The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Steeltown

Take a piece of the Philadelphia Experiment. Then extrapolate it along the lines of Gamma World. Add a pinch of Kieth Laumer's Worlds of the Imperium novels.

Now you have the basics of Steeltown. It is the start of an RPG series that puts players, highly trained specialists, into an alternate earths. The goal is to enter other realities, determine if other they can enter ours and if they can: stop them. That is the hook. Unlike Laumer's old novels, Steeltown is not particularly engaging.

Starting with a quick overview of the game, Steeltown has a large amount of the book dedicated to the SOL: Ominversal Role Playing System. Fancy name aside, it really is not a great set of rules. The metrics of the system are odd and more complicated than they need to be. The charts are slightly scatological and not user friendly. The measurements chart in the back of the book helps, somewhat. The tough thing is the stats are not linear, but rather their affect goes up in a much more accelerated curve. For example a rating of 1 is not 1/5th of 5, but much lower.

The mechanic for skill resolution is fairly standard: roll, add modifiers, then try to exceed the number required. A good thing is the fact that they did allow for the option to stack skills and stats or have their derived measurements added on top of one another for some resolutions.

The character building in Steeltown is reminiscent of GURPS. Agility, strength, IQ and willpower are the character's stats. Once those are purchased, then a character can take abilities or handicaps to flesh out the character. Additionally for groups travelling to realities other than the provided Steeltown setting or for future supplements, superhero and magical abilities have been included. Their direct usefulness to Steeltown is limited and perhaps should have been added to any future supplements as needed. This would have allowed for more basic game material or setting for Steeltown, and a hook to buy future supplements.

The skills are fairly generic, but adequately cover most players' needs. This is a good part of Steeltown, players do not have to worry about having too many skills. Like all the character-building aspects of Steeltown this deeply resembles GURPS in description and application.

Combat is interesting, in good and bad ways, in Steeltown. The actions in combat are split into three areas, free actions, ½ round or 1 round. Free actions are rather goofy and go against what many gamers would consider common sense. To make it worse is the fact that a character could take anywhere from 0 to 6+ free actions a round (IQ + AG +Awareness skill). These could include going prone, dropping an object, talking or making an awareness roll, etc. That aside the rest of the combat round options are split up logically, like an attack taking ½ round versus an all out attack taking a full round. One neat part of Steeltown's combat rules is that a character has the option of doing more in a round than they normally could. This comes at a serious modifier, of course. The damage allocation is interesting in the fact that there are three damage catagories: wound (swords, guns), stun (taser) or combination (fists, clubs). How damage is allocated could have been better explained and probably simplified into one chart.

The equipment section is fairly basic and really incomplete in regards to weapons selection and equipment that an operative would need. A supplement like "…and a 10 Foot Pole" would provide all the generic equipment a player would likely ever need. The weapons choices are limited and a weapons supplement would probably need to be used (RTG's Converting weapons statistics should not be a huge ordeal and could be extrapolated from the weapons given.

After about 80 pages of rules, you get to the setting of Steeltown in 30 pages. Basically it is Pittsburgh after a nuclear engagement in a post WWII setting (US versus the Eastern Bloc). The plot line for the nuclear holocaust is only marginally believable. it's just a game and it is an alternate reality after all. So sI just suspended my disbelief and moved on. It might have been nice to have a larger page count dedicated to the setting so some of the other surviving cities could have at least been briefly covered for larger adventures in that alternate earth.

The city of Steeltown is covered in little detail and a only a few areas of importance are covered. The map is far too busy and constrained by the small format of the book (approx 8.5" by 8.5"). It is more of an eye chart than a practical reference. For a game called Steeltown, the irony is that there is not much about Steeltown in the book.

The scenarios provided in Steeltown are fairly good, but like the setting itself, limiting. By the conventions of the players' organizational goals it is likely they could deduce that Steeltown provides very little threat to the prime world and that it should be left well enough alone. Written in prose, the scenarios are left fairly open to the players and GM in regards to getting from point A to point B. Despite threats and other motivations, it would be very easy and logical for players to get out of their pickle by simply leaving. To be honest it would have been much more interesting if Steeltown did somehow have the technology to cross into alternate earths. The could do it for thrills, resources or simple finding a new place to live other that the radiated husk that earth had become.

The art in Steeltown was slight, but for the most part adequate, or a touch better. The only odd thing I found about the art was that it seemed like it was for another game entirely and not about the Steeltown setting. The format of the book (approx 8.5" by 8.5") is odd. A standard format book would have allowed for more space to dedicate to the setting. Odd format and all, the space in the book was fairly well used.

The SOL system is really inadequate and unintuitive. The setting is sparse and what is an interesting idea was not fleshed out to any useful level. Steeltown would probably be better used simply as a supplement for a GURPS cyberpunk, time travel or alternate earth campaign. However if you like the premise and want to run with it the GURPS or GURPS Lite systems would be a better alternative than the SOL system that simply eats up the page count.

