[Buy This Game] The Day After Ragnarok (Savage Worlds)

Know, O Prince, that between the years when the Serpent fell and the oceans drank America and the gleaming cities, and the rise of the Sons of Space, there was an Age undreamed of, when nations guttered low and flared brilliant across the poisoned world like dying stars—California and Texas each claiming the flag of the West, France torn asunder and facing the desert, harsh Mexico, slumbering Brazil, Argentina where the seeds of Thule lay waiting, ancient lands of Persia and Arabia and Iraq between two empires, the coldly clutching Soviet Union whispering behind its Wall of Serpent, Japan whose warriors wore steel and silk and khaki. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Australia, the last green and pleasant land, ringed around by its dominions and bulwarked by the sea…

It’s Ken Hite (Trail of Cthulhu, Adventures into Darkness) writing his own version of a post-apocalyptic pulp future, drawing inspiration from men’s adventure novels, Mad Max, Robert E. Howard, Nazi occultism, and the Norse Eddas. What more do you need?

Unconvinced? Fine, let’s run this down.

In 1945, Nazi occultists – fueled by amphetamines, Pleistocene herbs culled from Finnish bogs and mead from “unknown insects” – succeeded in an occult ritual designed to sever America’s role as the “Rope of the Norns” and bring about Ragnarok. This, they swore, would enable the Aryan race to rule as the new masters of Midgard. Garm howled, Loki slipped his chains and the head of Jörmungandr rose from the Arabian sea. The creature proved unstoppable, easily shattering both the material and the morale of the Allied forces in its venomous jaws.

Truman, in a last-ditch decision which would forever change history, ordered Operation John Henry: a lone B-29 (the Strange Cargo) left Iceland with the Trinity Device on a one-way flight straight into the snake’s brainpan.

The world-serpent died, crushing much of Europe (including the bulk of the British Isles) under its coils. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, however, most of its 8000-mile long bulk landed in the Atlantic – creating tsunamis the likes of which had gone unimagined. Most of America to the east of the Rockies drowned in the deluge – an America already sickened by the cloud of venom, blood and fallout settling over it, twisting and sickening much of its flora and fauna.

Eastern America today is a a monster-haunted wasteland of free cities (who model themselves after Chicago and Houston), scavenger camps and jungles growing where cities once stood, thick with the chanting of snake cultists carrying out unholy rites. Over in Russia, Stalin seeks to reanimate the Frost Giants as an unstoppable army with which to bring the world under his sway. The Japanese Empire holds Manchukuo and the Philippines, where they experiment with weird tonics and gene therapies distilled from the rotting corpse of the Midgard Serpent. Thankfully, Britain endures – though relocated to South Africa, Australia and the Indian states who rejected Ghandi’s congress– and its Rhodes University leads the free world in its own ophi-tech research: giving its fighting men body armor woven from the great snake’s tendons, jetpacks fueled by its distilled bodily humours, and microwave guns which use fuel cells crafted from its intestinal bacteria.

So that’s where things stand now: Earth has become a world of strange technology, broken cities and savage jungles laden with reptilian monstrosities and the cultists who worship them. But mankind endures. Will you help rebuild the world in the face of Fimbulwinter, or will you take what you can and watch the rest burn?

Curious? Excited? Strangely aroused? Get thee to the preview materials over at the Atomic Overmind Press website.

[Character Challenge] #7: Fireborn

Alternately: “Shapeshifting otherkin save London from ancient evil”

Game: Fireborn
Published: 2004, Fantasy Flight – line cancelled 2006
Books Used: Just the Player’s Handbook. The Game Master’s Book is almost entirely setting fluff, and Book of Aspects was (sadly) never published.

Wow, it’s been far too long since I’ve done one of these. In my defence, I spent much of May either in a funk or in a mental haze brought on by allergy issues. However, I’m back on the ball now – something I’m sure you’re all thrilled to hear.

One advantage of this challenge is that it forces me to return to games that I glanced over, possibly mined from, and promptly left on the shelves and spared nary a second thought. I actually picked up Fireborn shortly after its release based on RPG.net buzz – and because it seemed to have an interesting premise: an urban-fantasy game midway between Shadowrun and World of Darkness, only with a cinematic combat system seemingly inspired by fighting videogames and mechanical support for flashback scenes where you play your character at the height of their former incarnation’s glory, in a time of mythic fantasy before the last Ice Age wiped clean humanity’s slate.

