Punk AND Cyber in Always Never Now by Will Hindmarch

Always Never Now by Will Hindmarch successfully fuses cyber and punk, augmenting Lady Blackbird's system and adding twists. Split into player's handbook and scenario for the GM, it's deep, familiar and exceptionally well thought through. Good writing draws you into the dark world of mega-corporations that - worryingly - is starting to look like our own. Like it's inspiration, Always Never Now is billed as a single scenario but I think that plays down the huge amount of gaming it will spawn.

Choose a character

Always Never Now comes with six pre-made character that build a refreshingly interesting cyberpunk team: ex corporate security, counter-intelligence ninja, inter-corporation operative, spy infiltrator, engineer tank and paramedic surgeon. The balance is excellent between them; each are handy in a fight and there is enough separation and overlap to make a subset selection work as well as a whole team. Having spent years cajoling the misanthropes around my table to build a coherent team, I bow to the masterful balance.

The descriptions are excellent and character imagery (funded by successful Kickstarter) are apt and excellent. Players will have these character sheets on the table during the whole game, so making them evocatively beautiful is very important.

System of words

Always Never Now takes Lady Blackbird's rules and performs back street bionic augmentation. For those unacquainted with Lady Blackbird, it combines the semantics of words that describe your character and die rolls. Your character has a number of traits, broad descriptions of a skill area. Each trait has a number of tags, which are more specific things that character can do.

For example, the Trait Infiltrator has the tags Stealthy, Perceptive, Quick, Subtle, Agile etc. It is up to the player to negotiate for as many dice as possible.

When a player needs to perform an action, they begin with a single die (any will do) and add one extra die for the appropriate trait and then another for each appropriate tag. Each die has a 50/50 of being a success (use 4+ on a D6, or odds/evens or your choice!). Difficulty is set by the number of successes you need.

When you fail an action, the GM will assign you a condition, one of: Angry, Exhausted, Impaired, Hunted, Trapped, Recognized. These drive the narrative, adding flavour to the story. Each Character also has a Key, which is a facet that is particular to that character. When you use that Key during play, then you pick up experience points to spend later. An example key is Key of the Comedian, the character makes jokes and when they're funny - they get an XP. Finally, each character gets an Edge that they can use once per session to help die rolls in certain situations or steer the narrative.

The rules are well explained and the examples are both informative and setting-flavoured.

A story game, with a story

Story games that fail to incite story trigger an allergic reaction in me. Always Never Now requires no anti-histamine. The scenario file that accompanies the player file is a complete adventure that you can pick up and run straight away. This is the crux of Always Never Now - there is a lot to read but it's so well written that it is a joy. There is a little fat to trim in the player file but it never gets in the way.

The scenario is formalised and organised into a series of scenes. After each scene, the players can choose from a number of new scenes depending on the clues they uncover. They can also have a recovery scene where they plot, plan, rearm and get ready to punk it up some more. Coupled with a neat diagram that acts as an in-game aide-mémoire, it's a neat way of presenting a scenario to a GM. A simplified Choose Your Own Adventure.

The setting is luscious. Twisting and embellishing the familiar, regressing some aspects and progressing others (the secret of good cyberpunk). Technocracy are a ruling elite, driven by complex whims and power thirst. Megacorps and subsidiaries sprawl over a broken earth and a good balance of available technologies. The opening paragraph in the introduction is one of the best I've ever read.

Fine tuning

The cover of Always Never Now does not adequately represent the high quality of the insides and for me, that's a problem. After click download, it's the first thing that the a prospective GM is going to see and they really should be more WOW'd by it. I'd make a montage of the character art at the very least. The long form of writing is difficult to use as a reference; a contents/index would help, as would more sub headings and better marked examples. I wonder if some might not get the movie references, so I would hyperlink those to Wikipedia. There's a neat description of roleplay for newbies but as I imagine that 90% of the readers will have played before, a quick jump link to the story game specific stuff would be handy.

I like the descriptions of Details, Beats and Moments as a description of building a successful scene but the writing gets a little fluffy round there and I think tightening it up would make it easier to understand. On first read through, it feels like rules bloat when it isn't at all - just putting definitions on techniques to help those people who have not had much control over the narrative before.

Always Now, not Never

One-shots might put you off but Always Never Now is no ordinary one-shot. It's a self-contained cyberpunk campaign that is ready to print-and-run. The standard of writing is high, which is vital for a good story game and although it might need a little boiling down in places, the depth and breadth of setting is a delight. If you have a bubbling interest in running a story game, then Always Never Now is an excellent choice.

Thank you to Will for sharing.

Kickstarting a free RPG? Check out The Artefact

Being obsessed with philanthropy means that I've only had a passing interest in Kickstarter. However, my interest was piqued when I learned that Emmett O'Brian had launched a Kickstarter for his free Sci Fi RPG The Artefact. I love The Artefact (you can tell from my review), not only is it a fantastically well thought out setting but from a personal point of view, it made me return to Icar and improve it.

Kickstarter... for a free game... come again?

Kickstarter is a site for community funding projects. Emmett's brilliant idea is to raise money to update the graphics throughout the book and then do a print run. Depending on your budget, you can get a floppy or stiff one (soft or hard cover), or have your name listed in-game for a dollar - which I rather like.

The more I think about it, the better the idea is.

Why The Artefact?

Science fiction roleplaying games tend to be thinly veiled reproductions* of one of the following:

• Star Wars
• Star Trek
• Traveller

The Artefact is really something new - based on a huge elliptical world where alien races are battling for control of it. As humans arriving on The Artefact, you must discover its secrets, learn new technology and explore without being turned into vapour. The shape of the Artefact is core to its design, with all of the horrid physics worked out for you so that you can enjoy the science rather than be baffled by it.

Don't believe me? You can download it now!. Or get the Alpha for the latest version.

Put my money where my mouth is

I've chucked cash at it because I'd love to hold The Artefact in my hands. I'm not the only one who thinks this is super, Rogue Games is a huge fan as is Nils, the world builder behind Enderra. If you've ever wanted a chance to say thank you to the philanthropists, this is it.

---

* My Icar included. It's about as original as Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Epic science fiction homebrew genius in The Artefact by Emmett O'Brian and Mike Switzer

The Artefact by Emmett O'Brian and Mike Switzer is one of those rare epic science fiction roleplaying games that draws you in. Reading it is like watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy back to back, it takes effort, you have to persevere but it is ultimately rewarding, enjoyable and you miss it when its over*. The Artefact doesn't try to reinvent the roleplaying wheel, instead it gets covered in Chobam Armour, powered with Liquid Carbon Fuel and fixed with a particle cannon.

War! What is it good for?

The Artefact, which gives the game its name, is a huge elliptical artificial 'planetoid' that sits perfectly between the two stars of a binary system. On this suppository shaped world live three humanoid races: the Scimrahn, who are the underdogs; the Kelrath who love a good fight and to hunt the Scimrahn; and the Chezbah who are ruled by Loc - an intelligence that spreads over half the Artefact.

