So, a few years back or so I noticed that Precis Intermedia was re-releasing the old WEG Shatterzone RPG, a game I had some fond nostalgia for (since it was the closest to scratching my peculiar Sci-Fi itch before I discovered Traveller... and I was a massive fan of the Masterbook games back when they were a thing... though I must admit to having rarely gotten to play any of them!). Of course I turned up my nose at this, as I had my old books etc.
But then, going through my books I realized that in many ways the old Shatterzone game was not... very good. I mean the RULES are all there, pretty much imported whole-cloth from TORG, but the adaption of those rules to pure-Sci-Fi was lackluster, and even in many ways incomplete. In some ways, by my older and more jaded standards, it feels like half a game, a 'good' half a game, but half a game nonetheless.
Obviously that doesn't mean going out and buying the shiny new(ish? Its been a few years, I guess..) edition. After all, from what I've seen some of these rehashes of older games are little more than reprints in a new format (Fading Suns?), and, well, I've already got the game.
On the other hand, the new Ulyssie Spiel (SP?!??!?) version of TORG serves as a warning in the other direction. I hardly need a reprint of the old rules with a metric fuckwad of bad ideas shat upon it either.
So, and knowing that I'm absolutely in the right place (Hi Brettmb!) to ask this:
What is new and improved about the new Shatterzone, if anything?
What is old and traditional/reliable about the new Shatterzone, if anything?
Nothing has changed. It is a reprint of the original boxed set. The Shatterzone rules, while similar to Torg, are very different when it comes to the numbers and how damage is handled.
There is a playtest edition of MasterBook 2E, however, which is 90% similar to Shatterzone's mechanics: http://www.pigames.net/store/product_info.php?cPath=107&products_id=636
Just a reprint?
Sad!
Though maybe I should look at the catalog and see if there are some books I never got that would fill some of the holes... starships? I mean... why so many games where starships are a thing, and yet no rules for starships other than binary 'have/not have'?
ShipTech (http://www.pigames.net/store/product_info.php?cPath=109&products_id=724) adds new usage and construction rules for starships, particularly how to get all the players involved in ship combat.
The refinements to MB2e are awesome. The value table is much easier to read. Also just easier to understand.
Quote from: trechriron;1062377The refinements to MB2e are awesome. The value table is much easier to read. Also just easier to understand.
Thanks. My only concern is the wounds chart, which is slightly on the more-dangerous side. Needs more playtesting.
Yeah, I was looking at Ship Tech, and the Fleet book, since I never got those back in the day, obviously. I may take a look at this MB2 stuff while I'm at it.
Can you be more specific about what you felt was not good about Shatterzone?
I thought I laid out the general case: THe sci-fi elements felt tacked on to the ruleset without being fully baked. To my teenage self I didn't notice so much... maybe because when it was fresh I didn't have much to compare it to.
Elements like having a trait for owning a starship, but absolutely zero rules for said starships was one thing (Yes, I will be buying the ship tech book... and probably the fleet book. I'm a gearhead, I ain't ashamed!)
I was also pretty meh about the alien races, like the... um.. glahn? The fake vulcans? Damnit, you're gunna make me do homework to back my words, aincha?
Zero rules for Starships? I think you may be missing something. You have all the books in the boxed set, right?
Quote from: brettmb;1062894Zero rules for Starships? I think you may be missing something. You have all the books in the boxed set, right?
Bah, I was right, you ARE making me do homework!
So, clearly my memory was faulty... as I can clearly see rules now that I've pulled the books off the shelf. I've got the three, plus Arsenal and the Through the Cracks adventure anthology, which... is fewer books than I used to have back in the day, but I'll be damned if I can remember what I used to have off the top of my head. What I probably was thinking (if I had to guess) was....
The 'Has Ship' advantage refers to building (designing) a ship, gives a theoretical budget and refers you to (yes, I a dum dum) Chapter Seven of the Rules book, which... has a small collection of 'generic' ships, one of each class, and zero rules for actually building a ship. Which is utterly inadaquet, and so my mind, over time, rewrote that into the somewhat MORE inadaquet 'zero rules', thus... embarassing future (now) me with my unsupported statement.
tl;dr: My bad. Utterly inadaquet rules for designing spaceships/selection of prebuilt spaceships. (and fuck me if I'm going to look up the proper spelling of inadaquat. Damn that word!)
I always felt that Shatterzone was one of the best 1990s sci-fi games.