Publisher: Sine Nomine Publishing
Darkness Visible: Espionage Campaigns for Stars Without Number is a supplement book for the Stars Without Number roleplaying game, written by Kevin Crawford and published by Sine Nomine Publishing. The book provides game masters and players with the tools to create their own stories of covert action and secret heroism in a sci-fi setting. In this review, I will examine the main features of the book and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.
The Setting: The Perimeter Agency and the Maltech Threat
The book introduces a new faction to the Stars Without Number universe: the Perimeter Agency, a clandestine organization that operates across the galaxy to protect humanity from the dangers of maltech, or malicious technology. Maltech is any form of technology that threatens the survival or dignity of human life, such as bioweapons, mind control devices, or planet-destroying weapons. The Perimeter Agency recruits agents from various backgrounds and trains them to infiltrate, sabotage, or destroy maltech cults and factions.
The book provides a detailed history of the Perimeter Agency, its structure, its goals, and its enemies. It also offers several examples of maltech cults and factions, such as the Ascended Mind, the Children of the Phoenix, or the Starbreakers. Each example includes a description of their beliefs, their activities, their resources, and their weaknesses. The book also gives advice on how to create your own maltech threats and how to use them in your campaigns.
The Rules: Creating and Running Espionage Campaigns
The book offers a comprehensive set of rules and guidelines for creating and running espionage campaigns in Stars Without Number. It covers the following topics:
- How to create and customize Perimeter agents, including their backgrounds, skills, equipment, and special abilities.
- How to design spy missions, including their objectives, complications, rewards, and consequences.
- How to use stealth, disguise, hacking, interrogation, and other espionage techniques in your games.
- How to handle combat, chase scenes, infiltration, extraction, and other action scenarios.
- How to manage information flow, secrecy, deception, betrayal, and trust in your games.
- How to use factions, contacts, allies, enemies, and rivals in your games.
- How to incorporate psionics, aliens, AI, and other sci-fi elements in your games.
The book also provides several tools and tables to help you generate random missions, locations, NPCs, events, clues, twists, and more. It also includes several sample missions that you can use or adapt for your own games.
The Verdict: A Valuable Resource for Sci-Fi Spies
Darkness Visible is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to run or play espionage campaigns in Stars Without Number. It offers a rich and immersive setting that explores the ethical and moral dilemmas of using maltech and fighting against it. It also offers a comprehensive and flexible system that allows you to create and run spy adventures that suit your style and preferences. Whether you prefer realistic or cinematic espionage stories, whether you favor stealth or action scenarios, whether you want to save the galaxy or just survive another day, Darkness Visible has something for you.
The book is well-written and well-organized. It is easy to read and understand. It is full of useful tips and examples that illustrate how to apply the rules and concepts in your games. It is also compatible with other Stars Without Number supplements and settings. You can easily mix and match elements from different books to create your own unique sci-fi spy stories.
The only minor drawback of the book is that it assumes some familiarity with the core rules of Stars Without Number. If you are new to the game system or need a refresher on some aspects of it, you may need to consult the core rulebook or other supplements for clarification. However, this is not a major issue as most of the rules are explained or summarized in Darkness Visible.
Overall, Darkness Visible is an excellent addition to the Stars Without Number game line. It expands the possibilities of sci-fi roleplaying and provides game masters and players with a wealth of inspiration and guidance for creating their own interstellar espionage stories. If you are a fan of sci-fi spy fiction or just want to try something different in your sci-fi RPGs, I highly recommend Darkness Visible: Espionage Campaigns for Stars Without Number.
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