RPGs That Time Forgot... Stormbringer

Tag line: Fantasy Roleplaying in the World of Elric
Makers: Chaosium Games, 1st edition (1981), I have the 4th edition (1990) by Ken St. Andre, Steve Perrin and John B. Munroe

What is it?
Chaosium reworked its Call of Cthulhu system into a sword & sorcery RPG based on Michael Moorcock's Elric series. The softcover 4th edition contains the system, information on the world of the Young Kingdoms, its people, creatures, religions and magics, as well as a handful of fairly well developed adventure scenarios.

Neat stuff
-First and foremost, the magic system. Instead of your usual spellcasting, Stormbringer requires sorcerers to summon demons and elementals to create various effects. The more powerful beings will require convincing before lending their help, and the GameMaster is encouraged to bargain hard. I find this a lot more engaging than the usual "learn-a-spell" slot-filling system of D&D, incorporating a measure of role-playing into the dangerous act of using magic.
-Divine intervention is possible, using a cumulative stat called "Elan", for which you curry favor with your gods (or lose favor through your actions).
-No standard "fantasy races" in the world of Stormbringer. Rather, people are divided into cultures, from the noble pre-human civilization of Elric's Melniboné to (my favorite) the lowborn of the City of Beggars to the winged men of Myrrhyn. "Classes" are closer to professions and will probably better appeal to the more advanced player, though of course there are warriors, priests and sorcerers.
-Something I love about Chaosium's core books is that they almost always include a bunch of adventure scenarios. The handful here can't really all be played by the same party of adventurers (not without some tweaking), but instead give you a fair sample of what to do with Stormbringer with different character types and levels.
-There's a cool pull-out map of the Young Kingdoms at the back.

Bad stuff (ish)
-If you haven't read the books, the art (especially the full color plates) will spoil one key plot point. At least it did for me. Reading the entire sourcebook will, of course, do the same.
-Though the introductions to the world talk about Elric's doomed fate, there is no real concerted effort to realize that as a game mechanic. Elan doesn't QUITE do it as far as karmic wyrding goes. Nor is the concept of incarnations (of the Eternal Champion or others) developed.
-There's an odd personal style to some of the sections, with the author speaking in the first person. Things like "This is the adventure I came up with when..." Not bad per se, but definitely odd.

Quote
"[8.1.2.2.] ADVENTURES WITHOUT USING MOORCOCK'S CHARACTERS.
This was my original idea of how the game should be played." (see what I mean?)

How I've used it
I haven't. As long as I had the Elric series on my shelf, unread, I dare not spoil them by cracking the book open for long. Also, I was afraid I wouldn't get the style right. I've had the RPG since the early 90s, but didn't read the books until this summer! My bad! Now though, I sort of have a campaign in the Young Kingdoms somewhere in me. Or if I were to play, I'd feel compelled to create a Beggar, since the City of Beggars was one of my favorite concepts from the books. Still, always a GameMaster and never a bride. I'm sure I'd love to play the role of Elemental/Beast/Chaos Lords and negotiate my magic. Why yes, I WILL take your soul.

In conclusion
If you're a fan of the Elric Saga, then you won't be disappointed with Stormbringer. It does justice to the source material, gives you full stats for all the important characters, monsters and gods (as well as new demons - and a way to make more - to make the magic system more workable), and is QUITE playable. There are five adventure scenarios included, but the way the original books are structured, Moorcock basically gave us three scenario ideas/examples per book! I'd feel quite at ease doing royal politics, raids on fortified cities, battlefield epics, and weird and crazy travel through the planes just based on the original material. Another campaign wish for a future that might never come. Sigh.

RPGs That Dinosaur Week Forgot... The Living Land

Tag line: The Sourcebook of Primitive Reality
Makers: West End Games for Torg, 1990

What is it?
A sourcebook detailing one of Torg's original invading Cosms, the Living Land. The invading cosm is based in North America, gobbling up part of the West Coast, a huge chunk from the tip of Lake Superior to Manhattan, and a patch in Nunavut, turning urban areas and wilderness alike into a misty "Land that time forgot", complete with dinosaurs, swamp things and lizard men called the Edeinos. The book includes info on the world, rules to make it work, new creatures and miracles, adventure seeds, and character sheets for some 16 new archetypes.

Neat stuff
-The Edeinos have a really striking appearance, and the suggestion of a "Tech Prodigy Edeinos" PC archetype pretty funny. You certainly don't expect to see one of these guys wearing a baseball cap.
-The native religion is described in detail and pleasantly alien and interesting, while also being something players can understand and get their teeth into. Basically, the spirit of the land wants to feel emotions and sensations through its practitioners, leading to some interesting ways of crafting Miracles.
-The Living Land has a very low Social axiom, which isn't an easy concept to convey (unlike a low Tech or Magic axiom). So the book takes special care to explain how "civilization" and "socialization" can be drained from a character without affecting its actual intelligence.
-I like the idea that things get lost in the mists all the time, and that the GM is encouraged to make equipment of all sorts disappear for various reasons.
-There's a small, but important chapter on Canada, and as a proud Canadian, I'm always happy to see that. Thankfully, the Living Land hasn't spread to my region, but I'm sure it disrupted the train schedules.

Bad stuff
-The art. Aside from Daniel Horne's cover, good illustrations are exceedingly rare. Jeff Menges (who handles the interior alone) has particular trouble with the human form, though it's at about the same level as, say, any given GURPS sourcebook of the era.
-Though the art and description clearly depict dinosaurs, the sourcebook gives them all new "flavorful" names. It's annoying. It makes the creature you're looking for hard to find, and in any case, you and the players will likely call them by their regular names anyway.
-Some typos. Tsk tsk.

Quote
"The antipope is offering the province of Quebec something they can hardly refuse given the course of the invasion so far." (Aw jeez, Quebec. You're throwing in with the Cyberpapacy?)

How I've used it
Very little, actually. It was available to me for when I ran Torg games (a couple with the game itself, and a couple more converted to Dream Park), but I think the information in the core rules were usually enough. Re-reading it now, I wish I'd done more with it. At the time, it just wasn't one of the Cosms that really excited me, but again, I blame the core rules. The fuller information in The Living Land kinda make me want to run a pulp game in which characters stumble upon a forgotten land (à la Edgar Rice Burroughs). I'd drop the bits about encroaching on Manhattan (though that could be an interesting sequel), but definitely keep the Edeinos, their religion and the mists, which I'd blame for Torg's axiom action.

In conclusion
A fine sourcebook even if you're not playing Torg, it has a lot of flavor text and is evocative of the setting despite its flaws. Rules discussions can, for the most part, be ported over to other games, as they offer good advice about survival in hostile environments and getting lost in them. The coolness doesn't stop with the cover! More on Torg from the SBG.

