In the far future of the 41st Millenium, the Gilead System has been isolated from the Imperium of Man by the Cicatrix Maledictum, the Great Rift that unleashed waves of supernatural darkness and malignant power from the Realm of Chaos. The system, rent by internal strife and disagreement from within as to how to survive and threatened by the Ruinous Powers and its allies from without, teetered on the edge of collapse, but hope arrived in the form of the Varonius Flotilla, a Rogue Trader fleet under the command of Jakel Varonius, bringing ships and forces which could ensure the system’s survival. The only vessels to have made contact since the opening of the Great Rift, the Varonius Flotilla is seen across the Gilead System as its saviour, but the fleet alone can only so much. There are wars across the system, the chances of starvation grow daily, and alliances have to be made, even with xenos. This is a time for heroes, for ordinary men as well the Imperium’s genetically enhanced super soldiers, the Space Marines, Psykers, scribes, and others to work together to withstand the Chaos and protect all those it would suborn and destroy. Under the command of Jakel Varonius himself, such agents will become the most distant, but worthy arm and blade of the Emperor himself! Can the agents save the Gilead System? Will ‘wrath and glory’ be theirs?

This is the set-up for the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set. Published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment, this is the second attempt at a starter set for the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, previously published by Ulisses Spiele in 2019. It follows the same format as the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set in providing everything needed to play and get started in action, horror, and intrigue of the 41st Millenium. This includes ‘Traitor’s Hymn’, an adventure set aboard the Varonius Flotilla; ‘The Varonius Flotilla’, a guide to the fleet; six character sheets; three reference sheets; Wrath, Glory, and Ruin; and a set of eight six-sided dice, including a Wrath Die. ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ is a detailed adventure designed to introduce both the setting and the mechanics of Wrath & Glory, but ‘The Varonius Flotilla’ is designed to not only detail that setting, but also support further play with both background and further play with extra scenarios that will extend the usefulness of the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set.

Open the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set and the first thing that you see is a gatefold sheet with the words ‘READ THIS FIRST’ on it. This introduces the basics of everything about Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, essentially preparing each player for his first choice—what will he roleplay? Underneath is a sheaf of six gatefold character sheets, each of which details a Player Character or Agent. A lot of thought has gone in terms of the design of these gatefold character sheets. On the front of each, there is a summary of who and what the Agent is, as well as warning not to open the character sheet up unless the player is definitely planning to roleplay that character. Inside, the character sheet presents the stats and details in easy-to-read fashion, plus a background, and possible connections with the other Agents, secrets, and objectives. It includes notes on each Agent’s talents, abilities, and equipment too. There is a full-page illustration of the character on the back. None of the secrets are heretical, but they are often dark and may make life difficult for the Agent. The Agents consist of a Sanctioned Psyker, a Sister of Battle, a Rogue Trader, a Skitarius, an Aeldari Ranger, and a Space Marine Scout. The inclusion of an Aeldari Ranger, a Xenos, indicates the desperation which is driving the surviving factions and forces in the Gilead System to work together.

‘Traitor’s Hymn’ is the beginning scenario. It is designed to introduce the setting, the Agents, and the concepts behind the roleplaying game in a step-by-step process. As play begins the Agents are aboard The Herald Varonius, a voidship transporting notables to the Varonius Flotilla. They are attending a grand banquet for the guests aboard when everything goes awry. Before that, each Agent receives a flashback which allows his player to make a choice, roll some dice for the first time, and have some time in the spotlight. The events of all six flashbacks tie into the adventure. There is the chance to learn a few more clues before the action begins and the voidship is inexplicably thrown into the Void. However, the Geller Field which would normally protect the crew and passengers of The Herald Varonius is fluctuating, which means her Geller Field Generator is malfunctioning. Which means the Agents are going to make their way into the bowels of the ship in order to find the cause and if they can, fix it. Between them lie Chaos infestations and manifestations, cultists, and worse, via an entrail-strewn library, a combat turned execution arena, twisted hydroponics gardens, and more before they reach the bowels of the vessel and discover the real culprits behind the situation The Herald Varonius finds itself in.

Mechanically, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set, and thus Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, is a dice pool system using six-sided dice. Rolls of four and five are counted as ‘Icons’, and a roll of six as ‘Exalted Icons’. Tests are typically rolled as combinations of an attribute and a skill, or just the attribute, the latter being fairly broad, with a Difficulty Number of three being ‘Standard’ difficulty and a Difficulty Number of five being ‘Challenging’ difficulty. If a player rolls a number of Icons equal to the Difficulty Number, the task is successful. Any ‘Exalted Icons’ rolls are worth two Icons rather than one. However, if enough Icons are rolled on a test and there are any ‘Exalted Icons’ left over, they can be ‘Shifted’, or removed from the dice pool. A ‘Shifted Exalted Icon’ can be sued to gain more information, make the Test exceptional and give an extra beneficial outcome, add an extra Effect Die in combat, or add a point of Glory to the party’s pool.

Included with any roll, is the Wrath Die. This is of a different colour. It works like a standard die, except when one or six is rolled. On a one, it adds a complication to the task, whereas a roll of six is counted as an ’Exalted Icon’, but also adds a point of Glory to the party pool. In combat, it indicates that a Critical Hit has been scored. A player also has access to Wrath Points. These can be spent to reroll all dice that rolled a one, two, or three on the dice in a Test, add a minor element to the narrative, or to take an Action to recover Shock which has either been lost through combat or misadventure. The party as a whole, has access to the Glory Pool. Glory Points can be spent to add dice to a test, to add more damage to a successful attack, to improve the effect of a Critical Hit, or to seize the initiative.

Combat uses the same rules, with an Agent able to take a Combat Action, a Simple Action, a Reflexive Action, a Movement Action, and a Free Action on his Turn. Initiative simply passes back and forth between the players and the Game Master until everyone has acted. Both Armour and an Agent’s Resilience stop damage, any left over being suffered as Wounds. The Wounded Condition means that the Difficulty Number for Tests increases, but a player can roll his character’s Determination. Any Icons from this roll convert Wounds to Shock, but suffer too much Shock and an Agent may end up exhausted.

Fear Tests are based on an Agent’s Resolve, failure giving the Agent the Fear Condition. Corruption Tests are based on the severity of the source of Corruption, a player rolling his Agent’s Conviction to withstand its effects. Corruption will increase the Difficulty Number for future Corruption and Mutation Tests. The latter will occur when the number of Corruption Points exceeds an Agent’s Conviction. The Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set only provides a few options for Mutations, there being a more extensive list and advanced rules in the core rulebook for Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory.

Whilst the Players have access to Wrath and Glory, the Game Master has Ruin. Points of Ruin are gained when an Agent fails a Corruption Test or a Fear Test, or the Game Master rolls a six on the Wrath Die. She can expend it to reroll failures on Test, to Seize the Initiative or have NPC act in an ambush, to restore an NPC’s Shock, and to make a Determination roll. Ruin is also spent to activate certain abilities on NPCs and creatures of Chaos.

‘The Varonius Flotilla’, the second book in the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set, details both the Varonius Flotilla and the Gilead System. This includes the major NPCs with their goals and agendas and their quirks and secrets, and the various ships of the fleet, the last being The Herald of Varonius. The latter is where ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ is set and it is also the reward which the Agents are assigned at the end of the scenario. What that does, is give them the means to travel back and forth across the Gilead System, undertake further missions, and do both with some agency. ‘The Varonius Flotilla’ notes that of Jakel Varonius, the rogue trader and commander of the fleet, has brought the shuttles across the whole fleet under his command to lessen individual ship control, tie the fleet together, and to give him an information network in the form of the shuttle pilots. Besides bringing support and relief to the Gilead System, the Varonius Flotilla is also searching for resources in the system to exploit, despite it having been settled and worked for millennia.

The ’Ports of Call’ section details the eight worlds of the Gilead System, including the major locations, NPCs, threats faced by the world, and important features. Notably, there is one of each major type of world found within the system, thus, Gilead Primus is a Hive World, Ostia an Agri World, Enoch a Shrine World, and so on. Each world is given a couple of adventure hooks as well. Lastly, there is a discussion of the Warrant of Trade that Jakel Varonius holds as a Rogue Trader, before ‘The Varonius Flotilla’ presents six further adventures that will take the Agents back and forth across the Gilead System. In terms of play, these are relatively, offering a single session each unless the Game Master wants to flesh them out further. In comparison, ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ will probably take tow to three sessions to play through.

One issue in terms of play between ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ and six extra scenarios is that the Agents are not going to improve or learn from their experience. To do that, the Game Master will need access to the core rulebook for Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory. That said, a starter set is typically not designed to facilitate that aspect of play, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set being no different here, and of course, the Game Master can adjudicate the rewards as necessary if her players want to continue playing beyond the confines of the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set.

Another issue is the player count required for the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set. There are six Player Characters or Agents, but ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ requires a minimum of five players. It can be played with four players, but one of the other Agents becomes a communal NPC. It is a high demand, and perhaps it could have been written with the lower player count in mind and allowed for an adjustment in terms of more rather than fewer players.

In terms of setting, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set draws the Game Master, her players, and their Agents in a couple of steps. First, ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ gives an immediate experience of the milieu and sets them to explore the setting of the Gilead System detailed in ‘The Varonius Flotilla’. Together, the two books do the same for the wider setting of the Gilead System detailed in Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory. However, there is a third thing that it should do as well, and that is follow in the footsteps of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set which is supported by its own series of scenario anthologies, beginning with Ubersreik Adventures: Six Grim and Perilous Scenarios in the Duchy of Ubersreik. That enables the Game Master and her players to continue playing with the same Player Characters and in the same setting.

Much like the earlier Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set is not a good introduction to roleplaying and nor is it designed to be. It just does not start from the first principles to do that, but that is fine, because as an introduction to Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, it does a very good job and does so in an attractive package. Similarly, the rules presented have been stripped down from the core rulebook, but there is more than enough to play through the contents in the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set. If the Game Master and her players have access to the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory core rules, it would be possible for the players to create their own Agents and play through the scenarios included here, but unless they adhere to the archetypes given in the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set, some of the nuances of the pre-generated Agents and their ties to the Gilead System and the events of the scenario in ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ may be lost.
Physically, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set is a handsome boxed set. Everything inside is of good quality—the gatefold character sheets are particularly well done—and vibrantly illustrated. It does, unfortunately, need an edit in places.

Overall, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set is an impressive introduction to the setting of the Gilead System and Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, its playthrough preparing the Game Master and her players for wider adventures. For anyone wanting to roleplay the action, horror, and intrigue of the 41st Millenium, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set is the perfect place to make that stand against corruption, chaos, and Chaos!

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

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What is it?Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon is a supplement for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which details an insula or city block with the ruins of the Big Rubble in Prax. It includes a complete description of an atypical city block in the Old City and an example city block, the eponymous ‘Insula of the Waning Moon’, plus four scenarios.

It is a ninety-four page, full colour hardback.

The layout is tidy and it is decently illustrated and comes with extensive floorplans. The Greek style illustrations are nice touch.
The PDF includes floorplans which can be used with miniatures.
It needs an edit.
Where is it set?Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon is set in the ruins of Big Rubble in Prax. It is set after the liberation of Pavis by Argrath.
Who do you play?
Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon does not require any specific character type.
What do you need?
Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary.

The Big Rubble: The Deadly City will also be useful.
It is a suitable addition to New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever and the rest of The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion series with some adjustment.

What do you get?Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon draws upon archaeological plans to present a type of building block found across the old city of Pavis and the Big Rubble, which can be found in various states of repair across the ruin. This is a large, square city block complete with businesses and residences. In the case of the Insula of the Waning Moon, these consist of food sellers, an oil seller, stables and a carter, and an inn, plus residences and a sunken garden. These are mapped out in some detail with a series of large, easy-to-read floor plans measured in one Mostal (or metre) squares.
The insulae were standard designs across the whole of Lord Pavis’ city and details the history and general features of the design, the history of their ownership and how that changed from being municipal to hereditary, and how the design changed as the city’s fortunes declined. Thus, they can be in various states of repair, from simple walls to fortified strongholds in various locations throughout the Big Rubble. This is a possible subject for expansion and a table of ideas as to what might be found in insulae across the various building phases their design would have been useful.
The supplement also address the change in attitudes to adventuring in the Big Rubble with the liberation of Pavis. Where the Lunar administration encouraged adventuring, now it is seen as looting the city’s cultural identity. There is also the push to clear and resettle parts of the Big Rubble. This presents other opportunities for work, though, and building materials from the insulae are still worth salvaging. In addition, a group of Player Characters could actually settle in the Big Rubble, finding an insula that they can occupy and fortify. This is not without its risks as their presence will attract the attention of predators—both human and non-human—from the surrounding area.
There are four adventures in Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon. The first two short, one-session affairs and both involve vermin and both involve the Player Characters simply walking past the insula. In ‘Thirsty Work, the Player Characters come to the aid of a family living the ruins which is using the well in the Insula of the Waning Moon as its source of water, but it has dried up. There is not much to reward the Player Characters if they help, except the gratitude of the family and the knowledge that they have rid the Big Rubble of one more Chaos beast. The second scenario, ‘Lucky Snake Ball’, begins when the Player Characters see snakes slithering across their path and into the insula. Inside they discover a ball of writhing, fighting snakes. Dealing with the odd phenomenon reveals a second problem, one very common to the Big Rubble. It should also expose the cause of the ‘snake ball’, which a rather neat little magical item.
The third scenario, ‘No Good Deed’, is the longest and most heavily plotted of the four, as well as the most traditional. The head of one of the Pavis Survivors clans employs the Player Characters to find his daughter who he thinks has run off to become a Lunar convert after she saw the good work that their missionaries were doing in the Big Rubble. Which is made all the more difficult because the Lunars have fled Pavis. The Player Characters will need to deal with some of the poorer inhabitants of Pavis that live in the ruins and who are very wary of strangers. Eventually, they can track her down to the Insula of the Waning Moon, where she is not living with Lunar missionaries, but has been captured by a gang looking to hold her to ransom. The gang is on the make, so seasoned adventurers will not find its members to be two much of threat, although they could get lucky, plus they have the benefit of being holed up in the insula. How the Player Characters deal with the problem is left up to them, obvious solutions such as paying the ransom or mounting a rescue are described in detail.
The fourth scenario is more of a set-up than an adventure. In ‘First Rule of Fight Club’, the Player Characters are hired to escort a party overnight out into the Big Rubble to a ruined insula. As the title suggests, a fight club is being run. Not though, with the Player Characters, but with slaves. How the Player Characters deal with this is left up to them, although a rescue attempt would be very dangerous. They could take the money or they could devise a solution, it all depends on how they feel about the moral dilemma presented to them.
All four scenarios take place in then Insula of the Waning Moon. This, though, is not all at the same time and the only factor linking the four scenarios is the city block itself. So, they do not form a campaign. Instead, the insula is somewhere that the Player Characters might pass again and again and nothing happen, but very occasionally it does or they have reason to go there. This makes Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon easy to drop into an ongoing campaign set in Pavis and the Big Rubble.
Where the scenarios could have been improved is in the presentation of the set-up and possible consequences. The set-up for each is written for the player’s benefit rather than the Game Master’s, so it does take a while for the Game Master to actually find out what is going on, and the consequences of the scenarios are also always fully explored, especially, in some cases, the consequences of the Player Characters doing nothing.
Is it worth your time?Yes—Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon is a solid addition to any campaign set in Pavis and the Big Rubble, with a building type that can be easily customised and four scenarios to slot in between the major plots of the campaign.No—Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon is ideally suitable for campaigns with extensive urban and ruined areas, such as Pavis and the Big Rubble, and that is not where my campaign is set.Maybe—Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon because the Lunars and the war against inflicted a lot of damage, so the insula could be relocated to any formerly Lunar-occupied town or city that has city blocks and its scenarios adapted to the new locations.

