12/5/02
Nightbane - Palladium Books
Nightbane is a present day to near future horror game presented by the exceptional folks at Palladium Book. It is authored by C. J. Carella who worked for them in the 90's. The game revolves around a global event known as Dark Day where the sun did not rise anywhere for an entire twenty-four hours. During that time an opening was made between our dimension and a dark counterpart ruled by magical beings of immense power called the Night Lords. Also people at random around the globe turned into shape-changing monsters that reflected their brightest dreams or their darkest nightmares. The afflicted people were awakened to their true selves, they are Nightbane sworn enemies and cosmic balance to the Night Lords and their minions.
This is an excellent game full of great opportunities for horror, terror, and adventure. The supernatural world of the game is fully fleshed out with the villainous Night Lords, their minion races, and their allies, with the Nightbane, their factions, and with the mysterious light-bearing Guardians, and their eternal enemy the Vampires. It doesn't end there though, there are human factions thrown into the mix each with their own agenda and specific targets. It's a dark world were no one is safe and the enemy is everywhere when you least suspect it. Most players will want to take on the role of the tortured and enigmatic Nightbane and live as a two-faced monsters of justice and self-preservation.
Each Nightbane is different in appearance, melding different bizarre features together, from standard appearing werewolves, to people that are part human and part machine, to things never dreamed of before. Most of them bear some sort of emotional or spiritual series of scars, and some bear them more physically resulting in gruesome deformities, like wounds that never heal, extra mouths, needles and wire piercing their skin, or severe burn scars. Nightbane also possess strange and bizarre powers such as the deadly Dark Song, the ability to summon and ride lightning, or to break up into a swarm of little versions of themselves.
This is a fun game that can provide endless hours of excitement. The first edition of this game was titled Nightspawn instead of Nightbane, but the name was changed to avoid litigation from other parties. It has a complete game system including character generation, combat, Nightbane powers, magic, and psychic abilities. There are tonnes of story hooks, and plots and machinations galore. It can be run any way from truly horrific, to dark and moody, to heroic adventure. It has three sourcebooks so far, Between the Shadows, Night Lands, and Through the Glass Darkly.
(
Thank you for reading my review.
Bob Male)
All ideas, opinions, and information are from the reviewer
and are not representative of any company or group involved with the creators
and/or staff of the materials being reviewed.
Updates Page
R.M.T.P. Co.
Site © 1999 reviews@batteredspleenproductions.com
