Deathmatch Island - Review

This game was offered a few times for online play and then it disappeared. I'm a fan of the movie Battle Royale and thought this would be cool. So, I decided to try this out as a GM. I watched an actual play run by the writer/designer and found the GM used a lot more material that wasn't included in the game (videos, sound effects, images). I actually had to screen grab images of NPC cards for my own online game.

THEME: The whole idea is that the PCs with a whole cast of NPCs are on an island and they'll have to kill each other. The sole survivor will gain fame and fortune. This is a combination of Battle Royale, Squid Game, Hunger Games, Survivor, and LOST. Initially, the PCs are part of a team and they'll need to depend on each other to beat the other teams, but in the end, they'll have to turn on each other.

First off, the writer is also a graphic designer/illustrator, so the book is amazing to look at and shows the full vision of the writer/designer. There's a fair number of random tables and illustrations of branded generic items which is a highlight of the book.

SYSTEM: The system is fairly simple. You get a variety of dice based on: Name (starts at d6), Occupation (starts at d6), Capability (Social game, Snake mode, Challenge beast, Deathmatch, REDACTED, starts at d6), Advantages (varies, usually d10), and Acquisitions (d4s). You roll all the dice, but since Acquisitions are all d4s, you can easily pick them out. You sum the two highest dice (non-Acquisitions) + highest Acquisition die for your Result. All rolls are opposed rolls. 

Some Acquisitions are a single d4, some are multiple d4s, depending on how powerful the item is (knife vs rocket launcher). You can use multiple Acquisitions, but you only pick the highest die roll, so at some point it's diminishing returns as the most you'll get is +4, and the Acquisition is used up.

For the GM (called Production), the GM rolls 3 dice (2 Traits + 1 Advantage), picks the highest die roll and adds the current Danger level (starts at 4). Generally, the Traits dice are higher than the PCs (d8+). The GM rolls first, then the Players decide what to roll once they know the target number.

OVERVIEW: How the game works is that the PCs arrive on the island with their Player maps (there are REDACTED areas not on their maps). Each location has a name and key as to what the PCs might expect when they arrive. Depending on where they go, they meet various tests. Roll dice, then depending on their results, either overcome their test and gain goodies (generally Acquisitions) or get nothing. Players narrate what their PCs did after the die roll. After visiting a few locations, the Battle Royale starts and they'll have to start killing NPCs, and at some point, each other.

There is a progression of different islands with each island having fewer and fewer survivors until there's a sole survivor (unless REDACTED happens).

LESSIONS:

1. Acquisitions are always used up (this isn't noted anywhere). Even if you pick up an Assault Rifle, it has limited ammo and it will be used up. You can't keep on using it on every test, even if you say, "I'll shoot a few bullets." It will run out of ammo after the test. Your knife will break or get stuck in an NPC's body. You will find or acquire more weapons (or ammo) at new locations. At some locations there are multiple handguns; the GM can decide it's only one handgun with multiple reloads.

2. Players should narrate what happens based on what Capabilities, Advantages, and Acquisitions that they used when they rolled their dice. If you used a knife, a hand grenade, cigarettes, rope, and camping gear on the die roll, add this to your narration.

3. Players need to be imaginative. If the Players just roll their dice to determine if they beat the test or not, that's boring and pretty mechanical. You need Players good at improv and storytelling.

4. The core book has limited replayability. There's only one set of islands. There are 4 sets of Casts (various groups of NPCs). Each pregenerated Cast list has various adversarial groups that the PCs will meet and either fight or make friends with. There's supposed to be a progression when you replay, but that's REDACTED. The Casts lists various names and stats, but no pictures of the NPCs and no org chart. This was a drawback in that as a GM, I needed to do lots of extra work to flesh out the adversarial groups. When I watched an actual play, the GM showed cards of NPCs themed to match the game design. No template for cards were included nor were they available online. I contacted the publisher who said he'd ask the designer, but I didn't hear back.

5. There's a supplement, New Horizons, which has 9 additional islands that can be used to replace individual islands to help replayability. Each island is written by a different set of authors and none of them were the original author. There are no new Casts. I have not looked closely at the new islands, so I don't know if they're any good.

6. For those used to procedural RPGs, where the Player says, "I'll do x" and then rolls dice to see the outcome, or wants to roll combat dice as they mow through competitors, this game is a stretch. You roll dice and then narrate everything that happens to your PC at a location. That's it. It can be satisfying if the Player is good with improv and storytelling, but if the Player isn't, it'll be dull for everyone.

OPINION: I ran three sessions of this with 3 Players. The consensus was it was fun, but let's only play this once a year. It's not for long term play.