On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Then there is also Old School Essentials.
Carcass Crawler is ‘The Official Fanzine Old-School Essentials zine’. Published by Necrotic Gnome, Old School Essentials is the retroclone based upon the version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons designed by Tom Moldvay and published in 1981, and Carcass Crawler provides content and options for it. It is pleasingly ‘old school’ in its sensibilities, being a medley of things in its content rather than just the one thing or the one roleplaying game as has been the trend in gaming fanzines, especially with ZineQuest. Carcass Crawler #1 focused on Classes and Races alongside its other support for Old School Essentials, whereas although Carcass Crawler Issue #2 does provide new Races and Classes, it instead focuses on general support for the Player Character and playing Old School Essentials.
The two new classes in Carcass Crawler Issue #2 follow standard Old School Essentials rules in that it allows for ‘Race as Class’ as well as supporting the separation of Race and Class as per Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy. ‘Phase Elf & Wood Elf’ are the two in question and interestingly, the latter is inspired by both Moldvay’s Basic Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, whilst the former is inspired by Original Dungeons & Dragons. The Elf of Original Dungeons & Dragons could switch between the Fighter and Magic-User Classes and do so in between adventures. As a Demihuman Class for Old School Essentials, the Phase Elf can also switch between the two Classes, but can only do so from one day to the next. As well as switching Classes, the Player Character can also switch personalities, whilst still retaining the same body and memories. Where the Phase Elf does not so much mix and match the abilities of the Fighter and Magic-User Classes as alternate between the two, the Wood Elf eschews both. Instead, the Wood Elf is more naturalistic, good at foraging and hunting and hiding in the woods. The Wood Elf is good with missile weapons, but can only wear leather armour. Instead of arcane magic, the Wood Elf can pray for and cast divine magic. If using Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy, this can be Druidic magic, but Clerical if not.

The Phase Elf and the Wood Elf are also presented as Races in their own right. As a Race, the Phase Elf has two Classes and these need not be the Fighter and Magic-User Classes. The Wood Elf is more straightforward.
‘Town Services’ covers all of the services an adventurer might need and find in a town. Inns, money changers, and traders and provisioners are all detailed, along with optional rules for haggling and noting that jewelers and moneychangers will hire guards. One of the features of early Dungeons & Dragons is the need for the Player Characters to hire retainers. ‘Town Services’ covers options for this, including townsfolk as porters and torch-bearers as well as actual adventurers. Wages are suggested, as is an optional rule for Treasure-Share-XP. Both articles provide simple, workable means of handling these rules aspects. Ease is the aim of ‘Quick Equipment’, which sets out to provide a quick method of a player equipping his character. This begins with standard basic equipment before making rolls—or choosing—for Class-specific items such as armour, weapons, and extra bits of equipment. Most Classes use the standard Weapons table, but Classes like Acrobat, Bard, Cleric, Druid, and Knight have their own. ‘Item-Based Encumbrance’ offers a new and third option for handling encumbrance in Old School Essentials. This is done on an item-by-item basis, so weapons and armour, bulkier adventuring equipment, and magical items count as a single items. Others, such as torches and rations, can be bundled together to make up single items. After a Player Character is equipped, his player counts up the number of items he is carrying and that determines his movement rate. It is a simple enough system and quick and easy to use. This quartet of articles are not the most interesting content in the fanzine, reflecting the utilitarian side of playing Dungeons & Dragons-style games, but it makes them no less useful.
‘Snake Cult Monsters’ and ‘The Tomb of Aum-Pharath’ are a pair of articles that involve a snake cult. The first lists eight monsters themed around a snake-worshipping cult. They include snakes bred by the cult, like the Alabaster Serpent, placed in suspended animation in treasure chests and urns as traps, and whose bite inflict Dexterity debilitating spasms. Hydral Statues are five-headed stone or bronze constructs that are typically used to guard gates in tombs and temples, whilst the Zombie Snake-Guard are snake-cultists who were ritually sacrificed to serve as tomb and shrine guards. As well as being undead, their bite is poisonous. The eight are nicely thematic and the Player Characters get to face them in ‘The Tomb of Aum-Pharath’. This details a tomb complex consisting of twelve locations detailed over a two-page spread. The Game Master will need to provide the stats, but these are based on the previous ‘Snake Cult Monsters’ article and so easy to create. She will also need to create a hook or two to get the Player Characters to the tomb complex’s doors, or drop it into a sandbox, but otherwise, the location is ready to play. If the Game Master has them, a snake-themed magical item would be a good addition too.
‘Black Powder Weapons’ in Carcass Crawler Issue #2 gave rules for early firearms such as matchlocks, wheellocks, and flintlocks in Old School Essentials. ‘Energy Weapons’ details energy blades such as daggers, staves, and swords, and pistols, carbines, and rifles for energy guns. The energy types consist of ion, plasma, and laser weapons, and besides describing them and detailing their use, suggests Class restrictions, depending whether they are martial, semi-martial, or non-martial Classes—with Clerics a special case, and how to handle their use as unknown technology is in Gamma World or S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. The Energy Weapon Technician is added as a Specialist if energy weapons are common the campaign world.

Finally, ‘Adjudicating Traps’ is a discursive piece, examining the role of traps in the game and how to make them interesting for both the players and the Game Master. It suggests the benefits and negatives of rolling dice as a means to find and disarm traps and of taking a more narrative approach, with the players describing the actions of their characters. The options for making traps fun include placing clues and telegraphing the presence of traps, having traps fail to activate, and including non-lethal traps. Although short, this is a thoughtful piece that neatly ends by pointing out that the traps are part of play and the players should learn to enjoy the tragic, comedic, or gruesome ways in which traps might kill their characters.
Physically, Carcass Crawler Issue #2 is well written and well presented. The artwork is excellent.
Carcass Crawler Issue #2 is not as fun or as exciting as Carcass Crawler Issue #1. This is due to the fact that four of its articles deal with the mundane aspects of Dungeons & Dragons-style play—services, retainers, equipment, and encumbrance—and they are simply unexciting. However, that does not mean that they are not useful or well thought out, as they are. The other articles in the issue are also well done and perhaps more exciting, though not necessarily too much. Overall, Carcass Crawler Issue #2 is an enjoyably old school-style issue of a fanzine for Old School Essentials, but one that is more serviceable than surprising.

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Not every fanzine for the Old School Renaissance need be dedicated to a specific retroclone, such as The Phylactery.

The Phylactery Issue #1, published by Planet X Games in November, 2020, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, is a fanzine for the Old School Renaissance rather than any specific fantasy retroclone. Thus, it works for Old School Essentials or The King of Dungeons or Labyrinth Lord. It is a collection of magical items—mostly, NPCs, monsters, and a scenario or two. It presents the Game Master with a relentless barrage of choice and options, some of which is ready to use, some of which is not, and so will require the Game Master to develop and add some stats. Everything comes with background elements—some specifically so to make them interesting—enabling the Game Master to flesh out her campaign setting as well as introduce an item of magical power. All of it is written by Levi Combs, the publisher, and his words are backed up with some decent artwork and excellent maps.

The issue’s monsters do not really start with ‘The Gibbering Thing In The Cellar And Other Slobbering, Gelatinous Horrors’, or at least start in the traditional sense of Dungeons & Dragons. For the table here is just of descriptions and no stats, leaving those for the Game Master. Instead, the monsters do not come until the end of the fanzine, ‘Here There Be Monsters!’. This includes the Anzu, servants of the goddess of bad fortune and ill-luck, the Death Tortle, a Chaotic Evil turtle, the Nexus Lurker, a scuttling thing that lurks near dimensional portals and the use of Teleport and Gate spells to pounce on their users, and the Thunder Chicken, known for its paralysing squawk and its lightning attack. Not all of these really have much use, as neither the Death Tortle or Thunder Chicken really have a role and the Thunder Chicken, in particular, is included for its chicken nature rather than anything else.

More interesting are the issue’s many magical items, which begin with ‘The Chaos Throne’, which describes a mighty throne designed to seeds of randomness, chance, and chaos into the lives of those who sit upon it. Both of its arm rests are inlaid with a line of ten gems, each different. Each gem can be pushed once to gain a magic effect. For example, depressing the beryl means that the incumbent’s soul is marked for annihilation, forcing a simple dice off between player and Game Master, whilst the yellow sapphire raises the incumbent’s lowest attribute to eighteen! Only a limited number of gems can be pressed before the throne disappears. Essentially, The Deck of Many Things, with fewer, but no less random or fun options, built into a chair.

Whilst there is no background to ‘The Chaos Throne’, ‘The Furious Faithful – Priests And Holy Men Of Renown’ is a good example of the issue’s magical item article with extras. In this case, they are magical items with the history of the first person to wield them. For example, Lathidus “the Lord of Secrets”, was priest of Chaos, adept at spreading lies and distrust through rumours, blackmail, and more. The Sliver of Secrets is a shard of Lathidius’ shinbone, a relic of his church which when carried by a believer, enables him to lie with impunity, gaining a +2 bonus to any deception check and such lies cannot be revealed as such by low-Level divination spells. From the simple description, the Game Master can not only add the Sliver of Secrets and the legend of Lathidius to her game, also his church of Chaos, the temple to the god justice he corrupted, and the god of thieves whose assassins killed Lathidius. The author presents six such items and thumbnail descriptions of their wielders.

‘Magic Weapons and Sorcerous Blades!’ continues the issue’s combination of item and background, though this time appended by local lore. The Dragonsbreath Bow is wielded by The Sons of the Crimson Scale, agent-assassins for the Cult of the Demon Dragon. It is a longbow +1, which once per day can fire a special attack which varies according to the type of dragon to which it is attuned. For example, the Dragonsbreath Bow attuned to Black Dragons unleashes a stream of acid and a cone of frost is released by the bow attuned to White Dragons. There is also said to be a bow attuned to each of the evil dragons. Local lore tells of a close-helmed warlord in blue-scaled armour said to be riding the edge of the hinterlands hunting for something or someone. He has already incinerated several of the king’s men with just a single arrow, so could he be wielding one of the infamous Dragonsbreath Bows? Other weapons include Conjuredoom, a sword created to wield against wizards, magic-using, and enchanted creatures, and Doomgiver, a magical footman’s mace sacred to a dread goddess of the sea.

‘Magic Gee-Gaws, Sorcerous Jim-Jams, And What-Not’ details general magical items, such as Weird Seeds, strange, armoured pods from a twisted dimension that when planted instantly blooms into a plant with bizarre flowers of an unearthly colour. The plant withers and dies within a day, but turns its immediate area into a wild magic zone. ‘They Look Good, but.... Gaaaaaaaah! 1d10 Fiendish Potions You’ll Wish You Hadn’t Drank!’ provides ten concoctions and elixirs that the imbiber will regret drinking. For example, one potion smells of mint and medicinal herbs and works as a Potion of Extra Healing, but triples the chance of random monster encounters for the next four hours! The idea of the cursed weapon or armour is almost a cliché, but this article does something interesting in creating cursed potions. It is common for potions to be actually poisonous, but to be cursed? The Player Characters will never look at those bottles of coloured liquids in quite the same way again.

‘Forbidden Spellbooks and Fell Prayers of the Ancients’—inspired in part by the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft—is a trio of highly detailed magical works. These are Seven Veils, Seven Voids, The Testament of Nammul, and The Three Faces of Yrgaath. The Seven Veils, Seven Voids, for example, is a treatise on nature of undeath, not so much penned as carved, by Huldath ‘the Black Vizier’, on the inside of a large marble sarcophagus lid—and then in the secret tongue of necromancers. It also includes a number of spells, as does The Three Faces of Yrgaath. Written by the hag-sorceress Beltrugald for her seven horrible daughters on the subject matter of demon summoning and similar matters, it includes potion recipes to, and the new spell, Ravenous Wound, which inflicts a wound that eats itself on the caster’s target.

The Phylactery Issue #1 the lean into cosmic horror with ‘Forbidden Demon Cults from the Outer Void’. This gives a trio of demonic cults for the Game Master to add to her campaign such as Yugg, the massive god-beast of dinosaurs and great lizard-beasts, which eats anything it likes and despises anything or anyone smaller or weaker than itself. Its cults are vile cannibal, regularly and ritually devouring the weakest of their own, no matter their age or gender.

‘Black Bess, Scourge of the High Seas!’ is the first of several NPCs in the issue. She is a Seventh Level Fighter and an infamous pirate, captain of The Sea Wyvern’s Kiss, a heartless, evil kill who still adheres to the pirate’s code and the ancient laws of the sea. ‘Once Upon a Time in the Grim Hinterlands: 3 Antagonists to Set Your Players on the Road to Adventure’ continues with three NPCs, such as Orloc, the Black Friar and Morgun Blackfeather, who are intended to plague and bother the Player Characters. All three come with a trio of actions they might do upon encountering the Player Characters, but in comparison to the earlier description of Blacks Bess, they feel underwritten and in need of more of the Game Master’s input. In comparison, ‘1d10 Tough SOBs, Roadhouse Hoodlums, Bored Adventurers, and Mean Ole Bastards You Might Meet in a Tavern’ does not feel so underwritten since they are both throwaway encounters the Player Characters might have in a tavern and hooks that a Game Master could develop into something. These are entertaining and even as a throwaway encounter should add colour to any night out or tavern crawl at the end of the information. Barring the stats, they do draw comparison with the ‘Meatshields of the Bleeding Ox’, the regular collection of NPCs from the Black Pudding fanzine, and they are just as useful.

The Phylactery Issue #1 contains not one, not two, but three scenarios. In ‘Corpse Garden of the Myconid King’, the inhabitants of Hog’s Chapel have been acting strangely, listlessly, or simply falling asleep where they stand. Mossbeard, a local druid, claimed that, “the King Beneath the Roots has awoken and is calling for his due.” and that the source of the problem lay below Gilly’s Gap, a nearby sinkhole. He disappeared into the sinkhole and has not returned. Following in his wake, the Player Characters will discover a kingdom of mushroom men infected by a blight. Consisting of five locations in a cavern system, the adventure is an engaging, if small, treatment of a Dungeons & Dragons classic setting—a fungal kingdom. The scenario does not have many interesting items for the Player Characters to find or be rewarded with and it lacks an indication of what Level it is intended for, an issue that runs through The Phylactery Issue #1 and all three of its scenarios.

‘Utos, the Isle of the Shattered Moon’ is a crescent-shaped island, a cursed place occupied in its long history by the pirate captain Brego ‘the Bitter-Heart’, a sacred covenant of druids and benign wizards, and practitioners of ancient magics. From a fortified tower magically woven from plants and trees to a ruin atop the Lonely Spire, the island has long fallen into disuse. In comparison to the previous ‘Corpse Garden of the Myconid King’, there is plenty of treasure to be found ‘Utos, the Isle of the Shattered Moon’ if the Player Characters want to put the effort in. Unlike ‘Corpse Garden of the Myconid King’, ‘Utos, the Isle of the Shattered Moon’ will need a motivating factor or two to drive the Player Characters to explore this mini-sandcrawl.

