The Inside Scoop on Gaming

While I was hoping to do a playtest review, I consumed the whole of the text in a matter of hours tonight, and was so thrilled that I couldn't wait to render my opinion on the game - so I didn't :)

UnderWorld is the offering of Gareth-Michael Skarka and Synister Creative. It is a game of "subterranean urban fantasy", which explores the magical realms hidden in the long abandoned subway tunnels beneath New York City (or your city, if you wish).

I'd like to start things off by attacking an assertion made by the author of the game, in which he describes UnderWorld as being a "framework". It really isn't a "framework" as such - it's a game. A damn good one.

So you know what brought me to the conclusion that UnderWorld is, in fact, a game....

For me, a game is composed of three things -

A Core Mechanic: The actual mechanic used to resolve actions/conflicts. I do not consider skill lists, spell lists, etc to be part of the core mechanic.

Supplemental Rules: Any rules which further define the purpose of the core mechanic, without actually changing it internally (deposit skill lists, spell lists, etc HERE).

A Setting: The place (or places) and concepts that define the game world. In this case, a vast underground empire located beneath the unsuspecting city of New York (which I won't actually get into very much in this review).

UnderWorld has all of these things, lacks none of them, and therefore it fits nicely into my definition of "a game".

Now, to get on with things, I always try to judge a game on its own merits. In doing such, there are five main areas at which my critique is directed:

1.Artwork 2.Editing (the correction of grammar and spelling errors) 3.Layout 4.The Core Mechanic 5.Purpose (did the game meet its stated design goals?)

Finally, I usually sum it all up with a "bottom line". NOW, that being out of the way, here it is...

The Review (yes, this is actually the review now):

Artwork:

There are two kinds of artwork to be found in UnderWorld - stunningly good and horribly bad. Yes, there are both truly inspired artisitic impressions (which are nothing short of breathtaking) and totally uninspired crap (which looks to have been liberated from a high school art class).

In any event, the balance is good. There is not a shortage of good artwork, nor an unweildy amount of bad artwork. All in all, the two different qualities of artwork make for a nice pictorial commentary - the UnderWorld isn't all good or all bad, either.

Editing:

While I did not find fault with the grammar in UnderWorld, I did find an outrageous amount of words that were spelled incorrectly.

The most common (and subsequently, the most annoying) of these is "radiance/radience" which is spelled in both of these ways throughout the whole of the book. Had the different spellings actually meant something different in the context of the game, I would have not been so bothered.

Aside from the plague of awry spelling, I found the editing to be of above average quality (but it is worth mentioning that the incorrect, and often changing spellings of a few words, makes the digestion of the text a bit difficult at times).

Layout:

I found, for the most part, that the layout was quite well done. It was both easy on the eyes, and the rules were presented in an orderly and reasonable fashion. I was impressed with both the placement of the artwork, and the manner in which the text was presented.

In fact, the sole complaint that I had about the layout was this:

Some of the more unique fonts bordered on being illegible when they were downsized and cramped into small places.

Aside from that one complaint, I very much admired the layout.

The Core Mechanic:

At the very core of the game, lies what Synister has dubbed "The Head Count". While the idea of using coins as randomizers is not especially new or original, it is a welcome change from rolling hoardes of dice.

I found many other coin tossing systems to be overly cumbersome (usually due to an absurd amount of coins that were required), but was pleased to find that the designer has done a fair amount of refining where UnderWorld is concerned.

The "Head Count" is quite simple and concise, and while I won't get into system specifics here, I will say that I was very taken with it [the system].

The "Head Count" achieves its goals of being easy to use and very adaptable (in the sense that it uses a unified mechanic to resolve many different actions).

Purpose:

UnderWorld was designed and promoted as both a table-top RPG and a LARP.

There is no doubt that it meets the goal of being a teble-top RPG, in this reviewers's eyes. I have not, in several years, seen a game which so thoroughly distances itself from tradition while still remaining in a playable state.

The simple (yet non-traditonal) mechanic, artwork, layout, and overall tone of the author's writing, will make for a tremendous table-top game experience.

As for the LARP aspect of things...

The core mechanic - the main thing which makes UnderWorld a fantastic table-top game is, unfortunately, the same thing that dooms it as a LARP.

While the LARP mechanic is not the exact same mechanic that UnderWorld uses to resolve table-top actions, it is a derivative of it. As such, it still requires throwing coins - and it also requires adding up a number of different character facets.

While the resoning is no doubt sound, and the mechanic does work, it is far too time consuming for this reviewer's tastes. I enjoy a much more free-form style of LARP, and from experience, so do most of the other LARPers that I know.

In addition to the rather lengthy resolution, the calculation and coin tossing themselves pose another problem, too. In my experience, the more things which you have present that break focus on character immersion, the less interesting the LARP is. Tossing coins and calculating ANYTHING, IMHO, are nothing but diversions from the style of play itself.

Thus, it is my opinion that while Underworld achieves its goals of being an excellent table-top game, it falls more than a bit short in the LARP department.

The Bottom Line:

While it does have its problems, UnderWorld is still a very unique and enjoyable game. Being only the second RPG (to my immediate knowledge) to tackle the subject of the fantastic world below the feet of modern man, UnderWorld is both cutting edge and thoroughly enjoyable.

If you're looking for a a unique and entertaining RPG experience, you would do well to grab a copy of this game.

Red Herring