The world is not what it seems. There is a barrier which surrounds reality and gives it the order and natural laws that mankind, blind to the truth that only outsiders, cultists, and the oddballs recognise and follow, for beyond the barrier lies chaos… At first a reflection of our reality, but then a distorted version, and further and further away until there are no natural laws and nothing that can be recognised of our reality. The barrier is not immutable, for in places it is weak and there are things and beings on the other side which want to get through to our reality, and even worse, men and women who would help them, and even welcome them through. Some work alone, but others form cults, hiding behind other organisations and planning and plotting away in secret, hunting for and researching the knowledge that will bring their plans to fruition, whether that is for power, to discover their truth about the cosmos, or simply to destroy reality. There are others on the same path, who through personal trauma have come to realise the true nature of reality, but do not plot, plan, or research ways in which to pierce the barrier for their own ends, but to prevent monsters from succeeding or being let in… They are outsiders, weirdos, and oddballs, pulled into a maelstrom of terrible events which nobody will ever believe, but returning scarred and traumatised, knowing that they may need to do it again and again, because no one else will.

This is the setting for Kuf—meaning oddball or eccentric—a modern-day roleplaying game of Gnostic horror published by Wilhem’s Games. As written, it is set in modern-day Sweden, but can be easily set elsewhere and it uses the light mechanics of Knave. The result is a collision of esoteric horror and the Old School Renaissance, the Player Characters simply drawn and decidedly fragile, both mentally and physically, in the face of the resources that the cults can bring to bear and the things that they might summon. It is played in three distinct phases—Exploration, Confrontation, and Recovery. In the Exploration Phase, the Player Characters investigate, conduct research and interviews, monitor suspects, purchase and ready equipment, and ultimately, prepare for the Confrontation Phase. The Confrontation Phase is when the Player Characters sneak into the cult headquarters or summoning site, pierce the barrier and confront the things on the other side, and hopefully disrupt the ritual or plans of the cultists. The Recovery Phase is more formal and takes a month, but can take place between investigations or sessions. This is when the Player Characters plan the next investigation, seek medical care, study an artefact or read an esoteric tome, buy illegal equipment, recruit companions to the cause, and so on. Mechanically, all of these activities are rolled for, so might work, or even might be cut short because the next Exploration Phases begins—perhaps because the cultists they stopped in the previous Confrontation Phase have come looking for them!

A Player Character in Kuf looks like a Player Character in Dungeons & Dragons. He has the six requisite Attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Five of these cover aspects as you would expect. Thus, Strength is used for melee attacks and physical Saving Throws; Dexterity covers agility and speed; Constitution to resist poison and sickness; Intelligence for handling concentration, recall, using magic and more; and Charisma for interacting with NPCs and recruiting companions. The difference is that Wisdom, in addition to covering the usual perception and intuition, actually handles ranged attacks! It is a radical change, but it means that Wisdom can be used as a more active attribute and that ranged attacks are associated with perception, and also it shifts some of the traditional emphasis in other retroclones away from Dexterity.

Each Attribute has both a bonus and a defence. The bonus is equal to the lowest value rolled during character creation. This is done using three six-sided dice, in order, as is traditional. Thus if a player rolled three, four, and five, to get a total of twelve, the bonus would be three. The Defence for an Attribute is the bonus value, plus ten. A Player Character also has a Level, which begins at zero, and represents the degree to which he has been affected by exposure to the true nature of the universe. As gains Levels, he will be changed by the universe, and gain odd powers or gifts, such as halo of light forming around his head which he must constantly concentrate on has to continuously concentrate to suppress, becoming semi-fireproof, or gaining true sight and so be able to see through the disguises of the creatures and things that have managed to cross through the barrier. Both Hit Points and Mind Points—the latter the equivalent of Sanity found in other roleplaying games—are derived from combinations of the attribute bonuses. A Player Character begins play with no armour and thus the base Armour Defence value, though he may be able to purchase armour during play and thus improve it. He will also have a Background or occupation, and a trauma or event which exposed him to the maelstrom. This trauma also grants him starting Experience Points.
To create a character in Kuf, a player rolls three six-sided dice for the six Attributes, noting their Bonus and Defence values, and then rolls for Background and Trauma, plus the starting Experience Points from the Trauma. He can also roll or pick any extra languages the character knows and either pick or roll for a name.

Emma HanssonBackground: FarmerTrauma: Insanity (Batrachophobia)Languages: Swedish, Hebrew, French, Arabic, Spanish, German
Level 0Experience Points: 139
Hit Points: 8Mind Points: 09
Armour: None Bonus +1/Defence 11

Strength 16 Bonus +5/Defence 15
Dexterity 07 Bonus +1/Defence 11
Constitution 08 Bonus +2/Defence 12
Intelligence 15 Bonus +5/Defence 15
Wisdom 14 Bonus +2/Defence 12
Charisma 11 Bonus +3/Defence 12

Mechanically, Kuf uses a throw of a twenty-sided die against a standard difficulty. If the player rolls sixteen or more, his character succeeds at the action. When it comes to opposed Saving Throws, this can be rolled by the player or the Game Master. For example, if a Player Character attempts to grapple a thief who just robbed him, his player could roll and add his character’s Strength Bonus against the thief’s Dexterity Defence, or the Game Master could roll against the Player Character’s Dexterity Defence adding the thief’s Dexterity Bonus. The option here is whether or not the Game Master and her players want to play Kuf with player-facing rolls or use the standard method in which both players and the Game Master roll as necessary.
The option is also included to use Advantage and Disadvantage, as per Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Typically, this will come from the situation or the environment, but it could also come from any one of the several Traits rolled or chosen during character creation. The mix of these underlie who or what a character is and so bringing them into play encourages roleplaying.

Combat in Kuf is kept simple. The Player Characters and their opponents both have a fifty percent chance of winning the Initiative, and attack rolls, whether using the Strength Bonus for melee attacks or the Wisdom Bonus for ranged attacks, have to be greater than the Defence value of the armour worn. Alternatively, if using player-facing rolls, the defending player would roll his character’s Armour Bonus to beat the attacker’s Defence value. In addition, Opposed Saving Throws can be used to do Stunts, such as stunning an opponent, knocking them over, disarming them, smashing armour, and so on. Stunts do not do damage though, although they can be combined with an attack attempt if the attacker has Advantage. This is instead rolling the two twenty-sided dice which is normal for Advantage.

Successful attacks do not just inflict damage per the weapon’s die size, but also by the type of attack. Blunt force trauma inflicts light wounds; shots, stabs, and cuts inflict serious wounds; destructive damage inflicts critical wounds; and beyond that, there are permanent wounds. On the character sheet, there are boxes for tracking Hit Points and wounds, each type of wound being marked with a different symbol. One type of wound can upgrade a lesser type, and once all of the boxes have been filled in on a Player Character’s wound track, his player starts again at the beginning, but fills them the boxes in with the worse wound type. For example, if a Player Character has all of his wound boxes filled with light wounds by being beaten up by thugs armed with baseball bats, and the beating continues, his player would start filling up the wound track with serious wounds. In combat critical hits either add another die’s worth of damage or upgrade the wound type.

Kuf then does the same for the Mind and Mind Points with sources of stress, which can be seeing beyond the barrier for the first time, encountering a frightening monster, suffering from a phobia, being the victim of crime, and so on. Like physical wounds, the effects of stress can be light, serious, critical, or permanent, and greater effects can overwrite the lesser effects. However, when a greater stress type overwrites a lesser type, a Player Character can suffer a Stress Reaction. This might be that he freezes on the spot, fleeing, or even attacking the source of stress. Critical trauma suffered through stress can also inflict nightmares, phobias, and worse.

In both cases of physical and mental damage, permanent wounds reduce a Player Character’s attribute bonuses each time permanent wounds are suffered. Player Characters in Kuf are meant to be fragile, but this gives them a greater degree of resilience than is found in Knave. However, there is a brutal nature to that resilience as more wounds are suffered and the damage gets worse and worse—and Kuf applies this to both mental and physical damage.
For the Referee there is advice on running the game and its three phases—the Exploration Phase, Confrontation Phase, and Recovery Phase—as well discussions on the nature of the barrier and what lies beyond it, ritual magic, cults and cultists, artefacts and books, and creatures from nightmare, and in general the advice is good. However, there are problems with it, one lesser, three greater. The lesser problem is that the section for the Referee is not as well presented and in a lot of the table results for various tasks, like seeking medical care or purchasing illegal equipment, there are sections missing. The first of the greater problems is that the Kuf does not give the Referee enough threats or rituals or books or artefacts for her to really get started or take inspiration from. There really is only one of each and it is just not enough.
The second greater problem is that there is no ready-to-play scenario. Now the Referee can take the somewhat frugal examples and inspiration from them to develop a scenario, and similarly, take inspiration from the lengthy example of play that takes up the last quarter of the book. This is quite entertaining and shows the reader how the designer intends Kuf to be played.
The third greater problem is the broad nature of the game’s background. Gnosticism is the belief that human beings contain a piece of the highest good or a divine spark within themselves, and that both these bodies and the material world, having been created by an inferior being, are evil. Since it is trapped in the material world and ignorant of its status, this divine spark needs knowledge—‘gnosis’—in order to understand their true nature. This knowledge must come from outside the material world, which in Kuf is the other side of the barrier. At the same in Kuf, the Player Characters are protecting others from what lies on the other side of the barrier, and yet despite underpinning the roleplaying game, this deeper background is never really explored in Kuf. Perhaps the inclusion of a scenario or better yet, more threats, cults, creatures from beyond, and so on would have given scope for the designer to present this background in an accessible fashion.
Physically, Kuf is plain and simple, without any illustrations. It needs an edit, especially in the latter two thirds of the book.
Kuf works as a brutally nasty horror game—at least in mechanical terms, but does not quite work as a fully rounded, playable roleplaying game. If the Referee is looking for a modern day, grim and gritty horror roleplaying game using Old School Renaissance-style mechanics, then Kuf has the basics of everything she needs. If the Referee is looking for a modern day, grim and gritty horror roleplaying game with an interesting setting, then Kuf is not quite it. With some development (or even a second edition) Kuf could be the Gnostic horror game which the author envisioned, for its pages contain suggestions of it, tantalising the reader and the Referee like hints behind some kind of barrier, waiting the revelation which will reach out and touch that divine spark…

What Are The Prisoners of Rec-Loc-119? is a scenario designed for Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship. The first Science Fiction roleplaying game and the first post-apocalypse roleplaying game, Metamorphosis Alpha is set aboard the Starship Warden, a generation spaceship which has suffered an unknown catastrophic event which killed the crew and most of the million or so colonists and left the ship irradiated and many of the survivors and the flora and fauna aboard mutated. Some three centuries later, as Humans, Mutated Humans, Mutated Animals, and Mutated Plants, the Player Characters, knowing nothing of their captive universe, would leave their village to explore strange realm around them, wielding fantastic mutant powers and discovering how to wield fantastic devices of the gods and the ancients that is technology, ultimately learn of their enclosed world. Originally published in 1976, it would go on to influence a whole genre of roleplaying games, starting with Gamma World, right down to Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic from Goodman Games. And it would be Goodman Games which brought the roleplaying game back with the stunning Metamorphosis Alpha Collector’s Edition in 2016, and support the forty-year old roleplaying game with a number of supplements, many which would be collected in the ‘Metamorphosis Alpha Treasure Chest’.
What Are The Prisoners of Rec-Loc-119? takes a place on a forested deck of the Starship Warden. The Player Characters have spent a day or so exploring this forested deck and made camp, but when they wake up the next day, they hear the sounds of movement from a device of Ancients nearby. Going to check, they see a buggy with a cage full of prisoners travelling behind a robot being ridden by a mutant on its shoulders. The prisoners are pleading to be set free as the caravan proceeds towards a giant tree. When the Player Characters go to the aid of the prisoners—and they can get quite close using stealth—the caravan’s Mutant guards react quickly, allowing the buggy with its cargo of prisoners to race off into the giant tree.
After defeating the mutants, the Player Characters are free to follow the buggy and explore the giant tree, which it turns out is an elevator. Either by climbing down the deep elevator shaft or taking the elevator down, they only have access to the one level, some kind of factory producing green protein bars and guarded by a rag-tag band of Mutant guards. There is something quite horrid going on here and all too quickly, the Player Characters can discover the nature of the ingredients which go into these protein bars and who is behind it. The facility it turns out is Rec-Loc-119, which before the great calamity which befell the Starship Warden, was a biological reclamation facility which transformed biological matter into a protein rich food bar. As a result of the disaster, One-Nineteen, the now-sentient computer is determined to fulfil its programming, regardless of who has to die in the process. It has allied itself with the Mutants living in its facility and they have been conducting raids for fresh victims out on the forested deck above. With luck, the Player Characters can avoid the same fate that befell the previous prisoners, rescue the current prisoners, defeat One-Nineteen, and not eat too many green protein bars before they discover what they are made from!
What Are The Prisoners of Rec-Loc-119? requires one of the Player Characters to be a Robot as it will be able to interface with One-Nineteen. These are not detailed in the standard rules for Metamorphosis Alpha, but come from the ‘Robots as Players in Metamorphosis Alpha’ article from Dragon #14. Alternatively, they can be found in the Metamorphosis Alpha Deluxe Hardcover Collector’s Edition. Another option would be for the Judge to include a Robot character as an NPC. It is suggested that the scenario be run for more experienced Player Characters and to reflect that, that they should gain a roll or two on the Technological and Mutated Substances Treasures Lists.

