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Spirit of the Century is a pulp incarnation of the FATE system developed by Evil Hat Games, systematically inspired by the original FUDGE system by Grey Ghost. This is a game of two-fisted pulp action that is meant to be easy to learn, play, and run, granting both players and GMs a great deal of flexibility in designing the characters and stories they wish to play.
This is my first review for RPG.net and any constructive feedback or questions would be welcome.
Purchasing the Game
Spirit of the Century is available through Indie Press Revolution in softcover and through Lulu.com in hardcover. Both retailers offer electronic editions. The hardcover sells for $50, the softcover $30, the softcover + electronic edition sells for $35 and the electronic edition alone costs $15. More information can be found at the Evil Hat website at http://www.evilhat.com/?spirit. This seems a relatively reasonable price for a small press game and I was very satisfied with the value for my dollar. I pre-ordered the paperback copy which included the electronic version as well (a special bonus for pre-orders).
The Physical
The electronic edition comes as two .pdf files of the game; a landscaped format with two pages per electronic page side by side and a regular formatted version. Both files load quickly and scroll smoothly and are extensively bookmarked.The softcover book is 6” x 9”, which is approximately the same size as a hardcover novel. There are 411 numbered pages, not including the title page, a copy of the Open Game License, table of contents, seven pages of ads for other Evil Hat and IPR games, a character worksheet and a character sheet. The table of contents is nicely detailed and the index is a very comprehensive eight pages.
The cover is in full color while the interior is black and white. The layout is very clean and easy to read. The text uses a very plain and readable font while subject headings use a “pulpy” font that looks like something off the cover of a pulp comic. This “pulp” font is very easy to read and adds a bit of flavor to the book while maintaining utility.
The artwork is entirely black and white provided by Christian N. St. Pierre. All of the illustrations are of good quality and seem to capture a pulp feel. The frequency of artwork is a little sparse and a few of the pieces are repeated.
My overall impression is that the book was nicely presented and laid out with artwork of sufficient quality to give a nice feel to the game.
The softcover copy of my book came with a bookmark with a full color cropped version of the front cover on one side and the back side containing a few lists of important game information - a nifty little tool!
Chapter Breakdown
Introduction
The introductory page includes a few basic concepts and definitions of what the game tries to be, namely a pulp game, a pickup game, and a roleplaying game.
Background
The five page background chapter introduces the basic setting concepts of the game. In Spirit of the Century characters are Centurions, those born on the first day of a new century who have the potential to greatly influence history. These centurions join others in an organization known as the Century Club, which serves as a way to bring characters together and gives reason for them to be involved with various plot hooks.
The Basics
This chapter consists of eight pages giving an overview of the mechanical components of the game, and introduces the core concepts of the game system. Those familiar with the FATE or FUDGE rules will find most of the information already familiar.The Ladder is a basic scale for rating various abilities and uses descriptive terms like Average, Fair, Good, Great, Superb etc. There are thirteen total steps on the ladder ranging from Abysmal to Legendary.
The dice used in this game are four FUDGE dice. FUDGE dice are basically six-sided d3s with a “+” face, a “-“ face and a blank face. These dice are available in many game stores and various stores online. Standard d6 can be easily used with 1-2 interpreted as “-“, 3-4 as a blank or zero and 5-6 as a “+”. When a roll is called for, four of the dice are rolled and the results are added to produce a number between -4 and +4. This number is added to the appropriate skill to move the final result up or down the Ladder. For example, If Johnny Dangerously has a Good rating for his Drive skill and rolls +2 on the dice, his result is Superb (two steps up from Good on the Ladder).
Difficulty is the basic target value you are trying to reach when you make a skill roll and is an assigned a value (from the Ladder) by the GM. If, in the previous example, Johnny was trying to do a bootleg turn which the GM determined to be of Good difficulty, Johnny’s Superb result would have succeeded.
Skills are relatively straightforward and similar in concept to just about any other roleplaying game. Stunts are special abilities that are roughly based on or related to skills and are similar to concepts in other games like talents, advantages or perks. aspects are a bit more novel concept and are discussed more fully in a subsequent chapter. Fate Points are a type of plot point or action point that can give the players a bit of an edge in the game when needed, and are gained and lost throughout the playing session.
