Ships of the Fleet, Vol. 4: Venus Fleet – a supplement for Dream Pod 9’s Jovian Chronicles game – is plagued by minor inconsistencies and errors of detail. Fortunately, it is also possessed of substantial strengths, proving itself useful for tactical and roleplaying games alike. Recommended.
Originally Published in Pyramid Magazine – August 11th, 2000
Being truly excellent is a double-edged sword: On the one hand, of course, you’re excellent – and that comes with a lot of perks. On the other hand, though, you’ve set yourself a very high standard – and a failure in the details suddenly becomes a notable offense.
Which is why I’m going to take a few moments to dwell on the failures of Ships of the Fleet, Vol. 4 – a supplement describing six Venusian ships of the line, the principles of Venusian ship design, and Venusian fleet operations. Although these failures may all be in the details, they are no less disappointing.
Why are they disappointing? Because Dream Pod 9 has excelled – with all three of their games – in providing a level of depth, breadth, and quality for their fictional worlds that almost beggars the imagination. When, for example, you not only know the broad strokes of political machination and warmongering in the solar system of the 21st century, but also what the favorite books of the Jovian Confederation are, and how the details of shipboard life onboard a Constantinople-class vessel differ from those of a Birmingham-class – and all of this weaves together into a consummate and seamless whole – you’ve achieved something special.
You can build mighty worlds out of imaginative wonders, but the final key to the imagination lies in the details. It is there that a world will cease to be merely words on a page and, instead, become a living, breathing presence in your mind’s eye.
So, when you’ve accomplished the extraordinary task of making this happen – of bringing a world to life – it behooves you to make sure that those details continue to be consistent and believable.
Which brings us back to what makes this book disappointing.
For example, on page eight we are told that all Venusian ships are specifically made to look different from one another – part of a fleet-wide doctrine to camouflage their navy as civilian merchant vessels and, thus, hide it from the other solar powers. So why on page thirteen are we told that “these newer ships are cosmetically indistinguishable from the older ones”? And why, whenever we are shown pictures of multiple ships, these are merely cut-and-paste copies of one another (an offense made all the more notable by the fact that even the name stamped on the side of the ship has not been changed from one carbon copy to another)? And speaking of that all-too-obvious name: If you’re attempting to keep the size of your navy a secret, is it really a good idea to be printing “CVNA” (Cooperative Venusian Naval Administration) in large letters for the entire solar system to see on every single ship in your navy?
There are other examples of carelessness, as well: In the core Jovian Chronicles rulebook we were told that Venus deliberately exported only algae products and foodstuffs in order to conceal from the rest of the solar system the extent of their technical knowledge. So why is it that in this book we’re told that Venusian ships are at a particular risk from pirate attacks because their ships are almost “guaranteed” to be carrying items of value? One of the nicer elements in the book are the crew interviews – allowing you to hear first-person narratives of why shipboard life is like… but many of these interviews do not sound like Venusians, coming across as angry and egotistical rather than reserved and polite.
And so forth. There are many companies out there – companies which turn out good games – who could do these same things, and I just wouldn’t care. I probably wouldn’t even notice. But the Podsters have established a record of high quality, and I notice things in their books that I wouldn’t notice if I didn’t care so much.
Now that I’m done nitpicking the book to death, though, let’s dwell on its pleasant – and substantial – successes:
For starters, if you’re running a roleplaying campaign set onboard a Venusian ship, you should seriously consider picking up this book. The detailed ship information, interviews with crew members describing ship life, and coverage of crew structures for each type of ship, along with descriptions of shipboard procedures and naval structure are all great, hands-on material which will have immediate applicability for you.
For tactical players the most obvious application of the material in this book comes in the form of ship stats — giving you some new toys to play with. But I think that most of you will also find the information regarding Venusian deployment philosophy and tactical planning during wartime to be fascinating and useful material (although I wish there was as much detail provided for Venus as was provided for the Jovian Confederation in previous volumes).
The only problem the Ships of the Fleet books have, as a concept, is that they lack a clearly defined role for either roleplayers or tactical players. The inclusion of shipboard life and procedures makes the books potentially useful for roleplayers – but only roleplayers in campaigns with substantial time aboard ship. On the other hand, the inclusion of this material reduces the number of ships which can be covered – making the book less inclusively useful for the tactical player. Both roleplayer and tactical player receive a number of tools in these books – but it is an open question in my mind whether or not either receive enough tools to justify the price tag.
Therefore, this books comes with a reserved recommendation: If you’re a Jovian Chronicles fanatic, definitely pick it up. Otherwise, you’re only going to want this one if it has a very specific application to your campaign.
Grade: B
Writers: Wunji Lau (Writer/Designer and Lloyd Doug Jessee (Game Stats/Design)
Publisher: Dream Pod 9
Price: $20.95
Page Count: 144
ISBN: 1-896776-70-1