Physically, What Are The Prisoners of Rec-Loc-119? is cleanly presented. The maps are excellent and the illustrations decently done. If there is an issue with the scenario, it is that its requirement for a Robot Player Character may not be possible for every playing group, and further, where many of the scenarios available for Metamorphosis Alpha are usually easily adaptable to other Post-Apocalyptic settings or roleplaying games, such as Mutant Crawl Classics, this is not case for this scenario. This is because not every Post-Apocalyptic setting or roleplaying game includes robots as a Player Character option or even robots at all. However, What Are The Prisoners of Rec-Loc-119? does have scope for expansion onto the other floors accessible via the giant elevator, though at the time of the scenario, they are not accessible. Ultimately, What Are The Prisoners of Rec-Loc-119? is a nasty little dungeon with a big bad at the end. It is nicely detailed, with plenty of flavour, and would be easy to drop into an ongoing campaign. 

It has been a while since there was mass audience boardgame designed to introduce Dungeons & Dragons. The original dungeoneering board from TSR, Inc. was of course, Dungeon!, most recently republished a decade ago. Before, there had been the 2010 Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game, which would lead to a number of entries in the ‘Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System Board Games’ series, culminating in the 2019 Dungeons & Dragons: Waterdeep – Dungeon of the Mad Mage Board Game. All six entries in the series are themed around particular settings for Dungeons & Dragons and designed to introduce those settings as much as the basics of Dungeons & Dragons, including taking turns to be the Dungeon Master. There are elements of this in the latest board game for Dungeons & Dragons aimed at a family audience—Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins.

Published by Wizards of the Coast, is a co-operative, streamlined Dungeons & Dragons-themed board game designed for two to four players, ages ten and up. In it, four heroes will journey across four regions—Gauntlgrym, Mount Hotenow, Neverwinter Wood, and Neverwinter itself—and in the last of these face a Boss monster, either Felbris the Beholder, Orn the Fire Giant, Deathsleep the Green Dragon, or the Kraken. The four heroes—Korinn Nemmonis, a Dragonborn Rogue, Kiya Astorio, a Human Sorcerer, Thia Silverfrond, an Elf Bard, and Tak Strongheart, a Dwarf Fighter—will face different dangers in each location, including a gatekeeper encounter which must be defeated before they can go on to the next location, and their players have opportunities to decide what paths to take, which options to take in terms of what attacks their Heroes can perform, be a little creative here and there, and even take a turn being the Dungeon Master.

Each of the four Heroes consists of three tiles, which slot into a plastic health tracker with a slide. The three tiles are the Hero Tile, which gives the name, Race, and Class, and the Personality Tile and the Combat Tile. All are double-sided. The two sides for the Hero Tile are male and female, but the Personality Tile and Combat Tile provide a personality type and a special ability, and different attacks respectively. The Combat Tile can also be flipped to indicate when a Hero has risen from First Level to Second Level, and so gets better attacks. By changing around the Personality Tile and the Combat Tile, a player can customise his Hero, if only a little.

The game is played on four dungeon boards—Gauntlgrym, Mount Hotenow, Neverwinter Wood, and Neverwinter—that connect one after the other to form a zig-zag. They can be placed in any order, though the last one will contain the Big Boss which the players and their Heroes must defeat to complete the quest. Each dungeon board is marked with a core path consisting of four spaces, three Core Spaces with a Gatekeeper Space at the end. There are two Monster Spaces to the side which the Heroes can divert to if they and their players want to face more monsters and potentially, gain more gold. Each dungeon board also has its own adventure deck, consisting of twenty-four cards, which are either scenario cards or monster cards. The first presents a narrative and a challenge to be overcome, and the second a monster which has to be defeated.

Both play and set-up are quick and easy. Each player selects a Hero and choses which Personality Tile and the Combat Tile his Hero will have. The Big Boss is chosen and the appropriate dungeon board is placed last, with the others connected to it in a random order. Each Adventure Deck is shuffled and placed next its board. There is a plastic deck holder which is used for each Adventure Deck when the Heroes are on the associated dungeon board. Each Hero has its own nicely detailed miniature and a twenty-sided die in the same colour, which placed together on the first Core Space on the first dungeon space. One player will also take the role of the Dungeon Master and roll for the monster attacks—using a ten-sided die instead of the twenty-sided die that each player rolls, which means that the one player will control both a Hero and be the Dungeon Master for the dungeon board. The role of Dungeon Master switch to the next player when the Heroes progress onto the next dungeon board.

From one turn to the next, the Heroes progress along the Core Path on the Dungeon Board, with the Dungeon Master drawing cards from the Adventure Deck. This is done collectively, but Heroes can also take side paths onto Monster Spaces. They can do this together or singularly, but must defeat the monster before carrying on, and if some of the Heroes decide to remain on the Core Path whilst the others monster hunting, they have to wait for them to catch up before everyone can continue. Although fighting monsters means potentially losing Hit Points, if the Heroes win, they can gain more gold. Gold is important because it can be spent to purchase items, level up from First to Second Level, and defy death and re-join play if their Hit Points are reduced to zero.

Combat in Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins is greatly simplified in comparison to Dungeons & Dragons. A player rolls for his Hero against the table on his Hero’s Combat Tile with a twenty-sided die, whilst the Dungeon Master rolls on the table on the monster card with a ten-sided die, which will determine the type of attack made and the amount of damage rolled. For example, Undead Townspeople miss on a roll of one to four, but inflict one point of damage with assorted utensils with a roll of five or more, whereas a Hero and his player always has a choice of three—a combination of two weapon and spell attacks, and a move or creative attack. For example, Thia Silverfrond, the Elf Bard, could fire an arrow with his shortbow for a point of damage as the weapon attack, break out into hideous laughter for two damage as a spell-like attack, or create a Theatrical Distraction to get the monster’s attention using a musical instrument or an item from his backpack. If successful, the Theatrical Distraction either inflicts two points of damage or just the one, in which case, the attack also stuns the monster and prevents it from attacking that round. A roll of a natural twenty also inflicts an extra point of damage.

Once the Heroes reach the last space on the dungeon board, the Gateway Space, they must face a tougher monster or challenge, whilst the Big Boss at the end is tough with multiple different attacks and lots of Hit Points. Every Big Boss comes with some text to read out when it is defeated, which brings the game to a close Of course, by the time the Heroes get to that point, they should ideally have accrued enough gold to boost themselves to Second Level, which also has the added benefit of restoring a Hero’s Hit Points to full.

As a version of Dungeons & Dragons, there can be no doubt that Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins is greatly simplified. Mostly obviously in the singular path that the Heroes have to take in progressing from one dungeon board to the next to reach the Big Boss, but the Dungeon Master’s role is really reduced to rolling attacks randomly rather than choosing them. On the other hand, the players are presented with choices—simple ones, but choices, nonetheless. Again most obviously, in choosing which of the three attacks his Hero can use and whether or not to deviate from the Core Path to a Monster Space and there face an enemy in combat. Yet there is another choice too, one which encourages a little bit of creativity upon the part of the player. The creative attack calls for the player to describe how his hero uses items from his backpack, whether from the backpack chosen at the start of the game, or an item purchased during play, and that calls for some inventiveness. When that works—and sometimes what it does not work—that adds a bit of story to the play of Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins as well to the Hero himself. There at least you have the basics of roleplaying found in Dungeons & Dragons present in this game.

However, there are issues with just how many times Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins can be replayed before it gets stale. Now every Hero has two options in terms of both the special ability on the Personality Tile and the various attacks on the Combat Tile, and with twenty-four cards in the Adventure Deck for each dungeon board, there is a reasonable mix to be found there. With just four Big Bosses and a limited number of Gateway Cards, there is less variability in the end of level bosses to be encountered. Another issue is that the game plays better with all four Heroes, so it is best with four players, or fewer players sharing the Heroes. Other options might be for a parent to be the Dungeon Master whilst her children play the Heroes, or even a player take on the game in solitaire mode.

Physically, Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins is decently done and of a reasonable quality. The miniatures are nice, and having colour-coordinated with the dice is a nice touch. Having the plastic stands for both the Heroes, the Adventure Deck, and the Big Bosses also adds a physical presence to the game.

For the experienced gamer, whether he plays Dungeons & Dragons or not, Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins is at best a mild diversion, at worst simplistic. Yet for a younger audience or a family audience, especially one interested in Dungeons & Dragons or roleplaying, this is decent first step. There are some clever little elements in Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins which encourage a creativity and inventiveness without making things any more complex. It would be interesting to see a sequel, Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Continues, but Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins is a serviceable start.

The pirates came to your village and unleashed bloody murder and chaos upon your home. They killed your dog, Boris, and stole his embroidered collar. They beheaded your mother and stole her head. They left your grandparents blind and salted the family farm. They kidnapped your sibling and forced them into servitude. They stole the Sword of Vengeance, your responsibility and your birthright. They slaughtered all of the village’s livestock and used their corpses to foul the village well. They were joined in plundering your village by your best friend, and now he has joined them. They ruined your life, your home, and your future. Now you want your revenge. You know the pirates sailed out of their thoroughly wretched hive of scum and villainy, Corpsewake Cove, and now you plan to sneak in and have your bloody vengeance. You do not know who led the raid upon your village, but Corpsewake Cove is ruled by a council of five Pirate Kings, so better to kill them all. It does not matter your name, but they had better prepare to die, whether you assassinate them one by one, or simply put them to the sword!

This is the set-up for Corpsewake Cove, a tale of romance and revenge—but really mostly revenge, in which the Player Characters sneak into the spumous seaside settlement, investigate the town, and take what opportunity they can. Published by Ember + Ash following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a Mörk Borg compatible scenario which presents everything to explore a pirate town all but hanging from a cliff over a cove in which swims the Frankenshark, a harbour at which the five singular ships of the five Pirate Kings are docked, write-ups of the five Pirate Kings and their crews, various NPCs and locations, plots, and a countdown to disaster which will come to pass come the end of the week.

For the Player Characters, Corpsewake Cove begins with their being in the tavern. Grieving over their loss, they are rueful and revenge-filled, deciding how best to take it upon the men and women who caused it. An ex-pirate, Bunket, shares with the Player Characters what he knows of the Pirate Kings, Corpsewake Cove, and what approaches he might have had he sworn bloody vengeance on a bunch of bloodthirsty and brutal pirates and their even more terrible masters. Three alternatives are included if the players do not want their characters to be motivated by revenge: Bounty Hunter, Treasure-Crazed Lunatic (because where there are pirates, there is always treasure), and Dewy-Eyed Pirate Wannabe. These come with a bit of background and a flavoursome list of equipment. Whichever motivation chosen, Corpsewake Cove will still rely upon the various character Classes given in Mörk Borg, Mörk Borg Cult: Feretory, and Mörk Borg Cult: Heretic, which does feel slightly odd, in that the Player Characters are almost as wretched, if not more so, than the pirates of Corpsewake Cove. Of course, they are not as scurvy, but this definitely a scenario involving the wretched versus the wretched!

For the Game Master, there is a useful list of pirate slang, a timeline of events whilst the Player Characters in Corpsewake Cove, details of each of the Pirate Kings’ ships—differentiated by colour, no less!, full write-ups for all five Pirate Kings—again colour coded, a description of the curse which besets the bay and town (because pirates and curses go together like rhubarb crumble and custard), and then a tour of all fourteen locations in the town. All of these are crammed up the face of the cliff and include the Ruddy Wren, a fine old house subdivided into horridly unpleasant little rooms rented out for the night, though upstairs rooms are available and the downstairs ones strangely locked; Jack’s Pulpit, a bloody bare knuckle fight ring overlooked by a ‘pet’ manticore chained to a wall; and St. Delphin’s, the town’s church, overseen by a priest distraught at the godless state into which the town has fallen! There are locations underneath the town too, and an array of weird monsters, all with a piratical theme. The most include the Soggy Zombie Pirates, One Good Rat Boy (ordinary rat, but the size of a child), Deranged Seagulls (aren’t they all?) with weaponised poop, a ship’s figurehead which animates almost Kaiju-like, and an actual Ex-Parrot! Lastly, there is a set of tables for generating pirate names, traits, and attire and equipment, useful because, well, Corpsewake Cove is full of pirates (and zombie pirates).

Corpsewake Cove is designed to be Player Character driven. They will probably move into the pirate port and find a place to stay before beginning to monitor the activities and movements of the five Pirate Kings. This will involve visiting locations and in the process interacting with the inhabitants of Corpsewake Cove and hopefully begin to have some idea as to the plots going in the background—some of which they might use to their advantage. The Pirate Kings will go about their activities as normal, including sailing in and out of the port on raids as time passes by. Although each of the Pirate Kings is described in detail, what the scenario does lack is advice as to what they do once the Player Characters begin taking their revenge and killing their fellow captains.

Physically, Corpsewake Cove takes its cue from Mörk Borg, but barring the acid yellow, tends towards less vibrant shades. Although it requires a slight edit in places, it is in general well written. It does need a slight reorganisation in places as the underground locations feel as if they are in the wrong order.

Corpsewake Cove offers opportunities for exploration and interaction and weirdness—as you would expect for a Mörk Borg scenario, but its ultimate path is one to blue bloody murder and revenge. How the Player Characters go down this path is up to their players and their cut of the jib, and more than half the fun!

I should be in the car headed to Gary Con as you read this!   

 Not running any games, not playing in any as far as I know.  But I will be at the Elf Lair Games booth next to the Troll Lords.

So if you are there come by and pick up a copy of Night Shift!

Have a bunch on my plate at the day job right now and I am headed up the Gary Con tomorrow and the weekend.  The best part of Gary Con?  I can drive in, drive out, and sleep in my own bed every night!

Unnamed Victorian/Rural Gothic Mini-campaign

I want to run an adventure/campaign set in Victorian times and combine "Little House on the Prairie" with "True Detective" Season 1 and Carcosa.  Essentially you are all a bunch of gritty detectives and have chased this dangerous "End times" cult to the US Midwest in the 1880s.

This cult had a member that is a bit clairvoyant and saw World War I and decide that it is better to end the world.  She went mad (naturally) and this is how the PCs discover the cult's activity and connects them to a string of grisly sacrificial murders.

Why Little House?  Well I did enjoy the show growing up and it seems so idyllic, even with their hardships, and some cult trying to draw down some horror beyond the stars is so incongruous to the setting that it makes for its own first level of horror.

