I want to make it clear that this review is based on an initial, and not overly in-depth reading. I think its still valid but read it in that context.

Zombie Squad is a splendid idea and a decent setting. Unfortunately, I think there may have been a bit too much of the mindset of other systems used for the setting (PbtA and D20 respectively) brought to the Savage Worlds version.

Not only does this mean the game is desperately trying to force Savage Worlds to behave like a class system (which it pretty avowedly isn't), its also set-up so some things turn into traps or intelligence tests that may have been sequestered away in classes or PbtA playbooks in the other version. As an example, in one of the early parts of character generation, you get a choice of one of several possible backgrounds, each of which provides a free bonus. But the bonuses vary pretty wildly in value, from +2 skill bonuses to narrow applications of a skill, +2 bonuses to whole skills, to other abilities comparable to full Edges (or, indeed, getting Edges themselves). Now, SW is hardly lacking in good and bad choices, but a number of these things are a bit more extreme than you'd normally see in a Savage setting, and I think it can be traced back to not really thinking in terms of what SW basically is--a relatively light and slightly (but only slightly) constrained build and advancement system. Bringing a class/playbook mindset to it really just doesn't work well.

Its unfortunate, as the idea of playing the Dirty Dozen in space is a cool one, and one I'm surprised nobody had thought of before. But as it is, I don't think I can say the Savage Worlds version sticks the landing.

Up front here, I was a backer on Kickstarter for this game; that was because it looked like a new approach to a genre I'm quite fond of.

I had no idea.

Red Markets is a game set in the aftermath of an incomplete (as in it didn't completely destroy the world, though it seriously harmed it). Players are groups of what are called "Takers", outcast humans living in small post-apocalypse communities doing jobs for the main American culture out in the areas not controlled by said culture. The game is focused on the costs you pay to get by, with the setting as a basis to show that even in utterly horrific situations, people find a way to live, and try to thrive--and how they can fail even with good capability and drive.

I'm not going to try to assess the mechanics because I've not actually played the game, so it'd be only abstract evaluation. It seems at the least functional, and potentially well supporting the theme.

What I do want to mention is how astonishingly good the game writing and world-building is, though. Much of the setting is described though the eyes of two NPCs who give briefings for new people starting out their careers (such as they are) as Takers. They have very distinct and compelling voices, and manage to be evocative about the world, sometimes in how they describe things as much as what they tell you about them. In particular, the section discussing the scientific attempts to analyze the zombie contagion and the limits of what they've found about it manage to convey a subtle Lovecraftian tone to the organism without ever spelling that out.

My own opinion is that Red Markets is probably one of the two or three best zombie RPGs I've ever seen, and probably has the most to bring to people who, well, don't really like zombies that much.

Its easily one of the best games I've ever read. Even though I probably will never get an opportunity to play it, I am very glad I backed it.

I genuinely hate to post this in some ways, as I consider the Super Villain Handbook Deluxe Edition itself a great piece of work. Unfortunately, I can't feel the same about the M&M conversion pack.

The problem is that either Jason Tondro doesn't have a really good grasp of the system, or he wasn't paying attention to his own characterization of some of the characters when he did the conversion; perhaps he assumed some things you can get by with in Icons would also work in M&M.

They don't.

Before anyone takes issue with what I'm about to say, I know that not all supervillains need to be evenly set at PL; some are behind the scene masterminds, or are set up so a combat against them isn't really supposed to be at all balanced to their benefit. The particular characters I am about to discuss are indicated as not being like this, however. And as the numbers in the M&M conversion go, some of them would be hard pressed to survive more than a round or two against even a single superhero of the power one would think they're intended to go up against.

A couple of standout examples:

Muezzin is set up so he's got an ability that lets him blend into crowds, but the text at the start of his entry indicates that he should be able to "hold his own against most hero groups." The problem with this is that while he's got a perfectly reasonable offensive capability (a rank 12 area damage power in addition to a rank 12 single target one and a a similar powered Affliction, both with an attack value of +10), his defensive abilities are nearly nonexistant; he's got a Dodge and Parry of 8 and a Toughness of +3. That not only won't stop any even halfway serious super, it won't even reliably fend off a couple of cops or two. If he was entirely a stealth attacker, that might be workable, but after a single attack his presence will be revealed and he has no good way to go to ground again.

A similar problem occurs with Cardinal Sin. Though Sin is supposed to mostly be a behind-the-scenes type, the first sentence of his entry mentions that though he throws minions at them first, he should be able to hold his own against a group of PL 10 heroes. Yet he has a Dodge and Parry of 6 and a Toughness of +4. He doesn't even have Muezzin's area effect to try and hope he can flatten his opposition quick.

Frankly, I'd be astonished if either of these characters lasted a single round once combat began with a set of PL 10 opponents.

While these are particularly unfortunate cases, they aren't the only cases of characters who really aren't built to be able to serve the functions they avowedly should serve. It seems like it was assumed in the Foreman's write-up that a hero group will contain no one who uses energy attacks, as while he's quite resistant to physical attacks, an energy attacker could put him down relatively easily. Yes he's supposed to be a character that challenges characters to have to find another way of defeating him, where one energy controller or mystic will make that moot.

To be clear, not every conversion suffers from these problems. For his PL, the Raptor is not badly designed (though a bit under-offensed) and Montana seems capable of holding her own. But enough of the characters are seriously underdefended that I suspect most users will simply need to rewrite them to be functional--and if you're going to do that, you might as well do the conversion yourself from the Icons book.

As I said, the best I can assume is that Mr.Tondro doesn't thoroughly have a feel for how combat situations in M&M work, and has carried over assumptions from Icon that just don't port over properly.