In a comment on my very old review of Fading Suns, Potato asked me to provide a rundown of how I put together my system cheat sheets for RPGs: “It sounds like a good way to get a grasp of the rules when learning/trying out a new system.”

He’s absolutely right about that. And the cheat sheets themselves, of course, also make great references at the table for both you and the players.

BULLET POINTS

My goal is to make the system cheat sheet comprehensive. That means including all the rules. Often I see cheat sheets that just cover the basic stuff that’s used all the time. But that’s actually the stuff I’m least likely to need cheat sheets for because it’s quickly memorized through repetition.

Obviously, this requires that I both cut down the amount of space the rules take up and the amount of time it takes to read and understand those rules. The quickest way to accomplish this, in my experience, is through the use of concise bullet points.

For example, here’s a chunk of rules text from the second edition of Heavy Gear:

The Silhouette system uses everyday six-sided dice to add a random element to the game. These are sometimes referred to as “1d6” in the rules, “2d6” for two dice, 3d6 for three, and so on. The same die rolling convention is used for both the roleplaying and wargaming aspects of the rules, so this is not repeated in the respective rule sections.

When two or more dice are rolled simultaneously, their results are not added together. Instead, the highest result is considered to be the outcome of the die roll. If more than one “6” is rolled, each extra “6” adds one (1) to the total. If every die rolled turns up “1”, the die roll is a Fumble and counts as an overall result of zero and no modifiers may change this value. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, all die rolls work this way.

The totals of die rolls are often influenced by modifiers. Modifiers are added to the total of a die roll. If negative modifiers lower the total below zero, the final result is always zero and cannot go any lower. Modifiers are not applied to Fumbles.

A Fumble is a mistake or mishap that cause the failure of the action attempted. It is not necessarily caused by an error or the incompetence of the character, and may well be the result of environmental factors. No matter what caused the Fumble, however, the total die roll is always zero.

In the tactical game, Fumbles produce clear results. This is hardly the case in the roleplaying rules due to the mind-boggling number of possible actions and outcomes. The effects of each separate roleplaying Fumble must thus be described by the Gamemaster. In general, the harder the task attempted, the greater the effect of the Fumble.

This is then followed by an equally lengthy section listing various examples. Using bullet points, all of this is simplified on my cheat sheet down to the major points:

• Roll Xd6: Result = highest die +/- modifiers. (Cannot be < 0.)
  • Additional Sixes: Each additional 6 = +1 to total.
  • Fumble: If all dice = 1, result = 0 (no modifiers).

Short and sweet. Using the same technique, I’m able to squeeze the next three pages of rules into a quarter page of my cheat sheet.

DON’T INCLUDE OPTION CHUNKS

The exception to my “include everything” methodology are what I used to refer to as the “character option chunks” in the system: Feats. Disadvantages. Spells. Powers. Weapons. That sort of thing. Any small packets of specialized mechanics that are only invoked if the character has selected that packet.

These days I think of it as invoking the “power card principle”. It’s not that having a quick reference for these rule chunks isn’t useful. It’s just that it’s more useful for those chunks to be included on individual character sheets, character-specific cheat sheets, or reference cards.

To boil that down: If everybody (or nearly everybody) uses a rule, it goes on the system cheat sheet. If not, put it on the character’s sheet or in the NPC’s stat block.

REMOVE CLARIFICATION AND ADVICE

Well-written rulebooks include a lot of clarification and advice. This is good: It helps you to both learn and implement the rules effectively.

But when you’re prepping your cheat sheets, you want to jettison all of that. For example, here’s a chunk of text from Technoir:

Adjectives are open to interpretation. They are part of a language we use in the game to collaboratively tell stories. Adjectives have  a couple of designations to help us agree on how they affect our characters.

Adjectives can be applied to a character directly — representing her physical or psychological state — or to an object belonging to a character — representing its physical condition or the state of its electronics and software.

Adjectives can be positive or negative. These determine how the adjective affects the dice you roll. This process is explained in the “Rolling Dice” section starting on page 92.

A positive adjective can help the character who has it. They allow you to add Push dice to your roll. They are written in the positive column of adjectives on the protagonist sheet or stat block.

A negative adjective usually hinders the character who has it. They force you to add Hurt dice to you roll. They are written in the negative column of adjectives on the protagonist sheet or stat block. Sometimes they may only apply to a part of the body — like a broken arm or a shattered kneecap. In these cases, write the body part in parenthesis next to the adjective. Sometimes they apply to an object the character has. In these cases, draw a line from the adjective to the object.

