Tagline: “Chess will never be the same!” This innocent looking pack of 80 cards completely alters the game of Chess – from a static strategic puzzle to a dynamic tactical conflict. Moody and evocative art by Rogerio Vilela. Translated from the original French.

I actually have quite vivid memories of writing this review. It was the first time I really became aware of how thoroughly I’d been bitten by the reviewing “bug” because I started thinking about how I would write the review of the game as I was playing the game.

The tagline of Knightmare Chess is, “Move a piece. Play a Card. Chess will never be the same…”

There you have the whole game. In the elegant box in which Knightmare Chess comes you will find 80 cards – each of which subtly alters the rules of Chess in different ways. These cards let you do all the things you always wish you could do in a tight moment during a game of Chess – resurrect a piece which has been captured, move a piece out of the way, take not one piece, but many on a single move. On each of your turns you can play one card.

When first approaching this game I was both anticipatory and doubtful. Anticipatory because it sounded like a fun thing to do once or twice. Doubtful because chess is an ancient game – its grace and its beauty come from the fact that its rules are carefully balanced, all the pieces are known, and the challenge comes from manipulating a known set of variables in a strategic way to overcome your opponent.

The premise of Knightmare Chess, while seemingly innocuous, actually radically alters the very basic appeal and structure of the game. The rules are no longer balanced, they are in constant flux. The pieces are not known, they can be altered and rearranged. There is no known set of variables, the variables are unknown and changing.

At first glance, therefore, Knightmare Chess has the potential to completely screw the only appeal chess has – its strategic component.

After playing the game awhile I realized I was wrong. Knightmare Chess transformed Chess into a radically different game, but it did not destroy it. Where Chess is a static strategic puzzle (with its elements known and the possible interactions between pieces completely proscribed), Knightmare Chess is a dynamic tactical conflict. Just because the rules are always changing, doesn’t mean that Knightmare Chess is an inferior game. It does mean, however, that it appeals to an entirely different aesthetic than Chess.

Chess has often been described as a wargame. Indeed, in some ways it is – if you are willing to accept a certain degree of abstraction. Nonetheless, it is an odd one – one in which you have only a certain number of troops, in which both sides are equal, and in which everything is ultimately predictable. If Knightmare Chess is similarly a wargame carried to an extreme degree of abstraction, then it presents a model of modern warfare – where the sides can quickly become unequal, where reinforcement is conceivable, and where combat is anything but predictable.

Knightmare Chess is a fascinating game. If you are a chess player, approach it with an open mind. If you have no taste for chess, then it is entirely conceivable that this game will appeal to you nonetheless.

It should be noted that I am using a copy of the Second Edition for the purposes of this review. The differences between the first and second editions are extremely subtle and largely inconsequential to the overall gameplay and assessment of this game. For a list of differences you can check Steve Jackson Game’s website.

Style: 4
Substance: 5

Author: Pierre Clequin and Bruno Faidutti
Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games
Cost: $14.95
Page count: n/a
ISBN: 1-55634-319-1
Originally Posted: 1998/05/30

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

This is one of my most-requested reviews, largely due to what one reader described as its “transformational” aspect. I very deliberately wrote the review to serve as a resource which would actually improve the quality of the book for those who read it. Given the feedback I’ve gotten over the years, I apparently succeeded at this goal. One reader told me that I had “salvaged” the game for him and that he had gotten a pretty awesome campaign out of it.

Some readers have accused me of somehow “cheating”; or that this sort of critical content is somehow inappropriate for a review. But while I believe that the primary goal of a review is to inform a reader’s decision on whether or not to purchase the product, I was also heavily influenced by the writing of Harlan Ellison and Walter Kerr: Reviews have the ability to be the forum for a more valuable critical discourse.

Reviewing this game is one of the most difficult writing tasks one could have — because you, the reader, are almost certain to come away with the wrong impression.

I am going to tell you that the setting for this game seems to be an amalgamation of all the different White Wolf games with a bit of primal myth, a dab of the Illuminatus Trilogy and a touch of the Highlander movies thrown in . . . and you’re going to misunderstand me and think I’m saying the setting is just a cheap rip-off. It isn’t.

I am going to tell you that the rules are beautifully integrated into the world . . . but good luck figuring them out without reading through them a dozen or so times because they are laid out poorly and organized worse. But the rules are excellent, and it will be well worth your effort to root them out.

