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Heavy Gear RPG Fourth Edition - Rulebook

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The distant world of Terra Nova, once one of humanity’s brightest colonies, is at war. Abandoned by Earth centuries ago, Terra Nova has had to endure and survive on its own.

The year is now AD 6146, or TN 1954 by the local calendar and Earth has returned. This return is not one of a mother reaching out to her lost child, but one of violent conquest and oppression. The last several years have seen Earth forces subjugate large swathes of the planet, overwhelming the defenders with hordes of advanced hovertanks and super soldiers called GREL. At the forefront of the defense are the iconic heavy gears of Terra Nova. These 4 to 5 meter-tall, one man combat walkers give the defenders an edge over the invaders. As a middle ground between tanks and infantry, gears stand as Terra Nova’s greatest weapon against the encroaching Earth forces. Despite this, the scale and power of the invaders have taken their toll. Unable to push the invaders back, the nations of Terra Nova have been caught in a war of attrition they cannot sustain any longer.

All is not lost. Even now, rumors of military forces gathering in secret are spread in the dark alleys of Terra Nova alongside claims of hidden armories and caches created for just this situation. The Black Talons, Terra Nova’s elite offworld special operations group have almost disappeared, their actions kept secret from all. A reckoning is coming.

In Heavy Gear, the Roleplaying Game 4th Edition, players will play as either the inhabitants of Terra Nova, or as a member of the invaders from Earth and its many subjugated worlds. Will you stand against the invaders? Will you join them in their conquest of yet another world? Or will you take advantage of the situation to your own ends? The choice is yours. We’ll see you on Terra Nova.

This book includes:

  • An updated version of the Silhouette game engine.
  • All rules needed for both Players and Directors.
  • An immersive character creation system focused on your character’s personality as well as skills and attributes.
  • 8 playable archetypes and 14 national origins. Supports playing as a GREL.
  • Offers a dynamic team development system to link to your campaign.
  • Over 200 vehicles with hundreds of variants and deep vehicle customization.
  • Full bestiary of creatures from Terra Nova.
  • Facilitates quick generation of NPCs, random encounters, and adventure hooks.
  • Plus, guidelines for converting 2nd Edition characters and vehicles to 4th Edition.

Requires a few d6 dice to play, not included.

Print On Demand (POD) full color printed Softcover and Hardcover books are available for those who want a printed full color rulebook.

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Reviews (6)
Discussions (8)
Customer avatar
Ismael A November 21, 2024 7:07 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Is there a changelog for recent updates?
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Customer avatar
Jason L November 27, 2024 6:07 am UTC
PURCHASER
Nope, other than that the recent changes were to the Japanese version, not the English one.
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Ismael A December 02, 2024 7:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Oh! That was what I needed to know. Thank you.
Customer avatar
Sebastian A August 12, 2024 11:00 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Will there be a generic Silhoutte Core 4e at some point like for the older version?
Customer avatar
Bjorn H July 28, 2024 5:47 pm UTC
It's ironic how much smack talk there was from the new "head editor" of the RPG about the earlier edition's "poor organization and rules writing" to then turn around and offer a poorly organized and written, bloated, overpriced, hard to use mega tome, very few long time fans like myself will buy. It seems the Wargame side of DP9 got their act together with 3rd Edition, while the RPG side hasn't an actual clue what makes Heavy Gear loveable and digestible to new players. With both Catalyst and Games Workshop losing audience trust, it would seem a great opportunity to get the whole HG IP back to prominence... this isn't how you do it.
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Customer avatar
Ran Z August 04, 2024 9:16 am UTC
PURCHASER
Very much agree.
They had a really good opportunity here and absolutely squandered it.
Customer avatar
wade G June 16, 2024 7:34 am UTC
PURCHASER
The typos. etc. between the first print and the last updated corrected?
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wade G June 16, 2024 7:47 am UTC
PURCHASER
And for that cost, is the book stitched?
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Jason L June 17, 2024 2:26 am UTC
PURCHASER
A lot of the typos and such (and there was a lot) have been fixed, but there are still some left according to the the FAQ/errata from Discord, and my own eyes.

