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

—oOo—

Most magazines for the roleplaying hobby give the gamer support for the game of his choice, or at the very least, support for the hobby’s more popular roleplaying games. Whether that is new monsters, spells, treasures, reviews of newly released titles, scenarios, discussions of how to play, painting guides, and the like… That is how it has been all the way back to the earliest days of The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines. Wyrd Science is different—and Wyrd Science – Expert Rules (Wyrd Science #2) is different in comparison to Wyrd Science Session Zero. Neither contain a single monster, spell, treasure, review, scenario, or the like, but with Wyrd Science – Expert Rules gone is the organisation of ‘Common Items’ and ‘Rare Items’ of the inaugural issue. Instead, it is divided between a ‘Quick-start’ section providing reasonably short introductions to various aspects of the hobby, whilst the ‘Features’ provides even longer pieces that together look at the old and the very new.

Wyrd Science – Expert Rules (Vol. 1/Issue 2) was published by Best in Show in September, 2021 following a successful Kickstarter campaign. If Wyrd Science Session Zero took a little of its cue from the red box edition of Basic Dungeons & Dragons, then with its pastel blue cover and subtitle of ‘Fantasy Adventure Game Expert Magazine’, the second issue of Wyrd Science takes its cue from Expert Dungeons & Dragons—or rather the expert rules of the Moldvay/Cook B/X Dungeons & Dragons published in 1981 and which was forty years old in 2021. However, the modern reader should allay any fears that Wyrd Science – Expert Rules (Vol. 1/Issue 2) is all about the ‘Old School’. No, whilst this issue definitely looks back, it very much looks forward to the here and now with its coverage of current gaming releases outside of the Old School Renaissance. The result is a pleasing mix of contrasts and thoroughly engaging reads.

The ‘Quick-start Section’ dives straight in with a series of interesting interviews. ‘Cast Pod: What Would The Smart Party Do?’ interviews Baz Stevenson of the UK’s long running podcast, What Would The Smart Party Do? This follows on from ‘Zoom Of Horrors – The Smart Party On Gaming Online In 2020’ from Wyrd Science Session Zero which explained how they adapted to playing online in 2020 and how it came to dominate much of their social life and how they coped with so many roleplaying games competing for their attention. This article looks more at Stevenson’s experiences both playing and hosting the podcast, providing a good overview and introduction to the prospective listener. ‘Work In Progress: Coyote & Crow’ is an interview with Connor Alexander, the designer of the now released Science Fiction and fantasy roleplaying game set in a First Nations alternate future where colonisation never happened and created by Native authors and artists. This highlights some of the challenges of creating and then running a highly successful Kickstarter campaign—over one million dollars—and how that affected the design of the game, and again, another good interview.

If ‘Work In Progress: Coyote & Crow’ was looking at a modern design, ‘HEX LIBRIS: Jon Peterson – The Elusive Shift’ is the first article in Wyrd Science – Expert Rules to look back. The magazine’s third interview is with Jon Peterson, who has just then had published The Elusive Shift – How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity. This history explores early role-playing games evolved in the nineteen seventies whilst searching for that point where they became roleplaying games. Anyone who has read that book will still find much to be of interest in the interview, whilst anyone else should be intrigued enough to go find a copy.

‘ART OF DARKNESS: The 1000 Year Play-through’ follows on from Anna Maxwell’s ‘Quickstart – Alone In The Dark’ from Wyrd Science Session Zero, which explored the growth of solo play during the COVID-19 periods of lockdown, highlighting in particular the superb storytelling to found through playing Tim Hutchings’ Thousand Year Old Vampire. Here the magazine interviews the Wellington-based designer, Tim Denee, who began illustrating his play-through of the game. The interview is short and to the point, but is undone by only having two illustrations taken from that play-through. Thankfully, they can be found here, but another page highlighting them would not have gone amiss.

‘KICKSTOPPING: The Shipping Forecast’ examines the impact of the Pandemic on shipping and gaming—and the forecast is not good, whilst ‘CREDIT CARDS: MAGIC COLLECTORS In The Black’ highlights the recent rise in price at auction of some of the rarest cards for both Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon. Anna Blackwell examines another trend in ‘DESIGN OF THE TIMES: Small Games, Big Ideas’. This is the concept of designers challenging themselves to create playable games in as small a format as possible. These include on a business card, on a single page, and in mint tins and even jam jars! There is an emphasis here on the boardgame rather than the roleplaying game, but there are plenty of those to be found if you go looking. There are lots of examples given and these are useful pointers, though the article does lack illustrations. The ‘Quick-start Section’ comes to close with ‘Pierre Mortel’s CROOKED TALES: The Found Diary of a Crowman adventurer – Chapter 2’ which chronicles the further adventures of a hapless adventurer, whilst Mira Manga goes out with ‘MANGA’s MUSINGS: LARPing Around’ taking herself away from the computer screen (mostly) and back into the gaming world.

The Features section begins with coverage of the roleplaying game which inspired the issue—B/X Basic Dungeons & Dragons with a trilogy of articles. ‘Dungeon Life Begins at 40’ is an interview with the surviving members of the team involved in the creation of this version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons—David ‘Zeb’ Cook and Stephen Marsh—and explores the genesis of the edition and its continuing influence today. Along with some crisply produced piece of artwork from this edition, this captures the flavour and intent of the edition, laying the groundwork for the subsequent two articles. Peter Bebergal’s ‘Words Against Wizardry’ highlights how the ‘Inspirational Source Material’ in B/X Basic Dungeons & Dragons was in many ways better than that offered by E. Gary Gygax’s ‘Appendix N’ to be found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, whilst ‘B/X to the Future’ looks at how the Old School Renaissance came about and was really kicked off with Troll Lord Games’ 2004 Castles & Crusades, before coming up to date to examine the many retroclones and near-retroclones have been inspired by B/X Basic Dungeons & Dragons. At the head of them in 2020 when Wyrd Science – Expert Rules was published, and still there today, is Old School Essentials. The article points out that the Old School Renaissance is not all dungeon-delving, and that there are other options within with the movement when it comes to roleplaying and storytelling, such as Troika, Mausrítter, and MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror RoleplayingGame. Together this is a lovely trilogy of articles which showcase just influential this edition of Basic Dungeons & Dragons has been.

