Apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place

OK I’ve just read through the review on RPG.net and actually think the reviewer was being quite positive about the game. He stated that he wasn’t sure that the system would hold together the setting but then I got the impression that he hadn’t tried it out s was just giving his first thoughts.

I love the system myself and think it could quite easily be used for other settings with the right tweaks but then it has to be done right.
Desolation, from what I’ve read so far seems to have managed that. It seems well laid out and the interior art gives a feel for the setting. I one problem is the cover art. Please don’t get me wrong I do like it and I think artist is very talented.
My problem is I think I’m comparing it too closely to HEX, there the cover grabs you by the throat and drags you kicking and screaming into the book. Here it just doesn’t have that kind of feel. Which is a shame as once inside I was drawn into the world and have come up with an outline for a campaign I may run for it some day (more on that in a minute).
I just feel a more provocative image would get more gamers interested. In this modern world where everyone is entitled to 5 minutes of fame and image is everything I just think the cover image is a bit, dare I say, bland. Again no disrespect to the artist who did a wonderful picture just not what I would have chosen for the front cover.

Anyway having read a far bit of the book I decided that I’d be able to run a campaign set around a village where the PCs took the rolls of major figures in that location. Maybe a warrior, a scribe, a blacksmith etc. Then as the village grows into a town the PCs take on the rolls of heads of the town. The warrior becomes the law the scribe the historian and the like.
From there the town turns into a city and more people gather round it soon the warrior is in charge of the city watch , the scribe in charge of the university.

They could start out looking for resources for survival and later as the place grows they go out looking for lost history or old relicts maybe religious ones that draw more people to them.

The idea of taking a small group of survivors and watching them grow with their village really appeals to me and I think this book , the rules and the setting would allow me to do that quite easily.

Anyway that’s just my initial thoughts on what I’ve read this evening for what it’s worth.

Jamat

Hullo, jamat1066,

Welcome to the forums, Jason! Glad to see that you made it here, and I look forward to chatting with you about the DESOLATION rpg and all sorts of other good stuff.



The only other place that would have made sense to post this would be to a general games discussion section or some such. For now, this is fine...if the GMD gang decide to move it, that's cool, too.



Which review on RPGnet? The most recent one? From my own perspective, I think that all the reviews to this point have been relatively positive, but each reviewer has had a few problems with the game. As for giving first thoughts without trying out the system, that's fine...but this is also something that should be addressed by the reviewer in the actual review, as it does give a somewhat slanted pov about things (not including the subjective nature of reviews to begin with, of course).



This is certainly true. Both HEX and DESOLATION show the adaptability of the game system, and I think that the Mars book for HEX and the upcoming Victorian FANTASTIC WORLD rpg in development are good examples of what the Ubiquity system can do.



That's an interesting take, Jason, and I'll be quite ears open to hear what the folks from GMD have to say on this subject. Myself, well...to be honest, I don't think one can compare the covers of HEX and DESOLATION in that way. (I still wish I'd bought myself a print of the full piece of art for the DESOLATION cover at GenCon, since it really is magnificent.) That's all I have to say on the matter.



This is one of the ideas that I was very fond of in terms of implementing for a game campaign, but it wasn't what my player characters wanted for their game and all, so I've run with something completely different for them. Still, this campaign setting is one that I will get to one day, I suspect. I rather like the idea that DESOLATION offers so many choices for types of games and campaigns, and this flexibility is something that really enhanced the appeal of the game for me.

I picked this game up after listening to The Game's The Thing.

I must say, this is a very evocative setting. It is well written and the design decision to leave the details of the world and society in the After was an incredibly smart move.

Even the Before has some interesting twists, such as the plight of the Elves. I groaned when I first began reading about the gnomes (I have been an avid anti-techno-gnome since Dragonlance), but I was pleasantly surprised by twists there as well.

and I can't wait to play with the Ubiquity mechanics!

Great job.

Thanks for the kind words, guys, and welcome to the forums.

We spent a lot of time deciding on the cover concept and how much detail to include in the After. For the cover, we went from extremes like a close up of a fight (but decided we didn't want people to think Desolation was completely combat oriented) to an illustration of the Night of Fire (but didn't want people to think it was set exclusively during the apocalypse) to a desolate, barren landscape (which would have been boring). We decided on the cover because it tells a story. The adventurers are obviously wounded and wary -- like they're running from something. They come upon some ruins that may shelter them from the flying beasties on the back cover. However, the runes are occupied by starving, desperate people. If we could change one thing, it would have been to get some more color into the cover -- but then it might look more pulpy than post-apocalyptic. But, overall, we are pleased with it.

For the After, we actually ended up adding more than we had originally planned (which I think was a good move). Still, I'm glad we kept it open enough for people to create their own stories. Hopefully we gave them enough inspiration to make them want to do just that.