Reviews from R'lyeh

[Fanzine Focus XXXIV] Book of Misery Vol. 1

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. A more recent Old School Renaissance-style roleplaying game that fanzines are being based upon and inspired by is Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Fanzine Focus XXXIV] Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue No. 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4 is serviceably presented. It is a little rough around the edges, as is some of the artwork, but overall, it is a decent affair.The problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4 is that much of its contents have been represented to a more professional standard in the pages of The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide, so it has been superseded and superseded by a cleaner, slicker presentation of the material.

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

Jonstown Jottings #89: Eyes’ Rise

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

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

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

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

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

A last part of Eyes’ Rise is devoted to the River Folk, their society, culture, governance, and religion. There is the means too to create Riverfolk characters. This is useful to create characters local to Five Eyes and up and down the River of Cradles.
Eyes’ Rise is essentially the set-up for a mini-campaign. This can be one of simply providing protection to the village, but there is scope too for the Player Characters to settle here and use Five Eyes as a base of operations or a home. How either will play out is outside the scope of the supplement, as it does not provide details of the threats facing the village and its inhabitants. The Game Master will need to create these and build in events and happenings to keep the campaign moving and the Player Characters involved. There is thus potential here for a campaign in the style of Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven, or given the upheaval of recent events in the region for a bunch of vagabonds, deserters, mercenaries, and the like to redeem themselves and hopefully keep the village safe.
Is it worth your time?YesEyes’ Rise can form the basis of a solid mini-campaign though one that the Game Master will need to further develop to make her own.NoEyes’ Rise is not developed enough for the Game Master to use easily and it is set well out of the way.MaybeEyes’ Rise has potential as a campaign, but not without a high degree of effort.

Miskatonic Monday #272: The Mask of the Black Sun

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

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

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

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

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

Assessing Arkham

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whimsy & Weirdness

TROIKA! is the Science Fantasy roleplaying game of weird and whimsical adventure across the universe and beyond. Originally published by the Melsonian Arts Council in 2016, mechanically, it is inspired by the most British of roleplaying games—the Fighting Fantasy series of solo adventure books—and fiction as diverse as Jack Vance’s Dying Earth tales, Michael Moorcock’s Jerry Cornelius adventures, and the baroque future of the Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. With no limit as to where, and possibly even when, the Player Characters can go—whether by eldritch portal, non-Euclidean labyrinth, or golden-sailed barge from crystal Sphere to another, they are essentially the flaneurs of the far future. The game combines simple character creation and easy rules, but with rich character ideas. However, what strikes you about the new edition of TROIKA! is its format: a light softback book with spine cover unglued so that the front cover folds out and sits flat to show the map of ‘The Blancmange & Thistle’, the hotel that is the site for the adventure of the same included in the book. Not only does the front cover sit flat, so does the book as a whole on the table, making it physically very easy to read. That is in addition to the fact that TROIKA! itself is easy to read and digest.

TROIKA! begins with character creation. A Player Character is defined by his Skill, Stamina, and Luck. A player rolls for each of these, notes his possessions, and then rolls for his Background. Each Background provides several Advanced Skills, which can be actual skills or they can be spells. There are thirty-six of these, ranging from the ordinary to the outré—and there are definitely more of the latter than the former. So the ordinary include the Burglar, the Chaos Champion on a sabbatical from plunging worlds into chaos and speaks Kurgan no less, the Member of Miss Kinsey’s Dining Club whose members will and can eat anything that can be imagined edible, and Questing Knight, whilst the outré includes the Befouler of Ponds, high priest of the Great Toad and his reed filled waters; a Parchment Witch’ long dead sorcerer who wraps herself in perfectly beautiful paper skin; and many more.