‘Grindhouse Hexcrawl #1’ gives an even bigger area for the Player Characters to explore, a hexcrawl rather than a sandcrawl. It contains an outpost of The Stoneswords, Dwarf mercenaries intent on killing the feral ettin called Kurr ‘the Dwarf Eater’ in revenge for eating one of their number; is bisected by the Black Crags, home to warrens of Goblins and flocks of Harpies, as well as The Crimson Wind, a mysteriously landlocked pirate ship said to contain a king’s ransom in riches; and Mag-Nachtur, the Screaming Tower, home to cultist torturers and demon worshipers of Thuul the Racked One (detailed in the earlier ‘Forbidden Demon Cults from the Outer Void’), working to rebuild the tower. The eight locations across the hexcrawl are fairly detailed, but again, there is no indication of what Level it is designed for, rewards will need to be developed by the Game Master, and hooks to drive the Player Characters to explore the region. This aside, ‘Grindhouse Hexcrawl #1’ has an enjoyably bleak feel and can easily be dropped into a wilderness area or on the edge of a kingdom.

Physically, The Phylactery Issue #1 is very nicely presented. It is well written, the artwork is excellent, and Skullfungus’ cartography is as good as you would expect it to be.

The Phylactery Issue #1 never seems to let up in its presentation of its information and its content. There is so much in the pages of the fanzine’s first issue, probably too much for the Game Master to use everything in her campaign, but lots and lots to pick and chose from, and in many cases, develop and so add extra detail to that campaign. Suitable for any Old School Renaissance retroclone, The Phylactery Issue #1 is a good first issue, giving the Game Master a wealth of choice and content to work with.

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Another popular choice of system for fanzines, is Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, such as Crawl! and Crawling Under a Broken Moon. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is the aforementioned Crawling Under A Broken Moon.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2 was published in in August, 2014 by Shield of Faith Studios. It followed on from Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1 which introduced the post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth, which would go on to be presented in more detail in The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide, now distributed by Goodman Games. The setting is a world brought about after a rogue object from deep space passed between the Earth and the Moon and ripped apart time and space, leaving behind a planet which would recover and it inhabitants ruled by savagery, cruel sorcery, and twisted science. It wastes no time in getting down to business with the issue’s single Character Class. This is ‘The Mutant’, a Racial Character Class, genetically ‘gifted’ due to exposure to a nanovirus, cosmic radiation, or dimensional rift. The Class has two features. One is the Survival Die. This works much like the Action Die in Dungeon Crawl Classics, but it is used only for non-combat tasks when attempting to survive in the wastelands. The other is the Mutation. This can be Hybridisation, which means that the Mutant is more than human, Physiological, which means that the Mutant’s body is twisted and different, or it can be both. This is rolled for, followed by subsequent rolls to determine the details. For example, the first roll is for Hybridisation, to see if it is animal, mineral, or vegetable. Further tables get to the exact details, which if the Mutant is a Vegetable Hybrid, and if flower-like, there is a chance of being very beautiful and having increased Presence, having a pollen attack that causes sneeze, a fragrance that attracts the wandering monsters, and a probability of falling immediately asleep at night or in darkness. The tables give some fun results, but once past that, the Class is not quite as interesting in play. In comparison to Technologist Class given in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1, the Mutant does not have quite so much to do.

The Mutant theme in the issue continues with ‘Cirque de Bizarre’, which is all about making mutants out of ‘normal’ monsters. It uses the tables from ‘The Mutant’ Racial Character Class and applies the results of the chosen animal. It then applies the results to two sample creations, the Falcon Wolf and the Mighty Tarasqu-Ape. These are decent mutated creatures and nicely show off the versatility of the ‘The Mutant’ Racial Character Class’ creation tables.

‘Weapons of the Wastelands’ continues the article which appeared in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1. It gives rules for grenades, breaking them down into four eras—primitive, Western-era, Modern-era, and Futuristic—as the previous article did for guns in general. This covers clay pot bombs and Molotov cocktails as well as modern and fusion grenades, plus various different things which can be put into a grenade, such as Greek fire, mustard gas, and even a MicroNuke! This is a decent expansion to the previous article.

The last two articles in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2 are connected and together present a massive alien cyberintelligence and its minions. ‘Twisted Menagerie’ details the servants, beginning with the Zombie Monks of the Cyberhive, which travel between communities, singing hymns in machine code, distributing small, but useful technological devices, and collecting corpses for conversion. Once converted, they are used to serve in the Floating Tower of the Cyberhive or to spread the Cyberhive’s influence and monitor those its servants come into contact with. The other servants are the Robo-Lich, capable of casting certain spells and used to monitor Zombie Monk operations, and the truly monstrous Mutitan, a writing mass of body parts from humans, animals, and mutants, which can spawn Mutitanling and warp the effects of spells. The Floating Tower of the Cyberhive is detailed in ‘An Interesting Place to Die’. It stands suspended over a crater of boiling mud and caustic vapours, and contains zombification chambers, organ chambers where wizards are converted in Robo-Liches, a Fabrication Chamber where Zombie Monks manufacture the various technological devices given out as gifts, and more. Oddly, neither the Zombie Monks or the Robo-Lichs will attack the Player Characters unless they are aggressive, but there are weird trap-like rooms scattered throughout the facility. It turns out that the Cyberhive is actually testing them and if they succeed, they are given actual missions, perhaps building towards a Patron relationship. The Cyberhive is presented as neither benign or evil, but an interesting faction in Umerica and Urth that the Player Characters can interact with.

Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2 is serviceably presented. It is a little rough around the edges, but overall, it is a decent affair.

The problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2 is that much of its contents have been represented to a more professional standard in the pages of The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide, so it has been superseded and superseded by a cleaner, slicker presentation of the material. Yet there is still much to like about Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2, full of interesting details and aspects about the setting and there is a certain charm to reading about the world of Umerica in serial format.

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 Thing in the PinesPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Ted Hart

Setting: Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, November of 1927Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-two page, 4.14 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.” ─ Ernest HemingwayPlot Hook: A missing man, a missing girl, will the Investigators join them?
Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, four handouts, one map, one NPC, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Plain
Pros# Detailed, single location encounter with the Mythos# Nicely detailed pre-generated Investigators# Easy to adjust to other times and settings# Suitable for novice Keepers# Xylophobia# Diokophobia# Chionophobia
Cons# Could be better structured for the novice Keeper # Maps needs work
Conclusion# Classic, trapped in the woods with a ravenous monster scenario# Nicely done pre-generated Investigators, but maps needs work

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: We Dream of FlyingPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jim Phillips

Setting: Overnight Flight to TokyoProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty page, 2.47 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “Fly me to the moonLet me play among the starsAnd let me see what spring is like onA-Jupiter and Mars”– Count Basie and Frank SinatraPlot Hook: Flying really can be a nightmare.
Plot Support: Staging advice, six Pre-generated Investigators, three deckplans/handouts, one handout, one NPC, six Investigator/NPC hybrids, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Decent
Pros# Weird in-between state aerial nightmare # Excellent use of rarely used Malleus Monstrorum entry# Nice cover# Good handouts# Solid convention one-shot# Could be developed to run with two groups?# Oneirophobia# Aerophobia# Basophobia
Cons# Investigator/NPC hybrids need development# Underpowered Sanity rewards# Waking world underdeveloped
Conclusion# Memorable and inventive liminal nightmare over the Pacific that works as a one-shot or convention scenario# Underdeveloped in places, but still very playable

The aim of Cthulhu Confidential is to take a player and a Game Master “down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honour—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.” And it is specifically a player and a Game Master, for Cthulhu Confidential is designed to be played head-to-head, with the player and his Investigator delving into a mystery, the Game Master helping to facilitate this and tell the story of the Investigator’s efforts. Published by Pelgrane Press, Cthulhu Confidential is set in the same world as the publisher’s Trail of Cthulhu, the roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror, but with major changes—most of them mechanical. This is to facilitate the change from the clue-orientated nature of Trail of Cthulhu using the GUMSHOE System and for several Investigators to the single player and single Game Master and the GUMSHOE One-2-One System. In addition to including the new rules, Cthulhu Confidential includes a guide for the Game Master to create her own GUMSHOE One-2-One System scenarios, a guide to Cthulhu Mythos and Cosmic Horror for beginners, and three scenarios. These are the highlight of Cthulhu Confidential, each with a different protagonist and by a different author, and each bringing noir horror and a different code of honour to another city in the thirties and forties.

Cthulhu Confidential assumes that the Game Master and player alike are familiar with both roleplaying and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction. There are introductions to both in the book, but they are not its starting point. Similarly, there is a set of Starter Notes for the experienced GUMSHOE System Game Master in the appendix, but again this is not the starting point in Cthulhu Confidential. This the nature of the Investigator and the investigative process for one. Just like Trail of Cthulhu and the GUMSHOE System, an Investigator in Cthulhu Confidential and the GUMSHOE One-2-One System has two types of Abilities—Investigative Abilities and General Abilities. Investigative Abilities, such as Assess Honesty and Research, are used to gain information. If the Investigator has the Investigative Ability, he receives the information or the clue. General Abilities, like Driving and Shadowing, are more traditional in that their use requires dice to be rolled and a test passed to determine success or failure. Cthulhu Confidential then deviates from this in order to account for the fact that there is only the one Investigator rather than many as in Trail of Cthulhu. With multiple players, all of the Investigative Abilities would be accounted across the Investigators. Not so in Cthulhu Confidential. So, when an Investigator lacks an Investigative Ability, he can instead turn to an NPC or source for help. In Trail of Cthulhu, Investigative Abilities have pools of points which can be spent to gain extra clues about a situation, but in Cthulhu Confidential, the Investigator has Pushes, which the player can spend to gain the extra information or a benefit. This applies to any Investigative Ability and could be used to spring the Investigator from jail on a bogus arrest using the Law Investigative Ability, persuade the doorman at a suspect’s office that you have not been asking about his whereabouts, and so on. An Investigator begins a scenario with four Pushes and can earn more through play.

In Trail of Cthulhu, General Abilities also have pools of points, which are then expended to modify dice rolls for tests. In Cthulhu Confidential, General Abilities have one or two six-sided dice, which are also rolled on Tests. Tests are rolled when there is the possibility of failure in a situation, such as getting past a doorman to break into a suspect’s office or fleeing from the inhuman monster found in said suspect’s office, and are divided into two types. In either case, the player rolls the dice—if his Investigator has more than one—one at a time and totals their values. This is important because some Tests can be overcome with the roll of the one die rather than two dice. The Challenge is the more complex and more interesting of the two.

A Challenge gives three results—‘Advance’, ‘Hold’, and ‘Setback’. The ‘Advance’ is the equivalent of ‘Yes, and…’ and indicates a successful attempt with an extra benefit. This benefit is called an Edge and can prove useful later in the investigation. In addition, if the Challenge was overcome with the roll of a single die, then the Investigator is rewarded with an additional Push. The ‘Setback’ is the equivalent of ‘No, and…’ and indicates a failed attempt with an added Problem that will hamper the investigation. The ‘Hold’ lies somewhere in between with the Investigator no better or worse off, and also without an Edge or a Problem. It is also possible for the Investigator to suffer an Extra Problem in order to gain an additional die to roll in the hope of gaining an ‘Advance’.

For example, Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond, the Private Investigator presented as the first protagonist in Cthulhu Confidential has been hired by the wife of Lorenzo Calderone, nightclub owner and suspected mob associate. She wants a divorce and suspects her husband of cooking the books to reduce her settlement and alimony. She does not think that the real account books are kept at home or the nightclub, but at the office of her husband’s lawyer, Crispin Grimes. To get those books, Raymond needs to get past the doorman and into the office. So, the Challenge could look like this:

COOKED BOOKS
Stealth
Advance 6+: You get past the doorman and into Grimes’ office where you find the account books. No one knows the books are missing and when they find out, who took them. Earn Edge: ‘Crooked Books.’
Hold 3-5: The doorman does his rounds just as you are about to break in and you are not going to get past him now.
Setback 2 or less: You initially get past the doorman, but just as you are about to get into Grimes’ office, he spots on his rounds. Triggers Challenge ‘Flee the Building.’
Extra Problem: ‘There was this one guy poking around…’

EDGE: ‘Crooked Books.’ You got the account books Mrs Calderone wanted, so case settled. But if you keep a copy yourself, it could keep her husband or his lawyer off your back.
PROBLEM: ‘There was this one guy poking around…’ The theft puts Lorenzo Calderone and Crispin Grimes on edge. A Push is needed to successfully use any Interpersonal skill with both.

In comparison, a Quick Test requires to simple roll to gain an ‘Advance’ result. The structure of Cthulhu Confidential and its scenarios presents Challenges as clear, black boxes of test and both Edges and Problems as essentially cards that are given to the player to add to his Investigator. Fights and both Horror and Madness, key elements of the two genres for Cthulhu Confidential—noir detective stories and Cosmic Horror—are handled as Challenges, typically using the Fighting General Ability for combat and the Stability General Ability when confronted with something horrifying. This is another place where Cthulhu Confidential differs from the multiplayer Trail of Cthulhu, because in Trail of Cthulhu, the Investigators can afford to lose one of their number, whether from a fight or madness, and such a loss is easily replaced. Not so in Cthulhu Confidential. Here a loss means the end of the investigation and the scenario, so whilst fights are dangerous, they are not lethal—and that applies to the NPCs or monsters as much as the Investigator. The investigator can suffer debilitating injury or loss, but can recover through the ‘Take Time to Recover’ action. Similarly, the antagonist, whether mundane or monstrous, is not killed, but suffers a loss that will benefit the Investigator in some way, represented by an Edge. Encounters or confrontations with horror work in the same fashion, although a ‘Setback’ will penalise the Investigator with a ‘Mythos Shock’ Problem. These cannot always be countered with the ‘Take Time to Recover’ action and instead require an Edge capable of countering a ‘Mythos Shock’ Problem. This is not to say that the Investigator cannot die or be sent mad, but this does not happen mid-story. Instead, it can become all too much at the end. This is especially so if the Investigator is left with a ‘Mythos Shock’ Problem or two or more that he has been unable to deal with in the course of the investigation. The remaining Problem cards will affect the narration of the investigation’s outcome and ending, typically in downbeat fashion to fit the twin genres of Cthulhu Confidential. If the Investigator survives, his player can retain these Problems to carry over into the next scenario—some he has to and some he can choose—and they will continue to influence the Investigator’s efforts until addressed. Even at the start of the first scenario, an Investigator has an ongoing problem, although the player is typically given a choice as to what that problem is.

For the Game Master there is advice on running the GUMSHOE One-2-One System. This covers guiding the player (gently) and avoiding the sticking points common to mystery and investigation scenarios, taking into account the nature of its single player and Investigator play style. This includes advice on running both sources and challenges and there is similar treatment on creating scenarios, building Challenges, and designing Edges. This is backed up with numerous examples which the Game Master can use for inspiration as well as model for her own scenarios. The appendix for Cthulhu Confidential includes a Rules Quick Reference, a Handout for New Roleplayers, lists of sources for all three protagonists, a guide to solving cases, sample Player Characters from other GUMSHOE System roleplaying games in the GUMSHOE One-2-One System format, such as an Ordo Veritas Agent from The Esoterrorists and a Mutant Cop from Mutant City Blues, and a set of generic Edges.

