It is Tuesday and my FLGS opened at midnight so we could get the new D&D 5.5 Player's Handbook. So here it is!

It is a beast of a book really. 384 Pages vs. the 320 of the 2014 5.0 edition. Most of this though is given over to new art and introductions to the game.  This book is trying to set the stage for new players to D&D.

Rules are covered in the first 30 or so pages which works out nicely. You are eased into it. Sure, I like starting with character creation, but sometimes it is nice to know a bit more about what is going on.

Bloodied is back. It is not exactly the same, but it is there. 

Creating a character is just 14 or so pages. This includes the mechanics of rolling the dice. 

Character classes cover the bulk, about 130 pages. There are the same 12 classes from D&D 5.0 (2014) with their subclasses. Most get four subclasses, some get five. There are a lot of little changes to classes. Fighters get a psychic variant, rangers feel nerfed, warlocks are a little cooler. I'll post more when I have had a chance to get into the details. 

There are backgrounds, like 5.0 though these seem to be a bit better defined.

Race is now Species and that is fine with me. We get Aasimar, Dragonborn, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goliath, Halfling, Human, Orc, and Tiefling. No half-elf or half-orcs, though I will admit they might be taking the Pathfinder route here and folding them into the elf and orc respectively with some mods. This doesn't bother me. If I want to play a half-elf in 5.5 I can use the elf rules. Easy.

There are some feats from Tasha's here that I love, like Telepathic and Telekinetic. 

About 20 pages for equipment with great illustrations.

Spells take up the next bulk at over 100 pages. Spells are better explained and if is summons a creature that stat block is included with the spell.

Appendix A covers the multiverse. There are no changes here from 1st Ed.

Appendix B has some creature stat blocks related to class, ie Druid Wild Shape and the like. And YES monsters still have alignment. For example Imps are (still) Lawful Evil and Quasits are (still) Chaotic Evil. 

The changes here are less than the changes found between 1st and 2nd Edition. They are more akin to the changes between 3.0 and 3.5. I am going to keep calling this edition 5.5.

Visually speaking, they are closer together than some of the books of the AD&D 2nd Ed era were to each other.

I picked this up just a hour or so ago. So I really have not gone into it in detail. Save to check on the Rangers and Warlocks. They are classes I have heard the most about getting worse and better respectively.

The art is generally better, with some "names" popping up among the nameless NPCs and characters. So that will be fun on a deeper read through.

Overall there is "less flipping" one would need to do through this book while playing. 

I am looking for some character sheets so I can make a new version of Johan for this game; Johan VII for the win!

My 2014 PHB is falling apart and I am not 100% sure how much I will play this edition, but I am glad to have it.

Seward updates Arthur on Lucy's condition. Van Helsing enters our tale.

Letter from Dr. Seward to Arthur Holmwood.

“2 September.

“My dear old fellow,—

“With regard to Miss Westenra’s health I hasten to let you know at once that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady that I know of. At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with her appearance; she is woefully different from what she was when I saw her last. Of course you must bear in mind that I did not have full opportunity of examination such as I should wish; our very friendship makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can bridge over. I had better tell you exactly what happened, leaving you to draw, in a measure, your own conclusions. I shall then say what I have done and propose doing.

“I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, and in a few seconds I made up my mind that she was trying all she knew to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious. I have no doubt she guesses, if she does not know, what need of caution there is. We lunched alone, and as we all exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we got, as some kind of reward for our labours, some real cheerfulness amongst us. Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie down, and Lucy was left with me. We went into her boudoir, and till we got there her gaiety remained, for the servants were coming and going. As soon as the door was closed, however, the mask fell from her face, and she sank down into a chair with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her hand. When I saw that her high spirits had failed, I at once took advantage of her reaction to make a diagnosis. She said to me very sweetly:—

“‘I cannot tell you how I loathe talking about myself.’ I reminded her that a doctor’s confidence was sacred, but that you were grievously anxious about her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that matter in a word. ‘Tell Arthur everything you choose. I do not care for myself, but all for him!’ So I am quite free.

“I could easily see that she is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see the usual anæmic signs, and by a chance I was actually able to test the quality of her blood, for in opening a window which was stiff a cord gave way, and she cut her hand slightly with broken glass. It was a slight matter in itself, but it gave me an evident chance, and I secured a few drops of the blood and have analysed them. The qualitative analysis gives a quite normal condition, and shows, I should infer, in itself a vigorous state of health. In other physical matters I was quite satisfied that there is no need for anxiety; but as there must be a cause somewhere, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something mental. She complains of difficulty in breathing satisfactorily at times, and of heavy, lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but regarding which she can remember nothing. She says that as a child she used to walk in her sleep, and that when in Whitby the habit came back, and that once she walked out in the night and went to East Cliff, where Miss Murray found her; but she assures me that of late the habit has not returned. I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of; I have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that all things were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who you are and your relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow, is in obedience to your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy to do anything I can for her. Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal reason, so, no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, but this is because he knows what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, an indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats—these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing for mankind—work both in theory and practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy. I tell you these facts that you may know why I have such confidence in him. I have asked him to come at once. I shall see Miss Westenra to-morrow again. She is to meet me at the Stores, so that I may not alarm her mother by too early a repetition of my call.

“Yours always,
“John Seward.”

Letter, Abraham Van Helsing, M. D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc., to Dr. Seward.

“2 September.

“My good Friend,—

“When I have received your letter I am already coming to you. By good fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who have trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who have trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those he holds dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do. But it is pleasure added to do for him, your friend; it is to you that I come. Have then rooms for me at the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I may be near to hand, and please it so arrange that we may see the young lady not too late on to-morrow, for it is likely that I may have to return here that night. But if need be I shall come again in three days, and stay longer if it must. Till then good-bye, my friend John.

“Van Helsing.”

Notes: Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

A couple of very important letters.

First we have Seward's letter ot Holmwood describing Lucy's condition.  Though we get some Victorian medical sleight of hand here. Lucy's blood would not have held to the any sort of analysis if she had major blood loss. But that is applying scientific logic to vampirism. 

More importantly, Lucy's condition stumps Seward so he is obliged to call in his old mentor Prof. Abraham Van Helsing.

 Van Helsing's letter establishes first that he is an expert, he is a "Mud-Phud," a Poly-glot, and shares the same name as our author. He is a medical doctor, a Ph.D. and a Doctor of Literature. 

Stoker had said in the past that Van Helsing was based on a real person. In "Powers of Darkness" it is also stated that "Van Helsing" is a pseudonym used in the book. 

--

Every Moriarty needs a Holmes, every Lex Luthor needs a Superman and Dracula needs his Van Helsing. It is one of the great hero-villain dynamics in all of literature and they share surprising little time together in the novel. Again a good example of this in the movies is FFC's "Bram Stoker's Dracula."