This is all good stuff. But on my cheat sheet, it boils down to:

• Hurt Dice = negative adjectives
• Push Dice = can be discharged for each adjective, object, or tag

Where to draw the line of inclusion/exclusion can occasionally get a little blurry. For example, in my Heavy Gear cheat sheets I didn’t include the table of Typical Thresholds (3 = Easy, 6 = Difficult, etc.) because I felt like it was a useful guideline that I didn’t necessarily need to reference during play. You might feel differently.

REORGANIZING

The last thing I do when putting together a system cheat sheet is to avail myself of the opportunity to reorganize the rules.

The truth is most RPG manuals suck when it comes to organization. Related rules will end up smeared across a half dozen different chapters, forcing you to flip madly back and forth while trying to adjudicate situations at the game table. This sucks, so take this opportunity to group material together in a way that makes sense when running the game. (And, as much as possible, try to keep all the relevant rules on a single page or two so that you can look at the totality of them simultaneously.)

Unfortunately, there are no hard-and-fast rules for this sort of thing. It’s more an art than a science, and it’s mostly a matter of common sense.

REVISE

After playing a session or two, revisit your cheat sheet: Was there stuff you missed? Stuff that could be phrased better? Stuff that should be cut? Stuff that should be moved around?

Do it. Print a new copy. Repeat until you’ve refined your cheat sheet into a lean, mean running machine.

EXAMPLES

As a couple of examples, click through for the RTF cheat sheets I put together for the first edition of Fading Suns (more than a decade ago) and Technoir (a couple weeks ago). For the latter, however, you might want to also grab the official (free) Player’s Guide, which I discovered actually does a really fantastic job of cheat sheeting the system.

Tagline: The Heavy Gear universe is perhaps the best in all of role-playing and tactical gaming – practically unmatched in depth, detail, texture, and life. This book is the key which opens this magical treasure trove of adventure.

My first review on RPGNet was of a Heavy Gear sourcebook and I would go on to post more reviews of Heavy Gear sourcebooks than of any other RPG. This is largely because I was more enthused about Heavy Gear than any other RPG of the time: I reviewed what I read; I read what I liked. This is one of the advantages of being an amateur reviewer: The professionals only get to review some of what they read and rarely get to read what they like.

When you delve into science fiction or fantasy you will often find yourself encountering worlds either entirely separated from our own or at least placed so far in the future that the extrapolations from our current time have rendered them almost wholly different from what we know. When you encounter these worlds you will find that they often break down into two broad categories – those worlds which might actually exist and those worlds which have clearly been created merely to suit the whims of the author’s story and couldn’t possibly exist.

In role-playing we have all encountered the latter many, many times. (“If this dungeon is so close to the town why hasn’t it been looted over the centuries?” “Because the locals are all frightened by the monsters.” “Yeah, speaking of those monsters – what are they eating down there?” “Look, do you want to play or don’t you?”) Fortunately those of the former have grown increasingly frequent in our hobby (although, frustratingly, we are often prohibited from playing certain characters by the rules of the game).

Sometimes, however, you come across a real jewel of a world. A world so intricately detailed, so deeply described, and so excellently constructed that you realize that not only can you tell “science fiction stories” in this setting, but any story in this setting. Terra Nova – the world of the Heavy Gear game – is such a world.

THE WORLD OF TERRA NOVA

For more details on the history of humanity (which is presented in great detail within this volume) in the 4000 years which separate its time and our own see my review of the second edition of Heavy Gear elsewhere on RPGNet the Alexandrian.

Terra Nova is a world divided into two lush polar regions by the great deserts referred to collectively as the Badlands around its equator. Following a period of chaos in Terra Nova’s past the two polar regions coalesced into a series of leagues. Those leagues eventually allied with themselves to form the two great polar alliances – the Allied Southern Territories (AST) and the Confederated Northern City-States (CNCS). The Badlands have a few centers of power in the forms of city-states, but are largely settled only by isolated villages which are focused around “oasis towers”. Because the Badlands generally lacks the political power of the two polar alliances, it is easily exploited as a “neutral” battleground between the two. A little over a decade ago all of Terra Nova came together in order to beat back aggressive conquerors from Earth who had returned to reclaim their colony.

