Living Steel is a high-tech science fiction role-playing game published by Leading Edge Games in 1987. Setting In 2349, the human-colonized planet Rhand has just suffered a devastating attack by an alien race called the Spectrals. In addition to bombardment from space, the Spectrals released a virus onto the planet which turned most of the population into dangerous sociopaths. The Spectral warship then crashed into the planet's surface, causing further widespread destruction. In the aftermath, survivors are competing viciously with each other and the remaining Spectrals for the essentials of life. Players take on the role of Ringers, elite soldiers who were in cyrogenic sleep until this emergency. The Ringers must secure a base, make contact with the surrounding population and begin the work of rebuilding, reeducation, and defense against further Spectral attacks. Gameplay Character generation Each player rolls four dice and adds the sum to 48. These points are then allocated to Strength, Intelligence, Will, Health and Agility. Further dice rolls on background tables develops the character's starting experience. Skills are then chosen, and each character receives basic equipment. Combat Combat is broken down into 2-second segments. Players choose which combat actions to assign to movement and firing. If the target is hit, further die rolls indicate the location of the hit and how much damage was done. Publication history Designer Barry Nakazono originally titled this role-playing game Rhand, but then retitled it Living Steel. He used a simplified version of Leading Edge's Phoenix Command game system for the game. The rules were presented first as a boxed set in 1987 with illustrations and graphic design by Jon Conrad, Toni Dennis, Steve Huston, Scott Miller, and Maggie Parrand. The product was republished in a single hardbound book in 1988. In 1994, Leading Edge released a set of 25 mm metal miniatures that could be used with the game. The company went out of business shortly afterwards. Reception In Issue 33 of Challenge, Julia Martin found the game "marvelous to look at. Graphically, it is a very attractive game." But he noted that although, in theory, the entire universe seemed to be available for play, most of the material in this set referred to the planet of Rhand, with no clear means of leaving the planet's surface. As Martin noted, "The potential for 'high adventure' which the company claims is certainly there, but it may be hard for referees to