Oh, did I mention that you get to play a dragon?

[Character Challenge] #6: Dark Heresy

Game: Dark Heresy (Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay)
Published: 2008, Black Industries (later picked up by Fantasy Flight)
Books Used: Core rulebook, 1st printing

For years, fans have been clamouring for an RPG set on the dark age science-fantasy battlefields of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000. This… isn’t exactly it. Instead of the Space Marines and other military arms of the Imperium, the game instead focuses on the Inquisition. And like in Warhammer Fantasy, your characters are outmatched, start from little more than nothing, and death and madness both come cheap.

Or as the back cover puts it:

You are an Acolyte in the service of the Emperors’ Inquisition. You stand in the front line of a great and secret war where your duty is to hunt out the foul stench of heresy, the vile alien, and the twisted influence of Chaos. You will tread where others fear, venturing to distant planets, ancient space hulks, and the unsavoury depths of hive cities.

You will never know fame or reward, yet if you stand resolute your deeds will be whispered to the God-Emperor of Mankind and your name will be revered for millennia.

(Though more likely, you’ll end up dead, daemon-possessed, enslaved to Chaos, or worse. This is Warhammer we’re talking about, after all. Have I mentioned the absurdly awesome and over-the-top critical hit charts yet?)

For the record, I think that Dark Heresy could actually be a lot of fun, so long as you played up the threads of jet-black humour which run through the setting – running it as something akin to Judge Dredd crossed with Dune, or a version of Paranoia written by Orwell or Kafka. In fact, I’d be tempted to run a game where the players’ acolytes are sent out to investigate charges of heresy and daemonic worship in the shadows of one of Calixis’ numerous hive-cities – only the PCs are all secretly heretics themselves. Either they’ve made a pact with one of the Four Chaos Gods, they’re unsanctioned Psykers, or they belong to a denounced sect practicing death worship or technology research outside of the auspices of the Adeptus Mechanicus … something along those lines.

But I digress. You’re reading this to see how a DH character gets put together; not to hear me blather on about games I’ll never get to run.

[Character Challenge] #5: Mutant City Blues

[Character Challenge] #5: Mutant City Blues
Game: Mutant City Blues
Published: 2009, Pelgrane Press
Book(s) Used: Just the core, ma’am.

Next up is Robin D. Laws’ superhero police procedural game, Mutant City Blues. It also marks the first of four games in this challenge using his GUMSHOE system.

This one’s for Mel.

William E. Macin, NYPD (9th Precinct):

Transferred to HCIU after expressing gills and testing positive for further S-cell complexes in the subsequent medical examination, primarily in his skeletal musculature and throat. Formerly a beat cop walking the Bowery.

Bill Macin is a tall, physically fit Caucasian, apparently in his early 30s, who wears his black hair closely cropped, exposing both his unnaturally-pointed ears and the gill slits at his throat. Due to the placement of his gills, he’s unable to wear the traditional police uniform. HCIU has responded to these concerns by allowing him to work essentially shirtless – wearing an open vest and slacks as his work attire.

In his free time, Bill volunteers as a Shakespearean actor at the nearby Atlantis Theatre, where his refined features and forceful bearing make him quite the presence on the stage. In fact, some of his peers have even started referring to him as the “prince” of the Atlantis.

With the move to HCIU, Macin received a corresponding promotion to Detective. Currently, he’s pursuing a serial murderer the press have dubbed the “Aquara-man:” a bemulleted, genetic expressive former aquarium janitor who’s turned his water-breathing powers and his command of sea life to destructive ends. So far, he’s killed 6 people: the most recent being his old manager, who was found covered in welts. Forensic examination of the body revealed that the marks were made by octopus suckers, and that the vic died via strangulation.

