Dogs of WAR is an '80s action & adventure setting book for the author's Everywhen system.
Inspired by movies from Blue Thunder to True Lies, TV shows from Airwolf to Tour of Duty, and various other media, the supplement gives players and GMs plenty to work from in building up an adventure.
I had previously picked up the older version of Dogs of WAR and thought this one was a standalone upgrade to that, but this book does require that you purchse Everywhen. Everywhen is a simple and effective RPG in its own right, and is worth checking out. The core mechanic is very simple to understand.
Back to Dogs of WAR, the character creation summary/overview in this book is much appreciated and, in my opinion, accelerates the process of getting a game up and running.
The author includes plenty of examples, tips, and contextual information where appropriate, which is also helpful.
The default setting and group identity seems pretty optional--your characters can be "war dogs" without being Dogs of WAR, in other words.
There are tons of career specializations, backgrounds, and other characterization tools in the book which are very welcome. "Cleaner" was one specialization that I'd forgotten about, from all those old spy action movies. It was nice to see these little details in the book.
Regarding equipment and weaponry, the author clearly tried to walk a fine line--on the one hand, yes, your character can automatically have the gun or gadget you want them to have. Done. On the other hand, you want a weapons table, right? OK, here you go--there are some additional details given for a variety of weapons.
Vehicles are included as well. Even a gyrocopter for Cmdr. Bond.
Setting and Sample Missions: The provided setting details are helpful and the sample missions offer a lot of variety.
While each setting is accompanied by an illustration, one thing I'd love to see in future books is a simple map or two. For example, a rough map of the area around the Nazi U-boat, or a basic plan of the Daniel Streib building or Stony Mountain Facility. Still, it might be fun for a GM to draw these out.
Finally, Alternative Settings are offered which, while not super-detailed, give some idea of the versatility of the setting. For example, "The Tomorrow Project" references Twilight:2000 and The Morrow Project RPG and gives some rough idea to seed one's imagination with a basic setting and world. It's nothing very detailed but it's really well-appreciated by those of us who spent time in those fictional worlds in the past.
Just a quick note: In the Everywhen core book, the author provides directions for using different dice, to the player's taste. For example, while the regular mechanic is based on 2d6, you can use 3d6 or 2d10 or 2d12 and consult a simple table to see the equivalent failure/success target numbers. I thought this was a really nice addition.
To summarize: If you like the setting, the book is well worth the cost. The Everywhen RPG core book is worth picking up as well (and necessary to play this setting book) and it also rounds out the Dogs of WAR setting--is your simple patrol boat not enough? Turn to Everywhen and outfit your Akula class sub! Etc.
I'd like to thank the author, Simon, for publishing this book and look forward to exploring the system more.
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