nice 1-page artwork of Baroness Ching Shi) are provided with full stats. Or rather, half stats. The good new first, the stats are easier to read than those of the pregens – they are not as cluttered and messy. Good news: They generally seem to adhere, for the most part, to the monster/NPC-creation guidelines presented in the Alien Archive, at least when it comes to the basics. Alas, e.g. mastered skills and good skills do not check out for the CRs, offensive/defensive/other abilities are not correctly assigned, there are not enough Languages noted, attack bonuses don’t check out, there is no gear noted and the attack values note BABs that are not correct for the CR-values. Not even remotely. A level 19 envoy notes +23 for melee, +29 for ranged attacks. The Envoy class graft requires the expert base array, and this one clearly states +31 for the high, +29 for the low atk value. No damage or weaponry is given, so you basically look at something like that: “Melee +23”. That’s the entirety. Perception also is nonstandard throughout. There are only 3 of these statblocks, but try as I might, I can only describe them with one word: WRONG.

Thankfully, the author seems to have taken a much closer look regarding the details when it comes to the new ship bays like the assembly ooze reprogramming bay, the asteroid processor, etc., as well as landing claws, an ooze system one-use enhancement – these are genuinely cool and interesting and some armor augmentations from the Starships, Stations and Salvage Guide are reprinted here as well. Alas, the table does lack bay, PCU and BP-costs for ship mines. The entry’s there, just not the proper values – but then, this may be intentional, as their cost is based on capital tracking weaponry and a flexible means of calculating cost. Still, having the full information here would have been nice.

The pdf also includes a section of personal equipment and these tend to be interesting – there, for example, would be a heavy multi tool spanner, which is a cool visual indeed. However, skill-references don’t capitalize them properly, and it does deviate from standards in a couple of ways: For one, the table does not note bulk, requiring the reference of the text. Secondly, add-ons are a lower level than the weapon, which is odd. I am pretty sure that the base damage should be “B”, not “A”, as there is an acid-add-on…which does “B” damage. sigh These add-ons are a cool idea, allowing for flexibility. Alas, they don’t state how the critical effects are supposed to interact. I’m pretty sure the item’s melee should not have “explode” as a critical effect. This one really hurt me, as I really like the idea, but the implementation is pretty rough. Not unusable, but it does require some serious fixing by the GM to work in a precise manner.

The two vessels, the CCN Dido and the Geode Survey Rig 23 (with images from the outside for both and full maps for the Geode Survey Rig 23) are tighter, thankfully. (We don’t get tier-ratings for either, though. Five further ships are provided, and we get two more full-page pictures of them, which is rather neat.

The next appendix presents the space pirate base class, who gets 6 Hit Points, 6 + Constitution modifier Stamina per level, 6 + Intelligence modifier skills per level, Charisma as key ability modifier and proficiency in light armor, basic and advanced melee weapons, small arms, long arms and grenades, ¾ BAB-progression and good Reflex and Will-saves. (As an aside: In the table, the “Will” word at the column’s header seems to have drifted to the class abilities.) The class adds a class skill every level (!!), and every other level, you get +1 to that skill. Okay…shouldn’t that, I don’t know, be a free rank or something like that? The ability also contradicts itself, suddenly stating that, at 13th level, you get a second class skill, when RAW, at this point, you’d have already received +12 class skills! The class also receives a unique weapon, which uses the highest attribute modifier (!!) to atk and which receives a fusion equal to the class level and may be used in conjunction with trick attacks at 9th level. Guess who RAW does not receive trick attacks? Bingo. The space pirate. The class comes with an array of talents, tricks of all trades, which basically poach from other classes in some cases. Rules-language and formatting is inconsistent. This class does not operate properly RAW and would have been better off as an archetype. The section also includes a theme, which, at 12th level, lets you take a gear boost, envoy improvisation, mechanic trick or operatives edge. Wait. The latter is a fixed ability. Should that be exploit?? It should also specify that prerequisites other than those contingent on class abilities should still be met.

