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Does Damnation View offer anything beyond being pretty? Well...it has some interesting ideas. It furthers the metaplot, so some stuff that had been hinted at gets discussed openly. Some ideas are better than others.
I'm going to go through the material in the order in which it appears, to summarise:
First, we get fiction. 4 sides of comic book (set even before the First Arcanotech War, and doesn't really teach you anything new about the setting) and then 6 sides of prose fiction. The fiction returns to the Juneau story (basically a large city that the Migou stomped. Lots.).
In Chapter One, we get a brief overview of what's in the book. After that, it's two more sides of fiction. From here on, that's how much fiction introduces each chapter. Out of 144 pages, 20 goes to fiction. Most of the fiction does set the tone, and a fair bit of it covers stuff that might happen in the scenarios included in the book. It still seems like a big portion of the product.
(Of the lot, Red Carpet Affair is the least helpful. It's about a celebrity event, with some fairly unenlightening banter. That may sum up the section on pop culture, really).
Chapter Two starts off with a chronology of the events detailed throughout the book as a whole. This is pretty useful actually, and I'm glad it appears at the beginning of the book, where it can help show the larger picture before you get bogged down in details.
Some of the events seem a little silly. I'm looking at you, 'Destabalization of Society by the Death Shadows.' You see, those wacky cultists are out to destroy society through crime and moral decay (I guess the vast armies of monsters aren't working fast enough for them). They start off in January-March with vandalism, eventually working up to the heady heights of PROPERTY CRIME.
I won't go into the rest of the sinister plan, but considering that the Death Shadows are supposed to be supreme masters of moral decay, I'm surprised that they didn't start by just flooding the streets with cheap drugs. They do get around to that, but for some reason they seem to think they need to gradually work up a hierarchy of nastiness. Maybe they follow the anti-Maslow?
At this stage, however, most of the stuff going on looks reasonably plausible. That is, for the setting anyway.
We get two sides of A4 on what people wear throughout the year. The four seasons get parcelled out to the five big name designers. Most of this is fairly dull - the one detail that stood out for me was the designer who is noted as producing the fasion that 'most people want their loved ones buried in' (p21) Two more sides gets eaten up by cars and information technology. We don't learn much about the setting that we didn't already know.
Following this, we get a section on films and music. There are some interesting nuggets in here. For example, the kid's movie of the summer is about a cat who has to find a new family, after his original owners are killed by HORRORS FROM BEYOND TIME AND SPACE. I think something is up with the NEG's infamous propoganda machine.
We get a section, next, on R&D for the humans. Nothing new is actually working terribly well yet. The one development (mini-Engels!) that can actually be tested has a tendency to kill valuable psychic talents. It also looks like there might be a new power armour suit somewhere in the future. No new gear for players just yet, however. The bad guys, of course, have much faster R&D.
The Chapter now swings back to the various minor plots of the book, but in greater detail. We have the Death Shadow antics (a plan, incidentally, that relies on prostitution of anything bar kids and animals and violent acts being legal, as not being enough to satisfy a huge number of people. Amongst other things).
The second minor plot involves Nazzadi taking care of 'Loyalists' (i.e.: Nazzadi who want to go back to working for the Migou). The story could be interesting to play out, but as the writers appear to downplay the drama of the story.
The third plot is basically: now there are some new Dhoanoids, and they have new powers. The main reason for this, from having read the section, is so that you can present players with individual nasty characters for them to fight in the long run. As they're Dhoanoids, this is pretty much for Tager campaigns.
The next (and last) four chapters of the book each tackle one 'major' plot. Each also contains a written adventure for PCs to take part in the plot. This largely translates to 'not remotely affect the outcome.' I'll get to this later, as it forms my greatest complaint with the book.
Chapter Three is about the Rapine Storm finally crushing the NEG in China. How they manage to do this feels clunky as presented. It relies in part on the awesome power of Death Shadows to manipulate through Vice (because that's What They Do). They're the Followers of Set for CthulhuTech - and just like the Setites, they seem to be presented as infallible in their methods. I'm less bothered by the awesome power of the Dead King to warp the sleeping minds of soldiers. At least the Great Old Ones are meant to be insanely corrupting.
The adventure kicks off with the characters getting a MacGuffin. It's such a MacGuffin that while the opening situation attempts to show what it is for, the debriefing at the end of the adventure (in which the writers discuss possible outcomes from player actions) makes no mention of what happens if the NEG gets the MacGuffin. The adventure also makes it clear that the PCs get to affect nothing but their own survival, and perhaps that of a few NPCs. The writers recommend taking ten sessions on this game. I think that four would be a comfortable stretch, based on the amount that actually happens.
However, from reading the advice on how long to take, the writers seem to largely justify the length by the amount of XP they think you should build up over the adventure. If I were a player, I don't think I'd want to do that adventure for ten sessions. Especially given that the only way it would affect the campaign as a whole is whether I would still be using the same character.
(for sheer comedy, however, p63 shows an image of monsters rampaging through an arcology while a helpful screen advises citizens that the arcology is overrun. I think the citizens worked that out.)
Chapter Four covers the Esoteric Order of Dagon's search for R'lyeh. There's a little bit of fluff on why they're having trouble finding the place, which is interesting. It's brief, so don't buy the book for that alone.
The Chapter also introduces the Secret Service. Because there aren't enough Secret operations for PCs to join, each of which can do whatever the hell it wants. (I predict that there'll be at least one more of these before the line is out). They also have an insignia they wear which is...slightly unfortunate in it's design.
