User Summary:
The Heavy Metal roleplaying game box set contains everything needed to start playing. It includes empty character sheets and three books:
- "Style de jeu et scénarios" covers the game background, the rules system and scenarios. The game system is rather simple (stats multiplied by a skill level give a percentage change of success). The background describes a dystopian near-future society, where the rich nations of the north live off the resources of the impoverished south and the northern citizens, brainwashed by the omnipresent entertainment Networks live in xenophobic fear of "Southern Terrorists". Characters can either be U.R.C. (Unité de Répression Cybernétique), robotic cops who are judge, jury and executioners, or "Egarés" (the Lost), rebels using their meager resources trying to escape URCs and uncover the truth behind the mysterious Hopson Plan.
The book includes 4 scenarios, "London Leatherboys", "Twist & Shoot", "Bad Religion" and "Le Père Noêl est une ordure".
- "Les Egarés" focuses on the Lost. The book contains character and group creation rules (players create their character as well as the group they belong to, its ideology, financial resources, outside contacts, safe houses...) , a presentation of several rebel groups (ecowarriors, neofascists, hackers, TV show hooligans, cultists, communists...) and a list of equipment (guns, vehicles, broadcasting equipment...)
- "Les U.R.C." describes the Cybernetic Repression Units. It includes chapter about character creation (type chassis, organic or cybernetic brain, choice of software...), roleplaying tips for U.R.C. characters, a description of laws and justice in the Northern Block, and details about the Hopson Plan.