RPGs

Character Creation Challenge: Tanith Winters for Wasted Lands

The Other Side -

 It's still cold outside. So another winter-themed character is needed, and nothing is more winter than the Winters family of witches and my current character, Tanith Winters.

Tanith is a great character to test for Wasted Lands. For starters, I have been playing her in both D&D/OSR clones and for three editions of Hyperborea. I also have used her in NIGHT SHIFT as part of the modern versions of the Winters family.

Tanith Winters sheets

Wasted Lands and Hyperborea have similar DNA and can be used to play very similar sorts of games. The biggest difference between them setting-wise is that the Wasted Lands takes place in the distant past, and Hyperborea is in the far future.

Both games are solid in their Old-School sensibilities and feel. Both games are a lot of fun for that Dark Fantasy mixed with horror overtones with more than a little influences of Howard, Lovecraft, and Smith. 

Tanith WintersTanith Winters

Class: Witch (Sorcerer) 
Level: 12
Species: Human (Hyperborean)
Alignment: Neutral
Background: Barbarian

Abilities
Strength: 10 (+0) 
Agility: 12 (+0) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) N 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 12 (+0) 
Persona: 16 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 53
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Spell Attack: +6
Saves: +5 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer), +2 to Toughness saves (Barbarian), +1 to Cold (Touchstone)

Sorceress Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (4): Familiar: Owl Psychic Power: Cryokinesis, Enhanced Senses, Supernatural Senses

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts, Chill, Protection from Good/Evil, Armor of Ice
Second Level: Create Wated, Cool Metal, Lock, Unlock
Third Level: Slow, Dark Lightning, Dispel Magic, Curse 
Fourth Level: Control Tempature, Life Drain, Control Ice
Fifth Level: Blight, Elemental Wall
Sixth Level: Invoke Weather, Disentergrate

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 Saves vs. Cold
2nd Level: +1 attacks w/ Cold
3rd Level: Magical Recovery
4th Level: Defense Cold
5th Level Ray: Ray of Cold
6th Level: Cold Immunity

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Winter

Familiar: Snowy Owl, "Beira."

Gear
Cloak of Winter

Wasted Lands & Hyperborea

Both the Wasted Lands and Hyperborea scratch a similar itch for me. I would have to say that I can play many similar games with both games. The tenor is different enough that playing the same sorts of adventures do feel different.

I'd love to try out a set of adventures, maybe even featuring the Winters family, in both Wasted Lands and then millions of years later in Hyperborea. 

Character wise, this version of Tanith is great. Hyperborea has a few more choices in spells than Wasted Lands, but there is also a big difference in size of the rule books. Granted, the spells are also largely interchangeable.  

Links

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge


Character Creation Challenge: Jassic Winterhaven for Wasted Lands

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 It is frigid outside. But we are in the middle of winter, so I guess that is expected. It did get me thinking about a few of my winter-themed characters. So let's start this one off with one of my favorites, Jassic Winterhaven, the gnome bard/warlock.

Wasted Lands has rules for using characters other than the proto-humans of the Dreaming Age. I have done some elves and half-elves, but let see what we can do with a gnome.

Jassic Winterhaven sheets

Jassic here is a bit of fun character. In D&D 4e he was a test run of the hybrid class rules of a Bard and a Warlock.  Later on he became a more traditional Bard/Warlock multiclass in D&D 5e. Both worked remarkably well and loved how well Bard and Warlock work with each other.  I did do this in Baldur's Gate 3, but not as Jassic.

Wasted Lands does not have a proper Warlock class. Night Shift does. Also, neither game has a true bard. But there is the Sage, which so far has played very Bard-like.

So, who is Jassic, and how should I re-build him in Wasted Lands? Taking the Sorcerer and saying he has magic but needs to play an instrument to use it is easily done. No extra rules are needed. Sage would cover his languages and his lore and even grant his some extra spells as well as some Renegade/Rogue abilities. So that is all great. Perform? Well, that is a sort of Persona check. Bardic inspiration? Ah, that one is trickier. But let's see what I can do with some Heroic Touchstones.

Jassic WinterhavenJassic Winterhaven

Class: Sorcerer / Sage
Level: 4/2
Species: Gnome
Alignment: Light 
Background: Gnome

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 12 (+0) 
Toughness: 12 (+0) 
Intelligence: 14 (+1) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) A

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 6
Vitality: 23
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +0 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +0 (base)
Spell Attack: +2
Saves: +3 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer), +1 to Wits and Persona saves (Gnome)

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (2): Beguile, Precognition

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts, Beast Speech, Prestidigitation
Second Level: See Invisible, Unlock

Gnome Abilities
Night Sighted

Sage Abilities
Languages (14), Lore, Suggestion, Mesmerize Others, Renegade skills at level 1

Sage Spells
First Level: Chill Ray

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Bonus Skill: Performance
2nd Level: Luck benefit
3rd Level: Additional Luck
4th Level: Magical recovery

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Wanderer

Gear
Shortbow, shortsword, leather armor, 

Wasted Lands Bards

For starters, suggestion helps with some Bardic abilities. The Luck Benefit from the Heroic touchstones also gives a good replacement for Bardic Inspiration. I can have him take it again at higher levels for more use in the day.

I'd have to play this character some more to see how he works out. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge

Deities & Demigods II Updates, 2024 Update

The Other Side -

Jupiter It Sunday night. I have tomorrow off which is good because it is like -9° F with a  wind chill of -31° outside right now. I said I was not going to complain about the cold this year, but this is testing my resolve.

Instead of freezing my ass off, I am poking at my Deities & Demigods II.  I have all the text in the layout, but I am in a quandary.  I love the work I have done on it, but I can't in good conscience sell it anymore or even give it away for free using AI-generated art. 

I am going still play around AI art for personal fun, but not for publishing this particular project. 

This is an issue since the Black Forest Mythos has two dozen gods and a dozen or so monsters. I need to find some art.  I really don't want to spend a ton on art and not see a return on it. I am fine not making a profit for this sine I was doing it for fun (and potentially for free) but I would like to recoup any money spent on art now.

So. Trying to figure out my next steps.


Character Creation Challenge: Kelek for Wasted Lands

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 One more magical character. This time, I want to do Skylla's partner in crime, Kelek the Cruel.

Kelek is a fun character. He was the only Dungeons & Dragons action figure I ever purchased when they were new, except for special edition ones that came out later/recently. And I have used him in a few games. In particular, he is the main bad guy in my War of the Witch Queens

Kelek character sheets

Now Kelek, in my games, has a bit of orc somewhere in his bloodline. So he gets better than expected Constitution/Toughness scores and has slightly pointed ears.  In Baldur's Gate 3 I managed this with carefully editing the half-orc facial features. 

In BG3 and D&D 5 he is a Sorcerer. So he gets magic on the fly. I am able to do this in Wasted Lands by having him take the Street Mage or Hedge Mage arcane power. Like Skylla he is a Persona (Charisma) based caster but his sorcery is different than her witchcraft. He is also one level higher at 7.  

Old hands at D&D B/X or BECMI will note that a 6th-level Magic user has the level title of "Warlock," and a 7th-level Magic user has the title of Sorcerer. Works out here as well. 

Kelek the CruelKelek

Class: Sorcerer
Level: 7
Species: Human* (Orc-men)
Alignment: Dark
Background: Sorcerous

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+1) 
Agility: 10 (0) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 15 (+1) N
Wits: 13 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 32
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Spell Attack: +4
Saves: +3 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer) +1 to Toughness saves (Orc-men).

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (3): Street Mage, Enhanced Senses (magic), Detect Thoughts

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Arcane Dart, Command, Read Languages, Sleep
Second Level: Beguile Person, ESP, Unlock
Third Level: Concussive Blast, Fly

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: First Level Spell: Chill Ray
2nd Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Gear
Robe of Protection, Staff of Sorceries

Wasted Lands Magic-users

Skylla and Kelek

Class-wise, Skylla and Kelek are the same class. At least that is how they are in the Wasted Lands. Consequently, this is also how they were in D&D Basic. Both were Magic-users. It has just been the last few years where they have been different things, warlock and sorcerer respectively.

Just like Basic (and OD&D and AD&D) you make them feel different by how you play them.

Wasted Lands adds an additional level of arcane powers; this is the first split. By given Kelek Streer or Hedge Mage we free him from the need of spell books. Though it also means that his big desire of stealing Ringlerun's spell book is sort of lost. For Skylla I give her the arcane power of innate magic to allow her to use Arcane Darts more, a she would an Eldritch Blast. 

