Let's Review: The Morrow Project (4th edition)

What is it?:

The Morrow Project is a post apocalyptic RPG produced by Timeline LTD with a long history, having been created several decades ago.

The setting:

Starting in the mid 1970's, a man named Edward Morrow collected a group of business leaders to begin planning for how to deal with an impending apocalyptic event. In the previous editions, the end of the world happened in 1989. But, since geopolitical situation on earth has changed a lot since then, the apocalypse was moved to the far off year of 2017. The creators seem to really love putting the end of the world “30 minutes into the future.”

The Morrow Project, in the game, is build around trying to help the world rebuild after everything has gone up in smoke. The plan was to train people to survive who had the skills that would be needed to help in that rebuilding. The plan was that they would be put in suspended animation until a few months or years after The End and been woken up by Prime Base as needed. Teams were broken down into several groups, but the most common were Recon, MARS, and Science teams. But things went wrong.

The teams wake up, seemingly at random, centuries after The End. The world is utterly different. And, in many ways, their mission is already a failure. But can still be a success. Some areas are led by warlords and despots, while others are led by good people. And that leads to conflict. With their “advanced” technology and knowledge, the members of the Morrow Project can turn the tide in favor of rationality and decency.

There is a larger metaplot, involving the destruction of Prime Base and the Warriors of Kreel. However, since all that takes place in the Midwest (like a lot of old post apocalypse RPGs), you don't have to include it. Instead, using the information provided in the book, you can work on where the missiles landed in your area then work out what happened to the area afterwards.

So, the setting is very much in your Project Director's hands. Beyond the basics given in the book, you can go wherever you want. Or use many of the older and newer premade adventures that have been released over the years.

The system:

The system is almost exactly the same as the original 3^rd edition one, just with some clarifications and slight changes. Which means it's very complex. And it uses the metric system for everything. Not something many Americans are intimately familiar with.

The system uses percentile dice for skills and d6 for rolling stats. Beyond that, it's all d100's from then on. With this expansion in the rules, it does make it much more clear how and when skills are used, how your stats effect them, and how to improve them. Coming from reading 3^rd edition, it is really nice.

Beyond that, the system is hideously complex. After you figure out your stats and skills, you have to work out the Structure Points for your body and the Blood Points you have. Lose all the SP in your hand? It's gone. Lose too many BP? You're bleeding out and that's Very Bad. While these are much easier to figure out, having switched to a clear chart instead of having you do the math for each part of your body yourself, it does not make combat and damage easier to deal with.

The obsession with detail continues with the combat. Each turn is 3.6 seconds. Not just three, not three and a half, but 3.6... I'll have to stop there because the math makes me head hurt...

The enhancements to the system have also given us a much clearer Luck system (yet another throwback). And they have greatly expanded the Psionics system. It makes much more sense and actually looks pretty cool.

One thing I think they missed, given the high lethality of the world and the rules, is how to make someone from the world of the future. I wouldn't have minded a simple appendix in the back with some guidelines. It might be there and I just missed it. However, it's still a good idea. I think they intended you to find another team and use them to refill the party. Or have everyone make another character and keep them as NPCs until your first character drops. While I usually don't like to kill off characters, this system doesn't help me prevent it.

Is it worth it?:

If you've been playing earlier editions of The Morrow Project, I strongly suggest picking this new edition up. There's a nice little conversion sheet in the back of the ook you can use to update the characters and the NPCs.

If you're brand new to roleplaying and tabletop, this isn't a good choice. I've talked a lot about how complicated the game is to run and play, so I wouldn't recommend it as it could put you off of the whole thing. Plus, the book is $40 ($50 for hardback).

Now, if you've been around the block a few times, and like post apocalypse games, this might be a “maybe.” You can get a PDF version and can use that to harvest the ideas for a different system.

To add a bit of summary, I'm mildly disappointed in this. I really wish they had done a whole new system, which is why I waited so long to buy this new version. I do like how much easier it is to understand and how much they've expanded the information they provide. I'm very conflicted about this as I love the idea of the game but have real trouble with the system. Maybe I'll try to run it myself in the future and see what happens.