Be forewarned. This is a self-review of the Signature RPG. Views may be not objective. I found it necessary to do this review because while I think Signature is a great game – and many of the playtesters and editors agree – sales have been almost negligible (exactly six sales, to be precise.)

Signature is available via RPGNow and my site at http://44Productions.co.nr

So let’s begin:

Style:

The first page of Signature is an absolutely beautiful full-color picture, called “The Making of the World” of a hand drawing a world. A fitting start for a generic game whose strengths are setting creation, conversion and alteration.

However, the interior art ranges from mediocre and sometime seemingly randomly selected clip art, to small setting-appropriate pyramids in the Egyptian setting, “Horus” to excellent grayscale images and PD drawings of animals for the setting “The Green Revolution.” That said, I’ve heard a generic game doesn’t need a lot of art .

As for the writing, it’s functional. Examples are given for just about everything. Often, there are plays on famous characters – the “Super martial artist Bloku” sticks in my mind for one.

Therefore, I’m giving a rating of 3 for Style.

Substance

Siganture’s real strength is in its rules and examples.

This is best shown by creating, converting and altering settings.

Settings are defined mainy by Tone and Wild Points. Tone is a bonus given to appropriate actions, like Stunt Dice in Exalted. The important difference in Signature is that Tone can vary by setting. Although the default Tone is “Tactics” (which gives a bonus for good party tactics and co-operation) Tone can be anything. You could run a comedy game with a Tone of “Funny”; a pulp game with “Black and White Good and Evil”; and on and on.

Wild Points describe how crazy things can get. They’re the Fate/Hero/etc. points of the game. The difference with Signature is that they can be varied by setting, and there are rating all the way down to “realistic” (no Wild Points to begin play, and none to spend) to “Wild” (suitable for anime-style games where people can come back from the dead on a semi-regular basis.)

Rules are also given for when and why to recover Wild Points. Frex, recovering Wild Points after each Scene encourages crazy, over the top play; while recovering Wild Points at the end of every adventure makes the encounter with the “end problem” – bad guy, stifling puzzle, etc. more tense.

Yes, that’s right, I also said “end puzzle” and not just “bad guy.” Signature incorporates “Secret Sheets” which are essentially identical to Weapons of the Gods Loresheets. The player makes a Check (use of the resolution mechanic) against the difficulty of the secret he wants his PC to know. Success means the PC gains some knowledge.

Now, the really cool thing about Tone and Wild Points is that they can be varied on the fly. You can convert your four-color supers game into a gritty Iron Age game simply by lowering the level of Wild Points allowed (and maybe fiddling with your setting’s Tone, if you so desire.)

Also, since settings are only rated by Tone and Wild Points, you only have to come up with these two things to create or convert a setting.

Settings and characters may also be rated by Scale. This is a lot like the levels in Powergame, but with higher and lower limits. While you can play parahumans like Buffy [Scale: +3], low-lever superheroes [Scale: +6], and Justice League members [Scale: +9], you can also play the Living Tribunal, Specter, and the wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet [Scale: +15] and the microscopic humans of James Blish’s “Surface Tension” short story, all who were about the size of a paramecium [Scale: -12].

And yes, Scale can be varied on the fly too.

Character creation is equally fast and varied. Characters are described by default by a Signature Trait like “Sell-sword and Vagabond.” Naturally, Signatures can be anything, so long as it’s a single sentence. So you can have “Killer Tomato,” “The Number Pi” and “Nanobot Swarm” all in the same party. (Why you would do this is your reason. ☺ )

A number of alternate character generation methods are also given. Examples include The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, where the player picks one strength, one weakness, and one embarrassing Trait for the character; and Casting Call, where the player picks a famous person to model their PC after.

But, Signature Traits can also be described in more detail by Aspect Traits. For example, while a character’s Signature Trait might be “Hotshot Space Pilot,” her Aspect Traits might be “Wooden Leg,” “Like a Daughter to the Admiral,” and “Attracted to Best Friend and Wingman.”

There is no limit on the kinds of Traits that can be used. Traits can be Taglines, like “What’s the Sitch”; Symbolic Traits like “Fire” representing strength, courage, and action; langagues, such as “The Greek Language”; and on and on. More than a dozen examples of kinds of Traits are given.