A line of cars, black, with the Stars & Stripes fluttering from the bonnet. The scene jumps. A cheering crowd, flags in their hands, waving. A band strikes up with anthem that always announces his arrival. Men in black, sunglasses hiding their eyes, but you know they are looking. Are they looking for you? You look up. The man in the suit. Striding. Waving. Grinning to the crowd, but not to you. The scene jumps again. Looking at the man. Looking at where you are, but from far away. It jumps again. Hands move quickly. They know what they are doing. There is something in those hands. Is it a device? A trigger? A rifle? There is bang. Close to you. The scene jumps. There are screams. People are running. You cannot see the man… Oh my god! Is it real? Will it be real? Will you be there? Fortunately, this is a vision, a premonition, it has not happened. Yet. But it might. Someone really wants to assassinate the President of the United States and the someone is the USSR. Nobody is going to believe you though, nobody except your fellow psychics in the program. Certainly not since the head of the program was killed in a car crash—why did nobody see that coming?—and funding from the US government got cut… Now it is just you, armed with your premonitions, which stands between you and the death of the leader of the free world and the consequences that would have.
This is the set-up for Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War, a roleplaying of secret government projects and conspiracies in which the psychically gifted, trained as part of a program to spy on the Soviets, are the only ones who know that the President of the United States’ life is in danger. Except, of course, for those involved in the conspiracy to assassinate him. Published by LunarShadow Designs as part of ZineQuest #3 following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is designed to be played as a one-shot, of the Player Characters responding to the premonition and attempting to prevent it from happening, but it can be played as a longer campaign and it need not be about the assassination of the President. There are plenty of pinch points throughout the Cold War, from the Hungarian Uprising and the Bay of Pigs to the Moon landings and the stationing of Pershing missiles in Germany, which serve as inspiration for Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War.

However, given its subject matter, what inspires Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War is not the obvious cinema and television of the period. So instead of dark psychological thrillers or the constant dread of all too many of those who lived through the era, it takes its inspirations from lighter fare. The question is, what exactly is that inspiration? If not The Manchurian Candidate or The Parallax View, or similar films and television series, the most obvious inspirations, what then? These after all, are not only great cinema, but also great inspiration in terms of tone and atmosphere. Unfortunately, Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War does not include a bibliography and that is a serious failing. So why not dark psychological thrillers or the constant dread? The simple answer is Safety Tools. This is not a criticism of Safety Tools in general. They deserve a place in the roleplaying hobby and they deserve a place in Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War since it is set in the past when negative social attitudes were rife. Yet to ignore the inspirations for its inspiration means that Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War is really doing a disservice to its audience. It should not only have included them, it should have included them as an option and allowed the Game Master and her players to make that choice given the genre of Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War.

A Player Character in Project Cassandra has an Identity, a Background, ten Skills, several Knowledges or areas in which he is an expert, and a single, unique psychic power. The Skills are divided between three categories: Mental, Physical, and Specialist. The Skills can be anything that a player likes, but the Mental and Physical, skills are broad, whereas the Specialist skills are fairly narrow. To create a character, a player assigns a Rank value of one to one of the three categories, and a Rank value of two to the remaining pair. The player assigns four Skills to one category and three skills to each of the other two. The Player Character starts with a single Knowledge. It has no numerical value, but is used once per session to introduce a fact or truth related to the Knowledge into the game.

Identity: Maureen Herslag
Background: Housewife
Premonitions: 14
Mental – 2: Intimidation, Haggle, Chutzpah, Being Nosy
Physical – 2: Cleaning, Look Anonymous, Dodge, Athletics
Specialist – 1: Pistols, Self Defence,
Knowledge: Cookery
Power: Yesterday

Project Cassandra uses what it calls the Precognition Engine. To undertake an action, a player must roll six six-sided dice and obtain as many successes as he can. Each roll equal to or under the value of the skill counts as a success. The difficulty and the number of successes that a player has to roll varies between one and seven, the latter being almost impossible. Successes can also be spent to overcome a challenge, such as picking a lock or punching out a senator’s aide/Communist sympathiser, representing both the amount of effort it takes and the amount of time it takes. It might be done in a single action, or it might take several. A failed roll will result in a Player Character suffering a consequence, typically a narrative consequence, but it can also be a condition, such Paranoid or Bloodied. A player can choose to suffer a Condition in order to gain an extra success, meaning that it has come at some cost. A Condition can increase the difficulty or it can make a Player Character’s Premonitions more difficult to use.

A Player Character starts play with fourteen Premonitions. These represent his ability to see the immediate future and can be used to reroll any dice that did not roll successes. They recover slowly, at a rate of one Premonition per night of rest. A Player Character’s tenth and fifth Premonition is special. It grants the Player Character a more detailed vision of the future, specifically about the next scene. A Premonition is also used to activate a Player Character’s power. Most people will be unaware of psychic powers, but some are Nulls, who have no psychic footprint and who can negate a Player Character’s power if it is used directly on them. The conspiracy does employ Null agents as well as psychic agents.

The set-up to Project Cassandra is intended to be fairly freeform. It begins with the players and the Game Master building a conspiracy. Together they create an Opening Vision and answer some Conspiracy Questions. This should set the era, the nature of the conspiracy, and so on. Typically, this will involve the assassination of the President. For example, ‘How will the President be killed?’, ‘Where will the attack take place?’, and ‘Why will the world believe you are responsible?’. Project Cassandra incudes some sample questions, an example of play, and good advice for the Game Master on running the game and what Safety Tools to use. There are notes too on running longer term conspiracies—longer than four sessions—but they are fairly brief.

Besides five ready-to-play Player Characters, Project Cassandra includes two Mission Profiles, also ready to play. The Opening Vision of ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ sees President Kennedy assassinated in Berlin in June 1963, and starts with a bang for the Player Characters, whilst ‘The Dark of the Moon’ is pulpier in tone, asking the Player Characters to confront what hidden secrets Apollo 12 brought back from the Moon. Both come complete with questions to set the stakes and details of the conspiracy.

Physically, Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War is generally well presented and nicely illustrated. However, it could have been much better organised and it takes a while to work out quite what is going on. Once done, the roleplaying game is easy to grasp. The other aspect of the roleplaying game which could have been made clear on the cover is the fact that it is a storytelling game.

Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War is in need of a bibliography and really some general background about the period, because not everyone is going to be familiar with it. However, for those that are, Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War does have an enticing set-up. That though is far as it goes, for Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War is storytelling game, and the uncovering of the conspiracy and the prevention of it coming to fruition as well as the set-up depends on both players and Game Master working together. For the most part, Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War is best suited for a group which has some experience with storytelling roleplaying games and some understanding of the period.

The land of Norway is one of mountain ranges and fjords, and according to legend, one of the mountain ranges is not at a mountain range at all! Instead, it is the body of a Jötunn, Hrungnir, who has been lying sleeping ever since he was killed and thrown out of Ásgard for being a very bad guest and threatening his hosts, whereupon his body turned to stone and formed the mountains! In the many centuries since, Norway has since changed, not least of which was the widespread adoption of Christianity and abandonment of the Old Ways. Not every Norwegian has abandoned the Old Ways though, and there is a cult whose members believe that they can be restored. The cult believes that when Hrungnir was killed by Thor, his mighty hammer, Mjonir, knocked a piece of the giant’s heart free that also fell to Earth. If the Heart of Hrungnir is restored to the mountains where the Jötunn is said to have fallen, the cult believes that a great gift will be bestowed upon the people of Norway. Only recently has the cult found the Heart of Hrungnir once again, in the possession of John Ostergaard, a London merchant, as part of his Cabinet of Curiosities. However, as the cult begins to make threats against him, John Ostergaard discovers that the object of the cult’s attention has been stolen!

This is the set-up for A Gift for all of Norway, a scenario for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The Player Characters are hired by John Ostergaard—perhaps at the recommendation of The Magnificent Joop van Ooms—to recover the Heart of Hrungnir. He is a hard, but fair bargainer, and will tell the Player Characters that he believes a recent acquaintance, Francois Arquette, stole it and is taking it to Norway. The Player Characters, of course, will follow in its stead.

A Gift for all of Norway really begins with the Player Characters standing before a cavern entrance on Hrungnir’s Peak. Once they enter, what they discover is a series of caverns, initially connected by a single, often convoluted tunnel. In places, the tunnel walls want to open and digest the Player Characters, oozes float around waiting for the opportunity to attach themselves to intruders, and there are signs too, of others already having passed through the caverns. The long tunnel connects to a bat-infested cave and another lined with sticky vines. The dungeon is actually quite long, but consists of a very few locations. In fact, bar confrontations the strange creatures to found within the caverns and the tunnel connecting, and perhaps cultists dedicated to restoring the Heart of Hrungnir to its rightful place, proceeding through the dungeon is very quick and the Player Characters could be in and out within an hour or two’s worth of actual game play with the Heart of Hrungnir in hand… Except…

Well, there is an ‘except’ here, and it is very much a big ‘except’ and a very small ‘except’. It also hinges on the fact that the legends are true, that Hrungnir’s body really did fall to the Earth and form a mountain, and that part of his heart is missing. What this means is that the tunnel and caverns the Player Characters are travelling through is his partly ossified alimentary canal. Now adventures in which Player Characters penetrate and explore the body of some gigantic beast or even a god, are a known design choice such that they have become almost a cliché in their own right. In general, the Player Characters find a way in via the mouth or nose or ears, but not through the anus. A Gift for all of Norway is, of course, written for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, so using the rear entrance was a given.

Anyway, the Player Characters will find the Heart of Hrungnir very quickly. Then they have a choice. Go home, return the Heart of Hrungnir to its ‘rightful’ owner, and take the money, or give it to the cultists or perhaps explore further and see if there is any truth to the cultists’ belief that a great gift will be bestowed upon the people of Norway if the Heart of Hrungnir is also restored to its ‘rightful’ owner. What that gift is, is left up to the Game Master to decide, but the inference is that whatever it is, might have been good for Norway during the age of the gods, but in modern day, Christian, Norway? Not a chance… Thus, taking the money is the good choice, whilst being overly curious is the wrong one. Which all begs the question, is that it?

Yes.

Physically, A Gift for all of Norway is well done. It is well written, the descriptions are good, the artwork fine, and the maps excellent.

A Gift for all of Norway combines a number of elements common to Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying. One is the consequences for the Player Characters if they are too curious. The other is a big, stompy threat that will probably unleash hell upon the surrounding countryside, and in most cases those scenarios have been a combination of entertaining, clever, and amusing. Unfortunately, A Gift for all of Norway is none of those. It is not that the scenario is bad per se, and it is certainly not a case of the scenario being presented badly, but rather that A Gift for all of Norway is not really sufficiently interesting or atmospheric to entice the Game Master to want to run it. At best A Gift for all of Norway is a sidequest that could have severe consequences for Norway and the Game Master’s campaign, but if it does not, the effect is underwhelming.
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DISCLAIMER: The author of this review is an editor who has edited titles for Lamentations of the Flame Princess on a freelance basis. He was not involved in the production of this book and his connection to both publisher and thus the author has no bearing on the resulting review.

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

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

Senet Issue 9 was published in the winter of 2022. As an issue, it does something different. This is to spread its wings away from its usual subject, that is, board games, into roleplaying—though only a little! This is in the issue’s interviews with designers and publishers who have both had a big influence on the games hobby and industry, one more recently, one over the course of decades. Never fear though, for outside of these articles, Senet Issue 9 is very much a board games magazine. This does not stop the editor highlighting one of the issue’s interviews in his editorial, which is perfectly reasonable, since it is with a designer and publisher who is a very big name in both the board game and the roleplaying hobbies—and other hobbies—here in the United Kingdom.

‘Behold’ is the regular preview of some of the then-forthcoming board game titles. As expected, ‘Behold’ showcases its previewed titles to intriguing effect, a combination of simple write-ups with artwork and depictions of the board games. Notable titles previewed include Pandasaurus Games’ The Fox Experiment, co-designed by Elizabeth Hargrave of Wingspan fame, which is a ‘roll-and-write’ design about the Belyaev-Trut experiment into fox domestication, in which the players attempt to draft friendly foxes and use them to breed even friendlier foxes, whilst Moon, the third and final part in a trilogy of card-drafting games from Sinister Fish Games which began with Villagers, takes the series off planet to colonise the Moon as well as increase the player interaction with this style of game.

‘Points’, the regular column of readers’ letters is only as thematic as to be all from readers praising the magazine, so is a whole lot less interesting than in previous issues. ‘For Love of the Game’, continues the journey of the designer Tristian Hall towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth. In this entry in the series, he addresses the issue of  acknowledging your inspirations when it comes to your game, both in terms of other game designs and other sources. He cites Donald X. Vaccarino being inspired by the deck-building aspect of Magic: The Gathering for his Spiel des Jahres award-winning Dominion, but actually lists other sources for his inspiration for his own Gloom of Kilforth, such as the Fighting Fantasy books, Dungeons & Dragons, and J.R.R. Tolkien, so although this represents another nod to roleplaying in the issue, it does feel one-sided.

Senet follows a standard format of articles and article types and Senet Issue 9 is no exception. One explores a theme found in board games, its history, and the games that showcase it to best effect, whilst another looks at a particular mechanic. In addition, there are two interviews, one with a designer, the other with an artist. The particular mechanic in the issue is the engine-building game. In ‘Rise of the Machine’, Alexandra Sonechkina examines the history and state of the mechanic, starting by making an interesting suggestion that Monopoly, a fairly poorly regarded game, is actually an engine-building game—although not one in the modern sense. That, though, is really as far as the history goes in the article, as it looks what makes a good engine-building game. The article is an interesting look at what the mechanic can do, but it could have benefited from boxed sections highlighting particular designs and used them to track some of the mechanic’s development to give more context. Although interesting, the article does not feel complete.

The theme article in the issue is pirates! Matt Thrower’s ‘Pirates on Board’ is a far thorough look at the history of its subject, whose more recent surge in popularity as a theme can be traced back to 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean, and before that with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Along the way, it notes the historical nature of the subject means that it has long been a popular subject for wargames, such as Wooden Ships & Iron Men and Blackbeard, both from Avalon Hill, but the fantasy element of pirates means that it is seen as a suitable subject for lighter board game designs too. Examples include Cartagena and Pirate’s Cove, yet as the hobby has matured, there has been an acknowledgement the fantasy of pirates does not always equate to the actual history, since they are both villainous and violent, though less so with other board game themes and history. Thus pirate-themed board games tend to romanticise the history and make it palatable for a wider audience. It does, though, come up to date with a look at the issue of actual piracy and counterfeiting in the board gaming industry, but does not come to any more conclusion than that it is an ongoing issue. ‘Pirates on Board’ is an entertaining piece that nicely continues the magazine’s thread of examining the themes common to modern and not so modern board games.

The much-heralded highlight of the issue is ‘The Games Master’. This is the first of the two interviews in the issue, and is with Sir Ian Livingstone, co-founder of Games Workshop and co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy series, as well as designer of board games like Judge Dredd: The Game of Crime-Fighting in Mega-City One. The lengthy interview, which starts with Livingstone’s first experiences with board games and takes the reader through the founding of Games Workshop, the games he designed, the creation of the Fighting Fantasy series—the primary roleplaying focus in the interview, and beyond to what he plays today. It is a good, solid interview, interesting and informative, liberally illustrated, though more so if you have not read other interviews with Livingstone. The interview is, of course, timed ahead of the release of Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop, which expands upon the various subjects explored in the piece and more.

The second interview in Senet Issue 9 is with Johan Nohr, the co-creator and illustrator of Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone, and its Cyberpunk counterpart, CY_BORG. As with previous issues of the magazine, this does a very nice job of showcasing his artwork, although it is not necessarily a style that would be seen in board game design.

‘Unboxed’, Senet’s reviews section actually includes a review of Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG, so continuing the issue’s flirtation with roleplaying games, although solo journalling games are typically the magazine’s only flirtation with roleplaying games. Otherwise, a wide range of games is reviewed, from family titles such as Dodo and its egg-rolling down a mountain mechanic to big, brutal storytelling designs such as Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood. The latter is the issue’s game of choice, but there are a surprising number of disappointments reviewed too, like Rear Window and Cellulose: A Plant Cell Biology Game. In between, there is a good mix of interesting games reviewed that should drove the reader to go and find out more.

Rounding out Senet Issue 9 are the regular end columns, ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For ‘How to Play’, Mx Tiffany Leigh addresses the issue of ‘Playing with Alphas’, and how the over abundance of advice from an Alpha Player can negate player agency, involvement, and fun, before giving straightforward advice. In fact, the advice might be called too straightforward, even obvious, but this does not make it bad advice. Tom Brewster of Shut Up & Shutdown takes Pax Pamir, a wargame of nineteenth century politics in Afghanistan, off his and ‘Shelf of Shame’ and explains why it is not getting to his table to play more often. Unlike a lot of entries in this series, it is not because it got forgotten or bypassed in favour of other titles, but because it is actually not a game that others want to play because of its complexity and capacity. This highlights an issue with a lot of board games, that of finding the right audience.

