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

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One of the perennial contributors to Free RPG Day is Paizo, Inc., a publisher whose titles for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game have proved popular and often in demand long after the event. Since 2018, with the release of Starfinder: Skitter Shot, these adventures have showcased the adventures of four of the cheerfully manic, gleefully helpful, vibrantly coloured, six-armed and furry creatures known as Skittermanders—Dakoyo, Gazigaz, Nako, and Quonx. For Free RPG Day 2023, Paizo, Inc. introduces new Player Characters and a new situation in the scenario, Operation Seaside Park. The scenario is designed to be played by five Player Characters of Third Level. Five pre-generated Player Characters, none of them diminutive as in prior scenarios for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game released for Free RPG Day. Alternatively, players can create their own characters using the core rulebook for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, the Starfinder Character Operations Manual, and any of the playable options from the various volumes of the Starfinder Alien Archive.

Operation Seaside Park takes place on the hot, humid world of Castrovel. It begins with the Player Characters receiving a message from their employers or patrons, each alerting them to news that an unidentified spaceship has crashed on the world and they have been assigned to investigate. The crash site is a closed down amusement park, which gives the situation a rundown feel and sense of abandonment. Once the Player Characters have introduced themselves, they have to find a way into the amusement park and locate the actual crash site. The one route into the park which is detailed is via the maintenance tunnels under the park, though the Player Characters will find themselves stalked by aliens... Although other means of entry into the amusement park, including scaling the fence or picking the lock on the game, ideally, they should take the route underground since the encounters there add both tension and action in equal measure. If the Player Characters decide not to enter the maintenance tunnels first time, they should be encouraged to do so, possibly by their patrons, in order to deal with the threat at the heart of the scenario.

Once inside the amusement park, the Player Characters soon encounter a variety of different, but somehow connected aliens, which will not hesitate to attack. After that, they will quickly locate the site of the crashed starship. The rest of the scenario takes place aboard this vessel. Consisting of nine locations, the wreck of the starship is nicely detailed and there is a tension to even the exploration of these nine locations! Overall, the scenario focuses on exploration and combat rather than interaction.

Rounding out Operation Seaside Park is a quintet of pre-generated Player Characters. This consists of a robotic Agenda SRO Trooper Soldier, the avian Espraksa Wild Warden Mystic, Morlamaw Icon Envoy (space walrus!), Feychild Gnome Mercenary Operative 3, and a Human Guard Solarian 3. All five are good characters and have enough background for the single scenario that is Operation Seaside Park.
Physically, Operation Seaside Park is well presented. The artwork is good, but the cartography is excellent. In terms of content, the scenario includes a good mix of aliens for the Player Characters to face and provides a good mix of combat and exploration. Overall, Operation Seaside Park is a solid adventure that does a good job of showing off the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

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

The bulk of each book though is dedicated to individual entries in the pantheon. Each of these follows the same format. They begin with the Mythos and History of the god, the Nature of the Cult and its Organisation, its membership at various levels—lay member, initiate, God-Talker, Rune-Lord, Rune-Priest, and Chief Priest, and continue with subservient cults, associated cults, and subcults, and more. This will vary from god to god and from cult to cult. This follows the format seen in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, but in every case greatly expands what is included in the core rulebook, whether in terms of individual entries or additional entries. The number of pages dedicated to each god and thus each cult will also vary. A god whose worship is widespread—and also a popular choice for players to select for their characters to worship—is explored over the course of multiple pages whereas a less popular and less worshipped god many only receive two or three pages. All gods though, receive a full colour depiction at the start of their entry that includes their runes too, in addition to their being depicted elsewhere.
Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers is the first examination of a pantheon and its title is both a misnomer and not a misnomer. It is not a misnomer because it does detail the gods and other mythical figures—Orlanth, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, Chalana Arroy, Flesh Man, Ginna Jar, and Eurmal—who performed the Lightbringers Quest, redeeming Orlanth’s slaying of Yelm with Death which brought about the Great Darkness, by descending into the Underworld and having Orlanth test himself before the dead emperor that would lead to agreement between the two that would see the restoration and repairing of the world. However, it is a misnomer because it details with more than just those figures, encompassing some nineteen gods, the majority of whom did not participate in the Lightbringers Quest, and their cults. It is thus more accurate to say that Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers is the book of the gods of the air or the storm, but given the significance of the Lightbringers Quest and its participants, still appropriate to call it Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers and both the Lightbringers Quest and its participants are examined in detail throughout the book.
Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers begins with Orlanth, who has over a tenth of the book and over twenty pages devoted to him. His is the lengthiest mythology, exploring his life and role before and after history began in some detail before presenting the details of his cult. This encompasses subcults, Orlanth Adventurous, Orlanth Thunderous, Orlanth Rex, and Orlanth Lightbringer, and including new Rune spells such as Command Priests, Command Worshippers, and Detect Honour for Orlanth Rex. Barntar is included here as well as having his own entry elsewhere in the book, because of his close association with his father, and Sartar is detailed as a subcult too, along with his Rune spell, City Harmony, which can be cast in any city or any road with Sartar. There are also details of the spells provided to the Orlanthi subcults by Engizi, the river god, and Kero Fin, the Mountain Goddess, as well as descriptions of Vinga—Orlanth’s daughter and/or female incarnation—his numerous associated cults (many detailed elsewhere in the book) and the depiction of Orlanth and his cult in lands beyond Dragon Pass. It is a huge amount of information, but presented in very accessible format that provides numerous options for paths through the cult that an Orlanthi can take, from impulsive warrior-adventurer and Orlanth Adventurous to the wisdom and responsibility of Orlanth Rex. Throughout there are pieces of flavour text that can add colour and detail to an Orlanthi and the cult, such as the section of poetry that sets down the price to be paid when calling for assistance in combat. Alongside all of this is a section of boxed text that present the starting skills, cult spirit magic and favoured passions of the main cult and the subcult, similar to that in the cults chapter in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. In the case of Orlanth, this repeats some information, but for many of the other gods and cults it will be new.

Similar treatments are accorded to each of the other entries in the book. This continues with Chalana Arroy, which has notes on her healers as adventurers and expanded healing rules that include the use of plants and spirits. The disorderly nature of Eurmal feels suitably upside down and roundabout with determined lack of cult or organisation and fascinatingly odd subcults like Dismembered, Fool, Glutton, Imp, Lightbringer, Mask, and Murderer! The entry on Issaries also discusses trade across Glorantha and Issaries caravans as well as the legendary Desert Trackers that trek into Genert’s Wastelands, daring to lead where only Praxians might. Lhankor Mhy perhaps feels the most political of all entries, though that is only within the cult itself and Barntar, the most ordinary, but his association with Orlanth means he is still interesting (perhaps even as a cover for Orlanthi-related activities under the watch of Lunar eyes). Other entries include Daka Fal, the Judge of the Dead, which is suitable for Shaman Player Characters; Heler; Humakt, which includes details on Humakti duels, honour, and sword; Odayla, the Sky Bear and god of the wilderness favoured by hunters; Storm Bull, the foe of Chaos; Waha, the God of the Animal Nomads of Prax and the Wasteland; and lastly, the God of Cats, Yinkin.
Whilst there are many entries in Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers which will surprise no-one, there are some that will. Some of these include Gagarth, the Wild Hunters, whose worshippers are mostly violent outlaws and outcastes, and Lanbril, the God of Thieves, a covert cult that hides all. Other gods are included who have almost no worshippers, like Mastakos, the God of Movement or Valind, the God of Winter, or Ygg, the Roaring God, who is little worshipped beyond the Wolf Pirates and the peoples of Ygg’s Isles. Their inclusion will probably be of interest to the Game Master in creating interesting NPCs rather than to the players.
Physically, Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers is very well written and presented. What stands out is the quality of the artwork, which begins with its cover and its majestically imposing depiction of Orlanth, that perhaps is only matched by the depiction of Vinga wearing the same regalia as her father and/or male counterpoint inside the book. The illustrations throughout are uniformly excellent, with some of the in-world depictions having a fascinating sense of otherness in capturing the key myths around the gods, such as those for Yinkin and his relationship with his half-brother, Orlanth. It is a pity that there are not more of these are as they are exceptionally good.
Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers presents options for the players and their characters in terms of who and what they want to play and what gods they want their characters to embody, providing them with the background and the details to do so and the Game Master to also make interesting NPCs. In doing so, it both expands upon the information in the core rulebook and complements its sister volume, Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses, in a very accessible, readable, and literally fantastically illustrated fashion. Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers is an essential book for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, opening up the mythologies and gods of the air and making them playable by player and Game Master alike.
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An unboxing video of Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers is available to watch on Unboxing in the Nook.

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

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One of the perennial contributors to Free RPG Day is Paizo, Inc., a publisher whose titles for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game have proved popular and often in demand long after the event. The emphasis in these releases have invariably been upon small species. Thus, in past years, the titles released for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have typically involved adventures with diminutive Player Characters, first Kobolds, then Goblins, and then with the release of A Fistful of Flowers for Free RPG Day 2022, Leshys, humanoid sapient plants of various species and Classes, typically crafted by a druid as a minion or companion. For Free RPG Day 2023, the same Leshys from A Fistful of Flowers return in A Few Flowers More, a second scenario which continues the ‘Spaghetti Forest’ theme of the first. As before, four pre-generated Player Characters are included, each of Third Level, each independent of their creator, and the scenario requires the Game Master have access to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, Pathfinder Bestiary, Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide, and the Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide. The scenario can be played through in a single session and unlike in past years, is more combat focused, than the previous scenarios.

A Few Flowers More, like A Fistful of Flowers before it, begins in Verduran Forest, a large woodland in Avistan. There is a Wildwood Treaty in place between the forest and the nearby settled lands, affording the forest certain legal protections which limit what the nearby humans can harvest from under the eaves. In A Fistful of Flowers, the Player Characters traced a number of missing Leshys to a nearby village where they discovered an alchemist transforming the kidnap victims into showpieces to display at the tea parties of the snooty, venal aristocrat, Lady Constance Meliosa. Having prevailed and rescued the missing Leshys, the Player Characters have taken the chance to rest and recuperate and enjoy life in the forest. Unfortunately, the events of A Few Flowers More means that their respite is cut short and their bravery will be called upon once again.

The scenario begins with Stella, a tiny, bat-featured spirit known as a Nyktera, and also a pillar of the community, summoning the Player Characters to her home. Here, she explains that part of the forest has seen the rapid growth and spread of strange plants and this has attracted the attention of Humans harvesting them and thus annoyed the local fey. With the treaty between the humans and the forest under threat, the Player Characters are instructed to investigate. When they do, they discover that the harvesters’ is already in disarray and there are signs that somebody has already attacked the intrusive Humans. By now, the Player Characters may already be suspicious that the plants are neither native to the Verduran Forest or indeed, the prime material plane. Investigation will quickly confirm this, pointing to the First World, the primeval home of the fey, as the source of the new plant life. The question is, has there been breach between the Verduran Forest and the First World, and if so, who caused it?

A Few Flowers More is a short adventure, taking up less than half—including the maps for the scenario—of the sixteen page booklet. It effectively consists of three scenes: a roleplaying scene which introduces the scenario, followed by two combat scenes. The better and more inventive of the two combat scenes is essentially a big game of peekaboo as the Player Characters try to get into the cabin belonging to the harvesters, but since occupied by Fey who have hacked holes in the walls. The combat in the third scene is nowhere near as interesting, or even actually interesting. That said, the scenario does finish with the Player Characters needing to decide what do with the cause of the breach with the First World.

If less than half of A Few Flowers More consists of the scenario, what comprises the bulk of the booklet? Simply, the Player Characters. These consist of a Gourd Leshy Druid, Leaf Leshy Bard, a Vine Leshy Barbarian, and a Fungus Leshy Rogue. Each is neatly arranged on their own two-page spread and complete with background and clear, easy to read stats. Of course, the players do not have to use these, but could instead substitute their own characters, created using the rules in the Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide. Otherwise though, these are a decently diverse range of characters. The Player Characters are all Third Level and highly detailed. In fact, too highly detailed. Arguably, all four Player Characters are accorded too much information given that they are designed to be played in a scenario intended to be played in a single session and in effect, the two-page spread for each Player Character becomes filler.

Physically, A Few Flowers More is as well presented as you would expect for a release from Paizo Inc. Everything is in full colour, the illustrations are excellent, and the maps attractive.
Unfortunately, unlike A Fistful of Flowers before it, A Few Flowers More is not an entertaining and likeable scenario—or a sufficiently entertaining and likeable scenario. What is there is, is detailed and decently written, but A Fistful of Flowers is simply too short and focuses too much on combat instead of investigation and interaction. Consequently, A Few Flowers More fails to provide Pathfinder, Second Edition with the showcase it should for Free RPG Day. Paizo, Inc. has a proven track record of providing great content and support for the Pathfinder roleplaying game over the fourteen years that it has supported Free RPG Day. That track record is broken with A Few Flower Flowers more.