The bestiary chapter is more interesting – here, we get an vessel-sized assembly ooze (including starship assembly/disassembly-rules), which is pretty neat. If you’re very particular about monsters adhering strictly to the values proposed in the Alien Archive, you may be irked to see that the creatures herein do deviate from the standard values. However, on the plus side, formatting here, while not perfect, is MUCH better than the mess we witnessed for the NPCs and pregens, and from control cube oozes to crazed ones, we get some interesting fellows here.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are okay on a formal level. When it comes to rules-integrity and consistency, I unfortunately can’t claim the same. There is no nice way to say this, so here goes: There is not a single correct statblock herein; some have glitches so blatant you can see them at a single, cursory glance. The rules-integrity of non-statblock related components is also quite compromised in a couple of cases. If you’re picky about correct rules, then consider yourself to be warned. Layout adheres to a crisp and neat 2-column full-color standard and the artworks range from really nice to a bit goofy. The big formal plus, as far as I’m concerned, would be the cartography: If something even tangentially shows up, you’ll have full-color maps. Ships get depictions that show them from the outside, and maps for each floor; even tangentially relevant settlements get detailed full-color maps…it’s really impressive, and the maps come as pdfs as well and are player-friendly. That is a HUGE plus as far as I’m concerned, and depending on your priorities, may be enough to warrant checking out this module. The pdf also comes with extensive bookmarks that render navigation comfortable.

Michael Tumey’s “Rogue’s Run” is a module that has me torn: The angle of engaging in an old-school pre-Drift smuggling run is really cool, and the complications are interesting, to say the least. It is by design a linear experience, yes, but it is a linear experience that knows how to make the encounters feel exciting: From the first step on Rogue’s Run to the end, I was reminded of an episode of Firefly or Cowboy Bebop, and I mean that as a huge compliment. The encounters, even in the instances where they are mechanically not too exciting, do feel exciting – the ideas presented here are fun and evocative and the module can be a really exciting experience. The writing side of things is pretty darn cool, and if I were to rate this only on the merits of its ideas and vistas, it’d get a definite recommendation.

If, on the other hand, I’d solely rate this on the merits of its design-components, I’d have to tell you to steer clear. The rules-issues are pronounced and require serious GM-work to fix the statblocks. The crunch of the supplemental material, from the broken class to the half-way done NPC-statblocks, is, alas, a mess. It’s a mess that you thankfully (for the most part) don’t need to run the module. Still, were this a crunch-book and not a module, It’d, at the very best, would get a 2-star rating. This was in desperate need of a critical eye of a system-savvy editor.

So, how the heck should I rate this? I’ve mulled over the final verdict longer than for a pretty significant of modules I’ve covered. If you don’t mind the editing and formatting glitches, and if the cartography is something that’s important to you, then you may well check this out! It has its merits! On the other hand, if you want go-play and incorrect rules-language irks you, then you may want to give this a pass. Since almost half the page-count of the module is devoted to appendices of dubious rules-integrity, I’ve considered rating this to account for this component, but on the other hand, the massive amount of maps does offset this, value-wise, even if you ignore the majority of this part of the pdf. Hence, I chose to rate this primarily with a focus on its integrity as a module.

I can see folks really getting into the flavor and cool environments – I can see this working as a good module; similarly, I can see folks utterly loathing this for its flaws. I mulled it over time and again, and ultimately, my official final verdict will be 2.5 stars, rounded up – without the cool maps, it’d have been 2.5, rounded down, but they and the per se neat environments do have the potential to really enhance the experience for some folks. If rules-integrity is important to you, then consider this to be 2 stars instead.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Rogue's Run
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Old West Train Station Map Set
by Kevin D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/12/2018 01:41:16

I read the review that stated that the horse and track were 20+ feet long, the creator posted that he had fixed this.

That might be the case but assuming 5' squares the horse is still 25' long!

It's a shame I kickstarted the 25 maps books and was impressed by that so made the mistake of buying this based on the quality of the book and the fact that the issue with this product had been resolved!



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Old West Train Station Map Set
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Ultimate Vehicles: Vehicle Creation Rules
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/05/2018 04:59:30

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive supplement clocks in at 64 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page foreword, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 58 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review at the request of my patreons.

So, this book has a rather impressive goal – making vehicle creation truly modular. Vehicle, for this purpose, does not mean using Small or Tiny spacecrafts as submersibles, etc. The book focuses on vehicles that are somewhat “smaller”, and rules-wise, use hit point mechanics as opposed to hull points. Each size is assigned a numeric value – this is important, and though it is later referred to as such, the section that establishes it never explicitly states this, so let me do that for you: This numeric value would be the “size level,” and it determines the maximum number of modifications you can fit on the vehicle.

