Judge Dredd RPG

[Messageboard Golem]

I am the Law and youd better believe it, punk!

Welcome to Mega-City One, a city of over four hundred million people and every one of them a potential criminal. Stretching the length of the 22nd century American eastern seaboard, Mega-City One is the most dangerous city on Earth - it is calculated that one serious crime takes place every second of every day. So dangerous, it demands a special breed of law enforcer. Here, there are no police, no trials and no juries - only the the judges. It takes fifteen years to train a judge for life on the streets of Mega-City One. Fifteen years of iron discipline, rigid self-control and concentrated aggression. Toughest of all judges is Joe Dredd, a man vested with the power of instance justice, a man whose court is the streets and whose word is the Law!

The Judge Dredd role-playing game allows players to take the role of either judges patrolling the streets in a desperate attempt to maintain Law and order, or as perps - lawbreakers determined to buck authority of the judges and set up their own criminal organisations.

 

[GameWyrd]

Judge Dredd. You know the name. Whether you've read any of the comics or seen the movie, you know the name. In fact, world wide, I think it's safe to say that more people know the Judge Dredd name that those who know Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, the World of Darkness, or any other campaign world you care to mention. So are Mongoose, the developers, or Rebellion, the current owners of the 2000AD license, sitting on a gold mine? Well, probably not. It'll be a shame, though, because the d20 Judge Dredd roleplaying game is a cracker, it's really rather good.

You don't need to know anything about the Judge Dredd and Mega-City One setting to play the game. You don't even need to know anything about he setting to enjoy sitting down with the rulebook and idly reading through it. It makes a great setting for a RPG. It would be mad to try and run, for example, a Spiderman RPG without Spiderman in it, but it's perfectly possible to run a Judge Dredd game without the overwhelming presence of the infamous Judge himself. Mega-City One, alone, has enough character to give the game a strong and unique flavour. The concept of highly trained police going out on different and demanding missions maps very nicely to episodic roleplaying style; a scenario as a mission, and then introduce a background plot which loops through these scenario missions and you've got a nice campaign set up. You don't have to play as a Judge though, you can, if you want, play a civilian, a criminal or even a mutant. Heck, you could play as a professional Fattie if you want.

It's a nice looking book. I like the simplicity of the front cover's artwork. Throughout the book you'll find snippets of Judge Dredd comic strips, normally just one or two cells at a time but enough to build up the darkly humorous mood of 2000AD. Better still, you'll find full colour, full page artwork; maps, tech-specs and, of course, pictures of various Judges. There is colour on every page, in fact, with the Mega-City One skyline on the bottom and a Justice Department style frame as a border for the sides and top.

For the first time in an absolute age, I found myself carefully reading the Introduction in the book. The opening paragraph does a fine job of very briefly summarizing the game. From there, we move through the motions of pointing out what you need to play, explaining the d20 system to newbies or highlighting the changes made to the core rules for those veterans among us and even some initial help for people entirely new to Judge Dredd.

You're welcomed to Mega-City One before the character creation process starts. This was absolutely the right thing to do. Whether you couldn't tell the difference between a Juve or a Psi-Judge or whether you're a Judge Dredd aficionado it's worth reading the three pages of flavour building introduction.

There are already a range of Judge Dredd d20 supplements in the works and you might be resigned to having to fork out for separate rules for Street Judges, Psi-Judges and Citizens. Not so, right from the start you can create any one of these classes and you have enough information on them to happily run a fully-fledged campaign, although I'm sure each will see additional rules from future supplements. A particularly wise move was to include a list of possible Prior-Lives for judges and citizens (although, I guess, they count as ‘current lives' for the citizens). This list not only serves a bit like the Character Concepts from Mongoose's Collector Series but also quickly introduces further examples of what people end up doing in the mass unemployment and strangely dull danger that is future. For example, you could be a Batter and be proficient in skills required to dress up in a bat-like costume, leap from extremely tall buildings and glide to safety or you may have be a Rogue Psyker and have unregistered Psi-Talents. If you pick the latter then you'll be pleased to find a whole table that charts the power progress for levelling up as the Rogue.

There are some new skills, some old skills and some changed skills for Judge Dredd. The new ones and the changed ones are fully detailed but the unchanged ones are left for D&D Core Rules. Yes, you do need the Player's Guide, I'm afraid that was a given, that is what the OGL d20 license aims for.

It is a similar story for the feats. You're told clearly which feats from the "old" rules can be carried over and which cannot, and then you're introduced to some new Judge feats and given the full text for them. Actually, the new feats include Judge, Psi and Metapsi Feats. They do tend to concentrate on Judge style abilities but there are some, like Resist Arrest, which are clearly citizen orientated.

There are nearly twenty-five pages of equipment. The chapter is home for the initial information on the black market, income (the future uses credit, not gold) and the standard Justice Department Issue. There are, of course, an awful lot of high tech gizmos too. There are low tech items as well and I'm glad they've been included because it all helps to add to the theme; Juves, for example, gangs of juveniles will sharpen plasteen girders to a point and then prowl through the winding corridors of apartment blocks with these improvised spears.

