RPG Review - StarSiege
Disclaimer: I am trying to read an RPG book a month this year as part of this Google+ community. The following review is based on reading and some dry testing, but although I tried a copuple of times, I never managed to get a group together in the last weeks.
Unfortunately, my playtest did not happen in time so everything that follows is based only on reading the thing. I hope that I can play it for real in the near future and will add some more comments here then.
StarSiege itself is a (heavily) modified version of the so called SiegeEngine system used in Castles and Crusades or Amazing Adventures which I am very fond of. The basic game mechanic is rolling a D20 against some difficulty rating which has base 18 for your weak attributes and base 12 for the good ones. The attributes themselves are the usual D20-type ones when it comes to attribut bonus, but instead of the D&D ones you get Physique, Reflexes, Knowledge, Savvy, Confidence and Empathy. As usual you can pick a species like feline or android but instead of classes you have professions and skill bundles. StarSiege doesn't have individual skills but instead you have certain bundles like Combat which is for all skills that are in the realm of fighting. Specialities can provide additional bonuses like for Defense.
There aren't levels either instead experience points can be used to increase an attribute, buy a speciality and so forth. The last legacy of it's OSR kind of origin StarSiege got rid of are Hit-Points which increase by level. Instead there are very limited number of wound points and stress points for mental damage and a maximum of three critical hits each, before a character is dead. Finally, there are bennies which are called Nova Points which work in the usual way.
The way of dealing with combat of any kind, i.e. between persons, tanks on the ground, planes in the air or star ships, is all handled in the same way. There are distance bands like Close, Medium or Long and these come with a logarithmic scale for the different size classes if you want to figure it out in real distance. In game term shooting space ships in close distance works exactly like shooting at robots in close distance on a personal level. The rest is mostly the usual OSR like way with the idea of Critical Wounds instead of vast number of hit points.
There are rules for mutation, psionics and cyber ware and very general creating equipment which work the same for weapons, psionic powers and basically everything you want. It is a point buy system which makes use of the logarithmic scale and special effects or flaws. Although this subsystem is very basic it is nevertheless elegant. You could as easily build a death star as a one person submarine.
In the same simple but elegant way StarSiege describes money transacts with a simple credit system which works on a personal as well as a planetary level. Speaking of planets the operations manaual has a system for creating planets as well.
All in all the rules are a combined 70 pages. Very dense and simple but seemingly elegant.
There is also a setting book with 24 pages. In short it is about a SciFi Setting with little Psionics, almost no Cyberware and no mutant powers. There has been an almost devastating war with an alien race, which humanity only won at great cost with the help of other aliens. Now, there is little central government left and colonies start to find there on ways. I'd say it is not bad, but also nothing special.
StarSiege isn't about a fixed setting though. It aims to be a general SciFi rpg which can be used to play the Expanse as well as Star Wars in the same manner that old AD&D could run campaigns in ancient Rome or in Middle Earth. Its rules are simple and reading it makes you admire the elegance. It is like someone tried to make an original Traveller like game with more D&D like mechanics.
Now, things are a bit too simple for my taste. Doing the same static amount of damage does mean other then missing there is no other challenge in combat besides hitting the enemy 3 or 5 or maybe 10 times, if it is some thing really tough you fire at. Technically, that might be a nice mechanism, but it never lets players experience a coup de grace or something like that. My take would be to rate success a bit by the amount the roll exceeds the challenge rating. Something that is done in many other RPGs.
If your group is more into a Star Trek like approach then this game should work quite well. You just build the ships and planets and go on.
You might even want to play a stellar expansion game. In such a case it is possible that each player plays a planet (sic!) and built from there. All necessary rules are included, you just have to tweak here and there.
It is really that versatile. In a way it is a bit like Fate or even more FAE. A very reduced system with tons of possibilities, but unlike Fate there are not tons of cool setting books flying around.
What we know is that Troll Lord Games is working with James Ward who created Metamorphis Alpha to do a SiegeEngine version of the game. I read that this should be out in Q2 probably meaning a Kickstarter for it in Q2 2018. Maybe this will give StarSiege a bit of a push as well.
I'd recommend the game just for reading it and seeing how simple things can dealt with in comparisson to games like StarFinder and the like.
Introduction
As my RPGaMonth for January I have read Troll Lords 2008 Science Fiction RPG called StarSiege: Event Horizon. You can get the whole thing at DTRPG and there is a free QuickStarter available http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/58817/StarSiege-Introductory-Manual.Unfortunately, my playtest did not happen in time so everything that follows is based only on reading the thing. I hope that I can play it for real in the near future and will add some more comments here then.
 compared |
| Screenshot of the Cover of the StarSiege Box Set. The books itself are b&w. |
The basic review
StarSiege comes in a box with three different books. There is the Field Manual which could be called the player's handbook, there is the Operations Manual which could also be called GM's guide and a setting book called Victory 2442.StarSiege itself is a (heavily) modified version of the so called SiegeEngine system used in Castles and Crusades or Amazing Adventures which I am very fond of. The basic game mechanic is rolling a D20 against some difficulty rating which has base 18 for your weak attributes and base 12 for the good ones. The attributes themselves are the usual D20-type ones when it comes to attribut bonus, but instead of the D&D ones you get Physique, Reflexes, Knowledge, Savvy, Confidence and Empathy. As usual you can pick a species like feline or android but instead of classes you have professions and skill bundles. StarSiege doesn't have individual skills but instead you have certain bundles like Combat which is for all skills that are in the realm of fighting. Specialities can provide additional bonuses like for Defense.
