The Inside Scoop on Gaming

INTRODUCTION

Danger Quest is the first roleplaying game by Torchlight Games. That, perhaps, makes their decision to lead with a game in the notoriously unsuccessful pulp genre -- and in the wake of White Wolf's well-received pulp game, Adventure! -- all the more daring.

They did bring their own twist to this challenge, however. Instead of setting their game in a two-fisted past, they set it in a two-fisted future, albeit with most all of the accoutrements of a two-fisted past. (Confused yet?)

So, how well did they pull off the game publishing equivalent of Indy's dash through the South American temple? Let's find out...

CONTENT

Adventures in the 24th Century

After a bare-bones introduction to the world's status quo -- Earth in the year 2335, with assorted evil scumbags around the world threatening to draw the struggling reborn nation of Newmerica into a world war -- and the usual "What is roleplaying?" malarkey, the book launches into the background of the setting.

It seems that on New Year's Eve, 2099, an asteroid belt collided with the Earth. This disaster could have been prevented by the battery of laser satellites created for that very purpose, had not a cabal of anti-tech hackers shut down every computer and satellite network around the globe in protest of their leader's capture.

One hundred years later, civilization starts pulling itself back together with a renewed sense of optimism and a deep suspicion of putting one's faith in technology. (This, despite the fact that technology would have saved the world had not Luddite cultists gummed up the works.)

The Newmerican Congress lifts the outright ban on the practice of science in 2230, and progress resumes. However, in order to guard against the lingering distrust of science, manufacturers give their designs a bulky, "old fashioned" look hearkening back to the 1930s. Now, it seems to me that given two centuries without any technology at all, something like a hoversedan is going to look pretty darn high tech whether the body style is four centuries old or only two. I also find it highly implausible that the entire world would suddenly fall wholeheartedly into a pulp/film noir mindset to go along with the 1930s facade. Clearly, this is not a game to play if complete and total suspension of disbelief is a problem.

Ironically, five years after the lifting of the Newmerican science ban, a new spiritual movement born of technology's fall and humanity's "return to nature" leads to the rise of "Transcendent Powers" -- miracles, magic, psychic abilities, and other supernatural abilities.

The next 100 years see the rise of the setting's iconic adversaries. The fiendish Aztexican death shamans conquer Central and South America. A group of Quebecois fascist thugs known as the Acadian Rebel Army take over all of Canada, declare it the Liberated Acadian Confederacy (making them the "LACkeys" to their enemies), and fight a seven-year war with Newmerica. Worst of all, from their headquarters in Uberland (formerly Switzerland), the Nazi-esque ubermensch of the "Cloned Race Party" (a.k.a. the "CreePs") and their super-tech war machine threaten all of Europe and the world beyond.

Learning the Basics

As the name implies, this chapter covers the fundamentals of the Danger Quest system.

Similarly to Warhammer FRP, Danger Quest uses percentile dice for task resolution and a single six-sider for damage rolls (and a few other things).

On percentage rolls, a roll of 10% or less of skill is a "Smashing Success!" (i.e., critical success) and a roll of 96-100% is a "BUNGLE!" (i.e., critical failure).

Two problems here:

For a pulp game, 10% of skill seems awfully stingy for a critical.

Having a flat range for critical failures, regardless of skill, just seems odd.

Also like WFRP, characters have a whole slew of Basic Attributes -- two of them covering ranged and hand-to-hand combat -- with most skills simply defaulting to an associated attribute at the initial level. There are nine Basic Attributes: Brawn, Moves, Brains, Charm, Nerve, Sense, Reflexes, Marks(manship), and Fight.

One more problem I have here is the scale: The human average ranges from 21-40%, with anything beyond 70% qualifying as "superhuman." Again, this seems pretty stingy for a pulp game.

Fortunately, there's Luck (pardon the pun). Luck Points can be spent to increase or decrease rolls or damage, thereby partially offsetting the relative incompetence of starting characters. (More on that in a moment.)

Creating a Hero

Character creation in Danger Quest starts out as wildly random, followed by some room for character customization. However, given the importance of the randomly determined elements, the customization options amount to little more than extensive tweaks. The game does offer a nonrandom system, albeit not a very balanced one -- the values of the random table entries vary quite a bit.

