The art in Space Master 2nd Edition ranges from the cool to the not-so-cool, but overall it does the job. It presents sort of a generic Space Opera style universe that we for the most part ran like any other Space Opera type world. You have a detached galactic government, corrupt local planetary factions with agendas, and a mess of independent operators scattered through the light years between stars.
If I were to play this today I would mostly ignore the art and insert my ideas and designs into the world to replace the slightly dated imagery. I would not go the HARP-SF route and do the 3d art style of sci-fi, there is a sameness to those assets across a lot of Internet sci-fi art and I feel you need to stand out with a unique look and feel, plus there are so many talented indie and up-and-coming artists looking to make a mark and show their stuff.
The art though in sci-fi games does give you the basic feel of the game. It is important. If I were to play with players, I would collect a series of cool pictures that express the feeling we were shooting for and tell them to ignore the art in the books. If I found a series of cool painted-looking horror moonscape art with wiry monsters and laser-firing spacesuit soldiers with giant sphere ships - I would go with that.
This is what we are playing.
Please ignore the art in the book.
It isn't terrible, mind you, it is just I need a visual style to express what I am shooting for creatively, and art helps unify that in my mind and that of my players. Even I were playing in the default SpaceMaster setting, I would find art to fit my interpretation of it today and go with that - a fresh coat of paint helps excite people and drive interest.
To me, the rules and feeling are important, again, mechanics will drive the world design and the art should support that goal.
The GM Book
Sop what do we get in the GM book? Let's look at the table of contents!
We have the standard star system and planet generation rules, and these are a good starting point but not overly detailed (a surprise, given SpaceMaster and its charts). I really wanted more here with all sorts of cool tables for unique planetary types and compositions, like cave-worlds, glacier worlds, ring worlds, and all sorts of other charts where you could roll millions of planet types with unique personalities, current situations, and problems. As it is, it is basic and workable but a lot of imagination is needed to take it places.
The encounter generation is a step up and gives you a lot of options, and this helps fill the gaps some for the planets. You get nice businesses, missions, cultures, and a simple random events table. All this does a good job getting the creative juices flowing and this is a highlight.
Another highlight is the Milieus Section, where they run the gamut of classic sci-fi fiction one could play with the system. This is actually pretty cool, and it is fun to see classic TV series such as U.F.O. and Space 1999 get nods, along with Star Trek and even the Masters of the Universe cartoon. Star Wars is never mentioned, and that is probably for the better since it is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Or wookie. A lot of fiction is mentioned as well, and it is nice to see some of the classics represented.
So it is supported and possible to play "other stuff" with the rules. But then again, that is possible with any sci-fi game, and I would more likely use GURPS to do many of these if I wanted to do them with a minimum of effort.
The rest of the book is devoted to the game's setting (which I will cover later) and a sample adventure. Part of me wishes this book were meatier with more planetary generation, scenario generation, mining and colony rules, intergalactic trade rules, faction generation, random ship creation, random alien races, space anomaly generators, space monsters, and other stuff that would help the GM out in any setting rather than have the official setting described. I would have loved an official setting book separate from this one, and the GM book to be more "rules for the GM for 1001 crazy, silly, or smart space things players could do."
Overall, a good book, not really equal to a giant encyclopedia of fun like GURPS Space, and I would like a little more in terms of generic campaign support material.
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