genreDiversion i Manual

This review is for the 36-page Genre Diversion iManual generic rules system PDF. Written by Brett M. Bernstein, edited by Matt Drake, and published by PIG Games. It is currently available from RPGnow for $4.00.

Rating: 6 out of 10 golden apples. A smidgen above average.

At a glance the bookmarks reveal this rule set to be comprised of four chapters (character creation, vehicles, basic and advanced tasks, optional rules), a character sheet, and a vehicle sheet. Nice layout. Fonts were a bit fuzzy to read onscreen, but otherwise okay. Truth be told nothing else really stood out on my initial scan of the document. It’s meant to be functional, not an excuse to showcase glossy artwork.

Summary

If you’ve played any of PIG Games offerings then the rules should already be familiar to you, only the adjective descriptors used to name attributes and traits have changed.

System Overview: This is something between a generic rule set ala GURPS lite and a generic rules set that could be used to expand or supplement an established system without a lot of native support. Of note is chapter two, which provides rules for creating vehicles, which essentially use uses, a modified version of the character creation rules. There are also rules for vehicle combat and a number of rules options for things like Character Advancement, Dramatics and Heroics, and Going Diceless to name a few of the subsections. Basically the rules here fall into the “lite” category but they are not lightweight. Just be aware if you prefer crunch in your rules then the Genre Diversion iManual will probably be disappointing.

Character Creation: Chapter one starts us off with an explanation of Abilities, Skills, Backgrounds, and Gimmicks (think kewl powers). Mostly the typical role-playing rules fare. There are five primary Abilities- Fitness, Awareness, Creativity, Reasoning, Influence- ranked from 0 (zero) to 5 (five). Character Health breaks down into Fatigue and Injury, which are rated similarly to Abilities. The skills list is pretty typical yet well rounded out. Essentially they break down into separate categories that could easily be plugged into just about any setting, be it fantasy or science fiction. Player character Backgrounds (think Archetypes) are pretty Generic, a bit too much so in my opinion. Also I do not feel enough stock backgrounds were provided. I mean there’s an occult skill but no Occultist? Disappointing. The main weakness here is a lack of supporting skills and backgrounds for establishing characters for specifically Horror or Espionage type campaigns out of the box. It can be winged, but given the fact that Martial Arts skills and gimmicks for Augmented-Based (think Cyberpunk), Mutant-Based (think Gamma World) and Enchanted Skills (think Magic) have been given their own separate entries while the default skill lists are fairly vanilla modern this may be more than a minor oversight for some.

System Mechanics: Chapter three gives us the basics of Task Resolution. As with most PIG Games offerings task resolution is essentially a roll under system comparing the sum total rolled against a TN. Combat is a relatively simple and straightforward Stat + Attack Type (Fitness + Fitness-based Skill) rolls and compare mechanic. Advanced task resolution adds wrinkles like Difficulty, Composure, and Untrained task considerations.

For a 36-page rules lite system this looks to actually cover most of the core RPG genres, save for Horror and Espionage. However the rules are really best suited to creating modern or futuristic fantasy campaigns; in other words: science fantasy. Granted the cyberpunk aspect is a bit weak and the stock rules would likely need major tweaking to properly portray a steampunk game world, but that is matter of opinion. And what about fantasy? Yes and no, this rules set could do it, but then there is no lack of dedicated fantasy systems. So if rules for running a high fantasy swords and sorcery game is what you want I’d suggest getting one of those other systems. But if you want something for near future science fantasy this may be a system worth exploring.

Negatives: Anything proclaiming itself to be a “generic quick-fix” set of RPG rules has a lot to live up to. For instance, I would have expected mention of how to integrate these rules with other established systems, but that is not what this is about at all. Rather this is really a quick fix for the Genre Diversion line of RPG games. That makes this a specific, not a generic, supplement. Regardless of whether or not those games are intended as generic games. Also there are three prominent RPG genres that have not been addressed specifically: Horror, Espionage, and Western. Granted these are niche genres, but the so is Martial Arts and Post-Apocalyptic, yet both of those were addressed.

Positives: As a supplement to the Genre Diversion RPG line this will come as a welcome addition and update to those core rules. In fact there are sections expanding upon Hardnova, Ghost Stories, Vice Squad, and EarthAD. With a little work this rule set could be made into a nice generic game supplement and GM aid, but whether that potential ever gets built upon remains to be seen, thus some may feel that should be a negative. But I think it’s an untapped positive. Thus I mention it here.

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