Bouv's RPG Reviews #8: Marvel Super-Heroes RPG

When Dungeons & Dragons first appeared in the early 1970’s, it opened up a whole new genre of games to the world. Soon, similar products began to appear, but they were essentially the same thing – fantasy role-playing games. As the 1970’s ended, companies began to branch out and put out science fiction RPGs, Westerns, and the beloved superhero RPGs. It didn’t take long for the “big 2” to want to get in on the cash-cow that was seen in role-playing games and eventually licensed out their properties to different companies to make games based on their characters. Marvel ended up signing on with TSR (makers of Dungeons & Dragons) and TSR released the Marvel Superheroes Role-Playing Game! While never as popular as TSR’s flagship, D&D, the game saw many supplements released for it and would go through a revision a few years later and then a new system (SAGA) in the 1990’s. The rights to the characters eventually went back to Marvel and they tried releasing their own RPG and currently, Margret Weis Productions is the maker of the Marvel Heroic Role-playing Game. Today, we’re here to review the first one that began it all for Marvel RPG fans!

The original game was released in 1984 and, like many TSR products, came in a box set. The set contained three books – The Battle Book, the Campaign Book, and the Adventure Book, along with game maps, counters, some d10 dice (for percentile rolls) and a crayon to fill in the dice (this was what many TSR products with dice back then did). The Battle Book is a quick introduction to the game and sets up the rules. The Campaign Book goes into more details about equipment, powers, and how to make your own original characters. The Adventure Book contains a quick scenario (“Day of the Octopus”) but it’s set up more so to use established characters instead of your own (in an effort to get a feel how the game plays). Once that is done, then the players can create their own characters if desired and the judge can create his own adventures for the heroes to go on!

The first book, the Battle Book, is the basic rules of the game. The game uses seven stats – Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche (or FASERIP for short) and each is based on a number (1-100) and rank (Feeble, Poor, Typical, Good, Excellent, Remarkable, Incredible, Amazing, Monstrous, Unearthly, and the Class 1000 (for people like Galactus I guess!)) On top of their stats, characters also get superpowers (from mutants, to radioactive gopher bites, incredible suits that let the user jump great heights, to guns and magic!) and talents (regular skills). Characters are then assigned variable stats – Health (which equals Fighting, Agility, Strength and Endurance added together, between 40-400), Resources (money, equipment), Popularity, and Karma (like luck, points that can be used to help out in dice rolls, adding Reason, Intuition, and Psyche).

What good are all these things? Well, they allow a character to pull off FEATs (Function of Exceptional Ability or Talent – pretty much the dice rolls). Using a chart, the gamemaster (GM) has the character roll and based on their rank for what they are rolling, he checks the chart to see if they succeed (green, yellow, or red) or failed (white). If a FEAT roll failed, a player can use their Karma to make it successful (which, depending on how much it failed by, could result in a lot of Karma being used). Karma could also be used to lower someone else’s die rolls.

The game then expects you to use the maps and counters in playing. They help show the position of everyone relative to everything else. I’ve never been big on counters/miniatures besides for the basics (showing where you are) as I feel, if used too much, they can take away from the game (as players then get too concerned where everything is located).

Combat is fairly straight forward. Like most RPGs, each side declares actions, initiative is rolled (higher number wins and is the “attacker” and then vice versa), making rolls against the difficulty chart provided and based upon everyone’s actions. Damage is calculated and everything continues on to the end. Really pretty simple.

The second book is the campaign book. While the first book assumes you are going to play an actual Marvel character (Spider-Man, Captain America, or everyone’s favorite – Iron Man (), the campaign book allows you to create your own character. It details all sorts of different powers, resource levels, equipment (from guns to iron suits…) and even magic (though this seems to be of an optional system in the game). While one may think the campaign book is only for GM’s, there is a lot of information for players as well. How much stuff costs, how to go about building items (like Tony Stark does!), how to earn or lose Karma and how to increase skills. There is also a lot of information for the gamemaster – how to create non-player characters, what the law (back in the 1980’s Marvel Universe) views heroes, different environments, and of course how to be a good “Judge”. The final section of the book actually details how to create a new character with all the different powers and abilities one can choose from and even has an example, the creation of Mach 1 (wonder if it’s any relation to Mach IV?)

