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.

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Senet—named for the Ancient Egyptian board game, Senet—is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, 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 4 was published in the Spring of 2021 and as is usual, opens with ‘Behold’, a preview of some of the then-forthcoming board game titles. Perhaps the most notable of these are Tales From The Loop: The Board Game and The Thing. Both are based on well-known properties, the former the roleplaying game, Tales from the Loop – Roleplaying in the '80s That Never Was, in which Player Characters are teenagers living an alternate Sweden and the latter, the 1981 film directed by John Carpenter. Both of these games have an emotional heft to them. Tales From The Loop: The Board Game in that the players are teenagers with difficult family lives as well having to deal with the mysteries of the Loop and The Thing with the uncertainty that one of your fellow base members might be a mutating alien infection! Other games previewed include Dreamscape, a solo exploration of H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands and HEL: The Last Saga, a dark fantasy co-operative board game in which the players create their own Viking saga. These are not quite full reviews, but they are given as much prominence as the reviews are later in the issue, and in each they entice the reader to investigate further.

‘Points’ provides a selection of readers’ letters, two of the letters making some interesting points about using board games as part of the teaching process, whilst in ‘For Love of the Game’, Tristian Hall continues his designer’s journey towards Gloom of Kilforth. In the previous issue, he explored how the game became a vehicle for roleplaying and storytelling, but here he he looks at how he uses the mechanics to bring the setting to life and have events going on in the background that can affect the lives of the Player Characters. There are some interesting ideas here that draw parallels with roleplaying worlds and much that will be familiar to Game Masters running their own campaigns. These connections continue to make the series a fascinating path and it will be interesting to follow in in future columns.

As with previous issues of Senet, the fourth issue of the magazine dedicates its centre section to a quartet of lengthy, immensely enjoyable articles. These begin with Owen Duffy’s ‘How The West Was Fun’ examines how the Western and the Wild West figures in board games. Perhaps the most well-known board game in the genre is the Spiel des Jahres-winning Colt Express, but as entertaining as banditry and shootouts is in games like BANG! and Flick ’em Up!, the genre offers more than just that. For example, Western Legends offers multiple means of achieving victory, including herding cattle and mining for gold as well as the banditry and the hunting for the perpetrators of such banditry. Along with recommendations for the best Western-themed board games, the article interviews several designers, most of them surprisingly European rather than American. This highlights how the Euro games that employ this theme are often inspired not so much by Hollywood as the bandes dessinées, such as those of the character, Lucky Luke.

Martin Wallace, best known as the designer of Age of Steam, Brass, and Discworld: Ankh-Morpork, is the subject of the interview by Sara Elsam in ‘Lord of Creation’. The discussion focuses on his exploration of both history and technology—many of his designs involving trains and early industry, if not both—in games, before branching out to look at the fantasy games he has designed and the difficulties involved in making that switch. Written just before the release of Rocketmen and Wildlands: The Ancients, the interview is not quite as interesting as those in previous issues, but still worth reading. The artist interviewed by Dan Jolin in the issue is Dominik Mayer, whose work has been seen in cards for Magic: The Gathering, the cyberpunk game In Too Deep, and ISS Vanguard. His artwork is rich and deep and as with previous artists interviewed in Senet, it is given a fine showcase here.

Previous issues of Senet have explored various mechanics key to board game design and play, such as deck-building in ‘Decks in Effect’ from Senet Issue 2 and ‘Roll-and-Write’ from Senet Issue 3. The mechanic examined in this issue by Matt Thrower is tile placement in ‘On the Tiles’. Tracing a line back to medieval China with Dominoes, the mechanic is much older than those, and in modern terms is still predates those other mechanisms. Having appeared in Acquire and 1829—the later the first railway construction and stocks game which would spawn a large family of its own—before featuring at the heart of classics such as Settlers of Catan, Tikal (Tikal is in fact, this reviewer’s first modern Eurogame), and most famously of all, Carcassonne. In the case of the latter, and for most tile-laying games, there is usually a pleasing sense of organisation and having built something using the mechanic at the end of the play. In addition, there is also often a semi-co-operative aspect to play, the players building something together even if they are still competing for the points in doing so. It is a solid overview of the mechanic, but being an older one does feel as if the limits of what it can have already been reached and that sense comes across in the article.

As ever, the ‘Unboxing’ section of Senet Issue 4 covers only a relative handful of games, but there there is a range to them and they are all interesting titles. Leading the way are reviews of the big titles, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion and Pandemic Legacy 0, providing roleplaying and dungeoneering and legacy-style espionage respectively, whilst Dune Imperium offer strategic play and intrigue and Mysterium Park, confrontation-free deduction. None of the reviews are necessarily long, but they are to the point and they cover a decent range of titles in smart fashion. Three of games reviewed also appear in the self-explanatory ‘The Best of 2020’, so their reviews are a pleasing accompaniment and like any good list, this one is worth checking out because it does contain some classics even two years on.

Rounding out Senet Issue 4 is ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. In ‘How to Play’, Andy Bush of the podcast, Bush’s Board Game Thing, discusses ‘The tricky art of explaining rules’ and how to get around the problem of someone having to explain how a game is played for the first time. It is a challenging problem still today, in general not for the dedicated board game enthusiastic, but certainly for the more casual player, but there is good advice given here that is still useful. In ‘Shelf of Shame’, Ella Ampongan of Ella Loves Boardgames, in which takes her copy of Bärenpark off the shelf and plays it for the first time. Her verdict that it is better than Carcassonne, which is high praise indeed.

Physically, Senet Issue 4 is very professionally presented. Previous issues of the magazine have all looked sharp and attractive, and this issue is no exception, ensuring that the games it covers live up to the magazine's motto of “Board games are beautiful”.

Senet Issue 4 maintains the high standards set by the previous issues, another fine looking magazine with a good mix of reviews, interviews, and articles. In places the articles do feel shorter, with less depth to them, and so not quite as involving. Nevertheless, the quality of the magazine and its writing is excellent, maintaining its place as vehicle to show off and explore some of the best ideas, contributors, and games in the hobby.

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.