If the first part of the Features section is a trilogy of articles about one game and its influence, the next trilogy focuses on three, much more modern titles, starting with Thirsty Sword Lesbians. Romance is not a new subject in roleplaying, but for the most part, it has been explored in storytelling games rather than mainstream titles. Wyrd Science – Expert Rules leaps into the definite here and now with ‘Violence is Easy. Romance is Hard.’, Rob Wieland’s look at Thirsty Sword Lesbians. This roleplaying game not only brought romance front and centre, it put it into the mechanics, it puts it in the title too. It is a game which promises ‘Queer Action Romance’, and whilst that may not be for everyone, it is nevertheless a valid and exciting genre in which to roleplay, and this article not only makes that clear, it makes the prospect sound fun and entertaining. ‘Hammers Ready, Prepare to Smash!’ leaps into the future of the Warhammer ‘World That Was’ with an examination of Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, the heroic, action-orientated high fantasy roleplaying game. The Player Characters are the Soulbound, an ancient order of individuals granted a measure of a storm god’s power, drawn into bindings, and assigned missions to fulfil that god’s will. Combining an interview with its creative director at Cubicle Seven Entertainment, Emmet Byrne, it emphasises the strange mix of character types, Daughters of Khaine alongside Priests of Signar; whilst how they are heroes, they cannot necessarily solve every problem they are presented with; and a very different set of mechanics versus Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as well as the change in tone. The third roleplaying game examined here is Wanderhome in ‘In Wanderhome, They’ll Be Okay, They’ll All Be Okay’, Aimee Hart provides an examination of the anthropomorphic and pastoral roleplaying game set in world that is healing following a great war in which the Player Characters wander and explore the world, as well as interviewing the designer, Jay Dragon. The Player Characters are involved in part of this healing, helping to ease traumas where they cannot solve issues, and where they can, very rarely resorting to violence or combat. Wanderhome comes across as a roleplaying game in which the Player Characters are definitely trying to make the world better, and sounds a fascinating prospect.

In ‘Making Waves – Pamela Punzalan On The Rise Of RPGSEA’, Wyrd Science Session Zero gave space to voices not usually heard in the roleplaying community—those from South-East Asia. Wyrd Science – Expert Rules follows this up with a pair of articles that examine the roleplaying scene in Latin America. The first is ‘South of the Borderlands’, in which Diogo Nogueira examines the scene in Brazil. It is a good introduction to the state of the hobby in the country, noting that it began with imported and photo-copied editions of titles from the English-speaking market and how interest was spurred by the very popular Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. However, it only really mentions a handful of homegrown titles and it lacks a timeline or history that a better overview would have given. Certainly mention and highlighting more of the former might have served as a better hook for anyone intrigued by what might be available would have been useful. The second article, ‘What Was Written Must Be Destroyed’, an interview with the Argentinian designer, Gavriel Quiroga. This focuses on his then new dark Science Fiction fantasy roleplaying game WARPLAND in which science and learning has been shunned as the cause of a barely remembered, now-incomprehensible cataclysm, and in its stead, a hollow religion’s iron-clad fist forces ignorance on surviving members of humanity. This is to ensure that such a disaster never happens again. This is a brief overview of the game that looks to worth examining to really get a fuller idea of what it is about. This pair of articles point to the creativity brimming in Latin  America, but only really skims the surface. It deserves another, more comprehensive visit.

‘Let’s Open Up This Pit’ takes the issue into the realms of wargaming to looking at how that hobby has diversified with a range of new, often radical designs. The article points to shift to simpler styles of play and the shift in role-players entering or re-entering that hobby with the simplicity of designs such as Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City and its family of titles. Its coverage of the Indie design movement is backed up with a solid selection of examples. The article also mentions how wargamers miss the old Games Workshop title, Mordheim, of which Frostgrave is similar, and in ‘Streets of Rage’ Luke Frostick goes in search of that long-lost skirmish game to see it is still played and supported. Of course, with the Internet it is. This is an interesting little article which will have certain gamers getting out their boxes of Mordheim rules and miniatures once again. Continuing the miniatures theme on from his earlier ‘Model Behaviour – Luke Shaw On Building Miniature Communities’ in Wyrd Science Session Zero, Luke Shaw enters the community of figure painters to interview four professional miniature painters who offer video tutorials and run YouTube channels. Again, this is another solid article exploring an aspect of the hobby that is being enhanced by social media. The wargaming theme comes to a close with ‘Craft, Work’, Willard Foxton Todd’s lengthy interview with the prolific Science Fiction and Fantasy author, Guy Haley, best known for his Warhammer fiction. Another good piece.

‘A Space Where We Belong’ does feel pushed to the back of Wyrd Science – Expert Rules, which is probably not the intention. Ellen Knight’s interview with four women involved in the industry, including roleplaying and board games, explores some of the attitudes they unfortunately have to face, but it really explores what they are doing to change those and made either hobby a more welcoming space. That is no bad thing, but again, this piece could easily have been more upfront in the issue.

‘Escape to New York’ interviews Pontus Björlin, the Swedish designer of ALTNYC88, the fanzine roleplaying game inspired by The Warriors and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and set in the rundown New York of the nineteen eighties, whilst rounding out Wyrd Science – Expert Rules is over twenty or so review of board games, wargames, and roleplaying games. There is a decent mix here, although some games get more space than others, and then in ‘HIT POINTS: FILM/TV’, Will Salmon gives a round up of watchable content in 2020. Lastly, there is ‘TIMESLIP’, with which Ian Livingstone takes us back to 1976 and memories of Gen Con triggered by a very special photograph.

Physically, Wyrd Science – Expert Rules is impressively bright and breezy. The layout is clean and tidy, with decent use of photographs against pieces of art as more like spot fillers. The issue does need another edit in places though.

Wyrd Science – Expert Rules is less parochial than Wyrd Science Session Zero. This is not say that the first issue was bad, but rather that Wyrd Science – Expert Rules has broadened its coverage of the gaming scene, so less of roleplaying, boardgaming, and miniatures gaming in the United Kingdom, per se, but more of it around the world. Consequently, it feels less constrained, primarily because it is not written with COVID-19 in mind, although its influence is there as you would expect. It covers its broad range of subjects with what is for the most part, an excellent series of articles and interviews, never less than entertaining and informative. In places, it could have done with more history and more context, especially the Latin American article, which would have made the content of Wyrd Science – Expert Rules more useful. Nevertheless, Wyrd Science – Expert Rules contains an excellent mix of interesting and engaging articles that are a real pleasure to see in print.

Mayday! Mayday! 

It's May and Sci-fi month at The Other Side!

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

—oOo—

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

Senet Issue 2 was published in the Summer of 2020 and carries the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”. It opens with ‘Behold’, a preview of some of the then-forthcoming board game titles, such as Frosthaven—the sequel to Gloomhaven, Kanban EV, The 7th Citadel, Viscounts of the West Kingdom, and more. Given as much prominence as a full review, what is interesting about these is previews is that each give ‘What they might be’, so Viscounts of the West Kingdom could be the next Gùgong and The 7th Citadel could be the next The 7th Continent. Many, if not all, of these titles have since been released and been subject to their own reviews and analysis, so these previews can be read with the benefit of hindsight to see whether their predictions were right. However, they are pleasingly detailed and enjoyable two years on.

‘Points’ provides a selection of readers’ letters, whilst in ‘For Love of the Game’, Tristian Hall continues his designer’s journey towards Gloom of Kilforth. Here he talks about the difficulties and hurdles faced in its development, overcoming a flawed first version before pushing on to a proper prototype. This continues to be a fascinating path and it will be interesting to follow in in future columns.

