The Inside Scoop on Gaming

All right partner! Lock 'n load and get ready to rock 'n roll. We're going to give them that's deserving a world of hurt. Extreme Vengeance is here and the punks are on the run. It's payback time.

Forget storytelling. Forget character development. Forget genre and style. ACTION BABY! That's what Extreme Vengeance is all about. The kind of action dished out by Arnie, Sean, Harrison, Stallone, Van Damme, Jackie, and a cast of thousands, regardless of what the movie is supposed to be about. Extreme Vengeance is about movies built around brawn, bullets, babes, and bombs.

The mechanics for Extreme Vengeance start out simple. You begin with Guts and Coincidence. Guts (rated 2-6) determines how well you do things - shoot, drive, punch, etc. Coincidence (rated 4-7) determines whether you are lucky enough to grease by safely when the stuff hits the fan (Sure Arnie, jump out of that jet. The marsh will break your fall). As the game proceeds, a character's Guts will increase every time there is an "emotionally-charged" scene (e.g. some heinous act against a friendly member of the supporting cast, a crisis, or something that personally ticks you off. The characters in the leading roles build to the game's climactic scene by increasing Guts, and - get this - you can't even take on the Big Baddie until your Guts are at least equal to his. Coincidence works the other way. Each time you use it, you lose it, dropping one point each time.

Stunts (aka Action Phases) are resolved using either Guts or Coincidence, whichever is appropriate. You describe what the character's going to do then the Director (aka the gamemaster) applies the Action Matrix. The character starts out with d6 equal to Guts/Coincidence, then the Director adds or subtracts dice based on the Excitement Level (Boo to Encore!) and Plot/Role Level (Casual/Extra to Climatic/Feature).

But wait! Don't like how the Director's calling the scene, bring your Repertoire into play. There are 28 Repertoires, each affecting a scene in a different way (e.g. background speciality, dramatic slo-mo, gratuitous violence), but all are used to increase the Excitement Level of a scene. During a scene, characters act in Guts order, bidding with dice. Six dice can be divided into a 4d action and two 1d actions or two 3d actions, or, you get the idea. But, you gotta watch out for that extra hiding behind the crates with an Uzi, who's just waiting for you to spend your last die.

Hey! But don't get cocky. There is also a list of flaws, No-Goods (NGs). Just the things to trick you up when things are going your way (e.g. Distraction, Slow Healing, Defective Props).

Why are we doing this? Popularity Baby! (aka experience points). Popularity is how you work your way up from obscure straight to video lead to God/Goddess of Hollywood. This is where Extreme Vengeance really takes off. Your character is an actor concerned about Popularity. You don't care about continuity between movies. All that matters is increasing that popularity. Cops, commandos, cybermercs, space patrol, sword wielding barbarians, vampire hunters, you play them all. Whatever the Director throws at you.

Now the harsh news. Extreme Vengeance is probably the only roleplaying game that is more demanding of the players than the gamemaster. All the GM has to do is outline a plot and then setup each scene. The player's then have to come up with the appropriate dramatic response. Then the GM sets the excitement level. Why wait for the end of the evening when the GM can rate the players on a stunt by stunt basis. Ok, so the GM doesn't have it so easy. The mechanics that work so well for the players in the feature roles can get in the GM's way as he manipulates the extras. But hey! All the extras have to do is get blown through the air.

So get out there and fight like a manly man!

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Extreme Vengeance
Author: Tony Lee Category: game Company/Publisher: Archangel Entertainment Playtest Review by Jeb Boyt on 08/20/97. Genre tags: none	All right partner! Lock 'n load and get ready to rock 'n roll. We're going to give them that's deserving a world of hurt. Extreme Vengeance is here and the punks are on the run. It's payback time. Forget storytelling. Forget character development. Forget genre and style. ACTION BABY! That's what Extreme Vengeance is all about. The kind of action dished out by Arnie, Sean, Harrison, Stallone, Van Damme, Jackie, and a cast of thousands, regardless of what the movie is supposed to be about. Extreme Vengeance is about movies built around brawn, bullets, babes, and bombs. The mechanics for Extreme Vengeance start out simple. You begin with Guts and Coincidence. Guts (rated 2-6) determines how well you do things - shoot, drive, punch, etc. Coincidence (rated 4-7) determines whether you are lucky enough to grease by safely when the stuff hits the fan (Sure Arnie, jump out of that jet. The marsh will break your fall). As the game proceeds, a character's Guts will increase every time there is an "emotionally-charged" scene (e.g. some heinous act against a friendly member of the supporting cast, a crisis, or something that personally ticks you off. The characters in the leading roles build to the game's climactic scene by increasing Guts, and - get this - you can't even take on the Big Baddie until your Guts are at least equal to his. Coincidence works the other way. Each time you use it, you lose it, dropping one point each time. Stunts (aka Action Phases) are resolved using either Guts or Coincidence, whichever is appropriate. You describe what the character's going to do then the Director (aka the gamemaster) applies the Action Matrix. The character starts out with d6 equal to Guts/Coincidence, then the Director adds or subtracts dice based on the Excitement Level (Boo to Encore!) and Plot/Role Level (Casual/Extra to Climatic/Feature). But wait! Don't like how the Director's calling the scene, bring your Repertoire into play. There are 28 Repertoires, each affecting a scene in a different way (e.g. background speciality, dramatic slo-mo, gratuitous violence), but all are used to increase the Excitement Level of a scene. During a scene, characters act in Guts order, bidding with dice. Six dice can be divided into a 4d action and two 1d actions or two 3d actions, or, you get the idea. But, you gotta watch out for that extra hiding behind the crates with an Uzi, who's just waiting for you to spend your last die. Hey! But don't get cocky. There is also a list of flaws, No-Goods (NGs). Just the things to trick you up when things are going your way (e.g. Distraction, Slow Healing, Defective Props). Why are we doing this? Popularity Baby! (aka experience points). Popularity is how you work your way up from obscure straight to video lead to God/Goddess of Hollywood. This is where Extreme Vengeance really takes off. Your character is an actor concerned about Popularity. You don't care about continuity between movies. All that matters is increasing that popularity. Cops, commandos, cybermercs, space patrol, sword wielding barbarians, vampire hunters, you play them all. Whatever the Director throws at you. Now the harsh news. Extreme Vengeance is probably the only roleplaying game that is more demanding of the players than the gamemaster. All the GM has to do is outline a plot and then setup each scene. The player's then have to come up with the appropriate dramatic response. Then the GM sets the excitement level. Why wait for the end of the evening when the GM can rate the players on a stunt by stunt basis. Ok, so the GM doesn't have it so easy. The mechanics that work so well for the players in the feature roles can get in the GM's way as he manipulates the extras. But hey! All the extras have to do is get blown through the air. So get out there and fight like a manly man! Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)