Off The Shelf: Infinity RPG Haqqislam and Ariadna Supplements

Published: September 10, 2019 1:00 PM /

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Based on the hit skirmish miniatures game of the same name, Infinity: The Roleplaying Game  produced by Corvus Belli and published by Modiphius boasts a robust 2d20 combat system, an incredibly in-depth character creation toolset, and a large selection of factions for players to choose from. It’s delightfully rules-heavy, but once one learns its systems the game flows naturally (for more on the core RPG, check out our full review). Now, the Infinity team has released their first supplements for the game, diving deep into the worlds of the Haqqislam and Ariadna factions. Is there enough meat in these two supplements to entice Infinity: The Roleplaying Game players? And what kind of material is included? We took the two supplements off the shelf to take a closer look.

Haqqislam: The Pursuit of Knowledge

The Haqqislam supplement offers in-depth insight, character creation ideas, gear, world-settings, the role of piracy, and adversaries relevant to the Haqqlislam factions. The sheer quantity of information on display in both this and the Ariadna supplement are staggering, and hard to account here in a single preview. But here, more or less, is what this supplement offers players.

First, it gives an incredibly detailed look at what it means to play as a Haqqislam character in the Infinity RPG. The Haqqislam people are a people constantly in pursuit of knowledge, who have settled the desert world of Bourak. They are the most advanced civilization when it comes to medical breakthroughs. Their medical breakthroughs are so advanced that it has inspired “Health Tourism,” as people from around the galaxy travel to Bourak to heal and revive themselves. Is this relevant to the statistics on your character sheet? Maybe not, but this level of detail is illustrative of the care, lore, and time put into each of these supplements.

Haqqislam Supplement

After running down major aspects of life on Bourak, including the Hassassins — a group so dedicated to the search for knowledge they hunt down fundamentalists who would oppose advancement of thought — the supplement moves on to more world building. The focus of the second chapter is the desert world of Bourak, home to much of Haqqislam society. The planet is hot, and slowly being terraformed into something more hospitable. Much of the geography is covered here, along with notable flora — like bulbous succulents that emit hallucinogens — and fauna — like the deadly Sakht Taqdeer, a leopard like predator that stalks the Bourak Savannahs. From there, the chapter delves into the economy, demographics, culture, and religion of the planet, and heavily details all of the major locales and cities of the world. The entire chapter, so rich with world-building, clocks in at 23 pages of material.

From here, the bounty of player resources continues, including chapters on the interstellar caravans of the Haqqislam people and the role of piracy in this world, and then it jumps into covering gear. From spray-on pheromones to scorpion-shaped mechs, augmented reality to a lightweight camouflage Djinncloaks, the variety of well-described items on display for the Haqqislam player is astounding.

The book offers options for creating a Haqqislam character beyond what’s offered in the core rulebook. The Lifepath System of character creation has players roll on tables (or spend their few points to force specific results) to steer the outcome of their life from birth to adulthood. In this supplement, there are replacement tables available for determining social status, crucial adolescent events that shaped their character, and a full list of Haqqislam careers, offering everything from Grey Market Spies to Medical Researchers.

If you’re at all interested in playing as a Haqqislam character in the Infinity RPG (or if you play this faction in the miniature skirmish game) this supplemental book will offer a lot of flavor and interesting new mechanics to toy around with.

Now, travelling from the savannahs and arid deserts of Bourak, we move to the more temperate and no-less-varied world of Dawn...

Ariadna: A People Frozen in Time and Hardened by Distance

The story of the Ariadna faction begins with a quest to find a new world. Over two centuries ago, a colony ship named Ariadna set out for the planet Dawn, but communication was lost, and the members of the ship were left to fend for themselves and survive on the new planet. Survive, and thrive, they did, and in the present time of the game, they’ve only just recently reconnected with the rest of the world.

In the first chapter of this supplement, life on Ariadna is explained in detail. From laying out the customs of the people on Dawn (they’re survivalist-focused, and still use weapons like Claymores and wear kilts), to commercial conflicts with invaders that showed the galaxy Dawn was on the intergalactic power map, to their impressive military and dangerous separatist movements, Ariadna is, above all else, a rough and tumble place to live.

Ariadna Supplement

The second chapter of the book details the planet of Dawn in detail and all of its various countries, including the Scotland-inspired Caledonia, the proud and forward-thinking Merovingia, the powerful Rodina, the brash USAriadna, and the wild Exclusion Zone. Each of these nations are extensively detailed in the supplement, including the types of cuisine eaten, the various internal struggles, and brief histories that help flesh everything out. The third chapter goes into the Merchant Traders, and the entire economy of Ariadna as it relates to a series of traders’ networks and intergalactic highways.

The fourth chapter goes into Ariadna gear, including rocket launchers, weapons specifically useful for (and useful against) the ferocious wolf-human hybrids that stalk the lands, and other weapons that mimic 20th century weaponry. The fifth chapter goes deeper into character creation, and like the Haqqislam supplement, it too offers options, choices, and lifepath selections that go far beyond the core rulebook. For anyone interested in learning more about life on Ariadna, this supplement offers a lot to dig into.

The Bottom Line:

There’s just so much packed into these two supplements that it’s hard to even scratch the surface. In fact, the sheer act of writing this preview left me daunted trying to figure out what to include and how to accurately account for everything included within. And while the pure amount of information in these two supplements is thrilling, it would be easy to write them off as too niche.

But I think that’s looking at things far too reductively. This is a book that is absolutely brimming with potential, ideas, jumping-off points, and inspiration both for Infinity RPG players specifically, and all sci-fi RPG players generally.

The Infinity RPG is a game about relishing in the small choices. It’s a game where intrigue is just as important as laser guns, and where deciding  what your character’s childhood was like is just as important as deciding where their future is headed. To deliberate and make choices in Infinity is to truly play the game, and nowhere is that more clearly defined than in these two absolutely stunning supplement books. It’s clear that Corvus Belli and Modiphius take RPG incredibly seriously, to the great benefit of anyone who picks up these supplements.

Get This Game If…

- You want to explore these two factions even deeper

- You want to fully round out your Haqqislam or Ariadna character

- You love a deeply detailed sci-fi world

Avoid This Game If…

- You struggle with indecision

- You’re not looking for sci-fi inspiration

What do you think of hyper-specific source books? Do you like to delve in? Or do you prefer to fill in the little details yourself? Let us know in the comments!

These copies of Infinity RPG supplements (Ariadna and Haqqislam) were provided by Modiphius.

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| Tabletop Editor

Giaco Furino joined the TechRaptor team as a Staff Writer in 2019 after searching for a dedicated place to write and talk about Tabletop Games. In 2020, he… More about Giaco