The Gutter Prayer is a fantastic novel of worldbuilding and tumultuous change. The debut from Gareth Hanrahan—an author best known for his many roleplaying credits, from The Persephone Extraction to The Pirates of Drinax—and much more besides, it opens with a prologue written in the second person that narrates a burglary upon the House of Law in the city of Guerdon. It gives a strange, almost impersonal point of view to the beginning of the novel, the identity of the narrator not quite clear, but oh so important as the events of the story reveal later. The burglary though is a failure, forcing its perpetrators, Carillon, an orphan newly returned to the city after years away as a refugee, Rat, a young Ghoul not wanting to his kind below, and Spar, a Stoneman, cursed with a disease which causes him to ossify into stone, and ultimately die if he does not receive injections of the serum, alkahest, to flee. In the wake of an explosion they know nothing about, the trio splits up, chased by the Tallowmen, waxworks which keep going as long as their wick remains alight, created by the Alchemists Guild to help enforce the laws and keep the peace. That explosion and the identity of the narrator in the prologue set off a chain of events which reverberate throughout the rest of novel.

Guerdon stands at the heart of the novel, a fantasy-industrial city-port which remains neutral in the ongoing Godswar afflicting other nearby nations. Religious strife underlies its history though, religious freedom allowed in the city because the Church of the Kept Gods threw down the dark rule of the Black Iron Gods and their vile servants. In recent times, the influence of the Kept Gods has diminished as the power and influence of the Alchemists grew and turned Guerdon into the soot-strewn industrial powerhouse that it is today. In the narrow streets and through the warrens of the smugglers’ tunnels lurks the Brotherhood, the city’s thieves’ guild—of which the novel’s central trio are members—whilst below are stranger factions still. Both are Lovecraftian in nature, the Ghouls feeding upon the city’s dead lowered into corpse chutes by the Church of the Kept Gods, whilst the Crawling Ones, amorphous collective masses of worms which can take on humanoid shapes, plot for greater power and influence in the city above at the expense of the Ghouls.

Once past the prologue, the story switches back and forth between character points of view, initially Carillon, Rat, and Spar, in turn providing different views of the city and building and building Guerdon. They counterpart each other, Carillon impulsive and impatient, Spar physically slowed into terminal patience, with the pragmatic Rat between them. Guerdon though, forms a character of its own as the author serves up one aspect of the city after another, often seeming to throw them away before moving onto the next, leaving the reader to wonder if he will ever return to explain or expand. The three central protagonists, plus Guerdon itself, are not the only characters given time in the spotlight. Carillon has a starchy cousin, Eladora, who provides a different perspective upon their extended family; the three are hunted by Jere, a thief taker with connections; and Aleena, foul-mouthed and weary, who as a Saint of the Kept Gods channels their power. Not all of the other characters in the novel are accorded such treatment and consequently, some are underwritten.

The Gutter Prayer is also a tale of responsibilities, each of the three central characters gaining them, often unwillingly, due to the events of the novel, in the case of Carillon coming to the prologue. In turn, they pull each of the three away from their central friendship which is so strong at the beginning of the novel, especially as the pace of the book picks up and up as their stories and the book comes to a climax.

Most obviously, in terms of genre, with its guilds and gods, thieves and cults, The Gutter Prayer is a dark fantasy, and whilst the industrialisation of alchemy in Guerdon does push it towards the steampunk genre, the novel is neither pseudo-Victorian nor obsessed with mechanical technology. It is rather Dickensian in both its character and its griminess, but The Gutter Prayer is ultimately more of a horror story, and whilst the author’s depiction of the Crawling Ones and their servants is suitably Lovecraftian, the truly creepy creations in the novel are the Tallowmen and the Gullmen. The latter appear only a few times in the novel, but that is enough, because seagulls given arms and legs is not something that you want to be thinking about. The former though, are a constant presence and threat—chasing, watching, guarding, herding… Each is the facsimile in stretched wax of their former self, vaguely self-aware, but always knowing that if their wick is extinguished, then so is their soul.

Throughout it is interesting to see the author going through the process of world-building through the narrative rather than the construction we are used to seeing done via roleplaying supplements. Although there are mentions of the wider world and then just the one fantastic excursionary scene, the action of The Gutter Prayer is confined to Guerdon itself. As much as the city is brought to life, there is still very much left for the reader to wonder at and hope that the author returns to in later books. Were The Gutter Prayer a roleplaying supplement, then perhaps it would be a different matter. In terms roleplaying, any number of rules sets could be used to portray Guerdon and its inhabitants, for example, Into the Odd would work.

The Gutter Prayer is a fast-paced—sometimes too fast-paced as the reader tries to keep up—and grim and grimy dark fantasy. It evokes a wonderfully sooty and tarnished sense of place in Guerdon and explores it through a cast of engaging characters who face difficult choices and undergo often traumatic transitions. The Gutter Prayer is a great introduction to Guerdon and the Black Iron Legacy series, and an exciting and engaging debut novel.

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

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

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Name: The Dragon of WantleyPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: SR Sellens

Setting: Jazz Age North Yorkshire (sans Jazz).
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty-Two page, 17.57 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What evil hides behind an elopement?Plot Hook: How far will the cultists and Investigators go in determining the aims of the cult?Plot Support: Straightforward plot, staging advice for the Keeper, two maps, thirteen handouts, ten detailed NPCs, one Mythos tome, one ballad, and five pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Ferroequinology# Lambton Worm-like scenario grounded in classic English folklore# Decent background introduction to England# Excellently done handouts and photographs# Gentility hides a nasty little plot# Nobility hides a dark secret# Huge potential to disastrously break Yorkshire (a bit) # Roleplaying opportunities amongst the manners and mores the English Class system# Can be run as part of Day of the Beast, Masks of Nyarlathotep, or Tatters of the King
Cons# Needs an edit# Mummies feel like a red herring# Underdeveloped in places# Needs an area map# No hooks for Day of the Beast, Masks of Nyarlathotep, or Tatters of the King
# Huge potential to disastrously break Yorkshire (a bit) 
Conclusion# Nicely supported scenario which twists classic English folklore
# Plenty of roleplaying opportunities amongst the manners and mores of the English Class system as the Investigators winkle out a dark secret.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: The Dilemma in the DesertPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Ryan Graham Theobalds

