If you run a science fiction campaign, buy this book today. If you don’t run a science fiction campaign, then you can wait until tomorrow.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

Points in Space is a generic science fiction supplement designed to provide locations and characters which might be found on your stereotypical space station. It’s written by S. John Ross, who also runs Cumberland Games – the electronic book company which has released it as the first volume in the All-Systems Library.

All right, let’s count the problems with that:

First off, generic supplements don’t work. They lack all the little background details that story-oriented people like, and they don’t have all the little numbers that delight the grognards. Everyone knows this. I know this. You know this. That strange guy in the corner of your game store knows this.

Second off, electronic books don’t work. They’re never, ever worth the money. Everyone knows this. I know this. You know this. That strange guy in the corner of your game store knows this.

So Ross was going to have an uphill battle convincing me with this one.

BUY, BUY, BUY!

And I’ll be damned if he didn’t do it. Points of Space is a fantastic product, and I’m going to tell you why:

First, S. John Ross latches onto the stereotypes of space opera. Because they’re stereotypes they can be dropped into a wide variety of science fiction settings: Anyone playing Traveller, Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, or any of the other usual suspects won’t have any problems finding a place for the material in Points in Space.

The stereotypes are the sugar-coated pill which lets the GM swallow Points in Space, but if that’s all that Ross was providing then this would be like every other generic product I’ve ever seen: Bad.

Of course, Ross doesn’t stop there. Step two is the unique depth which he manages to give to each and every one of his locales, even while he maintains the generic confines of his stereotypes. Everything in Points in Space is given a detailed history, a unique outlook, and a fascinating cast of characters. Or, to put it another way, Ross successfully creates locations which will not only fit into any campaign – they will benefit any campaign.

And if that’s all that Ross did, then Points in Space would be a solid buy. But he doesn’t stop there, either. Not content to simply give you a couple dozen well-developed locations which can be dropped into any space opera campaign, Ross then proceeds to give every location in Points in Space its own unique twist – taking something which was already invaluable and making it unforgettable.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITES

For example, there’s Q’zoon’s – the fast food restaurant of intergalactic starports. The concept, of course, can be fit onto almost any commercial space station from science fiction that you can think of. He then takes the next step of developing it – giving you a memorable cast of characters to work there, a menu of strange alien foods, etc. Then he tweaks it out: Q’zoon’s particular specialty is that they will, upon request, randomize your food request – giving you a chance to blindly sample the wide variety of alien cuisines they have available.

It’s a small thing. But it’s the difference between having your players eat in a cookie cutter restaurant, and remembering “that time we got a job in the place with the random alien food.”

Some of my other favorites:

Laxa’s Holoporn Theater. This place is absolutely hilarious. The description of alien porn left me in paroxysms of laughter, which were only heightened when Ross revealed that that very hilarity is one of the reasons Laxa’s has such a great rep among human customers.

Harcorp Medical Center. “’Franchise medicine’ recently took 7th in Spacer Times reader poll for ‘phrases that strike terror in the hearts of space travelers,’ squeaking in between ‘package tours’ at 6th and ‘explosive decompression’ at 8th.” And you thought HMOs were scary. What can I say? Ross even makes the trip to get your play group healed up after a gunfight a memorable experience.

CONCLUSION

If you run a science fiction campaign, buy this book today. If you don’t run a science fiction campaign, then you can wait until tomorrow.

Style: 5
Substance: 5

Grade: A+

Author: S. John Ross
Company: Cumberland Games
Line: All Systems
Price: $12.95
Pages: 143

You can tell this review comes from a different era as I have to go out of my way to explain that e-books are worth it.

I remain skeptical of generic RPG sourcebooks. They always seem like a good idea, but in practice they’re pretty fundamentally flawed: The designer would almost always be better off picking ANY system and including stat blocks for it. First, the book can then be sold to the fans for that game. Second, GMs who are amenable to kitbashing stuff and using it in any system will still be able to do that, too. (But with the added benefit of having stuff mechanically defined so that they can more easily ballpark it into their system of choice.)

As much as I loved this one, it doesn’t appear to have worked out, either. S. John Ross never produced any of the intended sequels.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.