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Polaris - The Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook 1
280 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2016
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October 21, 2018
The Polaris role-playing game (RPG) setting is an intriguing and unique one set in the far future of post-apocalyptic Earth where natural and man-made disasters have ravished the planet’s surface and raised ocean levels, forcing humanity to seek shelter under the waves in vast underwater nation states or independent communities whose populations survive in underwater cities and stations. These stations are in a constant state of war with each other (though large-scale hostilities have not happened for some time) while a powerful independent state, Equinox, acts as a diplomatic center and neutral peacekeeper. In this world are the hazards of daily life living in the depths of the oceans (pirates, decompression, food and water shortages, the upkeep of required infrastructure for survival and mutant sea creatures) and the deadly dangers of the surface world (mutant flora and fauna, electrical storms and radiation). The technology level is advanced (power armor suits are available), human mutants (both natural and man-made) exist and some people have the ability to use the powerful Polaris Effect (similar to psychic powers or magic).
There are many adventure opportunities in this setting, ranging from the political intrigues of the warring nations and the involvement of Equinox, basic survival in one of the various underwater communities, working as a mercenary, exploration of the oceans depth where ruins of the previous civilizations can be explored (and looted), as well as the depots of the powerful Geneticians (a powerful group of technologically advanced individuals that saved humanity early on from extinction, but were later violently removed from power because of the way they treated those they saved). There is also the underlying theme of humanity as a dying race with more and more people becoming infertile and the race to protect those that can still procreate, as well as finding a cure to stop infertility.
This review is about Core Rule Book 1, which contains almost a hundred pages of setting information, rules on character creation, skills and abilities, skill tests, combat and damage systems, using the Polaris Effect and awarding Experience points. Equipment, armor, vehicles, additional rules, a bestiary and an introductory adventure are included in Core Rule Book 2.
I found the character creation process to be a double-edged sword. Without getting into too many of the details, you basically decide on a how many Creation Points you want to spend on your character to raise basic attributes and obtain powers, skills, and abilities. You then have Skill Points that you spend on the Profession(s) that you want your character to have. In one sense, the process is great for creating a detailed character (for example, you could make a character that spent five years as a solider and then became a police officer and spent ten years in that profession), as you get Points to spend based on each year you were in a profession, but it starts getting bogged down because there are a lot a Points and each profession only has certain skills available to it. Additionally, the better you are at a skill, the more Points you have to spend to raise the skill level. And lastly, certain skills start out as “X” or “-3” skills which means it takes points to raised them to the +0 starting levels of the rest of the skills or have prerequired skills that are needed before you can take a skill. There are Skill tables in the book, but they are incomplete and do not always include if a skill is an “X” or “-3” skill, so there is a lot of flipping back and forth in the skill section. I’ve made three characters with the system and each took me 2-3 hours (and that does not include the time for deciding on starting equipment and selecting Professional Advantages and Disadvantages). The game does address the complexity of this process by offering an abbreviated method of character creation, as well as sixteen pre-generated starting level characters. I actually enjoyed the in-depth character creation process, but I wished that there were additional (or more detailed) tables to cut down on the process of looking up individual skills.
The game system uses a D20 to make skill checks and is different than other game systems I’ve played. Basically, using your skill level and modifiers assigned by the Game Master, you are trying to roll the highest number on a D20 without going over your target number (say your target number is a “15” than that is what you are trying to get). Going over the number is a failure and the closer you get to the number without going over gives you higher degrees of success (and consequently the further you get rolling over your target number gives you degrees of failure with especially high degrees of failure resulting in a Catastrophe result). There is more number crunching than most games but not what I would considerable unmanageable. But combat on the other hand…
So, the combat phase in most RPGs I’ve played is where things tend to slow down. In the Polaris RPG this seems even more so. The combat system attempts to be more realistic than most systems (and to its credit it does in fact do this) but because of all the extra steps involved and the various modifiers to rolls, it becomes time-consuming. Characters each roll initiative and declare what actions their characters will do starting from lowest initiative to the highest (this way this way the highest initiative character will be able to react to what the slower initiative characters do), which I think is a great idea. Starting with the highest initiative, characters do their actions but its not that simple because each action and Preparation (sub-action) effects your initiative, so you could be doing different actions at different times in the round. It’s a lot more complicated than declaring “I draw my weapon and shoot.” Your character draws their weapon (which takes time and costs them some of their initiative points), aims the weapons (which may also take some initiative points) and then finally fires it. So your character’s shot might not happen at his original initiative order, and while he/she might have been the first to act, depending on what you and the other characters do, your character’s action might finally happen after a character that had a lower imitative than you because they chose a less complex action. More realistic than most game systems- yes, more complicated and time consuming- yes. The game system overall is full of a lot of modifiers and number-crunching between different skills and attributes which I think could be good or bad depending on the gaming experience your group is looking for.