They are, as such, susceptible to being destroyed by hit point damage causing spells and effects. But does it succeed? Well, we begin by choosing an idea – after this, we choose the array that suits best the body of the design. Each body has a base cost per tier, and certain modifications are added after body selection. For example, if you want a hover tank, you first choose tank, then add the hover modification. These are jutted down on a piece of paper…or on the handy vehicle creation work sheet included! Now that is foresight, ladies and gentlemen! Nice! This step encompasses determining the size of the vehicle in question and choosing from 12 array types that include bikes, flying vehicles, walkers, trucks, etc. Vehicles come in 20 levels, with regular and maximum speed on a character scale, while the third speed rating denotes per hour movement. EAC and KAC ratings are provided per level and seem sensible for the respective vehicle types. Damage that exceeds the hardness of the vehicle is applied to a random passenger, and cover provided, if any, is similarly noted. Cool: Modifiers for Piloting at full speed are and regular speed are provided per level. There are a couple of minor editing glitches regarding plural “s,” missing prepositions and the like here, but I found the section to be pretty easy to grasp, though the pdf does sometimes become a bit inconsistent regarding level/tier, using them interchangeably – here, a revision of terminology has obviously not been implemented to the fullest extent.

Didactically, there are two components that first feel a bit odd: We note passengers, but there is no passenger stat per se included in the tables; instead, each vehicle body type notes the passengers in the beginning; this is slightly counterintuitive, since the previous rules explained by the pdf all refer to table entries. Secondly, vehicles get a Ram DC. This is 10 + tier of the vehicle (should probably be item level, analogue to SFRPG’s core rules) for collision, with damage governed by vehicle size. These are more unified and based, as a default, on d6s. Okay, got that. The Attack DC is equal to the “vehicle in DC modified by add-ons” – I stumbled over this “vehicle in DC” at first, but since it’s the same paragraph, I’m pretty confident, that the DC to ram it is meant. The presentation of this part of the rules could be slightly clearer. Now, this whole section becomes clearer once you reread the collision section in the SFRPG core book, but in a pdf that otherwise does a really good job explaining its rules, this stood out to me. As a nitpick, the collision damage type should be noted as bludgeoning.

The section also provides a couple of examples for this step of vehicle creation. A minor complaint here: Not all examples provided come with formatting of the stats, lacking bolding of elements. The material is functional, though. Visual representations of the respective vehicles bodies are provided.

As hinted at by the presence of modifications, which can range from pretty cosmetic to being complete overhauls of the base body – adding Military to a bike, for example, might well make it behave more like a Batman-Bike style 2-wheeled tank. All modification costs are added and then modify the cost ”per tier” – should probably be item level. The list of modifications is extensive and amazing: From advanced, really good materials to piloting an aged craft, armors of varying degrees, being capable of transporting other vehicles or mechas. These modifications are given in base percentages for the most part, with some offering a fixed cost per item level. Here, the book does get the distinction level/tier right – thankfully, otherwise it’d become really confusing: You see, the modifications do include starship materials and thruster modifications, allowing for the upgrade to essentially pseudo-starships, with hull points and starship options. Big kudos for attempting this step and incorporating it into the system!

This is not where the system stops, btw.: After the modifications, we come to the add-ons, which serve to distinguish vehicle functionality. These include additional passenger compartments, auto-piloting units, more hit points, more limbs, cargo spaces, adding ship or mecha expansion bays, applying ship weaponry. A vehicle can add its “size plus one add-on” – here, we once more refer to the numeric value that was deemed “size level” in the modification chapter, in case you’re wondering. Add-on bonuses, cost-wise, are added to the total cost, after modifications per level have been taken into account.

Finally, you can add finer details – gun ports, HUDs, sunroofs or luxury details. Et voilà!

The pdf also presents 6 feats and 4 piloting actions, which have in common that they disregard standard formatting for the like in pretty much every way possible – they are presented as though in an abbreviated table. The rules-language here is also kinda flawed, using terms like “give back” and, for example, this line “This allows a pilot to select a specific type of Int 15, Dex 15 vehicle and…“ – what? Pretty sure that those should be prerequisites… The rules-language here is really, really flawed and I frankly wished the page weren’t there. The piloting actions aren’t better, failing to specify their action type – this renders them unusable as written.

