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The publisher’s Web site calls Cog Wars a Steam Punk game, but I think the authors have created what may be an entirely new sub-genre grounded in Steam Punk but with lots of pulp overtones. “Steam Pulp” for lack of a better term.
Players assume the roles of rebels fighting to save the technologically-advanced megacity of Tiran from mad geniuses known as Masterminds. The title of the game is taken from this covert war and from the recent emergence of Cogs, mechanical men who sometimes awaken and become self-aware.
This is Cog Wars – Introduction
The book opens with perhaps 10 pages or so detailing the basic ideas of the game, the setting, who the players will portray, and what they will do.
Although not by any means necessary, I found this very useful. It provides a good idea of what to expect from the game and how to approach it. It also lays out fundamentals aspects of the game, such as the prominence of science, religion, and magic.
City of Tiran – Setting
Cog Wars takes place in Tiran, the world center of science and education. Just enough detail is given to the outside world to make it a compelling place for players to visit. To the north of Tiran, for example, is a large mountain range dotted with castles and old fortresses from a long-fallen empire. To the south is the sea with exotic archipelagos.
The real action happens in Tiran, however, and it’s such an interesting place that players may never even find themselves wondering what lies beyond its borders.
Barrios – Cities within the City
Tiran itself is huge and is comprised of districts that represent distinct parts of the city, such as the university district. Within these districts are hundreds, possibly thousands, of neighborhoods or “barrios” that each contain unique histories, cultures, and their own forms of government. Picture the different boroughs of New York City. Now imagine that Queens is ruled by a king who parcels out city blocks to barons and dukes and that Brooklyn is governed by a council of three alderman elected by the people. You’ll have some idea of how Tiran’s barrios operate.
The heart of the city is ruled by the Tiran Council, 12 elected officials. Each year, they elect one of their own to serve as mayor. The council commands its own guards and wields enormous influence in its own district, known as the Centro or Old City. They pretty much control the barrios immediately surrounding the Centro as well, but their power weakens the further one goes and it doesn’t take long before you reach barrios that are completely self-governing where the Council has little direct influence or control.
The major districts of Tiran are all detailed with one or two barrios of each district receiving a more in-depth look. The section is written from the perspective of a veteran resident of Tiran, but their voice is not overwhelming. In fact, you’d be likely to forget this fact if not for the occasional interjection of opinion.
Every district and barrio described is compelling. The Temple District, for example, holds places of worship. Religion is complex, with believers arguing about the existence of the Creator. The Creator isn’t largely worshipped, however. Instead, over 200 Eloi are prayed to on a daily basis. The Eloi are best described as angels or saints, with each one maintaining influence over a very specific domain such as harvest or wine. Their followers argue that the Eloi act directly with the world, but the truth is largely left in the hands of the person running the game.
Within the Temple District is the barrio of Redcandle, which holds very specific “temples” dedicated to pleasure of every sort imaginable. You want to be sure and accept only offers given inside of the temples, however. The barrio attracts “freelance” pleasure workers who offer their services on the street. These workers aren’t licensed, thus making the transaction illegal.
Although the amount of space given to each district and barrio is fairly small at around half a page to a page or two, they all are sprinkled with interesting things to do and see.
The barrio of Player’s Court in Porttown was once the center of entertainment, but has fallen on hard times due to a war the barrio is fighting. The only way playwrights can find enough actors is to recruit kids, and some people swear they see a ghostly figure haunting the once grand but now dilapidated Oriphantii Rex theater.
Scrap Iron Square is a retirement community/prison for old and defective Cogs. The barrio is located in Tiran’s Foundry District.
There’s also the University District, Southgate (a district by the sea comprised of hotels, merchants, and all sorts of riff raff), and the Undercity. The Undercity is a network of caves dug deep when Tiran was desperate to find water for its growing population. A dangerous place, they’re now inhabited by the homeless and thieves. Rumors about of government prisons hidden away inside as well..
