The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I don't particularly like Trinity that much myself, but despite my problems for it, I find myself coming back to it again and again. Why? Because despite my opinion that the game has a much too "superhero" feel to it and has an almost staggeringly optimistic view of humanity at times, it continually shows such a skill at producing an essential human setting imbedded with many truly stunning ideas that I have to resist buying the books more often.

I've spoken with many people (including the developer Andrew Bates and many of the writers for the line) about my opinions of Trinity and while they disagreed with me, they also said that I should check out America Offline, as they thought that it would be closer to my vision of the future than the basic Trinity book. So I followed their advice and picked up the sourcebook when I found in half-price sale at a local store, and I have to say that I am not disappointed. I am by no means blown away by the book, but, like Luna Rising, America Offline manages to retain many of the strengths of the base book while leaving behind much of its flaws as well.

Like all Trinity books, America Offline begins with the color section detailing public knowledge about the Americas and Psi Order Orgotek. Included is a profile of Orgotek (from both the inside and out), detailing organization, structure, habits, and (my favorite part) spin-off companies. We get a nice feel for both the company and those within it. Following that is a biography of "Prexy" Alex Cassel himself, who has a nice (if not entirely engrossing) history. The history of Orgotek itself is also looked at as well. There are some interesting side-notes in the margins, including a lament by Triton that Orgotek's habit of saturating the media makes it nearly impossible to easily track the Order's movements and an amusing speculation that the "Benefactors" that created the proxies might be those very proxies traveling back from the future.

The color section then turns to the nation around Orgotek, the Federated States of America. The FSA is delineated rather well, giving a clear understanding of who controls what and where the power lies. The conditions in all eight (the FSA's rulers would privately claim nine) districts are explained, and a general feel for them is provided. This is perhaps one of the weaker section of the book, though. Not in that it was bad or thin on material, but at times it did not quite give a lasting impression of the nation. The section closes out with a discussion of Aberrants in North America as well as a short time-line of major North American events.

Then the black-and-white section begins and the book delves into "fact and rules only." The opening fiction is lukewarm, but does at times provide a nice feel for the FSA and how Orgotek and the Aeon Trinity cooperate (at least when understood and read in connection with the first template in the back).

The information on Orgotek is pretty comprehensive, detailing how electrokinetics are trained, housed, employed, recruited, utilized, and organized. A list of specific benefits for working for Orgotek is given. The career options within the company itself are delineated (along with the skill groups for each Allegiance for those interested in such rules). Some of the primary Orgotek facilities are mentioned. A sidebar on what happens when a psion undergoes the Prometheus Effect twice (horrible, painful death) is included. A look at each of the Backgrounds through the Orgotek lens is also included, which I found a novel idea. Finally there is the section on Orgotek and its relations with other organizations, a section which I liked for giving both the relations of the Proxies as well as the rank-and-file psions. It was nice and realistic.

The section on Elecrtokinesis and its new powers was okay, but then I was never a die-hard fan of the Aptitude anyway. Some interesting powers include The New Prometheus, the Electromanipulation 5 alternate power, which allows limited animation of the dead, amusingly enough. One thing I did not like, however, were the psionic dysfunctions. I like the idea and I found the dysfunctions for Clairsentience interesting, but I don't like the personality- dictating dysfunctions listed here. The Electromanipulation and Photokinetic dysfunctions are interesting, even if I do not completely agree with their execution, but I loathe the Technokinetic dysfunction, which is effectively simply "uber-geekdom." I found that flat and unimaginative, completely are contrast with the rest of Trinity.

Then comes the large black-and-white section on the FSA. I quite liked this section, and it is one of the better bits of the book. I could almost see this nation working and coming to be. There were really only two problems with it. The first was that I had with it was that I was not entirely sure just what rights citizens in the FSA do have. It gave an idea as well as a list of rights that can be purchased to reach or emulate first-class citizen status, but I got only a sketchy feeling for the man-on-the-street. Secondly, I still didn't get a fully comfortable feel for some districts, Southwest in particular. It was not that the sections were thin, just that they were not quite as thick as others, and that made them stand out.

The book then has a short section on Storyteller Information, including citizen costs and benefits (which I would have liked to be longer), Anti-psion efforts (which have culminated in psion detectors) and Aberrant activity in North America. After that is a surprisingly brief section on technology and gadgets. As mentioned in a sidebar here, one would expect gobs and gobs of tech, this being the Orgotek sourcebook and all, but it was refreshingly short and to the point.

The Dramatis Personae chapter showcased the greatest strength of the Trinity line cleary: its intensely human feel. All of the character are fully 3-dimensional, and all of them are compelling and intense, to one degree or another. It also, like Luna Rising, gives a frank and revealing look at Alex Cassel himself, explaining just what his goals are. I have to say that after years of sifting through hints and tidbits for any scrap of information in White Wolf's World of Darkness books, it was refreshing and intensely pleasing to get a frank and reasonable look at the major players of the setting.

