Role-Playing Games | 

Copyright © 1999 by Mark Damon Hughes <kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>

A game from Nightfall Games, Ltd. <http://www.nightfall.co.uk/>, published by <Hogshead Publishing>

[Note 1: this review is of the original Nightfall edition, which was later published unaltered by Wizards of the Coast, and has now been reprinted with some minor fixes (Sterile only gets you 1 point now!), an index (HOORAY!), and additional fiction as "version 1.1" by Hogshead Publishing. They also have a hardcover 1.1, called "XS": "It's exactly the same as the softcover edition, only in a hardcover binding and more expensive," said James Wallis, director of Hogshead Publishing. "Let us be clear about one thing: give us your money." "All of it," he added, his eyes alive with a strange glow. ]

[Note 2: this review has already been printed in Serendipity's Circle. Subscribe to this fine fanzine today!]

   Summary: What's SLA Industries? It's a role-playing game of extreme violence, cunning investigation, and corporate greed in the far future, with a simple game system, but the character creation and combat systems are very complex.

   SLA is a beautiful-looking book, with classy and readable layout, small margins, and a reasonably small font. The art style (and there is a lot of very good art), the use of short mood fiction, and the tone of the writing (emphasizing the intended tone, sometimes too much) is a lot like White Wolf's World of Darkness games (in a good way) - and the setting is even called the "World of Progress". The little info-boxes giving game-world comments and dialogues about equipment, people, places, and things are useful and occasionally hilarious - the Blocker Body Armor conversation is my favorite. The one down side on the physical side is the terrible binding - my book is now in three pieces, totally disconnected from the cover, after 6 months of use. I plan to get the binding chopped and three-ring it, if I can get a copy shop to do that for an A4 book. The new printing will hopefully get a much better binding.

   The first part of the background, explaining how the universe came to be the way it is now, reads like poorly-translated, cheesy anime - the major figures all come across as larger-than-life demigods, but nothing is said about what anyone but those characters did. Some of these characters have really silly names, too - Mr. Slayer is the arch-villain/CEO of SLA Industries (pronounced "slay", just in case it wasn't blatant enough already), and Intruder is not a porn star, rather he's the father-figure/protector of the Ebon and Stormer races.

   There are repetitive claims throughout about how nasty and treacherous SLA is, and how fiendish their plans are, when they're just not that shocking compared to real history, the modern world, or many other settings. Worse, Mr. Slayer has the bad habit of blatantly TELLING you in interviews that he wants control and unthinking loyalty, and he'll kill you if you don't obey. Get that man (if he is - in one shot he looks remarkably like Michael Jackson) a speechwriter.

   Once you get past that, though, you find a detailed, twisted setting based on equal parts of Thatcher-era Britain, Max Headroom, Judge Dredd, and Clockwork Orange, with a perfect setup for having a mixed adventuring group take on a variety of jobs each week, with as much or as little violence, investigation, and role-playing as you want.

   Sometime in the far future, the galaxy is at war, with every species fighting every other for supremacy - the Conflict Wars. Into that war comes an arms merchant named "Mr. Slayer" and his company, SLA Industries. He starts selling guns, then armor, then bioengineered soldiers (Stormers). Then, when everyone relied on his products, the guns stopped working, the power armor shut down, and the Stormers turned on their buyers, while Mr. Slayer's own forces took over. All but 7 species were eliminated: Humans, Frothers (Scots-based Humans who do too many drugs), Ebons (psychic weepy goths), their offshoot race, Brain Wasters (psychic heavy metal headbangers), Stormers (bioengineered soldiers, but fairly controlled and sane compared to most species), Shaktar (big lizards obsessed with honor), and Wraith Raiders (hunters from an ice planet).

   The game is set in the city of Mort, on the planet Mort, capitol of SLA, 900 years after the Conflict Wars. Rain falls constantly on Mort (city) due to the pollution and inversion layers. A giant arcology in the center of the city that collapsed through the ground is now half (the underground half) inhabited by squatters, serial killers, Carriens (possibly the native species of Mort), cannibal pigs, and accountants. Vicious place, that.

   The player characters are SLA Operatives, a cross between freelance FBI agents and professional athletes. Missions are offered on a contract basis through "Blueprint News Files" - essentially a Paranoia briefing (i.e., all lies) reduced to a 3x5 card. The ops carry out their mission, get hosed down, get paid, and go up in security clearance. They can call on the Shivers, civilian police/emergency services, for support, and subcontract with others if they need additional expertise, or indeed do whatever it takes to get the job done. As they go up in security clearance and reputation, they can get corporate sponsorships (with branches of SLA, naturally).

   The Ops are often violent, immature, and not very effective law enforcement, but they're the only thing available, which can put a nice burden of responsibility on the players (or they may ignore it completely, which lets the GM have some cruel fun at their expense).