Two thirds of Cthulhu Confidential is dedicated to its three investigations and their protagonists, settings, and Problems and Edges. The three Investigators are Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond, a Private Investigator in Los Angeles, 1937, obviously inspired by works of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammet; Vivian Sinclair, an investigative journalist and lady detective in thirties New York, inspired by Kerry Greenwood and Dorothy L. Sayers; and Langston Montgomery Wright, an African American invalided veteran Private Investigator in Washington D.C. towards the end of World War II, inspired by Walter Mosely and Chester Himes. Each Investigator is accompanied by detailed descriptions of his or her sources and exceptionally good write-ups of their respective cities—Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. The write-ups are so good, they are better than the actual supplements dedicated to those cities previously published for Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying, and in the case of Washington, D.C., the definitive guide Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying, since no sourcebook has been published for the city, let alone an actual scenario. In addition, all three authors—Robin D. Laws for Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond, Ruth Tillman for Vivian Sinclair, and Chris Spivey for Langston Montgomery Wright—address the social and cultural aspects of their settings. So, there are discussions of whether Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond should be a ‘straight white guy’ or not; of Vivian Sinclair’s bisexuality and how to handle violence against women; of handling the racist attitudes that Langston Montgomery Wright will face. The advice is excellent throughout, being inclusive and helpful.

Then each Investigator has his or her own scenario. As Dexter ‘Dex’ Raymond, the player will investigate ‘The Fathomless Sleep’. Fast-living society girl Helen Deakin has fallen into catatonia and her smouldering sister wants to know how this happened in this classic, hardboiled tale of blackmail and dirty money with a dollop of weird mysticism. In ‘Fatal Frequencies’, Vivian Sinclair helps out Sadie Cane, whose fiancé, George Preston, disappeared three days after a murder in his apartment block. What has George got himself messed up in? Langston Montgomery Wright investigates another disappearance, that of Lynette Miller, a riveter, in ‘Capitol Colour’. Last time her father saw her, she had a new job, secret, but highly paid. Where has she gone and what does her disappearance have to do with the war effort? All three scenarios are excellent, detailed and involving, and should keep the player and his Investigator intrigued and enthralled to the end.

Physically, Cthulhu Confidential is a crisply presented black and white book. It needs a slight edit in places, but is well written and engaging. It is not extensively illustrated, but what artwork there is, is not only good, but also captures the shades of grey in the three North American cities and both the protagonists and antagonists the supplement depicts. The use of period maps and other illustrations also enforces each setting’s sense of place.

Cthulhu Confidential provides an intense roleplaying experience. It has elements of classic solo play because of its set-up, especially in the structure of its Challenge mechanics and the Edges and Problems gained through play, but the intensity comes from working with the Game Master and interacting with the NPCs she depicts and doing so alone, pushing the player to rely upon himself and his Investigator’s Abilities rather than having to work with other players and their Investigators. Of course, the involvement of the Game Master means there is more flexibility and scope to adapt when investigating a mystery than there would be in a solo adventure. The end result is that Cthulhu Confidential provides an enthralling and engaging means of play and a one-on-one experience that pushes Lovecraftian investigative roleplay closer to its cinematic and literary influences and models.

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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Piercing the Demon’s Eye is Goodman Games’ only contribution to Free RPG Day 2023. It is a scenario for use with the publisher’s highly popular Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Designed for a party of six to eight Second Level Player Characters, it is both designed and intended to be played in four hours and in-game explored in four hours. What this means is that once the four-hour playing time ends, the game is not only over for the players, but also for the Player Characters. Piercing the Demon’s Eye is set in the Demon’s Eye, the vault of the ancient wizard, Monath Ot. Said to contain great treasures and secrets, the entrance to the vault unseals and grants access for exactly four hours, once every ten years. Then the entrance will reseal itself again, only to open again in another ten years and again exactly for four hours. Whilst the game is over for the players, for their characters, trapped inside the Demon’s Eye, their fates are sealed just as much as the entrance is. Ideally, the Player Characters should at least be armed with one or two magical weapons. The scenario does not involve a great many fights, but those it does are challenging. Lastly, Piercing the Demon’s Eye does contain links to Tomb of the Savage Kings, the scenario published by Goodman Games for Free RPG Day 2021. However, the links are insubstantial and the Judge does not need to have run or have access to Tomb of the Savage Kings in order to run Piercing the Demon’s Eye.

As a tomb adventure, Piercing the Demon’s Eye contains more traps than fights. There is an interesting counterweight puzzle from the start, but others like a corridor with a pivoting floor and a room with spikes that extend out of the floors and walls and a room of skeletons that reanimate and self-replicate upon death a la the film Jason and the Argonauts, are all classics and clichés of the genre. This does not mean that they feel out of place. Similarly, neither does the inclusion of false vaults. With care though, the Player Characters should not only be able to find their way around the tomb, but also locate two major treasure vaults, one of scrolls and one of coin and magical items. What will hamper the Player Characters progress is a rival team also looking to loot the tomb complex. Consisting of three NPCs, these can be used to taunt the Player Characters, act as replacement Player Characters as necessary, or simply show the characters and their players how the scenario’s traps work.

There is also a hidden element to Piercing the Demon’s Eye. Use of Spell Burn can trigger an even bigger event. This is the release of the being trapped within the tomb. It is not the ancient wizard, Monath Ot, but something else. In true tomb in the Pulp genre, this triggers an immediate effect and a long-term effect. The long-term effect is left up to the Judge to determine and then only if the scenario is being run as part of a campaign. In the short term, the Player Characters will find they have very little time left before the tomb collapses…
If there is a problem with Piercing the Demon’s Eye, it is the connections to Tomb of the Savage Kings and the lack of connections to Tomb of the Savage Kings. To suggest that there are connections and not develop them is a missed opportunity. The lack of them makes it difficult to connect the scenarios and to build them into a setting, whether a published one or one devised by the Judge. So this scenario is more of standalone adventure than not.
Physically, Piercing the Demon’s Eye is very well presented. It is easy to read and the map is easy to use. The scenario is lightly illustrated, but the pieces of art are very good, capturing the mishaps and misadventures of a band of adventurers.
Piercing the Demon’s Eye is easy to set up and run, and works better as a convention scenario rather than an addition to a campaign, although with some effort upon the part of the Judge, this should be an issue. Piercing the Demon’s Eye is a short, but fun one-shot that neatly fits a four-hour convention game slot too. All the Judge has to do is add Player Characters.

Arrakis is the most important planet in the Known Universe. From it flows the Spice Melange, and thus the power to control the Imperium. Spacing Guild navigators consume it in vast quantities to be able to fold space and thus ensure the interstellar travel and trade that underpins the Landsraad, the alliance of Houses Great and Minor, and CHOAM—or Combine Honnette Ober Advancer Mercantiles—which controls all trade and contracts across the Imperium, including that of Spice. The Bene Gesserit uses give their Sisters the gift of foresight and so pursue its own program even as it is advises Houses Major and Minor. To those that can afford it, Spice is a means to prolong life and delay aging, and for the noble houses, which means being able to plan and bring to fruition plots that take generations to bring about. The Emperor holds the key to extracting Spice, for it is within his gift to grant Arrakis and the right to extract Spice to the House of his choosing. It is both a gift and a curse, for although it will make the House occupying Arrakis rich, the House must ensure the Spice continues to flow even as rival Houses plot to undermine their efforts, smugglers shift Spice from under its nose, and very environment of Arrakis—endless dessert, high temperatures, and sandworms hundreds of meters long which can swallow a spice harvester whole—threaten to disrupt and undermine their operations. Then there are the Fremen, the mysterious inhabitants of the deep desert, secretive and insular, who have their plans for their world, ones which do not involve the Emperor or the governing House, and for which they only await the right sign.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is, as the title suggests the sourcebook for the world known as Dune for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game, the roleplaying game based on both the recent films and the fictional universe and novels originally created by Frank Herbert. The supplement provides an overview and details of the world of Arrakis, its history and geography; the Fremen and their history and culture, as well as new character Archetypes and Talents; the ecology of the Sandworm and how to ride them; and the secrets of Spice, how it is harvested, and its effect upon the Known Universe, plus Spice-related Talents. This is all supported by new campaign ideas and frameworks and a scenario.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook starts with the planet itself and its history, which given the secrecy of the Fremen is little known and consequently there are few details here and the supplement is more about Arrakis as is, rather than as was. That said, there are suggestions for using Arrakis as a setting in the different Eras of Play for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium, though again, these are only briefly touched upon. More detail is given to the various locations in the cities of Carthag and Arrakeen and the roles they play in the setting. For example, the Conservatory Garden at the Residency in Arrakeen is initially presented as a gift to Lady Jessica, even though it is a sacrilegious waste of water, but it actually becomes a blueprint for the greening of Arrakis. All of the various locations are accorded plot hooks, rumours, and a suggested encounter or hazard for the Game Master to develop. Primarily intended for The Imperium, The Ascension of Muad’dib, and Era of the God Emperor Eras of Play, these locations are neatly done whilst leaving plenty of space in both cities for the Game Master to add her own content. The nature of the desert and how it changes as Muad’dib’s reign and that of his heirs progress, and beyond, is explored in detail. This broadens the options for the earlier discussion of the different Eras of Play.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not just a sourcebook for the planet of Dune. It is also the sourcebook for Fremen, revealing further details of their history, culture, and outlook after that given in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. This covers their oral history, their attitudes to live and death, plus of course, the importance they attach to water. Interesting here is the inclusion of the Jacurutu, a tribe massacred for stealing water and reviled ever since, such that their sietch is a taboo place. Descendants of the Jacurutu are included as an option for Player Character Fremen, which would have to be kept secret otherwise they would be an outcast. This inclusion adds a wrinkle in the otherwise uniform nature of the Fremen and perhaps the supplement could done with more of this to add a little more variety here and there. Fremen technology is examined in detail, noting the high degree of its craftsmanship and including Fremen Stillsuits, the feared Crysknife, and the Deathstill which is used to extract the water from the dead, as well as the Distrans Bat, domesticated bats used to record and send messages over long distances. Rules also cover worm riding, whilst the section on ‘Fremen and Outsiders’ covers their attitudes and dealings with various factions on and off world. This is useful whether the Player Characters are Fremen themselves or outsiders to make contact or deal with the Fremen, so helpful for the Game Master and her players. The section on playing through the period of the reign of Muad’dib, more tightly focuses on The Ascension of Muad’dib Era of Play and the changes that the Fremen undergo, both culturally and spiritually.

For Fremen Player Characters and NPCs, Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook adds a table of life Events, new Foci—such as Desert Navigation, Fremen Culture, Pottery, and Stillness, new Fremen Templates including Naib, Fedaykin, Sayadina, and Ecologist. Bolstered with new Talents, many of which are Fremen specific, ranging from Chosen of Shai-Hulud (skilled worm rider), Crysknife Master, and Desert Walker to Tooth Crafter (craftsmen who make the crysknives), Water Wisdom, and Ways of Ichwan Bedwine (Fremen oral history), this is where there is some variation between Fremen. A set of tables allow the creation of sietch, including size, influence, and reputation. There is advice here on the roles they can have in a campaign.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not just a sourcebook for the planet of Dune and Fremen. It is also the sourcebook for the Spice itself and this even includes Spice-related Talents like Spice Refinement, Enhanced Lifespan, Shortening the Way, and Voice of the Inner dark. Many of these require the consumption of Spice. The focus though, is on the physical nature of Spice and effects, where it comes from and how it is extracted, and the ramifications of all of this. In particular the need to balance the time spent extracting Spice and the inevitable arrival of a sandworm which threatens the loss of equipment and workers and extracting and smuggling Spice without attracting the attention of the planet’s governing House or any Imperial oversight. It should be noted that all of the factions on Arrakis, and not just the actual Smugglers, smuggle Spice, for there are always willing purchasers. Suggested roles are given for a harvesting crew which lends itself to what would literally be a very dirty campaign, the Player Characters having to deal with the stress of harvesting as well as the difficulties and intrigues of rival harvesters, criminal and smuggling gangs, and the all too ready to take a bribe authorities.

Campaign support covers the culture life and communities of Arrakis, including artists, mercenaries, and engineering, as well as locations where they might be found, and numerous NPCs. These include Bounty Hunter, Craftsperson, Fremen Craftsperson, Fremen Sayyadina, Market Seller, Mystic, Ornithopter Pilot, Spice Manager, Spice Worker, and others, plus factions such as Bankers, Courtesans, Criminals, Importers, and Manufacturers. Campaigns specific to Arrakis include Spice Smugglers, Imperial Agents, Fremen, Bene Gesserit, Guerrillas and Revolutionaries, and Explorers of the Old Empire. Each of these is supports the Game Master in their own way. The NPCs include named examples that the Game Master can bring to her campaign and a scenario hook; each faction includes a campaign inspiration; and each of the more detailed campaign frameworks on Arrakis includes suitability for the different Eras of Play, suitable Archetypes, and notable Assets, Factions, and Antagonists. In the case of the campaign inspirations and the frameworks, the Game Master will need to develop these further, but she is given two far more detailed campaign outlines as well. ‘Shadows on the Sand’ sees a group of smugglers, descendants of House Richese, the former governors of Arrakis which had all but bankrupted itself in extracting Spice before the fiefdom was taken away from them and given to the Harkonnens, attempting to survive and smuggle spice whilst keeping its true identity a secret. There are some interesting ideas here that the players and characters to see the story of Dune from a different viewpoint. ‘The House of Heslin’ is about a House Minor attempting to establish and run a merchant operation in Carthag and so establish itself on Arrakis. This will probably involve more intrigue and interaction within the city than the other campaign set-up. It would have been interesting to add a similarly developed third campaign idea here, one focusing on the Fremen rather than outsiders as the other two do.

Rounding out Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is the scenario, ‘The Water Must Flow’. Set during the governorship of House Harkonnen, a drought triggers riots and leaves the Player Characters’ House with insufficient water to pay the Water Tax to the Harkonnens. As rioters swirl around the city, they are forced to attend a feast hosted by another House Minor, this one allied to House Harkonnen. There, they may be able to find a way of negotiating a solution to their own House’s situation. What they do find is a friendly face—although how far that can be trusted is another matter—which suggests investigating the recent hijacking of a carryall with a delivery of water. The trail will lead into deadly plot in in Carthag’s many shadows and then out into the nearby desert. It is a solid scenario that can easily be run as a sequel to ‘Harvesters of Dune’, the scenario from the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game core rulebook.

Physically, Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is a nice-looking supplement. It is well written, and it includes some decent artwork, although sadly, not every Archetype is illustrated. One issue with Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is that there are no maps. So, no maps of Carthag and Arrakeen, the only cities on the planet, and even no maps of the planet itself. All would have been useful, although there are no maps of either city upon which the writers can draw upon within the canon itself. The lack of a map of Arrakis is even odder, since they do exist and this is a world sourcebook.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not lacking in content, but it does leave the reader wanting more in places. Primarily this is in the history and future history of Arrakis and its importance in the Known Universe, their descriptions underwritten in comparison to the default period of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium—the decades before the accession of House Atreides to the fiefdom. Here is where Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook comes alive and gets interesting, providing support and ideas for campaigns involving Spice harvesting and smuggling in particular, and the Fremen to a lesser extent. The background and details, as well as the Player Character and NPC options, for the Fremen, are good support for player and Game Master alike. Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is solid support for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium opens up and develops options for campaigns set on Arrakis.