Originally this was called "Ghosts of Albion: Carcosa"  but today I could use pretty much any Victorian-era system for it.  I have all of them. 

New Gaming Gear

My youngest is now in college and has built a new computer.  So I just got a "hand-me-down" Alienware.  With this and my other gaming computer, I am thinking about getting some new PC games to play.  All of the old AD&D "Gold Box" games are coming to Steam.  I never had the time to play them when they were new but I am hoping they might scratch that AD&D 2nd Ed itch I have.

ETA: Just found another hard drive to put in it!

Sci-Fi RPGs

I have been in the mood for a sci0fi RPG for some time.  Now my oldest is too.  Though he wants something that is compatible with 5e so he can continue playing in his world and doesn't want to go the Starfinder ("Featfinder") route.  Ultramodern5 has been suggested to me as has Esper Genesis. 

This is only quasi-related to my Star Trek games. Though it will inform my choices when I do Sci-Fi month in May.

Spell Database

Not for publication, just my own use. I am putting together a database of every spell I have written for all my witch books.  While I am not expecting to share this out, you will likely see the products of the labor one day.

Monster Books

With the day job, I have not had much of a chance to really work on any of these.  In fact, my last edit was early February according to the file dates.   Hope to get back on these. 

Last week I spent a lot of time with the Castles & Codex series and it was great fun.  But there is another book that also works well with my universe building and it is not about the gods.  Rather quite the opposite.

Tome of the Unclean

Back in October of 2017 Troll Lords launched their Tome of the Unclean Kickstarter. With the idea to bring demons, devils, and other fiends to the Castles & Crusades game.  It would also work with Amazing Adventures (which is what I would end up doing later).  I was immediately hooked and knew I needed this book.

Fast forward to 2019 I got my book in the mail and I had been picking up the PDFs (they released as they were completed starting in Jan 2018) all throughout. 

I have just been really slow at getting my review up.

For this review, I am considering both the hardcover print version from the Kickstarter and the now final PDF from DriveThruRPG.

144 pages. Color covers, black & white interior art.

The book follows a format that is now common to many books about fiends.  A part that deals with Demons and Lords of the Abyss.  Another that covers Devils and the Legions of Hell. And a third, which often differs from book to book, covers other fiends of Gehenna and the Undead.  Adding in the undead is a nice touch in my mind and a value add for the book.

Demons & Devils

This covers the basic differences and how these creatures fit into the World of Aihrde, the game world of Castles & Crusades.  It also covers the basics of the monster stat block.

Lords of the Abyss

This is our section about Demons and the Abyss.  It cleaves pretty close to the AD&D standard with what I often refer to as "the Usual Suspects," so all the "Type" demons and succubi. The new material here includes Abyssal Oases which are areas that are habitable by mortal-kind that seem to come up at random.

Covered here are also traits about the Abyss and powers and traits common to all demons. 

The monsters are all alphabetical, so common demons are not separated from the lords.  There are a few lords present. Demogorgon and Orcus return.  But also Oozemandius (as a Juiblex stand-in) and Buer. Graz'zt is mentioned a few times, but no stats are given.  There are 32 total demons with four as lords.

Legions of Hell

This section follows a pattern similar to the Demons one.  The Hells are described, including the nine layers.  They have some new names and some differences, but if you are wed to the Ed Greenwood Dragon articles about Hell then there is not a lot to convert here.  

There are 53 devils, with 16 of these listed as unique Arch-Devils. There are more new devils here than there are new demons.  

Gehenna

This is our "Neutral Evil" plane in the Great Wheel cosmology of the world of Aihrde, taking the place of Hades or the Grey Wastes from AD&D.  This is home to the daemons.  Like the previous chapters, this covers the features of the land and it's inhabitants.  Reading through it is feels like equal parts of the Greek Hades and the Underworld of Kur in the Babylonian myths where Ereshkigal rules.  

Only four deamons are detailed here, with one, Charon the Boatman, as the only unique member.

Undead

The name of the book is the Tome of the Unclean. While demons and devils take up the vast majority of the book there is still some space for the Undead.

18 undead creatures are detailed here, most of favorites (but creatures Vampires are missing) and some new ones. 

Denizens. Fauna, & Flora

Covers various types of evil, non-fiendish, non-undead, monsters that can also be found.

We end with Aihrde specific information and our OGL page.

Tome of the Damned is a fantastic resource for anyone wanting more information on demons, devils, and their ilk for anyone playing Castles & Crusades.  In fact, if you are playing C&C and want demons then this is a must-have book.

The advantage of Castles & Crusades is that it can be adapted to AD&D or any OSR game easily.  So if you want more than what the Monster Manuals I & II can give you, then this book is also a good choice.   I f you are playing AD&D 2nd ed then this book will fill in many of the gaps left by that game.

Now, I have an entire library of books dedicated to demons, devils, and all sorts of evil monsters.  There were only a few things here actually new to me.  But I still rather enjoyed this book quite a lot.  It is a good addition to my Castles & Crusades library.

Back to the business at hand.  Today will cover the "others" in my Monstrous Compendium collections, but not ones I used regularly.  Again the time these came out money was tight for a college kid needing to buy school supplies, food, and pay rent so choices were made.  Ravenloft won, Dark Sun and Spelljammer lost.  

Thankfully these days I can buy PDFs much cheaper and with little to no concern for storage space.  Plus I have recently begun to explore Spelljammer and I have found it to be rather fun.

For these reviews, I am considering the PDFs only.  I have the published ones, but not all of them, and the one I do have (Spelljammer 1) is incomplete.  No idea why.

MC7 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix

PDF 64 pages (70 with dividers and covers), Color cover art, black & white interior art, $4.99.  64 monsters.

There was/is something very cool about the Spelljammer monsters.  First, they were not afraid to try something new here.  Which I like. Secondly, there are also some odd-balls here like the Giant Space Hamster.  Oh well, you have to have some fun.  There are some Star Frontiers aliens analogs here, so that made cross-overs a fun idea, but I have no idea if anyone ever did any.

MC9 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II

PDF 64 pages (70 with dividers and covers), Color cover art, black & white interior art, $4.99.  61 monsters.

Like the first Spelljamer MC this one gives us some fairly unique and interesting monsters.  The one I recall the best is the Scro or the "Space Orcs."  We also get a trio of celestial dragons which is fun. 

There is also a collection of MC-formated monsters in the Spelljammer: Adventures in Space set.

MC12 Monstrous Compendium Dark Sun Appendix: Terrors of the Desert

PDF 96 pages, Color cover art, black & white interior art, $9.99.  92 monsters.

Moreso than any other campaign world, Dark Sun is the most foreign to me.  I *like* the idea of it. I have even since adopted some of the notions of it into my regular game world.  Plus there is a solid message here; exploit the environment and eventually, you will screw it up for everyone.  But many of the monsters are very new. 

This MC does adopt a different accent color for the pages.  A nice touch that again I would have liked to have seen for all the others.  Pretty much all of these creatures are new for me.  I would like to use them in a desert game, but I think a few might be a bit of work to remove them from their background.

Dark Sun Monstrous Compendium Appendix II: Terrors beyond Tyr

PDF 128 pages, Color cover art, color interior art, $9.99.  105 monsters.

This one was published as a softover volume.  It follows closer to the Dark Sun trade dress as opposed to the Monstrous Compendium one.  This does mean that monster pages are full color. 

Interestingly enough for me, this one has monsters I am more familiar with.  Also, given the nature of the campaign world, many of these creatures can be used as player characters. So details are given for that.

It was with no little disappointment that Cubicle Seven Entertainment announced in November, 2019 that it would no longer be publishing The One Ring: Adventures Over The Edge Of The Wild, the hobby’s fourth and most critically acclaimed attempt to create a roleplaying game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Originally published in 2011, fans had been looking forward to the second edition of the game, which was being worked on at the time of the announcement. When in 2020, Swedish publisher, Free League Publishing—best known for Tales from the Loop – Roleplaying in the '80s That Never Was, Alien: The Roleplaying Game, and Symbaroum—announced that it had acquired the licence, there was some concern that its forthcoming edition would be based on its Year Zero mechanics. The good news is that following a successful Kickstarter campaign, The One Ring, Second Edition not only retains its original design and writing team, but also the same mechanics—with some updates, and it receives its very own starter set.

The One Ring Starter Set provides both an introduction to the roleplaying game and everything necessary to begin a short campaign. Inside the sturdy box can be found three booklets—the twenty-four-page Rules booklet, the fifty-two page The Shire booklet, and the thirty-one page The Adventures booklet, a set of double-sided character sheets for eight pre-generated Player Characters, two large maps showing the Shire and Eriador, and two sets of play aids which can be used The One Ring, Second Edition core rules. These consist of a deck of thirty Wargear Cards and six double-sided Journey Role and Combat Stance Cards. Lastly, there is a set of eight dice, which include two Feat dice.

What is noticeable about The One Ring Starter Set is that it is very much focused on the Shire, the home of the Hobbits. This includes most of the eight pre-generated Player Characters, the maps, the adventures in The Adventures booklet, and of course, The Shire booklet. This emphasises several aspects of The One Ring, Second Edition. First is its shift from Rhovanion, the region to the East of the Misty Mountains which was the main focus for The One Ring, First Edition, to Eriador, the region to the West of the Misty Mountains. With supplements such as Rivendell, Bree, and Ruins of the North, parts of Eriador had been explored, but no further. Second, is The Shire as a starting point for adventure, with the Player Characters first coming to see that there are dangers and thrills to be had within the borders of their own homeland, and then consequently, becoming curious enough to look beyond… Thus, exactly as Bilbo when he went away with Gandalf and the Dwarves, and came back probably mad, but definitely more than a little well off. Third is the shifting of the date. Where The One Ring, First Edition opened in the year 2946 of the Third Age, exactly five years after the Battle of the Five Armies, many years have passed since—in some cases the full adventuring career for some wayward folk— The One Ring, Second Edition and thus The One Ring Starter Set opens in the year 2960 of the Third Age, nearly twenty years after the Battle of the Five Armies. This is reflected in the choice of the pre-generated Player Characters. The primary ones consist of Drogo Baggins, Esmeralda Took, Lobelia Bracegirdle, Paladin Took II, Primula Brandybuck, and Rorimac Brandybuck (the other two are Balin, Son of Fundin and Bilbo Baggins, but are not initially available to play), and represent the generation between that of Bilbo, and that of Frodo Baggins, Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck—and in some cases they are the parents of Frodo, Pippin, and Merry. This is of course, years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, and whilst still moving forward with the timeline, both The One Ring Starter Set and The One Ring, Second Edition are still looking back to The Hobbit.

The Rules booklet introduces The One Ring Starter Set, the base setting and the rules. It includes an example of play, explanations of who the Player-heroes are and what they do, how the game is played, what the skills are, and how adventuring works. Mechanically, The One Ring uses dice pools formed of six-sided dice and the twelve-sided Feat die. The six-sided Success dice are marked with an Elven Rune for ‘1’ on the six face, whilst the Feat dice is marked one through ten, and one face with the ‘Eye of Sauron’ Icon and one face with the ‘Gandalf’ Rune. When rolled, these can all together give various results. A simple numerical total that beats a Target Number is a standard success, but if the roll beats a Target Number and one or more Elven Runes are rolled, they indicate a Great or even an Extraordinary success. If the ‘Eye of Sauron’ Icon is rolled, this is the worst result and does not contribute anything towards the roll. Conversely, if the ‘Gandalf’ Rune is rolled, this is the best result and the action automatically succeeds, even if the total does not beat the target number.

The Target Number itself is determined by a Player-hero’s Attributes, either Strength, Heart, or Wits, depending upon if the player is rolling for a skill, combat proficiency, Wisdom, or Valour. In addition, if a skill is Favoured or Ill-favoured, a player rolls two Feat dice, counting the higher result if Favoured, the lower if Ill-favoured. Extra Success dice can be purchased and rolled through the expenditure of Hope.

Combat uses the same mechanics, but uses a Player-hero’s Combat Proficiencies—either Axes, Bows, Swords, or Spears, which are rolled against the Target Number derived from his Strength. This is modified by the enemy’s Parry rating. Damage inflicted is deducted from a Player-hero’s Endurance, which can result in him being Weary if his Endurance is knocked below his Load (essentially what he is carrying), and knocked out if it is reduced to zero. However, adversaries cannot become Weary, but are knocked out or eliminated when their Endurance is reduced to zero. If one or more Elven ‘1’ Runes are rolled on the Success dice, they can spent to inflict Heavy Blows and more Endurance damage, Fend Off the next attack against you, Pierce armour and potentially do a Piercing Blow, which is definitely inflicted if a ten or a ‘Gandalf’ Rune is rolled. If a Piercing Blow is struck, the defendant’s player rolls to see if his Player-hero’s armour protects him. Wounded Player-heroes recover Endurance slowly and are knocked out if a second Wound is suffered. Adversaries are typically killed by Wounds.

If there is an issue with this it is that it lacks an example of combat. Overall, though the rules explanation is well done in the Rules booklet, and is easy to grasp whether you are new to The One Ring, or making the adjustment from The One Ring, First Edition.