Setting: The Desperate Decade, Death Valley.
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-Seven page, 49.63 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Death, distrust, and derangement in Death valley.Plot Hook: How far will the cultists and Investigators go in determining the aims of the cult?Plot Support: Detailed plot strands, staging advice for the Keeper, two maps, five handouts, six detailed NPCs, one avatar, and four pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Desert-bound one-shot# Initiates or Investigators, Investigators or Initiates?# Interesting real world location, Scotty’s Castle# Potential for paranoia# Potential campaign starter# Potential link to Cult of Starry Wisdom# Decent handouts and photographs# Investigators could become cultist NPCs in a campaign
Cons# Needs an edit# Maps upside down versus the photographs# Plot strands not clearly explained before they occur# Mythos mish-mash
# Floorplans left unmarked and undescribed# Weird cult initiation to murder mystery plot and back again# Crucial antagonist’s ultimate aim included as an aside# Crucial Investigator/Player decision decided by a die roll 
Conclusion# Possible played through background for cultists in a campaign?
# Oddly plotted and often initially underexplained murder mystery/cult initiation where ultimately, the dilemma of whether or not to turn to the Mythos is out of the players and their Investigators’ hands.

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

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What is it?
A Site to Die For is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha in which the adventurers participate in a week-long ceremony of building and protecting a shrine for a Greydog Clan Hero.

It is a thirty-one page, full colour 2.57 MB PDF.

The layout is scrappy and the scenario requires development and editing.
Where is it set?
A Site to Die For is specifically set along the Starfire Ridges on the lands of the Orlmarth Clan.
Who do you play?A set of six pre-generated Player Characters is provided to play A Site to Die For.
If played using other Player Characters, the assumed default is that they are members of the Greydog Clan. Ideally, the Player Characters should number at least one worshipper of Orlanth amongst their number. It is also assumed that Humakti not be part of the scenario.
What do you need?
A Site to Die For requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha as well as The RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack for wider information about the clans living along the Starefire Ridges. The RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary will be useful for details of some of the encounters.
Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes and The Sartar Companion will useful for background on the Greydog Clan..
What do you get?
A Site to Die For centres on week-long ceremony to construct and protect a shrine to a Greydog Clan hero. Unfortunately, this has to be done on Starfire Ridges, lands held by the rival Orlmarth Clan, which will object to both the intrusion by the Greydog Clan members and their task. The feud between the two clans has run for generations and sees no sign of being put to rest. Once the Player Characters have ascended into the steep hills—possibly assailed by ghosts of long dead clans, harassed by Orlmarthi hunters, and overcome environmental hazards, they can begin the ceremony. This takes place over the course of the week, involving the sacrifice of Magic Points and Rune Points—and even permanent points of Power(!), the erection of an ugly totem pole as an insult to the Orlmarth, and a small personal sacrifice to the hero, Tao. 

Throughout the week, the Player Characters will face the changing nature of the weather as it switches from one Rune-associated day to the next and a mix of encounters both planned and random. The planned are linked to the Rune-associated days, for example, a gang of wild Trollkin will attack on Freeze Day as it is associated with Darkness. Other encounters are random, whilst others will be with those known to the Player Characters, some of whom will support their quest, some of whom will wonder why they are provoking the Orlmarth by establishing the shrine?

A Site to Die For is nicely thematic and strengthens the Rune associations through the encounters and tasks that the Player Characters need to perform. There is actually more to the story than is obvious at first, though the likelihood of that full coming to light will depend upon whether the Player Characters completely fail to set up the shrine, or do so with a cost.
However, A Site to Die For is written in both a stream of consciousness style and in a style that keeps the players and their characters as ignorant as to what is going on as it does the Game Master. This primarily shows in the all, but complete lack of background for either in the opening stages of the scenario, even to the point where neither knows that the scenario actually comes with six pre-generated Player Characters—and the Game Master only knows this when she reads the last twelve or so pages.

A Site to Die For initially reads as toolkit to run the scenario, but it is a proper scenario that the Game Master really, really needs to read through and prepare a lot of information up front that the author does not. As a one-shot, with the given six pre-generated Player Characters, the scenario is probably too long for a single session given the likely number of combat encounters they will have with those wanting to stop the ceremony. With players roleplaying their own characters, this is less of an issue, and one of the potential uses of A Site to Die For is as a template for the Game Master to run a similar scenario for her players and their characters, though not one necessarily one involving either the Greydog Clan or the Orlmarth Clan. In some ways this is actually made all the easier by the amount of preparation the Game Master would have to do even if A Site to Die For was being run as written.
Is it worth your time?Yes—A Site to Die For presents an interesting clash between clans and Rune-themed encounters, especially if the Player Characters are members of the Greydog Clan, which could be adapted to other clans.No—A Site to Die For presents an interesting clash between clans and Rune-themed encounters, but if the Player Characters are not members of the Greydog Clan or they are not combat focused, then the scenario may not be suitable for them.Maybe—A Site to Die For presents an interesting clash between clans and Rune-themed encounters, which is perhaps too combat focused, but which could be adapted to explore the relationships between other clans.

3,2,1…Action! is designed to play fast and easy. When a player wants his character to undertake an action, he rolls a ten-sided die and aims to roll low—typically under a stat rated between two and nine. If the task is challenging, then the Game Runner can impose modifier of +1, +2, or +3 to the roll, depending upon the difficulty of the task. Likewise, if it is less challenging, she can add a bonus of -1, -2, or -3, depending on how easy the task is. Equally, combat is also simple. The Player Characters always go first, unless they faced by an ambush or a trap. Instead of rolling to hit an opponent, both player and Game Runner rolls damage inflicted, again on a ten-sided die, modified by the weapon’s damage modifier. Damage is deducted not from a Player Character’s Hit Points, but his Luck. Thus, a Player Character’s Luck can literally run out and so he would be dead. Luck can be replenished by the application of a first aid kit or at the end of each gaming session. Movement is done by weapon type. A lighter weapon does not slow a Player Character down, whilst a heavier one would, but in either case, the Player Character is ready for action and has his weapon aimed.

Two rules encourage great roleplaying and inventiveness in 3,2,1…Action! First, at the end of each session, there is an awards ceremony in which every votes for the Best Comedy moment, Best Action Sequence, and Line of the Night, the winners gaining one, two, or three points of Luck respectively. Second, player are encouraged to improvise and creativity, in effect, develop their characters by filling in ‘plot holes’. Whenever a player wants his character to do something out of the ordinary or unexpected, the Game Runner is not expected to answer, “Yes, but…”, but rather, “Yes, but tell me how your character can do that and tell me two sentences.” 

