The Inside Scoop on Gaming

As its designers admitted in my recent interview with them, TSR consciously used the "AD&D" business model for Alternity. This meant, among other things, that the core game books would consist of two hardcover volumes, one for players and the other for referees. The Gamemaster Guide (GMG) thus concentrates on those elements of Alternity that concern the running of the game. As such, it has minimal value for gamers who have no interest in becoming a GM (although I say this with a few caveats, as you'll see below).

Like the Player's Handbook (PHB), the Gamemaster Guide is well-made hardcover book with a full-color illustration. The illustration, by rk post, isn't bad, but it isn't very exciting either. I much preferred the cover art of the PHB. Nevertheless, the interior art of the book is generally good and adds some flavor to a few of the chapters. I should also point out that the layout of the book is easy on the eyes. I had little trouble spending any length of time reading the GMG.

That said, let's turn to the meat of the book. Most of the initial chapters of the GMG mirror chapters in the PHB. In my view, this isn't a bad idea, as it gives beginning GMs (for whom this book was obviously written) a simple means of correlating its advice with the pertinent sections of the PHB's rules. While it's hardly an inspired idea, it is a practical one.

The GMG begins with an introductory adventure, "Cauldron Station," that is meant to go along with the fast-play rules in the PHB. Sadly, it's not a very good adventure. It reminded me a bit of the classic Star Trek episode, "Devil in the Dark," in which our heroes must defend miners against an aggressive alien presence. Unlike Trek, though, "Cauldron Station" is a simple shoot-'em-up without any of cheesy pathos that made "Devil in the Dark" so memorable. On the other hand, I doubt that either Baker or Slavicsek had much more in mind than showing off the Alternity rules. In that regard, the adventure is fine. Being the nitpicker I am, I just wish they had come up with something more significant.

The first few chapters give solid, if predictable, advice about how to use Alternity's rules. There are also several sections that show how the rules may be customized for a GM's home-made milieu. Chief among these is the alien design section, something that many people think should have been in the PHB. While I understand the arguments in this regard, I think they're wrong-headed. Sure, I find the inclusion of Star*Drive's aliens in the PHB to be a bad design decision. After all, they're not really generic races suitable for any Alternity campaign. At the same time, including alien design rules in the player's book is also wrong, as it belongs to the GM to determine which races he'll use in his campaign.

All that aside, I suspect that veteran gamers will find the GMG's first few chapters tedious reading. If they haven't already learned nearly all the advice included there, they should probably try another hobby. I imagine, however, that veterans weren't the target audience for this sections. If Alternity is to gain and keep a foothold in the SF gaming market, it has to attract newbies. TSR is right to do what it can to encourage this. Still, it doesn't mean that I have to enjoy reading yet another "What is Roleplaying?" section of a new RPG.

For me, Chapter 8: Rewards was one of the most liberating and mystifying chapters in the book. I say liberating because it gives GMs the go-ahead to jettison character levels to the dust-bin of first generation RPGs. I say mystifying because, given this, I see no reason why anyone would use levels except perhaps newbies who made the pilgrimage from AD&D. Once more, I direct everyone to my interview with Baker and Slavicsek. They give some of the rationale behind their inclusion of levels. While I understand and even appreciate what they say there, I still don't wholly buy it. Any Alternity game I run (and believe me, I will run them –– I think this is a solid game) will dispense with levels entirely. They do very little in Alternity anyway, so why keep this RPG version of tonsils?

Later chapters deal with a number of common elements of SF that didn't (and indeed couldn't) be treated fully in the PHB. Foremost among them are vehicle and starship rules. The rules for both of these important areas are good and fit nicely into the structure of the game. However, neither one is very detailed. Indeed, the starship combat section handles only small skirmishes and explicitly leaves out combats between capital ships. Many people will see this as a huge cop-out. In some sense it is. However, very few SF RPGs ever include detailed vehicle and starship combat rules in their core books. Some even bring out separate, boxed games to handle these matters. Given that tradition, why should Alternity be held to a higher standard? Besides, there's a starship book coming out in January 1999 that should fill in the gaps left by the GMG.

