Paper RPG is entertainment that has been on the back of the neck for many years, but it is still very popular. Although it might seem that everything has already been invented in this matter, new, interesting systems are still being created. Does The Gaia Complex promise to be a new breath of fresh air?
Dozens of pages lying on the table, a mass of polyhedral bones, textbooks worn out by frequent use, and sometimes also a calculator that can be used as a support. Many, hearing about such a set, smile under their breaths, remembering dozens of epic adventures. Although Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer are invariably the most popular in this matter , each player would be able to select a few more systems, creating a really extensive list of titles. A new player appears among this noble gang: The Gaia Complex .
Neon post apocalypse
The year two thousand and thirty-nine went down in the history of mankind with shameful rumors. The so-called “resource war” has led to irreversible changes on our once beautiful planet. The atmosphere has become toxic, the earth has become contaminated, and humanity has been decimated by fighting and changed by nature’s destruction. It would probably be the end of humanity if it were not for the efforts of scientists who managed to create air domes that maintain conditions underneath them suitable for supporting life. Strangely, what pushed people into the destructive turmoil has now gone into oblivion. Raw materials, until recently so scarce, with a depleted population have become more than sufficient (undoubtedly Thanos is smiling broadly at this point), allowing for unprecedented development of humanity. The rebuilding of the world has begun but only eleven cities managed to survive, becoming the only viable places. This does not mean, however, that the planet is almost completely deserted, because the largest of the metropolises, called New Europe, stretches from the western borders of former France to the eastern territories of former Poland. Huge, compact buildings have flooded any memories of green areas, once so characteristic of our poor planet, under the neon glow.
This is how we are introduced to the world presented in The Gaia Complex. The plot combines the post-apocalypse with the currently fashionable cyberpunk in a fairly transparent and coherent way. Of course, this is not all, because in addition to the obvious in such climates of cyber implants and large corporations, we can meet here Gaia, the title artificial intelligence, independently managing the entire New Europe, completely mechanized law enforcement services, fully replacing their human predecessors, brutal street wars of the scale far greater than gang quarrels, wild people who can forge particularly strong bonds with animals, and even two vampire factions! All of this in a very brutal and mature world. There was also room for the Merc organization, which brings together mercenaries for all kinds of work. As you can easily guess, it is in its members that we will be incarnated while having fun.
Maybe I don’t know myself, but I can try
The Gaia Complexputs the main emphasis on storytelling, which presents quite simple and uncomplicated rules, based on dodecahedron dice (for tests and combat) and thirteen (only for combat) As in the vast majority of systems, player characters have specific statistics (personally, I have not met even one who would give up on it, but who knows …). In this case, we are dealing with seven indicators, such as Brawn, which indicates the hero’s physical strength, endurance and condition, Reflex, which shows the agility and dexterity, Guts, which is responsible for strength and mental resilience, Brains, which determines intelligence, Allure, showing the character’s charisma and grace, Perception showing sharpness and mindfulness, and Grit, representing the character’s determination,
A number of skills have been assigned to specific statistics, basing their values on tests, quite similar to the case of Neuroshima . However, the lack of an ability does not mean that we cannot use it. For checking our fitness we use two dice at the same time, and while in the case of those practiced, success on one of them is enough, in the absence of appropriate training, we must be successful on both. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule for properties that require special training, after all, it is known that without the knowledge of piloting airplanes our flight will end fatally.
The Gaia Complex , like other systems, offers assistance in running your adventure. However, it does not do this through ready-made scenarios, but by providing suggestions for specific scenes that may happen during the campaign. Of course, these ideas can be combined in any way, modified to suit your needs or extended with original concepts. As the creator assures, thanks to this approach, we can use the same proposals many times, each time experiencing new and not so repeatable adventures.
The brutal world of battles between large corporations immersed in neon light, where artificial intelligence cares for the proper functioning of a huge city, a corpse is thick in the streets, and vampires move among people sipping synthetic blood or lurking in dirty dungeons, waiting for a victim to eat in the traditional way.
Do you like this vision? In that case, you will be able to contribute to this project, as the Kickstarter fundraiser is about to start to finance this project, and it is available here . Will you help?
