The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Introduction:

Feng Shui really gives you no shortage of bad guys. You've got evil eunuch sorcerors, neo-Confucian monks, a hidden conspiracy of transformed animals, anarchists, and cyborg monsters from the future. Those cyborgs and their masters, the Architects of the Flesh, have always been my least favorite of the enemy factions. Thanks to Greg Stolze, that's all changed.

Seeds of the New Flesh details the workings of the Buro (the official ruling body of the future world of 2056) as well as the state of the world itself. There are new character archetypes, monsters, equipment, locations, NPCs, setting information, and not one but two adventures.

Seeds is well-laid out, with attractive interior art, well-done sidebars and inserts, and so forth. Scattered throughout the book are numerous small bits of information detailing the culture of 2056, including TV programs, computer games, high fashion, and so forth. Turns out Crunchy Frog is very successful in about 60 years. Prior to each chapter is some fiction. The story takes the viewpoints of four different characters whose stories intertwine as they are captured by the Buro, escape, and get tangled up with the resistance. The ending is shocking, and I won't spoil it. The Atlas version of Feng Shui looks like it's going to be a very attractive game line if this quality continues.

Chapter One: Welcome to 2056

This chapter starts off with an official government pamphlet specifically for time-travellers visiting 2056. There's lots of propaganda on all the great things about 2056. About my only complaint here is that while the layout is attractive, I'd like for this info to have been in a format that lent itself more easily to photocopying, so I could use it as a player's aid.

After the pamphlet, you get the real scoop on what 2056 is like, followed by a handful of new character templates. My own favorite was the Consumer on the Brink, an average joe driven to an insane rage by . . . something. The other one I found most interesting is the Free Sex Militant. In 2056, there's a tax on same-race marriages (I'll explain why later). The Free Sex Militia wants to end that and let people hook up with whomever they want. The best part about this template is that it gives you guidelines for modifying it to fit other resistance groups (the Buro is working to put an end to a lot of things like personal privacy, martial arts, and the ability to be unhappy). I'd like to see this more in the future.

Chapter Two: Us vs. Them

Chapter Two begins with another pamphlet, this one an introduction for Buro operatives going back in time to 1996. There's lots of useful information on 1996, illustrating what 2056 is like. There's a gender-neutral form of address ("Mc", as in, "Thanks for publishing my reviews, McAntunes."), guns are illegal, food is only barely organic, homosexuality and transvestism are accepted. Later in the chapter is a section on what's good and bad about both 2056 and 1996, just so that the Buro isn't seen as a monolithic Bad Thing. Racial and sexual diversity is tolerated (albeit under fear of an efficient, ruthless secret police), there's less pollution, everyone gets medical care. Of course, the bad things more than make up for this, I think. There's also a section on how to play a Buro character. Why would anyone support such a regime? This section might help answer that.

We also learn that the Buro has a weird program for instructing time-travellers about 1996. Recommended viewing for the era includes "Heathers," "Sixteen Candles," Michael Jackson videos, and "Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song." It's the little touches that make this book great. Oh, and one other good thing about 2056: Daniel Pinkwater is regarded as the greatest writer of his era. My girlfriend (who is penpals with Mr. Pinkwater) read that part and announced that Greg Stolze is the best game writer ever. She also told me to write that.

Chapter Three: Making History My-Story

Presented as a report to Buropresident Bonengel, this is a summary of the Secret War from the Buro's point of view. The relations of the Buro with other factions, including the Four Monarchs, are explored. Bonengel has marked this up a little bit with doodles and the occasional aside. Under the caption of a picture showing Buro abominations being routed in the Netherworld by giant fire-breathing infants, he's scrawled "Who the hell are these?!?!" Plans and operations for all the other junctures are summarized and detailed.

Chapter Four: R&D

The obligatory equipment chapter. There's a few cool new arcanowave cyberware accessories, some mundane but sinister consumer goods, new weapons, and a whole lot of applications for gravity control.

