The book is 6” by 9” and it is around 110 pages long. Its size reminded me of a mead composition notebook (which I had nearby when making the comparison). The book has a soft cover, the paper seems to be fairly good quality and the binding seems able to do its job. It’s broken up into six sections, which will be discussed individually. The layout was fair overall. I could see them putting more of the setting into section rather than seeing it spread out.

There is artwork present in the book. It is black and white, except for three small pictures on the bottom of the back cover. Overall, I would have to say it is of average quality although some pieces attempt to communicate the theme of the book to the reader. The cover is black and white except for the title, which was given the appearance of being put on by a purple stamp. There is a statement towards the bottom of the book that has the appearance of being done by a black ink pen. In fact, the cover reminds of the DVD Seven. You open it up and the movie is packed into a box that looks like…you guessed it, a mead composition notebook.

The editing seems to be pretty good. I didn’t see any errors which were obvious in nature. The book includes a table of contents but it does not include an index.

Section 1: Classified Documents

This is the introduction section. Let me state a few things here to save space in the future. Each section begins with a short story and ends with a quotation from a famous person regarding rebellion/revolution and a “comeback’ from a character in the book. The stories were okay in the sense of giving an idea of what the setting is like but they wouldn’t win prizes if stood next to stories written to be stories… That is the nature of most decent game fiction. Finally, each chapter is divided by a full page b-w piece of artwork.

Once you get past the story in this section, you actually are introduced to the story. I was a bit jarred when reading the beginning of it. The author took time to defend the hobby against other people and I find it a pet peeve because of the heavy-handed nature. Be proud of the hobby. Conversely, don’t bring up negatives and try to counter them. The buyer probably already has an opinion about RPGs at this point.

Setting: There are three generations at war with each other. The Boomers (sic baby-boomers) were greedy and did evil in the eyes of God. Then, Generation X did even better and they are the main bad guys in this book. The Covert Generation is under the age of 18 who want to save the world and make it a better place. The author makes innuendos stating that the book is a secret and not to let anyone else see it. Of course, the reader knows he is not serious and he lets you know. All part of the theme I guess.

At the end of this section, the author talks a little more about the game. The last part of the section focuses in on the agents, which are PCs in this game.

Section 2:

This setting lists a number of organizations that are enemies to the covert generation. The seven listings are short (about 200 words) and are rounded off by listing real world enemies such as gangs and government officials. It ends by talking more about the Agency, which is the organizational structure of the Covert Generation.

Section 3:

This is the chargen section of the book. Before I get into the process, let me talk a bit about the rules of the game. Each character will normally roll three dice in a conflict. If a value can be added in or help with the conflict, the player can add one die. If a value runs counter to its strength, then the player must subtract one die. For instance, if you have the specialty Thrill, then you are good at physical stunts but you are not good at high-tech skills. Another example is being a Loner (cover identity). They can add a die for perception based conflicts but lose a die for social conflicts.

The process is as follows:

1. Pick a core value. This is a single word that defines the most important quality of the Agent. It defines the value system of the PC.

2. Pick 2 out of five attributes. They label the physical and mental abilities. They are know as Flash, Guts, Heart, Style and Wits.

3. Pick a specialty. There are twelve of them listed.

4. Pick a cover identity. They give you advantages and drawback, most of them purely social in nature.

5. Pick three skills. If they can help in a conflict, you get a bonus die.

6. Pick three pieces of gear and three connections. They provide benefits expected of machine and friends. Plus, they can give you a bonus die.

7. Answer other questions which further define the character but not rules related. They may apply to the game in the RP sense or practical (ten year olds can’t drive and teen-agers have extra responsibility). For instance, what do they do for fun or how old are you?

Section 4:

This is the actual rules section of the book. The player will be rolling dice and spending edge to resolve conflicts. Edge is a currency used to pay for narrative rights, overcome penalties and buy dice advantages. Two of three kinds of dice are rolled (core, bonus, and penalty). The default amount of core dice is three (you can roll more but can only keep three). Bonus and penalty dice are handed out depending on good or bad modifiers. They cancel each other out 1:1. Results can add to a bonus tract or penalty tract, which tell the player to roll that many dice after the conflict is over. The result will hand out a bonus or penalty of some kind.

In addition, totals are added up (penalty and bonus dice can alter what results are counted). The higher result is subtracted from opponent’s roll. The winner gains advantage and edge. In other words, narration rights. Conflicts with active opponents and challenges (unopposed skill roll) work similarly to each other.

This section also lists how to use NPCs. They have connections, etc like the PCs. They also have a toughness and rating stat. The toughness states how much edge must be spent to get them out of a scene while rating is how much dice they roll for any conflict. The last part of the section deals with combat lethality. Basically, more dice, bonuses and penalties on handed out. In other words, combat is harder for PCs as it becomes deadlier. The PCs have a “no killing” philosophy according to the author.

Section 5:

This is the NPC section. The author gives you stats on potential opponents and three plot hooks to use for most of the “named” ones. Along with the plot hooks, he gives out a few introductory missions for the “Representative” the run. Tangent: That is their term for Dungeon Master or Narrator. The missions were nice to have but I think most people would have come up with similar ones.

Section 6:

Designer’s notes. It was the shortest section in the book at five pages. It is the typical how he came up with his ideas. It was a bit heavy-handed as the author’s intention to use this book as a motivator for social change came into focus. Again, another pet peeve…making your game out to be something other than a game. I shook my head as he suggested that I could “make a difference” (My summation of some of his statements). This section also has tables and a character sheet, always a good thing in my opinion.

Likes: Interesting mechanics and premise. Dislikes: “tone” of the book, no index, too gimmicky at times

Covert Generation Website:

www.heftywrenches.com

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