RPG Magazines That Time Forgot... Dungeon #12

Dragon Magazine #12, July/August 1988
Tag line: Adventures for TSR Role-Playing Games
Makers: TSR Inc.

What is it?
Where Dragon featured role-playing articles for various games (not just AD&D), but no adventures, the bimonthly Dungeon featured nothing nothing BUT adventures, and singly for D&D and AD&D. The example issue has 5 adventures: Light of Lost Souls (AD&D 2nd-4th level), Scepter of the Underworld (AD&D 12-solo), At the Spottle Parlor (D&D 1-3), Intrigue in the Depths (AD&D 4-7) and Huddle Farm (AD&D 1-4). An index of the first 12 issues' worth of adventures is also provided.

Neat stuff
-The original art is of a high quality and diverse besides. I especially like Michael Wright's scratchy pieces for Spottle Parlor and Linda Medley's charming Hobbits for Huddle Farm (yes, Linda Medley from Doom Patrol, et al.!). The paper stock is also white and strong, which means these issues have really held up over time.
-Though many issues had higher-level adventures, the focus on mostly low-to-mid level scenarios is a welcome feature. Not only do I not have to wait a long time before I can use the material, but low-level adventures in particular are great teaching GMs how to craft engaging stories for characters who don't have many spells or hit points. Both Huddle Farm and Spottle Parlor are especially awesome in this respect, so long as you don't mind injecting comedy into your sessions (and I obviously don't!).
-Though AD&D was the product of the day, it's nice to see classic D&D get some support. I wonder how many GMs were still playing D&D AND buying an AD&D-centric magazine. Perhaps like me, they simply converted one to the other (except I only had to convert the odd classic scenario into Advanced). There are no Oriental Adventures in this issue, but that too got an adventure here and there.
-There is a little non-adventure material in this issue, including a letters page (that debates the worth of long versus short adventures) and a humor article entitled How to Fail as a Writer Without Hardly Trying.

Bad stuff
-When I buy a magazine that promises adventures I can insert in my games, I find a "flip to such-and-such a number" solo adventures are wasted pages. I don't want to be the hero of my own adventure(TM), I've got a party to cater to.
-Dragon catered to other games - TSR did, after all, also publish Top Secret, Marvel Super Heroes, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, and others - but Dungeon never did. I think a scenario for those less well-supported games could have gone a long way making them as viable as AD&D back in the 80s.
-Don't let your players see this one's cover. It spoils one adventure's solution.

Quote
"The toad eats Vansin's first die."
How I've used it
I've used Dungeon adventures here and there, either in my own AD&D/some other fantasy system games, or in Dream Park for the more unusual ones. From this issue, I have vague memories of doing Huddle Farm's hobbit encounters (and may use them in an Evernight prequel at some point in the future) and maybe Light of Lost Souls' battle with undead. The clear winner, however, in At the Spottle Parlor, a humorous D&D adventure built around a special dice game that uses a dice-eating toad. There are fun characters around the table, great for getting into various voices, and the game of Spottle itself is fun. I've used the adventure exactly twice, and would do so again. The first was in AD&D (easily converted upwards) and the second in Dream Park (for which I became past master at converting from other games). In both cases, a riotous good time was had.

In conclusion
Though pretty exclusive to AD&D, Dungeon nonetheless managed to feature a lot of variety in level, tone, opponent types, terrain and theme. Some issues have offered, for example, sequels to epic storylines, allowing you to better interconnect adventured culled from the magazine's pages. There are many dungeons, but also wilderness expeditions. In general, I find Dungeon's output to be about the same quality as adventures offered in TSR's more official products, specifically adventure collections like Planescape's Well of Worlds (to name one off the top of my head). If you're into AD&D or can easily convert to 3rd/4th edition, you could do worse than track down these issues.

Star Trek 1143: Star Trek Deep Space Nine Roleplaying Game

A Gaming Week begins with an RPGs That Time Forgot... / Star Trek Daily Reviews crossover!

1143. Star Trek Deep Space Nine Roleplaying Game
Tag line: The Frontiers of the Federation
Makers: Last Unicorn Games, 1999

What is it?
A full-color, hardcover self-contained RPG based on Star Trek DS9. Last Unicorn's original Star Trek game was based on TNG, but they also produced alternative core books based on TOS and DS9, repeating the rules, but introducing a different feel, graphics and example stats in each of them. In the DS9 version, though you probably have access to a support ship, your characters inhabit a station on the frontier (it doesn't have to be DS9).

Neat stuff
-Though the focus in on the Bajoran system, the game describes or suggests a number of interesting frontiers to set your game in. The Gamma Quadrant, the DMZ and the Neutral Zone are obvious, but what about the Federation's borders with the Tholians, Gorn or - eep! - Borg space? One of the nice things about Last Unicorn is that they weren't afraid to stray off canon and fill in the world's blanks. Consequently, there's also an original mining base described in the mix, as well as the 8 other Deep Space stations. Any of them could serves as a launching point for your series.
-This is a game that works with species templates and profession overlays. DS9 adds Bajorans, Cardassians, Ferengi, Klingons and Trill (with neat special rules about their different hosts' abilities), as well as professions like merchants, smugglers, pirates, spies, politicians, rebels and clergy. You can mix Starfleet in there, but the game allows you to play very much outside the usual Federation playground.
-Niners will find great joy in the stats for their favorite DS9 characters, hero ships like the Defiant, and enemy races from the Jem'Hadar and Changelings to the Prophets and Pah-Wraiths.
-Generally better looking and better organized than its older cousin, the TNG Core Book.

Bad stuff
-Though I appreciate that they rewrote most of the copy to match the tone of DS9, there's still an awful lot of redundancy between this Core Book and the TNG and TOS Core Books. May be annoying to those who were buying every Star Trek RPG product.
-When comparing the templates, it would seem the Starfleet characters have more points in their builds, which hardly seems fair. Though on paper, it may seem realistic (Starfleet is better trained), Star Trek series should be about the very best crews out there. Are Kira and Odo really less competent than Riker and Worf? No, I don't think so. You may want to adjust the values yourself.
-The included adventure by Robin Laws is a good one, but seems out of place. After going to all that effort to differentiate this game from the other lines, we get a Starfleet diplomacy mission that will be difficult to adapt to your Maquis or Ferengi pirate campaign.
-The shade of gold usec for paragraph titles is rather soft, which makes flipping through the book to look for something a difficult endeavor. Nothing jumps out at you. When the color is use in boxed text with the same color background, it makes things hard to read.

Quote
"Romance scenarios, from the faux Highland variety produced on the Caldos colony to the racier 'Vulcan Love Slave II' holonovel, fnid audiences among a broad spectrum of holosuite enthusiasts."