The future, according to Mega-City One, promises much in the way of guns and armour. The armour mechanic has been changed. Huzzah! Armour reduces damage rather than making you harder to hit. This means that there's less maths involved when working out what number you have to roll in order to throw a tracking device onto someone and it means you can get all nitty-gritty with armour piercing weapons and projectiles. This is why you'll find a combat section in the book too. It's a value for money chapter, throwing in rules for rapid fire, running gunfights, pistols in melees, stray shots, linked weapons (when you have a tank, say, with many guns being controlled by one computer), reloading, called shots, attacks on objects or fast moving targets.

One thing I always associate with Judge Dredd is a range of weird and wonderful robots and I suppose vehicles like the Lawmaster motorcycle as well. It's with a sigh of relief that I discovered the Judge Dredd d20 RPG contained plenty of helpful rules and info for bots and vehicles. There are advanced driving rules as well as rules for vehicular combat. It's dangerous and illegal to drive too slowly in Mega-City one. There are more than just go-fast or go-slow rules though, I've found rules for sideswipes, hardbrake turns, jumps and sudden stops… strangely enough there's also rules to cover out of control vehicles! Ah yes, but plenty of people fly in Mega-City One and there's some rules for them as well, but not nearly as much. There are a few pages of sample vehicles too, everything from road buggies to jet powered "broom sticks". If you don't see anything you like, you can customize vehicles. I love stuff like this; I think it adds years to the lastability of the game and tends to get players hooked on the genre as they scramble to design their own madcap creations. There's a similar story for Mega-City One's robots. You can either take one from the list, a "Robodog, Lethal Response Inc. Defender" or perhaps an "Assassin Robot" from Hondai War Systems, or you can build your own. As the mention of the assassin robot alludes to, the robot rules cover things such as Hit Dice, ability scores and attacks.

Some people just love anything Psi (other people just have a thing for Psi-Judge Anderson from 2000AD) The Psi-System is a simple one; you have power points which you spend to use psi-powers and which you regain over time. A quick count reveals over thirty psi-powers split through levels 0 to 9.

I've made mention of the Justice Department in this review. If you don't know Judge Dredd you've probably already guessed it's the organisation headquarters of the Judges. You don't have to guess, there are nearly fifty pages on this centrepiece to Judge Dredd. It's not fifty pages of boring bureaucracy though. For a start it makes references to things like the Space Corps and then points out that the Street Judges work within a different division from the Pis-Judges. You'll also find rules on arresting people here and just how long their sentence should be. Implanting aggression chips into robots carries a sentence of between 5 and 20 years, taking part in a block war is 15 years to life sentence and selling old comics (restricted publications) could give someone between 1 and 8 years. It's a useful chapter, if you want to know what sort of response a Judge could get should he call for backup then that's covered here, so are the robots and vehicles exclusive to the powerful Department. Tucked away in this chapter you'll also find not one new character class but many! The Med-Judge, the Tek-Judge, the SJS Judge (Special Judicial Squad, the Judges who investigate complaints made against other Judge) and the undercover "Wally Squad Judge".

If you're already fed up with Judges then don't worry you don't have to play one. In fact, Life on the Streets introduces a slew of rules, facts and figures on the various gangs that exist in the dark future. You'll also find citizen prestige classes; those people who have turned assassin, professional bat burglar, a dangerous Blitzer, a bodyguard, a member of the Citi-Def, a member of the illegal Hunters Club, … the list goes on and on. In fact, the list covers such a wide range and Mega-City One is so hugely diverse (and just huge – the size of the entire East Coast of North America) it is possible to run many different styles of games all under the Judge Dredd umbrella.

There's plenty of information on the actual Mega-City One too. In fact, there's a whole chapter. You've everything you need here, a generic map of the city that points out the main parts and where it borders with the Cursed Earth, text on key areas in the city such as the City Bottom or the Undercity and more. Different habitats within the city are covered, everything from the giant city blocks which sometimes go to war with one another, the sprawling cardboard cities all the way up to Space Condos and the animated Escher like hallways of the Maze. The sub-section of landmarks serves either to please those of us with plenty of 2000AD comic time under our belts or simply provide even more flavour and inspiration for Games Masters new to the setting.

In fact, there is information on the other cities that have survived into the future in the Mega-City One chapter. The Emerald IsLe of Ireland, Luxor City in Egypt, Brit-Cit and Cal Hab in the UK, Texas City, Mega-City Two, Atlantis, many others, and even some Space Colonies. There are aliens in Judge Dredd's future; some people make a healthy but illegal living selling them.

Creeps, Dredd lingo for bad guys (and yes, there's an entire glossary at the back), covers everything from intelligent apes as villains, through Dinosaurs, Fatties, Kleggs, Mutants (create your own) and even Werewolves.

If you're wondering whether the setting is too large to get to grips with the book concludes with a lot of useful tips and advice on how to run a campaign. Again, it's not just Judge campaigns but criminal ones, or mutants or even private investigators.

As the length of the review suggests, Judge Dredd d20 is a comprehensive game. Two hundred and fifty six pages provide all the modifications to core d20 rules, entirely new rules and world setting information you need to run and enjoy the game. The book succeeds in getting across the darkly humorous future which Mega-City One and the Judges represent and it manages to do this in such away that it makes for an enticing game. If you only buy one new RPG this year, you could do a lot worse than buying Judge Dredd.

This GameWyrd review can be found here.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Having been a fan of the original Judge Dredd RPG, and now an avid supporter of d20 in general I had to buy this book when I saw it on the shelf in my local gaming store.

