Shatterzone is a 1993 space opera role-playing game by West End Games. The game went out of print in 1997 after the company went bankrupt. It came back in 2011, published by Precis Intermedia.
The universe of Shatterzone shares some structural similarities to the Star Wars expanded universe including an intergalactic government called the Consortium (like the Republic from Star Wars) run from a central region of space known as the Core Worlds, large megacorps that run galactic affairs (a theme common in the cyberpunk genre of storytelling), and a super-industrialized capital world, called Centaurus, but similar to Star Wars''' Coruscant. Likewise, there is a sentiment of xenophobia in the setting similar to that of the Empire in Star Wars. Humans, Glahns, and Ishantras, the three ruling races of the Consortium and a few others are given full citizen status while other races suffer under prejudice and second-class-citizenship. In an interview with the creator of Shatterzone, Scott Palter, he refuted the connection stating that his intention was for a "darker setting, more to my tastes than Star Wars" citing inspiration instead from C. J. Cherryh’s Company Wars.
The namesake feature of the setting is the "Shatterzone", an uncharted and mysterious sector of space consisting of dark matter and strange gravitational phenomena as well as strange energy storms and asteroid fields. The Shatterzone is home to cult worshippers, bands of alien exiles called "bolters" seeking to flee Armagon oppression, and groups of deep space miners looking to make a fortune off the rare minerals to be had in this unusual sector of space.
Alien races In Shatterzone there are three classes of race: Citizens, which only Humans, Glahns, and Ishantras have the right to become; Allied, which consist of races who have signed nonaggression pacts with the Consortium, but which have no rights to representation; and Hostile/Unidentified, which are considered suspicious and are treated with caution.
Glahns - one of the three ruling races in the galaxy, blue skinned humanoids organized into clans Ishantras - another ruling race, immensely varied due to cross-species gene-engineering, who lost their homeworld in an ancient cataclysm Armagons - an incredibly powerful alien empire of various races which rule from beyond the Shatterzone, pillaging and destroying one world after another Yithras - a disagreeable race whose thin, wood-like bodies emanate chill rather than warmth Kestarians - golden-skinned, four-armed matriarchical humanoids who use their allure to influence others Rednas - reptilian humanoids with traditions of violence, whose pre-spacefaring civilization is prized for its metalwork. Veronians - shapeshifters from an unidentified homeworld nearly eradicated by other races out of paranoia Reavers - aggressive humanoids allied with the Armagons as shock troops
Planets and regions Xenos Sector - a little-explored region near the Shatterzone Planet Haven - torn apart in a civil war, now a staging ground for pirates and mercenaries Planet Bartonrealm - corporate owned world, home of BartonCorp Planet Ral Sikkim - desert frontier world claimed by an alliance of pirate organizations Planet Centaurus - superpopulated capital world, Core World and center of civilization Planet Delera - home to a race of technophobes Planet Mandamus - mining planet that produces terraforming compounds Planet Vantage Point - old corporate world overthrown by colonists Planet Aureus - arid world populated by mystics who disbelieve in space travel
Timeline The current era is the 25th Century.
The development of coldsleep technology and mastery of nuclear fusion engines enable easy travel within the Solar System, and the possibility of extrasolar colonization. The overwhelming desire to escape the restrictions of life on Earth drive some to establish illegal "black" colonies without the consent of the government. The Secessionist Wars ensue and the first intergalactic fleets of warships are created.
2276: Humans discover a derelict alien space vessel, and while the science of how its quantum drive (or Q-Drive) functions is beyond the grasp of human science, it is a relatively simple mechanism which researchers are soon able to recreate and mass-produce. Using the new alien technology, human ships become capable of reaching speeds 365 times the speed of light. Abundant faster-than-light engines allow a phenomenon called the Diaspora, in which the world population drops from 25 billion to 500 million over the next two centuries as extrasolar colony worlds become genuine home worlds to large populations of humans.
2320: First contact with the Glahn.
2486: The establishment of the Consortium of Worlds, a joint government of the homeworlds of the Humans, Glahn, and Ishantra.
Rules The system uses a pair of d10 dice rather than a d6 or d20.
Most rolls are made with two d10 (noted as 2d10). The results are added together, with "0" being equivalent to "10" and two "0"s being equal to "20". A natural "10" result is a Critical Success (called an "Explosion" in the rules). Like the "Wild Die" in Savage Worlds, the player can roll an additional time per Critical until they get a result lower than "10". Then the player adds the numbers together as the roll's result.Example: A roll of "2" and "0" would be a total of "12", with one die "exploding". The player then re-rolls the Exploding Die and gets a "7", which adds "7" to the base result (12 + 7) for a total of "19".