To begin in the south, the AST is composed of four leagues – the Southern Republic, the Humanist Alliance, the Mekong Dominion, and the Eastern Sun Emirates. The Humanist Alliance was, in fact, the first league to form on Terra Nova. Based on the teaching of Yuri Gropius it is a realized utopia similar to the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers (most notably Plato) – the only price of this utopian existence is freedom. The Mekong Dominion is a society based entirely upon the corporate structure. It is the economic and production center of the entire South. The Eastern Sun Emirates is a feudal society which formed around the power garnered from the distribution of supplies from the space freighter the Eastern Sun during the time of chaos which plagued Terra Nova centuries ago. Finally, the Southern Republic is supposedly a free democratic society – in truth the people have bargained away their power as voters in exchange for a comfortable and luxurious lifestyle. Further, the Southern Republic rules the AST – having been responsible for its formation in their wars of aggression.

In the North the CNCS is composed of three leagues – the Northern Lights Confederacy, the United Mercantile Federation, and the Western Frontier Protectorates. Similar to the Mekong Dominion the UMF is focused upon production. Unlike the Dominion, however, the UMF focuses more heavily upon the work ethic than upon the philosophy of “business is war”. The society of the WFP is focused upon its military forces. Like the society detailed by Heinlein in Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie) only citizens who have served in the military for a certain amount of time are allowed the right to vote – not out of fascist beliefs, but out of the belief that only those who are willing to die for their country should be allowed to control the destiny of their country. The NLC is a democratic society which is increasingly dominated by religious fundamentalism – although it, like the Southern Republic, is both the most powerful league of its alliance and has fought wars of aggression in the past it did not – like the Republic – force the formation of its league, and does not rule it with an iron glove.

There are two important city-states in the Badlands – Peace River and Port Arthur.  Peace River is ruled by a company known as Paxton Arms, and most of its citizens are employees of the corporation. Peace River and Paxton Arms have recently come into conflict with Port Arthur (a city-state established by Earth troops abandoned after the recent invasion, but which has since become a haven for Badlanders in need) because both city-states see it as their duty to protect the Badlands – and have different ideologies about how that protection is to take place.

This, in brief, is a broad picture of the world. Unfortunately I cannot go into the details of this world – unfortunate because it is in the details that this world truly shines. Every league (and the Badlands as a whole)  is a hotbed of activity. Besides the main conflict between the CNCS and AST (and, indirectly, the NLC and Southern Republic), there are numerous other conflicts at large. The Badlands are torn apart by the Badlands Revolutionary Front, the Saragossa People’s Front for Independence fights the oppressive government of the Southern Republic, revolutions dot the Eastern Sun Emirates, the Humanist Alliance is attempting to secretly prepare for a break from the Southern Republic, and the entire globe is plummeting towards war.

Beyond simple conflict, this world is exquisitely detailed. Not only do you learn of the “big picture”, but you learn the little details which can be so important while roleplaying. What foods do people eat in a given location? What drives the local economy? What do people wear? What music is popular right now?

You will be hard put to find a campaign setting – particularly a science fiction campaign setting – on the market today that allows you so many options and provides you with so much detail.

CONCLUSION

Although not a direct part of this product, it is important to remember that the story of Terra Nova is not only evolving – it is evolving in a very deliberate, easy to understand, easy to follow method that is alien to nearly every other game system I have ever encountered. (See my review of the second edition rulebook for more details on this.)

As a result in buying into this world you not only buy into a world of incredible depth and detail – but a world where that depth and detail is evolving and progression.

In short, not only should you buy Life on Terra Nova because of the incredible strength of the product itself, but due to the incredible strength of supplementary products which the purchase of this book will open up for you.

Style: 5
Substance: 5

Author: Gene Marcil and others
Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9
Cost: $19.95
Page count: 160
ISBN: 1-896-776-00-0
Originally Posted: 1998/05/16

Tagline: Heavy Gear is, in the words of the publisher, “not your father’s giant robot game”. One of the best games of the ’90s, the second edition of this game is everything a second edition should be and more.

This review gushes a bit, but more than a decade later Heavy Gear is still one of my favorite games and Terra Nova is one of my favorite settings. I will also say that the Heavy Gear game line during its first and second editions remains an almost perfect example of how RPG product lines should be organized.

There are a lot of games out there and there are a lot of settings out there and, usually, even if I like a game or setting in general there are products for that game or setting with which I am not happy. We can all think of an example where the publisher’s of our favorite game have let us down by releasing an inferior product.

