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Updated May 2, 2005

Welcome to the last bastion of humanity, where Earth is but a distant memory. This world is known as Ad Tair. Here humanity is but one of many species struggling to survive. Races and civilizations are isolated from one another and most of the planet?s technology has been wiped out in a single cataclysmic event. The devastating effects of that horrible accident can still be seen. A dark billowing mass of swirling fog is all that can be seen of what was once Mt. McKenna. A secret project based there was responsible. Now another project is entering a critical phase. This long-forgotten secret could mean the destruction of this world ? or its salvation. The name of the project is PROTEUS.

-An excerpt from the PROTEUS Manual

Sean McLaughlin
admin@base113.com
www.base113.com

This website gets visitors from all over the world! Presumably, they’re all interested in Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction or Fantasy, but we don’t know for sure. If you’re visiting us for the first time, or if you’re a regular, please take a moment to share your experiences about your country, RPGs, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. We’d love to hear from you!

This month we’ve had visits from Germany, Canada, The United States, France, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, The United Kingdom, Great Britain, Australia, Austria, Thailand, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Mongolia, New Zealand, and Venezuala to name just a few!

Tell us about it in the forum!

Introduction

Once in a while, you come across an rpg that is worth more than just one read. Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition is just such an rpg. I’ve had the fortune to get access to a pre-release copy of the newest version of Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition and from my two initial read throughs, I can honestly say I am looking forward to the full release! This game is worth checking out, if only because it breaks free of a number of the typical assumptions other rpgs make.

Some of you may remember a television show from the mid-9’s called American Gothic. The story was about a small town out in South Carolina where weird things seemed to be the norm. Specifically, the story revolved around the Sheriff of the town who had connections to Hell and with a young and innocent kid who was the focus of much of the Sheriff’s machinations. All told, it was a great series that focused on a subtle battle between good and evil in a setting so innocuous it became compelling. I think very highly of American Gothic. Much to my happiness, I think I have found an rpg equivalent to the American Gothic series!

Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition is set in a small town called Potter’s Lake. The town is a lot like Mayberry R.F.D except that it serves as a sort of spiritual magnet for the weird. The thing is, the people of Potter’s Lake as a whole don’t seem to realize that there home is also a haven for the bizarre. They go on living their lives despite the large number of missing persons reports, spontaneous psionic manifestations, and a very healthy and robust series of hauntings. Basically, Potter’s Lake is a town where the creepy little rumors that circulate through the pre-teen crowd are all true.

Let me start by saying that Heaven and Earth touches on a lot of my favorite aspects of a well written setting. I am a sucker for settings that go for detail rather than generics. Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition takes the time to set up Potter’s Lake as a living and breathing setting, going so far as to not only detail the various locales of interest but also to give bios and backgrounds of 25 of the more intriguing people of the town. I like this kind of detail – a lot. It makes the job of the GM a whole lot easier and makes the environment for the PCs significantly more compelling.

Characters

Players of Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition create normal characters. That’s right. The game strongly suggests that exceptional or weird characters are not the default type of PC (as opposed to just about every other rpg on the market). Instead, the game provides character creation rules to help build normal PCs – doctors, park rangers, mechanics, school bus driver, etc. The key to divergence in PC generation from most other rpgs, is that the weirdness of Potter’s Lake is wonderfully juxtaposed by the mundane PCs. As the PCs grow and advance they get a chance to uncover the various secrets of Potter’s Lake, and with some good roleplaying, become just as odd as the rest of the town. This is another aspect of the game I really enjoyed.

Heaven and Earth is the first RPG that I know of that encourages normal starting characters with the implied promise that the setting and gaming will be interesting enough to keep the players motivated. Considering the compelling back story to Potter’s Lake, I have no doubt about this promise!

Storyline

The back story to Heaven and Earth is one of its biggest strengths. Potter’s lake is weird. Its inhabitants are weird. However, there is a reason for all the weirdness, and it is a good one! Basically, all the oddities of Potter’s Lake link back in one way or another to the big secret behind the town – the secret that the entire game is based on. During my first read I was a little worried that the game wouldn’t justify why the weirdness seemed to make a home in Potter’s Lake, but my fear ultimately proved unfounded. Without ruining the mystery behind Potter’s Lake, let us suffice to say that it is becoming a pivotal battleground for the future of humanity!

And the best part? Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition assumes that the players are going to find out about the secret of Potter’s Lake. Instead of hiding the back story from the GM or the players, the game is built around the idea that, in time, the PCs will uncover the secret and work with it to their own ends. The most interesting parts of a lot of rpgs are their hidden secrets, and too often those secrets are withheld from the GM or remain undiscovered by the players.

