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Superluminary
by Matthew L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/10/2018 10:02:51

Superluminary is the sci-fi companion to Other Worlds. To put it short: it's fab. Packed full of content in the same style as it's parent title, it offers a fantastic set of resources for anyone running or gaming in a sci-fi setting. The material can also be readily adapted to other settings and genres. It has a similar layout to Other Worlds, replete with those cool little campaign idea themes scattered througout its pages. Plus, Storn Cook artwork!

I recommend picking this bad boy up if you enjoy Other Worlds; heck, even if you don't play using that system, it's still worthy of your wallet due to its applicability across the board. I can envision using this alongside Stars Without Number, or even the up-coming 40K title.

Mark has a knack for puttting together games of genuine substance, evident in Other Worlds, and this is a real gem of a title; proving that quality is oft found by looking beyond the beaten track of well-known publishers and mega-tomes. We can only hope that he turns his hand to the realms of fantasy and super-heroism in due course.

Arm your assault suits and venture forth into the epic singularity that is Superluminary!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Superluminary
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the review Matthew, very glad to hear that you enjoyed it! May all of your future timelines remain non-apocalyptic. Regards, Mark
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Superluminary
by Chad S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/13/2018 09:34:07

Superluminary is an excellent companion to Other Worlds. This would save a ton of time for a space opera game. I think it would be pretty easy to reskin it for a heroic fantasy game as well. Even if you're not planning on playing in these generes, I'd still recommend it as an excellent example of how to fully implement the ideas in the core game.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the kind words Chad! Mark.
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Superluminary
by Nicholas C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/22/2017 04:42:04

I got Other Worlds when it first came out, and love the way it is put together. By this I mena that I like the rules themsleves, but also I like the writing style, layout and art, all of which hit the right notes for me.

The only real disappointment was the lack of love and support the game attracted. So I was delighted to see this supplement appear in the run-up to Christmas.

So what do you get? Currently PDF only, the book weighs in at 146 pages.

The cover is full colour and is nicely done, with three characters (one female, one male and one alien against a backdrop of fast-moving spacecraft).

Inside you get an introduction to Space Opera, whcih sets up the intentions of the author straightaway, and also describes how the supplement can be used. It also gives a nod to the works that have inspired it.

Chapter 2 gives guidance on building your setting - how big you want it, how detailed etc - this varies from one planet to the whole galaxy, how many alien races you want, the fate of mankind, what the future looks like (eg 50s retro, 80s industrial, high gothic etc). It also gives guidance on what sort of FTL you want (if at all) as well as how to set your dials for other forms of superscience) and what sort of special powers you might want.

There follows a section on the team's focus, whcih is valuable in setting player expectation as well as guiding the development of the setting.

Chapter 3 is all about heroes and has a large number of templates available, starting with homeworlds (eg Agricultural World, City World, Desert World, Mining Colony and so on). Following this is a long list of professional templates ranging from Assassin through to Xenoarchaeologist via Pirate, Razorball Player etc. It would be hard to think of a trope that isn't covered here.

As you might expect there is a lengthy section on Trademarks inclduing alien artefacts, bionics, special roles such as Agent of Order, Bases (inclduing the vaguely familiar gas mining colony of Cyclone City...), vehicles including Mecha and of course Starships.

Chapter 4 deals with aliens, robots and other similar stuff and includes the obligatory templates. Fans of Flash Gordon will find Bridmen here, as well as "Aloof Supergenius" with abilities such as "Nerve Pinch", "Vocalise Observed Social Cues" and "Repressed" ..... there are also helpful hints on designing your own alien races, and detailed guidance on designing robots

Chapetr 5 deals with special powers and goes into detail in respect of Psionics (think Traveller or B5), The Lifeforce (Star Wars) and Techno-Sorcery (Warhammer 40K and Mutant Chronicles perhaps) together with more templates, guidance on what powers might "look like" etc. Templates include things like "Telepathic Cop", "Mystic Knight", Technomage Adept etc. Mutants are also given a nod here.

Chapter 6 is all about worlds, how to build them and so on. It includes Epoch template (Age of Expansion, Last Days of Mankind and so on), deals with trading and commerce (including a random cargo generator), superscience and the arms race (including random weapon generator), hovercars and spaceships, war machines (with random war machine trait generator - I like "Outrageous Spoiler" and "Smaller Vehicle Emerges From the Wreckage when Destroyed"). There is a similar table for ship traits and a random world generator and a section on Astrophenomena including a random Pocket Dimension table and a random space encounters table - I note nods to things like Star Wars, 2000 AD, Star Trek and Dr Who amongst others.