Character Creation
Eighteen pages long, this chapter delves into the procedure of creating your character and provides a good deal of advice on choosing a concept for your character and how to select aspects to best represent your concept.The system for generating characters is broken down into five phases: Background, War, Novel and two Guest Star phases. During each of these phases of your characters life you write a brief description of their exploits and choose aspects accordingly. The Novel phase describes the character’s first big adventure or the pulp novel they starred in. The Guest Star phases involve the player writing themselves into the plot of another player’s novel.
The character generation system is a fun gaming session unto itself, especially with the right group of creative players. There is also an option for fast character generation, where only rudimentary details are initially recorded and the rest get added as the game progresses, providing an alternative for those who like to sit down and begin playing almost immediately.
At the end of this chapter is a sample character worksheet and character sheet, to help illustrate the whole process.
Aspects
This is the one part of the game that distinguishes Spirit of the Century from many of the other games currently on the market. The chapter is nineteen pages long and discusses choosing aspects and how to use them in the game.Aspects are short phrases that describe who the character is, what they believe in, who they know, their attitudes, and virtually anything else that paints a picture of them. Skills and stunts describe more what a character can do while aspects describe who the character is. There are extensive lists and suggestions for aspects throughout the book but players are encouraged to make up their own aspects for their characters.
Some sample aspects from the book include: Quick Witted, Sucker, First on the Scene and Silver Spoon. A few made up of the top of my head include: Tough as Nails, Wrong Side of the Tracks, Hot-headed, Old Man McCoy, and Nose for Trouble.
Aspects are also assigned to objects and the environment. A train car might have the aspects: Cramped Quarters or Noisy.
Aspects can be invoked by a character by spending a Fate Point. A character could spend a Fate Point to invoke the First on the Scene aspect to beat the press to the sight of a burglary in order to gather clues before word gets out. Aspects can also be invoked to receive a reroll or give a +2 bonus on a die roll. For example using your Nose for Trouble aspect to get a +2 bonus on your Investigation skill to pick up on an important clue that something bad is about to happen.
Aspects may also be tagged or compelled. Tagging is invoking someone else’s aspects, compelling is a GM activating one of your aspects. Tagging someone or something else’s aspect costs a Fate Point while being compelled generates a Fate Point for the character in question. The GM may decide to compel your Wrong Side of the Tracks aspect to produce a penalty when negotiating with a wealthy aristocrat. A player could tag the train car’s Cramped Quarters aspect to prevent an opponent from swinging a baseball bat in such an enclosed space.
Most characters will have ten aspects. That can be a significant amount for the GM to keep track of, as the aspects of important people and places should get used frequently to add the appropriate flavor to the game. I imagine most GMs will want lists of each character’s aspects to keep handy throughout the game and can see the GM having to reference these lists frequently. This is not a playtest review, but I am a bit concerned myself that the number of aspects may prove to be a bit overwhelming at first. Of course, this could easily be addressed by limiting the number of aspects during the first few sessions.
Also, aspects are a much more conceptual element of the game rather than a mechanical one that many players of more traditional games like Dungeons and Dragons may be accustomed to. If you prefer games with concrete rules and carefully balanced, spelled out abilities then you might not find Spirit of the Century to your liking. If you prefer more flexibility, open-endedness and focus on storytelling rather than rules crunch, then I’ll bet SotC will be right up your alley. Personally I like both types of games at different times for different things, but you should take this into account when considering a purchase.
How to Do Things
The next thirty pages cover the detailed system mechanics and describe how to use skills, resolve conflicts (like social conflicts) as well as the combat system.The basic task resolution for skills involves rolling 4dF (four FUDGE dice) and adding the result to your skill. This is then compared to a difficulty set by the GM or compared to an opponents roll plus skill.