There is no limit on how many Aspect Traits a character can have, except reason and the GM’s ruling. Obviously, a character with the Signature Trait “400-year old Immortal Swordsman” can have many more Aspect Traits than “Teen Hacker Girl,” due to his greater age, and thus, experience.

Speaking of experience, there is no hard and fast limit on how Traits are gained, either. So long as the player can justify gaining the Trait to the GM, and make a successful Check (task resolution) the character gains that Trait. Thus, you can have long training times like in Traveller, sudden insights like in certain martial arts manga, gain Traits in a training montage, or even gain Traits in a flashback scene where you reveal your PC (conviently) learned that Trait long ago in Tibet.

Speaking of flashbacks and montages, Signature has quite a few examples of story telling. Not only are there the standard “Flashback” and “Montage,” but also examples of plots like “Love Life From Hell,” and “Reboot,” where the PCs and entire campaign is reinvented.

A detailed example of creating a setting is also shown. This includes not only the GM and players negotiating the setting, but the GM also designating “Simulators” – players who ensure the rules are “realistic” (as their definition of it is) by adjudicating and offering advice on a particular subject. This is intended to greatly reduce the complaints of gun bunnies and martial artists.

Other interesting things about Signature include the use of single-person tactics. Instead of having fixed maneuvers, stunts, or powers, the player merely describes what his character does, and the GM assigns a bonus to the character’s actions.

So, instead of saying “My PC uses Legsweep,” the player may say something like, “My PC sweeps his opponent’s legs.”

This probably doesn’t seem important, until you realize that it can be applied to any situation, and you can get a bonus for anything. Moreover, the bonus is enough to secure a total success against evenly matched opponents.

Now to explain task resolution. Traits range from +0 to +3; +0 is average, +1 is above average or beginner’ +2 is well-trained or professional; +3 is master-level. Note that there are no “negative” Trais, as even such a Trait can be used as an advantage. For example, a deaf character may use his “Deaf” Trait to resist sonic attacks and verbal persuasion. This also gives an effective range for many Traits of 7 steps: Weak +3 to +1; no Trait; Strong +1 to +3.

Difficulties are rated from +3 (automatic success) to -3 (automatic failure without mitigating circumstances.)

To make a Check:

1) have the player describe the action he wishes his PC to take

2) take the highest of [PC trait, bonuses] subtract the.highest of [opposing trait, penalties]

3) determine the degree of success -- 0 or less is a failure, 1 is a minor success, 2 is a major success, 3 or higher is a complete success.

4) the player may now spend Wild Points to raise the degree of success, providing a) he does not go over the maximum amount of Wild Points that can be spent, as limited by the setting, and that b) he has enough Wild Points to spend to raise the degree of success as high as he wishes.

5) have the GM describe the results according to the degree of success

The relative simplicity of the rules make it possible to play sitting on a couch, and possibly even the backseat of a car.

Note also that this means that a character with a higher Scale automatically wins against that of a lower Scale. Even the bonus from Tone and self-tactics cannot modify a Trait above +3. The exception is when the lower Scaled character spends Wild Points, which can raise Trait above +3. This is intended to allow true “heroic” actions.

Other rules include Beyond the Sting of Death, where a new PC starts play with a Trait associated with the dead PC, like his magic sword, or the fact that the dead PC was related to the new PC; The Power of Sacrifice, where a PC is permanently taken out of play in exachange for total control of the current Scene; Substituting One Trait for Another, which allows (for example) a Quick/Funny/etc. character to substitute a Trait (such as Fighting) which is lower than his opponent’s for the higher Trait of Quick/Funny/etc.; and more.

There are also optional rules for tech level. These go higher than any I know, ranging from Stone Age tools, through modern nanotech, all the way up to Reality Controlling devices. Tech level can also vary by whether it is Macrotech (which gets more effective the bigger it gets), Microtech (which gets more effective the smaller it gets). or Complexitech (which gets better the more complex it gets – think modern computer chips.) Tech is also rated for things like Reliablity (whether the tech will work despite being exposed to harsh conditions.)

There are still more rules for specific tactics, should the players desire specific rules. There are also ways to gauge if the PCs are winning, such as by accumulating Treasure Traits (A Big Diamond, My Own Farm), to Counters such as Gold, Mana, etc. where the PC racks up increasing numbers of coins, magical energy, etc.

For all these reasons, I give Signature a 5 in Substance.

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