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The fourth issue of Parallel Worlds magazine was published in the winter of 2020. As with previous issues, beginging with the the inaugural issue, Parallel Worlds Issue #01 published in 2019, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, films, and more. Unlike like later issues, for example, Parallel Worlds Issue #21 and Parallel Worlds Issue #22, this fourth issue is a fairly unbalanced issue, with relatively little, direct gaming content in favour of focusing on computer games and films. Further, the standard of writing is better, which when combined with its selection of interesting articles and brevity serves to make it overall an engaging, even sometimes thoughtful read. Of course, Parallel Worlds Issue #03 is readily available in print, but all of the issues of Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day of classic White Dwarf, but here and now.
Parallel Worlds Issue #04 opens with its editorial from Tom Grundy, briefly mentioning the importance of escaping into the fantasy of a new book, film, or video during the winter, before giving an overview of the issue’s contents. It is followed by the first of several articles in the issue dedicated to computer games. This is the issue’s ‘Interview’ with Julian Gollop, designer and programmer of the classic, turn-based strategy games, Laser Squad and UFO: Enemy Unknown. Timed with the then release of Phoenix Point, this is a relatively short piece which looks back at the creation process of UFO: Enemy Unknown in particular and how that has developed with the then new game. It would have been useful perhaps if there had been some more information on the designer’s earlier titles, perhaps to give context for younger readers, but otherwise an enjoyable read. Aliens are the subject of the second article dedicated to computer games. In Louis Colvert’s Thinkpiece, ‘Why Aren’t Aliens In Video Games More… Alien?’, the author explores the role and expectations of the alien in our most modern form of fiction—the video game. Drawing from a number of different titles, Halo and Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee in particular, he notes how the design of the aliens have been used to reinforce and subvert the expectations of the players. In Halo, the size and speed of the aliens often reflects what expect of the animal world—larger aliens are slower, hit harder, and take more damage, whereas with the smaller ones, the reverse is true. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee has alien creatures which are human-like in all but appearance, meaning that in telling a story around slavery it can draw parallels with our own history. Ultimately, the near familiarity of how these aliens act is how we are best able to interact with them in game.
Under ‘Video Games’, Parallel Worlds Issue #04 continues its computer game strand with Ben Potts’ ‘Anthem: The game that nearly was’ examines the perceived failure and difficulties of Bioware’s Anthem, drawing parallels in terms of development with Destiny and Destiny 2 and highlighting the anticipation for the game following its 2017 demo versus the disappointment upon its release. That was in 2019 of course, and Anthem can be seen as a failure now, since development on the game ceased in 2021. Nevertheless, the article is another interesting read, and contrasts nicely with the piece that follows by Thomas Turnbull-Ross. ‘Lambda Cubed: The continuing mystery of Half-Life 3’ sets up and then explores the anticipation, even then a decade old, for the eagerly awaited, but yet to appear, third part in the Half-Life series from Valve. Even several years on from the article, fans will have to be satisfied with a sequel of sorts, Half-Life: Alyx, though that, of course, is unlikely. Consequently, this article has not really dated!
The ‘TV & Film’ articles in the issue open with ‘Star Wars Rebels: A Love letter To The Fans’ which examines the animated series and how it fits into Star Wars canon. Exploring the links to what is now known as ‘Legends’, but which was previously known as ‘The Expanded Universe’, the article highlights how much fan service it delivered, how it delved into and developed the lore, and some of the stories it told. It is clear that its author, Louis Colvert, is a fan, and he very much sells the series. Fans of Star Wars Rebels will enjoy the article, whilst anyone else should be intrigued enough to want go and watch it. Next, Jane Clewett provides thumbnail reviews of various genre films, such as Us, Midsommar, and It Chapter Two in ‘2019 in horror cinema’, which are decent enough. More interesting is ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’, which is a follow on from Parallel Worlds Issue #03 and its ‘Let’s Talk About... The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’. This is a discussion piece, a two-hander between Tom Grundy and Jane Clewett about their reaction to the film and their thoughts about it. This article is shorter, but it highlights the odd nature of the film and disparity of its story elements.
The issue includes three entries under the ‘Tabletop Games’ label. First, ‘We Found a Body’ launches the first in a series of ‘The Generic Adventure Module’ which explore particular plot types which can be added to a game. In this case, Allen Stroud adds a corpse and accompanying mystery. Graphically, it suggests that this is for a modern game, but the article is broad enough to suggest otherwise, in turn examining ways in which the body can be introduced, forensics applied, suspected questioned, and the death investigated. This is all from a point of setting up a good story and whilst it could have been more detailed, the advice is sound and the article lays the groundwork for future articles to come. It is followed by Christopher Jarvis’ review of Zombie Kidz, which is given high praise. The trio is rounded out the ‘Mini of the Month’, this time by Allen Stroud. The regular article, this time devoted to ‘Grak, warlord of the Clan’, an orc miniature that he purchased at Gen Con UK, benefits greatly from being a page in length, but is very much a nostalgia piece, since the convention and the miniature date from 1995.
Ant Jones and Tom Grundy follow up Allen Stroud’s ‘Diamonds in the Rough: Read Adventurous!’ on self-published novels in Parallel Worlds Issue #03 with ‘Self-Pub Review’, a trio of reviews of three self-published books. These are all good and sound interesting reads from the reviews. With half of the article devoted to its award winners, Allen Stroud’s ‘Fantasy Con Glasgow’ is never given sufficient space to make the event come alive or sound interesting as other entries in the ‘Events’ department in previous issues managed to do. Rounding out the issue are two pieces of short, ‘Original Fiction’. They consist of ‘Lazaraki Chronicles’, a horror piece by Connor Edles, and a Science Fiction piece, ‘Red 14’ by Ben Potts. These are decent enough.
Physically, Parallel Worlds #04 is printed in full colour, on very sturdy paper, which gives it a high-quality feel. Unlike in previous issues, it not does suffer from a lot of empty space and the articles are compact rather than stretched out. Consequently, the issue does not feel as empty as was the case with the first three issues.
Parallel Worlds Issue #04 is the best issue yet. It has more content, the less interesting articles take up decidedly less space, and there are more interesting articles to read. ‘We Found a Body’ is good, as is, again ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’, and also ‘Star Wars Rebels: A Love letter To The Fans’. Yet as much as there is more interesting content in the pages of the issue to read, it is unbalanced. The tabletop gaming content does not come off as a poor second or third so much as a poor fourth or fifth. Three articles, one of which is a review (and compare that to the fact that three books are reviewed to one game) and another a nostalgia piece about a twenty-five year old miniature, compared to four computer game articles and three film and television articles, all lengthier articles, do not feel enough for magazine which was at the time being pitched to sell in game shops. ‘We Found a Body’ is a good start, but Parallel Worlds needs more gaming content to balance everything else out. In the meantime, Parallel Worlds #04 is still a decent read.

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu noneeless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

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Name: Victor Frankenstein-ReanimatorPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Al Smith

Setting: Regency Cthulhu: Dark Designs in Jane Austen’s England
Product: Pamphlet ScenarioWhat You Get: Two-page, 1.92 MB Full Colour PDF (Plus more)
Elevator Pitch: H.P. Lovecraft writes Mary Shelly/Mary Shelly writes H.P. LovecraftPlot Hook: Victor Frankenstein’s greatest experiment!Plot Support: Staging advice and FAQ, four pre-generated Investigators, two handouts, one NPC, one floor plan, one Mythos tome, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Minimalist pseudo-scientific one-shot# Low preparation scenario# Plenty of elements left up to the Keeper to decide# Another find the solution to the unstoppable monster scenario (but themed)# Chemophobia# Necrophobia# Diokophobia
Cons# Minimalist pseudo-scientific one-shot# No stats for Victor Frankenstein or Igor (Fritz)# Plenty of elements left up to the Keeper to decide# A grand manor with one floor?# Another find the solution to the unstoppable monster scenario (but themed)
Conclusion# Lovecraftian creature-feature in minimalist style# Easy to set-up and run Mythos-Monster mash that goes all points Herbert West

The world—nay, the universe—is drawing to its end, and the eternal struggle between Law and Chaos will come to its fruition. What will be born in the wake of that mighty battle, who knows, but now there are enemy forces upon enemy forces arrayed before, threatening you, your loved ones, and your family. Whether a doomed prince, cunning vagabond, or greedy mercenary, you cannot escape the conflict to come, so where will stand as the final trumpet is blown? Take up your mighty sword infused with the power of demons, place the helm capable of shining the light of law upon world upon your head, remember the spells you stole long ago from the longest library of the age and slip onto the tip of your tongue ready to cast, and renew the pacts of power with the lords of law and counts of chaos and the elemental earls. Their might and magics are yours to command one last time as you explore the dark streets and mausolea of the forbidden city, ride alongside a mercenary band in driving back the raiders from the north, entreat with the wealthiest of mercantile leagues for support lest all theirs be sunk by creatures summoned from the depths—and beyond, and more, for you are a champion of the age and the final fight will come to you.
This sounds much like the classic Swords & Sorcery stories of Michael Moorcock and his Eternal Champion, most notably Elric of Melniboné and Stormbringer, the great blade he wields which infamously feeds upon the souls it kills and infuses the albino prince with their vitality. And it is, but it is also the tales of R.E. Howard’s Conan, Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Lankhmar, and Jack Vance’s Dying Earth. It is all of those things, but not. Rather this is a roleplaying game of dark Swords & Sorcery fantasy inspired by them—rough and ready, decadent and dangerous… Several of these story series have had their own roleplaying games. Most obviously Stormbringer from Chaosium, Inc., Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set from Goodman Games, and Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth: Adventures in a Doomed World, also from Goodman Games. The influence of these stories is not just seen in these roleplaying games, but also Dungeons & Dragons going back to 1974, and thus to the Old School Renaissance. The Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition takes these influences—none more so than that of the Eternal Champion—and puts them front and centre.

The Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition is an update of the earlier Black Sword Hack. Published by The Merry Mushmen—best known for the Old School Renaissance magazine, Knock! An Old School Gaming Bric-à-Brac—following a successful Kickstarter campaign, as its title suggests, the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition is written for The Black Hack Second Edition, the player-facing retroclone originally published in 2016. Although it uses the base architecture of Dungeons & Dragons, what this means is that the players are going to be making all the rolls—not just to attack, but also to defend, resist magic effects, and so on. The Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition is standalone though, eschews the Classes of The Black Hack and thus Dungeons & Dragons, allows the Player Characters of all backgrounds to learn sorcery and enter into demonic pacts, and provides the Game Master with the tools to create her own world (or worlds) and have her Player Characters encounter runic swords, the fae, arcane science, and more.

A Player Character in the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition is defined by six Attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. These are initially rated between eight and thirteen. He also has an Origin, which is either Barbarian, Civilised, or Decadent, and three Backgrounds. These provide him with extra bonuses. There is one Background unique to each Origin, Berserker for Barbarian, Inventor for Civilised, and Assassin for Decadent. A Player Character can only have a unique Background if from its Origin. In effect, Backgrounds replace the Classes of The Black Hack. Each gives a single attribute bonus and a skill or ability. To create a character, a player rolls to generate the value for his character’s Attributes, selects an Origin category and rolls for its specifics, and then selects three Background. Two must tie into his Origin, but the other not. The process is quick and easy.

Name: Frivif
Origin: Civilised (Born on the prison island where the monarch’s political opponents are sent)
Backgrounds: Street Urchin, Sword Master, Storyteller
Languages: Thyrenian, Askavian

Doom Die: Ud6

Strength 11 Dexterity 12 Constitution 9
Intelligence 10 Wisdom 11 Charisma 13

Hit Points: 9
Damage: Weapon d6 Unarmed d4
Coins: 50

Mechanically, the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition is simple. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls an Attribute Test. He rolls the twenty-sided die and if under the appropriate attribute, his character succeeds. If it is equal to the Attribute or higher, he fails or succeeds at a cost. A roll of one is always a success and twenty a failure, and the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition also uses a standard Advantage and Disadvantage mechanic. To handle resources, such as arrows or influence or debt, a Usage die is used. For example, ‘Arrows Ud10’. When a Player Character uses a resource, its associated Usage die is rolled. If the result is one or two, the die size is decreased and when a four-sided die has to be decreased, all of the resource it represents is expended. One genre addition that every Player Character has is the Doom Die. This is a Usage die. It is rolled when a Player Character repeats an action in combat, rolls a critical failure on an Attribute Test, or uses a Gift which requires it, and so on. However, it can be called upon and rolled to modify an Attribute Test, but this forces it to be downgraded. With rest it can reset. Once the Doom Die has been depleted, a Player Character cannot use any actions or Gifts which require it and is considered to be Doomed. All rolls are made with Disadvantage until the Player Character rests.

