CORPS Down in Flames

Vehicle Design System
When I was 11 years old, my parents took me to Boston for the first time. We walked the Freedom Trail, a circuit that takes you all around the many historical sites of the city. At the Bunker Hill monument, I was taken in by the grand miniatures display, something that would stay with me until I was introduced to strategy wargames three years later. Later we visited the naval museum and the USS Constitution. I must have spent months after that day, studying about colonial warships and trying to design my own. If only I had read Vehicle Design 1.0, things would have gone a lot smoother.

CORPS VDS does for vehicles what 3G³ did for weapons: provide a comprehensive design tool that can be plugged into any roleplaying system. It covers everything from rowboats to starships; past, present, future and then some.

Whatever system you are gaming with, the time may come when you will want to design a vehicle on your own, and VDS promises to be a very useful tool in doing so. Even though VDS is designed to be used with BTRC's CORPS (Comprehensive Omniversal Role Playing System), it is written to be very portable to other systems. In fact, there is a distinct lack of CORPS specific terminology and jargon in the entire book. I found this to be very encouraging, as it helped to make the information in all the more credible.

While VDS does not get bogged down in system specifics, it does not shirk from giving the reader the tools to make a truly detailed vehicle. In fact, even though I am not conversant with all the topics discussed - the appropriateness of using Newtons for thrust instead of watts, for instance - it is evident that the there was a lot of technicle research involved in writing this book. That is not to say that the 'tech geek' won't find this book useful; there is a fair amount of technobabble to go around. However, when such detail threaten to compromise the design process, VDS consistently sacrifices detail for the sake of making the information useful to your roleplaying experience. This is meant as a design aid, and a gaming resource, after all, and not as an exhaustive treatise on scientific principles.

When designing a vehicle, there are nine components which are taken into account - performance, power plant, power train, structure, surface treatment, accessories, weapons, combat and campaigning. All these topics are discussed in detail - each given its own chapter. Each section has a healthy dose of explanation to help the user better understand how the components fit together, as well as a plethora of tables and charts that list a miriad of options which can be used. To some, the extensive stat lists might seem a bit of overkill, but VDS is meant to be about design, and the information given does more to bring your attention to what is truly possible than to list options for the sheer joy of doing so.

The section on campaigning, is probably the one I enjoyed the most. While it is not the most pertinent to the actual design of a given vehicle, it brings your attention to some of the more important issues involved when making a vehicle for a roleplaying game, as opposed to designing a realistic one. One thing stressed is that your vehicle is just a prop in the game, and not as important as the characters or the plot. Given that, the ideas in this section as quite good; using the vehicle as the setting, as the antagonist, and as the object of adventure for instance.

To top off all the details and suggestions mentioned, VDS also includes as section with sample vehicles from various levels of technology and genres. If you are looking to use a Mediterranean trimere in your campaign, or need a Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter, you can use these ready made examples. These examples even include such items as a War Wagon, which is based on a DiVinci sketch of a turtle-like wheeled vehicle with multiple cannon ports, and an android assassin which a wealthy and powerful individual in a very high tech society can employ to ensure that your players' characters don't get bored or lazy.

Faced with such a book, I could not help but take a crack at designing some vehicles of my own. The one I am most proud of is a submarine which I am now using in my Blue Planet campaign. I also took a stab at designing some seige equipment for a fantasy campaign. It took a while to get used to all the concepts that VDS addresses, but I am very happy with the results. My next project will be to make another sub, but this time one with a water elemental as the power source!

As an aside, I must mention two things here. First, VDS was originally made in .pdf format and distributed online for a price of $10. You can still order this version, but I have not seem it myself. The print version is the exact same as the digital one, from what I gather. The second thing I must say is that anyone looking for a great amount of art and glitz will be disappointed with VDS. It's very cover is the epitome of simplicity - and the images inside were adopted from those available in the public domain. Needless to say, there was no art budget for this book. However, the images that are there, however sparse, are quite good. BTRC could have filled the many empty spaces with extra art, but on the whole, such dead spaces are fewer than I've seen in some products. And besides, this book is about design of vehicles, not art and fluff. You will not miss the lack of art at all.

The Verdict
VDS is definitely not for everyone. You might wonder why I say this after all you've read just now. The simple truth of the matter is that not everyone cares to design their own vehicles. However, if and when you decide that you want to try to do so, I would highly recommend thinking about buying this book. I cannot stress enough that, as with any gaming product, you should approach this one 'cafeteria style' - taking what you want and ignoring the rest. You will find, though, that you are using far more information in this book than you are discarding. Because of this, I give VDS a thumbs up. Kudos to Greg Porter.

