[RPG]: Aletheia, reviewed by Praetorian (4/4)

2nd Level RPGnetter · #1 09-07-2007, 01:00 AM

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13271.phtml

Christopher Gunning's Summary:

The mechanics, backstory, and extensive GM section make this a game very much about discovery and epiphany- for both the PCs and players. Aletheia places an emphasis on investigation and deduction rather than bashing heads or politicking.

Go to the full review for more information.

Abstract Nova · #2 09-07-2007, 01:40 PM

Chris,

Thanks for the review. If anyone has any questions about Aletheia, I'm happy to answer them.

Best,
Lee

Dan Davenport · #3 09-07-2007, 04:33 PM

Chris, I appreciate the amount of analysis you dedicated to this review regarding who you think would and would not like Aletheia. It's the icing on the cake of a very thorough and well-written review.

Praetorian · #4 09-08-2007, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Davenport

Chris, I appreciate the amount of analysis you dedicated to this review regarding who you thing would and would not like Aletheia. It's the icing on the cake of a very thorough and well-written review.

Thats a damn fine compliment coming from you Dan. Much appreciated.

jazzencat · #5 09-08-2007, 01:21 PM

Good review. I do agree about the XP bit, I wasn't overly pleased with that either. This RPG seems like it needs an experienced mystry writer as a GM almost, since you need to lay out the clues and have the descriptions in such a way that the players can find them if they need them from the description.

Personally I do not much care for rolling to see if you succeed at something, I prefer to play it out (an investigation for example). You could quite probably house rule that, and if a player totally misses something you think the character would notice (a character with a really high reason, say a mensa candidate) might be played by a character who is average. In this case the character may well know something the player missed and then a roll can be used to simulate this. This particular mechanic comes from a system I am familiarizing myself with: Wildside Gaming System.

As presented in the review I find the combat to be perhaps a little too simplistic. But this might not be a problem since Alethia, like the X-Files, focuses more on the investigation. One problem I could see happening is with a very specific metastory and an outcome that's wanted it might become necessary for the GM to McGuffin the characters in a certain direction, and even then the best laid plans of a GM can go straight out the window when a character comes up with something the GM never dreamed of. I have had adventures like that in D&D. The characters set off to do one thing and partway through the adventure as printed went out the window because the characters took a completely different tack to solving the problem and I was forced to make up the adventure and clues on the fly.

I would certainly like to look at this one more in depth, it could likely be adapted to other systems as well if the GM is so inclined. At the very least it might provide me with some good storyline ideas.

Abstract Nova · #6 09-08-2007, 07:40 PM

jazzencat,

Sorry the XP system doesn't work for you. It was an attempt to empower the players to reach conclusions on their own yet provide a means of rolling for them if needed.

It should also be noted that there are other ways to earn XP in Aletheia.

I'm sure the game's background could easily be ported to another system, if so desired.

Thanks for the comments.

Best,
Lee

jazzencat · #7 09-09-2007, 01:24 AM

Nova, looking back at my post I see it was badly written. What I meant was I didn't like the idea of rolling for XP if they got the facts wrong. I was more thinking that if you had a wrong theory or partially correct theory that one could award partial XP based on how well reasoned the theories were. I love the idea of PCs getting XP by thinking and reasoning it instead of just rolling dice. Given that this RPG is X-Files-esque in it's nature some off-beat theories could be amusing. Fox Mulder's certainly added a funny element to the episodes sometimes. It would also be interesting to see what happens when bits of the truth are scattered in the party's different theories.

Whymme · #8 09-09-2007, 01:58 AM

The thing that I'm not so happy about is the idea that the GM is going to tell the PCs whether their hypotheses are correct (by determining whether they get XP straight away, have to roll for it, or get nothing at all if they are completely missing the point). A related question would be whether you need XP - if the game is all about solving the puzzle, then getting the clues would actually be the reward for playing well.

Abstract Nova · #9 09-09-2007, 10:19 AM

jazzencat and Whymme,

I appreciate your comments. The idea behind the hypothesis mechanic was to allow the players (not their characters) to form the hypothesis. In play, it's a lot of fun for players to piece together the hypothesis themselves, bandying ideas back and forth. Ideally, this is how the game plays. Unfortunately, there are times that the players' hypothesis might be wrong. This becomes problematic, stretching credibility, if one the characters happens to be Sherlock Holmes (i.e. he or she has incredibe deductive skills) but doesn't form an accurate hypothesis because his player got it wrong.

The hypothesis mechanic was an attempt to walk the line between player and character, simultaneously empowering each. I'm not saying the execution couldn't have been better, but I want everyone to understand the intent behind the mechanic. As noted by others, this should be easy enough to house rule.

Thanks again for the comments.

Best,
Lee