One of the interesting aspects of game design from the 1970’s-1990’s is that many companies felt they needed completely different systems for all their games. So while TSR did produce D&D, Marvel Superheroes, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, Boot Hill, Top Secret, and Gangbusters, each game actually uses different mechanics. Thankfully, most of the systems, while different, do have enough similarities that one can just as easily play one as the others. This means while you just can’t start playing the game if you’ve played one, the learning curve isn’t as steep if you’ve never played a game to being with.

Another thing that can be bothersome to some people (and, early in my life, it did bother me a bit) is the art. In comics, we are used to one style of art from the issues we read. For me, as a early teen, it was Spider-Man and X-Men that I read a lot of. I would then see ads for these products and the art wouldn’t like the same as in the comic (close, but no cigar!). Well, being an adult and knowing now that different artists worked on the material is the reason it looked different. I don’t think TSR was getting Todd McFarlane to draw their RPG books!

Overall, after reading the Marvel Superhero RPG, I must say this is a system I could get behind. It is fairly simple system to understand and doesn’t get bogged down into too many details. On top of that, TSR released a ton of supplemental materials for the game – guide books (with information and stats of actual Marvel characters, like Iron Man!) to adventures! Yes, for modern players, many of the stats maybe outdated (some later supplements deal with Iron Man’s “Silver Centurion” model, last seen in the Armor Wars from the late 1980’s!). However, there are still many fans of TSR’s version of the game and they continue to put out their own fan-material for it (just have to do some searching online).

Being a simple system and based upon known properties, the Marvel Superheroes RPG is also a great way to get younger people into role-playing games and, being a “heroic” game, is good for the whole family to enjoy! If you can find used copies out there (ebay, Amazon, used book stores), I would suggest picking it up. I’m sure that many would also find it useful for references to 1980’s Marvel properties.

Bouv's RPG Reviews #7: Dungeons & Dragons B7 Rahasia (9115)

Dungeons & Dragons B7 Rahasia (9115)

Rahasia is a Basic Dungeons and Dragons module written by Tracey and Laura Hickman (probably most famous for writing and creating the DragonLance series). Up until fairly recently, I never read or played through this module. However, back in early spring I ran the party I'm DM'ing through this module, as it worked well into my campaign (which is running through about 1/2 the classic B series modules). While "officially" set in the Known World/Mystara campaign world (like the rest of the B-Series), the module is pretty generic enough (with no true "name" places) that it can be easily placed into any campaign setting. The basic plot involves the PC's discovering than an elven village has come under the power of a person known as "Rahib". He has kidnapped two maidens, taken over a temple and brainwashed almost half the village into serving him and will not stop until the last maiden, Rahasia, turns herself in. Needless to say, it's up to the PC's to stop him! B7 originally appeared as two modules for the RPGA which were combined into one for mass-publication.

The module starts out pretty straight forward as the PC's wander into the situation the elven village is going through and get the run-down from Rahasia herself (daughter of the leader of he village). Because of this, the PC's know not to try to kill every elf they come across since they're maybe brainwashed (unless, of course, they really want to but DM's could start docking XP for that if there are other ways). There are some challenging combats (especially for 1-3 level PC's!) and a lot of puzzles, traps, and tricks. One of the "nasty" aspects of the temple are the transporters which can bring a PC even deeper into the complex, alone (our cleric went into one but thankfully it dumped her outside the temple), or into the hands of the enemy. The PC's also discover that something more sinister is going on! The ancient wizard ruins, ghosts, and guardians let the PC's onto even deeper secrets and the horrors that can be unleashed if the Rahib is successful in his plan!

