Planet FIST is a feature length ttrpg love letter to the MMO Planetside.

The PDF is 67 pages, with a clean, well organized layout and a selection of interior art that mirrors the core book. There's plenty of helpful graphics and maps as well, and a link to an online version is provided.

Content-wise, Planetside is a weird thing to convert into a narrative rpg. It's built around an endless cycle of getting fragged and respawning in a tech-assisted foreverwar, and this fits its MMO shooter gameplay. Going to a tabletop storygame without leaving this game loop creates an odd internal tension, and I feel like it might be stronger as a wargame, or if it sat in a narrative spot outside of Planetside's core gameplay.

Frankly, playing as a group of players playing Planetside could be really neat---you'd just need to add some light mechanics for doing stuff in your lives outside of your shared Planetside guild.

Still, the elements that Planet FIST pulls from Planetside *are* interesting. PCs can respawn rapidly after death. PCs can swap class Traits on respawning. Because everyone respawns constantly, taking and holding territory is more important than surviving engagements, and there are clocks that measure and track this.

Most rules are the same as in FIST Ultra, but Planet FIST makes a distinction between risky actions and safe actions in combat, and this is a great way of reframing 'attack actions' and 'move actions' in a game. If movement would be dangerous, it's a risky action. If an attack would be safe, it's a safe action. I'd love to see other games adopt this framing.

For players, there's a lot of customization options, and it's easy to respec or deploy different gear to adapt to changing battlefield conditions. There are also bonuses for supporting specific factions---and for having enough people in the party that one of them has to be an officer, There's even class advancement---although you're mostly expected to be rotating your class throughout play, so it's not excessively deep.

For GMs, there's a mission generator, maps, a bestiary, plenty of advice on how to run the game, and a few suggestions on ways to customize the experience. Some pre-game prep can be useful (you may want to use a battlemap or wargame table), but premade missions are also provided. Quick references are included at the back of the book for players and GMs alike.

Overall, this is definitely a strange game, but I think it's on to something. If you have nostalgia for Planetside, *definitely* check it out. And if you want a framework for playing an FPS MMO on tabletop, I think this is doubly worth your time. You might need to do some fussing with it if your goal with Planet FIST is to tell a particular story, but if you just want to sweat through some tactical engagements on a world of endless war, it 100% has you covered.

Minor Issues:

-Page 3, "many playtesters have never touched the it" no the

-Page 7, "when doing taking a risky action" no doing

-Page 35, "and that ever officer" every

Why you should check this out: a high-quality, loving translation of the feeling of online FPS video games (especially Planetside) into a streamlined TTRPG.

Style:

•  2-column landscape A4 makes the text easy to read while occasionally allowing for a full-page diagram to use the extra space.
• The spartan black and white with patent-style spot art fits the vibe of FIST, while the headers and sub-headers give it its own clean identity

Structure: 

• There is a lot here - over 60 A4 pages, but it is structured in a really smart way. Planet FIST is consistently explicit about it’s inspiration, politics and intent. From the first few pages you get a very clear idea about the vibe that the game is trying to create, which helps keeps you grounded through the mechanics that follow.
• I love the inclusion of the warning triangle to highlight any specific differences from the base FIST ultra rules. It’s such a simple idea, but so effective at drawing attention to things that might otherwise be missed
• Throughout, the ‘Admiral’s notes’ clearly indicate the why behind some of the mechanics and ways that tables could adjust them to suit their tastes
• The flowcharts and reference pages at the end really help to bring all the mechanics together after a more detailed read-through

Content:

• The game is thoroughly playtested - so even without playing it myself it’s clear that the mechanics will work well at a table. A lot of thought has gone into balancing the flow of more tactical / skirmish style elements and narrative moments.
• The mixture of health and regenerating shields is a really clever use of a video game mechanic that I’ve not really seen before, but could see leading to interesting decisions. Death allowing you to adjust your class is also a really neat translation of a video game idea.
• Little touches like giving the 3 factions colours, architectural styles and emphasising the absurdity of some of their motivations really brings the feeling of endless corporate warfare to life.
• The writing is clear and strikes a good balance of flavour and concise mechanics. I really enjoyed reading the pdf.
• I specifically loved how the character creation was presented - for a relatively complex process, the overview made it really clear to understand what each step would involve. It also cleverly allows them to be tackled one at a time as a group. I’m always a sucker for collaborative elements to characters - so the bonds and ranks are a great addition to the process, and well worth the extra time spent on them.

What might I change?

• I wasn’t initially clear who the admiral was, I wonder if an admiral note up front explaining admirals notes would help?
• I found the referee section of the pdf slightly harder to follow than the first half (still great content, just a lot of info to take in and a high bar set earlier for structure). I wonder if considering the overall structure of that section, e.g. splitting it into ‘planning an op’ / ‘running an op’ / ‘example op’ / ’helpful tables’ / ‘reference sheets’ might help? Not sure, it’s a tough one to get right.