Another question that I get when talking about the Alloy System is “How does it all work?”
Allow me to explain. There are three primary components to the overall system: The Core Rulebook, Worldbooks, and Elements.
The Core Rulebook contains the main rules that you need to know in order to actually play the game. Character Creation, what all of the Attributes and Skills do, how they work, Character Advancement, Combat, etc.. The Core Rulebook doesn’t have a strong setting, it’s mostly a modern gothic horror setting that’s pretty open to being used for whatever you want.
Worldbooks are settings with new races, callings, and talents that aren’t in the Core Rulebook and geared towards their specific settings genres and tropes. The official Antagonist Games Worldbooks are:
Velvet Skies – A Victorian Gothic Horror setting with awakened magic and races.
Black Bayou – A more in depth Gothic Horror setting.
Antitrust – a Cyberpunk Fantasy setting.
World of Eden – a futuristic Sci-fi fantasy setting.
Mysts of Erluun – a fantasy setting.
Elements are small chunks of rules that you can add to any existing setting or Worldbook to give it more flavor. These can be in depth information and special abilities for a fantasy race, to a type of monster, to equipment and weapons from a specific time period. Some examples would be:
Fae Race Element – A collection of different Fae Races and their associated history, specific Callings, and Talents.
Vampire Breed Element – A collection of different types of Vampires and their associated origins, Callings, and Talents.
Medieval Gear Element – A collection of different medieval weapons, armor, and equipment.
Psion Element – A collection of more in depth history and Talents for the Psion Calling.
Once you have the Core Rulebook you can just buy Elements and add them all together to create your own unique setting or take an Official Worldbook and add elements to it to give it more of what you are looking for. All of these are balanced so that no one Element or Worldbook contains Races, Callings, Skills, Talents, or Gear that will overpower your players or NPCs.
I hope you enjoyed the long explanation, there’s a lot more too it but “Wall of Text” 🙂