2012/04/02

Pick #78: Why I love Spirit of the Century

A few days ago UPS finally delivered the hardcover of Spirit of the Century to my door. On 3rd try... despite that I told them I wouldn't be there; so much for communication with UPS. Spirit is a hefty 7"x9" book, well over 400 pages long, printed by Lulu, produced by Evil Hat Productions, written by Robert Donoghue, Fred Hicks and Leonard Balsera.

And I guess it just earned its spot near Talislanta, the 1E DMG, CoC, Traveller and Stars Without Number. Which means it's in my top five of RPGs (not counting my own DD2). Why?

Because this implementation of FATE (a FUDGE variant) inspires me to revise the way I look at role playing. The pick up game (a game session where you don't have all your regular players, and need to improvise outside a regular campaign) is actually made into a strength, instead of a weakness. The use of Fate points and Aspects gives the players more influence on changing the story, without making it totally free form. And it's chock full of good GM advice on running your story driven game. And I mean really good advice - despite my 30+  years of game mastering experience I found enough to make me smile.

Maybe the Pulp Hero game setting itself is not directly suited to your group's style - being a mix of Top Secret, Indiana Jones and Marvel Superheroes. But I found the book is definitely worth reading, and the game very probably worth playing. The PDF is currently only $5, so you don't have to plunder your pocket book to get it - unless of course you go for the hardcover, like I did...

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