[REVIEW] 3:16 Carnage Amongst The Stars

Title: 3:16 Carnage Amongst The Stars Author: Greg Hutton Publisher: Box Ninja Games SKU: BOX0316 ISBN: 978-0-9959945-0-0 Published: July 2008 RRP: US$20/US$10 (book/pdf) [@IPR]

Description: You are members of the 16th Brigade of the 3rd Army of the Terran Expeditionary Forces, whose mission is to venture into the galactic wilds and ensure that no alien species ever can become a threat to Earth. It's a classic space marine bug hunt. (or teleporting vampiric teddy bear hunt). And it's a one way mission, because you are never going to see Earth again. Not if your officers have any say in the matter.

Setting: It's a classic war movie with science fiction tropes (and weaponry). [Although people have kitbashed it to fit other genres, including WWII.] Each planet (and the alien species thereon) is a separate scenario. There are lots of lovely tables in the gamemaster's section of the rules to determine the nature of the planet you encounter and the aliens that inhabit it. Sometimes the aliens are harmless and innocent of the fate that is about to descend on them; in other cases they are super-fast nightmares that eat Mandelbrite Armour for breakfast.

Character Generation: Characters have two abilities: Fighting Ability (FA) and Non-Fighting Ability (NFA). FA is your ability to directly harm an alien; NFA is your ability to do anything else, such as digging trenches, calling in air support, and even manoeuvring to open or close the range with the aliens. You have 10 points to divide between them. One of you is a Sergeant, another is a Corporal, and the rest of you are lowly Troopers. Draw you kit from the armoury and prepare to drop on a new planet. Every day is paradise in the Expeditionary Forces!

Mechanics: Decide what you are going to do, roll a d10, and attempt to roll as high as possible, but not over the appropriate ability. Successful actions are resolved in die roll order, so high rollers get to go first (and may even elect to abort the round of lower-rolling players).

Aliens on a mission are represented by Threat Tokens. Successfully "fighting an alien" removes a Threat Token, and contributes a random number of Kills to the character, the exact number depending on the type of weapon and range that it is used. Since awards and promotions are based on the number of kills to the character's credit, it's best to use a weapon that gives the most kills in that range bracket.

Aliens also have access to special abilities (that cost them Threat Tokens to use). just to make things interesting.

Players get a unique saving throw in the form of flashbacks that reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. If a character gets in serious trouble they can narrate, in flashback, some sort of circumstance that allows them to escape the tricky situation. However a character only gets a limited number of these, so eventually the character's luck will run out.

Thoughts: This game is extremely simple and great fun as a break from more serious campaigns. There is something extremely relaxing about blowing away aliens, as any veteran of Doom will tell you. And while trying to cope with hordes of bloodthirsty aliens overwhelming your position may not be as relaxing, it is certainly is fun. The flashback mechanic is a great idea for capturing the spirit of the war movies on which this game is based, as it slowly turns idealistic young troopers into cynical hardbitten veterans. Plus as a bonus, you can finally make all those Aliens and Starship Troopers quotes you've been saving without everybody around the table grimacing in pain.

There is a pseudo-expansion, So Few, dealing with the dropship pilots, and in couple of months 316BC Carnage Amongst The Tribes will be released.

Rating: Excellent.