This is the second “module” for Crimson Dragon Slayer (CDS) and oh it’s a doozie! Similar to Venger’s other products this one isn’t for the faint of heart, definitely rated “R” mainly due to the sexual content. It’s a no holds barred, post-apocalyptic 1983 New York that others have never experienced.
Really a surreal place and familiar, if you have ever lived there, at the same time. The only thing missing is a souped-up Delorean, a teenage kid and a wizened old scientist, but hey, you could even add that if you wanted to.
This PDF is 24 pages with 17 of that actual game material. It starts off kinda of interesting, with the players in the 1980s playing a new video game and getting sucked into a parallel and very different New York city, where it’s always night, dusk or dawn…No Daylight!
The interior art is by artist Bojan Sucevic and it's Fantastic! It really sets the feel and mood of the setting and environment. They're in black and white, pencil style drawings and there are even several Easter Eggs to be found in the art too, but you must have a sharp eye. The layout is very similar to CDS and is setup by Glynn Seal of Monkey Blood Design, it has a very easy to read 2 column view, which is very professional looking. I love the quotes that set off by, normally empty, white space.
The writing is, well Venger, as only he can do. Very descriptive and raunchy, I had to cringe a couple of times and come back to it later. This is however only the third book of his that I read read through, but it’s growing on me.
There are many options in this open city and they all have little bits of brilliance that the players can look forward to. Being from Southern California the Samurai Surfers gang really stuck with me. There are other gangs to contend with like the 'Out of Towners” and The Terminators, while the hookers and a hot dog stand are backdrops to other scenes.
There are several outcomes towards the end game for NYC and none of them are very easy. First you have the Sinatra wannabe who says he runs the city and A Vampire Lord who wants him dead. Other entities are the mysterious Serpent men, Lovecraftian horrors and, of course The Crimson Dragon, that just needs a good slaying.
As an O5R product the conversion to OSR is 3 simple sentences. It can also be adapted to other systems quite easily.
