Mega City One's Most Wanted: Roleplaying Adventure: By Mathew Sprange. Additional text John Caliber, Matt Sharp. 24 pages. Mongoose Publishing. £4.99. ISBN 1-903980-38-0
Reviewed by Marc Farrimond
The one thing that was missing from the core rules of Mongoose Publishing's Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game was the statistics for the characters that breath life into the comic itself. Sure the comic is just about Dredd and his fellow judges, it is as much about the vast metropolis of Mega City One as any other character, and a great deal of detail and research went into the core rules, but sadly due to space restrictions some things didn't actually make the final book and it was decided to leave the more famous characters for another outing.
Mega City One's Most Wanted presents the GM with background information and details on three famous judges, one ex judge and a dozen perps and citizen characters to spice up their games. Each character has its own biography, charting its history in the context of the Dredd universe, with Judge Joe Dredd being the first character to go under the spotlight. Dredd is a very tough character as one would only hope to expect from one of Britain's best loved institutions, and given his stats he could go toe to toe with almost anything you can throw at him.
Careful selection of his skills builds up a character that is all but identical to the image the comic portrays him as being, right down to his bionic eyes, which give him extra bonuses when he is searching. Judge Anderson too is well written and her background goes up to the present year in the comic (2124) including her return to the Justice Department. Anderson is a very powerful telepath specialist, but to get the most from this character you will need access to the upcoming Rookies Guide to Psi Talent.
Chief Judge Hershey and former Sector Chief turned private investigator Galen DeMarco are the final two members (or former) of the Justice Department. Again the characters come with their own background and position in the Dredd worlds and each is well rounded, giving the GM an added utility to use in their games.
One thing that everyone remembers is a good; bad guy. From Darth Vader walking over the dead rebel troopers in Star Wars, to Sideshow Bob writing death threats to Bart Simpson in his own blood. Most Wanted presents nine of the more famous perps to have appeared in the comics' 25-year history and four famous citizens.
The meanest gang ever to walk the Cursed Earth is here in all its gory detail and both the exploits and background for the Angel Gang are given. Pa is bad, Link is dangerous, Junior is nasty, Fink is down right weird but perhaps the icing on the cake is one of the comics more favoured bad guys Mean Machine Angel. The youngest of the Angel Gang, Mean was born lacking that certain something his father hoped for and was completely pacifistic unlike his deranged brothers. That is until his Pa had a Texas City doctor do a 'number' on the child and changed him from a sweet and innocent child into a mechanised cyborg killing machine. Full statistics are give for his enhanced strength and mechanical additions, including the mood dial on his steel plated head that goes from one (surly) to (brutal) and even covers the dial being stuck on 4 ½ (out of control). Mean is not the kind of perp you want to run into on a dark night, but is perhaps the best presented character in the entire supplement.
Stan Lee AKA Deathfist is presented, and was the only character ever to defeat Dredd in combat in the comics history. A cross between Bruce Lee and Triad assassin, Deathfist was very popular with the readers, forcing the comics creators to bring him back again for another crack at Dredd (this time he lost). Stan Lee is a Master Martial Artist, one of three new prestige classes given in the supplement (Cursed Earth Desperado, ie. The Angel Gang, and Martial Artist) and I can see many GM's using this class to add an element of excitement to their adventures.
Jonni Kiss is also present, a hired gun and assassin whose lips are filled with a deadly toxin that he uses as his trademark killing blow. Kiss was never a favourite of mine, and I am surprised at his inclusion, as there are many other characters who would have been a better choice, but like all the characters presented here, he is well rounded and a valuable tool, albeit a dead one.
A strange choice for an addition to the characters is that of the rogue Tyrannosaur Satanus, a character that has appeared in other 2000AD strips and almost made munce out of Dredd and co in the Cursed Earth. Imagine the look on your players faces when they encounter this dude out in the Cursed Earth. Just hope that they have clean under-roos on.
The other three characters in the supplement are not so much perps or criminals, but citizens who have been misunderstood or suffered at the hands of both the Justice Department and citizens alike. Travis Perkins is the simian sidekick and bodyguard of Galen DeMarco, a well spoken and educated Gorilla who is often seen as DeMarco's unofficial partner in her private investigation business. Perkins is an excellent example of the diversity of Mega City One and as such I feel and ideal choice for inclusion, not to mention the fact he rounds off DeMarco perfectly.
There was a time during its early years when you couldn't pick a copy of 2000AD up without seeing the character of Max 'The Pinstriped Freak' Normal, Judge Dredds former informer and nark. Max really stands out from the rest of the citizens of Mega City One due to his dress sense and strange retro speech, but he is an excellent shuggy player, and provided Dredd with vitial information at times that helped save the city from doom.
The most unfortunate character ever to grace the pages of a Judge Dredd strip has to be Otto Fester Sump, the worlds ugliest man. Sump was so ugly that he was abandoned on the door of a facechange clinic by his estranged mother, Details of the life of the man who caused one of the biggest crazes ever to hit the Big Meg are given here but little else of real use for the GM.
Finally on to my favourite character in comic book history, Marlon 'Chopper' Shakespeare. Chopper is the king of skysurfing and is one of the most popular secondary characters ever to appear in the Dredd strip. An enigmatic youth whose lust for adrenaline lands him into the cubes, Chopper now resides as a doctor in the outback of Oz with his girlfriend Charlene. In the previous Judge Dredd rpg from Games Workshop, this character was underestimated and a bit of a let down and I am sorry to say that of all the characters in Most Wanted, Chopper seems to come across as the weakest. A character who could fly a powerboard across an ocean and still compete in the worlds toughest sporting challenge Supersurf, in my own opinion be of a very high level, but Chopper seems to have been cut off at the knees and even though his medical training is mentioned, he doesn't have any medical based skills, a minor gripe I know.
Elsewhere in the supplement are new equipment, vehicles and weapons for the characters mentioned all illustrated by good friend John Caliber, and ideal utility for any GM or player. The other illustrations in the supplement are taken directly from the comics themselves and are crisp and clear, a problem that seemed to plague the core rulebook.
But that's not all. As well as getting your Most Wanted supplement, the pack also contains a full colour section card Games Masters screen, with all the information a GM will ever need at a glance. The screen is well laid out and easy to navigate and will give you the information you are looking for in an instant. A really neat screen that also looks stunning thanks to the excellent artwork by Jason Brashill.
Overall Most Wanted is a great product, with some good background and GM material. It would have been nice to have seen a character sheet at the back of the supplement to save damage to the spine of the core rules, but we can't get everything we want. Go get it and bring the law to the streets.
My many thanks go to Alex Fennel and Matthew Sprange of Mongoose Publishing for the samples and all their help.
-Marc