From there, we move on to dumb bombs, oil spills etc., using damage as based on the size of the vehicle in question. Damage types are not properly noted here, and verbiage isn’t always perfect, but thankfully never reaches the levels of non-function of the one page of feats and piloting maneuvers. The final chapters are devoted to a massive selection of sample vehicles, as well as a brief summary on the topics of destroying/repairing vehicles.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are not as tight as this book deserves. Layout adheres to a nice two-column full-color standard and we get quite a few, detail-wise decent, but inspiring full-color artworks. The pdf comes with bookmarks for each chapter.

Edward Moyer’s Ultimate Vehicles is a truly fantastic little system that can provide a metric ton of crazy vehicles for your interstellar adventures. There is a ton to love about this book – so much, in fact, I’d consider it to be a best of candidate. Alas, this book is a good example for my claim that good editors/devs are the unsung heroes of the RPG-industry. The book, good news first, does not lack crucial components and presents a functional system.

On the downside, though, the per se concise and well-presented rules are needlessly obtuse in some components. The inconsistencies between tier and item level; the fact that the rather important numerical values for sizes (size levels, as they’re called exactly once, a couple of chapters after being introduced) are not even bolded or otherwise emphasized or concisely defined with a unique term – this book, for the most part, manages to make the process of creating vehicles super-easy…only to become obtuse due to terminology inconsistency. I’ve had to skip back and forth a couple of times to get how the system works, and that is, in part, due to presentation and content editing snafus.

In short: This book requires some tolerance regarding these problems. But if you do get past these issues, you’re rewarded with a phenomenal toolkit that can enrich your game for years. Once you get past the imperfections, you’re rewarded. The entry-barrier generated by the book can potentially sink this pdf for you – unless you’re willing to look past the flaws and invest time in understanding the engine presented here, you will not have fun with this. For the formal issues, I should rate this down further. If the quality of the crunch was as bad as for the feats and piloting skill uses, the only part herein that simply doesn’t work, I’d consider this to be bad.

However, on the other hand, the book does deserve applause for what it does once you get how it’s supposed to work. Once you get it to function as it should, the book becomes amazing. And it doesn’t simply become a “bit” amazing, but rather, a MIGHTY, versatile toolkit you’ll adore.

This is, then, ultimately the best definition of a diamond in the rough. It is needlessly VERY rough in its components. But it can shine. Oh, can it shine. As a reviewer, I am utterly torn. The formal criteria regarding rules-consistency, etc. are simply not met by this book; were I to rate this on smoothness of didactic rules presentation and consistency, I’d have to rate this seriously down to something in the vicinity of 2 stars. However, on the other hand, the book does not deserve being called bad; heck, it doesn’t even deserve being called mediocre – it is, potentially, a truly inspired gem of a book, a book that could have easily been a Top Ten contender. I am, truly and thoroughly, torn.

If I rate this 3 stars, emphasizing the serious problems this has, I’d do the book a serious injustice; at the same time, if I do ignore the rather pronounced flaws this has, I’d be misleading the consumer. As a whole, I consider the flaws to be components that can be overcome, and with but one page of truly bad material in a book of this size and density, I feel justified in rating this 4 stars.

For me, as a person, this is a huge winner. If you can live with the caveats I noted, then you’ll love what this has to offer. Now, excuse me, I need to start building some vehicles…

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Ultimate Vehicles: Vehicle Creation Rules
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Rude Awakening
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/18/2018 06:33:13

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module clocks in at 16 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover/advertisement, leaving us with 12 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

All right, first of all, this is FREE. Originally created as a One-Page-Dungeon, it surprisingly does not show this humble origin; the adventure is intended for 4 1st level characters, and sports a detailed read-aloud introductory text, that presumes that the PCs are in cryosleep, something allowed by the cryogenic pods, bulk 4, which is introduced herein. Once common, in a post-drift era, these have become more rare, and for a reason. The pdf also notes the details for good crew berths and the turbo caterpillar drive, which allow for underwater movement. The pdf also provides detailed rules for long cold sleep – while death is possible, it is EXTREMELY unlikely, and the pdf provides a variety of mental effects…and there may be special effects, like temporarily gaining the ability to detect thoughts (not italicized properly). This generator/hazard encompasses physical and mental effects, and in a nitpick, does not specify the condition-durations for the minor mental effects, but judging from the presentation and explicit statements regarding durations of more pronounced effects, I assume these to last for only the immediate aftermath of cold sleep. On the plus-side, I did enjoy the decision to highlight terrain features and rules-relevant components in small boxes; it makes running the module smoother.

