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The CAH core book unabashedly clones many popular 80s cartoons for its series guides, and Darkness Unleashed is no exception. The heroes of the setting, the Dark Brigade, are clearly modeled after G.I. Joe. All the characters have various military specialties and a collection of cool vehicles and equipment at their disposal. The villains, however, are a bit different than G.I. Joe’s nemesis, Cobra. In Darkness Unleashed the bad guys are called the Brotherhood of Death and they represent an alliance between such dark creatures as vampires, wolfmen, zombies, ghouls, mummies, and more. Supernatural though they may be, they still take advantage of modern technology and so it wouldn’t be unusual to see a wolfman with a submachine gun or a goblin piloting a jet fighter.
Book Organization
Channel One: Introduction: This two-page channel includes designer’s notes and an account of the inception, life, and eventual cancellation of a fictional 1980s cartoon series called Dark Brigade. This account is mostly inconsequential as far as the actual setting goes, but it’s an entertaining tale of creator disputes, licensing issues, and marketing ploys. Chances are you’ll recognize bits in this account that actually happened to one of your favorite cartoons, comic books, or even role-playing companies.
Channel Two: Players Briefing: This channel has four pages and opens with a brief introduction to the setting and then has notes defining the elements of the action/horror genre and how to play it properly. It then goes into character creation, including a few new Traits and some quickstart rules for making a character in the minimal amount of time. It wraps up by describing many common military specializations that you might choose from, including possible Traits or Special Abilities that might fit that specialization. Some example specializations are Close Combat, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Heavy Weapons, Infiltration, Medical, and Undead Extermination. There are 12 in all, but they’re only examples--you’re free to create anything outside of those defined concepts.
Channel Three: The Dark Brigade: This channel runs 11 pages and begins with a history of the Dark Brigade. This includes the discovery of supernatural threats, the organization of a United Nations team to deal with them, early encounters with the Brotherhood of Death, and the capture and conversion of its leader General Steven Syn into the very nemesis of the Brigade, the cybernetic vampire Lord Syn, leader of the Brotherhood of Death!
The channel then details the different protocols that the Dark Brigade follows and their relative priority. For instance, protecting humanity is of higher importance than capturing the enemy for interrogation. After that, there’s a discussion of the military ranks used by the Brigade and some medals handed out for bravery and exceptional service.
Next is a discussion of two sometimes-allies of the Dark Brigade. EVE X is a secret organization of women that can trace its roots back to the Knights Templar. They practice white witchcraft to protect and aid innocents. There was recently a power struggle within their group when Duchess Lillith became their leader and began to twist their noble charter into something more sinister. She was deposed and is now actually a member of the Brotherhood of Death, but there are still those within EVE X who think she was on the right track. The other group mentioned is the Order of the Peaceful Dragon, a secret order of Buddhist and Taoist monks who protect Asia from the evil Order of Charr.
Then we get an overview of the Dark Brigade headquarters, which on the surface appears to be an unremarkable dairy farm. Fans of G.I. Joe will remember that their headquarters, The Pit, was hidden beneath an innocent-looking chaplain’s assistants school. The parallels are strong here. What looks like a barn is actually an armory, and what looks like a farmhouse actually contains briefing rooms, computer rooms, and a prison. The farm’s silo is actually a heavily armed defense tower. Not far from the farm is a druidic stone circle that was there long before the Dark Brigade moved in, and can be used for plot hooks involving mystical PCs or events in your campaign.
Finally, the channel lists standard Dark Brigade equipment. This includes several types of standard firearm as well as specialized weapons such as the Fairy Dust grenade, which erupts in a cloud of silver flakes which are especially harmful to wolfmen, and the Sun Gun, which fires an ultraviolet laser with which to handle vampires. After the weapons is a list of miscellaneous gear including electro gills, demolition kits, stealth suits, and so on. The last two pages detail some of the Dark Brigade’s vehicles. These include speedboats, armored personnel carriers, missile platforms, and attack helicopters.
Channel Four: Dark Brigade Roll Call: These nine pages detail the main protagonists of the Dark Brigade. These can be played as a quick way to get into the game, they can be NPC support for the PC group, or they can be completely supplanted by the PCs. Each of these characters comes with a default writeup, and then options for making them more- or less-powered as suits your campaign.
First is a description of General Anthony Cannon, commander of the Dark Brigade, who was second in command to Lord Syn before he was turned into a vampire and took control of the Brotherhood of Death. Next is the Native American spiritual soldier Thomas “Lightning Claw” Dobbs. Other characters include Nikita V, the current leader of EVE X, Navy SEAL Christopher “Sharky” Malone who bears more than a passing resemblance to the character Shipwreck from G.I. Joe, and Tasha “Boom Boom” Brendikov, a Russian mechanic and demolitions expert. In all, 7 characters get full writeups and then there are 6 additional characters described in brief. The team hails from a variety of countries, giving it an international flavor befitting its United Nations sponsorship.
