From the delightful Where’s My Shoggoth? to H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu for beginning readers, there have been numerous attempts to meld the Cosmic Horror of Lovecraft’s fiction with the children’s author of your choice or in the children’s book format. Some are simple as the Mythos ABC books, whilst others are clever parodies, such as TinTin meets Lovecraft and Ken Hite’s Where the Deep Ones Are published by Atlas Games. At the same time, whilst many can be read by or to children, they often inject a sense of humour into the highly baroque and densely descriptive style of Lovecraft’s writing and this acts as a counter to the cosmic horror and the unknown at the heart of his fiction. Of course, today, Cthulhu and his ilk are known far and wide across multiple media, if not necessarily, the actual details of the story where he appears. A Call To Cthulhu follows this well trod path and not only acknowledges the original story where great Cthulhu first appeared, but many others by H.P. Lovecraft.

A Call To Cthulhu is written and drawn by Norm Konyu and published by Titan Books as part of its Nova imprint for teenage readers. Described as “part comicbook, part artbook, part unsuitable-for-toddlers storybook”, it is a thoroughly modern imagining of Mythos, coming at it via an all too familiar aspect of contemporary life to look back at and reference Lovecraft’s major stories and creations one by one. Cthulhu though, remains the central figure and for reasons that will become clear never strays from the narrative, a lurking, looming figure despite the distances between the narrator and the Great Old One. The conceit of A Call To Cthulhu is that of an unwanted telephone call, one received by Cthulhu himself on his mobile telephone from an unknown caller. Reception it seems, is excellent near the Pacific oceanic pole of inaccessibility, let alone on the ocean floor! It must be something eldritch. The caller—it could be Lovecraft himself or simply the narrator, being shown only in silhouette at the table in the library where he has been reading more than safe for his sanity of the Elder Gods—then begins to berate and castigate Cthulhu for his monstrous nature and inhuman attitudes, complaining how he cannot sleep, that he hears rats in the walls, and hates him, and would give him a wedgie were he a step closer!

The irreverent tone does not just apply to Great Cthulhu, but almost every creation of Lovecraft comes in for a tongue lashing. These, as is most of the book, are presented in richly coloured double spreads contrasting with the text on its stark white pages. The style of the prose is simple, being in the ‘ABCB’ rhyming style, making easy to read—especially aloud. For example:
“Born of the Nameless Mist
Yog-Sothoth is a jerk
Outside of the Galaxy
Where he tends to lurk”

and

“Sharks can be scary
So can a two-headed calf
But penguins, dear Cthulhu
Really?
Are you having a laugh?”

Thus A Call To Cthulhu takes the reader to Dunwich of ‘The Dunwich Horror’ and the Antarctic of ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, but these are not the only stories and places referenced in the book. The narrator in turn takes us to the empty quarter of ‘The Nameless City’, the worst town on the coast of New England in ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’, sidesteps into the Dreamlands for an encounter with ‘The Cats of Ulthar’, and beyond in pursuit of Kadath in ‘The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath’, before a final confrontation with the eponymous Old One he is awoken and the pirate ship, the Alert, is rammed into his head! All told A Call To Cthulhu encompasses fifteen of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories. Of the author’s choices, all but two can be regarded as well known. The lesser known ones here are ‘The White Ship’ and ‘The terrible Old Man’, and whilst there is nothing wrong with their inclusion, they do take the place of more well known stories such as ‘Herbert West, Reanimator’ that on recognition alone would have merited inclusion. Another issue is that ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ has two double spreads devoted to it rather than the one of everything else, but arguably that is the largest of Lovecraft’s stories and so deserves the extra attention.

After having been told where to go by the narrator and Cthulhu has flown off in disgust, A Call To Cthulhu comes to a close two sections of reference material. The first of these asks, ‘Who was H.P. Lovecraft?’ The answer is is given in a short, one page biography which does not stray away from being honest about his social attitudes and racism. It does not dwell on them unnecessarily, but it does make it clear that he had them. The second is a story and illustration key that explains each image and its associated story. This is a useful and pleasing inclusion for the reader wanting to know more and understand the references.

A Call To Cthulhu is a slim volume, but beautifully illustrated veering the comic depictions of Cthulhu as he reacts to the unexpected caller and the more ominous depictions of the peoples, places, and things of the Mythos. Throughout there is a immense sense of scale, of things constantly looming over the reader, whether it is the Colour erupting in the sky in ‘The Colour Out of Space’ or the three-engined Dornier skiplane as it dips between the previously hidden peaks of the mountains and the strange city with its cyclopean architecture in ‘At the Mountains of Madness’.

As much as the narrator yells and screams at Cthulhu, telling the Great Old One how much he hates both him and other aspects of the Mythos, the comedic effect of this is contrasted by an underlying sense that the narrator is also frightened of them both. There is just enough of an edge to A Call To Cthulhu to hint at the horror of the Mythos, to suggest that it is something to be sacred of rather than to laugh at, but without truly scaring the younger reader or the listener who is having this book read to them. This though makes the book more appealing to the older reader as well as the Lovecraft devotee who will appreciate and understand the underlying fear and know its sources.

A little sharper, even spikier than most Lovecraft adaptations for children and younger readers, A Call To Cthulhu is a pleasure to read and a delight to look at. This is a Lovecraftian children’s book that can be read at bedtime and enjoyed by children and non-children alike.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: The Search For The Forbidden DoorPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Matthew Tansek

Setting: 1920s HawaiiProduct: One-Shot Scenario
What You Get: Forty-four page, 90.57 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Horror on Hawaii (...and below)Plot Hook: The fate of a missing archaeologist leads to confrontation with the locals, mad and bad. Plot Support: Staging advice (including investigation flow!), five pre-generated Investigators, four handouts, six NPCs, one map, and two Mythos monsters.Production Values: Good
Pros# Nicely organised investigation# Easily adapted to Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos# Easy to adjust to other time periods# Potential convention scenario# Nicely detailed investigation once the Investigators get to it# Entamaphobia# Gephyrophobia# Teraphobia
Cons# Excessively high Cthulhu Mythos skills!# Needs an edit# No helpful maps# Two of the pre-generated Investigators have the Cthulhu Mythos skill
Conclusion# Steamy, sweaty tropical island horror investigation# Nicely organised scenario

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Glimpses of Terror: The Works of I.G. PaynePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Nikk Effingham

Setting: Victorian era BirminghamProduct: One-Shot Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-six page, 3.29 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Madness in MoseleyPlot Hook: A philosopher goes mad in Moseley… and beyondPlot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators, six handouts, two NPCs, one map, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Decent
Pros# One-shot for Cthulhu by Gaslight# Room for expansion# Playable by one to six players# Potential convention scenario# Nicely detailed investigation once the Investigators get to it# Automatonophobia# Pachydermophobia# Agoraphobia
Cons# Heavily directed opening scenes# No map of the house# Area map could have been clearer# No NPC descriptions (by design)# One solution is effectively a murder-suicide pact!# Really does want the Investigators to become the monsters
# The weirdness of the scenario accessible only by becoming monsters
Conclusion# Initially, heavily plotted scenario opens up into an interesting and potentially personal dilemma# Really wants the Investigators to become the monsters and they may miss the true horror of the scenario if they decide not to

This is a world of high fantasy where a princess has lost her kingdom to the antagonist’s army, a veteran soldier has pledged to protect the people with his life, and a dark knight seeks redemption for his crimes. A silver palace orbits the moon, golems, airships, and elementally infused weapons are commonplace, but knowledge of the greatest of the world’s magic has been lost and lies ready to be rediscovered in sunken ruins or guarded by centuries old monsters. The enemies of this world—many the antagonist counterparts to it heroes—wield mighty magics and lead vast armies, but often turn to divine or the demonic for ultimate power. This is a world of natural magic where the daughter of the village chief seeks to prove her worth, the young hermit has discovered an entrance to a magical ruin in the forest, and the witch knows the prophecies that have been foretold all the way back to the ancestors. Great beasts populate the forests of this world and deep within lie forbidden places holding alien and magical secrets best left forgotten. The magic of the forest brims with life and energy whilst that of the ruins runs dark and cold, ready to power machinery that has laid dormant for centuries or more. The enemies of this world are disasters waiting to happen and technology waiting to take it place in the world once again, perhaps championed by the misguided, but always something greater and more powerful lurks, biding its time. This is a world of techno-fantasy where a scarred hero has had everything taken away from him, the magic-user is the last survivor from a long line of wizards who sought harmony with the world, and a failed experiment survives despite having been abandoned by his cold-hearted creator. Gleaming palaces stand over the squalor of the slums where most of the population are forced to live in cities that stand amidst barren landscapes. Magic has been drained from the world, seen as a source of wealth and power, and means of war, whilst the art and knowledge of magic has been lost or suppressed. The enemies of this world are industrialists who threaten to drain the world of all its magic in pursuit of their power and so bring about a cataclysm or drive the world into war.

These worlds are not one world, but the possible worlds seen in Japanese console and computer roleplaying games such as Ni No Kuni and the Final Fantasy series. It is these worlds that Fabula Ultima TTJRPG—short for ‘Table Talk Japanese Roleplaying Game’—published by Need Games!, brings to the table from the computer screen. Like those console roleplaying games, the worlds which the Game Master and her players roleplay in will be ones of heroic fantasy and action, heroes and villains, heroic destiny, challenging battles, and ultimately, their world. The latter is important because there is no default world in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG. Instead, the Game Master and her players decide upon a subgenre—high fantasy, natural magic, or techno-fantasy—and then combine it with the Eight Pillars of Fabula Ultima TTJRPG that are its core elements. These are ‘Ancient Ruins and Harsh Lands’, ‘A World in Peril’, ‘Clashing Communities’, ‘Everything Has A Soul’, ‘Magic and Technology’, ‘Heroes of Many Sizes and Shapes’, ‘It’s All About The Heroes’, and ‘Mystery, Discovery, and Growth’. Both players and Game Master need to keep these in mind as they create world during Session Zero, mapping it, deciding on the role of magic and technology, creating kingdoms and nations, and adding historical events, enigmas and mysteries, and lastly, the threats that cast a shadow over the world. There are tables to roll on, but these are still only prompt. Ultimately, the process is intended to be collaborative throughout and the result be a world that everyone wants to play in.

A Player Character in the Fabula Ultima TTJRPG is defined by his Identity, Theme, Origin, Classes, and four Attributes. His Identity neatly summarises who the character sees himself as; his Theme is a strong emotion or feeling that heavily influences his actions, and his Origins is where he is from. A Player Character in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG does not have one Class, but several. Fabula Ultima TTJRPG gives fifteen Classes. These are Arcanist, Chimerist, Darkblade, Elementalist, Entropist, Fury, Guardian, Loremaster, Orator, Rogue, Sharpshooter, Spiritualist, Tinkerer, Wayfarer, and Weaponmaster. Each Class asks the player where his character’s powers come from, what his past experiences are, and how the Class and its abilities define his behaviour. Each provides a list of free benefits as well as Class Skills, some of which can be selected multiple times. This includes the various spellcasting Classes, each of which is given its own list of spells, so that each time the player selects the appropriate skill, he chooses a new spell. For example, the Orator can be an ambassador, diplomat, or entertainer, and the player is asked if his character thinks everyone can be persuaded or has a price? Who betrayed the character? How does he feel about manipulating people, even if it is for a good cause? What happened when his words landed him in trouble? The Orator gains a bonus to his Mind Points and his skills include ‘Condemn’, ‘Encourage’, ‘My Trust In You’, ‘Persuasive’, and ‘Unexpected Ally’. The four Attributes are Dexterity, Insight, Might, and Willpower. These are rated by die type, from six-sided die to twelve-sided die.

To create a character, a player decides upon his character’s Identity, Theme, and Origin. There are again, tables to choose from, roll on, or use as inspiration. He chooses not one Class, but two or three, and assigns five Levels between them. The idea is not to create a one-note character, but one more rounded and flexible in terms of abilities and skills. Again, Fabula Ultima TTJRPG suggests options and combinations to create classic character types. For example, a Gunslinger combines Sharpshooter and Tinkerer, a Pugilist combines Fury and Weaponmaster, and Red Sorcerer combines Elementalist, Spiritualist, and Weaponmaster. Lastly, the player equips his character, and once everyone has created their characters, they prepare for a prologue, the first session of play, in which the players decide how their characters come together. Again, there are tables provided as suggestions.

Name: Shaw
Identity: Tomb robbing archaeologist
Theme: Ambition
Origin: Kuthage Empire
Classes: Rogue (Two Levels): Dodge, See You Later
Loremaster (Two Levels): Flash of Insight, Trained Memory
Orator (One Level): Persuasive
Dexterity d8 Insight d10 Might d6 Willpower d8
Hit Points: 35 (Crisis 17) Mind Points: 55
Defence: d8 Magic Defence: d10 Initiative Modifier: 0
Inventory (Maximum 8): Chain Whip, Travel Garb, Tome

Each time a Player Character acquires a new Level, he selects a Level in one of the Classes that he already has or a new one, up to a maximum of ten Levels in a Class. When this is reached, the Class is mastered and the character gains a Heroic skill, for example ‘Ambidextrous’ or ‘Extra Spells’. Other Heroic Skills are particular to a Class, like ‘Unbreakable’ for the Guardian which allows the character to survive a fatal hit once per scene or ‘Predictable!’ for the Loremaster which forces an enemy to spend Mind Points to undertake specific actions. In addition, when a Player Character reaches twentieth and fortieth Level, he can increase the die type of one of his Attributes.