The Shire booklet is the longest of the three booklets in The One Ring Starter Set. This begins with the founding of the Shire and small folk came from along the Anduin to settle first in Bree and then petition the King of Men for a land of their own. In return they were ordered to maintain the great East-West Road. Later, the Oldbucks would cross the Brandywine River and found Buckland, Bandobras ‘Bullroarer’ Took of Long-Cleeve would lead the Hobbitry-in-arms to victory against Golfimbul and his Goblin horde (and also create the game of Golf by knocking the goblin chief’s head clean off and down a rabbit hole), before coming all the way up to date with the disappearance of Bilbo Baggins and his return… Not much, it appears, happens in the Shire. Most of the booklet is dedicated to the geography of the Shire across its Four Farthings and beyond into Buckland (and little further). Throughout the booklet sidebars explore different aspects of Hobbit culture, such as the Art of Smoking and smoke ring competitions, Hobbit attitudes towards Gandalf the Grey (mostly he means trouble, unless fireworks are involved), and descriptions of important NPCs, like Mayor Pott Whitfoot, or Gorbadoc ‘Old Broadbelt’ Brandybuck, the current Master of Buckland. There are also tables of random events and encounters and things they might learn at this in and that, and more, along with little extra details which the Loremaster can take away and form into small adventures that can be played beyond the five in the Adventures booklet. The booklet slips out of the Shire at the very end and into the Old Forest, perhaps the very first destination for any brave Hobbit looking to venture beyond the Shire borders. There they might meet the happiest and strangest being near the Shire, Tom Bombadil. One lovely touch to the book is a full page spread piece of artwork depicting Hobbits crossing the Brandywine via the Bucklebury Ferry. This separates the longer set of chapters of the Four Farthings of the Shire and Buckland, in effect taking the reader across the water and amongst those strange folk who like messing about on boats and swimming…

The Shire booklet is The One Ring Starter Set’s longevity. It will be the source material that the Loremaster will want to consult again and again when wanting to run adventures in this part of Eriador. It is lovingly detailed and there are lots of little elements and facts which the Loremaster can bring into play.

The Adventures booklet contains five adventures which together make up ‘The Conspiracy of the Red Book’ campaign. Three need to be run in order—the first one and the last two, but the other two can be run second or third in the campaign. The Player-heroes, Hobbits all, are summoned by Bilbo Baggins for tea and a task or two, all to imbue in them a little of the same sense of adventure that he now has. The adventures will send the Player-heroes hither and thither across the Shire and have them doing very un-Hobbity things. The campaign is really rather fun and should provide several good sessions’ worth of play.

In addition to the three booklets, The One Ring Starter Set contains the eight Player-hero sheets and the double-sided map. The eight Player-hero sheets are nice and clear and easy to read, with the stats and skills on one side, and a fuller illustration and reason for their involvement on the back. They are of course, all linked by family connections, as any good Hobbits should be. They should be all fun to play (especially Lobelia Bracegirdle!) and all have decent Stealth and Riddle skills, but low combat skills. The map is done in full colour, on heavy paper stock, and depicts the Shire on one side, and Eriador on the other.

Physically, The One Ring Starter Set is very cleanly presented in a clear, open style, and the content itself is engaging to read. In particular, the maps are excellent, done in a style reminiscent of Tolkien and will satisfy any Tolkien fan. The artwork is also very good, a pen and ink style that captures the old-world rustic charm of the Shire. One lovely touch is that the inside of the starter set’s box lid and box bottom are not wasted. On the inside of the lid is a quick explanation of the rules for easy reference, whilst on the inside of the bottom box is a full colour map of the Shire. Both are nice touches that give The One Ring Starter Set an extra thoughtfulness. It is interesting to note that the ‘One Ring’ motif on the cover of The One Ring Starter Set is a different colour—green instead of red. Does this indicate something, perhaps the degree of threat or peril presented within its pages, or is just a different colour?

If perhaps The One Ring Starter Set is missing anything, it is a ‘where next?’ section. What does the Loremaster run after the ‘The Conspiracy of the Red Book’ campaign? The obvious choice is Bree as it is close by and if the Loremaster has access to it, then the adventures in The One Ring, First Edition supplement could be adapted to be run using The One Ring Starter Set. If not yet available, then the Loremaster will have to wait at least until there is a supplement for Bree (or another nearby area) or switch to The One Ring, Second Edition core rulebook.

Perhaps the biggest potential issue with The One Ring Starter Set is that it is slightly difficult to determine who The One Ring Starter Set is quite aimed at. It possesses a family-friendly tone and is steeped in the lore of Middle-earth, but as an introduction to roleplaying it does not start from first principles and therefore, prospective players will need some understanding of how roleplaying works. If the Loremaster does have that understanding, then the decent explanation of the rules and the family-friendly tone of both the lore and the adventures, combined with the fact that the adventures begin from the same starting point as The Hobbit, mean that The One Ring Starter Set can be used to introduce both roleplaying and roleplaying in Middle-earth. Experienced role-players will have no difficulty though picking up and playing The One Ring from the contents of The One Ring Starter Set, but fans of The One Ring, First Edition, may find its beginning point too simple and lacking the sense of lurking darkness found in Middle-earth during this period, and not necessarily want to play all Hobbits. Of course a starter set is not designed to cover everything that the full rulebook will detail, but The One Ring Starter Set is rich in lore and the Shire was always meant to be a rustic idyll, which should appeal to Middle-earth fans.

The One Ring Starter Set is a lovely boxed set in itself with the Tolkienesque layout, delightfully rustic artwork, and quite beautiful depiction of Middle-earth through its maps. With its stripped back version of the full rules and emphasis of adventuring within the boundaries of the Shire, The One Ring Starter Set provides an engaging introduction to The One Ring, Second Edition and roleplaying in Middle-earth.

The news came out this past week about M.A.R. Barker, the creator of Empire of the Petal Throne and Tékumel. Apparently, there is confirming evidence that Prof. Barker (formerly Philip Barker) wrote the book Serpent's Walk under the pseudonym Randolph Calverhall and published by the same neo-Nazi publisher that published The Turner Diaries.

This is fairly damning, to be honest.  The book is pretty much Nazi "fan fiction" by those familiar with it. While this might not be enough for others there is more.  It does seem that the Tekumel Foundation has known about this, and kept it quiet, for years.  Now you might ask how is a "Nazi fan fiction" any different than say Philip K. Dick's "Man in the High Castle?"  I guess the back cover of the book tells the whole story.  It was written as fulfillment fantasy of a group of S.S. officers' descendants "correcting the the wrongs" of the end of W.W. II.

Ok that is pretty bad.  Then to make matters worse, Prof. Barker sat on the board of editors for anti-Sementic, Holocaust-denial journal, "The Journal of Historical Review," as psuedo-scientific and psuedo-academic journal. It has been described as anti-Sementic by the Southern Poverty Law Center.   

The Journal is much like others of it's ilk; not peer-reviewed, pushing an agenda.  There was some uncertainty online about who this particular "Philip Barker, Ph.D." was, but honestly combined with the publication of the other book I don't feel that he gets any benefit of the doubt. 

What does that mean for me? 

Well.  Everyone has to draw their own lines somewhere. Like Lovecraft, Orson Scott Card, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and J.K. Rolwing, Barker has left a pretty dark mark on his legacy.  

For me, Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism are steps way too far. 

There is no evidence of this, as far as I can tell, within the pages of Tékumel.  But the shine on the books is gone for me. I know he is dead and won't benefit from anything I do or don't do.  I am not looking to boycott or raise a campaign about it, plenty of others will do that.  It is just sad of course that such an obviously brilliant man also has such vile and repugnant beliefs.  

Anyway, here are the relevant links. No I am not linking to the books. You can find them on your own.

• RPGNet Discussion
• Reddit Discussion
• Statement from the Tekumel Foundation
• SPLC on the Institute for Historical Review
• Auschwitz Memorial and Museum's statement on The Institute for Historical Review and the Journal of Historical Review 

In ages past, following the defeat and death of King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, Queen Guinevere slipped the All’s Well portal and into the mysterious lands of the fae that were a mirror to the British Isles. These lands were and are known for their magics—their ability to Shape, that is the Shaping of the four elements—Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, and two powerful opposing energies, Belief and Disbelief. Disbelief, brought about through greed, corruption, cruelty, and bloodshed, is strong enough to damage the World Tree at the base of the Islands, but Belief can be stronger still, strong enough to restore the health of the World Tree. The islands are also home to many fae, known as the Friends. These include the flightless, but birdlike Glimmer who sometimes use Shadowshaping for criminal ends; the goatlike Capra, typically traders, but who dislike Trolls and their bridges; the four-armed Piskies who like building automata; the regal Wyrmbitten who regret knowing nothing about their heritage; the turtlelike Bucca who prefer the freedom of the ocean; the molelike Knockers who enjoy solitary lives digging for silver and gems; the winged and birdlike Glow, who research Belief; and the Giantheld, peaceful stone giants. Queen Guinevere found the Islands at war with powerful Shape-wielding Wyrms who hoarded Belief, the conflict enabling Disbelief to wither the World Tree. Together, Queen Guinevere and the fae forced the Wyrms into hiding, and she made a pact with the fae, that whenever the World Tree was poisoned by Disbelief, some of her descendants would follow their dreams into the Islands, and there learn to Shape magic, collect enough Belief, and so heal the World Tree. Every few generations, several teenagers enter the Islands and learn and adventure together. They are known as Pendragons, and once their adventures are over, they can return to the real world as if no time has passed at all, but some do stay, and continue to adventure and even train new Pendragons.

This is the setting for Inspirisles, a storytelling roleplaying game published by Hatchlings Games. It is a storytelling game set in a magical realm, in which teenagers learn to Shape the elements and go on adventures together, solve puzzles, combat Disbelief through Belief—though not through bloodshed as it is forbidden in the Islands n, heal the World Tree, and prevent Calamity befalling the islands. The latter is done by undertaking a second quest—the recovery of the pieces of Excalibur which were stolen following King Arthur’s burial in the Islands. Calamity is gained by failing tasks or tests, and as it grows, Trolls build new bridges into communities and ravage them, cold iron is used to kill fae, a Wellbeing from another dimension appears via the All’s Well, and the Questing Beast might slip free of the Underisles to stalk the Pendragons.

Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Inspirisles is inspired by Arthurian legend and Celtic myth, and by films such as Labyrinth and The Neverending Story. Designed to be played by teenagers and young adults, it is written to be inclusive of identity and gender. Ideally, this should be five players, one for each of the four Elements, plus the Grail Guide, the name for the Game Master in Inspirisles. More particular though is the fact that it is designed to be played by the deaf and the hard of hearing, and to support that, not only does it provide an introduction to and help teach Deaf culture and sign language—both American Sign Language and British Sign Language—it uses sign language as part of game play. Just as words, letters, numbers, and expressions are shaped out in sign language, in Inspirisles, the players Shape out their characters’ magical control of the Elements. Of course, magic has always had a somatic aspect, even in something like the shaping and casting of Isho in SkyRealms of Jorune, but in Inspirisles, the players are literally Shaping what their characters are Shaping, and it gives the game a wonderful physicality.

A Pendragon is simply defined and very quick to create. They have a name and set of preferred pronouns, a past memory of their ancestor’s time in the Islands and a connected Friend associated with that memory, a preferred Element (Air, Earth, Fire, or Water) and its associated patron, a hobby they are passionate about, and a Sanctuary which is entered via the Questing Cabin they share with their fellow Pendragons. The Questing Cabin is somewhere they can reflect on their adventures and plan further adventures. The latter is a personal space where they will always feel safe and contains five items which are important to them. Several tables are provided for the players to choose from if they are short of ideas.

Name: Bowie
Pronouns: Them/Their
Element: Water Patron: Athelyn Friend: Wyrmbitten
Hobby: Tarot
Sanctuary: My grandmother’s room with its rich colourful hangings, smell of incense, well-worn and much used tarot deck on the table, and a plate of her favourite
Items Worn: Headphones, nose piercing, jumper
Items Carried: Ukulele, mug

Mechanically, Inspirisles is all about its magic through the Elements and Shaping. Both Elements and Shaping are used to overcome Belief Barriers and enter into Disbelief Battles. The former are puzzles or problems which the Pendragons need to solve or overcome, whilst the latter are contests against a threat infused with Disbelief, for example, a troll who has built a bridge into a community and is about to pillage it. Players and their Pendragons work together to solve a problem, explaining how their Shaping and their use of their Element contribute to the solution, working through a Leader. The Leader will change from problem to problem, depending upon which Element is best suited to dealing with the current situation.

Shaping itself comes in three Levels—Weak, Strong, and Potent. These are increasing complexities of sign language, from signing out simple words to facial expressions and body language to full sentences with syntax. At its simplest, a player and their Pendragon would sign ‘W-A-T-E-R’ or ‘E-A-R-T-H’, and the greater the Level of the Shaping, the more bonuses can be contributed to a situation. Learning to Shape—and thus sign language—is helped by the Lexicon in Inspirisles’ appendices of both American Sign Language and British Sign Language.

To undertake a Test, the Leader rolls three six-sided dice, the target number always being eleven or more. The difficulty is represented by the number of Tests, typically one, two, or three, but can go as high as five for tough opponents or situations, that the Pendragons have to pass. A roll of three or four is an automatic failure and always adds Disbelief to the Calamity Meter, whilst a roll of seventeen or eighteen is an Unshakeable success and grants the Pendragons Belief. The Level of Shaping and the contribution of the other Pendragons both add bonuses and allow rerolls. As aggressive Elements, Air and Fire can force an opponent to reroll some of their dice, whilst the defensive Earth and Water enable a Leader to reroll some of their dice. In Disbelief Battles, the dominant Element—Fire dominates Earth, Earth dominates Air, Air dominates Water, and Water dominates Fire—can remove an opponent’s capacity to reroll. The point of having the one Leader roll is that it keeps the mechanics simple and fast, but by having everyone else round the table contribute, Inspirisles encourages teamwork.
For example, the Pendragons need to cross over to a nearby island, but the bridge has been badly damaged in a severe storm. If they can get to the island, they hope to find out why. The Pendragons decide that Dana will be the Leader as the dominant Element is Earth, her player described how she will restore and repair the bridge. In turn, Bowie describes how she Shapes the Water to keep it away from the bridge and being washed away, Ember will Shape Fire to light the way, and Nolan will Shape the Air to make it easier to lift the stones of the bridge back into place. Each of the players successfully Shapes and their Element, granting a bonus of four to the roll. Dana rolls the three six-sided dice and gets one, two, and three. With the bonus of four, this gives a total of ten, so not enough to succeed. Fortunately, Earth is the dominant Element and allows a Leader to reroll. So Dana’s player rerolls the one and gets a two, which changes the total to eleven and thus a success.For the Grail Guardian, there is advice on the types of Tests which Shaping can be used in, including Smarts, Speed, Survival, and Social Tests, handling and narrating failure, and more, noting that whilst injury is possible, Bloodshed is not. There is only a small selection of ‘monsters’ or threats described, but the Grail Guardian could easily find other sources. Besides a description of the Islands and the Underisles—written as a tour, there is an adventure, ‘Questing Day’ and suggestions to further inspire the Grail Guardian.