I am going to tell you that the setting is detailed . . . but is difficult to understand because it appears the designers assumed you were already intimately familiar with it before sitting down to read this book. Yet the setting is so rich, that it is worth working your way around the holes and puzzling through the details.

I am going to tell you that whoever was in charge of editing this book should have his head examined because both setting and rules are almost impossible to follow . . . and you’re going to think I’m telling you not to pick the book up. You definitely should.

The problem is that everything which is bad about Immortal is imminently simple to qualify and explain . . . while everything which is good about it is all too easy to be glanced over and misunderstood.

So, what’s Immortal‘s strengths? Its setting. Its rules. Its attitude. Its potential.

And what are the weaknesses? The lay-out, the organization, and the presentation.

I’m going to split the remainder of this review into three sections: The Problem With this Game, The World, and The Rules. We’re going to deal with the problem first and get it out of the way.

THE PROBLEM WITH THIS GAME

Reading through this book is like trying to learn differential equations while maneuvering through an obstacle course. The principle failing — in my mind — is the poor structure given to the setting. You have a modern world coldly mirrored in the style of White Wolf’s World of Darkness, but which delves even deeper into the primal depths of history and mythology to give depth and character to the world, along with a mix of Illuminatus-style hidden societies and plots within plots within plots, plus a good dash of pseudo-dimensional travel and strange, otherworldly places. Once you’ve given this world a detailed history which extends over 65 million years, you’d think you’d have a setting which was so rich and deep that you’d have material to play campaigns in this place for years to come.

And you’d be right . . . if you can get past the fact that following the material is next to impossible. Like many other games, Immortal drops you into the middle of the world in media res — what the writer apparently forgot, however, was that other games which do this will quickly, after the initial shock of exposure has been played up, explain what the basics of the world are like before delving into ever increasing depth. With Immortal you never get that basic primer, you just keep delving deeper and deeper. The problem is, in fact, made even worse by the fact that the Immortal setting is so incredibly rich — just when you think you’ve finally got the basic architecture down an entirely new level is revealed, more complex the one you just figured out. This effect lasts up to the very end of the book and is much like reading the Illuminatus Trilogy and hoping, after your first read, to have figured out what’s really going on — a trait which is charming in the novels, but slightly upsetting in a game setting which you have to understand in order to run it for your players. You will need to read this book through two or even three times before you finally have more than a verysimplistic , hazy picture of the world.

The problem, when you come to the rules, is even worse. For some unknown reason they blend the rules through a major portion of the book — switching seamlessly between rule and setting. So the rules aren’t all in one place and nicely pulled together. As you try to puzzle out ever-increasing complexity in the game world, you are given the further puzzle of trying to figure out the mechanics as well. The mechanics are sufficiently different from most mechanics which you will be familiar with from other games that you will not catch them all on your first time through. However — just as with the setting — the mechanics are worth your efforts. I suggest, after you have figured them out, constructing a cheat sheet so that you can have them all in one place. (You might even want to do this with the setting — trying to organize the material into a format from which it is easily accessible.)

None of this would be indomitable, of course, if it weren’t for the fact that a very crucial element is missing: An Index. We have all complained about games which lack decent indexes, but Immortal doesn’t have one. At all. “Well,” you think, “I’ll just look at the table of contents, see if I can find it that way.” Not effectively. The book is composed of thirteen very large chapters, plus an appendix — and information is, as I’ve said, spread willy-nilly throughout them. The table of contents gives you only the chapter titles and page numbers.

This game, as I’ve said, has a very rich, deep character to it — which means there is a plethora of alien terms and important individuals. It would be nice to have an easily accessible glossary to refer to (particularly since they have a nasty habit of referring to an individual, term, or historical event dozens or even hundreds of pages before explaining what it is).

They do have a glossary. In fact they have two. One runs sporadically along the bottom of the first 260 pages in alphabetical order. Another runs sporadically along the side of the first 160 pages (with the occasional rule reference thrown in just for kicks) — this one is not in alphabetical order. The two glossaries are generally, but not always, mutually exclusive — which is also unfortunate because while the one along the bottom of the page is direct and to the point, the one along the side of the page generally takes the form of an interesting quote which usually does very little to actually inform you about the term in question.