How I've used it
I haven't. By the time I bought it, our Star Trek campaign had collapsed. I guess I just like Deep Space Nine a lot. Were I to start things over, I would definitely use the DS9 core book over the TNG one. First, it's better organized. Second, I've learned a few things about SETTING since then, and a less homogeneous base is more interesting to me than a nomadic show. At the very least, the repetition of the core rules makes one of the books a serviceable "Player's Handbook" the group can look things up in.

In conclusion
Last Unicorn may have made a mistake in splitting their game into three separate lines. I wonder if a single core rule book and series-centric supplements, all coming out soon after, might not have been a better way to go, with a more unified identity on store shelves. Maybe we might have seen the really cool boxed sets that were announced but never released before the game collapsed. The Cardassian and Klingon sets were especially missed. And there was only really two other products specifically labeled for DS9 - a GM's Screen and a Raiders, Renegades & Rogues sourcebook. That's just too bad.

You can find additional material and previews for some of the books at the Memory Icon website.

RPGs That Time Forgot... Time Lord

Tag line: Create your own adventures in time and space
Makers: Ian Marsh & Peter Darvill-Evans for BBC Books, 1991 (currently available as a pdf)

What is it?
Before there was Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, and after the FASA Doctor Who RPG, there was Time Lord, the official Doctor Who RPG of its time. Even design-wise, it fits between those other two games.

Neat stuff
-Stats for every Doctor and Companion (including UNIT personnel) up to the 7th Doc, as well as for all the great (and not so great - the Tractators?) monsters and villains of the classic era.
-Some of the skills (called abilities) are a hoot: Bench-thumping, Cheat Death, Screaming, Serendipity, Gloating, MacGuffin, Pseudoscience, Resourceful Pockets... some of these are steeped in Whovian flavor (so much so a few of them show up in the new game!)
-Comes complete with a ready-made scenario, a sequel of sorts to The Daemons

Bad stuff
-There are no character creation rules in the core book. A Companion book fixed this, I believe, but as originally released, you could only play known characters. I'm sure you could build your own with what's here, there just aren't any balancing rules for it. An appendix tells you how to stat YOURSELF, which is a fun idea,
-The old school vibe this has doesn't really mesh with some of its more progressive ideas. On the one hand, you have open-ended abilities like MacGuffin and Serendipity and a strange "roll 2d6 and DEDUCT the results to get your number" (progressive only in that it's unusual), on the other, a crunchy combat system that uses miniatures, and a scenario that is designed as a dungeon "module" (with room descriptions, etc.).
-The art in the book is never more than acceptable and aside from a picture of each Doctor, there are no pics from the show at all. Disappointing in a licensed product.

Quote
"A cricket ball is an indispensable piece of equipment."

How I've used it
I haven't played the game, but as a sort of guide to the characters and aliens of Doctor Who, it's not bad. During the creation of my Unauthorized Doctor Who card game, I certainly had it close. Not only did I need it to get full overviews of some of the companions I knew less about, but I see now that I even pilfered some of the abilities for my cards' Traits (Gloating and Screamer specifically). Now that I'm going to be running a Doctor Who campaign, I'll certainly look at the included scenario again. Leave no idea unturned, I say. And with renewed interest in Who role-playing, I'll be able to use conversion notes to recreate some of the classic monsters that haven't shown up in the new series.

In conclusion
Even though there's a new game out there, it won't cover the classic series for a while yet, so Time Lord hasn't lost its relevance. The character builds should be easy enough to convert to the new system and there are a number of story ideas that remain usable. Just chuck the system. And I say that with all respect to the authors as this has a lot more to recommend it than pan it.

Doctor Who - Player's Guide Preview: 8 Observations

Yesterday, while I was discussing the new Doctor Who RPG's character sheet, Hero Press was once again one step ahead, featuring the even more recently released Player's Guide Preview.This pdf basically includes pages 4 though 10 of the Player's Guide - sorry, no Table of Contents! - and is thus an introduction to role-playing and to the Doctor Who universe. But there IS an example of game play and other bits here and there that reveal things about the game itself.

1) It really is for beginners. Not only does the system seem quick and simple, it attempts to explain role-playing and each concept clearly. I think this is the way to go when it comes to licensed RPGs that conceivably could have crossover appeal. After all, the game is bound to attract Doctor Who fans, especially the completists. In my own neck of the woods, as soon as I started talking about starting a Who campaign, a number of people who've never gamed before asked to be a part of it, just because they liked/were obsessed with the show.

2) The presentation: Same eye candy as the character sheet, of course, but promises to color code its boxed text (red for NPCs, blue for charts) and has a cute bit with the psychic paper.
3) Chapter Titles: Just the idea that Chapter 3 is called Allons-y! makes me smile. The prose is cheeky and fun on the whole, and fun inside jokes about the show make the game its own thing and not just a straight translation from Unisystem. Chapter 2 is Children of Time, which appears to be a collection of pre-fab characters, I imagine mostly from the show.

4) Unisystem confirmed! The example of play uses Unisystem's Attribute+Skill+2d6 scheme, so that's as predicted. No other element has been spoiled, including Story Points or Traits.

5) Also confirmed: The basic set only includes New Who material. In my opinion, that's the most marketable way to go and it doesn't preclude Classic Who products down the line. The preview says you don't need to know about Rassilon yet, and it's correct, but "yet" implies we may YET hear about him. In any case, as soon as the game hits, so will fan material covering the Classic eras. If Cubicle 7's hands are legally tied on that point, the Internet's certainly won't be.

6) The boxed set will include a handful of special Doctor Who dice. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

7) Story points are tracked using counters, and some are included in the box. That's great since I already used a cinematic point system managed with poker chips in my previous campaign. Not only are my players used to it, they loved throwing their chips around. The idea that others would be included in future products seems to indicate they have particular effects written on them (good for beginners) and that new drama effects might creep into the game as time goes on. Then again, it may just be an ongoing support thing.

8) The box will include pre-fab character sheets with the Doctor and his companions as well as "archetypes" that only really require you to add their name. Again, this is good for newbies, though also good as a baseline for quick-start characters. I intend to have "guests" at my games (the equivalent of Lynda with a Y or Sally Sparrow), so that's going to be useful.

So while I was writing this, was anything else revealed?

Doctor Who - The Character Sheet: 10 Observations

With thanks to Hero Press for bringing my attention to it, here is the character sheet for the new Doctor Who role-playing game coming out this fall:Click for legible size. So what do I think?

1) Well, first off, I'll probably be making my own low-graphics version of it. It's pretty, but I want it to be functional, have room for notes in the margins (my players are notorious scribblers) and not eat up my ink cartridges without reason. Too much wasted space. But that's my only real problem with it. What can we infer from the game just from its character sheet?

