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William Hostman
United States
Eagle River
Alaska
Gaming in Greater Anchorage area, Alaska since 1978. Looking for Indy-willing RPG players in Eagle River (or willing to drive to Eagle River). Geekmail me if interested.
Yes, this really is what I looked like when I uploaded that avatar. Not that it's quite current anymore.
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As a warning: It's been 8 years since I've run CORPS, but I'm reviewing it with it in hand.
Basic Overview
CORPS Second Edition is a 144p softcover book, with 12p of that being forms. Written by Greg Porter, and released by Greg's BTRC.
Skill based, task system driven, it uses 1d10 per player in play. Combat is hex-grid based. Paranormal powers work quite wel, and can be tailored to a variety of genres with minor fiddling. Combat is deadly. Character creation is point based off of an attribute pool and a skill pool, with 3 layer skill system, but very few skills defined with mechanics. Damage is fixed, but can be adjusted by skill.
Scope & Supplements
The back cover blurb sounds quite impressive; it doesn't quite meet the hype, but it is one of the most complete games of its era, it does handle multiple genres, and it is a Role-Play System.
I have run it for low-magic fantasy, I have seen online play of high fantasy and space opera, as well as the 1st edition's espionage/conspiracy theme. I have played a few firefights with modern weapons, but not actually RP'ed the modern settings.
It does not have vehicle nor weapon design systems. For vehicles, the excellent CORPS VDS supplement is exquisite; it does the same job as GURPS Vehicles or Traveller's FF&S.
For weapons and armor, BTRC's Guns! Guns! Guns! does the design system, but in the Timelords engine by BTRC, then easily converted to CORPS.
The recently released CORPS Companion includes some materials I playtested, but CORPS is essentially dead, as Greg's moved on to EABA
Mechanics
Points
A given level is always skill points equal to the level squared.
Base points are 100 Attribute Points and 50 Skill Points for "realistic", 150AP/100SP for Cinematic, 200AP/150SP for High Fantasy, and 200/200 for superheroic (street level, really).
For true "4-color comics action" one needs 200-300 AP, and 300-500SP.
Atributes
The Attributes are inherent abilities (Strength, Agility, Awareness, Will, Health, and Power); all have uses both as skill limiters and as specific abilities used in other game mechanics.
Normal human range is 3-6, with some exceptionals at 1-8, and normal Pow of 1. Normal people have two 5's, three 4's, and Pow 1. PC's should usually be better than this.
An aptitude is 1/4 the level of an attribute, rounded normally.
Attribute 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14-17
Aptitude 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4
Strength (STR) requires little explanation
Agility (AGL) is overall large motor; small motor stuff generally gets subsumed into AGL limited skills
Awareness (AWR) combines Intelligence and perception
Willpower (WIL) is resistance to mind influencing factors, including fatigue... it's the force of personality. It also doubles as charisma...
Power (POW) is the ability to use paranormal abilities.
Skill System
Skills are handled in a 3 tier method.
Primary Skills are broad, examples being drive or guns, and have a free level equal to their controlling attribute's aptitude. This means you get a rebate of the difference in costs, so if you have aptitude 2, and buy level 4, you pay (4x4)-(2x2)=16-4=12 points. Primary skills may never exceed the level of the governing attribute.
Secondary Skills are moderately narrow, examples being cars or rifles, and are bought from 0. They are limited to half the level of their primary skill. Some may be purchased as primary skills with a discount.
Tertiary Skills are very narrow, examples being Volvo 240 series or M16A2. They are limited to half the level of the secondary skill they are based upon, and are bought from 0.
Cost adjustments are made by adjusting the level purchased from the level written; a "-1" adjustment means a skill of 3 is paid for as a level 2, and a +2 adjustment would mean a level 3 is paid for as a level 5. Secondary skills bought as primary skills get a -1 adjustment for their narrowness.
When using a skill, the total of the relevant Primary, secondary, and tertiary skills is used. If one doesn't have a relevant tertiary or secondary skill, they are counted as 0.
Two special skill types are mentioned: Averaging Skills and Pushing Skills. The former is actually called that, the latter isn't called that.
Averaging skills limit some other ability; you average the level of the averaging skill and the skill used for the action to find the effective skill. Autofire and Horsemanship both work this way.
Pushing skills are skills that are used to push attribute derived limits. Running is the classic pushing skill. Movement is derived from AGL, and Running "pushes" your AGL if you make the task; difficulties are 5+(2x Push); that is, +1 is 7, +2 is 9, +3 is 11. Resist Interrogation would be the same, but push willpower instead when resisting interrogations.
Advantages and Disadvantages
A list of 29 modifiers; most are paid for or pay in your choice of Attribute or Skill points. Several are either advantage or disadvantage, depending on level (eg: Toughness).
