Blood and Space

[ColonelHardisson]

Good lord, tj, that's one helluva review. Thanks.

 

[WayneLigon]

The biggest corporate ship hull in B&S has 100 tons of cargo (and is large sized, only about 300 feet long).

Hmmm. I wonder what a 'ton' in B&S is ? Tons displacement, I assume, but displacement of what? In Traveller, one 'ton' is 14 cubic meters, or two squares on a standard ship map, which is... I think , the displacement of one metric ton of liquid hydrogen. I know liquid hydrogen figures into it somehow, at least

 

[Vigilance]

First, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to give the product such an in depth look- not to mention buying it in the first place!

Yeah, I realized that eventually. But it's tricky, because in some cases, the listing actually is individuals (for smaller ships), but in larger ships, it's a crew unit (it says a crew unit is 5 people)

And the passenger listing is apparently in individuals as well.

It's the combining of the abstract and the actual that confused me. I don't understand why you couldn't just list the individuals for all sizes, less confusing that way.

That's a valid criticism, and one I will work to address before the product goes print.

While I like the idea of the ship design system, I still think it scales up poorly - it only seems to work for small ships.

Well, I tried to center the game around ships PCs are likely to have, which would be the medium to small merchant ships, and fighters (so you could play a Rogue Squadron type campaign for example). Does this mean that extremely huge ships like Star Destroyers get left in the lurch by the system? Perhaps. However, I feel that few campaigns will feel the lack. One of the ships in the game (the Aeneas Class) is a very close approximation of the Enterprise, and I think that's about the largest ships most campaigns are likely to need.

I also don't think you can make any ship.

Take for instance, from Star Wars, the ship Kuari Princess, a passenger liner. It's about like a real world cruise ship, and carries 3500 passengers.

The biggest corporate ship hull in B&S has 100 tons of cargo (and is large sized, only about 300 feet long). The Cruise Suites facilities takes up 15 tons and allows 85 passengers to be carried. If all 100 tons were devoted to Cruise Suites, that would only hold about 550 passengers.

Ok, let me revise that statement to say you can make a ship for any purpose then.

Can you do absolutely ANYTHING with the rules? I'm sure you can't. You seem to point this out as a failing in your review, by saying we "tried to do too much".

However, looking at the sci fi games the book was designed to support, I see Star Wars, which has NO system for ship design or modification in the basic rule book (and I didnt like the system they added later), Dragonstar, which has NO system for ship design, or even ship combat for that matter, and Traveller, which has a system, but one that is not OGC. The Blood and Space system is.

Well that's my piece

Again Jeremy, thank you for looking at the product, many of the points you raise will be addressed before the product goes to print, and all are being given a serious look. And drop me a line here if you have any other suggestions: ricecharles2112@netzero.net

 

[DanMcS]

Dragonstar had mechanics for space combat in the very first book for the setting, the StarFarer's HandBook (SFHB), and the ship design rules are easy to figure out, one of the first things I did with that book was to sit down and make a solar sail ship. There's a ship book later in the DS series, as well.

 

[Neo]

Dragonstar, which has NO system for ship design, or even ship combat for that matter, and Traveller, which has a system, but one that is not OGC. The Blood and Space system is.

This is not strictly true, Dragonstar does have a system for Ship design in the Imperial Supply, though it is very basic, and a far more comprehensive system my N.C.S.C.R rules has been available to all Dragonstar fans for a long time via my site as a nearly 80 page free PDF.

 

[Blacksad]

However, I feel that few campaigns will feel the lack. One of the ships in the game (the Aeneas Class) is a very close approximation of the Enterprise, and I think that's about the largest ships most campaigns are likely to need.

You forgot mecha campaign, which can easily feature ships such as the Macross Fortress, plus a lot of other big ships, some of which might be manned by PC (especially post-war with giants piloted ships).

If you want exemples of setting(which exist as RPG) which features really big ships with which the PCs interact, you have:

L'Incal (the world of the Metabaron, by jodorowsky & Moebius).
Jovian Chronicles
Robotech/Macross

So, you're a bit quick in assuming that most campaign will be with small ships.

N.B. if TV or movie sci-fi feature only small ships it's probably due to the cost of building the miniature version of the ship or the cost of designing one through computer.

 

[Vigilance]

I didn't forget mecha

However, Blood and Space was designed to support Dragonstar, Star Wars, Traveller, and allow for homebrew campaigns of similar sci fi genres, such as Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Battlestar Galactica...

Mecha was a bit beyond our scope

 

[trancejeremy]

I didn't forget mecha

However, Blood and Space was designed to support Dragonstar, Star Wars, Traveller, and allow for homebrew campaigns of similar sci fi genres, such as Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Battlestar Galactica...

Mecha was a bit beyond our scope

Yeah, but again, as I pointed out, ships like a Battlestar are simply beyond the scope of B&S, as is something like B5. That's why I'm disappointed with it. Even the Enterprise of star trek is iffy.

It is much better than the Dragonstar Rules. Those really suck

 

[Vigilance]

Yeah, but again, as I pointed out, ships like a Battlestar are simply beyond the scope of B&S, as is something like B5. That's why I'm disappointed with it. Even the Enterprise of star trek is iffy.

It is much better than the Dragonstar Rules. Those really suck

Well, if I were running a B5 or a Battlestar campaign, my focus would be on the fighter squadrons both had, rather than the big boys themselves. This was the focus of the shows as I recall.

Again, what I was chiefly aiming at was the ability to take a hunk of junk and turn it into the millenium falcon, play Rogue Squadron, play the Wild Cards from Space Above and Beyond, play the fighter squadrons from B5, and of course Firefly, which I love.

However, if you wanted larger ships in the game, it would be easy to add a "Military 5", or a Corporate 7 or what not.

 

[Vigilance]

BTW... Phil Reed has just announced that he will be using Blood and Space as the starship design and combat system behind a new sci fi game license

You can check it out at his site here: http://www.philipjreed.com/

What this means is that BNS will be supported, above and beyond what RPGObjects does for the game.

A pretty cool deal all the way around I must say