This article originally appeared in Pyramid #19

Pyramid Pick

Rapture: the Second Coming

Published by Quintessential Mercy Studios
Written by William Spencer-Hale
with Dave Newton and Michael J. Hill
$25.00

To me, one of the most fascinating developments in RPGs in the '90s is the rise of the subversive, theologically deconstructive game setting. Fancy words aside, you know what I mean — those games that take their concepts straight from more-or-less legitimate religion and metaphysics, and turn those concepts into a startling, usually quite nasty, game setting.

These "theologicals" aren't everybody's cup of tea, but even those who find them most distasteful have to admit that the conceptual underpinnings of a game like Kult, with its nods to Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism and nihilism shows just how far RPGs have come from the old days of "There's a mysterious cave outside of town where monsters lurk, but some say treasure can be found there."

Among the various theologicals on the market right now, Rapture: The Second Coming isn't the most esoteric or the most extreme game out there, but its probably the most in-your-face. The game takes its inspiration from various orthodox Christian views of the Apocalypse — the end of the world prophesied in the Bible, particularly in the Book of Revelations.

The word for the vein that Rapture mines is "eschatology" — that branch of theology having to do with the end of the world and related matters. This is, of course, extremely serious stuff to a lot of people. This game goes to . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: May 1, 1996

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