Finally, the books ends with templates, a character sheet, and recommended reference material. The templates were at, or above, normal Trinity fare, which is to say superb. I was pleased to have one template be a simple bully, not a hero at all. I hope that White Wolf continues with their templates in Trinity. The format works and, unlike in the World of Darkness "splatbooks," they are almost always interesting and useful.

The art in the book is a mixed bag. The computer generated images are reasonably good, for the most part, although the "New York Arcology at night" picture on page 29 is stunning. Leif Jones continues to convert me over to Trinity with his intensely human and realistic image of the future. The man is a genius at times, and his work just seems to get better. Langdon Foss, on the other hand, seems to slump more and more, becoming more an annoyance and disappointment than anything else. His oddly done and sometimes almost lumpy pictures often detracted from the book's feel. The layout of the book itself was up to Trinity standard, as was the editing, although there were a handful of places where the grammar seemed forced or downright messed up. Nothing totally major, however.

As far as addressing my problems with the setting go, however, America Offline moves a few steps forward, but does not go far enough. I am immensely pleased that it acknowledges the similarity between psions and Aberrants. Some elements in the FSA even believe that the psions are simply low-powered Aberrants in disguise, but others simply view them as being "along the same lines." The Aberrant situation blew up in the world's face, and psions could easily do the same. I have always thought that Trinity has avoided this issue. The psions show up out of the blue one day after years of hiding and deception to conveniently combat villains from Earth's past. They are remarkable similar in appearance to the Aberrants in many ways, the only difference laying in scope and scale of power. The psions sit poised at the exact same situation that Aberrants did a century before, but the world does not seem to notice. The psions are welcomed with open arms, just like the Aberrants were. There are survivors from the Aberrant War still alive, how can they embrace something that is so much like the beings that made their world a nightmare? America Offline was quite a good step toward looking at that question, but I don't think it went far enough.

Overall, this book did not clear up my issues with Trinity, but it did continue to expand upon those features of the game that I do like. It is completely internally consistent with the game as a whole, and improves upon the basebook quite a bit, I would say. For Trinity fans, a must I think. For wafflers or others who found the game lukewarm (like myself), it is definitely worth a look, it may well spark your interest. For those who could not take the game on any level, you won't be reading this review anyway, will you?

