[RPG]: Aletheia, reviewed by C.W.Richeson (2/3)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13488.phtml

Christopher W. Richeson's Summary:

Uncover the secrets of reality itself in this investigation focused, rules light RPG.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Abstract Nova]

Thanks for taking the time to review Aletheia. Your review was fair and honest, and I appreciate that.

I agree with you that Aletheia doesn’t handle combat as well as it should. However, I'd like to clarify your combat example. In the game, all characters receive a free fighting rank of 1. This means that a character always receives one automatic success. In your example, a character with a Fitness of 1 attacking a character with a Fitness of 2, would get one automatic success and roll one die. If the die came up 5 or 6, the attack would hit. In other words, the attacking character has a 33% chance to hit the superior foe. Of course, the attacking character would automatically fail against an opponent of 3, unless Will points were spent.

The PCs’ powers don’t really take away from the mystery solving aspect of the game. This would be true if Aletheia was used to run a whodunit type of adventure with these powers, which would clearly spoil the fun, but it doesn’t occur very often when investigating the type of unexplained phenomena outlined in the book. Seeing the anomalous phenomenon in action (via postcognition or time travel, for example) will usually serve to deepen the mystery or expose clues, but seldom will it provide the characters with satisfactory or complete answers. To get the complete picture, the characters will need to conduct research, interviews, and fieldwork.

For example, using postcognition or time travel to investigate hauntings, near death experiences, rains of fish falling from the sky, spontaneous human combustion, etc., would show the event transpiring but they don’t actually explain the “why” behind the event. Even in the case of alien abductions, seeing the abduction will usually not explain what is really going on to the players, though it’s likely to point them in the right direction. Sure, the PCs might see the victim disappear into thin air or even see the creature responsible, but this doesn’t really provide the truth to what is going on.

On pages 125 through 129, an investigation is built from the ground up as an example to GMs. If this example were played out as an adventure, postcognition and time travel would provide some clues, but only research, interviews and a little fieldwork, would provide a complete and accurate picture. The same is true of the adventure that rounds out the book. In both these cases, the PC’s powers are a tool, just like their occupations and attributes, for discovering clues. The powers alone will not provide the answer to what is going on.

Certainly, the above won’t pertain to all adventures in Aletheia, but as a general rule-of-thumb, it holds to be true.

In regards to the act of viewing past or future events effecting the events themselves: This statement was intended to hint at some of the game’s background in quantum physics, but in hindsight, it was presented out of context and in need of clarification.

Thanks again for your criticisms and the review.

Best,
Lee

[mxyzplk]

Sounds very intriguing, I'll have to check it out!

Good review BTW, very informative and helpful.

[C.W.Richeson]

All excellent points, Lee! Your response to my concerns over the powers, in particular, makes a lot of sense.

[C.W.Richeson]

Originally Posted by mxyzplk

Sounds very intriguing, I'll have to check it out!

Good review BTW, very informative and helpful.

Thanks, mxyzplk!

[Dan Davenport]

Chris,

Another excellent review under your belt.

I do think that the spoiler information should probably be in spoiler text, however. In other circumstances, it might not be such a big deal, but since the spoilers in question involve the Ultimate Truth the PCs are attempting to discover, the accidental reading of them would be a game-breaker for potential players.

[C.W.Richeson]

Thanks, Dan!

I considered it, actually, but decided that spoiler tags won't be making an appearance in my reviews.

Besides, just knowing the basics of how the universe works is only a drop in the bucket - there are still so many "Whys?" to be answered!