The gravity control stuff is the high point of the chapter, as just about everything from zero-gravity elevators to antigravity industrial equipment to weaponry is explored. The deathsaber generates a short beam of gravity and antigravity that fluctuates many, many times per second. It rips apart nearly anything and usually sets it ablaze, or at least chars it. It's also hard to control as it tends to vibrate quite a lot. True to cinematic form, it's not recommended for use against player-characters, as it's just too gruesome.

Chapter Five: Casting Call

Here's another chapter filled with meat, or at least villains waiting to be blown into messy chunks of meat. The two most powerful men on earth are detailed, along with what exactly it means when you've got all the world's chi fulfilling your desires. Dr. Curtis Boatman, the brains behind the abominations and other nasty technology isn't really out to crush anyone. He's a skirt-chaser. Yes, he rules the world, but he's mainly in it for the women. Buropresident Johann Bonengel is other other big baddie. He's also the good guy, or at least that's the way he wants to see it. Due to a traumatic incident earlier in his life, he's devoted to eliminating racism and lots of other forms of injustice. The only problem is that he wants to do it the easy way: by crushing anyone who stands against him. (Anyone who has read my review of Lawyers, Guns and Money, also by Mr. Stolze may recognize a theme.) These two don't really get along, but they co-own the world.

There are also stats for numerous NPCs, including Desdemona Deathangel (who was also in Back for Seconds and really didn't need to be reprinted here--sure BfS is out of print and hard to find now, but by that rationale, Homo Omega should have also been in Seeds) and "Dan Dammer, Jammer Slammer," the heroic Buro cop and television star. There's info on new monsters, including the horrifying Bonechills, human monsters worse than any abomination--chemically-created sociopaths who have no feelings except loyalty to the Buro. They'd just as soon kill an innocent child as not; it's all the same to them. Whatever they're told.

There's also a humorous sidebar on what's become of the cop/buddy flick in 2056. Thanks to the sexual diversity of the age, these are now mostly cop/buddy/romance flicks. A little more than half are heterosexual pairings, most are interracial (and those that aren't always end with the romance being broken up or one partner dying). A guy I know who works at the hobby store I frequent and I once had a conversation about how we'd like to see an action movie where the big, beefy hero cop keeps talking about how he has to get home because "Sam" or "Chris" or "Pat" is cooking him dinner and it's their anniversary. At the end of the movie, we finally meet this person, and it turns out to be another beefy guy. Spring that on your players.

Chapter Six: Blowing Up 2056

Need someplace to set the climax for your adventure? This chapter has ten places scattered everywhere from the desert Southwest to Antarctica. There's the set of the most popular gameshow around, Combat Shopping, along with an explanation of the rules. There's the world's largest mall in Australia. There's the dreaded flying fortress. I think this is a great chapter just because sometimes it's necessary to come up with a location on the fly and it's easy to have every fight locale turn into just another parking lot.

Appendices A&B: "The Cancer Factory" and "The Fist of Shiva"

There are two adventures in this book. The Cancer Factory is an investigation as to why a town disappeared, not only from the face of the earth but also from every map and database. The Fist of Shiva is an adventure for very experienced characters involving a city-destroying satellite and opportunities to introduce characters to the wonders of hard vacuum, and you can't not like that. Of the two adventures, I'd say Fist is the better, but the difficulty level is pretty high. There are a couple of places where a wrong decision can mean flat-out death.

Conclusion

This is another good book by Greg Stolze (someone knows how to align an octagonal mirror, it seems). Any Feng Shui fans will want a copy of this on their shelf. The only thing the book lacks is a history of the Buro beyond what's in the main rules. I'm still not really sure how the Ascended lost all their power in such a relatively short span of time when they had the benefit of two adjacent junctures under their control. (And if you don't understand what the hell I'm talking about, go out and buy Feng Shui and all the supplements you can find.)

