Against the Darkmaster: First Impressions

 

When I first saw this game I immediately wanted to back it. Can you blame me?? Look at that name. Do not tell me that is not an awesome name. I simply will not believe you. Or, if I am forced to believe you your taste in everything will be doubted. But, then again, I think 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is an awesome movie, in the same vein that I think the name of Against the Darkmaster is awesome. Heck, throughout the day I find myself saying the name, just because it's fun. I throw as much camp and silliness into as I can. My children have occasionally looked up at me in curiosity as I've done so, and then I realize that I'm actually talking out loud, not in my head like I thought.

OK, that's not really why I backed it. But I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't a plus.

I normally don't really go for combat in RPGs. Even when it's good I rarely engage in it, mostly 'cause I like to yak uncontrollably and expound and talk and if you didn't get the picture yet I'm not entirely sure how else to explain it to you???? I like talkety talk talk talky in games.

 I also happen to have a really snobby taste. I am that guy who thinks that if it isn't depressing it probably isn't very good. More than willing to cop to that.

And, honestly? Most action movies just aren't that good. Violence is always from a breakdown of communication, patience, and love. Always. It is not something to be glorified, or to be looked at as "Wow, that's AWESOME!" or anything like that. Yes, I am one of those weirdos who do not think that fantasy is a source escaping from the principles of the world, just the specific instance that's pissing you off at that moment. And, to be blunt, far too many games are way too cavalier about this. Getting hit should not be something that can be magically erased. Not only is it not realistic, but it isn't interesting. If there are no consequences then why do it? So therefore I just refuse to play anything that has the whole "Violence has no consequences" bullshit baked into it. Call me cynical or a stick in the mud but violence is not some random action, it means something, and I don't want to switch that off.  If not for the existence of John Wick I would have written off action movies as a genre.  Against the Darkmaster most definitely has consequences. Assuming you can get access to the healing, it only minorly speeds it up, and seems to operate a lot more like the modern tech we have now, where wounds can be dealt with better, but not completely solved within a few minutes. It's going to take a few days to get even a minor wound to stitch back up.

The rest of the game looks kinda like DnD, to the point to where one of my players asked me why we didn't just bother playing 5e. And on the surface level, sure? Maybe? But the vocations/classes are much more open, with the emphasis being on vocations being a starting place, not a definitive container. Combat is not really initiative based, but is phase based, which I had experimented with in 4e and found superior in just about every way imaginable. But the proof in the pudding is in its influence from Burning Wheel. Now, normally when designers tell me "Burning Wheel was an influence" I find myself rolling my eyes a bit. It's not that I don't believe them, it's whether or not they got Burning Wheel in the first place.

SNOB ALERT!!!

Let's get blunter than normal. Burning Wheel is a janky, complicated, intimidating mess of a game. Saying "Burning Wheel influenced my game" could simply mean that you read the rulebook once, liked Fate points, and decided to include them in your game. And, I mean, you wouldn't be wrong? I guess? I mean, I think that misses the entirety of the feel that Burning Wheel is going for. Burning Wheel is a game about struggle, setbacks, and triumph and how they affect a person as they slowly become a hero. They have these moments of sheer brilliance and awesomeness, but then have to go back to the grindstone, to the mundane, to the painful. The mechanics have a distinct feeling to them, so much so that I could probably identify a BWHQ game if you scrubbed the serial numbers off and renamed everything and dropped me in cold. You struggle. You persist. You may eventually triumph. And without your artha you probably won't. The game's math is set up in a very particular way, to where if you don't have a lot of artha you're going to have a very hard time. One of the reason why BWHQ games are so fun is because of their reliance upon your actions to make their terrible engine work. If you do not roleplay you will not do well. You will fail. Hard. That is not a bug, but a feature. Invest or die.

Against the Darkmaster appears to have learned that lesson from Burning Wheel. Keep in mind I've no real exposure to MERP, VsD's primary influence, but if I had to guess where this particular arc of struggle to triumph came from, mechanically, I would go with Burning Wheel. Because, from the little I've looked through the book as my players set up character, I would say this'll have a very similar feel to it. The math is intentionally stacked against the players, but playing the Passions (this game's version of Burning Wheel Beliefs) gets you Drive Points, which will allow you to come out on top in some of these situations... most of which you had to put yourself into because of the Passions you'd chosen in the first place. I mean, I could be wrong, but this appears to be an actual spiritual successor to Burning Wheel. I mean, that means someone actually learned from Burning Wheel, which would be a really cool thing to experience.

We'll see where it goes. The Session Zero will be up sooner than later!