Agents of the Apocalypse

"Catalyst" (Boxed Set) by Alexander Jerabek Printed and Distributed by Cherry Picked Games ISBN-13: 978-1-304827-28-9 --- 270 Digest Sized Pages Including 142 "Action Cards" In the near future, a 'portal' or 'doorway' opens between the known Earth and the world of Demons. This near-future post-apocalyptic setting really tweaked my interest. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Demons and their "friends", invade our world. Also, their arrival brought with them a disease that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of humans. Very few remain. The good news is that opening the portal between our world and theirs also brought an awakening of magical and/or Psionic powers in most remaining humans. So - we can fight these beings from another world or another dimension with their own abilities. I don't know what "possessed" me to buy this game, as except for one or two, I generally dislike Post-Apocalyptic settings. But, because it reeks of something that might have been caused by the finale of the End of Time, I decided to get one. This game also uses a unique system - there are no dice - but a deck of 142 cards (in the base boxed set) serves as your actions. Each player and the game master place one of the cards in their hand on the table face down and then flip them all at the same time. Once down on the table, you cannot change the action you have chosen, even if it does not do much of anything - or if it somehow causes one of the other players in the game to take the damage you meant to hit the villain with. Ideally, you hit one of the enemies, and possibly do damage, or even kill it. There are only six chapters in the book: 1) "Flotsam on the Sound" 2) World 3) Playing Catalyst 4) Combat 5) Equipment 6) Appendix Catalyst starts with a piece of fiction set in the time of Catalyst. Only four pages, but it still manages to give readers a sense of the 'now'. A section on the world is second, with parts for Humans and their roles in the game, as well as for Demons. The third is information about playing and running Catalyst. The Game Master is featured first in this category. Then info about creating characters, their attributes, their "veins" or magical abilities, spells, skills, abilities, talents, and traits. Chapter four is info on combat. One of the nice things about this chapter is that the first entry gives an example of a battle. Tables for a Cerberus and a Demon are first, then two example characters. Following that are twelve scenes of their battle described, including maps. An explanation of how to use the included cards to complete each turn follows. A flowchart for combat might make it easier for GMs and Players to execute a turn. Complete definitions for mapping battles and the conditions they may create are given. Equipment is fifth, where weapons, explosives, clothing, and other gear are located. Here are the tables for firearms, melee weapons, explosives, clothes, magic items, and weapon enhancements, clothing, and other things. The Appendices follow, starting with advice to GMs, a small bestiary, some sample characters, a background creation section, the spell descriptions, ability descriptions, and supplements, and, believe it or not, finally, at the very end of the book are the credits! As I said, I'm not generally fond of apocalyptic games, but this one grabbed me and won't let go! I'm already deep in the process of creating a game to run for my friends with it! I'll probably use some material from other games ("Delta Green" without the Cthulhu creatures) springs to mind as a source center for the Agents that will be part of the apocalypse and being Delta Green agents fighting the demons, I believe will be just the thing! I'm going to be looking for the extra material that Cherry Picked (What an appropriate name!) has made for this game, including five PDFs you can download for free! They have a good home on my machine, and the only other physical thing I might get is the cards that go along with the PDFs. Folks, if you like post-apocalyptic games, this one deserves a close look! Highly Recommended!