Sterta Stali is a role-playing game released by the Hengal publishing house. At first glance, the textbook looks pretty good – a hard, solid cover with quite nice, colorful graphics promises a crazy adventure. It is no different inside, because although the drawings are only black and white, you can feel a clearly outlined climate in their simplicity and coherence. The author bluntly points out that he was inspired by such productions as Heavy Metal from 1981, Cowboy Bebop or Motomszy z Marsawhich you can definitely see. If you would like to feel what the presented world looks like before reaching for the system in question, the Game Master’s Guide provides a detailed list of titles that can inspire the stories you create. In addition to the aforementioned animations, we have Lily CAT , Lensman , Treasure Planet , books Red Moon Hunter and Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and games such as Horizon Zero Dawn , DeepSkyDerelicts , HyperLight Drifter . As you can see, you can not only play, but also lick a bit of pop culture.
Small, mischievous and silly snorlings. Not to be confused with snotlings
Not everything and not everywhere is for us *
The site of action has been confined to a giant station called the Heap of Steel, which is located on the fringes of the universe so far that no external signal can reach it. The owner and ruler of the whole is the giant Ohm, who can boast proof of its purchase for an amount so dizzying that it is clearly visible that the previous holders wanted to get rid of the loss-making scabies. The entire station is divided into several very different zones, which differ not only in appearance and function, but also in the inventory that inhabits them. This is how in one zone we can meet genetically modified llamas and giant cattle with anti-theft security in the form of a bomb sewn into the interior, in the next we come across androids bravely implementing the communist revolution, to come across the real Amazons or thieving Snorlings occupying the cloning module, which as part of barter for a candy bar or other treat can offer garbage such as a rifle, implant or weapons of mass destruction. Only laserraptors are missing here, but well, it’s not the time of the Vikings. Where are the players in all of this? Well, they are unfortunate enough to be stuck at the station one way or another, and all they have to do is get used to their new home and their crazy neighbors.
Some of the drawings are impressive
Man has to eat, drink and dress; the rest is insane
Unlike most systems, the Heap of Steel requires the player not only to set seven polyhedral dice, but also a deck of cards, as they are simultaneously used to perform tests. When creating a character, we traditionally draw our features, but the further creation is significantly different from known standards, because we can simply come up with both skills and the obligatory flaw! Yes, there is an exemplary list of the former, but nothing prevents you from introducing your own ideas to the game, except maybe approved by the game master. A pile of Steelit also abandons rigid adherence to races and character classes, although you can always use the schematics contained in the manual. Magic lovers will surely be pleased that it also exists in this universe in the form of mystical powers, a short list of which can be found on a few pages or, as you probably already guessed, they can be created in cooperation with the host of the game. Similarly, you can let your imagination run wild in the case of equipment, because although it is divided into different types with strictly defined statistics, its appearance, functionality and whether the weapon is ranged or not depends only on the player’s imagination.
The mechanics allow you to create the craziest weapons
Dreams always take over reality when they are allowed to
The mechanics that allow you to play in the Heap of Steel look quite interesting . We can forget about the typical rest here, and instead, the natural regeneration of vitality and other statistics used in adventures takes place when the player’s hero has time to pursue his hobby. Combat also looks a bit different than in most systems, because here the player first has to tell what he intends to do, and only on this basis the game master decides what statistics to test. As for the latter, each of the features is assigned a certain number of potential points, which may affect the final result of the trial (except for the moment when the player rolls an ominous one on the dice, as this always means failure) or they can be used in another, the way specified in the manual.
What can I say about the quite specific Heap of Steel? Certainly, the world presented is a big plus, not so serious, full of quirks and madness, it buys me completely. Perhaps it is a matter of nostalgia glasses, after all, you can feel a lot of inspiration from pop culture, which is permanently associated with my childhood, although I am more inclined to the fact that it was simply made with a heart. I have more mixed feelings about the rather loose mechanics. Yes, giving players so much freedom in creating heroes allows them to create extraordinary characters, sometimes impossible to perform in more precise systems, but on the other hand, too many tasks fall on the shoulders of the game master. He is responsible for accepting players’ ideas and ensuring that the skills and mystical powers they create do not upset the game’s balance (which not only applies to character creation,
The Pile of Steel is not a system for everyone. Certainly, I would not recommend it to novice game masters, but an experienced and patient leader will be able to create unusual, engaging stories in a world much more colorful than those of other RPGs. It is also not a production for those who prefer thorough study of each rule and teaching their teammates about their strict observance over having fun and having fun, but let’s be honest – such players just deserve a slight grinding of their teeth.
* The subtitles are quotes from Stanisław Lem’s prose
Mr. Mug and Heap of Steel
