Chosen
by Aaron Rosenberg, with additional design by John Berg, Alex Kolker, Jenifer Purcell, Jeremy Rizza, and Joel Stottlemire
Clockworks
5765 73rd Place, 1st Floor
Maspeth, NY 11378
http://www.clockworkgames.com
224 pages, perfect bound
Price: ???
Grade: C
Reviewed by Lisa Padol
ISBN: 1-892544-20-2
Note: I have the "Convention Special" version of Chosen. I am told that the only differences in the published version of the game are that the published version has a hardcover binding and sepia pages.
I wanted to like game this more than I did. The concept is exciting, sounding like a cross between Babylon 5 and Nephilim. However, the writing is dry and the organization needs work.
The first section describes the background. The game is clearly not intended for beginners, as there is no explanation of roleplaying games. This may be deliberate; certainly, Chosen is not the kind of game I would use to introduce people to the hobby. I would be concerned that new players would find the detailed background and the system intimidating. This isn't a problem for experienced gamers, who do not need to be told what an RPG is.
I found the background fascinating. Human history is, broadly speaking, shaped by the struggle between the forces of stability and order, the Wizards, and the forces of freedom and expansion, the Beasts. Each side has access to magical powers.
While I don't generally like the Unified Field Conspiracy Theory of History, the broad nature of the conflict allows me to suspend my disbelief: Not every event in history is chalked up to the conflict between the two groups. Sure, GMs can add smaller conflicts between Wizards and Beasts, and individual members of each group can have minor skirmishes unrelated to the main conflict. But it makes sense that, for most humans, life goes on in blissful ignorance of the Great Conspiracy.
The game is set in the year 2500. Humanity has colonized other planets, and the current battle between Beasts and Wizards is over whether humanity will consolidate its gains or continue to expand. This is a good, broad theme, allowing GMs great leeway in how, or whether, they incorporate it into their Chosen campaigns.
Wizards and Beasts also vie over recruiting the Gifted, humans with magical powers. The book says that there are always exactly 60,000 Gifted. I don't think an exact figure should have been given. This is one detail I'd leave up to individual GMs to determine, though I would like to know how the author decided on that particular number.
Technology has advanced, but there is no nanotech since the Digital Plague. I have no idea how likely that is scientifically. I am sure it is, at least in part, handwaving to keep the tech level within the parameters the author wanted. Nanotech is still possible, I'm happy to say. No nonsense about how humanity lost the capability. It's illegal to use nanotech, but that does not threaten my suspension of disbelief, and there are plenty of advances in technology available, especially in the areas of transportation and miniaturized computers.
The primary political factions are the Coalition Of Earth Governments (COEG), eager to reclaim colonies which broke away; the Asian Federation; the Mideastern Front, and the megacorps. I am no political scientist, but I found it a little unlikely that countries such as Korea would have no qualms about joining the Japanese-led Asian Federation.
After the description of political groups are descriptions of various locations, on earth and other colonies. I found these descriptions dry. I would have preferred fewer, but more detailed, locations. And, I really wish each location listed included a more detailed explanation of its peoples' attitudes towards the Gifted, given how important this is likely to be in play. It would also be nice if the starmaps were easier to read. One final nitpick for the section: I find it hard to believe that Los Angeles and San Francisco merged, but Seattle is still a separate city.
The second section covers character creation. As with the first section, it is not written for beginning gamers, and it could use better organization.
Players are told to pick the location where their PC grew up, and then the PC's occupation. After this comes a list of skills, with an explanation of how they are rated on a scale of 1-20. Then, advantages and disadvantages are listed. Readers are told how many points each is worth, but there has not yet been a mention of how many points characters start with. The disadvantage list is the first place gamers get an indication of the expected age range for PCs. Magical gifts are described next, including Wizardly gifts, which I assume are not intended to be available to typical starting PCs, as they have not been recruited by the Wizards -- or the Beasts -- at the start of the game.
The section ends with subsections on characteristic and possessions. As I finished reading it, I realized that this section, the character section, does not provide enough information to create a character. The rest of the information is in the second half of the third section, System.
The instructions for creating a character in the System section say to start with gender and age, which contradicts the instructions in the Character section to start with location and occupation. Either approach will work, but the contradiction is confusing and the odd division of material doesn't help. I'm tempted to razor out the pages on character creation in the System section and paste them into the Character section.
