Take Your First Look At The Upcoming ALTERNITY RPG!

Later this year, Sasquatch Game Studios will be releasing the new version of the 1990s Alternity science fiction roleplaying game. It features a brand new system, and is designed by industry veterans Dave Noonan, Richard Baker, and Bill Slavicsek. The creators have kindly sent along a sneak preview of the upcoming game, which I'm excited to share with you right here. Next week, there will be a 50(ish) page free demo/playtest packet you can download, with a short adventure by Dave Noonan, another by Rich Baker, and a brief rules overview. For now, though, take a look at the preview below!

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[doctorbadwolf]

I'm very excited about this.

 

[xanstin]

Unless I'm reading wrong it seems like the new system always changes the DC by increments of 5 for different success. I remember the original system that it was a variable of 1/2's so instead of 10/15/20 it would be 5/10/20. I don't know if the math works out the same since its roll high now, but there was something always exciting of rolling into that small amazing success band. It also seems one of the playtest options from what other people are saying keeps the variable type of dice added to the roll (d4,6,8,etc) which to me is a must to keep the unique feel. I have plenty of regular d20 options...lets keep this unique.

 

[Jer]

Unless I'm reading wrong it seems like the new system always changes the DC by increments of 5 for different success. I remember the original system that it was a variable of 1/2's so instead of 10/15/20 it would be 5/10/20. I don't know if the math works out the same since its roll high now, but there was something always exciting of rolling into that small amazing success band.

That is what the design blog seems to say, and I'm also kind of disappointed but I can see why they'd do that. IIRC the original formulation was full value/half value/quarter value. So if you had a 14 in a skill you would see 14/7/3 as your checks for Ordinary/Good/Amazing. To keep the same setup with the roll high you'd need to do more math - it would have to be something like 6/13/17 to keep the same spread of numbers so its no longer a simple halving then halving again - you have to subtract from 20 to keep the values working out. Making it 6/11/16 is close, but the lower the score you have the worse the discrepancy is (for example - someone with a 9/4/2 in the old system would have 11/16/21 in the new +5 per rank system - making it impossible without a bonus to score an Amazing success where it was previously a 10% chance of an Amazing. That's actually losing a bit of the charm of the old system in my eyes.)

It also seems one of the playtest options from what other people are saying keeps the variable type of dice added to the roll (d4,6,8,etc) which to me is a must to keep the unique feel. I have plenty of regular d20 options...lets keep this unique.

I don't think that you get Alternity if you don't have the bonus/penalty dice. In fact with a roll-high system and simple bonus/penalty adjustments to the die roll is basically becomes a variant of the standard d20 skill system.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Honestly, why? I get that the ticket to a gamers heart is usually nostalgia but there are some A grade game designers there. Surely they could put their heads together and come up with something new. Im not paying out on Alternity here but its come and gone many times. One of my fave scifi games was Shatterzone because it was where all the fresh new ideas that couldnt be used in Star Wars rpg went.

But yay.... Alternity is back.. again.

 

[Wrchylde]

Honestly, why? I get that the ticket to a gamers heart is usually nostalgia but there are some A grade game designers there. Surely they could put their heads together and come up with something new. Im not paying out on Alternity here but its come and gone many times. One of my fave scifi games was Shatterzone because it was where all the fresh new ideas that couldnt be used in Star Wars rpg went.

But yay.... Alternity is back.. again.

I am not sure about the again remark. There was only one edition released at the end of the TSR days. That being said, it is a generic scifi system that is using a familiar and somewhat beloved name and a few similar mechanics. There will be a number of different systems built by some highly respected folks, thus making it different enough from the original to warrant a looksee.

 

[Reynard]

I am not sure about the again remark. There was only one edition released at the end of the TSR days. That being said, it is a generic scifi system that is using a familiar and somewhat beloved name and a few similar mechanics. There will be a number of different systems built by some highly respected folks, thus making it different enough from the original to warrant a looksee.

I think he may be referring to the setting info, whgich has appeared at least a little in various articles for D20 Future?

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Hopefully, if they keep the s/w/m system they will fix tables G14: Acid Damage, G15: Electrical Damage, and G16: Fire Damage. I call these the tables where they got tired of the s/w/m system and just kept adding dice. And G15 and G16 had too few tiers for damage. It created problems with Beyond Science because characters with Brick: Invulnerabilty 1 against Acid or Fire would never, ever suffer damage from those damage types.

 

[GMMichael]

Just read the Design Diaries.
1 point I REALLY liked was the Wounds system. I have been playing a lot of games with guns lately and getting kind of hard to describe whittling down health when under fire. If being shot at, I like the idea that it could really hurt you

All I found about getting really hurt was that you take a penalty to your rolls, involving a situation die? Did you find something else?

I just have to live lonely in this population of one that can't abandon the original low roll system. It allowed for a fine relationship between ability scores (higher is better) and die rolls (rolling lower is better, trying to come in as far below the ability score as possible) and having the failure/success numbers needed all laid out on the character sheet without any fiddly math.

Sure, those numbers on the sheet look great for the players. But if the game is including resistance from opponents, either the GM is doing the fiddly math, or the fiddly-math-turned-dice is still being added up by the player.

That said, D&D (groan! - sorry to mention it in a non-WotC thread) made a big improvement by eliminating fiddly math with advantage rules, and Sasquatch is well positioned to do much better than that.

 

[Henry]

It came with practice. Once you got a feel for the difficulty track it was pretty smooth running. It helped to note the players resistance modifiers on a cheat sheet.

Same here; once I was familiar with it, it was pretty smooth to run. Hardest two things for me were:

1) the "roll every round" init system. Not really different from 2nd ed AD&D, but I ran a brief Alternity game after 3e was released, and it KILLed me once I got used to cyclic initiative. Thankfully Enoug Savage Worlds play got me flipping between the two easily.

2) the rules I remember were VERY vague on the difference between a -/+ modifier and a -/+ STEP moodifier, and used both, and it drove me a little nuts trying to figure out if both were used, or if it was an editing typo and they meant STEP all the time.

 

[Henry]

All I found about getting really hurt was that you take a penalty to your rolls, involving a situation die? Did you find something else?



Sure, those numbers on the sheet look great for the players. But if the game is including resistance from opponents, either the GM is doing the fiddly math, or the fiddly-math-turned-dice is still being added up by the player.

That said, D&D (groan! - sorry to mention it in a non-WotC thread) made a big improvement by eliminating fiddly math with advantage rules, and Sasquatch is well positioned to do much better than that.

I also liked about the wounds system that a mortal wound would bleed you out if you didn't have prompt medical attention. You could keep fighting, but you needed to find help, fast, or you were dead. With D&D and a lot of shstems, you can be at the last stage of your wounds, or have 1 hit point, or whatever, and walk around for a week that way. In real life, you might walk around with a serious wound, even for a few minutes thanks to adrenaline, but you ain't gonna stay that way for long, a minute or two usually, an hour if your're lucky, tops.

And yes modelling real life isn't what an rpg is good at, but there's something gained in my opinion by the image of the hero with the bleeding gut-wound staying on his/her feet just long enough to put the last foe down, and then being rushed to the hospital... or dying.