Since 2013, Goodman Games, the publisher of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic has released a book especially for Gen Con, the largest tabletop hobby gaming event in the world. That book is the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book, a look back at the previous year, a preview of the year to come, staff biographies, and a whole lot more, including adventures and lots tidbits and silliness. The first was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but not being able to pick up a copy from Goodman Games when they first attended UK Games Expo in 2019, the first to be reviewed was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. Fortunately, a little patience and a copy of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book was located and reviewed, so now in 2021, normal order is resumed with the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book.
The Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book is a double anniversary and warrants a double cover. In fact, it is a double fortieth anniversary. The Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book celebrates not just forty years since the publication of Metamorphosis Alpha, but also forty years since the founding of Judges Guild. To celebrate, it includes not just content dedicated to Metamorphosis Alpha and Judges Guild, but sports a handsome double cover—one for Metamorphosis Alpha and one for Judges Guild. In addition to the celebrations, the anthology includes support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, the Appendix N, and more, along with the usual fripperies and fancies to be found in each volume of the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book. Which means scenarios, articles, histories, quizzes, and more. After all, Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book is not just for Christmas, it is for Gen Con!
The Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book celebrates not just forty years since the publication of Metamorphosis Alpha, but also forty years since the founding of Judges Guild. To celebrate, it includes not just content dedicated to Metamorphosis Alpha and Judges Guild, but sports a handsome double—one for Metamorphosis Alpha and one for Judges Guild. In addition to the celebrations, the anthology includes support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, the Appendix N, and more, along with the usual fripperies and fancies to be found in each volume of the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book. Which means scenarios, articles, histories, quizzes, and more. After all, a Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book is not just for Christmas, it is for Gen Con!
The Metamorphosis Alpha support begins with ‘Forty Years of Metamorphosis Alpha: A Legacy of Innovation’ by Craig Brain. This charts the history of the roleplaying game across numerous and not always successful editions, and is a nice accompaniment to the anniversary edition of Metamorphosis Alpha. If there is a major omission to the article it that it should have included images of the covers of these editions. That would have given the article some context and tied it more into the individual editions. It is followed by ‘Metamorphosis Alpha: 4 Tables 40’, a quartet of tables by the roleplaying game’s designer, James M. Ward. The tables, each with forty entries, cover ‘GEL Nanobots’, ‘Surprisingly Good Things’, ‘Traps for the Unwary’, and ‘Unusual Things’, and all provide good inspiration. For all that Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book celebrates the fortieth anniversary of Metamorphosis Alpha, the actual gaming content for it is thin. A scenario or an area aboard the Starship Warden fully detailed, would perhaps have served as a better selling point for Metamorphosis Alpha.
The fantasy gaming content begins with more letters for The Dungeon Alphabet: An A-Z Reference for Classic Dungeon Design by Michael Curtis. These are ‘G is also for Guardians’ and ‘H is also for Hazard’ and just like the supplement they are inspired by and written for, they consist of tables devoted to their subjects. Both are generic fantasy, but easily adapted to the retroclone—or even not of the Game Master’s choice. This is as entertaining and as inspirational as the original book, and perhaps Goodman Games should think about returning to original supplement, if not in a reprint then in a full sequel with another twenty-six entries.
As expected for a volume in the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book series, the majority of the gaming content is designed for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. It begins with Michael Curtis’ ‘The Return of the Wild’, which gives a new Patron god for his Shudder Mountains setting from The Chained Coffin campaign. This is Nengal the Wild One, a primal force of raw nature, and comes complete with tables for Invoke Patron checks and Patron Taint. The Patron spells feel somewhat underwritten, but the unfettered and raw nature of the god and his faith should provide some fun roleplaying opportunities.
Dieter Zimmerman contributes the first scenario in the anthology, a wholly new, and weirder introduction to the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. The scenario is a Character Funnel, one of the signature features of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. Typically, such Player Characters are peasants and the like from the average fantasy world, but here Zimmerman takes the idea of the ordinary person from Earth being transported to a fantasy world where he or she becomes a great hero the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. 
So first, in ‘1970’s Earth Characters for DCC’, Zimmerman gives tables for Occupations, Personal Items, and Astrology so that the players can create some funky characters ready for their strange encounter in the accompanying scenario. This is ‘Not in Kansas Anymore’, co-authored with Matt Spengler, a reverse dungeon up through Ezaurack’s Volcano Fortress in which the would-be heroes not only have to save the day against a viscous dragon cult, but do so whilst avoiding rising lava! The scenario is as over the top as you would expect and best played as if the Player Characters—let alone the players—have no idea as to what is going on. Indeed, the scenario is intended as an introduction to the roleplaying game. It is as fun and as gonzo as you would expect, and all it needs is a dose of Doug McClure.
Another then new would-be licence comes under the spotlight with Michael Curtis, not once but twice. First with ‘Rat-Snake: A Lankhmar Wagering Game with Dice’ provides the full rules for a gambling game set in Fritz Leiber’s Nehwon and the tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Prefiguring the release of Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar the year  following the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book, this is an immersive addition to the setting and should find its way into the Player Characters’ adventures in the city of thieves. Second, with ‘The Hand of St. Heveskin’, which details an artefact sacred to the Rat God, but which anyone can use—though there is some danger in doing so. Although presented for Lankhmar, this would work in almost any fantasy setting and is a very well done and themed item. The adjacent list of publication dates for the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories is also welcome.
Gen Con is of course, a very big event, and Goodman Games supports it with a tournament adventure that both fans of the publisher and attendees in general can join in and play. Instead of the typical adventure, in 2015, Goodman games offered ‘The Way of the Dagon’, a spell duelling tourney. Instead of a party of adventurers delving into deep, dark hole, this has wizards and sorcerers throwing spells at each other for the pleasure of Father Dagon. Spelling duelling is part of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and this module gives the full rules for such arcane battling in the realm of Father Dagon. It works a little different to standard spell duelling, adjusting counterspell power and adding the Wrath of Dagon, plus a little bit of randomness to play. This would be fun to play at the table with a normal group as change, but really comes into its own as a big event. The notes on how the event’s origins and the report on some of the game play are entertaining also.
However, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book includes a Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game Tournament Funnel too. Written by Jim Wampler, Stephen Newton, Daniel J. Bishop, Jeffrey Tadlock, Jon Marr, and Bob Brinkman, ‘Death by Nexus’, which as the title suggests, is another Character Funnel. However, instead of three or four Level Zero Player Characters per player, each only has one, and when a character dies, his player is out and replaced by another player and his character, and this goes on until the end of the scenario. In ‘Death by Nexus’ nine such characters, three each for the three Alignments—Law, Neutrality, and Chaos—are thrown into six different and increasingly challenging arenas for the entertainment of the Primal Ones. Each written by a different author, the arenas vary wildly, from a combination of ice, wind, and fire to a giant sandbox via the end times. Combat focused instead of the spelling-slinging focus of the earlier ‘The Way of the Dagon’, this Tournament Funnel is again fun and silly and over-the-top.
Harley Stroh expands on his ‘Glossography of Ythoth’ from the campaign, Perils on the Purple Planet (now sadly out of print), with ‘Appendix D: Ythothian Liche Kings’ with a guide to the corpse kings who prey on dimensional travellers and possess various psychic powers. This is a nasty monster which no player would his character to encounter, but the dimensional originals means that one of these could turn up anywhere.
Appendix N is an important facet of the Old School Renaissance since its original list of books in the back in the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition showcased the inspiration for original roleplaying game. The Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book shows how the authors of various titles for Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game have delved into its equivalent of Appendix N in search of their own inspiration. It opens though with ‘The Way of Serpents’, a short story by Howard Andrew Jones which is also inspired by Appendix N fiction. This is nicely enjoyable piece in the Swords & Sorcery vein, which tells of a priestess and a veteran soldier forced to seek aid from a dragon to save a kingdom not his own. The short story is accompanied by some game content, in particular stats for the creatures encountered in the story.
In ‘Appendix N Inspiration’, sources are in turn discussed for Peril on the Puppet Planet, DCC #87 Against the Atomic Overlord, The Chained Coffin, The 998th Wizards’ Conclave, and Doom of the Savage Kings. All provide insights as to the creative process and suggest authors and their works that would be worth reading prior to running any one of them. Those for DCC #87 Against the Atomic Overlord and The Chained Coffin are longer, more detailed, and more interesting for it. In hindsight, the inspiration for The 998th Wizards’ Conclave is the most interesting because it prefigures the recent development of Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.
Perhaps the highlight of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book is ‘An illustrated interview with Errol Otus’. This runs to almost forty pages and covers the classic fantasy gaming artist’s time at TSR, his time after, and his return to the hobby industry with both the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and then the Old School Renaissance. It is an entertaining read and is profusely illustrated with paintings and drawings from across his career, serving as a showcase for both. The only disappointment is that the covers that Otus did for Goodman Games have not been reproduced in colour. All it would have taken is another two pages of colour and it would have pleasingly rounded off his contributions up to 2016.
The other half of the fortieth anniversary celebrations in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book is dedicated to Judges Guild and this is celebrated by another pair of articles. It is an unfortunate truth that the reputation of the publisher has been greatly damaged in the years since the publication of these two articles, but this should not mean that the contributions to the hobby by Judges Guild should be ignored. ‘Forty Years Judges Guild: A Legacy of Awesome’ by Jeff Rients—author of Broodmother Skyfortress—presents a history of the publisher from founding to closure, along with a look at a few of the releases over that history... It is informative, but this is very much written from a personal rather than an objective point of view, accompanied with a discussion of the author’s favourite titles. There are of course, more objective histories of Judges Guild available, such as the Judges Guild Deluxe Oversized Collector’s Edition and Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s. Ultimately, what lets this article down is the lack of captions for its various photographs taken from Judges Guild history.
It is followed by ‘Unknown Gods: Revised and Expanded’, by Robert Bledsaw, Sr. and Robert Bledsaw, Jr. This presents an expansion to The Unknown Gods, the 1980 supplement supplement of grandiose gods and deities which would have been particular to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting. From Grunchak, Markab God of Technology to Margonne, God of Evil Plans, the Devious Ones, they are all quite detailed and quite different to the gods seen elsewhere in fantasy, as well as each possessing a certain weirdness. That weirdness applies to the statistics given for each god, which use a different system singular to the original supplement rather than any variant of Dungeons & Dragons. It would be fascinating to see the whole of the supplement updated with this content for a game system that was more accessible.
Rounding out the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book is the usual collection of fripperies and fancies. The silliness includes the advice column, ‘Dear Archmage Abby’, in which the eponymous agony aunt gives guidance on life, love, and the d20 mechanics in an entertaining fashion—this time what t do about rules lawyers, whilst the fripperies includes artwork for the ‘2015 to 2016 Mailing Labels’, which capture a bit more of Goodman Games in 2015. Elsewhere there is a quiz or two, interviews with several of the Judges who work as the Goodman Games Road crew, a photographic recap of Gen Con 2015, and more.
Physically, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book is a thick softback book. It is decently laid out, easy to read, lavishly illustrated throughout, and a good-looking book both in black and white, and in colour.
On one level, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book, as with other entries in the annual series, is an anthology of magazine articles, but in this day and age of course—as well as 2016—there is no such thing as the roleplaying magazine. So what you have instead is the equivalent of a comic book’s Christmas annual—but published in the summer rather than in the winter—for fans of Goodman Games’ roleplaying games. The Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book follows closely the format of the previous entries in the series, so there is bit of everything in its pages—gaming history, adventures, previews, catch-ups, and more. Its celebrations of the two fortieth anniversaries—Metamorphosis Alpha and Judges Guild—are underwhelming, but everything else in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book is either fun or entertaining, sometimes even both. As ever the Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book is a must for devotees of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, but there is plenty in the annual supplement for fantasy gamers to enjoy or be inspired by.

The winner of the 2021 Spiel des Jahres award is MicroMacro: Crime City. Published by Edition Spielwiese, it combines crime and detection with elements of storytelling and even a little bit of time travel, all played out co-operatively on a massive map of a city that the players have to search for clues. At its heart the game is Where’s Wally? (or Where’s Waldo?) meets the crime-riddled streets and alleys of downtown Crime City. Designed for one to four players, aged twelve and up, the game has the players searching a big poster map of Crime City, first locating crime scenes and then backtracking the victims as they went about their day and interacted with the other citizens of Crime City.

Open up the box for MicroMacro: Crime City and the first thing that a player finds is a ‘Spoiler Warning’. Given in multiple languages, it warns him not to look at the reverse of the cards, not to open the card packets before instructed to do so, and be sure to read the instructions first. The second is the instructions, and they just run to just four pages. Below that is the City Map, some one-hundred-and-twenty Case Cards, sixteen envelopes, and a magnifying glass. Bar touches of red to highlight text and elements of the game, everything is done in black and white. The City Map is huge. It measures thirty-by-forty-three inches and depicts a European city, bustling with men, women, and anthropomorphic animals going about their very busy lives. This enormous map is drawn in meticulous cartoon detail, but it is not a city that is static. Its citizens can be seen again and again moving about the city and everywhere a player looks he will find someone doing something interesting—being shocked by a painting at an exhibition, buying something from a dodgy street dealer (his trench coat held open to best display his wares), a women shocked by another man opening his trenchcoat, and more. There is so much going on in this map that it is easy to get lost in the details and start imagining who these people are and what their lives are like.


The cards represent the sixteen cases the players have to investigate and solve in MicroMacro: Crime City. These grow in complexity and length and need to be divided into their respective cases and stored in one of the envelopes which comes with the game. Starting with ‘The Top Hat’—the game’s introductory case, each case, whether ‘The Car Accident’, ‘Dead Cat’, ‘Hairy Tales’, or ‘Carnival’, begins with a start card which asks the players to search for the crime scene. Once the victim has been found, the players begin looking for where the victim appears elsewhere nearby on the map, and prompted by the cards, then backtrack through the victim’s day, looking for who he might have encountered and thus might be perpetrator of the crime. Along the way, the players will see the city around their crime victim and the criminal, in the process discovering lives both ordinary and criminal, the latter perhaps, hinting at crimes that the players might have to solve in a future case.

The initial cases in MicroMacro: Crime City are small, but others stretch across the city, forcing the players to extend their search for clues and the perpetrator. Some of the inhabitants of Crime City have nothing to do with the cases in MicroMacro: Crime City, but may appear in MicroMacro: Full House, which together with MicroMacro: Crime City form part of the four titles in the series. Each entry represents a different district and ultimately, there will be cases which can be solved by following the clues across the four districts. It should also be noted that as funny and an anthropomorphic as the artwork is in MicroMacro: Crime City, it does depict a moderately adult world and that means that some of the crime cases and some of the things going on in Crime City may not be suitable for some younger players.

MicroMacro: Crime City requires a big table for its map of Crime City and plenty of good light. This is not a game which can be played without either plenty of light or plenty of space. Although the game comes with one magnifying glass, the addition of another will probably help play too.

Physically, MicroMacro: Crime City is decently produced. The map is done on sturdy paper, though its size does mean it requires careful handling. The fact that it is a paper rather than a mounted map means that having any drinks nearby is inadvisable. The rules are clearly written and easy to understand and the cards are done on decent stock. A nice touch is that there is an extra mini-case on the game’s front cover. This neatly gives the potential purchaser a taste of the game inside.

