Review of Mondblindheit

In today`s post I will present you the review of the printed edition of Mondblindheit, first supplement of the role-playing game of alternate history and transhumanism Walküre (that I already had reviewed previously in this post of the blog) being one of the patrons.

The 130 pages of Mondblindheit extend the background of the game with the following contents:

Chapter 1: La Luna (The Moon)

This first chapter gives referees and players with a comprehensive description of the Moon, both from a geographical and physical point of view, and a guide of issues to consider to carry out a colonization process of our natural satelite, that's why authors address basic issues like the study of suitable locations to build a permanent base or which living conditions will have its inhabitants, with issues like feeding, to have a breathable atmosphere, effects of low gravity in human body or power requirements of settlements.

Chapter 2: Cronología de una conquista (Chronology of a conquest)

After this introduction the second chapter offers a chronology that, based in the historical events of the space race (with changes resulting from the game backgraund) extends the already existing one in the basic book whith events from first theoretical and practical developments by scientifics like Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard and Herman Potočnik in the 1920s decade to year 2075 with human bases in the Moon and Mars and the launch of the German space station Walküre.

Chapter 3: Bases (Stations)

The third chapter describes in detail bases present in the moon and the circumstances that have led to its existence by treaties such as the Trilateral Treaty of Lunar Colonization and Exploitation (TTLCE) signed in 2048 by all the powers with presence in the satelite and control by the League of Nations of the proliferation of weapons and offensive forces present in the region (although, as expected, it could not prevent all those involved to have repeatedly breached these agreements).

Areas of influence and bases of the powers that have divided the Moon divided are:

• Germany and its allies control the Mare Imbrium and the Sinus Iridium Mondbasis Reinhard Heydrich as the main base.
• Allies (mainly the United States) control the Mare Tranquilitatis and its main base is Tranquility Base.
• The Soviet Union and China have been established in Mare Nubium and its main base is Vostok Dong.
• Japan had been established at the foothills of the Promontorium Heraclides, at Sinus Iridum bay with Kaguya Hime as its main base
• League of Nations fundamentally controls the Mare Serenitatis with Lunar Spaceport Unison as its main base, although it also has a mandate to control nominally the rest of the lunar territory(which also includes the side not visible) and grant the necessary permissions to all nations and corporations who wish to build scientific or industrial bases or develop civilian projects.

When describing each of these settlements the following characteristics of them are released :

• The story of its construction.
• Its internal arrangement specifying the areas in which it is divided (civil, scientific, military, etc.).
• Their social and political structure.
• The police and military forces present in the base.
• A list of non-player characters described with all its playing stats so the referee can use them immediately in his adventures.
• Les bases secundàries que depenen de la principal.
• A set of ideas for adventures that we can develop as we see fit.

Annexes

Having said all the above annexes offer new equipment and vehicles that players can use as well as a list of secondary Non-Player Character types (policemen, mech pilots, special forces soldiers, etc.) to be used by referees according to their needs.

There's also the adventure Días Peligrosos (Gefährliche Tage or Dangerous Days), a clear tribute to the science fiction film Blade Runner (actually Dangerous Days was one of the titles that were initially considered for this movie) which links with the campaign Kontrolle Krise that Zonk PJ Demonio Sonriente, one of the authors of the game, is funding through Patreon.

Conclusions

And finally I can recommend Mondblindheit as an excellent supplement for all who like the science-fiction genre in role-playing games (indeed some aspects of the book reminded me of the movie Moon).

And since I've put the trailer of Moon, you also will be interested to know that NASA has made available to all interested parties a part of its films and graphic documents at Wikimedia Commons, Flickr and The Internet Archive under public domain, so you can use them to create aids for your adventures in the same manner as I made the video in teh introducion of this post.

This entry it's also available in the following languages:
Castellano Català