The Inside Scoop on Gaming

City of Gloom is a boxed set detailing the city of Salt Lake in the Deadlands universe. Let me explain - no that would take to long, let me sum up: Wow! Pinnacle has again lived up to their reputation for top-notch products. City of Gloom was an easy (and mostly fun) read, it rounded out the continuing story in the Weird West, and provided the GM with LOTS of ideas, plots, and hooks. While it is a regional sourcebook, CoG is an enhancement to the entire DL setting

Disclaimers This is a copy of CoG that came out at Origins. These copies didn't come with some sort of cardboard thingies that will be included in the regular release (and will be mailed to the people who bought CoG at Origins). Since I don't have them and don't even know what they are, I didn't mention anything about them. While I've tried to avoid mentioning anything that might give away plots or otherwise ruin the story for the players, something might have slipped by. So if you would rather wait until your marshal springs these things on you, you should skip the rest of this as some spoilers might have slipped by.

Strengths City of Gloom might have also been called Tales of 1001 (Smoggy) Nights. There was an immense amount of plots, hooks and twists that came up. It seems that every place either has or could have a story behind it. The hook was often nothing more then a single phrase in the paragraph. All of the major plots are described in the marshal only section, and only about half of the minor ones are treated. A player reading the marshal only section will not have advance info on everything.

City of Gloom also greatly rounds out and enhances the overstory in the Deadlands Weird West. It doesn't forward the plot - so don't think you have to buy it to "keep up" with the story line - but it does a fantastic job of rounding out the overall setting. Darius Hellstrome (named Damien by some lesser papers - nice touch that, Shane) is no longer a cardboard villain. He is the Dr. Frankenstein of the Deadlands world, advancing science without regard for the consequences. And like Mary Shelly's scientist, this villain is being set up for a great tragedy when he finally has to confront what his actions have caused. IMHO - this is a better story line then that of the typical mad scientist. City of Gloom has several other great story lines (as opposed to plots and adventure hooks) that make the supplement a great read, and ties the reader into wanting to know just where the setting will go. Bottom line on this point - the story elements are great, but they are not required to keep up with events in the Deadlands setting.

Weaknesses I could see no major weaknesses in the product.

Minor Strengths

There was a noticeable difference between the player's and the marshal's sections. I was unable to guess at the truth of the story by reading the Player's sections. I wouldn't hesitate to slice the binding off of the edge of the book and hand the player's side to my players as a guide to Salt Lake City in the Weird West. It doesn't give anything away and usually the true story is far more interesting then the rumors and speculations given.

A few old friends and an old enemy make a return appearance. Hank Ketchum, Van Helter and his "special friend" are all name dropped within the book, and one of the plots introduced deals with an old enemy encountered in an earlier adventure. If you'll pardon the colloquialism - "Bonus Coolness, dude." This ties in with the point I make below about the tight story line in the DL world.

Like I said earlier, I didn't even miss the cardboard thingies. When they do come out they can only enhance the value of the box, whatever they are.

The box has two booklets describing new types of powers - steam-tech body augmentation and the mixing of mad science and hexes. Both power types have some fairly stringent controls on them and in general they add to the Weird West atmosphere.

City of Gloom comes with it's own board game. Skullchucker ala GW's Bloodbowl. No mini's are included, but hey - it's free. So grab some mini's and some dice and start tossing skulls man.... It's easy, it's fun, and it's (I just can't say this enough) free. (The map for the game is the backside of the city map, and the rules just took up four pages in the main book.)

Minor weaknesses

Despite all the raving I've done about the product, I find the $30 price tag to be fairly steep. I know, I know... costs this and quality that, but for me, a $30 product is not a casual purchase and it will slow down when I can buy this product.

