Chaosium Digest Volume 7, Number 1 Date: Sunday, July 17, 1994 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: Review: Nexus (Steve Hatherly) PLAY THIS BOOK Review: Nexus (Alan Glover) PLAY THIS BOOK Review: The SF BRP Games (Shannon Appel) MISC -------------------- From: Steve@flar.demon.co.uk (Steve Hatherley) Subject: Review: Nexus System: PLAY THIS BOOK Nexus Written by Rick Dutton and Walter O Freitag Published by Chaosium, 136 pages. Reviewed by Steve Hatherley There is a terminology problem here. In his introduction, Sandy Petersen describes Nexus as "Live Action Roleplaying" - which to me means running around in the woods and bashing people with rubber swords. Nexus describes itself as "Interactive Literature" which, apart from being resoundingly pretentious, sounds like a great way to describe solo gamebooks. Then there is a third term, "Freeform," which originates (I think) in Australia and doesn't seem to mean very much at all. Anyway, I like freeforms (er, whatever). I love the interaction, the roleplaying, the scheming, the plotting and the sheer scale of it all. I like being caught up in grand plots and magnificent designs. It's an experience quite unlike anything else in roleplaying. But, I've never tried running one. This is partly because they seem to require a huge amount of effort, and partly because I am not sure where to begin. (And the fact that I would rather play has not helped.) But I am interested in seeing how they work - which is why I bought Nexus. Nexus describes an Interactive Literature event set in an SF convention requiring 44 players and 5 GMs. The game involves strange alien beings, time travellers, plagues, ghosts and a whole bunch of assorted weirdos from the best of science fiction. And yes, while I now appreciate the effort involved, it is still a vast amount of work. Playing looks far easier and much more fun! Physically, Nexus is a softback book nearly half of which is character descriptions. The rest of the book is filled with rules, handouts and advice for GMs. Lots of advice, fortunately, except for the section covering the grand finale, which is nebulous and vague. This is presumably because endings are so dependent on how the rest of the game has gone. Still, it feels a little thin, even so. The few rules are kind of weird. Melee is resolved using "Combat Factors" to reach an outcome and gunfire is resolved by placing sticky dots on your target. I've not used either rule before, but I guess they work. (Anyway, combat is not the point in freeforms.) The book claims that it has two aims. First, it presents an Interactive Literature event for anybody to run. Second, it is a guide for would-be designers. So how does it do? Had I bought Nexus with the intention of running it, I would have been disappointed. Apart from a few errors (part of the Packet Stuffing Guide is missing, mysterious "blue sheets" are mentioned), the attention to detail is sloppy. For example, one character is described as a martial artist but doesn't get the Martial Training ability. Okay, so these are hardly critical flaws in the book, but there is enough to deal with without catering to the errors and omissions. And yes, there is an awful lot left to do - photocopying the characters, handouts, rules (at least 44 copies of those!) and so on. Then there are the Suggested Game Cards - you have to work those out for yourself. On the other hand, as a guide for would-be designers, the book is great. There is a wealth of material on what to do, and when, and how. Nexus has enough ideas and plot devices to use as a springboard for other games. (About the only thing it doesn't describe is how to get to your plot in the first place, but that's probably a matter of blood, sweat and tears.) This is the reason I bought Nexus - it works for me. However, I wonder who Chaosium thinks will buy Nexus. Sure, there are those like myself who are curious about the behind-the-scenes action at an Interactive Literature event. But who else? How many people are actually going to find 44 players (and 5 GMs) with a spare weekend spare to play it? How many conventions are there? Nexus is Volume 1 of the "Play This Book" series. The next one had better be more accessible or I can't see the series stretching to a third volume. Cheers, Steve -------------------- From: Alan Glover Subject: Review: Nexus System: PLAY THIS BOOK Nexus by Rick Dutton & Walter Freitag, published by Chaosium (#6500) Nexus marks another new direction for Chaosium, following on from their publication of non-interactive fiction (I'm referring to books such as Castle of Eyes or Cthulhu's Heirs). It is a guidebook for one, well-specified live action roleplaying adventure. However, it is properly termed 'interactive literature'. It differs from some forms of LRP in that combat is not resolved by hitting each other for instance. The adventure itself is designed for 44 players, a number of game-masters plus several 'gamemothers', who are people with no interest in the action that possess the social and emotional skills to keep those in it comfortable (including the GMs!). Although it could be run in its own right, the intended setting is as an adjunct to some kind of convention - ideally a SF one. Since each of the 44 players starts out with such a tiny shred of the overall picture, it would be easy to give out spoilers by making just about any comment on the plot at all ... so I'll leave the plot alone; aside from saying that it fits in well enough at a SF con, and would be