Albedo is a role-playing game based on Steve Gallacci's Erma Felna: EDF and Birthright storylines from the comic anthologies Albedo Anthropomorphics and Critters.

Play style and mechanics

Albedo is a science-fiction space-adventure system based on the "Erma Felna, EDF" comics stories. All of the player characters are genetically constructed anthropomorphized animals, and are typically members of the "Extra-Planetary Defense Force". The rules use a single chart to determine the results of all skill and characteristic checks. A task system dictates how these results are modified. In combat, wounds directly affect character abilities.

Written by Craig Hilton and Paul Kidd, Albedo was originally published as a box set in 1988 by Thoughts & Images and consisted of 4 books: Player's Manual, Equipment Description, Referee's Manual and Tlakatan Scenario (sample scenario). The RPG was later revised and published by Chessex in 1993 as a softcover. There is one companion sourcebook and a pair of ready-made scenarios, also in softcover:

  • Albedo Ship Sourcebook (Kidd, Gallacci - Chessex, 1995), rules for ship design and statistics for various spaceships.
  • The Drift (Kidd - Chessex, 1994), an adventure scenario in space.
  • Zho-Chaka (Kidd - Chessex, 1994), an adventure scenario on a ConFed planet.

There also exists a third-party guide to converting Albedo for use with the GURPS RPG system, written by Fred M. Sloniker and called GURPS Albedo.

In 2004, Sanguine Productions published ALBEDO: PLATINUM CATALYST, which is unrelated to the original two editions of the role-playing game. The game was published as a single softcover with source material, rules of engagement, and sample characters. Most notable are its attention to details of small-unit tactics using near-future and far-future weaponry, in the same vein as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and other "techno thrillers", as well as using genetically-engineered people as a morality play for 20th century geopolitics.

Reception

Lawrence Schick called the game "An example of the subgenre we can only call 'Pets in Space'" and noted that the Extra-Planetary Defense Force is "dedicated to peace-keeping rather than butt-kicking."

  • The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games

See also

  • Ars Magica
  • Ironclaw

References