The centre of Senet Issue 2 is given over to a quartet of four, lengthy articles. The first of these ‘Decks in Effect’, Alexandra Sonechkina examines the nature and explores the history of the deckbuilding mechanic, which it is surprising to realise is only a little more than a decade old. It goes back its origins in the Spiel des Jahres award-winning Dominion and goes forward to explore how the ground-breaking mechanic has proliferated in those years since. In the process it highlights how many Dominion-like games appeared in the years following its publication, before being used in more innovative ways in games like Mystic Vale. The article also tracks by genre the growth of the deckbuilding game over the course of its first ten years as a mechanic and it is surprising to see just how many deckbuilding games have appeared since. The article is also illustrated with some engaging pieces by Tom Gauld—who also drew the cover for the issue—and it is artwork that is the subject of the second article in Senet Issue 2. ‘Brush with Greatness’ is an interview with the much in demand artist Kwanchai Moriya, whose art has graced games such as Capital Lux, Flip Ships, 7 Summits, and In The Hall of the Mountain King. The interview is interesting, but the artwork is gorgeous and this is a lovely showcase for it.

Owen Duffy is the author of the most thoughtful and controversial article in the magazine. ‘The Empire Business’ explores the difficult subject of colonialism and empire-building and how it became a widespread and then contentious theme in board game design. Stemming from GMT’s cancelled Scramble for Africa, the article looks back to once widely regarded classics such as Puerto Rico with their expansionist mercantilism and casual disregard for its (plantation) workers and whilst pointing out how engaging these themes are, points out that in too many cases, these games are mostly designed from a decidedly European perspective. Even when moving to settings with no inhabitants to disregard, such as Mars with games like Terraforming Mars and On Mars, there is a still a sense of exploitation.

Duffy widens the remit of the article to gain the perspectives and opinions of other designers, who have either looked at the aftermath of colonialism and its impact, such as with Ragnar Brothers’ DRCongo: Hope Out of Horror, which is about building a better country or who are indigenous to those regions which were exploited. In particular, this is with the founder of NIBCARD Games, a Nigerian publisher of boardgames. This gives voice to a sector of the hobby which is only just beginning to be heard in the wider hobby—and barely that, given the dominance of the USA and Europe has over the industry. The article ends with a call for better research into cultures and peoples outside of designers’ own when wanting to explore themes outside of the European perspective. ‘The Empire Business’ is the sort of article that the hobby and industry needs, reflective and looking at itself from outside. More than the other articles in Senet Issue 2 this provides a snapshot of the hobby in 2020 and is not only a welcome snapshot, but hopefully similarly thoughtful articles will appear in future issues of the magazine.

The fourth of the longer articles in Senet Issue 2 is ‘Tearing Ahead’, an interview with Rob Daviau, which explores two strands of boardgame design. One is the legacy genre, in which an outcome of game play can have a permanent effect upon on a game, which Daviau invented with Risk Legacy and has subsequently been seen in the Pandemic Legacy trilogy, as well as a slew of other designs. The other is the restoration and redesign of out-of-print classics, such as Fireball Island and Return to Dark Tower. It is a lengthy and interesting interview that explores both strands in informative fashion.

The ‘Unboxing’ section of Senet Issue 2 includes solid reviews of Europe Divided, Flyin’ Goblin, Monumental, Parks, Rome & Roll, and more, whilst elsewhere Anna Blackwell, designer of the solo map games Delve, Rise, and Umbra tells you ‘It’s Okay to Break the Rules’ in ‘How to Play’ and Jon Purkis, owner of the YouTube channel of Actualol, reveals his ‘Shelf of Shame’. This is a boardgame which has sat on his shelf which he has never played and in this case, it is the Broad Peak expansion for K2, the mountain climbing themed board game. Anna Blackwell’s article is thoughtful and interesting, looking at the benefits and pitfalls of breaking the rules to a game—primarily, not knowing a rule itself properly, and is the closest that Senet Issue 2 gets to touching upon roleplaying. Unfortunately, ‘Shelf of Shame’ is not as interesting, probably because its revelation is far from amazing, but it brings the issue to a lighter close.

Physically, Senet Issue 2 is very nicely presented, all pristine and beautifully laid out. Whether drawing on board game graphics and images, or the magazine’s own illustrations, the issue’s graphics are very sharply handled, living up to the issue’s motto of  “Board games are beautiful” as much as its subject matter does. 

Senet Issue 2 maintains the high standards set by Senet Issue 1. This is a lovely looking issue in its simplicity and its use of artwork to beautifully complement its content, especially the four meaty feature articles at its heart. Above all, Senet Issue 2 is not just an engaging and informative read which treats boardgames and their play in a mature fashion, it is a pleasure to read as well.

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: Z is for Zecharia Sitchin

Here we are at the end, which is back at the beginning for me and the topic of my A to Z for this April 2022.

Before I begin I do want to say this one went much better than I expected. I'll get to all of that in the Reflections post coming up.

So Zecharia Sitchin.  

Sitchin was the author of many books on the topic of Ancient Aliens and the Anunnaki of the Sumerians. He was also the creator of the idea of the planet of Nibiru where the Anunnaki supposedly come from. He called this the "12th Planet."  

Much like Margaret Murray, Sitchin took the archaeological record as well as astronomical history.  Also, like Murray, he completely botched his research including some of the translations. 

The conspiracy comes from, as expected, the Government, the Church, and NASA are all hiding the truth. Sitchin's theories remake the history of humanity and of course, everyone is going to hide all of that.

For NIGHT SHIFT

Sitchin's work is not science.  BUT it could make for good science fiction.  

For NIGHT SHIFT I would like to REally go deep on this. Have aliens come Nibriu and try to start some crazy-ass religion or something.  OR maybe it is just people saying they are. 

Sitchin, among other things, is indirectly responsible for a number of UFO Cults.  Bringing a couple of these (or a made-up one) would make for an interesting game I think.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

And there we go.  Another April A to Z for the history books.  Join me next month for Sci-Fi month!

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

—oOo—

Back in the nineteen eighties, at the height of the popularity of the solo adventure books which had begun with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and Fighting Fantasy in 1982, there not one, but two solo adventure magazines. Warlock, published between 1984 and 1986 by Penguin and then Games Workshop, ran for just thirteen issues. Its counterpart, Proteus, was published by IPC Magazines Ltd. and then Wimborne Publishing between 1984 and 1988, and ran to nineteen issues. Although both published solo adventures, Proteus was not a Fighting Fantasy-oriented magazine, but a ‘A Complete Fantasy Adventure Game Magazine’, whereas Warlock definitely was. The focus of Warlock was fantasy with an emphasis on the Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook series. The focus of its successor is much broader. Published quarterly by Arion Games, The Warlock Returns is devoted to Advanced Fighting Fantasy, the full roleplaying game based on the Fighting Fantasy solo adventures series and its Science Fiction equivalent, Stellar Adventures.

