The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Well, against my better judgement, I picked up the Sovereign Stone Game System.

See, when the Dragonlance modules came out, I loved them. They were something quite new in my experience, with a progressive story allowing the characters to change the world, and really cool maps. As the marketing machine at TSR pumped more and more Dragonlance product at me, I grew less and less fond of it. I read the first two trilogies of novels, and bought the Dragonlance Adventures hardcover, but the cool stuff was gone. Now they were just squeezing the world dry.

This left me with no real desire to pick up the latest Larry Elmore/Margaret Weiss/Tracy Hickman world and game, but I looked at the quickstart rules, and they looked pretty good. So I took the chance. Now I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm glad that I did.

Let's start with the system. I like the system. It uses a sort of stat+skill roll to resolve actions, kind of like the Storyteller system. You have different die types for for different levels of stats and skills, kind of like Earthdawn steps. You have to beat a difficulty number, kind of like lots of other games. It's a simple, flexible system that works cleanly and almost transparently, which is what I look for in a game system.

Magic is handled in a similarly elegant fashion. It's the same sort of roll, but the difficulty numbers are sometimes quite high, so it will take a longer time, adding rolls from round to round, to achieve the level needed for the spell to go off. This is a nice way to govern casting time of spells, and produces the situation where a more skilled mage will be able to cast spells more quickly, which I think is a very nice touch.

Combat is also well thought out. Initiative, attack, and defense blend into a logical progression. Damage can kill you or knock you out. Weapon type modifies damage, but the base damage is based on how well you hit the target. Different weapon skills are based on different stats: using a battle axe requires big, burly shoulders (Strength), but the dagger is a more precise, elegant weapon (Dexterity).

There are other rules that add to the game, like the ability to exert yourself to exceed your normal limitations. All in all, the system hangs together quite well, and works. It won't satisfy realists, but it makes for a quick-moving game.

Now the setting. Sigh. This is where I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong; there's some good stuff here. There are also holes you could drive a series of novels and supplements through.

First, my big complaint. The world was conceived of by Larry Elmore, who also did a lot of the internal illustration. Given that, why doesn't he follow the descriptions when it comes to drawing the different races? An example:

"Karnuan Humans... are clean-shaven, believing that facial hair provides an enemy with a handhold." p21

Why, then, does the illustration accompanying the article on Karnuans give every single male a beard and mustache? Same thing with the clan Dwarves. They apparently only grow mustaches, but the illustration shows only one male dwarf without a beard, and he's clean-shaven. Now, these are picky little things, but they point to sloppiness, and I want some attention to detail when I spend my money on games.

Some things in the setting are referred to but never explained. For example, what are the Bahk? They have a language, they're referred to in an example, but we're never told. How about the Dunkargans? They make reference to them in the Karnuan section, but we don't get any more. The Pecwae? They sound kind of neat, given the sparse information we have about their relationship with the Trevinici, but that's the only information provided. Portals? Old Vinnengael? The Sovereign Stone itself? Heck, how about just a quick run-down on religion? Nope. The most we get are hints and teasers. We aren't even told that there's going to be a world-book to fill in the gaps, but I'm pretty sure one is coming.

There's good stuff about the background. The Clan Dwarves' penchant for conquering human and elven lands, and riding away the next day struck me as brilliant. The superstitious Ork sea-farers with their massive siege engines are an interesting touch. The Dominion Lords and the Vrykyl are both interesting and impressive. The societies described are similar enough to real-world societies to be usable, but different enough to be fun. There just isn't enough to start playing.

Which brings me to the adventure. It's not bad, as introductory adventures go, but is too linear and forced for my taste. It does, however, have a stepping stone trap that is sheer evil genius in it's simplicity and nastiness. I'm going to steal it for another game.