Beyond that, we get stats for a new tier 3 spaceship, the devilfish, which looks just as you’d expect – like a spacefaring mantaray! Now, here, I feel the need to comment on the supplemental material this pdf provides. You see, the adventure comes with a massive archive that includes VTT-friendly versions of the maps employed herein, as well as a pdf that provides the maps once more. Why? Well, you can print out both main map and deck plan of the ship in full scale, large size, 32 x54 inches & 28 x 31 inches, respectively) and as an additional bonus, the main map of the module comes with a LAYERED version! Yes, you heard me. You can easily customize this as you see fit, and the supplemental map-pdf is even bookmarked! Right from the get-go, that is a pretty amazing feat right there, and even if you are not interested in the module per se, I’d strongly suggest checking this out for the maps! (Seriously, this type of map-support should be the standard!)

All right, this is probably as far as I can go without diving into deep SPOILER-territory, so potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion!

..

.

All right, only GMs around? Great! So, the PCs revive from cold sleep, only to find that, beyond the locker room that contains their equipment, there isn’t much left of their ship – a massive hull breach awaits, and while spacesuits with magnetic boots (to avoid the issues of…well, space and zero G) are available, there isn’t much oxygen left – the PCs will have to hustle to get to safety! Indeed, the adventure, which could easily work in a convention slot, can be rather lethal here…if you choose to. The PCs will have to jump across the hull breach, and the Acrobatics DC is stiff. Consequences-wise, being off-kilter…or, well, dead, provide two variants on different ways to run the module. Indeed, at DC 20, the Acrobatics checks to do the like are pretty stiff. As the PCs hopefully make their way past the pressurized and unpressurized collapsed drone bays. Speaking of which: The first combat encounter will be with a hostile drone, which annoyingly notes just “good/poor saves” in the statblock, instead of noting them. While it’s only a quick flip of the corebook to determine the proper saves, that still constitutes a comfort detriment – the drone should have proper monster stats, not stats based on the mechanic class feature. Another thing you’ll notice, is that the statblock formatting of the stats herein lacks a couple of blank spaces and that sometimes, line breaks are missing, making the statblock formatting feel a bit rough. While I’m nitpicking – it’s still “electricity damage,” not “electrical damage”, as a plasma-hazard erroneously notes.

Anyways, the PCs will have to make their way past hostile mercenaries and navigate the broken vessel they found themselves in – best before the oxygen runs out! This is particularly interesting, considering that quite a few hazards have the potential to break spacesuits and leak oxygen. On the downside, the implementation of hazards like this is not always as concise as it should be: There are instances where no damage type is given, though we clearly have, for example, fire damage. Similarly, there is no such thing as “heat damage” in Starfinder and “enflamed” space suits could also use a more precise rules language. Anyways, the PCs will make their way to the aforementioned mantaray-spaceship, where they should attempt to open the hangar doors and bypass the biometric locks to escape…but, alas, no rules for the like are presented.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are okay – I noticed quite a few formatting deviations, as well as issues regarding damage types, missing DCs and similar hiccups in the rules-language department. Layout adheres to a solid 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. The cartography is the star of this pdf – the full VTT-support, player-friendly, layered maps, etc. – it’s worth the download all on its own.

Michael Tumey’s brief little introductory module is, theme-wise, fun and interesting, and the supplemental material is surprisingly detailed, testament to the care that went into this. The adventure works well as a forgiving introduction or as a really deadly convention-style/hardcore game. That being said, the module does falter and stumble a bit regarding the rules-language, sporting more issues in the details than I am frankly comfortable with. As a commercial supplement, I’d consider this to be a mixed bag, but it is actually FREE – and frankly, I’d consider this to be worth downloading for the maps. Considering that this is FREE, I consider this to definitely worth checking out. Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 4 stars....and the maps warrant granting this my seal of approval; getting these for FREE is a huge deal and needs to be rewarded!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Rude Awakening
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Starships, Stations and Salvage Guide
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/04/2018 04:46:01

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive book clocks in at 176 pages, 1 page front cover,1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page introduction,1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 170 pages, so let’s take a look!

This review was requested as a prioritized review at the request of my patreons.