I can further separate them with a few choice Divine Touchstones.  Simplicity is the key to flexibility here. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge



Character Creation Challenge: Skylla for Wasted Lands

The Other Side -

 Continuing some magic characters, I also want to do one that I have meant to do since Wasted Lands came out. 

Skylla is a character I have talked about a lot here. She is one of the old LJN Dungeons & Dragons figures (who never got a proper figure), was an NPC in the Shady Dragon Inn, and was to appear in the D&D Cartoon. I was talking about her for years before she came back into popularity. Not only have stated her up for various D&D-like/OSR RPGs, I also have her in an "evil run" in Baldur's Gate 3.

While she is a D&D-owned character, I have done quite a lot with her here, and a comparison should be made.

Skylla character sheets

Since I am using Skylla and Kelek together in both Baldur's Gate 3 and my War of the Witch Queens (and Witchlight), I am going to do them both here. Both are magic user, but I also want to highlight their differences.

First up. Skylla.

Skylla is often depicted as a 6th-level Magic-user; this makes her level title "Warlock," which is often how she is described. I my posts on her I have used a variety of classes, but most often a witch. For the purposes of this post I am going to keep her at 6th level.  In the D&D 5e version of her she has Warlock as her class and this is what I went with in Baldur's Gate 3.

Wasted Lands only has a Sorcerer class. So I'll need to make some tweaks to her and Kelek (who will also be a Sorcerer) to make them feel different. 

SkyllaSkylla

Class: Sorceress
Level: 6
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark
Background: Sorcerous

Abilities
Strength: 9 (0) 
Agility: 11 (0) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 12 (0) N
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 28
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Spell Attack: +3
Saves: +2 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer) +2 to Intelligence saves (Sorcerous background).

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (2): Innate Magic: Arcane Dart, Begulie Person

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Arcane Dart, Glamour, Gout of Flame
Second Level: Beguile Person, Magic Lock, Paralyze Person
Third Level: Dark Lightning, Dispel Magic

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: First Level Spell: Mystic Senses
2nd Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Gear
Robe of Protection, Staff of the Demon, Necromancies of Thay tome. 

Wasted Lands as D&D 

Early on in the Framingham, MA test trials of the anti-Breast cancer drug Tamoxifen it became so obvious that the drug was effective given the obvious differences in the two sets of participants (experimental vs. control) that even though it was a double blind study everyone knew the the drug was working, and working well. They stopped the study and put all the participants on Tamoxifen. 

That is where I am at now in this experiment. 

I am going to say I can emulate any sort of D&D-like experience with Wasted Lands.

Tomorrow, with Kelek, I'll focus less on this obvious point and more on how to emulate different sorts of spellcasters.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge

Double Hubris

Reviews from R'lyeh -

Manticore is a scenario for Traveller. It takes place on the world of Pysadi in the Aramis Subsector of the Spinward Marches Sector and involves an investigation into a runaway girl and her connection to a zealous religious cult on a nearby world. It ideally requires the Player Characters to have basic training in both weapons and vacc suit, and if they do possess a starship, that it should be capable of Jump-2. The scenario includes a set of eight pre-generated Player Characters, four of which between them have the skills necessary to operate a starship as well as one of them owning an S-Type Scout. However, one of the problems with this is that the Player Characters are expected to to own a merchant ship of some kind and certainly a vessel capable of carrying cargo. Both the mechanics and the plot of Manticore are straightforward enough that running it using TravellerClassic Traveller, or Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition are all easy enough to do.

Manticore is written by Carl Terence Vandal and is a sequel of sorts to The Phoenix Initiative, which ended with the Player Characters being recruited as agents in the service of Duke Norris and his family. It is not though, a direct sequel, but rather a thematic one as it deals with the misuse of advanced science. Alternatively, it can also be run as a standalone affair. It begins with the Player Characters on Aramis in the Spinward Marches Sector, spending a little of their recent profits on a night out when they approached by a girl asking for money. Soon after this, she is approached by two men who attempt to abduct her, but she seems able to deal with them in a smart fashion. Their encounter is timely, if not for the Player Characters, then for a local Imperial agent who recruits them with gentle threats of menace. The Imperial Agent informs the Player Characters that the girl, Maxine, has recently fled from the nearby world of Pysadi, an an agricultural world governed by the strict ‘Mother Church’. The two men who attempted to abduct her were zealots of the Mother Church. The Imperial Agent will also tell the Player Characters that the Mother Church has entered into an agreement with an independent military organisation called ‘Manticore’, to launch an invasion of Zila, a neighbouring world on religious grounds and so bring it into the fold of Mother Church. Maxine and her family was being held by Manticore. The Imperial Agent wants the Player Characters to confirm the existence of the invasion plan, the links between Mother Church and the military organisation, and whether or not the Imperial representative on Pysadi, Baron Sir Mikhail Lentreth, is supporting the plan or being held hostage by Mother Church.

Getting to Pysadi will prove easy and the Imperial Agent will even provide goods that merchants on the planet will want to buy. Pysadi is a TAS Amber Zone due to its theocratic government and high law levels, which bans firearms and blades—and worse, alcohol. (In fact, the given reason for the invasion of Zila is that some of the agricultural exports from Pysadi are being fermented into alcohol!). Other than that, the Player Characters have relatively easy freedom of movement on the planet and what they will quickly discover is that everyone on the world is aware of the invasion plan and fully supportive of it. They do not know the exact details, of course, but can point to the rocket being prepared on its launchpad at the starport with no little pride and expectation. In technological terms, the rocket is confirmation that Mother Church has outside help as it is incapable of constructing it using the means available on Pysadi.

The Player Characters have several avenues of investigation. These include locating the Manticore compound, getting a closer look at the rocket, discovering the plans for the invasion of Zila, and determining the degree to which Baron Sir Mikhail Lentreth is involved in the plan. Some information is relatively easy to find, especially given the openness of the members of the Mother Church about the forthcoming invasion, but the Player Character will still need to conform this. Much of this involves stealth and breaking into various buildings, although some paperwork can be obtained to gain access to certain areas. Ultimately, the Player Characters will want to stop the invasion. Which means stopping the rocket. This can be done from the ground, but the security around the rocket is very tight, or it can be done after the rocket has launched. This sets up an exciting chase from Pysadi to the Jump Point as the Player Characters attempt to rendezvous with the invasion rocket, which it turns out, is actually a Jump Rocket and is fitted with a Jump Drive. Once in close proximity, they are to board and capture the vessel and its crew, which leads to showdown with the villain of the piece and a firefight or brawl in the cramped quarters of the rocket.
There are a number of situations which the scenario does not address. What happens if the Player Characters simply decide to launch their starship and use its weapons to destroy or damage the rocket on its launchpad? What if they fire at the unarmed rocket during the chase? Can they sabotage it that way? What happens if the rocket makes it to the jump point and gets away? In the first case, this would also mean firing on the starport, which is Imperial territory—and this is before the number of possible casualties is considered, and in the second, firing on an unarmed vessel would be seen as an act of aggression. If the rocket gets away, the Game Master will have to develop this possibility herself.

The Game Master is given a decent amount of support to help her run the scenario. This includes details and map of the world, Pysadi, the Mother Church and its headquarters, the Manticore compound, and details and deckplans of the invasion rocket. There are a couple of items of new equipment, the Concealed Power Holster and the Hand Needler, which will enable the Player Characters to circumvent the high law level on Pysadi. The last part of the scenario includes a section of Library Data, which is decent enough, but not all of the information is useful and there is some information missing, such as that on Manticore.
The scenario is not without its issues. One is with the NPC, Maxine. She is underwritten, the Game Master needing a little more detail than is given about since her involvement underlies the whole scenario. What becomes clear over the course of the scenario is that she has been genetically enhanced and if the Player Characters do confront the Manticore contingent aboard the rocket ship as the scenario lays out, they will discover that its commander is too. He is a tough opponent and it is suggested that if the Player Characters cannot deal with him, then Maxine can. Which undermines the Player Characters’ agency in what is a climatic encounter. Another issue is that Manticore is underwritten as a presence in the scenario. It lurks in the background and the Player Characters never really have a chance to encounter it and its operatives until very late in the scenario. It does not help that the motivations and background to Manticore are left unexplained. Lastly, the connection between Manticore and The Phoenix Initiative is underplayed, both terms of the background to the scenario and the fact that the Player Characters may have Imperial connections already as a result of playing through the latter scenario.
Physically, Manticore is an improvement on the earlier, The Phoenix Initiative. It is tidier and the world map is better, but it does need another proofing pass. The artwork is decent though.
Manticore is a much better and more interesting scenario than the previous The Phoenix Initiative. It is also better written and organised and so easier to run, but it does leave the Game master with a number of unanswered questions which she will probably have to answer herself. Otherwise, Manticore is a decent scenario which explores what happens when pride goes too far and someone takes advantage of it.

