Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2009257" data-attributes="member: 18387">Judge Dredd The Roleplaying Game. Written by Matthew Sprange. Additional text and layout: Alejandro Melchor John Caliber, Matt Sharp and Marc Farrimond.  Mongoose Publishing Limited. £24.00. ISBN 1-903980-31-32002 is certainly a year for celebrations and anniversaries. The Queens Golden Jubilee marks her fifty years on the throne, Star Wars reached twenty five this year as did the punk movement and two British institutions both celebrated their silver anniversary this year, cult children’s television show Grange Hill (British kids school drama) and iconic comic book 2000AD. Over the years there have been many successful British comic books and heroes but none have had the strength or staying power as displayed by the science fiction masterpiece 2000AD. Sure it may not have been around as long as the Beano or Dandy, but it has helped define a generation of readers (now adults) with new attitudes. Perhaps the single success of 2000AD is the life breathed into its central character Judge Joe Dredd, and the universe in which he presides. Dredd is by far one of the most successful characters to ever come from a British comic book, and over the 25 years of the characters history he has spawned countless graphic novels, books, badges and merchandise, a feature movie and a series of games products ranging from roleplaying games to miniatures and beyond. It was announced earlier this year that UK games developers Mongoose Publishing had acquired the rights to publish an all new roleplaying game based on Judge Dredd and other popular characters from 2000AD, and that the system would utilise the brand new d20 roleplaying system from Wizards of the Coast. Now after months of play testing, discussion and hard research finally the Judge Dredd Roleplaying game is back in the shops and back with a vengeance. Mongoose are not the first publishers to treat the games world to roleplaying adventures of Judge Dredd, miniature manufacturers Games Workshop had their own version out in the mid eighties and it was at the time one of the fastest selling roleplaying games in Europe, but was very poorly supported and faded fast, causing the company to lose the rights to the character. Mongoose however are not likely to sit on their laurels and the Judge Dredd roleplaying game is just the first in a planned series of 2000AD related games due out over the next couple of years and all will be fully supported. The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game is a hefty tome, weighing in at 254 pages that contain nearly everything you need to run adventures in Mega City One, the biggest and most violent city on the face of the planet. Here power has been taken from the people and given to the Justice Department, who rule the city and keep the affairs of the populace in order. The judges are empowered to be judge, jury and if need be executioner, as they dispense justice to the perps (perpetrators or criminals) and keep the city as safe as possible. Unemployment in Mega City One is almost total and this vast metropolis that covers what is left of the eastern seaboard of North America is rife with crime, as bored citizens will do anything to relieve the tedium of unemployment and more often than not end up turning to a life of crime. Using the d20™ system from Wizards of the Coast and created via the companies Open Gaming License, the Judge Dredd game allows your players to play either members of the Justice Department (Street and Psi judges), or to go the other end of the spectrum and play as the citizens of Mega City One itself.  Over the past year or so much fuss has been given over the new d20™ system from Wizards of the Coast, and many companies have cashed in on this new system to a greater or lesser degree of success. Mongoose here have not only managed to bleed the d20 system dry of every ounce of playability it has in its pages, but has still managed to come up with more. Utilising the usual character generation of d20™ with a couple of unique additions the Dredd roleplaying game and if your playing as judges you can choose to being your careers at 3rd level rather than starting off at 1st. This represents the amount of time spent in the Academy of Law as a cadet judge (1st level) then taking to the streets to earn your full eagle and black helm status (2nd level) and finally to become a fully fledged street judge at 3rd level. Citizens are created rather differently than judge characters. Each citizen has a prior life that they can choose after generating their statistics, these prior lives reflect the myriad of hobbies, pastimes and even criminal careers in Mega City One, and players can choose from 22 prior lives in the core rules (and many more in the upcoming supplements) ranging from Agitator (rabble rousing characters) to Vigilante (taking the law into their own hands) and many more. The strange and wonderful worlds of crazes in Mega City One is not neglected with other prior lives