Combat in the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition uses the same rules and is designed to be quick and deadly. Attacking with melee weapons and parrying require a Strength Test, ranged attacks and dodging a Dexterity Test. Armour subtracts damage, but a shield enables a player to roll a Strength Test at Advantage when parrying. Attack effects such as breaking an opponent’s weapon, disarming an opponent, and making a brutal attack are possible, but require a player to roll his character’s Doom Die. These effects provide a more cinematic feel to combat. Each time a Player Character survives a number of adventures—recorded as story titles—equal to his current Level, he goes up a Level. At all Levels, a Player Character gains a Hit Point, but at even Levels, he increases an attribute and at odd Levels, he is granted a Gift. These divided between the Gifts of Balance, Law, and Chaos, for example, Spirit Alliance, Riddle of Steel, and Bloodlust, respectively. A Player Character in the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition has a maximum of ten Levels and the gifts his player chooses will affect his final fate.

The Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition grants certain Player Characters access to certain powers from ‘Dark Pacts & Other Vileness’. Initially, these are dependent on particular Backgrounds. Thus, the Warlock for Demonic Pacts, the Shaman for Spirit Alliances, Forbidden Knowledge for Sorcery, the Changeling for Faerie Ties, and Inventor for Twisted Science. None of these are quite straightforward. For example, Demonic Pacts can be invoked daily, such as ‘Ruin’ which breaks a single targeted item or ‘Nightmare’ which prevents the target from sleeping. If more than Demon is invoked per day, the Doom Die is rolled with Disadvantage and the Demon can take its revenge on the invoker if the Doom Die is depleted. There are also suggestions as to how new pacts can be created. Spirit Alliances work in a similar fashion, but are primal in nature and their powers are broader. Sorcery is tied to Chaos, but not as powerful as Demon Pacts and the roll to cast a spell is only at a Disadvantage if it has been cast before that day. Faerie Ties are broader and more varied, such as ‘Barrow Wisdom’ which lets the Player Character talk to the dead, but takes a Wisdom Test and decreasing the Doom Die to get them to co-operate or ‘Cold Iron Weapon’, an inherited blade of legend that inflicts extra damage on the faerie. Twisted Science allows the Player Character to design and build technological marvels a la Steampunk. There are some examples provided, but it is up to the player’s imagination and whether the device fits the world as what his character might create. The Player Character has weekly invention Points to spend creating devices, but must maintain the old ones he already has, so the more devices he has, the less time he has for inventing. This is simple and clever. Lastly, with Runic Weapons, the Game Master can create a great weapon to be wielded by an agent of Law, Chaos, or Balance, often as dangerous to the wielder and his friends as his foes.

The six categories for ‘Dark Pacts & Other Vileness’ are all optional and the Game Master can pick and choose which ones she wants to have for her Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition campaign world—or worlds. Their inspirations are obvious too from the works of Michael Moorcock. The Young Kingdoms for Demonic Pacts and Runic Weapons, the Dark Empire of Granbretan for Twisted Science, and so on. For the Game Master there is also bestiary as well as the all but obligatory for the Old School Renaissance ‘What Do You Find On The Corpse?’ table, and then a complete toolkit to help her create her campaign world. This provides options on the nature of Law and Chaos and the struggle between them; pages of adventure seeds by region or group, like a forbidden city or an iron horde; tables for creating great cities where the forces of Law and Chaos feud; and tables for making travel interesting as it should never be trivial. Balance receives its own section, which also discusses the end game, placing the point of True Balance far away, and it is here perhaps that in the final clash, the Player Characters will be forced to choose a side—losing the Gifts of Chaos if they side with Law and vice versa—and bring the campaign to then end. All of this is written in succinct style, yet this is not enough for the end game. More advice would have been useful for creating such a climatic, campaign-ending adventure.

Two adventures are included in the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition. The first, ‘Dark Seeds’ is a good starting scenario, the Player Characters waking up with amnesia after having served some kind of prison sentence and forced to work together to survive in a strange land where everyone seem to want them dead. The ending is open and can go anywhere the Game Master decides her campaign is set. The second, ‘Slayers of the Blood God’ is more a mission, the Player Characters sent after a mercenary captain to prevent him from performing a ritual. Both scenarios are short, easily playable in a single session, and leave details ready to be expanded upon by the Game Master. Lastly, there is ‘Heimdallir: Port of the North’, a complete city port standing on the edge of the tundra, ready for the Player Characters to visit.

And there are the appendices. The Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition contains not just one, two, or three appendices, but twelve! In turn, they give advice on running the game, take advice from various inspirational authors, provide solo rules and a bibliography, introducing a Cosmic Usage Die for both Law and Chaos, a complete world with map by Evlyn Moreau in two pages, and more. It is an unexpected embarrassment of riches, short and direct, but always useful and interesting, giving the Game Master more tools and further inspiration.

Physically, the full colour Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition is clean, tidy, and very well laid out. The artwork, oppressive and foreboding, is excellent throughout, and the book easy to read and understand. There are plenty of examples too, and if the book is unnecessarily succinct in places, such occurrences are rare. Otherwise, the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition is a grand treatment of The Black Hack.

To be clear, the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition is not an Elric of Melniboné roleplaying game, a Conan roleplaying game, a Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane roleplaying game, a Lankhmar roleplaying game, or a Dying Earth roleplaying game. It is none of these—but it could be. Its inspirations are clear throughout and what they inspire is generic in nature, rather than specific to any particular setting. Think of it, instead, as a tribute act to all of them, but to Elric of Melniboné and the Eternal Champion in particular. And then it goes one step further in providing both players and the Game Master with the tools to tell great adventures and stories in the style of the constant struggle between the primal forces of the universe. In the absence of a roleplaying game in the English language set in the Young Kingdoms—there only being Mournblade from Département des Sombres Projets and that is in French—or indeed any of the other worlds of the Eternal Champion, the Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition not only fills that niche in but perfect fashion, but does so with a very well presented, accessible, and impressive set of roleplaying tools to run dark fantasy in its style.

Magister’s Guide – A Spire RPG GM Handbook is supplement for Spire: The City Must Fall, the roleplaying game of secrets and lies, trust and betrayal, violence and subversion, conspiracy and consequences, and of committing black deeds for a good cause. It is set in a mile-high tower city, known as the ‘Spire’, in the land of the Destra, the Drow, which two centuries ago the Aelfir—or ‘High Elves’—invaded and subjugated the Dark Elves. The Drow have long since been forced to serve the High Elves from their homes in the city’s lower levels and allowed only to worship one facet Damnou, the moon goddess, instead of the three they once did. However, not all of the Drow have resigned themselves to their reduced and subjugated status and joined ‘The Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress’, or simply, the Ministry. Its members—or Ministers—venerate the dark side of the moon, the goddess of poisons and lies, shadows and secrets, her worship outlawed on pain of death, and they are sworn to destroy and subvert the dominion of the Aelfir over the Drow and the Spire. Published by Rowan, Rook, and Decard Ltd., Spire: The City Must Fall inverts traditional fantasy, making the traditional enemy in fantasy—the Drow—into the victim, but not necessarily the hero.

Magister’s Guide – A Spire RPG GM Handbook is a a companion to Spire: The City Must Fall. Born of four years development, it brings together a number of new systems, new stuff for every Character Class in Spire, including content drawn from the Strata and Sin sourcebooks, as well as advice for the Game Master. It is a fairly slim book, but comes packed with content for both the player and the Game Master. The book opens with four New Systems, beginning with ‘Liberty’, based on the ‘Control’ mechanic from Strata. This is a further measure of control and oppression applied by the authorities on the Dark Elves in response to actions of the Ministers that make the High Elves feel threatened. It does not target them specifically, but the Drow population in general. Liberty is a broad response and its Fallout can be Minor, Moderate, or Severe. For example, Light Fallout might be ‘No Congregation’, meaning that no Drow can gather together, Moderate Fallout might be ‘Branding’ or tattooing of Drow criminals, and Servere ‘Sanctioned Killers’ which arms the agents operating against the Ministry. Its broad nature means that Liberty is difficult to reclaim or remove. Only two options are listed, but the rules suggest using ‘Acquisitions’, the third of the new Systems to supplement these two.
‘Advancement Beats’ give a Minister and his player options in terms of challenges, goals, and achievements. Each ‘Beat’ can be a personal aim or shared with a fellow Minister, but is not specifically tied to the broader advancement of the Ministers’ cell and overall objectives of the The Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress. A Minister can have as many Beats as he wants, but only two are active in play at any one time. They are measured in terms of time they take to achieve. So a Low Beat such as ‘Sell someone out to the authorities’ can be fulfilled in a single session, a Medium Beat like ‘Research and perform a demonological ritual’ takes two or three, and so on. Essentially an adaption of the concept of ‘story beats’, this New System provides a player with story options that flag to the Game Master what he would like to have happen to his Minister—good or bad—in a session or more.

‘Acquisitions’ provides a further means of Player Character improvement, not just a means of getting items of equipment. One way to use them to is reclaim or remove the aforementioned Liberty, but options here include gaining an Ability from an entirely different Class, Favours, extra Advances, and a Safehouse. The latter nicely ties in with the rules for safehouses later on. For the Player Characters, this takes time, but they can push the attempt and act recklessly, to increase the Stress they suffer. Acquisitions are similarly categorised into Low, Medium, and High. The system is nicely worked through with a couple of good examples and enable a Player Character to have something going on in the background that he is working towards in terms of story and bring it into the action when necessary.