The Warlock Returns #01 was published in September, 2020. It presents a medley of things, from monsters to scenarios, from weapons to cartoons, from advice to settings, and more. It opens with Andrew Wright’s entry for the ‘Denizens of the Pit’ column. He details three types of Chaos Dragon—the swamp-dwelling, acid-spitting Yellow Dragon; the wilderness and ruin-dwelling, superheated wind exhaling Orange Dragon; and the jungle and ruins-dwelling, green slime breathing Purple Dragon. These are nicely detailed and tied into the history of Titan—the setting for Advanced Fighting Fantasy—when Death walked the lands and breathed Chaos into the hidden places where dragons were sleeping, mutating some of them into these three forms. They suffer from mutations today. All three are fearsome great beasts and not something that an unprepared adventurer would want to encounter.
The issue includes two lists of equipment. The first is ‘Jungle Mania’, by Stuart Lloyd. Just a page in length, it lists the sort of equipment that adventurers’ might want to prepare themselves with before setting out into the jungle. They include mosquito netting, mosquito repellent, the machete, blowpipes, darts, and poisons. All fairly serviceable, but with little tweaks here and there. For example, the machete is treated as a shortsword which is more effective against plants rather than creatures. Similarly, the weapons listed in Terry d’Orleans’ ‘Chinese Inspired Weapons for the Isles of Dawn’, are also tweaked. They range from the Gong (bow) and the flexible Qiang (spear) to the Liuxingchui (meteor hammer) and the Hudie Shuangdao (butterfly swords). For example, the Liuxingchui can be used to disarm an opponent rather than inflict Stamina damage and the Shengbiao (rope dart) to inflict a penalty to all physical actions rather than damage.
Terry d’Orleans also offers advice for the Director—as the Game Master is known in Advanced Fighting Fantasy—in ‘Sizing Up Monsters’, which explores ways of making encounters and combat more interesting and enjoyable by unbalancing them for and against the adventurers. The aim here is not to make them extremely easy or extremely challenging, but appropriate to the situation, perhaps to make a fight against minions slightly easier and that against their villainous master or mistress that much harder. It is a well thought out article, and solid advice for the new Director and experienced Director alike.
Adrian Kennelly provides two lists of twenty things to be found and read. ‘For the Bookworms’ is a list of books which can be used to flesh out bookshelves, so as to hide that all too important tome which the Player Characters might need to find, which ‘Notes and letters from Arion’ is a list of notes and missives which might be found in pockets (whether their owners are dead or alive) or dropped on the floor, and which might spur an encounter or adventure. There is a certain mundane to some of the latter, but both articles, written for the setting of Arion, would an extra degree of verisimilitude to any Advanced Fighting Fantasy campaign. They could easily be adapted to other settings if necessary.
The Warlock Returns #01 contains two specials. One is a new character sheet for Advanced Fighting Fantasy designed by Dyson Logos, whilst ‘In Their Element’ is a one-page dungeon designed around the elements and their alchemical symbols, along with those for the metals copper, silver, gold, and platinum. By Peter Endean, it is the first of two adventures in the issue and is serviceable enough, emphasising puzzles as much as combat.
Calfiero Risaliti’s ‘Welcome to Arion’ is the second and much longer adventure in The Warlock Returns #01. It takes low-experience adventurers from Allansia and the Old World to Arion, from where they plan to explore Khul. It is not suitable to more than the single magic user, and requires Travels in Arion as well as the standard rulebooks as necessary. It takes a while for the adventure to get going in which the adventurers, along with the rest of the city, find themselves under a curse. To solve the curse, the adventurers have to race round Arion to find and solve a series of riddles. It feels rather lengthy and could have done with editing for clarity. One notable issue is that it does not actually state what is going on for the benefit of the Director until three pages in, which is just too late.
The Warlock Returns #01 has its own comic strip in the form of ‘The Legend of Gareus: The Hero of Karn’. Written and drawn by Shaun Garea, this tells of the adventures—or rather, not-adventures-of the cowardly anti-hero, Gareus. This is quite fun and nicely done, and Gareus is a chancer and a git. Hopefully in future issues, he might even be loveable! Gareus returns at the end of the issue as ‘Agony Aunt Gareus’ with the sort of useless titbits and pieces of advice that you would imagine that only he could offer.
After all of that fantasy, Martin Proctor offers some Science Fiction with a setting for Stellar Adventures. ‘Tora’ is the first part in a series describing the desert world of the same name. Most of its inhabitants reside in clusters of cities where they toil in a strict class system maintained by the wealthy and the Enforcement, which imposes law and order. Travel between the cities—even the clustered ones, is limited; protests and riots by the poor are common; and any potential rebellion made all the difficult by limited access to arms and armour. However nomads do survive in the desert wastelands and smugglers conduct trade off world and between the cities. Guidelines are suggested for finding a home base for the Player Characters, hiring followers, income and prices for vehicles and other equipment, and multiple group combat. The inference here is that the Player Characters establish a base on world and then attempt to overthrow the various cities’ governments or become a criminal network, and so on. It is an intriguing campaign set-up, although not fully realised in terms of the setting here as descriptions of the world’s factions are saved for the next part of ‘Tora’. This though is a solid introduction which has a Mad Max/Blake’s 7 feel and it should all come together with the next part.
Physically,The Warlock Returns #01;is a bit rough around the edges. Although the layout is okay, much of the magazine would benefit from better editing—why every occurrence of the letter ‘l’ is in bold boggles the eyes, let alone the mind. The artwork is decent though.
The Warlock Returns #01 sits at that point between fanzine and proper magazine. It is more a ‘prozine’ than a magazine. There is a certain scrappiness to it and much of it needs an edit to really make the contents easier for the Director to use. It is though a first issue, and its problems can be put down to that. Hopefully, The Warlock Returns #02 will be better in terms of design and presentation. Nevertheless, The Warlock Returns #01 is worth the time to read through and check out its content if you a fan of Advanced Fighting Fantasy and especially so if you are a Director of Advanced Fighting Fantasy.