It has been a pleasant surprise, therefore, for me to encounter the games of Dream Pod 9 – although I have yet to purchase every supplement for their games, I have bought the majority of them and can testify that not a single one of them has been a disappointment. Whereas other game companies have to prove to me that their product is worth my money, Dream Pod 9 would have to prove to me that their product is not worth my money before I would consider not buying it. I may not own all the supplements yet, but I intend to the minute it is within my financial ability.

It therefore came as no surprise to me that the second edition of their Heavy Gear game proved to be a textbook case of not only how to do a core rulebook, but how to do a second edition.

The first edition of the Heavy Gear game (“A New Era Has Just Begun”) was released three years ago in 1995. I didn’t pick it up until just last year (literally the day before the second edition was announced on Dream Pod 9’s website). With fully integrated rules for both roleplaying and tactical play it had a powerful system with a lot of potential in a visually stunning package. It was possessed with some minor flaws, of course (no game is perfect): the material was very tightly packed with some degree of muddiness in the lay-out and the chapter on the world of Terra Nova (where Heavy Gear is set) was only six pages long.

Over the next two years Dream Pod 9’s general competency at laying out material would increase and it would be revealed (through supplements such as Life on Terra Nova) that the universe of Heavy Gear and the story being told there are even better than the rules.

This is where the second edition comes in. The folks down at Dream Pod 9 managed to perfectly target every problem area of the first edition, leave every feature of the first edition intact, and release a second edition which every other game publisher in this industry should take as a model. The first edition of Heavy Gear was fantastic. The second is sublime.

First, they have taken advantage of two years of experience and player feedback. Specific problem areas in the rules have been resolved and cleaned up. The overall lay-out and structure of the book has been redone in a manner which is both clean and logical – making the game easier to learn for newcomers and easier to reference for active players.

Second, they have added an extensive chapter on the background of the game – with general information on the entire world of Terra Nova along with an in-depth look at the city of Peace River in order to provide a beginning location for new GMs. This section also contains a beautiful full-color map of Terra Nova. The first edition of the game presented an odd dichotomy – everyone said the outstanding setting and developing story of Terra Nova was the biggest strength of the game, yet the rulebook contained almost no information on that setting or story. The second edition has resolved this problem.

Third, they have left intact everything which was good in the first edition. The rules are still simple, yet powerful. They still provide perfect integration between roleplaying and tactical games for those who are interested. The visual presentation is still stunning.

Too often when publishers release second editions of great games they have spoiled what was there to begin with – cluttering the elegant design of the first edition with unnecessary rules and complexity, destroying the essence of the original game, and catering towards people who are already playing the original edition. The second edition of Heavy Gear has done none of this.

THE RULES

In my discussion of the rules I am only going to deal with the roleplaying components of them – as I am not an experienced tactical player with this system. The tactical system is 100% compatible with the roleplaying system (with only a simple scale change involved), however, and is (by all reports) of excellent quality in its own right.

The central mechanic of Heavy Gear is simple. To perform any task you perform an Action Test. Roll a number of six-sided dice – whichever die is the highest is your total. If more than one six is rolled, each additional six is treated as a +1 (so rolling three sixes would result in a total of 8 (6+1+1)). If you roll all 1’s you have fumbled. Certain modifiers may add to or subtract from your total.

In a Standard Action Test, unless you fumble, you compare your total to a Threshold assigned by your GM to the action in question. If your total is higher than the Threshold, you have succeeded. If it is lower, you have failed. Your Margin of Success is the total of your die roll minus the Threshold. Your Margin of Failure is the Threshold minus your die roll.

In an Opposed Action Test you simply compare the two rolls – whichever is higher succeeds. A draw is a marginal success for the person resisting an action. The Margin of Success is determined by subtracting the lower total from the higher total.

This basic mechanic will be used most often to perform a Skill Check (there are also Attribute Checks and Chance Tests). In a Skill Check the number of dice you roll is equal to your rating in the skill you are attempting to us. Whatever attribute is effecting the roll acts as a positive modifier to the roll.

An example: Miranda Petite is attempting to do a backflip. She has a skill level of 2 in Acrobatics and her rating in the Agility attribute is 3. Because she has a skill level of 2 she rolls two dice. She rolls a 5 and a 4, so her total die roll is 5. She adds 3 to this (from her Agility attribute) for a final total of 8. If the GM had assigned a Threshold of 3 (Easy) to this task, Miranda would succeed with a Margin of Success of 5 (8 – 3).

