The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Normally I pick something up, and review it fairly quickly. This sometimes leads to problems as first impressions are not always reliable. I had a great first impression of this game, but that changed. After picking it up I knew that I wanted to have it, even though I had felt that in the long run this game was going to be a loser. I had had the good fortune to play this game in a secret playtest at GenCon several years ago, and in some ways I enjoyed it then. As I said to the designers, "It doesn't suck." It still doesn't suck, yet there's a lingering feeling that this game could have been more...something.

This game is like standard AD&D in space, except you don't have the problem of exploding hit points. No more fighters who can wade through groups of people without thought to the damage that she is taking. In this game everyone can take damage fairly well. After playing for a while I was amazed at the damage that people could soak up! A player is hit by three stun grenades, and is still standing. This just doesn't seem right. The newer tech weapons do a bit more damage than their medieval antecedents, yet they still feel weak. In GURPS when you get a weapon of a higher tech level, well you'd better kiss your butt goodbye...those things hurt!

So play balance is a problem, in that people can fight with very little thought given to dying. The rules favor cinematic verities over more realistic ones.

This is not to say that the game in itself has some good points. The dice mechanics are useful and interesting. The difficulty, or ease, of a task is simulated by a die which is added to, or subtracted from, your roll. The more difficult the task the higher the die. For a challenging task you would roll a d20, and then add the result of a d8 to the roll. This can change the odds of a fight dramatically, and yet in play their seemed to be very little effect...maybe the dice were kind.

The mechanics are flexible in the game, and allow players to create a wide variety of characters from the fighter, diplomat, technician, thief, and psionicist archetypes. These archetypes are also much less limiting to imagination and conception in this game than they were in AD&D. You can do what you want with your characters, but its cheaper in character/experience points to stay within the bounds of your archetype.

The stats for your character follow from standard AD&D, yet they are much more balanced than in AD&D. If you min/max in this system you will pay a definite price. Your character will be seriously weakened in one way or another. This is nice to have such a balanced game, yet it can leave a lot of characters looking exactly alike.

Character creation is done by spending points, on stats first of all, and then your stats help to determine how many points you then have to spend on skills (don't knock intelligence down because that directly effects your points for skills). You can also choose from a short and inexpressive list of advantages and disadvantages (perks and flaws). The system is very well balanced, but it doesn't blow you away with options. Characters feel very ordinary when you're done, which kind of goes against the grain of the very heroic and cinematic combat rules.

The book also has rules for mutant powers (Gamma World type tables...ugh!), cybernetics (short, but possibly effective), psionics (good and well-balanced...you can use the force here), and computer stuff for cyber campaigns (okay). Its fairly complete. All it would've needed to take it over the top would've been some rules for starship creation, but those are in the GM's guide.

This is a fairly complete/encyclopedic book, that just feels boring. Its nice but flawed. If I were going to recommend one science fiction game to someone it would not be Alternity, but GURPS: Traveller. A more polished game that doesn't exhibit its flaws quite so openly as Alternity.

Over the long haul this game is going to be supported. There is already an active e-mail list, and several nice extras at the TSR web site. The books in Alternity look good, and the rules can cover any campaign from pseudo-Traveller, to pseudo-Trek, to pseudo-StarWars. Each of these other games may be more limited in its rules set, but their rules may be more suited to their individual milieus than Alternity's everything but the kitchen sink approach.

This game would've received an "A" from me when it first came out, but on further reflection I'll give it a "C." It does for the science fiction genre what AD&D did for the fantasy genre...a distinctly average game, that will hopefully break new ground for better games to come...Fading Suns, Traveller, etc.

This book also came with an adventure module "Black Starfall." A nice little giveaway for the early purchasers...admittedly it helped to influence my buy decision. This is a good module for beginning gamers, in that the events are fairly linear and idiot proof. If the players blow it in one place, there are other failsafes that will help them to succeed. On the other hand, if they do too well, then there are certain failsafes in the scenario which will ensure that it maintains its linear path. I'll give this one a "B."

