I'm not going to rehash everything you can read from the website. I'm going to assume you've read that; if you haven't, you should.
Setting
It's hard to come up with truly original settings these days, but Wade has done a good job of using familiar ideas and assembling them in an inspired and engaging way. The setting is delivered in examples, various short stories, and more thoroughly in the racial write-ups.
Mechanics
This is what I like to call a 'crunchy' game. By that, I mean that there are a lot of rules. I love me some rules-lite story games, but I really enjoy the rules presented here. There is a lot of versatility with what you can make of your character and what they can do in the game. There are details, such as weapon and armor modifications, research, ship configuration, henchmen, contacts, etc. Then, there are abstractions such as how the different types of resources/wealth are handled. He's found a really nice balance with these aspects which makes dealing with these details interesting and not tedious.
One thing I want to add is that he managed to avoid everything I can't stand about d20 systems. While characters do grow in skills, influence etc, the power creep is nothing like d20 systems.
Artwork
While there are a few pieces that don't quite meet the standards of the rest, there are enough of high quality to really give one a good idea of what the creator is going for and to make the book simply gorgeous.
Production Value
The production value of this book is really outstanding. I still gave this book 5 stars because, in addition to the great setting and very strong mechanics, the production value is incredible. Wade's skills as a designer have really made this book noteworthy. There are charts that help explain concepts in the game, and they not only fulfill their purpose, they look extremely good, while doing so.
Complaint
My only issue with the Fragged Empire rules is that only one piece of Utility equipment is allowed per character and that no justification is given for this. Other restrictions are justified. If there is a justification for this one, I managed to miss it. This rule is for balance, I totally get that, but I feel that if a justification can't be made, the restriction shouldn't exist. However, considering all the rest of the goodness in this book, this is a minor complaint, one that can be house-ruled or given a non-canon justification.
To summarize: If you've read all the way to this point, you should probably just buy this book. If you're still on the fence, join the Subreddit and/or the G+ communities.
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