Hey all, I've been following the intriguing findings of a discussion over on CBT that seem to indicate a first ComStar Sourcebook may have been released in some limited fashion nearly twenty years ago. We have evidence that such a product was at least planned thanks to Games Review #1, October 1988.
A full page ad for a store called Games World, with lots of various games for sale. Under the FASA heading is a title called Comstar for 9.95. This is a British magazine, so I'm guess that's in pounds sterling. This is the same price listed for the House books and 1st Edition Periphery. There is nothing in the ad that suggests it is a preorder, but the disclaimer at the bottom of the page does say "This is just a small selection of the games and RPG material that we have in stock at our shop in Hammersmith. Call to check out whether we have what you want in stock."
Also it is mentioned in passing in Future Wars Issue 22, sometime in 1989, in the regular feature on upcoming products:
And now that Terra is the target, maybe the Comstar book will be coming out very soon as well.
A handful of people have claimed to have actually seen the finished product which was a little thinner than a House Sourcebook but crafted in that style. The cover was black with a silver ComStar logo front and center. It might have contained a BattleMech called the Shrapnel as well.
Unfortunately we have little else to go on and the powers that be don't seem to have it in their record archives.
So anybody seen it? Anyone have it?