Cold Space
by Clash Bowley

Cold Space is a science fiction roleplaying game set it the past. Using a bit of revisionist history and fictional timeline creation, the game world of Cold Space is Earth (and it’s interplanetary settlements) is the mid 20th century. It is obvious from the beginning that someone spent a great deal of time researching and planning the history that would be employed for the setting, and the end result is a detailed, believable universe. If you are a gamer open to learning a new system and want a unique science fiction game environment, this is an interesting place to start.

It is important to note that this is not a d20 system game. It is designed using the Starcluster 2 engine. I don’t bring this up because I have anything against non-d20 systems. In fact, I play a variety of systems and enjoy them. The issue however, is that it is never clearly defined early on what type of system this game is made for. If you have never heard of Starcluster, you have no idea what type of system the book is. The only reference to the engine is the logo on the cover. The first 20 pages of the PDF are dedicated to credits, history, and backstory before you even know anything about the game mechanics. There are then three pages of recommended classes for different eras, which is a nice idea…if I had any clue at this point what any of this meant. If this is all meant to entice me into the game, it has the opposite effect. It creates an annoyance for me. Because after 25 pages of a 186-page document, I still have no idea how to play the game, or even if it is compatible with other game systems I play.

Character creation is cumbersome. Between having to select your education data (covered over 11 pages), employment (covered over an additional 11 pages), and the skills, character creation seems difficult for new players. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that the character generation rules are spread out over multiple chapters (with a chapter on NPCs in between them to compound the matter). Of course, players familiar with Rifts© and similar systems will probably consider character creation in Cold Space a walk in the park. Casual gamers, or those who are only familiar with the most popular game systems, will probably either need a great deal of GM help making a character or will lose interest.

Fortunately, once I got through the character creation, things seemed to fall into place much better. The actual game mechanics for determining the success of skill checks, attacks, etc, are pretty straight forward so long as you have a good grasp of basic math (or at least know how to use a simple calculator). The weapons charts are clear and easy to follow, and has a nice variety of choices for your combat pleasure. The chapters detailing space ships and space travel/combat are well detailed and easy to follow, and include some nicely done examples of gameplay to help players better understand the mechanics. More importantly, they feel realistic. And realism is often the one thing sorely lacking in gaming material. Instead of being a hodge podge of thrown together “kewl” stuff, the ships appear to actually have been designed with a clear logic behind them.

As a gamer, I am exceedingly grateful that the publisher took the time to create both a detailed table of contents and an accurate, well developed index. Both are often sorely lacking in game books these days, and when they are included and designed well it is an important note. Both allow you to quickly and easily locate data in a hurry.

The illustrations, from the interplanetary maps to the filler illustrations, are both artistic and practical. It is a nice looking book, with a good use of white space to break up text and keep things easy on the eyes. A minor annoyance was the constant switching between one column and two column layouts. In some cases, it made sense from an artistic level to differentiate between rules and fiction in this manner. But it isn’t consistent, and therefore I’m not sure why it was done.

Overall, if you can get through the character creation, or are already familiar with the game engine, this book is a worthwhile addition to your gaming library. And if you are a fan of science fiction and want a different game experience, I recommend making the effort to learn the system.

Gloomwing Review by Julie Ann Dawson

Pages: 183
Softcover ISBN:N/A
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