Modern (superheroes)
Innocence Games
2004
Complexity: 1
Above the Earth is another 24-hour RPG, which I tend to review a lot of because they’re generally A: Free, B: Short, and C: Based on more experimental ideas. It’s also a superhero RPG, which just happens to be the most broken and unbalanced genre of role-playing game since, let’s be honest here, there is no way Batman and Superman are anywhere near the same power level, but in comics they are. This seems to be the problem that Above the Earth tries to solve.
Mechanics: 3/5
Above the Earth is built around a fairly novel concept, players begin each session with a pool of 100d6 have have to last them throughout the session. The mechanics themselves are fairly simple, when a character uses a superpower or “otherwise perform[s] superheroicly [sic]” they must make a roll. The player chooses how many dice to spend on the action--limited only by fifty dice per scene cap--the GM sets a difficulty, and the player rolls their dice. Players are also given the option to add dice to their roll after they’ve made it, albeit at double the cost. There’s some additional minutia, but that’s the broad idea.
Overall, this is a pretty novel was to address the extremely unbalanced nature of superheroes. Rather than attempting to create balanced characters the games just gives each play an equal amount of power to influence the story. Which isn’t to say that the system is without faults, primarily that a character’s power is limited by the player’s willingness to spend a finite resource. So the cautious player is more likely to fail rolls or choose non-action, while the reckless player will burn through and be unable to act later. Either of which is going to negatively affect the group.
Writing: 1/3 [−]
Overall the rules are well written, although there are some points where things are a little unclear. My biggest issue is with the book starting with an extended play example, which I’d like to condemn for having comically-unnatural dialog, but let’s be honest here pretty much all play examples have comically-unnatural dialog. One interesting thing though is the use of footnotes throughout to explain gameplay elements as they come up. My main issue is with the fact that it’s the first thing, the notations explain little bits of the rules, but there’s chunks missing. Basically it’s positioned so that it’s introducing rules to the reader rather than providing examples of the rules they’ve already read.
Presentation: 2/5
The game is presented in a two-column 11×8.5-inch document, or in single-column 8.5×5.5-inch pages depending on whether you’re viewing digitally or printing it out. Minor issue here is that the recommended--and only easy--way of printing ends up swapping the right and left pages. Now obviously this isn’t an issue for a normal person, but for an obsessive design nerd like myself it comes across as not really caring about the layout. Aside from that, the formatting is fairly nice, sections are clearly marked and overall everything looks nice… except for an annoying line across the bottom of the page.
Final Remarks
Above the Earth is a simple game, honestly one that sounds too simple to actually work, but I really can’t really come up with any specific reason why it wouldn’t.
Base Points: 5
Character Creation: N/A, Mechanics: 3/5, Presentation: 2/5
Adjustments: −1
Setting: N/A, Writing: −1, Content: N/A
Overall Score: 40% (4/10 Points)
Batman rolls 50d6 for plot armor.
2004
Complexity: 1
Above the Earth is another 24-hour RPG, which I tend to review a lot of because they’re generally A: Free, B: Short, and C: Based on more experimental ideas. It’s also a superhero RPG, which just happens to be the most broken and unbalanced genre of role-playing game since, let’s be honest here, there is no way Batman and Superman are anywhere near the same power level, but in comics they are. This seems to be the problem that Above the Earth tries to solve.
Mechanics: 3/5
Above the Earth is built around a fairly novel concept, players begin each session with a pool of 100d6 have have to last them throughout the session. The mechanics themselves are fairly simple, when a character uses a superpower or “otherwise perform[s] superheroicly [sic]” they must make a roll. The player chooses how many dice to spend on the action--limited only by fifty dice per scene cap--the GM sets a difficulty, and the player rolls their dice. Players are also given the option to add dice to their roll after they’ve made it, albeit at double the cost. There’s some additional minutia, but that’s the broad idea.
Overall, this is a pretty novel was to address the extremely unbalanced nature of superheroes. Rather than attempting to create balanced characters the games just gives each play an equal amount of power to influence the story. Which isn’t to say that the system is without faults, primarily that a character’s power is limited by the player’s willingness to spend a finite resource. So the cautious player is more likely to fail rolls or choose non-action, while the reckless player will burn through and be unable to act later. Either of which is going to negatively affect the group.
Writing: 1/3 [−]
Overall the rules are well written, although there are some points where things are a little unclear. My biggest issue is with the book starting with an extended play example, which I’d like to condemn for having comically-unnatural dialog, but let’s be honest here pretty much all play examples have comically-unnatural dialog. One interesting thing though is the use of footnotes throughout to explain gameplay elements as they come up. My main issue is with the fact that it’s the first thing, the notations explain little bits of the rules, but there’s chunks missing. Basically it’s positioned so that it’s introducing rules to the reader rather than providing examples of the rules they’ve already read.
Presentation: 2/5
The game is presented in a two-column 11×8.5-inch document, or in single-column 8.5×5.5-inch pages depending on whether you’re viewing digitally or printing it out. Minor issue here is that the recommended--and only easy--way of printing ends up swapping the right and left pages. Now obviously this isn’t an issue for a normal person, but for an obsessive design nerd like myself it comes across as not really caring about the layout. Aside from that, the formatting is fairly nice, sections are clearly marked and overall everything looks nice… except for an annoying line across the bottom of the page.
Final Remarks
Above the Earth is a simple game, honestly one that sounds too simple to actually work, but I really can’t really come up with any specific reason why it wouldn’t.
Base Points: 5
Character Creation: N/A, Mechanics: 3/5, Presentation: 2/5
Adjustments: −1
Setting: N/A, Writing: −1, Content: N/A
Overall Score: 40% (4/10 Points)
Batman rolls 50d6 for plot armor.
No comments:
Post a Comment