Gloombusters

In the aftermath of a post-apocalyptic event, there is only one thing standing between the fate of the survivors and the ever-encroaching, ever-hungry, evil known as The Gloom, and that is the Samurai Goths! Which is about as much background as there is in Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse, a roleplaying of gonzo survival horror inspired by the Gothic musical culture that grew out of the Punk movement in the late nineteen seventies. All that matters is that the Samurai Goths look good and know where their tessen, tanto, shuriken, and katanas are. Published by Uknite the Realm, this is a straight-to-DVD action movie of a roleplaying game in which the Samurai Goth face the Gloom and fight creatures like the ‘Danger Louse’, the ‘Tornacrow’, and the ‘Eyelasher’, all before coming home with their shopping for a nice hot cup of tea or a glass of absinthe or a snakebite and black.

A Samurai Goth in Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse has a Goth dynasty, a Samurai weapon, three attributes—‘Samurai’, ‘Goth’, and ‘Apocalypse’, and then a Name, Nature, and Band. The latter is the name for the Samurai Goths’ group as a whole. The seven Goth Dynasties are the Corporate Goth, the Cybergoth, the Gothabilly, the Pastel Goth, the Romantic Goth, the Traditional Goth, and the Western Goth. Each Dynasty provides a Free Ability and an Action Point Ability, the latter needing the expenditure of Action Points to use. For example, the Traditional Goth has the Free Ability of ‘Levitate’, simply floating in the air, and the Action Point Ability of ‘Trailblazer’, which lets them give an ally an extra ally and add a bonus to their own next attack, whilst the Cybergoth has the Free Ability of ‘Neon Night’, a temporary light, and the Action Point Ability of ‘Sonic Rave Blast’, which lets them let out a sonic blast of industrial goth rave music which knocks prone all enemies close by. Similarly, each Samurai weapon has its own Action Point Ability, such as the ‘Counterstrike’ of the katana and the ‘Pinning’ of the Yari.

The three attributes—‘Samurai’, ‘Goth’, and ‘Apocalypse’—correspond to ‘Combat’, ‘Persona’, and ‘Survival’ respectively, and are rated one, two, or three. The Samurai Goth will also have Talents, such as Truck Driver, Accordionist, Charming, and Medicine, but these are selected during play rather than during the creation process. Overall, the process is very quick and easy, a player having only to make a handful of choices.

Name: Buffy Hayes
Nature: Perky
Band Name: Resist The Bitter Cabaret
Goth Dynasty: Traditional Goth
Samurai 2 Goth 3 Apocalypse 1
Feathers: 1
Willpower: 6
Goth Dynasty Abilities: Levitate (Free), Trailblazer (Action Point)
Samurai Weapon: Tessen (Deflect)

Mechanically, Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse used the CONSUMED6 game system. This uses six-sided dice that the players roll, rather than the Gloom Weaver, as the Game Master is known in Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse. To have his Samurai Goth undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to the appropriate attribute. A Talent, if appropriate, can add an extra die, as can an ability from a Dynasty. The highest die result counts, and if the result is four, five, or six, the action is a success, but a failure if the highest result is a one, two, or three.

Combat in Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse expands on this quite a bit. Initiative is a simple roll of a single die, a success indicating that the Samurai Goths act first, a failure indicating that they act second. When in combat against the Gloom, it has two effects upon the mechanics. The first is that rolls of six explode and enable a player to roll another die, whilst the second is that rolls of one consume the highest success. If any successes are left over, the number of successes indicates the amount of damage inflicted on the enemy, whilst if there only failures left over, the number indicates the amount of damage suffered by the Samurai Goth.

In addition to standard actions, Weapon Abilities and Goth Dynasty Abilities can be activated by expending Action Points. Weapon Abilities cost two Action Points to activate and Goth Dynasty Abilities cost one. A Samurai Goth has a maximum of three Action Points and is earned by inflicting damage and as a Gloom Weaver reward during play. A Samurai Goth also has ‘Feathers’. He starts play with one and earns more by completing missions, up to a maximum of six. They can then be spent to alter a single die rolled by an ally by a single pip, but more feathers will alter it by more. Once earned, ‘Feathers’ reset between adventures.

When a Samurai Goth suffers damage, it is deducted from his Willpower. He can only suffer a total of six damage, but if he suffers a seventh, the corruptive influence of the Gloom, he will fall unconscious and suffer a ‘Gloomagen’. This means that the Gloom has infected and mutated him. For example, ‘Stygian Sight’ means that one of the Samurai Goth’s eyes has swollen and becomes with a swirling pool of complete blackness, meaning that he can see in the dark and even great distances. The Samurai Goth’s Willpower then resets to six. However, a Samurai Goth can only possess two Gloomagens. If a third would be suffered, the Gloom consumes him and he becomes one of its servants!

For the Gloom Weaver, there is a set of tables for creating Gloom monsters, some sample Gloom monsters, a table of prompts, and that is it. Which is underwhelming to say the least. For a roleplaying game designed for quick play, it does leave a lot for the Gloom Weaver to do in terms of setting and missions for her Samurai Goths to play through. Worse, there are a couple of pages devoted to just art—and as nice as that is—they could have been better used to support the Gloom Weaver. So yes, this is disappointing, but in terms of setting, the simplest thing that the Gloom Weaver could do is actually set her Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse campaign in a twisted, post-apocalyptic version of her own neighbourhood or somewhere that is familiar to most of her players. Then take that community and have it changed and twisted by the Gloom-laden apocalypse and use it to drive plots.

Physically, Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse is a black and neon affair. The book is easy to read and the artwork is suitably scrappy and cartoonish.

Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse is a quick-to-learn, throw down and play kind of roleplaying game. It is a cheesy combination of stereotypes and action that reeks of high-concept, low budget films and offers a few sessions worth stand against the Gloom storytelling once the Gloom Weaver has her setting and a scenario or two in hand.