One thing I didn't like was how the Mormon's faith protects them from the soot and grime of the factories - without any form of real explanation as to why? It mentions that only those who have levels of faith in Mormonism can ignore the effects of the soot and pollution and from that we can infer that the pollution is a tangible evil coming from the Reckoners. Okaaaayyy... But other Blessed and those people with faith are affected by the soot, black lung disease, etc. This issue wasn't spelled out in black and white in the marshal section and leaves several questions unanswered, and not in a "cool lets have a mystery to be resolved later" type of unanswered, but in a "this makes no sense what are they thinking?" kinda way.

For a town based on the guiding principles of Mormonism, there certainly are a lot of blood sports, even in the Junkyard. It feels that the inclusion of Skullchucker (though it is free) was just an "artificial" addition to the setting just to throw in a boardgame styled game. (Still, the game is free.)

Other

More of a comment on the Deadlands universe in general, but City of Gloom shows that the people in charge of Deadlands know exactly where they want to go with the story, that they've always wanted to know, and they are doing their best to get there. This is the first RPG I've seen where the story came before the game. IE - other games that I've played has built the game and the story evolved from there, often giving me the impression of a rudderless ship - the story goes this way and that with no known goal. City of Gloom leads me to suspect just the opposite with DL. It feels like the story came first both beginning and ending, and the RPG grew to support it. Good job Pinnacle and Shane.

In the category of Well-you-asked-for-it-now-here-it-is.... When I first got into the game, I mentioned on the listserv that I thought Pinnacle was being too politically correct in side-stepping several issues from the era - notably prejudice and slavery. A choice that was made because such issues just are not fun and do not lead to an enjoyable game. That is certainly not the case in City of Gloom. They didn't sidestep many issues around the Mormons with both good and bad aspects of their past being directly addressed. I probably would not have even noticed except that a friend pointed out how unhappy the local Mormon gamers might be with this. Personally, I thought it was a fair and respectable treatment of Mormon history without whitewashing history. But I don't have a personal stake, nor am I knowledgeable about this period of history. Take it for what you will.