This hardcover volume runs to 256 full colour pages, with black and white extracts from the original cartoons themselves throughout the text, and some excellant full-colour artwork too.

The system is very close to original d20, except that Armour Class has been dropped and replaced by Defense Value (DV), based on the character's Dexterity modifier. This works well and reproduces the comic-book feel of cartoon-hero action.

Character creation is simple to follow, and flexible enough to allow you to create Psi-Judges, Tek-Judges, SJS Judges as well as Street Judges. Player's can also be civilians, whether perps or not - but let's face it law-abiding citizens all turn to crime to relieve their boredom, every citizen is a potential perp.

The book provides a comprehensive history of Mega-City One and the world in which it exists, including a full-colour map of the planet.

Having read 2000ad for about eight years (from issue one) the whole book sat well with my knowledge of the setting (unlike a certain Movie production), and any fan of Dredd will be more than happy with this tome.

Background material is sufficient for players unfamiliar with JD to get a grip on the feel of the city - with the help of an informed GM, and Mongoose Publishing has a strong line up of supplements for release throughout the remainder of the year.

The official website www.2000adrpg.com has a downloadable character sheet, a two-page summary of character creation, and a few extracts from the book, as well as some great artwork. If you're not sure go see this stuff.

I almost gave this book a 4 because of a niggling in the back of my head that 1st Level Judges (Cadets), and 2nd Level Judges (Rookies) don't fit in with the original concept of JD. Then thinking it through getting past 1st & 2nd levels is a breeze with d20, Cadets do have a day's training with a Judge, and Rookies need a pass from a Judge at the end of their course too, so this does sort of work for me.

So in the end I had to mark it up, 5 stars for this book, and I will be buying some of the supplements that are planned (see the website).

The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game
Hardcover, pp.256, by Matthew Sprange
ISBN: 1-903980-31-3
Cost: US$39.95, UK£24.99

2000ad RPG Website
Mongoose Publishing
2000ad Online

As Dredd would say "I am the Law! - go buy it."

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Judge Dredd The Roleplaying Game. Written by Matthew Sprange. Additional text and layout: Alejandro Melchor John Caliber, Matt Sharp and Marc Farrimond. Mongoose Publishing Limited. £24.00. ISBN 1-903980-31-3


2002 is certainly a year for celebrations and anniversaries. The Queens Golden Jubilee marks her fifty years on the throne, Star Wars reached twenty five this year as did the punk movement and two British institutions both celebrated their silver anniversary this year, cult children’s television show Grange Hill (British kids school drama) and iconic comic book 2000AD. Over the years there have been many successful British comic books and heroes but none have had the strength or staying power as displayed by the science fiction masterpiece 2000AD. Sure it may not have been around as long as the Beano or Dandy, but it has helped define a generation of readers (now adults) with new attitudes.

Perhaps the single success of 2000AD is the life breathed into its central character Judge Joe Dredd, and the universe in which he presides. Dredd is by far one of the most successful characters to ever come from a British comic book, and over the 25 years of the characters history he has spawned countless graphic novels, books, badges and merchandise, a feature movie and a series of games products ranging from roleplaying games to miniatures and beyond. It was announced earlier this year that UK games developers Mongoose Publishing had acquired the rights to publish an all new roleplaying game based on Judge Dredd and other popular characters from 2000AD, and that the system would utilise the brand new d20 roleplaying system from Wizards of the Coast. Now after months of play testing, discussion and hard research finally the Judge Dredd Roleplaying game is back in the shops and back with a vengeance.

Mongoose are not the first publishers to treat the games world to roleplaying adventures of Judge Dredd, miniature manufacturers Games Workshop had their own version out in the mid eighties and it was at the time one of the fastest selling roleplaying games in Europe, but was very poorly supported and faded fast, causing the company to lose the rights to the character. Mongoose however are not likely to sit on their laurels and the Judge Dredd roleplaying game is just the first in a planned series of 2000AD related games due out over the next couple of years and all will be fully supported.

The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game is a hefty tome, weighing in at 254 pages that contain nearly everything you need to run adventures in Mega City One, the biggest and most violent city on the face of the planet. Here power has been taken from the people and given to the Justice Department, who rule the city and keep the affairs of the populace in order. The judges are empowered to be judge, jury and if need be executioner, as they dispense justice to the perps (perpetrators or criminals) and keep the city as safe as possible. Unemployment in Mega City One is almost total and this vast metropolis that covers what is left of the eastern seaboard of North America is rife with crime, as bored citizens will do anything to relieve the tedium of unemployment and more often than not end up turning to a life of crime.

Using the d20™ system from Wizards of the Coast and created via the companies Open Gaming License, the Judge Dredd game allows your players to play either members of the Justice Department (Street and Psi judges), or to go the other end of the spectrum and play as the citizens of Mega City One itself.

Over the past year or so much fuss has been given over the new d20™ system from Wizards of the Coast, and many companies have cashed in on this new system to a greater or lesser degree of success. Mongoose here have not only managed to bleed the d20 system dry of every ounce of playability it has in its pages, but has still managed to come up with more. Utilising the usual character generation of d20™ with a couple of unique additions the Dredd roleplaying game and if your playing as judges you can choose to being your careers at 3rd level rather than starting off at 1st. This represents the amount of time spent in the Academy of Law as a cadet judge (1st level) then taking to the streets to earn your full eagle and black helm status (2nd level) and finally to become a fully fledged street judge at 3rd level.