Though slightly irksome, given the amount of other, even more useful, information in here (even compared against other Feng Shui supplements), I can get over not having all my questions answered. This is the kind of book that leaves you wanting more in a good way.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Seeds of the New Flesh
Author: Greg Stolze Category: game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Line: Feng Shui Cost: $19.95 US Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-887801-77-4 SKU: AG4001 Capsule Review by Kevin Mowery on 11/23/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Horror Conspiracy Post-apocalypse Asian/Far_East	Introduction: Feng Shui really gives you no shortage of bad guys. You've got evil eunuch sorcerors, neo-Confucian monks, a hidden conspiracy of transformed animals, anarchists, and cyborg monsters from the future. Those cyborgs and their masters, the Architects of the Flesh, have always been my least favorite of the enemy factions. Thanks to Greg Stolze, that's all changed. Seeds of the New Flesh details the workings of the Buro (the official ruling body of the future world of 2056) as well as the state of the world itself. There are new character archetypes, monsters, equipment, locations, NPCs, setting information, and not one but two adventures. Seeds is well-laid out, with attractive interior art, well-done sidebars and inserts, and so forth. Scattered throughout the book are numerous small bits of information detailing the culture of 2056, including TV programs, computer games, high fashion, and so forth. Turns out Crunchy Frog is very successful in about 60 years. Prior to each chapter is some fiction. The story takes the viewpoints of four different characters whose stories intertwine as they are captured by the Buro, escape, and get tangled up with the resistance. The ending is shocking, and I won't spoil it. The Atlas version of Feng Shui looks like it's going to be a very attractive game line if this quality continues. Chapter One: Welcome to 2056 This chapter starts off with an official government pamphlet specifically for time-travellers visiting 2056. There's lots of propaganda on all the great things about 2056. About my only complaint here is that while the layout is attractive, I'd like for this info to have been in a format that lent itself more easily to photocopying, so I could use it as a player's aid. After the pamphlet, you get the real scoop on what 2056 is like, followed by a handful of new character templates. My own favorite was the Consumer on the Brink, an average joe driven to an insane rage by . . . something. The other one I found most interesting is the Free Sex Militant. In 2056, there's a tax on same-race marriages (I'll explain why later). The Free Sex Militia wants to end that and let people hook up with whomever they want. The best part about this template is that it gives you guidelines for modifying it to fit other resistance groups (the Buro is working to put an end to a lot of things like personal privacy, martial arts, and the ability to be unhappy). I'd like to see this more in the future. Chapter Two: Us vs. Them Chapter Two begins with another pamphlet, this one an introduction for Buro operatives going back in time to 1996. There's lots of useful information on 1996, illustrating what 2056 is like. There's a gender-neutral form of address ("Mc", as in, "Thanks for publishing my reviews, McAntunes."), guns are illegal, food is only barely organic, homosexuality and transvestism are accepted. Later in the chapter is a section on what's good and bad about both 2056 and 1996, just so that the Buro isn't seen as a monolithic Bad Thing. Racial and sexual diversity is tolerated (albeit under fear of an efficient, ruthless secret police), there's less pollution, everyone gets medical care. Of course, the bad things more than make up for this, I think. There's also a section on how to play a Buro character. Why would anyone support such a regime? This section might help answer that. We also learn that the Buro has a weird program for instructing time-travellers about 1996. Recommended viewing for the era includes "Heathers," "Sixteen Candles," Michael Jackson videos, and "Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song." It's the little touches that make this book great. Oh, and one other good thing about 2056: Daniel Pinkwater is regarded as the greatest writer of his era. My girlfriend (who is penpals with Mr. Pinkwater) read that part and announced that Greg Stolze is the best game writer ever. She also told me to write that. Chapter Three: Making History My-Story Presented as a report to Buropresident Bonengel, this is a summary of the Secret War from the Buro's point of view. The relations of the Buro with other factions, including the Four Monarchs, are explored. Bonengel has marked this up a little bit with doodles and the occasional aside. Under the caption of a picture showing Buro abominations being routed in the Netherworld by giant fire-breathing infants, he's scrawled "Who the hell are these?!?!" Plans and operations for all the other junctures are summarized