Physically, Senet Issue 9 is very professionally presented. It looks and feels as good as previous issues of the magazine.

It has almost become a cliché to state that as with previous issues, Senet Issue 9 offers a good mix of articles, interviews, and reviews, but it does. Yet where the interviews both look great and are very accessible, the articles on the issue’s theme and mechanic are not. This is not to say that they are unreadable, as they are, but they are no longer highlighting particular games appropriate to either theme or mechanic, so unlike in previous issues with these articles, there are no examples to stand out effectively and catch the reader’s attention. The issue also has an odd feel to it because of its emphasis on roleplaying in its two big articles, but this change is refreshing, widening the scope of the magazine, if only a little. It also highlights how a magazine of similar quality devoted to roleplaying could be just as good. Overall, Senet Issue 9 is still good, but just a little bit different—and that is not a bad thing.

In the mile-high tower of the Spire, the Aelfir—the High Elves—enjoy lives of extreme luxury, waited upon by the Destra—the Drow—whom they have subjugated and continue to oppress the criminal revolutionaries that would rise up and overthrow them. In the City Beneath, where heretical churches have found the freedom to worship their forbidden gods and organised crime to operate the drug farms that supply the needs of the Spire above, the Aelfir find themselves free of conformity, the Destra free of repression. They are joined by Gnolls and Humans. Some simply live free of the stifling Aelfir control, whether by means lawful or unlawful, others are driven to beyond the Undercity, delving ever deeper into the bowels of the world in search of the fabled Heart, or perhaps their heart’s desire. Yet even life in the City Beneath is enough for some. Together with like-minded folk, they seek out refuges away from both the oppression and the conformity of the Spire and the chaos of the City Beneath, where their shared values and ideals can build a community of their own. There is hope in this effort, but ultimately horror, for there are dangers down there that have been hinted at in rumours, and when written about, dismissed as the mitherings of a cheap hack!

Sanctum is a supplement for Heart: The City Beneath, the roleplaying game that explores the horror, tragedies, and consequences of delving too deep into dungeons, published by Rowan, Rook, and Decard Ltd. In Heart: The City Beneath, the Player Characters are concerned with what lies beneath, delving ever deeper below the City Beneath, closer to the Heart, exploring a wild frontier and a desire to know what is out there, if that is, the wild frontier is the equivalent of a mega-dungeon and the desire to know what is out there, is the yearning to know what calls to you far below. What Sanctum does is take that idea of the frontier and shift it from being somewhere to explore to somewhere to settle, but again if that frontier is the equivalent of a mega-dungeon. And then, have the Haven and its inhabitants face threats from without, threats that come to them, rather than the Player Characters going out on long Delves and facing threats along the way as they would normally in Heart: The City Beneath.

A campaign revolving around a Haven begins with its creation. This is a collaborative process between the players and the Game Master. Together they decide on its Domains, Tier, its unique feature, its Art, the Faces within the Haven, the Role that each Player Character will undertake as inhabitants of the Haven, what Threats it faces, and ultimately, what Ultimate Questions remain to be answered through play… Domains represent experience of an environment or a knowledge of some kind and consist of Cursed, Desolate, Occult, Religion, Technology, Warren, and Wild. The Haven will have one or two of these in addition to the Haven Domain. The Tier indicates how close the Haven lies to the Heart, the closer it is, the weirder the surrounding terrain. Most Havens are found on the upper Tiers, but they are sometimes found between Tiers, as well as possibly being mobile or found in extra-dimensional fractures. The Haven will also have something unique about it that makes it stand out and also be the reason why people visit the Haven or even why the Haven is threatened. The Faces within the Haven are its primary NPCs, primarily presenting those who support the status quo, who wants to shake things up, and who represent the bulk of the populace. These need not be NPCs, as Player Characters can fulfil their positions within the set-up, but their primary role is to establish tension within the Haven. The Art can be art, or it can be craftwork or entertainment, that represents the Haven and adds to its uniqueness. The Roles are functions that the Player Characters and their Classes perform in the Haven, whilst Threats—tied into one or more of the Haven’s Domains—are the dangers that the Haven faces. Penultimately, a Haven requires a name, and lastly, the players define what they want to discover during play, the questions which remain unanswered.

The creation process is simple and straightforward, and it is supported by suggestions and ideas throughout and then a fully worked out example, that is essentially, ready to play. Altogether, this is a very well written process and engagingly encouraging.

Mechanically, a Sanctum campaign differs from a Heart: The City Below campaign only slightly. The Haunts, locations where a Player Character can obtain healing and resupply in exchange for resources, to remove Stress or downgrade Fallout are moved within the Haven and so flesh out the Haven. Not all of the Player Characters’ Haunts need be placed within the Haven, and like Resources, can be located outside of it, thus presenting a motive for the Player Characters to leave their Haven, conduct a mission, and return. This is how a Sanctum campaign is intended to be played. Not just to go to remote Haunts or the sites of Resources, but also to go to deal with threats and actually Delve down to Landmarks (probably more than once) as in the standard play of Heart: The City Beneath. Landmarks also need to be added to the surrounding terrain as part of the creation process, but this is a task for the Game Master rather than the Game Master and her players. In the long term, there is guidance too for how Fallout, the consequences of Stress suffered by the Player Characters, can affect the Haven itself. Again, there are numerous examples. One last option given for a Haven is for it to have its own story beats, such as repelling attackers who after the valuable resources held within the Haven or creating communal art which enhances the Haven and its sense of community. These provide objectives for the Player Characters and reward them by enabling them to remove stress which they have shifted onto their bonds in earlier play. These range from simply being in danger and being infiltrated to the Haven having fallen and no longer being habitable and someone that the Player Characters care about being killed.

Penultimately, Sanctum presents the Game Master with a set of major threats to any Haven—Angels. These are emissaries of the Heart itself, so they can also appear in a standard campaign of Heart: The City Beneath as well. Encountering them though is rare, and they are usually only spoken of as myth and rumour. Sanctum introduces four new Angels in addition to the one in the core rulebook. These are protoplasmic, bone-clawed ink-blackness of the Blossom Angel, the chitin-armoured Cacophony Angel whose approach is heralded by the razor-sharp songs from its dozen mouths, the lurker in the cupboard that almost does not want to be known that is the Locos Angel, and the one that walks amongst us in the skin of another whispering dissent, the Penumbra Angel. These are major threats, dangers that ultimately cannot be destroyed, only temporarily defeated.

Lastly, Sanctum includes a selection of equipment and items that the Player Characters cannot purchase, but might be able to find. These all belong—or belonged—to Gris Hanneman, a pulp fiction author in the world of Spire: The City Above and Heart: The City Beneath, who fled into the City Beneath after his novel sales dried up and went looking for inspiration. In the resulting book, Beyond the Edge of Madness: A Year in the City Beneath, Hanneman claims he spent time in various Havens and encountered and discovered new Angels. Excerpts from the book pepper the supplement, providing an in-game commentary on Heart: The City Beneath and on the new Angels described in Sanctum. In fact, they are the only descriptions given of them besides the raw stats. The fiction adds plenty of flavour as well as a more nuanced view of the setting. The items to be found that once belonged to Hanneman include ‘The Pistol that Cris Pulled from a Corpse’s Hands in Redcap Grove’, (anti) ‘Angel Bullets’, and ‘Gris Hanneman’s Fingers, Conspicuously Missing From His Hand When He was last Seen’. Using his gear nicely brings Cris Hanneman into the world even though he is dead!

Physically, Sanctum is a slim, very well-presented book. The artwork is excellent and the book is easy to read and understand.

Sanctum presents a different campaign focus and set-up for Heart: The City Beneath, but whereas Vermissian Black Ops takes the Player Characters back into the Spire above, Sanctum is firmly set in Heart: The City Beneath, or rather, below the Heart: The City Beneath. However, rather than follow the transience of a campaign involving a series of ever longer Delves as in Heart: The City Beneath, what Sanctum does is shift play to a campaign where permeance and survival of community and family comes to the fore. This is no less dramatic than the delving of Heart: The City Beneath, only that the stories are different.

Quick-starts are means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps too. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she can still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

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What is it?Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart introduces the sequel to Coriolis: The Third Horizon, the Middle East-influenced Science Fiction roleplaying game published by Free League Publishing. It is a roleplaying game inspired by 19th-century expeditions, deep-sea diving, and pulp archaeology in which Explorers delve into ruins in search of secrets, resources, and answers on the edge of civilisation.

It is an eighty-eight page, full colour book.

The quick-start is extensively illustrated, the artwork is superb, capturing the majesty and mystery of the setting.

How long will it take to play?
Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart can be played through in a single session, or two sessions at most.

What else do you need to play?
Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart requires multiple six-sided dice in two colours.

Cards numbered from one to ten are also required. These can be taken from a standard deck of playing cards as necessary.

Where is it set?
Coriolis: The Great Dark is set far beyond the Third Horizon of Coriolis: The Third Horizon. A Diaspora fled the war growing there, looking for a haven and following a faint signal emanating from the depths of space. The signal was lost in a system the Diaspora called Jumuah, where unable to proceed further, it was forced to adapt and settle in massive, hollowed out asteroid called ‘The Ship City of Coriolis the Eternal and Jumuah the First and Last’, or Ship City. Although the Portal that should lead out of the system is dead, the Slipstream known as the ‘River of the Stars’ has enabled the Explorers Guild to send Greatships out into the unknown where mysterious ruins have been discovered in other systems.

Expeditions into the ruins require careful planning and resources which must be carried by the explorers or carefully placed at staging camps. Chthonian in size and nature, they are often protected by ancient defence systems and creative construction to hinder intruders. These, though, are not the primary danger that explorers face in delving into ruins. The primary danger is Blight, a plague that corrupts both structures and biology, that can kill and destroy, but also leave its sufferers with strange visions. One way to mitigate the effects of Blight is to be accompanied by a Bird, an automaton of unknown origins capable of detecting and withstanding its effects and protecting the explorers.

Who do you play?
There are four ready-to-play Player Characters given in Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart. They consist of a Wreck Diver, experienced in delving into ruins, a Guild Soldier capable with blade and bullet, a Vacuum Welder, good at fixing things as well as blowing them up, and an Algebraist Apprentice, a failed scholar. They are accompanied by their Bird, a constant companion on their delves, capable of scouting the ruins and detecting Blight.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has six attributes—Strength, Agility, Logic, Perception, Insight, and Empathy—and three stats—Health, Hope, and Heart—which measure how much trauma he can suffer before he is broken. He also has several Talents which either provide a single benefit or between one and three bonus dice to particular actions. For example, ‘Bird Handler’ enables a Player Character to talk to Birds and grants a bonus die when attempting to extract information from a Bird whilst ‘Sixth Sense’ prevents a Player Character from being surprised. A Player Character also has a quirk and keepsake, the latter which can give him hope.

Collectively, all of the Player Characters share Supply. This is a combination of air, food, water, and power, tracked over the course of an expedition. It is used one Supply at a time per marker of Depth travelled.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart and thus Coriolis: The Great Dark, uses the Year Zero engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. To have a Player Character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of Base Dice equal to a combination of attribute and applicable Talent, plus Gear Dice. A single roll of a six (or the symbol on the custom dice for Coriolis: The Great Dark) indicates a success. Multiple successes improve the outcome, especially in combat and conflict. If the roll is a failure and no sixes are rolled, or a player wants more successes, he can Push the roll. This enables him to reroll any dice which did not result in a one or six. A roll can be Pushed once and any rolls of one on the Base Dice indicate that the Player Character loses a point of Hope, whilst any rolls of one on the Gear Dice indicate that the item of equipment used is damaged and needs to be repaired. Other Player Characters can help another on a task, each one contributing an extra Base Die to the player making the roll.

How does combat work?
Conflict in Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart uses the same core mechanics. The rules for conflict cover both ranged and close combat, plus social conflict. Reactions, such as blocking or dodging, are counted as actions and so use up a Player Character’s action in a round. Extra Successes in close combat can be used to wrestle an object from an opponent, trip him, or push him away. Ranged combat allows for aimed fire, full auto, cover, and so on. Armour has the potential to protect against damage, requiring a roll and successes to be rolled, to be effective. If a Player Character suffers more damage that reduces his Health to zero, he is Broken and cannot act. Critical damage is inflicted if the number of successes rolled are equal to, or exceed, the ‘Crit Threshold’. A ‘Critical Injuries – Physical Damage’ table is included.

How does Blight work?
Heart is degraded by exposure to the Blight. It is acquired by delving into Blight-infested ruins, from the Blight attacks of certain creatures, and particular locations. When a Player Character’s Heart is reduced to zero by Blight, he has been Broken by Blight and suffers a Blight manifestation. The player must then roll on the ‘Blight Manifestation’ table. This can result in the Player Character being stricken with ‘Shivers’, uncontrollable shivering, sapping his strength and causing him to become Exhausted, or having ‘Nebulous Breath’, in which his breath visibly manifests as a nebulous, swirling mist, suggesting the alien transformation within, forcing everyone nearby to become Shaken if the sufferer is not wearing a helmet, whilst he be Distracted if he does. Typically, these effects last for a few hours, but it can be days or weeks. Unless permanent, a Blight manifestation can be recovered from and Heart also recovered.

How do Delves work?
Each Delve is categorised by Class and Depth, the latter measured as a series of Markers. Class is its estimated difficulty and Depth its size and indication how much Supply is required. During the Delve, Explorers take one of four roles—Delver, Scout, Burrower, and Guard. The Scout is primarily in charge of the Bird who accompany them on the Delve, determining where incidences of Blight are located, whilst a scanner is used to gain an initial map of the ruin. Throughout the Delve, the Explorers will expend Supply for each Marker reached, each combat engaged in, each act of strenuous activity, and after resting. Descending further into a ruin without Supply will inflict damage, Despair, or even Blight on the Explorers.

What do you play?
The adventure in Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart is ‘The Sky Machine’. The Explorers are hired to mount a rescue mission on the asteroid-moon of Moubarra 4 where a group of prospectors went missing in a newly extablished claim. The Explorers are not the only ones on Moubarra 4 with an interest in the outcome of the new rescue mission, though whether their interest lies in the successful rescue mission or in the recovery of any artefacts found in the claim remains to be seen.

‘The Sky Machine’ introduces the players and their characters to a little of the politics of Coriolis: The Great Dark, but in the main focuses on the Delve, which is a linear affair whilst still showcasing the core mechanics of the roleplaying game. There is a genuine sense of ‘diving’ into the unknown, of reaching something mysterious and odd, yet majestic. There are signs here of technology far beyond that of ‘Lost Horizon’ of ‘The Ship City of Coriolis the Eternal and Jumuah the First and Last’. The Player Characters are not expected to understand it, merely recover it and return it to the surface.

The scenario includes six handouts and maps. These are decently done.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in Coriolis: The Great Dark are easy to prepare, especially if the Game Master has any experience with the Year Zero engine. The scenario itself is quite straightforward. However, the background to Coriolis: The Great Dark and its concepts do require some close study in order for the Game Master to impart them to her players. A handout or two towards that end would be useful and easy to prepare by the Game Master.
Is it worth it?
Yes. Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart is an excellent introduction to its setting and its concepts, supporting with a good starting scenario and illustrating them with some excellent artwork that captures the grandeur and loneliness of its setting. Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart has a rough, frontier feel to it coupled with a sense of wonder at the universe above and below.
Where can you get it?
Coriolis: The Great Dark Quickstart is available to download here.

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The Kickstarter campaign for Coriolis: The Great Dark can be found here.

Willow lies far up a river, on the shores of its source, the Lake of Tears, deep within a vast forest. The lake is famed for the weeping willow trees which line its shores, their branches hanging low into the water. Willow once flourished as a settlement where good folk could find refuge from the outside world and its demands, far from the greed and demand of other men. It built up a fishing industry on the lake, the catches being transported down river and in return, grain and other goods being ferried back up. Of late, however, the backwater town has fallen on bad times and the mood of its inhabitants has turned despondent. Ferries have been attacked on the river and trade has stopped. Food supplies are dwindling, not just due to there being ferries delivering goods, but also because something has been eating them. Strange noises echo and emanate from the strange tunnel accessed by a set of steps that stands behind the Blue Brew Inn, though nobody in the town talks about either the noises or the tunnel. This, combined with the mood of the townsfolk is enough to drive any visitor away, staying no more than a single night, and this is what would have happened, were it not for the fact that none of the ferries are running. Whether they stumble into Willow by accident, come to investigate the loss of trade, or perhaps because one of them wants to become an apprentice for the reclusive wizards who live outside of the town, what do the Player Characters do? Do they investigate the attacks on the ferries, look into why the grain is going missing, or go in search of rare plants?’

