The Dying Earth
Roleplaying Game

In the science-fantasy universe of Jack Vance, players eat, drink and are merry, for tomorrow the sun may go out

	The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game
	Pelgrane Press
	Design by Robin D. Laws, John Snead and Peter Freeman
	MSRP: $29.95

Review by Bob Koester

harpen your tongue, your wits and your sword, in that order, for the Dying Earth awaits. "The light from the sun, though dim, was rich, and invested every object of the land, the rocks, the trees, the quiet grasses and flowers, with a sense of lore and ancient recollection." So wrote Jack Vance in The Dying Earth, one of his several classic books on the cusp between SF and fantasy. It is a world full of the ruins, teachings and mistakes of hundreds of millions of years of human civilization, where everything has been done before, where man has forgotten far, far more than he now knows and where investing in the future is a somewhat ridiculous notion. Such an atmosphere of baroque hopelessness is not the usual setting for a role-playing game, and so it is natural that Dying Earth is no ordinary RPG.

The most important attribute of any character in this verbose world is Persuade. Players assign their characters a specific Persuade style, which is described by an adjective such as Glib, Eloquent, Forthright or Intimidating. Each character also has a specific Rebuff style against opponents' persuasion. These include Pure Hearted, Wary and Obtuse. Each Rebuff is particularly effective ("Trumps") against one Persuade style and is in turn Trumped by another. So while being Glib works well against the Pure Hearted, the Obtuse don't even understand what you're saying and remain unpersuaded.

Combat and Magic work similarly, with styles granting characters facility in some areas and severe handicaps in others. Characters are then rounded out with skills, items and temptations. The last are particularly important, as many Dying Earth characters will find it harder to resist good food, riches and rest than a Vampire character would the key to a blood bank.

Characters created, the game proper begins, with characters advancing their petty agendas while contending with the dangerous and oddly amusing world around them. Opposed actions are resolved through the role of a single die. Elevated levels of power and skill can permit the reroll of this die, but simple chance remains a larger factor than in most RPGs, and players should be ready to see their characters Persuaded into disastrous courses of action.

Creativity counts as darkness falls

Dying Earth requires that participants use a different strategy, style of play and attitude than when playing other RPGs. The characters are skewed toward selfishness and pettiness but away from malice and evil. They are simply the denizens of an immensely old planet where nobody believes in much of anything except what pleases or displeases them. In one way, they are civilized members of a society so rich it's gamy, in another they are little more than animals.

The fun of this lies in exercising one's arrogance, irony and callousness while simultaneously having fun watching said selfish qualities land the characters in hot water over and over again. The rules are simply loaded with hooks with which a game master can yank the characters hither and yon, and players may feel they have no more control over their characters' fates than the characters have over the dimming of the sun. Thus the players, like their characters, lack control but must strive to look good and grab some gusto as they go along.

The rules are wittily written in a good approximation of Jack Vance's style. The first chapter, "Getting Started", is introduced as "A rule overview for novices and veterans alike. Essential for cogent discussion, yet perforce cursory and plagued by a rebarbative generality." The design philosophy seems to be that if this style is maintained, substance will follow.

This is all very enjoyable to read, but may leave inexperienced GMs at sea about how to proceed. The ingredients for stories in the Vancian tradition are there, but the recipe is vague. Vance's protagonists may not have been heroes, but they did have a certain epic quality about them, one which the adventure included in the book lacks. This is somewhat remedied by the articles in the (included) first issue of Pelgrane's magazine, The Excellent Prismatic Spray, but some aimlessness remains.

So while The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game can facilitate unique and enjoyable experiences, it leaves it to the creativity of the participants to pull these into a story. But creative people good at both preparation and adaptation should have a great deal of fun with it.

For those enticed by this description but trepidatious to proceed too precipitously, there is a "demo" version of the rules available online at www.dyingearth.com. There is thus no excuse for dallying; Pelgranes take the hindmost! -- Bob

Back to the top.

Home