The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Continuum, roleplaying for physicists. Or, stuff that makes your brain hurt.

Appearance, Layout, and Organization:

Continuum: Roleplaying in The Yet is a soft cover book of 224 pages. It has a black and white interior.

Its art is fantastic. Continuum is a neat and handsome game. The cover, by Michael Kaluta, is a gorgeous piece depicting an abstract view of man and time. The interior art is, without exception, well done and appropriate for the game. Tony DiTerlizzi is perhaps the most widely known of the game's artists.

Continuum's greatest flaw is its organization. Ideas and concepts are discussed without having been fully explained first, which only serves to confound the (possibly complex) issue at hand. The intruding ideas are always accompanied by a page reference where they are detailed; while possibly helpful, this kind of continual and pronounced self-reference is also distracting. For example, "The Continuum can coordinate and frag efficiently, with *overwhelming sentient force* [see pg 57, and above]. This is the reality of *Time Combat* [see pg 117]. The remains of a known narcissist are then scooped up by the Quicker Fraternity [see pg. 80], who handle any final arrangements."

A more serious problem, however, is the placement of information within the text. Ideas and concepts are not always segregated as they should be and sometimes intrude on the discourse of other elements. A chapter of the book is dedicated to the levels of skill involved in the mechanism of time travel. Rather than getting one of its own, the complete and full information regarding Fraternities, organizations of like-minded time travelers, appears in that chapter - not near the end or the beginning, but in the middle of the discussion of the abilities of a time travelers of a certain ability level. It is like a gigantic, full-paged sidebar. There is some logic behind the placement of the Fraternities information (it is at that skill level in which characters often join Fraternities), but the reader would have been better served with a distinct chapter on the issue.

Continuum has a decidedly sparse table of contents and its index occupies a mere half a page. While each chapter is fronted with a page that briefly describes what is discussed within, the combination of these elements and the problems mentioned above makes navigation of the game a rough venture.

Setting:

The setting of Continuum exists in two spaces: history and its interstices.

On a historic level, there is the rise and fall of Rome, the discoveries of Columbus, Hitler, and the like. Everything you know to have happened has happened. In addition, there's a sketch of a timeline up until 4000 A.D. - after which humanity as we know it disappears.

Interwoven between real historic events is the true setting of Continuum, that of a society of time travelers and those who oppose them, the secret history of the Earth, and the Inheritors, the future form of humanity.

Time travelers are known as "spanners" in Continuum (folks who cannot traverse the centuries are "levellers"). Spanners have a society and culture of their own, which is "the Continuum." They have a hierarchy as well; it's based on a person's ability to travel through time or "span." The better one can span, the higher one's status, power, and reach.

Fraternities form the backbone of the Continuum. They are mutual aid societies comprised of spanners who share the same interests and/or personality traits. Examples of Fraternities include: the Engineers, who tinker with and fix all manner of devices; the Foxhorn, a group of adrenaline addicts and warriors; and the Midwives, who make sure make sure the proper children are born at the proper time. Player characters are encourage to petition to join a Fraternity.

The Inheritors are the next stage in human evolution. Sometime in 4000 A.D., humans become advanced enough to inherit space/time. They travel to the stars and colonize them. They have altered themselves on a genetic level beyond our recognition. They possess technology beyond our imagining. They also direct the highest members of Continuum hierarchy and police the timeline when necessary.

One of the edicts set down by the Inheritors is a limit to how far into the past or future a spanner may travel. The Inheritors exist at both ends of the timeline and do not appreciate intrusion. Note the Inheritor presence in the far past - the history of the Earth in Continuum contains places, peoples, and events which the average leveller would not dream had existed.

Character Creation:

Continuum uses a point-based chargen system. It uses no classes, archetypes, or the like. Each player receives 25 points to distribute among three attributes, Benefits (advantages), and a number of skills. Limits (disadvantages) are an optional rule.

The cost of a rank in the attribute varies by attribute; most cost 1 point per rank. The average rank for normal humans is 3 and the maximum known limit is 7.

A skill at Novice rank costs half a point, a skill at Apprentice rank 1 point, one at Journeyman 2 points, and it's 3 points to be a Master in a skill (there's another rank of skills, Grandmaster, but it cannot be purchased at chargen).