including Skysurfers (riding on flying surfboards), Batters (using bat like gliders to propel themselves high into the air and ride on thermals) and many other classes. The main difference between judge and citizen characters is that the judges can only proceed as a street or Psi judge via experience until they have enough to take a Prestige Class, but citizens can choose multiple Prestige Classes allowing them to cover a far broader spectrum of play. Judges can progress on to become Tech or Med Judges, members of the SJS (Special Judicial Squad) the judges who judge the judges or even eventually work their way up to becoming a Sector Chief if desired. Citizens have a wider wealth of Prestige Classes available to them and everything from Mob Boss to Skysurfer Champion is covered, with more coming in the supplements due later this year. The game is split into twelve chapters, with each covering aspects on game play, equipment, vehicles and life in the mean streets of the worlds most deadly city. The breakdown of the chapters is concise and to the point and reads logically unlike the Players Handbook tends to do, and as such wont be as confusing to a novice player. It states on the back of the rulebook that you need a copy of the Players Handbook from Wizards of the Coast in order to play the game; this is both true and false in the same breath. Access to the PHB for character generation is needed if you are not too familiar with the d20 system, and though it is an advantage having the PHB to hand, once you know how to generate characters it becomes a little redundant, though having access to another system gives you as a GM more scope for running adventures and other games. Throughout the game are dozens of illustrations taken from the comics’ long history and some excellent new computer generated images of the Lawgiver, Lawmaster and Manta Prowl tank from the talented digits of Scott Clark. Layout and graphical design are as to be expected from a company such as Mongoose, excellent, though the addition of a perforated character sheet at the back of the book may have been a better idea and would avoid damage to the spine of the book. This would no doubt have pushed the price higher, and really once you have photocopied the sheets you have no real need to do so again and they are already available to download on the official site and will no doubt appear at some time in the future. Other changes in the basic way d20™ works are the combat and Psionic systems. The combat for the most part in most other d20™ products is melee with the occasional ranged attack thrown in for good measure. In the far future worlds of Judge Dredd most combat is carried out from a distance and to represent this Mongoose took a whole new approach to the system and have many hours of play testing came up with a combat system that works very well. Psionics is also updated to take into account the skills used in the comic itself and can be fast and deadly if used correctly. Equipment, vehicles, robots and much more are covered in the rules with many new illustrations and some taken directly from the comics’ long and illustrious career. And to top that an excellent full colour painting of Judge Dredd by long time fan favourite Kevin Walker binds the book. Of the twelve chapters in the 256 page hardbound book, my own personal favourite is the section on the history of Mega City One and some of the more famous pastimes and landmarks in the metropolis. Extremely well researched and written the Judge Dredd roleplaying game is set in the current Mega City One year 2124, as depicted in the comic book and due to the vast wealth of well over a thousand stories of Judge Dredd to fall back upon the scope for the system and updates is vast. The Dredd roleplaying game is only the first in the franchise from Rebellion and due out in mid-August is Slaine the Roleplaying game, the Celtic Barbarian, based on popular Irish folklore and a pinch of Robert E Howard for good measure. Strontium Dogs and Rogue Trooper are also in the pipeline and support for the Dredd game wont just stop with the release of the rules. Over the next couple of months and for the foreseeable future you can expect to see at least two releases each month for the Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game, starting off with the excellent Rookies Guide to the Justice Department by my good friend John Caliber, which will cover every aspect of the Justice Department that couldn’t be squeezed into the core rules. The GM’s screen will also feature stats for the most famous characters in the history of Mega City One, from Joe Dredd himself to the Angel Gang and Chopper and many more. John Calibers Full Eagle Day is the first full adventure that pits rookie judges on their Final Evaluation Test under the scrutiny of Judge Dredd himself. Other Rookies Guide’s will follow over the next few months, and with more adventures in the pipeline, it looks like 2002 is going to be a great year for fans of Judge Dredd.</blockquote>

Verification