The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Introduction
Do tailless non-human primates give you a special kind of tingly sensation inside? Have you ever wanted to recreate your favorite ape movies, such as Planet of the Apes or Congo? In this article I will be taking a look at the free PDF download, Terra Primate demo pack, by Eden Studios.

Rules
I interpret three overall purposes to the demo pack, and I find it useful to evaluate the rules section by looking at them as follows:

1) To introduce Terra Primate to existing Unisystem players,
2) To introduce Terra Primate to existing roleplayers unfamiliar with the Unisystem, and
3) To introduce Terra Primate to people with no roleplaying experience.

The Terra Primate Demo Pack does a good job of condensing the essential Unisystem rules down to just four pages. The basic dice mechanic is an attribute skill rating added to the result of a D10 role with a typical difficulty target number of nine. This information will be highly accessible to gamers already familiar with the Unisystem, and should be fairly easy to grasp by people new to the system but who otherwise have a modest amount of roleplaying experience. However, since the rules section is so condensed it may be a little hard to swallow, but certainly not impossible, for people unfamiliar with roleplaying. Mainly this is do to a lack of explanation in much detail of what roleplaying actually is and how it is done.

Overall the rules section is very successful. If you are unfamiliar with the Unisystem, there is enough material presented in this demo pack to determine if the system will be something you like or not without having to spend any money.

Art
I found the art in this pack to be a particularly nice treat. Although not to everyone’s taste, the grayscale art does a nice job of communicating a range of atmospheres, from a pulpy “lost world” feel to a science fiction “alternate universe” type feel.

My favorite picture is on page two. An ape, probably a gorilla, is in a space suit and either taking off or putting on a helmet. A nametag is partially visible on the suit that looks like it might say “Armstrong.” This fun picture suggests to me the possibility of an alternate universe in which Armstrong took one giant leap for apekind rather than mankind.

The Scenerio
The following discussion contains spoilers, so if you might play in the adventure provided in this pack you should stop reading here.

The adventure entitled “Monkeying Around” is provided along with pregenerated characters, also referred to as “archetypes,” as an introductory scenario into the genre of intelligent apes. The characters consist of a scientist and a graduate student, a TV personality and a camerawoman, and a ship captain and a mechanic. The scientist and the graduate student are on an expedition into the Bermuda Triangle to investigate its strange properties. The TV personality and camerawoman represent the TV station that is funding the expedition. They are there to document the happenings in the Bermuda Triangle. The ship captain and the mechanic are involved mainly for the money, but the mechanic has a fascination with the supernatural.

As might be expected, the chartered boat into the unknown becomes lost in a pocket of mist and experiences malfunctioning instruments. The ship eventually capsizes, forcing the characters to swim to the nearest land. At this point the adventure takes a turn that is almost identical to Planet of the Apes.

The characters meet up with primitive mute humans that are being hunted by barbaric intelligent apes, and are soon captured by the apes in a sequence very reminiscent to the scene in Planet of the Apes when Charlton Heston is captured. It turns out that the characters stumbled through some kind of portal either to an alien planet or an alternate dimension. A sympathetic chimpanzee scientist aids the characters in escape.

If anything was a disappointment in this demo pack, for me it was this adventure. It felt a bit dry. I am fairly confident in saying that when most people think of intelligent apes, Planet of the Apes is one of the first things to come to mind. Since it is the most obvious scenario, it seems to me the demo pack would have been better served by an adventure that took the “intelligent ape genre” into a different direction. This would have helped get the point across that not all adventures have to be like Planet of the Apes. The demo pack does not do a good job of communicating the full scope of Terra Primate.

Summary
If you are at all interested in Terra Primate, you should download this demo pack. It contains a nice summary of the game mechanics for those unfamiliar with the Unisystem, and debatably nice art. Although you might find the adventure somewhat lacking in creativity, it might make for a fun afternoon with friends just so long as no one is expecting anything much different than Planet of the Apes. Besides, the only thing it will cost you if you don’t like the demo pack is a little time.

Overall the Terra Primate demo pack embodies a genre that I find fascinating, but I hope we see more meat in the core book scheduled for release in late October. You can download the PDF at http://edenstudios.net/primate/.

