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In Ruby, the various planet names of the home system are after colours and the only one inhabited by the NuMen is Ruby. It is utopian; beautiful hi-tech cities, unspoiled environment, lives of idle luxury without war, want or fear and with heightened dreaming which allows them to direct 'Shells' (both organic and inorganic) who engage in the various tasks through a scientific discovery which allows instantaneous communication over distance. Some, the Lucids, recall this activity and are shunned by polite NuMan society, who consider them reckless or throwbacks to a more emotional age. The potential for danger comes from those who engage in anti-social dreams and by persistent rumours of Old Earth enclaves on nearby planets. NuManity has been altered; "tiny" alterations to brain chemistry negated selfish drives, rewiring of base brain functions removed the physical pleasure from sexual acts; more rationalistic, more altruistic. Anti-social (Carmine for passions, Crimson for war, crime on the G-worlds above Ruby) dream Shells operate on nearby red planets. Labouring tasks are carried out by AIs, drones and so forth. The Dreaming background is given significance; most of the first sixty pages is dedicated to the Dreaming.
Players control Lucids, the GM is called a Guide the mechanics are based on d6s. There are six stats: Reason, Volition, Ego, Body, Grace, Vitality. Only Lucids have an Ego stat which represents their mental stability. Typical NuMan values are 1-4. Characters also have an Opportunity (average of Grace + Volition), Drives (e.g., love, hate, fear), and Instinct. To perform a test roll a number of d6 equal to the Stat; 4s, 5s and 6s are positive outcomes; 1s are negative outcomes, 2s, 3s are no outcome. Subtract positives from negatives to determine a result ranging from +3 (miraculous result) to -3 (atrocious attempt). Test difficulty ranges from routine (1 success), very hard (3 successes), to virtually impossible (6 successes), or, in the case of opposed tests, circumstantial penalty dice to the Stat are assigned. If the test difficulty is higher than the appropriate stat, "inverted dice" are added whereby the chance of positive and negative outcomes is reversed. This does mean that *any* character has a chance of success in any action regardless of its difficulty, although the chance of a "atrocious failure" increases; this is not something that should be considered beneficial to the system. Aptitudes (a degree of particular training or skill) may be used to re-roll normal and Inverted Dice (certainly risky in the latter); Drives and Instincts provide bonus stat dice.
Aptitudes are defined in degrees of 'points'. It costs 1 Aptitude Point to reroll a non-outcome and 2 to reroll a negative. Points are set out in Trees, similar to the excellent system initially used in first edition Paranoia. A 'trunk', or General Knowledge/Ability/Skill, has a point value of 1, a 'branch' or Focussed Knowledge/Ability/Skill, has a point value of 2, and 'leaves', or Speciality Knowledge/Ability/Skill has a point value of 3 or more. Some trivial examples: Academic (1) - Scientific (2) - Physics (3) or Ranged Combat (1) - Long Arm (2) - Rifle (4). Seven trunks are provided (Ranged Combat, Melee Combat, Academic, Technical, Communications, Physical, Criminal), and 29 branches. Aptitudes are described in a single sentence and sample difficulties are not provided. Lucid characters begin with 7 points to distribute between Reason, Volition and Ego and 5 points on Aptitudes which can purchase a level of trunk, branch or additional levels in leaves. Physical attributes and aptitudes can be innate to the Shell. Characteristic gains are achieved through "Improvement Points".
The physical conflict system is carried out in abstract time periods called an Exchange, with order from a Initiative value determined from a Grace test, and may perform as many actions as they have Opportunity points. In normal melee combat winning an opposed test is required. Weapons are differentiated by the bonus die they provide to Grace tests for attack and defense, their optimum range, and their damage value. In ranged combat an unopposed Reason test (for perceptual ability) is used, modified by opponents weaving and dodging. Ranged weapons are differentiated by ammo, reload points, damage value, and base range. Following a successful strike an opposed test is made between the damage value and defender's Vitality stat with armour providing bonus dice. According to the bonus die, the variation in NuMan vitality is the equivalent of the difference between light ceramic mesh and powered suits! The accumulation of wound points acts as a penalty to all Body and Grace tests. Wounds may become worse due to infection or circuitry deterioration in the case of mechanical drones or be healed through first aid or mechanical repair as appropriate, or through natural healing and re-routing.
Ruby characters will interact with a variety of environments (gravity, atmosphere etc). The rules distinguish between zero, low, standard and high gravity and thin, standard or dense atmosphere. The former affects movement, the latter reducing Vitality (thin) and Grace (dense). Falling damage is doubled in high gravity, halved in light gravity and ignored in dense fluid atmospheres. One can hold their breath for a number of exchanges times their Vitality stat times 3. It is always good to see rules for drowning and falling. More disconcerting however is the mental trauma associated with 'Shell death' or similar experiences, which can damage the Lucid's Ego.
A great deal of the text described planetological, ecological and geological detail of the worlds of the Red-Gold system. The Crimson, Carmine, Ruby, Scarlet, Vermilion and Cerise. The worlds are also described thematically with each planet representing a type of adventure location for Shells. For example, geologically active Crimson is a place of violence, whereas the lush underground environment of Carmine is for sensual passions. The G-moons around Ruby are places of political intrigues and shifting factional allegiances.
NuManity retains little of its technological legacy; it simply isn't an issue or an interest to most. The technology chapter describes Ultratech, Graintech and Salvaged Technology. The former represents the blueprints of Ancient Earth technologies that have been employed in the new system. Graintech, the most advanced, was developed by the Controlling Intelligences aboard the Seedships from Earth, employing nanotechnology to create pretty much anything from dust. Finally Salvaged Technology, as the name indicates, are those cobbled together from existing sources and jury-rigged to a functional state. Computers, an Ultratech devices, are speech-driven and are provided a Reason statistic and one other appropriate to their task (e.g., Grace for a piloting computer); they will also have Aptitudes. As can be expected, there is significant description on the Page-Morley effect and dreaming technology and some descriptive detail on the genetically-modified NuMen.
Two chapters is spent on designing shells and common shells of the Red Worlds. Apart from Statistics and Aptitudes, as one would expect, Shells also come with Instinct which can often conflict with the desires of the Dreamer. The common shells, whilst for obvious reasons in the format of example characters can be considered the closest thing the game has to an equipment list. I cannot fathom, however, how shells without mental attributes can engage in communication, let alone persuasion and fast-talk! Complementing these chapters is a description of other inhabitants of the Red Worlds, including the alien species and typical humans.
Finally, the game describes Missions, with some reasonable Guide advice on Objectives, Immersion, Target, Action, Complications and Reward. There are also notes on the utilisation of Drives and Instincts, and the key themes of Ruby (e.g., Exploration and Wonder, Action and Adventure, Technological Mystery, Life and Death etc). Potential conflict organisations are also described, such as the all-encompassing Unity organisation, obsessive dreamers and so forth.
Overall, Ruby is somewhat disappointing. It is clearly written, but could certainly do with a big red pen to remove the numerous redundant sentences, some scissors to reorganise the text and a passionate wordsmith to make it an exciting read. The core game system is quite good with only a few errors, but needs a lot more elaboration, details, examples and application. Perhaps most importantly, especially given the descriptive detail it commands, the setting doesn't arose strong feelings. The setting is exotic, but insufficiently so. There are numerous instances of potential conflict, but none have an overall narrative strength that commands a sense of urgency and fear. It must be said there are some truly excellent ideas in Ruby, and it would be a terrible shame to see the evident effort go to waste; but the document needs a vicious editor and perhaps a highly enthusiastic co-author to beat it into high quality document.