Channel Five: Gamemaster’s Briefing: This three-page channel focuses mainly on embracing the action/horror genre, giving tips on the morality and optimism of the setting as well as other factors. The setting is a bit darker than the typical 1980s cartoon series, and this is reflected in a few fairly violent pieces of art scattered throughout the book. This channel gives several suggestions on how to favor action over horror in your campaign, if the dark elements don’t appeal to you. There are also tips on emphasizing the horror aspect if that’s more what you’re after. There’s a discussion about how to handle the military rankings of various PCs, pointing out that rank wasn’t necessarily strictly followed in 1980s cartoons and shouldn’t cause higher-ranking characters to overshadow their subordinates. Finally, there are suggestions on how to fit the players into the existing Dark Brigade structure.
Channel Six: Brotherhood of Death: This channel runs seven pages and opens with a history of the organization, starting with its inception by the ghoul known as Deacon Death. He was the mastermind behind capturing General Steven Syn and transforming him into the cybernetic vampire known as Lord Syn. However, Lord Syn conspired with other members of the Brotherhood and overthrew the Deacon, who know is held as a prisoner and used in an advisory capacity. Following the history is a discussion of the Brotherhood’s structure and its ranking system. Next is an introduction to the Order of Charr, a loosely affiliated group run by the undead sorcerer Amhotek who has a long-running struggle with the Order of the Peaceful Dragon.
Next is a discussion of the various supernatural races. These include: Zombies, both shamblers and nobles; Ghouls; Gillmen, an evil amphibian race who have bio-engineered mighty sea creatures to do their bidding; Vampires, both European and Asian; Wolfmen; and Goblins. Each section discusses the appearance and special abilities of each, as well as a possible Goon Factor range if you’re using the goon rules from Cartoon Action Hour appendix 1. For example, shambler zombies usually have a Goon Factor of 2 to 7 depending on the size of the mob. It even gives possible bonuses and restrictions to apply to such a mob. In the case of shambler zombies, the book suggests giving them the Relentless bonus and the Slow restriction. Some cases, such as Asian vampires, are never found in goon squads and are always fully fleshed-out characters. At the end of this section is a discussion of witches, mummies, and golems, all of which don’t really qualify as races but which the Dark Brigade may encounter as well.
Ending this channel are writeups for some Brotherhood vehicles including an armored motorcycle, a battle tank, and a huge flying fortress known as the Death From Above.
Channel Seven: Brotherhood Members: These nine pages include writeups and backgrounds of prominent figures within the Brotherhood. First up is Lord Syn, cybernetic vampire and leader of the Brotherhood. Also included is: Commander Warfang, who leads a wolfman cell known as The Pac; Duchess Lillith, the witch who once led EVE X; The Haunter, a noble zombie who used to be a member of the British aristocracy; and Waubok, leader of the gillmen. In all, we get 8 complete writeups as well as 3 additional characters covered in brief. As with the Dark Brigade writeups, each comes with options for a higher and/or lower powered version.
Channel Eight: Special Abilities: Special Abilities (SA) are one of the core elements of Cartoon Action Hour, and define all the unusual powers that make each character unique. To some extent, they’re analogous to powers in most superhero RPGs. This two-page channel discusses how to handle special abilities in Darkness Unleashed. The main emphasis is on equipment as SAs, pointing out that equipment purchased with character points should be considered an inherent part of that character and they should have that gear returned sooner or later. It’s a familiar distinction to players of various superhero RPGs and other point-based character creation systems in general, but it’s one that can be confusing to new players. Also discussed in this channel is Mad Science and Magic.
Channel Nine: The Series: This seven-page channel describes the entire 13-episode first season of the Dark Brigade cartoon series. In game terms, this is a collection of 13 adventure seeds (or 12, if you consider that the first storyline encompasses two episodes). The adventures follow a standard format which includes one paragraph describing the adventure and then a few paragraphs of notes which give tips on how to handle things, possible complications, and so on. Many of these adventures are recognizable as 80s cartoon staples, such as the one in which a character is replaced by an evil clone in order to subvert the heroes from within.
Following these brief adventure seeds is a discussion of possibilities for Dark Brigade: The Movie. As discussed in the Cartoon Action Hour core book, “the movie” is usually a ratcheted-up version of the cartoon series in which the stakes are higher and it’s quite possible that characters could die or the series could be irrevocably changed. G.I. Joe: The Movie and Transformers: The Movie are two real-life examples that come to mind.
After this is a two-page complete episode (adventure) called The Eye of the Nile, which involves the Order of Charr as well as several members of the Brotherhood of Death.
