What's the verdict on Gearworld (FFG)?

The difference between steampunk and golden-age science fiction is pretty slim. Defined by when it was written maybe?

You can't just take a shit on a theme in a pejorative sense like that -- there's good and bad material in every category. Frankly, the original Wild Wild West was steampunk and it was about as good as television got in its day.

This whole caste system view on geekdom is bullshit. I personally think the cover of Mission Red Planet is seriously cool and I love the character cards as well. Theme of that one works just fine for me.

S.

Not Sure wrote: I liked KW Jeter's Infernal Devices, that was pretty good (but from 1987...)

I re-read Infernal Devices just a few months ago, and should have remembered it for this discussion. Not quite as good as I remembered, but still fun and somewhat interesting.

I recently traded Wits & Wagers for Gearworld: The Borderlands. I've been reading the rules for Gearworld: The Borderlands. The rules are poorly written and disorganized--they're so confusing and needed information is scattered. It seems like a rough-draft. This doesn't make sense because the rules are actually simple. I've never played Borderlands so it took me two readings of the FFG rules and some hand-written notes to figure it all out. I can't wait to play the game, however. I hope that gameplay is at least as good as Dune and Cosmic Encounter.

I see that the old Borderlands expansion 2 included "Temples and Universities"--those look like interesting add-ons to the game. When you build Temples, they produce followers who are sent to your neighbors to nullify their combat ability in that territory. When you build Universities, it counteracts the effects of Temples and followers; Universities also enhance production. I wonder whether FFG had planned on an expansion for Gearworld: The Bordlands and would have included these?