When humanity turned up (having escaped an overpopulated and ruined blue marble), the Artefact's cultures were already going at it hammer and tongs. We only made things worse by bringing our own form of war and disease too. Hurray for us. Humanity quickly allied with the weakest culture (idiots, did they never play Sid Meier's Civilisation?) - the Scimrahn.

You play in these early days, fighting off the brutal Kelrath, building more teleporters to Earth, discovering new technology on the Artefact, growing relationships with the Chezbah and working out what this Loc intelligence they believe in actually is. Being plopped onto the Artefact at this delicate time is a wonderful starting point - you're not the first discoverers but instead dealing with the difficult bit that comes after.

It's not Wagnerian

Or any kind of operetta, space or otherwise. This is science fiction. The Artefact is incredibly well thought out from scientific, ecological, socialogical and evolutionary standpoints. Its unusual shape leads to a irregular gravity and pressure and ecology to go with it. The bi-product of which is some interesting game play and racial differences. The superstructure of the Artefact is described without omission too, bringing everything to life. It is this exceptional detail, all described with copious images that suspends disbelief beautifully.

Character Generation

Character generation has an old-comfy-sweater-dug-out-of-the-cupboard feel to it. Your character is defined by 11 attributes: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Reflex, Dexterity, Beauty, Charisma, Intuition, IQ and Psyche. Each is randomly rolled using 1D6 x 10. Hit points are calculated by Constitution and Strength. You flesh out with occupation, age, hair colour, eye colour, underpant colour and so on.

There are two very interesting facets of a character: Stress and Fame. Stress indicates the likelihood that your character will develop some very nasty mental illnesses and Fame gives you positive (or negative) control over NPCs by augmenting your Charisma. Stress and Fame rise and fall depending on what you do in game. Experience is awarded for enriching the game at the table, which I applaud. There is a chunky list of skills to choose from (and be assigned by occupation).

Character creation is a crunchy process where reaching for a calculator (be it a clunky button one, your iPhone, iPad, iHat, iDesk or iUnderpants) might speed things up. This crunch is of the acceptable kind: calculations that will make play easier and avoids lots of calculating during play.

Occupation is a combination of choosing a reason for being on the Artefact and character class. It is easy to imagine an interesting player team made up of the following groups: The Artefact Study Organisation (ASO) is an Earth-born multinational scientific and political group who tread carefully on the Artefact. The Indo-China Alliances (I-CA) are another Earth group who think that colonisation is all important and hang the consequences! You can also be part of the indigenous Scimrahn Culture, who are fighting for survial and finally, you can be a corporate lacky.

The ASO have a good mix of military and 'soft skill' (not butchering and murdering) character classes; the I-CA is all about shooting first, denying everything and having Wikileaks publish it; the Scrimrahn have some war and locally useful characters; and the Corporate characters are military, scientific and commercial. In all, there is a broad set of options to draw from.

Mechanical

While avoiding tooth-breaking crunch, the system has enough marrow to warrant a good gnaw. Action resolution is a typical roll-under Attribute + Skill + Modifiers on a d100. When you pass, you can pass by degrees. The more you roll under your skill, the better the outcome will be. This is controlled by a terrifying-at-first fraction column but it will be quite simple during play.

Combat uses initiative to decide order of play and you declare in order and resolve together. Each turn you have a number of actions to do and have fewer options if you fail your initiative check. Combat is highly evolved and lethal. You can punch someone to death in a singly round and hit locations include groin. You can dodge bullets up to point but you will get washed away if there is a flood of lead and laser.

There are rules for waving heavy objects around (thinking more claymore than majorette) and mob rules for handling group combat. I've always had difficulty with combat of huge groups but this system seems good - taking a leaf from wargaming by treating many units as one.

Mental combat is brilliant and can give you psychosomatic diseases, disorders, neurosis and more. This is where the Stress Attribute comes in and its an idea I love to bits. Unlikely Call of Cthulhu, you do get a chance to deal with your stress levels and their associated neuroses. There is no descent into the realms of the jabbering neuroticism unless you're one of my players, which is where you begin.

If you though that might be enough rulings then hold onto your hats, there's more. You can contract diseases, encumbrance rules and an extensive vehicle combat section.

Two Hundred and Six

...pages and in a small font too. That's a large book and yet it's packed with well thought out details. There is also a bestiary; GM Section; large number of vehciles, weapons and gadgets; rules for making modifications to equipment; its own alphabet (no, really); quick reference tables and maps galore. The Artefact is a large game. If you were to print it and lob it into orbit around Jupiter then someone would definitely send a probe out to it.

I should mention the images within because they're delightful. Emmett, Aaron, Charlie, Derrick and Robert have donated a beautiful array of evocative and colourful works that break up long sections of text and help pin down the style of the game. They are proof that a huge amount of thought and effort has gone into The Artefact.

Accessibility

My largest concern with the Artefact is how easy it is to get into and sadly I am unable to espouse a single smart-arse solution for it. I spent four evenings in total reading it through but then I know I'm a strange and biased beast, it's rare that I get to read epic science fiction like The Artefact that isn't my own. It's large and the authors know it.

There could be some better descriptions of the Artefact before the maps, the typography is a little hard on the eyes (and downright wonky in places) and the image placement could be tweaked to improve readability. I would add an index and increase the granularity of the page. I would split out some of the rules and mark them as optional. I know Gamesmasters would do this anyway but I would help the budding GM by indicating those pieces that are not core to the game (Stress is far too core to left out, for example). The book could be re-ordered into more easily digested sections and some pieces could be fired into an Appendix.

Yes, alright, ok ok, I can't help it. I'll suggest having a look at my guide to organising a free RPG. It deserves to have a lovely cover made for it.

Conclusion

One couldn't write The Artefact: it could only have been evolved through thousands of hours of play and replay. A huge amount of thought and effort has gone into creating and then playing the living crap out of it. You can tell because it is tighter a boa constrictor's cuddle. It all slots together beautifully like a humongous puzzle. To make something this large, this complete is a stupefying feat. You might not like the crunch, then take the setting - it's one of the best explained pieces of novel RPG science fiction I've seen in a very long time.

Thank you for sharing!

* There's no 20 minutes of annoying tearful hugging at the end.

I'm not dead yet. Here's what I'm up to...

If you don't write it, it won't get finished. Just write. It's the best bit of advice I can give. I've been thrashing out Icar version 4 and my goodness, it's a huge job. As means of recompense and demonstrating that I putting my money where my mouth is and taking a dollop of my own bitter medicine, here are some screen shots of Icar in its current state. I have uploaded a cringe worthy Alpha that is the very epitome of shoddy. Download and read at your peril.

This first one depicts an example of space combat. Space combat in Version 4 is very wordy and scribbles-on-paper. I looked at a complex three dimensional system but I decided that those systems are fine for board gaming but that is not why people want to play Icar.


This second grab shows the start of the skill section and demonstrates my obsession with stuffing images in amongst the text. I can't stop doing it. I'm seeking group therapy.


Sadly, I've set myself the gargantuan task of updating the Icar equipment index too. It's a Behemoth of graphics, many of which needs recreating in beautiful 300DPI high resolution rather than the shameful 72DPI I thought was adequate before. Here are some snaps of vehicles I needed to recreate because the originals were woefully out of date:

That's not all!

