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Eric M. Aldrich I
United States
California
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Preamble
This is an unusual review for an Iron Review -- it's of a game that I've actually been playing for the last several months, in addition to having just read the book. While reading allows one to evaluate most RPGs pretty accurately, actually playing them winnows out the quirks.
The Product
Ashen Stars exists in several print editions and a PDF edition. All contain the same game material -- just the presentation differs. I've seen the PDF and have the first non-special edition of the hardbound. The book is 304 pages of glorious full color professionally printed. It's quite a piece of art, as are most books from professional publishers in the RPG industry today.
The art itself is wonderful, and sprinkled throughout the volume. Nothing bad here. The writing and editing are top notch too. The paper and binding seem to be of good quality.
The Game
Ashen Stars is an adaption of the GUMSHOE system to Space Opera. It tries to recreate the tropes of the various Star Trek and other similar science fiction serials, and it does a pretty remarkable job. The merits of this approach are for another place, but given the limitations of the GUMSHOE system, this is well done.
The players portray a group of Lasers, freelancer agents of The Combine. Your job is to resolve problems on the frontiers of The Combine, in the sector called "The Bleed", as it's no longer possible for The Combine to exert control over the far-flung remnants of its empire due to it barely surviving a long war against the Mohilar. The war ended 7 years ago and The Combine is struggling get back on its feet again.
Basically the players are mercenaries working for the government.
What a player did during the war is presented as important background to consider, given that the war created the current situation in the known galaxy
So what's in the book?
Obviously we have character types. Unlike many games, character creation is a collaborative effort. It is essential that all the critical roles of the team be covered by at least one player. More on this shortly.
Characters can be one of seven races, including humans, cybernetic humans, and five different alien races: the Balla (elves meet vulcans and go goth), the Durugh (dwarves that can phase shift), the Kch-Thk (insectoids), the Tavak (armadillo men), and the Vas Mal (defrocked "Q" that look like Psilons from Master of Orion II).
After races are chosen then crew packages are assigned. Two areas are covered: Warpside and groundside, and there are 6 packages for each (though medical is for both, so there are 11 packages total). Each player is assigned one package from the warpside list and one from the groundside list. This is done so all players will have meaningful roles within the group.
After the packages are assigned investigative abilities are chosen, making sure that all are covered by at least one person. Same with general abilities. Then personal motivation is chosen, then the group's ship, then equipment, and finally personal details.
Amongst personal details is your personal story arc. How this fits within the "Big Theme" of the game is important! The better one's aspirations and personal story arc fit within the game the more it can be explored. "Ashen Stars places its central characters in a conflict between altruism and selfishness."
Basic character creation only actually takes up 12 pages. However, several of the following sections are just expansions of this. The racial descriptions ("The Seven Peoples" ) take up 12 pages, explanation of the crew packages ("What You Can Do") takes up 26 pages, and character motivation ("Drives") 9 pages.
We get the GUMSHOE rules in 22 pages , then it's back to character creation. Starships get 40 pages. Basic technology and equipment gets 23 pages.
Finally we get background on the universe itself and its inhabitants, how to build and run adventures, and a sample adventure. There are three appendices containing sample names, sample ship combat, and the required tables and charts.
So, how is the game?
Obviously I've glossed over a lot here. The game is, as one would expect given that it's a derivative of GUMSHOE, and investigative game. Combat and open conflict at most a secondary concern. The emphasis here is on solving problems, and most of the time violence is not the answer. The basic outline of an adventure is as such:
The Contract (with backstory)
The Investigation
Complications and Choices
Resolution
Each adventure can be thought of as an episode of a TV series, and GMs are encouraged to design them as such.
Most of the game play focuses on the actual investigation.
In the three adventures we played, there were exactly five combats, none took more than 10 minutes, and no one was killed. Any killing in the game happened off camera and was part of the plot, not something the PCs were involved in.
Because of this, both space and ground combats are highly abstract in nature, designed to produce a fairly quick outcome while still getting everyone nominally involved. It's not realistic at all, but that's by design and pay proper homage to various TV series of the genre.
One of the philosophies of GUMSHOE is to avoid PCs missing critical investigative elements such as to derail the story line. There is no failure while investigating, only degrees of success. The idea is streamline the investigative procedure and make the game more interesting. The system presents the argument that success is always more interesting than failure, no matter to what degree, and that it opens up new avenues to explore.
This works fairly well in practice, though I'd argue that failure and dealing with it are actually an interesting aspect of puzzle solving on an RPG level, but I can live with this.
