Contamination Europe is 186 pages, the contents are 183 pages. 3 and a quarter pages are the table of contents , and the character sheet is 2 pages long.

The system uses a D30, which is quite unique. There is background art on practically all of the pages (which is ok), but a print friendly version would have been nice.

You will need six-sided, ten-sided and thirty sided dice to play the game. Page 44 and 46 lists a great many types of pouches for holding different types of equipment.

The equipment list states a great many items for your Character(s). German and Russian items are listed.

Is it worth purchasing? Yes. Even if you're not sure about the system mechanics, they're are
a great many ideas to mine here (base building, equipment items, etc).

Well worth a look.

I've run the introductory scenario from this game for a group of players and we enjoyed it and the group have said they will be happy for me to run more adventures in the future based on this system. That is a big plus for the game, as is the fact that most of the rules are simple and straightforward to use. The setting is post apocolyptic Germany is extremely well presented and gives many fascinating ideas for future campaigns. The system and setting is clearly inspired by various computer games, which isn't a bad thing, but it does seem that the system has been designed as a springboard for developing a computer game, which judging by the web is its current direction of travel, not as a fully formed pen and paper RPG. Key areas are missing, such as a movement rate, although that was easily factored in from another game system. There is no explanation of how the Doctor skill works or relates to the fact that you heal by eating food or taking medicines. Ambiguities exist elsewhere in whether you use an attribute or a skill to achieve something and there is no direct relationship between a character's attributes and their skills. I did a lot of tweaking of the rules before running the game session and afterwards decided on several more rule changes that are needed. That said I think the game is worth the effort. So don't buy if you expect something you can just run off the shelf but if you are happy to play with and adjust the rules till they suit you then there is a great game in here waiting to get out. And I look forward to the release of the computer game version.

The author did indeed rectify the editing issues and I have upgraded my rating to five stars. I'll leave the original review below, but I feel the presentation is 100% better.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I love Post Apocalyptic genre stories, games, movies, etc.. Several favorites of mine are Metro 2033 and Fallout 3. I've been gaming for 30 years and I love to see new games.

This is a Capsule, not an actual play review, so take that as you will.

Contamination Europe offers an atmospheric background for a post nuclear war environment in Europe. It uses levels, skills, attributes (Strength, Dexterity, etc.), feats/talents, hit points, etc. Armor absorbs damage. Weapons do a lot of damage vs how many hit points a character has. Health is regained via eating, drinking, bandaging, rest, and medicines. The author gives an encumbrance system in which the character has a certain number of belt, or easily accessible, slots in which to place equipment (and conversely, hard to reach spaces such as in a backpack).

The rules are easy to grasp (skill rolls are made on a d30, roll under your skill or attribute). Beginning skills can go no higher than 13, maxing out at 26 (same as attributes). There are modifiers that can apply (such as aiming).

If I were to run a Metro 2033 or Fallout 3 game I could definitely use Contamination Europe.

The Bad:

The Author's primary language is not English and it shows. By no means does this make it a bad game, but it really needs to be given to an English speaking editor. Some words are used incorrectly and it can jar one from the presentation (though you can figure it out). If this bothers you, it will really drive you nuts.

The weapons are presented in a list/table format. There really needs to be some explanation as to what these weapons are, possibly illustrations of some of them. There really are a lot of them and I am not familiar with European weapons. Same thing with armor. The pictures of several Panzer suits were cool. More of that would have been awesome.

Buy it?

Depends. I do not regret it, but I love picking up rules and AP stuff. The game is a more old school mindset. The price is right for what you get. I think the author can easily expand this into a really good game. It has the feeling of a game the author would themselves use and there is no pretentiousness in the writing.

If you like slick, newer style games, avoid this. You will not like it.

I post as Bloodwolf on rpgnet if anyone has further questions.