NERO Rule Book

Rating:
Summary: Long Time Player and Contributor
Review: As a player of Nero ALLIANCE games and contributor to this book, I have found many of the changes and clarifications from the old rules very helpful and balanced. As the Nero ALLIANCE rules system has changed a lot in this edition, there are a few things that need to be nitpicked and fixed, but that will surely come with the next printing.

As for the previous reviewer from Boston, this book is published by and for use with Nero ALLIANCE games only, which none of the games he listed are a part of. A brand new campaign is opening in Mass this year and there are campaigns in NH, NJ, PA on the East Coast along with many others throughout the country. I would invite any and all to come out and try one of the games and judge for themselves.

Even if you never intend on playing a game, the book is an interesting read for any gamer as well.

Rating:
Summary: well, NERO has a good premise but.......
Review: but every chapter I have played at (NERO Mass, NERO NY, NERO Southlands) is big on playing favorites. It always seemed that unless you were friends with the guys on the Plot Commitee, you never got modules to play (other than the generic "Everyone come here and save the Town" modules that the "nobles" led everyone on). Also, the system of having players be the nobles lends itself to abuse.if you have a nice item in the game...some noble WILL find a way to take it from you. My gripe with the game is that, even though ALL the players are paying ... per weekend to play, only those who are nobles or friends of the people running that chapter get attention paid to them. If you want to LARP, go out and find a smaller game that wants you asa player, not as an extra for the adventures they put on for their friends.

Rating:
Summary: Simple and Fun!!
Review: I thought the rules would be difficult to follow and that the playing would be point and click. I was pleasantly suprised! I picked up the rule book and it was easy to follow. The essentials of gameplay are clearly and concisely laid out within. The rules are simple enough for everyone to understand, yet thorough enough to encompass millions of situations that could happen during a game. After going to a game, I found it to be outrageous fun! Everyone roleplays distinctly different charachters with different motivations. Even the players themselves can become nobility if they pursue it. There is something for every type of charachter. Everyone was happy to help me get involved my first time playing. I have been going back ever since.

Rating:
Summary: Good Rules
Review: NERO is one of the oldest Live Action Role Playing (LARP) Games around These rules have been playtested, debated, and refined for years. It shows. Pragmatic LARP wisdom graces every page, and not necessarily in immediately obvious ways.

You will want to buy this book whether you are lucky enough to live near a NERO Alliance chapter, want to start your own LARP, want to write your own LARP rules and want to see what mistakes to avoid, or just if you can't believe that there aren't better LARP rules out there than what you're playing now.

Rating:
Summary: NERO Alliance is Awesome!
Review: The book and the Game rock! This is the rulebook for the Alliance campaigns, I think that the reviewer who was complaining about plot showing favoritism must be speaking of the international version of the game. I work with the plot crew at the alliance headquarters campaign and I can tell you that they go through great pains to include plot for as many of the PCs as they can fit into a weekend.
Otherwise, the book is well writen, the pictures are of the people who play, the rules are self governing, and the text and charts are easy to read. Awesome game for Fantasy role players looking for a LARP.

Rating:
Summary: A positive step in product identification
Review: The latest edition of the NERO Alliance rulebook has taken positive steps in differentiating it from NERO International. Three new character-classes, new spells, a new Formal Magic system all make it clear that this is not old-school NERO.

The new classes and the reworking of the skills costs table make for a more diversified low- to mid- level game. Adepts, Artisans, and Scouts all improve the potential for players to identify themselves more uniquely. Lower costs for many skills make them more easily obtainable by lower level characters, which are generally comprised of either new or infrequent players, encouraging their continued patronage.

The book has a rushed feel, however, with numerous contradictions contained in many sections, sometimes in the same column, sometimes many pages later. Other skills and descriptions contain many typos, including multiple purchases of Resist Magic for Dark Elves and the ability of High Ogres to purchase Racial Parry. Still other sections are vague and without specificity, leaving a reader to guess as to the intent of the author. All of this resulted in the need for a rules addendum released within weeks of distribution.

All in all, the new rulebook took many great leaps forwards in evolving the NERO Alliance game, but gives the impression of being rushed in final production.

Rating:
Summary: A positive step in product identification
Review: The latest edition of the NERO Alliance rulebook has taken positive steps in differentiating it from NERO International. Three new character-classes, new spells, a new Formal Magic system all make it clear that this is not old-school NERO.

The new classes and the reworking of the skills costs table make for a more diversified low- to mid- level game. Adepts, Artisans, and Scouts all improve the potential for players to identify themselves more uniquely. Lower costs for many skills make them more easily obtainable by lower level characters, which are generally comprised of either new or infrequent players, encouraging their continued patronage.

The book has a rushed feel, however, with numerous contradictions contained in many sections, sometimes in the same column, sometimes many pages later. Other skills and descriptions contain many typos, including multiple purchases of Resist Magic for Dark Elves and the ability of High Ogres to purchase Racial Parry. Still other sections are vague and without specificity, leaving a reader to guess as to the intent of the author. All of this resulted in the need for a rules addendum released within weeks of distribution.