Although meant as an introductory module (as is the whole B series) for levels 1-3, even 4-5 level PC's will find this module very challenging. In one nasty combat encounter, 2 out of 5 PC's went down in the first two rounds (granted, the PC's aren't really suppose to fight this one monster, according to the module). At another point, two more were turned into statues (with no saves allowed). For gaming groups used to straight forward dungeon crawls where you kill all the monsters and take all the treasure, they will find a lot of challenges here. From the transporter traps, to puzzles, mysteries, and the final maze, it requires thinking and remembering what has gone before.

The artwork is pretty standard for TSR at the time. The cover, back page, and the wilderness map are in color while the rest of the module is black and white (with a couple full-page drawings). Tim Truman and Jeff Easely (who also did the cover) are the interior artists (they were TSR "regulars" for art). Like most TSR products, he maps are great and easy to use for a DM (though players might have a difficult time with the map due to the transporters).

Rahasia does include a few new monsters, including the water weird, haunt, and bone golem. It does have a new magical item but it is story-specific and really isn't too helpful outside of the module. Like most modules, there is also a set of pre-generated characters (sometimes they were the ones used if it began life as a tournament module).

For a B series module, especially in the time period it was written, Rahasia is a wonderful module. An excellent plot that goes beyond a simple "here is some money, go clear out the dungeon" that many of the B series has. Unlike other B modules, there are no teaching tools built into the module (B1, B2, B11 all have sections on how to run a game for both DM's and players). Rahasia is a good example of what DM's can do in their own modules. It requires the PC's to think beyond the sword which serves to make Rahasia a gem of the time period. If you get a chance, at least read it. If you've never run it or played through it, try to. You will be surprised. And for fiendish DM's, it's a good way to teach PC's the importance of talk, listen, see, and remember.

Bouv's RPG Reviews #6: Dungeons & Dragons B2: Keep on the Borderlands

Dungeons & Dragons B2: Keep on the Borderlands

For many role-players, especially those older ones, Keep on the Borderlands (by Gary Gygax himself!) was one of their first adventures, either as a DM or as a player (mainly because it was included in one of the Basic Sets for a few years and has been reprinted a few times since its first printing). Like many in the B series of modules, it is not only an adventure but serves as a helpful guide for new Dungeon Masters, contains charts and tables of frequent information (equipment, spells) to help avoid having to go back and forth to the rule book (and not having to slow down the game for it), and a load of NPC's scattered throughout it. Many role-players do hold a special spot in their heart for this module and many claim it was their gateway into the world of Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing in general.

The first part of the book is full of helpful hints and tricks for beginning DM's and covers some basics the DM will need for this module from the DM's guide (like time keeping, experience, treasure and more). For those that were unsure of how to run a game, this was a gentle hand from the master himself on how do things in the beginning. After a couple pages of this, a quick background is given and then the Keep is described.

The Keep itself is pretty generic - just a simple Keep with a small town surrounded by walls set on a trading road in the wilderness. There are some clerics, merchants, traders, and some minor nobles around (and stat'ed out). The Keep makes for a good base as the PC's instigate the wilderness around the keep and head into the meat of the adventure. They are able to pick up rumors, hire additional manpower, purchase supplies and even find a few twists. Though the basic set deals primarily with dungeons (with the Expert set getting into wilderness adventure), there is enough information for a novice DM to run some wilderness encounters (and a few are given as the PC's search for the caves).

The bulk of the adventure deals with the "Caves of Chaos" though (the dungeon crawl part). Within the cave system (as it is a big hill with some different caves/dungeons, some that connect,some that don't) are some standard monsters for beginning players - kobolds, orcs, goblin, hobgoblins. What is nice is the module does give advice on how to run the creatures as they are not always "static", waiting for the PC's to show up in that room. Some of the PC's actions will determine where they are located in the future (they can hear and investigate noises as well, along with having spies). On top of that, there are political factions within the systems - one group hates another and may be convinced to help the PC's wipe them out. While the PC's can clear out caves, the module does state that after a couple months, more monsters will probably move back in, as the caves are a handy place for humanoids to hide out in.

