RPGs

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] The Travellers’ Digest #6

Reviews from R'lyeh - Mon, 05/26/2025 - 09:00

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed how another Dungeon Master and her group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

The publication of The Travellers’ Digest #1 in December, 1985 marked the entry of Digest Group Publications into the hobby and from this small, but ambitious beginnings would stem a complete campaign and numerous highly-regarded supplements for Game Designers Workshop’s Traveller and MegaTraveller, as well as a magazine that all together would run for twenty-one issues between 1985 and 1990. The conceit was that The Travellers’ Digest was a magazine within the setting of the Third Imperium, its offices based on Deneb in the Deneb Sector, and that it awarded the Travellers’ Digest Touring Award. This award would be won by one of the Player Characters and thus the stage is set for ‘The Grand Tour’, the long-running campaign in the pages of The Travellers’ Digest. In classic fashion, as with Europe of the eighteenth century, this would take the Player Characters on a tour of the major capitals of known space. These include Vland, Capitol, Terra, the Aslan Hierate, and even across the Great Rift. The meat of this first issue, as well as subsequent issues, would be dedicated to an adventure, each a stop-off on the ‘The Grand Tour’, along with support for it. The date for the first issue of The Travellers’ Digest and thus when the campaign begins is 152-1101, the 152nd day of the 1101st year of the Imperium.

To best run ‘The Grand Tour’, the Referee will need access to The Atlas of the Imperium, Supplement 8: Library Data (A-M), Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z), Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats (or alternatively, Supplement 5: Azhanti High Lightning), as well as the core rules. In addition, other supplements would be required depending on the adventure. Of course, that was in 1985, and much, if not all, of the rules or background necessary have been updated since. The campaign is also specifically written for use with four pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of Akidda Laagiir, the journalist who won the Travellers’ Digest Touring Award; Dur Telemon, a scout and his nephew; Doctor Theodor Krenstein, a gifted-scientist and roboticist; and Doctor Krenstein’s valet, ‘Aybee’, or rather, ‘AB-101’. The fact is, AB-101 is a pseudo-biological robot, both protégé and prototype. Consequently, the mix of Player Characters are surprisingly non-traditional and not all of them are easily created used the means offered in Traveller or MegaTraveller. This is addressed within various issues of the fanzine.
The Travellers’ Digest #6 was published in 1986 with the success of the Origins Convention, which took place from July 3rd to 6th in Los Angeles, very much still on the minds of the editors. The event cemented the relationship between Digest Group Publications and Game Designers Workshop and laid the groundwork for a number of forthcoming products, including 101 Robots. The editorial also gave an overview of future issues of the fanzine and where they would take the heroes of ‘The Grand Tour’.

The sixth part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #6 is ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’, written by Nancy and Robert Parker. The starting date for the adventure is 212-1102, or the two-hundredth-and-twelfth day of the year 1102 and surprisingly, the adventure does not need anything other than the standard books required by the campaign. The adventure itself is set on the world of Kaiid in the Shuna Subsector of the Lishun Sector. It is hot, wet world, described as a paradise, and is the seat of Count LeMorc, who permits parts of the world to be used as a hunting reserve. The primary target for the hunters is the Minlad, a bipedal creature that is easy to hunt and valued for its fur. However, its numbers are falling, a bone of contention between hunters who want to continue hunting it unabated, the hunters who want to limit the numbers that can be hunted, and environmentalists who want it stopped all together. Add into that is the fact that there are ongoing rumours and supposed sightings of giants out in the jungle.
The aim of the scenario is for Player Characters is to discover and prove to others that the Minlad are not just some simple species to be hunted, but a sentient species. Of course, hunting a sentient species is illegal in the Third Imperium—if it can be proved! This includes not only the hunters, but also an on-world Scout team already conducting a survey and Count LeMorc. The Minlad are a primitive species, but they are capable of communication and part of the adventure involves interacting with the Minlad and learning to understand their speech. This is a fascinating scenario that really will challenge the Player Characters as they try to save and understand the Minlad without the hunters reacting badly to the loss of income and potentially, to the realisation as to what they have done.
The world of Kaiid is described in some detail. This includes silhouettes and descriptions other fauna found on the planet, a map of the single large settlement near the Starport, and full information about the Minlad and their language. The adventure also includes a list of ‘Rumours, News, and Other Activities’ which can be used to drive the scenario and as well as a specialised crowd-swaying task for use with the Universal Task Profile.
This is a challenging scenario to roleplay because the Player Characters will need to a do a lot of persuasion and learn another language. It is also challenging to run, and that is due to its organisation. The scenario is presented as a series of ‘Nuggets’, a format which would be developed in later issues and in scenarios for Mega-Traveller. This compartmentalises the scenario’s information and/or scenes into separate sections to make it both non-linear and easier to run, but it is not as effective as it should be. Ultimately, what it is missing is a good reason for the Player Characters to want to visit Kaiid and a better overview of the nuggets. Otherwise, a genuinely fresh and interesting scenario.
The ’Playing the Characters’ series continues its deeper look at and guide to roleplaying the four pre-generated Player Characters for ‘The Grand Tour’. This time, it should be no surprise given the first contact nature of ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’, it is the turn of the ex-scout, Dur Telemon. With these, it is almost worth holding starting a playthrough of ‘The Grand Tour’ so that every player has one for their character. The scout/scout service strand to the issue continues with Nancy Parker’s ‘Persons and Unpersons’, which looks at what signifies Intelligence and how the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service defines it. The article first looks at the primary indicators—language and tool use—and then how the scout service reacts to it. This is an interesting read that nicely supports the adventure in the issue.
The Travellers’ Digest #6 details the Shuna Subsector, Subsector I of the Lishun Sector and part of the Domain of Antares and develops the Lishun Sector with ‘Library Data of the Lishun Sector’. All decent background, whilst Joe Fugate continues the fanzine’s examination and development of the UTP or Universal Task Profile in ‘The Gaming Digest: Tasks’ with a look at uncertain tasks. At the time, this would have been an interesting herald of what was to come, foreshadowing the upcoming adoption of the UTP for MegaTraveller. Today, it is less interesting unless the reader has a specific interest in the mechanical and rules development of Traveller. Lastly, the Traveller Tech Brief in this issue is ‘Grav Belts’. This fully details and describes the appearance, function, and operation of the grav belt. It includes a section on the use of grav belts in military operations which will certainly have application in some Game Masters’ campaigns.
Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #6 is, as with all of the issues so far, very obviously created using early layout software. The artwork is not great, but it does its job and it is far from dreadful.

—oOo—The Travellers’ Digest #6 was the first issue of the fanzine to be reviewed. This was by Herb Petro in The Imperium Staple Issue #8 (October, 1986). Of the Feature Adventure in the issue, he wrote, “The feature adventure, The Most Valuable Prey, uncovers the truth about the mysterious “Giants” on the world of Kalid in the Lishun sector. I don’t want to give away anything to those who might be potential players, but it is very good. In my opinion better that the feature adventure in issue #5.” He praised several of the other articles in the issue, of which he said overall, “TRAVELERS’ Digest has been growing. This issue is better than the last and the next promises to be even better.”—oOo—

Where The Traveller’s Digest #6 is at its weakest is making the connection in ‘The Grand Tour’ with the events of the previous issue and making clear why the Player Characters are on a minor hunting world. However, once they are, ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’ is a very good scenario once the Game Master has it set up and worked her way around its Nuggets. The rest of the issue is good, but it is the scenario that really stands out for its depth and detail, as well as the demands it is going to place on the players (and their characters).

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] The Valley Out of Time: Rotten at the Core

Reviews from R'lyeh - Mon, 05/26/2025 - 03:00

On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed how another Dungeon Master and her group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game from Goodman Games. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is The Valley Out of Time.
The Valley Out of Time is a six-part series published by Skeeter Green Productions. It is written for use with both the Dungeon Crawl Classics RolePlaying Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, ‘The Valley Out of Time’ is a ‘Lost Worlds’ style setting a la X1 The Isle of Dread, and films such as The Land that Time Forgot, The Lost World, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, One Million years, B.C., and others, plus the artwork of Frank Frazetta. Combining dinosaurs, Neanderthals, and a closed environment, it is intended to be dropped into a campaign with relative ease and would work in both a fantasy campaign or a post-apocalyptic campaign. It could even work as a bridge between the two, with two different possible entries into ‘The Valley Out of Time’, one from a fantasy campaign and one from a post-apocalyptic campaign.

The Valley Out of Time: Rotten at the Core is the fifth issue in the series and like the fourth issue, The Valley Out of Time: Tribes and Factions, before it, it does something more than just give the Judge one more dinosaur or megafauna or one more fight with one more dinosaur or megafauna. For the Judge that wants fights and monsters, the first three issues of The Valley Out of Time were perfect, but for the Judge wanting more, they were a disappointment. What the series promises is set out on the back cover: “The Valley Out of Time is a series of ’zine-sized adventures from SGP. This valley can be placed in any ongoing campaign, and is set in the “Neanderthal Period” of development. Huge monsters – both dinosaurs and otherwise – and devolved humanoids plague the area, and only the hardiest of adventurers will prevail!” The problem is that the series failed to deliver on anything more than just dinosaurs and at best, very minor encounters, all of which emphasised combat rather than interaction or exploration. Certainly, until The Valley Out of Time: Tribes and Factions, the series failed to provide what might be called an adventure as promised on the back cover. In addition, it also failed to provide anything in the way of an overview of the Lost Valley and its history and it also failed to address anything in the way of Player Character motivation as to what did once they were in the Lost Valley.
In fact, The Valley Out of Time did not so much fail to address Player Character motivations as actually refuse to address them. So, it is actually odd to see the author write, “In the Valley Out of Time series, much of the background motivations have been left out, specifically to allow freedom and flexibility of design for the judge. However, in this penultimate Part 5 of the series, let’s look at some specific motivations for the adventurers to ease the burden on the poor judge.” The question is, if the lack of motivations for the adventurers was such a burden for the Judge, why did the author place that burden on the Judge? Not for one issue, but four issues? Why did the author ignore for so long the two fundamental questions that any player is going to ask upon finding his character in the Lost Valley—“How did I get here?” and “What do I do now?”. Obviously, such questions are not going to be answered in the fanzine, but what they highlight is a conceptual design flaw upon the part of the author. Instead of providing options in terms of how and why the Player Characters are in the Lost Valley and what they might do next that the Judge could take, use, adapt, or ignore, he gave the Judge no choice but to create her own. The author asked the Judge to create content and do work that he should have done himself. That is the burden he placed upon the Judge and it shows a fundamental misunderstanding as to why the Judge would have bought The Valley Out of Time series in the first place.
There is also some sense of what the Lost Valley is with this issue. Previously, it has never gone beyond being an isolated range “…(i)nhabited by ‘unevolved’ humanoid tribes, mega-fauna, giant insectoid life, and other unusual hazards.” However, with this issue, the author tells us that it was “Originally created as a pristine and unspoiled oasis outside of others, the Timeless Valley as nature intended – with a balance of benefits as well as misery.” The description raises another question—‘Who created the Lost Valley?’ Sadly, it is another question that the fanzine ignores.
The majority of The Valley Out of Time: Rotten at the Core is devoted to ‘Rotten at the Core’, a scenario for between four and six Player Characters of Sixth to Eighth Level. This is also the first time that the series has suggested what Levels the Player Characters should be. Anyway, the scenario assumes the players and their characters will have played through one or more of the encounters in previous issues and later on in the scenario, that might have played through ‘Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?’, the scenario involving the Ophidian Beastmen, in the previous issue. Either way, by the beginning of the scenario, the Player Characters should have had some interaction with the Urman tribes and even befriended some of them. The Cict Urman tribes asks for the Player Characters’ help. Their leader, Barbreitte the Rose, was kidnapped by Ophidian Beastmen and taken to an underground complex reasons they do not understand. Of if the Player Characters have played through ‘Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?’, they will. The Cict Urman scouts have checked the area where she disappeared and suggest that her abductors might have taken her into the caves and sinkholes in the nearby hills known to be home to hideous monstrosities. The tribe also thinks that a hidden tribe which lives underground nearby might have some information.
Although quite detailed, there is actually very little to the scenario in terms of plot. The Player Characters can approach the Ophidian Beastmen cave complex and sneak in and attempt to find the Barbreitte the Rose, or alternatively make the trek to the Nua Urman tribe’s underground home and attempt to get information from them before finding the Ophidian Beastmen cave complex. Both locations are described in some detail and everything is given full stats, even the Nua Urman tribe and its caves, just in case that the Player Characters want to assault it. The journey to the Nua Urman is described as an interlude, but it is a very long interlude given that it makes up a third of the scenario in length. Consequently, so much of the Nua Urman description feels unnecessary to the play of the scenario unless the Player Characters simply want to slaughter them. That said, the Nua Urman are slightly more interesting in that they do use some interesting weapons, including diamond war axes and a last-ditch cannon that uses Blackstone powder. Whereas in Ophidian Beastmen cave complex will reveal greater threats and darker secrets that will probably lead to further adventures. The final encounter will be with very tough beastman, or Rakshasa.
What the Player Characters may learn is that there is a greater evil in the Lost Valley, a corruption that was accidentally overlooked when the valley was originally created—again, by whom?—and has since grown into a festering blackness that threatens the whole valley. This is ‘Yaath, Mother under the Hills’, a giant, amorphous, black globule of bile and evil. Effectively, an almost unkillable Great Old One that carries on the Lovecraftian feel to the Lost Valley begun with the Ophidian Beastmen. It is an end of campaign level confrontation, though the Judge will need to develop how the threat of Yaath manifests in the Lost Valley in order to lead the Player Characters to its lair…
What is notable about all of the encounters in ‘Rotten at the Core’ is that they presented for both Dungeon Crawl Classics and Mutant Crawl Classics, including both the stats for the monsters and the treasure that the Player Characters might find. So, for example, a rumpled sheet turns out to be a Flying Carpet for Dungeon Crawl Classics, but a Holo-Cloak for Mutant Crawl Classics. It good to see the distinction made clear and implemented throughout.
The Valley Out of Time: Rotten at the Core is rounded out with an appendix of new monsters, essentially replicating the monsters and creatures given in the scenario, and the replication of the information on ‘Resources of the Valley’ with added detail of diamond. Lastly, there is joyous emptiness of the ‘GM Notes’ pages where the Judge is expected to write down all of the details that the author resolutely refuses to provide her with.
Physically, The Valley Out of Time: Rotten at the Core is well presented and well written. The artwork is of a reasonable quality.
With The Valley Out of Time: Rotten at the Core, the series presents its first big scenario. It is a decent enough combat and exploration-focused scenario, although its interlude is too long and does not add very much to the scenario whether the Player Characters decide to engage with it or ignore it. Given that it is written for Player Characters of Sixth to Eighth Level coming to the end of a ‘campaign’ in the Lost Valley, it feels right it should be in the penultimate issue, almost as if a campaign is coming to head and the Player Characters will face a major villain in the final part. Yet The Lost Valley series has not supported the Player Characters getting to this point in their exploration of the Lost Valley. It has never presented the Lost Valley as a setting, let alone a ‘campaign’. There have been only minor encounters in the first three issues, all of them of the same tone and set-up, and only proper scenarios in the fourth issue.