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part One

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 Spend any time here, and you know I am a HUGE fan of the DC Comics event "Crisis on Infinite Earths."  I loved the comic, the DC YV Universe version, and more.

We are finally getting a DC Animated version.

It looks great, and telling it from Flash's point of view makes a lot of sense.  It's on Amazone Prime right now. I might check it out this weekend.

It features Supernatural's Jensen Ackles as Batman and Alexandra Daddario as Lois Lane (sadly not as Zatanna)

I can't wait for the whole trilogy to be released.

Friday Fantasy: Cheating Death

Reviews from R'lyeh -

Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death is a scenario for Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and the sixth scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set. Scenarios for Dungeon Crawl Classics tend be darker, grimmer, and even pulpier than traditional Dungeons & Dragons scenarios, even veering close to the Swords & Sorcery subgenre. Scenarios for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set are set in and around the City of the Black Toga, Lankhmar, the home to the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, the creation of author Fritz Leiber. The city is described as an urban jungle, rife with cutpurses and corruption, guilds and graft, temples and trouble, whores and wonders, and more. Under the cover the frequent fogs and smogs, the streets of the city are home to thieves, pickpockets, burglars, cutpurses, muggers, and anyone else who would skulk in the night! Which includes the Player Characters. And it is these roles which the Player Characters get to be in Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death, small time crooks trying to make a living and a name for themselves, but without attracting the attention of either the city constabulary or worse, the Thieves’ Guild! However, it is not the city constabulary the Thieves’ Guild whose attention they attract in this scenario, but Death itself!
Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6; Cheating Death is designed for two to three Player Characters of First Level, but can be expanded to between four and six Player Characters and there is advice for increasing the difficulty of the adventure should the Judge want to run it for a group of higher Level Player Characters. It could be played through in a single session, but will probably take two. The set-up has the Player Characters either entering Lankhmar for the first time, or returning to the city, after a failed expedition out in the marshes beyond its walls. With some rooms sorted, at least temporarily, they retire to a tavern, where they can drink, carouse, and in the smoky din, pick up a rumour or two that perhaps will lead to a job or two and the chance to put some rilks in their pockets. Unfortunately, as they are looking for work, something—or someone—is looking for them. Somehow, they have attracted the attention of Death, the servant of the Lords of Necessity and unless they die, their names will unbalance his ledger. He stalks them, looking for moments when he can take their lives with a succession of accidents—trips on loose cobblestones, stairs collapse on them, gargoyles topping from roofs, crowds jostling them causing them, and more. First on the ordinary passersby around them, then on the Player Characters. They, however, will be initially unware of this, and his attention shifts from early warnings to deadly catastrophes and fatal attention, the Player Characters will need to follow up on some of the rumours they gathered earlier.
Following up on the rumours will lead the Player Characters to several locations and encounters, those around them suffering mishaps at first, and then they themselves, suffering increasingly deadly mishaps. These mishaps and catastrophes are tailored, at least in terms of damage to the three Classes in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, but they are not designed to necessarily kill the Player Characters. Although deadly, the Player Characters have the advantage of Luck to keep them alive even as Death’s influence kills those around them. Not all of the encounters give much, or indeed any, information as to what is going on. Really, only one does, so it is entirely possible that the Player Characters could go straight to the last encounter, find out what is actually happening, and cut out the other scenes. What they will learn at this location, ‘The Leather Library’, from a sage is that Death is stalking them and that if they want to avoid Death, the best they can do is hunt down a local legend, the ‘Burned Man’, said to have escaped Death’s touch for years. If he can be found, then perhaps that would settle their account with Death?
The second part of Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death details ‘The Temple of the Burned Man’, which happens to be nearby and where the Burned Man has been lurking for decades—at the very least. His decrepit manse is laced with various traps and dangers, making getting to him difficult. The various locations around the manse are quite detailed and the Judge will need to pay close attention to how they work.
There is no denying that the premise of Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death, that of the Player Characters being stalked by Death, feels appropriate to the city of Lankhmar. Yet as executed, the scenario does not work as well as it could. To begin with, the scenario is too short and it feels just too random that the Player Characters could be targeted by Death. Further, the scenario can be even shorter than it is as written. If they go straight to the one location where they are can actually learn what is happening to them, they miss out on the other, admittedly small handful, of locations and encounters in which they have the opportunity to feel the effect of Death’s influence. This potential short-circuiting highlights the fact that scenario feels as if it should not be played out in one go, but its events eked out and inserted into other ongoing scenarios. This would enable the Player Characters to feel the effects of Death’s influence more readily as part of the story and have it upset their plans, to have it loom over them, and push them to investigate the cause. It would also enable the Judge to explore more fully a possibility suggested in the scenario, but left undeveloped, which is that the Player Characters might suspect something else to be the cause of their misfortune. The suggested cause—as came up in a playtest—was witchcraft, but others could also be added to enhance the paranoia of the players and their characters.
The other problem with Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death is the Level of the Player Characters it is designed for. As the sixth scenario released for Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, it feels like a return to the beginning of the campaign set in Lankhmar. Now there is advice on increasing the difficulty of the scenario, but as a scenario for First Level Player Characters, it feels as it should be run between ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #0: No Small Crimes in Lankhmar’ from the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set and the excellent Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #1: Gang Lords of Lankhmar rather than later in a campaign. After all, which gang leader would not want to recruit a bunch of criminals who have cheated Death once into his gang? Also, this allow the legend of the Burned Man to be added earlier in the campaign and thus foreshadowed in time for when the Judge runs this scenario.
Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death is as decently presented as you would expect from Goodman Games. It is well written and the cartography is  decent.

Ultimately, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death is too short to be a good scenario. It is not unplayable as written, but it wants to be pulled apart, developed that much bit further, and eased into an ongoing campaign rather than played all in one go, making its climax and potential reward just that bit more satisfying.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Coven & Crucible: Unbound

The Other Side -

 I participated in the Kickstarter for Coven & Crucible, and the core book is still on my desk, begging me to review it. Well, in the meantime, here is the first expansion!

Coven & Crucible: Unbound

 Unbound

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13thmoongames/coven-and-crucible-unbound?ref=theotherside

From the campaign page:

Coven & Crucible is a game set in a world where magic, witches, supernatural creatures, magical animals and more exist. Magic is cast by witches: people who have studied and learned how to work it. Anyone can be a witch, but it takes knowledge and discipline, akin to martial arts or cooking or programming or any other skill.

About Unbound

  • 13 New Houses + Expanded Lore on the original 9 houses from the corebook.
  • 100+ new NPCs, magical creatures and supernatural beings.
  • 50+ of brand new magical traits.
  • Expanded information on the various planes of existence (mundane, astral, infernal, internet, etc.).
  • 6 high level scenarios to run, as well as dozens of plot hooks and encounters.

And much, much more!   


It looks great and the Core rules are fun. I just need to do more with them.

Character Creation Challenge: Rowan McGowan for Wasted Lands

The Other Side -

 Doing another magical character today. This one was featured in an early Character Creation challenge and then again for my discussion on moving away from D&D 5e and going to Pathfinder 2e.

Rowan McGown character sheets

Rowan McGowan is what I often refer to as a Witch Knight. She is a witch, but she is also a knight in the service of the "the Old Ways."  In D&D 5e this concept was a fun one to try with her taking levels in Warlock (Hexblade) and Paladin (Oath of the Ancients). It works surprisingly well. In Pathfinder 2e I made her into a witch and opted to later on add more martial training (Champion Dedication).  Both write-ups had their distinct advantages.

For Wasted Lands I am opting to use the Divine Warrior from NIGHT SHIFT and use the Heroic Touchstone to help fill in the gaps. 

