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Armageddon: The End Times is a game set in the near future where an evil church, called “The Church of Revelations” has managed to create a huge army and declare war on the planet. The catch is that the “Church of Revelations” is powered by a super “cthulu” like being from another dimension called Leviathan that can only cross over by making billions of people worship him and he has managed to convert much of central Europe along with parts of South America, and Asia. The rest of the world fights against him and creatures of myth and legend have decided to reveal themselves and join in the fight. Creatures such as angels, demons, gods, immortals fight along human soldiers and mages to push back the forces evil.
What is in Side?
“Armageddon: The End Times” is a hardback that consists of 350 pgs and is roughly 7” x 9”. It is the corebook for the setting and has everything you need to play a game.
Chapter 1: A Taste of Doomsday
The first chapter is an introduction to the setting that also includes general information on roleplaying, gender, the author, chapter summary, dice and how the game relates to its predecessor “Witchcraft.”
Chapter 2: Setting
The second chapter goes into fair detail as to how the world has changed. The war is similar to World War II and everyone is afraid of the future. We get a summary of how the Church of Revelation took over half the world along with the forces that oppose them. Also included is the status of the major countries in the world, the roll of the inhuman allies and a timeline from 1980-2016.
Chapter 3: Roles
This is the character creation chapter. You start by choosing a concept (Fanatic, Scoundrel, Survivor) that helps define your character. Next you choose your type which defines what you are and what you can do (seraphim, immortal, mage, plain human). You than pick an association which is a group you belong to. Finally you spend points on attributes, skills, qualities, drawbacks, and metaphysics (magic and powers).
Armageddon has a wide power levels for your character and this is represented by your “type.” Types can range from your average Joe to powerful demigod and angels. Armageddon does rate the “types” to help the GM set a power level from Pre-Heroic Characters to Mythical Characters. Your type ends up determining how many points you get to spend on your character.
Also, in this chapter we get an ongoing example of character creation and a selection of archetypes of ready made characters at the end.
Chapter 4: Rules
“Armageddon: The End Times” uses Unisystem. The basic rule is you add your attribute + skill + d10 and if it is greater than 9 you succeed. Level of success is determined by how much higher you rolled over a 9. Modifications can also be made such as when a 1 or 0 are rolled. There is plenty of crunch including rules for combat, fear, disease, breaking things, vehicles and experience. All the rules were solid and didn’t get caught up in charts and tables.
The only other dice that are rolled are dice for damage which get combined with a multiplier. A nice alternative in this chapter is how to use cards instead of dice for the randomizer or how to play the game diceless.
Chapter 5: Tools
This chapter should be entitled weapons or tools of war because that is what it is. There is a good listing of melee and ranged weapons along with setting specific weapons and armor. There is also a short listing of vehicles such as tanks and fighter planes. One nice element was that the average damage of every weapon is listed for those playing with the diceless rules.
Chapter 6: Associations
This chapter gives more detail on the associations from chapter 3. For each association we get information on their history, beliefs, organization, the effects of the war on the association, and their allies and enemies. The associations are:
Alliance – underground freedom force that works against Leviathan
Heavenly Host – representatives of heaven lead by the seraphim.
Infernal Legion – The Fallen Angels who have to help fight the war in their own way
Lodge of Undying – Organization of Immortals who hail from Atlantis
Lone Wolves – Generic term for small cell like grouping.
Pantheon – representatives of the old pagan gods
Watchers – group that has assisted humans for millions of years
Chapter 7: Metaphysics
This chapter covers all the powers that can be used by humans. It starts off with a description of Essence or the stuff that powers the universe. Magic is the ability to manipulate essence and is broken down into Invocations or spells which have a specific affect.
Next is The Sight of psionic powers consisting of telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis and other such powers. Third is Necromancy which deals with talking and controlling dead spirits. The fourth metaphysical ability is Divine Inspiration or the ability to cast miracles using Essence. The final ability really isn’t an ability but powers that deal with humans who have formed a bond with spirits. This bond can give a variety of powers including immortality, other metaphysical abilities, or additional an increase to attributes. However, the bonded mortal must perform obligations to his spirit patron or the bond will be broken.
Chapter 8: Inhumans
Like the metaphysics chapter this chapter lists all the abilities of the supernatural but also goes into describing them beyond just there powers.
The first supernaturals it describes are the Celestials consisting of the Seraphim, Kerubim (angels), along with their variants: Exiles, Qliphonim, and the Nephilim (angel children).
Next is the Primal Beings or representatives of the pagan gods. The major beings are Incarnates or minor gods. Next are the Avatars (humans that are imbued with the power of the gods) and Inheritors (human/god offspring).
Lastly there is information on Spirits, Ethereals (NPC servants), and True Immortals.
Chapter 9: Adversary
The ultimate evil is discussed in this chapter. We get the history of “The Church of Revelations” along with what life is like in their territories. There are also descriptions of different factions within the Church such as “The Soul Police” who seek out disbelievers.
Also, we get information on “The Army of Revelations” including both the human and inhuman forces including zombies, shaiton (monsters), and the Adepts (powerful clerics of Leviathan who are transformed by its taint).
Chapter 10: Chronicles
The final chapter gives advice on running Armageddon. This chapter is real short and gives some general advice on how run a game along with a few adventure seeds. The book finished off with a glossary, index and a character sheet.
What do I think of the Book?
The book is gorgeous. From the start we get a nice piece of cover art by Christopher Shy of an angel up front and a war scene in the back. The rest of the art is a mix of artists all giving a solid portrayal of the setting. There are some great pictures of monsters and cult creatures in a war setting such as a tentacle creature wrapped around an attack helicopter. Most of the layout is nice with the exception of the dark background. An image of a cracked surface is placed on the back of every page and at first it is distracting. Some people also might be jarred by the size of the book as it is smaller than your average rpg.
The flavor text was fun and interesting and the descriptions were clear and concise. I didn’t notice any major editing mistakes and was able to follow the text easily. I did have a problem with the “types” chapter and the “metaphysics” and “inhuman” chapters being so far apart as all three chapters are essential for character creation.
If there is any major flaw to the game it is a lack of focus. There are so many possibilities for both characters and adventures that there is no way a 350 page book could cover it all. The reader is left with all these choices but no where to take them. So, it is a complete game with all the rules, it just needs less choices and more direction.
Who Should Buy this Book?
You should pick this game if you are looking for a game where you can play an angel/demon or pagan god, if you are interested in an alternative to “The World of Darkness,” if you’re interested in playing during the apocalypse instead of after it, or if you want to see what “Witchcraft” is leading to.
Extra Stuff?
Anyone who wants to take a closer look at the Unisystem and check out Armageddon before the war should take a look at “Witchcraft” which is available for free at Eden Studio’s website. http://www.edenstudios.net
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