Xro Dinn Chronicles 1 - Awakenings

"Xro Dinn Chronicles - Book One: Awakenings" by Matthew Webster Published and Distributed by Ionian Studios ISBN = 0-96599-17-1-7 - 268 pages Table of Contents Part 01 - Foundation Part 02 - Characterization Part 03 - Props Part 04 - Stage Setting Part 05 - Theme Setting Appendix A = Tables and Charts Index and Character Sheet "The Dawn of a New Age is Upon Us." (Quoted from back cover.) It is always best to start at the beginning. Before the main sections of this book are two text pages. The first is called "The Sleeper Chronicles" and the second is "Conversations at Nightspawn". I'd suggest reading these two more than once. They give valuable insight into the points of this game. This is followed by short sections on Basics and Game Mechanics. Then charts for Racial Reactions, Intensity Levels, Technology Levels, a paragraph or two on your Primary Attributes, Secondary Attributes, and Other Attributes. The final part is about Combat. At the end of this is a chart for combat modifiers. Section Two is the meat of the book - How to create a player character of the allowable classes and races. A chart about Racial Age Attributes and Perception Modifiers for each of the seven races is included. Honor and "Face" are very important. Then this tome goes on to explain each of the available races. Middarians are first, followed by: Pjanji, Quiizbenqq, Sehlmna, and Terran - both Male and Female. Then calculate your skills. Each skill you take will have a cost, There are Basic Skills, for which have no prerequisites, and Advanced Skills which do have prerequisites. If taking an Advanced Skill, make sure you have the necessary prerequisites. Then there are Professions, which also have prerequisites. A wonderful section on all skills (in alphabetical order!) and their meanings follows. Sometimes, it might be better (and cheaper!) to buy a life skill package. The next part includes Professions, and, most importantly, the equipment necessary. Look at the Corporate skill package, or the Engineer skill package, or the Freelancer skill package, or the Ingenii skill package, or the Intelligence Agent, or the Medic, or the Merchant, or the Rogue, or the Scientist, or the Technician, or the Psionics Specialist (if you are allowing Psionics in your campaign), or the Psionic Sensitive skill package. Next is the Props section, which is broken down into fourteen parts. 01 - Weapons, 02 - Defenses, 03 - Computers, 04 - Robots, 05 - Bionics, 06 - Cybernetics, 07 - Interface Tech, 08 - Transportation, 09 - Medicine, 10 - Equipment, 11 - Middarian Tech, 12 - Pjanji Tech, 13 - Quiizbenqq Tech, 14 - Sehlmna Tech, and 15 - Terran Tech. Following that is the Stage Setting and the many pieces of the universe, including Cybertronix, Mind Tech (if you are allowing Psionics), the Arcane, and a good look at the components of the Frontier worlds, broken down into each part of the frontier as claimed by alien races. The main theme of the game is storytelling the various parts of the explored spaces. If you are a player, do =not= look at this section, as it includes information about the "bad guys" of the universe. Here lie the major NPC's: the Sharr'Dann, the Metamorphs, and the Xodar Xro-Dinn. A good index and a character sheet finish off this work of genius. If you can't tell, I love this setting. I cannot find anyone in my two Friendly Local Game Stores that know about it, either as an item they sold, or a game they have played. This one advantage of the Xro Dinn Chronicles makes them even more interesting to a potential GM. None of their players is likely to have these books - in fact, I'd be willing to say that they have ever even heard of this. Unlike many games such as Star Wars, Star Trek, and others have universes players are probably going to be aware of. This unfamiliarity factor is important, as a good GM can make the players see what they want to see. One of my higher recommendations.