El-Hazard: Role-Playing Game and Resource Book

Written by Jesse Scoble and Jeff Mackintosh

Overview

For a complimentary copy review this one (and the Vampire one for Guilded Cage) are incredibly, inexcusably late, but I honestly felt intimidated by a wonderful, terrific review of this book by Jason Kratz .

El-Hazard is the latest of the anime OAV licensed adaptations of Guelph’s Guardian of Order’s Big Eyes Small Mouth. It covers a small, rather obscure title of the “extradimensional exiles” genre of games. This book covers only the initial 7 episode OAV like other BESM resource books – providing both in-depth information on the setting coupled with BESM rules and mechanics.

El-Hazard (The Magnificent World) is a magical world separated from ours by both space and time. The world is built from the ruins of a once-highly technological society and is now divided by a war between the humans and the insectoid Bugrom. Hidden amongst the races of the world are The Phantom Tribe – exiles yanked into El-Hazard by the cataclysmic weapon that ended that first civilization. Our heroes, a group of japanese students (with their teacher) are transported to El-Hazard by the humanoid artifact Ifurita. Like the comic book hero Superman, the humans develop extraordinary powers in this new world and find themselves in a two-fold quest to rescue a missing princess and win a war against the Bugrom. Unlike Escaflowne (a vaguely similar series with much the same premise and genre and magical/technological tropes), the style here is more 1001 Arabian Nights-esque most noticeably in architecture, dress and locations (but always with enough anime conventions to make viewers comfortable).

Chapter One – Introduction

This chapter covers much of what I just described in more detail, in an episode-by-episode breakdown. I did find that the series info was quite good – in fact I learned a bit more about the series then when I watched about a year ago. The authors go on to expand the premise into the genre of “extradimensional exiles and planetary romance”. While not unique to this book, I will take this time to compliment Guardians of Order for their foresight in seeking to expand the premise of a licensed world and make the book applicable to a wider number of settings.

Chapter Two – Character Creation

This is where we splice the core BESM mechanics with our licensed setting (and the more general premise). For those who don’t know Big Eyes, Small Mouth uses what is called the Tri-Stat system, a tool kit which uses three primary character stats (Mind, Body and Soul), a small number of derived characteristics and a point build system for stats, skills, and advantages/drawbacks. Task resolution is roll 2d6 apply modifiers and roll under the appropriate Stat (so the lower you roll the better, and the higher your stats and skills (which subtract from your die roll) are the better). It has been compared to systems such as GURPS in its way of using the advantage/drawback system to customize itself for various genres and for using points to monitor “power level” of a campaign. The system has the benefit that younger/less experienced people supposedly have an easier time learning the task resolution. The licensed versions of the Tri-Stat system do not suffer from the “too many options” writer’s block many seem to have with the core rules – El-Hazard’s premise and setting provides guidelines, suggestions and restrictions to help frame characters. There is also a quick primer on tone of play (humour, action, etc) which is expanded slightly in the GM and Campaigning sections.

In the El-Hazard RPG there are four basic character types: Extradimensional Human, El-Hazard native, Ancient Relic (androids like Ifurita) and ‘Racial’ members (the Bugrom) around which the authors group the various advantages and drawbacks, skills and extraordinary abilities.

Like all the licensed books, the authors make some alterations to the existing BESM toolkit. In this case it is the inclusion of “unknown superhuman power” – a sort of bank in which you pour character points and then the GM designs your powers (which you will later ‘discover’ as the appropriate situation arises). This, understandably, is a question of trust between player and GM, and I’d suggest groups play around with the idea to best suit their group. One option that pops to mind is using this pool like the Creative Editing from Adventure! – players making suggestions in-game of which powers they might possess (like “too bad we couldn’t just fly up there?” and *poof * they start floating up). Another alteration to the core rules concerns the ‘Demon Gods’ (relic characters) – again mostly to best suit the El-Hazard setting (like Ifurita needing to be rewound using her key-staff). The changes are slight, and mostly concern providing a list of suitable drawbacks to reflect their “long lost technology” origins.

