Mucknuggle
First Post
I heard that it's very good...what is it about?
What's Alternity?
- Thread starter Mucknuggle
- Start date
Friadoc
Explorer
Ok,
...Alternity is a game system that was once put out by Wizards of the Coast, but they ended production on it shortly after 3rd Edition/d20 hit the market.
Speculation as to why the ended the line varied from the 'why compete with d20' to the 'Lucas made them do it for the Star Wars Liscense'.
Alternity was meant to be, brillantly so in my opinion, a Sci-Fi system and the mainbook was 'setting-less'.
Alternity had three settings published - the first was Star*Drive, then came Dark*Matter, and finally there was a redux of Gamma World - technically four, but the Star Frontiers item was cool, but not fleshed out enough to be a full setting.
Dark*Matter, by far, was one of the better products - it had a series of novels, as did Star*Drive, but with the exception of 'Zero Point' the Dark*Matter novels where heads and shoulders above the Star*Drive ones.
Alternity also had a nice system for Magic and Psionics, called FX, which should look a bit familiar as it is skill based - I think a lot of things for d20 came out of Alternity, including a very solid layout style, a better skills system, the 'feats' work-up, and so forth.
Alternity also had a unique dice mechanic in that you had bonus and penalty dice that would be added, or subtracted, to and from your rolls - the greater your bonus or penalty the more dice, as well as higher dice, you added to the rolls. the range wouldbe a simple d4 added, or subtracted, from your roll to the downright impossible 4 d20s.
I, personally, loved Alternity and I own everything for it, including some hard to find in-store promo items.
If I had the funds AND WotC was selling it, I would buy the whole rights to the system, it's books, and properties - I love it that much.
...Alternity is a game system that was once put out by Wizards of the Coast, but they ended production on it shortly after 3rd Edition/d20 hit the market.
Speculation as to why the ended the line varied from the 'why compete with d20' to the 'Lucas made them do it for the Star Wars Liscense'.
Alternity was meant to be, brillantly so in my opinion, a Sci-Fi system and the mainbook was 'setting-less'.
Alternity had three settings published - the first was Star*Drive, then came Dark*Matter, and finally there was a redux of Gamma World - technically four, but the Star Frontiers item was cool, but not fleshed out enough to be a full setting.
Dark*Matter, by far, was one of the better products - it had a series of novels, as did Star*Drive, but with the exception of 'Zero Point' the Dark*Matter novels where heads and shoulders above the Star*Drive ones.
Alternity also had a nice system for Magic and Psionics, called FX, which should look a bit familiar as it is skill based - I think a lot of things for d20 came out of Alternity, including a very solid layout style, a better skills system, the 'feats' work-up, and so forth.
Alternity also had a unique dice mechanic in that you had bonus and penalty dice that would be added, or subtracted, to and from your rolls - the greater your bonus or penalty the more dice, as well as higher dice, you added to the rolls. the range wouldbe a simple d4 added, or subtracted, from your roll to the downright impossible 4 d20s.
I, personally, loved Alternity and I own everything for it, including some hard to find in-store promo items.
If I had the funds AND WotC was selling it, I would buy the whole rights to the system, it's books, and properties - I love it that much.
Don't forget "They were losing money on it." With WOTC's higher overhead, they need to sell a lot more stuff than other companies to turn a profit. IIRC, Jim Butler posted to the Alternity list explaining that the product line taken as a whole was over $100,000 in the red. The core books were apparently selling well, but the supplements weren't.Friadoc said:
An article in Dragon.LcKedovan said:
ColonelHardisson
What? Me Worry?
And before it's asked - no, it's not a lot like d20 or D&D. Some of the mechanics are similar, but overall it's simply a different game.
Tyler Do'Urden
Soap Maker
I disagree. It was far from a facsimile of D&D, but it had many common elements- I'd imagine that the feedback from Alternity and a lot of the elements they experimented with were deeply influential on 3e/d20. I'd still say that Alternity is better than d20 for hard sci-fi gaming, although d20 is better for space opera/space fantasy gaming (such as Star Wars, Fading Suns, and Dragonstar).
Alternity, originally (as I understood it), was an attempt to make "the D&D of Sci-fi"- a generic system that TSR could market different settings for, like D&D. It's a shame that it failed.
Alternity, originally (as I understood it), was an attempt to make "the D&D of Sci-fi"- a generic system that TSR could market different settings for, like D&D. It's a shame that it failed.
Purple
First Post
Darklance said:
I would guess he was talking about the adventures 'Black Starfall' and 'Red Starrise', which were given out in stores when you bought the Player's Handbook and the GMG, respectivly. These were introductory adventures for the StarDrive campaign, 16 pages each.
-Purple
Friadoc
Explorer
Yeap,
...'Black Starfall' and 'Red Starrise', but also the Fast-Play rules that you could get on-line were also given out, at some places, in a hardcopy format which I also have in my collection.
In fact the only item that I'm missing, although I need to double-check and make sure, is the Starcraft 'thing' - I didn't like it much, so didn't see the need to buy it. This might change as I saw it, recently, in one of my stores' bargin bins.
All in all I love Alternity and I keep wishing that someone would buy it from WotC and ressurect it - I still play it when I can, which might include an upcoming game if I can talk some of my other, Alternity-friendly, players into it.
Only time shall tell -
- especially after someone local e-mailed me about being interested in a game.
...'Black Starfall' and 'Red Starrise', but also the Fast-Play rules that you could get on-line were also given out, at some places, in a hardcopy format which I also have in my collection.
In fact the only item that I'm missing, although I need to double-check and make sure, is the Starcraft 'thing' - I didn't like it much, so didn't see the need to buy it. This might change as I saw it, recently, in one of my stores' bargin bins.
All in all I love Alternity and I keep wishing that someone would buy it from WotC and ressurect it - I still play it when I can, which might include an upcoming game if I can talk some of my other, Alternity-friendly, players into it.
Only time shall tell -
- especially after someone local e-mailed me about being interested in a game.
