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Starlight Manifesto [Black Box Edition]

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Average Rating:4.3 / 5
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Starlight Manifesto [Black Box Edition]
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Starlight Manifesto [Black Box Edition]
Publisher: Lightspress Media
by Neil L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/29/2018 15:04:00

If you've never played a RPG, then this isn't for you. If you have, this might be useful for inspriration, but you'll have to do a lot of work to make a game happen. THere are some really nice ideas in here, particularly the game's approach to your skills and skills rolls. The usual "DM of -2 if standing on one leg" tables you find in other RPGs are not here. The focus of the game is on the characters and their interactions with their world. You'll find some ideas for cultures to play. The whole tone is very much in line with Star Trek's Federation's ethics. Whether playing morally good characters is your cup of tea, or whether you'd prefer to play characters more like The Klingons, is up to you and your group. (note, this is not a Star Trek game).

The game does not have any artwork. This makes it cheaper and it takes less space, the author says. I've bought some RPG games where I thought the quality of the artwork was so bad, it ought to have been left out as it made the product worse. However, good artwork can inspire both the players and referees (called The Guide in Starlight Manifesto). The artwork in Traveller helped give their universe a look and feel that was very distinctive. Showing someone a picture of a TIE Fighter or Traveller's TYpe S Scout Courier will inspire them, we are visual creatures.

Artwork can break up pages of text and make it look more inviting to read. I've bought several games because I liked the artwork and wanted to be inspired. I'll happily pay more to help support a decent artist if their artwork contributes a look and feel to a game. Preview Coriolis, Excellium, Polaris or Numenera for good examples of games you'd buy for their artwork. This game feels like they just didn't want to pay an artist.

Starlight Manifesto doesn't have any lists of guns, statistics for vehicles or spaceships, no detailed descriptions of the worlds, nothing about alien animals and plants or any space maps to show the setting. I got really sick of reading "What the (named species) looks like is entirely up to you.....It's more fun to make up something original, so your game isn't the same as someone else's". I personally don't care if my game is the same as someone 4000 miles away, because I'll never know!

I felt that the person writing it had copied and pasted the same text in a lot of places rather than do any creative work. The whole thing has so much repetition in it, you just skim past whole paragraphs. On the other hand, you do get a detailed description of arm-of-service shoulder board colours, complete with medieval heraldic names that add absolutely nothing of value to the game. If the rest was done to this standard, it would have been better, but as it is, it looks odd having a detailed description of something that doesn't matter. I also got sick of reading "Because Starlight Manifesto is space opera..." time and time again.

Personally, I like tables of options as they give you a basis to build your world (or your grav tank or spaceship) . I like star maps, because I don't have to think about what the next world looks like when the players decide to do something I hadn't planned for. A good game designer inspires you to use the game as a basis for your own universe. My version of Traveller is nothing like the original designers intended. Unless you really do like world building, this game doesn't help. If you do like world building, this game doesn't help, as you'll need another game to help you develop worlds to explore.

The text I bought has several typos. There's a huge amount of unecessary repetition that tells you to make it up yourself. Why they ddin't just put that text in once and told you it applies to everything is beyond me. It looks like padding to reach a word count. There's even a recommended play list of music to listen to at the back, but no introductory adventure to get you started.

The author should have got someone to proof read the text and critique the writing style before publishing. Some advice on text layout would also help. This looks like it was typeset in Office 95. On the other hand, it was cheap so good value.

I really can't recommend this as anything more than a cheap source of ideas to use in another game.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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Starlight Manifesto [Black Box Edition]
Publisher: Lightspress Media
by Alex G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/12/2017 10:11:22

Berin Kinsman's latest tour de force from Dancing Lights Press, Starlight Manifesto ventures into science fiction roleplaying - a genre dominated by Traveller and other SF games.

The characters are Peacekeepers of a galaxy-spanning interstellar organisation, in the manner of Starfleet officers from Star Trek or the Earthforce from Babylon 5. They are explorers, problem solvers, ambassadors and occasionally warriors.

The Starlight Union is not a perfect organisation, but they do have a system - and it works. The underlying philosophy behind the Union is outlined, and echoes both Trek and Babylon 5 in that it paints a future of inclusivity and cooperation, driven forwards by reason and optimism.

The characters' role is exemplified by the virtues espoused by Doctor Who - never being cruel, never being cowardly, and recognising fear as a companion and teacher rather than a threat to be met by a hail of plasma fire, an attitude seen all too often in other SF roleplaying games.

Starlight Manifesto is a full roleplaying game, using the Lighthouse Roleplaying System available separately. All you need to play is Starlight Manifesto, dice, pencil, paper and your imagination.

As with all Berin's books so far, there is no art: the aim is to free your imagination to picture the humans, aliens, equipment and visual appearance of the game the way you see it. The lack of art is a feature which results in the books being not only very small, but very good on your pocket.

The game became a DriveThru Best Seller within days of its launch, which is testimony to the creative power and passion of Berin Kinsman, manifest in the optimistic tone he adopts in this book.

In Revelations in Cold Iron, the protagonists had their work cut out for them; in Starlight Manifesto, the positive philosophy is not only triumphant, but ascendant. The universe beckons, and the future will be with us for a long time.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Starlight Manifesto [Black Box Edition]
Publisher: Lightspress Media
by Guy H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/05/2017 05:44:33

Starlight Manifesto is a space opera setting, optimistic in tone, beset by other civilizations who are not so enlightened. Though reminiscent of several favorite examples of the genre,Starlight is a setting of its own. The characters are members of the Starlight Peacekeepers, exploring, keeping tge peace, and opposing the numerous endmies of the utopian union. Berin Kinsman gives us more than a setting and a rules set (the Lighthouse Roleplaying System), but he gives practical advice on creating a campaign in keeping with the optimistic setting, and on the purpose of each element of the game. Instead of creating numerous species of little depth, he has created several well-developed races, which you can nevertheless customise to suit your interpretations.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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