Customer Reviews

Farscape Role-Playing Game

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a die-hard Farscape fan. I purchased this book and I don't even play role playing games. This book is valuable for any Farscape fan, RPG-er or not. It is full of in depth information, from Scarran history, to Sheyang culture, to Peacekeeper ranks. Other sections include a chapter on many planets of the Uncharted Territories and another on alien lifeforms (creatures). The section on ships is a little lacking with no pictures, but this is definitley worth the purchase. Long Live Farcape!!

This is a superb interpretation of the television series, useful for both Farscape fans and gamers alike. The book is divided into two sections, the first concentrating on storytelling and character elements, while the second is chock full of statistics and gaming information. Throughout, the layout, artwork, and photos are all first rate. In my opinion, AEG has captured the feel of this remarkable series with far more skill than Wizards of the Coast did with its own Star Wars game. For that reason, if you're looking for space opera, you won't go wrong choosing this product.

I have just one complaint. I'm sure it's an inevitable one, but I wonder what they were smoking when they decided on the statistics for the main characters. Scorpius, the guy who tossed around Crais like a rag doll, with a Strength of 9? Astronaut John Crichton, who's just about mastered wormhole theory and was repairing ultra-high tech less than a cycle after he entered the Uncharted Territories, with a lower intelligence than Aeryn?!

Built using the ubiquitous d20 system, anyone familiar with the base system is going to be able to pick this game up and run with it immediately. All of the basic rules are there, from feats to hitpoints (renamed "Wound Points" for some reason) to skillchecks. It needs to be pointed out that aside from races and classes, this book is designed as a suppliment to turn the Dungeons and Dragons 3.x d20 system into a Farscape game. As such, it does not have detailed instructions on how to initially generate a character. You will either need working knowledge of d20, or a copy of the Player's Handbook to make any use of this book. In this day and age though, if you are roleplaying, and don't have experience with the d20 system, you must have been living under a rock in the back of a cave.

In the beginning, this book seems to be confused about it's target audience. It starts with an episode recap of the first two seasons of Farscape. Odds are, if you are interested enough in Farscape to be considering this, you will have already seen these episodes, and won't need the paragraph long retelling. In all honesty, it appears that these were added simply for the purposes of being filler.

After the episode recap is a character bio for each main character, each covering one or more pages. Again, while these are fun to read, anyone wanting to run this system will already be intimately familiar with these characters, and will not need to be told that Chiana is promiscuous.

From here on, it actually gets into recap material that will be useful for gaming, particularly several pages of bio for each major race in the series. Unlike the specific characters, these are the races you will have to select from to play as, so these histories come in useful.

The second half of the book are the actual mechanics. Honestly, the mechanics are fairly weak. Some classes are taken straight from the D&D Player's Handbook, like the Rogue, while others are brand new. The only problem is that the new classes are very light on abilities. Where the Rogue is still getting full Sneak Attack progression, the Scientist is getting the equivolant of Skill Focus/Skill Mastery. Warriors get bonus feats like a D&D Fighter, and the Tech gets to repair things faster. While its true that hand to hand combat will not play as large of a part in a Farscape game as it does in a D&D game, it would have been nice to actually see some more effort put into the classes.

And while the first half of the book, with it's detailed bios and story recaps would make you think the authors have done their homework and are fans of the show, the way in which they apply the game mechanics seem to show the exact opposite, that they do not actually know the characters they are creating. Scorpious is weak, despite repeated feats of strength in the series. John is literally a rocket scientist that designed the Farscape-1 module, and yet the peacekeeper grunt Aeyrn is listed as being more intelligent.

The system is playable as presented, but it is not without it's problems. The knowledge of both the series and the d20 system as a whole seem to be lacking. It looks good on the surface, but when you really dig into it, you find many amature mistakes.

Considering that it is literally the only game in town, you don't have any real choice. Its either this, or make your own system. If you have the time and the drive, this would be an excellent starting place for fleshing out your own system, and for a casual gamer its still perfectly valid as is. For those that are experienced d20 gamers, you won't find much here aside from flavor and ideas, as the system itself is fairly bare bones.

From the back ot the book: "Requires the use of Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook..."

