{"id":2951,"date":"2021-09-20T17:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T00:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/?p=2951"},"modified":"2021-09-20T17:09:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T00:09:00","slug":"game-review-dwindle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/2021\/09\/game-review-dwindle.html","title":{"rendered":"Game Review: “Dwindle”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caro Asercion, 1-5+ players, 2-3 hours, $7.77<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u26ab\u26ab\u26ab\u26ab\u26aa\u00a0— Ease of Play
\n\u26ab\u26ab\u26ab\u26aa\u26aa\u00a0\u2013 Replayability
\n\u26ab\u26ab\u26ab\u26ab\u26aa\u00a0\u2013 Fun<\/p>\n

Dwindle is a self-contained indie RPG designed to let you run an “occult cyberpunk” scenario in the dying tech metropolis of Vector City.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dwindle cover art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VECTOR CITY used to gleam, its wireframe skylines shimmering against a perpetual pixel sunset. But the Vector’s heyday is long gone, and you \u2014 the ECHOES of this former metroscape \u2014 are left tending to the wreckage.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re no more special than any of the other stragglers stubborn enough to stick around; people here live hardscrabble lives full of risk and danger, and the difference between success and obliteration is as fickle as static in the wind. But without somebody to keep things running smoothly, it\u2019s only a matter of time before the ghosts and the glitches and the corporate bastards eat away at every last bit of data and render this husk of a city entirely unrecognizable.<\/p>\n

You won\u2019t let it disappear without a fight.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Written by Caro Asercion, the game does a quite decent job of letting you generate characters (it can be played GMless if you like) and develop a scenario. Characters and the city are seeded (randomly, if you wish) by tables with interesting people, gadgets, goals, and problems to guide game play. There’s enough there I suspect for a number of replays before things might to seem repetitive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
One of the tables to help you build your character. Using an item from your pocket adds a die to your roll.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dwindle’s most unique mechanic is its use of a grid to place seven dice into. The sum of dice for each row and column give you dice to roll for different actions\/attributes (with bonus dice for reputation or use of a trinket in your pocket) — the highest die rolled provides a range of success or failure for the group to interpret.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The digital grid. I can see that one row means I have a Hack (modify tech) of 1 die, and the other column means I have a Heed (awareness) of 2 dice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The trick is, those dice you rolled get removed from your grid, meaning, as the game name implies, your abilities and options dwindle<\/em> over time, until you reach a situation where the highest die you roll (or, if you are at 0 dice available, the lower of two dice) scores a 1, at which point you can replenish the grid in whatever way you like.<\/p>\n

It sounds a little complex, but it’s mechanically simple, esp. if you use the digital interface by Tim Busuttil.\u00a0 The main thing is figuring out when best to shoot big dice, realizing you’ll be seriously weakened until you can figure out how to replenish.<\/p>\n

The Good<\/strong><\/p>\n