Mechanics

The mechanics to Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition are pretty simple and encompass about 1 pages including combat. Basically, the harder a thing is to do the smaller the die type your PC has access to. Something easy will get a D2, while something damn near impossible will get a D4. There are of course modifiers for a character’s experience with the task based on the individual PC’s stats. There is also a nice little fate mechanic called “Destiny.” By expending one point of Destiny a character can re-roll a failed attempt, or with two points of spent Destiny, automatically pass a check. Two points of Destiny, while expensive, can be extremely useful for those situations where you are only rolling a D4. All in all, the mechanics of Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition walk a fine line between rules-lite and rules-heavy. There is a certain emphasis away from combat, so combat-wombles may want to stay clear (though, it should also be noted that the setting is not very combat friendly either).

Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition, while focusing on mundane starting PCs, does have rules for all sorts of supernatural events and creatures. Inside there are rules for spirits, mages (which operate metaphysically a lot like White Wolf’s Mage: The Ascension in that belief and will can warp reality), the Gifted (Heaven and Earth’s take on psionics), the Goetia (ancient spirits connected to some aspect of reality), Secret Societies, Angels, and Demons. There is a lot for Heaven and Earth to cover, and it does so quite well with specialized rules for each creature.

The big problem is that I really wanted to see the same loving attention to detail that was paid to the setting carried over to the creatures and spirits that live there as well. Unfortunately, clocking in at almost 13 pages there just was not enough room. However, it does whet my appetite to see what supplements will be coming out from Abstract Nova – if only to further define these creatures and their complex relationships with the people of Potter’s Lake.

Credits

Something else I really dug about Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition are the writers. Lucien Soulban, my all time favorite rpg writer, helped work on this version- a nice surprise for me when I leafed through the credits. Also credited are Lee Foster, Michelle Lyons, James, Maliszewski, and John R Phython. I am familiar with Lyons and Maliszewski (as well as Soulban) who are experienced rpg authors. Their background shows through in the enjoyable and entertaining style of the book’s writing. The prose and style of the writing is quite good, and the language is very accessible.

Art

The art of Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition is above average, but not spectacular. I did appreciate that all the NPCs received their own portraits, obviously drawn by artists familiar with the text. In each case, the NPC’s picture reflects their occupation and general description, helping to bring the character to life visually. In fact, throughout the book the art largely reflects the writing specific to the page which is something I always appreciate. The art is solid and in a few cases like the NPC portraits mentioned above, really helps to bring the text to life. The cover is very pretty, but I noticed that the person featured on the cover has his eyes pointing in two different directions. While I think the funky eyes are intentional (the rest of the picture is very clean and symmetrical when it needs to be – leading me to think the artist would not have neglected the focus of the picture’s eyes) they get to me. I just do not dig on the two directions of the guy’s eyes – they make me go a little bit cross-eyed myself!

Conclusion

In the end, I was very pleased with Heaven and Earth, 3rd edition. It definitely seems to have been worth all three iterations. I liked this game a good deal, and encourage anyone that is looking for a little twist to their roleplaying experience to look into it. All the elements are there to make a game with Heaven and Earth a very enjoyable and refreshingly different experience.

I highly suggest looking for Heaven and Earth when it comes out in September.

Welcome to the inaugural column of what I hope becomes a regular event. This is “Off My Shelf” and is my opportunity to look back at the best and worst role playing games I have come across in my nearly 2 years of gaming. In that time, I have collected a nice size rpg collection, large enough for me to feel comfortable to list off my favorites (and least favorites) of the rpgs that I have come across in my experience as both a Game Master and a player.

The goal of this column is not to review the rpgs I discuss here since I have no doubt that they all have been reviewed before. No, instead with “Off My Shelf” I would like to take the opportunity to compare and contrast what parts of the rpgs I like and dislike and hopefully encourage discussion as well as encourage gamers who are unfamiliar with the rpgs in question to take the time and check them out. If you are a sports fan, you may be familiar with ESPN.com's “Power Rankings.” If so, you have a pretty good idea of what I am looking to do with “Off My Shelf.”

As this column grows and progresses, you will get a feeling for who I am. With any luck, this will be more than a self-masturbatory project and will involve some discussion as to what I missed, what I ranked incorrectly, and generally helps prompt some lively discussion on the better qualities of the better rpgs out there. So, to help avoid making this a pointless narcissistic exercise, I strongly encourage anyone that agrees or disagrees with me to post their thoughts on the 1km1kt rpg forums. So, please, if you have any comments, feel free to share them.