Mechanically, in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG, a player always rolls two of his character’s attribute dice and adds the results together. For example, a pistol attack requires the player to roll his character’s Dexterity and Insight, Insight and Willpower to cast a spell, and Insight and Insight to recall information. Typical Difficulty Levels are seven for Easy, ten for Average, thirteen for Hard, and sixteen for Very Hard. A roll of one on both dice is a fumble, whilst rolls of doubles—of sixes and above—is a critical and automatic success. It also creates an Opportunity, for example, ‘Bonding’ with an NPC, ‘Unmask’ a creature or villain, or make ‘Progress’ on a Clock, the timing mechanism in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG. A player can also reroll the dice, but this requires the player to expend a Fabula Point and invoke either Identity, Theme, or Origin, or even invoke a Bond with another character to add the value of that Bond to the result.

Conflict—which includes combat—is described in Fabula Ultima TTJRPG as “back and forth exchanges at a rapid pace”. This can be a chase, an attempt to break into a castle before the guards notice, or an attempt to persuade a tribal chief to let you gain access to his lands, as well as fights. Initiative is handled as a group roll, with everyone else rolling to gain a bonus to the roll made by the player whose character is taking the lead. Then the Player Characters and the NPCs act in alternate order, one by one, but the order in which the Player Characters act is decided by the players. This models the play of Japanese console roleplaying games where the player can decide which of his characters is going to act rather than it be decided randomly. Should a Player Character’s Hit Points be reduced to zero, typically through combat, his player has two choices. The Player Character can surrender and suffer the consequences, but not actually die, or sacrifice himself to achieve a seemingly impossible deed. This has to be in front of a villain, benefit a Bond with an NPC, or improve the world.
The Fabula Ultima TTJRPG has two pools of points with which Player Characters and Villains can further their aims—Fabula Points and Ultima Points. Fabula Points are gained at the start of a session, when a Fumble is rolled, when a Villain makes a grand entrance, the Player Character surrenders after being reduced to zero Hit Points, and by invoking a Bond or Trait to fail a check. They are used to alter the story, invoke a Bond or Trait, or use certain skills. Spending Fabula Points also increases the amount of Experience Points the Player Characters receive at the end of a session, so the players are encouraged to use them rather than keep them. Obviously, Ultima Points are the province of Villains, but have fewer options in terms of what they can be spent on. The most notable is to ‘Escape’, safely leave a scene in true “I shall return!” style, to invoke a Trait, or to recover from a current status. Every Villain has another major ability and that is ‘Escalation’, the Villain transforming into a new, greater, and more villainous version of themselves, from minor Villain to major Villain, major Villain to supreme Villain. This means the Villain is effectively a new Villain and restores him to full powers again. The design and play of Villains is given its own section for the Game Master, covering goals, putting pressure on the Player Characters via the Clock mechanic, giving them hidden depth rather than making them one-dimensional, and even making the Villains mirror the Player Characters.

The rules of Fabula Ultima TTJRPG also covers the use of Inventory Points to abstractly represent useful items of equipment and consumable items like potions to recover Hit Points and Mind Points, travel, dungeons, equipment, projects, and more. Dungeons, which can be complex location that needs to be explored, can be handled as a series of scenes rather than a room-by-room crawl or a simple interlude, but a room-by-room crawl is also included as an option. Equipment can be basic or rare and each item is represented by a pixelated image, which feels very proper. There is good advice for the Game Master—specifically aimed at the neophyte Game Master—which also discusses how each of the Classes work and their roles in play, and how to design battles and Villains. This is backed up with some decent examples and the book is rounded out with a good bestiary.

Physically, the Fabula Ultima TTJRPG is cleanly and tidily laid out, the artwork is excellent, ranging from fully painted pieces to little scenes and encounters done in the Chibi style. The book well written and easy to read and engage with.

The Fabula Ultima TTJRPG combines elements of traditional roleplaying in its core mechanics and storytelling mechanics—or at least methods—in its set-up guidelines for the scenarios and campaigns. As written, it is aimed at newer players and Game Masters, and successfully supports both in getting them to play. This does not mean that it holds their collective hands, but rather recommends them as to what to do and warns them that mistakes will be made and that they can be learned from. More experienced players and Game Masters will pick up how to play and run Fabula Ultima TTJRPG with ease and be off and running with a campaign very quickly. Ultimately, the Fabula Ultima TTJRPG brings the drama, conflict, and action seen on the screen of the Japanese console roleplaying game to the table and not only makes all three exciting and accessible, but lets the players and the Game Master make the world their own.

The year is 1648. The War of the Counter-Reformation never seems to end as what was at first a civil between the Germanic states of the Holy Roman Empire over the rights and dominance of the Lutheran and Catholic churches that drew other nations of Europe and escalated into a contest for European dominance between Habsburg-ruled Spain and Austria, and the French House of Bourbon. Surrounded by Spanish Hapsburgs to the south, east, and north, France not only faces enemies from without, but also within, for the kingdom is divided by many loyalties. Louis XIV is only ten, but has already been king for five years. His mother, Queen Anne, a former Habsburg princess and the most hated woman in France, governs as regent with aid of her able prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, the most hated man in France. Together they have kept France safe, but the continued need for more funds to maintain the war effort requires more taxes to be raised and more offices to be sold, arousing the anger of Parlement. Worse, the burden of the taxes will fall upon the bourgeois and the peasantry, those of the third estate or menu peuple, and the poor, or les maginaux, whilst the nobility of the second estate pay little and the clergy of the first estate pay none. All of which is collected in a manner which is inefficient and prone to corruption. Thus, there is a divide between all levels of society, between those who can afford to pay taxes and pay little and those who cannot afford to pay taxes and pay more. There are divisions of religion between the Catholics, Lutherans, Huguenots, and Jews. There are divisions of loyalty and politics between the Royalists who support Queen Anne and Cardinal Mazarin; the Frondeurs who oppose both them and the heavy tax burden; the Noblists who oppose Queen Anne and Cardinal Mazarin in order to maintain the independence of France’s great families; the Hapsburg faction which would ally with the biggest power in Europe as it would be best to be on the winning side and the right side of God; and the Cardinalists, who recognise Mazarin as the real power in France and believe his efforts have kept France safe to date. This is France in 1648 and the background to Miseries & Misfortunes.

Miseries & Misfortunes is a roleplaying game set in seventeenth century France designed and published following a successful Kickstarter campaign by Luke Crane, best known for the fantasy roleplaying game, Burning Wheel. Notably, it is based on the mechanics of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. Originally, Miseries & Misfortunes appeared as a fanzine in 2015, but its second edition has since been developed to add new systems for skills, combat, magic, and more. However, the underlying philosophy of Miseries & Misfortunes still leans back into the play style of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. For example, the differing mechanics of rolling low for skill checks, but high for combat rolls and saving throws. Plus, the Player Characters exist in an uncaring world where bad luck, misfortune, and even death will befall them and there will be no one left to commiserate or mourn except the other characters and their players. Further, Miseries & Misfortunes is not a cinematic swashbuckling game of musketeers versus the Cardinal’s guards. It is grimmer and grimier than that, and the Player Characters can come from all walks of life. That said, it is set in the similar period as Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, so will be familiar to many players. The other major inspiration for Miseries & Misfortunes is Les Misères et les Malheurs de la Guerre, a set of eighteen etchings by French artist Jacques Callot that grimly depict the nature of the conflict in the early years of the Thirty Years War.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 France is the first of the roleplaying game’s two core rulebooks. It presents the core rules and background, as well as explaining elements of the Player Character, whilst Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux provides the means to actually create Player Characters. Further rulebooks and supplements add expanded rules, magic, science, and divinity, provide a detailed scenario and setting, and describe Paris in this period. A Player Character in Miseries & Misfortunes has six governing abilities—Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. These range in value between three and eighteen, but can go lower. Each provides a bonus to the roleplaying game’s eight skills, but for situations where pure Strength or Intelligence is required, a roll equal to, or less than the value will succeed. The eight core skills are Break, Improvise, Listen, Parley, Sang Froid, Search, Sneak, and Traverse. Of these Sang Froid, or ‘cold blood’, is the strong will and steeliness needed to commit acts of violence. Each skill is represented by a die type and rating, for example, ‘3/6’, meaning that the Player Character must roll three or less on a six-sided die to succeed. If a skill is raised to ‘5/6’ and then raised again, its die type increases to ‘7/8’, meaning that the Player Character must roll seven or less on an eight-sided die to succeed. The maximum a Player Character can have in a skill is ‘19/20’. The rating of a skill can be raised during character generation, following the Life Paths presented in Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux, and temporarily during play with bonuses for situation and the Player Character’s actions. A skill rating reduced to zero is ‘Unmoored’ and rolled on ‘1/10’.

A Player Character has four saves—Artillery, Chance, Poison & Plague, and Terror. These are set at sixteen. They can be lowered as a result of events in a Player Character’s Life Path. Similarly, his values for Defence—based on Strength, and Dodge—based on Dexterity, are also modified by a Player Character’s Life Path. Hit Points and Will—lost either in a duel of wits, from losing a fight, from encountering the supernatural, or being attacked in the press—are also determined by a Player Character’s Life Path. A Player Character has three Mentalités, Nationality, Politics, and Religion, which are also treated like skills. In the core rules for Miseries & Misfortunes, Nationality will be French, but Politics can be Royalist, Froundeur, Noblist, Hapsburg, or Cardinalist, whilst Religion can be Catholic, Lutheran, Huguenot, or Jewish. All of which will set up rivalries and influence interaction as play progresses. Lastly, a Player Character will have Precedence, which will depend upon which of the three estates he belongs to and his station within that estate. This is the equivalent of his social status and will play a role in interactions with NPCs and in duels of wit.
In addition to Precedence, a Player Character’s wealth or Fortune, will play an important role in his life. A Player Character can own property and have an income, and ideally it will support his lifestyle. It may also need to support the lifestyle of dependents, which can be some of the obligations that the Player Character must fulfil, at least financially. A Player Character will need to manage his assets and there are guidelines for living beyond your means, gifts, loans, charity, debt, and bankruptcy. All of which, along with Precedence can influence a Player Character’s Reputation. This is measured by quality of birth, station, military rank, wealth, deeds—acknowledged and unacknowledged, and can see the Player Character gain Entrée into high society and more. However, Reputation needs to be maintained, and again that requires wealth and income.
Combat in Miseries & Misfortunes takes two forms. ‘Duel of Wits’ covers pointed social interaction—insults, threats, accusations, bribes, seductions, and more. Much like physical combat, it takes account of range, which can be an intimate space, at speaking distance, shouting distance, and the press. Types of social interaction are treated as weapons in a ‘Duel of Wits’, for example, Accuse, Beg pardon, Poison, Implore, Shame, and more. The difficulty of each varies according to target distance, so that, for example, Confession is more likely to succeed at intimate and speaking distances, and less so when shouting in in the press. A successful social attack both inflicts damage to the target’s Will and if the target’s Will is reduced to zero, triggers a victory condition. In the case of Confession, the target believes the confession and will either consider the confessor brave for revealing the truth or scandalised by its content! Otherwise, social manoeuvres will be exchanged until the Will of one side is reduced to zero and the victory condition triggered.

The other form of combat in Miseries & Misfortunes is physical. It covers skirmishes, ambushes, morale, barricades, and more. The scale here is not just the personal, but all the way up to small scale battles, including artillery barrages and musket fusillades. One of the omissions here is dedicated rules for duelling, doing what the ‘Duel of Wits’ did for social interaction, but for sword and pistol exchanges. This is problematic if the potential player comes to Miseries & Misfortunes for the swashbuckling, musketeering, cinematic action that its genre and setting suggest. He will be disappointed, but Miseries & Misfortunes is not that style of roleplaying game and there are plenty of other options if that is what he wants.

One of the most interesting mechanics in Miseries & Misfortunes is ‘Mortal Coil’. This is its equivalent of a luck mechanic, but it is a decidedly grim and brutal one. In play, a Player Character can exert himself to reroll skills, combat rolls, saves, ability tests, and even force an opposing Player Character’s player to reroll. However, this literally reduces his ‘Mortal Coil’. Every Player Character in Miseries & Misfortunes has a base allotment of years, determined by the quality of his birth. It is rolled for by the Game Master and kept secret. This is the number of years which the Player Character will live barring unfortunate circumstances such as adventuring and seeking a fortune. The number of points a Player Character has with which to exert himself is equal to his maximum age minus his current age. Thus, every time he exerts himself, he reduces his lifespan by one year, and because the player does not know how long his character will live, this is incredibly harsh. It does not mean that the Player Character simply drops dead on the spot, but that he more likely to suffer ill effects from his efforts as he grows weary. This might be to fall down dead, but it might also see the Player Character addled in the brain and suffer a loss of Intelligence and need to spend two seasons resting or driven to drown his sorrows in drink for a season, potentially suffering a Constitution loss. These are rolled for on the Mortal Coil table, which is also rolled on should a Player Character be reduced to zero Hit Points. The roll on the Mortal Table is modified by the number of times a Player Character has exerted himself, by the Player Characters’ Virtues and Flaws, and by the group motif—that which serves as a bond between them. It is also possible to increase a Player Character’s Mortal Coil by completing life paths.

Old School Renaissance roleplaying games in general do not have a luck or fortune mechanic. The fact that Miseries & Misfortunes does, moves it away from being a straightforward Old School Renaissance retroclone. Yet the harsh nature of the Mortal Coil mechanic ameliorates that to some extent, giving the player a choice between the consequences of a failed roll versus giving up a year of his life each time. It is a nasty little Hobson’s Choice of a mechanic that gives a player something that the average Old School Renaissance retroclone does not—a decision as to the consequences suffered.