However, once played, MicroMacro: Crime City has little to no replay value. It does not have the Legacy option of the game being changed through play, but rather each case is essentially a puzzle and once solved is difficult to play again with the same level of anticipation and interest. Finding the crime scene, investigating the clues, and following the lives of both victims and criminals is definitely fun, but once solved… At that point, the best thing to do with MicroMacro: Crime City is either to put it away for the next expansion and wait to see if its crime cases tie in, or really, to let someone else play it who is completely new to the game.

Ultimately there is one question which has to be asked about MicroMacro: Crime City, and that is, “Is it a game?” And the answer is both yes, and no. MicroMacro: Crime City is a game in the sense that it is played, has multiple players, and they are all trying to achieve an objective. In this, it is very much like other detective or crime games, such as Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game or Chronicles of Crime, but on a much simpler level, or the games based on Escape Rooms. Yet MicroMacro: Crime City is not a game so much as a puzzle intended to be solved collectively, and once solved, it cannot be solved again. Further, where a detective or crime novel can be reread to enjoy the story and the deduction again, the simplicity of the game’s design works against any possibility of a replay being enjoyed.

MicroMacro: Crime City is a very simple, but clever design, with its cases built around cartoonish artwork that is witty and engages the players in the lives of the citizens of Crime City. Best played with two or three players, MicroMacro: Crime City is perfect for fans of hidden object games, puzzles, and detective fiction.

A taster of how MicroMacro: Crime City plays can be found here.

Isle of the Damned is as straightforward a fantasy roleplaying scenario as a Game Master might want. Designed and published by Scott Malthouse—responsible for Romance of the Perilous Land published by Osprey Games and Merry Outlaws from his Trollish Delver Games—it is a one-page, First Level adventure for Heartseeker and other Old School Renaissance Roleplaying games. Heartseeker is a very simple retroclone, just two pages in length, but its name echoes that of the term, ‘Fantasy Heartbreaker’, which back in the Golden Age of the hobby would have been a designer’s answer to everything that he wanted to change about Dungeons & Dragons. Without Heartseeker, a Game Master could easily run Isle of the Damned using Old School Essentials, Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, or Labyrinth Lord, for example, or even adapt it to the rules and setting of her choice. One such might be Symbaroum, but other fantasy roleplaying games would work too. Whichever rules set the Game Master decides to use, she can pick up a copy of Isle of the Damned, read through it in five minutes—or less, and bring it to the table. In fact, an experienced Game Master could even run it with no preparation!

The setting for the scenario is the eponymous Isle of the Damned, rumoured to be a former Elven colony forsaken by their gods. The Player Characters are tasked with travelling to the isle and recovering three Sacred Chalices. These, it has been determined, will together save the life of Prince Markus, who is dying. With their instructions, the Player Characters must journey over the Grey Sea and once on the island, search its six locations to locate the three Sacred Chalices. These include a Dead Courtyard and the Broken Shrine, venture into the depths of Moaning Forest, and perhaps out of the other side.

Isle of the Damned is a simple, straightforward seven point crawl. It comes as a four page, full colour pamphlet. The inside shows the point crawl and provides two tables, one of rumours and one of encounters in the Moaning Forest, all against an atmospheric painting by Arnold Böcklin. The back page lists all of the encounters and the stats, all of which are non-standard monsters, so that Isle of the Damned is very much a standalone scenario. Each of the seven locations is given a simple paragraph-long entry that is just sufficient for the Game Master to work from and develop further in terms of details if she wishes.

Of course, finding the three chalices is not simple. There are riddles to be answered, aid to be sought and tasks to be fulfilled, and puzzles to be solved. None of it too complex or lengthy, but all enough to provide a session of play, perhaps two at the very most. The empty nature of the isle and ruins and the strangeness of the encounters gives it a slightly eerie feel, which a good Game Master could easily develop and expand with other encounters and locations should she want to.

Overall, Isle of the Damned is quick and easy to prepare and then run. It would easily slot into many fantasy settings or campaigns, especially ones with a sense of the weird and the lost, or perhaps it could just be run as a one-shot.

The AMC-222 Report is a scenario for Those Dark Places: Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying, the roleplaying game of Blue-Collar Science Fiction horror published by Osprey Games. It is written by the roleplaying game’s designer and presents a short scenario which combines strong elements of action, investigation, and roleplaying and which could be played in a single session—two at the very most. It takes a traditional type of Science Fiction setting and gives it a horror twist which echoes that of the slasher film subgenre. It can be played as a training simulation to determine the suitability of the Player Characters for working between Earth and the frontier of space as part of the application process as described in Those Dark Places, or it can be run straight as an assignment during their years of employment. This also means that it can be run with new Player Characters or more experienced ones, but if played as a training simulation or early in their careers, its horror elements may foreshadow their eventual fate if the Player Characters spend too much time in space… However it is used, The AMC-222 Report will take relatively little time for the Game Monitor to prepare for play.

The setting for The AMC-222 Report is Asteroid Mining Catch 222 in the Peller System, a facility operated by Cambridge-Wallace, Inc. The head of facility has recently sent an emergency request for help. Two of its mining crew have been killed and a member of staff is missing, and worse, as far as the company is concerned, the deep space mining facility is not currently operating at full capacity, and that means it is losing money… The Player Characters—the crew of the DSRV Grahams, a light and fast Deep Space Reconnaissance Vessel typically used by many Duster and Arbiter crews for fast dispatch and first responder missions. They receive an emergency briefing and are reassigned to investigate and resolve the emergency. Cambridge-Wallace, Inc. wants Asteroid Mining Catch 222 back operating at full capacity as soon as possible.

The players and their characters should realise that there is something different about this mission from the off. Each member of the team is assigned a Dazer pistol and a medkit. When they arrive, the Player Characters find the station to be a bleak, dark, and depressing place. It seems to be in a constant state of power saving and this has affected the personnel assigned there. The staff are weary and worn out, even uncaring in the face of the current situation. This presents the Game Monitor with some entertaining NPCs to roleplay and some frustrated and frustrating NPCs for the Player Characters to interact with—or not!

The AMC-222 Report is divided into two acts, with each act being set on a different level of Asteroid Mining Catch 222. In the first act, the Player Characters arrive at the habitable level and investigate recent events and interrogate the base personnel as to recent events. In the second act, the Player Characters descend to the mine workings on the lower level. Here they encounter malfunctioning machinery, a less than ideal working environment, and worse…

Support for the Game Master for The AMC-222 Report includes deck plans of the DSRV Grahams and floor plans of Asteroid Mining Catch 222, the deck plans also being useful as a sample ship for the Player Characters in the long term. All of the scenario’s NPCs are given detailed backgrounds to accompany their often moody responses and explanations as to what is going on in the facility in the scenario’s first act. In addition to details of the Deep Space Reconnaissance Vessel, the other new item of equipment given is the Armoured Space Suit.

Physically, The AMC-222 Report is reasonably well presented. The deck plans and floor plans are simple, but clear, whilst the artwork is at best described as rough. If there is anything missing, it is perhaps a set of ready-to-play Player Characters which would both speed up the scenario’s already quick preparation time and make it suitable as a convention scenario.

The AMC-222 Report is more obvious in its plotting and in its inspiration as a horror scenario than the earlier The Ana-Sin-Emid Report. It might even be termed simple, but that should not necessarily be held against it. The AMC-222 Report is straightforward, but that does not mean it is not atmospheric and does not mean it cannot deliver a short, sharp shock of horror.

Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror which explores themes of guilt, morality, and mystery. It asks each Player Character what it was that he did wrong and how he feels about it, what is wrong—or right and who says so, and presents him and his companions with a strangeness and mystery around them, that somehow, they must survive. It is a game of ordinary men and women, protagonists thrust into unsettling situations and nightmares, and exposed to mysteries that perhaps will push them to confront their own secrets. Published by Cobble Path Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it comes in two volumes—Player Guide and Director’s Guide*—and is inspired by psychological horror films such as The Descent, Triangle, Shutter Island, and others, rather than classic slashers like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Friday the 13th.

* Note: Neither the Player Guide nor the Director’s Guide are sold separately.

The Player Guide presents everything—well, almost everything—that a player needs to create and roleplay a character in Locus. It covers character creation, equipment, and mechanics, as well as providing examples in terms of both rules and Player Characters. The Director’s Guide re-examines various aspects of each before beginning to really explore and explain what Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror is about. Outside of the Player Characters, Locus is about Broken Places, locations where the line between reality and the horror and emotional truth of a story has thinned to the point that they have become damaged or broken, and transformed into something else. Each is or has a Genius Locus, that in becoming damaged or broken, is transformed into a Malus Locus, a bad place which feeds off negative energies and emotions. The Malus Locus draws in outsiders and residents alike, using reminders of their old wounds and bad memories to inflict fear, terror, and pain. It manifests Monsters which remind the victims trapped inside the Malus Locus of their dark secrets and feelings of guilt, and if the monster can kill them, they leave behind Echoes of their guilt that the Monster can feed off for years. Echoes are likely to be interpreted as ghosts, and when the Player Characters enter a Malus Locus, it may already be inhabited by Echoes.
A Malus Locus consists of a single location and is actually composed of layers. The location can be large or small, and might be a single house, a neighbourhood or housing block, an oil rig or space station, or even a whole town. The layers are Layers of Reality, each layer a reflection of the one above, the same but different, darker, weirder, scarier, and worse… The deeper the Player Characters venture into the Malus Locus, the further away from reality they move, the closer to the heart of the Malus Locus they get, the greater the manifestations and signs of the unreal and the Player Characters’ Haunts—or guilty secrets—appear, and the more openly the Monster will move against them. Each Layer is separate, but bleeds into the one above and the one below, though they become more and more distinct as the Player Character descends.
There is a certain fluidity between Layers, but what determines which Layer of Reality the party is on is the number of cards they hold in their Hands. The more cards they have in their Hands, the deeper the Layer of Reality they are on or can access. This, it turns out, is the primary mechanic effect of the cards in play. In the Player Guide, the player is told that having too many cards in his Hand is not a good thing, but not why. The Director’s Guide explains that each player’s Hand of cards represents the crushing weight of the world and guilt from his secret, which whilst merely oppressive in the real world, in the Malus Locus serves to pull him further in and down… 
In play, this means that the Director will need to keep track of how many cards the players hold in their Hands, so that she can tell when they transition between Layers, whether that is without their knowing or with a set piece scene. So they may need to be open about that during play. Also, as much as the players need to be rid of their cards, they also want to have a certain number of cards in their Hands in order to access the lower Layers, especially if they want to confront the Monster. It also brings in an element of Hand management into the play of Locus as each player works to reduce the number of cards in his Hand. This comes about through both roleplaying and mechanical means.
At the beginning of the scenario, a player has two cards in his Hand. He will acquire more at each hour of play; when his character experiences a jarring vision or hallucination; and when he roleplays his character acting in accordance with his Vice—which is associated with his Haunt, and thus his Secret and his Guilt. Fortunately there are more ways of discarding cards than acquiring them. For non-Haunt cards, this is a player roleplaying his character in accordance with a Virtue not his own or rolling a critical success on an Outcome Check. For both non-Haunt cards and Haunt cards, this is a player roleplaying or having his character act in accordance with his Virtue, having his character resisting the urge to act in accordance with his Haunt, and roleplaying his character actively opposing his Haunt.
Throughout, the onus is on the player to not just roleplay his character in accordance the Virtues—Temperance, Motivation, Community, and Compassion, and roleplay avoiding giving into the Vices—Temptation, Apathy, Discord, and Malice, but to be seen to do it, to signal to the Director that he is doing so, and therefore, can discard a card. Meanwhile, the Director will be presenting situations where a character can gain cards, whether they are fraught or jarring scenes or incidents where the character gives into his Vice.
What there is not though in Locus is a path to redemption. There is no real way in which a character can assuage his guilt for his Haunt, at least not in the long term. Thus it will always remain part of the character. In the short term, that is, in the limits of the scenario or campaign and its Malus Locus, there are always opportunities to act against it through the means of discarding the cards and thus reducing the potential for confrontation with the Monster. This again emphasises the brutal nature of play in Locus, which is already present in the Death Clock measuring a Player Character’s physical health and the limited degrees of Stress a Player Character can suffer and limit his drive to succeed in dangerous and horrific situations.
Throughout the Director’s Guide, the Director is supported by tools and advice to create and run a game of Locus. For the players, this includes managing their expectations and respecting their limits in what is by design a roleplaying game which has the Player Characters confronted by regrets over past events and circumstances. There is a complete guide to creating and running Monsters from the concept and the keywords—the latter tied into Locus’ four Vices, to applying the mechanics and balancing those against the Player Characters. It advises that Monsters which are too weak or too strong be avoided since one represents no challenge, and the latter too much of a challenge. It is backed up with not just a fully worked through example, but a quartet tied to the four suits of the Haunts and Vices.
Similar advice and guidance is given for setting up a game of Locus, scenarios being constructed as mysteries which first hint that something is supernaturally wrong and then second, draw the Player Characters into the Malus Locus to determine what exactly is wrong. The third and final mystery involves finding out the cause and hopefully coming up with a solution. However, the exploration of the Malus Locus may not necessarily result in identifying and repairing the issue at its heart, although that is the ideal outcome. Instead, the Player Characters might flee the Malus Locus having failed to identify or deal with its horror, plumb its depths to reach its heart and confront the Monster—hopefully to defeat the Monster, or get caught with its confines, becoming denizens who might be encountered by others later on… At the core of the Mysteries should be clues that the Player Characters can find without rolling Outcome Checks, the aim being to give them information necessary to solve them were it not for stress and their own insecurities.
Beyond some decent advice on handling Outcome Checks, conflicts, spot effects (which affect a single Player Character) and set pieces (which are primarily location-based), and how a Locus Malus reacts to the presence of the Player Characters and their actions, Locus gives the Director a lengthy—almost a third of the Director’s Guide, ready-to-play scenario. This is ‘The MFV Mulligan’. This takes place in 1995 in the North Sea with the Player Characters cast as members of the crew of the MTS Gannet, which picks up a distress call from and goes to the rescue of the fishing trawler, the MFV Mulligan. Instead of four read-to-play characters, the scenario includes detailed templates which the players are expected to customise. All four should be interesting to roleplay.
Of course, the rescue attempt takes place in the middle of a storm and on first coming aboard the trawler, it seems that the crew are missing. The trawler, initially adrift, provides the scenario with the closed environment necessary for a good Malus Locus and the descriptions of the various locations aboard the MFV Mulligan are given in general as well as Layer by Layer. Various items aboard are detailed as are the Spot Effects and Set Pieces which the Director can throw at her Player Characters. The scenario is rounded out with an introduction for the players and their characters, and cards for its Monsters, equipment, and more. The deck plans for the trawler are a little small, but easy to read still.
‘The MFV Mulligan’ is a really engaging scenario, providing what is effectively a haunted house (at sea) style Mystery and showcasing how a typical scenario is constructed for Locus with its layering of clues, mysteries, and the Malus Locus. It should engender a strong sense of atmosphere too, although it does note that the fishing industry operating out of Scotland in the nineteen nineties is not as diverse as a modern gaming audience might prefer. The scenario overall, should provide two good sessions at a minimum, and hopefully will not just serve as an example for the Director to create her own, but also as the basis for the publisher to release more
Like the Player Guide for Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror, the Director’s Guide is a slim hardback, but roughly double the length. It is again done in deep blacks and shades of grey with slashes and splashes of red and white. There is a greater use of photographs too, but not always exactly appropriate, and some of the artwork is not quite as good a quality as in the Player Guide. The layout is perhaps slightly rough in places, and although it can be difficult to find things occasionally, there is a solid index. The game and its play is nicely supported with several examples of play and the mechanics, plus a decent summary and glossary at the end of the book.
The Director’s Guide for Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror brings to life its world of Malus Loci, Haunts, and Monsters feeding off the guilt of others far more than the Player Guide does. Of course, that is the point of the Director’s Guide, but there is no real hint of this in the Player Guide and that is an omission which would have given the play of Locus context for the players. Nevertheless, the Director’s Guide does a fine job of exploring and showcasing its exploration of guilt and morality in the face of reality warping, if localised horror, and then its potentially quite nasty, brutal mechanics coupled with strong roleplaying potential in the Virtues and Vices. All backing them up with satisfying examples, a decent scenario, and solid advice for the Director to help her create her own Monsters and Malus Loci and tailor them to her players’ protagonists.
The combination of the brutal nature of its mechanics and its focus upon the Player Characters’ guilt and secrets means that Locus is best suited to a playing group with some roleplaying experience under its collective belt and mature players. Further, that combination, together with the fact that the guilt and secrets never truly go away and the highly localised nature of its Malus Loci means that it is also best suited to one-shot scenarios or short campaigns. For a gaming group that wants to explore the personal horror of the fallible and even the failed, Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror pulls the players and their characters deeper and deeper into a confrontation with their characters’ guilt and its manifestation, and presents them with a fraught roleplaying challenge and experience.

Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror which explores themes of guilt, morality, and mystery. It asks each Player Character what it was that he did wrong and how he feels about it, what is wrong—or right and who says so, and presents him and his companions with a strangeness and mystery around them, that somehow, they must survive. It is a game of ordinary men and women, protagonists thrust into unsettling situations and nightmares, and exposed to mysteries that perhaps will push them to confront their own secrets. Published by Cobble Path Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it comes in two volumes—Player Guide and Director’s Guide*—and is inspired by psychological horror films such as The Descent, Triangle, Shutter Island, and others, rather than classic slashers like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Friday the 13th.

* Note: Neither the Player Guide nor the Director’s Guide are sold separately.

A Player Character in Locus is defined by eight Attributes, a Haunt, a Virtue, an Attitude, and skills. The eight Attributes are Frailty, Clumsiness, Carelessness, Impatience, Cowardice, Ignorance, Repulsion, and Temper. What is interesting about this octet is that they are negative, almost anti-Attributes. They represent the worst features of a Player Character, such that the higher value they possess, the greater difficulty a Player Character has in overcoming them and the greater the possibility, the Player Character will be let down by his weakness. For example, Repulsion represents how uncharismatic the Player Character is, so the higher it is, the more likely the Player Character is to be unpersuasive or unpleasant in terms of personality. Rated between one and five, they do require a player to invert how he thinks about the role of attributes in a roleplaying game.

A Player Character’s Haunt represents a significant event in his past when he did something wrong, or caused harm, whether that is morally or legally wrong, or simply through negligence. Initially a known only to the Player Character, Haunts are classified into four categories—Temptation, Apathy, Discord, or Malice. A Player Character’s Virtue is his predominant redeeming feature, and like Haunts, are classified into four categories—Temperance, Motivation, Community, and Compassion. The four Haunts and the four Virtues are also associated with a suit from a standard deck of playing cards. A Player Character’s Attitude is how he views his Haunt.

To create a character, a player first assigns sixteen points to his character’s Attributes, which already start with a value of one. He then selects a Haunt, a Virtue, an Attitude, and skills. A Player Character starts play with two of these, either Trained, Knowledge, Speciality, or Expertise. Throughout the creation process there is decent advice, especially in detailing the Haunt, and what that might be. Particularly good are the descriptions of the eight types of Attitudes, whether Pessimistic or Optimistic, that otherwise might have been difficult for a player to really express. The Virtues are given a similar treatment. Player Character creation is simple enough mechanically, but the choices involved are not necessarily as simple, especially when it comes to the character’s Haunt, Virtue, and Attitude, as they all strongly influence who the character is and how he will be roleplayed.

Our sample character is Chantelle Lowder. As a teenager she rebelled against her middle-class background and became part of a gang. The gang got involved first in petty crime and then more serious activities. This led to rivalries with other gangs and ultimately a feud which would lead to outright fights and the death of a rival gang member. Chantelle did not strike the killing blow, she was a witness and when she did not co-operate, she was convicted as a participant. She was sentenced to a term in prison, but was paroled for good behaviour. Since then she has tried to build a life different to her time as a gang member. She works in a software development studio and tries to not think about what she did and the fact that she attempted to cover for the murder, but is still wracked with guilt and occasionally drinks too much as a result. She tries to make up for it with kindness, but derives no real happiness from such acts.

Name: Chantelle Lowder
Attitude: The Conflicted Pessimist
Haunt: Apathy (Spades)
Virtue: Compassion – Kindness (Heart)

Attributes
Frailty 4 Clumsiness 3 Carelessness 3 Impatience 2
Cowardice 4 Ignorance 3 Repulsion 3 Temper 2

Skills: Computer Coding (Trained), Lockpicking (Speciality)

Stress: Unaware/Tense/Stressed

Locus uses two sets of mechanics. The first involves dice. Locus uses four different types of dice rolls to determine how a Player Character overcomes a challenge, all involving the roll of three six-sided dice. The standard or Outcome Check is rolled against one of a Player Character’s Attributes, attempting to roll higher than the Attribute, essentially trying to overcome one of his worst features, at least temporarily. Only one die is counted. The lowest die if the difficulty of the task is Hard, the middle die if the difficulty is Medium, and the highest die if the task is Easy. A roll of six on all three dice counts as a critical success, but even if the roll is a failure, then the Player Character still succeeds, but at cost. So, “Yes, but…” Contested Checks are also rolled against an Attribute, with each participant attempting to roll higher than the Attribute on more dice than the others. If a Player Character has a skill, it either allows him to attempt an Outcome Check because he is Trained or because his Expertise reduces the Attribute being rolled against. Untrained Checks cover situations in which a Player Character has no training, and require a Hard Ignorance Outcome Check to work out what to do, followed by a Hard Outcome Check with the appropriate Attribute.

Conflicts are handled via Opposed Checks and cover movement, hiding, attacking and defending, and the like. Damage—or rather injury types—when suffered, is brutal. Each Player Character has the same Death Clock, which is filled in whenever he suffers an injury, either Minor, Major, or Grievous. If the Death Clock is filled in, the Player Character dies. Major and Grievous Injuries make successful Checks harder to achieve. Injuries can be treated, not to reduce the segments filled in on the Death Clock, but to negate their effects on Checks that a Player Character might attempt. In addition, a Player Character can suffer a Condition, such as Blind or Entangled, their effects interpreted by the Director and roleplayed by the player. In addition, the brutalism of the setting is extended to equipment as many items also have a durability value.

The second mechanic in Locus involves one ordinary deck of playing cards, Jokers removed, per every four players. Each player begins play with a Hand of three cards. Further cards are drawn every hour of actual game play, when a player’s character experiences jarring visions or hallucinations, or acts in accordance with his Vice. When the card drawn matches the Character’s Vice (or suit)—a Haunt card, it is discarded and the Player Character gains three Willpower Points. Otherwise, a non-Haunt card, which does not match the suit of the Player Character’s Vice, is retained in the player’s Hand. Cards can be discarded from a player’s Hand through certain actions, for example, when a Player Character acts in accordance with a Virtue not his own, when he resists the urge to act in accordance with his Vice, when his player rolls a critical on the dice, and so on. One of the mechanical aims in Locus is for a player to reduce the size of hand through play, as the rules state that having a larger Hand size is a bad thing. The rules advise the player to be proactive about this, to not actively pursue it in play, but with the Director, who confirm whether or not the cards can be discarded.

Like any good horror roleplaying game, Locus has a mechanic for handling scares and the deleterious effect upon the mental well-being when confronted with the unknown, fraught situations, and other dangers. This is Stress, rated Uneasy, Tense, and then Stressed. A Player Character’s degree of Stress can be raised as a result of a failed Stress Check, seeing a monster, taking damage from an Injury, and other situations at the Director’s discretion. Instead of a set stat being rolled against for a Stress Check, a player rolls a check against the appropriate Attribute, for example, Cowardice when his character confronted is by a monster or Impatience when his character is being chased and is slowed by an obstacle.

Locus also uses Willpower Points, representing a Player Character’s drive to succeed. Its only use is to purchase rerolls, which cost one Willpower Point each time, the number of dice which can be rerolled varying according to the degree of Stress a Player Character is suffering. So all three dice if the Player Character is Uneasy, just two if he is Tense, and only one if he is Stressed. Willpower Points are gained when a critical result is rolled on the dice, when a card matching the suite of Character’s Vice is drawn, when Stress is lowered, and others. A Player Character begins play with five Willpower Points.

There are two interesting aspects to the Stress mechanic. The first is that there is no mechanical effect upon a Player Character except to reduce the number of dice that can be rerolled with the expenditure of Willpower Points. Thus mechanically, Stress does not have an effect on what a Player Character can do, but instead has an effect on the purchasing power of his Willpower Points and thus on his drive to overcome difficult or dire situations. Plus of course, it should ideally influence how the Player Character is roleplayed. The second is that Locus has no insanity or madness mechanic, so that in terms of its rules, a Player Character cannot go mad or insane. That possibility is best left to the player roleplaying his character. Further, the combination of the no insanity mechanic and the brutal Death Clock gives Locus much more of an immediacy in its play, rather than the long effects of confronting the unknown as seen in other horror roleplaying games.

Physically, the Player Guide for Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror is a slim hardback, done in deep blacks and shades of grey with slashes and splashes of red and white. The artwork tends towards the blocky, but is generally fairly decent. The layout is perhaps slightly rough in places, and although it can be difficult to find things occasionally, there is a solid index. The game and its play is nicely supported with several examples of play and the mechanics, including a trio of sample Player Characters, plus a decent summary and glossary at the end of the book.

However, there is the one thing that the Player Guide for Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror does not do, and that is, tell the players and their Director what the Cards do in play. Fundamentally all that player knows is that having too many cards is bad and that they are keyed to his Virtue and his Vice. He can roleplay to the cards and the Virtues and Vices they link to, to an extent—and is encouraged to do so, since it is not the Director’s remit to keep track of such things—in order to get rid of them. Yet he does not know what they do otherwise nor what their effect is in the game, or the effect of having too many or too few. That is left up to the Director’s Guide to explain, but surely some explanation could have been included in the Player Guide?

The Player Guide for Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror does, in general, give a good explanation to the majority of the roleplaying game’s core rules. It does feel fussy in places, as if there are too many mechanics for what it is trying to do, and the lack of any explanation as to the use of the playing cards is a major omission. Of course, the Player Guide is going to need the Director’s Guide, but there is the basis here for what Locus sets out to be, ‘a roleplaying game of personal horror’ with a set of potentially quite nasty, brutal mechanics coupled with strong roleplaying potential in the Virtues and Vices. To bring those out fully though, along with the elements of guilt and morality at the heart of each Player Character, the Director’s Guide is a definite must.

—oOo—
A review of Director’s Guide for Locus: A roleplaying game of personal horror appears tomorrow.

Macdeath is an adventure for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Published by Critical Kit, it is designed for a party of four to five Player Characters of low- to mid-Level and is intended to be played in a single session, either as a one-shot or as part of an ongoing campaign. It involves a theatre troupe, a fairy circle, a performance, and a murder! Whilst self-contained, it would be easy to adapt Macdeath to the setting of the Dungeon Master’s choice, so long as the setting involves the fae and fairy-kind. Most fantasy roleplaying settings—especially for Dungeons & Dragons—feature this, but the Ravenloft setting would be particularly appropriate, as would any with a Renaissance feel. However it is used, Macdeath is fairly straightforward and involves a mix of investigation and interaction, with almost no combat.

The adventure revolves around the Orb Theatre Troupe, which in recent years has become renowned for its highly entertaining theatrical productions. This is due to the prolific output of the troupe’s founder and bard, Willard Rattlesword. Both his fame and that of the troupe have even spread beyond the Material Plane and so Titania, Queen of the Summer Court has commissioned Rattlesward to write a play and have the troupe give her and her entourage a command performance. This is due to take place in Whimsel Grove, a demiplane half way between the Material Plane and the Emerald Plane. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned. The Queen and her companions arrive, but are disappointed to find not the troupe’s lead actor, Penrod Peppin, performing the lead role in that evening’s performance, but his understudy, Ned Hackett! Worse, not only is Ned’s performance wooden and stilted, when they are directed to find out where Penrod Peppin has got to between acts in the hope that he can come back and save the play, the Player Characters discover him dead in his trailer! Even worse than that, Penrod Peppin has been murdered!! And even worse than that, when the faerie queene discovers that the performance is going to be cancelled, she still demands an entertainment—find out who killed Penrod Peppin, find how Penrod Peppin was killed, and why Penrod Peppin was killed. Then present her with a trial at her court!

Macdeath is thus a murdery mystery play set at that most classic of locations—it could only be more classic if it was set at a country mansion—a theatre. The Player Characters must search the locations, question the witnesses and suspects, gather the evidence, and form a hypothesis, and present it to Queen Titania. With just a cast of just six suspects, eight locations, and a handful of clues, this is not a very difficult mystery to solve, and to be fair it is not meant to be. This scenario is meant to be played in a single session or evening, which means that everything, including the murder should be wrapped up within that time. Short though, does not mean that it is not entertaining. The cast are sufficiently detailed and along with the members of the troupe, the Dungeon Master is given a handful of pixies, rarebits, will-o’-wisps, and dryads to play, the latter able to give clues and nudges as necessary. These veer very much into the whimsical and should be fun to roleplay.

Much like a Shakespearian play that Macdeath is a ‘play’ upon, the scenario is a three act play and the Player Characters are very much doing different things in each one. In the first, they are performing the first of act of the play, which itself is called Macdeath; in the second, they are investigating the murder; and in the third, they are presenting the evidence at the trial. It is also both a locked room murder—the victim’s trailer is locked, and a locked room investigation and trial. Or rather, a locked Whimsel Grove murder and a locked Whimsel Grove investigation and trial. The Player Characters have to perform the play, investigate, and litigate all within the limits of the Emerald Plane.