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is a scenario for Adventures in Rokugan, the Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition compatible version of Legends of the Five Rings. Originally published by Alderac Entertainment Group in 1997, but now published by EDGE Studio, Legends of the Five Rings and thus Adventures in Rokugan is set in Rokugan, a setting similar to feudal Japan, but with influences and elements of other Asian cultures, as well as magic and mythical beasts. The setting for Legend of the Five Rings, Fifth Edition is Rokugan. It is Known as the Emerald Empire and has been ruled for a thousand years by the Hantei emperors—the current emperor is Hantei XXXVIII—who have divided it between seven Great Clans. These are the Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, and Unicorn clans. Although each is comprised of Samurai—the bushi warriors, mannered courtiers, and shugenja, priests who pray to the kami, or spirits, for aid, each is different in character. The Crab Clan use its strength to man the wall that protects the Empire from the Shadowlands, but its members are regarded as uncouth and ill mannered; the Crane Clan is known as the Left Hand of the Emperor and has many wealthy and influential politicians; the Dragon Clan remains aloof from most affairs in its mountain fast, but has sallied forth to aid the empire several times; the Lion Clan is the Right Hand of the Emperor, being devoted bushi; the Phoenix Clan is known for its shugenja and primarily concerns itself with spiritual matters; the Scorpion Clan is the Emperor’s Underhand and revels in its villainous status and reputation; and lastly, the Unicorn Clan is Rokugan’s cavalry, having spent several centuries in the Gaijin lands to the West. The Mantis are a minor clan of seafarers and traders, most notable having travelled far beyond Rokugan by sea.
Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest requires the Adventures in Rokugan rules and includes six pre-generated Player Characters. These consist of a Crane bushi and bodyguard, a Crab infiltrator, a Crane ritualist or shugenja, a Mantis clan duellist, a Crab clan courtier/bushi, and a Ningyo Ritualist. These are very detailed Player Characters, and notably, not all of the Player Characters are Human as is the norm in Legends of the Five Rings. This includes a Spectre, a Mazoku or demon, and a Ningyo or ‘human-fish’. All six have detailed backgrounds and motivations.
Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is designed to be played in a single four-hour session and is set on Earthquake Fish Bay, which is known for its storms and being administered by the Yasuki, the Crab Clan courtiers and merchants who once part of the Crane Clan. Consequently, the Crane still view both the land and its administrators as belonging to it. The main village in the region, Storm Eel’s Rest, also supports a monastery on Unnamed Island, an island wracked by storms. The tension between the Crab and the Crane Clans is what drives much of the scenario.
The scenario begins en media res. The Player Characters are aboard the Spider Lily, sailing across Earthquake Fish Bay in search of a missing vessel. After the Game Master reads out the general introduction and the introduction for each of the Player Character—which oddly, does give away some of the secrets about each Player Character—they set out across the bay. After a random encounter, they locate the missing vessel, driven onto Unnamed Island by the storms. The Player Characters will quickly discover that the ship is under attack as is the monastery by various aquatic monsters—crab horrors, amphibious horrors, and stinging horrors. The monastery is under assault because it hides a secret. They are Stormkeepers, protectors of the bay from the spirit of the great beast which centuries before stalked the bay bringing down storms and lightning from its body and the sky. Its skull is kept warded, but spirits are assaulting the monastery as well as many aquatic minions!
Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is short and it is combat focused. There is a lot of flavour to it and there is some interesting detail to the pre-generated Player Characters. However, there is relatively little scope for these details to come out in play rather than be read out at the start of the scenario by the Game Master. The latter is odd and it feels only necessary because the scenario is intended to be played in a four-hour slot. If the scenario is run beyond that time limit, then the introductions for the Player Characters could be kept for the players to reveal through play and roleplaying and perhaps a better and simpler introduction be created in order to speed up play and the beginning of the scenario.
Physically, Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is well presented. The map is excellent and artwork superb. The scenario is well written.
Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is a solid scenario that fits within a single session and nicely showcases the setting of Rokugan, such as the tensions between the Crab and the Crane Clans. It is playable in the intended four-hour slot, but to really bring out the Player Character backgrounds through roleplaying, it needs more time and to shift the Player Character introductions to under their control and better introductions supplied.

Academies of the Arcane has a problem. Or rather, the subject matter of Academies of the Arcane has problem. Academies of the Arcane is a roleplaying supplement about creating and playing in your own school of wizardry. Which means that it draws comparisons with the series of novels starring Harry Potter and set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and by association, the contentious views of the series’ author, J.K. Rowling. Academies of the Arcane and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are about academic institutions modelled on British boarding schools with their own peculiar practices and traditions where magic is researched and taught. That though, is where the comparisons end. For although there is nothing to stop a Game Master and her players using Academies of the Arcane to create and roleplay a game similar to that of the Harry Potter, should they so desire, that is not its raison d’etre. In fact, doing so would actually be to ignore the possibilities and options that the book presents that enable the Game Master and her players to create their school of magic and everything associated with it—school uniforms, school houses, teachers, locations, events, classes, and more—and roleplay their students’ time at the school.
Academies of the Arcane is a supplement for Troika! Numinous Edition. Published by the Melsonian Arts Council following a successful Kickstarter campaign, presents some forty or so tables, over a third of the supplement, for creating numerous different aspects of an institution dedicated to the teaching of magic. Academies of the Arcane does not start there though. It begins with advice and suggestions for the Game Master on how to use the book and the types of campaign frameworks and framework elements it can be used for. These include using the magical school as a place of intrigue, betrayal, and treachery; as a base of operations from which the students can set out to undertake the very dangerous process of learning magic—at the school and beyond; to explore the pride and factionalism of the board school model and its houses, but with wizards and magic; and play not as young students, but as graduate students or members of the faculty, or interlopers at the school with a mission of their own. None of these concepts are explored in any great detail, but they are solid starting points from which Game Masters and players can develop their own frameworks, aided of course, by the familiarity of Academies of the Arcane’s subject matters and settings.

Academies of the Arcane provides some thirty-six student Backgrounds. These begin with the Prodigal Magus—who just happens to have an interesting birthmark or scar that glows when he casts spells, and the Warlock of the Withered Ouroboros, who is trying to avoid the fate of being consumed by his own magic. All have several possessions and several advanced skills, including spells, as well as a special ability. Others include odder creations such as Tiger Conceptual, Worm Troll, Printer’s Devil, and Precocious Ooze. These is a fantastic mix of the ordinary and the outré, and whilst a player can choose one from the thirty-six available, rolling for his character’s Background as intended adds to the challenge. Added to this are some ninety or so spells, from Acumen, Alignment Language, and Astral Parasite to Window-Weald, Word Feaster, and Wormcast. The spells are as weird and wonderful as the Backgrounds, such as the Word Feaster which enables the caster to eat the vocabulary of another wizard and effective silence them temporarily; Discordance which disrupts time with the terrible singing of the cosmos and upends the initiative stack in combat; and Manifest Doubt, which reveals a flaw in a personal philosophy, forcing the victim to collapse into painful introspection or double down on his belief. The spell notes that no philosophy is truly pure and so there is always a flaw to take advantage of.

Then Academies of the Arcane presents the tables needed to create an academy. This starts with the name such as ‘Father Ankou’s Cage of Arcane Triumph’ or ‘Drimcliff University of the Torment Eternal’. After this, rolls are made for campus appearance, interior and exterior, nearby notable locations, school uniform, history, recent troubles, and rumours. There are tables for creating houses and their mascots and mottos, notoriety and troubles, and for the classes and subjects that the Player Characters can take and study. As well as tables for creating members of the faculty, there is guidance for running classes and the school itself, and even a wizarding competition. Rounding out the book is a wild selection of interesting magical items such as familiars, The Adder-Skin Book of New Fate, Ancient Indelible Foods of the Gods, and more, all of which be used to drive stories at the wizarding school.

Although Academies of the Arcane is designed to be played used Troika!, a Science Fantasy roleplaying game of baroque weirdness, it need not be. Both Academies of the Arcane and Troika! are Old School Renaissance adjacent, in addition to being British Old School Renaissance in its inspiration. The simplicity of the mechanics Troika! and Academies of the Arcane—the latter’s spells in particular, combined with the lack of mechanics in its numerous tables and the prompts they contain, mean that the supplement is easy to use as a framework in another roleplaying game. This could be generic like the Cypher System or Savage Worlds or a retroclone like Old School Essentials. Either way, Academies of the Arcane is sufficiently generic to make adapting to another set of rules or a setting relatively easy.

Physically, Academies of the Arcane is cleanly and tidily presented. The artwork is excellent whether of the inclusive nature of the student body, the wonder of the arcane, or the exquisite nature of the magical items. The clarity of the design to Academies of the Arcane means that it has few problems and even then, they are minor at best. One is the size of the book, larger than that typical of supplements for Troika! Then again, getting all of the supplement’s tables into a digest-sized book and making them useable would have been challenging. The other is perhaps the brevity of the content, but then that content is designed as an extensive series of prompts to push the Game Master and her players to create their own arcane academy. However, that leaves one element of the genre unaddressed and likely intentionally so. Academies of the Arcane focuses on the fantasy of the magic and learning the magic and ignores the ordinary aspects of living in the equivalent of boarding school (for magic). So, there is no contrast between the ordinary and extraordinary, no push and between the two. The problem with doing so of course returns Academies of the Arcane to the problem of its subject matter and comparisons with Harry Potter, which could have been contentious. Thus, the aspect of the setting is left unmentioned and unexplored and in the hands of the Game Master and her players should they decide to include it in their game.

Ultimately, Academies of the Arcane provides everything the Game Master and her players need to run a game set at a sorcerous school, but not just any institute of invocation. Instead, an academy of the arcane that they create and make their own, telling the stories of their students, their studies, their rivalries, and adventures, and that is what makes Academies of the Arcane the toolkit of choice for its genre.

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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The most radical release for Free RPG 2023 is as in previous years, Level 1. Published by 9th Level Games, Level 1 is an annual RPG anthology series of ‘Independent Roleplaying Games’ specifically released for Free RPG Day. Where the other offerings for Free RPG Day 2023—or any other Free RPG Day—provide one-shots, one use quick-starts, or adventures, Level 1 is something that can be dipped into multiple times, in some cases its contents can played once, twice, or more—even in the space of a single evening! The subject matters for these entries ranges from the adult to the kid friendly and from action to cozy, and back again, but what they have in common is that they are non-commercial in nature and they often tell stories in non-commercial fashion compared to the other offerings for Free RPG Day 2023. The entries in the anthology often ask direct questions of the players, deal with mature subjects, and involve varying degrees of introspection, and for some players, this may be uncomfortable or simply too different from traditional roleplaying games. So the anthology includes ‘Be Safe, Have Fun’, a set of tools and terms for ensuring that everyone can play within their comfort zone. It is a good essay and useful not just for the games presented in the pages of LEVEL 1 – Volume 1, Level 1 Volume 2, and Level 1 Volume 3, which were published for their Free RPG Day events in 2020, 2021, and 2023 respectively, but for any roleplaying game.
The games in Level 1 Volume 4 all together require dice, tokens, a deck of ordinary playing cards, a tarot deck, and even gifts such as incense, drinks, food, oils or lotions, or a song. It should also be noted that many of the entries include a solo option. The anthology features fourteen roleplaying games all with the theme of ‘endings’. This does not necessarily mean the end, though it does in several of the titles in the anthology, but the end of situations and circumstances. Consequently, the ‘Be Safe, Have Fun’ safety tools are perhaps more pertinent than in previous issues of the anthology.
The first entry in Level 1 Volume 4 though, does deal with a finality. Mark Kennedy’s ‘Hero Catastrophe’ is a storytelling game of the last hurrah of classic epic fantasy genre heroes. They are lost in a magical wilderness with no hope of escape, but armed with four Moves in common—‘Manifest’, ‘Manipulate’, ‘Master’, and ‘Master’—and a weapon and a Heroic Silhouette, such as Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Druid, or Bard, they will be faced with catastrophe after catastrophe, and whilst they can make changes to the world around them, will ultimately fail, wrestling with their fate. They have limited Harm they can suffer and a Fate number and a Death Roll. When this Fate number is rolled on Move, something tied to the Player Character’s Fate will happen to his benefit, whilst when the Death Roll is rolled, it indicates a Fail and each Fail necessitates a roll on the ‘Catastrophes’ table. Procedural in nature, ‘Hero Catastrophe’ is designed to have the players and their heroes ultimately fail, but how they fail and what their last stories are is what matters.
If ‘Hero Catastrophe’ deals with imminent death, ‘Filling an empty breath’ by Dustin Blottenberger deals with a failed funeral ceremony to deal with a death, leaving one of the undead at the Player Characters’ feet. This is the roleplaying game where the gifts are partaken of and the aim is to break the curse that left the deceased one of the restless dead, first establishing connections to the deceased and thus each other, write a eulogy for them, and then describe what went wrong, how the revenant has changed and what their wishes are, and ultimately what rituals need to be performed to put them to rest. This creates a set of written artefacts, which each player must decide if he wants to sacrifice or not. If everyone does, the revenant is laid to rest, but not if a player decides not to. ‘Filling an empty breath’ is storytelling game, primarily driven by prompts, that will see the Players Characters decide the fate of the revenant and the consequences of that fate.
‘Daiquiris and Drunk Girls’ by K.J. and C.J. Lappin is the most fun of the entries in the anthology. It enables the players to roleplay the events of a hen do or bachelorette party and the end of the bride being single. As the players describe their character’s activities, such as karaoke or discovering that really is Elvis who turned up at the bar, they attempt to collect enough Cool Points to actually look cool and be remembered for the great party everyone had before the Mean Bartender accrues too many Anger Points or the characters too many Drunk Points and the Mean Bartender throws them out. ‘Daiquiris and Drunk Girls’ is simple and easy to play, but in embracing the clichés of the situation, there is scope too for some fun roleplaying.
The earlier ‘Hero Catastrophe’ explored the afterlife of heroes. M. Belanger’s ‘Rainbow Bridge’ does the same for household pets. In comparison, this is a safe space, with the pets going on a journey together and having two types of encounters along the way. A Memory is of their past life, a good time which can be shared with others, whilst a Passage gives a character the opportunity to move on to a new life. The players share these until all of the characters have taken advantage of a Passage. ‘Rainbow Bridge’ is the simplest and lightest of the entries in Level 1 Volume 4. ‘Live Without Warning’ is a solo game which explores the last day of the character. Written by Rue Dickey, the character uses Comfort to make his life and those others easier, Thrill to add excitement, and Recompense to address regrets and become a better person. The player draws from a tarot deck to determine a prompt and rolls the dice to determine whether the character struggles with the event or learns from it. This occurs once an hour over the course of twelve hours until an attribute is reduced to zero or the day is over. At which point, the player takes the time to reflect upon the day. Like the earlier ‘Rainbow Bridge’, ‘Live Without Warning’ is simple, but it is more reflective and mature in tone.
Nat Mesnard’s ‘Adventurer’s Respite’ returns to the subject matter of the earlier ‘Hero Catastrophe’. Rather than taking place in an afterlife, the adventurers have come to a valley known for its restorative benefits. Arriving at the Last Homely Hall, the Player Characters realise how tired they are, but want to share what brought them to the valley. In turn, the Player Characters will visit various locations in the valley and attempt to finding healing here. This can be positive or negative, the player narrating the outcome, with the aim being not to lose any Health. If all of the Player Characters lose all of their Health, they are lost to the valley, but a Player Character can sacrifice his own Health to restore others. Players are free to reflect on what their characters gained from the respite if anything, determined mostly by their Health.
‘A Necessary Miracle’ by Gabrielle Rabinowitz is a journaling game in a similar style to Thousand Year Old Vampire. It is about recovering an important treasure which has been lost to you. The player has coins he can spend to gain Miracles in the hunt for the lost object and can effectively never run out, though he not have enough coins to gain the benefit of the greater miracles. ‘A Necessary Miracle’ is short and sweet and benefits from an example of play even for a game as small as this.