Where Inspirisles comes up short is really handling Pendragon progression—it is possible to be rewarded with items infused with the Elements which add bonuses in Tests, but Inspirisles never gets round to detailing its end point, that is what happens at the World Tree and the giving of collected belief there. Whilst there are Cheat Sheets for Belief Barrier and Disbelief Battle Tests, both are perfunctory at best, and do not reference the rules for them earlier in the book. In fact, the rules for Belief Barrier and Disbelief Battle Tests are best explained in the examples rather than the rules. This is compounded by the lack of an index, which would have made everything much, much easier to find.

Physically, Inspirisles is clearly presented and written in an engaging and personal style. The reader is constantly addressed by in-game characters and the book is illustrated with bright depictions of Pendragons, and the Islands and their inhabitants. The book could have been better organised in places and it definitely needs an index. Overall though, there is very much a sense of warmth to the book.

Inspirisles is primarily a roleplaying game written for the Deaf community to play, but it is also a teaching aid in that students (and others) can learn both sign language and the skill of storytelling through play of Inspirisles. As the latter it does have its limitations in that it is only primer, and likewise, being aimed at a teenage audience does mean that it will not necessarily appeal to everyone. Another limitation perhaps is that not everyone will want to learn a sign language to play, so Inspirisles is unlikely to be for them. Then again, think of it as learning magic, and actually learning something new and magical which has a use away from the table.

Inspirisles is definitely a roleplaying game with an audience which is unfortunately not always considered by the hobby, but by creating a roleplaying game built around sign language, Hatchling Games has created a game which supports and recognises the way in which the Deaf community communicates and brings a physicality to the play. The result is that Inspirisles is both a clever way and a novel way in which to introduce gaming to the Deaf community and both Deaf culture and sign language to the gaming community.

Since 2018, the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG, beginning with the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG – Player’s Survival Guide has proved to be a popular choice when it comes to self-publishing. Numerous authors have written and published scenarios for the roleplaying game, many of them as part of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest, but the publisher of the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG, Tuesday Knight Games has also supported the roleplaying game with scenarios and support of its own. Dead Planet: A violent incursion into the land of the living for the MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game is one such scenario, but Tuesday Knight Games has also published a series of mini- or Pamphlet Modules. The first of these are The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 and Hideo’s World. The third is Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly. Where The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 was a traditional ‘haunted house in space monster hunt’ and Hideo’s World, presented a horrifyingly odd virtual world, Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly is a locked room—or locked ship—McGuffin hunt against the clock and Player Character cluelessness!

The set-up for Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly is simple and requires that the Player Characters possess a ship, especially one suited to carrying large amounts of cargo. They are making one more cargo run when they have to dock and refuel at the remote service station of Anarene’s Folly—which when their troubles begin. Their problem is twofold, at least initially. First, someone, and it is up to the Warden to decide, has placed an experimental planetary colonisation device, ‘volatile warhead of chemicals, biological agents and mutagens’ (a bit like the Genesis Device from Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan) aboard their vessel and they know nothing about it. Second, someone else does, the Space Traffic Controller of Anarene’s Folly, and he is prepared to go to ordinary lengths to get hold of it. This is when the Player Characters’ problems multiply…

First, all of the docking berths on the Anarene’s Folly are in use. Then the Anarene’s Folly seems to target the Player Characters’ ship, and when the Player Characters’ vessel is allowed to dock, the maintenance crews aboard the space station seem really, really insistent on getting aboard the ship and carrying out repairs. Does the Player Characters’ space ship require repairs? Should maintenance crews like that actually be armed? Or are the maintenance crews actually coming aboard for some other reason? If so, then what have the Player Characters down to warrant such interest? Those are all questions that that will be flying the minds of both the players and their characters as the events of Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly unfold.

The Game Master is given a large number of tools with which to taunt and even gaslight the players and their characters! These are built around a pair of time lines, one which escalates events on the station, whilst the other tracks the hacking attempts on the players’ ship. Together, they form a count up of escalating events and challenges for the Player Characters which threaten to overwhelm them if they do not deal with each one in turn. Accompanying this are details of the marine’s battle plan (the marines having disguised themselves as the Anarene’s Folly maintenance crews) and the profile of the main NPC the Player Characters will interact with. It is likely that the players and their characters will come to hate him, as he will prove evasive and unhelpful. The Warden can colour this interaction by using the ‘Small Talk Table’ and ‘Improvised Marine Tech Jargon Table’, and further, there is ‘Gaslighting Table’ for essentially confusing the players and their characters… 

Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly as written feels very much like the scenario and thus the Warden is setting out to screw with the players and their characters. This is because they are placed in what is essentially a reactive stance from one event to the next in the scenario’s escalating timeline, and that escalating timeline really does require the Warden to keep track of lot. Ideally, this should be set up beforehand as part of the Warden’s preparation. The scenario also feels as if it would benefit from the use of deck plans so that the Warden and players can track where their characters are from scene-to-scene and thus which problems they are trying to deal with at any one moment.

Like Hideo’s World before it, Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly is different to other scenarios for Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. Again, it is very much less of a horror scenario than you would normally expect for a roleplaying game which is best known for its Blue Collar Sci-Fi horror one-shots. It is much more of an escalating, against the clock affair where the horror is bureaucratic in nature, its cause unknown for much the scenario. Like Hideo’s World this scenario will need a higher degree of preparation because of its multiple timing mechanisms.

Physically, Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly has less of a presence than Hideo’s World primarily because it consists mostly of text. It is broken up into boxes, but it is still text heavy. Lastly, it does need a slight edit in places.
Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly is a fairly busy scenario with lots of things that can happen to the Player Characters in quite a confined space—their own spaceship—and piles event after event on them. It requires preparation in terms of what all those events are, but Terminal Delays at Anarene’s Folly is a grueling, often confounding scenario that will test the patience of both players and their characters.
—oOo—
An Unboxing in the Nook video of Hideo’s World can be found here.

Given the origins of the roleplaying hobby—in wargaming and in the drawing of dungeons that the first player characters, and a great many since, explored and plundered—it should be no surprise just how important maps are to the hobby. They serve as a means to show a tactical situation when using miniatures or tokens and to track the progress of the player characters through the dungeon—by both the players and the Dungeon Master. And since the publication of Dungeon Geomorphs, Set One: Basic Dungeon by TSR, Inc. in 1976, the hobby has found different ways in which to provide us with maps. Games Workshop published several Dungeon Floor Sets in the 1980s, culminating in Dungeon Planner Set 1: Caverns of the Dead and Dungeon Planner Set 2: Nightmare in Blackmarsh; Dwarven Forge has supplied dungeon enthusiasts with highly detailed, three-dimensional modular terrain since 1996; and any number of publishers have sold maps as PDFs via Drivethrurpg.com. Loke Battle Mats does something a little different with its maps. It publishes them as books.

A Loke BattleMats book comes as a spiral-bound book. Every page is a map and every page actually light card with a plastic covering. The fact that it is spiral-bound means that the book lies completely flat and because there is a map on every page, every map can be used on its own or combined with the map on the opposite page to work as one big, double-page spread map. The fact that the book is spiral bound means that it can be folded back on itself and thus just one map used with ease or the book unfolded to reveal the other half of the map as necessary. The fact that every page has a plastic covering means that every page can be drawn on using a write-on/wipe-off pen. It is a brilliantly simple concept which has already garnered the publisher the UK Games Expo 2019 People’s Choice Awards for Best Accessory for the Big Book of Battlemats and both the UK Games Expo 2019 Best Accessory and UK Games Expo 2019 People’s Choice Awards Best Accessory for Giant Book of Battle Mats.
The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats is a ‘Set of 2 Battle Map Books for RPG’. As a set, it comes as two volume set of map books in a slipcase—open ended at either side for easy access. Each of the two volumes is a twelve-inch squire square, spiral bound book, with each containing sixty maps, all marked with a square grid. These start with a pair of maps with just a plain, but quickly leap into depicting particular locations. There are settlements with rough stone crofts, a harbour with wooden jetties, paved squares, taverns with just chairs and tables and taaverns with stages, a warren of brick buildings, great hallways, battlements, dungeon entrances, ruins, an inn, a fortified settlement, a small market, a warehouse, and much, much more. And this is more or less the same in each of the two books. This does not mean that the maps are exactly the same in each book. Rather they are thematically similar and this leads into what is perhaps the greatest feature of The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats.
Each two-page spread of the two volumes of The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats consists of two linked maps—physically and thematically. The Game Master can use either of the maps on the two-page spread on their own or together, as a twelve by twenty-four-inch rectangular map. That though is with the one volume. With two volumes together, the Game Master can combine any single map from one volume with any single map from the other, and if that is not flexible enough, any two-page spread from one volume can be placed next to a two-page spread from the other, in the process, creating a twenty-four by twenty-four-inch square map. What is means is that the Game Master can connect the two harbours or the coastal fortifications to increase their size and length, extend the harbour into the town, add ruins and cemetery around the dungeon entrance, and again, much, much more. As with the other titles in the range, this gives The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats a fantastic versatility which the Game Master can take advantage of again and again in choosing a combination of map pages from the two volumes to create location after location, and then use them to build encounter after encounter.
The individual maps are excellent, being bright, vibrant, detailed, and clear. They are easy to use and easy to modify. A Game Master can easily adjust them with a write-on/wipe-off pen to add features of her own. This is especially important if the Game Master wants to use a map which has previously featured in one of her adventures. She can also add stickers if she wants new features or even actual physical terrain features.
There are three books in the series—The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats, The Wilderness Books of Battle Mats, and The Dungeon Books of Battle Mats, and The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats combines the best features of the other two. Whilst its maps are not as open The Wilderness Books of Battle Mats, they also do not feel as constrained as those in The Dungeon Books of Battle Mats. Or rather their constrained nature befits their locations, as after all, they depict locations which to varying degrees are built up and lived in. These locations tend to have specific uses and so in turn they do possess limitations on how and when the contents of the two volumes can or should be used. Consequently, they are not necessarily that easy to use on the fly, to ready up an encounter at a moment’s notice. Instead, they are easier to use as part of the Game Master’s preparation and then have everything necessary to play. Then obviously, the maps cannot be used over and over lest familiarity become an issue. Neither of these are issues which will prevent a Game Master from using The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats, but rather that she should be aware of them prior to bringing them to the table. 
Physically, The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats is very nicely produced. The maps are clear, easy to use, fully painted, and vibrant with colour. One issue may well be with binding and the user might want to be a little careful folding the pages back and forth lest the pages crease or break around the spiral comb of the binding. Although there is some writing involved in The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats, it is not really what a Game Master is looking for with this two-volume set. Nevertheless, that writing very much needs the attention of an editor—just as it was with both The Wilderness Books of Battle Mats and The Dungeon Books of Battle Mats.
There is no denying the usefulness of maps when it comes to the tabletop gaming hobby. They help players and Game Masters alike visualise an area, they help track movement and position, and so on. If a gaming group does not regularly use miniatures in their fantasy games, The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats might not be useful, but it will still help them visualise an area, and it may even encourage them to use them. If they already use miniatures, whether fantasy roleplaying or wargaming, then the maps in The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats will be undeniably useful. And there are so many fantasy roleplaying games which The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats will work with, almost too many to list here…
The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats is full of attractive, ready-to-use maps that the Game Master can bring to the table for the fantasy roleplaying game of her choice. Both practical and pretty, The Towns & Taverns Books of Battle Mats is an undeniably useful accessory for fantasy gaming in general. 

