The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Armageddon

by C. J. Carella

Myrmidon Press P. O. Box 1374 Royal Oak, MI 48068

256 pages, perfect bound

$25.00

D (potentially, B)

Reviewed by Lisa Padol

This review was intended to appear in The Familiar, but it was never printed, as far as I know.

I gave this game a low grade only because it suffered from a serious case of GenCon rush. For those of you lucky enough never to have encountered it, GenCon rush is what happens when a game absolutely, positively -has- to be out for GenCon. And, if that means skimping on the proofreading and editing, so be it.

Armageddon has many typos -- even the character sheet has mistakes. There are several places in the text where the wrong word has been used. I think that there is even some missing text, but I am not sure; Armageddon, like far too many rpgs, has no index.

GenCon rush aside, Armageddon is a good game. The premise is that the Final Battle, whether one calls it Armageddon, Ragnarok, or something else, has arrived, but not in a way that anyone would expect. It is not Heaven vs. Hell, nor Heaven vs. the Pagan gods. Heaven, Hell, and the Pagan gods are all there, and Armageddon does an excellent job of explaining how all can exist. All of these factions have bigger problems than each other, however; something from Outside is trying to get in. It is called Leviathan, though it also has some resemblance to HPL's Outer Gods.

Armageddon has more of a superhero feel than a CoC feel, however. The players may play angels or demons, avatars of Pagan gods, immortals from Atlantis, or humans gifted with psychic powers or divine favor. The characters are created on a points build system which is designed to be usable with dice or cards, or with neither, if one prefers freeform gaming. The mechanics are simple and consistent; while reading the rules, I discovered a mechanic that my homebrew system needed and immediately imported it into my game. (My players approved.)

Armageddon uses the same system as Myrmidon's earlier game, Witchcraft, and can be used as a possible future setting for Witchcraft. This means that there is a fair amount of material that appears in both games. Armageddon has enough new material to make it worthwhile to own both, if it were not for the GenCon rush factor (Indeed, I relied heavily on my copy of Witchcraft to decipher some of the more poorly edited passages in Armageddon).

While I doubt the religious anti-rpg faction will notice Armageddon, it is precisely the sort of game this faction would campaign against. Yet, Armageddon is a game with a moral center that does not seem so far from the teachings of the major religions. The author is careful to explain, several times, that Armageddon is a game, not reality, and that he intends no disrespect towards anyone.

I had the good fortune to participate in a demo of Armageddon and to witness another demo run by C. J. Carella. The system runs smoothly, and the game is fun. Unfortunately, there is that GenCon rush problem. It is serious enough that gamers should probably wait for a second edition which corrects the editing problems; unfortunately, given the realities of the gaming industry, I have no idea when, or even if, such an edition will be forthcoming. I like this game, but before running it, I would have to go through the text line by line, making several corrections.

Re-reading my own words: Note that I would have given this game a 1.5 for style if possible. It's not unintellible, but the Myrmidon text needs a -lot- of editing.

Armageddon still has more of a moral center than any of the games I've seen that focus on Heaven and Hell. The author does not preach, but the examples and the vignettes show the importance of moral choice. I hope that Eden re-releases it soon, without the editing problems; I look forward to reading and reviewing the new edition.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Armageddon
Author: C. J. Carella Category: game Company/Publisher: Myrmidon Press Line: Armageddon Cost: $25 Page count: 256 pages, perfect bound Capsule Review by Lisa Padol on 08/27/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day Horror Conspiracy Post-apocalypse	Armageddon by C. J. Carella Myrmidon Press P. O. Box 1374 Royal Oak, MI 48068 256 pages, perfect bound $25.00 D (potentially, B) Reviewed by Lisa Padol This review was intended to appear in The Familiar, but it was never printed, as far as I know. I gave this game a low grade only because it suffered from a serious case of GenCon rush. For those of you lucky enough never to have encountered it, GenCon rush is what happens when a game absolutely, positively -has- to be out for GenCon. And, if that means skimping on the proofreading and editing, so be it. Armageddon has many typos -- even the character sheet has mistakes. There are several places in the text where the wrong word has been used. I think that there is even some missing text, but I am not sure; Armageddon, like far too many rpgs, has no index. GenCon rush aside, Armageddon is a good game. The premise is that the Final Battle, whether one calls it Armageddon, Ragnarok, or something else, has arrived, but not in a way that anyone would expect. It is not Heaven vs. Hell, nor Heaven vs. the Pagan gods. Heaven, Hell, and the Pagan gods are all there, and Armageddon does an excellent job of explaining how all can exist. All of these factions have bigger problems than each other, however; something from Outside is trying to get in. It is called Leviathan, though it also has some resemblance to HPL's Outer Gods. Armageddon has more of a superhero feel than a CoC feel, however. The players may play angels or demons, avatars of Pagan gods, immortals from Atlantis, or humans gifted with psychic powers or divine favor. The characters are created on a points build system which is designed to be usable with dice or cards, or with neither, if one prefers freeform gaming. The mechanics are simple and consistent; while reading the rules, I discovered a mechanic that my homebrew system needed and immediately imported it into my game. (My players approved.) Armageddon uses the same system as Myrmidon's earlier game, Witchcraft, and can be used as a possible future setting for Witchcraft. This means that there is a fair amount of material that appears in both games. Armageddon has enough new material to make it worthwhile to own both, if it were not for the GenCon rush factor (Indeed, I relied heavily on my copy of Witchcraft to decipher some of the more poorly edited passages in Armageddon). While I doubt the religious anti-rpg faction will notice Armageddon, it is precisely the sort of game this faction would campaign against. Yet, Armageddon is a game with a moral center that does not seem so far from the teachings of the major religions. The author is careful to explain, several times, that Armageddon is a game, not reality, and that he intends no disrespect towards anyone. I had the good fortune to participate in a demo of Armageddon and to witness another demo run by C. J. Carella. The system runs smoothly, and the game is fun. Unfortunately, there is that GenCon rush problem. It is serious enough that gamers should probably wait for a second edition which corrects the editing problems; unfortunately, given the realities of the gaming industry, I have no idea when, or even if, such an edition will be forthcoming. I like this game, but before running it, I would have to go through the text line by line, making several corrections. Re-reading my own words: Note that I would have given this game a 1.5 for style if possible. It's not unintellible, but the Myrmidon text needs a -lot- of editing. Armageddon still has more of a moral center than any of the games I've seen that focus on Heaven and Hell. The author does not preach, but the examples and the vignettes show the importance of moral choice. I hope that Eden re-releases it soon, without the editing problems; I look forward to reading and reviewing the new edition. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty)