The Inside Scoop on Gaming

When I saw the back cover text, I knew I had to have this game. I'm no X-phile, but UFO's, MIBs, black helicopters and the like have a certain pull. And when the game claims to be based on actual reports, I'm hooked.

Happily Hidden Invasion delivers on that promise. The background material on aliens is a coherent summary of UFO literature. The web of conspiracies includes many current theories, plus a few that are no doubt products of the author's imagination. And if you need more, a trip to the local library or bookstore will provide plenty of support material.

Hidden Invasion can also claim to be fully supported on the Internet. Feed a few choice keywords to a search engine, and hundreds of sites come back. One site I found dated 1997 has an almost word-for-word copy of the description of the Reptilians from this book, copyright 1995. Did the Website author crib from this book, or do they both have the same primary source? I have no idea.

Unfortunately, this great material is saddled with the CINEMATIC ADVENTURE system. (Yes, it's in all caps throughout the book.) Characters are composed of Talents, Knacks and Faults. Task checks are made with 2d6 plus 1d6 for every point the character has in the appropriate Talent, or +1 for a Knack. Faults are character flaws, and more Faults means more Talent dice.

One interesting thing about the system is that you reroll any dice that come up showing the same number and add them to the original total. If the rerolled dice match, do it again, and so on. Essentially, no difficulty number is impossible to hit.

The system passed the first reality check I threw at it, while I was still reading. I have a rudimentary grasp of lockpicking, say Talent (1) level. A dirt-cheap lock is Easy to pick with the proper tools, difficulty 10. (Nigh-impossible tasks are difficulty 50.) That gives me close to a 50-50 chance of picking the lock. I might be able to pick a better lock, but I'd have to get very lucky. Sounds about right.

Then I got to the list of Talents and sample difficulties. There is no Lockpicking Talent! Or Security Systems, Breaking and Entering -- nothing that will get you into a place you're not supposed to be. But that's exactly the sort of things characters in a conspiracy game will attempt sooner or later. Adding Talents to the system is easy enough, but stuff basic to the genre should already be there.

The difficulty numbers are broken, too. According to the Mechanic talent, putting gas in a car has a difficulty of 10. That means someone with no dice in Mechanic has almost a 5 in 6 chance of failing a simple fill-up. Having the Mechanic Knack improves your chances, but you still have a better than half chance of failing.

The weapon malfunction rules are even worse. Firearms have a malfunction number, or MALF. Roll that number or under on your Talent check and there's a problem. The example gives a character Handgun (2) who rolls 1, 1, 2, 1 while using a pistol with MALF 6. According to the text, "His total was 5, indicating his gun malfunctions!" No, it didn't. He gets to reroll those 1s and add them to 5, which guarantees that he'll beat 6. In fact, the lowest he can roll is 1, 2, 3, 4, or 10. That pistol will never malfunction for him. Give the same pistol to someone with the Handgun Knack, though, and suddenly it has about a 1 in 9 chance for mechanical failure. Assuming I've done the math right, of course.

You don't have to use the CINEMATIC ADVENTURE system, of course. Chapter 13 gives conversion rules for Steffan O'Sullivan's Fudge and Theatrix by Backstage Press, as well as guidelines that should work for any system. The Theatrix conversion is simple: Talents are Skills. I'm not familiar with the game, but it sounds like it will work.

The Fudge conversion is just a suggestion to use the existing character write-ups as a guideline. To quote, "In other words, FUDGE it." That's less information than the generic conversion guidelines supply. Fudge may be a wide-open system, but that's no excuse for being so lax. I came up with more concrete rules in about a minute. (Email me if you're interested.)

There are also suggestions on how to use Hidden Invasion with the other CINEMATIC ADVENTURE games, Vampire Hunter$ and Free Enterpri$e. They're both good campaign suggestions, and the three-way combination could be very entertaining.

Visually, the book is OK. The layout is not arresting, but it's easy to read. The cover art captures the feel very well. The interior art (mostly line art) varies from poor to decent. A single type of aliens may have three different appearances, depending on the piece of art in question.

The additional material is inspiring. Sidebars include computer printouts, government memos, tape transcripts and actual UFO photos. These add a great deal to the atmosphere of the game.

