SCAPEGOAT GAMES $20.00 Now before I get started on this, let me say that I was born and bred a Christian. I was raised in a Christian household with two Christian parents, went to a Catholic school and I have a high regard for the teachings of Jesus. That being said, I can give you no good reason why this game was banned from GenCon. There's a lot of theological horror games out on the market right now, and as far as I can tell, The End is not only the most heavily researched game about roleplaying after the Apocalypse, but is also the most faithful and respectful to the Christian version of Ragnarok. You can tell these guys did their research. They have the names of the relevant angels correct, they counted on the differences between our calendar and the calendar John of Patmos would have used (the end of the world comes in 2003, not 2000 as we Christians expected) and they put thought into what Heaven would consider "sinful." The End takes place in the year 2004 and all the Seals that John listed in the Book of Revelations have been broken. The Four Horsemen had their way with Earth and all the souls that were destined for Heaven or Hell have been snatched away. So, who's left? Why, the meek, of course, or don't you remember: "The meek shall inherit the Earth"? That means that everyone who was apathetic to the whole Good vs. Evil question got left out of the equation. God doesn't care about you, Satan doesn't care about you, and when you die you don't go anywhere, you just die. Pretty bleak, eh? Well, it's supposed to be. The book is not only well-researched, but it's also well-written. The authors make sure the reader understands the implications of a world where both God and Satan have turned their backs on the mortals that have been left behind after the judgment. The pockets of civilization that have managed to scrape themselves together make sense, and there's plenty of mystery for the players to investigate (including something that got left over in Washington D.C.). The graphic design and layout of the book vary greatly. Some of the art is outstanding, the rest is average at best. However, the book is structured well. All the information you need on a specific Subject (Character Creation, Combat, GM tables, etc.) is in one place, eliminating unnecessary flipping from section to section. The rules are simple and lethal. It's all based on a system that has you roll your attributes against your skills, something I've never seen before. If you've got a 4 Dex and a 3 Firearms, you roll four 10-siders and every one that rolls 3 or lower counts as a success. It's cute, quick and effective. Other character stuff like Sins, Ennui and Freewill allow the game master to really add a lot to the role-playing. Your Sin is what kept you on Earth and kept you out of the Afterlife, Ennui reflects the effect that solitude has on your character, and Freewill is the determination your character has to keep going, no matter how dismal things may appear. It's a little Mad Max with a lot of religion. Mix in some of Stephen King's The Stand and a bit more of the recent Christopher Walken film The Prophesy (now available on video and highly recommended), and you've got the makings of an exciting role-playing setting that makes all the other "dark theology" games look like they're made of marshmallow. Back to Shadis #23 Table of Contents Back to Shadis List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1996 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com