Each skill has a score. It's score is the value of the skill's associated attribute plus a modifier, which is based on skill rank. The Novice rank adds nothing, Apprentice a +1, Journeyman +2, Master a +3, and Grandmaster a cumulative +1 for each additional level of Grandmaster. Alicia has a Body of 4 and Journeyman level in Melee Weapon: Sword. Her total score for that skill is 5 (4+1).

Each character may only have three Benefits. The first is free. A second costs 2 points and the third is 4 points. Characters may only take one Limit and receives a flat 2 points to spend elsewhere because of it. The player does not choose a Limit for his or her character, but instead rolls randomly for it. Examples of Benefits include Internal Clock, Lucid Dreamer, and Psychic Potential. Facial Tic, Clumsy, High Blood Pressure, and Borrowed Time (the character has seen his or her own death0 are examples of Limits.

Continuum's attributes are Body, Mind, and Quick. Body and Mind are self-explanatory. A rank in each of these costs 1 point. Quick is "A sense of timing, insight, and inner forces. The *chi* known in Asia. The attribute is vital to the mastery of spanning." Each rank of Quick costs 2 points.

There's one last element to a Continuum character: his or her Span. In this usage, Span refers to how adept the character is at time traveling. Each character begins with a Span of 1, allowing him or her to move up or down the timeline one year, to teleport ("Span levelly") one mile, and to carry up to 10 pounds of additional weight when doing either of those. The abilities associated with Span increase exponentially; at Span Two, character can move 10 years, 10 miles, and carry 100 pounds.

The System:

To determine if an action or skill use succeeds, roll a d10 and subtract the result from the appropriate attribute or skill score (with modifiers added to the score). If the result is positive, the action is a success. A zero is considered to be a success as well. If the result is negative, the action has failed.

A roll of a 1 is always a success. Such a roll is always redone and if a 1 comes up a second time, the character has achieved a "victory" on an extraordinary success.

If the d10 lands on the character's exact unmodified ability rating, reroll the die. If it land on the same number once again, the character has received a "grace." A grace is surreptitious aid from another spanner. These go beyond the extraordinary success of a victory and well into the realm of the unbelievable or supernatural (as the spanner providing the aid is working behind the scenes).

Any roll of a 10 is reroll. Another 10 indicated that the character has "blunder." Blunders are mistakes, malfunctions, plain old bad luck, and the like.

There is no initiative per se in Continuum. Instead, it uses a similar to that of Champions: There are five stages in a combat round and a given character will act during one or more of those stages depending on his or her Quick score. For example, a score of 2 or less means the character only acts during the third stage. A score of 5 to 6 allows the character to act in the first, third, and fifth stages. A character with a score of 9 to 10 acts during all the stages. In each stage, the actions of the character with the highest Quick score are resolved first, then those of the character with the second highest score, and so on.

Combat is the use of the appropriate skills, possibly in a series of contested actions. The difficulty of the actions depends on the specifics involved. If the action is uncontested, a success indicates a hit. If the action is contested, the character with the highest result (remember, task resolution is a score with modifiers minus a die roll) wins out.

Once the success or failure of an attack is determined, it's location must be pinpointed. Continuum uses a hit location chart with four concentric type zones: A, B, C, and D. A is head and heart, B the chest area surrounding A, and so on. To determine whether the attack hits A, B, C, or D, look at the result of the attack roll (which is the score plus modifiers minus the die roll). A 0 to 2 will hit D, a 3 to 4 will hit D, etc..

Let's look at an example of how this all comes together so far. Alicia is shooting at someone she doesn't like. Her Firearms is at Journeyman level and is tied to Mind. Her Mind is 4. This means her final score for Firearms is 6 (4 + 2). The GM gives the shot a modifier of -1, bringing the current total down to 5. Alicia rolls a 2. The person she is shooting is unaware of Alicia and the gun pointed at him, so the action is not a contested one. Because 5 minus 2 is positive, a 3, the shot hits. To determine where it hits, we look at the chart. Alicia got a 3 and that falls under C. She hit her target in the chest area, but not near the heart.

