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Tibet: the Role Playing Game
Length: 224 pages
Price: $29.95
Publisher: Vajra Enterprises www.vajraenterprises.com
ISBN: 09711309515
This is a very interesting game, and well worth the time and money of any game interested in a fresh take on the supernatural in the modern day. It's set in Tibet during 1959, while Tibet still belongs to the Tibetans but the Chinese invasion is well under way. This would already be an interesting setting for a game, but the author adds what is obviously his real interest by assuming that Tibetan Buddhist beliefs about the supernatural and karma are true. This adds a very interesting spin to an already tension-filled situation.
I was really torn regarding this product. I really only want to highlight the best RPGs for rpgnews.com, but my feelings on the game kept flip-flopping as I read it.
In the end, the question I asked myself was: Would I play this game? And the answer was yes.
So I'm highlighting it here. But my feelings are still very mixed. For example, while I would willingly play this game as-is, I wouldn't be willing to run it. As a GM, I'd use the book as a source while using a system I like better, perhaps with some inspiration from the better systems in the book.
See, the problem is that in a lot of ways, this book is a heartbreaker. There are some very good ideas in this book, but they're buried in some very old-school assumptions, based largely on D&D-style play.
So, in order to get it out of my system, let's talk about what's bad about this book, and then I'll talk about what's good about this book.
First, to set a tone, let's start with a minor nitpick, to show I feel these negatives do not outweigh the postives in the end. I mention it mainly because as someone with an English degree, it drove me up the wall: "Into" is one word, no spaces. The author -- or perhaps his spellchecker -- seems to disagree, which mystified me, and made me stumble over otherwise clear and easy to understand sentences.
The system... sigh. It's best described as "Palladium with a touch of d20, perhaps influenced by Interlock". It has character classes. It has levels. It has saving throws. It has overly long equipment lists. Does it need any of these things? No, no, no and a thousand times no.
Now, let me say that I am not opposed a priori to games with character classes, when it matches the material, or the intent of the game author. Classes are are tool, like any other, and a perfectly acceptable one -- White Wolf has done quite well with "splats" (i.e. clans, tribes, kith, etc.), which are in essence race/class combinations, just without levels.
However, in this case, all classes do is set the cost for skills, or perhaps give access to certain skills. This is nothing that couldn't have been simulated with various "background" advantages or disadvantages, or perhaps with some sort of template system. They in no way enhance the major theme of the game (karma and enlightenment), and they add additional, un-needed complication. One only needs to read the "Disciplines" rules on p. 141 to see where this un-needed complication comes in -- those rules give a complicated method for switching classes, with a touch of a d20-style "prestige class" feel in some of the "special disciplines" on p. 142. I'm sure these satisfy the author's sense of "realism", but they get in the way of what the game is really about.
And while we're talking about the system for changing classes, which is linked to the level system, let's talk about levels. In most systems with levels, one gains a certain amount of XP, and then there's is a quantum jump in power, with level-linked class benefits and perhaps skill points or something. In this game, you get XP, and spend it directly on skill points and attribute points. There are no level-linked benefits. So in a lot of ways, the XP system is not unlike what you'd see in a game without levels, like a White Wolf game. When you get 100 XP, you go up a level, but this is only useful if you're changing classes, or as an "easy way of keeping track of how much experience the PC has". Frankly, the latter function can be filled simply by paying attention to how much XP the PC has, in rough 100s -- why formalize it as levels? Given how little effect the level system actually has on the game, it's obvious that levels are there because -- to use a sort of Buddhist way of thinking about it -- the author has an irrational attachment to an old-school level system that even his own system has obviously outgrown.
In fact, in both cases, the class and level system have so little effect on the actual game, one questions why they exist at all, other than the author's irrational attachment to D&D-style character classes and levels, and his knee-jerk dislike of point-based systems (as evidenced by a rant on his website), despite the fact that in practice, the game is a point-based system with a light, un-needed character class element.
There are huge equipment lists, which seems to be based on a D&D-based assumption that RPGs must contain long, dull equipment lists. Some of the equipment is worth explaining, as it relates to Tibetan objects that westerners might not be familiar with, but we really don't need to be told what a flare gun is. To the author's credit, the majority is very Tibetan-specific stuff, with interesting cultural data peppered throughout, but it seems gratuitious nonetheless.
Along the same lines, there is an overly-complicated combat system, obviously originally developed for the author's cyberpunk game, Fates Worse Than Death. I mean, what does having three different "reaches" for melee weapons have to do with enlightenment, other than satisfying the author's desire to have a "realistic" and tactically rich combat system? It seems even the author senses that combat has very little to do with the game, given the tips for keeping combat quick on p. 165, but the author cannot seem to let go of the assumption that "all RPGs need a combat system", even when the game isn't at all about combat.
Frankly, if I were to run this game, I would use the Heroquest system. In fact, I think the author would benefit from looking at that system, as that system shows a way of flexibly representing different sub-cultures and job titles without a character class system. Plus, it also has a general detailed conflict system that can be used for mystical battles and debates as well as physical combat, which Tibet: the Role Playing Game could use more than a specialized combat system.
All of that said, what is good about this system? I'll go over that as I explain what you get in this tome.
The book hits the ground running, with a touch of fiction above the table of contents, and then an well-written introduction to the game. The introduction explains that all Tibetan "magical and spiritual beliefs are assumed to be true". The introduction establishes a dry, matter-of-fact tone that some might find bland, but I found refreshingly to-the-point and easy to deal with, like a good GURPS sourcebook.
