Glass Empires -- thoughts?

[Atlirith]

Last week I bought, Star Trek Mirror Universe: Glass Empires. I have enjoyed the book a great deal, and look forward to the sequel novel.

The first book covers Enterprise (Empress Sato), TOS (Emperor Spock) and TNG (a very different Picard). The second novel covers the Itendant (DS9), Mckenzie (NF) and Torres (Voy); not sure if Torres's voyager is the same one mentioned in the earlier mirror novel that centered on Seven of Nine.

I am curious what the rest of you think about these stories; how you might use them in your Mirror Trek rpg campaigns. Personally I take the inifinite parallel view of the Mirrors. I have always had a soft spot for Duanne's verion of the Mirror where Spock is killed and the Empire never falls. The artist whose sketches won the Trek Titan contest has a whole set of works about that universe (great stuff)

http://stourangeau.deviantart.com/ (just click on browse galleries if only to view his ideas on Mirror logos and patches and uniforms).

Well just wanted to give a shout out for the book. Looking forward to your comments and whatnot.

peace now

[Atlirith]

Hmm five days and no replies :-(

No one else has read this book? Kindof surprised and a bit saddened by that? I have enjoyed the stories, a lot. Hope that someone else who has read the book posts their views on it, and perhaps will share how they've used the Mirror sourcebook in their games.

Peace now )

[ThierryD]

I haven't seen those yet. Are they recent releases?

[First of Two]

They're releases coming out now.

I haven't gotten mine yet, because I ordered all my Spring Star Trek books from Amazon and chose the "ship them all at once" option.

I won't get mine until late March, so for now I'm going to "go back to [my] room, stick [my] fingers in [my] ears, and hum real loud until this is over!"

[Ineti]

I've seen the first of the two books in my local bookstore, but haven't had a chance to pick it up yet. I still have a ton of Star Trek books on my to-read pile. I"ll get to it soon, though.

[Commander Sonek]

Well if I see something published that is set in the Mirror Universe, you just know I'm gonna be hittin' that!

I have read the Enterprise tale, and about halfway through the original story.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Enterpise story: Mirror Sato actually grows and develops from being a manipulative little slxt to become a . . . manipulative little empress. The original series story is good too; I especially liked Spock's winning of Sarek over to his side with reasoned, logical debate.

Can't wait for the second volume later this month with the New Frontier Mirror Universe story!

[First of Two]

Well if I see something published that is set in the Mirror Universe, you just know I'm gonna be hittin' that!

I have read the Enterprise tale, and about halfway through the original story.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Enterpise story: Mirror Sato actually grows and develops from being a manipulative little slxt to become a . . . manipulative little empress. The original series story is good too; I especially liked Spock's winning of Sarek over to his side with reasoned, logical debate.

Can't wait for the second volume later this month with the New Frontier Mirror Universe story!

Spoiler tags, SPOILER TAGS!!!

[Ineti]

I picked up the first book last night and read most of the first story, the ENT story involving Hoshi. Good read. I haven't seen the ENT Mirror Universe episodes, so I don't know all the details, but the story seems to be pretty much self-contained and self-explanatory.

Looking forward to the other stories too.

[Atlirith]

The second trade paperback trilogy collection Obsidian Alliances came out this week. It has stories from the New Frontier, Voyager and DS9 versions of the Dark Mirror universe. Just got it, have not read it. In the back it has a teaser for another Mirror Universe novel set in the DS9 universe Fearful Symmetry. Looks like the Mirror Universe is getting a lot of love this year ;-)

Peace now.

[Ineti]

Yeah, Fearful Symmetry should be a fun read. I'm looking forward to it.

I finished Glass Empires last night. I liked the ENT story and loved the TOS story; the TNG story "The Worst of Both Worlds" left me kinda flat. It didn't seem to carry forward the story the first two novelets started.

I'm almost done with the first story in Obsidian Alliances and it's pretty good, overall. I'm tempted to skip the New Frontiers story since I've never read any of the books, but I'll probably at least skim it. I've already skimmed the last story in the book, and I know that'll be a good read.

[Ineti]

and perhaps will share how they've used the Mirror sourcebook in their games.

I haven't actually used the MU sourcebook for my Star Trek games yet. However, I was looking at my list of plot hooks and episode ideas the other day, and there are a handful of MU episodes and titles I was thinking of using at some point.

My main idea was to wait until the campaign got its legs, so that the player characters were somewhat established. That way I could ask some of the players to play their MU version and we could see the clear differences between the characters.

I'm sure it's something I'll get into once we get another Trek game up and running...

[Doug Burke]

I haven't actually used the MU sourcebook for my Star Trek games yet. However, I was looking at my list of plot hooks and episode ideas the other day, and there are a handful of MU episodes and titles I was thinking of using at some point.

My main idea was to wait until the campaign got its legs, so that the player characters were somewhat established. That way I could ask some of the players to play their MU version and we could see the clear differences between the characters.

I'm sure it's something I'll get into once we get another Trek game up and running...

I recently ran a MU adventure. Did it as a two-parter. The first session was the mainstream crew in the MU and the second was what the MU crew did while they were there...

[Tricky]

Almost done with the book. I agree with the majority of the posters: ENT story=good, TOS story=Great, NG story= eh.....

My main problem with the NG story is that it seems like a "Ok, can we get the Borg in here?" kinda thing. (and yes, i didn't use the spoiler tag; the appearence of the Borg should be clear as day, the title of the story should say it all...)
Not sure of the choice of characters; not the usual NG list of usual suspects (and when you see who Picard works for, you're gonna be surprised and shocked). Still, the book as a whole is pretty good.

And MU Spock could be the baddest mutha in any universe.

[Ineti]

^ The second book, Obsidian Alliances, is much the same way. The VOY story is ok, the New Frontier story is kinda blah, and the DS9 story rocks.

[Tricky]

Started reading Obsidian Alliances, and already I've found somthing that sorta bothered me:

Chakotay's Native American ancestors were apparently totally free of the 'evil' of the Terran empire. The snuck out to a far away planet and lived free of the brutality of the empire.

So, of all the peoples of the MU Earth, only Native American's were 'evil-free'? I mean it works story wise, giving you a slightly darker Chakotay who has the same strong moral core, but in a way it's saying that one group, in this case Native Americans, is better than another.

I have another rpg book, and in it's old west setting, it has a section about how despite revisionist history, Native American's were just like everyone else: they fought against each other, warred, committed atrocities and took advantage of each other, as well as had a very honorable way of life. Despite Hollywood's opinion, they were just people, no better, no worse.

I hope I don't come off racist; I just don't like it when a socio-political veiwpoint gets rammed down my throat.

end rant here.....