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Style
Afterpeak is a 2009 setting sourcebook written by Al Seeger of Points of Insanity Game Studio. A print version is available from Lulu, but this review is of the 207 page PDF version. The very first thing I noticed was that the file was landscape formatted, which enhances the readability for me. The layout and organization is very good, which is essential in a PDF this size. The table of contents is hyperlinked and nicely extensive, which almost makes up for the lack of index. Although I would have preferred an index in a work this size, I'm a bit more forgiving of a setting book than an actual rule book. I find setting books don't need as much quick referencing in actual gameplay.
Afterpeak's cover doesn't work for me at all. It's a poser rendering of some woman with impractical clothing and a pistol in some nondescript, industrial style room. I genuinely don't believe the image gives a customer a good feel for the game's themes. By contrast, the black and white interior art, while somewhat sparse, is much better at conveying the world's feel. One quibble is that while some iconic creatures have images, the Bestiary could have used more artwork if only to help visualize the setting's more exotic adversaries.
Substance
Afterpeak, in a nutshell, is a kitchen sink post-apocalyptic setting. The book starts with the Tale of the Ageless Traveler, a first person bit of fiction recounting the fall of civilization, followed by an introduction that describes the setting in terms of genre tropes and gaming language. In short, the world's oil ran out. There were wars, but the not much in the way nuclear or biologic conflict. For the largest part, society just sort of ground to a halt.
Then came the Night of Falling Stars, where an Intergalactic Convey full of spaceship Arcs fell out of the sky, smashing to earth and spilling loose the animals and diseases they carried. Plagues ravaged mankind, who were still trying to adapt to a world without easy access to energy.
And if that weren't enough, 10ish years after that, a strange energy field swept over the entire planet, heralding the return of, you guessed it, Magic. Probably starting to sound like Rifts, but Afterpeak is more grounded. No nonhuman player races, technology is rare and energy is even more scarce. The magic elements give this post-apocalyptic setting more of a fantasy feeling than science fiction.
Next comes a short chapter on character creation, with advice on how to tailor characters to the setting. Honestly, I was pleased at how short this chapter was, because it's easily the weakest chapter in the book. I don't think Afterpeak was designed as a systemless setting. I think the author simple tried to modify his text to make it appealing to a broader audience. This chapter is an artifact of that and suffers accordingly. Rather that simply suggest appropriate archetypes, the text references classes, how to modify classes, then introduces new classes. Odd choices for a systemless supplement. This chapter could have worked had the author reworked it a little more, but as it stands, it feels more like reading an outline of someone's house rules as opposed to coherent advice.
Following the short character creation chapter is the much longer and meatier Economy and Equipment chapter. This chapter is a mixed bag. Apparently, the Afterpeak world has adopted standard of currency based on coins made from valuable metals, which strikes me as more than a bit unlikely. Who's going to smelt iron and steel down into coins, and without a governing body to guarantee the value of currency, who's going to trade their valuables for shiny but useless coins? That said, metal coins are a staple of fantasy roleplaying, so it could be something a player just accepts for the sake of ease. Honestly, I preferred the alternate idea of generic 'Currency Units' as a game concept to should how much trade goods a character has, or a thing's worth. The section on the importance of bartering is much better and much more relevant to the type of game Afterpeak portrays itself as. Unusual materials, equipment quality, piecemeal armor, availability of medicine, and other interesting topics are broached, but the majority of the section is list after list of raw items. It's very dry and while there are morsels of interests within, finding those nuggets amidst all the dross is tiring.
The chapter on How the World Has Changed is much better than the previous two, even if 'World' is a bit of a misnomer. Afterpeak focuses exclusively on North America, perhaps leaving other world locales for later expansions. That said, North America is explored in a good amount of detail, with various antagonistic and potentially friendly groups introduced. After the gazetteer, the author describes various types of communities that can be found in this world, any of which could serve as good home bases for adventuring groups. I really enjoyed this section, especially the tale of Emperor Octavius, his death, and his warring children. Excellent campaign fodder to be certain.
Darkness and Light is the next chapter that introduces the forces of good and evil, along with a mortality system and magic powers for following that morality. Like most of Afterpeak, this is a mixed bag. First, it's obvious that this section was written with a system in mind. Trying to convert this to one favorite system as written would be an undertaking. There's also the common cliches one might expect. The forces of darkness radically outnumber the forces of light, but are factionized. Darkness grants fear and destruction related powers, whereas the Light is about healing and protection. Despite all the drawbacks and cliches, there are some really excellent ideas in this section that help to not only flesh out the setting, but provide all sorts of good character hooks. While this chapter is essentially another 'system' chapter in a systemless book, the ideas within are really worth exploring and making one's own.
The Bestiary is filled with interesting critters, ranging from alien fauna to demonic interlopers to degenerated beastmen. The entries are roughly rated according to overall level, spirit, and defense, which giving examples of their classic attacks and abilities. I don't know how genuinely useful a GM will find this section. Personally, I'd skim the opponents, find one that catches my fancy, like Deerzilla, and just find or create stats that suit my campaign needs, not worrying about how the author described the critter. A good deal of the information presented seems like a holdover from the author's home system, as opposed to something needed.
The last three chapters are perhaps some of the most useful in the book. First is a big list answers to the setting's questions and secrets. I won't spoil them, but I will say that even though the answers won't appeal to everyone, it's refreshing for them to be boldly presented, as opposed to hinted at. And, of course, if you don't like a given answer, you're free to change it as you adapt the setting to your system of choice. The second is Campaigning in Afterpeak, or 'Just what am I supposed to do with this mess?' The author gives solid advice for personalizing an Afterpeak campaign and making it one's own, then demonstrates that advice in the following chapter, with a very detailed writeup of Wisconsin. Although I'm not discussing these chapters with the same sort of detail I did the earlier chapters out of respect for spoilers, they represent some of the book's best and most successful content.
The book ends with three appendices which describe various game concepts in terms of the author's house system MADS. Comparing the appendix entries to the book's earlier content really reinforced the impression I hold that Afterpeak was written for the MADS system, and the author did a mediocre job converting it to a systemless setting.
And really, that's what irks me the most. Afterpeak is a good setting that falls somewhere between the Morrow Project and Rifts in term of feel and theme. This setting would be brilliant in d20 Modern, Savage Worlds, True20, Gurps, Hero, or any of dozens of systems. It's more about the feeling, setting, and conflicts than it is about any one system. There are brilliant ideas all throughout this 200+ page PDF, but those ideas really need to be distilled and refined through the arcane practices of a good editor to be a well realized generic setting, preferably in 1/2 to 1/3rd the page count. Probably the same editor this wordy review could have used.
Now, for a group that intends to use MADS? All the conversion work is already done for you. All those vestigial system bits that aggravate me will work just fine for you. I simply can't, in good faith, recommend this product at it's existing price point, for people looking for a good, systemless post-apocalyptic setting. However, with some revision and trimming, this setting could really sing.
