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Heavy Gear is set in a world of political strife. The two major faction on Terra Nova are almost ready to go to war. The main weapon of warfare is the Heavy Gear; heavily armed and armored mecha.

Heavy Gear is designed to be both a roleplaying and tactical game, with an integrated system so the two can be used together. The book is broken into three main sections: a background section, a roleplaying section, and a tactical section.

The first part of the book details the background of the world of Terra Nova. It leads in with several short stories which give good glimpses into the world, then goes into detailed dexcriptions of the different factions, cities and prominent figures in the world. Unfortuanetly, the amount of background material can be somewhat overwhelming, but it does present many interesting political situations and unique characters.

The roleplaying system is smooth playing and simple. Characters are created by assigning points, with seperate sets of points for attributes and skills. Three different scales are provided, with different character creation totals for a realistic, adventurous, and cinematic campaign.

There are ten attributes, covering the usual range of physical, mental, and social areas. Attributes are based on what they call a '0 average scale' - a score of 0 is average. A positive score represents a higher ability in the attribute and adds to rolls, while a negative ability is a lower capability and reduces rolls. The cost to increase an attribute increases exponentially, so most characters will begin with a fairly average range of attributes.

There are a wide range of skills, covering such things as stealth, firearms, Heavy Gear pilot, and many others. Skills have a difficulty of simple or complex, determining how many points they cost to learn. A character's skill is rated numerically, with a 1 being a relative novice, a 2 being an average level of competence, and a 3 being highly skilled. Like attributes, the cost to learn skills at higher levels increases dramatically - beginning characters are likely to have skills at levels 1 or 2, and a character ever reaching skills above 5 is fairly unlikely.

Skill checks are simple; the GM assigns a difficulty to the task the character is attempting, with 4 being average. The player rolls a number of six sided dice equal to the skill rating and takes the highest. Each extra 6 adds one to the total. The character's appropriate attribute is then added to the total. If the roll exceeds the difficulty, the check succeeds, with the difference indicating how well the character succeeded.

The roleplaying system is quite easy to use, and character creation is straightforward and simple to get into. For players who want ideas to start with, there are a wide range of character templates that provide a basic set of attributes and skills while leaving room for customization. The combat system is similarly simple, though there are several charts worth of modifiers applying to ranged combat that can be a little obnoxious to have to use.

The tactical system centers on the Heavy Gears, but the rules also cover vehicles and infantry squads. Rules are provided for playing on a hex-grid or a tabletop battlefield with miniatures. There is also a boardless, simplified tactical system for use in a purely roleplaying game. The tactical system uses the same general rules as the roleplaying system, with skill levels used for piloting, gunnery, and other tasks. The system is fast moving and smooth, except for the numerous charts required for missile combat. Attacks are modified by the speed of both attacker and defender, the range, arc of fire, and cover, all of which must be looked up on charts. There is a large emphasis on outmaneuvering your opponent: flank and rear attacks are deadlier, and speed and maneuvering greatly alter shooting accuracy. Combat is VERY deadly - one hit can easily destroy a Gear.

The tactical section also provides rules for campaign games, including such considerations as determining objectives, air support, intelligence informationm, and a lot of other unusual features.

Overall, Heavy Gear is a well designed and smooth playing system for roleplaying or tactical combat. However, it does have several weaknesses. The character creation system is almost too simple; in a game where most or all of the players are playing Gear pilots, all the characters will end up similar to each other. In a more roleplaying centered game characcters will be more diverse, but there just aren't enough options to make characters really stand out from one another.

The tactical system's big problem comes from the material they chose to leave out in the second edition. To make room for a larger background section, they did not include any vehicle construction rules. The system includes only ten different types of Gears - two of which have the exact same stats! This small a selection is likely to get dull fairly quickly, requiring purchase of support material. At the moment, you can download the construction rules from the company's website, which mediates the problem a little. The included Gears are also a little too similar to each other. They all carry some type of autocannon, have a rocketpod on the shoulder, mount a grenade launcher for anti-infantry, and carry a vibroknife. With variations on weapon size, all of the Gears follow the same format. Most of them even look the same!

