I’m still (every once in a long while) playing in a unique blend of For Gold and Glory/Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (Second Edition)/Rangers & Rabbits. H. R. Hufflepuff the Badger has broken a couple of lances against enemies that were afoot; the party’s thief (a Cat named Sylvester) has performed really entertaining maneuvers in combat, including dropping off the side of a stairway next to – and then backstabbing – a goblin; our party’s cleric is a Hawk named Hermione, and she’s perfected the “swoop in and cast Cure Light Wounds” maneuver; the Lioness Nala, a Fighter/Magic-User, lives quite well by her dual-weilding swordplay mixed in with a loud Roar. Heck, even the party’s henchmen and hirelings are loads of fun!
However, this month, let’s talk about a science fiction RPG from the waning years of TSR: “Alternity.” TSR published this game in 1998, during the heyday of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Second Edition. The core books are the Players Handbook and the Gamemasters Guide; there were setting books published for it as well, including Star*Drive, Dark*Matter, and StarCraft, as well as other accessories, like the Arms and Equipment Manual. I purchased my copy several years ago at a Half-Price Books. I sometimes still see them, and I will continue to look for extra copies, as well as for other books in the line. Although Wizards of the Coast doesn’t support the game at all, one may download a torrent with PDFs of the books, and there’s a wonderful fan-supported web site called Alternity.Net. Additionally, a new company called Sasquatch Games is creating Alternity 2.0, updating and changing the rules. (I’ve looked at the Sasquatch game; I think I prefer the original Alternity.) The Core Mechanic This is a skill-based system, and every die roll that’s made uses the same core mechanic: roll the control die (always a twenty-sided die (d20)) and a situation die (which ranges from a negative four-sided die (-d4) through a positive 3d20 (+3d20)), and roll the skill score or less. Lower numbers are always better in this game (except when rolling damage or armor), and the lower you roll, the better you do – there are degrees of success. I think that the designers took the “non-weapon proficiency” rules from AD&D 2E, and ran with it… and I think that it makes an awesome system that’s fairly easy to understand. The situation die is on a “step” scale, that goes -d20, -d12, -d8, -d6, -d4, -d0, +d4, +d6, +d8, +d12, +d20, +2d20, +3d20. The gamemaster (GM) assigns the situation die according to his judgement on how difficult the action would be. The die total is compared to either the specialty skill, the broad skill (if the character has no specialty skill), or an untrained ability score check. The better (lower) the roll, the better the action was accomplished, ranging from Critical Failure (a 20 on the control die), a Failure (higher than the score), an Ordinary success (ranging from the score to one more than one-half the score), a Good success (one-half to one more than one-quarter the score), and an Amazing success (one-quarter or below.) Rolling a 1 on the control die is always a success. Character Creation The process of creating a character is a bit time-consuming, at least for a new player. There are four “professions” (think classes in other games): Combat Specialists, Diplomats, Free Agents, and Tech Ops. A fifth profession, Mindwalker, is optional. Mindwalkers are psionics-users. Combat Specs are just that – fighter types. Diplomats have the wonderful advantage of having a secondary profession, Free Agents are the people who do just a little bit of a lot, and Tech Ops careers include doctors, engineers, pilots, and so forth. Under each profession are careers, which aren’t really necessary for the game, but are helpful in the process of character creation and for roleplay. Each sample career in the game lists a starting package of skills (and the points total of those skills), as well as “signature equipment”: things that a member of that particular career would have. Each character has six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Will, and Personality. Going by the standard rules (as found in the Player’s Handbook), players receive 60 points to divide up between each ability. Each profession has different required minimum abilities, so you’ll have to have a minimum of 12 in one score, and a minimum of a 9 in another; the other four are assignable however you like. In the Gamemaster’s Guide, there are alternate methods of generating ability scores, including random dice rolls. Each race has a different set of “free broad skills”. Skills are grouped by ability score – for example, Modern Ranged Weapons is a Dexterity broad skill, while Deception is a Personality broad skill. Under each broad skill are specialty skills – for example, under Modern Ranged