Picked up 3:16 today, since it looks like a very cool science fiction indie game, and I love it when my FLGSes have indie games.
So, I’ll go through it with all y’all and share my thoughts as I read. I’ve done this before for Savage Worlds: Explorer’s Edition and found that fun, so I’m going to do it with another short game.
So, here we go.
Quick Overview
3:16 is a military science fiction RPG, said to “out-Verhoeven Verhoeven” (quoting Robin Laws). It is a landscape digest book with 96 pages, published by Cubicle 7 and Box Ninja. It was originally written for the Ronnies 24 hour rpg contest, which it co-won. High praise for a game, I think, that something written in 24 hours gets professional art and printing. It was written and designed by Gregor Hutton, who also wrote “Best Friends” (a game I know nothing about).
Contents
The book is split up into chapters (unsurprising, given that it’s a book). It’s got chapters 0-9 and a-f, and then an Index and Colophon (seems to be an afterword, though I’ve never encountered the word “Colophon” before).
Now, I’m going to go chapter by chapter, read it, and summarize here for all y’all. Give my thoughts. That kind of thing.
0. Tollman’s Tale
The book gets going on page 4 and 5 with a quick introduction. It’s a very short story, only about 6 paragraphs long, with an accompanying comic book for visualization. Tollman is fighting some aliens, and has a flashback. It seems that’s probably what this game is about.
1. What is this book?
Again 2 pages (6 and 7). Your generic “what is an RPG?” takes up a column, and gets out of the way. Then we get right into what the game is. Here we are in the far future. Humanity has conquered death, disease, crime, and all that. No one works any more. It’s paradise. So, of course it’s boring. So, what do you do when you get bored of life? No, don’t go use the suicide booth – come join the 3:16 Expeditionary Forces! We’ll show you the world, and all the life it has within it – all for you to kill! The PCs are members of the elite 3:16th. 16th Brigade of the 3rd Army. And here we’ll start seeing this 3:16 theme come about, I think. The book has 16 chapters. You’re playing members of the 3:16th. I suspect we’ll see these numbers pop up more and more, too. (btw: john 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”)
2. Getting Started
Another 2 page chapter. This one is all about laying the groundwork of the game. One page is talking about materials and equipment, and what to do before the game. The GM should create a Planet (seems like a Town in Dogs – go the the Planet, do stuff, go to the next). It touches on the Theme of the game. War, and choices therein. War that’s far from home. War you might not agree with. And what do you do about that?
Page 9 is a Glossary of terms. Quickly goes through the important terms in the game and what they mean. Simple, quick, easy to find, easy to read, easy to reference. Probably a good thing. Interestingly, this game apparently uses a d1000 (3d10s in 3 columns). Stats appear to be either Alien Ability (for Aliens), or Fighting and Non-Fighting Ability for PCs.
I’ll leave it here for this post, as I have to read more before writing any more about the game. So far, it looks cool and neat, and I’m happy with the purchase.