Raven Star RPG

Closer Look Reviews

Reviewed by Wayne Wallace

Raven Star Game Designs

Raven Star is a new RPG that brings many classic concepts into a new area. Out on the fringes of known space is planet C93. It would otherwise be an unremarkable human-habitable world used as an agricultural colony, except for an important discovery. In the timeline of Raven Star, that of the far (within 1000 yrs or so) future, the human race has discovered a mineral called Nor-X. After a long research time, it was found that Nor-X could be used to both make lightweight armor for vehicles... and is an essential component of the drive system needed to enter hyperspace. This discovery allowed humans to roam the galaxy, to find new worlds, new races, and colonize many planets.

One of these colonies is Raven Star. Planet C93 soon became akin to California in the gold rush when colonists discovered a large deposit of Nor-X in some asteroid belts nearby. Later, the influx of new colonists and extensive exploration of the planet led to the discovery of ancient ruins and the runic writing upon them. The first translation gave the sentence: "The coming of Raven Star brings rebirth."

And so it was that C93 became the gateway to lost treasures. As well, the runes showed that the extinct civilization controlled magic. Unlike the legends in many humans' fantasy books, magic was not rare, but was wondrous, and could be learned by those with a modicum of intelligence and dedication. The discovery of magic puts this universe into an interesting situation.

Cybertechnology had long been used, and due to Corporations slowly taking over power from the faltering earth governments of the 20th century, the world of Raven Star might merely have been Cyberpunks in Space. As well, the aliens partially follow the magic/tech themes in that a couple of races fit the visual stereotype enough to be called elves and dwarves (though their societies are quite different from Tolkien's societies, and no one is immortal or much longer-lived than humans. They're actually closer to humanoid races that grew up on light-gravity and heavy-gravity worlds) while the unique Assads and Khochas appear to have evolved from carnivores who won the intelligence pick on their world instead of the simian-types.

With many of the best elements from fantasy and science fiction merged into a cyberpunk world on the frontier of space, Raven Star gives a gaming group a romping fun time in a unique universe.

The actual book does a good job in telling the reader what he needs to know, given that it is the first effort of a new company. After reading the book, I found that Raven Star is fulfilling a role in the RPG market that hasn't been done for some time. When D&D and its descendants came out, each was a further enhancement to a system that was not inherently world-specific. All one needed to do was buy or create a believable fantasy world, and run his adventures using (roughly) the same mechanics as everyone else. If a GM could say that his campaign was "fantasy, uses 1d20 in combat and skill checks, has experience or improvement points, and has character classes," it was close enough to D&D that almost anyone would play.

In the same way, a GM can call his campaign Raven Star-like by saying his campaign is a "mix of magic, sci-fi, cyberpunk, and style, uses 1d20 in combat, magic, and skill checks, has improvement points, and has skill-based characters." All that one needs to do is introduce the players to the world of Raven Star and its capital of New Chicago, teach the basic mechanics to the players, and everyone can have a blast playing in a world that supports a 'heroic fantasy' outlook. Player-characters are purposely generated via a method that makes them superior, one-on-one, to Joe Genero, and allows them to succeed at cinematic feats, all the while keeping the risk and uncertainty in a fight, that someone might just be hurt or killed, even a PC.

Raven Star boasts impressive lists of cybernetics, equipment, magic spells, vehicles (including starships), and skills. The number of game mechanics needed to create a character is small enough to be more playable than other systems, but detailed enough to keep the rules-worshippers quiet. The time scale for combat is a turn of 1-2 seconds, with 60 such turns per minute, and 3000 per hour, should it ever matter. In any turn, a PC may do one basic action, from firing a gun, to moving an appreciable distance, to casting a spell or opening a door.

I'll admit it. I'm a rules-worshipper, and I demand high quality in the rules of any system. Without rules, one might as well collaborate on a novel with friends, right? Why have dice or rules at all? Well, Raven Star answers that by maintaining that an element of uncertainty should always be kept. A random factor exists to keep the game lively. Rules exist as a means of balancing the PCs and allowing the GM some clearly delinated powers to run the game properly. Clearly, Raven Star is an RPG, and does not follow the trendy "rules always hurt the game" attitude.

For those who love rolling large amounts of dice, I should mention that all weapon damage in Raven Star is done in d6s plus a modifier. A medium pistol does 3d6, and a laser rifle does 5d6+2, for example, and, assuming armor, should provide a reasonable wound to a PC while allowing him to stay in the action. If one just uses the old trick of grouping d6s rolled into increments of ten, and adding the remainder, combat stays fast and furious. As well, since weapons top out around 6d6 at times, those of you with nightmares of rolling 20d6 D&D fireballs and 15d6 Champions Energy Blasts need not fear the need to have hands like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar just to play the game.

Overall, I went into Raven Star expecting the worst (I'm not a fan of many game systems) and came out with a twinkle in my eye. As well, the number of typos in the book is quite small, something unusual for a new company, and something that makes this compulsive grammar-checker quite happy.

Finally, the GM section is very well-done and clearly states the ideas that make for a good gaming session. Raven Star breathes new life into the tapestry of genres it uses, and, because the designer purposely avoided explicit details of every nuance of New Chicago, your Raven Star can be as different from your friend's Raven Star, as Xanth is compared to Middle Earth. New Raven Star products are due in the first half of 1995, including sourcebooks titled, "Get Fitted for the Frontier," and "Magic and Martial Arts."

More Closer Looks edited by Jolly Blackburn

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