Rowan McGownRowan McGown

Class: Divine Warrior
Level: 4
Species: Human
Alignment: Light 
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) A
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 10 (0) 
Intelligence: 13 (+1) 
Wits: 13 (+1) A N
Persona: 18 (+3) N

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 20
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +3/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +2 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +2 to all Wits and Persona Saves, +1 to Magic and Spells (Schloar background)

Divine Warrior Abilities
Sixth Sense, Heal Injury and Illness (4d6), Supernatural Attacks, Protection from Evil

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Spell Arcane Dart
2nd Level: Enhanced Senses
3rd Level: 
4th Level: Favored Weapon, Sword

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as a D&D/Pathfinder replacement

Again The Wasted Lands, with the additions of other O.G.R.E.S. material works as a very nice replacement for any sort of D&D like game. While all three versions of this Witch Knight character does something really great, I can get the most bang for my buck using Wasted Lands.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge

Friday Faction: Weird Medieval Guys

Reviews from R'lyeh -

As the ideal suitor, if male, you should cut your hair in the chic bowl—or pudding bowl—style, and ideally have golden hair, and wear a houppelande, a long loose gown with flowing selves. Red is a good colour for men, indicating vitality, kingliness, and power. Blue is good for the ladies as it indicates expense. Should you ever suffer from cancer of the mouth, then you may be fortunate to receive a visit from the Virgin Mary, who will bestow upon you a kiss that will you heal of it. And should you want to press your ardour—perhaps as a show of thanks for her beneficence—there will be an angel on hand to prevent you from doing so. In order to launch a crusade, there are certain requirements which need to be fulfilled first, including equal measures of hardship and oppression, a pinch of famine, all of Europe’s collective sin and religious guilt, a helpless labouring class, a new and bordering anti-Christian empire, one Pope (never two), and an impending apocalypse. Preparation time is a single decade. Cooking time is three years. Serve with the death of thousands, including kings and princes, garnish with plunder, and four Crusader kingdoms with uncertain futures. In the event of an encounter with wolves—such as when the River Seine froze over in 1338, allowing them to race across the river and attack the citizens of Paris and dig up the city’s corpses—always remember to see the wolf before it sees you because it will lose its courage if it sees you first, plus if it sees you first, you will struck dumb, be unable to cry for help and the wolf will bite you. However, all is not lost, because if you strip down to your underwear, grab a pair of rocks and bang them together, the wolf will turn tail and run away. Lastly, if you happen to have a weapon to hand, at least a dagger, do take the time to kill the wolf. The wolf will not be happy about this and will not want you to feel happy about it either. This is a trick. Do not fall for it. Fortunately, wolves have no legal protection and you can definitely kill a wolf with that handy dagger. Which is all the sort of thing you will know because you are a weird medieval guy. Or rather, none of this is weird whatsoever, because you are a medieval guy, and all of this—and more—is the subject of Weird Medieval Guys.

Weird Medieval Guys: How to live, laugh, love (and die) in dark times is a guide to life and living in the Medieval era by Olivia W. Swarthout. Drawn from a swathe of period manuscripts on numerous visits to the British Library, and originally posted on the Weird Medieval Guys Twitter account, combines images from the manuscripts and facts from the history to present a punchy, easy to read book that takes the reader from the moment of creation itself to the end of the world with the coming of the Four Horsemen and the apocalypse, and in between, the reader from his birth to his death—and in between that there is a lot that can happen. The book is profusely illustrated, so no aspect of Medieval life goes undepicted in the rich colours of the manuscripts. Having begun with the creation of everything, Weird Medieval Guys gives you life and so lets you pick a name, learn some useful slang—such as ‘Merobia’ for a woman who likes strong wine or ‘Sterilis Amator’ for that lover who has no money, choose your astrological sign and patron saint, determine where you live in the first of the book’s several short quizzes—the options being Constantinople, London, Paris, and Venice, suggests several jobs you like, and more. It is not all hard work, as there are examinations too of play and romance, but the latter all too soon feels like hard work, what with the need to make a love potion, which whilst a lot quicker than mounting a crusade, involves a dog, some rope, a hunting horn, an ivory stake, and a mandrake, does not take into account the fact that dogs—as noted in the section on play—do not like the horn being played. Then there are possible causes of marital difficulties and if it really does not work out, the possibility of a divorce, which comes with a handy flow chart to determine if you can get a divorce, the answer of course, being mostly no, that is also the counterpart to the handy flow chart to determine if you can court the lady of your affections… Of course, it all has to come to an end and the question of your death is raised before Judgement Day is raised. Hopefully with dignity before you get caught up in a civil dispute. Perhaps here the weirdest means of settling such a dispute, in combat, between a man and a woman, is for the man to be placed in a pit up to his waist where he must fight from there with a club, whilst the woman is armed with a big rock in a clock bag and allowed to roam the ground around the man. The illustrations would not look out of place in a wrestling match.

A good half of Weird Medieval Guys: How to live, laugh, love (and die) in dark times is devoted to a bestiary. Divided into several subsections—‘Beasts’, ‘Birds’, ‘Fish’, and ‘Serpents’. Each entry is catalogued and categorised, with strengths and weaknesses, and even some Medieval stats in the form of ‘Virtue’, ‘Beauty’, and ‘Danger’. The creatures range from the ordinary, such as the lion, the wolf, and the hedgehog to the fantastic, like the manticore, the mermaid, and the amphisbaena, the latter a snake with two heads. These are all presented from the Medieval point of view, of course, such as the bat being classified as a bird and cats as being extremely dangerous. There is, of course, a section devoted to the snail and plenty of images of knights versus snails. Sadly, there is no similar section on rabbits, and that perhaps is really the only omission from Weird Medieval Guys.

What really stands out in Weird Medieval Guys is the artwork, which is of course, drawn from the source material, the manuscripts. It is fantastically colourful, profusely illustrated and all annotated in a wry tone.

Weird Medieval Guys joins a growing list of works interested in the minutiae of Medieval life and the Medieval outlook and the colourful marginalia of period manuscripts. For example, How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages by Cait Stevenson, any number of enamel pins, and the more recent The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1 from Just Crunch Games, which turns those marginalia into gameable content. Of course, Weird Medieval Guys does not do that, but what it can do is influence the portrayal of the Medieval world by the Game Master, perhaps even inspire an encounter or scenario or two. Weird Medieval Guys is a wry look at the fantastically strange world of the Medieval man and woman, what they knew and what they thought, how they lived, brought to life in the artwork of the period. For anyone with a casual interest in the Medieval period, Weird Medieval Guys: How to live, laugh, love (and die) in dark times is a perfect, vividly visual introduction to its oddness and oddities.

This Old Dragon: Issue #147

The Other Side -

Dragon Magazine #147I thought I should be getting back to these "This Old Dragons" to celebrate 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons. Since this year is all about D&D and various themes, I am pulling out my Dragons to review, but when I post them will be timed to coincide with other events. I am saving my various Sci-fi issues for May and so on. This month though is pure randomness.  Reaching into the box under my desk I pull out a particularly musty smelling artifact from the summer of 1989. AD&D 2nd Edition is on the market. I am working two jobs (Pizza Hut during the day and QMHP at a Mental Health facility at night) to pay for school. "Satisfied" by Richard Marx is the Number #1 song. Tim Burton's Batman still dominates our screens. And on the shelves for July, 1989 is issue #147 of This Old Dragon.

Our cover is from none other than Clyde Caldwell, wanting to do a good sorceress for a change. I really liked this cover. I wish the copy ow reviewing still had it.

Inside we are treated to an ad for "The New" Dungeon game. Looks like the old one with newer art. I have this one (I have all of them) and it is a nice big board and one of the larger boxes for Dungeon.  This one advertises the new classes of Dwarf and Cleric. 

A couple of ads for the WEG Star Wars game. 

This issue's theme is magic, so that will be fun. 

Letters cover the issues of the day including details on the revised Druid from a couple of issues back. Nice, but all moot now that AD&D 2nd Ed is out. 

In a similar vein Forum covers some rulings on Clerics. Things are actually made clearer in 2nd Ed.

Skip Williams is up in Sage Advice with advice on various magic items like rings, potions, rods, staves and wands.

Sorcerous Secrets is our theme this month. 

Getting Familiar


Patricia Nead Elrod is first with Getting Familiar, a guide on familiars.  It is a 2nd Ed focused article (good) and covers what has long been a very neglected part of any wizard's (or witch's) life; their familiar. While the focus is AD&D 2nd ed the material on the types of familiars (Cats, Crows, Hawks, Owls, Weasels, Ferrets, and Toads) can be, and should be, used in any edition. Very solid article and a good kick-off.

