Note: I received a copy of Godsend Agenda in exchange for this review.

Shiva. Thoth. Apollo. These unearthly beings drank the lifeblood of the universe and vied for control of ancient Earth. Their progeny, now clad in spandex and secret identities, continue the battle in city streets. Their many of their enemies may be newly made, but their struggle is age old...

Appearance, Layout, and Organization

Godsend Agenda is a soft cover book 224 pages in length. It has a full color cover and a black and white interior.

The art of Godsend Agenda ranges from average to below average. The front cover is an Egyptian scarab on a dark background. The back cover depicts an angelic armored figure and other characters and character types found in the game. Instead of short fiction, approximately 49 pages of comics serve to set the stage for feel and tone the Godsend Agenda. The game's creator, Jerry D. Grayson, along with Matt Drake and Renee Grayson are listed as illustrators and contributing artists.

The organization of Godsend Agenda could have been better: Events, organizations, and character types are discussed before they are introduced and it might serve the gamemaster better to have the chapter regarding campaign ideas follow the chapter which details the campaign setting. Other information (such as the appendix full of plot hooks) could have better placed or incorporated as well. It is important to note that much of the history of Godsend Agenda's alternate Earth is secret and thus a full explanation of events, organizations, and character types would be inappropriate in the player sections of the game.

Godsend Agenda is presented in a two column per page format, replete with sidebars, but its columns sometimes appear to end abruptly, trapping white space and confusing the reader.

The game is written in a clear and at times wry style.

Godsend Agenda does not have an index, but does have a 6 page table of contents. A breakdown of the game's contents is as follows:

The Godsend Agenda comic
This comic details the death and
resurrection of one of the game's prime NPCs

Timeline of the Godsend Agenda
This is brief timeline outlines some of the events
of the game (without divulging its secrets)

Subject: Godsend Agenda
This contains a short bit of fiction and a
welcome to the game

Basic Mechanics
This section outlines the game's task
resolution system

C.A.R.E.
This is another piece of fiction, which details
the Council on Advanced Research and Experimentation

Chapter One: Character Creation
This chapter lays out the basics of character creation

What We See and What We Know
More in character fiction (this time about "Mystic 'Nam")

Chapter Two: Powers
This chapter details Powers and Gadgets

Chapter Three: Combat and Recovery
This chapter includes information about combat,
weapons and armor, types of damage, and healing

Chapter Four: Game Master
This chapter provides the gamemaster with Godsend
Agenda campaign advice and examples, and details
experience and character progression in the game

Chapter Five: The World of Godsend Agenda
This chapter provides a "mini-history" of the campaign universe,
outlines major factions in the game, and provides sample
NPCs for each faction

Appendix I: Characters
This appendix contains sample characters

Appendix II: Animals and NPCs
This appendix lists animals and NPC types (such as S.W.A.T.
team member) in a shortened format

Appendix III: Useful Charts
This appendix is a collection of charts

Appendix IV: Master Time Line
This appendix contains a complete timeline for
the campaign universe

Appendix V: Plot Hooks
This appendix contains plot hooks for the factions
detailed in chapter five

Setting

Godsend Agenda is a shell of spandex clad super heroes wrapped over a complex metaplot of conspiracies and secret histories. The campaign history presented to the player is similar to that found in other games: An unknown event in 1918 causes humanity to spontaneously evolve superhuman abilities, super humans fight in W.W.II, factions rise and fall, the government forms secret agencies to deal with super humans, and humanity either embraces their heroes or shuns them as outsiders.

The game's true history, however, begins approximately 9,000 years before the event which birthed superpowers in mankind.

[Author's Note: I am going to attempt another reviewer's clever trick. The space below should contain invisible spoilers about the true history of the Godsend Agenda. Highlight the area below with your mouse to view the spoilers.]

SPOILER:

The alternate Earth of the Godsend Agenda is home to marooned alien jailers and political prisoners. These groups are responsible for super human abilities which mankind now possesses and their millennia old rivalry may doom the planet.

