Only a few cheap adrenaline thrills here: GDW's Dark Conspiracy
Written: Jul 31 '05 (Updated Aug 04 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: An enjoyable RPG
Cons: It's supposed to be a horror RPG, but it doesn't feel that way.
The Bottom Line: I liked reading the rulebook, but I will never actually play it.
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| maza's Full Review: Dark Conspiracy RPG Books |
Dark Conspiracy is a roleplaying game from GDW that uses the mechanics established in Twilight 2000 (the latest edition), MERC 2000, and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. Dark Conspiracy is a rules set that should allow a group to set adventures in a modern, grim, horrific setting, a la Aliens, Terminator, Near Dark, and so forth.
Dark Conspiracy is a thick, well bound paperback book, that is, at least pagewise, worth the $22 or so dollars that I paid for it. Most of the artwork is very nice, but there are a few sections which suffer from primitive pencil drawings. This does not detract terribly from the feeling that Dark Conspiracy is a generally attractive package. There is an Elmore Cover that has the obligatory Elmore tight panted, big boobed babe, but she is not as blatant as some I have seen (see Fantasy Hero Companion cover). There are a few Bradstreet pencils inside, which can't help but add to the mood engendered by the game, as well as some really great art from Lisa Free and others to balance off the one or two sections that are substandard. Once again, GDW has inserted glossy colour pages seemingly willy nilly, to enhance production value no doubt, but they seem to have more raison d'etre than the colour slides in Cadillacs. Some of the colour plates actually display groups of creatures and a few vignette/dioramas instead of the oddly selected individual creatures and characters in Cadillacs.
Part of the reason that Dark Conspiracy is so thick is the size of the type. It is a very readable 12 point compared to the 9 point that pervaded Cadillacs, and Dark Conspiracy is therefore very easy on the eye. Another reason is the welcome trend among the Twilight 2000 family of games towards completeness. There are at least suggestions in here for character creation, combat, healing, wounds and their effects, vehicle design and construction, vehicle use and combat, space ships as well as normal vehicles, descriptions of skills and their uses, a full description of the environment including background, NPCs, beasties, creatures, equipment, *and* a dew decent adventures, **and** quite a few really handy reference tables at the end of the book.
Dark Conspiracy's organisation is also a plus. Unlike Twilight 2000 (that has all of the equipment pictures clogging up the middle of the book) Dark Conspiracy has all of the 'reference material' grouped near the end of the book. The rules in the book are conveniently organised into a Player's Section and a Referee's Section, so that juicy details about the setting don't leak out to a player who innocently wants to learn how to play. The character creation system and the game mechanics are virutally identical to the rest of the Twilight 2000 family, and the exceptions are carefully and clearly explained (the addition of the the Empathy stat and its attendant skills). The mechanics use a simple D10 resolution system for skills, and attribute checks. Skill difficulty is simply simulated by either halving the skills level or doubling it before attempting to roll under the level with a D10. There are simple provisions for generating exceptional success and failures, as well as provisions for resolving opposed tasks. The mechanics for Empathy and its uses are a little more complicated, but not terribly so. The mechanics are on the whole very cleanly designed, and easy to use; they probably won't get in the way of playing enjoyment.
Without giving away details about the background of the game, I will say that GDW has a carefully designed and detailed background for their game that has answers to most major questions about where things came from and why they happened. The flavour of the dark forces that plague the player characters and their people is quite enjoyable, and in some places quite unique. A good deal of the background, though, is very reminiscent of ShadowRun, Rifts, Torg and other games of that ilk. I suppose that this fantastic, grim future thing has now become a genre.
I have a few big beefs with Dark Conspiracy, but on the whole I like the product. It is well put together, looks nice, and *its playtested* unlike so many other GDW products. So why, despite my overall positive attitude to the game, will I probably never play it very much, if at all?
Here is why.
1) I don't like the mechanics. While I really like simple mechanics, and these are really easy to learn and use, there are a lot of things I don't like about them. The mechanics are quite clunky in spots, especially in combat, figuring wounds, and fatigue and so on. The experience system is ok but not outstanding; experience seems to be handed out and then applied to 'checked' skills - I much prefer systems that allocate experience directly to skills, or allow players to develop themselves in roleplay (HERO, GURPS). The new mechanics for Empathy are really clunky compared to the rest of the system - they aren't difficult to use, or learn but the system for Empathy seems not to be related very much to the rest of the mechanics and this makes it seem like a kludge, and not a very pretty one. More care should have been taken to integrate the Empathy rules within the overall system. With all that said, I must point out that the mechanics are in general, fine. They just don't seem very fun - not like Cthulhu (with its SAN loss, and ever escalating CM roll), or Chill (with its alarmingly simple three modifiers for skills system, or its neat Strike Ranks for variable damage), or HERO (with a very elegant Phasing system, damage system and an entire integrated *feel*). There is nothing about Dark Conspiracys mechanics that make me want to play the game. It seems to me that all great roleplaying games will have not only the capacity to create a unique playing environment, but also mechanics that contribute to the enjoyment in an elegant way. The Dark Conspiracy mechanics are about as elegant as porridge - very healthy, you can't go wrong eating it, but the taste of filet mignon is the other side of the world from it.
