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Other Dust
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$39.99 $19.99 |
| Average Rating:5.0 / 5 |
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An absolutely excellent "spinoff" in the Old School genre that, above all, provides a thorough and great guide for creating your own Wasteland. For anyone contemplating a Fallout-inspired apocalyptic campaign, this is a must read - if not for use as your primary system, then simply as an inspiration.
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Other Dust is an excellent companion to Stars Without Number, and a wonderful modern example of sandbox gaming. Other Dust uses a slightly updated version of the classic AD&D 'engine', adapted for sci-fi gaming. The setting seems a bit grimmer and more serious than older post-apoc RPGs like Gamma World, which is a clear inspiration. That feeling of realism comes from an amazing setting conceit, one I wish I'd thought of first. Instead of radiation causing mutations, a malfunctioning global emergency system, called the HighShine, unleashes out of control healing nano-colonies upon those suffering from radiation poisoning or other trauma. To modern gamers, this might be more plausible than the old 'radiation as magic' tropes.
Aside from the brilliant HighShine concept, the real greatness of the sourcebook is found towards the back. A phenomenally deep random creation system will allow you to build settlements, plot out adventures, dress sets ranging from a limestone cavern to an abandoned factory in seconds.
I'd been waiting to write this review until my print copy of the book arrived. Fortunately, Other Dust looks as good in print as it does on screen.
CHRIS
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When I first saw the announcement of Other Dust, a while a go, the cover caught my attention and blew me away. I knew immediately I wanted to run a game with this system. Being able to use this with SWN is awesome.
I purchased the softcover+pdf bundle, read the pdf and went back online and ordered a hardcover copy as well. That is how awesome I think this is. The game system is similar to SWN, because it is compatible with it. The character creation is super simple (skills was the only hard part, but I understood it after re-reading the cost chart).
The pdf is amazing, filled with awesome sandbox advice, charts and info for your sandbox and the premade campaign area in the back is useful as well.
I LOVE the System Quick Summary Sheet to hand out to players, as it has the basics of all they will need. I did notice one mistake on either the character sheet (my guess is this is where the mistake is) or the class description for the Speaker class. On the character sheet it gives them athletics as a skill, but in the description it does not.
I would suggest anyone who is even remotely interested in post-apocalypse gaming pick this book up and USE it. I am already planning my players adventures in this world!
No doubt a 5 out of 5 (even with the two little blips), and ranks up there with SWN and Red Tide.
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Other Dust is the new post-apocalyptic RPG made by Kevin Crawford, the same writer who brought us the brilliant Stars Without Number. Those who are familiar with SWN will find that Other Dust follow the same formula: This is a game that you already know how to play, packaged in an overflowing toolbox geared for sandbox play.
The rules are classic D&D, so anyone who has ever rolled 3d6 to generate values for character stats will find themselves experiencing deja vu. That said, this isn't just some mechanical ripoff. Kevin Crawford's approach is very simple. The rules aren't the point of this game, but his sandbox is.
And what a sandbox it is. Other Dust presents an interesting vision of the apocalypse, that is also compatible with the SWN setting. The player character classes available for Other Dust are: Scrounger, Slayer, Speaker and Survivor. Each of the classes fills one particular niche, and given the nature of a post-apocalypse I find that they're an excellent selection to choose from.
Kevin goes into detail in all the fun parts of the Apocalypse, with a fun little section on Mutations, which can be anything from psychic powers to less pleasant looking ones like having detachable organs.
Much in the same way as SWN did, Other Dust is a game whose mechanics technically ends in about fifty pages into the book. The book is also 208 pages thick, and it's these 150 that really make Other Dust shine. Kevin Crawford's agenda supporting sandbox gaming is no secret in the book, as he himself calls it out early in the document.
The rest of the PDF is an impressive collection of rules and tables for generating your own apocalyptic sandbox. From random tables to create enclaves of civilization, to strange ruins, post-apocalyptic adventure creation and loot/scavenging mechanics that are a must-have for and game of this genre.
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Kevin Crawfords approach to Other Dust mirrors SWN, which is a good thing as the SWN approach works perfectly for post-apocalyptic play. There's a ton of campaigns I could run with this game, and the host of tools to aid me in coming up with session after session of play.
I heartily endorse Other Dust to anyone who is even remotely interested in running a Post-Apocalypse game. There's enough material here to run a game for a good, long time.
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