It is Easy to Play Torg Eternity Online

Torg is a genre-mashing role-playing game designed to let you create a character from one of any number of genre’s of game: cyberpunk, gothic horror, fantasy, modern-day, corporate-tech, pulp-heroes, prehistoric Earth, or techno-horror. The game mechanics allow for all those character types to co-exist together within the same game mechanic. This means in the same combat round a prehistoric caveman can attack a mad scientist’s mechanized ape with his spear while a dwarf wielding a tommy gun can mow down hordes of scarabs along side a corporate security guard using psionics.

The gameis designed to not only allow for genre-mashing, but encourage it. Each genre is contained inside what the game calls a Cosm. This is where that genre’s rules called World Laws exist and shape reality. The characters are called Storm Knights and they have the ability to not only carry their own reality with them into different cosms but alter and manipulate reality as well through spending possibilities.

The game is less crunchy than most role-playing games being designed to be a more cinematic style of game play. Game mechanics include a limited number of tokens per character called Possibilities that can be spent to alter game play. There is an exploding die mechanic, and a mechanic unique to Torg called the Drama Deck.

The Drama Deck is a deck of Torg cards that are dealt to each player. These cards can be played to increase skill checks, alter game play, and impose penalties on opponents. Cards can be traded between players freely outside of combat but must be played out of pools that are created as combat progresses Cards can also be earned during combat by completing approved actions that are shown on the Game Master’s cards, he or she uses to guide each round’s flavor.

Another unique feature to Torg Eternity is the Bonus Chart. Die rolls are indexed on a simple chart that produces a number. This bonus number is then added to the Storm Knight’s skills to create a total. That total is compared to a Difficulty Number the Game Master has assigned to a task or a target’s defenses. Success becomes a function of whether or not the player’s character met or exceeded the Difficulty Number and by how much. Increased success reaches additional bonus outcomes that are based on Standard, Good, or Outstanding levels of success.

Torg Eternity is broken up into Acts and Scenes just like a play or movie. It is designed to be cinematic in it’s action and play. This format lends itself to setting the tone for that cinematic style. Several game mechanics flow around scenes and acts including powers and abilities, spell limitations, and resetting the availability of Storm Knight possibilities.