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Supertech
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Jonathan [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/23/2024 08:16:05

I'm definitely liking what I've seen: it takes the Super-Science rules from the Trinity Continuum core book, and expands on them to make something that can do all sorts of things.

And I do mean "all". The book doesn't delve into Novatech or Aeon-style biotech; that is, it doesn't deal with anything Quantum or Psi. But you won't miss them, because it lets Talented Super-Science do everything that the Quantum and Psi tech of Aberrant and Aeon can do. Indeed, if there are any flaws in the book, it's that it doesn't even have a box to the effect of "how to keep from stepping on the toes of the Quantum geniuses and Psi engineers" for those who want to introduce a subset of the book's options that can exist alongside what those bring to the table without supplanting them. Instead, the book focuses almost entirely on what new possibilities it can make available, relying almost entirely on the Storyteller saying no to things he doesn't want in his Chronicle. Which, to be fair, is where the buck ultimately stops anyway. And this "can do" approach has the added benefit of effectively allowing for the creation of Quantum and Psi inventions in settings such as Trinity Continuum: Adventure or Trinity Continuum: Aegis where Quantum and Psi characters are handled using a variant of the Talents rules. (See also the author's Quantum Inspiration and Psi Inspiration for ways to take the Aberrant and Aeon eras and run them as variants of the Talents rules.)

The book comes in five chapters: Inventors, Advanced Science, Inspired Science, Powered Science, and Inventions.

Chapter One: Inventors is something of a misnomer. While it does address characters who are inventors, that's actually just the first part of the chapter: it also gives rules for characters who have been augmented by Super-Science, and for Synthetic characters who have been created by Super-Science. All characters are assumed to have essentially human or human-like bodies; though it's easy enough to pair this with the Strange New Life section in Adventure Addendum if you want to change that. (That said, perhaps the author would be willing to expand that and similar sections from other eras such as Aeon and Aegis into a book of its own?)

The chapter might be better called "Superscience Characters", if not for a small section at the end of the chapter dealing with a few more complex options for inventions ("From Simple to Complex"). This section would probably work better if moved to the next chapter, which desks with the Advanced Super-Science that's available to every inventor, Inspired or not.

Chapter Two: Advanced Science deals with tech that's close enough to the setting's present that they can be invented by anyone, even baselines. They don't involve any new breakthroughs; just novel applications of known science. The technologies are defined through Tags and come in four broad types: Devices, Automatons, Compounds, and Memetics. Devices include tools, weapons and armor. Automatons include inventions that can move and act on their own, such as drones, vehicles, and mecha; they're generally not assumed to be able to act on its own, though they can do so if they have the Autonomous Tag. Compounds are drugs, chemicals, microorganisms, or possibly even nanotechnology designed to be applied to or consumed by a subject in order to affect it. Finally, Memetics are software or its equivalent. Mostly, this means data, algorithms, and programs; but it could also be used for knowledge and procedures such as Isaac Asimov's psychohistory.

Chapter Three: Inspired Science deals with innovations that you must be Inspired in order to create. There are seven of these (Bionics, Chronotech, Holotech, Neuronics, Tangentics, and Warptech), with corresponding Gifts provided in Chapter One to unlock them; and the Storyteller is encouraged to decide which ones are and aren't available in his chronicle.

Chapter Four: Powered Science deals with tech that's exclusive to Flux users, and which has the ability to incorporate Gifts (known as Flux Science) and to enhance other unique abilities of Talents such as Dramatic Editing (known as Technomancy, which most of the chapter deals with). It revisits the seven types of technology from the previous chapter, giving guidance as to just how far a Talent can take things with it. It also includes Politech, which is technology that combines features of different kinds of technologies.

Finally, Chapter Five: Inventions includes worked examples of what the systems in the precis chapters can do. It's grouped into the same categories introduced in Chapter Two, with mention of any technological groupings from Chapter Three that are incorporated into a given invention.



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
Supertech
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Shallow Graves
Publisher: White Wolf
by Jonathan L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/29/2024 09:57:25

This is effectively an official part of the Deviant line, produced by the lead developer of the line using the same development cycle that Points Path uses for official products. And the resulting quality shows: as I write this, the product is still in the “Advanced Release” stage, where it has been released in order to collect errata; and even now, before errata has been collected and applied, the book is polished.

The book has six chapters, the first five of which go through different parts of the character sheet, giving advice on everything and additional options where reasonable:

The first chapter deals with those character elements that don't have much crunch to them, like Origin and Clade, the metaphysics of a Broken Soul, Aspirations and Anchors, and Acclimation. But the bulk of the chapter deals with Touchstones: how Deviants express their connection to a Touchstone, how Faltering works, Reversals (where a Loyalty Touchstone switches to a Conviction Touchstone and vice versa), advice on choosing Touchstones, and ideas for unusual types of Touchstones.

The next three chapters tackle various high-crunch character options. In each case, it starts by giving advice on how to make your own, then provides extensive lists of new options. Chapter Two covers Adaptations, Forms, and Merits (and under Forms, gives us Advanced Form versions of the Forms found in the core book); Chapter Three tackles Variations, and massively expands the options available; and Chapter Four covers Scars and Standard Deviations.

Chapter Five helps the player pull this all together. The sheer number of options in Deviant can be overwhelming, and this chapter sells to address that.

Chapter Six deals with character development, from where to start the character's story, through above on how to do Guardian and Nemesis arcs, to how to handle Blowouts.

The final chapter deals with the Cohort: how to manage a team of Deviants. it features a system called Static to facilitate interactions between members of the Cohort, and a section on Techniques that deals with using Variations in creative ways. I'm not sure why Techniques are in this chapter instead of the Variations chapter; but I'm not going to worry about it too much.

The book then ends with three Appendices: New Conditions, a Variation Quick Reference summarizing the new Variations, and a Scar Quick Reference summarizing the new Standard Deviations and Scars.

Overall, this is a must have for Deviant; and in my ideal world, everything in this book would have been incorporated directly into the core book.



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
Shallow Graves
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I Win
Publisher: White Wolf
by Jonathan L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/01/2019 21:20:48

The book is in the same vein as Dudes of Legend and Count F'ing Dracula. It was worth every penny I spent on it.



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
I Win
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D6 Space
Publisher: Nocturnal Media
by Jonathan L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/24/2013 21:45:02

A classic and still very playable system, D6 Space is the original Star Wars RPG with the serial numbers filed off and cybernetic rules added to the mix. The system is robust and versatile enough that what it can't do right out of the book is generally easy to hack: I was able to put together a set of "netrunning" mechanics using the included Metaphysics rules as a guideline.



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
D6 Space
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Convention Book: N.W.O.
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Jonathan L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/27/2012 18:50:27

I don't do comprehensive reviews; so I'll focus on the points about the book that really stood out to me. The single biggest one is the replacement of Correspondence with Data by the New World Order, providing a take on the Sphere of which I wholly approve.

Make no mistake: this is firmly set in the post-Avatar Storm world of the Revised Edition of Mage, where the Time of Judgment either has not come, or came and went without actually ending the world. There's still an Avatar Storm, and the bulk of the Technocracy has had to adapt to the loss of Control. But they have adapted, and are claiming victory, albeit a bit prematurely.

In addition to being a good supplement in its own right, this Convention Book has me looking forward to the remaining Convention Books — particularly the Syndicate book, where we will presumably see the other side of the impending Technocratic civil war.



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Convention Book: N.W.O.
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