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By MICHAEL ERB Staff Writer The Parkersburg News and Sentinel www.newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG — In school we were taught of the Founding Fathers, the battle for independence and the birth of our nation.
But there was another tale, a darker one, hidden just below the surface of history. It was a tale of dark things, evil magicks and vile demons, and of the men and women who opposed them
“Colonial Gothic,” written by Richard Iorio II, Monica Valentinelli, Matt McElroy and James Maliszewski and published by Rogue Games, is a “historical supernatural role-playing game” set at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Dark, unseen forces are guiding events in the 13 Colonies, and only a handful of stalwart heroes are aware and can combat this evil.
In “Colonial Gothic,” players take on the roles of these heroes, often men and women of faith and reason who are forced to give up their relatively normal lives to fight the supernatural. In “Colonial Gothic,” each character has five stats — Might (how strong they are), Nimble (how quick and agile), Vigor (how healthy), Reason (a measure of intelligence) and Resolution (how emotionally sound they are, as well as an indication of willpower).
There also are three stats that change as the game progresses. Vitality is your life and health, and if you take damage or are injured, you lose Vitality. Lose all of your Vitality and your character dies. Sanity represents your grip on the real world, and you can lose Sanity by encountering the supernatural or witnessing horrific scenes.
Then there is Faith, which represents how hopeful and empathetic the character. Players can cash in Faith to make a die roll more likely to succeed, often by increasing your target number. Faith also can be used as a last-ditch attempt to keep a character from dying. Lose all of your Faith and your character becomes hardened to the world.
The game uses a system called 12 Degrees, which uses two 12-sided dice to resolve most conflicts. The idea is to roll against an opposing number, either a stat, skill or situation, and the player attempts to roll at or under the number. A roll of “2” is considered a critical success, while a roll of “24” would be a failure. Obviously the lower the opposing number, the more difficult the task.
There also are Fate Cards which contain storyline elements for each character. These can range from a secret fear to a goal or even the way the character is destined to die. At any point in the game the player can pass their Fate Card onto the game master and that Fate influences the storyline. This is purely a storytelling device, and otherwise has no in-game effect like bonuses or penalties.
Players can choose from a variety of character archetypes, such as military, freeman, immigrant and Native American. Characters are created by spending points to improve stats and purchase skills, and the starting number of points can be used to determine how skilled and formidable your characters will be at the beginning of the game.
The majority of the rulebook details the times and the history of the setting, including lists of commonly available items, styles of clothing and weapons of the era. There even are lists of diseases and ailments common to the time period and how they affect player characters, which adds a nice level of historical realism to the game.
Throughout the book are historical quotes, document excerpts and illustration from that period of American history. There also is a chapter on witchcraft, represented through Rituals, which are broad spells that can be used for good or evil, and which are fueled by a character’s Reason.
My biggest issue with “Colonial Gothic” is I want more. As a historical game, “Colonial Gothic” is solid and the background is well-done, but those supernatural elements that would make the setting awesome are simply too few. You don’t really get a sense of how this “hidden history” of the 13 Colonies actually works in-game and how it influenced and shaped events in the birth of the nation.
Monsters are effectively standard characters with a few extra rules, either as special abilities or exceptions of things they can or cannot do. While this makes creating villains and threats relatively easy, it takes away some of their mystique and leaves supernatural baddies feeling a little flat. The main rulebook also doesn’t go beyond the “classic” monsters of literature — vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies and demons. It would have been nice to see more North American mythology incorporated into the game, as well as creatures and threats unique to the setting.
I want “Colonial Gothic” to be more than it is, and I actually consider that to be a compliment. The setting is cool, the idea is awesome, but the execution stumbles a little. I am looking forward to seeing what supplementary products come from Rogue Games to help support this line, because I feel, with a little bit of work, this could be a very cool RPG. The foundation is solid, but the story and the setting definitely need built upon, and I am eager to see how that happens over the next several years.
For more information on “Colonial Gothic,” visit Rogue Games at www.rogue-games.net, and for more game reviews and discussion check out my blog at http://merb101.livejournal.com.
Contact Michael at merb101@gmail.com.