Two of the roleplaying games in Level 1 Volume 4 deal with getting lost as much as with endings. Noah Lemelson’s ‘Labyrinth’ is about searching for endless maze whilst being chased by the equivalent of a Minotaur. It is not necessarily the half-man, half-bull of classic Greek mythology, but still a guardian of the Labyrinth which hunt the Wanderers. Both the players and the Spirit of the Labyrinth—the Game Master—define Character Trait cards and Revelation Cards. Character Traits are divided between Traits which define facts about them and Regrets, vague memories of something wrong they did in the past. They also define Revelation Cards, each of which consist of cards for Memory, Object, Location and a Fact About the Minotaur. The Spirit of the Labyrinth reassigns the Character Trait cards randomly to the players and their Wanderers, and will give out the Revelation Cards during play. Wanderers also have a Class—‘The Muscle’, ‘The Survivor’, ‘The Intellectual’, and ‘The Strange’—which defines their die type when rolling Actions. If a player successfully rolls an Action, he narrates the outcome of the Action. Otherwise, the Spirit of the Labyrinth does it. As the Wanderers explore the ever-changing sections of the labyrinth, they begin to recall memories, triggered by the Revelation Cards the Spirit of the Labyrinth hands out. Eventually, all of the Revelation Cards will be given out, memories regained and explored, and full facts known about the Minotaur, leading to a confrontation with the beast. This can be played out in any fashion, narratively or mechanically. Part of the challenge of ‘Labyrinth’ is playing with its randomly assigned Traits and revealed Revelation Cards, and the desire to escape does give it a decent drive.
‘Are You Lost, Traveller?’ by H.L. Black has a labyrinthine quality to it, but has a more interesting set-up than ‘Labyrinth’ does. The Player Characters are both players and their Avatars, playing or exploring one last virtual world before it is shut down. Each Aavatar has a Connection, a combination health and Wi-Fi strength, which if reduced to zero, boots them from the server. It includes a sample world/game called ‘Eternal Realm ’98’ and without that, ‘Are You Lost, Traveller?’ is underwritten, neither Game Master or nor player not knowing quite what to do with the mechanics. A lost opportunity and done better with .Dungeon.

‘Dear Marley’ takes the players back to high school. It can be their high school or a high school of their imagination, but Brigitte Winter’s game take place on the last day. Everyone is friends—more or less-with Marley, the heart of their social group. The game establishes their relationship with Marley and then as they reflect on the end of their time at high school, tell the stories of four yearbook photos in which they and Marley both appear. In the process, they leave messages in in the yearbook and the tells the story of the relationship. This is developed until the yearbook is full and the class song is sung and then everyone has the chance to reflect upon what they created. The connections and relationships are created randomly and that is what prompts the changes to the relationships over the course of the game.
Sylvia Gimenez’s ‘Hauntrification’ is about ghosts. The players take the roles of a Wraith, Poltergeist, Banshee, or Maze, and have to learn to deal with the arrival of mortal Newcomers in their Home, both controlled by the Game Master or Voice of the Living. As Ghosts they have a background in both life and death plus a Binding which ties them to the Home and Bonds with each other. ‘Hauntrification’ is primarily set-up in that it establishes the Ghosts, their Home, and the Newcomers, and then leaves what happens next up to the players. Do the Ghosts want to drive the interlopers from their Home, come to some arrangement, and do something else? Supplied with an example scenario, ‘Hauntrification’ does feel like the BBC and CBS television series Ghosts, although the Newcomers can only sense the Ghosts and possibly their emotions. The Ghosts have a surprising degree of agency, but affecting the living is hard work in this fun roleplaying game.
‘ARC – A Game About The End’ by Zak Eidsvoog & Ian Rickett is a storytelling game about the story of a Subject, from beginning to end. The Subject could be the life of one person or of a whole empire. Players take it in turns to define the Subject and then in turn a Desire that the Subject wants. Whether or not the Subject gets a Desire is determined by a vote, which is held once each Desire is established. The outcome is narrated and a new Desire chosen. Once four or more Desires have been voted on and their outcome narrated, the game ends with each player narrating a Legacy based on the completed story of the Subject. Several sample Subjects and Desires are suggested, but it is easy to create these in play. Being played without cards or dice, ‘ARC – A Game About The End’ is an easy, straightforward framework with which to tell stories almost anywhere.
The penultimate roleplaying game in Level 1 Volume 4 is ‘Atop the Burning Heap’. Designed by Goat Song Publishing, this is a single player game of pyrrhic victory. It uses the Spades cards from a standard deck of playing cards to represent obstacles the player has overcome, whilst the other cards—Diamonds are resources, Clubs are people, and Hearts are morals—represent the costs paid or sacrifices made to overcome these obstacles. Their values determine if they overcome the value of the Spades cards. The player does not name or identify the exact nature of the costs or sacrifices at the time they are made in play. Instead, this is done in the epilogue when the player also asks if they were worth making. The setting for ‘Atop the Burning Heap’ is a city rife with crime and political infighting and comes with tables corresponding to the four suites in the deck of playing cards, but the player could easily create tables of his own. This is another relatively short roleplaying game, but one that intentionally saves the shock of the player’s failure until the very end.
The last entry in Level 1 Volume 4 is ‘An Epic Ending – A Game About Dying For What’s Right’ by Helena Real. It returns to the subject of fantasy heroes and their final chapter. It uses the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics to tell their desperate self-sacrifice which if successful, will stop a villain threatening all of reality. Consequently, it is the closest to a traditional roleplaying game in the anthology, but still intended to be played in a single session. Anyone familiar with Powered by the Apocalypse will have no issue setting this up and running it, but for anyone coming to the roleplaying game and its rules anew, ‘An Epic Ending – A Game About Dying For What’s Right’ will feel very incomplete. Even the author recommends reading a Powered by the Apocalypse to understand the mechanics. Consequently, the setting or settings possible in ‘An Epic Ending – A Game About Dying For What’s Right’ feel underwritten or incomplete and it brings Level 1 Volume 4 to a close in an underwhelming fashion.
Physically, Level 1 Volume 4 is a slim, digest-sized book. Although it needs an edit in places, the book is well presented, and reasonably illustrated. In general, it is an easy read, and most of it is easy to grasp. It should be noted that the issue carries advertising, so it does have the feel of a magazine.

As with previous issues, Level 1 Volume 4 is the richest and deepest of the releases for Free RPG Day 2023, is not as rich or as deep as the entries in previous volumes. Several of the roleplaying games in the anthology feel incomplete or use very similar mechanics and themes so that those which do often play out in a similar fashion, which means a lack of variety, at least on one level. However peruse the pages of the anthology and there are some interesting games to read about and play. These include ‘Filling an Empty Breath’, ‘Daiquiris and Drunk Girls’, and ‘A Necessary Miracle’, which stand out from the rest because they are different. Overall, despite the varying quality and playability of the games in Level 1 Volume 4, its pages still present interesting and challenging storytelling games that are worth playing and an session or so contemplating the end.

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, th 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?
Caravan Alley is a supplement for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which describes the next two stops along the Caravan Alley, a trade route running from Sartar to the Eiritha Hills in eastern Prax, its inhabitants, and their daily lives.

It is the sequel to Day’s Rest.

It is a thirty-seven page, full colour 3.98 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy and the artwork excellent.

Notes are provided to enable the content to be used with QuestWorlds (HeroQuest).
Where is it set?Caravan Alley is set at at two oases on a southern trade route in Prax. One is ‘Tourney Altar’, which has a temple and dueling ground sacred to Humakt, the other is ‘Biggle Stone’, renowned for its unusual fungi.
Who do you play?
Caravan Alley details two locations that almost any Player Character can visit. A Humkati might want pray or duel at Tourney Altar, an Issaries merchant would want to trade at Biggle Stone for its fungal products, and a Lhankor Mhy might to study the fungi for its properties.
What do you need?
Caravan Alley requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Book of Red Magic. Both Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers and Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses may be useful. Day’s Rest has details of how to create Oasis Folk Player Characters and NPCs if necessary.
What do you get?Caravan Alley follows the format of Day’s Rest in detailing its two settlements. Both are populated by tribes of Oasis Folk and both are controlled by the different Praxian nomad tribes. The Bison Tribe in the case of Day’s Rest and Tourney Altar and the High Llama Tribe in the case of Biggle Stone. All three have markets where visitors can trade and stop under the supervision of the controlling tribes, whilst the area where the Oasis Folk dwell and have their fields is separate. Contact between the Oasis Folk and visitors kept limited and the controlling tribe for each oasis benefits from the goods and crops that the Oasis Folk grow and make.

Of the two, Tourney Altar is the more important as it is the site of the only permanent temple to Humakt in Prax or the Wastes, outside of the River of Cradles. Consequently, it has more visitors and thus all five of the NPCs given are Humakti, including a zombie-hunting Duck who turned to Humakt because he was squeamish about bringing death to the living, but not the undead, and an Impala Rider wanting to prove himself on the duelling field. Current permanent residents include the current high priest of the temple, Emund Dwarfbane, who is the most senior priest of the cult in Prax and a respected Humakti philosophers. A Pol Joni, he is better suited to the sedentary role of priest at the temple than any Praxian nomad. The temple also has a permanent swordsmith in residence, and that is currently the Bison Rider, Takeer Redson. The description of Tourney Altar includes some details of the worship of Humakt in Prax.

Where Tourney Altar consists of cliffs upon stand the temple to Humakt and the dueling ground with the oasis and the fields and village of the Oasis Folk below, Biggle Stone sits around a swamp that sit in a cleft in the Eiritha Hills. Here the Oasis Folk, different to those of Day’s Rest and Tourney Altar, work their fields and tend to the rich fungal growths that pervade the swamp itself. The description details the secret worship of the Oasis Folk, connected to a Darkness spirit, mostly ignored by their High Llama Tribe masters. The High Llama Tribe residents of the oasis are more transient than those at either Day’s Rest or Tourney Altar, but this does not mean that its current inhabitants are no less interesting, like Bodrak Drosh, the Storm Bull Chaos Fighter, who wandered into the oasis from the caves below, has no idea quite where is, refuses to ask for help, and is still convinced that Chaos can be found in the caves, and Ogzad, a Troll merchant actually come to oasis to find fungi!

The descriptions of both Tourney Altar and Biggle Stone includes a map of each oasis and extra information. In the case of Tourney Altar, this is details of Humakti worship in Prax and in the case of Biggle Stone, it includes foodstuffs, poisons, and medicines derived from fungi as well as several exotic fungi. The numerous NPCs—ten for Tourney Altar and eleven for Biggle Stone—are all accorded detailed descriptions and full stats, but do not include their ages, oddly. However, they do include hooks and motivations that the Game Master can develop into plots for her campaign and Player Characters.
As solid a pair of descriptions as Caravan Alley gives, there are two or three issues which do make it as easy to use as it could have been. A minor issue is that the map of each oasis could have more closely placed to its key or the keys included upon both maps. A few story hooks would have been useful to more readily get the Player Characters to either location, beyond the hooks already included for each NPC. The main problem with the supplement is that it does involve slavery. Now this is part of Glorantha as a setting and whilst the treatment of the Oasis Folk as slaves is not necessarily a poor one—in game or out, this does not mean that everyone is going to be comfortable with either its portrayal or even its inclusion in their game.
Is it worth your time?Yes—Caravan Alley is a useful addition for any campaign set in or passing through Prax, or involves Praxians or worshippers of Humakt. No—Caravan Alley is specific to Prax and a Game Master’s may not be set there or may not want to enter an area of Glorantha where slavery is obvious.Maybe—Caravan Alley is a useful addition for a campaign involving Prax or Humakt worshippers, but it involves themes which not every player will be comfortable with.

Threat Analysis 1: Collateral is simply put, the bestiary and monster book for S.L.A. Industries, the roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism. Mort City, its rain sodden, polluted, and overly populated heart, located on the industrially stripped planet of Mort and surrounded by five Cannibal Sectors, is beset by threats from within and from without. Dream Entities materialise from anomalies in the fabric of reality and feed and draw upon the bleakest of thoughts and darkest of desires and so become the monsters that the citizens of Mort City’s Downtown fear the most. Mort City’s gangs offer family and even an element of hope to the city’s disenfranchised youth and as they have corporatized, they have created a niche for themselves in Mort City’s ecology. Manchines are the relics of past age, cyborgs created to quell mass riots, suborned by a threat and intelligence who is a major threat to S.L.A. Industries. Serial Killers are pervasive in Downtown, driven to kill after a childhood of televised gore, junk food, and ingrained malaise, the most murderous of them in turn becoming stars in the televised gore being feed to the next generation. Ex-War Criminals are ex-military veterans unable to integrate back into society who go into hiding with their gear, either deep in Downtown or into the Cannibal Sectors where they really do not want to be disturbed. Unfortunately, S.L.A. Industries has other ideas. Carrien are the descendants of an alien race in S.L.A. Industries, devolved into bestial, ravaging creatures, most likely to be found in the Cannibal Sectors, as are the eponymous Cannibals. Scavs are the result of another scientific breakthrough, this time biogenetic, the gasmask-wearing armoured humanoids who having established outposts deep in Lower Downtown to study the inhabitants and how the city works. These are just some of the creatures, as well as their arms, armour, equipment, and motivation, detailed in Threat Analysis 1: Collateral, and this is not the only content in the supplement.