So, rather than blather on, let me start this month with one of my all-time favorite rpg genre:

Honorable mention:

• Stardrive (TSR) – solid and fun kitchen sink game.
• Fading Suns – Similar in feel to Dune, but with aliens and arbitrary splats that I don't like much.
• Traveler (SJGames) – the grand-daddy of sci-fi rpgs that I still buy loyally. The GURPS presentation is the best, IMO.

My Top Five Sci-Fi rpg settings

5. SLA Industries (Nightfall/Hogshead) – SLA Industries is a very dark rpg put together by a bunch of Brits. All in all, it is everything, in my opinion, that Warhammer 4K should have been. It is gothic, brooding, powerful, and generally oppressive. However, I take all those qualities as a good thing. SLA Industries challenges the players to come up with some nasty characters- equal part Rifts and Vampire. The game also fully embraces powergaming as a core aspect and instead of letting that style of play overwhelm the setting, SLA Industries is able to ensure that as bad ass as your character may be, there is assuredly at least a couple others out there just a little bit more bad ass.

I really like the tone and feel of SLA Industries and I really like how it encourages players to play badasses in the same way Exalted does the same for fantasy players. The editing is a bit sloppy and the sentence structure can get awkward at times keeping this as my number 5. I also feel like the powergaming aspect of the game does get a bit too much at times- a little restraint on some parts of the setting would have been welcome. Even with my problems, the presentation is solid and the world is fascinating.

Anyone interested in SLA Industries should be forewarned that there is a hidden backstory to the game that has been the core of some very nasty flamewars on the net. I like the backstory, but think the SLA Industires settings stands on its own merit without the beackstory. A little searching on the world wide web will turn up the backstory, and it is, indeed, nifty, but it has been the source for all sorts of consternation on the part of GMs, players, and the designer. You have been warned.

4. Jovian Chronicles (Dream Pod 9) – Jovian Chronicles (JC) is a skillful blending of hard sci-fi and mecha with just enough pulpy goodness to make sure the setting encourages gameplay a lot like the Gundam episodes that inspired the game. I like the feel of JC and I really like the larger-than-life mecha. In fact, JC has some of the best presented vehicles of any Sci-fi rpg and considering the genre, this is a major asset to the rpg. JC is supported well with a number of supplements that cover the different planets and vehicles of the setting. I respect JC for being a game that avoids dealing with FTL drives, and instead recognizes that the solar system can certainly be big enough to encourage all sorts of adventures. Plus, the politics of JC is quite juicy; a cold war between Jupiter and Earth looms and the inner planets play off one another to gain advantage. Venus is especially appealing to me, a hyper-modern militarized Japanese-like society- it plays a delicate game working with and against the Earth Imperialists.

The detractions of the Jovian Chronicles setting are the imbalanced presentation of the setting. As the supplements were developed (basically from SolaPol onwards) there was a shift in the Earth-as-simple-and-direct-bad-guys to Earth-as-potentially-misunderstood-and-not-as-bad-imperialists. There is also some really horrid numbers editing in the mechanical catalogs (vehicle books) that make the utility of some of the ships are bit harder to utilize- taking away from the setting as a whole. Still, the presentation and the sheer fun of the setting override the downsides.

3. Transhuman Space (Steve Jackson Games) – I am so very fond of this setting. When I first heard about it I thought it was an intriguing idea that would probably not translate well into a setting. Boy, was I wrong. Transhuman Space (THS) is all about taking the modern world and fast-forwarding it. The designer, David Pulver, seems to have taken all the really interesting bits from Popular Science and mixed them together into a setting. Technology is at believable levels, social and political development make sense (and, in some cases, do not make much sense- which, I think, is very appropriate), and the general presentation of one possible future for mankind is riveting reading. Transhuman Space does not pull any punches- rather, it seeks to explore the weird technology and society of the future. Philosophy, memetics and religion play major roles in THS- something I think is handled by the game quite well. I am also quite fond of the presentation of Artificial Intelligences and Ghosts/Emulations as potential PCs. All in all, Transhuman Space is the setting for those of us that like our sci-fi hard. An absolutely amazing setting.

While I am trying to stick to the merits of a setting independent of anything else, I must say that the art in the core THS book by Christopher Shy is both appropriate and evocative. THS is quite surreal at times, but just recognizable as to make it playable- and Shy's art complements that feel perfectly.

