Rochester Gamers Community

Contagion is a horror genre role-playing system available from Aegis Studios (www.aegisstudios.net). Or, as Travis Legge, Contagion developer, shared with us in an interview:

“Contagion is a game of Celestial horror in a modern world. On the surface it looks just like the real world, but in the shadows, the forces of Heaven and Hell fight a secret war for the souls of humanity. Demons use Hellspawn, their monstrous servants to torment mankind, while God relies on Slayers as warriors chosen from mankind and faithful Clergy to heal the wounds of battle. When normal folks find out about the War, they must either try to lay low and avoid the conflict, which is unlikely, or choose a side.”

Contagion uses the Open Game License from Wizards of the Coast. So anyone familiar with D20 is well on their way to knowing the Contagion system. The information I am presenting covers a combination of things from the core book and the Virulence sourcebook for the Contagion system. So let’s take a look at what makes Contagion tick.

The System

As I stated above, Contagion is a D20 based game. Like most Open Game License games, it does take the system and tweak it to fit the genre. Contagion is no different and the tweaks work. For those familiar with D20, the learning curve is going to be marginal. A lot of the feats, skills, and spells are imports from Dungeons & Dragons or Modern D20. This makes them instantly recognizable and if you know what they do in the other systems, you pretty much know what they do here.

The Races

Contagion offers players and gamemasters a fair amount of races to choose from; more than you might expect in a modern day setting. Angel, Demon, Dhampir, Drow, Elf, Goblin, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Human, Orc, Vampire, and Werewolf are all available races. One of the first questions I get asked is what do you get for being Human. Unlike in D&D there are no special bonuses assigned to the race of Human. Of course some of the more interesting classes are only available to a Human, so that is a potential bonus to playing a Human.

Do not expect to already understand what each of the races above are just by the name. For instance, the Elf has undergone a bit of a transformation being under a demonic curse to never die but to also never sleep. Most Elves wish they could end their eternal insomnia but have a deep aversion to death.

Personally, I leave most of the fantasy type races out of my game, but they are there to check out. I also recently noticed that the races presented in Virulence (besides Angels and Demons) did not get a decent write up as to why they are available (like the demonic curse background of the Elves) and that is too bad. I would like to know a bit more about the Contagion twist for these other races, even if I normally do not use them. (Edit: I have been informed that the History section in the front of the Virulence book gives details on the added races, a section I tend to gloss over and not use.)

The Classes

The class names have been changed (and are not necessarily direct imports either) but you can find a familiar niche if you look hard enough. The core classes are: Arcane Student, Bruiser, Bystander, Casanova, Clergy, Infernalist, Pagan, Rake, Scientist, Slayer, and Vagrant.

The Arcane Student is a student of magic. They are not necessarily spellcasters (but have the ability to learn spells, although it takes them a bit longer to do so) but they do thrive in the research of the arcane and eventually in ritual magic. Eventually Arcane Students also get the ability to create Wards, which makes them an invaluable part of any team.

The Bruiser is pretty much your warrior/street brawler. They are not necessarily the nicest people, but they get the job done – usually messily.

A Bystander is your average citizen that got caught up in the War and now has to figure out how to deal with the information. They may not be able to turn Undead, but when it comes time to put skills to use, this is the go to person. The Bystander is also a nice way to start a possible game. Make everyone start as a 1st level Bystander and once they know about the War they can choose which route to take.

The Casanova class gets the job done through seduction and trickery. The opposite sex is putty in their hands. Not a bad class to have on the team (as my players found out during the first session).

The Clergy are your Cleric equivalents. They do not have to be directly involved with the church (priest, etc…); they just have to have a lot of faith. Clergy can turn undead and receive divine spellcasting.

The Pagan are close to your Druid class; modern day Wiccans. They believe they get their powers from other deities and not God. The reality tends to be that they do get divine assistance (Why allow them to think otherwise? Who are you to judge God’s plan!) or demonic assistance trying to feed the idea that there are other deities to worship. Pagans have the ability to Rebuke or Control Undead and can cast spells.

The Infernalist cannot feign the same ignorance about where their powers come from. They have fully cast their lot with the demonic forces in order to gain the power they possess. In exchange for their supplication to demonic forces, the Infernalist is granted the ability to cast spells.

The Rake is your modern day Thief class. With the ability to detect traps and a sneak attack (which gets put to good use in our campaign) you will find the Rake a familiar class that you will enjoy.

The Slayer is a cross between a Paladin and a Ranger. While they do not get the ability to cast spells, Slayers do have the ability to detect the supernatural, some supernatural resistance, and eventually start picking favored enemies. The Slayer is the chosen warrior of Heaven; created in retaliation the increasing Hellspawn forces.

Finally we come to the Vagrant class. On the surface a lot of people gloss over the Vagrant. For the most part the Vagrant class represents the homeless or downtrodden individuals; or possibly a drifter. These are the people that have more than likely been directly affected by the Hellspawn. The castoffs of society made a nice playground for the Hellspawn while bringing little to no attention to themselves over the years. But now the Vagrants are banding together and fighting back.

Those are the core classes. Contagion also contains several Advanced and Prestige classes for use later in the game as well. All in all it is a good mix with some familiar ideas that should not take players too long to get use to.

Overall Impressions

I really enjoy Contagion and it is the RPG that brought me out of a 10+ year stint of GM retirement. The game flows really well and the source material is great. Plus Aegis Studios is working on some great material to come out in the near future. They also have put out a few free adventure seed scenarios to help the GM slide in to running a game.

As of right now, 9 RGC members (including myself as GM) are playing in a monthly Contagion game that takes place right after the monthly convention planning meeting. So instead of just hearing what I have to say about the game, I invited them to share their thoughts on the game system as well.

Contagion is an excellent game. Like all good RPG's it gives you mainly guidelines and the opportunity to tinker around with it. The imagination for the war of good vs. evil and the story you can make of it is quite intriguing. All in all I give it a 9.8 of 10. Micre - playing a Human Bruiser with no knowledge of the War prior to the first session.

My initial reaction to Contagion was, "great, another modern day gothic horror RPG. Just what gaming needs. At least this one is D20, so if I like something I can import it into a game I tend to like."

Well, I'm happy to report that was a shortsighted opinion to say the least. The game is thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. There seems to be a balance between the classes and races, or where there isn't there is a reason (Humans who think they can take out vampires deserve what they get, unless they're particularly well trained and armed).

The game plays smoothly, and the D20 aspect makes combat much more streamlined, as many players are already familiar with the system. The classic good vs. evil struggles are fought over and over, although sometimes they are in the mind of the individual rather than angels vs. demons. It makes for an interesting foray into the world of horror.

In general, it’s a fun game that I'd gladly spend my time on, presuming I have more of it to spend. Schwade – About to join the monthly game, but played Contagion at an after hours event we had at Con of the North.

If you've ever wanted to play in a Buffy/Angel style universe, this is it. Demons, Vampires, and others live in a modern world where you can play the most CLUELESS human who has never heard a thing and you will fit right in to the universe. And since it is modern times, you can use MODERN jokes without leaving the role play. I frakking LOVE it! Medron Pryde – Playing a Human Arcane Student with limited knowledge of ‘real world’ supernatural practices.