For Gayle needs to make contact with someone on the inside of crime boss’ gang and knows that they will be meeting at local restaurant. A very good restaurant, famed for the standard of its service. Gayle’s player tells the Game Runner that she will go undercover as a waitress. The Game Runner asks her player if Gayle has any experience as a waitress, especially a siler service waitress. Gayle’s player explains that in high school she got the role of a waitress in a play, but did not know how to be waitress. Fortunately, her uncle Ross, who worked for a fancy French restraint did, and he showed how, and she was so good that actually got a job as a silver service waitress during high school. The Game Runner accepts this explanation and lets Gayle’s player to pass herself off as a waitress with just a -2 penalty.

A Player Character in 3,2,1…Action! has four physical and mental stats—Action, Brains, Brawn, and Charm, and two survival stats—Cool and Guts. Cool is mental fortitude and Guts is physical fortitude and endurance. If a Player Character can keep his Cool, his player can gain boosts to his rolls, but conversely, gain penalties if the Player Character (literally) looses his Cool. Failing three Guts Checks reduces a Player Character’s stats by one, whilst failing a fourth means that he has died. A first aid kit or the expenditure of five Luck Points will reverse a failed Guts Check. A Player Character has a backstory consisting of just three lines (everything else is filled in via the Plot Hole rule) and four items in his inventory. He also has a role, which improves one stat, whilst also reducing another by a point. For example, a Journalist might be +1 Brains and -1 Action, or Tax Inspector, +1 Brains, -1 Charm.

To create a Player Character, a player rolls a ten-sided die six times and assigns the results to the six stats in any order he likes. He selects or creates a role and applies its modifiers, rolls another ten-sided die and add twenty to the result to get his character’s starting Luck, chooses the four items in his inventory (this includes armour, which takes up a slot in the inventory), and writes his backstory. A player Character may or may not have a Special Ability, which the Game Runner and player can agree on and typically adds a two-point boost under certain circumstances.

Robert Borkowski
Power Loader Operative
Action 7 Brains 4 Brawn 9 Charm 2 Cool 9 Guts 9
Luck: 29
Special Ability: Pack Horse – Robert can carry two extra items in his inventory
Inventory: Comlink, Toolkit

Backstory:
Born on a space hauler and doesn’t like being on the ground
Knows the best places to hide things on a space ship
Loves Poker, but never gets a winning hand

So that is 3,2,1…Action!, a set of rules which can be explained in a few minutes and a Player Character created in a few more. It fulfils its aim of emphasising fun and the story over physics, and keeps everything simple and fast. It is also the ruleset for Rocket To Russia: A Sci-Fi Survival Adventure, a one-shot RPG (and scenario) published following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Although published as part of ZineQuest 3, it is very much a mini-roleplaying game rather than a fanzine, and at one hundred pages in length, is very much larger than most of the titles released as part of ZineQuest, let alone ZineQuest 3.

Rocket To Russia: A Sci-Fi Survival Adventure takes its cue from the Predator series of films and the Contra run-and-gun shooter video game. A madman has crazy on a mysterious tropical island, which until recently was the site of a super science programme run as a joint operation between the USA and the USSR. Someone has to stop him before he does something terrible—and that someone would be the Player Characters. Assembled as a clandestine clean-up crew, the Player Characters are delivered to the island, armed and ready to deal with whatever they find, or so they believe. They have just over twelve hours to locate the madman , thwart what he has planned, and get off the island via the designated extraction. The Player Characters are going to need more than their fair share of good luck, because once they up onto the island, they are on their own. 

Rocket To Russia: A Sci-Fi Survival Adventure is a Special Forces, military Sci-Fi horror which begins with a hunt for a soldier gone rogue who begins a hunt for the Player Characters. Then it gets weird because there are monsters on the island—piscine or batrachian and cephalopodic, and very nasty they are too. Plus they are really not very happy with anyone human. They are prepared to deal with humanity though, which sets up some very creepy scenes, as the Player Characters go in search of their quarry. That said, the quarry will come in search of them and much of the scenario is one of a cat and mouse chase from tropical clearing to another. Along the way, there are opportunities to discover more about what is going on, traps and hazards to avoid, and chances for the Player Characters to be heroic in service of their country!

Besides the scenario and the rules, Rocket To Russia: A Sci-Fi Survival Adventure comes with seven pre-generated Player Characters, descriptions of numerous weapons, and full write-ups and stats for the scenario’s monsters and more. It is entirely possible that the Player Characters might not encounter all of them, and if that is the case in their play through of Rocket To Russia: A Sci-Fi Survival Adventure, then the Game Runner could easily create a sequel and use them in that. The book ends with optional rules like ‘Cheese It!’, which enables the Player Characters to retreat and regroup if a combat gets too tough, ranges and reloads, and more.

Physically,  Rocket To Russia: A Sci-Fi Survival Adventure is solidly presented. If the cover is underwhelming, the excellent internal artwork more than makes up for it.

Rocket To Russia: A Sci-Fi Survival Adventure nicely balances the action with opportunities to introduce some storytelling, but ultimately, it is a batrachian blast ’em up which should provide a big bag of cheesy, cliché eighties action movie machismo which the players can play up to or undercut as is their style. 

An alien force has invaded one galaxy after another. Assaulted one world, followed by another. Reduced colonies to glass and moons to floating collections of rubble. Civilisation is at the invader’s mercy, and as hard as it fights and as desperately as it fields one more newly developed weapon, it cannot withstand the onslaught. How long before survivors huddling on isolated worlds with oxygen and food supplies dwindling are all that is left? Soon, but perhaps there is one last hope, the fabled Reaper’s Gambit. Myth and legend say that it can be found on a world beyond the borders of civilisation, buried deep underground. Now that world has been located and an expedition been sent to excavate a possible site for the device. So far, the Bridge, a Landing Pad, and Ship’s Power has been established on the world along with a force of Marines. It is time to begin digging, exploring, researching, and defending.

