I also had a chance to look over the small portion of completed manuscript.
The set up provided so far is a fairly standard issue Cyberpunk Dystopia. Governmental Collapse, Mega-Corporations Rule, Social Unrest, Persona Freedoms Stripped In Lieu Of The Bottom Line.
Classic stuff, in this case classic stuff is a good thing.
Chapter One as I've read deals with trying to 'set up the mood' - it goes over issues of Government types, Social aspects (Freedoms vs Rights), Religious influence, Social Dynamics, Ethics and Morality and lastly Entertainment.
All of this is done in a very generic "here's kind of what each of these are and the polar extremes" - but it's unconnected to the setting at this point. This entire section should either be deleted (it serves no purpose to lecture gamers on Governmental Types and Polar Extremes in a Setting Book) - or moved to a point After the full setting is explained, and connected specifically to Setting Examples.
Chapter Two is Character Creation. The setting works to set up two levels, Normal and Gifted (50+ point characters and 350 point characters). Without too much middle ground between the two.
I would probably have set up the levels as Standard Heroic and Standard Superheroic and then picked one as the default level for most campaigns. But it's good to see a setting look at both aspects and power levels within it's boundries.
A whole bunch of Package Deals are provided here, an always appreciated and helpful tool when setting up a campaign. There are nineteen of them - I hope by the time the book is finalized they're either alphabetized or an organizational theme is presented to unify groupings of them.
The one element introduced here that I really think will help set the mood of the setting up is a Compassion stat - which measures your Soul or Humanity level. What drops or raises this will hopefully be a part of entire Campaign Themes - but it's changed enough from what I have on hand that I can't say much more with certainty beyond that it should be a major mechanical part of Campaigns with this setting and help it stand out quite nicely.
The other Chapters with any info just contain Vehicle and Cybernetics write-ups. I don't review powers - they'll either work as written when you sit down to game, or won't and you'll change them. Powers are Powers in my opinion.
I can't wait to get some solid information and history of the setting with some specifics to really sink my teeth into. Looking forward to progress reports - Hero needs a solid Cyberpunk offering, and I think these guys can provide it.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by ghost-angel
Bookmarks