Chapter Three – Characters

This chapter covers the character stats for the OAV’s various personalities. Here we get to see the BESM system at work, as well as provides a good eyeballing of power levels. There is a lot of detail here, and even the more… funny/fan service/sexual/disturbing aspects of the OAV (most of which resides in one secondary character – the young concubine Alielle). I’ve been largely impressed with GoO’s treatment of various anime characters – going beyond just recounting the series and summarizing their actions and honestly trying to ask questions about motivations, goals, and behaviours and I was not disappointed. The write-up on the Bugrom Queen, Deva, alone was an interesting read and one which asks seriously if she was ever really a villain at all and not merely a pawn in the meglomania of Katsushiko Jinnai or the sinister Phantom Tribe. Alielle’s character is also suitably investigated – why is a what was ostensibly a hentai-esque bit of fan service in the form of the nymphomaniac lesbian submissive (and young, although the book does give her an age slightly older than I thought she was after watching the OAVs).

Chapter Four – Game Mechanics

Here we get the breakdown of task resolution and combat. BESM (and El-Hazard by extension) is relatively light on modifiers and abstract in detail, meaning most of the action in the game will not be described by the dice or their results, but by player and GM verbal interaction. Many consider this to be difficult, others may find it vague, but it allows the “man behind the curtain” to be safely hidden and speeds up mechanical task resolution. Combat is handled using derived characteristics (Attack CombatValue, Defense Combat Value) and combat skills. Damage in Tri-Stat is a fixed amount, multiplied in cases of critical success and subtracted from Health. Special attacks (magic blasts, psionic beams, etc) drain the attacker’s Energy points. Pretty simple stuff. As is, the system does not deal with specific wound/injury levels, success margins (although the core BESM can easily do this, and damage thresholds like Silhouette). People who hate hit point –type systems will be annoyed at this, but then how many times in El-Hazard do people really suffer from specific wound trauma?

Chapter Five – World of El-Hazard

This chapter is an overview of the locations, civilizations, flora and fauna used in the setting. The level of detail here is varied from the good (mostly the Tokyo section and the sections on the civilizations) to sparse (many of the secondary places on El-Hazard) and therefore their utility is equally mixed. I would have preferred more information about how exactly the magnificent world of El-Hazard is set up but the authors are understandably limited to the source material (the OAVs). I would recommend many of the place settings (like the oasis/baths) and the ancient ruins for other magical-technological settings – either a home grown D&D3 setting or even Exalted. In fact, much of the El-Hazard book would fit with minimal fuss into the Exalted’s Second Age.

I liked the Bugrom section of the chapter in particular. The Bugrom are the generic “mooks” of the bad guys, hive-minded insects who, while tough, are not the brightest things in the universe. I always love when an author takes the time to develop the “orcs” of a setting into something more than a two-dimensional, easily killable bad guy. Plus I like bugs. :)

Chapter Six – Game Master’s Section

Here the book goes on to teach beginning GMs how to be a GM, and experienced GMs how to keep within the premise/genre of El-Hazard. Like other BESM licensed games, the focus is more on the campaign-as-series (meaning, relatively close-ended, with short campaigns and one-shots being the equivalent of OVAs). Much of the information is good, if focused on the generalities of game mastering instead of specific troubleshooting advice.

Chapter Seven – Campaign Seeds

This very short chapter is a collection of 12 story seeds – some are specific to the El-Hazard series, others are more general and they vary in length from the epic (a sort of campaign seed) to a single session or even B-story/random encounter type plot (A Plague of Dolphin-Bears). Many of the plot seeds take a cue from one of the not-entirely resolved facts of the OVA series. Since they are seeds there is little to review – they are half-formed ideas that require the GM to put some effort into completing them, but I do like them in overall tone.

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to believe (but my file manager tells me otherwise) that I started this review roughly a month and a half ago. In that time Guardians of Order has decided that the full-blown License RPG will be replaced with “Ultimate Fan Guides” (like the Serial Experiments: Lain book) – shorter books more geared to the anime viewer with only a couple of pages (less than 10) on using the premise/setting in BESM. I can’t really blame them – Guardians of Order does great work with the series guide parts of their books and making them non-rpg series guides will make them more attractive buys for the wider anime audience. I will miss their work in these books though. On the “good-news” side it seems they are continuing to explore the premise/genre sourcebooks in their Magnum Opus licensing arrangement, at least one additional genre book ( press release here ) for ‘shoujo’ (feminine/girls comics) coming out later this year.

Substance 4
Style 4.

