Francesca Viganò
In this review, we analyze The Creature, the first supplement for Last Resort, the survival horror roleplaying game by Claudio Serena that we have already covered. After all, when a game proves interesting to a large enough audience, it is not difficult to imagine that an expansion will arrive sooner or later.
Therefore, before telling you about this supplement, I would like to thank the author, Fumble RPG, and the publisher, MS Edizioni, for providing us with a physical copy of the game so that we could discover it together.
If, after reading this review, you would like to buy the product, you can find it on the publisher’s website for €10 for the physical copy (including PDF) or as a digital copy only for €5. Don’t forget that by using the code NoDiceUnrolled10, you will get a 10% discount on purchasing this and other products from the publisher.
Since this supplement uses (albeit with some differences) the Last Resort rulebook, you will need the core rulebook to play this setting.
Review of The Creature: New Rules for a New Setting
Tests, Turns, Movement and Action, Resource and Damage management are identical to the ones on the basic Last Resort manual.
This supplement, however, introduces some differences concerning the creation of Survivors, the management of the Initiative in combat and the management of the Creature, which, in this setting, replaces the Island.
In The Creature, there is no actual Island that the Survivors, i.e. the characters, have to explore, but the places where they will move are just as isolated and impossible to leave. The Creature replaces the Island dynamic found in the core rulebook. It will become stronger and stronger as time passes, until the inevitable final confrontation. This does not mean, however, that characters cannot explore where they are or try to obtain new resources or restore existing ones.
In order to do so, however, they will have to explore dangerous areas not yet visited while the narrator rolls the Creature’s danger dice.
Depending on the result on the dice, exploration may be fruitful (if the result is 4 or more), fruitless (if the result is 2 or 3), or cause the Creature to appear (if the result is 1).
Survivors, Protagonists of the Game
The Creature is designed to play adrenaline-pumping one-shots or very short adventures. Characters, called Survivors, have no experience points and therefore cannot learn new Talents beyond those in the background.
Let’s take a look at the eight backgrounds available for this hack. Players can choose their Survivor from Blue Collar, White Collar, Synth, Marine, Scientist, Drifter, Idealist and Criminal.
The process of creating Survivor is slightly different from that of Last Resort. Once the Background has been chosen, a Special Resource must be chosen for the Survivor. These are special items or weapons that are not part of the actual Equipment. These special items have their own Resource Dice and allow the Survivor to have access to special abilities as if they had a Talent. To give a couple of examples, an air arm or a blowtorch are Special Resources.
The Background identifies most of the information about the Survivor, such as the size of the Blood and Spirit dice, two Personal Resources, a Talent, a Shadow and a Question, two features we will analyze soon.
Shadow and Question
The Shadow mechanic is the element that most differentiates Last Resort’s Survivors from The Creature‘s one. The Shadow replaces Afflictions because it comes into play when the Survivors’ Spirit resets. When this happens, the effect of the Shadow is activated, and the character must endanger something or someone. Alternatively, they must grant a Creature Point to whoever is playing the role of the Narrator.
This mechanic restores the Survivor’s Spirit to its initial value and restores a Resource of their choice.
Another interesting element of character creation is the Question. This is a narrative hook to play the Survivor keeping in mind a question investigating their past. Once per session, they will be able to tell how their motivation, highlighted by the Question, drives them to give their best in a Test. On this occasion, they may then increase the dice used to pass it by 1 size.
The Creature: the Rules
In The Creature, the enemy is the unstoppable alien force that serves as an antagonist to the Survivors. The Creature’s only goals are to kill and reproduce. It, therefore, proves to be more than just a headache for the game’s protagonists. Let’s take a look together at how the Creature is created and what the four stages are in the game.
The Creature generation process is quick and easy, facilitated by handy charts at the back of the manual. Once the Creature’s appearance has been established, one Creature Point must be marked on the appropriate card for each Survivor in play. Depending on the Phase the Creature is in (Foreshadowing, Larva, Adolescent, or Adult), the Danger Dice, Movement, number of Talents, and Wounds must be assigned.
The manual clearly and practically describes the dynamics for managing Creature Points. It also indicates how to handle the Creature itself in each of its Phases, reminding you that you cannot kill it before Phase 4. You can, however, temporarily defeat it and force it to retreat until the next Phase.
Aesthetics Review of The Creature
The volume is A5 in size and consists of 25 pages that retain the look of a brochure, thus preserving the aesthetics of the editorial line. Unlike the colourful basic manual, this supplement is inspired by the aesthetics of 1980s science fiction. The pages are characterised by dark tones and boxes that recall the atmospheres of the Alien saga, or those of Predator and The Thing.
Not without some inaccuracies (e.g. the names of the Survivors’ Backgrounds varying within the text), the volume is neat. The choice to maintain a large print font and the use of keywords in different colours (orange for generic game terms and bolded black for specific game terms) aid reading. This choice also makes it possible to find what is needed at a glance. The mixed-media illustrations are perhaps a bit repetitive, and undoubtedly, the Survivors’ aesthetic makes them a bit of a glossy magazine cover models.
Conclusion of The Creature Review
In conclusion, I can say that The Creature is a pleasant addition to what remains an easy-to-play game with a good narrative output. Although it is a product for lovers of a certain type of science fiction, it is versatile and retains a decent rate of replayability, even if perhaps not with the same group of players.
The choice of a practical format and a price that is certainly affordable remains, from my point of view, a winning choice.
