Tommy's Take on Darwin's World Campaign Guide

I hoped to get to this a bit quicker than this, but life is what happens when you're making other plans. Let's tackle the Darwin's World Campaign Guide. Apologies for the brevity, but my original review got eaten when my laptop randomly shut off. Whee.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: First off, holy crap...222 pages. The first big was a tight 76 pages, and for only about $5 more ($14.95 in PDF and $24.95 in print) you can get the Campaign Guide. As you may recall from my review of the Survivor's Handbook, I wasn't blown away by the Twisted Earth setting, though I thought the rules were great. We'll see if this book can sell me on the setting itself.

The Adventuring chapter dives into surviving the Twisted Earth and all of the struggles that entails, adding rules for gamma radiation, new diseases, chemical contamination and parasitic infection. Despite fun with mutations, radiation is BAD and will kill you. Diseases range from things like rabies and tuberculosis to the Plague Zombie contagion and the Muta-Virus. This chapter also discusses the topics of drugs and slavery, which are both prevalent, before wrapping up with a pretty extensive scrounging/scavening table.

Chapter 2 covers adventure locations, but is more of a generalized affair than a guide to Twisted Earth. For instance, trade towns are discussed in general, then a detailed example is provided with a sidebar giving ideas on how to use it if you don't want to use Twisted Earth. Other locations include the Survivor city of Styx (10,000+ strong, an admitted rarity for the genre), Fallout-style Vaults and Cities of the Dead (Los Angeles serving as the example). A number of minor locations are provided, a paragraph apiece, like power plants, universities, military bases and prisons.

Chapter 3 is the first chapter that is very Twisted Earth specific. Each Faction is defined by Typical Backgrounds, Attitude, Symbol and History, with a pair of stat blocks per Faction every major faction (and most minor factions) having an art piece serving as an example of each. Some Factions include the anti-technology Brethren, the militarist goods-mongers The Cartel, The Doomriders (who aim to "cleanse" the world via rape, murder and pillage), the flesh-eating Ghouls, the Rangers (who serve as the only law left in the world), and more. The Factions cover the gamut of evil folks, good folks, deranged psychos and people just trying to scrape by.

Chapter 4 is the bestiary, which immediately begins with the caveat of "apply mutations as you see fit". It is an impressive bestiary at that, including Abominations (no two of which are ever the same), Giant Amoebas, Ch'kit (giant bug people), Cyclats (one eyed bats that shoot energy beams), Gronts (dog-things the size of horses), Marionette Worms (parasites that infect people and animals, then take control of the corpses), Monstrous Cockroaches, Night Terrors (jet-black, skeletal humans), Plantmen, Sandmen (burrowing mutants), Shadow People (a near-mythical race of psychics), Terminals (those who should probably be dead but hang on, the creepiest of which are the Abortion Terminals) and Two-Headed Mutant Bears because, well, how do you top that?

Chapter 5 is all about the machines, detailing the difference between robots, androids, droids and cyborgs...the main differences being that robots are programmed for certain tasks, androids are humanoid and droids can take on any shape. There's a set of base stats to build off of, with a massive selection of modifiers to play around with and build unique machines with. Some of the machines included are Pleasure Androids, War Droids, Police Droids (which were in use heavily before The End) and more.

Chapter 6 covers the Artifacts of the Ancients and it completely blows up the Gear chapter from the first book, adding chainsaws, Not-Lightsabers, Powered Armor, all kinds of grenades, laser weapons, electro-saw throwers, flamethrowers, X-Ray Goggles, translation devices, pain collars, jetpacks and a lot more.

WHAT WORKS: Despite being the Darwin's World Campaign Guide, much of this book can serve any needs you may have for a Post-Apocalyptic Savage Worlds game. The art is very well-placed and well-targeted, providing examples of the various monsters and factions without overwhelming the book.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The setting still doesn't really "pop" compared to other PostApoc settings, and the Terminal Abortions may be a bridge too far for some folks.

CONCLUSION: Darwin's World seems like it can handle the basic assumptions of most Post Apocalyptic games for Savage Worlds, and this book only has one chapter that seems geared specifically for Twisted Earth (even then, you can still reskin the stat blocks easily enough). I have no idea if there are any more Darwin's World releases planned for Savage Worlds, but the two books released do a great job of serving as a Post Apocalyptic toolkit.

Tommy's Take on Darwin's World Survivor's Handbook

Converting your setting to Savage Worlds is a
great way to get my attention.

I'm still doing a theme here...next on the list? Darwin's World Survivor's Handbook for Savage Worlds!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Darwin's World is a post-apocalyptic setting by RPG Objects that has been adapted to some manner of the d20 system (sorry, I'm not up on the variations), but was brought over to Savage Worlds last year. That puts it in my wheelhouse just a bit. The Savage Worlds version has two books, the first of which is the Survivor's Handbook. You can get the 76 page PDF for $9.95, or get it in print for $19.95. The PDF download includes a printer friendly version as well as a "screen" version, and a map of the United States portion of Twisted Earth, which has been ravaged by disaster.

