Some things are supposed to happen, but don't
Some things happened that shouldn't
And some things are just all f*cked up because of it
But who the hell chose these people to make it all better?

MetalMan's Review of "SS85 #5: Timef*cked" by Hector Rene Segovia

NOTE: I've changed the title for obvious reasons. I have no problems with profanity but I know that some people are easily offended despite the "f-word" being one of the most common phrases. It has been changed to avoid offending anyone.

The Premise:
Timef*cked is the fifth (and currently the final) part of a series of scenarios for modern horror games set in 1985. Hence, the abreviation "SS85" for "Segovia's Series: 1985." These are scenarios so no game stats are provided and only key events and personalities are touched upon. Other events are left up to the imagination of the GM to flesh out. The main point behind these scenarios is to interject a bit of actual history with the supernatural.

What Ya Get:
Timef*cked is a seven page Microsoft Word document. The included WordPad application with any Windows 9x/2000/Me/XP OS will open it just fine. Macintosh or Linux users will need a program capable of reading the DOC file type.

Cost:
Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free.

Appearance:
The appearance of the scenario is minimal. Text is single-column and typed at a very large (sixteen point) typesize. On one hand, its extremely easy to read. On the other hand, however, it eats up a lot of unnecessary paper from your printer. There are also some serious typographical errors which can be very distracting.

The Game:
The premise behind Timef*cked is that the players are in a city when a strange fog rolls in and everyone blacks out. They awaken in a three-room library and begin to explore only to be thrown from alternate history to alternate history. It is their job to correct the problems with these timelines to be able to return back to the library where they might have a chance of figuring out how to escape.

The strengths of this scenario is the different alternate histories that are constructed. Some are just neat such as a Victorian London infected with a disease that is causing madness, WWII with elves and dwarves, and other impossible twists. The only problem with this is that each is really only the barest outline. I realize that the scenarios are only outlines but a little more space might have been given to them or more provided. Strangely enough, this particular scenario is broad enough to be used for a complete campaign with expanding one different adventures in the various times and adding additional alternate histories for the players to stumble into. You'll need to get rid of the sealed parchments that bring the player automatically back to the library to really make sure that they don't run just as things get bad, however.

At only seven pages, Timef*cked is the shortest yet most ambitious of the scenarios but it seems rushed and a bit thrown together. There are also some glaring or either very disturbing historical errors as well. For example, a future informant of the atomic bombing of Japan is aboard the Titanic and must be neutralized to correct the timeline. This most probably means that the target is likely a child as the Titanic sunk in 1912 and Japan wasn't bombed until 1945. Some players may balk at this or simply balk at killing a person who is completely innocent of any crime in their present time.

However, my biggest gripe with it is the very contrived ending that provides a monetary reward for the players. Players have been thrown from time period to time period correcting problems and just wake up in a hotel room with envelopes for each of them containing $10,000 each. Now I don't like awarding money for things like this... and whoever is in charge of the timeline is a cheap bastard considering the horrible messes that the players had to fix.

Overall Impression:
Timef*cked is a disappointing conclusion to the series of scenarios. While the adventure setup itself is intriguing, a GM is probably going to be doing a lot of work to either expand on the plot or try to keep their players from just opening their parchments and vanishing from every dangerous encounter. Timef*cked, as it is now written, is not a very good choice for you to use unless you're just going to mine it for ideas to incorporate into your own adventures.

MetalMan signing off.