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On a disclosure note, I know the incredibly cool Jeff and Melissa who wrote HEX and met Stephen, one of the co-designers of Desolation at Gen Con. Many reviewers are sent free product, some actually purchase it and in this case it cost me a copy of Starblazer Adventures....gasp! Yep costly huh! ;-) So expect a 'I want these guys to do well but here's the pros and cons' type review. In a spirit of positive criticism I'll be pointing out the things I feel need attention or from my own experience must have been problematic as well as the stuff I loved about the product.
Right on to the review
I first read about Desolation when i followed a banner link from RPG.net - yep those banners do work! The artwork grabbed me first and then once i reached the website I downloaded the example of play to read on the way home from work. I remember it was the energy of the example that got me interested - this sounded cool, I wanted to be in this game group and the short two pages left me wanting more. There was just enough info on the Ubiquity rules being used to get me interested and most importantly it gave me the right edge to the game - the theme and story. Damn I need to write something like this for Starblazer now!
"Their world is shattered, broken, and in many places totally alien"
The story behind Desolation is a fantasy world driven by everyday use of magic. It suffers a terrible cataclysm and the characters start off anywhere from the day after to a year later finding their way around the wreckage of their world and starting to rebuild. The themes are quite adult - I don't mean that it couldn't be played very well by a bunch of younger players but should allow more experienced groups (young or old) to get even more mileage for their bucks. We're talking about character's who've lost their homes, their loved ones, their friends, their livelihoods, their possessions and lifestyle. Their world is shattered, broken, and in many places totally alien. There are themes of loss, painful moral dilemmas, the struggle to survive and the nature of a world bathed in fire and emerging to a new day.
"it's simple things like a bag of seeds that are more valuable"
I've not played a fantasy RPG for a few years now I'm not a fan of the D20 system I'm afraid so D&D hasn't even figured. The sample of play for Desolation dealt with some characters searching for the ruins of a great library and this peaked my interested. I've loved games like Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World. The idea of players discovering or just trying to live in the ruins of a more advanced civilisation are really interesting and this was a great twist - rather than placing it in the future the guys at Greymalkin dumped it in the unfortunate lap of a fantasy world. You know the standard post apocalyptic games where a gun is a treasured artifact? Well, in Desolation it's simple things like a bag of seeds that are more valuable than gems, an iron plough or a steel sword that are the real treasures.
In Desolation the cataclysm has not only destroyed landscapes, whole regions have been changed magically, locations have been picked up and placed elsewhere, creatures have been twisted and the whole fabric of civilisation broken. My only comment with the background is that there is a lot of description given to the world pre-cataclysm and not enough post. The designers state they wanted the GM's to be free to create their own world and it's easy to put people off with your view of how the post cataclysm world should look like. RPG's are unique to us in many ways, not least the ability of GM's to help us experience a world through our imagination. I can see Steve and the guys aiming for a more open ended start to the world for people. I had to remind myself in writing this that the D&D core books don't include much in the way of setting material and you're paying a whole lot more for them so on the whole they've done a good job. There are examples of the types of areas you might encounter and a sample adventure which is well thought out plus plenty of nasties to keep your group freaking out.
Greymalkin have interpreted the Ubiquity rules for the fantasy genre. The main addition is the magic system and races and some other cute stuff that makes this book worth reading. I was already familiar with the rules system from HEX and one of the cool things is the use of averages - so let's say you have four dice in a skill, you can simply take the average of two successes out of four in order to speed up gameplay. I really like this - it's about putting the story first and dice rolling second.
"The nature of magic post cataclysm is dangerous, painful and hated"
One part of the sample of play i liked was the magic system. Rather than provide an endless list of spells that invariably don't let you do what you most need to do, the team have created a simple open ended magic system. It allows a player to create any spell they can imagine under some simple guidelines. It's very straightforward but will reward more imaginative characters far more. I think a lot more examples would have been useful for GM's and players who need a bit more guidance but all in all it's a great idea. The nature of magic post cataclysm is dangerous, painful and hated so in a way the system fits well with the theme. It doesn't work quite how it used to and you have to kind of make it up as you go along with the risk of pain if you fail.
The end of the book contains the usual list of monsters and a nice selection too - the cute bit being the list of standard animals and how many days food you can get out of hunting them! Definetly good flavour there. Better reviewers than me have described the rules in more depth so I'm not going to go in to too much detail as i really wanted to communicate some of the things that sold this game to me.
Here's some final thoughts...
Pros - Clever twist on the post-cataclysm setting - Nice fantasy interpretation of the Ubiquity rules if you're a fan of HEX and want something else to play with - The Ubiquity rules encourage speedy play by using the average of a dice roll rather than needing to roll - and very very easy to learn for people who are new to gaming. - A great depth to the game setting for advanced players to try out really dramatic characters - The nature of value is turned on it's head - bags of seeds and steel swords or ploughs make gems and gold feel worthless, it's a great way of breathing new life in to a stale fantasy campaign. - Lovely production quality on the book
Cons - Not a great deal of actual post cataclysm setting material if you like having everything there for you. Stephen tells me they're planning supplements that will include sample areas though. Again remember D&D doesn't include much if anything in the way of setting material in the main three books either so in comparison you actually get more. - There's only the core book so far - no advertised plans for campaigns, adventures, supplements (ahem just like Starblazer - whilst I talk about them we haven't officially announced them and I expect it's the same with Greymalkin) so there isn't the mass of obvious planned support announced but I'm sure that may change at any minute....hint hint ;-) - In reality it is just another fantasy rpg, so you may have more traditional players asking why you're not just playing D&D. Sigh....shall we just shoot them now?
In summary I'm so all over Starblazer because it's 'my' game, but I'm still thinking of running a fantasy game with Desolation because this setting is crying out to be played. I really like all the elements andI can't wait to have the characters waking up amidst the fires and crashing ruins, the morning after the disaster!
I know it is just another fantasy RPG but to be honest none of the D&D settings EVER jumped out at me and made me think wow I want to play in this world. I think this is one of the biggest selling features of this game. Whenever we played D&D it was just a fantasy world, nothing to make it zing. Desolation does that, it feels like a pitch for a very cool TV series and the evocative descriptions and examples of the world were enough to get my head spinning with adventure ideas and moral dilemmas aplenty. Even if you're not a fan of the Ubiquity rules or don't want to steer away from D&D I'd encourage you to get the book for inspiration and try turning your players lives upside down with the theme and concept of a world reborn in fire.
This is the first game from a great bunch of guys, if you're sitting on the edge just get it, small studios like this deserve the support especially when they have produced such a quality product and you can purchase it in hard copy or pdf now
Right back to my own writing now!
