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DLYM is presented in two parts. The first part is a series of 26 power descriptions, and the second is an exploration of the themes and nature of power in DRYH. But the presentation is rather odd. The thematic exploration is crammed half way through the powers, and half way in this exploration the book flips upside down. I guess it’s to represent the world of the Awakened having something thrust upon them and then turned upside down, and it works, but it also feels kind of gimmicky. And there’s a lot of “gimmicky” to this book, from the pages counting both up and down (depending on how you look at it) to the entire basis of using the alphabet to break up the powers. But I’ll get back to this later. I will say though, that my copy of the PDF missed “the flipping”; the two halves were presented as two separate files, and one “printer friendly” complete file (which was the combined two split files minus all the art, and not flipped in the middle). For those who enjoy PDFs exclusively, I think they will miss out on the full experience.
Most people will be interested in the powers presented here, and DLYM is pretty impressive. 26 specific examples of powers are presented, each based off a letter of the alphabet. For example, “T is for Teddy” details the power to inflict damage by harming a teddy bear. We get some sample fiction to show how the power’s user or others view it, a sample of Fight and Flight responses as it relates to the power, how a power’s user is changed through use and continuing madness, and what kind of Nightmare they might turn into should they finally succumb. Where DLYM (intentionally) breaks with DRYH is that it has a higher scale of power based on the number of madness dice used. One or two dice in DLYM lets you cause some “localized mayhem”, while five or six dice covers Citywide disasters. The impression I got from DRYH is that such power wasn’t considered for PCs (or even NPCs), but given the light mechanics of the game and the narrative nature of playing it, such an upscaling actually works quite well. Instead of simply letting characters simply say “I succeeded” this upscaling lets them say “I wreak madness and havoc across the entire Mad City, and I succeeded.”
One of the really impressive aspects to these powers is their range and variety. From the cartoonishly silly (“N is for Ninjas” or “X is for Xenophile”) to the David Cronenberg-like body horrific (“R is for Ribcage” or “A is for Ants”), to the comic book super heroic (“Z is for Zap” or “B is for Breathe”). It’s like a monster manual, it throws out a lot of different ideas in the hopes that everybody will find something they enjoy. On the flipside, I found several ideas to essentially be variants on the same themes. “C is for Cabbie”, “U is for Underground”, and “O is for Orpheus” are all variants of transport powers that can do more than just take you across town. They all do the same basic and expanded things, but the “trappings” used to describe them are varied. In these instances you have to look at how well the trappings are presented. Does the book make you prefer one over in the other? In this case, I’ll have to say yes and chalk it up to the quality of writing.
One thing that really… bothers me however is that so many of the powers seem to skirt away from being truly disturbing. This book is a mature product, and it knows it (“F is for Fuck”), but it also doesn’t try to push buttons as good horror should. Which isn’t to say there is no horror to be found. The themes of losing one’s self and becoming a Nightmare are part of each and every power. For me the most disturbing and challenging entry I found was in “S is for Stigmata”, where a homosexual trying to go straight is confronted with someone with the power to forgive. It touched on sexual issues, but more impressively it touched on psychological and spiritual issues as well. How do you make forgiveness into something scary? Well, what if it dissolves moral boundaries so that people feel free to do anything? And what if you spread that over a small town? I enjoy the entries that really make me slow down and think, and creep me out. But for the most part the book doesn’t challenge or disturb to that degree. Instead it chooses to focus more on gruesome supers and dark fantasy fun. And there’s not a thing wrong with that, this book really is full of awesome and fun ideas for powers. I just wished it didn’t run up to the edge of horror so often only to shy away. “R is for Ribcage” made me think more of vagina dentate than what the author did with it, and while I’d take “I is for Innards” to an Akira- esque organic nightmare the author went for alchemical bowel movements. Some people prefer their games to not go that far, but I figure all is fair in a horror product targeting mature audiences. What is in the book is good (I really did like “I is for Innards”), and the fact that it inspired me to think of variants so easily on my own says something, but I can’t help but feel that DLYM holds back sometimes.
Besides the powers we have a section on how to run games of DRYH that hints at some of the author’s design philosophy behind DLYM. I won’t go into a lot of detail other than the author really likes to cuss, there’s some neat new Nightmares in the form of monstrous parodies of psychological professionals (all of which could be played quite creepily), and I can’t imagine running a game of DRYH without giving this section a good careful read. Of course, I can’t imagine running a game of DRYH without having DLYM as a handy reference anyway.
Who should get this book? Honestly, it’s a grab bag of supernatural powers. But it’s a good grab bag. I can see clever gamers finding a use for it in any game that deals with either supernatural elements or (fantasy) mental illnesses. Even people playing in fantasy or historic settings could use this book with minimal tweaking, provided it deals with insanity or the supernatural at all. If nothing else, it could make for some interesting antagonists and NPCs. And, again, I can’t imagine trying to play DRYH without this book.
Who shouldn’t get this book? Those who like their games low-powered, or entirely free of supernatural elements, will probably not get a lot out of this. Those who hated “fish-hat Malkavians” and other silly presentations of mental illness may also be put off by this book; DRYH wasn’t the most medically accurate game to begin with, but DLYM goes even further into comic book mental illness.
Style: Remember how I said the book was gimmicky? Well it is, and possibly too gimmicky. But I figure the whole bit with cramming authorial thoughts in the middle, splitting the book in half, and then flipping it was an attempt to make the reader feel disoriented and off balance… like a PC should feel. So I’ll let that slide; besides, it’s good to see an experiment in presentation now and again. But while the alphabet intros for the powers help to organize and individualize them a bit, it also comes off as more “mental illness is about nursery rhymes and being silly” that I personally wished games would move away from. Especially in regards to horror games.
Finally there was a strong “we’re mature and talking about insanity so we get to say ---- a lot” vibe in the writing that got off putting fairly quickly. It made sense in “F is for Fuck” but after a while it just felt, well, kind of immature when used so excessively in the authorial musings in the middle. That said, I generally enjoyed what the author was saying and found several of the fiction pieces to be quite amusing. The layout is engaging and varied, and used to interesting effect. Meanwhile the art is heads and shoulders above that used in DRYH; it reminded me of some of Christopher Shy’s better work. I really have some problems with the style of DLYM, but I also don’t feel it is an “average” product. It genuinely tries too hard to do something different, and pretty, for me to give it an average rating. I’ll give it a weak 4. A lot of my problems are very likely personal problems, and I’m sure most people will actually find it to be a strong 4 or better. Where I see “immaturity” in the writing somebody else would see “casual, down to earth fun”.
Substance: I may not care for the writing style of the book, but the substance of the writing is top notch! This one gets a strong solid 5. Even though I found some of the ideas to be repetitive or out of place or downright bland, I also found more that I enjoyed and wanted to use as soon as possible. Even if it was for another game. This book is a grab bag of inspiring ideas, and useful for almost any game. I suspect pretty much anyone else would feel the same way; there will be ideas they dislike, but they’ll also find something that gets them excited and wanting to go play.
Conclusion: I have some problems with DLYM, but I can’t imagine a gamer who wouldn’t find at least a few useful ideas in it. And that’s a pretty good measure of a game or game supplement to me.
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