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Live System
Modernised OGL
System
Review by C. Demetrius Morgan
Synopsis
The Live System SRD presents a rules system- released under v 1.0a
of the OGL and presenting several new rule conventions- based on the
D20/OGL SRDs, specifically portions of the D&D SRD and D20 Modern
SRD. The Live System SRD, published by Postmortem
Studios, is available through RPGnow
for $8.50.
Rating: Considering the Gatesian PDF issues as weighed
against the actual content, which means considering overall
usefulness for the D20/OGL segment of role-players, the Live
System gets a tentative 6 out of 10 Golden Apples. However, if
you cringe at things D20, or hate OGL products, then any rating
becomes instantly moot.
Initial Impressions top
To be perfectly honest I was not sure what to make of Live
System at first glance. It is a SRD struggling to be a core rules
book, yet never quite fully making it as either a proper and fully
functional core rules book or an easily accessible SRD document. Here
is a role-playing system that could have been, had it just been more
fully developed into an independent system. Instead Live System
must be summed up as little more than a variant of the existing
D20/OGL SRD rules. A variant that the vagaries of gamers short
attention spans and the realities of the market may cause to fade
away before it’s received its just due. Yes, portions of the
system could be considered little more than tweaks to existing rules.
However with LS, much like the Action! System core
rules that I reviewed many moons ago, once the surface is scratched
it soon becomes apparent that what is offered is intended to be more
than specialized rule tweaks. If anything LS is designed to
foster a certain style of role-play. Actually that isn’t
quite accurate. What the Live System does is present a set of
rules that can be used to foster a certain genre of slipstream action
adventure. In my review of Cloak
of Steel (Postmortem’s campaign world
published using the Live System rules) I stated that this game
had “the feel of being more a fusion of equal parts anime,
high fantasy, and action adventure plugged into a console arcade
world of slipstream science fiction” and that is precisely
what LS has been designed for.
By comparison Gold Rush Game’s Action! System
attempts to present a scalable system whereby GMs can adapt, in fact
have to actively tweak, the rules in order to establish the
style of play that is desired. The Live System rules establish
the style out of the box. No tweaking necessary. A major plus. Too,
Action! System did two things LS does not. 1) It limits
these styles to Realistic, Cinematic, or Extreme; 2) Presents
all new Stats that make it virtually incompatible with existing
D20/OGL products. Live System’s strength is that what it
changes is how the engine operates, not the specifications of the
engine itself. The attributes are the same core attributes as found
in the SRDs, basic class concepts are retained in the sample skill
packages, basic task resolution is unchanged, yet enough of the
remaining rules have been modified to make for a game with different
style and tone. Alas that does not change the fact that, as an OGL
release, Live System is likely to cause only small ripples in
a very large pond. But perhaps more memorable ripples than had the
system been released independently. A sad summary. top
Setting: None provided, though the system
is supported by other products. In tone and flavor LS is
intended for pseudo-modern cinematic role-play. top
The System: The reasons the author gives
for the creation of the Live System are very telling: “I'd
written several d20 books based on the 3.0 edition but felt
constricted by the limitations and expectations of the system and
format. I wanted to do something … So, basically, I cobbled
together my personal system changes … slotted together the
best parts of material I'd seen in the SRDs and other open material
and set it down.” This as part of an effort to present a
“…more modern, looser, more accessible game…”
that is “designed to be used together (with published
campaign worlds like “Cloak of Steel”) or to be
plugged into existing games of any compatibility.” And just
how well does Live System rank on the compatibility front?
top
Compatibility: Overall Live System,
as presented, should be 50-70% compatible with standard OGL and D20
products. Which means that intrepid Game Masters should be able to
easily integrate LS into their house rules. More narrowly LS
is at least 33% compatible with the Anime d20 SRD, roughly 20-40%
compatible with the Action! System SRD, and probably about 38%
compatible with the d20 Modern SRD material. If you think of each set
of rules as defining a style governing the level of campaign reality
then moving back and forth should not be that difficult, assuming you
care to role-play such differences out. The differences are minor yet
very real. Consider these diverse systems as the rules governing each
campaign world’s physics and the differences in game rules the
barrier limiting movement between realities. The greater the
difference in the rules the more difficult making such trips would
be. Indeed, while LS allows for a very distinct really through
the modes of play it is designed to promulgate, the actual
differences in the underlying game engine are minimal. Which isn’t
to say gamers couldn’t just as easily take the rules they like
and run with them, just bear in mind each of these rule sets were
designed for a specific style and flavor of campaign setting. top
Summary top
Make no mistake to release OGL system at this point in time
requires a special something to lift the system above the constant
swell of mediocre D20 supplements and specialized OGL genre rules
systems. It could be that such systems will fall to the way side like
leaves in the wake of a tornado, but only the future can tell. A
future with vision. And what sort of vision was behind the Live
System RPS? When asked what led to the development of the Live
System RPS Mr. Desborough had the following to say, “When
running my own games using d20 I was dissatisfied with a lot of the
system. I felt d20 to be a massive let down, especially the d20
modern book. I was hopefully expecting a more modern, looser, more
accessible game and instead got a redressed old clunker.