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

—oOo—

The second issue of Parallel Worlds magazine was published in September 202o. Like the inaugural issue, Parallel Worlds #01, published the year previously, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, and more. Unlike later issues, for example, Parallel Worlds #21 and Parallel Worlds #22, this second issue is very much about games, and that is not necessarily a bad thing if something interesting is said about them. Where that was not always achieved in Parallel Worlds #01, the second issue is more balanced, which when combined with its selection of interesting articles and brevity serves to make it overall an engaging, even sometimes thoughtful read. Of course, Parallel Worlds #02 is readily available in print, but all of the issues of Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day of classic White Dwarf, but here and now. 
Parallel Worlds #02 opens with an interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, the author of the Shadows of the Apt fantasy series and the award-winning science fiction novel, Children of Time. It touches upon his choice of publishers and how alien spiders are, but it also explores his love of roleplaying, mentioning that he is the Dungeon Master for a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition campaign and also that Shadows of the Apt fantasy series arose from a roleplaying campaign of his own. It is a fairly light piece to start the issue with and although a couple of years old, is intriguing to persuade the reader to check out Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fiction.
Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is the subject of the first ‘Tabletop Games’ article in Parallel Worlds #02. ‘Box Half Full: Why D&D is so revered and popular’ by Ben Potts is the counterpart to Connor Eddles’ ‘Box Full of Knives: Why Dungeons & Dragons needs to step away from its wargaming roots’ in Parallel Worlds #01, and by far, very much the superior article. In his article, Eddles made the point that Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is a ‘box full of knives’, that its mechanics are too focused on delivered the means to kill things and take their loot and not enough on providing the tools to provide stories. Yet whilst the points in his article are not without merit, Eddles completely failed to do anything to counter them. Fortunately, whilst Ben Potts both acknowledges Eddles’ points and accepts that many of them are valid, he points out the value of the shared history and storytelling to be found in Dungeons & Dragons, how that can be passed from one generation to another, how Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition has moved in terms of representation and diversity (but remember this article was written in 2020, so the roleplaying game is still on that path), how the sexism of fantasy artwork has been ditched, and how the rules have been streamlined. The article also acknowledges that the origins of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition do lie in wargaming and medieval history. Overall, this article is everything that ‘Box Full of Knives: Why Dungeons & Dragons needs to step away from its wargaming roots’ is not—balanced, interesting, and informative. ‘Box Half Full: Why D&D is so revered and popular’ does not shy away from the issues with Dungeons & Dragons, but it explores and explains them as well as highlighting the changes made to make Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition a better game.
This followed by a second ‘Tabletop Games’ article, this time a review by Christopher Jarvis of Star Wars: Outer Rim. Published by Fantasy Flight Games, this is the board game of scoundrels engaged in smuggling, bounty hunting, scams, and more as they attempt to turn themselves in legends. This is a decent review which clearly captures just how much the reviewer had playing the game. The third of the ‘Tabletop Games’ articles is the second entry in the ‘Miniature Of The Month’ series, here ‘Miniature Of The Month: Uthred Steelmantle’. Written by Connor Eddles, this looks at a more modern figure, this time a Stormcast Vanguard for Warhammer 40,000. Accompanied by a piece of short fiction, this still feels like page filler rather than being anything interesting. Connor Eddles’ other contribution is ‘Beneath the Waystation’, a piece of ‘Original Fiction’. It is a decent enough short slice of Science Fiction horror. The other review in the issue is ‘Review: Dragonslayer’ by Allen Stroud. This is of Duncan M. Hamilton’s Dragonslayer, and is not wholly positive. 
Tom Grundy’s ‘Thinkpiece’ is titled ‘Ruling the World 20 – The sci-fi assumption of ‘Government Earth’’, which examines the notion of the ‘global’ or civilisation-wide government—including star spanning governments, how the world might get there, and the difficulties associated with doing so, primarily with how a country identifies itself. Numerous options are discussed, such as colonies pushing for independence from home governments, governments existing across multiple worlds, having a ‘mega-United Nations’ across multiple star systems and worlds, and more. The article does suffer from a lot of blank space and it would have benefited from a bibliography listing the various works of fiction, films, television series, and games where the various forms of government appear. Certainly some application and some pointers for the reader would have helped.
In Parallel Worlds #01, with ‘Events’, Allen Stroud took the reader on a guided tour of the United Kingdom’s biggest gaming convention with ‘UK Games Expo 2019’. In Parallel Worlds #02, he takes us to another convention, very different in nature to UK Games Expo—the 77th annual World Convention of Science Fiction. Attended by many of the biggest names in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, this is an even bigger event with its emphasis on Science Fiction and fantasy and fiction all culminating in the Hugo Awards. Stroud does point out that the event was not with its issues, but again captures the scale of the event, highlighting the number of attendees, the breadth of stalls and exhibitors present, and the array of events staged across the weekend. Supported by numerous photographs, ‘Dublin 2019: an Irish worldcon’ brings the event to life and really makes the reader want to attend, which again, post-COVID in 2022 will be a whole lot easier.
The other ‘Video Games’ article is Thomas Turnbull-Ross’ ‘Beyond the Screen: Are games becoming less immersive?’ which examines both whether games are becoming easier to play at a cost of immersion and whether their sense of escapism is being lost with the shift to social-focused gameplay. It is a lengthy piece which examines numerous online games and their communities, pointing to plenty of examples, before concluding that both issues are true, but not totally.

Lastly, Lastly, ‘TV & Film’ launches a two-part article dedicated to Star Trek. The first part of ‘Keeping Trek’ by Ben Potts looks at the origins and history of the franchise, all the way up the earliest films, with Star Trek: The Next Generation saved for the second part. The article is definitely for the casual or uninitiated would be fan of Star Trek as there is nothing here that the dedicated fan will not already know. For the casual or would be fan this is a solid introduction to the series from the sixties and to an extent, the films of the late seventies and early eighties, which whilst not ignoring the sometimes, but in keeping with the era poor portrayal of its female characters or some of the sillier plots, does highlight how the series was socially and inspirationally ground-breaking, as was the technology, and there were some great stories too.
Physically, Parallel Worlds #02 is printed in full colour, on very sturdy paper, which gives it a high-quality feel. As with the first issue, it does suffer from a lot of white space and one or two of the articles do feel stretched out.
Parallel Worlds #02 is better than Parallel Worlds #01—and that is how it should be. The issue has a better mix of articles, even if roleplaying does come off a poor third in comparison to other types of gaming. It does feel as if there should be more to it though. For example, one board game review or one book review or one miniature review just does not feel enough, especially given how much space is devoted to them, whilst other articles could have been improved with bibliographies all of their very own. Overall, Parallel Worlds #02 is a light, perhaps just a little too slight in places, enjoyable read.

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: Y is for Yeti

Not just yetis, but bigfoot too!  Now Yetis and Bigfoots fall under the heading of cryptids and not so much conspiracy theories.  The conspiracy part comes in later.

Let's be honest here. I love writing about Bigfoot.  Maybe it was growing up in the 1970s when there was a surge in the popularity of Bigfoot sightings.  But in any case, I have talked about them a lot here.  

• Monstrous Monday: Bionic Bigfoot
• October Horror Movie Challenge: Night of the Demon
• Monstrous Mondays: Illinois Hominids
• Monstrous Monday: Sasquatch (BECMI Special)
• October Horror Movie Challenge: Sasquatch, the Legend of Bigfoot
• #AtoZChallenge2021: Y is for Yeti, Almas

My introduction to RPGs was via monsters of myth and legend in the AD&D Monster Manual and while the Sasquatch was not originally there, the Yeti was.  

With all these posts (and these are just the ones on the subject) you would think I have had said everything I can and...that is accurate. But I have not talked about the conspiracies surrounding these cryptids.

Conspiracy #1: The various governments are hiding the evidence of Bigfoot/Yetis for ... reasons.  
I have seen this one in various books and websites and the one thing they all have in common is that there are no good reasons given for why the government would want to go through the efforts to hide it.  The reason given is usually "to protect the population."  But how this is supposed to happen is never very clear.

Conspiracy #2: All the bigfoot sightings are faked by a small group of fakers. This I am likely to believe except that I doubt they are organized in any way.

For NIGHT SHIFT

I do use Sasquatches, Bigfoots, and Yetis in my games.  They might even outnumber regular animals in my games! Well not really. But close.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: X is for Planet X

This one is a last-minute switch.  I might find some use for my "Planet X" post at a future date.  But today I want to talk about the X-Files.  You can't talk about Conspiracy Theories and ignore the X-Files.

This also gives me a chance to go back to the very beginning of my A to Z journey. Not April 1st, but April 2011.

Here is what I said about the X-Files then (with edits to update).

X is for X-Files (2011)

In the 90s everything was conspiracy theories, don't trust the government and the Truth was Out There.

On TV we had the X-Files.

There was a paranoia in the 90s.  Today it has boiled over into disgust about our government (believe I know, I live in Illinois, we have one ex-Governor in prison and another headed there two Ex-Governors that are also Ex-Cons.  But back then it was a general low hum of paranoia, suspicion, and doubt.  It started with Iran-Contra and moved on to movies like "JFK".  It was the climate that allowed the X-Files to grow.