So great is the rivalry that Hammer Studios capitalized on it, and on the friendship of the two actors Peter Cushing (Van Helsing) and Christopher Lee (Dracula) that they made it a central focus of all their Dracula films and even into their non-Dracula horror movies.

Now that Van Helsing has entered the scene things move along in the novel. 

Achtung! Cthulhu is the roleplaying game of fast-paced pulp action and Mythos magic published by Modiphius Entertainment. It is pitches the Allied Agents of the Britain’s Section M, the United States’ Majestic, and the brave Resistance into a secret war against those Nazi Agents and organisations which would command and entreat with the occult and forces beyond the understanding of mankind. They are willing to risk their lives and their sanity against malicious Nazi villains and the unfathomable gods and monsters of the Mythos themselves, each striving for supremacy in mankind’s darkest yet finest hour! Yet even the darkest of drives to take advantage of the Mythos is riven by differing ideologies and approaches pandering to Hitler’s whims. The Black Sun consists of Nazi warrior-sorcerers supreme who use foul magic and summoned creatures from nameless dimensions to dominate the battlefields of men, whilst Nachtwölfe, the Night Wolves, utilise technology, biological enhancements, and wunderwaffen (wonder weapons) to win the war for Germany. Ultimately, both utilise and fall under the malign influence of the Mythos, the forces of which have their own unknowable designs…

In addition to any number of scenarios for Achtung! Cthulhu, Modiphius Entertainment also publishes what it calls ‘Section M: Priority Missions’. These are smaller missions and scenarios intended to help a Game Master is hard-pressed for time or needs an alternate scenario when there are fewer players. Alternatively, they can be used as one-shots or woven into ongoing campaigns. Each though, provides a single mission that can be played in a single session as well as adventure hooks should the Game Master want to expand the scenario.

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 – Priority Mission 2: Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire is the second entry in the series. It opens with the Player Characters having been sent to Cairo by Section M to investigate a monastery belonging to the Order of St. Barbara, patron saint of miners. The monks of this monastery are known to wear brooches that depict a serene female face and are notably carved from a strikingly blue stone. Section M has been sent one of these brooches and has identified the stone as being Blauer Kristall. Nachtwölfe is known to have an extreme interest in this rare mineral and constantly scours the world for sources from which it can develop science, technology, progress, biological enhancements, and wonder weapons powered by Blauer Kristall. The monastery, located a few miles outside of Cairo, is also said to be home to a relic, a skull of similar blue stone, purported to be the cranium of the saint, transfigured in sapphire. The Player Characters are ordered to get into the monastery and determine if the skull really is made of Blauer Kristall and if the monks have a bigger source.

The scenario primarily consists of a map of the monastery and a description of its various buildings. The map, along with an unlabeled one for the players, is nicely done. The basic details of what is going on in the Order of St. Barbara is also described, but without any discussion of the motivations of either the monks or their Mythos allies. There are also no stats, so the Game Master will need to consult the Gamemaster’s Guide and alter the Truths as necessary. Some possible motivations and suggestions as to what might be going is instead suggested in the several adventure seeds included in the scenario. At the most basic, the monks are innocent of any Mythos connection, but Nachtwölfe are definitely interested in gaining possession of whatever Blauer Kristall is being held in the monastery. Other seeds see the Player Characters tracking Mi-Go through tunnels under Cairo and find themselves in the caves below the monastery; Nachtwölfe is there when the Player Characters arrive and they have to stop the Nazis getting away with the Blauer Kristall; and Cairo is haunted by the ‘Ghost of St. Barbara’, a glowing blue apparition stalking the streets of the city, whose appearances seem to coincide with a series of thefts of ancient manuscripts from antiquities museums and private collections.

One other way to use the scenario is as a side mission for the campaign, Achtung! Cthulhu: Shadows of Atlantis. The campaign involves Nachtwölfe and its third mission is set in Cairo and Egypt. Yet in whatever way in which the Game Master decides to use Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 – Priority Mission 2: Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire, she will still need to develop some motivations for both the monks and the Mythos presence at the monastery. This will vary depending upon how strong the links are between the monks and the Mythos. The stronger they are, the more the scenario will need the Game Master to develop those motivations and the more the scenario needs this attention, the more input is required from the Game Master, and the less immediately useful the scenario is as written.

Physically, Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 – Priority Mission 2: Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire is cleanly and tidily laid out. It is not illustrated, but the map of the monastery is nicely done.

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 – Priority Mission 2: Our Lady of the Eternal Sapphire is not quite ready to run, and depending upon how the Game Master wants to use it, needs more input and development than it necessarily should. Consequently, it is not quite the download and play scenario that the publisher intended.

 I *may* have convinced my Favorite Local Game Store to open up at Midnight to sell the D&D 5.5 Player's Handbook.

They went back and forth a bit over this past weekend, and I woke up to this this morning.

I'll be picking up the new D & D 5.5 in about 14 hours.

If you want yours and you live in the Chicagoland area then head on out to Games Plus to get your pre-order.

Expect a mini-review after I pick it up!

