Quick-Start Saturday: Time Without Tide

Quick-starts are a 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 two. 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 the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she 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?
Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is the quick-start for Time Without Tide : Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog, a post-apocalyptic steampunk horror roleplaying game set during the Time Without Tide following the Victorian Age of Decadence during which the moon fell from the sky, vaporising as it hit the ground, splintering cities, shrouding the ruins in Lunar Dust, and unleashing the Unknown, an unforgiving horizonless fog that mutates anything unprotected by bright light.

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is a sixty-two e page, 22.91 MB full colour PDF.

It is well produced with excellent artwork. The maps also very good.

How long will it take to play?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes the scenario ‘Lonely Phareflaw’. It can be played in a single session.

What else do you need to play?
The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog needs several six-sided dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes six pre-generated Player Characters. Six are given and are members of the Dowsing Odd relay crew. They include a steadfast protector who wields a Greatlight, a heavy, double-handed lantern to burn protect the fog and protect her allies; a charming socialite who is a radical freethinker and a good shot; a sturdy mechanic who wields a pickaxe to smash monsters; an orphan with a lot of luck; a noble turned reluctant assassin with amphibian traits; and a reanimated corpse turned doctor.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in the Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is defined by his name and pre-delving resumé, Traits, Skills, Health, and Records. Each Trait—Body, Mind, and Will—has a score value and a health value, which range which one and five. The six skills—Culture, Industry, Navigation, Skulduggery, Survival, and Violence—are rated between zero and five. Records are what makes a Delver special. They consist of Items, Features, and Adaptations. Items are equipment that a Delver takes with him and things he found. (Notably, it is assumed that a Delver is competent enough to replenish supplies and so basic supplies do not need to be tracked.) Features are specialities and skill focuses that make each Delver stand out. Adaptations reflect exposure to the Unknown, evolving the infecting with malign detrimental powers or beneficial mutations. All Records take up slots. For Items, they take up Body slots; Features take up Mind slots; and Adaptations take up Will slots. Records can be depleted and typically require a safe or three-day rest to restore.

How do the mechanics work?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog uses a dice pool of six-sided dice. The dice pool is equal to the value of a Trait and a Skill. This can be any pair suitable for the situation. Each roll of a five or six is a counted as a success or Mark. A standard difficulty requires a player to roll two or more Marks, but the difficulty can range from one and easy to five and very hard. An ally can spend a whole action to assist and add half his dice to the pool and if the roll is a failure, a Delver can strain, suffer damage to the Mind, and reroll any dice. Any Marks in excess of the difficulty become Boons. These can be spent on extra effects. This is generally to halve the time of a task or to improve its quality, but this is not covered in any depth in the Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog, although they are used for combat.

How does combat work?

Combat in The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog uses a combination of the Violence Skill and Body Trait to hit things, the Violence Skill and Mind Trait to shoot things, and the Violence Skill and Will Trait to scare things. Initiative is a simple roll of a six-sided die and a Delver can take one major and one minor action. The action is fought across zones, each of which has room for four combatants.  The Unknown floods the battlefield and not only deplete Will, but make things harder to hit. The only way to counter this is to cast the light from a Lantern, which will hold back the Unknown, protecting the Delver and perhaps his allies. Exposure to the Unknown can lead to a loss of Will.

Combat includes a number of a number of Boon options for surplus Marks. For example, if a Delver is wielding two weapons, he can use a Boon to trigger Flurry and make an extra attack or increase the effect of a Invigoration on another ally Boon by Boon.

Most damage amounts to either one or two points depending upon the weapon and benefits gained from Boons. Damage represents an injury rather than a scrape or bruise. If the Health of any Trait is reduced to zero, the Delver is on the verge of dying. A simple recovery test will restore the Delver to one Health, but if failed, the Health of the Delver is still restored, but suffers a malignant Adaptation (for example, he becomes an ‘Overthinker’, his brain swelling painfully against the inside of his skull, meaning that it is harder for him to Strain), is closer to death, and everything is harder to do.

How does travel work?

Travel is a major part of play in The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog as the Delvers leave their Safe Harbours and explore the World of Fog to preserve the fading light. The day is eighteen hours long and divided into three segments. Each segment spent travelling requires the assignment of the Ward or effect of a lantern, rolling to overcome any obstacles that the Game Master places in their path, and dealing with random events—two dice are rolled and for each six, a random event happens. Yes, this means that two can occur in the same Segment. During any Segment spent in camp resting, a Delver can also take a major one-hour action and any number of immediate actions. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog only provides a basic introduction to travel.

When travelling on an expedition, the Delver will carry a Relay, a ‘Decadent Device’, that is, a relic from the Age of Decadence, which are calibrated beacons. Using the Relay, a Delver party can teleport to any beacon they have calibrated their Relay to, typically using it to return home after an expedition.

What do you play?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes the scenario ‘Lonely Phareflaw’. The scenario involves an expedition to the Phareflaw Lighthouse, which went dark during Deep Winter. The Delvers are hired by the Saltport council to restore Phareflaw’s light travelling aboard the Riverboat Drastic which will be used to construct a Tenderhold, a fortified settlement around the lighthouse. The scenario begins with the Delvers’ arrival on the beach below the lighthouse and once ashore they will need to make their way up the cliffs to the lighthouse. The latter is indeed dark and the Delvers will need to break in and in exploring, restore its light. ‘Lonely Phareflaw’ is a solid, action-orientated scenario that in a very, very slight way feels like a Dickensian version of Aliens.

In addition to the scenario, The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes an introduction to the Delvers’ home port of Saltport, the Last City. It is accompanied by a fetching map. As well as including the pre-generated Delvers, the appendix includes a good introduction to the setting and the roleplaying game for the benefit of the players.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. Although The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog does feel slightly out of order in places, it is relatively straightforward and not too challenging to prepare.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is a well done, solidly engaging introduction to the basics of The Time Without Tide: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog. Anyone looking for a post-apocalyptic, Dickensian steampunk horror roleplaying game should definitely give this a try.

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is published by Chaosium, Inc., and is available to download here.