The Basics
The 264 page ‘preview’ PDF that I reviewed, includes a few color pages (the front and back covers, one full page illustration, and 12 two-page sample character write-ups). The rest of the pages are black and white. The amount of artwork seems about right with one picture every other page or so. The art ranges in size from 1/4 page up to some full page items. The quality of the art covers the spectrum from poor to good with most of it falling in the category of “good enough”.
The text is laid out nicely in two columns with a few side-bars that consist of white letters on a solid black background. The tables found in the rules and bestiary sections also have a thin header that is white letters on a black background. The pages are stylized to appear burnt on the edges (as if the book has survived the apocalypse).
The selected fonts are easy to read and do a great job of making all of the sections, headings, and titles easy to find. The only fonts that I didn’t like were the jumbled selections used on the setting fiction pages.
Each section/chapter starts out with a short piece of well written ‘setting’ fiction that does a good job of previewing the information that is being introduced. This covers two pages in the introduction and one page at the beginning of each of the other sections.
Chapter by Chapter
The authors did a great job laying out the information so I will go with the flow and summarize each section while including comments as needed.
Introduction – This short section includes information on the ‘post-apocalyptic’ genre, the Desolation concept, a standard ‘what is roleplaying’, and an outline of the books chapters.
Before – Chapter 1 is the first ‘setting’ chapter and gives good medium level detail on the major (and minor) countries on the continent of Scondera. I say ‘medium’ level detail because there is enough here to give you a detailed starting point but not so much that you can’t make it your own world.
Each countries write-up includes information on its history, leadership, military, religions, and attitudes. Each section is finished up with notes on what would be the stereotypical attitudes for a PC from that location.
The central and most detailed area is the Rome like “Ascondean Empire”. The Empire, which is the center of culture, learning, and the arts on Scondera, has reached a high level of peace and prosperity. They have even outlawed war and only maintain their highly trained “legions” for defense. Magic is an everyday part of every citizen’s life and is used in many ways from household chores to governmental building projects.
Around the Empire are the outlying and buffer states. The three outlying areas are Cair Dhurn, in the vast mountain range that spans the middle of the continent (The Primea Mountains), which is the home of the Mountain Dwarfs; Lorant’s Scythe, a collection of islands to the south-west that is home to peaceful half-sized race who keep to themselves as much as possible; and The Saikin Waste, a vast desert inhabited by desert Dwarfs and tribes of the mutated Mongrel race.
Adjacent to the Empire are “The Marches” which include:
Cushulain - a rich farming land that is virtually part of the Empire but still maintains its independence. Jherlind - a rugged land of clannish people who distrust magic. Kar’Danan - a small land rich in natural resources but ruled by a counsel of necromancers. Loslolin - an area covered by swampland populated by reclusive and secretive people who are known for their ability to create potions (helpful and harmful) with the plants found it their swamps. Nascnecy - a country based on following, and peacefully exporting, a religion called the Argent Path. Penury - the small, desolate, area currently occupied by the Elves. Vrelanar - a rebellious protectorate of the Empire where diplomacy has broken down and the people are controlled by a form of martial law. Gearhaven - the quiet, serene, land of the Gnomes.These areas are called buffer states because they separate the Empire from its two possible rivals: The Oruskan Wilderness and The Warlands.
The Oruskan Wilderness is a vast, cold, area to the north of the Empire that is mainly the home of the kobolds, goblins, orcs, and trolls. These ‘beast men’ races are kept out of the civilized areas by the strength of the Empire’s legions.
The Warlands are a vast area, on the other side of the Primea Mountains from the Empire, that is ruled by an ever changing group of warlords. War is constant in this area. Alliances, borders, and leaders can change in an instant. If anything or anyone were to unite the Warlands, the Empire would face a serious threat.
The Apocalypse – Chapter 2 covers The Night of Fire and The Long Winter. The night of fire broke the world, the Primea Mountains fell destroying Cair Dhurn, coastal areas were flooded and reshaped, glaciers formed where they should not exist, the fabric of magic twisted and changed, and old horrors from legends were release into the world.
If that wasn’t enough, that horrible night was followed by 18 months of winter. Over the first nine months the sun was seen less and less and the night lasted longer and longer. There was even a full week when the sun never rose.
At the end of it all, 9 out of every 10 people were dead. The more ‘civilized’ and magic dependent areas like the Empire were hit the hardest. People who were accustomed to living with less like in the Warlands and Oruskan Wilderness faired a little better, but not much.
After – Chapter 3 is the real heart of the Desolation setting. During the Night of Fire anything could and did happen. Pools of lava surfaced, volcanoes were created and erupted, some mountains fell while others were created, known lakes and rivers dried up as new ones were formed.
The people were damaged as much as the land. Entire villages died and left nothing but bones, while others were turned into mindless undead repeating the same actions they were doing when they died. Some cities were transported to other places on the continent, and some disappeared completely.
Most of the mages died while trying to use magic during that long night because the nature of magic was radically changed and they were not prepared to deal with that. Mages in the After are generally feared and despised because in the eyes of most people it was magic and magic users who were responsible for the Night of Fire.
What is left of each nation is again listed with information on how they have changed. No true government or military survived intact, only remnants that may or may not be trying to follow the old way of things. But, more importantly, this chapter focuses on a smaller scale and goes into detail on some of the individual communities that survived.
These communities are described almost like characters with the attributes:
Population – number and racial makeup Survival – method of survival (pillaging, farming, etc) Motivation – goals (conquest, protection, recovery) Personality – general attitudes (intimidating, accepting, etc.) History – a short overview Attitude toward Magic – ranges from ‘kill all mages’ to tolerant but rarely better than that Government – the current form of government (warlord, democracy, etc).Next, the community’s situation in the After (with a new background, new traditions, new geography, and resources needed) is described.
The Resources Needed sections include things like farmers, food, and raw materials. This can provide good plot hooks for each area. It is also hinted that giving communities ‘motivation, personality, and history” (MPH) is done somewhat like writing up characters but that may be in a future supplement.
Character Creation – Chapter 4 is the first chapter to show how the Ubiquity rules (first seen in Hollow Earth Expedition) have been adapted for Desolation.
The first step it to select an Archetype, these are general descriptors like Academic, Holy Person, Scoundrel, Traveler, Warrior, etc. There are 14 suggested archetypes listed but players and GM’s are encouraged to create more as needed. These archetypes help keep the player focused during the rest of the character creation process but have no mechanical affect on generation. So, being an Academic does not force you to take any specific skills but, instead, reminds you to consider the kinds of skill and Academic would have.
Step two is Race selection. Your character’s race does come with specific benefits and penalties. The allowed races are:
Desert Dwarf – Desert dwelling race that follow the teaching of a ‘prophet’.
Mountain Dwarf – Mountain dwelling ‘theocracy devoted to the Five Pillars’. Elf – A despised and shunned race, punished by nature for transgressions committed 600 years ago. Gnome – A peaceful and wise race that predicted and tried to prevent the Apocalypse. Human – Standard Fantasy Humans. Island Folk – Small (Halfling?) island dwelling race with a true neutral view of all things. Mongrel – Half-breeds and mutants, barely tolerated by other Races. Rover – A Gipsy like seafaring race that prefer to live on their boats.Here are a few points of interest about the races. Even though Elves are generally disliked, there is no special animosity between Dwarves and Elves here. Also, while playing goblins, orcs, etc. (Oruskan races) is not given as an option, the Mongrel race can configured by the player to fill these roles. Your race also determines your Size. Player characters can range from size -1 to +1. Humans are size zero.
Step three of character creation is to assign the characters Motivation, Personality, and History (MPH). Like the characters archetype, your MPH does not give you any direct bonus or detriment; they are there to help focus the roleplaying aspect of the character.
Step four is to assign 15 points to the primary attributes of Body, Dexterity, Strength, Charisma, Intelligence, and Willpower. Your Size attribute can limit your maximums in Body and Strength but each attribute will start between 1 and 5. At creation, each attribute point cost one of your 15 points.