Willow: A Grim Micro Setting is a mini-sandcrawl, published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, from the same author as The Toxic Wood, The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes, and Woodfal. Although written for the Old School Renaissance, it is not written for any specific retroclone. Similarly, there is no suggestion as to what Level the Player Characters should be to play Willow, but it is likely to be between low and medium Level. That said, there are some incredibly powerful threats lurking out in the woods surrounding Willow that will take more than brute force to defeat. The supplement details a surprisingly small region, focused on the town of Willow, the NPCs within the settlement, various factions that have an interest in its future, and numerous monsters and plants. The advice suggests that Willow be somewhere that the Player Characters find themselves stuck in for a while, perhaps whilst on a longer journey elsewhere. What they find is a dreary place caught under grey skies and constant rain, with many of the town’s inhabitants and those unable to leave wearily suffering their situation, either in silence or complaining to whomever will listen.
Although the various places in and around Willow are described, the emphasis in the book is upon the NPCs and the factions and their relationships with each other. Places within the town include the Blue Brew Inn, run by Troubled Tina, and currently home to a number of stranded guests slowly running out of money as the proprietress is raising her prices due to the growing food scarcity; Haggard Henge, the stone circle outside the town which is said to be cursed and definitely not the containment field for a dragon’s egg; the mill where the grain stores have been stolen from nightly; and the Tree House, where the town’s children gather to discuss what exciting things they might do in the face of their boring lives in the town. Beyond its confines in the surrounding woods stands an ancient, but ruined fortress, in which stands a Dragonwood tree, famed for the suitability of its wood for the use in wand construction; the Wizard Tower, whose occupants live in bibliographic isolation, their only interests being books and alchemy; pack Rat Folk and tribes of Crow Folk warring against each other; and more…

The primary NPCs in the town include its leader, Morose Morgan, a witch-hermit who rarely leaves her island home except for the annual land fertility ceremony, to adjudicate problems and disputes (settling them by gutting a fish and reading its entrails, no less), and to visit the Seaweed Shrine behind the Blue Brew Inn; the River Ranger, an incredibly lazy man who has been appointed by a council of druids to protect the river; several merchants and smugglers stranded in Willow; and Sania, the daughter of one of the river merchants who unlike the rest of the townsfolk, always has a positive outlook and hatching some exciting scheme or plot to add some excitement to her life. All of these NPCs are given decent descriptions accompanied by handy bullet points of what each wants and what they might be doing at any one moment. Their connections and relationships are neatly plotted between the main NPCs in the town, between Troubled Tina and her guests at the Blue Brew Inn, and moving out to summarise those between Willow and the various factions outside of the town, and then between those factions. All together this builds a network of connections that the Player Characters can follow, pick apart, or strengthen through their actions.

The major adventure site in Willow is the Seaweed Shrine, the dungeon behind the Blue Brew Inn. Its entrance is obvious, but only Morose Morgan is allowed to enter. However, that will not bother some of the adventuresome inhabitants of the town as events in Willow play out. It is relatively short, but a tough adventure, especially in its final few rooms. The dungeon lies below the Lake of Tears and was once the home of a tribe of Aquatic Elves, forced to turn to dark magic to keep themselves from truly dying when they were struck down by a fatal sickness. Now they only exist in a half state, repeating actions from their former lives in desperation… The dungeon is clearly mapped, with locations of important items and wandering monster routes marked, and it is nicely thematic, strewn with coral and seaweed, and even seaweed-based monsters. One issue perhaps is that the Player Character actions can lead to the dungeon being flooded, thus preventing their eventual exploration, which may become necessary if some of the NPCs decide to explore it.

Beyond the confines of the town, various locations and factions are detailed. These include the book-obsessed wizards in their tower, the Crow Folk distrusted by the townsfolk, but at war with the Rat Folk whom nobody in the town knows about. Several packs of these lurk in tunnels beneath the forest. Lurking out in the forest is its corrupted guardian, spreading the poison of an ancient artefact. Several monsters are included, including the Ashen Dryad, which the guardian uses to spread its foulness throughout the forest.

Willow is primarily a player-driven adventure, alongside the descriptions and details are tables that enable the Game Master to respond to their actions. The biggest is the ‘Willow Town Cause and Effect List’, which lists how the townsfolk will respond to the Player Characters’ actions. Many of these will actually result in the townsfolk exiling the Player Characters, so they have to be careful about their actions. This is not the only ‘Cause and Effect List’, there is one each for the Crow Folk and the Rat Folk, but the other big table is the ‘Timeline of Possible Events’. These start off fairly mundane, but grow increasingly ominous and dangerous as time goes on. There is time here for the Player Characters to deal with everything, but they will need to be careful about their timekeeping and they do need to be lucky in finding some of the items that will help them.

Physically, Willow is a fairly busy book, but everything is neatly organised and for the most part, easy to use when the Game Master needs it. The artwork is excellent and so is the writing. Although it does have an introduction, it does not explain what is fully going on until a fair way into the scenario. It does need an edit in places and the author is not clear whether Willow is a town or village.

Willow feels far more constrained and much tighter than the other scenarios from the author. Consequently, it is both easier to place in a Game Master’s campaign, but it still needs a little pulling apart by the Game Master to understand how it works. Some advice on running it would not have been amiss, especially when it comes to defeating the more dangerous threats to the town and a possible suggestion as to possible Player Character Level would have helped too. Even an overview might have been useful. Willow also feels divided between small problems and big threats with nothing really in between and the means to deal with the big threats hidden away with no hint as to their existence, which contributes to the feeling that the Player Characters are often going to have no idea quite what to do or where to go. Consequently, Willow is underwhelming in terms of how it handles the big plots and threats. On the other hand, it really shines in terms of the NPCs and the factions and the connections and relationships between them. If perhaps the Game Master can seed the NPCs with more information that the Player Characters can then learn and decide how they want to use, then there is the potential to overcome the issues in terms of plot between the big threats and the small problems. Ultimately, Willow: A Grim Micro Setting is a toolkit which gives the Game Master everything she needs to run the setting and bring it alive, but she will need to work a bit harder to engage the players and their characters with its bigger plots.

The very latest entry in the Ticket to Ride franchise is Ticket to Ride: Paris. Like those other Ticket to Ride games, it is another card-drawing, route-claiming board game based around transport links and like those other Ticket to Ride games, it uses the same mechanics. Thus the players will draw Transportation cards and then use them to claim Routes and by claiming Routes, link the two locations marked on Destination Tickets, the aim being to gain as many points as possible by claiming Routes and completing Destination Tickets, whilst avoiding losing by failing to complete Destination Tickets. Yet rather than being another big box game like the original Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride: Europe, or Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries, it takes its cue from Ticket to Ride: New York, Ticket to Ride: London, Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam, Ticket to Ride: San Francisco, and Ticket to Ride: Berlin. Part of the ‘City’ series for Ticket to Ride, it is thus a smaller game designed for fewer players with a shorter playing time, a game based around a city rather than a country or a continent. The entries in the series are also notably different in terms of theme and period.
Published by Days of Wonder and designed for play by two to four players, aged eight and up, Ticket to Ride: Paris is easy to learn, can be played out of the box in five minutes, and played through in less than twenty minutes. As with the other entries in the Ticket to Ride ‘City’ series, Ticket to Ride: Paris sees the players race across the city attempting to connect its various tourist hotspots. All of entries in the ‘City’ series are both set in their respective period times and have a theme representative of their city. Thus, Ticket to Ride: New York had the players racing across Manhattan in the nineteen fifties via taxis; Ticket to Ride: London had the players racing across London in the nineteen sixties aboard the classic double-decker buses; Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam took the series back to the seventeenth century and had the players fulfilling Contracts by delivering goods across the Dutch port by horse and cart and claiming Merchandise Bonus if they take the right route; Ticket to Ride: San Francisco continued the lack of trains in the series by having the players travel around ‘The City by the Bay’ aboard its icon form of transportation—the cable car and in Ticket to Ride: Berlin, the series goes across the ‘Grey City’, either by the trams that crisscross the city or the underground which encircles it—or both! And all in the nineteen sixties. Ticket to Ride: Paris takes the players back to the ‘City of Lights’ during the Roaring Twenties, along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées after a visit to Le Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile and the Tour Eiffel—and they can find the Tricolour, they will be able to celebrate Fête nationale française, or Bastille Day.
Inside the small box can be found a small rectangular board which depicts the centre of Paris, from Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile and the Tour Eiffel in the west, and from Montmartre in the north to Montparnasse in the south.In between are numerous routes, none of them, notably, longer than three sections long. This means that a player will score no more than four points per route claimed. The scoring track, from zero to forty-nine, runs around the edge of the board and overall, the board has an art deco feel to it. Besides the board map, the box contains sixty Buses, fifteen in each colour—red, blue, white, and green, forty-six Transportation cards, twenty Destination Ticket cards, four Scoring Markers, and the rules leaflet. The Bus pieces are nicely sculpted and come in the standard colours for Ticket to Ride, but are illustrated with a different form of transport for each colour. So black is illustrated with a motor car, white with a river cruise boat (presumably along the Seine), yellow with a tram, purple with a delivery van, orange with a Métro carriage, and the wild card with a bus. This really makes the cards stand out and easier to view for anyone who suffers from colour blindness and the range of transport options give the game a greener feel. Similarly, the Destination Tickets are bright, colourful, and easy to read. Most score either four, five, or six points upon completion and the most that any one card will score is eight points. As expected, the rules leaflet is clearly written, easy to understand, and the opening pages show how to set up the game. It can be read through in mere minutes and play started all but immediately.
Play in Ticket to Ride: Paris is the same as standard Ticket to Ride. Each player starts the game with some Destination Tickets and some Transportation cards. On his turn, a player can take one of three actions. Either draw two Transportation cards; draw two Destination Tickets and either keep one or two, but must keep one; or claim a route between two connected Locations. To claim a route, a player must expend a number of cards equal to its length, either matching the colour of the route or a mix of matching colour cards and the multi-coloured cards, which essentially act as wild cards. Unlike many Ticket to Ride variants, the map for Ticket to Ride: Paris has no black routes and more importantly, it has no grey routes, which means that Transportation cards in the correct colour or wildcards, or a combination of the two, have to be played to claim any route.
The other difference between Ticket to Ride: Paris and other Ticket to Ride variants is that it introduces a new means of scoring points, a distinctly French means of scoring points. When a player claims a red, white, or blue Route, he can keep one of the Transportation cards that he played, except if the card played was a multi-coloured wild card or he already has a Transportation card of that colour. The Transportation card kept is placed in front of the player, face up. At the end of a player’s turn, if he has one red, one white, and one blue Transportation card in front of him, he has created the Tricolour and can celebrate Bastille Day. This scores him four points. All three cards are discarded and the player can start claiming red, white, or blue routes on subsequent turns.
However, the number of red, white, and blue routes are not equal. There are eleven white, twelve blue, and thirteen red. Both the red and the blue routes are one space in length, whilst the white routes are two spaces long. So, the former are going to be easier to claim than the latter, and white Transportation cards are a more important resource than the other colours because there are fewer routes of their colour. That said, Ticket to Ride: Paris cannot simply be won by creating the Tricolour again and again. Essentially, celebrating Bastille Day and scoring points in this way is a bonus.

Physically, Ticket to Ride: Paris is very nicely produced. Everything is produced to the high standard you would expect for a Ticket to Ride game.

As with other entries in the ‘City’ series for Ticket to Ride series, Ticket to Ride: Paris offers all of the play of Ticket to Ride in a smaller, faster playing version, that is easy to learn and easy to transport. This is one of the easiest entries in the ‘City’ series to learn and play, with the Tricolour scoring mechanic similarly being one of the easiest to learn and play. Plus it does not require any other components, such as extra tokens or multiple types of playing pieces. Of course, along with the world famous locations on the map board, the Tricolour scoring mechanic are what enforce the Parisian and the French theme of Ticket to Ride: Paris. Overall, Ticket to Ride: Paris has a Gallic simplicity that makes it a decent introduction to the ‘City’ series for Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride in general.

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

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. However, not all fanzines written with the Old School Renaissance in mind need to be written for a specific retroclone. Although not the case now, the popularity of Traveller would spawn several fanzines, of which The Travellers’ Digest, published by Digest Group Publications, was the most well known and would eventually transform from a fanzine into a magazine.

The publication of The Travellers’ Digest #1 in 1985 marked the entry of Digest Group Publications into the hobby and from this small, but ambitious beginnings would stem a complete campaign and numerous highly-regarded supplements for Game Designers Workshop’s Traveller and MegaTraveller, as well as a magazine that all together would run for twenty-one issues between 1985 and 1990. The conceit was that The Travellers’ Digest was a magazine within the setting of the Third Imperium, its offices based on Deneb in the Deneb Sector, and that it awarded the Traveller’s Digest Touring Award. This award would be won by one of the Player Characters and thus the stage is set for ‘The Grand Tour’, the long-running campaign in the pages of The Travellers’ Digest. In classic fashion, as with Europe of the eighteenth century, this would take the Player Characters on a tour of the major capitals of known space. These include Vland, Capitol, Terra, the Aslan Hierate, and even across the Great Rift. The meat of this first issue, as well as subsequent issues, would be dedicated to an adventure, each a stop-off on the ‘The Grand Tour’, along with support for it. The date for the first issue of The Traveller’s Digest and thus when the campaign begins is 152-1111, the 152nd day of the 1111th year of the Imperium.

To best run ‘The Grand Tour’, the Referee will need access to The Atlas of the Imperium, Supplement 8: Library Data (A-M), Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z), Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats (or alternatively, Supplement 5: Azhanti High Lightning), as well as the core rules. In addition, other supplements would be required depending on the adventure. For example, ‘Of Xboats and Friends’, the opening part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #1 requires the supplement, The Undersea Environment, and adventure, The Drenslaar Quest, published by Gamelords, Ltd., are both useful for running underwater adventures—though they are really only useful if the Referee develops adventuring content beyond that presented in the issue. Alien Module 4: Zhodani may also be useful. Of course, that was in 1985, and much, if not all, of the rules or background necessary have been updated since. The campaign is also specifically written for use with four pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of Akidda Laagiir, the journalist who won the Traveller’s Digest Touring Award; Dur Telemon, a scout and his nephew; Doctor Theodor Krenstein, a gifted-scientist and roboticist; and Doctor Krenstein’s valet, ‘Aybee’, or rather, ‘AB-101’. The fact is, AB-101 is a pseudo-biological robot, both protégé and prototype. Consequently, the mix of Player Characters are surprisingly non-traditional and not all of them are easily created used the means offered in Traveller or MegaTraveller. This is addressed within various issues of the fanzine.
The Travellers’ Digest #2 was also published in 1985 and moved the date on from 152-1111, the 152nd day of the 1111th year of the Imperium to 244-1111, the 244th day of the 1111th year of the Imperium. The opening ‘Editors’ Digest’ looks both backward to the first issue and forward to future issues, as well as commentating on the editors’ success at Origins in Baltimore that year. It highlights the success of the fanzine right from the off and how the editors’ thoughts on various aspects of Traveller align with those of its designer, Marc Miller.
The second part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #2 is ‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’. In addition to the standard books required by the campaign, the adventure needs the supplement The Desert Environment and the scenario, Duneraiders, both originally published by Gamelords, Ltd, since the adventure takes place on a desert world. The adventure breaks down the Universal Task Profile used throughout and again, presents the four pre-generated Player Characters. The adventure itself opens with some colour fiction which explains why the quartet decide to travel to the world of Wal-ta-ka. This is because Akidda Laagiir, the journalist who won the Traveller’s Digest Touring Award, is in search of a story. The terms of the award demand that he submit a regular story highlighting cultural diversity in the Imperium and on Wal-ta-ka, there is a culture which rejects technology. Could that be the basis of a story—let alone a scenario?
Wal-ta-ka is a tidally locked world in the Atsah Subsector of Deneb Sector. A seismic quake destroyed the original mining colony in 234 and the population thought to be wiped out. However, some managed to survive and their descendants evolved into their own nomadic sub-culture. Notably, the nomads reject all technology beyond Tech Level 2 and see its use as blasphemous. The scenario is initially driven by Akidda Laagiir, who wants to make contact with the ‘San-de Wal-ta-ka’, one of the hunter-gatherer tribes living on the bright side of the world. This is actually easily achieved as the tribe welcomes visitors so long as they leave all advanced technology behind. The tribe also sees the journalist’s interest in it and its culture as flattering. However, the Player Characters will make a terrible cultural faux pas. Either the ‘San-de Wal-ta-ka’ discover that they have brought an item of advanced technology with them (if they did) or a duel is provoked with ‘Aybee’ and discover that ‘AB-101’ is actually a pseudo-biological robot—and thus not human! This all needs to be done in order to set up the major part of the scenario and that is the Player Characters being forced to survive in the desert of Wal-ta-ka.
All members of the tribe are expected to make a ‘Sojourn’ into the desert at the age of fourteen. They are expected to survive alone in the desert for fourteen days and soo to are the Player Characters. This is essentially to atone for their cultural transgression of bringing technology into the tribe, but in the process, it can also make them members of the tribe. The scenario details what the Player Characters need to survive and what resources and dangers can be found out in the desert. This includes plant and animal descriptions, a list of possible environmental encounters, and there is both a map of the planet and the region where the Sojourn is to take place. There are notes too on how the NPCs were created using and diverging from Citizens of the Imperium, plus the tribe’s particular skills such as Guard/Hunting, Falconry, Riding, and Herding. In particular, there is a guide to roleplaying ‘Aybee’ because his role is important in the scenario as it probably triggers the major events of the story. Lastly, the notes for the Referee also talk about motivations for the other Player Characters to go on the Sojourn, such as Akidda Laagiir wanting a good story and Dur Telemon, the scout, wanting to prove that he can survive on this world.
‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’ does feel forced as an adventure, and it does set up a situation where the Player Characters are expected to survive in a situation without recourse to their technological devices. Players instinctively hate this, being forced into a situation that is outside of their comfort zone and that of their characters. However, given the Player Characters of ‘The Grand Tour’, they actually have the motivation to do this. At the same time, the Game Master needs to make this adventure interesting and keep her players engaged. Lastly, it should be pointed out that the setting of ‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’ and elements of its story, are inspired by Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune, and its desert world of Arrakis, as does The Desert Environment and Duneraiders, right down to there being a chemical substance which could have wider implications beyond the world of Wal-ta-ka. This is not Spice, of course, but the pollen of a cactus plant that induces hibernation and has potential medical uses. The Atsah Subsector of Deneb Sector is detailed and accompanied by its own Library Data, though this applies more to ‘The Grand Tour’ as a whole rather than the scenario.
One of the Player Characters in ‘The Grand Tour’ is Akidda Laagiir, a journalist. However, there is not the means to create a Journalist Player Character in Traveller, the version of the rules available at the time, though there is one now in the current edition of the rules. ‘Journalist Character Generation’ presents the new Career in the same format as that of Mercenary and High Guard, introducing the new skills of Persuade and Interview. Interview can stand in for the Interrogation skill, but is not as effective. An overview of journalism at various Tech Levels is given in ‘Recording Devices’, the last article in the issue, covering text, sound, and image recorders. It is a good complementary piece, which should provide the Journalist Player Character with everything he needs to carry out his job.

Penultimately, The Travellers’ Digest #2 returns to the major focus of The Travellers’ Digest #1 and that is robots. ‘Robot Design Revisited, Part 2’ continues the expansion on the ‘Ref’s Notes’ article, ‘Robots’ which appeared in The Best of the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society. It includes some examples a Tech Level 12 Cargo Robot and a Tech Level 14 Zhodani Warbot, introduces the Universal Robot Profile or URP, plus all of the codes necessary and their explanation, and presents both the Warbot and ‘AB-101’ as URP examples. The accompanying ‘Easy Task Resolution’ is written exclusively with the pseudo biological robot in mind and covers some of the tasks that his creator, Doctor Theodor Krenstein, will likely have to undertake in order to repair him. It is quite handy, especially given the encounters that ‘AB-101’ is likely to have in the scenario, ‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’.
Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #2 is very obviously created using early layout software. However, that layout is surprisingly tidy and if some of the artwork is created using a computer too, it is not actually that bad.
The Travellers’ Digest #2 is already an improvement over The Travellers’ Digest #1. The inclusion of the Journalist as a Career is an excellent addition and together with ‘Robot Design Revisited, Part 1’ supports the scenario in the issue, ‘Feature Adventure 2: Journey of the Sojourn Moon’ in the short term, and ‘The Grand Tour’ campaign in the long term. The scenario itself does feel somewhat forced, but it plays to the motivations of the Player Characters and it is far more coherent and playable than ‘Of Xboats and Friends’ from The Travellers’ Digest #1. Overall, The Travellers’ Digest #2 is a solid second issue, a good follow up to The Travellers’ Digest #1, with some decent content.

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

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. However, not all fanzines written with the Old School Renaissance in mind need to be written for a specific retroclone.

Ascoleth: The Last Great City was published in June, 2022. It is a collaborative project between Monkey Blood Design and Rabid Halfling Press, a systems-neutral weird science-fantasy fanzine that describes a city in the end times and as a toolkit provides the Game Master with numerous tables of prompts and ideas that she can use to bring it to life. It is part one of ‘The Finisterre Trilogy’, although sadly, the other two parts have yet to appear. The setting for the fanzine is a sliver of land in the eschaton, the last days, called Finisterre. On it stands an entity that is both alive and a city, a final refuge in the very uncertain times. It is so large that districts within are almost cities unto themselves, each with their own distinctive architecture and often purpose. Nominally ruled by The Lord-Executor Ampiranx III, it is the Consortium which actually runs the city, though in many cases the various districts are autonomous, some with ties to the Consortium, some with not. Finisterre itself could be a complex machine found in the dusty basement of a wizard’s tower or the ever-expanding dreamworld of a sleeping child-god, as seen from within. Only three of Ascoleth’s districts are  detailed, and like all districts in the city, they shift, rotate, and move, but there are the means included as well to create others, as the Game Master is likely to want to create more.

The three major districts are the Magitek Praecinctum, the Necrosian Borough, and the Pariah Conurbation. Each is given entries for something ‘Dominating the Skyline’, a ‘Site of Interest’, a ‘House of Worship’, and the ‘Faction in Control’, plus quick lists of its demographics ongoing problems. This is followed by a table of the district’s neighbourhoods. For example, the Necrosian Borough accommodates the city’s undead citizens, but not very well since there is of course more undead than can be supported by the district’s amenities. Living visitors are advised to wear corpse paint lest their flagrant flaunting of their living status cause offence, so there are professional corpse painters at the entrance to provide this service as well as blood banks since blood is legal tender in the Necrosian Borough. Dominating the skyline is ‘The Triangle of Tragic Truths’, a huge, inverted pyramid of bloodstone atop which is an enormous disc that turns to face the sun and so block the district and its inhabitants from direct sunlight. The ‘Hall of the Eternal Smile’ is the ‘Site of Interest’ where the undead go to meet and discuss their undeathly issues, plus attend KrptoCon, an event dedicated to magical technology related to death and undeath. The ‘House of Worship’ is ‘Rigorous Mortis’, an old, decrepit prison where the undead use the execution platform and torture chamber to ritually torture and execute each other as acts of devotion. The ‘Faction in Control’ is ‘The Gatekeepers of Yore’, a fanatical group of monarchists under Archking Akoscion XIX, a partially mummified halfling vampire, currently in a guerilla war with The Sanguinista Urban Liberation Front. Of course, the district is home to all manner of undead, plus necromancers and anyone with an interest in the dead and undead. Its ongoing problems include massive class divides, overcrowding, and the vampire insurrectionists.

The neighbourhoods of the Necrosian Borough include the Royal Quarter where too many undead royals live, leading to murderous feuds in an effort to reduce numbers and so increase space, but this is hampered by the fact that the undead are very difficult to kill. Then there is the Black Light District which should be left to the reader’s imagination!

Beyond this treatment of the three neighbourhoods, over half of Ascoleth: The Last Great City is dedicated to creation tables for the city. Tables include ‘Who Do You Bump Into?’, ‘You Took A Wrong Turn And…’, ‘Whose Face Is On That Wanted Poster?’, and more. Lastly, the ‘District Generator Tables’ enable the Game Master to create districts of her own. For example, the ‘Adventurer Generator’ might create a hook such as the Player Characters being hired to eradicate a former saint, now corrupted, from a pearlescent tower or infiltrating an illusion of the underworld inhabiting a very scary Halfling, not actually undead, but wearing corpse paint. Of course, the Game Master will need to develop these further.

Physically, Ascoleth: The Last Great City is very well laid out and engagingly written. With its splashes of red, the artwork varies from the bizarre to the grim, but it fits the strange tone of the setting.

Systemless, Ascoleth: The Last Great City would work as well with Old School Essentials, Into the Odd, Troika!, or even Numenera. The Game Master will need to provide stats and details as necessary, but the pages of Ascoleth: The Last Great City are rife with ideas and prompts that are entertainingly inventive and will form the basis of some great.

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

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. As new fanzines have appeared, there has been an interest in the fanzines of the past, and as that interest has grown, they have become highly collectible, and consequently more difficult to obtain and write about. However, in writing about them, the reader should be aware that these fanzines were written and published between thirty and forty years ago, typically by roleplayers in their teens and twenties. What this means is that sometimes the language and terminology used reflects this and though the language and terminology is not socially acceptable today, that use should not be held against the authors and publishers unduly.

The Beholder was a British fanzine first published in April, 1979. Dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, it ran to twenty-seven issues, the last being published in July, 1981. It was popular and would be awarded ‘Best Games Fanzine’ at the Games Day convention in 1980. After the final issue of The Beholder, the editors would go on to release a number of anthologies which collected content from the complete run of the fanzine such as Beholder Supplement Glossary of Magic, which collected many of the magical items which appeared in the fanzine and collated them into a series of tables for easy use by the Dungeon Master, and Fantasie Scenarios – The Fanzine Supplement No. 2, the first of several scenario anthologies.
The Beholder Issue 2 was published in May 1979—the same month as Margaret Thatcher was first elected Prime Minister. Its contents follow the same pattern as set by The Beholder Issue 1—a new Class, some new monsters, spells, and magical items, along with a competition dungeon. There are other articles and not all of them for Dungeons & Dragons. The new Class is ‘The Loner’, which mixes the abilities of the Thief, the Ranger, and the Monk, so inspired by Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. The aim is to create a Player Character who has a broad range of skills and abilities and is thus capable without being a specialist, suited for play with small groups or solo play. Members of the Class will not join groups numbering more than five and cannot be Lawful in Alignment. He does not wear armour or use a shield, but his natural Armour Class improves as he gains Levels. For the most part, the Class’ abilities make sense, such as combining the Hide in Shadows and Move Silently skills of the Thief Class into Stalk, Track from the Ranger, Resist Cold, and so on, but there are aspects which make less sense. For example, Infravision, Wilful Healing, and eventually, Fly. Overall, the Class does not feel particularly coherent.
The only article not about Dungeons & Dragons is ‘Traveller’, for the roleplaying game of the same name. The article opens with a compliant that the Science Fiction roleplaying game is not as complete as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. However, it does offer an interesting use for the Computer skill, which it points is not useful until the Player Characters obtain a spaceship. This the ‘Programmable SMG’. When attached to its tripod, a program on a cassette can be inserted to provide one of four firing modes—continuous, fire at any movement, fire at any humanoid, or fire at anyone in a police uniform! The last cassette is highly illegal. It highlights the state of technology, what was thought technology could be in 1979, and the state of technology in Traveller was then, it is very clunky. Other additions include different types of grenade, such as High Explosive, Smoke, and Vapourisation, the latter being the equivalent of the disintegration. Lastly, the article notes that lasers are either very powerful or very weak, depending on the armour worn by the target. Reflec armour makes it impossible for the target to be hot, but anything else almost guarantees it. Instead, the author points out that lasers do not work in the rain, so either change the weather or if indoors, turn on the sprinkler system!
‘Monster Summoning’ describes six monsters. They include the ‘Catilae’, like a centaur, but replace the horse body with that of a centaur; the ‘Albatross’, which if killed inflicts a nasty, nasty curse; the ‘Vampirebat’, which is exactly what you think it is; and the ‘Ohm’, a terahedron—or three-sided pyramid—shaped creature with an eye and a tentacle in each face. Given the name, it should be no surprise that electricity runs through the Ohm, making it glow, and of course, hitting it with a metal weapon inflicts damage on the attacker. It feels reminiscent of the Modrons, in shape at least, which would later appear in the Planescape setting. Other monsters include the ‘Juvah’, a river or swamp dwelling creature like an Umber Hulk, but covered in a liquid that deludes its victims into thinking that they have not taken any damage; the ‘Snapdragon’ is the plant, but with dragons; head; and the ‘Mofe’, a humanoid of foam whose attacks deplete the victim’s Intelligence. None of the monsters are very interesting or sophisticated, but they are typical of the sort that might be found in a fanzine, being more  designed to test and surprise the players and their characters than anything else.
‘Thoughts on Combat’ offers suggestions to make combat in Dungeons & Dragons more interesting and sophisticated. These include bringing in player skill by getting each player to write down what their characters are going to do and sticking to it, adding critical hits and fumbles, and altering the bonus to Armour Class from Dexterity for heavier armour types. It does not go into details, merely giving suggestions. The ‘New Spells’ has four spells. These are Fuse, Block Transformation, Water Walking, and Locator, which are all self-explanatory bar Fuse, which enables a delay effect to be added to an object.
The Competition Scenario in The Beholder Issue 2 is ‘Petrarch’s Tower and the Vaults of Experimentation.’ At ten pages long, it is the longest piece in the issue. This is written for Third Level Player Characters of which eight pre-generated ones are provided, including one named ‘Westphalia’! The setting for the scenario is the Tower of Petrarch and the caves below it. The tower stands on a ledge over the Pass of Petrarch, inaccessible except by flight or through the tunnels below. The Wizard Petrarch discovered the entry into the ‘Three Thousand Steps of the Abyss’ that now lead into the Vaults of Experimentation five centuries ago, but it has been several centuries since he was last seen and the nearby authorities fear what might be found in them. Consequently, they have hired mercenaries—the Player Characters—to clear the tower and confirm that Petrarch is actually dead. The adventure is divided between the tower and the caves/tunnels below, there being more of the latter than the former. The dungeon contains some interesting rooms, like the room that Ogres have turned in a bowling alley using paralysed victims as the bowling pins, but this is very much a funhouse style dungeon with little in the way of a connected theme. The scenario ends with notes on adapting it to a Dungeon Master’s campaign and a competition points table which lists all of the points for achieving various objectives. Unfortunately, the adventure overall is too random and lacking in theme to be really interesting.
Lastly, The Beholder Issue 2 ends with ‘Magic Jar’. This describes some seventeen magical items. Much like those in the first issue of the fanzine, there are some fun entries here. For example, a Dispel Scroll has a specific spell written backwards on it. When read out it negates the nearest incident of that spell, whether that is a Player Character or an NPC elsewhere! The Automatic Sword functions like a permanent Dancing Sword, and will serve anyone who places five gems in the slots in the hilt. However, replace the gems with ones of a greater value and it will change master, so it is very mercenary! Spell Potions bottle spells and when the seal is broken, the spell infused into the potion is unleashed.

Physically, The Beholder, Issue 2 is a bit scruffy in places, but readable. The layout is tight and that does make it difficult to read in places. The illustrations and the cartography is not actually that bad. Of course, every issue of the fanzine was published when personal publishing was still analogue and the possibilities of the personal computer and personal desktop publishing were yet to come. In the case of The Beholder that would never be taken advantage of.

The Beholder has a high reputation for content that is of good quality and playable. The Beholder, Issue 2 does not yet match that reputation, let alone alone meet its own high standards in this second issue. The monsters still fail to excite and again, the given scenario is playable, but without any real purpose except to see if one playing group is better than another. That said, the design of it is better than the Competition Scenario in The Beholder, Issue 1 and this sort of dungeon dates from a time in player lives when play was enough rather than necessarily requiring a good reason. Overall, The Beholder, Issue 2 still feels like a typical fanzine of the period, not quite yet developing into the highly regarded fanzine to come.

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

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. However, not all fanzines written with the Old School Renaissance in mind need to be written for a specific retroclone.