One of my favorite barrios is Heavensedge in Old City. The Tiran Council set this barrio aside as a sort of public housing project, but construction was halted on the huge multi-story building when gargoyles found that the skeleton of the building was a perfect roosting ground. Despite the fact that the area is pretty much a death trap at night, scientists and other academics are fighting to get it declared a nature reserve since its one of the last known bastions of gargoyles.
History is woven into the tour of the city and is mentioned largely as if the reader is already familiar with these subjects. I found this to be a surprisingly effective technique. You learn enough history to have an idea of how the world developed without being bogged down by details of an era you’re not overly concerned with anyway. You learn, for instance, how Tiran first formed, that it was ruled by one large empire, then by another empire, and that the Summer Revolution happened around 50 years ago.
During the Summer Revolution, the people of Tiran overthrew the hereditary nobility in order to provide power to the people of the city. This worked, sort of. The nobility were largely stripped of their power, but in many cases kept their massive amounts of wealth, which allowed them to continue to have power. Some nobles cut deals in order to keep their power and still rule barrios. And other nobles sold their titles to dig their way out of debt but remain bitter about the revolution and seek to regain their rightful place.
We are also given a look at the political factions in Tiran. Guilds are very important. Joining a guild gives the common man an education, job security, and a network he can rely on for support in hard times. Those who don’t belong to guilds are generally either merchants, who can afford to take care of themselves, or menial laborers who can quickly descend into poverty if they are injured on the job or incur debt.
Mad Science and Two-Fisted Action!
Yeah, yeah, you say. Barrios are cool, but where’s the “Steam” in this Steam Pulp! (And the Pulp for that matter.)
First of all, let’s talk about Cogs.
The first Cog was created 20 years ago by a Mastermind (more on those later) bent on using an army of mechanical men to take over Tiran by military force.
The soldier Cog became self-aware, though, and turned his creator in to the authorities. The lunatic was sentenced to prison, but his designs were confiscated and sold off to the highest bidders and all manner of Cogs are now being produced in Tiran’s Foundry District. From war machines, to companions, to butlers, to factory workers, Cogs are mass produced and are involved in just about every facet of Tiran.
Not all Cogs are fully aware, and it’s still a mystery as to why some develop their own personality while others remain simply machines. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, either. Some Cogs come off the assembly line fully aware while others develop consciousness over years of operation.
There are some interesting social implications to this. Courts have ruled that sentient Cogs are to be afforded the same rights as every other citizen of Tiran, but the machines are required to pay their creator for the cost of the materials used in building them. This is often used to keep the Cogs in bondage.
Cogs were made possible by scientists and inventors. Cog Wars distinguishes between the two. Scientists are like our own modern-day scientists but are able to do things a little more quickly and bend the rules a little more. Inventors are able to make a quantum leap, discover how the universe works, and then make an invention that takes advantage of this newly found law of nature.
An inventor may discover a law of reality that allows him to melt stone with a ray gun, increase the intelligence of an average man with a pump that hooks into the brain, or walk along walls with a jelly applied to his shoes.
Both scientists and inventors make use of alchemy, creating items using mundane and magical materials.
When Inventors Go Bad – Masterminds
Crazed inventors are known as Masterminds. Their inventions allow them to grab power by manipulating people and causing harm. A Mastermind might create the Thought Hammer, a helmet that allows him to destroy people’s minds or bend their thoughts to his will. Or perhaps he creates The Glop, a material fired from a clockwork rifle that adheres to anything and everything, stopping people in their tracks and causing widespread mayhem.
Masterminds are not natural. They are caused by a sickness that infects Tiran. Not a virus or anything easily identifiable, but a sickness of the soul, a condition of the city itself. This sickness is what the rebels, the player characters, fight against and so they must also fight against Masterminds.
Not every Mastermind is an inventor, though. The political genius who craves power for his own pleasure is a Mastermind, as is mad Cog smith who seeks to “fix” the defective self-aware models.
The Pulp of the setting comes through in the over-the-top villains and generally light and breezy approach to action and adventuring. There is some discussion on affecting different styles and moods for your game, but the prevailing one presented in the text is of two-fisted action, wondrous science, and exciting locations.