Players start off by rolling for their characters' basic attributes on 2d10 + 20 to generate a percentage score. (Yup, that's an average score of 30%.)

From there, players roll on a series of tables that determine the PC's Innate Abilities, Childhood Tale, Motivations, Secrets, and Weaknesses. Aside from forming the character's background and personality, these rolls also give the hero a smattering of skills, attribute increases (or "Attriboosts," as the game calls them), and other perks. In keeping with the general theme of starting character incompetence, however, the scores added seem awfully low for the circumstances that brought them about. For example, a "Wonder Boy" born with an "unnatural" talent for athletics has just an extra 5% in moves and an extra +1D10% in a single athletic skill to show for it.

In a nod to the importance of Vocations, players get two rolls on the Vocation table. This is a good thing, because there are an awful lot of pulpy options. Almost every classic 1930s pulp archetype is in there somewhere, along with some of their brethren from other eras. In addition to Vocations clearly based on Doc Savage, the Shadow, and Indiana Jones, you have others inspired by Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, and Zorro.

After selecting a few non-Vocation freebie skills and a contact or two, the player gets 50 "Build Points" for the customization I mentioned earlier. These may be used to increase attributes, buy more or gadgets, purchase Transcendent Powers, or even purchase Innate Powers (basically Transcendent Powers turned into actual superpowers).

Once you've determined the final scores in all your Basic Attributes, you can figure up your Special Attributes. These are Actions (per round), Defense (akin to natural armor), Dash (movement speed), Grit (essentially hit points), Wounds (serious injuries suffered after Grit runs out), Stamina (the ability to recover Grit), Luck (see above), Miracles (used like Warhammer FRP Fate Points to survive certain death), and Class (social status). All but Luck, Miracles, and Class are determined using the Stats. Class is based on Vocation and may or may not be random, but all characters have 1D6+3 Luck (not including additional points from the character's background, Vocation, Build Point purchases) and 1D3 Miracles.

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Playtest: The main advantages of the random character creation system are twofold.

First, it's fast, albeit not quite as fast as advertised -- if I recall correctly, the Torchlight Games web site at one time claimed character creation took about 15 minutes, but for my players, it took more like 45. (Granted, this process may well get down to 15 minutes once you and your players have the system down.)

And second, it can produce some awfully amusing results. This can be good or bad: Good, because it can lead to the creation of characters you'd never have devised on your own; bad, because many of the combinations seem too oddball for the genre, if not outright ridiculous. For example, the first player I ran through character creation ended up with a lucky Wandering Gypsy who was orphaned and raised by holy men yet is totally uncivilized and is obsessed with fame.

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Danger Quest Skills

In general, I'd compare the specificity of Danger Quest skills to those of Basic Roleplaying (Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, etc.). For example, the ranged combat skills are Archery, Heavy Weapons, Gunfighter, Machine Gun, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, and Thrown. Some skills seem overly specific, however -- Swinging, for example. (And no, I don't mean spouse-swapping, you sickos.)

Certain skills fall into one or more of the following special categories:

Innate, which can only be purchased at character creation.

Science, which can only be purchased by heroes given the option during character creation.

Technical, which cannot be used unskilled.

The chapter includes an optional advanced skill system in which the base of some skills is the average of two Basic Attributes rather than one, although might have been better placed, or at least referenced, in the character creation chapter.

Conversely, in another echo of Warhammer FRP, a few skills aren't based on any Basic Attributes at all. Instead, they confer special advantages, such as ambidexterity and greater running speed.

Advancing Your Hero

Despite what the back of the book says, I'd consider Vocations to be "classes" only in the loosest sense of the word. To my mind, a "class" must have some bearing on the character's development, and Vocations only do this insofar as some of them offer Vocation-limited Science skills (see above).

However, Danger Quest definitely is a level-based system. Characters earn experience in the thematically appropriate form of "Reputation." Like D&D3e characters, Danger Quest PCs increase in Rank (a.k.a. "level") upon reaching a given level of Reputation (again, a.k.a. "experience"), gaining a batch of Hero Points to spend on improving the character. Characters also receive additional Luck and Grit points every three Ranks.

Yes, this means that Danger Quest shares D&D's ever-expanding hit point issue, but since the increases are relatively small, it's not a huge problem. And besides, I'd think increasing character durability is fairly thematic in a pulp game. On the contrary, I'm much more concerned about character vulnerability at lower levels in Danger Quest.

