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into any genre supported by the game. Indeed, players can make a bevy of characters for various role-playing genres handled within their core group, and then switch off week to week if necessary.

Now for the down side, the cons if you will? Although the following is based on principles instead of ease of play or low cost, the principles stand and must be presented.

Role-Playing Games are supposed to fold around a unique world or universe in which the players can become immersed with their characters due to how the game system and history of the game are designed and interact not only within themselves, but how they enfold the character. For example, the Dark Conspiracy RPG by Games Workshop -out of production now, I'm very sad to say- held a unique universe where creatures of the night, vampires, werewolves, and other horrors, were actually extra-dimensional aliens bent on feeding on the fear and poverty of the people of Earth, and working towards conquest, owning Earth so they could continue to breed Humans and milk them for their emotions and planetary resources. Certain humans, with psychic abilities generally, or those having seen corporeal forms of these aliens in their natural states, have banded together in certain places around the world to combat these aliens, in dark places, while the mundane people of the planet continue on, unaware, with their lives.

Although the game system and character generation of Dark Conspiracy could be considered somewhat inadequate for some perfectionist types, it nonetheless meets and exceeds all of the necessary qualifications to make it a mid-line -meaning it is relatively easy to learn the system, but it is not so easy that game-play is truly simple- game. I have attempted to adapt Dark Conspiracy to two other role-playing systems, being Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play -where all that would truly be required is to add modern weapons, as the mechanics for those weapons already exist in the game- and Millennium's End. However, the tasks of either were daunting enough that I failed to finish even basic translation. This means Dark Conspiracy, and the system contained within, are perfect for that genre, and should be the only game used for it.

"Why does this exclude D20 from being a viable horror genre system?" It doesn't, but what it does do is make Dark Conspiracy unique enough that changing it to another system, including attempting to play it in D20, would be a mistake, and something would be invariably lost in the translation.

Although non-generic' game systems are more expensive to purchase and maintain information for, it is, in my not so humble opinion, very well worth the money. Each has their pro's and their con's, but for my money, I'll take a unique game system any day, as it's more likely to be developed around specific premises and mechanics demanded by the genre than generic' games can give you.

In my next article, I intend to explore the ideas of meta-gaming and the maladies associated with switching role-playing games, and I'll try to get in-depth with diceless role-playing games.

Learn more about this author, Paul Emerson.
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