Your SHIVER Blockbuster Starter

A good starter set has to do a number of different things. It has to introduce and explain the roleplaying game it is a starter set for, whether that is the roleplaying game’s setting, mechanics, or both. It has to both tell and show what the players and their characters are expected to do in the setting and how they do it, first with the rules and then with a scenario. It has to provide everything that a group needs to play—rules, scenario, pre-generated Player Characters, and dice—and ideally more. Maps, handouts, tokens, and the like are all items that will help bring the world of the roleplaying game’s setting to life and give the players something to look at and interact with. Above all, a good starter should showcase the roleplaying game and entice both Game Master and her players to want to roleplay more with the rules and in that setting by picking up the core rulebook, and if the contents of the start set support continued play, whether that is providing an extra set of dice or maps for the setting, then all the better.

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“Welcome to Hollow World!” With this announcement, tech billionaire Linus Crick welcomes some of the world’s leading archaeologists and adventurers, park rangers and hunters, scientists and security experts, influencers and superfans, rebels, saboteurs, and green protestors to his greatest creation yet, a wonder of the age that showcases the wonders of the past! A theme park like no other. A theme park with dinosaurs. Real, living dinosaurs recreated through the wonders of genetic engineering. All the white-suit wearing entrepreneur his with perfectly coiffured hair and his shiny sunglasses, wants is to be endorsed and his venture to be a success. Or does he? Is setting up a dinosaur safari park beneath the Antarctic Longhorn Island enough for Crick? Will grizzled archaeologist Madison Stone, park ranger Obasi Mbacke, palaeontologist Doctor Hana Ueno, new wave scientist Malcolm Goldstein, eco-warrior Petal Moon, neanderthal clone Ug Ug, and dinosaur superfan Billy Wazowski discover if Crick is all he says he is or if he has ulterior motives? Will they survive long enough deep below the Antarctic when disaster strikes, everything goes wrong, and raptors attack to exit through the gift shop to safety?

This is the set-up for ‘Welcome to Hollow World’, the scenario in the SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set, one of two themed starter sets published by Parable Games for SHIVER – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown. The other is the SHIVER Slasher Starter Set. More specifically, the SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set ties in with the campaign supplement, SHIVER Blockbuster: Legends of the Silver Scream, in which the Player Characters are actors working for a small film studio in Hollywood, trying to make some blockbusters, get notice, and prove how good—or bad—they are and make Hollywood sit up and take notice! Effectively, in SHIVER Blockbuster: Legends of the Silver Scream, each player is roleplaying an actor who is playing a role in five different films, so five times—and slightly more—the roleplaying as in any other campaign or roleplaying game, unless they always play the same role and play it to the camera. Then, the best thing of all, a roleplaying game like Shiver – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown and thus SHIVER Blockbuster: Legends of the Silver Scream, has got a budget bigger than any Hollywood studio. So, it can make any film and it will never blow the budget!

That budget though, does not get any bigger than ‘Welcome to Hollow World’. For make no mistake, ‘Welcome to Hollow World’ is a remake (or pastiche) of a 1993 film with a budget of $63 and a box office of a billion dollars! It should be no surprise to anyone reading this review that the film in question is Jurassic Park. There are a lot of plot similarities. A remote island, a genial billionaire, a sick stegosaurus to be found and cured, being chased by velociraptors, and a showdown in the visitor centre. Plus many of the pre-generated Player Characters are similar to the characters in the film. Some are not though, and further, there are plenty of scenes in the scenario along with a plot thread about the nefarious Crick (a nod to the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA), for ‘Welcome to Hollow World’ to not feel like they just recreating Jurassic Park. The scenario maintains a pleasing balance between the familiar and the unfamiliar so the players and their characters can knowingly play along with the pastiche in some scenes and then improvise as they normally would in other roleplaying scenarios.

The structure of the scenarios includes some well handled introduction scenes for each Player Character so that we get to see them in action before the plot gets rolling. Much like the film its takes its inspiration from, the early part of the scenario is on rails as they take a guided tour round the park. After that though, the players and their characters have more freedom.

The SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set contains two books, the ‘SHIVER Starter Rulebook’ and the ‘Welcome to Hollow World’ scenario book, a set of seven pre-generated Player Characters, and a complete set of SHIVER dice. The ‘SHIVER Starter Rulebook’ is a concise version of SHIVER – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown rulebook and contains all of the rules necessary to run and play ‘Welcome to Hollow World’. Player Characters in SHIVER can advance up to Tier Ten, but the ‘SHIVER Starter Rulebook’ only goes up as far as Tier Five. The SHIVER dice are of course, required to play, and one advantage of the SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set is that once the scenario has been played through, the gaming group has another set of dice to continue playing the roleplaying game.

The seven pre-generated Player Characters in the SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set match the roleplaying game’s seven Archetypes—the Warrior, the Maverick, the Scholar, the Socialite, the Fool, the Weird, and the Survivor—and each emphasises one of the six Core Skills and gives access to several Tiers of Abilities. The six Core Skills—effectively both skills and attributes—are Grit, Wit, Smarts, Heart, Luck, and Strange. Grit represents a character’s physical capabilities; Wit covers physical dexterity; Smarts is his intellect and capability with investigation and technology; Heart is his charisma and charm; Luck is his good fortune and the random of the universe; and Strange is his capacity for using magic, psychic powers, and so on. A Player Character also has a Luck Bank for storing Luck—one for all Archetypes, except for the Fool, who has space for three; a current Fear status—either Stable, Afraid, or Terrified; and a Lifeline—Weakened, Limping, Trauma, and Dead—which is the same for all Archetypes.

Mechanically, SHIVER uses a dice pool system of six-sided dice, their faces marked with the symbols for the roleplaying game’s six Core Skills—Grit, Wit, Smarts, Heart, Luck, and Strange. To these are added Talent dice, eight-sided dice marked with Luck and Strange symbols. When a player wants his character to undertake an action, he assembles a dice pool based on the action and its associated Core Skill plus Talent dice if the character has in that Core Skill. Further dice can be added or deducted depending on whether the Player Character has Advantage or Disadvantage, an Ability which applies, or the player wants to spend his character’s Luck, and on the character’s Fear status. The aim is to roll a number of symbols or successes in the appropriate Core Skill, the Challenge Rating ranging from one and Easy to five and Near Impossible. If the player rolls enough, then his character succeeds; if he rolls two Successes more than the Challenge Rating, it is a Critical Hit; and if a player rolls three or more dice and every symbol is a success, this is Full House. In combat, a Critical Hit doubles damage and a Full House triples it, but out of combat the Director can suggest other outcomes for both. If Luck symbols are rolled, one can be saved in the Player Character’s Luck Bank for later use, but if two are rolled, they can be exchanged for a single success on the current skill roll, or they can be used to turn the Doom Clock back by one minute.

A failed roll does not necessarily mean that the Player Character fails as he can use other means to succeed at the task if he rolls enough successes in another Core Skill for that task, though this requires some narrative explanation. However, a failed roll has consequences beyond simply not succeeding—each Strange symbol rolled pushes the Doom Clock up by a minute…

Combat uses the same mechanic with monsters and enemies—and the Player Characters when they are attacked—using the same Challenge Rating as skill tests. It is Turn-based, with the Director deciding whether each Player Character is acting First, in the Middle, or Last, depending upon their situation and what they want to do. Players are encouraged to be organised and know what their characters are capable of, the surroundings for the battle, and so on, in order to get the best out of their characters. With every Player Character possessing the same Lifeline (the equivalent of sixteen Health Points), combat can be simply nasty or nasty and deadly, depending upon the mode. Death is a strong possibility, no matter what the mode, and depending on the scenario, death need not be the end though. A Player Character could become a ghost and continue to provide help from the afterlife or even become an antagonist!

Fear in SHIVER uses the same Challenge Rating system and mechanics. A Fear Check is made with a Player Character’s Strange Dice, and if the player fails the check, the character becomes Afraid, and if Afraid, becomes Terrified. If Afraid, a Player Character loses one die from all Core Skills, and two if Terrified. This is temporary, and a Player Character can get rid of the effects of Fear by escaping or vanquishing the threat, steadying himself (this requires another Fear Check), or another Player Character uses an Ability to help him.