2) The game will be simple. When an RPG can afford to list ALL Skills on its sheet and they amount to just 12 (+6 Attributes), you know you've got a game without a lot of crunch. I'm happy about this. I like the systems I use to be easy to learn and quick to play. With Doctor Who, there's a lot of ground to cover (past and future, alien powers, time travel, you name it), so making the game crunchy would have made it incredibly heavy.

3) In fact, it looks a lot like Cinematic Unisystem. Right now, I'm waiting for the game to come out, but when I thought I'd be starting a Who game this summer, I studied up on Unisystem. So I feel ready to play even if I haven't seen the official rules yet. For those who don't know, Unisystem basically has you roll on Attribute+Skill+dice (or permutations of such). Traits would be for stuff that is unique to characters (powers, being a Timelord, etc.).

4) The Attributes: Awareness (having run Dream Park for years, "rolling on Awareness" is already something my players are used to doing), Coordination (an odd choice for the usual Agility), Ingenuity (this must be Intelligence, though the word is better for the Doctor Who universe), Presence (Charisma), Resolve (Willpower?), and Strength (I know they're in alphabetical order, but I like that D&D's first stat is Doctor Who's last, very different worlds).

5) The Skills: These have to cover every single situation regardless of where and when they are used. While it may seem a bit much that someone who can drive a car can also pilot a plane, or someone who can survive in the arctic wastes can do just as well in the jungle, it holds true to Doctor Who. Every possible scientific specialty fits under the Science umbrella, for example. Aside from being true to the show's pulp trappings, Doctor Who as a whole follows a British ethos that celebrates the generalist and hobbyist. Though specializations might be part of the game (with penalties to Skill outside one's specialty), there is simply no room for them on the sheet, so they probably don't exist.

6) Home Tech Level: Now THAT's interesting! It could be a built-in "specialization" modifier for tasks that require knowledge beyond one's own era. Time Lords could be at the extreme end of the scale, able to cover Science, Technology or Knowledge from the beginning to the end of history, while 21st-century humans would be less able to practice blacksmithing (Craft) or fly spaceships (Transport).

7) Bio-Data Extract: A LOT of the sheet's real estate is given over to non-stat information, which tends to mean the game encourages role-playing above rule-playing. All for it.

8) Pill shapes: The stats go into an elongated pill shape rather than a circle or square. Just part of the design, or is it possible to have more than one number in there (2 / 4)?

9) No hit points: Is that why there's room for a second number? A DRAINED Attribute number? While there's no health-type Attribute, it could be down to Strength for physical damage and Resolve for mental damage (Who characters so tend to be taken over a lot, don't they?).

10) Story Points: Most certainly a mixture of experience points you receive as reward, and drama points you can use to change your luck (as in Unisystem).

That's as much as I can ascertain from this simple one-pager, but I do like what I see! How about you?

RPGs That Time Forgot... GURPS Dinosaurs

Tag line: ...and Other Prehistoric Creatures
Makers: Steve Jackson Games for GURPS, 1996.

What is it?
Though essentially a bestiary of prehistoric animals from the Paleozoic to the Pleistocene, it also includes a new edition of GURPS Ice Age (role-playing in the time of cavemen).

Neat stuff
-As a fan of prehistoric animals of all sorts, not just dinosaurs, I was real happy to see the ancient (and very weird) mammal, the first sea creatures and giant insects, and the pre-dinosaurian reptiles (a personal favorite: the Dimetrodon). Sure, dinosaurs are the draw, but the rest of them are cool too! And since there are multiple eras represented, a map of the Earth at each of those times is included.
-In addition to animal stats, each section also features discussions of interest to role-players: Playing a paleontologists. Playing as DINOSAURS. Cold versus warm blood (and why GMs should keep dinosaurs hot). Random hit locations on saurian bodies. And more.

Bad stuff
-The flipside of featuring more than just dinosaurs is that pages given over to the thunder lizards is relatively small. Of GURPS Dinosaurs' 128 pages, they only get 41. Shame.
-One thing that could have padded out their presence is illustrations. Sadly, all creatures represented aren't shown, leaving you to scour books and the Internet to get a real sense of what some of these looked like. I mean, we all know what a T.Rex and a triceratops look like, but what about teleosaurus, eusmilus and pinacosaurus? I'd have been happy with a simple, black silhouette.

Can't decide
-GURPS Dinosaurs reprints almost everything in GURPS Ice Age. Is that good or bad? Well, it's probably better than keeping Ice Age in print without the Dinosaur attractions. I love my GURPS Ice Age, but I'm probably not representative of most gamers and their tastes. And while the information has been updated insofar as the Compendium, etc. goes, they've also lost a couple things in the translation. One is the art Donna Barr, which I loved, and the other is a pretty good adventure called Wolf Pack on Bear River.

Quote
"Dinosaurs would be very dangerous to time travelers, mad scientists, or any other humans they encountered." (I only fit one of those criteria, thank goodness.)

How I've used it
Since dinosaurs are a major part of most role-playing games I run, I've of course perused this volume looking for stats to use or convert. I've also used the Ice Age material to run a pretty interesting game. Well, I used this book for its more up-to-date character generation info, and basically used the original GURPS Ice Age for everything else, including adapting its adventure for my own purposes. Players were, I think, pretty surprised at how fun playing cavemen was, especially when they realized they couldn't count higher than the number of fingers on a hand (after 5 came "many") and really got into the mindset of these simpler humans.

In conclusion
For all this prehistoric, I of course recommend GURPS Dinosaurs. The information is well researched (with the stamp of approval from the Dinosaur Society and an introduction by noted paleontologist Jack Horner) and the variety of beasts is pretty wide. Plus, it contains Ice Age, the GURPS book you don't yet think you need but really do. A great sourcebook for low tech games, hidden valley scenarios, and any dinosaur-related activity that could use a little more oomph. Give the usual 6 dinosaurs (T.Rex, Diplodocus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Velociraptor and Pterodactyl) a little break and bring on a few surprises!

Stroll of the Day
Walking with... Ankylosaurus
Speaking of surprises, here's one we don't see that often and yet is completely recognizable. What kind of creature needs armored eyelids? The kind of beats up on Tyrannosaurus Rex with its tail. That kind.

RPGs That Time Forgot... Clash of Kings

Clash of Kings
Tag line: A Tale of Arthur and Merlin
Makers: Pacesetter, for TimeMaster (written by Mark Acres, 1984)

What is it?
An adventure for your Time Corps characters in which they must prevent someone from unraveling Arthurian history before the effects catch up to the present and undo the Time Corps itself. But what's myth and what's history?