There is also a Chaos Cult (sounds like Warhammer Fantasty RPG!) located within the Caves with some undead and higher level NPCs to challenge the PC's (and to remind them that sometimes the best bet is to investigate the treasure before taking it!). To make sure the PC's are on their toes and to challenge them as they move up a few levels, there are some caves with gnolls, a maze with a minotaur and an owlbear (which, according to stories, was the end of many a PC)! There is decent treasure to keep the PC's coming back for more. On top of the "Caves of Chaos", there is also the "Caves of the Unknown" shown on the overland map. It is only given location on the wilderness map, with the idea that the DM will take it and design his own dungeon for it (using what he learned in running the Caves of Chaos).

While pretty light on the plot (like many of the early modules), Keep on the Borderlands offers a lot of good dungeon crawling for novice or experienced players and DM's. The whole design of many of the early adventures was for the DM to come up with his own plot and campaign setting and use the module as a location within it. Even those with some experience in the game will get a kick out of it for a short while. Creative DM's though can easily weave in some plot threads as there are a few hints to them within the module (especially with the evil Chaos cult). The module is full of helpful advice. Another nice point is the Keep is pretty generic, allowing DM's to place it easily into any campaign world (it would officially be placed in the Grandy Duchy of Karameikos in the D&D Known World/Mystara and later on within the Greyhawk setting with the publication of "Return to the Keep on the Borderlands").

The end of the module is filled with more information on designing dungeons, NPCs, tips for players, a blank piece of graph paper, a glossary, and a NPC list a DM can fill out and use.

As mentioned, The Keep on the Borderlands has been reprinted numerous times. It was first released in in 1980 and was included in the Basic Set for 3 years. For the 10th Anniversary set, it was included (among many other things). Parts of it were included in the Supermodule B1-9 In Search of Adventure and was included in the Silver Anniversary Edition. TSR also produced a "Return to the Keep on the Borderlands" in their anniversary line set 25 years after the original and put out a novel at the same time (both which would place it in the Greyhawk setting). Hackmaster 4th Edition, which was licensed and based off of AD&D 1st edition published "Little Keep on the Borderlands". In 4th Edition, Keep on the Borderlands was used for Wizards of the Coast's "Encounters" series. And finally, back in the spring of 2012, Wizards released it again as part of their D&D Next playtest.

In my campaign, as of this writing, my players are just finishing up this module. Being very basic and light on plot worked out for me as I was able to modify it quite a bit, add a few more monsters into the mix and fit it into my own campaign (that is currently set in Mystara). My players have been enjoying it and displaying some well thought-out tactics (using fire to clear out rooms, hiring people to assist them,etc).

The artwork is pretty standard by TSR standards from the late-70's early 80's by David Laforce, Erol Otus, and Jim Roslof. The cover is a pink/magenta border with a group of adventures combating orcs or hobgoblins outside. The back cover shows a nice backdrop of the Keep itself. Excluding maps, there are only 5-6 other pictures in the interior of the module. The maps are well done with one of the Keep, the Inn, a wilderness map, and the Caves of Chaos all detailed.

One of the few complaints (besides not true plot) is that all the monster statistics lack experience point values which makes the job of the DM a bit more difficult as he now has to go back and look them up. Most of the coins are also listed in dice values, requiring the DM to roll (in my set-up, I did all the rolling ahead of time). Future modules would do away with most of that. On top of that, the items in the Chaos Cult's area can ruin a PC easily (they will instantly turn them evil).

Overall, Keep on the Borderlands is a nice little introductory dungeon crawl that many have fond memories of. It is easy to find on the secondary market and isn't going to cost an arm and a leg to purchase (probably under $10). It's sequel modules, though, will probably cost more. This is almost a standard in most collections that role-players have. The maps are well done & the artwork holds up even to this day.

