The is the set-up for Domes of Thunder, a scenario and mini-supplement for ACE!—or the Awfully Cheerful Engine!—the roleplaying game of fast, cinematic, action comedy. Published by EN Publishing, best known for the W.O.I.N. or What’s Old is New roleplaying System, as used in Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD and Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition. Some of the entries in the series have been expansive, such as Orcs & Oubliettes and Strange Science, providing a detailed setting and an scenario, whilst others in the series have tended to be one-shot, film night specials. As with other supplements for ACE!, both the genre and inspiration for Domes of Thunder are obvious. The genre is Post Apocalyptic and the inspiration is the Mad Max series of films, specifically, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. This is a setting where guns and bullets are scare, petrol (or gasoline) is precious, and leather and scrap armour along with a pink mohawk are the only thing seen as fashionable since before the boom. The book provides some basic background and some rules additions before leaping into the scenario itself, which makes up two thirds of the supplement.
Domes of Thunder starts by suggesting some old Roles suitable for setting, as well as giving some new ones. The old include the Barbarian, Bounty Hunter, Cowboy, Outlaw, and more, and these are joined by the Cyborg, Driver, Gladiator, Mechanic, Mutant, and Survivalist. Each has a simple benefit, such as the Cyborg being able to a Brawling attack and inflict double damage by spending a point of Karma, the Driver gains the Driving Focus for free in addition to his other Focus, and the Mechanic can spend Karma to scrounge enough metal and plastics and parts to restore the Health of any vehicle. Since this is a cinematic setting, it adheres to the ‘Rule of Cool’ when it comes to personal armour. If it looks cool, it provides personal protection. Vehicles in Domes of Thunder—automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, and armoured RVs—have all been scavenged, patched, and repaired again and again, and players need to roll at the beginning of every Act to see if their characters’ vehicles have enough fuel. A vehicle is defined by four stats—Health, Bash, Steering, and Plating. Health is the amount of damage a vehicle it can take, Bash how much it can deal out when ramming or sideswiping another vehicle, Steering is its manoeuvrability, and Plating how much damage it stops. A handful of vehicles are given stats, but the game does not really need any more than that.
One of the things that Domes of Thunder makes clear is that it is not a setting in which speed matters. In fact, none of the vehicle have a speed rating. There are two reasons for this. One narrative, one physical. The physical is that the roads are strangely still maintained, but being marked by cracks and potholes, it is impossible to go too fact. The narrative is that all the interesting things happen when vehicles get close to each other, rather than one racing away simply because it is faster. It is possible to get away from another vehicle in a chase and catch up with another vehicle in a chase, but in Domes of Thunder, what determines this is the narrative and manoeuvring rolls. This is about as far as the driving rules and driving duel rules go in Domes of Thunder, essentially keeping them simple and fast.
The ‘Domes of Thunder’ adventure begins in the post-apocalyptic equivalent of the tavern in fantasy roleplaying—an old rest stop, now barricaded and fortified. The Player Characters are hired by the fighter from Paradise City and his manager to provide support and back-up on their journey to Saint’s Compound and help in getting the antidote out if things go wrong. And since, Domes of Thunder is effectively a one-shot, film night special, things are definitely going to go wrong. This starts with the Paradise City fighter being challenged by a rival fighter and ultimately ending up dead the next morning. Which also makes things more complex as one of the Player Characters will have to enter the ‘dome of thunder’ as the fighter representing Paradise City. There are other complications, but they are just bumps in the road. The main action takes place at Saint’s Compound, which turns out to be more like ‘Santa’s Compound’ if it was protected by armed ORCs and Elves. This is because it used to be a shopping mall and it was the mall’s Christmas Santa who fortified the mall not long after the Boom.
Apart from the Player Character who is going to fight in the dome, the other Player Characters are going to have to sneak around and investigate Saint’s Compound in search of the truck with the antidote for Bleeding Fever, try not to get caught—but hey, it is definitely more dramatic if they do as they have to escape the Saint’s (prison) workshop and then have to escape her compound too, and eventually race out of there in the truck with the antidote. It is fairly freeform in its structure and there is scope for the Game Master to add her own encounters and situations or simply play out the story to see where it goes. Ultimately, the scenario will end with the Player Characters with the truck containing the antidote driving hell for leather to Paradise City. There is good reason for this—the Saint is very annoyed with the Player Characters and she unleashes her dragon on them! This is not a dragon, but a helicopter, but it is so unfamiliar to the Player Characters that it might as well be. Finish the ‘dragon’ off, and the Player Characters can ride off into the sunset…
The ‘Domes of Thunder’ adventure is straightforward and should take a session or two to complete. If there are issues, it is that it introduces an NPC under one name and them changes it and that it skirts around what the nature of the apocalypse is. There are mutants and there is prejudice against them. For example, only pure strain humans with neither mutation or nor mechanical modification can participate in the games. Further, the scenario does play around with the fantasy genre a little so it may not be clear to players in particular, if the setting embraces elements of fantasy as well, and if so, quite how far. This is because the security for the Saint’s Compound are called ORCs and Saint’s infiltrators are called Elves. The ORCs are derived from the name of the shopping mall, which was the Odessa Retail Centre, whilst the Elves are essentially Santa’s ‘little helpers’. Nominally, the scenario actually be taking place at Christmas, but that is not entirely clear. So, tonally, Domes of Thunder feels slightly odd in places, but not enough to disrupt the scenario.
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