Joined: Feb 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 950 Location: Brisbane
Reviews « Thread Started on May 22, 2008, 9:38pm »
Nylon Angel: the Role Playing Game.
reviewed by Vee Kay aka Stellar
The roleplaying adaptation of Marianne De Pierres’ Parrish Plessis setting harks back to a previous time in roleplaying history. This is a game that takes itself and its setting seriously and tries to reflect the gritty and aggressive nature of the Angel setting, rather than stroking your ego as an all-conquering warrior with solid morality. Like the Plessis novels, characters in Nylon Angel RPG are fallible, multi-layered and often mortally wounded after a short space of time.
If you are an old RPG hand, you will feel nostalgic as you open the box the game comes in. Many seasoned gamers will instantly feel at home as the three smaller format books are revealed. People new to roleplaying may be confused about where to begin, but a quick review will familiarise you with the Rules book, Referee Guide and Characters book. Also present in the box is a laminated table for often used rules - skill check modifiers and combat manoeuvres. At a time when many games are presented as giant, all-encompassing volumes that help you get a Parrish-like workout; this makes for surprising portability.
Australians may experience a sense of pride when they see the covers and illustrations. The Tert is an embodiment of everything that could go wrong with an Australian city, and the reader will instantly know this is the continent the game is based in. However, although atmospheric, the in-book art is sparse. Some more would have helped, particularly in the combat and skills chapters. Also, with a book solely containing characters, it seems strange to leave it without illustration of popular character types - not to mention our favourites from the novels. Although Parrish herself and the loved and hated Mei Sheong are featured as cover models, a gratuitous shot of Loyl-me-Daac, Teece or even the gorgeous Ibis would have helped visualise the heroes and villains.
A great advantage of the game is the clean, functional charts that allow you to instantly follow the rules and variables you are likely to encounter during gameplay. These would translate very easily onto a Referee’s screen should one be produced. To complete the Parrishverse feel of the game, an extensive glossary is provided at the end of the Rules book. This deserves special attention as although Parrish lives in a world still with a resemblance to the twenty-first century, it is vastly different from our own and many of the endearing quirks of the setting are represented here. It provides a neat primer for some of the trimmings of the setting and helps the player identify with the differences between the modern day compared to the world of Nylon Angel.
The books are set out in a very clear points system which means finding rules during gameplay is very easy. This has left the rules comparable to a Vivacity sociology text on the Tert. Perhaps Parrish should have poked her opinions into the game and read the riot act to anyone with misconceptions of how her rules work, or we could have heard the voice of experience from Teece or Larry Hein. The language of the book does not reflect the slang-slinging nature of the setting, dig?
During game, the simple, robust system helps facilitate the story well, but at times the many tables can mean that yet another flip through the rules is required. Also the game has a few derivative and minor character stats that are not often used, so could have been left out or streamlined into the more important numbers.
Something that should be pointed out to gamers who like mowing down hordes of barely-offensive mooks while showing off their flashy shades and winning smile - combat is usually short, conclusive and usually only one party will walk away from it. Characters often have poor comparative combat skills too, which both benefits and hinders the player characters - a bit like Tert medicine.
Nylon Angel: The Roleplaying Game is a refreshing re-think on the post-Cyberpunk genre. The combat is lethal and the setting is a gritty reminder of what Australia could become in only a few decades. The game also has its rough edges and is not as refined in production and appearance as many modern RPGs. However, the quirky nature of the setting and the sheer scope for carving out your own little niche in the Tert should see you through to determining whether you want to join Daac’s crusade, grow your own empire, or simply fighting for the underdograt in true Aussie-style.
PREMISE: The Nylon Angel role playing game is based upon the works of Marianne De Pierres. Nylon Angel is set somewhere around fifty years into our future in a badly polluted post-holocaust Australia, virtually controlled by the media and banking corporations, with a figurehead hereditary monarchy. The setting is designed to replicate the gritty feeling of the original novels.
PRESENTATION: The box and booklets are of an unusual size, smaller than the usual US bookcase sized games boxes, however there is a lot of stuff included in the box. The box itself is made from glossy cardboard with the picture from the Referee’s book on the front. Overall the game is well presented.
The booklets have thin gloss cardboard covers with colour illustrations on front. There may be a problem with how long the covers will survive if handled by hands with any degree of moisture. I would suggest laminating or putting contact on the covers as soon as possible if you purchase this game. The artwork for the covers is of good quality, with a mixture of what appears to be computer generated and traditional methods used. The booklets are stapled, rather than perfect-bound. Each of the booklets is well presented with clear diagrams (where required) for working out skill development etc. Illustrations are clear and only occasionally reused. The interior artwork appears to be original works for the game, rather than stock illustrations. The maps are drawn using CAD software and are (overall) of good quality, easy to read, but a little bland. These maps differ from what has become the near-industry standard practice of cluttered Photoshop products that do not print well in black and white. A different software package such as Campaign Cartographer could be used to produce a better result, but there is nothing wrong with the maps provided.
The font used throughout the booklets is easy on the eyes and large enough to read clearly, without being too big. I found very few typos or grammatical errors. The printing throughout the three booklets is crisp and clean.
At the end of each of the three books are blank pages. This is due to the printing requirements, but I dislike paying for blank pages. Ads for the books, a map of the Tert and surrounding areas, other products from White Mice, even a feedback form or survey would have filled in some of these areas nicely. A bit more artwork throughout the booklets may have eliminated these pages completely.
CONTENTS, TONE, STYLE & MECHANICS: The booklets are full of information, with some of it repeated in various places for the convenience of the referee. This is not a complaint; this was done in an appropriate and sensible manner. There is a lot of information packed into the three booklets, and the writing style is fairly no-nonsense and straight forward. The introduction explains what a role-playing game is, the conventions and terminology of the game and pretty much sets the scene for playing in the Nylon Angel setting. The game, much like the books is deliberately vague about the year that the game takes place in and the location. The game is set approximately fifty years into the future, and the outlook for mankind is a little on the bleak side to say the least. The tone of the game and the style of the descriptions are adult-orientated, gritty and lay out a future setting which is not even vaguely shiny and clean. This is reflected in the technology descriptions, the diseases and drugs described and even the skill sets and background professions. The setting provided in the rules captures the feel of the original books, and as a role-playing game, may be a shock to people who have played other games set in the “near future”.
In the books, characters seem to have all sorts of issues and driving ambitions, not to mention a number of oddities. Character generation in the game reflects this quite well, and really sets the tone for the game. Any character that you roll up can be as dysfunctional as any of those in the original books. If you want to play a wealthy socialite with unlimited resources, superior abilities and a great career, this game is not for you. If you want to play a refugee from the outback with a price on their head, a genetically engineered dingo-hybrid thug, bar worker, bounty hunter, Voodoo cult priest, prostitute or petty criminal with serious issues and a biologically engineered disease or a combination of those and more, you will love this game.
Apart from career choices, and some of the skills listed, rolling up a character is fairly standard fare, with five main stats rolled on 4d6, subtracting the lowest number rolled, and an additional seven secondary stats determined using 3d6. It is a pleasure to see a new independent game that uses rules that are not going to require a steep learning curve of new conventions and terminology. This is a simple system with little in the way of learning overhead.
In the books, life in the Tert is cheap, and often short. Combat in the game is also going to be a shock to anyone used to d20-style combat. It is a lot harder to hit a target if you aren’t experienced with your weapon. You can also die from a single shot if your opponent is skilled and/or lucky. This reflects the original books quite well, and adds a nasty dose of reality that is lacking in more “heroic” game systems. The amount of damage a character can take is based upon their constitution, and increases by one point for every level that they progress. Forget about having 100 hit points in this system! The use of grenades in combat is covered well in a reasonably realistic manner and with a little humour.
Actions are worked out quite simply using a mechanic called the Degree of Difficulty (DoD) which ranges from 1 to 20. To determine if an attempt was a success or failure, 1d20 is rolled and the DoD is added. This is modified by the number of points the character has in the skill and any modifiers that the referee is employing due to circumstances. The end number is then compared to the relative attribute. In practice, this is very easy to use and makes quite a bit of sense.
As with the books upon which the game is based, there is an element of magic and religion covered. Not to the degree of other systems such as Fasa’s Shadowrun, but it is there. The magic covered has elements of Voodoo, Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime mysticism and a number of other elements mixed in. In all, it is a unique approach that leaves shaman characters with a number of useful skills and powers that will not overbalance the game if the referee is familiar with the rules.
Hacking and cyberspace are also covered in the rules using a simple system. The level of detail used is less than that used in R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk 2020 and WoTC’s d20 Cyberspace, but workable. The system included will allow the situations in the novels to be replicated, and is consistent with the style and tone of the original stories.
CONCLUSION: White Mice Games look like they are well on the way to becoming Australia’s next “biggest thing” in gaming, having launched this game. This is a not a game for beginners or those unfamiliar with the Parrish Plessis novels. It is very much adult-orientated and in all aspects faithful to the novels. The game is well-presented and playable, with logical separation of the rules, referees and characters information into three different booklets. This game is obviously a labour of love and that has been reflected in the attention to detail in the notes on the setting, the rules for combat and the care taken with the overall presentation. A definite must for Parrish Plessis fans.
RATING: - Ease of learning: 8/10, - Presentation: 8/10, - Attention to detail: 8/10, - Value for money: 7/10, - Overall: 8/10
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