The Stars are Fire

The Stars are Fire
by Bruce R. Cordell

PDF can be had from DTRPG:  The-Stars-Are-Fire
or, from Monte Cook Games webstore (PDF and real book versions):  the-stars-are-fire
or, most likely from your friendly local gaming store.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Stars are Fire (TSAF, to save some finger damage) is a 224 page rules supplement and campaign setting for the Cypher System RPG.  I bought the book based (mostly) on the cover.  Take a look at that cover.  I'm happy to say, that at least in this case, judging a book by its cover worked out well.  I also must say this up front - I have next-to-no knowledge on Cypher System.  Some cat on the ShadowDark Discord pointed me in the direction of the free download, which I downloaded and skimmed.  I have since ordered the forthcoming boxed set but please don't expect a lot of rules details from me as I have only a rudimentary understanding of the rules.  Now that I have said that, rest assured, you do NOT need much knowledge of the game for this supplement to make sense.  In fact, the game mechanics in this supplement are a very minor part of it and can be ignored, in general.

OK chiruns, let's get into this.

The inside front cover is an extremely "not to scale" layout of our solar system.  The inside back cover is a vehicle scale representation, but doesn't include capital ships as they are too big.  There is a fold-out poster map which has both of these pictures on it, one on the front and the other on the back.

Chapter 1 is a list of sci-fi adventure seeds.  By reading through these, you will quickly realize that the author is dropping the kitchen sink of science fiction into this book.  TSAF is designed for any style of sci-fi, as this list and the rest of the rules supplement section shows.

Chapter 2 covers the very basics of the Cypher System, some minor advice on running science fiction, and then an example of play.

Chapter 3 digs into more detailed advice on running science fiction games.  TSAF simplifies tech levels into Contemporary (near future), Advanced (think Aliens or the Expanse), and Fantastic (Star Wars or Star Trek).  I prefer this delineation model to Traveller's more expansive tech levels.  I imagine that many folks would prefer the Traveller version, though.

Chapter 4 is about science fiction subgenres.  There are 21 included, by my count, of which several have a few paragraphs as examples.  Each of the subgenres lists a novel series, tv show, or movie which fits into the subgenre.  Some of these I have read or seen but some I have not.

Chapter 5 is a d100 chart about "conflicts of the future".  This would be useful for a really basic adventure generator but I don't envision using it very often.  

Chapter 6 are optional Cypher System rules for science fiction.  This includes issues with Zero G, high gravity, and the effects of vacuum.  There are several "GM Intrusion" tables in this section.  I assume that these GM Intrusions are something similar to the GM "spending a benny" in Savage Worlds.  It's a meta currency.  I read that players also have these "Intrusions" as well but this might have been in the free download of the core rules.  This chapter includes details on starship combat, with notes on both Star Wars style fighters and Star Trek style bridge crew.  Included is a page on vehicles vs. creatures for those who want to bring your Star Fury fighter to the Godzilla fight.

Pages 48 and 49 might be interesting but due to the darkish blue on black background, I find them unreadable and therefore skipped these pages.

A few pages discuss psionics and posthuman upgrades.  

Throughout this section, the GM Intrusions are listed based on the subject matter. Salvage from a wreck?  Intrusions are covered.  Ship damage from radiation?  Yep.  

Chapter 7 is filled with equipment lists. Page 67 has a very useful chart for light speed communication delay between planets in our solar system.  Each of the equipment lists is divided based on each of TSAF's three tech levels.  Each piece of equipment includes its default Level, which is the roll needed to use the equipment (I think?  Maybe it is to actually find the piece of equipment?)  My lack of Cypher System knowledge means that this isn't super clear to me.  The equipment is listed in order of Level, from low to high, at any rate.  Each equipment piece also includes a price.  There appear to be five price levels in the game; again, due to lack of Cypher knowledge, I don't know how this translates into actual credits, dollars, or gold pieces.  There is a conversion rate in a chapter further on, but it also isn't very detailed.

Some of the equipment has a small mono-color picture of it.  I really enjoy these mono-color pictures.  Actually, I prefer them to the full color art pieces.