Have I convinced you that understanding and referencing this game will be an absolute hell on earth? Good. Now let’s move onto the portions of this game which contain sufficient reasons to ignore all the weaknesses discussed so far and buy a copy.

THE WORLD

I am about to explain the game world to you in a very short, very direct, very easily understandable way. In so doing I will have vastly improved the game for when you actually purchase it, because this is the exact sort of basic primer and guideline which is missing from the book. In fact, save this review right now and refer to this portion of it (and the rules portion below) before reading the book itself. It will make much more sense to you. There is much more to the world than what I am describing to you (it is one of the richest game worlds I have encountered), but these are the basics which will help you understand everything else.

There are eleven distinct regions to the Immortal universe: The Habitat, the Crucible, the Dominions, the Blue Air, the Mantles, the Morpheum, Sheol, the Underworld, the Sunedrion, the Ys, and the Maelstrom.

The Crucible is a sphere which surrounds the planet and is also all around us — it is the wellspring from which all the energy of life comes. This energy of life is known as Immaculum and it forms the characteristics of the physical body and mind. The Immaculum of all living creatures is held in a multi-hued Halo around the body. The colors and strengths of the Halo determine the physical and mental characteristics of a living creature — Red is Resolve, Orange is Force, Yellow is Expertise, Green is Movement, Blue is Awareness, and Violet is Resilience.

65 million years ago a creature known as the Sanguinary left or was exiled from the Crucible and came to our world — a place which members of the Perpetual Society refer to as the Habitat. When it did so it shattered into what are known as Conundrum. It did not die, however, and its evil influence continues to infect the Habitat to this day through various Avatars.

Throughout history creatures have — by accident or design — symbiotically joined with the Condundrum. Those that have done so become immortal. The first great immortals were the Abzulim — members of the Saurian species who hunted the other dinosaurs to extinction 62 million years ago.

60 million years ago a great tree reached its roots down into the Crucible and became sentient — it became known as the Sunedrion. Wherever it spread its seedlings and its influence became known as the Dominions, places where the culture of the original Immortals were preserved for millions of years.

Over the ensuing years other species joined with shards of the conundrum, gaining sentience and immortality. A few general details on Immortals are now in order. It is important to note that with this immortality came the ability to change shape — so many of the immortals were originally wolves or spiders or bears or tigers. This primal form — an aspect of the Immortal’s soul — is known as the Himsati, and may be reverted to at times. It is a feral quality and the contamination of the Sanguinary which remains within the Immortals.

Immortals are personified by their Vox — their voice. Silencing an Immortal’s vox by cutting off their head is the only means of slaying am Immortal. But when you slay an immortal, you do not truly destroy them — they, instead, return to the ethereal realm of the Blue Air as Gossamers. Gossamers are ephemeral beings unable to interact with the physical world until they can regain physical form — which they can do by returning or remaining in the Habitat and collecting immaculum.

The Immortals have also perfected a set of rituals known as Serenades. As the rulebook says: “The Abzulim, over millions of years of flourishing and decaying, peered deeply into the crucible, watching the loom upon which the universe was ceaselessly spun.” Common ‘threads’ of the universe were called Attentions, and by manipulating these attentions through the use of serenades exploiting the power of the vox and the immortal’s immaculum, the immortal is capable of changing the world around him. However, the danger in performing a serenade is that you are tampering with the world — and the immaculum which you use to accomplish that tampering become Tainted. This Taint renders the immaculum unusable in the Habitat until it can be removed or the affected immaculum expunged from the immortal. The Taint is the evil touch of the Sanguinary, and through it the Sanguinary gains control over the Immortal and is capable of reducing them to the Himsati form.

Immortal society is organized into various Prides — each Pride consisting of a similar belief system.

Twilights (the Immortal term for mortals) have an ability known as Religarum — the superstition and/or belief of the mortal made tangible, it gives the Twilight the ability to physically alter Immortals through unconscious or deliberate choice, making use of the mortal’s lust, fear, belief, or need.

Finally, Immortals also have a rite known as Lethe — by which they forget their previous existence and assume the guise of mortality. Each time they enter Lethe, however, they are essentially splintering their personality — and each personality can never be completely removed thereafter, becoming subconscious avatars to which the current intellect of the Immortal can temporarily grant or control . . . or even completely lose control to.