My minor problems with THS are the goofiness that plays into the setting (I really dislike humor that I can label 'goofy'). There are some really weird and humorous things inserted into the setting that I feel breaks the continuity of the setting. Sure, it helps lighten the mood of an otherwise very (VERY) serious rpg, but humor in rpgs needs to be very thoughtful and well done- and the occasional bits of humor in THS feels more like an afterthought or shallow parody of the modern era- neither of which I feel took a lot of time to think up and detract from the hyper-evolved setting of THS. Luckily, these spates of humor are few and far between and are pretty easy to ignore.

2. Blue Planet (Biohazard/Fantasy Flight Games) – I will forever be indebted to Fantasy Flight Games for taking the steps to make sure Blue Planet received the support it deserved after the untimely demise of Biohazard games. Blue Planet is another relatively hard Sci-fi game (see a pattern?) that focuses in depth on the development of a single planet (in this case Poseidon). I particularly like how Blue Planet does not seek to provide us with a whole grocery list of planets and star systems, and instead works to make their fictional setting as compelling as it can be. Like my admiration of JC for staying within the Solar System, I like Blue Planet even better for taking the philosophy of setting development one step further. Poseidon is one of the (if not the) most thoughtfully well developed single planet in rpg history.

The development of the ecology in Blue Planet and the interactions between native and Earth species are stories just waiting to be told. The technology is all sufficiently advanced while still recognizable to present any tech-head with the gadgets and gears to have a blast. The mysteries behind the aborigines are presented in such a way as to make it clear that potential players are to avoid that information while still being readily accessible to Game masters. The presentation of cetaceans and genetically altered humans is great and worth a look alone (Ancient Echoes is one of my all time favorite rpg supplements). All in all, a great setting that gets into the nitty-gritty of what makes an alien world interesting.

The only reason Blue Planet is not number one is my predilection for space opera. Otherwise, Blue Planet has just about everything a gamer could want.

1. Heavy Gear 2nd edition (Dream Pod 9) – Dream Pod 9 really does put out some quality settings. While the support can be haphazard in quality, the ideas behind the settings are second-to-none, and in my opinion, Heavy Gear is the pinnacle of merging fun ideas, mecha, science, space travel, politics, and space opera into a single compelling setting. The default setting, both pre- and post- advancement of the metaplot (which I will not spoil), is just dripping with campaign ideas.

Heavy Gear has, arguably, the best support of any sci-fi rpg out there (except for maybe Traveller). The thing that really gets me jazzed about Heavy Gear is the consistently interesting and coherent setting that is put together through the supplements. Not only do we have a very detailed core world in Terra Nova, but we also have the benefit of getting some detailed support for Caprice (a great setting in and of itself) and then some nice general support for a number of the other planets involved in the Heavy Gear setting. Heavy Gear creates a setting worthy of some great campaigns and is admirably established to handle all types of adventures- from military, to political, to criminal investigation, to exploration, to espionage, to just-about-whatever. Heavy Gear also presents an interesting political atmosphere that encompasses multiple factions on Terra Nova as well as a complicated web of alliances and enemies throughout the other colonies and Earth. I really like the political atmosphere of Heavy Gear.

The presentation of the technology is absolutely wonderful, with options for the military minded who dig on field variants of established vehicles, to people less interested in tech and happy to work with general stats for “generic 9mm Gyroc Pistol.” The high quality of Dream Pod 9's ability to translate science and mechanics into an interesting vehicle (highlighted by the Heavy Gears themselves) really shines through in the setting. And the Gears? They are probably the coolest and most believable mecha I have encountered.

I also enjoy the consistently high quality of the supplements. Each supplement dissects different parts of the Heavy gear universe and does so in such a way as to make each sub-section worthy of attention and campaign ideas. There is a lot to work through in the Heavy Gear body of work, but it is all worthwhile and each part helps craft a compelling larger picture of multiple worlds locked together in their respective destinies. In Heavy Gear, the sum of the overall picture is much larger than the component (and high quality) supplements.

I will say that Heavy Gear does have some problems, most of which involve the metaplot, but these metaplot generated quirks often work out to a better setting. Most notably, the advancement of the metaplot started before all the nations of Terra Nove were detailed- normally this would drive me nuts. However, the advancement of the plot made it so the last nation detailed, the Eastern Sun Emirates, is presented in a more fascinating situation than if it had been detailed solely before the metaplot was advanced. Additionally, the metaplot helped ensure we got to other planets- and thus, what helped move Heavy Gear into a game that both detailed a core world (Terra Nova- the default setting) as well as a web of other interesting planets. So, to Heavy Gear's credit, what would normally be a negative helps push the setting forward into better supplements.