Neat stuff
-Use of Aubrey Beardsley's artwork from the 1893 edition of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Though only sparsely illustrated, they help create the proper Arthurian feel, and the even the maps have taken on some of the art's characteristics.
-Time travel scenarios are notoriously difficult to do because having a proper grasp of history seems so important to both players and GMs. Arthurian history, however, is shrouded in myth. Throw time travelers into the mix and it may help explain some of the magic in the tale. It's a perfect era to adventure in, as the players should know the broad strokes, but won't be picky about the details (or am I the only one who plays with History majors?).
-You really do go through all of Arthurian history, having to be present at all the key points, from his conception by Uther Pendragon in that great big armor to his pulling of Excalibur from a stone to Lancelot's Richard Geresque arrival to his final battle with Mordred.
-The historical changes chart. The scenario helps you keep track of changes, both major and minor, and based on the result, tells you what the Corpsmen go back to when they go home. Very fun. You'll want to read them all to your players so they know "what might have been".

Bad stuff
-There gets to be a lot of fighting with Demoreans. Don't get me wrong. I hate those history-changing Nazis as much as the next guy, but it gets tedious after awhile. The setting makes violence all too easy, and the action sometimes predictable.
-It's still a time travel scenario, and while I can't call it a flaw, sometimes things get confusing for players. I guess we're not all built for paradoxes, and Clash of Kings doesn't follow a simple "go to another time and have an adventure". Players have to keep track of what they want to protect in the timeline at various points. It's not really "bad stuff", but some groups may see this as a warning.
-Some elements of the story require a player to have a Telepathic Sending skill, which can be a problem for GMs trying to convert this old TimeMaster stuff to a more modern game which psionics may not be a part of.

Quote
"Soon, there is only silence; your characters have lived out their natural lives in time, and died." - in case of epic failure!

How I've used it
A couple years ago, I found the old TimeMaster game and a bunch of adventure modules on eBay for the right price and pounced on it. I'm a big fan of time travel stories and had heard some good things. Of course, time travel RPGs scare my players to death. Some are afraid of History and of not knowing enough to get by, and those that are hardened historians are afraid of paradoxes lurking in every corner (on the fly history is especially tough on these latter gents). But from time to time, it can be fun, so I adapted the scenario for our Dream Park game (DP allows you to play in a different setting each game) with minimal changes to the story's beats. As expected, there was a lot of hesitation as players were afraid of erasing their own lives or something. Just a byproduct of unfamiliarity with the genre. In the end, all that was erased was a few poems (sorry, T.S. Eliot!). A fun session, especially for the resident Arthurian.

In conclusion
TimeMaster is a competently made game, if a little old school (though I hear the kids are into that), and Clash of Kings one of the better scenarios published for it from what I can suss out from other reviews and flipping through them myself. It looks like a large number of TM's stuff sends the players into parallel worlds where magic and myth are possible, which to me, isn't what time travel stories should be about. Clash of Kings, despite the presence of a Merlin character, remains a credible SF story by resisting the urge to appeal to a D&D audience.

RPGs That Time Forgot... Wildspace

Wildspace
Tag Line: none (for 4 to 6 characters of 6th to 8th level)
Makers: TSR Inc. for AD&D 2nd Edition's Spelljammer setting

What is it?
The first adventure module for AD&D's Spelljammer setting, which basically crosses the usual fantasy tropes with space opera. The adventure provides a jumping on point for characters already evolving in the World of Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms, providing a way to keep adventuring in the space lanes after it's over. The story features what is billed as the largest dungeon ever, a hollowed out giant asteroid with massive rooms that are worlds unto themselves... but there may be more to it than that. 64 pages.

Neat Stuff
-For those who love cross-genre (and I do), Spelljammer is a pretty cool idea, surprising well integrated to the AD&D universe, and in fact connecting the various worlds together. The fantasy physics are fun, the "aliens" well cast (Mind Flayers and Beholders definitely have that B-movie vibe), and the ship designs are nice and varied.
-The adventure starts with an anchor dropping from the sky, a dramatic introduction for already established characters.
-It's epic. Not only do the PCs deal with a whole new universe, the ending is HUGE and important.
-The full-color map that comes with Wildspace does an excellent job of presenting the asteroid in three dimensions. An industrious GM with a scanner could even recreate the giant rooms as cardboard "dice".
-I like how each section of the adventure includes Staging notes to get the atmosphere right, and Troubleshooting for when the characters do the less expected. When the sandbox is that big, you should be expecting it.

Bad Stuff
-The art. Aside from some nice looking covers, Spelljammer had flat, boring art and layouts across the line, especially compared to its cousins, Ravenloft and Planescape, and their incredibly evocative artwork and design. Actually dull enough to reduce my interest in the setting considerably.
-The mystery of the "Hive" is presented in a series of murals, described but not pictured. When I played it, I had to create the murals myself (pretty sketchily, I admit). Such a integral part of the plot should have been pictured on the gatefold.
-The title. You do not go into Wildspace in this adventure (which is the space between solar systems).

Quote
"The Hive asteroid measures about ten miles in diameter. The chambers inside, though, total about 300 square miles in area!"

How I've used it
Because of its cross-genre element, I converted and used it for a Dream Park game. I cut it down a little, because I don't like my DP scenarios to go over two sessions, using the chambers I liked best, and simply putting them where the characters were choosing to go before the "countdown" made things happen and locked the other rooms. The NPCs were easy to characterize thanks to the animal traits mentioned in their descriptions, and the game offered various types of challenges, from battles to puzzles to mysteries. Even getting up that anchor had to be figured out. All Dream Park games need to introduce their "rules" very early on, and Wildspace does this. So as an introduction to the setting, it works quite well.

In conclusion
Though there's nothing wrong with starting 1st level characters in Spelljammer, there's a lot to be said for opening up the world later. Start small, local, etc., and then this bloody big anchor falls from the sky and blows your mind. Wildspace not only offers a sound introduction, but a ship and crew the PCs can inherit if they want to keep adventuring (even part-time) in the expanded world of Spelljammer.

Anyone else ever play it or run it?

More reviews that time forgot

The 10 Strangest GURPS Books

...and why I seem to only want to play with those.

GURPS (the Generic Universal Role-Playing System) has had a ton of sourcebooks over the years - perhaps in order to prove that it truly was universal. GURPS picked up some surprising licensed properties (Riverworld, The Prisoner, War Against the Chtorr), done intriguing original settings (Technomancher, Transhuman Space), explored some of the less traveled eras of human history (Ice Age, Aztecs), and covered genres we don't usually see (Atomic Horror, Cops). But none of these are quite as books on the following list...