The fourth and last of the New Systems is for ‘Safehouses’. Out of all of the New Systems in the Magister’s Guide – A Spire RPG GM Handbook, this does like the most obvious addition. After all, the Player Characters do make a terrorist cell and will need somewhere to hide out and operate from. Once they have a safehouse—and the rules here suggest a ‘starter’ safehouse—the Player Characters can upgrade it with facilities such as a secret entrance, a gunsmith, and even a sacrificial chamber! Each of these is rated as a Medium Advance or a Medium Acquisition, using the previously presented ‘Acquisitions’ system. Suggested too are options for making the sanctuary a community instead of a hidden base and for using it as part of the story, so again giving both the players and the Game Master some flexibility in how the System is used.

The bulk of the Magister’s Guide – A Spire RPG GM Handbook is devoted to new options for the roleplaying game’s numerous Character Classes. Each is given various options including, but not all, new abilities, equipment and special equipment, adversaries, and Fallout (or consequences specific to the Class). For example, the Midwife emphasises the arachnid nature of the Drow and her role in the nurseries with Abilities such as ‘Hands of Silk’ which give her silk glands in the wrist from which can draw and combine with any hand-to-hand weapon to stun and bind, whilst with ‘Trapped Door’ she casts glyphs upon a door to hide it. She can use equipment such as a ‘Prosthetic Limb Array’, useful for the Midwife who finds it difficult to partially change into a spider, or a weapon like a ‘Arachnid Glaive’ . Her Special Equipment includes ‘Frenzy Incense’ which allows her to shrug off the negative effects from Minor or Moderate Blood Fallout. Her Adversaries include ‘The Black Sheep’, those that the Midwife raised, but which turn out bad—criminals, High Elf loyalists, apostates, heretics, and worse... Potential Fallout specific to the Midwife consists of ‘Spiders’ which crawl out her clothing, the walls, or even her mouth, much to the consternation of those around her.

In addition, the entry examines the nature of birth and child-care amongst the Drow, but also neatly provides a list of elements related to her role that the Game Master can bring into play. So, children, families, sacrificial altars, upholding traditions, and so on, and these work for NPCs as much as they do for the Player Character. The Magister’s Guide – A Spire RPG GM Handbook does this again and again for each of the Classes in Spire: The City Must Fall, each time providing options for the player to chose from, as for the Game Master to add to the story.

Rounding out the Magister’s Guide – A Spire RPG GM Handbook is a quartet of short essays in ‘Essays and Advice’. ‘Just the Basics’ is a relatively short blurb which the Game Master can use to explain the setting to prospective players or even for convention games. Even better is ‘Preparing For A Game of Spire’, which gives advice on how to prepare a scenario if a Game Master has no time, twenty minutes, an hour, or two hours. The advice of course, directly applies to Spire: The City Must Fall, but could easily be adapted to any roleplaying game. The essay also includes advice for preparing for a one-shot and again, is applicable to other roleplaying games. If Rowan, Rook, and Decard Ltd. was to publish a generic book of advice for running games, a version of this essay would definitely be included. Similarly, ‘When To Roll, And When Not To’ and the shorter ‘Creative Use Of Skills’, can apply to this roleplaying and others, but are not quite as interesting.

Physically, the Magister’s Guide – A Spire RPG GM Handbook is well presented and its contents are neatly organised and easy to reference, done in a succinct style for start to finish. All of that content is really very good, providing options in terms of Player Character abilities and actions, that both the player and the Game Master can use or effectively tag in the game. It is backed up by really good advice for the Spire Game Master, that is applicable in any roleplaying game. Overall, the Magister’s Guide – A Spire RPG GM Handbook is great supplement for the Spire Game Master, which the Game Master for almost any other roleplaying game should borrow (from her Spire Game Master) just to read the essays.

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 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.

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What is it?The Terminator Quick Start is the quick-start for The Terminator RPG, based on 1984 film, The Terminator, in which Resistance Fighters travel back from the future to prevent Skynet, a computer system, from achieving awareness and declaring war on mankind and so bringing about a devastated world where the survivors are hunted by robots.

It includes a basic explanation of the setting, rules for actions and combat, details of the arms, armour, and equipment fielded by the Player Characters, the one-shot mission, ‘Two Steps Back’, and seven ready-to-play, Player Characters, or Resistance Fighters.

It is designed to be played by three to five players, plus the Game Master.

It is a fifty-two page, full colour book.

The quick-start is very lightly illustrated, but the artwork is excellent. The rules are a slightly stripped down version from the core rulebook, but do include examples of the rules which speed the learning of the game.

The themes and nature of The Terminator RPG and thus the The Terminator Quick Start, specifically the horror and despair associated with the future it depicts, and the fact that the Resistance Fighters will be hunted, means that it is best suited to a mature audience.

How long will it take to play?
The Terminator Quick Start and its adventure, ‘Two Steps Back’, is designed to be played through in one or two sessions.

What else do you need to play?
The Terminator Quick Start requires six ten-sided dice per player. One of these dice should be a different colour to the rest, ideally, black.

Who do you play?
The seven Resistance Fighters in The Terminator Quick Start consist of a mechanic-turned explosives expert and strategist, an engineer and hacker, a heavy weapons expert with the best hair in the future, a medic with a sense of humour, close-in knife-wielding Sikh, a veteran sniper, and a rookie grunt. Two are core characters, needed for the plot, and three standard characters. The other two are ‘advanced’ characters intended as replacements or alternatives.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Resistance Fighter has six stats—Strength, Dexterity, Knowledge, Concentration, Cool, and Luck. Stats are rated between zero and six, whilst the skills are rated between one and four. A Resistance Fighter can have Traits, such as Addiction, Arrogant, Exceedingly Cool, or Vision (Good). He also has Hope Points, which divided between three categories—Body, Brains, and Bravado—and indicate the ways in which a Resistance Fighter can emulate the cinematic style of The Terminator. For example, with Body 2, Brains 3, and Bravado 1, Minguez the strategist could ‘Go Crashing In’ to dive into a room and gain a single charge or ranged action before combat begins, to make a ‘Luck Guess’ and gain a free bonus to a Knowledge or Concentration skill roll, or ‘Lead From The Front’ to lead soldiers into battle and bolster their morale. Some of the pre-generated Resistance Fighters specialise in one category, whilst others are more balanced.

All of the Resistance Fighters have a special ability related to their role. For example, Davis is the Engineer and has ‘Technical Minded’. This allows the Resistance Fighter’s player to spend a point of FATE to reroll any or all dice for any Techanical Skill Test.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, The Terminator Quick Start uses the ‘S5S’ System first seen in SLA Industries, Second Edition. This is a dice pool system which uses ten-sided dice. The dice pool consists of one ten-sided die, called the Success Die, and Skill Dice equal to the skill being used, plus one. The Success Die should be of a different colour from the Skill Dice. The results of the dice roll are not added, but counted separately. Thus, to each roll is added the value of the Skill being rolled, plus its associated stat. If the result on the Success Die is equal to or greater than the Target Number, ranging from eight and Challenging to sixteen and Insane, then the Operative has succeeded. If the results of the Skill Dice also equal or exceed the Target Number, this improves the quality of the successful skill attempt. However, if the roll on the Success Die does not equal or exceed the Target Number, the attempt fails, even if multiple rolls on the Success Dice do. Except that is where there are four or more results which equal or exceed the Target Number on the Success Dice. This is counted as a minimum success though.

FATE can be spent to reroll the Success Die or any of the Skill Dice. The rules also cover fear and willpower. Failing Fear Tests, which typically occur when the Fear Rating of situation is above a Resistance Fighter’s Cool stat, lead a loss of Willpower, as can losing too many Hit Points or encountering a Terminator. As long a Resistance Fighter’s remains above ten, they should be fine.

How does combat work?
Combat in The Terminator Quick Start is designed to be desperate and dangerous. It is detailed and tactical. It takes into account offensive and defensive manoeuvres, rate of fire, recoil, damage inflicted on armour, cover, aiming, and so on. The scenario features a lot of combat and the Game Master should pay particular attention to those rules in the quick-start.

All Resistance Fighters are combat trained, though some do specialise more than others. In general, the more combat capable Resistance Fighters should be working to protect the less capable, but less important specialists on their mission.

How does Hacking work?
One of the pre-generated Resistance Fighters possesses the Computer skill and is the designated Hacker for the mission. This enables him to hack electronic devices and computer systems. In general, hacking small systems requires only a simple skill test, but for bigger systems and where it is narratively appropriate, the hacker can attempt to infiltrate a system consisting of a series of connected nodes represented by a ‘Network Architecture Diagrams’. The player rolls Computer skill tests to generate points of Progress which can be expended to move deeper into the network, create a backdoor, capture a node, exploit a subroutine. If alerted, Network Security, or ‘NetSec’, will spread through the system attempting to locate the hacker and halt his progress.

Hacking is in effect a two-player mini-game between the Hacker’s player and the Game Master. Fortunately, it is intended to take place at the same pace as combat rounds do, so it can be run in parallel with them if need be. It needs careful study by both the Hacker’s player and the Game Master, and although there is an example hacking attempt given of the system include in the scenario, it would be a good idea for the Game Master to run through this at least once to understand it.