Each weapon has a damage code with a number listed for each zone. This number is how many Impairment Points the target will take when hit in that location with that weapon. Each Impairment Point lowers all attributes and skills scores by one until the wound the point represents has healed. Furthermore, Continuum uses rules that deal with shock and continued bleeding.

Let's return to our example about Alicia. She was using a Heavy Pistol, which has a code of D:2 C:4 B: 6 A: 8. We know she hit in C, so she just dealt 4 Impairment Points to her target. The target has a -4 penalty to everything now and maybe be in shock.

Armor soaks up Impairment Points and does not degrade with use.

Continuum has rules for the use of time travel in combat. It is mainly used to enter a specific stage of combat.

Other important rules areas in Continuum deal with the Yet referred to in the game's title, Frag or Fragmentation (which is a kind of damaging disparity with the universe), time combat, and character advancement.

A character's Yet is all the things he or she must do. It is recorded in detail on the character record sheet. These things occur because the character has received information about his or her future self or gone from a future point in the timeling to change or participate in a past event. For example, let's assume the campaign begins in 2000. During the course of play, Alicia finds herself in a tough spot and tells the GM that her future self is going to bring her current self a Heavy Pistol so that she can shoot someone she doesn't like. Alicia would record the bringing of the pistol and the circumstances surrounding it in her Yet. At some point, the character must fulfill her Yet by heading to that past moment with a Heavy Pistol.

In Continuum, everything that's happened has happened. Past events are not changed through the intervention of sentient force (a term used to describe intelligent beings acting on events and things). In other words, if Alicia failed her Physics final in college, she or anyone else cannot go back into the past to change that fact. If they do, the universe will rebel with Frag.

A character is held accountable for any Frag he or she creates. As a loyal member of the Continuum, he or she is also responsible for helping to clean up any Frag anyone else creates. Frag is dealt with my returning conditions to their historical state - by whatever means necessary.

Mechanically, Frag accumulates as points. A character with more than three points begins to experience adverse effects: Graces become failures, penalties to Mind and Quick, et al.. When a character has eight or more points, he or she becomes discorporeal and is retired from play.

Time combat is executed through a series of Stragems. The mechanics of such are too complex to be done justice to here. Note, however, that it involved spanning around to perform various tasks (such as learning about your enemy's past) and Frag is one of the main weapons used during it.

Advancement in Continuum is handled through a series of clock-shaped check boxes on the character record sheet. Every time a character succeeds at a roll, an appropriate box should be checked. When a certain number of boxes is checked, the skill or attribute goes up a level.

Span deserves special mention. Recall that span, when referred to as an element of the character, determines time travel and related abilities. To increase a character's Span, he or she may need to complete in-game roleplaying requirements (such as permission from someone higher up in the Continuum to move on), zero Frag points, certain skills, and, interestingly enough, must have spent a certain amount of time playing the game. Continuum requires actual play time for advancement. For example, to reach Span Three a "...player must have spent *three months of real time playing a Span Two, and played at least four game sessions of at least four hours apiece* playing Continuum, before advancement to Three can even be considered."

There's one final mechanical mystery to discuss: How spanners are able to span. Every player knows no machinery is used, but the precise method is known only to Continuum GMs. The secret of spanning will remain in GM hand, at least insofar as this review is concerned. Suffice it to say that the methodology is an interesting bit of genius.

Overall:

Continuum can be a confusing game - not just because of its organization, but also because of its subject matter. Time travel and the paradoxes it creates is not for the faint of heart. Reading the rulebook a second or third time will take care of problems related to presentation of ideas, but things like what exactly causes Frag, what should be recorded in a character's Yet, etc., are more murky.

Groups looking for a serious, more realistic time travel game and willing (and able) to deal with concerns such as these should most definitely pick up a copy of Continuum. It contains some very interesting and playable ideas.

Groups looking for a less realistic time travel game could also put Continuum to good use - especially if they span widely when they span as the most confusing situations occur when travel is clustered around short period of time.