Then we move onto bizarre landscapes and templates to represent them ("corpse-Choked Seas"...) and a random city and wilderness generator. Of course there is guidance about creatures and templates and tables for those as well as some worked up examples. I like Titanicus Rex, whose traits include "Bat Away Aircraft"! NPCs follow with guidance for developng those and some further helpful random tables as well as full examples inclduing Lord SUlferus the Dark Mantis and The Brood Queen...

A section on Factiosn follows, with some examples such as The Imperial Authity and The Coalition, together with some of their assets (Hellcat Strike Fighter, Coalition Guerrilla) and some scary foe factions like The SKullbot Empire and Disciples of the Black Light.

Finally Appendix A contains a worked-up setting (The Merovinthian Sector) with detaisl and templates for a number of worlds, factions and NPCs

The book has an index (hooray!) and has a detailed table of contents at the start, and is bookmarked.

The art replicates that in the core rules in style (black and white but in a nice pencil-sketch style that I really like).

Overall this is a fantastic product - I would be hard pressed to think of any space opera setting that isn't covered at least in outline, and the templates are just great. A sterling job. Now if only I could have a Pulp sourcebook!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hey Nicholas, thanks for the great review. Hope you had a great Christmas! Mark
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Superluminary Free Preview Edition
by Richard G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/16/2017 10:03:22

Love it. Other Worlds is such a fun system that's a really nice change and is completely different from Dungeons and Dragons that my group and I usually play and this supplement is just brilliant. V recommended.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Superluminary Free Preview Edition
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Other Worlds
by Michael J. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/13/2015 14:21:53

A really good improvement over Heroquest. It requires a lot of imagination from both GM and players as they cooperate to make characters and worlds. It does clear up my initial misgiving from the free preview, as it needs less than half the aspects I thought it did. Easiest way in the world to run superheroes as it has almost no number crunching. Can use any scenario from any game system as it ignores all the fiddly bits and numbers in favor of the feel of traps, monsters and other do dahs. Anything you can imagine you can do with almost no work.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Other Worlds
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Other Worlds Free Preview Edition
by Michael J. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/02/2015 23:20:56

As a preview it really makes you want to buy it. Very good rewrite of Heroquest. Yet from reading this I think I would cut down the numbers of aspects as it looked like you would have 50-60 of the things to keep track of. Other than that I liked it just fine.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Other Worlds Free Preview Edition
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Other Worlds
by Chad S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/01/2012 14:34:32

This is the game I've been looking for. Other Worlds is a very adaptable and cinematic system. The focus is on making interesting stories that make sense. Conflict resolution is very elegant and shows you how to keep the story moving forward win or lose. Character generation is extremely customizable and ensures your characters are tied to the setting and the story right away.

I'll be honest, I was a little hesitant with this game at first. Most of my experience has been with more crunchy games. The same for my players. But we've played this several times now and my group is still eager for more.

The only thing I'd throw out as a caution is the little bit of front-end work that needs to be done when you set up characters or a new campaign. In fairness, I took a lot of this on myself as the GM. The book recommends doing some collaborative world building and I should have listened. It's not at all hard, but many hands make light work. I can only see that making my results even better next time.

This could be one of the best deals in pdf and worth every penny.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Other Worlds
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Other Worlds
by Hamilton R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/08/2012 22:49:43

OW is a cinematic-style role playing game. It has good mechanics for describing abilities abstractly. The book is lengthy but easy to read and understand. It does handle a wide variety of game worlds. OW lives up to the hype.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Other Worlds Free Preview Edition
by Hamilton R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/30/2012 01:32:21

Decent size preview / makes you want to buy the game! -- Clear, concise, and easy to understand. -- Good value for the money.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Other Worlds Free Preview Edition
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Other Worlds Free Preview Edition
by Andr? L. D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/14/2012 20:41:34

Une liste de contributeurs et une idée de base qui me plaisent beaucoup (un système narratif facile à l'utilisation, flexible, qui permette de jouer ce que l'on veut) m'on poussés à lire cette version gratuite. Celle-ci ne m'a pas déçu. A part les illustrations (tout à fait parfaite pour donner une ambiance, mais en dessous de ce que certains jeux proposent) tant la mise en page que ce que j'ai pu lire m'a mis l'eau à la bouche. Bref je m'en vais de ce pas l'acheter !



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Other Worlds
by RICHARD P S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/13/2012 12:56:38

An awesome product.

This book does, for me, what HeroWars/HeroQuest set out to do...build a rules-medium Narrativist RPG where The Setting Matters.