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

Alternity Player's Handbook
Author: Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR Cost: 29.95 Page count: 256 ISBN: 0-7869-0728-2 Capsule Review by Scott Shafer on 10/10/98. Genre tags: Science_fiction Modern_day Far_Future Space Espionage Conspiracy Post-apocalypse Old_West	Normally I pick something up, and review it fairly quickly. This sometimes leads to problems as first impressions are not always reliable. I had a great first impression of this game, but that changed. After picking it up I knew that I wanted to have it, even though I had felt that in the long run this game was going to be a loser. I had had the good fortune to play this game in a secret playtest at GenCon several years ago, and in some ways I enjoyed it then. As I said to the designers, "It doesn't suck." It still doesn't suck, yet there's a lingering feeling that this game could have been more...something. This game is like standard AD&D in space, except you don't have the problem of exploding hit points. No more fighters who can wade through groups of people without thought to the damage that she is taking. In this game everyone can take damage fairly well. After playing for a while I was amazed at the damage that people could soak up! A player is hit by three stun grenades, and is still standing. This just doesn't seem right. The newer tech weapons do a bit more damage than their medieval antecedents, yet they still feel weak. In GURPS when you get a weapon of a higher tech level, well you'd better kiss your butt goodbye...those things hurt! So play balance is a problem, in that people can fight with very little thought given to dying. The rules favor cinematic verities over more realistic ones. This is not to say that the game in itself has some good points. The dice mechanics are useful and interesting. The difficulty, or ease, of a task is simulated by a die which is added to, or subtracted from, your roll. The more difficult the task the higher the die. For a challenging task you would roll a d20, and then add the result of a d8 to the roll. This can change the odds of a fight dramatically, and yet in play their seemed to be very little effect...maybe the dice were kind. The mechanics are flexible in the game, and allow players to create a wide variety of characters from the fighter, diplomat, technician, thief, and psionicist archetypes. These archetypes are also much less limiting to imagination and conception in this game than they were in AD&D. You can do what you want with your characters, but its cheaper in character/experience points to stay within the bounds of your archetype. The stats for your character follow from standard AD&D, yet they are much more balanced than in AD&D. If you min/max in this system you will pay a definite price. Your character will be seriously weakened in one way or another. This is nice to have such a balanced game, yet it can leave a lot of characters looking exactly alike. Character creation is done by spending points, on stats first of all, and then your stats help to determine how many points you then have to spend on skills (don't knock intelligence down because that directly effects your points for skills). You can also choose from a short and inexpressive list of advantages and disadvantages (perks and flaws). The system is very well balanced, but it doesn't blow you away with options. Characters feel very ordinary when you're done, which kind of goes against the grain of the very heroic and cinematic combat rules. The book also has rules for mutant powers (Gamma World type tables...ugh!), cybernetics (short, but possibly effective), psionics (good and well-balanced...you can use the force here), and computer stuff for cyber campaigns (okay). Its fairly complete. All it would've needed to take it over the top would've been some rules for starship creation, but those are in the GM's guide. This is a fairly complete/encyclopedic book, that just feels boring. Its nice but flawed. If I were going to recommend one science fiction game to someone it would not be Alternity, but GURPS: Traveller. A more polished game that doesn't exhibit its flaws quite so openly as Alternity. Over the long haul this game is going to be supported. There is already an active e-mail list, and several nice extras at the TSR web site. The books in Alternity look good, and the rules can cover any campaign from pseudo-Traveller, to pseudo-Trek, to pseudo-StarWars. Each of these other games may be more limited in its rules set, but their rules may be more suited to their individual milieus than Alternity's everything but the kitchen sink approach. This game would've received an "A" from me when it first came out, but on further reflection I'll give it a "C." It does for the science fiction genre what AD&D did for the fantasy genre...a distinctly average game, that will hopefully break new ground for better games to come...Fading Suns, Traveller, etc. This book also came with an adventure module "Black Starfall." A nice little giveaway for the early purchasers...admittedly it helped to influence my buy decision. This is a good module for beginning gamers, in that the events are fairly linear and idiot proof. If the players blow it in one place, there are other failsafes that will help them to succeed. On the other hand, if they do too well, then there are certain failsafes in the scenario which will ensure that it maintains its linear path. I'll give this one a "B." Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

Alternity Player's Handbook