It is the year 10,191. Urth, the last refuge of humanity is marked with smoke-filled skies, a fractured surface smashed by centuries of warfare and bombardment, whilst firestorms of pyroclastic heat scour the land in. The planet is orbited by the stone cathedral ships of the Infinitum—the empire known as the ‘War Pigs’—amidst a thick field of debris and broken ships and corpses known as the Death Cloud, which rain down death and destruction, and launch assaults by their Borg battalions. Worse, the constant attacks and bombardments have awoken the forces of Hell and driven literal Hellholes from which legions of demons crawl to seek out the last of mankind. Caught between mighty enemies above and below, humanity hides in the cracks, avoiding conflict apart from the rebel bands known as the Screaming Skulls—and they have pulled off not one coup, but two. The first was through a slave engineer forced to work the War Pig vessels, who managed to persuade some of the Infinitum’s mightiest warriors to join the cause of saving humanity! These are the Immortals, clones of the Viking warriors of old, equipped with mighty blades and wearing massive suits of armour, standing ten feet tall, and imbued with the sense of honour they had in the past. For millennia they have been kept in cryostasis, destined to fight and die, and then return to the Infinitum’s Grave Ships to live and fight again. The second was to permanently disable the Grave Ships. The Immortals can now die, and there are only a few of them left. Only the Immortals are capable of taking the fight to both the War Pigs and Hell itself. Will they save humanity before they all die?
This is the setting for Viking Death Squad, a roleplaying game of Heavy Metal fighting, death, and honour in the very far future, inspired by the song, War Pigs, by Black Sabbath. Published by RuneHammer Games, this is a roleplaying game in which the Player Characters go on desperate missions against dark and dangerous foes, knowing that every hit they take could be their last. No mere human can withstand the damage dealt by weapons in the hundredth century—one blow is enough to kill a man, and no Immortal has been known to survive more than three. So they enter every fray in great layers of armour, and when that is smashed, they scavenge Urth’s seemingly endless battlefield for more! Healers are for the weak and those still in the refuges where mankind skulks—on the battlefield, the Healer scrounges up replacement pieces of armour! In addition, the Screaming Skulls can use spell stones, limited use magic, and even Blood Runes, which they can carve into themselves. This is also a roleplaying game with a built-in end—there are only ten Immortals alive in the hundredth century, and when the last one dies, so does hope for all mankind.
A Player Character in Viking Death Squad has six stats—SPEED, WITS, GUTS, AIM, POWER, and RESOLVE—rated between one and six. He also has a Type, either Human or Immortal, which provides some bonuses to stats, plus some skills, and a Role, which also provides bonus skills and the number and types of gear he begins play with. An Immortal typically only begins play with two skills, whereas a Human typically has three or four. The roles also differ for Immortals and Humans. For the latter, there is Hijacker, Grave Robber, Exorcist, Assassin, Junker, Excavator, and more, whilst for the former, there is the Viking Warrior, Shield Maiden, Visigoth, Mariner, Berserker, Trickster, and so on. There are hints in these, as there is elsewhere in Viking Death Squad, to classic gods of the Norse pantheon, but these flavour the setting rather provide in-game benefits. In terms of background, a Player Character has an Oath which he must fulfil, a Debt owed to an organisation or person, and a Code, something that he will never do, no matter how bad the situation becomes.
Character creation consists of choosing a Type, assigning points to stats, choosing a Role, the Background options, and some gear. Alternatively, a player can roll for some of these, but this is definitely an option. The process, though, begins with a player thinking about his character role in terms of what he will do in play. These are very much informed by MMORPGs, so ‘Defender/Tank’, ‘Slayer/Damage’, ‘Supporter/Healer’, ‘Scout/Control’, and ‘Nuke/Utility’.  These are very base concepts though, and not really followed through in the rules. So there is no guidance on how to create characters based around the concepts. Nevertheless, character creation is straightforward with an interesting range of types.
Ragnar the RagerType: ImmortalRole: Berserker
BackgroundOath: Destroy the War Pigs entirelyDebt: A human broke you free of your cryo chamber and you owe himCode: You refuse to use guns
SPEED 3 WITS 2 GUTS 3 AIM 1 POWER 4 RESOLVE 1
Special Skill: SunderSkills: Chains 3 Fearless 1 Whirlwind 2
Gear: Iron Chains, Hag Stones, Thermite Blow Torch, Insect Shield (+1d Surprise), Gorgo Shell (+1d Power, undetected amongst insects), Retread Pauldrons (+1d Surprise), Slip Vest (Immune to blades)
Mechanically, Viking Death Squad uses a dice pool mechanic of six-sided dice. If a player wants his character to undertake an action, he rolls the appropriate stat and attempts to beat a target number. This target number is determined by a similar die roll made by the Game Master, which varies from two to six dice depending upon the difficulty. Alternatively, skills are rolled for their special effects. For example, the Combat Repair skill enables a character to repair a piece of gear for each four, five, or six rolled, whilst for the Chains skill, for each four, five, or six rolled, the character can inflict one hit, grapple a foe, or catch an anchor point to pull or climb.
To augment a roll, a player has two choices. One is to Push his character’s gear. This can add a die to the roll, hit more than one foe with an attack, throw a melee weapon, reduce the target number, narrate an extra effect, or destroy armour completely without rolling a critical result. The other is to expend Resolve to add more dice to the roll. Both have their downsides. Resolve is a limited resource, but is restored after a safe rest, whilst Pushing gear damages the item. Push that piece of gear three times and it is destroyed.
There are a couple of results on a roll other than a simple success. A Critical success is achieved on a roll of twelve higher than the target number. This means that the roll achieves the maximum narrative effect, the character completely destroys a piece of armour worn by the enemy, can take another turn immediately, gain a tick on a Blood Rune, or two on a skill. A Critical success is also achieved if the player rolls six on three dice, but the character also refills his Resolve. Players are also invited to recite Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast, and the Game Master to bring Lucifer’s influence into play…
Combat is intended to be fast and furious. Speed is rolled to determine who goes first in combat and how hard they are to hit, so is a vitally important stat. Then rolls are made to hit and their effects determined and narrated. Range is either Arm’s Length, Ranged, or Out of Reach, and hits are inflicted to destroy armour. After that, hits are deadly. Although there is no healing in Viking Death Squad, armour can be replaced, repaired, or even scavenged—even on the spot and in the middle of battle.For example, Ragnar the Rager and his band are on their way to a settlement when they  come across an attack force of twenty-two Borg led by two Hulk Borgs intent on assaulting the settlement. They decide to ambush them. The Game Master rolls four six-sided dice for Hulk Borgs’ Speed, for a total of thirteen. Rager’s player rolls three six-sided dice for his Speed and gets fifteen. First there is the matter of the ambush. Rager’s player assembles his dice pool—three for his Chains skill, three for attacking from ambush, plus two for his Insect Shield and Retread Pauldrons. This gives his player eight dice and he rolls one, two, three, six, six, six, and six, for a total of thirty. So a Critical, but not the Number of the Beast. This means Rager gets another turn and two ticks on his Chains skill. For the six, six, six, and six on the roll, he inflicts one hit each. However, he also has the Whirlwind skill, which is rolled after a successful melee attack and inflicts another hit for each six rolled. Rager’s player rolls the two dice for that and gets a four and six, inflicting another hit. This gives him a total of five hits. Normally, that would be against one target, but Rager’s iron chains attack two targets, so both Hulk Borgs are hit. Hulk Borgs have five Armour and Rager’s player narrates how Rager leaps down into the ravine and with a divine roar, the chain whips back and forth ripping armour from the cyborg monstrosities.
Rager’s turn would end there, but the Critical hit got him a second turn. He does not have surprise though, which means no bonus dice from that, and so is only rolling the three dice for his Chains skill. This time, his player decides to use a point of his  Resolve and adds an extra die to give him four dice. He rolls three, three, five, and five. This is two hits and again, will affect both targets. Rager’s player fails to roll any sixes on his Whirlwind skill, but two hits on the two Hulk Borgs because of his Iron Chains, is enough to shatter them as neither has any armour left. Rager looks up at his fellow members of the Screaming Skulls and roars! It is up to them to take down as many of the ordinary Borg before they swarm him. Above him, they open up with their guns…Both magic and advancement in Viking Death Squad are simple. Spell Stones can be used by all and each stone has a straightforward effect which can be used three times before it crumbles, like Shield Stone, which absorbs one attack against the caster, or Loki’s Pebble to create illusions for a few turns. The Runes skill also allows a character to carve a one-use Spell Stone effect on a nearby surface. For advancement, successful skill use gets a tick—or two if the roll was a Critical—and five ticks get a skill increase of one die. A Player Character’s Resolve pool is both refreshed and increased by one die after each session, and Critical hits also add a tick towards the three needed to gain a Blood Rune. Blood Runes are engraved on a Player Character’s skin for a permanent, but powerful effect. For example, an increase of the POWER stat, the ability to select an enemy on the battlefield and ignore its armour, or gain three Deaths like an Immortal (if Human) or erase any previous Deaths (if Immortal). A Player Character can have four Blood Runes.
For the Game Master, Viking Death Squad provides quite a lot to play with. The background is sketched out in broad, but flavoursome detail. This includes the twenty or so important locations across the ruined Urth, the great fungal forest across Eurasia; the nature of Hell and its ongoing civil war between Lucifer and Azael the Butcher; and the fact that technology is solid state and weird and alien rather than relying upon electricity or fossil fuels. What new technology there is, or at least new equipment, is made from solid, single materials, for example, an iron helm or a stone maul. ‘Relic Tech’ can be scavenged though, and the Player Characters can expect to find guns which shoot flaming skulls, swords sheathed in ice, and more. Further, in terms of its background, Viking Death Squad does not hide its secrets. All are there for the Game Master to read and then use in her game.
Viking Death Squad also comes with five ready-to-play pre-generated Player Characters—the Moldy Bunch; ‘The Dogs of Leadgrave’, a short adventure in which the Player Characters investigate why the town of Leadgrave is constantly being attacked by cyBorg dogs; and over twenty foes, including various types of Borgs, giant insects, Iron Dragons, the animated dead, sentient and toxic Tar, and gigantic unkillable Tardigrade Beasts. All have a Tactics roll, a table which the Game Master can roll on to determine how the foe acts from round to round. There is good advice too on running Viking Death Squad and the book is rounded out with ‘Blood and Justice’, a complete nine-part mini-campaign.
Physically, Viking Death Squad is well presented, with some fantastically oppressive comic-style artwork which captures the heavy metal style of the game. However, as written it feels slightly fragmented and not as well organised as it should be, plus it is underwritten in places. In particular magic and the general mechanics could have been done with a clearer explanation, plus the underlying concept behind character creation be developed rather than ignored.
With limited lives available to the Player Characters, Viking Death Squad is not meant for long term play, but rather one-shots or mini-campaigns. Indeed, a Game Master could run ‘Blood and Justice’ and be done with the game, though there would still be aspects of Urth in the year 10,191 still to explore—and there is plenty of scope in Viking Death Squad’s setting for the Game Master to develop. These could even form mini-campaigns of their own and companion, perhaps detailing further campaigns and perhaps firming up some of the rules would not be unwelcome.
Viking Death Squad is meant to be played fast and furious, a roleplaying game of bombast and blast, action and adversity, heroism in a far future of hard horror and heavy metal. Unsubtle and unrestrained, Viking Death Squad demands that you rock your roleplaying and swing your mighty axe to smash the future!

Today I present the last (so far) of the Castles & Crusades mythological Codices.   This one takes away from Europe and back further in time to antiquity.   It was also one I was really, really looking forward to and I am not disappointed.  

Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium

Nothing gets people excited quite like Egypt.  A kingdom that began at least in 3,100 BC to the time of the Romans, it has missing time where "nothing really happened" (according to one Prof. used to joke) that lasts longer than the entire history of the United States. It is an impressively long amount of time and even one that seems incalculable. There is the old saying. "Man fears time, but Time fears the Pyramids." 

This codex takes on the "newer" Codex format.  This is one makes the new format a little clearer. The "Chapters" covers history and mythology with some game material while the "Appendicies" are game material proper. 

For this review I am considering the PDF from DriveThruRPG and the hardcover edition.  Again our author and designer is Brian Young.  Color covers, and black and white interior art. 

Chapter 1 The Black Land Arose (Geography and Worlds)

This chapter begins with a basic map of the lands around the Nile and even up to the Mediterranean Sea and out East to the Fertile Crescent.  This chapter covers the geography of these lands and a bit on the people. To call it brief is a massive understatement.  We are talking about nearly 3,500 years of history and people and change.  While the Egyptians were notoriously resistant to change and very xenophobic, there is still a glossing over of history here.  Of course, this is again a gamebook and not a history text.  No problem then, there is more to come. 

Chapter 2 From Early Darkness (History and Mythic Background)

This covers the history, real and mythical, of the lands. This covers the stone age (Paleolithic) to all the Dynasties up to the Fall of Rome in terms of real-world history.  The remaining covers the mythical history of Egyptian creation and gods. 

Chapter 3 Presided over by the Divine (Gods, Goddesses and Supernatural Figures)

This chapter opens up with some spiritual concepts like priests, mummification, souls, and the afterlife.  For the Egyptians, the afterlife WAS life. Everything they worked for the afterlife.  The gods and their place in the afterlife is also discussed.

Chapter 4 Rife with Charms and Spells ( Magic in Egypt)

As with many ancient societies, magic was not "Supernatural" but a part of nature and that has never been more true than with Egypt. Various words of power are discussed and listed. Descriptions of the Egyptian "wizards." 

Chapter 5 Neter and Netert - The Divine

Egypt is the land of Gods.  Lots and lots of Gods. Here only some of the Gods are detailed. Since Egyptian history is so long that even the gods changed.  There are 40 pages of gods here.  Some are listed more than once as their roles changed over the centuries. Young has a Sisyphean task here, trying to catalog all the gods that Egpyt has had.  Even if it not complete it is the most complete one I have seen in a game.

Chapter 6 Using Egyptian Mythology In Airhde

For the first time the Codex covers the Troll Lords' homeworld of Aihrde.  Parallels are drawn between the gods of Aihrde and the gods of Egyptian.   The advantage here, beyond the page, gives a nice mixing pot (Aihrde) that all the other Codices can be mixed. 

Appendix A Names This covers names for all sorts of people, PCs, NPCs, Gods and more.

Appendix B Social Classes The various classes in ancient Egypt.  Note that social class was ironclad; you didn't move around between them. 

Appendix C Defended by Fierce Warriors (The Military and Soldiers) Covers the different sort of warriors.  None are different from the Fighter game-wise, but there are a lot roleplaying ideas here.

Appendix D Chariots The high tech of the ancient world. It could not be understated that this was the implementate of war for the time. 

Appendix E The Sphynx A little bit of background on the creature.

Appendix F Where Monsters And Demons Dwell The creatures of ancient Egypt. 25+ creatures here and each one is more interesting than the last to be honest.  I am hesitant to say this is the best chapter, but it is really fun.

At the end is a really nice bonus map.  The map is included with the PDF.

While there is a lot of information in this book, it still makes me want more.  I have a feeling that to do this topic justice we would need a 500+ page book. I can't even begin to imagine what Young had to do to pare it down this much. 

Eygpt is just so damn interesting.  There is so much here to play with that my cup runneth over with ideas. I honestly don't even know where to even start to be honest.

With all of these Codecies, one would be tempted to combine them all.  Build something akin to Lands of Adventure or Man, Myth, & Magic.  While I could see this working somehow in Aihrde or a homebrew campaign, I would avoid it for a purely mythic Earth where I feel this would work best. 

For my money and time, play these various codices in their own times and their own places.  For me, that would be the best way to really get the feel for them. Nicely they are written in such a way to allow pretty much anything. 

I understand that Dr. Young is working more of these.  I am really looking forward to them! 

