The Shattered Sky
By Paul Lucas
Published by Propaganda Publishing
$16.00
Its 25,000 years in the future. The solar system as you know it is gone. In its place are the slowly failing remnants of a shattered Dyson Sphere. You are one of a small number of survivors, desperately trying to reverse the tide of decay against the forces of mysterious aliens trying to unlock the secrets of the sphere.
For a game that is only 96 pages long, this book really packs in a lot for your buck. There is a character creation system that allows for nearly infinite variation in design. One of the elements of the universe that they bring up time and again is the theme of genetic manipulation. In the first 5000 years of the Sphere (before it was destroyed), the human race apparently felt obligated to try and reshape itself in many different ways. This means that many of the “aliens” you may encounter are really just altered humans.
Stats are generated from a dice pool. You roll all the dice, get a total, then allocated the results to each of three Traits in a grouping. You then choose your Aptitudes and your Skills, and you’re off an running! There are a lot of options available during character creation, and this will allow the players to feel that their characters are unique, interesting and worth pursuing in this game. They have also included an extensive equipment listing, and a large weapon list.
Most of your initial adventuring will take place in what is referred to as the “Known . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: June 12, 1998
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