Battle Above the Earth
for Villains and Vigilantes

Reviewed by Ernest Rowe II

Fantasy Games Unlimited PO. Box 182, Roslyn, NY 11576
Release Date: September, 1984
Catalog No. 2012
Price: $5.00
Complexity: Intermediate,
Solitaire Suitability: Low
Rating: **

Battle Above the Earth is a Villains and Vigilantes adventure that pits a group of 4-6 midlevel super heroes against a group of villains of about equal power and a rather large force of alien storm troopers (16).

The module has two parts: one on the planetary surface, and one aboard a space station above the planet. There is no apparent connection except perhaps that players get to fight half the aliens before taking on the villains and the rest of the aliens on the space station.

This 20-page module has a nice looking cover, and all the internal maps are adequately done to show basic locations of people or places. However, the printed counters supplied with the module don't match any of the map scales and can't be used unless the Gamemaster (GM) draws a larger copy of the maps.

After running through this module, I don't think I'd play it a second time because I didn't find it to be that much fun or interesting the first time.

The organization of the module could have been a lot cleaner. There were several places where the GM had to flip back and forth through the module to find information needed at a particular place in the game. When the players enter the town of Big Rock in the first scenario, it's assumed that they arrive dressed in costumes, for the town promptly shuts down, and only the places where the party can acquire information remain open. Even then, if the players don't meet the right people, they could end up going around in circles for a long time. Another problem: why are the aliens holding a prisoner for several days outside their ship?

In the second scenario, the descriptions and maps of the space station aren't very clear. Also, there's no indication as to how the villains will handle their security while on the space station. This is left totally up to the Gamemaster to decide. Even the placement of the aliens is left to the GM discretion.

For the players to have any chance against the villains and aliens, a lot of thinking and planning is needed to obtain an advantageous position so they can survive.

The first scenario does have suspense in it, such as what happened to the reporters. The second one only has the players pondering the whereabouts of the villains, and learning that the aliens are there, too.

The use of a space station is an old idea, but now with renewed interest in orbiting satellites, it might have made a timely setting for a good module.

This module will appeal to ardent Villains and Vigilantes players, but for occasional players, it's a routine scenario.

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