Gatecrasher
**A review of *Gatecrasher* 2nd Ed., by Alex Schroeder, 1998/01/06**
I couldn’t find a review using DejaNews, so I wrote one...
This review is posted rec.games.frp.misc and de.rec.games.rpg.misc; the following paragraph is a short German introduction.
Ich habe Gatecrasher 2nd Ed. in den USA gekauft und nun eine Review geschrieben. Da das Produkt sowieso nur in Englisch erhaeltlich ist, habe ich die Review nicht uebersetzt. Ich hoffe das stoert niemanden. Deutsche follow-ups bitte nicht nach rec.games.frp.misc posten!
Should the discussion deviate from the discussion of Gatecrasher, please do not post to de.rec.games.rpg.misc.
1. Who am I
2. Buying it
3. Material
4. Rules
5. Setting
6. Hooks
7. Conclusion
Who am I
I am 24 years old, a student of biology and computer science, and I have been playing RPGs for about eight years. I’ve played D&D, AD&D, *Das Schwarze Auge* (German) and about three incarnations of my homebrew system. I have used AMBER and FUDGE as an inspiration to GMing, and I have occasionally used Mutant Chronicles as an inspiration for a Dark Future setting.
As a GM, I prefer few rules and a lot of improvisation. At the moment I use a diceless homebrew system inspired by FUDGE to GM the occasional fantasy session. I was looking for an inspiring, light-hearted, and humorous source book for these occasional sessions.
The web-site (http://members.aol.com/ghostgames/) contained an adventure involving Santa Claus and his evil double, Santa Claws. This suited my gaming needs: It was short, it was easy, it was fun. I therefore decided to buy Gatecrasher 2nd Ed.
http://members.aol.com/ghostgames/
Buying it
I live in Switzerland, Europe. Ordering it was easy, the only negative point being the post office’s extra charge for the postal money order: CHF 12.-, about $8. Gatecrasher 2nd Ed. itself cost only $18.95. The total cost of about CHF 45.- continues to be a normal price for a RPG in Switzerland. My copy of AMBER, for example, cost CHF 48.- in a dedicated game store.
The Grey Ghost web-site carries a list of resellers, at least one of them in Germany. Getting it through one of them might be easier or cheaper.
I ordered my copy shortly before Christmas. Considering this, the delivery was quick (about three weeks, including Christmas and New Year).
Material
Gatecrasher 2nd Ed. has 208 pages, a soft cover and it is printed in two columns. The font is easy to read, the print quality is good. The art work is simple and from various artists; there are not many pictures. The pictures usually revolve loosely around something mentioned in the text (races, magic users, etc). The ones that I remember best: some (funny) undead posing for a picture, and a genie with cybernetic implants.
Orientation is facilitated with the chapter title at the top and section title at the bottom of the page. The sectioning withing the page itself, however, is confusing. Section and subsection titles are all more or less of the same size and preceded by very little white space. Examples start with “example:”, optional rules with “optional:” – no other visual guidance (such as italics) helps to distinguish the different categories.
A few quotes appear throughout the book. There are no margin notes. A few grey boxes contain tables or additional information whenever they might interrupt the flow of the text. The contrast between background and text is good, they are easy to read.
The major blocks in the book are the following: There are 9 pages of character races, 18 pages of supernatural powers, 16 pages of action resolution and combat, including magic, electronic, and vehicle combat. There are 23 pages of spells, 32 pages of technology, 16 pages of homeworld descriptions for players, and 19 pages of further information for GMs.
Rules
The rules are a variant of the objective FUDGE rules. The FUDGE subjective system is presented as an alternative. Spells have to be mastered before they can be cast. Casting uses magic points. Magic and Technology interfere with each other; therefore, strong magic cannot affect hi-tech and vice-versa.
The rules contain a plethora of technological items and magical spells, usually described with a small table and a paragraph of dry text. I would have liked more pictures and spiced-up descriptions. Compare the following two samples. I prefer the second type. Based on the examples given in Mutant Chronicles, I can easily produce a great number of similarly well-described items.
Gatecrasher: “Assault Rifle [table]. The assault rifle is an inexpensive, rapid-firing rifle. Assault rifles are made to be disposable, and troops stuck using them often feel that they’re disposable, too.”
Mutant Chronicles: “M50 [table and large picture]. Although not the best weapon in the assault rifle category, the M50 is one of the most widely spread weapons outside the military forces, both because of the numerous pirated copies and because of its versatility. The grenades are loaded one by one in an internal magazine holding six rounds. Stock can be folded.”
Setting
The setting is the solar system which has gone nuts because of the re-opening of a magical gate. The Santa adventure mentioned above is a case in point: lighthearted and fun. Unfortunately this is not really reinforced in the text.
The text is neutral enough to allow the GM to run a science fiction RPG, but it fails to capitalise on the game’s greatest asset, the lightheartedness and humour.
The descriptions of items, homeworlds and spells are rather dry. The GM section on the history and background of the planets and their moons is rather matter-of-fact, too. The history is not very interesting, as it does not provide any hooks for the GM, and will therefore be of no consequence to the players. The history does not help the GM in describing the current situation on the different worlds.
There are no side-stories to introduce the GM or the players to the mood of the campaign, except for a few paragraphs describing some key events in history.
Hooks
Special Interest Groups (2.5 pages) are scantly described, no NPCs are included. There is no introductory adventure. There is but one suggestion longer than a few sentences for an adventure.
The description of the homeworlds is not colourful. The solar system seems to be a rather boring place, quite in contrast to the atmosphere described on the back cover and the introduction.
Conclusion
I was looking for an inspiring, light-hearted, and humorous source book for the occasional session. Unfortunately, none of the three expectations were satisfied.
The book is, however, a good implementation of the FUDGE rules. The modified FUDGE rules are appropriate for the setting and provide ample “objective” rules for the game. GMs preferring the subjective style of gaming, unfortunately, will have little use for most of it.
In order to play adventures such as Santa (see above), experienced GMs won’t need Gatecrasher 2nd Ed.; having FUDGE will be enough. Not-so-experienced GMs, however, and GMs trying to convince their players to switch to FUDGE-based rules, might consider buying Gatecrasher 2nd Ed. Having a printed copy of customised FUDGE rules makes a lot of things much easier. In this case, I would suggest to download and print FUDGE, or to buy a copy of FUDGE together with Gatecrasher 2nd Ed.
I am looking forward to get more background material for Gatecrasher GMs. The Santa adventure is a great starting point. If such adventures continue to be published on Grey Ghost’s web-site, this will provide all the inspiration needed for some great lighthearted and fun gaming sessions. This way, perhaps, more people will use and buy Gatecrasher 2nd Ed. and/or FUDGE.
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Fudge and Grey Ghost Press, Inc these days: Fudge Community Website!
Also note that @mwl is on Mastodon. 😀
– Alex 2023-01-12 23:06 UTC
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