Physically, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 France is well presented and written. It is illustrated with a period artwork and etchings which helps impart its historical setting. If it is missing anything, it is an index, but at just over a hundred pages, this is not too much of an issue.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 France has its origins in an Old School Renaissance-style supplement, the original Miseries & Misfortunes fanzine, but its combination of skill system, use of life paths and detailed characters and backgrounds, a luck mechanic, and mechanics for social interaction are modern design choices—no surprise given that the designer also created Burning Wheel—rather than those necessarily of the Old School Renaissance. However, its tone and sensibilities in terms of the fragility of the Player Characters and their place in a harsh, uncaring world do lean back into the Old School Renaissance. The resulting combination is brutal and grim, all played out against an interesting historical setting that is supported by the detailed mechanics presented in Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 France.

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

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

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What is it?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is the quick-start for StokerVerse Roleplaying Game, the roleplaying game of dark and twisted Gothic horror during the late Victorian era, in which the adventurers and investigators confront Vampire courts, Werewolf clans, Jekyll and Hyde, and even Frankenstein’s Monster whilst Jack the Ripper stalks the fog swathed streets of London.

It is a sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

It is designed to be played by five to seven players, plus the Author (as the Game Master is known).

It is a seventy page, full colour book.

The quick-start is very lightly illustrated, but the artwork is excellent and foreboding. The rules are a slightly stripped down version from the core rulebook, but do include examples of the rules which speed the learning of the game.

The themes and nature of StokerVerse Roleplaying Game and thus the Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start, specifically the horror and its bloody nature, the seductive nature of vampires, and the subversion of good society, means that it is best suited to a mature audience.

How long will it take to play?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start and its adventure, ‘Dracula’s Empire’, is designed to be played through in two or three sessions.

What else do you need to play?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start requires six ten-sided dice per player. One of these dice should be a different colour to the rest, ideally, black.

Who do you play?
The seven Player Characters in Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start consist of Lord Godalming Arthur ‘Art’ Holmwood, Mister Johnathan Harker, Dr John Seward, Police Sergeant Albert Enshaw, Miss Primrose Hampden, Madame Lisa De Villiers, and Mister Daniel Seagrove. Of these, Lord Godalming Arthur ‘Art’ Holmwood, Mister Johnathan Harker, and Dr John Seward will be familiar from the novel, Dracula, whilst Police Sergeant Albert Enshaw is a London police officer, Miss Primrose Hampden is a sketch artist who has the power of second sight, Madame Lisa De Villiers is a veiled medium, and Mister Daniel Seagrove is a research assistant for Van Helsing. Together, they are all members of, or connected to, The Brotherhood. All seven Player Characters have a full character sheet and

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has six stats—Strength, Dexterity, Knowledge, Concentration, Charisma, and Cool. Stats are rated between zero and six, whilst the skills are rated between one and four. A Player Character can have Traits, such as Club Tie (Polite Society), Natural Aptitude (Profession: Solicitor), Contact (Dr Phillips - Director Purfleet Asylum), Legal Authority, Unconscious talent (Shadow Sight: First Impressions), Occult Secret (Shadow Sight), and Occult Studies (Shadow sight). There is a preponderance of Contact Traits amongst the Player Characters.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start uses the ‘S5S’ System first seen in SLA Industries, Second Edition. This is a dice pool system which uses ten-sided dice. The dice pool consists of one ten-sided die, called the Success Die, and Skill Dice equal to the skill being used, plus one. The Success Die should be of a different colour from the Skill Dice. The results of the dice roll are not added, but counted separately. Thus, to each roll is added the value of the Skill being rolled, plus its associated stat. If the result on the Success Die is equal to or greater than the Target Number, ranging from eight and Challenging to sixteen and Insane, then the Operative has succeeded, but it is a ‘Close Call’ or a ‘Yes, but...’ result. A ‘Solid Success’ is a result of exactly two successes, whilst three or more success is an ‘Extraordinary Success’.

Luck can be spent to Stat by one for a single test, substitute the values of a skill dice for the value of the success die, transfer the damage of a successful attack to themselves, and to gain the initiative.

How does combat work?
Combat in Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is designed to be desperate and dangerous. Damage is rolled on five-sided dice, modified by successes rolled.

How does the Occult work?
In Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start, two of the pre-generated Player Characters have Occult abilities. Miss Primrose Hampden has ‘Unconscious talent (Shadow Sight: First Impressions)’ and Madame Lisa De Villiers has both ‘Occult Secret (Shadow Sight)’ and ‘Occult Secret (Wards)’. Both require the use of the Occultism skill. Shadow Sight provides the user with intuitive feeling about someone upon first meeting them, whilst ‘Wards’ are used to contain and restrain the forces of evil. This requires the use of a spiritualist’s kit, expending a point of its Ammo, and a two-step process. First, a preliminary barrier is created and if successful, the number of successes determines the Protection Value and Integrity of the barrier. It can be continued to be shored up, but this is emotionally exhausting.

What do you play?
In Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start, the scenario is ‘Dracula’s Empire’. This is a detailed investigation set in London after the events of Dracula. Mina Harker has gone missing , after her return to London; there has been a rash of disappearances of children and the morgues are filling up with bodies drained of blood—and there has been a cover up of both; and a mysterious dark-haired woman has been seen traversing the streets of London and attending high society balls. Are they connected? Could the mysterious woman be Mina? Or worse… Lucy returned from the dead? The scenario has multiple avenues of investigation, including tracking down the mysterious woman, attending one of the society balls—held on Mornington Crescent, no less!, digging into the missing children, bloodless bodies, and so on. Each of these is handled in scenes of their own, which are nicely detailed.

Is there anything missing?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is complete and it even comes with advice for the Author on running the game. A map or two in places would have been helpful.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start are relatively easy to prepare. The Author will need to pay closer attention to the plot of ‘Dracula’s Empire’, in part because there is no clear explanation of what the plot is and how its strands tie together. In addition, the backgrounds for the Player Characters and their character sheets are separate, so the Author will need to ensure that they are together for each player.
Is it worth it?
Yes. It needs close preparation to bring the multiple strands of the investigation together, but Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is a meaty, bloody investigation against the background of London’s fogbound streets, official obfuscation, and the heights and lows of society.
Where can you get it?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is available to download here.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations is a bit different. Unlike the majority of the releases for Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and the releases for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, it is not a scenario. Instead, it is a supplement designed to help the Judge bring the darker, grimmer, and even pulpier world of the City of the Black Toga, Lankhmar, the home to the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, the creation of author Fritz Leiber, to life. The city is described as an urban jungle, rife with cutpurses and corruption, guilds and graft, temples and trouble, whores and wonders, and more. Under the cover the frequent fogs and smogs, the streets of the city are home to thieves, pickpockets, burglars, cutpurses, muggers, and anyone else who would skulk in the night! Which includes the Player Characters. Since the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set presents a city setting, what a campaign set there needs more than anything is locations. Places that the Player Characters will visit, whether that is somewhere to fraternise and carouse, worship, case and then burglarise, buy goods and fence their stolen booty, or simply to sleep. Together, such locations and the NPCs found there are places around which a campaign can be built as the Player Characters visit them again and again and they become part of their lives. Scenarios for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set provide their own locations, starting with Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #1: Gang Lords of Lankhmar, which provides a gang of fellow thieves and desperate men and women to lead as well as a hideout to use as a base of operations. Subsequent scenarios have provided further locations, such as the theatre in Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #3: Acting Up In Lankhmar. Each of these scenarios provides just a handful—at the very most—of such locations, whereas, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations goes much, much further.
Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations does exactly what its title suggests. Describe and detail a dozen locations in the City of the Black Toga. None of the locations are generic. All of them are specific locations, some part of the city as detailed in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, whilst others are directly inspired by the stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. That said, names and details can be changed increasing the versatility of the locations and in some cases, there is some variation included. The majority of the important NPCs are named and given some details so that the Judge can portray them in play. The selection opens with the ‘Crafts Street Watch House’, a better manned and equipped watch house, complete with barracks, armoury, constables’ office, bedrooms for the sergeants, and so on. The interesting rooms for the Player Characters are going to be the vault which holds several chests’ worth of potential loot and evidence and downstairs the interrogation room and the cells where they might end up! Of course, the Watch House need not be on Crafts Street, but could be relocated to wherever the Judge desires. The ‘Fence’s Business’ is a nice combination of secret business, ordinary business, and board rooms.
More expansive and detailed is the ‘Pleasure House’ between the Carousing and the Pleasure Quarters. One of four larger locations in Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations, this is a high-end house of ill repute, its proprietor, Lady Minx, taking great care of her staff and their children, catering to certain clientele in secret, yet of course, keeping their secrets just in case something goes wrong. There is a little nudity to the artwork here, in keeping with the swords & sorcery genre, but otherwise there is nothing prurient here and it feels like a working establishment. The idea of the ‘Rented Temple’, placed on the Street of the Gods, is particular to Lankhmar and the example is dedicated to Miska, Lord of Cats, a parochial and quirky choice, and there are alternative suggestions as possible uses for its inner rooms. Similarly, the ‘Second-Rate Sorcerer’s House’ is also quirky and particular to Lankhmar, filled with magical knick-knacks and gewgaws—mostly for shore—which is home to a competent, if middling wizard. The ‘Shop with Attached Living Quarters’ expands upon the alternative use with for options for what is upstairs above the shop. One is a family home, the other a pair of rented rooms, and an open loft area which could be put to various use, including storage, sparring room, dovecote, and others. Thus, this building could have two or three storeys.
The Cuttlefish is given as an example ‘Sailing Ship’. This is a cramped caravel of a type popular amongst Inner Sea traders and similar to the Seahawk, the vessel that the Gray Mouser commands later in his career. Presented as more of a cutaway, the inclusion of the Cuttlefish has lots of gaming potential. The Player Characters might need to sneak aboard or prevent another gang from doing so and the ship will enable them to travel abroad from the city of Lankhmar and explore the wider world. Depending upon their wealth and influence, they might even take command of the vessel and engage in trade, and even a little smuggling. The ship has a smuggling hold—just a small one—which could be used to smuggle goods or passengers or even the Player Characters themselves in secret. Like a lot of lot of the entries in this supplement, the ‘Sailing Ship’ entry is flexible and utilitarian.
Several locations are tied to the stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. These include ‘The Silver Eel’, the tavern on Dim Lane where the two adventurers are known to be regulars and the ‘Thieves’ House’, home to Lankhmar’s most notorious and one of its most powerful guilds. It is so powerful that it publicly occupies a whole block in the city and it is rumoured that the surrounding buildings and the cellars and sewers blow are part of it too. Arguably, a whole supplement could have been dedicated to the city’s Thieves’ Guild, but there is room in Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations for just two floors to be detailed. This is still the largest entry in the supplement and it portrays the Thieves’ House during the tenure of Korvas as guild master when the warlock, Hristomilo, was in residence. His laboratory is described in some detail and there are suggestions as what his laboratory might be used for following the events of the novella, Ill Met in Lankhmar. Likewise, the ‘Wealthy Villa’ describes the ‘House of Muulsh the Moneylender’—as previously detailed in Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set—home to Muulsh and his wife, Atya, although it also includes the slight differences to the richly appointed, three-storey villa, after Atya disappears. The location, of course, is just demanding to be burglarised by the Player Characters.

Other locations in Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations include ‘Street Market’ and ‘Warehouses and Rooming House’. The ‘Street Market’ details the ‘Five Knife-Points Market’ with numerous vendors and NPCs that the Player Characters can interact with, selling and buying goods, menacing the vendors for protection money, rob, picking pockets, and so on. ‘Warehouses and Rooming House’ present a rooming house, ‘The Weary Sailor’, and its adjacent buildings. These include several warehouses, including one abandoned, one being run profitably, and one turned into a pit-fighting venue. This small neighbourhood has a delightfully seedy feel to it and certainly worth adding to the Judge’s campaign should her Player Characters want to check out the monies to be made down by the docks in the River Quarter.
Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations is as decently presented as you would expect from Goodman Games. It is well written, but the cartography really stands out, clearly depicting its numerous buildings in all of their opulence and seediness.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations is a very useful supplement for the Judge running a campaign set in Lankhmar. It presents her with ready-to-play locations that instantly add to the city and bring it life, whether iconic places such as ‘The Silver Eel’ or the ‘Thieves’ House’, or more generic and easily adjusted places such as the ‘Shop with Attached Living Quarters’. In the process, the contents of Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #7: A Dozen Lankhmar Locations will make both the city of Lankhmar and the activities of the Player Characters all the more believable and memorable.

One of the amazing aspects of modern games is that we can have great board games based on intellectual properties, but not just intellectual properties from this year or next year, even from a decade ago, but intellectual properties from decades ago. Go back even two or so decades and the board games based on intellectual properties would be nothing more than simple, tried and tested designs with the imagery of the intellectual properties slapped on them. Simple, tried and tested designs means unsatisfying, means dull, means feeling nothing like the intellectual properties such board games are based upon. Not so in the twenty-first century, when designers are expected to match the themes of an intellectual property with the mechanics of game play. The result has been some very playable board games, all based on well-known intellectual properties and all feeling like they are based on those intellectual properties. For example, Jaws: A Boardgame of Strategy and Suspense is a genuinely tense experience, as is Horrified. All of which have tended to be co-operative in their play style and have tended to appeal to a family audience rather than a dedicated board game player audience. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game is a similar game, a co-operative board game based on a decades old intellectual property, designed to be played by a family audience.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game is published by Funko Games and designed to be played by two to four players, aged ten and up, in just thirty minutes. The players take the roles of Elliot, Gertie, Mike, and Greg in their search for parts that E.T. needs to build a communication device to contact his home world. This takes time and effort as the four of them race around the neighbourhood, but their efforts will be hampered by the police in their cruisers and Federal Agents who are searching for E.T. Fortunately, Elliot, Gertie, Mike, and Greg know the neighbourhood though, and can make use of ramps and shortcuts to avoid the Federal Agents and the Cop Cars. To win, the Kids need to build the Device which will summon the Mothership to the Forest Clearing and then get E.T. there to be picked up. The Kids will lose if all three Cop Cars reach the Forest Clearing and block access to it or if E.T. becomes too weak because his Heartlight is reduced to zero.

