Torg

Torg
RPG published by West End Games, Ulisses Spiele
Rule System	TORG
Authors	Greg Gordon, Bill Slavicsek
First Publication	1990 (1st Edition) 1992 (1.1) 2005 (Revised) 2017 (Torg: Eternity)

Torg (All hail King Torg!) is a game formerly owned by West End Games, now under Ullises Spiele of The Dark Eye fame. It's about cross-dimensional action adventures. Think Sliders, but with more horror. Recently came out with a 2nd Iteration called Torg Eternity, to mixed response

It's noteable for having dimensions actually affect you, as using magic/guns/armor beyond the Cosm's axiom may cause disconnect, making your current self start to fade from reality until you reconnect. Fail to reconnect too many times and you transform into a person from that Cosm.

Has absolutely nothing to do with the webcomic Sluggy Freelance, which has a character in it called Torg (All hail King Torg!).

Setting

The game is set and sprawls across infinite different dimensions and realities called cosm(s) with each being a different genre. Every cosm is mostly self-contained but with two unifying elements common to all - a Darkness Device and its linked ruler known as the High Lord. Below cosms are realms which are tempoary areas of a foreign cosm that a High Lord has invaded with the use of the aforementioned Darkness Device. Realms take on the axioms and world laws of the invading cosm, but a High Lord can modify these in the realm to better subdue the population or more efficiently drain the cosm's "possibility" energy. The realm conversion drains possibility energy which feeds the Darkness Device and High Lord, rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

Each cosm also has its own four axioms and three World Laws and each cosm survives by invading other realms and converting them to its native reality. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of most invaded realms transform into those of the invading cosm, while a few become Storm Knights, also known as Stormers - the player characters of Torg.

Earth in-universe is an unusual 'realm rich in possibility energy' and the only way to access all of it is to have a number of cosms invade all at once. Initially six cosms invade and thus start the Possibility Wars, but this later complicates with the arrival of new realms and power players.

Realms

Places where invading cosms/High Lords leak into the invaded cosms, twisted parodies of the native reality or utterly alien worlds with different physical laws including the existence of magic and even more esoteric phenomena. Initially, the Earth gets invaded by no less that six other cosms turning large regions of Earth into realms and causing all sorts of havoc and ruckus, giving PCs a rich and plentiful gaming possibilities (pun intended).

Core Earth

Core Earth is the starting setting of most TORG games. While highly similar to our own it but it possesses two key differences. The first one is that Core Earth is a cosm that is extremely rich in possibility energy which is the main factor that drew the Possibility Raiders to invade Core Earth. The presence of this possibility energy also gives Core Earth a fighting chance. PCs can tap into Core Earth's possibility energy to help defend it from the invaders. Secondly, Core Earth is much more "actionized" meaning that your characters will shrug off bullets, have all sorts of over-the-top things happen and even get those genuine "happy endings", overall the dynamic is like an 80s action hero movie.

The Living Land

A mist-filled, primitive Lost World-esque jungle that covers two separate areas of North America - a strip on West coast and a larger area on the east coast. The invading cosm of Takta Ker is home to humanoid dinosaurs called Edeinos who are ruled by the High Lord Baruk Kaah and its Darkness Device, a huge forest called Rec Pakken. Technology and magic are almost nonexistent, but the inhabitants' religion gives them powerful alternative in the form of miracles. The Living Land sourcebook was the first published realm for Torg in 1990.

The Nile Empire

A pulp-action/Indiana Jones inspired cosm which combined a restored Ancient Egypt that invaded North Africa. It is characterized by 1930s level technology working side by side with Egyptian magical astronomy and "weird science" powers and gizmos on top of that. Ruled by Dr. Mobius, also known as Pharaoh Mobius, considered one of the most devious High Lords. His darkness device was a crocodile-headed idol called Kefertiti. The Nile Empire sourcebook was the second published realm for Torg in 1990.