In closing, I like where this game is headed, but I wish it had made it a little further along the journey. They say that this book gives you the skeleton of the world to start playing, but all I seem to have is a few ribs, two finger joints, and half of a femur.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Sovereign Stone Game System
Author: Don Perrin and Lester Smith Category: game Company/Publisher: Corsair Publishing and Sovereign Press Line: Sovereign Stone Cost: 25.00 Page count: 168 ISBN: 0965842231 SKU: CSR-2000 Capsule Review by Rick Neal on 08/02/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	Well, against my better judgement, I picked up the Sovereign Stone Game System. See, when the Dragonlance modules came out, I loved them. They were something quite new in my experience, with a progressive story allowing the characters to change the world, and really cool maps. As the marketing machine at TSR pumped more and more Dragonlance product at me, I grew less and less fond of it. I read the first two trilogies of novels, and bought the Dragonlance Adventures hardcover, but the cool stuff was gone. Now they were just squeezing the world dry. This left me with no real desire to pick up the latest Larry Elmore/Margaret Weiss/Tracy Hickman world and game, but I looked at the quickstart rules, and they looked pretty good. So I took the chance. Now I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm glad that I did. Let's start with the system. I like the system. It uses a sort of stat+skill roll to resolve actions, kind of like the Storyteller system. You have different die types for for different levels of stats and skills, kind of like Earthdawn steps. You have to beat a difficulty number, kind of like lots of other games. It's a simple, flexible system that works cleanly and almost transparently, which is what I look for in a game system. Magic is handled in a similarly elegant fashion. It's the same sort of roll, but the difficulty numbers are sometimes quite high, so it will take a longer time, adding rolls from round to round, to achieve the level needed for the spell to go off. This is a nice way to govern casting time of spells, and produces the situation where a more skilled mage will be able to cast spells more quickly, which I think is a very nice touch. Combat is also well thought out. Initiative, attack, and defense blend into a logical progression. Damage can kill you or knock you out. Weapon type modifies damage, but the base damage is based on how well you hit the target. Different weapon skills are based on different stats: using a battle axe requires big, burly shoulders (Strength), but the dagger is a more precise, elegant weapon (Dexterity). There are other rules that add to the game, like the ability to exert yourself to exceed your normal limitations. All in all, the system hangs together quite well, and works. It won't satisfy realists, but it makes for a quick-moving game. Now the setting. Sigh. This is where I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong; there's some good stuff here. There are also holes you could drive a series of novels and supplements through. First, my big complaint. The world was conceived of by Larry Elmore, who also did a lot of the internal illustration. Given that, why doesn't he follow the descriptions when it comes to drawing the different races? An example: "Karnuan Humans... are clean-shaven, believing that facial hair provides an enemy with a handhold." p21 Why, then, does the illustration accompanying the article on Karnuans give every single male a beard and mustache? Same thing with the clan Dwarves. They apparently only grow mustaches, but the illustration shows only one male dwarf without a beard, and he's clean-shaven. Now, these are picky little things, but they point to sloppiness, and I want some attention to detail when I spend my money on games. Some things in the setting are referred to but never explained. For example, what are the Bahk? They have a language, they're referred to in an example, but we're never told. How about the Dunkargans? They make reference to them in the Karnuan section, but we don't get any more. The Pecwae? They sound kind of neat, given the sparse information we have about their relationship with the Trevinici, but that's the only information provided. Portals? Old Vinnengael? The Sovereign Stone itself? Heck, how about just a quick run-down on religion? Nope. The most we get are hints and teasers. We aren't even told that there's going to be a world-book to fill in the gaps, but I'm pretty sure one is coming. There's good stuff about the background. The Clan Dwarves' penchant for conquering human and elven lands, and riding away the next day struck me as brilliant. The superstitious Ork sea-farers with their massive siege engines are an interesting touch. The Dominion Lords and the Vrykyl are both interesting and impressive. The societies described are similar enough to real-world societies to be usable, but different enough to be fun. There just isn't enough to start playing. Which brings me to the adventure. It's not bad, as introductory adventures go, but is too linear and forced for my taste. It does, however, have a stepping stone trap that is sheer evil genius in it's simplicity and nastiness. I'm going to steal it for another game. In closing, I like where this game is headed, but I wish it had made it a little further along the journey. They say that this book gives you the skeleton of the world to start playing, but all I seem to have is a few ribs, two finger joints, and half of a femur. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 2 (Sparse)