El-Hazard Role-Playing Game and Resource Guide
El-Hazard Role-Playing Game and Resource Guide Playtest Review by Matthew Hickey (Tiama'at) on 26/03/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) A Johnny-come-lately review of one of the last RPG/Resource Guides from GoO - solid and definately worth the cash. Product: El-Hazard Role-Playing Game and Resource Guide Author: Jesse Scoble and Jeff Mackintosh Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Guardians of Order Line: Big Eyes Small Mouth Cost: $44.95 cdn Page count: 192 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 1-894525-30-2 SKU: 11-001 Comp copy?: yes Playtest Review by Matthew Hickey (Tiama'at) on 26/03/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Modern day Comedy Anime	El-Hazard: Role-Playing Game and Resource Book Written by Jesse Scoble and Jeff Mackintosh Overview For a complimentary copy review this one (and the Vampire one for Guilded Cage) are incredibly, inexcusably late, but I honestly felt intimidated by a wonderful, terrific review of this book by Jason Kratz . El-Hazard is the latest of the anime OAV licensed adaptations of Guelph’s Guardian of Order’s Big Eyes Small Mouth. It covers a small, rather obscure title of the “extradimensional exiles” genre of games. This book covers only the initial 7 episode OAV like other BESM resource books – providing both in-depth information on the setting coupled with BESM rules and mechanics. El-Hazard (The Magnificent World) is a magical world separated from ours by both space and time. The world is built from the ruins of a once-highly technological society and is now divided by a war between the humans and the insectoid Bugrom. Hidden amongst the races of the world are The Phantom Tribe – exiles yanked into El-Hazard by the cataclysmic weapon that ended that first civilization. Our heroes, a group of japanese students (with their teacher) are transported to El-Hazard by the humanoid artifact Ifurita. Like the comic book hero Superman, the humans develop extraordinary powers in this new world and find themselves in a two-fold quest to rescue a missing princess and win a war against the Bugrom. Unlike Escaflowne (a vaguely similar series with much the same premise and genre and magical/technological tropes), the style here is more 1001 Arabian Nights-esque most noticeably in architecture, dress and locations (but always with enough anime conventions to make viewers comfortable). Chapter One – Introduction This chapter covers much of what I just described in more detail, in an episode-by-episode breakdown. I did find that the series info was quite good – in fact I learned a bit more about the series then when I watched about a year ago. The authors go on to expand the premise into the genre of “extradimensional exiles and planetary romance”. While not unique to this book, I will take this time to compliment Guardians of Order for their foresight in seeking to expand the premise of a licensed world and make the book applicable to a wider number of settings. Chapter Two – Character Creation This is where we splice the core BESM mechanics with our licensed setting (and the more general premise). For those who don’t know Big Eyes, Small Mouth uses what is called the Tri-Stat system, a tool kit which uses three primary character stats (Mind, Body and Soul), a small number of derived characteristics and a point build system for stats, skills, and advantages/drawbacks. Task resolution is roll 2d6 apply modifiers and roll under the appropriate Stat (so the lower you roll the better, and the higher your stats and skills (which subtract from your die roll) are the better). It has been compared to systems such as GURPS in its way of using the advantage/drawback system to customize itself for various genres and for using points to monitor “power level” of a campaign. The system has the benefit that younger/less experienced people supposedly have an easier time learning the task resolution. The licensed versions of the Tri-Stat system do not suffer from the “too many options” writer’s block many seem to have with the core rules – El-Hazard’s premise and setting provides guidelines, suggestions and restrictions to help frame characters. There is also a quick primer on tone of play (humour, action, etc) which is expanded slightly in the GM and Campaigning sections. In the El-Hazard RPG there are four basic character types: Extradimensional Human, El-Hazard native, Ancient Relic (androids like Ifurita) and ‘Racial’ members (the Bugrom) around which the authors group the various advantages and drawbacks, skills and extraordinary abilities. Like all the licensed books, the authors make some alterations to the existing BESM toolkit. In this case it is the inclusion of “unknown superhuman power” – a sort of bank in which you pour character points and then the GM designs your powers (which you will later ‘discover’ as the appropriate situation arises). This, understandably, is a question of trust between player and GM, and I’d suggest groups play around with the idea to best suit their group. One option that pops to mind is using this pool like the Creative Editing from Adventure! – players making suggestions in-game of which powers they might possess (like “too bad we couldn’t just fly up there?” and poof they start floating up). Another alteration to the core rules concerns the ‘Demon Gods’ (relic characters) – again mostly to best suit the El-Hazard setting (like Ifurita needing to be rewound using her key-staff). The changes are slight, and mostly concern providing