Rebels of Tiran – Characters
The average citizen of Tiran is not corrupt, but they don’t have the inclination or fortitude to do anything about what the corruption in the city. You’re not average. You’re smart enough to pinpoint the bad parts of the city and brave enough to do something about it.
Character creation is simple and straightforward while providing enough options to make the process interesting. Characters are comprised of three Traits, each based off of one of three major attributes – Kind, Virtue, and Vocation. You assign one of these a ranking of 1, one a ranking of 2, and one a ranking of 3. Higher is better, and the higher the ranking the more the attribute defines your character.
First, you pick your Kind.
As a rebel, you’ll most likely either be a Kid, Geezer, or Cog. Each one has a unique Edge fueled by Zeal.
Kids make up the largest amount of Tiran’s homeless population and chances are that you’re one of the unwashed masses from this poor group. Although it’s certainly possible to play the kid of a rich nobleman or of a hardworking factory family.
Their Edge is “Bouncy” and gives them a better chance to succeed whenever they are taking an energetic action.
Geezers are old, really old. Many of them are veterans of the Summer Revolution and have become disappointed that the better world they fought for really isn’t all that much better. Others simply want to protect their families or prove they can still be useful even in their advanced age.
Their Edge is “My Aching Bones” and allows them to temporarily shrug off negative consequences.
Cogs are self-aware automatons that resemble men, women, children, dogs, cats, or pretty much anything imaginable. They often have a vested interest in changing Tiran as the city is currently prejudiced against them.
Their Edge is “Resilient” and allows them to endure more punishment.
But let’s say you don’t want to be an old man or kid. Maybe you want to be a young, 20-something inventor, or a grizzled pit fighter in his 40s. No problem. The book states that the categories don’t have to be taken literally. You could easily fit your inventor in the Kid category or list the pitfighter as a Geezer.
After that, you choose a Virtue. A defining trait that your character holds dear. Like Kind, your Virtue grants you an Edge. They’re all pretty self-explanatory.
Cunning provides the Edge “Forward Planning” and allows you to have equipment, training, etc. that wasn’t previously stated but that your character thought enough to plan ahead to have.
Daring provides the Edge “The Big Risk” which gives you a better chance of succeeding with the potential for some serious backlash.
Grace provides the Edge “Crowd-Stepping” allows you to turn your opponent’s allies against each other.
The last of your big three attributes is Vocation, of which there are five.
The Mystic studies the dying, or at least underground, art of magic. There used to be dragons and all sorts of fantastical creatures. Most of those have been hunted to extinction (exception begin gargoyles), and magic is now officially outlawed. That doesn’t stop you from practicing it, though. The Mystic’s Edge is “A Stranger World” which allows them wield magic.
The Tailor may sound like quite possibly the most boring concept ever conceived, but is actually a pretty cool middle-man, informant, information broker. In the past, Tiran had a vast spy network that used tailor shops as information drop off points. Their Edge is “Connections” and allows them to recruit allies no matter where they travel.
The Tinker is a passionate inventor, creating amazing applications of science. Their Edge is “Dangerous Toys” and allows them to retain some level of control when devices malfunction and go horribly wrong.
The Soldier is an expert at inflicting harm. Their Edge is “The Power Strike” and allows them to break through their opponent’s defenses.
The Scout is always aware of his surroundings. He’s constantly scanning the environment, looking for places to hide or escape routes if things get rough. His Edge is “Lay of the Land” and allows him to overcome dangerous surroundings.
Each of your three main attributes is assigned a Trait. This is a brief description of that attribute and is made up completely by the player. Your trait for Geezer might be “Cranky Old Man” or “Wise Grandfather.” Your trait for Grace might be “Calm Under Pressure” or “Always Looks Good.” Your trait for Tailor might be “Sly Dealer of Illegal Goods” or “Charismatic News Stand Operator.”
You also get to choose a few starting conditions if you want, which provide bonuses to actions. These conditions can be anything from equipment (mechanical pistol) to attitudes (Hates the Little Thieves guild that operates under Tollway Bridge) or physical states (Hopped up on Coffee and Sugar).