Ultimately, The Valley Out of Time: Rotten at the Core begs yet more questions. “Why is the author giving us a full-length scenario now after ignoring them for so long?” and more importantly, “Why is the author so concerned with motivation all of a sudden after resolutely refusing to address it previously?” Addressing it so late in the fanzine’s run gives The Lost Valley a weird split identity as if the author wants it to be a proper campaign setting, but did not realise it until now. The Valley Out of Time: Rotten at the Core shows how poorly the series was conceptualised and realised. Undoubtedly, there is good content in The Lost Valley, but the author has defiantly left the development of that content into something playable in the hands of the Judge.

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] The Beholder Issue 4

Reviews from R'lyeh - Sun, 05/25/2025 - 09:00

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed how another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

The Beholder was a British fanzine first published in April, 1979. Dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, it ran to twenty-seven issues, the last being published in July, 1981. It was popular and would be awarded ‘Best Games Fanzine’ at the Games Day convention in 1980. After the final issue of The Beholder, the editors would go on to release a number of anthologies which collected content from the complete run of the fanzine such as Beholder Supplement Glossary of Magic, which collected many of the magical items which appeared in the fanzine and collated them into a series of tables for easy use by the Dungeon Master, and Fantasie Scenarios – The Fanzine Supplement No. 2, the first of several scenario anthologies.
The Beholder Issue 4 was probably published in July 1979, given that the fanzine was published monthly and on a regular basis throughout its run. The issue’s concerns are typical of the period for a fanzine devoted to Dungeons & Dragons—problems with different aspects of the roleplaying game and possible solutions, new monsters, new traps, new magical items, a dungeon, and so on, though no new spells. The editors—Michael Stoner and Guy Duke—state in their editorial that, “We feel that this issue is the best one so far.” whilst also noting that, “Contributions are now coming in in fair numbers and quite a lot of this issue is made up from them.” The latter is certainly true, whilst the quality of the fanzine, something that it was renowned for, shows slight improvement. The Beholder is yet to hit the highlights of its great adventures, but the promise is there in this issue. Similarly, even if the subject matters of the issue look familiarly parochial some thirty years on, the fanzine addresses them in a thoughtful manner.
The Beholder Issue 4 opens with ‘Wishes’, a short look at one of the perennial bugbears of high-level play in Dungeons & Dragons—the power of the wish. Whether from the Magic-User spell or the Ring of Three Wishes, the wish is open to abuse, both by players and the Dungeon Master. The players by demanding too much of it and the Dungeon Master by simply negating its effects and thus impeding the players’ enjoyment of the game. The solution is that powerful sources of wishes be guarded by, or in the possession of, suitably powerful monsters and that the Dungeon Master play the roll of the gods who do not want the heroes to overstep their bounds, such as using a wish to render themselves immortal, for example. There is discussion too, of the application and limitations of the Limited Wish and Altered Reality spells and overall, the advice is solid and useful.
‘Magical Weapons’ provides a new set of tables for rolling random magical weapons to account for the number of new weapon types presented in The Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the lack of magical weapons available for certain Character Classes, such as the Druid, the Monk, and the Magic-user. Thus, there is a sub-table for the weird weapons at the end, such as the bo stick and the pick, plus of course, all of the polearms, like the bec de corbin and the guisarme-voulge. The tables are followed by a handful of new magical weapons, such as Flaming Arrows; the Chaotic Evil Pirate’s Cutlass, which is +1, +2 versus Good, +3 versus sea monsters, and detects hidden treasure within 25”; and the Illusion Quarterstaff, +1, which can appear as any weapon and inflict its damage as long as the defendant believes it to be a weapon of that type. These are nicely inventive and could easily find their place in a Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying game today.
The first of several contributions to the fanzine by Martin Stollery is ‘Competition Chronicles: An account of an adventure in the Pyrus Complex (TB 1)’. This is a recounting of his play through or running of ‘Pyrus Complex’, the competition dungeon in The Beholder Issue One. The Player Characters are fractious and selfish, and barely co-operate throughout. The ‘every man for himself’ style of play—though exacerbated by the competition nature of the dungeon—looks dated and immature now, but it was common enough at the time and beyond.
The issue’s monsters are presented in a new style for the regular ‘Monster Summoning’ department—a style that is reminiscent of the Fiend Factory department of White Dwarf magazine at the time, even down to the inventive founts used for the monster names. There are eight monsters in total, three of which, the Leech Plant, the Vart, and the Bonwack, are the contribution of Andrew Whitcombe, editor of another fanzine of the time, Droll Drivel. There is some inventiveness here, but several also serve little function other than to confuse the players and their characters because they are new and will not have been encountered before. The Quazzle is inventive because it is harmless, but it looks too much like a Roper, so that adventurers keep attacking it, but it protects itself by teleporting away weapons used to attack it! The Dralt is a puffball-like and non-psionic variant of the Intellect Devourer which uses darkness magic to hide and charms its victims to attack each other. The Leech Plant is a bloodsucking plant which attaches itself to the calves of unwitting walkers and sucks their blood, increasing its Hit Points in doing so. The silliest creature is the Bonwack, blind balls of fur with large pincers on stalks and single legs on which they hop about the dungeon hunting for food. It should be noted that all of the creatures have a Monstermark System as devised by Don Turnbull and presented in the first three issues of White Dwarf and also The Best of White Dwarf Articles Vol. I.
The scenario in The Beholder Issue 4 is ‘The Mines of Mentorr’. Written by Martin Stollery, it is another competition dungeon and thus comes complete with pre-generated Player Characters—including a Trickster, as detailed in The Beholder Issue 1, and a scoring system. Designed for Player Characters of Fourth Level, it details a small Dwarven tin mine which was chosen by the great dwarven king Mentorr to house the tombs for himself and his descendants. Centuries later, the mad alchemist, Farjet, led a band of Gnolls, Bugbears, and evil mercenaries into the mines, slaughtered the Dwarves, and unaware of the tombs, expanded the mine into a laboratory where he could conduct his experiments far from the eyes of the lawful authorities. More recently, word has reached the outside world that he has perfected the Elixir of Life, giving him immortality. This is an affront to the gods, and whether in service of the gods of Law or Chaos, the Player Characters are sent into the complex to put an end to this blasphemy!
The adventure really has three strands to it. One is the old mine, the other is the secret tombs, and the another is the laboratory facilities, whilst the scoring system allows for various different objectives rather than just killing everything. Although the map is plain, the dungeon is decently thought out and so does not suffer from the randomness of the competition dungeons that appeared in the previous three issues. With a little updating, ‘The Mines of Mentorr’ could be run today without any difficulties and the players would be none the wiser. The adventure’s combination of decent design, theme, and background mean that it could also be added to a Dungeon Master’s campaign and again, the players would be none the wiser.
‘Tricks & Traps’ discusses the editors’ philosophy of trap design—challenge the players and their characters, rather than simply killing the latter and the use of monsters and their abilities in an intelligent manner. The article is supported by ‘Dangerous Digressions’ which presents a number of traps, all of them old of course, but some of them familiar today. ‘The Magic Mouth “Party Killer” Trap’ is a temple dedicated to demon worship. Apart from some statues, the only features of note are a candle and a statue of dragon’s head. If the candle is lit, the Magic Mouth on the dragon statue activates and says, “Demogorgon, Orcus, Juiblex” again and again until the spell expires. Even with a small chance to summon any one of these demon lords, this is simply evil… Others, like ‘The Round and Round Teleport Pit’, an infinite teleporting pit, is a very slightly less dangerous version of the classic, whilst ‘The Balanced Boulders Pit’ has a plank poking out of the wall of the pit, which when grabbed by a falling character, pivots and tips four boulders on top of him as he falls onto the single spike at the bottom of the pit, is equally familiar.
Lastly, ‘Thoughts On Ideas’ continues the discussion of Dungeon Master fiat begun in ‘Wishes’ at the beginning of the issue. It looks at the sort of ideas that players come up with in play and then repeat over and over. In addition to suggesting ways round simply banning player ideas that make game play stale or unbalanced, such as offering Experience Points to their characters or ruling it as being against the wishes of the gods, the article also gives its own good ideas. For example, having the Magic-User or Illusionist cast Invisibility several times over the course of several days so that the entire party is invisible before beginning an adventure or buying ‘padded’ belt pouches and backpacks to prevent bottles and phials of potions or holy water from breaking when a Player Character falls into a pit. These are all quite inventive and showcase the then style of play in which the players sort to gain an advantage for their characters against the Dungeon Master.

Physically, The Beholder, Issue 4 is slightly untidy in places, but readable. The layout is tight and that does make it difficult to read in places. The illustrations and the cartography are not actually that bad. Of course, every issue of the fanzine was published when personal publishing was still analogue and the possibilities of the personal computer and personal desktop publishing were yet to come. In the case of The Beholder that would never be taken advantage of.

The Beholder has a high reputation for content that is of good quality and playable. The Beholder, Issue 4 does not yet match that reputation, but the signs seen in The Beholder, Issue 3 are not only present, but getting stronger. Not everything is good in the issue, but that is offset by the fact that it does contain a number of thoughtful articles on what would have been traditional topics for Dungeons & Dragons and the adventure is the best to date. The Beholder, Issue 4 feels almost on the cusp of achieving the high quality it was renowned for.

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] Scout Magazine #III

Reviews from R'lyeh - Sun, 05/25/2025 - 03:00

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a non-professional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed how another Dungeon Master and her group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Scout Magazine is a fanzine that comes packed with content that the Game Master can add to her Old School Essentials or change how it is played. This is no matter whether she uses the basic rules of Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy or the advanced options of Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy. Although specially written for use with Old School Essentials, it is easily adapted to the retroclone of Game Master’s choice or even added to Dolmenwood, the setting and retroclone also published by Necrotic Gnome.

Scout Magazine #IIIwas published in November, 2024 by PBenardo. Unlike Scout Magazine #I and Scout #II before it, it only includes two new Classes, but it includes as normal, both new monsters and articles that add new rules and mechanics to the play of Old School Essentials. Unlike the first issue, Scout Magazine #III does not possess anything in the way of a theme, but the monsters do!

Instead of new character Classes, Scout Magazine Issue #III begins with a list of ‘Backgrounds’. Each Background represents a skill or trait that the Player Character gained prior to becoming an adventurer. Some are quite mundane like the Farmer, who can predict the weather, but others are a little odd. For example, ‘Iron Dome’ means that the Player Character has an iron plaque in his head, which grants a bonus on Saving Throws versus charm or suggestion or ‘Graveyard Caretaker’, which enables the Player Character to detect the undead with a successful Listen check! Many are useful, such as ‘Surgeon’ which enables the Player Character to restore a single Hit Point to a wounded creature. There is decent selection, but at just fourteen, there is not a lot of variety to choose from.

One Background from ‘Backgrounds’ is given as optional, but it is actually supported with a whole article of its own. The Background in question is the ‘Psion’ and the article is ‘Psionics’. At the start of every day, the Psion’s player rolls for how many different types of psionic powers the character can use that day. So, the powers are random and the number of times the Psion can use them per day is equal to his Level divided by five. However, bearing magical items prevents the use of psionics and interrupting the use of psionic powers inflicts damage on the user due to psychic backlash. The powers include Astral Projection, Mental Shield, Precognition, Psi Cloak, 15’ Radius, Telekinesis, Telepathy, and more. The stranger ones include ‘Brain Bruise’ which inflicts damage on the nervous system of a creature, whilst ‘Preternatural Hearing’ enables the Psion to listen through solid objects. Of course, ‘Preternatural Hearing’ should really be called ‘Clairaudience’. Overall, the article is serviceable treatment of psionics for Old School Essentials, but its inclusion points to the fact that much of Scout Magazine is going over old new ground for a relatively new rules system—or in the case of Old School Essentials, a relatively new version of an old rules system. Nor indeed are psionics new to Old School Essentials, as for example, the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet for the Planar Compass fanzine has already presented a version.

The first of the two new Classes in Scout Magazine Issue #III is the ‘Wildling Warrior’. This is a tribal warrior with a distrust of anything different who inflicts double damage when he charges in combat with a two-handed weapon, is immune to fear, can forage and hunt, and will refuse to use magical items, though he will accept the use of divine magic. He will learn to strike invulnerable monsters and gains an increasing bonus to hit when wearing no armour. His War Cry can force a Morale Check on creatures of lower Hit Dice. It is difficult to really distinguish the ‘Wildling Warrior’ from the Barbarian Class and thus understand quite what this offers.

The same initially can be said of the ‘Zealot’, effectively a holy warrior or a version of the Paladin. Here the version can be either Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic in alignment. The Lawful Zealot focuses on life-giving magic, repelling undead, and boosting their allies’ abilities on the battlefield; the Neutral Zealot on nature-related magics, interacting with animals, and shapeshifting; and the Chaotic Zealots on controlling the undead and life-draining magic. The Zealot has to use blunt weapons, is immune to disease, and each hour can call upon his deity to cast a spell. The Lawful Zealot can Lay on Hands and at Eighth Level restore life or destroy undead; the Neutral Zealot gains animal form and at Eighth Level, full lycanthropy; and the Chaotic Zealot can drain life and at Eighth Level, can animate the dead. Each type of the Zealot has its own short spell list. The Zealot is three Classes in one, with the Lawful and Chaotic versions being akin to the Paladin and Anti-Paladin with the Neutral Zealot being a Druidic version. This is an intriguing option and something really different.

‘Drow Spells’ provides a spell list for the version of the Drow in Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules. Many like Spidercloak Armour, Spider Bite, and Summon Spiders are appropriately thematic. The last quarter of Scout Magazine Issue #III is devoted to ‘Monsters’, all of which are inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos. Creatures taken from Lovecraft’s writings (and those of others in the same milieu) have a long history of appearing in Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games, going all the way back to the Deities & Demigods sourcebook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition—and indeed, this is not the first time that the Old School Renaissance has pulled a tentacle out of the Cthulhu Mythos, such as Realms of Crawling Chaos: Lovecraftian Dark Fantasy. Here the author gives stats and a little detail on Azathoth, B’yakhee, Cthugah, Cthulhu, Deep Ones, members of the Great Race, I’thaqua, Mi-Go, Nyarlathotep, Shoggoths, and many more. There are some more generic Lovecraftian creatures alongside the well-known ones. These are all serviceable enough and the author promises the reader a supplement to go with them to cover the rituals and spells too.

Physically, Scout Magazine #III is tidily presented. It is very lightly illustrated.

Scout Magazine #III provides the Game Master and her players with a mixture of options old and new—or rather retreads of old worn paths and new. There is some good content in the issue, but just a little too much feels too similar to what has gone on before. That said, these are just the author’s suggestions and if the content of the issue does feel familiar, it is at least giving the Game Master more choice. Of the new, the Zealot Class is interesting, especially the Neutral variant, and the Backgrounds can add a nice bit of detail to any Player Character.

