Simply put, in my opinion Karma is the best roleplaying supplement I have ever read. Now that we’ve established my view, allow me to explain.
Karma is the first supplement to the roleplaying game SLA Industries, written by Nightfall Games and published by several companies before being passed back to Nightfall and now distributed by Hogshead Publishing. (For a more complete story, go to www.nightfall.co.uk.)
For those relatively unfamiliar with SLA Industries, Karma is the name of the foremost biogenetic producer in the World of Progress. They cater for all those technologies made from genetic recombination, from production of Stormers, to living furniture and growing meat by the slab for people to eat. Most of the sourcebook called Karma is written in the style of a magazine for sale to the Operatives and public inhabiting the cess-pit called Mort, the capital city and planet of the World of Progress, Mr. Slayer’s dream and domain. It is this quality that helps create the feel that the reader is actually within SLA and has picked up the magazine to read about the latest in hardware, people and places. This book showcases the latest developments on offer from the Department of Biogenetics and it’s all for sale to the Operatives. The last 30 or so pages of the book hold the game rules, statistics and GM material, so the magazine feel is in no way ruined by sidebars of rules, or occasional pages of statistics.
The artwork in Karma, if anything, puts the artwork in the SLA Industries rulebook to shame. The art is richly detailed and evocative, again making the reader feel as if they have a snapshot of the media culture of SLA Industries.
As well as the descriptive setting material, the sourcebook contains plenty of new things for players and GMs alike. New equipment in the form of guns, armour, ammunition and drugs is included (in a descriptive advertisement/review style within the magazine section of the book, with statistics and costs in the game section at the back) to tantalise players and give their characters something new to strive for. As well as equipment, the rear section contains stats for generic enemies and NPCs that Operatives can encounter, from Carnivorous Pigs to Civilian Dark Night Converts. Three new character races are included, giving the players a slightly broader choice. Admittedly, these races are new versions of Stormer, but that is to be largely expected from a magazine about what Karma has to offer. Details on the costs and effects of biogenetic implants and Life After Death technologies are included, giving the players the closest thing that SLA has to cyberware, and a chance to come back from the dead, provided the medical team can get to you in time. All of these options increase the scope of what the players and GM can experience, without unbalancing the game or driving it towards a power-gamer feel as so many supplements for games can.
One of the greatest faults of the SLA Industries rulebook was that it did not include a detailed GM section that led the new GM into easily and confidently running the game. Although the level of detail was exceptional, many GMs were left with a sense of bewilderment about where to begin. With the inclusion of NPCs and a glut of setting material, Karma removes much of the gap that a GM must cover before he can develop the sense of which direction his game should develop. If you read SLA Industries and were intrigued, get hold of Karma and immerse yourself in the setting. You'll love it.
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