I do have a number of reviews in the works, have written a foreword for a delightful game by Michael "Stargazer" Wolf and and judging the frankly excellent entries for the Cyberpunk Revival Contest on 1KM1KT. Not only that but I am still penning my Guide to Writing a Free RPG from scratch. In the similar vein to my last guides but in a multi-part series.

Thank you for being patient. You can always get your dose of free over at 1000 Monkeys, 1000 Typewriters, the best free online community on the net. Ever.

Fallout: War, War Never Changes

Please do join me in welcoming back Jason Kline to review this monster game...

Based on the games Fallout I, II, and Tactics by Jason Mical (But written well before III came out) this is the definitive tome for role-playing in the Fallout Universe. In fact, the author had permission from the creators of the video-game themselves, uses much of the material right from the sources – weapon stats, perks, images, and the SPECIAL system.

Wastelanders

For the most part, the game is quite easy to play and get into. Characters have seven attributes (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck – hence the acronym) rated from 1-10, which in turn are used to derive a host of secondary stats like carry weight, action points, and the initial skill values. Most rolls are simply percentile based (though counter-intuitively, the maximum skill goes well above 100 to allow for large penalties) or in rare cases, a d10 compared to a character's stats.

While there is a traditional XP per level system of advancement, there are no classes (Though the faster-advancing tag skills help define the character) and every few levels a Perk is gained. A great deal of effort has been put into making the game accessible to novice gamers. Examples abound, as well as a set of pre-made characters, discussion of how to write adventures, the first few acts of a sample campaign, a very through index, and a bibliography of resources used. A few additional supplements available from the forum where the document is archived detailing other areas of the fallout world.

Combat

The one caveat is the combat system. As with many of the other mechanics, this is take directly from the original video games, and as such was meant for the computer to resolve. Any shot you take needs to account for about five different modifiers, and damage resolution can be tricky due to the way armor works. Besides shooting, there is moving on a hex map, action points, cones of fire, crippling injuries, armor condition, and rules for fighting in vehicles. Using miniatures is all but required.

While this gets easier with practice (like any seemingly difficult RPG mechanic) the Fallout world is a violent one. The equipment section lists 90 firearms – from a one shot zip gun to Gauss rifles – for the small guns skill alone! And yet it goes on with stats for big guns, energy weapons, and melee equipment – all told the armory list run from page 74 to 105!. The presentation of Fallout PnP is on par with the production values of a game from the 80's. Its mostly dense blocks of “Courier” type font, broken by the occasional Vault Boy graphic or information box. However, the weapons sections are lavishly illustrated with images right from the game (and the classic humors descriptions taken from there as well.) Perhaps not the prettiest layout, but its very functional and its easy to find what you're looking for.

Fallout 3?

For those of you who are wondering, while Fallout III presents some vast changes in game-play from its predecessors – many of the weapons and adversaries are recycled. (Too many in my opinion – the plot of Fallout I&II detail why there should be no Super Mutants or Enclave troopers to inhabit DC) However, this means that you are capable a game set in the Washington ruins as well as the default western US. Someone has posted documents on No Mutants Allowed with stats for items from the Bethesda installment, but these aren't up to the standards of the initial tome.

Conclusion

Fallout is a 1950's zeerust take on the nuclear holocaust – computers work on vacuum tubes, the remaining cars have tail fins, and radiation produces giant mutant insects. As either a reference tool for your own post apocalypse game, or a chance to take your own romp through the B-move end of the world of Fallout universe, this is a game well worth looking into.

Win £30 in a new 1KM1KT competition: The Cyberpunk Revival Project

Mistercho, blogger, philanthropist and Scotsman has kindly stumped up thirty of his British pounds to sponsor a competition over on 1KM1KT. I think we should all enter. Not because you love Cyberpunk as much as I; not because the idea of modernising the typically 80s feel of Cyberpunk is a tantalising goal but because forcing Misterecho (a Scotsman) to part with thirty coins bearing Her Majesty's mug will be one of the most life changingsteps he will ever have to take. That and crossing south of Berwick Upon Tweed to buy printed matter!

What's it all about

Quite simple really. Cyberpunk is really an 80s phenomenon and although there have been authors in naughties to paint their own particular impression of the genre, we as roleplayers have a somewhat dated bible. The competition is to forge a setting (and rule system, if you're so inclined) that has more modern concerns and does away with shocking neon 80s fashion and dated ideas about the net. Misterecho's thought processes spawned a fascinating thread on 1KM1KT, which I am glad to have participated in as well as learnt much from. Pop along there for some inspiration.

I do love the original Cyberpunk, and Cybergeneration. And Corporation. And other other Cyberpunk games. I know others have done this well but we think it should be done again. For free this time!

For those who love to link this sort of madness, please use the flyer above (resize as you need) or if you fancy, this simple banner:



It's free to enter, so what do you have to lose? Apart from your sanity. But then, you're a roleplayer, is your sanity realy intact? It's probably worth a swing for trading the tattered remains for £30!

First Birthday - Celebrate by joining me in rubbishing my own game

I have been blogging free RPGs for a year now. 63 posts scribed and 38 games 'reviewed'*. I ran a 24 hour competition, completing my own - Cloudship Atlantis. I've offered advice, started a Dictionary that will one day rival John Kim's and made some great friends.

So, how do I celebrate a year of enthusing and celebrating other people's work? By picking to death my own free game. Think of it as a mix of healthy self critique and an inevitable backlash of being nice for a whole year.

Icar - a dreadful vat of excrement

Icar by Rob Lang is a free science fiction roleplaying game set in a bland, plagiarised future. The fat of other genres has been scraped off and boiled in a stinking vat to produce a stock kitchen sink Sci Fi. Unintelligible rules, disparate formatting and penis inspired space craft are wrapped in a deceptively colourful cover. As we will discover, if you paint a turd then what you end up with is a painted turd.

Character Creation

Icar goes as far to provide a torturously long character creation mechanism that relies upon character classes called 'Skeletons' but fails to provide any. Every familiar term you have become accustomed to in roleplaying has been changed. Classes are 'Skeletons', Attributes are 'Stats' and Skills are... well, Skills but that's purely by accident.

You begin your journey into Icar with defining a character concept. How you are supposed to create a character concept without any idea of how the universe is put together is beyond me. After that, you define your Deviant. A Deviant is a representation of your characters personality. Are you Selfish or Generous? Foolhardy or Prudent? By how much? TELL US NOW! This must all be set from the start - a constricting fascistic approach to character creation. There is no room for exploring the character as you play in the Icar Third Reich.

Statistics can be rolled randomly or point applied (a good example of Rob's indecision - including both systems to bloat an already bursting tome), roll some skills (of which there are hundreds). It goes on. A never ending ocean of options, tables, detail, location based hit points, height, weight, age, hat size and underpant colour and texture. Still with me? Still awake? I forfeited my front teeth when I collapsed against my insufficiently padded keyboard.

