This manages to explain an awful lot in just a handful of sentences - even if your exposure to Judge Dredd is minimal you should be able to pick up on the general gist of the setting, as well as understand the rules you'll need to play - or GM - the adventure presented here. As expected, the rules here are a cut-down version of the final rules, but as I haven't seen those yet I cannot say how the play experience differs from the full ruleset. However it does state that special ablities called Exploits are not used here, although a few sample ones are given if you want to give them a go. It appears that to accomplish something you'll need to roll a handful of d6s, the number based on your skill and the relevant attribute. Combat is much the same, and is explained clearly.
Four pre-generated characters are provided, all Street Judges. A note explains that the core rulebook provides for playing civilians and perps as well as Judges, should you harbour such ambitions. The adventure is written so as to be played with any of these options, although if you are using the pre-gens you will have to default to the Judge option. Basically, a Judge was killed recently in the Empire State Building and the adventure deals with the aftermath: as Judges the aim is, of course, to bring justice to the perps responsible. The adventure is well constructed and exciting, although it will run best if you are thoroughly familiar with it before play starts.
The floorplans are a bit cramped. Apart from one or two principal NPCs, all the 'foe' stats are at the end rather than where they are ecountered in the module - it might have been worth adding some bookmarks to make them easier to find in the heat of the moment.
Overall, though, this gives a good impression of a game that has captured the spirit and flavour of Judge Dredd; and which should prove enjoyable to play. If a Quickstart leaves you looking forward to seeing the full game, it has done its job... and this one has!
Return to Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000AD: Quickstart page.
Reviewed: 8October 2018