Open up E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game and what you see first is the bowl of chrysanthemums—the one that E.T. restores to life in the film and then takes it with him when he leaves—on the back of the board. Turn the oddly squished board over and it depicts the neighbourhood in the San Fernando Valley where the film and thus this game are set. In one corner is the home of Elliot, Gertie, and Mike, whilst in the opposite is the Forest Clearing. Below that in the box, there are lots of striking components. Elliot, Gertie, Mike, and Greg have playing pieces which depicts each of them on bicycles that not only click together so that they can move together, but also have a basket into which E.T. can sit. The Mothership is pleasingly detailed plastic depiction of the starship from the film which sits on a stand. Although the board game does not use any photographs taken from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, the artwork it uses in their stead to depict scenes and characters from the film is excellent. Make no mistake, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game is a good-looking board game.

The board itself is crisscrossed with roads which breaks up the lots and houses—known as zones—of the neighbourhood. Some have diagonal red routes across them which are shortcuts that the Kids can take, but the Cop Cars and the Federal Agents cannot. They, instead, must stick to the roads, which the Kids can also use. Three routes run from one corner of the board, from Elliot’s house to the Forest Clearing, and it is these that the three Cop Cars will follow over the course of the game. Three zones are marked with a coloured square—yellow, green, and blue. At the start of the game, the various zones are seeded with a single item represented by an item piece. These are also colour-coded yellow, green, and blue. During the game, the Kids will find and transport item pieces (or a wild token) to the zone of the corresponding colour. Once there are four in the zone, the Kids must transport E.T. to that zone who will then build a device, represented by a Device Die. The Device Die must then be transported to the Forest Clearing. There they can be rolled to generate the ‘telephone handset’ symbols that indicate that the Mothership has been contacted and is moving closer to the Earth and landing to rescue E.T. There are three colours of Device Items and three Device Dice. So, the more Devices that E.T. can build, the more Device Dice the Kids will have to roll. Another item that the Kids can find is a ramp. This can placed to leap over spaces, even over the Cop Cars and the Federal Agents, just as happened in the film.

Each of the four Kids, has their own card and their own special ability, which can used once per turn. Elliott can discard Candy to move E.T. extra spaces; Michael can move along a Shortcut for free; Greg can take a Dangerous Move without rolling the Danger Die; and Gertie can take a Dangerous Pick Up without rolling the Danger Die. Sixteen E.T. Power Cards give a range of different abilities that a Kid can use if he or she is carrying E.T. in the basket on their bicycle. For example, ‘Flying Kids’ lets a Kid move three spaces without the need to roll the Danger Die is enemies are encountered, ‘Trick or Treat’ lets the Kids skip the Move Enemies Phase that turn, and with ‘Hiding’, Special Agent Keys moves during the Move Enemies Phase, it is away from E.T. rather towards it. There are always three E.T. Power Cards on display and when one is used, it is discarded, and a new one drawn. There is a reference card and an E.T. counter with dial on it for tracking his Heartlight.

Once the game is set up, each Kid’s turn consists of three steps—‘Take Actions’, ‘Phone Home’, and ‘Move Enemies’. During the ‘Take Actions’ step, a Kid can take three Basic Actions and as many Free Actions as he wants. The Basic Actions are ‘Move’, ‘Take A Candy’, and ‘Pick Up An Item or Device’. ‘Take A Candy’ means taking a piece of Candy—or Reece’s Pieces in the film—from the general supply and adding it to the Kids’ Candy Pool. Candy is spent to move E.T., one space per Candy. If during a ‘Move’ or ‘Pick Up An Item or Device’, a Kid runs into or near an enemy, then his player must roll the red Danger Die. Depending on the result, this can move a Cop Car closer to the Forest Clearing, Special Agent Keys closer to E.T., the Federal Agent assigned to the Kid closer to him or her, or all assigned Federal Agents closer to their Kids. If a Cop Car or Federal Agent lands on the same space as a Kid, he is caught and must drop any Items or Devices carried. If E.T. is caught, Special Agent Keys takes charge of it and the Kids will have to rescue him! In both cases, E.T.’s Heartlight is reduced by one.

The Free Actions include ‘Drop An Item or Device’, ‘Move E.T. With Candy’, ‘Pick Up or Drop E.T.’, ‘Use One E.T. Power Card’, ‘Team Up’, and ‘Build A Device’. Of these, the most fun is ‘Temp Up’. This is when two Kids are in the same location. It not only enables Kids to swap Items, Devices, and even E.T., but it also enables their bicycles to click together and let them move together and even make use of their abilities together.

In the ‘Phone Home’ step, the player will roll any Device Dice which have been built and delivered to the Forest Clearing. For each ‘telephone handset’ rolled, the Mothership moves one step closer to landing at the Forest Clearing. Lastly, in the ‘Move Enemies’ step, the player rolls the two Enemy Dice (plus the red Danger Die if a Cop Car or Agent is on the location as a Kid or E.T.). Like the Danger Die, the Enemy Dice will move the Cop Cars closer to the Forest Clearing, the Agents closer to their assigned Kid, and Special Agent Keys closer to E.T. Play continues like this until the victory conditions are met by the Mothership picking up E.T., or the game is lost because either E.T.’s Heartlight is reduced to zero or the Cop Cars reach the Forest Clearing.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game is thematically great, but a busy game. What the Kids have to do is collect enough Items to build as many Devices (and their corresponding Device Dice) as they can, get E.T. and the Items to the right zones to build each device, take the Device Dice to the Forest Clearing, roll enough of the right symbols on the Device Dice to bring the Mothership to the Forest Clearing, and then transport E.T. to the Forest Clearing. All the while avoiding both the Cop Cars and the Federal Agents. Which is six steps. Add to this is the number of possible actions that the players can take. Not just the three Basic Actions, but six Free Actions! Now an experienced board game player will grasp the rules and how to play the game with ease, but the number of actions available in play and the number of steps necessary to win mean that the game is not as easy to teach or learn as it could be for less experienced or younger players. Which includes the family audience that E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game is intended for. Yet for the experienced board game player, the game play itself does not offer anything new or exciting and bar adjusting the number of Items needed to build devices and their corresponding Device Dice up or down to make game play harder or easier, there is very little variation in game play.

Of course, what E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game is not about is E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, the film, as a whole. It only focuses upon the climax. Upon the part of the film which is exciting and action-orientated and so gameable. Nevertheless, it is good adaptation of that part of the film and it is clear that a lot of effort has gone into making the game play match that part of the film. Fans of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial will appreciate E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game for that reason alone. As a game overall, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game is more serviceable than a success. It is not a poor game, but rather straddles a difficult line of being too easy and not offering enough variation for the experienced board game player and slightly too difficult with too many choices for the less experienced or family audience. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game is definitely a game that fans of the film will appreciate more than dedicated board game players.

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 True Housewives of ArkhamPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Keith DEdinburgh

Setting: Modern Day ArkhamProduct: One-Shot Scenario
What You Get: Forty-nine page, 2.37 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The hell of other housewives is a whole other reality (television pitch).Plot Hook: Fame, fortune, and fabulous frenemies in ArkhamPlot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Housewives, three NPCs plus Mister Chow Wow, one  map, and three Mythos monstersProduction Values: Decent
Pros# Reality Television terror # Adds interesting social mechanics for inter-Housewife interaction# Plenty of scope for over-the-top roleplaying # Potential convention scenario# Vestiphophobia# Metathesiophobia# Scopophobia
Cons# The parody can tip over into the camp and vice versa
Conclusion# The horror of Reality Television becomes a reality# Housewife horror sets up plenty of scope for unreal roleplaying before the reality of the horror hits!

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 DropPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Sean Liddle

Setting: Eighties Lake OntarioProduct: One-on-One Scenario
What You Get: Six page, 236.94 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Just because you are a monster does not mean that you do not want your freedom to play
Plot Hook: Freedom from your parents... Just for a dayPlot Support: Staging advice and one mapProduction Values: Plain
Pros# Strange subaquatic scares off the shore# Outline to be developed rather than plot# Easy to adapt to other periods# Ichthyophobia# Thalassophobia# Androphobia
Cons# No pre-generated Investigator# Outline to be developed rather than plot
Conclusion# Hints at the strangeness of the sea off the shore# Mechanical development required

The year is 2123. The first Leviathan Jumpships have been launched and contact has been made with the extrasolar colonies founded in the previous century using Aberrant technologies and then lost contact with in the subsequent Aberrant War. Some have survived, some have been lost, and some find themselves under attack by Aberrants and alien species. Aberrants remain a constant threat. They attacked Sydney, Australia in 2105 and in 2120, they dropped the Esperanza, the ailing European Union’s space station which it hoped would revitalise its future, on France, leaving both France and Belgium as devastated and corrupted landscapes. The mark of Aberrants can be seen in the Blight, the explosion of an Aberrant in Nebraska, which corrupted everything within 200 KM and spoiled soil fertility within 1,000 KM, ravaging the USA’s agricultural belt and in the resulting chaos, saw a military coup, the establishment of the Federated States of America, and the occupation of both Canada and Mexico. In the bombed-out city of Bahrain, the headquarters of the Aberrants until they were driven from Earth and the Solar System by the Earth Strike Ultimatum. This was issued in 2067 by the Chinese government and forced every Aberrant to leave lest it launch every nuclear missile from the satellite missile platforms under its control. This ended the Aberrant War and the Nova Age. For the Aberrants had not always been monsters. From the 2020s until the 2050s, they were Novas, powerful superhumans who transformed societies, technologies, and the planet, enabling exploration and settlement throughout the Solar System and beyond. Then they turned on Humanity, resulting in the Aberrant War. In the wake of the war, the worldwide aid and development organisation known as Æon Trinity has worked alongside the United Nations to help rebuild Earth and a force of individuals with the powers to control their own body and its form, to see into past, present, and future, manipulate technology and the electromagnetic spectrum, alter energy and mass, control kinetic energy, heal, contact and read the minds of others, and even teleportation. They are Psions.

Each Psion possesses a primary Aptitude. There are eight Aptitudes, each one associated with a psi order or organisation. When this latent Aptitude is detected, he is approached by its associated order and his psionic abilities transformed from latency into full use by being placed in a Prometheus Chamber, a device which will activate his psionic abilities. Each order possesses a single Prometheus Chamber. The eight orders are The Æsculapian Order, Chitra Bhanu, ISRA (the Interplanetary School of Research and Advancement), the Legions, the Ministry of Noetic Affairs, Orgotek, Nova Força Nacional, and Upeo Wa Macho. The Æsculapian Order focuses on Vitakinesis, biological healing and enhancement, and operates primarily as an international emergency response and aid organisation. Chitra Bhanu studied the relationship between energy and matter, Quantakinesis, including noetic and Quantam powers. Quantam powers are what lay behind the abilities of first the Novas and then the Aberrants, whereas the abilities of the Psions are connected at the subquantum level. It was the study of Quantam powers and rumoured connection to Aberrants which led to the eradication of Chitra Bhanu Order. Members of ISRA are Clairsentients whose study of the past, present, and future is put to use helping each other and humanity. The Legions is a military organisation which uses Psychokinesis to help protect humanity from Aberrant and extraterrestrial threats. The Ministry of Noetic Affairs is an Order of telepaths that is also an independent division of the Chinese government, which studies the mind and provides humanitarian aid and research, often in pursuit of utopian ideals. The Sudamerican-based Nova Força Nacional is an environmentalist order whose members employ Biokinesis to control and alter their body and form, often to radical effect. Orgotek is a corporation in the fascist Federated States of America, which specialises in electronics and biotech, but also Electrokinesis, the ability to control technology. Upeo Wa Macho—Swahili for ‘the horizon’ is an Order of teleporters, its members capable to travel vast, even interstellar distances. In the wake of the eradication of Chitra Bhanu, Upeo Wa Macho expected to be targeted next and its members vanished from the Solar System, only having returned in the last six months. They are often distrusted by the other orders.

This is the setting for Trinity Continuum: Æon. Published by Onyx Path Publishing, it is update of the Trinity, originally published by the White Wolf Game Studio in 2000, the first of the three roleplaying games set in the Trinity Universe. The others being Aberrant and Adventure!, both set earlier in its timeline. Trinity Continuum: Æon is not a standalone roleplaying game and requires the rules in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook. Trinity Continuum: Æon takes the cinematic action of the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook and expands it fully into the realms of Science Fiction and psionic powers. On its own, the Player Characters in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook are exceptionally skilled characters known as ‘Talents’. It is entirely possible to play a Talent in the setting of Trinity Continuum: Æon and such a Player Character would have certain advantages, being unexpectedly skilled when everyone’s focus is upon Psions. For the most part though, the Player Characters will be Psions.

A Player Character—or Psion—in Trinity Continuum: Æon has the same stats and the same creation process as in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook. For his Society Path, a Psion will typically choose his Order, which will also allow Order specific Edges to be chosen, but there is a new Origin Path: Oceanian (for Player Character originating in subaquatic settlements and societies) and new Role Paths which include Off-Earth Colonist, Spacer, and Space Military. The penultimate step in character creation is the application of the Psion Template, which provides a Psion’s Aptitude, Psi Trait, and Modes. Psi Trait is a Psion’s psychic strength, representing both the dice to be added to the pool for activating the Psion’s abilities, the number of Psi points used to activate and power abilities, and more. The typical beginning Psi trait is two, or three for the Quantakinesis and Teleportation Aptitudes. This can be raised as high as six or seven during long term play, which would be equal to a very powerful Psion or a head of one of the orders, or Proxies as they are known. Each Aptitude has three Modes, the actual powers that the Psion will be using. For example, Translocation, Transmassion, and Transportal for Teleportation and Psychometry, Psychlocation, and Psychocognition for Clairsentience.

