I noticed that you didn't mention the "gaunts" described on the company's website. What are your thoughts on them and their abilities?
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Running: ---; Prepping: Earthdawn; Playing: Buffy; Reviewing: GODSEND Agenda; Reading: Earthdawn, Corporation The hat of me know no limit! "Did you know that your reviews take on an entirely new light, if you picture them as being read aloud by Frylock, as Meatwad listens intently?" - Cith, in #rpgnet "You're more the lovable sort of odd. Like a retarded bear" - an IRL friend
The Gaunts kinda fell through the cracks for me, as I had neither criticisms nor compliments for them. They definitely contribute to the setting, but they took a back seat to the setting and warlocks for me.
Gaunts are people who have been transformed into monsters by a mysterious "disease" that seems linked to magic. They make an excellent stand-in for oppressed minorities, and that's exactly how Rob portrays them. Their condition saps life and energy out of their environment (to power their increased strength, endurance, etc.), so the places they're forced to live tend to get run down pretty quickly. Normal humans won't tolerate their presence for extended periods and they've been relegated to hard labor jobs in harsh conditions.
As with most underclasses, many of them have turned to crime. Demonic gangsters are pretty cool, I gotta admit. There's no way I'd run a Central City adventure without them.
Their powers are well-implemented, but (again) in a very traditional way. I'm not sure how I would have done better, though.
--Dan
__________________ Urbanimus - Our Cities are Alive Hardboiled Urban Fantasy for Secrets & Lies
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This is a little off topic, but I have to complain about the Web site. Much of the text is actually a GIF image. Not only is this a waste of bandwidth, but I found it hard to read. Because it's not real text, there's not a hell of a lot that I can do about it. The game sounds intriguing, but I hope they fix the Web site.
Re: [RPG]: The Edge of Midnight, reviewed by indra (5/4)
Reading your review, I also hope that they make space for a "magic" system that's more freeform for those warlocks who devote time to studying the fringe side of science, as opposed to the more static "magic tricks" it sounds like they have made up for those who are just dabblers. I mean, I can see why they have a section of "spells" for the dabblers, since most people are just that. I do hope they come up with a more freeform system for honest-to-goodness warlocks, though.
And while your review certainly caught my attention, Dan, as did their website, I have to say that I got a stronger "Prohibition" vibe off of warlocks than Red Scare (from the company website), although I suspect the authors are trying to combine the two. I do agree with your assertion that putting psychology and flaws on the character sheet would have been a better way to go, but I'll look at the game proper before I advocate any more tinkering.
And incidentally, even though it's fourty bucks, I'm going to try to buy it when I can. This looks goooooood on a lot of levels.
Re: [RPG]: The Edge of Midnight, reviewed by indra (5/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Vaux
You assume right. Gaunts are incapable of practicing magic.
Rob
Thought so. Are players able to tweak the three basic characters, so that a private eye can be tweaked into a hard-digging investigative reporter, or a gaunt can be a newly-revitalized boxer with info on the mob?
And: do you think it would be easy to tweak the system to add "Sugar" or the ability to use vices, flaws, etc. to the game? Will there be a more in-depth path of magic for the hardcore warlocks in the game?
Re: [RPG]: The Edge of Midnight, reviewed by indra (5/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poster #15672
Thought so. Are players able to tweak the three basic characters, so that a private eye can be tweaked into a hard-digging investigative reporter, or a gaunt can be a newly-revitalized boxer with info on the mob?
And: do you think it would be easy to tweak the system to add "Sugar" or the ability to use vices, flaws, etc. to the game? Will there be a more in-depth path of magic for the hardcore warlocks in the game?
Oh yes. The system is designed to facilitate any kind of character concept you might like in such a setting. We include Professions in character creation, which provide a basic overview and a neat ability for cops, boxers, cabbies, journalists, and any number of other careers. Characters need not take a Profession, but for folks who want a core concept to base things around, they're a good starting point.
We're pushing warlocks, gaunts, and PIs because they have The Sexy, and give the game some easily identifiable tropes, but you're certainly not limited to those concepts. You can create either of the character you mentioned, and plenty of others, without altering the rules a bit.
Magic is based on a ranking scheme, with different magical abilities ranked from 1 to 10. Dabblers will only have 1 or 2 in a particular discipline while hard core warlocks will be up around 7 or 8. It all depends on how many experience point you want ot invest in them.
We didn't include flaws — I'm not a huge fan of them, from a design perspective — but the system is extremely flexible, so you could certainly add Sugar of your ownto the system with minimal diffiulty.
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