TORG Eternity

General discussions about role-playing games. Share stories, ask for advice, talk about the industry, etc.
Post Reply
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

TORG Eternity

Post by Ares »

The original TORG RPG is something that seems almost designed for me, but which I missed out on initially. Thankfully, I've not only caught up on a lot of the older books, but a new version of the system is out that looks better than ever.

For those who don't know, TORG is an RPG originally published by West End Games back in the late 80s/early 90s. The concept was a glorious one: our universe is being invaded by multiple alternate realities at once. Each dimension is ruled over by a High Lord that wants to harvest Earth for Possibility Energy, the energy that motivates growth and power within each universe. Normally each High Lord would have tried to conquer and absorb Earth into their own reality on their own, but there's a problem. Earth is unique in that it has far too much possibility energy for any one High Lord to handle. As a result, they have all decided to work together to invade Earth simultaneously, bleed off its Possibility Energy to make themselves stronger. While only one High Lord will eventually rule the planet, each High Lord can increase their own power substantially in the mean time, thus putting off the "Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal" for a later date.

Each reality is broken down into several aspects, such as Society, Magic, Technology, Spirit, and so forth. Each Reality has different ratings for each aspect, and the relative strength of each aspect determines how effective it is within that dimension. For instance, The Living Land is a world with very low levels of Technology and Society, so that it's literally impossible for higher levels of technology to exist in that dimension. If someone from Earth were to go to the Living Land dimension with a gun, the gun would literally stop working, because the scientific laws that allow for it to function don't exist there. This creates a problem when those dimensions are invading Earth, because from the point of invasion creates a "bubble" where the invading dimensions rules overwrite Earth's rules. So when the Living Land created the dimensional breach to invade Earth, a radius was created where technology stopped working and more advanced societal concepts broke down. And the more of a foot hold an invading realm gets on Earth, the bigger that bubble gets. If it becomes strong enough, areas within the bubble literally get overwritten and are transformed into what the closest equivalent would be in the invading territory.

Fortunately, there are heroes from all of the dimensions trying to fight the High Lords, people known as Storm Knights who are so in tune with their own reality that they basically create a personal aura around themselves where they take their home realities rules with them. So a soldier from Earth who is a Storm Knight can go into the Living Land and have his machine gun still work just fine.

This allows for things like a Pulp Masked Hero, a Fantasty Paladin, a Cyber-Punk Street Ronin and a Cop On the Edge to invade a Sword and Sorcery With Dinosaurs land to thwart whatever plan that High Lord is up to.

It's a glorious mashup of different genres with a unique setting and rules. The genre rules are actually built into each setting, so that the rules of High Fantasy work in the Fantasy Setting, while the Pulp World operates on Action Movie / Pulp Physics.

As I mentioned, the original TORG game line ended in the 90s, but a couple of years about it was brought back via crowdfunding as TORG: Eternity, where the original game line was given a massive overhaul, with attention paid to the mistakes of the previous game line and effort made to make everything more interesting.

As of now, TORG: Eternity has released a set of basic books, books on the Living Land, on the Nile Empire (the Pulp setting) and Aysle (the Fantasy setting). Anyone familiar with it should feel free to chip in, and I'll chat about this some more soon. But as one of the first big genre crossover games is back in full swing, I thought I'd gush about it for a bit.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
Spectrum
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:08 pm

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Spectrum »

Yes! Sign me up for a game!
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
User avatar
Bladewind
Posts: 3234
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:26 pm

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Bladewind »

I remember that hot mess of a system... loved the concept but felt it was ALMOST unplayable...

(and why am I not surprised Spectrum posted his love of it !?)
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Ares »

Yeah, the original system definitely had its issue. The old WEG system worked for a lot, but TORG was a bit too ambitious for it.

I still need to give the TORG Eternity rules a once over, but it looks like they did a lot of work to try and make it all fit together and run more smoothly. Having 20 years of hindsight and being able to point to specific flaws in the original story helps. They clearly have gone out of their way to make things like the Living Land more fun and playable, whereas it was originally one of the least liked settings of the game.

Kind of makes me want to run a Feng Shui/TORG crossover where it's the Feng Shui Earth getting TORG-ed and it throws Time Travel into the mix.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
User avatar
Bladewind
Posts: 3234
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:26 pm

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Bladewind »

I'll say one thing for it - it's a lot prettier than the original version.
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
User avatar
Voltron64
Posts: 528
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 2:44 am
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Voltron64 »

I f-ing love TORG Eternity, especially the archetypes.

I truly how it's the game where you can play as John McClaine who's blowing up a factory's conveyor belt while Susan Pevensie and Jackie Chan are fighting off security guards all while The Shadow is having a "word" with the plant foreman.
User avatar
Bladewind
Posts: 3234
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:26 pm

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Bladewind »

I just discovered This link
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
Spectrum
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:08 pm

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Spectrum »

Bladewind wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 11:15 pm I remember that hot mess of a system... loved the concept but felt it was ALMOST unplayable...

(and why am I not surprised Spectrum posted his love of it !?)
.... because I have collected far far too many game systems and haven't been able to play too many of them?

Or maybe because I've been very casually trying to figure out how to put it into M&M for a year or two?
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
User avatar
Bladewind
Posts: 3234
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:26 pm

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Bladewind »

That last bit also doesn’t surprise me... 😁
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
Spectrum
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:08 pm

Re: TORG Eternity

Post by Spectrum »

....


.....

....

It's really hard to argue against that.

You know me too well my friend.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
Post Reply