It began on a start-up network called Fox, long before they became synonymous for killing shows, good or bad, too early or shitty news.  X-Files was their hit, their main show outside of the Simpsons really, and they kept it on for 9 years and then again for 2 more in 2016 and 2018.

Let's be honest here, the X-Files did more for genre TV than anything else. It was a cultural phenomenon and most television shows that we enjoyed in the 2000s and on are a result of this little show by Chris Carter.   People go on and on about Whedon, but Carter and the X-files has been nominated for more Emmys and the show had won more collective awards.  Even in its "worst" season X-files still had 3 times the views of Buffy. Plus there is not an episode of Supernatural that doesn't in some way or another recall the X-files.  The Winchesters are Mulder and Scully for the 2000s.

I came to the show late.  I was working on my thesis at the time and I rarely watched TV.  Once I graduated I became a fast convert.  It became my Friday night ritual (I was watching them with my then-girlfriend, so that is ok).  It was also one of the shows I did not invest in any fandom merchandise.  I have an X-files soundtrack CD and Mulder and Scully action figures, but I got them as gifts.  But I really got into the show all the same.  One of the first desktop "themes" I had for my brand spanking new copy of Windows 95 was an X-files one.

I loved the season-long and multi-season-long story arcs, I loved the characters, and I didn't even care when my then girlfriend (and now wife) would go on about how hot Mulder or Skinner were.  That was fine with me.  I got to see Scully, and she was hot and super smart.

The Godfather of the X-files is "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" and Darrin McGavin even made some guest spots on the show.  X-Files, while the "mythos arc" is lauded, sometimes worked the best on the "monster of the week" episodes.  Sure the aliens were great and those were the ones I got excited about, but the ones I recall the best, Flukeman, "Theef", the freaky weird family, the hallucinogenic fungus, the chupacabra.  Like Kolchak, X-files did it's best job when it dealt with "small stories"; episodes that dealt with a local myth, legend, or monster and came at it with Mulder the one ready to believe anything, and Scully looking for the reasoned explanation.  I also liked the "spin-offs" of Millennium and the Lone Gunmen.

One day I am going to go back to the world of the X-Files.  Back when Clinton was still president, freaky half-worm/half-man things lived in chemical toilets, cigarette-smoking men and well-manicured men sat in dark rooms with darker purposes, aliens kidnapped little girls and the Truth Was Out There.

For NIGHT SHIFT

The trouble with X-Files is it was doomed from the start.  You can't keep the characters or the audience in the dark all the time and have a good show, and the more secrets you reveal the less the characters have to uncover.  They kept it up though for a good long run.

The same is true for any conspiracy game.  Conspiracy X, by Eden Studios, is a great example.  You can totally run an "X-Files" game with it, but how often can you keep the players in the dark when they are looking for secrets?  The same is true for the RPG The Unexplained (which was my "U" for 2012).

This is something Game Masters need to keep in mind when running any sort of Conspiracy based RPG. 

For NIGHT SHIFT in particular I tried to capture all of this, via the lens of Kolchak: The Night Stalker in my "Weirdly World News" Night World. But here I only scratched the surface and if this month has shown me anything there is so much more to talk about.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: W is for Witch Cult Hypothesis

This is a conspiracy theory / modern myth that is more or less implicit in all of my games.  And something a little different than what I have been doing this month.

The hypothesis (and I could argue it is a testable one) is that there has been a more or less unbroken line of pagan magic practitioners and nature worshipers that has existed in Europe and elsewhere since pre-history dating back to at least a time of Goddess worship.  The witch-trails of Europe were an attempt to irradicate these "Witches" in favor of...well, let's look into that.

Ok, that is a lot of variables for a proper hypothesis.  Let's see what we are talking about here.

This idea was put forth by a number of different scholars over the years. The biggest "name" in this was  Margaret Murray, who gave us The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921).  It built off of the popularity of James George Frazer's The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (1917) which was also a study in European and before Pagan practices and Charles Godfrey Leland's Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899).

Murray's central thesis was that these witches have existed for centuries and were a vital part of the pagan community.   With the rise of monotheism and proliferation of just one god (and a Male God at that) these witches were hunted down by members of the Church and State or at the very least with their implicit, if not tacit, approval.   That would be Conspiracy #1.

The trouble it Murray's work is not very good.  She makes a lot of fundamental errors in her book including pointing out that the lack of evidence is evidence that they had been wiped out.

I will admit I was even taken it by the idea when I first read it so many years ago. I have since re-read it after several years of grad school and designing research that I can only see the errors, missteps and sadly outright fabrications.  It is a fun read, but has about as much to do with witches as the Wizard of Oz.  

The second wave of the Witch Cult Hypothesis came in the 20th Century.  Typically post-WWII/1950s thinking.  Building on Murray's work there were those that wanted to see what a witch cult, ala Murray, would have been like if it had survived into the 20th Century.   

Taking this in with other works you folks like Gerald Gardner who invented Wicca and claimed to have these roots. Other writers, like Raymond Buckland, were a bit more honest about what they were doing, but you still had a number of others taking Murray not only at face value but also the "gospel truth."

This brings us to Conspiracy #2.  Not only were these witch cults wiped out, but it continues to this day with the discrediting of anything that might show it to be true.  A stretch maybe, but really no more strange than what any other religion believes about their origins. 

I have also read theories that the witch trials (often called the Burning Times) were the result of the growing professional medical professions (ie. Doctors) trying to get rid of their competition, the local herb woman, healer, and midwife.  A variant on Conspiracy #1. 

The truth is that Murray, not just through her own works but the works of others, has been so deeply embedded in this notion of a pre-Christian witch cult that is difficult to tease out her effects.   Her ideas, wrong or not (no, they were wrong, sorry) are with us now forever.

Maybe that is ok.  Just don't base an intellectual career on it.

For NIGHT SHIFT

Well. Basically. In NIGHT SHIFT everything Murray ever said was true. Yup. The whole lot of it. Whether she meant it to be true or not doesn't really matter here. In the world(s) of NIGHT SHIFT it is.

Again, this largely follows most of the work I do with witches in all my games. Gygax even did the same with his Druids imagining the Celtic priestly caste surviving to the Middle Ages (500 to 1,000 years later).   I do the same with witches.  Here I have a collection of pre-Christian, largely European (but there are other influences), pagan witch cults that have existed in secret for thousands of years.

Intellectually I have let Murray go, but in my games, not so much.

Witches are a big part of NIGHT SHIFT, regardless of where they come from.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: V is for Vril

Vril is an energy or the species that uses this energy depending on who you ask.  They would be as about as relevant as the Mahars of Pellucidar (the species, not the book) if it were not for the later involvement of Nazis and UFOs.

Vril comes from the book "Vril, the Power of the Coming Race" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton and was published anonymously in 1871. It deals, as was common to many "Science Romances" of the time with an unnamed but wealthy first-person narrator.  This narrator finds himself in an underground world occupied by these majestic angel-like begins, the Vril-ya who have advanced psychic abilities, but of course, need a proper Englishman to teach them how to speak English.  He also finds his lost wife, two sons, and daughter.   He learns that these beings also known as the Ana, used to live on the surface but came here sometime before the Great Flood.  He learns of their energy, the Vril, which is like an "all-permeating fluid."  