So, this supplement begins with new spaceship frames, beginning with anthropomorphic/zoomorphic spaceship frames ranging from Tiny to Medium; the supplement notes that the Tiny frame acts as a power armor in the character scale – but, unless I am sorely mistaken, Starfinder’s core rules do not have power armor as a codified entity; this may be intentional, though, as we can probably assume that rules for them will be introduced sooner, rather than later. Since there are a couple of references to this throughout the supplement, I assume this to be intentional.

Anyways, we get minotaur-shaped ships, ones designed to look akin to crabs, raven-ships…and all of these come with at least one or more fully realized maps/floor plans. The next different frame type would be living frames, which need to be sustained and may, conversely, starve – think Lexx, for example. The sample ships here include a nice racer, but unlike pretty much all maps herein, the ship’s map has no grid. Tardegrade and scarab-based ships certainly make sense and make for a cool and somewhat icky theme that I really enjoyed. The map quality for e.g. the scarab-ship is rather impressive. In a nice callback (sans IP, obviously) to the classic Illithiad supplement, we also find a Nautilus-based ship here…which btw. sports 7 (!!!) decks – all as full-page, full-color maps!

Following the theme of spaceshifts that are alive, we go into Necropunk-ish territory, with undead spaceship frames, with 5 different frames provided and 4 space ships with full stats and, once more, lavish full-page maps – what about for example, an oxolotl-shaped ship? Yeah, that’s pretty cool as far as I’m concerned!

Now, the pdf also mentioned salvaging, and considering how important that aspect is bound to be in a scifi-setting, this definitely constitutes an important aspect to be filled. A total of 7 frames are provided for your edification, with 5 different sample ships, once more fully detailed with full-color maps, are found. Speaking of which: A full chapter is devoted to the details of salvaging materials: Beacons and how to access them, haul-in and on site salvage operations – the chapter is enjoyable and uses different tackles to provide an edge for the respective pilot. That being said, the rules otherwise are pretty nifty and I assume this to be the catch-all term for e.g. engineering auxiliary thruster drones providing a bonus to tackling…though, once more, the concept is somewhat hazy and e.g. the bonus they convey to Piloting is unnecessarily untyped, when it should probably be typed. I am not a fan of the ship grappling system being based on swingy opposed rolls, when Starfinder favors a fixed value as DC. The rules here are generally well-crafted, but the sequence of their presentation could imho be a bit tighter – there is no unified table for salvage tools and salvage/repair bays, which makes handling of this section slightly more awkward than it should be.

Speaking of expansion bays: The pdf devotes a whole chapter to the topic and notes tonnage and space in its own chapter. Expansion bays cost btw. 25% of the original frame, capping at 1 per size level, but they also reduce thrust by 1. Several variants of drop pods (with a fully mapped one), and from accelerator launch bays to advanced scanners to increase passive scanning range, brigs – the material covered here is great, even if the exact verbiage isn’t always perfect. “[…]that has an increased security system of DC 35[…]” is somewhat clunky and obviously should reference the Engineering skill; this does not break the book, mind you, but such hiccups, including some formal ones “maybe” instead of “may be” crop up throughout the book – a nitpicky editor would have helped polishing the like. Really cool: With a lich core, we have an engine that subsists on the lifeforce of the living, but references some rules that I couldn’t really reverse-engineer. I assume that, to a degree, they were once codified and have been lost there; we also have halved damage that probably should account for weaponry that extends to the ethereal, considering that that’s the justification. Now, don’t get me wrong – I complain about this kind of thing because I actually really like the scope and ambition of this book. There are a ton of things regarding ship customization and themes that this tome covers, which have so far been absent. The potential of this book is vast.

Want an example? Well, what about a shadow drive, which is powered by negative energy and comes with a table of strange oddities that accompany this drive? There also is a little table of updated critical effects, and we get rules for space stations, codified as tier 21, with a massive 1200 station build points! To account for the vast size, we get Colossal expansion bay rules as well as super weapon rules…there is quite a lot to love here and I’m most certainly going to tinker with these; as a fan of Gundam etc. and several scifi anime, the theme of space stations with hyper potent weaponry are something I enjoy. Anyways, the book also sports a pretty massive equipment chapter, which also offers new material for characters: Spider-shaped exploration drones, gravity shields that reduce damage dies by tier, which adds a bit of interesting rock-paper-scissors to the weapon type. Like that!

