Alpha Omega.nfo
RPG GEEK REVIEW
0.1 Introduction
Alpha Omega. What can I really start to say? Wow? Ew? Brilliant? Idiotic? Are there words? Well, here is one that is pretty much undisputable: beautiful. If this game is nothing else, it is gorgeous. Not gorgeous in the way that 3rd Edition was compared to Advanced D&D, though it certainly is gorgeous in that way; and not just gorgeous in the way that Avatar was compared to Logan’s Run, though again that kinda fits too. Alpha Omega is gorgeous in the way the aliens were to the lead scientist in Alien: Resurrection: an awful, grotesque, frightening and perfect beauty.
0.1.2 Apology
It has taken me a long time to write this review, probably too long. I started almost as soon as I finished my last one on Lacuna pt. 1. I supposed that if I was going to write a review where I gave a game a dreaded 10, I should balance that with a game that would receive another 10 from me but in another area. Ok, so that’s not balance, but whatever - if I shake all my 10’s out now I will be much happier writing reviews. Anyways, that was days ago that I started and it has been more work than some thesis research papers I have written!
0.2 Overview
Ok, a bit about the game. The game is Canadian (Yay!), produced by Mindstorm labs, a small company for whom Alpha Omega is the only current line. The company appears to be headed by lead designers David Carter and Earl Fischl. I don’t know if these gentlemen are responsible for Alpha Omega’s structure and presentation, but there is some serious professional training involved in this book. If one is familiar with the publishing industry at large - outside of gaming and fantasy novels - one might come to the conclusion that Alpha Omega shares more with an advertising approach than it does with a serviceable book. The whole volume flows like an extended Car brochure with sleek artwork, well placed charts, superb text formatting. Car brochures aim to make all of the information as attractive, accessible and visually interesting as possible and that is precisely what Alpha Omega does.
0.3 Segue
Ok, so now I’m getting deeper into structure so the review has started, roll chapter screen:
0.3.1 Interlude
Wait, pause. Um...take a bathroom break and get a soda, this is going to be long, sorry. I’ll try to break it up as much as possible so it’s easy to skim; as a tribute to AO I will be using a quick numbering system (x.x.x). Ok, roll it:
1.0.0 STRUCTURE
1.1 Physical Structure
The book was bound in some alternate universe where people prefer 11x8.5 books rather than 8.5x11 books. Yep it’s horizontal. I don’t know why they did this; to be different? I think it plays once again into the pro level of design; wanna guess what else happens to be photobook bound? Ahem, aside from photo books? Yep, advertising material; the long shape allows you to use artwork in more effective manners - is Mindstorm Labs a division of GM? The problem I have with this is twofold, first I hate that it sticks out of my collection like a sore thumb, and second I’m worried that storing it in the normal fashion will eventually stress the binding as this layout puts more leverage on less contact points - time will tell.
1.2 Artwork
It is impossible to talk about Alpha Omega without talking about the artwork. The artwork is amazing. The book is filled with full page sprawling landscapes, close up character portraits, action shots that perfectly accompany text; there are paintings, sketches, inks, colourized drawings, paintshops, 3d models. There are dozens and dozens of artworks describing everything from individual personalities to alien denizens to future cityscapes to desolate wastelands. The best part? Save for a handful of pics, all the art is Alpha Omega specific. Whoever created them was a part of the 'vision' for the game and there are next to no pictures that could just be replaced with a shot from Rifts and still have the game make sense.
1.2.2 Artwork Comparisons
Now, I don’t invoke the name of Rifts lightly. Many, many people compare this game to rifts. It is a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world with a kind of magic, lots of monsters and lots of fortified cities. I think the game designers need to nod their head to all the work Rifts accomplished in this genre, and I do not deny that there are tropes that have passed from one game to the other. But saying that Alpha Omega is ‘Rifts X’ is as insulting to Alpha Omega as saying that Rogue Trader is just Traveller Dark, or Burning Wheel is just AD&D 1.4. Just because two systems have orcs and elves does not mean they share anything else. -Admittedly when I try to think of another system that has really put so much emphasis on high-quality, world-specific art in their core book..um...well ok, you have a point... but it’s not Rifts!
1.3 Page Layouts
So after you’ve flipped through the entire book to skim the art (trust me, you will), the very next thing that might catch your eye is the little navigation bar on the sides of the pages. This isn’t really inventive, many books have different ways to delineate chapters (GURPS uses colour coding). What is sort of neat is that the book is broken into chapters and subchapters so not only is there a highlighted icon to show you what chapter you’re in, but below the icon is a little list of numbers and the highlighted one shows you what sub-chapter you’re on. This, as you will see becomes vital to using the book, but we’ll talk about that later on. For now I just wanted to point out that I liked the continuity it gave the book, stylistically it actually looks like you’re using electronic means to read this material.
1.4.0 Internal Structure
1.4.1 - Introduction
So the book starts off with a little welcome to gaming, here’s what you need to play. Pretty standard fair, pencil, character sheets, dice, calculator, place to play-wait, what? Calculator? This should be your first hint that something is rotten in Denmark - so you shouldn’t order the burritos. The book also encourages you to use miniatures and play maps for your game. This is not unusual, miniatures are more and more popular among companies that want to not only grab a market share of the visually inclined younger generation but also want to sell miniatures. But wait you say, Mindstorm Labs doesn’t sell minis; check their website. I’ve got no problem with miniature aids in general, a lot of people rally against them in a sort of ‘not in this man’s RPG’ kinda way, but in reality, if the technology to produce cheap, pre-painted miniatures existed back in the day, not many games wouldn't have produced some - just look at the explosion of lead minis during the 3rd generation of RPGs (for more on my take on gaming generations see my Lacuna review).