Groups not very interested in time travel do not need to look at Continuum. While its advancement mechanic (especially in regard to increasing a character's Span) is interesting, its not interesting or innovative enough to purchase a whole game over.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Continuum: Roleplaying in The Yet
Author: David Fooden, Chris Adams, and Barbara Manui Category: game Company/Publisher: Aetherco/Dreamcatcher Multimedia, Inc. Line: Continuum Cost: 19.99 Page count: 224 ISBN: 1-929312-00-8 SKU: ADC 1001 Capsule Review by Seanchai on 05/21/00. Genre tags: Science_fiction Modern_day Historical Far_Future	Continuum, roleplaying for physicists. Or, stuff that makes your brain hurt. Appearance, Layout, and Organization: Continuum: Roleplaying in The Yet is a soft cover book of 224 pages. It has a black and white interior. Its art is fantastic. Continuum is a neat and handsome game. The cover, by Michael Kaluta, is a gorgeous piece depicting an abstract view of man and time. The interior art is, without exception, well done and appropriate for the game. Tony DiTerlizzi is perhaps the most widely known of the game's artists. Continuum's greatest flaw is its organization. Ideas and concepts are discussed without having been fully explained first, which only serves to confound the (possibly complex) issue at hand. The intruding ideas are always accompanied by a page reference where they are detailed; while possibly helpful, this kind of continual and pronounced self-reference is also distracting. For example, "The Continuum can coordinate and frag efficiently, with overwhelming sentient force [see pg 57, and above]. This is the reality of Time Combat [see pg 117]. The remains of a known narcissist are then scooped up by the Quicker Fraternity [see pg. 80], who handle any final arrangements." A more serious problem, however, is the placement of information within the text. Ideas and concepts are not always segregated as they should be and sometimes intrude on the discourse of other elements. A chapter of the book is dedicated to the levels of skill involved in the mechanism of time travel. Rather than getting one of its own, the complete and full information regarding Fraternities, organizations of like-minded time travelers, appears in that chapter - not near the end or the beginning, but in the middle of the discussion of the abilities of a time travelers of a certain ability level. It is like a gigantic, full-paged sidebar. There is some logic behind the placement of the Fraternities information (it is at that skill level in which characters often join Fraternities), but the reader would have been better served with a distinct chapter on the issue. Continuum has a decidedly sparse table of contents and its index occupies a mere half a page. While each chapter is fronted with a page that briefly describes what is discussed within, the combination of these elements and the problems mentioned above makes navigation of the game a rough venture. Setting: The setting of Continuum exists in two spaces: history and its interstices. On a historic level, there is the rise and fall of Rome, the discoveries of Columbus, Hitler, and the like. Everything you know to have happened has happened. In addition, there's a sketch of a timeline up until 4000 A.D. - after which humanity as we know it disappears. Interwoven between real historic events is the true setting of Continuum, that of a society of time travelers and those who oppose them, the secret history of the Earth, and the Inheritors, the future form of humanity. Time travelers are known as "spanners" in Continuum (folks who cannot traverse the centuries are "levellers"). Spanners have a society and culture of their own, which is "the Continuum." They have a hierarchy as well; it's based on a person's ability to travel through time or "span." The better one can span, the higher one's status, power, and reach. Fraternities form the backbone of the Continuum. They are mutual aid societies comprised of spanners who share the same interests and/or personality traits. Examples of Fraternities include: the Engineers, who tinker with and fix all manner of devices; the Foxhorn, a group of adrenaline addicts and warriors; and the Midwives, who make sure make sure the proper children are born at the proper time. Player characters are encourage to petition to join a Fraternity. The Inheritors are the next stage in human evolution. Sometime in 4000 A.D., humans become advanced enough to inherit space/time. They travel to the stars and colonize them. They have altered themselves on a genetic level beyond our recognition. They possess technology beyond our imagining. They also direct the highest members of Continuum hierarchy and police the timeline when necessary. One of the edicts set down by the Inheritors is a limit to how far into the past or future a spanner may travel. The Inheritors exist at both ends of the timeline and do not appreciate intrusion. Note the Inheritor presence in the far past - the history of the Earth in Continuum contains places, peoples, and events which the average leveller would not dream had existed. Character Creation: Continuum uses a point-based chargen system. It uses no classes, archetypes, or the like. Each player receives 25 points to distribute among three attributes, Benefits (advantages), and a number