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Overview of the Nebuleos

Having already reviewed HinterWelt Enterprises' fantasy RPG [Tales of Gaea] and its alternate history RPG [Shades of Earth], there are two things that I expect from this fledgling company. First of all, I expect each new HinterWelt RPG to use their house rules, the Iridium System. The second thing I expect to find is a logical explanation to support the plausibility of HinterWelt's gameworlds. Happily, I found that Nebuleon did, indeed, adhere to these to expectations. Unfortunately, Nebuleon's shortcomings (an old-fashioned system, turgid prose, and displaced rules) are also because it follows its sister games so closely.

Gamers who are patient enough to truly understand the Iridium System's potential, however, will find Nebuleon to be an attention worthy role-playing game. Adding to the Iridium System's potential is Nebuleon's indebtedness to science fiction's grandmasters. For instance, Asimov, Heinlein, or Hubbard fans will recognize themes within Nebuleon like interstellar exploration, colonization, and interaction with alien races. These are sci-fi's roots; surely, they promise compelling adventures in a Nebuleon campaign.

Presentation

Exterior

Unfortunately, the slick look (complete with a wrap-around cover of four star ships destroying a planet?!?) comes at a price--quite literally. Nebuleon's MSRP is a whopping $35.00! Of course, this is slowly becoming the norm in today's market. But I can't help but cringe every time I see a price tag over $25.00.

Interior

Nebuleon's layout is standard. Two columns of text fill each page. Appropriately placed headings, charts, and artwork sometimes break up this text. Regrettably, not all the artwork is extraordinary, but I can say that none of it is really poor. Some of the art pieces are mere line drawings, for instance, and they give the impression that the artist was either short on time or just inexperienced. However, Mark Brooks' work, which is showcased throughout the book, nicely captures a grittiness that lends Nebuleon a hardedge.

Content

Gameworld

Characters. The player characters in Nebuleon are as similar as they are diverse. Most of them are bipeds that are clearly evolved forms of lesser animals (i.e. amphibious creatures, felines, reptiles, apes). The game's background suggests that the Nebuleos (jargon for "known space") may hold more undiscovered races, but the 11 most common are outlined within the "Races" chapter. Nebuleon also offers the choice of playing an Artificial Intelligence, or AI. Disappointingly, the rules for creating such a character are found five chapters later. Which such a distance between the mechanics for both PC races and Artificial Intelligence, novice or less thorough Nebuleon players may miss the possibility of playing an AI altogether.

The most compelling thing about these 11 races is that we can understand them. That is to say, not only are they visually recognizable, but they share many of our basest human traits. For instance:

• Balek are descendants of swampland amphibians. Though they have a pug-ish face and seem more than capable of defending themselves, Balek are care-free in demeanor. This race has taken consumer consumption to a serious level; property and ownership are essential to Balek society and individual identity. Hmm…sounds familiar.
• Gren are aliens of feline ancestry. Gren practice tolerance of each other as well as alien races. Interestingly enough, the Gren's history of war amongst themselves has created an instinctive distrust of others. This inner conflict between distrust and tolerance seems to be the Gren's greatest enemy.
• Mog are descendants of tree sloths! They'd rather lounge around and philosophize than act. They condone recreational drug use. They have a healing touch. And they're the most renowned medical technicians in the Nebuleos! With all these traits, who wouldn't want a Mog for a friend?

Perhaps it is because the aliens are so "human" that Nebuleon snubs the human race! While humans are one of the PC races, they aren't well detailed. In fact, where other sci-fi games make humans out to be the conquerors of the universe, Nebuleon seems to liken the human race to cockroaches. They just appeared in the Nebuleos; no one knows exactly where they came from; and even cataclysmic disasters are not enough to wipe them out entirely.

Human PCs aren't the only jilted race. Nebuleon's coverage of the other racial backgrounds is unbalanced in the Gren's favor. To be more specific, each alien race has several subcategorized species within. These subcategorized species are distinct in things like skin color or habitat. As we might expect, the cosmetic differences are inconsequential when it comes to game mechanics. . . Except for the Gren. This felinoid race has five distinct species, and each has significantly different attribute modifiers. To unbalance the races further, the Gren's political and social backgrounds are fleshed out more than any other race. Whether the intent was there or not, it seems that the Gren are the champions of the Nebuleos.

Background. I can't say enough about Nebuleon's intriguing background. There is no metaplot here. Instead, we are given a synopsis of nearly 3000 years of history followed by detail on the current state of intergalactic affairs. Interspersed within that history, markers for the intergalactic society's evolution are clear.

For instance, the First Millennium brought many of the known races together through the intervention of a "superior" alien race known as the Thri-T'Kree. The Second Millennium marks the end of the Thri-T'Kree race and the beginning of faster than light (FTL) space travel between known worlds. The final portion of history details the Third Millennium. FTL space travel is common, space exploration and colonization is the most lucrative enterprise, and a new, genocidal alien race threatens to upset the Nebuleos.

In between these major events, intergalactic wars, trade routes, and disasters are "penciled-in" with just enough detail to show the forming of the relationship that the Nebuleos' races have with each other. Organizations (like the Andromedean Conglomeration, the Interstellar Trade Organization, and the Republic of Free Worlds) share history with infamous occurrences (like the rise and fall of the Thri-T'Kree Collective, the AI Insurrection, and the super plague known as the Tova Delirium). Thus armed with the Nebuleos' three-millennium history, Nebuleon gamers potentially have several time periods in which to base a campaign.