The Abzulim immortals raised a great society, but they came into conflict with the Primals — immortals who were not born of the symbiosis of conundrum and animal, but the symbiosis of conundrum and the elemental matter which makes up the Maelstrom. The supremacy of the Abzulim finally came to an end in a great war 7 million years ago.

A final element of the ancient Immortal cosmology are the Trine. Like the Sanguinary, the Trine are three creatures called forth from the Crucible — this time by members of the Immortal pride known as the Anopheles. The Trine are three creatures: The Leviathan, the Dracul, and the Rukshasa.

In 400,000 BC a millenia-long plot of the Sanguinary came to conclusion. For aeons the Sanguinary had been acting through his mortal and immortal subjects to cut down the Sunedrion and transform its sap into what came to be known as the Malice Shard. Pride Anopheles rode against the Sanguinary’s forces and destroyed the Malice shard — but in so doing they separated the twin worlds of the Habitat and the Dominion, setting the realms of the Dominion adrift within the Blue Air. The great Immortal societies of primeval history came to an end at this time.

Then, in 320,000 BC, Humans managed to destroy the Red Shard — the shard of the conundrum which still contained the heart of the Sanguinary consciousness. The Sanguinary narrowly avoided destruction by fleeing into the Morpheum — the land of dreams. Mortals enter the Morpheum whenever they enter REM sleep, and have hence — in the eyes of the immortals — subjected themselves to influence from the Sanguinary which makes them potentially dangerous allies. To Immortals, dreaming and entering the Morpheum is an intense pleasure, but a pleasure now denied to them because of the subjection to which the Sanguinary can curse them if they enter the Morpheum untrained.

In 65,200 BC, a conflict known as the Shouting War broke out throughout the Dominions. A plague known as the Lash was born of the taints incurred by the massive use of serenades during this conflict. In 50,000 BC, the Lash reached its peak, destroying and desolating the Dominions and sending Immortals fleeing into the Habitat. In 10,200 BC, the Shouting War comes to an end as Pride Nimrod emerges supreme above the other prides, locking them with Sheol — a dark place where the Sanguinary first came to our universe.

During this time two more important events take place: The emergence of the second avatar of the Sanguinary (the Dust), and the emergence of the Apocrypha and Quiet Culture.

The Apocrypha were a group of mortals initiated to the knowledge of the Immortal world by Pride Magdalen. Breaking free from Magdalen control they committed themselves to the absolute destruction of Immortals within the Habitat. Another group almost immediately broke off from the Apocrypha, however. Known as the Quiet Culture they, too, know of the Immortal world; but instead of trying to destroy it, they seek to aid and even worship Immortals.

In 7000 BC, Pride Banjax escaped from the prison of Sheol and freed the other prides imprisoned there. Within another thousand years, however, conflict between the prides was again on the rise — and a new society was brought into being. Powerful Immortals known only as the Jury imposed a structure known as the Stratagem upon Immortal life — instead of actively killing other immortals, and hence risking Taint and strengthening the Sanguinary, the Stratagem calls for “calling coup” upon other Immortals and other Prides. The pride who wins the most respect under the rules of the Stratagem and in the judgment of the Jury will be the pride to lead all Immortals when the day comes to lead the attack against the Sanguinary. Part of this is the Silence — an imposition to never use serenades in a manner which draws the attention of the Sanguinary. Having established the Stratagem, the Jury withdrew into the Dominions — places where other Immortals rarely go willingly.

In 5900 BC a period known as the Mingling began. Immortals went to Atlantis — a society founded by the Immortal Solitaire — and lived in peace and tranquility with one another. In 4735 BC, however, Atlantis was destroyed and Solitaire assassinated. “Disillusioned, Immortals filtered back into the Habitat.”

The pace of things begins to pick up in the modern world, and I am going to skip over many details. In 1666 AD, however, the Dust is cornered in London and the Great Fire is started in order to destroy it. This effort is successful.

Shortly thereafter a period in Immortal history began which came to be known as the Exodus — extending from 1666 to the present day, it’s a time when thousands upon thousands of Immortals entered the state of Lethe. Pride Magdalen is suspected of initiating this movement, but no one is sure.