All in all, the new rulebook took many great leaps forwards in evolving the NERO Alliance game, but gives the impression of being rushed in final production.

Rating:
Summary: NERO Alliance - LARP recreation at it's finest
Review: This book should probably come with a warning label, reading "This book can be hazardous to your other hobbies, and may lead to complete lack of spare time in your life". It's a must-have/must-read for anyone considering this gamesystem.

It is the latest revision to the rulebook for the Live Action Role Playing (LARP) campaigns run by the New England Roleplaying Organization (NERO) Alliance. The NERO Alliance is one of two groups of LARPers, each with roots in a single game system dating back to the late 1980's. The other group is known as NERO International.

When I first came across LARPing as a result of a search on Google, I was enthralled by the idea and started making plans to attend an event. I purchased rulebooks for both NERO organizations, and settled on the Alliance campaign as the more-desireable one for me. The reasons have more to do with what could be called "founder style" and less with the mechanics of the gaming system.

The Alliance rulebook is well-structured, stepping the novice gamer through a logically ordered series of chapters including an introduction to the concept ("Welcome to NERO"), the character classes ("Classes"), player races ("Races"), character health and expiration ("Matters of Life and Death"), the combat system ("Combat"), and continues through chapters detailing the other elements of the gaming system - combat, skills, magic, alchemy, society, and others.

Each chapter uses examples when needed to illustrate a topic under discussed, or to provide clarification on the application of a rule or set of rules governing gameplay. Portions of some chapters are present on the Alliance HQ website, but are more fully fleshed-out in the book.

It's perfect-bound, with only the covers in color -- inside illustrations are all black & white.

Rating:
Summary: This is a new edition!
Review: This is a new edition of the NERO Rule Book, and therefore some of the reviews that Amazon.com has placed on this page are incorrect, since they refer to the old edition. As the author of the work in question, I have asked them to remove the old reviews but they have not done so. Please understand that some of the comments you may read here do not apply.

Rating:
Summary: A failed attempt at improvement
Review: This latest incarnation of the NERO Rules system was intended by the Alliance to be a full update on the system to remove flaws from the pervious versions, improve upon the game's strengths and be the defining set of core rules for the next 5-10 years. They failed miserably.

Problems with the system

This system does little to encourage and in game environment and in some cases damages in game atmosphere.

The combat system is loud and complex. Spells and effects are rarely intuitive so that new players can quickly learn the system. Field battles become confusing and players miss effects because of this. These problems lead to holds being called and stops in the action as players sort things out.

Damage & Body counts are outrageously high for a LARP. This edition has made things worse by increase the amount of damage that can be done by players. They had the opportunity to lower the numbers in the game which would accomplish the following. Make the combat system simpler and reduce the power gap between low level and high level players (which would make more of the game more accessible to low level players).

The trap system is overly complex. The system actually writes holds into the game with this system so not only complex you have to stop the game to determine the exact effect and who is affected.

The current changes in the game do nothing to help game balance at higher levels.

The Alliance game (who issued this version of the rules) is still relatively young. While there are some experienced NERO players heading up the organization and writing the rules most of core staff for Alliance has little to no experience outside of the NERO game. They also have no experience with a high level NERO game like the International Game. The cost changes they have made to many of the classes are attractive to low level players but as the game gets higher in level there will be significant balance problems between the classes as well as scaling problems when you have high and low level characters in the same fight.

In addition to the major problems with the rules system the book it self is filled with minor and major editing mistakes. There are numerous typos and mistakes such a skill costs and such through out the book. Even worse there are numerous rules contradictions between sections and sometimes in the same section. Mistakes like these make a system with a high learning curve even tougher for a new player to learn.

Overall this latest incarnation of the rules system fails miserably to improve upon a game with many flaws. Many newer larp systems far out shine the NERO system. The NERO system is full of flaws, a complex system to learn (as seen by the size of the book) and the system heavily contributes to holds during game play. Compare this to the Legends system (a Game in the Northeast) or the nTeraction system (a newer multi genre larp system with games across the country).

The nTeraction system is far more versatile then NERO. It has been used for fantasy genre games to post apocalyptic cyberpunk genre games with firearms.

A new player only needs to read 12-15 pages of rules and he can be given a character and will be able to completely play the game. With this version of the NERO system I would estimate a player would need to read 50 or 60 pages to be able to know all the rules to play.

A good NERO weekend a player will encounter 2 or three holds. On a bad weekend you could encounter many stops in the game, sometimes lasting up to five or ten minutes. Interaction games have gone three or four years without a single hold, no break in the game or atmosphere.

The NERO Alliance wanted this rulebook to be their core rules for the next 5-10 years. If they use this rules set for the next ten years I believe that they will encounter serious problems down the road.