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In Short

The Good: The system is very investigation focused and, so long as the characters encompass a broad variety of professions, is sure to give the characters the necessary clues to solve a mystery. Experience is earned based on how good of a guess the character’s make as to what truly occurred, which is an interesting addition. A broad variety of supernatural phenomena are discussed, and all are clearly linked to a setting back story that explains it all.

The Bad: The game system may be too simple for some players, especially in how it handles non-investigative activities. The emphasis on past professions is large and may make some characters less useful than others. The inclusion of powers such as Time Travel, with little discussion of how to use them and only the “the universe may hurt you for using it” admonishment, may cause problems for some GMs and players, especially due to the large number of powers that seem to solve the mystery unless “quantum mechanics changes what happened because of the observer effect.”

The Physical Thing

Under the Cover

At its core Aletheia makes use of a simple d6 dice pool system, with 5s and 6s counting as a single success. Characters roll dice based on their Attribute, ranging from 1 to 5 in value. Target Numbers are set by the GM and typically range from 1 to 5 or so, depending on the situation. The metastat Will allows for automatic successes from a slowly replenishing pool of points, enabling players to succeed when they really want to. If all of this sounds simple and straightforward then you’re getting the idea. Aletheia makes use of a very light system.

In addition to the above one other mechanic shines through. Occupations, separated into one to five star varieties, offer automatic successes when they are relevant to finding a clue (or acting generally). Different occupations cost different amounts at character creation, depending on their prestige, and each occupation can be purchased at three different levels (which correspond to 1, 2, or 3 automatic successes when the occupation applies). As you’ll learn below, this results in characters discovering clues logically related to their occupations. It also results in a game that strongly encourages a diverse group of adventurers.

With the core of the system out of the way, let’s explore character creation and the concepts presented therein.

Example: I’m building Morgan Trent, a former defense attorney with the mystical power to see into the past. After years of seeing the horrors committed by his clients, his gift drove him to attempt suicide. After a botched attempt he was discovered and recruited into the Seven Dogs Society, an occult group dedicated to uncovering the secrets of existence. Morgan’s greatest hope is to find a way to purge both his power and his traumatic memories from his being, and to find a happier life.

Mechanical character creation begins by distributing 8 points among 4 Attributes – Fitness, Awareness, Personality, and Reason. With each of these on a 1 to 5 scale, characters who are particularly apt in one area will be notably deficient in the others. It may be a good idea to line up favorable Attribute’s with a character’s Occupation in order to ensure that the character will discover as many useful clues as possible when investigating a scene.

Example: I reason that Morgan’s mental decline has had a decidedly negative effect on both his personality and fitness. He’s a bitter, distrustful man with a frail body thanks to his recent suicide attempt. I assign 1 to each of them, making them both below the human average of 2. Awareness receives a 2 while Reason gets a 4. Morgan still uses his highly trained legal mind to sift through data, research, and spot logical flaws.

Each Attribute also gets a Descriptor. Descriptors are single words that showcase what the character is particularly good at, and when they apply the character gets an extra d6 to roll. They’re nothing more or less than classic specializations.

Example: For Fitness I take ‘Stamina’ to reflect his ability to sit in one place and work on a problem for as long as it takes – even all night. For Awareness I take “Motives” as his defense lawyer training has made him particularly good at spotting what people are really up to. For Personality I choose ‘Confidant’ as he can still project that feeling, rightly or wrongly, when he walks up and shakes hands. Finally, Reason gets ‘Analytical’ to reflect his formalistic approach to problem solving.

A variety of character occupations are listed, but players can always come up with their own. Occupations are meant to be very broad and to reflect learned problem solving ability and general skills. Since they provide automatic successes when the character confronts any relevant challenges they’re extremely important to the game. Each occupation is rated by stars, from five star (doctor, professor) to one star (auto mechanic, firefighter). There seems to be a correlation between the training required for the profession and the skill set it brings, and the star rating, but I have to say that this feels a little arbitrary. Characters receive 5 points to spend on occupations, with each occupation costing its star rating in points and an addition point for each additional grade – Professional and Veteran. Additional grades reflect more experience and more automatic successes. Multiple professions are possible for a single character, but buying more than two is very unlikely.

Example: Lawyer is listed as a 4 star occupation, so it costs 4 of my 5 points. I decide to upgrade it to Professional level with my last point, which means that when confronted with a challenge a lawyer could handle I gain two automatic successes.

In order to further round out the character 15 Supplemental Points are provided. These points are used to purchase powers (all characters must have at least one) and to improve Attributes and Occupations as a player desires. The power list is short, but each power has broad potential (and is based on Awareness). Powers include Presque Vu (sense paranormal), Deja Visite (find things), Remote Viewing, X-Ray Vision, Precognition, Postcognition, Ghosting, Teleportation, and Time Travel.

Example: I pick up Postcognition for Morgan, which happens to be the source of his current turmoil. With 6 points left I buy 3 more Attributes, taking Awareness to 4 and Reason to 5.

The powers tend to reflect a subconscious understanding of how reality works, and are integrated very well into the overall setting. However, they seem to be poor powers for an investigation game. Where much of the fun comes from presenting clues to players and asking them to solve the mystery, having the ability to look into the past to see what really happened seems to defeat the fun. The game attempts to resolve this by suggesting that if the players use their powers to try and understand the mystery then the very use of those powers will change the mystery and make it something different. I consider this to be an enormous flaw in the game. It forces these powers on the character and then goes out of its way to encourage the GM to prevent the powers from being effectively used.

