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Eternal Soldier is another entry into the multi-genre system arena, one that uses all the polyhedral dice around. It is available at http://www.tai-gear.com or ftp://ftp.win.net/winnet/tgsys. Each site has different support files. Be warned that the main self-extracting file is missing chapter 8 (Wrestling) and chapter 19 (Magic).

ES uses eight attributes that run the 3-18 range, which means most gamers will understand a character sheet right away. The authors do give several methods of generating the stats, and you are of course free to come up with another alternative.

Characters use experience points to buy skill levels, which combine with a weighted average of one or more attributes to produce skill percentages. It's a little slower than basing the skill roll directly off an attribute, but it makes a certain amount of sense. What doesn't make sense is the broad combat skills like One-Handed Weapons. Since a broadsword doesn't handle like a mace, GMs may want to define more skills depending on the genre.

Skill use is straightforward. ES divides actions into ten 'speed classes.' Time is broken into half-second segments, and actions take a number of segments based on the speed class and the character's agility. Taking extra time or rushing, action difficulty, opposition and GM whim all affect the basic skill percentage. How long an action takes determines when a character can next act.

Typically, segmenting everyone's actions only needs to be done in combat. Unfortunately, this can make combat go very slowly, what with calculating how long an action takes, setting fire, attacking early, compensating for cover, switching weapons and who knows what else. It may actually be slower than HERO system combat.

Character advancement is through the familiar mechanic of spending experience points to increase skill levels. ES has no method for increasing attributes other than in the suggested superhero rules, and that only at character creation.

Overall, I like Eternal Soldier. It works, and it's free. The examples get too cute at times (an Uzi in an Old West gunfight, for instance) but they do illustrate their points adequately.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Eternal Soldier
Author: Christopher Arnold, Rob Arnold, Joe Mays Category: game Company/Publisher: Tai-Gear Simulations Cost: free Page count: n/a Capsule Review by Patrick Clark on 11/18/97. Genre tags: none	Eternal Soldier is another entry into the multi-genre system arena, one that uses all the polyhedral dice around. It is available at http://www.tai-gear.com or ftp://ftp.win.net/winnet/tgsys. Each site has different support files. Be warned that the main self-extracting file is missing chapter 8 (Wrestling) and chapter 19 (Magic). ES uses eight attributes that run the 3-18 range, which means most gamers will understand a character sheet right away. The authors do give several methods of generating the stats, and you are of course free to come up with another alternative. Characters use experience points to buy skill levels, which combine with a weighted average of one or more attributes to produce skill percentages. It's a little slower than basing the skill roll directly off an attribute, but it makes a certain amount of sense. What doesn't make sense is the broad combat skills like One-Handed Weapons. Since a broadsword doesn't handle like a mace, GMs may want to define more skills depending on the genre. Skill use is straightforward. ES divides actions into ten 'speed classes.' Time is broken into half-second segments, and actions take a number of segments based on the speed class and the character's agility. Taking extra time or rushing, action difficulty, opposition and GM whim all affect the basic skill percentage. How long an action takes determines when a character can next act. Typically, segmenting everyone's actions only needs to be done in combat. Unfortunately, this can make combat go very slowly, what with calculating how long an action takes, setting fire, attacking early, compensating for cover, switching weapons and who knows what else. It may actually be slower than HERO system combat. Character advancement is through the familiar mechanic of spending experience points to increase skill levels. ES has no method for increasing attributes other than in the suggested superhero rules, and that only at character creation. Overall, I like Eternal Soldier. It works, and it's free. The examples get too cute at times (an Uzi in an Old West gunfight, for instance) but they do illustrate their points adequately. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 3 (Average)