Hero Points may be used to purchase:

Increased Attributes

Skill Dice

Tricks

New Transcendent Powers

New Innate Powers

Destiny

Resources

Some comments...

First off, I have no idea what or where "Destiny" is supposed to be. Its description in the Hero Point "shopping list" indicates that it may be used to increase a hero's chances of survival. I hope it's not too terribly useful, since it doesn't appear where the list suggest that it will and since it isn't in the index.

Second, one of the real quirks of the Danger Quest system is that it introduces seemingly fundamental mechanics only after the PCs have advanced past first level. I'm talking specifically about Skill Dice and Tricks.

You'll notice that I didn't say "Increase Skill" in the Hero Point shopping list. There's a reason for that. As I mentioned earlier, skill scores default to their controlling attribute, although they may end up being slightly higher courtesy of background adjustments. Well, to improve skills after character creation, you don't simply increase the scores. Instead, you pick up Skill Dice.

Skill Dice work in a similar manner to Luck Points: They may be spent to alter any roll that might feasibly be affected by the skill by +/-1D10%. In other words, in a sword fight, you can spend a sword Skill Die to make yourself more likely to hit or your opponent less likely to hit, but you couldn't use one at all to affect the shots of the sniper firing at you. In addition, Skill Dice may be spent to increase or decrease damage (on an attack or parry, respectively). Unlike Luck Points, which return after each adventure, Skill Dice return after each round.

Also unlike Luck Points, there's no limit to the number of Skill Dice that may be spent on a single action. In fact, opponents can get into Skill Dice "bidding wars" as they try to drive a single die roll up or down. The authors suggest that this gives contested actions the feel of a duel. In a way I suppose that it does, but not in a way that runs parallel to corresponding actions within the game. For example, a Skill Dice "duel" during a fencing contest would cover only a single attack, not a series of thrusts, feints, and parries.

Finally, every third Skill Die purchased allows for an additional attack or parry.

In theory, this is a pretty fun mechanic that makes up somewhat for both the rather restrictive critical hit mechanic and for the generally low Action scores. However...

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Playtest: ...in practice, it tends to slow down the action as players roll their dice one at a time in an effort to change failures into successes (or the other way around, in the case of an opponent's action). The tactical thinking that went into every task caused those tasks to lose the hyperkinetic "GO! GO! GO!" feel of pulp action.

* * * * *

In addition, insofar as this is an entertaining mechanic, it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to keep Skill Dice out of the hands of new characters.

Now, on to Tricks.

Unlike Feng Shui Schticks or Adventure! Knacks, these are abilities that, for the most part, may be used only once per adventure -- a kind of "smart bomb," for you aging Defender fans out there. On the flip side, many of them result in an automatic success of some sort -- an automatic attack or parry, an automatic survival of a fall, an automatically correct "lucky guess," etc. Some of these seem especially genre-appropriate -- "Fast Learner," for example, which allows the hero to suddenly figure out how to do something in the heat of the moment, such as fly a plane. However, the once-per-adventure restriction seems a little jarring for some of these abilities -- "Grab," for example, which lets the hero grab an object with an entangling weapon. ("Indy, save us!" "Sorry, doll. Already used my whip to swing across a chasm once this trip.")

Again, I don't see a point to keeping new characters from purchasing these abilities.

* * * * *

Playtest: And, in fact, I didn't. At least, not after the first session. Due to these rules that don't come into play until characters start to advance, I ran one session with a character fresh from creation and a second one with that same character and an additional one both "artificially" advanced. I also made use of the alternate rules for creating more competent starting characters featured on the Torchlight Games web site.

I'll get into the results in more detail in the combat section, but suffice it to say that the improvements made the characters more competent without making them overwhelmingly powerful. At the very least, it moved them into the range at which they'd actually consider performing pulpy stunts -- something that the book unrealistically expects beginning characters to do. Would you try jumping over a 300' deep chasm with a 35% chance of success? I know I wouldn't…

* * * * *

The Resources options seem entertaining, although I didn't get around to trying them out. The section offers detailed rules for purchasing and/or creating contacts, patrons, vehicles, and headquarters. The latter, especially, looks like loads of fun, with the opportunity to determine your HQ's location (including underwater!), defenses, and general facilities. I also like the efficient descriptions of patrons, providing vital information about their power and influence at a glance.

