The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Reviewer's bias: Before getting too far into the review, I thought it only fair to let you know of a personal bias that might affect it. A starting point from which this review leaps thus allowing you, the reader, to adjust the final evaluation to your own personal tastes. Often this bias comes out in the review itself and does not need to be stated. Here I wish to make clear that some of the criticism I may have of the Theatrix system is just the fact that I Like Rules. Not to get into the debate about Roll vs. Role vs. Rule Players and which are inherently superior, I have a bias against completely arbitrary systems. Now with that aside, let us get into the meat of the matter.

Theatrix is a diceless, universal role-playing system that allows for "any type of character, from any genre, at any power level." This is a big order and Theatrix does a good job by being completely scalable in nature. This can be a problem when crossing genres, as the scale does not relate to anything outside the genre. The book has a wealth of information for setting scenes and presenting information that I would recommend highly to any role player of any game system.

Presentation: Theatrix comes complete with a rulebook and a selection of separate sheets of heavy bond paper that contain flowcharts, tables, and other reference material that the "Director" might need. (Yes, the game uses its own verbiage for GM, Player, and PC but they are theater references, and really don't detract from the game at all.) The Reference Sheets are nice and they are crammed with so much information that there is no way to punch holes in them to allow placement in a binder of some sort. I have found it best to make copies and put the originals on the shelf until new copies are needed.

The Rulebook itself is black and white in a standard two-column format. There is neither an abundance of white space nor large margins to increase the page count. There is a detailed table of contents but no index. A nice touch is a one-page chapter summary at the end of each chapter. This summary helps cement the important concepts and works as a refresher when trying to find information. The style of writing is informal and easy to read. It explains the concepts with both informational text and examples.

The Artwork is highly ranged, with some good pieces that fit well with the surrounding text and others which are a bit too cartoonish or not related to the text. Because the nature of the rulebook is universal and does not give any particular setting, the artwork is so varied that it fails to convey any atmosphere at all.

The Game Itself Chapter 1: Introduction - Here is a good introduction to the Theatrix book and how it is organized, along with a brief synopsis of chapters. It is a good preview of the book but does not explain role-playing. Chapter 2: Role-play - Here is the standard introduction to role-playing. From the titles of the subsequent chapters, you can tell that Theatrix takes the viewpoint that role-playing is acting. It recommends a troupe style of play where everyone, not just the Director, is participating in designing the scenes. There is nothing terribly new here but it is presented in a way that might make newcomers more comfortable.

Chapter 3: Cinematography - This is a good chapter on applying different film techniques to a role-playing game. The content includes using cut scenes, explaining the purpose of foreshadowing, and improving your game through atmosphere. Like most of the chapters, it is short with little fluff information.

Chapter 4: Makeup and Costuming and Chapter 5: Lights…Camera…Action - These are the heart of the Theatrix system. Here you are told how to make characters and then how to run a session. Characters have attributes ranked from 1-10. The numbers themselves are only relevant to an arbitrary scale set up by the Director (GM). For example: In a fantasy game, a strength of 2 might be an average human, a 4 would be Conan, a 6 might be a troll, and a 10 would be a dragon. In a pulp campaign, a 2 might be an average human, a 4 would be an athletic guy, a 6 would be a professional boxer, and 8 would be "Guido," the mob enforcer. The scale can be further distinguished by a decimal place so that a 2.2 is weaker than a 2.4. This works well for any individual genre, but makes it difficult to trade characters between genres or between games with different Directors. It also means that the Director must have a good idea of the full range of attributes at the beginning of the game to create the scales.

Also added are skills and descriptors that may or may not have a number value. All of this is done through a descriptive process (for example, your strength 6 should have a different descriptor than anyone else's) and is not balanced or randomized. This will work well with mature role-playing groups but I always seem to have that one player who is super-everything guy who you have to knock down a few times. The game itself is very simple. The Director determines whether or not any test is going to succeed or fail and then looks to the traits of the players and situations and describes the scenes. This is the basic rule (Exceptions to the Rule are in Chapter 6) and much detail is given about describing successes and failures so that they have meaning to the players. The game gives you multiple flowcharts to help walk you through the scene, decide what its purpose is and then how to describe it. This information is good and can easily be applied to other role-playing games to their benefit.

Chapter 6: Improvisation - This chapter gives the players a few more options by introducing "Plot Points." Plot points are supposed to be rare things that the players use when they want things to go their way. This might be a success that was going to be a failure or the possibility to succeed at something they could not do before. In addition, the chapter tells the Actors and Directors to really let loose and let everyone be involved. Let the Players describe the some of the surroundings and as long as it is reasonable, Directors (who retain veto power, unless a plot point is used) should let it be. The end goal is to have everyone participate in actively creating a grand story that is enjoyed by all.

Chapter 7: Epilogue, Chapter 8: Combat, Chapter 9: Setting - These chapters describe ways to handle the particular problems of the chapter headings under the basic rules. These chapters provide more specific examples and processes for describing combat, developing a setting, and explaining how a campaign and characters progress between sessions.

Chapter 10: Plotline - This chapter is interesting in that it gives you a specific formula for writing the plots to adventures. (All adventures should be done in three acts.) It defines the elements of a good story and applies them to your adventure, instructing you where to best put them. While I was surprised at the rigidity of this formulaic approach in comparison to the rest of the book, I find it helpful in planning adventures.

