I’ve always been a fan of the Hero System, mainly because I find it to be one of the most adaptable and modular system I’ve ever played. Over the years, I’ve adapted it to play much more than just a “supers” RPG, tweaking the rules to run my own fantasy world with a very odd magic system, a James Bond-esque spy thriller setting, and even adapted it to run one of the many incarnations of the Traveller setting.
The latter was inspired by the release of a genre supplement book called Star Hero in 1989, when the 3rd Edition of the Hero System was being published through Iron Crown Enterprises. I recall how neatly the Hero System was adapted to handling not only space-faring heroes, but aliens, furturistic vehicles, and starships as well. But with that particular release, there was no real setting for Star Hero, so I ended up using a heavily modified version of the 2300AD setting – which was actually a nifty setting, all things considered.
Indeed, campaign settings for Star Hero have been quite hit-or-miss in relation to the release of the genre supplemental book. While there were no campaign settings, to my knowledge, released for 3rd Ed. Hero System’s Star Hero, there was one finally released in 1997 (Bright Future, Hero Games) – but that was actually published during 4th Edition rules. Hero Games did a bit better with Star Hero for the 5th Edition rules in 2002, releasing the Terran Empire setting and several supplements between 2003 and 2008. ComStar Games jumped on the bandwagon as well, and converted 15 supplements of old Traveller (the “little black books”) into 5th Edition Star Hero.
And so, with the release of 6th Edition Hero System, there’s yet another version of Star Hero on the shelves. As it happens, BlackWyrm Publishing has responded to the new rules set with not just one, but six unique science-fiction settings for Hero System fans to enjoy. One of these settings, The Fires of Heaven by Patrick Sweeney, offers Star Hero players a vision of the future which is scientifically plausible and reasonable.
The Fires of Heaven
The Fires of Heaven is a space opera setting by author Patrick Sweeney, designed to be used with the 6th Edition of Star Hero/Hero System. The book contains information required to run a fully-developed science fiction setting, including a future history of mankind, aliens, colonized star systems, trade, character development, and more.
Production Quality
The production quality of The Fires of Heaven is quite good, with a well-designed layout and an engaging writing style which is both informative and pleasant to read. The information is revealed in a relatively logical format, and the author includes special information in shaded boxes which further explains or highlights a topic. These range from additional notes on a topic to quotes from historical (future) NPCs and aliens, as well as occasional design notes in Reality Check boxes. The one difficulty I found while reading The Fires of Heaven is the stylized heading font – it’s fine in large sizes, but very difficult to read in smaller sizes as it appears in sub-sections.
The book also has a very detailed table of contents to make referencing of topics fairly simple.
The art in The Fires of Heaven is a mixed bag, and surprisingly scant for the page count. The cover art is nicely rendered and vividly colorful, but the interior art is simple line drawings and sketches, mostly found in the Aliens chapter. There are depictions of stellar objects now and then, but in low-resolution black-and-white they fail to be that inspirational. It feels like a bit of a failing to me that depictions of starships and futuristic weapons and armor are omitted in a setting book such as this, which detracts from part of the “fluff” factor a game needs.
Out there…
The Fires of Heaven setting for Star Hero is set in the 23rd Century, when Earth has colonized more than a dozen planets out to about 20 light years of Sol. In the introduction, the author is very clear about his design goals of creating a setting which is based upon “scientific plausibility” but with allowances for departures from scientific accuracy to allow things like faster-then-light travel and artificial gravity.
The setting book is divided into ten chapters, each covering a different topic related to the galaxy as characters would know it in 2237:
The first seven chapters of The Fires of Heaven deal exclusively with explaining the setting, covering a wide range of topics useful to understanding how humans have gone out among the stars and created an interstellar republic. The remaining three chapters at the end of The Fires of Heaven are “crunch” heavy, offering both information and Hero System/Star Hero statistics. These last three chapters take up about 45% of the books page count, and cover a lot of the detailed player and GM information for handling game mechanics in the setting.