It was pretty much pre-Pulp, Victorian Science Romance (the precursor to Science Fiction). While not great, it has some interesting ideas that men and women were 100% equal in society and the notion of wireless communication and the potential of electricity.  It was, I do note, popular in its time.

It would have been a semi-forgotten bit of science fiction had it not been for various theosophists,  most notably Helena Blavatsky, who took it for Occult Truth (yes. with capital letters).  It seems that in addition to his work on Vril, Edward Bulwer-Lytton also wrote books about Rosicrucians and other occult matters.   Blavatsky took this bit of fiction and ran with it.  Ran so hard in fact that when I first encountered it years ago I was a little surprised to learn it had not been her idea.  As learned more and saw she was a con artist who stole ideas and claimed them as her own I became less and less surprised. 

As I said the book had some popularity with Vril becoming synonymous for a bit with "life given exlirs." There was even what amounted to a Sci-Fi convention at Royal Albert Hall in 1891 called the Vril-Ya Bazaar.  It all has the feel of a Star Trek Convention.  I like other sci-fi properties, there were those who really wished it was real.

But what makes this part of a Conspiracy Theory?

The book and the notions of Vril were taken up by various occultists, in particular theosophists, as truth.  They began to ascribe all sorts of properties to it and to Edward Bulwer-Lytton (who they felt was telling a first hand account in some cases).  Blavatsky used Vril and the idea of "The Common Race" (and "Race" in general, but I am getting to that) in her books Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888).  Likewise, theosophist William Scott-Elliot used "Vril-energy" in his The Story of Atlantis & The Lost Lemuria (first ed., 1896).  

Likely because of Blavatsky, Vril and the Comming Race became wrapped up in the fertile land of German paganism and pseudoscience that lead to the rise of Nazism.   As noted by Willy Ley, a German rocket engineer who came to the US in 1937, pre-Nazi Germany saw the popularity and widespread proliferation of many irrational ideas including Vril. He published "Pseudoscience in Naziland" in the magazine Astounding Science.  There is far more in that article than I can discuss in one post. But suffice to say that it is a gold mine of ideas.  One of the results of this was the belief in the "Vril Society" existing in Berlin prior to the rise of the Nazis.

After WWII the Vril Society supposedly went on to continue the works of Nazi Occultism which gave us ideas like the Black Sun and various UFOs.  That is another rabbit hole I don't feel like going down today.

For NIGHT SHIFT

I have spoken about various underground races already, the Derro and the Ophidians. The Derro share some commonalities with the Vril.  The Vril was published as science-fiction and others took them to be real.  The Derro was also published as science-fiction but their author claimed they were in fact real. Both featured anonymous first-person narrators. Both featured an underground lost civilization with advanced technology and energies.  But the Derro are invariably described as insane and stunted humans.  The Vril are "angel-like."  So it is not likely they are the same sort of folk.

There is some similarity between the Vril and the Nordics of UFOolgy.  Throw in some of the ideas of Ultima Thule and the "benevolent" Nordics start looking less benevolent. Sure they want the best for humanity, but only the humanity that looks like them. 

Vril of course is the common thread. It is the energy that both the Derro and the Nordics use.  Hmm...is there an association there that the characters need to tease out?  What are the Derro to the Nordics? Is there more here?  I think there is!

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Cold HungerPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Paul Dimitrievich

Setting: Jazz Age CanadaProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Seventeen page, 1.40 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A missing persons case leads to madness on the tracks.Plot Hook: Has a missing reporter on a magazine of the unexplained gone missing because of his current case? 
Plot Support: Staging advice, four handouts, two floorplans, seven NPCs, two monsters and Mythos creatures, and four pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Serviceable.
Pros# Canada and no sasquatches!# Straightforward plot# Easily adapted to other time periods with trains# Easily adapted to other northern climes# Solid pre-generated Investigators# Wolves in winter inspired by ‘Pickman’s Model’# Potential for Investigator versus Investigator action
Cons# Plain handouts and floorplans# No explanation of what the ‘CPR’ is# Potential for Investigator versus Investigator action
Conclusion# Serviceable plot ends in blood and desperate fashion which does not work as well if the Investigators are armed for bear# Blood, madness, and dinner on the tracks in a straightforward plot at the horrifying height of winter 

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Care ForgotPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: John Almack

Setting: Jazz AgeProduct: One-on-One Scenario
What You Get: Six page, 757.70 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Sudden forgetfulness brings fears of its ownPlot Hook: Who am I?
Plot Support: Staging advice, seven NPCs, one Mythos entity, and one pre-generated Investigator.Production Values: Plain.
Pros# One-on-one horror scenario# Classic horror set-up# Classic Mythos set-up made very personal# Easy to adapt to other time periods# Easy to adapt to other cities# Solid cast of NPCs for the Keeper to roleplay
Cons# Requires access to The Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic# Potentially too personal horror
Conclusion# Classic amnesia set-up made very personal in a one-on-one scenario built around a classic Call of Cthulhu plot# Strong on roleplaying and interaction

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: U is for Unmarked Helicopters

Few things say "New World Order" or "Military Industrial Complex" quite as nicely as an unmarked military helicopter.

Sightings of unmarked helicopters began in 1970s, often in conjunction with or near cattle mutilations (which I have not even touched yet).  They were even spoken about in  Hal Lindsey's book "The Late, Great Planet Earth" (which I have talked about before).

 More recently Unmarked Helicopters have been the center of growing concerns about the military arming of local police and the extensive powers used by the US government to keep tabs on the American citizens.  Like what Homeland Security does.

There is also some evidence (though nothing I could easily verify) that the CIA was using a black Vietnam-era helicopter to put in phone taps.  

My first experience with Unmarked or Black Helicopters was from the movie Capricorn One. A movie about a conspiracy to fake the first manned mission to Mars.

The UFO Connection

Many sightings of black or unmarked helicopters will occur after a purported UFO sighting.  The most commonly held belief is that these helicopters are from the government and looking to either investigate or cover up the sighting details.  I even read one where the helicopters are in fact the same people/aliens/group that were responsible for the UFO.

Cattle Mutilations

We never hear much about this anymore, but in the 1970s this was newsworthy stuff.  Typically a rancher or someone would find dead cattle that had organs or body parts removed such as an eye, ear or sexual organs. The wounds would clean and sometimes even cauterized.  There would be a complete lack of blood found in the area leading some to believe that the cattle had lifted up and out where the mutilations would occur and then deposited back.  No mean feat when you consider your average cow weighs around 1,600 lbs and a bull over 1 ton.   Since the helicopters were usually spotted in the area it lead many to believe that they were the cause of it.  Obviously, these people never took my stats courses where I make sure my students know that "correlation is not causation."

The rumors that the military was testing some sort of new "death ray" (these conspiracy types really want a death ray) mounted on silent unmarked helicopters were the most popular. 

For NIGHT SHIFT

I have learned that if I want a crazy conspiracy theory in my games there is nothing I can create that will outdo the theories created by my players.  When I am putting ones together I try to keep a certain level of game logic in place. That way when things come up I have a reason for it.  My players are not burdened by such.  So sometimes I throw something out there just to get them spinning.