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

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It is more common for roleplaying games to get turned into board games, for example, Exalted: Legacy of the Unconquered Sun for the Exalted roleplaying game from White Wolf Entertainment and Grand Tribunal, the board game set in the world of Atlas Games’ Ars Magica, but that trend is on the turn. Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game from Magpie Games is based on Leder Games’ Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right, whilst the popular Zombicide board game from CMON Global Limited now has its own stand-alone roleplaying game in the form of Zombicide: Chronicles – The Roleplaying Game. For Free RPG Day 2021, CoolMiniOrNot and Guillotine Games released the Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day Mission Booklet. This contained a trio of short scenarios which can either set up or continue a post-apocalyptic campaign in which the dead rise, walk, shamble, or even run, and want to munch on your brains. However, it did not contain any rules from Zombicide: Chronicles—for that the Zombie Master needed to download the Zombicide: Chronicles Quick-Start, which has everything necessary to play through the three scenarios in the Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day Mission Booklet. This is also the case for the Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day 2 Mission Booklet.

The Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day 2 Mission Booklet contains two scenarios rather than the three of Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day Mission Booklet from Free RPG Day 2021. They will work with either the Zombicide: Chronicles Quick-Start or the full rules from Zombicide: Chronicles – The Roleplaying Game. The first of the two missions in the booklet, ‘Car Crush’, is the longer and the more detailed—and is the better for it. The scenario begins with the Survivors encountering Reginald, a chauffeur—who happens to be an English chauffeur for a well-known rapper in the pre-Zombicide Chronicles world—in a spot of difficulty. His limousine’s battery is flat and needs replacing, but he is surrounded by zombies. If he can get a replacement battery, he can get to a source of food and supplies that has yet to be scavenged. Can the Survivors help? Thankfully, the chauffeur has stopped right outside the perfect place to find a replacement battery: Monster Joe’s Used Auto Parts. The rest of the mission is a sandbox adventure set entirely within the confines of a junkyard. Which just happens to be full of zombies because the Mob used ‘Billy Boy’, Monster Joe’s enormous car crusher, to dispose of bodies. Unfortunately, the Mob has been using it for years and whilst that was not before the apocalypse, after an apocalypse when the undead have arisen to walk the earth and feed on the living, it definitely is! This results in a great set-up with members of the corpse cortege ready to leap out of partially crushed wrecks and the junkyard’s car graveyard. It being a junkyard, it has towering piles of well, junk, and scrap, some of them noteworthy and interesting some not, and it has dogs to discourage would be thieves and intruders, and some of these are, of course, zombie dogs.

‘Car Crush’ details nine locations, each one a set-piece of its own. In addition to this, there are a trio of events which add flavour and a little pathos to the whole affair. The scenario also serves as a prequel to Road to Haven, which is the first campaign for Zombicide Chronicles. To play that, Reginald should survive the mission and drive the Survivors to the Shopmarket, which marks the start of the campaign proper, where they will be able to resupply with food and perhaps even run into Reginald’s boss, Adam W. Clever. Even if the Zombie Master decides not to run the scenario as part of the Road to Haven campaign, this is a really fun scenario which plays up to the classic tropes of American junkyard, right up to including links with the Mob.

Where ‘Car Crush’ was more open and had more of a freeform feel to it, the second mission, ‘Oliver Twisted’ is more constrained and tactical, and as the title suggests, it involves children. It is also the shorter of the two. It also assumes that the Survivors have access to a Shelter and have made contact with other Shelters such that the Survivors possess a radio and a codebook which enables the various occupants of the Shelters to communicate with each other in secrecy. Unfortunately, the Survivors have had their copy of the codebook stolen—and stolen by children, no less! So to enable the Survivors to remain in contact with the other Shelters, they need to retrieve the codebook. Which means finding the children, who all turn out to be orphans with a strong distrust of adults. Plus, the one orphan who stole the codebook has been kidnapped by the ‘Devils’, a band of soldiers who have holed up in the upper levels of a city block. Worse, they have surrounded it with zombies! This sets up a tactical situation in which the Survivors—none of them trained soldiers—have to assault or break into hideout occupied by trained soldiers. Whilst there is some roleplaying to be had between the orphans and the Survivors, ‘Oliver Twisted’ primarily consists of combat and stealth, and it lacks the inventiveness of ‘Car Crush’. Not every scenario has to be quite as inventive, but ‘Oliver Twisted’ is just merely okay.

Physically, Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day 2 Mission Booklet is well presented, the artwork, all cartoonish zombies and Survivors, is decent, and the one map in the booklet does the job very nicely.

If the Zombie Master wants two more Missions for Zombicide: Chronicles – The Roleplaying Game, then Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day 2 Mission Booklet will give her that. If the Zombie Master is planning to run Road to Haven, the first campaign for Zombicide: Chronicles – The Roleplaying Game, then the Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day 2 Mission Booklet is exactly what she needs. Either way, the Zombicide: Chronicles Free RPG Day 2 Mission Booklet includes two Missions which are decent, but one of which is a lot more fun and inventive than the other.

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

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The award for the slimmest release for Free RPG Day 2023 goes to Dragon Shield for its Mini-Adventure, ‘The Knights of Botan’. It amounts—more or less—to a single sheet of card, in US Letter-size, upon which is detailed an encounter which a Dungeon Master can easily add to her Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition game. If that sounds underwhelming, well, that is because it is and also it is not. For in actuality, the release from Dragon Shield—better known for its range of accessories for the collectable card market rather than the roleplaying hobby—consists of three things. One is the aforementioned one-sheet adventure for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, the second is a monster card for the major NPC in the adventure, and the third is The Pocket RPG Guide, a miniature booklet of tips for both player and Game Master.

The first is the adventure, ‘The Knights of Botan’. This is presented on a single sheet of light card. There is no set Level for the Player Characters, but it is assumed that they are heroic and have completed several adventures. The scenario begins when they awake in a dream. This enables the scenario to be run either between adventures or even during an adventure as a side quest. The scenario thus takes place on the astral plane where they are faced with four doors, each connected to a dragon. Beyond each door lies a similarly structured, but thematically different challenge. All require certain bones to be identified and rifled through to locate a certain object, a terrain and environment to be overcome, and so on, with monsters impeding their progress if the Player Characters falter. All four challenges adhere to the same format, with only their various elements differing. The Dungeon Master will need to prepare some monster stats here and probably break down the procedure to best understand it. If they succeed, the Player Characters will be rewarded with the trust of the Botan, the dragon of dreams. The idea here is that Botan will return to call upon the Player Characters for aid as Knights of Botan.
The structure and set-up for ‘The Knights of Botan’ is presented on the one side of the card, whilst on the other is the set of four tables for the scenario’s four challenges, along with an illustration of an unnamed dragon. In terms of presentation and design, ‘The Knights of Botan’ is succinct. It needs close attention and a little development upon the part of the Dungeon Master to make it easier to use and in the long term, some ideas of the Dungeon Master’s own if she wants to bring Botan and the Player Characters new positions as Knights of Botan into her campaign.

The second of the items is the Monster Card. This is of Abigan, the small Fey Dragon who is part of the events of ‘The Knights of Botan’. This is the creature’s full stats and abilities, or rather ability. This is ‘Fey Dragon Charm’, which enables Abigan to charm a single humanoid and convince him that he is the Fey Dragon’s truest, most trusted friend. On the front is an illustration of Abigan. Unfortunately, there are no personality or roleplaying notes for the creature.
The third of the items is The Pocket RPG Guide. This is a seven-page, full colour booklet which contains tips for player and Game Master alike. For the player, there is ‘Breathing Life Into A Character’, a quick and dirty step-by-step guide to creating interesting Player Characters. It starts off a bit silly with a Player Character called Milly Cyrus, a bard who wants to go to the magical land of Las Vegas. However, the advice is not without merit, highlighting the difficulty of creating interesting characters and suggesting a way round this by starting with a cliché and combining that with a motivation, and using it to drive the Player Character’s actions, whilst also throwing in a contradiction to add complexity and generate interest in the Player Character and his actions. The advice is obvious, but that does not mean that it is bad advice. In fact, for the player new to roleplaying games, it is good advice as a starting point, and for the experienced player, it is advice worth revisiting because it still works, especially if the player is short of ideas or inspiration. Similarly, the advice for the Game Master is obvious, but not necessarily bad. ‘5 Tips To Becoming A Great GM’ talks about how to get the right players involved that want to be involved, the importance of running a ‘Session Zero’ and being consistent to it, and so on. Much like the advice for the player, there is nothing new or innovative in the advice given, but it is good advice and it is helpful advice. Rounding out The Pocket RPG Guide is two sets of tables, one for generating locations and one for NPCs. Each is given four tables, for example, ‘Personality’, ‘Quirk’, ‘Archetype’, and ‘Desire’ for the NPC Generator, with six entries per table. The mix of options is limited, but as a starting set, is reasonably serviceable.

What is noticeable about The Pocket RPG Guide is that it is heavily illustrated with photographs, especially for a booklet as short as this is. The photographs all show two items that Dragon Shield makes as aids for both the player and the Game Master. These are the Game Master Companion and the Player Companion which are shown throughout The Pocket RPG Guide in actual use.

The literally slim offering from Dragon Shield means that as a scenario, ‘The Knights of Botan’, is not as easy to use in play as other releases for Free RPG Day 2023. It is underdeveloped and it underwhelms, but it has scope to be further developed and made easier to use by the Dungeon Master. Similarly, the Monster Card feels the same way, whereas there is that little bit more to The Pocket RPG Guide that makes it more obviously useful. Overall, succinct, but potentially serviceable is the best description of the Monsters Cards, Mini Adventure, and The Pocket RPG Guide from Dragon Shield for Free RPG Day 2023.

Gaming conventions are scary and terrible. Going to a gaming convention means meeting all of those other attendees, who are people—and as we know, people are terrible. Gamers are worse. Who knows who we might end up with sat around a table playing a game, trapped with them for four hours? How are you going to cope with queues to get in—to everything—let alone the crowds in the trade hall and the dealers pushing things at you, trying to sell their latest and greatest games? And if the number of other attendees is an assault on the senses, so are the smells of the other attendees and the range of food on sale. Invariably bland and greasy, and whilst you might be hungry, are really you hungry enough to bolt that burger down and gulp that bottle of fizzy pop in the few minutes you have between the last event and the next? And there is, of course, the ‘con crud’ factor… Just how bad are you going to feel on Monday morning after the convention and your weekend away? What minor illness did you back with you which is going to leave you under the weather for days? Above all, are you really going to have fun, or end up exhausted and hungry with little to show for it except the ‘Con Crud’? Not all gaming conventions are really that bad, but the one you are about to attend in Stuck at a Gaming Convention very probably is.

Stuck at a Gaming Convention: A silly, thematic role playing game is a storytelling game published by Beyond Cataclysm Books. It can be played with a Game Master or without and is designed to take a group of players through the convention experience from the safety of their own home without necessarily having attended a gaming convention—though the experience of play will definitely be heightened if they have. Of course, Stuck at a Gaming Convention could actually be played at a gaming convention and even be influenced by that gaming convention as much as any other! Stuck at a Gaming Convention is a game about surviving the travails and traumas of being at a convention—encountering Coplayer Monsters, Leafleter Monsters, Crowd Monsters, Stallholder Monsters, running to the Food Court and the Nap Station, and all that before even managing to get to the games and actually play something!

Stuck at a Gaming Convention is played using a ten-sided die and a six-sided die. A Conventioneer has three stats—Fun, Fatigue, and Famine. All three are rated between zero and ten and Fatigue and Famine are negative stats, whereas Fun is not. A Conventioneer also has a Name, a non-gaming hobby, a reason why he came to the convention, and a favourite game, the latter selected from the six games detailed in the back of the book. The occupation, non-gaming hobby, and the reason for attending the convention each allow a single reroll during play if appropriate to the situation. The favourite game allows a single reroll in that game if it is played. If any Conventioneer’s Fun reaches a score of ten, then everyone will have had a good time at the gaming convention, everyone can go home happy, and the gaming convention has been a success and Stuck at a Gaming Convention is won. Conversely, if the Fatigue or Famine of any Conventioneer reaches ten, then that Conventioneer is reduced to misery as the gaming convention has beaten him, he and his friends have had a terrible time and decided to go home, and Stuck at a Gaming Convention is lost.

The roleplaying game is played into two phases—the Action Phase and the Gaming Phase. These alternate until the game is lost or won. In the Action Phase, the Conventioneers face the monsters of the ’Fan-dom Encounters’, including the Cosplay, Leafleter, Crowd, and Stallholder monsters. Face-offs against each monster are dice-offs, the player rolling the ten-sided die, trying to roll higher than the monster, who uses the six-sided die. Defeating a monster grants a reward that increases a Conventioneer’s Fun. Visiting the Food Court or the Nap Station will reduce a Conventioneer’s Fatigue and Famine respectively, but at the cost of Fun.