“Feats were a good innovation though and the systems
universal appeal, if not universal utility, were a draw as a writer.
Here was a metric sh*tload of new supplements and materials coming
out which a lot of people would pass by since they didn't like the
system. That was a shame.”
In the face of such disappointment Mr. Desborough states
implicitly that, “I'd written several d20 books based on the
3.0 edition but felt constricted by the limitations and expectations
of the system and format. I wanted to do something different for
_me_.
“So, basically, I cobbled together my personal system
changes that I'd made for my games, slotted together the best parts
of material I'd seen in the SRDs and other open material and set it
down.”
Thus was the Live System RPS given shape and form.
Game Mechanics: Mixed in amidst the
expected OGL rules fare are rules for Vehicles, including Stunts and
Vehicle Combat, some information on Disease effects, Psionics, and
bits and pieces on creation and converting monsters with some 15 odd
pages of sample creatures. However the main distinguishing difference
that LS advertises is the lack of classes and levels. Indeed,
in my review of Cloak of Steel, I noted that the system
presented therein touted the fact it was classless and level less.
That this wasn’t just some campaign world gimmick. This is the
core alteration underpinning the Live System RPS, however it further
dubs itself as a “modernized OGL system”. Which will lead
many to ask why they should bother as they already have a perfectly
good (relatively speak) D20 Modern rule set with freely available
SRDs. To answer this we have to examine the system, beginning with
the several minor departures. For instance Success Factor is
introduced, a stat that replaces DC; as are Hero Points, which can be
used to alter die rolls; Hit Locations, essentially a new method of
handling Hit Points; Defense Class, a replacement for Armor Class;
and perhaps the biggest departure is in magic. Magic in LS is
powered by Feats. Level Advancement is effectively replaced by
Categories. (Think of categories as age stereotypes that outline the
expectation of character advancement in years of life as opposed to
levels of experience.) But is it really classless? Read on. top
Character Creation: Not sure exactly how
attributes are generated, otherwise character creation is pretty
straightforward as outlined below.
1. Determine Character Concept. Basically
decide what type of character you want to play and try to design
the character accordingly.
2. Select Race. Unlike in Cloak of Steel
players have the standard fantasy races to choose from with some
minor alterations to fit them into the LS rules.
3. Create Skills Package. Now here’s
where the classless claims, in my opinion, become frayed.
Essentially this section provides skill packages that do nothing
less than recreate standard archetypes from Barbarian and Bard to
Rogue and Sorcerer. Classes, in fantasy RPG terms, fulfill two
functions: 1) They present a codified hierarchical structure,
usually linked into an level advancement system; 2) Present a
standard set of archetypes which constitute the bulk of what
defines a player character. The Skill Packages presented herein do
not fully divorce themselves from the strictures of archetype and
it could be argued that the Category structure (see below) is
essentially a new type of hierarchical structure.
4. Select Category. Now here’s the gem
of the system, for it is what replaces the old standard level
advancement system. There is no experience, no progression
through levels; rather what we have is an age specific
system where your character concept defines your Category. Given
categories include Kid, Teen, Apprentice,
Journeyman, Master, Grizzled Veteran, Old
Master, and Venerable Ancestor. Each “Category”
pretty much defines what is expected of a character by the time
they reach that age bracket.
5. Select Abilities. This is summed up with
all of a paragraph of text. I could quote it all here and you’d
be none the wiser for it. I’ve read it several times and
still am unclear on how to summarize it. This, in my opinion, is
the weak link in an otherwise well forged chain of rules.
6. Select Skills. Self-explanatory.
7. Select Feats. Same as above.
8. Select Bonuses & Detriments. Ever
played GURPS? This is roughly equivalent with the concept of
Advantages and Disadvantages.
9. Record Hero Points. Determined based on
Category, Reputation, and Luck.
