The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Quote of the Game: "Some people get all tangled up in definitions of what is and isn't a roleplaying game. We call the five games in this book roleplaying games in order to annoy these people. If you see anyone getting hot and bothered over this issue on the Internet, be sure to mock them for us."

Pantheon is the latest in the New Line series of games by Hogshead Publishing. Previous efforts include The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Violence, and Puppetland/Powerkill. Most of these games attempt to place a new spin on the idea of what constitutes a role-playing game and wrap it up in a short booklet. Pantheon continues this tradition and while it may not ask the tough questions that Powerkill does, the game contained within is probably the best since Baron Munchausen.

Pantheon is best described as a cross between a storytelling game (like Baron Munchausen or Once Upon A Time) and a science fiction drinking game (minus the beer, but it's certainly the kind of game that goes well with it). Basically, players take on the role of a character thrust into some sort of genre conflict with the other characters. Players take turns telling the story of their characters and at the end of the story, player's whose characters accomplish in-genre activities score points. The player with the most points wins.

To begin with, all players are read one of the story set-ups in the book. These set-ups firmly establish the genre the players will be working in. So you get things like "There's some mysterious creature aboard your deep-sea laboratory." to "A old gang of crooks re-unites to go after the loot they buried 10 years ago" to "The Old Codger has died and you're going to the reading of his will". Players can then either select from a cast of characters or make up their own character if such a cast isn't given. Finally, each player gets 50 tokens, 3 special tokens, 6 dice and some paper and a pen to keep track of what their character has said/done.

An initial player is chosen and they provide the first sentence of the story. They must introduce their character and may fill in some details about what they're like or what they're doing. Play continues around the table to the next person who introduces their character and so on. After introductions all around, players can begin to advance the story by adding a sentence to the story. They must mention their character and can only include one other PC at a time in their sentence. It is possible to introduce any number of NPC characters and there are no general restrictions about how they get used in the story. PCs may gain points through interactions with NPCs, but NPCs themselves can't score points for anyone.

Of course, at some point, someone will try to do something that another player will object to. Most of the situations confronting the characters will only be resolved to the satisfaction of one of them ("You're all trapped in Donner pass and you've run out of food..."). When a player wishes to Challenge a sentence made by another player, they announce the challenge and all players roll their dice, keeping the totals secret. The player who made the Challenge now bids a number of tokens. Going around the table, each player either passes, or makes a higher bid. When no other player is willing to top the high bidder, that bidder removes his tokens and sets them aside. The high bidder has won the auction but may not necessarily have one the Challenge. The high bidder now looks at the dice he's rolled to see which number came up the most times. This will be the "Lucky Number" that he calls out. Whoever rolled the most "Lucky Numbers" is the winner of the Challenge. The winner of the Challenge can either change the sentence that sparked the Challenge or leave it as.

So the story continues going around the circle, until everyone has run out of tokens. The last player to have any tokens is allowed to wrap up the story with one final sentence and may buy additional "last sentences" with any excess tokens they have.

Once the story has come to an end, players consult the scoresheet for that story. The scoresheet has a list of outcomes, actions, and standard plot points that are typical for stores of this type in general and for specific characters in the story. If a player's PC qualifies for a particular item on the scoresheet, they score an appropriate number of points. For example: In the Donner Pass scenario, you would score points for being the survivor (or one of them), you would also score points if your character was the first to suggest eating the others or was the first to actually do so. Scores can also be negative meaning you'll probably lose points if your character gets killed and eaten. If your character was a priest, you might get special points for sermonizing about brotherhood and additional points for then flipping out and killing another player. The wide range of potential scoring opportunities means that players should keep track of what their characters do or say (that's what the paper and pencil are for). It also opens up a number of potential directions and outcomes so that even after players have played a particular scenario, they can do so again. Although they now know what will score more points for them, their opponents will also know so new scoring opportunities will have to be cultivated.

