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As a fan of the original setting and concept (but not the original game system--more on that below), I will confess that I was apprehensive about the new edition. Many fans went about doing their own in-house updates in the '90s and, in my opinion, went too far. Stripping away the feel and unique look of the Project just makes the game into another paramilitary shooting gallery. We have plenty of those already.
However, my fears turned out to be mostly ungrounded. While the setting has been updated vis-a-vis when and how the world ends, and there are enough Glocks and M-4s to make folks who learned about firearms from video games happy, the classic (I guess we'd call it 'retro' these days) feel of the game as been preserved. Indeed, it has even been nurtured, since while equipment from the 1990s and 2000s is available, you might choose to run a player group that was recruited and frozen in the 70s or 80s, with the kind of stuff that is familiar or old-school players such as myself and gives the setting its unique feel.
Previous reviewers has opined that nothing is new. One can only presume that they either didn't read the new book, or have never read the old one. Here's some of what IS new:
Equipment: From post 1980s firearms or Humvees, there's enough new gear to make your character visually indistinguishable from a modern-day soldier just back from Iraq, if that's what you want to do. Most of the old stuff is still there, as well, for those who prefer the classic feel. Some of the original gear, however, either had some changes to make it more realistic or simply didn't make the cut (no more man-portable lasers and backpack fusion packs).
Timeline: TEOTWAWKI has been moved back to 2019. So while it is still "just around the corner", there's no reason for players to have to pretend they remember or even ever knew anything about the 80s. Also, rather than the simple nuclear Armageddon, there's another twist that helps to wipe out the world. But the most important update is:
The Game System: The original Morrow Project didn't really have a system for roleplaying. It was a set of skirmish rules. They later tried to graft on a Chaosium/Call of Cthulhu skill system, but it never really worked. This edition has an integrated task resolution system that is used for everything. Combat, social combat, and static skill checks use the same mechanic. The "Degrees of Success" system is so freaking elegant, I really wonder why no published RPG has thought of it before.
Character generation is likewise streamlined, and includes a point-buy method so that players who are obsessive about having characters be balanced can be mollified.
Combat is just as deadly as in the original. This is one of the things I was worried about. The original game was gritty. Gunplay was avoided wherever possible because getting shot probably meant a character death. It almost certainly meant a character retirement. Thankfully, this is still the case. It is also still crunchy as heck. That's a good thing in my book, but if you prefer a more rules-light approach, then this may not be for you.
There are some things I don't care for, but the bulk of those are of the "the new canon isn't the way I've been running the game for the last thirty years". That's fine. I still remember how to ignore things I don't like.
Two things that are empirically substandard however are the layout and proofreading. Typos are rampant, and information that should be presented together (or at least in proximal sidebars) sometimes requires flipping forward or back to a different chapter. This is something that can be corrected over time, and given the overall quality of the writing, I'd not be shocked at all if it is already corrected and just awaiting republishing (hopefully in the upcoming version that includes the pdf metadata).
In summary, this is the edition we've waited two decades for. It doesn't disappoint (at least not in any substantial way).
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