10. WWII - Iron Cross
Nazi Germany and its Forces
Given that GURPS had a WWII line, it's quite normal for it to have a sourcebook on WWII's principal adversaries (while Italy got a thin book, Japan never got its due). But the way Iron Cross does it is pretty controversial. See, it's not just a book detailing NPC villains, it's built like any other stand-alone GURPS sourcebook. That means it has a section on player character creation and campaigning AS a Nazi. Well, to be fair, I should say: As a GERMAN. And while films like Cross of Iron and Stalag 17 do show that there's the potential for honorable characters in the premise, especially if the idea of a campaign fated to end of disaster appeals to you, there's also a way to play "proper", anti-Semitic Nazis. Gestapo and Hitler Youth are among the character templates, and "Aryan Elite" is a proposed campaign. Of COURSE, the book doesn't promote Nazi ideology, but it's still off-putting. For a group interested in a heavy and dark role-playing experience, this could be very interesting though.

9. Robin Hood
Adventures in Sherwood Forest... and Beyond
Sounds a little narrow, but nothing wrong with Robin Hood role-play, is there? Certainly not, and just as GURPS Scarlet Pimpernel covered all of Revolutionary France, this book gives us a fair Lion-Hearted setting. Then, on page 47, it throws the setting out in favor of "The Ghost of the Moors", an 18th-century Scottish Robin Hood. And then four more "Robin Hoods" in other eras and genres. There are Old West, Supers, Cyberpunk and Space versions of Robin included. Yes, this is the book you need to play Rocket Robin Hood. I wouldn't kid you about something like that.

8. All-Star Jam 2004
Ten Authors. One Book.
Just an odd idea for a product. All-Star Jam is a Best of Pyramid with unpublished articles, basically. Some of the articles are on general topics - airships, precursor races, ghost breaking, underground adventures - but there are also some odd little campaign settings you could reasonably flesh out with other GURPS books. The Chariot Age of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, et al.; Alchemical Baroque, a fairy tale world approaching our 18th century; Meridian, a space opera in which planets are linked by railroad tracks(!); and a historical campaign in which the last band of Spartans roams a decaying Europe. There's also a chapter on babysitting Cthulhu spawn, so...

7. Vehicles
From Chariots to Cybertanks... and Beyond!
A crunch book, one of GURPS' strangest? Definitely. A useful version of Vehicles would include stats for every possible vehicle in every possible setting. Instead, David Pulver has written an engineering manual that is so crunchy, it will break your jaw. Vehicles are built from the ground up. You need to take into account every component, calculating volume, weight and performance so that it all makes "sense". As an example, the formula for Aerodynamic Drag is [(Sa-R)/Sl] + D, so [(total surface area of vehicle - surface of anything retractable) / streamlining)] + the sum of various modifiers that include seating and loaded hard points. That Batmobile better be worth it!! Kudos to McCubbin and Sheeley who created the Sprockets campaign setting (Best of Pyramid vol.1) in which pokemon balls with crazy vehicles in them fall from the sky just so you could muster the courage to use this book.

6. IOU
Welcome to Illuminati University!
Get yourself a blender. Throw in GURPS Illuminati, Call of Cthulhu's Miskatonic University and Teenagers from Outer Space. Blend and have the results illustrated by Phil Foglio. Now, you're getting it! Or it's Veronica Mars meets Lovecraft meets Weird Science. If you're in college - and if you're an active role-player, there's a good chance you are - here's your chance to recreate your undergraduate experience with temporal physics lab experiments gone wrong, and the University President as an Elder God. The more I think about it, the only really strange part of this book is the section on playing it straight.

5. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
Welcome to the Most Amazing Bar in the Universe!
Sometimes you wonder why someone thought a property would make a good role-playing game. I have nothing but respect for Spider Robinson's amusing short stories, but Callahan's? Really? Sure, the setting can be used as a meeting place for characters of, well, ANY campaign, and could provide characters access to any GURPS-supported setting. However, and the sourcebook bears this out, Callahan stories are mostly about talking. Telling tale tales, finishing jokes with terrible puns, and participating in riddle contests. Given that Neil Gaiman's Sandman and the recent House of Mystery comic have both featured a similar "Saloon", maybe the world is finally ready for Callahan's. Oh, yeah, and read the section on how more and more people are playing by "modem" and how CCS is perfect for it!

4. Casey and Andy
An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS from Steve Jackson Games
Outdoing Callahan's in the "they got the license for WHAT?" category, this pdf-only 34-page sourcebook is based on a now dead web comic. The hook is that it's about two mad scientist roommates who tend to blow themselves up a lot. As a guide for fans of the strip, it's pretty sweet, but to everyone else, it'll read like a spoof of a setting (I do like the silly time travel paradox flow chart) with not much incentive to create your own characters. A resource strictly for those difficult years after your characters have left Illuminati University.

3. Goblins
Be Warned, Gentle Reader...
I love low-powered gaming, but I realize I'm in the minority. GURPS characters are already on the low end of the scale at 100 points (most of my campaigns have at gone for the more heroic 125-point model, oooh), but Goblins are 15-point characters with as many as -150 points in disadvantage on top of that. Ouch. The ugly, often diseased, deformed Goblins are a metaphor for the underclass in what is essentially Georgian London. Their lot in life is to be used and abused, and of course, to get into trouble. Designers Malcolm Dale and Klaude Thomas have written the book in its own peculiar style (marking both era and the point of view of base outsiders) and have truly adapted the system to match the atmosphere they want to create. Initiative here goes to anyone who declares he's "whacking" first; Guns roll against Theology, which explains why mafiosos are all Catholic and the Pope and King can't be killed; there's a luck mechanic; and a selection of mistreatments provide the characters with a pile of both mental and physical disadvantages. For a marginal idea like this to get a full-color treatment at Steve Jackson Games (home of the black and white stock art) is nothing short of bizarre. Friggin' gorgeous in every way though.

2. Bunnies & Burrows
Roleplaying in a World of Intelligent Animals
Starting out as an early RPG based on Watership Down in 1976, B&B found its way into publication again in '79 and then '82, but GURPS finally snagged it in 1992. Why Steve Jackson went so aggressively after it is probably mired in nostalgia. In B&B, you get to play rabbits. They're smart enough to talk to each other and collaborate, but they still don't have opposable thumbs (that is why humans are the only true monsters). Combat usually means running away. It's even more low tech than GURPS Ice Age (though you gotta smile at the little straw backpacks they're sporting on the book cover). And not a ninja in sight. (Actually, the book does include some tools to power game your bunnies, like psionics, herbalism and yes, Bun Fu.)

1. Fantasy II
Adventures in the Mad Lands
They've called it experimental. They've said it was nigh unplayable. It's the Mad Lands, where technology doesn't really exist, and magic isn't easily accessible to players (in fact, they should fear it). Here are some of the elements: A pantheon of gods based on Winnie the Poo which are to feared, not worshiped. All monsters are distorted, corrupted human beings (feet with faces and headless men, for example). Gem injection sorcery, which may become addictive. The Soulless, bored immortal beings who toy with humanity. And to cope, a rather resilient people with a sense of humor and a pre-technological tribal culture that reminds me of Canadian Natives (including the Inuit). It's like playing GURPS Ice Age with Grant Morrison as your GameMaster.

