The Indie/Zine RPG Review Part X: Running out of Time

Running out of Time (Old Skull/Gallant Knight)

$20.74 (PDF+soft cover)

What it is: The latest in the "Powered by Into the Odd Engine" games from Old skull and Gallant Knight, this one completes a trilogy of releases covering zombie survival, space horror and now cyberpunk survival. Running out of Time holds up nicely to its sister titles in terms of graphics and presentation, it is a good looking little book clocking in at 42 pages, the shortest in the series.

The System: The basics are identical to the other systems I have been reviewing, in that you have three stats, from 3-18, you roll saves against the stat or lower, and combat starts with damage so all conflict has immediate high risk. It's the same mechanical process as the rest, with a specific alteration in the form of Time as a life mechanic.

This is the first rulebook I've read in this series to have at least one noteworthy gaff....there's no stressful event table. Maybe they didn't intend to include one, but its not there and feels like it kinda should be.

The Setting: Running out of Time has its own gimmick, and surprisingly that is not being a condensed rules lite Cyberpunk experience. Instead, it is about a Cyberpunk world in which the currency that drives everything is time; the game requires PCs to roll 1D6 to start to see how many days they have left to live. You are presumably playing desperate people who have reached the end of their time bank. Run out of time....and you die. The game doesn't explain why or how this is, so I guess you as GM can decide....maybe its a nanovirus that shuts you down, or a chemical cocktail the releases in your system. Why does this happen? Also not really clear. It's a universe run by this gimmick that, to me at least, makes little sense in any justified context. Be that as it may, the game's entire economy, direction and even character advancement is driven by this concept.

This gimmick defines the setting and play focus, but not nearly enough time and effort is placed in explaining why the world is like this, which is really necessary for buy-in. As a result, it is so far among my least favorite of the "Into the Odd Engine" systems I have looked at. 

Aside from that, the book includes myriad charts for rolling up people, places, factions, corporations and events in your megacity. 

The Supplements: None for this one, but it could serve well as a resource to flesh out specific kinds of worlds in Screams Amongst the Stars.

Who is this for? Well, it could make for an interesting session or three at minimum, if you have a group willing to run whole-heartedly with the time as a vital resource concept, or flesh it out. I personally feel it is too gimmicky, and think the game needed to include enough useful data to make the time-as-resource/currency concept make more sense. Even a chart you could roll on for different explanations...anything. It's a stretch otherwise, and a gimmick I think that will run out its welcome quickly as it requires players to constantly seek more time in largely randomized job events....the intent might be to force forward motion on the group, but the reality (I suspect) might just be frustration and annoyance. 

The Indie/Zine RPG Review Part IX: The Dead are Coming

The Dead are Coming (Old Skull Publishing/Gallant Knight Games)

$20.74 (POD+PDF)

What it is: Although this has been a general review of slim lite system indie zine RPGs, one could be forgiven for thinking this is a review series on "Into the Odd Powered games" or "games by Diogo Nogueira." Diogo has made no less than five of the games on my review list, and there are more I just don't happen to own. The Dead are Coming is a slim take on The Walking Dead and the broader survival horror zombie apocalypse genre, with an emphasis on the post-apocalypse, though I think you could tweak it a bit to start a game at the beginning of the apocalypse.

The System: The Dead are Coming equips you with the Into the Odd-derived mechanics necessary to make an excursion into a world overrun with the undead. Clocking in a bit shorter than Screams amongst the Stars at about 46 pages, its a tight focus on the subject at hand. The game morphs the rules in genre-specific ways: scars are critical injuries, and its a suitably gruesome table. Stress events are when you take critical damage on willpower, but its not really different from Screams. There are food, fuel, bullets and water you must track as depletable resources. A zombie bite that deals direct strength damage means you are infected, and three saves are necessary to live. 

In the spirit of the system there are rules on building up a band of survivors and turning them in to communities. This, along with the potential for some bonuses on critical checks on the scar and stress tables are the only potential for character improvement, so TDaC is a bit closer to Liminal Horror in this respect.

In terms of the game, the mechanics are otherwise very much the same as Into the Odd and Screams amongst the Stars. You get three stats, roll saves against them, have hit protection, and all combat starts with rolling damage and taking potential damage immediately. The book includes lots of spot rules for genre appropriate stuff, including the aforementioned depletable resources as well as vehicles, burst fire in combat, exploration and foraging rules, and more. 

The Setting: The implied setting is some time after the fall of humanity to a zombie plague. The game supports this with an array of useful charts and table for encounters and locations, as well as an array of possible foes: 9 zombie types that anyone familiar with video game zombies will recognize the origins on including spitters, exploders, zombie dogs, and so forth, along with 10 creepy living human survivor types to deal with including death cultists, raiders, cannibals, opportunists and more.

The many charts for the GM to roll stuff on the fly include a "What are they carrying" chart, a series of charts themed by area for landmarks, structures, findings and hazards, with sets for the countryside, small towns, and the big city. Finally we have an adventure idea chart and a D100 table of "things to do in the zombie apocalypse" which provides plenty of "Oh no, this happened, what will you do?!?!" events.

Overall there is enough here to run a nice mini-campaign or three in a zombie-ridden world. I don't know if it would hold up for much longer (in contrast to Screams Amongst the Stars which I think could sustain some meaningful campaigns), but you could also use this book for charts and inspiration while running a zombie apocalypse campaign using a more robust game system easily enough. I could easily see this book as a chart and idea resource for a BRP campaign, for example.  

Graphically the game is filled with evocative and decent imagery and art. A stylistic design on labels for titles and careful placement of text and font types makes the book interesting to look at but not painful to read. It's well organized and the location of information makes sense.

Supplements: like with the other Old Skull books, this one is stand-alone, but is fully compatible with other game systems. The monsters in this book could port to Into the Odd or Screams Amongst the Stars. The characters in The Dead are Coming could play with Liminal Horror PCs with almost no real need for conversion, just establish which setting rules take precedence (fallout vs. stress events, for example, and whether other spot rules such as resources, magic and such are mechanics you will need or not).

Who is this For? Its turning into a redundant question, but getting easier to answer every time. The Dead are Coming is for gamers who want a ultralight, portable rule system for zombie survival games. It's for gamers who do not like larger rule books but do like evocative and horror themed settings. It's great for anyone who has a Walking Dead campaign idea germinating. It's also useful as a resource for other game systems that can be easily subbed in, as most of the setting/inspirational content (mostly on the charts) is easily used without effort in other games.

All that said, it's still a zombie apocalypse simulator, and as a stand-alone book its usefulness is going to be limited to that specific subgenre. You could easily run this sort of campaign with other game systems with minimal or no effort, including Liminal Horror which this game is 100% cross compatible with. If you can only get one, I suggest Liminal Horror....but if you can get both, they will complement each other nicely.