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This game has been on my shelf for a while and I felt I should give it a review. Can’t hurt and might help someone who’s on the fence.
First up a little house-keeping:
Spirit of the Century (SotC) uses the FATE engine and has been referred to by some as FATE 3.0 due to the overhaul that the folks at Evil Hat gave the system in designing SotC. (Not to mention that Fred Hick helped design FATE and he happens to be one of the principles at Evil Hat.)
Q: What is FATE? A: It is a generic role playing system that is an outgrowth of the FUDGE rule-set. Given that I’m not familiar in the slightest with FUDGE, I’ll leave it to the reader to do any needed research on that front. Since SotC uses the FATE system, I’ll cover it – in general – during the review. (Incidentally, FATE stands for “Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment.”)
On to the meat of the review:
SotC is presented in a 6"x9" paperback and weighs in at 411 pages – including a decent index. The full color cover contrasts with the interior which has a sparse sprinkling of black and white line drawings. The sparse nature of the drawings is due to the fact that the folks at Evil Hat filled the rest of the space with rules, extremely useful examples and sufficient color commentary to keep you reading. I would say that they crammed the text in but I don't want to give the impression that the book is either cluttered or unorganized. Just the opposite: this book is well laid out and easy to read.
The basic premise behind the game's setting is simple. You are members of the Century Club - an organization that seeks to promoting science and cooperation among the world's people. The ultimate goal is one of ending the world's evils. Therefore, your characters play a role in shaping the world to come. It just so happens that your characters are actually Centurions, individuals born at the beginning of the new century (January 1, 1901) that embody the spirit of that century – yes the pun was intended. However, there are also shadows of the century whose aims are far less noble. This is true even if neither side is completely aware of its own role. This basic setting is definitely in the pulp family but leaves you enough to work with without tying your hands.
Basic Mechanics:
You only roll four dice. Each one comes up as a -1, 0 or +1. (You can use 1-2 as -1, 3-4 as 0 and 5-6 as +1 if you don't have FUDGE/FATE dice.) Add or subtract the roll to your skill and compare to a difficulty number. If the combined result is equal to or greater than the difficulty, you succeed.
Skills:
The game runs on skills; there are no attributes. That's not to say that some skills don't function like attributes when needed. While the MIGHT skill is used for anything with brute force behind it, it also governs how much you can lift and carry. Player characters are well above average and have a “skill pyramid” – five skills at +1, four at +2 and so on, capped with one skill at +5. Any remaining skills would default to a neutral +0. Technically each +X has a name such as Good, Great, Terrible or Mediocre arranged into the “adjective ladder” (simply called “the ladder”). Lamentably, I can never keep them straight and neither could my players so we just used the numbers.
Each skill has several possible rolls that fit under the broader category. For instance ATHLETICS covers Jumping, Sprinting, Climbing, Dodging and Falling (or rather, not killing yourself when you fall).
Aspects:
Aspects are small descriptions about your character. Indiana Jones might have the following for aspects: Whip and Fedora and “Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?!” These should be obvious to anyone who as watched the movies. Aspects can be pretty much anything you and the GM can agree on. However, they are best if they are double-edged. I'll deal with more on that in a minute.
Fate Points:
Part of the reason the system is called FATE (apart from the acronym) is the use of fate points. Character start out with a number of fate points equal to the number of aspects their character has (max 10). While you can spend them to get a flat +1 to a roll, it’s inefficient and boring. Using them – that is to say, reasonably explaining how an aspect applies to a roll – allows you to spend the point and either re-roll a bad roll (replaces the old one) or add a +2 bonus. Now if you only pay for things then you run out of fate points in a hurry. This is why having a double-edged aspect is a good thing. The GM can “compel” an aspect causing you to act in character with it – and granting you a shiny new fate point to keep. (Why else would Indy reach back for his fedora when a multi-ton door is slamming shut? Since he has the aspect Whip and Fedora the GM paid Indy’s player to try and snatch the fedora. Now he could have left the hat behind (declining the “compel”) but would have had to pay the GM a fate point to act out of character. Fate points really are the currency of this game.
Stunts:
If you want to bend or outright break the rules, then stunts are your friends. They add a little more flavor to the character and help define his niche. They can be stand alone or tiered for greater effects. You can even use them to "buy" a unique piece of gear that helps define your character. If you are looking for a point of comparison they are similar to feats in d20. Fortunately, the Stunts are more consistent across choices and create less confusion about how they work.
Gameplay:
I put together a one-off for my regular gaming group when one of our players was out of place. In general play was more cooperative story-telling than rule dominated – more fluffy, less crunchy. Therefore, much of the action takes place without rolling dice. However, when dice are rolled serious consequences can hit the table. My group did not find the experience as enjoyable as I though they would. However, most of the complaints were concerned with the scenario I presented or with the lack of rule-based-crunch. One player told me after the session that he enjoyed it and could see it working very well with the right setting and group. I enjoyed my efforts though I had under-estimated the amount of prep that was required for such a rules light game. (i.e. Don’t assume rules light equals story light.)
Personal take-aways:
Given that I’m moving toward a more narrative style of play even in rules heavy games like Shadowrun and Fantasy Craft, I found the fact that SotC gameplay is designed to run this way is a plus.
From page 1: "Spirit of the Century is a pulp pick-up role playing game." First off, it is a pulp game. The rules are designed to be fast and lose and not need to make sense in the same way a more simulationist game would. You’ll need to embrace this if you want to have fun with it. (In case you’re wondering, here are a few examples of pulp or pulp inspired films: The Shadow, Raiders of the Lost Ark (and the rest of the original trilogy), Conan the Barbarian, Zorro and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.) Second, it’s a pick-up game. Characters are fairly static and thus, don’t really have a need for experience or any other improvement mechanic. This game/setting combo was intended to be used in order to get in an hour or so of role playing while Jane gets off work late and John runs out for pizza.
I found that my players didn’t care for playing in a generic pulp setting despite liking many of the mentioned films. I blame my lack of planning for this. Nonetheless, if I were to run another game, I would use the same rules but would probably just "borrow" an existing pulp setting. I also think you could make the existing system work for a longer term game provided everyone understands the pulp nature of the rules. (Indiana Jones doesn't really change much between films and that suits those of us in the audience just fine.) As always YMMV.
Conclusions:
This is a great game. Period. Not to mention, it is an excellent pulp game. The system is fresh and offers a great deal of flexibility for customization (just keep it in the pulp ballpark if you want to keep heavy mental lifting to a minimum). If your group isn't centered on ‘pen-and-paper video games' then definitely give this one a try.
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