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As their new flagship sci-fi roleplaying game, TSR could have done worse than Alternity. I haven't had a chance to rigorously playtest it yet, but from what I've seen it doesn't look bad at all.

First of all, this is NOT AD&D in space. Althought the system will look familiar to veteran AD&Ders like myself, the resemblance is only skin deep. The central mechanic revolves around rolling a D20 (the control die) and modifying it with another die (the situation die) The magnitude of the situation die is decided based on the diffculty of the action. Easy actions might warrant a d4 or a d8 bonus, while extraordinarily difficult ones might be penalized by up to 3d20. The result is compared to the characters skill level and if it's below it's a success. The lower you roll, the better you succeed. Rolling lower than half your skill results in a 'Good' success and rolling lower than a fourth results in an 'Amazing' success. The type of success has a significant effect on the action. (Amazing weapon hits do more damage than Good ones, for example)While its not terribly realistic, the system looks fast and balanced.

Character creation is point-driven, with the player divvying up point between six attributes. (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Will and Personality-- remind you of anything?)Although characters are given classes, this seems to be geared into orienting you toward a concept rather than deciding your abilities, since character abilities are decided by skills. You could be a 'combat spec' but load up on science skills if you wanted. This creates a very flexible system in which characters of the same class can be radically different. Token alien races are included, and range from the big-headed psionic fraal to the multi-eyed winged shesheyan.

The rest of the book contains rules for psionics, mutations, cybernetics, computers, (read netrunning) vehicular and space combat, and equipment ranging from modern to truly sci-fi. All of them are smoothly integrated into the base system but seem rather bare. Enough of each is provided to get a campaign running, but not quite enough to fully flesh out a sci-fi world. Given that this is TSR running the show, this will probably be fixed in future dedicated supplements or campaign settings. As for art, the book is very stylish, with good use of colored text and pictures

Speaking of campaign settings, this is where I think Alternity has the most potential. Like AD&D, Alternity is a generic setting. AD&D could be used to play almost any sort of fantasy, from noble and legendary Forgotten Realms to the burning sands of Arabian Al-Quadim and the dark horror of Ravenloft. Similarly, Alternity can be used to play any sort of sci-fi, from a gritty cyberpunk setting to a Star Wars style space opera. Just browsing through the books I got ideas to adapt Star Wars (psionics for the Force and conveniently provided plasma swords for lightsabers) and the StarCraft computer game setting. (fraal for the Protoss and random mutations for Zerg) With a little or a lot of tweaking Alternity can be used for any sci-fi setting without having to deal with the myriad rules and supplements of more realistic universal systems like GURPS or CORPS.

Also, if TSR runs with their new system we should see some truly creative premade campaign settings. If they could make something as off the wall as Planescape for AD&D they should be able to come up with something for Alternity.

Bottom line: If you like superrealism go buy GURPS or Traveller. If you like rich and dedicated campaign settings, get Fading Suns. But if you want a good all-round sci-fi setting with the versatility of AD&D get Alternity.

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

Alternity Players Handbook
Author: Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR Cost: $29.95 Page count: 256 ISBN: 0-7869-0728-2 Capsule Review by Vegeta on 04/28/98. Genre tags: none	As their new flagship sci-fi roleplaying game, TSR could have done worse than Alternity. I haven't had a chance to rigorously playtest it yet, but from what I've seen it doesn't look bad at all. First of all, this is NOT AD&D in space. Althought the system will look familiar to veteran AD&Ders like myself, the resemblance is only skin deep. The central mechanic revolves around rolling a D20 (the control die) and modifying it with another die (the situation die) The magnitude of the situation die is decided based on the diffculty of the action. Easy actions might warrant a d4 or a d8 bonus, while extraordinarily difficult ones might be penalized by up to 3d20. The result is compared to the characters skill level and if it's below it's a success. The lower you roll, the better you succeed. Rolling lower than half your skill results in a 'Good' success and rolling lower than a fourth results in an 'Amazing' success. The type of success has a significant effect on the action. (Amazing weapon hits do more damage than Good ones, for example)While its not terribly realistic, the system looks fast and balanced. Character creation is point-driven, with the player divvying up point between six attributes. (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Will and Personality-- remind you of anything?)Although characters are given classes, this seems to be geared into orienting you toward a concept rather than deciding your abilities, since character abilities are decided by skills. You could be a 'combat spec' but load up on science skills if you wanted. This creates a very flexible system in which characters of the same class can be radically different. Token alien races are included, and range from the big-headed psionic fraal to the multi-eyed winged shesheyan. The rest of the book contains rules for psionics, mutations, cybernetics, computers, (read netrunning) vehicular and space combat, and equipment ranging from modern to truly sci-fi. All of them are smoothly integrated into the base system but seem rather bare. Enough of each is provided to get a campaign running, but not quite enough to fully flesh out a sci-fi world. Given that this is TSR running the show, this will probably be fixed in future dedicated supplements or campaign settings. As for art, the book is very stylish, with good use of colored text and pictures Speaking of campaign settings, this is where I think Alternity has the most potential. Like AD&D, Alternity is a generic setting. AD&D could be used to play almost any sort of fantasy, from noble and legendary Forgotten Realms to the burning sands of Arabian Al-Quadim and the dark horror of Ravenloft. Similarly, Alternity can be used to play any sort of sci-fi, from a gritty cyberpunk setting to a Star Wars style space opera. Just browsing through the books I got ideas to adapt Star Wars (psionics for the Force and conveniently provided plasma swords for lightsabers) and the StarCraft computer game setting. (fraal for the Protoss and random mutations for Zerg) With a little or a lot of tweaking Alternity can be used for any sci-fi setting without having to deal with the myriad rules and supplements of more realistic universal systems like GURPS or CORPS. Also, if TSR runs with their new system we should see some truly creative premade campaign settings. If they could make something as off the wall as Planescape for AD&D they should be able to come up with something for Alternity. Bottom line: If you like superrealism go buy GURPS or Traveller. If you like rich and dedicated campaign settings, get Fading Suns. But if you want a good all-round sci-fi setting with the versatility of AD&D get Alternity. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Alternity Players Handbook