Apocalypse
Author: Ed Rice
Category: game
Company/Publisher: BTRC
Line: CORPS
Cost: US$17.00
Page count: 128
ISBN: 0-9438891-36-1
SKU: BTRC 7104
Capsule Review by David J. Rhode on 10/31/99.
Fantasy Modern day Historical Horror Espionage Post-apocalypse Old West Vampire
I visited my local comic book/gaming store the other day, and noticed Apocalypse sitting on the shelves. I remembered the title from having browsed BTRC's web site some months ago. Now, I have a couple of BTRC's supplements (Guns Guns Guns and More Guns, to be precise) and, being generally pleased with the quality of those books, I decided that I would like to throw a little more cash their way as encouragement.

Appearances: Apocalypse is a slim black book of the standard 8.5" x 11" dimensions. The front cover title is done in flame-outlined black letters, while the back cover teaser text is done in flame-tinged yellow. This is actually a pretty striking look. I think it compares well with the classic red-on-black appearance of Traveller. Inside, we have a fairly densely-written book in clean, legible typeface, sparsely illustrated with generally useful illustrations.

Substance: The book begins with a short table of contents, author's notes, and an introduction. That is followed by about a page and a half of background material explaining the supernatural powers lying behind the Apocalypse of the book's title. This manages to tie Judeo-Christian monotheism into every other form of supernatural belief quite handily. Then we get three pages of outline, covering the divergence of this world's timeline from our own, starting in 1941. The Juxtaposition, the key apocalyptic event which occurred in 1945, is described in more detail on the following page. It turns out that the Juxtaposition was an opening of many gateways to multiple dimensions at once, letting in all kinds of strange and terrible entities. This event coincided with terrible storms and earthquakes. Since then, not all the gates have closed. Then we get into the races. Four subraces of an elf-like species called the Alferi have invaded the earth. These subraces correspond roughly to Asians, Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans/Mongols. Equipped with supernatural powers and taking advantage of the devastation wrought by the Juxtaposition, they invade every nation on Earth, adopting the local culture as their own and enslaving the native humans. These Alferi are capable of breeding with humans, producing half-alferi hybrids. To round things out, the dead have returned to horrifying life, there are various incarnations and avatars of the gods (referred to as Eternals) wandering the earth, and then there is a miscellany of mutants, monstrosities, and dimensional wanderers. The Alferi, half-alferi, humans, and Living Dead are described in some detail. We are left to our own devices to bring the others to life. Character Generation touches on the various characteristics, skills, advantages, and disadvantages already described in the CORPS rulebook as they apply to the world of Apocalypse, and adds some descriptions of Apocalypse-specific paranormal powers.

All this has taken us to page 48. The next 40 pages are spent describing the world of Apocalypse and daily life for some of its denizens. While every continent is touched on to some extent, most of the attention is lavished on life in the Kaiser Reich, the domain of the Silver Alferi. They appeared in Europe during the Juxtaposition, and took on the characteristics of Hitler's Germany, with all the attendant nastiness. Humans are enslaved within the actual confines of Europe. The northern coast of Africa is a Kaiser Reich territory, referred to as the P.I.T. (Polizei Imperius Territorium), where humans and half-alferi have more freedom. The city of Casablanca is the ultimate free territory, being ruled by an enigmatic Eternal who mandates that no country's laws may apply within the city. As it turns out, the Silver Alferi are the only Alferi which choose to use technology, and they are incapable of advancing beyond the level established in 1945. The entire world, since then, has been frozen at a WWII technological level. Humans are capable of advancing beyond this limit, but are brutally repressed by the Silver Alferi.

The next 15 pages describe 12 NPCs and 11 monsters that are common to the Kaiser Reich territories. These are reasonably well done, with an average of half a page spent on describing the character's background and how they would impact a campaign. Each entry is accompanied by some illustrative artwork. The artwork is reasonably good quality, and most of the illustrations seem to fit the text descriptions. As far as the monsters go, there really isn't anything unique enough to be worth stealing for another game, except maybe their take on mutant hyenas.

17 pages are used to detail two adventures. The first is an adventure for one character (included), introducing the setting of Casablanca and allowing the PC to interact with some of the NPC's described in the preceding chapter. As written, it's pretty much a railroad with only one track. The second adventure is more of a creature-feature, introducing some potential long-term opponents. Collectively, they add 2 more (potential) NPCs and 3 more monsters to what was already described in the book. Apocalypse ends with four pages detailing common weapons and vehicles, and a one page, photocopyable hexagonal map sheet.

