"The PGRPG is a universal, quick-playing, relatively freeform role-playing system that springs from several philosophies and game sources."

MetalMan's Review of "Plate Glass RPG" by Nathan E. Banks

The Premise:
The Plate Glass RPG is an attempt to merge aspects of both The Window and FUDGE into a coherent system that takes advantage of the strengths of each as well as correct some of the flaws with these two systems. On a personal note, I found it a bit disturbing that the author seemingly went out of his way to mention that the two systems in question had flaws. I would have just left that unsaid because it sets the tone that he's out to "correct" these two games YMMV however.

What Ya Get:
The Plate Glass RPG is a two page PDF file. You'll need the Adobe Acrobat reader software installed on your computer or some similiar third party program capable of rendering the PDF format to make use of this game.

Cost:
Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free.

Appearance:
Minimal but this is on par with most free RPGs. Text is easily and cleanly organized as well as being in a font size that is not a strain on the eyes. No illustrations are present.

The Game:
The bulk of the rules are taken up with a discussion of Traits. This is understandable as this is what forms the backbone of the system as they act as stand-ins for both attributes as well as skills. Traits are subdivided into three different types: General, Experience and Special.

General traits are ones that everyone knows just from being a part of the game world. All of these skills are assumed to be ranked at "Average" (rank 0). These will obviously vary depending on the genre that the game is being played in. For example, a space opera campaign would probably have a skill with blaster weapons as a general skill as everyone knows how to use a gun. On the other hand, reading and writing might not be a general trait in a medieval fantasy game.

Experience traits are ones that anyone can try but can really only be typically done with any reasonable occurance of success through training or natural skill. Knife throwing comes to mind as does a skill such as navigation. Players making checks without an experience trait in it roll as "Terrible" (rank -4).

Special traits are ones that the player cannot attempt unless they have them. Traits such as Ambidextrous or Surgeon would fall into this category.

Traits range from "Legendary" ( 5) to "Terrible" (-4). Actions involving Traits is resolved by rolling 2d6. One die represents a negative and the other a positive. The two dice are rolled and the higher roll is discarded. The die with the lower result is added or subtracted (depending on if the die is the negative or positive one) from the Trait value giving a result. Both opposed as well as unopposed rolls are handled with the same method with the higher result being the winner. The GM may also apply additional penalties based on how hard or easy he believes a given attempt to be. Scale is also addressed in this manner in that larger creatures are easier to hit but suffer less damage from average sized items or opponents.

Chargen is largely determined by the GM. He can award one to five points to be added the Traits depending on how powerful he wishes the players or the setting to represent. All General Traits begin at Average and all Expeince Traits begin at Terrible. These can be raised with the free points. Additionally Traits can be raised by lowering another on a one-for-one basis with the caveat that the one lower must be as broad as the one being lowered.

Overall Impression:
Its not a bad little system. The one thing that I found lacking was a section on combat. Its obvious how to resolve combat but no mention is given on how to determine how much damage a player character can withstand before they're either dead or out of the game. I'm assuming that you can rate a weapon based on it's power such as a 9mm pistol being considered "Good" for purposes of damage and the player's resistance being only "Average" unless they have a trait that helps them or are wearing protective armor. The margin of success would determine damage but the GM will need to either introduce some system of hit points or some derived trait value that determines their toughness.

While I wouldn't personally use this system, It very well might be worth your while to take a look at it especially if you are interested in seeing how others combine mechanics and structure them. While The Plate Glass RPG seems well thought out and structured, it seems to still be missing some components before it is ready for general use.

MetalMan signing off.