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Message: <blockquote data-quote="joela" data-source="post: 4729317" data-attributes="member: 48572"><a href="http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=product&o[p_id]=372" target="_blank">Reign of Discordia</a> is a 137 page pdf. One thing that immediately struck me about Reign is how colorful it was. From the starry borders outlining each page, to the well-placed art pieces, to even the background color mark, Reign is awash in color. Yet I found no difficulty reading the dense text, which is laid out in a standard two column format. I don't recommend, though, you try printing the book wholesale unless you have lots of color ink (or access to such).The pdf is highly organized. Though it doesn't have an index, the table of contents is easy to use. More importantly, pdf links are provided, breaking down each chapter and its sections appropriately. Editing is excellent; I saw few blatant misspellings or grammatical errors. And the writing style is friendly though at times almost encyclopedic.  Breakdown:Chapters One, Two, and Four cover the Reign of Discordia background. Basically, take an interstellar body (the "Stellar Imperium") and have it crash messily both within and without. If you're thinking the fall of the Roman Empire, you're dead on. Fans of the late Asimov's Foundation series or the television series Andromeda will quickly see the parallels. Chapter Two covers planets. Over fifty are provided, broken down by the dominant inhabitants (Humans, Tallinites, etc.), or status (Former Stellar Imperium, Frontier System). The paragraph on each barely provides background of each world, let alone adventuring information or ideas. Chapter Four covers organizations in Reign. Sixteen are covered, most with the potential to be either an ally to the PCs (i.e., EDF) or enemy (Tribes of the R'Tillek). Each organization's history, agenda, leadership, members, member benefits, and relations are covered. I found the last to be the most important: by knowing how the organization feels about the others, I could develop adventure plots. Game mechanics are covered in Chapter Three. Background includes seven races: Gaieti, Lamogos, Relarra, Sangor, Tallinites, and humans (of course). The last race, the R'Tillek, are the racial foe everyone hates, and GM's are advised to give thought before allowing a player to run one. Next are available roles like Infiltrator (Expert), Mentalists (Adept), and Bounty Hunter (Warrior). I like how Reign covers why that role is adventuring and being part of a team. Too few games make such assumptions. Setting appropriate feats, equipment, and new applications of skills are covered in the chapter.Starship Combat is covered in Chapter Five. Reign expands from the True20 vehicle combat rules, basically treating the ships like characters. That makes it easy to learn the combat system. A plethora of starships, including rules how to build them, are discussed in chapter six. Unlike similar games, Reign covers how to engage the PCs (as crew) in such stellar conflicts. Chapter Seven covers Rover's Beacon, a massive space station, and one of the best pieces of art I've found in Reign. The last page is the obligatory OGL.In my opinion....Reign of Discordia is one of the best third-party products I've seen in a while, easily rivaling Paizo both in content and, especially, in presentation. There is a huge amount of information, which can be viewed as both a blessing and a curse: on the one hand, there's no need to wait for a supplement (unlike Mongoose's Traveler, which just covers the rules); on the other hand, you sometimes wish Reign was in two (or more!) books. I could easy see any of the organizations alone expanded into a full adventure with suggestions for future ones. The latter is probably the book's biggest weakness. The background, worlds, organizations, and even Rover's Beacon provide a great skeleton for adventure. However, specifics on kinds of adventures are left to the GM and players. Experienced gamers should have little difficulty; beginning groups, on the other hand, may be overwhelmed. Finally, I wish Chapter Two covered how to generate planetary systems and alien ecologies. That's more of a personal preference, though, than a fault in the product. Again, Reign covers surviving after the fall of a steller empire, not to explore new worlds and seek out life and new civilizations.</blockquote>

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