As beautiful as pieces of artwork that medieval illuminated manuscripts are, we have a fascination not with their actual words and their artistry of the copied work, as great as they, but with what lies alongside that artistry. For alongside the texts, medieval monks, in the laborious process of copying one manuscript after another, medieval monks would essentially add doodles in the margin, but doodles of a wholly illuminated and weird world full of strange creatures doing equally as strange things. Knights riding snails. Banditry rabbits. Headless duellists. Menacing snails. Magical beasts. Essentially, medieval scribes liked to fill the margins of their illuminated manuscripts with pictures of strange creatures doing strange things. Yet what if this monkish marginalia was not just the work of the imagination, but drawn from real life and such creatures as the monks drew to alleviate their boredom, were all too real. And if all of it was real, what could you do with it? This is a question answered by The Medieval Margin-agerie.
The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder is a sequel to The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1, and likes its predecessor, takes our fascination with the marginalia of medieval monks and turns it into something gameable. Published by Just Crunch Games, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it describes itself as “a zine of the grotesque, the weird and the bizarre for OSR games”. Although designed for use with the Old School Renaissance, it is not retroclone specific, but will work with most. In particular, the contents of The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2 will work very well with those of A Folklore Bestiary, published by The Merry Mushmen, and in tone, if not necessarily straight mechanics, with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing.
The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder restricts itself to just six entries—three fewer than in The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1 ! Each is categorised under ‘What’, ‘Where’, ‘Why’, and ‘How’. Thus, ‘What’ is the creature, ‘Where’ is the creature found, ‘Why’ does the creature act the way it does, and ‘How’ might it be encountered and faced. This is followed by the stats. What is also noticeable about the second issue is the change in tone from the first issue. It should be noted that the various entries in both issues all represent the Medieval imagination, which is as prurient as our own, so there is content in the fanzine that is suggestive of the sexual and the scatological. Where the tone in The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1 avoided being unnecessarily prurient, instead being a little smutty or saucy a la the Carry On films, the tone of The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder is just that bit more racier, a bit more dirty. It is though, only a slight shift, the more noticeable shift being how weird some of the entries are. What The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder does suggest is several uses for its various entries, building upon those given in The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1. These include being summoned, accidentally or on purpose, as part of a demonic pact, such creatures slipping into out world when the walls between worlds are thin, or their appearance being the response of the natural world to an abundance of order.
The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder opens with ‘The Mysterious Caped Baboon’. This is a small, grey caped and eye-mask-wearing baboon whose posterior changes colour between red, blue, and white depending on his mood. He also wields a polearm with amazing skill, is incredibly pious, and is an assassin for hire—but only for assignments which he thinks the church will approve. ‘The Mysterious Caped Baboon’ can obviously be hired by the Player Characters, or he might have been hired to assassinate one or more of them! ‘The Black Lion of Saint Buffoonitus’ is a black lion—actually a demon—who prowls the countryside consuming churchmen and appreciating the local flora and fauna. It got its name from Saint Buffoonitus, a former magus and infamous idiot, who summoned it as joke, and after doing so, refused to banish it before running off on endless pilgrimages to escape the very annoyed Lion and its soul-scarring pleas to be freed. As fearsome as the Lion is, he can be spoken and is willing to speak, especially if the Player Characters are in a position to banish it or take revenge on Saint Buffoonitus!

Then it gets really weird with the ‘The Urns of Homuncules’. These are a pair of clay pots, plain apart from the letter ‘H’ scratched into their bottoms along with a fingerprint. Each also contains a mall, two foot tall, mishappen homunculus. Both are excellent thieves. Consequently, they are prized possessions for anyone who wants things stolen or planted, but does not want to go to the thieves’ guild. Indeed, any thieves’ guild would be very happy to own the urns. Not just to deploy the homunculi to its own ends, but also to deny that skill to anyone else. So far, so not weird. What is weird is the method of their creation. The process involves the owner of ‘The Urns of Homuncules’ defecating into one of the urns and urinating into the other, but at the same time (the accompanying illustration has to be seen to be believed!). The resulting creations are revolting as is their scatological and urological means of attack. There is an accompanying table to determine whether the creation goes right, since after all, it is a very messy business. ‘The Urns of Homuncules’ is fantastically weird and unpleasant, but also very silly.
The ’Froth-Tailed Stalking Monkey’ is also weird, but fortunately lacks the creation process. Take a cockatrice’s body, replace its head with that of grinning monkey’s, and make the tail very, very fluffy. It has an amazing ability to mimic voices and its means of attack is not a death stare, but a glossolalia stare. It makes its victims babble constantly, forcing them to spill secrets in the process, but in a language only it understands. So, it is sometimes sought out for the secrets it knows. The other reason why anyone would go looking for it is that each one of its tail fronds is guaranteed cure for any poison! That said, the ’Froth-Tailed Stalking Monkey’ is an evil creature and will often work with Rabbandits (see The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1), gleefully using its mimicry skill and secrets learned to undermine the social order and sow paranoia in a village, eating the victims of any resulting murderous chaos, and then letting the Rabbandits loot everything!
‘The Melancholy Ploox’ is weirder, but not as fun. It consists of a head with a pair of bat’s wings and a pair of cat’s legs that jut out of its mouth. It is also deeply boring. So boring that its melancholia actually infects both people and the land, and its poetry is so bad that it actually hurts anyone listening to it. The last creature in The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder is ‘The Satyrica’. This is a Satyr-like beast, but with a goat’s head and then a lion’s head in its midriff. They are satirists and wits, driven out of the forests by Satyrs for their barbed comments and jokes which are capable of reducing listeners to tears. Tyrants or the pompous could also be the target of its insult-based comedy, but the ‘The Satyrica’ can actually be a good friend if you have no object to its gentle, near constant mocking. In general, ‘The Satyrica’ avoids combat, but it can deliver a stand-up routine that is so devastating that a target is physically hurt and avoids the creature for weeks!
The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder comes to a close with two tables. One is ‘Signs & Spore of Marginalia Manifest’, which is random signs left behind, whilst the other is its very own ‘Interesting Things to Find on the Body of the Dead’.
Physically, The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder is superbly presented, as if an illuminated manuscript itself done on parchment. The artwork is, of course, taken from the source material and so perfectly in keeping with that source material.

The entries in The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1 are undoubtedly odd and weird. The entries in The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder are even odder and weirder. Very much weirder and odder, and if the contents of the first issue might be too much for some campaigns, then it is a case of being even more so with this second issue. There is still a lovely sense of verisimilitude to these creatures in being drawn from the vivid imaginations of monks and scribes, who thought up and created a weird world of monsters and beasts outside of the walls where they had been cloistered. Yet there is also the sense that the author has had to work harder to create the half dozen entries in The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder, that he is out-weirding himself in the process, and you have to wonder if he can do it again with a third issue. Thus, The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 2: Marge Harder takes the charmingly weird and wonderful of The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1 and ratchets it up even further, adding in a dose of silliness in the process.

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

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. However, there are still fanzines being published which cover a variety of different roleplaying games, such as Grogzilla. This is published by D101 Games, best known for the OpenQuest roleplaying game and the Glorantha fanzine, Hearts in Glorantha. It is undeniably a showcase for what the publisher does and is full of ideas and bits and pieces, some of which are silly, some useful, and some interesting.

Grogzilla #2 – Son of Grogzilla! was published in October, 2021, as part of ZineQuest #3 and following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Its tone is distinctly less silly than Grogzilla #1, and its pages contain a good mix of the playable and the interesting. The issue opens with ‘A Slight Return’, a scenario for Monkey: The Role-Playing Game, the action-packed storytelling roleplaying game based upon the Chinese Classic, The Journey to the West, and of course, the television series, which tell of the heroic journey of the Monkey King and his companions, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka through the vibrant world of Chinese folk religion. Monkey: The Role-Playing Game is a lot of fun and allows the players to both roleplay the Monkey King and his companions, or create characters of their own. ‘A Slight Return’ is designed to be run with the latter rather than the former. It is an introductory scenario, which can be used as a one-shot or a convention scenario. It opens with the Monkey King having made a mess across all of Creation in his rebellion against the Heavenly Authorities. It is the job of the Player Characters as disgraced minor Immortals and the appointed inter-Ministry clean-up crew, to tidy everything up and put it back as it was. The Player Characters will find themselves cleaning up the trickster’s poo left on the Register of the Dead, rescuing someone sent to Hell, fix a mountain whose top he lopped off, and more. It is a fun, picaresque little adventure and should be fun to both play and run.

Monkey: The Role-Playing Game is also the subject of the second entry in the fanzine. ‘The Ten-Minute Monkey Setup’ is designed to work with ‘A Slight Return’ or any time that a Game Master is running Monkey: The Role-Playing Game at a convention. It is written in response to a comment from the doyen of Games on Demand, Lloyd Gyan, that the designer’s explanation of the background to Monkey: The Role-Playing Game prior to running it at a convention was too long. It distils the background and set-up to just two pages as well as suggesting what to leave out. Clear and concise, it is the sort of thing that every roleplaying game should have.

‘Summerset: The Heart of Angland’ introduces a setting for 13th Age, the roleplaying game from Pelgrane Press which combines the best elements of both Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition and Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition to give high action combat, strong narrative ties, and exciting play. The setting takes place in Summerset, between the Red Castle in the north and Glasteenbury in the south, the most magical area in all of the Kingdom of Angland. It combines Arthurian legend with elements of the War of the Roses and the dark Satanic mills of the North some six centuries after the Romanous Empire withdrew from the country, five centuries after King Arthur I united the peoples of Angland, and five years after the end of The Rose War between the Nobles of Lankshire and the Nobles of Yirkshire in the Grim North. It gives a short history of the setting, a guide to its leading notables—they are the Icons of Angland which the Player Characters will be associated with, for good or ill, and its various locations. There is actually quite a lot of detail here and this is a solidly decent introduction to the setting. All that is really missing is a page or so of hooks that the Game Master could develop into scenarios.

The second scenario in Grogzilla #2 is ‘More Metal Than You’ll Ever Live to Be!’. This is designed for use with three to six Player Characters of Second and Third Level, for use with either Crypts & Things or Swords Against the Shroud. However, it would work with any number of other retroclones. It describes a crypt that was once the metallic body of the dead insect god, Anack’doska, hollowed by his evil cultists, who then developed amazing arms and armour before turning on themselves and wiping out the cult. There is said to be a great still left within the complex. Located under a volcano means that the tunnels and caves have a sulphurous quality and scattered throughout the complex are a number of metallic statues and ‘constructs’. The dungeon is serviceable and playable, but nothing more than that. It is the least interesting entry in the fanzine.

‘Welcome to Slumberland’ is the first of three entries in Grogzilla #2 devoted to Slumberland, a proposed roleplaying game of ‘Sleepy Horror’ using the mechanics of Liminal. It has a roughly Elizabethan feel and distinct North of England tones combined with a rural distrust of outsiders and especially anyone from the South. In Slumberland, the Player Characters are Wanderers, rootless adventurers sent by a Merciful Monarch, Queen Nell, to the edge of her Queendom to help the residents of Slumberland. The mistrustful inhabitants refuse to accept the interloping Wanderers as ‘locals’, restricting where they can sleep or what residence they can own, until they have earned some ‘Respect’. This is done by carrying various tasks and jobs too dangerous for ordinary folk. In other words, doing the typical adventuring things. ‘Respect’ is included as a new stat in Slumberland, representing the Wanderers’ interaction with the locals, whilst ‘Rest’ replaces Will in Liminal. A Wanderer with a high Rest is calm and collected, but with a low Rest is irritable and unpredictable, yet is at an advantage when interacting with the Dreaming, the magical realm that pervades Slumberland.

‘Welcome to Slumberland’ includes a guide to the area, its places, including the River Slumber, which sends anyone who falls into it asleep and an Underworld of failed routes under the mountain now filled with monsters. Important things include Tea and Slow Gin, and horrors include undead horrors like the Barrow Wrongs and night horrors found under the bed and in the closet. There is also a lengthy guide to Slumberish, the dialect of the region. ‘Welcome to Slumberland’ has an intentionally odd bucolic feel, set in Tudor England, but it does veer into regional stereotypes at times.

‘The Slumberland Hack’, the middle article presents the changes to the Liminal rules to run Slumberland as a setting. This includes rules for Rest, weapon and armour as Slumberland is a fantasy setting, and new skills, concepts like the Royal Guard, Spy, Templar, and Field Magician, and Limitations such as ‘Servant of the Crown’ meaning that the Player Character has sworn an oath to serve Queen Nell and takes it very, very seriously. The new Limitation, ‘Royal College Field Magician’ grants access to a handful of spells, which cost Rest to cast, whilst ‘Order of the Solemn Temple Liturgist’ provides divine powers. Of note is the magic spell, Slumber. Which specifically affects a target’s Rest and can put a mob to sleep. Overall, the changes make sense, though there is no mechanical explanation for ‘Rest’.

‘The Tunnel to Slumberland’, the third article dedicated to Slumberland, is an introductory scenario designed to get the Player Characters there. Every thirty years the monarch of the Realm is obliged to send aid to the North, ‘Agents of Mercy. In this case, it is the Wanderers, or Player Characters, who are sent north from Crystal City by good Queen Nell. Their route will be via a tunnel to avoid Spider Wood which has been taken over by the Darkness. Built by Dwarves and managed in part by Master of Royal Works in the north, Bob Dibner, the southern tunnel entrance is in Cheese Gorge. The adventure is a series of linked encounters in the tunnel and will get the Wanderers to the North at the least. After that, the Game Master will need to develop her own adventures.

Overall, Slumberland is fun if slightly silly, British readers of a certain age being able to spot the jokes and references. There is a lot more to be revealed about Slumberland—if it ever appears—but this trio of articles is an enjoyable, if slightly messy introduction. Were it not for the use of the Liminal rules, Slumberland feels as if it could be slotted into the Midderlands setting from Monkey Blond design.

The last article in Grogzilla #2 is one last bit of silliness. ‘The Secret of the Grogdice’ is inspired by Grogmeet, the annual convention organised by The Grognard Files, a North of England podcast dedicated to the games of the late seventies and early eighties. Specifically, it is what the author uses his ‘Grogdie’—a six-sided die given to Game Masters for the event, which has The Grognard Files icon on the number six face of the die—for in play. Essentially, it provides a quick and dirty table to roll on for spicing up play. It does not actually require a Grogdie and would work with any die with a different face to the usual six.

Physically, Grogzilla #2 is clean and simple. It is easy to read and the illustrations are decent. It is a little rough around the edges in places and it does need an edit in others.

Grogzilla #2 has a lot of playable content. The scenario for Monkey: The Role-Playing Game is excellent and a lot of fun, whilst with ‘Summerset: The Heart of Angland’ and ‘Welcome to Slumberland’ the fanzine introduces a pair of interesting settings that do leave the reader wanting more. However, it is disappointing to see neither of them yet fully developed, so the Game Master is on her own until they are. Nevertheless, Grogzilla #2 is an entertaining read that captures a certain Englishness.

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

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.

The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 2 continues the description of the ‘Lost World’ setting begun in The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 1, detailing a plateau only whispered of lying deep in the southern jungles for use with Old School Essentials. Unfortunately, the first issue of the fanzine was an unbalanced affair, dividing its attention between some evocative Classes for Player Characters and NPCs residing on the plateau and a adventure to get Player Characters from the lands of civilisation to the north onto the plateau. The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 2 presents the various social groupings atop the plateau. These consist of ten tribes, six humanoid tribes, and four kingdoms. The ten tribes are hunters and gatherers, and fairly small. Each is given a page that lists their (Present Social) Structure, Relationships, Weapons, and Cultural and Ethnic Aspects. The Present Social Structure breaks down their numbers, the Relationships notes connections to other tribes, and the Cultural and Ethnic Aspects. The descriptions vary wildly in length and thus detail. For example, ‘The Aasai’, skilled hunters and trap makers, is only accorded half a page, and note the tribe is dominated by a shamanic council, number roughly thirty, and its members paint their hair red, stretch their ears, and make statues to various dinosaur deities. The Hazda tribe is give three quarters of a page. They are skilled scouts and explorers and know the plateau very well, its members include eight scouts, and they believe that after death, the soul transforms into a tree, so worship the whole jungle across the plateau as their ancestors, believe that the world was created by a giant Megaloceros known as Ksitu and build bone towers in their camps to him, and use a flower extract as eyedrops to increase tribe members’ physical and spiritual perception. There is this constant fluctuation from one tribe to the next in terms of content and detail or lack of it, including the relationships between tribes. In too many cases, it is simply stated that a tribe is in an ethnic conflict or has problems with another, but not why. There is a lot of variation between the tribes, but too many feel underdeveloped, especially if the Game Master and her players want to use them in conjunction with the character Classes given in The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 1.