This is the set-up for UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers from the publisher of RISE: A Game of Spreading Evil and DELVE: A Solo Map Drawing Game. All three are map-drawing games for one player and each involves the drawing and building, populating and defending, and exploring and exploiting of great underground networks. Both RISE and DELVE are fantasy games, themed around building and exploring dungeons and telling the story involved in this. UMBRA is a Science Fiction solo roleplaying and journaling game inspired by the Science Fiction and Science Fiction horror of Alien, the Halo and Dead Space video games, The Thing, and Starship Troopers. In the game, the player takes the role of the Commander of an expeditionary base. From one turn to the next, as Commander, they will manage, expand, and defend the colony as well as sending out excavation and exploration teams which continue to dig out and dig down deep below the planet’s surface in order to locate the Reaper’s Gambit. Managing primarily means ensuring that the base has sufficient power and food to survive. Expanding the colony means constructing new facilities—barracks, crew quarters, charging stations, fabrication bays, genetic labs, power plants, hydroponics, cloning bays, alien beacons, research laboratories, and much, much more.
To defend the base, the Commander can recruit Marines and Hackers, build Support Droids and Robots, clone Mutants, and hire Alien Mercenaries. Once they have built a Fabrication Bay, they can begin installing automated machine guns, laser grids, psychic mind crushers, and more, whilst installing barriers—both defensive and offensive, and even secret passages, the latter to get around invading enemies. Together, they may need to defend the base against alien hive drones, war drones, and many more threats.

Exploring means finding resources, funding, natural formations, remnants, and other things. Natural formations include chambers full of eggs containing parasites; eruptions of lava; and strange anomalies. A remnant could be a monolith strange markings which might scan an adjacent area or turn some Marines hostile; a buried alien probe which a hacker could hack; or a dormant war machine already to go to battle…

The designer’s previous games in this family have all been about exploring and building underground—DELVE: A Solo Map Drawing Game about exploring and building down and RISE: A Game of Spreading Evil about exploring and building up. UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers is also about exploring and building down, but it adds a new dimension—the outside. Or rather the surface. A colony breach at the surface can cause decompression and loss of units not protected behind airlocks; armed aliens might stage an invasion; an alien ship might conduct a strafing run or an asteroid might crash into the base; and once a Motor Pool has been constructed, Expeditions on the surface can be launched and discoveries made, such as finding a strand alien mercenary, a previously undiscovered civilisation, and even a lost relic.
To play UMBRA, the player will need squared paper, a deck of ordinary cards, some tokens to represent units, a notepad in which to record the expedition’s progress, and pen and pencils. They will also need dice—a four-sided die at least. The game starts with the player drawing the Bridge, Landing Pad, and Ship’s Power on the grided paper at the top. Then on each turn, they choose an unexplored location on the map—which is a cross section of the base and its underground facilities—and draw a card to determine what is found. Hearts are Resources, Diamonds are Funding for hiring troops, Spades are natural formations, and Clubs are remnants. Both natural formations and remnants require the player to draw another card and refer to the respective tables. Combat is a matter of attrition, comparing the Strength values of the combatants and deducting the lower Strength value from the higher Strength value. A troop unit whose Strength is reduced to zero is removed from the Hold, but a Medbay on the same level where the unit died can revive it. The rules also allow for ranged combat. The player can trade and exchange Resources for Funding or vice versa, and finally they can build new features in the base—facilities, security features, and much, much more, and hire new troop units.

Once the Commander has excavated to the Level Five and beyond, the deck of playing cards’ Jokers are added back into the deck. When drawn Black Jokers represent Alien Terrors, bigger challenges that the Commander will need to overcome, and Red Jokers are Alien Artefacts which will help them in the long term. When the Red Joker is drawn, two further cards are drawn to determine its traits, and if they are face cards, then the Commander has located the Reaper’s Gambit. In which case, it is shipped off to support the Galactic War, the base and its facilities are given full colony status, and so the player has achieved victory in their play through of UMBRA! If however, enemy units reach the base’s Bridge, defeats the troops there, the base has been overrun or captured, and the Commander’s efforts to find the Reaper’s Gambit thwarted. The Galactic War will continue until the civilisation is destroyed—and so the player has been defeated in their play through of UMBRA.

If a player is victorious, they need not stop playing. There is something dark and dangerous in the abyssal depths of the planet, a truly monstrous threat—perhaps one greater in the long run to that being faced in the Galactic War. UMBRA contains options also for theming the planet’s levels, for terraforming the planet and making it even more difficult to explore, and a list of challenges that the player can overcome and so gain a little glory. Rounding out UMBRA is a selection of prompts and a quick reference page for ease of play.
Physically, UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers is a cleanly presented, digest-sized book. The writing is clear and simple such that the reader can become a Commander and start exploring and drawing with very little preparation.

UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers is closest in design to DELVE: A Solo Map Drawing Game. Both are sedate in their play with strong procedural and resource management elements, and these elements along with the map—or rather floor plans of the base in the case of UMBRA—are what the player builds and tells their story around. UMBRA can be played in one sitting or put aside and returned to at a later date, but it does take time to play and the more time the Commander invests the more rewarding the story which should develop. And as good as successfully finding the Reaper’s Gambit feels, playing UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers and not finding it and having the base fail can be as narratively interesting and satisfying—if not more so. The story of discovering that tale though, might be for another roleplaying game and an entirely different session.

As well as contributing to Free RPG Day every year Goodman Games also has its own ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day’, which sadly, is a very North American event. The day is notable not only for the events and the range of adventures being played for Goodman Games’ roleplaying games, but also for the scenarios it releases specifically to be played on the day. For ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2021’, the publisher released two booklets. One was an anthology, the DCC Day 2021 Adventure Pack, which contains three adventures. One for Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, one for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, and one a preview for Dungeon Crawl Classics: Dying Earth. The other was Dungeon Crawl Classics Day #2: Beneath the Well of Brass. This is a classic Character Funnel, one of the features of both the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game—in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Day #2: Beneath the Well of Brass begins with the Player Characters being brought before the Black King. A few days before, he and his band of brigands took over the village and demanded that he and his men be fed and treated with respect. Unfortunately, he has not come to the village merely for a series of good meals, but for the secret of eternal life. Just outside is The Devil’s Maw, a series of caverns from which flames regularly gout and no-one in living memory has ever entered and return. Thus it is forbidden to enter the caverns and descend the well found inside. However, the Black King proclaims that The Devil’s Maw holds the secret of eternal life and he wants to claim for his own. Not that he plans to enter a place as forbidden and as foreboding as The Devil’s Maw himself, of course. No, instead he chooses a random group of villagers and send them in his stead, promising that if they do not return with the prize, the lives of the other villagers will be forfeit!

