Darwins World RPG (Print Version)
- Thread starter PosterBoy
- Start date
GameWyrd
Explorer
I really rather liked the electronic edition of Darwin’s World so I wasn’t sure whether the new print edition would be able to maintain my enthusiasm. Worse, I was slightly worried that the book would actually start to spoil things for me. There’s more than just the PDF Darwin’s World in the book, highlights from the first couple of supplements are added in to ensure that the 128-paged softback book is complete. In fact, the electronic edition of the book is known as Darwin’s World Complete. Still with me? Good!
You’d be bloody hard pressed to find a book with the manufacturers code "0001" that’s as good as this "0001" product.
The introduction in the book serves as a very quick timeline. The timeline picks up at 1945, at the end of the second world war, from there things start to go wrong and by 2011 the world succumbs to nuclear and biological warfare. The nature of the apocalypse is that most cities have been reduced to radioactive ruins and mankind has changed beyond recognition. It’s no longer a case of mutants appearing in the bloodlines but of second and third generation mutations. This is Darwin’s World and so those most able to survive in the harsh world survive and their offspring start to pick up those physical quirks, those mutations, which made survival a little easier. There’s a downside to evolving as a mutant though. Those medicines and technologies that survived from the ‘Golden Age’ are designed for humans. Advanced medicine works only on pure blood humans and if you’re lucky enough to find a loaded gun among the ruins you can be sure it wasn’t designed for an eight fingered or tentacle hand. One of the changes from the d20 core rules is that the term "race" comes to mean human or mutant, rather, which generation of mutation the character belongs to. Actually, it’s more complicated than that, since there are types of human as well. If you’ve grown up feral in the wilderness or whether you were born into an isolated and protected community with access to all the wonders of the Golden Age also counts as a genetic trait.
The details of all these possible races are presented in the second chapter. It’s not quite as simple as the racial choices in the D&D core rules. You can have your main race; human, first, second or third generation of human and then you apply a genetic origin as well. Your genetic origins will impact your attributes and your favourite class. Both ‘main race’ and genetic origin can give you a level modifier. Level modifiers adjust how many experience points you need in order to progress a character level. I think the system works; in fact it provides a rather nice degree of flexibility and its one of the reasons why the initial Darwin’s World appealed to me but I think there should have been a more clear distinction between the two types in the paper product.
Classes are cut and dry. They’re what you’re used to in terms of mechanics and layout and basic character classes suitable for the post-apocalyptic are introduced. There’s not as many classes available compared to those world settings where there’s magic but don’t let that put you off. There’s plenty of classes, they cover pretty much everything you’d expect to count in such a setting and when combined with the double race effect from the previous chapter you’ll find there’s more than enough to keep your players happy. It seems a silly thing but I wish there had been an illustration for every character class.
Skills and feats have a chapter together. Skills introduced by the book are either entirely new or ones that have changed significantly from the core rules. It’s also worth noting that there are some skills that don’t exist/apply in the Darwin’s World future. There are just over twenty new feats in the book and this combines with a list of those feats from the core rules that are applicable to the game. As with the skills, some feats suit Darwin’s World and some don’t. A look at some of the new feats show that the prerequisites can be rather tough (JuJu man requires Con 18) but this is a reflection of the natural way the races in Darwin’s World tend towards a specialised role.
Mutations are easy to deal with. Your character race defines just how many mutations and defects your character is due. Mutations are good and defects are bad, although both may have special notes and exceptions. If you’re likely to gain more through mutations than you are through defects then it’s likely you’ll be looking at a level modifier to slow the rate of your advancement. Mutations and defects come in three main categories; major, moderate and minor. They tend to pair off; if your character qualifies for major mutations then she also qualifies for major defects. I think mutations tend to have either a sci-fi or even dark comic book feel about them the defects tend to have a medical nature about them. Defects include the likes of Anaphylaxis, Cystic Fibrosis or Pituitary Deformation. This weirds me out slightly, I’d advice careful selection of Defects so they don’t bring too much of a downer to the game.
There are chapters of equipment in the book; guns, melee weapons, armour, trinkets, adapted stuff, "relics" from the ancient age, medical wonders, food, a clever colour coded system of generic passkeys, books, vehicles and a range of adventuring tools. There is a cash economy of sorts in Darwin’s World and so all these come with price tags as well as suitable game mechanics. Such of this stuff also comes with a random find index. If your players take to rooting around wherever they happen to end up – as they will very likely learn to do – then you’ve got access to a handy d100 roll alongside the summary of equipment to help you decide what they find. These indexes are very often divided in to three sections of relative power so if you only want minor trinkets to be available then that’s all that’s there. The pictures of the advanced weapons are done in a sort of computer display style; rather than the technically adapt pictures of guns you find in some of those RPG supplements that cater to gun fanatics wherever bolt and screw is drawn to specification the guns in Darwin’s World appear, I think, a bit like they would if you were viewing a quick computer generated image of them in some catalogue (or perhaps playing Doom). I have slightly mixed feelings about this, I can see how this rather more simple style means that the busy artist has time to produce more illustrations and that’s a good thing but the style does contrast to the nitty-gritty pictures elsewhere in the book.
With the exception of introduction chapters I think Darwin’s World has the smallest chapter ever. Chapter 8 is on General Dangers and is a single, double sided, page in length. Don’t let that fool you though. The quick summary of things like gamma radiation is one of the most valuable GM assists in the book. Such dangers should be part of daily life in the twisted earth and they’re presented here in a GM friendly format.
The following chapter takes much of its content from the PDF supplements that followed the initial electronic Darwin’s World, especially Denizens of the Twisted Earth. The chapter covers all sorts of groups and interesting places – or rumours of interesting places – that might be encountered in the world. If you’re struggling to come up with a feeling of just how Darwin’s World -is- then this is the chapter that’ll put everything in its place for you. On it’s own the chapter seems fairly standard but its one of the reasons that pushes the print edition of the game forward of the first electronic copy (but perhaps not Darwin’s World Complete in PDF) as the one to buy.
The book concludes with a good section of detailed prestige classes. Prestige classes are important in Darwin’s World in that they’re a good and clear way to move your characters from the low levels of trying to survive in the twisted earth to the point where they’re the rulers, heroes and explorers of the planet. I think some of the prestige class abilities sit slightly uncomfortably in a non-magical world. That is to say, the higher level abilities strike me as rather spell-like but I fear that’s a weakness in prestige classes rather than a problem exclusive to Darwin’s World.
I liked the book. Although its softback and black and white – rather rare for a company’s flagship campaign world these days – it feels solid enough in my hands to complement the level of detail inside the covers. I really like the colour art; the front and back pages really are good. The big eyed monster (some sort of horrible mutation) is the critter responsible for staring out at you from various banner adverts across industry sites.
This GameWyrd can be found here.
You’d be bloody hard pressed to find a book with the manufacturers code "0001" that’s as good as this "0001" product.
The introduction in the book serves as a very quick timeline. The timeline picks up at 1945, at the end of the second world war, from there things start to go wrong and by 2011 the world succumbs to nuclear and biological warfare. The nature of the apocalypse is that most cities have been reduced to radioactive ruins and mankind has changed beyond recognition. It’s no longer a case of mutants appearing in the bloodlines but of second and third generation mutations. This is Darwin’s World and so those most able to survive in the harsh world survive and their offspring start to pick up those physical quirks, those mutations, which made survival a little easier. There’s a downside to evolving as a mutant though. Those medicines and technologies that survived from the ‘Golden Age’ are designed for humans. Advanced medicine works only on pure blood humans and if you’re lucky enough to find a loaded gun among the ruins you can be sure it wasn’t designed for an eight fingered or tentacle hand. One of the changes from the d20 core rules is that the term "race" comes to mean human or mutant, rather, which generation of mutation the character belongs to. Actually, it’s more complicated than that, since there are types of human as well. If you’ve grown up feral in the wilderness or whether you were born into an isolated and protected community with access to all the wonders of the Golden Age also counts as a genetic trait.
The details of all these possible races are presented in the second chapter. It’s not quite as simple as the racial choices in the D&D core rules. You can have your main race; human, first, second or third generation of human and then you apply a genetic origin as well. Your genetic origins will impact your attributes and your favourite class. Both ‘main race’ and genetic origin can give you a level modifier. Level modifiers adjust how many experience points you need in order to progress a character level. I think the system works; in fact it provides a rather nice degree of flexibility and its one of the reasons why the initial Darwin’s World appealed to me but I think there should have been a more clear distinction between the two types in the paper product.
Classes are cut and dry. They’re what you’re used to in terms of mechanics and layout and basic character classes suitable for the post-apocalyptic are introduced. There’s not as many classes available compared to those world settings where there’s magic but don’t let that put you off. There’s plenty of classes, they cover pretty much everything you’d expect to count in such a setting and when combined with the double race effect from the previous chapter you’ll find there’s more than enough to keep your players happy. It seems a silly thing but I wish there had been an illustration for every character class.