Name: MacKack
Background: Monkeymonger
Skill 5
Stamina 19
Luck 6

ADVANCED SKILLS
Climb 4, Trapping 2, Club Fighting 1, Knife Fighting 1

POSSESSIONS
Knife, rucksack, lantern, flask of oil, provisions (six), 4 silver pence, monkey club, butcher’s knife, pocket full of monkey treats, five small monkeys

Mechanically, TROIKA! is very simple. To undertake an action, including casting a spell, a player rolls two six-sided dice, the aim being to roll equal to, or less than, his character’s Skill attribute. If the character has an appropriate Advanced Skill, the player adds that to his character’s Skill attribute. A roll of two sixes always indicates that the action fails. In contests, such as a race or a combat, the combatants roll two six-sided dice each, and each add any appropriate bonuses or Advanced Skill. The highest roll indicates the winner. Luck is tested when a Player Character is subject to fate. It is reduced by one no matter whether the test is a success or a failure. It can be recovered after several hours of rest.

Combat uses the same mechanics except initiative. This requires a lot of different coloured tokens and a container or cloth bag. The players each then add two dice of the same colour, but different to the other players, to the bag. The Game Master also adds a number of dice equal to the total enemy initiative. One last token, of an entirely different colour, is also added to the bag. This is the ‘End of Round’ token. All together, this is the called the Initiative Stack. When a token is drawn from the container, the NPC or Player Character whose token has been drawn, gets to act. When the ‘End of Round’ token is drawn, the round ends. This has an interesting range of effects. Players no longer know when their characters are going to act and may face innumerable actions upon the part of the enemy, before they have the opportunity to act. Further, they may not even get to act before the round ends. Opponents can have multiple tokens in the stack, perhaps because they are faster, more cunning, or better prepared, or have fewer tokens in the stack, because they are slower, cowardly, uncertain, and so on. It can also mean that the same opponent acts multiple times in a round, though this really applies to bigger or more powerful monsters, for example, a dragon, who have multiple options in terms of what they can do or attack with. (As an aside, this has a side effect of TROIKA! not being easy to run online.)

Armour is classified as either light, medium, and heavy, and reduces damage suffered by either one, two, or three points respectively. If a Player Character’s Stamina is reduced to zero, he is dying and his fellow Player Characters have roughly a round or so to act before he actually dies.

Casting a spell in TROIKA! costs the caster points of Stamina and also requires a Skill roll. A rolls of two ones always succeeds and a roll of two sixes not only fails, but necessitates a roll on the ‘Oops! Table’. The spells again range from the ordinary to the outré. The ordinary includes Darkness, which creates a sphere of blackness, and Find, which enables the castor to locate a lost object. Examples of the outré include Coal Resolve, which turn the target’s heart into a burning ember of grief which captures his entire focus, rendering him immune to mind control or physical pain, and Thought Vapour, which grants the caster’s nose a multidimensional presence enabling it to smell emotions, attitudes, and thoughts, though strong smells can block this effect.

Enemies in TROIKA! are simply defined. An Enemy’s Skill covers everything it can do, including the equivalent of a Player Character’s Advanced Skills as well as covering Luck, Stamina is generally lower to encourage faster combat and play, Initiative indicates the number of tokens that the Game Master adds to the Initiative Stack, and Armour indicates how much its protection, whether thick hide, worn armour, or incorporeality, reduces damage suffered. The damage an enemy can do is random, but the range determined by its size. Every one of the enemies described in TROIKA! is given a Mien table to help indicate its behaviour. And again, just like the spells and the Backgrounds, Enemies include the ordinary and the outré. There are Boggarts, Cyclops, Dragons, Goblins, and Harpies, but also Khabits, the cloned handmaids and officers of Exultants, used to fill out the attendance at parties and often as a source of spare organs for their clone-parents, but really want to replace or inherit from them; Notules, formless and freezing star-creatures which are sometimes used as a means of murder by targeting a victim to have their warmth sucked out to leave behind an unmarked corpse; and the Sympathy Serpent, which does not aggressively constrict its prey, but takes them in a gentle embrace and soothes them reassuringly that life is indeed soul-crushingly awful whilst swallowing them whole…