But perhaps I underevaluated the strangeness of YOUR favorite GURPS book? Let me know!

"Endings" Continues... Pyramid No More

Eulogy Section
It's with some regret that I had to say goodbye to Pyramid Online Magazine last week. Steve Jackson Games' in-house magazine is moving on and turning itself into a third format. 10 years ago, it went from a printed publication to a weekly online format. In the past 8, I was a subscriber for maybe 3 years, usually during peak role-playing periods. What was really nice about Pyramid is that no matter when you jumped on, you had complete access to all articles, ever, even the ones from the print magazine. For some 25$ a year, that was a great bargain.

And ultimately, probably what made it less than a financial success. Pyramid is now going another way: A monthly pdf publication at 80$ a year, though current subscribers will get the first 6 issues for free. People are already promising to quit Pyramid once it gets its new sticker price. I probably will too. Not that I've never spent money on pdf ebooks. I have. But while I rarely read Pyramid articles on the week they actually came out, I was a big fan of the searchable database for finding just the articles I was looking for. I know that for others, the price of admission was only worth it because of the forums, newsgroups and playtest opportunities it came with.

So what will I miss? Since I regularly play GURPS, tons of articles statted for that system, though 4th edition material does annoy me a little bit (another reason why I preferred the database). Certainly, some of my favorite features included Chad Underkoffler's great Campaigns in a Box. He wasn't the only one to contribute to that feature, but his ideas were always the most inventive and varied, very often with some cool illustrations, and he was a nice guy to boot, eager to hear about how I (and, I hope, others) inserted them into my own games.

Editor Steven Marsh must also be commended for his weekly musings on gaming, which had the knack of at once inspiring me and yet undercutting everything I might have wanted to say on the subject. If I could come up with such interesting posts on gaming, believe me, you'd have noticed by now. Kenneth Hite's Suppressed Transmissions were also a great source of entertainment for the illuminated mind. So my thanks to every writer, editor, artist or other job who ever contributed to Pyramid Online, and goodbye dream of having something in Steven's slush pile. I'll miss it.

Phoenix Section
Ok, so the first issue of Pyramid 3 is already out. What's it like? Well, it's 45 pages (about 40 once you ditch the cover and ads) revolving around a single theme. The next will be about superheroes, and the third more futuristic, but this one's on Wizards. Not my favorite subject given that a) I don't enjoy fantasy gaming very much and b) even when things get fantastic, my players never want to play magicians. More than anything, the lack of variety within a single issue will be the deal breaker for me. On the other hand, I see how it could encourage me to buy a single issue here and there, as a kind of game designer "jam" about a topic that interests me. Maybe this is a better business model after all.

And you know those writers I was thanking above? They're still here. Marsh is still editor and continuing his Random Thought Table column (good notes on how to keep an air of mystery). Hite hasn't actually done any work for Pyramid in a long while. And Underkoffler gets a little interview (makes me want to track down his more professional work) though not an article. Other contributing SJG stars include Sean Punch, and Murphy's Rules is still part of the humor page.

So anything truly interesting despite by non-magical bias? Well, there's a cool feature on prop-making, with step-by-step pictures, which I like. It's the kind of thing than the online version didn't or couldn't do, so I'm glad to see it there. (In general, it's a handsome package with color and the typical GURPS 4e layout.) The guildhall maps are a little indulgent (and eat up a few pages). The articles on undead weapons and curses might make their way into my next game (there's a horror cosm in there that might benefit from an idea or two). There's a good "Tools of the Trade" article on integrating board and card games into RPGs too. Overall, the articles are longer than in the online version, and more complete for it. I think I like it, but we'll see how much when the time comes to actually pay for it.

Ever read Pyramid? Or some other gaming magazine that's folded?

RPGs That Time Forgot... Miskatonic U. Graduate Kit

Miskatonic U. Graduate Kit
Tag Line: Artifacts from the world's scariest university
Makers: Chaosium Inc. for Call of Cthulhu

What is it?
A Keeper's Kit packaged with faux documents from H.P. Lovecraft's Miskatonic University, mostly played for laughs. Among the serious pieces, you'll find a short adventure scenario, a squat GM screen and character sheets.

Neat Stuff
-For fans of Lovecraft who nonetheless have no interest in playing Call of Cthulhu, this Kit has a lot of neat stuff, most of it tongue in cheek: a library card, map of the campus, diploma (with cardboard frame), poster, notepads, parking sticker, book covers, bumper stickers and more!
-Less cheeky, but no less interesting to Lovecraftophiles, there's a class catalog with authentic-seeming course curricula, and notes on the faculty and both undergraduate and graduate programs.
-The Gahan Wilson cover. 'Nuff said!
-The Keeper's Screen is well produced and being so stumpy, has less chance of falling over. The small homage to Lovecraft in between its tables is a nice touch.

Bad Stuff
-Half the product has little to do with the game per se. And it's not packaged so that a Call of Cthulhu Keeper would recognize it as his "kit" from seeing it on a bookshelf. It's like the two kits (graduate's and Keeper's) were just shrink wrapped together at the last minute.
-A small point, but all documents have a 1986-87 date stamped on them, from the class catalog to the diploma (below - click to enlarge). It makes the product at once dated and NOT DATED ENOUGH. After all, most CoC games take place in the 1920s. It would have been nice to either keep up that illusion (to use the documents as props) or leave the dates blank (giving Keepers a choice).
Quote
243: Emergency Hurdling
2 credit hours
Correct applications to ensure rapid movement during close pursuit. Specially considered: flying, teleporting, and invisible entities. [MR. MUSTOLL]
- School of Medieval Metaphysics Class Catalog

How I've used it
I haven't. I could never get a real Call of Cthulhu campaign going, so even the screen has never been used. And since I'm a little anal about cutting up products I shelled out good money for, I haven't cut up the library cards or stuck the bumper stickers on anything either. I HAVE used a scan of the diploma to create other diplomas though. Does that count?

In conclusion
A fun dossier full of fun props for Lovecraft fans who don't take themselves too seriously (if you own a Cthulhu plushie, then I'm talking about you). Actual CoC players will also find something useful, though you might not like to have to get all the humorous stuff to get it. There are so many separate pieces in the Kit, that I wonder if there are many full sets left and available.

Ambush Bug: Don't Ask!