a bit harder to sustain in its own right. Nexus gives exquisite detail about the entire staging of the event, including what props need to be made, advice about staging the event and organising it, and how to actually run it on the day (well, weekend actually). The modus operandi for the game involves phone contact to a Control Room. At first glance, this might seem expensive, but remember that in the case of a convention you'd just be making calls between internal extensions so there'd actually be no cost involved. Most players have some contact or code word to employ which connects them with their mentor, resource, gang, henchmen, computer access, or whatever. Players have numbered badges rather than names, to avoid instantly identifying 'strangers' within the game. When a player has a badge on they're in play. When they don't, they either are out of play or weren't playing in the first case. The book is full of practical advice for both the GMs and the players. It also makes no attempt to hide the fact that as the game progresses it will gradually become bigger than the sum of the talents involved in it. In a tabletop game, the GM usually at least knows what is going on even if they can't influence it without undue interventionism. In a live action game it is just not possible for five GMs to be aware of everything that 44 players are plotting, scheming, and realising, so the game will get out of control, typically around Saturday evening according to the overview. Although, of necessity, much of the introductory and overview sections are heavily tutorial, they are generally written with a levity and enthusiasm which makes it easy to pass over. One quote, from the section about choosing assistant GMs illustrates this well: * You will need 3-4 fellow GMs to help you prepare and run the game at full speed. These should be people you can trust to get things done, to be imaginative, to get things done, to get along with each other, and to get things done. Having read it thoroughly, I certainly feel confident enough to consider trying to run Nexus sometime; though getting a project of this sort off the ground requires a lot of time and committment, to say nothing of finding around 60 people and a handy SF convention. I only have one concern, which is commercial rather than practical. Only GMs should read Nexus; so the actual sales of the book could be relatively low. That said, I suppose the ratio is similar - in a tabletop game there's 1 GM to around 6 players, here there are 5 GMs + support to 44 players. However, the missing factor is the fiction value. Some players still buy scenario books for their fictional value, and it's easier to deal with a knowledgable player in a hands-on environment such as a table-top game. I hope the series it successful - this is certainly a powerful debut. The downside is that the following point has to be made strongly. Buy the book if you are considering running (or assisting in running) the game. Do NOT buy it if you are going to play the game (or at least, not until afterwards...). -------------------- From: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu (Shannon Appel) Subject: Review: The SF BRP Games System: Misc (BRP, Ringworld, Other Suns) At Origins last weekend, I picked up a copy of Other Suns, a BRP Science Fiction game published about ten years ago by FGU. Thus, finally having a copy of all three SF BRP games that have been published in the US, I decided to write up a review of them. So below, you'll find comments on Future World (1/3 of Worlds of Wonder, Chaosium, 1982), Other Suns (FGU, 1983) and Ringworld (Chaosium, 1984). Unfortunately, all of these games are now out of print, but with a little bit of work, they can still be uncovered in net.auctions and con flea markets. I've purchased my copies of all three games in the last couple of years. FUTURE WORLD by Steve Perrin and Gordon Monson published by Chaosium as a part of WORLDS OF WONDER (2008-X) Worlds of Wonder was an interesting product. It detailed three different genres, Future World, Magic World and Super World, all centered around the city of Wonder, a place which offered portals onto all of reality. A 16 page Basic Role Playing book was the heart of the product, and all three Worlds were built upon it. Future World's biggest fault is its size. It is only sixteen pages long, and thus there's really not enough room to fully detail a science fiction environment. Two pages outline a background for Future World, although I suspect that most gamemasters would be more inclined to use a setting from their favorite novel or their own imagination. Another two and a half pages are spent on a scenerio. And that leaves just twelve and a half pages of actual rules. Character Creation is probably the strongest point of Future World. In a very Traveller-esque system, the players cycle through a number of terms before they enter play, getting percentage increases in skills each term. Although the system is extremely simple, and the only roll made each term is to determine if you can enter a new career or re-enlist, the sense of history that your character develops is still quite good. Characters can be of other races, or even robots. These choices are simply represented by different dice rolls for the starting characteristics. The rest of Future World is pretty much made up of equipment. Several pages of somewhat hightech equipment are detailed, including computers, force screens, and many of the typical SF weapons, such as lasers