In 1925 AD the third avatar of the Sanguinary — the Silhouette — appears. In 1990 AD the Femme Darkle — an artifact containing pieces of the Malice Shard — is stolen, initiating the Invisible War. It is believed the final days of judgment for the Immortal race are approaching, when one pride shall emerge as a leader to destroy the Sanguinary forces . . . or be destroyed by them.

In 1994 (the year the game was published), the Exodus came to an end. Immortals awakened from Lethe and re-entered the Perpetual society. It was the beginning of the Waking Age.

This information is the barest glimmerings of the full picture of the Immortal universe. Some of you have probably already noticed I have completely glanced over the realms of Ys (the world under the oceans), the Mantles (areas hidden from mortal eyes which preserve the world of the past as if it still existed today, maintained by the long-lived children of mortal and immortal unions), or the Underworld (a hidden world beneath the surface of our own) — but these are all fascinating places in their own respects. I have not discussed the origins of the prides — although some of these are fascinating and amazing. I have barely scratched the surface, and will not be able to tell you more here. As I have said before, this world is a rich tapestry which I encourage you to experience.

THE RULES

The rules of Immortal clearly demonstrate why rules specifically tailored to a particular setting will outshine any of the generic rules currently on the market. A well-constructed set of rules for a setting creates the feel of the universe for those playing it. Rolling dice is hardly the same thing as performing stunning martial arts maneuvers – yet that’s the feel the Feng Shui system manages to convey. Similarly, comparing attributes is hardly the same thing as the careful interplay of rapiers – yet that’s what Amber accomplishes.

Creating a character who has lived for centuries and is now just realizing that fact is not the same thing as actually being a person who has lived for centuries – but that’s what Immortal does successfully.

Ironically the exceptional rule design of Immortal, when combined with the poor layout of the entire product, only adds to your feeling of confusion and muddiness. You can be reading what you think to be a section of the book dealing with the background of the world, only to suddenly discover that these are actually rules. It would be a refreshing change from many games, where you feel as if they got together and designed the setting, and then designed the rules separately and in a complete vacuum – hoping that somehow the two would magically come together like Peter Pan and his shadow – except for the fact that due to poor layout this effect is lost to general frustration as you try to figure out what the hell you’re reading.

Character creation in Immortal takes place under an absolutely fabulous point-based system. I know I’ve used the word a lot in this review, but it bears using once more: Ironically, the points themselves are the only really questionable portion of the Immortal rule system. The character creation rules assume that the PCs are characters who are just emerging from the state of lethe and the character creation points are therefore referred to as MEMORY POINTS – with the idea being that as you spend them your character is “remembering” skills and abilities from their previous existence. This mechanic has a very good feel to it . . . what it desperately needs, however, is a complementary set of points in order to represent the learning of new skills (if my character went into lethe back in 1672, I’m not going to “remember” my skill at computer programming). Despite this slight conceptual jar, the system itself works just fine – you can purchase computer programming with memory points just as easily as swordfighting.

Remember our discussion of immaculum and halos back in the world description? How immaculum in the halo created the physical and mental traits of an individual? Red was resolve, orange was force, yellow expertise, green movement, blue awareness, and violet resilience. It should come as no surprise that setting the attributes of a character in Immortal is a process of assigning IMMACULUM to each of the six colors in a character’s HALO.

Units in Immortal are referred to as MOTES. Motes are “attributed to memory, immaculum, or other aspects of the mechanics” and, conceptually, “are visible in the halo of an immortal as revolving sparks of colored light.” This is exactly what I’m talking about – if there’s a rule in immortal nine times out of ten it means that there’s a world-equivalent reason for its existence. With the exception of dice rolling itself, nothing is there as a simple abstract quantification.

There are two types of immaculum motes in a character’s halo – FORTE are motes which are fixed to a particular color/attribute, FREE IMMACULUM are motes which can be freely exchanged between halo colors to augment various abilities. Of course free immaculum costs more memory points to purchase, and creates a more powerful and versatile character. All characters start off with 15 points of forte in their halo, which can be assigned to any of the six halo colors/attributes.

TALENTS are the learned abilities of characters, and are – similarly – purchased through memory points.

The resolution mechanic of the Immortal system, however, is truly fantastic, in my opinion. It uses nine different colors of ten-sided dice: Six for each of the colors in a character’s halo (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet) as well as three more (black, gray, and white) for a special type of serenade. Ignoring the black, gray, and white dice because this summary is not going to attempt to look at serenades, let’s take a closer look at how these dice are used.

