''Other Suns'' is a science-fiction role-playing game published by

Fantasy Games Unlimited Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) is a publishing house for tabletop and role-playing games. The company has no in-house design teams and relies on submitted material from outside talent. History Founded in the summer of 1975 in Jericho, New York b ...

(FGU) in 1983.

Description

''Other Suns'' is a science-fiction space-adventure system of medium complexity.The game includes a dozen alien races that resemble humanoid Earth animals such as cats, foxes, and bears. Character creation requires the calculation of two dozen attributes and abilities. Combat covers many options for offense and defense, but is complex. Other rules cover skills, psionics, careers, experience, and other technology. Game critic

Rick Swan Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR. His work for TSR, mostly for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, appeared from 1989 to 1995. Swan also wrote ''The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin's Pre ...

found the section of spaceship design "difficult to use." The section on world-building goes into great detail on some physical aspects of planets.

Publication history

''Other Suns'' was designed by Niall C. Shapero, and was published in 1983 by FGU as a

boxed set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

with a 72-page book, a 64-page book, a cardstock

gamemaster's screen A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the playe ...

, and a sample character sheet. An additional article entitled "''Luna, The Empire and the Stars''" by Shapero that expanded upon the background contained in the boxed set appeared in the ''

Ares Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war b ...

'' section of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' #89. A single supplement, ''Alderson Yards Shipbook'', was published in 1986.

Reception

In his 1990 book ''

The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR. His work for TSR, mostly for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, appeared from 1989 to 1995. Swan also wrote '' The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin's Pr ...

'', game critic

noted that this game was "rendered in excruciating detail." He found the character generation system too complicated, as it "involves the calculation of about two dozen characteristics, many requiring lengthy formulas and a lot of math." Swan had the same concerns about combat, noting that "keeping track of special hits, fumbles, endurance, accumulated damage, and other factors gets tedious mighty fast." Swan concluded by giving this game a poor rating of only 2 out of 4, but suggested, " hevariety of alien races, detailing their appearance, weaponry, and attitudes ... could make a good source of ideas for other science-fiction games." In his 1991 book ''Heroic Worlds'',

Lawrence Schick Lawrence Schick is a game designer and writer associated with role-playing games. Early life and education Schick attended Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university al ...

found the rules were very similar to ''

RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson (game designer), Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of ...

''. He also noted the many alien races that resembled Earth-based animals, and as a result called ''Other Suns'' "The original 'Pets in Space' game."

Other reviews and commentary

*''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

'' #39 (May/June, 1985)https://archive.org/details/different-worlds-39/page/30/mode/2up

References

;Notes

External links

* {{cite web, last=Maliszewski, first=James, url=http://grognardia.blogspot.com.au/2010/12/retrospective-other-suns.html, title=Retrospective: Other Suns, publisher=Grognardia Blog, date=2010-12-08
Interview with Niall Shapero
Fantasy Games Unlimited games Role-playing games introduced in 1983 Space opera role-playing games