10. Calculate Derived Statistics. Secondary
attributes.
11. Determine Reputation. That’s
right. You get a Reputation from the very start.
12. Spend Detriment Bonus. Determine advantages and
disadvantages. top
Magick: I know what some of you may be
thinking, that’s magic with a “K”, and almost
nothing good has ever come from a set of role-playing rules that has
tried to change the spelling of words to sound kewl. But
whether it’s spelled “mana”, “manna”,
or “spell points” doesn’t matter. In fact it is
plainly stated, “there is no differentiation between divine and
arcane magick”. However characters must first have the
Spellcaster Feat, as it is this ability that gives a character the
capacity to learn additional Magick Feats. Technically there are no
spheres, schools, or domains to speak of. Spells have an attached
mana cost and are effectively feats that have to be rolled vs. a TN
to determine degree of success or failure. Which is not to say all
magic has been reduced to a simple list of effects which cost X
amount of mana to cast, rather magic is categorized into Styles.
Sample Styles include Kata Magick, Material Magick, Word Magic,
Prayer, Written Magick, and Sword Magick. There is a
sample spell template included, which is as follows:
Spell Type: The
type or ‘school’ of magic…
Spell: Name of the
spell.
Tier: Level one,
two or three…
Mana: Mana Point
cost to cast spell.
TN: Target Number
of skill check to cast spell.
Effect: Outline of
what the spell does.
Notes: Anything
else that needs to be known about the spell.
There is a problem. The point at which above is listed (PDF page
57) in the text one would assume that this should be a recap of
information, but it is not. There was no satisfactory explanation of
mana, much less an introduction to the working of the mana point
system. For a newbie this is a critical fumble. If a reader can’t,
at a glance, find the salient points of a rules system without having
to sit down and thumb through pages or use a Boolean search then the
odds are stacked against them. The harder it is for a newbie to pick
up a set of rules and sit down and begin playing then the less likely
they are to bother with that system. Granted how Mana Points are
generated is mentioned in passing on page 12, but 5 sentences hardly
an in depth explanation make. More to the point that’s 45 pages
separating the section on magic from the only place such an
explanation appears. There is not reason why a brief recap could not
have been included or a page reference pointing to where the
pertinent information is located. The same holds true for “Spell
Type”, which should have referred to the appropriate reference
table but did not. This is important since even veteran role-players
will complain about having to flip pages to find information, even if
the book has an index. The time that players spend rummaging through
pages looking for information is directly proportional to the time
that they will spend complaining about the same. top
Appraisal top
Say what you will about D20 and it's impact on role-playing game
design but OGL games appear to be here to stay. More than that, from
the research I have done for this review, it appears that OGL game
designers are seeking to cut out a piece of the niche genre market.
But whether the niche genre market that authors of such products
aiming for can sustain a steady stream of variant rule sets remains
to be seen. Certainly the generic rules niche and the alternative
to xD&D niche are mined with regularity, whereas independent
genre rules packages come and go. The difference with Live System
is that it already has some supporting material in the campaign world
of Cloak of Steel. But is that enough?
Until recently most OGL products appear to have been mostly
comprised of rules aides such as collections of spells, magic items,
or related supplementary materials. However since the recent changes
in the D20 license OGL products have seen some diversification.
Published to date have been such diverse offerings as OGL Horror, OGL
Cybernet, OGL Ancients, and the notorious OGL Book of Erotic Fantasy.
For the most part OGL products offer alternative rules that are
attempts at true genre generica. If the trend continues OGL could
become the next GURPS, with a sourcebook out for just about every
spin, twist, and shade of genre fiction imaginable. That is if OGL
products can come out of their cousin’s shadow. That cousin, of
course, being D20 branded products. And what is the difference
between D20 and OGL games? Not a lot. Both make use of the D20 SRD,
and that confuses some.
PDF Issues: The main issue with the PDFs
is that pages chosen to print at random appear to black out the text,
not all of it, but most of it. It‘s like reading a FOIA
document. Luckily you can print to file and copy and paste to your
hearts content without a problem. Which is great so long as you don‘t
mind having to format the text in a word processor. As a comparison
test I have printed random pages from over half a dozen unrelated
PDFs without problem, save in one PDF that printed two blacked out
lines. According to the PDF properties page the file was created with
something called ‘TeX”, whereas Postmortem‘s files
are created by Adobe InDesign, one assumes two totally unrelated
programs. This leaves me totally baffled. Too, I continually find the
PDFs returning a “drawing error” that forces me to close
the PDF and re-open it as pages blank on screen and become
unreadable. While none of these issues should reflect upon the actual
content, accessibility issues that keep one from accessing the
content are more than minor annoyances.