of skills. Limits (disadvantages) are an optional rule. The cost of a rank in the attribute varies by attribute; most cost 1 point per rank. The average rank for normal humans is 3 and the maximum known limit is 7. A skill at Novice rank costs half a point, a skill at Apprentice rank 1 point, one at Journeyman 2 points, and it's 3 points to be a Master in a skill (there's another rank of skills, Grandmaster, but it cannot be purchased at chargen). Each skill has a score. It's score is the value of the skill's associated attribute plus a modifier, which is based on skill rank. The Novice rank adds nothing, Apprentice a +1, Journeyman +2, Master a +3, and Grandmaster a cumulative +1 for each additional level of Grandmaster. Alicia has a Body of 4 and Journeyman level in Melee Weapon: Sword. Her total score for that skill is 5 (4+1). Each character may only have three Benefits. The first is free. A second costs 2 points and the third is 4 points. Characters may only take one Limit and receives a flat 2 points to spend elsewhere because of it. The player does not choose a Limit for his or her character, but instead rolls randomly for it. Examples of Benefits include Internal Clock, Lucid Dreamer, and Psychic Potential. Facial Tic, Clumsy, High Blood Pressure, and Borrowed Time (the character has seen his or her own death0 are examples of Limits. Continuum's attributes are Body, Mind, and Quick. Body and Mind are self-explanatory. A rank in each of these costs 1 point. Quick is "A sense of timing, insight, and inner forces. The chi known in Asia. The attribute is vital to the mastery of spanning." Each rank of Quick costs 2 points. There's one last element to a Continuum character: his or her Span. In this usage, Span refers to how adept the character is at time traveling. Each character begins with a Span of 1, allowing him or her to move up or down the timeline one year, to teleport ("Span levelly") one mile, and to carry up to 10 pounds of additional weight when doing either of those. The abilities associated with Span increase exponentially; at Span Two, character can move 10 years, 10 miles, and carry 100 pounds. The System: To determine if an action or skill use succeeds, roll a d10 and subtract the result from the appropriate attribute or skill score (with modifiers added to the score). If the result is positive, the action is a success. A zero is considered to be a success as well. If the result is negative, the action has failed. A roll of a 1 is always a success. Such a roll is always redone and if a 1 comes up a second time, the character has achieved a "victory" on an extraordinary success. If the d10 lands on the character's exact unmodified ability rating, reroll the die. If it land on the same number once again, the character has received a "grace." A grace is surreptitious aid from another spanner. These go beyond the extraordinary success of a victory and well into the realm of the unbelievable or supernatural (as the spanner providing the aid is working behind the scenes). Any roll of a 10 is reroll. Another 10 indicated that the character has "blunder." Blunders are mistakes, malfunctions, plain old bad luck, and the like. There is no initiative per se in Continuum. Instead, it uses a similar to that of Champions: There are five stages in a combat round and a given character will act during one or more of those stages depending on his or her Quick score. For example, a score of 2 or less means the character only acts during the third stage. A score of 5 to 6 allows the character to act in the first, third, and fifth stages. A character with a score of 9 to 10 acts during all the stages. In each stage, the actions of the character with the highest Quick score are resolved first, then those of the character with the second highest score, and so on. Combat is the use of the appropriate skills, possibly in a series of contested actions. The difficulty of the actions depends on the specifics involved. If the action is uncontested, a success indicates a hit. If the action is contested, the character with the highest result (remember, task resolution is a score with modifiers minus a die roll) wins out. Once the success or failure of an attack is determined, it's location must be pinpointed. Continuum uses a hit location chart with four concentric type zones: A, B, C, and D. A is head and heart, B the chest area surrounding A, and so on. To determine whether the attack hits A, B, C, or D, look at the result of the attack roll (which is the score plus modifiers minus the die roll). A 0 to 2 will hit D, a 3 to 4 will hit D, etc.. Let's look at an example of how this all comes together so far. Alicia is shooting at someone she doesn't like. Her Firearms is at Journeyman level and is tied to Mind. Her Mind is 4. This means her final score for Firearms is 6 (4 + 2). The GM gives the shot a modifier of -1, bringing the current total down to 5. Alicia rolls a 2. The person she is shooting is unaware of Alicia and the gun pointed at him, so the action is not a contested one. Because 5 minus 2 is positive, a 3, the shot hits. To determine where it hits, we look at the chart. Alicia got a 3 and that falls under C. She hit her target in the chest area, but not near the heart. Each weapon has a damage code with a number listed for each zone. This number is how many Impairment Points the target will