Appendix One: Recommended Sources: This one-page appendix includes sources for further inspiration. These include cartoons such as G.I. Joe or The Real Ghostbusters, movies such as John Carpenter’s Vampires and Men In Black, and role-playing games such as Delta Green. I would have to add the 1990s comic book Wetworks (published by Wildstorm) to the list, as it is possibly closer to the Dark Brigade concept than any of those listed, even G.I. Joe!
Review
I really like the concept of a secret war between legions of monsters and a hidden military arm of the United Nations. I can easily see this theme as an actual 1980s cartoon, so it’s not much of a stretch at all for me to accept this setting. I’ve been a fan of G.I. Joe since the 1980s cartoon, and I think the inclusion of supernatural enemies just makes the concept even more exciting. It does seem a bit bizarre imagining a goblin piloting a high-tech fighter jet, or a crew of zombies racing into battle on an assault tank, but that over-the-top feel is exactly what 80s cartoons were all about.
My biggest criticism of the book is that the channel order is completely backwards. First they give you the solution to the problem (the Dark Brigade), then they tell you how to tweak the problem to your own tastes (the Gamemaster channel), and only then do they state the problem. I found this problematic as I was reading, since I didn’t really understand the scope of the threat or the abilities of the main antagonists. I think the Brotherhood of Death should have been covered first, followed by the Dark Brigade, and finally the GM section with advice on modifying the setting.
Second, I feel like there’s not enough detail. I have trouble saying that because I really am a fan of this short format. I love the idea of spending a few hours digesting 64 pages and having a complete setting to play, as opposed to many other games where you spend countless hours poring through hundreds of pages, only to forget what was at the beginning by the time you make it to the end. However, almost every channel of Darkness Unleashed left me with unanswered questions.
For example, the cover art clearly shows some nameless grunt soldiers fighting on the side of the Dark Brigade, but they are never mentioned inside the book. I wanted to know who they were, how to handle them (good guy Goon Factor?), and so on. Also, the book states that the Brotherhood of Death has taken over the fictional South American nation of Santa Cisco, but this conflicts with the fact that most of the world’s population has no idea that these supernatural creatures even exist. So it’s not clear if the Brotherhood is the actual government of Santa Cisco, which would seem to bring them into the public eye, or if they control it from the shadows using human puppets to hide their presence. Things like this are left for the GM to define, which means one Darkness Unleashed campaign might vary wildly from the next.
The “not enough” criticism also extends to the vehicles. In the 80s, I watched the GI Joe cartoon, read the comic book, and played with the toys. Both G.I. Joe and their enemy, Cobra, are largely defined by all the cool vehicles at their disposal. However, the Darkness Unleashed book only gives a small sampling for each faction. I was hoping to see a lot more vehicles for varied terrain types and situations (i.e., a swamp buggy, an arctic snow tank, and so on).
But really, these are holes easily filled by GMs who want these components. In one sense, depending on your GMing style, these gray areas might actually be seen as strengths in the product. Like the brief adventure seeds in channel 9, the book gives you the framework of the setting but allows for plenty of room to make it your own.
Miscellany
The art in Darkness Unleashed ranges from mediocre to really good. I think the cover is very evocative of the setting and 1980s cartoon feel, but the best art in the book is probably the various vehicles. While there aren’t enough of them, and in some cases I’d prefer them to be more over-the-top and less like real designs, what we do have looks really neat. I especially like the Icarus air transport plane and the Skullsplitter anti-personnel tank. Overall, my complaint with the art would be the same that I have with the core Cartoon Action Hour book – not much of it feels like it was actually peeled off my TV screen during a Saturday morning cartoon marathon. A lot of it is just fine as far as RPG art goes, but I’d like to see the artists strive more for the look and feel of the cartoons that are the game’s inspiration. When a piece of art does capture this feel, I think it goes a long way toward envisioning the way the game should be played, with the proper 1980s action cartoon mindset.
The layout of the book is clean and easy to follow. My only complaint would be a personal pet peeve – I hate when a character writeup begins in the middle of a page because it’s harder to locate it on the fly. But there are many sourcebooks like this in my RPG collection, so I can’t really fault Darkness Unleashed for it. The writing and editing was also fairly solid—the only typos that come to mind were a few misuses of the apostrophe and maybe a few other minor issues that wouldn’t be caught by a spellchecker.
Conclusion
Darkness Unleashed presents a really exciting Series for your Cartoon Action Hour campaign. By making it a bit grittier, maybe using the increased horror suggestions in the Gamemaster section, it could easily be played as a more serious campaign setting without any of the 1980s cartoon trappings. While 64 pages isn’t enough to plumb every hidden corner of the setting, it is still a complete work that can be digested in a relatively small amount of time, getting you into play quickly. Darkness Unleashed is definitely worth a look if you’re interested in a more light, perhaps family-friendly take on creatures of horror and the fearless soldiers who keep them from overrunning the world.