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao

Reviews from R'lyeh - Sat, 05/24/2025 - 09:00

On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showcased how another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao was published in 2024 by Wizards With Laser Rifles following a successful Kickstarter campaign as part of ZineQuest #2024. It follows on from Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku which introduced a new setting for use with Dungeons Crawl Classics. This is nation of Silam which nearly fell to a civil war between the Lawful and Chaotic use of magic by Clerics and Wizards. This was forestalled by the creation of The Three Powers, consisting of the Lawful Clerics and the Chaotic Wizards with Neutral Wizards and Druids providing a balancing force between the two. Together, they built Spikes, subterranean bunkers where members could study magic, train, live, and protect themselves. Five centuries ago, the young Queen Budhi initiated The Shattering which destroyed The Three Powers and then executed any magic-using member of her court and those that had participated in The Shattering. The strife continued for two decades until a powerful cleric rose to usurp the queen—and almost succeeded. Great walls were erected between the lands of Queen Budhi and those held by the supporters of the cleric. Since then, a cold war between the Crown of Nicsa and the Tribe of Lliram has divided Silam as much as the walls.
At the beginning of Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku, that war has suddenly turned hot… In addition, Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku included details of three new Races particular to the setting and the Character Funnel, ‘The Spike of Dosku’. The Character Funnel is the signature scenario of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, one in which the players take control of four Zero Level Player Characters and attempt to have them survive an adventure or dungeon. Any Player Characters that do, gain sufficient Experience Points for them to be able to pick a Class and become First Level.
Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao expands the world of Silam, but to be fair, not by very much. This starts with five new deities. They include Magron, the Lawful Mother-Father and Husband-Wife. Their worshippers build and protect, and their Clerics are skilled in building and repair buildings and defences. The Chaotic Lliram is the god of practicality and is worshipped by those seeking inspiration and skill. Metasig is Lawful god of stone and the cycle of life primarily worshipped by the Slate, the tall, long-limbed humanoids with slate-like skin that gives an Armour Class bonus when not wearing armour and with ‘Metasig’s Touch’, grants them a Charge Die in combat. Haus is Neutral, a god of consumption worshipped in very few numbers and then by hedonists. Lastly, the Neutral Farn is the god of sleep whose worshippers prize relaxation, but only after their work is done. All five gods are nicely detailed with information about their clerics including holy symbol, weapon proficiencies, the effects of their ‘Lay on hands’—such as the Farn’s Clerics also inducing pleasant dreams that heal extra Hit Points, and listing their particular spells. None of them have new spells to learn with all of them coming from the core rules. Each is followed by a ‘Disapproval Table’. Overall, these are nicely detailed, but the main issue with them is context as the broader world of Silam is not yet described.
Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao does include one new spell. This is Riao’s Magnificent Strike. This turns a single punch by the caster into being capable shattering his target. Effectively, a martial arts strike. This is a solid little spell which perhaps could be the basis of Monk-style Player Character.
Half of the fanzine is the adventure, ‘The Trials of Riao’. This is a First Level adventure, intended to be run after the Player Characters have been through the Character Funnel, ‘The Spike of Dosku’, in Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku. Here, the Player Characters descend into the Spike, essentially a seminary where students train and study to serve Metasig. This involves passing several tests against the elements, physical as well as mental, the latter involving the student having to think his way around an obstacle rather than simply fight it or endure it. What is clear as soon as the Player Characters enter is that it is many years since anyone visited the Spike as there are still signs of the battles between the defenders and Queen Budhi’s soldiers. The Player Characters effectively replace the dead students and have to find their past the trials in the Spike without the benefit of years of study! It is a decently done dungeon with a mournful atmosphere and a strong emphasis on puzzles and tests over combat.
The issue with ‘The Trials of Riao’ is one of motivation. It is not readily clear in the adventure why the Player Characters have come to the Spire. The specific reason is that they have come to further study under Master Riao in the Spike, but this is not made clear until the very end and the overall reason is not given at all. It is actually to learn and protect the ways of magic—both arcane and divine—that the Crown of Nicsa wants destroyed.
Physically, Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao is very well produced. The maps are nicely done and the artwork is excellent.

The setting of Silam with new Races and the politically and culturally different attitudes to magic of all types is potentially interesting, but although Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku worked hard to set it up, that potential is not realised as much as it should be with Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao, primarily because the two do not feel as connected as they should. The scenario in Silam No. 2: The Trials of Riao is meant to be sequel to the Character Funnel in Silam No. 1: The Spike of Dosku, but it does not feel like it. Future issues need more of the world, need more of a threat to motivate the Player Characters, and more context to help the Judge more easily make the connections and build world for her players.

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] Attack the Light: Issue 0

Reviews from R'lyeh - Sat, 05/24/2025 - 03:00

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Attack the Light: Issue 0 is published by Night Noon Games and is written as a preview issue for the forthcoming first issue, being funded via Kickstarter. Despite what the cover might suggest, this preview of the full fanzine is not rushed or rough and ready, but rather comes with a complete mini-adventure, intended for First Level Player Characters, that is solidly written and well presented. The adventure is simple and straightforward, but easy to prepare or slot into a Game Master’s campaign, and it should only take a session or so to play though. It includes rumours, random encounters, details of the monsters encountered, and some nice bits of treasure.

The adventure is ‘Aulon Raid in the Temple of Ord’. It opens with news that Orcish soldiers from the city-state of Aulon have invaded and defiled the nearby Temple of Ord. They have penetrated the shrine and there installed a sinister Blood Gem of Ramlaat, which encourages others to pillage, spread the name of Ramlaat, and work towards a blood rite. The adventure provides a few rumours that the Player Characters can learn and a short table of random encounters before plunging into the temple itself. The temple consists of nine locations across two levels, each one is nicely detailed and there is sense that the complex is one that has just been attacked and is undergoing transition. An Aulon Priest is found re-etching the carvings of the temple dedicated to Ord to ones sacred to Ramlaat, murals are defaced, there is a captured priest to be found and rescued, and so on. Both of the gods at the heart of the scenario, Ord, the Neutral god of knowledge, secrets, and equilibrium, and Ramlaat, the Chaotic god known as the ‘Pillager’, are taken from the ShadowDark core rulebook, making the scenario even easier to use.

The scenario is supported with a selection of monsters, such as an Aulon Archer and Soldier, Priest, Shadow, Stone Hornet, and others, as well as spells such as Augury, Conceal Portal, Hold Portal, and others. These are a mix of old and new, some taken from the ShadowDark core rulebook, others new. The three magic items are the Blood Gem of Ramlaat, the Locket of Remembrance, and the Ring of Portals. These are nicely detailed. Lastly, ‘When the Light Goes Out’ is a table of events of what might happen when the Player Characters’ torch goes out and they cannot relight a new one. This is, of course, a key feature of ShadowDark and having a table like this to hand makes the scenario easier to run.

Physically, the cover to Attack the Light: Issue 0 is intentionally unfinished, but inside the layout is clean and tidy, the artwork decent, and the cartography excellent. There should be no surprise there, given it is by Dyson Logos.

Attack the Light: Issue 0 is a good little mini-issue. It gets to the point, gives the Game Master what she needs, and should provide a good session or two’s worth of play. If subsequent issues of Attack the Light provide more of the same, it is going to be worth looking at by the ShadowDark Game Master.

—oOo—
Details of Attack the Light: Issue 1 can be found here.

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] Gridshock 20XX ’Zine 1: Roadmap

Reviews from R'lyeh - Fri, 05/23/2025 - 09:00

On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed how another Dungeon Master and her group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons,RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Gridshock 20XX ’Zine 1: Roadmap is a fanzine for ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying. Published by VX2 following a successful Kickstarter campaign, this is a product which is very different in many ways. It is a fanzine for the superhero genre, it is a fanzine for ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying, and as superhero fanzine, it actually presents a post-apocalyptic setting. All three factors make it standout as different. As the name suggests, Gridshock 20XX ’Zine 1: Roadmap is the first in the series for the fanzine, but there is only a total of four issues.

Gridshock 20XX ’Zine 1: Roadmap presents an overview of its setting, gives a timeline that runs from antiquity to now, and makes a few additions and changes to the ICONS system. The setting is the North American continent, its society ripped apart in 1986 by an event known as the Shock. This occurred when the mysterious Omegas attacked a project to build a psionic computer network powered by extradimensional energy. The Omegas stopped it, but the Aftershock swept round the world, killing millions and making millions disappear, substituting familiar landscape with alien ones, turning the sky violet, and causing stars to occasionally be replaced by unknown ones. Almost none of the superheroes who fought the Omegas survived and those that did are missing. In the chaos of the Aftershock that saw government collapse, the world’s supervillains and their allies seized control and each established their own fiefdoms or sectors that as a whole became known as the Supremacy. Each Sector is different in terms of its leader’s vision. For example, Sunrise Sector on the west coast is a corporate-controlled kleptocracy and the Sanction is a wasteland of oil fields dominated by a daemoniac narcissist, but all are dystopias of one kind or another!

The Shock also disrupted the Grid which underlies the whole of reality and weakened it, enabling links called ‘Gridgates’ to be established to other worlds, enabling aliens to visit the Earth. Reality storms imperil travel so that long term travel in in convoys and all forms of broadcast media act as vessels for a necrocosmic plague. Only the wealthy has access to any form of direct communication, whilst messages and recorded media are delivered directly. Long distance travel is via the Thunder Road, a continental network of highways and fuel stations controlled by Lord Thunder, the leader of the Sanction.

In the world of Gridshock 20XX, the Player Characters are Vectors. They possess the ability to warp the Grid and thus reality, manipulating it in their favour. Vectorisation means that this is accompanied by visual displays that means that it is never subtle. Vectors are typically human, but can also be gatecrashers from other realities or hybroids—one of the genetically engineered labour force. Whilst Vectors have superpowers, they do not operate as the superheroes of old. They do not wear spandex and they do not patrol looking for crime. That, combined with the flashiness of their powers, would make it easier for the Supremacy to find them. Instead, they travel the Thunder Road, looking for work and when they can, attempting to strike a blow for justice and freedom. Vectors are meant to be proactive and fight for what is right, forge new alliances, push their powers to the limits of reality—and perhaps beyond, reclaim hope and rebuild civilisation, and explore the secrets of old world and the new.

Gridshock 20XX ’Zine 1: Roadmap makes some chances to ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying. The Game Master is replaced by the Grid Master and Vectors possess Vector Potential instead of Determination and Vector Points instead Determination Points. The attributes Prowess and Willpower are replaced by Fighting and Willpower. Some Powers are renamed, such as Attribute Boost instead of Ability Boost; others are replaced, such as Fabrication for gadgets; and still others are shifted from being Powers to being Extras of Powers, such as Force Field being made an Extra of Force Control. In addition, there are several new Powers. These include Fabrication, Geist Control, Gridjockeying, Protection, and Signature Vehicle. Limits and Extras are provided for all. Of these, Geist Control gives a Vector control of daemons, Ultra-Geists, and Liminals when they enter the Realspace of Earth, working like a Mind Control Power, whilst Gridjockeying enables a Vector to use a ‘Grid Intrusion Neural Interface’ to duplicate the effects of another Power! However, it is limited to the basic effect of a Power without mastering one via the ‘Routine’ Extra.

Optional rules in Gridshock 20XX ’Zine 1: Roadmap allow for the Vectors to share and detail a motorrig, suggests some Qualities for Vectors, and offers a list of Specialities to reflect the action-orientated setting of Gridshock 20XX. There are some changes to how damage is handled, but notably this is not a setting in which there is ready access to armour. Unless it is a specific Power, armour simply reduces lethal damage to blunt damage.

Physically, Gridshock 20XX ’Zine 1: Roadmap is very nicely presented in swathes of yellow and black. The artwork is reasonable, but the cartography is slightly difficult to read. The layout does switch in places between portrait and landscape format, not always to easy effect.

Gridshock 20XX ’Zine 1: Roadmap sets everything up for the three parts of the Gridshock 20XX quartet with a lot of intriguing content that suggests a very different style of superhero setting and a very different style of post-apocalyptic setting. Perhaps a combination of Mad Max meets the Thunder Lord?

Fantasy Fridays: Daggerheart, Part 1

The Other Side - Fri, 05/23/2025 - 06:39

I had a plan for today, but I want to put that off till later. Mostly because I was not ready since I was too busy with today's new topic. The new game from Critical Role, Daggerheart, was released just a couple of days ago and I have been doing a deep dive into that.

I picked it up from DriveThruRPG a couple of days ago (Wednesday night) and wanted to run out and get the physical copy from my FLGS, but I was informed that, since it's close to my birthday, I am not allowed to. Fine with me, I also picked up the Demiplane Nexus Corebook so I can use the character builder.

The core book is gorgeous. I like the art more than the art in the new D&D 5.5 core book. This book/game is certainly going after the New Schoolers who love D&D 5, but wish it had more options.

In many ways Daggerheart takes the best ideas from a lot of games, including D&D 5.x and even D&D 4 (I'll get into that later) and combines it into a very effective whole. I have not read enough of it to notice differences from the playtest, except for some presentation differences, which I think are an improvement. Oh, and how HP are used.

The game has shot to Gold status in a matter of 28+ hours, and that is taking into consideration that it is effectively divided between two different versions: PDF only and PDF with Demiplane Nexus access, which has gone to Silver. Not too bad really.

The PDF comes with the Core book and the cards you use with your character. The cards are a nice gimmick, but to have the PDF is great if your group ends up with say, multiple sorcerers. I can print as many as I need and just slot them into one of my kids' old Pokémon folders. It feels like the old cards we had with D&D 4, but more useful.

The core book is huge, but complete at 415 pages. I already see lots of options for expansions for characters, so that is nice.

It also features six "Campaign Frames" which are like mini-campaigns, or campaign set-ups to play in. All of them sound fun. Each one has a "pitch," a complexity rating, and some keywords to help describe it.

The Witherwild. A nature deity is attacked and then attacks back with all the power of nature.
Five Banners Burning. Rival kingdoms on the brink of all out war.
Beast Feast. The Monster Defense System is down and now the characters need to go in and fix it.
Age of Umbra. A dying world in shadows.
Motherboard. High tech as magic in a post-apocalyptic world.
Colossus of the Drylands. Giant creatures versus gunslingers in the deserts. (think Attack on Titan or Godzilla meets Boot Hill).

Not all of these are for everyone, but they do all look pretty cool. Of course you can play in a D&D-like world. It does lean more toward High Fantasy and High Magic.

For amusement's sake I converted, or more aptly, translated some characters from various games that are D&D or D&D adjacent to Daggerheart to see how they might work.

Not everything had a great translation, but honestly, that could also be due more to my inexperience with the system as much as anything. So let's see some translations.

Larina Nix. My human witch in Basic-era D&D becomes a Loreborne (culture) Human who is a Sorcerer (Primal Origin) with Wizard (School of Knowledge) multiclass. In D&D 3, multiclassing Wizard and Sorcerer doesn't get you much, but here it is a fun approach. I rather like this version, but I would have to play her more.