1.4.2 Game Setting
I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about the game setting here; I’ll leave that for the third section of the review as per usual. I will say that the setting is very nicely laid out for the reader. It starts with an introduction to the culture of the game world, some of the history, and the major events which have shaped the world. In the very briefest of terms, you have a planet that self-destructs in environmental and man-made disaster, alien races visit the planet bringing their intergalactic conflict with them and introducing humans to new technology and access to ‘magic’. Ok, so the magic is thinly veiled in a pseudo-scientific explanation that is more fit for a George Noory bit than a speculative fiction mag, but it’s not bad as far as this kind of thing goes.
One of the really nice things that Alpha Omega does is a technique often found in really good writing; they explain the world in the details and let the bigger pictures draw themselves. For example, they start right-off with a discussion of common slang terms, briefly the sort of places people live and then the details like what they eat, how they pay for things, what transportation, medicine and entertainment is like. It might sound a bit awkward to some, but it really gives you that visceral sense of setting that often gets missed when you only describe the broad strokes.
Following the background there is a really creative chapter on various locations around the world. Unlike most core rules which tend to be focused on a single city or country, the locations listed here include everything from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, Sao Paulo to Arcon-C-Hell. Almost every city has it’s own high-quality piece of art to give you a visual reference as well.
After the world is presented, the international players are introduced. The book provides 27 different characters that inhabit the world of Alpha Omega. While most of the players feature on the global stage some are localized individuals who increase the thematic feel of Alpha Omega and help set-up the background. Once again, almost every character is accompanied by a piece of artwork, in some cases a sketch in other cases a half-page, full colour portrait. If all that wasn’t enough, the book then charts 7 different organizations with influence on the planet. All told the background material takes up almost 100 glossy pages. Really impressive!
1.4.3 Character Creation
Have I told you how beautiful this book is?
Character creation starts out with a comparative size chart for each of the 10 races that includes a silhouette of the shortest member of the race, the tallest and the average height for both a male and a female. It’s pretty cool, but overall, silhouettes are kinda...meh. Then you turn the page and there is a 2-page, full colour illustration of an average example in male and female of every single race. Has this been done before? Yeah. Is it done even better in this book? Hell yeah. Does it get better? Every single race is then neatly laid out in a 2 page spread (4 for more complex races) with another high-quality illustration of a male and female.
It’s not just the drawings that are pretty, most of the information is laid out in well formatted charts that show core stats, qualities, abilities and drawbacks. Think about how a videogame rpg takes you through character creation, you select your race and a little window pops up telling you what the benefits and drawback of your race are; those little windows are printed on the page. I know a lot of people will claim that other games do this, but they don’t; not in the same way. Other games use collaborative charts to show all the information comparatively, Alpha Omega gives you clear, concise reference boxes which transfer directly to your character creation sheet; you could theoretically never read a word of the racial description paragraphs to get all the information you need to play.
As I mentioned, some of the races are more complex and have a few more options; for example if you choose to be bio-engineered, you must select what you were bio-engineered for: Combat, Labor, Stealth or Manipulation (read seduction).
1.4.4 Core Qualities
It is slightly odd that this section occurs after the racial selection phase because this is generally the lead off chapter in character design. Although it’s counter intuitive, it makes perfect sense. In Alpha Omega, what you were born as is probably the most important factor of who your game character is; playing a regular human is a wildly different experience from playing a god-like Anunnaki and both races have a wildly different influence on character statistics.
1.4.5 Mechanics
If, for some reason, you were getting tired of the high-quality scenic and portrait artwork in the book, the Mechanics section should restore your interest with it’s well thought-out action pictures. Here again you will find a plethora of charts but they are used in an interesting way. Rather than being provided as reference as they so often are in other books, the charts here are almost all critical parts of the game. There is a page just devoted to tracking a target’s speed, density, size, fear and disposition. While that sounds ridiculous it’s actually part of a fairly ingenious system of quickly tracking the state of a creature/character, but it does serve as an excellent example of how many different and detailed charts this book contains - there are hundreds. And in terms of structure they are beautiful and organized, in terms of the system...that’s later.
The Mechanics section is extremely well laid out considering the volume of information contained. Everything from combat to seduction; wielding magic to driving vehicles is covered here and it’s covered well.
1.4.6 Gear
Guess what the first thing I’m going to say about the gear section is? Anyone? High quality illustrations of most major gear pieces? Check. High-detailed illustrations of EVERY weapon, all 104 different types? Check. Varient drawings of every melee weapon showing a standard, waste-land improvised and high-tech version? Check. I’m not kidding you, this has to be the most detailed armoury section ever. I’m positive most arms & armament supplements don’t contain this many illustrations - it is a real joy to read, like your own personal high-tech, post-apocalyptic Sears catalogue. The weapons run the gamut from two-handed mauls to short-barrel shotguns, rail-gun tech sniper rifles to carousel fed grenade launchers and remote-controlled mobile mortar launchers. Impressive.
The gear section closes out with a some augmentations that can be purchased and a few full descriptions of some vehicles.
1.4.7 Playing the Game
The final section of the book contains a few pages of rudimentary advice on how to play an RPG along with a good section of sample NPC’s all fully illustrated. Like most game books the end sort of feels like the tiny kitchen drawer that holds the stuff that has no rack on the shelf. It’s an almost universal fact so it’s nothing against Alpha Omega.
1.5.1 Things I Hated
Not much. The binding, I don’t like how it sticks out on my shelf and worry it will break itself. I also have a small issue with the lack of page numbers, but in consideration I think the book is cooler without them in terms of its overall coherence. Think of it like this review, there are no pages, just one contiguous scroll of paragraphs.
1.5.2 Things I Loved
I loved the Art, the layout, the design. This is a beautiful book and its layout/design is impressively thought out. The production quality is of the highest caliber and the artwork is stunning. I would happily use this as a centerpiece, on a lectern were I a bigger fan of the system.