Knave is a toolkit designed to do Old School Renaissance roleplaying. Written by the author of The Waking of Willowby Hall, the earlier Maze Rats, and host of the YouTube channel, Questing Beast, Knave is very much a retroclone of Dungeons & Dragons, but with significant differences. The most obvious of which is that Knave eschews both Classes and Races. There is no default Race, but every Player Character in Knave is a “tomb-raiding, adventure-seeking ne’er-do-well who wields a spell book just as easily as a blade.” The latter is the obvious difference—a Player Character can cast spells as easily as he can wield a weapon. In addition to this, Knave provides a systematic means for handling Attributes and Attribute bonuses, actions and Saving Throws, defences, and more. Despite these changes, Knave is designed to be compatible with Dungeons & Dragons and its various iterations, so that the Game Master can run numerous scenarios and settings using its rules.

A Player Character in Knave looks like a Player Character in Dungeons & Dragons. He has the six requisite Attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Five of these cover aspects as you would expect. Thus, Strength is used for melee attacks and physical Saving Throws; Dexterity covers agility and speed; Constitution to resist poison and sickness; Intelligence for handling concentration, recall, using magic and more; and Charisma for interacting with NPCs and hiring henchmen. The difference is that Wisdom, in addition to covering the usual perception and intuition, actually handles ranged attacks! It is a radical change, but it means that Wisdom can be used as a more active attribute and that ranged attacks are associated with perception, and also it shifts some of the traditional emphasis in other retroclones away from Dexterity.

Each Attribute has both a bonus and defence. The bonus is equal to the lowest value rolled during character creation. This is done using three six-sided dice, in order, as is traditional. Thus if a player rolled three, four, and five, to get a total of twelve, the bonus would be three. The Defence for an Attribute is the bonus value, plus ten. A Player Character also has a Level—though of course, no Class, which determines the number of eight-sided dice rolled for Hit Points; a number of item slots representing what he can carry, equal to his Constitution Defence; and an Armour Defence value, determined by the armour worn without any modifiers.

To create a character in Knave, a player rolls three six-sided dice for the six Attributes, noting their Bonus and Defence values, and then rolls for Armour worn, and a piece of dungeoneering gear, and two pieces of general gear. In addition, he can roll or choose various traits, including physical, face, skin, hair, clothing, virtue vice, speech, background, misfortune, and alignment. The process is relatively quick and easy.

Frederick Bellini
Level 1
Hit Points: 7
Armour: Gambeson Bonus +2/Defence 12
Helmet: None Shield: None
Weapon: Cudgel (d6)
Strength 09 Bonus +1/Defence 11
Dexterity 11 Bonus +2/Defence 12
Constitution 09 Bonus +2/Defence 12
Intelligence 16 Bonus +4/Defence 14
Wisdom 17 Bonus +5/Defence 15
Charisma 13 Bonus +3/Defence 13

Traits
Physical: Short Face: Bony Skin: Tanned Hair: Oily
Clothing: Perfumed Virtue: Honourable Vice: Cowardly Speech: Flowery
Background: Herbalist Misfortune: Robbed Alignment: Law

Gear
Torches (5), Lockpicks, Lens

Mechanically, Knave uses a throw of a twenty-sided die against a standard difficulty. If the player rolls sixteen or more, his character succeeds at the action. When it comes to opposed Saving Throws, this can be rolled by the player or the Game Master. For example, if a Player Character casts the Web spell, which shoots thick strands of webbing from his wrists, at a thief who has just robbed him, the player could roll and add his character’s Intelligence Bonus against the thief’s Dexterity Defence, or the Game Master could roll against the Player Character’s Intelligence Defence adding the thief’s Dexterity Bonus. The option here is whether or not the Game Master and her players want to play Knave with player-facing rolls or use the standard method in which both players and the Game Master roll as necessary.

The option is also included to use Advantage and Disadvantage, as per Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Typically, this will come from the situation or the environment, but it could also come from any one of the several Traits rolled or chosen during character creation. The mix of these underlie who or what a character is and so bringing them into play encourages roleplaying.

Combat in Knave is kept simple. The Player Characters and their opponents both have a fifty percent chance of winning the Initiative, and attack rolls, whether using the Strength Bonus for melee attacks or the Wisdom Bonus for ranged attacks, have to be greater than the Defence value of the armour worn. Alternatively, if using player-facing rolls, the defending player would roll his character’s Armour Bonus to beat the attacker’s Defence value. In addition, Opposed Saving Throws can be used to do Stunts, such as stunning an opponent, knocking them over, disarming them, smashing armour, and so on. Stunts do not do damage though, although they can be combined with an attack attempt if the attacker has Advantage. This is instead rolling the two twenty-sided dice which is normal for Advantage.

Successful attacks inflict damage per the weapon’s die type, more if the defender is vulnerable to that type of attack. Critical hits—a twenty if using the standard rolling method, one if the player-facing method when attacked—smash the defender’s armour, reducing its Quality be one. When the armour’s Quality is reduced to zero, it is destroyed.

Magic in Knave is also simple. Spells can be taken from any Old School Renaissance or similar source or those in Knave can be used. All spells require a spellbook of their own and a spellbook takes up a slot in a Player Character’s inventory, and each spell from a spellbook can only be cast once per day, requiring a Saving Throw to do so. So literally, spells are a physical burden!

Further, spells cannot be copied, created, or transcribed. They can only be adventured for or stolen… Which begs the question, where did these spellbooks come from? What it does mean is that if the traditional Dungeons & Dragons spells are used, then the higher-level spells become valuable commodities! However, Knave offers its own list of one hundred Level-less spells, and these are interesting in that they shift magic from inflicting damage to having an interesting, often odd effect. For example, Catherine summons a woman wearing a blue dress appears who obeys polite, safe requests; Marble Madness fills the caster’s pockets with marbles and continues to refill the pocket over; and Snail Knight, which summons knight sitting astride a giant snail who rides into view ten minutes later and will answer most questions related to quests and chivalry, and who might aid the caster if he finds him worthy. The spells are fun, but very simply described, so the Game Master will need to adjudicate as necessary.

Knave also includes a decent equipment list—with the prices in copper pieces as the default coin in Knave, guidance for adapting monsters from the standard Old School Renaissance bestiaries, rules for morale and healing. Advancement is done every time a Player Character accumulates 1000 XP, Experience Points being awarded for accomplishments rather than for simply killing monsters or finding treasure. At each new Level, the player rolls for his character’s new Hit Points and increases the Defence and Bonus values for three of his character’s Attributes.

Physically, Knave a is a well presented, short, twenty-page booklet done on heavy stock paper, meaning that it feels rather pleasing in the hand. It could do with a slight edit for clarity in places and it is lightly illustrated. It is also underwritten in places, but that may be by design, since Knave does belong to the ‘Rulings not rules’ school and in many cases, such as the exact effects of spells, will come down to play and what happens at the table rather than from the pages of Knave itself.

Knave is designed as a toolkit, something for Game Master to build from as is her wont. For example, she might add rules for Races, such as adding their Traits and using them in combination with the Advantage and Disadvantage mechanic, or build a world in which Snail Knights go on quests (slow, of course, and always leaving a trail). However, beyond the guidance for spellbooks, there are no rules for including magical items at all, and perhaps what v needs is not necessarily more rules, but options. So not just one way to present Races, but two or three, not just one way to do magic items, but again, two or three. The point is, as a toolkit, the Game Master could do with a few extra tools.

Knave is a really easy system to pick up and play, everything it covers is boiled down to a few pages, and with a slight bit of getting used to, a Game Master could easily run any number of settings or scenarios, especially those from the Old School Renaissance. It does contain the lightest of setting elements, that magic is helpful and occasionally odd, but not hurtful—everyone has access to it if they can find a spellbook, that combat can be deadly—but does not have to be (though it will be), and then there is implied medievalism of the equipment and background traits. How much of these will come into play will depend upon both Game Master and her players.

Knave is an engaging piece of concise design, perfect for the Game Master and her players who want simple mechanics with scope for narrative outcomes, and the Game Master who wants simple mechanics she can build from to create the roleplaying game she wants.

Again, today is a good day for this one.  I just finished my review of the Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum so I wanted to compare and contrast it to the earlier work on a similar topic, the HR3 Celts Campaign Sourcebook for AD&D 2nd Edition.  I reviewed the HR1 Vikings Campaign Sourcebook a while back and always wanted to get back into the series.  

HR3 Celts Campaign Sourcebook (AD&D 2nd Edition)

For this review, I am considering both the PDF and softcover copies.  96 pages with color (well, green) covers and black & white interior art.  There is a color map attached to the original softcover I bought in the early 90s. The PDF has the map appended to the end.  Graeme Davis is the author here. He got his RPG start with Games Workshop.  

Illustrations are by Roger Raup and Cartography by Steve Sullivan.

The publication of this book is contemporaneous with the famous BBC-2 series, The Celts.  The one with all the music from Enya.  They do cover similar ground and if you are interested in using this for any *D&D sort of game I would recommend the series.  Yes, there has been newer scholarship since then. But are you working on a dissertation or a game?  The obvious choice for newer and game-related scholarship is Brian Young's Codex Celtarium for Castles & Crusades from Troll Lord Games. 

Chapter 1: Introduction

This covers the question of "Who Were the Celts?" and what this book is for.  The goal here is an AD&D gamebook, not one on Celtic history.

Chapter 2: A Mini-Course of Celtic History

I discussed updated scholarship above, but for pretty much any game (but especially AD&D) this chapter is a great overview of Celtic real-world history. Covering roughly 1,500 years, 600 BC to 900 AD, and all of Europe a lot does get left out.  But this is enough to get you going to the right place.  Today we have the advantage of the latest scholarship at the click of a mouse, but in 1992 this was what we had. Ok. That is not entirely true. Even in 1992, there was BITNET access for a lot of great articles and Usenet for talking with others.  But that is beyond the scope of this conversation and this book.  For an AD&D game world this will get you going rather nicely.

The timeline graphic is a nice touch.

Chapter 3: Of Characters and Combat

This covers differences from the standard AD&D 2nd Edition character creation.  In particular, you will typically only have humans.  Humans can get a random "gift" and possibly "sidhe" blood, but do not expect to see dwarves, elves, and halflings in great abundance.  

The classes also get a facelift more or less.  Fighters of course are the most important with the druids tied.  Paladins are limited to Christians on the Continent.  Rangers get a bit of an update.  Wizards are to be used sparingly. Clerics are relegated to Christian missionaries (so St. Patrick was a Cleric!).  Bards and Druids get the attention.  A new class under Priests is introduced, the Manteis or Vates is the Celtic Seer.

Names and homelands are discussed along with social class. Various Warrior "feats" are also discussed.  They take proficiency slots but otherwise "feel" like feats in the D&D 3/5 sense.

Chapter 4: Magic

Covers changes to spells and magic items.  Also makes a distinction between "gifted" and "trained" spellcasters.  If this were D&D 3rd Edition then we would call them "Sorcerers" and "Wizards" respectively. 

There are new magic items and magical places characters can find themselves in.  

Chapter 5: Monsters

I do love monsters.  This section covers all sorts.  First, we get a list of monsters that can be used unchanged.  Then a section of "new" monsters, or more to the point Celtic variations on existing monsters from the Monstrous Compendiums. Then we get whole new monsters in Monstrous Compendium formats. Not a lot mind you, but enough to give some flavor.

Chapter 6: Equipment and Treasure

This covers equipment, treasure, gifts, and the barter system used.  Coins are still used (and for ease mentioned in GP amounts). The big issue here is that a lot of older equipment will be Bronze Age and some will be newer Iron Age varieties.  An important notion given that this is not a "Medieval" setting.  

Chapter 7: The Celtic Culture

We get a brief overview of Celtic Culture through the eyes of Conall Mac Eogan.  This 15-year-old is coming of age and we see how the next year of his life touches on aspects of the culture.  Now obviously the events for Conall would be very different if this had been Deirdriu or Eithne we were talking about.  Some discussion is given on the advanced, atypically for the time, role of Celtic women.  

The topics of Fostering and Trade are also mentioned. We also get the wheel of the year (adopted by many modern pagans) and some of the gods with nods to the AD&D 2n Ed Legends & Lore book.

Chapter 8: A Brief Gazetteer

Covers the lands we typically associate with the Celts. Heavy on the British Isles and Ireland. Various "other worlds" like Avalon, Tir Na Og, and Annwvyn are also briefly discussed. 

Appendix 1: Enech

The notion of Celtic honor price is given in AD&D 2nd Edition terms.

Glossary

A brief glossary of terms and names.

The PDF ends with the map and the softcover book has it as a tear-out attachment.

I did not go into this expecting graduate-level work and that is fine.  It is a great source for playing in a Celtic-themed AD&D 2nd Ed game world.  If the goal had been to provide AD&D 2nd Ed rules for a Celtic world then it would have needed to have been larger, but as it is it met the scope of their requirements.

This book is also 30 years old. It holds rather well really, both physically and in terms of what it needs to do, and can still be adapted to any version of D&D you care to think about.   

All in all I am as happy with it now as I was when I got in 92.

If there was any doubt where Dr. Brian Young's true love lies in this series, the new second printing of the Codex Celtarum should dissolve those.   This new book brings the original Codex in line with the other codies in terms of style and feel.  This new book is also expanded to 256 pages, up from the previous 178 pages.  It is without a doubt also my favorite of the codies. 
Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum, 2nd Printing

For this review, I am considering both he PDF and hardcover copies.  256 pages with color covers and black & white interior art. 
The Codex Celtarum is written by Brian Young.  He is a gamer and an academic in Celtic history and languages and an all-around nice guy.  Honestly, he is the kind of person I want writing this sort of thing.  You talk to him and get the feeling that he could immediately tell you a story from the Mabinogion and it would roll off his tongue like the bards of old.  This is the guy you want working on your Celtic game.
Introduction

The first thing I noticed in his introduction was his acknowledgement of the differences in legend and in history and where he was putting his cards.  For me, as someone that has had to have the same tug of war, the value of this book went up several degrees.   
Before moving on to the book itself I spent a lot of time with Castles & Crusades again, this time from the point of view of a Celtic-themed game.  Like the others in this series, it could be used with any D&D-like game.  Now at this point it should be noted that the design of this book is to play in a Faery realm, so it is something you can drop into any game world.  There are some game-based assumptions made, but nothing to keep you from making this your own.
This section also talks a bit about the changes from the 1st to 2nd printing.