The book also contains a lot of really cool hazards – from asteroid showers to cometary trails, explosive shockwaves, straddling black hole event horizons, etc., this chapter provides a little treasure trove of tweaks for the GM to enhance encounters. An optional rule for decompression is also pretty interesting. The pdf also provides a brief, three-part adventure-sketch, though I wasn’t particularly keen on it – it’s pretty straightforward and mainly a way to showcase how to use the book.

This is, however, still not where the book ends: We get a massive ship reference chapter, (including even more full-page full-color maps!) which also features multiple high-level NPCs, and the final bestiary contains not just space liches, but also a couple of starship-sized monsters, including ginormous space worms, several properly realized drone stats, etc. I noticed a couple of hiccups in the stats, though. This chapter also presents a variant of the kitsune race for Starfinder, but the presentation here deviates significantly from the standard, with feats particularly not even remotely adhering to any Starfinder formatting conventions, Spell references not italicized, and a power level that exceeds the core races.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are okay; the massive book sports quite a few formal hiccups, and unfortunately, some of these have also reached into the rules-aspect of this book. The book is a VERY crunchy tome, and for these, precision is pretty important – and, don’t get me wrong, for the most part, the book is actually really precise and well-crafted. At the same time, there are deviations from how SFRPG usually handles some aspects of the game, and this, alas, can be found here and there, which is pretty jarring in contrast to the often interesting modifications and obvious knowledge the designer shows. This duality extends to the aesthetics-department: The 2-column full-color layout sports graphical elements that are pixilated on the borders and the artworks…well…they…exist. Some are solid (mostly those for mechanical things), but the majority are not exactly beautiful. At the same time, the cartography is so expansive it’s a joy, and the quality of the maps is significantly higher than either layout or artworks. In fact, with the vast amount of maps, this may well be worth the asking price for the maps themselves alone. Anyway, the pdf comes with bookmarks for the individual chapters, but not for specific ships or maps, which makes the navigation slightly less comfortable than it could be.

Edward Moyer’s massive tome has me torn as a reviewer. Not because of the aesthetics, mind you. I always advocate substance over style, and the pdf frankly provides a ton of bang for your buck. I’d rather have content than shiny stuff. On one hand, I loved a lot of the material; on the other hand, it is pretty evident that a really picky rules-developer or-editor would have made this massive tome a must-have book; as presented, I couldn’t help but consider this to be a bit less refined than what I’d have loved it to be. Considering the complexity of the Starfinder ship-rules, the sequence of presentation of the material itself within the book could have used a bit of restructuring. Do not misunderstand: As provided, this is a massive grab-bag, and the pdf contains something for pretty much every table, sporting the massive expansion for the SFRPG-rules that fully spaceship gaming can use.

While the editing inconsistencies and rules-aesthetic deviations would make me usually settle for a verdict as a mixed bag, the book at the same time also sports a surprising amount of truly interesting rules components that manage to do interesting things with the engine. Whenever the book’s minor flaws did show, I also found truly fun aspects here that made me smile and think about how to use this. As a fan of weird scifi/space opera, I adored the more far-out tricks herein, and the supplement also features the tools to run essentially a whole campaign (or at least a couple of adventures) based on salvaging. In short, this has a lot to offer. It is somewhat rough around the edges, requiring some modification and care by the GM, but the vast amount of different and neat maps elevates the supplement. As such, my final verdict will clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 due to the map quality and the cool material within.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Starships, Stations and Salvage Guide
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Neptune Undersea Station map set
by Jeremy P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/15/2018 22:32:39

Great highly detailed maps I actually had to shrink them because the files were so large that some of my players would have had trouble viewing them through Fantasy Grounds.
I'm actually using the maps in a D&D game where there was previous technological society and this is going to serve as an outpost that they left behind on the elemental plane of water that my players will have to figure out. The only issue I've found is that in the PDF of the descriptions for the levels under the Marine Lab pylon all the room descriptions are copies of descriptions from the habitat levels with level 4 and 5 having no description. Not really a big deal as I can just fill that in myself just figured I'd mention it if you had any interest in fixing it even though I know this product has been here for a few years now so its unlikely it is being actively updated.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Neptune Undersea Station map set
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for you review, Jeremy. I will see what I can do to fix the issue.
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