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

America Offline
Author: Bruce Baugh, Rob Heinsoo, James Kiley Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Line: Trinity Cost: $17.95 Page count: 138 ISBN: 1-56504-762-1 SKU: WW9003 Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 07/07/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future Space Post-apocalypse	I don't particularly like Trinity that much myself, but despite my problems for it, I find myself coming back to it again and again. Why? Because despite my opinion that the game has a much too "superhero" feel to it and has an almost staggeringly optimistic view of humanity at times, it continually shows such a skill at producing an essential human setting imbedded with many truly stunning ideas that I have to resist buying the books more often. I've spoken with many people (including the developer Andrew Bates and many of the writers for the line) about my opinions of Trinity and while they disagreed with me, they also said that I should check out America Offline, as they thought that it would be closer to my vision of the future than the basic Trinity book. So I followed their advice and picked up the sourcebook when I found in half-price sale at a local store, and I have to say that I am not disappointed. I am by no means blown away by the book, but, like Luna Rising, America Offline manages to retain many of the strengths of the base book while leaving behind much of its flaws as well. Like all Trinity books, America Offline begins with the color section detailing public knowledge about the Americas and Psi Order Orgotek. Included is a profile of Orgotek (from both the inside and out), detailing organization, structure, habits, and (my favorite part) spin-off companies. We get a nice feel for both the company and those within it. Following that is a biography of "Prexy" Alex Cassel himself, who has a nice (if not entirely engrossing) history. The history of Orgotek itself is also looked at as well. There are some interesting side-notes in the margins, including a lament by Triton that Orgotek's habit of saturating the media makes it nearly impossible to easily track the Order's movements and an amusing speculation that the "Benefactors" that created the proxies might be those very proxies traveling back from the future. The color section then turns to the nation around Orgotek, the Federated States of America. The FSA is delineated rather well, giving a clear understanding of who controls what and where the power lies. The conditions in all eight (the FSA's rulers would privately claim nine) districts are explained, and a general feel for them is provided. This is perhaps one of the weaker section of the book, though. Not in that it was bad or thin on material, but at times it did not quite give a lasting impression of the nation. The section closes out with a discussion of Aberrants in North America as well as a short time-line of major North American events. Then the black-and-white section begins and the book delves into "fact and rules only." The opening fiction is lukewarm, but does at times provide a nice feel for the FSA and how Orgotek and the Aeon Trinity cooperate (at least when understood and read in connection with the first template in the back). The information on Orgotek is pretty comprehensive, detailing how electrokinetics are trained, housed, employed, recruited, utilized, and organized. A list of specific benefits for working for Orgotek is given. The career options within the company itself are delineated (along with the skill groups for each Allegiance for those interested in such rules). Some of the primary Orgotek facilities are mentioned. A sidebar on what happens when a psion undergoes the Prometheus Effect twice (horrible, painful death) is included. A look at each of the Backgrounds through the Orgotek lens is also included, which I found a novel idea. Finally there is the section on Orgotek and its relations with other organizations, a section which I liked for giving both the relations of the Proxies as well as the rank-and-file psions. It was nice and realistic. The section on Elecrtokinesis and its new powers was okay, but then I was never a die-hard fan of the Aptitude anyway. Some interesting powers include The New Prometheus, the Electromanipulation 5 alternate power, which allows limited animation of the dead, amusingly enough. One thing I did not like, however, were the psionic dysfunctions. I like the idea and I found the dysfunctions for Clairsentience interesting, but I don't like the personality- dictating dysfunctions listed here. The Electromanipulation and Photokinetic dysfunctions are interesting, even if I do not completely agree with their execution, but I loathe the Technokinetic dysfunction, which is effectively simply "uber-geekdom." I found that flat and unimaginative, completely are contrast with the rest of Trinity. Then comes the large black-and-white section on the FSA. I quite liked this section, and it is one of the better bits of the book. I could almost see this nation working and coming to be. There were really only two problems with it. The first was that I had with it was that I was not entirely sure just what rights citizens in the FSA do have. It gave an idea as well as a list of rights that can be purchased to reach or emulate first-class citizen status, but I got only a sketchy feeling for the man-on-the-street. Secondly, I still didn't get a fully comfortable feel for some districts, Southwest in particular. It was not that the sections were thin, just that they were not quite as thick as others, and that made them stand out. The book then has a short section on Storyteller Information, including citizen costs and benefits (which I would have liked to be longer), Anti-psion efforts (which have culminated in psion detectors) and Aberrant activity in North America. After that is a surprisingly brief section on technology and gadgets. As mentioned in a sidebar here, one would expect gobs and gobs of tech, this being the Orgotek sourcebook and all, but it was refreshingly short and to the point. The Dramatis Personae chapter showcased the greatest strength of the Trinity line cleary: its intensely human feel. All of the character are fully 3-dimensional, and all of them are compelling and intense, to one degree or another. It also, like Luna Rising, gives a frank and revealing look at Alex Cassel himself, explaining just what his goals are. I have to say that after years of sifting through hints and tidbits for any scrap of information in White Wolf's World of Darkness books, it was refreshing and intensely pleasing to get a frank and reasonable look at the major players of the setting. Finally, the books ends with templates, a character sheet, and recommended reference material. The templates were at, or above, normal Trinity fare, which is to say superb. I was pleased to have one template be a simple bully, not a hero at all. I hope that White Wolf continues with their templates in Trinity. The format works and, unlike in the World of Darkness "splatbooks," they are almost always interesting and useful. The art in the book is a mixed bag. The computer generated images are reasonably good, for the most part, although the "New York Arcology at night" picture on page 29 is stunning. Leif Jones continues to convert me over to Trinity with his intensely human and realistic image of the future. The man is a genius at times, and his work just seems to get better. Langdon Foss, on the other hand, seems to slump more and more, becoming more an annoyance and disappointment than anything else. His oddly done and sometimes almost lumpy pictures often detracted from the book's feel. The layout of the book itself was up to Trinity standard, as was the editing, although there were a handful of places where the grammar seemed forced or downright messed up. Nothing totally major, however. As far as addressing my problems with the setting go, however, America Offline moves a few steps forward, but does not go far enough. I am immensely pleased that it acknowledges the similarity between psions and Aberrants. Some elements in the FSA even believe that the psions are simply low-powered Aberrants in disguise, but others simply view them as being "along the same lines." The Aberrant situation blew up in the world's face, and psions could easily do the same. I have always thought that Trinity has avoided this issue. The psions show up out of the blue one day after years of hiding and deception to conveniently combat villains from Earth's past. They are remarkable similar in appearance to the Aberrants in many ways, the only difference laying in scope and scale of power. The psions sit poised at the exact same situation that Aberrants did a century before, but the world does not seem to notice. The psions are welcomed with open arms, just like the Aberrants were. There are survivors from the Aberrant War still alive, how can they embrace something that is so much like the beings that made their world a nightmare? America Offline was quite a good step toward looking at that question, but I don't think it went far enough. Overall, this book did not clear up my issues with Trinity, but it did continue to expand upon those features of the game that I do like. It is completely internally consistent with the game as a whole, and improves upon the basebook quite a bit, I would say. For Trinity fans, a must I think. For wafflers or others who found the game lukewarm (like myself), it is definitely worth a look, it may well spark your interest. For those who could not take the game on any level, you won't be reading this review anyway, will you? Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)