Threat Analysis 1: Collateral opens with a chapter on the ‘Dream Entities’. First introduced in the excellent supplement, Cannibal Sector One, these are the by-products of the breakdown in reality that initially take the form of negative energy, but which coalesces into a Dream Sac. This feeds on immediate vicinity’s history of violence, fear, and folklore. The Dream Sac gives birth to a still unreal creature that can evolve into something that not only embodies that history of violence, fear, and folklore, it reinforces it. However, there are numerous paths down which the entity in the Dream Sac can evolve, potentially going through multiple phases, from the initial Embryonic Phase, through the Juvenile Phase, Bloom Phase, and Consolidation Phase, and into the Integration Phase when the Dream Entity becomes organic and part of reality. Thankfully, these creatures are rare, but there are numerous other types of Dream Entities that SLA Operatives might encounter otherwise. These include the Titter which likes to present themselves as lost children, crying out for help, but ready to strike at whomever comes to their aid and then torture and murder with childlike glee; the Green Horror which rose up from the massacre of Shivers in Cannibal Sector One and almost organically replicates and warps the green Body Blocker armour that Shivers are renowned for wearing; and the Rainfolk, which whilst looking like ordinary Downtown citizens, unnerve those around them with unblinking eyes and unsettling mannerisms. Then there is the Dream Master, which leads and ensnares other Dream Entities, aiming to build a Dream Army. Lastly even their presence can have deleterious effect upon the environment, infecting Citizens with a deteriorating effect known as The Grey which appears to spread memetically and can lead to whole neighbourhoods being condemned if not dealt with.
In addition to detailing the various types of Dream Entity and their evolution, the chapter details the abilities they can have. These include Manifestation Abilities like ‘Cannibalistic Regeneration’ and ‘Dread Stench’ and Distortions, the main form of attack for Dream Entities, which affect the reality around their victims, like Mind Control and Time Distortion. There is Dream Hardware too, ranging from weapons such as the Dream Blade and Fear Staff to Dream-interpreted equipment such as the Oinky-Boinky and Oopsie Daisy, the former pig-like toy you do not want to possess and the latter a weaponised balloon from a children’s television series… There is no denying the weirdness of Dream Entities and it was a weirdness that seemed intrusive when they first appeared in Cannibal Sector One. Here though, they are better and more clearly explained, and given a wider range of options which will allow the Game Master to underplay that weirdness or go full blast with it.

The treatment of ‘Mort City Gangs’ is a contrast in the conventional after the Dream Entities. This talks about gang structure, gang values and activities, and roles within a gang along with their stats. This goes from Gang Boss at the top all the way down to Gang Prospects. Notably, gangs are organised, many having signed up to a Gang Charter that regulates their activities and those of their members, primarily as a means to make money, but do so without attracting the undue attention of S.L.A. Industries. Several gangs are described as well, including Krosstown Traffic, which is noted as one of Mort City’s oldest surviving gangs (having been referenced in numerous supplements for the roleplaying game), but not necessarily its largest. There is even a gang of Dream Entities, consisting of Titters, though they are not really a gang in the traditional sense. Instead of making money through robberies or protection rackets, its members are sent out to scavenge for ‘objects of interest’ for their Dream Master. The Gang Code is detailed, as are the weapons sold to them by soft companies and K’Shangs, the civilian powersuits that the gangs like to modify and use. Of course, the gangs are presented as a threat, but out of all the threats presented in Threat Analysis 1: Collateral, this one has the possibility to be basis of a S.L.A. Industries campaign, just from a different angle to that of SLA Ops.

However, the one threat that is presented as a Player Character option are the Manchines. Originally built to quell civil unrest, Digger took control of them and turned them against S.L.A. Industries. Now they form a network of lairs connected by a radio network, monitoring activities across the Cannibal Sectors and into Downtown. They are surprisingly docile, really only active when one is disturbed and attacked, and if destroyed, the others moving to fill the hole in the network. Manchines are scary because they wrap themselves in human flesh, but some do break connect with Digger and they resume their old programming. This opens up the possibility of a Player Character Manchine, even as an unsanctioned SLA Op, and there is a full list of modifications to customise both NPCs and possible Player Characters.

‘Serial Killers’ are given a similar treatment to the earlier Mort City Gangs. It categorises them and gives them stats as well as presenting ‘The Homicidal Pattern’, a list of common factors that seem to drive the creation of Serial Killers in Downtown. Cognates—Serial Killer collectives—are also discussed, along with examples, and so is the current status of Serial Killers in Mort City. Whilst they are often hunted by S.L.A. Industries, the soft company, Realtime Media broadcasts film of their activities, most notably on Channel Slice and Dice with its primetime Blood Soaked Hour which shows a Cognate facing another threat. This is supported by S.L.A. Industries to the point where a Serial Killer is allowed to get a ShowBiz Agent and when he has, he can legally travel to see his agent without the possibility of his being arrested.

Both ‘Scary Monsters’ and ‘Planet Mort Fauna’ details a wide of threats. In the former, this includes numerous types of Ex-War Criminals—War World Veterans currently lured into broadcast combat in Cannibal Sector Three by Realtime Media, the feral descendants of aliens known as Carrien, and numerous types of Cannibals, such as Cannibal Butcher, Cannibal Mastiff, and Cannibal Outcast. In the latter, the most normal creatures are the Carnivorous Pigs and Canines. Add to that Arrowhead Cockroach, which infests Downtown and the Cannibal Sectors and can change its carapace pattern and colour in response to threats, but it also can be turned into a cheesy past; Cannibals and other creatures transformed into Sector Mutants—KZ Mutants, KZ Dogs, and Skulkers—after drinking from heavily polluted pools in the Cannibal Sectors; and Gnaggots, maggot-like creatures capable of flight with a headache-inducing stench and mandibles that can bit through some armour, which can spend years dormant underground before bursting from the ground under the right climatic conditions in their thousands and swarming their targets. In between, ‘The Children of Scarogg’ present the descendants of biogenetic experimentation that S.L.A. Industries kept secret. Known as both Scavs and Vodyanoy, the former because they will attack and scavenge the arms and armour of anyone they attack. The gasmask wearing, towering figures have begun to infiltrate Downtown where they establish bases and outposts where they can begin to observe and experiment on the inhabitants. They have even begun taking over or establishing factories far from the eyes of S.L.A. Industries, where for the most part, they are safe from attack or interference.

The last chapter in Threat Analysis 1: Collateral returns to the subject of the first, ‘Dream Entities’, although from a different angle. ‘Naga 7 Division’ is both a new and a very ancient department within the hierarchy of S.L.A. Industries, dedicated to investigating and cataloguing the nature of reality of the World of Progress and beyond and assessing and dealing with the threats to it. This most obviously includes Dream Entities and Naga 7 Division trains agents who often work alongside SLA Ops to handle BPNs (S.L.A. Industries’ assignments) specific to its remit. As well as a detailed history of Naga 7 Division, which highlights its secretive and often duplicitous nature, the chapter gives three new options for the Player Character. These are Field Agents—Humans who have the ability to ‘Sense Artefact’ and locate the relics and legendary items from the past or beyond reality; Aethernauts—specialists who conduct the field work necessary to understand Dream Entities; and AetherTrackers—Advanced Carrien capable of tracking Dream Entities with ‘Dreamhound’. Operatives from Naga 7 Division are assigned Aether Armour suits, capable of withstanding the effects of the Gray and other esoteric threats, and weapons such as the Fracture Blade or Volt Gun, which are capable damaging Dream Entities. Operatives from Naga 7 Division are expected to undertake standard BPNs like any other SLA Op, but in game terms their role is very specific and the Game Master will want to decide whether she wants to include them and how much, just as she will with the Dream Entities from the start of the book. The obvious option is to run a campaign primarily focused around Naga 7 Division and the Dream Entities, which would explore and push at the nature of the reality of World of Progress and S.L.A. Industries as a setting.

Besides all of the threats and monsters described in the pages of Threat Analysis 1: Collateral, the supplement has another aspect which makes it all the more interesting. This is the amount of colour fiction which permeates the book with commentary on almost every aspect of the threats and other content found within its pages. This is both within the World of Progress and without the World of Progress, developing the secrets revealed and hinted at in S.L.A. Industries, Second Edition. Above all, the colour fiction brings flavour and in-game perspective to the setting.

Physically, Threat Analysis 1: Collateral is a clean, tidy looking book. It needs a slight edit in places, but the artwork is superb, brilliantly depicting the weird and worrisome threats in the supplement in almost too rich a detail, just as in other supplements for S.L.A. Industries.

Threat Analysis 1: Collateral is a supplement that every S.L.A. Industries Game Master is going to want and need. It is no mere collection of stats, but lives up to its title of ‘Threat Analysis’ by examining and assessing each danger to Mort City and the World of Progress in detail that will enable the Game Master to make each and every one interesting, even intriguing, and very likely monstrously repulsive, than simply something to just kill.

Uncharted Journeys is a supplement designed to make getting there as interesting and eventful as actually arriving at the destination. Published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, the supplement provides rules for laying out a route, preparing for the journey, and conducting the trip and involve the Player Characters at every stage; rules for encountering travellers on the way and creating ruins that the Player Characters might pass by; and then hundreds and hundreds of encounters categorised by location. In fact, there are almost two thousand encounters given in the pages in the book and they take up three quarters of the book! However, there is a sense of déjà vu to Uncharted Journeys, the feeling that you might have seen similar rules for such Journeys before. This is because they have been adapted from two earlier roleplaying games published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment which have extensive travel rules if not necessarily the enormous collection of events and encounters. These are The One Ring: Adventures OverThe Edge Of The Wild and its counterpart for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, Adventures in Middle-earth, and with both being based on the journeys undertaken by the Company in The Hobbit and the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings, both roleplaying games placed an emphasis on such journeys. With Uncharted Journeys, the Dungeon Master has the option to make journeys in her campaign as important and as dangerous and interesting as Tolkien does in Middle-earth, whether important, interesting, dangerous, or all three on each and every journey, or only on the occasional journey. Then of course, the Dungeon Master has access to all of the encounters in Uncharted Journeys as well.

Uncharted Journeys begins by discussing what Role each Player Character will undertake on a Journey. There are four—Leader, Outrider, Quartermaster, and Sentry. The Leader will keep the party’s morale and provide Inspirational Resolve during the Group Travel check. The Outrider finds the safest path and has some say over the type of encounter that the Party has. The Dungeon Master will roll and describe two encounters, without giving any specifics away, and the Outrider makes the choice between the two. The Quartermaster keeps the Party well-prepared and fed on the journey. The Sentry is ever vigilant, covering the Part’s trail and looking out for followers and ambushes. It is possible to double up on these Roles, but this will come at a Disadvantage. If there are more Player Characters than Roles, then two Player Characters can take the same Role and its checks will made with Advantage. Particular Classes are better suited to the different Roles. Thus, the Barbarian and the Ranger is a good Outrider, the Cleric a good Leader or Quartermaster, and so on. In general, the various Classes are suited to either Leader, Outrider, or Quartermaster, whilst the Sentry is left as a catch-all in terms of Class suitability.

A journey is divided into three stages—‘Set the Route’, ‘Prepare’, and ‘Make the Journey’. In the first stage, the players and their characters select a destination, which will determine its length and thus the possible number of encounters. A Journey can be Short, Medium, Long, or Very Long, ranging from fifteen miles long to a thousand miles and more, and two days in length to more than a month in length.

Journey Difficulty is determined by the terrain and weather. Having set the boundaries of the Journey and some expectations in ‘Set the Route’, in the ‘Prepare’ stage, Roles are assigned and the Player Characters can make preparations with actions such as ‘Brew Tonics’, ‘Chart Course’, ‘Procure Mounts’, and so on. These require a skill check and will provide a bonus on the Journey itself. For example, ‘Prepare a Feast’ requires a Wisdom or Charisma (Cook’s Utensils) check. If successful, the first time a Player Character would suffer a level of Exhaustion on the Journey, the Exhaustion is ignored. There are lots of options here which enable the Player Characters to play to their strengths. The third stage, ‘Make the Journey’ involves the players each making a Group Travel Check according to the Role their character has for the Journey. Succeed and the Player Characters will reduce the number of Encounters they have on the Journey. Fail and they will have Encounters extra to those indicated by the length of the Journey. For this, the Dungeon Master rolls for the Encounter Type, for example, ‘A Bump in the Road’ or ‘A Place to Rest’ and consults the table for that category for the region type the Player Characters are travelling through. Of course, the Dungeon master will still need to provide the stats and details herself, but everything else is covered in the pages of the supplement.

There is guidance too on what happened if the Journey is abandoned, but oddly, there is more to do once the Journey is complete, but this is not a stage in itself. At the end of a Journey, after all of the Encounters have been resolved, each Player Character make a Constitution check. Failure leaves the Player Character with a level of Exhaustion, success grants him temporary Hit Points, and success for every Player Character means they are also Inspired. The Player Character with the Sentry Role also rolls to see if the Party arrives safely or not, which might mean ‘Unforeseen Danger’ or it might mean complete ‘Safety’ or anywhere in between. It is at that this point that the Dungeon Master can also give out rewards, short-term, bonuses, and Experience Points. The Journey rules take up just twenty-two pages out of a two-hundred-and-ninety-five book. They provide the means to make Journeys not just more of a challenge, but interesting. There is room too within the mechanics to do two things. One is to roleplay out the events of the story, and as a result, allow the other, to play out a story.

The Encounters themselves are listed type by type and region by region in the largest section of the book. First, it sets the parameters and requirements for Encounter Type. For example, ‘A Chance Meeting’ requires the holder of the Leader Role to make a Wisdom (Insight) to gauge the mood of NPCs encountered, which will make the Group Check, which requires everyone to make a Charisma (Persuasion) or Wisdom (Insight) to impress the NPCs, easier or more difficult. Success might mean the NPCs points the Player Characters to a nearby ‘Natural Wonder’, a ‘Place to Rest’, or even ‘Hidden Reserves’, whilst failure could result in ‘A Bump in the Road’, ‘Danger Afoot’, or a ‘Deadly Fight’. These are Encounter Types in themselves, so there is a definite sense of progression if this occurs. ‘A Place to Rest’ has the Quartermaster Role make a Wisdom (Survival) check to gain Advantage—and hopefully not Disadvantage—on the Constitution (Perception) that all of the Player Characters have to roll. Success means they gain the benefit of a long Rest or a Short Rest, but failure can inflict a level of Exhaustion. If the Encounter Type provides the mechanical aspect of the Encounter, the flavour comes from the description given in the Encounter tables. For example, a ‘Place to Rest’ for the Great Cities Encounter Type could be ‘Bardcore’ where the Player Characters can perform at an inn for their bed and board, even after they have gone to bed, or a ‘Perfectly Normal Pub’ where the patrons seem to be highly engrossed in their own doings. Could there be something strange going on? Whereas, a ‘Place to Rest’ for the Hellscapes Encounter Type could be the ‘Sleep of the Just’ where an abandoned iron prison offers a refuge or a ‘Curious Cabinet’ where in a Tielfing trader offers the Player Characters the change rest in her cabinet, some disassembly required—and not of the cabinet! In many cases, if the Player Characters are successful, they gain Inspiration. However, multiple successful Encounters can mean multiple incidences of Inspiration. Of course, this is not possible, so in such incidences, they gain extra temporary Hit Points, bolstered by the success of their Journey.

In between all of the rules—well all twenty-two pages of rules—and the Encounters—all two-hundred-and-twenty-three pages of them—are the means to create NPCs which the Player Characters might meet in the Encounters, as well as where and when. This covers their backgrounds and their demeanours, and is supported with twelve example encounters. Then Uncharted Journeys does the same for ruins. This is more extensive with tables for who built the ruins, how old they are, what the ruins are and their possible points of interest, what they look like now, and what they might be used for currently. They are very nicely done, the result being a quick and dirty location created with a few rolls that the Dungeon Master can take the time to further detail, as necessary.