What do you play?
The Terminator Quick Start includes ‘Two Steps Back’, a short, one-shot mission. Set in the future, the Resistance Fighters must break into a Skynet compound to find their captured leader and prevent Skynet from sending several Terminators into the past to destroy several armouries set up by John Connor. It begins en media res with the attack on the compound, and after some bloody encounters with Terminators and a chance for hacker to show off his skills, before they can get into the Time Displacement Chamber and take command of it. Once alerted, Skynet will do its very best to prevent the Resistance Fighters from taking command of and using the Time Displacement Device. It ends in an even bigger battle and a cliffhanger...

As a mission, ‘Two Steps Back’ feels very appropriate for The Terminator setting.

Is there anything missing?
The Terminator Quick Start is complete and it even comes with advice for the Game Master on running the game. Where it is lacking is in art. None of the Resistance Fighters or NPC are illustrated, and neither are the weapons. The Game Master may want to provide them. In addition, the Resistance Fighter biographies are separate to their character sheets, so the Game Master will make sure that each player receives both.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in The Terminator Quick Start are relatively easy to prepare. The Game Master will need to pay closer attention to how combat works in the game as it is the most complex part of the rules and highly tactical in play, as it figures heavily in the scenario. She should also study and work through the hacking rules so that they can be easily taught to the player who roleplays the hacker.
Is it worth it?
Yes. The Terminator Quick Start is a short, bloody, and brutal mission that demonstrates the desperate and dangerous nature of the future under the dominance of Skynet. The emphasis on combat and the hacking rules make it slightly too complex for a convention scenario unless the Game Master knows the rules for both well. Otherwise, The Terminator Quick Start is solid introduction to the setting and potentially more if the Game Master decides to run the sequel, The Terminator Quickstart Part II ‘One Step Forward’.
Where can you get it?
The Terminator Quick Start is available to download here.

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

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Published in 2003, Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King was the first adventure to ask the question, “Remember the golden days of role playing, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Well, those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics feature bloody combat, intriguing dungeons, and no NPCs who aren't meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know must be there somewhere.” In doing so, it launched the Dungeon Crawl Classics line from Goodman Games that in the twenty years since has seen the publication of over one hundred titles for three different roleplaying games. It began with Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition in 2003, before moving on to Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition in 2008 and finally finding a home with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying and the release of Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage Kings and the classic Dungeon Crawl Classics #67: Sailors on the Starless Sea.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King is designed to ape the appearance of early adventures for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. Thus, the blurb is on the front cover rather than the rear, the rear being saved for a list of other products, and the maps inside the card cover are done in white on blue to thwart photocopying. The scenario itself is set in and around the town of Silverton, known for its silver mines. In recent months, goblins have been raiding the caravans carrying the silver and so hindering the town’s primary trade and means of income. The scenario begins with the Player Characters at the entrance to an abandoned mine whose silver has long been worked out and where the tracks of the raiders on the last caravan lead back to. The Player Characters have been hired to deal with the raiders and end their menace once and for all. Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King is designed for a party of Player Characters of First to Third Level. It is recommended that a Rogue, a Good-aligned Cleric, and a strong Fighter, preferably one armed with a silver sword be amongst their number. That said, an Elf, which his ability to spot secret doors will also be very handy.

The bulk of the scenario consists of a four-level ‘Abandoned Silver Mine’ infested with goblins and worse. The rooms of the played-out mine are all decently described, and where the Player Characters do encounter opposition, the location descriptions do include their tactics upon seeing intruders. Initially, the Player Characters will face a fair bit of opposition. The goblins are on guard and prepared to defend their home. The first level of the mine appears to be quite lightly populated, but an encounter with the Goblin Chief reveals that there is something else going on in the mine. Patience upon the part of the players and their characters will pay off if they find the secret vaults scattered across this level. The secret vaults and chambers on this level and the levels below contain not just treasure, but also useful, silvered or magical weapons and clues to the secrets of the mine.

Notably, although the Goblins are Neutral Evil, and signs of their nasty, vicious ways are found throughout the mine complex, the scenario specifically states that Good-aligned Player Characters suffer an Experience Point penalty should they put the females and young of the tribe to the sword. There are several nurseries and day-care rooms where they may be found, but there are also several temples dedicated to the rat gods, Narrimunth and Nimlurun, as well. The lower levels—three and four—are smaller, with the third actually being worked by miners still. Zombie miners, including zombie badgers, but miners, nonetheless. The nature of the encounters down here changes too, and whilst there no dragon in the final room, there is a definite sense of something much bigger on the fourth level. In comparison to the upper levels, there is scope on the lower for more than combat. The important NPCs will at least initiate or engage in conversation before they turn on the Player Characters and attempt to kill them. Some of the encounters on the lower levels are tough.

So what is going in the mine and Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King? The back story explains that century ago, one Jasper Gannu discovered the first silver mine outside what would become Silverton. However, the miners uncovered a great evil which had been buried there in ages past—a vampire named Serrenna. She was only stopped and locked away once again after twenty miners were killed. The survivors turned on him, lynched him, and drove his wife and child out with a curse. This curse turned them both into wererats, and now, Jasper’s grandson, Lawrence, has returned to the area to enact his revenge. Not only is he directing the goblins in the raids on the caravans, but he has also turned some of them in Wererats too! This is the reason why the Fighter needs to come armed with a silver weapon. The other is the vampire, Serrenna. If the Player Characters do not discover the clues to the ’ancient evil’ buried in the mine or ignore the warnings when they do, they may well free her from her prison and that would be a bad thing to do. Of course, she is evil, but Serrenna is very tough opponent too. That said, the Dungeon Master should have fun roleplaying her should the Player Characters encounter her.

In addition, Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King includes two appendices. One describes the Silverton Area and its inhabitants. Lawrence Gannu can be encountered here, performing as a Bard, and spying on the townsfolk and anyone who passes through the town. The handouts hint at the great evil in the mine as well as give the Player Characters a map. The start of the scenario provides three possible employers who would pay well for the Player Characters to investigate the abandoned mine.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King is a mixed bag. The layout is clean and tidy. The artwork is decent. However, the handouts are plain, just handwriting founts and whilst the map of Silverton is clearly done using Campaign Cartographer, so is decent enough, the map of the four levels of the mine is dull. To be fair, we have all been spoiled by the fully featured and illustrated maps of the scenarios for Dungeon Crawl Classics, but here they are all but featureless. The maps primarily consist of straight corridors and rectangular rooms, so all of the detail comes from the room descriptions. Trying to describe the route through the mine can only be challenging for the Dungeon Master because the maps are so bland.

One issue with Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King lies in the presentation of the monster stats and that comes from the d20 System and Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5. NPCs, including monsters, in Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition and Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 can have Classes and that leads to extended, detailed stat blocks. In addition, there are lots of Wererat Goblins in the scenario, so for every encounter there are three sets of stat blocks—one for Goblin form, one for Dire Rat form, and one for Hybrid form. There is a lot of detail for the Dungeon Master to handle in terms of game stats in the scenario. Also, placing the town details in appendix makes it feel like an afterthought, but at the same time, it means that the Dungeon Master can get straight into the adventure without having to flip to the back of the scenario if it is not required.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King received an Honourable Mention for Best Adventure, at the ENnies in 2003. It would be followed by a sequel in 2006. This was Dungeon Crawl Classics #27: Revenge of the Rat King designed for Player Characters of Fourth to Sixth Level. Then in 2008, the two modules were compiled for release at Gen Con 2008, but not for Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5. Rather it was written for use with the version of the roleplaying game whose style for its scenarios the two scenarios were aping—Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First edition. In addition, Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King included a third adventure, ‘The Scourge of Silverton’, which bridged the two. Although titles for the Dungeon Crawl Classics line for previous iterations have since been updated for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying is not one of them. Perhaps on its twentieth anniversary, it deserves the Dungeon Crawl Classics treatment? Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King would also be the subject of several reviews at the time of its release—one of which is here.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King is twenty years old and was even a nostalgia piece back then. There is much to like. The choice of monsters is a surprising combination, and with its mixture of the Undead, Vampire femme fatale, and Wererat Goblins, there is an element of horror to the scenario which adds to both its atmosphere and mystery. Yet this is undone in part by the maps, which are featureless and uninteresting, adding nothing to the adventure and barely even supporting it. The scenario is primarily combat and exploration focused, but it does have the mystery of the unspeakable evil and a few roleplaying opportunities here and there. For a twenty-year-old, nostalgia focused scenario, that is not bad. Indeed, Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King is not perfect, but definitely not bad, and it definitely got the Dungeon Crawl Classics line off to a solid start.

Chariot Race is a ‘Roll & Race’ board game. Now lots of board games are races, involving the rolling of dice to move. For example, Snakes & Ladders and Ludo are both children’s classics, both involving races, but Chariot Race is a modern board game and uses its dice rolls to create different effects and determine what a player can do from turn to turn, much like the earlier King of Tokyo. In the game, the players are charioteers, standing in their chariots, reins and whip in hand, javelins and caltrops to one side, ready to race, to the sound of the roaring crowd of the colosseum. To win, a player must be first across the line after completing two laps of the arena. Unfortunately, his rivals will not only do their best to outrace him, but they will also do their best to stop him—dropping caltrops into his path if he is behind, throwing javelins at him if close enough, and even ramming him! The result is a fantastic spectacle for the crowds and glory for the winner who can survive long enough to cross the finishing line. All this will be done according to the rolls of the dice—can a player slow his chariot down enough to get round a corner without risking damage or speed up to catch his competitors? Can he change lane to avoid an obstacle, a rival charioteer and his chariot, or caltrops thrown in his path? Can he attack a competitor? Can he gain the Favour of Fortuna and make repairs to his damaged chariot or alter the results of the other dice? Only the bravest of the brave and luckiest of the lucky charioteer will be able to find out in Chariot Race.