Chapter 1: The United Worlds is an overview chapter, covering the nature of the space republic, but touching on every topic from history to technology to aliens, and more. In fact, Chapter 1 discusses several topics which are covered in greater detail later in the setting book, and seems like a chapter designed for both players and GMs to get a basic feel for the “landscape” in 2237.
Chapter 2: Interstellar Atlas presents information on the 14 colonized star systems in The United Worlds, and also includes a primer on stars, worlds, and asteroid belts. Each star system is detailed by planet, with information and statistics given for the type of world it is as well as any colonies there.
But the fact that the author details only 14 worlds in The Fires of Heaven made space feel small to me. He mentions that this was a design choice, so that the systems could be more fully detailed. The author does mention that there are more than 70 star systems in this 20 light year spec of the galaxy, but without providing a resource for the locations and at least base information about the other 56 systems, space in The Fires of Heaven campaign setting would be difficult to develop for the GM.
Chapter 3: Aliens looks at the five intelligent alien species known to humans in 2237. Three of these alien races (D’eira, Jodoni, and Nutoa) are generally bipedal and can be played as characters. The remaining two aliens species – Ethereans and Vorn – are quite alien in appearance, the latter being quite violent and recently in a war with The United Worlds.
Chapters 4 through 7 – The Military, Corporations and Free Traders, Law Enforcement and The Underworld and Exploration and Colonization – details what might be considered campaign paths in The Fires of Heaven. Each details information about the various aspects of the setting, such as the SpaceForce Navy and Marines, or interstellar corporations, running a tramp trader, or bounty hunters as well as many other topics, giving GMs and players ample information to decide what sort of careers might be available in a campaign.
Chapter 8: Character Generation details game mechanics for the skills and skill modifications, perks, talents, and powers available to characters designed in The Fires of Heaven setting. Powers in the setting include cybernetic implants and psionic powers. The statistics for the three PC alien races are also given here, as well as occupation skill packages.
Chapter 9: Adventuring delves into more game mechanics for handling combat and the environment in a space opera setting. The author also includes general equipment, weapons, and armor available in The United Worlds, as well as drugs and other gear available on the black market. There is a brief overview of available robots, computers, and vehicles here, as well as dealing with game mechanics of the dangers found in space and alien worlds. I was a bit disappointed here that none of the equipment, gear, robots or vehicles had any accompanying illustrations.
Chapter 10: Starships takes a look at space travel, space combat, and samples of ships in The Fires of Heaven setting. Statistics are given for specific types of ships, as well as for weapons and armor that can be added to a ship design. Sadly, the few starships that are given statistics are The United Worlds types, and only a couple Vorn ships, with nothing mentioned about the spaceships of the other PC alien races. And like the previous chapter, lack of illustrations of various starships – even simple silhouettes – is both noticeable and disappointing.
Overall Score: 3.4 out of 5.0
Final Conclusions
Overall, The Fires of Heaven is a hefty and pretty complete space opera setting for Star Hero/Hero System, and one that will likely have appeal to a wide range of science-fiction role-players. The author definitely accomplished his goal of creating a setting that was “hard” science-fiction in all the right areas, yet had room for the fantastic and wondrous in a few key places.
The author has a very good writing style and covers such a massive array of topics that GMs will feel quite comfortable running the setting. Players who are fans of science-fiction will find certain aspects of the setting resonating with a wide range of SciFi media, including novels, movies, and television shows.
Given the width and breadth of this expansive setting, the price is fairly modest. And the author definitely left room for his universe to expand under individual GM initiative, or perhaps with future supplements.
So until next Review… I wish you Happy Gaming!
Author’s Note: This Reviewer received a complimentary copy of the product from which the review was written.
Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)
The latter was inspired by the release of a genre supplement book called Star Hero in 1989, when the 3rd Edition of the Hero System was being published through Iron Crown Enterprises. I recall how neatly the Hero System was adapted to handling not only space-faring heroes, but aliens, furturistic vehicles, and starships as well. But with that particular release, there was no real setting for Star Hero, so I ended up using a heavily modified version of the 2300AD setting – which was actually a nifty setting, all things considered.
