[RPG]: Splicers, reviewed by San Dee Jota (2/3)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12550.phtml

D.J. Babb's Summary:

Humans in alien biotech armor fight armies of insane robots in this outing from Palladium.

Go to the full review for more information.

[oni no won]

I passed on this because I had various problems with the setting. The biggest problem was the virus made by NEXUS. The way the author explained the virus was conflicting. Also, the rise of human strongholds doesn't sound plausible. I believe, there was a statement by the author that if all the human kingdoms banded together, they could defeat NEXUS but in another statement, the author sid that NEXUS had miliions and millions of robots in reserve (or something like that. I was skimming the book for the most part...). Another reason I passed on this was that some of the OCCs didn't sit well with me. The way some of the OCCs (one was he librarian?) merged with the gene pool sounded too gross.

[Spinachcat]

I have run Splicers twice and it has been great fun. The setting is wacky and needs expanding. I highly recommend getting Rifter 30 and 32 for the supplemental information on new warmounts and new "human" threats to the Great Houses.

The core book does discuss the massive robot respositories and posits that there are power issues that keep the Machine from being able to activate and control the bots. Power in the sense of both actual energy resources and balance of power.

The Machine personalities are quite often at war with one another for dominance so I imagine that any part of Nexus that moves toward a robot responsitories is going to get mobbed by her sisters who would see that as an imbalance in their power struggle. AKA, if seven people with knives were hovering around a SMG, you could imagine that whoever goes for the SMG is gonna get shivved. Thus, the Mexican standoff around the robot respositories.

Here's why I like Splicers. It is Bio-Guyver + Terminator + Dune and YOU get to choose which of those aspects to increase or decrease focus. You want BioArmor battles vs. Monster and Robots? Check! You want a survival horror against an uncaring Machine? Check! You want intrigue, politics and struggle between Great Houses? Check!

As for the XP charts, I can't comment since I run short campaigns where I pretty much level up everyone once per session.

BTW, Splicers would convert easily to Tri-Stat or HERO or whatever. I have putzed around with some designs and the conversion looked cool. Many people buy GURPS books to convert to their favorite system and where GURPS goes for meticulous detail, Palladium goes for gonzo fantasy.