Overall, Hidden Invasion covers UFO conspiracy theory beautifully. Ditch the CINEMATIC ADVENTURE system and you have a great sourcebook for other games.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Hidden Invasion
Author: Paul Arden Lidberg Category: game Company/Publisher: Nightshift Games Line: Cinematic Adventure Cost: 19.95 Page count: 160 ISBN: 1-929332-18-1 SKU: CFE1700 Capsule Review by Patrick Clark on 08/22/00. Genre tags: Science fiction Modern day Conspiracy	When I saw the back cover text, I knew I had to have this game. I'm no X-phile, but UFO's, MIBs, black helicopters and the like have a certain pull. And when the game claims to be based on actual reports, I'm hooked. Happily Hidden Invasion delivers on that promise. The background material on aliens is a coherent summary of UFO literature. The web of conspiracies includes many current theories, plus a few that are no doubt products of the author's imagination. And if you need more, a trip to the local library or bookstore will provide plenty of support material. Hidden Invasion can also claim to be fully supported on the Internet. Feed a few choice keywords to a search engine, and hundreds of sites come back. One site I found dated 1997 has an almost word-for-word copy of the description of the Reptilians from this book, copyright 1995. Did the Website author crib from this book, or do they both have the same primary source? I have no idea. Unfortunately, this great material is saddled with the CINEMATIC ADVENTURE system. (Yes, it's in all caps throughout the book.) Characters are composed of Talents, Knacks and Faults. Task checks are made with 2d6 plus 1d6 for every point the character has in the appropriate Talent, or +1 for a Knack. Faults are character flaws, and more Faults means more Talent dice. One interesting thing about the system is that you reroll any dice that come up showing the same number and add them to the original total. If the rerolled dice match, do it again, and so on. Essentially, no difficulty number is impossible to hit. The system passed the first reality check I threw at it, while I was still reading. I have a rudimentary grasp of lockpicking, say Talent (1) level. A dirt-cheap lock is Easy to pick with the proper tools, difficulty 10. (Nigh-impossible tasks are difficulty 50.) That gives me close to a 50-50 chance of picking the lock. I might be able to pick a better lock, but I'd have to get very lucky. Sounds about right. Then I got to the list of Talents and sample difficulties. There is no Lockpicking Talent! Or Security Systems, Breaking and Entering -- nothing that will get you into a place you're not supposed to be. But that's exactly the sort of things characters in a conspiracy game will attempt sooner or later. Adding Talents to the system is easy enough, but stuff basic to the genre should already be there. The difficulty numbers are broken, too. According to the Mechanic talent, putting gas in a car has a difficulty of 10. That means someone with no dice in Mechanic has almost a 5 in 6 chance of failing a simple fill-up. Having the Mechanic Knack improves your chances, but you still have a better than half chance of failing. The weapon malfunction rules are even worse. Firearms have a malfunction number, or MALF. Roll that number or under on your Talent check and there's a problem. The example gives a character Handgun (2) who rolls 1, 1, 2, 1 while using a pistol with MALF 6. According to the text, "His total was 5, indicating his gun malfunctions!" No, it didn't. He gets to reroll those 1s and add them to 5, which guarantees that he'll beat 6. In fact, the lowest he can roll is 1, 2, 3, 4, or 10. That pistol will never malfunction for him. Give the same pistol to someone with the Handgun Knack, though, and suddenly it has about a 1 in 9 chance for mechanical failure. Assuming I've done the math right, of course. You don't have to use the CINEMATIC ADVENTURE system, of course. Chapter 13 gives conversion rules for Steffan O'Sullivan's Fudge and Theatrix by Backstage Press, as well as guidelines that should work for any system. The Theatrix conversion is simple: Talents are Skills. I'm not familiar with the game, but it sounds like it will work. The Fudge conversion is just a suggestion to use the existing character write-ups as a guideline. To quote, "In other words, FUDGE it." That's less information than the generic conversion guidelines supply. Fudge may be a wide-open system, but that's no excuse for being so lax. I came up with more concrete rules in about a minute. (Email me if you're interested.) There are also suggestions on how to use Hidden Invasion with the other CINEMATIC ADVENTURE games, Vampire Hunter$ and Free Enterpri$e. They're both good campaign suggestions, and the three-way combination could be very entertaining. Visually, the book is OK. The layout is not arresting, but it's easy to read. The cover art captures the feel very well. The interior art (mostly line art) varies from poor to decent. A single type of aliens may have three different appearances, depending on the piece of art in question. The additional material is inspiring. Sidebars include computer printouts, government memos, tape transcripts and actual UFO photos. These add a great deal to the atmosphere of the game. Overall, Hidden Invasion covers UFO conspiracy theory beautifully. Ditch the CINEMATIC ADVENTURE system and you have a great sourcebook for other games. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse)