The HiBRiD Genre: An Excerpt from Ara Knochen

I wrote the following excerpt today and will be using it in the introduction of the Ara Knochen Sourcebook using the HiBRiD gaming engine:

<begin excerpt here>

What Kind of Game is HIBRiD?

At its core, HiBRiD is inteneded to be a cinematic role-playing gaming engine with an old school feel.

To get a more full understanding of what the game is trying to accomplish, a quick and overgeneralized history lesson is in order.

Back in the beginning days of the role-playing hobby, the games focused more on strategic combat and were geared toward defeating enemies and “finding” loot, with the goal of making your character more powerful. Rules for these “old school games” were technical and attempted to directly simulate combat situations realistically, often leading to the use of numerous die rolls, charts, or tables to resolve actions. Combat was often lethal for characters and would last for hours at a time. Furthermore, while the rules for combat were mechanic-heavy, resolution of the majority of the other non-combat related tasks characters performed was left up to the game referee to decide. In these early years, the genres of role-playing games were strictly relegated to combat in fantasy and science fiction settings.

As role-playing games evolved, however, other media evolved as well. Computer games became more advanced, films became more portable, and both media began competing for the attention of gamers. Designers and players realized they could use role-playing games to not only simulate combat, but to recreate heroes from their favorite media in any way they saw fit. Newer games were released that created more abstract flexible, and uniform rules for resolving both combat and non-combat actions. The focus of these “new school games” reduced the lethality of combat and shifted focust away from combat and more towards heroic stories and themes with genres expanding into the realms of comics, pulp, literature, and film.

HiBRiD attempts to capture facets of games from both of these "schools" and blend them into a single gaming engine. From the old school, the game attempts to preserve:

• the use of simple, direct dice mechanics
• the lethality of and immersion in the excitement of combat
• character improvement through experience and obtained loot
  

From the new school, the game attempts to adopt:

• fast action resolution
• simplified and integrate combat and non-combat actions
• the flexibility to reflect or create heroic scenes and stories from any number of films
  

<end excerpt here> 

From the above excerpt, it might first appear that the lethality of old school gaming might preclude any ability to create heroic scenes. 

But it's that balance of lethality and heroism that makes playing a hero the real excitement for a HiBRiD player.