Skills and feats have a chapter together. Skills introduced by the book are either entirely new or ones that have changed significantly from the core rules. It’s also worth noting that there are some skills that don’t exist/apply in the Darwin’s World future. There are just over twenty new feats in the book and this combines with a list of those feats from the core rules that are applicable to the game. As with the skills, some feats suit Darwin’s World and some don’t. A look at some of the new feats show that the prerequisites can be rather tough (JuJu man requires Con 18) but this is a reflection of the natural way the races in Darwin’s World tend towards a specialised role.
Mutations are easy to deal with. Your character race defines just how many mutations and defects your character is due. Mutations are good and defects are bad, although both may have special notes and exceptions. If you’re likely to gain more through mutations than you are through defects then it’s likely you’ll be looking at a level modifier to slow the rate of your advancement. Mutations and defects come in three main categories; major, moderate and minor. They tend to pair off; if your character qualifies for major mutations then she also qualifies for major defects. I think mutations tend to have either a sci-fi or even dark comic book feel about them the defects tend to have a medical nature about them. Defects include the likes of Anaphylaxis, Cystic Fibrosis or Pituitary Deformation. This weirds me out slightly, I’d advice careful selection of Defects so they don’t bring too much of a downer to the game.
There are chapters of equipment in the book; guns, melee weapons, armour, trinkets, adapted stuff, "relics" from the ancient age, medical wonders, food, a clever colour coded system of generic passkeys, books, vehicles and a range of adventuring tools. There is a cash economy of sorts in Darwin’s World and so all these come with price tags as well as suitable game mechanics. Such of this stuff also comes with a random find index. If your players take to rooting around wherever they happen to end up – as they will very likely learn to do – then you’ve got access to a handy d100 roll alongside the summary of equipment to help you decide what they find. These indexes are very often divided in to three sections of relative power so if you only want minor trinkets to be available then that’s all that’s there. The pictures of the advanced weapons are done in a sort of computer display style; rather than the technically adapt pictures of guns you find in some of those RPG supplements that cater to gun fanatics wherever bolt and screw is drawn to specification the guns in Darwin’s World appear, I think, a bit like they would if you were viewing a quick computer generated image of them in some catalogue (or perhaps playing Doom). I have slightly mixed feelings about this, I can see how this rather more simple style means that the busy artist has time to produce more illustrations and that’s a good thing but the style does contrast to the nitty-gritty pictures elsewhere in the book.
With the exception of introduction chapters I think Darwin’s World has the smallest chapter ever. Chapter 8 is on General Dangers and is a single, double sided, page in length. Don’t let that fool you though. The quick summary of things like gamma radiation is one of the most valuable GM assists in the book. Such dangers should be part of daily life in the twisted earth and they’re presented here in a GM friendly format.
The following chapter takes much of its content from the PDF supplements that followed the initial electronic Darwin’s World, especially Denizens of the Twisted Earth. The chapter covers all sorts of groups and interesting places – or rumours of interesting places – that might be encountered in the world. If you’re struggling to come up with a feeling of just how Darwin’s World -is- then this is the chapter that’ll put everything in its place for you. On it’s own the chapter seems fairly standard but its one of the reasons that pushes the print edition of the game forward of the first electronic copy (but perhaps not Darwin’s World Complete in PDF) as the one to buy.
The book concludes with a good section of detailed prestige classes. Prestige classes are important in Darwin’s World in that they’re a good and clear way to move your characters from the low levels of trying to survive in the twisted earth to the point where they’re the rulers, heroes and explorers of the planet. I think some of the prestige class abilities sit slightly uncomfortably in a non-magical world. That is to say, the higher level abilities strike me as rather spell-like but I fear that’s a weakness in prestige classes rather than a problem exclusive to Darwin’s World.
I liked the book. Although its softback and black and white – rather rare for a company’s flagship campaign world these days – it feels solid enough in my hands to complement the level of detail inside the covers. I really like the colour art; the front and back pages really are good. The big eyed monster (some sort of horrible mutation) is the critter responsible for staring out at you from various banner adverts across industry sites.
This GameWyrd can be found here.
Psion
Adventurer
Darwin's World
Darwin's World is a d20 System game set in the a post-holocaust world. The game is geared towards the more science fantasy type holocaust settings with radioactive wastelands inhabited by mutants and impossible technology left behind by ancient civilizations, very much in the same vein as TSR's old Gamma World game.
Darwin's World was originally distributed by RPG Objects as a PDF file. This is their first print product.
A First Look
Darwin's World is a 128 page perfect bound book priced at $19.95. This is good price for a book of this size.
The cover has a wrap-around color picture depicting some oddly dressed figures with futuristic weapons facing off with a strange creature in the ruins of a city. The cover picture appears amateur and unexciting to my eye. The art is by artist V. Shane, who also does some interior art.
The for the interior art, V. Shane is joined by veteran RPG artist Storn Cook (whose work you may know from Spycraft, Mercenaries and Hero System 5th edition) and the designer Dominic Covey. I typically like Cook's style, but the only interior art that looks like his is the border art. V. Shane's interior art is in the same style as the cover, and I find similarly lackluster. I am guessing that Covey is responsible for some of the computer generated graphics throughout the book. Most of these pictures look rather pixelated, but some of the "artifacts of the ancients" (including war era posters and advertisements for algae as a food source) add an interesting feel to the book.
The interior text is fairly dense, with conservative body and header fonts and single spaced paragraphs. Some of the interior tables have formatting errors, such as sentences split halfway down a column.
A Deeper Look
The background of Darwin's World is similar to that of most post-holocaust settings: world strife leads to nuclear exchanges and a collapse of civilization in a world that was overrun by pollution and rampant industrialization to begin with. What probably differs from the background of most of these settings is that the author uses an "alternate history" angle to explain it. Darwin's World is an alternate history Earth in which the United States returned to a state of isolationism after World War II, and a World War III scenario occurs when the US goes to war with a very different world, one with an Neo-Imperial England, Purist-Regrowth Germany, and a Great Communist Union of Asia.
Darwin's World has many of the trappings of classical post-apocalypse RPGs and b-movies: mutants, a collapse of civilization, a world ecology torn asunder by war, ancient caches of technology, isolated remnants of civilization, and organizations rising from the ashes with extreme viewpoints spurned on by the atrocities of the apocalypse.
Darwin's World is a distinct d20 game vice a supplement style product. The distinctions between the game and the core d20 system are clearly outlined and feats that are used from the SRD/PH are clearly listed. Unlike many such games, it doesn't devote a lot of space to replicating material that you already have in the Player's Handbook. This is good in that is saves space and money, but if you like as much of the supporting material as possible in one book, it may be a disadvantage.
One of the first points of distinction of Darwin's World from the d20 core rules is that the functions of race are divided into 2 different units: breeding and background.
Breeding is determined by the level of mutation that the character has. Humans have the classical bonus feat, as well as being the only race that is automatically fertile or potent (other races must spend a feat.) Humans, however, have no mutations. The other races are first, second, and third generation mutants. Each successive generation has more mutations and access to more powerful mutations. However, each successive generation has more defects as well as a higher equivalent level cost.
Background, on the other hand, describes the type of upbringings the characters have and the type of communities they are from. This determines ability modifiers, some other racial abilities (like skill modifiers), starting weapon proficiencies, and favored class. Some of the backgrounds break ranks with the d20 system convention of only giving even-numbered racial ability modifiers.
The backgrounds include:
- Ferals: Characters that grew up with no real home or community. Are hardy but uneducated, and have no real awareness of civilization or technology.
- Primitives: Characters from a primitive community. Not so hardy as ferals, but better able to interact with others.
- Ritual Preservationists: Characters from a community that has some knowledge of technology of the ancients, albeit without knowledge of how it really works.
- Resentfuls: Characters from a community that feels that the ancients were responsible for much harm to nature, and espouse living in harmony with nature.
- Radicals: Similar to resentfuls, but instead of merely living in harmony with nature, radicals actively try to destroy ancient technology.
- Degenerates: Remnants of an ancient community in decline, having lost much of their technology and culture.
- Resurrectors: Communities trying (and to some extent, succeeding) in restoring ancient technology and civilization.
- Visionary Reinventors: Similar to resurrectors, but this type of community is not interested in merely recovering what was lost, but building a new future.
- Guardians: Remnants of an ancient community that still has knowledge of the ancient technology and use it to maintain their culture and civilization.
- Hedonists: Extremely isolated communities that are totally cut of from the world. They live pretty much as they did before the fall of civilization.
- Advanced: Similar to guardians, but the advanced have not only retained knowledge of ancient civilization, but are pushing forwards.
Some of the backgrounds have level modifiers, including some negative level modifiers. If the total level modifiers from breeding and background are negative, the character does not gain levels faster, but the GM may grant a bonus feat.