It would be more appropriate to use d20 Modern. The system is loosely d20 and could use a tune up. I think using d20 Modern rules with Farscape RPG as a sourecbook and guide would be best. Racial bonuses are askew and the classes are ill-conceived (PK Commandos have only average attack bonus!?).

I LOVED/LOVE the show and am happy with the book because it has source material and backstory I've seen nowhere else.

As far as playing the game, I plan on following my own advice and converting it to d20 Modern (maybe d20 Future when that comes out).

I love farscape, so you cant go too wrong by me. my only problem with this book is that it seemed a little chaotic, in presentation. It has the episode guide included, it has history for the campaign setting, new rules (Very similar to D20 modern), and my favorite it has the races. I just didnt like the way the text was presented.

Short and sweet

Loved farscape saw the rpg, wanted to get the rpg background info was the best reason to buy the rpg , the art work,was good I thought there needed to be better pictures, on some things.
But good for playing if your a farscape person it's worth a purchase.
One of the few d20 sci fi rpgs out there.
It's complete which is good cause it looks to be a dead rpg, which is sad there could and should have been so much more.
So my question to anyone that reads this is are there any fan sites still operating that support this rpg?
I don't know.
Are there any old style pbem for this out there/
I don't know
Again good rpg, if you can even find anyone who still plays pen and paper anymore,
or can get past fantasy roleplay.

This book is fantastic for Role players or just fans. I role play Chiana on Myspace or used to. And we were constantly grabbing dvd's or looking up information to make sure it was correct before we posted it. Now all I need is the Nebari Encyclopedia <3

First off, the chapter on the first two seasons is very detailed. Short of watching the episodes this is the best source for knowing what happened in the two seasons. The only problem being that, now, there are five. Also, while listing some characters, races and planets, they kind of skipped planets and people I wanted to know more about. How about the Royal Planet? More details about Litigara, the planet of the lawyers, or more about Stark as a character? There are characters and races who we meet, once, in an episode would make for great material for a Game Master. True, you need to use your own imagination when creating a setting, but it would have been nice to have stats on Br'Nee or M'Lee for example.
As for the rules, well, that's why you have the player's handbook. Not everything is about combat or ship-to-ship dog-fighting and it would have been nice to have an example of a few more ship designs. How about the Dentic? Or other equipment that is not related to weapons, food or medical kits. How about clothes? Spare parts for the space craft? I don't remember finding anything that even suggested how much fuel cost or how to produce it! Of course, there was going to be more books until the series was cancelled and everything went down the drain.

This book is just astounding in the wealth of information on the Farscape universe. There's detailed profiles on characters including Moya. The races -- twelve of them -- are equally defined with excellent descriptions, homeworld information, insights in to the species' nature, and details of their culture and society as well as history. There are 28 planets defined excellent background information about history, races, government, etc. These sections (143 pages)alone make the book a worthy purchase to any sci-fi fan.

The next part of the book (up to page 314) goes into the d20 system for gaming in Farscape. I hate to say it, but the authors do not seem to have a strong grasp on d20 concepts. For example, races have abilities adjusted in +1/-1 increments, when they should be +2/-2 increments as bonsus are for every two points, while the odd ability score represents a minimum needed for a feat. Even within that scope the ability adjustments inadequately reflect the races the depict, e.g. Scarrans should get a +6 to +8 STR, not a mere +2. The Shyangs should probaly have an ECL adjustments for expelling flaming gas. Also, in the equipment section, the armor provides no damage reduction, but rather a greater defense bonus. The blurs the difference between deflection and dodge types of armor. This distinction is clear in other hi-tech games, but not here.

In other parts, it follows d20, but then the rules seem weak or the representation of Farscape is bizarre, like Scropius being a weakling. The skill list is sparse, and some seem redundant, like both Diplomacy and Negotiate can be used for reducing prices. The classes are not particularly impressive, providing few imaginative and unique abilities. All in all, the rules do provide some ideas, but it'll have to be altered, balanced, and enhanced before it can be d20 and really represent a rich Farscape universe.

In summary, the the first descriptive part is excellent (4 or 5 stars), but the second part about d20 rules system is wanting at best (2 stars).