#¶

Living Steel is another game, like Cyborg Commando, that looms large in my mind because of ads in Dragon Magazine. I also reflexively connect them both to Terminator for reasons I don’t quite understand. This is the 1988 hardcover; there was a 1987 box set as well.

So, this game is powered a simplified version of Leading Edge’s small arms combat system released the previous year called Phoenix Command (you saw that earlier this month, in fact!). That means it has really complex mechanics that, while they feel satisfyingly realistic, they also take oceans of table time to resolve a few seconds of action. I don’t really care about the system, though, I’m interested in the world — it’s really the only original setting created by Leading Edge and it is interesting!

So, interplanetary human empire. Oppressive, fascistic. It has silenced all dissent, but an outside invasion by aliens, the Spectrals, essentially shatters that control. That’s the backdrop. The game is set on Rhand, a tourism planet that has recently been attacked by the Spectrals. That attack involved the uses of a virus that changed the behavior of the inhabitants, but before they could complete their conquest, the alien ship crashed. Now they, and everyone else on the planet, is stranded and competing for resources. That’s a pretty interesting frame! The players take the roles of centuries old super soldiers who were awakened, King Arthur-like, from cryosleep. They must use their power armor — the titular living steel — to defeat the invaders and destroy the oppressive empire (assuming a way off Rhand can be found).

It’s a good story frame that scales nicely — the backdrop is big and epic, but the concerns are immediate: survive, scrounge, survive some more. It’s a shame it is hampered by such an intense combat system (and, like, that is all the system really is). Aside of a skirmish game, I don’t believe Living Steel saw much more support. Bummer.