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With good coincidental timing, David F. Nalle invited me to review the Oroborus system just when I was in the process of looking for a generic and simple system to use with my 1990s conspiracy campaign. Unfortunately, it came along after I had tested Methods in the Madness' The Window and TSR's Saga, so it now has the feel of exactly the kind of system I'm moving away from. That is not to say that the system is bad, and as a matter of fact, Oroborus feels ages ahead of the patchy skill point system that TSR used to add skills to AD&D.

The purpose of Ragnarock press is to provide a generic system that you can use to play any genre or campaign you wish. On a step on the right direction, they try to accomplish that by not trying to regulate each and every possible situation that may pop up in steampunk, fantasy and sci-fi, but instead they leave things open for you to determine.

The system works based on a mix of characteristics and percentile skills that is similar to what you get with the Call of Cthulhu system. To Ragnarock's credit, there are some interesting characteristics like Privilege and Creativity, but it is lacking a way to add others that are missing like Sanity and Appearance. Granted, a GM could devise a way to add characteristics, but since points are used for them tweaking the new amount of points to give for the new ones could take some time.

The rules are somewhat simple, but still get pretty complicated at some points. There are several formulae that look like this: - AP = ((REA+CRE)/2) + DEX + AGI - SIZ . Action points are one of those things that I'm not so ecstatic about. They may work well in computer games or board games where keeping track of them doesn't spoil the emotion of the moment, but for tense roleplaying situations they're last thing I'd like to have around.

Judging by some patronizing explanations in the game (like stating that pen and paper are useful aids for record keeping) it is clear that the intent of the writers is to make the game accessible for even the lowliest beginner. Alas, the game system is complex enough to cause brain damage to people that would consider a 10-sided die to be "unusual equipment". It would have been better if the redaction had stuck to the more likely target of experienced gamers, who may get annoyed by the unnecessary explanations.

On an interesting note, Oroborus is still evolving. When I first read the page on the system there were several things I didn't like, for example, Virtue being linked to how much of a religious believer your character was. That was fixed on a later version, so it is quite possible that Ragnarock will address system concerns before going for a printed version.

The main problem I see with Oroborus is that it doesn't do enough new or extraordinarily well to switch to it. Both Saga and The Window are simpler and more generic, and if you're really into percentile skills you could consider modifying a system like Call of Cthulhu. Then again, it's freely available on the web and you can afford to check it out for yourself.

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

Oroboros
Author: David F. Nalle, Hans Dykstra, Richard Trainham Category: game Company/Publisher: Ragnarock Press Cost: Freely available on the web Page count: N.A. (electronic version) ISBN: http://www.ragnarokpress.com/oroborus/oroborus-rules.html Capsule Review by Ricardo J. Méndez on 12/24/98. Genre tags: Generic	With good coincidental timing, David F. Nalle invited me to review the Oroborus system just when I was in the process of looking for a generic and simple system to use with my 1990s conspiracy campaign. Unfortunately, it came along after I had tested Methods in the Madness' The Window and TSR's Saga, so it now has the feel of exactly the kind of system I'm moving away from. That is not to say that the system is bad, and as a matter of fact, Oroborus feels ages ahead of the patchy skill point system that TSR used to add skills to AD&D. The purpose of Ragnarock press is to provide a generic system that you can use to play any genre or campaign you wish. On a step on the right direction, they try to accomplish that by not trying to regulate each and every possible situation that may pop up in steampunk, fantasy and sci-fi, but instead they leave things open for you to determine. The system works based on a mix of characteristics and percentile skills that is similar to what you get with the Call of Cthulhu system. To Ragnarock's credit, there are some interesting characteristics like Privilege and Creativity, but it is lacking a way to add others that are missing like Sanity and Appearance. Granted, a GM could devise a way to add characteristics, but since points are used for them tweaking the new amount of points to give for the new ones could take some time. The rules are somewhat simple, but still get pretty complicated at some points. There are several formulae that look like this: - AP = ((REA+CRE)/2) + DEX + AGI - SIZ . Action points are one of those things that I'm not so ecstatic about. They may work well in computer games or board games where keeping track of them doesn't spoil the emotion of the moment, but for tense roleplaying situations they're last thing I'd like to have around. Judging by some patronizing explanations in the game (like stating that pen and paper are useful aids for record keeping) it is clear that the intent of the writers is to make the game accessible for even the lowliest beginner. Alas, the game system is complex enough to cause brain damage to people that would consider a 10-sided die to be "unusual equipment". It would have been better if the redaction had stuck to the more likely target of experienced gamers, who may get annoyed by the unnecessary explanations. On an interesting note, Oroborus is still evolving. When I first read the page on the system there were several things I didn't like, for example, Virtue being linked to how much of a religious believer your character was. That was fixed on a later version, so it is quite possible that Ragnarock will address system concerns before going for a printed version. The main problem I see with Oroborus is that it doesn't do enough new or extraordinarily well to switch to it. Both Saga and The Window are simpler and more generic, and if you're really into percentile skills you could consider modifying a system like Call of Cthulhu. Then again, it's freely available on the web and you can afford to check it out for yourself. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)

Oroboros