Technology. Nebuleon treats technology as a standard throughout known space. That is to say, while some races may be more advanced than others in creating certain technologies, all races in the Nebuleos know how equipment works.

Also, technology in the Nebuleos is limited to equipment that is conceivably possible. So, for instance, holographic projection, powering star ships through cold fusion, and placing beings into suspended animation are possible while things like cloaking devices, organic self-healing equipment, and resurrection are not.

Or course, all manner of high-tech weaponry exists. Personal armor, ion disintegrators, plasma weapons, and laser pistols are sci-fi staples and, thus, present and accounted for. Also, a variety of transport ships and star ships complete the "Weapons and Equipment" chapter. Unlike the space opera subgenre, however, it's clear that these vessels were designed for utilitarian purposes. The ships are bulky and fortified for defense and transport. Nothing sleek, it seems, travels in Nebuleos space.

The Iridium System

Since its presentation in Tales of Gaea and Shades of Earth, nothing has drastically changed in the Iridium System's mechanics. Instead, the system has merely been converted to cater to a sci-fi setting. Thus, new archetypes like Bounty Hunter, Technician, Engineer, or Smuggler exist while skills like Zero G Movement and Xenobiology have been added to the atypical choices.

The Iridium System's strongest attribute, character building, remains the same. While archetypes have a predilection for certain skills in the form of bonuses and free skill points, nothing is barred from players during character building. So, a Politician, for instance, may be predisposed to the Oratory skill, but it doesn't mean that this character cannot be skilled in Piloting as well. The result, especially in a long campaign, is the potential to make truly customized and unique characters. No two bounty hunters, even low-level ones, need look the same.

Despite the Iridium System's customizability, HinterWelt still needed to clarify a few issues in its past releases. I never liked the Luck attribute; the use of experience points was a bit unclear; and combat was just too cumbersome. Here's how HinterWelt has addressed these problems:

• Luck. No dice! Luck is still an ugly, ambiguous statistic open for abuse by rules lawyers and GMs alike. I'm not averse to giving players a second chance, or outright fudging a roll, but when exactly should this statistic come into play? For instance, can a player roll a saving throw against luck after every failed action? Or just once a game? Do enemies get luck too? As the Luck attribute stands now, arbitrary in its usage, it's more bothersome than helpful.
• Experience. HinterWelt succeeded, here. It is now clear that experience points have two simultaneous uses. Players keep track of overall experience and reserve experience. Overall experience is used to increase levels; this pool can only increase. Reserve experience points may be used to purchase new skills, enhance old skill or attributes, or increase stats. The reserve pool may or may not decrease depending on how spendthrift players are. Both pools, however, increase simultaneously.
• Combat. The Iridium System's combat mechanics are still cumbersome. Roll initiative. Roll to hit. Roll for damage. Role for targeting a body part. And that's the simple version without complications like critical success or failure, dodging, parrying, or disarming. However, what HinterWelt has successfully done is introduce an optional rule in which players may pool all fortitude points into one area. This effectively reduces the time consuming record keeping involved with ten possible hit locations. Granted, combat tends to become deadlier this way, but I prefer fast and deadly action to bookkeeping. Perhaps this is where LUCK comes into play?

Misc. Problems

• 1) Develop a Concept
• 2) Decide on a Race
• 3) Generate Vital Statistics
• 4)Calculate Fortitude Points and Defense Stat
• 5) Choose a Class
• 5) [. . .Again!?] Choose Skills
• 7)Equip the Character
• 8)Create a Character History and Name

However, the chapter on vital statistics comes before character races. The "Races" chapter is in turn followed by "Character Skills," "Weapons and Equipment," and then "Character Class." When compared to the character creation rules, it is clear that the chapters are in disorder. Luckily, Nebuleon's table of contents and index compensate for this sloppy oversight. Still, it is perturbing enough to merit a minor scolding.

A second issue I have with Nebuleon is the turgid prose. To clarify, the prose tries too hard to be grammatically correct, smart, and multifaceted. The result is confusing prose, at best. At worst, the incorrectly punctuated paragraphs and poorly structured sentences are infuriating.

Nowhere is Nebuleon's turgid prose more noticeable than in the "Nine Worlds" portion of the "Known Space" chapter. Take, for instance, the opening sentence on the planet Dren Col-Lanti: "Deren Col-Lanti is a relatively recently settled planet, the second home of the Dremin." Relatively recently? Second home of the Dremin? This sentence needs to be seriously revised. Something like, "Settled only recently, Dren Col-Lanti serves as the Dremin's second home," is simpler and clearer. Sure, a few typographical errors are to be expected in even the most professionally produced RPG. However, consistently stunted prose and neglected punctuation, like in the example above, is unacceptable.

Another contention I have with Nebuleon is less of a critique and more of a lamentation. I am genuinely disappointed in Nebuleon's lack of "oomph." That is to say, Nebuleon looks professional, the hardcover is sturdy, and artwork is not all that bad. But if I were to flip through Nebuleon in my local game shop, I'd probably place it back on the shelf without a second thought. Nothing really JUMPS at you. The reason this is so disappointing is because HinterWelt's alternate history RPG, Shades of Earth, certainly had character. What happened in Nebuleon?

Overall

It seems to me, then, that Nebuleon, or any HinterWelt Enterprises game, is really written for the veteran gamer who is willing to overlook his or her game mechanics prejudices and dive into an intriguing gameworld. No, Nebuleon doesn't use your favorite system. But, so what? For the gamer who knows better than to let a system interrupt a gaming session, Nebuleon holds the promise of exploring the cosmos as the most "human" aliens in the galaxy.

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