Unmarked helicopters are great for this.

Have a scene where the characters are investigating something?  Doesn't really matter what. A murder, a UFO sighing, a kitten stuck in a tree?  All of these things are now suddenly more sinister and involve the "Deep State" by putting an unmarked helicopter in the sky above it.

I got to see this demonstrated in real life at work a few years ago.  We were all sitting in our office on the 5th floor just having a normal day when someone spotted a helicopter hovering over the building across I80 from us.  Now seeing a helicopter over the interstate or expressway in Chicago is not a big deal, there are traffic and new helicopters in the sky all the time.  But this one was just hoovering there in the middle of the afternoon.  Well after the morning rush and well before the evening rush.  We all had to stop and watch it.  To see what it was doing.   Turns out it was changing the light fixtures over the interstate. It was hoovering because we could not see the ground crew affixing the new light fixture to it.  Normally this would have been done by crane, but the light was situated in such a way that a crane was not easily maneuverable in that area. 

So next time I need to shamelessly turn up the tension I'll put an unmarked helicopter in the sky and have it fly off before any of the characters can capture any details about it. 

And I have play this song as well.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Pilgrim’s HopePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jazmin Ospa

Setting: Illinois, 1885
Product: Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
What You Get: Eighteen page, 844.50 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Snakes at a show!Plot Hook: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West tour of the USA gets a short, sharp snake shock!
Plot Support: Staging advice, one map, five NPCs, one creature, two Mythos monsters, and six pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Plain.
Pros# Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
# Short , gun-toting one-session one-shot
# Emphasis on combat and a chase# Easy to prepare# Ophidiophobia# The chance to roleplay members of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West tour of the USA
Cons# Ophidiophobia# Little investigation# Why does the villain unleash the snakes at the show?
Conclusion# A for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West tour of the USA to ride against the Mythos!# Straightforward action-packed scenario sets up an exciting chase, but leaves the villain’s motivation unexplained

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Tales of the Casket GirlsPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michael Henebry

Setting: Jazz Age New Orleans
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-two page, 67.27 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A missing persons case leads to nasty nuns!Plot Hook: A convent of chills
Plot Support: Two monsters, five handouts, three maps and floorplans, six pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Plain.
Pros# Straightforward plot# Potentially pulpy plot# Good background and history# Vampire nuns# Solid mix of pre-generated Investigators# Potential lead in to a Secrets of New Orleans campaign# Possible campaign set-up with Investigators as new Knights Templars vampire hunters!
Cons# Not vampire nuns!?# Not enough made of New Orleans
Conclusion# Straightforward plot leads to a dark secret hidden in New Orleans and confrontation in a convent

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

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

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Name: The Strange Case of Mr CardewPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Raphael Merriman

Setting: Modern Day Birmingham
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fourteen page, 793.88 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Criminal suspicions expose an empty coffin and a missing body. Plot Hook: Did a criminal kingpin steal a body?
Plot Support: Staging advice, thirteen NPCs, and two handouts.Production Values: Plain.
Pros# Gloriously Poundland cultists# Lots of NPCs to interact with# Easy to adapt to other time periods# Easy to adapt to other cities# Solid plot with decent amount of investigation
Cons# Ghouls and a funeral director? A cliché seen before in Secrets and Realm of Shadow# Multiple options for getting the Investigators involved# A shoal of red herrings
Conclusion# Decent if dense investigative scenario involving a host of nicely done NPCs, including some utterly naff cultists# Primary suspect all too obvious and all too much a cliché

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

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

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Name: Annals of Flint's Detective Agency: The Case of the Stolen Golf ClubsPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Mark Potter

Setting: Jazz Age Chicago
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-six page, 2.35 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The Case of the Cosmic Golf Clubs!Plot Hook: Detectives hired to investigate a theft which leads back to Egypt and beyond!
Plot Support: Staging advice, four NPCs, five handouts, seven maps and floorplans, and six Mythos Monsters.Production Values: Undermining.
Pros# Solid plot with decent amount of investigation# Easy to adapt to other cities# Easy to adapt to Cthulhu by Gaslight# Connects an Egyptian cult to a different Mythos entity
Cons# A butler called Jives# A professor called DeWho# Really, REALLY needs an edit# Underwritten staging advice# No hue and cry for a missing baby?# Requires more preparation than it really should# Set in Chicago or the United Kingdom?
Conclusion# Potentially solid investigative scenario undone by underwhelming production values and lack of editing which force the Keeper to decide which details are correct and which are not.# Set in Chicago, but makes poor use of the city.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Sermon of SludgePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Bored Stiffs

Setting: 1970s Los Angeles
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-four page, 18.37 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: End of Days and ‘high’ madness in L.A.Plot Hook: Fringe science is about to get freaky!!!
Plot Support: Staging advice, nine NPCs and nine NPC portraits, fifteen handouts, five maps, one Mythos Monster, and five pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Fabulously freaky.
Pros# Fringe science meets the end is nigh on the streets  of L.A.# Entertainingly gonzo layout and art inspired by Gilbert Shelton# Investigator sheets done as comic book small adds# Could be adapted for Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos# Easily pushed back to the sixties# Connection to Plagues of Egypt hints at possible sequels
# Potential convention one-shot
Cons# Period piece# May need careful timing to run as a convention one-shot
Conclusion# Thematically entertaining scenario# Counterculture calamity as fringe science clashes with freaky faith in a downtown doom!

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

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

—oOo—
Name: At One With NaturePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Graham James

Setting: Jazz Age Scotland
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twent-six page, 5.01 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Horror comes home to the HighlandsPlot Hook: Holiday in the Highlands leads to horrifying revelations close to home
Plot Support: Staging advice, seven NPCs, six handouts, and three pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Vibrant.
Pros# Scenario for Shadows Over Scotland: Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying in 1920s’ Scotland
# Strong roleplaying advice throughout# Bucolic clash between morality and duty # Good mix of interaction and investigation# Part of RPG Writer Workshop Summer 2021 Call of Cthulhu Vol. 1

Cons# Horridly vibrant background# Needs an edit# No guidance on using scenario in a campaign
# No maps
# Undeveloped pre-generated Investigators pulls it back from being a fully rounded one-shot
Conclusion# Scottish set scenario strong on roleplaying, interaction, and investigation against a macabre, grotesque clash between morality and duty

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

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

—oOo—
Name: A Night at DarkbankPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Andy Miller

Setting: New Mexico, 1879
Product: Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
What You Get: Twenty-four page, 14.72 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The hunt for an outlaw turns outlandish as the criminal turns up a curse!Plot Hook: Classic posse hunts wanted man.
Plot Support: Staging advice, three maps, two NPCs, one monster, five NPC portraits, and one pre-generated Investigator.Production Values: Adequate.
Pros# Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
# Short one-player, one-session one-shot
# Solidly done background and context# Easy to add to a campaign# Creepy atmosphere
Cons# Written for one investigator or multiple investigators?# No advice for running with multiple investigators?
Conclusion# Straightforward posse hunt turns strange in a serviceably scary scenario inspired by Adventures into the Unknown #13