Published by Pegasus Spiele, the biggest draw for Chariot Race is the fact that it is designed by Matt Leacock, who is best known for designing Pandemic, the board game of the CDC attempting to find cures to diseases before they overwhelm the world. Where Pandemic is co-operative, Chariot Race is not. It competitive, combative even. Designed for two to six players aged eight and up, it can be played in fifteen to forty-five minutes, is easy to set up and play, and includes advanced options too.

The core components consist of a double-sided game board, six chariot pieces in different colours, six double-sided chariot boards which match the chariot pieces, twenty wooden caltrop markers, eighteen pointer clips, and five dice. There are also Dolphin tokens to indicate if a player is on his first or second lap. Everything is in full colour and easy to use in play. The game board depicts the oval of the colosseum with three tracks. On the one side, this is plain, but on the other, it is marked with heaps of stone which will damage any chariot which runs over them. The chariot boards are marked with three tracks—the Damage Track, the Speed Track, and the Fate Track. The Pointer Clips are used to track these numbers. The amount of Damage a player’s chariot has taken restricts its maximum speed and the amount of dice the player can on his turn. The five dice are marked with Horse (Normal movement), Double Horse (Sprint), Steer, Attack, and Favour of Fortuna symbols. In play, a player will use these to alter his chariot’s speed, change lane, attack his competitors, and alter his luck.

Initial order of the chariots is determined randomly and then the turn order works from the chariot in the lead backwards, that is, from front to back. A player’s turn consists of six phases—Repair, Adjust Initial Speed, Roll Dice, Obtain the Favour of Fortuna, Move, and Attack. The Repair and Attack phases are optional. In the Repair phase, a player can spend three Fate Points to repair his chariot by up to three points of damage. The Adjust Initial Speed requires the player to check that his chariot’s Initial Speed does not exceed its current Damage Value as more damage reduces its maximum speed. The player than rolls the dice, the number again determined by the chariot’s current Damage Value. Then the player rolls the dice. A player can reroll as many dice as he likes once, but can spend Fate points to reroll again or to adjust a single die face to any non-Fortuna side.

Once a player has rolled the dice and made any rerolls, he begins applying them to his chariot. To Obtain the Favour of Fortuna he records any Fortuna symbols rolled on the dice. He can have a maximum of six. Then he can Move and Attack. However, actual movement is equal to his chariot’s Speed, and what the Horse (Normal movement) and Double Horse (Sprint) symbols do, is adjust that Speed. Horse (Normal movement) symbol lets a player adjust his chariot’s Speed, up or down, by one, whereas the Double Horse (Sprint) symbol lets a player adjust his chariot’s Speed, up or down, by two, but at the cost of a point of damage. The obvious reason for adjusting his chariot’s Speed is to catch up with another chariot, whether to pass it or ram it, but he may also need to slow down. This is because he might want to avoid another chariot or because he has to career around a corner! Both ends of the arena are marked numbers—higher numbers on the outside, lower numbers on the inside. If a chariot has a Speed higher than this number when it crosses through it, the chariot suffers damage. The inside track is shorter, but tighter, and so their number is lower. The outside track is longer, and its number is higher. On the expert board, which has stone heaps, the player might slowing down to avoid hitting them.

The Steer symbol allows a chariot to change lanes. Lastly, the player can use the Attack symbol to inflict damage on his rivals. First, by dropping a Caltrop on the track which another chariot might ride over and take damage from, and second, by throwing a javelin at a rival chariot. Another means of inflicting damage is to ram a chariot, but this inflicts damage to both the ramming chariot and the rammed chariot. It is possible to destroy a chariot, whether through poor handling round corners, riding over caltrops, being rammed, or having javelins thrown at it. A destroyed chariot means the player is out of the game, it leaves wreckage which does the same damage as a caltrop.

Chariot Race includes rules for two- and three-player games, with teams of chariots rather than singles. This enables a player to keep playing if he loses a chariot. Besides the alternative board on the other side marked with stone heaps, the chariot boards each have a different chariot on the back. They add a degree of variety to the game and a bit more individualism to the game.

Physically, Chariot Race is underwhelming. The components, done in full colour, are on thin card. The chariots are cardboard standees rather than wooden or plastic pieces. The dice are decently done though. Consequently, the feel is of a game with a lower budget and less durability. The rule book though, is clearly written, easy to read, and includes examples of play that ease learning the rules.

Chariot Race is primarily luck driven, with little in the way of player choices or tactics. Does a player race ahead to get a good start or hold back and avoid the carnage upfront as players battle for the lead, only to push forward on a chariot that has taken less damage and can thus maintain a higher speed? Other than that, a player is really only trying to make the best use of his dice rolls from one turn to the next. The result though tends to be a chaotic free-for-all, a brawl on two wheels drawn by thundering hooves and steaming nostrils of the horses. So, in the way Chariot Race does make a good filler. It is light, easy to understand, and quick to play. However, a group wanting something more thoughtful, less combative, but of a similar length, might try Ave Caesar. For more detailed, simulationist version of chariot racing, the classic Circus Maximus would be a good choice.

Ultimately, Chariot Race feels just a little too light, a little too lacking in depth for repeated play, and not enough choices. The variant rules do not add enough to keep the players’ attention for more than a few games, and ultimately, Chariot Race is more going to be remembered for the designer than the design.

I was going through all my notes for my 1979 Campaign centered around the Keep on the Borderlands as a Pathfinder-like adventure path.

I have found that there are a lot of people out there who are equally fascinated with the B1 and B2 adventures, that this is something I spend a long time doing. I would not even have to add anything else to it all.

So, of course, what am I doing?  Adding something else to it.  

I noticed I did not have a copy of B5 Horror on the Hill. I always kind of wanted it since I knew a little bit about it and it was from the "Golden Age" of D&D. I had never bought a copy because by 1983 (when it was published) I had moved on to AD&D instead.  More folly for me I guess.  The recent GM's Day Sale at DriveThru had it on sale, so I grabbed the PDF and Print on Demand versions.  While waiting for the print I read through it a bit and found it would make a great addition to the surrounding of Keep. In fact, I think I would merge Guido's Fort and the Keep into one place. I am certainly not the first to think this or try this.

I was reading through the rumor table and saw this:

I don't think you quite get the thrill I get when I am reading an older D&D product and there are witches in it! It is not something I am going to get to experience much more of, but it is always special.

So B5, Horror on the Hill has a rumor about an evil witch, and it is marked as TRUE?  Hell yeah!

Well, not so fast. There are two spellcasting women living on the Hill. But they are not really witches and they are a far cry from evil.

At least it is encounter #13.  

I am fine with them not being evil, but a cleric and a magic user? Must be something in the water around here that they all decide to live together. But I also know an opportunity when I see it.

We have two elderly women, Rosabella, 5th level and Rosalinda, 6th level, living near an area where there are ghouls, hobgoblins, rumors of a dragon, and more? In a cabin that is bigger on the inside?

Yeah, they are certainly witches.  But what kind?

Since this is overtly a BECMI product and from 1983 no less, I think my earliest OSR Witch book would be best suited for these two.  I also could not help but think of the sisters Ada Brook and Agnes van Rhijn in The Gilded Age on HBO played by Cynthia Nixon and Christine Baranski, as Rosabella and Rosalinda, respectively.

Rosabella & Rosalinda, The Rose Sisters

How these two witches came to live on the Hill is something lost to time out of mind. It is known that they are the last of the Rose Witch Coven that had operated in the area for many years and they inherited their magic home from their mother.  

Both sisters are Family Tradition witches, with their knowledge of witchcraft handed down throughout the ages. Rosalinda had a son, but he seems to have had no intention of marrying and has so far not produced any female heirs to their family's tradition.

They now live in this cabin/mansion and barter and trade with the local Keep when possible and with the various demi-humans who fear them.

Rosabella
5th level Witch, Family Tradition
Neutral 

S: 12 I: 13 W: 14 D: 12 C: 13 Ch: 17

AC: 6 (Ring of Protection +3)
HP: 20

Attack: 1, by spell

Occult Powers: Familar (Spirit of a long-dead ancestor)

Spells
Cantrips: (5) Alarm Ward, Clean, Detect Curse, Mend Minor Wounds, Quick Sleeping
First Level: (2) Detect Invisible, Magic Circle vs. Evil
Second Level: (2) Hold Person, Scare
Third Level: (1) Stop Thief

Rosalinda
6th level Witch, Family Tradition
Neutral

S: 10 I: 13 W: 12 D: 10 C: 10 Ch: 15

AC: 9
HP: 17

Attack: 1, by spell

Occult Powers: Familar (Spirit of a long-dead ancestor)

Spells
Cantrips: (4) Arcane Mark, Daze, Mend, Spark
First Level: (3) Cause Fear, Sleep, Spirit Dart
Second Level: (2) Minor Image, Phantasmal Spirit
Third Level: (2) Fly, Mirror Image

Pretty good if you ask me. They are high-level to characters of the 1st to 3rd level to be sure.  Though I think they should be higher to keep the various monsters at bay.  Mind you they have desire to fight them, just scare them a little. 