Indeed, campaign settings for Star Hero have been quite hit-or-miss in relation to the release of the genre supplemental book. While there were no campaign settings, to my knowledge, released for 3rd Ed. Hero System’s Star Hero, there was one finally released in 1997 (Bright Future, Hero Games) – but that was actually published during 4th Edition rules. Hero Games did a bit better with Star Hero for the 5th Edition rules in 2002, releasing the Terran Empire setting and several supplements between 2003 and 2008. ComStar Games jumped on the bandwagon as well, and converted 15 supplements of old Traveller (the “little black books”) into 5th Edition Star Hero.And so, with the release of 6th Edition Hero System, there’s yet another version of Star Hero on the shelves. As it happens, BlackWyrm Publishing has responded to the new rules set with not just one, but six unique science-fiction settings for Hero System fans to enjoy. One of these settings, The Fires of Heaven by Patrick Sweeney, offers Star Hero players a vision of the future which is scientifically plausible and reasonable.
The Fires of Heaven
- Author: Patrick Sweeney
- Illustrations: Curtis Craddock, Craig Smith; Daniel Heald (star map)
- Publisher: BlackWyrm Publishing
- Year: 2012
- Media: Large Paperback (258 pages)
- Price: $24.95 (available from Amazon.com)
The Fires of Heaven is a space opera setting by author Patrick Sweeney, designed to be used with the 6th Edition of Star Hero/Hero System. The book contains information required to run a fully-developed science fiction setting, including a future history of mankind, aliens, colonized star systems, trade, character development, and more.
Production Quality
The production quality of The Fires of Heaven is quite good, with a well-designed layout and an engaging writing style which is both informative and pleasant to read. The information is revealed in a relatively logical format, and the author includes special information in shaded boxes which further explains or highlights a topic. These range from additional notes on a topic to quotes from historical (future) NPCs and aliens, as well as occasional design notes in Reality Check boxes. The one difficulty I found while reading The Fires of Heaven is the stylized heading font – it’s fine in large sizes, but very difficult to read in smaller sizes as it appears in sub-sections.
The book also has a very detailed table of contents to make referencing of topics fairly simple.
The art in The Fires of Heaven is a mixed bag, and surprisingly scant for the page count. The cover art is nicely rendered and vividly colorful, but the interior art is simple line drawings and sketches, mostly found in the Aliens chapter. There are depictions of stellar objects now and then, but in low-resolution black-and-white they fail to be that inspirational. It feels like a bit of a failing to me that depictions of starships and futuristic weapons and armor are omitted in a setting book such as this, which detracts from part of the “fluff” factor a game needs.
Out there…
The Fires of Heaven setting for Star Hero is set in the 23rd Century, when Earth has colonized more than a dozen planets out to about 20 light years of Sol. In the introduction, the author is very clear about his design goals of creating a setting which is based upon “scientific plausibility” but with allowances for departures from scientific accuracy to allow things like faster-then-light travel and artificial gravity.
The setting book is divided into ten chapters, each covering a different topic related to the galaxy as characters would know it in 2237:
- Chapter 1: The United Worlds
- Chapter 2: Interstellar Atlas
- Chapter 3: Aliens
- Chapter 4: The Military
- Chapter 5: Corporations and Free Traders
- Chapter 6: Law Enforcement and The Underworld
- Chapter 7: Exploration and Colonization
- Chapter 8: Character Creation
- Chapter 9: Adventuring
- Chapter 10: Starships
The first seven chapters of The Fires of Heaven deal exclusively with explaining the setting, covering a wide range of topics useful to understanding how humans have gone out among the stars and created an interstellar republic. The remaining three chapters at the end of The Fires of Heaven are “crunch” heavy, offering both information and Hero System/Star Hero statistics. These last three chapters take up about 45% of the books page count, and cover a lot of the detailed player and GM information for handling game mechanics in the setting.
Chapter 1: The United Worlds is an overview chapter, covering the nature of the space republic, but touching on every topic from history to technology to aliens, and more. In fact, Chapter 1 discusses several topics which are covered in greater detail later in the setting book, and seems like a chapter designed for both players and GMs to get a basic feel for the “landscape” in 2237.
