Yellow Dawn is a complete roleplaying game, set in a world gradually recovering from a terrible disaster. Civilisation exists in the Living Cities - walled enclaves surrounded by howling zombie hordes - and smaller settlements survive by daring and dangerous raids into the Dead Cities, looking for salvagable resources. With the fall of the old world, things long-buried have started to creep out from around the edges of the world, casting long shadows on what remains of humankind.

As a setting, Yellow Dawn successfully combines elements of survival horror, post-apocalypse, cyberpunk, Lovecraftian horror and high-tech investigation. The game systems are thorough and well-developed, and are detailed without being overly complex. The rules include systems for developing and maintaining your own settlement, for learning magical operations, and for enhancing your character with cyberware.

One of the most innovative parts of the game is the system for "Dead City Runs"; scavenging runs into cities still infested with savage zombie-like creatures that swarm at the first signs of life. Dead City Runs can be run as stand-alone adventures, and are perfect for gaming groups that want a role-playing night without extensive preparation. My first experience with Yellow Dawn was just such a night, and it proved to be one of the tensest, most memorable gaming experiences of my life so far.

If I have one complaint about the book, it's that it badly needs a thorough index, as tracking down bits of information during a game can be time consuming. Over all though, this is a fine piece of work and a remarkable example of a small-press independant RPG. Highly recommended.

I agree with the above poster. Yellow Dawn has a lot going for it, and, considering it’s independently published, is refreshingly professional and very well put together.

Theres a great scope for adventure genres - everything from Wild West to Hi-tech espionage, and has a number of interesting game system additions. Two of my favourites are the use of resources - where you can literally build anything with enough materials and the right skills, and character generation.

Character generation is, I'd say, possibly one of the most interesting parts of Yellow Dawn, as it allows a large amount of character customisation and an ongoing series of options for improving your characters from the start.

It also introduces some great character ideas (first contact for example, that gives a numerical "score" to your characters personality and how well they act in situations without putting you in a straight-jacket).

The system itself is based on the d100% roll, and is easy to follow and is very intuitive.

Theres also a great way of generating quick adventures called "Dead city runs" which can be set up and ran in an evening without any preparation - kind of like very involved encounters or mini dungeon crawls.

My only gripe is that some minor bits of information aren't where you'd expect them - for example the price of boat hire is covered under travel and not costs, but this is not usually an issue, and I understand has been re-organised in version 2 (I have a copy of version 1), so may not even be an issue anymore.

All in all, a very good and well put together game world and system.

This 300 page thick book is all that you need to set up campaigns, characters and scenarios in Yellow Dawn. Having played this game for over a year now, I'm amazed at the possibilities of themes in this world. Cyber cowboy gun slingers in the new wild west. Scavenging riches in the scary abandoned zombie filled cities of the world. Cyber espionage thrills among mega corporations and in utopian orbital worlds. The investigation of the returning magic of the occult and mythos on Earth. Build your own settlement on the frontier facing zombies, bandits, mythos creatures or taxmen. Or a mix of all the above. What else is great is all the resources available in the book for running campaigns, in such a way that you only need a rough story line, and use the system to roll yourself through it. NPCs, scavenged items, settlements, spells, vehicles, weather... its all there to be used to enhance the atmosphere and details of the story.

I highly recomend this book for all chutchu players as well all players who have grown bored of other RPG game types.