This Polaris RPG book has great art that really sets the mood for the setting. Its organization and layout of the book is great. The game system is a fairly good attempt at a reality simulation (like I said, there is a lot of number crunching and various modifiers for a variety of situations). The setting is a unique and exciting one.
But I felt that some things could have been done to help understand and streamline the game system and character creation process, such as more complete tables for the skills that I mentioned earlier, or more examples of how to apply the rules in a situation (I myself would have liked an example on assigning damage to a character as the explanation provided seemed open for some clarification). There were also a number of proof-reading errors that lead to some confusion when reading the rules. For example, there were times when sentences included commas, and only one half of a pair of parentheses and this arrangement caused confusion on which part of the sentence was part of another. Another example is in the section that lists and describes the various Professions and the skills and abilities available for each. Part of each entry was the number of “Opponents” that a character gains over time in that Profession. Part way through the entries, “Opponents” was changed to “Adversaries” and then later changed back to “Opponents” even though they were referring to the same thing. Later, in the explanation of entries, you see that “Adversaries” is the correct terminology. Little terminology changes or inconsistencies like these made the rules confusing at times (in what was already a complicated game system).
The Polaris RPG has been around since 1996 and was not available in an English translation (it was originally in French) until its 3rd edition release in 2016. At the time of this review, and regarding the 3rd edition, there are two core rulebooks (bought together) and four supplements (a Game Master’s Screen, expanded character folio, a set of datasheets and deck plans and a short book on the city of Equinox). Despite entries in the rule books about additional setting materials to be published in the future, there does not seem to be any immediate plans for that to happen (or if it will ever occur).
Would I play the Polaris RPG? Absolutely (and my gaming group plans on playing it). I think that despite some of my concerns, this is a rich setting and an interesting game system.
There are many adventure opportunities in this setting, ranging from the political intrigues of the warring nations and the involvement of Equinox, basic survival in one of the various underwater communities, working as a mercenary, exploration of the oceans depth where ruins of the previous civilizations can be explored (and looted), as well as the depots of the powerful Geneticians (a powerful group of technologically advanced individuals that saved humanity early on from extinction, but were later violently removed from power because of the way they treated those they saved). There is also the underlying theme of humanity as a dying race with more and more people becoming infertile and the race to protect those that can still procreate, as well as finding a cure to stop infertility.
This review is about Core Rule Book 1, which contains almost a hundred pages of setting information, rules on character creation, skills and abilities, skill tests, combat and damage systems, using the Polaris Effect and awarding Experience points. Equipment, armor, vehicles, additional rules, a bestiary and an introductory adventure are included in Core Rule Book 2.
I found the character creation process to be a double-edged sword. Without getting into too many of the details, you basically decide on a how many Creation Points you want to spend on your character to raise basic attributes and obtain powers, skills, and abilities. You then have Skill Points that you spend on the Profession(s) that you want your character to have. In one sense, the process is great for creating a detailed character (for example, you could make a character that spent five years as a solider and then became a police officer and spent ten years in that profession), as you get Points to spend based on each year you were in a profession, but it starts getting bogged down because there are a lot a Points and each profession only has certain skills available to it. Additionally, the better you are at a skill, the more Points you have to spend to raise the skill level. And lastly, certain skills start out as “X” or “-3” skills which means it takes points to raised them to the +0 starting levels of the rest of the skills or have prerequired skills that are needed before you can take a skill. There are Skill tables in the book, but they are incomplete and do not always include if a skill is an “X” or “-3” skill, so there is a lot of flipping back and forth in the skill section. I’ve made three characters with the system and each took me 2-3 hours (and that does not include the time for deciding on starting equipment and selecting Professional Advantages and Disadvantages). The game does address the complexity of this process by offering an abbreviated method of character creation, as well as sixteen pre-generated starting level characters. I actually enjoyed the in-depth character creation process, but I wished that there were additional (or more detailed) tables to cut down on the process of looking up individual skills.