The rest of the book includes chapters on a variety of topis, including alien artifacts, star system creation, cybernetics, mutations, and similar things. Like so much in the GMG, they are solidly written, but rather uninspired. It's always good to have these chapters for reference, but I doubt that anyone but beginners will get many ideas from them. An appendix includes conversion rules between AD&D and Alternity. I suppose this was inevitable, but I am not pleased by it. Alternity already suffers from the stigma of being "AD&D in Space." I don't think that this appendix will change many minds on that score. It may, in fact, confirm such prejudices.

That brings me to some final thoughts. All in all, the GMG is a decent book that will serve beginners well. Veterans will still need it, but the amount of material that they'll find truly useful is small. In some ways, Alternity is no less playable with just the PHB. The GMG contains little other than the vehicle and starship rules that is essential.

As a result, I'm giving the GMG a rather mediocre rating. It's nothing revolutionary, but it isn't bad either. The same is not true of Alternity as a whole. Alternity is actually a rather good game, although it is far from cutting edge (whatever that means). Let me be honest: I didn't like Alternity when it was first released. I thought it was a sad attempt to port AD&D-style gaming into SF. That's a very common belief these days. I can't tell you how many people I know have this unthinking prejudice against it. Most know nothing about the game other than it's published by TSR. Fewer still have actually played the game.

Over time and with some reflection, I overcame my prejudice and gave Alternity a fair shake. As I said, it's a good game. It's not a great game. It won't change the industry or put roleplaying on the front pages of North America's newspapers the way AD&D did in days of yore. Yet, that doesn't count against Alternity. Alternity is, I think, a better generic system for SF than AD&D is for fantasy. It's very flexible and can be easily reworked with little effort. While there are certainly some SF genres that would be harder to play in Alternity than others, I do think it's a remarkably adaptable game system.

