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From its first (and flawed) edition, Heaven & Earth describes a small American community, in the great tradition of that masterpiece called Twin Peaks. The game takes place exclusively in Potter's Lake, a midwestern town full of weird inhabitants, conspiracies and strange stories. It could have been enough, but Heaven & Earth offers even more: a complete cosmology based on the Christian mythology, and an alternative take on one very popular game genre (which I won't discuss now).
Abstract Nova released a very improved Third Edition in 2004. It's a slimmer book, able to include all rules and background in just 128 pages. And even better: it's a self-contained game, and after reading it the GM knows all the setting's major secrets.
The book is divided in fourteen chapters, and only the first four are open to players. Don't worry, I will mark the spoilers to avoid undesirable surprises.
Contents
Chapter One. Introduction
In just two pages (well, one and a half) this chapter sets perfectly the goal, mood and theme of the game. And there's one important warning: Heaven & Earth is aimed to mature people and experienced players.
Chapter Two. Character creation
Heaven & Earth character system derives from Over the Edge. It's a bit more complicated and better balanced, but the influence of Jonathan Tweet's masterpiece is obvious. A decision I'm not criticizing it at all, since if you have to be inspired, get your ideas from the greatest.
All characters have six attributes: coordination, strength, fortitude, awareness, aura (charisma) and knowledge. They rank from 1 to 5, and players can distribute 14 points among them.
Then there's the occupation, what the character does for a living, which determines what he can and cannot do. All occupations have a cost, which depends on how useful it is (for example, a doctor costs 5 points, a salesman 3, and a librarian 1); and also an expertise level, which can be rookie (1 point), professional (2) and veteran (3).
Players have 9 points to buy the occupation and the expertise level. Those unspent are used to buy extracurricular skills (like athletics or computers), a second occupation or to raise the attributes.
And that's it. After these simple decisions, the player only has to calculate the Defense Value and finish fleshing the character with his goals, hobbies and background.
Chapter Three. Game Mechanics
The game system, including combat, is described in just nine pages. The core idea is quite easy: you roll one dice based on the task's difficulty (the average is a d12), you add the attribute, a bonus if you have a related occupation or extracurricular skill, and you have get 9 or more.
The combat rules are also fast and simple. Damage is divided two types, Blunt and Lethal, and firearms are really deadly.
MINOR SPOILERS STARTING HERE
Chapter Four & Five. Potter's Lake & Dramatis Personae
We are in page 29 and it's time to start with the setting.
Potter's Lake is a small town, with around 20,000 people. Its economy it's founded on two institutions: Saint Anselm College, a religious academic school, and Southey's Paper Mill. In the vicinity there's also an Air Force Power Base. Chapter 4 describes these places, and many others: the hospital, the theatre, the cemetery, the gas station, the best known bar, the motel... even the suicide spot. They all have their share of creepy stories and urban legends.
Chapter 5 includes twenty-six Potter's Lake residents. We meet the sheriff, the mayor, a retired judge, the fired chief, several clerics, a vagabond, the Cat Lady. Some of them have hidden agendas, others supernatural backgrounds, but every single one is completely fleshed out.
ALERT!! MAJOR SPOILERS STARTING HERE
Chapter Six. Revelations
Yes, Heaven & Earth has a metaplot. And yes, the complete one is described in this chapter, in just five pages.
The Apocalypse is coming. God and Lucifer are preparing for the final battle, and no matter who wins, it won't be good for humanity. So Jesus Christ has rebelled against his father and has decided to fight for all of us.
Potter's Lake is so important (and weird) because it's located on what was the Garden of Eden. The forest surrounding the town contains the Tree of Life and the Three of Knowledge of Good and Evil, who can give the winning hand to humanity. Unfortunately the Guardian Angel went mad, and Hell tries to find the trees too. And Christ, willing to remain discreet, is gathering twelve further apostles...
Chapters Seven to Twelve
These six chapters deal with the setting's secrets and specially with the supernatural. I will describe them briefly.
Chapter Seven introduces four secret societies operating in Potter's Lake. They are not good or bad guys per se, but they can be used both as allies or threats.
The Goetia, described in Chapter Eight, are ancient spirits representing concepts like love or murder. They are drawn to Potter's Lake because of its supernatural activity, possessing some inhabitants. The Goetia are also the source of Magick, introduced in Chapter Nine with simple but effective mechanics.
Potter's Lake has also a certain number of ghosts, echoes of emotionally charged dead people. Chapter Ten explains their powers (affright, dread veil, poltergeist...) and also how to get rid of them.
The Gifted (Chapter Eleven) have developed mind powers, and unknown to them, they're the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Although they can manifest very powerful talents, like clairvoyance or pyrokinesis, the most indiscreet of them will end up as guinea pigs by a secret government project...
And finally Chapter Twelve describes The Host, the beings serving Heaven and Hell. Wisely, the game doesn't give statistics to them.
SPOILERS ENDING HERE
Chapter Thirteen. Game Mastering
After all plots and secrets we have fifteen precious pages about storytelling, introducing its main concepts: player characters, NPCs, plot, subplots, development & scenes, setting, theme and mood. The most important part, however, is the discussion about how to inject the weirdness into the game, from the quirky townsfolk to the global scenario.
And one surprising statement, since many RPGs are designed with replayability in mind: “Heaven & Earth becomes hollow without a proper ending”. So discovering the Big Secret must be the goal of any campaign.
Chapter Fourteen. The Waiting Room
Heaven & Earth couldn't have a normal introductory scenario. “The Waiting Room” has one problem: it needs a really good game master to run it. The four players start in different places, first having three stand-alone scenes until they meet in a hospital. The story is quite simple, but really atmospheric, with a huge storm, a blackout and a delayed revenge.
Style
The most amazing thing about Heaven & Earth is how the authors managed to pack tons of ideas in just 128 pages. I've seen many manuals with thrice the number of pages and not a single inspiring concept, but Potter's Lake is a place both exciting and alive.
The art is maybe not of a top quality, but it's incredibly cohesive. It's obvious that the illustrators knew what they were drawing. Just look at the tomato festival depicted on page 43: we can see that Southey's Paper Mill is the sponsor, which is what we would expect in Potter's Lake. Moreover, all 26 characters in Chapter Five have their own picture, a really nice detail.
Conclusions
Since I won't say anything negative about Heaven & Earth, some people will think that I'm not objective (or that I'm being paid by the company, I don't know).
But I have a clear opinion about Heaven & Earth, and I must say it: it's one of the three or four best RPGs I have ever read and played. And that's it.
Those enthusiastic about Over the Edge must simply own this game. World of Darkness fans who are not specially fond of crunchy rules will also enjoy it. But I specially recommend H&E to game writers, designers and people dreaming about writing a good RPG: just read and learn.
Therefore, after sixteen reviews, I give a solid 5 / 5.
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