The Condition is the Thing – Mechanics
Cog Wars uses a d6 system that revolves around “conditions.” A condition is essentially anything that negatively or positively affects a character.
Any time a player wants to attempt an action where the outcome is in doubt, they must initiate a “throw” in which they “call in” dice to roll against the target or opponent.
For each throw, a player can call in one of their traits, one condition that affects their character, and one condition that affects the environment or their target. Conditions affecting the environment are generally stated by the Guide at the start of the scene.
The player then rolls those dice against the target, comparing their highest rolls. In case of a tie, the next highest rolls are compared. Whomever has the highest roll wins. The rest of the dice are then compared and if the victor has any more rolls of higher value they are counted as additional successes.
The system diverges enough from the mainstream that it requires more than one reading to fully comprehend, but everything is explained and good examples are provided.
Let’s take a look at a combat example between Geezer rebel “Old Harold” and a local thug named “Barnaby.”
Barnaby has been shaking down local shop owners, and Old Harold has had enough. He sees the thug loitering around a general store, breaks a bottle of booze and advances on Barnaby.
The Guide rules the following conditions are in effect for the environment: crowded marketplace (2) and full of young people (2).
Since he’s attacking, Old Harold calls in his dice.
He gets to call in one trait – from either his Kind (Geezer – Summer Revolution Veteran, ranked at 2), Virtue (Grace – Smooth Talker, ranked at 3), or Vocation (Tailor – Kind shoe store owner, ranked at 1).
He’d like to call in his highest ranked Trait, but stabbing some thug doesn’t really fall under Smooth Talker. His trait of Summer Revolution Veteran could apply however, as Old Harold has been in some battles and fights in the past. So that’s two dice.
He can also call in dice from a condition affecting himself. Old Harold has a broken bottle, which the Guide (gamemaster) agrees will help him hurt Barnaby. The Guide rules that Old Harold can pull in one additional die for the bottle.
Last, Old Harold gets to call in an outside condition. He states that the marketplace is so crowded that Barnaby is unlikely to see him coming. The Guide agrees and Old Harold pulls in two more dice.
He now has five dice to roll.
The Guide decides that Barnaby will attempt to spot Old Harold and call out his thugs to take care of the old man. Things work a little differently for Guide controlled characters. Instead of Traits, they are assigned a general threat rating. As a common villain, Barnaby can call in two dice automatically.
As an NPC, Barnaby can’t call in any conditions on himself, but he can call in dice for minions (evil little helpers). However, his thugs are playing a game of dice at the moment and aren’t immediately available.
Barnaby is allowed to call in one outside condition, though. The Guide states that since the market is full of young people, Barnaby has a good chance of spotting an old man coming towards him. Barnaby calls in two dice for this.
So, Barnaby has a total of four dice to roll.
The rolls look like this:
Old Harold – 6, 5, 5, 3, 1
Barnaby – 6, 4, 4, 4
Dice are compared from highest to lowest. Both rolled a 6, so the action is not resolved there and must move down to the next highest. Here, Old Harold’s 5 beats Barnaby’s 4. Old Harold wins the actions and stabs Barnaby in the shoulder. Old Harold also beats Barnaby’s next highest roll and picks up an additional success. Barnaby’s next roll, a 4, is higher than Old Harold’ roll of 3 and stops him from accumulating any additional successes.
If Barnaby had rolled a 2, then Old Harold would have picked up an additional two successes – one for beating the 2 and another for his roll of 1 going up against nothing rolled by Barnaby.
The victor dictates the result of the action. So Old Harold would be within his rights to declare Barnaby was injured seriously and unable to do anything but crumple to the ground or even that Barnaby died.
Taking a look at a noncombat example, let’s say Old Harold is trying to find out information about Baron Von Nostroff, a Mastermind who is exerting influence over the area.
He could call in either his Smooth Talker or Friendly Shoe Store Owner trait, but opts for the higher ranked trait of Smooth Talker and calls in three dice.
He also calls in one die being on good terms with the local newspaper (condition affecting himself) and one die for concerned citizens (condition affecting the environment... people are actually aware that the Mastermind is a threat and want to help get rid of him).