Johan. My human paladin, all editions, becomes Highborne Human Seraph (Divine Wielder). I actually like this one a lot and if I get a chance to play Daggerheart this might be the character I choose. There is a lot of potential here for play.

Amaranth. A newer character, she is a Tiefling Warlock. Here is she is Wanderborne Infernis Wizard (School of War). Now it is possible that Sorcerer is a better choice for her, but I had not done a wizard full class yet.

Roan. This guy is new, he was an NPC satyr bard (who plays the bag-pipes) from the feywild. Here he takes on his "true form" I think and Wildborne Faun Bard (Wordsmith). The wordsmith is more like an occult poet (from Ghosts of Albion) so I really excited to try this guy out as a PC.

Sinéad. My Forgotten Realms half-elf Sorcerer/Bard doesn't drift too far from her origins. In Daggerheart, she is a Seaborne Elf (to reflect her growing up in the Moonshae Isles). She is a Sorcerer (Elemental) with a Bard (Troubadour) multiclass. She feels the same to be honest.

Nik Nak. My goblin warlock (who talks in rhyme) for Pathfinder 2nd edition has the most changes. Here he is still a goblin (wildborne) but now he is a druid (Warden of Renewal). I like the Daggerheart goblin species, but I am not really happy with this class choice. Though I am happy with the druid.

These are all just based on my readings of the open Beta and just a little over two days of the final rules. I am sure I'll make some tweaks to all these characters. Well, maybe not Johan and Sinéad. I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

With Critical Role Campaign 3 now over I am pretty certain that Campaign 4, when it kicks off, will be using these rules. I can't imagine they would want to miss the chance to sell the house system.

I'll continue to read the PDF and play around on Demiplane Nexus. When I get the physical game (it's the only thing I asked for, I don't really need much), I'll revisit this for Part 2.

[Fanzine Focus XXXIX] Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue No. 9

Reviews from R'lyeh - Fri, 05/23/2025 - 03:00

On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed how another Dungeon Master and her group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons,RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 was published in in August, 2015 by Shield of Faith Studios. It continued the detailing of post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth which had begun in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1, and would be continued in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2, which added further Classes, monsters, and weapons, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 3, which provided the means to create Player Characters and gave them a Character Funnel to play, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4, which detailed several Patrons for the setting, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 5 explored one of the inspirations for the setting and fanzine, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 continued that trend with another inspiration, Mad Max. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 7 continued the technical and vehicular themes of the previous issue, whilst also detailing a major metropolis of the setting. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 8 was a marked change in terms of content and style, but o, and one that Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 very much continues.

The setting has, of course, gone on to be presented in more detail in The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide, now distributed by Goodman Games. The setting itself is a world brought about after a rogue object from deep space passed between the Earth and the Moon and ripped apart time and space, leaving behind a planet which would recover, but leave its inhabitants ruled by savagery, cruel sorcery, and twisted science.
Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 completes the task begun in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 8. This is because it contains the second part of an A to Z for the post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth, the first part appearing in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 8. There was a phase of producing to A to Z guides, such as The Dungeon Alphabet from Goodman Games and The Wilderness Alphabet: A Collection of Random Charts, Tables, and Ideas for use with various Games of Imagination. In each case, the entries in these supplements were not simple guides or descriptions of their subjects, but as the subtitle of the latter book suggests, were instead tables that the Game Master or Judge could roll on—sometimes more than one—to randomly determine elements of the setting such as the description of a door or an altar, the look of an NPC, the contents of a chest, and so on. These tables can be used in play, at the table, the Game Master rolling on them as needed or she can consult them as part of her preparation. This particular issue runs from ‘N is for New Vistas’ to ‘Z is for Zoological Horrors’ with every table being accompanied by a short description and instructions as to what dice to roll.

The entries begin with two sets of tables really designed to provide scenario hooks as much as flavour. Thus an entry for ‘N is for New Vistas’ reads “You come across a truly enormous tree that has various bits of different large buildings jutting out of it. Many of them seem to still have electricity as the tree glitters with lights. A community of some sort has built catwalks between the buildings and calls this place home.”, whilst ‘O is for Old Ruins’, an entry reads “The broken remains of four skyscrapers melted together by heat and atomic power. Monsters and giant spiders haunt the place and tons of ancient equipment still in operate inside.” The same goes for ‘Q is for Quantum portals’, only weird, like “...a blue-black sun hangs in the sky and weird plant mutants herd 1d24 near-humans into huge copper colored cages. A large meat grinder-like processing plant is nearby and the sound of suffering echoes across the landscape. A strange temple structure holds 1d8 levels of bizarre dungeon structures filled with weird monsters. It might be a zoo or something far stranger.”

As well as places to go, there are people to met. The Player Characters can find something to buy from ‘P is for Peddlers’, who might have “Two dozen cans of food, all in pristine condition but the labels are quite faded. Could be pork and beans, could be fruit cocktail, who knows? Vendor is looking to move them in a hurry.” or be “A shady looking robot with a push cart selling various pharmaceuticals at cheap prices. It seems too good to be true but 1d5 former customers will swear the medicines are good if any inquiries are made.” A slightly more complex table, requiring multiple rolls of a thirty-sided die enables the Judge to generate places to stop and stay in ‘N is for New Vistas’ . This is not the most complex table in the issue. The most complex table in the issue is ‘W is for Weather of the Wastes’ which provides a complete means of creating weather in Umerica and Urth, all the way up to Freak Storms, which have their own table, whose entries include “Bloated gelatinous clouds discharge a downpour of living slime fragments. Every hour that the storm rages, 1d5-1 Primeval Slimes, each of 1d3 HD in size, (DCC RPG, pg 423) will reform from the fragments in each acre the storm covers.” and “Swirling Purple clouds unleash a downpour of fish, crustaceans, and amphibians upon the area covered by the storm. Unprotected people, beasts, and structures will suffer damage from the fleshy torrent. The bounty that falls is fully edible and untainted but will quickly begin to rot (goes bad in 5d30 minutes) unless properly stored. Areas not cleared of the rotten mess will have a 20% per day to attract large scavenger type beasts for the next week.”

Since the setting of Umerica and Urth is a post-apocalyptic one, the ‘S is for Scavenging’ table with entries that include “Whether it turns out to be just a useless pastime or opens a door to another realm, this six-colored glowing puzzle cube beckons to be solved.”, “2d3 plastic eggs containing sheer pantyhose. If nothing else you’ll look great at the tavern this weekend. And your next hold-up will be memorially fashionable.”, and “A complete magician’s kit with top hat, cape and wand. Mystify your friends with over 250 tricks, from guessing your card, shoving a nail through a piece of glass, spot the ball under the cup and the ever famous, “Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.””. These are all very entertaining, and perhaps of any of the tables in this issue or the previous one, this is all but mandatory since a major aspect of play is scavenging for things from the past. That said, a whole issue of Crawling Under A Broken Moon could have been devoted to items to be scavenged and everybody would have been happy with it.

Towards the end of the issue, the tables get a little weirder and out of this world. ‘U is for UFOs’ and ‘X is for Xenotech’ cover potential extraterrestrial encounters and the devices that might get left behind following such encounters. However, the most interesting table is ‘Y is for Yestermen (or “Who is in that Cryochamber?”)’, which details the origins of ‘Yestermen’. Each one is grown in a Seeder, a genetic depository which when supplied with raw materials creates robot servitors, then life, and lastly the means to support the wholly new ‘humans’ known as ‘Yestermen’. Originally Seeders were a scientific experiment, then a national and military necessity if a nature is to survive, and then a commercial venture. After that? Who knows? So Yestermen of any Seeder can be of any culture from before the apocalypse and of any persuasion, making any encounter with them more random than normal! They could also be used as the background certain Player Character types, as yet not exposed to the wider damaged world of Urth. Lastly, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 includes the ‘B is also for Bonus Table! Post-Apocalyptic Lucky Roll Table’, which replaces the ‘Table 1-2: Luck Score’ in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game core rulebook, specifically for the Umerica setting.

Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 is as serviceably presented and as a little rough around the edges as the other fanzines in the line. Of course, the problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 is that much of its contents have been represented to a more professional standard in the pages of The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide, so it has been superseded and superseded by a cleaner, slicker presentation of the material.

Like the previous issue, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 is by nature bitty and disparate with its numerous different entries and writeups. It is not an issue to read through from end to end, but to consult from time to time in search of something that will make a Judge’s game just that little bit more interesting and more exciting, which all of its entries have the ability to do. Further, because there really is no specific setting detail given in its various tables, the contents of Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 will work with a lot of other post apocalyptic roleplaying games and not just the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game or Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic.

Review: FOR2 Drow of the Underdark

The Other Side - Thu, 05/22/2025 - 06:45

Drow have had a LONG history in D&D.

This is a good one for me to review now. In my Forgotten Realms (even if AD&D 1st Ed) campaign has a Drow priestess of Eilistraee. I know a bit about her, but this is a good book for me now.

While I know a lot of Realms lore Drow, I would never say I am an expert. Admittedly I learned of Drow via Greyhawk lore and the Epic GDQ series from Gygax. So my first experiences with Drow were in Erelhei-Cinlu and not Menzoberranzan.

It is time I changed that.

FOR2: The Drow of the Underdark (2e)

1991. Ed Greenwood. Artists: Jeff Easley (cover), Tim Bradstreet, Rick Harris (interiors). 96 pages. Color cover, gold, black & white interiors. Some full-color plates.

For this review, I am considering my PDF and Print on Demand versions from DriveThruRPG.

There’s a certain mystique that comes with any Ed Greenwood-penned Forgotten Realms book, but The Drow of the Underdark lands in that very specific early-'90s TSR sweet spot: prestige-format, Realms-focused, lore-dense, and just weird enough to feel like it snuck out of Elminster’s bottom drawer.

I read Greenwood's articles fondly in Dragon Magazine, even if I was not interested in the Realms at the time. These days, not with more years of appreciation for Ed, the Realms, and these products I feel like I get a lot more out of these books than I would have say back in 91.

This was the second entry in the "FOR" series, following Draconomicon, and it leans hard into that same idea: go deep on a singular part of the Realms and pull no punches. Where Draconomicon scattered its gaze across multiple dragon types, this one drills straight down into drow culture, religion, and society—and stays there.

And yes, this is very much a Greenwood book. That means: flavor over stats, dense Realmslore, and the occasional asides from Elminster. Honestly, I would not want it any other way.

Note, the table of contents does not have the Chapter numbers, but the Chapters do as do the bookmarks in the PDF.

The book feels like the AD&D 2nd Ed splat books of the time.

Overview

This isn't just "Vault of the Drow in the Forgotten Realms." It's a deliberate reimagining of the drow as a functioning, if cruel and fractured, civilization with its own logic and diversity. Greenwood expands far beyond the Lolth-worshipping archetype that had become the default by 1991 and proposes alternative drow following other deities, traditions, and magical philosophies.

It's still evil, make no mistake. But this book provides a scaffold for playing, plotting, or writing about drow from the inside out. It dares to humanize them, not to redeem them, but to make them usable. And it succeeds.

Introduction

Classic Greenwood here. An interview between him and Elminster and a naked drow woman named Susprina Arkhenneld. She is finally detailed in one of Ed's more famous videos. In my head-canon, Simon Aumar is the distant offspring of Elminster and Suprina. Great, great grand-son according to the Realms wiki. Not sure how that works in "real" Realms lore, but it works fine for me.

Chapter 1: The Nature of Dark Elves

The opening sections dive into drow history, physiology, life cycle, customs, language, and, most of all, their society. We start with how Drow are similar and different from standard elves. This includes their intelligence and magic.

We also get a bit on driders, which are different in later versions of the game. Here, in their original form, they are the misfits and rejects of the Drow society.

Chapter 2: Dark Elven Society

Covers a lot of what we know about Drow.

The "House" system is here in all its backstabbing glory, with clear inspiration from both earlier Gygaxian sources and Greenwood's own campaigns. You get descriptions of how drow children are raised (answer: with cruelty and indoctrination), gender roles (strictly matriarchal), and the political maneuverings that dominate their lives.

We are introduced to Menzoberranzan, but many details are left out. Of course, I only know this because of future knowledge. Still, what is here is tantalizing. I am purposefully looking for differences between this and Erelhei-Cinlu. It is like comparing New York or LA (Menzoberranzan) to Chicago (Erelhei-Cinlu).

This part reads less like a rulebook and more like a cultural ethnography written by a half-mad sage. And I mean that as praise.

Chapter 3: Religion and Deities

Lolth looms large, of course, but this book’s standout contribution is the introduction of three other drow deities:

Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden, the Dancer, goddess of good-aligned drow
Ghaunadaur, an oozy, mad god of slimes and the Realmsified version of the Elder Elemental God
Lolth of course.
Vhaeraun, the male drow god of stealth and thievery, and Drow aims on the Surface world.

Generally speaking, I like these gods. Eilistraee is interesting and makes "Good" Drow make sense to me. Vhaeraun seems like a god Drow should have. Ghaundaur, though I see less of a "version" of the Elder Elemental God and more of an aspect, or even a fragment.

This section expands the theological spectrum of drow society and sets the groundwork for future Realms books and characters (like Qilué Veladorn and the Eilistraeean sects).

Chapter 4: History of the Drow

Similar to what we know from Greyhawk, but greatly expanded.

Chapters 5 , 6 & 7: Magic, Spells, and Magic and Craftwork Items

A wide selection of new spells and magic items are detailed here, many built specifically for the Underdark environment. Drow necromancy, priestly magic, and magic item crafting are all treated with a specific cultural lens—these are not just elves with different spellbooks.

The book also explains why drow magic and weapons degrade in sunlight, a now-classic bit of Realms justification that threads game mechanics and worldbuilding nicely.

Chapters 8, 9, 10, & 11: Drow Language, Nomenclature, Glossary, and Symbols

Chapter 8 is just a page, but a lot of potential here. Chapter 9 covers some nomenclature and Chapter 10 has a Glossary of "Deep Drow." Chapter 11 covers various symbols.

I do wonder why these chapters were not combined into one, more comprehensive chapter.

Chapter 13: The Underdark

It only has a page here, but the Underdark gets its "Forever Home" here in the Realms.

Chapter 14: Monsters and Allies

The book introduces new monsters, mostly arachnid or Underdark-themed. Standouts include:

Deep dragons, later seen in Monstrous Compendium: Forgotten Realms Appendix II

Yochlol, handmaidens of Lolth, finally updated for 2e

Several new giant spider and insect variants

And my favorite from Dragon Magazine, the Deep Bats.

These are presented in Monstrous Compendium format, ready to slot into your binder, a nice touch from the era. For me, the value here is to print them out and stick them all into my Forgotten Realms binder.

Jeff Easley’s cover, with its webbed motif and brooding drow, sets the tone perfectly. The interior art is black-and-white linework typical of the time, functional and flavorful, if not always consistent. The layout is dense, with minimal whitespace, a product of both the printing economics of the time and Greenwood’s maximalist style.