For what it is worth, I am not as fond of Heavy Gear 3rd ed (linked to SilCore)- the support for the setting has been lackluster. If you want a spectacular sci-fi setting that gives you options and encourages some nifty gaming, then go find yourself a copy of Heavy Gear 2nd edition- I seriously doubt you will be disappointed.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to pop over to the forums and voice your opinion.

Thanks, and see you next month.

Chris Gunning
Chris Gunning writes copy for the “one thousand monkeys, one thousand typewriters” website, where they accept open submissions and provide publication resources for artists and writers in the fantasy, science fiction, and role-playing genres. His site can be found at: http://www.1km1kt.net

Do you find that your current RPG moves too slowly? Is there too much time exploring and searching and not enough time spent killing things or blowing stuff up? If so, then the Exemplar RPG may be right for you. Exemplar is designed with one thing in mind, combat. Everything else is secondary or ignored all together, except explosions. Explosions are key to advancing your character. The more explosions caused by a character’s actions, the faster that character advances. Nothing else matters.

But what is Exemplar? Well, Exemplar is a light-RPG set in the far future, where humanity is spread across several stellar systems and it is ruled by the Intergalactic Government and Church (IGAC). The player characters play powerful characters either in the employ of IAGC or fighting against it. Within this framework, everything is geared toward making combat fast and furious. Downtime is frowned upon. In fact, the overall tone of Exemplar has a very Paranoia-ish feeling, with situations and events relying heavily on the whims of the GM. This can be immensely fun for a few sessions, but doesn’t lend itself well to a long campaign.

The game itself clocks in at 32 pages, half of which details the rules for character creation and combat, the other half covers NPCs and details a short scenario. The first thing to notice is that Exemplar is played with 1-sided die. That’s it, no other dice needed. Secondly, the dice are only used during combat or whenever a character attempts to perform some action whose outcome is unknown. Everything else is done using points. We’ll get to that. Let's start with character creation.

Creating Your PC

A character in Exemplar consists of a unique set of ability scores, one set for physical (Styles) one for mental (Metaphysics). A point buy system is used to determine the initial starting points for each ability. Styles increase in increments of 5, while the Metaphysical ones increase by 1. Additionally, Styles whose score is 15 or above have Talents associated with them. A Talent is a field of the Style in which the character excels. For instance, a character may choose the knife-fighting Talent for his Prowess Style. A Talent adds a bonus to a characters combat roll when used. A character’s combat abilities are split into Melee and Missile. One of these will be the best score between Prowess and Wits, while the other will be the lease, or, each may be the average of Prowess and Wits. Also associated with Melee and Missile is a favored move. A favored move is concatenation of a combat move, a weapon and its results (single target, light wound, pistol). This leads to one negative about this game. The rules could stand a good going over. Some things, see favored moves, aren’t necessarily explained well, or at all. Its obvious a lot of time and effort has been placed into this game, a little more would make understanding it easier. Characters that have points in the Metaphysical attribute Insight may also learn a Technique. Techniques are akin to feats and allow a character to perform certain actions such as adding bonus to himself for combat or causing a penalty to an opponent in combat. Two other unique ‘attributes’ a character has are Plot Points and Nemesis.

Spending a plot point allows a player to take over the story for a particular encounter and affect the situation in some manner that doesn’t involve controlling other PCs or Named NPCs. Anything else is fair game. Plot points regenerate at the beginning of each session so they should be used liberally. This is an interesting twist which gets the characters more involved in creating the scenes played.

Nemesis is basically fate. As a character progress upwards, he gains Nemesis points. Nemesis points can be used to affect the outcome of die rolls. When used this way, a check box is marked next to Nemesis. 5 marked boxes cause Nemesis to increase by 1 point. When Nemesis is at 5 and its 5th check box is marked, it goes back to 1, not 6. However, the GM must decide on a Fate for the PC. Using Nemesis points brings a character closer to his Fate. When the Fate Nemesis is at 5 and the 5th box is marked, a character becomes free from Nemesis entirely, but gains permanent bonuses to certain abilities. The odd thing is, while the rules make it sound like a character’s Fate is a bad thing, there is no way to actually meet his fate. A character will hit the magic 5th box and be free from Fate entirely. The Nemesis section, while interesting, needs some re-tooling to make it work better.