Citizens are created rather differently than judge characters. Each citizen has a prior life that they can choose after generating their statistics, these prior lives reflect the myriad of hobbies, pastimes and even criminal careers in Mega City One, and players can choose from 22 prior lives in the core rules (and many more in the upcoming supplements) ranging from Agitator (rabble rousing characters) to Vigilante (taking the law into their own hands) and many more. The strange and wonderful worlds of crazes in Mega City One is not neglected with other prior lives including Skysurfers (riding on flying surfboards), Batters (using bat like gliders to propel themselves high into the air and ride on thermals) and many other classes. The main difference between judge and citizen characters is that the judges can only proceed as a street or Psi judge via experience until they have enough to take a Prestige Class, but citizens can choose multiple Prestige Classes allowing them to cover a far broader spectrum of play.

Judges can progress on to become Tech or Med Judges, members of the SJS (Special Judicial Squad) the judges who judge the judges or even eventually work their way up to becoming a Sector Chief if desired. Citizens have a wider wealth of Prestige Classes available to them and everything from Mob Boss to Skysurfer Champion is covered, with more coming in the supplements due later this year.

The game is split into twelve chapters, with each covering aspects on game play, equipment, vehicles and life in the mean streets of the worlds most deadly city. The breakdown of the chapters is concise and to the point and reads logically unlike the Players Handbook tends to do, and as such wont be as confusing to a novice player. It states on the back of the rulebook that you need a copy of the Players Handbook from Wizards of the Coast in order to play the game; this is both true and false in the same breath. Access to the PHB for character generation is needed if you are not too familiar with the d20 system, and though it is an advantage having the PHB to hand, once you know how to generate characters it becomes a little redundant, though having access to another system gives you as a GM more scope for running adventures and other games.

Throughout the game are dozens of illustrations taken from the comics’ long history and some excellent new computer generated images of the Lawgiver, Lawmaster and Manta Prowl tank from the talented digits of Scott Clark. Layout and graphical design are as to be expected from a company such as Mongoose, excellent, though the addition of a perforated character sheet at the back of the book may have been a better idea and would avoid damage to the spine of the book. This would no doubt have pushed the price higher, and really once you have photocopied the sheets you have no real need to do so again and they are already available to download on the official site and will no doubt appear at some time in the future.


Other changes in the basic way d20™ works are the combat and Psionic systems. The combat for the most part in most other d20™ products is melee with the occasional ranged attack thrown in for good measure. In the far future worlds of Judge Dredd most combat is carried out from a distance and to represent this Mongoose took a whole new approach to the system and have many hours of play testing came up with a combat system that works very well. Psionics is also updated to take into account the skills used in the comic itself and can be fast and deadly if used correctly.

Equipment, vehicles, robots and much more are covered in the rules with many new illustrations and some taken directly from the comics’ long and illustrious career. And to top that an excellent full colour painting of Judge Dredd by long time fan favourite Kevin Walker binds the book.

Of the twelve chapters in the 256 page hardbound book, my own personal favourite is the section on the history of Mega City One and some of the more famous pastimes and landmarks in the metropolis. Extremely well researched and written the Judge Dredd roleplaying game is set in the current Mega City One year 2124, as depicted in the comic book and due to the vast wealth of well over a thousand stories of Judge Dredd to fall back upon the scope for the system and updates is vast.

The Dredd roleplaying game is only the first in the franchise from Rebellion and due out in mid-August is Slaine the Roleplaying game, the Celtic Barbarian, based on popular Irish folklore and a pinch of Robert E Howard for good measure. Strontium Dogs and Rogue Trooper are also in the pipeline and support for the Dredd game wont just stop with the release of the rules.

Over the next couple of months and for the foreseeable future you can expect to see at least two releases each month for the Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game, starting off with the excellent Rookies Guide to the Justice Department by my good friend John Caliber, which will cover every aspect of the Justice Department that couldn’t be squeezed into the core rules. The GM’s screen will also feature stats for the most famous characters in the history of Mega City One, from Joe Dredd himself to the Angel Gang and Chopper and many more. John Calibers Full Eagle Day is the first full adventure that pits rookie judges on their Final Evaluation Test under the scrutiny of Judge Dredd himself. Other Rookies Guide’s will follow over the next few months, and with more adventures in the pipeline, it looks like 2002 is going to be a great year for fans of Judge Dredd.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I have a confession to make straight away - I am a complete and total Judge Dredd fanatic! Therefore, this will not be a review on how good Judge Dredd is as a setting - it will be a review on how well Mongoose have done to actually creating the feel of Mega-City One in the new game.

The new Judge Dredd role-playing game (I remember the old Games Workshop one well!) is a full colour hardback book, running to just over 250 pages long. After an introduction and a ‘welcome to Mega-City One’ section (which was quite cool in that it ‘funnels’ readers into newbies, Dredd fanatics and d20 experts and tells them what they need to read), the rulebook launches straight into characters. Only humans are allowed in this game, and three character classes are provided - Street Judges, Psi-Judges and Citizens (or perps, as we 2000AD veterans like to call them). The judge character classes are seriously powerful - d12 Hit Dice, good saves and lots of feats. Citizens are quite sick in comparison, but they get a load more skills and a choice of ‘prior lives’ such as Goon, Wall Hopper, Rogue Psyker and Citi-Def Soldier. Most of the favourites from the comic strip seem to be in there. The rulebook makes it clear that citizens are not designed to be balanced with judges at the same level and so are not supposed to be placed in the same group - obvious to those who know the comics, but it is worth pointing out.

