Hi,
After having posted a lot of comments to individual chapters, I would also like to give feedback on the overall concept of the book and the impression it gave me.
Overall I am left with quite mixed feelings, which BTW changed a lot while reading the book (from "great" to "oh my god" and back and...). This is a result of two things: there are a lot of very good things, but at the same time I still see a number of mainly conceptual issues, which in my opinion should be resolved before publishing. To go into more detail:
Strengths / what I liked:
1) HARP SF is compatible with HARP and uses the same mechanics, which means that it builds on and expands a very good system.
2) Nicholas has done an outstanding job formulating rules for SF that keep the simplicity of HARP while at the same time doing justice to the complexity of the world out there. Be it Psionics, the Vehicle Combat System, Modern Combat, Cyberware,... the concepts are innovative, simple and compelling.
3) I consider the system of technology stages a stroke of genious (did you invent it or did it come from somewhere else). It is simple and it avoids the complexity and pitfalls of a tech level system. And it really helps the GM.
4) There are rules for a number of situations and conditions a player might encounter (gravity, pressure, ...), which really proves the amount of thought gone into the book and is much more than other books out there provide. So I consider this is really a very good differentiator to other SF core rule books.
Areas for improvement / what I disliked:
1) With two small exceptions (Stun, Charging) a great deal of effort was spent on maintaining 1:1 compatibility with HARP. A lot of the HARP rules are repeated, there are references to Magic, a lot of space is spent on combat with archaic weapons, a lot of related examples were taken over. This has three results for me:
- A HARP newbie is confused. Why is Magic mentioned, but no rules exist?
- A HARP veteran is bored. A great part of the book he already knows, but he can not skip it as in between there are details that are changed or added.
- The complete book gives an unbalanced feeling. E.g. 90% of combat will most likely not include Melee, but large parts are dedicated to associated maneuvers, ... The same with skills, where you still find Heraldry and Beastmastery, .. Also physical traps, melee combat examples,...
In my opinion there are 2 possible changes, depending on the target audience and the correspondig product strategy:
a) Make this product the SF add-on for HARP, as the target audience are HARP veterans -> then please remove everything that is unchanged from the HARP core rules.
b) (my preferred option) Make this procut stand-alone and target a new audience -> please sacrifice the 1:1 compatibility with HARP. I.e. remove every reference to magic, cut down on archaic combat, cut down on archaic skills, cut down on corresponding examples - i.e. make this part simpler. Just either add statements for those who want to use both (e.g. "If you want more detail here, use this and that from HARP") or generate a free web enhancement which might e.g. include magic RR boni for the SF species and so on.
I think both options would also mean a price change - in case a) it goes down, but in case b) it can go up. This is due to my belief that in the future there will remain only two major RPG market segments: very high quality and high price (Serenity RPG, Ptolus) and high quality/very low price (Echoes of Heaven). And HARP SF is in my opinion in its current status and pricing in between.
2) There are still some gaps in terms of topics covered which are scheduled for a SysOp's Guide but must in my opinion be part of this product. One reason is that most of the GMs (>90%) will in my opinion not use the Tintamar setting (because they prefer another one and because Tintamar is currently not usable without extensive preparation by a GM). So HARP SF should include everything that a GM needs in order to use the rules in another setting. The second reason is that many GMs will not want to wait for a SysOp's guide, as this product might come significant later than the core book. And third I think GMs need more support for creating a campaign than the book currently gives.
In particular the topics that in my opinion should be added are:
- Other (optional) rules for FTL travel than L-Drive and portals.
- Blasters
- Heavy Weapons (Support Weapons) - i.e. Heavy Flamer, Heavy Laser, Grenade Launcher,...
- More detailed adventure plots (like in SM: Datanet).
- A spaceship for players (smuggler type - fast, armed, ...)
3) I really had great difficulties with the way HARP SF is organized - both in terms of overall structure as well as chapter internal structures. To give an example: creating a character is at the beginning of the book, creating an electronic character is at the end. The reason is that electronic character generation is optional, which is stated in the SysOp chapter - which is again after the chapter for electronic character generation. Another example are the alphabetic equipment lists.
In my opinion a structure should be designed according the following guidelines:
- If possible nowhere dependencies on information that is given later in the book.
- Whereever possible state things only once to avoid contradictions and make house rules and errata easier.
- Things that belong together should be stated together, groupings wherever possible (i.e. no alphabetical sorting).
- Differentiation between information that is needed only during character generation / levelling up and information that is needed within a gaming session. The former should be more theme oriented (e.g. all talents together, all skills together, the latter should make a further distinction between "needed by player and GM" and "needed by GM only".
With this in mind I come up with the following proposal for an overall structure (still not perfect, but to me better than the current one):
1) Introduction
2) Tintamar (can also be later, just brought it here because it might be a good way to draw the reader in before the dry part of rules starts)
3) Character generation chapters, incl. electronic character generation (even if its an option I think it should belong here). I.e. species, skills, talents,... & cyberware
4) Maneuver resolution (short chapter, but a very important one..)
5) Personal combat
6) Psionics
7) Equipment & Technology
Vehicles and vehicle combat
9) SysOps Guide, incl. rules on special circumstances, campaign design, exp. points, adventure hooks.
10) Appendix with all important tables (criticals for the first time, the rest repeated).
4) This is the least important point compared to the others, but there are some rulings I am currently not happy with:
- Maneuverability Modifier for vehicles: please only to OB or only to DB in one given round
- Poison Sac: please not depending on character level
- Zero-G Maneuvering (Skill): please same ruling concept as Blindfighting or Aerial Combat.
As I said, my feelings are very mixed and also my impression of the importance of the points I mentioned varied a lot during the time spent reading the manuscript. Therefore I am really looking forward to a discussion regarding these issues to help putting these points in the right perspective.
BR
Juergen
