I bought and played this game when it first came out. A thinly-disguised game version of classic Star Trek, it was nonetheless simple to learn and remarkably fun to play. If you're after bells and whistles, look elsewhere -- but it's a surprisingly satisfying RPG that could easily given some latter-day complexity.

This is a quirky retro RPG...well, perhaps retro shouldn't apply, since this is the original Starships & Spacement, circa 1978, with some supplemental material and errata originally published in Different Worlds magazine from way back when (I loved that magazine!)

Starships & Spacemen is essentially an unabashed riff of classic Star Trek (TOS for you modern Trekkies) with analogs of just about all the original races and characters to one extent or another. The system is simple, based on a series of base stats, a chosen branch study and augmented by a healthy dose of gung-ho "where are the green skinned women?" style of play. Even the sample characters and situations in the game....revolving around Captain Jerk....speak to the unabashed extrusion of all things Trek in to the S&S mold.

That said, if you are looking for a retro clone of Star Trek as an RPG this is a good place to start. The system is playable, contains a basic but fully functional set of rules for starships and combat, and has lots of classic trappings of old school RPG design, such as randomly generated alien encounters, planets and stellar anomalies floating around to be uncovered. It's really quite fun, and noticeably better than some of the other Fantasy Games Unlimited (the original oublishers) SF RPGs of the time (cough Space Opera cough).

If you consider yourself an officionado of the OSR, then you really can't go wrong here. if you just happen to be fond of kitschy Trek-styled space opera and rules-lite systems, look no further.

Appearance: 3/5 (it has that type-writer quality pervasive in games prior to 1980ish, but the art is decent for its time)

Substance: 4/5 (you get a full game here; I say 4/5 because it is so rules lite but if that's your thing consider it a 5/5)

Playability: 5/5 (plays well, and you can easily play it beer & pretzels style or go for a long haul campaign with it, I feel)

As a side note, Goblinoid Games seems to have plans to do support for S&S. I certainly hope so; it will make a fine addition to the Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future collage that GG is now known for.