Designed to be played in one session, Dungeon Crawl Classics Day #2: Beneath the Well of Brass is a short adventure, running to just twelve locations. All of which are nicely detailed and with good reason. This is not scenario which emphasises combat—though there are a few scenes where fights can occur—primarily because none of the Zero Level Player Characters are really capable of withstanding much in way of a clobbering. Instead, there are puzzles to solve and not so much traps, as environmental effects to avoid or overcome. The short network of caves which make up The Devil’s Maw are soot-stained and flame-touched, and the danger of being burned is a constant threat throughout the caves. There is also the danger of a ‘Total Party Kill’, for one group of player’s characters, if not all of the players’ characters. This is no necessary scenario-ending, as the Black King will simply feed replacement villagers and thus replacement Zero Level Player Characters into The Devil’s Maw.

As the Player Characters delve deeper and deeper in The Devil’s Maw they will hopefully pick up a clue or two that helps them solve the big puzzle towards the end of the scenario. It will definitely help if they clear away a level of soot or two, but there are still plenty of clues otherwise. The big, literally big, puzzle is a killer if not got right, but fortunately, the author does not stint on the clues… Along the way, there are even opportunities for advancement and empowerment, some of which will have a telling effect on the individual Player Characters in the long term. One of these, a nasty version of the ‘lady in the lake with a sword’ (or at least an arm), will really present a player with a roleplaying challenge too—if the character survives.

Ultimately, whether the players have completed the scenario with their original batch of Zero Level characters or are on their first, second, or third sets of replacements, they will return to the mouth of The Devil’s Maw, hopefully with a treasure or two, perhaps with what the Black King sent them in for, and definitely with a desire for revenge. The scenario provides means to circumvent the brigands or even team up and beat a few up, if the players decide to look for those opportunities, but otherwise is linear and straightforward, from beginning to end.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics Day #2: Beneath the Well of Brass is decently done. The artwork is fun and the map clear, but needs a moment or two determine its layout as it is not quite clear what goes with what at a first glance.

So the question is, why play yet another Character Funnel for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game? The most obvious reason is that they are fun to play and it can be really entertaining to roleplay four Zero Level Player Characters and build the relationships between the player’s four and the Player Characters of the players. The scenario could be played by a standard group of First Level Player Characters, but the effect would not be the same. Another reason is that Dungeon Crawl Classics Day #2: Beneath the Well of Brass is actually a prequel to Dungeon Crawl Classics #100: The Music of the Spheres is Chaos. Finally, Dungeon Crawl Classics Day #2: Beneath the Well of Brass is a thoroughly fun and engaging scenario, one which should be easy to run with a minimum of fuss and preparation.

The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! is a quick-start for They Came From Beyond the Grave!, the roleplaying game of the shock, the terror, the eroticism, and the  humor of 1970s horror films. It is inspired by the output of Hammer Film Productions, Amicus Productions, and Roger Corman—so The Curse of Frankenstein and Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter, The City of the Dead and Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, and House of Usher and The Raven, and more... Its tales are not just from the 1970s, but also the nineteenth century, and they are performed by actors with rich, fruity voices ready to project all the way to the back of the auditorium, who are all going to give their all, despite wishing that they were performing on the stage, which is the proper venue for men of their talents and stature. Published by Onyx Path Publishing, The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! provides everything necessary for a gaming group to give the roleplaying game a try and perhaps even use it as the starter scenario to a horror campaign set in the miserable, grim and grimy dark ages of the England in the seventies and the gaslight reaches of the Victorian era. This includes a basic explanation of the rules, a nine-scene scenario—the ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ of the title, and five pre-generated Player Characters or protagonists, plus Trademarks for all of the Player Characters, Quip Cards, and Cinematic Cards.

The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! employs the Storypath system. A distillation of the earlier Storyteller system, it is simpler and streamlined, designed for slightly cinematic, effect driven play. The core mechanic uses dice pools of ten-sided dice, typically formed from the combination of a skill and an attribute, for example Intellect and Science to analyse a problem, Aim and Dexterity to fire a gun, and Empathy and Manipulation to unobtrusively get someone to do what a character wants. These skill and attribute combinations are designed to be flexible, with a character’s preferred method being described as a character’s Favoured Approach. So a character whose Favoured Approach is Force, would use Close Combat and Might in a melee fight; if Finesse, Close Combat and Dexterity; and if Resilience, then Close Combat and Stamina.

The aim when rolling, is to score Successes, a Success being a result of eight or more. Rolls of ten count as two in They Came From Beyond the Grave!, rather than the capacity for the player to roll again for further Successes. Typically, a player only needs to roll one Success for a character to succeed at a task, though it can be as many as three, and ideally, he will want to roll more. Not only because Successes can be used to buy off Complications—ranging between one and five—but also because they can be used to buy Stunts which will impose Complications for others, create an Enhancement for another action, or one that makes it difficult to act against a character. Stunts cost at least one Success and each of the five pre-generated protagonists in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!  possesses three favoured Stunts. These include ‘Uncover the Truth’, ‘Spot Weakness’, ‘Oracular Gaze’, and more. However, where combat Stunts like ‘Increase Damage’, ‘Knockdown/Trip’, and ‘Pin Down’ are explained, there appears to be no explanation for the three favoured Stunts for each of the Protagonists.

Under the Storypath system, and thus in They Came From Beyond the Grave!, failure is never complete. Either a player can spend a Rewrite to reroll; accept the failure, accept its consequences and a Consolation; or if the roll was a failure and a one was rolled on the die, suffer the consequences of a Botch and earn two Rewrites for the Writer’s Pool.

Both ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ and They Came From Beyond the Grave! use a number of mechanics which help enforce the genre. Unlike Party Beach Creature Feature! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beneath the Sea!, the quick-start for They Came From Beneath the Sea!, Protagonists do not have access to Trademarks, each tied to a particular skill, which grant the player two extra dice on a related roll per Trademark, but when activated and there are some Successes left over from the completed task, enable the player to gain Directorial Control of the film. There is scope for them in They Came From Beyond the Grave! as there is space for them on the character sheet, but they do not appear in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!.

A Protagonist does have Quips, like ‘I always believed human sacrifice died out.’ or ‘There's your proof — the proof of your own eyes.’ When used, they require everyone around the table to vote whether or not their use is appropriate, but if a Quip is successful, it earns a player another die to a roll or a reroll if a complex action. Rewrites are another genre-enforcing mechanic and are drawn from the Writers’ Pool, which is a group resource. They require all players to agree to their use, but with that agreement, a Rewrite can be used to make rerolls or add dice to a roll, as well as to active Cinematic Powers. Several of these are listed, including ‘I’m a Serious Actor’ which grants a bonus to the Protagonist’s Social Attributes after he uses his serious acting chops to elevate the film; ‘Same Set, Different Movie’ in which the Protagonist—or the actor playing him recognises the set of the film from another and uses it to his advantage; and ‘Waxing Poe-etical’ which has the player narrating the actions of his protagonist in rhyme and everyone joining in to gain an Enhancement for all associated rolls. Several Rewrites are included in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!, but only five are used in play.