It is 1936 and as the world marches towards a greater conflict, there is a secret war being fought from one archaeological dig site to the next. Agents from the major nations are scouring the past to gain advantage and power in the present, unearthing and discovering ancient artefacts and objects of awe before the other side can. In this mix steps an archaeologist dedicated to keeping the past out of Nazi hands and in a museum, even if does involve working with Washington, D.C. and Army Intelligence. It is not though, Doctor Henry Jones, Jnr. Otherwise known as ‘Indiana Jones’ and this is not pitch for the third Indiana Jones roleplaying game. It is instead the set-up for Montana Drones and the Raiders of the Cutty Sark. Putting aside the fact that ‘Montana Drones’ is undoubtedly the worst name imaginable, beyond groanworthy, for any Indiana Jones-style, whip-cracking, fists flying archaeologist, Montana Drones and the Raiders of the Cutty Sark is an adventure and mini-supplement for ACE!—or the Awfully Cheerful Engine!—the roleplaying game of fast, cinematic, action comedy. Published by EN Publishing, best known for the W.O.I.N. or What’s Old is New roleplaying System, as used in Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD and Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, the scenario is primarily intended as a one-shot, film night special.
Montana Drones and the Raiders of the Cutty Sark is an adventure for four adventurers—cocky archaeologist, Montana Drones, optimistic socialite, Lou Boble, clumsy professor Johan Henry, Jr., and cynical botanist, Johnnie Cobbler—available to download from here. Alternatively, the players can create their own, inspired by the source material, and Montana Drones and the Raiders of the Cutty Sark does include details of several new Occupations, including Botanist, Double-Agent, Socialite, and Witch. Of course, changing the characters likely means changing name of the adventure too as Montana Drones will no longer be the star. There are relatively few additions to the Awfully Cheerful Engine! and relatively little setting background given in Montana Drones and the Raiders of the Cutty Sark because, after all, everyone is going to be familiar with the genre and the setting from the films which inspire this supplement.
‘Raiders of the Cutty Sark’ is not named for the famous tea clipper from the nineteenth century, but for the Cutty-Sark, the famous shift worn by the witch character in Tam o’ Shanter, the poem by Robert Burns. The Nazis are after it because they think it possess some kind of sorcerous power and stealing it from under the nose of the British government would be a major coup. The adventure will take the Player Characters from Jordan and the Middle East, around the world back to Halcyon Hall at Bennett College in upstate New York where Montana Drones teaches, and then out again to Scotland and a showdown with Nazis! The scenario is not very long, divided into three parts, and has room for the Game Master to insert her own content and so expand it beyond a single night’s worth of play. For example, for the third part, the Player Characters travel from London to Scotland and the scenario suggests that the Game Master run a ‘Murder on the Scottish Express’ mystery rather than describe the journey in narrative terms.
The scenario begins in Jordan with ‘Buried Secrets’ and essentially where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade left off—Petra. The Player Characters are on the track of an ancient Greek artefact said to be in the Soldier Tomb, but in the course of finding and taking it, have to avoid a series of traps before they can escape the tomb. This leads to the Player Characters’ first big decision—how to deal with the scenario’s villain who turns up just at the wrong moment. Do they hand over the artefact or do they make a run for it. The scene is straight out of the start pf Raiders of the Lost Ark, as is the villain, right down to the white linen suit and Panama hat! This is mercenary archaeologist, Eric Freeman, neatly named after Paul Freeman who played archaeologist René Belloq in the film. If ‘Buried Secrets’ is all action and traps, ‘Horror at Halcyon’ brings the Player Characters back home and to weirdness at Bennett College with a strange mystery, but not before they have a chance to play a game of Oubliettes & Occultists for those who want to play a roleplaying game within a roleplaying game! Something is causing vines to grow all over the walls of the college, trapping teachers and professors alike, so the Player Characters will have to hack their way through the foliage to find and confront the source. There are lots of Lovecraftian references in this adventure, but the pulpy tone means that the Player Characters are unlikely to be driven mad.
The third and final part of ‘Raiders of the Cutty Sark’ takes the Player Characters to Scotland. ‘A Breath of Fresh Ayr’ begins though in London where the Player Characters need to find out what the Nazis and their archaeological agent, Eric Freeman, are up to. This requires a mixture of charm and stealth because that information is held only at the German embassy, which fortunately, is holding a reception. What they will discover is that Freeman, and thus his Nazi masters have discovered the location of the Cutty-Sark. Unfortunately, the protectors of the Cutty-Sark know everyone is coming, so not only will the Player Characters have to deal with Freeman and the Nazis, but also with whatever those protectors have in readiness to prevent anyone taking the Cutty-Sark away.

Physically, Montana Drones and the Raiders of the Cutty Sark is a bright and breezy affair. The artwork is decent and the supplement is well written.
Each of the acts in ‘Raiders of the Cutty Sark’ is short and solid, but together they do not form a cohesive whole. This is because each act is about an entirely different situation and an entirely different archaeological treasure, and there is nothing to connect the three except the Player Characters. Act one, ‘Buried Secrets’ does set everything up very nicely in Indiana Jones style, but the second act is a diversion and where the third should be the main plot of the scenario, it is not. It does not help that equal focus is paid to each of the acts and ultimately, ‘Raiders of the Cutty Sark’ is episodic rather than a whole. It might be the case that the Game Master adjust it to give more of a lead in time for the Cutty-Sark and its importance to the Nazis to grow in terms of story significance, but that is moving away from the intended one-night, cinematic style of Montana Drones and the Raiders of the Cutty Sark.

Arthur has urgent business with his father.

Telegram, Arthur Holmwood to Seward.

“1 September.

“Am summoned to see my father, who is worse. Am writing. Write me fully by to-night’s post to Ring. Wire me if necessary.”

Notes: Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

Arthur is called away to his father. There is no plot point here; I don't suspect Dracula is feeding on the senior Lord Godalming. This is keep him away so Seward can tell Arthur, and us, about Lucy's condition via a letter.

It is also to make Arthur the new Lord Godalming when his father dies. Being a Lord in this novel will have certain advantages.

It is 1979. Those that find themselves not fitting into ordinary society, feeling like an outsider, or being rejected because they do not fit the norms in terms of gender, sexuality, and identity have the need to escape, to find a place not only where they will fit in, but where they are also the norm. Not easy in this day and age, when to be gay or lesbian or transgendered is reason enough to be despised and decried, to be regarded as monstrous or perverse. There is, though, such a place. Isolated and on the edge of America as far from middle America—both geographically and figuratively—as you can get. This is Roseville Beach. Located on a barrier island just a short ferry ride off the coast of the North American Atlantic or Gulf Coast, this is a community where ‘queer’ is the norm. Where visitors come because it is accepted and those that stay do so because they find acceptance and a family that they create for who they are. A family that they also have to rely upon, for the authorities and particularly the police rarely bother with Roseville Beach—and if they did, it would not be to the benefit of anyone within the community. Thus, if the ‘queerdom’ of Roseville Beach have an issue, it is they who sort it out, but it is not just because they are queer that see to their own and prefer to deal with their own problems, for the community of Roseville Beach has other secrets. As much as it is a haven for ‘queerdom’, it is also a haven for magic and the supernatural, for the witch and the wizard, for the shapechanger, for the familiar without a mistress or master, for secret societies and cabals. They are not the norm within Roseville Beach, but they are known, and there are members of the town’s ‘queerdom’ who have gifts and magics themselves and will use it to investigate the strange and the supernatural, the mysterious and the magical, all to keep the community safe and avoid the undue attentions of the authorities on the mainland.

This is the set-up for Moonlight on Roseville Beach: A Queer Game of Disco & Cosmic Horror, an urban fantasy roleplaying game in which the Player Characters are part of both communities in Roseville Beach and thus outsiders twice over. Published by R Rook Studio following a successful Kickstarter campaign, this is a storytelling roleplaying game of magic and mystery, community and care, and of family and fear. This is very much a roleplaying game for mature and accepting players, for it is set in a town where the majority of the population is LGBTQIA+ and it is explicit about this—though that does not mean that the roleplaying game is either explicit or exploitative in other ways. In other words, it is explicit in its social acceptance of LGBTQIA+ being the norm. However, there are issues attached to this. One is that it is not obviously accepting of all norms when it comes to people of colour. This is not to say that they are not present in the setting of Roseville Beach, but rather they are not depicted as being present in the roleplaying game’s artwork. This is because the artwork is public domain, all taken from LGBTQIA+ pulp novels and whilst thematically appropriate, the characters, luridly, suggestively depicted, are all Caucasian. The book does acknowledge that this is an issue, one caused by the artwork rather by intent. Another issue is with the term ‘queer’. The author uses it as a catchall to describe all members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and whilst it is period appropriate, it was used as a slur. It is not the intent of the author to use it in the pejorative sense, but there are members of the LGBTQIA+ community who may see it as an insult. Thus, as part of her Session Zero of Moonlight on Roseville Beach, the Game Master may want to discuss what is an appropriate term to use in her game.