An old friend of the Other Side, Vince Garcia, is up next with Variety, the Spice of Magic. Ok Vince knows his magic lore, so lets see what he has for us. This one is a 1st Ed article, not surprising given the time period. This covers substituting spell components for wizards casting spells. A great article if you are like me and track spell components. Lots of alternates are given with various chances of spell change or failure. Worth reading for ideas alone on spell components. 

Gaze Into my Crystal Ball... covers, obviously enough, crystal balls from Krys Stromsted. Again this is an AD&D 1st ed article. I'll point these out as needed for this time of the Summer of 1989. A cleaner break was made between 2nd ed and 3rd ed ten years later.  This one covers durations, distances, and how spells work through a crystal ball. 

Spelling is Out by Douglas J. Behringer details writing out spells. Again AD&D 1st Ed focused. This includes the type of paper used to how the character writes the spell. 

Richard Hunt gives us not just one, but four different Wands of Wonder in WOW Your Players. Four different wands with random tables of effects. Likely could be used with any edition with some tweaking. 

And that is it for the special feature. Hmm. Kinda expected more. 

Miniatures are featured in the Through the Looking Glass regular feature from Robert Bigalow.  Some chariots pulled by lions, some V&V heroes and some impressive dragons.

Nice ad for AD&D 2nd Edition. Still the mock-up of the Monstrous Compendium, though it should be out in stores at the same time as this issue. 

Our "centerfold" is the Magus game by Robert J. Kuntz. The rules are here but the game board and pieces are missing. Too bad, it might have been fun to try.

The Gamers Guide of small ads is after that and not in the end. Ads for dice, computerized FRPG maps, and a couple of ads for getting your character drawn.

TSR Previews reads like a collector's wish list.  AD&D 2nd Ed books, the new Dungeon, the 1990 Forgotten Realms calendar. The Shadowdale novel. Dragonlance modules. Really fun stuff.

Ken Rolston reviews a bunch of magic-themed games in Role-Playing Reviews. This includes GURPS Magic, Ars Magica (the first one!), Talislanta, and magical offerings from the Forgotten Realms and Fantasy Hero.  This long review goes into each book into detail. Generally speaking Rolston likes each of these books and what they offer.

Brenda K. Ward gives us Lord of the Keep our short story for this issue. 

The Leser clan of Hartley, Patricia and Kirk offer up this month's The Role of Computers. They cover a lot of games for various computer systems. Commodores get the most of them with Amigas, and Commodore 64k and 128k machines. I always liked the Commodore 128k, I had a girlfriend at the time who had one and it was a fun little computer. These reviews are paired up with the Clue Corner feature to give out hints on various games. 

Nice ad for the SSI AD&D PC games. 

ad for the SSI AD&D PC games.

John C. Bunnell is up with the book reviews in The Role of Books. None titles jump out at me, but most of the authors do. There is a Vonda N. McIntyre one, Starfarers, that looks interesting.  A Mercedes Lackey horror novel, Burning Water that looks like a lot of fun, and one from an author I don't know, Tom Holt, called Who's Afraid of Beowulf? that also might a fun read. 

Convention Calendar gives us some of the cons that are happening the Summer of 1989. Surprising not listed is Gen Con.

Dragonmirth wraps up our issue. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, the ones from the early 80s seemed funnier. 

So an interesting issue with a lot of great material if you are into magic and wizard types. 



Character Creation Challenge: Sinéad Moonshadow for Wasted Lands

The Other Side -

Moving out of my continuity to do something newer, but related today.  Sinéad Moonshadow is a D&D character. She began life as an AD&D 2nd Ed character from a previous Character Creation Challenge. I thought she might be some sort of witch/bard or wizard/bard mix from The Complete Wizard's Handbook.  In fact, I imagined situations where she might later run into such characters as Celene, Heather, or Raven. As the last couple of years moved on, I changed my mind about what I would do with her. Now, she is very much my eyes and voice to visit the Forgotten Realms, which I will do more of later this year. 

Sinéad's Character Sheets

And then Baldur's Gate 3 happened. Sinéad was my second full run-through (my fourth starting character or something). I really wanted to see how the Wild Magic Sorcerer worked in the game, and since I was using Sinéad, I also gave her levels of Bard. Honestly it was so great I have dropped the idea of her being a witch at all and instead going full wild Magic Sorcerer and Bard.  

Honestly, the distinction between a "wild magic Sorcerer" and "Natural witch" is largely an academic one. But I am the academic that gets to make those distinctions, and I am cool with it.

So, in my updated backstory, she is a half-elf girl growing up in the Moonshae Isles. She has bursts of magic that she can't control. Even in the magic-rich Realms, this is an oddity. When she accidentally burns down a barn during a bit of uncontrolled magic, she leaves her home.  That much I always had, but where did she go? Well, now I know. Baldur's Gate on the Sword Coast. I only know a little more than that because my Realms lore could be better. 

In many ways, Sinéad is the spiritual god-daughter to Heather, both half-elves, both bards. I might need to try out a Ranger/Bard under 5e or Baldur's Gate sometime in the future.

Sinéad MoonshadowSinéad Moonshadow

Class: Sorceress / Sage
Level: 12/8
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Light 
Background: Sorcerous

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 15 (+1) 
Persona: 17 (+2) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+6/+4
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Spell Attack: +6
Saves: +6 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer & Elf)

Sorcerers Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (4): Beguile, Detect Thoughts, Enhanced Senses, Shadow Walk

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts, Beast Speech, Prestidigitation, Sleep
Second Level: Eternal Flame, Invisibility, See Invisible, Unlock
Third Level: Concussive Blast, Dark Lightning, Dispel Magic, Remove Curse
Fourth Level: Control Temperature, Dimensional Travel, Renewal
Fifth Level: Passageway, Restore Life, Telekinesis
Sixth Level: Dispel Evil, Instant Death

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Sage Abilities
Languages (18), Lore, Suggestion, Mesmerize Others, Read Languages, Renegade skills at level 4

Sage Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts (yes, twice), Chill Ray, Gout of Flame
Second Level: Conjure Flame, Invoke Fear, Magic Locks
Third: Fly

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: 
2nd Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Gear
Longbow, shortsword, leather armor, Dog ("Scratch")

Wasted Lands as D&D 5th Ed / Baldur's Gate 3

Again I am impressed with the levels of customization here. I think this Sinéad fares well against her 5e and BG3 counterparts. I did not pick out any Heroic Touchstones for her, but I would do this to cover any Sorceress or Bard powers she is missing like her meta-magic and Bardic inspiration, though I might be able to get this with Beguile.

This is a really good version of her and really one I could see playing. I am going to obviously spend a lot more time with this character and even try her out in various other versions of D&D. But this one right now is my favorite.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge

Jennell Jaquays (1956 – 2024)

The Other Side -

 I was saddened to hear of the passing of RPG industry titan Jennell Jaquays this morning. I had never met with her face to face, though we had spoken together many times online. She was a compassionate, understanding, and wonderfully funny soul.

Jennell Jaquays

You can't go through the early days of our hobby and not see her name on something. Whether it was early Judges Guild material, articles in Dragon magazine, or her works, both as a writer and artist, for Dungeons & Dragons, Traveller, The Fantasy Trip, and Runequest.  Her work in the pages of the Judges Guild Journal and the Dungeoneer are still some of my favorites from the dawn age of RPGs.

Her continued work in video games, like Quake, kept her close to RPGs. 

I knew she had been sick since October, and I knew it was not a minor thing, but today we got word from her wife that she had passed.

While her work on Central Casting is justifiably lauded, it was her Dark Tower adventure in which she gained her highest accolades. Though I admit, I am also rather partial to her adventure "Talons of Night."

Her wife, Rebecca "Burger Becky" Heineman, has a GoFundMe started. Initially, it was to cover medical expenses, which sadly she still has.

I know we are getting to a point where the pioneers of our hobby are getting older. I have even lost close friends in the last year. But that does not make it any easier.  Sad thing is I had an idea from earlier in the Fall I wanted to talk to her about. She was the sort to always give very helpful and honest advice. But I saw she was ill, so I figured I would wait. 

Well. I guess I can't now. 

My thoughts are with her family.

Character Creation Challenge: Heather McHael for Wasted Lands

The Other Side -

 Going to explore some more magic-inclined characters for a bit to see how they fare. Next is an interesting one, Heather McHael, a half-elf Ranger Bard. She was also the last AD&D 1st Edition character I made before the release of AD&D 2nd Edition. I wanted a bard character for a while but when I finally rolled up Heather, she had the stats needed to do it. 

