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Hi, I’m Val Gunn (vgunn here on rpg.net) and this my capsule review for the roleplaying game Dead of Night from SteamPower Publishing. Written by Merwin Shanmugasundaram and Andrew Kenrick, it is based on classic horror films and genre-related pulp-fiction. It is printed in a small format which is designed to make it easy for pick-up games.
Presentation (2 out of 5):
Does size matter? At only 4 ¼ by 5 ½ inches with 224 pages, Dead of Night certainly does look different from its larger counterparts. This alone sets it apart from many other horror games on the market. However I am not sure this uniqueness is a actually better thing--while the pocket-sized book is certainly portable, its not very practical. If I was going to put out a RPG in a different format other than the industry standard, then I would probably go with the 5 _" x 8 _" size of a trade paperback. It is just plain easier to read and manage (especially for a GM).
Just how important is the cover to the success of a book? Really it is the single most important promotional element for role-playing games (most books in general). A bad cover is the surest way to kill a book. A potential customer normally will take a quick look at a book cover and then react. Covers to me are far more important than the interior art found in a book. So how does Dead of Night fare? Well—its both good and bad. I do like the campy, B-movie style of artwork from Eric Lofgren depicting a pack of ravaging werewolves devouring a poor victim on the cover. But I do find fault with the font style found on the cover and throughout the much of the book. A font style does affect readability and certain styles are better for printed text. Rather than attempting something flashy, it would have been much better if the designers of Dead of Night had stuck to a more readable font.
The binding and overall quality of the printing is more than adequate—but certainly nothing that is worth writing home about. The interior artwork (all in black-and-white) is composed of dark, moody and surreal sketches that are both appropriate and atmospheric for the type of game it portrays. Casting aside just a few of the depictions, Eric Lofgren and Michael Cunliffe certainly set the tone with most of the drawings and should be commended for their work.
Layout (3 out of 5):
Again the size of the book and the font used (not the actual print size—it is easy enough to see) is problematic and lowers the overall layout score for Dead of Night. That said, just about everything else in the design is very good. The writing by Shanmugasundaram and Kenrick is excellent. Credits are thorough and it is always nice to see that the game has clearly been play-tested. There is a Contents page followed by a Character Sheet (annoying due to size and style issue previously mentioned) and the obligatory Introduction which is standard fare for the industry. Instead of having the Rules of Play and Advanced Play divided in the book, I would have rather seen a more detailed Quickstart section with rules and character creation along with a complete list for all Clichés spread out in the book. The game is simple enough to understand that the advanced rules should have just become the norm instead. Chapter three entitled, Things That Go Bump the Night could have also been lumped into a chapter together with the rest of the rules for the game. Tales of Terror is excellent and provides examples for a number of potential settings and scenarios. Dead of Night does come with Appendices, the first dealing with character archetypes and the second giving a rules summary—both of which I would have rather seen presented at the beginning of the book. Finally there is an Index and a page of random numbers for those opting not to use dice.
System (4 out of 5):
Dead of Night uses a rather abstract system in which each character is defined by four pairs of attributes, some specializations and survival points. Not much bookkeeping required at all and while simple in design, it is elegant in play—suffice to say I like it a lot. The ruleset beckon to be expanded and refined. With further development this would make for an excellent design to use in other genres outside of horror as well.
Attributes found in Dead of Night represent the most common concerns that a character will be faced with during a game and work well within the genre of horror. These pairs are: Identity/Obscure, Persuade/Dissuade, Pursue/Escape, and Assault/Protect. No need for crunchy stats or lengthy skill lists here, the game is made to be played at a frantic pace and not bogged down by the rules. Each single attribute can range in number from 1 to 9. With the total of pair always equaling 10. Example: Merwin has 7 for Assault and a 3 for Protect (7 3=10).
Characters are further defined by Specializations. Each will represent an area in which a character excels in, one is allowed for each of the attribute pairs (though a player doesn't have to take more than one specialization). The attribute pair is lowered by 2 to pay for each specialization, but the bonus 2 above the highest attribute score. Example: Merwin chooses Holy Sacraments as his specialization, the 2 is then added to the 7 Assault score making it a 9. To pay for this he lowers his 7 for Assault to a 5, because taking any attribute below a three is testing fate. So his final scores would end up looking like: Assault 5 / Protect 3 / Holy Sacraments 9.
In Dead of Night every character in the game begins play with 5 Survival Points—sorta like hit points, sanity points and hero points all rolled into one. Such points are similar in ways to Drama die found in the cinematic version of Eden Studios Unisystem (Army of Darkness, Angel and Buffy RPGs) which allow characters to stave off injury or death, among other things. Survival Points also work in somewhat like the Doom mechanic from games such as Conspiracy of Shadows. Reducing a character's Survival Points will bring them closer and closer to their endgame. At 0, their luck has run out and time is nearly up—it doesn't end well. Below zero a character either dies horrifically, goes insane or is otherwise written out of the scenario. Players can earn more Survival Points during the game by reliving any one of a number of horror movie clichés found throughout the book (as well as outside examples), by surviving a particular challenge, rolling doubles (or rolling 13 for monsters), giving vivid descriptions of a character's actions, or resting for a full scene, or advancing the plot.
