The starship slowed to approach speed as it neared space station Alpha. The captain and crew had been in space for seven long years and had finally reached the end of its journey: orbit around the planet Epsilon Six. Here, they would indulge themselves in all manner of relaxation, shaking off the cold darkness of space.
Aww, who am I kidding. I’m being all wet here, jawing like I know that whole “Sci-Fi”hooey. That load of applesauce is the kind of junk flat tire’s like to sell to the janes. What I know, old boy, is that there ain’t no crazy space ships, their ain’t no robots around every corner and what there is, I don’t need to go getting my wiggle on with.
Welcome to Midway City, a place where science fiction meets pulp fiction. Where speakeasies live alongside of laser pistols. Where gin, gams and gats come alive next to genetically modified humans, cyberware and an oppressive dictatorship that makes Prohibition the least of your worries.
When I first read materials about Midway City, I was concerned that it might be a bit heavy handed, too thick with references to a history that I was unfamiliar with. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the world was very easy to immerse myself in. The background material was simple enough to understand in a short read through, but had enough meat to it that I still managed to get more out of it on my third read through.
The next thing I ran for was the character creation process, easily the biggest and most potentially dangerous part of any RPG. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to take my standard, comfortable half an hour to create a fully fleshed out character. I could have easily taken longer if I’d wanted to read more carefully the different options open to my rumrunner/smuggler or I could have taken less time and been done in a dizzying ten minutes.
The game system was where I went next and having read through it there’s some things that set Midway City apart from other gaming systems. For one, there is a gritty, pulp novel feel to the action systems. You either make it or you don’t. And when you don’t, things get ugly real fast.
Speaking of getting ugly real fast, the combat system is crazy too. With an emphasis on fast, brutal action, most combat actions are resolved in one or two rounds, and that’s multiple attackers on multiple targets, everyone gunning for everyone else. Two good gunshots can take down the average human, easy. I saw a combat in one of the games I played in where a normal human was taken down in two blows from a larger opponent’s fists. This helps recreate the brutal, realistic feel of pulp novels where gangsters and g-men often clashed for dominance in the bullet ridden streets of cities. Just like in Midway City.
The different options for character races are pretty open as well, having less of a feel for the “big brutes”, “wise spellcasters”, “technogeeks” sort of thing and much more open ended character archetypes. Without giving too much away, there are mystics who are deadly in combat, thugs who keep their cool in social situations and even mutants with strange and odd powers that run the gamut of all things strange and wonderous.
Speaking of magick, there is quite a bit of that too running around. Start with one of the right races and you can learn mystical martial arts type powers or to manipulate the alternate reality, otherworldly stuff known only as The Jade.
The game system is as elegant as I’ve seen, allowing for quick results in a very cinematic manner using a variety of mechanics that revolve around the use of what is known as Sugar, a concept I’ve not run across before in any other game.
Sugar is used to provide a specific storytelling tool used frequently in film. Just in the nick of time, the hero finds his gun, gets that lucky shot in on the bad guys, happens to have the location of the jade figure, catches the eye of the right moll, etc. You earn Sugar when you complete goals, it is awarded by the game master according to accomplishments, hooks and other mechanics used during gameplay. Sugar can then be spent to either increase your character’s statistics on the sheet or it can be used for cinematic effect during gameplay. The other characters can even spend Sugar for you to help the story along.
All in all, Midway City offers quite the tasty little gameplay package, full of nutrients and vitamin joy. With a background world rich and full of interesting stuff, a system that is streamlined and very realistic as well as a character generation process that is as complex as you want it to be, Midway City offers plenty of bang for your buck.
So listen up you: don’t be a lollygagger or a killjoy and drag your feet. If’n you don’t run out and buy Midway City, I’m gonna ventilate you but good, spewin metal from my heater. If you do go get it, though, the sheilas are gonna come running for the new sugar daddy in town, and you’re gonna be just jake.
