Well the wait is finally over. After what seems like an eternity of waiting, Target Games have just finally released the long awaited second edition of the excellent roleplaying system ‘Mutant Chronicles’.

So why a second edition? Well the original system was full of inaccuracies and mistakes and a second edition is one way of correcting them. But it’s a lot more than that, much more in fact! Backgrounds have been expanded, new weapons added, and more insight to the deadly forces of the Dark Legion than before.

The first thing you notice when you open up a copy of Mutant Chronicles 2^nd Edition is perhaps the format. Instead of sticking with the old format that was in the original system, Target have quite rightly opted for a format that matches all of its highly successful Warzone series of books. Printed on high quality paper, with over fifty of its 234 pages being in full color, the entire layout screams to be read.

Once again Target have taken some of the top sci-fi artists in the world and extracted some of the best illustration’s that I have ever seen in a roleplaying system by none. Artists such as Paul Bonner and Simon ‘the Biz’ Bisley provide some of this first class artwork, and Bonners’ giving some of his best work for Target to date.

The old system was a little hit and miss in places, with the character generation system being spilt over several chapters and being somewhat difficult to follow. All this has been sorted out now and the entire character generation system is all contained in a neat package, with separate chapters being devoted to combat and the Art, the magic system of the game. The character generation system itself has changed very little and players still choose and generate their characters in a very similar way to before.

The background in the game remains the same as before. Earth lies dying from too many wars and decades of pollution and misuse by its inhabitants. Mankind is forced to abandon the Earth and settle the inner planets Mercury, Venus, Mars and our own Luna (the moon). Governments are a thing of the past and consumerism is the real ruler of Mankind. Power is now split up between the Mega Corporations , Capital (American), Mishima (Asian), Imperial (British) and Bauhaus (German) and the newest of these Cybertronic.

Wars often flare out between the corporations and rivalry is the order of the day. Espionage is very common as the rivals try to find out what the others are working on, so to stamp on it (well partly at least) the Cartel was formed, consisting of the elite of all the corporations, and based on Luna. As if in fighting wasn’t enough, a new more sinister problem raised its ugly head when Imperial forces landed on the strange world that had entered our system without warning Nero.

From the moment the Imperial troops set foot on Nero they unknowingly awoke an ancient powerful nemesis for aeons of slumber. The Dark Legions stepped into our universe and brought with them death and destruction never before seen or heard of. Using insane black arts and magic the Dark Legions forces attacked at the very hub of humanity Luna.

One man saw that the Legions were coming. A prophet gifted with the Art (ESP) he drew the forces of the Mega Corporations together and stopped the petty squabbles and prepared them to face mankind’s greatest foe.

Now decades later, war still rages on. Mars is contested by Mishima and Capital with fights breaking out all the time. Venus the home of Bauhaus is the main target of the Dark Legion as they cant gain a foothold on Luna. Mercury is still the home to Mishima who fight long running battles in the planets millions of underground tunnels with Cybertronic and Capital forces.

Only Luna seems at peace. The ever-vigilant Brotherhood watches over the populace looking for signs of Heresy and stamping down on it with an iron glove.

Characters play Freelancers. Sought out by corporations to do work too risky or dirty, Freelancers are plentiful but life expectancy is short. The generation system is the same as before, as mentioned, and its worth noting that the latest Character Sheet is far superior, an aid itself in the generation processes.

Combat is very easy to get to grips with as is the magic system (the Art or Dark Symmetry in the case of the Dark Legion) and the system uses the standard dice conventions of most games and with very little work you can convert your characters to Warzone (See Warzone for details) allowing them to take part in large skirmish actions.

From the excerpts of the best selling comic book Golgotha (Simon the ‘Biz’ Bisley) to the full spread maps of Luna the largest city ever built. The entire book is one of intrigue and mystery and forces the reader to carry on a little further, engrossed with every passing paragraph.

Overall Mutant Chronicles 2^nd Edition is truly a game of Techno-Fantasy, well worthy of the wait and even if you have the original you must get this as it is truly one of the best systems available at the moment.

My many thanks go to Roger and all at Gamecraft UK for supplying me with the sample to review. 

Mutant Chronicles 2^nd Edition is available from all good game shops or direct from:

All images are © Target Games 97’ all rights reserved.