and force swords. Overall, I don't think that there is enough of Future World to really run a SF BRP games. However, I think that the ideas would be very useful in conjunction with one of the other two products that I review below. The character creation system could be modified to produce a superb SF BRP character creation system, and the equipment could be used as a great addendum. However, there's just too much missing, such as rules for SF vehicles, starships and worldbuilding, to use FUTUREWORLD to run SF BRP without a lot of extra work. OTHER SUNS by Niall Shapero published by FGU (#2201) Many people probably don't realize that Other Suns is a BRP game. Apparently, at one time, Chaosium was considering publishing it, but creative differences eventually left it in FGU's lap. Other Suns is set in a universe of funny animals. You'll find walking, talking foxes, bears, cats and many more. However, if funny animals aren't really your cup of tea, the background can be ignored easily enough, and just the game system used. Both Character Creation and the standard mechanics are modified somewhat from the BRP standard. You'll find extra characteristics (eg. BuiLD and Telepathic Strike Capability) and different rules to do some things (eg. an action point system is used for combat), but this is all pretty minor. Combat is further supplemented by pages of high-tech weapons and armor, more than enough to make most militaristic SF gamers happy. Finally, the main book in Other Suns is padded out by 16 pages of skills (included tons of terrific SF skills, such as RoboPsychology), two pages on Psionics (a bit scant), information on making a living and descriptions of the intelligent species of the Other Suns universe. If Other Suns had stopped there, it would have been OK. However, there is a whole second book that makes it terrific, on Starships & World Building. A complete starship construction system is included, and several examples are provided. A couple of pages detail ground and air vehicles, medical technology and gadgets. Then, 25 pages are used to detail a world building system. There are a few things missing from Other Suns. There really isn't enough detail on future technology in general. The character generation system is a bit more simplistic than I like (meaning that I've been spoiled by Traveller). However, overall Other Suns is an excellent product. If you want to play a space opera game, spanning many worlds, this is the system to use. The best part is that its not that hard to find. I've seen it in game shops as recently as a few years ago. When people auction off copies, they're usually pretty cheap. RINGWORLD RINGWORLD COMPANION by Sherman Kahn & lots of other people published by Chaosium (2501-X & 2502) And then, there's Ringworld. The most recently published BRP game is also the hardest to get a hold of, no doubt due to popularity of Larry Niven's Known Space series. The overall system is quite good, and very true to Niven's books, but I think the setting just wasn't quite what people wanted in a science-fiction game. More on that in a sec. Ringworld does a beautiful job of detailing Niven's universe. There are extensive details on the Ringworld, full stats on the alien species of Known Space and information on all the different planets described in Niven's books. In addition, Ringworld makes some really good changes to the BRP system. Character creation takes into account home planets, skills span many futuristic technologies and rules are given for radiation, psionics and many items of technology (in fact there is a whole book all about technology, 36 pages long). I'd have no problem recommending Ringworld as the best BRP SF system out there, lightyears ahead of the rest, if not for one thing: the emphasis of the game. Ringworld is a game about exploring Ringworld. As a result, the information on starships is scant, there aren't any detailed world creation systems and the adventures are all about exploring Ringworld itself. If Ringworld had instead been the game of Known Space, I think it would have been a real hit that would still be alive today. However, it is, instead, restricted to one (VERY large) planet, and does not allow the space-faring adventure that one expects of a SF game. A quick note on the Ringworld Companion. It's a great supplement to the game, full of new aliens, new animals and new technology. There are also a few pages on starships and hyperspace which do a little to make Ringworld more space-oriented. CONCLUSION So, you want to play a BRP SF game? If you want a complete, consistant system, Other Suns will do the job. It's not too hard to find a copy. Ringworld provides an even stronger basic system, full of great technology and interesting aliens. However, I think you'd need to borrow Spaceship and World construction rules from Others Suns if you wanted a solid space opera game. Futureworld has a few interesting ideas, which could add spice to any SF BRP game, but really isn't complete enough to use on its own. And, lest I forget the Chaosium Digest, make sure you check out V6.5. Stefan Aust there does a superb job of putting together a set of rules for Traveller/BRP in an article that I really enjoyed. Shannon -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial discussion forum for Chaosium's Games. To submit an article, subscribe, or unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu. All articles submitted to the Digest remain copyright their respective authors, unless noted otherwise.