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Heavy Gear, Second Edition<
Author: Dream Pod 9 Category: game Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9 Cost: 29.95 Page count: 237 ISBN: 1-896776-32-9 Playtest Review by Brian Modreski on 05/31/98. Genre tags: none	Heavy Gear is set in a world of political strife. The two major faction on Terra Nova are almost ready to go to war. The main weapon of warfare is the Heavy Gear; heavily armed and armored mecha. Heavy Gear is designed to be both a roleplaying and tactical game, with an integrated system so the two can be used together. The book is broken into three main sections: a background section, a roleplaying section, and a tactical section. The first part of the book details the background of the world of Terra Nova. It leads in with several short stories which give good glimpses into the world, then goes into detailed dexcriptions of the different factions, cities and prominent figures in the world. Unfortuanetly, the amount of background material can be somewhat overwhelming, but it does present many interesting political situations and unique characters. The roleplaying system is smooth playing and simple. Characters are created by assigning points, with seperate sets of points for attributes and skills. Three different scales are provided, with different character creation totals for a realistic, adventurous, and cinematic campaign. There are ten attributes, covering the usual range of physical, mental, and social areas. Attributes are based on what they call a '0 average scale' - a score of 0 is average. A positive score represents a higher ability in the attribute and adds to rolls, while a negative ability is a lower capability and reduces rolls. The cost to increase an attribute increases exponentially, so most characters will begin with a fairly average range of attributes. There are a wide range of skills, covering such things as stealth, firearms, Heavy Gear pilot, and many others. Skills have a difficulty of simple or complex, determining how many points they cost to learn. A character's skill is rated numerically, with a 1 being a relative novice, a 2 being an average level of competence, and a 3 being highly skilled. Like attributes, the cost to learn skills at higher levels increases dramatically - beginning characters are likely to have skills at levels 1 or 2, and a character ever reaching skills above 5 is fairly unlikely. Skill checks are simple; the GM assigns a difficulty to the task the character is attempting, with 4 being average. The player rolls a number of six sided dice equal to the skill rating and takes the highest. Each extra 6 adds one to the total. The character's appropriate attribute is then added to the total. If the roll exceeds the difficulty, the check succeeds, with the difference indicating how well the character succeeded. The roleplaying system is quite easy to use, and character creation is straightforward and simple to get into. For players who want ideas to start with, there are a wide range of character templates that provide a basic set of attributes and skills while leaving room for customization. The combat system is similarly simple, though there are several charts worth of modifiers applying to ranged combat that can be a little obnoxious to have to use. The tactical system centers on the Heavy Gears, but the rules also cover vehicles and infantry squads. Rules are provided for playing on a hex-grid or a tabletop battlefield with miniatures. There is also a boardless, simplified tactical system for use in a purely roleplaying game. The tactical system uses the same general rules as the roleplaying system, with skill levels used for piloting, gunnery, and other tasks. The system is fast moving and smooth, except for the numerous charts required for missile combat. Attacks are modified by the speed of both attacker and defender, the range, arc of fire, and cover, all of which must be looked up on charts. There is a large emphasis on outmaneuvering your opponent: flank and rear attacks are deadlier, and speed and maneuvering greatly alter shooting accuracy. Combat is VERY deadly - one hit can easily destroy a Gear. The tactical section also provides rules for campaign games, including such considerations as determining objectives, air support, intelligence informationm, and a lot of other unusual features. Overall, Heavy Gear is a well designed and smooth playing system for roleplaying or tactical combat. However, it does have several weaknesses. The character creation system is almost too simple; in a game where most or all of the players are playing Gear pilots, all the characters will end up similar to each other. In a more roleplaying centered game characcters will be more diverse, but there just aren't enough options to make characters really stand out from one another. The tactical system's big problem comes from the material they chose to leave out in the second edition. To make room for a larger background section, they did not include any vehicle construction rules. The system includes only ten different types of Gears - two of which have the exact same stats! This small a selection is likely to get dull fairly quickly, requiring purchase of support material. At the moment, you can download the construction rules from the company's website, which mediates the problem a little. The included Gears are also a little too similar to each other. They all carry some type of autocannon, have a rocketpod on the shoulder, mount a grenade launcher for anti-infantry, and carry a vibroknife. With variations on weapon size, all of the Gears follow the same format. Most of them even look the same! Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

Heavy Gear, Second Edition<