I have been playing Blacksburg Tactical Research Center (BTRC) games for nearly 20 years starting with Timelords, Macho Women With Guns, and CORPS. When the first edition of EABA hit the streets I balked at going to a new system. CORPS was awesome and I looked at all of the dice and screamed at the world for a few weeks. I couldn’t believe that Greg Porter had killed my favorite game. Some years later I broke down and gave EABA a try and discovered that I had misjudged this beautiful game.
In Greg Porter’s own words, “EABA (pronounced ee-buh) is simple and to the point. Once you read the rules, they should come naturally to you, and most of the info you will need will end up on your adventurer sheet. You can use EABA like you would any generic system, or you can modify it to fit any genre you want. It will play modern espionage as well as high fantasy or superheroes. Larger than life characters can play in the same world as those only slightly better than the average person, and both can have a good time.”
Now, many years later, Greg Porter has released EABAv2. I am always skeptical of new systems but this is not a new version of EABA but rather a more streamlined rules set that takes many of the best elements of EABA while improving the few things that snagged a game up. One of the greatest strengths of EABA is that is a semi-realistic game system. You can make up modern characters and feel like you are living in the world of Rainbow Six and then skip over to Warehouse 13 and on the way home visit Gotham and fight a masked vigilante. The game has a realistic feel while letting you feel like you are the hero. It is not as lethal as CORPS but it is still pretty damned lethal. Quickstart rules are available for free but you will want the whole game.
As a lover of BTRC’s Timelords, I like a setting that lets me visit alternate timelines and dimensions. EABA lends itself to allowing me to play in ancient Sumer, renaissance Italy, a modern X-files world, Gibson’s cyberpunk, and the far future of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Every element of the game allows you to convert each of these worlds into a single streamlined system.
EABA is a roll and keep game not unlike AEG’s 7th Sea but in many ways superior to 7th Sea. You can roll as many dice as you desire but will never keep more than 3. This grants a limited range of possibilities and makes skills and attributes shine as they climb in value. A beginner rolling 2d+2 will average a 9 on the dice rolls but his buddy, a professional, with her 4d+2 will average a 16. As you can see, the beginner can’t ever make the roll that the professional makes on average. Every skill works in this manner and it makes for an easy transition from world to world, whether you are using guns, knives, or bare hands in a fight.
Powers are a bit scary to look at but like all BTRC games, once you try it out a couple of times, the system is quite natural and easy. I like the fact that you can play an average Joe and go up against a super powered man who has the reflexes of a spider. He will almost certainly defeat you but you will feel no sadness in the loss because you fought a real honest to god super villain or hero depending on your point of view.
With the release of EABAv2, BTRC has also released a new setting. Aethos is a hard SF world with the overall trappings of fantasy. What does that mean, exactly? It means that aliens are really fraking ALIEN. It means that magic really is kind of scary. Finally it means that you will feel like you just stepped into a Larry Niven’s novel with a hint of Clive Barker and a smattering of Orson Scott Card. I really like this setting. Check out an intro to Aethos here
I found a couple of things that bothered me as I delved into this new yet old game. The first was that the files are augmented. This means that they are set up to help you with their use and they have many functions to make GMing and playing easier. I am an old guy and prefer to do this stuff with pen and paper. The augmented files where a nice addition that seems to work well with tablets but for me they are a waste. My tablet was stolen by my wife and that means I will never really get to use these enhanced functions. So while this is bad for me it is great for you. If you own a tablet you will love the augmented functions and I shall remain jealous of you for your good fortune.
The second bother, and it really is the big one, is that the book appears to be available only in electronic format. I want to hold the book in my hands. I want to smell the paper, take notes in the margins, and have something that I can read while in the bathroom. No physical book means I have to print pages and then worry about losing one or getting them out of order. I want a book and will not be happy until I get one.
Overall EABAv2 was a joy to read. The artwork is fantastic, the new setting is awesome and I really mean AWESOME, and the streamlined combat makes this a game that will be used by my crew for many years to come. I will be chomping at the bit waiting for updated rules for Timelords and CORPS but I will simply convert the many settings from EABAv1 for use in EABAv2.
You can find EABAv2 and Aethos on Drivethrrpg. They cost $20 and $15 respectively and are worth every penny. If you like your games to be cinematic with a realistic edge, then you will not want to miss out on this game. Just remember that all BTRC products are designed by a technical genius and as a result, the rules can appear intimidating. Don’t get scared by them. Delve in and try them out. Once you see them in action, you will see that EABAv2 is a game for every player that prefers skills over classes. On the off chance Greg Porter reads this, thank-you. Your games have been the inspiration and setting for more than half of all of my 35 years of gaming. BTRC’s Guns, Guns, Guns was and still is the ultimate source for streamlined weapons in any game. EABAv2 is the ultimate streamlined source for all of your gaming needs. You really gotta play this game to understand the quality and genius of the rules. It truly blows away everything else on the market. Hell, everything BTRC makes blows away most of the role playing world
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