Bouv's RPG Reviews #5:Robotech Book 5 - Invid Invasion

Robotech Book 5: Invid Invasion

The final of the "core" books, Invid Invasion covers the third and last Robotech story, the Invid Invasion/New Generation. This series saw Earth taken over by the Invid as they now harvest the protoculture that is growing on the planet (released at the end of Southern Cross) and use humans as slaves. There are no more world governments. The most one can hope for is a large town government. Humans live in fear of the Invid and each other. Bands of resistance fighters continue to fight the Invid, hoping that the Robotech Expendianary Force (with the SDF-3 and heroes like Rick Hunter) come back and free the Earth. Some attempts had been made but both had failed.

Arrangement: Here we are at the last of the first-run sourcebooks (i.e. books based on the actual Robotech properties). The rest of the books will be original material put out by Palladium. Like all their other books, this one starts with a quick introduction and then goes into using pre-existing characters in this time period and then describes the two different time periods (in the Palladium version, the Invid come back). It goes into OCC’s (again, new ones or using existing ones), a bit on mecha combat, skills, combat, and then a blurb on older mecha. Next up is the new mecha, weapons, vehicles, and other equipment. They also add in a section (from their TMNT Supplement “Road Hogs) on vehicle combat and special maneuvers. Next is the Invid section with a good history and information on the different stages of invid (and being able to play the Stage 5, human like ones) followed by Invid mecha, hives and a small size comparison chart. In a bit of change, the NPC stats come next followed by world information (which also puts in some good plot threads – where high concentrations of rebels are, Robotech Masters and Zentradi, and invid hive locations). The final part talks about the genesis pits and has some random encounter tables.

Mecha: Like a lot of the other books, this is where we see a lot of mistakes made (mistakes known even back then, pre-internet days!). The Alpha fighters leave out some of the head mini-missiles and jet lasers (seen in the ending credits, though some will argue that is an animation error). The Beta fighter’s weapons are really messed up. Its chest and shoulder missiles and one GU-XX are good. The rest is bad. It claims to have medium and long range missiles when those are actually sensor pods. In the show we see the Beta fire its arms cannons but they are not mentioned once or as the other leg-mount weapons used in jet mod. The GU-XX pod is listed as a 35mm gun pod but other sources claim it to be an energy weapon (even seen in the series to be more “energy” like). The Cyclones were good except for two things: The Battler was said to have chest missiles but doesn’t (nor is it ever seen in the series to fire any) and the MDC is off (more than an old VF-1 Veritech!) They also improbably list two fighters – the VF-1V Vindicator which is a bigger version of the Shadow Alpha fighter – it never existed, just an animation size error and the Shadow Fighter should have also included a drone version. However, most of that is small potatoes and with the chest missiles on the VR-052 Battler Cyclone, I can see a couple reasons for their inclusion. First, it is titled "Battler", implying it is a front line combat unit so would have more firepower. And secondly, in an RPG setting, having 4 missiles and a hand gun can mean rolling up a new character quickly. Better to increase the odds of survival.

Equipment/Vehicles: Mostly good, though some stuff was reprinted from other sources (tanks) and not actually seen in the show. One of the mess-ups was the “Wolverine” assault rifle and “Wolf” pistol. These are actually the same weapon that, like the Gallant, can have parts added on to make it bigger. It would be a while before this mistake was fixed. The additional rules for vehicle combat were a nice touch (as mentioned, taken from the Road Hogs supplement for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rpg, which that supplement was inspiried by Mad Max style of vehicles). However, there are a some good choices for even non-mecha pilots to chose from here.

OCC’s: Some good stuff, though some is just similar to Book 1 - Veritech pilots, military specialists, tc. What’s nice is it includes more than just military options – there are scouts, freedom fighters, or just plain ole “civilians”. They also do a good job of saying “this is a mix-setting; all previous OCCs would work well too!” and giving some tips to update them to the new setting (increasing skills). One disappointment was the decision not to include the M.O.S. from the Southern Cross book.