The Player's Job

Just one page worth of tips for Danger Quest players. The advice is good, although once again, the exhortation to players to have their characters "try anything" rings a little hollow given their incompetence at lower levels.

Danger Quest Combat

Combat is fairly straightforward. Initiative goes in Reflexes order, with or without separate 1d10 rolls added to the scores on each side. Characters get to take all of their actions on their turns, but…

Baring the use of special skills, powers, or skill dice in excess of two, only one attack is allowed per round.

Parries and dodges take up actions, so it's unwise to burn all of one's actions at once if it can be avoided.

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Playtest: These rules together are a big reason why I didn't find my two pumped-up PCs to be unbalancing. Put more than one opponent against a single hero with a limited number of actions and he's quite likely to be faced with some attacks against which he can't defend.

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Incidentally, while a successful dodge negates all damage, a successful parry -- armed or unarmed, and irrespective of the item used to parry -- blocks 1D6+1 points of damage. And while a Smashing Success on a dodge means that the dodge doesn't take up an action, a Smashing Success on a parry results in a free riposte. Of course, a free riposte doesn't do you much good if you've been splattered by the attack. The gist of all this is that there's relatively little incentive to parry if you've got the Dodge skill.

In a nod to cinematic action, characters can perform "Complex Actions" (multiple skill checks for a single action) or targeted attacks (with an increased difficulty) to earn superior outcomes. The bonuses earned are left almost entirely up to the GM, with the only guidelines being offered by way of example. (For example, a villain kneeing a hero in the crotch at a -10% penalty for a +2 damage bonus and no Defense score if he connects. Ouch!) While I like this flexibility, it does mean that the GMs who care anything for consistency will find the need to record the penalties and perks they attach to specific maneuvers. ("What do you mean, '-20% to hit and no Defense score' for a crotch hit? Last time, you said '-10%, 3 damage!'")

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Playtest: This was mostly a moot point in my game. Once again, the low ability scores of the characters sabotaged the expected over-the-top action. In the first session with the newbie character, I practically begged her player to have her try some stunts. The player looked at her scores in the 30's and said, "Nuh-uh, nuthin' doin'." In the second session with the advanced characters, however, this same player was willing to try a targeted shot -- a crotch shot, in fact, which allowed me to use predetermined penalties and bonuses from the example in the book.

* * * * *

Damage for everything other than artillery and explosives is a 1d6 added to a damage rating -- either a fixed rating (in the case of ranged weapons) or Brawn/10 with a possible modifier. In either case, that makes the damage for an "average" weapon -- a light pistol or a sword, for example -- roughly 3 + 1d6. Since the typical starting PC is going to have around 13 Grit and 3 Defense, a completely average PC can take several hits from a typical weapon without dipping into Luck points or Wounds. (For the record, artillery and explosive damage is rated in multiple D6's.)

Smashing Successes on attacks allow the attacker to do an extra 1d6 of damage, open-ended. (Ordinary damage rolls do not open-end.) Because Skill Dice cannot be used to create a Smashing Success, this means that such devastating attacks are going to be pretty rare and that massive damage depends more on brute force and Luck Points than it does on skill. (True, Skill Dice may be traded for damage dice, but since base chances are so low, they're far more likely to be needed to produce a hit in the first place.)

And speaking of massive damage, damage in excess of half of a character's total Grit is a "Whomping Blow" that requires a Brawn roll to stay conscious. Since Brawn rolls, like other Basic Attributes, run on the low end of the spectrum, this makes getting knocked out a very likely result of a Smashing Success.

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Playtest: Combat moves fairly swiftly, which is a good thing -- especially for the genre.

So far, I've run one combat each for the single starting PC and the two advanced PCs. Both involved LACkey thugs -- three against one in the first instance, four on two in the second.

Neither combat took over 30 minutes, although both were pretty hard-fought. The opposition for both was roughly the same in ability. The main difference between the two was in the amount of Luck spent. In essence, the more advanced characters needed less Luck to produce the same result. (Keep in mind that the advanced characters were seventh level.) That's a somewhat disturbing trend, since it would seem that less experienced characters will end up burning their precious Luck points early on in the game -- especially defensively. And since Luck points are determined randomly, that would further suggest that player survivability is mostly random.