Combat is handled as a series of opposed action tests, with various modifiers applied according to factors (cover behind which your target is hiding, lighting, the amount of time you spend aiming, the accuracy of your weapon, etc.). Damage is calculated from the Margin of Success of the attack by multiplying the MoS and the damage rating of the weapon. A character has three Wound Thresholds – Flesh Wound, Deep Wound, and Instant Death. The damage is compared to the Wound Threshold of the character – if it exceeds the character’s thresholds, the character takes a wound.

Character creation is a process of purchasing attributes and skills, as well as calculating secondary traits. The points for attributes and skills are separated – but there is provision for converting unused characters points (used for purchasing attributes) into skill points. There are ten attributes (Agility, Appearance, Build, Creativity, Fitness, Influence, Knowledge, Perception, Psyche, and Willpower) and nine secondary traits (Strength, Health, Stamina, Unarmed Damage, Armed Damage, Flesh Wounding Score, Deep Wounding Score, Instant Death Score, and System Shock).

THE SETTING

Heavy Gear is set 4000 years in the future. During that time we have perfected a system of interstellar travel using “Tannhauser gates” (named after the scientist who’s Grand Unified Theory explained time-space discontinuities – the “gates”) and begun to settle the galaxy – including the Helios system where the planet of Terra Nova is located.

Terra Nova is a largely dry planet. Slightly larger than Earth it’s equatorial region is a vast desert referred to collectively as the Badlands. Its polar regions, however are fertile and were centers of the colonization effort.

At the end of the 58th century, however, Earth decided that the benefits of the colony worlds was no longer worth the financial burden of supporting them and withdrew their support – including the massive gateships required for interstellar travel. Terra Nova suddenly found itself isolated from the rest of humanity.

Years of chaos ensued. Slowly, however, means of staying alive on this strange and hostile world without the aid of the home world were found. Political leagues were formed – in the southern hemisphere the Southern Republic, the Humanist Alliance, the Mekong Dominion, and the Eastern Sun Emirates; in the northern hemisphere the Northern Lights Confederacy, the United Mercantile Federation, and the Western Frontier Protectorate. The polar leagues eventually formed two polar alliances – the Allied Southern Territories and the Confederated Northern City-States. The Badlands, however, remained largely a hostile and volatile geopolitical area with various city-states and smaller communities.

Then Earth returned – in the form of the Colonial Expeditionary Forces (CEF). What ensued was the War of the Alliance – as the two polar confederations, typically political enemies, allied with each other against the common foe. Finally the CEF forced to retreat back through the gates and the spirit of cooperation did not last long after their leaving. Now, nearly two decades later, the two polar alliances are on the verge of war.

The rules of Heavy Gear are simple and elegant, but the setting is a work of art. The cultures of the various leagues are rich tapestries – each with their own character and individuality. The political spectrum of this world is complicated and detailed. As you delve into the supplements you get details not only on broad patterns, but also on how people actually live their lives. You will not find a better game world on the market today, in my opinion. Period.

HEAVY GEAR: THE GAME LINE

At the beginning of this review I mentioned the supplementary products for the Heavy Gear game. There are not many games so well supported as Heavy Gear. In an industry which suffers alternatively from vaporware deadlines and large gaps of time between releases, Dream Pod 9 has committed themselves to both an adherence to deadlines and near monthly release schedule for the Heavy Gear game since its inception. And the products released do not suffer from the speed at which they are produced. Quite the opposite, the quality of Heavy Gear products is consistently among the best in the industry (they were nominated for two Origin awards this year, for example).

My favorite aspect of the entire game, however, are the Storyline books – coupled with the Timewatch(TM) system. Although only one (Crisis of Faith) has been released so far, the concept is fantastic and should, I think, be emulated by other games. The universe of Heavy Gear, like many others, has an advancing timeline – let’s call it a meta-story which is told behind which the primary stories (those told by the GMs and players). The problem many other games have is that following that meta-story becomes increasingly difficult as more and more products are released. Take Shadowrun, for example. There are dozens upon dozens of products available for Shadowrun, and through those products a story is told – but new players have very few clues available to them as to where to start. The other problem is that – because that story is told over the course of all those different products – to follow it requires an ever-increasing financial investment. I, as a new player to Shadowrun, found that investment quite daunting and – instead – chose to create the material myself.