The book then moves to Chapter One, which is about Tibet itself. In this chapter, we see an interesting convention that's held throughout the book -- each section starts with a brief summary set aside from the text and marked "in brief", which is very useful for skimming the book. Though the results are sometimes sort of silly (the Travel section section opens up with "In Brief- Tibetans like to travel"), generally this is an excellent practice, and extremely useful, especially if you're inclined to jump around the book and read the sections out of order.
Now, I admit that I know very little about Tibet, so it is possible that everything in this chapter is crap, but with that caveat, I have to say that this section is very well researched, and matches with the small amount of research on Tibet and Tibetan magick that I have done. The chapter covers everything you could want to know: The history of Tibet, its people and their dress and customs, the role of Buddhism and the skinny on the Buddhist cosmology that the game uses and Tibet's role in that, the government, and the Chinese invasion. If there is anything that could be found wanting in this chapter, it's knowledge of the "future" -- that is, I would have liked to see some information on how the Chinese invasion went in real history, and information regarding the eventual exile of the Dalai Lama. That said, however, the information in this chapter is wonderful, and worth the price of admission alone.
Chapter Two is Character Creation. It starts with a simple point-based attribute system -- though the karma rules are worth paying attention to -- and then a big dump of character classes, which I've already talked about my issues with, but despite the mechanical uselessness of the classes, there is a lot of interesting cultural and roleplaying information to be had in the class listing, making it useful even if you're not using the author's ORC ("Organic Rule Components" -- the acronym alone should tell you how old school D&D the system is) system. A wide variety of skills follow the classes. These are servicable in a very 1980s-era GURPS kind of way, though again there is a lot of interesting cultural information encoded in the skill descriptions, plus everything has an interesting spin due to the fact that in the game, Tibetan beliefs are true. After this is the equipment list I've already complained about, and then...
Aaaaah. Here we go. This is the real heart of the game, the part worth cutting through all the old-school D&D un-needed complication to get to. In the "Personality" section, there is a wonderful little system for simulating the "attachments" to this world that cause suffering and prevent one from becoming Enlightened, in the Buddhist sense.
This is then followed by a point based advantage and disadvantage system, which, with some expansion, could have eliminated the class system entirely. After that is the character advancement system, which I've already talked about. The XP system is rather standard, if (again) a touch old school, tho not so much as other parts of the system. Experience is awarded for "completing adventure goals", staying alive, making friends, discovering magickal secrets, "good roleplaying", making the world a better place, benefiting a group or cause, coming up with a clever plan, and working with the rest of the PCs. There are also XP penalties for failing adventure goals, for "splitting up the group", making the world a worse place, and whenever another PC dies. As you can see, mixed in with rewards that make sense for the game are rewards and penalties very much associated with a D&D-style "adventuring party" mode of thought, which is hardly appropriate for Tibet in 1959. However, these are less of an issue as they're easy enough to ignore.
Chapter Three is Rules. The basic mechanic is a d20 plus attribute and skill against a target number -- nothing to write home about, but serviceable. However, the important part to take note of is the wonderful Karma rules on p. 147-149, which do an excellent, matter-of-fact job of simulating (as far as I understand) Tibetan views of karma. Considering that Karma is the only attribute that works very differently than the other ones, it's obvious that it is central to the game. Contrast with the overly complicated armor rules, which resemble the GURPS PR/DR system, but isn't mentioned nearly as often as the Karma system. There are rules on drugs, disease, and poisons, but again these are obviously there because the author has been conditioned by his experience with D&D to put those sorts of rules in. There is also the combat system, which I've already covered, and...
Aaaah. Here we go again. On p. 166-167, there is a system for achieving Enlightenment. It's a bit rough can could perhaps use some expansion and further explanation, but it's obvious that in combination with the Karma system and other information on the supernatural that are in the game, that this is the material the author really wants to focus on. If he had chucked the character classes and the combat system, perhaps he would have had more room to expand it, but that said the system is well-written and complete.
Chapter Four is called "Adventures" and the title alone shows the D&D heritage. This chapter gives all sorts of ideas for "adventures" in Tibet, and gives advice for getting the PCs together that stops just short of "all the PCs start in a tavern". More so than anywhere else, here the book creaks under the D&D-style "adventuring party" sort of assumptions. The two sample adventures show the author's real interest, however, in that both of them -- even the one ostensibly having to do with the Chinese invasion -- have strong supernatural elements and involve aiding Enlightened beings. It's too bad there's so much pseduo-D&D to wade through to get to such interesting bits.
The book ends with wonderful reference material. There's a glossary, a random encounter table (again, very old school), an excellent selected bibliography and a very interesting comparison of Tibetan and modern US culture. After this is all the charts and tables gathered in one place, a character sheet, a map of Tibet, and a passable index. All of this is good, solid reference material for playing the game, and is convenient and easy to use. Very good stuff, and honestly makes the game a complete package -- no supplements needed -- an 1980s idea, unlike the concept of an "adventuring party", that I would like to see make something of a comeback.
And don't get me wrong: I cannot emphasize how wonderful the Karma and Enlightenment system is, and how complete and interesting the information on Tibet -- and its supernatural creatures -- are. This is seriously good material, and quality worth paying attention to.
So, overall, despite the 1970s-era D&D assumptions that a lot of the game is based on, Tibet: the Role Playing Game is a diamond in the rough that is worth picking up despite its flaws. The good bits are very good, and outweigh the bad, both in terms of emphasis and page count. And despite all the knocks I make at the author's blind assumptions, at least it isn't yet another game shoehorned into d20... The author deserves respect for that alone. (Tho I admit I'd love to see a more streamlined, classless second edition that focused more on the spiritual aspects of the game that the author so obviously finds the most interesting.)
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