Finally, you have the option for rolling randomly for Advantages and Disadvantages (confusingly named Psychotheatrics). Random selection will ruin the character concept you loving crafted at the start. It seems like a cruel final blow in the long struggle to create a character.

All of this is written down on a decimated copse load of paper, the first character sheet looking like the product of teenage nightmare.

Mechanics

Rob is not averse to packing a huge number of different mechanics into a single game. There's one for skills checks. One for close combat. One for firefighting, one for vehicle combat, one for hacking and one for space combat. There might as well be one for doing the dishes and breeding alpacas. Complexity is piled onto complexity, leaving your head spinning and eyes bleeding with the strain.

The close combat system is barely damaging and the weapons make firefighting lethal to the extreme. With no healing rules and no armour in the equipment section, your character can be vaporised in an instant. A horror that sends to back down the snake to square one, character creation. Hacking is so utterly complex that attempting it should be a MENSA entrance exam. It isn't fun. It isn't like hacking. As they say in flying circles: see and avoid.

Robert Lang shuns numbers

The most maddening part of the mechanics is that Rob has arithmophobia. Instead of plainly writing numbers into a nice plain box, you are forced into learning a system of triangles, circles and squares placed in a disc. It's the most senseless waste of game design I've ever had the misfortune to come across. I can write numbers perfectly well, Rob, don't force me to draw little glyphs. This isn't 2000 BC.

Setting

Icar is set so far into the future that most Sci Fi fan will lose interest. Although there are no vestiges of the real world, there is enough plagiarism from other Sci Fi it spawned to make you feel uncomfortably at home. Warrior monks with light swords, power armoured military types who are only mentioned in passing, a race of human-created robots hell bent on killing everyone, big nasty corporations, bland criminal organisations and a virtual world. A cornucopia of cliche. An Empire, which pretends to be benevolent but seems to be so all encompassing to be truly so, rules every minutiae of life. Just about every aspect of Icar is recognisable in a jarring, embarrassing sort of way - as if Rob has not realised that he is ripping off decades of Science Fiction.

It gets worse

The artwork is plain and the simply enormous number of unaffordable weapons, vehicles and space craft is mind boggling. One can only imagine that Rob feels inadequate about his genitalia as penis shaped space craft thrust from every page - pages that pleed to be printed. You can't write down a weapon's statistics in Icar, you must deforest the Amazon. Images scythe through the centre of pages, breaking the flow of text and are unlabelled. And a mystery to the reader. There are inexplicable areas of white space and he has clearly never read my guide to organising an RPG. Only the first of three character sheets is provided in the book, so you have to dig around on the website for the others. I have wasted enough time and bandwidth downloading this drivel, I don't want to be forced to return to the drab website to hunt for more things. The author claims that Icar has been playtested, making me want to set up a fund for those forced to endure years of this nonsense.

Where to go from here

The best thing Rob can do is copy the source files onto a hard drive and fire it into the sun. Then, with funding I will happily supply, chase down every printed copy and toss them into the heart of a nuclear reactor.

Conclusions

I can say without any doubt that Icar is definitely one of the most mind bogglingly dreadful roleplaying games I've read. A disparate, disjointed and disappointing mess. Mechanic heavy with no good reason, childishly decorated with penis space craft and teenage wet dream guns. If you have had the misfortune of laying your eyes on this pustule then I can heartily recommend scouring your eyes with bleach and undergoing a double lobotomy to rid yourself of the memory.

* It could be said that I don't really review the games I write about as I only read them. A fair comment. Ironically, the only game I have played is this one - the one I'm pouring scorn onto!

Prance across planes of reality with Superliga by Brendan

Superliga is a multi-genre RPG based on a bespoke d20 system. Superliga will see you characters exploring genre mashups: fight Knights with AK-47s, solve crime dramas with a magical axe, see off dragons in a mecha. This review concentrates on the main rulebook, which does a good job of setting down an ethos for the game. This is the second time I have cast a beady eye across it - the first time was to suggest some improvements to the layout (all of which have been implemented). The style is friendly, chatting and light hearted.

Superliga is written as if talking straight to the Overseer (GM) and suggests (with some light hearted winking, nudging jokery) that the GM is at war with the players. I, like Brendan, appreciate this is not the case with most roleplaying groups but I for one spend most Tuesday nights fighting a war on four fronts against minds marinaded in the love sauce of Beelzebub. The rules persistently remind the reader that the Overseer can give out points and overturn results but I would use this sparingly. And I am a megalomaniac.

Your Character

Your character is described by statistics, skills and equipment. Statistics are split into rolled primary statistics and secondary ones, derived through simple mathematics. The primaries are self explanatory: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intellect, Willpower, Magic and Luck. Roll 2D10 and sum for each. If you don't like the numbers, you discard the lot and re-roll (except Luck). Luck is the odd one out as it is used to augment other stats. Secondary statistics: Stack (physique or beefyness), Health, Resilience and Skill Points are calculated from the primary statistics. Skills are broad abilities and a single skill covers a range of different game affects and are bought with points. Skill and Stat checks are made using a d20 roll (with critical passes and failures) and opposed rolls use a d20 with adding 10 to the relevant statistic of the person doing the task and then subtracting the relevant statistic of the opposed. This does feel a little odd but does seem to work in the given examples.

The skill list is breathtaking in its size and detail. Brendan has opted to cover a range of skills from a variety of genres, including Fantasy and Science fiction. Although you do not get a lot of skills, there is loads to read for each one. They are organised into 'trees' to ensure you can do A before B.

Combat

The lowest Dexterity goes first, time is split into rounds and a player may do one action per round. To hit someone, you roll the relevant skill, roll for a location to hit. Critical passes do double damage, critical fails mean that there is some sort of fumble. There is crunch sprinkled on how damage affects the character.

Stuffs

There is an ample dictionary of equipment from flintlock pistols to AK-47. There are also some 'legendary items', which are super toys that the GM can dish out with care. Toys can have modifiers attached to them too, making them particularly good. A 'bestiary' of foes is hammered onto the back of the rules and is extensive. It begins to allude to the intended setting...

Setting

Superliga is a plethora of planes of reality, called Splinters. A Splinter is a genre such as medieval, fantasy, modern, sci fi and so on. Splinters sometimes merge, giving bionic cowboys or vikings with rocket launchers. You can move between the Splinters by using the Etherium, a foggy place. This would suggest travelling to a specific plane isn't very easy. A list of Splinters is given but setting documents are provided separately. There is a sample adventure (hurrah) that gives a good explanation of how a single game is run but not how all these planes stitch together.

Online and new

Superliga is new and online right now. Brendan is over at 1KM1KT as Bryndon and although this doesn't sound too important, it does make a big difference. He's keenly adding and improving Superliga given feedback. Alongside the rulebook is a campaign setting for Ancoria - lavishly put together. Intrigue and Expertise contains even more skills, abilities and optional rules. A Compendium of Marvellous Sights (still in Beta) is a huge companion of things to throw at your players. I mean things in the broadest sense - monsters and people with professions alike. Having an author active in the hobby is extremely important for a free game (well, I would say that, wouldn't I?!).