[Character Challenge] #4: REIGN

Game: REIGN (Solis hardcover)
Published: 2007, Schroedinger’s Cat Press
Books Used: Core, Supplement #2

REIGN marks the first appearance of Greg Stolze’s (Godlike, Unknown Armies, several White Wolf products) One Roll Engine (ORE, henceforth) in this challenge. True to its name, the system strives to resolve any action in a single roll of up to 10d10 – from skill checks to combat. It does so by grouping like numbers into sets, then taking the measure of each set along two axes: the number on the dice (called the height), and the number of dice in the set (its width). Generally, the height determines the speed of a given action, with its width illustrating quality. In combat, damage is also based on width, and hit location on the roll’s height.

If a character rolls multiple sets, they’re free to choose which they’d like to apply. In addition, multiple actions are handled by rolling the smaller skill’s pool, minus one die for each additional action after the first, and shooting for enough sets to cover the number of actions. However, supplementary sets can be tactically advantageous in combat, even if they’re not used for active defences – you see, getting hit in combat “knocks” a die out of one of your sets. Since any set reduced to a single die is considered destroyed (and the corresponding action an automatic failure), it’s generally a good idea to keep at least a 2-width set around to soak this effect.

Anyway, that’s the ORE in a nutshell. There are special dice and rules for utilizing the unmatched dice as AoE damage, but that’s really beyond our current concern: namely, Greg’s epic fantasy game REIGN.

Billed as a “Game of Lords and Leaders,” it’s pretty much what it says on the tin. Instead of wandering adventurers, players are expected to take the role of leaders – generals, mercenary commanders, politicians, etc – in a roughly bronze-age setting, albeit one where the continents take the shape of lovers reclining in an endless sea. Magic is fairly abundant, from the Death-Forgers of Dindavara to the Flame Dancers, who can transform themselves into a 10 meter tall juggernaut of flame through sinuous dance and the eternal fire burning in their hearts. If you’re curious, Greg has a fairly comprehensive overview of the setting’s magic on the game’s wiki.

To complement magic, every skill in the game is given at least one Martial Technique (for combat skills) or an Esoteric Discipline (everything else). These are small bits of lore, secret techniques, or internal magic which allow their users to surpass average human skill. For fans of Exalted, think of them as Charms – about at the Dragon-Blooded level.

One other thing needs to be mentioned, I think. While there are 11 or so supplements out for REIGN, they’re all free to the public, thanks to the fans. You see, Greg Stolze decided to use the ransom model for all the supplementary material: he’s put up a teaser containing a given volume’s contents, then give gamers about a month to raise a collective $1000. If met, the money was collected and the supplement was released to the world; free, in perpetuity.

[Character Challenge] #3: Unhallowed Metropolis

Next up for the challenge is a personal favorite setting of mine: the zombies, top hats and gasmasks neo-Victorian teslapunk RPG – Unhallowed Metropolis

Name: Unhallowed Metropolis
Published: 2007, New Dark Age Productions
Book(s) Used: Just the core

‘Round about 1905, humanity found itself on the brink of its own extinction. Across the world, from the genteel cities of Europe to the rough-and-tumble colonies to the American West, humanity fought their greatest foe – their own loved ones, risen from the grave to consume the living. As the Blight spread its corruption, none were spared: unless cremated or decapitated, the fallen invariably rose to join the ranks of the animate dead.

But we persevered; fighting back with flame and steel, instituting policies of mandatory cremation to forestall secondary outbreaks, and building great walled cities to defend us from the dead. Behind the walls, science advanced down previously unexplored avenues. Soon, great sparking Tesla towers bristled from the walls, broadcasting galvanic power to radios, lights, tube trains, lightning guns and other inventions both fantastic and terrifying. Additionally, medical science continued apace, fueled by compounds formulated from the strange new flora of the Wastes. In clubrooms and darkened laboratories, there were even whispered rumors of darker alchemy: compounds that could return the dead to life, or even life created ex nihilo in great bubbling vats.

In the face of utter dissolution and chaos, the survivors grasped for moral guidance, and in doing so they looked back fondly on the last great age. Quickly, Victorian mores and fashion – tempered by the new reality – spread throughout society. It’s in the heart of this neo-Victorian Empire – in the great and ancient walled city of London itself – where the game is set. Mankind has been living with the walking dead for 200 years now, and England – though she is no longer a green and pleasant land – endures.

