RPGnet : The Inside Scoop on Gaming

So, another new RPG in a market already flooded with games. Although, this time it’s a new British company aiming to make a big noise in the RPG world. a/stateLite is a pre release preview of Contested Ground Studios RPG a/state, which purports to be "gothic horror SF".

Presentation

Most downloaded free previews can either be a bit on the skimpy side, hastily produced or often both. Which made me all the more surprised when I downloaded a/stateLite and opened it up. At about 1 meg, I was expecting a handful of pages with some overly large filler artwork, I was wrong. For a free preview, it’s a substantial piece of work, running to 62 pages. The format itself is clean, clear and easy to read, with a rather nice minimalist, art-deco style border around the pages. Artwork is fairly sparse, but of a uniformly high quality.

Contents

The game itself is divided into 6 chapters, each of them (for some reason) beginning with a ‘P’. The chapters are as follows:

‘The Preface’: A Brief intro to the game, credits and a contents page. ‘The Precepts’: This contains the background to the game setting, done is a variety of styles. Some parts are delivered as speeches, some as essays on life in The City etc etc ‘The Place’: Contains a stylised map of The City and details on a few regions. While not hugely extensive, the map seems to indicate that the full RPG will detail over 30 areas. Judging by the page count in this section, then its equivalent in the main rulebook should be massive. ‘The Power’: Big corporations, religious groups, criminal groups etc, etc. ‘The Procedure’: Game rules. ‘The Product’: Equipment guide.

There are also four adventure nuggets (handy) and a character sheet.

Setting

There seems to be a trend with British RPGs for dark, threatening settings (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and SLA Industries for example). Maybe it’s the rain. Who knows? Anyhow, a/state, even in this stripped down format, presents a setting which is dark, horrifying, yet strangely enthralling. The game is set in The City, a gigantic urban sprawl (circular in shape, it seems) isolated from everywhere else for the last thousand years or so. This was caused by an event called The Shift, an unexplained and mysterious happening which caused everything to change. The Shift isn’t really talked about in much detail in a/stateLite and I get the feeling that this may be the same in the finished product. This would appear to be one of the central mysteries of the game, and a pretty interesting one at that. All sorts of nastiness goes on in The City, most of which is only hinted at. Thankfully. Comparisons could be drawn with Kult and possibly modern era Call of Cthulhu, but a/state, as a setting, appears to be substantially different from both. There are shades of steampunk here, with vast numbers of people living in Industrial Revolution (or its equivalent) conditions. Although, there isn’t any steam. Electricity seems to be the main motive force here. And! It has a glossary! Something so many games fail to include. Helps define all those bizarre words that the writer uses such as ‘dingin’, ‘sparklock’, ‘simil’ and ‘ekranoplan’.

System

Well, the system doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s a fairly basic percentile system, with shades of all the other percentile systems which have gone before it. It’s fairly sparse, but the game does say that this is the stripped down, basic version of the systems. Character generation looks to be more detailed in the full version, although the designers don’t really make this clear. It certainly seems that the game designers are background and setting people, not system designers. While it is functional and fairly easy to use, it offers nothing new. However, with it’s simplicity it should make conversion to other systems such as D20 a fairly easy proposition. Perhaps the designers should think about doing a D20 conversion pack at some point?

Artwork

As previously mentioned, the artwork in the game is fairly sparse but is of a high standard. According to the game credits, it’s all the work of one artist which lends the game a distinct visual style. Also, having looked at the Contested Ground Studios website, some of the other art is absolutely fantastic. Weapons and equipment illustrations are also good, which should serve to keep the hardware nuts and gunbunnies amongst you happy!

Support

The CGS website offers minimal support at the moment, but does promise a whole lot more in the near future. However, they do have some rather nice downloadable stuff like a mini-supplement, wallpapers, a screensaver and some rather nifty little Flash-powered advertising movies. There’s also a regular news update, which is good to see.