It is Version One

The Superliga system feels like Version One of something truly superb. I'd like to see some of the fluff taken out (it's 122 pages!), some pictures added in and a reorganisation. I would start with what the characters will get up to and describe the bones of the setting before getting into the mechanics. Introductory pieces to each section to lead the reader through each step and provide quick reference. The system has some clunky moments and could do with some more polish. For example the number of skill points are based on intelligence but if you've ended up with a low intelligence, you won't have many skill points. Instead of using intelligence, you can use other statistics but it limits what skills you can buy. It works but it's not very neat. There are a few places you get this feel of 'nearly done'. It is the setting and resources that makes Superlia super, I'd consider binning the system entirely and use a stock system such as Fudge, Fate, Jags or Yags.

Conclusions

If you've downloaded and read a bit of Superliga, you've already climbed aboard the runaway train that Superliga will become. There are screws left to tighten but the core idea is solid as granite. Superliga is doused in passion and the light style of writing draws you in. If you don't need a new system to run, get hold of Superliga and its source books for the sheer density of ideas. So packed it is that it might actually implode on itself. I applaud Brendan for a huge body of work, let's hope he carries on tweaking, improving and sharing.

Befriend, ride and obliterate bugs in Dragonfly by Jeffrey Schecter

Starship Troopers meets Pokemon in Dragonfly, a near-future Science Fiction RPG. Humans live alongside bugs. Some bugs you might want to eat. Some might want to eat you. Some might be your friends, pets, protector or transport. Some will be looking at you and wondering if you would look nice as a necklace.

Characters

Every character is connected to the bugs in some way. You begin by choosing a character role: Adept, Entomologist (someone who studies bugs), Hunter, Ranger or Rider (high ho, silver!). This role provides you will some points to spend on your familiar and novel attributes: Empathy, Entymology, Fitness, Survival, Technology and Willpower. On top of those, you also have a series of abilities, which are analogous to feats and skills. Some of them are profession based (I can do science, me) and some of them are physical or ethereal (stop thinking about me in those knickers, you filth!). You finish with picking your bug companions, pleasant ones, obviously. You don't want to be eaten by your own pet in the first session. Not unless you think that's funny. Which my players would.

Setting

Humanity has found itself on the system of Arthra, a delightfully balanced system with both variety and credibility. Humans are native of one planet (no mention of Earth) and live uneasily with a broad selection of bugs. From their homeworld, the humans have yawned and stretched with their 21st Century technology (spaceflight assumed to be vastly advanced) across the other worlds, taking full advantage of the diverse environments Jeffrey has carefully crafted. Technology is well explained, you have all the stuff you have today but you can travel between the planets with graceful ease.

The bugs are where the fun begins. Bugs are served in a broad array from intelligent, bovine, psychic, insectoid, gremlinoid and anything else you can turn your mind to. Some humans live in harmony with the bugs but that alone wouldn't be very interesting for a roleplaying game. In some places bugs and humans are at more loggerheads than teenage siblings. In these cases, the characters are brought in to investigate, understand or bring about the bugocalypse (bugapocalypse or bugalypse?).

Mechanics

Resolution is pleasantly familiar with a twist: players describe what they want to do. GM chooses the difficulty by giving a number of dice to roll. The player rolls them, sums them and compares them against the attribute or ability score. Equal or lower is a pass. The few dice the GM gives, the easier the task. There is a lean towards leaving the narration with the player but old-schoolers won't find it too obtrusive. Opposed rolls are performed by comparing the lowest-under-attribute score.

Conflicts are performed neatly thus: the person trying to do something rolls first. If they pass, the person trying to stop it, rolls against. If they pass, start again. Keep going until one person fails. Nice! There's a little more on combat, damage and modifiers but nothing too heavy. That's it.

The unfortunately named Currency is a player possessed pool of resources that can be spent to help tip the balance of rolls. Bugs are described in a cut-down version of the character and rules are included for training your bug to be your bestest friend to hug and squeeze and love for ever and ever (please leave a comment if you recognise that reference).

Beastly!

The bug description section is superb, accompanying images round it off perfectly. We all know what a fly looks like but having the graphics helps pull it together. There is a GM section too, which gives limited but solid advice. The character sheet is cool too.

Picky Picky Picky

The Starship Troopers connection is slightly misleading because in that film (I enjoyed the original immensely), the bugs were something to be butchered wholesale but Dragonfly is more subtle than that (fortunately). I'd also like to see an example adventure so that the GM knows what sort of game to run. If you're experienced, this is unlikely to be a problem - the setting has more than enough hooks to get your adventure juices flowing. The order of information could be rejigged to improve clarity - particularly to add some overviews to the start of sections. I'd quite like to see a 'This is what your characters will get up to' section too. As you can see by my commitment to my whinge-and-moan section, there's really little not to like with Dragonfly.

Summing Up

Dragonfly is a beautifully written 24 page PDF with an excellent layout and appropriate graphics. A novel, well considered setting that can be pulp or deepen to taste. If you're looking for insectoid monsters for your D&D campaign, there are some lovely ideas here that can be converted. Instead of psyonics, bugs that do magic, perhaps? Dragonfly will make an excellent addition to your RPG collection and an even more welcome at your gaming table. Many thanks, Jeffrey!

Old fashioned space opera, digitally remastered. Star Frontiers.

Join forces with friendly aliens against more angsty, less friendly aliens in an old-school space opera. Star Frontiers is an out-of-print TSR RPG that has been lovingly remastered by Bill Logan. It has the texture of old Sci Fi but the production values of a modern game. Characters will be laser toting, space ship driving, criminal chasing heroes. It's free now, so has stumbled into my domain!

Character Creation

Characters have four pairs of abilities: Strength/Stamina, Dexterity/Reaction Speed, Intuition/Logic, Personality/Leadership and are based in a percentile and are all named appropriately. Some other secondary attributes are derived from these, which gives skill bonuses. You pick a race, which modifies these scores. You then pick two skills, one as a specialisation and then another as something else you can do. After that, you buy equipment and finish with the details (name, weight etc).

Mechanics

When you perform and action that might have a chance of failure, you roll a percentile under one of the attributes. Modifiers are applied and opposed rolls are done with largest difference winning. As you might expect, every eventuality is catered for: running, jumping, swimming, floating in space, skipping, eating shellfish, wrangling mothers-in-law and peeling potatoes. Ok, not eating shellfish.

Echoes of roleplaying's wargame roots come out in the combat system. Lines of sight, fields of fire and so on. Combat turns are simply explained, initiative, loser decides what to do first. Break out the battlemaps! You can get as complex as you like with the firearms rules, careful aim, cover, bursts, target size, gun colour, shape and size of target's hat and so on are all included. If you like crunch, Star Frontiers has enough crunch to cause astronomical dental bills. Stamina is used to work out how much damage you can take where shields and armour makes the system a lot less lethal. Vehicle combat slides unashamedly into the realm of board games and another set of rules for air vehicles. Nothing for space vehicles, which was a welcome surprise! Experience is handed out if you exceed the expectations of your employer, which is a fitting touch.