More detailed contests are called conflicts and the same system is used for combat as well as more drawn out social or other conflicts. Things basically boil down to opposed skill checks being made and the aggressor scoring a hit if their result exceeds their opponents. The difference in the two results is referred to as the number of shifts, and this determines the severity of the blow. Damage is recorded on the Stress Track (Health Stress Track for combat and Composure Stress Track for other conflicts). Most characters will have five boxes on their Stress Tracks which can be checked off. When they become full, further hits turn into Consequences, which penalize the character. After three Consequences the character is Taken Out.
The rules for combat appear relatively straightforward and seem to do a good job of covering two-fisted pulp action. They can be easily tweaked a bit to make them more deadly (for a more nourish game) or more detailed if you so desire. The basic task resolution mechanic is delightfully simple and utilitarian at the same time. I don’t think I would run too many full blown non-combat conflicts unless they were an integral and climactic part of the story, as they can take longer than a single opposed skill roll (or Contest as it is called in the book).
This chapter also contains rules for minions and companions. Companions are recurring individuals who don’t need to be statted out as fully as characters. Minions are the nameless bad guys who confront the characters en masse. The rules for minions place these lackeys into groups which function as a single unit. This makes them easy to implement in the game without bogging things down but still makes them more or less challenging depending on their number. I particularly liked this implementation of the rules, providing a simple way to run any number of goons without slowing down the game or resulting in an abundance of recordkeeping.
Skills
Thirty two pages in length, this chapter lists the various skills available and describes their use. In addition to a basic description of each skill, a number of trappings are described as well. Trappings are rules for specific uses of the skill in certain circumstances which may be freely used at any time. As an example, Hiding is a trapping of the Stealth skill, and there is a short paragraph discussing how to adjudicate characters attempting to hide. Starting characters are given a certain number of skills at certain levels, e.g. one skill at Superb, two skills at the Great level and so forth. The majority of this chapter is pretty straightforward to those familiar with roleplaying games in general.
Stunts
Stunts are special abilities, talents or knacks that give a character a little something extra. Starting characters generally possess five stunts to begin the game with. Stunts are loosely organized around skills and many of the more powerful stunts have other stunts as prerequisites. For example, two stunts related to the Pilot skill are Flying Ace and Death From Above, with Flying Ace being a prerequisite for having Death From Above.There are a large number of nifty stunts described in the book but players and GMs alike are encouraged to invent their own as well.
Gadgets and Gizmos
This fifteen page chapter presents rules for purchasing equipment, use of various items like vehicles and explosives, building, repairing and improving gear and finally rules for unique pieces of equipment like gadgets and artifacts. A few examples of gadgets are provided, like the belt buckle grappling hook. The overall rules themselves are concise and to the point but at the same time are very open-ended, giving a great deal of latitude for those wishing to play gadgeteers or inventors in their pulp game.
Running the Game
The next fifty five pages give advice on setting difficulty levels, adjudicating skills and stunts and handling other various rules-related situations that may come up in the game. It basically just expunges upon the rules from a GM perspective, providing examples and advice to help the GM get the most out of the system.
Tips and Tricks
Weighing in at sixty pages, this chapter discusses how to run a gaming session, focusing more on plot and scenario design rather than the rules themselves. There is a great deal of information on how to wing it or run a true pick up game which then leads into advice on how to design an adventure given time to plan out beforehand. There is plenty of advice on how to improve your game, how to write better scenarios, how to keep your players more interested and finally how to get a good pulp feel.I know a lot of people (like myself) who GM who feel that they have run enough games to know how to do it already. I always look at these chapters with a great deal of skepticism and my attitude approaching this chapter was no different. After reading it through, however, I found quite a few gems and priceless little bits that I know will help to keep my games more entertaining. Personally, the pickup portions of the chapter didn’t appeal to my personal style of GMing, but other parts really struck home as solid advice. I think that regardless of your style, there will be something useful in here for you.
At the end of the chapter are some basic rules for character advancement. The main focus of Spirit of the Century is for individual adventures with a revolving cast rather than long campaigns with the same characters. Also, characters are designed to be very competent right out of the box without a real need for improvement. That being said, there are simple rules here for improving your characters if you wish to keep them around a bit longer.
