I will say that I have not played HEX, and really know very little about it or its system.

That said, I am completely taken with this game and the passion its creators had is inherent with every page of setting detail. I heard of shortcomings due to page count, and yet as I read the book, I get no sensation of something lacking. I've read reviews stating the talents don't fit and making odd arguments about the potential for metagaming (which exists in every game to the same degree and arguing that system makes it more possible is an exercise in semantics, in my opinion).

What I see here is what I want to see in every RPG I lay eyes on: possibility and inspiration. This game gives us packaged tools to easily create our own little corner of the world. I notice that all of my favorite games do this to a similar degree. WFRP us one of my favorite systems because of all the effort the creators went to in order to ensure the game was only complex in it's design (a deeply entwined career system) and ridiculously simple in its execution. Individualization was supported by choosing talents and other interesting bits of information (Dooming was my favorite).

This game seems to take that philosophy, though opting to put more power in the hands of the players in designing the character. This can be dangerous, as many games tend to sling an onslaught of talents, feats, skills, advantages, disadvantages, traits, powers, etc. that is so large that creating a character becomes a superficial chore. The Ubiquity system has balanced the ideas of simple character creation with player options nicely, much in the same manner that the new WoD's core rulebook did (and the supernatural character supplements quickly destroyed with their cumbersome modifications to the otherwise simplistic core rules).

As I stated before, I have no experience with HEX. I noticed that in Chris Richeson's review he stated that many of the talents didn't belong in the setting. I disagree. This game strikes me as a slight homage to the fantasy role-playing genre, and characters are thus intended to be heroic and capable at whatever their chosen profession is. The issues Chris had with the talents may have been projected, as I simply don't see them.

I'm currently delving into the magic system and I find the guidelines thus far to be intuitive and happily unencumbered. I find it odd that many games feel that magic must have its own complex, difficult system and I find this very refreshing. Burn is not as terribly frightening as some have made it to be, but is suitably dramatic and interesting. I find that the magic system levels the playing field with other characters while providing interesting character potential. As that was the aim of the game, I'm completely satisfied and impressed.

I found the section on religions to be my favorite, though, as it says something about a setting where so much time and thought is spent on a topic that has next to no mechanics. This made me wonderfully happy, and helped enrich the world further with ideologies and helped to infuse much more depth into the already interesting cultures.

Okay, I could go on, but I'd much rather read the book.

I just thought I'd pop in to say this was a job well done! I'm very excited to run a game!

Aw shucks. Glad you like it. Thanks for spreading the word!

Hullo, Ars,

First off, glad to hear that you got the book! Now, start spreading the DESOLATION goodness around!



Well, when it comes right down to it, the mechanics of HEX and the mechanics of DESOLATION are pretty much the same, as they both use the Ubiquity system. There are some minor differences, Magic being the really big one of course, but if you've played one you can easily play the other.



I suspect that part of the problem stems from the fact that many of the reviewers seem to be looking for something "unique" and totally out of the ordinary when it comes to the game, and the post-apocalyptic feel of DESOLATION. This isn't what DESOLATION is all about at all, and some of the reviewers haven't got that. As for the Talents and the metagaming elements, well...that's just a matter of opinion among the reviewers.



I don't think that the Ubiquity system in either of its current flavours allows for a mini-maxing kind of character creation, although I have always felt that this is more of a GM with player problem than it is one of the game system. Roleplaying games provide a toolkit for creating characters and running a game, and you, as GM, have to be wise in terms of how you handle certain elements of the game, like any other. Character generation is just one of those. The Ubiquity system in both HEX and DESOLATION, allows the player to create more powerful characters, but there are guidelines for how to do so, and GMs always need to exercise some discretion in this regard. The beauty of Ubiquity is that it *is* simple and quite elegant, and that was one of the reasons I adore the game system so much. It's an excellent fit for both the Pulp genre of HEX and the post-apoc genre of DESOLATION, and has a lot of other potential as well.



The Magic system found in DESOLATION is one of the best free-form systems I've seen to date in rpgs, and works really well (and I've had about eight months gaming experience with it). The only other free-form magic system that I actually liked is the one for Deep7's rpg of renaissance fantasy, ARROWFLIGHT, and that one was overly complex in a lot of ways. I have a couple of problems with the DESOLATION magic system, but nothing that are unsolvable.

Burn...well, all I can say is that it's one thing to read about Burn, it's a completely different thing to have to concern oneself about it and deal with it in play. Of course, if one is running a game set Before, one doesn't have to worry about this all that much. However, in both demos/convention games and my campaign, I've seen some really bad Burn results, but it's interesting to see how each player who takes on the role of a mage deals with the Burn mechanics and what it means to their player character.



Yeah, I really enjoyed the Religion section as well. That's all I've got to say on the subject, as you said it so eloquently.

I have been holding my tongue until I really got a chance to dig into the book.

I'm very glad that my expectations were exceeded, as it seems many games fall short these days.

Yeah, the religion section really is excellent. I was actually inspired to try out character creation once with an Ascondean Sorcerer and again with a devout Empyrean warrior.

A system can only do so much to make a game interesting, but in my opinion it's the setting and the presentation of that setting which makes a deeply enjoyable game. This game shines in that regard.

Hullo, Ars,



A lot of games fall short these days for a variety of reasons. Part of this is choices made by the game designers, but in other cases it's all about the basic philosophy that went into the designs. Ymmv, of course.



Ooh, I wouldn't mind seeing those characters posted up to the Pass It Along section, since sample characters that folks have created can be useful for all sorts of stuff.


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No argument here.

Just finished reading the Before and After in detail.

Good lord, I love this setting. I also love that you've given me a sand-box to do my own crazy things with.

This is like some sort of pre-Christmas for me!

Typing is doing nothing to express my uber geek joy here.

Hullo, Ars,



Yep, I have to agree with you about the sandbox feeling. One of the things that attracts me to rpgs is whether or not, when I'm reading the game book, I come up with ideas for plots, setting details, and the like. While reading the Before and After chapters of DESOLATION, I was having all sorts of ideas for scenarios and setting locations and details pop into my head. Started keeping notes on various things as I went in my spiral-bound notebook, and so I knew that DESOLATION was the game for me (even though I had been running it off and on for several months using the playtest materials).

What he said.

And, BTW, cool avatar there, John!

Hullo, Nestor,



hehe Can't argue with you guys when you are so right.



Thanks, mate. Thought it was time for a new look here on the forums, as it's different than over on the HEX forums. I've got something else completely for the HELLAS forums as well.