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The chapter of characters provides a good range of NPCs or instant PCs, with some detail given to the personality and motivation of the characters. Each is provided between one and two pages with a one page portrait, along with a sample quote which often is a little simple, rather than giving emphasis to their outward self. Character statistics, as suits the Summerland game, is is minimal but is layed-out in such a fashion that it does take up too much space. In multiple cases the portrait picture splits the character statistics. The characters are presented in a way that they are interrelated to each other and with the sample communities that follow, emphasising the possibility of using them as plot elements. In addition each character does have a secret side which isn't evident from casual contact; and in some cases this inner personality is vastly at odds with the external.
The six communities of varying size and disposition include White Hospital, the Kwico Supermarket, the Piper Family, Treetops, the Island, and the Slaughterhouse. In addition to size and outlook, each community receives a description of their location, resources, leadership, bizarre practises, noted individuals and scenario hooks. White Hospital, for example, has fifty people, is an ruined building complex, has large scale farming, is cautious towards outsiders and is run as a sort of anarchy. Within the hospital is a group which likes to make regular contact with outsiders that have been chased away. Noted individuals include an unofficial organiser and a doctor, and the a scenario hook involves the possibility of secret treasure within the grounds - using two of the sample Drifter characters specified in the first chapter.
The other communities include the Kwico Supermarket warehouse, where four families have pooled their activity and established a base with both food and housing, which is beginning to develop pagan worship of a local wolf-pack, an extended religious family in an old warehouse that is engaging in sexual mutilation, an outwardly friendly communist paramilitary group with particularly harsh penalties for even minor crimes, an island community of hostile cannibals, and a psychotic (but democratic) troop of xenophobes who have established themselves in an old hunting lodge. As a whole, the various communities are interesting, distinctive and, rather like the characters, both combine a difference between their external presentation and internal conflicts and are explicitly designed to be used as part of a wider narrative.
After the various communities, brief descriptions are given to various locales, such as an abandoned police station, a school, and sewers. Each of these is also provided with quick adventure hooks as well. Following this there is an Appendix for designing communities with a number of random tables designed to inspire rather than limit narrator creativity. Interestingly, the communities in the book, in least in terms of size, are a rather unlikely result from the tables provided.
The collection of material is useful with a little work - such an developing an overall narrative - for at least several sessions of Summerland. The book is attractive overall but perhaps more attention could have been paid to layout issues. The content is strong, providing illustrative examples of how individuals and communities develop when confronted by disaster, but negatively and positively.
Style: 1 + .4 (layout) + .5 (art) + .7 (coolness) + .6 (readability) + .5 (product) = 3.7
Substance: 1 + .7 (content) + .6 (text) + .7 (fun) + .6 (workmanship) + .4 (system) = 4.0
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