Most have simple mechanical methods of resolution. Psych Lims, for example, have a level just like a skill; that level is the difficulty of a Willpower task to resist acting according to the Psych Lim.
Skill Trees
There are 3 sample skill trees. Each is quite playable, but as noted, the skills are not defined individually. Here's a chunk of the Skill Tree from a Traveller Conversion...
Combat Skills (AGL) {Attribute}
Projectile Weapons {Primary Skill}
Pistols {Secondary Skill}
Longarms {Secondary Skill}
Launchers {Secondary Skill}
Crew Served Weapons {Secondary Skill}
Melee Weapons {Primary Skill}
Knife {Secondary Skill}
Sword {Secondary Skill}
Foil {Tertiary Skill}
Broadsword {Tertiary Skill}
Cutlass {Tertiary Skill}
Club {Secondary Skill}
Thrown {Secondary Skill}
Grenade {Tertiary Skill}
Thrown Knife {Tertiary Skill}
Other {Tertiary Skill}
Tasks
Tasks are assigned a difficulty; the base time is derived from the base difficulty for non-combat tasks. Various other factors then adjust the difficulty; skill is almost never adjusted. Attribute derived tasks use the full attribute, while skill tasks, when the skill hasn't been bought, use the aptitude of their controlling attribute.
If your total skill is greater than or equal to your skill, you do not need to roll, and may count the quality of success as the difference.
If your Total skill is less, you must roll. The TN on 1d10 is 9- for 1 difference, 7- for 2 levels difference, 5- for 3 levels, 3- for 4 levels, and 1 for 5 levels. The TN minus the roll is the quality of success.
Quality of success is either the difference of Roll and TN (if you rolled), or the difference of skill and difficulty (if you didn't roll). A quality of 1+ is a full success; in a few applications, higher success has improved effects. A quality of 0 is a graze or marginal success.
If one has skill equal to the difficulty, one may opt to raise the difficulty by 1 and roll in order to avoid grazes.
Paranormal Powers
The basic paranormal power ranges from 12 Skill Points (SP) to 30SP, and can be adjusted from there; I've built powers as low as 1SP, and as high as 70SP.
You get to define the description, but pay for the mechanics. 17 discrete mechanical effects are described, and 4 types of multiplier. The system is very flexible; Telepathy could be defined as reading body cues and require an AWR check, or could be defined as absorbing your knowledge by eating your brain; this would affect the cost, but both are telepathy in that the telepathy effect lets you find out what they are thinking, possible without their knowing. I have found very few things I can't duplicate with it.
The multipliers require special mention. They are powers themselves, but must be linked to specific other powers, and multiply either duration, range, targets or effect of that other power. They cost the same base cost as the power they affect, but that can be adjusted by the same or different modifiers as the base power.
It works, and surprisingly well; you can get street-level supers with 200-300 SP characters, and some 4-color with 500sp.
Combat
The combat round is 1 second.
You can do way too much in that 1 second if skilled...
Everyone decides on their first action; this is revealed simultaneously. The relevant skill total is the Initiative. Highest goes first.
So if I have Melee 4, Sword 2, and Foil 1, and my first action is to attak with a foil, I have skill total 7, and thus initiative 7.
If my buddy has Melee 5, Sword 2, and no specific tertiary weapon skill, he also would have initiative 7, but could use that with a foil, a cutlass, or a shamsheer, while my 6 for melee + sword would apply with the others.
Autosuccess applies in combat. This does make combat rather quick. If your skill exceeds their defense, you hit. If not, roll for it. Grazes do 0 damage, otherwise weapons do their base damage. You can increase their defense by 2 for increasing your damage by 1, tho, so if you massively outskill someone, they can be toast right quick...
Actions can not be taken more often than every other initiative point, and the countdown stops with 0. So with my Foil Total of 7, I can stab, in theory, on 7,5,3, and 1; with my total of 6 for my off hand town sword (Melee 4, sword 2), I could go on 6,4,2,and 0.
Defense is the difficulty for your opponent to hit you. It has a flat base of your AGL apt as long as you are conscious... and impairments don't affect it. If you do something that improves it, you get a "modified defense"; an attacker trying to hit my foil 7 fencer, if he declared a parry as action 1, for +3 defense, has a base defense of 1 (for AGL 5), and a modified defense of 4; an attack hitting Diff 5+ is not parried at all, Diff 4 is either a graze past the parry OR a full on hit with damage reduced by the parry, a skill 3 will just hit the parry and be reduced, and a skill 2 will graze and be reduced to nothing... but will hit. Skill 1, however, will miss completely. If the attacker is injured, their worst relevant impariment adds to the totals, so... 1st hit matters a lot. Problem with defenses is that the bonus to defense is also you own penalty to skill.
Note also: No skill can be used on an initiative point higher than it's total; since movement is on AGL Aptitude, movement usually occurs last thing in the round.