Combat

Combat itself is fast-paced with a unique mechanic for determining hits and misses. Basically, combat begins when one character decides to attack another character. This may be at range or in close quarters combat. The initiator decides on a number of dice he wants to roll. He then adds any bonuses (subtracts dice) or penalties (adds dice) then rolls. He must roll his appropriate combat rating (Melee or Missile) or less. If he makes his roll, then the opposing character rolls, using at least the same number of dice as the initiator. The first person to miss his roll gets hit. Bonuses and penalties are subtracted or added depending upon a character’s Talents, role-playing, favored moves, assistance from others or Techniques. The first to miss a roll gets hit and damage is dealt. The victim now becomes the new initiator.

The first interesting thing to note is that making a roll does not mean a hit. In fact, it means your opponent misses you. This seems counter-intuitive. Secondly, a bonus means subtracting dice from the number you roll, thus making it easier to roll below your rating while a penalty means adding dice making it harder. This is also counter to the usual meanings of bonus (get something) and penalty (lose something). While the combat mechanic is certainly different, the counter-intuitive nature can make for confusion. It could be re-worked to achieve the same affect, but in a more natural manner.

Damage is dealt when a player misses his roll. The winning player gets Effect Points equal to the number of unmodified dice he rolled. Also, if a special type of attack was used (heavy, light, favored move) then adds/subtracts appropriately. These EP are then spent on one of the following effects: Wound, Disarm, Push, Other (GM approved). The number of EPs spent on an effect is the chance out of 1 the effect occurs. The player then rolls a 1-sider and if his roll is less than or equal to the EPs spent, the appropriate action takes place. Additionally, each effect also has an effect when the roll is unsuccessful. This leads to another interesting feature of this game. There are no hit points. As seen in the above list, characters don’t take damage, per se. They have things happen to them, being knocked down or knocked out are common. Death seems to not be an option. The Other category may be a catch all, but allowing Death as an effect of one hit makes combat very short, not to mention lethal. While keeping in the apparent spirit of the game, it may not be fun for anything other than a one or two session campaign.

The Rest of the Story

The remaining portion of Exemplar details various NPCs, the history of the IGAC and a short description of its military order, worlds and governance. The included scenario is short and details the mutiny of pro-revolution forces onboard an IAGC starship.

Exemplar relies heavily upon the GM to make snap decisions in game about the difficulties of actions and what the appropriate outcomes are. Also, the GM must work to keep the action going and to ensure that stuff blows up so that the PCs can advance. This is definitely not a setting for an inexperienced GM. In fact, a group’s enjoyment from Exemplar will lie entirely in the hands of the GM. Although not meaty enough for a long term campaign, Exemplar, with some work on the GM’s part, should provide enough entertainment for a few sessions break from a group's normal gaming campaign.

I am just going to let it all out on this, and hopefully give a little prospective to the entrants of the StickGuy setting contest. I want to set a standard right here and now for 1km1kt.net and myself, I want to add a little commentary (a blog if you will) to the major undertakings here at 1km1kt.net so that whoever drops by can get a little legit insight to what we are doing and why we are doing it.

So, why do a contest for StickGuy? There are a number of reasons:

Basically, we are doing this for the exposure.

1km1kt.net is still a very new site, and a lot of the people that deal with the site on a regular basis are the ones that helped put the site together. I’d like to see the website forums and contribution increase, and I can’t think of a better way to encourage the kind of people we want at 1km1kt.net to drop by than through a contest that asks people to have a little fun writing and use up a little bit of their creative juices. If we can get some people to drop by the site, post once in a while (maybe ask a few questions about StickGuy or whatnot), and generally help the site prosper, then great. We like 1km1kt.net and we hope other people will as well. Even better, if we can help make 1km1kt.net a haven for freelancers of all types, then we will be quite content with the site. The key, of course, is that we need creative people to drop in and help make a community here.

Basically, we are doing this because it is fun.

Honestly, this is a major reason for the setting contest. StickGuy is a fun little rules-set. It surely is not the end-all-be-all of role playing games nor is it even the best example of a rules-lite rpg. What it is though, is fun (and free). I think it is a versatile rules-set and want to see if anyone out there agrees. So, by putting together the setting contest we are encouraging people to play around with StickGuy, have a bit of fun, and put together some material that will help the StickGuy rpg grow. I think it will be fun to read all the entries and share them with other roleplayers out there. I think it will be fun to talk a little StickGuy on the forums. I think it will be fun to talk about all the oddball settings people will come up with. And, in the end, I think it will be a lot of fun deciding which setting takes the cake (in this case $4U.S.).