Invid: I like the information presented here as it does a lot of background information and stuff not seen in the series (did we ever see an actual invid besides the Regis and the other human-looking ones?). Their mecha is nicely described along with the “kill zone” (eye sensor which is shown in the series a lot). There is information the different types of hives, what to expect from the hives and even the genesis pits and other invid experiments.

World Information: For a smaller section, there is a lot of information crammed here. In the TV series, we just get to see South, Central and North America. The world information gives more on the rest of the world, especially where some larger resistance is taking place (Africa) and where some Robotech Masters and Zentradi are hiding out (Indochina). One thing Palladium did was state that after we see the Invid leave in the TV series, they would come back, with a much smaller force, to harvest more protoculture. This allows different campaigns (and one of Palladium's later books would take place during this period).

Artwork: It is great! Kevin Long is back doing the bulk of the artwork along with Kevin Siembedia and compared to the Southern Cross book, a huge difference! He does great detail pictures of the mecha, showing where the missiles are stored, the missiles firing, mecha in action, etc. There is some reused art, but not a lot. The cover is similar to the Southern Cross cover – an orange background (must have been on sale or something). My only issue is that not everything is given a drawing (like the tanks and trucks).

Overall: Back when I first got this book I would have given it a solid A-. A lot of the information was great but I knew from the beginning some was wrong (Beta fighter since there were two episodes where it was clearly firing the cannons on its arms). It gave a lot of information on the world and even allowed for the Invid to come back later. Nowadays I would give it a B-. Sure, some info is wrong but the art is great and it still has a good feel. While lacking in space ships (which would be presented in Robotech II) it can be forgiven for that.

Bouv's RPG Reviews #4: Robotech Book 4 - Southern Cross

Robotech Book 4: Southern Cross

The fourth book in Palladium’s original Robotech series is the first one to step away from the Macross back-story and take on the second of three storylines. Southern Cross deals with probably the least popular section of the Robotech cartoon. The Robotech Masters have come to Earth and it is up to the Armies of the Southern Cross, including Max & Mira’s daughter, Dana, to fend them off. Spoiler alert – at the end, almost all the military forces of both sides are wiped out. While it is the least popular of the three series, Southern Cross does contain many important plot details to the overall Robotech universe with the Robotech Masters (creators of the Zentraedi) and Protoculture (the uber-fantastic power source).

Arrangement: The book starts off with a quick introduction and what different time periods that can be played as the Southern Cross (working with the RDF, fighting the Masters or preparing for the Invid or anything in-between). Being a “new” book, new skills (including M.O.S.’s) and O.C.C.’s are now available to chose from (the “15” Armies of the Southern Cross are each an O.C.C.). The combat tables come after the skills followed by some optional rules. Up next comes the descriptions of the each of the 15 armies/O.C.C. (TASC, ATAC, GMP, etc.) They add in a bit about “special teams” which pretty much tells the GM and PC’s that they can go ahead and chose different OCC’s and still work together. Next (in the middle of the book!) are character sheets. After that is the mecha of the Southern Cross and EBSIS, followed by regular vehicles and equipment. After all the vehicles and equipment comes the section on the Robotech Masters (background, O.C.C.’s, mecha) followed by updated information on the Earth (including another, minor, earthbound antagonist, the “Merchant Republic”) and finally some NPC stats and “Japanimation” notes.

OCCs/Armies: A lot of the information here is good but like we see throughout the book, misidentified (which, to Palladium’s credit, they were working with very little material in the days before the Internet). Some branches aren’t separate “armies” onto themselves but branches from the Tactical Corps. One of the best things introduced here (but not carried over in their other material until the “2nd Edition” stuff came out) was the M.O.S. – Military Occupational Specialty. What this allowed was for anyone to play an ATAC OCC but still have unique abilities (Science Officer, Mechanical Officer, etc. like is seen in the series). The Southern Cross book doesn’t have the “Electrical Engineer” or his peers like Book One does so this helps cover that aspect of the game. Along with each OCC are the illustrations showing off their own versions of the armor, along with different helmet designs for officers and such.

