Stargate SG-1 First Impressions

[Brisk-sg]

CHAPTER FIVE: Character Creation (48 pgs)

Chapter five is where we start getting into the meat of the book. The chapter begins with an optional questionnaire to run through to help determine who your character is. It also makes an interesting (and unique as far as I know) suggestion to take an online personality test in character to help flesh out the character. Team dynamics are also briefly discussed. But it is the rest of this chapter that is going to be of interest to any experience role-player. I am breaking the chapter into sections, to provide more complete information.

Stargate Character Options (Differences from D&D)

A one page section is provided, outlining the major changes to standard d20 character creation. The descriptions are well written, and each is followed by the page # for the rule(s). Stargate presents the following rule changes:

Action Dice: X/per session dice that are used to add to a roll or activate a special ability.
Inspiration: Used to request hints from the DM.
Education: Used to acquire information that the character might know, but you don’t.
Vitality/Wound: The Vitality and Wound system from Spycraft and Starwars d20.
Base Defense: Base Defense (armor class) goes up determined by character class & level.
Initiative: Initiative goes up determined by character class & level.
Resource pts: Used to gain experimental/alien devices, intelligence data, and other resources.
Gear: Streamlined sypcraft gear system.

Specialty/Species (Race)

First off, none of the human racial characteristics from D&D are applicable in Stargate. Humans in Stargate instead choose a specialty. Furthermore, many specialties have what are known as macro-specialties, which provide further specialization. The specialties all seem well balanced, and add some background flavor to the character. Here is a list of the specialties along with macro-specialties.

Air-Force: AF Officer, AF Technician, Enlisted AF Recruit, Pararescue
Army: Army Officer, Army Ranger, Army Technician, Enlisted Army Recruit
Marines: Enlisted Marine Recruit, Force Reconnaissance, Marine Officer, Marine Technician
Navy: Enlisted Navy Recruit, Naval Officer, Naval Technician, SEAL
NID: Area 51 Infiltrator, NID Officer, Rogue Stargate Team Member

Specialties w/o macro-specialties: Civilian Specialist, Diplomatic Corps, Engineering Corps, Russian Unit

The outlined species are intended for non-humans. Like specialties, the races have macro-species that provide further specialization. Here is a list of the species along with macro-species:

Asgard: Asgard Fleet Officer, Asgard Geneticist, Protected Planets Enforcer
Jaffa: Horus Guard, Serpent Guard, Setesh Guard, Shol’va Rebel
Near-human: Primitive Society, Modern Society, Advanced Society
Reol: Alien Observer, Fugitive Reol, Reol Mole
Tok’ra: Tok’ra High Commander, Tok’ra Undercover Operative, Tok’ra Warrior

The race I found most interesting was the Near-Human race. Upon creation, a member of the race is allowed to choose one Evolutionary Advantage and Disadvantage that has appeared over the ten thousand years since they were removed from earth. It is mentioned that future Stargate expansions will have Evolutionary Advantages/Disadvantages.

Class

The class section of the chapter is well organized. I liked that the class skills for each class were outlined within the class description in an easy to read table format. Page #’s are referenced for most rules and feats that are mentioned. I wish all d20 products had such a clean and easy to read look for there class descriptions. There are six standard classes outlined in this section; the explorer, guardian, pointman, scientist, scout, and soldier.

Explorer: This class is good at research and exploration. Good class for an archeologist.
Guardian: Jaffa only class. Standard Jaffa warrior is normally a Guardian.
Pointman: This class is intended as the leader archetype. Very versatile.
Scientist: Well…. the brains of most teams. The master of skill checks.
Scout: This class makes for a perfect sniper, as well as filling the ranger archetype.
Soldier: This class specializes in all out warfare. This class is all about the fighting.

Prestige Class

A total of six prestige classes are presented. It is noted at the very beginning of the section that prestige classes are always optional. The six prestige classes that are presented are the bodyguard, field analyst, field medic, officer, prime, and sniper.

Bodyguard: The perfect prestige class for a Secret Service Agent or Jaffa Palace Guard.
Field Analyst: This prestige class is perfect for making an investigator or intelligence officer.
Field Medic: If your character is on death’s door, better hope one of your friends took this prestige class.
Officer: This class is the quintessential military leader. An officer improves the group as a whole in combat situations, and elsewhere.
Prime: A Jaffa master warrior and leader. High lacky of a Goa’uld system lord.
Sniper: Shooting from a distance while hiding is this classes strength.

The only problem I had with this section was the Guardian & Prime classes, as they are limited to the Jaffa race. Base classes that are essentially limited to one race are bad game design in my opinion and with only six prestige classes in the book, one devoted to a single race is also vexing. The classes do provide the DM with Jaffa specific classes for building encounters however.

Good: Describes new character creation options that are different from standard D&D in a two page section near the beginning of the chapter. Clean presentation with class skill tables and page references.

Bad: One base and one prestige class are limited to the Jaffa race, limiting their use.

