Shades of Earth
From: HinterWelt Enterprises
Reviewed by: Butch Curry
Shades of Earth is a new roleplaying game from HinterWelt Enterprises. A big improvement over HinterWelt's previous book, Shades of Earth is nonetheless not ready for prime time.
From pg 8:
"...the tone of Shades of Earth is determined by the GM and the players. It can be as happy and light as a Saturday serial or as cynical and dark as a World War II journal. It can reflect the high adventure of a pulp novel or the dark realism of the film noir genre. In the end, the choice is yours."
How does it play?
To anyone who read my review of HinterWelt's previous offering, Tales of Gaea, it's no secret that I'm no fan of their Iridium System. Suffice to say that I don't like it any more now than I did then, so I won't waste too much time retreading that old ground. I do have this to add, something that occurred to me while reading Shades of Earth: the Iridium System (the core system under Tales and Shades) is very reminiscent of a lot of homebrew systems in that it's a klunkier version of Palladium or AD&D;. Picking a core dice mechanic, whether it's d20 based, percentile based, or what have you, would go a long way towards streamlining the system, I think.
For a game that wants to be an Indiana Jones-inspired foray into pulp action or a Chandler-esque hardboiled, though, I'd say that the greatest failing of the book is not in it's system, but in it's utter failure to capture the genre (or in this case, genres plural) it's attempting to emulate. So much time and space is set aside for 'stuff' (i.e., weapons, spells, etc.) compared to that for setting and background that the message is lost. Including .45's, Nazis, and isn't pulp; having that character leaping from the wing of a biplane onto a zeppelin and sliding down into the cockpit to do battle with a Nazi vampire is. And as passing an acquaintance the book has with pulp, it seems to never have even met Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. Shades is more like a pile of ingredients than a meal, in that the pieces are all there, but they haven't really been brought together.
A genre-based RPG should, I think, be steeped in the genre it's trying to capture. Look at Mutants and Masterminds, or Call of Cthulhu, or even Haven: City of Violence. When you read a book like that, you can't help but want to run a superhero game, or a horror game, or a gritty urban crime game. You don't get that from Shades, though, and I think this is partially due to a lack of clear editorial vision. For example, there's a fair amount of real-world history is included to give some backbone to the setting, but it's as dry as any history textbook. Textbooks can certainly offer some inspiration for gaming, but from an RPG I expect things to be more colorful and directly applicable. (Godlike is a perfect example of how to do this right, for instance.) Shades tries too hard to be too many things to too many people, and ultimately fails at all of them as a result.
How does it read?
My general impression of the writing in Shades is that it's clumsy but serviceable. In other words, it'll never win any awards for best writing in an RPG, but - a few egregious editing oversights aside - it gets the idea across. It's no better or worse written than most fan-produced RPG supplements you'll find online, if that's any indication to you.
How does it look?
If I were to make one suggestion to the folks at HinterWelt (one that wasn't related to the core system, that is) it would be to hire a professional - or at least semi-professional - graphic designer to do the page layout. A professional page design would likely cut the book length by about a third (with the subsequent lower printing cost and cover price as an added bonus). The real benefit being, of course, that the book wouldn't be so rife with the absolutely painful design gaffes that make it one of the uglier RPG books on my shelf.
The artwork in Shades, though, is a far cry better than that in Tales. There are still some howlingly bad pieces scattered throughout, but they're the exception this time rather than the rule. Artists Leo Winstead Jeremy McHugh in particular deserve kudos for turning in the more interesting pieces in the book. Both their works are very stylized and unique, and offer a nice change of pace from traditional RPG art. There's a fair amount of clip art used in the book, and though the pieces selected are generally speaking appropriate - fitting in with the late 30's pulp vibe - there's just too much of it. The good art becomes a faint signal lost in the noise, and the overall look of the book is needlessly busy. 'Less is more' might be a better philosophy here.
Is it worth it?
As a standalone RPG, Shades of Earth leaves much to be desired, though it could possibly be mined as a resource for another game. It's far from the worst game product I've seen, but it's not good enough that I can recommend it. Pass on this one.
For more details on HinterWelt Enterprises and their new roleplaying game "Shades of Earth" check them out at their website HinterWelt.com, and at all of your local game stores.
(Product Summary)
Shades of Earth
From: HinterWelt Enterprises
Type of Game: RPG
Written by: William Corrie III
Cover Art by: Chris Martinez
Interior Art by: Calvin Camp, Bob Cram Jr., et al
Number of Pages: 240
Retail Price: $30.00 (US)
Item Number: HWE 2000
ISBN: 0-9740096-2-8
Email: bilbo@hinterwelt.com
Website: HinterWelt.com
Reviewed by: Butch Curry