The scenario is supported with full NPC descriptions, though not necessarily with full stats as they are not intended for combat, details of the Emerald Plane and its various fairie denizens, as well as fae gifts that Queen Titania can hand out, the best being a Bag o’ Cats, from which a cat can be drawn at random and to stay, it must tell a secret. There are several good handouts too, including the full four-page script for the first act of the play.

Physically, Macdeath is decently done. It needs an edit here and there, but the artwork is excellent. The handouts are decent too.

Macdeath—and to be clear, it has nothing to do with The Tragedy of McDeath for Warhammer Fantasy Battle—does have a problem, and that is in its set-up. It requires the Player Characters to be actors and performers, part of the Orb Theatre Troupe. This may not sit well with every player or indeed every Class, and it also means that it might be harder to set up and use, especially in an existing campaign. This may make it difficult to run. That said, there are Classes which would work well with this set-up. The Bard obviously, but also any Class which relies on Charisma. Unfortunately, Macdeath does not support either set-up, so no real advice on using existing Player Characters or pre-generated Player Characters for use when it is run as a one-shot. A good Dungeon Master should be able to come up with either though.

The short length of Macdeath means that it does not outstay its welcome, keeping its plot fairly simple and mixing in plenty of whimsy along the way, so that it has the feel of a television series murder mystery, though of course with magic and fantasy flavour. Overall, Macdeath is an enjoyable different scenario, emphasising and showcasing the interaction and investigation aspects of Dungeons & Dragons, and in the process, the roleplaying too.

How small can a hex crawl be? The Isle of Glaslyn manages to fit a seven-hex hex crawl onto the equivalent of four pages and then present it on a pamphlet which folds down to roughly four-by-six inches. Yet when it folds out (and is folded over, slightly), it can sit on the table between the players and the Game Master, with all of the player-facing content—the hex map of the island and the town map—on the one side, and the Game Master content—random monster tables, NPC details, and more, on the other. It is the very definition of a clever little design.
The Isle of Glaslyn lies off the coast, its hills and forests enshrouded in mists, covering rich veins of a metal found nowhere else—strands of woven copper entwined with gold. These unique formations have brought men and women to the island hoping to strike it rich and so set themselves up for life. Yet few who have ventured beyond the walls of Caer Emyrys, the small fort on the south side of the island, have returned, and fewer with the desired wealth. Those walls are a frontier and on the other side lies a rough wilderness, full of dangers yet to be encountered and secrets to be discovered. There are rumours of an ancient guardian watching over the mines, of islanders who eat men, and a magical sword swathed in golden ichor which sleeps in the many barrows to be found on the island. Lady Morgan, commander of Caer Emyrys and representative of the Emperor, has been directed with securing the mine and making it safe, then opening it back up. To that end, she has decided to employ adventurers bold who will explore the island, deal with its dangers, and ensure that its riches can be mined.

The Isle of Glaslyn is thus a classic set-up for an adventure. Caer Emyrys and the Isle of Glaslyn—the island barely eighteen miles across—are described succinctly, the maps nice and clear, and accompanied by tables of rumours, wilderness encounters, an evening at the ‘Itchy Hole’ tavern in Caer Emyrys, and more. Beyond the fort, each of the hexes is fully detailed with several specific adventure sites across the island, such as an abandoned tower and the village of bones. These are scaled down to fit the size of the island, but accompanied by the tables of rumours and encounters, and so on, and The Isle of Glaslyn has the potential for multiple sessions of play as the Player Characters explore the island. Ultimately, the secret to the island echoes that of scenarios like ‘The Lichway’ from White Dwarf #9 or Death, Frost, Doom for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay.

Physically, The Isle of Glaslyn is neatly, if perhaps a little too tightly in places, presented—but then that is down to the format. It needs an edit in places too, but the artwork is really rather charming. Physically too—and despite the cleverness of its design—it is not always easy to use because sometimes it is not merely a matter of content being on the other side of the page, but a matter of being on the other side, and flipping back and forth can be cumbersome. It is printed on fairly stiff paper, so it will withstand some handling though.

Inspired by Welsh folklore and Arthurian myth about the lake below Snowdon, The Isle of Glaslyn, is published by Leyline Press and designed for a party of low-Level adventurers using Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy. Which means it is very easy to adapt to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice. The limited amount of space means that the designers have to pack a lot of information into its pages and folds, but much of that is concisely presented, leaving room for the Game Master to add or develop detail and flavour as is her wont, although there is plenty of flavour implied. Literally as presented, the adventure is not a large one, but roughly a hex or two should be explored per session, and that with a fairly minimal degree of preparation upon the part of the Game Master. Plus, the size and self-contained nature of the island means that The Isle of Glaslyn is easy to drop off the coast of almost any fantasy roleplaying campaign. That self-same scope and size means that The Isle of Glaslyn could work as a low-Level party’s first wilderness adventure or hex crawl.

Overall, The Isle of Glaslyn is not necessarily a great scenario, but its small size contains plenty of adventure and its concision and format afford it a charm not always found in other scenarios.

With the end of One Man's God on my mind, I wanted to make this week a little more special.  To that end I wanted to spend some more time with Norse Myths and Vikings.  So with on thing ending (almost) I have mental energy (or "Spell slots" as the kids say today) to do something a little newer.

I have long been a fan of the AD&D 2nd Ed. Historical References books.  I have used the Celts one over and over again with many different versions of D&D and I have been pleased with it.  The scholarship on these is a bit better than the Deities & Demigods, but I attribute this to a better budget and more space to explain what they were doing. 

Also, the focus was a little different.  The D&DG took myths and tried to fit them into the AD&D framework.  The Historical References took the myths and described how to play an AD&D game in that world.

It's Norse Week so let's start at the beginning with HR1 the Vikings Campaign Sourcebook.

HR1 Vikings Campaign Sourcebook (AD&D 2nd Edition)

For today's review, I am only going to consider the PDF version of this book from DriveThruRPG. I lost or sold back my original in one of my moves or collection downsize.  I will mention details from the physical book as I remember it, but my focus is on the PDF for the details.  In most cases the material is 100% the same, the difference coming from the fold-out map, which is separate pages in the pdf.

HR1: Vikings Campaign Sourcebook (1992), by David "Zeb" Cook.  Illustrations by Ned Dameron and cartography by David C. Sutherland III.  96 pages, black & white with full-color maps.

The first book of the Historical Reference series covers the Viking raiders of Scandinavia. It is not a separate game world per se, since it deals with Pagan Europe after the fall of Rome, but it is a fantastical Europe where dragons fill the seas, troll-blooded humans walk among us, and somewhere out there in the wilderness, a one-eyed man wanders the land.

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter covers the very basics, starting off with what people usually get wrong about the Vikings.  These guys are not Hägar the Horrible or even the interpretations of Wagner.  They do point out that "Vikings" are also not really a people, but a lifestyle that some people engaged in. 

This section also covers how to use this book, specifically how to use this book about Vikings and the history of their raids with the AD&D 2nd Rules.  We get into more specific details in the next chapters.

Chapter 2: A Mini-Course of Viking History

Starting with the raid at Lindisfarne in 793 CE the book covers a very basic history of the Northmen's lands, the lands they raided, and their culture and history.  The focus here though is through the lens of an AD&D game, not a historical introduction.  The book is clear on this. 

Details are given, with maybe extra focus on England and France (though they are not called that yet) but that is fine.  There is a very nice timeline running across the top of the pages of this chapter that is rather handy. The time period, roughly 800 to 1100 CE agrees with most of the scholarship on "Viking History" so that works fine for here as well. 

There is a nice list of settlements and cities the Vikings targeted. Not a full list, but it gives you an idea of how much of Europe, Northern Africa, and even parts of Asia the Vikings would roam.  

There is a page or so of suggested readings. Likely the best at the time.  The chapter does set you nicely to explore these ideas further.

Chapter 3: Of Characters and Combat

Here we get into game writing proper.  We start with what races you will find in a Viking-themed campaign.  Obviously, we are talking mostly humans here. Humans can gain a "Gift" something that makes them special such as "Rune Lore" or "Bad Luck" or even a Seer.  There is a new "race" the Troll-born. These are stronger than average humans due to troll-blood in their veins. They get a +1 to Strength, Constitution and Intelligence but a -1 to Wisdom and a -2 to Charisma. They have Infravision and are limited to 15th level in their classes. They are not born with Gifts.

Next, we cover the changes to the Character Classes from the PHB. Fighters on the whole tend to be unchanged as are Rangers and Thieves.  Classes not allowed are Clerics, Paladins, Druids, and Wizards, though specialty mages are allowed if they are Conjurers, Diviners, Enchanters, Illusionists, Necromancers.  While this could be a negative for some I like the idea of limiting classes for specific campaigns.  Two new sub-classes of the Warrior are added, the Berserker and the Runecaster.  Both do pretty much what you might suspect they do.  The berserker is actually rather cool and while the obvious roots here are the barbarian and berserker monster from AD&D 1, there is enough here to make it work and be interesting too. Runecasters know runes as detailed in the next chapter.

The "forbidden" classes can be played, if they are outsiders. 

Lip service is given to the detail that the Vikings were predominantly men.  Though new archaeological finds are casting some doubt that they were exclusively so.  This book does give some examples of how warrior women were known.  They emphasize that player characters are always exceptional. 

There is a section on names (including a list of names), homelands, and social class.

In the purist AD&D 2nd ed section, we get some new Proficiencies.

Chapter 4: Rune Magic

This covers Rune Magic. An important feature of Viking Lore. What the runes are and how to use them in AD&D 2nd Ed terms are given.  A lot of these are minor magics, say of the 0-level or 1st-level spell use.  I personally don't recall them being over abused in games, but they are a really nice feature to be honest.

Chapter 5: ...And Monsters

Monsters are discussed here, starting with which existing monsters can be used from the AD&D 2nd Monstrous Compendium.   Following this some altered monsters are given.   For example, there is the Gengånger which is a zombie with some more details.  

Dwarves and Elves are given special consideration, as are trolls and giants. 

There is not however any "new" monsters in the AD&D 2nd Ed Monstrous Compendium format. We will get those in the Celts book, but that is next time.

The section is split with a "centerfold" map of Europe.

Chapter 6: Equipment and Treasure

Vikings were Vikings because of the treasure they sought.  They also had the best ships in Europe at this time. So let's spend some time with these.  

We start with a section on money. For the game's simplicity, these are reduced to a couple of systems.  Coins are usually categorized by make-up and weight.  There is some good material here really and something that most games should look into. 

Treasure covers the typical treasures found.  Also, treasure was a central piece of Viking lore; it was how chieftains paid their men, it was what they stole from others, and it was also how they were paid off NOT to steal.   Some space is given to Magic Items as well. This is an AD&D game after all.  Some "typical" magical treasure is discussed and some that are not found at all.  A few new items are also detailed. 

Chapter 7: The Viking Culture

This chapter gives us are biggest differences from a typical AD&D game.  For illustrative purposes, we follow a young Viking, Ivar Olafsson, in a year of his life.  Now I rather liked this because it gave me a character situated in his life and culture.   While it is not the most "gamble" material it is good background material. 

There is a section on Social Ranking and a little more on the role of Viking women.  I think after 6 seasons of watching Katheryn Winnick kick-ass as Lagertha in Vikings, this section will be read and cheerfully ignored. That is great, but this bit does talk about, and support, the image that Viking women had it better than their counterparts in the rest of Europe.

We also get into the sundries, quite literally; Food, drink, homes, farms, and trade. There is a section on religion with lots of nods towards the AD&D 2nd Ed Legends and Lore. 

Chapter 8: A Brief Gazetteer

AD&D 2nd Ed is celebrated not really for its advances in game design or rules, but rather the campaign worlds.  This book, and this section, in particular, is a thumbnail of why these celebrations are merited.  Or, as I call it, just give me a map! This section is more than a map and maybe not as much as the famed Mystara Gazetteers, but the relationship is not difficult to pick out.

This covers, rather briefly (as it says in the title), the lands the Vikings would roam to. And there are a lot of those! In addition to the lands of Europe, Africa, Asia, and yes even North America, we get the fantastic worlds of the Vikings.  If I had done this book this would have been Chapter 2 or 3 at the very least.  This chapter is all too brief in my mind. 

We get a longship design at the end and in the PDF what was the fold-out map.

--

So in truth a really fun resource.  The AD&D game material is there, but this book could be used with pretty much any version of D&D or even many other games.  3rd Edition/Pathfinder players might lament the lack of Prestige Classes, but the Rune MAgic section can be easily converted to a Feat system.  5th Edition Players would need to work the Berserkers into a Barbarian sub-class/sub-type, but that would be easy enough. 

It is not a perfect resource, but it is really close. I am really regretting selling off my physical copy now.

And here we are.  The last of my regular features of One Man's God.  I wanted to save the Norse for last because in many ways it was the myths of the Norse that showed me that there was a whole other world of myths and legends beyond the Greek.  This happened, as it turned out, during a series of events that would lead me to D&D.   In many ways the myths of the Norse are the most "D&D" of them all.  The Monster Manual might be full of monsters of the Greek myths, the Norse myths run a very close second.

The purpose though of One Man's God is to talk about demons.  So let's get to it.

There are a lot of great entries for gods here and there are some really powerful monsters.  But there isn't really anything here that says "demon" as D&D defines them.   Or is there?

Among the creatures, we have the children of Loki, who here is listed as Chaotic Evil, who certainly could be considered demons.  The Fenris Wolf is variously described as demonic and is Chaotic Evil. The same is true for Jormungandr.  But they really don't fit the notion of demons. There is a type of creature from Norse Myth that does, the Jötunn.

Jötunar as Demons

There are a lot of good reasons to list the Jötunn as demons, even in the classical sense. The word Jötunn is often translated as "giant" or even "troll,"  but another translation is "devourer."  This word is also the source of the word Ettin.  

They are also described as predating the gods, coming from the primordial chaos, and the enemies of the gods.  Sounds pretty demonic to me.  It also sounds like the Titans of Greek myth, but more on that later.

The D&DG tells us that,

This lives on in the 4th Edition D&D mythology about Giants, Titans, and Primordials. 

Jötunn, Inferno
FREQUENCY:  Very Rare
NO.  APPEARING:  1-4
ARMOR CLASS: -2
MOVE: 24" 
HIT DICE:  15+75 (143 hp)
%  IN  LAIR:  0%
TREASURE  TYPE:  E, Q (x10), R
NO.  OF  ATTACKS:  2
DAMAGE/ATTACK:  Flaming Sword 2d12+5 (x2)
SPECIAL  ATTACKS:  Fire Aura (2d6)
SPECIAL  DEFENSES: +2  or  better weapon to hit
MAGIC  RESISTANCE:  55%
INTELLIGENCE:  Average
ALIGNMENT:  Lawful Evil
SIZE:  L  (20')
PSIONIC ABILITY:  Nil

The progenitors of the Fire Giants, the Inferno Jötunn are a truly horrible sight to behold.  They tower over the Storm Giants and rival the Titans in sheer size and strength.   They are surrounded by flames and even their eyes, hair, and mouths are filled with flames. They are more violent than their cousins from Niflheim and Jötunheimr, the Rime Jötunn, but leave their lands much less often. 

