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Fans of “indie” games with interesting, narrowly focused mechanics will love DRYH, as it’s exactly the sort of tightly-built game that excels at what it’s setting out to do. However, those who are interested in more traditional RPGs may not enjoy this product.
The Physical Thing
This 82 page black and white softcover showcases average production values for its $15.00 price tag. While it is short, this product is well written and easy to read. Frequent examples, excellent editing, a useful index, and a rules summary that makes the game a snap to run all make this a fantastic product. This book is 6x9, which means it’s somewhat larger than a paperback novel but smaller than a standard RPG book.The art is of Average quality at best. It takes up significant space and is often ambiguous, but through it all the art is very atmospheric and maintains a creepy dream-like perspective in the mind of the reader.
The Ideas
For one reason or another your character has been up for some time… days at least, perhaps longer. Eventually something just clicked in your head and you became Awake, able to see the secret paths to the Mad City all around you. Strange creatures that violate the laws of reality began to appear, some helpful but most harmful. A path is laid out for you through this strange land, there’s something you must do, and throughout it all you’ll be fighting against madness and exhaustion. Can you save yourself, finding or fixing that thing that has kept you awake so long, without crashing from exhaustion or spiraling into madness?Under the Cover
The RulesCharacter creation begins with the player answering five important questions: What’s been keeping you awake? What just happened to you? What’s on the surface? What lies beneath? What’s your path? First, these questions offer roleplay guidelines for the player. By writing down an answer the player has a deeper understanding of the character they intend to portray. Second, these questions tell the GM what the character is about. They set up the first scene of the game and give an idea of what sort of challenges the player is interested in. Finally, the questions indicate what sort of resolution to the character’s problems the player is interested in. This lets the GM know where to take the game.
Upon answering these questions a player has three more things to do. First, they must choose an exhaustion Talent. This is anything a normal person could do, which the character does supremely well when they’re tired. Shooting Guns, Running Fast, Mental Calculation, just about anything a player could come up with. The player then chooses a madness Talent. This can be anything, especially something along the lines of a dark superpower. Teleportation, Hypnochondria, Telepathy, Mental Blasts, Fire conjuring, Shapeshifting – anything the player can dream up will work just fine.
Finally, the character has three Response boxes. The player should label each of these “Fight” or “Flight” to represent how the character tends to deal with conflict. When the character fails an action the GM may either check off one of these boxes (forcing the character to either Fight or Flee) or give the character an extra die of exhaustion. These boxes are also checked off when Madness dominates (see below).
Mechanically this is a d6 dice pool game, with three different colors of d6 representing Discipline, Exhaustion, and Madness respectively. The GM rolls a number of Pain dice (all a GMs dice are Pain dice) depending on how difficult the task is. Any die that turns up 3 or less is a success. The highest die rolled (with the next highest from the same pool resolving ties) Dominates the action. When Exhaustion dominates it adds another Exhaustion die (which can not be easily removed from the pool). When Madness dominates things get more chaotic for the character, and a response (fight or flight) is checked off. When Pain dominates a coin is added to the Despair Bowl. When Discipline dominates, everything stays the same and the task is resolved with focused skill.
Once Exhaustion dice are added to the pool, they stay there until an event removes them. Madness dice may be used in any number every round.
In addition to the dice pool, coins are used as well. When Pain dominates a coin is added to the Despair Bowl which the GM may spend to manipulate die rolls. Once the GM spends a Despair coin it moves to the Hope Bowl, where it may be spent by the players for a few benefits. Once the Hope coin is spent, it is removed from the game.
Example: James is trying to beat a Paper Boy to death. He has 3 Discipline dice, 2 Exhaustion dice, and chooses to use 1 Madness die on his roll. The GM is rolling 2 Pain dice for the Paper boy. James gets 2d, 3d, 5d, 5e, 6e, 1m. The GM gets 1p, 4p. James has a total of three successes against the GM’s one, a resounding success. Exhaustion controls the action, since the 6 on an Exhaustion die was the highest value rolled. The GM knows this means James got tired during this action (perhaps using a bit of overkill to take down the Paper Boy) and because of this James adds another Exhaustion die to his pool (now he has to roll 3 Exhaustion dice).
In general, characters want to fight against Exhaustion and Madness. If the character gets too much Exhaustion they fall asleep, which often results in death as Nightmares seek them out. If all their Responses (fight or flight) get filled in then the character snaps, going mad for a short period of time and losing a die of Discipline for a die of Madness. Should all three Discipline dice be lost, the character becomes a Nightmare permanently.
However, the more Exhaustion a character has the more powerful the Exhaustion Talent is. The Madness Talent requires rolling 1 to 6 Madness dice, based on the potency of the ability (using Fire Throwing to light a candle or throw a fireball). In either case the character risks Exhaustion and Madness to use their unique gifts. Exhaustion and Madness may be added to normal rolls as well, giving players incentive to risk their character’s well being in order to accomplish important goals.
That is the core of the system. The advancement rules are simple. Every session the character gets a Scar based on what happened. “Couldn’t find my lost love” could be a Scar. These Scars may be invoked once per session for a bonus, or they can be erased from the character sheet for a major character change (switch out a Madness Talent, etc.).
The Setting
The Mad City. It lurks just out of sight, hidden from us because of our dreams. To stay Awake is to see the doors, windows, and alleys that lead to a world beyond our imagination. The Mad City is something of a dream world, filled with people that have clocks for heads and exchange coins filled with memories. It’s a very creative setting with a lot of bizarre and extremely flavorful denizens. The product provides about 18 pages of setting, and the nature of the setting is such that it’s very easy for a GM to think up other strange and nightmarish adversaries to fill the city with.
My Take
I’ve only had the opportunity to run DRYH once, but we all had a good time with it. The game is very flavorful, and the way the mechanics work results in players taking the biggest risks when something really important is on the line. The dream-like hidden world is fun, and encourages everyone to use their imagination throughout a session.This is a narrowly focused game. It wont serve as a generic system, as the rules are tailored to provide a specific sort of roleplaying experience. If you’re looking for a fast paced game where character creation and a full session can be resolved in three hours then this is a fantastic option. Fans of dream-like horror and other strangeness will love this setting.
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