The game system uses a D20 to make skill checks and is different than other game systems I’ve played. Basically, using your skill level and modifiers assigned by the Game Master, you are trying to roll the highest number on a D20 without going over your target number (say your target number is a “15” than that is what you are trying to get). Going over the number is a failure and the closer you get to the number without going over gives you higher degrees of success (and consequently the further you get rolling over your target number gives you degrees of failure with especially high degrees of failure resulting in a Catastrophe result). There is more number crunching than most games but not what I would considerable unmanageable. But combat on the other hand…
So, the combat phase in most RPGs I’ve played is where things tend to slow down. In the Polaris RPG this seems even more so. The combat system attempts to be more realistic than most systems (and to its credit it does in fact do this) but because of all the extra steps involved and the various modifiers to rolls, it becomes time-consuming. Characters each roll initiative and declare what actions their characters will do starting from lowest initiative to the highest (this way this way the highest initiative character will be able to react to what the slower initiative characters do), which I think is a great idea. Starting with the highest initiative, characters do their actions but its not that simple because each action and Preparation (sub-action) effects your initiative, so you could be doing different actions at different times in the round. It’s a lot more complicated than declaring “I draw my weapon and shoot.” Your character draws their weapon (which takes time and costs them some of their initiative points), aims the weapons (which may also take some initiative points) and then finally fires it. So your character’s shot might not happen at his original initiative order, and while he/she might have been the first to act, depending on what you and the other characters do, your character’s action might finally happen after a character that had a lower imitative than you because they chose a less complex action. More realistic than most game systems- yes, more complicated and time consuming- yes. The game system overall is full of a lot of modifiers and number-crunching between different skills and attributes which I think could be good or bad depending on the gaming experience your group is looking for.
This Polaris RPG book has great art that really sets the mood for the setting. Its organization and layout of the book is great. The game system is a fairly good attempt at a reality simulation (like I said, there is a lot of number crunching and various modifiers for a variety of situations). The setting is a unique and exciting one.
But I felt that some things could have been done to help understand and streamline the game system and character creation process, such as more complete tables for the skills that I mentioned earlier, or more examples of how to apply the rules in a situation (I myself would have liked an example on assigning damage to a character as the explanation provided seemed open for some clarification). There were also a number of proof-reading errors that lead to some confusion when reading the rules. For example, there were times when sentences included commas, and only one half of a pair of parentheses and this arrangement caused confusion on which part of the sentence was part of another. Another example is in the section that lists and describes the various Professions and the skills and abilities available for each. Part of each entry was the number of “Opponents” that a character gains over time in that Profession. Part way through the entries, “Opponents” was changed to “Adversaries” and then later changed back to “Opponents” even though they were referring to the same thing. Later, in the explanation of entries, you see that “Adversaries” is the correct terminology. Little terminology changes or inconsistencies like these made the rules confusing at times (in what was already a complicated game system).
The Polaris RPG has been around since 1996 and was not available in an English translation (it was originally in French) until its 3rd edition release in 2016. At the time of this review, and regarding the 3rd edition, there are two core rulebooks (bought together) and four supplements (a Game Master’s Screen, expanded character folio, a set of datasheets and deck plans and a short book on the city of Equinox). Despite entries in the rule books about additional setting materials to be published in the future, there does not seem to be any immediate plans for that to happen (or if it will ever occur).
Would I play the Polaris RPG? Absolutely (and my gaming group plans on playing it). I think that despite some of my concerns, this is a rich setting and an interesting game system.
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