Rounding out TROIKA! is the introductory adventure, ‘The Blancmange and Thistle’. It is as weird as the Backgrounds that the Player Characters are likely to have. They arrive at their hotel to discover that it is hosting the Feast of the Chiliarch on the top floor, the consequences of which are there is only one room left in the hotel and it too, is on the top floor. Getting to their hotel room is a challenge and the meat of the scenario. The primary routes are by the Mandrill-operated lift or the stairs. There are some absolutely terrific encounters here, such as a Sweet Old Lady who asks lots of questions and the process gets the players to think about and describe their characters, rewarding their characters with magical bonbons; a Gas Form alien whose presence will drown the Player Characters, essentially forcing them to deal with an environmental threat; let them go shopping and peruse the wares of a Pushy Wall merchant; and more. There is an entirely different set of encounters on the stairs. This a genuinely fun adventure, for player and Game Master alike, well designed with just about the right level of oddness without overwhelming the players.

Physically, TROIKA! is cleanly and tidily presented. The artwork is cartoonish, mixing humour and weirdness in equal measure. The book itself is very light in the hand.

TROIKA! combines very quick and easy to learn and play rules with a set of fantastically entertaining and enticing choices for both for the players and the Game Master. These choices are wonderfully weird and whimsical in a very British way, slyly humorous, and all in readiness to explore the Crystal Spheres starting with the really fun scenario in the book.

Sic Transit Sicariorum

In the mile-high tower of the Spire, the Aelfir—the High Elves—enjoy lives of extreme luxury, waited upon by the Destra—the Drow—whom they have subjugated and continue to oppress the criminal revolutionaries that would rise up and overthrow them. In the City Beneath, where heretical churches have found the freedom to worship their forbidden gods and organised crime to operate the drug farms that supply the needs of the Spire above, the Aelfir find themselves free of conformity, the Destra free of repression. They are joined by Gnolls and Humans. Some simply live free of the stifling Aelfir control, whether by means lawful or unlawful, others are driven to beyond the Undercity, delving ever deeper into the bowels of the world in search of the fabled Heart, or perhaps their heart’s desire. There are also those who use the Undercity as a sanctuary, as a base of operations, from which they lead the rebellion against the Aelfir. They are members of the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress, both a faith and a revolutionary movement, and outlawed for both reasons. As the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress foments and funds rebellion and unrest in the Spire above, it sends cells of its black ops paramilitary wing, Throne Division, scurrying up the Spire to conduct assassinations, acts of sabotage and blackmail, abductions, extractions, and more. This is done via the Vermissian, the great public transport network that would have bound the Spire and the City Beneath together. Throne Division takes advantage of its non-Euclidean magic to access every level of the Spire, but there are dangers to travelling its length, let alone the dangers to be faced in the execution of its missions.

Vermissian Black Ops is a supplement for Heart: The City Beneath, the roleplaying game that explores the horror, tragedies, and consequences of delving too deep into dungeons, published by Rowan, Rook, and Decard Ltd. In Heart: The City Beneath, the Player Characters are concerned with what lies beneath, and very rarely will they concern themselves with events in the Spire above, but in Vermissian Black Ops, the reverse is true. They will be conducting missions in the Vermissian and in the Spire, thus going up rather than down. This requires some significant changes to the rules of Heart: The City Beneath to account for this change. Thus, Player Characters gain advancements not from hitting story beats related to their Calling, but from completing missions; Domains, which represent experience of an environment or a knowledge of some kind, can be found in the Vermissian rather than just the Technology Domain; and in stead of using Haunts to remove Stress and Fallout from a character, the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress has numerous safehouses and access to doctors and spiritual guidance! To reflect the more combat oriented nature of a Vermissian Black Ops campaign and that the Player Characters are working for a proscribed organisation, the Combat and Ministry Fallout and Resistances are detailed.