Activating a psionic ability requires a roll of a dice equal to the Psion’s Psi Trait and the Mode rating. The default Difficulty is one Success to activate an ability, but this can go up or down depending on the Mode rating. This even enables a Psion to use a higher Mode ability that he does not yet have, but at a greater difficulty, with abilities lower the Psion’s current Mode ability will be easier to activate. The Psi Trait determines the duration, range, and radius of an ability, but can be boosted with Psi points. Favouring one ability or Mode over another can lead to psionic dysfunction and odd quirks of personality. However, it does give an advantage with the favoured Mode whilst levying a penalty upon the use of the other Modes. Other rules cover connections with people and objects and co-operating in the use of psionic powers. The rules in Trinity Continuum: Æon also cover hacking as well as a wide range of technology, including hardtech and biotech, all the way up to spaceships and starships of various sizes.

The Science Fiction of Trinity Continuum: Æon is intended to be positive. It is inspired by Babylon 5 and The Tomorrow People, Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke and Julian May’s Galactic Milieu series, and the Mass Effect series of computer roleplaying games. It provides a wealth of detail in terms of its background, which takes in a hundred years’ worth of history, details of the major powers and nations of the early twenty-second century, the remaining seven Psion Orders, the various extra solar colonies, the threats faced by mankind both within the Solar System and beyond. Not only is the background and setting detail immensely readable, but it is also immensely playable because of the differences between its various locations and organisations. It is in these differences where the brilliance of the background comes to the fore. They provide numerous options in terms of the games and campaigns that can be run within the future of the Trinity Continuum: Æon. The fascist Federated States of America with economic underclass, high crime rate, and a police response based on the economic status is perfect for a campaign of Cyberpunk style espionage. The Lunar colony of Olympus is perfect for future crime stories. The extrasolar colonies are intended for Space Opera, whilst miliary Science Fiction is perfect for the Chinese colony of Khantze Lu Ge, where Aberrants have invaded. The remains of France and Belgium are suitable for post-apocalyptic scenarios. Campaigns involving The Æsculapian Order focus on search and rescue missions, emergency response, and the politics of non-governmental aid, ISRA on secret missions to protect humanity, the Legions on military operations, Ministry of Noetic Affairs on intrigue and politics, Nova Força Nacional on espionage and small-scale operations—criminal, guerilla, or military, Orgotek on engineering projects, conducting counterterrorism missions for the Federated States of America government, investigating Aberrant cults, and Upeo Wa Macho on exploration and travel. It is important to note that the membership of each order does not solely consist of Psions with just the order’s associated Aptitude. Those with other Aptitudes can belong too. It is also possible to have a campaign with freelancers or even with the Player Characters from a variety of Orders, but working for the humanitarian agency, Æon Trinity, and that would lend itself to a variety of different scenarios and campaigns.

For the Storyteller, there is a discussion of the various genres possible with Trinity Continuum: Æon, and how to create optimistic scenarios and evoke the themes of the Trinity Continuum universe. These are Hope, Sacrifice, and Unity—the latter in particular for Trinity Continuum: Æon. There is good advice on handling discipline and rank in military campaigns, for example, if tunning a campaign based around the Legions, either discuss it with players and embrace it, run campaigns based on covert operations, or simply keep it more cinematic in style. There is advice too on how to incorporate Talents into a campaign. The Storyteller is also given stats and details of a wide range of NPCs and threats, including aliens and Aberrants. Lastly, there is a section for her eyes only on the secrets of the Trinity Continuum: Æon. It includes a projected timeline too for the setting, enabling the Game Master to plot out scenarios and events as her campaign progresses. Including this information is both generous and useful, as it really helps the Game Master understand the setting and thus create better scenarios and campaigns.

Physically, Trinity Continuum: Æon is very well written and easy to read. It is decently illustrated throughout, and really the only issue might be that the book’s map could have been better produced.

Trinity Continuum: Æon is a great expansion for the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook. The Psionic abilities are not too complicated and are easy to use, but it is the background which really shines through. It is engaging and detailed, whilst at the same time offering a wealth of detail to bring into play and almost mini-settings in which to run the different genres of Science Fiction. Overall, Trinity Continuum: Æon is pleasingly optimistic in its outlook and generous in the types of Science Fiction games it can support.

Before the advent of the internet, the magazine was the focus of the hobby’s attention, a platform in whose pages could be news, reviews, and content for the roleplaying game of each reader’s choice, as well as a classified section and a letters page where the issues of day—or at least month—could be raised and discussed in chronically lengthy manner. In this way, such magazines as White Dwarf, Imagine, Dragon, and many others since, came to be our community’s focal point and sounding board, especially a magazine that was long running. Yet depending upon when you entered the hobby and picked up your first issue of a roleplaying magazine, you could have missed a mere handful of issues or many. Which would have left you wondering what was in those prior issues. Today, tracking down back issues to find out and complete a magazine’s run is much easier than it was then, but many publishers offered another solution—the ‘Best of…’ magazine. This was a compilation of curated articles and support, containing the best content to have appeared in the magazine’s pages.

1980 got the format off to a good start with both The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios and The Best of White Dwarf Articles from Games Workshop as well as the Best of Dragon from TSR, Inc. Both publishers would release further volumes of all three series, and TSR, Inc. would also reprint its volumes. Other publishers have published similar volumes and in more recent times, creators in the Old School Renaissance have begun to collate and collect content despite the relative youth of that movement. This includes The Gongfarmer’s Almanac which has collected community content for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game since 2015 and Populated Hexes Monthly Year One which collected the content from the Populated Hexes Monthly fanzine. The ‘Best of…’ series of reviews will look at these and many of the curated and compiled titles from the last four decades of roleplaying.

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The 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac was published in 2016. It is the first of several annual compilations of the fanzine, the Gongfarmer’s Almanac, created by dedicated fans of Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game (and later Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, the spiritual successor to Gamma World) published by Gongfarmer’s Local #282. Both the creation of the individual issues and the compilations of Gongfarmer’s Almanac are volunteer-led and both the individual issues and the compilations are available in different formats. This includes being available for free as PDFs and then as inexpensive softbacks and paperbacks. So, in the case of the 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac, which was created and compiled by the members of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Google+ Community, that is over three hundred pages of content that the Judge can pick and choose from for her campaign. This includes new Classes, spells and rituals, monsters, treasure, Patrons, adventures, campaign material, and more. All of it optional, but all of it worth looking at given its obvious value for money.

However, the volunteer-led nature of the 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac is not without its consequences. Although the layout of the compilation is decent enough, the organisation is not as straightforward as it could be. The compilation is organised and numbered as individual issues, rather than as a whole, and the individual entries vary in length. The individual issues though, are organised thematically, so the first issue is dedicated to Classes and spells, the second to monsters, treasures, and Patrons, the third to scenarios, and so on. This, plus the repeated inclusion of the table of the contents does help the reader navigate her way around the compilation. It should also be noted that the physical quality of the compilations are not of the highest quality, which in part, is due to the low cost. Lastly, the 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac contains not five issues as stated in the initial individual sections, but a total of six.

The ‘PC Classes’ opens with Julian Bernick’s ‘Assassin’, which mixes the Thief’s stealth skills and backstab ability with the ‘Gift of Venom’, which forces the defendant to save versus Poison, but if failed, can have various effects, including being weakened, inflicting extra damage, and even death. In addition, the Assassin can also assassinate a totally surprised opponent! The ‘Dervish’ by Edgar Johnson is a holy warrior, Neutral by alignment, but highly religious, specialises in the use of one weapon, and mixes in a lot of different abilities taken from the Paladin, Ranger, and Thief Classes. This quite a focused and strong Class. ‘Gold and Glory Beyond the Grave Un-dead PC’s in DCC RPG’ by Taylor Frank gives options for playing undead characters such Ghost, Skeleton Warrior, and even a Vampire. These cross over in the Chaotic Alignment, even evil, and so are suited to some campaigns more than others. Reid ‘Reidzilla’ San Filippo’s ‘The Luchador’ is drawn from the author’s Umerica setting, blessed by the Bueno-god El Santo, patron of monster slaying wrestlers, channelling the hope Luchadores channel of their peoples and their indomitable will through outlandish mystical masks to empower their ancient, unarmed fighting techniques. They have Mighty Deeds of Wrestling including for acrobatic strikes, blinding attacks, choke out, demoralising taunts, and more. It is a fun all-action, brawling Class. Lastly, David Baity’s ‘The Sword Monger A DCC Optional Class’ is very clearly inspired by the film, Highlander, presenting sword-wielding warriors who can be killed by decapitation and when they kill one of their own, they gain a portion of his Hit Points and kill enough of them will improve stats. This makes them quite powerful. Overall, this is interesting mix of new Classes, some of which may well be too powerful or radical for some campaigns.
‘Rituals & Spells’ gives several spells such as Blood Splash, a First Level Wizard spell by Reece Carter, in which the caster cuts himself and sprays at opponents to inflict damage, whilst Terry Olson’s Temporary Creation is a First Level Cleric in which the caster draws upon his deity’s power to temporarily create semi-divine, though ordinary items. Vacuity by Chris Fassano is a Third Level Wizard spell which draws all of the air out of the target’s lungs and at its most powerful creates a black hole which leads to a different world. This is an interesting mix and spellcasters can have some fun with them.

The first of the items of treasure is ‘Items to Die For’ by Kyle Turner. These are a trio of interesting magical items, all nice and easy to use, like the Harrow, a bow of gnarled, polished bone that does no damage, but renders a particular body part broken and useless on a hit, but on a critical miss does the same to an ally, whilst Yi’ao, the Flame is a burning iron sword that never goes out, requires a marble scabbard(!), and burns its wielder. Jordan Smith’ ‘Objects of Wonder from the Ruins of Glittergus’ offers a handful of items like the Eye of Occultation and the Crown of the Ape King, whose background in the Swamp Kingdoms of Jersey and the scattered lands of Brokendyn, all suggest a post-apocalyptic origin, but they all still feel magical rather than technologically derived, but all are engaging described, whilst ‘Pelagian Equipment’ by Bruce Clark, describes two items that part of the domain of Pelagia, the Sea Goddess. One is Pelagia’s Holy Vestments, robes that grant faster swimming and an entanglement—in seaweed, of course—power that needs to be rolled for, the other a Portable Jellyfish which can be thrown like a grenade for electricity damage! ‘The Wall of Kovacs’ is a transient wall of various materials which can appear anywhere, again and again. Created by bygrinstow and inspired by the work of Goodman Games regular artist, Doug Kovacs, it causes Chaotic transformations in those who touch it, so the players and their characters are likely to come to fear and curse its presence.
The Patrons are all fully written up with spells patron gifts. Randall D. Bailey Jr.’s ‘Ghrelin’ is “The Demon Lord of Hunger and Starvation…” who “cares about nothing but consuming.”; bygrinstow’s ‘The Great Ebony Hand’ details as inscrutable a Patron as you could imagine, since you can talk to and invoke the Great Ebony Hand, but it never talks back. It can though provide a protective, ghostly hand, spells that allow communication via sign language, poke doom at a target, and so on; and ‘Patron: Hecate’ by Doyle Wayne Ramos-Tavener describes a patron of witches who sends nightmares, can raise the dead, and so on. This is a dark version of Hecate and witch-type characters, and highly suitable for NPCs and grimdark campaigns, but unfortunately feels incomplete with the inclusion of the one spell.
‘Volume 3: Adventures’ contains fives adventures of varying quality. They begin with Clint Bohaty’s First Level adventure, ‘Hemlock Bones Mystery Adventure #1: The Coal Snoot’. Inspired by the works of Sherlock Holmes, the Player Characters are hired by the brilliant and annoying wizard, Hemlock Bones, to help him solve a locked room murder. In other words, they do the work and he takes the credit. It is all set-up—quite detailed set-up—which the Player Characters have to solve. This is very much left open and so will take a fair bit of work for the Judge to run as is. The format, with a Sherlock Holmes-style NPC present, has the potential to overbear the efforts of the Player Characters, but the advice on handling him is decent, mostly keeping him offstage. Peter Mullen’s ‘The Marvelous Myriad Myconid Caverns’ is for Third and Fourth Level Player Characters is actually marvellous, a series of caves and tunnels off the River Yimmer in the Endless Dungeons of Acererak. There are touches of whimsy and strangeness to the encounters with Morse Trolls who tap out messages across the dungeon, gremlin dungeon punks, Sergeant Luggbodduggo, a Nail-head Hobgoblin on a fishing trip, a monstrous troglodyte chief armed with the Gorgosaurus Sword—a dinosaur in weapon form! Accompanying the scenario is a lovely map and this really is a charming dungeon which creates a world of its own, not only the best of the five dungeons in the 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac, but amongst the best of the content in the compilation.
‘May Flowers’ is a Zero Level Funnel by Daniel J. Bishop. The uncovering of an icon of the ancient Chaos goddess, Flos Tenebrarum, the Flower of Darkness, unleashes the sudden flowering of strange predatory plants. Essentially, it turns a farmer’s field into a garden-themed dungeon, a deadly one at that, and if it feels somewhat one-note in that theme, much of the joy of the adventure is going to come from Zero Level Player Characters live and die in the course of dealing with the newly grown problem. Just as with other Zero Level Funnels. Jon Hook’s ‘Tomb of the Thrice-Damned War Witch’ is a deadly, tomb-raiding adventure for Fourth Level Player Characters, built to contain the spirit of a powerful war witch in ages past. Relatively short, it is full of puzzles and traps and the sort of adventure in which things are best well left alone. The war witch’s treasures are powerful, especially if a Player Character is a Warrior of Chaotic alignment, but if not, there is a wand capable of creating portals large to transport soldiery and siege engines across vast distances which could be useful. Otherwise, even the author describes entering into the tomb as a fool’s errand.
Lastly, ‘The Worm Cult of Laserskull Mountain’ by Noah Stevens mixes a range of genres—Science Fiction, the post-apocalyptic, and fantasy—to create an adventure site ready to be scaled and adapted to the Player Characters. Laserskull Mountain is where the people of sector bring their dead to be interred by the Embalmers and eulogised by their dirge-singing Crystaloid Computer, but it has been recently invaded by Worm Cultists who are digging down in search of the Humming Egg and then occupied by the Android Enchantress as a forward operating base in her war against the Cyberlich, whose attack is imminent… It will require a fair degree of effort upon the part of the Judge to prepare, since she will need to provide all of the stats. Otherwise, this is nicely detailed and awaits the right spot in the Judge’s campaign to be placed.

