Tags
CyberPunk, Earthdawn, Fantasy, Human Occupied Landfill, RPG, Science Fiction, Top 5 Lists, Transhuman Space, Unknown Armies
Steve Jackson Games' Transhuman Space
As a hardcore collector, I have a few games on my shelves that I’ve read but never played. Not nearly as many as I thought when I started this blog, but they are still around.
Fortunately, many of them are worth reading even if you have zero intention of playing them. Some are even a step better than that and are excellent for sitting down and reading like any other book.
When I decided to make this a top 5 list, I realized I would have to slight a lot of games that I really love and a lot that I enjoyed reading in order to highlight the top 5.
Here are my top 5, in no particular order:
Transhuman Space (Steve Jackson)
Very little game material and incredible amounts of setting material for a transhumanist setting in our solar system. Reading this was like reading a good science fiction novel and is a great read for people unfamiliar with transhuman science fiction. Many of the supplements are also a goldmine of awesome, topped out by Toxic Memes, a book about fads, cults and memetics. This game should be mandatory reading for science fiction game players and authors – it manages to build a huge intriguing setting that spans the whole solar system while feeling wide open.
Unknown Armies (Atlas)
A setting where conspiracies of magic users in the modern era use strange magics to become as gods. And yet the game manages to feel like it is happening in the real world and we have just been ignoring these strange nutjobs who have real magic. It might have something to do with their real magic being triggered by drinking too much, or having sex, or obsessing over famous places. This is one of the few RPG books where the fiction opening each chapter is really worthwhile reading. The book is entertaining and easy to get caught up in – somehow the authors managed to write the book in a way that gets you involved. And the mechanics rock too, but that’s not what this article is about.
Ex Machina (Guardians of Order)
Even if you hate the tri-stat system you should read this book. It offers a great overview and analysis of cyberpunk fiction and games, how they are played, what the themes are, and how to make the themes come out in your games. Then we have a section of rules (that you can just skip over, you are still getting your money’s worth). The GMing section isn’t about mechanics, it is about adapting rules to play to the needs of the genre you are playing and a lot of tips on running a game that feels cyberpunkish and not “just” science fiction. Finally more than half the book is settings. Four of them. Completely different cyberpunk settings that play the genre each in a different way. If you thought cyberpunk was dead, this is pure awesome. If you play other cyberpunk RPGs, this book is a goldmine of great advice, background and ideas.
Human Occupied Landfill (Black Dog / Dirt Merchant)
It is entirely written by hand and heavily illustrated. It is insane and dark. Difficulty scales between Easier than a Cheap Streetwalker and Bogusly Difficult. The character creation rules are in a seperate volume published a year later. It is genious. Dark, criminally insane genius. I actually can’t describe the book in a way that gets across the sheer awesomeness that is the H.O.L.
Earthdawn (FASA / Living Room / RedBrick)
A fantasy RPG done very very differently. It is founded on an original and inventive magic system and a setting that lets you play a classic D&D-style game and yet feel that the setting makes sense. I love D&D, but Earthdawn was chock full of fresh ideas and new implementations and even better, the whole thing fits nicely in one big book that is a very pleasant read (the newest edition is in two books, but the 1st and 2nd editions only needed the one book to play). From parasitic/symbiotic armor implants to Adpets of a huge variety who each have a different use for magic – turning their talents towards combat, mysticism or spellcasting. Magic items in Earthdawn advance as you research them, becoming more powerful effectively as the character becomes more powerful. A goldmine of fantasy RPG goodness, particularly appropriate to a points of light style game.
I’d add Paranoia to that list. It detailed a dystopian future where everyone was nuts and life was cheap with tongue firmly in cheek. Its missions in particular had hilarious setups, environments, and gear for the PCs to stumble through & blow up.
I’ve found the various editions of Paranoia to be pretty hit-and-miss for readability. I love the game, and many of the modules are definitely awesome top-ten reads.
I’d also add Iron/Jadeclaw to that list. While the dice system is in desperate need of help, the character creation system is what all character creation systems should be like. No other system lets commoner classes be as effective as they are in Iron/Jadeclaw.
While mechanically interesting regarding the classes, I didn’t really enjoy the writing style of the books themselves.
The inverse is true of Burning Wheel which didn’t make the list. It was so well written that it got me wanting to love the mechanics, but I couldn’t get into the scripting mechanics and the serious rules depth used in the game. It’s another game I love but that has never played half as well as it reads.
A good collection there of games there.
Though I am not sure if HoL was actually playable or not . . .
Transhuman Space is an amazing resource for near future/SF games but there is so much required to know to play in the setting that it seems like it would be very difficult to actually game the setting.
Uknown Armies remains one of my all time favorite settings. The Occult Underground and the entire UA worldview color much of how I think of any modern game.
Ex Machina, I keep meaning to read but I have heard nothing but good things about.
Earthdawn is another excellent resource, fascinating world just different enough from the usual fantasy one. And the magic item rules really excited me and made me think about how to make magic items more important to the story of a game.
Who cares if HOL is playable (and I’ve been told it is – it’s definitely no less playable than Toon). That’s why it’s on the list of games to read, even if you won’t play them.
As for Transhuman Space – the players don’t have to know all that much information. The trick is to stick them in one environment and have them learn it, and then get to learn about everything else out there, one weirdness at a time. But that’s just how I’ve run it – personally I enjoyed reading it a hundred times more than I enjoyed running it. Such a great read…
I’m going to suggest adding Spirit of the Century to the list, in particular its sections on Tips and Tricks and for Gming “The Name Droppers Guide to the Pulp Era” are both fantastic reads, to say nothing of the rest of the book which is entertaining through and through.
Good call. Definitely a worthy addition. It pains me to make these top 5 lists often because I’m guaranteed to miss a few awesome products along the way.
Might as well add my nominee to the list, The Dying Earth by Pelgrane Press based off of the Dying Earth stories by Jack Vance. It is a joy to read with its wry wit and Vancian stylings.
It also has some interesting mechanics used to emulate the stories. For instance, the main stats for characters are persuade and rebuff, each with six flavors. Your typical interactions are not combat, but rather PCs and NPCs trying to talk or swindle each other to each parties own advantage. The six flavors come into play in a rock/paper/scissors way.
I’m glad Spirit of the Century was mentioned–it would have been on my list too.
I’d add Risus and the Risus Companion to the list, but I’m weird that way.
I’d like to throw Pendragon into the mix. It’s one of the game systems I have never had a chance to run, but love reading the books.
Yeah, Pendragon had a huge effect on how I run games. I usually run them with at least a few months if not a few seasons between adventures. I like that because it makes it feel like character advancement is more “reasonable” and for games like Eberron the Artificer class requires downtime to function properly.
Good games. I don’t own Spirit of the Century yet though. It’s on my ‘to buy’ list.