Game: The Colonies
Publisher: BTRC
Series: EABA
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 24th, April 2003
Reviewer’s Rating: 7/10 [ Good ]
Total Score: 7
Average Score: 7.00
“There is a d20 alternative”, claims an EABA banner advert. The banner is talking about the EABA gaming mechanics themselves, of course, but in order for the claim to have any gaming table creditability I think we’d need to see some games converted from their own system and then successfully run with EABA. Bring forward The Colonies RPG.
The original The Colonies RPG is a compact little hit from Politically Incorrect Games. The original game works perfectly well, I’d happily recommend it to anyone – especially if they want a PDF with game rules and campaign setting all in one. This version of the game has the advantage of not being a single PDF with rules and campaign setting squeezed in. It’s a matter of picking the best one to suit your tastes. BTRC‘s redux of The Colonies is nearly twenty pages longer than the first, that’s not all due to the full page colour illustrations that typically mark a new chapter in an EABA product and it certainly doesn’t count the mass of mechanics in the main EABA download. If you’re enjoying EABA already or if you’re willing to buy two PDFs so you can have access to a game with larger mechanics safety net then this is the route to take.
The French betrayed mankind and allied themselves with a sly alien invasion. None of it would have happened if we’d kept our nukes. It’s just the planet Earth that’s under the control of the alien backed French; the Colonies are still free. There’s high technology – nanotech, genetech, biotech, energy shields, lasers and space flight. It’s also quite possible that oppressed humans under alien-French rule only have access to basic technology. EABA’s ability to work different technology levels into a single game is rather advantageous here. Your “The Colonies” game could start off nitty-gritty and evolve into a space opera without the need to tinker with or even change the rule set. You could even play where the PCs have come from the primitive tribes of warriors who now roam over the areas of the Earth once referred to as third-world and end up on Mars.
Early in the PDF we’re told about life on Earth. Earth could be the setting for many different styles of games since the planet is a patchwork of technologies and cultures now. There are only a few pages about Earth in the entire game; it’s really up to the GM to pick an area and develop it as required. A little more text on what the Earth of the future is like wouldn’t have been amiss. It’s not a serious problem. The Colonies is really about the colonies and their attempts to liberate the home world. There’s as much information on any of the numerous colonies as there is on Earth.
Character generation differs from colony to colony. Characters from Cassiopia are significantly different from characters from Orionis. Nonetheless, these differences don’t quite equate to an entirely different species. EABA’s character generation is point based; characters built from X points are equal to different characters also built from X points. The Colonies introduces a random element. As an example, characters (or NPCs) from the colony of Serpenti roll 1d+0 (an EABA mechanic) and consult the “Number of Mutations” table, roll 2d+0 and check the “Mutation” table and finally roll 2d+0 and check the “Clan” table. There are many more tables; “Reasons for leaving Earth” (if you’re from Earth you’re not there at the minute), status, military rank, “Biotech experimentation” and “Proximity to Ruins” are other examples. The ruins? Strange things found on Reticuli that have an in-game effect. The Colonies doesn’t have to be about freedom fighting on Earth, it could easily be about dangerous problems from space.
It’s worth noting at this point that The Colonies benefits from BTRC’s technical skill. I’m not a great fan of flicking back and forth between tables with references to the paragraph where the full rules and game impact explained. This is especially true if I’m reading a PDF on-screen. BTRC highlight all such references in red (and examples in green, optional rules in blue) and hyperlink them to. There’s no awkward page scrolling whenever I decide to follow a page reference from a table, I simply click on the red page number in the text and Acrobat Reader jumps straight there.
Once the character generation has determined whether the characters have access to vast ranges of mutations, powers, technology or biological enhancement you need to have rules for all of this. In this way the bulk of The Colonies is spent on character generation and then committed to providing equipment lists, mutations, psionics and technologies like subdermal plating, emotional limiters and zero-g thrusters.
The game isn’t all crunch. In fact, the Colonies has a decidedly pro-flavour and quick’n’easy on the dice feel to it. The section on GM secrets – more like suggestions – is a great inspiration. The chapter successfully acts as a set of enticing plot hooks as well as helping would-be GMs with the flavour of the game. There’s even a mini adventure (the City of Brotherly Love) offered up to get the ball rolling. The same chapter presents a host of NPCs as part of the mini-adventure as well as illustrations of various military insignias and I find both of those more flexible – thus more helpful – than the pre-written adventure itself. I suppose it’s a case where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. The chapter itself is positioned after rules for armour and vehicles but before the stats for armour and weapons and that’s just a little out of place.
Really. Honestly. The Colonies does manage to conjure up the feel of an atmospheric and story based game – this is despite of the plethora of rules for equipment, technology and character powers. That’s quite an achievement. It just goes to show that if you have a solid base and a great idea to build from then the only way is up. Given the great atmosphere of the game and the detailed game mechanic resources there is something in the Colonies for every breed of gamer as well as for plenty of plots and scenes.
Nukes good, French bad – especially when there are aliens involved. Do people wonder where Politically Incorrect Games got their name? In this case the Blacksburg Tactical Research Center ensures that even if people snicker playfully at the entertaining premise that no one can snicker due to an inadequate game system.
