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Page 1 of 3 Star Ace! A bold game of heroic rebels fighting a galactic empire, with the aid of semi-mystical powers! No, this is the one without the official license! Watch as I read the classic mid-80s rules and create a character!
OK, some background. Pacesetter games was founded in the mid-80s by some people who left TSR during their first (but hardly their last) round of layoffs and "reorganizations". They created a space opera game (Star Ace), a time travel game (Timemaster) and a horror game (Chill). Chill ended up being a small scale hit and produced a mountain-o-supplements and has come out in revised editions every few years for a while now. The others... well, didn't make it. If Star Ace had ever had half a chance, it was shot down like Porkins when a real Star Wars game appeared a few years later.Why pick this game to start off this column? Why not a classic like Chivalry and Sorcery, or something totally wonky like Synnibarr, or even more obscure, like Machineguns&Magic? Because this was the nearest box, and I am a stunningly lazy person. OK! One more thing -- while I intend to have some fun with this series of articles, the intent is not to "break" the game or try to do something it doesn't support. The intent is to work within the rules and see if they work, and, of course, to throw in a few snarky comments here and there, because that's what I do. It's a classic 3-book boxed set -- you've got your rulebook, your setting book, and your adventure. The rulebook is a mere 64 pages, and that includes character generation, combat, vehicles, spaceships, everything. In an age when it takes 64 pages to list the racial options for Lower Cave Dwarves, it's hard to imagine such a simple time. Ah, the good old days, when hopelessly incomplete rules meant less rules-flipping and more screaming arguments with the GM. Anyway, let's flip open the "Star Team Basic Training Manual". First off, we have the boilerplate -- roleplaying is "let's pretend" with rules, here's how you read the dice, and the guy who runs the game is the "CM" or "Campaign Master", which bests "Storyteller" or "Hollyhock God" by a huge margin. Players are cast as members of Star Team, who work for the good "Alliance" against the evil "Empire", but who aren't officially part of the alliance. Plausible deniability is a great basis for an RPG. So, having read this far, we get the setting -- like, duh, it's Star Wars, with the serial numbers no so much filed off as loosely covered with transparent cellophane. Given that, before going on, I ought to figure out a character concept.How about a grizzled mercenary who used to work for the Empire until they made him, I dunno, shoot babies or kittens or babies holding kittens or something? Sounds good. We'll call him Rex Bristol. Sounds manly. Onwards, then, to see how Rex turns out!
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