Next, calculate your secondary attributes, this is step five. The secondary attributes are Size, Move, Perception, Initiative, Defense, Stun, and Health. Each of these is the total of two of your primary attributes. Health, like Strength and Body is also modified by your Size.
Step six is skills. You have another 15 points to assign to skills; again on a one-to-one basis. There are 28 fairly broad skills available like Academics, Archery, Medicine, and Stealth. Some, like Academics, are specifically called Broad skills and must be taken with a specialization like Academics: History of the Warlands. For 1/2 of a point you can choose to specialize in a general skill like Archery: Cross-Bow to receive a 1 die bonus when using that particular version of the skill.
Choosing Talents and Flaws is done in step seven. Each character starts out with one Talent which functions like advantages or perks in other games. Flaws are a little different here. Some flaws do have an associated skill penalty but their primary use is to generate ‘Style Points’. Style points are earned whenever a Flaw adversely affects your character. For example, if you have the ‘Hunted’ flaw and your hunter shows up, you get a Style Point. Style Points function like fate points or bennies in other games. The included lists of Talents and Flaws are comprehensive, well laid out, and easy to read. Resources as included in Hollow Earth Expedition do not exist here. The number of Flaws allowed is up to the GM.
Step eight allows each player to spend 15 experience points on improvements. Here is where some people will be unhappy because advancements by experience points have increasing cost; advancing an attribute cost 5 times the next level (moving from Strength 3 to Strength 4 cost 20 points, from 4 to 5 cost 25, etc.) and new skill levels cost 3 times the next level. This method of advancement can be a problem for players who like to start off as ‘generalist’ and do not specialize at character creation.
Finishing up the details of your character and assigning starting gear is considered step nine of character generation. There is unfortunately no advice in this section on how much or little starting equipment the GM should allow.
The final step is to calculate the characters starting ‘Style Points’. Players can start with up to five of these points but the rules suggest that they ‘earn’ them. Some recommendations given for earning Style Points are: 1 to 3 for a good MPH, 1 for taking an additional flaw, etc. Even bringing the pizza may be worth a Style Point.
The character creation chapter finishes up with a dozen well written pre-generated characters. These write-ups are two pages each with a full character sheet and a full page of background and roleplaying notes.
Magic – Chapter 5 covers the rules for magic in the After. Magic is a difficult and dangerous pursuit in Desolation where any attempt to cast a spell, even if successful, can cause a type of stun damage to the caster called Burn. Also, given the high level of fear and distrust of magic built into the setting, it is easy for characters that practice magic openly to come to a quick and violent end.
To use magic, characters must have the appropriate “Magical Aptitude” talent. When taken, this talent is paired with a specific magical “Tradition”. The available magic traditions are Animism, Beguiling, Elemental, Necromancy, Primal Magic, Rune Magic, and Sorcery. Each race, except humans, are limited to one specific Tradition (Gnomes cannot use Magic). Each Tradition is well explained and comes with a list of sample spells. However, it is ultimately up to the GM and player to agree on the effects that can be achieved within a specific Tradition using Desolation’s free-form magic system.
The free-form magic system consists of a list of base effects and modifiers that can be applied for more range, more targets, bigger effects, etc. that determine the difficulty of the spell. Once the difficulty is known, spells are attempted just like any other skill. There is no mana, power points, or spells per day to keep track of, the only cost of casting spells is the Burn (which can add up quickly.)
The magic chapter concludes with three pages of magic items to show examples of what could be found from Before and what can be found and made in the After.
Religion – Chapter 6 is really another setting chapter and probably should have been placed earlier in the book. Each major religion is detailed with an MPH section just like the communities and characters. In addition, there are details on how they view the Afterlife and how they have changed in the After. Religion plays a big part of the life and times of the survivors but this section does not contain any specific character or game rules and again is used for roleplaying reference only.
Priest and holy men do not cast spells or use magic (unless they also take the magic talent). But, there are some specific Talents that allow them to manipulate how effective Style Points are for themselves and others. They may not create great miracles but they do function well as leaders and assistants to others in the party.