Inferno Jötunn all come from the land of Muspelheim, also known as Múspell which is also another name for these creatures.  Muspelheim is a land of bright, white-hot flames that only these creatures and their fire giant offspring can withstand.

Inferno Jötunn are surrounded by flames that deal 2d6 hp of damage at all times.  They wield great swords of flame and attack with their great strength (2d12+5) twice per round.  Inferno Jötunn are immune to normal and magical fire including dragon breath.  They have magic resistance at 55%.  Rare individuals can also cast spells as a 9th level magic-user.

Their king is Sutur, also known as Surt. He commands his subjects with an iron fist. 

Jötunn, Rime
FREQUENCY:  Very Rare
NO.  APPEARING:  1-4
ARMOR CLASS: -3
MOVE: 24"
HIT DICE:  18+90 (171 hp)
%  IN  LAIR:  0%
TREASURE  TYPE:  E, Q (x10), R
NO.  OF  ATTACKS:  2
DAMAGE/ATTACK:  Frost brand sword 2d12+6 (x2)
SPECIAL  ATTACKS:  Chill Aura (2d6)
SPECIAL  DEFENSES: +2  or  better weapon to hit
MAGIC  RESISTANCE:  55%
INTELLIGENCE:  Average
ALIGNMENT:  Chaotic  Evil
SIZE:  L (21')
PSIONIC ABILITY:  Nil

Rime Jötunn are the primordial Frost Giants that first rose from Niflheim.  Unlike the Inferno Jötunn, they range far and wide and are constantly battling with the Gods and other giants.

Rime Jötunn are surrounded by an aura of cold that deals 2d6 hp of damage at all times.  They wield great swords of ice and attack with their great strength (2d12+6) twice per round.  Rime Jötunn are immune to normal and magical cold including dragon breath.  They have magic resistance at 55%.  Rare individuals can also cast spells as a 9th level cleric.

These Jötunar can also adjust their size to appear as a human or elf as they need. 

Niflheim is a cold, dark place of mists, ice, and gloom.  Here the Rime Jötunn await with their lord Thrym to wage the final war on the gods in Ragnarök.  Until they will cause as much evil as they can.

--

Rereading the Norse Myths you get the feeling that the Jötunar are more elemental in nature than even the fire and frost giants of D&D. Again in this respect, D&D 4th Edition had some great ideas.

While there are plenty of supernatural creatures in the lore of the Norsemen, with trolls and giants among the more popular, they are not represented in the D&DG and indeed mainly play a lesser role to the Gods and the dwarves of Norse myth.

And here are.  The last of the regular entries for One Man's God.  I have a few specials in mind to wrap up some ideas from this series and a "Norse Mythos, Part II" in a way later this week with a new "This Old Dragon."  All in all, I am a little sorry to see it end. It has been a lot of fun.

Let's get back to this!  A month off has made me a little rusty in my monster-making skills.  Today's monster comes to me from a few sources.  I spent my summer rereading a lot of my old psych textbooks and I decided to take a break and pick a bit of fluff about a guardian angel.  I had no intention of doing anything with it, just a little a bit of enjoyable fluff.

Also, I am going to be spending a lot of time with some Norse myths and I wanted a creature today that I had not already done or seen a hundred times.  The answer came to me in the form of the Hamingja.

Hamingja
Medium Outsider (Angel)

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Lawful [Chaotic Good]
Movement: 120' (40') [12"]
  Flying 180' (60') [18"]
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Hit Dice: 10d8+40**** (85 hp)
Attacks: 1 weapon (sword +1)
Damage: 1d8+3
Special: Astral projection, etherealness, fly, invisibility, luck, magic resistance 40% 
Save: Fighter 10
Morale: 12 (NA)
Treasure Hoard Class: None
XP: 3,700 (OSE) 3,800 (LL)

Str: 16 (+2) Dex: 16 (+2) Con: 20 (+4) Int: 13 (+1) Wis: 14 (+2) Cha: 20 (+4)

Hamingja are akin to guardian angels. They appear as do valkyries, strong beautiful warrior women.  But where the valkyries guardian the souls of the dead, the Hamingja are guardians of the living.  

Each Hamingja exists to protect one family.  They provide protection against supernatural and mundane attacks that target the family.  They have an innate sense of which attacks are in need of their protection and which ones are not.  So do not defend every attack, only ones that will ensure their charge does not die until their time as decreed by the Norns. 

Unless they are needed the Hamingja will remain invisible. They will remain hidden in this way until they are needed.  They typically act by increasing the ambient luck of their charges.  Typically this translates to general +1 or +5% to any rolls their charges rolls. If their charge is attacked and the Norns have decreed this is when they will die the Hamingja will stay invisible until their charge is dead.  They will then fly their soul to their appropriate place in the afterlife. They will then return to serve another member of the same family.  If the Norns have not so decreed, then they will defend their charge with their swords.  

The name Hamingja name means "happiness" or "joy" and their overall goal is to make the lives of their charges happier. 

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—
Published in January 2021—following a successful Kickstarter campaign by The Merry Mushmen—Knock! #1 An Adventure Gaming Bric-à-Brac promised and delivered some eighty-two entries contributed by some of the most influential writers, publishers, and commentators from the Old School Renaissance, including Paolo Greco, Arnold K, Gabor Lux, Bryce Lynch, Fiona Maeve Geist, Chris McDowall, Ben Milton, Gavin Norman, and Daniel Sell, along with artists such as Dyson Logos and Luka Rejec. From the off, it grabbed the reader’s attention and began giving him stuff, including a dungeon adventure on the inside of the dust jacket! Inside its pages contained a  panoply of articles and entries—polemics and treatises, ideas and suggestions, rules and rules, treasures, maps and monsters, adventures and Classes, and random tables and tables, followed by random tables in random tables! All of which is jam-packed into a vibrant-looking book. All primarily written for use with Necrotic Gnome’s Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy, but readily and easily adapted to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice, and laid out out with a graphic style which was heavily influenced by the look (though not the tone) of Mörk Borg to eye-catching and distinctive effect.
Knock! #2 An Old School Gaming Bric-à-Brac is no different. Published following a second successful Kickstarter campaign, it contains some sixty-six entries, covering Game Master advice, things to be found, Goblins, dungeons, wilderness, maps, design, and more—and all that in the first one hundred pages! Its contributors include Emmy Allen, Andrea ‘Vyrelion’ Back, E. A. ‘taichara’ Bisson, Adam Bloomfield, Emiel Boven, Caleb Burks, Cacklecharm, Islayre d’Argolh, Warren Denning, Nicolas Dessaux, Andrew Duvall, Brent Edwards, Leander Elwischger, Simon Feser, Sándor Gebei, Kezie Gracie, Paolo Greco, Sarah Grove, Adrian Hammer,  James Holloway, Anne Hunter, Arnold K, Kobayashi, Gus L, Phill Loe, Dyson Logos, Gabor Lux, Iko, James Maliszewski, Josh McCrowell, Chris McDowall, David McGrogan, Stefan Mijucic, Danilo Moretti, Eric Nieudan, Nobboc, Diogo Nogueira, Gavin Norman, ktrey parker, Graphite Prime, Stuart Robertson, Perplexing Ruins, Jack Shear, Zedeck Siew, Skullfungus, W.F. Smith, Gustav Sokol, Sean Stone, Matt Strom, Chris Tamm, Trollsmyth, Vagabundork, Charles Wells., and more. It represents a diverse range of voices from the Old School Renaissance on the various preoccupations of the movement, and presents a huge amount of content that the Game Master can bring to her campaign and gaming table.
As with the first issue, the contents of Knock! #2 An Old School Gaming Bric-à-Brac begin inside the dust jacket. Here it is ‘Gloomywood’, a campy and sinister micro setting by Gabor Lux. In classic Hammer Horror style it details thirty-six locations across the mountain valley that is the family seat of the Counts von Marstein. Of late, the current incumbent has been ill, leaving his seneschal to rule in his stead, and now the inhabitants fear him and his cruel control as much as the wild beasts which roam the region. No space is wasted—even the inside of the spine has a weather table, but the format means that it is cramped and not necessarily as easy to use at the table. As a hex crawl, its size and self-contained nature makes it easy to drop into a campaign, but the Game Master will need to develop a few hooks and story elements to draw her players and their characters in.
Then on the front page, there is the first of the many tables of things to be found in the issue. This is ‘d6 Magical Tomes’, and it is followed by Cacklecharm’s ‘Sorcerer-Corpse Hazards’, lovingly detailed options for what might be found on the dead body of a wizard, including traps and treasures. Then by ‘I Search the Bookshelf!’ by Vagabundork, lists twenty books to be found on the shelves of a personal library. This counters the issue of finding books in a mansion or dungeon that are worth money, but not detailed. The later ‘30 Tomes of Magic’ by Nicholas Dessau is marginally less useful, only listing spells according to book themes, such as Tome of the Spider or Tome of Force, but without the flavour text. Sarah Grove offers more colour in a giant table of ‘D60 Pointless Items’, all designed to be both amusing and disappointing, but which perhaps would be easier to use had it been designed as a d66 table.
Other tables enable the Game Master to generate game element after game element. Matthew Strom’s ‘Knight Errant Generator’ enables her to create a knight’s heraldry, fighting style, name, quirk, and quest. Together it could be used to create the background for a Player Character or an NPC. Gavin Norm uses ‘Party like it’s 999’ by Jeff Rients to present ‘Carousing for Spellbook Nerds’, rules for sorcerers and wizards burning the midnight oil to learn new spell or other magical effects, not always to the benefit of the caster, such as being able to see the patterns in other magic-users’ minds and thus know the spells they have memorised or there being a temporary chance of a spell backfiring! In general, a fun way to add a little temporary flavour to the arcane spellcaster. Eric Nieudan’s ‘Érynie’s Mirror’ presents ways to encounter one of the famed Furies over and over, each time a little different in terms of place, what she wants, and what she demands. This is a little different, dark and dangerous.
The advice begins with Arnold K’s ‘The Master’s Words of Wisdom’, which includes advice for the Dungeon Master, covering the use of meaningful choices, information, impact, lethality, fair deaths, and more. It does not ignore the player either, giving advice about thinking in terms of the dungeon levels, being clever, and learning everything that he can, and so on. It is good advice, kept simple by being almost bullet point-like. Then Chris McDowall counters it with ‘Cheap Tricks’—quick and easy rather than unfair things, that the Game Master can do to keep her players interested and her game running, like amplifying their characters’ competence or having the NPCs remember them (for good or ill). It covers cheap humour and horror tricks too, so there is a fair amount here for the Game Master to consider when running a game.
In ‘Landmark, Hidden, Secret’, Anne Hunter presents ways in which she presents information in her game. The first type is easily found and easily repeated; the second can be asked for, but can have a cost in terms of time and risk; and the third, is not just difficult to find, but the characters are not guaranteed to find it. This is an interesting read, challenging us how we handle information in our games by looking at a potential in-game problem in another way. Anne Hunter also provides twelve ‘Random Rival Adventuring Parties’ to be encountered in a dungeon. ‘Mansions of the Dead: Historical inspiration for fantasy… Tombs’ by James Holloway gives some suitable thoughts and ideas about alternatives to dungeons, though it feels reminiscent of Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne.
The subject of new Player Characters after the death of the previous one is addressed not once, but twice. First, Philip Lee offers a means to create new a Player Character after a player has lost his during play. Dice are rolled to generate starting Experience Points until the player has rolled enough or the same number is rolled again. If the latter happens, the new character starts at First Level, but with a boon like a bonus to Strength and Constitution or third eye which can be opened daily to see in the dark or through an illusion. The boons are organised by Class, but if the player instead rolls enough dice, his character can start as high as Fourth Level or so. Overall, this is a nice idea, which compensates the new character with an often-intriguing ability and a bit of flavour too. Second, Vagabundork gives a list of thirty ready-to-play ‘fools’—after all, who would be foolish to enter a dungeon?—in ‘Another Fool For Your Adventures!’. All are Zero Level, Classless Fighters with full stats, names, backgrounds, and means of introduction. If the new Player Character survives, his player gets to roll a new Hit Dice, choose a Class, and so on. All much like the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, but supported instead with thirty oddball, often weird would be Player Characters. 
Graphite Prime discusses something often ignored during dungeon explanation. Typically at the end of a hard day’s exploration, the party will either retreat if they can or hole up somewhere and post guards. What happens when the members of the party are asleep? There are twenty options here—and thus another table—such as a character getting up in his sleep and opening a locked door or waking up to find rodents nibbling on his extremities (save versus poison…). This adds further flavour to play, particularly at a moment when the characters’ guards are down. Similarly, ‘You are Likely to be Eaten by a Grue_’ by Joh McCrowell inflicts terrible options upon the party should its torches go out whilst deep in the bowels of a dungeon… Lesser, but still terrible options are listed by Dyson Logos in ‘Unquietly Undead’ for alternative effects of the Level-draining touch of certain members of the undead, such as the thing having the ability to unerringly track a victim it has touched or transmits the much feared mummy rot… Cacklecharm provides a list of options to change a monster in ‘Monster Modifiers’, like infesting it with flesh-eating maggots or spider eggs about to burst, or giving it reasons to be cornered and that much more dangerous.
For Goblins, Cacklecharm also gives ‘8 Goblin Warlock Spells’, such as Repulse, the reverse version of Charm Person and Count, which actually enables the cast to do what it says! This is a lovely little collection, which would work with Goblins as traditional enemies or Goblins as Player Characters (perhaps in a campaign like In The Shadow of Mount Rotten), and deserves more entries. Hopefully in a future issue of Knock!. Whereas, Paolo Greco shows us what does to his Goblins in ‘My Goblins Are…’, which is to make them dirty, nasty, unruly, daft, and more with tables for inexplicable goblin situations, insane secret goblin warfare techniques, unexpected goblin locations, mutations and other goblin weirdness… Combine the two, and what you have is the means to lift the warty little creatures up out of the ordinary.
Simon Black addresses one of the constant bugbears in Dungeons & Dragons and that is Alignment. In ‘The Grey Shaded Hex’, he suggests an alternative to the traditional three-by-three square. It is built around six traits—empathetic or callous, protective or manipulative, and selfless or self-entitled, to help create better characters, whether Player Character or NPC. It means a radical shift in handling personality in the game, and so may not necessarily be for all.  
Gabor Lux gets to grumble about the poor nature of dungeon map design in ‘The Anatomy of a Dungeon Map’ and make some suggestions as to how to improve it. He takes one of Dyson Logos’ designs, The Winter Tombs and analyses it in detail as an example. It covers choke points, bridging points, dungeon highways, and more, and as much as it focuses on the one dungeon, there are still points to be thinking about when the Game Master comes to designing her own dungeon.
Jack Shear writes ‘In Praise of Vanilla Fantasy’, defending it as a base for the hobby and an easier starting point in terms of both play and design. He points out that it is a common language for the hobby, easily translatable, when everything is weird, nothing is, and not only do companies like Paizo, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast have it covered, it might be something that people want to play. It is a solid defence, and indeed, there should be room for it in the hobby. Another reason is that just like vanilla, it can serve as a palate cleanser. After all, vanilla can make for a refreshing change.
Javier Prado and Nobboc delve into Basque folklore for inspiration with ‘Bad Paxti’, the tale of a blacksmith so talented, but so full of sin and vice that numerous demons vied for his soul. Unfortunately for them, he outwitted every one, and Hell no longer wants his soul! It comes with full stats and some hooks too, and is easily added to a campaign. This is a really pleasing little addition and there should be more entries like this in future entries. Inspiration for Charles Wells’ ‘The Charnel Saturnalia’ must surely be the dancing mania of the late medieval period, here expanded into a strange event in which good men and women are driven to dance with skeletons to the local graveyard until they drop exhausted, and then do it the next night, often until their deaths. In effect, this is very enjoyably detailed, if grim little encounter in which the Player Characters have as much chance as being forced to join in as do the local peasants. This would work in any number of fantasy roleplaying games and settings, but especially ones with grim and perilous worlds. Almost being contemporary, Jack Shear looks to a Science Fiction novel (and forthcoming film) for inspiration with ‘Making a Powder Keg The Dune Way’, which suggests how its set-up could be adapted to a fantasy setting once the names have been filed off. It is a bit quick and dirty, but hopefully the players will be too busy to notice the inspiration.
The last quarter of Knock! #2 is devoted to a quintet of regular departments—‘Portfolio of Cartographic Curiousities’, ‘Menagerie of Monstrosities’, ‘D is for Demons’, ‘Retinue of Rogues’, and ‘Extraordinary Excursions’. The ‘Portfolio of Cartographic Curiousities’ provides some wonderful maps, such as Andrew Bloomfield’s fun pixelated version of the Tomb of Horrors, or the Desiccated Temple of Locha from Andrew Duvall. There are six maps here and they show off an intricacy and love of maps for map’s sake, as well in some cases being suitable for the Game Master to develop and adapt and add detail. Many of the entries in the ‘Menagerie of Monstrosities’ are simply odd, like Adrian Hammer’s Pywawa, a cross between a pineapple and a skull with bat’s ears, the bite of which causes the victim to not only cry out, “WAWA WAWA WAWA” and so be unable to say anything else, but also want to bite the nearest creature! Then there is the Cafetière Assassin from Eric Nieudan, created by Dwarf Golemancers, coffee-fuelled, and often given as a diplomatic gift. James Maliszewski contributes the half dozen entries to ‘D is for Demons’, very much born of his experience creating demons for his own fanzine, The Excellent Travelling Volume for Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne.
The octet of new Classes in ‘Retinue of Rogues’ ranges from the serious to the silly. The series starts with Nobboc’s ‘The Errant Friar’, a learned ascetic monk or nun, capable with the staff and a little healing, and gifted with daily miracles like Holy Beacon which turns the undead like a Cleric. This is a decently serviceable and workable Class for a low magic campaign. James Maliszewski’s ‘The Beggar’ is a Thief variant, but only capable of Disguise, Hide in Shadows, Pick Pockets, and Scrounge, all backed up by a reaction bonus against Lawful and Neutral NPCs, which makes it an interesting choice to roleplay. The silly, or the daft starts with Leander Elwischger’s ‘The Grey’, the classic space alien with an understanding of future science and a phaser weapon with variable effects, which has been stranded on this fantastically primitive world. It continues with ‘The Platyperson’ by Nicholas Dessaux, which is an aquatic warrior with excellent swimming, electrolocation, and in times of need, poisonous talons under its feet. This would work in a game which has anthropomorphic animals. The other Classes include Eric Nieudan’s take on the Giantkin, ‘The Autnagrag’, Emiel Boven’s ‘The Prophet of Ruin’, and Ethan Lefevre’s ‘Plague Doctor’, which studies and develops contagions to both find a cure—useful for his allies, and to apply them to his blade and then inflict them on his enemies. Imagine being able to infect a dragon with the Black Death…? Both the ‘The Prophet of Ruin’ and the ‘Plague Doctor’ have a certain ‘end of the world’ quality to them which might make them worth adapting to Mörk Borg.
‘Extraordinary Excursions’ contains four short scenarios or locations. Vagabundork’s ‘Obselete Sewer Radiopasteurization’ is a short point crawl dungeon with a strong technological theme. Grungy, dirty, and mostly out of genre, it seems more fitting for a post-apocalyptic than a fantasy setting, but it would work as something weird and perhaps out of phase with the campaign. Islayre’s ‘Fort Levent’ is the issue’s second hexcrawl, this time one large hex consisting of nineteen different hexes, that the Player Characters explore as they attempt to discover the source of a Gnoll invasion the drove out the Goblin Barbarian Clans which the settlers were warring against. It packs a decent amount of adventure and a nasty secret or two into its four pages, and much like the earlier ‘Gloomywood’, is designed for low-Level Player Characters and easy to drop into a Game Master’s campaign.
‘The Dark Island’ is one-great capital to a subterranean kingdom deep underground, located in a large, flooded cavern and still home to the Dragon Queen, Dragon Cultists, Albino Gnomes, and perhaps the occasional visiting dragon. Although given decent descriptions and random encounter tables, this will require the Game Master to develop some stats for all of the NPCs and monsters. Of course, that means it is easily scalable, so it could simply be used as a location in a vast underground network or an end of campaign boss location. Lastly, Emiel Boven’s ‘The Rot King’s Sanctum’ is a dungeon for Levels One to Five, nicely detailed, rot-infested nest of cultists, rats, and wererats. This is a fuller scenario, complete with stats and is easily added to the sewer system of any major city in the Game Master’s campaign.
Physically, Knock! #2 is as impressively bright and breezy as Knock! #1. However, the layout feels less cluttered, the text a little less busy, so is easier on the eye and everything seems to breathe a little more openly. It needs a slight edit in places, but the artwork is good and the cartography excellent, but then with Knock! coming out of the Old School Renaissance, it would be remiss if the cartography was anything else.
However, there is an issue with Knock! #2. There is just too much of it, too much of it to review, too much of it to read, too much of it to use. It is like getting the whole of ZineQuest in one indigestible lump for dinner on Christmas Day, and then having read it, having to spend the rest of the day on the sofa cogitating on the richness of ideas and content you have just swallowed. It is like being given a whole gooducken with all the trimmings and stuffed with a platypus for good measure. Yet like any good Christmas dinner, the leftovers—turkey and cranberry sandwiches, bubble and squeak, turkey broth, will last days at the very least, which means that you will be coming back to consult the pages of Knock! #2 again and again.
One noticeable aspect of the issue is that there is less of an obvious reliance upon blog posts than in the first issue. So there is less of a feeling of it capturing the state of the Old School Renaissance than in Knock! #1, and thus it is more of a magazine than necessarily a collation of past thoughts. 
There is such a wealth of detail and flavour and ideas and opinions and suggestions in the pages of Knock! #2. One of the best and weirdest is Kezie Gracie’s ‘Whale Heart: An Ailment of Heart, Mind, and Sea’, which could be a curse, a blessing, or the path to godhood in the inky depths of the ocean, all perfect for a nautical, piratical, or coastal campaign, whilst Zedeck Siew offers some entertaining ways to make magic spells more interesting in ‘Fixing Spells’. And even pointing these out in the final summation demonstrates just how difficult it is to cover everything in the issue, there is so much of it. And that really gets to the point of Knock! #2 An Old School Gaming Bric-à-Brac. There is so much of it, it is very hard to be disappointed with any of it, because there is always something else just over the page.

