I was given a copy of Genre Diversion 3E (pre-release) for Reviewmas. The version I was given is a playtest rules document, so there may be differences in this product than the final one when it is released by Precis Intermedia. The document that I worked with was about 90+ pages.
I had not picked up a Genre Diversion product previously so this is my first exposure to the ruleset. Because I lack the background with these rules, I can’t really say how much has changed between this version and the previous GDi or the original Story Engine versions but there is a conversion manual at the back to make the transition between editions. From what I understand the conversion seems to be mostly a matter of adjusting some scale values, so I think GDi could probably converted on the fly.
The Genre Diversion rules seem to be a universal toolkit for playing rpgs in whatever genre you wish. Character creation is handled within twenty or so pages with each character defined by five attributes (fitness, awareness, creativity, reasoning, and influence), pursuits (things you are good at), gimmick (little adjustments that make you special), experience (optional, more on this later), and gear. This section has examples to show you how to model elves, dwarves, satyrs and other fantastical races or soldiers, detectives, buccaneer or mechatronic tech vocations. One addition piece of character definition is “drives” (optional). A drive is what motivates the character to action. If you act in accordance with your drive you gain more experience (which is spent to help you in game, not collected like treasure), but if you act against your drive you can lose experience as well.
Mechanically, Genre Diversion uses a dice roll plus modifiers beats difficulty approach to resolving tasks. There are rules for calamities (rolling snake eyes), passive tasks and contested tasks. Although this system is played with a d6 the roll high approach makes it easily accessible for d20 system gamers looking for new systems. One system unfamiliar to me was the abatement system for armor. In this system, you roll one dice for each point of damage. If the die roll is below the armour’s rating that point of damage is absorbed by the armour.
The combat section is quite robust providing you with lots of options. It seems that with GD3e, many "rules" very much feel like options, you take what you need to tell the story with your players and leave the rest. This attitude is further established in the directing the scene section which provides ten pages of advice for new directors on how to handle the game as well as how to create new elements for it.
There are additional information sections on magick (using pursuits), vehicles, and a bestiary. Across all sections of the book there is content for fantasy/ancient, renaissance, modern and future gaming. I didn’t see information on superheroic gaming but I would expect it you applied “monster gimmicks” to player characters you could model that type of genre as well. Closing out the book is a modern horror setting called (Unbidden & Forsaken) which I think is an update of their popular Unbidden roleplaying game. Genre Diversion 3E looks be a very thorough toolkit for adventure, without overburdening new directors and players. We look forward to seeing the official release in the future.
