Zincorium
2009-12-30, 01:43 AM
So, I was tooling around the internet a while ago, and found a site advertising a roleplaying setting/system combination called Alpha and Omega. As I am wont to purchase such things on a whim, I bought it.
And... it's very interesting. The book itself has an odd layout, vertically short but long horizontally. Art is excellent, and the book itself is well produced, at least as much as the newest Shadowrun re-issue. Which it of course shares some great resemblance to.
A summary:
System is very complicated, with semi-familiar stats that then branch into substats. All character creation is point based, similar to shadowrun with each species having it's own point cost, but the holes to put points into are quite different.
Setting is likewise impossible to talk about without someone bringing up shadowrun. Near future? Check. Sudden reintroduction of magic? Check. Non-human species? check.
It's the details that really start to branch out from that common basis. Races primarily stem from the Elim, trans-dimensional magical warriors with a blatant and occasionally confusing resemblance to angels and demons, their descendents of crossbreeding with humans (press the 'I believe' button) and their servants. There are also mutated humans, robots, and vat-grown human replicants, just for variety. Magic is of a multitude of different types and I still don't understand how it actually all works yet. Lots of tables and charts.
Has anyone else even heard of this, let alone played it? I've heard pretty much zilch through the grapevine, and as with most new systems the time investment is a bit daunting.
And... it's very interesting. The book itself has an odd layout, vertically short but long horizontally. Art is excellent, and the book itself is well produced, at least as much as the newest Shadowrun re-issue. Which it of course shares some great resemblance to.
A summary:
System is very complicated, with semi-familiar stats that then branch into substats. All character creation is point based, similar to shadowrun with each species having it's own point cost, but the holes to put points into are quite different.
Setting is likewise impossible to talk about without someone bringing up shadowrun. Near future? Check. Sudden reintroduction of magic? Check. Non-human species? check.
It's the details that really start to branch out from that common basis. Races primarily stem from the Elim, trans-dimensional magical warriors with a blatant and occasionally confusing resemblance to angels and demons, their descendents of crossbreeding with humans (press the 'I believe' button) and their servants. There are also mutated humans, robots, and vat-grown human replicants, just for variety. Magic is of a multitude of different types and I still don't understand how it actually all works yet. Lots of tables and charts.
Has anyone else even heard of this, let alone played it? I've heard pretty much zilch through the grapevine, and as with most new systems the time investment is a bit daunting.