''Spirit of the Century'' is a

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

role-playing game published by

Evil Hat Productions Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. Chief among them is the free indie RPG, '' Fate'', which has won numerous awards. History Fred Hicks had been working with Lydia Leong, Rob Donog ...

, and based on Evil Hat's ''

FATE Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

'' system. It is billed as a 'pick-up' game that can be played quickly, with little preparation.

Gameplay

''Spirit of the Century'' is a pulp action game. The

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

in a biplane on the cover is one of the sample

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 ...

Setting

The game is set in the pulp era of the 1920s. Player characters are 'Centurions': 'potent individuals of action', born on the first day of the century, and endowed with extraordinary skills and abilities, much like Warren Ellis's conception of Century Babies in the

Wildstorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wild ...

comics universe. It has been released under the OGL with a freely accessible System Reference Document. Part of the setting is created in character generation; all characters have ten free-form ''aspects'' that have an effect on the game and on the world. Each character gains two aspects from their background, two from what they did in the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and a further two from the stories that would make up an imaginary novel about their life before the game started. They then get a further four aspects by

guest star In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

ring in two of the other PCs' novels for two aspects apiece.

Rules

''Spirit of the Century'' uses the Fate 3 engine, meaning that all rolls are made by rolling four

Fudge dice ''Fudge'' is a generic role-playing game system for use in freeform role-playing games. The name "''FUDGE''" was once an acronym for ''Freeform Universal Donated'' (later, ''Do-it-yourself'') ''Gaming Engine'' and, though the acronym has since b ...

and adding the character's skill to find the outcome. In addition to the skills, all characters have ''aspects'' that can be ''invoked'' at the cost of a Fate Point for a bonus or compelled by the GM to gain a Fate Point in exchange for doing something bad for the character (such Fate Points may be refused at the cost of a further Fate Point). Also all characters have a number of ''stunts'' that represent things they can do that go above and beyond normal capabilities.

Development

The game marks the first appearance of Evil Hat's ''FATE'' 3rd Edition, which was also designed for Evil Hat's The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game.

Reception

It was released to positive reviews, quickly reaching #1 on

RPGnet RPGnet is a role-playing game website. It includes sections on wargames, tabletop games and video games, as well as columns on gaming topics. RPGnet was founded in 1996 by Emma and Sandy Antunes, Shawn Althouse ( etrigan) and Brian David Phillip ...

's rankings. ''Spirit of the Century'' won the 2006 Indie RPG Award for ''Independent Game of the Year'' and also won the 2007 Silver

ENnie Award The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

for ''Best Rules''. Co-author Fred Hicks claims that as of early 2009, ''Spirit of the Century'' had sold 3,313 copies in a mix of PDF and print. while by Q3 2013 they had sold 11,711 units.

Reviews

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Spirit of the Century''
webpage
''Spirit of the Century''
at

ENnies winners Evil Hat Productions games Historical role-playing games Indie role-playing games Open-source tabletop games Pulp and noir period role-playing games Role-playing games introduced in 2006