Quick-Start Saturday: Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart

Quick-starts are means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps too. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she can still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

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What is it?

Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart introduces the sequel to Coriolis: The Third Horizon, the Middle East-influenced Science Fiction roleplaying game published by Free League Publishing. It is a roleplaying game inspired by 19th-century expeditions, deep-sea diving, and pulp archaeology in which Explorers delve into ruins in search of secrets, resources, and answers on the edge of civilisation.

It is an eighty-eight page, full colour book.

The quick-start is extensively illustrated, the artwork is superb, capturing the majesty and mystery of the setting.

How long will it take to play?
Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart can be played through in a single session, or two sessions at most.

What else do you need to play?
Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart requires multiple six-sided dice in two colours.

Cards numbered from one to ten are also required. These can be taken from a standard deck of playing cards as necessary.

Where is it set?
Coriolis: The Great Dark is set far beyond the Third Horizon of Coriolis: The Third Horizon. A Diaspora fled the war growing there, looking for a haven and following a faint signal emanating from the depths of space. The signal was lost in a system the Diaspora called Jumuah, where unable to proceed further, it was forced to adapt and settle in massive, hollowed out asteroid called ‘The Ship City of Coriolis the Eternal and Jumuah the First and Last’, or Ship City. Although the Portal that should lead out of the system is dead, the Slipstream known as the ‘River of the Stars’ has enabled the Explorers Guild to send Greatships out into the unknown where mysterious ruins have been discovered in other systems.

Expeditions into the ruins require careful planning and resources which must be carried by the explorers or carefully placed at staging camps. Chthonian in size and nature, they are often protected by ancient defence systems and creative construction to hinder intruders. These, though, are not the primary danger that explorers face in delving into ruins. The primary danger is Blight, a plague that corrupts both structures and biology, that can kill and destroy, but also leave its sufferers with strange visions. One way to mitigate the effects of Blight is to be accompanied by a Bird, an automaton of unknown origins capable of detecting and withstanding its effects and protecting the explorers.

Who do you play?
There are four ready-to-play Player Characters given in Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart. They consist of a Wreck Diver, experienced in delving into ruins, a Guild Soldier capable with blade and bullet, a Vacuum Welder, good at fixing things as well as blowing them up, and an Algebraist Apprentice, a failed scholar. They are accompanied by their Bird, a constant companion on their delves, capable of scouting the ruins and detecting Blight.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has six attributes—Strength, Agility, Logic, Perception, Insight, and Empathy—and three stats—Health, Hope, and Heart—which measure how much trauma he can suffer before he is broken. He also has several Talents which either provide a single benefit or between one and three bonus dice to particular actions. For example, ‘Bird Handler’ enables a Player Character to talk to Birds and grants a bonus die when attempting to extract information from a Bird whilst ‘Sixth Sense’ prevents a Player Character from being surprised. A Player Character also has a quirk and keepsake, the latter which can give him hope.

Collectively, all of the Player Characters share Supply. This is a combination of air, food, water, and power, tracked over the course of an expedition. It is used one Supply at a time per marker of Depth travelled.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart and thus Coriolis: The Great Dark, uses the Year Zero engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. To have a Player Character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of Base Dice equal to a combination of attribute and applicable Talent, plus Gear Dice. A single roll of a six (or the symbol on the custom dice for Coriolis: The Great Dark) indicates a success. Multiple successes improve the outcome, especially in combat and conflict. If the roll is a failure and no sixes are rolled, or a player wants more successes, he can Push the roll. This enables him to reroll any dice which did not result in a one or six. A roll can be Pushed once and any rolls of one on the Base Dice indicate that the Player Character loses a point of Hope, whilst any rolls of one on the Gear Dice indicate that the item of equipment used is damaged and needs to be repaired. Other Player Characters can help another on a task, each one contributing an extra Base Die to the player making the roll.

