Today we thank Spiral Lane Productions for providing us with a copy of the second edition of Meteor Tales, so we could try it and give you our impressions in this review. Spiral Lane Productions is an independent production house dealing with games, books and music. Its founder, Angelos Kyprianos, is also the creator and author of Meteor Tales.
Embellished with illustrations by Charidimos Bitsakakis, the game is available at Spiral Lane Productions official store in three different versions, paperback at € 35, hardcover at € 50, and pdf at € 19.99. Various other products are available on the site, some of which are free. You can stay up to date on Meteor Tales projects by following their Facebook page.
Meteor Tales is a very classic RPG in a high fantasy setting, the world of Vitallia, where you face fearsome opponents and monstrous creatures… until you dream of the coveted power of the gods. Crucial to the spirit of the game, gods make their presence hard to ignore. After all, while external to Vitallia, they nonetheless shaped it into what it is today, although more often for the worse than for the better.
Although the author’s premise is to always put the role and interpretation first, the rules are quite substantial. Of 400 pages, 386 are dedicated to mechanics, and only the rest to the setting – although, I must say, there are several references to the world of Vitallia throughout the body of the volume.
After all, Meteor Tales is a game with a deliberately articulated ruleset (as you will be able to understand reading this review), in order to make the experience of character growth and combat realistic – as realistic as possible, at least. Let’s find out how well it succeeds.
About the Book
First let’s start with the book itself, probably the most sore point in this Meteor Tales review. The layout is definitely too spartan, merely dividing the text into two columns. It becomes difficult to distinguish paragraphs, and titles often appear at the bottom of a page with the text starting on the next page. This certainly doesn’t facilitate reading, indeed, it makes it rather difficult and unpleasant in some cases.
The illustrations are few and, for the most part, in black and white, as is the page layout. In itself, this isn’t a defect, on the contrary, the “sketch” effects of the black and white art are probably the most beautiful. The problem is that, even here, the design choices don’t facilitate reading: these are mostly images to which an entire page is dedicated but without a background, which makes it rather empty. The effect is somewhat unpleasant to the eye, mortifying illustrations that deserved more attention.
There is also an authorial choice that puzzles the reader. The setting is condensed at the end of the manual, but has constant references in the previous part. This makes it difficult at times to find your way around what you are reading.
From this point of view, no illusions: Meteor Tales has all the passion and all the limits of an independent production. Kyprianos, moreover, openly declares that it is a project he has been carrying in his heart since childhood.
Meteor Tales: Gameplay
Let’s move on to review what is proposed as a strength of Meteor Tales: the rules. As mentioned, the goal is to allow for a realistic fighting experience and also character growth. As realistic as possible, at least, given the need to find a compromise between realism and playability.
Surely Meteor Tales leans towards the first of the two.
The underlying mechanics are simple: get a result lower than your skill score on the d100. But get used to the idea of rolling the dice very often, both for tests and for numerical effects. There is always a skill, condition or maneuver, just in case.
Character Creation: Let’s Start
Character creation is very meticulous. The player can choose between ten races: humans, elves and dwarves falling into classic, standard fantasy imagery. They are accompanied by brutgors, fierce and rude humanoids with giant blood; sarcanta, creatures proud of their draconic heritage; the anemic sirakrat, fueled by religious fervor; Seranians, of partial vampiric nature; the minute and wild fay; medai , aliens, with the gorgon’s hair; the massive winged gargoyles, known for their patience and protective instincts; and finally the gaal, more spiritual than material by nature. Each race determines the character’s starting Attribute scores and base abilities.
It is important to note that, in Meteor Tales, the characteristics aren’t expressed as numerical values, but are quantified by a range of descriptors from Low or Medium to High, Exceptional (only supernatural creatures can have better), or Legendary. A series of modifiers, fixed values, or dice are associated with each degree of characteristic, depending on the use.
For example, the High degree of the Might characteristic (which regulates physical power), allows your character to inflict 1d8 damage in combat, to throw ranged weapons at targets within 8 squares, to roll 1d8 on opposed checks for the fight and, in general, for all actions involving the use of brute force.
Finishing Your Character
After the race, the player chooses the character’s religion (a fundamental element of the game, even if not from the point of view of the mechanics), which dictates his nationality, which also informs the languages spoken and how the character is perceived by others in the setting. It is then the choice of the Path that determines the skills and competences of the character.
There are three types of Paths: the ten Warfare Paths allow different specializations in combat, the eight of Witchcraft to deepen as many different types of magic. The six Hybrid Paths allow you to mix the two. The paths are well differentiated and characterized, and allow you to create clearly distinguishable characters.
Finally, the character creation process touches on the origin, the background of the character, which gives bonuses to some skills. The final touches are missing: the definition of personality traits, simple guidelines for interpretation, and the social class of the character.
Experience in Meteor Tales
The skills are divided into three categories: practical skills, theoretical skills and trades. From a mechanical point of view they work the same way, using the d100. But the three categories are fundamental for growth through experience.