In the Gaming Phase, the Conventioneers play one of six games which include Settlers of Takan, Storm the Castle, and Escape the Dungeon. These are mini-games, typically dice games which are parodies of well-known board games, though Dream It is a drawing game. These are thankfully short affairs, not necessarily that interesting in themselves. They really offer only the one type of game as opposed to the range of games typically offered at a gaming convention, so no roleplaying, no LARPS, and so on. What this means is Stuck at a Gaming Convention may actually be asking the players to have their characters engage in gaming activities which they themselves do not find fun. Some random events might have been useful too, to give more chances of having Fun or suffering Fatigue, and they perhaps, could also have made the games themselves that little more interesting.

Physically, Stuck at a Gaming Convention is a busy, fuzzy affair in pale pink and purple that lives up to its name. Stuck at a Gaming Convention: A silly, thematic role playing game is silly and it is thematic, a one-shot game about surviving the game as much as the imaginary convention. It is also a game with a dichotomy. The part of the game where you are actually not meant to be having fun in-game is actually more fun out-of-game, whereas the part of the game where you are actually meant to be having fun in-game is actually less fun out-of-game. Stuck at a Gaming Convention: A silly, thematic role playing game is a game where the more fun that the players put into it, the more fun they are going to get out of it, and ultimately it is a game that people are not really going to want to that do that more than once or twice.

Far to the north stands the island of Ormil. At the heart of the island is the Great Lake. In the centre of the Great Lake is Olla’s Island. Standing on Olla’s Island is the Sorcerer’s Enclave. This is the last high point of civilisation in the north and no man should have reason to go beyond. This is a bastion for the study of magic and it can only be reached by the Dragon Ferry. A village, warded against those who would wish the Sorcerer’s Enclave ill, stands at the foot of the sorcerous sanctuary, but it is a mere steppingstone to the enchanted enclave that looms over it. Inside the Sorcerer’s Enclave, numerous schools of magic are studied and practised, some even simply recorded lest the knowledge be lost and need to be rediscovered in later generations. Druidic magic is one such school, part religion, part sorcery, which combines magics from across numerous later schools. The Druid’s way is practised outside, like the study of natural magics—practitioners insist the schools are very different, whilst inside, all wizards and wizards have the opportunity to learn how to use their magics offensively and defensively in the Duelling Pit, where that rarest of sights is seen—a Battle Magic wizard or witch in actual armour! Deep in the bowels of the Sorcerer’s Enclave is the Golem Manufactory where raw heartstones are infused with magic and inscribed with runes to dictate the behaviour of Golems they are placed deep within. Elsewhere alchemical arts are studied in their own laboratories, portents and omens are tracked across the sky from the observatory atop the Sorcerer’s Enclave, whilst mystic signs and alignments are tracked immediately below using a giant orrery.
The wizards and witches of the Sorcerer’s Enclave are even whispered to practise demonology, for how else can they explain the behorned, sometimes bewinged sprites that serve as their servants and assistants? All of these Minions wear hooded caps with bells on the end to prevent their presence from never being heard. After all, who wants demonic minions sneaking about a wizards’ school? Winged Minions work in The Arcanum or Great Library or the Sorcerer’s Enclave guard, members of which are recognised by their height of four foot or more, their bronze masks, and their hooked polearms. The members of Sorcerer’s Enclave are also served by Familiars as is traditional in many other schools, but here the Familiar is not duty bound to bond with a master or mistress. Instead, the Familiar Whisperer—a position of honour amongst the Minions—trains Familiars to accept that bond. This is the setting for The Sorcerer’s Enclave.
The Sorcerer’s Enclave is not a roleplaying book in the traditional sense. Published by SquareHex—best known for The Black Hack—The Sorcerer’s Enclave is more artbook than sourcebook, describing and depicting the rooms and locations of a great magical redoubt, hidden away from curious eyes and from accidentally unleashing some disastrous dweomercraft upon civilisation! The Sorcerer’s Enclave begins with a map of ‘The World as it is known’, showing the islands and their relationship. This is, unfortunately, too small to pick up on any detail on the page, but The Sorcerer’s Enclave is accompanied by a small poster map that shows the geography to far better effect. Our journey literally begins aboard the Dragon Ferry, crewed by Minions—many at the oars—with its dragon wing keel and rudder, and dragon head prow. This, like the whole of the Sorcerer’s Enclave, is shown in cross section with the Minions working and resting and there being actually little room for passengers.
Once ashore on Olla’s Island, the tour of the Sorcerer’s Enclave takes us roundabout and inside the enchanted establishment. Each location or section of the Sorcerer’s Enclave is given a two-page spread which showcases the room or facility itself as well as highlighting its location within the building as a cutaway on a silhouette of the Sorcerer’s Enclave. There are lovely little details such as a snoring wizard asleep in his chair, his feet resting on a Minion who is working on some notes and of the wooden tower atop a tree alongside the towers of the Sorcerer’s Enclave which is home to study of the Natural Arts. There is also a sense of story to The Sorcerer’s Enclave, one that becomes apparent as the reader turns its pages and progresses through the book and moves from the left to the right of the Sorcerer’s Enclave and its towers. Thus, the reader goes from the Dragon Ferry and the Dragon Jetty from the Druid’s Way and its menhir through the laboratories of the Alchemical Arts, the Great Library, the storehouse of the Masters of Secrets, and perhaps out beyond via the Portal Chamber. As the guide moves rightward, danger looms and so do the darkest secrets of the Sorcerer’s Enclave. First, there is the Thing Below, a betentacled creature lurking in a cleft in Olla’s Island, altered like many other fish and beasts of the lake by magic and alchemical spills, and then the tower that is home to the enclave’s lone necromancer, whose studies concern at least two of its Grand Magi and are revealed to the reader…
The Sorcerer’s Enclave is written and drawn by Aaron Howdle whose lovingly detailed pen and ink artwork is clearly influenced by the style of artwork being used by Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures in the nineteen eighties such as the late Russ Nicholson and Ian Miller. Even the appearance of the Sorcerer’s Enclave as a silhouette echoes the castle logo of Citadel Miniatures. This is all confirmed by the artist’s biography at the end of the book, which actually contains more text than the rest of the book. Physically, The Sorcerer’s Enclave is lovely, the artwork is a delight, worth poring over for its exquisitely detailed locations and characters.
In game terms, there is almost nothing in The Sorcerer’s Enclave that is actually game-related. There are no stats or similar details. This means that whilst it is not immediately useful for a roleplaying game setting or rules set, the Game Master is entirely free to apply the numbers and mechanics that she wants to the setting to use it in her game world. One obvious direction of development for this, like the direction of the book’s exploration of the Sorcerer’s Enclave, would be to bring the threat of the establishment’s lone Necromancer and his plans into play. Others might be to use as a location and world to visit via the Portal Chamber or from somewhere within its own world, or to use it as a place of study for a wizard or witch-focused campaign. Of course, as a magical institute, the Sorcerer’s Enclave holds numerous tomes, potions, and other secret artefacts, all of which would interest the Player Characters.
The Sorcerer’s Enclave is simply a lovely book to own, a delightful and detailed homage to British fantasy artwork of the eighties that fans of Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures will appreciate. As a gaming resource, The Sorcerer’s Enclave, very much awaits the input and development of the Game Master, but is especially suited to the Old School Renaissance.

The Christmas Annual is a traditional thing—and all manner of things can receive a Christmas Annual. Those of our childhoods would have been tie-ins to the comic books we read, such as the Dandy or the Beano, or the television series that we enjoyed, for example, Doctor Who. Typically, here in the United Kingdom, they take the form of slim hardback books, full of extra stories and comic strips and puzzles and games, but annuals are found elsewhere too. In the USA, ongoing comic book series, like Batman or The X-Men, receive their own annuals, though these are simply longer stories or collections of stories rather than the combination of extra stories and comic strips and puzzles and games. In gaming, TSR, Inc.’s Dragon magazine received its own equivalent, the Dragon Annual, beginning in 1996, which would go from being a thick magazine to being a hardcover book of its own with the advent of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. For the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023—as with the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 and the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2022—the format is very much a British one. This means puzzles and games, and all themed with the fantasy and mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons, along with content designed to get you into the world’s premier roleplaying game.

Published by Harper Collins Publishers, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 moves on from the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2022 in a surprising nod to recent events—it acknowledges the effects of COVID-19 and the Lockdown, and how that changed our gaming practices, many of us moving online to play Dungeons & Dragons and other RPG, for example, via Zoom. It suggests means of doing so and what those means offer in terms of play and interaction, making the point that it is still a viable option even though in-person play has returned. This is explored a little further in ‘Virtual Play Weekend’, which looks at events organised online by Wizards of the Coast.

However, where the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 starts with ‘Welcome to the Multiverse’, an overview of some of the settings explored in official releases for Dungeons & Dragons from Wizards of the Coast. This itself begins with the Forgotten Realms—because it always does—but it includes some of the lesser know worlds such as Exandria of Critical Role and both Strixhaven and Ravnica from Magic: The Gathering. These are only thumbnail descriptions, so they are all too brief, leaving the reader wishing that any one them of had pages of their own in the book. Thankfully, several of them do, but not all. The three that do each receive this attention via a series of articles, sometimes paired, sometimes not. One is from the ‘Heroes & Villains’ series and the other is from ‘Mapping the Realms’. The first is Ravenloft, and its ‘Heroes & Villains’ entry is a description of Strahd, the Darklord of Barovia, one of the lands of Shadowfell. Included here too, are descriptions of his allies and enemies, such as the vampire hunter, Doctor Rudolph Van Richten, and Strahd’s rival, the Sun Elf vampire, Jander Sunstar. Van Richten receives more attention in the accompanying, paired ‘Mapping the Realms’ entry which also highlights Castle Ravenloft and its location on the map. Acerak, the villain of Tomb of Annihilation is given similar treatment, whilst the other ‘Mapping the Realms’ entries explore ‘The Feywild’ and its unpredictable, primal magic—later detailed in its own section in ‘Wild Magic’, ‘Gewhaawk’, the original campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons, and ‘Avernus’, the first level of hell explored in Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. The heroes described in the ‘Heroes & Villains’ series are Mordenkainen and Volothamp Geddarm.

Community is not ignored in the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 as it highlights the generosity of players in playing and donating to good causes. Being British means that one of these covered in the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 is Comic Relief, a big event very other year in the United Kingdom. It is a sign of just how far Dungeons & Dragons has been accepted into the mainstream that it is part of such a big event. Other events highlighted are Extra Life and Playing D&D for Mermaids. The spotlight here is on the ‘Three Black Halflings’ podcast, ‘Girls Guts Glory’ streaming group, and even an interview with renowned Dungeon Master, B. Dave Walters in ‘Meet the DM’, which together showcases the appeal and diversity of the Dungeons & Dragons community.

Even if the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 has no stats or adventures or anything mechanical for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in its pages, it does talk about the basics of getting ready to run the game. ‘Planning a Dungeon Delve’ looks at all the elements of an adventure, whilst ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Homebrewing’ suggests ways in which Dungeons & Dragons can be modified, including characters and worlds. There is a guide too, to ‘Writing a Backstory’ as part of a character creation checklist, whilst ‘Session Zero’ examines how a pre-campaign session works and sets out eveyone’s expectations, and ‘One-shots’ suggests alternatives to longer multiple sessions of play and how they work. That said, describing a one-shot as a self-contained campaign is absurd. Lastly, ‘Level Up Your Table’ suggests ways to enhance play, such as using maps and miniatures and secret messages and even physical puzzles. Thus there is a mix of advice and suggestions for both player and Dungeon Master across the volume.

Beyond play, the ‘D&D Bookshelf’ suggests fiction to read, starting with the adventures of Drizzt Do’Urden, but also mentioning the Dragonlance and Ravenloft series. ‘Loot Table’ suggests gifts and collectible that a Dungeons & Dragons devotee might like beyond the core rulebooks and dice. This notable for the inclusion of ‘Crocs Jibbitiz’, official Dungeons & Dragons-themed adornments for your crocs. Thankfully, there are no official Dungeons & Dragons Crocs, but the Jibbitz are daft enough as it is.

The ‘Bestiary’ series covers otherworldly creatures. So, in ‘Fiends and Celestials’, it is Imps, Balor demons, Pegasi, and Solar Celestials. ‘Aberrations and Undead’ such as the Intellect Devourer, Aboleth, Ghoul, and Death Tyrant, and ‘Elementals and Fey’ like Mephits, Fire Elementals, Dryads, and Quicklings, are given quite detailed descriptions. Conversely, the ‘Gem Dragons’ only receive descriptions in comparison, so there is not really enough of an idea who they might be used in a scenario.

Of course, Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 being a British annual, it is not without its puzzles. So there are mazes, spot the difference, word searches, and more. In comparison to previous annuals, the theming is more generic Dungeons & Dragons than a specific campaign world or characters, so not as engaging as in past years.

Physically, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 is snappily presented. There is plenty of full colour artwork drawn from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and the writing is clear and kept short, so is an easy read for its intended audience.

