It's kind of hard to describe Cold Space with the amount of enthusiasm that I feel for this title, but I'm going to try - it's a retro-future, sci-fi, high-adventure role-playing game of interplanetary exploration, diplomatic intrigue among the stars.

Cold Space's backstory (set in the era of 1949 to 1989) is that during the first part of the Cold War, America developed a novel form of antigravity science which could lead to faster-than-light space travel, planetary colonization, and unrivaled space-supremacy for the USA and her allies. Unfortunately for America, the secrets for this science also fell into the hands of the USSR and the rest of the Warsaw Pact, resulting in a Cold War rush to claim and settle the stars.

Throw an ineffectual United Nations, various satellite states and allies of both USSR and America, plus hordes of settlers, soldiers and merchants into the mix, and scatter it across the galaxy. What you end up with is a fantastic milieu, ripe for the kinds of stories that gamers will tell forever: stories about spies, colonists and adventurers that are both larger than life and yet solidly believable.

The alternate history aspect of this game is really subtle, with the author revising real-world historical events through the perspective of a culture no longer tied to the Earth, or even the solar system. Many of the problems of the Cold War merely transferred themselves into the context of interstellar colonization, with proxy wars waged on Martian soil, satellite colonies defecting to one side or the other, or in some instances completely seceding, and plenty of espionage and diplomatic intrigue.

Part of what makes this game so great for players is its dynamic character generation system, which bears a very complimentary comparison to classic Traveller.
Players roll their character's basic stats, and then the character evolves through the scholastic and vocational choices that the player makes - each corresponding to various charts which are rolled upon to gather relevant skills and attribute bonuses. Characters age as they are advanced in this fashion, with the result being a fully-fleshed adult character with a strong background and well-delineated vocation. There are literally dozens of schools (from junior high to graduate school) and career paths (military, merchantry, academic, etc.), ensuring that no one character will ever turn out the same.

Characters continue to evolve and age in this way: the rules suggest that the gamemaster considers each adventure the most significant event in any given year of a character's life, with the character advancing along in his or her chosen career, and the alternate time-line advancing right alongside him or her.

The game system itself is just a great compromise between rules-lite, dice slamming action and satisfying variant-rich crunch. Really, the game is basically as complex as you want to make it. Conflict resolution is percentile-based, with success derived around simple formula based upon skill level and tied attribute. Combat, as a function of this, runs quickly and is fairly forgiving, with most fights ending in wounds and incapacitation rather than outright death - partially due to the system's hybrid level/hit points system.
Space travel and combat offers a chance for every member of the crew to become involved, with skill checks for navigators, engineers, pilots and others. Plus, it's no more complicated than person-to-person combat, making this sometimes-difficult aspect of SF gaming a pleasure to manage rather than potential a joy-killer.

The author offers plenty of adventure ideas, each appropriate for a different aspect of his alternative time-lime, and the background of Cold Space is incredibly detailed with various colonies and star systems receiving evocative write-ups that can spawn dozens of star-spanning adventures.

What lends Cold Space even more verisimilitude is the author's inclusion of news headlines detailing important historical events and even song lyrics that real-life popular musicians would have sung had they actually lived through the Cold Space era. Carl Perkins, Prince, and even the Stray Cats pop up here and there through the text.

In summary, if you're looking for a fast but flexible science fiction game with a believable premise and lots of adventure potential, you probably couldn't do much better than Cold Space. My only beef with the game is that the setting is described so compellingly that it makes me wish to be a part of it, rather than the earth-bound existence that it is my own.
 

How do you edit a review once you post it?
There's WAY too much info in the contents category - it's distracting. Can I just delete that section and just leave the summary and review?

normally if you go back into the review area shortly after you post it will allow you to edit it.

I rarely use the contents section just for this reason,

I deleted out the ToC, looks better now.

An awesome review, Matt! Thank you very mch!

-clash

Quote from: Mcrownormally if you go back into the review area shortly after you post it will allow you to edit it.

I rarely use the contents section just for this reason,

I deleted out the ToC, looks better now.

I am most obliged.
Thanks!

Cold Space is a great idea that was turned into a great game.