Darwin's World uses a new set of classes distinct from those in the d20 core rules. They are:
- Guardian: Warriors who are trained in the defense of the remaining outposts of civilization.
- Raider: The opposite of guardians, raiders are warriors and theives who sweep in from the wastelands and prey on others.
- Scav: Scavs are wanderers and scavengers who survive in the hostile wilderness or in ruins of civilization.
- Thinker: These are scientists, skilled craftsmen, and leaders.
- Trader: Traders are, as the name implies, merchants and tradesmen.
Darwin's World uses a subset of the existing skills, of course with new categories for knowledge and language skills.
The setting also uses many feats from the PH/SRD, but introduces a few new feats. The balance of the new feats is a little dubious compared the core feats, though; some provide much larger skill bonuses than is typical. Another questionable feat is the fertile/potent feat; while the author obviously wanted fertility to be rare among mutants in the setting, descriptions elsewhere (which refers to humans as potential breeding slaves) do not suggest that having this feat is an advantage in the campaign.
Mutations are a new mechanic introduced in Darwin's World. Mutations are normally only available to the three mutant races. The higher generation races have access to more powerful mutations, but the more powerful mutations cost more "points." Most mutations are not level dependant, but some are described as neural mutations (basically psychic powers) and require concentration skill checks.
Mutants also have defects. Like beneficial mutations, defects are sorted into severities, and more severe mutations satisfy more of a mutant's quota of mutations. Minor defects are irritating at worst, while major ones are debilitating.
A sizable section of the book is dedicated to equipment and technology, including vehicles. The equipment is divided into sections. Which section the characters can buy from depends upon their background. The book admonishes GMs to leave certain items off limits to purchase, particularly advanced weapons. In tone/rationality, some of the items are pure sclock science fantasy.
A short section covers hazards in Darwin's World, and the chief hazard (as it is in any post-apocalypse game) is radiation. On the surface, the rules seem straightforward enough, but there seems to be a pretty severe error. The radiation rules assign a "rad" value to characters upon entering an area, but never provide a frequency at which the radiation damage recurs. Basically, as written, there is nothing saying that a character continues to take damage. One footnote (talking about storms) suggests that the intention might have been to have the damage recur daily.
The last sections of the book goes into the specifics about the setting, including the groups that exist in Darwin's World and prestige classes that represent some of them, as well as ideas for adventure locales and legends (of course providing more adventure ideas). Each of the major groups described has details such as numbers, which of the basic backgrounds it falls into, and resources, aspirations, and activities of the groups.
The new prestige classes include members of some of the aforementioned group such as:
- Brethern Followers: Members of a group of resentfuls that gain experience from destroying technology.
- Brotherhood Force Master: Member of a strange cult of ritual preservationists that have a reverence for an ancient reactor.
- Cartel Trade Masters: Members of a cooperative of strong-armed traders.
- Foundationalist Paladin: Members of a group of preservationists on a quest to collect ancient technology.
- Rangers: Decedents of an ancient military unit, with a tradition of their ancient military training.
- Sister of the Desert: Members of a sorority of ex-slaves of raider kings who formed their own society.
Other less specific prestige classes include demolitions expert, juju doctor, mechs, road warrior, and symbiot (character with a special link to an animal companion.)
Conclusion
I have to admit that I am not a big fan of post-apocalypse science fantasy, and Darwin's World doesn't exactly push the genre in new and compelling directions. Most of the conventions are exactly the same as ones you have seen.
That said, if you do have a taste for such things, I think Darwin's World does a decent job. The design decisions aren't all perfect, but I was impressed by some of the basic elements. Splitting races into breeds and backgrounds is a well-executed mechanic that provides players and GMs with the right building blocks to create a game of this type.
-Alan D. Kohler
Darwin's World is a d20 System game set in the a post-holocaust world. The game is geared towards the more science fantasy type holocaust settings with radioactive wastelands inhabited by mutants and impossible technology left behind by ancient civilizations, very much in the same vein as TSR's old Gamma World game.
Darwin's World was originally distributed by RPG Objects as a PDF file. This is their first print product.
A First Look
Darwin's World is a 128 page perfect bound book priced at $19.95. This is good price for a book of this size.
The cover has a wrap-around color picture depicting some oddly dressed figures with futuristic weapons facing off with a strange creature in the ruins of a city. The cover picture appears amateur and unexciting to my eye. The art is by artist V. Shane, who also does some interior art.
The for the interior art, V. Shane is joined by veteran RPG artist Storn Cook (whose work you may know from Spycraft, Mercenaries and Hero System 5th edition) and the designer Dominic Covey. I typically like Cook's style, but the only interior art that looks like his is the border art. V. Shane's interior art is in the same style as the cover, and I find similarly lackluster. I am guessing that Covey is responsible for some of the computer generated graphics throughout the book. Most of these pictures look rather pixelated, but some of the "artifacts of the ancients" (including war era posters and advertisements for algae as a food source) add an interesting feel to the book.
The interior text is fairly dense, with conservative body and header fonts and single spaced paragraphs. Some of the interior tables have formatting errors, such as sentences split halfway down a column.
A Deeper Look
The background of Darwin's World is similar to that of most post-holocaust settings: world strife leads to nuclear exchanges and a collapse of civilization in a world that was overrun by pollution and rampant industrialization to begin with. What probably differs from the background of most of these settings is that the author uses an "alternate history" angle to explain it. Darwin's World is an alternate history Earth in which the United States returned to a state of isolationism after World War II, and a World War III scenario occurs when the US goes to war with a very different world, one with an Neo-Imperial England, Purist-Regrowth Germany, and a Great Communist Union of Asia.
Darwin's World has many of the trappings of classical post-apocalypse RPGs and b-movies: mutants, a collapse of civilization, a world ecology torn asunder by war, ancient caches of technology, isolated remnants of civilization, and organizations rising from the ashes with extreme viewpoints spurned on by the atrocities of the apocalypse.
Darwin's World is a distinct d20 game vice a supplement style product. The distinctions between the game and the core d20 system are clearly outlined and feats that are used from the SRD/PH are clearly listed. Unlike many such games, it doesn't devote a lot of space to replicating material that you already have in the Player's Handbook. This is good in that is saves space and money, but if you like as much of the supporting material as possible in one book, it may be a disadvantage.
One of the first points of distinction of Darwin's World from the d20 core rules is that the functions of race are divided into 2 different units: breeding and background.
Breeding is determined by the level of mutation that the character has. Humans have the classical bonus feat, as well as being the only race that is automatically fertile or potent (other races must spend a feat.) Humans, however, have no mutations. The other races are first, second, and third generation mutants. Each successive generation has more mutations and access to more powerful mutations. However, each successive generation has more defects as well as a higher equivalent level cost.
Background, on the other hand, describes the type of upbringings the characters have and the type of communities they are from. This determines ability modifiers, some other racial abilities (like skill modifiers), starting weapon proficiencies, and favored class. Some of the backgrounds break ranks with the d20 system convention of only giving even-numbered racial ability modifiers.
The backgrounds include:
- Ferals: Characters that grew up with no real home or community. Are hardy but uneducated, and have no real awareness of civilization or technology.
- Primitives: Characters from a primitive community. Not so hardy as ferals, but better able to interact with others.
- Ritual Preservationists: Characters from a community that has some knowledge of technology of the ancients, albeit without knowledge of how it really works.
- Resentfuls: Characters from a community that feels that the ancients were responsible for much harm to nature, and espouse living in harmony with nature.
- Radicals: Similar to resentfuls, but instead of merely living in harmony with nature, radicals actively try to destroy ancient technology.
- Degenerates: Remnants of an ancient community in decline, having lost much of their technology and culture.
- Resurrectors: Communities trying (and to some extent, succeeding) in restoring ancient technology and civilization.
- Visionary Reinventors: Similar to resurrectors, but this type of community is not interested in merely recovering what was lost, but building a new future.
- Guardians: Remnants of an ancient community that still has knowledge of the ancient technology and use it to maintain their culture and civilization.
- Hedonists: Extremely isolated communities that are totally cut of from the world. They live pretty much as they did before the fall of civilization.
- Advanced: Similar to guardians, but the advanced have not only retained knowledge of ancient civilization, but are pushing forwards.
Some of the backgrounds have level modifiers, including some negative level modifiers. If the total level modifiers from breeding and background are negative, the character does not gain levels faster, but the GM may grant a bonus feat.
Darwin's World uses a new set of classes distinct from those in the d20 core rules. They are:
- Guardian: Warriors who are trained in the defense of the remaining outposts of civilization.
- Raider: The opposite of guardians, raiders are warriors and theives who sweep in from the wastelands and prey on others.
- Scav: Scavs are wanderers and scavengers who survive in the hostile wilderness or in ruins of civilization.