In past years, entries in the Dungeons & Dragons Annual series have proven to be decent introductions to Dungeons & Dragons, but the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 is beginning to push against the limits of what it can explain and showcase without actually showing what Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition actually looks like. It has moved on since the earlier introductory annuals to look at more advanced aspects of character creation with character backstory and play with a discussion of Session Zero, but it constantly feels as if it is preparing the reader and potential player for something that it can never show. Which is any actual element of the doing of Dungeons & Dragons, so consequently, it is all description, all tell, and no show. Of course, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 is intended to showcase the numerous aspects of the roleplaying game and its setting, and this it does, but it constantly leaves the reader wanting to take the next step and not quite sure what that is. Taking that step is big one and perhaps a solo adventure would give the reader a better idea of what play is like?

To be fair, this is not a book or supplement that a dedicated player or Dungeon Master is going to need, or even want, to read. After all, much of this will be familiar to either. For the casual reader, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 is reasonable starting point, but the casual reader will quickly want more. For the collector, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 is an attraction addition to his bookshelves. Still as something to receive at Christmas (or not) in your Christmas stocking (or not), the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2023 is an attractive product, informative about Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and whilst its own limitations can only help the reader so far, a stepping stone from they can look for further starting points from which to play.

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 Elk Jaw Dagger, It Drives ’Em MadPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Clio Urquhart

Setting: Seventies ColoradoProduct: One-shot/Side Encounter
What You Get: Seven page, 8.67 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “Revenge is a powerful motivator.” – Marcus LuttrellPlot Hook: Stopping off could mean stopping off forever.
Plot Support: Staging advice.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Short one or two hour scenario# Easy to adjust to other time periods# Suitable for one or two Investigators# Non-Mythos horror scenario# Easy to adjust to other time periods# Aichmophobia# Cartilogenophobia# Scopophobia# Foniasophobia

Cons# Non-Mythos horror scenario# More detailed plot outline# Title gives everything away# Non-Mythos horror scenario# No NPC stats# No Maps# Scenario backstory left undeveloped for investigation
Conclusion# Potentially effective tale of possession and revenge horror undone by lack of scope to investigate the backstory.# Very short, bloody, slasher-horror scenario built around a dark relic which leaves too much for the Keeper to develop.

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?Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a ninety-one page, full colour, 41.20 MB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy, but the text feels disorganised in places and requires a good edit. The artwork varies in quality, but some of it is decent.

Where is it set?
Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 is set on the archipelago of five islands that make up the Korolan Isles which lie in the Jeweled Islands, the Islands of Wonder that lie to the east.

Who do you play?Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 is designed to be used with Player Characters who are native to the Korolan Islands.
What do you need?
Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, the Glorantha Bestiary, and The Red Book of Magic. In addition, the Guide to Glorantha and The Stafford Library – Vol VI Revealed Mythologies may be useful.
What do you get?
Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 introduces the five islands of the Korolan archipelago—Luvata, Mingai, Sitoro, Sereneto, and Tamoro—and their peoples, their gods, and religious practices. Part of the shattered remains of the eastern continent of Vithela, they once constantly warred with each other, but following a great heroquest, established a unity between the islands which channelled their rivalries into an annual athletics contest that established the five island’s rulers for the next year. Although all five islands share a similar culture, each has its own god. The inhabitants of Luvata worship the freshwater nymph, Irvata; those from Mingai worship Mingemelor, a fiery son of Karkal, the Burning God; Aoea, a spirit of the mountain peaks of her island, is worshipped on Sereneto; the island of Sitoro has no known god and the island is shunned; and the island of Tamoro is home to Tamorongo, both mountain god and mountain. These island gods are known as the ‘Parondpara’.
The supplement introduces the history, geography, flora and fauna, culture and the differences in culture between the islands, and also a playable species. These are the Keet, an avian species similar to the Ducks, but who can be found in separate albatross, cormorant, gull, mallard, pelican, puffin, seagull, tern, and other tribes throughout the East Isles. The pterodactyl Sorn are also given stats, but are presented as a possible threat.
All four cults of the known ‘Parondpara’ are described in detail, including an associated myth for each and these add enjoyable flavour that helps to bring each cult to life. The ‘Parloth’, the gods worshipped across the East Isles are given similar, but not quite as extensive treatment. It is common for islanders to be lay members of one or more cults dedicated to the Parloth in addition be initiates of their individual Parondpara. As you would expect, the requirements necessary to becoming an Initiate and a Rune Priest are given for both Parondpara and Parloth, but in addition to that, there are also requirements stated for becoming an Ombardaru Low Priest. This can be seen as the equivalent of the God Talker in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, but where the God Talker speaks for one cult and god, an Ombardaru Low Priest resides over worship rites for any and all of the Parloth. This enables a temple for one god to serve as a shrine for another and counters the issue of needing to travel far sea distances to worship on holy days and holding rites where there are relatively few worshippers for one individual Parondpara versus another.
In addition, Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 also examines other approaches to magic in Glorantha found in the East Isles. Spirit societies are only given cursory treatment, but Mysticism and its paths to enlightenment and Illumination are discussed in detail. Mysticism in the East Isles differs from either Nysaloran Illumination or Draconian Illumination. It is integrated into everyday society and aspects of it are practised widely, but its adherents study at asharams under sages. Here they can learn ‘Austerities’, magical powers and other abilities via ascetism and voluntary denial. Suggested Austerities include Permanent Countermagic—even asleep, and countering characteristic losses from aging, at high levels, effectively, immortality. All require the student to follow certain restrictions. Numerous Sages and their Mystic Paths are discussed as well linking Austerities to martial arts as these require similar restrictions and practices. One sample martial arts school is described, ‘Roaring Orangutan’, which has its own lore, alongside ‘Climb of Will’, which enhances the climbing skill, but requires the practitioner to not touch the ground or floor for a week; ‘Strength of Ape’, which grants the user the Strength spell for unarmed or school weapon attacks, but mandates that fruit must be eaten daily; and ‘Running on all Fours’, which increases his movement rate and reduces his Strike Rank, but prevents him from using missile weapons. Sadly, this is the only school detailed in the supplement, but there is scope for more.
Despite the focus in Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 on the five Korolan Isles, the Homelands section, multiple Homelands are offered as Player Character and NPC choices, including the Haragalan Islands, Shorenti Islands, Jabbi Isles, and Dessheetan Isles. A nice touch is that even the individual islands have their own cultural bonuses. Numerous new Occupations are detailed, including Marine, Martial Artist, Mystic Student, Pirate, and Temple Guardian. The Marine Occupation is the nearest to the traditional warrior Occupations of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and is included because warfare in the East Isles primarily takes place at sea. There is no Family History table, so this is skipped as per RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha in favour of various bonuses. There are tables for character backgrounds which add interesting details as do the Family Heirloom table. Lastly, there are details of arms and armour wielded in the East Isles plus short descriptions of other nearby islands and a list of all of the gods.
As an introduction to the East Isles, Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 sometimes suffers from too broad a focus. For example, the inclusion of four other island groups as possible Homelands shifts the sourcebook away from the Korolan Isles, as do the descriptions of the other islands, and the other gods. The other issue with the other gods is that all too often they are mentioned, but not given any further attention. For example, the antigods are mentioned several times throughout the supplement, but never fully explained or detailed. Also missing is anything in the way of advice for the Game Master. The culture and setting of Korolan Islands are very obviously different to that of Dragon Pass, but there is no advice as to what a scenario or campaign in the Korolan Islands would be like. However, Fires of Mingai: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 2, the next supplement in the series does provide that campaign.
Suggesting influences such as the cultures of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, from a setting perspective, Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 presents a culture and its outlook that is radically different from that given in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. Mostly notably in its geographical outlook, but also in its acceptance of Mysticism and Illumination. This presents interesting storytelling and roleplaying options, but some aspects of the setting do demand further development.
Is it worth your time?Yes—Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1, with its background and character options, is a solid introduction to playing RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha from a different cultural perspective in a dispersed island setting. No—Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 is too location specific and too radical a change in cultural outlook to be of use in a general RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha campaign.Maybe—Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1 is too location specific and too radical a change in cultural outlook to be of use in a general RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha campaign, but the two could be brought together in a culture clash situation.

It seemed like it would never happen. Until the publication of Adventures in Middle-Earth by Cubicle Seven Entertainment in 2016, it seemed as if Hobbits and Dungeons & Dragons would ever be the twain. After all, Tolkien Enterprises, Saul Zaentz’s film merchandising company, had threatened TSR, Inc. in 1977 with legal action over the use of the term ‘hobbit’ in Dungeons & Dragons. Which led to the removal of the term and which is why there are Halflings in Dungeons & Dragons as opposed to Hobbits. However, Adventures in Middle-Earth adapted Cubicle Seven Entertainment’s critically acclaimed The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and so, much to the surprise of everyone, brought the two together. They are reunited, once again, with the advent of The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings, the second edition of the roleplaying game from Free League Publishing, with publisher following it up with The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying. This is adaptation of new edition of The One Ring for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, which literally lets a gaming group explore the background and source material for The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings through the means of the world’s most popular roleplaying game.

The setting for both The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying and The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings is the year 2965, over twenty years since the Battle of the Five Armies and the death of Smaug in the east of Middle-earth. This places it between the events chronicled in the pages of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, in the region to the west of the Misty Mountains, between the Last Homely House and the sea. This encompasses all of Eriador, from Rivendell in the east to the Lindon and the coast in the west, from the Ettin Moors in the north to Dunland in the south. At the heart of the region, astride the Great Eastern Road stand The Shire and Breeland, and these are likely starting point for any campaign of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying. Unlike the landscape of Rhovanion to the east of the Misty Mountains, with its great forest of Mirkwood infested with goblins and spiders, its lengthy rivers and dreary swamps, Eriador feels more open and windswept. This does not mean that it is empty of dangers. Evil men can be found everywhere, and Orcs, Trolls, the Undead, Wolves of the Wild, and even Nameless Things lurk and hide throughout the region, often where secrets of the past ages may be found. Worse, the free peoples of the region may fall victim to their own weaknesses or Shadow Paths, such as the lure of power or the lure of secrets. The lingering effect of the Shadow can also be found in certain blighted, blasted locations, and then there is the reach of Mordor, when Sauron’s baleful gaze falls upon Eriador.
Thus The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying and The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings do not differ in terms of background—including an adventure site or landmark detailed in the style of Forbidden Lands – Raiders & Rogues in a Cursed World. Located in the foothills of southern Ered Luin, ‘The Star of the Mist’ is not a full scenario in itself, but somewhere to be explored, full of dark secrets and factions that the Player-heroes can interact with. It should provide two or three session’s worth of play, but the Loremaster will need to develop a reason for the Player-heroes to be in the area and interact with it. Instead, where The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying and The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings do differ is in terms of their mechanics, since the play of the roleplaying game remains the same with alternating Adventuring and Fellowship Phases, extensive rules for Journeys and for great social interactions called Councils, and the effects of the Shadow upon the hearts and minds of all. It should be made clear that although the The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying core rulebook contains everything that the Loremaster and her players need to roleplay in the setting of Middle-earth for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, they will still a copy of The Player’s Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition for the core rules.

The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying like Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, is a Class and Level roleplaying game. Or rather, a Culture and Calling roleplaying game. Six Heroic Cultures are detailed—Bardings of Dale, Dwarves of Durin’s Folk, Elves of Lindon, Hobbits of the Shire, Men of Bree, and Rangers of the North. The inclusion of Bardings of Dale and Dwarves of Durin’s Folk shows how times have changed since the Battle of the Five Armies and the easing of the road east has opened up opportunities for travel and trade. Each Heroic Culture provides Ability score increases and details of cultural abilities, languages, skill and tool proficiencies, and so on, whilst associated Backgrounds add Ability score increases, skill and tool proficiencies, and Distinctive Features. Each Heroic Culture includes six Backgrounds, for example, the Hobbits of the Shire Heroic Culture has Bucklander, On Patrol, Restless Farmer, Too Many paths to tread, Tookish Blood, and Witty Gentlehobbit. Above all, a Background suggests why a Player-hero—as the Player Characters are called in The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying—might want to run off and do something as peculiar as go adventuring.

The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying has six Callings—Captain, Champion, Messenger, Scholar, Treasure Hunter, and Warden. Each Calling has a maximum of Tenth Level, but options allow a Player-hero to progress beyond that, though one aspect of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying is that peoples of the Heroic Cultures only adventure during their youth, so age is also a limiting factor. The Captain and the Champion are both warrior types, the Captain a leader, the Champion a fierce soldier. The Messenger is a traveller and advisor, the Scholar a learned person who also knows healing and crafts, a Treasure Hunter someone who delves into dark places and secrets, and a Warden, a protector who uses knowledge of the land to help keep communities safe. There is some variation within the Callings, for example, the Scholar can specialise in Healing or Lore, and the Treasure Hunter in Burglary or Spying. All Callings include a Shadow Path, a narrative which a Player-hero might fall into should he fail to resist the influence of the Shadow. For example, the Champion has Curse of Vengeance and the Treasure Hunter has Dragon-Sickness.

