Robot Viking

I have to admit, the future isn't looking all that bright.

Almost 300 years from now, Earth will still tremble with the reverberations of a cosmic war. Fortresslike city-states dot the wastelands, which are stalked by hideous mutants and shambling horrors that look suspiciously like undead. In Mind Storm Labs’ RPG Alpha Omega, the world is a terrifying place, but you just might be bad-ass enough to carve out your own slice of this post-apocalyptic pie.

The Alpha Omega Core Rulebook came out last year (before Robot Viking existed), but we’re reviewing it now because 1). you might not have heard of it and 2). Mind Storm Labs is ramping up their release schedule for AO supplements this year, and we have some cool previews coming in the next few weeks.

The first thing you will notice about the Core Rulebook is that it is a work of art. Not in the sense of game design or world-building (although it certainly qualifies on those merits as well), but in a purely aesthetic sense. The glossy black cover features a strange symbol and some faint runes, and the only words (“Core Rulebook”) give few hints as to what the uninformed might find inside. Put it on your coffee table and anyone who sees it will be driven to open it up and find out what this book is about. It looks ominous and mysterious, and effectively portends what is to come.

The top notch graphic design continues inside the book. I am not exaggerating when I say this may well be the most beautiful and beautifully designed RPG book I have ever seen. Wizards of the Coast’s recent Star Wars RPG books set a high bar for sci-fi RPG design, but Mind Storm has outdone them (which is not a strike against the Star Wars books by any means – the AO Core Rulebook is just that good). The page edges have video game-like icons, with the appropriate icon “lit up” for each chapter. The majority of the pages have full-color art, and the art itself is stunning, like the mecha-spiders pictured above. It’s a pleasure to simply thumb through the book and enjoy the eye-candy.

Click for full size.

The setting of Alpha Omega is strange, disturbing and exciting all at the same time. The year is 2280, and Earth has been wracked by skirmishes in a war between two alien species. Hybrid human/aliens and alien descendants populate the planet along with mutated humans, androids, genetically engineered soldiers and freakish monsters. Natural disasters and human warfare took an enormous toll on the planet, leaving society in tatters. After many decades of recovery, humankind still suffers from paranoia, territorial aggression, environmental horrors and vast expanses of unreclaimed wasteland. Still, high technology is abundant and life in the city-states can be downright luxurious if you have the Trust (the AO version of credits or gold coins). There’s even a strange form of cosmic magic known as Wielding.

On the surface, this setting is reminiscent of the old Rifts universe, but only superficially. One of the more interesting aspects is that the backstory of Alpha Omega remains mysterious. Some things are spelled out in the Cure Rulebook, of course, but there are many secrets still unfolding as Mind Storm releases more supplements and online hints about the prophecies of a strange man named Ethan Haas. There’s an element of an alternate reality game as well, with secret websites and intricate online puzzles blocking the path to further enlightenment.

Remnants are humans stranded in the wastelands and exposed to environmental hazards for generations, resulting in bizarre mutations.

Despite the aura of mystery, a lot of the game world is fleshed out in the Core Rulebook. The book is hefty – lots of pages (I can’t give an exact page count because the pages are not numbered, instead using chapter-section-subsection numbering, which sounds complicated but works just fine. Though not any better than regular page numbers would have, mind you). About one quarter of the book is devoted to locations (some familiar, some totally new to this world), important NPCs and large organizations, and the backstory is engrossing.

Now, the rules…this is a decidedly old-school RPG when it comes to rules (think Rolemaster). There are a lot of rules, and they are quite detailed. The book goes out of its way to point out that the system is designed for flexibility, and that any given section of rules can be considered optional or situational. However, it can seem a bit overwhelming at first glance. There are many tables, and the character sheet is four pages long, each page dense with charts and matrices. I certainly don’t count that as a strike against the AO system – there is a place in the gaming world for RPGs that let you modify your character’s integumentary system and look up the structural integrity rating for three different types of rope. There are 13 different stances available, and in addition to health points and speed, you might also track your character’s disposition, density, or emotion.

The Necrosi are irradiated humans that turned into sci-fi vampires (sort of).

The system for resolving ability checks, including combat, is really cool. For one thing, it gives you a reason to use your entire dice collection (I know you have an entire bag or box full of them, don’t bother denying it). You’ll be rolling a lot of dice. The higher a skill rating, the more dice you roll. At a skill rating of 47 (out of 100), you’ll roll 4d10 and 2d8 for each check. Only a 16 rating? 2d6 and 4d4. Max out at a 100 rating and you get to roll 6d20.

Higher skill scores don’t just let you do things better, they let you do things faster. When the game enters Combat Time, turns are divided into cycles and segments. Each cycle has six segments, and the higher the quality rating of your skill, the more segments you get to act in. It’s a lot like the old Car Wars turn system, where the faster you were driving, the more turn segments your car moved forward in.

Character creation uses a point buy system, allowing a huge amount of flexibility in character design. You can also buy into the Wielding system, giving a character access to magic abilities. It would take too long to go into the Wielding system in detail, but it is unique, reflects the Alpha Omega world’s cosmology in an interesting way, and allows for creative combinations of effects.

If you’re more into nuts and bolts, there’s a huge section on weapons – just page after page of swords, clubs, projectiles, pistols, shotguns, and, eventually, insane sci-fi weapons, lasers, mortars and other fun gear. To protect yourself against NPCs with similarly devastating arsenals, you have your choice of various body armors and power suits.

Although the rules seem very dense, the basic system is quite easy to learn, and the extra material just provides options you can address and add to your game only if you want to. The intriguing setting is matched by the mind-blowing graphic design, and, frankly, the thought of rolling 6d20 for an actual in-game skill check is oddly enticing. Go check out the official site (which keeps up the splendid design motif), where you can find hi-res wallpapers, character sheets, free counters and tokens, more details about the game world and active forums. And stay tuned for more Alpha Omega here at Robot Viking.

Mind Storm Labs – www.mindstormlabs.com

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