Mecha: This is probably one of the two spots were most of the errors in this book occur (which, with the advent of the Internet, became more noticeable than in the 1980’s and early 1990’s). The Logan Veritech Fighter is mostly correct; the one thing they added, like the VF-1, were extra lasers, which it doesn’t have. The AJACs has a pretty good description, though, to make the time-period more “game-able” they make its debut earlier than actually seen in the series. What they leave it for the AJACs is that there are two versions – one for space (left out) and one for Earth (shown). Mainly it’s only stylistic changes. The hover tank is pretty well done also with only the add-ons we see later on in the cartoon series left out (rocket boosters, enclosed cockpits).

The Southern Cross battleoids, however, are where the most glaring mistakes come in. Many are assigned to the wrong branch, others are called battloids when they were closer to power armors, and some were given to the EBSIS states (the EBSIS was a fictional for the role-playing game, based off of notes by Carl Macek). The coolest part of this section, though is the fact that many of the battliods only appeared ever so briefly in the animated series (and thus easily missed) so it is pretty cool to see them and have stats for them.

Vehicles: Pretty good in this section though some of the vehicles we do see in the series are left out (but not many). This gives a lot of standard military vehicles to use (hover cycles, trucks, APCs, jets). The biggest let down was lack of some pictures and the fact we only get two space ships detailed (with no pictures to go with them!).

Equipment: Some pretty good information on the armor of the Southern Cross, including some add-ons. The hand-held weapons are mostly good, a few are misidentified. One big difference between Southern Cross and Macross is now PC’s can have Mega-Damage armor to protect them (and not have to rely solely on mecha) and because Mega-Damage with the energy weapons presented.

Robotech Masters: Some good background information is presented along with the hierarchy of the Masters (including stats if you want to either make NPC’s or have characters run them). They go into the Master’s mecha though here they seemed a bit under-armored, compared to what we see in the series. Some of the other equipment is detailed though the only ship that is given any detail or stats is the main mother ships we see (though there are clearly other ships in the series).

World Information: Some good stuff, updating the world for the past 15 or so years when Books One and Two left off. What’s nice is that with the EBSIS and Merchant Republic, we get antagonists that do broaden the adventure levels for the time-period. I’m not too sure how much is completely made up on Palladium’s side of things and how much is based on drafts, notes, and conversations with Macek and Harmony Gold. With Earth-bound antagonists, it can add a variety of game play to the game.

Artwork: This is where the book gets funky. There are some really good b+w line art in the book, however, a lot of it gets ruined by over-shading/shadowing it (some mecha look mostly like silhouette drawings!). I’m not sure the reasoning behind it but it definitely takes away as you lose a lot of detail. Some of the artwork is reused from the previous Book One. However, many of the weapons and battliods are drawn out which is nice, since, as mentioned, the series sometimes gives us a second of it on the screen. The cover has a simple fight scene in a wasteland setting with a bright orange background.

Overall: When I first got this book, I would have given it a good B/B+. I was never a huge fan of the Southern Cross section of Robotech but I loved seeing all the information on the mecha! However, I also a bit disappointed by the lack of more information on the Masters and more on the world. Looking back now, the book would be a C-, knowing how much information was wrong. However, they do admit right at the end of the book that a lot of the information is pure speculation on their part, based on animation models and brief scenes in the animation and not on any other books or material. The OCC’s were mostly good and the introduction of the MOS was great but not carried on anywhere else. I think one of the “pipe dreams” of Palladium was to always try to get a Southern Cross Sourcebook out but they never did. This would have detailed the world some more and given up information on the Southern Cross in space (moon bases, Liberty, more on the ships and Masters).