The PDF on DriveThruRPG is a clean scan and includes the full content in a readable, printable format. The PoD version has the common fuzziness to the text, but still pretty sharp. Better than most of the PoDs from the same era.

Compatibility and Use at the Table

Though it’s firmly written for AD&D 2nd Edition, most of this book is system-light and easily adapted. I've pulled material from it for 1st Edition games, OSR campaigns, and even 5e adventures. The gods, monsters, and magical quirks are timeless.

Want to run a Drow-centric campaign? This is your bible.

Want to add depth to Drow NPCs or create political plotlines among rival Houses? It’s all here.

Even just dropping in Eilistraee or Vhaeraun as rare cults in your game world adds immediate nuance to the usual "Lolth or nothing" trope.

Highlights & Favorites

Debut of Eilistraee, Vhaeraun, and Ghaunadaur as active drow deities.

Deep dive into matriarchal House structure and political intrigue. Though not everything we will need or read about this, but this is where it starts.

New Drow-only spells and Underdark items.

Monstrous Compendium pages ready for use (my favorite).

Elminster flavor text. Indulgent, but charming, and honestly, I enjoy them more now than I would have back then.

A Few Quibbles

Some of Greenwood’s prose is thick, and it assumes some Realms knowledge going in. It is one of the reasons I avoided the Realms for as long as I did, which, of course, just makes the problem worse. I figured I had to dive in somewhere. I read this and I understand it, but there are still two things that I wonder about. 1. How would this have read to me back in 1991 without everything I know now? And 2. I always feel like there is some bit of Realms lore that it is assumed everyone knows, and I don't.

There's also less about specific locations than you might expect. Menzoberranzan, for example, is barely touched on, later books like Menzoberranzan (1992) and Drizzt Do’Urden’s Guide to the Underdark (1999) pick up that slack.

And while the book teases alternative Drow cultures, it still feels like 90% of them worship Lolth. The other sects are intriguing, but underdeveloped. Is this good or bad? I mean, I am more than happy to do more heavy lifting here. And in the end, that may be the real point.

Final Thoughts

The Drow of the Underdark is a foundational text for Drow in the Realms and beyond. It takes what was once a one-note villain race and gives them depth, diversity, and terrifying credibility. I have to admit, after reading this, I see how Drizzt Do’Urden was not a fluke but an inevitability.

The book holds up remarkably well. It’s a snapshot of the Realms before Drow culture became mainstream through novels and video games, offering a more alien and nuanced portrayal. Greenwood’s love of the setting shines, and his approach—dense, layered, a little chaotic—is as compelling now as it was in 1991.

More than just a monster book, this is a cultural document. And it’s one of the few early Realms supplements that still feels fresh and useful today, even across multiple editions. I am using it for AD&D 1st Ed now. I know I would get just as much use out of it if I were running 3e or 5e. I also printed out the spells for my son to use with his 1st ed Drow cleric.

Though written for AD&D 2e, its focus on lore over mechanics makes it evergreen.

Buy this if:

You're running Underdark adventures in any edition of D&D
You want to add Drow politics, religion, or flavor to your campaign
You collect foundational Realms lore

Personally, I am happy to have it in my small, but growing Realms collection.

Witchcraft Wednesdays: Heqate, Queen of Heka and the Crossroads Eternal

The Other Side - Wed, 05/21/2025 - 08:26

I am working on my next Myths & Monsters series, this time on the Ptolemaic Myths of the combined Greek and Egyptian pantheons of the Ptolemaic rule of Egypt. While the poster children for these myths are Serapis and Hermes Trismegistus, I want to focus on a goddess who is, as far as I know, fairly unique.

While I am leaning heavily on academic scholarship here for this one, that only takes me so far. And in truth, if I am going to come up with my syncretic god here, it might as well be a Goddess of Witchcraft and Magic.

Thankfully, one such goddess sprang, fully formed like Athena, from my mind. Or very nearly fully formed.

Heqate, Queen of Heka and the Crossroads Eternal

This Wednesday, I want to return to the Ptolemaic Myths specifically, to the goddess known as Heqate (formerly Heka here), the Witch Queen of the Two Lands and the living embodiment of heka. This is not simply Hecate with great eyeliner, nor Heqet with a torch and dogs, nor even a distaff Heka or a Greek Weret Hekau. This is a syncretic goddess of magic, liminality, birth-life-death-rebirth, and arcane will, forged where Greek moon sorcery meets Egyptian divine speech.

If you've ever wanted to play a moonlit necromancer-priestess, a midwife-witch who communes with ghosts, or a seer whose scrolls bleed truth, this is your goddess.

Heqate: The Torchbearer of the Threshold

In older Greek traditions, Hecate was already something liminal, goddess of the crossroads, of the moon, of ghosts, and witchcraft. And, of death, the ultimate threshold. In Egypt, the frog-headed Heqet presided over childbirth, resurrection, and divine protection in the womb and tomb alike. Add to this the Egyptian concept of heka (lower case, not the god Heka), not magic as trickery, but as cosmic creative force, and Weret Hekau, the Egyptian personification of supernatural powers, you get something entirely new.

In the Ptolemaic imagination, these figures blur into one divine presence:

Heqate, the Queen of Witches, the Scribe of Names, the Midwife of Magic.

She carries torches of silver flame, revealing the paths between life and death and rebirth.
She speaks true names, unraveling illusions, enchantments, and lies.
She presides over birthing chambers and funerary rites, the first breath and the last silence.
Her voice is heka, and her will becomes ritual law.

The Three Faces of the Liminal Witch

Followers of Heqate often describe her as having three aspects (I can't resist a good Maiden-Mother-Crone tri-aspect):

The Maiden of Moonlight – Patron of seers, dreamers, and witches-in-training. She guards hidden knowledge and initiations.
The Mother of Torches – Midwife and ward-breaker. She protects the soul at its most vulnerable.
The Crone of Ash and Word – Keeper of forbidden names and the judgment of oaths. Her word is binding.

Temples and covens devoted to her often use three altars—one facing the door, one the hearth, and one a mirror.

Final Thoughts

Heqate isn’t just a rebranding. She’s a bridge goddess, walking between systems, just as witches walk between divine and arcane, mortal and otherworld, life and death. She offers you a chance to center magic not as firepower, but as language, ritual, and transformation.

The Ptolemies ruled over Egypt as Greek-speaking elites, and their greatest symbol wasn’t a weapon or a crown, it was a library. The Great Library of Alexandria was the beating heart of the Ptolemaic worldview: knowledge as power, preservation as control, language as law.

If Hermes Trismegistus is the figurehead of recorded wisdom, the scholar-priest who catalogues and measures, then Heqate is the figurehead of forbidden wisdom and occult knowledge, the whispered name, the unwritten charm, the scroll burned before it can be copied. She is the sorcerous opposite to Hermes’ alchemical order, not in opposition, but in complement. They are a cosmic argument between forms of knowing.

Do they oppose each other? Perhaps. No more than witches and wizards clash in how they practice magic. Perhaps this ancient rivalry echoes across the ages, playing out in coven and tower, scroll and staff, moon and mercury.

In any case, it is certainly a fun way to set up a god rivalry between wizards and witches in your worlds.

And if I am being honest. She would have great eyeliner and wear an ankh as a necklace.

Miskatonic Monday #355: The Outbreak 1854

Reviews from R'lyeh - Mon, 05/19/2025 - 09:00

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. 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 Outbreak 1854Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Chicho ‘Arkashka’ OCARIZ

Setting: London, 1854Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-seven page, 16.32 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “You know nothing, Jon Snow” ― Game of Thrones, George R. R. MartinPlot Hook: “A plague o’ both your houses!” — Romeo and Juliet, William ShakespearePlot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, six NPCs, five handouts, two maps, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos monsters.Production Values: Decent
Pros# Well-researched background
# Obfuscation of the plot by the history# Possible sequel to The Bristol Train Robbery# Nosophobia# Seismophobia# Scoleciphobia
Cons# Needs an edit# Needs development to pull the Investigators in more
Conclusion# Bloody horror in Victorian London that will give you the shakes# Underdeveloped in terms of investigation, but could be developed further

Monstrous Mondays: Hippalektryon

The Other Side - Mon, 05/19/2025 - 06:10

I am back to work on my next set of syncretized myths, this time my poster child of syncretism, the Greco-Egyptian gods, also known as the Ptolemaic Religion. I am taking some of the historically documented gods (Hermes Trismegistus, Serapis, Harpokrates) and mixing in my own takes (Heka, Hermanubis), and others to round this set of myths out.

There are a few monsters that fit both the Greek and Egyptian myths very well. The pegasus (as a winged horse), the sphinx, giant snakes, giant scorpions, all sorts of undead. But there are some monsters common to both cultures (Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt) that could also be used. Here is one. The Hippalektryon is an interesting creature. Since it is the combination of two creatures I decided they are sacred to Hermes Trismegistus.

Since my Myths & Monsters series is for 1st Edition, here it is in that format.

HIPPALEKTRYON

Rooster-Horse Hybrid

FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1d4
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 18" (Fly: 30")
HIT DICE: 4+4
% IN LAIR: 10%
TREASURE TYPE: C
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 claws / 1 beak
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1–4 / 1–4 / 1–6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Sonic crow
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to illusions
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low to Average (6–10)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: M (5'–6' long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: IV / 210 + 5/hp

DESCRIPTION: The Hippalektryon is an odd and rare creature with the hindquarters, wings, and tail of a giant rooster and the forequarters and head of a small horse. Their muzzle ends in a sharp, rooster-like beak. Native to mythic dreamlands and prophetic realms, it is often found in sacred sites, high mountain nests, or circling the domes of prophetic temples. They most often make their nests overlooking a body of water.

Though physically awkward, they are powerful flyers and capable of delivering swift, slashing claw strikes with their rooster-like talons, followed by a sharp beak attack.

Once per day, a Hippalektryon can emit a Sonic Crow (30’ cone, 10’ wide at base, 30’ at end) that causes confusion (as per the spell) to all creatures in the area unless they save vs. spells. Creatures that fail their saves also suffer a -1 penalty to any Wisdom-based rolls for 4 rounds. The crow may also be used to dispel illusions within 60' (as dispel magic, 7th level).

They are considered sacred to Hermes Trismegistus and are sometimes summoned by priests or sages seeking omens, clarity, or inspiration. A feather plucked from a living Hippalektryon may be used to create scrolls of prophecy or truth-telling magic.

Miskatonic Monday #354: The Plague of Scratches

Reviews from R'lyeh - Mon, 05/19/2025 - 03:00

Name: The Plague of ScratchesPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Maude Cort

Setting: A U.S. mining townProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Two page, 1.42 MB Black & White PDF
Elevator Pitch: “To die, - To sleep, - To sleep! Perchance to dream: - ay, there's the rub;For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life;”― William Shakespeare, HamletPlot Hook: There’s a murderer or there’s a plague or there’s bothPlot Support: Staging advice, fourteen named NPCs, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Sparse
Pros# Barebones presentation
# Easy to adapt to different eras# Multiple plot hooks# Good for the Keeper that really, really likes to improvise# Dipsophobia# Somniphobia# Oneirophobia
Cons# From the author of Millan’s Tomb# Presented in a backwards fashion# Needs development# Keeper will need to supply stats# Needs a slight edit
Conclusion# All the right elements, not necessarily in the right order# In need of development to flesh out the story, let alone the stats

Your Fallout Starter

Reviews from R'lyeh - Sun, 05/18/2025 - 03:00

It is the year 2287 and life is far from easy in the remains of New England, including Boston, an area called ‘The Commonwealth’. Two centuries after a nuclear holocaust that ended a war between the United States and China, there are plenty of pools of radiation hanging around, feral ghouls lurk in tunnels and caves, mirelurks hunt the banks of rivers and shores of lakes, and raiders are a constant threat. Yet there are survivors to protect and old Vaults to explore and even loot. It is a dangerous world out there, but when there is shooting and screaming, it probably means that somebody is in trouble. This is how ‘Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland’ opens, the mini-campaign in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set. Designed for two to seven players, aged fourteen and over, the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set is introductory boxed for Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, which is based upon the Fallout series of post apocalyptic computer games from Bethesda Game Studios. In particular, Fallout 4, which depicts a post-apocalyptic future that is heavily influenced by American culture of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. In fact, the events of ‘Starter Set Quest: Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland’ are set before those of Fallout 4. Published by Modiphius Entertainment, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set is an attractive looking boxed set.
Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set includes a fifty-six-page ‘Starter Set Rulebook’, a sixty-page ‘Starter Set Quest: Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland’, six pre-generated Player Characters, two twenty-sided dice, one twenty-sided hit location die, four six-sided Fallout game dice, and fifty-six Nuka-Cola cap tokens. The ‘Starter Set Rulebook’ covers the basics of characters, the mechanics and combat, and equipment, whilst the quest book gives the campaign. The Nuka-Cola cap tokens can be used as Action Points in the game or as in the computer game, as currency. The six pre-generated Player Characters include a Vault Dweller who is good at hacking; a Survivor who hits hard and can lie well; a Ghoul who heals fast and is immune to radiation; a Brotherhood Initiate good at repairing and healing; and a Mister Handy with a pincer arm attachment that can stab and even inflict critical hits! All six of the pre-generated Player Characters are presented on double-sided card sheets complete with a biography. The dice are actually nice and chunky and done in the blue of Vault dweller uniforms.

