Earthforce Sourcebook UK edition! - Reply

'Twas the voice of the Jon T., I heard it declare...

> A friend of mine in a local bookshop has just got hold of one of the
first copies
of the Earthforce Sourcebook UK edition, from Titan books (licensed from
CE,
and SHOULD, in theory, be exactly the same as the US edition). <

I've heard that one before... <cynical grin> -- justified, it would
seem, by what
Jon says below.

> I have taken a good look at it (my own contributor's file copies are
in transit
from the US right now!) and can report the following:

> The book looks nice, (hey, it's got Ivanova on the cover....)

Well, yes, Claudia does add a certain something to just about anything.
Anyone
else remember her star performances on Space Cadets? Her version of
William
Shatner doing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" still cracks me up
totally.

> ...and the art is generally better than in the RPG book -- more CGI
art rather
than the iffy painted stuff. Apparently most of the CGI pics of ships
were
specially generated for the book, and are not just video grabs from the
episodes!
Like the TBP RPG book, it is in full colour throughout, and at only 9.99
it is
pretty good value. <

Sounds it. It may even be worth getting one copy now, and one later,
after Titan
have fixed their cock-ups.

> I won't comment on the ship rules, since they're mostly mine! I'll
leave
reviewing them to others, except to say that CE (Zeke Sparkes in
particular)
have added quite a few new bits to the draft I sent them, including some
very
neat ideas about integrating RPG characters into the game as ship crew.
<

Ahhh... good. I was a little concerned that the combat rules would be
too
separate from the RP stuff. Not that I'm not interested in the combat
section
purely in itself (I am -- it's my primary interest in the SB), but, as a
once and
future GM, I've found that role-players enjoy a good fight even more if
they can
get involved in it, rather than having one guy play and the others
kibitz.

> The rules could have benefitted (IMHO) from a few diagrams, especially
for
movement, but CE say they were short on space in the chapter.

> Now for the big problem, which only affects UK COPIES - UK PURCHASERS
TAKE NOTE!! Titan books have screwed up big time, and forgotten to
include
the game counter sheet in the back of the book! There should be a
full-colour,
cardstock sheet bound into the back, and it is NOT THERE! Titan are now
aware of their mistake, and say they will have to print the sheets
separately and
send them out to the retailers - so if you really want to buy a copy
from the first
batch, make sure you go back to the shop a while later and pick up your
counter sheet.... <

Oh, frak! My regular game shop was overjoyed to hear this... Does anyone
have
any idea when the missing counters will make their appearance? -- like,
say,
before or after Christmas?

> Apparently Titan has made a few other glaring errors in the UK
printing, such
as missing all the captions and colour-keys off the NOVA and OMEGA
diagrams... <

Double frak! Jon, any chance of you telling us what's missing? Is it
vital, or even
important, to playing the game?

> ...and using the painting of Gen. Franklin three times, for three
supposedly
different EF officers (one of which is supposed to be female...?!) - CE
assure me
that the US edition is correct, and it is Titan's error on the UK one,
but I won't be
able to check this until my US copies (with the counters!!) arrive. <

Pause while I turn green with envy at thought of US copies, with
counters and
correct artwork. Sometimes, I don't like Titan... of course, sometimes,
I do.

> Looking forward to seeing what everyone else thinks of the book, when
you
get them.... <

When, indeed...

Phil, feeling frustrated -- we've waited so long for this, and Titan
balls it up!
------------------------------------------------------------
"Sic Transit Gloria Barramundi" 
   (Or, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!)
   -- not Douglas Adams, but me: Phil Atcliffe 
			      (p-atclif@uwe.ac.uk)