Terra Primate Demo Pack
Terra Primate Demo Pack Capsule Review by Daniel Proctor on 29/09/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average) A nice layout and comprehensive rules section, but the introductory adventure is somewhat lacking. Product: Terra Primate Demo Pack Author: Patrick Sweeny Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Eden Studios Line: Cost: Page count: 19 Year published: 2002 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Daniel Proctor on 29/09/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Science Fiction Modern day Far Future Space Other	Introduction Do tailless non-human primates give you a special kind of tingly sensation inside? Have you ever wanted to recreate your favorite ape movies, such as Planet of the Apes or Congo? In this article I will be taking a look at the free PDF download, Terra Primate demo pack, by Eden Studios. Rules I interpret three overall purposes to the demo pack, and I find it useful to evaluate the rules section by looking at them as follows: 1) To introduce Terra Primate to existing Unisystem players, 2) To introduce Terra Primate to existing roleplayers unfamiliar with the Unisystem, and 3) To introduce Terra Primate to people with no roleplaying experience. The Terra Primate Demo Pack does a good job of condensing the essential Unisystem rules down to just four pages. The basic dice mechanic is an attribute skill rating added to the result of a D10 role with a typical difficulty target number of nine. This information will be highly accessible to gamers already familiar with the Unisystem, and should be fairly easy to grasp by people new to the system but who otherwise have a modest amount of roleplaying experience. However, since the rules section is so condensed it may be a little hard to swallow, but certainly not impossible, for people unfamiliar with roleplaying. Mainly this is do to a lack of explanation in much detail of what roleplaying actually is and how it is done. Overall the rules section is very successful. If you are unfamiliar with the Unisystem, there is enough material presented in this demo pack to determine if the system will be something you like or not without having to spend any money. Art I found the art in this pack to be a particularly nice treat. Although not to everyone’s taste, the grayscale art does a nice job of communicating a range of atmospheres, from a pulpy “lost world” feel to a science fiction “alternate universe” type feel. My favorite picture is on page two. An ape, probably a gorilla, is in a space suit and either taking off or putting on a helmet. A nametag is partially visible on the suit that looks like it might say “Armstrong.” This fun picture suggests to me the possibility of an alternate universe in which Armstrong took one giant leap for apekind rather than mankind. The Scenerio The following discussion contains spoilers, so if you might play in the adventure provided in this pack you should stop reading here. The adventure entitled “Monkeying Around” is provided along with pregenerated characters, also referred to as “archetypes,” as an introductory scenario into the genre of intelligent apes. The characters consist of a scientist and a graduate student, a TV personality and a camerawoman, and a ship captain and a mechanic. The scientist and the graduate student are on an expedition into the Bermuda Triangle to investigate its strange properties. The TV personality and camerawoman represent the TV station that is funding the expedition. They are there to document the happenings in the Bermuda Triangle. The ship captain and the mechanic are involved mainly for the money, but the mechanic has a fascination with the supernatural. As might be expected, the chartered boat into the unknown becomes lost in a pocket of mist and experiences malfunctioning instruments. The ship eventually capsizes, forcing the characters to swim to the nearest land. At this point the adventure takes a turn that is almost identical to Planet of the Apes. The characters meet up with primitive mute humans that are being hunted by barbaric intelligent apes, and are soon captured by the apes in a sequence very reminiscent to the scene in Planet of the Apes when Charlton Heston is captured. It turns out that the characters stumbled through some kind of portal either to an alien planet or an alternate dimension. A sympathetic chimpanzee scientist aids the characters in escape. If anything was a disappointment in this demo pack, for me it was this adventure. It felt a bit dry. I am fairly confident in saying that when most people think of intelligent apes, Planet of the Apes is one of the first things to come to mind. Since it is the most obvious scenario, it seems to me the demo pack would have been better served by an adventure that took the “intelligent ape genre” into a different direction. This would have helped get the point across that not all adventures have to be like Planet of the Apes. The demo pack does not do a good job of communicating the full scope of Terra Primate. Summary If you are at all interested in Terra Primate, you should download this demo pack. It contains a nice summary of the game mechanics for those unfamiliar with the Unisystem, and debatably nice art. Although you might find the adventure somewhat lacking in creativity, it might make for a fun afternoon with friends just so long as no one is expecting anything much different than Planet of the Apes. Besides, the only thing it will cost you if you don’t like the demo pack is a little time. Overall the Terra Primate demo pack embodies a genre that I find fascinating, but I hope we see more meat in the core book scheduled for release in late October. You can download the PDF at http://edenstudios.net/primate/.

Terra Primate Demo Pack