Fallen Justice, RPG

Fallen Justice is an OSR inspired RPG where you get to play the part of a vigilante, not a super hero, but a real person who's willing to put two-fisted justice into the gaps left by the officaldom.

I picked up the 84 page PDF from DriveThru and I have to say, I'm impressed with it. The comic book style art on the cover is used throughout the book and creates a ambiance of the gritty violent bloody mood the game presents. This mood is supported by the included fiction extract, that features blood and teeth shooting everywhere as fists, bats, and bullets take down the bad guys.

Being a OSR game is has the expected standard six stats from every OSR game, but has an additional one called "Infamy" which represents the notoriety of the PCs vigilante character. 

Characters also have to track Stress that the PC encounters. This is important to the game play, as increasing stress pushes the character towards their "Breaking Point". If the PC breaks through the break Point they pick up a behavioural trait, which might be have a Mindless Rage, or turning to substance abuse.  In this way the Stress can become a kind of "Alignment".

Your character can be one of ten classes, including "The Crusader" who's out to clean the streets, and "The Marksman" who uses guns over fists. Each class has a number of special abilities , for instance "The Colossus" class has a "Granite Chin" that can turn critical hits suffered into normal hits. 

For money the system uses $, but I found the various costs of the hero-equipment were really cheap. Only by reading further into the rules did it become clear that this is not real world money prices. For instance if your PC were to take a hit-job from one underworld criminal to hit another the fee would likely be in the many thousands. But that kind of money would allow you to buy up all the game equipment. So if you are refereeing a game keep this in mind, and the money supply low.

This game is gritty. You play the part of someone who's been wronged, badly wronged, and the justice system has failed. Your character is driven by a revenge motive that will likely evolve into a desire to clean up everyone out there doing wrong. Play should include lots of descriptive play, When you smack an NPC with a baseball bat, make sure all the players know what it sounds like. Keep it visceral and unpleasant and you'll be on-target for the mood the game wants you to have. I liked everything I read in this book, it was on-target and meaningful.