Living Steel

Living Steel is a high-tech science fiction role-playing game published by Leading Edge Games in 1987.

Living Steel
Designer(s)Barry Nakazono
Publisher(s)Leading Edge Games
Publication date1987
Genre(s)Science fiction
System(s)Phoenix Command

Setting

In 2349, the human-colonized planet Rhand has just suffered a devastating attack by an alien race called the Spectrals. In addition to bombardment from space, the Spectrals released a virus onto the planet which turned most of the population into dangerous sociopaths. The Spectral warship then crashed into the planet's surface, causing further widespread destruction. In the aftermath, survivors are competing viciously with each other and the remaining Spectrals for the essentials of life.[1]

Players take on the role of Ringers, elite soldiers who were in cyrogenic sleep until this emergency. The Ringers must secure a base, make contact with the surrounding population and begin the work of rebuilding, reeducation, and defense against further Spectral attacks.[1]

Gameplay

Character generation

Each player rolls four dice and adds the sum to 48. These points are then allocated to Strength, Intelligence, Will, Health and Agility. Further dice rolls on background tables develops the character's starting experience. Skills are then chosen, and each character receives basic equipment.[1]

Combat

Combat is broken down into 2-second segments. Players choose which combat actions to assign to movement and firing. If the target is hit, further die rolls indicate the location of the hit and how much damage was done.[1]

Publication history

Designer Barry Nakazono originally titled this role-playing game Rhand, but then retitled it Living Steel.[2] He used a simplified version of Leading Edge's Phoenix Command game system for the game. The rules were presented first as a boxed set in 1987 and then republished in a single hardbound book in 1988.

In 1994, Leading Edge released a set of 25 mm metal miniatures that could be used with the game. The company went out of business shortly afterwards.[2]

Reception

In the inaugural issue of Games International, Jake Thornton found the movement and combat rules complex, but admitted that "Once you have the hang of it, the movement rules work very nicely [and] blazing away at someone is easy to work out." However, Thornton pointed out an apparent dichotomy: although "a large portion of the goodies in the box are to do with combat", the rulebook states "Living Steel should not be a game of military conquest". Despite this, he concluded by giving the game an above-average rating of 4 out of 5, saying, "All in all, Living Steel impressed me."[1]

Other reviews

References
  1. Thornton, Jake (October 1988). "Role Games". Games International. No. 1. pp. 39–40.
  2. "Living Steel". miniatures-workshop.com. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
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