Chapter 2: Interstellar Atlas presents information on the 14 colonized star systems in The United Worlds, and also includes a primer on stars, worlds, and asteroid belts. Each star system is detailed by planet, with information and statistics given for the type of world it is as well as any colonies there.
But the fact that the author details only 14 worlds in The Fires of Heaven made space feel small to me. He mentions that this was a design choice, so that the systems could be more fully detailed. The author does mention that there are more than 70 star systems in this 20 light year spec of the galaxy, but without providing a resource for the locations and at least base information about the other 56 systems, space in The Fires of Heaven campaign setting would be difficult to develop for the GM.
Chapter 3: Aliens looks at the five intelligent alien species known to humans in 2237. Three of these alien races (D’eira, Jodoni, and Nutoa) are generally bipedal and can be played as characters. The remaining two aliens species – Ethereans and Vorn – are quite alien in appearance, the latter being quite violent and recently in a war with The United Worlds.
Chapters 4 through 7 – The Military, Corporations and Free Traders, Law Enforcement and The Underworld and Exploration and Colonization – details what might be considered campaign paths in The Fires of Heaven. Each details information about the various aspects of the setting, such as the SpaceForce Navy and Marines, or interstellar corporations, running a tramp trader, or bounty hunters as well as many other topics, giving GMs and players ample information to decide what sort of careers might be available in a campaign.
Chapter 8: Character Generation details game mechanics for the skills and skill modifications, perks, talents, and powers available to characters designed in The Fires of Heaven setting. Powers in the setting include cybernetic implants and psionic powers. The statistics for the three PC alien races are also given here, as well as occupation skill packages.
Chapter 9: Adventuring delves into more game mechanics for handling combat and the environment in a space opera setting. The author also includes general equipment, weapons, and armor available in The United Worlds, as well as drugs and other gear available on the black market. There is a brief overview of available robots, computers, and vehicles here, as well as dealing with game mechanics of the dangers found in space and alien worlds. I was a bit disappointed here that none of the equipment, gear, robots or vehicles had any accompanying illustrations.
Chapter 10: Starships takes a look at space travel, space combat, and samples of ships in The Fires of Heaven setting. Statistics are given for specific types of ships, as well as for weapons and armor that can be added to a ship design. Sadly, the few starships that are given statistics are The United Worlds types, and only a couple Vorn ships, with nothing mentioned about the spaceships of the other PC alien races. And like the previous chapter, lack of illustrations of various starships – even simple silhouettes – is both noticeable and disappointing.
Overall Score: 3.4 out of 5.0
Final Conclusions
Overall, The Fires of Heaven is a hefty and pretty complete space opera setting for Star Hero/Hero System, and one that will likely have appeal to a wide range of science-fiction role-players. The author definitely accomplished his goal of creating a setting that was “hard” science-fiction in all the right areas, yet had room for the fantastic and wondrous in a few key places.
The author has a very good writing style and covers such a massive array of topics that GMs will feel quite comfortable running the setting. Players who are fans of science-fiction will find certain aspects of the setting resonating with a wide range of SciFi media, including novels, movies, and television shows.
Given the width and breadth of this expansive setting, the price is fairly modest. And the author definitely left room for his universe to expand under individual GM initiative, or perhaps with future supplements.
So until next Review… I wish you Happy Gaming!
Author’s Note: This Reviewer received a complimentary copy of the product from which the review was written.
Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)
- Presentation: 3.0
- - Design: 4.0 (Great layout; solid writing; a good read but the choice of heading font was tiring on eyes)
- - Illustrations: 2.0 (Great cover art, but the quality and near total lack of interior art is glaringly obvious)
- Content: 3.75
- - Crunch: 3.5 (Solid crunch for Star Hero; good character bits to use in creation/adventuring)
- - Fluff: 4.0 (Tons of setting material here; good overview of an interstellar setting)
- Value: 3.5 (Pretty complete package for the price; some topics are in need of a future supplement)
