Dustbound (PocketQuest 2024) is a role playing game written and published by Calamity Punk Publishing.
The supplement is available as a 25 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front matter and half the Credits.
The Newcomers Guide starts with some details on the world. The essentials are that the world is post-apocalyptic in nature and that the characters play a crew who ride the rails. There are some details on the old world and on the Order of the Rail, which was given the knowledge to build trains. Peoples of the Shattermark gives details on the four peoples of the setting; Humans, Skragg, massive humanoids with tusks, Ghrole, humanoid mole people, and CaSI, androids from the Time Before. Money explains that water is money, and the Watermark is a paper representation of that, with a list of Watermark denominations.
The Basics is on how to play. The Gamble is a way of resolving things that can’t be done easily based on background and class. 2d6 is rolled in such cases, with 7 and 11 being success, 4-6 and 8-10 being even break and 2-3 and 12 being failure. Grit and Stamina are pools of Pips exhausted by even breaks and failure, with Grit used for challenges on the train and Stamina for those in cities and outposts. The rolls are explained in more detail.
Full Press is an ability unique to a class that is unlocked by rolling an 11 during The Gamble. This ability can be used when that happens, and only one Full Press can be used at a time. If another player fails a roll during The Gamble, the Double Down allows them to roll again; an 11 means both unlock Full Press but failure means both lose two Grit.
Character Creation goes through this. The party has to choose their clan from three, then work with the Conductor (GM) to help design their train’s Conductor NPC who will drive and maintain their Holy Engine. Ther character’s race is then chosen; each clan has two races that are in it. Next is the class and then the inventory. Following this is the character sheet.
The three clans, the Sawdusters, the Forgotten and the Rockgnaws are then described. Each has details on one of the races, excluding humans, along with some on the clan and some important locations they control.
The Classes then covers these. Each has a Full Press, a class ability and three upgrades for a specific train car. The Six-Shooter has the Armory Car, the Gambler the Casino Car, the Gearhead the Caboose Car, the Demolitionist the Explosives Car, the Socialite the Dining Car and the Scoundrel the Steerage Car.
Character Progression looks at upgrading cars and the cost of this.
Running the Game is the GM’s section. It explains that the Conductor wants the characters to win, looks at Spittin’ in the Wind, when characters try something that’s technically impossible and what they would need and Loaded Dice, which the GM gives out and which can be used to increase a Gamble roll by 1. It then looks at setting the pace, the phases of the game and how to build a heist (adventure), along with difficulties.
Following this are some costs for equipment, adventure ideas and lore references, and a half page map.
Dustbound (PocketQuest 2024) in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of stock sepia illustrations, as well as some custom ones that may have a degree of colour and the entire supplement is laid out like an old newspaper. Presentation is good.
This is quite a simple game, with little in the way of rules, and a surprising amount of setting detail. It’s essentially a Wild West game, but in a post-apocalyptic setting; other than that, it has many of the kinds of things that would have been seen in that era. The GM will naturally need to come up with some adventures as there aren’t any included, but this is a decent game, given that it can be got for free. Dustbound (PocketQuest 2024) can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply