In November 2023 we presented two offers – one all-new, one resurrected – featuring English-language ebooks for Torg Eternity, the cinematic cross-genre RPG of the Possibility Wars from Ulisses Spiele. The new Torg Cosms 2 has the Cyberpapacy and Orrorsh supplement lines funded in two recent crowdfunding campaigns. And as a convenience for those newly recruited to the Possibility Wars, we revived (for a second time) the September 2019 Torg Eternity Essentials, with the core rulebook, Drama Deck, and introductory scenarios.
Published in 2018, Torg Eternity reboots but closely replicates the original Torg: Roleplaying the Possibility Wars published in 1990 by West End Games. Seven savage High Lords from parallel realities (“cosms”) have attacked the Earth and divided it among themselves. Each cosm has transformed part of our world to reflect the Technological, Magical, Social, and Spiritual Axioms of its own reality. But rare individuals, the Storm Knights, having mastered the Possibility Energy that creates the world around us, are strong enough to resist and, perhaps, expel the conquerors.
The venerable Encyclopedia of Science Fiction summarized the original Torg well, and the description still applies to Eternity: “While each of the alien realities represents a particular subgenre of fantastic fiction, they are generally original and evocative, embodying novel twists on the conventions of their forms. […] The design of Torg included several unusual and innovative mechanics. The gameplay is intended to be cinematic in feel, with rules that enable characters to perform the remarkable feats characteristic of much adventure fiction and a strong emphasis on highly structured linear narratives. A deck of cards is used to direct the flow of ‘action scenes’; both the Gamemaster and the players may use cards which introduce such subplots as a romantic involvement or the appearance of a personal nemesis, or perform more mechanical functions such as enhancing characters’ abilities or allowing them to escape from difficult predicaments.”
Publisher Ulisses Spiele has systematically expanded the Torg Eternity line in a series of well-conceived, uniform crowdfunding campaigns, first on Kickstarter and later on Game on Tabletop. We presented the Living Land, the Nile Empire, and Aysle in our February 2022 Torg Cosms 1 Bundle. The new Torg Cosms 2 features books from the November 2019 Cyberpapacy campaign and the January 2021 Orrorsh campaign. With two other campaigns – Tharkold (June 2020) and Pan-Pacifica (the renamed Nippon Tech, May 2022) – Ulisses completed the original roster of seven invading cosms. Still ahead, presumably, is Core Earth; after that, who knows? Torg remains full of Possibilities.
TORG COSMS 2 [all-new]
This new Torg Cosms 2 Bundle added lots of material for the Cyberpapacy and Orrorsh cosms. Historically the most popular cosm in the Torg line after the Nile Empire, the Cyberpapacy is a repressive theocratic socialist dystopia that rules Western Europe and most of Brazil. Its World Law “The One True Way” dictates that only Cyberpope Jean Malraux’s teachings are true. From their capital in Avignon fanatical agumented Cyberpriests use terrifying holographic Hosts to brainwash the masses. Their New Inquisition, along with the World Law of Suspicion, imposes a technological reign of terror. Many Torg adventures involve stopovers in the Cyberpapacy, where Storm Knights find clues by searching the GodNet virtual reality.
Orrosh is a land of Gothic horror, where the Victorian age never ended and nightmares come true. Its High Lord is none other than the Gaunt Man, leader of the Reality Raiders and the grandmaster strategist who organized the invasion of Earth. The Gaunt Man’s domain covers India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and half of Pakistan, and is spreading across the rest of Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Orrorsh brings colonial rule, native suffering, and monsters straight out of humanity’s worst nightmares. Its Law of Eternal Corruption grants powers and advantages at terrible personal cost, and the Law of Perseverance makes it more difficult for Storm Knights to heal their wounds.
There were four titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $75) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete Cyberpapacy Sourcebook and its campaign adventure Unhallowed Data, as well as the Orrorsh Sourcebook and its campaign A Trifling Matter.
Those who paid more than this offer’s threshold (average) price also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with thirteen more titles worth an additional $93:
- All the Cyberpapacy support ebooks: Delphi Missions: Cyberpapacy, the GM Screen & Archetypes, GM Pack, Map Pack 1 and Map Pack 2, and the Digital-Only Set of play aids
- All the Orrorsh support products: Delphi Missions: Orrorsh, its GM Screen & Archetypes, the Orrorsh GM Pack, the Orrorsh Map Pack 1 and Map Pack 2, and the Orrorsh Digital-Only Set
- The expansion Torg or Treat, with Orrorsh secret societies and rules for Core Earth magic
TORG ETERNITY ESSENTIALS [from Sept 2019]
For those who didn’t pick up Torg Eternity Essentials in either of its two previous runs, we brought back this original September 2019 offer with the rulebook, Drama Deck, and Day One scenarios for an unbeatable bargain price. If you’re new to the game, start with the eight titles in this revived offer’s Essentials Collection (retail value $37.50), including the complete Torg Eternity Core Rules and the Drama Deck (plus the Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special); the scenario collection Delphi Missions: Rising Storm; the Torg Character Journals record sheets; and various free and pay-what-you-want scenarios and play aids including the Day One Adventure Book, the Torg Eternity GM Screen and Archetypes, and Session Zero.
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to these two Torg Eternity offers’ designated charity, Direct Relief. Direct Relief sends protective gear and critical care medications to health workers, with emergency deliveries to medical facilities across the US and to regional response agencies across the world.
