Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
I just got back from K-Mart, where I picked up "Face of the Enemy" for Star Frontiers. Personally, I was a little surprised they wanted $4.95 for a module of all things. Seriously, almost $5? What the 
were they thinking? That's a 12 pack of soda, a pack of cigarettes, and a gallon of milk. I'm gonna have to figure out how to make my Dad think that he had me spend the $5 of beer when he sobers up for that price.
Anyway, the cover is color, which is cool, can it looks a lot better than the last couple of modules I've bought. The pic of the Sathar getting blown in half is pretty cool, but I wished the chick wasn't wearing so much clothing. I miss the old T&A covers.
The module itself is print, and the maps are a lot better than the Volturnus maps were. There's a spaceship map, a map of a region of a planet, a new alien race, and all kinds of cool stuff inside the module. I haven't read most of it, but I do like it.
Despite the rumors, Star Frontiers is still using the % system, instead of that horrid multi-dice crap like AD&D still uses. My God, that game is a pig, using 6 different dice instead of just the nice clean % set like Star Frontiers.
Unlike what the cover says, you're going to need good ranks in computer skills in order to play the module effectively, and make positively sure that you force your players to call which die is the 10's before they roll.
Anyway, apparently the module opens up after a previous one. I searched the rack at K-Mart and didn't find the one prior to that, so once again T$R screws us all over by not shipping the first in what is obviously a set, or even mentioning on the back cover that this is the second module, so you're screwed as far as the plot goes this far.
The module has the obligatory "interact with natives" crap that it always does, but you can get away with having your players use them for target practice. It's not like the module can't keep going with the retarded locals blown away.
Once the group finds the Sathar wreck, it's all boring crap. Sure, there's some fights with some crappy little Sathar drones, but usually the players will destroy the drones and half the ship with their grenade launchers, so you'll probably have to do a little fudging on happenstance in order to make it work.
The Sathar Mothership is the near the final of the module, and it's pretty cool. If the players do it right, they'll end up in possession of a Sathar frigate for the final battle. There's a lot of skill rolls, but a sharp group can just shoot their way through the ship and end up in possession of it.
Following the Sathar's coordinates sounds a little far-fetched, but I'm pretty sure that the players will do if I make it seem like it wouldn't be a good idea or that I'm not prepared for it. You can always count on them to make things worse.
Now, read the last fight carefully. I wasn't expecting to find out that Sathar are Mind Flayer slaves, and I certianlly didn't expect for the characters to have to use that frigate to fight a giant floating brain in the middle of space, surrounded by other brains. I hate psionics, and here T$R is forcing me to use them whether I want to or not.
All in all, from what I've read, this module is OK, but they should have left the Mind Flayers out of it, and at least published the psionics rules from the crappy AD&D rules in the back, instead of forcing me to go buy the AD&D Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide so I could use the psionic attacks by the giant brain.
Is it worth $5?
No.
The maps are OK, and can probably be reused. The Sathar information is disappointing at best, and the entries for the Mind Flayer overlords are crap. Additionally, the second time I read the module through, the vowels fell out of mission briefing section, showing T$R's bad quality inspection.
On the plus side, I found a $10 bill on my way home from K-Mart, so everything isn't all bad.
--Tiny Tim
were they thinking? That's a 12 pack of soda, a pack of cigarettes, and a gallon of milk. I'm gonna have to figure out how to make my Dad think that he had me spend the $5 of beer when he sobers up for that price.Anyway, the cover is color, which is cool, can it looks a lot better than the last couple of modules I've bought. The pic of the Sathar getting blown in half is pretty cool, but I wished the chick wasn't wearing so much clothing. I miss the old T&A covers.
The module itself is print, and the maps are a lot better than the Volturnus maps were. There's a spaceship map, a map of a region of a planet, a new alien race, and all kinds of cool stuff inside the module. I haven't read most of it, but I do like it.
Despite the rumors, Star Frontiers is still using the % system, instead of that horrid multi-dice crap like AD&D still uses. My God, that game is a pig, using 6 different dice instead of just the nice clean % set like Star Frontiers.
Unlike what the cover says, you're going to need good ranks in computer skills in order to play the module effectively, and make positively sure that you force your players to call which die is the 10's before they roll.
Anyway, apparently the module opens up after a previous one. I searched the rack at K-Mart and didn't find the one prior to that, so once again T$R screws us all over by not shipping the first in what is obviously a set, or even mentioning on the back cover that this is the second module, so you're screwed as far as the plot goes this far.
The module has the obligatory "interact with natives" crap that it always does, but you can get away with having your players use them for target practice. It's not like the module can't keep going with the retarded locals blown away.
Once the group finds the Sathar wreck, it's all boring crap. Sure, there's some fights with some crappy little Sathar drones, but usually the players will destroy the drones and half the ship with their grenade launchers, so you'll probably have to do a little fudging on happenstance in order to make it work.
The Sathar Mothership is the near the final of the module, and it's pretty cool. If the players do it right, they'll end up in possession of a Sathar frigate for the final battle. There's a lot of skill rolls, but a sharp group can just shoot their way through the ship and end up in possession of it.
Following the Sathar's coordinates sounds a little far-fetched, but I'm pretty sure that the players will do if I make it seem like it wouldn't be a good idea or that I'm not prepared for it. You can always count on them to make things worse.
Now, read the last fight carefully. I wasn't expecting to find out that Sathar are Mind Flayer slaves, and I certianlly didn't expect for the characters to have to use that frigate to fight a giant floating brain in the middle of space, surrounded by other brains. I hate psionics, and here T$R is forcing me to use them whether I want to or not.
All in all, from what I've read, this module is OK, but they should have left the Mind Flayers out of it, and at least published the psionics rules from the crappy AD&D rules in the back, instead of forcing me to go buy the AD&D Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide so I could use the psionic attacks by the giant brain.
Is it worth $5?
No.
The maps are OK, and can probably be reused. The Sathar information is disappointing at best, and the entries for the Mind Flayer overlords are crap. Additionally, the second time I read the module through, the vowels fell out of mission briefing section, showing T$R's bad quality inspection.
On the plus side, I found a $10 bill on my way home from K-Mart, so everything isn't all bad.
--Tiny Tim
