Roleplayer #27, February, 1992
Primary Sources
Reviews of Gameable Fiction
by Steve Jackson
The "Sten" Books
Allan Cole and Chris Bunch
This series is something of a paradox. It's space opera of the wildest and
bloodiest type, but it's intelligently written. The hero is Sten (no first
name, just Sten), an assassin, military officer and general troubleshooter
in the service of an interstellar empire and its Emperor.
The child of migrant space-workers, Sten was orphaned at 17, and a revenge-driven
space-dreg within a year. When an Imperial covert team is sent to investigate
the Company that killed Sten's parents, the young thug becomes a "local
asset." He survives, and they decide to keep him . Before long, Sten
is part of a "Mantis Team," an elite and deniable crew of special-ops
troopers whose boss reports directly to the Eternal Emperor. As the series
progresses, Sten is moved to different branches of the service -- he's obviously
being groomed for something big -- but his early sneak' n' peek training
is always handy.
Not only is Sten fast and tough, but he also has one very unusual advantage:
a hideaway knife built into a flesh pocket in his arm. Made of a crystal
so hard it can cut metal like cheese, it can't be detected by sensors, and
Sten can fast-draw it one-handed. Hold the arm just so, and it slides from
its sheath into his hand. A nice gadget.
Sten's associates include a number of interesting and deadly characters,
many of whom have about the life expectancy of a red-shirt on Star Trek.
Some of the more durable include:
Alex Kilgour, an incredibly strong heavy-worlder of Scots extraction.
Kilgour's passion is shaggy-dog stories, delivered in a near-incomprehensible
accent. He's Sten's extremely strong right arm on special-ops missions.
Doc, a furry alien with the psionic talent to make people like
him. It helps that humans think he's a cute, cuddly teddy-bear. Carnivorous
little Doc would just love to tear their throats out for that.
Ida, the brilliant Romany agent (and hot star-pilot) whose hobby
is making huge amounts on the stock market. She could easily retire, but
she loves the challenges and danger of Mantis Team work. Fat, mustached
and foul-mouthed, she delights in harassing authority -- even on her own
side.
Ian Mahoney, Sten's first patron. A top military man, Mahoney excels
at both cloak-and-dagger and more conventional warfare, and prefers to lead
from the front. He is totally loyal to . . .
The Eternal Emperor, ruler of the far-flung stellar empire. The
Emperor is truly immortal -- at least as GURPS
defines the term. He rules by persuasion and guile when he
can, force when he must. He's brilliant, charismatic, ruthless, lonely,
has secret access to technology far beyond that of his subjects, and cooks
a really mean pot of chili.
Campaign Ideas
This is an unbeatable sourcebook for a starfaring special-ops campaign.
A party would be a "Mantis Team" of four to eight widely-assorted
specialists in mayhem. They could be sent anywhere, to snoop, assassinate
or support more conventional troops. Mantis Teams have the best training,
the best equipment and by far the worst missions.
This would also work as a background for a more conventional space-battle
campaign. At one point in Sten's career, he commands a small unit of space
raiders -- starfaring PT boats, with lots of room for individual initiative.
In a campaign situation, this would probably mean that each PC would command
a small ship, with an NPC crew . . . attacking shipping, sneak-attacking
planetary bases, convoying friendly craft . . .with the occasional planetside
R&R.
The Background
Sten's universe is typical space opera, with an interesting and cinematic
mix of tech levels. Interstellar travel, powered by AM2 (Antimatter 2) is
very fast indeed; ships use both Yukawa (normal-space) and AM2 drives. However,
ships fight with guns and missiles, land battles use tanks, and infantrymen
(and women -- all military forces are equal-opportunity) carry slugthrowers.
Of course, the slugs contain a speck of antimatter!
Most of the known galaxy seems to be human-dominated, but there are lots
of aliens, allied and otherwise -- many with interesting special abilities.
The Empire is the strongest interstellar government, but it has many rivals.
The Books
There are six books so far, all published by Del Rey, and no reason to think
Cole and Bunch are planning to stop. Sten introduces our hero and
his allies, and sends him through training and early missions. The Wolf
Worlds is a special-ops adventure, in which Sten and Alex raise a small
army and expend it in a nasty little war. In The Court of a Thousand
Suns, Sten becomes an Imperial bodyguard as an interstellar war is
starting. Fleet of the Damned and Revenge of the Damned drop
Sten into the Imperial navy and track him and Alex through that
war, with a stint as POWs. As the latter book -- and the war --
end, the Eternal Emperor is assassinated, thoroughly and messily. But he
is immortal, after all. Book 6 is The Return of the Emperor
. . .
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