The Inside Scoop on Gaming

This completes my troika of superhero game reviews from Origins '99. Once again, this is a game that isn't yet published, although the gamemaster said the game would be out by the end of the year.

As always, Magna DCCXXII A.U.C. is a superhero game . . . with a twist. The twist this time is that it's the height of the Roman Empire, and twenty or so years ago a meteor exploded in earth's atmosphere, causing certain people to be gifted with superpowers.

Pay no attention to the ratings above--I had no copy of the rules to look at, and the experience I had with the gamemaster may have little bearing on the final product. Instead, I present this review as both a commentary on the demo session, the rules as I was taught them, and as a warning to anyone wanting to create a historical fantasy game.

The game started out well enough, with quick, point-based character creation for basic stats and skills. Remembering what little I know about ancient Rome, I decided that my character was a rich kid who ran with a gang of ruffians. Our group also included a merchant and a travelling circus performer. When we got our powers, it was with the explanation "Choose something your character can do. You can get +2 to a stat, or +3 to a skill, or the ability to do something like fly or shoot fire." I chose super-strength (I also chose super-strength in the demo of Brave New World; it's easy to play). It turned out that my character was only as strong as a really-well developed human, not really super-strong. The flaw of the point-based system is that while you can get half your stats at 4 and half at 3, you can't get an even point total very easily if you try anything else. So I had a strength of 6, which is the normal human maximum. Not very super.

Skills were handled by rolling a number of dice equal to your skill plus three (an arbitrary number, I think) and trying to get under your applicable stat. Further complicating matters, in combat you have both a "Combat" skill and skill with whatever weapon(s) you use. These dice can be split up between attack and defense. Damage is the number of successes you get times your strength. Weapons don't seem to enter into damage. I went full-attack, no defense, and took down an attacker every two to three rounds. Not very super. I wanted to enter battle like The Thing against an army of mooks--"It's Clobberin' Time!"--and instead was mildly more effective than the mooks.

The game started off with my gang being cornered by the city guard . . . city guard? I wasn't aware that Rome had a city guard. But I went along. My character and the other characters were hired by a senator to carry a box to a senator in another city. This seemed reasonable, although I kept waiting for something superheroic to happen rather than just generic fantasy. As the adventure went on, we got commentary from the GM on "the interesting thing about x at this time". However, the presence of anachronisms like mad jesters in floppy hats with three tails and bells on, wise old seers named "Johnson", and a centurion with a sword named "Susan" brought the veracity of any other historical information into question.

The final flaw of the game is that the setting as presented to us just didn't lend itself to superheroics. When we found out that the box contained evidence of a crime that would be used to blackmail another senator, we knew that this is the way Roman politics worked so we did nothing. I think the GM may have expected us to do something else, but as Romans we probably wouldn't have.

I think that a great RPG could be made based on superpowered people in the Roman Empire. Based on this demo game, anyone interested in such a genre would be better off picking up GURPS Supers and GURPS Imperial Rome.

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

Magna DCCXXII A.U.C.
Author: unknown Category: game Company/Publisher: 3GG Line: Magna DCCXXII A.U.C. Page count: n/a Playtest Review by Kevin Mowery on 07/07/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical	This completes my troika of superhero game reviews from Origins '99. Once again, this is a game that isn't yet published, although the gamemaster said the game would be out by the end of the year. As always, Magna DCCXXII A.U.C. is a superhero game . . . with a twist. The twist this time is that it's the height of the Roman Empire, and twenty or so years ago a meteor exploded in earth's atmosphere, causing certain people to be gifted with superpowers. Pay no attention to the ratings above--I had no copy of the rules to look at, and the experience I had with the gamemaster may have little bearing on the final product. Instead, I present this review as both a commentary on the demo session, the rules as I was taught them, and as a warning to anyone wanting to create a historical fantasy game. The game started out well enough, with quick, point-based character creation for basic stats and skills. Remembering what little I know about ancient Rome, I decided that my character was a rich kid who ran with a gang of ruffians. Our group also included a merchant and a travelling circus performer. When we got our powers, it was with the explanation "Choose something your character can do. You can get +2 to a stat, or +3 to a skill, or the ability to do something like fly or shoot fire." I chose super-strength (I also chose super-strength in the demo of Brave New World; it's easy to play). It turned out that my character was only as strong as a really-well developed human, not really super-strong. The flaw of the point-based system is that while you can get half your stats at 4 and half at 3, you can't get an even point total very easily if you try anything else. So I had a strength of 6, which is the normal human maximum. Not very super. Skills were handled by rolling a number of dice equal to your skill plus three (an arbitrary number, I think) and trying to get under your applicable stat. Further complicating matters, in combat you have both a "Combat" skill and skill with whatever weapon(s) you use. These dice can be split up between attack and defense. Damage is the number of successes you get times your strength. Weapons don't seem to enter into damage. I went full-attack, no defense, and took down an attacker every two to three rounds. Not very super. I wanted to enter battle like The Thing against an army of mooks--"It's Clobberin' Time!"--and instead was mildly more effective than the mooks. The game started off with my gang being cornered by the city guard . . . city guard? I wasn't aware that Rome had a city guard. But I went along. My character and the other characters were hired by a senator to carry a box to a senator in another city. This seemed reasonable, although I kept waiting for something superheroic to happen rather than just generic fantasy. As the adventure went on, we got commentary from the GM on "the interesting thing about x at this time". However, the presence of anachronisms like mad jesters in floppy hats with three tails and bells on, wise old seers named "Johnson", and a centurion with a sword named "Susan" brought the veracity of any other historical information into question. The final flaw of the game is that the setting as presented to us just didn't lend itself to superheroics. When we found out that the box contained evidence of a crime that would be used to blackmail another senator, we knew that this is the way Roman politics worked so we did nothing. I think the GM may have expected us to do something else, but as Romans we probably wouldn't have. I think that a great RPG could be made based on superpowered people in the Roman Empire. Based on this demo game, anyone interested in such a genre would be better off picking up GURPS Supers and GURPS Imperial Rome. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)