The setting

Star Frontiers is set in a dense cluster of stars towards the galaxy's core. There are four friendly races (including a race very much like humans) and a race of unfriendly worm-like warriors who spoil every one else's fun. Boo! Hiss! Organising groups into good guys (United Planetary Federation) and bad guys from the start allows you to concentrate on the other space opera facets, such as faster than light travel and so on. The bad guys, faced with the combined might of the four races became hit-and-run guerillas in space.

The setting has a limited number of settled systems (17 with 23 planets in total) - enough for the choice you would come to expect from a space opera but not too many to be overwhelmed. It also includes 21 unexplored systems for the opportunity of throwing in gallivanting Kirkery into the mix. The colonies are well explained and there is a white-on-black map (printers beware!). There isn't too much detail, allowing the GM to add in their own little touches. The races are different enough to be make a fair number of interesting combinations.

Other sections

As with all truly old-school RPGs, nothing is left to chance: everything about roleplaying games is explained. You could dump this book on a base culture and it could use it as a basis for civilisation. There is an extensive weapon, equipment section and robot section; with pictures - some more Sci Fi than others (an M16?). The GM section is well put together (a third of the book) with some solid advice. It's a little bit authoritarian in places. If you are a fan of more story-based games, you might find the suggestions somewhat draconian. If you're saddled with disturbed, flesh-eating maniac players who exist in a moral vacuum like me, you'll welcome the Machiavellian tilt to the explanations. It has a very good example of actual play but this might be better put in the general section. There's also a bestiary of extraordinary animals. I liked the Cybodragon - a dragon with a laser on its head and a description of the bad guys. The last 40 pages is an example adventure. It's very good but I won't spoil it.

The book and community

Fat, chunky borders. Bold images. Angular fonts. It's got the right look. I never owned the original but I am willing to bet that this is as close as you will get. It feels like an old school RPG. It has a picture-assisted story to describe how the game runs. Bill is obviously thrilled at being given guardianship of Star Frontiers and he's making every use of it. There is a huge amount of supporting material. And I mean HUGE. I think most of it is remastered but that doesn't matter.

Is this your cup of tea?

My main reservation is inline with my reservations of old-school RPGs. They are wonderful time-capsules of a by-gone era but some of the more modern developments do make RPGs easier to play. The rules do stray into a board game, something I try to avoid in Icar and some of the images would delight a pubescent boy devoid of any right-hand literature. There is little space in the opera, most of the action occurs at ground level, so could be set on one planet with continents separating. Perhaps it is not surprising that there is little fault to find as this was a published game, once.

Conclude

Space opera born in a more innocent time, when RPGs had just walked upright and stepped away from their war game cousins. Star Frontiers will be very popular to the Old School crowd but I feel that there is plenty here for more liberal gamers, too. It is AD&D in space but it does it very well. It would be unfair to view the principles in Star Frontiers as a cliché, they are simply a bedrock upon which to build fantastic adventures. A huge thank you must be directed to Bill for putting so much time and effort into reviving and propelling Star Frontiers into its modern PDF form. He continues to do a superb job.

Many thanks and well done!

Ascend into the upper reaches of hyperbole with Sufficiently Advanced by Colin Fredericks

Sufficiently Advanced by Colin Frederick is a free Science Fiction RPG set in the distant future where possessions are cheap and wealth is derived from intellectual property. Dive into a narrative driven system of wildly imaginative Civilisations, intrigue and the very pinacle of technology. A great work, plastered with passion and inventiveness. You'd be foolish not to download it.

The genius is in the setting

Imagine a future where physical objects are so cheap to produce that they cost virtually nothing. You want for nothing. Travel is free and there is an infinite galaxy to inhabit and explore. What holds value in a place where physical things have no worth? Ideas and intellectual property. That is the nub of Sufficiently Advanced: the premise that ideas are worth money. It's novel and bloody clever to boot. If you're scared by that idea, then I recommend averting your eyes as the rest of this review might just send you into a cardiac arrest. The logical flow of thought from this strong initial condition is palpable... Patent offices act as treasuries, as ideas replace gold as the base of currency.

Your character is an agent of the patent office, a daring mix of roles from law enforcer to diplomat via assassin and bastard. Essentially, anything you can turn your hand to, which gives loads of scope for the game. As Colin points out: you're not a patent clerk. So, no need to come up with your own theory of space and time, then.

The Patent Office is run by a series of Artificial Intelligences called Transcendentals that receive messages from themselves in the future. This is where the characters get their marching orders from. Fantastic! This allows the GM to justify just about anything. Cue evil laughing around the GM fraternity. Ally that with planet-vaporising technology that comes with a handle-with-care sticker emblazoned upon it and you have the ingredients for some tense situations. Obviously, I'd never hand that sort of power over to my players, they'd abuse it within the flash of an eyelash and the universe would be sucked into a galaxy-sized black hole before you could say "Don't point that at me..."

In the course of play, Characters will visit a civilisation, ascertain the elements of the dispute and then try and "fix it", through a variety of means; limited only by the player's cunning or love of planet-busting nukes. The cultures are most likely to be one of the fourteen Civilisations or a subsidiary group:

Civilisations

Colin has raised two rigid and proud digits to "Earth" and the tediously cliched area around it (bravo!) and settled on the limits of the Universe as his boundaries. Plenty of scope there, then. To make life more manageable (how do you manage infinity? infinitely badly!), there are 14 core Civilisations for you to play in, around and with. Each one is distinct, with conflicting principles and some are a little wacky. Frivolity is well represented as you might hope from a universe where survival is free. Some of the Civilisation are sheer genius, such as "The Association of Stored Humans". Brilliant.

Your mind might be boggling at all the possibilities of interaction between the 14 disparate Civilisations and a series of other organisations but Colin has provided a handy diagram to represent them all and their relationships. A relief to see that some Civilisations just don't have much to do with each other. Even the soap opera addled mind of a couch potato could rustle enough starch driven brain power to conjure a campaign from it.

Societies and Aliens

The are organisations that stretch across the different civilisations. They are simply described but can be affective in finding common goals with characters from different civilisations. I was reminded feintly of secret societies from Paranoia but without the necessary secrecy. There are also four alien species, each with their own facets. I'd imagine that you could play without them if you felt so inclined. Colin doesn't dwell upon them so neither shall I.

Character Creation

After such an incredible setting, Colin could have defecated onto papyrus and it would not have mattered. But no! There's a complete system and Character creation too. You begin with choosing a Civilisation. This sets up the sort of person you are. You then choose four Core Values (such as Worship or Humanity), which are hinted at by your Civilisation. You then assign how strong these are to you on a simple 0 to 10 scale. Core Values aren't fixed, so there is a list provided covering everything I could think of. You then pick a name, which you have some help with too. Next, you choose your Society Membership, which will give you some more in-game benefits.

Rather than statistics, you get six Themes: Plot Immunity, Intrigue, Empathy, Magnetism, Comprehension and Romance. You get a score in each of these. As you can tell from the names, they are less about doing physical things (jumping, carrying, thinking) and more about putting influence on the story of the game. That would put a story telling lilt to the game. Each Theme influences the game through things called Twists, which more tightly define an action, such as persuading someone not to shoot you in the face.