The Storyline books and Timewatch(TM) system which are part of the Heavy Gear line, however, solve both these problems. First, the Timewatch(TM) appears on the back of all Heavy Gear products – giving the game year in which the product is set. For example, the Second Edition Rulebook is set in TN 1934. This makes it very easy for new players to know exactly when a product is set. Second, the Storyline books are designed to push the meta-story of the world forward. Although they capitalize on hints and material found in the other sourcebooks, they are stand-alone products and tell the most important parts of the evolving story of Heavy Gear.

What this means is that, first, any supplements that players buy for the game can be quickly identified as to the time period they are discussing. Second, for players who don’t want to obsessively buy every product which comes out for the game, they can still follow the evolving meta-story. This means that if I wanted to run a campaign in the Humanist Alliance I wouldn’t have to buy supplements for the completely unrelated area of the Northern Lights Confederacy because the NLC sourcebook contains elements of the evolving meta-story I will require to understand future products released concerning the area I am really interested in, the Humanist Alliance.

CONCLUSION

Heavy Gear is blessed with a great system (which supports both roleplaying and tactical playing), a fantastic setting, and an excellent line of support (in quality, in timeliness, in detail, and in organization).

Dream Pod 9’s recent advertising for this game has included the tag line: “This is definitely not your father’s giant robot game.” I think it’s important to note that this 100% true. Many giant robot games tend to focus more on the technology than on the characters, but the world of Terra Nova is so deeply and richly textured that it is more than possible to adventure there without ever seeing or getting into one of the “gears” from which the game gets its name (you’ll note that they have not once come up previously in my review). They are part of the world, but they are not the entirety of the world by any stretch of the imagination.

The world is so wonderfully detailed, in fact, that I have seen games run within their fictional cultures which could just as easily have been run in a modern setting with a few minor technological changes. This game can be satisfying to those interested in any genre of play, because the world is large enough and realistic enough to realize that interesting stories can be told about anybody and anything.

I said earlier that no game is without a flaw. The second edition of Heavy Gear is no exception, although I had to look for quite some time to find it: A lot of the artwork is recycled. This would not be a bad thing if it was merely recycled from the first edition rulebook – however, many of the pieces are, in fact, from other sourcebooks. For those of us who are Heavy Gear junkies and used to every book getting a fresh and excellent art treatment, seeing these pictures a second time was an unwelcome surprise. New players entering the game will undoubtedly get the unfortunate impression that Dream Pod 9 is in the business of recycling art for their supplements.

As flaws go, this one is so insignificant as to be meaningless. This is a game you should buy. Right now. In fact, get up from your computers, go to your car, drive to you game store, buy it. Right now. Go.

What are you still doing here?

Style: 5
Substance: 5

Author: Philippe R. Boulle, Jean Carrieres, Elie Charest, Gene Marcil, Guy-Francis Vella, Marc A. Vezina, and other contributors.
Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9
Cost: $29.95
Page count: 240
ISBN: 1-896776-32-9
Originally Posted: 1998/05/08

As discussed previously, this was the first review I posted to RPGNet. It was originally written for the Heavy Gear Mailing List and then reposted to RPGNet when Dream Pod 9 requested that HGML posters report their reviews at the site.

This, of course, also means that this is some of the earliest writing I ever did for a semi-professional audience. Be gentle in your judgments.

[ Warning: This review will contain spoilers of the adventure series contained in this product. If you are intending to play through the story told in this product you should stop reading now. ]

The Paxton Gambit, unsurprisingly, is another sterling DP9 product for their Heavy Gear line. The first 25 pages expand upon the information given on Peace River previously (in Into the Badlands and the Second Edition Heavy Gear rulebook). The next 32 pages are a campaign supplement, and the remaining 6 are Paxton Gear designs.

Peace River has been covered previously, so what’s there in terms of background is pretty scarce — you get some new info on the political situation as of 1935, details of the Badlands Quarter, some detailed maps, an overview of the POC structure, and a number of new NPCs (all of which are important in the campaign portion of the book).

The Paxton Gear designs are … well, they’re Gears. What do you want?

The campaign supplement is, however, the book’s strength, in my opinion. You get 27 pages of story material stretching over nearly 20 days and nine gaming sessions (your mileage may vary, of course). You also get a page of “Continuing Hooks” which tell you where to go next if you want to continue the campaign, and four pages of handouts for the players.

