The Hour is Late

Midnight is my new favourite setting for D&D. It stands above all others for it’s sheer level of gritty and grim flavour.
I’ve used the term, it’s like Lord of the Rings, when describing it to other players, only that the bad guy has won. And that’s not an entirely untruthful statement.
In Midnight you have a god of evil, Izrador, who was kicked out of Heaven. He fell to earth (Aryth) and in doing so, he trapped the world in a shell. There is no planar travel in Midnight because of this. And this has all sorts of ramifications.
First, there are no clerics, so quick healing is a thing of the past. Well, that’s not true. See there IS one god who is still listening to the prayers of the faithful. Only problem is, he’s the big bad guy who’s enslaved the world.
Second, did I just mention the enslaving the world? Because the terrible god has WON. Well, almost won. His victory is a sure bet. He’s beaten the humans and is mopping up the dwarves and is trying to figure out a way into the defences of the elves. The world is pretty much in dire straights. The humans are ‘occupied’ but they give a hidden token resistance. But the armies of the Shadow (Izrador) aren’t stupid. Well the orcs might be. But the clerics, called Legates, are cunning. Killing the people who act against you makes them a martyr. So you kill all the innocent people around that rebel. You outlaw weapons and travel and all sorts of regular things that other D&D groups take for granted.
Third: Since you’ve revamped how clerics work, you might as well revamp Wizards/Sorcerers. They are know called Channelers and they summon spell energy, mostly from themselves but sometimes from a magic rich area. They use that spell energy to fuel their spells. Quite simply really. But they also greatly limited combat spells. Does that make Channelers useless? Not really. Since magic is so rare, there are few defences against it, other than a lucky saving throw. But now trivial spells like Obscuring Mist and Ghost Sound become huge because the common man (good or evil) doesn’t really know how to deal with arcane things like that.
Fourth: Since there is no planar travel, they could cut out a lot of weird things and spells that circumvent adventures, such as teleporting and the like.
Fifth: Since there is no planar travel, death becomes quite the problem. No where for spirits to go you see. Thus…the dead will often rise. These dead are well constructed, remaining human at first, but quickly devolving into…well…zombie horror. Called the Fell, a GM can use this to great effect. Friends who are ‘wounded’ in combat who hide that they were killed. A zombie apocalypse style game. A lot is possible here.

There are other retooling to how the world works. The main book is quite detailed and gives you lots to work with, although a new campaign can be a little daunting.
But a player recently mentioned, it’s not like Lord of the Rings. It’s much darker. I hadn’t considered that but I realized, that he’s correct. Lord of the Rings, more so, in my opinion, is like the Aliens of the fantasy story. It’s an intense, we’re all gonna die around that next corner, how are we gonna get out of this story. The heroes are up against insurmountable odds. Sauron, if they ever met him, would be unstoppable (which technically he isn’t cuz if you read some of the other works, he started as a 2nd rate chump and he did technically get ‘pwned’ by a human in one of his first outings). Still Sauron is given the appearance that he is pure and inevitable evil.
But as much as LotR’s is about the grim struggle against evil, it’s also about great hope. There are huge stirring speeches, the heroes are some of the toughest beings on the planet and they have many allies.
Midnight, therefore, is like LotR’s but without the hope. It’s a world of despair. It’s much easier to lie down and let the forces of Shadow just abuse your life and those around you. You rise up for your own reasons, but a good GM will not make your life easy.
Since it’s become my favourite D&D setting, I’m very disappointed that the company that created it, Fantasy Flight Games, has seemingly ditched it. There is no mention of it on their new website and no more forum. I think that they still try to sell the books.
I get it. Midnight was no longer selling. It hadn’t sold well in general, I suspect, but it did manage to get FFG’s foot in the door. But it gave them a name. People who read it must have at least been impressed with it and would consider other games from FFG.
It’s a shame but I guess these things happen. Settings only have so much time to be profitable it seems. You either have to keep the setting alive with lots of supplements to keep it fresh or ditch it. But I guess to no longer even mention it on their website or not to give it a shrine, I guess it just hits me, as a hopeful game designer. That all things will come to pass. It’s like trying to watch Babylon 5 again. It was a great show in it’s day. But all things have an energy to them. A life that we as the consumer/audience gives it. Therefore, when it’s current, there is a level of excitement that is palpable. When it’s old, very rarely is there anybody around to discuss it and few are eager to marvel over it again. So sadly, I must concede that Midnight has lost its newness. I guess it’s just odd because I only just discovered it and started running it. But there are no nerds with which to ‘get my nerd on’ with.
Maybe, I’ll have to start up the Dead Role Playing Society. We can dress up, gather once a month eating finger food and bring a game of the past that is dear to our heart for discussion. Maybe…