   Everyone else are SLA Employees, Shivers, unemployed, or they're terrorists working for the Rival Companies. SLA is the only legal company. All legal products and jobs are with SLA. The other companies, like Thresher (power-suited mercenaries), Dark Night (drugs, weapons, and media subversion), and Tek Trex (little combat robots), can only sell their products on the black market and try to rip down SLA Industries.

   So, that's the setting, now to the rules.

   Organizationally, the book is a pain - there's no index (there is one online), the table of contents is vague - it lists the chapter and section headings, but only gives pages for the chapter, so you end up flipping through the chapters to find stuff, and many times what you want is hidden somewhere else entirely. Character creation is halfway through the book, after the setting, task rules, and combat system. Don't try to read this book in order - for instance, the races are described after the chargen section, but of course you're assumed to know all about them throughout the setting material.

   Character creation is a simple enough points-based system, but there are a huge number of options, and it will take a long time to get through, and it's not really possible to build a character unless you know exactly what you want up front - some pregens or an archetype system would have greatly improved this. On the good side, you can build just about any character you can imagine in this setting with these rules, and they seem to be fairly balanced. Most of the advantages and disads have multiple levels, so you can be just a little deaf, or totally paranoid; if somehow there's nothing in a category to cover the ad/disad you want, there's even a General to give a price guideline.

   One problem is that the stats are a linear cost (5 points per level), while skills are cumulative ('new level' points per level), and your skills are limited to no higher than your stat. The problem here is that it's trivial to max out the stats relevant to the skills you want, and then your skills aren't limited or affected by the stats at all, and all characters will tend to have either 5 (the average stat) or their racial maximum (usually 10) for stat scores.

   I use a variant character creation system I found online that restricts points to being spent in certain areas, so characters made with it will be somewhat appropriately balanced, and to make it easier to figure out what to do with your points. The original system is functional, but provides a choice overload in many ways.

   Another minor problem is that Sterile is classed as a disadvantage, worth a whopping 10 points - EVERY SINGLE player I've allowed near the book has wanted to take it, and I had to rule that it's worth no points either way. [Sterile has been changed to 1 point in the revised edition]

   The task system is simple: 2d10 + skill rank + modifiers, success is 11+, critical success is 21+. If the task is simpler than your skill rank, you don't even need to roll. This is probably the strongest point in the game - it's *EASY* to play.

   There's a detailed fear system, as the authors somehow had the impression this would be some kind of horror game, but IMO the characters are too powerful to really experience much fear in this setting, and violence is too common - everyone would be completely desensitized and blase' about it.

   Combat is exceptionally complicated. You roll initiative, then act in 1-5 phases, depending on your Dexterity, out of 5 phases per round (3 seconds), spaced out like Champions phases, Car Wars, or Star Fleet Battles' impulses. Then when you fire, you roll your weapon skill, add a BUNCH of modifiers, including selection of hit location (which is never random). If you get 21+, add the points you beat 20 by to the damage of your weapon. Your weapon's penetration reduces the armor's protection value. Then there's armor damage against the armor's hit points. Then you track the number of wounds you've taken to determine penalties and bleeding... And finally you have hit points to knock you out or kill you. Then Stormers get to regenerate. EGADS. And yet there's no specific wound tables or anything - so this COULD have been more complex. A SLA GM *MUST* be capable of juggling a dozen numbers in its head at a time. The players can get by just shooting when they're told to.

   The Ebb is the psychic powers available to the Ebons and Brain Wasters. There's a long discussion of how the Ebb works and what happens to Ebb users when they get very powerful, including the ultimate destiny of their race(s). Each of the 13 Ebb skills has 20 levels of powers, as they gain skill ranks, and the powers are nicely summarized in a few pages of tables before the detailed descriptions begin - you should give the Ebb players photocopies of those tables so they can look them up quickly. The powers are well-balanced - they can do things technology can't, but aren't overwhelming at lower levels, and they're handled somewhere between SF psionics and magic - eastern mysticism is probably closest to their capabilities.

   There's an extensive list of equipment, but most of it is guns and armor - there's nowhere near as many consumer goods as you'd like, considering that it's a game at least partly about commercialism. One amusing element is that ammo is heavily taxed, to encourage Operatives to A) not shoot the civilians "accidentally", and B) engage in hand-to-hand combat which looks better on TV shows like "Gorezone".

   SLA closes with brief but effective notes on the rival companies, experience, and reputation.

   One last note is the handouts - the character sheets are actually USEFUL and well-designed, as if the designers actually played their game and made sheets that had the info they needed. The BPN mission cards and Extermination Warrants (aka Paranoia's Termination Vouchers) are fun little handouts, and the Contract of Employment, a full page of legalese, is just hilarious - give each of your players one and have them sign it, then watch their faces as they read it.

   Rating: Great, but with some significant flaws; with some rewriting and an index it would edge up to Superb.

   Some SLA sites you may find useful:

• Index
• Errata
• Other SLA Resources

Last modified: 2001Sep18
Updated for version 1.1/XS