Notes are included for combining Heart: The City Beneath and Spire: The City Must Fall via Vermissian Black Ops, essentially in troupe style play with players making characters for both roleplaying games and switching back and forth as necessary. Spire: The City Must Fall can also serve as a setting supplement for Vermissian Black Ops. That said, Throne Division operatives are advised not enter the Spire outside of their missions as they are wanted terrorists with a price on their heads, their time in the City Beneath has changed them enough that they stand out, and exposure to the Heart, even at a relative distance, means they leak weirdness…

Game play in Vermissian Black Ops is conducted as a series of operations, beginning and ending with using the Vermissian to get and from the target. In between can be many scenes, including the actual execution of the mission. Mission creation is intended to be co-operative, the Game Master as the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress assigning a mission and the players outlining together the objectives involved in completing the mission. One-shots are slightly different in that it is suggested that the Game Master creates the mission and its objectives herself. Numerous example operations are given here.

A list of Throne Division equipment is also detailed, such as the Coffin-Crawler, a multi-legged lead-lined box capable of automatically ferrying an operative juddering and lurching shielded from the invasive energies that flood parts of the Vermissian and the Witch-Hunter Railgun, which fires fizzing electro-magnets inscribed with runes designed to rip a magician’s soul from his body and pin it in place. Pride of place, of course, goes to the descriptions of the five lines of the Vermissian, from the Loft Lint atop the Spire with its access to the connected cathedrals to the Aelfir gods and the Autumnal Vaults, sanctified murder corridors where the masked adherents of the Harvest Church ceremonially hunt the Drow, to the Pulse Line which snakes underneath the City Beneath, all the way down to the Heart itself… Bar the Pulse Line, all of the lines are accorded a general description so as give each one a different flavour and feel, and numerous stations and accessible locations are detailed so that the Game Master can bring the transit from the Vermissian to the Spire and back again to life as well as the places that the Throne Operatives will be targeting with their Operations.

Rounding out Vermissian Black Ops is a selection of NPCs and enemies ready for the Game Master to use in her campaign. Arrayed against Throne Division operatives and the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress are the Paladins, the mighty army of one hundred killers sanctified by the Solar Church, which also uses the Vermissian to navigate the Spire and interdict against intrusion by Throne Division operatives, and the Spiral Council, the rulers of the city above, including each of its seven members and its elite guards, the Black Guard of Amaranth. Directing Throne Division operatives is the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress itself, the most successful and possibly maddest of the revolutionary fronts against the Aelfir in the Spire, with possible motivations for joining listed. Between them are the Vermissian Collective, a group of scholars and explorers who map and examine the transport network as much as they collect and hide the secrets of the Drow, and Gutterkin—Goblins, Kobolds, Trash Fairies, Toadgirls, and others—which form a secretive underclass in the City Beneath, but flourish in the Vermissian.

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

Vermissian Black Ops essentially inverts Heart: The City Beneath and sends its players and their characters in the opposite direction, that is, up into the territory of Spire: The City Must Fall, rather than down towards the Heart. Thus, it focuses on campaigns that are not ‘traditional’ to Heart: The City Beneath, and not necessarily of use in Heart: The City Beneath, more episodic in nature given the operation style structure and emphasis on action and combat, whilst the expanded details of the Vermissian will be useful in a Spire: The City Must Fall campaign. Otherwise, Vermissian Black Ops enables the Game Master and her players to bring the revolutionary fervour of Spire: The City Must Fall to Heart: The City Beneath and send it all the way back up the towering city from a different direction.
—oOo—
Dagger in the Heart, a full length scenario for Heart: The City Beneath written by Gareth Hanrahan is currently funding on Backerkit.