The system is "Choose 20". Players have varying combinations of dice to roll, and they can choose a result as long as the dice they use to get it generate a maximum value of 20. For example, if you have a starting Gifted character, roll 3d10 and add together the two dice of your choice. For a non-Gifted character, roll 2d10 and add them together. In both cases, you're getting a number that cannot be greater than 20.
Wizards get 3d20 and may choose the result on any one of them, while those Chosen by the Beasts get a varied collection. A Chosen in the final stage has one of each of the following: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. The player rolls all the dice and chooses either the d20, or d8 d12, or d4 d6 d10.
The total is added to a relevant skill or ability, plus any modifiers, and compared to either an opposing roll or a preset difficulty. This is fairly straightforward, though several of the fiddly bits can get complicated, especially when it comes to Gifts.
The section ends with the second part of the rules for character creation and character templates. Character creation is point based. As I said, the material could have been better organized, but it's all there. The templates are presented with utterly no explanation. This will not be a problem for experienced gamers, but it is another way in which Chosen is not easily accessible to new gamers.
The fourth section, Secrets, expands on Beasts, Wizards, and Gifts. A starting PC is either a Generator, capable of creating working material from scratch, but mediocre at controlling things; a Channeler, who cannot create something from nothing, but who can absorb, store, alter, and redirect material; or a Manipulator, who cannot create or absorb, but who can alter and control their material. Think of these three Functions as being similar to the verbs in Ars Magica's magic system. The nouns are the Gifts: Dreams, Emotion, Energy, Life, Matter, Movement, Senses, and Thought. PCs start with one Gift.
So, a Dreams Generator can give someone a completely new dream. A Dreams Channeler can learn what a person's dream is, and then change the dream or send it to a different person. A Dreams Manipulator can alter a person's dreams, but will not know what the original dreams were.
Additional Gifts may be learned in play, and PCs who are chosen by the Wizards may learn the Gifts of Gestalt and Casting. PCs chosen by one of the Beasts may gain new Functions. This makes sense, for the strength of the Wizards is teamwork, while the strength of the Beasts is adaptability.
Most of the space in the Secrets section is devoted to the Beasts. Each Beast has a different agenda and a different list of criteria for choosing Gifted. There are four stages of being Chosen, and one's power grows at each stage. These are ten beasts, each of whom chooses a limited number of Gifted. Few make it to the second stage, fewer to the third, and only one to the fourth. And, while some Beasts leave their Chosen with their new powers even if the Gifted fail to make the cut, some Beasts withdraw their power. Others arrange quiet competitions, sometimes lasting for years, that eliminate those who do not make the next stage.
It's a fascinating concept, especially mixed with the sf setting. But unless GMs rig the odds blatantly, or exercise very careful control, I would expect most PCs who are chosen by the Beasts not to make the final stage.
This isn't necessarily a problem. However, it still feels like the game promises PCs chosen by the Beasts more power than it can deliver without going for a Monty Hall feel, where all such PCs reach stage four of their respective Beasts. More consideration of being chosen, with plenty of examples might have helped. As it is, the Wizards look more attractive than they probably should.
The fifth section, Stories, has a list of source material, as well as good advice for GMs and two scenarios. As before, the organization could be better, but the material is good. A timeline and an index round out the book. The layout is reasonable, while the art ranges from adequate to clever.
Chosen is an interesting game, more than just cyberpunk with magic. The galactic scale makes a real difference, for corporations and governments simply do not have the resources to grind everything underfoot. The conflict between the Beasts and the Wizards provides a larger than life epic without forcing the epic to dominate campaigns.
Nevertheless, I understand why others who have read Chosen found it confusing or too reminiscent of the same old cyberpunk. Chosen has the same problem that also plagued Nephilim, too little information about how to play the game, integrating the unique elements into a campaign. The organization of material is a problem as well. The game reads like a beta-version: a good beta-version, with all of the rules there, but one more revision might have really helped pull the game together.
In short, I give Chosen high marks for concept and originality, but low marks for accessibility and organization. I can't recommend it to beginning gamers. Those already familiar with RPGs who want a far future setting that blends magic with technology should give Chosen a look. It can also serve as a resource for GMs who run fantasy settings where magic is often subordinate to politics and where there is an element of science in the fantasy.
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