Old Harold now has five dice to roll against the Guide, who decides upon a threat rating of three (representing the Mastermind’s influence over the area).
Old Harold – 5, 5, 4, 4, 4
Guide – 6, 2, 1
The Mastermind’s influence crushes the people’s desire to help Old Harold and he doesn’t get any information.
The basic system is simple and flexible, but there is a fair amount of crunch and options added with the additions of blocking, hostile conditions, minions, and team work.
More Steam, More Gears! – Additional Mechanics
Blocking
The loser of a throw can block the victor’s ability to fully dictate what happens by blocking. This doesn’t require a roll. The loser simply states that he is blocking the action. But, and here’s where it gets interesting, the victor then gets to either impose a condition on the loser, increase an already existing condition, or lower an already existing condition.
The loser is then able to “soak” a number of victories based on how high or low the condition becomes. The loser can soak the final rating of the condition squared for increased conditions OR the starting rating of the condition squared for decreased conditions.
It may sound a little confusing, but it’s actually pretty simple.
Old Harold lunges at Barnaby with a broken bottle and gets two successes. Barnaby decides to block.
Old Harold decides he will impose a condition of “Bleeding Severely” on Barnaby. The condition starts off with a rating of 1. One squared is 1, meaning this allows Barnaby to only soak one success. Since Old Harold had two successes, Barnaby’s Bleeding Severely rating must be bumped up to 2. Two squared is 4, so Barnaby could have soaked up to four successes. His extra “soak” are lost, however. If Old Harold attacks again, Barnaby will have to block again, allowing Old Harold to impose another condition, likely increasing his Bleeding Severely rating to 3.
These conditions can be used to the benefit of the victor.
Let’s say Old Harold is feeling particularly bloodthirsty and decides to stab Barnaby again. He can call in Barnaby’s Bleeding Severely as an outside condition, adding two dice to his attack pool.
If the victor can reasonably state that he is going to raise a condition over 4, then the loser can not block and is at the mercy of the victor. If Old Harold successfully stabs Barnaby when he has a Bleeding Severely trait of 4, then Old Harold gets to state what happens – whether that means Barnaby slump to the ground unconscious or bleeds out and dies.
Hostile Conditions
Adding another layer to the mechanics is the idea of hostile conditions. Any condition that is rated at 4 or higher results in a hostile condition. A hostile condition is a danger to the character and gets becomes an opponent in and of itself. The Guide gets to roll the condition’s rating against the character it is placed on. How often is up to the Guide, but examples and guidelines are provided.
The neat thing about hostile conditions is that they apply to everything, no matter how benign or beneficial the condition may seem. Let’s take a look at two extremes – one clearly harmful, the other seemingly beneficial.
Bleeding Severely – If you have a Bleeding Severely condition rated at 4 then the Guide may immediately roll to determine if you fall unconscious from blood loss. He would roll the condition’s rating. You could resist by calling in dice as normal. If you resist, then you remain active, but the Guide continues to take a turn with the condition once a scene. You’ll likely want to downgrade the condition by attempting a medicine throw.
Lady’s Man – If your Lady’s Man condition reaches 4, then the Guide immediately (and once per scene thereafter) throws down. If successful, women already spoken for find the character so appealing that they blatantly throw themselves at him. Protective girlfriends and brothers and jealous husbands and boyfriends follow.
The condition continues to be a problem until it is lowered – making finding a way of doing so a priority and leading to a bounty of interesting roleplaying opportunities.
Minions
Minions are employed mainly by Guide-controlled characters, especially Masterminds. Tailors can also make use of minions, although the rules that they use are slightly different.
Minions are treated as a resource. A Guide-controlled character can call in up one die for each minion he has, up to four dice on any one throw. A Mastermind could use his minions to help him intimidate a town, create a weapon, or attack or a rebel, pretty much anything.
Minions may also be sacrificed to soak up successes on a one for one basis. If a rebel fires a rocket launcher at the evil Baron Alandro and scores an amazing 10 successes, the Baron can simply declare that he dodges and rolls out of the way and the rocket instead hits his minions, blowing 10 of them into little itty bits.
