Beyond the Supernatural
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| Beyond the Supernatural | |
 Beyond the Supernatural 2nd edition cover |
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| Designer | Kevin Siembieda, Randy McCall |
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| Publisher | Palladium Books |
| Genre(s) | Horror |
| System | Megaversal system |
Beyond the Supernatural is a horror role-playing game published by Palladium Books. It has seen two editions published, both of which have introduced innovations on Palladium's standard mechanics. A versatile horror-themed game, it lends itself well to wildly different play styles and narrative tones, from schlock splatter-horror, to intense psychological horror, with an entire spectrum of terror (or humor, or action) in between. Beyond the Supernatural has an implicit setting of a the modern day, wherein magic and psychic powers are real, and monsters and demonic cults exist, but out of the public eye. This, however, is not set in stone, and most of the character classes are flexible enough to account for variant settings or time periods.
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[edit] First Edition
First Edition was published in September of 1987, and was a joint project between Kevin Siembieda and Randy McCall. It had one supplement published, Boxed Nightmares, in 1990; Boxed Nightmares was a collection of adventures, along with a faux tabloid. Much of the art on both products was done by Kevin Long. Players selected one of several P.C.C.s (Psychic Character Classes), which determined their abilities; these included Psychic Sensitives, Physical Psychics, Psi-Mechanics (who required devices as crutches to make use of their psychic powers), Arcanists (who had studied magic), Parapsychologists (who had neither psychic nor magical powers, but a great deal of knowledge about both), Nega-Psychics (psychics whose great disbelief in the supernatural actually disrupted itself presence), and ordinary people. The system used the then-standard Palladium combat and skills system, including variable educational levels for most characters; two individuals of the same P.C.C. could have wildly different educations, with one being a doctoral student and the other being a high-school drop-out, depending either on the roll of the dice or character concept.
First edition's innovation's on Palladium's system was in terms of its supernatural powers. Beyond the Supernatual introduced the concept of Potential Psychic Energy (P.P.E.), which is invested in skills and psychic powers as a person develops, and is used to power magical spells. This replaced the older "spells per day" system that was in use in earlier versions of the Palladium Fantasy Role-playing Game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, and Heroes Unlimited. Psychic powers were also now organized into the categories of Physical, Healing, and Sensitive, instead of experience levels, as they had been previously. Both of these innovations, and the metaphysical underpinnings for them, became standard in Palladium Megaversal games.
[edit] Second Edition
Second Edition of Beyond the Supernatural was released in January of 2005 after a long development period. Like its predecessor, it is implicitly set in a modern version of Earth, where supernatural forces act out of sight of most of the populace, but may be altered to fit into other time periods or settings. Unlike its predecessor, it does not have a section on magic, nor an extensive bestiary; the two supplements that are to have detailed these aspects were to have immediately followed the core rulebook, but have yet to be published (as of May 2008).
Second edition maintained several things from First Edition. For most characters, education and occupation are still independent of P.C.C., reflecting the more modern and realistic veneer of the setting. All of the previous P.C.C.s, except the Arcanist, returned, and were joined by other P.C.C.s reflecting other aspects of psychic ability such as the pyrokinetic Firewalker and the Autistic Psychic Savant. Many P.C.C.s were updated, and the idea of purchasing powers directly with P.P.E. was abandoned, except in the case of the Psi-Mechanic; additional powers are selected, not purchased.
Second edition, however, made some very significant changes to maintain the mystery of the setting, preventing characters from bringing "proof" of monsters or psychic powers to the world at large. Psychic powers are difficult to recreate under laboratory conditions, and totals of Inner Strength Points (I.S.P.), the "fuel" for psychic powers, are very small when not under a direct supernatural threat. Furthermore, supernatural creatures dissolve completely when destroyed, leaving nothing behind to be analyzed or photographed.
[edit] Criticism
Beyond the Supernatural has a small but loyal fanbase, many of whom feel that the game has been ignored in favor of Palladium's more popular series, Rifts. They cite the long development time on Beyond the Supernatural, 2nd edition (it is mentioned in press releases as far back as October of 2002[1]), and the long delay in producing two important sourcebooks, "Tome Grotesque" (a bestiary) and "Beyond Arcanum" (a book describing magic in the setting). While such things can be brought into the setting from other Palladium books, due to compatibility with the Megaversal rules, the unique nature of the Beyond the Supernatural world makes this unsatisfying to some critics. As such, many fans regard the 2nd edition as "incomplete"
[edit] External links
- Beyond the Supernatural Official Forum
- Lazlo Society.org Website
[edit] Notes
- ^ October 2002 Press release
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