Layout and Art
Against the Darkness is light on art, but heavy on atmosphere thanks to inventive use of fonts, page borders, and callout boxes. In-game fiction and GM-advice essays are presented inside faux-parchment borders, with the creepy addition of increasing numbers of flies drawn on the page. Short quotations from various translations of the Bible appear in a striking combination of fonts in white-on-black callout boxes. In my favorite touch, the Roman Rite of Exorcism and a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel are spread throughout the book, a couple lines appearing at the bottom of each page. As already mentioned, actual art is sparse, and primarily consists of drawings or public-domain images of various types of crosses. The cover image deserves mention, however: it depicts a man and a woman, both in Roman collars and leather jackets. He packs a pistol, she a sword. They stand in a darkened church, a brilliant stained-glass window casting an ominous shadow behind the man. I presume these are the signature characters, Catholic priest Fr. Pietro Venditto and Episcopal priest Angela Danvers.
Opening Material
On the title page, alongside the credits, is an “In This Book” section describing some of the thinking that went into the system and setting. A disclaimer points out that the game does not accurately reflect the beliefs of any existing church.
Following the table of contents is an essay from “The Evil Overlord,” the alias of co-author Daniel M. Brakhage. It describes the basic premise of the game and suggests ideas that players might explore, then concludes by suggesting that the dark world of the game might not be entirely unreal. I’m not sure if this last bit is supposed to be encouragement to gamers to take on their characters’ courage and oppose the evils that exist in the real world, or a rather awkward presentation of the author’s belief in a spiritual or supernatural reality.
Finally we get our first fiction piece, introducing the Revs. Venditto and Danvers as they search a creepy tomb for a pair of missing children, an episode that turns out to be a post-traumatic flashback of Venditto’s.
Chapter 1: Basic Game Mechanics
The first chapter jumps right into character creation. Characters in Against the Darkness are defined by Attributes, Resolution Dice, Skills, and Miracles.
The four Attributes used in the game are Corpus (Body), Mentus (Mind), Spiritus (Spirit), and Fidelis (Faith). Each Attribute has both a score from 1-7 and an associated Resolution Die, either a d4, d6, or d8. The scores may be rolled randomly or purchased with a pool of 10 points (with a score of 1 in each Attribute being free). The player then apportions Resolution Die values of d4, d6, d6, and d8 among the Attributes. Some players will combine their highest score with the d8 Resolution Die, while others will compensate for a low score with a higher Resolution Die value. The important thing to remember at this stage is that human Justiciars can only learn Miracles based on their d8-rated Attribute.
Each Attribute has an associated list of Skills and Miracles. Like Attributes, these are ranked from 1-7. A character with a Skill or Miracle at 7 can purchase up to 7 additional ranks in Specializations, which apply only to a narrowly-defined range of tasks within the overall purview of the Skill or Miracle. A pool of 30 points is spent on Skills and Miracles, with the latter costing twice as much to buy. A Miracle’s rank is also the number of times per day it may be used for free, with additional uses causing damage to either the Corpus or Fidelis scores depending on the Miracle.
Basic task resolution is pretty standard: Add together the rank of the appropriate Attribute, Skill, and any applicable Specialization, then roll and add the result of the associated Resolution Die. The goal is to beat a target number based on the difficulty of the task.
Combat, as usual, adds a few wrinkles to the standard resolution system, but not many – this is definitely a rules-light game. Initiative is handled by opposed rolls of the Speed Skill. Any successful attack does 1 point of damage to either the Corpus or Fidelis score of the target, depending on whether it’s a physical or psychic/spiritual attack. Different weapons and types of armor add up to 7 points of “advantage” to attack or defense rolls in specific circumstances: rifles give an advantage at long range, for example, while silver bullets add another +1 advantage to that of the gun when used against demons or lycanthropes.
A short section on Character Improvement rounds out the chapter. Successful adventures earn characters additional Skill Points with which to buy new Skill, Miracle, and Attribute ranks.