The six humanoid tribes are all treated as monsters rather than Player Characters and NPCs which could use the Classes given in The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 2. Like the human tribes, they are given a page that lists their Social Structure, Relationships, Weapons, and Cultural and Ethnic Aspects. Added to this is a table of names. This is done for each of the six humanoid tribes, leaving the Game Master why something similar was not include for the ten other tribes? There appears to be greater numbers of them, and they include Neanderthals, what could be apes, and what could be Orcs. Unlike the description of the ten tribes, which includes an illustration, few of the descriptions of the humanoid tribes do. This is a fundamental failing, because these are essentially monster tribes in the Kalunga Plateau setting and the Game Master has no idea what they look like.

‘The Four Great Kingdoms’ presents a similar treatment of the organised kingdoms in the south of the plateau, one of which is found underground. Each is given a two-page spread, which lists its Crops and Livestock, Language, Social Structure, Economic Structure, Religion, Population and Hierarchy, and war Technology. The entries are longer, but typically most of the second page is taken with a single large illustration. To call them kingdoms is a misnomer, since each only has the town. That said, why not name that town and mark it on the map? Also, why is there no description of the towns? No simple description of what the kingdom is? No mention of the relationships between the kingdoms or between the kingdoms and the various tribes—both human and humanoid? For example, the Anuunaki have vertical farms in the black dirt walls of cliffs, where they also having breeding huts for the pterodactyls which they ride, but this is listed under Crops and Livestock. Okay, yes, the pterodactyls are technically livestock, but surely one of the leading facts about the kingdom is that it raises pterodactyls which are then ridden? That should be upfront and not buried in a section on farming, and ignores the fact that the entry on the Anuunaki does not tell the reader what they are used for. It does show in the accompanying illustration, but that is not the point. So, whilst there is a lot of good description given for the four kingdoms, the fundamentals are still missing and the information is poorly organised.

Although the four kingdoms described, there are no guidelines on creating either Player Characters or NPCs from any one of the four. This partly negates their use until more information is provided, but certainly space could have been made in the pages of the fanzine given that so much space is devoted to artwork that takes up almost whole pages.

Lastly, in ‘Creed’ examines some of the gods and spiritual beings attracted to the plateau and worshipped there. That worship is more formalised in the Southern Kingdoms, but in each case gives the entity’s Spiritual Form, Physical Form, Behaviour, Interests Over the Plateau, Offerings, Shaman’s Clothes, and Symbol Made on the Floor. The latter describes how the symbol is made, for example, that of Agwessu, ‘Master of the Lakes and the River’, must be made with the powder of dried fish scales, but not why. Where the tribes see them as animistic beings, the shaman of the southern kingdoms call them ‘Baghvãs’ and allow them to manifest in their own bodies. Besides the main pantheon, there is a list of minor ‘Baghvãs’ too. What really is not explored is what the shaman gets out of all of this.

Physically, The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 2 is well presented. The artwork and the cartography are both decent. The fanzine is overwritten and slightly heavy going, and in need of a good edit.

The problem with The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 2 is not just that its contents vary between the not very interesting, the poorly explained, and the unanswered questions, but that it avoids the interesting parts of the setting. The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 1 described how the Plateau was once home to an alien civilisation whose presence was destroyed when an enormous sphere hit the planet. The sphere still remains, buried deep in the earth under the plateau that its impact threw up. What ruins remain are regarded by the current inhabitants of the Plateau as having been built by the gods. This, plus the combination of dinosaurs and the Lost World, is what is interesting about The Kalunga Plateau as a setting. Yet two issues in and none of that is explored or examined, leaving the would-be Game Master waiting for what is essentially, the good bits. Hopefully, some of that will be explored in The Kalunga Plateau – Issue 3, but in the meantime, The Kalunga Plateau as a fanzine is beginning to feel like a partwork in which all of the interesting and playable content has been saved for much later issues.

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

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. A more recent Old School Renaissance-style roleplaying game that fanzines are being based upon and inspired by is Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing.

Book of Misery Vol. 1 is a fanzine for Mörk Borg written and published by Gizmo in December 2022. It contains a mix of options for both players and the Game Master. This includes new Classes, weapons, monsters, and dungeons that can be easily brought into play and all done in the artpunk style that Mörk Borg is notorious for. It opens with the first of six new Classes, a mixture of rebels, dissidents, revisionists, and weirdos. ‘The Thinking Thinker’ is weak, but has an enormous Presence and head—whether from a spillage of alchemical liquids, an experiment that gave him an extra brain, or a vestigial twin that was devoured in the womb and absorbed into his brain—and might be equipped with The Calculated Method Book that allows a daily reroll or a letter opener, which is no good against anyone wearing armour. The ‘Nihilistic Conqueror’ is a warrior driven to spread wrath and destruction, perhaps because he believes that his gods will despise him for his cowardice if he does not fight, he wants to see everyone he dislikes pay a blood price for having the gall to exist, or simply has anger issues. He is tough and charismatic, and armed with something like a sharpened axe capable of piercing heavy armour or be accompanied by Huginn, a trusty raven friend capable of pecking enemies when not spying all around.

The ’Hag of a Bygone Age’ is a nun who worships a dead god or has been abandoned by her god, but she has abandoned it. Weak and clumsy, her faith gives her great charisma, and she knows a single prayer, written in a dead language. These can be very powerful, such as causing the undead or those without flesh to crumble into dust or as her eyes roll back in her head and she speaks in tongues, the strength of those around her to wither and even inflict damage. ‘Man’s Best Friend’, is exactly what it suggests, an agile dog with keen senses that can roughly sniff out the number of enemies nearby or locate an object or with ‘Cujo Syndrome’, which after having been bitten by a sewer rat, his foaming teeth are infectious! The ‘Sewer Baby’ was raised in a sewer and the toxic sludge cemented his physical age, whilst being raised by rats taught him to be cunning. His childhood memories are twisted and terrible, but accompanied by a faithful rat companion, he is also capable of spitting acidic sour milk or staring at people so hard that they run away. Lastly, the ‘Ashen Warrior’ is a unique character type for Mörk Borg—a hero! Wearing heavy armour and armed with a mighty claymore, the Ashen Warrior does not have a quirk, power, or trait, but simply has Bloodlust, which grants him extra damage after killing ten enemies in combat.

Overall, this is an entertaining and interesting mix of Classes. They include the usual range of the revolting and wretched, but balance that against an actual heroic Class and a Class that can be happy in the form of ‘Man’s Best Friend’. All six could find a home alongside those given in Mörk Borg and supplements for it.

There is not one ‘Crit Fail Table’, but two. One for attacking and one for defending. Both are decent and do exactly what they are intended to do. As does ‘More Weapons’, which gives seven more weapons like the Sharpened Throwing Finger, the Stabby Sticky, and the Claymore. These are followed by twelve monsters! These include the ‘Cosmic Phase Spider’, the ‘Piskie’, ‘Undead Lightning’—a combination of the machine and the dead which pulsates lightning, ‘Carapace Man Spider’, ‘The Red Spawn of Rot’, and more. There are other monsters detailed elsewhere in the fanzine.

‘Gran’s Tea Hut’ is an encounter in the woods with a quaint little hut, the home of an old lady who sells tea. Depending upon their behaviour towards her, she will serve them tea with either positive or negative effects. If things go really bad, her granddaughter, a mighty warrior woman will step in to protect her grandmother.

The first of the three scenarios in Book of Misery Vol. 1 is ‘Howling Caverns’. A fall into a pit of sludge and waste from which a single narrow tunnel leads to a number of caverns, mostly filled with the dead or dying. There is an encounter with a sacrifice attempt, which is not going the way that most of them do, and that really is it. There is very little in the way of plot beyond the Player Characters falling into the pit and having to find a way out, so the Game Master may want to create something. Otherwise, easy to add as an encounter as a sinkhole in the wilderness or a pit in another dungeon, but not very interesting. The second scenario, ‘A Dungeon Most Pointless’ lives up to its name. The dungeon consists of nine locations, unconnected except for the fact that they are on the same map. It is not even clear if any of the rooms are actually connected and even then, one of the locations is outside of the dungeon. With no overview, no reward, or even anything in the way of a hook or a plot, the most redeeming quality of ‘A Dungeon Most Pointless’ is that you can flick the pages over very fast to get past it. The third scenario, ‘The Putrid House’ is not as long as ‘A Dungeon Most Pointless’, but it is infinitely better and proves that the author can create a decent dungeon. It starts with the Player Characters waking up in the dungeon, unsure of how they got there. To get out, they must fight past troughs of mould and fungi, maniacs, and more. It has a dark, dingy, and desperate feel and is quick and easy to run.

The editorial does not come until the last page, the inside of the back cover. It acknowledges the inspirations for the issue come from a wide variety of sources and persons.

Physically, Book of Misery Vol. 1 adheres to the artpunk style of Mörk Borg. For the most part it works, but some of the founts selected do make the titles difficult to read.

Book of Misery Vol. 1 is a mixed bag. The scenarios are simply disappointing. The monsters are okay, but nothing really stands out. However, and fortunately, ‘Gran’s Tea Hut’ is enjoyably charming in its simplicity, plus the six new Classes are generally interesting and playable.

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. 4 was published in in December, 2014 by Shield of Faith Studios. It continued the detailing of post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth which had begun in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1, and would be continued in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2, which added further Classes, monsters, and weapons, and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 3, which provided the means to create Player Characters and gave them a Character Funnel to play. The setting has, of course, gone on to be presented in more detail in The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide, now distributed by Goodman Games. The setting itself is a world brought about after a rogue object from deep space passed between the Earth and the Moon and ripped apart time and space, leaving behind a planet which would recover and it inhabitants ruled by savagery, cruel sorcery, and twisted science. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4 focuses a particular aspect of the Cleric Class in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but obviously for the Umerica and Urth setting. This is the Patron, the particular deity or entity that that the Cleric has sworn to worship and serve, and in return gain access to a number of spells that only a member of his faith can cast.

The first of the three Patrons described in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4 is actually a throwback to Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2. ‘The Earth Brain of the Cyberhive’, which is fascinated understanding how living beings conceive and react to Life and Death, the Cyberhive actually being fully detailed in the previous issue along with its Zombie Monk and Robo-Lich servants. Its fascination with life and death is not reflected in all of the spells it grants. Defensive Upgrade providing temporary cybernetic armour to one or more targets and Control+Alt+Delete enabling the caster to control computers and robots, but Create Cybomination actually creating reanimated undead with cybernetics. ‘The Mighty Kizz – The intergalactic god of Rock and Roll’ is the uber masculine god of awesomeness dressed in black leather, jagged spikes, and chains and never without Soulbreaker, his massive, flaming battle axe guitar, in his hands. He does not demand that his worshippers be musicians or even play an instrument, but rather that they obtain a state of ‘Enlightened Awesomeness’ and apply it to everything they do, because if something is worth doing, it is worth being ‘Awesome’ about it, especially if it entertains him! The results of his Invoke Patron check is particularly entertaining, such as summoning a stampede of spectral fans or causing a wall, floor, or ceiling to transform into a wide mouth with bright red lips, sharpened teeth, and lengthy tongue that attempts to lick up all enemies and devour them! The entertaining them continues with the spells Kizz my Axe, Mosh Pit, and Aspect of KIZZ. The Mighty Kizz is obvious in its inspiration, but it is over-the-top, wild-haired fun.

The third of the Patrons is ‘Theszolokomodra – the 1000 headed multi-dimensional Hydra’. Also known as the Unknowable Serpent Sage, the Observer of Realms, the Many-headed Master of Secrets, its actual purpose is inscrutable, but Theszolokomodra does is known to study the views from thousands of dimensional portals that surrounds its glittering Thronemound. Worshippers become hosts to its Servitor Worms and gain the benefits of Theszolokomodra’s knowledge such as a glimpse of the future, a question asked of the Game Master answered truthfully, whilst the spell Tactical Display drops stat blocks over the heads of enemies that the caster can read, Wraith of the Worm makes the host’s Servitor Worm target the host enemies with a bolt of gut-twisting pain, and Dimensional Maws calls forth several of Theszolokomodra’s jaws to chomp at the caster’s enemies.

The Patron theme continues with ‘Patron Objects’ and its first entry with The Solar Saber. This is an intelligent techno-magical weapon, originally created to kill Cyber-Sorcerers. It has to be wielded by a worthy—and thus Lawful—user, and it will only do its fullest damage against Cyber-Sorcerers, otherwise its damage is reduced or even negated. Three points of Luck have to be sacrificed to bond with it, and it has to be invoked to use, but can taint the wielder too, so effectively the equivalent of a mini-Patron that the Player Character is wielding!

Lastly, the ‘Twisted Menagerie’ describes the Rocker, a Heavy Metal Elemental, which is the mindlessly devoted servant of Kizz. Just as silly and knowing as Kizz himself, they congregate in small groups, wear black tee shirts, and really only spring into action when there is music and then they slam dance each other and anyone caught in their own personal mosh pit!

Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4 is serviceably presented. It is a little rough around the edges, as is some of the artwork, but overall, it is a decent affair.The problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4 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.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4 is a fairly light affair and upon first glance, it feels a bit one-note, dealing with just the one aspect of the setting. That feeling never goes away, even despite the fact that the three Patrons are really quite fun and the inspiration for The Mighty Kizz is obvious. Plus, ‘The Earth Brain of the Cyberhive’ really does feel as if it should have been included in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2, and it does feel like perhaps each of the three Patrons could have had a monster or their own or a Patron Object, just to develop them a little further. Perhaps there should have just been the one Patron in this issue and there should have been something else to balance it.

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

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What is it?Eyes’ Rise is a supplement for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which details the sandbox setting of the village of Five Eyes and its surrounds and its factions, as well as the River Folk of the River of Cradles.

It is a thirty-one page, full colour 2.80 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy and it is lightly illustrated. It needs a slight edit.

There are notes on how to use it with QuestWorlds.
Where is it set?Eyes’ Rise is set in the Grantlands along the banks of the River of Cradles after the Lunar Empire has been driven out of Pavis and fled the area.
Who do you play?
Eyes’ Rise does not require any specific character type. The main hook for the supplement has the Player Characters hired to protect the village, so combatants will be useful.
What do you need?
Eyes’ Rise requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary.
What do you get?Eyes’ Rise presents a settlement facing an uncertain future. This is the village of Five Eyes, a former River Folk settlement renowned for the nearby ancient carvings on the cliffs which look like eyes and from which the village takes its name. Following the Lunar invasion, the village was selected as town and administrative for the surrounding grantlands. Circumstances that begin the Dragon Wise forced the Lunar Empire to flee the area, leaving the would be town partially completed, but without protection or direction as to its future and in danger of imminent collapse and abandonment by the remaining population. The villagers need to find a way to finish building the fortifications which will protect them from raids by bandits, grow the population, train the militia, and establish it as a viable stopping point along the river. In the immediate future, the villagers need to find a way to protect the village and train the militia. This is where the Player Characters, hired for their services. (Other reasons are given for visiting Five Eyes, but this is the primary one.)
Both the village and its inhabitants are described in some detailed, including detailed backgrounds, with eight of the Grantlanders or newcomers and three Riverfolk given full stats as well as a number of outsiders. The former includes five teenagers that the Player Characters will have to train into a serviceable militia. The latter includes a scholar, a bandit, and more. Each NPC is given one or more aims or motivations and several have reasons why they might hire the Player Characters.

A last part of Eyes’ Rise is devoted to the River Folk, their society, culture, governance, and religion. There is the means too to create Riverfolk characters. This is useful to create characters local to Five Eyes and up and down the River of Cradles.
Eyes’ Rise is essentially the set-up for a mini-campaign. This can be one of simply providing protection to the village, but there is scope too for the Player Characters to settle here and use Five Eyes as a base of operations or a home. How either will play out is outside the scope of the supplement, as it does not provide details of the threats facing the village and its inhabitants. The Game Master will need to create these and build in events and happenings to keep the campaign moving and the Player Characters involved. There is thus potential here for a campaign in the style of Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven, or given the upheaval of recent events in the region for a bunch of vagabonds, deserters, mercenaries, and the like to redeem themselves and hopefully keep the village safe.
Is it worth your time?Yes—Eyes’ Rise can form the basis of a solid mini-campaign though one that the Game Master will need to further develop to make her own.No—Eyes’ Rise is not developed enough for the Game Master to use easily and it is set well out of the way.Maybe—Eyes’ Rise has potential as a campaign, but not without a high degree of effort.

