''Amazing Engine'' was a series of

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

books that was published by

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

from 1993 until 1994. It was a

generic role-playing game system A ''generic'' or ''universal'' role-playing game system is a role-playing game system designed to be independent of setting and genre. Its rules should, in theory, work the same way for any setting, world, environment or genre in which one would wa ...

- each publication employed the same minimalist generic rules, as described in the ''Amazing Engine System Guide'', but each world book had an entirely different setting or genre.

David "Zeb" Cook David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer, best known for his work at TSR, Inc., where he was employed for over fifteen years. Cook designed several games, wrote the '' Expert Set'' for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', worked as lead designer of the ...

was credited with the design of the game rules.

History

In 1993 TSR closed down all of its subsidiary roleplaying lines, from ''

Gamma World ''Gamma World'' is a science fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet, and first published by TSR in 1978. It borrowed heavily from Ward's earlier game, ''Metamorphosis Alpha''. Setting ''Gamma World'' ...

'' and '' Marvel Super Heroes'' to '' Basic D&D'', and soon replaced these with a new universal game system released via the ''Amazing Engine System Guide'' (1993). ''Amazing Engine'' was a simple beginner's system, and after the initial rulebook, TSR started publishing setting books, each of which presented a different milieu to play the game in. After 1994, ''Amazing Engine'' was cancelled as well. ''

Alternity ''Alternity'' is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published by TSR in 1998. Following the acquisition of TSR by Wizards of the Coast, the game was discontinued in 2000 as part of a broader rationalisation of TSR's business holdings, b ...

'' was intended to be TSR's generic science-fiction system, a replacement for ''Amazing Engine''.

Description

In ''Amazing Engine'',

player characters A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

are generated with a set of four core

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

. The core stats were intended to be migrated from book to book, keeping a general character design concept. These stats were then used to build random ability scores, basic characteristics, and

skills A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of wo ...

. The skills have prerequisites which must first be learned. Skill checks are made using

percentile dice Dice notation (also known as dice algebra, common dice notation, RPG dice notation, and several other titles) is a system to represent different combinations of dice in wargames and tabletop role-playing games using simple algebra-like notation suc ...

Campaign settings

Below you'll find summary information for the published worldbooks. ;''Bughunters'': A near

future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

worldbook where the players are clones forced to fight the

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

. Recycled for ''

d20 Future ''d20 Future'' is an accessory for the ''d20 Modern'' role-playing game written by Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker. It facilitates the playing of campaigns in the far future, using elements such as cybernetics, mecha, mut ...

''. ;''For Faerie, Queen, and Country'': Magical

Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

with a twist.

Magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

and

Faerie Fairyland (''Faerie'', Scottish ''Elfame'', c.f. Old Norse ''Álfheimr'') in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or ''fays''. Old French (Early Modern English ) referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land ...

s are real. Includes poster map. ;''The Galactos Barrier'': Space opera a la ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' (except that instead of "

the Force The Force is a metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the '' Star Wars'' fictional universe. "Force-sensitive" characters use the Force throughout the franchise. Heroes like the Jedi seek to "become one with the Force", matching their personal wi ...

" it is called music). ;''Kromosome'':

Biopunk Biopunk (a portmanteau of "biotechnology" or "biology" and "punk") is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than mechanical cyberware and ...

using both traditional

cyberware Cyberware is a relatively new and unknown field (a proto-science, or more adequately a "proto-technology"). In science fiction circles, however, it is commonly known to mean the hardware or machine parts implanted in the human body and acting as ...

and genetic materials from animals. ;''Magitech'': '' D&D'' meets

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

mixed with the

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

world. Basically, how the world would be different if magic were real and

elves An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

, dwarves, etc. were around. ;''Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega'': Post-apocalyptic science fiction with high technology and mutants - based on

Metamorphosis Alpha ''Metamorphosis Alpha'' is a science fiction role-playing game. It was created by James M. Ward and originally produced by TSR, the publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. It was the first science fiction role-playing game, published in July 1976 ...

. ;''Once and Future King'':

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

lives in 4485 AD.

Space flight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either human spaceflight, with or uncrewed spaceflight, without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly w ...

, combat

armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

. ;''Tabloid!'': A spoof comedy world where you are reporters for a sensationalist newspaper like the ones referenced in the film 'Men In Black'. Also like the film, it's all true. The Loch Ness monster is an alien, Elvis is alive and well etc.

References

{{Authority control Role-playing game systems TSR, Inc. games Universal role-playing games