A fantastic idea for a setting, that I am incredibly glad was so succesful (during its Kickstarter campaign) that it allowed the author and publisher to expand substantially on the material - from a one-off semi-sandbox adventure to a viable long-term campaign setting.

The Purple Planet is strange. It is completely alien. And that makes it a wonderful place to explore, for everything is exotic. It is the epitome of the planetary romance genre - a masterful blend of fantasty and sci-fi, on a world unlike anything else. Warring factions of very differet ideological/technological beliefs (in how their specific Ancients preserved knowledge), absolutely unique toponymy, and the hook for escaping/using items found strewn amongst the rubble of the crumbling planet. Everything works well, and fits together seamlessly.

I was a fan of the Wormwood campaign setting for RIFTS back in the day, but it was extremely convoluted (and an awful system) - this is the logical successor, even for adapting to other gaming systems. Everything is fun to explore, and piecing together fragments of history to work out what has happened makes for a riveting story arc. Common assumptions cannot be made for anything, everything requires experimentation - and the expanded sourcebooks have allowed for so many factors to be covered in great detail.

It is extremely hard to review without giving examples, but I do not wish to post any spoilers here.

I cannot recommend this boxset highly enough - in my opinion, it is the pinnacle of Goodman Games art, and a true pleasure to run/plan more adventures in. Long may the modular mini-expansions for it continue.

This boxed set is the answer to many of my questions:

What if Arrakis was populated with beastmen cross-bred from Idiocracy and The Hills Have Eyes?

What if you based their culture/religion on various bibles and sports fanblogs run through multiple Google Translates which were then passed down orally for generations?

What if you fed your PC's mushrooms and gave them laser swords and thermal detonators without instruction manuals?

For the PC's, there are caverns to delve, pits to fall in, giant worms to tame, cities to burn, warbands to lead, rockets to crash, temples to destroy, and most importantly there are buttons to push or switches and levers to toggle.

It's a wonderful adventure accompanied by an incredible sandbox to keep your PC's entertained/trapped in a Mad Max Barsoom for as long as you want.