A short skills and feats chapter changes a few core d20 rules and adds a few other bits and pieces to cope with Mega-City One. Computer Use, Craze, Drive, Medical, Pilot, Psi-Scan, Streetwise and Technical skills are added to the mix, with a few others, like Diplomacy, taken away. There are way too many new feats to list here, but some personal favourites would be Bike Wheelie, Luck of Grud, and Menacing Presence.

The Equipment chapter is huge. The first few pages covers all the standard issue equipment that all judges get, such as the Lawmaster bike and Lawgiver gun. The Lawgiver alone takes nearly two pages of rules to cover, as it comes with 6 different ammunition types and all sorts of other goodies! Citizens get a far wider choice of equipment, with everything from Spit Guns and Sonic Cannons to Anti-Mugging Suits and Mega-Skunk (is this the first time that ganja has appeared in an RPG’s equipment list???).

The Combat chapter adds all sorts of new tweaks to the d20 system to cover firefights and what have you - Armour Class is no longer around, replaced by a Defence Value, and armour now provides Damage Reduction. Not sure how that will work with the d20 purists, but in our few games it seems to work well enough. Other rules cover aiming (useful for any d20 game, perhaps), rapid fire, linked weapons, stray shots and called shots.

The Vehicles and Robots chapter does what it says. The new vehicle rules can seem a little heavy going at first, but you soon get the idea and they seem to reflect 300mph chases down the motorway very well. Collisions seem very punishing but then, I guess they ought to be! You don’t want to be crashing into anything if you are on a bike. . . All sorts of vehicles from jet packs to huge merchant hoverships are detailed, though the pictures here are drawn rather than taken from the comics, and a few look a bit odd - the big luxury mo-pad doesn’t look as nice as the small cheap one, and the Servo-Droid just looks silly. There are all sorts of modifications to be made to vehicles too, though I think I recognise one or two from Car Wars. Fits in well with Mega-City One though.

Psi-Talent rules in the game seem very close to those in Psionics Handbook, though they have been messed around a little - there is no longer any straight psychic combat, though you can still get a similar effect through various powers. Some of the powers are the same as in the Wizard’s book, though there are enough new ones to keep you interested.

The Justice Department - now this is a chapter I liked! There is a full description of all the different divisions of the Justice Department (way more than ever appeared in the Games Workshop version), details on how to actually play a judge, making arrests, sentencing and, something I really like, actual rules for calling on back up units such as H-Wagons, Med Squads, Clean Up Crews and all the rest. A range of judge vehicles are included, as well as rules for disciplinary action (get sent to Titan!). Last, there are the prestige classes, or specialist judges, as they are called - Med-Judge, Tek-Judge, SJS (yippee!) and Wally Squad.

The Life on the Streets chapter seems to be the same sort of thing, but for citizen characters. There are full rules for running a street gang, similar to the Leadership feat in the Dungeon Masters Guide, but actually generating an income. There are also way more prestige classes, such as assassin, blitzer, bodyguard and nark. A Tour of Mega-City One is one of the largest chapters, and gives a complete run down of the setting of the game, doing a good job at getting across why it is the most dangerous place on Earth, and why the overcrowding causes so much crime. Nestled away in this chapter are some excellent technical-type pictures of the Lawgiver, Lawmaster and the Manta Prowl Tank. The Creeps chapter gives a good range of baddies for judges and citizens to fight (including rules for running intelligent apes as player characters!), followed by a Campaign chapter that shows how to play Judge Dredd and really capture the feel of Mega-City One.

The book winds up with a detailed Timeline, a much needed Glossary (there is a whole new slang language to learn!), an index and character sheets. Overall, this book feels very polished, though the quality of the artwork did suffer in a couple of places. But that full page picture of the Manta Prowl Tank went a long way to making up for that!

As I warned before, I am a complete Dredd-head, so I did not need to be sold on the setting of this game. What I was looking for was a game that fitted my expectations. Did it succeed?

Oh, yes! We have not tried citizen characters out yet, but, playing as a judge bombing down the streets at 200 mph with bike cannon blazing as we pursued an entire gang of perps, the rules fit the setting perfectly. It has been a few years since I last played the Games Workshop game, but starting this felt like meeting an old friend again. If you are even slightly interested in Judge Dredd, you will love this book. If you have never come across him or only seen the film (ugh!), it is well worth checking out. There is certainly nothing else like it on the market right now!

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

Judge Dredd is a 2000AD comics character brought to the roleplaying genre by Mongoose Publishing. This is the rulebook that allows you to play in the world of Judge Dredd, mainly in the 22nd-century metropolis of Mega-City One on the American eastern seaboard.

Judge Dredd is a 256-page full colour hardcover book, priced at $39.95. This is somewhat expensive compared to similar size and style books, but it is a licensed product. Space is used well, with little wasted and good font size and margins. Much of the art is mono excerpts from the comic books, but there are a few superb full-page colour pieces towards the end of the book. Witing style and editing are good, with occasional minor mistakes only on the editing side.