And like all proper witches, they have a Tea Ritual. They are not above adding a sleeping draught to the tea of rude guests and sending them on their way. 

Looking forward to seeing what else I can do with this adventure!

The Tenth Doctor: You named a unit of measurement after yourself?
Malcom: Well, it didn't do Mr. Watt any harm. Furthermore, 100 Malcoms equal a Bernard.
The Tenth Doctor: Who's that, your dad?
Malcom: Don't be ridiculous, that's Quatermass.
The Tenth Doctor: Right. 

- The Planet of the Dead

Few things are as quintessentially British sci-fi as Doctor Who. Unless of course, you are talking about Quatermass.

First a bit of background.

Prof. Benard Quatermass is a brilliant scientist and part of the (fictional) British Experimental Rocket Group.  In his work he is constantly dealing with all sorts of alien threats.  Sound familiar?  The Quatermass stories have a solid sci-fi bend to them but are not afraid to do a little bit of horror, as in Quatermass and the Pit. 

The Doctor Who Connections

Lots really. I mentioned in my review of Quatermass and the Pit that finding an ancient skeleton older than humanity has been covered by Who in Image of the Fendahl and in horror by The Creeping Flesh. But that is just a story. The connections run deeper.

The whole Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) was designed to have a solid Quatermass feel to it; brilliant scientist fighting off alien threats with the aid (to his annoyance) of the military and some secret organization. Are we talking about The British Rocket Group or U.N.I.T. here? 

In the 1988 series "Remembrance of the Daleks," which takes place in 1963,  military, scientific advisor Alison Williams remarks to her colleague Dr. Rachel Jensen, "I wish Bernard was here." Rachel replies, "British Rocket Group's got its own problems."  Even the episode "Hide" set in 1974 featured a very Quatermass-like character in the form of Professor Alec Palmer, who was supposed to be Benard Quatermass but they could not get the rights cleared.  

"The Planet of the Dead" has an energy reading in Benards which is 100 Malcoms. Named in honor of Quatermass.

In "The Christmas Invasion," David Tennant's first turn as the Doctor, a British Rocket Group logo can be seen in the command center of Guinevere 1. This one is especially interesting because of the very recent (2005) "The Quatermass Experiment," which featured David Tennant playing a Doctor. Not the Doctor, but he did get the roll in Doctor Who while working on this show. 

In addition to David Tennant this show featured Mark Gatiss, a regular Doctor Who actor and writer. Gatiss also wrote a Doctor Who novel "Nightshade" about a serial that exists in the Doctor Who universe that is not quite Doctor Who and not quite Quatermass. 

Some fans have even suggested that the reason Ace calls her Doctor, "Professor" all the time is because of her familiarity with Quatermass. 

I'd love to see a full-on crossover with Doctor Who and Quatermass. Set it in the late 1950s or early 1960s. That would be a lot of fun.

If nothing else, then it would make for a good Doctor Who RPG adventure!

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

 Moving on to Room #20 these tunnels seem to have a more "finished" or carved feel to them. 

In this cave are three very large Cave Bears. 

The eldritch glow of these caves is much stronger here and it is reflected in these bears' eyes.

They look like they could be sick, but in reality, it is just the necromantic energies feeding on them; they are every bit as strong, fierce, and angry as their normal counterparts.  Because of the necromantic energies, these bears are starving and only living blood will satisfy them.  For this reason, their morale is set to 12.

These bears have no treasure and have wandered into this cave from other parts of this level.

"Support for this PBS station comes from Viewers like you."

- The Unofficial Start of Every Doctor Who episode in my youth.

At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man. Doctor Who fans today have it easy. We have DVDs, Blu-Rays, BBC America, BritBox, Pluto (more on that) and untold ways to watch our favorite episodes of Doctor Who.

In the 80s this was not the case. Back in the 1980s we had ONE choice to watch Doctor Who and that was our local PBS station. If your station didn't carry it, well you had to hope you had a friend who did have access and access to a VCR to record them. 

For me that was KETC PBS Channel 9 out of St. Louis, MO. 

I grew up on Channel 9. As a little kid I watched Sesame Street and the Electric Company. As I got older I watched Cosmos with Carl Sagan and 3-2-1 Contact.  I tried to watch Upstairs, Downstairs and Masterpiece Theater. I knew they were good, but I never caught them often enough to know what was going on. But I, Claudius, was amazing.  I was primed to accept that anything on this channel was quality.

So when I was introduced to Doctor Who in the early 80s (1983) I was ready to accept it as the best thing ever on TV. It was A.) British and B.) on PBS. So of course it was great. Sadly it was not on till 10:30 pm on a Sunday night and I had school and a morning paper route to do on Monday morning. I got into a lot of trouble trying to watch it.

Another issue for me? I only had an old Black & White TV, so my first experiences with Doctor (namely the Key to Time series) were all in Black & White!  I didn't get my first color TV until I, and this is no kidding, traded my 18 ft long Doctor Who scarf for one.

I think there is a sort of rite of passage with older Doctor Who fans. We all can readily identify which PBS stations we watched them on.  KETC always took the individual parts and showed them as one complete story.  Other stations showed 1 or 2 parts a night. This was the case for WTTW in Chicago. I did not get that station then, but now it is my local station.

The whole "Viewers Like you" thing hit me hard too. I felt like I was watching Doctor Who but not a real fan since I didn't help PBS out. So one year I finally asked my parents to send in support. I paid them back and got this sweet TARDIS key chain that I still have to this day.

Still pretty pleased to have that.

The TARDIS Data Core wiki has a great history on PBS and its association with Doctor Who.

Doctor Who on Pluto

Nowadays you can get Doctor Who nearly anywhere, but the closest experience to the old PBS stations is watching Doctor Who on PlutoTV.

There are "Doctor Who" channels that play the Classic Doctor episodes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I have been catching them as I can and it has been fantastic.  If you are new Who fan it is worth checking out. Plus Pluto is 100% free! You can even watch it on any device.

Additionally, on Tubi, you can catch the old Doctor Who Dalek movies.

Something I never expected to happen back in the 1980s, sometime after 10:30 pm on a Sunday night when I was supposed to be asleep. 

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

 The secret door, really just a hidden one, is to the right from the perspective of heading toward Room 20. There are a few stones to move (combined strength of 20 required, up to three characters) the biggest obstacle is the dark.

This appears to be the Grimlock's larder. In here are four Trolls. They are tied up and their limbs have been hacked off.  The grimlocks have captured them and are keeping them near death as a regenerating food source.  Their limbs are growing back at odd angles and lots of mutations.

Each troll only has 1d4 HP each. They can be easily killed but only give 10 XP each.

There are a few magic items here too. One is a sword +1/+3 vs. trolls. It glows in the present of trolls. When the trolls are dead the glow will stop.  The trolls were afraid of it, and the grimlocks hated the light.

There is a wand of magic missiles here as well. It has 2d6+4 charges remaining.

We are in the midst of the Wasted Lands playtest right now. It is fun to play a game I am at the same time familiar with (it is very similar to NIGHT SHIFT) and yet brand new at the same time.  For me, there is extra fun here since I can use so much of my own One Man's God material in my home games.  

My home game, right now, is a bit of a riff on my "Second Campaign" ideas.  Recall that in the Wasted Lands during the "Dreaming Age," the first generation of humanity (or proto-humanity) has thrown off the yoke of the Old Ones (the stars went "wrong" again), and now they have an Earth to themselves.  It is part Mythical Age and part Post-Apocylptic. 

With the Old Ones gone, humanity renews its battles with their most significant threats, the reptiles. So I have reptiles and Snake People as my big bads here, at least for this trail run of the game.

Since the characters will become the gods of our myths and legends, I want to try out some of my favorite gods here.

Up first is one I have called "The World's First Goth Girl" Ereshkigal.

She was the Queen of the Underworld and the Goddess of the Dead in Sumerian mythology. In the Dreaming Age, though, she is now just a 1st Level Necromancer.  This is good for me since my very first D&D character was a cleric dedicated to destroying the undead. So a nice little flip side to that.

Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age uses the same O.G.R.E.S. rules as NIGHT SHIFT does. So following along here will be easy. 

So. Let us see what we can do.

Siouxsie Sioux as EreshkigalEreshkigal

Class: Necromancer (Persona Aspect)
Level: 1
Species: Human

Alignment: Dark Neutral

Abilities
Strength: 16 (+2)
Agility: 13 (+1)
Toughness: 15 (+1) N +1
Intelligence: 13 (+1)
Wits: 15 (+1) N +1
Persona: 17 (+2) A +2

Fate Points: 
Defense Value: 7
Vitality: 5 (d6)
Degeneracy:
Corruption:

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/0
Melee Bonus: +2
Ranged Bonus: +1
Saves: +3 to Persona based

Special Abilities
Channel the Dead 22%
See Dead People
Summon the Dead 15%
Command (Spirits)
Protection from Undead
Turn Undead 20%

Divine Notes: Death, Earth Psychopomp
Background: Undertaker

Gear
Leather armor: DV 8
Dagger: 1d4

Here is my concept for her.

At this time, Ereshkigal of Irkalla & Kur is the daughter of Nanna, an oracle of the moon. It has been her task to take care of the dead of the city and in particular, the dead that have been killed by dark magics. 