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Published in June, 2020, Tabletops and Tentacles #1 – The Kickstarter Edition proved to be both a disappointment and enjoyable. It promised to be, “The monthly magazine of RPGs, Tabletop Games, Comic Conventions, Art Reviews, Adventures & More! In this prodigious premiere issue, you will find adventure hooks for roleplaying games, RPG dice tables, reviews, artist and game designer interviews, original art, tips, tricks, NPCs, treasure and maps.” It was an ambitious claim, and it very much made it sound like a gaming magazine. It was not, and that was the disappointing bit. The problem is was that its focus initially and in the main was on the ‘More’ of that subtitle—books, films, computer games, and so on rather than games. This is not to say that there was no roleplaying content to be found in its pages. There was, and it was decent too. Kristopher McClanahan’s systemless, Lovecraftian ode to Pulp Sci-Fi roleplaying games, ‘Realm of the Moon Ghouls Part 1: The Starship Poe’ was fun, and ‘H’AKKENSLASH! An original RPG system’ by Benjamin C. Bailey showed promised. Thus once you accepted that Tabletops and Tentacles #1 was not a gaming magazine, but a general fandom magazine with the gaming content saved for the issue’s back half, it proved to be an enjoyable read.

Tabletops and Tentacles #2 – The Quarantine Issue follows the same format, but it is a much queerer beast, for this is the issue written during and in response to the year in lockdown that was 2020. Published in January, 2021 by Deeply Dapper Games, the issue offers up the usual mix of columns, features, and interviews, covering films—lots of films, reviews, and more, all coloured by the fact that its contributors had to stay at home and not go anywhere. That starts with Kris McClanahan’s editorial ‘Notes from the Depths’, in which he laments the change in circumstances forced upon him and his partner by the pandemic. That is no criticism, for we have all had to do it and adapt as best we can, but he is more used to travelling and presenting at one convention after another. There can be no doubt that Covid-19 has changed many lives and the way we live, and its spread is the closest that we have come to an apocalypse—yet. How we survived and what we did is reflected in the issue, which focuses on plagues, apocalypses, pandemics, and the like across our media. This is very much reflected in the issue’s first half, which does feel as if can be summed up as ‘What I watched in quarantine’. The issue’s reviews—the previews having been dropped due to the difficulty of their being relevant—cover a mix of the old and the new, including a lot of crime such as S.A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland and Michael Connelly’s Fair Warning. The fantastic includes Peace Talks, the latest Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, and the graphic novel, The Adventure Zone Vol. 1: Here There Be Gerblins by The McElroys & Carey Pietsch. The ‘Spotlight’ on The Andromeda Strain is sadly all too short in comparison to the reviews of Netflix series like Warrior Nun and Amazon Prime films such as Blow the Man Down. Video game reviews include the excellent The Outer Worlds, Griftlands and Earth Defense Force 5, plus tabletop reviews which cover Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos and the first part of the adventure quartet, Yig Snake Granddaddy: Act 1: A Land Out Of Time. In general, it is a good mix of reviews, the familiar with the unfamiliar.

In ‘Thoom! Theater’ Thom Chiaramonte presents his fantasy cast for The Fantastic Four. This is an interesting take upon the classic Marvel superhero group, more interesting than the previous filmic takes, including detailed casting suggestions and a complete story outline. With an origin shifted forward to the nineteen seventies rather than the nineteen sixties, this is all very speculative, but given the recent release of the series, What If! for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it does not read as being, well, too fantastic.

Less useful and less interesting—at least for a non-American readership—is Kris McClanahan’s ‘Islands in the Stream:  The Tabletops & Tentacles Guide To Streaming Channels’, which does what it says on the tin. An eleven-page guide and opinion to every television and film streaming service imaginable. Many of these are available outside of the USA, but then just how many such services do you need, or indeed, have time to watch? The counterpoint to this guide is his ‘In Praise of Physical Media’, which highlights the advantages of checking your library of DVDs you have been avoiding with all of that ready access to instant video on demand. Better quality, limited choice (really!), and of course, the extras. It would have been interesting to find out a little bit as to what he pulled off the shelf, but otherwise definitely a better read than the streaming guide.

Also a better read is the editor’s second entry in the regular column, ‘50 Films You DON’T Need To See’. In Tabletops and Tentacles #1, it was Toy Story. In Tabletops and Tentacles #2, it is Night of the Living Dead, and as before, this is an examination of the film, warts and all. It is better for it, because despite it being a cliché in places (but then it was the original and set those clichés!), some odd shots, limited budget, and the then inexperience of George A. Romero, it is still very much a classic zombie and classic horror film. This is an enjoyable re-examination of the film, and it is very much s pity that The Andromeda Strain did not receive a similar—though not exact—treatment earlier, as given its age and subject matter, it would have been very appropriate for the issue.

Both the ‘What I watched in quarantine’ and the plague themes continue with ‘The Binge’ in which the editor takes advantage of one streaming service after another to dive down a rabbit hole of one bad apocalyptic film followed by probably worse bad apocalyptic film… If the article is not worth reading for the films—and the likelihood is that the reader really has to like bad films for it to be seen as a guide to bad film—then there is recompense in the author’s self-flagellation in making himself endure the four films he watches here. The theme is carried on in ‘The Top ten Pop Culture Pandemics!’ which draws roleplaying games, television, film, comic books, novels, and video games, and as lists go, the plenty to agree and disagree with. That said, Wild Card virus from the series of the same name edited by George R.R. Martin should definitely have been on the list.

Devon Marcel offers his own suggestions within the issue’s themes with ‘That’s Quarantainment! – Quarantine themed media for life during lockdown’, and what he viewed and read and played. Just three titles are examined, but space enough is given to each to make them sound interesting and worth tracking down. The three are the Val Lewton directed, Boris Karloff starring Isle of the Dead, of which Marcel is highly positive; Frozen Hell, an earlier iteration of 1938 short story ‘Who Goes There?’ by John W. Campbell, Jr., which would form the basis for both versions The Thing From Another World, of which the author find interesting as a curiosity, but little more; and The Bunker, a Full Motion Video adventure game from Splendy Games, a horror game set entirely in an underground bunker which he thoroughly enjoyed. Again, the article is the all the better for the space it is given, and each of the three items covered is more interesting for it also.

‘Quest Accepted: My Epic Adventure Into VR’ by Shawn Lance takes us on the author’s introduction to playing on the Occulus Quest. It is a serviceable read, but could have been improved with illustrations of the games he played, otherwise, it feels divorced from his experience.

The issue makes a very noticeable switch to fiction to ‘The Book Club’. In a similar fashion to the earlier ‘50 Films You DON’T Need To See’, this examines H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Festival’, one of his minor short stories and breaks down its plot, history, what he liked and disliked, along with his final thoughts, trivia, and more, and again is an enjoyable appreciation. Two actual pieces of fiction follow. The first is the second part of ‘Sowing Dragon Teeth’, a fantasy story with pulpy tones by James Alderdice, which continues to be as enjoyable as the first part in Tabletops and Tentacles #1, whilst the second is Neal Kristopher’s ‘No More Masks’, a post-apocalyptic tale that is very much a commentary on the decision whether or not to wear a mask in the least or so, and going forward.

The actual gaming content in Tabletops and Tentacles #2—some eighty pages in—begins with a pair of interviews. The first is with Cullen Bunn, author of the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired Deepest Catacombs. Based on the old-school adverts from TSR, Inc. for the game from the seventies and eighties, this does a nice job selling the concept, especially with the samples from Bunn’s current project and the inspiration for it. The other interview is ‘Gaming from the Hearth’ which is with the husband-and-wife team behind Fireside Games, the publisher of Castle Panic. Conducted just prior to the beginning the lockdown, the couple talk about how they work and the challenges of bringing any game, let alone a deluxe version of Castle Panic to the market, and it is concluded with postscript four months on, looking at the state of the company and the industry deep into the effects of the pandemic. In a way, it bookends Kris McClanahan’s editorial ‘Notes from the Depths’, in which he laments the change in circumstances forced upon him, his partner, and their business by the pandemic. It is a change which many businesses have suffered sadly, and the difficulties of operating under the pandemic cannot be underestimated.