There aren't levels either instead experience points can be used to increase an attribute, buy a speciality and so forth. The last legacy of it's OSR kind of origin StarSiege got rid of are Hit-Points which increase by level. Instead there are very limited number of wound points and stress points for mental damage and a maximum of three critical hits each, before a character is dead. Finally, there are bennies which are called Nova Points which work in the usual way.
 |
| Part of a screenshot of my PDF copy, the contents are black&white. |
The way of dealing with combat of any kind, i.e. between persons, tanks on the ground, planes in the air or star ships, is all handled in the same way. There are distance bands like Close, Medium or Long and these come with a logarithmic scale for the different size classes if you want to figure it out in real distance. In game term shooting space ships in close distance works exactly like shooting at robots in close distance on a personal level. The rest is mostly the usual OSR like way with the idea of Critical Wounds instead of vast number of hit points.
There are rules for mutation, psionics and cyber ware and very general creating equipment which work the same for weapons, psionic powers and basically everything you want. It is a point buy system which makes use of the logarithmic scale and special effects or flaws. Although this subsystem is very basic it is nevertheless elegant. You could as easily build a death star as a one person submarine.
In the same simple but elegant way StarSiege describes money transacts with a simple credit system which works on a personal as well as a planetary level. Speaking of planets the operations manaual has a system for creating planets as well.
All in all the rules are a combined 70 pages. Very dense and simple but seemingly elegant.
 |
| Part of a screenshot of my PDF copy, the contents are black&white. |
There is also a setting book with 24 pages. In short it is about a SciFi Setting with little Psionics, almost no Cyberware and no mutant powers. There has been an almost devastating war with an alien race, which humanity only won at great cost with the help of other aliens. Now, there is little central government left and colonies start to find there on ways. I'd say it is not bad, but also nothing special.
StarSiege isn't about a fixed setting though. It aims to be a general SciFi rpg which can be used to play the Expanse as well as Star Wars in the same manner that old AD&D could run campaigns in ancient Rome or in Middle Earth. Its rules are simple and reading it makes you admire the elegance. It is like someone tried to make an original Traveller like game with more D&D like mechanics.
A more detailed look at a boring part
Doing some dry runs of fights things get a bit less fun. For me there is too little element of surprise. You do a to-hit roll and then your weapon does a fixed amount of damage. Depending on the kind of armor, the damage is dealt to the armor or the character. In the first case the armor will get worn out soon, in the second case your character will be.Now, things are a bit too simple for my taste. Doing the same static amount of damage does mean other then missing there is no other challenge in combat besides hitting the enemy 3 or 5 or maybe 10 times, if it is some thing really tough you fire at. Technically, that might be a nice mechanism, but it never lets players experience a coup de grace or something like that. My take would be to rate success a bit by the amount the roll exceeds the challenge rating. Something that is done in many other RPGs.
So what is StarSiege, really?
In my humble opinion StarSiege is more a tool kit to build a campaign and build a custom version of the game for it. You want to play Firefly style adventures then you probably want to tweak fighting rules a bit more to the heroic side. There are optional rules for minions (called Mooks in the book) compared to real boss fight like encounters.If your group is more into a Star Trek like approach then this game should work quite well. You just build the ships and planets and go on.
You might even want to play a stellar expansion game. In such a case it is possible that each player plays a planet (sic!) and built from there. All necessary rules are included, you just have to tweak here and there.
It is really that versatile. In a way it is a bit like Fate or even more FAE. A very reduced system with tons of possibilities, but unlike Fate there are not tons of cool setting books flying around.
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| The only available module for StarSiege. Printout from the PDF. The brown coat reminds me of something... |
What the future might bring for StarSiege
In the Troll Lord Games forum there is talking about a new edition of StarSiege written by Jason Vey who did Amazing Adventures. That version should be more compatible with the other StarSiege Engine games and would certainly have a detailed less abstract combat system for example. There is no real news about whether this will happen or not, as it depends on the success of Amazing Adventures and StarSiege.What we know is that Troll Lord Games is working with James Ward who created Metamorphis Alpha to do a SiegeEngine version of the game. I read that this should be out in Q2 probably meaning a Kickstarter for it in Q2 2018. Maybe this will give StarSiege a bit of a push as well.
Conclusion
I'd recommend the game just for reading it and seeing how simple things can dealt with in comparisson to games like StarFinder and the like.