- Thinker: These are scientists, skilled craftsmen, and leaders.
- Trader: Traders are, as the name implies, merchants and tradesmen.
Darwin's World uses a subset of the existing skills, of course with new categories for knowledge and language skills.
The setting also uses many feats from the PH/SRD, but introduces a few new feats. The balance of the new feats is a little dubious compared the core feats, though; some provide much larger skill bonuses than is typical. Another questionable feat is the fertile/potent feat; while the author obviously wanted fertility to be rare among mutants in the setting, descriptions elsewhere (which refers to humans as potential breeding slaves) do not suggest that having this feat is an advantage in the campaign.
Mutations are a new mechanic introduced in Darwin's World. Mutations are normally only available to the three mutant races. The higher generation races have access to more powerful mutations, but the more powerful mutations cost more "points." Most mutations are not level dependant, but some are described as neural mutations (basically psychic powers) and require concentration skill checks.
Mutants also have defects. Like beneficial mutations, defects are sorted into severities, and more severe mutations satisfy more of a mutant's quota of mutations. Minor defects are irritating at worst, while major ones are debilitating.
A sizable section of the book is dedicated to equipment and technology, including vehicles. The equipment is divided into sections. Which section the characters can buy from depends upon their background. The book admonishes GMs to leave certain items off limits to purchase, particularly advanced weapons. In tone/rationality, some of the items are pure sclock science fantasy.
A short section covers hazards in Darwin's World, and the chief hazard (as it is in any post-apocalypse game) is radiation. On the surface, the rules seem straightforward enough, but there seems to be a pretty severe error. The radiation rules assign a "rad" value to characters upon entering an area, but never provide a frequency at which the radiation damage recurs. Basically, as written, there is nothing saying that a character continues to take damage. One footnote (talking about storms) suggests that the intention might have been to have the damage recur daily.
The last sections of the book goes into the specifics about the setting, including the groups that exist in Darwin's World and prestige classes that represent some of them, as well as ideas for adventure locales and legends (of course providing more adventure ideas). Each of the major groups described has details such as numbers, which of the basic backgrounds it falls into, and resources, aspirations, and activities of the groups.
The new prestige classes include members of some of the aforementioned group such as:
- Brethern Followers: Members of a group of resentfuls that gain experience from destroying technology.
- Brotherhood Force Master: Member of a strange cult of ritual preservationists that have a reverence for an ancient reactor.
- Cartel Trade Masters: Members of a cooperative of strong-armed traders.
- Foundationalist Paladin: Members of a group of preservationists on a quest to collect ancient technology.
- Rangers: Decedents of an ancient military unit, with a tradition of their ancient military training.
- Sister of the Desert: Members of a sorority of ex-slaves of raider kings who formed their own society.
Other less specific prestige classes include demolitions expert, juju doctor, mechs, road warrior, and symbiot (character with a special link to an animal companion.)
Conclusion
I have to admit that I am not a big fan of post-apocalypse science fantasy, and Darwin's World doesn't exactly push the genre in new and compelling directions. Most of the conventions are exactly the same as ones you have seen.
That said, if you do have a taste for such things, I think Darwin's World does a decent job. The design decisions aren't all perfect, but I was impressed by some of the basic elements. Splitting races into breeds and backgrounds is a well-executed mechanic that provides players and GMs with the right building blocks to create a game of this type.
-Alan D. Kohler
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
So what is Darwin’s World? Written by Dominic Covey, Darwin’s World takes an alternative look at a variant history where after World War II, the United States takes an isolation stance that eventually leads to World War III and the end of civilization as we know it. To help showcase the differences between this setting and a standard fantasy setting, there are numerous new rules to help the GM out.
For off, we’ve got new races. These new races are mostly composed of different strains of mutants with the more powerful and freakish mutants being the top of the food chain and the lowly humans at the bottom. Unlike standard core rules, some of the races have an ECL above 0.
One of the nice concepts introduced here might’ve taken a nod to the Forgotten Realms regional feats and moved it a step higher. This is the Background of the character. This feature is broken up into Ferals, Primitives, Ritual Preservationist, Resentfuls and a wide variety of others. These backgrounds are basically templates that are layed onto your character. Each one has it’s own adjustments on stats, skills, and weapon proficiencies, and provides favored classes and more level adjustments. Interestingly enough, some of these level adjustments can be negative so you could start off with a Third Generation Mutant with lots of power and defects with a level adjustment of +2 and then take the Feral Background for a penalty of –2 levels making you a net 0 level character. Of course this it’ll be abused by min-maxers and I can already see hordes of mutants streaming out of the wasteland but that’s okay. Those ferals tend to start off with little money, no languages and little knowledge of technology so those human Resurrectors will wipe ‘em out.
The classes in the system are similar to the core ones with a bit of a twist. Guardians are similar to fighters but watch over communities. Raiders are similar to Guardians in scope, but, well, they’re raiders. Scavs are rogues with a specialization in getting the goods, while Thinkers are the people with knowledge on how to build and repair stuff. Traders are those lovely experts who help bring society together in the name of making a profit. One of the interesting things here is that unlike say The End or Call of Cthulhu or even Star Wars, there is no nod realism. Guardians get d12 hit dice and can stand a shot or two from most weapons without dying right away. About the most the game comes to making it a dangerous genre is healing up. See without clerics you’ve got to rely on medicine for quick healing and unless you’re a standard human, you have penalties to apply regular medicine, or juju for healing purposes. Wanted to be that devastating level three mutant? Well good luck recovering from those gunshot wounds buddy because you’ll be out for a while even as the weak human plunders away.
To use the classes properly in this setting, skills and feats are customized for the nature of the campaign. There are new craft, knowledge, language, and profession skills. For feats, there are some changes to the standard ones as with Exotic Weapon Proficiency not granting the user access to a wide variety of weapons, advanced and futuristic ones, instead of just a single one. Others are a little odd like Fertile/Potent, feats that allow you to breed. You see, for NPCs probably, it’s a big deal as many in this world are sterile due to the radiation, drugs, and other poor living conditions. I can’t imagine too many players taking that feat when they have access to something like Improved Hit Dice.
Now I wouldn’t allow most of these feats into a standard campaign but in a world like this where you’re supposed to have gunfights and walk, well, limp away, they fit in.
There are a couple of things preventing Darwin’s World from getting a higher rating. The first is the lack of maps. I’m not just talking about the world map, but maps of any sort. It’s like all the D20 publishers making modern and futuristic settings decide that hey, with guns, you don’t need maps. Next up is the art quality. Several pieces look like scanned material that didn’t scale up properly. The editing and layout are adequate but not great.
A large chunk of the book is taken up with equipment and in many ways, I agree with the author in that the high-tech and advance equipment in such a setting equals the magic items of a standard fantasy one. In this case, perhaps because there are no spellcasters of psionic powers to be described, the guns, armor, and typical adventuring goods get a lot of coverage. The goods range from the Power Fist to the Magnetic Shield. From the Stealth Pack to the Force Field Belt. All in all, the GM can customize his setting so that the players are beating out mutants brains with lead pipes or battling advanced colonist with plasma rifles.
For those interested in moving beyond the core classes of Darwin’s World, there are several PrCs. Among them, my favorite would probably be the Brotherhood Force Master, a cult of mutants and altered humans with psionic abilities that enable them to manipulate force into shields and swords in addition to other powers. Of course a nod to one of the more famous heroes of the genre must be paid with it’s own PrC and those who want to play out Mad Max have the Road Warrior PrC with it’s mastery of vehicle combat.
It’s important to note thought that the book isn’t all rules. There are lots of organizations and general information about the setting. Where the book falters though is providing the GM a starting point to get the campaign moving as well as campaign advice for long term game play in Darwin’s World or methods of combining it with other settings and genres.
One use I’ve thought of is that Darwin’s World might provide a Fading Suns GM an opportunity to mix and match some of his favorite genres as a group of FS explorers sets out to find out what happened to this strange world where everything seems familiar to their own ancient histories but is different. Game balance would be a pain in the neck but because there isn’t a nod to the Star Wars or Wheel of Time play in which characters gain an Armor Class bonus, it’s not as difficult as it could be.
Overall the game can be a fun romp through a ruined future but needs to decide if the future is a bleak and horrible place and if so, enforce it with game rules that reward gun play with death or if it’s an Omega World type of setting where the fur flies.
With the material available on the website which includes maps and bonus downloads as well as a host of other material, the book is a 4 but on its own, a solid 3.
For off, we’ve got new races. These new races are mostly composed of different strains of mutants with the more powerful and freakish mutants being the top of the food chain and the lowly humans at the bottom. Unlike standard core rules, some of the races have an ECL above 0.
