StarCluster 2

Game: StarCluster 2
Publisher: Flying Mice LLC
Series: StarCluster
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 5th, December 2004
Reviewer’s Rating: 6/10   [ On the ball ]
Total Score: 18
Average Score: 6.00

A 287-paged and fully-fledged RPG for $12 (currently discounted to $10!) is only possible with electronic publishing. There’s something about StarCluster 2 that feels as if the game should be played around a table with ring-bound folders full of rule printouts, game notes and character notes.

That’s just as well, perhaps, as it’s the only way I can see StarCluster 2 being played. The PDF is far too large to for a GM to use ad hoc in a game; especially without bookmarks. The lack of bookmarks is surprising given that Flying Mice got the electronic contents page exactly right. You don’t want to flick to the end of a PDF to find the index.

Ideally, you want as a thorough contents page as possible, be able to click on the contents entry which suits you and zip straight to the matching page in the document. You can do this in StarCluster and it’s good.

Let’s just say this first; StarCluster is unusual.

The artwork in the PDF is fantastic. You’ve full-colour paintings (perhaps digital painting, I’m not sure, I’m art-stupid; I just know what I like) which conjure up hefty doses of atmosphere and really offer that professional touch. Yet the layout of the PDF itself is very basic. We’ve just text and tables.

There’s no sidebar, no inserts or even columns. StarCluster’s artist, Clash Bowley, is also one of the book’s authors. Albert Bailey completes the other half of the duo. It’s unusual to see such great art with the uninspiring layout. At times it almost seems as if the font wobbles and isn’t consistent throughout paragraphs.

Asides or “note paragraphs” aren’t even boxed off or background shaded. The plus side to StarCluster’s basic formatting is that the giant PDF is as kind as it can be (given the inclusion of the colour art) to your printer.

StarCluster is also unusual in that it floats between stats heavy and stats light. There’s a real whack of character generation to do and then an ongoing issue with tech levels. Space flight and space fight combat rules are never a breeze and StarCluster comes with its own software which lets you point-and-click to select orbits, type in an acceleration value and discover how many hours it’ll take to travel from the origin orbit and reach the target orbit.

Every now and then I see something which raises the bar in RPG publishing and Flying Mice have done that here with their calculator. Why do I think StarCluster is stats light? It’s the sort of game that once you’ve got everything set up and you’re in average gaming mode that you don’t need to bounce polyhedrons often. When the dice must dance across the table it’s easy to work out the resolution.

StarCluster uses its own mechanics and has some nice touches. Initiative ticks (120 of them per round) can be traded in for a better to-hit chance. I like this.

Strategy always seems to be more important as the technology level and deadliness of weapons rise. It’s sometimes hard to pick out the gems in the basic system and this is due to the layout and organisation of the PDF. Combat in StarClusters tends to be quick and brutal as characters are swiftly rendered unconscious. Just as the combat section is reinforcing this fact we’re told that melee weapons are only effective against flying creatures on the initiative tick in which they attack.

Where did that come from? The rule reference, I mean, not the attacking flying creature. I’ve mixed feelings about percentile-based systems. On the plus side, they’re easy and intuitive but on the downside the range of randomness is quite high. For example, in StarCluster it’s really fate which decides whether you’re ambush successfully surprises anyone rather than your strategy.

I don’t much like randomness in character generation at all. Much better to have a character concept and then see if you can make it work with the character creation points available (if not you’re initial concept isn’t suitable for a starting level character; talk to the GM) but I know other gamers like to create a character from random and then rise to challenge of bringing him/her to life.

Random character generation also lends itself to a wider range of possibilities (though reading through RPG forums and communities you’d be inclined to think no one rolls low). StarCluster moves to mute this dilemma and offer us both random and direct (point-based) chargen. Good. I can’t quite find where we’re told how many points it costs to buy levels in IQ, PSI and Rank though.

Character progression in StarClusters is based around careers. The vast majority of character generation is working out what a character has done, trained in and learnt before the start of play. There’s even such as thing as “Mother’s Milk” skills which are picked up before the age of 10. As characters age, they move from career to career if they want a broad skill base or advance in their current career to deepen their current skillset (and earn more money).

I like this for character progression but it does add so much more work to character generation and it does take a little bit more brainpower to work out. There are times when I was left wondering whether I’d found a typo or hadn’t understood the system.

“If you have the money but don’t meet the minimum requirements, try for a waiver. Roll the amount listed or less, and the requirements are waived for you. Same if you meet the minimum requirements, but don’t have the cash. Remember to add +1 to your die roll for each point of IQ over 120. High IQ is a big asset here.”

Surely a high IQ should reduce the dice roll if you’re trying to roll under a waiver?

StarCluster is a space epic. We’ve seen that already in the character rules where heroes advance each year as they develop or change their careers. A good chunk of the 287 pages is taken up with the stat-blocks of career details.

There are actually so many pages of mini tables that it’s off-putting. It’s easy to think “Just what is going on here?” as you scroll through page after page of skill modifications. StarCluster is also epic in terms of scope. You’ve no Earth (destroyed) but there are many planets. We’ve aliens too; Sastras, Vantors and Tagris, as well as the human hybrids of each. If the GM allows you might find more exotic aliens, robots, androids and “uplifted” animals.

The game begins after the death of Earth. There are 300 years warning, thereabouts, that life on Earth was going to end and it came at a time where mankind was in a golden age with space flight and colonies on nearby planets. In order to escape the destruction of the planet and the resulting blast front, would-be survivors would need to on distant planets or on spaceships crossing the void.

There’s no shortage of planets once you explore far enough from Earth. StarCluster covers a range of technology levels. On some planets technology is poor and average skills are likely to be trapping or riding. On other plants technology is advanced. The drug Boost slows ageing by a factor of twelve. Characters can be equipped with power armour. StarCluster provides the game mechanics required for the full range of equipment, armour and weapons.

There’s an encyclopaedia of planets, governments and relationships in StarCluster. The RPG isn’t just game mechanics but a game universe too. Tables in the back of the PDF provide at-a-glance references to whether a planet is a state or a colony, etc, whether it’s a theology, military dictatorship, etc, population size and a note on the StarPort. Sadly the StarPort note is just a letter, A, B, C or D and we’re not really told what the significance is. This sort of give and take is typical of StarCluster though as sometimes great ideas are poorly executed.

StarCluster is a game of up and down. It wins me over on a concept and then doesn’t quite manage to present the working solution to me. The failure, nine times out of ten, is simply in presentation or through omission.

It’s a decent RPG but it’s only a spit and polish away from being a great RPG. Someone who knows next to nothing about the game could be brought in for the final edit and ask simple questions like “But how many points does that cost?” and I think the layout could be improved. If you’re an experienced gamer and can wade through some of these issues yourself then there’s a highly playable and enjoyable space epic here. StarCluster is the sort of RPG which could keep players and GM alike enthralled for years.