Minions can also attack on their own if they choose, but they can not block successful throws, resulting in them dropping like flies.
Team Work
The team work rules are simple but manage to provide an incentive to work together. Instead of a taking a turn, a player can instead choose to provide support to another player in the form of one die, giving that person a better chance of success. The player details how they are helping out (providing cover fire, etc.), but the actual roll is done by the player the support is given to.
Mastermind Resources
A particularly interesting mechanic is that of Mastermind Resources. These are conditions that make a Mastermind particularly challenging by giving him extra dice to roll in all throws. The only way to take these extra dice away are to destroy the resources.
This instantly provides things for the players to do.
Let’s look at an example here.
Say, we have Lord Maffoy, an evil Mastermind who has taken over a small barrio as his own. He starts out with a threat rating for 4, giving him 4 dice to roll on any throw. Not too shabby. He also has 14 thugs (minions) on hand at all times, giving him an additional 4 dice to roll (1 die per minion up to 4 dice). Now he’s up to 8 dice, quite formidable.
But Lord Maffoy also has a set of mechanical gauntlets that let him sling razor-sharp discs and he has an underground fight club that supplies him with his thugs. Each of these resources is rated at 2, giving Lord Maffoy 2 dice each. The Mastermind now has a dice pool of 12. We’ve gone from quite formidable to nearly unbeatable.
Don’t’ lose hope.
During the course of the mission, players will learn of these resources and can attempt to destroy them. Maybe they shut down the fight club by calling in uncorrupted police or by entering the fight club, gaining the trust of the fighters, and overthrowing the guy who runs the place. This destroys the resource, knocking Lord Maffoy’s dice pool to 10.
Next, the players find out that Maffoy must soak his gauntlets in premium oil twice a day, once in the early morning and once late at night, in order to keep them in working condition. Perhaps the players bribe one of Maffoy’s servants and get the oil replaced with syrup. Or maybe they are daring enough to sneak in Maffoy’s home and break the gauntlets. This destroys the resource and now the Mastermind is down to a dice pool of 8. A lot more manageable. Neutralize his minions and it gets even easier.
This mechanic provides instant story hooks while providing a real reward for creative thinking. The resource mechanic is actually detailed in the later chapters of the book, which also provide plenty more…
Guide Support – Help Running Games
Cog Wars contains excellent practical support for running a game. The book differentiates between two types of play and breaks the support into two chapters focused on these two styles.
Homeplay revolves around the rebels base of operations, dealing with life in their barrio, and any type of interesting side business such as a gang of local thugs shaking down merchants or one of the rebel’s sisters getting married to a member of the aristocracy. Missions revolve around the rebels trying to take out a Mastermind.
The book takes you through each type of mission step-by-step, let’s you know how a typical mission should play out, gives you tips for setting up appropriate opposition, and contains some of the best preparatory advice I’ve seen in any game.
I don’t like spending a lot of time preparing for games, but sitting down and preparing a game of Cog Wars seems like it’d actually be enjoyable. A big reason behind this is the game’s inclusion of easy to use charts. Let me give you an example with the game’s Mastermind creation scheme which details how a Mastermind came to power.
It’s basically a fill-in-the-blanks and is set up like this...
Once, there was a place called:
It was blessed with:
It wasn’t perfect:
Someone came:
They got power:
And increased it:
And took over:
Now these days:
It’s deceptively simple because by the time you end up filling in the eight blanks you actually have a pretty good sketch for a night of gaming. Here’s something I got after spending only a minute or so.
Once there was a place called: Pelican Landing
It was blessed with: bountiful tuna fisheries
It wasn’t perfect: the machines used to harvest the tuna were loud and belched smog and smoke
Someone came: a filthy rich man of noble heritage
They got power: by purchasing all of the harvesting machines
And increased it: by firing the fishermen and replacing them with rough-looking seamen
And took over: by using his thugs to force the city council to give him complete political power
Now these days: the rich man uses his thugs to take whatever pleases his fancy
There are a dozen or so of these charts, all of them useful. In particular, the barrio creation chart is valuable. It asks you to name the barrio, its major industry, and exports and imports. Exports and imports refers to people, however, not goods. This instantly populates your barrio with a specific mix of residents and visitors.