Chapter 8 is the equipment list for vehicles and spacecraft, plus a couple of useful sidebars - the most useful to me is the transit time between planets in the solar system.  Travel times for nuclear plasma engines and the fusion engines used in the setting included in this book.

Chapter 9 is the bestiary for the book.  The critters are all pretty unique, other than Posthuman and Synthetic Person, from what I can tell.  I like all of them.  Some of them are used in the Revel setting, which is the included setting.

Chapters 10 through 17 are all about the included setting, The Revel.  Dumb name aside, I LOVE this setting.  I don't love it as much as the included setting in TSR's Buck Rogers in the 25th Century RPG, but this is a close second.  When I read through this section, I compared everything I read to the XXVc setting.  The Revel is perhaps less cheesy than the XXVc setting but it certainly has its own cheesiness (Mars as an example).  

To shortly summarize the setting:  Earth has "gone silent" and any ship that enters the Earth's atmosphere disappears forever.  Luna One (our moon) is high tech and is run by an [assumed] friendly AI.  The Big Five Spirals are massive space stations owned by the local mega-corps.  Venus has floating cloud cities.  Mars is the "Old West" planet.  The outer planets and asteroid belt are space stations and pirates.  There are some extra-solar planets included as well.  Men were able to build FTL ships and get a few colonies going before the earth went silent and the knowledge to build FTL ships is no more.

This section of the book includes some history about the setting, of course, as well as notes for players and GMs for playing in the setting.  I mentioned earlier in the equipment section that these chapters include more details on the prices.  Currency is based on the Lunar Lumen, which is the most stable currency.  The price range for price levels is extremely wide.  Whereas I like the very limited tech levels in the book, I believe that the price ranges should be narrowed and have additional price levels.  For example, a very expensive item might be from 10k to 250k Lumens.  I understand what the intention of the author is, here, but to take this to real life, this one price level includes everything from a used car to a really nice house.  Know what I mean?

Chapter 17 includes the actual history of, and what is going on with, both the Earth and some hidden tunnels on Luna.  I appreciate what the author does here but I think this chapter would be better served with the words "Make it up, oh, and here are 100 options if you want to randomly decide the Truth", followed by many options of what could be going on.  I won't spoil it though for you folks who are playing in the setting.

Chapter 18 includes various ways to get the PCs involved in the setting.  It isn't long but I enjoy the sidebar which states that if the characters need a ship, just give them one, and make up the details if you want as to how they got it.  

The first included adventure, Salvage Over Saturn, takes place in the Revel setting, and ties back to the example of play in chapter 2.  It is good.  If I run this setting, I will definitely use this adventure, probably as a way to get the party together.

The other two adventures are not as good and not as detailed.  I don't love either one but Alien Planet seems better than Prison Break, to me.  These two are generic sci-fi, and not specifically for the Revel.

The last page of the book is the Space Combat Status Tracker, which is used for space combat, especially when multiple players are on the same ship, such as Kirk, Spock, and the gang.

⇨ GRIT: ★★★★★:  This book contains all one would need to run a science fiction campaign in the game system, in any of the included tech levels.  If you want to play a campaign based on X Files, Babylon 5, or Total Recall 2070 television shows, this book has you covered.

⇨ VIGOR: ★★★★☆: The Stars are Fire is mostly rules adjustments, equipment lists, science fiction "how to's" and a setting.  You can certainly play using the Revel setting (I would) but you will need to take pretty expansive notes on the three TV shows I mentioned earlier if you want to use them as a campaign setting.  This book is detailed enough for me but I imagine that some folks would want more detailed notes on any of the included topics.

⇨ GRACE: ★★☆☆☆: The Stars are Fire book is "ok" looking.  The layout is very useful and I enjoy the sidebars which point to other sections in the book itself, as well as the Cypher System rule book, which I don't have yet.  Where this book fails is the color scheme, including the full-spread I mentioned earlier that is blue on black.  The art is also very iffy to me.  I like nearly all of the monochrome pieces but the full color pieces are too computery for me, I guess I will say.  When it is a picture of a ship flying through space (pg 93) it looks fine to me, but when the art piece is a person (pg 50), it looks too cartoony for me.  This is no doubt related to growing up with Trampier and Otus as artists.  I'm too old to enjoy computer art.