1.5.3 Bottom Line
This is perhaps one of the most beautiful books you will ever own. For collectors, its uniqueness, design and interiors are worth the price of admission alone. In its printed format it’s a little hard to navigate, but I recon it is made superbly easy in PDF with a search function
2.0.0 MECHANICS
2.1 At First Glance
Detail. So you start with a D, add an ‘e’, then ‘t,a,i,l’ just like the word tail. A tail is the long, flexible protrusion from the rear of many animals that assists primarily with balance. Balance is the act of equalizing the center of gravity of an object so that it stays immobile in its present position. Position is the spacial...do you get the point? Alpha Omega is all about the details. This a great thing when it comes to writing stories but in terms of a game - it can be the difference between playing Axis & Allies for a few fun hours and spending a grudging weekend on an advanced squad leader opening move.
2.2 Character Creation
Since this comes first in the book, I’ll talk about it first here. Character creation is essentially a point build system with every new character starting with 500 Character development points.
2.2.1 Races
There are 10 different races to choose from, they are:
Normal Human - 50,000 years and going strong
Remnant Human - Genetically altered survivors of the wastes
Bio-Engineered Human - More human than human?
Necrosi Human - Gene-altered by radiation (pale skin, eyes light-sensitive, twilight fans)
A.I. - Not exactly your Haley Joel Osment versions of robots
Nephilim - Massive winged aliens who are either of the feathery variety (Seraph) or the leathery/horny (Ophanim)
Lesser Nephilim - The offspring of Nephilim and any other intelligent race
Grigori - Genetically engineered servants of the Nephilim
Lesser Grigori - The offspring of Grigori and any other intelligent race
Anunnaki - The result of the forbidden union of a Seraph with an Ophanim
As mentioned above, each race has its own chart of abilities, drawbacks and genetic deviations. These are itemized really clearly and include things like: Bonus Ability - Blood Lust, Must select at least 80 points in drawbacks, cannot access Innate wielding, Cannot use Cybernetic or Necrotic augmentations.
If you want to play something innately powerful such as an Anunnaki, a lot of your 500 points will be spent in a predetermined way; while playing a normal human will net you 100 extra points and the freedom to spend them as you see fit. The power of the Anunnaki is found in the fact that it can access trait levels and power spheres far beyond those of a normal human.
2.2.2 Statistics
The first things to spend points on are a standard set of 7 core qualities: Strength, Agility, Conditioning, Vitality, Discipline, Intelligence and Charisma. After you’ve done that there are 7 secondary derived stats that are calculated, followed by 5 tertiary stats after that and rounded off with a health stat. So all told your character has 20 stats. 20! Why that many? Detail of course. Lets use the example of ‘Reaction’. Reaction is a measure of your character’s ability to quickly react to events, it is derived from athleticism + wisdom /2... but wait, your wisdom is derived from your discipline + intelligence /2 and your athleticism is derived from your strength + agility /2... Does anyone else see the stinking green ghost of palladium rising with a vengeance? I love that they’re trying to make a world representative of our own, a realistic gaming experience, but it doesn’t work - it’s too much - they’ve made an epic game into an epic rule-learning session.
2.2.3 Rounding out
Following these stat crunches, you must choose abilities and drawback for your characters. This section has good descriptions and a decent summary chart to it. Then you get to choose genetic deviations such as increased skeletal structure or gills etc. and if applicable, Elim (alien) deviations such as glowing eyes and wings.
The skill selection is broken into mental and physical skills and follows a tree-based system where there are general areas of knowledge such as Arts, Science, Millitary that break down into specific skills such as Tactics and Leadership. Again we’re looking at a maximum amount of detail.
The magic system in the game is called wielding because the characters are essentially manipulating the raw forces from one of 6 dimensional sources. This essentially breaks down into schools of magic such as elemental, void, alpha etc. It’s an interesting, free-form system that reminds me of the old White Wolf Mage system.
2.3 Game Mechanics
2.3.1 Basic actions
Ok, so - Everything is done with dice pools. Not a bad system, it’s highly flexible and fairly dynamic for story telling. Stats can range anywhere from 1 to 100 ... so in a normal dice pool system this would mean you’re rolling anywhere form 1 to 100 dice. Alpha Omega has a fairly interesting system for this but its chart intensive. Every range of 2-3 numbers is assigned it’s own dice pool. This pool is composed of different dice that give an incrementally higher average and the chance of bonus actions. For example:
8-9 = 4D4
9-10 = 5D4
85-88 = 3D20 + 3D12
97-100 = 6D20
Basic actions are carried out against standard difficulty ratings and opposed checks against opponent results just as you would expect.
2.3.2 Combat
Combat is cool and complex at the same time. What sucks? There are 13 stances - 13! There are 5 static stances and 8 moving stances including flying and swimming. Like many parts of these rules it feels like you’re hunting for mice with elephant guns because... you know... there might be tigers... somewhere... at some point. Getting beyond that:
Combat is always done in 6 segments, your reaction tertiary quality is tied to a pre-set list showing when you act. For example a reaction score of 14 allows you to act in segment 3 and 6 while a reaction of 50 allows you to act on 1, 2, 4 and 6. You are able to use a maximum of 6 dice from your appropriate dice pool on any one segment but can divide your dice pool as you see fit among your active cycles. Now remember those odd dice pool combinations such as 3D20 + 3D12, there are never more than 6 dice. So in one sequence a character with a score of 100 and a high enough reaction could role a 1D20 for 6 actions, one every segment.
I actually found this an interesting way to deal with the fact that some characters are god-like in their speed while others are more mundane. Here you can have an NPC decide his action is to shoot a charging Nephilim and he acts in segment 5. In segment 1 the Nephilim closes the distance with NPC, in segment 3 the Nephilim slices the rifle in 2 pieces, in segment 5 the Nephilim smiles wickedly as the NPC’s trigger makes a harmless click - ok it’s not quite that easy but it’s close.