That’s character creation, so let’s look at the rest of the mechanics. Quickly disposed of is combat, which receives very little attention here. Players determine initiative by going in order of their Fitness + any successes rolled from a single d6 (to add a very small amount of randomness). Melee combat is tough. Characters roll their Fitness in d6s, trying to get the standard 5s and 6s in order to succeed, but they must get enough successes to equal or exceed their opponent’s Fitness. So, if my example character (Fitness 1) wants to punch an average person (Fitness 2) he will *always fail* since his 1d6 Fitness will never result in the required two successes. This gets much more extreme when very fit adversaries are considered. Against a Fitness of 3 you won’t even have a 50% chance of successfully striking with Fitness of 5 – the pinnacle of human ability. Occupations, of course, save the day. The former cop can easily handle most folk, adding one to three automatic successes before he rolls.

Firearms receive similar treatment, but are tested against a target number set by the GM instead of the opponent’s Fitness. This, no doubt, is meant to reflect the difficulty associated with defending against a gun. While melee attacks can hurt, usually dealing extra successes in damage, firearms are lethal. Depending on the weapon they deal 4 to 5 times the number of extra successes in damage, potentially killing a character with a single attack. This reinforces Aletheia’s focus on human investigators, and should steer most games away from combat.

Most rolls are going to occur during the course of an investigation. When the GM dreams up an investigation she is going to want to make sure to decide on several Critical Clues to seed through the adventure. These are the clues that, on their own, should give the players a decent chance to figure everything out. Whenever a player is rolling to discover clues the Critical Clue will be discovered with even a minimal success. It’s possible that some Critical Clues will be missed, either from poor rolls, lacking useful Occupations among the group, or just not thinking to investigate a certain path. Nevertheless, while the game is about finding the truth the investigations don’t require it. Players gain XP from, at the end of the session, taking a guess as a group as to what ‘really happened.’ The closer they get, the more XP is rewarded.

Investigations are broadly split up into three types. Field work is handled by the Awareness Attribute and reflects picking through debris or otherwise examining a scene. Checking out the latest crop circle would be a prime example. Interviewing, of course, involves more one on one roleplay wherein the investigator gathers important clues from an NPC. This invokes the Personality Attribute. Finally, Research invokes the Reason Attribute. When a character attempts investigation to find clues the GM sets a Target Number. If the player succeeds then the Critical Clue is found, and for every extra point of success another useful clue is discovered.

Example: Morgan is trying to find architectural blueprints of the city government building, hoping to discover some clue as to how people keep mysteriously disappearing. The GM sets a TN of 2 for this task – the records are public, but not the easiest to find. Morgan’s Lawyer Occupation applies, and since it’s at the second level of experience it provides two automatic successes. Morgan’s Reason of 5 also applies. The roll: 2, 3, 3, 4, 5 provides an extra success beyond what’s required. Morgan discovers the Critical Clue here, and an additional useful clue.

And that’s it – this is a rules light game and the book consists of much more setting information than game play information. Speaking of setting information, let’s take a look at what Aletheia has to offer.

On a functional level Aletheia provides a very detailed base of operations for the secret society, a building which contains mysteries of its own. Combined with surviving fragments from a book that’s reputed to explain a great many mysteries, just the core setting areas the players find themselves around are already filled with mystery. With maps of every building’s floor, detailed NPCs, and quick access to other adventure locales, the home of the Seven Dogs Society serves as an excellent conduit for adventure.

The game does a good job of presenting background information on a variety of different strange phenomenon. Many classics, like alien abduction, crop circles, and hauntings, can be found here but some I had never heard of, such as The Hum (belief that machines are aware), are also included. Initially these are presented with factual information derived from real life accounts, but later they’re represented with setting specific information that clearly explains the mystery to the GM. This is an interesting approach, and I like it quite a bit. First, it gives players something to read when the inevitable “What do I know about this?” is asked. Second, it provides the GM with a clear and interesting way to bring together a large variety of seemingly unrelated phenomenon to hint at what reality is really about to the players. Finally, if the GM doesn’t care for the backstory then they still have a solid basis for introducing these phenomenon as they please.

Aletheia assumes that God exists, that God intentionally limited human perception, and that a race of Ultraterrestrials that perceive and interact with existence on another level are subtly influencing humanity in an attempt to slowly reveal the truth of existence to them. These beings are very similar to Greys, and everything from alien sightings to angelic visitations can be explained by their presence. The book does a good job of describing them, including some interesting suggestions as time being just another dimension they move through and their difficulty with comprehending how three dimensional (and one way fourth dimensional) beings work. If you like the idea of a grand unified theory of, well, paranormal activity then Aletheia delivers a very serviceable one.

My Take

The local setting, the Seven Dogs Society base, is excellent and could easily fit into any game. The larger setting is well considered and, while it may not work for some readers, it is well reflected throughout the text. Everything, from mystical powers to the unusual phenomena highlighted, can be explained by ultraterrestrials and the greater nature of reality.

Unfortunately, a few flaws still glimmer. The need for and application of the special powers isn’t clearly explained. Some of the powers have the potential to end an adventure through any of a variety of ways, and the suggestions and explanations offered (a flawed Observer Effect suggestion) seem more likely to frustrate than to result in a smooth game. The Seven Dogs Society doesn’t always make a lot of sense either, and some players may have difficulty understanding why the society operates the way it does.

The bottom line is that if you enjoy investigation focused games and want one that connects and explains the mysteries for the GM, so that the larger investigation of discovering what’s going on on a metaphysical level is always going on, then pick up Aletheia.

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