Can a new new approach to the investigative process in RPGs also mean a good game? Designer Robin D. Laws casts his eye over the genre with The Esoterrorists.
Location: Cleveland, OH - from Belfast, UK originally
Posts: 47
Re: [RPG]: The Esoterrorists, reviewed by Dave Lai (4/4)
It felt like a 'lite' edition of a bigger game which, as I understand it, is basically the case.
The system is interesting, and it's a fresh view on things. Whether or not I'd use it out of the box for modern games, I don't know, but I like the philosophy of how to handle investigations.
My game was ordered from here in the U.S. and arrived promptly, though smelling of cigarettes for some reason (it bothered me).
I'm a fan of the Ocean Game stuff (see the Book of Unremitting Horrors) and anything that pushes that story forward is worth checking out.
Re: [RPG]: The Esoterrorists, reviewed by Dave Lai (4/4)
Nice review, although I don't agree with your conclusion concering "railroading".
There is an interesting article by Robin D. Laws about "Structure vs. Railroading":
Re: [RPG]: The Esoterrorists, reviewed by Dave Lai (4/4)
Another thing that Esoterrorists suffers from is the lack of a well-developed combat system. Certainly, combat is not meant to be the focus of the game. However given that the game follows terrorist activity, albeit of a magical nature, it's bound to crop up occasionally (if not frequently) and a more strictly bound combat system would have helped immensely. As it is, combat is extremely loosely organised placing an awful lot of emphasis on how the GM interprets the situation. Some may like this 'low impact' approach. I find it doesn't give enough of a safety net when faced with 'killer' GM's.
And I'm still not entirely certain why the Esoterrorists do what they do, or more precisely, I don't understand how the things that they do are connected to the reasons that they do them. The manual states that they do it for money and power, and that they do so by calling unearthly creatures to our world (by rather circuitous methods). It does not explain how the summoning of bloodthirsty, and apparently uncontrollable, creatures is the ticket to making a fortune. The background information on both the Esoterrorists and the PC organisation set up to combat them are both annoyingly vague.
BIG agreement with the reviewer regarding monsters too. Not only are there only three monsters, but each is described in three sentences or less and the whole section takes up less than half a page. When you consider that, according to one fan of the game, 'the monsters ARE the adventure', a lot more detail about those monsters would have been useful in demonstrating just how each monster can represent an entire adventure in itself.
All in all, I think Esoterrorists was a missed opportunity. It lacks the detail necessary to provoke the atmosphere it requires, and the tools to make an extensive game viable. There's too many gaps here that needs to be filled in by the GM.
Re: [RPG]: The Esoterrorists, reviewed by Dave Lai (4/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Destriarch
It does not explain how the summoning of bloodthirsty, and apparently uncontrollable, creatures is the ticket to making a fortune.
I remember wondering that, too. I was surprised that the most commonly summoned forms didn't have some sort of Wish power or other abilities that would make more sense.
I guess this is just another opportunity for the reader to fill in the gray area. I suppose the creature could exert influence on this reality in return for the summoning, before being found into a specific form, or something like that.
Re: [RPG]: The Esoterrorists, reviewed by Dave Lai (4/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by C.W.Richeson
I remember wondering that, too. I was surprised that the most commonly summoned forms didn't have some sort of Wish power or other abilities that would make more sense.
I guess this is just another opportunity for the reader to fill in the gray area. I suppose the creature could exert influence on this reality in return for the summoning, before being found into a specific form, or something like that.
The impression I gained from the book is that the Esoterrorists are working towards the point where their activities will give them everything they want.
When they started out all they were able to do was move a few glasses about, and generate spectral goo. Now they can summon monsters. If they weaken the barriers just a little bit more, maybe that's when they get to do the wish spells you mention. Of course those pesky Ordo Veritas are worried that weakening the barrier just a little more will just break it and let all the monsters in to slowly torture humanity to death, but what do they know?
So basically, they're hoping that summoning all these beasties will eventually make them all powerful. But for the moment, hey, they're summoning beings from beyond time to do their bidding (ish), which is probably enough of a power trip to keep them going for now.
-And
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Re: [RPG]: The Esoterrorists, reviewed by Dave Lai (4/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortality
So basically, they're hoping that summoning all these beasties will eventually make them all powerful. But for the moment, hey, they're summoning beings from beyond time to do their bidding (ish), which is probably enough of a power trip to keep them going for now.
Exactly. Their hope is that once they weaken or destroy the Membrane that separates the Objective (our) and Subjective (weird) worlds, they'll be the only ones with the power to cast real magic, i.e., fireballs, invisibility, lightning from the bum, etc. And having gained such kewl powerz, THEN they'll be in a position to, dare I say it?, rule the world. But right now, the best they can do is summon energies that manifest physically as monsters. And I suspect that most of them will go crazy, or get eaten by their summoned pets, or get offed by their fellows long before they achieve their personal goals.
Re: [RPG]: The Esoterrorists, reviewed by Dave Lai (4/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortality
The impression I gained from the book is that the Esoterrorists are working towards the point where their activities will give them everything they want.
I might have agreed, but for this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Esoterrorists Rulebook, Page 7
The Esoterrorists are a worldwide network of misfits and rejects from various occult traditions who've banded together to enhance their power at the expense of others. When these plots succeed, the personal power of the involved Esoterrorists increases. Many use the power they glean for personal gratification, whether their tastes run toward money, drugs or sex. Most enjoy power for its own sake, sadistically inflicting horror on an unsuspecting populace.
Now, the last part of that paragraph makes some kind of sense. Esoterrorists unleashing unnatural horrors on people just so they can watch the ensuing chaos from a safe distance. That's achievable. It's the other part about money, drugs and sex that has be mystified.
There IS a brief section a little later in the manual that states that the Esoterrorists are hoping that the membrane will weaken enough to allow them to cast personal spells, but that until then they must rely on politics and stuff like that. It's this aspect of the organisation that I'm curious about. Basically, from what I can gather, the Esoterrorists are fooling around summoning dangerous monsters in the hope that they will eventually turn themselves into some kind of Gandalf clone, but in the meantime they are acting like low-grade Mafia with an occult twist. I get the impression that their magical shenannigans serve no immediately beneficial purpose and are, as it where, a sideline to their other criminal activities, a long-term strategy that may eventually pay dividends in the long run. This impression is enhanced by the fact that there don't seem to be any guidelines in the rulebook that cover Esoterrorists that have gained enough 'personal power' to cast real magic spells. Does Personal Power refer to magic, or is it simply power in the sense of political or social power over others?
I wonder if the Esoterrorists have thought that, by the time the Membrane is weak enough to allow them to cast real magic, it will also be weak enough to allow all those hideous critters to get into earth without assistance? Or for that matter that if they do finally achieve their goals, everyone will be able to use magic not just them.
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