A Player Character in Roseville Beach has an Origin which Provides a Background and Skills, as possible Troubles. They will also have a Job which provides a further Skill, a Strange Event that they had, plus Allies and Comforts. There are six Origins and each grants a special ability. The Fresh Face is the new kid who has fled his family to find out who he is in Roseville Beach and has the ‘Beginner’s Luck’ ability to let his player reroll ones when undertaking an action. The Scandalous has fled to Roseville Beach to avoid media attention and gains an extra contact, though it may not be one that the Player Character wants. Both the Fresh Face and the Scandalous have more Backgrounds and Skills than the other Origins. The Shifter can shift into an animal form and back again, and has two banes that force him into his animal form. The Witch has the Witch Background and Sorcery Skill and also knows three Words of Power that fuel his magic. The Familiar was once attached to a sorcerer, but no longer is, so knows a lot of magic and Words of Power, but is stuck in his animal form and must communicate telepathically and needs help to perform magic. Plus of course, the Familiar does not have a Job. The Stranger has come from somewhere else, and knows a little bit of magic, some of it innate, and has worked hard to acclimatise himself to the world of men. The Strange Event is shared between two players and their characters, such ‘The Monolith’, which seemed to follow them both, but was never seen to move, or ‘The Starry Form in the Dunes’, a glimmering figure seen in the dunes west of town one night which called something to either Player Character. The Strange Event can leave the Player Character with an extra Skill, an Ally, or Word of Power, or a Scare, a Trouble, or even an Injury. Besides an Ally, the three Comforts a Player Character has are a ‘Special Place’, a ‘Special Memento’, and a ‘Special Person’. During downtime, spending time with a Comfort can help to remove a Scare. Lastly, the Player Characters share a Bungalow. This is used as both a base of operations and a potential source of supplies, although that does not necessarily mean guns. Certainly, the Player Characters do not have ready access to guns and their use can lead to a Player Character suffering a Scare.

To create a character, a player selects an Origin and chooses his character’s Comforts and Allies. He then rolls for a Background, Skills, Troubles, Scandals, Words of Power, and so on as appropriate. Then the players establish the Strange Event between their characters and determine its effect.

Lana Jorgeson
Origins: The Witch
Age: 24
Backgrounds: Witch, Magic Shop
Skills: Sorcery, First Aid, Stagecraft, Charming
Job: Piano Player at Cedar Point Hotel
Words of Power: Flood, Bless, Heal
Troubles: Someone in Roseville Beach helped set me up with somewhere to live, a job, and some money.
People I Owe: Jon Amos
Ally: Ghost in the Bungalow
Strange Element: The Poltergeist
Comforts: Special Place – Violet Flame Candles &Gifts, Special Memento – Grandmother’s locket, Special Person – Mrs Esther Neilson (Oblivious Grandma)

Mechanically, Moonlight on Roseville Beach: A Queer Game of Disco & Cosmic Horror uses dice pools of six-sided dice, rolled whenever a Player Character undertakes a Risky Action. To assemble a dice pool, a player starts with a single die and adds further dice for relevant Backgrounds, Skills, for the situation being a Golden Opportunity, and if the Player Character is protecting a housemate, ally, and so on. These are all rolled with the aim being to roll as high as is possible on each die. No matter the results, they are then assigned individually to different tables. The standard set of tables are ‘Goal’, ‘Injured’, ‘Scared’, ‘Clue’, and ‘Trouble’. The Game Master decides which tables come into play, depending upon the situation and what the Player Character is trying to do. ‘Goal’ is the base table, but if the Player Character is investigating something, the Game Master will add the ‘Clue’ table, and if there is a chance of the Player Character being injured or scared as result of his actions, those tables are added to. The ‘Trouble’ table is added if the player has not rolled enough high results and wants to roll an extra die. However, it places an Ally, Trouble, or Comfort in danger. If the player does not have enough dice to assign to the tables the Game Master has set out, he either decides to approach the situation in another way to reduce the number of tables, or if he rolls, any tables without dice are counted as if ones are assigned to them—which is not good. In general, results of four or more on all of the tables bar the ‘Trouble’ table indicate progress or a positive outcome, but it is always the player who decides where the dice are placed and thus decides on the degree of success or failure for the action.

Magic uses the same mechanics. The Player Character must be a Witch, Familiar, or Stranger, possess the Sorcery skill, knows one or more appropriate Words of Power, and can gain more dice for taking time, having someone with the Sorcery spell help, using a spell book, casting the spell at an auspicious time, and so on. Magic always involves the ‘Scare’ table and always adds a table of its own which determines if control of the magic is lost.
For example, Lana has been lured to the house of a local dignitary after a strange magical encounter only to discover what she thinks is ritual that will see her mind supplanted by the dignitary’s. The dignitary’s aide, Georgina Wellman, has a revolver, a Saturday night special pointed at Lana in order to persuade her to co-operate. It is approaching midnight when the ritual needs to be performed and Lana, not liking the odds either way, decides upon a brute force solution. She will cast a spell using the ‘Flood’ Word of Power, drawing from the swimming pool outside the house, the aim being to disarm Georgina, disrupt the ritual, and cause chaos. Her player assembles the dice pool, beginning with the base, plus one each for the Witch Background, the Sorcery Skill, and the Game Master allows an extra die because it is an auspicious moment or midnight. That gives the player four dice to roll.

The Game Master lays out the tables that the player will be assigning dice too. These are ‘Goal’, ‘Injured’, ‘Scared’, and ‘Magic’. The player rolls two, three, five, and six. He assigns the six to the ‘Goal’ table, which means it is achieved and the five to the ‘Magic’ table, which means that Lana does not lose control of the magic. The two and three are assigned to the ‘Scared’ and the ‘Injured’ tables, meaning that either Lana or an ally is injured, and everyone is scared. The Game Master narrates how the water from the pool surges up and in through the window of the house and swirls around the room that Lana and Georgina are in. Both are knocked to the floor and bruised and battered as the furniture is shifted. The gun is knocked from Georgina’s hand and everyone screams in terror! Moonlight on Roseville Beach is thus mechanically quite simple and has two consequences. The first is that the Game Master will need to place the various results tables on the table before the players so that they can consult them and make choices. The second is that the players can make these choices. They determine the degree of outcome, which the Game Master narrates.

