[REVIEW] A Dirty World

Title: A Dirty World Author: Greg Stolze Publisher: Schröedinger's Cat Press SKU: SCP002 Published: 2008 RRP: US$17/US$10 (book/pdf @IPR)

Description: A Dirty World is Greg Stolze's take on the film noir detective genre.

"The idea of this game is not to present a setting with the noir trappings, but rather to present rules that facilitate stories about betrayed trust, corroded virtue, easy evil and rare, difficult justice. In it, players enact the roles of people with something to hide and something to lose. They come into conflict with mysteries, outside forces, and often each other. Perhaps they reach a resolution you could call ‘right,’ if you squint from its good side. Perhaps the mystery never unravels and they have to walk off into the shadows unsatisfied. Perhaps when they reach the core it’s writhing with the most human kind of rot, and all they can do is turn away in despair."

Setting: None provided, with the explanation that noir is a difficult genre to pin down, and means different things to different people.

Character Generation: Characters are composed by a mixture of Identities (an essential element of who your character is) and Qualities (which are akin to the character's actual mood), which are measured in up to 5 "dots" on your character sheet. [And you will need to use a character sheet.] These are paired into opposed values, such as Purity and Corruption, with a small overlap. This means it is possible to be both a little bit Pure and a little bit Corrupt, but it is difficult for a very Pure character to be Corrupt. A character may also have Specialities which represent special expertise (such as Pilot). These don't add any game mechanically bonuses, they simply allow the character to do something beyond the reach of the average character (such as fly a plane). Finally there are the various Professions that the character can have (which create extra links for traits to slide along).

Mechanics: The base resolution system is the One Role Engine, but like most implementations of ORE it is highly customised. The dice available to a character making a test is equal to the sum of the appropriate Identity and Quality. So for example, making an illegal purchase is a test of Cunning Generosity, whilst playing a heart-breakingly sad song on the piano is a test of Persuasive Honesty. Every attempted action can be reduced to a combination of an Identity and a Quality.

The very interesting thing about the game system is that your Identities and Qualities are not fixed values. In certain circumstances they can increase, decrease, or slide (becoming the opposing value). So as the game continues your character shifts and changes in response to what is happening (and even to what the character is expected to do).

Conflicts, in particular, act against your opponents values, forcing them to change, and changing your character in the process. This often leads to a very tactical conflict as character's try different approaches, especially in response to changes to their character. For example, a character might use Persuasive Corruption to convince someone to sleep with them, while the target uses Understanding Purity to be oblivious to their approach. If the character succeeds the target will be forced to slide a point from Purity to Corruption, reducing their resistance to future attacks. But the opponent could then respond by using their just augmented Understanding Corruption to reveal the base and dastardly nature of approaching a married woman in this manner. Or she could walk out, and change the conflict from an emotional one to a physical one. Or even give in to the advance if she feels that she can't afford the attack against her Purity and Understanding.

Additionally characters often get the opportunity to consciously affect their various traits. For example, raising an Identity is normally hard work, but raising Selfishness is easily done by stealing something valuable from someone who trusted you.

This all leads to some interesting game mechanical effects that feed back into the story. For example, if you don't think that your traits are sufficient to take down the Big Boss, you can hassle his minions and lieutenants in an attempt to raise the appropriate traits so that you can eventually take him on. Your character also reflects what they actually do. If you start acting like a thug your abilities will change and you will find it difficult not to continue acting as a thug. Be suave, and you will find it difficult to reduce yourself to someone's crass level. And those oh so subtle little temptations that can powerfully augment your character, but at a considerable story cost... I really think that all these ideas capture the spirit of noir perfectly.

Thoughts: My first thought at getting the book was that it was rather small (70pg 6"x9"). But after reading it my opinion was it was in fact extremely concentrated. It's not necessarily a simple game to play, as it requires that the players truly understand the nature of the Identities and Qualities they have in order to make the best use of them, and cope with how they change. But that understanding grants a freedom in itself, as players try to decide how a high Patient Generosity can help them in this particular situation. But it comes naturally, the more you play.

The idea of a dynamic character without fixed capabilities works very well, although it may take some getting used to. Especially since losing a conflict can cause drastic changes to your character (it's far better to withdraw from a losing fight than continue to the bitter end). But it also means that you can work your character up by choosing the appropriate fights, until you are ready to deal with the situation.

My only complaint is that there are no generic NPC stats to make the gamemaster's life easier. Even some sample characters would have gone a long way to helping decide the appropriate initial Identities and Qualities that might be considered appropriate. It's easy enough to do, but it does require extra thinking time (which reduces the ability to suddenly improvise a professor that the characters turn to for help and who then gets caught up in the action, for example).

It would probably make an excellent set of cover rules for a LARP, however, where everyone has a pregenerated character.

Rating: Very Good (Plus). Increasing to being truly Excellent if more resources (ie sample NPC stats) were made available.