Physically, Uncharted Journeys is very well produced. Its rules are clearly written and easy to use, and the artwork excellent throughout.

Uncharted Journeys provides the means to support an aspect of fantasy roleplaying games and Dungeons & Dragons, that Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in particular does not do—and that is journeys and expeditions and their consequences. With an inexhaustive list of Encounters and clear simple rules Uncharted Journeys gives the Dungeon Master and her players the option to play journeys and expeditions out and make them both challenging and interesting, and events along the way matter.

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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Losing Face is a quick-start and adventure for Swords of the Serpentine, the swords and sorcery roleplaying game using the GUMSHOE System. Published by Pelgrane Press, this is a roleplaying game of daring heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city full of skullduggery and death, inspired by the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Thieves’ World stories. Since, it uses the GUMSHOE System, Swords of the Serpentine is an investigation-orientated roleplaying game, which means that if a Hero has points in a particular Investigative Ability, he will always be able to find clues related to the ability, and if he has points in that ability, can gain further clues, and then it is up to the players to interpret the clue or clues found to push the story along. Alongside that though, it mixes in social and physical combat so that the Heroes can defeat their opponents through wit, guile, and intimidation as well as with a blade, and sorcery powerful and easy enough to tear a tower apart, if the sorcerer is prepared to accept the corruption to both his body and soul. Losing Face presents the rules for Swords of the Serpentine sufficient enough to play through the scenario, a five-scene mystery which has scope for expansion by the Game Master and for plenty of input by the players, and six pre-generated Heroes ready to be played as part of the scenario.
A Hero in Losing Face and thus Swords of the Serpentine is defined by his Investigative Abilities and their associated pools of points, General Abilities, Allegiances, and Corruption. Investigative Abilities, such as Charm, Vigilance, Forgotten Lore, and Skulduggery, enable a Hero to find clues related to the ability and when spending points from their associated pools, to gain bonuses of various types. This includes increasing the amount of damage inflicted, increase the effectiveness of a General Ability, gain temporary Armour or Grit, create a unique special effect, and more. Investigative Abilities are divided between four categories or roles—Sentinel (a cross between a private investigator and a ghost hunter, because they can sometimes see ghosts), Sorcerer, Thief, and Warrior—and a Hero can rating in any of the Investigative Abilities across the four categories or roles, or specialise in one or two. Allegiances are with factions within the city, like the Ancient Nobility or The Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers, and can be spent like Investigative Abilities. General Abilities require a six-sided die to be rolled and a player can expend points from the General Ability pool to improve the roll. Typically, the target for this roll is three or four, and for each three points the roll exceeds the target, the attack can affect an extra target. A result of five or more higher than the target indicates an attack is a critical and inflicts an extra die’s worth of damage. Attacks use Warfare, Sway, or Sorcery depending on whether they are physical, social, or sorcerous. These three can also be used to perform Manoeuvres, which do not inflict damage, but do have an effect, like disarming a foe, persuading them, and more.
Corruption represents a Player Character’s capacity to perform sorcery. Points from its pool can be spent to cast powerful spells, but expending Corruption like this triggers a Health check. Whether this fails or succeeds, it causes Corruption, either ‘Internalised’ or ‘Externalised’. If Internalised, it changes something physical about the Player Character, but if ‘Externalised’, it can affect the other Player Characters’ morale or sickens and pollutes the reality in the immediate area. Overall, there is a lot of flexibility to how the players describe their Heroes’ using their Investigative Abilities and General Abilities, and so on.
‘Losing Face’ is the eponymous scenario in the quick-start. It takes place in the constantly sinking city of Eversink where funerary statuary ensures the deceased persons’ place in heaven, but if broken, their spirit is broken or flung out of heaven. Unfortunately, the statues are everywhere and breaking them is both a sin and a crime. The scenario begins with a contact or patron bring them the body of a woman who is all but lifeless, and left without a face! Who is she and how did she end up like this? Numerous clues are provided as to what and who she is. Plus, who did this to her and why? The antagonist of the scenario does indeed have a grand plan, and determining what that is and stopping it will challenge the Player Characters. It is a really good piece of investigative fantasy that should take a session or two to play through and in the process show of the investigative process of Swords of the Serpentine.
Losing Face also includes six pre-generated characters. These include an ageless warrior, a retired church prophet, an under-acolyte in training, a likeable thief, a disinherited noble sorcerer, and an intimidating inquisitor or sentinel. These are slimmed down versions of the full character sheets, but more than adequate for the scenario.
Physically, Losing Face is speedily presented. It rushes through the rules for Swords of the Serpentine in six pages, including quick reference tables for difficulty numbers, sorcery, health, and morale. These are quite handy, as the rules will need careful study to comprehend as there is fair number of options in the terms of ways that the players can spend their characters’ Investigative Ability and General Ability points.
Losing Face is a good introduction to Swords of the Serpentine. The rules are presented in handy, if speedy fashion, and once the players grasp how they work, they provide scope for improvising details and aspects about their Heroes and bringing dynamic action—whether physical, social, or sorcerous—into play. This is packaged with an engaging scenario which again allows scope for some improvisation whilst still having plenty of meaty investigation to get involved in.

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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The Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is the quick-start for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns for any roleplaying game. Published by Magpie Games, this is the roleplaying adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, animated series which are inspired by the indigenous cultures of North America and Asia, in particular, China, Chinese martial arts, and the ability to ‘bend’ or manipulate the four elements—water, earth, fire, and air. Only one person can bend all four elements, and he is known as the ‘Avatar’, and not only does he serve as the link between the physical world and the spirit world, but he is also responsible for maintaining harmony between the world’s four nations. In the roleplaying game, the players roleplay characters, or companions, who are capable of bending one of the elements as well as practising martial arts, all with the aim of protecting the world from harm and those unable to stand up to misuse of power. The Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is designed for three to six players, one of whom will be the Game Master, and includes five pre-generated Player Characters, rules and advice for the Game Master, and a situation or scenario, the ‘Movers & Shakers’, of the title.
The Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet and thus Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’, the mechanics based on the award-winning post-apocalyptic roleplaying game, Apocalypse World, published by Lumpley Games in 2010. At the heart of these mechanics are Playbooks and their sets of Moves. Now, Playbooks are really Player Characters and their character sheets, and Moves are actions, skills, and knowledges, and every Playbook is a collection of Moves. Some of these Moves are generic in nature, such as ‘Guide and Comfort’ or ‘Rely on your Skill and Training’, and every Player Character can attempt them. Others are particular to a Playbook, for example, Qacha, the Guardian, one of the five pre-generated Player Characters, has the Moves, ‘Catch a Liar’, ‘Suspicious Mind’, ‘Martyr Complex’, and ‘A Warrior’s Heart’.
To undertake an action or Move in a ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ roleplaying game—or Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, a character’s player rolls two six-sided dice and adds the value of an attribute such as Creativity, Focus, Harmony, and Passion, to the result. A full success is achieved on a result of ten or more; a partial success is achieved with a cost, complication, or consequence on a result of seven, eight, or nine; and a failure is scored on a result of six or less. Essentially, this generates results of ‘yes’, ‘yes, but…’ with consequences, and ‘no’. Notably though, the Game Master does not roll in ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ roleplaying game—or Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, although she does have Moves of her own.
So, for example, if Erdene, the Prodigy, wants to assess an opponent, her player will select the ‘Judging a Rival’ Move. The aim is to have Erdene determine the rival’s strengths and weaknesses, how she can show dominance or submission to the rival, what the rival intends to do next, and what the rival wishes that Erdene would do next. To make the Move, the player rolls the dice and his Erdene’s Focus to the result. On a result of ten or more, the player can ask two of these questions, whilst on a result of seven, eight, or nine, he only gets to ask one.
Besides the four stats, a Player Character has Backgrounds, for example, Urban and Military, Demeanours like Confident and Warm, and a Training, such as Airbending. He also has a Fighting Style, like ‘Strong individual streams of air, like a Firebender’s flame jets’. His Balance is represented by a track, which runs from ‘+3’ to ‘-3’, for example, between the Principles of Excellence and Community. Events and the effects of Moves can shift the Player Character’s Balance up and down the track. This represents a Player Character’s core personality and if this Balance is pushed off the track, which can lead to a loss of a Player Character’s powers, his acting against his principles, or even give in to the enemy. A Player Character’s Balance can be restored through rest and reflection, but this takes time. In addition, a Player Character has an aspect that adds depth and detail, as well as motivation. For example, Thi, the Hammer, has ‘Bringing Them Down’ which sets him up to confront a single enemy. In his case, it is Amrita, the lieutenant of the Creeping Crystal Triad that Thi once worked for and is trying to make up for having done so. When facing Amrita, Thi has a penalty to all interactive Moves, but when fighting Amrita, becomes Inspired and clears all fatigue. A Player Character has two or three ‘Fighting Techniques’ and notes on connections, a Moment of Balance when he can restore his Balance, and a Background.
As the quick-start for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet provides both an introduction to the setting and the mechanics. The former includes a basic overview of the setting, the ‘Avatarverse’ and its five ages and four nations, plus descriptions of Airbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Waterbending, followed by Weapons and Technology, and the roles that they all play in the ‘Avatarverse’. It provides a short, basic introduction to the setting, whilst the scenario gives more setting specific details. The explanation of the rules is more extensive, covering what a roleplaying game is, the need for safety tools, how to frame scenes, and more, all before going into detail about Moves. This includes the Basic Moves common to every character, plus Balance Moves, which affects the Balance Track, as well as Combat Exchanges. In general, combat in the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet and in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is run as a series of one-on-one combats rather than mass brawls, no matter the number of combatants. They require combatant to first select an approach, either ‘Defend and Manoeuvre’, ‘Advance and Attack’, or ‘Evade and Observe’, this being the basic style the character wants to assume. After that, a combatant can select a Fighting Technique associated with the approach. For example, Erdene, the Prodigy, has three Fighting Techniques. Both ‘Steady Stance’ and ‘Air Swipe’ are associated with the ‘Defend and Manoeuvre’ approach and ‘Small Vortex’ with the ‘Evade and Observe’ approach.
What there is not in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is any Moves connected to Bending, or the manipulation of an element. A Player Character needs to be trained in Bending, whether Airbending, Earthbending, Firebending, or Waterbending, and these colours what he does and the Moves he makes. For example, Meeka, the Idealist, is a Waterbender and she has the fighting style involving ice spikes, either flung or driven up from the ground or through the walls. With the ‘Disorient’ Fighting Technique, she pummels the foe with quick blows, in this case a flurry of ice shards, but with ‘Slip Over ice’, she slides around the environment with ease to put off an enemy off-balance, this could be over the ice she creates or the water from partly melted ice she has created.
The scenario in the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is the eponymous ‘Movers & Shakers’, which is set during the Korra Era of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The Player Characters are hired to protect the production of a new mover—or film—called ‘Sengo: lady of the Winds’. It has been plagued with equipment malfunctions and breakdowns, and an executive at Varrimovers International Studios fears that someone is attempting to sabotage the production of a mover that could restore the studio’s fortunes. This is certainly the case and that someone is connected to the backstory of one of the five pre-generated Player Characters. Over the course of four days, the Player Characters must protect the film, its production, its crew, and its cast from attacks from without by members of the Creeping Crystal Triad and tensions from within between the cast and crew. With the latter there is scope for investigation and roleplay and with the former, there is scope for roleplaying and combat. Like the publisher’s scenarios for Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game, ‘Movers & Shakers’ is not a linear scenario. Rather it is a situation or scenario, comprised of detailed descriptions of the various locations and NPCs, that the players and their characters can explore, the Game Master reacting to their decisions and making Moves of her own to keep up the tension, the storyline, and the action as necessary. It is primarily player-driven and the Game Master will need to understand all of the scenario’s elements to run it properly. This does mean that the scenario—and also the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet—are really designed for the beginning Game Master. She is accorded good advice on how to run the scenario, but for someone new to the hobby, it is likely to be daunting prospect.
The five pre-generated Player Characters include a rash airbender with great airbending ability who exasperates her sister, who has sworn to protect her. The others are a former triad employee who is good with technology, who is trying to redeem himself; a former soldier and waterbender who wants to help and heal the world; and an earthbender who wants to live up his father’s skill, but not his reputation. All five pre-generated Player Characters are nicely designed, capable, and interesting, and include backgrounds and connections to one or more of the other Player Characters.
Physically, the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is well presented, sturdy booklet. Running to some fifty-pages, there is plenty of advice and help for the Game Master, including summaries of the Moves, Combat Exchanges, Fighting Techniques, and more at the back. Although it needs a slight edit in places, the main issue perhaps is the lack of examples that would ease the learning of the ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ mechanics, especially the Combat Exchanges of Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game. The detailed nature of the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet also means that the Game Master does have a lot to learn and prepare.
The density of Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet and the non-linear, sandbox style nature of its scenario, ‘Movers & Shakers’, means that Game Master needs to study the booklet in order to prepare and run the adventure. For anyone new to roleplaying, perhaps fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra and having picked up the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet to find out what roleplaying is, this is too dense and not supported with examples that would have made the learning process easier. For the more experienced roleplayer, and certainly anyone with experience of ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’, this will be very much less of an issue.
The Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is a fun, entertaining introduction to Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game and the worlds of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Fans of both will enjoy this, as will any player who enjoys anime and martial arts, but Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet definitely benefits from an experienced Game Master.

