Rogue Space review and 'Minimus Maximus'

I have had a chance to read through the Rogue Space rulebook thoroughly, and with it being a large print 64 page book, it's a light quick read. So in essence here is my review of it: It's really good. The only bad thing I can say about it is he is in serious need of an editor. There were a lot of minor errors and some inconsistencies, but overall the book was a fun read.

The system itself is simple and elegant. As others have said, it is ripe for homebrewing. You really get the impression that it was not built for a specific campaign feel or setting, but to give you the tools and basics needed for making your own. I love seeing what others have made for it, and there is plenty of support out there to keep this game going, which I sincerely hope it will. (Rogue Transmission is something I am particularly excited for)

The other day, a friend and I were discussing rules-lite rpgs. And he told me of one that piqued my interest. It's called minimus, by Ad-astra games. Here it is for download, it's free. What really got me about it is the character creation process. I bring this up because this process could EASILY be implemented for Rogue Space, and with some awesome results.

Here it is in a nutshell:

• After GM has told players of the game's theme, the players each choose a role. Sort of like an archetype.
• Then each player writes down 5 life changing events of their character's past. Try to keep some of them tied to the game's theme.
• Pass your sheet to the player on your left. They will read through your events, and list 7 jobs or skills based on what they've read. Try to pick ones you know the player will have fun with.
• Then the character sheet gets passed once more to the left to the next player. That player looks at the 5 events and 7 skills and writes down 2 special abilities. This can be up to the GM to define what a special ability is.
• After that, the sheets are given back to the original players. Then the player can either remove one of the special abilities, or the GM can assign a flaw to the character.

There are more steps to finding out relationships with the characters and benefits and such, but that is the part that got me a little excited. With Rogue Space, the special abilities could be fleshed out easily as some sort of powers. The skills could all be +1 to whatever tests are performed along the lines of the skill, and then everything gets fleshed out on character sheets. I think its a fun way to do character creation that involves input from other players, and as long as you are playing with bro's (and a reasonable amount of "that guy"s) it could yield some interesting characters and weave an awesome story.

PS: This sunday my brothers and I are playing Rogue Space-MECHS. The book is pretty much finished, including the sneak peak to the cover you might have caught, but once I've made some changes based on our gameplay, I will be ready to release it here. Stay tuned!