Tension rules (there are both points and levels) allow the opportunity for the GM to manipulate the game—like using said points to alter die rolls, either up or down. Thus making survival for a character more or less difficult depending upon the situation. Whenever a character spends or loses a Survival Point during play the GM gets a Tension Point. As for the Tension rating, it is intended to control how scary the tone of the game is at any given moment. At 1 it is rather mild, but builds and builds as the rating gets ratcheted up so that at 15 it is mind-boggling horrific in scale.
Resolution for Dead of Night is extremely simple with all actions, including combat, accomplished with a roll-high, 2d10 mechanic. When a player attempts to accomplish a task in the game they roll 2d10 relevant attribute and equal or beat the target number. For standard checks the target number is 15. For contested checks, the target number is 10 the opponent’s attribute. Nice and simple.
Combat in Dead of Night is handled much in the same way as all other task resolutions. The only exception is whenever a character fails a roll in combat the result is the loss of one Survival Point. Now because the system is so abstract weapons do not factor into combat. This is problematic because an unarmed character stands just as much of a chance of defeating an opponent with bare hands as someone armed with a weapon such as a shotgun or flamethrower.
Advanced Rules allow for a number of options such as GM fudging and manipulation, playing a victim or monster, a myriad of play styles and scenario development, pacing techniques—some which are very clever, using Tension points to modify checks, and alternate die (including diceless) resolutions. The section on advanced creature specializations adds such things as sorcery, vulnerabilities, becoming a creature, and a bestiary. There certainly are some good things found here, but (as mentioned earlier) they are needlessly divided from the basics found in the first chapter.
Setting (3 out of 5):
Or in this case settings. Not much of a page-count on the subject, so I will give you only a brief rundown on what was provided in the book. Beyond the flavor-fiction and examples of play, most of the advice given on scenes and scenarios is generic as opposed to being overtly specific and can be found in Chapter Four. All information can be easily ported into another, more detailed setting if desired. Lover's Peak involves a teenager sleepover gone-wrong at a supposedly haunted hotel overlooking the nearby town of Chaddlestone. The Shadow of the Pharaoh is a missing mummy case where characters must determine if the thing was stolen from a museum or is actually one of the living dead. Dead End takes the characters on a road trip to hell encountering an infernal car and its demonic passengers—a cross between 'Jeepers Creepers' and the 1977 film 'The Car'. Tar Pit Zombies! has a movie crew coming to film a zombie flick in the quiet all-American town of Chaddlestone and the props turn out to be much more than they first appear. Uninvited Guests takes place at a frat house on the campus of Chaddlestone College with a Halloween party and vampires. There is plenty here for someone to run a number of one-shots, but not enough for any in-depth campaigns.
In Play (4 out of 5):
The game is not only written well, it plays well. It is funny since I did not run a horror game with Dead of Night. After looking at the demo and reading a number of related threads, I purchased the book and used it to play a one-shot spy adventure involving none other than 007 himself—Bond, James Bond. It was a smashing success. I just tweaked and expounded the attributes to suit, and the game came off without a hitch.
Creation is a snap and I had no problem in quickly coming up with a concept for my character. It should also be mentioned that a character can be given deficiencies, however unlike several other games I can think of, there is no mechanical benefit for doing so. Now since the attributes are very abstract in Dead of Night, determining which one is the most appropriate for a situation proves to be more difficult. The examples can definitely help out in solving some of these questions—but it may take a while to get the feel for it.
Dead of Night runs much better with all the advanced options opened up, with basic play just too darn simplistic—even for me. Combat can prove (for some) repetitive and flat since there are not a lot of options given the abstract style. All opposed rolls are symmetric and there are no real situational modifiers. I would really like to see this mechanic evolve into something with a bit more bite to it. Also in giving players the incentive to gain Survival Points by using clichés does make for extensive railroading on the part of GM. There are those that may be put off by this idea, though it is definitely made intentional as part of the design for the game (unless I am mistaken).
Conclusion
Dead of Night doesn't pretend to be something it is not. The horror game was written specifically for pick-up play—quick one-shot adventures that can be up and running in no time. This it handles very strongly, so strong in fact I'd like to see a deeper, revised version of the system. I could see someone taking certain elements, such as the Fear mechanic from Little Fears and the Trust mechanic in Cold City, adding them to the Tension rules from Dead of Night to make (in my opinion) an even more scary/suspenseful game.
I would rather see the book printed in a trade paperback format with a better use of font styles. There was also some strange layout issues in Chapter One that some may find awfully confusing. Price is a bit steep at $19.95, knocking it down to around $13.95 makes it a more worthy purchase. Do remember as well that this is rules-light, indie design which may be a turnoff for some, more traditional players. But really all of this is just nitpicking on my part. Dead of Night is a very good game and I do recommend highly picking up a copy of this game if you have the chance.
Hope you enjoyed the review.
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