take when hit in that location with that weapon. Each Impairment Point lowers all attributes and skills scores by one until the wound the point represents has healed. Furthermore, Continuum uses rules that deal with shock and continued bleeding. Let's return to our example about Alicia. She was using a Heavy Pistol, which has a code of D:2 C:4 B: 6 A: 8. We know she hit in C, so she just dealt 4 Impairment Points to her target. The target has a -4 penalty to everything now and maybe be in shock. Armor soaks up Impairment Points and does not degrade with use. Continuum has rules for the use of time travel in combat. It is mainly used to enter a specific stage of combat. Other important rules areas in Continuum deal with the Yet referred to in the game's title, Frag or Fragmentation (which is a kind of damaging disparity with the universe), time combat, and character advancement. A character's Yet is all the things he or she must do. It is recorded in detail on the character record sheet. These things occur because the character has received information about his or her future self or gone from a future point in the timeling to change or participate in a past event. For example, let's assume the campaign begins in 2000. During the course of play, Alicia finds herself in a tough spot and tells the GM that her future self is going to bring her current self a Heavy Pistol so that she can shoot someone she doesn't like. Alicia would record the bringing of the pistol and the circumstances surrounding it in her Yet. At some point, the character must fulfill her Yet by heading to that past moment with a Heavy Pistol. In Continuum, everything that's happened has happened. Past events are not changed through the intervention of sentient force (a term used to describe intelligent beings acting on events and things). In other words, if Alicia failed her Physics final in college, she or anyone else cannot go back into the past to change that fact. If they do, the universe will rebel with Frag. A character is held accountable for any Frag he or she creates. As a loyal member of the Continuum, he or she is also responsible for helping to clean up any Frag anyone else creates. Frag is dealt with my returning conditions to their historical state - by whatever means necessary. Mechanically, Frag accumulates as points. A character with more than three points begins to experience adverse effects: Graces become failures, penalties to Mind and Quick, et al.. When a character has eight or more points, he or she becomes discorporeal and is retired from play. Time combat is executed through a series of Stragems. The mechanics of such are too complex to be done justice to here. Note, however, that it involved spanning around to perform various tasks (such as learning about your enemy's past) and Frag is one of the main weapons used during it. Advancement in Continuum is handled through a series of clock-shaped check boxes on the character record sheet. Every time a character succeeds at a roll, an appropriate box should be checked. When a certain number of boxes is checked, the skill or attribute goes up a level. Span deserves special mention. Recall that span, when referred to as an element of the character, determines time travel and related abilities. To increase a character's Span, he or she may need to complete in-game roleplaying requirements (such as permission from someone higher up in the Continuum to move on), zero Frag points, certain skills, and, interestingly enough, must have spent a certain amount of time playing the game. Continuum requires actual play time for advancement. For example, to reach Span Three a "...player must have spent three months of real time playing a Span Two, and played at least four game sessions of at least four hours apiece playing Continuum, before advancement to Three can even be considered." There's one final mechanical mystery to discuss: How spanners are able to span. Every player knows no machinery is used, but the precise method is known only to Continuum GMs. The secret of spanning will remain in GM hand, at least insofar as this review is concerned. Suffice it to say that the methodology is an interesting bit of genius. Overall: Continuum can be a confusing game - not just because of its organization, but also because of its subject matter. Time travel and the paradoxes it creates is not for the faint of heart. Reading the rulebook a second or third time will take care of problems related to presentation of ideas, but things like what exactly causes Frag, what should be recorded in a character's Yet, etc., are more murky. Groups looking for a serious, more realistic time travel game and willing (and able) to deal with concerns such as these should most definitely pick up a copy of Continuum. It contains some very interesting and playable ideas. Groups looking for a less realistic time travel game could also put Continuum to good use - especially if they span widely when they span as the most confusing situations occur when travel is clustered around short period of time. Groups not very interested in time travel do not need to look at Continuum. While its advancement mechanic (especially in regard to increasing a character's Span) is interesting, its not interesting or innovative enough to purchase a whole game over. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)