Good Stuff: I really like the setting of this game. It reminds of RIFTS (in a good way). Like RIFTS, the background allows you to bring characters into the setting from other campaigns. This makes it easy to run cross-over adventures, or take tired old characters into uncharted realms. It also allows the GM a free hand in designing all kinds of monsters to torment the players. Beyond these elements, however, an Apocalypse campaign can involve intrigue between the various powers, exploration of a devastated and changed alternate Earth, murder mysteries, military campaigns, you name it. Unlike RIFTS, Apocalypse offers a much more restrained and balanced power level. That is not to say that characters are created equal... the Alferi are innately superior to humans, but they are still mortal beings, and can be killed just as dead with a sharp stick as with a bazooka.

Bad Stuff: Unfortunately, Apocalypse is not without some flaws. Nothing major, but enough irritating deficiencies to make me somewhat unhappy. Starting from the top, my first complaint is that while Apocalypse is a supplement for CORPS, not a complete game in itself, it is not clearly labeled as such. I mentioned that I had learned about Apocalypse from the BTRC web site months before seeing it in a store. One could make the argument that I should have been a more informed consumer, therefore. Regardless, I did not remember that it was only a supplement, and the store which I purchased the book from wraps all its gaming materials in plastic (to keep the grubby little paws of children off them, I suspect). Going only from the information presented on the front and back covers, I did not know that it was a supplement. I was hoping that it would have the CORPS game rules included. I don't consider this a major flaw, as most stores don't follow the practice of wrapping their books in the same way, and it would only take a few minutes perusal to determine that it was a supplement. And frankly, I'm adapting the setting to the HERO rules anyway.

My other complaint is about the organization of the material. In general, the book progresses logically. However, it lacks an index, and it could also have used a glossary of common terms. While I was reading over the details on the Silver Alferi, I would run into acronyms and have a hard time figuring out what they stood for. For example, the acronym IAA stands for Imperial Affairs Agency. There is no heading in the text for Imperial Affairs Agency. Instead, this worthy group is described under Religion (which does make sense, the IAA is run by the Kaiser Reich church). There are a number of instances of this sort of thing. Example 2: Silver Alferi scientists suffer from a condition called the Syndrome. They go mad when trying to breach the 1945 technological barrier. Is this condition described under the heading Scientists? Nope... it's also under, you guessed it, Religion. These problems could be addressed, even without an index, by changing the way the text is arranged and using more descriptive subject headings, or even by accenting key words in the text in bold or italic. I suspect that the author and editor were simply too familiar with the material to pick up on problems that a newcomer would have reading through it.

It should be noted that there is a very strong attempt to remain PC with this material. Even though the Silver Alferi have turned humans into an oppressed sub-race, they believe very strongly in the equality of the sexes, as apparently all the Alferi do. While this isn't a flaw in and of itself, it does lead to some strange cultural paradoxes. For example, the Wild Alferi in America base their culture on that of the Native Americans. In Native American culture, there were great differences between the roles filled by men, and the roles filled by women. Now that the Alferi have come and everybody gets to be a warrior, who does the drudge-work? It just seems strange for an intentionally dark game to willfully ignore the misogynistic baggage of cultures both ancient and modern when it is willing to deal with prejudice in other ways. Oh well.

Finally, there are some gaps in the information. For example, it would have been helpful if typical ranks in the Kaiser Reich military and theocracy were described. It's easy enough for me to do an internet search on the WWII German Military for that information, but it would have been even easier for the author to do it and include that information in the text. In the equipment list, they decribe a number of common firearms in the setting. In the rifles, they list the Karabiner 98K and the Sturmgewehr 74. If, as a GM, I were to have a small platoon of Kaiser Reich soldiers as opponents for the PC's, which rifle would they most likely be armed with? I dunno. Does it make a difference? Maybe... the Karabiner doe�m�d� ���M�-\�Eڸ6}Od�k,b�I��`m�xsI��]}mE�lyy� �m���������Ջ�cQ����*�>`�CX��is ��/x�$�%+@6$=�-�9�q��Siȫ���Z��1��Wpvh�tN^�/�ԙ>��<�}�S3��u���i#��j��%殫������i~�;c ]��'�N/�� ���$�uB���y-Yб>C���s_��{�q�#]p��Gi�˜cc|̙�A��#VitF����d��8�Ï�X B�H�3�N�e0������&������姃��~��A��B���A���ڭf�?�cÆ2�L�X��x+#��%�q0ؙ`>�<��!\��e���?(�A&��pJҪ$Y6���ĵ\ǹg��\k�^�9~`���SO��8m5��L��*p�^E8[��4NhԞ� حn!���W��H,T\O-�]����g���}�}U���zF'=>�l�OZ�S�P�����������~��l�a@=��Œ���$x��������;��ٍ��'�#�2)Η��@����#�����YG�z�3@+x��_��&���qKK%�1���#� w�٧�Vz��:��d�g={�Y�� ��~��f�=�c{1|�@�Ig
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