a list of suitable drawbacks to reflect their “long lost technology” origins. Chapter Three – Characters This chapter covers the character stats for the OAV’s various personalities. Here we get to see the BESM system at work, as well as provides a good eyeballing of power levels. There is a lot of detail here, and even the more… funny/fan service/sexual/disturbing aspects of the OAV (most of which resides in one secondary character – the young concubine Alielle). I’ve been largely impressed with GoO’s treatment of various anime characters – going beyond just recounting the series and summarizing their actions and honestly trying to ask questions about motivations, goals, and behaviours and I was not disappointed. The write-up on the Bugrom Queen, Deva, alone was an interesting read and one which asks seriously if she was ever really a villain at all and not merely a pawn in the meglomania of Katsushiko Jinnai or the sinister Phantom Tribe. Alielle’s character is also suitably investigated – why is a what was ostensibly a hentai-esque bit of fan service in the form of the nymphomaniac lesbian submissive (and young, although the book does give her an age slightly older than I thought she was after watching the OAVs). Chapter Four – Game Mechanics Here we get the breakdown of task resolution and combat. BESM (and El-Hazard by extension) is relatively light on modifiers and abstract in detail, meaning most of the action in the game will not be described by the dice or their results, but by player and GM verbal interaction. Many consider this to be difficult, others may find it vague, but it allows the “man behind the curtain” to be safely hidden and speeds up mechanical task resolution. Combat is handled using derived characteristics (Attack CombatValue, Defense Combat Value) and combat skills. Damage in Tri-Stat is a fixed amount, multiplied in cases of critical success and subtracted from Health. Special attacks (magic blasts, psionic beams, etc) drain the attacker’s Energy points. Pretty simple stuff. As is, the system does not deal with specific wound/injury levels, success margins (although the core BESM can easily do this, and damage thresholds like Silhouette). People who hate hit point –type systems will be annoyed at this, but then how many times in El-Hazard do people really suffer from specific wound trauma? Chapter Five – World of El-Hazard This chapter is an overview of the locations, civilizations, flora and fauna used in the setting. The level of detail here is varied from the good (mostly the Tokyo section and the sections on the civilizations) to sparse (many of the secondary places on El-Hazard) and therefore their utility is equally mixed. I would have preferred more information about how exactly the magnificent world of El-Hazard is set up but the authors are understandably limited to the source material (the OAVs). I would recommend many of the place settings (like the oasis/baths) and the ancient ruins for other magical-technological settings – either a home grown D&D3 setting or even Exalted. In fact, much of the El-Hazard book would fit with minimal fuss into the Exalted’s Second Age. I liked the Bugrom section of the chapter in particular. The Bugrom are the generic “mooks” of the bad guys, hive-minded insects who, while tough, are not the brightest things in the universe. I always love when an author takes the time to develop the “orcs” of a setting into something more than a two-dimensional, easily killable bad guy. Plus I like bugs. :) Chapter Six – Game Master’s Section Here the book goes on to teach beginning GMs how to be a GM, and experienced GMs how to keep within the premise/genre of El-Hazard. Like other BESM licensed games, the focus is more on the campaign-as-series (meaning, relatively close-ended, with short campaigns and one-shots being the equivalent of OVAs). Much of the information is good, if focused on the generalities of game mastering instead of specific troubleshooting advice. Chapter Seven – Campaign Seeds This very short chapter is a collection of 12 story seeds – some are specific to the El-Hazard series, others are more general and they vary in length from the epic (a sort of campaign seed) to a single session or even B-story/random encounter type plot (A Plague of Dolphin-Bears). Many of the plot seeds take a cue from one of the not-entirely resolved facts of the OVA series. Since they are seeds there is little to review – they are half-formed ideas that require the GM to put some effort into completing them, but I do like them in overall tone. Final Thoughts It’s hard to believe (but my file manager tells me otherwise) that I started this review roughly a month and a half ago. In that time Guardians of Order has decided that the full-blown License RPG will be replaced with “Ultimate Fan Guides” (like the Serial Experiments: Lain book) – shorter books more geared to the anime viewer with only a couple of pages (less than 10) on using the premise/setting in BESM. I can’t really blame them – Guardians of Order does great work with the series guide parts of their books and making them non-rpg series guides will make them more attractive buys for the wider anime audience. I will miss their work in these books though. On the “good-news” side it seems they are continuing to explore the premise/genre sourcebooks in their Magnum Opus licensing arrangement, at least one additional genre book ( press release here ) for ‘shoujo’ (feminine/girls comics) coming out later this year. Substance 4 Style 4.

El-Hazard Role-Playing Game and Resource Guide