Darwin's World assumes that after American intervention ended World War II, the US reverted to isolationist policies. This ultimately set off a chain reaction where America - no longer the stewards of the world - developed faster than the recovering world, which spawned jealous reactions that led to invasion and nuclear (and biological) war. At the time the campaigns are assumed to have begun, no one is really sure how long it's been since The End. In the aftermath, the world is changing - man and animal alike - but the whole planet is dying.

Setting rules include the addition of Tech-Level, which determines what kind of gear the PCs can use, the new languages used on the Twisted Earth (like Ancient and Gutter talk), and a few skills being altered in how they function. A glossary of in-universe terms are also provided.

Character creatio is a lot like standard Savage Worlds, with the addition of Backgrounds. First things first, you decide between being Humans, First Generation Mutants, second Generation Mutants and Third Generation Mutants. Humans are pretty straight forward, with the free Edge and all. First Gen mutants are often outcasts, and start with three Mutations and a Major Defect. Second Generation mutants are a little better off, with less noticeable defects. Third generation mutants are "Super Mutants", with fewer defects but a superiority complex.

There are 11 Backgrounds, and they give bonus Edges, default Hindrances, starting languages, special conditions and the character's Tech Level. Ferals, for example, are Tech Level 1 and get bonus dice in Guts, Notice and Survival while Ritual Preservationists start off with a Vow, but also an Artifact Cache.

There's a whole mess of new Edges, such as ones the remove Defects, the interesting Horrifying Kill (in which you make enough of a mess of your opponent to give other opponent's pause), Boarding Party (for diving onto someone else's vehicle) and Power Edges that provide bonuses to Psionics (the only Arcane Background in the game). Occupations are also recommended, but have no mechanical impact on the game (other than helping to guide character creation).

The Major and Minor Mutation charts are handled with d100 rolls, with Minor Mutations granting things like Claws, Blindsight, Multiple Stomachs and Expanded Optic Orbit (which helps defend against Blindness). Major Mutations include Wings, Psychic Powers and even Eye Beams. Each mutation is given a description, complete with game mechanics. The Major and Minor defects also have random roll charts (d100 and d20, respectively). Minor defects include things like smelling bad, underdeveloped longs and dwarfism, while the Major defects can be things like Skeletal Deterioration, Cannibalism, Night Blindness and Cystic Fibrosis.

Psychic Powers are divided into three groups (Precognitive, Telepathic and Telekinetic). Where appropriate, Powers are merely reskinned versions of existing Powers with Trappings explaining how they fit. For example, Bolt becomes Telekinetic Throw, where you hurl objects at the opponent, Blast becomes Rain of Objects, and Boost Trait becomes Precognitive Trait. New Powers include Battleplan (which lets you redistribute your side's initiative cards...and take an opponent's card on a Raise), Perceive Outcome (which essentially lets you roll an action, including the spending of bennies, then deciding if you want to keep the action), and Telepathic Blindness (which removes the opponent's ability to see).

The Gear Chapter is what you would expect, complete with discussion on the Barter economy. It does include weapons up to energy weapons, for those curious.

The last section is the Survivor's Guide to Twisted Earth, essentially the Player's Gazetteer. For instance, The Big Hole is the treacherous - yet awe inspiring - pass those that are heading  west must deal with, while the Deadlands (no relation) hold the City of Lights, which is the other name of the oasis called Vegas. In fact, every location gets multiple paragraphs of description, and you can have fun matching up descriptions with the map locations to figure out what has become what. The book concludes with PC relevant information on the various factions in the wasteland, like the Knights of Route 66 (bandits that travel the legendary highway), Amazons (female survivalists), Rangers (the brutal law of the Deadlands), Ghouls (human and mutant cannibals) and several more.

WHAT WORKS: It's a very well done Savage Worlds presentation, especially with the combination of re-skinned powers combined with the selection of new Powers. The Mutations and Defects are very cool and well done without adding a ton of extra crunch to the rules. Many of the new Edges are similarly impressive.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The Mutants don't seem to be particularly balanced. That is, from a game balance perspective I'm not sure why anyone would pick a Gen 1 over a Gen 2 or a Gen 2 over a Gen 3. The setting isn't anything that just pops out in comparison to other post apocalyptic settings. Very minor complaint, but two of the Edges do require access to the Campaign Guide in order to use (the Artifact Cache Edges).

CONCLUSION: The setting feels fairly standard for the genre, but that could have a lot to do with this just being the Player's book. My tune may completely change with the GM's book. That said, most of the material here seems incredibly easy to strip for any post-apocalyptic Savage Worlds game with sci-fi elements, and the setting does also seem to lack a metaplot which can be a very good thing in many eyes (including my own). Recommended for Savages to at least strip mine the rules material even if they don't want to play around in the Twisted Earth.