The book starts with a brief introduction for those new to d20 and a brief guide to new rules introduced in Judge Dredd, for veteran players to watch out for. Primary amongst these is the change from Armor Class to Defence Value, where armour grants Damage Reduction rather than being factored into the potential to avoid attack. Other new rules include called shots, and vehicle movement and combat. Following this is an introduction and overview of Mega-City One, a megalopolis of 400 million people over 700 miles long and 400 miles wide. Set in the 22nd-century after nuclear war, much of the land outside the cities is radioactive desert. Housing is scarce, crime is rampant, advanced technology is the norm, and aliens have landed, and now look to Mega-City One for tourist trips. Trying to hold all this together is the overworked Justice Department.

Chapter 1: Characters In Mega-City One, begins by covering the one race (humans) and three classes (street judge, psi-judge, and citizen) that can be played in the basic game. Further options will become available with future releases. The book advises that a group be all judges, or all citizens rather than a mixture, as the two types can be unbalanced, particularly at lower levels - Street Judges and Psi-Judges both start at 3rd level. Psi-judges (and some citizens) can also use psychic powers (here termed psi-talent). Both Judge types max out on BAB and saves, with bonus feats being the major class features. Street judges have a d12 hit die, whilst psi-judges gain a d8. Citizens gain a d6 hit die, slow Save progression (starting at +0 for all) and slower BAB (equal to a Rogue). The only class feature is 'Prior-Lives' - 22 templates giving some basic abilities dependent on previous life experience - agitator, batter (uses a batglider), citi-def soldier (local protection group), dunk (pickpocket), failed cadet, forger, gambler, goon, inventor, jetball player, jugger driver, juve (juvenile delinquent), med-tech, mo-pad driver (mobile home), neo-luddite (anti-tech), perp runner (aid criminals to escape city), private investigator, punk (street gang member), rogue psyker (mutant with psi-talent), skysurfer (power board surfer), vigilante, and wall hopper (mutant who has gained access to the city from the radioactive deserts outside).

Chapter 2: Skills, contains a number of new skills suited to the futuristic setting (computer use, drive, streetwise, and technical) and the Judge Dredd campaign (craze - a hobby that has some game influence such as batgliding and skysurfing, and psi-scan) as well as changes to standard skills (such as Wilderness Lore becomes trained only, and various new knowledges and professions).

Chapter 3: Feats, gives over 40 new feats - some are general feats (such as resist arrest, sure grip, and emergency stop), whilst there are three new categories of feat - Judge Feats (e.g. improved arrest, lightning reload, nerves of steel), Psi Feats (e.g. inner strength, psychic inquisitor, psychoanalyst), and Metapsi Feats (much the same as metamagic feats).

Chapter 4: Equipment, discusses money and the black market before moving on to standard Justice Department issue. Much of this equipment relates to impressive weaponry and ammunition only available to members of the Justice Department. There follows some more mundane weaponry and items, before further high-tech weaponry such as lasers, missile launchers, and bombs are covered. The section then moves on to gear suitable for following crazes such as batgliding, drugs and ends with descriptions of more mundane clothing, armour, services, and food and drink.

Chapter 5: Combat, describes the Defence Value system in more detail, before going on to discuss rules for cover, armour, damage reduction effects of armour, armour piercing (ignores the DR of armour), multiple shots and critical hits, electricity damage, new rules for actions per round (when making a ranged attack with a firearm you can move both before and after the attack as standard), aiming, rapid fire, linked weapons (e.g. twin-mounted bike cannons), area of effect of explosive weapons, stray shots (this seems a bit laborious, rolling attack rolls for every citizen that might be hit by a shot that misses a perp), reloading, attacking an object, fast moving attacks (from a moving vehicle for example), and a series of called shot options with circumstance penalties, including the called shot to the groin (also known as the nut-cracker manoeuvre).

Chapter 6: Vehicles And Robots, gives a fairly thorough rules system for driving, covering movement, driving conditions (including some rules of the road such as _minimum_ speeds and what happens when a jugger travelling at 200mph hits you because you're driving too slowly), various driving manoeuvres, repercussions of losing control of the vehicle, and damage to vehicles. The chapter then moves on to 20 or so vehicle descriptions after discussing some rules variations for bikes, small and medium vehicles (such as personal vehicles like powerboards), and flying vehicles. Following this are rules for customising vehicles, and various options for modifications along with costs, black market costs, and cargo space required. These include weapon turrets, rocket packs, and ejector seats.
The section on robots begins by explaining that all robots are hard-wired not to break the law, and the first thing a perp robot-owner does is pay to circumvent this hardwiring, if he can afford it. Various software packages can be bought to enhance skills, BABs, and feats of the robot. 8 robot examples are given, along with a few options for modification including the aforementioned lawbreaker module.

Chapter 7: Psi-Talent, describes the rules for manifesting psychic powers and describes 34 psychic powers from 0-level Daze to 9th-level Metafaculty (subject cannot hide name or location). Each power has a level, manifesttation time, range, target/area, duration, and power point cost, and a saving throw and power resistance comment where applicable (power resistance works much like spell resistance). Not owning the Psionics Handbook, I can't tell you whether this is the same system used in that book, but since I think Psionics are unofficial SRD, I presume it is. A future release will give more detail on this area.