Rules – Chapter 7 covers the mechanics the Ubiquity System. This is a dice pool system where the size of the dice pool rolled for a given task is usually the total of one attribute and one skill, plus or minus any appropriate modifiers. The player rolls the number of dice in the pool and compares the number of “successes” to a target number. The player must roll a number of successes equal to or greater than the target number. For example, it takes two or more successes to complete an “average” level task. Any regular dice can be used because an even number is considered a success and odd numbers are not. Each die is effectively the same as a flip of a coin with a 50% chance of a success, the more dice you roll the more successes you can possibly achieve.
Because of this 50/50 success ratio it is very easy to calculate the average roll for any dice pool value. For 2 dice the average is 1, for 4 dice and the average is 2. As a way to keep things moving the Ubiquity system allows the GM and players to just ‘take the average’ on any roll. The GM is advised to do this as often as possible to keep things moving. So, as an example, if you have a pool of 6 dice and think that the average of 3 successes is enough to equal or beat the target number then you don’t even need to roll the dice. For and odd number of dice you divide by two and round down and add a “plus”. This plus means that when taking the average, you roll one final die to see if the odd number is a success. (7 dice gives a 3+ average. That means you get 3 successes and must roll one additional die that will give you a 4th success 50% of the time.) Rolling no successes at all is considered a Botch.
Magic is random and dangerous so magic users are not allowed to ‘take the average’ on any magic skill roll (Create Magic Item, Brew Potion, or Magic). On such a skill roll, even if enough successes are rolled to equal or exceed the target number, every die that is not a success causes one point of Burn.
This rules chapter also gives the rules for earning and using Style Points during play. Style Points are generally earned by roleplaying your MPH and Flaws. They can be spent for extra dice on a roll, damage reduction, minor narrative control, and boosting traits.
Advice on how, when, and how much experience to give out finishes up this chapter.
Combat – Chapter 8 is a continuation of the Ubiquity rules. Combat uses the basic skill roll modified by weapons and armor. The attacker calculates his dice pool by adding his appropriate attribute, skill, and modifiers. Weapons are added just like any other modifier. The defender uses his Defense (calculated as a secondary attribute during character creation) plus modifiers with armor as one of the modifiers. Each player rolls the calculated number of dice and the number of successes are compared. If the attacker has more successes than the defender, the extra successes are applied as damage. If the defender wins, then no damage is dealt. Magic attacks work in the same way. Attack and defense values are calculated and if the caster rolls more successes, the effect happens and/or damage is applied based on the number of extra successes.
Some people do not like this kind of ‘everything in one roll’ mechanic that makes weapon bonuses just as important as the characters skill. Using this system, getting a bigger weapon automatically makes you better at combat.
Attack actions such as Trip, Two-Weapons, Aim, Total Defense, Total Attack, etc. and Move actions like Hold, Run, Sprint, Stand Up, etc. are all fully covered here. The actions section is followed by an extensive listing (with examples) of combat modifiers (wound penalties, range, visibility, cover, etc.) that can add or subtract dice from the attackers and/or defenders dice pools.
Also found in this chapter are the rules for encumbrance, health, healing, deprivation, disease, drowning, toxins, exposure, etc. The disease and toxins sections include specific examples for the GM to use along with the general rules. Given the current conditions in the After, deprivation and exposure are major issues for the characters.
Although I am not sure that all of these rules should have been in the combat chapter, the final section on attacking/breaking objects does belong here.
Equipment – Chapter 9 covers weapons and armor. The weapons are mostly divided into general categories like hand ax, two-handed ax, short spear, spear, polearms, etc. Swords are split into a few more specific varieties of falchion, rapier, saber, short sword, long sword, and two-handed sword. Weapons add from 1 to 4 dice to an attackers dice pool. Some weapons have special abilities such as being able to make a disarm attack with a trident. Missile weapons are similarly grouped and also add from 1 to 4 dice. Special ranged weapons like nets, darts and whips are included and have special rules as well.
Armor is listed with only five types, Breastplate, Chainmail, Leather, Hides and Full Plate. Again the bonus ranges from 1 to 4. Shields are wood (+1) or metal (+2).
All weapons and armor are listed with a minimum strength requirement, weight, and rarity number. Because all trade is now based on barter, no fixed cost is assigned. Other specifications include the dexterity penalty for armor and range and reload times for missile weapons.
