Torg

Torg is a cinematic multi-genre role-playing game (RPG) created by Greg Gorden and Bill Slavicsek and released by West End Games in 1990 and, as of 2016, owned by Ulisses Spiele, which uses several innovative techniques. Players take the role of Storm Knights, deliberately larger-than-life heroes engaged in fighting the invasion of Earth, to prevent it being conquered by several invading dimensions (called cosms), each with its own separate reality; cosms largely correspond with popular role-playing genres. Ulisses Spiele has announced a new edition will be released in 2016 under the title, Torg: Eternity.

The title was originally an acronym for the in-house development name: The Other Roleplaying Game. Unable to find a better name, the name was adopted as the official name and applied to the game. Names that were considered but rejected include Shadow Wars, Shadow Spawn, Twilight Shadows, and Endless Earth.

Torg is set in a near future setting, known officially as "the near now." At the games's starting point this world has been subjected for several months to a year, to a pan dimensional invasion by a series of "High Lords" who have changed the natural laws of large swaths of Earth to reflect those of their home dimensions. The players assume the role of "Storm Knights", people from Earth and the various invading realms, who possess limited reality altering abilities, and who oppose the plans of the High Lords.

Torg billed itself as a "cinematic" game and tried to emphasize game play in a manner similar to adventure films such as Indiana Jones. Terminology used in the game reflected this fact. For example, adventures were divided into sub units known as "acts" and "scenes". Conflict resolution also reflected the cinematic nature of the game. Actions were resolved by a player rolling a twenty sided die against a difficulty number. The degree by which the roll exceeded the difficulty number of the task influenced how successful the player was at the action. Rolls of 10 or 20 allowed the player to roll again, adding their new roll to the old. This could be continued indefinitely as long as the player rolled 10 or 20, allowing for fantastic feats in a cinematic style. The wound system, which stressed incapacitating damage over lethal kinds, also mimicked the style of adventure films, wherein the hero may often be incapacitated, but is rarely killed.

In addition, Torg used an unusual card based system to augment gameplay. From Torg's unique Drama Deck, a hand of cards were dealt to each player at the beginning of the game. The rest were stacked in front of the game master. Cards could be used by both players and game masters to influence play. Whenever a combat encounter began the game master would flip over a card which would dictate certain advantages and disadvantages for the players and the NPCs. Players could also use cards to give themselves advantages or even plotlines which could result in extra points.

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