Mechanically, if the changes between The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying are major, those between The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition are relatively minor. The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying adds several new skills—Explore, Hunting, Old Lore, Riddle, and Travel. Explore and Travel are similar, but Explore covers movement through unknown territory whereas Travel covers movement along familiar, though sometimes no less difficult routes. Together as a party—or Company—the Player-heroes have access to Fellowship, a group resource that can be spent to gain Advantage on all rolls and to trigger various benefits granted from the Company’s Patron. For example, Gandalf the Grey grants ‘Wisdom of the Grey Pilgrim’ which adds a bonus twenty-sided die to be rolled like Advantage for Saving Throws. The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying also allows for a Player-hero to achieve an automatic ‘Magical Success’, the equivalent of rolling a natural twenty on a skill check if he has a particular talent or an artefact. For example, the One Ring would provide a ‘Magical Success’ for a Stealth check. However, the rules for this focus more on the effect than the cause, so it is not immediately clear what talents enable this. As with The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings, there are no spellcasting Callings in The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, so the Medicine skill and herbalism kit is very useful, as might the Healing option for Scholar Traditions. In addition, resting also takes longer—a Long Rest can only be conducted in a safe haven, or a settlement or city, whilst a Short Rest takes a whole eight hours whilst out on a journey. In addition, The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying suggests ways in which the dice used in The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings to enhance play and to give more of a hybrid feel between Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings. The result is a halfway house, neither one nor the other.

In comparison to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, there is a distinct structure to the play of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying. It consists of two phases—the Adventuring Phase and the Fellowship Phase. During the Adventuring Phase, the Player-heroes will form a Company and engage in Councils and Journeys. Councils are great social events when the Player-heroes might go before leaders or other notables, perhaps to deliver a message, ask for advice, or seek help. These are played out as a combination of roleplaying and social skill rolls to achieve successes and the Player-heroes can be rewarded Experience Points for the outcome. Whilst the Council mechanics model the Council of Elrond as depicted in The Fellowship of the Ring, the Journey mechanics model the great trips undertaken by Bilbo Baggins and his company in The Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Nine in The Lord of Rings. A Journey requires four Player-heroes—which really is the minimum required in The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying—to undertake one of four duties: Guide, Hunter, Look-Out, and Scout. Events on a Journey, such as a mishap, a chance-meeting, or joyful sight, can lead to a skill test being made by a Player-hero undertaking one of the four duties. Depending on the outcome of the skill test, the Company may end up with penalties or bonuses to the Fatigue Saving Throws made at the end of the Journey. Fail this Saving Throw and this can leave the Player-heroes suffering from Exhaustion. Again, much like the rules for Councils, the rules for Journeys consist of a mix of skill roles and in places roleplaying, although where Councils make use of skills based on the Player-heroes’ Charisma, Intelligence, and Wisdom Abilities, those for Journeys are all derived from the Wisdom Ability—Explore, Hunting, Perception, and Travel. The other activity during the Adventuring Phase is Combat, but this does not differ from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.

The Fellowship Phase typically takes place in a safe haven for the Player-heroes. Depending upon the outcome of the Adventuring Phase, the Player-heroes can lose Shadow points gained during the Adventuring Phase, but in the main, individual Player-heroes will pursue a variety of undertakings during these periods of downtime. This can be to ‘Gather Rumours’, ‘Meet Patron’, ‘Strengthen Fellowship’, ‘Study Magical Items’, and ‘Write Song’. These can have effects on subsequent Adventuring Phases, for example, gathering rumours might garner the Company word of where its quarry might be, whilst a song can be sung during an Adventuring Phase to gain a benefit.

Throughout both the Adventuring Phase and Fellowship Phase, a Player-hero is expected to behave and act like their namesake to the best of their ability. That is, a hero. Player-heroes are not always perfect and they are susceptible to the effects of the Shadow, hence the Shadow Paths for each of the six Callings. Shadow points can be gained through the Dread of meeting some foul beast, Greed from discovering a great treasure hoard which turns out to be tainted, the Sorcery of the Dark Lord Sauron and his minions, and worse, Misdeeds by the Player-hero himself! Misdeeds, especially, if an act is intentional. The acquisition of Shadow points can be resisted with Saving Throws, but if a Player-hero’s equal half of the value for his Wisdom, he gains the condition of Miserable. He has an increased chance of failure on all rolls and the Fellowship rating is reduced. If a Player-hero’s Shadow points equal his Wisdom, he is instead Anguished, and he has Disadvantage on all rolls and can recover through a bout of madness. This also pushes the Player-hero along the Shadow Path for his Calling. Once the effects of Shadow do come into play, they can be devastating, but there is scope to overcome them through rest and good roleplaying.

The last part of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying explores aspects of the setting that it shares with The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings, including a decent guide to Eriador, the Landmark location, ‘The Star of the Mist’, and also more details on each of the possible Patrons for the Company, enabling the Loremaster to portray them and bring into play as characters in their own right. There is the bestiary too, which by the standards of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and the Monster Manual, will feel woefully short. However, Middle-earth is not a setting with a wide array of monsters, rather lots of similar creatures. Thus, there are Evil Men, there are Orcs, there are Wolves of the Wild, all relatively common. Plus, there variations within each monster type, so Goblin Archers alongside Orc-Chieftains, Orc Guards, and Orc Soldiers. There is also solid advice for the Loremaster too and rules for treasure and treasure hoards, as well as precious objects and artefacts, including their creation. There is even a sidebar on what happens if the Player-heroes discover the One Ring!

If there was one single issue with The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings, it was simply the lack of examples—play, combat, or sample Player-heroes. This is less of an issue with The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, primarily because its rules are derived from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and not more familiar, but mechanically more straightforward.

Physically, The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying is also an of The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings. So, it is very cleanly presented in a clear, open style, and the content itself is engaging to read. In particular, the maps are excellent, done in a style reminiscent of Tolkien and will satisfy any Tolkien fan. There are numerous quotes taken from his fiction throughout the book and these add to its feel and flavour. The artwork is also very good, a pen and ink style that captures the old-world rustic charm of the Shire and the region surrounding it. The style and look echoes that of the classic editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy published by Allen & Unwin, and has a more scholarly feel as if Bilbo himself sat down to write it.

The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying sets out to provide a means for The Lord of the Rings fans who play Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition to play in Middle-earth. It succeeds with a straightforward and attractive adaptation of The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings that manages to bring the higher fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons into the grimmer, earthier world of Middle-earth. For the Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition Dungeon Master and player who are fans of Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying everything that will need to set forth from Bree and explore the lands of Eriador.

With Everyday Heroes, publisher Evil Genius Games did for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in 2202 what d20 Modern did for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition in 2002. That is, facilitate and handle roleplaying in the here and now, in the world we see outside our windows, on our television screens, and at the cinema. It went even further though by doing something not actually included in the rulebook. This is providing access to a number of source and scenario supplements all based upon a surprising range of films. In fact, a range of films which nobody expected to see turned into roleplaying material despite their popularity in the hobby. These consist of The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure, Escape From New York™ Cinematic Adventure, Highlander Cinematic Adventure, Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure, Pacific Rim Cinematic Adventure, and Total Recall Cinematic Adventure. These showcase at least, what Everyday Heroes can do and are, equally, six good reasons to play Everyday Heroes. Each entry in this Cinematic Adventure series draws on the core film it is based upon as well as extra source material, to provide background material for the setting, new options for Player Characters, advice for the Game Master, and a full-length adventure, ready to play.

The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is the first cinematic adventure sourcebook for Everyday Heroes. This draws specifically upon the 1994 film, The Crow, starring Brandon Lee, and the 1989 comic series by James O’Barr, as well as the 1996 sequel, The Crow: City of Angels. The later sequels are lesser source material for the supplement. This does mean that together, the subject for two halves of the book, scenario and sourcebook, does carry a number of subject warnings and like the comic book and film, is intended for a mature audience, dealing as it does with death and loss, drug addiction, torture, suicide, and other adult subjects. The world of The Crow and thus The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is one in which the spirits of the dead are real. Their task is to guide the souls of the recently dead to the afterlife that is the underworld, to guard the gates to the underworld, and also return with messages and omens. Yet there are some spirits who escape the Underworld and find a way back to the world of the living—they are the Reborn. If a Reborn has been returned by a Crow spirit, then he too is called ‘The Crow’, but there are many other spirits of the dead—the Butterfly, the Cat, the Moth, and others. Each type of spirit is drawn to particular types of deaths and brings those who suffer them back as Reborn and even bestows particular types of quests related to both the deaths and the types. Guided by their spirits, Reborn walk the Earth again, not as one of the living, but the living dead, tasked with enacting revenge upon those who caused their death and fulfilling the quests set by the spirit. The Reborn find the world as dark and as tragic as they left it, the strong thea desire for a better world no more than a fleeting hope...

The primary new options given in The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure are for the Player Characters. These Hero Options include a number of new Backgrounds, such as Abused, Cult Escapee, Near-Death Experience, and Suicide Survivor. Already, these showcase the dark side of the setting. The new Professions include those from the seamier and rougher side of life, including Charity worker, Chop Shop Jockey—someone who cuts up stolen vehicles for their parts, stage Magician, Occultist, and Snitch. Many of these are directly inspired by characters in the film, including the Kid and Pawn Shop Owner. Two Classes after given. The Reborn is a Wise Hero who begins with a Spirit Bond, a Reborn Body, and the ability to Vanish at will. The Reborn also has Powers, such as Death’s Power to substitute the Reborn’s Wisdom bonus for the Strength or Dexterity modifier, Share Experience of his past life with another or Force Experience on another. These require the Reborn’s player to spend Focus to activate. The Reborn also has a Mask of Death associated with his Spirit. The Spirit grants its Reborn with benefits such as skill proficiencies and enhancements to the powers it also grants. For example, the Butterfly Spirit has Charming Presence, which allows a reroll on a failed Charisma check, Glamour to change appearances, Serenity to calm someone, and Sweet Nectar to heal others. All of these powers require the expenditure of Focus and they are the gift of the Spirit that the Reborn can use. In some ways they are also the gift of the Game Master, since the Spirit is not under the control of the Reborn and his player, but is instead an NPC. This allows the Spirit to become a character in its own right rather than just an extension of the Reborn. In addition, each Spirit comes with full stats as a Tiny Monster, and a discussion of its character, the souls it is drawn to, and both the type of quests it gives and some sample quests. Eight Spirits are detailed in this fashion in The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure, including the Butterfly, the Cat, the Crow, the Mastiff, the Moth, the Owl, the Snake, and the Spider.
The other option is the Soothsayer, a Smart Hero. The Soothsayer has Talents and Plans. The Talents include ‘As Foretold’ which enables the Soothsayer to substitute one of two twenty-sided his player rolls at the start of each adventure, whilst ‘Blessing of Fortune’ lets him grant a four-sided die as a bonus to other Player Heroes. The Soothsayer’s Plans include Bend Fate, Clairvoyance, Read the Omens, Witness Your End, and more, all of which are enhanced as the Soothsayer rises in Level. In addition to the two new Hero types, The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure lists several new Feats, divided between General and Multiclass Feats. The former includes Knife Fighter, Pyro, and Ritual Lore, whilst the latter includes Soothsayer Training and Advanced Soothsayer Training letting a Player Hero with another Class gain its mystical abilities. Similarly, the Spirit Servant Multiclass Feat enables a Player Hero who is not a Reborn to acquire a Spirit companion.

The only new rules in The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure are for Ritual Magic. Although several sample rituals are included, the rules in the main are narrative-based. Mechanically, Ritual Magic consists of deciding upon the effects of the spell, researching it, learning it, and then casting the spell. The guidelines are nicely supported with a good example. Conversely, where the rules and advice on handling Ritual Magic in The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure are more than enough for the Game Master to include them in play, the advice for the Game Master for running a scenario or campaign in the style of The Crow comes up short at just two pages. There is advice here on setting the mood, having more than one Reborn—and thus more than one quest—is in play, on playing Spirit allies, and running Ritual Magic (again!), and handling prophetic dreams. However, what the advice does not cover is the setting for scenarios set in the world of The Crow or the types of villains that the Player Heroes might be attempting to enact revenge against. The advice is followed a handful of scenario hooks.

Approximately half of The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is dedicated to its adventure, ‘Prayers of the Past’, which even comes with its own soundtrack! The scenario is intended for Player Heroes of Fifth and Sixth Level and can be adjusted to be played with just one player, although the ideal number is five. It can also be run with just the one Reborn Player Hero or multiple Reborn Player Heroes. The set-up involves a Zero Session where the Player Heroes decide upon and play out what happened to the Reborn they are either playing or their Player Heroes know, which can can take a single scene or be developed into a longer session, so that the prequel to the scenario proper plays out as a series of prequels rather the one. Hooks are provided if the players cannot come up their own.
Each of the multiple Session Zeroes takes place in a different city before ‘Prayers of the Past’ draws the Player Heroes back to Detroit and the events of The Crow, coming together at Club Trash in a bloody orgy of revenge and violence. It is a solidly grim affair which works as a one-shot or even a campaign starter, overall, effectively drawing from the source material to create a situation and story which fits within that source material. Safety tools are strongly recommended throughout, if necessary, as the scenario is very much intended for a mature audience. In addition, the staging advice for Game Master is also decent throughout, and in fact, actually better in places than the scant advice given for the Game Master in her own chapter.