I thought Heather would be something akin to an Irish girl living in Scotland. When I later redid her for Ghosts of Albion, I did precisely that. She was very religious (I was modeling her beliefs on Catholicism) so this would have made her a somewhat "alien" Catholic girl living in Presbyterian Scotland. In AD&D she was the youngest half-elf daughter to a human lord and elvish mother. The lord already had four human sons who were all older than she was. None were happy with their father's new wife.

Heather's Character Sheets

Personality-wise, I wanted to explore a character who was an alien in her own world and was searching for her "true people." Along the way, she joined up with some of my other characters at the time. I decided then that she and Larina were best friends despite (or really because of) their differences.

Interestingly enough, Heather was the cause of death of my first Larina. Heather had become a vampire (long story) and Larina attempted to save her. The only way do this though was for Larina to bind them both magically to the ground and wait for sunrise. This was during my D&D sabbatical between AD&D 2nd Ed and 3rd Ed and I was killing off old characters left and right. While Larina would later be reincarnated, I never got around to doing this for Heather. I tried her out in both 3e and 4e, but nothing I ever cared for. I gave her a run in Ghosts of Albion and rather liked that one. Let's see what Wasted Lands can do for me.

Heather is primarily a Ranger with some Bard levels to boot. Because this is an AD&D 1st Ed Bard she had some levels of thief as well. She dabbled in magic but still had a good amount. To that end the Sage is a good fit for her. I am going to just start with 4 levels of Sage, but in truth 8 or more might be better.

Heather McHaelHeather McHael

Class: Archer / Sage
Level: 9/4
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Light 
Background: Barbarian

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 15 (+1) 
Persona: 17 (+2) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +4 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base), +3
Saves: +7 to Agility Saves, +2 to Spells (Elf), +1 to Persona

Archer Abilities
Improved Defense, Master Archer, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attack, Improved Range Damage, Eagle Eye, Incapictating Shot, Multi Attack x3, Careful Aim, Trick Shot

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Sage Abilities
Languages, Lore, Suggestion, Mesmerize Others, Renegade skills at level 2

Sage Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts, Glamour
Second Level: Invisibility

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: ESP
2nd Level: 
3rd Level: 
4th Level: 
5th Level: 
6th Level:  
7th Level: 
8th Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Hunter

Gear
Longbow, shortsword, leather armor, 

Wasted Lands as AD&D 1st Ed

So. I like this version, the best one out of the 3e and 4e ones, to be sure. Maybe even more than her Ghosts of Albion version. Her magic ability is a lot less here. I could tweak the character, say, reduce Archer a bit and more Sage. In any case more Sage is good.  Especially if I think of Sage = Bard.

I thought about adding in some more magic using the Heroic Touchstones, but I wanted to go light on those this time.  I will say this: the customization options given to me by Wasted Lands and NIGHT SHIFT continue to impress me. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge

Character Creation Challenge: Raven Ebonflame for Wasted Lands

The Other Side -

While I am done with the various versions of Johan Werper, I am still working on his family. Today, the girl that Johan Werper III fell in love with and their adventures in "Ravenloft."

Bit of a background first. The period between 1986 and 1989 or so was a transition period for me and for my games. I was leaving High School and headed to University so I wanted to wrap up a lot of different loose ends in my game world. This was one of the reasons why I wanted to merge my world with my DM's world in what would become our Proto-Mystoerth. This was also a time I wanted to do a new world, one that was more horror-focused. Eventually, I would find this with the AD&D Ravenloft campaign setting, but for the time before that we were just calling it "ShadowEarth."  This is where Johan III would end up.

Part of the problem was the girl he was in love with. A girl known as Raven.

Raven Character Sheets

Now I will be truthful here, my Raven (full name Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame) began as little more than a copy of the infamous Richard Kirk's "Raven Swordmistress of Chaos," a book I had seen but had never read (yet). So my mind was already primed for this character idea.

Back in 1986, my DM Michael Grenda wrote up a new class he was calling "The Riddle Master," which was essentially a Psychic-powered class that looked like a combination of a fighter and wizard. They were more than that, but that is the overall gist. It was an experiment in class creation. This was the same time I was making my first witch class. While I had made one Riddlemaster already, I wanted another one. Someone that fought undead (sorta my thing then) and in particular, vampires (very much my thing then). Combine all of these together, and 1987 Raven Ebonflame was born.  She was the daughter of my assassin character and, what I said then, an angel. Though he did not know the woman he was with was an angel. Raven then was a supernaturally strong girl with blond hair, who's task was to destroy vampires.

Look. I am not going to sit here and tell you I invented the idea of the Vampire Slayer. 

I am going to sit here and tell you the idea was not as original as some Vampire Slayer creators might want you to believe. Hey, maybe if my father and grandfather had been big-name Hollywood writers, I could make this claim. Plus, I also know at least two other creatives who did similar things and, in one case, had published their work before the Buffy movie and series.

So Raven was a slayer hmm hunter of vampires. I used the Riddle Master class for her as a test bed for what would later become the Shadow Master class. NOTE: Don't expect to see the Riddle Master, Shadow Master, or Beast Master classes anytime soon. They were grossly overpowered even if the XP per Level were excessive. 

Fast forward to the early 2000s. I would revisit my Raven using the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. She would even be a part of my Buffy "Season" The Dragon and the Phoenix

I did a version of the Richard Kirk Raven (her "Godmother") for Wasted Lands last year, I figure I should do my Raven now.  There is no Riddle Master analog in the Wasted Lands, so what is she? I thought maybe I could build her out XP for abilities like I did her namesake. It would be fitting given how the Riddle Master class came to be. But the more I thought about it the more I kept coming back to the same conclusion.

Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame is a Chosen One from NIGHT SHIFT.

Morgan "Raven" EbonflameMorgan "Raven" Ebonflame

Class: Chosen One (NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 8
Species: Human*
Alignment: Light 
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) A
Agility: 18 (+3) N
Toughness: 18 (+3) N
Intelligence: 16 (+2) 
Wits: 16 (+2) 
Persona: 18 (+3) 

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +5 (base), +2 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base), +3
Saves: +3 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Chosen One Abilities
Brutal Warrior, Melle Combat, Stunning Blow, Killing Blow, Supernatural Attack, Difficult to Surprise, Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Survivor Skills (Level 2), Mental Resistance, Regeneration

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Sense Evil
2nd Level: Favored Weapon: Sword
3rd Level: 
4th Level: Smite
5th Level: 
6th Level:  Great Smite
7th Level: 
8th Level: Destroy Undead
9th Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, leather armor, vampire hunting kit

Wasted Lands as D&D and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Ok. THIS is Raven. At least this is the Raven I imagined she was when I made the character so long ago. Wasted Lands + NIGHT SHIFT gives my the perfect combination of Fantasy plus Horror that I really enjoy in my games.  Here stats are high because her mother was a freaking angel after all. 

Of course, now I am a little sad I don't get to share this one with Grenda. He would have loved it. In fact I can hear him now saying "Oh shit! That IS her!"

I am going to have to go through my various folders of characters and see who else I have in this Dark Fantasy Horror theme and see if they are as equally improved by this conversion. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge


Miskatonic Monday #252: The Bright Blue Demon

Reviews from R'lyeh -

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 InvictusThe PastoresPrimal StateRipples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in EgyptReturn of the RipperRise of the DeadRise 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 Bright Blue DemonPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Bryce Kelly

Setting: Modern Day NevadaProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Thirteen page, 3.45 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “In this darkness I see colors…” – Gamefreak
Plot Hook: Radiation tourism turns to ash... Plot Support: Staging advice, four NPCs, one handout, two maps, and five Mythos creatures.Production Values: Plain
Pros# One to two Investigator one-shot# Violent horror in the Nevada mountains# Pleasing sense of isolation and weird environment # Potential ghost hunt gone wrong scenario# Eremophobia# Phasmophobia# Radiophobia
Cons# Needs an edit# NPCs feel underwritten# No pre-generated Investigator(s)
Conclusion# Violet horror in the Nevada mountains# Unsettling sense of isolation and weird environment undermined by underwritten NPCs.