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 Mask of the Black SunPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Alexander Nachaj

Setting: Jazz Age Canada
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twelve page, 2.11 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A stolen case leads to stolen maskPlot Hook: When a monster crosses your path...
Plot Support: Staging advice, ten handouts, four NPCs, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Tidy.
Pros# Very straightforward investigation
# Easy to slot into an existing campaign
# Easy to adjust to other times and places# Easy to run as a convention scenario# Plays to the Private Detective tropes# Masklophobia# Kinemortophobia# Foniasophobia
Cons# Needs an edit# Very straightforward investigation# Uninteresting villains and motivations
# No maps# No floorplans# Plays to the Private Detective clichés # Handouts are text handouts, even for the photographs

Conclusion# Unsophisticated, very straightforward investigation# Plays to the tropes and clichés of the Private Detective genre and is easy to adapt

By its very nature, the play of Call of Cthulhu is peripatetic, the Player Characters or Investigators travelling from strange mystery or occurrence to the next, their investigations and discoveries exposing them to the stark reality of cosmic horror, with little in the way of life in between, especially if playing one of the roleplaying game’s massive campaigns like Shadows of Yog-Sothoth or Masks of Nyarlathotep. That changes with Call of Cthulhu: Arkham. This is a supplement that presents the crown—if the jewel is Miskatonic University—in the milieu of Lovecraft’s fiction, the New England town at its heart, witch-haunted and fabled, rich in secrets and conspiracies and crime. It appeared in stories such as ‘Herbert West—Reanimator’ and ‘The Shadow Out of Time’, and it was from here and Miskatonic University that the disastrous 1930 expedition to the Antarctic was launched, as detailed in At the Mountains of Madness, followed by the Starkweather-Moore expedition of Beyond the Mountains of Madness. It is a new supplement for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition from Chaosium, Inc., one that details the town and its history, its inhabitants, its shops and its societies, and much, much more. However, it is not a new supplement for Call of Cthulhu, having originally been published in 1990 as Arkham Unveiled. Designed by the late, great Keith ‘Doc’ Herber, Arkham Unveiled introduced and laid the groundwork for the Lovecraft Country series of setting supplements and anthologies that followed in the nineties and then again in the noughties with the superb anthologies from Miskatonic River Press, New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley and More Adventures in Arkham Country, again under the aegis of Keith ‘Doc’ Herber. In their wake has followed a raft of scenarios set in and around Arkham and across Lovecraft Country, enabling Investigators to experience the Mythos on their doorsteps. The republication and update of Arkham means that it can happen all over again.
Call of Cthulhu: Arkham begins with an acknowledgement of its own history and the credit due to Keith ‘Doc’ Herber and others. Not only that, but it retains Herber’s own introduction from 1990 edition alongside that of Mike Mason’s in 2023, and in the third and final of its three appendices, it provides a good bibliography that lists supplements and anthologies published by both Chaosium, Inc. and those of its licensees. This topping and tailing is a respectful acknowledgement of both Call of Cthulhu’s own publishing history and the contributions of authors and licensees to Lovecraft Country canon over the years. Chaosium, Inc. should be commended for including both. Not only does it show appreciation for the history of the roleplaying game and this supplement in particular that veteran players of Call of Cthulhu will be pleased to see, but it provides context and history for those new to the roleplaying game.

The actual description of Arkham begins with an overview and history. This gives a description of its general geography, its settlement by more liberal thinkers from Salem and Boston in the latter seventeenth century, its poor treatment of the indigenous peoples, its growth as a fishing port despite it being a river port on the Miskatonic River and an industrial town with its textile mills and the town’s fall in fortunes as those industries declined, all the way into the twentieth century and the Jazz Age. The opening year is 1922 rather than the 1928 of the earlier versions, so that the Keeper and her players can make the greatest use of the decade. Today, Arkham is recovering from the losses of the Great War only ended a few years before, much of its wealth and reputation reliant upon the early founding and prestigious reputation of Miskatonic University. There are notes too on climate, general government, annual festivals, firearm regulations, and crime, including the town’s two organised mobs, one working to replace the other. Dan O’Bannion’s Irish mob now controls the flow of bootleg whisky into the town, whilst Giuseppe ‘Joe’ Potrello’s gang has been but displaced from Arkham. Here too, is an overview of the major towns of the Miskatonic Valley, some like Innsmouth and Kingsport having their own supplements. This is a mix of fictional and real locations, but together they provide a snapshot of what is to come in future supplement exploring up and down the Miskatonic Valley.

For the Investigator, there are options in terms of background and skills. Arkhamites can have their own significant people and meaningful locations, and there are skills particular to the city and new to Call of Cthulhu. The Arkham skills are Navigate (Arkham) and History (Arkham), whilst the new skills are Reassure, which provides calming words and intuition as a means of recovering Sanity, and Religion, a general skill which can also be very useful for the Priest and Missionary Occupations. Investigator skills can be improved by attending various institutions, for example, the Ivan Toledo School of Dance for Art (Dance) or the N.E. School of Bookkeeping for Accounting. This can be a mix of night classes, self-improvement, or simply hobbies. Popular with players are likely to be the Arkham Gun Club or the Miskatonic Ladies Shooting Club, the latter coached by the Arkham Police Department. Notably, the resulting skill increases from such activities need not require skill checks to improve as in standard play, but simply be rewarded for time spent learning and practicing the skills. For example, the owner of Ballard’s Auto Lot, Grainger Ballard, will not only sell or rent an Investigator a car, but offer a course of driving lessons. At the end of two weeks or ten lessons, the Investigator will simply gain a number of points in the skill depending upon his existing skill value. This has the extra effect of enhancing the Investigator’s independence of movement beyond Arkham and into the wider Miskatonic Valley and Lovecraft Country, perhaps in readiness for future supplements and scenario anthologies.

There is a list of clubs, societies, and Investigator organisations that they can involve themselves in, such as Arkham Chamber of Commerce or Miss Andrews’ Social Parlor, where retired ladies can congregate and socialise. There is the option too for Arkham Reputations, which can levy a penalty or grant a bonus die when it comes to interacting with folks in Arkham and up and down the valley, on skills such as Fast Talk or Persuade, and even on Credit Rating. This, of course, is dependent upon the actions of the Investigators and if they come to the attention of the authorities or the Arkham rumour mill. All Investigators begin as Respectable, but their public behaviour, accompanied by a successful Luck roll, can raise this to Distinguished and even Celebrated, but with a failed Luck roll, send it plummeting to Shameful or even Notorious. This though, is only temporary, but similar repeated and public behaviour can cement the new Reputational status and its accompanying Bonus or Penalty for longer.

The day-to-day nature of life in Arkham is covered in guides to getting around the town—primarily on foot, taxicab, and trolley with its confines, and by bus and by rail beyond, by finding accommodation with a list of hotels and boarding rooms of varied quality and price, and of finding employment or help. In the case of the latter two, this will be tied to one of the hundreds of places of business and work described in the gazetteer that makes most of Call of Cthulhu: Arkham. This could be going to Markwil’s Theatrical Supplies to purchase the wigs, makeup, and costumes, whether for a costumed ball or the use of the Art (Acting) skill, the Science Hall at Miskatonic University to consult with a mathematician about a code, or attending weekly sessions with Doctor Allen Turner for help with a psychiatric issue. These are all means to pull an Investigator into the ordinary life of being an Arkhamite, of working and having a social life, of giving him a life other than making enquiries about the outré.

The bulk of Call of Cthulhu: Arkham is dedicated to describing the many businesses, residences, institutions, and places to be found across the town’s nine neighbourhoods. They are preceded by a directory which numbers and categorises everything for easy reference, and each neighbourhood begins with an overview and not only a very attractive map, but a very good map of the neighbourhood that depicts it isometrically. Each map is accompanied by a list of the points of interest to be found within its confines. Then the numbered entry for each location is given a description, which also includes a list of the notable folk to be found there. That though, is the extent of the simplest of entries. Many others include sections that give the benefits of visiting the location for the Investigators, examine the historical nature of the location, the strangeness to be found within or below, and also ‘Look to the Future’, which charts the history of the location and its inhabitants over the course of the next decade. This can be mundane or it can be Mythos related, tied into the particular events of Lovecraft’s stories. Some also include the stats and thumbnail portraits of particular NPCs, and notably, these have a list of personality traits that quickly enable the Keeper to grasp the nature of each NPC and help portray them. Even the simple list of the notable folk can include the core skill for each NPC listed. Beyond the immediate environs of Arkham, there are descriptions of the Town Heap, the Blasted Heath at Clark’s Corners, Goody Fowler’s cottage, and Arkham Airfield. Throughout there are cultural notes and details aplenty. This includes lists of films, novels, and songs that will be released throughout the twenties, but there are interesting sections on the importance of wearing hats and student life at the Miskatonic University as well.

Of course, the pride of Arkham is Miskatonic University, which stands proud in its own neighbourhood, Campus. The Campus description will perhaps be the most familiar to Call of Cthulhu, it previously having been visited by numerous supplements all of the way back to 1983’s Pursuit to Kadath from T.O.M.E. In terms of the Mythos, the most notable location is the Orne Library and its restricted section overseen by Doctor Henry Armitage and the University Exhibit Museum, and both locations are fully detailed and given floorplans as well. There is more than enough information here should any Investigator want to visit its hallowed halls and consult with an expert or visit its museum. There is probably not quite enough information to run a long-term campaign based around the university, but doing so is not impossible. However, Call of Cthulhu: Arkham would be an all but mandatory companion to any campaign based at Miskatonic University, expanding as it does, upon the town and its various neighbourhoods beyond the grounds of the campus. More recently, this chapter would work well with A Time to Harvest: Death and Discovery in the Vermont Hills – A 1930s Era Campaign Across New England and Beyond, as would the rest of the book.

In terms of the Mythos, Call of Cthulhu: Arkham does two things. Primarily and overtly, it presents an overarching threat, that of the Arkham Coven. This strongly ties back into H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction with ‘The Dreams of the Witch-House’ and its antagonist, Keziah Mason, who continues to lead the Coven today, some two centuries later. She rarely makes an appearance at the coven’s gatherings, but she and the other twelve members are fully statted out, complete with motivations, spells known, and modifications for Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos. Apart from Keziah Mason, they are all woven in all levels of society across Arkham, including banks, social clubs, shops, schools, and more, so the Investigators may come across members of the coven in walks of life and not know it. Plus, there is scope for the Keeper to create associate members who can serve all manner of roles in a campaign. That said, all thirteen members of the Coven are very powerful, both in terms of the Mythos and the mundane world, often holding positions of some authority, so will make very tough opposition for any Investigators looking into them. The inclusion of a fully detailed associate member might have provided the Keeper with an example and a lesser threat for the Investigators to face. Beyond that and more overtly, the Mythos is woven into the fabric of Arkham and its environs, such as the ‘Imperfect Resurrected Thing’—a holdover from Herbert West’s experiments that haunts the Railroad Properties; the Old Wooded Graveyard on Hangman’s Hill where the vengeful ghost of the witch, Goody Fowler, is said to manifest; the strange source of items secretly on sale at the antique shop, Unconsidered Trifle; the tunnels which run below the town’s sewers—also detailed—that are home to the strange Arkham Creepers; Dombrowski’s Boarding House, a.k.a. the Witch House, where the events of ‘The Dreams of the Witch-House’ will play out. Of course, the chapter on the Miskatonic University includes details of Doctor Henry Armitage and the surprising number of Mythos tomes held by the Orne Library. The lengthy section includes a discussion of who knows about the Mythos at the university and when.

One of the difficulties in presenting the historical period in which Call of Cthulhu: Arkham is set is dealing with its lack of diversity and representation. Here the authors strike a balance, but encourage the Keeper and her players to make choices. For example, the personal/romantic relationships and sexuality of named NPCs is intentionally left blank for the Keeper to decide what best fits her campaign and the book makes clear that LGBTQI+ people do live and work alongside their fellow heterosexual Arkhamites, but given the historical period and its social attitudes, they are very careful about whom they reveal this to. So, they are present in the town by intent, and the Keeper is encouraged to bring them into play. The town’s minority communities, whether of colour or culture, are accorded a similar treatment, the authors pointing out that they are subject to negative attitudes by some parts of Arkham’s white majority, but rather than focus upon that, the Keeper and her players should focus upon the diversity and richness of those cultures and communities. One example of this is the fact that that the racist attitude of Arkham’s bank managers make it very difficult for members of the African-American community in East-Town to obtain loans and mortgages, preventing property ownership and the improvement of businesses, but the positive effects of the Harlem Renaissance do work their way into the community in later years of the decade, encouraging creativity and artistic output. It would be great to see this explored in later supplements and anthologies in more detail. Ultimately, Call of Cthulhu: Arkham explores these potentially difficult issues in a broad manner, acknowledging them in what is an overview, but leaving it up to the Keeper and her players as to how to address them or change details as is their wont.

Rounding out Call of Cthulhu: Arkham is a set of three appendices. The first provides a timeline of the town and a table of typical Arkhamite names, the second collects game aides, such as the weather and Reputation rules, travel times, and generic NPCs in one place for easy reference, whilst the last is the aforementioned and excellent bibliography. Call of Cthulhu: Arkham also includes three extra items. The first is a Special Edition of the Arkham Advertiser, a copy of the town’s newspaper that can be used to help bring the town to life and pique the interest of the Investigator and his player. The intention is to use that interest as a hook that will lead the Investigator to look into a story further and so pull him into Arkham life and society. The other two are a pair of double-sided maps. One depicts a street plan of Arkham as if done as a business directory, whilst on the other side is a highway map of Massachusetts. The other shows a street plan for the Keeper with all of the locations in the book marked, with a topographical map of the outskirts of town on the other. Both sets of maps are down in full colour and on sturdy paper and very nicely done. The Special Edition of the Arkham Advertiser is done on newspaper paper and has a fantastic verisimilitude to it.

Physically, Cthulhu: Arkham is very well presented. The book is clean and tidy, and despite it consisting of hundreds and hundreds of individual entries is very to read. The cartography is excellent and the artwork great.

So the question is, is Call of Cthulhu: Arkham missing anything? Most obviously a scenario. Hopefully that will be addressed with new supplements and anthologies containing scenarios old and new. That said, there are already scenarios available and for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. This includes the aforementioned New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, but there are two scenarios in the Call of Cthulhu: Keeper Screen. A table of places where the Investigator could go to increase his skills might have been useful though.

Call of Cthulhu: Arkham is designed as two things. First, a sandbox campaign setting with locations and NPCs and strangeness that the Investigators and their players can engage with and the Keeper can develop into scenarios and mysteries of her own. Second, as an introduction to Lovecraft Country and a jumping off point for supplements set up and down the Miskatonic Valley, old and new. Call of Cthulhu: Arkham is more successful at the latter than the former. This is not to say that Call of Cthulhu: Arkham does not provide the necessary information to do that, because it does. Rather that it leaves the Keeper with a great deal of work to develop that information into something playable. Far from impossible, but daunting nevertheless, especially given that Call of Cthulhu is not usually designed to do that. There can be no doubt that the shift from the more nomadic play style of Call of Cthulhu to the location play style of Call of Cthulhu: Arkham and Lovecraft Country is radical. Here though, Call of Cthulhu: Arkham shines in setting that up, establishing Arkham as a place and bringing its places, peoples, and peculiarities to life and then pulling the Investigators into that life, giving them homes, jobs, and social lives. It sets them up to notice the aberrations of Arkham, whilst laying the groundwork for future releases for Lovecraft Country.

Call of Cthulhu: Arkham is a truly impressive release for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. It takes a classic supplement and updates it for both the current rules and to make accessible and useable and succeeds on both counts. It presents a charming façade of an old New England town behind which lurks the secrets and horrors of the Mythos, just waiting for the Investigators to discover if they take a peek too far. It provides a home and a life beyond investigations into the outré for the Investigators and so offers an opportunity for the players to roleplay them beyond maddening encounters with the Mythos, only of course, discover that such encounters can found lurking close to home. Above all, it lays the groundwork for the whole of Lovecraft Country, ready to be explored in future releases and by the Investigators from their homes in Arkham, whilst on their doorstep, it gives both players and Investigators the opportunity to investigate some of H.P. Lovecraft’s most well-known stories.