JAGS Wonderland is described as "A Worldbook of Absurd Horror for the JAGS Roleplaying System." In this review, I'll actually be covering both the main JAGS Wonderland sourcebook and its companion, The Book of Knots, since both are necessary to get the complete picture (the author describes the two books as forming a continuous whole). Both can be downloaded free from www.jagsrpg.org. The distinction between the two isn't as simple as "player's book" and "GM's book" or "rulebook" and "setting book"; the main book mostly consists of GM and setting information, while The Book of Knots gives a more in-depth look at the personalities and power players of Wonderland.
I must point out that I've never read the core JAGS rules, nor has what I've seen of the system (in Wonderland and elsewhere) done anything to interest me in doing so. However, most of Wonderland is free of game mechanics, so it could easily adapted to other systems.
Overview
The premise of Wonderland is deceptively simple, but difficult to explain succinctly. I'll give it my best shot. Note that due to the nature of the setting, wherein a large part of the horror may come from not knowing what's really going on, the rest of this review should be considered spoiler material.
Reality consists of several layers, or "chessboards", numbered 0-7. The "top" layer, which is the world we know, is "Chessboard Zero", and the lower levels (collectively referred to as "Wonderland") are warped reflections of it – the lower you go, the more warped it gets. People on Chessboard Zero cast "Shadows" onto Chessboard One (and sometimes Two and Three). Some people – including the PCs – become "Infected" with Wonderland, which causes them to have periodic "Episodes" where they "slip through the cracks" onto the lower levels. When this happens, their Shadows change places with them (a Shadow is referred to as a "Reflection" when it's on Chessboard Zero). Most people don't have a clue what's really going on; they, and the people around them, usually think they're going crazy. While you're having an Episode, all the people around you (actually, their Shadows) seem to be acting crazy, while to the people up on Chessboard Zero, it's you (actually, your Reflection) that looks like the crazy one.
As if that weren't bad enough, there are things down in the lower levels that sometimes come up to the "shallow waters" of Chessboard One, and can cast Reflections up on Chessboard Zero (which may be tangible objects or beings, or may consist of poltergeist effects or simply a "negative aura"). If you're Infected, some things you do (mainly during Episodes, but also when trying to resist an Episode) may attract "Notice", which can be a Very Bad Thing. On the whole, the setting has a rather Lovecraftian feel to it.
There's actually not much in the main book that directly ties it to Lewis Carroll's works. Sure, there's talk about "chessboards" and "falling down the rabbit hole", but these are purely metaphorical terms. Nor is it particularly absurd (in fact, "absurd horror" better describes some of the elements in JAGS HaveNot, a seriously weird post-apocalyptic setting). It's not until you get to The Book of Knots that Wonderland really starts to live up to its name.
Contents
Wonderland isn't divided into chapters, exactly, but rather topical sections. Since some topics are much broader than others, this means that the sections are of wildly uneven lengths. The organization of Wonderland is unusual for a game book; there's hardly any info on character creation or specific gamemaster advice until quite late in the book. This isn't necessarily a mistake, since the nature of the setting is such that it needs to be thoroughly explained up-front. However, it does mean that it's not the sort of game you can pick up and get right into playing. If you're not prepared to slog though the entire book before starting a game, you're not going to find Wonderland very useful.
The book opens with three vignettes intended to introduce the premise and mood of the setting, followed by a summary of important concepts that are "safe" for the player to know and another, much longer vignette. The next section goes into detail about the effects of "Unsanity", as it's called in the book ("You aren't insane because you aren't losing your grip on reality... reality is losing its grip on you"). It describes the stages of Infection, how it's spread, what triggers Episodes, what happens when you have one, and so forth.
After this comes an overview of the different Chessboards. The last three are described in less detail than the others, but explored more fully in The Book of Knots. One thing seems slightly contradictory: although supposedly almost nobody understands the true nature of Wonderland (and those who do are very secretive about it), there are references in this section to "reports" about Wonderland phenomena and people who've "studied" them.
The next section addresses Twists: physical changes that result from exposure to Wonderland (and which usually manifest only in Wonderland). Mutation is hardly a novel idea in gaming, of course, but it's interesting to see it used in this context, and it's thematically appropriate. This is the most rule-heavy section of the book, as it offers a smorgasbord of Twists for players (or GMs) to choose from. Each is linked with some (usually undesirable) character trait; for example, someone prone to making cutting remarks may literally acquire a barbed tongue. Ironically, becoming Twisted has the potential to make the game less horrific as PCs become more powerful and thus less helpless. The GM is advised to tailor the acquisition of Twists to the desired tone of their game.
Following this is an overview of how particular groups on Chessboard Zero, such as underground support groups and the mental health system, attempt to deal with Infection. The final section gives GM advice concerning Wonderland campaigns. There aren't any starting scenarios per se, but there are several examples given of the types of games that can be run with Wonderland, and the way they might progress. (There is an adventure, The Loss Specialist, available for download from the JAGS website.) There are also a few bits of basic character creation info and a glossary of terms.
The Book of Knots is where the real "secrets" of the setting are revealed. After an introduction explaining the history of the universe, the powers-that-be of Wonderland are described: their identities, their agendas, and their conflicts. It's not really a spoiler to reveal that there's a civil war brewing between the Caretakers, who want to preserve the status quo, and the Deconstructionists, who want to reshape it. Keep in mind that this is the status quo of Wonderland we're talking about, not the "real world" as we know it. Neither goal is particularly pleasant for humans; these aren't "good guys" and "bad guys". The Caretakers view humans as a threat to the status quo, while the Deconstructionists view them as potential tools in achieving their goal. (It's a shame that there's only a handful of Deconstructionists described, compared to three times as many Caretakers. I would've liked to see more of the former.)