One odd addition is a set of Guest Stars that allow other players to step in and participate in a mystery on an occasional basis. Alternatively, these could be used as NPCs, but either way they include an interventive cast of characters, such as ‘The Haunted Ice Cream Vendor’, ‘Definitely Not An Occultist’, and ‘The Oblivious Grandma’, amusingly unaware of anything out of the ordinary going on in Roseville, either in terms of the LGBTQIA+ community or the outré. These are fantastically well-drawn characters, ones that contrast sharply with the standard types that the players roleplay, so that if the roleplaying game were being run as if it were a television series, they could potentially make highly memorable appearances. They could even be used as potential scenario ideas. For the Game Master, there is deeper background on the various locations in and around Roseville Beach, including a hotel whose young owner is missing, a rocky island occupied by overly curious otters, of bronze monoliths that are never seen to move, but clearly do, and more. These locations do come with hooks, some more detailed than others. There are threats discussed here too, some of which does involve the bigotry of the era. There is advice on setting up a mystery, giving out clues, and handling romance. The advice for the latter is nicely done and provides advice for relations between Player Characters and NPCs and between Player Characters. There are also several ready-to-play scenarios as well.

Physically, Moonlight on Roseville Beach: A Queer Game of Disco & Cosmic Horror is fantastically presented in its use of its period book covers and graphical style that luridly hint secrets and truths, of just somethings that are different at the edge of society. The book is also well written and an engaging read.

Moonlight on Roseville Beach: A Queer Game of Disco & Cosmic Horror is a roleplaying game about the othering of minorities and their agency. The othering of minorities is simply and directly handled—it is normalised. Roseville Beach normalises the LGBTQIA+ community in a way which could almost never happen in 1979 when it is set, and makes the Player Characters intrinsically part of it and wanting to be part of it. Then it normalises it by having the players accept and roleplay this norm. In doing so, it gives room to both characters and players to explore and investigate the second othering present in Roseville Beach, that of magic and the supernatural, as well as the agency to do so. The characters within the setting and the players within the mechanics that give them the capacity to decide the outcomes of their characters’ risky actions. It is a powerful combination in terms of storytelling and resolution.

Moonlight on Roseville Beach: A Queer Game of Disco & Cosmic Horror is a fantastic combination of acceptance and community with pulp horror and mystery, that like its setting of Roseville Beach, gives a space for the marginalised and scope to tell their stories as they confront horrors and mysteries, and so protect their new homes and family. This is a great storytelling roleplaying game, good for one-shots and conventions as it is for telling longer summer seasons.

Arthur calls on an old friend.

Letter, Arthur Holmwood to Dr. Seward.

“Albemarle Hotel, 31 August.

“My dear Jack,—

“I want you to do me a favour. Lucy is ill; that is, she has no special disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every day. I have asked her if there is any cause; I do not dare to ask her mother, for to disturb the poor lady’s mind about her daughter in her present state of health would be fatal. Mrs. Westenra has confided to me that her doom is spoken—disease of the heart—though poor Lucy does not know it yet. I am sure that there is something preying on my dear girl’s mind. I am almost distracted when I think of her; to look at her gives me a pang. I told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at first—I know why, old fellow—she finally consented. It will be a painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it is for her sake, and I must not hesitate to ask, or you to act. You are to come to lunch at Hillingham to-morrow, two o’clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in Mrs. Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being alone with you. I shall come in for tea, and we can go away together; I am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I can after you have seen her. Do not fail!

“Arthur.”

Notes: Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

More insight into the background of our three Victorian gentlemen. Even though Seward was once Lucy's suitor, Holmwood trusts him enough to have him look in on her. Alone with her no less.

Good thing too, this is the start of the sequence of events that brings in Van Helsing to our tale.

The setting of Numenera is expansive one, potentially taking the adventurers into space, into other dimensions, and even deep under the sea, but always exploring the mysteries, secrets, and technologies of the past. Its detail lies in these places to be explored rather than the core setting of the Steadfast, as described in Numenera Discovery, the core rulebook. This also leaves plenty of space for the Game Master to add her own content and as described in Numenera Destiny, the players and their characters to make it their own by building and supporting a community. As open as the setting is, what it means is that Numenera does not have a ready starting point and it is perhaps in danger of overwhelming the prospective player or Game Master with just how expansive a setting it is. A solution then would be to provide a starting point. Somewhere small with a limited scope that is in no danger of overwhelming either player or Game Master and then builds from this basis with a story that will eventually take the players, their characters, and the Game Master out into the wider and more wondrous world of the Ninth Age. This is exactly what The Glimmering Valley does.
The Glimmering Valley is published by Monte Cook Games and everything that a Game Master and her players need to start their first Numenera campaign. A starting point, some plots and some storylines, some mysteries and some locations to be explored, a threat, and above, a place to call home. It does all this, but it also does something else—it keeps things limited. It does this in several ways. First, it restricts the Character Types available to the core three in v Discovery, that is, the Glaive, the Nano, and the Jack. The others, the Arkus, the Wright, and the Delve, from Numenera Destiny, do become available later in the campaign when it is possible to transition into one of the new three. Second, it limits the Special Abilities available to the Player Characters, as many of those with more overt effects, such as ‘Bears a Halo of Fire’ or ‘Wears a Sheen of Ice’, would be decried as sorcery, whilst those for which there is no training or reason for it, like ‘Works the Back Alleys’ or ‘Fuses Flesh and Steel’, are simply deemed inappropriate. The abilities available to the Player Characters in The Glimmering Valley tend towards skills and the mundane. Third, it grounds the campaign in the Glimmering Valley, a narrow valley some twenty-five miles long, with the minor settlement of Neandran at the head of the valley, and a larger settlement, Ketterach, at the bottom of the valley. The Player Characters have grown up in Neandran and like the majority of the other villagers, have never travelled more than a few miles into the surround forest, let alone as far as a metropolis as Ketterach. The Player Characters know almost everyone in Neandran and certainly have a relationship with many of the village’s notable figures—all of whom are detailed. Fourth, it applies Clarke’s Third Law, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ assiduously. This is because the inhabitants of Neandran look upon the strange things around them and found elsewhere in the surrounding forest as magic rather than technology. Once the Player Characters reach Ketterach and the wider Ninth World, they are likely to discover that this is not the case and so have a revelation. It means though, that playing through The Glimmering Valley is going to be a very different experience to that of a standard Numenera campaign. And for any Numenera veteran, it means roleplaying a very different outlook.
So why do all this? Simply, simplicity. What The Glimmering Valley wants to do is avoid any possibility of overwhelming the prospective player or Game Master with a wealth of detail. To that end, it limits choices for the players, gives their characters a clear outlook on the world, and shifts the setting to the fantasy of its science fantasy rather than the science. Effectively, the world in which the Player Characters begin is akin to the fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons with the medievalism, and what they discover in end is the highly technological and weird world of Numenera. In addition, the last chapter in the book is specifically ‘The Player’s Guide’, provided to inform the players about the world in which their characters live in. When given a copy, this greatly aids the players’ knowledge about the setting and enables them to establish relationships with the NPC.
As the campaign begins, the nature of the dream that for generations the inhabitants of Neandran has changed. Just slightly, but enough to pique the interest of the Player Characters and they wonder why it has changed. For the Game Master, there is initially the same information she gives to her players and then descriptions of its various locations, flora, fauna, and more. There is strangeness all about—strange objects that protrude from the valley floor and walls, the infinite house of the local witch, a point in the river where the water flows into the air, a glade of six-foot square, translucent blue cubes in which can glimpsed some strange creature, and stairs which go up to nowhere. Some of these lead deep below and into the sides of the valley into highly detailed complexes, into what are effectively ‘science dungeons’. They are unlike any other dungeon in each case, in one case, more a puzzle that the Player Characters need to work out with their fingers, though there is guidance on using a more mechanical, rules-based for those playing groups who dislike puzzles. These complexes will take time to explore, but the campaign does allow for that time and even projects of the Player Characters’ own. Accompanying these are a number of encounters and more, including the movement and growth of factions into the Glimmering Valley. These include the arrival of biomechanical nomads, the rise of the machines, and even an invasion of ‘Skeksis’-like aliens! The movement and growth of all of these is slow at first, but becomes more apparent later in the campaign. This does allow time for the Player Characters to explore, learn, and prepare.
The campaign is supported with a bestiary and chapters for each of the factions. There is advice for the Game Master throughout, with the sidebars used extensively for references and stats. However, what The Glimmering Valley does not do is set the Game Master up as well it does the players. The set-up for the players is very good, preparing them for the campaign and telling them everything that they need to do so. For the Game Master, there is not this same level of information and consequently she does not learn anything about the event-based aspects of the campaign until she gets to the relevant chapters. There is no overview for her prior to this when there really should have been. Whilst The Glimmering Valley is good in its way as a starter campaign for the players, it is less so for the Game Master. There is not the step-by-step process for the Game Master as there is for the players, so it is not as suitable for the first time Game Master and certainly not as suitable as the author necessarily intended. For all the simplicity of The Glimmering Valley, the campaign needs more effort than it really should to set up for a first campaign.
Physically, The Glimmering Valley is very well done. Both the artwork and the cartography are as excellent as you would expect for a supplement for Numenera, and the book is well written.