An ancient race of beings know as the Elohim discover the secrets of Ka, a universal energy which fuels miraculous abilities and provides the user with near immortality. The Elohim build an empire using their newfound abilities and create the Godsend Agenda to keep it manageable and stable: The Elohim use their Ka abilities to masquerade as the native deities of the worlds they conquer, thus ensuring their peaceful cooperation.

Nearly a hundred years after the Godsend Agenda is developed, the Elohim encounter a Ka-using race on the edges of their space. This race, the hiveminded Chimerans, proves to be more than a match for the expansionist Elohim. A war ensues - one which the Elohim are losing.

Until a brilliant Elohim named Attis discovers a means of blocking ambient Ka energies. The new technology is put to use around the Chimeran home world and, as the hive mind falls silent, the Chimerans surrender.

The Elohim Empire knows peace but for a few years. Attis begins to question the Empire's policies and the popular figure draws enough supporters to create civil unrest. A civil war develops as the Elohim become increasingly factionalized. The Chimeran take advantage of the conflict and attack.

The Emperor offers Attis and the other dissidents a full pardon if they help quell the Chimerans. The dissidents agree, but the Emperor reneges on the bargain and sends Attis and his followers to the penal planet Sheol after the Chimerans have once again been subuded.

The prison ship carrying Attis and the dissidents is attacked by Chimerans enroute to Sheol. Both ships are drawn into a breach in the space-time continuum. The Elohim ship is spat out in Earth orbit in 4,000 B.C.. It crashes near what would become the Florida coastline and the Elohim and Chimeran prisoners escape their jailers, members of a group of elite soliders known as the Angelos.

Earth has developed its own Ka users: the Atlanteans. They have watched the heavens for centuries, waiting for prohesied invaders to fall from the heavens, and keenly note the arrival of the newcomers. The Atlantean leaders, 13 immortal sorcerers, prepare for war: They seed humanity's DNA with a genetic bomb.

The newcomers quickly use the Godsend Agenda to their advantage. The Elohim become take the place of Earthly pantheons while the Chimerans become demons, boogeyman, and dark dieties. The Angelos, trained fanatics who lack the ability to manipulate Ka, use the Godsend Agenda to create a monotheistic religion to bring the escapees low.

Attis soon realizes that his fellows are abusing their Ka-born abilities and uses the technique he developed to close the flow of Ka to Earth to but a trickle. Gods and demons fall. The religion of Angelos grows and overshadows most others.

In 1908, the space-time tear finally disgorges a piece of the attacking Chimeran ship. It crashes to Earth in Tunguska, Siberia. The Russians acquire the jagged bit of hull and discover three stasis pods within. They manage to open a pod. A Chimeran steps out, assumes human form, and the Atlantean's genetic bomb, keyed to sense the arrival of the prophesied invaders, goes off.

The Chimeran becomes Russia's first superhero, Red Hammer. The genetic bomb activates what becomes known as the Black Gene and millions of humans worldwide develop supernatural abilities or die from the strain of the change.

The emergence of super humans changes the world forever.

A second piece of the Chimeran ships reemerges near Earth and crashes at Roswell, New Mexico. The surviving stasis pods are claimed by one of the Atlantean sorcerers, who uses the Chimerans therein and their technology for his own ends.

An Elohim villain discovers a dimension full of free Ka in 1979 and uses the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island to create a doorway into that dimension. Attis and other civil-minded Elohim follow him. They do not manage to escape the otherworldly dimension until the Chernobyl accident. The seven year conflict in the Ka dimenson become known as Mystic 'Nam.

By 2005, man has used salvaged alien technology and super human abilities to conquer space. Space stations are place in orbit and a manned mission is sent to Mars. Transorbital shuttles become commonplace.

A deep space telescope discovers an object heading for Earth in 2010. The game's metaplot centers around this object, which is a Chimeran ship full of invaders. The ship will reach Earth in two year's time. Secret goverment agencies respond by developing super serums.