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

City of Gloom
Author: Shane Hensley Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Cost: $30.00 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-889546-24-0 Capsule Review by Allan Seyberth on 07/23/98. Genre tags: none	City of Gloom is a boxed set detailing the city of Salt Lake in the Deadlands universe. Let me explain - no that would take to long, let me sum up: Wow! Pinnacle has again lived up to their reputation for top-notch products. City of Gloom was an easy (and mostly fun) read, it rounded out the continuing story in the Weird West, and provided the GM with LOTS of ideas, plots, and hooks. While it is a regional sourcebook, CoG is an enhancement to the entire DL setting Disclaimers This is a copy of CoG that came out at Origins. These copies didn't come with some sort of cardboard thingies that will be included in the regular release (and will be mailed to the people who bought CoG at Origins). Since I don't have them and don't even know what they are, I didn't mention anything about them. While I've tried to avoid mentioning anything that might give away plots or otherwise ruin the story for the players, something might have slipped by. So if you would rather wait until your marshal springs these things on you, you should skip the rest of this as some spoilers might have slipped by. Strengths City of Gloom might have also been called Tales of 1001 (Smoggy) Nights. There was an immense amount of plots, hooks and twists that came up. It seems that every place either has or could have a story behind it. The hook was often nothing more then a single phrase in the paragraph. All of the major plots are described in the marshal only section, and only about half of the minor ones are treated. A player reading the marshal only section will not have advance info on everything. City of Gloom also greatly rounds out and enhances the overstory in the Deadlands Weird West. It doesn't forward the plot - so don't think you have to buy it to "keep up" with the story line - but it does a fantastic job of rounding out the overall setting. Darius Hellstrome (named Damien by some lesser papers - nice touch that, Shane) is no longer a cardboard villain. He is the Dr. Frankenstein of the Deadlands world, advancing science without regard for the consequences. And like Mary Shelly's scientist, this villain is being set up for a great tragedy when he finally has to confront what his actions have caused. IMHO - this is a better story line then that of the typical mad scientist. City of Gloom has several other great story lines (as opposed to plots and adventure hooks) that make the supplement a great read, and ties the reader into wanting to know just where the setting will go. Bottom line on this point - the story elements are great, but they are not required to keep up with events in the Deadlands setting. Weaknesses I could see no major weaknesses in the product. Minor Strengths There was a noticeable difference between the player's and the marshal's sections. I was unable to guess at the truth of the story by reading the Player's sections. I wouldn't hesitate to slice the binding off of the edge of the book and hand the player's side to my players as a guide to Salt Lake City in the Weird West. It doesn't give anything away and usually the true story is far more interesting then the rumors and speculations given. A few old friends and an old enemy make a return appearance. Hank Ketchum, Van Helter and his "special friend" are all name dropped within the book, and one of the plots introduced deals with an old enemy encountered in an earlier adventure. If you'll pardon the colloquialism - "Bonus Coolness, dude." This ties in with the point I make below about the tight story line in the DL world. Like I said earlier, I didn't even miss the cardboard thingies. When they do come out they can only enhance the value of the box, whatever they are. The box has two booklets describing new types of powers - steam-tech body augmentation and the mixing of mad science and hexes. Both power types have some fairly stringent controls on them and in general they add to the Weird West atmosphere. City of Gloom comes with it's own board game. Skullchucker ala GW's Bloodbowl. No mini's are included, but hey - it's free. So grab some mini's and some dice and start tossing skulls man.... It's easy, it's fun, and it's (I just can't say this enough) free. (The map for the game is the backside of the city map, and the rules just took up four pages in the main book.) Minor weaknesses Despite all the raving I've done about the product, I find the $30 price tag to be fairly steep. I know, I know... costs this and quality that, but for me, a $30 product is not a casual purchase and it will slow down when I can buy this product. One thing I didn't like was how the Mormon's faith protects them from the soot and grime of the factories - without any form of real explanation as to why? It mentions that only those who have levels of faith in Mormonism can ignore the effects of the soot and pollution and from that we can infer that the pollution is a tangible evil coming from the Reckoners. Okaaaayyy... But other Blessed and those people with faith are affected by the soot, black lung disease, etc. This issue wasn't spelled out in black and white in the marshal section and leaves several questions unanswered, and not in a "cool lets have a mystery to be resolved later" type of unanswered, but in a "this makes no sense what are they thinking?" kinda way. For a town based on the guiding principles of Mormonism, there certainly are a lot of blood sports, even in the Junkyard. It feels that the inclusion of Skullchucker (though it is free) was just an "artificial" addition to the setting just to throw in a boardgame styled game. (Still, the game is free.) Other More of a comment on the Deadlands universe in general, but City of Gloom shows that the people in charge of Deadlands know exactly where they want to go with the story, that they've always wanted to know, and they are doing their best to get there. This is the first RPG I've seen where the story came before the game. IE - other games that I've played has built the game and the story evolved from there, often giving me the impression of a rudderless ship - the story goes this way and that with no known goal. City of Gloom leads me to suspect just the opposite with DL. It feels like the story came first both beginning and ending, and the RPG grew to support it. Good job Pinnacle and Shane. In the category of Well-you-asked-for-it-now-here-it-is.... When I first got into the game, I mentioned on the listserv that I thought Pinnacle was being too politically correct in side-stepping several issues from the era - notably prejudice and slavery. A choice that was made because such issues just are not fun and do not lead to an enjoyable game. That is certainly not the case in City of Gloom. They didn't sidestep many issues around the Mormons with both good and bad aspects of their past being directly addressed. I probably would not have even noticed except that a friend pointed out how unhappy the local Mormon gamers might be with this. Personally, I thought it was a fair and respectable treatment of Mormon history without whitewashing history. But I don't have a personal stake, nor am I knowledgeable about this period of history. Take it for what you will. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)