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