How does combat work?
Conflict in Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart uses the same core mechanics. The rules for conflict cover both ranged and close combat, plus social conflict. Reactions, such as blocking or dodging, are counted as actions and so use up a Player Character’s action in a round. Extra Successes in close combat can be used to wrestle an object from an opponent, trip him, or push him away. Ranged combat allows for aimed fire, full auto, cover, and so on. Armour has the potential to protect against damage, requiring a roll and successes to be rolled, to be effective. If a Player Character suffers more damage that reduces his Health to zero, he is Broken and cannot act. Critical damage is inflicted if the number of successes rolled are equal to, or exceed, the ‘Crit Threshold’. A ‘Critical Injuries – Physical Damage’ table is included.

How does Blight work?
Heart is degraded by exposure to the Blight. It is acquired by delving into Blight-infested ruins, from the Blight attacks of certain creatures, and particular locations. When a Player Character’s Heart is reduced to zero by Blight, he has been Broken by Blight and suffers a Blight manifestation. The player must then roll on the ‘Blight Manifestation’ table. This can result in the Player Character being stricken with ‘Shivers’, uncontrollable shivering, sapping his strength and causing him to become Exhausted, or having ‘Nebulous Breath’, in which his breath visibly manifests as a nebulous, swirling mist, suggesting the alien transformation within, forcing everyone nearby to become Shaken if the sufferer is not wearing a helmet, whilst he be Distracted if he does. Typically, these effects last for a few hours, but it can be days or weeks. Unless permanent, a Blight manifestation can be recovered from and Heart also recovered.

How do Delves work?
Each Delve is categorised by Class and Depth, the latter measured as a series of Markers. Class is its estimated difficulty and Depth its size and indication how much Supply is required. During the Delve, Explorers take one of four roles—Delver, Scout, Burrower, and Guard. The Scout is primarily in charge of the Bird who accompany them on the Delve, determining where incidences of Blight are located, whilst a scanner is used to gain an initial map of the ruin. Throughout the Delve, the Explorers will expend Supply for each Marker reached, each combat engaged in, each act of strenuous activity, and after resting. Descending further into a ruin without Supply will inflict damage, Despair, or even Blight on the Explorers.

What do you play?
The adventure in Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart is ‘The Sky Machine’. The Explorers are hired to mount a rescue mission on the asteroid-moon of Moubarra 4 where a group of prospectors went missing in a newly extablished claim. The Explorers are not the only ones on Moubarra 4 with an interest in the outcome of the new rescue mission, though whether their interest lies in the successful rescue mission or in the recovery of any artefacts found in the claim remains to be seen.

‘The Sky Machine’ introduces the players and their characters to a little of the politics of Coriolis: The Great Dark, but in the main focuses on the Delve, which is a linear affair whilst still showcasing the core mechanics of the roleplaying game. There is a genuine sense of ‘diving’ into the unknown, of reaching something mysterious and odd, yet majestic. There are signs here of technology far beyond that of ‘Lost Horizon’ of ‘The Ship City of Coriolis the Eternal and Jumuah the First and Last’. The Player Characters are not expected to understand it, merely recover it and return it to the surface.

The scenario includes six handouts and maps. These are decently done.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in Coriolis: The Great Dark are easy to prepare, especially if the Game Master has any experience with the Year Zero engine. The scenario itself is quite straightforward. However, the background to Coriolis: The Great Dark and its concepts do require some close study in order for the Game Master to impart them to her players. A handout or two towards that end would be useful and easy to prepare by the Game Master.

Is it worth it?
Yes. Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart is an excellent introduction to its setting and its concepts, supporting with a good starting scenario and illustrating them with some excellent artwork that captures the grandeur and loneliness of its setting. Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart has a rough, frontier feel to it coupled with a sense of wonder at the universe above and below.

Where can you get it?
Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart is available to download here.

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The Kickstarter campaign for Coriolis: The Great Dark can be found here.