The rules in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! are not quite as well explained as they could be. Beyond the basic rules, which are clear enough, the rules for combat are explained in the scenes where they might happen in the scenario and there is no explanation of the Stunts for the Protagonists. That aside, the rules are all easy to use in play. They are specifically designed to encourage and support cinematic play, even badly cinematic play, and whilst they are genre-enforcing, there are quite a few of them. So as much as the players need to lean into the genre and their Protagonists, they also need to lean into the genre-enforcing mechanics—the Rewrites, the Cinematic Powers, and more—to get their full effect. This is not an impediment to play as such, but more of a requirement than players might expect of the roleplaying game.

A Protagonist in Both ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ and They Came From Beyond the Grave! has nine Attributes—Intellect, Cunning, Resolving, Might, Dexterity, Stamina, Presence, Manipulation, and Composure; a range a skills, Quips, and Favoured Stunts. A Protagonist also has a Path each for his Archetype, Origin, and Ambition, but these do not play a role in the jump-start, whilst of his three Aspirations, or goals, only the two short term Aspirations really count in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!.

The five Protagonists included in The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! consist of an elderly and authorative parapsychology professor, a brilliant, but disillusioned scientist, an ex-cop turned skeptical researcher, an eccentric medium, and a would-be hero dupe. Each is presented in full colour over two pages with the character sheet on one and an illustration and background on the other. The character sheets are easy to read and the background easy to pick up.

The scenario, ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’, on two stormy separate, but connected, nights. The Protagonists are members of a parapsychology research team from the University of Portsmouth (technically Portsmouth Polytechnic at the time of the scenario) who are visiting Abbeyham Priory, a gothic pile with a long reputation for being haunted and being associated with witch hunts. Once the Protagonists get past the small crowd of protestors objecting to the idea of ghost hunters visiting a place of God and gain entry to the abbey, they find the nuns frosty and unwelcoming. The building is shabby, dusty, and cobweb strewn, the floors creak and there is nowhere to escape the draughts. The nuns seem to watch their every move, and despite what the Protagonists’ ghost hunting equipment fails to detect, there seems to be signs of ghosts everywhere. Well, if not ghosts, then something strange is definitely going on.

The Protagonists are members of a parapsychology research team from the University of Portsmouth (technically Portsmouth Polytechnic at the time of the scenario) who are visiting Abbeyham Priory, a gothic pile with a long reputation for being haunted and being associated with witch hunts. Once the Protagonists get past the small crowd of protestors objecting to the idea of ghost hunters visiting a place of God and gain entry to the abbey, they find the nuns frosty and unwelcoming. The building is shabby, dusty, and cobweb strewn, the floors creak and there is nowhere to escape the draughts. The nuns seem to watch their every move, and despite what the Protagonists’ ghost hunting equipment fails to detect, there seems to be signs of ghosts everywhere. Well, if not ghosts, then something strange is going on!

‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ is designed to be played in four hours—and so is suitable to be run as a convention scenario—and is designed as a fairly linear countdown to a big finale. Which is entirely fitting for the genre. It contains a detailed description of the abbey, (though there is no map), which the Protagonists have plenty of opportunity to explore and are encouraged to do so to gain clues as to what is exactly going on at the abbey. Some of the clues come from a series of flashback scenes which foreshadow the events of the present in ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’. These are set in the nineteenth century and involve visitors to Abbeyham Priory very similar to the Protagonists and who are in fact roleplayed by the players as variations upon their Protagonists! As the scenario counts down, its scenes cut back and forth between the present and the past, one set of Protagonists desperately fighting to withstand their inevitable doom, the other set  desperately fighting to withstand their potentially inevitable doom.

Physically, The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! is a slim softback, done in full colour throughout. The artwork is excellent and gloriously depicts the campy, over the top horror of its genre. Therea re two main issues with the quick-start. One is that the rules explanation is underwritten and there are elements, such as the explanations of the Trademark Stunts missing. The other is the structure of the scenario, which writes some of the core rules for the roleplaying game into scenes when they should really have been placed together with the explanation of the basic rules. Consequently, The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! does need a thorough read through as part of preparation, both to grasp the overall rules as well as the structure of the scenario.

It should be noted that ‘The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory!’ is a very British scenario. Consequently, it includes an explanation of what ‘jumble’ and a ‘jumble sale’ are and the Protagonists get a scene in an Austin Allegro. Which is either the result of brilliant research or the author getting revenge for childhood nightmares spent in the back seat of one on very long family holidays. Either way, for players of a certain age, it will bring back terrifying flashbacks of their own...

Although it needs a little more preparation than perhaps is necessary to ready the players for the rules, The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave! has everything the Director and her players need for one night’s session of a dark and stormy night, creepy nuns and salacious nuns, jump scares, creaks and groans from cheap sets, and over over acting. Anyone looking for down at heel frights and the richest, fruitiest of hammy performances as the clock ticks down to horror should prepare for a night at The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory! A Jumpstart for They Came From Beyond the Grave!

The set-up will sound familiar. A gang of besuited, well-dressed criminals arrive at a warehouse having just pulled off an extraordinary crime. Before planning and committing the crime, they had never met before, and even afterwards, they only know each other by their pseudonyms—Mister Black, Mister Red, Mister Green, Mister Purple, Mister Beige, and Mister Silver. The crime has been successfully committed; all they need to do now is follow the boss’ instructions. Lay low in the warehouse until midnight, when he will come for them and ferry them to safety across the bay. It is only a few hours, but not everyone in the gang likes each other and not everyone trusts each other. Perhaps with good reason, because some of them have secrets—and that is before the strange things which seem to be happening in the warehouse. The loot is not what it was when it was stolen—but now it definitely is. Time seems to pass really slowly or really quick. The sound of sirens can be heard right outside the warehouse—but the cops are nowhere to be seen. A baby crying can be heard, but never found in the warehouse. Mister Grey keeps copious notes, but comes and goes. Was he in on the robbery, and if so, should he not be staying in the warehouse like everyone else?