Aysle

Aysle is a magical cosm with many standard fantasy tropes we love and enjoy like knights, dwarves and dragons. It covers most of the United Kingdom and parts of Scandinavia. Aysle is ruled by the High Lord Pella Ardinary and her Darkness Device, an ornate crown called Drakacanus. High magic and low-technology are the dominant axioms there, with Aysle having its own internal war between light and dark. The Aysle sourcebook was the third published realm for Torg in 1990.

The Cyberpapacy

Covering France, this is a more "out-there" realm which was initially a repressive, medieval theocracy (that nevertheless wielded real miracles). However, en route to Core Earth it accidentally melded with some sort of virtual reality and gained cyberpunk-esque technology and attitudes. Ruled by the Cyberpope Jean Malreaux I. his Darkness Device - Ebenuscrux took the shape of a prototypical circuit cross, the symbol of the realm's strange transhumanist version of Gallican Catholicism. The realm developed vrtual Heaven and Hell, with Stormers unlucky enough to be defeated there being jacked into the aforementioned Hell from which no one has ever returned.

Nippon Tech

Since Torg came out during the tail end of the 80s it naturally had to include a cyberpunk Japan. Nippon Tech realm is an ultra capitalist nightmare society covering most of Japan where lies and betrayal are as common as breathing, and where martial artists, computer hackers, and yakuza fought to bring down the corporate-controlled government. Ruled by 3327, who was assisted by a Darkness Device named Daikoku that took the form of a laptop computer.

Orrorsh

A Gothic horror realm ("Orrorsh" being an anagram of "horrors") set in Indonesia where the realm's Victorian inhabitants considered it their "White Man's Burden" to protect the natives from the unspeakable monsters roaming the countryside. However, the greatest enemy in Orrorsh was the realm itself which would attempt to seduce Stormers to the side of wickedness. Originally ruled by the greatest of the High Lords, Lord Byron Salisbury (aka. The Gaunt Man) from his sinister holdfast, the Illmound Keep. His Darkness Device - the Heketon took the shape of an enormous human heart. Early in the Possibility Wars, the actions of several Storm Knights locked The Gaunt Man into a kind of reality bubble; during this interregnum several monstrous beings known collectively as the Hellion Court ruled in his place.

The Land Below

Not a realm per see but a pocket dimension created as an experiment between the Nile Empire and the Living Lands. This dimension featured primitive tribesmen, giant apes, and hostile native animals, all similar to the Pellucidar and Tarzan books of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Later this dimension intruded upon Core Earth's reality in the eastern United States ("The Land Above"), supplanting some of the Living Lands there.

Space Gods

A high-technology, spacefaring society out of Chariots of the Gods that had visited South America centuries before. The Akashans had their own colonial empire of alien races which could be added to the game at the game master's discretion. This realm introduced advanced biotech and psionics to the Possibility Wars. It also introduced the idea of reality trees, a non-invasive organic device capable of merging two realities without damaging the inhabitants. This realm was not controlled by a High Lord, however a sentient group-mind virus known as the Comaghaz had infected some percentage of the Akashan population, including one of its highly placed citizens, Sarila, and sought to perpetuate itself. The Akashans have no Darkness Device or means of creating inter-cosmic portals, but came Core Earth cosm through naturally occurring wormholes called stargates; as a result, many of them don't even realize they are in a different cosm, thinking they have only found another galaxy.

Tharkold

Home of a race of magic and technology-using demons that lead a thousand-year war against their world's native human population. Tharkold can be compared to something of a cross between The Terminator and Hellraiser. In the game, the cosm originally planned to invade the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Army defeated them with the help of an Earth psychic. They later established a small realm in Los Angeles, and subsequently took partial control of Berlin, splitting their reality with the New Nile Empire. Ruled by Jezrael, a human slave/soldier who took control after the previous High Lord, the technodemon Kranod, failed in his invasion attempts. The Darkness Device took the form of a carved rod and was named Malgest.