Experience is a crucial factor of Meteor Tales. The game has a very specific goal: to grow skills with their use. When a skill is trained, used for study, or employed directly, the experience points associated with it go up. This follows a series of precise formulas linked both to the score of the character’s Awareness characteristic, and to the category in which the ability falls. The goal is to calibrate the growth of the character to what he actually does in play.
This is surely an interesting idea, proposed as one of Meteor Tales’ strengths. Unfortunately, it looks better on paper than it does in play. It is true that this game is aimed at an audience that wants to keep accounts and roll the dice, but the constant updating of the character record card with every single roll is far from practical. It certainly doesn’t help to immerse yourself in the character. In fact, it probably makes you think more about the record card than playing the game.
Furthermore, this type of play tends to dictate the choices, discouraging the search for alternate solutions. A player will always be tempted to look for ways to use the skills he wants to pursue, neglecting the others even if they provide more logical choices.
It is an interesting system, just not so much to play as a game.
Meteor Tales: Combat
The game is very rich in factors to take into consideration. Maneuvers common to all characters, maneuvers that require a specific Path or a specific race, reactions, focused reactions (which unlike the previous ones interrupt the action that triggers them). Considering that each weapon can fall into one of four different ranges for its attack, outside of which it is ineffective, the factors that influence the fight are many. Perhaps too many, even just to list them. I dwell on the most significant elements, either for originality or because they are crucial.
The initiative does not follow the classic round system, but takes place for a count of seconds; instead of waiting for their turn, the characters act with a cadence linked to their Instinct score. The higher this is, the more frequently they act. Certainly interesting, but a further complication to be taken into account.
Players must also take into account their own Stamina score, determined by Endurance: every single action consumes Stamina, with very limited recovery possibilities. Reaching zero means being unable to act. Again, something to account for to add to the others.
Finally, damage can be localized or universal . That is to hit a specific location of the body (each race has a specific table to follow) or damage it over-all. Depending on the type of damage, the effects on the body are different. Furthermore, each location has a specific table to follow.
There is no need to go further in this aspect of the review of Meteor Tales to understand that it must be played manual in hand, paying more attention to the cards than to the narration, despite the premises made by the author.
Of course, you may like this choice but, even so, it could exceed your tolerance.
Meteor Tales: Magic
The system of magic deserves an honorable mention. It certainly doesn’t lighten the cumbersome mechanics of Meteor Tales, but it does divide them into eight extremely well-characterized schools.
Beast magic allows you to take on the powers of slain creatures, druidic to join the wilderness. Blood magic allows you to use your physical suffering, that of necromancy to harness life energy. A priest can sacrifice what he has to the gods to intercede for him, a psionicist translates the strength of his concentration into supernatural effects. But the source of magic can also be the Sentinel, the guardian of the planet’s core, or the Pantheon, the energy that imbues the very fabric of reality.
Each type of magic must be “extracted” in a specific way, closely related to its characterization. Each draw carries a certain number of charges, which the wizard can then use to cast spells.
Once again a cumbersome system, but one that at least makes the magic interesting and ties the magician to the setting with which he interacts.
There is a possibility that this quick overview of the main elements of Meteor Tales will leave you a little confused. Unfortunately, it reflects the experience of us here, who read the rules. Too complex to be at all intuitive. It is a system that must be studied for a long time to be mastered. On the other hand, once the basics have been consolidated, the possibility of having a reference for everything, or almost everything, is certainly noteworthy for those who love to roll dice frequently.
About Monsters, Gods and Apocalypse
Finally, Meteor Tales features a moderately stocked bestiary, a hint of Vitallia’s cosmogony and a dozen pages on her history. Nothing too detailed, there is no history. The various kingdoms, hinted at in brief glimpses regarding traits in the character creation phase, are not even named.
The setting is reduced to the story of how the gods who came from another world battled with the Sentinel, the guardian of Vitallia, herself, and how it was hurt and damaged, how this war prompted the Sentinel to create the various intelligent races that took part in the war. Eventually Nedel was summoned, a warrior from another world with such immense strength as to force the two factions to team up to try to defeat him, but succeeding only at confining him to a cell whose creation required the sacrifice of an entire continent.
A background story that recalls the most shameless high fantasy styles (in a good way). Which certainly presents all the ingenuity of a story born from game-play given authorial coherence only at a later time. In addition to some inconsistencies, such as Nedel who manages to escape his prison to be defeated by an alliance of cities of deadly races. Where the union of the gods and the Sentinel had failed.
But overall it manages to remain enjoyable.
One Final Point
Let’s take a look at this review of Meteor Tales. We are talking about a game that is certainly very refined, which aims to give an equally precise gaming experience. Bulky rules, very complex and for any situation. Character creation is very meticulous, built through various elements. Unashamedly high fantasy setting, with plenty of room for characters to grow and be inventive.
Definitely a product intended for those who love to roll the dice at least as much as describing what their character does. It has a number of mechanical innovations that sadly get in the way of the game more than they improve it. A series of shortcomings in the setting that should have been addressed in the basic manual, not reserved for accessories. But overall, it’s sure to delight anyone who appreciates a style of play made of pencils, dice and epic combat.