And, as the invasion nears, the Elohim, Chimerans, and Angelos continue to struggle for dominance of Earth as mankind begins to adjudst to its new destiny.

END SPOILER

Character Creation and Character Roles

Character creation in Godsend Agenda is point-based. Each player begins with a pool of 100 points to create her character. Flaws can be taken to add points to this pool.

Character creation begins with a concept. The player is asked in this stage to develop a personality, personal history, motivation, et al., for her character. Although Godsend Agenda super heroes can acquire their powers in the typical fashion (i.e., being bitten by radioactive whatnots or as a super serum test subject), the true history of the campaign setting lends itself well to rationalizing character origins.

Players chose an Archetype for their characters (although not necessarily at character creation). Each Archtype provides the character with a basic in-game role for the character, unique extras, and details the manner in which the character regains Ka, the mystical energy which fuels the character's supernatural abilities. There are 10 sample Archetypes, including The Adventurer, The Dark Avenger, The Outsider, The Protector, and The Scientist.

Next players spend points on Attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Spirit (willpower), and Influence. Attributes are normally rated from 1 to 5, with 3 being average. Each point of Attribute at this level costs 1 point from the character's starting pool.

Players may also purchase Super Attributes for their character. These are the standard Attributes at a rank far beyond the norm. Super Attributes between 6 and 10 cost 2 extra points per level. Super Attributes between 11 and 15 cost 4 extra points per level, those between 16 and 20 cost 6 extra points per level, those between 21 and 25 cost 8 extra points per level, and so on. Thus an Super Attribute rank 6 costs 7 points while one at rank 15 costs 35. A Super Attribute at rank 30 costs 154 points.

Characters in Godsend Agenda have a few calculated stats. These include Mind Points and Body Points (basically mental and physical hit points; normal humans generally have 16 points of each), Initiative, Action Points (used in combat to take actions and manuever; normal humans have 2 and characters begin with 3), and Basic Ka Pool (used to fuel powers).

Skills are purchased from the same starting pool of 100 points. Each Skill has a controlling Attribute and range in rank from 1 to 10 points above the controlling Attribute. Skills cost 1 point per level up until the Skill reaches the level of the controlling Attribute and 3 points per level after that point. Thirty-three skills appear in the Godsend Agenda rulebook.

Advantages are purchased next. The cost of each Advantage varies by level. Each level typically costs 3 points. Advantages can be purchased to a maxium level of 10. There are 28 Advantages, which include Allies, Celebrity, Combat Sense, Eidetic Memory, Language, Luck, Martial Arts, and Support Staff. Extra Action Points is an important Advantage that costs 5 points per level and provide an extra Action Point per level.

Flaws provide extra points for the point pool. Players are generally limited to 50 points in Flaws. Like Advantages, Flaws have levels and they usually provide 3 points per level taken. There are 38 Flaws in the Godsend Agenda rulebook. These include Addiction, Code of Honor, Coward, Enemy, Flashbacks, Ka Bleeder (the character must spend extra Ka), Overconfident, Physical Limitation (which has 9 different categories), Secret ID, and Vulnerability.

Powers and Gadgets are chosen next. They are important enough to warrant their own chapter. Powers also have levels, but they tend to be more expensive: Powers generally cost 5 or 6 points per level. There is no upper limit to the level of Powers. Each has a controlling Attribute, although these may not be used during the normal course of play. There are 87 Powers available in the rulebook.

Some Powers have special add ons or flaws that are unique to that Power. Eight generic add ons and 14 generic flaws are also available. These alter the cost of the Power, but cannot reduce it below 1 point.

