Cover of the Ex Machina Tri-Stat Cyberpunk Genre Book. |
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| Designer(s) | Bruce Baugh, Rebecca Borgstrom, Christian Gossett, Bradley Kayl and Michelle Lyons. |
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| Publisher(s) | Guardians of Order |
| Publication date | August 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Cyberpunk, Postcyberpunk |
| System(s) | Tri-Stat d8, d20 System |
Ex Machina is a cyberpunk role-playing game published by Guardians of Order covering a range from classic cyberpunk to postcyberpunk. It exists under both the cinematic Tri-Stat dX and d20 RPG systems.
Contents |
Ex Machina includes a detailed retrospective on the cyberpunk genre, as well as lengthy advice on how to convey that genre in a role-playing environment without losing touch with its core themes.
In addition to information on setting design and genre handling, Ex Machina also includes four complete game settings for gamers to choose from, each of which takes the Cyberpunk genre in its own unique direction. The settings are named Heaven Over Mountain, Underworld, IOSHI and Daedalus.
There are two variants of the system for Ex Machina; Tri-Stat d8 and the d20 System.
Under Tri-Stat the game uses a point build effects based character design engine and a roll two dice to get under skill value task resolution system. The game engine works to focus on story over rules, and is known for its flexibility.
The d20 System variation combines the points and effects based special abilities of Tri-Stat with the classes and levels of d20, and uses a hybrid task system mostly built from d20's single die to roll high method. The d20 variant is based on the Big Eyes, Small Mouth game system which closely resembles a point based variation of Dungeons & Dragons. This variant is solely a fan-based production; not endorsed by "Guardians of Order", who are the creators of the Tri-Stat system.
According to the Guardians of Order website, the company has gone out of business as of August 2006. There has not been any statement of another company taking over the license leaving the future production of the series in doubt.