You then choose the Capabilities of the character, which describe the inherited abilities - such as training, implants or genetic enhancements. No skill lists are needed either, you pick a profession that generally covers a load of skills. There is little Character advancement in this game but there is plenty of character modification for those who want that. At first glance, this is a worrying trait but then it does make sense: your characters can't be first-level freshmen to do their job.

Mechanics

When you want to do end diplomatic stalemates, end wars, start diplomatic stalemates or start wars then you need to choose which Profession and Capability are most applicable. Roll a d10 for each, multiply the roll by the skill and then take the highest. Colin's example is the best, so if you want to play football well you roll a D10 for each: Athletics skill level 3 (Profession) and Biotech level 4 (Capability), you roll 4 and 7 respectively, you end up with 12 and 28. 28 is higher. You then modify this number and compare against a difficulty table.

You can spend 'Reserve' to re-roll. Reserve is gleaned from the facet you know is weaker. In the example above, Athletics is weaker, so you can use that as reserve instead of rolling for it. Conflicting rolls are highest-wins with some extra methods for dealing with reserve.

This simple system is somewhat undermined by listing a whole load of different conflicts that might occur. I have come across this problem with the rewrite of Icar, you have to end up specifying so much. Close combat, weapon combat, vehicle combat, ship combat, etc etc. If you have a system that acts upon the narrative, you have even more conflicts to resolve. How do I resolve an Advertising Campaign? What about a Manhunt? There is so much here that you would have to put considerable effort into resolving any issues. Add onto this your Themes acting upon these actions (in the form of Twists and story Triggers) and I'd imagine the game slowing. Having examples of the sorts of Conflicts that might arise - as an example of play - is fine but to specify so many is somewhat bewelidering. The way my group likes to play is to resolve conflicts at the table, in open play, arguing, shouting, throttling each other and sacrificing quadrapeds in a candle-lit vigil to some evil filth messiah who's secretly terrified of his roleplayer followers and wished they would stop cremating farm animals on the new carpet.

Other sections and the Book

As you might hope, there is a huge list of technology to salivate over. I'd recommend dipping the whole lot into acrylic. Every far future technology available to common man is described and has game effect. As obsessed as I am with high tech, I felt that there needed to be more organisation here and some careful pruning. A few more images in this section for the more outlandish devices would help too. The GM section has some tips and tricks and relies heavily on suggesting the GM improvises. There are some example hints at adventures but not an end-to-end example of play. The Contents page is well ordered and the Index is simply breathtaking. The graphics are of a high quality and spattered throughout (with a bias toward the first half). The bordering is a little large (as is the text) but it does give the book a grand feel to it, so fits beautifully.

You can't have everything

Sufficiently Advanced is a rich setting, which might put some off. The Quick Start is anything but. It won't get you playing in an hour but acts as more of a series of sign posts to help you through the background. I was rather saddened by this because I read "Quick Start" only to spend three hours reading! I also wanted to see how Colin had managed to quick start a Sci Fi game so I could crib for my own devious and filthy ends! It's a fearfully tricky task to achieve.

Sufficiently Advanced is crying out for a full adventure and lots of examples of play. I like novel systems. When reading 2 or 3 games a week, seeing something very different is a blessing. However, the burden is then on the game to provide more examples of play - you simply can't rely on the reader's previous experience. Having said that, the principles are well explained and the writing is consistently good. Colin has an obsession with abbreviations. Core Values jump from their full title to CVs, which can be jarring. I'd recommend avoiding abbreviations altogether. There is also no character sheet, which is a shame as I imagine it would be rather good with gold bordering and such. No doubt the reason is that no two characters are Sufficiently similar to warrant a standard format.

Sufficiently concluded

Sufficiently Advanced is just that. It is a step forward on the RPG evolution track. Some may like that, some may not. The system has its foibles that very well may evaporate in play. The setting is so strong that the system could very well be replaced by the Fate system with no detriment to play. I'd go further: you could replace the mechanics with a block of mature cheddar cheese and a claw hammer without ruining this sublime setting. Sufficiently Advanced has successfully married together every single possible piece of Sci Fi technology I can think of into a single, cohesive setting. A remarkable achievement. One hundred and Eighty Six pages of golden charm, wrapped in high-tech delight and pregnant with imagination.

Many thanks for sharing, Colin.

P.S. Why isn't this for sale? Are you barking mad? ;-)

GM gone down with the plague? Fill your evening with Sketch by Farsight Games

The Sketch system by Jonathan Hicks of Farsight Games is a generic rule system designed for fast one shot play. Print, light the fuse, stand well back and enjoy. What's more Farsight have a load of resources to act as fuel to the fire. The rules are clean, quick and short. So short, in fact, that this review also covers the Bladerunner setting, also free on the site.

Character Creation

A Sketch Character comprises of Strength and Skills. Strength is a measure of the amount of punnishment you can take and is calculated by 1D3+2. A value of zero means you fall over with stars circulating around your head and negative values mean that you're dead (not restin', nor pining for the fjords). A character gets six skills as standard and these act as groups for things you do. For example 'Water' is a skill for anything to do with boats, swimming and so on. Some examples are given of the skill groups but more are given in the scenarios (see Bladerunner below). The values of the skills are decided by the player. Rather harshly, you split the values 6,5,4,3,2,1 between each of your skills. And that's it! The suitably simple character sheet has spaces for height, age, weight, description and equipment too but there's no rules for that.

Mechanic

Blink and you'll miss it. For task resolution, pick the skill that best matches whatever you want to do, GM gives a modifier depending on how difficult the task is, roll a D6, get under the modified skill value. 1s are always passes, 6s are always fails. Rounds last 5 seconds. For opposing rolls, roll a D6 and add the skill to it, highest wins. Ties mean re-rolls. Ignore the automatic pass/fail for opposed rolls. The amount of damage bleedy-hurty-ness depends on your weapon (head, knife, pistol, orbiting laser). You take the damage off the strength score, healing it back at 1 per 24 hours or some if you can find a doctor.

The book

Six pages. There's no fluff. There's more fluff in this sentance than there is in the whole book. There's no pictures, which is a shame. A nice front cover might lift it and the text is large enough for the myopic other half to read from across the room but it's well laid out and the grammar and spelling is good throughout. You can read it and digest it in about 5 minutes.

Bladerunner

Jonathan shares my love for Bladerunner. To keep the scenario book short, he's recommended that all the players watch the film. No hardship there! Even with that introduction, Jonathan goes on to do a good description of the post Terminus War world. Sitting cheek by jowl with Bladerunner film imagery are atmospheric quotes:

Evenings are a neon-lit, rain soaked vision of bleakness and the daytime of consists of a smog-shrouded sun, the light of which barely touches street level.

Writing like that belongs in a full price setting.