 

[Brisk-sg]

CHAPTER SIX: Skills (60 pgs)

The rules for skills presented in this chapter are easy to understand and an improvement over the standard d20 skill system. The chapter presents rules on complex skill checks, critical successes, critical failures, and multitasking. I can see these rules all enhancing the game greatly. I especially like the inclusion of the complex skill checks, which provide a mechanism for long term efforts like assembling a complex vehicle after bringing its parts through the Stargate. I was impressed by many of the new skills included in the book. The most detailed skill is the computer skill, at nine pages in length. It details everything from data research to programming DCs. Very handy.

There was an obvious error that caught my eye while browsing this section. The text of the Boating Skill was pasted onto the end of the Balance skill, printing the entire amount of text as if it was part of the Boating Skill, then pasting it again in the correct location under the actual Boating skill. I am amazed this six paragraphs of text was overlooked during the editing process.

Good: Rules for complex skill checks, critical success & failures, and multitasking. Useful new skills.

Bad: Overlooked pasting error appends a copy of the boating skill into the text of the Balance skill.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I got it while I was at Gen Con. My first impression was it should have been OGL only and not d20. My second thought was it appeared to have a vast majority of the book taken up by a season to season history of the series. As a fan, I did not mind this but some might. It is a mighty thick and expensive book and I have not gone through it all yet. It does do an excellent job of giving you the full history of the show. I have not delved into the rules much yet though.
Presentation, as always with AEG, is top notch.

Vast majority of the book?

Maybe we are using different ideas of the English language but I hardly consider the firs 120 pages out of a book of 480 pages (20%) to be a vast majority.

 

[Brisk-sg]

Vast majority of the book?

Maybe we are using different ideas of the English language but I hardly consider the firs 120 pages out of a book of 480 pages (20%) to be a vast majority.

I agree.

With only 28 pages being the actual episode guide, and the remaining 96 pages being rather important setting information, the episode guide is only 1/17 of the entire size of the book. Without chapter 2, 3, and 4 the book would be sorely lacking, and chapter 1 also provides a timeline of sorts to important events. A campaign setting is more then then sum of its rules after all.

 

[Brisk-sg]

I got it while I was at Gen Con. My first impression was it should have been OGL only and not d20. My second thought was it appeared to have a vast majority of the book taken up by a season to season history of the series. As a fan, I did not mind this but some might. It is a mighty thick and expensive book and I have not gone through it all yet. It does do an excellent job of giving you the full history of the show. I have not delved into the rules much yet though.
Presentation, as always with AEG, is top notch.

I agree that the book should have been OGL. Stargate is a strong enough license to not require the d20 logo to sell, especially with the Powered by Spycraft logo to help with those looking for compatibility. The inclusion of all necessary rules in one book would have been a boon for any new RPG players.

 

[SilentJay]

Vast majority of the book?

Maybe we are using different ideas of the English language but I hardly consider the firs 120 pages out of a book of 480 pages (20%) to be a vast majority.

120 pages is 1/4 of the 480 pages, and that's only the non-rules stuff. Remember there's statted stuff later on in the book, suchs as character, equipment and vehicle write-ups.

 

[Brisk-sg]

120 pages is 1/4 of the 480 pages, and that's only the non-rules stuff. Remember there's statted stuff later on in the book, suchs as character, equipment and vehicle write-ups.

I would hardly consider character, equipment, and vehicle write-ups a "season-by-season history of the series".

 

[ES2]

I agree with the notion that they should have just printed this as a OGL book. I think the d20 logo looks rather stupid on the book. People who like Stargate will mostly like look at this book, fantasy only fans or d20 only fans may look at it, but unlikely.

I do love the crossover sections in the back of the book. Those are way cool. Ok, the enitre book is way cool. It does its job very very very well.

 

[SilentJay]

I would hardly consider character, equipment, and vehicle write-ups a "season-by-season history of the series".

It all depends if whether or not you consider "season-by-season history of the series" to mean just the episode guide.

Also, while the original poster may have been taken over by fanboy hyperbole, they never did claim that the episode guide was what made up the "vast majority of the book", just that they thought that it seemed to be at the time. If all you catch is the 120 non-rules pages, and however many pages there are of write-ups later at first, then it might just seem that way. Which is all they said.

 

[Brisk-sg]

It all depends if whether or not you consider "season-by-season history of the series" to mean just the episode guide.

Also, while the original poster may have been taken over by fanboy hyperbole, they never did claim that the episode guide was what made up the "vast majority of the book", just that they thought that it seemed to be at the time. If all you catch is the 120 non-rules pages, and however many pages there are of write-ups later at first, then it might just seem that way. Which is all they said.

I agree, the "vast majority" statement was likely just a perception thing.

The Character write ups are 14 pgs in length, the episode guide 28 pages, and the three chapters dealing with the setting 96 pages. A combined total of 138 pages out of 480 pages. That leaves 342 pages of rules. Even at $50 that isn't a bad purchase. About 14 cents a page for high quality color pages.

If you add in the non-rules sections (which I find pretty essential to a campaign setting) it is about 11 cents a page.

Anyhow, we should be discussing what we like with the book, what we dislike, fixes for broken rules, ect instead of that original impression.

Anyone found any rules they dislike yet? If so, how are you going to handle it in game?