Basically, we are doing this to see if we can do it.

1km1kt.net is really a one man show. Keeton Harrington, a good friend of mine, is putting a lot of effort into the site as a bit of a pet project. StickGuy is my pet project' something that came about late one evening after I got home from working in a movie theatre. In both cases, our little labors of love have grown about as far as we can push them on our own' now it is time to see if we can encourage 1km1kt.net and StickGuy to grow even further. It’s a bit of a challenge, but Keet and I are not ones to give up.

So, here we are, offering a bounty of forty bucks to whoever can put the best setting for StickGuy together' and in the mean time, help us at 1km1kt.net complete a few personal goals of our own.

Thanks for your time,

Chris Gunning
Shapeshifter13@hotmail.com
-SPQR

Chris Gunning writes copy for the 'one thousand monkeys, one thousand typewriters' online publishing group, where they accept open submissions and provide publication resources for artists and writers in the roleplaying game, fantasy, and science fiction genres. His site can be found at: http://www.1km1kt.net

So I’ve noticed there have been lots of hits to our website coming out of Canada lately. Since I’ve never been to Canada, hopefully someone out there can give me an idea of what the roleplaying scene is like! Seriously, how is the rpg industry up there? Are there lots of players? What about independent and corporate publishers? What are the favorite games? What’s big in Canada lately that I don’t know about? Drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Legendary Hero, Reality Fulcrum.

Chris was born in the late 7’s (and to dispel the rumor – NOT the early 5’s) to the horror of a nation. He stands over seven feet tall and can eat a whole watermelon in one sitting. In stark contrast, he occupies comparatively little space to you or I. It is this efficiency that separates him from the animals. Chris defies an exact place of birth because I’ve never bothered to ask him. How would he know for sure anyway?

We do know that he was raised in Texas and dubbed it the Lone Star state shortly after his favorite holiday – The Day After Christmas. Chris has been with 1KM1KT since the beginning and maintains a steady vigil as lead-copywriter and protector of the innocent. Without his contributions we would surely be short one writer.

Currently, Chris is doing an unnamed service for his country in the foreign nation of Bangladesh, where he spends his time privately voicing concerns about the rainy season. Chris is known as the king behind the king, and sometimes the king to the immediate left of the king.

He makes no bones about anything.

A decorated writer, Chris has been published by such outstanding organizations as White Wolf , Privateer Press, Dream Pod Nine, and Majestic 12 Games. His contributions to 1KM1KT include the monthly column Off My Shelf as well as StickGuy the Roleplaying Game and a variety of Spycraft supplements.

He is an avid member of RPG.net and Warfoundry.com where his posts are repeatedly replied to.

When asked where he wanted to be in ten years, Chris said:

“I want to move the professional basketball season to the summer. Have it start right after March Madness and continue on into the summer and early parts of the Fall. Right now, all we got during the summer is baseball and (ungh) NASCAR… so it will not be competing for the attention of the public as much as it does now (against Football, College Basketball, College Football, and Hockey). If you move basketball into the summer you have more access to the arena (since you are not competing with hockey games) as well as a general public that has less sports to watch. Plus, basketball is a summer sport… it makes sense.”

Which we found a little confusing.

Anywho, Chris – we like you. Thank you for being here.

Projects

StickGuy, the Roleplaying Game

Despite the constant effort to turn out good RPGs, rarely is the question asked, “What is a good RPG?”. You would think this would be a central concern, since nothing can be more important in making a good RPG than knowing exactly what you are trying to accomplish. This article will *attempt* to answer that all-important question.

Ultimately, everyone expects something slightly different from an RPG. This may be why there are so many RPGs out there. Everyone who is competent enough to do so makes an RPG which will fit their preferences.

From this, we can deduce that it is impossible to create an RPG which will be good in everyone’s eyes. It is safe to say that it is impossible to please everyone, and therefore impossible to make an RPG everyone will enjoy, especially with many people having mutually exclusive desires in an RPG.

Despite this, I believe it is possible to make an RPG that will please most people. How, you ask? It takes some cleverness, to be sure. Despite everyone having different specifications, there are a number of points which most people can agree on (should be simple, should be realistic, should be balanced, etc). Therefore, make an RPG with all of these traits, and you have made a pretty awesome RPG. Of course, anyone who has ever made an RPG before will know how hard it is to make these traits coincide. I will now go on a brief tangent to elucidate on this point.