The fourth, fifth, and subsequently, sixth part of the 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac all fall under the label of ‘Rules & Campaign Miscellany’. This consists of content that does not fit under any of the other categories given in the earlier volumes, which include setting content, general articles, and more. Roy Snyder’s ‘Black Blood Pass – A Mini-Gazetteer’ describes a nearly impassable pass through mountains, fallen to ruin since the Demi-Lich Rj’nimajneb~Yor’s forces to occupy the Fang, the fortress dominating the pass. The Demi-Lich is fully detailed, including its abilities and magical items, alongside location descriptions and hooks. It is a pity that it is a ‘Mini-Gazetteer’, since there is plenty of scope for expansion and more detailing. A map perhaps would have been useful to help the Judge develop the lengthy location further. ‘Chirumancy’ by James MacGeorge offers an alternative to healing magic of the Cleric, Chirurgeons, who as the masters of the arts of dark surgery, seal wounds with carcinomas, replace lost limbs with those taken from corpses, and worse. There are side effects though, beginning with a persistent cough or chronic incontinence and going all the way to seizures and tumours! Another problem is that the newly attached body parts may not match those lost, due to either Species or gender! This is delightfully grim, a bloody, inconsistent counterpart to the sterility of divine healing magic.
There is a set of tables by Tim Callahan to create non-traditional haunted and doomed locations with ‘Crawling Castle of Grumblethorn and Other Architectural Horrors’; an actual ‘The Gongfarmer’s Almanac’, a calendar by Doyle Wayne Ramos-Tavener to add omens, events, and Wizard and Cleric spell check modifiers day-by-day to a campaign or serve as a model for the Judge’s own; a table of events and encounters by Kane Cathainm ‘Tales of Travels, Trials, & Chance Meetings’, to role on between adventures to make the Player Characters’ lives interesting; and ‘The Virtual Funnel: Making Higher Level DCC RPG Characters with Real Class’, Paul Wolfe’s solution for creating the backstory to Player Characters created at higher Level. This starts with the Zero Level Character Funnel and takes them up Level by Level to the Player Character’s starting point. A very useful set of tables which could easily have found itself in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Companion if there were such a thing for the roleplaying game. There is even another scenario, ‘The Demon’s Conscripts’, a mid-Level affair in which the Player Characters encounter foreign soldiers who have been partially possessed by demons. Again by Paul Wolfe, these are Samurai, and includes stats for various Japanese monsters and martial weapons, alongside an interesting situation.
And then, the ‘Master Zine Index’ lists every adventure, gadget or gear, magical item, monster, NPC, Patron, ritual or spell, rules, rumours, and campaign seeds, and anything else to have appeared in the nine or so fanzines then in print! It was an amazing undertaking in 2015. It would be a daunting task almost a decade on in 2024!
Physically, the 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac is rough around the edges and has cheap, pulp quality to it. There is very much the feel of the fanzine to its pages, both in terms of presentation and quality of content. There is though, nothing wrong in this, for there is a wide variety of content and none of it is presented in a less than readable fashion. Rather that anyone expecting something more polished will be disappointed.
The likelihood is that the Judge is never going to use all of the content of the 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac, but there is very likely going to be something its pages that she will find useful or she can adapt or incorporate into her campaign. It is a medley of ideas, monsters, adventures, options, treasures, gods, and much more. The 2015 Gongfarmer’s Almanac was an impressive collation in 2016 and if it has been outclassed by the volumes in the series that followed, it was still an incredible, fan-driven undertaking that captured the imaginations of Dungeon Crawl Classics fans at the time.

One of the great things about The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings, the second edition of the acclaimed The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild published by Free League Publishing is The One Ring Starter Set. Why do you ask? Well, because it lets us roleplay members of the Hobbit community whom we not normally encounter. Drogo Baggins, Esmeralda Took, Lobelia Bracegirdle, Paladin Took II, Primula Brandybuck, and Rorimac Brandybuck, in many cases the parents or relations of three of the Hobbits who would form part of the Fellowship of the Ring decades later. Under the direction of the scandalous Bilbo Baggins, the quintet went off and had adventures of their own in the Shire, whilst at the same time The One Ring Starter Set presented the Shire for the roleplaying game itself. Sadly, the five adventures had to come to close and with it the chance to play those characters again. Fortunately, s available a number of sequel adventures, including Landmark Adventures, that can be run as part of, or after, the events of The One Ring Starter Set, or simply added to an ongoing campaign for The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings if it is being run in or around The Shire. The Ghost of Needlehole proved to be a sharp little ghost story, whilst the Mines of Brockenbores takes the Player-heroes to the far north of the Shire to inspect a mine!

The Mines of Brockenbores takes place in the northern part of the Shire’s Eastfarthing, in the hilly region of Scary. It is here that much of the ore that the Hobbits of the Shire need for their metal goods and implements is mined. Of course in the future, it is also from here that Fredegar Bolger will lead a band of Hobbit rebels when ‘Sharkey’ takes control of the Shire during the War of the Ring. That though, is in the future and many years before that happens, before even Fredegar Bolger and his friends were born, the mines were the source of a mystery! This is a strange sickness which is besetting the miners, which the owner of the mine, Erling Goldworthy, is keeping quiet until his profits are threatened and he puts out the call for any party of adventurous Hobbits (or outsiders) who are willing to explore the mines and eradicate what he describes as an “Infestation of Rats”.

The bulk of the adventure will see the Player-heroes exploring and skulking through the mine. There is relatively little for them to explore or discover, the main one being the cause of the strange sickness, being tunnels full of bioluminescent mushrooms, but the other being something dark and dangerous lurking in newly uncovered caves. There are plenty of opportunities to gain Shadow Points—if only temporary ones—in confronting the thing, a tough prospect for even a group of standard Player-heroes, let alone a group of Hobbits like those from the The One Ring Starter Set. However, ‘The Nameless Thing’ described in the adventure is not the only threat present in Mines of Brockenbores. This is other threat is slightly connected to Lobelia Bracegirdle and its involvement may have an effect on her outlook on life if she is a Player Character.
The Mines of Brockenbores is neatly presented and is well written and its short length means that it is quite easy to prepare for a session.

New scenarios for The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings and especially for use in conjunction with The One Ring Starter Set, are always going to be welcome. Yet the Mines of Brockenbores is not as good a Landmark adventure as the previous The Ghost of Needlehole. It is too straightforward, not quite enough mystery in comparison. Plus the Mines of Brockenbores is a tough little encounter for The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings. Potentially too tough for an ordinary band of Hobbits, forcing them as it does, to confront a nameless thing long out of Middle-earth’s past. Consequently, letting the Rangers of the North know about it might be the safer course of action, but of course, Hobbits are, famously, brave in pinch, and if they can defeat it, they should be well rewarded.

The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes is an anthology of four locations and scenarios, of which one is the eponymous ‘Haunted Hamlet’. Each location combines a fantastic mixture of whimsy and weirdness, menace and mystery, and distinct usefulness. The latter because each of the four locations is not just a single location, but also a single hex, complete and separate from the other three. The Game Master can take any one of the four hexes and not so much drop it into her campaign, but neatly and tidily pull out a hex from her own hexcrawl and slot one of the four back in its place. After that, all the Game Master has to do, is add a few rumours to arouse the interest of her players and their characters to get them to visit and investigate. For example, the hexes can be used in conjunction with other books by the publisher such as Woodfall, Willow, and The Toxic Wood, or any one of the four hexes or adventure locations in The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes would make for easy additions to Populated Hexes Monthly Year One or the Dolmenwood setting from Necrotic Gnome. Then again, any one of the four could be run on their as a separate scenario, each one offering sufficient play for two or three sessions or so. All are written for use with Old School Essentials, Necrotic Gnome’s very accessible update of the Moldvey/Cook and Marsh version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons, which means that not only is The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes equally as mechanically accessible, it is also easily adapted to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice.
The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes is written by the Lazy Litch and was published following a successful Kickstarter campaign as part of ZineQuest #3. It begins in a slightly odd fashion with several sets of tables, one for ‘Random Treasure’—Basic, Advanced, and Rare—which can be rolled on as the Player Characters discover treasures during play; another for ‘Random Weather Conditions’—Basic Weather, Extreme Weather, and Natural Disasters; and then encounter seeds for both day and night, before the introduction. This sets the play style for all four hexes, that ideally play should be Player Character led according to their goals, that Player Characters gain Experience Points from finding treasures and making discoveries rather than simply killing monsters, that monsters are not balanced according to Player Character Level, and that in encouraging players to be clever and creative, that both roleplaying and meta-gaming is also encouraged. The latter is something of an oddity, a type of behaviour rarely encouraged in roleplaying in general since it can lead to players taking advantage of the situation. However, judicious application can lead to clever and interesting play. Then, The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes into its first hex, but it is not that of ‘The Haunted Hamlet’ of the title, adding to the oddness of the fanzine’s beginning. In addition, there is no table of contents which would tell the reader where it is, so it is disconcerting, at least initially.

‘The Gold Mine’ is the first hex in The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes. This details a great crack in the earth which has recently opened. It has been occupied by the forces of Lord Bleak of the Black Mountain, who are guarding it and forcing miners to extract the gold discovered below. The militia occupy a fort above where the ore is processed by alchemists, descending only to collect the ore and punish any delays in output. Below the fortress lies four quite different mining levels, each occupied by a different species. The upper mines by Mole people, the lower mines by subterranean Gnomes, the Antkin mines by the Antkin—the original dwellers of the mines and caves, and below that, the Overdark lies unoccupied except for strange pillars and fungal trees. The maps are presented in isometric fashion, the individual level descriptions coded in increasing darker shades of grey. At the end is a short timeline of events and a handful of hooks to get the Player Characters involved. These include them being incarcerated in the mine, being hired to break a criminal out or sabotage the mine, and so on. Even if the Player Characters do nothing, events will play out and the situation at the mine will be entirely different. There is a sense of oppression and things waiting to happen here.

Darker still though, is the second hex, ‘The Ladder Inn’. It describes a lakeside inn noted for the ladder descending into the waters of the lake. Treasure is rumoured to be found at the bottom of the ladder and the lake, and many an adventurer has passed through, expressing an interest in the mystery of lake and ladder, perhaps taking up the offer of potions of water breathing being sold by a stranger. Some pass on the offer, but others are never seen again. The inn, its owner and the stranger are all nicely detailed and there is lots going on at the inn over the course of the few days that the Player Characters stay there. The situation at the inn has a fairy tale-like quality to it, being a story of greed and oppression wrapped up in a mystery. A nice touch is that again, the areas underground—in this case, under the lake—on presented on a black background so that the Game Master is accorded the oppressive nature of the lake’s black waters… ‘The Ladder Inn’ is an enjoyably busy little location that intrigues with its odd situation—that of a ladder leading down into a lake—and then builds on that intrigue to deliver a dark little mystery with just a tinge of sadness.

Combine an overly ambitious wizard’s apprentice gone rogue, a strange fusion device, and a bale of hats, and what you have is ‘The Hat Cult’s Hideout’. The fusion device is used to combine one animal with another or a being with an animal, and all of the hats are magical. The wizard’s apprentice has formed a cult around him and its members not each get a magical hat, but have been gleefully experimenting with the fusion device, resulting in a rash of missing villagers and animals and then strange creatures lurking in the woods around the cave where the cult has its base. The cult itself is not evil, necessarily, just proud, misguided, and unaware of the dangers its research and its experiments might—and actually will—unleash on the surrounding area if left unchecked. It needs a few magical hats and the Game Master will need generate some magical creatures from the table given, such as an unstable giant snail with the head of a horse and 50% chance of exploding. As with the other hexes, there is a table of rumours, a list of reactions to the actions of the Player Characters, and timeline of events, which will drive the encounter. ‘The Hat Cult’s Hideout’ is also quite a tough little encounter, but this is not an encounter that need be solved with violence much in keeping with the introduction to The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes.

The last of the four entries in The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes is the eponymous ‘The Haunted Hamlet’. Where the motivations have been greed, loneliness, and pride for the situations in the other three hexes, here it is a combination of fear and evil. If the Player Characters descend into the valley of Wolvendale and its lonely town, they find themselves trapped and assailed by angry ghosts. The former leaders of the town committed a heinous act which condemned their lives and those of the villagers and the latter want their revenge. In order to escape the situation, the Player Characters must explore each of the few remaining buildings in the town, each one occupied by the ghosts of its former leaders and attempt to solve a puzzle that will force those ghosts to confront their action and its consequences. The problem is that the Player Characters are not necessarily going to know that they need to solve a problem. It is weird and creepy and there is an impending sense of doom and urgency as ghosts lurk and wounds fester, but lacks the hook to put the Player Characters onto the first step of the mystery. With an adjustment and perhaps a clue or two and the ‘The Haunted Hamlet’ will be a decent encounter.

