Yellow Dawn is based on the work of David J. Rodger, a writer of Mythosy novels involving zombie apocalypses, cyborgs, and general cross-genre weirdness. Based on the wikipedia page history, I rather strongly suspect Rodgers wrote it himself, though I can't prove it. While ruminating on the (biased?) reviews for this game, I've been trying to figure out what this thing says about the warning signs of a bad RPG.
0) The Sell
This is a little par for the course, though "Schools of Elemental Magick" is worth a raised eyebrow.The Earth has been ravaged by viral pathogens, the death of billions observed by the orbital colonies and deep-space habitats that were largely unaffected by the Outbreak. Terrified of infection, nobody came to help. Less than 30 percent survived the first few weeks. Then came the 2nd Wave of infection, spreading steadily outwards from the impact points, and that was when the horror really began...
YELLOW DAWN: This book is crammed with everything you will need to create characters, run scenarios and experience horror and adventure in the fictional world of David J Rodger.
FEATURES: The Influence of Hastur; Medical theories on the Infection; Zombie surges; Comprehensive scavenging system; Computer hacking and drug abuse; Non-human characters; Enhancements through cyberware and bioware; Weaponry, equipment and armour; Complex political, corporate and quasi-religious tensions; Schools of Elemental Magick, occultism, demonology, and the alien horrors of the Outer Chaos – the Cthulhu Mythos.
1) Never Heard of it Before
This doesn't mean it's bad, just that it isn't terribly popular or is really obscure. People can generally name plenty of weird games they've never played - Kult, Nephilim, Paranoia, Bunnies & Burrows, Dogs in the Vineyard, Toon, Tunnels & Trolls, etc.
2) This is Edition 2.5
Wait, what? This thing is so obscure I've never even caught a whiff of it, but it's been popular (?) enough to go through a major revision and a half?
3) Single Author
Again, not necessarily a warning sign, but generally books that are properly done have more people involved...but let's not be hasty, let's look at the interior credits...
4) Yup, Vanity Project
Not to be mean, but it's an RPG that Rodgers wrote based on his own world he's written two novels in, based on the Mythos. The interior credits have playtesters, a front cover artist, an internal illustrator, ambiguous "acknowledgements", a rambling statement on political opinions*, notes on who created what in the Mythos that Rodgers is borrowing from, a big chunk on Rodgers himself, and a dedication to his parents. Noticeably lacking: Editor.
*
Reminder: Rodgers is the only writer on this project. That he feels a need to say that is a Warning Sign.A number of political, religious, racial and cultural statements are made in the Yellow Dawn rules. These are not the personal opinions of anybody involve in the production of this game. They are fictionalised opinions of the world 'to be'--following the events of Yellow Dawn. Finally this game does not endorse or condone drug abuse of any kind.
While most RPG makers would really love good reviews of their stuff, fewer than one fan in a thousand actually sets words to paper or internet, and even then reviews tend to be rather half-assed affairs, with some displaying a rather alarming lack of literacy. So actual good, well-written reviews for a product on the selling page tend to suggest the author is writing the review himself through one or more sockpuppets. I can't guarantee that's what's happening, but I also cannot figure out how the people that wrote those reviews misunderstood the star system.
6) The Preview
Okay, all that just amounts to "Okay, this is a vanity project, and maybe the author wrote some reviews and heavily cross-promotes it with his novels." That doesn't mean it's bad, we just need to look at the system and the setting - the guts of the game. But first, the forword:
Pro: Doesn't feel the need to explain what an RPG is.Yellow Dawn is more than a role-playing game. It is a diverse world to occupy and epxlore, either as an RPG or though the raft of novels and short stories being written within it. Yellow Dawn delivers acute fear and genuine horror, but also great hope. The world of Yellow Dawn can be used as a setting for your own role-playing game; or used as a stand-alone system to run your favourite scenarios - from other RPGs - within.
Con: Pretty much everything else. I've yet to see an RPG that delivered more than a bit of anticpation or maybe a bad-touch feeling from games like FATAL.
The system itself uses standard spectrum of D&D dice (d4/6/8/10/12/20) and a roll-under percentile dice skill system. I can't tell what the rest of the system is like from the preview, but that's a little worrying - not the roll-under percentile system (that's basically ripped from Call of Cthulhu or any other percentile-skill RPG), but if you're using 2d10 for skill rolls pretty exclusively, and there's a lot of other dice listed, that suggests either a fairly idionsyncratic (i.e. lot of weird little subsystems) and/or based heavily on early D&D-based RPGs. Not a game-killer by any means but again...this has "lives in the back shelf at the game store for years" written on it. Maybe next to copies of BloodDawn.
7) Supplements
RPG Geek lists 8 supplements released in '08 and '09 - that would be for edition 2.0 I guess - and the sparsity is astounding. No owned copies, no reviews, on RPG Geek because these are all Lulu items.
While I may be wrong and this is an awesome diamond in the rough flying below most everyone's radar, I can't help but look at this book and feel I've stepped in something.
