Book Review: Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove

I don't generally review fiction on this site, I try to keep it all game-related, or at least musings about certain games, and so on. However, I remember the old Dragon Magazine book review column, and they would focus on what might be mined from a book for a game.

This particular book has ideas all throughout. I'll keep it short, however, so I don't ruin anything.

Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove is part of his loosely-related Pantheon series that focuses on different mythologies and the "what if" factor of what might happen if they existed and either ruled mankind or returned. In this particular novel, the Aztec Empire rules the entire world, keeping it under control with iron-fisted police called Jaguars, and with the Great Speaker's own crack teams of Serpent Warriors. The mythology is paid close attention to, and there's even a guide for proper pronunciation of Aztec words since they're used quite often in this science fiction tale.

I found the book a solid read, although I struggled with the slow build through the first 200 pages. Plenty of character development to go around, and plenty of inspiration for games. Since I'm on a Rifts kick, my mind immediately went to the possibility of a nation completely ruled by the Aztec pantheon (and if Siembieda has already done this, I haven't bought that sourcebook yet). Lines of people waiting for death through a sacrifice of their own life to the gods, police state oppression, the equivalent of mega-damage tech, and the return of the gods themselves all feature within the book, and an entire Rifts campaign could be culled form it.

The only criticisms I have is that the book has a bleak outlook on the divine, and I am assuming this is the author putting his opinions into the theme of the book. I'm a religious person, and even though we're talking about mythological figures, some of the statements the characters make about their now-damaged faith are fairly troublesome to me. The language is harsh at times, and I found the cursing a bit "try-hard" at times. Grittiness can be achieved without resorting to pages full of cursing. I have no problem reading it if it fits the story, but this felt a bit like the author relies on it too much to express a character's anger. The ending is a bummer, too, which I won't spoil for you, and I understand why the author did what he did with the no-hope-left resolution. It sticks to the Mayan calendar 2012 end-date. I get it. I just wish there was more book after so I could find out what happened, but I guess that's a good thing if I'm left wanting more.

If you want heroic sci-fi with a touch of fantasy and superheroics, this one's for you. I've deemed it a keeper, and it's staying on the shelf for a re-read eventually, after I finish the 3 other books in the Pantheon series I bought.

Game Hack: Tabling Out Rifts OCCs

One of the things I wanted to do for myself, for when I eventually run Rifts or another Palladium system, is to give myself the gift of organization. You'll see what I've done below, and I've started with the Crazy OCC from Rifts. 

(Please note: this post is in no way intended to infringe any copyright, it is simply an example of how I'm re-organizing class information for personal use, but it's interesting enough to show people how I've done it.)

I scoured the pages in the book that the class is presented on, looking for benefits that increase with level to table out, and then mapped the rest out in a tight format, but there's much information that simply won't be able to fit into this table due to the way classes work in Rifts. As such, this in no way replaces reading the description of each ability and making copious notes on the character sheet, but is an at-a-glance method of checking the abilities gained over time. I like it, so I'm working on converting info from each Rifts (and Palladium games in general) to this format in Microsoft Excel, so I can pop right to a certain OCC and see if they gain certain things at certain levels. All of us familiar with Rifts know that PCs gain a ton of abilities and skills right off the bat and then it's just gradual progression, but this is useful nonetheless.

See what I did:

The Return & The Illusion

I'm finally back on this horse after 7 or 8 years ago being thrown off its back and having landed in the muck of life, disease, and financial disrepair. Also, marriage happened, and that's good. Now that I'm living in the Detroit area and my life has settled down quite a bit, I have found some time to start plucking away at these keys again. I really only expect to use this as a space to develop my own campaign world, even if it is never played. I have no group, and I may not, since a lot of people that play roleplaying games really drive me nuts with a lot of their behaviors. The "nerd culture," so to speak. I hate it. Right or wrong, I am honest about why I stay away from a lot of other folks that play these games.

