The Inside Scoop on Gaming

When it comes to Heavy Gear, Dream Pod 9 seems incapable of doing wrong.

The first of Heavy Gear's leaguebooks covers the Northern Lights Confederacy, which is the head and the anchor of the Confederated Northern City-States. The subtitle is "Land of the Prophet." and it sums the theme of the book, which is the role that faith plays in human civilization- for good or ill. As science-fiction goes, I'm pleased with how they handled this topic. It is respectful, intelligent, savvy and filled with hordes of plot hooks. (Compare this, if you dare, to Multiverser and how the personal theology of the designers' fundamentalist Christianity obliterated what normally would be a poor, but quirky, RPG.)

The league's introduction and history are well-written works, starting from the end of Earth's dominion and working towards the present. Shortly after the recovery began, Revisionism began and its history became intimately intertwined with that of the NLC, and later that of the CNCS. As one would expect, the worst and the best of the league's history centers upon the new Revisionist faith. (These are the first and second chapters.)

The league's politics are Chapter Three, and that also a damned good read. This is one topic that's not well-executed in RPGs, especially the big-time electoral politics of a nation-state like the NLC. There's been a push to emphasize non-military campaigns for Heavy Gear, and this is one of the books that really drives this home; politics is a natural for an intrigue-laden campaign. The fundamentalist drive in the Revisionist church drove a wedge between the faithful majority and the minority faiths in the NLC, and all that stands between them is a moderate minority of Revisionists who hold key offices- along with the few followers they possess.

Chapter Four covers foreign relations, starting with the other northern leagues and going south from there. It appears that the NLC is akin to America's Bible Belt; the Revisionist Church is increasingly political, militant and fundamentalist. This leads to an expansionist policy within the church, and that leads to an intolerant and prosleytizing attitude in the faithful. In turn, this leads to a push to legislate Revisionist dogma into CNCS law as well as incessant discrimination against the heathens. (This is the crux of the NLC's hatred of the Southern Republic and its Allied Southern Territories.)

The NLC's regions make up Chapter Five. All of the league's member-states see print and each of them has a distinctive character, culture and issues. Each of these is ripe for the picking, giving GMs plot hook after plot hook around which they can build individual adventures or whole campaigns. (I'm partial to Innsbruck, Sesshu and Zagazig.)

Chapter Six covers culture and society. The national character of the NLC, Sorrento Revisionism and Clearwater Jerusalemism all find extensive treatement in this chapter. They give context to the rest of the book, and the wise gamer will read this again and again until it becomes second-nature; playing (or running) Norlights requires this level of attention to detail, or the characters won't look or feel like real Norlights would.

Chapter Seven puts it all together into game terms. From designing a Norlight character to the special items that Revisionist monks carry on their person, it's all here and it's ready for immediate use. Character templates, unique weapons, Norlight-specific campaigns and much more awaits you here.

Finally, Chapter Eight addresses the flora and fauna that is unique to the NLC. This is both important for gameplay and for establishing proper atmosphere, much like the lizard beasties that wander around Stan Sakai's furry Japan in "Usagi Yojimbo."

If you love, run or play Heavy Gear then get this book. If you haven't, read this anyway. You'll see a far-future world that's well deserving of the hype. Either way, get a copy!

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

CNCS Leaguebook One: Northern Lights Confederacy- Land of the Prophet
Author: Philippe Boulle, Alistair Gillies, Mark Hofmann, Jeff Mackintosh and Guy-Franciis Vella Category: game Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9 Cost: $19.95 (US) Page count: 128 pages ISBN: 1-876776-16-7 Capsule Review by Bradford C. Walker on 11/09/98. Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future	When it comes to Heavy Gear, Dream Pod 9 seems incapable of doing wrong. The first of Heavy Gear's leaguebooks covers the Northern Lights Confederacy, which is the head and the anchor of the Confederated Northern City-States. The subtitle is "Land of the Prophet." and it sums the theme of the book, which is the role that faith plays in human civilization- for good or ill. As science-fiction goes, I'm pleased with how they handled this topic. It is respectful, intelligent, savvy and filled with hordes of plot hooks. (Compare this, if you dare, to Multiverser and how the personal theology of the designers' fundamentalist Christianity obliterated what normally would be a poor, but quirky, RPG.) The league's introduction and history are well-written works, starting from the end of Earth's dominion and working towards the present. Shortly after the recovery began, Revisionism began and its history became intimately intertwined with that of the NLC, and later that of the CNCS. As one would expect, the worst and the best of the league's history centers upon the new Revisionist faith. (These are the first and second chapters.) The league's politics are Chapter Three, and that also a damned good read. This is one topic that's not well-executed in RPGs, especially the big-time electoral politics of a nation-state like the NLC. There's been a push to emphasize non-military campaigns for Heavy Gear, and this is one of the books that really drives this home; politics is a natural for an intrigue-laden campaign. The fundamentalist drive in the Revisionist church drove a wedge between the faithful majority and the minority faiths in the NLC, and all that stands between them is a moderate minority of Revisionists who hold key offices- along with the few followers they possess. Chapter Four covers foreign relations, starting with the other northern leagues and going south from there. It appears that the NLC is akin to America's Bible Belt; the Revisionist Church is increasingly political, militant and fundamentalist. This leads to an expansionist policy within the church, and that leads to an intolerant and prosleytizing attitude in the faithful. In turn, this leads to a push to legislate Revisionist dogma into CNCS law as well as incessant discrimination against the heathens. (This is the crux of the NLC's hatred of the Southern Republic and its Allied Southern Territories.) The NLC's regions make up Chapter Five. All of the league's member-states see print and each of them has a distinctive character, culture and issues. Each of these is ripe for the picking, giving GMs plot hook after plot hook around which they can build individual adventures or whole campaigns. (I'm partial to Innsbruck, Sesshu and Zagazig.) Chapter Six covers culture and society. The national character of the NLC, Sorrento Revisionism and Clearwater Jerusalemism all find extensive treatement in this chapter. They give context to the rest of the book, and the wise gamer will read this again and again until it becomes second-nature; playing (or running) Norlights requires this level of attention to detail, or the characters won't look or feel like real Norlights would. Chapter Seven puts it all together into game terms. From designing a Norlight character to the special items that Revisionist monks carry on their person, it's all here and it's ready for immediate use. Character templates, unique weapons, Norlight-specific campaigns and much more awaits you here. Finally, Chapter Eight addresses the flora and fauna that is unique to the NLC. This is both important for gameplay and for establishing proper atmosphere, much like the lizard beasties that wander around Stan Sakai's furry Japan in "Usagi Yojimbo." If you love, run or play Heavy Gear then get this book. If you haven't, read this anyway. You'll see a far-future world that's well deserving of the hype. Either way, get a copy! Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

CNCS Leaguebook One: Northern Lights Confederacy- Land of the Prophet