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When I first read Rifter 40, Dead Reign was an excellent idea! I've wanted to do a zombie game for a while now, and this looked promising. I liked the synopsis, the world view, answers to the military presence being gone, as well as the secret reason behind it. A pharmaceutical company called The Benford Group makes a cure for cancer called Unisane, and people eat it up. Then The Wave hits, and people start dying, then eating each other. The truth behind it? A cult that has existed for millennia empowered by a demon lord named Brulyx actually are trying to get him access back to Earth after being locked out thousands of years ago. Turns out, the only way to open the doors again is a mass ritual of sacrifice. the Black Plague? Brulyx and his cult. Now they mix science and sorcery to achieve their goals, and we get a creepy romp into zombie town.
This book was highly anticipated, it was seen as an expanse into the world created by its writers. I liked the initial three types of zombies, the possibility that magic was relatively unknown, people started having the possibility of developing psychic powers, and depending on your own inner nature of magic or psychic potential, it would determine the kind of zombie you'd turn into. There was also talk of a revised combat system allowing the players to take on large groups of zombies shambling towards them. This could be revolutionary and great, if done right. It hinted at a lot, like Brulyx's own forces starting to take over the world, demons coming to Earth as the powerful enforcers of the cult in case zombies aren't enough. With the Minion Wars book series pushed back over a year, I thought this would be great! We can see if this will be a tie-in book, it could be a two-fer! Plus, it mentioned that the civilization that stopped Brulyx was ancient, and shortly after died off. Since Atlantis was a little later in the timeline, there was only one other culture hinted about in Palladium that could fit the description: Lemuria! They were mentioned in Rifts Underseas, and people have anticipated that book for years now. This looked like it was zombies, plus a lot of other goodies to whet the appetites of anticipation for other Palladium Books!
And last week, I finally got the book. Okay, let me mention the good parts FIRST.
The zombie type count goes up from the initial three as Slouchers, Runners and Thinkers to seven, plus the Half-Living is interesting. These are people that were bitten, go into a coma-like state, then awake with some of the zombie's gifts, but still can think and act on their own. The Crawler is nice, Runners are now Fast Attacking zombies, Flesh-Eating Zombies are a take on the classic ghoul given that the zombies in both DR and Rifter 40 are actually feeding on the mystic energy in living things called Potential Psychic Energy, or P.P.E. for newbies to the system. Pattern Zombies are a nice take on the turned acting out a semblance of their old lives, Mock Zombies are intelligent and can speak, and LOOK undead, but swear they aren't! It's an interesting mind-screw if players are introduced to them.
The artwork is fantastic, big kudos for bringing these mental images to life. The zombies themselves are more necrotically fleshed out, their description of their senses, their longevity and ability to be dormant is extended, it goes into more detain in their moans, their attack patterns, they're a little tougher, describing how certain attacks are more effective against them. The playable classes of people in the games are somewhat varied, my favorite has to be the Hound Master. I've been wanting to play someone that wrangles and trains dogs to help them, and I've had to scour other Palladium books and Rifters to cobble something up for modern games. The other menaces like Retro Savages remind me of that creepy family in the rv in the movie series Rest Stop. Terror Cults and Death Cults, it goes into other dangers, the Resources info is decent, stressing the need for survival.
BUT....and yes, it's a big one. For those of you reading this, this is the pause before I go into the negatives. If you are easily upset but criticism, this is the time to put on your verbal cups. Ready or not, here it comes.
BUT....this is NOT the book I pre-ordered.
The world breakdown by geography is missing from the Rifter 40's version, there are notes for combating the undead, but NO large combat rules, which was a big anticipation! The secret reason behind the zombie apocalypse is now replaced by 5 big theories, none of which are definitive. The Cult of Brulyx if mentioned, but now instead of leading the zombies, they seem to get along by placating their hunger for P.P.E. Brulyx is mentioned more as a death god than a demon, NO info on his demonic hordes, no stats on him, NO magic or even Psionics, which has been a staple for Palladium's other books since it began! The O.C.C.'s in the book are okay, but although there is potential in the Shepherd of the Damned and Scrounger, they seem to be little more than glorified homeless people or looters told from their perspective. The Survivors are okay, and represent most ordinary people after the Wave. Oh, in the Rifter 40, there was a definitive date to the event. Now, the book doesn't give any date, it picks up five months after The Wave, the wonder drug Unisane's name is changed to Altrucure, and people suspect it, but they also have the wrath of God, germ warfare, government experiments, etc. to suspect what happened.
Oh, here's something I have to mention. The Thinkers in the original Rifter 40 were people with mystic potential, and were still intelligent, could talk, and had the power to control the other zombies! This was frightening, given that they still had their skills, intellect and reasoning abilities. A zombie leading other zombies on a hunt, capable of using guns, driving cars, now this is some scary stuff! It's a step above the leader zombie shown in Land of the Dead. However, the revised Thinker in the DR book is now more like that George Romero version, they can reason, but can't speak, they're not as intelligent as the original, and they can use tools, but not very well. It went from being an original, intellectually frightening version elevated from one big inspiration, back to type. I can't get over this, you dumbed down the Thinkers!
I think that bares repeating: You dumbed down the Thinkers! All right, everybody this time, join in with me! With feeling!
YOU DUMBED DOWN THE THINKERS!!!
Look, there's a place for these new types, but I prefer the ones in Rifter 40 better. If we're labeling these new types by alphabet, I classify these latter Thinkers as Type D. The D stands for DEE DEE DEE!!!