Sample Powers include:

Drain (Influence, 7 per level), which drains Attributes, Skills, or Powers and can, with the proper add on, boost the
character's Attributes, heal her, or transfer Powers

Enchanced Ka Pool (Spirit, 8 per level), which can be used to channel Ka to Powers and increase their effects

Force Field (Strength, 5 per level), which has a special add on of Reflexive Shield ( 3 per level) and special flaw
Personal Only (-2 per level)

Mind Reading (Intelligence, 4 per level)

Spatial Warping (Spirit, 10 per level), which creates warp gates

Weather Control (Influence, 10 per level)

Generic add ons for Powers include Area Effect, Armor Piercing, Extra Knockback, and Transferable to Other. Activation Roll, Extra Time, Focus, Incantations, No Knockback, and Non-Lethal are sample generic flaws for Powers.

Gadgets and Artifacts are treated like characters in many respects. Attributes, Skills, Powers, Advantages, and Flaws are all purchases for the gadget from the character's starting point pool. However, the total cost of the gadget is modified depending on how easily stolen it is. Gadgets which can be taken away when not worn or actively used cost 75% of their normal total. Gadgets which are hand-held or worn and can be taken away costs 50% of their normal total while vehicles, which presumably are stolen without much effort, cost 25% of their normal total. The cost of Gadgets can be further reduced by special Gadget Modifiers such as Fragile and Limited Uses. Finally, there is a monetary cost associated with Gadgets: They cost $5,000.32 x final cost in points.

The final step in character creation includes wealth (character has a base annual income of $21,000), equipment (equipment which has an affect on the game is purchased with points), and background.

Character in Godsend Agenda are caught up in the same kinds of stories as in other super hero roleplaying games: They try to maintain relationships, battle the forces of darkness, and come home to mortage bills and cable outages. Godsend Agenda also offers play which includes elements of a metaplot (see spoiler section above) that can be played alone or woven into other dramatic situations.

The System

Godsend Agenda uses two d6s for task resolution.

The basic mechanic is simple: 2d6 is rolled, modifiers are added, and if the result is greater than a target number (called a Difficulty), the action succeeds. The most common modifiers are a Skill and its controlling Attribute. The base Difficulty is 10, but this number itself is modified by the difficulty of the task. Very Easy tasks have a Difficulty of 6 while Super Heroic tasks have a Difficulty of 40.

Opposed actions require the active character to set a Difficulty with an otherwise normal roll. The passive character must then beat that Difficulty with an appropriate roll.

A character without the proper Skill, Attribute, etc. suffers a -1 to -5 penalty to her roll, depending the circumstances.

Double 6s on a Skill roll indicate a critical suceess. A second 2d6 roll is added to the first. A roll of double 1s indicates a critical failure. The roll is treated as a 0 and the gamemaster applies other, in-game penalities and consequences. Critical success and failure does not apply to Power and damage rolls.

Powers do not require a roll to activate (unless a Flaw was taken), but may require rolls to hit or overcome a target's resistence.

Initiative is the character's calculated Initiative score (Intelligence plus Dexterity) plus 2d6. Initiative is kept for the entire combat.

Once a character's Initiative has been reached in the round, she may spend Action Points to take actions. Normal people have 2 Action Points while super heroes have 3 or more. Action Points can be used to attack, move (Dexterity x 5 without Action Points or an additional Dexterity x 5 move per Action Point spent), dodge, parry, aim a weapon (for a 2 per Action Point spent), ready a weapon, reload, or get up from a prone position. Action Points can be spent on other, more complicated manuevers.

An attack is resolved as an opposed roll. The attacker makes the appropriate Skill roll, adding in a weapon's Accuracy modifer if applicable. The defender must spend an Action Point to mount a defense. She makes a Dodge or Parry roll and tries to beat the attacker's roll. If the defender fails to meet or beat the attacker's roll, the attack succeeds.

Damage is dealt according weapon type or Power description. Damage comes in two types: Body Points or Mind Points. Most damage is dealty in Body Points. Armor and cover soak damage before it is applied to the character.

Characters who take 50% of either their Body Points or Mind Points in a single attack are considered stunned and lose 1 Action Point on the round that they are stunned. A stunned character may only use her remaining Action Points for defensive actions and movement.