Finally, the back cover of The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes details another location, the village of ‘Orgul’. This inverts the roles that evil monsters typically play in Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying game with the village being a refuge for reformed monsters who have pacifists after being forced to serve a dark lord. There is a table of random events to beset the village, but otherwise, this is hex ready to play with the players’ expectations and add characterisation to what are normally regarded as monsters to kill.

Between all of this, The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes includes a set of digest-sized cards. In turn, they depict and detail a band of adventurers in the service of the Spore Lord, stealing the treasures of other adventurers and attempting to raid dungeons before other adventurers get there; Heart String Knights are undead knights who died on their given quests, but are duty bound to complete before they can move and take great affront when others complete their quests; table of random NPCs and potions; a pair of hirelings; and the Sky Merchant, a floating vendor and emporium which can descend from the sky to sell goods and items at almost any time in the wilderness or on the road. There is a good mix of the whimsy and the usefulness to all of this, though it is actually independent of The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes just as the hexes in the fanzine are independent of each other and any particular setting.

Physically, The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes is mostly done in black and white, but there are touches of grey here and there, judiciously used to highlight certain sections. It is well written and organised, and the maps and artwork are all excellent. There are a couple of layout issues which have caused crashes with the text, so the PDF version may need to be referred to.

As in Woodfall, the author of The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes has already proven himself capable of combining the whimsical and the weird to great storytelling effect. With The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes, the author succeeds with the majority of the fanzine’s content. The first three of its hexes are easy to use and can just be slotted into the Game Master’s campaign with only minor adjustment. The fourth hex, though, requires development to work effectively. The three other hexes are excellent adventure locations, ‘The Ladder Inn’ and ‘The Hat Cult’s Hideout’ in particular. Overall, The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes is a good, but not quite great resource of ready-to-play content for any Game Master.

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

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

Senet Issue 8 was published in the summer of 2022. If the editorial in the previous issue talked about the reach of boardgames, the editorial in this issue looks at how they can be more welcoming and how we can all be more accepting of newcomers to the hobby. This is a theme that will be later explored in the issue in ‘The Storyteller’, an interview with designer Nikki Valens which includes a discussion of reflecting and accepting wider cultural diversity in board games in both terms of design and play, whilst in the regular column, ‘How to Play’, the Meeple Lady gives some direct advice on being more welcoming to newcomers. The latter is the more useful and immediate of the two articles, but both are good pieces and together with the editorial show where we can be better.

‘Behold’ is the regular preview of some of the then-forthcoming board game titles. As expected, ‘Behold’ showcases its previewed titles to intriguing effect, a combination of simple write-ups with artwork and depictions of the board games. There are some interesting titles here, such as Autobahn, a game about building the German motorway network both collectively and competitively, but as public servants rather than entrepreneurs and London Necropolis Railway, which explores the city of London’s funeral railway service to Brookwood Cemetery. This is a fascinating aspect of Victorian history and culture and its attitude to death which is here presented as something that can be explored in play.

‘Points’, the regular column of readers’ letters, covers a number of different topics, but in the main, they continue the issue’s inclusivity theme, highlighting the lack of diversity in terms of boardgame designers and the difference in focus given to major designers versus minor designers. There is scope here for future issues to cover more of the latter, so we shall see whether that idea is followed up on. In ‘For Love of the Game’, Tristian Hall continues his designer’s journey towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth. In previous issues he explored how the game became a vehicle for roleplaying and storytelling, used the mechanics to bring the game and its background to life, marketing options, and dealing with feedback and criticism about a game’s design, world-building and immersion through text and art, and the benefits of historical research, but this time, he examines the use of music in boardgames. In the main, he discusses how music can be used to enhance a game through its thematic and immersive effects. In roleplaying, this is both well known and fairly well explored, but less so when it comes to playing boardgames. Certainly, it works for roleplaying games, which are by design intended to be immersive, whereas for boardgames the degree of immersion is arguably not as deep, primarily because of the immediacy of the rules and mechanics, but also perhaps because there is a greater need to be concentrating on the rules? Of course, he ties this into the fact that there is a soundtrack for Gloom of Kilforth, and this is only a light discussion, so the subject might well benefit from a more detailed article.

Senet follows a standard format of articles and article types and Senet Issue 8 is no exception. One explores a theme found in board games, its history, and the games that showcase it to best effect, whilst another looks at a particular mechanic. In addition there are two interviews, one with a designer, the other with an artist. The theme article in the issue is science and board games. In ‘The Appliance of Science’, Matt Thrower explores the difficulties and perils of designing a science-themed boardgame. The primary peril is that of being overly or obviously educational, which can be seen in the Victorian game designs which offer a lot of scientific trivia without much in the way of game play. Fortunately, as game play has improved hand-in-hand with game design, so that modern designs such as Wingspan and Terraforming Mars can include a high degree of scientific content alongside their engaging game play. The article draws some interesting parallels between the wargame and the science-themed boardgame, especially when it comes to designs based on biology and dealing with aspects such as biodiversity and evolution, with different species competing for space. The article does not solely focus on biologically-themed board games, but it would have been useful if it had showcased more boardgames.

The mechanic discussed in the issue is that of social deduction. ‘Trust No One Suspect Everyone’ by Alexandra Sonechkina explores the relatively short history of the social deduction game, beginning with its interesting origins in the Soviet Union, at the Moscow State University, as the game, Mafia. Of course, the idea has its own origins in the children’s game, ‘Murder in the Dark’, but in boardgames, they really became popular with The Resistance, but in coming more up to date, hits some classics such as BattleStar Galactica and Ultimate One Night Werewolf. It highlights the emotional involvement of the format since it sets up players to feel at first a sense of paranoia and suspicion, and then the even stronger feelings of vindication if the mole or spy or Cylon (in the case BattleStar Galactica) is uncovered or of betrayal if we have failed to unmask him and he has been successful in undermining our efforts. The most recent iteration of the format discussed is Psychobabble, a Lovecraft-inspired game of dream deduction that does not rely upon betrayal or lies, one of the criticisms of the genre. This perhaps points to the potential in the format, which often feels achingly familiar from one design to the next.

The artist interviewed in ‘The Sky is the Limit’ is Andrew Bosley. Illustrator on designs such as Everdell, Tapestry, and Vivid Memories, there is an otherworldliness, even a sense of whimsy, to his artwork, that pulls the viewer into vistas he depicts. Unlike previous interviews with artists, ‘The Sky is the Limit’ does not delve too deeply into Bosley’s background, instead concentrating more on the various projects he has worked on and how they developed. Nevertheless, this feels a much briefer interview than in previous issues, and there is no pullout of his artwork as in previous issues. Bosley’s artwork is beguiling and makes you want to look at the games where each appears and see the world they show in play. The designer interviewed in the issue is Nikki Valens in ‘The Storyteller’. The interview discusses the designer’s shift from creating expansions for Fantasy Flight Games’ H.P. Lovecraft-themed games to creating—in line with the theme of the issueIt has almost become a cliché to

something more welcoming of a diverse audience. So there is a distinct cultural difference to what they were doing before and what they are doing now, with designs like Artisans of Splendent Vales, the contrast being a fascinating read.

‘Unboxed’, Senet’s reviews includes a review of Origins: First Builders, a dice placement game, the engagingly thematic Caper: Europe, and the thoroughly strange Eyelet, which involves threading coloured shoelaces through holes in a double-sided board. Given the anticipation it was treated with in Senet Issue 7, it is no surprise that Crescent Moon is this issue’s top choice. It is an asymmetrical area-control game whose theme is the five factions and their differences of the Abbasid Caliphate. It is also a big game in that it needs four or five players and over two hours playing time. As in previous issues, the reviews section here is a good mix and the reviews are all useful and informative.

Rounding out Senet Issue 8 are the regular end columns, ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For ‘How to Play’, Meeple Lady being the inclusive theme of the issue to a close with extremely good advice on how to ease and welcome new players into the hobby. Throughout, she makes good points and the advice is excellent. This includes actually saying hello, avoid using boardgame jargon, treating everyone the same as you would expect to be treated, and of course, being kind. This is article that really everyone should read and the roleplaying hobby certainly deserves its own version. In ‘Shelf of Shame’, Stella Jahja and Tarrant Falcke of Meeple University pull a game of their shelf that they own, but never played. Their choice is Cuba, a design from 2007, which they find surprisingly playable, simple, but brutal. The upshot is that the team plans to explore forgotten designs from the noughties. There is an enjoyable sense of a story being told here and is one of the most interesting ‘Shelf of Shame’ entries to date.

Physically, Senet Issue 8 is very professionally presented. It looks and feels as good as previous issues of the magazine.

It has almost become a cliché to state that as with previous issues, Senet Issue 8 offers a good mix of articles, interviews, and reviews, but it does. Its articles feel more expansive than in previous issues, with ‘Trust No One Suspect Everyone’ on social deduction games and ‘The Appliance of Science’ on science-themed boardgames, in particular, standing out. With Senet Issue 8, the boardgame magazine maintains its high standard of informative and interesting articles.

Manticore is a scenario for Traveller. It takes place on the world of Pysadi in the Aramis Subsector of the Spinward Marches Sector and involves an investigation into a runaway girl and her connection to a zealous religious cult on a nearby world. It ideally requires the Player Characters to have basic training in both weapons and vacc suit, and if they do possess a starship, that it should be capable of Jump-2. The scenario includes a set of eight pre-generated Player Characters, four of which between them have the skills necessary to operate a starship as well as one of them owning an S-Type Scout. However, one of the problems with this is that the Player Characters are expected to to own a merchant ship of some kind and certainly a vessel capable of carrying cargo. Both the mechanics and the plot of Manticore are straightforward enough that running it using Traveller, Classic Traveller, or Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition are all easy enough to do.

Manticore is written by Carl Terence Vandal and is a sequel of sorts to The Phoenix Initiative, which ended with the Player Characters being recruited as agents in the service of Duke Norris and his family. It is not though, a direct sequel, but rather a thematic one as it deals with the misuse of advanced science. Alternatively, it can also be run as a standalone affair. It begins with the Player Characters on Aramis in the Spinward Marches Sector, spending a little of their recent profits on a night out when they approached by a girl asking for money. Soon after this, she is approached by two men who attempt to abduct her, but she seems able to deal with them in a smart fashion. Their encounter is timely, if not for the Player Characters, then for a local Imperial agent who recruits them with gentle threats of menace. The Imperial Agent informs the Player Characters that the girl, Maxine, has recently fled from the nearby world of Pysadi, an an agricultural world governed by the strict ‘Mother Church’. The two men who attempted to abduct her were zealots of the Mother Church. The Imperial Agent will also tell the Player Characters that the Mother Church has entered into an agreement with an independent military organisation called ‘Manticore’, to launch an invasion of Zila, a neighbouring world on religious grounds and so bring it into the fold of Mother Church. Maxine and her family was being held by Manticore. The Imperial Agent wants the Player Characters to confirm the existence of the invasion plan, the links between Mother Church and the military organisation, and whether or not the Imperial representative on Pysadi, Baron Sir Mikhail Lentreth, is supporting the plan or being held hostage by Mother Church.

Getting to Pysadi will prove easy and the Imperial Agent will even provide goods that merchants on the planet will want to buy. Pysadi is a TAS Amber Zone due to its theocratic government and high law levels, which bans firearms and blades—and worse, alcohol. (In fact, the given reason for the invasion of Zila is that some of the agricultural exports from Pysadi are being fermented into alcohol!). Other than that, the Player Characters have relatively easy freedom of movement on the planet and what they will quickly discover is that everyone on the world is aware of the invasion plan and fully supportive of it. They do not know the exact details, of course, but can point to the rocket being prepared on its launchpad at the starport with no little pride and expectation. In technological terms, the rocket is confirmation that Mother Church has outside help as it is incapable of constructing it using the means available on Pysadi.

The Player Characters have several avenues of investigation. These include locating the Manticore compound, getting a closer look at the rocket, discovering the plans for the invasion of Zila, and determining the degree to which Baron Sir Mikhail Lentreth is involved in the plan. Some information is relatively easy to find, especially given the openness of the members of the Mother Church about the forthcoming invasion, but the Player Character will still need to conform this. Much of this involves stealth and breaking into various buildings, although some paperwork can be obtained to gain access to certain areas. Ultimately, the Player Characters will want to stop the invasion. Which means stopping the rocket. This can be done from the ground, but the security around the rocket is very tight, or it can be done after the rocket has launched. This sets up an exciting chase from Pysadi to the Jump Point as the Player Characters attempt to rendezvous with the invasion rocket, which it turns out, is actually a Jump Rocket and is fitted with a Jump Drive. Once in close proximity, they are to board and capture the vessel and its crew, which leads to showdown with the villain of the piece and a firefight or brawl in the cramped quarters of the rocket.
There are a number of situations which the scenario does not address. What happens if the Player Characters simply decide to launch their starship and use its weapons to destroy or damage the rocket on its launchpad? What if they fire at the unarmed rocket during the chase? Can they sabotage it that way? What happens if the rocket makes it to the jump point and gets away? In the first case, this would also mean firing on the starport, which is Imperial territory—and this is before the number of possible casualties is considered, and in the second, firing on an unarmed vessel would be seen as an act of aggression. If the rocket gets away, the Game Master will have to develop this possibility herself.