Alan Bahr’s regular column, ‘Tiny Thoughts’ showcases just a handful of the post-apocalyptic roleplaying games available. It mentions—and they are tiny mentions—Punkapocalyptic, Apocalypse World, Pugmire, and more, but does suggest ways of roleplaying under the pandemic as so many have, using Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and so on. This is the only mention of such methods in the issue and the truth of the matter is that Tabletops and Tentacles #2 – The Quarantine Issue misses this trick—and when it comes to lockdown and gaming, it is a very important trick. So many have adapted to roleplaying online rather than face-to-face, including at virtual versions of major conventions, and it is shame that barring this mention, the issue ignores it.

The first of the actual gaming content in Tabletops and Tentacles #2 comes some hundred or so pages into the issue. Kristopher McClanahan and Lindsay McClanahan continue the gaming dice tables for ‘In the Inn’ with twenty things to be found on a shelf in a cellar in the inn, whilst ‘Symptoms of the Sickness’ by Lindsay McClanahan provides random symptoms exactly as its title promises. The longer gaming content starts with ‘The Green Infection’, a systemless fantasy scenario in which the village of Ainsmoor has been beset by a deadly pandemic of its own. It is fairly straightforward, but nicely detailed, and easily adapted to the system—and even setting—of the Game Master’s choice. it is followed by ‘Realm of the Moon Ghouls File 02: Location Shuttle Station Sixteen’ which further details the Lovecraftian setting for Pulp Sci-Fi roleplaying games. This details a space station suitable for the crew of the Poe to refuel with Strontium. It is a fun little setting complete with half-alien, half-robot cook, space pirates, and a handful of story hooks. Unfortunately, it is let down by the news that future installments of ‘Realm of the Moon Ghouls’ is moving to Patreon. It is disappointing that the most enjoyable content in the issue will not be is easily available.

The expansion for ‘H’AKKENSLASH! An original RPG system’ by Benjamin C. Bailey presents ‘Monsters and Mayhem’, a set of ten new monster abilities for the Game Master, such as Vampirism, Quick, and Combustible. These are decent additions.  Rounding out the issue is a further entry in  ‘Merchants of the Realm’. ‘Merchants of the Realm: Millhaven Curiosities’ by Kris McClanahan. This describes a mysterious alleyway shop, small and full of strange shadows, its proprietor simply watching... unless engaged in which case he will be a font of knowledge, rumour, and even adventure hooks! Here the adventurers might be able to buy a Webbing Scroll, a surly vampire bat in a cage, Mr. Pointy, a slightly off-kilter stake stained in ash and blood—and those are only some of the interesting items crammed into the premises. ‘Merchants of the Realm: Millhaven Curiosities’ is likeable and servicable, easy to add to any fantasy campaign, whether medieval or modern.

Physically, Tabletops and Tentacles #2 is generally well-presented, being bright and cheerful. It seems an improvement over the previous issue, there being less of an effort to pack quite so much in. Again, the editing could have been stronger, but hopefully that will get better with future issues.

After having read Tabletops and Tentacles #1, coming to Tabletops and Tentacles #2 – The Quarantine Issue is very much less of a disappointment because the reader knows what to expect, that it is not a gaming magazine so much as general fandom magazine. It suffers from that lack of gaming specificity in terms of actual gaming found in other magazines, and gaming wise, it could have leaned harder into the apocalyptic theme. There still is not enough gaming content to wholly recommend Tabletops and Tentacles #2 – The Quarantine Issue as a gaming magazine, but as a general fandom magazine with some gaming content, it is an enjoyable read.

It's been a bit for this. I thought with the Night Companion Kickstarter in its last few hours a NIGHT SHIFT version of Zatanna is in order.

Zee is obviously very powerful in DC Comics, or to quote Felix Faust, "You're the only one here that's really a threat." Bear in mind the others in the room were John Constantine, Etrigan the Demon, Deadman, and Batman.

How would she fare in Night Shift? For starters, I am going to shift her prime from Wisdom (for witches) to Intelligence.  In fact, I borrow a rule from my co-author's, Jason Vey, other game Amazing Adventures, and allow my witches to take whichever mental stat they need for their Primary/Spellcasting.

In the comics, we Zee practicing, sometimes with flashcards even, how to say words backward. It takes her practice to learn and do.  That is more aligned with the old-school D&D magic-user really than a witch and that means Intelligence.

Zatanna made with HeroForgeZatanna Zatara
20th level Magician (Witch)

Base Abilities
Strength: 13 (+1) 
Dexterity: 13 (+1) 
Constitution: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 20 (+4) P
Wisdom: 16 (+2) s
Charisma: 18 (+3) s

HP: 83 (10d4+18) +40
AC: 5 (stage magician's outfit, with benefits)
Fate Points: 1d10

Check Bonus (P/S/T): +8/+5/+3
Melee bonus: +7  Ranged bonus: +7
Saves: +8 against spells and magical effects
Arcana: Command, Telepathic Transmission
Innate Magic: Magical Missile, 

Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue

Spells
1st level: Command, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Magic, Inflict Light Wounds, Magic Missile, Protection from Evil
2nd level: Cause Fear, Continual Flame, Lesser Restoration, Levitate, Suggestion
3rd level: Clairvoyance, Fly, Haste, Invisibility 10', Protection from Evil 10'
4th level: Arcane Eye, Confusion, Dimension Door, Hallucinatory Terrain, Restoration. 
5th level: Commune, Domination, Telekinesis, Teleport
6th level: Anti-magic Shell, Control Weather, Disintegrate, Feeblemind
7th level: Ball of Sunshine, Death Aura, Wave of Mutilation, Windershins Dance
8th level: Antipathy/Sympathy, Discern Location, Mind Blank, Wail of the Banshee
9th level: Astral Projection, Breath of the Goddess, Mystic Barrier

Even at 20th level, she is still not super powerful. Oh, she will kick your ass, but you might still get a hit or two in.

--

Want more?  Back the Night Companion on Kickstarter!

 The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—
Parallel Worlds feels a little old-fashioned. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that it supports the gaming hobby with content for a variety of games. So an issue might include new monsters, spells, treasures, reviews of newly released titles, scenarios, discussions of how to play, painting guides, and the like… That is how it has been all the way back to the earliest days of The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that it can be purchased, if not from your local newsagent, then from your local games store. Just like The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines could be back in the day. However, Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day. 
Parallel Worlds #22 promises, as with previous issues, ‘The Best in Escapism’. It offers a mix of scenarios and support for various roleplaying games as well as interviews with creators and reviews of a number of books and games. Once past the editorial from Chris Cunliffe—less interesting than that in the previous issue—Parallel Worlds #22 opens with an interview with Science Fiction author, Peter Hamilton. Short but informative, this only focuses on his new book. A longer piece might have explored more of his previous works, which would have been interesting. Other media is thrown under the spotlight in Sam Long’s Thinkpiece, ‘The Pay-off’. Subtitled, ‘When character arcs… aren’t’, this both celebrates the adroit handling of pay-offs in the stories of films, in particular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and laments their poor handling in a number of films and television series. This also includes the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the author includes the work of Zack Snyder and the DC Extended Universe too. The series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, is placed under a similar spotlight in ‘Let’s talk about…’ by Ben Potts, Chris Cunliffe, and Sam Long. Both it and ‘The Pay-off’—which covers Wandavision—are good pieces, but do rely very much upon the reader having watched either and thus have access to Disney+. Not everyone will have and so spoilers abound.
Ben Potts engineers a crossover between gaming and other media with ‘The New D&D Movie – What We Want To see’. This looks at the forthcoming Dungeons & Dragons film and speculates what traps it needs to avoid and suggests what it needs to include to really shine as a film adaptation of the world’s greatest roleplaying game. So of course, no chainmail bikinis, racial stereotypes, love story, or planar travel, but definitely split the party, include iconic monsters, keep it medieval, and more. It is of course, tongue in cheek, but there is no doubt that we want to see a Dungeons & Dragons film which puts the previous ones behind us and very much to shame.
In terms of gaming, Parallel Worlds #22 continues its support for the roleplaying games Black Void and Chivalry & Sorcery. For the former, there is a preview for the forthcoming supplement, Under Nebulous Skies, which showcases a new character background, the Djinn-Kin. This is all decently detailed, with some variation built in, and presented in a way that it could be added to the game straight off, and comes with an excellent illustration. For the latter, the designer of Chivalry & Sorcery, Stephen Turner, presents ‘Leganti, the Capital of Solda’. This details the ‘City of the Silver’ and its long history, its layout and districts. It is a serviceable description in just a few pages and a reasonable addition to a Chivalry & Sorcery campaign.
In terms of gaming, the most interesting article in the issue is ‘We Played… Cyberpunk RED’, R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s 2045-set iteration of 1990’s Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. (developed from the earlier Cyberpunk 2013). It provides an overview of the setting and the campaign run by Angus McNicholl, one built around the Night City Police Department, for his three players. All four participants are given space to give their opinion on both the campaign and Cyberpunk RED as a game system, their opinions on the former wholly positive, whilst on the latter, their opinions are less effusive and more nuanced. In general, they agreed that the rules and combat system of Cyberpunk RED’s Interlock System were playable, they also said that the game had too many attributes and too many skills, and that perhaps the system was not as gritty as they were expecting. Overall though, the combination of the game set-up and feedback is engaging and informative.
The world of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls receives not one, but two articles in Parallel Worlds #22. The first, by Thomas Turnball-Ross, ‘The Worlds of the Elder Scrolls’ examines the setting as a whole through the many computer games which have been set there over the years, whilst the second, ‘Skyrim in 2021’ by Ant Jones examines the ground-breaking computer roleplaying game and asks if ten years on, it is still worth playing despite its flaws. The issue with the first article is that it lacks a degree of context and whilst it is liberally illustrated, it is just with images from the various computer games. It would have been better if covers from the various computer games had been used as illustrations and a timeline included. The second article benefits from a better focus and actually makes this player want to go back and play again.
Reviews in the issue cover the Swords & Sorcery roleplaying game, Beyond the Black Sea, the Civilisation-style time travel Science Fiction board game, Anachrony, the novel Rachel’s Story (author Leigh Russell was interviewed in Parallel Worlds #21), and Byrony Pearce’s novel, Raising Hell. These are decent, though as with the earlier article on computer games, the covers of the items being reviewed could have been shown. Lastly, the issue is rounded out with ‘No Kisses Goodnight’, an enjoyable piece of fiction by Toshiya Kamei.
Physically, Parallel Worlds #22 is professionally presented and written. The layout is clean, strong, and easy to look at, and in general is easy to read. The previous issue, Parallel Worlds #21, did feel as if it needed more gaming content that would appeal to a wider audience, the focus on Black Void and Chivalry & Sorcery, perhaps a bit too narrow. Especially given that the magazine is sold in gaming stores. ‘We Played… Cyberpunk RED’ does expand it a little, just not enough. Similarly, the handful of reviews does not feel enough either, whether of roleplaying games or novels. Again, more of those might increase the appeal to a wider audience.
Parallel Worlds #22 is an enjoyable read, but two articles involving the Marvel Cinematic Universe and two articles involving The Elder Scrolls is two too much in either case. Certainly the second article in either case could have been bumped to Parallel Worlds #23. The best gaming article in the issue is ‘We Played… Cyberpunk RED’ and surely that could have been paired with something else, a review, a scenario… It seems as if the magazine missed an opportunity there to bring the reader further into that roleplaying game and perhaps set up a regular format, that of, ‘We Played…’ with content the reader can use. What this means is that as before, there are a few good articles within the issue and it needs to build on those to bring readers back to it on a regular basis rather than their simply checking out an issue to see if there might be something good in its pages, because ultimately, Parallel Worlds #22 just has its fingers in too many worlds to really get a handle on them and its gaming content is neither mainstream nor interesting enough for the reader to be either useful or adaptable.
—oOo—
An Unboxing in the Nook video of Parallel Worlds #22 is available here.

Time to come back to Friday Night Videos!

With NIGHT SHIFT Night Companion Kickstarter ending soon I thought IT would be good to celebrate the return of cooler nights.

Let's get some night music going.

Up first, the song that really should be the theme song for NIGHT SHIFT, 

The Police's Bring on the Night.

NIGHT SHIFT is old-school mechanics with a new-school attitude. D&D meets Modern Supernatural. So no one genre of music is going to cover this giant peanut butter cup of awesome.

So here is Onyx and Biohazard on Judgement Night.

One day I should stat up Gibby Haynes as a NIGHT SHIFT character.  He'd fit in perfectly.

And we all know Stevie Nicks would.

How could I forget our lovely immortal?

And the song my kids sing when we all play.  The NIGHT. BEGINS. TO SHINE!

Enjoy the night!

Night Companion is nearing the end of the Kickstarter!  Join us.

LAST BIG PUSH!!

The Night Companion

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jasonvey/the-night-companion?ref=theotherside

This sourcebook for Night Shift: VSW RPG blows the doors off! New classes, species, magic, monsters, core system options, and more.

Night Shift has been a labor of love for Jason Vey and I.  It has been a chance to use the rules we love (Old-school D&D) and bring it to a modern supernatural setting like the licensed products we have worked on in the past.  If you liked any of my work regardless of the system used then this is a great fit.

Here is what the book is right now:

• Four new character classes: the Divine Warrior, the Mystic Martial Artist, the Psychic Gunslinger, and the Spirit Rider
• Rules for playing supernatural species including Celestials, Driven, Ghouls, Infernals, Lycanthropes, and Vampires, expanding upon the "Supernatural Race" option in the core rulebook
• New options for generating ability scores for normal, gritty, and cinematic games
• Rules to convert your game from class-and-level to entirely point-buy
• An alternate Alignment system focused on good, evil, light, and dark
• Guidelines to convert your game to a unified mechanic: both d20-based and percentile-based options are covered
• Enhanced combat rules: variable weapon damage, range increments, weapon classes, grappling rules, jumping, drowning, suffocation, poison, disease, and more
• New Arcane Powers and spells, plus enhanced rules for ritual magic 
• A GM section that goes behind the scenes of the system, talks about keeping track of your play style options, gives guidelines for creating cults and secret societies, and discusses tropes of sub-genres of horror and how to use them in your game
• Dozens of new monsters, enemies, and NPCs for your game
• New art by industry notable Bradley K. McDevitt, commissioned just for this book. At first, it will be the new classes and species, but more may be added depending on how well the Kickstarter does (see Stretch Goals). 

At the $5,000 stretch goal, I am going to provide a new Night World!  And I am quite excited to bring you this one.   AS of right now we are only $18 away from that.

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Senet—named for the Ancient Egyptian board game, Senet—is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. It is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases.

