The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I bought The Forbidden God last year for a simple reason: I needed to buy another $5 of merchandise at the store I was at to qualify for a discount. I picked The Forbidden God because of its cover art, feeling that if the book turned out to be bad I'd at least have a semi-good cover to admire. After having read and run this Dime Novel I can say its pros outweigh its cons, and I can not understand why so many fans of Deadlands that I've spoken with have such a low opinion on it.

Let me start with the fiction that fills the first half of this book. I have read over half the Dime Novels published for Deadlands, and this is without a doubt the best fiction I have found in any of them. Almost every story I have read in the Dime Novel series seemed to be nothing more than detailed descriptions of the characters and locations player characters could encounter in the related adventure. In The Forbidden God the author has actually written a story, a very good story. There's character development, supporting characters with personalities, and (for the first time in a Dime Novel) an explanation of how the fiction and the adventure could both occur in the same game world. The protagonists of the tale use a method of dealing with most of the monsters that most players would love, while causing most gamemasters to start yelling "I spent so long reading over and preparing to run this adventure, and you do what!?" I won't spoil it for you, but when you read the last paragraph of chapter nine I think all gamemasters will nod their heads and think "I had a player do something like that once." At any rate, any Deadlands gamer looking for a good bit of fiction should pick this one up.

Then there's the adventure. I've no idea why it recommends on page 29 that at least one huckster be in the posse, but it is essential at least one posse member speaks Spanish. My posse had no characters who knew the language, so I had to fudge things to let them be able to look at the fine handout that explains most of what is going on. There are many problems with this adventure. First, the author calls any form of magic "hexes" and refers to one of the spirits in the scenario has having a manitou; minor points, but one almost everyone I have spoke with about the module has complained about. Second, there are two encounters early on (one involving undead wharf rats, another with undead roaches) which if run as written will most likely result in massive party fatalities as posse members are swarmed by the zombie animals. When I ran this adventure I ended up reducing the number of roaches by 3/4 just to give my posse a fighting chance, and they still were nearly overwhelmed. There is also a chance of possession of posse members by one of the two spirits that haunt the area the adventure takes place in. Several pages are devoted to the degrees of possession that can result, which when I ran it turned out to be worthless, as only once did a player draw a card resulting in possession, and a minor possession at that. Finally, there's the artifact o' evil responsible for the adventure. The only way to destroy said artifact is to draw an Ace of Diamonds when checking to see if you get possessed. This results in the character being possessed (!) and rushing off to fight the artifact in a spiritual battle, with failure meaning the character and his soul are utterly destroyed. Shades of Grimrock Isle for Call of Cthulhu! If you don't know that reference, be happy.

So what does this adventure have going for it? A Paranoia-like situation where the posse is entrusted with a great and powerful weapon that's more trouble than its worth, for one thing. Also, the underground portion of the adventure has a unique (and plausible) way to discourage gunfire, forcing posse members to relay on more than their trigger fingers to survive. The author also did an excellent job of creating clues for the posse to find; they give the players a good idea of what a bad situation they are getting into, without spelling it out for them in giant neon letters. Also, this is the first adventure I can remember for any game where equipment used by ancient undead is just as decayed as the monster using it, unlike the old days of D&D where your party could enter a thousand year-old crypt and the undead within were using weapons just as good as the ones your characters had just bought.

Oh, yes, the book also sports some nice interior art, something which recent Deadlands products have been lacking. It also has the best handouts I've seen in a Deadlands product.

So, yes, I do recommend The Forbidden God to all Marshals looking for a good, one-night adventure. I also recommend Pinnacle gets the author to do more work for them.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

The Forbidden God
Author: Tim Brown Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Line: Deadlands: The Weird West Cost: 4.95 Page count: 64 ISBN: 1-889546-31-3 SKU: 9006 Playtest Review by Ralph Dula on 05/07/00. Genre tags: Historical Horror Old_West	I bought The Forbidden God last year for a simple reason: I needed to buy another $5 of merchandise at the store I was at to qualify for a discount. I picked The Forbidden God because of its cover art, feeling that if the book turned out to be bad I'd at least have a semi-good cover to admire. After having read and run this Dime Novel I can say its pros outweigh its cons, and I can not understand why so many fans of Deadlands that I've spoken with have such a low opinion on it. Let me start with the fiction that fills the first half of this book. I have read over half the Dime Novels published for Deadlands, and this is without a doubt the best fiction I have found in any of them. Almost every story I have read in the Dime Novel series seemed to be nothing more than detailed descriptions of the characters and locations player characters could encounter in the related adventure. In The Forbidden God the author has actually written a story, a very good story. There's character development, supporting characters with personalities, and (for the first time in a Dime Novel) an explanation of how the fiction and the adventure could both occur in the same game world. The protagonists of the tale use a method of dealing with most of the monsters that most players would love, while causing most gamemasters to start yelling "I spent so long reading over and preparing to run this adventure, and you do what!?" I won't spoil it for you, but when you read the last paragraph of chapter nine I think all gamemasters will nod their heads and think "I had a player do something like that once." At any rate, any Deadlands gamer looking for a good bit of fiction should pick this one up. Then there's the adventure. I've no idea why it recommends on page 29 that at least one huckster be in the posse, but it is essential at least one posse member speaks Spanish. My posse had no characters who knew the language, so I had to fudge things to let them be able to look at the fine handout that explains most of what is going on. There are many problems with this adventure. First, the author calls any form of magic "hexes" and refers to one of the spirits in the scenario has having a manitou; minor points, but one almost everyone I have spoke with about the module has complained about. Second, there are two encounters early on (one involving undead wharf rats, another with undead roaches) which if run as written will most likely result in massive party fatalities as posse members are swarmed by the zombie animals. When I ran this adventure I ended up reducing the number of roaches by 3/4 just to give my posse a fighting chance, and they still were nearly overwhelmed. There is also a chance of possession of posse members by one of the two spirits that haunt the area the adventure takes place in. Several pages are devoted to the degrees of possession that can result, which when I ran it turned out to be worthless, as only once did a player draw a card resulting in possession, and a minor possession at that. Finally, there's the artifact o' evil responsible for the adventure. The only way to destroy said artifact is to draw an Ace of Diamonds when checking to see if you get possessed. This results in the character being possessed (!) and rushing off to fight the artifact in a spiritual battle, with failure meaning the character and his soul are utterly destroyed. Shades of Grimrock Isle for Call of Cthulhu! If you don't know that reference, be happy. So what does this adventure have going for it? A Paranoia-like situation where the posse is entrusted with a great and powerful weapon that's more trouble than its worth, for one thing. Also, the underground portion of the adventure has a unique (and plausible) way to discourage gunfire, forcing posse members to relay on more than their trigger fingers to survive. The author also did an excellent job of creating clues for the posse to find; they give the players a good idea of what a bad situation they are getting into, without spelling it out for them in giant neon letters. Also, this is the first adventure I can remember for any game where equipment used by ancient undead is just as decayed as the monster using it, unlike the old days of D&D where your party could enter a thousand year-old crypt and the undead within were using weapons just as good as the ones your characters had just bought. Oh, yes, the book also sports some nice interior art, something which recent Deadlands products have been lacking. It also has the best handouts I've seen in a Deadlands product. So, yes, I do recommend The Forbidden God to all Marshals looking for a good, one-night adventure. I also recommend Pinnacle gets the author to do more work for them. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)