Space Opera is one of the classic FGU (Fantasy Games Unlimited) RPGs, meaning, it has insanely detailed and complex rules and a reputation for nigh-unplayability. When I was 16, I was able to roll up characters in it. Can I do so now that I'm 43 and "spoiled" by games like D&D 3.5, GURPS, and FATE? We shall see...

The game itself is a boxed set with two 94-page booklets. The first one is sorta kinda the "players" book and the second is sorta kind the GMs  -- sorry, the SM, Starmaster's -- book, but, this being the ealry 1980s and all, the actual content is a random sort of stream of consciousness thing -- for example, the three pages of rules on throwing and catching things are located between the rules for morale in combat and the section on career possibilities for PCs. Go figure. (The throwing rules are, for the record, longer than the rules on melee combat, causing some people to quip this is the "Football Roleplaying Game".)

OK, let's look at character creation. First, the game recommends many characters be designed at once, first because it takes so long that it's best to get it out of the way, and, second, because this way different storylines can be played out -- you can have a group of Pirate PCs, a group of Heroic Star Patrol PCs, and so on. In the 1980s, it was somewhat more common to have rotating campaigns, or to have one player have a character be "Away" for some period of game time while the player used an alternate PC. It's kind of interesting in that this is one of the earliest games to address issues of social contract and group cohesion; it's something that rarely came up in games of the time.

Anyway, on to character generation. You first pick a class -- Armsman (Fighter), Astronaut (Pilot), Tech, Scientist: Research, Scientist:Medical, and Scientist: Engineering. Yes, four out of six classes are, basically, scientists. The exact difference in play between a Tech and an Engineer is pretty minimal, along with the rest. There are no class powers or the like; your class determines modifiers to your attributes (first you pick your class, then you roll your stats -- hope you roll well!) and some initial skill choices, and that's really about it. 

Let's roll some attributes!