| The first
thing that sprang to mind when I was trying
to think of a way of describing UnderWorld's
system, is “Steve Jackson’s Toon,
but easier”. Yeah, you just toss some
coins and that’s all. And the first
thing I thought of when I was trying to describe
it’s setting, was the 1987-1990 TV series
“Beauty and the Beast”, starring
Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman, if you can
remember it? Then you have Neil Gaiman’s
“Neverwhere” novel and TV mini-series,
from which this game draws a lot.
When you use your local subway have you ever
noticed that the tunnel systems in your city
don’t seem to be too constructed in
any particular order? Do they seem, if looked
upon in a roadmap, like an odd and arcane
symbol of ages past? Well your powers of deduction
are amazing little grasshopper. There’s
a secret to be unveiled here.
Subways exist for more than just transportation.
In fact, they draw magic from each passenger
that rides them. A small quota from each one
of the millions that ride the metro each and
everyday. The subways all resemble odd runes
from times past, powerful symbols that bring
magic back into this world. The Industrial
Revolution had almost drained the world of
magic for good, but some visionary, or maybe
something else, something more powerful, devised
this trick to bring the magic back.
Now, below each city that has a subway system,
an UnderWorld thrives. A place filled with
magic and wonder, a place where modern technology
and logic both cease to function. Each UnderWorld
has its own set of rules, like London’s
(in Gaiman’s novel), and New York’s
(described fully in the UnderWorld rulebook).
This book, as I’ve just said, focuses
on New York (in fact, it’s sometimes
self-contradicting as it refers to the Big
Apple’s UnderWorld as the UnderWorld).
Below New York, many Breeds (a term that
refers to a broad group of people that are
united by certain common features) survive
day-to-day, and night-to-night. Each of these
people also belong to a certain Guild (an
association of people that hold the same jobs,
as with European Renaissance guilds). This
allows you to create a wide array of character
types. I’ll name a few, those that were
most interesting to me.
First up are the Breeds. There are the Homeless,
people that are bums in the UpWorld (our world)
and live as upstanding citizens down below;
the Ferals, animals given intelligence and
speech by the magic under the surface; the
Lost, people from past times that appear in
the UnderWorld present; the Junkmen, robotic
creations made of garbage, as their name implies,
by mad scientists; and the Legendaries, beings
born of humanity’s imaginations, fears
and loves. Yes I know… it does sound
very Mage: the Ascension like.
Secondly there are the Guilds. We have the
Traders, the only people allowed to deal with
wares, especially brought down from the upper
world; the Bravos, the only Guild that is
permitted to initiate and participate in combat
and assassinations; the Librarians, those
that keep the knowledge, like ‘Father’
in “Beauty and the Beast”; and
the Taggers, explorers and graffiti maniacs
that search for untouched spots to work their
art. This is just a selection from a much
bigger palette you can choose from, though
and there are others, which are also pretty
good.
The game’s self-titled genre is subterranean
urban fantasy. It’s a lot like the World
of Darkness, only less dark. The setting offers
a lot more, since it’s deliberately
open-source (yes, I call it like the software)
so that you can weave your own creations into
it. There are many ideas and examples, but
no “this is like this, or your game’s
not official” kind of stuff. That’s
right, White-Wolfy friends, no canon!
In fact, the book claims to be a framework,
not a game. The system is designed to be incredibly
easy and open, but the designers have openly
reasoned that we gamers may like to adapt
the setting to another system (the first thing
that comes to my mind is adapting this game
to the Window RPG, which is an interesting
multi-adaptable system with no setting).
As for the original system, it’s pretty
easy to get the hang of. For everything you
need to do, you toss one or more coins (referred
to, by the book, as a Head Count) and count
the heads. Each head is a success, and for
each action you need a varying number of successes.
If you scored them, you did it. You always
have a default coin, and some of the immensely
few traits (you have almost no “rule
stuff” to pen down on your character
sheet) add coins to your roll (or is it toss??).
You have only four health levels (a.k.a. Hit
Points), so combat is pretty deadly and not
to be entered into lightly, which is just
as the designers want it. Everything else
is decided by good old role-playing, as it
should be. Beautiful, is it not?
As for the book itself, there are some mishaps
to account for, I advise you to explore the
Errata section on the game’s website
to look up the fumbles the designers spotted
and the correct phrasings (I’ve spotted
a few more, but only one of them is really
annoying). The art is mostly okay, some of
the images are good, and there’s an
interesting piece of fiction at the beginning
of every chapter. The “Conductor’s”
(a.k.a. GM or Storyteller, in other games)
section has something I’ve found both
very interesting and original, which is the
Intuitive Continuity. This consists of leaving
a lot of loose threads and having a host of
special NPC’s that you can later combine
and re-use when necessary.
Another interesting idea is the COPP rating,
a roll that determines stuff about characters
the players encounter, like if they are cooperating
or not, opposed or friendly towards the characters,
of a good or bad personality and (this has
set my mind in motion) are important to the
plot or not. Was that paperboy just a newspaper
delivery boy, or the main henchman of Dr.
Madness? Was that oh so important-looking
businessman just a schmuck with a lot of money?
Determining these things at random seems both
funny and surprising (I think I’ll adapt
this to all my role-playing games).
There’s also a table to randomly generate
plots for your adventures, just like in Steve
Jackson’s Toon, for those times when
you don’t want to think at all (not
a good idea for a serious role-playing session,
but could be useful for beer & pretzel
gaming).
Next time you see a homeless person or wonder
why the subway feels a little more claustrophobic
than it usually does, think of the UnderWorld
and what’s down there with you…
Reviewed by Matías Timm
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