Each color die represents one set of HOSTILES. The idea is basically familiar to most roleplayers. Given a standard set of average circumstances a character will generally succeed automatically, but when complications arise in the environment or someone else is resisting the attempted action DIFFICULTIES arise, and these difficulties are quantified as numbers which negatively affect the dice rolls used to determine success or failure. The difference between Immortal and other systems is that these difficulties are assigned to one of the HOSTILES – for example, if a thick fog is responsible for the GM assigning a difficulty to a task that difficulty would be assigned to the Blue hostile since it would be impairing the character’s Awareness.

Once all the difficulties for an action have been assigned to hostiles, the hostiles which have difficulties assigned to them are rolled. Add to the result of each of these the number of immaculum motes assigned to the applicable color in the character’s halo (both forte and free immaculum which has been assigned) as well as the applicable talent for the action being accomplished. The resulting total on all the hostiles must exceed the difficulty assigned to that hostile, or the action will fail.

In short, from character creation through action resolution this system has been designed to not only make playing in the world possible, but to evoke the feeling of living in that world. This masterful set of mechanics is marred by the poor layout, over analyzation, and general lack of clarity with which they are presented – but it is worth stripping away the mistakes of this presentation in order to find the core construct underlying it.

CONCLUSION

If there was ever a game which desperately cried out for a second edition, this is it. The world of Immortal is a rich tapestry which has been badly woven. Its rules are an elegant construction, which has been shoddily put together. Nonetheless, if you are willing to reweave the tapestry and repair the construct — you will be blessed with an exciting, deep, rich world and a set of rules which complement it perfectly. I heartily suggest the purchase of this book.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Author: Ran Ackels
Company/Publisher: Precedence Publishing
Cost: $24.95
Page count: 296
ISBN: 1-885681-00-3
Originally Posted: 05/01/98

A second edition of the game — Immortal Millennium — was published in 1999. It didn’t fix the problems. Worse yet, it was split into four books which were never actually published in their entirety (as far as I know). In 2008, apparently, a third edition was attempted. It, too, was incomplete.

Like my review of The Paxton Gambit, this review was also posted to the Amber DRPG mailing list. What I can’t remember is whether I originally wrote it for the mailing list and then recycled it later for use on RPGNet (as I had done with the Paxton Gambit review), or if I wrote it for RPGNet and then posted it simultaneously to the mailing list. I guess we can add that to column of Mysteries Nobody Actually Cares About.

Amber: The Diceless Role-Playing Game (ADRPG), based on the series of novels by Roger Zelazny, was the first diceless RPG. While some games may claim to be “diceless” role-playing and actually cop out and use cards or coins or a stopwatch to resolve actions, Amber truly is diceless: the only thing determining whether or not the actions of the players succeed is the GM.

What this means of course, is that the players have to trust their GM — in who final authority lies. Any group who has an antagonistic relationship will not have any fun.

Player: I punch him in the face!

GM: You missed. He whips out his gun and shoots you. You’re dead.

The game also requires — in my experience — GMs and players who have a bit of poetry and storytelling blood in their veins. If you play RPGs in order to fight badguys, then dice provide a neutral challenge to the situation — if you play such a scenario in Amber you know that your GM probably won’t kill you, and if he does you’re going to feel bad about it. (Although this doesn’t mean you can’t die in ADRPG. If it serves the story and everyone is mature enough to handle it, it’s fully capable of happening.) Nor is Amber particularly good for those who play RPGs in an attempt to accurately simulate reality — reality is random, and dice introduce that element to the game.

No, Amber is designed solely for the storytellers.

The system is a good one for what it attempts to do — simulate the environment of the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Everything is based off of four attributes — Strength, Endurance, Warfare, and Psyche. Strength is a measure of both physical power and skill in unarmed combat. Endurance is a measure of how long a character can do things before collapsing. Warfare is a measure of a character’s armed combat and tactical skill. Psyche is a measure of a person’s psychic ability and mental acuity. While for some situations this would seem to be a gross and inefficient generalization, for Amber characters it actually works perfectly.

