Review - Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles

I hate class/level systems, but I loved Palladium. Isn't that ironic? Palladium was the second system I seriously played. Well, third if you consider the red/blue/teal/black box Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons two separate systems. Robotech was the first Palladium game I ever owned and played. I was excited when I heard that Palladium had landed the new Robotech License. So excited, I pre-ordered a copy. My copy arrived last Monday, and this is my review Yes folks, it's pretty much the same Palladium system we all know and love. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Palladium, it's a class and level system with random attributes. Pick a class, earn enough experience to level up ,and increase your abilities. In Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, classes are referred to as Occupational Character Class or OCCs. Attributes are rolled with 3d6, with an extra die if you roll a 16 or better, and another d6 if you roll 6 on the extra die. Experience is not just earned for beating up Kobolds (or in this case, Invids and Haydonites), but for planning, role playing, and even avoiding unnecessary combat. The MOS (Military Operational Specialty) system in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles adds some flexibility to the OCC system. In the original release of the Robotech game, making a unified squadron or unit meant everyone was pretty much the same, all the same OCC. Now players can select an OCC (Vertich Pilot) and each player can select a different MOS (Alpha pilot, Beta pilot, or Recon). The book is "manga" sized, with a nice color cover, and a black & white interior. While there is new artwork, there is some recycled art. I recognize some of the stuff from the out-of-print REF Field Guide. All of the line art pieces are pretty good, but some of the originally color/toned artwork didn't reproduce so well. I would definitely recommend that anyone seriously considering playing this game should also pick up a copy of The Art of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (isbn 1933330295). The organization of the book seems geared towards someone already familiar with Palladium. It starts with covering the major players in the story, the Invid, the Haydonites, and the REF UEEF. Covering the storyline and world first is good, however they insert game system elements (MDC, called shot penalities, mech stats) before covering the game mechanics. They do include a quick character creation system for new players early on in the book, in the UEEF section. The quick character creation system addressed one of my long time gripes with random stat systems. Random systems force you to play the character you rolled, not necessarily the character you wanted to play. This system doesn't take the randomness out, but it does skew the numbers in the direction you want to go. You pick an archetype, and roll all your attributes each a different way, designed for that archetype. The strong archetype is guaranteed a good starting strength, but be prepared to pay with a low/average intelligence. Since the Shadow Chronicles has just begun, there isn't much authoritative information out yet. The Haydonites have just betrayed the UEEF, and little is know about their motives. GMs better be prepared to have their storylines usurped by canon material later on. Players should recognize this and give their GM some leeway on dealing with this. This is a typical problem faced by games licensed from movies, shows, and comic books. I make fun of Palladium for letting the release date slide, but it's better to release late than release a piece of garbage. This books is definitely a buy for those of us who remember the Original Robotech RPG. I would recommend that anyone who plays Dungeons & Dragons and likes Robotech give this a whirl. If you play D&D and are not a Robotech fan, I suggest trying Palladium Fantasy RPG. If you're fine with class/level/random stats and like Robotech or Military Sci-Fi, it's worth a whirl.