Weapons you’ll find the Pistol, Rifle, and SMG (submachine gun) skills. To buy a specialty skill, one must first buy the broad skill, and the free broad skills count as being bought. There is a table in the Player’s Handbook that lists the costs for each skill (both broad and specialty). Each skill also lists the professions which can buy the skill at one less than the listed price. The amount of skill points the character starts with is dependent on the character’s Intelligence score. The table in the Player’s Handbook is very limiting; however there are better methods I’ve found on the Internet. The one that seems to be most used by people on Alternity.net is “Optional Rule 2”, used by the game designers in their own home games, in which players get 30+(INTx3) to start, as well as flattening out the costs of skills past the first rank. There are several ways of equipping a character, ranging from taking starting funds and buying every single item, to the GM just assigning gear. As I mentioned earlier, each career also has their own “signature” equipment – things that a member of that career would always have. House Rules As I mentioned, there are a lot of house rules and other optional changes I’ve seen on the Internet for this game. When I finally get around to playing this game, I would like to use the Optional Rule 2 mentioned above. I believe I would try a random generation of ability scores, using 3d6+2, re-roll "1"s, and drop the lowest die. (I use something similar in my FG&G/AD&D/R&R game) I would also reduce the costs of buying skills after the first rank: instead of the second (and later) ranks of the skill costing (skill cost) plus (current rank), the skills would cost the same for second and later ranks as it would for the first rank of the skill. As far as equipment, it kind of depends on the campaign model. My current idea for a campaign starts like this: the characters are all on a “cruise ship in space”, as passengers and/or crew. A disaster occurs (possibly a pirate attack?) and the PCs all board a lifeboat, which takes them to the nearest inhabitable planet. The PCs have whatever they carry with them, plus the gear stowed on the lifeboat (which would include weapons, armor, tools, food, water, first-aid kits, etc.) There may be a settlement, or maybe an automated “dilithium cracking station” (like in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”), and/or alien villages, or all of the above and more… regardless, the party has to move across the planet to another location in order to be rescued. The party may not be a homogenous, balanced party – it may have a movie star who’d have to work with a ship’s crewman, or a lawyer, or a doctor, or a gambler, or whatever. The Other Bits The “engine” of this game is simple, easy to remember, and virtually universal in its application. Even the “initiative” system uses the same standard core mechanic, of rolling a control die and a situation die, trying to roll under a certain score. The math is all figured out on the character sheet, so you don’t have to do the math during the game. An experienced game master can easily “eyeball” how hard any particular action should be, and dictate the situation die accordingly. An inexperienced GM should use the clearly written guidelines found in the Player’s Handbook and the Gamemaster’s Guide, but I would think that after a few sessions, that GM would get comfortable enough to use the eyeball method. Armor works by subtracting damage, and each type of armor reduces different types of damage in varying amounts. There are three types of damage: Low Impact (LI), High Impact (HI), and Energy (En), and each weapon deals a one of those three types. In combat, as well as in some other situations, the target’s abilities influence the attacker’s situation die… for example, a target with a high Dexterity is harder for an attacker with a pistol to hit. Again, all of this is determined during character creation, and is easily found on the character sheet. This is a well-designed system. The weird thing about the system is getting used to the concept of wanting a “1” to show up on your d20 roll… but I have some dice that would work well, judging by my experience with ‘em. Grab some dice, and let’s start killin’ some goblins – er, I mean bug-eyed monsters from outer space… Sum non Satis? Commodore Tank Clark, SFMD Team Leader, 33rd STARFLEET Rangers (“The Paladins”) “Have Phaser, Will Travel”
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Commodore Tank ClarkCommodore Clark has been the Team Leader of the 33rd STARFLEET Rangers for several years. His monthly articles about games (usually Role-Playing Games -- RPGs -- but sometimes about other tabletop forms of entertainment) appear regularly in the Regulator Charge!, the ship's newsletter. Archives
September 2017
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