Diaspora: Hard Science-Fiction Role-Playing with FATE Review

I will start off by saying that after reading this game it has a lot of great ideas but also some caveats when it comes to actual gameplay using the FATE rule system. The setting and concepts are awesome but I question the execution of the rules.

Getting started this is a space opera style game. Space ships, star systems, wormholes, distant planets, future tech, it's all here with the exception of aliens. This is meant to be a more realistic take on space travel, even if the physics behind wormholes being a reliable mode of transportation got a little fubbled for the sake of the game. I don't mind it. Humanity is branching out and spreading throughout the galaxy, settling on new planets in new star systems. The rules include how to easily make up your own planets and star systems with wormholes connecting them and it's very fun to play around with. Each planet and star system having different levels of social and technological development and amount of resources. I quite like it because it gives the game plenty of variations if the group wants to adventure someplace different. 

The game also includes rules for creating spaceships, spaceship combat, social combat, platoon combat, personal combat, and of course, character creation. Though this seems to be hit and miss.

Character creation is different than most other games. Based on Aspects, Skills, and Stunts. Aspects are like traits that describe what kind of person a character is. There are ten aspects a character can have either good or bad. When a FATE point is used with an aspect players get a bonus to a roll and can acquire more FATE points through playing out negative aspects. Aspects can also allow a player to do other things like create an NPC, or have a new social connection. Skills is what each character is good at. If a character is specialized at a trade or a job then the skills that character has should reflect that. There are plenty of skills to choose from, again this game offers a lot of variations. Stunts are special ways a character can get help in a tough situation. Improvise a skill, have new gear, or do something normally impossible.

After that this is when I start to have problems with the game. As mentioned above there's rules to do a lot of things and it seems there is plenty to do. But the rulebook doesn't give enough details or examples. It tells you all these cool rules but doesn't tell how to apply them. After some research this appears to be common with games using the FATE rules system. A recommendation is to read another game called "Spirit of the Century" as this is the first game using the FATE system and it has the most fleshed out details for it. While this does help a lot it bugs me that I have to read another game to better understand the rules on another because the writers skipped on the details. If Diaspora was meant to be setting supplement for SotC I wouldn't have an issue with that but it's not. It's supposed to be it's own game that just so happens to be using the same rule system. Even still rules for ship and platoon combat aren't included in the SotC rulebook.

This is a game I think that will have to be re-read a few times before it can be fully understood while also keeping the book handy while playing. But it's not because the rules a complex but because examples for how and when certain rules come into play were left out. I hope a revised version or a GM aide is released for Diaspora because it seems to be a great game at its core. I do highly recommend it for the concepts and I'm sure it can play out well once fully understood.

For more information about this game visit the publisher's website here.