The Nether Agent: A Sample Scenario
This brief (fifteen pages) scenario attempts to introduce the players to the game presenting opportunities to interact, investigate, and fight. To me the overall scenario seemed a bit ho-hum lacking in excitement, but as a general rule, I have a strong dislike for published scenarios. I know the type of game my players and I enjoy and I prefer writing plots to those particular tastes. As such, take my opinion with a grain of salt.
Secrets of the Century
These twenty three pages present the setting proper, describing the pulp world of 1922. The chapter delves into the Centurions and their Century Club as well as their more sinister counterparts. Descriptions of a few individual members of the Century Club are given and backgrounds for a handful of adversaries are also written up. The second half of the chapter discusses various organizations, events, and concepts of the times and how they can be used in the game and concludes with a timeline of events covering the last twenty two years.The setting specifics are relatively unobtrusive and provide a good way to bring the character’s together and involve them in adventures. The rules themselves aren’t at all tied to the specifics of the setting and if the idea of Centurions doesn’t fit your style, it can be dropped without any ill-effect on the game itself. The historical tidbits and timelines provide good ideas and serve as a solid refresher for those of use who aren’t overly familiar with the time period.
Quick Pick Stunt Packages
This is a twenty page section of the book that recommends basic combinations of stunts for various character concepts. For new players or players looking to jump into a quick pickup game this could prove very useful.
Bibliography
This is a fairly thorough list of other sources of pulp information including books, comics, RPGS, movies and websites.
Sample Player and Non-Player Characters
This section includes a total of eight fully statted characters including the four iconic characters used as examples throughout the book and four personas intended for use as adversaries or villains.
Support
The guys from Evil Hat games have a noticeable internet presence on the RPG.net forums and as well as the Yahoo groups for the FATE system and the upcoming Dresden Files game. The guys (especially Fred) are quick to respond to player comments and questions, provide rules help and examples when needed and respond kindly to even the harshest criticism. Personally, this kind of support really means a lot in my book and I am much more apt to spend future dollars with these types of companies (or individuals).
Conclusion and Opinions
I think this book was very well written, formatted and edited. The artwork was good and perfectly satisfactory, doing an excellent job of capturing the feel of the pulp genre. I would have like to have seen a few more illustrations, but this is a minor quibble.The rules system is on the lighter side of things, but is very straightforward and useable. There are plenty of detailed examples throughout the book for just about every rule mechanic available. After several reads I still haven’t found anything I deem to be broken or in desperate need of a house rule.
A major part of the game is the introduction of aspects, which may take a bit of getting used to for some players. Selecting and using aspects require a bit of creativity on the part of the GM and player and present a different type of challenge than the strategic planning seen in crunchier games. This may be the biggest make or break factor for some people. Those looking for detailed rules and resolution mechanics might be put off by the simple system and the conceptual elements that aspects add. Those who like flexibility in character design and more open-ended and subjective rules will love choosing and invoking aspects in the game.
The book as a whole just exudes typical two-fisted pulp adventure. There is pulp virtually dripping from every corner of every page. If you are into pulp this game is a must have. I’ve had a lot of fun playing Adventure in the past but I think for me Spirit of the Century is going to take first prize in the pulp category. If you are looking to purchase the game for another genre, you might find the over-the-top pulpiness to be a bit much, but that still shouldn’t deter you from this excellent system.
I found the system to be so nifty that I quickly set out and wrote a fantasy adaptation of the rules, as well as an Urban Horror version to tide me over until the Dresden Files RPG is released. Next up will be a Firefly conversion.
Lastly, who is this game not for? If you can’t stand pulp, this game might not be for you (although there are a lot of other great things you could do with the system). If you like games that are more rules-heavy that have more crunch and combat with lots of specific rules for specific situations, maneuvers or circumstances, then this might not be the game for you. If you prefer standard character options like narrowly-defined classes and set feats or advantages over a more freeform character generation, this might not be the game for you.
I’d have to give this game a score of 5 in both style and substance. The only caveat being that if this is the sort of game you like, you’ll like this game. If not, you won’t
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