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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If the releases for Dragon Shield Roleplaying have been one of the two oddest releases for Free RPG Day 2023, the other is the Loup Garou Free Preview. This is a preview for Loup Garou, part of the ‘Graphic Novel Adventures’ from Van Ryder Games, best known for its board games like Final Girl and Hostage Negotiator. Funded via Kickstarter, these ‘Graphic Novel Adventures’ are solo or ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ adventure books. The publisher has released several series of these and what sets them about from other solo adventures is that they are presented in graphic form rather than text format. So essentially, what the reader is reading and playing in is a graphic novel. Such things are not new, of course, in the nineteen eighties, Diceman was a five-issue series from Fleetway which published stories involving characters from its sister publication, 2000 AD, including Judge Dredd, Nemesis the Warlock, Sláine, Rogue Trooper, Torquemada, and ABC Warriors. Diceman also ventured into political satire with the comic strip ‘You are Ronald Reagan in: Twilight’s Last Gleaming’ and Fleetway would continue this theme with the separate solo adventure book, You are Maggie Thatcher: a dole-playing game in nineteen eighty-seven. However, times have moved on, and in comparison, to both titles, Loup Garou, as well as other titles in the ‘Graphic Novel Adventures’ series are done in full colour.
The story of Loup Garou is this. The protagonist is Eoras, an apprentice to the mage, Thedocred. One night, Thedocred sends him out into the forest to collect a vital ingredient for a potion, but whilst out on the errand, a foul beast—a loup garou—attacks him. Although a hunter comes to his rescue and slays the monster, Eoras discovers that he has been scratched and is thus condemned to transform into a loup garou himself! As a mere mage’s apprentice, Eoras knows just the single spell, but as a loup garou, he has tremendous physical strength and endurance, but can he use it wisely? Will he find a cure or will he tracked down by the hunter who slew the beast that scratched him? Above all, can Eoras survive? This, ultimately, this is the aim for the reader with Loup Garou.
The Loup Garou Free Preview is a heavily truncated version of Loup Garou. It takes some thirty-one panels and a two-page spread explanation to get to the start and ‘Panel #1’. The actual adventure consists of just twenty-nine panels drawn from the full version of Loup Garou, which contains at least two-hundred-and-eighty-nine panels, this being the highest number in the Loup Garou Free Preview. Eoras begins play with ten Hit Points and ten Magic Points and a rating of four in his Strength and one in Defence, these last being his attributes. In loup garou form, five is added to both. He also has a skill point which the reader can assign. At the back of the Loup Garou Free Preview is a Skill Tree, each of which consists of eight boxes, each containing three improvements a player can choose. Eoras is an Apprentice, so would select that box and tick off its first entry, ‘Spell: Shock’. The others are ‘Ice Armour’ and ‘Spell: Fireball’. From the Apprentice box, Eoras could improve via the Sorcerer, Mage, or Lycanthrope boxes. Other starting options include Healer, Soldier, and Survivor. For every ten Experience Points gained, either through defeating an enemy or solving a riddle, Eoras gains one Magic Point and one Hit Point, and the reader can gain one improvement.
Mechanically, Loup Garou is quite simple. Combat requires a roll of a six-sided die each round to determine how many Hit Points an opponent loses. The combatant’s Strength is added to this in mêlée to get the total result or the base damage of the spell being cast if magic is being used. It costs one Magic Point to cast a spell. The other major mechanic involves riddles. Solve these and the reader and Eoras is awarded with a good number of Experience Points. A minor mechanic involves picking up items to use later. These are included in the comic panels and the reader is free to decide whether Eoras picks up one or another.
In terms of play, Loup Garou Free Preview is limited. Which is fine because it is a preview. Consequently, there is just the one incidence of combat and one of solving riddles, whilst there are several items to spot and pack in Eoras’ bag, although no reason to use them in the preview. What the Loup Garou Free Preview does show off is the excellent artwork, though in places, the number indicating the next panel to turn to or choose from is a bit small to read with any ease. The visual means also exacerbates the aspect of any solo adventure book with illustrations. Even one with a few illustrations will have the reader intrigued by them and wondering how he can guide the protagonist of the adventure to that paragraph and thus that location to discover what is actually going on there. In the Loup Garou Free Preview and thus Loup Garou, with all of paragraphs being graphic novel panels, that is an even bigger feature. Even to the point of being a distraction!
Physically, Loup Garou Free Preview is very well presented. The artwork is excellent throughout and nicely captures Eoras’ desperation and worry throughout its few pages.
As a preview, Loup Garou Free Preview is surprisingly playable given its scant number of panels and plotlines. It should really only take the reader a single effort or two to play through the whole thing and even then, only fifteen minutes or so. Yet there remains the much longer and deeper story in Loup Garou, which Loup Garou Free Preview does leave you wondering about and whether or not Eoras survives or even discovers a cure to his malady. Loup Garou Free Preview is a solid introduction to Loup Garou and by the end of it, the reader will know if he wants to find out more. Reviews from R’lyeh definitely did.

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: A Network of TunnelsPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Sean F. Smith

Setting: 1920s LondonProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Fourteen page, 1.63 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Never leave a lawyer in a locked room when death is on the linePlot Hook: A lawyer missing from his locked room
Plot Support: One map, three NPCs, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: High School Power Point Essay.
Pros# Interesting twist upon ‘Megapolismancy’# More detailed outline than scenario# Straightforward, tightly plotted # Easy to add to a campaign# Easy to adjust to other time periods# Blennophobia# Molluscophobia# Gephyrophobia
Cons# More detailed outline than scenario# Underwritten# Untidy layout
Conclusion# Easy to add to a campaign ‘Megapolismantic’ scenario# More underwritten outline than scenario, but otherwise a serviceable investigation

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 Art of HyggePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Poul Holmelund

Setting: Pre-millennium DenmarkProduct: One-shot
What You Get: Twenty-seven page, 3.12 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Let’s get hygge before the horrorPlot Hook: A hunting trip turns on the hunters.
Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated (non) Investigators, eight handouts, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros# Short non-survival horror scenario# Straightforward, tightly plotted # Excellent handouts# Easy to adjust to other time periods# Extreme hygge/horror divide# Cherophobia# Pyrophobia# Xenophobia
Cons# Needs a strong edit# No relationships between pre-generated Investigators# Reactive, not proactive scenario# Limited scope for investigation# Investigators have to die# Extreme hygge/horror divide
Conclusion# Short non-survival horror scenario with limited (non) Investigator actions # Extreme hygge/horror divide that contrasts the cosy and the cosmic

Since 1979, what has been fundamental to RuneQuest and to the world of Greg Stafford’s Glorantha, has been the integration and prominence of its myths, pantheons, and their worship into the setting and as part of everyday life for the Player Characters. Although the original RuneQuest—more recently published as RuneQuest Classic—mentioned the importance of cults, it only detailed three of them, offering limited choices for the player and his character. That changed with the publication of Cults of Prax, which presented fifteen cults and their myths and magics dedicated to fifteen very different deities. Fifteen very different cults and deities which held very different world views and very different means of approaching problems and overcoming them. Fifteen cults which provided their worshippers with a link to their gods and in turn their gods with a link from god time to the real world. Fifteen cults which provided their worshippers with great magics granted by their gods and with paths to become Rune Lords and Rune Priests and so bring the power of their gods into the world. Cults of Prax provided the RuneQuest devotee or Gloranthaphile with a framework via which his character could enter the world of Glorantha, giving form and function to faith and above all, making it something that you could play and something that you wanted to play. For at its most mechanical, a player and his character’s choice of cult works almost like a character Class of Dungeons & Dragons, giving the character benefits and powers in terms of what he can do and how he does it. However, to reduce the cults of Glorantha to such mechanical simplicity is to ignore the ‘why’ of what the character can do, and it is this ‘why’ where the world of Glorantha and its gods, myths, and cults comes alive. Cults of Prax did not ignore this ‘why’, but introduced it, and that is arguably why it is the most important supplement ever for both Glorantha and RuneQuest. However, in 2023, some forty-four years after its publication, Cults of Prax has a successor—or rather, a series of successors.
Cults of RuneQuest is a ten-volume series of supplements each of which is dedicated to the different pantheons of Glorantha. Each entry in the series details the gods—both major and minor—within their pantheon, along with their myths and cults, magics, favoured skills, requirements and restrictions for membership, outlook and relationships with the other gods, and more. Each book is standalone, but because each of the gods and pantheons has connections and often entwining myths with other gods and pantheons, the series will together provide a wider overview of all the gods of Glorantha as well as differing approaches to them. This is further supported by the two companion volumes to the series—Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia and Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology. The standalone nature of the series means that the Game Master or the player—and it should be made clear that each of the ten volumes in the Cults of RuneQuest is intended to be used by both—can pick or chose their favourite pantheon and use the gods and cults from that book. However, some volumes are quite tightly bound to each other and some are, if not bound geographically, have strong ties to certain regions of Glorantha. So, for example, the first two entries in the series, Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers and Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses are tightly bound to each other as the myths of their gods often combine and cross paths, not least of which is the fact that the heads of the pantheons in both books are married to each other. Thus, with these two volumes, the first two in the series, it is difficult to argue that one should not be bought without the other. Geographically, Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers and Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses provide support for the region of Dragon Pass, including Sartar, Esrolia, Prax, and Tarsh, whilst Cults of RuneQuest: The Lunar Way provides geographical support for the Lunar Empire and its client states. This is not to say that the presence of the cults in these volumes will not be found elsewhere, but rather that these are the regions where their worship is most prevalent and if a Game Master is running campaigns in these locations, then the relevant geographical volume will be very useful. Lastly, of course, the Gloranthaphile will want all of these volumes because he is a Gloranthaphile.
Each of the entries in the Cults of RuneQuest series is well-organised. The introduction explains the purpose and subject matter for the book, highlights how the book is useful for player and Game Master alike, and examines some of the book’s themes and both their nature as myth and mature treatment of subject matters including death, sex, gender, survival, vengeance, and unconscious fears given form. It also notes that the artwork throughout the book is divided between depictions ‘in-Glorantha’, seen within the world itself, and those seen from without in reading the book. All of this is tailored slightly to the pantheon presented in the particular entry in the series. This is followed by a group depiction of all of the gods of the pantheon—which the book notably returns to a few pages later with a labelled version—and a hymn to them all, and then an overview of the pantheon, answering questions such as, “Where does the world come from?”, “Where do I come from?”, “Why am I here?”, “How do I do magic?”, and more. Lastly, there is a discussion of the relationship that the pantheon has with other pantheons and a listing of all of the gods in the pantheon or associated with it.

The bulk of each book though is dedicated to individual entries in the pantheon. Each of these follows the same format. They begin with the Mythos and History of the god, the Nature of the Cult and its Organisation, its membership at various levels—lay member, initiate, God-Talker, Rune-Lord, Rune-Priest, and Chief Priest, and continue with subservient cults, associated cults, and subcults, and more. This will vary from god to god and from cult to cult. This follows the format seen in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, but in every case greatly expands what is included in the core rulebook, whether in terms of individual entries or additional entries. The number of pages dedicated to each god and thus each cult will also vary. A god whose worship is widespread—and also a popular choice for players to select for their characters to worship—is explored over the course of multiple pages whereas a less popular and less worshipped god many only receive two or three pages. All gods though, receive a full colour depiction at the start of their entry that includes their runes too, in addition to their being depicted elsewhere.
Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses is the second examination of a pantheon in the series. It is a slimmer volume than the first, detailing just sixteen cults in comparison to the nineteen of Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers. As with the previous volume, Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses begins with the head of the pantheon, Ernalda. Hers is the lengthiest of the entries and mythologies, but nowhere as near as long that given for Orlanth in Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers. The initial focus is upon Ernalda and her cult and role in society, but it broadens out to examines various facets of her worship. This adds the Summon Snake Daughter Rune Spell—neatly supporting the depictions of Ernalda with snakes wrapped around her arms—as well as various other Rune spells under subservient and associated cults. Thus for Eninta, the goddess of childbirth, there is the spell Birthing, and for the god of brewing, Minlister, the Rune spell, Brew, as well as rules for the new skill, Craft (Brewing). The list of subservient and associated cults consists of a mix of deities mentioned just under this entry and those given their own entry elsewhere in the book, such as Babeester Gor and Ty Kora Tek. In addition, there is some crossover with Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers with the inclusion of Barntar, the Plowman.

The entries for both Aldrya, the Goddess of the Woods, and Mostal, the Maker, are of a similar length to that of Ernalda. In the case of Aldrya, worshipped in particular by the Elves or Aldryami, this includes ‘The Elf Story’, which highlights the differences between the deities worshipped by Humans and the non-gods of the Elves in telling they grew and came to be planted across Dragon Pass. Guidelines are given for Aldrya shamanism, the High King Elf subcult, which is the most widespread, and even Elder Sister for Dryads! In this way, the book is both a useful supplement for the player who wants to play an Elf and the Game Master who wants to support that and create interesting NPCs with a more detailed look at Aldryami culture. In either case, it supports the details of the Aldryami given in the Glorantha Bestiary. The inclusion of Flamal, the Father of Vegetation, complements Aldrya, though is not as detailed. As with Aldrya, the inclusion of Mostal expands Player Character and NPCs options and backgrounds in similar fashion, but for the Mostali or Dwarves, rather than the Elves. Just as with the entry for Aldyra, the entry explains that Mostal is not revered as a cult as with other gods, but rather that ‘way of Mostal’ is a ‘socio-magical complex’ which structures and organises Dwarf society. Consequently there is less variation here than with other cults and what there is concerns itself mainly with a page or two of new Sorcery spells organised according to Dwarf type and a discussion of heresies, which of course, allows for more Player Character and NPC options.

Besides Ernalda, there are several entries in Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses that will be familiar. Primarily, these consist of Babeester Gor, the Avenging Daughter and Maran Gor, the Earth Shaker, both tightly bound to the Ernalda cult, and they are joined by the God of Music, Dance, and Theatre, Donandar. His inclusion nicely complements the Entertainer occupation in the core rules and covers his half-brothers and similar gods, as well as his links to both Eurmal and the Puppetteer Troupes. Eurmal typically performs as the clown, whilst the half-brothers emphasise different styles of performance. Just as Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers expanded geographically into Prax by including Waha, so Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses complements this with the inclusion of Erithia. Again, her coverage is more detailed as she fulfils a similar to Ernalda in Prax and her worship is widespread across the region. Ty Kora Tek, the Goddess of the Dead and Underworld, is an interesting addition for older Player Character Earth worshippers, whilst there is a pleasing nod to Apple Lane and its lone temple, with inclusion of Uleria, the Goddess of Love.
In addition to the many entries in Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses which will be familiar, there are many that are not. For example, the Cult of the Bloody Tusk, the god of the Tusk Riders, which again expands upon information in the Glorantha Bestiary as well as the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack, is included, but really only for NPCs, as it comes with the advice that Tusk Riders are not suitable as a Player Characters and no details of the Cult of the Bloody Tusk initiates are given, preventing their creation. Perhaps the strangest inclusion is that of Pamalt, the Earth-King of Pamaltela, the southern continent of Glorantha. There is no denying that it is an interesting read, but given the roleplaying game’s focus upon the northern continent and Dragon Pass, its inclusion is not of immediate use. Other cults in Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses include Asrelia, the Goddess of Wealth and Fortune, as important to miners as protecting the collected harvest; the volcano twins Caladra and Aurelion; the Grain Goddesses, the regional Goddesses of the Land; and Voria, the Spring Virgin. These last few are better suited for NPC use rather than for Player Characters, but they add setting detail in each case.
Physically, Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddessess is very well written and presented, but needs a slight edit here and there. As with the earlier Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia and the Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers, what stands out is the quality of the artwork, which begins with its cover and its depiction of Ernalda. In comparison to the majestic imposition of power in the depiction of Orlanth on the cover of Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers, that of Ernalda on the cover of this book is all poise and assurance. The power of the Earth goddesses are instead saved for the energetic, even manic illustrations of Babeestor Gor and Maran Gor. In many of the illustrations there is a sense of embracing warmth, but whatever the nature of the gods and goddesses depcted in the volume, the artwork is uniformly excellent.
Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddessess continues the series’ options for the players and their characters in terms of who and what they want to play and what gods they want their characters to embody, providing them with the background and the details to do so and the Game Master to also make interesting NPCs. There are perhaps more options for the latetr than the former in Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddessess, but all of the entries add background detail and flavour to the world of Glorantha. Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddessess is the second essential book in the series for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, complementing Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers with connections between their respective pantheons as well as expanding upon the information, background, and options for the Earth goddesses.
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An unboxing video of Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses is available to watch on Unboxing in the Nook.