HeartQuest is a taste that is an acquired one, much like hard core dungeon crawling or Vampire LARP. It runs to three types of gaming in its present unrevised form; gaming where the personal relationships of the characters are emphasized over plot (oddly Star Wars or Evangelion comes to mind given the fast and furious combat system of their take on FUDGE), the Magical Girl setting that they unquestionably own despite BESM attempts to the contrary, and hard core Shoujo manga. Hardcore Shoujo manga is girly....and I mean drooling over Justin Timberlake, my niece on the phone, power whine to go to the mall girly. At first glance the premise of Livin' on a Dream seems to promise this will be a supplement catering to the hard-core shoujo manga girly crowd.
I mean no offense but listen to this premise...
"Livin' on a Dream follows four high school girls as they attempt to win the Under Sixteen hip-hop dance competition and thwart the villainous plans of the Sea Demons, a local bosozoku gang."
Words cannot describe how much that made my hands leap off the download button for the e-book. I live in constant fear of my nieces visits and have suffered permanent mental damage for them. Could there really be someone insane enough to actually to make an RPG product about playing giggling school girls that aren't going to be attacked by monstrous tentacle beasts or wearing cute sailor uniforms?
Apparently so but there's surprisingly a lot to go for this supplement that overlooks its seeming serious premise.
Some facts however before we proceed with this review about the book itself....
Livin' on a Dream is a color illustrated e-book with 70 pages and available from RPGnow.com website for 7.00. Its prohibitive cost for an e-book is worth it in my opinion for several reasons but I should mention I was given a free copy.
For those interested in purchasing it, it is here...
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2400&
Chapter One: City Guide
My favorite parts of HeartQuest's "shoujo settings". Like their supplement "Musical Mistresses" did Yokohana, this book details a setting different from the Tokyo landscape that so pervades anime. Instead the setting this time is the island of Fukuoka and Fukuoka City, which is described in a manner that invokes sort of a Japanese Southern California. It creates a fictional beach-side area for the setting but describes it as a combination of several real places and gives a good if brief description of local history and feel.
I got plenty of ideas for using the place as a setting for other games and retooled it that night for my Buffy the Vampire Slayer one-shot.
Chapter Two: Characters and Role-playing
The cast of Livin' on a Dream is displayed here and essentially unlike the electric but insane cast of the previous book, they seem to be very well fleshed out but entirely normal high school girls and boys that just happen to be in the unusual professions of a popular pre-teen local band/obviously much older motorcycle gang. Perhaps a little too much attention is given to the hormone-laden nature of the girls, that's to be expected of their age.
I must admit I found the gang-members much more compelling than the girls in this respect and aside from the obligatory crushes they seemed like they could actually be menacing and interesting villains/helpful canon fodder in another game.
Another useful thing that's rare in HeartQuest books is the inclusion of generic stats for citizens. Tourists, children, police officers, and general adults are given write ups which proves a fairly good boon I found since I hate stats and HeartQuest devotes so much of its time to fully fleshed out NPCs. The section rounds off itself discussing sexuality, cultural mores, violence in the game, and the realism element....which was a nice touch of the author.
Chapter Three: Sandy Beach Area
The fictional section of Fukuoka City the characters are meant to operate from is well described in this section. The author takes care to detail all the locations you would expect teens to be able to hang out at, and it comes off with the impression of a waterfront tourist trap mixed with a place that people actually live in. A few of the locations also exist strictly to evoke emotions in the characters when they pass by it such as the wedding chapel. I give credit to the author that this place proved remarkably effective for the session I used it for and I may use it again. It also gives plenty of information on beaches should I ever need to run a game involving surf culture.
Probably the best section of the book writing wise.
Chapter Four: Campaign setting
The section of this book also includes something I'm pleased to see out of a D&D book in the form of random events catered to the area. They are quite useful for invoking the background and giving town events to provide backdrops for character relationships. I've always had an exceptionally hard time invoking "flavor" in my games beyond plot and that the world moves around the character. The book even provides a FUDGE system for managing weather!
It also includes a number of 'scenarios' (as opposed to adventures since the characters don't have to involve themselves at all-even if a few do have some exciting plots like a crazed psychotic fan) for ready to play introspection. The characters really jump off the page here and we get the feel how the author intended them to be used, it would have made a fairly tolerable movie even for a guy who can't usually stand coming of age films (apparently the mood the author is invoking for the story).
One more thing of note in this session is the author addresses the potential fates ala "American Grafittee " of characters and while Vietnam doesn't exactly loom, its interesting to read this part.
Chapter Five: Extras
Probably the most useful section for a Heart Quest fan this section adds a number of 'crunchy' rules for romance in the world of Heart Quest including several new gifts and skills for use in this type of role-playing. It also supplies a number of ready made maps of the area and they are very well done. The glossary of terms are nothing new to a person familiar with Japanese culture but give a number of elements that will make it easy to simulate living in Japan. The Bibliography mostly is about Japanese music and invoking the feel of the singing lifestyle. A comment on the art, I think its extremely well done and among Seraphim Guard's best but I can't say I especially like some of the character's appearances which while faithful to actually how kids look/dress...is a bit sexualized for how I like my books on 15 year olds. This is a bit of a personal preference and I'm probably blowing it way out of proportion....it is but a small part of a world that is beautifully brought to life in the art.
7/10
I was going to give it lower but I have to say the teeth clenching premise "hip hop singers vs. gang" was actually a very small part of what is in fact a setting designed more to the theme of West Side Story, American Graffitee, and other works. Essentially its about people entering an unfamiliar world and being swept away by it. I commend the author for a good job of invoking that feel even if I wouldn't exactly run that with my group instead of "All Flesh must be Eaten".
The book's weather rules, FUDGE rules for romance, random events generator, certain characters, and advice on role-playing high school and pre-high school life I think personally were quite well done. I intend to one the psychotic fan scenario this weekend actually with the gang member made into Lost Boys style Vampires with only a little adjustment.
The fact I got use out of the supplement raises it high. Usually I get nothing from what I buy.
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