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

Theatrix Presents - The Core Rules
Author: David Berkman, Travis Eneix, Andrew Finch, Anthony Gallela Category: game Company/Publisher: Backstage Press Line: Theatrix Page count: 144 ISBN: 0-9643630-0-3 Playtest Review by Adam Stein on 08/04/00. Generic	Reviewer's bias: Before getting too far into the review, I thought it only fair to let you know of a personal bias that might affect it. A starting point from which this review leaps thus allowing you, the reader, to adjust the final evaluation to your own personal tastes. Often this bias comes out in the review itself and does not need to be stated. Here I wish to make clear that some of the criticism I may have of the Theatrix system is just the fact that I Like Rules. Not to get into the debate about Roll vs. Role vs. Rule Players and which are inherently superior, I have a bias against completely arbitrary systems. Now with that aside, let us get into the meat of the matter. Theatrix is a diceless, universal role-playing system that allows for "any type of character, from any genre, at any power level." This is a big order and Theatrix does a good job by being completely scalable in nature. This can be a problem when crossing genres, as the scale does not relate to anything outside the genre. The book has a wealth of information for setting scenes and presenting information that I would recommend highly to any role player of any game system. Presentation: Theatrix comes complete with a rulebook and a selection of separate sheets of heavy bond paper that contain flowcharts, tables, and other reference material that the "Director" might need. (Yes, the game uses its own verbiage for GM, Player, and PC but they are theater references, and really don't detract from the game at all.) The Reference Sheets are nice and they are crammed with so much information that there is no way to punch holes in them to allow placement in a binder of some sort. I have found it best to make copies and put the originals on the shelf until new copies are needed. The Rulebook itself is black and white in a standard two-column format. There is neither an abundance of white space nor large margins to increase the page count. There is a detailed table of contents but no index. A nice touch is a one-page chapter summary at the end of each chapter. This summary helps cement the important concepts and works as a refresher when trying to find information. The style of writing is informal and easy to read. It explains the concepts with both informational text and examples. The Artwork is highly ranged, with some good pieces that fit well with the surrounding text and others which are a bit too cartoonish or not related to the text. Because the nature of the rulebook is universal and does not give any particular setting, the artwork is so varied that it fails to convey any atmosphere at all. The Game Itself Chapter 1: Introduction - Here is a good introduction to the Theatrix book and how it is organized, along with a brief synopsis of chapters. It is a good preview of the book but does not explain role-playing. Chapter 2: Role-play - Here is the standard introduction to role-playing. From the titles of the subsequent chapters, you can tell that Theatrix takes the viewpoint that role-playing is acting. It recommends a troupe style of play where everyone, not just the Director, is participating in designing the scenes. There is nothing terribly new here but it is presented in a way that might make newcomers more comfortable. Chapter 3: Cinematography - This is a good chapter on applying different film techniques to a role-playing game. The content includes using cut scenes, explaining the purpose of foreshadowing, and improving your game through atmosphere. Like most of the chapters, it is short with little fluff information. Chapter 4: Makeup and Costuming and Chapter 5: Lights…Camera…Action - These are the heart of the Theatrix system. Here you are told how to make characters and then how to run a session. Characters have attributes ranked from 1-10. The numbers themselves are only relevant to an arbitrary scale set up by the Director (GM). For example: In a fantasy game, a strength of 2 might be an average human, a 4 would be Conan, a 6 might be a troll, and a 10 would be a dragon. In a pulp campaign, a 2 might be an average human, a 4 would be an athletic guy, a 6 would be a professional boxer, and 8 would be "Guido," the mob enforcer. The scale can be further distinguished by a decimal place so that a 2.2 is weaker than a 2.4. This works well for any individual genre, but makes it difficult to trade characters between genres or between games with different Directors. It also means that the Director must have a good idea of the full range of attributes at the beginning of the game to create the scales. Also added are skills and descriptors that may or may not have a number value. All of this is done through a descriptive process (for example, your strength 6 should have a different descriptor than anyone else's) and is not balanced or randomized. This will work well with mature role-playing groups but I always seem to have that one player who is super-everything guy who you have to knock down a few times. The game itself is very simple. The Director determines whether or not any test is going to succeed or fail and then looks to the traits of the players and situations and describes the scenes. This is the basic rule (Exceptions to the Rule are in Chapter 6) and much detail is given about describing successes and failures so that they have meaning to the players. The game gives you multiple flowcharts to help walk you through the scene, decide what its purpose is and then how to describe it. This information is good and can easily be applied to other role-playing games to their benefit. Chapter 6: Improvisation - This chapter gives the players a few more options by introducing "Plot Points." Plot points are supposed to be rare things that the players use when they want things to go their way. This might be a success that was going to be a failure or the possibility to succeed at something they could not do before. In addition, the chapter tells the Actors and Directors to really let loose and let everyone be involved. Let the Players describe the some of the surroundings and as long as it is reasonable, Directors (who retain veto power, unless a plot point is used) should let it be. The end goal is to have everyone participate in actively creating a grand story that is enjoyed by all. Chapter 7: Epilogue, Chapter 8: Combat, Chapter 9: Setting - These chapters describe ways to handle the particular problems of the chapter headings under the basic rules. These chapters provide more specific examples and processes for describing combat, developing a setting, and explaining how a campaign and characters progress between sessions. Chapter 10: Plotline - This chapter is interesting in that it gives you a specific formula for writing the plots to adventures. (All adventures should be done in three acts.) It defines the elements of a good story and applies them to your adventure, instructing you where to best put them. While I was surprised at the rigidity of this formulaic approach in comparison to the rest of the book, I find it helpful in planning adventures. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Theatrix Presents - The Core Rules