One of the nice concepts introduced here might’ve taken a nod to the Forgotten Realms regional feats and moved it a step higher. This is the Background of the character. This feature is broken up into Ferals, Primitives, Ritual Preservationist, Resentfuls and a wide variety of others. These backgrounds are basically templates that are layed onto your character. Each one has it’s own adjustments on stats, skills, and weapon proficiencies, and provides favored classes and more level adjustments. Interestingly enough, some of these level adjustments can be negative so you could start off with a Third Generation Mutant with lots of power and defects with a level adjustment of +2 and then take the Feral Background for a penalty of –2 levels making you a net 0 level character. Of course this it’ll be abused by min-maxers and I can already see hordes of mutants streaming out of the wasteland but that’s okay. Those ferals tend to start off with little money, no languages and little knowledge of technology so those human Resurrectors will wipe ‘em out.
The classes in the system are similar to the core ones with a bit of a twist. Guardians are similar to fighters but watch over communities. Raiders are similar to Guardians in scope, but, well, they’re raiders. Scavs are rogues with a specialization in getting the goods, while Thinkers are the people with knowledge on how to build and repair stuff. Traders are those lovely experts who help bring society together in the name of making a profit. One of the interesting things here is that unlike say The End or Call of Cthulhu or even Star Wars, there is no nod realism. Guardians get d12 hit dice and can stand a shot or two from most weapons without dying right away. About the most the game comes to making it a dangerous genre is healing up. See without clerics you’ve got to rely on medicine for quick healing and unless you’re a standard human, you have penalties to apply regular medicine, or juju for healing purposes. Wanted to be that devastating level three mutant? Well good luck recovering from those gunshot wounds buddy because you’ll be out for a while even as the weak human plunders away.
To use the classes properly in this setting, skills and feats are customized for the nature of the campaign. There are new craft, knowledge, language, and profession skills. For feats, there are some changes to the standard ones as with Exotic Weapon Proficiency not granting the user access to a wide variety of weapons, advanced and futuristic ones, instead of just a single one. Others are a little odd like Fertile/Potent, feats that allow you to breed. You see, for NPCs probably, it’s a big deal as many in this world are sterile due to the radiation, drugs, and other poor living conditions. I can’t imagine too many players taking that feat when they have access to something like Improved Hit Dice.
Now I wouldn’t allow most of these feats into a standard campaign but in a world like this where you’re supposed to have gunfights and walk, well, limp away, they fit in.
There are a couple of things preventing Darwin’s World from getting a higher rating. The first is the lack of maps. I’m not just talking about the world map, but maps of any sort. It’s like all the D20 publishers making modern and futuristic settings decide that hey, with guns, you don’t need maps. Next up is the art quality. Several pieces look like scanned material that didn’t scale up properly. The editing and layout are adequate but not great.
A large chunk of the book is taken up with equipment and in many ways, I agree with the author in that the high-tech and advance equipment in such a setting equals the magic items of a standard fantasy one. In this case, perhaps because there are no spellcasters of psionic powers to be described, the guns, armor, and typical adventuring goods get a lot of coverage. The goods range from the Power Fist to the Magnetic Shield. From the Stealth Pack to the Force Field Belt. All in all, the GM can customize his setting so that the players are beating out mutants brains with lead pipes or battling advanced colonist with plasma rifles.
For those interested in moving beyond the core classes of Darwin’s World, there are several PrCs. Among them, my favorite would probably be the Brotherhood Force Master, a cult of mutants and altered humans with psionic abilities that enable them to manipulate force into shields and swords in addition to other powers. Of course a nod to one of the more famous heroes of the genre must be paid with it’s own PrC and those who want to play out Mad Max have the Road Warrior PrC with it’s mastery of vehicle combat.
It’s important to note thought that the book isn’t all rules. There are lots of organizations and general information about the setting. Where the book falters though is providing the GM a starting point to get the campaign moving as well as campaign advice for long term game play in Darwin’s World or methods of combining it with other settings and genres.
One use I’ve thought of is that Darwin’s World might provide a Fading Suns GM an opportunity to mix and match some of his favorite genres as a group of FS explorers sets out to find out what happened to this strange world where everything seems familiar to their own ancient histories but is different. Game balance would be a pain in the neck but because there isn’t a nod to the Star Wars or Wheel of Time play in which characters gain an Armor Class bonus, it’s not as difficult as it could be.
Overall the game can be a fun romp through a ruined future but needs to decide if the future is a bleak and horrible place and if so, enforce it with game rules that reward gun play with death or if it’s an Omega World type of setting where the fur flies.
With the material available on the website which includes maps and bonus downloads as well as a host of other material, the book is a 4 but on its own, a solid 3.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
I'm a fairly big fan of post-apocalyptic settings. I really liked Gamma World when I was kid. And back then, one of my favorite series of novels was the Pelbar (sp?) Cycle by Paul O. Williams. Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes, Mad Max, are favorite movies of mine.
So I have an interest in RPGs based on them. Darwin's World had been around as an PDF for a while, but I'm not a huge fan of PDFs. But there's a print version of it, and I was able to get it on ebay for a pretty good price (3 of the books for $20). The core rule book is softcover, 128 pages, and retails for $19.95.
The backstory quite honestly, irritates me for several reasons. It makes little sense, because supposedly the war that destroyed civilization was set around now. It's set in an alternate universe, where things were different after WW2. But somehow, tech was much more advanced. A lot more. I don't see how that is humanly possible, especially given that in the alternate universe, the US turned into an isolationalist country. Part of the reason the US is such a high tech country, is that we get the smart people from other countries to move here. And relatively free trade is also a big part of the development of technology - without competition, we'd probably still be using TRS-80s now. The author also has some really odd ideas about Americans, sort of like something out of Pravda (which today is essentially an anti-american version of the World Weekly News..."Godless, decadent, capitalist pig-dog" type stuff. Okay...)
Still, the backstory is quite easy to ignore, as it only takes up 3 pages. Most of the book is full of rules or other crunchy sort of material.
There are 5 new core classes introduced. Only 3 are really suitable for players. The Scav, the Guardian, and the Trader. There are two others, the Raider and the Thinker, but the former is for evil characters only (and they are quite nasty) and the latter is rather weak. Weaker than the NPC Expert class. Worse BAB progression, only 6 skill points per level.
The Guardian is somewhat like a Fighter (as is the Raider, actually). The Scav is the most interesting (and unique) class, somewhat like a Rogue, but not nearly as sneaky or skillful and a bit tougher.
I mostly bought the book to mine material from it but if I were going to play Darwin's World, I just don't think that's enough of a variety of core classes. I'd probably use some of the non-magical core classes, like the Fighter and Rogue (well, just the Fighter and Rogue), maybe the Stalker from Sov. Stone, maybe some from Fading Suns (Martial Artist/Living Weapon).
There's basically 2 choices for race: human or mutant (with 3 types of mutant). But the main modifier is the enviroment where they grew up: Background options. They generally work just like race does. The most glaring thing is that the ability modifiers violate one of the commonly accepted rules, that they should be in steps of 2, not + or - just 1. (But eh, easy enough to change yourself).
About 10 pages are dedicated to mutants - their mutations and defects. Most people in the setting are mutants (there are various degrees, from 1st generation to 3rd generation). There are 3 types of mutation: minor, moderate, and major. They cost a number of points, from 1,2, or 3. Each mutant type gets a number of mutant points they must spend on beneficial powers and defects.
There are several new skills, but they are put under the Craft and Knowledge skills. This is generally the way to go, but I thought some were perhaps more suited to be Profession skills. (ie, instead of Craft (Technician), Profession (Technician). Not a huge deal, though).
There's only a few new feats (about 2 1/3 pages worth), mostly suited for a post apocalypse setting. So some of the feats are odd, like the one which lets a character be potent/fertile.
There's about 45 pages of equipment. This is the main draw of the book (at least to me). There's lots of interesting stuff. Several types of weapons, some very fantastic (in terms of technology). Most are pretty much in line with Dragonstar damage values.
The last 20 pages or so are dedicated to setting info. It's fairly sketchy, mostly several groups or organizations are described, and then in a chapter on prestige classes, most of these get prestige classes (oddly enough). There are also 'rumors', little nuggest about mysterious locations and people. Pretty neat. It seems like there was a wide variety of inspiration, references (seemingly) to things like Logan's Run and the old computer game Wasteland.
I do dislike the idea that women are apparently really really scarce. I'm not sure that's even possible - without a decent percentage of women, there wouldn't be any continuing population. But I know at least one movie takes the opposite tack. (Hell comes to Frogtown, starring Rowdy Roddy Piper. That - making potent men rare - is more likely, I think. Since with some technology, women can get pregnant, but not vice-versa (the Billy Crystal/Arnold S. movies notwithstanding...)
Ultimately, I liked this book (backstory aside), but I was looking for something to use with my Dragonstar game. I'm not convinced this is a stand alone game. I don't quite think there are enough core classes*, and there is a lack of any sort of monster (there is a monster book for it, but most settings do contain a few just to get you started). On the other hand, you do get gear, lots of it - gizmos, guns, vehicles.
