Trying Alternity

Yesterday was cool: Pete and I got together and, once we’d chewed the fat about gaming for a couple of hours, played through the first Alternity playtest scenario.

It was a fun introduction to the system, albeit with details that have changed in the current playtest document.

We escaped (barely) the “Institute” and, along the way, created our two characters – Jeremiah and Ezekiel – who we reckon were brain-wiped Bourne-style secret agents who have been co-opted by some shady organisation into doing “jobs”.

Playing Alternity has also given me something to write about after a month or so of not knowing quite where my hobby was going.

What’s Alternity

I first came across the Alternity system in its first incarnation, back in 1997, and loved it! For the latest incarnation, dubbed Alternity 2017 when it was kickstarted back last year, the original authors decided to resurrect the name of the game and the core mechanics but to take the opportunity to re-create the system from the ground up:

“…we want to give the Alternity rules an upgrade, so to speak. We’re planning on making use of a core mechanic very similar to the “control die + situation die” approach of the original game, because rolling two polyhedrals at the same time was one of the things you did when you played Alternity. But there’s definitely room for improvement in things like character leveling, encounter building, or damage and health. The “tech” of RPG system design has moved on a bit from 1997 and we’re looking to create a system that captures the spirit and the key table experiences of the original game with an updated approach. So, yeah, we think that “Alternity” is the best name for the game we’re working on.” – Alternity webpage, checked 5th April 2018

It’s a modular ruleset for action-packed science-fiction adventure roleplaying. It’s very flexible and built to be used by the Gamesmaster to create whatever setting they want… although there are plans for at least two settings already funded from the Kickstarter.

Playtest?

My two-binder print off… never mind that the printer ran low on colour ink for those covers!

One of the cool things about the playtest is that it’s (at the time of writing) open to any interested party – you just follow the links on the Alternity webpage over at Sasquatch Game Studio. The present document is a 290-page tome that I printed off into two binders.

You have everything for basic science-fiction gaming and a couple of appendices to add Mutations and Psionics to the basics. Notably missing are things slated for supplement books – the Shipyard Guide, the Protostar Setting Guide, and the Xenologist’s Guide To Aliens – but that’s all in the pipeline.

What is especially cool is that the packet contains two short scenarios, one of which we played yesterday.

Impressions

The Initiative Tracker wheel thingie.

You know, having read the game, I was cautious. I loved the old system and the new one has the core mechanic and other similarities but it also looks stripped down. Simplified is good, simplistic is a problem for me.

This is one of those games that you need to PLAY before you judge it. Actually, that’s probably true for most games: reading the rules is not enough. Alternity plays well!

I wasn’t sure about the damage rules but they work elegantly. I wasn’t sure about the Initiative Tracker but it works well and adds to the tactical nature of combat. I worried that the stripped-down skill list might not be detailed enough but it feels fine.

The core rules are ambivalent about using miniatures and grids but there are some guidelines that work well. Tactically (a big factor for me) the game is robust and we found the combat scenes encouraged fire and movement, team support, and some cleverness.

In short, I want to play some more… and, even though I was Backer #1 but lost my enthusiasm on first reading the rules, playing the game has moved me back to being excited about receiving the final product! This is a nicely detailed set of rules that can support my old-school pretensions about roleplaying games whilst also providing tools for any Gamesmaster to deploy.

It’s a good addition to a market flooded with mediocre games. Alternity is going to be the quiet gem for science-fiction gamers to discover!

Game on!