Legacy: Life Among The Ruins

Worlds of Legacy

by Jay Iles, Tithi Luadthong (Illustrator), Douglas Santana Mota

Legacy: Life Among the Ruins is a tabletop roleplaying game about the survivors of a reality-twisting apocalypse, the families they form, and the new world they will create as the ages turn. Craft characters and families, head out into the wasteland and create true, lasting changes in the world. With cutting-edge rules, a highly flexible multi-generational system, and more than a dozen character playbooks to choose from, Legacy has everything you need to start playing.

Game system is based on Apocalypse World by D. Vincent Baker

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2015

Reviews

[Petr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not know Apocalypse, and therefore Legacy struck me by surprise. Firstly it combines two perspectives on the world, one close personal and a global view of the organisation the player characters are part of. Secondly, the rules are (as an Apocalypse based game) of a peculiar form - they give the game master hooks to play the game, focus more on storytelling aspects and put the story and scenes on some narrative scaffolding. This presents the game in a novel way with no clear delimitation of rules and the world, they both are interwoven, where the setting determines the events and hooks and thus the rules.

I found it helpful that the example of play is followed by questions that force the new players to think about alternative situations to those presented in the example and thus think more in-depth about the Legacy game system. Similarly, every rule explanation is usually followed by a short example of play. As a preparatory part of the game, I also appreciate the clear division of playbooks into three groups of various types of settings (roughly lower tech, higher tech and weird tech) that also helps to create a game fast and start exploring.

And the art of Tithi Luadthong hits all the right tones with me. It sketches the setting, gives the mood but does not drown your imagination in too many details. Just great for this setting.

I am genuinely looking forward to my first game of Legacy, and I am happy I got the chance to learn about this system.

[Jim Sensenbrenner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on reading only. A well developed PbtA game. The multigenerational aspect looks good and could be a good addition to Sagas of the Icelanders. The rules might be a little too sparse to be able to run it well without being familiar with other PbtA games.

[Caleb M. Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best role-playing games I've read in a while, and the first one since Burning Wheel that has gotten me so excited to tell stories in the setting. Such interesting mechanics that seem to push story along in so many evocative directions.

[Benjamin]

In his intro to Shadow of the Demon Lord, game designer Robert Schwalb writes about how he decided to put everything he loved into that book. In a different world, I wrote the same thing in an introduction to Legacy: Life Among the Ruins. (Also in that world, I wrote this game, I guess.)

It is apocalyptic, which is not my jam, but it's very much about building back up from apocalypse. So, yes, you can play scavengers and remnants of the lost world, but also, you play as the groups that are trying to build something; and when your character dies, their death may impact the community and time moves on, and you can start a new character.

This is a Powered by the Apocalypse game, which is where every character has a set of moves they can make, some shared and some particular to their character type. (I do love that, while the game does of course have a "fight" move, there's also a move called "deescalate," where you can try to lower the temperature of a confrontation.) But since there are character moves and family moves, the game does start to feel a little fiddly for my taste -- not that I don't want to play it, but maybe I'd like a computer game version of it.

The book is also a bit of a toolkit for what sort of post-apocalypse you want, but a lot of this edition is given over to different groups and character types that seem to dictate what sort of world you would play in (if you want to use them -- some of them are contradictory, maybe, so you couldn't play with all... or could you?).

This was another Austin Public Library book, another big mystery in their RPG collection. That's it, I have to figure out how to get a librarian on the phone.

[Roque Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I just read the second edition but can't find it round here)
An interesting and inspiring PBTA roleplaying game open to lots of possible post apocalyptic scenarios (Be these Mad Max like, Battlestar Galactica or Avatar, to name a few) to play with/in with the added bonuses of (each player) playing a different family during different ages and using a zoom in and zoom out mechanic for playing more regular adventures in each generation, taking the role of the family champion.
The world is still full of threats and wonders and you will have to work with or against the other players families to see if yours can survive after the end days...
It is a little more complex than other Powered by the Apocalypse games but since it is designed to play big scope sagas, some mechanics and small pieces to keep the fiction going are understandable.

[Tommaso DeBenetti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty of potential on paper but it requires a very dedicated group, and I believe this to be fairly impossible to play without constantly checking the rulebook for moves and procedures. Not exactly the best way to play imho.

[Arthur B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tighter, superior version of Legacy, and a better Powered By the Apocalypse-fuelled post-apocalyptic game than Apocalypse World itself. Game line overview: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...

[Arthur B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good first pass at the concept, largely supplanted by the superior 2nd edition. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...