Product Review
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 |
