Tag line: The Sourcebook of Primitive RealityMakers: West End Games for Torg, 1990
What is it?
A sourcebook detailing one of Torg's original invading Cosms, the Living Land. The invading cosm is based in North America, gobbling up part of the West Coast, a huge chunk from the tip of Lake Superior to Manhattan, and a patch in Nunavut, turning urban areas and wilderness alike into a misty "Land that time forgot", complete with dinosaurs, swamp things and lizard men called the Edeinos. The book includes info on the world, rules to make it work, new creatures and miracles, adventure seeds, and character sheets for some 16 new archetypes.
Neat stuff
-The Edeinos have a really striking appearance, and the suggestion of a "Tech Prodigy Edeinos" PC archetype pretty funny. You certainly don't expect to see one of these guys wearing a baseball cap.
-The native religion is described in detail and pleasantly alien and interesting, while also being something players can understand and get their teeth into. Basically, the spirit of the land wants to feel emotions and sensations through its practitioners, leading to some interesting ways of crafting Miracles.
-The Living Land has a very low Social axiom, which isn't an easy concept to convey (unlike a low Tech or Magic axiom). So the book takes special care to explain how "civilization" and "socialization" can be drained from a character without affecting its actual intelligence.
-I like the idea that things get lost in the mists all the time, and that the GM is encouraged to make equipment of all sorts disappear for various reasons.
-There's a small, but important chapter on Canada, and as a proud Canadian, I'm always happy to see that. Thankfully, the Living Land hasn't spread to my region, but I'm sure it disrupted the train schedules.
Bad stuff
-The art. Aside from Daniel Horne's cover, good illustrations are exceedingly rare. Jeff Menges (who handles the interior alone) has particular trouble with the human form, though it's at about the same level as, say, any given GURPS sourcebook of the era.
-Though the art and description clearly depict dinosaurs, the sourcebook gives them all new "flavorful" names. It's annoying. It makes the creature you're looking for hard to find, and in any case, you and the players will likely call them by their regular names anyway.
-Some typos. Tsk tsk.
Quote
"The antipope is offering the province of Quebec something they can hardly refuse given the course of the invasion so far." (Aw jeez, Quebec. You're throwing in with the Cyberpapacy?)
How I've used it
Very little, actually. It was available to me for when I ran Torg games (a couple with the game itself, and a couple more converted to Dream Park), but I think the information in the core rules were usually enough. Re-reading it now, I wish I'd done more with it. At the time, it just wasn't one of the Cosms that really excited me, but again, I blame the core rules. The fuller information in The Living Land kinda make me want to run a pulp game in which characters stumble upon a forgotten land (à la Edgar Rice Burroughs). I'd drop the bits about encroaching on Manhattan (though that could be an interesting sequel), but definitely keep the Edeinos, their religion and the mists, which I'd blame for Torg's axiom action.
In conclusion
A fine sourcebook even if you're not playing Torg, it has a lot of flavor text and is evocative of the setting despite its flaws. Rules discussions can, for the most part, be ported over to other games, as they offer good advice about survival in hostile environments and getting lost in them. The coolness doesn't stop with the cover! More on Torg from the SBG.
Comments
The majority of purchasers of Torg were Americans. By nature, people like to play in a version of what they are comfortable with, so the natural inclination is to want to play in the American version of Torg. However, people also want to play with all the rules and get to use all their funky powers and gear...which was in direct opposition to the rules for the Living Land. Basically the game provided for the means to make really kick-butt, awesome characters and then took it all away in the region most purchasers would want to play in. (Yes, I know they could still use their stuff but not for very long and not without great difficulty.)
Personally I preferred the Land Below supplement for Torg for pulp/lost world action.
And that was my problem with Torg. Great premise, but its choices were often questionable. We had the Living Land, so Land Below seemed redundant (though better). Aysle was boring and obvious. Nippon Tech had no flavor (at least in the core rules). Orrorsh was decent but just as clichéed. Only the Cyberpapacy seemed at all inspired, and the Nile Empire seemed fun. You had to sell me on the others.
Whenever I propose playing Torg (or something Torg-like), I also propose to change most if not all the Cosms.