Miskatonic Monday #251: Banker’s Folly

Reviews from R'lyeh -

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 InvictusThe PastoresPrimal StateRipples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in EgyptReturn of the RipperRise of the DeadRise 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: Banker’s FollyPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Nader Rabie

Setting: Jazz Age New EnglandProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-eight page, 19.29 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The terminally ill can be desperate, but so can the conmen.Plot Hook: A terminally ill man goes missing. Is he dead? Is he searching for a miracle cure?Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, five NPCs, four handouts, two floorplans, and three Occult or Mythos tomes.Production Values: Decent
Pros# Detailed, location-based investigation# Simple, straightforward plot# Easy to adapt to other time periods# Interesting mix of pre-generated Investigators# Written as a one-shot, but can be adapted to a campaign# Potential addition to Lovecraft Country # Necrophobia# Hemoophobia# Tomophobia# Anthropophagusphobia
Cons# No map of Clifton# Background plot strands left undeveloped# Ends in a physical confrontation# Ignores Prohibition
Conclusion# Pleasingly detailed straightforward investigation# Could be developed into a longer scenario if the unworked background plot strands are expanded

Edge of the Abyss

Reviews from R'lyeh -

Heart of Darkness brings to close the trilogy of scenarios for Alien: The Roleplaying Game begun with Chariot of the Gods—also available in the Alien: The Roleplaying Game Starter Set, and continued with Destroyer of Worlds. Like the other two, Heart of Darkness shares the same mode of play, but differs in terms of its campaign model. Thus, it is written for the roleplaying game’s Cinematic mode, and so is designed to emulate the drama of a film set within the Alien universe, emphasising high stakes situations, faster, more brutal play, and deadly encounters. However, where the campaign model for Chariot of the Gods is that of Space Truckers—star ship crews hauling goods and resources, as in Alien, and the campaign model for Destroyer of Worlds is that of Colonial Marines, essentially military missions like Aliens, the campaign model for Heart of Darkness is that of Scientists. This though, has no direct parallel with just the one film in the Alien franchise, but parallels in tone and setting can be made with both Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Further, as with the other scenarios, Heart of Darkness can be run as a standalone adventure, as what connects the three is their overall backstory, that of the evolution and development of the Xenomorph and in particular, the 26 Draconis Strain, and the consequences of mankind’s encounters with it and its corporations’ willingness to investigate it and desire to weaponise it in pursuit of profit. Those threads come to a head in Heart of Darkness.
Heart of Darkness—published by Free League Publishing—begins with the arrival an international scientific team at Erebos, a plasma trawling rig and platform stationed in in the Draconis 26 system in orbit above Ablassen Black Hole. Here the few science staff of the appropriately named station has discovered what could be a Xeno-extremophile, a new form of proto-plasmic organism found living in the accretion disc of the singularity. As the members of the scientific team, the Player Characters are to analyse and catalogue the new life form and return it for study, with promises of great rewards and recognition and payment upon completion of the assignment—a book deal, a corporate department head position, promise of tenure, and more. Erebos is no science station though, but a penal workstation whose prisoners have had their sentences purchased by Weyland-Yutani and been made to work operating the energy collection systems which siphon off the power of the black’s whirling, gyrating discordance of plasma and store it in giant batteries for shipment elsewhere. The conditions are hellish, not least because working so close to a black hole not only triggers, but accelerates Neurological Distortion Disorder—or NDD—the condition caused by exposure to Faster Than Light travel when not in cryosleep. This can cause paranoia and loss of memory, and underlies some of the challenges that the Player Characters will discover aboard the Erebos and the challenges that they will have to overcome in dealing with the situation aboard the station. If exposure to and analysis of the Draconis 26 Strain and its effects aboard the station underlie the physical horror of Heart of Darkness, then the effects of NDD exacerbate both its mental horror and the likely tensions between the Player Characters, who of course, have their own Agendas and the Player Characters and the NPCs who have no reason to trust each other.

However, when the Player Characters do arrive at Erebos, aboard the USCSS Cetorhina, a commercial plasma harvester/tanker, it is clear that there is something wrong. The station has been hit by meteors and is severely damaged, as evidenced by much it being dark. Worse is to come as when the ship attempts to dock, sudden gravitational shear from the black hole forces it to crash into the station. It is going to need repairs if it is going to leave the system, but before that, the Player Characters must find out what is going on aboard the heavily damaged station. Erebos is in complete disarray. There are sections which are open to space, others infested with some kind of biomechanical encrustation, and the survivors have divided into factions led by the station commander and one of the prisoners. Plus strange creatures lurk and stalk the corridors and rooms of the station, especially those encrusted by the biomechanical infestation. Not least of which is Adrien, the station’s emotional support tuxedo cat, who can even become a replacement Player Character should one of them die during the events of the scenario.

The emphasis in Heart of Darkness is on interaction and exploration. The Player Characters will need to explore much of Erebos in order to discover what has happened to it as well as find what the Xeno-extremophile file and whether it represents a threat or not. They will need to interest with the factions aboard the station too, both of which have their agendas and will want to recruit the Player Characters to their cause—or at least persuade them not to ally with the other faction. In addition there is another faction aboard the Erebos, which has its own very radical agenda and which very much wants the help of the Player Characters. There are greater consequences for helping—and indeed, not helping—this faction, than for getting involved in the other two factions and what they want. Indeed, their agendas are almost parochial by nature.

Then there is the interaction between the Player Characters. The seven include a Synthetic Psychologist who understands but cannot feel emotions, a radiobiologist with a calming manner, a very methodical biochemist, a close protection operative, a space sciences specialist on long term cultural exchange from the Union of Progressive Peoples, a biotechnologist with a prison tattoo, and a the captain of the USCSS Cetorhina looking for a missing relative. Each has their own character sheet and a set of agenda cards which come into play as they arrive at the station and progress through the three acts of the scenario. As they are revealed to their respective characters and their players, they will begin to pull both apart as they attempt to fulfill competing objectives.

There is an undoubted fantastical scale to Heart of Darkness, its action and rivalries literally taking place under a baleful eye of destruction, but this is not an easy scenario to run. There is a lot going on, both in terms of the Player Characters’ agendas, but also the agendas of the other factions. The Player Characters have a lot of information to discover—and whilst it really is great that as scientists, the Player Characters will be making discoveries—a lot of that information could have been better presented, not just for the players, but also for the Game Mother to help her impart that information. A lot of the information—for example, the situation aboard the Erebos and its staff and penal-workers, some of the initially secret records which can be discovered later—could all have been presented as easy handouts to help the players and their characters more clearly understand the situation and react to it. Ideally, the Game Mother is going to have prepare these and similar handouts for her players, but they are not going to be as good as those included in the boxed set. Similarly, handouts with images of the NPCs, the aliens that the Player Characters will encounter, and even what they see when aboard the Erebos and elsewhere, all would have been useful. In fact, much of this is not illustrated in the book and exacerbates the difficulty of the Game Mother’s task in relaying what their characters can see to their players.

One aside to note is the inclusion of Adrien of the station’s cat. It adds a lightness of touch, even a comedic one, but his presence has the potential to become a distraction. Ultimately, the play of Heart of Darkness could become more about the damned cat and his survival rather than the resolution of the scenario.

Physically, Heart of Darkness comes in a well presented box. Inside is the scenario book, a large, thirty-four by twenty-two inches double-sided poster map of the Erebos plasma trawling space station, seven pre-generated Player Characters and their sheets, thirty-eight cards, deckplans of the USCSS Cetorhin and more, and four handouts. The thirty-eight cards consist of thirteen Story Cards, twenty-one Personal Agenda Cards, and four Equipment Cards. The Story cards are similar to the Personal Agenda cards, but reveal secret aspects of their particular Player Characters which again will affect their motivations and also drive the scenario’s plot further forward. The scenario book itself is organised into a set-up and explanation of the background, a description of 26 Draconis system, the various NPCs, and the Erebos station, the three acts of the scenario, and descriptions of the aliens infesting the station and pursuing their own objectives. Notably absent is the Xenomorph of Alien fame, instead the Player Characters in Heart of Darkness will be confronted with the squid-baby, the giant trilobite, and the deacon from Prometheus and an interesting evolution of the abominations from Chariot of the Gods, the first scenario in the trilogy. Of course, they are all dangerous, but with a great deal of care many of them can be skirted around. The second and third appendices of the book detail the new weapons, items of equipment, and spaceships which appear in the scenario.

