[Let's Study: Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein] Part 3: The Rules

Over the past two days we’ve been looking over DH:LoF’s setting and themes, but today we’ll be turning our attentions towards the rules for the game. Dark Harvest’s mechanics are a stripped down version of the ones used in another game, Victoriana, but it isn’t necessary to own Victoriana to play this game.

The game only uses D6′s which is always a nice thing for communities without easy access to polyhedral dice (you’d be surprised at how hard it is to get a set of polyhedral dice here in the Philippines.)

The basic resolution mechanic is fairly straightforward. To perform an action, the player simply rolls a pool of d6′s equal to the sum of one attribute and one skill. Every die that comes up with a result of “1″ or”6″ is considered a success. A 6 can be rerolled to see if it can generate another success. A single success is all you need to perform the action, but multiple successes determine the degree by which the task is performed. As with any system with “Exploding” dice mechanics, this might lead to some pretty interesting results, where a player might end up doing something legendary once in a while, which is always fun for players, especially when their heroics are a bright spot in such a bleak setting.

To determine the difficulty, the player also rolls what the system calls “black dice.” These dice don’t have to be black in color, but do have to be distinct enough to be able to tell them apart from the standard roll. These dice DEDUCT successes for every 1 and 6 that they roll. Thankfully you do not reroll 6′s on Black Dice. A quick peek at the Degree of Difficulty chart also reveals that they only come into play starting from “Difficult” rating tasks at three dice, and ramp up from there. Most rolls will probably need only 3 to 6 dice most of the time, but once in a while someone is going to be rolling anywhere from 12 to 40(!) Black Dice.

For opposed tests, character have to make a roll against each other, trying to get more successes than the other. Black Dice are rolled normally for each character as well. The extra step of counting Black Dice and deducting from successes might slow things down a bit, but not to the point that it will slow down to a crawl.

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Overall, DH:LoF’s system looks relatively simple, and I’m pleased to see that it is very easy to teach. New GMs and players will not be overwhelmed and intimidated by the rules, and they seem to be transparent enough to fade to the background, a key element in many horror games. The last thing you need is to drop out of the mood of a scene to flip through a book because you can’t remember the rules.

Furthermore, it’s tolerant of little tweaks, like perhaps letting the player roll only his pool and have the GM roll the black dice instead. It changes nothing about the probabilities, but it might “feel” better for some groups to do it that way. Likewise, it seems easy enough to change the success values to 5 and 6 with sixes rerolled and not affect the math. Another tweak to bump the difficulty would be to enable the 6′s in Black Dice to be rerolled. That way even if there are less Black Dice, the threat of them screwing things up will be substantially higher.

Tomorrow we’ll go on to build a sample character for the setting, before trying out a sample combat on Thursday to see how it holds up in practice.

[Let's Study: Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein] Part 2: Locations in Promethea and Fiction Anthology

Today we continue our examination of the setting of the delightfully macabre setting of Dark Harvest: legacy of Frankenstein. As I mentioned in yesterday’s article, the first half of the book is dedicated to giving the reader an intimate look into the truth of Promethea, Victor Frankenstein’s utopia.

In the section called “Piercing the veil – Locations in Promethea” the book goes on to give a short description of all the Administrative Counties of Promethea. Each entry is prefaced by a short in-character quote, followed by the County’s name, region, principal settlements, a map of the county and finally a two to three paragraph description of the County’s features and industry. Particular care is given to describing the state of the various settlements and the military strength present in the region.

Save for the quote, each entry gives me an “intelligence report” sort of vibe. Given the sheer number of counties that the book described, it’s no surprise that the entries were a little on the short side. Thankfully these descriptions are very good with a lot of information to fire the imaginations of those looking to run the game while leaving enough space for them to insert their own take on the county.

The only exceptions to the list would be the city of Bucharest, which gets a longer description (but no map, sadly) and Targu Mures, the home of Victor Frankenstein and heart of Promethea which also enjoys a longer description and a better idea of what it is to be in the highest halls of power in Promethea, where a frontal assault would be suicide, but intrigues and spies both have a place here.

I was taken by surprise by the presence of descriptions of “generic” locations that followed, such as an International Border, various military bases and an Augmentation Facility. It’s a brilliant concept, having a description that a GM could just “cut-and-paste” elsewhere, without having to be constrained to Canon. It’s a fine idea that I think other games could learn from.

The last pages of the Setting chapters are dedicated to a short Anthology of stories set in Promethea. While some games tend to place their short stories between chapters, I found this an interesting means of presenting sample stories (and situations) that can take place in the world. The stories are varied, taking on different facets of the setting into account. My personal favorite among the stories would have to be the first one: “Harvest Moon” by Magz Wiseman. Sadly I can’t go into detail lest I spoil anything, but I found it to be a good read as far as fiction in RPGs are concerned.

While people may have different opinions about fiction in RPGs, I felt that the fiction of DH:LoF is the kind that actually contributes to the knowledge (and undersanding) of the setting, while still being entertaining.