A Player Character in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set—and thus the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game—will look more familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4 than anyone who has played a 2d20 System roleplaying game. A Player Character has seven ‘S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes’. These are Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. These are rated between four and ten and will be familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4. He will ratings in skills including Athletics, Barter, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee Weapons, Pilot, Repair, Science, Small Guns, Sneak, Speech, Survival, Throwing, and Unarmed. Skills are ranked between zero and six. Some skills are marked as Tag skills, indicating expertise or talent. Tag skills improve a Player Character’s chances of a critical success. Each twenty-sided die rolled for a Tag skill that gives a result equal to or under the skill rank is a critical success, counting as two successes rather than one.
One noticeable difference between Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and other 2d20 System roleplaying games is that the Player Characters have hit locations. This reflects the nature of the computer game. A Player Character will also have several Perks and Traits, essentially the equivalent of advantages and disadvantages, and he will have Luck Points equal to his Luck Attribute. The ‘Starter Set Rulebook’ includes a long list of Perks, many of which the players will recognise from the computer game. For example, ‘Commando’, ‘Gunslinger’, ‘Hacker’, ‘Infiltrator’, ‘Iron First’, ‘Mysterious Stranger’, ‘Ninja’, and more. A Player Character does have a biography and a list of gear as well.
Mechanically, the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set—and thus the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game—uses the 2d20 System seen in many of the roleplaying games published by Modiphius Entertainment, such as Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 or Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. To undertake an action in the 2d20 System in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of an Attribute and a Skill to generate successes. Each roll under this total counts as a success, an average task requiring two successes, the aim being to generate a number of successes equal to, or greater, than the Difficulty Value, which typically ranges between zero and five. Rolls of one count as a critical success and create two successes, as does rolling under the value of the Skill when it is a Tagged Skill. A roll of twenty adds a Complication to the situation, such as making noise when a Player Character is trying to be stealthy or breaking a lock pick when opening a safe.
Successes generated above the Difficulty Value are turned into Action Points. Action Points are a shared resource and a group can have up to six. They can be used to purchase more dice for a Skill test, to Obtain Information from the Overseer, Reduce Time spent on a test, or to take an Additional Minor Action or Additional Major Action.
With Luck of the Draw, a player can spend his character’s Luck Points to add a fact or detail or item to the area he is in that would benefit him. Other uses include Stacked Deck, which enables a player to substitute his character’s Luck Attribute instead of another, Lucky Timing, which lets a survivor interrupt the Initiative order, and Miss Fortune to reroll dice. The Overseer—as the Game Master is known—has her own supply of Action Points to use with her NPCs.
Combat in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set and thus Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, is quite detailed in comparison to other 2d20 System roleplaying games. A Player Character can attempt one Minor Action and one Major Action per round, but Action Points can be spent to take one more of each. Minor Actions include Aim, Draw Item, Move, Take Chem, and more, whilst Major Actions include Attack, Command an NPC, Defend, Rally, Sprint, and others. During combat, Action Points can be expended to purchase more dice for a Skill test, to Obtain Information from the Overseer, to take an Additional Minor Action or Additional Major Action, or to add extra Combat Dice.
Damage is inflicted per random Hit Location and it is possible to target a particular Hit Location. The number of Combat Dice rolled to determine damage is based on the weapon, Action Points spent to purchase more Combat Dice, Perks, and other factors. Combat Dice determine not only the number of points of damage inflicted, but the ‘Damage Effects Trigger’ of the weapon used. This has an extra effect, such as Piercing, which ignores a point of Damage Resistance or Spread, which means an additional target is hit. Both damage inflicted and Damage Resistance can be physical, energy, radiation, or poison. If five or more points of damage is inflicted to a single Hit Location, then a critical hit is scored. Ammunition is tracked.
Radiation damage is handled differently. It reduces the Maximum Health Points of a Player Character rather than his current Health Points. Until cured, this reduces both his Maximum Health Points and the number of Health Points which can be cured.
One aspect of the Fallout computer games that the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set does not cover is crafting. In Fallout 4 and the other games, the Player Character can craft almost everything—arms, armour, food and beverages, and so on. This falls outside of the remit of the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set, but the ‘Starter Set Rulebook’ does include a lengthy list of equipment which includes plenty of the various items seen in the computer game. It also covers Junk—if not necessarily what to do with it—and also Magazines, for example, Astoundingly Awesome Tales, Massachusetts Medical Journal, and Tumblers Today. When read, these provide a single one-time bonus or Perk that can also be made permanent if the Player Character uses the Perk and learns it when he next gains a level.
The ‘Starter Set Quest: Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland’ presents a three-part mini-campaign that begins with an investigation of a vault and continues with a trek across and under the dangerous lands of the Commonwealth to Diamond City—Boston that was—and discovery of secrets about the setting. Each chapter should take a session or two to play through. It begins in a slight awkward fashion, with all of the Player Characters facing each other in a circle, in a potential stand-off outside the entrance to Vault 95. Each heard screams and the sound of gunfire and decided to investigate. However, the scenario uses this situation to get the players to talk about their characters by getting the Game Master to ask each of them a question. In the process, the players get an idea of who the other characters are and the characters are pushed towards co-operating with each other, potentially a problem given that they are such a diverse lot. This is only the beginning of the staging advice in ‘Starter Set Quest: Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland’, which does not overwhelm the Game Master with the rules, but eases both her and her players into the 2d20 System step-by-step.
The scenario also has some nice nods to the computer game, such as being able to befriend a canine companion and the Player Characters get to explore several of the signature location types found in the computer game—a vault, some sewers, a lone warehouse, and of course, Diamond City. There are moments too, for each of the Player Character types to shine, such as the Super Mutant interacting with fellow Super Mutants in order to avoid a fight or the Ghoul holding off some Feral Ghouls that will not attack him. The initial scenes are more action and combat-based, but later on, the players have plenty of room for roleplay and interaction, especially in Diamond City. There are also opportunities for the Player Characters to improve as well. The campaign only has the one side quest, and it is possible to complete that before accepting it from the NPC, but by the end, the Player Characters will either have established themselves in the Commonwealth or be left a challenging villain they still have to track down and defeat. The latter though, lies beyond of the scope of ‘Starter Set Quest: Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland’, and the Game Master will need to develop that herself. Although there are notes on possible sequels, the scenario stands alone and complete by itself.
Physically, the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set is decently presented. The dice are nice and chunky, the character sheets well done, and both of the ‘Starter Set Rulebook’ and ‘Starter Set Quest: Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland’ are easy to read and come with plenty of illustrations. The only thing lacking physically, is a map or two.
There is a lot in The Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set that fans of the Fallout 4 and the other computer games will recognise and enjoy engaging with, whilst the rules are easily explained and staged to make both learning and teaching them an easy process, all backed up with a solid scenario. The result is that the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set is a very good introduction to both the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and the post-apocalyptic setting of the Commonwealth.

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Modiphius Entertainment will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

Slasher Serial

Reviews from R'lyeh - Sat, 05/17/2025 - 09:00

There is someone stalking us. Someone faceless or wearing a mask that hides his features, makes him anonymous, who wants us dead. He will catch us. He will slice us. He will stab us. He will play elaborate pranks on us. Pranks that do not make us laugh, but make us die. Then he will fade into the background, allowing a moment of respite to recover, only to come stalking out of the darkness, relentless, unstoppable. Picking us off, one by one. Perhaps always targeting the same person. Again, and again. All for reasons only he understands. Perhaps he has a weakness, something that will stop his unflagging hunt for you all. What will it take for you to survive? What will it take to stop him? What will you tell your family, your friends, your children about this determined horror? This ‘Slasher’ insistent upon bringing your life to end? Nothing? Or reveal the truth? Or let the trauma of your experience fall upon their heads until the Slasher from your youth comes looking for them and they realise that it was all real…
The slasher film is a subgenre of horror films that involves one or more killer stalking and killing people with knives and other sharp implements. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play, Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer are considered to be classics of the subgenre and most of them have spawned sequels and even franchises of their own, as well as books, games, and more. It is the idea of the Slasher film as a franchise complete with a returning Slasher such as Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Chucky that is explored in SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder.
SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder is a stalking, slashing, stabbing sourcebook and campaign for Shiver – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown, the horror roleplaying game published by Parable Games. It not only analyses the Slasher subgenre, but also provides six different scenarios all from the subgenre and different eras of the subgenre. These can be run as a single campaign with generational play, the players creating and roleplaying characters who are related to or descendants of the characters who were victims of a Slasher in the previous scenario. The playthrough of each film or scenario follows the structure of the Slasher film, with its advance and retreat format and its building of terror, all to a final confrontation with the Slasher. In turn, they take the Player Characters from the nineteen thirties to the twenty-tens, via the nineteen fifties, eighties, nineties, and noughties, forcing them to confront a different type of Slasher each time. Any one of the six scenarios in SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder could be run as a single one-shot, but ideally not, because in-between, the survivors will pass on an inheritance to subsequent Player Characters. In effect, the entirety of the campaign in SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder can be seen as one big Slasher film, with the inheritance interludes between each scenario as the only respite.
Although the campaign in SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder has its own Slasher(s), the supplement handily categorises the various types as monsters that the Game Master can use them in scenarios of her own creation. So, for the Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers type there is the Unstoppable Force, the Supernatural Terror for Freddy Kreuger or the Candyman, and even the Apex for the Xenomorph or the Predator, which obviously points to a different interpretation of certain Science Fiction film series. There are full stats for all of these and discussion too, of possible attacks and signature weapons, and of course, resistances and weaknesses, the discovery of the latter typically enabling the Player Characters to defeat their Slasher. Lastly, there are some thought upon what the Slasher is going to look like, what makes his appearance iconic. The advice here is fairly broad, but in that, it certainly fits the horror subgenre.
The inter-generational nature of the campaign in SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder is handled via ‘The Inheritance System’. This starts with the players deciding upon why their characters or one of the characters in their group has inherited the ire of the Slasher stalking them. This can be due to a curse, a transgression, or a prophecy, but whatever the cause the legacy means that they will inherit two things—a Boon and a Cost. A Boon can be an artefact or wisdom, a Cost a certain trauma or a fear. An artefact might be a Lucky Rabbit’s Foot or a Diary; the Wisdom might be First Aid Skills or knowledge that ‘The Truth is Out There’; the Trauma could be Fear Paralysis or Panic Attacks; and the Fear could be of Fire or Masks. The campaign makes use of these and more.
The campaign in SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder presents six very different scenarios. Each is very nicely formatted, including a set-up, suggested characters for use as both Player Characters and extra NPCs, a Classification Board, details of what the Director knows, enemies, weapons, and items, the epilogue, and the Doom Events. The Doom Events are the four events per scenario that can be triggered over the course of the script, whilst the Classification Board categorises the scenario. Actually the ‘SHIVER Board of Classification’, for each scenario it lists the length of play time, number of players required, Subgenre, Film Age Rating, Content Warning, Recommended Ability Level, and Watchlist. The latter includes the archetypal films that the script references and that the Game Master should watch for inspiration. The six are all quite linear in terms of story and lengthy too, so will probably take two sessions to play through.
The campaign opens with a prequel, ‘The Quiet Isle’. It is set in the 1920s and inspired by King Kong and Cannibal Holocaust. The Player Characters are the cast and crew of the groundbreaking film, The Lost Temple. Groundbreaking because it is going to be shot on film with the new technology. However, despite the director having sent out an advanced scouting party to get things set up on what is a lost world, by the time the Player Characters get there, it seems to have doubled down on being abandoned. Even getting to the base and the film sets is fraught with danger, and that is before things begin to go badly wrong. And that is all whilst the director is trying to get scenes shot. The scenario switches into a big chase sequence as the Player Characters try to get out of the ancient temple below the island. The scenario would be easier to run if there was a map of the sequence and it feels more Indiana Jones than King Kong in places, but it sets everything up for what is to come. This includes the villain of the whole campaign and a secret organisation with an interest in what he will doing in the next one hundred years! Its filmic nature also means that there is scope for a crossover with the publisher’s other anthology-campaign, SHIVER Blockbuster: Legends of the Silver Scream.
It leaps forward to the fifties with ‘Static Zone’. The setting is small town America and the inspiration is Stephen King’s It and Channel Zero. Thus, the Player Characters are children and the subject matter is the technological marvel of the age—television. They get to explore the town of Wayville and get a hint of what the lives are like for some of the adults in small town America. In this case, living in a box that is suburban and conservative. As children they do get see behind the façade, if only a little, and may gather a few clues that might be useful in the second part of the scenario. This takes place behind the television screen, first in an unreal reflection of the Player Characters’ own home life, then wider suburbia, and lastly, in a series of very dark versions of children’s television programmes. They will encounter dangerous mannequins, cartoon bullies, a killer pig, and Chippy, an axe-wielding maniac, who could be a man in a beaver costume or a big, animated beaver! Thematically, ‘Static Zone’ takes the conservatism of the fifties and gives it very scary twist.
The given inspiration for the next part is Alien and Stage Fright, but at times it touches a little on The Running Man as well as video nasties. Moving into the eighties, ‘Curse of the Owlman’ shares some of the unreality of ‘Static Zone’, but this time of film-making rather than television. The Player Characters are only a little older, teenagers in their school’s Audio/Visual Club who sneak into a film studio shut down following a series of on-set deaths, for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a never before released film. Unfortunately, there is a very reason as to why the film was never released, which the Player Characters discover as the Slasher on-screen climbs out into the screening room and begins chasing them through the studio, including across sound stages which are set up just like they have seen on the screen! There is more of a mystery to this scenario and some puzzles to be solved before the final confrontation and the Owlman is sucked back onto the silver screen!
As the title of the fourth scenario suggests, ‘Be Kind, Rewind’ is all about VHS video cassettes. Set in the nineties and inspired by Saw and Squid Game, the Player Characters are now adults, looking for a ‘get-rich-quick scheme and desperate to sign up for a business conference promising wealth and success, held at a rundown Las Vegas-style hotel undergoing renovation. The villain of the piece, Mister Flick, only appears on screen for most of the scenario as the Player Characters ascend the hotel being made to play one deadly game after another. The scenario does involve scenes of torture that the Player Characters will need to find a way to stop, typically by winning the various games.

A cross between Terminator and Bubba Ho-tep, though there also hints of the novel, The Thursday Murder Club, ‘Fear, Scream-Lined’ takes place in the noughties at Shaded Pines, a retirement village. The Player Characters are retirees, members of the ‘Midnight Mystery Society’ to stave off the boredom of life in the highly regulated community, when the leader of their group goes missing. Investigating—or rather, being overly nosy—ends with them all following in her footsteps and receiving personalised care in the Shaded Pines’ medical facilities. Investigating further reveals that the retirement home is a front for a secret project to create the next evolution in fear, a biomechanical homunculus capable of transforming into the other Slashers. Which in this case means those Chippy, Mister Flick, and the Owlman! Of course, the creation turns on the creator in the final scene before the Player Characters have to battle it in the laboratory. This is weirdly creepy and made all the more challenging by the players having to roleplay retirees.

The campaign comes to a head in the last and final scenario, ‘Re-Slasher-Ed’. Combining Cabin in the Woods, Monster Squad, and Freddy vs Jason, it brings back the Slasher for 2010s at ‘Slash-fest 201X’, a convention dedicated to the horror subgenre and the works of a late director renowned for his horror films. It unsurprising that this final scenario is self-referential, with room for Player Characters from previous instalments to star as attendees much as Slashers from those previous episodes do, and there are plenty of callbacks to those instalments along with room for more. These include a playdate with Chippy and facing Mister Flick in a virtual realm, all the Player Characters have a final showdown with the villain behind it all. It brings the campaign to a decent close, but is less useful as a standalone affair given that it references so much of the rest of the book.

Physically, SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder is another good-looking book from Parable Games. Although there are moments of respite, the artwork looms out of the darkness at you, cartoonishly horrifying in its depiction of the monsters and maniacs that will threaten one set of Player Characters after another. Unfortunately, it does need an edit in places and the writing feels a little rushed.
Unfortunately, SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder does not work quite as well as the publisher’s other shared anthology campaign, SHIVER Blockbuster: Legends of the Silver Scream. Whereas in SHIVER Blockbuster: Legends of the Silver Scream, the players are roleplaying the same characters from one film or scenario to the next, although performing a different role each time, in SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder, the players are not roleplaying the same characters in each of its scenarios. They are roleplaying different characters, some or all of whom are related to characters who appeared in a previous scenario. They are also playing in different eras, decades apart, with each scenario showcasing a different type of Slasher each time. Whilst there is the connection of the villain between scenarios, the overall connection between the scenarios is not as strong or as immediate because of the campaign framework. Obviously, the supplement has to showcase the different types of Slasher and different types of Slasher particular to each era, but this weakens the connections between the scenarios and the campaign, because unlike the film franchises which inspire the supplement, there is no horrifying realisation that Michael Myers or Freddy Kreuger has come back from the grave to hunt us down again.
Conceptually, SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder is a great idea, but the supplement really shows how difficult that idea is to bring to fruition and make it engaging for the players. This is not to say that the idea is unplayable or indeed, that SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder is unplayable. Rather that ultimately, SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder is easier to run as an anthology of disconnected Slasher scenarios than as a connected campaign.