Overall

Overall, for a free download, this is a pretty good piece of kit. At 62 pages, it’s hefty to print out, but then again, it is free. While not perfect (a number of typos and grammatical errors), it does give a good indication of what this new company are trying to do and if the published a/state RPG is of at least the same standard as this, then it should be a pretty good buy.

a/stateLite
a/stateLite Capsule Review by David Innes on 15/08/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) A substantial free download giving a tantalising taster of an upcoming new RPG. Product: a/stateLite Author: Malcolm Craig Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Contested Ground Studios Line: a/state Cost: Free Page count: 62 Year published: 2002 (?) ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by David Innes on 15/08/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Horror Gothic	So, another new RPG in a market already flooded with games. Although, this time it’s a new British company aiming to make a big noise in the RPG world. a/stateLite is a pre release preview of Contested Ground Studios RPG a/state, which purports to be "gothic horror SF". Presentation Most downloaded free previews can either be a bit on the skimpy side, hastily produced or often both. Which made me all the more surprised when I downloaded a/stateLite and opened it up. At about 1 meg, I was expecting a handful of pages with some overly large filler artwork, I was wrong. For a free preview, it’s a substantial piece of work, running to 62 pages. The format itself is clean, clear and easy to read, with a rather nice minimalist, art-deco style border around the pages. Artwork is fairly sparse, but of a uniformly high quality. Contents The game itself is divided into 6 chapters, each of them (for some reason) beginning with a ‘P’. The chapters are as follows: ‘The Preface’: A Brief intro to the game, credits and a contents page. ‘The Precepts’: This contains the background to the game setting, done is a variety of styles. Some parts are delivered as speeches, some as essays on life in The City etc etc ‘The Place’: Contains a stylised map of The City and details on a few regions. While not hugely extensive, the map seems to indicate that the full RPG will detail over 30 areas. Judging by the page count in this section, then its equivalent in the main rulebook should be massive. ‘The Power’: Big corporations, religious groups, criminal groups etc, etc. ‘The Procedure’: Game rules. ‘The Product’: Equipment guide. There are also four adventure nuggets (handy) and a character sheet. Setting There seems to be a trend with British RPGs for dark, threatening settings (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and SLA Industries for example). Maybe it’s the rain. Who knows? Anyhow, a/state, even in this stripped down format, presents a setting which is dark, horrifying, yet strangely enthralling. The game is set in The City, a gigantic urban sprawl (circular in shape, it seems) isolated from everywhere else for the last thousand years or so. This was caused by an event called The Shift, an unexplained and mysterious happening which caused everything to change. The Shift isn’t really talked about in much detail in a/stateLite and I get the feeling that this may be the same in the finished product. This would appear to be one of the central mysteries of the game, and a pretty interesting one at that. All sorts of nastiness goes on in The City, most of which is only hinted at. Thankfully. Comparisons could be drawn with Kult and possibly modern era Call of Cthulhu, but a/state, as a setting, appears to be substantially different from both. There are shades of steampunk here, with vast numbers of people living in Industrial Revolution (or its equivalent) conditions. Although, there isn’t any steam. Electricity seems to be the main motive force here. And! It has a glossary! Something so many games fail to include. Helps define all those bizarre words that the writer uses such as ‘dingin’, ‘sparklock’, ‘simil’ and ‘ekranoplan’. System Well, the system doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s a fairly basic percentile system, with shades of all the other percentile systems which have gone before it. It’s fairly sparse, but the game does say that this is the stripped down, basic version of the systems. Character generation looks to be more detailed in the full version, although the designers don’t really make this clear. It certainly seems that the game designers are background and setting people, not system designers. While it is functional and fairly easy to use, it offers nothing new. However, with it’s simplicity it should make conversion to other systems such as D20 a fairly easy proposition. Perhaps the designers should think about doing a D20 conversion pack at some point? Artwork As previously mentioned, the artwork in the game is fairly sparse but is of a high standard. According to the game credits, it’s all the work of one artist which lends the game a distinct visual style. Also, having looked at the Contested Ground Studios website, some of the other art is absolutely fantastic. Weapons and equipment illustrations are also good, which should serve to keep the hardware nuts and gunbunnies amongst you happy! Support The CGS website offers minimal support at the moment, but does promise a whole lot more in the near future. However, they do have some rather nice downloadable stuff like a mini-supplement, wallpapers, a screensaver and some rather nifty little Flash-powered advertising movies. There’s also a regular news update, which is good to see. Overall Overall, for a free download, this is a pretty good piece of kit. At 62 pages, it’s hefty to print out, but then again, it is free. While not perfect (a number of typos and grammatical errors), it does give a good indication of what this new company are trying to do and if the published a/state RPG is of at least the same standard as this, then it should be a pretty good buy.