Pyramid Review: Deep Space 9 RPG

Pyramid Review

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Roleplaying Game

Published by Last Unicorn Games

Written by Christian Moore, Ross Isaacs, Kenneth Hite, and Steven S. Long

296 pages, $35.00

Arriving late is never a good thing. Not only do people wonder what took you so long, but they're also less likely to cut you any slack -- even in areas that have nothing to do with your lateness. Thus, I don't envy the designers of Last Unicorn's latest installment in their successful Star Trek roleplaying series. Originally scheduled for February 1999 release, Deep Space Nine would need to be a phenomenally good game to overcome the cards stacked against it.

Unfortunately, it isn't, especially when compared to the truly superb -- and on schedule -- Star Trek The Original Series Roleplaying Game released recently. At the same time, it'd be unfair to judge the DS9 RPG on anything other than its own merits. Unlike its predecessors, DS9 focuses heavily on the frontier, far away from the utopian existence of the Federation core worlds. This is the realm of "tough choices, swirling politics, and desperate heroism," according to its chapter of Narrator's advice. Like its predecessors, however, DS9 contains a lot of excellent advice on using its setting to good cinematic effect.

Last Unicorn has chosen to frame its game of life on the frontier through medium of space stations and other outposts. DS9 contains lots of details on designing such facilities, taking into account their astrography and . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: January 21, 2000

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