Pyramid Review
Operation: Jungle Drums -- Redux (for Heavy Gear)
Published by Dream Pod 9
Written by Elie Charest
Art by Ghislain Barbe, Marc Ouellette and David Paquin
48 B&W pages; $12.95US
One of the first supplements for the game, Operation: Jungle Drums is in many ways the archetypal Heavy Gear adventure. Operation: Jungle Drums -- Redux is a new, expanded edition, available after several years during which the original version was out of print.
The introductory chapter explains some of the background of the "Redux" edition, and offers advice on using the SIU in Heavy Gear, for both roleplayers and tactical gamers. The book sets the action in TN 1933, very early on the published Heavy Gear timeline, which might be inconvenient for an ongoing campaign. The introduction offers three alternative takes on the adventure for different time periods, in an effort to make it more accessible.
The second chapter is the scenario itself. The adventure is designed for quite high-powered characters and the book recommends building PCs on more points than the typical Heavy Gear character. Sample pregenerated characters are provided and would be ideal for a convention game or a quick one-shot. In addition, several of these sample characters, who were the PCs from the designers' original campaign, went on to become major figures in the Heavy Gear world. For die-hard Heavy Gear fans, this may lend a certain historical interest to the adventure.
Operation: Jungle Drums was intended to introduce both . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: July 12, 2002
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