This article originally appeared in Pyramid #28

Pyramid Pick

Men in Black: The Roleplaying Game

Published by West End Games
Designed by George Strayton and Nikola Vrtis
$20.00
If you're one of the five people who hasn't yet seen the Men in Black movie starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, the Men in Black Roleplaying Game may need a bit of explanation.

West End Games, the maven of roleplaying licenses, has turned the summer blockbuster into a training manual for would-be Men in Black. Using a dark sense of humor akin to that of their first RPG hit Paranoia, West End gives roleplayers all they need to become super-secret government agents charged with policing Earth's burgeoning (extra-terrestrial) alien population. Some 1,500 immigrants from the stars have immersed themselves in human society, using Earth as an apolitical middle ground, and the PCs constantly ride the ragged edge of disaster trying to keep the peace.

The book uses West End's D6 System, though the MiB manual contains all the rules needed to play. Actions and combat are all resolved by throwing a number of dice equal to the character's skill or underlying attribute in hopes of equaling or beating a target number. A Wild Die is thrown in to simulate the chance for extraordinary success or failure. The system adds more wrinkles with Character Points, which allow the player to roll additional dice, and Fate Points, which can be used to double the number of dice rolled. The game also uses "Thrill Scenes," moments of intense action played out in real time that require players . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: March 27, 1998

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