First Impressions - Rebel Scum RPG (ZineQuest 3)

Rebel Scum looks like it should be hanging up in a toy shop display.

Queue the credit scroll and dramatic, stirring music!

"It is a dark time. Baron Deathray and his Killtroopers hunt down all dissension from the evil Killstar Republic. Fascism and terror rule the star system!
In the darkness, a motley band of revolutionaries, traitors, criminals, robots and other REBEL SCUM are trying to fight back.
You are our only hope."

I honestly don't think you need any more background to this game, which riffs of the most popular SF property out there to provide "an antifascist space opera" roleplaying game.

REBEL SCUM takes its trade dress and looks from the plastic figures made for that favourite SF space opera. It has a price ticket and a mock punch-out to hang from a display. It looks wonderful, and the character sheets and sample characters are presented the same way.

Part of ZineQuest 3, this is a full-glossy colour 74-page perfect-bound zine written by 9th Level Games. It uses their 'polymorph' engine, which defines each character with a single dice type. There are some minor typos, but overall it's a fun and well-presented package.

It's big on safety tools(*), but it also wears its antifa beliefs on its sleeve. You gain 'shining stars' for taking action against space fascists (usually by punching them). The GM controls 'the Government', the 'enemy of the players'. The characters are 'The Next Rebellion'. The bad guys are the Killstar Republic (aka Republicans). Some people aren't going to like this but that's okay.

Only players roll dice - you're either taking an action or making a save. You roll one dice determined by your role. You can be:

• The Expert
• The Vanguard
• The Fighter, or
• The Tank.

Experts roll a d4, Vanguards a d6, through to Tanks who roll a d10. Each dice type favours certain styles of play by making the probability of succeeding at certain moves higher.

You also have a class; this determines the card back you use for your character sheet. Classes are;

• The Ronin (questing for peace)
• The Revolutionary (challenging the status quo)
• The Robot (seeking self-expression)
• The Renegade (seeking justice)
• The Rogue (freeing people)

If you've got a shining star from punching space nazis then you can spend it to succeed automatically at your classes' focus. You only ever have one shining star at once, so you'll need to act against the Republic's evil plans against the people again to get another.

Each class starts with two edges. These are focuses for the career which enable the character to gain knowledge or do something without rolling (in most cases).

The moves and the dice ranges.

All characters have the same set of core moves, although sometimes they're called different things. for example, a laser sword wielder may have 'blades' as a move, whereas a smuggler may have 'blasters'. The moves reflect four action types; mental, physical, violence & strength. Because of the dice type each role has, they are biased towards which move they will be more successful at carrying out. There are two other results possible when making a move, Key and Ultimate. Key is a roll of 1. If you roll this and it is something your class can do, then you succeed. it's really a focused critical, and will often be a roll outside the move's range of target numbers.

If you roll the maximum on your dice type (Ultimate) different things happen, dependent upon the state of the game. The state starts as 'bright' but can move through 'twilight' to 'dark'. If it's bright, you succeed. If it's dark, you fail. The level of darkness increases as the team suffers failures and setbacks. The darkness level is tracked and can trigger the Climax for an episode if it reaches the maximum. The Climax unlocks the ability to defeat the named enemy completely, but it also means that the characters can suffer serious setbacks or even death. The players can also call for the Climax when they feel they're ready for it.

Damage etc. is abstracted as a Danger rating. If you gain Danger, you need to roll above it to carry on. If you roll lower, you take a consequence and then clear the danger rating. Consequences take characters out of the current scene and more the balance towards the dark. During the climax, consequences can be fatal. If you roll your danger rating exactly, you get a clutch move, which dramatically resets your danger to zero.

You can also gain vantage, which is good or bad. You roll two dice in these situations. If you have advantage, either dice roll can succeed. If you have disadvantage, you fail unless both dice succeed.

The game feels very cinematic and wears its heart on its sleeve. It looks like it would be fun, especially for a one shot. I do suspect that it may offend some, but they aren't the target audience for this.

(*) There's also an O-card, to tap if you're enjoying what's happening and want more of it!

14 November 2021