One interesting twist brought on by aliens who move at super-speed is that they are able to make actions like the one above; ie. where they anticipate their opponent’s aim and move out of the way quicker than the opponent can pull the trigger. This diminishes the effectiveness of projectiles in high-level combat (think Equilibrium when the two grammaton clerics are trying to shoot each other). To help solve this (and I think to give a reason to draw Nephilim with giant swords) the authors have made melee fighting the dominant way higher-order fighters resolve physical confrontation. To this end there are melee attachments for just about all the weapons going. Everything from: submachine gun, three-bladed bayonets; to detachable butt-stock flails; to pistol mounted hand-grip blades. This makes for an interesting setting flavour but I find it rather juvenile - wouldn’t an alien that fast be equally skilled at anticipating their target when firing a weapon - meh, small point and I admit, the SMG’s look cool with 3 foot blades coming off the front.
One of the things I liked to balance out the melee weapons was that each weapon had an exertion rating comparable to the size of the weapon. This means it is very likely that a massive Grigori with a Maul is going to attack once or twice in a round while a similar opponent with a knife will be able to put in a few more blows - then again this is just ANOTHER stat to track so, I’m mixed.
Damage is also dealt out by type: High-velocity kinetic, melee kinetic, energy, chemical etc. The damage type affects absorption, resistance, bleeding etc. Bleeding rate can in turn affect endurance etc. It is A LOT of information to track, record and implement. It makes for highly realistic combat but an ordeal when it comes to number crunching.
2.3.3 Wielding
I actually like the Wielding (read Magic) system in Alpha Omega. It’s extremely free-form and very flexible. The essential basis is that any wielder can access one of the six basic power sources but must access the sources through an intention. The 6 basic sources are Elemental, Energy, Void, Being, Alpha, Omega and the 4 intentions are the diametrically opposed Sancto and Bane, Order and Chaos. Within each intention are 4 sub-intentions. For Sancto the 4 sub-categories are Deliverence, Salvation, Creation and Inspiration. Not every sub-category works with every power source. Creation for example can be used with every power source while Deliverance can only be used with Being, Alpha or Omega. Every sub-intention has a short list of the sort of things it can be used for, though this is a guideline, not a list of direct effects. To use deliverance for an example, it can be used to relieve physical suffering; example uses include replenishing a health pool, countering a disease or poison or resuscitating the dying.
Every spell is successful or fails based on an ability check. Every check is rolled with 7 factors in mind, a chart will tell you the modification:
1 - Range
2 - # of targets or area
3 - Damage or Healing
4 - Structural Integrity
5 - Mass of Object
6 - Duration
7 - Increase or Decrease Modifier
So, for example: I want to use Deliverance to heal a target 10 ft away.
1 - 10 ft range = +8
2 - Target is not myself = +4
3 - Healing base + (2D4x2) = +12
4 - No structural integrity = +0
5 - No weight involved = +0
6 - Duration is 1 round = +0
7 - No modifiers are applied = +0
The total difficulty is 24 (8+4+12)
Second example: I want to create a barrier of fire around myself.
1 - Touch Range = +2
2 - Target is myself = +2
3 - It causes not damage or healing = +0
4 - Structural Integrity is 200 = +16
5 - No weight involved = +0
6 - Duration is 2 combat cycles = +3
7 - No modifiers are applied = +0
Total difficulty is 23 (2+2+16+3). If I wanted to throw the barrier over the person I healed the difficulty would be 31 (+8 for range and +4 for target not myself)
All in all, a nice system - pretty crunchy but I find it a lot more imaginative and inspirational than throwing magic missiles.
2.4 Advancement
Advancement is actually pretty straight forward. You get Character development points just as you did in character creation to use in roughly the same way. The game adds three ways to increase your statistics outside of this. The first is genetic deviation. You can essentially purchase a genetic deviance that allows one of your core quality maximums to increase by 10 points, allowing you to funnel more CDPs into it. The second is evolutionary bounds. At the cost of hundreds of Character points, you can have your character evolve to the next level and raise your stat maximums to 40. The third is Ascension whereby you channel your mind, body and soul together and reach a new level of existence on this mortal plane.
Genetic deviation makes sense at character creation but doing it more than once in medias res is stretching it.
Evolutionary Bounds I find ridiculous, the idea that evolution will cause all of your stat maximums to suddenly jump to the same arbitrary number is counterintuitive and silly. Outside of that, the fact that a human could purchase all 4 levels of it and raise every max to 100 -talk about the ultimate cheat code for natural selection.
Ascension is the only one that makes sense and is graded. It is hard to ascend, it takes a minimum number of a variety of stats in order to attempt it and the raise costs 100 pts on top of that. Once you ascend you get a few ranks in Alpha and Omega sources and a few ranks in an intention. This is logical given the intuitive nature of wielding and intense concentration it would require to master it. Unlike Evolutionary bounds that allow you to reach a potential maximum in 4 steps, there are a graded 9 steps to achieve total ascension and they aren’t easy.
In addition to this there is an alternate system provided for skill development. It’s not a new idea by any means but it is one I like. Rather than simply buying new skill points, players can track usage and of skills and the new level can be ‘challenged’ by completing tasks with target numbers within 5 point of the average skill score (yeah, there’s a chart). Since this only applies to skills, I’m not sure if it’s balance, but it’s certainly more organic.
2.5.1 Things I Hated
Well, I just finished covering the stupid genetic evolution system, so that makes the list. Outside of that, it’s clunky. Model T’s have run smoother than this game after 80 years in Alabama humidity. There is so much data to compile and keep track of and derive and apply and monitor and...arg! Makes you almost wish it was d20... no, I’d still take this over d20, but gah... west end games needs to make a d6 version of this game!
2.5.2 Things I Loved
It was inventive. The creators really thought about what they needed their system to deal with and created it from the ground up to be that. They knew they had super fast aliens battling super-gun carrying cyborgs so they created a system that could handle that. They didn’t envision magic coming from an ancient grimoire and I think their system perfectly reflects that.
2.5.3 Bottom Line
The designers took a risk. They attempted to create a perfectly new system that reflected the conflicts and resolutions they envisioned in their world. To that end, they perfectly succeeded. For any other purpose they created one of the most interesting, inventive, clunky, crunchy systems I’ve ever seen or feel likely to see- take that for what it’s worth.