I should also point out that the second combat was the first combat from the adventure included in the rulebook (see below) and that it took just a little over half the number of rounds the adventure anticipates. While that could be attributed entirely to the increased ability levels, most of the successes and failures would have been successes and failures even for the pre-advanced PCs, the enemies fell prey to a string of Bungles, and the toughest opponent went down to a Smashing Success. (Again, keep in mind that Skill Dice have no effect on Smashing Successes.)

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Vehicle Chases

The bad news -- if you consider it to be so -- is that Danger Quest rules for vehicle chases and combat involve a lot of detail. The good news is that they seem to cover just about any situation, from fancy maneuvers of all sorts to hazardous road conditions to the effects of various types of collisions involving vehicles and objects of almost any speed, size, and durability.

One minor annoyance: The basic mechanic isn't applied consistently here. For example, when parrying in melee combat, a normal success blocks 1D6+1 points of damage and a Smashing Success earns a free riposte; yet, when parrying in vehicle combat, a normal success blocks 1D6 points for every 10 points of success and a Smashing Success blocks all damage. This abandonment of the basic 4-tier success level continues on the Maneuver Failure table, which inserts five degrees of failure where there otherwise would be only failure or Bungle.

On a brighter note, the Thrilling Chase Terrain table provides a quick randomized way of adding those delightful complications that plague any good cinematic chase, be it by land, sea, or air, without breaking the flow of the action or requiring a preordained sequence of events. (Of course, most of the "by air" terrain requires that the chase is taking place near the ground.)

Money & Equipment

This chapter starts out with the practical application of the Class attribute as it affects a PC's finances and lifestyle, including ways in which Class may be increased and some good suggestions about how heroes can make ends meet while they're off being heroic.

In one particularly nice touch, the game actually makes the Accounting skill attractive even to munchkins: Accountants, being better money managers, get more pocket cash.

Another nice touch is the "Happy Coinky-Dink" rule: With GM approval, PCs can coincidentally ("coinky-dinkally") have all manner of minor knick-knacks on hand, such as matches, pen knives, or flashlights. This keeps players from sweating every little purchase.

And speaking of purchases, there are plenty to be made. In addition to weapons and armor, the Call of Cthulhu-like equipment list includes housing, fashion statements, fine dining, and an extensive list of adventuring essentials.

The weapon stats could use some work. For example, while the text elsewhere in the book references laser weapons, they aren't on the list. Not unless the Bluefire Blaster Pistol and Bluefire Blastrifles are lasers, that is; but since these weapons aren't described, I have no idea if that's what they are. And speaking of the Bluefire weapons, the rifle and pistol stats are identical aside from range and ammo capacity. That doesn't seem right to me.

This chapter also covers land, air, and water vehicles, the majority of which are Bluefire models. In the case of cars and ships, this means that they're actually hovercraft. In the case of aircraft, this means that they're capable of extreme speeds and vertical launch.

A nice bit of color text accompanies each entry. Some more specifics that may have seemed obvious to the authors need inclusion, however. For example, why are non-Bluefire cars ethanol based, while non-Bluefire aircraft are solar? Are all the aircraft prop planes, or are Bluefire planes the equivalent of jets? If all Bluefire crafts hover, what keeps Bluefire cars from driving over water and Bluefire ships from sailing over land? And if all Bluefire planes are VTOL craft, what’s the point of the Bluefire helicopter?

Gadgets & Inventions

Gadget creation in Danger Quest is a detailed but not overly complex process. The inventor decides if his invention falls under the category of Combat, Movement, Skill, Vehicle Upgrade, Specialty (to simulate a power), Computer, Robot, or Future Science, then determines what bells and whistles it should have. The inventor then consults the appropriate table to establish the required skills, cost, and number of parts, with the latter determining the time required to build the thing. The actual roll to build the gadget uses only the Inventor skill; the "required skills" simply subtract 20% from this roll for each one the inventor doesn't have. The margin of success on this roll also determines the chance of the device malfunctioning on each use.

It's a pretty solid system overall. And for those put off by the complexity, the chapter suggests allowing the GM to simply assign the costs in time and money and an appropriate difficulty modifier to the Inventor roll.