Some of the entities described here are taken straight from Lewis Carroll, while others (e.g. the Polytician, the Liebrarian, and the Typeist [sic]) are new. The author's interpretations of the familiar characters are quite interesting; my favorites are the Caterpillar (aka the Examiner), the Walrus (aka the Hypotherapist) and the Cheshire Cat. The new characters, although they don't have the resonance of familiarity, are interesting in their own right and fit in fairly well alongside the others, although a few seem to owe more to Kafka than to Carroll. However, some familiar faces are absent – there's no sign of the Tweedle brothers, the Lion and the Unicorn or the White Knight, while the March Hare gets only a single-line mention. (The Mad Hatter, sadly, has neither an illustration nor a stat block.)
One intriguing concept that's introduced in The Book of Knots is that Wonderland operates according to the laws of literature rather than the laws of physics. Instead of gravity and electrons and magnetism, the underlying forces and elements are themes and motifs and symbolism. This is the key to understanding the motivations of the Caretakers and Deconstructionists (as much as one can understand an immensely powerful and alien entity). Each of them is the director and star in their own personal drama, and if you get too close you may be sucked in and expected to act out a role in it.
After this introduction to the power players of Wonderland, we get an overview of the organizations that carry out their agendas on Wonderland Zero (and those that oppose them). These are fairly typical conspiracy-theory fare, except that their goals are basically insane by human standards. The following section contains background and rules for Magicians, individuals who tap into and manipulate Wonderland (including their own Shadows).
Next is a more detailed look at Chessboard Seven, which is home to the Department of Works, the cosmic "machinery" that creates and runs the rest of the universe. Here we learn "the true, hidden nature of the universe," although the author emphasizes that "What follows are our answers. They don't have to be your answers." Last but not least is a bestiary of creatures native to Wonderland. Roughly a third of these are inspired by "Jabberwocky", such as the bandersnatch, borogoves and the moam raths [sic].
JAGS Wonderland clearly isn't a game for beginning players or GMs, but for those with experience in running games of psychological horror, the setting overflows with potential. Familiarity with the JAGS system isn't necessary; I suspect that it would be a cinch to convert to, say, the nWoD system or Call of Cthulhu.
Style
Wonderland is written in an easy-to-follow, conversational style which conveys the atmosphere well. The text flows in a logical order for the most part, although a few things are mentioned before they've been properly introduced (e.g. Disassociation, Naughts), and it isn't explained at all what it means to be "heavy" (p. 99). Both PDFs are thoroughly bookmarked, and the Tables of Contents are equally thorough and hyperlinked. It's too bad there's no index, but there's really not much need for one (if all else fails, you can always do a word search).
Unfortunately, the editing in Wonderland is below par. There's a multitude of typos: errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation; words run together; inconsistent capitalization; and several instances of "I do not think that means what you think it means" (such as "steaks driven through the stomach", "interred in an asylum", "the conflagration of events has meaning", "he is dispossessed towards not seeing them destroyed", "angles of death", etc.). Some of the misspelled words (e.g. phycisist, vengance, precieve, myShaodw, distains) strongly suggest that nobody bothered to run Wonderland through a spell-checker, which is a shame considering how much hard work obviously went into creating it.
The layout leaves something to be desired as well – the main body of the text is arranged in a single column spanning about two-thirds of a page, with the remaining space used for sidebars. However, since most pages don't actually have sidebars, this results in a lot of "wasted" space. There are also a number of "orphaned" and "widowed" lines (i.e. one line of a paragraph or table is split from the rest by a page break), and some places where the text overlaps with the border art (although the border is faint enough that it doesn't interfere with reading, so it's only a minor irritation). A few subheadings aren't properly highlighted or separated from the previous paragraph. Worst of all, the introduction to "Wonderland Creatures" (p. 29-30 of The Book of Knots) simply breaks off in mid-sentence.
The artwork, on the other hand, is terrific, particularly for a free game. There are about a dozen credited artists, but I could only identify three distinct styles in the main book. My favorites are the pieces by Eric Lorfgren, which look like high-quality black & white illustrations from a slightly surreal children's book. There are also a number of computer-generated color plates, which I found less attractive and less appropriate to the themes of the book. Finally, there are a few pencil or ink sketches which tend to be more explicitly horrific. The Book of Knots has more color illustrations in a greater variety of styles, from storybook to photorealistic.
One final note: though it doesn't identify itself as such, Wonderland is clearly intended for "mature audiences". Besides the horror themes, there's also a smattering of crude language. Oh, and one of the examples of Twists is "Obscene Tentacles". Thankfully, with a few minor exceptions, the artwork isn't at all gruesome (I don't particularly enjoy looking at gruesome images), nor does the writing contain graphic violence or sexuality.
Aside from the editing errors, Wonderland is well-written, the setting oozes atmosphere, and it has great illustrations. Even after losing a point for the bad editing, it still earns a 4 for Style. As for Substance, there's a lot of meat here. If the author had provided more advice on how to actually run a game, and more detailed descriptions of the geography of Chessboards Five and Six, I 'd probably have given it a 5.