There is a brief run through of the rules, which only takes a few pages (naturally) and the skills provided are sensible and fit the setting well. There are a few extra rules of vehicle damage (else you might destroy a motorbike by headbutting it three times). All the main parts of the Bladerunner world are described in depth from Voight-Kampff tests through to the Replicants. It reads a little bit more like a description of the finer points of the film, rather than a reference that is easily used by a GM or player. There are some hooks, philosophy and dare I say a just enough fluff to pack a belly button.

Although it's written well, it's not quite written to the tennet of 'Run it in a night'. The bare minimum description should be included but after that, there should be a short equipment list, some character types and then a fully featured adventure, with maps, NPCs and a few short things to do. It's recommended that a map of the local town is used but you might not live in a filthy metropolis like I do. I want to be able to print Bladerunner out, leave it in my gaming bag and then when my overconfident players blow themselves and their planet up in the first eight minutes of a session, I can whip it out (fnar fnar) and we're playing in a very short period of time. The setting doesn't quite do that for me.

Community and support

Beyond Bladerunner, there is a Horror, Star Wars and generic Space Opera scenario. Plenty for any GM to get their teeth into. Given the smart looking website, which is updated regularly (dates are DD.MM.YYYY) I think you can expect more and more from Jonathan. There's no forum but it's obvious that Jonathan wants to be contacted and he acts as Editor for an ezine, ODDS. I'd like to see a forum, hosted on the excellent and not exclusive ukroleplayers perhaps?

Conclusions

This review in danger of being longer than the game, which oozes Jonathan's liquid passion. Sketch forfills its desire. It's so fast, you need to down four cans of Coke just to keep up. The system is the perfect substrate for a group of gamers who just want to play something and could grow a game from thin air. The scenarios add a little needed flesh. Bladerunner could be organised a little better but frankly, if I said "It's Bladerunner" to my baby-eating players, within a breath they'd be pulling their PKDs accuse each other of syntheticity (I'm leaving that word in to etymologically irritate my Latin-gobbling wife) before Voight-Kampffing each other and spreading each other over the rain soaked pavement. It would be an evening well enjoyed. Mission accomplished. I love Sketch, it's bloody perfect for its job.

Print it out and stick it into your game bag for when your players decide to tweak the nose of the God-come-evil-personified that you slung into the campaign as an interesting undercurrent but was then sought out by those suicidal story wrecking idiots and suddenly you have a group of slavering players, an evening and you're missing a game. That's a long sentance. You won't find any of those in Sketch!

Many thanks Jonathan!

No need to take up a life of crime, free stuff to feed your fantasy RPG habit

I've been saving up a whole hamper of Christmas goodies. Firstly, we have a list of free paper models for fantasy, modern and Sci Fi, a computer tool for generating city maps at the click of a button and more tables than you can shake an entire tree at. Put down that shotgun, there's no need to raid that local supermarket to pay for your embarrassing RPG addiction, get stuck into some of this.

Free Paper Minis

Some people like lead. Some people like mild steel. Others like vulcanised rubber. For those of us who just like free stuff, there are paper minis. Paper minis are download-print-cut-fold and stick. Of course, with the help of a responsible adult. Looking at my player group of 20 and 30 somethings, responsible adults are in short supply! I like the idea of paper minis: you can squash villains with a fist, if tried with their lead counterparts would result in a trip to hospital and a rather embarrassing explanation of why a skeletal necromancer is embedded in the side of your hand. Here's a selection of places where you can get hold of paper minis, from little people through to buildings and other wargamey goodness.

• D&D Buildings by Wizards of the Coast, a company I love and hate equally, have 13 paper buildings for your Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Scaled correctly for your standard 35mm miniatures but you could use smaller by reducing the print size.
  
• Tiles, Houses and Heroes by Microtactix. Amongst the non-free stuff (scroll down) you'll find free gems of little buildings, modern and fantasy and fold-able characters. Smashing. I like the little WW2 houses in particular.
  
• Spaceships, rockets and fighters by Erick Muñoz are a Science Fiction delight. A range of ships (mostly from the PC Game Homeworld) can be used for just about any Sci Fi and they are of exceptional quality. No doubt, you'll have to have some skill to make these. Those with cack-handed boxing gloves on the ends of their arms like me might turn out abstract beauties from these highly detailed paper models.
  
• Horror selection from Raven's Blight has a ghoulish array of ghost houses, coffins, zombies and vampires. They lilt toward the cartoony but I think Cthulhu aficionados will find something here to amuse.
  
• Star Wars and Star Trek models at Skip's Paper Sci-Fi has 8 lovely ships that might require quite a lot of work but are free and splendid nonetheless.
  
• Star Trek mini maker by Wayne Peters is a super tool where you select body, clothing, hair, gadgets and so on. The builder makes the mini right in front you. What a great idea.
  
• Character paper minis in Arion Games's freebie section has a few PDFs of free minis. It's something of a hodge-podge but they minis are beautifully presented. I think it might be clever marketing by free sample but that's ok. They're rendered images, which is a nice change and makes the Sci Fi ones particularly good.
  
• Cartoony everything at Oversoul games amongst a raft of fabulous freeness (all on the list for future reviews) are some lovely cartoony miniatures.
  
• Dr Who minis by Craig Griswold, the same chap who gave us Into The Shadows has offered some smashing little minis. Ok, you might not want to use the ones that look just like the Doctors but the bad-guys, assistants and so on are generic enough to use in any moder game.
  
• Font based minis by S. John Ross from the creator of Encounter Critical (the system behind the barking mad Asteroid 1618) gives us a bunch of fonts that are laid out for minis. You need to do a little more work than the PDF ones but I love them!
• 
  [Added!]Fantasy characters and monsters from Age of Fable who has collated a number of Order of the Stick inspired minis for your printing pleasure. Inspired they are. Nice work all involved there.
• [Added!]Paper mini fonts by T. Jordan "Greywolf" Peacock are another lovely set of mini fonts for characters, space craft and other bits you might find in a dungeon. (Thanks Age of Fable)

City Map Generator

Obsessive cartographer types, avert your eyes! The City Map Generator is a Windows application that creates beautiful maps of cities at a click of a few buttons. Within a few moments, I had managed to create a city with buildings, rivers, a wall, plant life and more. Sadly, the website that it was home to has disappeared off the web (original here) but the downloads are available across the web. The maps do look a bit samey but then I'd argue that most fantasy/historical towns do. You can export to different formats for labelling streets. Even looking at my fiddling-about test runs, I can see mugger's alleys, bustling thoroughfares and market squares. And that's my Sci Fi addled mind. We can only hope that the original developer (who goes uncredited on the application) pops up and says hello, because I'd love to congratulate and thank him/her/them/it.

Tables for fantasy

Age of Fable has produced a plethora of Tables for fantasy games. There are 228 of them. That's staggering. Normally, quantity means a spinning plummet of the quality level. Not so here, all the tables I read through (admittedly not all 228) were well written and contained some great ideas. The tables are not specific to a single system, so even if you're using a system written in your own blood on the carcass of a swan, there's something here for you. Don't be put off with the simple design, they make for very easy printing or ready straight off a laptop at your gaming table. Many thanks

Just a brief note...

My next article will be published in the new year, I do hope you all have a fantastic holiday season and see you again in 2009.