It seems like Russia is everywhere these days. Old Cold War paranoias are resurfacing. Combine that with the 80's aesthetic revival reflected in new games like Tales From The Loop, Unmasked and Sigmata: This Signal Kills Facsists, it looks like it might be time to dust off an old forgotten gem.
In 1986, West End Games released the Price Of Freedom. A game about Guerilla fighters in a soviet occupied America. At the time, it suffered in part because of its own zeitgeist-seizing. Many took its then right wing -style branding at face value and found the idea of taking a soviet land invasion seriously a bit silly. Looking at the product in 2018, it's clear that the game is purposefully overblown and more interested in giving the players a toolkit for aping Red Dawn than working as cold war propaganda. But is it a well oiled fighting machine, or has the doomsday clock run out on it as a game?
Compared to games of the time, there's not that much like it. A lot of games with a military bent tended to be focused on making 'realistic' representations of war. The obvious comparison is Twilight 2000, a game that played as written should involve some heavy meditations on power and war. Price embraces more of a pulpy tone, with players feeling like they were there to 'kick ass and chew bubblegum' unironically. At the same time, it keeps things fairly grounded, avoiding to 'cyber' up the conflict like later games, Cyborg Commando & Reich Star. This refusal to embrace the then emergent cyberpunk zeitgeist allows the game today to still function on a lightweight ruleset that you could easily apply to any tale of human resistance.
Aesthetically, the game is still quite fun and due to its 80's setting, has aged well – things that would seem outmoded now seem 'era specific'. The components are ooze feeling, with the character sheet taking the form of ID papers and the rules are plastered with slogans like 'I'd rather Die on my feet than live on my knees' creating specific atmosphere.
As well as a 2 base books, you are given a series of 'freedom files' that allow you run the game with a two minute skim read. The system really gets itself out of the way with character creation being points spend and the system being a very quick 'roll under x stat on a D20' for most resolutions. The amazing part for me is that in a game of this era the complexities of combat, often the most crunchy part of any system, are resolved in a couple of pages. There's far more pages here on genre and ideology. I am really surprised that younger me didn't play more of this game when I struggled for years with games that had complex systems that slowed everything down.
There's a number of mechanics I like but one of note is that melee weapons have a 'Bushwack number' - meaning if you surprise someone and roll under that number on a D20, you kill them outright. It's a masterful idea that really recreates that 'Hollywood stealth kill' and allows the players to effectively use stealth tactics rather than just opening fire every time.
Also, the game combat rounds work with everyone deciding what they are going to do, then the combat round plays out. Normally I'd hate that, with some players actions wasted or some combat being an exercise in misjudgement. But as a way of representing the total chaos of guerrilla warfare, I think it's pretty fitting.
Sadly, this game didn't do too well in the long run. A handful of sourcebooks, then obscurity. I can see why – The game has a very niche audience. I want to give it a chance but the truth is it's sat on my shelf since the early 90's and while the occasional player really likes the idea, the rest of the group look at it like it's actually written in Russian. I think at the time it was viewed as too relevant and now it's viewed as almost irrelevant. The tone of the book suggests that with the right group the game can raise interesting questions about at what level violence solves violence. I'd love to hear if anyone actually played a campaign, how it ended and if it turned out to be deep and meaningful in any way.
contributed by Benjamin Jackson
In 1986, West End Games released the Price Of Freedom. A game about Guerilla fighters in a soviet occupied America. At the time, it suffered in part because of its own zeitgeist-seizing. Many took its then right wing -style branding at face value and found the idea of taking a soviet land invasion seriously a bit silly. Looking at the product in 2018, it's clear that the game is purposefully overblown and more interested in giving the players a toolkit for aping Red Dawn than working as cold war propaganda. But is it a well oiled fighting machine, or has the doomsday clock run out on it as a game?
Compared to games of the time, there's not that much like it. A lot of games with a military bent tended to be focused on making 'realistic' representations of war. The obvious comparison is Twilight 2000, a game that played as written should involve some heavy meditations on power and war. Price embraces more of a pulpy tone, with players feeling like they were there to 'kick ass and chew bubblegum' unironically. At the same time, it keeps things fairly grounded, avoiding to 'cyber' up the conflict like later games, Cyborg Commando & Reich Star. This refusal to embrace the then emergent cyberpunk zeitgeist allows the game today to still function on a lightweight ruleset that you could easily apply to any tale of human resistance.
Aesthetically, the game is still quite fun and due to its 80's setting, has aged well – things that would seem outmoded now seem 'era specific'. The components are ooze feeling, with the character sheet taking the form of ID papers and the rules are plastered with slogans like 'I'd rather Die on my feet than live on my knees' creating specific atmosphere.
As well as a 2 base books, you are given a series of 'freedom files' that allow you run the game with a two minute skim read. The system really gets itself out of the way with character creation being points spend and the system being a very quick 'roll under x stat on a D20' for most resolutions. The amazing part for me is that in a game of this era the complexities of combat, often the most crunchy part of any system, are resolved in a couple of pages. There's far more pages here on genre and ideology. I am really surprised that younger me didn't play more of this game when I struggled for years with games that had complex systems that slowed everything down.
There's a number of mechanics I like but one of note is that melee weapons have a 'Bushwack number' - meaning if you surprise someone and roll under that number on a D20, you kill them outright. It's a masterful idea that really recreates that 'Hollywood stealth kill' and allows the players to effectively use stealth tactics rather than just opening fire every time.
Also, the game combat rounds work with everyone deciding what they are going to do, then the combat round plays out. Normally I'd hate that, with some players actions wasted or some combat being an exercise in misjudgement. But as a way of representing the total chaos of guerrilla warfare, I think it's pretty fitting.
Sadly, this game didn't do too well in the long run. A handful of sourcebooks, then obscurity. I can see why – The game has a very niche audience. I want to give it a chance but the truth is it's sat on my shelf since the early 90's and while the occasional player really likes the idea, the rest of the group look at it like it's actually written in Russian. I think at the time it was viewed as too relevant and now it's viewed as almost irrelevant. The tone of the book suggests that with the right group the game can raise interesting questions about at what level violence solves violence. I'd love to hear if anyone actually played a campaign, how it ended and if it turned out to be deep and meaningful in any way.
contributed by Benjamin Jackson