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Parable Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

Solitaire: Innsmouth: The Stolen Child

Reviews from R'lyeh - Sat, 05/17/2025 - 03:00

It begins in simple, almost Film Noir fashion. There is not much call for a Private Investigator right now in Arkham. So, both cases and funds are light when the woman comes knocking at your office door. Her son, Lester, has been kidnapped, she says. Her husband did it, along with his family, and they have fled back to their hometown of Innsmouth. She wants you to get him back, but warns you that it will not be easy. The people of Innsmouth are strange, likely members of a cult, and do not take kindly to outsiders. She suggests that perhaps they can be bribed with gold, so obsessed are with the precious metal, but otherwise, you need to be careful. You promise you will be and so you find yourself ashore in the dilapidated, blighted town on the New England coast, your senses assailed by the smell of fish and the sight of buildings that were once a sign of wealth gone to seed and decrepitude. Can you rescue Lester from one of the most notorious towns in Lovecraft County? Can you find any sign of the previous investigator that the woman hired, only a week ago? Can you ‘Escape from Innsmouth’?

Innsmouth: The Stolen Child puts you in the flat shoes a Private Investigator hired to look into a kidnapping of a young boy in one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous creations, the town described in his short story, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Published by Blue Fox Gamebooks following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a solo adventure book in the mould of the Fighting Fantasy series of solo game books as typified by The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. In fact, it is only slightly more complex than the Fighting Fantasy series and requires no more than a pair of six-sided dice and paper and pencil to play. Your character has seven attributes. These are Health, Speed, Accuracy, Stealth, Detection, and Power. Speed is how quick you are in terms of reaction time and running; Accuracy is aim and precision; Stealth is hiding and quiet movement; Detection is both spotting things and reading people; and Power is brute strength. In addition, your character also has Conspicuousness, measuring how much you stand out and bring attention to yourself. Health is set at a value of fifteen and is likely to go down over the course of the investigation, whilst Conspicuousness is set at a starting value of four and will go up and down, and even reset if your character changes his appearance. The value of the other attributes are determined by rolling a single die and adding six to each. They will not change over the course of the investigation.

Mechanically, Innsmouth: The Stolen Child is simple. For most of the attributes, you roll two six-sided dice and if the result is equal to, or lower than the value of the attribute, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. This is reversed for Conspicuousness, where rolling higher than its value means that you have not been spotted. Combat is fast and deadly, especially when firearms are involved. Attack order is determined by Speed, successfully hitting by Accuracy, and damage by weapon. Firearms have a chance of killing a target with one shot. Damage is deducted from the Health of the character or NPC. The character does have a limited inventory and can carry and find rations, effectively the equivalent of packed lunches, which will restore Health if eaten.

Innsmouth: The Stolen Child consists of six hundred paragraphs and within moments of stepping off the boat in Innsmouth harbour, you are presented with hard choices. Investigate some crates on the wharves even though opening them might cause a noise and raise Conspicuousness? Deal with a man begging for death? Approach a solitary man sitting on the dock of the bay? The story funnels your character from the drop-off point into Innsmouth town proper where it opens up again after making rendezvousing with a contact in the town. There is a pleasingly appropriate point here to get a change of clothes and so enable the character to reduce his Conspicuousness. The story unfolds around places familiar from Lovecraft’s short story, including encountering the bus that takes the narrator from Newburyport to Innsmouth, but the much of the action and investigation takes place in the Gilman House, Innsmouth’s only hotel of note. Getting in—and getting a room—is surprisingly easy, but searching the hotel is not. Getting out, especially with young Lester in tow, is harder. Sometimes finding a uniform to use as a disguise will help, but at other times, it will not, as the hotel staff will wander what you are doing. This is a nice touch, forcing the player to think about remaining in disguise or not.

Innsmouth: The Stolen Child is an adventure that presents the reader with a lot of detail and a lot of options to chose from as you move from paragraph to paragraph, often as many as four or five. Often, the reader will find that there is not enough time to do everything at a location before you are pushed onward into the investigation. Innsmouth: The Stolen Child does not have a Sanity mechanic, but there moments throughout the investigation where the character’s fear overcomes his judgement and he flees a scene, again likely in the process losing an opportunity to investigate there further. As with all solo adventure books, as you move from one paragraph entry to the next, you switch back and forth through the pages of the book getting glimpses of artwork and wondering how you might get to them in the story from amongst the maze of entries. Or not given the fact that that is a horror scenario and you want to get away unscathed.

Physically, Innsmouth: The Stolen Childis well presented and written. The artwork, all black and white, is decent.

Innsmouth: The Stolen Child is a big adventure that presents you with a lot of detail and options to explore, in which stealth through the Conspicuousness mechanic plays a big part, whilst not shying away from the deadliness of combat. It presents both an opportunity and a reason for the reader to want to visit and hopefully, escape from, the dread town of Innsmouth, and so make an entertainingly desperate return to The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
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Blue Fox Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

Friday Fantasy: Terror in the Streets

Reviews from R'lyeh - Fri, 05/16/2025 - 09:00

Terror in the Streets is perhaps one of the most mundane scenarios written for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay in recent times. In fact, there is nothing outré, weird, or even profane in the scenario, that is, unless the Game Master decides that is what she wants it to include. In which case, the scenario provides options to add aplenty. Otherwise, the Game Master could run it simply as a straight historical scenario and her players would be none the wiser that it is written for a fantasy roleplaying game with a certain reputation. Similarly, the author of Terror in the Streets breaks his track record of doing bad things with typically big things inspired by his childhood toys to English villages in the 1630s. Instead, he shifts the action to Paris and sets it against the background of the city’s political and religious turmoil as the Player Characters are hired to investigate the disappearances of a number of children from across the city. Yet despite that mundanity, Terror in the Streets is a terrific scenario, rich in historical detail background—decent enough to serve as the backdrop for further adventures in the city during the seventeenth century—and rife with real and interesting historical figures for the Player Characters to interact with, including the greatest and most powerful political figure of his age. However, Terror in the Streets suffers from a truly terrible problem of its own, one that can be almost, but not quite completely, be blamed upon the author. It cannot, though, be forgiven.

Terror in the Streets is published by Lamentations ofthe Flame Princess and fulfils a brief that was given to the author as, “Jack the Ripper, but 250 years early.” It is a murder mystery—inspired by historical events of thirty years before, the ‘Werewolf of Châlons’—involving the disappearances and then deaths of initially, four children from the streets of Paris. It is quickly followed by more as the rate of disappearances and deaths accelerates, driving the Player Characters to investigate ever deeper in an attempt to stop further murders and whatever it is that the murderer is planning. Clearly, Paris has a serial killer stalking its streets and alleyways, one who like Jack the Ripper did in London two-hundred-and-fifty-years later, taunts the authorities with a series of letters that hint at his motivations. Ostensibly, the Player Characters are hired by a Deputy Provost, one of several city officials reporting to the Provost of Paris, the king’s representative and governor of the city, though other set-ups are possible. The adventure opens on November 7th, 1630, and will be over by November 18th. The Player Characters have the freedom of the city to investigate as they like, first the deaths and then the letters. Similarly, the players are free to approach the investigation how they want and the scenario facilitates that with a very clean layout that makes everything easy to find by the Game Master and by not having the players roll for their characters to find clues. Instead, the focus is on interpreting them and using them to further the investigation and the story.

However, there is one issue that will hamper the Player Characters’ investigation—Paris. Getting around Paris is difficult, a city just two square miles, but threaded through with narrow streets and alleyways that makes getting anywhere slow and occasionally difficult, and this despite the fact that there are numerous taxi services that run throughout the city. Then there are the Parisians, who will grow increasingly fractious and give themselves over to mob rule, which will ultimately lead to city offices closing, Paris being shut down, and martial law being declared. This tension is measured through an ‘Unrest Die’, a large—ideally, the largest that the Game Master has—six-sided die which sits in the middle of the table where the players can see it. As the tension rises, the Game Master will adjust the die to the new face indicating the increase in tension. Thus, the players will be aware of the tension in both narrative terms, as portrayed by the Game Master, and in mechanical terms. It is, as the author acknowledges, very similar to the ‘Escalation Die’ used to track the degree of action in Pelgrane Press’ 13th Age.

The investigation is neatly organised into tautly detailed little scenes that are clearly presented on the page making each and every easy for the Game Master to run and expound upon as necessary. The smaller scenes are typically with the families of the missing children and thus pertinent to the exploration, whilst the longer, more detailed scenes and locations tend to be red herrings—a potential werewolf attack and the search of a townhouse belonging to the wizard, Alain de la Mare.* Much like the rest of the scenario, these scenes can be played mundane or magical. Thus, for the encounter with the werewolf if magic factors into the campaign, this yes, it is werewolf, but if the campaign is mundane, then the werewolf is a fake. The Author does give advice on the Player Character use of spells to gain information, in case they decide to go down that route. Ultimately, the efforts of the Player Characters’ investigation will reveal that Armand Jean du Plessis, First Duke of Richelieu, also known as Cardinal Richelieu, is connected to the murders, but how? There is potential at the end of the scenario for the Player Characters to actually gain a degree of influence over the most powerful man in France, for good or ill. They could actually change history here if the ‘Day of the Dupes’ does not end in the way it did in our history! That said, apart from these scant few hours when the Player Characters can leverage their knowledge into a proper favour, Cardinal Richelieu is described as constantly playing fourth dimensional Chess and will always be a step or three in front of whatever they have cooked up.

* Yes, this really is who you think it is meant to be. Just not living in Northampton.

The scenario is very well appointed and the Game Master ably supported. Besides the description and map of Paris, there are full stats and details of Cardinal Richelieu, details of the various taxi companies operating in the city, and a full discussion of the possible outcomes to the scenario.

There are also the various letters sent by the perpetrators as handouts, rare in a fantasy roleplaying game, and a table of encounters. For the most part, there are no stats provided for these, so the Game Master will need to provide these herself.

Lastly, Terror in the Streets closes with a quintet of appendices. The first, ‘La Perfide Angleterre’ provides an optional event involving an English spymaster who wants the Player Characters to smuggle a ring out from a prisoner currently being held in the Grand Châlet, which is also the headquarters of the Provost of Paris. The English spymaster simply calls himself ‘W’, so could be Sir Francis Walsingham as the appendix suggests. Which is odd, because Walsingham has been dead for forty years when the scenario starts. The second appendix gives a full description of the Grand Châlet, whilst the third is potentially the most fun. ‘Musketeers’ gives stats and details of the main characters from Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay and thus other retroclones. It opens up the possibility of Terror in the Streets being as a one-shot as an investigation in the style of The Three Musketeers using the given characters, but it also suggests that Terror in the Streets could be run using other roleplaying games set in the swashbuckling period, such as Musketeers vs. Cthulhu: A Simple Nightfall RPGBook, AllFor One: Régime Diabolique, Swordpoint: A Swashbuckling Roleplaying Zine, and Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 France, though the scenario will require some historical adjustment as it is set in 1648 rather than 1630. The fourth appendix, ‘Comment t’appelles-tu?’ provides a list of ready names for NPCs in the scenario, whilst the firth appendix, ‘Maison Richelieu’, which describes the home of Cardinal Richelieu, should the Player Characters ever need to visit (or break in).

Physically, Terror in the Streets is very well presented. The artwork has a slightly scratchy, cartoonish quality to it, but is still decent, and the cartography is good.

So, what of its utterly awful problem? Terror in the Streets—beginning with the acronym for its title—contains a profusion of puns and bad humour that in places does not so much veer as leer into slightly poor taste. To be clear, this is no Asterion or Beware the Mindfuck, so not utterly tasteless, but the schoolboy humour and dad jokes of Terror in the Streets gets wearisome very quickly. That said, in comparison to both Asterion and Beware the Mindfuck, let there be no doubt that Terror in the Streets is a work of profound genius and skill.

Humour aside—and there is a lot to put aside—Terror in the Streets is a very good scenario, an engaging murder mystery with lots of historical flavour and detail and options to run with or without magic, depending on how fantastical the Game Master’s campaign actually is. The scenario is well written, well presented, and well, one of the best scenarios for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay.

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DISCLAIMER: The author of this review is an editor who has edited titles for Lamentations of the Flame Princess on a freelance basis. He was not involved in the production of this book and his connection to both publisher and author has no bearing on the resulting review.

—oOo—
Lamentations of the Flame Princess will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

Fantasy Fridays: Man, Myth & Magic

The Other Side - Fri, 05/16/2025 - 06:50

Man, Myth & Magic by Herbert "Herbie" Brennan and J. Stephen Peek and published originally byYaquinto Publications in 1982, and now published (in PDF and single softcover formats) by Precis Intermedia.

I have always been fascinated by this game. The name of course grabbed me for two reasons. There was the whole "Myth and Magic" side to it all which in 1982 was a big draw for me. There was the magazine and encyclopedia series also called Man, Myth & Magic that dealt with all sorts of occult-related topics.

I read reviews for it in Dragon Magazine (#80) and White Dwarf (#41) and was actually quite curious about it. The reviews really ripped into the game, and I needed to know if it was as bad as they made it sound. Sadly, I never found a copy near me, and a mail-order of $19.00 + tax and shipping and handling made it a little more out of reach when it was new and all I had was a paper route for spending money.

But I was always drawn to historical games. If I could play or run a game and learn something about history at the same time, then it was time well spent. I have enjoyed quite a few, mostly Victorian-era ones, and others I ripped online so much that I promised I wasn't going to rip on them anymore.

Man, Myth, & Magic sadly belongs to the camp of a historical mishmash, that is to say, it is about as historically accurate as an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Xena and it is very entertaining in the right frame of mind. The same is true for this game. Great, in the right frame of mind. In fact, I think that now, living in a post-Xena world, there is a place for this game that did not exist in 1982.

For this review, I am going to consider my original boxed set from 1982 (now minus the dice) and the newer PDF versions found on DriveThruRPG published by Precis Intermedia. In both cases, the material is the same minus some of the extras that came in the boxed set like the dice and a pad of character sheets.

Man, Myth, & Magic

Man, Myth, & Magic was published in a boxed set of three books (same covers), with a pad of character sheets, some maps, and dice. The PDF combines the three books into one 132 page volume. The original boxed set retailed for $19.00 in 1982 ($55 in today's buying power) and the PDFs sell for $7.95 today. The books feature color covers and black & white interiors.

Book 1

Book 1 is 24 pages and covers the "Basic Game" and the game most like the one as originally conceived of by Herbie Brennan. In this game, the players play gladiators in the time of the Roman Emperors. Which one? That is up to a random dice roll unless of course, the players want something different.