Building on Robin Laws' foundations, this iteration gets it right: it's smooth, infinitely expandable, and, best of all, no wonky dice mechanics, instead, there's a simple, intuitive percentile engine.

Well-written, beautifully illustrated by Storn Cook, packed with examples of how to hack the system for everything from D&D-esque fantasy to mecha sci-fi, to gritty cop drama, this is the game that could bring storygames to the grognards.

Love it, love it, love it...one of my favorite RPG purchases of 2011.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Other Worlds
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Other Worlds
by Darren B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/06/2012 15:49:49

I've had a read through of Other Worlds, and in some ways I like what I see and in some ways I don't. There's a lot to this book, and I think it is well written and explained. I'm just not quite so sure that Mark managed to achieve the rules light system he was after.

I find the chapter on world building great, and I love the idea of the GM and the players getting together and building their world together with equal input. Very nice idea that has been bandied around a bit, but this is the first time I've seen it laid out in black and white.

The character generation system is in it's own way innovative, and I like what it is to a point. The establishment of templates is a great idea, which creates a lot of freedom but I feel potential limits character generation to a degree as well. All templates follow the same patter of 8 skills, 4 traits, 4 relationships, 4 goals, 4 flaws. Granted you don't have to take all that's offered, but removing any of the template "bits" doesn't allow you to add anything in it's place. Each character gets 3 templates; cultural, professional, and an Individuality template which is designed purely by the player. Trademarks are added, which are just another template following the same design as all the others but can represent things like gadgets, powers, pets, race, etc.

Games can be set at various power levels from neophytes to god-like beings, which makes sense for a game that can be used to play the Famous 5 or the Justice League. This is a great touch, but really not much different to what many universal systems try to achieve. I think Other Worlds does this well though.

The system itself is a fairly easy to learn percentile system, modified by the game's power level and a character's abilities. Easy to learn and simple to apply.

NPCs are often just simplified characters with fewer templates. I like the idea of simple NPCs, so it gets a big tick for that.

There is lots of GM advice on how to run an Other Worlds game, but I find the advice useful for just about any game, and well worth the read. I don't think that any GM can say that they can't improve their skills in some manner, and this section does a good job of providing a great toolkit.

I have to say the character sheet is just plain ugly, and looks confusing to read. Not sure how it would work in a game, but I can see players desperately trying to find their skills and abilities which are scattered all over the sheet.

Overall, I give the game 3 and a half dice out of 5. I like it, but I'm not sure I would play it.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Other Worlds
by Alfredo S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/27/2011 06:55:46

Disclaimer: My name is listed as a playtester in the book, but in fact I only provided some observations about a previous draft. I must say, however, that I am very biased, as I a was excited about this project right from the beginning.

Other Worlds (OW) is a very well done conflict-based generic game. Player characters are made up of abstract abilities grouped into Cultural and Professional templates to which other abilities reflecting the character's specific individuality are added. Depending on the genre, characters can also have one or more Trademark templates which include special powers, magic, abilities reflecting the characteristics of sci-fi or fantasy races, special equipment (like having a super-spy car or a tricked-out Corellian tramp freighter), etc. Each ability gets an specific rating based on the power level of the game and can be used both as the base ability in a given conflict or as a supporting ability, increasing the base ability's rating. Anything can be an ability, and any ability can be used in a specific conflict: personality traits or quirks, professional skills, relationships, whatever.

Rolls are made using percentile dice in a very abstract resolution system which can be easily adapted to the flavour and tone of most any settings, with the possibility of using a more detailed resolution method for specially important or exciting conflicts. Consequences translate into new abilities which can help or hamper the character in further conflicts. Spotlight Points can be also used to modifiy the result of a roll.

Even though you can easily use OW to play in a stablished setting, one of its main strengths lays in the setting creation chapter. In OW, the group as whole creates the setting in which they want to play. It is basically a group brainstorming exercise in which genre, tone, setting details and main NPCs are created by the group. The rules also facilitate adding further detail to your gameworld as the game develops. Even if you have no interest at all in brainstorming a new setting with your players, you can easily use this chapter as a guideline for quickly creating a playable gameworld on your own. There is also an excellent chapter on customizing OW and adapting any setting, and a few short genre snapshots for sci-fi, superheroes, fantasy, pirates and wild west games.

The quality of writing is excellent and a generous amount of advice for playing the game can be found throughout the book, covering all you need to take into account to play OW. All this is wrapped in a simple but very professional and attractive layout by none other than Evil Hat's Fred Hicks, with a good number of eye-catching art pieces by Storn Cook.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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