Post originally by SteelCaress at 2003-11-27 22:10:35
Converted from Phorums BB System

Well, the system is not for everyone, but I like it.

First off, it's written in plain language. No BS, some dry humor, and flavor. If a rulebook rambles over numbers, I tend to fall asleep. This presents the rules to you and how they relate to what's going on in the game.

Second, a grand total of Four Stats: Body, Mind, Soul, and Speed. The description of each is clear as to what it represents.

As for Skills, there are suggestions, and skills and advantages (or Feats) kinda blend together. There's no laundry list to pick from, you make up your own. Though there are examples enough to get you started. This might be one of the hardest things to grasp. Someone might have Hide, another person might have Being Sneaky as a skill.

Everyone has something they love, something they hate, something they fear, and something they will sacrifice everything for. These fit into the rules by allowing bonuses to actions or reactions involving those aspects of your character. Determining these is mandatory.

And Stats and Skills are rated on a 1-100 basis, with definitions as to what a "40" means as far as that stat goes. No AC, no HP, no levels, no classes.

To me, it beautifully defines a character very quickly. Nothing is really abstract. You could model just about anyone from TV, movies, or a fantasy novel using this system.

The magic is the most interesting system I've seen. You gather "charges" to power your Spells by doing something related to your spell field, like cutting yourself to cast a spell to affect someone physically.

You don't have a Sanity Stat like in Call of Cthulhu, instead you have a madness meter based on the type of horror you experience. Helplessness, Violence, The Unnatural, Isolation, etc are all things that can either drive you nuts or desensitize you. Once you're desensitized, you can't ascend -- the point of the game.

The main point of the game would be a question: how far would you go to rule reality? It starts off with supernatural investigation, and ends up in a race to see who will "ascend" and make up the rules for what reality will be. It's not really a beastie hunting game like CoC...the only people we have to blame for horrible things is ourselves.

But its system is so transparent, I'd say (with little tweaking) it could emulate most genres very well. A superhero system might be where it would fall down, though.

Hope this helps!