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When we first set out to create AR, we did so primarily because of what we percieved as shortcomings in the other game systems with which we had to work. On the one hand, we were fed up with the extreme lack of realism and genericism found in game systems such as Dungeons and Dragons (where the high level fighter can withstand being stabbed in the back of the neck with a dagger), but found that alternatives such as GURPS, while being superb in many ways, to be confusing, inelegant, and generally difficult to approach. We wanted to produce a game system which would be generic and realistic, yet elegant and approachable; this was no mean feat, as we found out. We also sought to add new areas of functionality, such as an automatic world generation system, modular rule sets, and nonlinear performance. With the exception of the world generation system, which still has a long way to go at the time of this writing, we are proud to say that we have succeeded in adding the above, which we believe to be significant innovations in game mechanics. It hasn't been easy, and there's still a lot to be done: more worlds to make, refinements to add, etc., etc. We think, however, that with this initial release we have done at least tolerably well in adhering to our design philosophy, which might be outlined as follows:

• Fewer rules are better than many
• All rules should be as generic as possible
• The game system should produce realistic results without GM intervention or "special case" patches
• Complexity should be able to vary to suit the needs of the GM
• Game play should never get "bogged down" by a slow system

With the release of version 1.0, we've tried to implement our role-playing ideals. How have we done? Send us an email, and let us know.