I have yet to do much with her, but rolling her up was as easy as rolling up any D&D-like character. Faster even if you are a fan of NIGHT SHIFT. Now I don't have everything figured out just yet, but I want to get her into a game to figure it all out. 

The campaign I am working up will be against a cult of Snale Men that are trying to rise up in the vacuum left by the Old Ones. Humanity is on the brink of being wiped out before they even begin and only one group will inherit the Earth. 

Since I see Ereshkigal as the world's first goth girl, it only makes sense that she is portrayed in my games by Siouxsie Sioux.

Want to know more about The Wasted Lands? Head on over to Jason's blog to read more.

The Doctor: This lot have still got one foot in the Dark Ages. If I tell them the truth they’ll panic and think it was witchcraft.
Martha: Okay, what was it then?
The Doctor: Witchcraft.

- The Doctor and Martha, The Shakespeare Code

Doctor Who is overtly a sci-fi series and a family show. So one would imagine that themes of the occult and horror would not pop up, but you would be wrong!

Doctor Who has a long-established tradition of "hiding behind the sofa" when the Daleks show up and with some of the scarier episodes.  While there are plenty of scary episodes and plenty more that met with the disapproval of Mary Whitehouse, I want to focus on ones that had occult overtones as befitting my typical interests around here.  I'll also look into that most quintessential of all British horror, Folk Horror.

The Dæmons

This one has the dæmons returning to Earth, but they are not diabolic, but rather a race of giants that have "sufficiently advanced science" that looks like magic. Though it does have the Master posing as a Satanic Priest and using rituals to summon the dæmon Azal.  There is even a white witch in this one.

The magic here is couched very much in the science of Doctor Who, it is just highly advanced.

This episode is very much a British Folk Horror tale. And there was that time where the 11th Doctor fought them off with the help of Buffy and her friends. 

Image of the Fendahl

Talked about this one all the way back on "F" day.

The Stones of Blood

Here is another "Science disguised as Magic" the large standing stones are disguised blood drinking creatures and the alien of our tale is disguising herself as The Cailleach of Scottish and Irish myth. 

Of note: This episode gave me the idea for Gog and Magog.

The Awakening

Another British Folk Horror episode this deals with a demon-like creature and old pagan rites. In some ways it reminded me a lot of The Dæmons. So much so that I was disappointed it wasn't more closely tied to it. 

The Curse of Fenric

I'll go into this one in more detail later on, but there are some interesting occult associations here as well. 

The Unquiet Dead

Ghosts in Cardiff. Or really, the Gelth caught in a time rift. In Universe, this was the reason that Charles Dickens wrote about ghosts in A Christmas Carol. In the real world this gave us some background for the Torchwood series. 

The Impossible Planet / Satan Pit

Ah. Now this one was so good.  I might have to add this as my one "TV Episode" per year to my Horror movie marathon in October. This one is more straight up horror than occult, but the appearance of the "Devil" at the end sends this one into occult territory.

The Beast of this episode does bring to mind the Dæmons of the Pertwee era. They might even be related to this creature as their former ruler. Maybe it was them that chained him up in the Pit.

The Shakespeare Code

Ah. This is not the first Doctor Who episode to feature witches or witch-like creatures, but it is a fun one. This Tenth Doctor romp features a subtly bisexual Shakespeare ("Fifty-seven academics just punched the air,") and former HEX actress Christina Cole as Lilith. 

Again this episode implies that magic and "witchcraft" are just a different type of science. Maybe an older type.

Hide

Hide is a fantastic haunted house episode. Among other things, there is a monster, a psychic, a witch, and all sorts of strange goings on. Our psychic is played by the amazing Jessica Raine, who will have more involvement with Doctor Who and our monster...well it is a quintessential Doctor Who twist. The monster is just a poor alien trapped in time. The witch is a time traveler from the future trapped in every moment of time but stuck at this house. So in the words of The Doctor, "this isn't a ghost story, it's a love story."

The Witchfinders

Few things are as British occult as the witches of Pendle Hill. It is here in this episode the Doctor, now in the form of Jodie Whittaker, finds herself in the middle of. 

Again, no witches or demons here, just aliens. In fact the Doctor says "A brilliant man once said, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'" One of Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws. 

While the Doctor will deal with various occult themes, the explanation will always be some sort of advanced science. It is a conceit of the show's universe and one that works well enough for me. 

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

Going left in Cave #17 takes the party through a short narrow tunnel (only single file here) it opens to a large, and mostly dark cave. 

Photo by Christina Petsos
Inside the cave a small group (2d10+4) of Grimlocks have made their home.  

The grimlocks are blind, but they can sense the party.  Two of these creatures are larger with 3 HD and there one leader of 4 HD. The leader also has a +1 sword. The sword does not glow. All the grimlocks are combative, even the youths will kill, and eat, anything they do not recognize.

There is Treasure Types E and J found here, mostly from other creatures the grimlocks have killed in the past. 

There is an exit straight ahead from the entrance (to Room 20) and a hidden exit (secret door) to the right as the party came in (Room 19).

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—
Name: The Things We FeedPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Zander Ford

Setting: 1926 New Orleans
Product: ScenarioWhat You Get: Twenty-page, 15.28 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Hunted house horror as theft turns to terror.Plot Hook: Can a book be recovered before state officials intervene?Plot Support: Staging advice, six handouts, one NPC, one map, one Mythos tome, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Suitable for criminals, antiquarians, and art experts alike# Weird haunted house horror in which the horror lurks between# Easily adapted to other time periods# Mnemophobia# Toichophobia# Ommetaphobia# Paranoia
Cons# Needs an edit# No pre-generated Investigators# Investigation could be better developed
# The horrors seen in the scenario could have been better developed# Pre-generated Investigators could have meant more tailored horror
Conclusion# Claustrophobic ‘haunted’ house horror with engaging sense of otherness.# Rushed and slightly underdone in places, but otherwise solidly serviceable scenario

The Doctor: I'm the Doctor, by the way, what's your name?Rose Tyler  Rose.The Doctor: Nice to meet you, Rose, - run for yer life!
- The Ninth Doctor, "Rose"
Doctor Who premiered in November 1963 and ran until 1989. There was a TV movie that, while fun, was not great and went no where. Sadly we Doctor Who fans settled in to just enjoying the new novels and the audio dramas. 

Then Russel T. Davis came on the scene and, in 2005 brought Doctor Who back!

At first, we did not know if this new series was a new series or tied to the original series. So many of us began to call this "New Who" or even "NuWho."

Not only did we get a wonderful series that had all the charm of the old series, but we would also learn that this Doctor was the Ninth Doctor and he was the only survivor of the Great Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks. 

The original series ran 26 years and had seven total Doctors. Eight if you count the movie. The new series has run for 14 seasons (though almost 18 years) and has had six doctors, or eight, or nine depending on how you count it. 

The new series of Doctor Who has done so much to bring in new fans to the show and make it a world-wide phenomena. While the Tenth and Fourteenth (both David Tennant) and the Eleventh (Matt Smith) did much to make the show popular we really have to thank Christopher Eccleston for bringing the character back to life.

Eccleston's Doctor was a Doctor consumed with guilt and sadness. He was fresh off the Time War (tune in for that on "W" day), and you feel that Rose was his first companion in a very, very long time.  This Doctor had seen everything he loved burn and to make it all worse, he knew he was the one that caused it all. This new reality; the Time War, Gallifrey destroyed, and the Doctor alone, made for a great way to bring in both new and old fans. It was, well to quote the Ninth Doctor, "Fantastic!"

This was the Doctor that got my wife and kids hooked on the show and made us a Who-loving family.

While Eccleston had his own reasons for leaving (and I won't debate his choice here) it did do one very, very perfect thing. It gave new viewers a complete Doctor Who experience in one whole season.  

His regeneration at the end of his first and only season gave the new fans something we old fans always had. That fear and anticipation about who this new doctor was going to be. 

My wife was SO upset with this. And as you can expect David Tennant's Tenth Doctor went on to become her favorite.

New Who has been fantastic to me as an old-school Doctor Who fan. 

If you want more details on the new series of Doctor Who, pop on over to fellow A to Z blogger, Elena Square Eyes, and see what she is doing. She is also doing the A to Z of Doctor Who but focusing on the newer stories.

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—
Name: Walk Among UsPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Marco Carrer

Setting: 1926 New Orleans
Product: One-hour scenarioWhat You Get: Fourteen-page, 3.90 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Zombies, werewolves, and the Black mafia down the bayou. Oh my!Plot Hook: William Faulkner asks the Investigators look into the return of a friend’s friend and his listless state.Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, four NPCs, one map, four non-Mythos monsters, one Mythos artefact, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Plain.
Pros# Pulpy, noir-style mystery in New Orleans# Decent plot to be found if properly prepared# Kinemortophobia# Lupophobia# Limnophobia
Cons# Needs a strong edit# Underdeveloped, unclear, and unkempt# Decent plot to be found properly prepared# Irrelevant werewolf# No handouts
Conclusion# Messy, underdeveloped plot and set-up hides a reasonable plot to be found if properly prepared by the Keeper# Irrelevant werewolf

 The hallway leads down to another cave.

Photo by Kevin Burnell: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grayscale-photo-of-a-cave-13049146/

This cave is vast with a diffuse eldritch glow. There are regular bats, blind moles and other normal inhabitants, but no other creatures.

There are two exits. One on the far side of the cave and another to the left.