3.0.0 CONCEPT / SETTING
3.1 Where to start?
How the hell would a person pitch this as a movie? Ok, so it’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland filled with genetic abominations and remnants of human society but there are still hundreds of really high-tech cities where people genetically modified themselves to be super-powerful but then after all this happened these two alien races show up who are essentially like angels and demons and they want to have a war on earth and they bring this genetically developed slave race with them and they know how to use magic and they start teaching humans how and then everyone sleeps with everyone else except for the angels and the demons, who usually don’t have sex but when they do, you get this super-badass angel demon mix that can kill anything. Yeah, it pretty much sounds like a 14yr old wet-dream produced by Michael Bay, directed by Brian Taylor and staring Christopher Walken and Randy Couture.
The first mention of plot comes from a two-page little mini-chapter that details the nostrodameus type predictions of an unknown prophet named Ethan Haas. I’m told this was part of some viral marketing campaign, but I don’t know who knew about it so I’m sure it didn’t really work for that and it absolutely does nothing for this book. (As a side note, I have been corrected on this point. The viral marketing was effective to a degree so I renege my assumption and apologize.)
In terms of setting the scene, this is a marvelous take on a post-apocalyptic, far future earth. The city-states, the archologies, the wastelands; these things are really well thought out. The complexity of design options for bio-engineered, cyborgs, A.I.s, genetically altered humans, it’s really thorough and well done. The openness they gave to the wastelands, explaining how humans allowed bio-engineered species to escape into the wild, accelerated evolution sciences etc. I really can buy into the idea that you could run into ANYTHING on this planet and find yourself in just about any situation. There are a few things that are a little cheesy. The light-sensitive, cannibalistic necrosi are essentially vampires and honestly; that’s dumb in my opinion... but there are those who like the whole I am Legend thing so I’ll shrug my shoulders to that.
All in all though, they do an amazing job creating a totally believable world to explore, and then the western-centric religious apocalypse comes to town and we’re all supposed to gasp and say - ah... see, the bible thought it was writing about servants of God but really they were just aliens fighting an intergalactic battle... Anyone? Anyone buying this? Just to secure the point we’ll use some Greek translations of Hebrew names for the aliens to make sure they have biblically referenced identities. C’mon guys - this is ridiculous, I’m pretty sure a seven year old is going to have a few problems with this premise.
Are the aliens a good addition? Yes! They bring the whole wielding thing, which is cool. They provide a level of intrigue to the setting and a unifying theme, very cool. Does making them big, bad-ass angels and demons add anything to the story... not a bit.
Here is my word of advice to all story tellers. Religions are all about morality. However they want to define it, religions present a moral code. That code isn’t always what one might consider ethical, but it is a code none-the-less. If you are telling stories about religion, awesome! It is a fascinating topic. But they should relate to morality. You can tell stories about sin and redemption, pride and fall, victory and suffering. You can tell a story about the lack of ethics a holy empire has despite its moral claims or you could talk about how the morality professed is not the morality engaged. These are all interesting stories. But if you bring in religion and you leave out any morality at all... you end up with a dissatisfying and hollow basis for story-telling. This isn’t to say that you couldn’t find some morality to add into Alpha Omega, just that the game isn’t about that. It’s about exploration and intrigue, it might have needed aliens but it didn’t need celestials.
And a note to the authors: I get it. I do. You wanted to present an alternate version of what might be the basis of biblical stories. It’s easy to do; the parts of Genesis that star the Grigori play very much like an alien first contact. And there is a powerful message that can either re-enforce the historicity of biblical accounts or completely discredit the supernaturalism of them; great basis for a game. Unfortunately you made Alpha Omega so rich with all the other science fiction elements that the storytelling potential of the Nephilim gets washed away. Their angelic/demonic nature ultimately becomes a distraction to their more important alien nature. I accept and recognize that there was an attempt to sterilize the races from their biblical counterparts but that isn’t possible - a perfectly beautiful human with white feathery wings is always an angel just as a human with horns, leathery wings and a tail is always a demon, and that belongs in another game.
But I digress.
3.2.1 Things I Hated
Just to say it one last time: The angels and demons; they were gratuitous, silly and annoying. Keep the aliens, loose the allusions.
3.2.2 Things I Loved
Pretty much everything else. This is an excellent high-tech, post-apocalyptic setting with something for everyone. There is political and city intrigue, a plethora of different character options, hundreds of places to explore, magic wielding aliens. It’s really well thought out and well executed for the most part.
3.2.3 Bottom Line
When you get this game, don’t balk at it as a reaction to something you don’t like. There is some bad but there is a lot of good. Throw the bad away: strip the wings off the Seraph and call them the Serrahk or something, take away the vampiric qualities of the Necrosi and make them extremely xenophobic. But by all means keep the good, try the system; I think you’ll be surprised at what you find.
4.0.0 THE SCOOP
4.1 Summary
Alpha Omega is something I wish we saw more of. It is an Indy game that has all the creativity of setting and system that it’s peers do but is light-years ahead of the rest in production value. This is a book that you will be proud to own, sharing more in common with a Games Workshop Special Edition volume than your average Indy printing. The rules and setting are complex and hard to sink your teeth into but there is no lack of thought and effort in anything this book presents. The people who worked on this obviously put some blood, sweat and tears into this and I think it deserves some recognition. So who should pick this up? If you play D&D almost exclusively, don’t bother; if you laude games that have simple systems, you might want to skip it too. If you like indy games, games with a different twist, if you long for someone to make a more story-based, grounded version of Rifts or if, above all, you like pretty-pretty shiny things; Alpha Omega is definitely a piece you should think strongly about.
4.2.1 Presentation (Style, Readability, Artwork): 10 - I hate giving tens but this book earns it hands-down.
4.2.2 Rules (Complexity, Logic, Playability): 4 - For all the production value you’d think they would have imbedded a calculator in the cover, maybe even an accountant.