Steeltown is obviously a labor of love, but that alone does not make for a good game. For $14.95 you are not paying much, but you are not getting much either.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)

Steeltown : The Outsider Chronicles, Volume One
Author: Keith Sears Category: game Company/Publisher: Heraldic Game Design Line: The Outsider Chronicles Cost: 14.95 Page count: 112 Capsule Review by Wes Johnson on 12/08/99. Genre tags: Post-apocalypse	Steeltown Take a piece of the Philadelphia Experiment. Then extrapolate it along the lines of Gamma World. Add a pinch of Kieth Laumer's Worlds of the Imperium novels. Now you have the basics of Steeltown. It is the start of an RPG series that puts players, highly trained specialists, into an alternate earths. The goal is to enter other realities, determine if other they can enter ours and if they can: stop them. That is the hook. Unlike Laumer's old novels, Steeltown is not particularly engaging. Starting with a quick overview of the game, Steeltown has a large amount of the book dedicated to the SOL: Ominversal Role Playing System. Fancy name aside, it really is not a great set of rules. The metrics of the system are odd and more complicated than they need to be. The charts are slightly scatological and not user friendly. The measurements chart in the back of the book helps, somewhat. The tough thing is the stats are not linear, but rather their affect goes up in a much more accelerated curve. For example a rating of 1 is not 1/5th of 5, but much lower. The mechanic for skill resolution is fairly standard: roll, add modifiers, then try to exceed the number required. A good thing is the fact that they did allow for the option to stack skills and stats or have their derived measurements added on top of one another for some resolutions. The character building in Steeltown is reminiscent of GURPS. Agility, strength, IQ and willpower are the character's stats. Once those are purchased, then a character can take abilities or handicaps to flesh out the character. Additionally for groups travelling to realities other than the provided Steeltown setting or for future supplements, superhero and magical abilities have been included. Their direct usefulness to Steeltown is limited and perhaps should have been added to any future supplements as needed. This would have allowed for more basic game material or setting for Steeltown, and a hook to buy future supplements. The skills are fairly generic, but adequately cover most players' needs. This is a good part of Steeltown, players do not have to worry about having too many skills. Like all the character-building aspects of Steeltown this deeply resembles GURPS in description and application. Combat is interesting, in good and bad ways, in Steeltown. The actions in combat are split into three areas, free actions, ½ round or 1 round. Free actions are rather goofy and go against what many gamers would consider common sense. To make it worse is the fact that a character could take anywhere from 0 to 6+ free actions a round (IQ + AG +Awareness skill). These could include going prone, dropping an object, talking or making an awareness roll, etc. That aside the rest of the combat round options are split up logically, like an attack taking ½ round versus an all out attack taking a full round. One neat part of Steeltown's combat rules is that a character has the option of doing more in a round than they normally could. This comes at a serious modifier, of course. The damage allocation is interesting in the fact that there are three damage catagories: wound (swords, guns), stun (taser) or combination (fists, clubs). How damage is allocated could have been better explained and probably simplified into one chart. The equipment section is fairly basic and really incomplete in regards to weapons selection and equipment that an operative would need. A supplement like "…and a 10 Foot Pole" would provide all the generic equipment a player would likely ever need. The weapons choices are limited and a weapons supplement would probably need to be used (RTG's Converting weapons statistics should not be a huge ordeal and could be extrapolated from the weapons given. After about 80 pages of rules, you get to the setting of Steeltown in 30 pages. Basically it is Pittsburgh after a nuclear engagement in a post WWII setting (US versus the Eastern Bloc). The plot line for the nuclear holocaust is only marginally believable. it's just a game and it is an alternate reality after all. So sI just suspended my disbelief and moved on. It might have been nice to have a larger page count dedicated to the setting so some of the other surviving cities could have at least been briefly covered for larger adventures in that alternate earth. The city of Steeltown is covered in little detail and a only a few areas of importance are covered. The map is far too busy and constrained by the small format of the book (approx 8.5" by 8.5"). It is more of an eye chart than a practical reference. For a game called Steeltown, the irony is that there is not much about Steeltown in the book. The scenarios provided in Steeltown are fairly good, but like the setting itself, limiting. By the conventions of the players' organizational goals it is likely they could deduce that Steeltown provides very little threat to the prime world and that it should be left well enough alone. Written in prose, the scenarios are left fairly open to the players and GM in regards to getting from point A to point B. Despite threats and other motivations, it would be very easy and logical for players to get out of their pickle by simply leaving. To be honest it would have been much more interesting if Steeltown did somehow have the technology to cross into alternate earths. The could do it for thrills, resources or simple finding a new place to live other that the radiated husk that earth had become. The art in Steeltown was slight, but for the most part adequate, or a touch better. The only odd thing I found about the art was that it seemed like it was for another game entirely and not about the Steeltown setting. The format of the book (approx 8.5" by 8.5") is odd. A standard format book would have allowed for more space to dedicate to the setting. Odd format and all, the space in the book was fairly well used. The SOL system is really inadequate and unintuitive. The setting is sparse and what is an interesting idea was not fleshed out to any useful level. Steeltown would probably be better used simply as a supplement for a GURPS cyberpunk, time travel or alternate earth campaign. However if you like the premise and want to run with it the GURPS or GURPS Lite systems would be a better alternative than the SOL system that simply eats up the page count. Steeltown is obviously a labor of love, but that alone does not make for a good game. For $14.95 you are not paying much, but you are not getting much either. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)

Steeltown : The Outsider Chronicles, Volume One