Pyramid Review
Unhallowed Metropolis
Published by New Dark Age through Eos Press
Designed by Jason Soles & Nicole Vega with Rebecca Borgstrom, Patrick Carrick, Eliza Gauger, Ann Koi, Bill Movish, & Melanie Strong
Cover by George Higham
Illustrated by Sam Araya, Aron Dittbrenner, Eliza Gauger, Raven Mimura, Jennifer Quesada, Brian Snoddy, Trent Thynes, & Melissa Uran
396-page full-color hardcover; $39.95
What if the dead rose in the Victorian era? How would the highly class-conscious society with its ritualized approach to death cope? Both questions that you would think should be answered by a Victorian era set Deadworld for All Flesh Must Be Eaten, but not so. Instead, and in the absence of such a Deadworld, both questions are answered in Unhallowed Metropolis, a post-apocalyptic, neo-Victorian RPG heavy on atmosphere and setting, but whose vision is never quite realized in terms of its mechanics.
The first outbreak of the Plague occurred in 1905, the dead rising and falling upon the teeming masses of the age's great urban centers. Millions died. Cities burned. Indeed, by 1920 it is thought that less than a third of the world's population still survived. In England, martial law was imposed, the military and the unions turning the remaining industrial facilities into great fortress. Even then, people were not safe, for when someone died, he was likely to rise as mindless animate a mere five minutes later. The process of Reclamation took decades, but one by one, the major cities were retaken, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: August 15, 2008
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