Narratively, SHIVER is played out against a Doom Clock. This is set at eleven o’clock at night and counts up minute by minute to Midnight and the Player Characters’ inevitable Doooommm! However, at ‘Quarter Past’, ‘Half Past’, ‘Quarter To’, and ‘Midnight’ certain events will happen, these being defined in the scenario or written in by the Director. Every scenario for SHIVER includes its own Doom Clock events. In general, the Doom Clock will tick up due to the actions of the Player Characters, whether that is because of a failed skill check with Strange symbols, a failed Fear Check, abilities for the Weird Archetype, Background Flaws, or simply interacting with the wrong things in game. What this means is that dice rolls become even more uncertain, their outcome having more of a negative effect potentially than just failures, but this is all in keeping with the genre. However, just as the Doom Clock can tick up to ‘Midnight’ through the Player Characters’ actions. It can also be turned back due to their actions. Rolling two Luck on skill checks, reaching Story Milestones, finding clues and important items, and certain Abilities can all turn the Doom Clock back.

‘Welcome to Hollow World’ is the scenario in the SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set. As mentioned above, it casts the Player Characters as the cast of a dinosaur disaster blockbuster. There is a good explanation of its set-up and advice on how to run the scenario. There is a list of the Doom Clock events for the scenario as well as a compendium giving the details of all of the items, NPCs, and monsters to be found in the scenario. The main mechanical addition is the inclusion of the Starring Role mechanic from SHIVER Blockbuster: Legends of the Silver Scream. This can be ‘The Leading Hero’, ‘The Stunt Performer’, ‘The Thespian’, ‘The Heartthrob’, ‘The Love Interest’, ‘The Comic Relief’, ‘The Method’, and more. Each Starring Role has a Star Power and Audience Expectation. The Star Power is a unique ability that the Actor can perform once per quarter of the Doom Clock, whilst the Audience Expectation is something that if done on screen will gain the Actor the favour of both the audience and the Director, and so boost his career. So, for ‘The Love Interest’, the Star Power is a ‘A Healing Heart’ that enables the Actor to make a Heart Check and regain Hit Points if they perform a romantic scene, whilst the Audience Expectation ‘Break Heart/Bow Minds’ in which the Actor wants the audience’s favour to fall in love with them and so will make romantic confessions, and have moments of passion or tear-jerking moments to get the audience to love them.

Depending upon how well an Actor performed, he or she can receive an Accolade or a Review. Both are awarded by the Director. Engage in both Star Power and Audience Expectation and an Actor will earn an Accolade, but if not, he or she may be in line for a Bad Review. Accolades include the ‘Performance Award’, ‘Hall of Fame’, ‘Rabid Fanbase’, ‘Top Billing’, and so on, whilst Bad Reviews include ‘Hamming It Up’, ‘Worst Actor Ever’, and ‘Boring Performance’. Accolades provide a minor benefit, whilst Bad Reviews act as minor disadvantage. For example, ‘Performance Award’ gives the Actor a piece of armour to use in the next film, but once used, it is gone, whilst ‘Looking Fit’ grants Advantage on acts of athleticism. The Bad Review, ‘Diva Reputation’ means that if the Actor fails a Check that would advance the Doom Clock, if they also fail a Strange Check, they suffer Soul damage.

Physically, the SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set is a good-looking box. The inclusion of the roleplaying game’s tables on the inside lid of the cover means that the Director has an easy rules reference and screen, whilst the dice do sit in their own niche in the bottom of the box. The books themselves are well-presented with excellent artwork done in a style similar to that of Mike Mignola and his Hellboy comic. The writing is clear, but could have done with an edit in places.

The SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set is a solid introduction to SHIVER – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown, whether or not the Director wants to run the SHIVER Blockbuster: Legends of the Silver Scream campaign. If not, it can be run as one shot scenario, but is probably a bit too long to be run in a single session. It is more more likely to last two sessions at least. The scenario, ‘Welcome to Hollow World’, is really entertaining and the will have a lot of fun playing it.

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Parable Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place from Friday, 29th to Sunday 31st of May.