Chapter 8: The Justice Department, covers Mega-City One's law enforcement agency, and looks at the organisation of the department (various divisions (including special divisions such as Psi Division and SJS, who 'judge the judges') and hierarchy). It then goes on to describe life as a judge including discussion on arrests, holding posts, sentencing (various codes and sections give a detailed overview of the law in Mega-City One and the consequences of breaking it), and back up and resources (including detail on some of the back-up units from Fire Squads through Riot Squads to Weather Control). The next section furthers the information on vehicles from Chapter 6 and equipment from Chapter 4, by giving various vehicles and equipment available only to the Justice Department. The section ends with information on penalties for crimes perpetrated by Judges themselves, usually involving hard labour for twenty years on some god-forsaken planet.
In the next section, various prestige classes are given (for standard Judges only - Psi Judges will get their own Prestige classes in another book):
* Med-Judge - specialises in healing wounded judges
* Tek-Judge - vehicle specialist
* SJS Judge - 'jusges the Judges'
* Wally Squad Judge - undercover cop
The chapter finishes with some sample justice department characters, such as an average judge from one of the prestige classes.

Chapter 9: Life On The Streets, is the equivalent of Chapter 8 for Citizens. It begins by covering street gangs, before moving on to a number of prestige classes:
* Assassin
* Bat Burglar - like a cat burglar, but uses a bat glider to gain entry into high-level apartment blocks.
* Blitzer - violent mob killer, explodes if surrenders
* Bodyguard
* Citi-Def Officer - leader of localised armed forces in city
* Demolitionist
* Hunters Club Member - expert hunter, both of mutants outside the city, and sometimes citizens, judges, and even each other within the city.
* Nark - informer
* Superhero - citizens who dress up in capes, use the latest in technology, and try to fight crime.
* Supersurf Chapmpion - expert skysurfer

Chapter 10: A Tour Of Mega-City One, describes the different sectors of the city. It covers the under-city (old New York), government of Mega-City One, and various 'habitats', from cardboard cities to luxy-blocks and including 'The Jungle' - an area restricted to genetically-modified semi-intelligent apes. Various landmarks are then described - the ruined Statue of Liberty and its replacement Statue Of Justice, and amusingly the White Cliffs Of Dover, imported from Brit-Cit and now one of Mega-City One's top tourist attractions. Other issues such as transportation, entertainment (including illegal gambling, secret smoking parlours and technological dream inducers), crazes & fashions (such as boinging (jumping around in a big plastic bubble) and 'ugly' where people have cosmetic surgery to make them ugly), and food and drink (including illegal access to fatty foods). Nine different organisations are described including apocalypse cults and pro-democracy movements. Disease, fire, and radiation are also discussed (radiation is treated much the same as a contact disease) along with a brief overview of medical technology and medical organisations. The remainder of the chapter is dedicated to locations beyond Mega-City One, with a paragraph or two on twenty locations from Brit-Cit (England) to Hondo City (Japan), and finishes with brief sections on space colonies and aliens (who are also treated as aliens in terms of the illegal immigrant meaning of the word).

Chapter 11: Creeps, is the 'Monster Manual' for Judge Dredd, though only 13 monsters are detailed. After some basic information on NPC character creation, the following creatures are detailed:
* Ape - genetically-enhanced chimpanzees, gorillas, and orang-utans.
* Dinosaur - cloned dinosaurs from ancient DNA - this covers Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, and Velociraptor.
* Dog Vulture - mutant animals
* Fatty - immensely fat humans, who eat for a living
* Futsie - normal citizens who suddenly freak out due to stress
* Gila-Munja - mutated assassins
* Klegg - alien mercenaries that look like 16 foot tall crocodiles
* Klegghound - crocodile-like hounds used by Kleggs
* Mutant - this is a template, with various mutations that can be applied, from cosmetic through physical to mental.
* Mutant Rats
* Sewer-Gators - mutant alligators
* Troggy - mutatnt sub-humans living in old New York beneath Mega-City One and adapted to its lightless world.
* Werewolf

Chapter 12: Campaigns In Mega-City One, gives GM advice on portraying Mega-City One, dealing with locations and maps, issues surrounding all-judge campaigns, all-citizen campaigns, and some campaign variants such as Psi-Squad, Vigilantes, mutabts and intelligent apes. After a brief section on informers and experience point awards, there are some campaign ideas for judge and perp campaigns and some information on forthcoming supplements for the Judge Dredd d20 game.

The appendices include a timeline for Mega-City One, a glossary, designer notes, an index, an index of tables and separate character sheets for judges and citizens.

Conclusion:
Though I knew little or nothing about the Judge Dredd setting before reading this book, I felt it really gave a detailed and fascinating overview of the setting for even rookies like me. Though necessarily lacking detail on some areas (aliens, psi-talent, creatures, for example), these areas will be covered by forthcoming supplements. You may consider this either as a boon or a burden. There is ceratinly enough here (and more) to begin creating your own adventures in the setting, and it is particularly throrough with weapons and equipment. The new rules (such as Defence Value and Called Shots) seem to work well at first glance but would need thorough playtesting to give a definite positive reaction.

All in all, very impressive stuff and likely to be a must-buy for Dredd fans. Still has some interesting concepts for those running post-apocalyptic (possibly sci-fi) campaigns - probably of limited use or interest to those whose focus is entirely on fantasy.

 

[skalvar]

((Disclaimer - I have done and continue to do freelance work for Mongoose Publishing.))