Heart of Darkness is another fantastical scenario for Alien: The Roleplaying Game. Like the other scenarios in the trilogy—especially Destroyer of Worlds—it has a lot of moving parts, but fortunately it does not overwhelm the Game Mother with too many Xenomorphs. If the tone and scale of Destroyer of Worlds was an action horror film, Heart of Darkness is existential in nature, a story of scientific hubris and horror, played out against a fantastic background that literally looms over the Player Characters and threatens to send them mad. Although it requires more preparation than it really should, Heart of Darkness brings Free League Publishing’s trilogy of scenarios for Alien: The Roleplaying Game to a fantastically frightening conclusion.

The Other OSR: Demon Dog

Reviews from R'lyeh -

You are dead. It was not a good death. It was not a good life, either. You sinned. You were condemned again and again for your sins, but those that condemned you were no better, just richer and better protected by their peers. You went to your grave a sinner. You went to Hell a sinner. Then you woke up. You are dead, but can die again. You have made a deal with a Demon Baron. You have been pulled from the charnel pit of corpses and souls and chosen by him. Do his bidding and you can walk the world again. He will even reward you with demonic gifts that will aid you in your work even as those gifts mark you out as some not quite human, not quite holy… Here then is your chance to live and breathe again, if only at the back and call of one of Hell’s Demon Barons. Then again, it is a chance to wreak your revenge upon the pious hypocrites, the sinners who cast that first stone, the rich and the corrupt… If that means you get redemption, then great. If not, and all it means is revenge, then get stuck in. This is your chance for payback from beyond the grave, to be the monster they always said you were. If their souls go to feed your Demon Baron master and not yours, then all the better. You are his Demon Dog now…

Demon Dog is a bloody horror game from Nightfall Games, best known for S.L.A. Industries, the roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a tribute to and designed to be compatible with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. This compatibility embraces both mechanics, so that the Demon Dog is player-facing and he makes all of the rolls in play rather than the Game Master, and the tone, one of grim, pre-apocalyptic times. The joint compatibility also means that whilst Demon Dog can easily be run as a standalone roleplaying game, it can also be smashed together with Mörk Borg. Thus, when a Player Character dies (or ideally when all of the Player Characters have died) in Mörk Borg, they could return as Demon Dogs. Alternatively, the Demon Dog could be a continuing threat in Mörk Borg, perhaps even a continuing threat which turns out to be the Player Characters’ future as well as a threat in the here and now!

A Demon Dog first has a life—how he lived, and a death—how he died. These can be as detailed or as brief as the player decides, and the Demon Dog may not even recall much of his life. He has a Sin, a Demon Baron to who he owes his new existence and a Demon Baron who hates both him and his master. He receives a Gift from his Demon Baron, a Mark that indicates his service to the Demon Baron, scavenges some starting equipment, and lastly has values for Agility, Strength, Toughness, and Prescence, plus a lot of Hit Points (or at least more than you usually get in Mörk Borg.

Bronson
Sin: Graveyard Scum (Grave Robber)
Demon Baron (Master): Rellvox
Demon Baron (Enemy): Fechanalt
Demonic Rite: Sacrifice at Rellvox’s at alter, kill and place a severed head on the alter for +2 damage to all rolls.
Demon Mark: Death Maw (teeth like rusty nails, 1d6 damage)
Demon Baron’s Boon: Shout, one per day. Scare someone (Tier One)
Equipment: Shoulder bag, hangman’s noose
Weapon: Ma Wee Hammer! (Maul, 1d12 damage)
Armour: Leather (Tier 1, -1d2 damage)

Agility 08 (-1) Strength 16 (+2) Toughness 15 (+2) Prescence 15 (+2)
Hit Points: 26

Mechanically, Demon Dog is simple. A player rolls a twenty-sided die, modifies the result by one of his Demon Dog’s abilities, and attempts to beat a Difficulty Rating of twelve. The Difficulty Rating may go up or down depending on the situation, but whatever the situation, the player always rolls, even in combat or as Mörk Borg terms it, violence. So, a player will roll for his character to hit in melee using his Strength and his Agility to avoid being hit. Armour is represented by a die value, from -d2 for light armour to -d6 for heavy armour, representing the amount of damage it stops. Medium and heavy armour each add a modifier to any Agility action by the character, including defending himself. Notably though, whilst a Demon Dog can and probably will die, he can be brought back to life, though at some cost in terms of abilities. These though are not permanently lost and a Demon Dog can work to restore them. However, do this too many times and especially if the Demon Dog has superior abilities, he is returned to life with the mark of an idiot tattooed in a prominent place! Where a traditional roleplaying game might have rest or spells as a means to recover lost Hit Points, in Demon Dog, the Player Characters drink ale—a lot of ale.

Demon Dog describes in detail the seven Demon Barons. This includes their purview and their desire plus a table of ‘Busy Work’, essentially tasks that each Demon Lord wants fulfilled. This actually gives plenty of objectives for the Demon Dogs to complete, since not all of the Demon Dogs are going to share the same Baron Demon as their respective masters. This can also cause some tension in play too, since a Demon Dog can be in the service of one Demon Baron whilst another Demon Dog is in the service of a Demon Baron who hates the first Demon Dog. The Demon Dogs have an Overseer who works as their link between the mortal realm and the demonic realm. He assigns tasks and in return for their completion and other activities—such as successfully raiding abbeys for their beer and killing monks, killing rogue or escaped demons, and even rivel bands of Demon Dogs, he will reward you. This can be money, because after all, a Demon Dog still has to eat and drink and equip himself with items other than ones he has scavenged, and it can also be a Demon Baron’s favour, a one-use ability. Add into all of this, the fact that the Demon Barons feud, fight, and squabble, and each has their own Overseers, and the Demon Dogs will be dealing with the fallout from Demon Baron politics as much as fulfilling tasks, dealing with mobs, and taking down witch hunters, exorcists, demonologists, bishops, and others.

A bestiary of demons and other horrible creatures, from Blighted Hounds and Parasitic Boils to Gobshites and Grave Tappers, and even a Sodding Great Dragon(!) are all detail in ‘’Orrible Sods’. ‘Surly Chaps’ describes mortal threats such as Kings Guard, Unbroken Zealots, Blessed Torturers, Tax Collectors, Filth Peddlers, and more, all described in some detail and with a sense of humour. ‘Them That Rules’ provides a broad overview of both those in power and with influence—including the Crown, the Church, the State, and so on. The setting is medieval, but very grim and very dark, and with a streak of black, sometimes puerile humour. This is confirmed with the actual setting for Demon Dog, a region known as Baneshire, one of the many battlegrounds for the Demon Barons. As well as providing thumbnail descriptions of the various cities, town, and hamlets, the poorest wretches of the setting, the ‘Filthy Bloody Beggar are set up as the most useful, as sources of information and rumour. All of which is rounded out with some extra tables, including one of possible missions for the Demon Dogs, but given by mere mortals rather than the Demon Barons. So essentially, the Demon Dogs can undertake jobs off the books and find further use for mere mortals rather than just killing them.

Physically, Demon Dog is more Splatterpunk than the Artpunk of Mörk Borg. In many ways, this makes it more accessible and easier to read, but in some cases, there is text whose heavy, Gothic fount precludes easy understanding. The artwork though is superb, full of hairy, scary monsters and demons, exactly as you would expect from Nightfall Games. The writing style is sparse—which is not without its consequences—and there is a lairy, schoolboy streak of humour that runs through it.

If there is an issue with Demon Dog, it is that it is not obvious what the Player Characters are doing. Nowhere does Demon Dog clearly explain what is going on and how to run it, either in terms of a scenario or a campaign. The lack of a scenario does not help in that regard, and in fact, the Game Master is very much left on her own to determine this. There is much that can be inferred though, but one aspect which is not really explored is how the setting reacts to the presence and activities of the Demon Dogs. Some means of tracking this which could trigger events could have helped and helped the setting become more dynamic. The lack of one, the lack of advice, and the lack of a scenario means that Demon Dog is underdeveloped in places and definitely not a roleplaying game for the inexperienced Game Master.

Demon Dog is a bleary, sweary punch-up of a game. The Demon Dogs of the title are not just the bastards of Mörk Borg, they are the bastards of Mörk Borg on steroids, bruisers and arseholes out to batter and bash the bruisers and arseholes they hated in life. Although the Game Master will need to develop the setting and the set-up a bit more, Demon Dog is ready to serve up a game or two of snarky, vulgar bastards who want to put the boot in from beyond the grave and make sure those who deserve it, get some.

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