Critical Mass Studios
Critical Mass Studios is a relatively new roleplaying company that has so far released a players guide for their "Soothsayer" system (released 20/11/97). Several other roleplaying items for the Soothsayer System are also planed to release soon. Several posters were also produced for promotions- The first was a poster of the front cover of the Players Handbook, made in both a Black & White and Colour versions, and also of the first page illustration found in the Players Handbook.

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A narrative adventure gaming system

Style
Soothsayer is not associated with any specific genre of RPG. Instead it is a Narrative Adventure Gaming System which will guide you through any imaginable role playing setting, regardless of what type of character or setting you prefer. High fantasy with elves and goblins? No worries. Near or far science fiction? Not a problem. Hard core mythology? Soothsayer has it covered. In fact, no matter what your game is, Soothsayer will take you there and back again. This means that your favourite character can easily "switch" from setting to setting. Your elves, vampires and Godlings can play along side Humans, extra terrestrials and cyborgs, visiting any setting from the Dark ages to the far flung future and the rules won't change a single bit.

Company

Critical Mass Studios is an Adelaide based company officially established in 1996, however, Soothsayer itself has been in development since 1986.

See the bottom of this page for contact details.

Release Date
Release date 20 November 1997.

Soothsayer Highlights

Character Generation

• Don't just design your character, Design your character species as well!
• Choose a die rolling or an allocation method to generate your character's aptitudes.
• Develop your character's nature: conscience, culture, humanity, spirit and temperament traits.
• Expand your character's background, detailing status, education, and experience.
• Choose your character's initial skill repertoire and development path from over 140 described skills, and over 120 described psionic disciplines!

Equipment

An extensive equipment catalogue including over 50 pages of equipment divided into technology eras, including the Dark Ages, the Middles Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Ages, the Information Ages, and Unity.

Armour, Ballistic Weapons, Biotechnology, Camping Equipment, Clothing, Consumables, Communications, Containers, Explosives, Fuels and Power Sources, Light Sources, Medical Supplies, Hand to Hand Weapons, Miscellaneous Equipment, Missile Weapons, Navigation Devices, Visual Aids......

All this and more is described in vivid detail!

Game Mechanics

• The Soothsayer game mechanics are based on a skill check system.
• Immediate skill checks are used to determine if a character accomplishes a task and are made with the roll of a single d10 compared to the difficulty of the task at hand.
• Progressive skill checks are used to determine how long it takes a character to accomplish a task and are made with a number of d10s compared to the difficulty of the task at hand.
• An individual character's aptitude and skill level modifies the difficulty of the task at hand.

Combat Mechanics

Combat is based on an initiative system, where initiative points can be "spent" to accomplish actions such as movement, attacks, parries, and evades. Armour saves and specific wounds also feature in this fast paced and explicit combat system.

Cool Awards

Characters accumulate cool awards which they can spend to influence die rolls, acquire new skills and to improve their aptitudes. Players can award each other cool points for artful role playing, while the Soothsayer can award the players cool points for overcoming obstacles and adversaries. Players can award themselves cool points in moments of desperation, at the expense of accumulating shadows (a character's shadow is his or her alter ego or inner turmoil that will constantly seek to undermine the character).

Resources

A number of adventure scenarios, game supplements and campaign settings are currently in development in association with local Australian talent! Critical Mass Studios plans to be release several of these products in the near future.

If YOU are a talented writer or artist, we would love to hear from you today!

Contact Us at:

Critical Mass Studios
PO Box 252
Kent Town
South Australia 5071
Fax/Telephone 08 8296 0385
cms@cyburbia.net.au

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Soothsayer

Name	Description
Players Handbook	Covers the rules of the Soothsayer System.
The Test of time	Due out Mid 1998.
Set in Stone	Adventure for Soothsayer.
Character Sheets	Character Sheets and Quick Reference Tables.
Avagadro's Number	Due out Mid 1998.

 

 

This page is part of Ariel Archives Home Pages web site © Brett Easterbrook 1997-.
My email address is Brett@arielarchives.com.