It's POD, not offset. It's not stitched.
Customer avatar
Stacie W May 20, 2024 3:23 pm UTC
Man as much as I want this game $140 for a Standard color product is absolutely ludicrous that it's insane. If this was premium quality than this price is a little more justifiable. But Wow.
Customer avatar
Osiris T May 17, 2024 3:04 am UTC
Woah, is inflation so bad as to justify over $100. Also is the game good enough to justify the price?
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Customer avatar
Jason L May 17, 2024 4:10 am UTC
PURCHASER
About the inflation part, yeah, it is getting that bad at least on the hardcover side of things. Been seeing a few publishers switching to softcover because of rising print costs, and seeing softcover jump in price, too. Not a good time for print material.

That said, this is a little excessive, even if it's such a jam-packed book with what sounds like three books worth of content. I'm considering getting it, but am holding off for a bit. (Mind you, the PDF is reasonable.) The print quality of standard is what's keeping me away.

As for the game? I've read that it's arguably the best version of Silhouette yet, but can't speak for the non-system content yet.
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Alexander R May 17, 2024 7:01 am UTC
PURCHASER
I would say the game is definitely good enough to justify the cost of the PDF, but not the physical unless you’re a big fan
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Osiris T May 17, 2024 1:57 pm UTC
Yeah no thanks for me then because I never even heard of this game
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Jason L May 21, 2024 5:03 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Like Alexander said, it's worth it for the PDF. It's an interesting dice pool based system with both tactical and narrative combat options.
Customer avatar
Richard H May 11, 2024 1:38 pm UTC
And RPG publishers continiue with the ridiculous fetish of 400, 500+ rulebooks. Instant non-sale here.
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Sebastian A May 11, 2024 6:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I prefer it this way over having to buy 3 different books to play.
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Customer avatar
Jason L May 21, 2024 5:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I'm with Sebastian on this one. Better having all those vehicle stats upfront than having to sift through a stack of books.
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Customer avatar
Jason L May 24, 2024 12:40 pm UTC
PURCHASER
It should be pointed out that there's a LOT of art in the book. So much that I suspect that you could probably shave off at least 50 pages by removing it, if not more. Take that away, along with the 165 pages of vehicles, and you've got a lot less intimidating page count.
Customer avatar
Steven H May 10, 2024 7:23 am UTC
£80 for a softcover and £100 for a hardcover. This company needs to wake up and stop charging a premium for a niche game. Been a long time player since the 1st edition RPG. Think I'll keep my collection of books and carry on playing that. You are going to lose a LOT of old players to ridiculous pricing like this. I thought the kickstarter prices were stupid, but this?!?!
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Customer avatar
NB N May 10, 2024 1:36 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Don't forget you have to pay extra for the PDF if you buy a physical copy, and this isn't even on Drivethru's "premium" paper/ink for color books.
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Customer avatar
Alexander R May 10, 2024 4:42 pm UTC
PURCHASER
If the issue is the price there’s just the PDF?
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Customer avatar
Stacie W May 20, 2024 3:28 pm UTC
The PDF cost itself is fine. But comparing this to other games makes the PoD prices of this book beyond insane. I can't fathom what DP9 is thinking but they priced me out of this game.
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Customer avatar
Jason L May 21, 2024 2:19 am UTC
PURCHASER
Yeah, if you look at Vampire 20th Anniversary, at 529 pages, it's only $64.95 for a standard POD. It's almost as if they don't want the new edition to succeed. As it stands, they're making about $75/$90, after DriveThru's take, on the softcover/hardcover, so maybe DP9 just really needs the cash? I dunno.
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Customer avatar
Jason L May 21, 2024 4:51 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I should correct myself there. It's $75/$90 after DriveThru's printing charges, and not their percentage of the profits. Assuming they're exclusive, they're making $64.28 per hardcover, and $49.82 per softcover, so about 50% of the selling price. I'm all for them maximizing profits, but this is still a little steep. That said, I'm still going to get a copy, just not right away.
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Product Information
Electrum seller
Author(s)
Artist(s)
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Pages
480
ISBN
978-1-989742-57-0
Publisher Stock #
DP9-9400eb
File Size:
681.96 MB
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File Last Updated:
November 19, 2024
This title was added to our catalog on October 22, 2023.