If that sounds like the plot of the first film from nineties wunderkind, then you would not be far wrong.

This is the set-up for Dockside Dogs, a scenario for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition from its co-designer, Paul Fricker. It is a gangster themed, single-session, one-shot scenario which more or less follows the plot of almost any ‘Heist Gone Wrong’ film, from Rififi to Reservoir Dogs—though more the latter than the former. It is set in the nineties, but could just as easily be set in other time periods, and whilst it has obvious American trappings it could be easily adjusted to almost any other big coastal city. As a one-shot, it is designed to be roleplayed by six players and to that end comes with over twelve Investigator sheets so that each of the six gangster Investigators can be played as male or female. There are guidelines for running the scenario with fewer players, but Dockside Dogs is at its best with the full cast of six players and thus six gangsters. Each Investigator sheet includes a personal description, backstory, treasured possessions, and traits for that gangster, as well as a list of what each gangster thinks—and in some cases knows—of his or her fellow crew members.

Dockside Dogs begins with the gangsters arriving at the warehouse in two groups. Exactly what happened earlier in the day will be established through flashbacks and here Dockside Dogs begins to diverge away from what the traditional Call of Cthulhu investigation. The investigation, such as it is, is not through newspaper morgues or in libraries, but into each other. This is spurred on by events which the Keeper slips into the scenario exacerbate the sense of paranoia and uncertainty which pervades the scenario. Another difference between Dockside Dogs and other scenarios for Call of Cthulhu is that it encourages creativity and improvisation upon the part of the players and the Keeper. The effect of these scenes is twofold. First, they strengthen the links between the gangsters, and second, they call back to the film which inspires the scenario and enforces the genre.

Physically, Dockside Dogs is well presented, clearly written, and consequently easy to run with relatively little preparation. The Investigator sheets have all been customised for the scenario and are nicely individualised from one character to the next. Interestingly, there is some foreshadowing on some of the Investigator sheets, which effectively calls for the players of those Investigators to go along with the plot, again to enforce the genre and call back to the scenario’s inspiration.

Just as the genre and film inspiring Dockside Dogs is obvious, so is the Mythos inspiring it. However, just as the scenario asks the players to lean into its genre and filmic inspiration, it is also asking them to lean into the Mythos inspiration as well, though that inspiration is used in a markedly different fashion. With its combination of genre and single-session, one-shot format, Dockside Dogs is reminiscent of the Blood Brothers and Blood Brothers 2 anthologies, but is a more modern, storytelling-influenced version of that format. Dockside Dogs involves ‘blood brothers’ of a different kind in what is a tense and potentially bloody character study.

The rise of the dead and the zombie outbreak has been visited again and again in board games and roleplaying games that the concept has become a cliché and the question has to be asked with each new game, “What makes this zombie game different?” such that a playing group will pick it up and play it. So the question is, “What makes Zombicide Chronicles different?” As the name suggests it is based on the boardgame of the same name, Zombicide, in which the players control the fate of the ‘Survivors’ as the zombies rise up, infect their town, and they fight back, becoming ‘Hunters’, taking the violence to the corpse cortège… This is no Deadof Winter or The Walking Dead where every day is a desperate battle for survival—and that is even before the survivors encounter any zombies! Instead, Zombicide is a game in which the players ‘team up, gear up, level up, take ’em down’ and batter, slash, hack, and shoot the members of the cadaver cavalcade and it is this sensibility which is brought to Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game.
Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game is published by CoolMiniOrNot and Guillotine Games as part of the successful Kickstarter campaign for Zombicide: 2nd Edition. It is designed as both a standalone roleplaying game set in the Zombicide universe and a roleplaying game which is compatible with Zombicide, 2nd Edition, so that the cards and the dice and more can be used with the roleplaying game. This compatibility does lead to some oddities with regard to terminology if the players have experience with other roleplaying games. If they are coming to the roleplaying game after playing the board game, then this is not an issue. If however, they have not, then a little adjustment might be required.

A Survivor in Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game is defined by his Skills, Attributes, and Proficiencies, and through the combination of Attributes and Proficiencies, his Actions. Skills are actually special abilities, which work under particular situations, for example, ‘Born Leader’ enables a player to give another player an extra Support Action in combat or ‘Beak-in’, which enables a player to get past standard locked doors or windows without any noise or specialist equipment. There are three Attributes—Muscle, Brains, and Grit, and Proficiencies—Athletics, Attitude, Background, Combat, Perception, and Survival—are categories in which a Survivor can specialise. Attributes and Proficiencies are rated between one and three and laid out on a grid with Attributes along the top and the Proficiencies listed down the side. In play, the Proficiencies are cross-referenced with the Attributes to give an Action, for example, cross-reference the Background Proficiency with the Brains Attribute to get the Education Action or the Perception Proficiency with the Grit Attribute for the Scout Action. It is Actions that might be seen as skills in other roleplaying games.

To create a Survivor, a player first selects an Archetype. There are twelve of these, each with a favoured Proficiency, Attribute, and four starting Skills. They include a BMXRider, a Hacker and Boxer, Bus Driver, Resourceful Foreman, Postwomen, and more…There is, of course, a boxed set of miniatures for the twelve archetypes, which would enable the player-created Survivors to be used in conjunction with the board game. All come with a name, a quote, and a suggestion as to why a player might pick that archetype. The player selects four starting Skills and four favoured Actions (these are underlined on the sheet), and assigns ratings of one, two, and three to his Survivor’s Attributes. He sets two Proficiencies at three, three at two, and one at one. The Survivor also has some gear—a readied weapon, a holstered weapon, and the contents of a backpack.

Alternatively, a player can instead create a Survivor from scratch, ignoring the Archetype step, though they are fun. This would free a player to choose all four of his Survivor’s favoured Proficiency, Attribute, and four starting Skills. A set of tables provides options for the Survivor’s Prologue—when he first heard of the outbreak, firsts aw a zombie, his first Zombicide, and more. The process is quick and easy, and defines the Survivor in broad strokes.