Lastly, ‘The Cast’ chapter provides stats and details of a variety of NPCs and more. The NPCs are divided into three categories. The first are general, including ordinary characters as well as spiritual ones, and there are suggestions here too, as to which NPC types to use to portray various characters from both The Crow and The Crow: City of Angels. These NPC types are drawn from both the Everyday Heroes core rulebook and The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure. The second category consists of NPCs for the scenario, ‘Prayers of the Past’, whilst the third consists of protagonists from both The Crow and The Crow: City of Angels. This includes Eric Draven, Darryl Albrecht, Sarah, and others. The more consists of five pre-generated Player Heroes, including a Soothsayer, an Omen of Disaster (a Reborn with a Moth Spirit bond), an Omen of Vengeance (a Reborn with a Snake Spirit bond), an Omen of Love (a Reborn with a Butterfly Spirit bond), and an Omen of Pain (a Reborn with a Crow Spirit bond). These support the scenario being played with multiple Reborn,
Physically, The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is cleanly, tidily presented. Unfortunately, the sourcebook is not illustrated with images from the films, but the artwork in their stead is decent. However, the book does need another edit in places.

The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is not a sourcebook for the world of The Crow—either the comics or the films. There is some background, more sufficient to do what The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is designed to do rather than be exhaustive. What The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is designed to do is present the means and tools for a Game Master to run and her players to roleplay a scenario or campaign in the style of The Crow and within the world of The Crow—and this, bar the underwhelming advice for Game Master—it succeeds at. The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is a solid first entry in the series of Cinematic Adventures for Everyday Heroes, expanding it into the realms of the mystical and with new Player Hero options and a good scenario, bringing world of The Crow to the gaming table.

As well as contributing to Free RPG Day every year Goodman Games also has its own ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day’, which sadly, is a very North American event. The day is notable not only for the events and the range of adventures being played for Goodman Games’ roleplaying games, but also for the scenarios it releases specifically to be played on the day. For ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2023’, which takes place today on Saturday, July 22nd, 2023, the publisher is releasing not one, not two, but three scenarios, plus a limited edition printing of Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. Two of the scenarios, ‘The Rift of the Seeping Night’ and ‘Grave of the Gearwright’, are written for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and appear in the duology, the DCC Day 2023 Adventure Pack. The third, Crash of the Titans, is a scenario for Mutant Crawl Classics notable for sharing the same cover as that for the limited edition printing of the rulebook. It is Crash of the Titans which is being reviewed here as a preview of ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2023’.

Crash of the Titans is designed for a party of between four and six Third Level Player Characters which takes them into a unique environment to face—well, actually, to not face—but dodge and work around a pair of kaiju-sized monsters! The Holy Medicinal Order asks the Player Characters to help find a replacement power source for its most precious device of the Ancients—a rejuv-chamber—which is capable of healing almost any injury or illness. It requires a Q-Pack, one of the rarest of power cells and the Order knows of only one source where another can be found—the City of Storms. This is located in a nearby city of the Ancients and is renowned for the electrical storms which play out above its skies. However, when the Player Characters arrive, they discover that the skies are clear and the area, buildings and all, sits in a swamp of acidic water. This though is the very least of their problems.

As the Player Characters explore the area, they disturb not one, but giant mutants, one an insectoid monstrosity, the other all tentacles, and both towering over the Player Characters and the area. Both monsters wander the area randomly, stomping on the Player Characters if they notice them, and battling each other when end up in the same location. The region consists of six hexes surrounding a central hex which is a lake. There are encounters to be had and locations to be explored and scavenged in each of the six surrounding hexes amongst the old industrial and residential buildings. In other adventures for Mutant Crawl Classics, the number of artefacts that the Player Characters can find and make use of does sometimes feel scanty, but here the number feels about right given the limited number of locations and size of the scenario. The progress of the Player Characters is both hampered and driven by the looming presence and threat of the giant mutants, but it is also helped by a much larger, but more of an environmental nature mutant, which literally whispers hints to them as they move around the area.

Eventually, the Player Characters will find a Q-Pack, but will be faced with another problem—how to charge it! Thus sets up the second half of the scenario as the Player Characters ascend the vine-entwined walls of the area’s only standing building. This is a power tower and once inside, they will need to find a way to restore it to full operation and charge the Q-Pack, setting up the climax of the scenario in true King Kong kaiju style!

Crash of the Titans is a short adventure, which can be played in a single session, but probably best plays out in two. There is a sense of openness to the scenario with its relatively flat, swamp location combined with the ominous presence of the two giant mutants wandering around the region, sometimes clashing and fighting each other, forcing the Player Characters to flee. All of this can be played out on the scenario’s map which is presented in full colour inside its wraparound card cover. The scenario even comes with a pair of standees, one for each giant mutant, which the Judge can cut out of the cover and then use to indicate where each giant mutant is on the map. Whilst this would give the scenario a sense of space, would a Judge really want to cut holes in Crash of the Titans’ fantastic cover?

Physically, Crash of the Titans is very nicely presented. The cover hints at the adventure to come and the map inside the wraparound cover is very nice. In fact, it is actually good to see a map for Mutant Crawl Classics done in full colour like this. The scenario is otherwise well written, easy to understand, and straightforward to run.

If perhaps Crash of the Titans is missing anything it is that the whispering ally that the Player Characters encounter during the scenario could have been developed further, perhaps as a Patron—an alternative to the Patron A.I.s usually encountered in the Mutant Crawl Classics? Otherwise, Crash of the Titans is a great little scenario for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, one which packs a lot of inventive adventure into its few pages. Overall, of the releases for ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2023’, Crash of the Titans is the best of the three scenarios released.

As well as contributing to Free RPG Day every year Goodman Games also has its own ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day’, which sadly, is a very North American event. The day is notable not only for the events and the range of adventures being played for Goodman Games’ roleplaying games, but also for the scenarios it releases specifically to be played on the day. For ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2022’, which took place on Saturday, July 16th, 2022, the publisher released not one, not two, but three items for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. These included Dungeon Crawl Classics Day: The Book of Fallen Gods , a book of Patron ‘Un-gods’, gods who were, and whose worship has drastically dwindled, but were the Player Character Wizards and Clerics to find them, would accept worship once again; the DCC Day 2022 Adventure Pack, which contained two scenarios, one for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and one for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic; and DCC Day #3 Chanters in the Dark, a separate scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. With ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2023’ taking place tomorrow on Saturday, July 22nd and with a preview of the DCC Day 2023 Adventure Pack, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game scenario for the event, having already been published, it is DCC Day #3 Chanters in the Dark which is being reviewed today.

DCC Day #3 Chanters in the Dark is bit special. Designed for a party of between four and eight Player Characters of First Level, it begins en media res, with their being aboard a boat that hurtling along an underground river before plunging deeper into the earth. This is exactly how Dungeon Crawl Classics #67: Sailors on the Starless Sea, the classic Character Funnel ended and although it can be run as a standalone adventure, DCC Day #3 Chanters in the Dark is actually designed as a sequel to Dungeon Crawl Classics #67: Sailors on the Starless Sea. To that end, it even includes advice on how the Player Characters can level up, from Zero Level to First Level within the confines of the scenario given that they are far away the surface and home. The most amusing of this advice is what to do with the animals that Zero Level Player Characters sometimes begin play with at the start of Character Funnels. Essentially, chickens and ducks will not be a problem per se, but if a Player Character former farmer and would be adventurer really wants to bring his pig or his cow along, there might be more of an issue. Otherwise, the leveling up advice covers the acquisition of spells for Clerics, Elves, and Wizards, as well both tools and skills for thieves.

The river dumps the Player Characters in the cave entrance to the Lost City of Quetat, an underground, alien city much in the mold of I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City. The city is small, dominated by an arena and an entrance to a temple. It is primarily inhabited by beastmen of various types, many of which seem to be suffering from Anophthalmia. However, this does not seem to bother the transient beastmen who regularly move from one of the city’s simple, but ancient dwellings to another. Their lives are dominated by the worship of Yuzz and part of this involves the sacrifice of their eyes. This does not disturb them unduly and they see it as part of both worship and normal life. Plus, the eyes do grow back. However, the continued worship of Yuzz and the dominance of its priesthood has divided the Beastmen. Reformers seek change and want to overthrow the priests of the Temple of Yuzz and the beastmen’s dependence on the Great Fungal Mound which lies at the heart of their faith and their subsistence. Rebuilders want the Player Characters to stay and become part of the community, providing the Beastmen with new blood and possibly, new leadership. The Religious want continued worship of Yuzz and consumption of the Great Fungal Mound and acceptance of the sacrifice of their eyes and the narcotic effect of the Great Fungal Mound. The Religious will regard the Player Characters as interlopers and an evil threat to the city if they do not leave or conform.

The progress of the Player Characters will driven by three factors. One is the need to find a way out and a means to return to the surface world. The other is the three factions and interacting with one, two, or all three of them, even allying with one of them, which is likely to be the Reformers. Combining these is a series of events which will very likely influence the reactions and opinions of the Player Characters as they go about the city in pursuit of the other factors. There are some genuinely creepy moments in the scenario, such as stumbling upon one of the blind Beastmen for the first time, encountering the elephantine Caretaker with its proboscis that it uses to literally suck the eyeballs out of its victims—willing or unwilling, the weirdness of the temple and the priesthood, and the moment that that one of the Player Characters has the eyeballs sucked out of his head! There are rules included for this and the effects of being both partially and totally blind included, but rest assured that this is horribly disturbing and means that is DCC Day #3 Chanters in the Dark best suited for a mature audience and its genre is as much horror as it is fantasy. At best, most players are going find this aspect of the scenario ‘icky’, at best, at worst, ommetaphobia-inducing.
The emphasis in DCC Day #3 Chanters in the Dark veers towards exploration and interaction, but there is plenty of combat in the scenario as well, so that overall mix is fairly balanced. Although the actions of the Player Characters can alter the balance of power in the Quetat, they cannot solve the problem at the core of the situation as they are far too low Level. Ultimately, they will turn to attempting to escape that that presents a very physical challenge, which can end with the Player Characters successfully escaping to surface or being trapped in Lost City of Quetat...
Physically, DCC Day #3 Chanters in the Dark is decently done. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is okay. It it is a pity that the eye-sucking monster was not illustrated. The maps are clear and easy to read, although there is a disconnect between the main map and the internal map of a building in that the number for the main building is not in keeping with the numbering of its internal locations so that there is no location number ‘2’ on the main map, but its internal locations all start with ‘2’.
DCC Day #3 Chanters in the Dark details a low level, unworldly lost city in the tradition of classic scenarios of the past and classic pulp stories, but makes it creepier and weirder and even more claustrophobic. This is great little scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game for First Level Player Characters which will challenge them to survive right to the very end.

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

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Cobra/Con Fusion is a scenario not just for one roleplaying game, but two! It is published by Renegade Game Studios for use with its G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game and its Transformers Roleplaying Game. In bringing the two together, the theme of the adventure is team-ups. For when Cobra and the Decepticons begin working together, the operatives of G.I. Joe and the Autobots are forced to co-operate in order to thwart their iniquitous intrigues… This means that the players will take the roles of characters working for both—three from G.I. Joe and three of the Autobots. What this means is that Cobra/Con Fusion actually differs from other adventures for Essence20—the system that the G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game, the Transformers Roleplaying Game, and the Power Rangers Roleplaying Game use—in which the players use characters created of their own or pre-generated characters. Instead, Cobra/Con Fusion uses specific pre-generated Player Characters, which consist of A.W.E. Striker Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Minerva of the Autobots and Cover Girl, Doc, and Mainframe from G.I. Joe. They are all of Tenth Level as required by the scenario and are available to download. The other notable aspect of Cobra/Con Fusion is that it is independent of the timeline for the comics for both G.I. Joe and The Transformers, so fans of either can expect some differences.

Cobra/Con Fusion opens with Part One, ‘Awestruck’, with the three G.I. Joe operatives arriving on La Grande Dune du Pilat on the south-west coast of France in the Bordeaux area for a briefing. Stalker, the G.I. Joe leader giving the briefing, reveals four things. The first is that The Baroness, the Cobra mastermind has been seen in the area. The second is the existence of the Autobots, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Minerva. Three, that the G.I. Joe operatives will be working with the Autobots. Four, one of the Autobots, Bumblebee, is badly damaged and needs to be repaired. This sets up the first challenge for the scenario, as members of the two diverse factions—G.I. Joe and the Autobots—are directed to co-operate in repairing Bumblebee. This scene is essentially an emergency room scene played out against a time limit, with each of the Player Characters being given tasks that they can perform to complete and speed the process. In actuality, there is no time limit, but rather that the quicker the Player Characters perform the repairs, the greater the benefits they can gain when facing the forces of Cobra and the Decepticons. At the end, Bumblebee is restored to full operating health, though with G.I. Joe technology rather than Autobot technology.