With this in mind, it would seem logical that the environment would have to sell the game, if the mechanics cannot.
2) It doesn't. Let's face it -- Dark Conspiracy is *not* horror. I love horror roleplaying games -- I have and want to play Chill, Cthulhu and Vampire, and I am constantly twiddling with my HERO campaigns to introduce horrific elements. But Dark Conspiracy, Torg, Rifts, nor Shadowrun aren't horror. They might have supernatural elements that under a good gm come through, but the basic premise of the games and their background are not horror. Dark Conspiracy is to horror roleplaying as AD&D is to fantasy, and boy won't that generate a hot debate. There is something too cotton candyish about Dark Conspiracy. Its background is too neat and predictable, filled with 'menacing dark forces from otherwhen' that merely turn out to be bogeymen for the character's AK47s to rip through. In my estimation an orc is an orc is an orc, not matter how much supernatural ichor your drizzle on him, and orcs are just sword fodder. Chill, Vampire, and Cthulhu all have, to some extent, that flavour of "bump in the night". True horror comes again and again in facing forces that are completely out of one's control, either because they are too powerful (Cthulhu), too hazy and unknown (Chill), or because the forces are bound up in your own nature (Vampire). True horror comes in knowing that whatever is lurking behind that tapestry *will* rip through your entrails with sharp talons, but the curiosity grabs you and makes you reach out your hand anyway. This feeling is missing from the Dark Conspiracy background. There are a lot of very interesting beasties, and ideas, but the package as a whole is completely mirrored by the Elmore cover on the front - bland, dependable thrills for bland, dependable gamers.
Everything in Dark Conspiracy is eminently sensible and laid out methodically, and is very well written and designed, but the capacity for anything more than a few cheap adrenaline thrills lies solidly in the lap of the referee. A lot of people will argue that any game can be made or broken with the skill of a referee, but there is something to be said for tools. A month or so ago, I saw a 12 year old referee holding his school chums on absolute tenterhooks playing CoC, and in a way that most of us 'mature' roleplayers would consider immature, perhaps even munchkinish. But I'll be darned if at least one of those little kids didn't squirm, jump, and even squeal a little, as the Hounds of Tindalos descended upon their tents in the middle of the hot Egyptian night. There is definitely something to be said for a good hammer, when compared to a well fashioned rock. Dark Conspiracy is a bland, well made game. It will pass for many people as an enjoyable experience, but if you want my vote for best Horror rpg of all time you would hear *CoC* in a loud voice, and if you wany my vote for best Horror rpg of the year, you would hear a resounding call of *Vampire*!
RPG definition for the uninitiated
When I review RPGs I assume that most readers know what an RPG is. In any case, I have included in my reviews a short definition of RPGs for the uninitiated.
Generally a typical Role Play Game would be an activity satisfying most of the following:
1. It involves persons consciously playing fiction roles (either medieval, contemporary or sci-fi roles)
2. It involves the collective creation of a story
3. Usually one of the participants is responsible for guiding the activity
4. There is no audience besides the participants themselves (unless there is a demonstration of course).
5. The main purpose of the activity is to entertain the participants.
There are published books, often referred to as Rulebooks, containing unique rules regarding how to create a character (role) or how to resolve specific actions. Generally the success of an action is determined with by rolling one or more dice (dice can be funny in RPGs since they tend to have more than 6 surfaces).
Besides the rulebooks, there are books describing settings in which characters can role play. Settings are very diverse and include high or low fantasy worlds, dystopian worlds, contemporary worlds, or alternate reality worlds.
More RPG reviews that I would love to get a few more ratings:
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Referee’s Screen by Games Workshop
Feng Shui Action Roleplay by Atlas Game
Unknown Armies by Atlas Games
Delta Green by Pagan Publishing
Mechwarrior RPG by FASA
Shadowrun 3rd Edition by FanPro
All Flesh Must be Eaten by Eden Studios
Time of Thin Blood by White Wolf
Dark Conspiracy by GWC
7th Sea RPG by AEG
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
maza
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Member: Nick Maza
Location: Greece
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
I live in Greece. I hate the summers.
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