Here is one of the few problems I have found with this game: there are no prices or rarity give for any other common items such as food, clothing, tools, and animals. These items are again left up to the GM.
Storytelling – Chapter 10 is where the authors really take Desolation to the next level. They start by listing the suggested themes for the game; Loss, Difficult Choices, and Life is Hard. But, all is not lost because there is also Hope and Second Chances to be found in the After.
There are many “Stories to be Told” with these rules. Given the descriptions of how it was Before, during the Night of Fire, during the Long Winter, and in the After (from chapters 1, 2, 3, and 6) there is enough advice and suggestions in this chapter to help you run a game in any of these time frames. Even running a standard high fantasy, high magic game in the Before is possible.
The next part of chapter 10 covers many reasons or Motivations for characters to be traveling and adventuring in the world after the apocalypse. Are they trying to find a way back home, rebuild the Empire, or forge a new and better world? All of these options and more are covered.
Finally, the last part of this chapter gives some excellent GM advice on how to actually run a successful game with memorable villains, a good mix of adventure types, and how not to over use one particular theme. The section on ‘Avoiding “Village of the Week” Syndrome’ should be mandatory reading for anyone who GM’s any fantasy game.
Bestiary – Chapter 11 contains a short detailed bestiary. This chapter is broken up into several sections with 3 to 10 or more specific creature write-ups.
Animals – Semi-common animals found in the wilds.
Awoken – Legendary creatures that were woken by the troubles (Dragons, Wyverns, etc.). Deep Horrors – Things that the Dwarfs have been keeping down for ages are now free to roam the surface world. Oruskans – Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, and Trolls. Plants & Fungi – Even some plants can be dangerous in the After. Elementals – Only found when an elementalist loses control. Undead – Skeletons and Zombies only. Weave Creatures – Plants, animals, and inanimate objects twisted and given life when the Weave (magic) broke.This chapter is a little confusing at times because the creatures’ stat blocks are not always next to their descriptions. It’s a small annoyance but nothing that can’t be overlooked.
After these special creatures is a table with a list of attributes only (no descriptions) for over 60 common and mundane animals (horse, octopus, cat, dog, rat, bear, snake, wolf, etc.) In keeping with the harsh nature of the setting, each of these animals includes a Nutritional Value that details how much food can be scavenged from the animal’s carcass.
The Rest - The book also contains a two page Example of Play and a short but well written Introductory Adventure that both do a good job of highlighting the setting. It wraps up with a five page index and a two page character sheet. A map of Scondera is included in the front and back of the book but is of limited use after the Night of Fire. There are no maps for After, that is left up to the GM.
Conclusions
Desolation is a fun and interesting game to read and looks like it will be a great game to play. However, given its dark tone, dangerous magic system, and the amount of detail left up to the GM, I don’t believe that just any group could make it work as it should. Without a skilled GM and players willing to get into all of the roleplaying aspects provided, the nuances could be lost. And that would be a shame because it is all the glorious details that make Desolation stand out from the norm.
Style
This game is well written and has a good, consistent level of writing and details. Lots of small things, like the sample scenario tying back to one of the communities detailed in chapter 3, really pull it all together. The setting information is some of the best work I have seen and I could easily assign a score of 5 to that part of the game.On the other hand, the Ubiquity game system is somewhat bland. It doesn’t really have any major problems, but it also doesn’t bring anything unique or special to the game. On its own I would rate the game system as a 3. So, overall I am giving this game a 4 for style.
Substance
I really came close to going with a full 5 for substance here. With the excellent GM advice on how to run campaigns and what campaigns you can run, combined with the detailed setting information, you will be able to play several different campaigns from this book without having to repeat any of the same themes.What I would like to have seen added is a few rules or notes on how to create new groups (communities, religions, governments, etc.). It seems like it would work almost like character generation with a few small changes. Also, a little more “low level” GM advice would be useful. As I have said the campaign level advice is excellent but I would like to have seen some advice on how to handle things like a barter economy on the game level. Overall I still give Desolation a strong 4 for substance.
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