The Glimmering Valley is a good first campaign for the players, taking both them and their characters from positions of relative unawareness about the world to realising how big and how different it is by having them make discoveries and uncover dangers and face them. There is a genuine sense of growth and progress to the campaign which will all lead to the characters being prepared for the wider world, as well as both their players and the Game Master.

 This one is very easy, and hard. In fact I am sitting here drinking a Mt. Dew (though now a Zero sugar one) in his honor.

My friend and old DM Michael Grenda, died last year. It was a rather sudden and unexpected death. We had not talked in years (jobs, marriages, kids), but we had met up about this time last year, and we fell right into old patterns. 

I was very happy that his life had turned out happy. Maybe not exactly like we used to talk about in High School, but really who can say that.  I still feel sorrow for his wife and daughter.

I have been working on an adventure that I want to get out dedicated to him and based on his version of the "Mad Archmage" archetype. No, it's not a mega-dungeon, but it's certainly closer to a funhouse dungeon.  He, his wife, and his daughter all used to work at this haunted house, one of the largest in the state of Illinois. I was comforted in seeing that there were so many of these "Boo Crew" folks at his funeral. It seems right that the adventure should be a large haunted house-like deal.

Me and Grenda at Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket on Rt. 66 in July 2023

Yeah. I wore that Radio Shack shirt on purpose. We bonded over our love of the TRS-80 Color Computer.  I still have his old computer.

It was his birthday a couple of days ago. To be perfectly honest I am still coming to terms with the fact that he is gone. Weird. 

--

And that is all for Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August, 2024!

Quick-starts are means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps too. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she can still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

—oOo—

What is it?Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is an introduction to Tales of the Old West, a historical roleplaying game set on the American frontier using the Year Zero mechanics.

It is a sixty-four page, primarily black and white book with colour maps.

The quick-start is nicely illustrated with some decent maps.

How long will it take to play?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure can be played through in a single session, or two sessions at most.

What else do you need to play?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure requires multiple six-sided dice. These should be divided between two different colours.

Where is it set?
Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is set in and around the town of Carson’s Folly, a hunting and trapping town in Colfax County, New Mexico.

Who do you play?
There are five ready-to-play Player Characters given in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure. They consist of an African American fur trader, a Caucasian grifter, a Native American Ranch Hand, an Irish Settler Homesteader, and a Mexican Cibolero Tracker.

The diversity of the ready-to-play Player Characters reflects the efforts of the authors to make the setting as accessible as possible, without resorting to stereotypes. This is balanced against the need to make the game fun. There is no general advice and certainly mention of the X-card that might be appropriate given the genre.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has four attributes—Grit, Quick, Cunning, and Docity—and a single stat, Faith, plus several skills. Faith need not be religious faith, but can instead be a firmly held belief. Examples include ‘I want to make my father proud’ or ‘I will find myself a family on the frontier’ or ‘the Lord is my shepherd’. He also has two Talents, a big dream, some gear, and some background. Of the four stats, Docity is the ability of a character to learn.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure and thus Tales of the Old West, uses the Year Zero engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. To have a Player Character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to a combination of attribute and skill. The pool of dice consists of ‘Trouble’ dice and standard dice. There will always be ‘Trouble’ dice in the dice pool, up to five. A single roll of a six on either die type indicates a success. Multiple successes improve the outcome and allow the Player Character to perform stunts. In combat, these might be to inflict extra damage or inflict a critical injury, but the players are free to create other effects as well.

If no sixes are rolled, the action fails. If ones are rolled on the ‘Trouble’ dice, these have no effect unless the player decides to ‘push’ the roll. This enables him to reroll any dice that did not roll a one or a six. However, if there are any ones remaining after the roll has been pushed, they trigger a check on the ‘Trouble Outcome Table’. There is a ‘Trouble Outcome Table’ for conflict and physical situations and for social and mental situations. The effects vary depending how many ones have been rolled.

For example, if a Player Character has generated two ones in a conflict, the outcome might be “You stumble, slip or trip. Lose your next slow action.” or “Your attack is underpowered, or your action is weak. Lose a 6 from your pool of successes.” This is a pleasingly random set of effects, and it is a pity that there is not a corresponding set of tables that can be used when a player rolls multiple successes, if only as inspiration.

However, it costs a point of Faith to trigger a Pushed roll and in roleplaying terms, it should ideally tie into the Player Character’s Faith statement as this is a way of gaining Experience Points, but it need not do. Faith can also be spent to negate the effects of ‘Trouble’ dice, on a one-for-one basis. In Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure, a Player Character starts play with four points of Faith, but they can go up to ten. It is possible for a Player Character to lose his Faith and be Shaken.