B for what I plan on using it for - stuff to borrow. But C- as a stand alone (or semi-stand alone) d20 setting, as it's not quite complete enough. So call it a C+ overall.
* As an aside, I noticed that in Metal Gods, another Darwin's World book, the various NPC classes are used. Just about all of those except commoner would be better than the Thinker core class here.
So I have an interest in RPGs based on them. Darwin's World had been around as an PDF for a while, but I'm not a huge fan of PDFs. But there's a print version of it, and I was able to get it on ebay for a pretty good price (3 of the books for $20). The core rule book is softcover, 128 pages, and retails for $19.95.
The backstory quite honestly, irritates me for several reasons. It makes little sense, because supposedly the war that destroyed civilization was set around now. It's set in an alternate universe, where things were different after WW2. But somehow, tech was much more advanced. A lot more. I don't see how that is humanly possible, especially given that in the alternate universe, the US turned into an isolationalist country. Part of the reason the US is such a high tech country, is that we get the smart people from other countries to move here. And relatively free trade is also a big part of the development of technology - without competition, we'd probably still be using TRS-80s now. The author also has some really odd ideas about Americans, sort of like something out of Pravda (which today is essentially an anti-american version of the World Weekly News..."Godless, decadent, capitalist pig-dog" type stuff. Okay...)
Still, the backstory is quite easy to ignore, as it only takes up 3 pages. Most of the book is full of rules or other crunchy sort of material.
There are 5 new core classes introduced. Only 3 are really suitable for players. The Scav, the Guardian, and the Trader. There are two others, the Raider and the Thinker, but the former is for evil characters only (and they are quite nasty) and the latter is rather weak. Weaker than the NPC Expert class. Worse BAB progression, only 6 skill points per level.
The Guardian is somewhat like a Fighter (as is the Raider, actually). The Scav is the most interesting (and unique) class, somewhat like a Rogue, but not nearly as sneaky or skillful and a bit tougher.
I mostly bought the book to mine material from it but if I were going to play Darwin's World, I just don't think that's enough of a variety of core classes. I'd probably use some of the non-magical core classes, like the Fighter and Rogue (well, just the Fighter and Rogue), maybe the Stalker from Sov. Stone, maybe some from Fading Suns (Martial Artist/Living Weapon).
There's basically 2 choices for race: human or mutant (with 3 types of mutant). But the main modifier is the enviroment where they grew up: Background options. They generally work just like race does. The most glaring thing is that the ability modifiers violate one of the commonly accepted rules, that they should be in steps of 2, not + or - just 1. (But eh, easy enough to change yourself).
About 10 pages are dedicated to mutants - their mutations and defects. Most people in the setting are mutants (there are various degrees, from 1st generation to 3rd generation). There are 3 types of mutation: minor, moderate, and major. They cost a number of points, from 1,2, or 3. Each mutant type gets a number of mutant points they must spend on beneficial powers and defects.
There are several new skills, but they are put under the Craft and Knowledge skills. This is generally the way to go, but I thought some were perhaps more suited to be Profession skills. (ie, instead of Craft (Technician), Profession (Technician). Not a huge deal, though).
There's only a few new feats (about 2 1/3 pages worth), mostly suited for a post apocalypse setting. So some of the feats are odd, like the one which lets a character be potent/fertile.
There's about 45 pages of equipment. This is the main draw of the book (at least to me). There's lots of interesting stuff. Several types of weapons, some very fantastic (in terms of technology). Most are pretty much in line with Dragonstar damage values.
The last 20 pages or so are dedicated to setting info. It's fairly sketchy, mostly several groups or organizations are described, and then in a chapter on prestige classes, most of these get prestige classes (oddly enough). There are also 'rumors', little nuggest about mysterious locations and people. Pretty neat. It seems like there was a wide variety of inspiration, references (seemingly) to things like Logan's Run and the old computer game Wasteland.
I do dislike the idea that women are apparently really really scarce. I'm not sure that's even possible - without a decent percentage of women, there wouldn't be any continuing population. But I know at least one movie takes the opposite tack. (Hell comes to Frogtown, starring Rowdy Roddy Piper. That - making potent men rare - is more likely, I think. Since with some technology, women can get pregnant, but not vice-versa (the Billy Crystal/Arnold S. movies notwithstanding...)
Ultimately, I liked this book (backstory aside), but I was looking for something to use with my Dragonstar game. I'm not convinced this is a stand alone game. I don't quite think there are enough core classes*, and there is a lack of any sort of monster (there is a monster book for it, but most settings do contain a few just to get you started). On the other hand, you do get gear, lots of it - gizmos, guns, vehicles.
B for what I plan on using it for - stuff to borrow. But C- as a stand alone (or semi-stand alone) d20 setting, as it's not quite complete enough. So call it a C+ overall.
* As an aside, I noticed that in Metal Gods, another Darwin's World book, the various NPC classes are used. Just about all of those except commoner would be better than the Thinker core class here.
Khur
Sympathy for the Devil
Mutated freaks, hedonistic high-tech lay-abouts, and diesel-guzzling road warriors all coupled with a toxic and overtly hostile environment are what you'll find in RPG Objects' Darwin's World. Long in development from a little PDF in 2001, to a book in game shops as we speak, Darwin's World's "Twisted Earth" is a d20 product reminiscent of TSR's Gamma World. Yet, despite faults in the rules it presents, this setting has something to offer the d20 nuclear generation.
The book is has a soft cover, but that cover is more durable than most, and the book itself is relatively attractive. While the art isn't stellar, it is decent at times, though the image on the front cover isn't as good as the one on the back. Fairly well designed, excepting the illustrations done to resemble posters or quotes and the rough forced justification of some lines of text, Darwin's World stands above even some major game labels. This observation is especially true applied to the page borders, which are subtle, appropriate, and fade into the background of the page. Kudos for this go to Chris Davis, who's also the editor of the work.
The editing and writing itself could have been stronger, because it comes across as uncertain since so many statements are modified with words like "often", "sometimes", "tend to", and "most". Further, the author's overuse of the abbreviation "etc." really bothered me. These are minor complaints, but I have a few more that are less so.
The history and science in the introduction are straight out of a B movie, and it's funny because the mutations, and like material, are so far-fetched that the attempt at academic explanation is pointless. The section on physical description states that the atmosphere is thin enough to allow enough moisture to escape into space for seas to dry up. This isn't possible, but if it was, such an atmosphere doesn't hold heat very well either, as we see on Mars. So, such a Darwin's World might be an arid wasteland, but it would be a cold one too, with wide fluctuations in temperature. Further, an earlier section asserts that nobody knows how much time has passed since the final downfall of humankind (called the Ancients), yet doesn't really say why. Did the entire stock of clocks break, every calendar go missing, and everyone forget how to count? More laughable, the introduction suggests that the campaign is set "...decades after a series of devastating wars that brought the human race to the brink of extinction." I say laughable, because there's been enough time after those wars to produce three generations of viable mutants (at least) according to the mutant types available in the game (three generations being about 60-90 years). Further, in "decades", why would some everyone get confused as to how much time has passed, and why would the Ancients be considered ancient at all? I don't necessarily care if the things such as these are accurate to our reality in a work of fiction, so long as they make sense within their own context. Omega World's admission that its own science "sucks", but it's a game about big guns and crazy powers was refreshing. Darwin's World's discussion of science and history is just silly--even noting that it allows for some flexibility. (A better and compelling history of Darwin's World appears in RPG Object's and Dominic Covey's Metal Gods.)
A few other silly things appear in the book's incorporation of d20 rules. Most notably, the classification of weapon types doesn't work very well, since all the weapons in the Player's Handbook are made into simple weapons. This flies in the face of the logic behind the feat Exotic Weapon Proficiency, by denying the fact that some of these (now simple) weapons require highly specialized techniques to use well, even if they're primitive compared to modern and high-tech firearms. Perhaps, since the first printing of Darwin's World came after the d20 Star Wars first edition, a better model for weapon proficiencies could have come from that game. The use of a similar system doesn't seem beyond Darwin's World, since it uses character level adjustments like those found in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. On the flip side, making ancient weapons require an Exotic Weapon Proficiency each is a great idea.
I also beg to differ with Covey's opinion that core D&D classes "just don't fit" in Darwin's World. With very few modifications, which might be taken for granted when one reads the skills and feats sections, the barbarian, fighter, and rogue all make great vocational choices, and even have thematic elements that add to the setting. Arguably, one could add the monk as well, with definite storytelling advantages. No NPC classes are listed in Darwin's World, nor are there suggestions as to which, if any, should be used. Of the PC classes included in the book, only the Thinker is essential to rounding out the core class list. All of the others would have done just fine as prestige classes, especially given their specialized abilities.
