Lucus Palosaari's page

The vs. Monsters game and what came from it (the vs. Engine and at least vs. Outlaws, the only expansion I'm aware of) weren't "perfect" games, they are perfect for what they are -- a game created in a long 24-hour marathon run of creative work. It helped spawn 24Hour RPG, and that alone is a lovely thing: 24Hr RPG.

There are 'problems' with this document, and most of those were "fixed" in the expanded vs. Monsters Deluxe (which is sadly NOT available here), and in its spinoff vs. Outlaws (also not available), but with recent people talking about migrating to D&D 5ed because its "rules-lite" I really want to point them to games LIKE THIS!

This is rules-lite. And its got a lovely kind of irreverence for RPGs that I fully appreciate!

I have been interested in this book since months ago when I came across it while bouncing around on the messageboards. Like many others (if you read old posts under this product), I grabbed it up hoping for some solid replacements for the 2nd edition Spelljammer setting for D&D.

Well, as an outright replacement, it fails. The book hints at interplanetary travel, but offers more hooks than substance. The chapter that details space is a measly three pages, with a few references throughout that give you some light rules for how to deal with space travel.

So why give it 5 out of 5 stars?

Because the book imploded my expectations. I had hoped to pick up the book and ignore the fluffy campaign-world specific stuff and instead focus on some crunchy, meaty rules for space. Piecing together vehicle rules from Ultimate Combat, interpreting suggestions in the book and using a little creative license, I can do that but the book has done so much more.

This is one of the few world-specific books I've read cover to cover (and I'm going back through it again now) in my ~20 years of gaming. And though only two pages really focus on Golarion (or rather it's moon), which I had largely ignored since I really came to Pathfinder books for their 3.6+ rule replacements, I am now falling in love with the world so many of you already have. I have probably spent as much time on the Pathfinderwiki as with my nose in my physical copy of this book, trying to plumb every mystery hinted at in Distant World's pages.

So to those looking for Spelljammer rules, I say this:
You will find a rough outline, that needs to be heavily supplemented, for what Paizo's/Pathfinder's space travel adventures will look like. Vercitian aetherships and Eoxian bone ships will give you new terms and ideas for replacing tradesmans and neogi deathspiders. Pathfinder also declares where they stand on the rules of space (no gravity planes, no air bubbles, no philogiston -- though those could all exist if you wanted them to).

To everyone else:
This really seems like a must read book. Golarion and the adventures that take place there have long been influenced and defined by that which comes from beyond the sky (Starstone, Dark Tapestry, Numeria, Mythos monsters a plenty), and this book offers you some solid insider knowledge to help you understand the mere groundling races of Golarion place in the cosmos.