It's an interesting idea, but...well there are some problems here. According to the back of the box, it is the Summer of 41 CE. Cool. But Caligula was assassinated in January of 41 CE. Tiberius ruled 14 to 37 CE and Nero was Emperor from 54 to 68 CE. The only Emperor in the Summer of 41 was Claudius. Adding dates in parentheses would have been a nice touch. Let's not even get into the fact that Cleopatra VII, the last of the Egyptian Pharaohs, had died back in 30 BCE, 71 years before the events of this game, but that looks like her on the cover. I'll talk more about this later. In theory you can tun this game from 4000 BCE to 500 (or 1000) CE.

You begin with your Roman Gladiator and your two percentile d20s and roll up your characteristics. The characteristics in the Basic Game are Strength, Speed, Skill (not used just yet), Endurance, Intelligence, and Courage. The scores range from 1 to 100. You add all these up for your Life Points (so 5 to 500), you fall unconscious at 20 or below and dead at 0 or below.

The Basic rules take your gladiator from start to a bit of combat and adventure with the maxim that the best way to learn is to do. This is a tactic that the rest of the game uses. At the end of this, your character is ready for new adventures.

The neat bit, and one I want to revisit, is the idea of reincarnation. That is if your character dies they can be reincarnated.

Book 2

Book 2 covers the "Advanced Game" and includes 40 pages. Here we learn more about skills, the Power score, and the different Nationalities (10) and Classes associated with each (2-5 each). All are completely random and no real attempt is made to explain why say an Egyptian Sorcerer, a Gaulish Barbarian, a Roman Gladiator, and a Hibernian Leprechaun would all be part of the same adventuring party. Ok. That's not entirely true, but the explanation takes some digging.

Up first is determining your Nationality. Again a random roll gives you African, Briton, Egyptian, Gaul, Greek, Hebrew, Hibernian, Visigoth, Roman, and Oriental. Each at 10% chance. Within each nationality, there are character classes. Regardless of how many there is an equal chance for any given class. Most nationalities have a sort of "fighter" like class and all have merchant. There are two classes open to women characters only, Wisewoman (African) and Sybil (Greek). Details are given for all the classes, 20 in total, but not a lot of information. In most cases only a paragraph here and some more details later on. This brings up a persistent issue, the rules are a bit scattered everywhere throughout the book.

Additionally, there are two "Special Categories" of players (not characters) of "Orator" and "Sage" or essentially a storyteller and a record keeper. Much in the same way Basic D&D has a "Caller." Not much else is mentioned about these roles however.

This character is considered to be your first incarnation. Anytime your character dies, you can then reincarnate. This allows you to change your nationality, class, and gender and retain a little bit of the Skill from a previous incarnation. It is an interesting idea, I am not 100% certain though that it works. Knowing gamers I see a situation where players would play a character only to get them to die for a chance at a better character next time.

There is a fun chart on inheritance that would be fun to port over to other games. Related there are our ubiquitous tables of equipment.

Some of the other secondary "Optional" characteristics are also detailed. These include Agility, Charm, Dexterity, Drinking, and so on. These are really more akin to "skills." The trouble is that some of these you have to roll higher, some you have to roll lower and others you don't roll at all. There is no rhyme or reason here.

Combat rules follow and they remind me a bit of Runequest. Nothing really special really. Strength points over 50 can add to your damage, Skill points over 50 can add to your "To hit" chance. Combat, like all the rolls here, start with a basic 50% chance to hit. The Basic game just has you roll. The Advanced game has you make called shots. Classes with Combat as their "Prime Ability" can improve their ability to hit even more. All classes can spend Power to also increase their to-hit bonus; 10 points of Power to increase your chance by 1%. Interestingly armor does not stop you from being hit, it does reduce damage taken.

The goal of the game though is the accumulation of Power. Power advances your character and can overcome that 50% failure rate. Power also is the, well, power behind Magic.

The last third or so of the book covers all sorts of additional rules. Some seem tossed in, to be honest. Poisons are covered as are spells.

Magic, as expected, is given some special attention, though not as much as I was expecting. Magic is assumed to be real and work, at least part of the time. Magic is described as "Coincidence," a spell is uttered and something happens whether it caused it or not. "Science," Damascus steel is given an example. The superior technology was seen as magic. "Psychic Phenomena" which not really an explanation at all, likewise "Trance State" and as "Lost Knowledge." Though no explanation is really given as to how magic works.

Book 3

The adventures take up Book 3 and is 64 pages. This book is for the Lore Master (Game Master) only and is also one of the weaker parts of the game. The Adventures, while interesting, are a bit of a railroad. In order to succeed the players have to hit all the parts in order and then move on to the next adventure.

The adventures include the following:

The Dragon Loose in Rome. Not a dragon really, but a rogue T-Rex. Not that this makes any more sense, but ok, points for effort.
Apollo's Temple. Emperor Caligula sends the characters to the Temple of Apollo aka Stonehenge.
The Witches of Lolag Shlige. The characters then have to go to Ireland (Hibernia) and rescue a child from some witches.
The Great Pyramid Revealed. Caligula has issued a death warrant for the characters. They find themselves in the Great Pyramid of Giza.

These adventures are a prelude to the published adventures. There are some neat ideas here, but the adventures lack something for me. Actually, it lacks a lot of things for me, but I could make some changes to make them work.

There are some encounter tables, but they only cover the areas that the adventures are detailed here. I also have to note there are no monsters here. Just humans.

One of the bigger criticisms of this game at the time was the then $19.00 price tag, which is about $55 in today's buying power. Now, $20 for a boxed set of three books, character sheets, and dice sounds like a steal. With the PDF at just $7.95, it is a price I think should attract anyone interested in this game.

The art is in black & white, which is expected and welcome, but there is not a lot of it and some of it is repeated throughout the books.

Man, Myth, & Magic sometimes feels like two different games, or rather two different ideas merged into one game. I feel that the classic Roman Gladiator/Basic Game was Herbie Brennan's idea and the worldwide game of various nations and types or the Advanced Game was Steve Peek's. Given that Brennan started working on a game called "Arena" which was a Gladitorial RPG. I don't have anything concrete to base this on other than a feeling.

About Reincarnation

Reincarnation is quite a big deal in this game. This is not a huge surprise given Herbert Brennan's publication history. His book "The Reincarnation Workbook: A Complete Course in Recalling Past Lives" could work as a guide for this game. Personally, I would like to use the reincarnation idea to help smooth out some of the issues with different times. So adventurers from Cleopatra VII's Egypt can then deal with Tiberius and then help in Boudicea's raid on Londinium. Something similar to the Old Soul quality in Unisystem.

Somehow, using the idea of the Distant Memory, which, like Old Soul, allows the characters to draw on past life knowledge and skill. That is easy to do in Unisystem, not so easy to do in D&D like games with very rigidly defined classes. Taking a level in another class might do it.

Not the same thing, but great fun

There is an interesting game here but I think the concept of it is greater than the rules as presented actually allow. It never quite lives up to what the box claims. Nor is it the abomination that earlier reviews made it out to be. I think most reviewers balked at the price tag and the fact that the game did not offer anything new; at least not anything that meant going through the rather clunky rules.

It is most certainly not a historically accurate game. It is historically inspired, to be sure, but not by any means accurate.

The bottom line is that the game isn't good; in fact, it's rather bad in many respects. That is not to say that someone won't find this game interesting or fun. There are far, far better games out there. The game has some things that I enjoy, but not enough to make me want to play the RPG on a regular basis.

Larina Nix for Man, Myth & Magic

Given this game's history and other tie-ins, a witch character is absolutely called for. As I have pointed out before in my *D&D games, witches can't use raise dead or resurrection spells, nor can they be used on them; witches can only reincarnate. This works well with Herbie Brennan's own ideas. So I am left sitting here wondering why it has taken me this long to make a witch character, especially one whose backstory (and future story) includes reincarnation.

Indeed, the connection between Herbie Brennan, this game, and his own interest in the occult makes this character a no-brainer. A lot here works well for Larina, but nothing is perfect for her. There are sorcerers, wise-women, and even the leprechaun looks like fun.

Larina "Nix" Nichols
Daughter of Lars

Nationality:
Class: "Witch" (Mystic)
Prime Ability: Intelligence

BASIC
Strength: 45
Speed: 66
Skill: 78
Endurance: 60
Intelligence: 89
Courage: 75
Power: 91
LIFE POINTS: 335

OPTIONAL
Agility: 58
Charm: 15
Determination: 77
Dexterity: 60
Drinking: 22
Devotion: 20 (to the Old Ways)
Hearing: 50
Height: 5'4"

Language: 86% (3) Brittonic (Fluent), Latin (Basic), Saxon (Rudimentary)
Loyalty: 92 (to coven and outcast kin)
Luck: 3
Mental: 23
Read & Write: 92% (Brittonic runes, Latin scripts)
Senses: 45
Sight: 60
Stealth: 60

Swimming: 65
Portage: 40
Throwing: 48
Weight: 122 lbs

City Knowledge: 29 (limited, prefers villages)
Desert Knowledge: 5 (none)
Mountain Knowledge: 52 (hills, sacred sites)
Sea Knowledge: 51 (familiar with coastlines)
Woods Knowledge: 86 (knows herbs, hidden paths, spirits)

Magical/Special Fundamental Failure Rate: 5%/ 21%
First Strike Capacity: 125
Basic To Hit Number: 66
Number of Blows per Combat: 2 Per Round: 1
Damage Bonus: +2
CMF: +10 when using spells, herbs, or improvised items

Weapons Allowed: Dagger, small blade, staff, sling
Armour Allowed: Leather or cloth robes only (prefers no armor)

Dexterity Figure: 17

Spells

Healing - 1 pp = 2 LP
Corn Dolly - 5 points of damage
Woven Cross (Cross of Brigit) - Restores LP
Pentacle - Turn Demons

Who Should Play This Game?

I would say the PDF, at just under $8, makes it worthwhile for the very, very curious. I have my boxed set, and I am happy with it, but my expectations were low, and my curiosity was really high. The PDFs are good, and Precis Intermedia did a great job cleaning them up and getting them out, so that is also a point in favor of the game.

The game itself is only worth about 2 stars. My curiosity about it and desire to have it pushed it closer to 4 stars. Ultimately, I will give 3 stars since I don't want to unduly affect Precis Intermedia games' overall rating. But don't grab this unless you are really curious (which is a good reason) or want to see how not to design a game.

There is another group that might be interested in this. Anyone who takes Herbie Brennan's ideas of reincarnation and astral projection seriously can use this game as a guide for exploring ideas in his Reincarnation Workbook. Not my thing, but some one will enjoy that aspect of it.

Still, there is fun to be had with the right group and mindset.

Links

Timeship, Herbie Brennan's other game.

Man, Myth & Magic RPG (Classic Reprint) Published by Precis Intermedia

Roll for Sanity Unboxing video

Friday Faction: Art by Nohr

Reviews from R'lyeh - Fri, 05/16/2025 - 03:00

Johan Nohr has had an almost unparalleled effect upon the roleplaying home. Together with Pelle Nilsson, he created Mörk Borg, the pitch-black pre-apocalyptic fantasy roleplaying game which brings a Nordic death metal sensibility to the Old School Renaissance, designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. Since its publication in 2019, has gone to become the basis of several other roleplaying games, such Cy-Borg, Pirate Borg, and Death in Space, as well as a host of other supplements, scenarios, fanzines, and other third-party content. It has not only retained its popularity, but become a firm fixture of the Old School Renaissance hobby, even if it does not share the same origins. In particular, Johan Nohr created the look of Mörk Borg, beginning with the distinctive chromium yellow of its cover to the swathes of deep black and neon pink inside. The look and style of Mörk Borg is art punk, inspired by the post-punk rock sophistication that drew on the theory of art.

Art by Nohr, subtitled ‘Drawings and Doodles by Johan Nohr, Made Between 2006 and 2033’ and published by Stockholm Kartell following a successful Kickstarter campaign, is part retrospective, part showcase of the graphic designer and illustrator’s work from before, during, and after Mörk Borg. It is a coffee table artbook, that in truth is dominated by his art for Mörk Borg and other roleplaying games, but there is more than that just here, some it of simple sketches, some of it more. Some of it is simply annotated, most left to speak for itself. From the beginning there is always a jagged edge to Nohr’s style, figures and monsters lurking in the gloom, such as ‘The Skull Crone. Malevolent forest spirit I made up when living in the woods’, the annotation a story in itself, the old woman caught in the shadows of the tall trees, clawed hands reaching out, the skulls piled atop her head hiding her face in their shadows as green flames flicker from their eye sockets. Others seem to stagger at the viewer, whilst other images draw on classic heroic heavy metal fantasy, great horned helmets and mighty weapons, but here the weapons are cracked and stained through use, the helmets keeping the warriors anonymously inhuman. Witches wail and goblins cackle, strange figures stare accusingly at the reader.

‘Barkhäxan’ looks at an earlier collaboration with Pelle Nilsson, a folk horror roleplaying game, a startling simple black and white suggestion of horror and the unknown that contracts sharply with the more widely seen Mörk Borg style. This is widely showcased in the book, with covers and internal illustrations from titles both official and third-party. Some are accompanied by fuller explanations, such as that given for ‘Wickheads’ who have lanterns for heads and who lurk in the dark only for their lights to blaze and blind, before going dark again and striking at the temporarily sightless. They are shown in four images, charting the development of the creatures. For the Mörk Borg there are interesting images of books that have never appeared, such as ‘The End’ which would have depicted the ‘36 Miseries’ which marked the end of the world. The illustrations for third-party both show how popular Mörk Borg has been and act as an illustrated catalogue. The artwork for Cy_Borg is given a similar treatment, but typically less monochrome and more frenetic in its use of colour and energy, but clearly a Mörk Borg-style game.

Nohr changes tack for Into the Odd Remastered with a more subdued style that consists of collages that depict a world of industrial horror and mystery. There is a subtlety to this not seen in the punchiness of the illustrations elsewhere in the book. It is a shame that there is not more of this, both here and in other roleplaying games. ‘Other Projects’ covers a range of promotional posters, album covers, and other roleplaying products. Other sections highlight the other sometimes near illegible typography employed in Mörk Borg, whilst the most fun are the ‘Cardboard Drawings’ that Nohr decorates packages he sends out, whilst the artbook comes to a close with some of the maps he drew for Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days and its predecessor.

Physically, Art by Nohr is an imposing book. All of the artwork is crisply reproduced and it is fantastic to see so much of it presented in double its original size given that its typical format was digest-sized. It also provides an opportunity for the reader to see a lot of art that can only be found on the covers of hard-to-find books and fanzines. Fans of the Old School Renaissance and fans of the artpunk will both enjoy this book, but ultimately Art by Nohr is definitely a book for fans of Johan Nohr and for Mörk Borg, who will appreciate seeing the collection and development of the artpunk style.

—oOo—
Stockholm Kartell will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

Orc.One