It should be noted that a few days ago I wrote the following: “I
am becoming seriously annoyed with Postmortem’s PDFs. Yes, the
Live Action PDFs seem to allow you to copy and paste {{and print}}
fine. But when I went to use search I received the following error
message: “There was an error processing a page. A drawing error
has occurred.” I left that box opened just long enough to write
the error down and then, when I went to close the box, my computer
SHUT DOWN! I thought it was going to reboot, the screen went black,
the power went off, then all of a sudden the power came back on and
my desk top was (luckily) just sitting there with the PDF open and
everything else just as it had been. I’m assuming this error
somehow triggered my computer to go into hibernate mode, but I am
just not sure of anything, save that as I write these words I am
royally cheesed. For the record the same error box pops up in both
PDF files when the search in conducted. Though, so far, only the
“print version” has shut my computer off.” There
is nothing more annoying than phantom computer glitches, which I am
now forced to attribute the above to. Not only have I not been able
to re-create the shutdown but, aside from getting the error message
listed above, neither were the folks at Postmortem Studios. Since I
first received that error I have checked my system for viruses and
spy-ware, all seems well, so this is looking more and more like a
Gatesian phantom glitch. top
Negatives: What are Hero Points? How
are/should attribute scores be generated? I can find no ready answers
to these simple questions. Sure how Hero Points are to be generated
is explained but, in typical SRD fashion, there is no actual text
explaining what they are. Which is a problem as this isn’t
technically an SRD document but rather a set of core rules you are
paying for. As such I’d expect to have basic concepts fleshed
out with some explanatory text, never mind flavor text, but a few
words telling potential Game Masters or players what Hero Points are
is necessary. Not just how they function in bland game terms. Is this
par for the course with commercial OGL game systems? In all honesty I
cannot say, as I’ve not looked at a lot of commercial OGL
materials. But then that may be the point here, Live System
would seem to be aimed specifically at that segment of the
role-playing market made up of gamers who have already invested
heavily in various D20/OGL lines of products. When considered as such
this is a fine supplement. Alas that’s also the problem; it’s
a great supplement. It is my opinion that this set of rules
would have been better served released as a straight set of SRDs that
other game designers could build upon or developed into it’s
own independent system. top
Positives: Postmortem Studios is aware of
the reported PDF issues and is working to resolve them. If anyone
encounters this, or similar problems, it is requested that they
inform Postmortem studios forthwith with details about any problem or
issue encountered. With 6 pages of index, which salves the lack of
bookmarks, and a functional Search feature, LS is a lot easier
to navigate than CoS. Granted CoS was designed to be a
finished product, and as such only the lack of a TOC kept me from
singing its praised as being ready made for POD publishing. Live
System is the engine powering Cloak of Steel and the author has a
very healthy attitude about it. For instance when faced with snaky
comments about the seeming lack of originality of certain of the
rules mentioned in my previous review Mr. Desborough was seen to
comment, “No, it ain't innovative or new or anything but it
does drag the OGL/D20 system kicking and screaming to being something
vaguely up to date that might attract a few of the people who don't
otherwise like it, or who like the material presented in many d20
books but feel unable to use it.” (The preceding quote from
RPGnet.) No grand claims are made for Live System, nor does it
pretend to be more than it is. top
Rumors: And what does the future hold?
Mr. Desborough offered the following, “(Postmortem Studious)
will continue to release material though I'm having to have a rethink
on what manner of items I'll be putting out.” In other
words, what Mr. Desborough’s tactful reply means is, in all
probability, what the future holds for Live System will
largely depend upon how the market reacts to it? If interest, and
sales figures, prove good their will likely be more related products
released sooner than later for use with LS. But regardless of
the market the tentative plans, to date, are for: “The first
book is for creating characters and alien species, animals,
'monsters' and character types. The next ones will cover planet and
society building, technology and psionics with the last book covering
a default setting and the possibility of a combined edition, if it
sells well.” Too, there are some unrelated projects that
may be marginally compatible. For instance Mr. Desborough offered the
following: “I'll also be working freelance, quite a lot for
Cubicle 7 (upcoming guys doing new SLA Industries material) and doing
work for as many other people as possible.” top
Happy gaming!
Copyright © 2004 C. Demetrius Morgan
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