Disclaimer: a review copy of this game was provided for free by the author. This review is based off of a reading of the book, not a playtest.
The Star Dogs Referee's Handbook, by
Michael Raston, is a supplement for his sci-fi RPG
Star Dogs, which I
reviewed in November.
The book is absolutely crammed full of SF-themed generators - everything from a Planet Generator to an Impressive Technology generator or Mission creator. Most of these are freely available on Michael's blog (linked above), but the Referee's Handbook gives them to you in a more searchable single package.
Early Conclusion: Star Dogs is an excellent system-neutral resource for people running soft SF games, but it suffers from some redundancy and a lack of mechanical detail for alien abilities and starship equipment. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone interested in this sort of game, no matter what system you plan to use.
If you're interested in a more in-depth review, going over each generator in detail, see below.
Reviewing Each Generator
1.
Galaxy Sector Mapper and Stocker - This is a drop table that creates the map for a galactic sector, divided into separate zones you move across like a slightly melted hexcrawl. I like the way it simulates the dense areas within solar systems and the empty zones between them on a single map, and it's quite quick and easy to use.
2.
Planet Generator - Like many of the generators, the Planet Generator is not a hyper-detailed system that constructs continents and civilizations. Instead, between the Planetary Landscape table (which gives you a single scene of the world, like "planet covering alien geometric ruins of super-hardened material"), Planet Atmosphere Manifestation table (which gives you a small theme, like "shrunken, small and shrivelled - rotted and wrecked" and Planet Population table (which gives you a vague concept for the dominant group, such as escaped synthoids or primitive aliens), the Planet Generator gives you a concept of a world for you to flesh out. The first 2 tables are nicely useful, especially for space-opera style single-feature worlds. The Planet Population table, however, doesn't have much of a use. It's too overly simple, without any of the evocative ideas of the others. The book also has both an NPC Group Generator and Alien Species generator, which both do this job better.
3.
Outpost/Space Station Generator - This generator starts a lot like the Planet Generator, with a Key Purpose and Atmosphere. It also comes with both a road and building map generator, where you roll up small single pieces and put them together. I'm not sure how often you need this sort of mapping, and the buildings come in strange curved shapes that seem hard to put together. This piece also comes with a building stocker, with single-line building types (weapons stores, abandoned and empty, etc.)
4.
NPC Generator - This is an utterly excellent NPC generator for this sort of kitchen sink space opera. A massive d100 appearances help you perpetually toss out new, strange people for your players to meet, and the Wants, Modus Operandi, and Expertise give all of them both a personality, and a reason for the players to talk to them.
5.
NPC Group Generator - A very simple single table of group traits, like "group members are ever burrowing deeper and deeper underground". A few rolls would be needed to build an interesting faction, but a single table makes that pretty easy to manage. More components for this generator (Leadership, Motives, Methods) would make it much, much more useful.
6.
Alien Species Generator - Monster generators are pretty common in the OSR, but few of them are built for a SF setting. It seems to be specifically built for a civilized society, but it never directly says. It's split between Form (a body type, such as Rat or Ape), a Form Manifestation (a simple modifier, like skeletal, filled with holes, shriveled and gaunt), Armor and Weapon technology levels, a Communication Method (speaking, telepathy, writing, etc.), a d100 Special Ability table (in the same ultra-simple vague idea method as much of the Planet Generator pieces), and a Culture segment partially copied from the NPC Group Generator. I don't think the idea-generating method used in the Special Ability table works well for generating a mechanic, where I'd want a more concrete system. The Culture segment probably could've been fused with the NPC Group generator without losing much, as well.
7.
Tables for Roleplaying NPCs - A d12 reaction table, a second, alignment-dependent d6 reaction table, and a 2d12 faction relations table. The faction relations are helpful, but I don't think we need a pair of reaction tables - a larger, alignment-dependent d12 table would be a perfect combination of both.
8.
Mission Generator - I love having mission generators in games, especially in low-setting ones like Star Dogs. This one follows a pretty normal format -
verb the
noun, in the
location, with the
danger, for the
reward. Like any generator of this type, some options are difficult to put together, like "have target be eaten" and "a secret".
9.
Dangerous Sector Generator - I don't think Sector was a good term to use here, given the use of Sector as a world map earlier in the book. This is actually a dungeon generator, with a map builder (much more useful here than in the city section), room stocker, and dungeon atmosphere table. Like most of these tables, you would need to roll up the dungeon before the game and fit everything together. I think the atmosphere table is the best part of this generator, giving each dungeon some interesting character and distinguishing features.
10.
Impressive Technology and Advanced Combat Equipment Generator - An artifact generator, with a form, material (which also comes with a special rule, such as "Clusters of small metallic nodules. Will also make things smaller."), a power (a vague concept, like "Removes and separates."), and a power modifier (an extra issue with the device, such as "Results tend to be temporary."). Much like the Special Ability table of the Alien Species generator, I think a more mechanics-focused method of generation works better than the idea generator for this.
11.
Random Space Encounter Generator - A quite complex random encounter system, rolling an Environment, Modifier, and Content. The Content roll is usually a group of things (Space Anomaly and Single Spacecraft) which direct to subtables which give you what type of Space Anomaly, Galactic Pallet, or other space object you end up with. I absolutely love more advanced random encounter rolls that give you more than just an entity - giving a location and some extra detail like this one does is absolutely excellent, and should be done far more often.
12.
Spacecraft Generator - The Spacecraft Generator is one of the best parts of this book. It combines a set of small tables for fluff like Alien Spacecraft Form (done with single words like "Bee" or "Pyramid") Human Spacecraft Form, (using another grid-like visual table, similar to those used in the Dangerous Sector Generator), and Spaceship Form Manifestation (more simple descriptors, like "Large chunks of the hull are rotted away, revealing working innards") with the most detailed mechanical pieces in this book - 8 fully-statted starship classes ranging from tiny fighters to large transports. The Special Ability table could, again, use more mechanics - for example, "Extra resistant to Bull or Laz fire" could use some suggested numbers.
13.
Nebula Generator - Nebulae are large-scale terrain formations in Star Dogs, covering multiple Sectors. The Nebula Generator is split into Appearance (which is both a small description, and affects the intensity of the nebula's effects), and Color (which determines the effect). This is the most specific of the generators, and the effects of each nebula seem like they could be difficult to remember, but it has its uses.