The action-proper begins in Part Two and ‘Street Hustle’, when the story moves south-east to the village of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, close to the Pyrenees, where G.I. Joe has tracked the Decepticon and Combaticon Swindle. Oddly, the whole village has been bought out from underneath the residents by none other than The Baroness. The G.I. Joe operatives and the Autobots are sent to capture and interrogate Swindle in the hopes of discovering the location of The Baroness. This sets up a desperate car chase around the village which is hampered by the fact that the village is one of the most beautiful in France and has a heritage which dates back to before Christ! Which means that parts of it are very old and cannot be damaged by collateral damage. Full rules are provided for vehicle chases in The Field Guide to Action & Adventure Crossover Sourcebook, but sufficient details are provided here for the Game Master to run the scene. However, there is scope here for some expansion too, since like the earlier La Grande Dune du Pilat, Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges is a real place, so the play through of the chase around the village could be enhanced with maps and photographs—none are given in the scenario—to give a greater sense of verisimilitude.

Part Two will climax with a battle between Swindle and the Player Characters, but they will be able to learn what Cobra and the Decepticons are planning together. This includes where the plans are being carried out, a secret base in the Pyrenees. In Part Three, ‘Break the Joint’, the Player Characters must break into the facility and destroy the fruition of Cobra-Decepticon co-operation—a prototype H.I.S.S. drone based on the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, known as Fusion. Defeating both Fusion and the forces at the Cobra base brings the scenario to a successful end.

A full appendix gives the stats for all of the adversaries in Cobra/Con Fusion, including Fusion. In addition, there are notes for the Game Master throughout the scenario, giving advice on using other Player Character options, modifying the adventure up to Twentieth Level, and staging the adventure.

Physically, Cobra/Con Fusion is well presented. The artwork is good and the map of the Cobra facility is clear. The text in Cobra/Con Fusion is tight in places and a little busy, so the Game Master will need to pay careful attention to the checks and stats needed for each scene.

Cobra/Con Fusion is designed to highlight the supplement, The Field Guide to Action & Adventure Crossover Sourcebook. Not just mechanically with the chase rules, but also thematically, as Cobra/Con Fusion is a ‘layered crossover’, in which both settings of G.I. Joe and The Transformers exist in the same world, but rarely interact. Of course, in Cobra/Con Fusion, they do. The nature of scenario with three Player Characters from G.I. Joe and three Autobots does limit choice, as does the fact that the G.I. Joe operatives tend to be technical versus the Autobots who are more competitive in nature. But that is in the nature of scenarios with pre-generative Player Characters and Cobra/Con Fusion is a one-shot after all. Plus, it would be more difficult to run it as part of a campaign or with other Player Characters.

Cobra/Con Fusion is a fun, one-shot scenario, just about the right length to be run in a single session or at a convention. This makes it the best offering from Renegade Game Studios for Free RPG Day for both the G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game and the Transformers Roleplaying Game to date.

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

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

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Name: A Place Just For UsPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Charles Huysman

Setting: Modern day Product: One-shot
What You Get: Eighteen page, 2.89 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” – C.S. Lewis.Plot Hook: Going home means coming home to play...
Plot Support: Staging advice, two NPCs, and one map.Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros# Bucolic horror# Non-Mythos horror scenario# Flexible storytelling elements# Suitable for small groups# Easy to adjust to other time periods# Fennecaphobia# Xylophobia# Ludophobia

Cons# No clear explanation of the plot# Underwritten set-up and town description# Non-Mythos horror scenario
Conclusion# Bucolic hometown horror which takes the Investigators back to their childhoods# Underwritten set-up leaves Keeper with development to make play easier

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: As the Stars FallPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jamie Burke

Setting: Modern day North American gaming conventionProduct: One-shot
What You Get: Thirty-three page, 18.06 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Your mother warned you about the dangers of your hobby. She was right.Plot Hook: Some people think gaming conventions are odd. The attendees, even odder. This time, they’re right.
Plot Support: Staging advice, four/Five pre-generated Investigators, three NPCs, five handouts, and some monsters.Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros# Familiar setting for many gamers# Creepy tale of blood and possession# Scope to create the convention# Easy to adjust to the nineties, eighties, seventies, or sixties# Hemophobia# Demonophobia# Chapodiphobia

Cons# Could end in a bloodbath and possession
Conclusion# Unsettling tale of blood and possession which ends under the stars.# Short one-shot in a familiar setting

Godforsaken is one of several genre sourcebooks for the Cypher System published by Monte Cook Games. The others, such as The Stars Are Fire covers Science Fiction, Stay Alive! covers horror, and We Are All Mad Here covers fairy tales, but Godforsaken tackles that most ubiquitous of genres—at least when it comes to roleplaying—fantasy. In each case, these four genre supplements build on specific chapters in the Cypher System Rulebook providing a range of rules and rules tweaks, character ideas, options and modules, monsters and more, including settings and scenarios, that together help the Game Master and her players explore the genre and its many facets and aspects, create characters, and adventure in worlds inspired by a wide range of sources, including books, films, and even other roleplaying games. As a supplement, Godforsaken has to cover a wide array of subgenres, from high and low fantasy to dark fantasy and fairy tales, from the future of a dying Earth and historical fantasy to contemporary fantasy and paranormal romance, from whimsical fantasy and wuxia to Dungeons & Dragons-style fantasy.
Godforsaken is really a collection of questions and answers. Asking how one aspect or another of the genre can be done and then explaining or showing how. This is not just for the Cypher System, although that of course, is its focus, but with the genre in general. It starts with two options. The first is inspirations, touching upon classics such as Arthurian legend or the tales of Sinbad, but surprisingly suggesting a range of fantasy roleplaying games which could also serve as the basis for a Cypher System fantasy game. This complemented later in the book with more specific discussions and lists of possible inspirational works, covering fiction, film, and television, even fantasy artists, essentially a bibliography with suggestions. It feels odd having it placed further into the book when it could easily have followed the opening chapters. The other is creating a new setting and is more expansive, looking initially at the role of magic—knowledge, power levels, availability, history, and its interplay with technology and actual history—in broad strokes. It is a subject that the supplement will return to for obvious reasons. It also asks whether death will be permanent in the Game Master’s setting (similarly, this is expanded upon later in the book) and suggests ways to create maps and advise the players about the nature of the world that the Game Master has created. It is all fairly broad, as is the discussion and samples of fantasy.

The specifics really begin with character options which suggest ways in which various character types can be done using the Cypher System “I am an adjective noun who verbs.” format. For example, a Druidic character could be created in numerous ways depending upon what he does. For a druid with an animal companion, the Focus might be ‘Controls Beasts’ or ‘Masters the Swarm’ or who transforms, it might be ‘Takes Animal Shape’ or ‘Walks the Wild Woods’. Numerous options are suggested for the traditional fantasy roles like barbarian, the bard, priest, fighter, holy knight, warlock, and wizard, as well as for less traditional ones such as gunslinger and inquisitor. Several of the Foci are new, including ‘Takes Animal Shape’ and ‘Wields an Enchanted Weapon’, but in the main draws from the hundred or so given in the Cypher System Rulebook. However, not all of those are suitable for the fantasy genre and there is advice too on adjusting them to fit. For example, ‘Grows to Towering height’ could mean the character has giantish blood or be descended from a titan, ‘Licensed to Carry’ gives the character an unusual or magical weapon and applies the Focus’ bonuses to it, and ‘Talks to Machines’ could mean that the character instead communicates with golems or even the undead.

Equipment is handled in two ways in Godforsaken. First it gives descriptions and prices of a wide range of weapons, armour, tools, and adventuring gear. It will look familiar to anyone who has played a fantasy roleplaying game, but unlike in the Cypher System Rulebook, it gives prices in gold pieces rather than broad price categories. Second, it suggests ways in which Cyphers—the means by which the Cypher System awards Player Character one-time bonuses, whether potions or scrolls, software, luck, divine favour, or influence—can be brought into the fantasy genre. In the fantasy genre, these can obviously be potions, scrolls, talismans, and the like, which are relatively easy to make. Godforsaken gives complete rules for their creation as a series of step-by-step challenges, with higher level Cyphers requiring more time and more expensive ingredients. These are easy to use and nicely complement the main rules for crafting to be found in the Cypher System Rulebook. Crafting artefacts is also covered. Also discussed is why the Player Characters might craft Cyphers rather than expect to have them rewarded through play as is the norm, which might be preparation to overcome a foe or challenge, because the Player Character is a crafter, or it is thematically appropriate.

The rules for crafting Cyphers are one of several modules, divided between magical and fantasy rules, which Godforsaken provides and discusses that the Game Master can plug into her setting. The other modules for magical rules include antimagic, death and resurrection, ritual magic, magical technology, mind control, mystical martial arts, the power of names, and secrets. The modules for ritual magic and magic and technology include numerous examples too. There is specific advice about how to handle mind control in play, since not every player likes his character to be taken out of his control necessarily, suggesting that its parameters be set prior to play and reward a Player Character extra Experience Points when it does come into play, perhaps as a ‘GM Intrusion’. The module about using antimagic is more advice than mechanics, since the Cypher System does not actually define whether a Player Character’s abilities, Cyphers, and artefacts are magical or non-magical. If the former, antimagic effects remove them from play and that can be a problem from situation to situation, because they are integral to the Player Character. Ultimately the advice is to use antimagic in play sparingly. The fantasy rules modules cover the rewarding of treasure, including Cyphers and artefacts, and then the exploration of the dungeon environment. Walls, doors, traps—both as challenges and ‘GM Intrusions’, with numerous examples, are described here.

For running the Cypher System in a manner similar to Dungeons & Dragons, the chapter on fantasy species details several classic examples—Catfolk, Dragonfolk, Gnomes, Halflings, and Lizardfolk—in addition to those found in the Cypher System Rulebook. There is the suggestion too that they can be used as a Descriptor during Player Character creation, not once, but twice, so that Player Character could be an Inquisitive Halfling Explorer who Works the Back Alleys. Similarly, there are also suggestions on how to get near the Vancian style—that is, memorise, cast, and forget—which is challenging given that the Cypher System defaults a spontaneous style of casting. Godforsaken includes a trio of Cypher Shorts that can be used as single encounters or short scenarios, all of them classic fantasy situations. This is followed by a bestiary of forty or so monsters and NPCs to complement those in the Cypher System Rulebook and a selection of Cyphers and artefacts to add to a campaign.
Godforsaken is also the eponymous name of the setting described in the book. Comprising the second part of the supplement, it describes the ‘Godforsaken Setting’ and supports it with a pair of adventures. The ‘Godforsaken Setting’ is split into two realms. ‘Bontherre: The Blessed Lands’ are a green and pleasant land where nobody goes for want of anything, a pantheon of five revered gods known as the ‘Sacrante’, walk the lands and are worshipped by all, and for some, is a dull place to life. Beyond these lands of milk and honey lie the ‘Godforsaken Lands’ where the influence and power of the ‘Sacrante’ cannot reach and the sun and sky are different. As brave explorers, the Player Characters step through from ‘Bontherre: The Blessed Lands’ into the ‘Godforsaken Lands’ where they must survive radically dangerous environments, such as viciously biting weapons and acid rain, in search of resources valued by crafters. For example, Flevame, lies across the River of Souls and is easily accessible, and has a smaller sun and no moon, is colder, visitors from Bontherre suffer from a ‘weakening’, and visiting adventurers are often hunted by the forces of a necromancer called Crumellia Encomium. As well as being able to explore a new world, adventurers search for spirit threads which can be used to enhance artefacts. The other two lands detailed in the ‘Godforsaken Lands’ are different and there is scope too for the Game Master to add more. The setting is supported by two scenarios which introduce the ‘Godforsaken Setting’ and notes for the types of characters that the players can create and roleplay.

Physically, Godforsaken is very well presented, but that is what you would expect for a book from Monte Cook Games. It is well written, and both the artwork and the cartography are also good. Sidebars are used extensively throughout the book, adding detail, advice, stats, and references to the Cypher System Rulebook, and in the process, being very handy.

Godforsaken has two big hurdles that it has to overcome. One is that it has to encompass a wide swathe of subgenres and the second is Dungeons & Dragons. Although Godforsaken discusses numerous subgenres, it does not actually explore them in any great depth, its focus being broader and more generic. Further, it does not so much attempt to escape the influence of Dungeons & Dragons as in parts embrace it and show how a fantasy game in its style can be run using the Cypher System. By no means is this a bad thing, but rather it does leave less room for more detailed treatments of the other subgenres, which perhaps a supplement of their own.
Godforsaken presents a solid set of tools and advice for running the fantasy genre under the Cypher System, which altogether ask the Game Master numerous questions which will help her create and run her own fantasy setting. Ultimately though, Godforsaken cannot encompass everything in the fantasy genre and leaves a lot of subgenres waiting to be explored in greater depth for the Cypher System.

