Spirit of the Century



"The deadly Doctor Methuselah seeks to unravel time itself with his solution to the Eternity Equations. Gorilla Khan stalks darkest Africa from conquered Atlantis. Mad scientists, strange sorcerors, and power-hungry dictators all seek to undo the fate of humanity. It's the final century of the second millennium and you are our last hope!"

- The back cover of the SotC rulebook

Spirit of the Century is a role-playing game of pulp-era adventure, using the FATE system (a variant of the FUDGE system). Characters are described by their Skills, their Stunts (which are basically ways to legally break the rules) and their Aspects. The game is designed as a "pick up game", features open-ended character creation and is fairly rules light. It also allows a large degree of player involvement in shaping the story - both through creating Aspects which define the game background and spending their Fate Points to make declarations about the world around them.

The year is 1922. Aircraft are beginning to fill the skies. Electricity, radio, and the internal combustion engine are transforming the world. The War to End All Wars is in the past and the future is full of amazing possibilities. In the hidden corners of the world lie strange artifacts with astounding abilities; perhaps remnants of legendary Atlantis or Mu. Unfortunately there also lurk sinister forces who would use these scientific advances and strange antiquities to further their own destructive agendas. This is where the Centurions come in.

The Century Club is, on its surface, a social club whose charter is one of philanthropy and the promotion of arts and sciences. Its members are a cross section of humanity's most talented and influential people. Some of those among the Century Club are truly special however. These Centurions, each born on the first day of the first year of the new century, are individuals of extraordinary ability. These amazing people use their talents to guide the world away from darkness and to shape a brighter future.

Tropes Used In the Game:
 * Character Customization
 * Chandler's Law - from the gamemastering advice
 * Character Name and the Noun Phrase - the recommended title style for character novels
 * Game Master
 * Game System
 * Min-Maxing
 * NPC
 * Player Character
 * Player Party
 * Wrench Wench - Sally Slick
 * You All Meet in An Inn - averted by the character creation rules, which has players create links to at least two other characters as part of the creation process.

Tropes Used In the Setting:
 * A God Am I: Dr. Methuselah
 * Big Bad Despite having several mostly unrelated villains, the game makes it clear that Dr. Methusala is far ahead of the pack in this setting.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys - Gorilla Khan
 * The Great Depression
 * For Science!
 * Hollywood History - The Roaring Twenties and The Great Depression, with elements of Genteel Interbellum Setting
 * House System - the FATE system, a modified form for the FUDGE system
 * Mad Scientist
 * Pulp Magazine - the inspiration for the game
 * Two-Fisted Tales
 * Weird Science

Tropes Invoked or Used by Stunts:
 * Big Fancy House - the Headquarters, Lair, and Stately Pleasure Dome stunts
 * Cool Car
 * Cool Plane
 * Fortune Teller
 * I See Dead People - the Voices From Beyond stunt
 * Made of Iron - Man of Iron and other Endurance stunts
 * Master of Disguise
 * Mr. Fixit
 * No One Could Survive That - the Death Defiance stunt
 * Omniglot - the Gift of Tongues stunt
 * One Bullet Left}}
 * Percussive Maintenance
 * Photographic Memory
 * Quick Draw
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money - All of the Resources stunts, which have names like Money Is No Object and Grease the Wheels.
 * Schrodinger's Suggestion Box - the gadget and artifact rules
 * Speaks Fluent Animal- the King Of the Beasts stunt