One last word of advice: when taking the tube, please do Mind the Gap. You never know what might be lurking below, and Ghoul attacks are up 60% this year in the vicinity of Charing Cross despite the best efforts of Her Majesty’s Deathwatch and bonded Undertakers.

You know why I love UnMet? Sure, it’s a gloomy, apocalyptic setting where the shattered remnants of mankind huddle inside their walled cities, away from a wasted world that’s been almost entirely stolen from them by the nigh-unstoppable hordes of the undead . . .

But it’s also a setting which fully embraces the freewheeling nature of Victorian-era SCIENCE! A setting where mad scientists and armor-clad, gasmasked vampire hunters can comfortably rub shoulders beneath the artificial lightning of old London town’s array of Tesla towers. And it’s that, more than anything else, that raises the setting above the level of mere gaslight World of Darkness heartbreaker fancied up in rotten lace and PVC corsets.

As an example; London’s finer surgeons sell clockwork artificial hearts for wealthy patients in dire need of transplant. Hearts which have to be wound promptly every six hours to remain functional. Of course, they also recommend the heart be used in conjunction with a patented alchemical distillate which will help prevent the body’s immune system from rejecting the implant. Side effects may occur.

But let’s not dither any longer. Time to get down to brass tacks, don our respirator, and join the huddled masses.

[Character Challenge] #2: Hellas: Worlds of Sun and Stone

Name: Hellas: Worlds of Sun and Stone

Published: 2008, Khepera Publishing
Books Used: There’s only the core

Hellas is a game I desperately want to like, despite its flaws. Its reimagining of the Greek epics as space opera SF is certainly unique, and the author is passionate about his product. However, the game is critically in need of errata or a second edition, as the rules don’t always live up to the quality and care present in the fluff. Most of this I attribute to the fact that Jerry Grayson switched the game away from the D6 system late in its development cycle – most of the rules oddities are the result of an incomplete or imperfect port rather than questionable game design (unlike Alpha Omega, which we’ll cover later).

So what we have in the finished product is a fascinating but deeply flawed game which perfectly fills a niche I never even knew existed (Or maybe I’m blind and the market is flooded with Epic-scale space opera games based on Greek myth and featuring world-changing heroes duking it out across the stars). However, enough editorializing: I’ve already reviewed the game once, and we’re here to roll up a hero.

[Character Challenge] #1: Encounter Critical

Name: Encounter Critical
Published: 1979, Battle Star Games
Book(s) Used: EC, as discovered by S. John Ross, is a single, 28 page staple-bound pamphlet*

Encounter Critical is… Well, let’s just let the game describe itself. I doubt I could do it justice. You see, it comes from that special time back in the 70’s when games really didn’t have to make sense, despite claims of True Scientific Realism.

Quest into the slaver kingdoms or hurl yourself into the galaxies of space to find wealth and destiny. Your tactics and your character are yours to control as you undertake ENCOUNTER CRITICAL.

This rules manual includes complete rules for both fantasy and science fiction in a single game, combined as you’ve never seen them combined before, into a coherent whole with true scientific realism on every page. Imagine the excitement you can enjoy with the freedom to play an Elf or a Klengon – as you choose! Even combine them for something even more incredible.

The combat systems are based on both actual experience and deep research, and in all ways ENCOUNTER CRITICAL exceeds what you have come to imagine a role-play game to be. There is no difficulty combining the excitement of fantasy with the elegant and natural laws of science fiction when you have these rules for your scenario.

Quite a lofty goal, huh? Well, let’s see how well it works in practice, shall we?

Games – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

To spur my creative juices, I’ve been rolling up characters for every game I own – usually writing a mini review in the process. While this has produced some interesting personae and helped me better define my taste in games, it’s also sort of fallen by the wayside in between my job, work on my dicebot (adding the Dark Heresy generator took more data entry than I’d like to consider, and while I’d like to add one for WHFRP, I think it’s going to be a while), and the general distractions of domestic life.

So in order to get myself back on track, I’m migrating the challenge over to a new gaming-focused blog, rather than my general purpose personal journal. Expect a flurry of posts as I play catchup, with a new character and overview of Fireborn to follow.