How does combat work?
Conflict in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure uses the same core mechanics and allows a Player Character to act twice per round. This is either a fast action and a slow action, or two fast actions. A Slow Action might be ‘Shoot’, ‘Melee Attack’, and ‘Mount’, whilst a ‘Fast Action might be ‘Quick Shot’, ‘Aim’, and ‘Draw Weapon’. The conflict rules cover social situations as well as fist fights, shootouts, and of course, duels. The latter covers the face-off at the start of the duel followed by the duellists going for their guns. Along with a ‘Critical Injury Table’, the rules are fairly compressive and cover most situations in the accompanying situation.

What do you play?
The adventure in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is ‘The Last Cibolero’. A ‘Cibolero’ is a Mexican buffalo hunter and the scenario is all about buffalo hunting. The Player Characters are involved in the fur and trapping trade, but like the rest of the townsfolk, do not hunt the herds of buffalo indiscriminately and this is the issue at the heart of the scenario. When the New Mexico Mercantile Cooperative, a well-backed outfit working out of Santa Fe, moves into the town to take as many hides as it can, it sets up a tension between the locals and the outsiders. As first one Cibolero and then another is found dead, this tension ratchets up and civility breaks down until the town is on the verge of open conflict...

The scenario includes four maps and floorplans. These are all well done. Besides the scenario, there is background information upon the local area and the town of Carson’s Folly and its inhabitants. The Game Master can develop more stories based on some of the secrets and wishes of the inhabitants with some effort.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure are easy to prepare, especially if the Game Master has any experience with the Year Zero engine. The scenario itself is quite straightforward and overall, it requires relatively little in the way of preparation.
Is it worth it?
Yes. The Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure are a solid introduction to both its setting and its concepts, which are very easy to grasp as everyone is familiar with the Wild West, although the included scenario, ‘The Last Cibolero’, will be unfamiliar and unlike almost any tale of the Wild West seen on screen.
Where can you get it?
The Tales of the Old West Quickdraw Rules and Adventure is available for purchase here.

The Kickstarter campaign for Tales of the Old West can be found here.

The poor village of Hendenburgh stands in the middle of the Kryptwood, an ancient forest steeped in legend and history. For years, the Kryptwood has encroached upon the village, covering the walls of its whitewashed cottages with ivy, but pulling the tendrils of the evergreen climber from the walls of their homes is something that the villagers can easily handle, whereas the most problem thing to beset Hendenburgh is one that they are ill-equipped to deal with. Murderous demon hounds haunt the Kryptwood, ripping apart anyone who dares enter its reaches and even snatching lone villagers from the streets of the small settlement. An attempt to drive the spectral hounds from the Kryptwood, led by Ulvar the Poacher, resulted in failure and the death of several villagers. The demon hounds and what they are, are just one of the dangers and secrets to be found in and around the village of Hendenburgh. Highwaymen lurk in the forest, ready to pounce on Hendenburgh’s misfortune; a coven of witches wants everything to be returned to normal; the old silver mine stands abandoned, infested with monsters that drove out the miners and sowed the seeds of Hendenburgh’s poverty; a Bridge Troll has gone on strike after a drunken pixie failed to pay the toll; and at its heart, the Tomb of the Tyrant, the last resting place of the Kryptwood Tyrant, a despot who ruled the region a thousand years ago.

This is the situation in The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh, a scenario published by The Merry Mushmen, best known for Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition and A Folklore Bestiary, as well as the fanzine, Knock! An Adventure Gaming Bric-à-Brac. Funded via a Kickstarter campaign along with Raiding the Obsidian Keep, it is designed for Player Characters of Second to Fourth Level, it is adaptation and expansion for use with Old School Essentials of an earlier scenario, Hounds of Hendenburgh, written for use with the microclone, Cairn. It is essentially, a hexcrawl with multiple locations—some twenty-four of them, occupying half of the hexcrawl’s forty-eight hexes—and multiple, often interlinked plots. These plots will pull and push the Player Characters across the Kryptwood, ultimately to the scenario’s three big locations. These are the ‘The Infested Silver Mine’, ‘The Ancient Villa’, and ‘The Tyrant’s Tomb’. As written, it is also linked to Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow, the first adventure module published by The Merry Mushmen. Thus, it can be run, if not as a direct sequel, then as the next scenario in the Player Characters’ adventures. Alternatively, it can simply be dropped into a Game Master’s own setting and used without any links to Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow.

As with Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow, this is another digest-sized scenario which comes as a thick seventy or so page booklet in a wraparound card cover. The trade dress echoes that of classic TSR, though the artwork is more cartoonish. The cover has been purposely distressed and inside are maps of the three main adventuring locations in the Kryptwood, all done in a white on blue style that again echoes classic modules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. The cartoonish style of artwork continues throughout in a duotone of blue and grey, depicting the sense of gloom and horror that pervades the region—and the adventure.

The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is a very traditional in terms of its design. It begins with the ‘classic village in peril’ set-up in which Hendenburgh and its inhabitants are endangered by a major threat, that is, the demon hounds. Added to this are a handful of other, lesser threats—a band of highwaymen, the cause of the silver mine being abandoned which has led to the region’s decline, the village pastor having been defrocked for heresy, and so on. Understandably, the villagers are rightly worried about the danger that the demon hounds represent, but these are not their only concerns. There is the winsome and inappropriately young wife of the senile Lord of Hendenburgh, who wants to restore the village’s fortunes, but is also fascinated by the new learning, and regards the attacks by the demon hounds as peasant superstition, blaming them on a particularly vindictive badger. The pastor could be of great help to the Player Characters, but has become a spiteful drunk after being denounced by his flock! The town miller is in deep mourning for his wife, killed by the demon hounds, so no grain is being ground for flour, and thus there is no bread being baked, whereas in fact, his wife has run off with the highwaymen! The blacksmith cannot work out why the Widow Winstaple reviles him so, despite him loving her very much and having dosed her tea with a love potion he acquired from the three witches in the woods. These NPCs—and in fact, all of the NPCs in The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh, because there are also many to be found across Kryptwood Forest as well—are really great. Not only will interacting with them garner the Player Characters knowledge, but it will also create some great roleplaying between the players and the Game Master.