It also uses a deck of 108 cards called the MasterDeck that was later used in the generic MasterBook system. Similar to WEG's earlier TORG Drama Deck and later influencing the Savage Worlds Action Deck, it came in three types of effects. The 83 black Enhancement cards are handed in by the player for random benefits, like a bonus on a character's task roll, temporarily allowing extra actions, or granting extra Life Points. The 17 red Subplot cards are used immediately by the Game Master to create a random event or encounter. The four Picture cards (Disaster, Opportunity, Wild, and Interloper) are Wild Cards that can provide special effects that the gamemaster can tailor to their needs. The remaining 4 were two blank cards and 2 blank Picture cards. Expansions to the MasterDeck come with 12 blank cards and 24 Plot Development Cards, which are Subplot cards that the players control that potentially could grant extra Skill Points.
Characters Like WEG's earlier Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and TORG, the player chooses from archetypal templates (like "Megacorp Freelancer" or "Old Scout") rather than create a custom character. The player can also create an altered or new template, but like most template games (like FASA's Shadowrun or White Wolf's World of Darkness), it is very hard to alter or build them with the rules as they are. The advantage to template characters is speed of play. Players who are unfamiliar with Shatterzone or want to play a pickup game can jump into play without struggling with generating a character first. Meanwhile, more experienced players can easily replace a deceased character in an ongoing adventure or campaign.
If the player wants to build a template using a point-based system, they get the same 65 Attribute Points and 20 Skill points (which roughly converts to 28 Life PointsTo clarify, Life Points are experience points that can be spent to increase Attributes or Skills. They are not the character's Health or Hit Points, which are based on the character's Toughness score.) as the basic templates. For those who want to take their chances, they can roll 2d10 on a table and get a random number of beginning Attribute and Skill points.
Attributes The eight Shatterzone character AttributesIn comparison to other West End Games rpgs, Ghostbusters uses four Traits: Brains, Muscle, Moves, and Cool. Star Wars TRPG uses six Attributes: Dexterity, Perception, Knowledge, Strength, Mechanical, and Technical. The generic D6 System uses seven Attributes: Agility, Strength, Knowledge, Perception, Mechanical, and Technical - with the optional Metaphysical attribute covering paranormal abilities like magical and psychic powers. are like the six Ability Scores used in Dungeons & Dragons.The six Dungeons & Dragons Ability Scores are Dexterity, Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons temporarily added a seventh: Comeliness (the character's physical attractiveness). Some are divided into two similar Attributes (perhaps to balance the Skill List). Attribute values range from 5 to 13. The average value of an attribute is about 7 or 8, a value of 13 is considered exceptional (the ceiling for unenhanced characters), and a value of 14 or higher is considered supernormal.
The four Physical Attributes are Agility, Dexterity, Strength, and Endurance. Agility and Dexterity are like D&D's Dexterity, except Agility controls reflexes and fine motor control tasks and Dexterity is used for coordination and gross motor control tasks (much like they are in Pinnacle Entertainment's Classic Deadlands). Endurance (like D&D's Constitution) helps the character resist pain and shock. Strength (like D&D's Strength) helps determine how much you can lift and carry or how much damage you can do in unarmed or armed melee combat.
The four Mental Attributes are Intellect, Mind, Charisma, and Confidence. Intellect (taking the place of D&D's Intelligence) is about problem-solving and comprehension while Mind (taking the place of D&D's Wisdom) is about using what you learned through experience. Charisma and Confidence are like D&D's Charisma; both have similarly themed skills except they have different methods. Charisma is based on personality and human engineering (getting others to believe you and manipulating or convincing them into doing what you want). Confidence is based on cunning and willpower (believing in yourself and making people do what you want).
Toughness, the character's innate resistance to damage, is Shatterzones equivalent to Hit Points. It is a derived attribute calculated from adding double the character's Endurance level to their Strength level and dividing the result by three.Formula: [((END*2)+STR) ÷ 3]. Example: Endurance 7 and Strength 8 = [((7*2)+8)÷3] = [(14+8)÷3] = [22 ÷ 3] = 7.33 (rounded down to 7) = Toughness 7.
Backgrounds are crunchy bits of character flavor. "Advantages" (which are self-explanatory) give the character an edge of some kind. "Compensations" (the term for disadvantages in Shatterzone) hold back the character in some way. They usually balance out (a -1 for every +1) and are geared towards the character template and its concept. For example, the "Old Scout" template, an experienced and salty Fleet veteran, has Increased Skill Adds: +4 , which adds +4 Skill points for the cost of 4 Attribute points. This is paired with and opposed by Skill Limitation: Charm [-4], which blocks the character from putting points in the Charm skill or any of its Specializations, but frees up 4 Attribute Points.
Skills