The Good
The art. Oh my Deity of your choice...the art in this work is perfectly evocative and is absolutely exceptional. In close second is the description of the milieu, written like a sourcebook it lovingly outlines a plausible universe of the Far Future where a portion of humanity now makes its home in a neighboring galaxy. However, a rupture has sealed the route back home – so humanity has a new home completely cut off from Earth. I found the descriptions engaging and thrilling. I so, much wanted to learn more, and my imagination was already formulating scenarios from merely reading some of the descriptions. However, it does borrow heavily from that obscure sub genre Horror SF. Not SF and Horror or Horror with SF tweak...but those rare instances when Horror can be played out in SF milieu.
The author made very special use of purple prose and kept the universe consistent throughout. Furthermore, purple prose was used to tie-in different concepts outlined in the rules.
The rules are rules-lite and rules-fast at the same time. I may prefer different rules 2d6 and BRP being my personal favorite but the author skilful has created a 2d8 mechanic (more about mechanics outlined below) that is well suited to ease of learning (if you are familiar with other RPG systems) and quickness of the resolution.
Zombies are here, but they are not done in a silly way which is a welcome relief from many space Zombie tropes that are out there. Given that it is space opera, the worlds on offer tend toward the fantastical or the unreal in which a single ecosystem dominates the entire planet. Some worlds are ideal garden worlds, others are venerable hell holes but one does have an entire galaxy to populate. And, this perhaps is great thing – for there are many places for “dragons” to hide. However, this is a very under populated setting, there are humans – the Gerons (mysterious alien benefactors who gave humanity FTL travel), Rippers and CAVs. There are suggestions of a precursor race(s) but only artifacts left would indicate that their presence.
There is literally a ton of advice about running a gloomy and sinister SF game without lapsing into depressing tropes. I found this section very useful but at the same time, it merely recycled many tropes from various films. However, I am not sure, if there is enough to create a campaign out of it – plenty of ideas for a one-shots but a sustained campaign – not really.
The Bad
There is not much that is Bad about the game. It provides an internally consistent universe, mega light years from Earth. It is pure Space Opera, however, in a discussion between realism and mood & setting, it was decided for mood & setting to take precedence. This is regrettable, as that was not the author’s first intention cited in the introduction and going down the Hard SF route might have been more fruitful for the author’s stated purpose of creating a gritty, shadowy, mysterious universe. But, as the description is so good, it should have been tacked upon another license – I certainly would buy a Traveller Cold & Dark (thus filling a niche left vacant by Wildfire’s Chthonian Stars) or a FATE inspired game. For the game, as it exists now, is halfway house between good rules that the author created and greatness. That said, being a license is a damper, as well and especially Mongoose Traveller spin-offs (does anyone play Hammer’s Slammers or Reign of Discordia) tend not to do as well as the main Third Imperium line despite them being rich and excellent settings. So, I do understand the need for the author to create his own mechanic – to solve problems of the setting and as will be noted in the discussion of the mechanic – the 2d8 does a good job in creating a feeling that is different from most games.
The Ugly
In the introduction, the author cites that he was inspired by a manual for designing video games and this RPG does have very much that feel to it. Pen & Paper games ought to have a different vibe about exploding frontiers rather than constraining them and that is what this book does. It presents few adversaries and even less of a toolkit for the AI (Adaptable Intelligence is the name for the Game master) and Avatars (PCs) to conduct their adventures within for ultimately the descriptions pull together a number of intellectual properties tropes (ranging from Babylon 5 to the Alien franchise to Warhammer40K to Fading Suns) without a unifying thread thus resembling a video game editor rather a RPG. Not that this necessarily a bad thing but it is a limiting factor. Wounds and that (as will be dealt in the section dealing with the Mechanic) have a very much D&D 4e or video game feel to them, whereby; damage is graphically represented and is not subject to role playing just description.
I understand that the author probably wanted to leave much of that to the imagination of the AI and players but rob them of the tools of describing those encounters for a pen & paper RPG needs a heuristic for taking things to the next level. In part, I suppose, the author has the intention that the background might be enough to generate stories and indeed the author does provide a superior description of the Cold & Dark universe. But, it tends to generate the same stories. The essence of good horror gaming is not the defeat of the Big Bad Boss on Level 13 of the underground level of the Arcology but in how that horror is related to the larger cosmos. True, the zombies and rippers are part of a larger phenomena but it keeps on coming back to treating players need to restore their balance of hit points, sanity and stability rather than pushing back at some sort of cosmic horror.
Also, much as I appreciate all the high tech weaponry and the thought that has gone into armour and updating equipment lists to include nanotech, as well as the assortment of guns and swords – it still reads like equipment that you would “causally” find in a video game as you defeat the baddies with your pocket knife or should you play Aliens Colonial Marines – your M41A Pulse Rifle. Artifacts, especially, Ancient Voider artifacts should retain a mysterious aura about them rather than just toys for the upgrading.
The Mechanic
Characteristic + Ability = dice pool, yes, it is that simple. The AI may put modifiers and rules have tons of examples to highlight but ultimately it is the discretion of the AI.
The 2d8 mechanic works quite well in providing an ample spread for achievable results and allows one to use dice that are not frequently called for in most RPGs. Coolness factor aside, the choice of not going with a d6, d20 or d% is still strange. I think d6 would have worked equally well but much of the mechanic seems to be geared around a d% type game but keeping the bar low – it heightens the tension more thus is a better fit without giving up some of grit and raw realism that a d6 game might award.
The Chargen is points based, in keeping with many modern games which are perfectly suited to the milieu. As the distribution of abilities should be in the hands of the player not the dice. However, it does create a problem of characters putting all their points into a few characteristics. So, I am not certain that this form of build can create balanced players, save, my the very low number of points awarded at the beginning of the chargen.
Combat is equally fast paced in which it is easy to determine the status of the injury in very descriptive and cinematic terms. Gone is the abstraction of hit points and it is replaced with bludgeoning damage and critical hits. My only complaint is that it would seem that players would stand a better than average in facing most opponents save when they manifest themselves as roving hordes or packs...and I do get the impression that waves of opponents is the norm.
Lastly, the mechanic that keeps the players sane and stable is nicely executed which is where the name of the game emanates from – Cold is your player’s ability to cope with unnatural horrors that abound that threaten one’s judgment and understanding of the universe & Dark that inner turmoil that drives individuals toward insanity. Much like Trail of Cthulhu, it is a balancing act between the two – players can recover lost points but their decent is assured.
All-in-all this is excellent mood piece. It does have lots of cool stuff but it is hard to imagine a sustained campaign for this game...although, it describes that players should slowly descend into madness. However, as most adventures seem to revolve around bug hunts or shadowy corporations – they play like Aliens or Prometheus or DOOM or Star*Craft. I just hope that the next supplement will include an adventure, as I would want to see how characters survive to fight another day. So I do look forward to future supplements for this game, although, it is quite easy to run this game straight out of the box, I want to see how this game would perform in a fully realized campaign. For right now, it reads like a slick video game not a fully realized RPG and I would want to see.