First published in 2006, the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game reaches its fourth edition in 2023. The good news is that the latest edition of the Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying game is not guilty of a strange swerve into MMORPG-style play as was the case when the most famous of roleplaying games reached its fourth edition. Instead, the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition is compatible with each of the previous three editions of the roleplaying game and it is compatible with the rest of Old School Renaissance too. Which means that the Game Master can still use all of the content and supplements previously published for the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game for her game as well as supplements and content released by too many other publishers to mention. What the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition offers is Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying, dungeon-delving adventures, epic magic, and big battles against two hundred and more different monsters, the discovery and wielding of magical items—minor and major, and more. All supported with advice for the Game Master and packaged in a simple, even basic, volume that combines the equivalent of the Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master’s Guide, all without the need for the Open Game Licence.

The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition is published by The Basic Fantasy Project. It takes its cue from the Dungeons & Dragons of the early nineteen eighties, so is more akin to Basic Dungeons & Dragons than Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. There are differences though, but there is a great deal more that will be very familiar. It is a Class and Level roleplaying game, up to Twentieth Level, rather than a Class and Level and Class as Race and Level roleplaying game. It offers four Races—Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, and Human, and four Classes—Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, and Thief. Only Elves and Humans can be Magic-Users. Other than that, there are no limits on the choice of Class and Race. The familiarity mean that Dwarves have a minimum Constitution, Darkvision, and know their way around worked stone; Elves have a minimum Intelligence, Darkvision, are immune to the paralyzing attack of ghouls, are less likely to be surprised, and are better at finding secret doors; Halflings have a bonus to ranged attacks and initiative as well as Armour Class when facing large creatures, and are naturally stealthy; and Humans gain a bonus to Experience Points earned. Clerics can wear any armour, must wield blunt weapons, can turn undead, and gain their first spell at Second Level. Fighters can wield any weapon, wear any armour, and are simply better in a fight. Magic-Users begin play knowing the spell Read Magic and another spell of the Game Master’s choice! Thieves cannot wear metal armour, can perform a sneak attack with a melee weapon, and have a range of Thief Abilities such as Open Locks, Remove Traps, Pick Pockets, and more, all rolled on percentile dice.

Mechanically, the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition is mish-mash of different mechanics. Attack rolls and Saving Throws are rolled with a twenty-sided die, the aim being to roll high. Thus, Armour Class is ascending, with just three types of armour in the roleplaying game—leather, chain, and plate, plus shield—and beyond bonuses from either a high Strength or Dexterity, a Player Character’s attack bonus being determined by his Class and Level. A roll of one is always a miss, whereas a roll of twenty is always a success, but there are no rules for critical successes or fumbles. However, Hit Points reduced to zero for both Player Characters and monsters means they are dead. Other tasks are rolled on different dice. Thus, an attempt to open a stuck door is rolled on a six-sided die, but a locked door on a ten-sided die, the aim being to roll low, modified by the Strength bonus. Similarly, all Player Characters have a very low—one-in-six—chance of detecting traps, though the Thief’s Ability supersedes this. Both Surprise and Initiative are rolled on a six-sided die, but low for determining the former and high for the latter. The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition is therefore highly idiosyncratic in its rules and their application, but no more so than many other Dungeons & Dragons-style retroclone and certainly no reason to be surprised given its origins and inspiration. However, this mechanical motley does have repercussions. Fundamentally, it makes the roleplaying game less easy to learn, even arcane by modern standards, because almost every rule is mechanically situational. This is not to say that the roleplaying game is impossible to learn, but it contributes towards the hurdle of doing so.

Conversely, any experience with a retroclone or Dungeons & Dragons, and the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition is easy to pick up and begin playing. The differences between the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition and any other retroclone dot the rules. Most notably, they include the use of ascending Armour Class, but other rules provide clear and easy rules for unarmed combat and brawling and subdual damage. Spellcasting is Vancian for Magic-Users and all spellcasters require a hand free to successfully cast a spell. Clerics pray for their spells, whilst Magic-Users prepare and memorise them from a spellbook, except for Read Magic, which is so ingrained, it does not require the spellbook. Dig into the spells, and there are small differences here and there. For example, Mind Reading replaces ESP, Magic Missile inflicts a six-sided die’s worth of damage rather than a four-sided die’s worth, and so on. Some of the spells are highly detailed, such as Teleport, which is given a description almost a page in length whereas Read Magic runs to just three sentences in length. There are some forty-eight spells for Clerics and some sixty-two spells for Magic-User, from First Level to Sixth Level.

Similarly, the chapter on monsters—which runs to some one hundred pages—contains a mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Instead of the Displacer Beast, there is the Deceiver (or Panther-Hydra); the Gelatinous Cube is classified as a Glass Jelly, the Black Pudding as the Black Jelly, and Gray Ooze as the Gray Jelly, and so on; and the Golem entry includes Amber, Bone, and Wood Golem as well as Clay, Flesh, and Iron Golem. New additions include the Ironbane, an armadillo-like creature with hare’s legs and anteater-like snout with a long flicking tongue which transforms iron into rust (this does not replace Rust Monster), the Trollwife is included alongside the Troll as well as the Trollkin, the latter a young Troll, and the Urgoblin is a mutant Hobgoblin capable of regenerating Hit Points!

As you would expect, the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition covers most situations and elements that could come up in a Dungeons & Dragons. Equipment includes everything from arms and armour to land and water transportation and siege engines, traps and secret doors, wilderness travel, retainers and specialists to hire, handling encounters—including combat, and treasure. There is a complete set of tables for generating treasure types and hoards, the best feature of which are the list of effects, such as Courage, Invisibility, Protection, Flames on Command, Locate Objects, and Obsession, which can be applied to any weapons—not necessarily swords, and miscellaneous items. This is alongside the usual range of magic items and even rare items like the Bag of Holding, Boots of Travelling and Leaping, Girdle of Giant Strength, and Rope of Climbing.

For the Game Master, there is advice on various Player Character options in terms of the creation process, learning spells, weapon and armour restrictions, and so on. Added here is guidance on handling one of the most difficult issues in Dungeons & Dragons—wishes. The aim here is game balance versus literal accuracy. A similarly difficult issue, that of Energy Drain, is handled in more mechanical fashion. This is handled as negative levels which inflict a semi-permanent loss of one Hit Die’s worth of Hit Points and a -1 penalty on all rolls, plus spellcasters lose a spell slot. The effect is more granular, though still potentially deadly. Optional rules cover raising the dead, saving throws versus death and poison, ability rolls, awarding Experience Points for treasure, and more. There are rules here too for magical research for the Magic-User Player Character or NPC, and of course, for the Game Master to create both dungeon and wilderness adventures. There is no adventure included in the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition, but the advice is a decent introduction to creating both.

Physically, the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition is cleanly presented. The book is well written and fairly liberally illustrated, much of which appears in the monster chapter. The quality of the artwork varies, some of it is quite scrappy, but some of it is decent.

There are no real issues with the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition, but one potential issue is that the roleplaying game does not work as an introductory roleplaying game as written. The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is intended to be simple enough for the younger player to play, and that is true, although with the supervision of older or adult players. The roleplaying game is written for the latter rather than the former, for example, there being no example of play, though there is fiction at the start and a decent explanation of what a roleplaying game is, plus there is an example of character generation. However, the meat of the rules and their mishmash nature are not easy to grasp, but again, to be fair, this applies to numerous other retroclones as well. For the experienced player, this would not be an issue.

There are plenty of Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games available to choose from. The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition offers a comprehensive set of rules in a cleanly presented rule book, covering just about any situation that might come up in play. There are also two major advantages to the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition. One, it is slightly cheaper—even free as a download—than most other Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games available. Two, it gives access to a range of scenarios and mini-campaigns, such as JN1 The Chaotic Caves: A Basic Fantasy RPG Adventure Series For Characters of Levels 1-3. Overall, the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Fourth Edition is a serviceable fantasy roleplaying game.

Roleplaying games can have you portraying some strange characters. Not just elves or aliens inhibited by their emotions, but really strange characters. For example, in Marquee Press’ Khaotic, the characters’ minds are projected into the bodies of aliens on another world to fight a would-be invader, but end up all controlling the same alien body. In both Asmodee’s Bloodlust and John Wick’s WIELD: Chronicles of the Vatcha, the players portray the magical items and weapons being wielded, not the wielder. In the transhuman roleplaying game Eclipse Phase, the character is split between Ego and form, able to resleeve the Ego into a myriad of different body types, from cheap labour morphs and Olympian biomorphs to Uplifted species such as Chimpanzees and Octopuses and robotic flexbots and swarmoids. In the eponymously named A Set of Scrubs, you get to roleplay something that is perhaps the strangest, yet most ordinary item of all.
A Set of Scrubs is a journaling game which tells the story of a single set of scrubs at a hospital. Due to budget cuts, scrubs need to be worn multiple times, being deep cleaned between use, and handed back out as necessary. From the moment the scrubs are handed out for the first time, fresh and with a newness you just wish would never fade, to the time they have worn through and been stained with marks—both emotional and physical—that never truly shift, via being worn into something unremarkable, then perhaps a little scratchy, the scrubs will have been multiple times by numerous different people. Doctors, nurses, patients, porters, never management, visitors (yes, even them), security guards. Told over the course of three acts, A Set of Scrubs uses the Lost & Found system which is designed to produce solo games telling the story of an Object over a long stretch of time, typically from its creation to destruction. So it is with A Set of Scrubs.
A Set of Scrubs is published by Beyond Cataclysm Books and written by a medical doctor. To play—or rather to tell the story—of the single set of scrubs takes about an hour and requires pens, paper, a clock (or other means of tracking time), and a candle. The use of the latter and the subject matter of A Set of Scrubs, with dark and difficult themes since hospitals are places where life and death are decided, means that it is for mature audiences only.

A Set of Scrubs begins with the player establishing and describing the hospital, its age, management, and progress. Then it does the same for its staff and its patients. Is the hospital old or new, underfinanced or getting by, dirty or clean, the management honest or dishonest, and does the hospital have a motto? Do the staff want to do a good job or are they overworked and undermanned, professional or not, what are their opinions of the motto? Are the patients wealthy or poor, from all corners of society or one, what do they think of the hospital and does it have a good reputation, and how do they treat the staff? Is there a change in patient numbers, and if so, why? Penultimately, what does the set of scrubs look like? Cheap or well made, colourful or one tone, comfortable or uncomfortable, and so on? Lastly, the player draws the set of scrubs. There is even space in the book for this.

A Set of Scrubs is played in three acts. In each act, the scrubs will be worn by two or three Wearers. These change from act to act, each accompanied by a set of prompts which the player uses to tell the story going on around the scrubs. The prompts may also ask the player to roll on or choose from the ‘Illness’ Table or the ‘Clinical Procedure’ as appropriate. Doctor, Nurse, and Patient are consistent across all three acts, but the Porter appears in Act One, the Visitor in Act Two, and the Security Guard in Act Three.

The prompts for the Doctor, the Nurse, and the Patient vary slightly from act to act. For example, the prompts for the Patient in Act One ask the player to explain why the patient is in hospital, to choose and answer a question from the ‘Illness’ table, give an event that happens on the day which sticks with them for a long time, and lastly, how the patient Marks the scrubs. For a Patient in Act Two, the player must explain how the patient got to the hospital, choose and answer a question from the ‘Illness’ table, and both how the patient Marks the scrubs and whether or not the patient is marked in a similar way. A Mark is the effect that the encounter had on the scrubs. It can be as simple as a pulled thread or a spilled cup of coffee, as visceral as a string of bullet holes, swathes of blood and gore—or worse, or even a sleeve torn lose in an encounter with frightened Patient, or as ephemeral as an odour or a sound, a lingering presence, and so on. These are literally made on the scrubs, the player drawing them on the picture he drew of the set at the start of play.
In between wearers, the player rests, from a few seconds to a few minutes, before the scrubs are pulled on by the next wearer and both player and scrubs thrown back into the action—physical, emotional, or both—of hospital life. Longer rests means that when the scrubs return to duty, the hospital will also have changed somehow and that will have an effect on the wearer and the scrubs. For the player, the moments of rest take place with his eyes closed (or in the dark). The shorter the period, the less time the player has to contemplate what happened in that day’s encounter, to wonder how the scrubs were affected and the nature of the Mark. The ultimate period of reflection comes at the end after Act Three, when the scrubs have worn out and been incinerated. This is when the candle is lit and the player takes one last moment to consider the events and encounters that the scrubs have been witness to.

Physically, A Set of Scrubs is very well produced, a sturdy digest-size booklet with intentionally rough illustrations.

A Set of Scrubs is very much a contemplative writing experience rather than a roleplaying game. It prompts the player to consider events and encounters in a place dedicated to life and healing, but where death and even danger are a constant presence. The stories that result are peripatetic, flitting from wearer to wearer like a shared world, mostly ordinary, but influenced by the building around them and the care that the staff provide. Doubtlessly influenced by the numerous medical dramas we have seen, A Set of Scrubs nevertheless pushes us to explore something we know is there and something that we know at some point we will encounter, but from an unexpected emotional quarter.