These attributes are purchased through an “auction” — all players start the game with 100 points to build their characters with. During the first phase of character creation they bid, with the GM as auctioneer, for their ranks in the four attributes. Those who bid highest get 1st rank and the best ability. Those who don’t bid at all get “Amber” rank in the attribute — meaning you’ll trounce any mortal who comes wandering along without any effort whatsoever. After the auction you are able to purchase up by spending points equal to those who bid for actual ranks, although you will never be as good as the people who actually bid for those ranks (if you spend as many points as the person who claimed first rank, for example, you are actually rank “1.5”). To get more points you can lower your attributes to Chaos rank (-10 points) or Human rank (-25 points). There is also an alternate system for simply spending points on the various attributes and skipping the auction — but the auction is actually quite a bit of fun, and, in fact, once again creates the feel of the Amber universe quite effectively.

Skills? As Wujcik says, Amberites live so long they can be skilled in anything they like. Plus, due to the realities of shadow, if you aren’t skilled in something you can jump to a shadow where time runs much faster, train for a decade, come back the next day local time and hit the ground running. How do you build a skill system to represent that? Answer: you don’t. As long as its consistent with your character background, you can do anything like a pro.

So, besides attributes, what else can you spend points on? Well, there’s the powers. Pattern Imprint, Logrus Mastery, Trump Artist, Sorcery, Conjuration, Power Words. Everything from both the first and second series of books, plus a few extra things. You can also spend points on creatures and artifacts — things with similar abilities to Corwin’s sword Greyswandir or the horse of Julian in the books.

And the system for resolving actions? The GM looks at the character’s attributes and determines if he’s skilled enough or strong enough to accomplish the task. What about when two characters go head-to-head? Compare the attributes of the two characters in question. Equal? They’ll fight to a standstill. Little different? It’ll be a long, drawn out conflict. Big difference? It’s going to be short.

Although I make light, the system is — in fact — extremely elegant. As I said before this is a game for storytellers and when the GM is looking at an attribute to see if the character is capable, more often than not he is also asking the question: “Will it make for a good story?” The system really shines in combat, and the book goes into extensive details on how to run it. The chosen attributes play off each other with amazing alacrity. You may be better at swordplay than the other person (Warfare), but if they’ve got a better Strength then they can always try to close within fighting distance — unless you’ve got a significantly better Warfare, in which case you can avoid their attempt to grapple with you. If you’re both fairly even in your skill, then the person who can last longer (Endurance) is going to take the day. Psychic attacks, of course, can always figure in as well — and since you need to be in physical contact to make those work, they balance with the other attributes as well. Add in the powers and you have an exquisite interplay of elements which means that success is in more than just the numbers — the tactics you choose to employ become as crucial to your success as the size your attributes.

The game has two serious weaknesses, however, which mar its perfection:

First, despite the fact that the overall system is perfectly matched to its source material, some of the details fall flat. It is a well-reputed fact that the power systems as the game describes them raises the eyebrows of readers of the books — “Where did Eric Wujcik get that from?” You can play the game quite happily with what is there, however, so this is not a serious problem — particularly since there are highly-detailed alternatives to this system sprinkled across the web. Since Amber is a very freeform RPG it is also very easy to simply say: “Describe what you want to do, and I’ll assign a point cost for it.” No stats means that all you need is an idea and a description.

The other problem, I think, actually springs from that freeform quality of the system. It’s not well laid out and the presentation is inferior to other games on the market today. Fortunately the system is so simple that working around the lay-out isn’t a serious problem — you can literally read through the book once and have all the major rules memorized without any effort whatsoever. Only some of the specifics of the powers get more complicated.

In addition to all this, the book also provides stats for all the main characters from the First Chronicles of Amber and a plethora of ideas for campaigns, plus a handful of more fully developed scenarios to put your players through.

To sum it up: The central system is fantastic, and is probably the best adaptation of a specific work I’ve seen in RPGs (with the possible exception of the Star Wars RPG from West End Games). The power system, like the central system, is well balanced and works perfectly — but it falls down in the adaptation department. The entire game suffers from a poor lay-out, but there’s a lot of raw material in there.

Definitely worth the $23 if you’re at all interested in either the works of Roger Zelazny or in seeing a marvelous piece of system design.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Author: Eric Wujcik
Company/Publisher: Phage Press
Cost: $22.95
Page count: 255
ISBN: 1-880494-00-0
Originally Posted: 04/20/98