The one thing the Guide section could have used was sample antagonists. We are given an example Mastermind in the context of a chart, but I would have liked to have seen some details on gargoyles, evil Cogs, and groups trying to resurrect the nobility. The rules section provides suggestions on how to rank threats and how many dice to give them, so this isn’t a huge deal, but it would have been nice to see how smart gargoyles are, for instance, or to have a sample religious cult that players could find themselves up against.
Blast You, Infernal Machine!
This is an excellent product but not a perfect one, and I do have a few minor complaints.
There are a lack of a blank character sheet and blank charts for barrio creation, etc. I understand that you can download these online, but it would be very handy to have all of this in the main PDF document. Especially if you, like me, plan on having the game printed and bound. And there’s really no reason not to have the character sheet and charts included in the main PDF. Adding those pages wouldn’t cost the creators anything more than a little bit of time.
There are also some occasional editing errors, some awkward phrasing and although the system is explained quite clearly, I believe it would have benefited from more examples. Although there was only one rule that I was still not quite clear on after hunting through the book - how many dice does a hostile condition get to roll when “attacking” the player. I decided on 4, the rating of the condition. Not a huge problem, but the text could stand to be tightened up.
Oh, Look, a Cog! – Style
Cog Wars is a 102-page PDF with a full-color front and back in a digest size. I think. I think because the default printing of the book is in a 5.83” by 8.27” format. That doesn’t exactly fit the digest size I’m most familiar with of 5.5” by 8.5”, but it’s close enough for me to classify it as digest.
The back cover is orange type on black background. The cover is an interesting and distinct piece of art by one J.L. Williams depicting a pig-tailed young girl with a ray gun riding atop a rather broken-down and rather cantankerous looking Cog. The interior artwork is black and white.
Williams is the lone artist for Cog Wars and gives the game a distinctively cartoonish feel. My two complaints about the art is that it’s often times rather small and that there isn’t enough. You’ll often go through a handful of pages before you come across a piece of art.
The layout is clean and very easy to read. Chapter headings and subheadings are used very effectively. The charts and character sheet are visually appealing, simple, and easy to use. It is very easy to skim through the book and find the information you need without having to dig through every section.
There are a few typos and the occasional oddly-worded sentence, but nothing serious. For a simple but effective layout, Cog Wars earns a 3 in Style. Solid and functional but not exceptional.
A World of Steam Pulp – Substance
A truly unique setting with equally unique mechanics that actually add to the game. When I look at substance, I consider a number of things. Is the book interesting to read? Does it contain everything you need to play? Are the mechanics sound and explained well? In every instance, the answer for Cog Wars is yes.
This is edition is labeled "Zero Edition." The author states this is because this is a jumping off point for Cog Wars. If there's more interest, the game could be revised or supplements released.
But make no mistake, Cog Wars: Zero Edition is a complete game, and it deserves a 5 in Substance for its vision and its ability to make good on that vision.
Rebels and Masterminds, Steam and Gears – Closing Thoughts
Cog Wars presents a unique take on Steam Punk that meshes elements of pulp action with high science, strange and wonderful inventions, and automatons with a conscience.
The world of Cog Wars is crafted in broad strokes but with plenty of room for a creative group to carve out their own unique part of Tiran. The world is easy to understand – There’s a large steam punk megacity. There are mad geniuses. You must defeat these geniuses.
But there’s also plenty of room for complexities. Are the Eloi that the populace worship actually real? Why is magic dying out? Do Cogs have a soul? Why do Masterminds exist? Is there a way to cure Tiran or must it be destroyed?
The system is likewise simple and easy to understand at first glance, but offers plenty of opportunities for complexity and tactical choices.
The ability to easily scale complexity while providing a clear view of how the game works and why it works is one of Cog Wars greatest strengths along with its vision of a unique and vibrant world. If you enjoy steam punk, pulp, or new ideas for settings and mechanics then you can’t go wrong with Cog Wars.
