"Finish Him!"
MetalMan's Review of "Mortal Konquest" by Richard Anderson & Christopher Casey.
Videogames seem to be a fertile area for free RPGs to mine for inspiration as evidenced by such games as Fallout, Thrash and several others. This review will focus on the "Tournament Edition" rules of Mortal Konquest which is a newer, up-to-date version of the earlier Mortal Konquest game.
The Premise:
The Outworld has invaded the plane of Earth and wrecked it devistation across the planet. Humanity is near extinction as small bands of resistance composed of some of the greatest fighters of the world attempt to stop the invaders and reclaim Earth for humanity before it is too late. Players can assume the roles of one of the established characters from the games or create one of their own.
What Ya Get:
Mortal Konquest Tournament Edition is all HTML text and is a very hefty printout weighing in at fifty-five pages if you print out all three sections of the game. I'd strongly recommend getting access to a fast laser printer if you want a hardcopy of it to reference.
Cost:
Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free.
Appearance:
Mortal Konquest isn't anything especially great to look at for its length. Text is standard without columns on the page. Occassionally the MK "Dragon Head" logo will be used to embelish the heading for the next section of rules but, other than that, Mortal Konquest is rather bare of graphics. Still, this is to be expected of most fan-produced games. The true test of the game will be how well the system is structured to handle gameplay.
The Game:
Please note that this is my impressions from reading the game. I have not played it so my observations below may prove to be completely correct or false under actual play. In other words, your milage may vary. The game is split into three sections: The Rules of Kombat, The Mortal Konquest and The Kombatants.
The Rules of Kombat:
Section one lays out all the game mechanics of the system. If you're a settings person, skip ahead to section two. Character stats run from one to ten and the entire game can be played with a single ten-sided die. Characters are defined by seven attriubutes: Strength, Agility, Speed, Intelligence, Body and Chi. Stats are generated by rolling a d10 and adding 25 to the total. These points are distributed among the attributes as a player sees fit. No attribute can be above ten. Players then use these attributes to calculate their Body stat. Each beginning character has up to three special moves. Players can choose ones that established characters have or design their own with the provided guidelines. I won't dwell on these guidelines but they seem rather well balanced and should keep home-designed moves on par with the ones from the videogame. Character creation is wrapped up by choosing ten points worth of Descriptors. Descriptors provide an advantage in a noncombat situation where they can take advantage of one of the defining elements of their characters. For example, a descriptor could be Argumentive 4.
Task Resolution is handled in opposed rolls by subtracting the acting player's stat plus any bonuses from the opposing player's stat plus any bonuses. The result is the number that the acting player must roll beneath on a d10 to be successful. Unopposed actions are handled by a simple difficulty number that is used in place of the opposing player. Combat has several modifiers that can be added to the mix - namely dodging and blocking. Dodging allows you to attempt to get out of the way but you loose your next action. Blocking allows you to attempt to take the hit but minimize the damage so that you can get your attack next round. Attacks cause damage to your Body stat. When it reaches zero, the player is defenseless and can be killed by a Fatality. No rules are given for killing as they are suggested to be, and their consequences, a part of the story.
Rules for recovering Body and movement are up next. Body returns over rounds and does so generally quickly due to the nature of the fighters. Movement is provided with three different methods for dealing with it. The first just makes range a modifier to the opposed roll, the second also uses the modifier system but incorporates the use of miniatures, and the third gives and optional method where you can use your Speed attribute to determine movement.
A listing of common hand-to-hand and weapon attacks follow and the section wraps up with a section on special moves in relation to their elemental effects. Namely this is difficulty numbers for doing certain things. For example, its a lot easier with a fire-based attack to ignite cloth than it is to make iron catch on fire.
The Mortal Konquest:
This section details the world of Mortal Konquest - specifically the effects wrought upon Earth by the invasion from Outworld. Shimura Island (the spot of the original Mortal Kombat tournaments) as well as the Outworld itself is given a brief description that should be sufficient for most gamemasters to flesh out or use without restricting them into one vision of the setting that is set in stone. Information is also given about the portals and potential plot hooks on how they can be closed. A section is also given on the current conditions of Earth after the initial invasion and it is well done with one problem. It says that humanity worldwide has been whittled down to about 100,000. Maybe its just me but this seems a bit excessive. I'd say that out of the billions of humans on the Earth, more than that could have survived. Still, that's easily enough fixed.
Typical human and Outworld characters are detailed towards the end of section two. Average Humans, Lin Kuei Ninja, Mercenaries, Shaolin Disciples, Shaolin Monks, Special Forces Agents, Centaurians, Gairen, Guards, Revenants, Salinas, Shadow Priests and Shokanites are given stats as well as details on any weapons or spells that they typically have. These will form the bulk of all NPCs in the game and, for the most part, are well done.
The Kombatants:
Section three is a simple listing of all of the characters in the videogames. Each character is given a brief history, their game stats, and a listing of their special moves. This section is almost completely unnecessary if you don't want your characters interacting with any of the game characters. Otherwise, you'll want it for knowing what they're capable of.
Overall Impression:
Its an interesting idea and one that has potential to be more than just a fighting game. Ultimately, however, Mortal Konquest has the same potential problems that D&D has - how to make a character that is more than just numbers in a combat oriented system. This is helped somewhat by the use of the descriptors but the usual and true answer is roleplaying. It is going to be largely the role of the gamemaster to provide the characters with interesting quests and difficulties other than fighting. Remember, the plight of Earth is dire and its going to take more than combat prowness to defeat the large number of minions of Shao Khan. Worth a look if you're a fan of the videogames or you've been looking for ideas for a apocalyptic setting. Otherwise, your use of this material is going to be limited.
MetalMan signing off.
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