Starbright Illustrations (blog)

By The Illustrator 　http://starbrightillustrations.com/blog/2009/02/26/science-fiction-illustration-sketch-starts-to-take-shape-its-ready-for-3d/

I’ve added a few colors to my science fiction role-playing game illustration with Photoshop and it is now ready for some 3D elements. The mood of the finished illustration is already starting to take shape. The human character from the game and the robotic transport in the background are silhouetted against an alien and strange sky, hidden somewhere on the outskirts of the role-playing game universe. The subject was imagined for the Tarazet role-playing game but would be an easy fit in any space opera sci fi universe, with spaceships etc.

I just found another free science fiction role-playing game to have a look at, made by the UK firm games workshop. I’ve downloaded the files and started to read through them. It is fun and I’ve always loved the Warhammer 40K game universe, but it is a little disappointing compared to the Traveller stuff I found. The background of this game universe is very dark and medieval, with the focus of the game on some strange religious battle for purity. I might be able to live with that, after all the Imperial Space Marines from this background are a very well imagined and detailed addition to any game universe and other nice touches compensate to some degree for all the doom and gloom, but there is still a big problem.

There are no spaceships!

The most important part of any space opera type science fiction role-playing game background is the spaceships, and I just can not bring myself to commit to a game without them. When the player characters go exploring, they do it in a spaceship.

Another problem for me is that the background, although it could be melded with the quite dark background of Tarazet quite easily, has too many very specific elements. The weapons used in the game are very idiosyncratic, and the non combat skill system is just about nonexistent. They even call the game a moderated war game rather than a role-playing game proper, but after all wasn’t that what D&D was.

These problems would not be insurmountable, the real problem with the game is the lack of spaceships.

The good thing about the game though has got to be that it is free from the following link.

Games Workshop – Inquisitor Resources