4.2.3 Story (Setting, Concept, Intrigue): 6.5 - Not bad, could have scored much higher without the Armageddon references
Last word: The line doesn’t stop with the core book, there is a creature compendium called the encountered, I have a pdf version but no hardcover; I ordered one but it never came...I bet you it’s pretty!
"If you try to make something for everyone you'll just end up with something for noone."
RPG NET REVIEW:
In Short
Alpha Omega delivers far future, post-apocalypse, magic using, mega-city living, alien invading, angel and demon fighting, mutant hiding, monster destroying action in a beautiful package. With very traditional, crunchy game design players take on the role of a disparate band of, well, people who work to survive the harsh reality of the future. If you like the idea of taking cyberpunk, modern magic, and post-apocalyptic settings and throwing them all in a blender then this game is sure to have something you will love.
The Good: With so many character options available it’s hard to imagine a player who can’t find something to love here. A complete lack of player narration, ‘hero points’, or elements of modern game design may work well for some folk. A mechanically involved system attempts to make the game as realistic as possible.
The Bad: The setting may be a little over the top for some readers, and no implications of the presence of magic, sapient A.I., and imminent alien invasion are explored. The sorts of character building options one might expect from earlier games – merits and flaws, lots of stats, lots of tables, etc. – may turn some readers off from the system. For a game that stresses combat and, at times, monster hunting it’s curious that there are no monsters and the only meaningful opponents in the entire book are stats for two security guards.
The Physical Thing
This 404 page glossy full color hardcover showcases the very highest game production standards for its $45.99 price tag. Its dimensions are unusual, being wider and shorter than a standard RPG – more like a standard RPG turned on its side – but the book is still packed with material. The character artwork is good throughout, but the full page landscapes are gorgeous.
The game doesn’t use page numbers but uses a sort of chapter/section numbering system that makes it even easier to find material. As if that’s not enough, there’s a complete table of contents and index. The editing is perfect, the formatting is solid – there’s just nothing but beauty here.
Under the Cover
The Setting
In the near the Earth itself turns against humanity. Volcanoes are unleashed, super storms develop, and everything that can go wrong goes wrong. Then humanity engages in a biological and nuclear war with itself. Then comet fragments strike the Earth, causing immense destruction. The authors’ goal in this slightly silly sequence of disasters is to have an excuse for monsters roaming the countryside and mega-cities where humanity fled to hide away from the dangerous outside world. So, at the start of 2280 there are mutants in the wastelands, monsters, giant mega-cities filled with people, and parts of the world still unexplored.
Technology has continued to develop. Truly sapient A.I. exist, as do A.I. forced into cybershells. Genetic engineering is common, as are vat grown genetically engineered people. Computers are ubiquitous and most people are tied into an augmented reality system at all times. All previous governments have failed, being replaced with nefarious city-states that offer citizenship to only the most desirable and constantly compete with one another for resources. The world is a wild and wondrous place.
Advanced technology is only half the story, however. See, there are two really powerful alien races (effectively angels and devils) that wage war on Earth every 10,000 years. They leave some stragglers behind to keep an eye on everything. Well, this war is just about to take place again and the stragglers have been pretty active in letting people know about it. Add to that the discovery of magic, both arcane and divine, and you’ve got a setting that is completely filled with possibility.
The best part of the setting is easily the attention given to the mega-cities in various parts of the world. Often accompanied by beautiful full page illustrations, having an overview of what’s out there is useful and provides the reader with a good general idea of what the world really looks like. The worst is the attention to signature NPCs, which take up a fair bit of room and are not accompanied by any sort of stat blocks which could otherwise make them useful at least as example NPCs.
Be aware that the setting, as with the game generally, seeks to provide an overview of the world but does not go into depth on anything. On the one hand, this provides plenty of room for adding in your own content. On the other, folk like me who enjoy detailed settings will be disappointed at the brevity with which setting elements are addressed and then discarded.
The System
The system is called the 6-6 system because each combat turn is split into 6 segments and characters have up to 6 dice, ranging from d4 to d20, that they may distribute through those segments as they wish. The basic unit of most RPGs is the Skill check, and Alpha Omega handles that in an unusual way. Players compare their Quality to a table to determine how many dice they get. They then roll those dice, add them up, and add their Skill Rank + Equipment bonus to the total. For Skills this is usually compared to a static difficulty number or part of an opposed roll.
Example: A character is trying to remember an important fact from History. The character has the History Skill at Rank 2. The History Skill is based on the Wisdom Quality, which this character has at 18. Looking at the table I discover that an 18 results in a pool of 3d6 3d4. For my History check I roll those six dice, add up the results, and then add 2 (my Skill Rank) to the total. A much higher Wisdom Quality would have resulted in a more favorable dice pool, such as 1d8 5d6 for a 26 Wisdom. A much higher Skill would have resulted in just a higher flat modifier.
Additionally, whenever a character rolls the dice they also roll a d20 to check for a Critical Roll. On a 1 a Critical Failure occurs, and on a 20 a Critical Success occurs. The Critical result can override whatever the character would otherwise achieve.
Example: Let’s expand on my above example. The Difficulty set by the GM is 30 – average. Note that starting Qualities don’t typically exceed 20 or 25 for the character’s absolute best areas, so most characters will have difficulty hitting average difficulties starting out. Assume my example historian rolls perfectly, getting a 30 and then adding 2 more on for a 32 – success! If a 1 is rolled on the Critical Die then that success becomes a Critical Failure. If a 20 is rolled then the success stands as a Critical Success.
A Human’s base Quality is 12, with a max of 20. The example character built in the rules buys 3 Ranks in her most important Skill – not unreasonable considering how expensive Skills are (though she buys no other Skills at all). The simple NPCs in the back have higher Skills, which at first made me think this example character is an exception, but upon further investigation I realized that even the simple NPCs are built on hundreds of points more than what starting characters receive. A Quality of 12 provides 6d4, which with a Skill at 3 is not enough to ever hit an Average Difficulty. A Quality of 20, the max for humans before genetic engineering / cyberware, provides 4d6 2d4. That makes it possible, but very unlikely. Note that this isn’t balanced by any sort of reroll / hero point mechanic in the game.