This Chapter, of course, includes an adventure. In theory the characters can prevent a particular dire outcome, but it seems unlikely. The PCs are likely to be in relatively small mecha, and the enemy...well...has its big guns out. With a redesign, this adventure might offer a more plausible victory.
That said, we get reminded that victory in this adventure is probably only going to delay victory for the enemy. In fact, the writers discourage PC sacrifices in this adventure for that reason.
While I'm still on this chapter, I'll bring up a minor bug. On several occasions in this chapter, the writers mention that a female NPC has several boyfriends. Only one of them is described at all, and he is the only one relevant to the plot. I have no idea why it was so important that this NPC have several boyfriends, unless I'm supposed to be reading some subtext here. If you want to run this adventure, making some of those invisible and unnamed boyfriends into red herrings might be entertaining. Or not.
The authors recommend that adventure take 8 sessions. Again, it seems to be largely an xp thing. If many sessions are needed to get the 'right' amount of xp, maybe it would be simpler to give out more xp?
Chapter Five features the plot about Shub Niggurath, the Dark Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young *possibly* manifesting on Earth. The adventure, in my opinion, may be the worst of the lot in this book.
However, if you like catgirls, this chapter gives you that. Against all my expectations, the young of Shub Niggurath are more or less attractive by human standards (and were intended that way, presumably, by an Elder Horror from Beyond Time and Space) and have anime animal features. Cute ears, fluffy tails, etc. CthulhuTech twists this, however, because the anime anthropomorphic animals want to have sex with you and then kill you.
Still, I can't help but feel that when it doesn't look horrific, it isn't very 'Cthulhu.'
The adventure feels very much like a rail road. The book warns on several occasions that it is 'suicide' for the characters to attack the enemy on several occasions. In fact, I only see about three occasions when the characters *are* expected to kill the enemy. For example, one scene features a Desolate One. These monsters are measured on the scale of MECHA.
Also note, the adventure is pretty much designed for Tager characters. While they're supposed to be stealth killers, I would still feel put out if I were playing a Tager, and had so little action in an adventure.
The resolution of the adventure mostly requires that the PCs get a lot of NPCs with hardware to take out the bad guys. But it's okay. Because the book suggests that you might be generous to let them get some action by killing some bad guys who are *retreating* from the *NPCs* who are actually getting to end the adventure.
The book assumes that the characters won the scenario. Except that they didn't - someone else did. How long do the writers recommend this adventure take? EIGHTEEN. EIGHTEEN SESSIONS. With most of those sessions, I imagine, involving the PCs not getting any clues (there are several 'dead ends', and one pretty obscure combination of clues. Which also don't really lead anywhere.), and the GM warning the players (when they do find some of the enemy) that they probably shouldn't do anything but watch.
Again, the reason for taking eighteen sessions is so that PCs can get 90 xp.
To be honest, the scenario would probably be more fun for players if they played the people who got the tip off, and then came in with huge mecha and guns. That would probably take two sessions. The xp, by the CthulhuTech system, might be less, but I think informed players might prefer this option.
Chapter Six presents what are technically two adventures, involving trouble with the Migou.
Can you guess how much impact the PCs can have on the overall scheme of things?
Adventure one involves the failed attempt to retake an occupied Arcology from the Migou. There's a lot of detail on objectives etc, despite the fact that it is explicitly stated that the only outcome can be a massacre and forced retreat. I would recommend a redesign of the scenario so that PCs might pull out a victory if they are incredibly lucky, or, you know, merely make a significant reduction in the numbers killed.
The adventure's purpose appears to mainly be: let PCs watch everyone die, regardless of their actions; let PCs get Insanity Points; and... Yeah. You get to take part in a meta-plot, without influence, so you can say You Were There. The book recommends eight sessions. Even if you like games of doom and inevitability, I think that's a bit long. The book does suggest you should be aiming at players being glad it's all over...but I'm not sure if 'can't we play something else?' should be the tone behind it.
The second adventure (recommended length six sessions) again doesn't let you change anything. The purpose of the adventure is so that you can learn how deeply humanity is screwed.
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It doesn't sound like I liked the book much, does it? Well...I liked the idea of it. But I think the implementation didn't work in places.
I found some of the plot elements in the book to be a little improbably - see some of my remarks about the Death Shadows. But these small problems are nothing compared to the adventures included.
One other small problem: there are a few references to stuff that is going to come up in future unpublished books. Work arounds are suggested as (obviously) those books aren't out yet. It still feels like aploy to make you spend more on the line. And it's not a cheap line.
The adventures form the meat of the book. As written, I don't think the adventures offer much. You get to watch events happen. At best, players might have the illusion that they could have affected the outcome. It's rather like some of the worse published White Wolf adventures, from the days of old World of Darkness.
With some changes, the adventures could be vastly improved. Specifically, each needs to have something that the players actually influence, or at least some outcome that relates to the PC actions. Otherwise, why spend between eight and eighteen sessions on the adventure, when it takes less time to skim the book?
In conclusion: If I knew then what I knew now, I might not have bought the book. Then again, I'm not sure. There are some interesting points in the book, and it's a very pretty book. I'm not convinced that it is worth the price I paid for it, which is unfortunate. I hope that future books in the line improve, whether by providing more interesting and useful information, or at least by improving the adventures.
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