Beyond the limits of Hendenburgh, Kryptwood is rife with yet more encounters and locations. There is the aforementioned coven of witches and their squadron of flying monkeys, a fashionably employed hermit, that troll bridge with the striking troll, the Highwaymen and their louchely charismatic leader, and even ‘The Thirsty Sprite’, a tavern deep in the woods that caters to pixies and other creatures. Then, of course, there are the scenario’s three main adventure sites, ‘The Infested Silver Mine’, ‘The Ancient Villa’, and ‘The Tyrant’s Tomb’. These are not large, but they are highly detailed and they will keep the Player Characters busy for multiple sessions. They are also dangerous, if not outright deadly, and any party rushes into unprepared will find its numbers potentially severely depleted. These three locations, as well as the witches’ coven, are where the horror elements of scenario come to the fore. For make no mistake The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is a horror scenario. Primarily that horror is folkloric and gothic in nature, but ‘The Infested Silver Mine’ feels like the film Alien as well. There is a touch of whimsy too, such as the drunken Pixies and bored Ogre bartender at ‘The Thirsty Sprite’ or the reluctant, but fashionably employed hermit. The combination is reminiscent of Hammer Horror film with a touch of bawdy grubbiness that will make the Game Master want to cast the scenario’s many NPCs and villains with their favourite character actors.

The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is also very well supported and organised. It breaks down the various factions in the scenario, gives a handful of hooks to get the Player Characters there, provides tables of encounters for all of the main locations, and at the end lists what will happen to Hendenburgh once the Player Characters have left. This includes if they do nothing as well as the possible consequences if they get involved. Appendices list all of the scenario’s NPCs, new magical items, and potential retainers and/or replacement Player Characters. Again, these are all very good, the magical items in particular being unique and interesting in each and every case, such as a Clockwork Canary that attaches to the belt and sings whenever poisonous or explosive gas is detected or the Agoniser, a dagger that can inflict excruciating pain sufficient to paralyse temporarily the person stabbed!

Physically, The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is very well presented. The writing is succinct and laid out in an easy to grasp style, whilst the artwork is entertaining throughout. The cartography of the various buildings and caves and dungeons in the scenario feel slightly grubbier than in Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow, but are still not as detailed as they could be. This will not hinder the Game Master running The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh, but none really help their locations come to life either.

The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is a great horror hexcrawl, brimming with flavoursome detail and plot, populated with a fantastic cast of NPCs that the Game Master is going to enjoy roleplaying, and rife with adventure possibilities. It is a genuine joy to see how well this is designed and put together, but at the table, The Horrendous Hounds of Hendenburgh is going to be so much fun to run, let alone play.

 I have not done one of these in a while. While the new 5e D&D (5.5 I am now calling it) is on the horizon, we must not forget there are other games, some really good ones, out there.

Here is one that looks promising and it from Roderic Waibel and Izegrim Creations who has given us some great content in the past.

GEAS Role Playing System

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/izegrim-creations/geas-role-playing-system?ref=theotherside

From the campaign:

"GEAS is a high fantasy role-playing game designed with a core mechanic that's easy to learn yet offers tremendous flexibility and options and fosters player agency. Best yet, the core rules will be Creative Commons so YOU have control over your creations."

Ok that doesn't tell us a lot, but there are some good things here.

For starters you grab the GEAS Quickstart Guide for free and this gives you a much better feel for the game.  It is fantasy, but not D&D.

Emphasis is on ease of play and giving the players plenty of options to explore their characters.

I like this bit to be honest and I think that is one of the (many) reasons why D&D 5 has been so successful. 

On the design side, the art looks great and Roderic Waibel is making a No AI art pledge here. That's good. It is also being released into the Creative Commons, also a nice touch.

The game *reads* well, but the proof is in the playing. So I am looking forward to trying it out and will certainly feature it sometime next year. Though if I know Roderic, the game is already done and he is working on the final layout now.

 Hmm. That is an interesting one. I am not entirely sure, to be honest.

I do think playing a game where Matt Mercer DMing would be fun. I would also would love to sit in on a session with Todd Stashwick or Deborah Ann Woll because they just always look like they are having an absolute blast when they play.

But in truth I'd rather just play a game with some of the guys I used to game with. More on that one tomorrow.

--

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

 Ok, this one is a bit of a cheat, but I enjoy the Google dice roller app.

I can be anywhere and have access to all sorts of dice. It is not as nice as real dice and really only pseudorandom, but it works in a pinch.

--

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

 I think following up on yesterday's post I have to go with HeroForge as a Great Gamer Gadget. 

Even if you never get a mini from them (and you should get at least one, they are great) their mini designer is one of the better Character design tools out there.

Come to think of it. I don't have a mini of Omar yet!

--

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

 This one is rather easy. I am completely in love with the miniatures from HeroForge.

These all sit on my desk.

I was an early backer, and backed it again for their color print process. Since then I hove picked up quite a few. What can I say, I love them.

Here is my "mini-me" and my alter ego Johan.

I have a few Larinas. A printed one and few I did on our home printer.

Some to commemorate my best Baldur's Gate 3 run, Sinéad, Karlach and Shadowheart.

The mini standees of Duchess & Candella. I wanted to try it out.

And Willow & Tara. Because of course I did.

Not to mention all the screen shots I have used over the years.

Likely not long before I get an itch and want to make another one.

--

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

 GM's Screens are tools and I usually don't think about them much.  But there is one that stands out. The AD&D Dungeon Master's Screen.

There are couple of good reasons for this.

First the screen was on very heavy cardstock so it was durable and stood well on it's onw. There were some very, very flimsy ones that came out in the 90s and even into the 2000s that really were not very good.

The second was it collected a lot of must have information in one place. AD&D 1st Edition is notoriously bad for how it organizes information. You can see this if you step away from the game for any length of time, but come on, we knew it back then too.  The DM's Screen puts most of the most needed information in one place.

There are also a lot of nostalgia reasons too.

--

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. 

Lucy continues in her diary.

25 August.—Another bad night. Mother did not seem to take to my proposal. She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but when the clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been falling asleep. There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have fallen asleep. More bad dreams. I wish I could remember them. This morning I am horribly weak. My face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains me. It must be something wrong with my lungs, for I don’t seem ever to get air enough. I shall try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I know he will be miserable to see me so.

Notes: Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent

Lucy's mother is not doing well.

The symptoms Lucy is describing here are very accurate for someone with significant blood loss. 

 I have eBay alerts out for various dice sets, but mostly I am looking for original Dragon Dice. You know, like the kind that use to cost about $4 or so at Waldenbooks?

Here is mine, kept in the package. 

The markup on them now is about x100 what they were in the 1980s.

Thankfully I also found some new ones from Threshold Diceworks. They are new, resin cast dice, but they look very much like the old ones for a fraction of the markup.

These retro dice were made by Threshold Diceworks. Which you can find on Facebook and their Etsy store. He was taking pre-orders a while back and mine finally came in yesterday and I am very pleased with them!

They compare very favorably to the sets I had with my Expert set, the Dragon Dice polyhedrals, and the sets that came with the Mentzer Basic boxes.

Yes. Those are my Mentzer dice still in a bag and unopened and unmarked.

Now I just need to score an Orange d8.

--

I am participating in Dave Chapman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August.