 Goto [ Index ] |
It is the 72nd Century (the year 7192, to be exact). Humanity discovered time travel about 150 years previously, leading to a terrible inter-temporal war. After the war ended, galactic civilization established the Time Corps to police the use of time travel and protect the time-lines. Just in time, too, since the Time War attracted the attention of the Demoreans, shape-shifting telepathic aliens from another universe who seek to alter our history to serve their own ends.
Time travel grants access to the Continuum, an infinity of parallel timelines. Some are quite similar to our own, others quite different. Virtually anything that could exist, does exist somewhere out there in infinity. Obviously, parallels closest to Earth are the focus of the Time Corps. They protect parallels against Demorean incursion, renegade human (and alien) time travelers, and so forth.
In a typical Timemaster adventure the Time Corps assigns its agents (the player characters) to travel to a particular point in the Continuum (usually some historically interesting place and time) to covertly thwart the efforts of the Demoreans (who are sometimes aided by human renegades). The trick is to do the job with as little impact on history as possible.
The Game System
The Timemaster game system is part of the "universal chart" era of systems, which apparently sprang from the popularity of TSR's original Marvel Super-Heroes game. Thus the system focuses around the Action Table (printed on the back of the first two game books). Checks are made by rolling percentile dice, subtracting the roll from the appropriate ability, and cross-referencing the result against the appropriate column on the Action Table. Ability checks use a standard difficulty of 2, skills difficulty 3, whie combat actions are based on the skill of the opponent (thus factoring it into the attack roll).
Everything in the game works off this universal Action Table and system of checks, making Timemaster fairly "rules light" but also reasonably robust. The system is best at handling human-level interaction (which is the vast majority of the action in the game).
The Travelers' Manual
The Travelers' Manual is the meat of the game, describing both the essential premises and the game system. It's divided into ten chapters and provides pretty much everything you need to play the game. The other two books in the box are suppliments.
Chapter One is an overview of the game and its systems, how to make checks, and so forth.
Chapter Two provides an overview of the Time Corps, its mission, ranks, and the "laws" of time travel. These are designed with play-balance in mind. For example, the Law of Death states that a time traveler (someone not in his native time) who dies remains dead even if the circumstances of death are undone. Thus, death is fairly irrevocable in the game. Other laws prevent things like multiple versions of a character co-existing and characters simply going into the future to read their own mission reports and find out how they solved problems.
Chapter Three covers how to create characters. Timemaster uses a random roll system for generating eight ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Personality, Perception, Willpower, Luck, and Stamina). Each starting character also received a selection of skills and one "paranormal talent" (which is covered later in the book). Overall Timemaster characters are moderately capable, given the nature of the game system, and character creation is quick and easy.
Chapter Four is the "Basic Action" chapter, focused mainly on combat. It's quite complete for its size, detailing most combat situations characters are likely to encounter. Timemaster combat is moderately cinematic, but combat is a danger for the player characters (particularly since death is quite final for them).
Chapter Five provides rules for things like vehicle combat, heavy weapons, and larger-scale combats.
Chapter Six is larger still, covering battles and armies. This is important since changing the course of an historical battle is sometimes the focus of a particular Time Corps mission. It's essentially a mini-wargame that scales based on how many troops a particular counter represents (from a dozen to a hundred or more).
Chapter Seven is Skills, which are relatively broad and come in three levels (Specialist, Expert, and Master). Skills are based on an average of two or more ability scores plus a modifier for skill level. Expert and Master-level charaters frequently have skill scores high enough they never fail routine tasks, which is a nice touch. The skills tend to be broad (Computers, Electronics, Swords, etc.), which is a good thing, since characters don't have many of them. There are a few noticeable gaps (no Science skill, for example, and there's no Pilot skill in the book, although characters in the intro adventure have it).
Chapter Eight covers paranormal talents or "PTs." These are basically limited psionic abilities Time Corps agents can learn, ranging from sending telepathic messages to wiping problematic memories and even briefly "replaying" moments in time (also the one loophole in the Law of Death, above). Paranormal talents cost Willpower points to use and tend to be unreliable and costly (you can't use them too often before running out of Willpower). Demoreans have a wider selection of PTs and theirs tend to be flashier (things like mental blasts and mind-shields, shape-shifting, and time hopping).
Chapter Nine is equipment, including the personal time machines or "chronoscooters" characters use to travel to their missions. They're largely plot devices; useful for getting the PCs to where and when they need to be and bringing them back home. In the basic game, that's about all they do. There is other standard-issue equipment like stunners (which silently and painlessly incapacitate targets, so you don't change history by killing them) and communicators. Agents are also assigned equipment for the particular era they're visiting as needed (i.e., as called for in the adventure).
Finally, Chapter Ten briefly covers NPCs and interaction with them, with a focus on NPC attitudes and how to modify them with skill or ability checks.
Guide to the Continuum
The rather grandly-named Guide to the Continuum is actually more of a brief overview of some interesting places and times to set your Timemaster adventures, along with some supporting NPCs.
The book begins with an overview of some military formations, a page on Earth in the 72nd Century, and a couple pages on the Demoreans. The material on Earth basically says the planet is a technological utopia and treats it as a vacation spot for off-duty agents more than anything else.
The main part of the book covers various settings for Timemaster adventures: Athens (5th Century BC), Rome (61 BC 37 AD), Angevin England (1154 1216), Tudor England (1509 1603), Napoleonic France (1804 1815), and Nazi-occupied France (1940 1944). There is a brief timeline for each "event window" and a one-page timeline of Earth's history from the Trojan War through to the founding of the Time Corps. Obviously, it only hits the high points, the events with the highest Significance Rating in the game. (What's Significance Rating? Wait and see...)
Red Ace High
The third and final booklet in the Timemaster set is Red Ace High, a 16-page introductory adventure. The agents are assigned to go to France in 1917 for the Battle of Cambrais. There they deal with Demorean agents trying to change the outcome of the battle and have a chance to encounter both Lt. Col. George Patton and Manfred von Richtofen (the "Red Baron").
The adventure is fairly simple and straightforward, with opportunities for both stealth and combat. The highlight is how Timemaster handles changes in history. Events have "Significance Ratings." At the end of the adventure, the CM (Continumm Master) totals up the value of any changes and makes a check to see how much history has changed. For this adventure they range from the Nazis winning WWII, with Nazi Europe and America annihilating each other in a nuclear war in 1984 to causing the Great Depression a couple years earlier or accidentally killing the ancestor of a Time Corps agent.
Playability
How playable is Timemaster? It's fairly easy to play, although there's the need to consult the Action Table for the results of any given action. Still play moves fairly quickly and the rules are light and inobtrusive.
Usefulness
If you are interested in a fairly straightforward time-travel game with a focus on historical settings, then Timemaster is worth checking out. Pacesetter published eleven adventures for the game in addition to the introductory adventure in the boxed set. They range from strictly historical to adventures in fictional or mythic settings (such as meeting the Three Musketeers in Crossed Swords or Odysseus in Whom the Gods Destroy).
Gamemasters of other time travel or alternate history games may wish to mine Timemaster and its adventures for ideas. The game's sole sourcebook, Time Tricks, is the best resource here. It provides more complex time travel mechanics, new temporal equipment, more information on the Time Corps, expanded skills and paranormal talents, and so forth.
Availability
Timemaster is currently available from 54/40 Orphyte.
