5 out of 5 rating for FAITH the Sci-Fi RPG 2.0
I have a physcial copy of the book, but the publisher (Burning Games) provides the pdf for free if you own a physical copy. Which is great! That said - you should really get a print copy, because the book is beautiful. It's a thick tome filled to brim with gorgeous and inspiring art, the layout is also clear and the text is easy to follow. However, editing, especially in the part about game mechanics, could be better. There are typos, grammar mistakes, strange syntax etc. The text does get the message across, but still... I hope it'll get polished sometime in the future. However: Beautiful art! Get the physical book!
The setting - a space opera set in the far future - is interesting. There are only 4 playable races, but that makes them all fleshed out in detail and each gets a separate, long chapter in the book. Each race presents a different sub-setting (megacorp, utopia, post-apo, primal) and then there is of course space. For me, a GM, this offers a wide range of possible adventures: space exploration, post-apocalypic Earth, Shadowrun-like corp intrigues, interstellar conflicts big and small, slums and street-level adventures as well as high-heroic, Galaxy-saving quests. Whatever you feel like. There are also built-in conflicts between the races as well as a major threat - the mysterious Ravagers race. And of course, there are Gods, which adds an entire new and very interesting wrinkle to the setting. The Gods are ideas, not physcial beings, but their presence has been proved and PCs can follow one of them, gaining tangible benefits.
The game uses playing cards (poker deck) instead of dice, which was one of the things that got me interested in it in the first place. Years ago I played SAGA (both Dragonlance and Marvel) and actually liked those games very much. In FAITH each player has 7 cards per round whose values are added to their skill values. You can get advantages and disadvantages, counter enemy actions, draw extra cards on your turn; you have special talents, bio and cyber upgrades and faith - "magical" - powers. So, the game can get nicely tactical, if you want it to! Simultaneously, the mechanics is easy enough to modify with houserules, should you dislike a particular idea. For example, PCs are fairly squishy and un-assisted healing takes weeks - but it's easy to change if you don't like it. As I said, the game uses 52-card deck, but I recommend getting the dedicated, custom made decks, because a)they're gorgeous and having them in front of you during a game brings the setting closer b)they speed up the game, especially for new players, because they have suits and values as presented in the book, so conversion lag is not a problem. The book has also rules for vehicles and vehicle combat, but we haven't tested that yet.
Talking about cards: it is also worth getting NPC and Gear cards (especially the former), players like to see what they're shooting at and you have all the stats within easy reach. To sum up: if you're not into rules-heavy Starfinder and looking for an original setting (for example, I'm not a fan of Star Trek), FAITH is a great choice, especially because of the cards-no-dice factor and the setting. The book offers a lot of plot hooks and ideas, as well as beautiful and inspiring art, but suffers a bit from bad editing and could include one or two more example adventures (there is only one). If my review got you interested in the game, go the Burning Games website and have a look at free stuff, which includes basic rules, basic setting descriptions and some other things. I have a feeling that once you're done reading, you'll be ordering your copy of FAITH...