and detailed. Chapter Four: R&D The obligatory equipment chapter. There's a few cool new arcanowave cyberware accessories, some mundane but sinister consumer goods, new weapons, and a whole lot of applications for gravity control. The gravity control stuff is the high point of the chapter, as just about everything from zero-gravity elevators to antigravity industrial equipment to weaponry is explored. The deathsaber generates a short beam of gravity and antigravity that fluctuates many, many times per second. It rips apart nearly anything and usually sets it ablaze, or at least chars it. It's also hard to control as it tends to vibrate quite a lot. True to cinematic form, it's not recommended for use against player-characters, as it's just too gruesome. Chapter Five: Casting Call Here's another chapter filled with meat, or at least villains waiting to be blown into messy chunks of meat. The two most powerful men on earth are detailed, along with what exactly it means when you've got all the world's chi fulfilling your desires. Dr. Curtis Boatman, the brains behind the abominations and other nasty technology isn't really out to crush anyone. He's a skirt-chaser. Yes, he rules the world, but he's mainly in it for the women. Buropresident Johann Bonengel is other other big baddie. He's also the good guy, or at least that's the way he wants to see it. Due to a traumatic incident earlier in his life, he's devoted to eliminating racism and lots of other forms of injustice. The only problem is that he wants to do it the easy way: by crushing anyone who stands against him. (Anyone who has read my review of Lawyers, Guns and Money, also by Mr. Stolze may recognize a theme.) These two don't really get along, but they co-own the world. There are also stats for numerous NPCs, including Desdemona Deathangel (who was also in Back for Seconds and really didn't need to be reprinted here--sure BfS is out of print and hard to find now, but by that rationale, Homo Omega should have also been in Seeds) and "Dan Dammer, Jammer Slammer," the heroic Buro cop and television star. There's info on new monsters, including the horrifying Bonechills, human monsters worse than any abomination--chemically-created sociopaths who have no feelings except loyalty to the Buro. They'd just as soon kill an innocent child as not; it's all the same to them. Whatever they're told. There's also a humorous sidebar on what's become of the cop/buddy flick in 2056. Thanks to the sexual diversity of the age, these are now mostly cop/buddy/romance flicks. A little more than half are heterosexual pairings, most are interracial (and those that aren't always end with the romance being broken up or one partner dying). A guy I know who works at the hobby store I frequent and I once had a conversation about how we'd like to see an action movie where the big, beefy hero cop keeps talking about how he has to get home because "Sam" or "Chris" or "Pat" is cooking him dinner and it's their anniversary. At the end of the movie, we finally meet this person, and it turns out to be another beefy guy. Spring that on your players. Chapter Six: Blowing Up 2056 Need someplace to set the climax for your adventure? This chapter has ten places scattered everywhere from the desert Southwest to Antarctica. There's the set of the most popular gameshow around, Combat Shopping, along with an explanation of the rules. There's the world's largest mall in Australia. There's the dreaded flying fortress. I think this is a great chapter just because sometimes it's necessary to come up with a location on the fly and it's easy to have every fight locale turn into just another parking lot. Appendices A&B: "The Cancer Factory" and "The Fist of Shiva" There are two adventures in this book. The Cancer Factory is an investigation as to why a town disappeared, not only from the face of the earth but also from every map and database. The Fist of Shiva is an adventure for very experienced characters involving a city-destroying satellite and opportunities to introduce characters to the wonders of hard vacuum, and you can't not like that. Of the two adventures, I'd say Fist is the better, but the difficulty level is pretty high. There are a couple of places where a wrong decision can mean flat-out death. Conclusion This is another good book by Greg Stolze (someone knows how to align an octagonal mirror, it seems). Any Feng Shui fans will want a copy of this on their shelf. The only thing the book lacks is a history of the Buro beyond what's in the main rules. I'm still not really sure how the Ascended lost all their power in such a relatively short span of time when they had the benefit of two adjacent junctures under their control. (And if you don't understand what the hell I'm talking about, go out and buy Feng Shui and all the supplements you can find.) Though slightly irksome, given the amount of other, even more useful, information in here (even compared against other Feng Shui supplements), I can get over not having all my questions answered. This is the kind of book that leaves you wanting more in a good way. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)