Book review of StarCraft: Ghost Academy

StarCraft: Ghost Academy

Hey, remember Ghost Academy from the StarCraft series? You know, the one with the psychic Nova, who first debuted in the novel based on StarCraft: Ghost…oh wait, you haven't heard of the game either? If you have no idea what this comic is about, it's because StarCraft: Ghost, announced way back in 2002, was never produced. So to clarify – this is a graphic novel based on a book about an expansion that never saw the light of day.

StarCraft: Ghost was supposed to be a third-person shooter featuring Nova, a psychic assassin killing machine. Which pretty much describes every third-person shooter ever.

StarCraft: Ghost Academy explores the origin of Nova and her fellow teammates. Predictably, Nova is a lone wolf who doesn't play nice with others, but makes up for it with her amazing skill at killing people. Her team members include all the elements of TV Tropes' Five Man Band:

The Hero, Gabriel Tosh, succeeds mostly because he's the leader. He's been around longer, he's higher level (literally, they have levels at the academy), and he's well-liked. If only he could get the other idiots to cooperate…

The Chick, Kath Toom, is Tosh's right-hand woman. She follows everything Tosh says, isn't as good as Tosh, and takes up space being mediocre.

The Smart Guy, Lio Travski, is the obligatory bald psychic. He's also a neurotic addict who needs drugs to control his powers. While interesting, Travski's struggle isn't resolved in this installment of the comic.

The Lancer, Aal Cistler, is a late addition. He's not nearly as psychic as the others (his Psi Index is below 5, the minimum required to join the Academy) but he's good at reading body language and a master martial artist. Cistler's parents are politically connected and his father's influence that gets him into Ghost Academy.

Will Nova learn how to play nice while uncovering her own dark history? Will Tosh pull the team together? Can our ragtag band of disparate heroes become a well-oiled killing machine before they kill each other first?

StarCraft: Ghost Academy is pretty typical of most high school manga: super powered teenagers dealing with cliques, parental pressure, adulthood, and earth-shattering powers. It also has almost nothing to do with mainstream StarCraft. It's a peculiar grafting of a popular medium to a tactical game that doesn't really lend itself to this sort of storytelling.

The artwork is typical manga style, which is to say everybody has washboard abs, crotch-tight clothing, and big eyes. Unfortunately there's not a lot of action here – it's like watching a bunch of superheroes eat lunch in a cafeteria.

StarCraft completists will most certainly enjoy this graphic novel. Manga fans probably have much better fare to choose from. Comic and sci-fi fans will find it tedious and derivative. All this is likely to change if and when the game finally comes out. But until then…me and my 37 (at the time of this writing) Amazon Vine colleagues will have to suffer through this for you.

New Occupation: Ghost Academy

Prerequisite: Wild Talent feat.
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class skills. If a skill the character selects is already a class skill, he or she receives a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill. Climb, Demolitions, Drive, Hide, Knowledge (tactics), Move Silently, Navigate, Pilot, Survival, Swim.
Bonus Feat: Select one of the following: Brawl, Combat Martial Arts, Armor Proficiency (light), or Personal Firearms Proficiency.
Wealth Bonus Increase: +1.

Ghost Academy uses a standard for classifying powers known as the Psi Index (PI). It happens to match a 10 point scale, which works nicely with the advanced psychic classes in d20 Modern. The rankings apply to classes as follows:

1-2: No psychic powers.
2-5: Limited powers. Since PCs won't be able to join a psychic class until they are at least third level, this accurately reflects the character's psychic ability. Those who want to be part of the academy are used as wranglers -- who are hired to find and detect telepathic children. These are PCs with the telepath advanced class who possess the following powers as appropriate for their level: 0-level telepath: detect psionics; 1st-level telepath: object reading; 2nd-level telepath: sensitivity to psychic impressions.
5-8: A PI of 5 is the minimum required for entry, although it's possible to bend these rules. Mindlink, known as telepathy, is required for this level. These are called "Teeps" and should have the following powers: 0-level telepath: missive; 1st-level telepath: lesser mindlink; 2nd-level telepath: detect thoughts; 3rd-level telepath: mindlink; 4th-level telepath: forced mindlink; 5th-level telepath: mind probe.
8-10: These are teh really big gun psychics. They possess telekinesis. They are telepaths with all the powers of a Teep but also have the 4th-level telepath power: telekinesis.