In addition, requirements for scientific skills may be replaced with Transcendent Power skills to allow for the creation of magic items -- a very simple solution, not unlike that used in the supers game Blood of Heroes.

And speaking of Transcendent Powers...

Transcendent Powers

Another highlight of the game.

"Transcendent Power" is the catchall term for every paranormal power in the setting. There are five Power Paths -- Body Mastery, Divine, Domination, Magical, and Psychic -- each with its own governing skill. Every power falls under one or more of these Paths, depending upon its source -- a shapechanging power granted by God would be Divine, while the same power activated with a spell would be Magical, for example. Powers also come in three levels of mastery: Apprentice, Superior, and Supreme.

Powers cost variable amounts of Mana (mystical power) and require skill rolls of varying difficulty. Apprentice-level powers have a flat 20% penalty to the skill roll. Superior powers are average (name notwithstanding) and are the minimum level at which Skill Dice may be used for powers. Supreme powers cost less Mana, can be used on multiple targets, increase the chance of a Smashing Success from 10% to 20% of skill, succeed on what would normally be a failure, and fail on what would normally be a Bungle. Basically, when it comes to Transcendent Powers, the rich get richer.

* * * * *

Playtest: That -20% penalty for Apprentice-level skills really caught me off guard. One of my players had to bump up a power that already has a -20% difficulty modifier to Superior just to be able to use it at all.

We also noticed that unless you roll or choose a Vocation that offers free power choices as part of the package, such as Mystic Magician, Inspired Holy Man, or Psychic Detective, powers are unlikely to be more than a sideline for your character. They're simply too costly to purchase more than two or three of them. Of course, that's true to the genre -- it's not as though the Shadow was a walking arsenal of psychic abilities.

* * * * *

Despite the fact that each power is fairly specific, the sheer number of powers is large enough to cover an admirable range of abilities. And the Power Paths broaden that range just a little further, since different Paths applied to the same power will give it different restrictions and a different "feel."

In addition, a power may be purchased as Innate. This makes the power Superior but eliminates the need to spend Mana on it -- in effect, a superpower. The fact that Innate and Superior powers cost the same amount makes the choice between them rather obvious one, except for the fact that allowing Innate powers is left up to the GM's discretion. (But then, so is the inclusion of Transcendent Powers in the first place.) One irritant: There's no suggestion regarding how to use Innate versions of Transcendent Powers with variable Mana costs.

Game Mastering Basics

Tips for good GMing in general and good Danger Quest GMing in particular. Most of it is solid advice, albeit nothing new to even moderately experienced GMs. The tips on running a pulp game are especially good, however -- the suggestion for causing an individual prop to steadily grow as a threat during a fight, for example.

The 10 Golden Rules of Danger Quest

This is a really oddball chapter. The 10 Golden Rules are a mix of rules recaps (e.g., Smashing Successes and Luck Point use), new rules (e.g., spending Grit to modify rolls), and GMing tips (e.g., "be fair," "keep the action flowing"), the latter of which really should have been in the previous chapter.

Exploring Tests

Despite the name, this chapter doesn't deal with the tests PCs will face in the process of exploration; rather, it's a deeper exploration of tests, as in die rolls. In that regard, it does a good job of covering the situations that come up in just about every game sooner or later: spotting traps and lies, hauling around equipment, breaking and entering, and so on.

The Perils of Adventure

A chapter covering pretty much every hazard other than combat, from sleep deprivation to falling rocks and from getting scared to getting sloshed. Once again, the book's big strength is in its scope. I was particularly pleased with the inclusion not only of fear rules, but also rules for dealing with stressful situations (like defusing a bomb) and for going berserk (like after your PC sees his sweetheart pistol-whipped). Madness is covered only in general terms and is left mostly up to the GM's call when a hero Bungles a Fear check -- probably a good idea for a game focussed on high adventure pulps rather than those of the weird horror variety.

Common Knowledge

Social Skills in Danger Quest

These two chapters deal with knowledge/information gathering and interaction skills, respectively. In both cases, the information is presented in a notably more concise fashion than it is in other chapters, and without new permutations of the basic mechanic.

NPC's in Danger Quest

In contrast to the previous two highly focussed chapters, this one touches on several topics that seem to belong in various other chapters. After several basic-but-useful tips on making NPCs memorable, the chapter goes into more detail about Contacts, Patrons, NPCs and combat, and animal NPCs.