So what does this mean? I like Alternity. I think it's quite undeserving of the scorn heaped upon it by those who've never read it, let alone played it. Does that mean that you should like it too? No. But I do think you should be aware of what Alternity really is before you criticize it unduly. Believe me, there are many point to criticize and I have already pointed out several of them here and elsewhere. Yet, I think Alternity's here for the long haul. For SF fans, that's a good thing. With WOTC/TSR behind it, Alternity is yet another indication of the coming renaissance in SF gaming.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Alternity Gamemaster Guide
Author: Richard Baker and Bill Salvicsek Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR, Inc. Cost: $29.95 Page count: 256 ISBN: 0-7869-0729-0 Playtest Review by James Maliszewski on 10/31/98. Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future Space Generic	As its designers admitted in my recent interview with them, TSR consciously used the "AD&D" business model for Alternity. This meant, among other things, that the core game books would consist of two hardcover volumes, one for players and the other for referees. The Gamemaster Guide (GMG) thus concentrates on those elements of Alternity that concern the running of the game. As such, it has minimal value for gamers who have no interest in becoming a GM (although I say this with a few caveats, as you'll see below). Like the Player's Handbook (PHB), the Gamemaster Guide is well-made hardcover book with a full-color illustration. The illustration, by rk post, isn't bad, but it isn't very exciting either. I much preferred the cover art of the PHB. Nevertheless, the interior art of the book is generally good and adds some flavor to a few of the chapters. I should also point out that the layout of the book is easy on the eyes. I had little trouble spending any length of time reading the GMG. That said, let's turn to the meat of the book. Most of the initial chapters of the GMG mirror chapters in the PHB. In my view, this isn't a bad idea, as it gives beginning GMs (for whom this book was obviously written) a simple means of correlating its advice with the pertinent sections of the PHB's rules. While it's hardly an inspired idea, it is a practical one. The GMG begins with an introductory adventure, "Cauldron Station," that is meant to go along with the fast-play rules in the PHB. Sadly, it's not a very good adventure. It reminded me a bit of the classic Star Trek episode, "Devil in the Dark," in which our heroes must defend miners against an aggressive alien presence. Unlike Trek, though, "Cauldron Station" is a simple shoot-'em-up without any of cheesy pathos that made "Devil in the Dark" so memorable. On the other hand, I doubt that either Baker or Slavicsek had much more in mind than showing off the Alternity rules. In that regard, the adventure is fine. Being the nitpicker I am, I just wish they had come up with something more significant. The first few chapters give solid, if predictable, advice about how to use Alternity's rules. There are also several sections that show how the rules may be customized for a GM's home-made milieu. Chief among these is the alien design section, something that many people think should have been in the PHB. While I understand the arguments in this regard, I think they're wrong-headed. Sure, I find the inclusion of StarDrive's aliens in the PHB to be a bad design decision. After all, they're not really generic races suitable for any Alternity* campaign. At the same time, including alien design rules in the player's book is also wrong, as it belongs to the GM to determine which races he'll use in his campaign. All that aside, I suspect that veteran gamers will find the GMG's first few chapters tedious reading. If they haven't already learned nearly all the advice included there, they should probably try another hobby. I imagine, however, that veterans weren't the target audience for this sections. If Alternity is to gain and keep a foothold in the SF gaming market, it has to attract newbies. TSR is right to do what it can to encourage this. Still, it doesn't mean that I have to enjoy reading yet another "What is Roleplaying?" section of a new RPG. For me, Chapter 8: Rewards was one of the most liberating and mystifying chapters in the book. I say liberating because it gives GMs the go-ahead to jettison character levels to the dust-bin of first generation RPGs. I say mystifying because, given this, I see no reason why anyone would use levels except perhaps newbies who made the pilgrimage from AD&D. Once more, I direct everyone to my interview with Baker and Slavicsek. They give some of the rationale behind their inclusion of levels. While I understand and even appreciate what they say there, I still don't wholly buy it. Any Alternity game I run (and believe me, I will run them –– I think this is a solid game) will dispense with levels entirely. They do very little in Alternity anyway, so why keep this RPG version of tonsils? Later chapters deal with a number of common elements of SF that didn't (and indeed couldn't) be treated fully in the PHB. Foremost among them are vehicle and starship rules. The rules for both of these important areas are good and fit nicely into the structure of the game. However, neither one is very detailed. Indeed, the starship combat section handles only small skirmishes and explicitly leaves out combats between capital ships. Many people will see this as a huge cop-out. In some sense it is. However, very few SF RPGs ever include detailed vehicle and starship combat rules in their core books. Some even bring out separate, boxed games to handle these matters. Given that tradition, why should Alternity be held to a higher standard? Besides, there's a starship book coming out in January 1999 that should fill in the gaps left by the GMG. The rest of the book includes chapters on a variety of topis, including alien artifacts, star system creation, cybernetics, mutations, and similar things. Like so much in the GMG, they are solidly written, but rather uninspired. It's always good to have these chapters for reference, but I doubt that anyone but beginners will get many ideas from them. An appendix includes conversion rules between AD&D and Alternity. I suppose this was inevitable, but I am not pleased by it. Alternity already suffers from the stigma of being "AD&D in Space." I don't think that this appendix will change many minds on that score. It may, in fact, confirm such prejudices. That brings me to some final thoughts. All in all, the GMG is a decent book that will serve beginners well. Veterans will still need it, but the amount of material that they'll find truly useful is small. In some ways, Alternity is no less playable with just the PHB. The GMG contains little other than the vehicle and starship rules that is essential. As a result, I'm giving the GMG a rather mediocre rating. It's nothing revolutionary, but it isn't bad either. The same is not true of Alternity as a whole. Alternity is actually a rather good game, although it is far from cutting edge (whatever that means). Let me be honest: I didn't like Alternity when it was first released. I thought it was a sad attempt to port AD&D-style gaming into SF. That's a very common belief these days. I can't tell you how many people I know have this unthinking prejudice against it. Most know nothing about the game other than it's published by TSR. Fewer still have actually played the game. Over time and with some reflection, I overcame my prejudice and gave Alternity a fair shake. As I said, it's a good game. It's not a great game. It won't change the industry or put roleplaying on the front pages of North America's newspapers the way AD&D did in days of yore. Yet, that doesn't count against Alternity. Alternity is, I think, a better generic system for SF than AD&D is for fantasy. It's very flexible and can be easily reworked with little effort. While there are certainly some SF genres that would be harder to play in Alternity than others, I do think it's a remarkably adaptable game system. So what does this mean? I like Alternity. I think it's quite undeserving of the scorn heaped upon it by those who've never read it, let alone played it. Does that mean that you should like it too? No. But I do think you should be aware of what Alternity really is before you criticize it unduly. Believe me, there are many point to criticize and I have already pointed out several of them here and elsewhere. Yet, I think Alternity's here for the long haul. For SF fans, that's a good thing. With WOTC/TSR behind it, Alternity is yet another indication of the coming renaissance in SF gaming. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)

Alternity Gamemaster Guide