And that brings us to the end of the setting material for DH:LoF. Tomorrow we start looking at the mechanics and rules that the game uses in Part 3 of our Let’s Study series.

[Let's Study: Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein] Part 1: Welcome to Promethea & Promethea Now

One of the first things I realized when I was checking out DH:LoF was the fact that the entire first half of the book was almost completely devoid of rules. Instead, the author spent a huge amount of page count on the setting of the game: the fictional nation of Promethea.

The last time I saw this sort of thing in such a prominent manner, it was through White-Wolf’s Scion: HERO. Don’t worry though, even if a good half of the book is spent on the setting, they are all pages well worth reading.

I’ve always been a a fan of setting material and culture, so it shouldn’t come off as a surprise that I was very happy about how DH:LoF pulled it off.

It begins with a lengthy discussion of the events that led to the founding of Promethea, and Victor Frankenstein’s rise to power. Written in a form that was more informative rather than purely in a fiction form, it was a welcome (and sensible) format to use.  Being a reader from all the way in Asia, I will confess to having a less than thorough knowledge of this period of history. The way that it was presented made it easy enough for me to keep up and understand the nuances of the politics that gave birth to Promethea.

The sordid tale of Promethea’s creation exhibits some of the heavier themes that repeat themselves in many places in the book. Chief among them is the abuse of power. Whether politics, physical violence, or superior intellect and technology, a good part of the horror in DH:LoF lies in the utter helplessness of those victimized by the cruelty of those who have the means to take advantage of them. As an interesting counterpoint, it also showcases the heroism of the rebel, those who fight despite such terrible odds for ideals greater than the self.

But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. After discussing the birth of Promethea as a nation, the book goes on to discuss Promethea as it is in the timeframe of the game.

The first few words you read about Promethea is a chilling truth: “Promethea is a beautiful nightmare.” The nation of Promethea is a gothic wonderland of scientific advances and paranoia. On one hand, Promethea’s scientific advances are far beyond it’s peers. Technology and inventions exist only within Promethea’s heavily guarded borders, but the cost of Promethea’s perfection is incredibly high.

Beyond a certain social status, humanity is treated as a resource that can be exploited. Workers are hardly considered to be people, and the terrifying harvest of their organs by those of higher social status had made life a living hell for the peasantry of Promethea.

Add the fact that many of Frankenstein’s advances have been used to solidify his hold on Promethea means that the military of the state are all heavily augmented and utterly loyal. One of the most feared displays of power by the state is the form of execution known as Evisceration, where the unfortunate victim is essentially dissected while kept alive and conscious by Frankenstien’s science, their torment only ending after they are set on fire by the judge.

The book goes into morbid detail of the depravities and injustices suffered by the people of Promethea, all in a manner that gives rise to the urge to DO something about it. This dovetails nicely to the Resistance, a group devoted to fighting to free their people from their current state. It’s a thankless effort, and many of the Resistance die cruel deaths, often Eviscerated for hoping to dream of freedom from these cruel conditions.

As one can imagine, the Resistance is where the player characters come in. Outgunned, outnumbered but undeterred, the Resistance fights against the establishment, hoping that their efforts prove to be worth it. It’s a strong position to start in, but it does cement exactly what DH:LoF is really all about: the valiant struggle against overwhelming odds.

It’s a great way to kick of such a focused game. DH:LoF knows exactly what it wanted to be, and doesn’t try to pretend to be anything else. So far, it’s horrifying and yet manages to instill that sense of righteous indignation that so perfectly motivates players.

Tomorrow we’ll start looking at the second half of the setting chapters of the book.

Mistborn Adventure Game Unboxing Video

For all of us who are eagerly awaiting our copies, Patrick Kapera of Crafty-Games has put up an unboxing video being done by Alex Flagg of the softcover version of the Misborn Adventure Game for us to see. The books definitely look good, can’t wait to get my hardcover copy! Check out the video below!

[Let's Study] Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein Starting Monday!

Hot on the heels of the Early Dark series, we’re moving on to the next game in our Let’s Study series of Alternate History games with Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein (DH:LoF).

When I first heard of the game I was admittedly intrigued. My last brush with the Frankenstein’s Monster was from White-Wolf’s Promethean: the Created, which while interesting and evocative, was a very hard game to run and play. Dark Harvest on the other hand promised a novel approach to what could have happened if Victor Frankenstein had turned his attentions towards the creation of his own perfect state.

What really seized my imagination was the abuse of Frankenstein’s discoveries to benefit the rich at the cost of the poor. Add the body horror of pillaging the poor for desirable body parts for wealthy patrons who never have to age or die because of their status is something that is utterly abhorent to think about. It makes for a perfect decadent society, drunk on immortality and vanity at the cost of their fellow man.

It’s a powerful hook, and nothing breeds the kind of hate for a villain than one that decided to murder your character’s sister for her beautiful blue eyes to wear for a party. Players will relish every victory and work desperately towards ending the establishment.

So let’s take this week to pick Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein apart and see what we find, and what kind of games we can run with it.