Predation by Shanna Germain is a role playing game supplement published by Monte Cook Games for use with the Cypher System. This is a setting book and, although it does contain game mechanics, the Cypher System Rulebook is also needed to play.
The supplement is available as a 193-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $17.99 and is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed, although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover, two the front matter, one the Table of Contents, one the Index and one an ad.
For a Love of Dinosaurs is the introduction and an explanation of the author’s love of dinosaurs.
Part 1: Getting Started begins with Chapter 1: From the Far Future to the Ancient Past. After some introductory fiction, it explains that several hundred years in the future, time travel to the distant past become possible. Then it stopped being possible and everyone currently back in time knew they were stuck there. With an asteroid incoming at some point. The characters grew up in the past, though their parents didn’t. It explains that the setting uses currently known science, extrapolated into the future (probably inaccurately, going by other attempts to do the same) and uses information on dinosaurs that was up to date at time of writing.
Chapter 2: Predation Basics explains that dinosaurs are around, but these have often been “improved” in some way. Characters are expected to have companions, which are dinosaur “pets” but are effectively other PCs. It briefly mentions time anomalies and cyphers, artefacts and remnants.
Part 2: Characters starts with Chapter 3: Character Creation. This briefly covers some suggested skills and mentions Companions.
Chapter 4: Character Type covers the four types of characters in Predation. Cypher System characters are created in a phrase, and in other systems the type would be the class. There are four types; Karns, who are warriors, Tecs, scientists and experimenters, Pteryx, explorers and wanderers and Osteons, storytellers, historians, tricksters. Each type is detailed in the standard way with connections, abilities over the six tiers, roles, companion types and background connections. At the end of this chapter are Cretaceous Abilities, new abilities for the setting.
Chapter 5: Character Descriptor and Focus covers the other two elements of a character. There are five new descriptors listed and the ones from the Cypher System Rulebook are also allowed and a list of some from Expanded Worlds. Foci has four new foci, a list of those from the core rulebook that are appropriate as well as some from Expanded Worlds, together with some alternate names.
Chapter 6: Companions covers the dinosaurs that are not pets, because they are treated like player characters, and ones that don’t always do what they are asked to do. There are rules on interacting with them, healing, losing and gaining them and on creating them. There are different types of companions and then a series of abilities for them. Dispositions has a companion’s general behaviour, which has advantages and disadvantages.
Chapter 7: Equipment covers currency, materials, both futuristic and local, weapons, armour, body upgrades and other tools.
Chapter 3: The Setting starts with Chapter 8: Welcome to Grevakc. This explains how the characters or, rather, their ancestors got there – time travel – where they are, the inhabitants, living in Grevakc and the region’s climate and weather together with a world map.
Chapter 9: Lamardia is a gazetteer for one of the continents. It covers the various locations, points of interest and sometimes important NPCs that can be found on the continent.
Chapter 10: Appalachia is similar in layout to the previous chapter and covers another continent, though one more sparsely inhabited, by humans at least.
Chapter 11: Groups and Organisations covers the major groups of Grevakc, and each organisation is described with the benefits of being a member. The organisations are SATI, the remnants of the company that sent people back in time, the Butterflies, a group opposed to restarting time travel and stopping the asteroid, taking their name from the short story by Ray Bradbury, “The Sound of Thunder”, and the Genesix Fellowship, in many ways a religious organisation convinced that Eden is hidden somewhere.
Part 4: Creatures and NPCs starts with Chapter 12: Using Creatures. This explains how creatures can be used from the Cypher System Rulebook, as well as other sources, the scientific and common names for creatures, common plants and animals of the Cretaceous, upgrading creatures, finding illustrations – those that are provided are for upgraded dinosaurs, as oddly very few dinosaur books have dinosaurs with technological enhancements – and what creatures from the core rulebook are suggested.
Chapter 13: Creatures and NPCs has stats for various dinosaurs, with GM intrusions, use and how they could be upgraded, followed by a few NPC stats laid out in a similar manner.
Part 5: GM’s Toolbox starts with Chapter 14: Running Predation, which covers the paradoxes of time travel, how to run a mission-based setting, what degree of science to use and a number of campaign seeds. There are suggestions on how to GM companions and details on SAT’s big mystery; why, and how, SATI came back to the past in the first place, followed by GM intrusions for Predation and companions.
Chapter 15: Cyphers, Artifacts and Remnants has details on using and identifying cyphers, followed by new ones for the setting, identifying and using artefacts, which are in many ways more powerful, not being one-shots, and new ones for the setting, and finally a table of remnants, bits of the future that have no practical use but have some value.
Chapter 16: Adventure: Promised Land has an adventure for the Predation setting.
Part 6: Back Matter has a list of appropriate references and resources, in different types of media, questions and answers with dino-scientists, Kickstarter and playtester list, Glossary and character sheets for companions and characters.
Predation in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents is less thorough, but is hyperlinked, as is the Index. There are also the internal cross-reference links found in the publisher’s supplements; as it’s expected the reader knows about these, they can be easy to overlook or forget about. Navigation is good. The text moves between a primarily two columns with sidebar format to a one column with sidebar format on occasion and appeared to be free of errors. The sidebars are used for internal references, stats, external references and other relevant notes. There are a lot of colour illustrations, up to full page in size, and all are custom; as mentioned earlier, there is a dearth of technologically-modified dinosaur illustrations in dinosaur books.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Predation and other Cypher System games is the use of companions; essentially a second character for every player, and each player does not play their own companion. They are kind of hirelings with a mind of their own, and hirelings that may do something annoying, as GM intrusions can have companions do unwanted things. Not every group is likely to want this, as not only is it extra effort to play, but it’s also something that could be disruptive.
In other ways, Predation is a fairly standard high-tech game, albeit in a low-tech setting. Perhaps similar to a futuristic game based around a colony on a new world, but a world that no-one can leave. The potential problems with time travel are dealt with quite simply; it broke and can no longer be used. Trying to fix, or trying to stop it from being fixed, time travel can add a lot of adventure seeds to the game. Whether or not characters’ actions have any effect 65 million years down the line isn’t known, and may well depend on what sort of time travel is being used. Also, it largely doesn’t matter. This setting should have at least some appeal to anyone who has ever wanted to play around with dinosaurs. Especially if those dinosaurs can wield weapons. Predation can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply