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"The skies are dim always since the Maker died. The lights of Puppettown are the brightest beacon in all of Puppetland, and they shine all the time. Once the sun and the moon moved their normal course through the heavens, but no more. The rise of Punch the Maker-Killer has brought all of nature to a stop, leaving it perpetually winter, perpetually night. Puppets all across Puppetland mourn the loss of the Maker, and curse the name of Punch - but not too loudly, lest the Nutcrackers hear and come to call with a sharp rap-rap-rapping at the door."

And so begins this horrible, and enthralling game. The idea is that the players are all puppets who live in Puppetland, whose creator - the Maker - has been killed by Punch, who is now ruling with an iron fist, and pretty much doing whatever his evil and twisted mind can think up. His violent and sadistic schemes are aided by his 'Boys' - six flesh-made puppets as twisted as Punch himself - and his army of 'Nutcrackers' - soldier-like marionettes with huge, crunching jaws.

All is not lost, however, as Judy has created a haven called Respite, just across the Lake of Milk and Cookies, where she runs the resistance movement, whose eventual aim is to find the Maker's body and bring him back to life.

The overall theme is one of fairy stories mingled with the weirdest horror you can think of. John has tried to create a world where child-like beings (the 'ordinary' puppets) are struggling against the cruelty of adults (Punch and his Boys). And he has done remarkably well, in my opinion.

The 'system' - and I use the term loosely - is very, very simple. Each character (and NPC) in the game is defined by a description of the things it can and can't do, such as "This puppet can kick, throw, or grab things as heavy as they are" and "This puppet can not kick things or move quicker than a finger puppet". Attached to this are descriptions of each puppet's 'attributes', such as "This puppet is medium size, sort of heavy, not very fast, sort of strong and very clever". To resolve conflicts, the 'Puppet Master' merely compares the various attributes (and/or abilities) of the puppets, and makes a ruling. Simple as that. The style of play is very similar to Amber. The rules do suggest that dice or cards could be used, but doesn't provide rules for doing so.

The game is available on the web and can be downloaded from John Tyne's web-site at 'http://www.john.tynes.com/rl_revland.html', along with a character sheet in .pdf format. The game was also published in Arcane magazine, along with some very disturbing artwork (specifically Punch wearing a fleshy mask made from the skin he cut off the Maker).

I advise the horror-gaming enthusiasts, and the storytelling enthusiasts, to find a copy and check it out. John Tynes is a very disturbed and highly talented man.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)