Terran Empire: A Sourcebook for Star Hero

by James L. Cambias

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583660119
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Hero Games
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A grand scale space opera setting

The Upside: Terran Empire is a setting book for the Star Hero line from Hero Games. It covers a classic Space Opera setting: space ships, galactic empires, lots of aliens, futuristic tech and psionics for those who want it. Chapter One - History. The setting book starts with a history of the Terran Empire, which covers three hundred years. It starts with a period of near anarchy after the Xenovore Wars and continues to a period just after the final collapse of the Empire at the hands of rebels. Giving such a long time frame means that not every aspect of the Empire's history can be gone into. By focusing on only a few major events you can insert players into any time frame easily. Also covering such a long span of time allows you to start a campaign under different campaign styles. A game set at the beginning will put exploration and unification as the key aspects. A game set during any one of the wars makes a good setting for a Space Military campaign. One during the height of the Empire as mankind goes really far out in exploration, can focus on trade. Toward the end can focus on rebels putting an end to tyranny, or the military trying to keep the crumbling empire together. Political, Espionage and Pirate games can be played at any time during the Empires reign. Given such a long history, with only the most important of details revealed, the first chapter provides enough to choose a backdrop to set your Terran Empire campaign against. Chapter Two - Peoples Of The Milkyway. Aliens, lots of them. Humans and aliens of the Terran Empire are detailed first, four human subspecies and four alien species are detailed. Each entry starts with the dominant species and then describes one or more aliens who are either subjugated or part of an empire with the main alien of each section. Even the side bars have short descriptions of aliens so you get as many as they could fit in. Over forty species are given some form of description. Most are given a full write-up of culture, home world, politics and appearance with a Package Deal for system info. The aliens in the sidebars simply have descriptions, a note on a major aspect and a Package Deal. There are a few who are given just a paragraph description. There is a wide spread of alien types, from strait humanoid, to those based on other species types (such as aliens evolved from birds, fish, or reptiles). There are a few that are completely alien such as a silicon based alien, and a parasite alien able to take control of a host species. There is also a wide range of political, religious and social beliefs. With a good cross section of aliens and aliens mind sets you won't have much trouble making each species seem very different from each other. Chapter Three - Powers And Pawns. Chapter three gives details on a specific period of the Empire as a default setting. By picking a small period the book is able to provide details on several aspects. The default setting is just before the Empire slides into dec