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Klick’s End is Nightfall Games’ second product in the new ‘Data Packets’ line. The aim of the Data Packets is to detail a small slice of the SLA Universe (known in game as the ‘World of Progress’) that can be added to a game.
Of note, SLA Industries (pronounced Slay Industries, not Ess-Ell-Ay Industries) is a mature-themed game and is not generally suitable for younger players, and Klick’s End includes elements that reinforce this. These elements may also be offensive to some readers, so reader discretion is advised. For those who haven’t played SLA Industries, players take on the role of Operatives, company trouble-shooters who work on a freelance basis for the various sub-departments that make up the corporate monolith that is SLA Industries. SLA Industries owns most of the universe, but there are other corporations and plenty of other nasties that would like to see SLA fall and its owner, Mr Slayer, dead.
Most games will take place in the capital city of SLA’s corporate capital planet Mort, also called Mort. Mort (city) is in some ways similar to a shorter, outwardly sprawling Warhammer 40k-type hive city and is divided into five areas/layers of privilege. From the best to worst you have Central (domain of the departmental corporate offices), Uptown (where most Operatives and company executives live), Suburbia (where most of the rest of the company employees reside), Downtown (where the non company ‘civilians’ are) and the Cannibal Sectors (where everything has gone to hell which the company solves by walling them off from the rest of the city and leaving them to fester and rot).
As the name suggests, the bulk of this Data Packet focuses on Klick’s End, a “notorious area at the North Eastern section of Downtown, comprised of three large civilian blocks that intersect and create a social hub”. While Klick’s End is not the worst area on Mort the close-knit populace is definitely anti-SLA and the area has seen a sharp rise in attacks on SLA patrols recently. This Data Packet explains the general layout and feel of Klick’s End, as well as the attitudes of the population and why and how they are pushing back against SLA.
Interestingly, the cover page now includes a ‘Truth Rating’ which in this case is Low. There is an inherent secret ‘Truth’ behind the formation and existence of the SLA Universe, which has a tendency to polarise players of the game; people either love the Truth and its implications, hate it and all it stands for, or love/hate it but realise that it doesn’t have much impact, if any, on their day-to-day games. Nightfall has made the decision to specify how much each Data Packet will touch on or include Truth elements to assist buyers in knowing the kind of information they should expect.
The product is an 11 page full-colour PDF that at the time of writing this review was priced at (US) $1.49. Nightfall Games recently announced that the sub-$1.50 pricing of its products will soon cease and there will be a modest price increase to help cover production costs. (They are still nowhere near turning a profit on their products as the company is still in a rebuilding phase and aims to get good products released and available to new and old fans alike.)
The cover page (page 1) has a full-length image of a masked individual in full armour and holding some kind of assault rifle. Further reading of the Data Packet reveals that this is the ‘Prop’ (SLA Industries terminology for an independent mercenary) called Red Leader, who is one of four mercenaries who have taken control of the area through force.
Pages 2 to 6 provide detail of the buildings, feel and people of Klick’s End, and none of them are nice. The area is basically a slum with hastily-constructed and poorly-maintained buildings and amenities. The residents are nearly 100% unemployed, rude and hostile to outsiders (and SLA Industries employees in particular) but very loyal to one another.
Warning – Discussion of the less pleasant aspects of the region follow.
Klick’s End has poor television reception and intermittent electricity faults so the residents have turned to other unsavoury avenues of entertainment to pass their dreary lives. The area has a small but persistent sex-slave industry made up from victims who have been kidnapped from surrounding districts and dragged into Klick’s End for the recreational use of the residents.
The second major recreational activity is rampant substance abuse among the locals, mainly in the form of inhalation of solvent (glue) fumes.
The last ‘entertainment’ outlet for Klick’s End residents is animal abuse, specifically including the torture and killing of animals, and raising and training carnivorous pigs for pit fighting.
Personality and roleplaying information and stats for the four Props who have claimed the area as their own turf are provided. Following this and rounding out the first half of the product are four ideas for involving Klick’s End in your game and the kinds of missions Operatives could undertake there.
The problem with this first half of the product is that Klick’s End isn’t particularly innovative nor does it really offer anything for the GM that he or she couldn’t really throw together themselves. The elements described are such common SLA Industries themes that they are almost clichés of the game. Downtown civilians who are hostile to SLA Operatives: Check. Illegal and immoral recreational activities: Check. Some heavily armed and armoured outside influence that has claimed the area as its own and doesn’t take kindly to Operatives trespassing on their territory: Check.
Pages 6-8 are where the product suddenly changes direction and presents the M.R. Division; a new department within SLA Industries that readers have not yet encountered. The initials stand for ‘Moral Right’ and the purpose of the department is “to investigate and eliminate the seedier, decadent aspects within the World of Progress”. Interestingly, the Data Packet itself follows on to state “Considering the nature of the SLA Universe, the reasons for creating such a department remains unclear and widely debated”.
There is then discussion of how SLA is turning away from its historical pandering to or ignoring the ubiquitous decadence and perversion of the population, which were apparently tactics to keep the same population notice the terrible secrets SLA was trying to hide. As SLA finally realises that it is losing its grip on the illusion of control it maintains and that its enemies grow stronger and push their incursions further and further into SLA territory, including into Mort, it has decided to turn to other tactics to try to stem or reverse the tide and reassert its authority.
The head of the M.R. Division, Agnes Dowr, is introduced and briefly described. She is a 60-year-old ‘human’ female. The ‘human’ description is a dead giveaway that she is obviously anything but, but no information is provided as to what she may actually be. It is noted that she has Intimidate at Rank 22, which is more than double the maximum skill a human can actually attain, so there is another clue.
The adventure provided for the Operatives’ first encounter with the M.R. Division is for Agnes Dowr to meet with them and demand that they go into Klick’s End and “make an example” of seven (randomly selected) civilians the Operatives find there, by mutilating their bodies and leaving a calling card from M.R. Division on each one.
That’s right, the Operatives first encounter with the new M.R. Division and they are not fulfilling its mission of investigating and eliminating the seedier, decadent aspects within the World of Progress by going in and cleaning up Klick’s End. Instead, they are bloodily mutilating seven randomly chosen civilians in the area as a warning to others...
Pages 8-11 of the product finish off with stats and descriptions of the NPCs described in the Data Packet. Included are a typical Klick’s End civilian and individual descriptions of the four props controlling the area. As mentioned before, Agnes Dowr is not included.
As I said at the beginning, this review was difficult to write because of the suddenly-introduced divide between describing the product-naming subject matter, Klick’s End, and the new M.R. Division, both of which I found underwhelming.
The Klick’s End location is cookie-cutter standard SLA Industries and doesn’t really offer any new insights into the game. The M.R. Division doesn’t fit well within SLA Industries at the moment (the universe is expanding and evolving, it may be a better fit as the product line rolls onwards) and within paragraphs of introducing its function and mission it makes a bold statement through requiring the player character Operatives to do something antithetical to what it needs to accomplish and which logically should only serve to invite further hatred of SLA Industries, greater civil unrest and an increased likelihood of providing support and safe haven to SLA’s enemies.
Maybe that’s the point, though if it is it doesn’t work for me. If you are going to introduce a totally new aspect to SLA Industries that fills a niche usually not occupied by the company, demonstrate its unique elements by not having its introductory ‘adventure’ be an example of business-as-usual for SLA. If the example mission is characteristic of how the Division is going to operate, why bother introducing it at all, because it isn’t bringing anything new to the party.
At $1.49, Klick’s End is still good value for money, and the production values in terms of presentation and writing are of high quality, but I wouldn’t expect to gain anything innovative to add to your own game.
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