Pantheon is another exciting story-telling game from Hogshead and it should find a warm reception among players who enjoyed their previous efforts or storytelling games in general. My only criticism would be that a few of the characters in some of the stories either have one major scoring opportunity or too many opportunities to lose points. Still, the characters become more open-ended after the first couple of scenarios and the system immediately encourages you to come up with your own scenarios to foist off on your gaming group. And at $5.95 it's return on investment is too good to pass up.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Pantheon and other Roleplaying Games
Author: Robin D. Laws Category: game Company/Publisher: Hogshead Publishing Line: New Style Line Cost: 5.95 Page count: 24 ISBN: 1-899749-25-X SKU: HP404 Playtest Review by Tom Russellon 07/12/00. Genre tags: Generic	Quote of the Game: "Some people get all tangled up in definitions of what is and isn't a roleplaying game. We call the five games in this book roleplaying games in order to annoy these people. If you see anyone getting hot and bothered over this issue on the Internet, be sure to mock them for us." Pantheon is the latest in the New Line series of games by Hogshead Publishing. Previous efforts include The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Violence, and Puppetland/Powerkill. Most of these games attempt to place a new spin on the idea of what constitutes a role-playing game and wrap it up in a short booklet. Pantheon continues this tradition and while it may not ask the tough questions that Powerkill does, the game contained within is probably the best since Baron Munchausen. Pantheon is best described as a cross between a storytelling game (like Baron Munchausen or Once Upon A Time) and a science fiction drinking game (minus the beer, but it's certainly the kind of game that goes well with it). Basically, players take on the role of a character thrust into some sort of genre conflict with the other characters. Players take turns telling the story of their characters and at the end of the story, player's whose characters accomplish in-genre activities score points. The player with the most points wins. To begin with, all players are read one of the story set-ups in the book. These set-ups firmly establish the genre the players will be working in. So you get things like "There's some mysterious creature aboard your deep-sea laboratory." to "A old gang of crooks re-unites to go after the loot they buried 10 years ago" to "The Old Codger has died and you're going to the reading of his will". Players can then either select from a cast of characters or make up their own character if such a cast isn't given. Finally, each player gets 50 tokens, 3 special tokens, 6 dice and some paper and a pen to keep track of what their character has said/done. An initial player is chosen and they provide the first sentence of the story. They must introduce their character and may fill in some details about what they're like or what they're doing. Play continues around the table to the next person who introduces their character and so on. After introductions all around, players can begin to advance the story by adding a sentence to the story. They must mention their character and can only include one other PC at a time in their sentence. It is possible to introduce any number of NPC characters and there are no general restrictions about how they get used in the story. PCs may gain points through interactions with NPCs, but NPCs themselves can't score points for anyone. Of course, at some point, someone will try to do something that another player will object to. Most of the situations confronting the characters will only be resolved to the satisfaction of one of them ("You're all trapped in Donner pass and you've run out of food..."). When a player wishes to Challenge a sentence made by another player, they announce the challenge and all players roll their dice, keeping the totals secret. The player who made the Challenge now bids a number of tokens. Going around the table, each player either passes, or makes a higher bid. When no other player is willing to top the high bidder, that bidder removes his tokens and sets them aside. The high bidder has won the auction but may not necessarily have one the Challenge. The high bidder now looks at the dice he's rolled to see which number came up the most times. This will be the "Lucky Number" that he calls out. Whoever rolled the most "Lucky Numbers" is the winner of the Challenge. The winner of the Challenge can either change the sentence that sparked the Challenge or leave it as. So the story continues going around the circle, until everyone has run out of tokens. The last player to have any tokens is allowed to wrap up the story with one final sentence and may buy additional "last sentences" with any excess tokens they have. Once the story has come to an end, players consult the scoresheet for that story. The scoresheet has a list of outcomes, actions, and standard plot points that are typical for stores of this type in general and for specific characters in the story. If a player's PC qualifies for a particular item on the scoresheet, they score an appropriate number of points. For example: In the Donner Pass scenario, you would score points for being the survivor (or one of them), you would also score points if your character was the first to suggest eating the others or was the first to actually do so. Scores can also be negative meaning you'll probably lose points if your character gets killed and eaten. If your character was a priest, you might get special points for sermonizing about brotherhood and additional points for then flipping out and killing another player. The wide range of potential scoring opportunities means that players should keep track of what their characters do or say (that's what the paper and pencil are for). It also opens up a number of potential directions and outcomes so that even after players have played a particular scenario, they can do so again. Although they now know what will score more points for them, their opponents will also know so new scoring opportunities will have to be cultivated. Pantheon is another exciting story-telling game from Hogshead and it should find a warm reception among players who enjoyed their previous efforts or storytelling games in general. My only criticism would be that a few of the characters in some of the stories either have one major scoring opportunity or too many opportunities to lose points. Still, the characters become more open-ended after the first couple of scenarios and the system immediately encourages you to come up with your own scenarios to foist off on your gaming group. And at $5.95 it's return on investment is too good to pass up. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Pantheon and other Roleplaying Games