Marking down everything from my initial skim of the PDF (more when I get a printout bound and read through). These are dealing with version 0.1.1.
- Page 28, Table 4.1 has column lines in weird spots (Stat Bonus | DP Stat | Bonus DP) a more appropriate columning would be (Stat | Bonus DP || Stat | Bonus DP) or (Stat Bonus DP | Stat Bonus DP)
- The Magic and Psi RR and PP stuff is odd to see all in one place - I would prefer to see the Magic stuff in a downloadable document, or at least a reference to other HARP books ("see 3007 The Codex or 3003 College of Magics for more detail on magic in HARP"). In addition, I would like to see the Psi stuff added to all the HARP fantasy races, in that same document. Actually, I'd like to see a big large document with all the available PC races so far for Fantasy and SF ;)
- The table on page 36 has "S [tab] heer folly"
- I like the choice of culture packages, but I'm not very fond of the abbreviations used in the adolescent skill table.
- The master skill list on p.43 has no shading on alternate rows, unlike the rest of the tables in the book
- There's some images ("Introduction", and the dagger note on p.43) that have pixellated and coloured backgrounds that render the text nearly unreadable. I presume this is going to be fixed ;)
- The table on p.59 ... I prefer Name|Cost|Name|Cost to Cost|Name|Cost|Name ... having the name of the talent on the far left aids in locating the specific talent. Admittedly, talents are often purchased in a "I need to spend x points" way...
- Table on p.72 has incorrect formatting
- I hope you guys figure out a better way to display the formulae. Also, I've normally seen them as v_f = v_i + at where (_) indicates a subscript. The variables are also normally lower case, rather than upper case. (Incidentally, I'd love to see a full "Hard Sci-Fi" supplement including the full-scale calculus for 4-d interactions, as well as including the Lorentz factor, and figuring out what that means for hyperspace and so on)
- Table 10.2 Fumbles has inconsistent formatting with the rest of the tables
- The tables on page 114 don't have bolded headers
- Neither does the table on page 115
- Nor on 117, nor on 119
- Table on p.120 missing cell lines
- Table on p.122-123 missing bold headers and formatting looks inconsistent with other tables.
- Actually, just look at all the tables (p.125 has same problem) and get them consistent with each other ;)
- Table 11.3 missing all formatting (Shields)
- Critical tables, again, formatting (and all the other tables in Ch. 11)
- Cyberware chapter has "sub-sub" headings (ex - Cyberfoot:) these should be bolded or otherwise separated visually.
- The AI Race table is given twice (190 & 194)
Well, that's all the formatting stuff I saw :p Now for the rest of my comments:
I can definitely see this as being useful for Battlestar Galactica or Honor Harrington (especially the Honorverse, actually).
I would love to see guidelines on creating new species - things like how much bonuses to spread around, how much in terms of talents to give out, that kind of thing.
I can definitely see myself playing this - looks good so far, and I can only assume that a lot of the formatting inconsistencies may be a problem with using different software packages that don't quite talk to each other?
[edit]I also want to reiterate my want for a fully math-accurate hard sci fi supplement
I really want to see the physics taken fully into account in a game somewhere
[/edit]
Oh yeah, a small request: is it possible to colour the beta pdfs, in terms of what's changed? As in, "changes from the last version are coloured red" for instance ... at least, for the time being. Either that, or a listing?
Laz