Fabien Ni?oles’ System Color: A typology of RPG mechanics states that all RPGs can be measured on the basis of Fluidity, Consistency and Immersivity. Fluidity is the speed of resolution, angle of the learning curve, adaptability, and general unobtrusiveness of the mechanics. Consistency is the game balance, realism, and general solidity of the mechanics. Immersiveness is an abstract concept not related to mechanics, so we will leave it out of the discussion. Anyway, so we have the criteria of solidity and unobtrusiveness. Making the rules lightweight and fewer adds to unobtrusiveness, but detracts from solidity. Making the rules more precise and comprehensive adds to solidity, but detracts from unobtrusivness. Thus, we are still stuck with mutually exclusive goals! Countermanding this rule is the challenge of the RPG designer; cramming in as much solidity as possible without pushing out unobtrusiveness, and vice versa. This requires clever and innovative mechanics. Thus, originality is a virtue in RPG design, not just because of copyright issues, but because creativity in mechanics design truly makes the RPG better.

Our tangent has wandered back towards a solution! But the question remains unanswered: what makes an RPG good? The answer is pretty obvious; see if you can figure it out.

The more people an RPG pleases, the better it is. There. We have a general, neutral, blanket statement defining a good RPG.

Now let’s take it one step further and figure out what will make the most people happy. In order to do this, we will refer to the GNS player model. For the benefit of those who have never heard of it, let me go on another tangent to summarize it. The GNS model described three types of players; Gamists, Narrativists and Simulationists. Gamists play the RPG like any other game; their sole goal is to gain wealth, power and fame. They see their character as a collection of powers optimized for the acquisition of more powers. They will take advantage of loopholes in the rules for power. Gamists are usually not picky about mechanics, but, as with everyone else, solidity and unobtrusiveness are virtues. Narrativists focus on the storytelling and roleplaying aspect of the game more so than others. They are the type who is least concerned with the mechanics. Ironically, they also tend to be the pickiest about their systems. Unobtrusiveness is an enormous concern for Narrativists, but solidity is also important, though never at the expense of unobtrusiveness. Narrativists also tend to be very picky about any rules which limit their actions (such as the combat system in D&D). Simulationist is a much more abstract and complex category. Simulationists essentially want to do something in the RPG that they can’t do in real life, such as have a gunfight with aliens and robots in a dark alleyway on a space station. This is a huge and diverse category, so it is impossible to generalize as to their rules preferences.

Okay, now we have the GNS model defined, we can continue with our discussion. In order to please as many people as possible, you have to make rules which will accommodate each of these three styles. You have to have mechanics which have enough solidity to them to put focus on to please Gamists. These rules also have to be unobtrusive and open-ended to please Gamists. Finally, the rules have to be able to handle extremely unusual situations and be unobtrusive and solid to please Simulationists. Not possible? In the immortal words of Johnny Depp, “Not impossible- just not *probable*”. Still, it’s quite a challenge. So how do we do it? A recipe for a really good RPG:
# Start by identifying your goals. If you can specify exactly what you want, it will be that much easier to achieve.
# “Borrow” things that worked in other RPGs. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
# Where nothing works as well as you want it to, make up your own rules that other RPGs will want to borrow.
# Once you have perfected all of the things other RPGs do, add more features!
# Having achieved your objectives, make some harder ones and redesign the RPG to achieve them; an RPG is never completed; only abandoned.

Remember, we don’t truly need an RPG that works for everybody. It’s worked fine so far having an RPG for every group of roleplayers. But it would be nice to have a banner which everyone across the GNs model could unite under, wouldn’t it?

This article by Nick, who thinks he may have made an RPG for everyone: http://wtism27.tripod.com/carps/ Don’t be afraid to tell him if he’s wrong. You can contact him at nw.thomas@att.net.

Well, here it is; version 4. of CARPS. In the making of this, I trashed every single rule. This is a completely different game system than 3.5. I think you will find it quite drool-worthy. A lot of the rules seem kind of crazy and pointless, but they are all there for a damn good reason; don’t question the RPG designer! At the bottom of the page I have added a justification for every rule. Finally, this is not for beginners. This is pretty advanced and makes no attempt to explain the basics of roleplaying. Newcomers would be better off with Version 3.5 or CARPS lite.

Credits

Concepts: Nick Thomas
Writing: Nick Thomas
Editing: Nick Thomas
Publishing: Nick Thomas
Ideas and Inspiration, with all due respect:
GURPS, FUDGE, Risus, Alternate Realitites, and of course SLUG.