Stanley Redfield
Occupation: Reformed Burglar
Level 0
Habit: Rolls a cigarette, but never lights it. Had to give up for health reasons.
Looks: Unshaven, shifty, and balding
Hit Points: 4
Stress: 6

SKILLS
Break-in, Is That All You Got?, Precision, Mindfulness

ACTIONS – Muscle 3 Brains 2 Grit 1
Athletics 2 Stunt Sneak Endure
Attitude 1 Appeal Convince Hearten
Background 2 Security Education Contacts
Combat 2 Fight Shoot Cool
Perception 3 Spot Evaluate Scout
Survival 3 Scavenge Tinker Heal

GEAR
Pistol, crowbar

When did I first hear about the outbreak?
My brother-in-law died and I heard he came back from the dead…

When did I first experience the outbreak?
My neighbour’s dog wouldn’t shut up, and when I went to investigate, the crotchety old witch nearly ripped my damned arm off…

When was my first Zombicide?
I helped clean up the neighbourhood. Not like the cops were coming…

What happened to your significant others?
I ain’t heard from my son. I sure hope I can find him and he is okay.

What did I take with me?
My cell phone. Need to find a charger for it though…

What did I leave behind?
My favourite book, Angels & Demons

How did I meet the other survivors?
Yeah, one or two were friends.

Mechanically, Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game is simple. A player cross-references a Proficiency with an Attribute to give an Action, the combination of values for the Proficiency and the Attribute give the number of dice to be rolled for the Action. This generates a base dice pool which ranges in size from two to six dice, but to this can be added bonus dice for a Favoured Action, equipment, and the difficulty of the situation, which can increase or reduce the number of dice to be rolled. This can increase the number of dice up to a total of twelve, and any dice after the first six, are rolled as Master dice. Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game has its own dice. These are six-sided dice, marked with a Zombie Head on the one face and a Molotov Cocktail on the six face, but ordinary six-sided dice can be used instead just as easily. The basic dice should be all one colour, whilst the Master dice another. When rolled, results of the Molotov Cocktail count as Successes. Only one success is required for an Action to succeed, but multiple Successes rolled improve the outcome. If a Zombie Head is rolled on a Mastery Dice, then the player can reroll it once. If there are more Zombie Heads than Molotov Cocktails (or ones versus sixes), then Trouble can ensue, such as a weapon being dropped or friendly fire in combat!
For example, Stanley Redfield is out scouting downtown and discovers a pharmacist which has only been partially looted. There are zombies moving around and he wants to break in without alerting them. His player selects the Security Action, which effectively means he is cross-referencing his Muscle of three with his Background Proficiency of two. This gives him a base dice pool of five dice, but since Security is a favoured Action, this adds one Bonus Die. The use of his crowbar also adds another Bonus Die. Which means altogether, Stanley’s player is rolling six dice and one Mastery die.Combat uses the same mechanics, with only one success needed to hit and weapons inflicting a fixed amount of damage. Combat consists of ‘Opening Shots’ of ranged combat, followed by proper Combat Rounds of melee combat. Zombies are attacked in speed order, from the slowest to the fastest, unless the Survivor takes the Aim move. Damage needs to be enough to kill a zombie in one go, or not at all, and some of the zombies, like the Abomination, can withstand more damage than most weapons can inflict. In this instance, the Survivors need to master their weapons with the right Skills. Zombies attack and automatically do damage in the Combat Rounds with the Game Master not needing to roll. Armour provides protection, but can be damaged. Another option is that the Survivors can take the Evade move.

One advantage a Survivor has in combat is that he can inflict Stress on himself in return for turning a failed roll into a Success. Whether this is possible depends on the weapon and its Accuracy value, and the number rolled on the dice. For example, the fire axe has an accuracy of four plus. If the player rolls just numbers on the dice rather than Zombie Heads or Molotov Cocktails, he can check the numbers, and if any of them are four or five, he can take a point of Stress to turn it into a Success. Stress though is a finite resource and there is a limit to how often a player can use it. Once his limit is reached, a Survivor will need to find a way of relieving his Stress.

All weapons have an Accuracy value like this. The ranged weapons in Zombicide Chronicles are the generic pistol, shotgun, and so on, but the melee weapons are more individual—baseball bat, chainsaw, katana, kukri, and more. They all have their own cards in the board game which can be incorporated into Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game.

As play progresses and a Survivor rolls Successes, he accrues Adrenalin. This is tracked and as it rises, he can use more and more of his Skills (or special abilities). Adrenalin is also gained for achieving objectives. The Skills are rated either Basic, Advanced, Master, and Ultimate. At the beginning of a Mission, a Survivor can use just his Basic Skills, meaning that he gets better and better as the Mission proceeds.

Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game is played in two phases—the Shelter Phase and the Mission Phase. The Shelter Phase is when the Survivors plan and prepare the situation in their current shelter and nearby, including checking for supplies (if they have insufficient supplies, the Survivors will suffer Conditions in the Mission Phase), gathering rumours, making things, studying or training, and creating and defending a shelter. The Mission Phase is when the Survivors go out and perform the mission itself. Various types of missions are discussed, including going on a supply run, exploring, making a rescue run, and more. This is combined with the ‘World of Zombicide’, which describes the various districts and locations of an archetypal city and takes up the last third of the Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game. Although there is no actual scenario in the roleplaying game, the ‘World of Zombicide’ has plenty of ideas and NPCs for the Game Master to use.

In terms of zombies, Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game has its own ‘Zombipedia’. There are four base types of zombie—Walker, Fattie, Runner, and Abomination, and these are typically organised in play into hordes which the Survivors will need to take down. The Game Master can customise these though to add variation, and several mutated and animal zombie types are also included. There is good advice for the Game Master on running the game, including suggestions on how to set the right tone for her players, though this is a horror game after all.

Physically, Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game is big, bold, and in your face. It is heavily illustrated with lots and lots of cartoon style artwork, decent maps and floorplans, and fully painted panoramas of the city. The book is well written and easy to read.

There are any number of zombie-themed roleplaying games, but with its simple mechanics and cartoon zombie action, Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game is easy to pick up and easy to play. The compatibility between Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game and the Zombicide: 2nd Edition board game means that there is plenty of potential for cross play between the two. So, the various equipment cards and map tiles from Zombicide: 2nd Edition could be used with Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game to play out the action of the Mission Phase, but equally, the Survivors created using the Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game could be used to play through the content in Zombicide: 2nd Edition. However, given that potential for cross compatibility, there is no advice on how to do that, which is an odd admission since the roleplaying game was funded as part of the Kickstarter for the board game.

Zombicide Chronicles: TheRoleplaying Game is a grim—but not dark—post apocalyptic roleplaying game with genre elements and a setting of the ‘World of Zombicide’ that will be familiar to most gamers. This does not stop it from delivering fast-paced, big, zombie-fueled tension and action.

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!

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.

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!

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.