Chapter 1: In Lands Far Away

This covers the lands of the Celts and how the Castles & Crusades player can drop their game into this world.  The advantage here is this 2nd Edition does talk about how you can use the Codex Germanica along with this.  This covers not just the expected British Isles, but all (mostly all) Celtic Europe. 

Chapter 2: Mythical Locations

This brief chapter discusses mythical locations like Hyberborea and the Hercynian Forest.  These lands were assumed to be real just "over there."

Chapter 3: Once Upon A Time 

This chapter covers the history of the Celtic real-world universe including the various wars that happened at the dawn of time and various involved countries/lands in Europe.  

Chapter 4: Otherworldly History

This is the "myth" part of the mytho-historical background of the Celts.  It overlays the stories of the gods and other powerful beings on top of the history of the Celts.  This chapter is rich in storytelling and follows a tale very familiar to me, but there are always new things to read and learn.

Splitting Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 into two separate and distinct chapters is good since for most books on the topic they are intertwined so much that it is hard to tease out the "myth" and the "history" from the mytho-historic events. Certainly one has had a profound effect on the other and I think Young demonstrates this well.  

Also while I am 100% behind his enthusiasm here (and I share it) we have yet to see anything game-related and we are 75 pages in.

Chapter 5: The Otherworld of Faery

This chapter covers the various "otherworlds" (yes plural) of the lands of Faery. Usually tied to a physical location in the real world.  It reads like an unreal Gazeteer of Europe to be honest, a mist-shrouded tour into a land that is similar but still very different. The faery lands don't have the same rules of nature as the mortal realms. So there are some tables about the odd passage of time or the nature of the land.  

Chapter 6: There Lived a People 

ALmost everything you want to know about the Faery races.  This includes traits faeries can have and their weaknesses.  This also includes a list of the giants of Wales.

Chapter 7: Great of Magic and Power 

This details, what else, magic.  If human wizards study magic and human priests pray for it then the Fae ARE magic. The distinction is not a subtle one.  The magical powers here are listed as spells. So they can be used by the fae as if they were spells, but that robs them of what makes them so interesting. Instead, go with the suggestion in the book that each member of the fae gets a number of special powers based on their intelligence.  And there are plenty of powers here!  If you are anything like me and love magic, spells, or powers for characters then this chapter alone is worth the price of the book.  

It is one of the largest chapters so far and has the most "game" material.

Chapter 8: With Great Gods and Lords 

This covers the gods, demigods, and named faeries of the lands. There are no stats for these gods or heroes.  Why? That is easy. They are not meant to be killed or even interacted with.  They are the legends of this land. If you have any familiarity with the gods of Celtic myth and legend you can find them here. 

Appendix A: The Druidic Order This covers the druid classes for Castles & Crusades within the Celtic world. There is the Druid (Wisdom), the Celtic Bard (Charisma), and the Druidic Seer (Wisdom).

Appendix B: The Secrets of the Druids This appendix covers the Ogham writing and runes.

Appendix C: Druidic Spells What is says, the spells the various druid classes can use. 

At this point, I wonder if all three could not have been combined into one Appendix. 

Appendix D: The Enchanted of Faerie Here we get a nice discussion on Faery Metals and how they can be used.  There is a list of divine items (artifacts in other games) listed by the owner; that's right the Gáe Bulga is not just lying around waiting for you to find it. No this +8 spear (!) is well in the hands of Cú Chulainn.

Appendix E: The Severed Head discusses the importance of taking the head of your enemy.

Appendix F: The Feast Hall details the Celtic hero's feast.

Appendix G: The Celtic Chariot. what it says on the tin.

Appendix H: The Celtic Warrior Society. Gives us a very brief overview of the importance of warriors and how they were organized.  I wish this one had been much longer. 

Appendix I: Accoutrements of War. Deals with the arms and armor of the celtic warrior. 

Appendix J: Strong Feats and Deeds. Covers the tales of the heroes of the Celtic myths and legends. 

Honestly, Appendices E to J should be combined into a chapter on Celtic Warriors. This is what the other Codices have done. 

Appendix K: Holidays & their Customs.

Appendix L Celtic Themed Adventures.

Appendix M: Monsters

Also, this should have been a chapter. There are 30 pages of monsters here. Many are very familiar to me, but again are closer to their "roots."

Ok. So what can say here?

The book is fantastic and I loved every bit of it.  BUT, I find the new organization of the 2nd Printing to be inferior to that of the 1st Printing.  I felt some of the material could have been organized and combined a bit better. I still find it a delight to read, but is that due to this book or the subject matter?

Again, there is no doubt that Brian Young is not only an expert in this field, he also loves it.  That enthusiasm shows and I am sure he could have written a book twice this size.  I do love the expanded history and the raised importance of the continental Celts over the typically well-trodden lands of the Irish and British Celts.  Looking over my review of the First Printing this is exactly one of the things I thought was missing from that version. Though some of the material from the first edition (some classes) are missing from this edition.  I guess I should keep both on hand.

Still, if you are a fan of Celtic myth, Faery lore, or Castles & Crusades then I highly recommend this book.  Even if you don't play C&C, I would get this book.

Coming up on some myths I know the least about and maybe the most excited to read.  There is a lot of great stories I have read and watched over the years.  What I like, so far, is that these are mostly new stories to me.  Well. Not entirely new. I have been using Baba Yaga for years and my first published Ghosts of Albion adventure deals with Chernbog (Czernobog in this book).  
So let's instead say I am less familiar with all of these.

Castles & Crusades Codex Slavorum

For this review, I am considering the PDF and hardcover book.  The book is 94 pages. Color covers, black & white art. Written once again by Brian Young.  He doesn't say it in the books, but it is Brian N. Young, Ph.D.  He worked hard and earned his degree and it should be recognized.  

Chapter 1: In Bygone Years

Like the previous volumes, this chapter covers both the real-world history and the myths of the area.  The area in question surrounds the Black Sea in Eastern Europe.  

We get some pre-history, but the people we call the Slavs will get their start in this volume with Byzantine Empire.  The time period here is parallel to both the Germanica and Nodica books.

The myths of the area are all new to me and while Young (the author) does a good job in his summary, it leaves me wanting to seek out more.  I suppose that is the point right?

Chapter 2: The Whole World & That Which is Beyond

This goes into detail about the lands of the Slavs and these myths.  I have now gone through five of these Codecies and I am thinking that a Castles & Crusades game in Mythic Earth is a great idea.  There is a nice map of the Slavic Kingdoms.  

The second half of this covers the mythic lands of the Slavs; the three worlds.  Like the Norse, these are placed on the World Tree, the Drugi Svet. Young even mentions that combination is possible but does not (correctly) tell you how since it would depend on YOUR world.  The three worlds are Parv (or Iriy or Vyrjy), the realms of light, the lands of summer, and the home of the Gods. Lav (or Yav) is the middle realm of men, and Nav the Underworld.  Here Czernobog becomes the Devil-like figure.  Indeed it might be hard to tease out what is Czernobog and what is "Lucifer" in modern depictions of "the Devil."  Svarog is our creator deity of light. 

In a case of supporting my "One Man's God" series, there is Peklo, the Abyss, which is the home of various demons.  Demons it seems very much in the AD&D mindset.

There are more lands and frankly, the more I read the more I want to use all of this in a game. 

Chapter 3: Did Dwell Many Peoples

Our monster chapter.  Monsters are "false creations" (my words, not so much Young's) of Czernobog.  And there are some GREAT monsters here. Nearly 50 monsters here. Some are familiar to any D&D players, but many are new to *D&D games or at least in this form.  

There are a couple new "races" that characters can be.  The Zmajevit, or the "Dragon born" are humans with dragon blood in them. The Zduhac, or the Elemenatal ones, are elemental influenced humans. 

There is also a new class here, the Vampirdzhija or the Vampire Hunter. This is a Wisdom-based class. Essentially the Vampire Slayer of the Slavic cultures. 

Chapter 4: Filled with Great Magic

Another favorite section this one covers magic and new magic-using classes.   The Kolduny is a new type of wizard that is Wisdom-based.   The Molfar is the Slavic shaman, also Wisdom-based.

There are a few names mentioned for other types of spell casters. These are just names for other types, but do not have their own class per se. 

Chapter 5: Of Mighty Gods and Spirits

This chapter takes the myths and reshapes them into something that can be used with Castles & Crusades but of course any other game.  And there are a lot of gods here! Some are familiar to me, but most are brand new.  

There is some text on the pagan religions of the Slavs and their practices. 

Chapter 6: Battle Strong and Heroic

This is typically the "fighters" chapter. This one covers the weapons used by the Slavs and mentions of the heroes and groups of heroes of their tales. 

Chapter 7: Castle Keeper Info

This is the GM's or Castle Keeper's information on running a game using these rules. Like the others in this series, this includes names and the various laws of the lands. 

More so than the other books this one left me wanting more.  This is a good thing and not a fault of the book. It is due to my own unfamiliarity with these myths and stories.  It would work well with the Germanic and Nordic books for greater world-building.  Now I want books like this for all the big myths of the world. 

Maybe one for Spain and Al-Andalus should be next?  What do you think Dr. Young?

Today I am going further south and a little more back in time.   Related to the Nordic myths and tales are the older Germanic ones.  Given the connections between the two, I am going to have to point out the differences and commonalities. 

Castles & Crusades Codex Germania

For this book, I am reviewing the PDF and hardcover edition of this book.  This book has 110 pages, so slightly smaller than the other codices.  Like a lot of Castles & Crusades books, the art here is from Peter Bradley.  Once again Brian Young is our author and designer.  Young also spends some time comparing the Germanic and Nordic myths and tales.  

These myths come from central Europe and begin as early as the 1st century BCE right on up to the time of the Vikings.  

Chapter 1: In Ancient Tales

Like the previous books, this chapter covers the history of the Germanic peoples as well as a brief bit on their legends and stories.  Like the Nordic (or to the point the Nordic myths are like these) we get an origin story about Giants and three Gods.  Young takes pains to differentiate these myths from the Norse and talks about the shortcomings of the source material.  Here we see the first comparisons between Woden and Odin.

Chapter 2: Of Germania & Beyond

This chapter covers the Germanic lands.  Now to assume there is only one Germany is a huge mistake and one that Young deftly avoids. There are lots of lands here and lots of peoples dating back to the height of the Roman Empire to it's fall.  It is helpful to consult the map or hit up various maps online.  

Chapter 3: Magical Beings & Monsters Dwelled

Once again we have a chapter on monsters and it is a real collection of gems.  Here are 40+ monsters. All are a little bit familiar to any D&D players, but these harken back to their "original" forms so great for players that have "seen everything."  

The monsters are of course enough on their own, but there is a nice section here on the complexities of the Germanic dragons.  Essentially if you ever have read about the dragon Fafnir, then you have an idea of what this is about.   Honestly, this is something that all dragons should have or at least the really interesting ones.  Speaking of the interesting dragons, there are also tables to determine what a unique dragon's name would be.  

Chapter 4: In Wizardry & Enchantments

Here we get some new magic-using classes.  There is the Halirúna, or the Dark Witch (Intelligence-based) which I absolutely love, the Erilaz, or the Rune Master (Wisdom-based) which also has runic magic (like the Nordic book), and the Gudja. or People of the Gods, the clerics for this setting. 

Magic is not a "supernatural" force here, but rather a natural one; THE natural one to be honest.  This chapter uses magic as a means of connecting the people to the gods. Which are coming up next.

Chapter 5: To Serve the Gods

This chapter covers the gods and discusses the overlap between these cultures and the Nordic.  Young points out that due to the Roman Empire the gods and myths of the Germanic pagans are a bit better documented than that of the neighboring Celts. Among these gods it is likely that Woden (Odin) and Þūnor (Thor).  Again there are no stats for gods here (as it should be).  

The chapter also details Germanic pagan beliefs and practices. 

Chapter 6: Skilled in Battlecraft

Warriors are still one of the highest castes in the life of the Germanic peoples.  This chapter gives us information on arms and armor used. How retainers were used and honored, and other topics on warcraft, including special unique weapons. 

The new class, the Drachentöten (lit. "Dragon Killer") is a Dexterity-based class. 

Chapter 7: Castle Keeper Info

Like the other codices, this covers running a Castles & Crusades game with this worldview.   The importance of the king and lawgivers are established and explained. 

The common folk are not forgotten and details like the importance of names (and many tables of names) are detailed. 

Chapter 8: Sample Adventure Module

The sample adventure, "The Monster of the Fens," is given.  It reminds me, naturally enough, of Beowulf.  The adventure takes place in East Anglia so Young states that it can be integrated with the Codex Celtarum.  The adventure is for 2 to 4 characters of 3rd to 4th level. 

It is a fun little adventure and reminds GM/Castle Keepers that even a "simple" monster like a Troll would be a menace to the folks of pagan Germanic lands. Indeed, much like Beowulf shows.

The temptation is great to compare this to the Codex Nordica and also to find it lacking.  This temptation must be avoided!  The Codex Germanica is its own thing. While the myths and stories will feel familiar to the more popular Norse myths, they are their own, situated within their own time and place.   These myths feel older and darker in many respects.  In many ways, I like these myths and tales a little more than those of the Norse. 

Again, this book is light on actual rules details, save for the classes, so it is an excellent resource for any RPG.  Converting it over to AD&D, D&D 5, or your favorite OSR-Clone would be trivial at worst. Of course it is designed for Castles & Crusades which is fantastic in it's own right.