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Wormwood. A pocket dimension with fleshed out politics, intrigue and action; with a surprisingly nuanced level of adventure. The wonders and horror of the forces Light and Dark present an easy dynamic to join into. A great palate cleanser for any Rifts Players. For an older book, it holds up surprisingly well, including some really immersive artwork.
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Scholar’s Review #82: Dimension Book 1 - Wormwood
Moderators: Immortals, Supreme Beings, Old Ones
Re: Scholar’s Review #82: Dimension Book 1 - Wormwood
The book itself has many pros and cons given it was the first DB, as you point out.
But for it's time, Wormwood was useful to show what might be on the other side of a rift and get us all thinking. Story elements have endured and found their way into other books either as references, NPCs, etc. That said, a Wormwood reboot today could take advantage of so much more to:
- flesh out key communities in a more detailed way to make the people and their plight real
- learn from world books what works to more deeply describe the setting
- evolve the Unholy's horde beyond a backwoods rabble of Hades wannabes
- go real weird with a 'living planet' concept and maybe explore the differences with other living planets, like Eylor or the demon planet Cormal
- introduce societal elements that align with the theocratic yet pre-Renaissance culture of 1350-1450 AD, but with a modern stylization
- use some of the more recent game mechanics from Dead Reign or elsewhere to consider elements that could reflect major challenges during that time in history, such as famine and plague
Also, not dismissing the Rifter material on Wormwood, though some of it landed with me as cool inspiration and some did not. That said, for many d-hopping characters in my games, Worldgate is often treated as a rough and tumble dimensional equivalent of Old Bones, Juarez or MercTown but focused on dimensional raiding rather than soldiers for hire. A place to sell loot with no strong presence of megaversal power blocs.
And one last point, the idea of comic strips in Rifts books is a great one that brings a bit of the setting to life. Doesn't have to tell a full story, but give enough flavor to showcase what PCs may encounter.
- Totally agree wrt over-armored bad guys. Impossible for a PC party to survive more than a handful, let alone a demonic raiding party, without some deus ex machina or gobs of handwavium.
- Never got into the symbiote thing, tho same with Slugorth bio-wizardry. I prefer my augmentations to be bio-mechanical.
- What I was looking for when it came out was the level of detail re communities that had been detailed out in WB1 for Juarez and El Paso. Without that street level description to ground the concept, it felt unfinished.
But for it's time, Wormwood was useful to show what might be on the other side of a rift and get us all thinking. Story elements have endured and found their way into other books either as references, NPCs, etc. That said, a Wormwood reboot today could take advantage of so much more to:
- flesh out key communities in a more detailed way to make the people and their plight real
- learn from world books what works to more deeply describe the setting
- evolve the Unholy's horde beyond a backwoods rabble of Hades wannabes
- go real weird with a 'living planet' concept and maybe explore the differences with other living planets, like Eylor or the demon planet Cormal
- introduce societal elements that align with the theocratic yet pre-Renaissance culture of 1350-1450 AD, but with a modern stylization
- use some of the more recent game mechanics from Dead Reign or elsewhere to consider elements that could reflect major challenges during that time in history, such as famine and plague
Also, not dismissing the Rifter material on Wormwood, though some of it landed with me as cool inspiration and some did not. That said, for many d-hopping characters in my games, Worldgate is often treated as a rough and tumble dimensional equivalent of Old Bones, Juarez or MercTown but focused on dimensional raiding rather than soldiers for hire. A place to sell loot with no strong presence of megaversal power blocs.
And one last point, the idea of comic strips in Rifts books is a great one that brings a bit of the setting to life. Doesn't have to tell a full story, but give enough flavor to showcase what PCs may encounter.