Zak Smith's Demon City

I'm not a big fan of horror games. I like fantasy, I like superheroics. And in these traditions, scary things have their own important place - they're just not the main actors. 

The Black Riders are bloody scary when they first appear, because we don't know what they are and what they want, and everything about them feels just wrong - the way they talk, the way they breathe, the way they look. The Ringwraiths become less scary when we find out more about them, when they become powerful enemies but not nameless, faceless horrors. 

Batman's modus operandi is based on two things: 1) human-sized bat-like creature is scary when it jumps you in the darkness, 2) a man who dresses up as a giant bat specifically to find you and beat you up is scary because he's definitely crazy, and insanity is scary. But it's not supposed to be scary for the reader, because the criminals see the Batman, and we see Bruce Wayne who's sometimes sad and sometimes awesome and sometimes ridiculous on purpose because he pretends to be a playboy. Yes, he's somewhat crazy, but it's the crazy that we appreciate.

A good horror story works on many levels. Besides the scary, there're conflicts and tough decisions and bravery and treachery. 

That's why I like CREATURES OF THE NIGHT and CHILL. And that's why I love DEMON CITY. 

Zak's game is probably the best horror game there is, but what's better is that you can easily use it for murder mysteries, or urban fantasy, or whatever you like. It's flexible. The mechanics that Zak offers are not tied to a specific setting. Although for superheroics I AM THE WEAPON, with its amazing system of superpowered character generation, is better. But if you want to play a group of desperados in Gotham City? DEMON CITY is perfect for that. 

So what's good about it? 

- Zak's art. The book looks good. It's stylish. It keeps your attention, it's fun to read. 

- "Example of play" completes the rules nicely, showing how everything works in a simple and understandable way. 

- You can use dice if you want, but it's more fun to use a Tarot deck. And there are six ways to use the cards - plus any you can invent yourself. 

- Character "Motives" instead of classes - there are differences in the advantages and flaws with which the characters start, how they behave in critical situations, and how they recover. Which all make sense together. 

- Simple and elegant system of resolving conflicts. 

- An equally elegant system for panic and insanity, and how can characters recover. 

- Downtime - what happens to the characters between sessions and how it changes them. I love it so much, I want to use it in all my games now. 

- Advice to the Host about how to create adventures, and how to keep them from falling apart if the players find other ways of doing things that you didn't plan (and that's what players always do). HUNTER/HUNTED is my favourite way of doing it. 

- Fun facts from the real world that you can use in your game. 

- The "setting" is your own. You can - and should - comfortably use DEMON CITY with places and situations that you know well.

- And about a dozen other cool things. 

I can't wait to try it out. Probably in a couple weeks.