An entire universe of adventure awaits. Unlike White Wolf's recently-debuted Trinity , which is based on a specific future history, Alternity is an open system with rules that can accommodate just about any time, place, and scenario. Two books are needed to play. First there's the Player's Handbook , which contains rules for character generation.
Heroes can be human or alien.
A handful of aliens are briefly described and there are rules for creating your own alien races. It covers things like spaceships, star systems, supporting characters, animals and monsters, and story creation. At the heart of every roleplaying game are characters applying their skills to get things done. In Alternity , characters have numeric scores for their attributes and skills. In most RPGs, the difficulty of the attempted action modifies the character's score, then you roll a die and compare the result to the number you were shooting for.