[RPG]: Desolation , reviewed by C.W.Richeson (3/3)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13950.phtml

Christopher W. Richeson's Summary:

<I>Desolation</I> brings post-apocalyptic fantasy adventure to your tabletop, but a few mechanical problems prevent this from being a perfect game.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Greymalkin_Steve]

A decent and fair review - I think you represent your thoughts on the game and setting quite well, though there are a couple of thoughts that I would like to offer up.

First, some of the mechanics of the game may not have come across as clearly as intended. Some of the talents, such as Accuracy, can be boosted up during play using style points, increasing their effectiveness for the rest of the combat. It might be worth reviewing some of the system around that, since it really would change how valuable they are to a player considering how to spend their valuable experience points.

Second, the apocalypse did occur very recently in the setting of the game. Previously, for the most part, the setting was indeed very "high fantasy" and while not "pulp," you might imagine a better fit for the system pre-Night of Fire. [edit - though we think it does work for Before and After, obviously - we'd not have licensed it otherwise ]

This is perhaps a meta-system/meta-gaming point of order, but to say that some talents and character options are not well suited to a game set after an apocalypse is to say that characters themselves are perhaps not well suited to an apocalypse - but who lives their lives in preparation for such an event? Other than the gnomes, maybe. Characters in Desolation were not expecting their world to end, and the detailed setting information presented for the Before takes that into account. Characters should be created with their lives Before the Night of Fire in mind.

Of course, one might (and probably should) argue that a game system should support the setting characters are playing in, and my point in the paragraph above is a terrible example of metagaming! That would be quite fair

Thanks again for your review - I'm glad you liked some of things we did here, and hope that others do as well.

[C.W.Richeson]

Thanks for the positive and well-reasoned response, Steve. I always take note of publishers that engage criticism directly, and I appreciate it.

I agree that boosting Accuracy could make it a very valuable talent in some circumstances. I can just imagine an archer picking off goblins from far away, at night, to the amazement of his comrades. However, a standard +2 bonus is going to be very consistently useful and generally speaking players tend to buy abilities that they will get a lot of use out of. At the very least, I think Accuracy's usefulness will strongly depend on the GM's use of negative modifiers and the potential benefit of precision targeting.

I can certainly appreciate the idea of building pre-Apocalypse characters and that being the source of any thematic inconsistence. I think I still have to disagree to an extent. Some of the Talents carried over from HEX just don't belong outside of a pulp action game, and I don't think they serve a high fantasy adventuring feel any better than a post-apocalyptic one.

[Lethe]

Thanks for the review.

Sounds like an interesting twist on fantasy that still has some kinks to work out of it. Something I'd be interested in picking up just for the ideas you can mine from it, if I had the extra cash.

Is there any information on how/if any nations have survived in the face of the apocalypse? Seems like most of the book is focused on what things were like before - are there any ideas offered up as to why the apocalypse happened in the first place?

[C.W.Richeson]

Yes, some attention is paid to the fate of specific regions though no governments explicitly survived.

As to why the apocalypse happened, there are a few general hints but the book leaves the real explanation up to the GM.

[Kaemaril]

Originally Posted by Lethe

Are there any ideas offered up as to why the apocalypse happened in the first place?

Nope, though the Gnomes probably have a better clue than everyone else

[Dan Davenport]

Great review, Chris!

Originally Posted by Greymalkin_Steve

This is perhaps a meta-system/meta-gaming point of order, but to say that some talents and character options are not well suited to a game set after an apocalypse is to say that characters themselves are perhaps not well suited to an apocalypse - but who lives their lives in preparation for such an event? Other than the gnomes, maybe. Characters in Desolation were not expecting their world to end, and the detailed setting information presented for the Before takes that into account. Characters should be created with their lives Before the Night of Fire in mind.

Of course, one might (and probably should) argue that a game system should support the setting characters are playing in, and my point in the paragraph above is a terrible example of metagaming! That would be quite fair

It's not unlike the issue of creating characters for, say, Call of Cthulhu, insofar as the PCs' prior life experience can't fully prepare them for their current circumstances, but the temptation will always be there for the players to create characters who can Dodge like there's no tomorrow. In this case, however, I think the question should not be whether characters were prepared for the apocalypse so much as whether their abilities would have allowed them to survive as long as they have. How likely is it that someone would have been able to master a specific academic discipline and be a hardy survivalist?

[Kaemaril]

Originally Posted by Dan Davenport

How likely is it that someone would have been able to master a specific academic discipline and be a hardy survivalist?

Depending on whether or not the academic discipline required a lot of field work, possibly quite good

David Attenborough's in his 80s, and if the big one hit tomorrow I reckon he'd have more of a chance than I would

[Gentleman Highwayman]

Originally Posted by Dan Davenport

How likely is it that someone would have been able to master a specific academic discipline and be a hardy survivalist?

Spoken like a man who never spent 4 years in higher education.

I think most people could survive a year and a half by fluke and accident. Wouldn't the point of playing an inappropriate character be that you will have to change to survive. Seems to drive character building if you didn't min-max your character to begin with.

Iain.

[CleverName]

I guess I just missed it, but what do Difficulties do? Do the modify the die pool?