As it is, the book is OKAY, it's PLAYABLE. It's now what I expected though, and not what others were as well I'd imagine. I was told that there was so much more that could have gone into it, that Palladium will release a Dead Reign sourcebook next year. That's good, because honestly? I feel like I only received about HALF the book I expected. Will the sourcebook fill in the gaps? Who knows. I'd certainly like to think so. I do like the going in further of the zombie hunting patterns. The text, descriptions, big kudos go out to Max Brooks, writer of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z, because it was right out of those books, statted out for the game. Unfortunately his name's not on the book credits, but for fleshing it out, there should at least be a nod.
Okay, here comes my conjecture. This is only speculation on my part, but let me try to relay my thoughts here. The book feels a bit bland, the expected spices of the demons, background into an ancient civilization and large group combat were all things that made my mouth water in anticipation for this book! But without it? It just comes off as more bland. Plain. Unoriginal.
Now, my conjecture extends into what I think happened here. Kevin Siembieda, founder, creator and owner of Palladium Books has always been a man who likes players that think their way out of situations over simply having the raw power to do so. I respect this, I agree, it makes people step up to a challenge. Me, I like a mix of ability and intelligence to pull things off. And Palladium has grown in gaming circles as a power gamer's system if used or abused. I understand that. And the options are there to lower or raise your own game world's power level or ability at your discretion.
When I heard before the book came out that there would be a shift from few psychics and less magic potential to NO Psionics and Magic, a staple in Palladium's games for years, lines were drawn in the sand. I know, I drew at least one of them. People that liked the lack of magic and psychics cheered, others who anticipated the expanded Rifter 40 version like myself were upset. Less for the survivors to have in their potential favor, less than anticipated, less than was expected?
I know that people like both survival horror as ordinary people, and as specialists, people above the norm with a better chance at survival. Kevin also lessened potential in the second edition of Beyond the Supernatural, and also talked about the possibility of a game a few years ago called Void Runners, where people were put in strange situations that they HAD to think their ways out of. I can see the draw, and I can easily imagine one conversation in the Palladium offices as something like this:
"Aww, you're telling me a Demon is responsible for this? One thing I hate about Palladium Vampires is the Vampire Intelligence. What does a giant amoeba with tentacles and fangs have to do with bloodsuckers? It would be so much better without that..."
Some would agree. Others wouldn't. Okay, I admit that the lack of other supernatural aspects can make it more like a traditional horror movie. And I can also see from a point of view that in Palladium's system, it can be easier to make a game book with less, and people can add more to it if they want rather than giving people more options, and having people remove what they don't want from it. But to me, it's like seeing a car with all kinds of promised features coming standard, only to see the finished product as stock, with some options either coming later or discontinued.
But here's another point. Before the game book came out, people were taking parts from another, not so successful RPG book called Systems Failure. The Militia, Splatterpunks, Survivalist and others are fantastic for this game setting! They compliment it well, and in a time where money might not mean as much, SF has a great barter system in place. This is missing from DR. So I recommend...ahh, I see what you're doing!
Okay, I think the Dead Reign book is okay. For those of you that don't like the supernatural, congratulations. Without another Palladium book, you have a game world that there is little to no hope of doing anything more than survival. Humanity will most likely never go back to the way it was. All you'll ever do is kill to survive, more than likely any answers you hope to find as to how this happened, why or how to fix the world will be nothing more than dead ends. Once you run out of ammo, you'll have no definitive way of fighting off a large group of the walking dead, and will probably end up as one yourself. Abandon all hope, ye who play only with this book. Have a nice existence, I can't call it a life, and have a spare character or two written up. Will you play as a gun toting soldier or homeless guy this time?
But as I said, I see a pattern here. Systems Failure has decent stuff easily thrown in, as well as Beyond the Supernatural. Plus, there's talk of a sourcebook for DR. Will I buy it? Of course, but Palladium's the only system I play any more, and I collect their books like an old woman collects cats. Only mine are less messy. So for people that may have never played anything from PB, it might be a gateway game. For those who honestly expected more, or want to see more, Dead Reign makes people feel to get the most potential out of it, buy more Palladium Books' products. Which wouldn't be so bad if it didn't come off like a ploy to do so.
I truly, truly hope that PB does make a DR sourcebook to compliment this one, giving more answers and potential for the world as well as what was originally implied, if not promised. Whoever comes up with a large group combat system and it sees print, I guarantee that it will sell out like Rifter 21 did! It's a necessity, and I REALLY want to see more of Brulyx, his minions, any word how he ties into the Minion Wars series, and overall more of what Josh Hilden and Joshua Sanford wrote about in Rifter 40. Will I keep Dead Reign? Of course! Ask for it in a Grab Bag along with Systems Failure, the original Beyond the Supernatural, and Nightbane Book 4: Shadows of Light. Oh wait, that's gonna be my order...But is it worth full price? Only if you want a bare bones, no magic potential game that's less than anticipated by most here on this forum. In the meantime, I will use DR as a sourcebook for Rifter 40. Oh Josh, Joshua, this is a little bland. Could one of you pass me the salt and Dave's Insanity sauce? This tastes a little bland to me...
Epilogue: Since this review originally was posted on the Palladium Books forum last week, Kevin Siembieda of Palladium Books has stated that for those fans that anticipated the Brulyx-focused info that was talked about in Rifter #40 and missing from the final book, there will be a Dead Reign sourcebook and/or even a Rifter article for this information! I'll hold you to that, Kevin. Me and a lot of your hardcore fans will, and lets hope that Dead Reign will have something for everyone that plays it to enjoy.