The main section of the campaign is separated into three acts, each containing three scenarios. Each scenario consists of “Milestones”, which detail each important scene or sequence for the players to engage in. They also contain “Complications and Continuing Hooks” — little extras unessential to the main plot, but which can be thrown in to add complexity to the sessions themselves or cause headaches down the line for the players.

The plot of the campaign is thus (these are the spoilers):

In the wake of the Oxford Agreement (see CoF) Emir Shirow of Basal can no longer rely on the CNCS or NLC to supply him with arms in his rebellion, leaving him with only one serious option: Paxton Arms. He dispatches his lover and ambassador Victorya Hiro to Peace River to negotiate the deal. However, he doesn’t have enough money to fund the project completely. Therefore, Hiro will also be secretly negotiating with the NLC in order to get the money to make the deal with Paxton Arms. Jacques Molay will be dispatching SRID operatives to break up the deal because he doesn’t like the Basal rebellion for personal reasons, but this also means that these operatives have a chance of uncovering the NLC deal, which will break the Oxford Agreement and bring down the SR’s wrath on Shirow. Added to this is the fact that the SRID typically deals with the Forzi in Peace River for this type of low-profile work, but the Forzi in Peace River are actually controlled by the BRF’s local leader Sund! ra Gabriel, and she would like nothing better than to screw this deal up herself and make things tough on Paxton Arms. And, of course, the Patriarch of the ESE has gotten wind of the deal and dispatched agents to eliminate the Basal forces involved in the deal. This is the point where the players enter.

The campaign is designed so that, with a minimal amount of work, the GM can sit down with his players and start playing. Indeed, if you’re particularly effective at off-the-cuff playing you could probably run the thing untouched once you’ve got the material down and copies made of the hand-outs. The scenario is also designed, however, to allow existing campaigns to intersect with the story with a bit more work involved. Clearly you can see with all these different groups coming together over one deal (CNCS and NLC, SRID, BRF, Paxton/Peace River security and executives, Basal Uprising, ESE, etc.) there are a multitude of different ways for a GM to get his players involved in the events of this story. But the campaign is designed around the idea that players will be assuming the roles of Peace Officers.

They are introduced into the action as honor guards to the arrival of the Basalite ambassadors, and are put under the temporary command of Colonel Lenaris. They are also introduced at this point to Helen Luka, a reporter in search of the big scoop. The next day they are put on surveillance of a group arriving on a cargo maglev line — clearly undercover. These are the NLC negotiators arriving.

>From this point on in they are drawn into a dizzying array of political events and placed under the direct command of Lenaris as they become the only agents he can trust in this matter. Early on in the campaign they eliminate the Patriarch’s force in Peace River and think they’re doing pretty well, until the depths of the BRF and SRID involvement is revealed.

By the time the dust clears it is fully possible for the players to have been instrumental in completely destroying the SRID and BRF presence in Basal, Sundra Gabriel will be dead, they will have saved all Peace River from a reactor meltdown, the deal will have gone off perfectly, and they will be trusted agents of both Lenaris and HEO DuBeau-Slovenski.

So are where are the weaknesses? Well, one of them is Helen Luka. She hangs around the players like a faithful dog during the first act, and then abruptly disappears from the campaign entirely. Considering she’s given a full page write-up I would expect her to be of slightly more importance in the campaign. Also odd is the complete lock-down on any communication or travel in or out of Peace River for nearly 24 hours during the course of the adventure. While I have no doubt — PR being an arcology and all — that this would be possible, the repercussions on a major export economy of this happening are never mentioned (not even in the “Continuing Hooks” section) in the book.

The latter is, perhaps, a matter of selective blindness and saying that the resolution “takes place off-stage”. The former is a major plot oversight, in my opinion, and should be resolved by any GM considering running this campaign.

However, despite those reservations I would say that the story is a strong one, and I think all GMs should consider picking the book up if their players would have any chance of intersecting with the events detailed therein, it will be well worth your while. It is also a good example of how to tie players into the larger events of Terra Nova without disrupting the main flow of the primary storyline (if you ignore the complete rout of BRF forces in Peace River, which is clearly a major plot point in the continuing saga of Terra Nova — the adventure could just as easily be completed without this type of major conclusion).

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Author: Michael Butler and Guy-Francis Vella
Category: game
Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9
Cost: $15.95
Page count: 64
ISBN: 1-896776-33-7
Originally Posted: 04/17/98.