I do, however, enjoy the fire it sets in my brain when I pick up a new manual and see things that urge me to create new monsters, or new rules, or new lands. I don't think that will ever stop. Recently, it's been Palladium's Rifts, Ninjas & Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, Nightbane, Palladium Fantasy, and my personal favorite, Beyond the Supernatural that have really fired my imagination. I have no idea why these games aren't more widely played. There is a perception out there that the "system isn't good" but that lacks merit if the game works, and it does. It may simply be a difference in modern expectations of game design, much as we've discussed time and time again with old D&D versus new D&D. "Game balance" is an illusion in my eyes, and an illusion that must be met by the GM. The idea across all of Palladium's products is to just change or disallow what you don't like, and use what you do like. Think of it as a toolbox, not something to be played rules-as-written. 

What's happening when someone perceives something as "imbalancing" in a game? Well, something was either introduced into the game at far too different of a power level for the current campaign to sustain its use, or the GM isn't doing his job. That second point often causes the first point to happen. Without going into specifics, let's all agree that the power levels, especially in Rifts, of different OCCs vary wildly. But are they truly "unbalanced?" I don't think so - they may have a very specific niche to fill, but "unbalancing' the game isn't something that occurs from this. The illusion of balance really only depends on what you throw at the PCs. 

Let's go look at the TV show Supernatural, which is my favorite television show of all time. The Winchester boys routinely run into beings that can only be hurt by one thing. If they fail to prepare, they prepare to fail, as the old adage goes. Angels, for instance, were indestructible nukes before the Angel Blade was introduced as a way to kill them in one strike, and you could blast a bunch of them away (for a time) with some magic sigils drawn in blood. With Demons, all the boys could do was tie them down and exorcise them until they acquired Ruby's knife that kills Demons in much the same way as an Angel Blade. And let's not forget that there are some things that only the Colt can kill, including Alphas, certain Knights of Hell, etc. But there are rumored to be seven things it cannot hurt, like Lucifer (and we saw it happen - it simply knocked him down and shut him up for a few seconds).

I see this being much like the difference between MDC and SDC in Rifts. Certain things can only damage other certain things. Otherwise, you could pound on them all day and only wear yourself out or deplete your ammunition. Take the Colt, for instance. If there was an unlimited supply of ammunition, and it hadn't kept being stolen by other entities, the boys would have walked over most of their opposition. However, it was difficult and probably expensive to make more bullets, and they were rarely in charge of the weapon after a while. When something like that exists, every big bad sits up, takes notice, and makes plans.

So why mention Palladium classes? Well, the fact that there's Glitter Boys and folks in regular clothes without MDC weapons potentially running around in the same group. Unbalanced? It doesn't have to be as long as the GM is savvy and actually prepares encounters that consider this fact. Now that's not to say the GM should always cater to the group. There are times when the PCs need a good stomping (or, in this case, possible vaporization) to remind them that they are mortal and that their luck can suddenly run out. But they should have a way out, a way to potentially succeed even if it's a long shot, and consequences that ride on their success and failure. The player of the "regular guy" running around with the player that's running a Glitter Boy? They should also be hunting for things to do in the game that may help their friends - things to do aren't limited by the rules, but by your imagination! Skilled play should be rewarded, and the player that knows this is always thinking outside the box, for a different way to succeed. He knows his SDC weaponry isn't going to hurt the Dragon they just encountered, but he may well be able to participate in the ritual that's needed to weaken it for the big guys to have a chance in taking it down, or steal the thing from the Dragon's treasure that could do it in - big bads love to hoard the crap that can kill them (wouldn't you?) to keep it out of reach of anyone that might thwart their plans. There's a million ways to play, and varying levels of power can be very, very interesting.

I'm sure people have argued this point more eloquently than me in the past, and probably very recently, especially while talking about our beloved Rifts and all the games that are in its orbit. I was simply thinking about it, and decided to write down my thoughts. This is how I would play, and have played in the past. It can be immense amounts of fun, but requires running a tight ship on the GM side.