Chapter 2: Skills and Miracles
As the title indicates, this chapter is taken up with lengthy descriptions of the various Skills and Miracles available to characters, including lists of suggested Specializations and sample tasks at each level of difficulty.
Skills are very broad, covering such realms as “Combat” and “Hard Science.” Elements sometimes covered by other systems in more detailed games, such as Wealth, are treated as Skills here. Likewise, special tricks that might be bought as separate advantages or feats in another game are handled as high-difficulty tasks involving the relevant Skill. Thus, it is a “Wondrous” difficulty Combat task to never run out of bullets or produce a hidden weapon even after being searched thoroughly.
Miracles cover a wide range of supernatural powers, from the explicitly Biblical to the more generally paranormal or even comic-booky. Corpus Miracles include not only enhanced strength and endurance, but pyrokinesis and shapeshifting (though that last one is noted as occurring more often among the supernatural foes of the Justiciars). Mentus Miracles range from telepathy and unnatural genius to occultic magic and the animation of objects. Spiritus Miracles cover divination, telekinesis, and insubstantiality. Fidelis, which has no mundane Skills but only Miracles in its list, is home to the most “religious”-themed Miracles, including exorcism, dominance over nature or animals, “empathic”-style healing, and direct manifestations of divine wrath.
Were I to run Against the Darkness, I would be strongly tempted to remove some of the seemingly out-of-genre Miracles or restrict them to NPC demons. Then again, sample character concepts for the game (discussed later) do explicitly include people with paranormal powers who don’t necessarily believe they’ve received divine gifts, as well as supernatural creatures and magi who might plausibly wield some of the unusual Miracles.
Chapter 3: Advanced Mechanics
In the table of contents, this chapter is noted as being aimed at GMs, in contrast to the player-focused Chapter 1. After a brief discussion of bringing characters together into a group, a number of sample character archetypes are discussed. In addition to a description in this chapter, each archetype has a filled-out character sheet at the back of the book, giving players examples on which to model their characters in both concept and mechanics. Some of the sample concepts are primarily personality or background archetypes – Neophyte Priest, Cynical Veteran, Dispassionate Expert, Callous Inquisitor, Blessed Non-Believer. Others suggest specific organizations or training programs that might exist within the Church in a given campaign (Anointed Assassin, Modern Templar, Sacred Hunter), and still others propose a specific source for a character’s supernatural abilities (Blood of the Lord, Devil-Haunted, Magus of the Lore, Waking Dreamer). A short list of “powerful archetypes” adds earthbound angels, repentant demons, and living saints to the possible character types; these are not balanced with the earlier archetypes, being built on a larger number of Skill Points and (in the case of the nonhumans) able to learn Miracles under multiple Attributes.
Expanded rules and advice on adjudicating various game situations follows. Tricky Skills and Miracles are discussed first, followed by task resolution and the art of setting difficulty numbers. A full page details Terror Checks, a mechanic for simulating the effects of fearsome situations. A table of weapon and armor Advantages fleshes out that aspect of the combat rules. Rules are given for enhancing the skills of one’s comrades through teamwork, whether that means calling upon one’s own relevant Skills or calling upon the Lord in prayer (that last being a nice touch well-suited to the game). An extensive discussion of damage and healing reveals what happens when Corpus or Fidelis is depleted and how long it takes to regain lost points in either score, whether naturally over time or with professional treatment.
Chapter 4: Adventures and Campaigns
This chapter discusses the various sorts of games one might play using the rules and basic premise of Against the Darkness. First up for discussion is the atmosphere of the game. Is it light-hearted comedy/horror, like Ghostbusters or the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie? Is it a game of serious situations and consequences, but one in which the forces of Good mostly succeed in their struggles? Or is it a full-on apocalyptic situation in which the powers of Evil are growing ever stronger and the Justiciars cast only a feeble and wavering light in the darkness? All three are possible within the framework of the game, though the flavor text (and, we’re told, the original campaign that inspired the setting) leans toward the second and third options.