The background of the game is deliberately a bit far-fetched. This is no big deal. However, there are several great mysteries which literally have no explanation but yet the characters will be inclined to look into should the opportunity present itself. The GM will have to handle these details on their own carefully.
Conclusion
Ashen Stars is not for people whose cup of tea is hard science fiction. May seem obvious, but it needs to be said.
GUMSHOE in a space opera setting works really well for the most part, but the scope is a challenge. There's too much that has to be glossed over, and the game screams for another 300+ page book on just the game universe itself. This game is not for novice GMs.
Still, it's a lot of fun, and a nice change of pace. However, for an experienced group it will be too easy. The story is essentially spoon-fed to players as per design. It can be fun, but a long-term campaign of this game will get old quickly, because really, what's the point? Short of the GM adding some overarching backstory and greater mystery to solve that isn't in the main background there is no real long-term group goal. One is encouraged to pursue personal goals, but then what? The potential endings look anti-climatic.
So for now I'll give he game a 6 and the item itself a 7. It's good for passing some time away, but like any investigative game that relies on a series of often unrelated mysteries for plots it can quickly degenerate into "Those Meddling Kids In Space".
If it's given an overarching background mystery to solve (what happened to the Mohilar and why, and how do the Vas Mal figure into this?) with an actual solution, maybe I bump this up one. I do hope this will be published as a series of adventures eventually -- I think it would be a fascinating read.
Thanks for reading.
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Rhiannon D
Australia
Sydney
Until I see a footnote, that's just an opinion.
All the fine traditions and the skill/ Come from my elders from the long line down/ Are mine to use, to raise our craft's renown/ And mine to teach again with reverent will.
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ealdrich wrote:
Amongst personal details is your personal story arc. How this fits within the "Big Theme" of the game is important! The better one's aspirations and personal story arc fit within the game the more it can be explored. "Ashen Stars places its central characters in a conflict between altruism and selfishness."
this sounds cool - I like games that make character-driven plot a priority.
ealdrich wrote: Starships get 40 pages. Basic technology and equipment gets 23 pages.
this however bothers me, for a space opera and investigative game. Seriously? I need 40 pages on starships in a hard sf game, maybe. Why would one need it in this game? what sort of information does it include? does it feel out of place?
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Eric M. Aldrich I
United States
California
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The scary thing is starship combat is extremely abstract. This section could have been cut in half and little would be lost.
I deliberately didn't say much about it because it hardly came up during the eight sessions we had in the game! It was barely looked at except during one space combat as we tried to figure the system out.
This game is deliberately character driven. If anything, we found the rules got in the way a bit as they were so abstract in places as to be mostly useless. Most of the time we made sure common sense ruled the day.
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Troy
United States
Los Osos
California
Come enjoy PolyCon XXX in beautiful San Luis Obispo, June 22-24th! www.polycon.org
This overtext is far more interesting than I am.
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Great review as usual.
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Martin Ralya
United States
R'lyeh
Utah
Father, husband, publisher, writer, gamer, geek. Even paler in person.
The books I write because I want to read them, the games because I want to play them, and stories I tell because I find them exciting personally. -- Gary Gygax
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ealdrich wrote: Basically the players are mercenaries working for the government. What a player did during the war is presented as important background to consider, given that the war created the current situation in the known galaxy Characters can be one of seven races, including humans, cybernetic humans, and five different alien races: the Balla (elves meet vulcans and go goth), the Durugh (dwarves that can phase shift), the Kch-Thk (insectoids), the Tavak (armadillo men), and the Vas Mal (defrocked "Q" that look like Psilons from Master of Orion II). After races are chosen then crew packages are assigned. Two areas are covered: Warpside and groundside, and there are 6 packages for each (though medical is for both, so there are 11 packages total). Each player is assigned one package from the warpside list and one from the groundside list. This is done so all players will have meaningful roles within the group.
Your entire review is excellent, but these paragraphs are what finally tipped me over the edge (where I've been for months now) and made me order the game.
This is the kind of two-minute summary I can give my group that will let them decide if this is a game they'll enjoy. It's blunt, succinct, and perfectly said. Thank you!
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Eric M. Aldrich I
United States
California
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Thank you.
I enjoyed the game, but we deliberately decided it was a diversion from our main campaign. It will be interesting to see if we return to it again. I think we will.
One thing I left out of the review (an oversight) was how the name "Ashen Stars" relates to the game. It's a phenomena that has happened since the end of the war. How it relates to the other mysteries is unknown.
Hope you enjoy the game. There are some interesting ideas here, and with the right group I think it will work very well.
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Posted Fri Jan 6, 2012 7:37 am