The Combat system further develops the game. Depending on the Reaction Tertiary Quality characters will participate in 1-6 of the 6 combat phases. The dice a character receives are for the entire turn, so going often isn’t necessarily the best option. The game fully supports the use of miniatures, including rules for movement, facing, and example grids. Oddly, all of the example grids appear to be for dungeons.
When combat breaks out characters roll for Reaction and then take turns through the phases performing half or full phase actions (such as Full Attack). All characters have a Defense rating. Attacking is very simple. Either roll against the static Defense Rating or, if the target is Actively Defending, roll against their Active Defense roll. Just like Skill checks it boils down to roll vs. static or roll vs. roll. The combat system will be particularly intuitive for folk coming from a d20 background. Damage is determined based on weapon damage, character skill, and the target’s armor.
Unlike the Skill system, I have no immediate objections to the combat system. It’s intuitive and a lot of the features – such as armor being destroyed as it absorbs damage – will appeal to many players. Many condition modifiers are included but, ultimately, the game comes down to a simple Hit Point and Endurance Point tracking system.
One last mechanic deserves some attention. Alpha Omega has an interesting approach to tracking mental states, the State Tracking Table. These exist for all sorts of different qualities, from Fear and Thought to even physical qualities like Size. They range from -4 to 4, with 0 being standard, and various Skills/Spells can shift characters along these State Tables. For example, the default state for Fear is Normal. Going in one direct invokes Confident, Inspired, etc. The other direction invokes Anxious, Scared, Terrified, and so on. I like this because it doesn’t just assume a binary fear/not-feared state but takes into consideration the possibility of characters being in a superior state of mind already, such as thanks to a good leader. Mechanically, it’s also easy to work with while providing a fun bit of additional crunch.
Character Creation
Character creation begins with a concept!
Example: I’m building Aaron Voidheart, a half demon half angel (called a Annunaki) bounty hunter. Aaron was just too damn good at her job and, after taking in a crime lord, one day found herself with a huge bounty on her head. Now she’s trying to keep one step ahead of the competition while looking for a way to resolve her own bounty.
Alpha Omega throws plenty of species options at the player. Humans are as simple as ever, but have more potential to grow than any other species. The Necrosi are an S&M loving offshoot of humanity that evolved elsewhere on Earth after so much global destruction. They have an appearance akin to undead, but otherwise are similar to humans. Remnants are mutants who have been living out in the radioactive wastelands. A.I. are, well, A.I. forced to live in humanoid robotic bodies. Unfortunately, there is no support for playing A.I. in unusual bodies, A.I. outside of robotic bodies, or the general implications of a computer mind (they’re not necessarily any smarter than anyone else). The Bio-Engineered are humans created in vats who have several advantages but, as a result, can’t use magic. The Nephilim, Lesser Nephilim, Grigori, Lesser Grigori, and Annunaki reflect alien species and alien/human offspring. Often resembling devils and angels, some of these races have been at war for quite some time and are preparing for a new battle on Earth.
Each species has a host of special abilities and character options. Some can use magic. Some can use magic really well. Some can be augmented with cyberware and evolutionary changes. Some have higher Skill caps than others. The designers clearly set out to balance versatility, Skill, and raw power against each other though it’s unclear at what stage this balancing really comes into play. Some of the species seem notably more powerful than others right out the gate, with disadvantages that are unlikely to really come into play until a campaign has been going on for a little while. In addition to balance considerations, some readers may be frustrated by the seemingly arbitrary nature of many of the changes. It makes perfect sense that the mutant humans should have bonus mutations, but why can the Bio-Engineered not use magic when magic is presented as an applied science? Little explanation is given for the additional rules.
Example: The Annunaki have a lot going on. All their base Qualities are 7, max 25, and varied bases: Strength 20, Agility 20, Conditioning 18, Vitality 18, Discipline 14, Intelligence 15, and Charisma 14. They begin the game at Ascension Level 1, providing a host of special benefits. They can use Innate and Spiritual Wielding (magic) but not Arcane. They receive bonus Ranks in various magic. They can have no Skill or Field (broad skill) higher than 2 at character creation. And it goes on.
After choosing a species characters have 500 points to spend on everything else they might want. Raising Qualities and Skills is a no brainer, but characters can also purchase genetic deviations and Abiilities/Drawbacks (merits/flaws). Let’s walk through these while building a character.
Qualities are a big deal. They determine what six dice are present for a character to use as well as what Secondary and Tertiary Qualities a character has. All told there are 19 Qualities, 12 of which are derived from the core 7 Qualities. Only core Qualities can be increased and the number of character points to increase each depends on where it falls on a specific chart, typically resulting in a cost of 10-25 points per 1 point of increase for starting characters. The higher a Quality gets the more expensive to increase it.
Example: All told I spent a few hundred points on Qualities. This character is going to both be an active combatant and a magic user. Because of that I put special attention on Qualities that make her a better magic user and Qualities that ultimately increase her combat prowess, such as those that factor into defense.
Her final Qualities include Str 20, Agil 20, Con 20, Vit 20, Disc 23, Int 15, Cha 11. These are then added and divided in various combinations to create the Secondary Qualities Athletics 20, Physical Acumen 20, Fitness 20, Will 22, Wisdom 19, Wit 13, and Presence 16. Secondary Qualities are then manipulated in various ways to produce Tertiary Qualities. These include Reaction 20, Physis 15, Endurance 53, Defense 10, and Health 40.
None of the math is difficult, amounting to nothing more than simple addition and division. However, there sure are a lot of Qualities to keep in mind.
Abilities and Drawbacks allow the player to either get back points for taking a disadvantage or purchase a special advantage. They’re utterly unremarkable, including all the classics like Heightened Senses and Light Sleeper. They also include a lot of small, odd additions like Sense Weather and Good Driver. The Drawbacks are much the same, with Phobias and Nightmares and all the others you would expect. The one odd option is Price on Your Head. Most Drawbacks restore 10 – 80 points or so, but just by having a bounty a character can get back 160 points!