Several sample campaign premises are then discussed, each one suitable for a different subset of the sample character archetypes and a different set of variant rules (discussed below). Here’s a quick rundown of those campaign frames, to give you an idea of what the game’s designers imagine doing with their product:
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The Gate of Evil campaign is reminiscent of the Buffy TV series. The focus is on a particular location that is disproportionately plagued by supernatural evil. The characters might be Justiciars dispatched to the area by the Church, or local folks (perhaps without miraculous powers of any kind) who have gathered together to battle the darkness that threatens their home.
A Hierarchy of Conspiracy campaign focuses on secret societies and their shadowy battles over hidden relics and forbidden truths. In this style of campaign, there’s always another layer to the truth, and the PCs can’t be entirely sure whom to trust. The Da Vinci Code would be a recent, popular example of this setup.
Urban Golgotha is the style of the original Against the Darkness campaign run by “the Evil Overlord.” This is the kind of world in which movies like The Exorcist play out, a dark reflection of the modern world in which demonic activity is all too real. The designers advise seriously playing up the horrific atmosphere in this style of campaign.
The “Nephilim campaign” is a high-powered, high-action variant in which there may be numerous evil adversaries, but the PCs – warrior angels, demon-possessed avengers, potent sorcerers – are quite capable of facing them on equal terms.
Co-author Brakhage next offers a three-page essay on “Horror vs. Adventure,” discussing the elements that make a horror game different from games in other genres. This essay is available free on the company’s website. Though a brief treatment of the subject, it’s well done, focusing on the horror elements of “the unknown,” “isolation,” and “dire contrasts.”
The final section of the rules proper is a collection of optional rules to tweak the feel of a particular Against the Darkness campaign. Alternate point spreads are provided for lower-powered “Ordinary Heroes” and higher-powered “Epic Heroes.” A related tradeoff allows for “skilled normal” characters, who lack Miracles but gain more starting Skill Points to compensate. Another high-power option removes the doubled cost of Miracles. For truly desperate campaigns, the “Fading of the Light” rule provides for a periodic degeneration roll as the characters’ will to fight is gradually sapped away by the horrors they face.
Appendix 1: Sample Freeform Characters
Here we get character sheets for Fr. Venditto, the Rev. Danvers, and two of their colleagues. Two are starting characters; the other two have some experience under their belts.
Appendix 2: Character Archetypes
These are the character sheets that go along with the archetype descriptions in Chapter 3.
Appendix 3: The Indiculum Maleficiorum, a Short List of Evils
This is an extremely short collection of supernatural foes for the PCs, encompassing a mere nine creatures (the aswang, banshee, goetic demon, golem, raksha, succubus/incubus, undead pawn, and vampir). Perhaps the intent is to leave the majority of foes up to the imagination of the individual GM, but I found this part of the book a serious letdown. Given the game’s “religious horror” genre, I would especially have liked to see more different types of demons, including a few individual, named demons with different portfolios and agendas.
Appendix 4: Character Creation Summary
This last section actually includes not merely a one page summary of chargen, but a blank character sheet and a rules summary (also one page). Both summaries look to be extremely useful; thanks to the rules-light nature of the game, they leave out very little that’s likely to be important. The character sheet is functional, but nothing special.
My Overall Opinion
Against the Darkness hooked me almost from the first page with its flavorful fiction bits and especially the running prayers-of-exorcism border. The whole concept of “secret Vatican evil-fighters” really pushes my buttons in a good way, and for once the supposed good guys aren’t just the Inquisition reborn. On the other hand, those who prefer a more sinister take on the Church can emphasize the Da Vinci Code elements, and the game is less overtly Christian than, say, Seventh Seal, where the PC champions’ powers come with explicit angelic visitations.
I’m a little leery of the “generic paranormal powers” nature of some of the Miracles, and I would have liked more setting information to go along with those fiction bits (and most especially more monsters). Still, that just means I will happily snap up any future Against the Darkness expansions and supplements that might come out.