Summary: A solid attempt to emulate the Judge Dredd setting using D20 mechanics. Modest innovations to the D20 system adapt it to a far future setting. The writing style and setting information provide clear details and flavor, but also limit the kinds of campaigns available to the players. The writer unfortunately fails to convey the parody and satire that lighten the setting, giving the book a grim tone somewhat at odds with the presented Games Master advice.

Structure and Content
The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game is the core book in the Mongoose Judge Dredd line. Based on the 2000AD comic of the same name it presents a dark distopian future of high unemployment, massive anomie and grim justice.

Structurally the game book follows the same format as the WoTC books, with a colorful border and chapter titles just below the page number. The first half of the book covers the usual array of character specific information (classes, prestige classes, feats, etc.) in flavorful detail. The last half covers basic information about the world, shading from things players will definitely know (the Justice Department) to things they probably should know as little about as possible (stats on NPCs and campaign details).

The book uses comic strips for art and flavor fiction rather than publishing entirely new pieces. Sometimes the layout links comics with appropriate text to good effect. Just as often the comics seem completely unrelated to the body text. While this is not a major flaw, given the 20+ years of Judge Dredd comics it seems unlikely that Mongoose could not find more illustrative pieces.

The setting pits the powerful Justice Department and its Judges against the ever-rising forces of anarchy in a city covering half of the US East Coast. Players either take on the role of Judges or play civilians. Judges have a vast array of weapons and feats as well as a nearly limitless supply of backup if things get out of hand. Civilians have almost nothing to start out with, but can acquire considerable influence over time though criminal activities.

The rules modifications adapt the D20 system to the world of Judge Dredd. Armor provides direct protection from weak attacks while powerful attacks punch right though it. Armor Class is removed in favor of a Defense Value based on the character's Reflex save. In theory this simulates the dodging and movement depicted in the comic's combat while retaining the generally low (sub 25) difficulty numbers inherit in the D20 system for attack rolls. Other modifications include a called shot system based on assuming penalties to hit specific targets and a vehicle combat system to allow the cycle riding Judges to roll over their opponents.

The least successful adaptation seems to be the psionics rules. Extremely limited in scope, they do little to capture any of the setting's flavor. The author chooses to follow the power point/power structure used by the Psionic's Handbook rather than create new rules more in step with the setting. Although this reduces the learning curve associated with psionics it also breaks from the quality of thought demonstrated in the rest of the manuscript.

Internal Conflicts
The game's descriptive text clearly outlines the basic conflicts inherit in the setting. These conflicts include:

1. The rigidity of the law - The phrase 'everyone is guilty of something' creeps up constantly. Given the list of possible offenses listed in the Sentencing section conflicts between the players' (and their characters') perception of what is right and what is just will inevitably arise.

2. Corruption of the Judges - Judges wield absolute power of search, seizure and sentencing. They can destroy or save lives. Although not mechanically defined, several sections of the book narrative discuss the effects of this corruption and the efforts the Justice Department takes to overcome it.

3. Order vs. Chaos - Throughout the book the writer tries to stress that the Judges (representing Order with a capital O) are in a constant and loosing battle with the tide of lawlessness and anarchy. Wild "crazes" sweep the city ranging from binge eating to uglification. Crime runs out of control as citizens realize it is the only way to get ahead. Mega-City One looks like it wants to explode at any second, and usually does given the least provocation.

4. The drive against anomie - Citizens are beyond bored. Chronically underemployed and at the mercy of powerful forces, they have way to assert control over their lives. Behaviors that would otherwise seem completely insane are commonplace as people struggle to make it though the day. Players see this part of the setting primarily though the crazes, random wars and constant thrill seeking that marks nearly every civilian encounter.

Innovations
The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game contains the following D20 innovations that strongly reinforce its setting:
· Arrest checks allowing Judges to apprehend violent offenders without a life or death struggle. The arrest check mechanically expresses the Judge's authority and social power in a convincing and interesting way.
· Back-up check system allowing Judges to call upon various specialty squads as needed without throwing the action elements of the game out of balance. This allows the Games Master to assist the players when chaos finally overwhelms order without breaking the world continuity.
· Experience penalty system tied to the reprimand system for failing to live up to a Judge's responsibilities. This places the penalty for inappropriate behavior on an area of character advancement that many players value. By tying this penalty to the role-playing event the Games Master has a unique tool for making players dread reprimands.
· Prior life backgrounds for civilian characters that give concrete game effects for the character's previous occupation and history. This allows the player to customize his civilian character based on his story, rather than being stuck with a standard class progression.

Shortcomings
The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game contains the following shortcomings:
· Very limited non-criminal civilian activity.
· Limited and generic psionic system when psi powers play an important role in several major comic storylines.
· Overuse of citizen prestige classes. Most of the prestige classes (particularly Body Guard and Superhero) are easily constructed using standard feats and equipment.
· Deadpan delivery fails to convey the humor of the setting, resulting in a picture of unrelenting oppression.
· Leadership seems like a mandatory feat for civilians. Without a street-gang (available only though the feat) mid and high level civilian characters will have considerable difficulty competing with the Justice Department.

Conclusion
Judge Dredd presents a good setting for a high power science fiction action game. Judges in particular have a built in environmental "railroad' leading them from action adventure to action adventure. Although more subtle plots dealing with intrigue and internal corruption will evolve over time most problems exist to be solved with swift justice and a judicious application of firepower. The Games Master will have to remember to keep the unrelenting, over-the-top darkness leavened with a liberal dose of satirical humor.