Example: Looking over the lists, I don’t want to fool with most Abilities/Drawbacks. I take Price on Your Head for the concept and ridiculous number of character points it provides.
Genetic Deviations allow for alterations to the default human physiology. Increases in the efficiency of the circulatory system, the density of bone, and the immune system are all provided. They’re well thought out and interesting, covering all the basics you might expect.
The Skill system encompasses about 70 Skills split into 17 Fields. Characters can purchase Fields to be generally proficient at a variety of sub-Skills, or just purchase individual Skills (or both). The Skills are very specific. For example, the Fitness Field is split into Running, Swimming, Climbing, Throwing, and Tumble. Some odd Skill choices include Mortars, Theology (not discussed in the book), Orienteering, and Culinary Arts. I point these out only to suggest that it’s a very large Skill set that doesn’t seem particularly tailored to any specific game goal. There are also no supporting rules for these Skills. What does Genetics do? I don’t know.
Skills cost a varying number of build points to raise based upon whether it’s a Skill or Field and the rating the Skill/Field is being increased to. 10-15 per Skill and 30-45 per Field rank are common costs starting out, and with only 500 total points for a character it’s very easy for Skill costs to add up.
Example: My example character’s Skill list looks like this: Arcane 2, Tactics 2, Two-Handed Melee 2, Tracking 2, Heavy Assault Weapons 2. Her Field list includes: Core Fitness 2, Melee Combat 2, Survival 2, and Alertness 2. I think this makes for a well rounded starting character able to adequately perform her character goal – bounty hunting. Field and Skills stack, so the Melee Combat
Using magic is called Wielding. Magic is split up into Arcane Magic, Innate Magic (also Arcane), and Alpha and Omega (priestly/divine). Characters purchase access to whatever type of magic (or types, they can do it all) they want, and the dice pool for that type of magic is determined by the character’s Qualities. Characters also buy Intentions as Skills. Intentions correspond to certain types of magic and enable the character to perform a variety of effects. Example Intentions include: Creation (summon elementals, create elements, etc.), Clarity (Raise Thought State, Remove Coercion), and Damnation (Decrease Damage Resistance, Penalize Resistances). The one major downside here is that the utility of these spells isn’t clear without any sort of more developed adversary to compare them to.
Example: Because of her species my Bounty Hunter gets a big advantage for wielding Alpha/Omega and/or Innate powers. I decide to have her use Omega and Innate Void magic. At base she looks like this: Omega: Control Intention Rank 3 Void: Anarchy Rank 3, Constancy Rank 3, Insight Rank 3.
Her magic enables her to be a lot more flexible, especially when it comes to mental manipulation. She still relies on her physical might and arsenal to carry her through a fight.
Ultimately magic is performed by picking an Intention, describing what the character is trying to do, and then checking a variety of difficulty modifiers (such as targets and range) to determine the final difficulty. This is then rolled against based on the relevant Quality and Intention Rank. Endurance Points are exhausted as part of the spell casting, ultimately limiting the number of spells a caster can drop over a given time period. It’s not a hard system, offering a little flexibility, but casters are limited in their options to the included effects.
What’s left for characters? Gear! Gear is extremely important in Alpha Omega. Money can buy raw character power in the form of biological and technological increases to Qualities and other abilities. In fact, this is definitely something worth watching as money could create balance problems between characters able to improve themselves and those that can’t. I’m a little disappointed that every Quality has its own upgrade in different levels, as that provides the illusion of even more upgrade options, but the system is simple enough and ultimately limited by a character’s body.
Illustrated weapons and vehicles of a large variety are presented, though I have to admit that I find many of the weapons to be silly. A lot of the firearms have been turned into firearms with melee weapons attached to them, including such bizarre combinations as a rifle + axe and a machine gun + flail. But, at the end of the day the weapons are like the setting and concepts – completely over the top and meant to be taken in with a healthy dash of suspended disbelief.
The Rest
A few other elements are worth briefly touching on. First, the GM advice is of the traditional “The GM writes a story and players play through it” variety. The GM support consists of a few NPC stat blocks for common characters and nothing more. This is particularly unfortunate given the game’s focus on adventuring outside of the major cities. At least a few unique NPCs and monsters would be a welcome addition.
Second, the system tends to assume Qualities and other values going all the way up to 100. This is in stark contrast to starting characters who have Qualities in the teens to low 20s. At first I thought this was to support various monsters, but as I kept reading the text I began to wonder if characters were meant to progress to that point. There’s certainly nothing to prevent them from doing so, but I’m left with an incredible lack of clarity as to how characters are meant to ultimately progress. Given the ‘whiff’ factor of Skills and some combat actions it seems as if characters should progress quite a ways from their starting point.
Finally, what setting is here is very barebones. It seems to beg for a metaplot, but none is to be found. The alien invasion seems tacked on to a game about mega-cities and, well, shadowrunning. The setting, as the game generally, may become much better developed through supplements but as it is I feel like I’m left with the briefest of snapshots of the setting and nothing more.
My Take
In many ways Alpha Omega is well executed. I can’t fault its production values in the slightest way, and the system is presented well. The setting, while almost comical at times, does provide a variety of funky character options that are sure to excite many players. However, when I compare this game to the one it most tries to emulate – Shadowrun – I see it coming up short. The setting isn’t developed enough, there aren’t enough adversaries right out of the gate, and starting characters seem surprisingly inept despite the high action presentation.
System wise the game often reminded me of d20 and Shadowrun with its presentation of different elements, though ultimately the 6-6 system stands on its own. Table use seemed common at first, but on reflection I think players just need a print out of one or two tables to be ready to go.
Nevertheless, if you like beautiful artwork, post-apocalyptic settings, and classic tabletop action and adventure then take a look at Alpha Omega.
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