In particular, the information regarding NPCs and combat really, really should have been included in the "Danger Quest Combat" chapter. The facts that minor NPCs do not have Wounds, do not usually parry, and can be assigned a "K.O. Number" -- the amount of damage the NPC can take in a single blow before being taken out, a la Feng Shui's mook rule -- are rather vital in making even remotely pulpy combat survivable for the PCs.

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Playtest: The three thugs besetting the newbie character in my first trial combat were actually superior to her in combat ability. Were it not for the fact that the thugs didn't parry, even her Luck Points might not have been enough to save her.

* * * * *

The animal rules do a good job of distinguishing animals from human NPCs and evil monsters. One oddity, though: While minor human NPCs don't have Wounds, minor animal NPCs don't have Grit. Huh?

Enemies of Freedom

I know I've been pretty hard on Danger Quest, but I do have to give it this much: When it comes time to bust some heads, this game offers some quality heads to bust. And that, of course, is what this chapter's for.

In addition to the various permutations of the aforementioned Aztexicans, CreePs, and LACkeys, the chapters provides stats for the Thug-like Minions of Pashnu; the bearded, brutal Kurssaks (Danger Quest's answer to the Cossacks); Vice Vegas gangsters; murderous Rogue Bots; New Frontier Banditos; and a handful of all-purpose pulp nasties: the Big Tough Pugilist, the Evil Cult Priest, the Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist, the Corrupt Political Official, and the Murky Monster from Below.

Danger Quest Bestiary

Ah, still more heads to bust. Lots and lots of heads. In some cases, more than one per body, in fact. In an extremely generous bestiary consisting of stats for over eighty creatures, the book covers birds and other flying creatures; insects and other creepy-crawlies; water creatures; killer plants; mammals; reptiles (with particular attention paid to snakes, of course…); monsters and mutations (including dinosaurs, mammoths, two-headed tigers, and a sandworm look-alike); unearthly spirits (including demons and ghosts); and the living dead (including skeletons, ghouls, mummies, vampires, wights, zombies, and fell birds, which bear a remarkable resemblance to Warhammer carrions… yeah, these guys have definitely played some WFRP, I'm thinking…).

World Guide

And now we come to the point at which Danger Quest truly shines. I have described the game's setting to my friends as a kind of Pulp Disneyland, offering up locales that are loving, almost whimsical tributes to just about every archetypal pulp setting this side of Flash Gordon. (The latter, apparently, will have to wait for the forthcoming Danger Patrol.) For example, you've got a "Tarzanland" (the Tanglelands), a "Shadowland" (Mugland), a "DocSavageland" (Megatropolis), a "Gangsterland" (Vice Vegas), a "Gadgeteerland" (Gateway), a "Lovecraftland" (Fog Harbor), an "OldWestland" (the New Frontier), and a "Naziland" (Uberland, home of the CReePs), just to name a few.

What the setting lacks in historic resonance -- after all, who doesn't want to bash some "real" Nazis every once in a while? -- it gains in flexibility. The world's had one hell of a makeover, so who's to say that there aren't dinosaurs in what used to be Montana, for example?

The only real flaw to this approach is, once again, in the setup and its links to the "real world" of the past, and the information on technology and everyday life at the end of the chapter only reinforces this. Beyond the reworked geography, I got no real sense of a "post-apocalypse" setting. There's little mention of the ruins of the pre-apocalypse world -- it seems that old cities were either swept clean off the map, completely rebuilt, or left practically untouched. In fact, the most notable ruins seem to be the same sorts of ancient ruins that already exist today -- the Great Pyramids, for example.

And the technology of the "pre-pocs" world offers some problems of its own. Namely, what was it like, and how did it compare to the 2335 state-of-the-art? The book mentions intrepid scientists struggling to unearth the secrets of the past, but how many of those secrets are actually worth the effort? And how much has already been unearthed? A popular form of entertainment in 2335 is the black-and-white holographic movie. Is that pre- or post-pocs tech? Why is it only black-and-white? And are color two-dimensional movies a lost technology, or merely an outmoded one?