Senet Issue 1 was published in the Spring of 2020 and carries the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”. It opens with ‘Behold’, a preview of some of the then-forthcoming board game titles, such as Oathsworn: Into the Deep Woods, Oceans, and Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile. Given as much prominence as a full review, what is interesting about these is previews is that each give ‘What they might be’, so Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile might be the new Civilization, Sub Terra II: Inferno’s Edge the new Escape: The Curse of the Temple, and so on. Many, if not all, of these titles have since been released and been subject to their own reviews and analysis, so these previews can be read with the benefit of hindsight to see whether their predictions were right.

‘Points’ provides a selection of readers’ letters, whilst in ‘For Love of the Game’, Tristian Hall begins his designer’s journey towards Gloom of Kilforth. Here he talks about the genesis of the idea behind the board game and its inspirations, laying the groundwork for the process to come. This should be a fascinating path to follow in future columns.

Thematically, Senet Issue 1 pursues a pair of the board gaming industry’s most recent trends—Mars and Vikings. In ‘Out of the World’, board game visualist Ian O’Toole shows how he developed the look and visual style of On Mars. It mentions other titles he has worked on, but in the main, the article takes the visual and graphical development of On Mars from start to finish, showing  the various stages through which O’Toole takes his design. It is a genuinely fascinating journey which throws the spotlight on someone involved other than a designer. The other theme is Vikings and board games journalist, Owen Duffy, looks at several of the high-profile Viking-themed board games which have been released over the last few years in ‘Vahalla Rising’. It notes our fascination with the Vikings, but makes the point that there is more to them than raiding and pillaging, which as much as raiding and pillaging is often part of Viking-themed board games, there are an increasing number of designs where that is not the case. For example, Shipwrights of the North Sea is about shipbuilding. The article points out that this may be just another thematic cycle, but perhaps not given our long association with Viking history and the fact that they too, played board games.

Similarly, two common mechanics are examined in the issue. With ‘Work Hard Place Hard’, Matt Thrower investigates the worker placement mechanic, which proved very popular in the late noughties and early tweenies, fostering competition without confrontation. It traces its origins back to a game called Keydom from 1998. Notable examples—Agricola, Caylus, and Le Havre, amongst others—are used as examples, and the examination looks at variations which use dice, involve time, and provide a sense of progress. Lastly, it looks forward to the future of the mechanic and then-forthcoming titles using it. There are numerous examples it misses of course, likely one of the reader’s favourites, but it is a case of hitting the notable examples. The other mechanic—or is that style of play—is the co-operative game. Alexandra Sonechkina writes the first ‘How to Play’ column which is entitled ‘Cooperative games can make us better people’, which provides a short history of the genre, emphasising that the removal of competition between players  not only removes conflict, but leads to stronger shared experience.

The longest piece in Senet Issue 1 is ‘High Flyer’, an in-depth interview with Elizabeth Hargrave, the designer of the 2019 Kennerspiel des Jahres winning Wingspan. This an interesting and informative piece, designer answering honestly about the challenges of being a female designer in the industry as much as her design process and the themes which attract her, which as Wingspan and her then-latest design, Tussie Mussie, are far from the traditional castles and similar elements. Hopefully, future issues will have interviews as nicely done and enjoyable as this one is.

No good gaming magazine would be without games reviews, and Senet Issue 1 is no exception. Just the ten, but all regarded as the magazine’s ten favourites from the year before, that is, 2019. Rounding out Senet Issue 1 is ‘Shelf of Shame’ in which a prominent gamer is asked to play a game that he has on his shelf, but never played. In this first column, the gamer is Paul Grogan of Gaming Rules! and the game is 1999’s Torres, also the 2000 Spiel des Jahres Winner. One obvious reason why he has not played this despite having a copy is the ‘cult of the new’, but he is not necessarily correct about a reviewer always getting more views for something that is ‘hot and new’. Retrospectives can generate plenty of views. The column feels less about the game and more about the fact that he has not played it, but is interesting enough. His very first play through of the game can be seen here.

Physically, Senet Issue 1 is very nicely presented, all pristine and beautifully laid out. Whether drawing on board game graphics and images, or the magazine’s own illustrations, the issue’s graphics are very sharply handled, living up to the issue’s motto of  “Board games are beautiful” as much as its subject matter does. 

Senet Issue 1 is a very impressive first issue and can be enjoyed whether you are relatively new to the hobby or a long-time participant. It sets out to inform and illustrate, and in doing so—sets a high standard for the issues to come.

Sam Moore / September 1, 2021

The most striking moments in 1971’s Cuadecuc, Vampir, Pere Portabella’s experimental recreation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula entirely through behind-the-scenes footage of Jesus Franco’s 1970 adaptation of the novel, are the ones that have less to do with the vampire himself, and more to do with the illusions that are constructed and broken apart through cinema. Scenes where a train passing by ruins a take, or the curtain being pulled on how the special effects are made and used. These scenes show not only the ways in which the vampire myth continues to be reinvented throughout cinema, but also the ways in which it can be deconstructed. The cinematic vampire is a fragile thing, not only for its many vulnerabilities—sunlight, crosses, garlic—but for the ways in which it can be rendered hollow, a construction. The vampire as seen on film becomes a perfect example of how horror—as a genre, as a feeling—is created and recreated. 

Vampirism is at the heart of cinema history. F.W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu is one of the early examples of the medium’s great potential, and the iconic image of Count Orlock’s shadow looming large over a wall as he ascends a staircase to find his prey has lost none of its power. But if footage were revealed that showed how the filmmakers achieved it, then some of that magic, that fear, might be lost. Cuadecuc gambles on this, on the idea that watching Christopher Lee step in and out of a coffin between takes will weaken the fear that his Dracula inspires; but instead it captures how that fear is constructed, and is able to turn it into something else. The counterpoint of legitimate horror—the imagery in Cuadecuc, with its looming shadows and stark, black-and-white photography reminiscent of Nosferatu, with behind-the-scenes interludes—becomes a meditation on horror itself, a way of trying to understand why the things that scare us get under our skin. It’s about the relationship that the vampire myth has with the history of cinema, and how this archetypal, mythical figure can change with the times.

E. Elias Merhige’s Shadow of the Vampire (2000) also explores the place of the vampire film in cinematic history, and, like Cuadecuc, it’s a kind of commentary on how film reifies these myths. Merhige’s film imagines an alternative version of 1922 in which Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe), the actor who played Count Orloff in Nosferatu, is actually a vampire. Shadow is framed like a kind of rockumentary; there are moments in between scenes that offer a behind-the-scenes glance at the “production” of Nosferatu, with inter-titles that reference Murnau’s (John Malkovich) attempts “to accommodate his difficult star.” As Murnau says in the film, “If it’s not in the frame, it doesn’t exist,” something that both Cuadecuc and Shadow wrestle with in different ways. In the former, the idea of horror itself isn’t in the frame; it exists through the smokescreen of movie magic. Shadow makes vampirism real precisely by putting it in the frame. There are moments when the reality of Schreck’s vampirism literally bleed into the version of Nosferatu that’s being made, in stark counterpoint to the film’s climax, when his reflection is invisible in a full-length mirror, revealing to those around him that Schreck truly is the phantom of the night. In contrast to this, Cuadecuc obsesses over the artifice inherent in filmmaking, the fact that this horror is anything but real, instead interrogating how and why the real feeling of horror is constructed in the way that it is.

This desire to myth-bust the relationship between vampires and cinema is something that runs through the DNA of George Romero’s vampire film, the strange and somber Martin (1977). While the title character might think of himself as a vampire, he goes to great pains to tell people—from the paranoid family he stays with to the radio show he calls into using the alias “The Count”—that his vampirism isn’t a curse, or supernatural in nature, but that it’s a kind of illness instead. His late night calls with the radio show are testaments not only to his loneliness, but to the problems that he thinks movies create about vampires. Often, Martin sees these things as being intertwined: “And that’s another thing about those movies,” he says. “Vampires always have ladies. Sometimes lots of ‘em.” Martin has no ladies, and ties his vampirism into a kind of sexual repression, hoping to one day do it “awake, without the blood part. Just do it. And be with someone. And talk.” The DJ that he calls even sympathizes with him—as much as a shock jock can—telling him, “I’ve seen that in the movies. People try to stop your kind.”

The relationship that Martin the film and Martin the character have with other vampire movies is something that comes through in the character’s dream sequences. They’re in black and white and highly stylized, featuring Latin chants and shadow play straight out of Nosferatu or Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People (1942). In this way, it’s similar to Cuadecuc in its desire to show the artifice behind horror and the idea of a vampire myth that’s at once fluid and transparent, transforming into mist like the creatures themselves.

In treating vampires as real, Martin and Shadow of the Vampire both present different relationships with artifice than Cuadecuc. Murnau himself (the fictional one) even calls for “an end to this artifice,” which he gets in the form of his vampiric leading man, and Martin attempts to break down the artifice of cinematic vampires in order to reveal the loneliness of life as a real one. The reality of Schreck’s vampirism is sold to Murnau’s crew through a simultaneous embrace of and push against artifice. The director insists that Schreck is simply a method actor: he’ll be referred to as Orlock, wear no makeup, and only be filmed at night. It’s through the conceit and construction of cinema that the Murnau of Shadow is able to create the idea of a vampire that will end up going down in cinematic history.

What these three films have in common is a desire to unravel the ways in which the vampire is perceived by placing them in relationship to different ideas within cinema, whether these stories are being told through found footage, film history, or a sly self-awareness of where they exist in the canon. None of the filmmakers here treat horror as something that exists in a vacuum; instead, they understand the ways in which horror is constructed and mythologized, and find new ways to explore and manipulate the genre’s myths. The end of Cuadecuc ends as seemingly every vampire film does: with the killing of Dracula (just as Shadow’s Orlock and Martin’s Martin are killed). But instead of showing sunlight bursting through a window or a bloody stake, Portabella simply uses a scene of Christopher Lee in his dressing room describing the end of Stoker’s novel. These final moments in Cuadecuc go to the heart of all vampire films by highlighting the ways in which they vampirically drain from Stoker’s source material. Every iteration is a kind of supernatural rebirth, like the vampire itself, a mutation of the myth that runs through the genre’s bloodstream.

Sam Moore‘s writing on queerness, politics, and genre fiction in art has been published by the Los Angeles Review of Books, Little White Lies, Hyperallergic, and other places. Their poetry and experimental essays have been published in print and online, most recently in the Brixton Review of Books. If their writing didn’t already give it away, they’re into weird stuff.

We are getting down to the wire here on The Night Companion! 

Today's character comes to you all via the Night Companion rules and a challenge from my friend Greg to rebuild his Ghosts of Albion playtest character using the NIGHT SHIFT rules.

The Game: NIGHT SHIFT, Night Companion Rules 

The Night Companion has a number of alternate rules for character creations including a point-buy system and new character types.  I figure I will show off the Immortal rules here and how they work with NIGHT SHIFT RAW.  I am also using the point-buy rules to "check my math."

The Character: Valerie Beaumont, the Immortal

Lady Valerie Beaumont has "haunted" my games for years.  She was a playtest character created for Ghosts of Albion by my friend Greg Littlejohn.  We have run games for each other off and on over the last 20+ years.  He is a great person to give a test game to and tell him "to break it."  There was an alternate combat system that almost went into to Ghosts but did not thanks to him! 

Valerie was also later used when we were playtesting the first round of Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space.  Little known fact.  A lot of the Ghosts of Albion playtesters were also playtesters for Doctor Who.

Valerie, being immortal also was part of my Spirit of '76 campaign and will be part of Black Star where she will be Captain of the USS Mystic. 

76 is the past and the Mystic is the future, but here is Val now, living in 2021 in one of the Night Worlds of NIGHT SHIFT.

Valerie Beaumont
5th Level Survivor/10th Level Sage (Immortal)

Base Abilities
Strength: 12 (0)
Dexterity: 16 (+2) 
Constitution: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 21 (+4) P *
Wisdom: 16 (+2) s
Charisma: 16 (+2) s

HP:  5d4+5 / 10d6+10
AC: 9
Fate Points: 1d10

Check Bonus (P/S/T): +8/+5/+3
Melee bonus: +6  Ranged bonus: +8

Saves: +3 Death Saves and area effects. +5 to saves vs. spells and magical effects.  She gains an additional +5 to all saving throws against magic, poison, disease, and death-based attacks due to her immortality.

Immortal Powers
Unique Kill: Virginia Dare (See Below)
Immortals regenerate 1d8 hit points every minute. 
+3 to Intelligence

Survivor Skills
Open Locks: 115%
Bypass Traps: 110%
Sleight of Hand: 120%
Move Silently: 120%
Hide in Shadows: 110%

Hair: Red
Eyes: light-green
Height: 5'7"

Spells
1st level: Magic Missle, Glamour, Sleep
2nd level: ESP, Produce Flame, Suggestion
3rd level: Clairvoyance, Haste, Water Breathing
4th level: Arcane Eye, Phantasmal Killer

Immortal Arcana
Innate Magic: Suggestion (x3 per day)
Enhanced Senses

Valerie was born in 1569 and is immortal. She was a young English girl that made her way to the new world in the year 1585.  She came to the new world and settled in the Roanoke Colony where she lived for a couple of years.  Then something happened.  She was caring for the young Virginia Dare and then woke up several days later and several miles from home.  When she had managed to return to the colony, everyone was gone.  She also discovered that she was immortal and was certain that the two were somehow linked.

Valerie spent the next few years roaming the new world.  She learned magic from some of the few true witches in Salem and more from the indigenous Native Americans.

 
She has a ring on her right little finger that manages a glamour that "ages" her.  A gift from a former lover. Currently, she appears to be in her mid-40s.  Without the glamour, she appears as she did when she discovered her immortality, a young woman of 18.  Her mind though is as someone just over 450.

Shadow Steel Sword
She also carries a long thin blade made of "shadow steel" a rare form of steel that the Fae can use.  It can attack any supernatural creature, even ones that are incorporeal or shifted out of phase. 

Virginia Dare
When Valerie was brought to the American colonies her primary employment was with the Dare family to act as a caretaker to the newborn Virginia Dare.  When Valerie was separated from the colony all the other people living in the Roanoke Colony were gone, including Virginia Dare.  For years and even centuries, people claimed to have seen Dare, now grown into young adulthood and called the White Doe.  Many believed the sitings of Dare were nothing more than a myth.

That is, everyone except for Valerie.  

At some point around 1622 Valerie encountered Virginia living with the Powhatan in the forests of Virginia. At first, Valerie was elated to find Virginia, but this soon turned when Virginia blamed Valerie for the disappearance of the colony.  The two fought and discovered quickly that they could harm, even likely kill, each other.  Likely they would have if they had not been interrupted by British forces.  Over the next few centuries they would encounter each other and it would lead to fighting.  

Both Valerie and Virginia are immortals.  The only thing that can kill them is each other. 

Virginia Dare is "played" in my games by Rose Byrne.

Looking forward to doing some more with these two.

--

I have her start as a Survivor.  She was displaced from her colony and spent many years wandering the unknown wilds of the North American continent. Eventually, she picked up knowledge here and there about various occult matters in including some magic. 

I like this since it really shows off how flexible the multi-classing system for NIGHT SHIFT can be.  

Want to see more?  Pledge for the Night Companion on Kickstarter!