Darwin's World offers up eleven prestige classes for the seasoned waste wanderer. The fact that most of these classes are tied directly to specific societies or organizations is great--exactly what prestige classes were intended to be. Most of the classes seem balanced, though a few have requirements that allow entry into the class before 5th level. Others fail to use already established precedents for the class abilities, like the champion's reputation, which is like the feat Marauder, only weaker. Another class, the Mech, garners a character +15 to Craft checks, which is too high a bonus, well beyond those a feat (or three feats) could offer.
Conversely, most of the new feats in Darwin's World work well. Rip A Clip and Room-Broom bring firearms to a new level, while others, like Sandwalker and Troglodyte have great setting "color". In fact, most of the feats add to the feel of Darwin's World. The only ones I wouldn't use are Feel for the Weapon (a feat that becomes useless if the character in question loses the specific weapon to which the feat applies), and Liked By All (all NPCs are initially Friendly to the character). Others I might alter a bit, such as requiring Toughness as a prerequisite for Improved Hit Dice (Die?), but having even a short list of feats that work so well is rare in an independent product.
The skills are likewise high-caliber work. I appreciate the language list and lexicon in the skills section (even though languages take more than "decades" to diverge from one another drastically). Delineation of Craft skills as applied to the Twisted Earth is a welcome addition too. This list of skills makes the physically feeble and aforementioned Thinker all the more valuable to a party, even without mutations.
The mutations themselves are very nice, excepting some unclear writing and those that are unbalanced in power. Dermal Spike Growth, for example, states that a mutant with the spikes gains a free Martial Weapon Proficiency--with what, and why, are unanswered questions. One could assume the proficiency is with the spikes, but according to the other precedents in Darwin's World rules, wouldn't they be simple weapons? While there are other instances of this type of thing, most of the abilities were well crafted. It's obvious to anyone familiar with Gamma World that some of the mutations are (at the very least) inspired by that game (like Dual Cerebellum). Mutational defects serve to balance the mutant strains with the lowly human, though I still suspect that humans come out on the really short end of the stick despite this and level adjustments for mutants. The only thing I felt was missing was a random table of mutations to aid both PC and NPC design (and, perhaps, one that randomly selects defects for a player).
Not missing, however, was an extensive list of goodies that characters may trade for or find in the wastes of the ruined planet. Covey even explains how important barter is in the economy of Darwin's World, suggesting that a GM keep a list of items the PCs trade, and where, for future reference. Darwin's World includes a few strange potions, common items as weapons (like baseball bats and razor blades), and modern firearms. The statistics and descriptions of some of these items are strange, like a broken bottle that weighs six pounds, and the fact that every sawed-off shotgun may only be fired twice before reloading, while its regular counterpart fires five times, yet neither can be fired more than once per round. My personal experience with shotguns is that many (even sawed-off) can hold eight rounds, and are semi-automatic. Thus, some players may want another source for more realistic guns.
Still, the equipment in the book is impressive in its creativity, though the assertion that some items are "never sold" bugged me. Another thing that bothered me was the money in Darwin's World--corium pieces. Corium, which exists in the real world, is the left over metal after a nuclear reactor melts down, often mixed with concrete. Why anyone would use this toxic substance as money in lieu of more valuable minerals (such as iron, or nickel, or just plain steel) is beyond me. It strikes from the realm of science-fantasy into the domain of ridiculousness. I'd junk the whole notion.
One man's junk is another mutants' treasure, and where would a post-apocalyptic setting be without ancient and mysterious artifacts to unearth and blow one's self up? Darwin's World isn't short on ancient riches. A definite bonus in this section are random tables for generating relics as treasure, along with advice on how to determine how much treasure to give. The influence from Gamma World is clear here as well, with some items even named the same, such as the powerful fusion rifle.
Also in the "Artifacts of the Ancients" section are vehicles and rules for vehicular combat. Taken as a whole, these rules are too flawed to be useful. According to them, a hobo running alongside a train has to make a DC 22 Jump check to board that train. A motorcycle has a +9 armor bonus, in addition to a hardness of 5 (stone), and that same cycle has a maximum speed of 18 mph (40 ft./round, taking the Run action for quadruple move (160 ft./round), divided by the number of feet in a mile, times 10 rounds per minute, times 60 minutes per hour = 18.18). A large truck is faster, at a whopping 23 mph. Further, persons caught in a crash suffer extreme damage virtually all the time, and the vehicle is assumed to catch fire. The only things I might use as a GM, with any vehicular combat alternative like the rules in other products, are the vehicle modifications. It's a shame that a game inspired by the likes of The Road Warrior has such bad vehicle combat rules.
Like the world in that venerable movie, Darwin's World is rife with dangers. The hidden ones, like chemical contamination, disease, and radiation, are perhaps worse than the mad raiders, mutated beasts, and murderous scavengers. Covey gives the GM almost everything needed to improvise the adjudication of such fiendish fates. Radiation is handled more realistically (sic better) than it is in Omega World, and the fact that radiation doesn't cause further mutation, like it did in Gamma World (and does in Omega World), is also a good thing. Though there are none presented, I would like to have seen some new diseases for the Twisted Earth.
The Twisted Earth itself is explained in some detail through legend and societal descriptions. The vast possibilities of the world are but touched upon, but more than enough information is here for many campaigns. What is more invaluable is the insight into the workings of Darwin's World that can be gleaned from reading the material. Not only that, but this prose is the cleanest in the book. The only things missing are maps, so one can see where these places and societies are located, and mutated monstrosities to throw at the PCs. Maps can be found, for free, on the official Darwin's World website, along with a gazetteer and plenty of other freebies. I heartily recommend downloading these items, if you're running a Darwin's World campaign. The monsters you can get from the Monster Manual(aberrations and monstrous humanoids work well--spell-like abilities can just be mutations), or from Terrors of the Twisted Earth, a separate RPG Objects monster product for Darwin's World.
Polyhedron magazine's re-release of TSR's Gamma World as Omega World shouldn't deter its owners from picking up Darwin's World. In fact, the two can be used together with a high degree of success. If you don't have access to Omega World, you might want to pick up a back issue of Dungeon #94 to have a copy of both. Darwin's World doesn't stand alone as well as it should. Like I mentioned, the rules for guns and vehicular combat are wanting, requiring a retrofit from another source for the latter mechanics. (Star Wars, some of the Polyhedron mini-games, or d20 Modern fit the bill--though all have their own flaws.)
In the realm of ideas, though hardly original, Darwin's World brings an older genre back to life. It's executed well enough to serve its purpose, with the only truly crippling aspect being the third-rate vehicle rules. It should be remembered that Darwin's World was executed at a time when there were few d20 precedents for the work. I just wish the design team (small as it is) had taken the time to work out the flaws before offering this printed version. If you're willing to make your own little mutant by cannibalizing other games for viable mechanics to replace the aberrant ones, post-apocalypse roleplaying is available again to fulfill all your Mad Max fantasies.
Special Note: The team at RPG Objects is working on a second edition of Darwin's World that deals with correcting some of the very things mentioned in this article, along with other improvements no doubt. Be on the lookout for it, because it's bound to be a winner.
This review was originally written for Gaming Frontiers on 11/06/02.
The book is has a soft cover, but that cover is more durable than most, and the book itself is relatively attractive. While the art isn't stellar, it is decent at times, though the image on the front cover isn't as good as the one on the back. Fairly well designed, excepting the illustrations done to resemble posters or quotes and the rough forced justification of some lines of text, Darwin's World stands above even some major game labels. This observation is especially true applied to the page borders, which are subtle, appropriate, and fade into the background of the page. Kudos for this go to Chris Davis, who's also the editor of the work.
The editing and writing itself could have been stronger, because it comes across as uncertain since so many statements are modified with words like "often", "sometimes", "tend to", and "most". Further, the author's overuse of the abbreviation "etc." really bothered me. These are minor complaints, but I have a few more that are less so.
The history and science in the introduction are straight out of a B movie, and it's funny because the mutations, and like material, are so far-fetched that the attempt at academic explanation is pointless. The section on physical description states that the atmosphere is thin enough to allow enough moisture to escape into space for seas to dry up. This isn't possible, but if it was, such an atmosphere doesn't hold heat very well either, as we see on Mars. So, such a Darwin's World might be an arid wasteland, but it would be a cold one too, with wide fluctuations in temperature. Further, an earlier section asserts that nobody knows how much time has passed since the final downfall of humankind (called the Ancients), yet doesn't really say why. Did the entire stock of clocks break, every calendar go missing, and everyone forget how to count? More laughable, the introduction suggests that the campaign is set "...decades after a series of devastating wars that brought the human race to the brink of extinction." I say laughable, because there's been enough time after those wars to produce three generations of viable mutants (at least) according to the mutant types available in the game (three generations being about 60-90 years). Further, in "decades", why would some everyone get confused as to how much time has passed, and why would the Ancients be considered ancient at all? I don't necessarily care if the things such as these are accurate to our reality in a work of fiction, so long as they make sense within their own context. Omega World's admission that its own science "sucks", but it's a game about big guns and crazy powers was refreshing. Darwin's World's discussion of science and history is just silly--even noting that it allows for some flexibility. (A better and compelling history of Darwin's World appears in RPG Object's and Dominic Covey's Metal Gods.)