5 weeks to go before Year Zero, but the year is now 1989 and college Siskoid is grabbing a 1986 DCHeroes RPG module (what we old schoolers used to call adventure scenarios) by the unlikely title of Don't Ask!It is, by far, the craziest superhero scenario I have ever come across and one of my great regrets is that I never run it. I don't want to spoil it, but it has: Kid versions of Deadman and the Spectre, Jonni DC, an essay that reduces villain motivations to those who say "Bah!" and those that don't, a chapter that can only be called comic book limbo, a fake magazine to shill (I mean read), a universal secret origins table (which can create Flex Mentallo!), and an appearance by Ambush Bug himself. Like so:
As you know, Ambush Bug knows he's in a comic. Well, this version of the Bug knows he's in an RPG! He comes complete with a unique power called Reality Check that allows him to become aware of his true nature. Here's my tweaked 2nd edition version (for DCH fans - skip the gobbledegook if you're not):

REALITY CHECK: [Link: INT, Range: Self, Type: Dice, Base Cost: 30, Factor Cost: 3]
First, characters with this Power automatically know they are in a comic or game. Further, with Reality Check, players can cut through the truth of any situation, and even use it to discover if something is really happening, or if it is just a game illusion or silliness created by the GM. However, if a player disputes something and doesn't make the roll, the Power will backfire on the player, attacking the character's Mental Attributes as he or she tries to deal with the backfire. To do a Reality Check, the GM's age is both the Opposing and Resistance Values, and the RAPs are how much information the GM tells the player concerning what is really happening. If the GM needs to boost the OV and/or RV to maintain the illusion for the players, he can do so by using the amount of money that he has in the same manner as Hero Points (1 dollar = 1 Hero Point). The GM does not need to give any money away, but must show it to let everyone know the cash exists. No change is allowed, only paper money (as well as loonies and twonies for Canadians). When a Reality Check backfires, the APs of Reality Check act as both the Acting and Effect Values, with the character's INT and MIND as the OV/RV. RAPs are subtracted from the current value of the character's MIND, which will never fall below zero due to any backfire, cumulative or no. In cases of a Reality Check where the character's life depends on knowledge of what is really happening, reality may shift in an attempt to totally waste the character. There will be a second attack on the hero's Mental Attributes in the next phase as reality shifts. If he succeeds, he/she may take him/herself out of the game or allow the GM to change some aspect of the environment.

Ambush Bug isn't the only character with this power, of course. Superman has it, for example. He's demonstrated it many times by winking at the readers at the end of all those Silver Age stories (and even later). Across the street, Deadpool and She-Hulk both have it. And I wonder... I wonder... Is Ambush Bug's return connected to Final Crisis in some way?

Think about it. Grant Morrison is restructuring the DC Universe, and the man has a clear Silver Age fetish. Those subtle, tongue-in-cheek, Kryptonian winks from his childhood eventually turned into fourth wall-breaking (and Fourth World-breaking??) existential fantasies, from Animal Man onward. In Morrison's DCU, it's possible to meet your maker, to walk through comic book limbo, to spit out comic books to herald a Crisis, and to break the bounds of the comic book panel to reach the "white space" on the other side.
Animal Man broke the wall, saw the reader, and unlike Superman, he found nothing to smile at. More recently, we touched Zatanna palm to palm.
It's Morrison's universe and Morrison's rules now... It's Ambush Bug's sandbox once again.

RPGs that time forgot... Arcanum

Arcanum (2nd Edition)
Tag Line: Fantasy Role-Playing Supplement (which is odd because it's the game's rules system)
Makers: Bard Games, 1985.

What is it?
Just what the tag line says, really. Though largely disconnected from a background setting (to be found in The Lexicon and The Beastiary), it's still meant to be used in the world before the sinking of Atlantis (and Mu, and Lemuria, and Ys, etc.). The system itself could be described as a streamlined, but skill-based, AD&D with many more chargen options. It may also interest you to know it's the ancestor of Talislanta.

Neat Stuff
-Playable races are a bit more diverse than AD&D's, and include the winged Zephir and animalistic Andamen. There are gigantish Aesir for Viking lovers as well.
-32 classes (sorry, professions) easily trumps AD&D's measly handful, though to be fair, many are just combinations of other professions, or things AD&D 2nd ed. later worked in as "kits". Still, back in '85, my group and I loved the variety, including Alchemist, Beastmaster, Martial Artist and Witch Hunter. and the pool of magic-users is widened by...
-9 kinds of magic meant not only "schools", but different ways of casting and looking at the magical universe. There's both High and Low Magic, Black Magic, Astrology, Mysticism and more. Not to mention Alchemy (but see below).
-The system is a bit simpler than AD&D, with a well-developed skill system that covers special combat moves, and yet entirely recognizable as a D&D derivative (alignments, saving throws, similar attributes, etc.) though armor works by deducting damage rather than affecting "to hit".

Bad Stuff
-The last 50 pages or so are more a grab-bag than anything substantial, as if they ran out of space and started throwing stuff in there. Unfortunately, that means Alchemy isn't as fleshed-out as I would have liked, thrown in with lackluster magic items, optional rules charts, inventory sheets and lists of things that make no sens without the Beastiary (which I never owned).
-There are a number of pages given over to astrological/alchemical symbols and runes, but these aren't necessary for the game, or even integrated into the rules. It felt like a flashback to Fantasy Wargaming.
-I'm not gonna say anything about the very simply layout, because you know what? It's very readable even if I can do better with my home computer today. But I do find fault with The Lexicon (the world book) being totally different. They don't look like they're for the same game, and the Lexicon is so devoid of references to the system, that it still feels like you need to adapt it.

Quote
"In fact, they are quite fond of Dwarves, whom the Aesir call their 'little brothers'."

How I've used it
Found this book during one of my Texan summers, and my dad wanted to immediately find out what this role-playing business was and made me run a small game for the whole family. I don't remember anything about it except that my 6-year-old sister insisted on playing a Zephir with 18 Intelligence. When I got home, Arcanum became the system of choice for all our D&Ding, seeing as I didn't have all the AD&D books (mostly just the Monster Manuals) and we were mostly running homebrews. The new professions worked out well for us since we'd been adopting optional classes out of Dragon magazines anyway, and I know at least one player enjoyed the hell out of the Zen Archery skill. Just invented the world as we went along though. My Arcanum is dog-eared, but my Lexicon is pristine.

In conclusion
Bettered many times over by an evolving medium, the Arcanum is still, to my eyes today, quite playable. I'm almost sorry I didn't do more with it in my adult years (I can now see how to integrate a lot of the flotsam, for example). If you can find a copy, I'd still call it a fine introduction to D&D-style (i.e. old school) role-playing, certainly easier to figure out than today's DnD for the beginner, and with more character options up front. AD&D beat it on that front with 2nd edition kits, but let's just say those required a major investment.