Super heroes get knocked about a bit and Godsend Agenda has knockback rules. Knockback occurs when the attacker's attack roll is greater than the defender's Dodge or Parry roll. For each point above the defender's roll, the attacker knocks the defender back 5 feet. Thus if Grimfist rolled a Melee attack of 20 versus The Eagle's Dodge roll of 15, The Eagle would be knocked back 25 feet.

Characters make an opposed roll per day of rest to regain Body Points and Mind Points. The character normal Point total is added to a 2d6 roll and compared to a Difficulty of the total current damage plus 2d6. Success indicates that the character regains 2 Points plus 1 Point per 5 points of difference between the rolls. If The Eagle is recovering from 10 points of Body Damage and normally has 16 Body Points, she would try to beat a Difficulty of 10 2d6 with a 2d6 16 roll. If she beat the Difficulty by 10, she would regain 4 Body Points (2 1 1). Characters who have taken both Body and Mind damage can make one recovery roll per day for each type of damage.

Players in Godsend Agenda receive experience points for their characters at the end of each adventure. Experience points are awared for good roleplaying, dynamic character development, making the character stand out from others with her Archetype, and creating drama during the game. Gamemasters are encouraged to award 1 to 3 points per category.

Experience points are spent just like the pool of points used to create the character. Thus Skills cost 1 point per level until they reach a rank equal to their governing Attribute and then cost 3 points per level. Power levels may be bought up and Flaws may be bought off. New Powers may not be purchased without consulting the gamemaster.

Overall

Like many basement games, Godsend Agenda is just the rough shape or incomplete form of an interesting, commerically viable game. The ideas which set it apart from its fellows are not as clearly drawn as they could be and the game as a whole - the text, art, layout, concepts, and rules - does not focus enough on Godsend Agenda's unqiue aspects.

Godsend Agenda is similar to many newer super hero roleplaying games on a basic level: It allows for the type of customization seen in the granddaddy of the genre, Champions, without the mathematical intensity which surrounds that game. Characters in Godsend Agenda are very much like those in GURPS Supers, Mutants & Masterminds, Marvel Super Heroes, et al..

There is a second, much more interesting level to Godsend Agenda, however. The campaign setting has a detailed and consistent secret history and a metaplot with potential. Unfortunately, this level is not used effectively to draw players and gamemasters to the game: These details are kept from the players and a casual flip through at the game store will not reveal them to gamemasters. Although the super hero genre is not as competitive as the fantasy one, Godsend Agenda would be better served if it clearly and visibly separated itself from the pack.

The layout and art of Godsend Agenda is typical of that seen in products from companies the size of Khepera Publishing. Godsend Agenda is far from the slick, full color products that are currently stalking the market like tigers. Production values have jumped in recent years and the quality of many basement games has not jumped with them.

Godsend Agenda should be better organization. The game's organization is not a deep flaw by any means, but the game's broken columns, white space, and sometimes scattered information do detract from the readability of the product.

The game is mostly on target in terms of mechanics. They are simple and functional. The game does have genre-specific tweaks and bits. But it also has small blemishes. The system of adding modifers for a base Difficulty is more akward than having a prebuilt scale of Difficulties. Knockback will result from every successful attack (ties favor the defender) - even during the course of fights between waifish sixteen year old girls. Purchasing extra Action Points is a very attractive option and the Extra Action Points Advantage should be dropped (making extra Action Points only available from Powers). Mind Point and Body Point recovery rolls are needlessly complicated.

A noteworthy and certainly encouraging aspect of the game is Godsenda Agenda's major NPC, Attis: He is dark-skinned. One of the three most powerful beings in the Godsend Agenda universe has dark skin and dreadlocks.

Who should purchase Godsend Agenda? The game distinguishes itself from its fellows in chapter five, but much of the rest of the book is seen elsewhere in the genre. Potential consumers can decide for themselves how much - and if - they are willing to pay for interesting ideas.