A few other silly things appear in the book's incorporation of d20 rules. Most notably, the classification of weapon types doesn't work very well, since all the weapons in the Player's Handbook are made into simple weapons. This flies in the face of the logic behind the feat Exotic Weapon Proficiency, by denying the fact that some of these (now simple) weapons require highly specialized techniques to use well, even if they're primitive compared to modern and high-tech firearms. Perhaps, since the first printing of Darwin's World came after the d20 Star Wars first edition, a better model for weapon proficiencies could have come from that game. The use of a similar system doesn't seem beyond Darwin's World, since it uses character level adjustments like those found in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. On the flip side, making ancient weapons require an Exotic Weapon Proficiency each is a great idea.
I also beg to differ with Covey's opinion that core D&D classes "just don't fit" in Darwin's World. With very few modifications, which might be taken for granted when one reads the skills and feats sections, the barbarian, fighter, and rogue all make great vocational choices, and even have thematic elements that add to the setting. Arguably, one could add the monk as well, with definite storytelling advantages. No NPC classes are listed in Darwin's World, nor are there suggestions as to which, if any, should be used. Of the PC classes included in the book, only the Thinker is essential to rounding out the core class list. All of the others would have done just fine as prestige classes, especially given their specialized abilities.
Darwin's World offers up eleven prestige classes for the seasoned waste wanderer. The fact that most of these classes are tied directly to specific societies or organizations is great--exactly what prestige classes were intended to be. Most of the classes seem balanced, though a few have requirements that allow entry into the class before 5th level. Others fail to use already established precedents for the class abilities, like the champion's reputation, which is like the feat Marauder, only weaker. Another class, the Mech, garners a character +15 to Craft checks, which is too high a bonus, well beyond those a feat (or three feats) could offer.
Conversely, most of the new feats in Darwin's World work well. Rip A Clip and Room-Broom bring firearms to a new level, while others, like Sandwalker and Troglodyte have great setting "color". In fact, most of the feats add to the feel of Darwin's World. The only ones I wouldn't use are Feel for the Weapon (a feat that becomes useless if the character in question loses the specific weapon to which the feat applies), and Liked By All (all NPCs are initially Friendly to the character). Others I might alter a bit, such as requiring Toughness as a prerequisite for Improved Hit Dice (Die?), but having even a short list of feats that work so well is rare in an independent product.
The skills are likewise high-caliber work. I appreciate the language list and lexicon in the skills section (even though languages take more than "decades" to diverge from one another drastically). Delineation of Craft skills as applied to the Twisted Earth is a welcome addition too. This list of skills makes the physically feeble and aforementioned Thinker all the more valuable to a party, even without mutations.
The mutations themselves are very nice, excepting some unclear writing and those that are unbalanced in power. Dermal Spike Growth, for example, states that a mutant with the spikes gains a free Martial Weapon Proficiency--with what, and why, are unanswered questions. One could assume the proficiency is with the spikes, but according to the other precedents in Darwin's World rules, wouldn't they be simple weapons? While there are other instances of this type of thing, most of the abilities were well crafted. It's obvious to anyone familiar with Gamma World that some of the mutations are (at the very least) inspired by that game (like Dual Cerebellum). Mutational defects serve to balance the mutant strains with the lowly human, though I still suspect that humans come out on the really short end of the stick despite this and level adjustments for mutants. The only thing I felt was missing was a random table of mutations to aid both PC and NPC design (and, perhaps, one that randomly selects defects for a player).
Not missing, however, was an extensive list of goodies that characters may trade for or find in the wastes of the ruined planet. Covey even explains how important barter is in the economy of Darwin's World, suggesting that a GM keep a list of items the PCs trade, and where, for future reference. Darwin's World includes a few strange potions, common items as weapons (like baseball bats and razor blades), and modern firearms. The statistics and descriptions of some of these items are strange, like a broken bottle that weighs six pounds, and the fact that every sawed-off shotgun may only be fired twice before reloading, while its regular counterpart fires five times, yet neither can be fired more than once per round. My personal experience with shotguns is that many (even sawed-off) can hold eight rounds, and are semi-automatic. Thus, some players may want another source for more realistic guns.
Still, the equipment in the book is impressive in its creativity, though the assertion that some items are "never sold" bugged me. Another thing that bothered me was the money in Darwin's World--corium pieces. Corium, which exists in the real world, is the left over metal after a nuclear reactor melts down, often mixed with concrete. Why anyone would use this toxic substance as money in lieu of more valuable minerals (such as iron, or nickel, or just plain steel) is beyond me. It strikes from the realm of science-fantasy into the domain of ridiculousness. I'd junk the whole notion.
One man's junk is another mutants' treasure, and where would a post-apocalyptic setting be without ancient and mysterious artifacts to unearth and blow one's self up? Darwin's World isn't short on ancient riches. A definite bonus in this section are random tables for generating relics as treasure, along with advice on how to determine how much treasure to give. The influence from Gamma World is clear here as well, with some items even named the same, such as the powerful fusion rifle.
Also in the "Artifacts of the Ancients" section are vehicles and rules for vehicular combat. Taken as a whole, these rules are too flawed to be useful. According to them, a hobo running alongside a train has to make a DC 22 Jump check to board that train. A motorcycle has a +9 armor bonus, in addition to a hardness of 5 (stone), and that same cycle has a maximum speed of 18 mph (40 ft./round, taking the Run action for quadruple move (160 ft./round), divided by the number of feet in a mile, times 10 rounds per minute, times 60 minutes per hour = 18.18). A large truck is faster, at a whopping 23 mph. Further, persons caught in a crash suffer extreme damage virtually all the time, and the vehicle is assumed to catch fire. The only things I might use as a GM, with any vehicular combat alternative like the rules in other products, are the vehicle modifications. It's a shame that a game inspired by the likes of The Road Warrior has such bad vehicle combat rules.
Like the world in that venerable movie, Darwin's World is rife with dangers. The hidden ones, like chemical contamination, disease, and radiation, are perhaps worse than the mad raiders, mutated beasts, and murderous scavengers. Covey gives the GM almost everything needed to improvise the adjudication of such fiendish fates. Radiation is handled more realistically (sic better) than it is in Omega World, and the fact that radiation doesn't cause further mutation, like it did in Gamma World (and does in Omega World), is also a good thing. Though there are none presented, I would like to have seen some new diseases for the Twisted Earth.
The Twisted Earth itself is explained in some detail through legend and societal descriptions. The vast possibilities of the world are but touched upon, but more than enough information is here for many campaigns. What is more invaluable is the insight into the workings of Darwin's World that can be gleaned from reading the material. Not only that, but this prose is the cleanest in the book. The only things missing are maps, so one can see where these places and societies are located, and mutated monstrosities to throw at the PCs. Maps can be found, for free, on the official Darwin's World website, along with a gazetteer and plenty of other freebies. I heartily recommend downloading these items, if you're running a Darwin's World campaign. The monsters you can get from the Monster Manual(aberrations and monstrous humanoids work well--spell-like abilities can just be mutations), or from Terrors of the Twisted Earth, a separate RPG Objects monster product for Darwin's World.
Polyhedron magazine's re-release of TSR's Gamma World as Omega World shouldn't deter its owners from picking up Darwin's World. In fact, the two can be used together with a high degree of success. If you don't have access to Omega World, you might want to pick up a back issue of Dungeon #94 to have a copy of both. Darwin's World doesn't stand alone as well as it should. Like I mentioned, the rules for guns and vehicular combat are wanting, requiring a retrofit from another source for the latter mechanics. (Star Wars, some of the Polyhedron mini-games, or d20 Modern fit the bill--though all have their own flaws.)
In the realm of ideas, though hardly original, Darwin's World brings an older genre back to life. It's executed well enough to serve its purpose, with the only truly crippling aspect being the third-rate vehicle rules. It should be remembered that Darwin's World was executed at a time when there were few d20 precedents for the work. I just wish the design team (small as it is) had taken the time to work out the flaws before offering this printed version. If you're willing to make your own little mutant by cannibalizing other games for viable mechanics to replace the aberrant ones, post-apocalypse roleplaying is available again to fulfill all your Mad Max fantasies.
Special Note: The team at RPG Objects is working on a second edition of Darwin's World that deals with correcting some of the very things mentioned in this article, along with other improvements no doubt. Be on the lookout for it, because it's bound to be a winner.
This review was originally written for Gaming Frontiers on 11/06/02.
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