What I would like to see is the link to the pre-pocs world made either stronger or weaker. Either emphasize the pre-pocs remnants and their impact on the world of 2335, or else make the pre-pocs world a complete enigma and give the state of things the "just because" explanation that, for all practical purposes, they already have. I think the former approach would take more effort, but the results could be awfully cool: Imagine a "Thundarr the Barbarian"-style setting, but with two-fisted pulp action replacing the dark age fantasy elements. Of course, the latter approach would do a better job of dealing with the seemingly inexplicable 1930s attitudes of the world's populace.

Putting it All Together

An example of play using the sample character from the character creation chapter. Fairly useful, since the lack of guidelines governing stunts makes any examples of them in play valuable.

Danger Quest Adventure

Like the setting itself, the included adventure, "Prisoners of the Red Isle," has a great premise with an awkward setup. Swipe white text below for adventure spoiler details:

For some unknown reason, the PCs have all decided to take a rather circuitous route from the League of Albion (England) to Megatropolis (New York) -- as the adventure begins, they've just completed an ocean voyage from the LoA to Ol' Delta (New Orleans) and are about to take commercial sol-bi flight to Megatropolis. Why they didn't just take a cruise directly to Megatropolis rather than sailing thousands of miles out of the way isn't at all clear.

At any rate, LACkey hijackers commandeer the plane, and after a fight that (due to a bit of railroading) will result in both the death of the pilot and the crippling of the sol-bi, the PCs will crash-land on an uncharted volcanic tropical island. (As an aside, we're to believe that a stray shot causes the solar-powered aircraft to get a fuel leak. Talk about "raining sunshine"...) The adventure seems to assume that the PC group will include a pilot. If it does not, whichever PC bravely takes the controls had better either get really lucky or be prepared to burn a Miracle.

The PCs and their fellow castaways -- a corpulent scientist, a cowardly but good-hearted gambler, and a blonde bombshell stewardess -- will trek across the island, fending off jungle cats, being captured by and escaping from a tribe of savage birdmen, and finally discovering and destroying the LACkey missile base that was the destination of the hijackers.

Despite its flaws, this is a rollicking adventure in the finest two-fisted tradition, putting me in mind of some of TORG's finer moments. (And anyone who knows how I feel about TORG can tell you that this is high praise indeed.)

STYLE

The cover sets the tone perfectly, with a trio of heroes holding off a squad of CReeP goons on the shattered street of an art deco metropolis under assault by a giant art deco robot. Although the interior art varies in quality, as the art in game books with multiple artists is wont to do, most of the art is very good. And the color illustrations of several vocations and vehicles are simply stunning. The images of the Shadow-like Masked Vigilante and of the stylish Hudson Bluefire Sedan are particular favorites of mine.

The writing has an infectious gung-ho enthusiasm about it, throwing around phrases like "Enemies of Freedom!" until I was ready to don a mask and leap through a skylight, twin .45's blazing.

The layout needs serious work, however. In particular, the use OF all manner OF emphasis STYLES within the same paragraph grows seriously annoying. And, in general, the pages just look too busy.

And the editing… Good God, the editing. I honestly cannot believe that someone with the title of "editor" ever took a look at this book. There are literally errors on almost every page. In fact, pages without errors were particularly noteworthy.

I'm talking misspelled words. I'm talking table columns out of alignment. I'm talking inconsistent capitalization between headers. I'm talking inconsistent capitalization within headers. I'm talking a creature that the Bestiary places in South America showing up to menace Alaskans in the World Guide. (If you think I'm exaggerating, eleven single-spaced pages of errata await your reading pleasure at the company's web site.)

On the bright side, the book does include an index.

CONCLUSION

Danger Quest is a hefty book detailing a great idea that begs for a better execution. The first step would be cleaning up the copious errors and the layout, of course. A better handling of the setting's link to the pre-apocalypse world would help as well, as would more streamlined rules. But more fundamentally, I just don't share the game's philosophy that pulp PCs should start out weak and work their way up to the level of true pulp heroes. If I wanted to play a chump, I wouldn't be playing a pulp game in the first place.

Nevertheless, I got a real kick out of the setting and definitely plan on using it in some form in the future. I'll just be using a different system and pulp-competent heroes.

SUBSTANCE:

Setting

Quality = 4.5

Quantity = 4.5

Rules

Quality = 2.0

Quantity = 5.0

STYLE:

Artwork = 4.0
Layout/Readability = 2.5
Writing = 3.5
Editing = 1.0