The Game Master is given a decent amount of support to help her run the scenario. This includes details and map of the world, Pysadi, the Mother Church and its headquarters, the Manticore compound, and details and deckplans of the invasion rocket. There are a couple of items of new equipment, the Concealed Power Holster and the Hand Needler, which will enable the Player Characters to circumvent the high law level on Pysadi. The last part of the scenario includes a section of Library Data, which is decent enough, but not all of the information is useful and there is some information missing, such as that on Manticore.
The scenario is not without its issues. One is with the NPC, Maxine. She is underwritten, the Game Master needing a little more detail than is given about since her involvement underlies the whole scenario. What becomes clear over the course of the scenario is that she has been genetically enhanced and if the Player Characters do confront the Manticore contingent aboard the rocket ship as the scenario lays out, they will discover that its commander is too. He is a tough opponent and it is suggested that if the Player Characters cannot deal with him, then Maxine can. Which undermines the Player Characters’ agency in what is a climatic encounter. Another issue is that Manticore is underwritten as a presence in the scenario. It lurks in the background and the Player Characters never really have a chance to encounter it and its operatives until very late in the scenario. It does not help that the motivations and background to Manticore are left unexplained. Lastly, the connection between Manticore and The Phoenix Initiative is underplayed, both terms of the background to the scenario and the fact that the Player Characters may have Imperial connections already as a result of playing through the latter scenario.
Physically, Manticore is an improvement on the earlier, The Phoenix Initiative. It is tidier and the world map is better, but it does need another proofing pass. The artwork is decent though.
Manticore is a much better and more interesting scenario than the previous The Phoenix Initiative. It is also better written and organised and so easier to run, but it does leave the Game master with a number of unanswered questions which she will probably have to answer herself. Otherwise, Manticore is a decent scenario which explores what happens when pride goes too far and someone takes advantage of it.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death is a scenario for Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and the sixth scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set. Scenarios for Dungeon Crawl Classics tend be darker, grimmer, and even pulpier than traditional Dungeons & Dragons scenarios, even veering close to the Swords & Sorcery subgenre. Scenarios for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set are set in and around the City of the Black Toga, Lankhmar, the home to the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, the creation of author Fritz Leiber. The city is described as an urban jungle, rife with cutpurses and corruption, guilds and graft, temples and trouble, whores and wonders, and more. Under the cover the frequent fogs and smogs, the streets of the city are home to thieves, pickpockets, burglars, cutpurses, muggers, and anyone else who would skulk in the night! Which includes the Player Characters. And it is these roles which the Player Characters get to be in Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death, small time crooks trying to make a living and a name for themselves, but without attracting the attention of either the city constabulary or worse, the Thieves’ Guild! However, it is not the city constabulary the Thieves’ Guild whose attention they attract in this scenario, but Death itself!
Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6; Cheating Death is designed for two to three Player Characters of First Level, but can be expanded to between four and six Player Characters and there is advice for increasing the difficulty of the adventure should the Judge want to run it for a group of higher Level Player Characters. It could be played through in a single session, but will probably take two. The set-up has the Player Characters either entering Lankhmar for the first time, or returning to the city, after a failed expedition out in the marshes beyond its walls. With some rooms sorted, at least temporarily, they retire to a tavern, where they can drink, carouse, and in the smoky din, pick up a rumour or two that perhaps will lead to a job or two and the chance to put some rilks in their pockets. Unfortunately, as they are looking for work, something—or someone—is looking for them. Somehow, they have attracted the attention of Death, the servant of the Lords of Necessity and unless they die, their names will unbalance his ledger. He stalks them, looking for moments when he can take their lives with a succession of accidents—trips on loose cobblestones, stairs collapse on them, gargoyles topping from roofs, crowds jostling them causing them, and more. First on the ordinary passersby around them, then on the Player Characters. They, however, will be initially unware of this, and his attention shifts from early warnings to deadly catastrophes and fatal attention, the Player Characters will need to follow up on some of the rumours they gathered earlier.
Following up on the rumours will lead the Player Characters to several locations and encounters, those around them suffering mishaps at first, and then they themselves, suffering increasingly deadly mishaps. These mishaps and catastrophes are tailored, at least in terms of damage to the three Classes in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, but they are not designed to necessarily kill the Player Characters. Although deadly, the Player Characters have the advantage of Luck to keep them alive even as Death’s influence kills those around them. Not all of the encounters give much, or indeed any, information as to what is going on. Really, only one does, so it is entirely possible that the Player Characters could go straight to the last encounter, find out what is actually happening, and cut out the other scenes. What they will learn at this location, ‘The Leather Library’, from a sage is that Death is stalking them and that if they want to avoid Death, the best they can do is hunt down a local legend, the ‘Burned Man’, said to have escaped Death’s touch for years. If he can be found, then perhaps that would settle their account with Death?
The second part of Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death details ‘The Temple of the Burned Man’, which happens to be nearby and where the Burned Man has been lurking for decades—at the very least. His decrepit manse is laced with various traps and dangers, making getting to him difficult. The various locations around the manse are quite detailed and the Judge will need to pay close attention to how they work.
There is no denying that the premise of Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death, that of the Player Characters being stalked by Death, feels appropriate to the city of Lankhmar. Yet as executed, the scenario does not work as well as it could. To begin with, the scenario is too short and it feels just too random that the Player Characters could be targeted by Death. Further, the scenario can be even shorter than it is as written. If they go straight to the one location where they are can actually learn what is happening to them, they miss out on the other, admittedly small handful, of locations and encounters in which they have the opportunity to feel the effect of Death’s influence. This potential short-circuiting highlights the fact that scenario feels as if it should not be played out in one go, but its events eked out and inserted into other ongoing scenarios. This would enable the Player Characters to feel the effects of Death’s influence more readily as part of the story and have it upset their plans, to have it loom over them, and push them to investigate the cause. It would also enable the Judge to explore more fully a possibility suggested in the scenario, but left undeveloped, which is that the Player Characters might suspect something else to be the cause of their misfortune. The suggested cause—as came up in a playtest—was witchcraft, but others could also be added to enhance the paranoia of the players and their characters.
The other problem with Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death is the Level of the Player Characters it is designed for. As the sixth scenario released for Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, it feels like a return to the beginning of the campaign set in Lankhmar. Now there is advice on increasing the difficulty of the scenario, but as a scenario for First Level Player Characters, it feels as it should be run between ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #0: No Small Crimes in Lankhmar’ from the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set and the excellent Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #1: Gang Lords of Lankhmar rather than later in a campaign. After all, which gang leader would not want to recruit a bunch of criminals who have cheated Death once into his gang? Also, this allow the legend of the Burned Man to be added earlier in the campaign and thus foreshadowed in time for when the Judge runs this scenario.
Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death is as decently presented as you would expect from Goodman Games. It is well written and the cartography is  decent.

Ultimately, Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar #6: Cheating Death is too short to be a good scenario. It is not unplayable as written, but it wants to be pulled apart, developed that much bit further, and eased into an ongoing campaign rather than played all in one go, making its climax and potential reward just that bit more satisfying.

As the ideal suitor, if male, you should cut your hair in the chic bowl—or pudding bowl—style, and ideally have golden hair, and wear a houppelande, a long loose gown with flowing selves. Red is a good colour for men, indicating vitality, kingliness, and power. Blue is good for the ladies as it indicates expense. Should you ever suffer from cancer of the mouth, then you may be fortunate to receive a visit from the Virgin Mary, who will bestow upon you a kiss that will you heal of it. And should you want to press your ardour—perhaps as a show of thanks for her beneficence—there will be an angel on hand to prevent you from doing so. In order to launch a crusade, there are certain requirements which need to be fulfilled first, including equal measures of hardship and oppression, a pinch of famine, all of Europe’s collective sin and religious guilt, a helpless labouring class, a new and bordering anti-Christian empire, one Pope (never two), and an impending apocalypse. Preparation time is a single decade. Cooking time is three years. Serve with the death of thousands, including kings and princes, garnish with plunder, and four Crusader kingdoms with uncertain futures. In the event of an encounter with wolves—such as when the River Seine froze over in 1338, allowing them to race across the river and attack the citizens of Paris and dig up the city’s corpses—always remember to see the wolf before it sees you because it will lose its courage if it sees you first, plus if it sees you first, you will struck dumb, be unable to cry for help and the wolf will bite you. However, all is not lost, because if you strip down to your underwear, grab a pair of rocks and bang them together, the wolf will turn tail and run away. Lastly, if you happen to have a weapon to hand, at least a dagger, do take the time to kill the wolf. The wolf will not be happy about this and will not want you to feel happy about it either. This is a trick. Do not fall for it. Fortunately, wolves have no legal protection and you can definitely kill a wolf with that handy dagger. Which is all the sort of thing you will know because you are a weird medieval guy. Or rather, none of this is weird whatsoever, because you are a medieval guy, and all of this—and more—is the subject of Weird Medieval Guys.

Weird Medieval Guys: How to live, laugh, love (and die) in dark times is a guide to life and living in the Medieval era by Olivia W. Swarthout. Drawn from a swathe of period manuscripts on numerous visits to the British Library, and originally posted on the Weird Medieval Guys Twitter account, combines images from the manuscripts and facts from the history to present a punchy, easy to read book that takes the reader from the moment of creation itself to the end of the world with the coming of the Four Horsemen and the apocalypse, and in between, the reader from his birth to his death—and in between that there is a lot that can happen. The book is profusely illustrated, so no aspect of Medieval life goes undepicted in the rich colours of the manuscripts. Having begun with the creation of everything, Weird Medieval Guys gives you life and so lets you pick a name, learn some useful slang—such as ‘Merobia’ for a woman who likes strong wine or ‘Sterilis Amator’ for that lover who has no money, choose your astrological sign and patron saint, determine where you live in the first of the book’s several short quizzes—the options being Constantinople, London, Paris, and Venice, suggests several jobs you like, and more. It is not all hard work, as there are examinations too of play and romance, but the latter all too soon feels like hard work, what with the need to make a love potion, which whilst a lot quicker than mounting a crusade, involves a dog, some rope, a hunting horn, an ivory stake, and a mandrake, does not take into account the fact that dogs—as noted in the section on play—do not like the horn being played. Then there are possible causes of marital difficulties and if it really does not work out, the possibility of a divorce, which comes with a handy flow chart to determine if you can get a divorce, the answer of course, being mostly no, that is also the counterpart to the handy flow chart to determine if you can court the lady of your affections… Of course, it all has to come to an end and the question of your death is raised before Judgement Day is raised. Hopefully with dignity before you get caught up in a civil dispute. Perhaps here the weirdest means of settling such a dispute, in combat, between a man and a woman, is for the man to be placed in a pit up to his waist where he must fight from there with a club, whilst the woman is armed with a big rock in a clock bag and allowed to roam the ground around the man. The illustrations would not look out of place in a wrestling match.

A good half of Weird Medieval Guys: How to live, laugh, love (and die) in dark times is devoted to a bestiary. Divided into several subsections—‘Beasts’, ‘Birds’, ‘Fish’, and ‘Serpents’. Each entry is catalogued and categorised, with strengths and weaknesses, and even some Medieval stats in the form of ‘Virtue’, ‘Beauty’, and ‘Danger’. The creatures range from the ordinary, such as the lion, the wolf, and the hedgehog to the fantastic, like the manticore, the mermaid, and the amphisbaena, the latter a snake with two heads. These are all presented from the Medieval point of view, of course, such as the bat being classified as a bird and cats as being extremely dangerous. There is, of course, a section devoted to the snail and plenty of images of knights versus snails. Sadly, there is no similar section on rabbits, and that perhaps is really the only omission from Weird Medieval Guys.

What really stands out in Weird Medieval Guys is the artwork, which is of course, drawn from the source material, the manuscripts. It is fantastically colourful, profusely illustrated and all annotated in a wry tone.

Weird Medieval Guys joins a growing list of works interested in the minutiae of Medieval life and the Medieval outlook and the colourful marginalia of period manuscripts. For example, How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages by Cait Stevenson, any number of enamel pins, and the more recent The Medieval Margin-agerie – Volume 1 from Just Crunch Games, which turns those marginalia into gameable content. Of course, Weird Medieval Guys does not do that, but what it can do is influence the portrayal of the Medieval world by the Game Master, perhaps even inspire an encounter or scenario or two. Weird Medieval Guys is a wry look at the fantastically strange world of the Medieval man and woman, what they knew and what they thought, how they lived, brought to life in the artwork of the period. For anyone with a casual interest in the Medieval period, Weird Medieval Guys: How to live, laugh, love (and die) in dark times is a perfect, vividly visual introduction to its oddness and oddities.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: The Bright Blue DemonPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Bryce Kelly

Setting: Modern Day NevadaProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Thirteen page, 3.45 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “In this darkness I see colors…” – Gamefreak
Plot Hook: Radiation tourism turns to ash... Plot Support: Staging advice, four NPCs, one handout, two maps, and five Mythos creatures.Production Values: Plain
Pros# One to two Investigator one-shot# Violent horror in the Nevada mountains# Pleasing sense of isolation and weird environment # Potential ghost hunt gone wrong scenario# Eremophobia# Phasmophobia# Radiophobia
Cons# Needs an edit# NPCs feel underwritten# No pre-generated Investigator(s)
Conclusion# Violet horror in the Nevada mountains# Unsettling sense of isolation and weird environment undermined by underwritten NPCs.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Banker’s FollyPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Nader Rabie

Setting: Jazz Age New EnglandProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-eight page, 19.29 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The terminally ill can be desperate, but so can the conmen.Plot Hook: A terminally ill man goes missing. Is he dead? Is he searching for a miracle cure?Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, five NPCs, four handouts, two floorplans, and three Occult or Mythos tomes.Production Values: Decent
Pros# Detailed, location-based investigation# Simple, straightforward plot# Easy to adapt to other time periods# Interesting mix of pre-generated Investigators# Written as a one-shot, but can be adapted to a campaign# Potential addition to Lovecraft Country # Necrophobia# Hemoophobia# Tomophobia# Anthropophagusphobia
Cons# No map of Clifton# Background plot strands left undeveloped# Ends in a physical confrontation# Ignores Prohibition
Conclusion# Pleasingly detailed straightforward investigation# Could be developed into a longer scenario if the unworked background plot strands are expanded