Damage
Impairment is the single worst worded section of the whole rules.
Each location (Arm, Head, Chest, Abdomen, Leg) takes damage separately. Each damage does a certain amount of impairment, equal to the damage that wasn't stopped by armor, blocks, or parries. Some damage is lethal. Some is stun only. The difference is how fast they recover.
Armor has two numbers: Soak (Damage stopped, be it lethal or stun), and Blunt Force (Lethal damage converted to Stun Damage).
The Impairment is the damage that gets through.
A particular body location takes a penalty of only the full value of the worst impairment, plus 1 for each additional wound, be it stun of 1+ or lethal of 0+ damage. The worst location penalty applies.
Unless the shot was called, location hit is random.
Also, you roll 1d10 for whether it's "eventually fatal", or in other words, a bleeding wound. If it is less than the DV, yes, it is. It might be instantly fatal, too; if made by 3 on a head hit, 5 on chest, or 7 on limb, dead now.
Further, if the GM is cruel, the broken bone rules may be used; 1d10 for DV or less and the bone is broken or organs are damaged; double the healing times.
a number of fiddly modifiers apply, as well.
Other Systems
Megaforce
The mass combat abstraction system. Just good enough to let you have massive battles as backdrops be affected by PC's.
It's kind of fun, and it works, but it is somehow unsatisfying.
Cybernetics
These are actually bought as Paranormal Powers.
Laws
A system of adjudication of laws is included. Being guilty of the crime isn't the most important factor... your lawyer's skill is.
Poisons and Illnesses
A system of poisons and diseases is present. Don't get sick; it makes your psych lims much more dangerous...
Tech Levels
It uses the same scale as Timelords and SpaceTime. The conversions to other SF systems are in Guns! Guns! Guns!
Equipment
Here's where "complete" really fails. The equipment list is mostly weapons. It's actually rather extensive a list of weapons for a core book of that era, and comprehensive in nature (Stone Knives to Lasers). But the list for non-combat gear is rather anemic.
Fiddliness and the GM
Skill Trees, Part two.
The system, when run unexpanded, requires a GM to both tightly focus on the skill tree; if you broaden the primaries, you create a much more competent baseline; if you narrow them, you decrease overall competence of all characters.
If you have many averaging skills, you double the cost of specialization; if you have none, things which should require training to do as well in certain special conditions won't require that training.
Which skills get to push attributes and when is vital.
The point totals also affect the skill tree choice a good bit; if you have high AP totals, a stat at 10+ becomes possible (At 175 AP, you can have an otherwise normal character with a 10 in one stat...), an that makes really absurdly hgih skills possible.
There is an absolute limit of level 10 for starting characters total skill including tertiary; break it at your peril.
Many skills can be limited by society; that's a GM call, but it ties tightly to the tree chosen.
Combat Redux
The combat system is actually quite fast. It's also brutal, and won't do a boxing match well... but it does replicate SCA Rapier pretty darned well.
It's brutal. And that skill limit? I let a knife thrower breech it... AGL 8, Melee 8, Thrown 4(S), T.Knife 2(T), Quickdraw 4(S) ... he went on 14.
14 Throw right - Called shot, right eye, 10m, autohit
12 Throw Left - Called shot, right eye, 10m, autohit
10 QD right
8 QD left
6 parry
4 nothing, by choice
2 move
0 nothing
he was brutally lethal.
Autosuccess
The system rewards wheedling for modifiers... because generally, make by 1 is as good as make by 5. So GM's need to be ready to make calls that are resolved by "Ok, I make it"...
Optional Rules
There are several, and the individual skill trees themselves are optional... so the game is customizable.
In fact, you HAVE to customize it, since 3 trees are provided.
Major options of note: Long Shot (a 1 open ends, roll again at -5 difficulty), Broken Bones, Cultural Limits on skills.
Reaction
For grim and Gritty, I like it. It naturally tends towards a Film Noir kind of feel, and it rewards careful thinking.
It needs a combat map. Really.
Now, I ran 5 Cinematic PC's vs 25 NPC Archers of "cultural limit"... it resolved in under an hour, and with fewer than 50 dice rolls. Then again, the knife-thrower was skill 14. Don't make that mistake.
It's fiddly. But it works. My players didn't generally like it, tho', so it stayed on the shelf. The supplemental setting books are excellent, and show just how far the system can be pushed.
Greg put it aside for EABA, which has a lot of design similarities, but dedicated fans have produced a rules companion for CORPS.
Bottom line: Excellent reduced dice point based generic game, but better when expanded, and not for everyone.
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Great review, Bill. Seeing this makes me consider redoing EABA's skill system like this one.
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Gaming in Greater Anchorage area, Alaska since 1978. Looking for Indy-willing RPG players in Eagle River (or willing to drive to Eagle River). Geekmail me if interested.