Friday Fantasy: Masks of Lankhmar

Masks of Lankhmar is the first scenario written for Fritz Lieber’s Lankhmar setting published for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Indeed, the publisher, Goodman Games, released the scenario in 2015 before it published the actual Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set in 2017. Thus, it is written for use with the standard rules for Dungeon Crawl Classics rather than those given in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set. That said, the differences are relatively slight, and the Judge could easily run this scenario using the rules in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set. The scenario is designed for First Level Player Characters, who are dropped into the action en media res, and it can be played in a single session or so. It is designed as a ‘Meet’ scenario, one that throws a diverse bunch of characters together and as a consequence they decide to work together to perform a heist. In effect, Masks of Lankhmar is a starter scenario, one that can be used as the beginning adventure for a campaign set in the City of the Black Toga.
Masks of Lankhmar [https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/161925/DCC-Lankhmar-Masks-of-Lankhmar?affiliate_id=392872] begins with the Player Characters in a cellar in the middle of a fight. This is not with each other, although they have all just discovered that they are in the cellar for the same reason. That is to break into the treasure vault of wealth caravan master, Igrik of the East, and steal a treasure known as the ‘Key of the Unwitnessed Sisterhood’, whilst Igrik of the East is holding a masque party to show off his acquisition. The fight is with members of the Slayers’ Brotherhood, hired to provide security, but once dispatched, the Player Characters have a moment to reflect and explain how they got there. This allows a moment of invention upon the part of the players before they decide to team up and continue the robbery together. This proceeds apace with the Player Characters facing a number of obstacles which are not too difficult to overcome before making their escape from the mansion of Igrik of the East. Between them and the exit though, are members of the Thieves’ Guild, which takes a dim view of freelancers like the Player Characters, especially if they are robbing the same place as the guild sanctioned thieves! Like the ways in which they got into the mansion of Igrik of the East, numerous options are suggested as to how they leave, each player being free to choose one or devise his own. Both of these are really fun montages of scenes as first their way in and then their out are played in the classic style of heist film.
What the Player Characters steal from Igrik of the East, ‘Key of the Unwitnessed Sisterhood’, is not so much a treasure, but a clue to an even bigger treasure. This is one of the Gilded Masks worn by the Unseen Sisters, the priestesses of the Mysteries of Djil. This cult absolved its worshippers of their sins with a single kiss in return for donations and as its coffers filled and it grew more popular, the jealousy of other temples in the city along with various nobles also grew, until a century ago, they banded together, convinced the city Overlord to outlaw the Mysteries of Djil, sacked its temples, and drove its priesthood from Lankhmar. The clue points to the Temple of Djil on the Plaza of Dark Delights, now the site of a slum tenement. There are options here for the Judge to run scenes where the Player Characters go to a scribe to get a translation and learn some more about their next target and then be accosted by one of Nehwon’s foremost wizards, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face, to obtain one of the Gilded Masks of Djil for him. These two scenes can be omitted if the Judge wants to run a shorter game or is running Masks of Lankhmar as a convention scenario, but for a campaign game, these scenes are almost obligatory. In both cases, they introduce NPCs which can play a role in the campaign again and again, the sage as a useful source of information that the Player Characters can consult, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face as a lurking patron…

The second part of Masks of Lankhmar takes place in the Plaza of Dark Delights and the Temple of Djil that spires above it. Here they run the gauntlet of the local gang and the downtrodden slum dwellers, before getting into the temple itself. This is quite small, consisting of just six locations, a mix of puzzles and traps rather than combat encounters. The latter will come when more members of the Thieves Guild turn up, having followed the Player Characters to the temple. The ending of Masks of Lankhmar very much depends on who has possession of the Gilded Masks of Djil—the Player Characters, the Thieves Guild, or they have escaped themselves. Yes, the Gilded Masks of Djil are sentient! Whomever they end up with, there will be a chase across the city, probably over its rooftops in true Lankhmar fashion.

Physically, Masks of Lankhmar is as well presented as you would expect a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game to be. The artwork is decent and the maps excellent, but the text could have been better organised in places.

Masks of Lankhmar is a linear adventure, but it is a solidly plotted one, with the focus entirely on the Player Characters and their actions. However, outside of that plot, there is little room for the Player Characters to act beyond its confines, bar the entertaining moments when the players get to describe how their characters get in and out of the mansion of Igrik of the East. Part of that is due to when Masks of Lankhmar was published, before the release of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, so there was little for the Judge to work with. Now that is not the case. Part of it is also due to its short length and part of it is due it beginning en media res, so a lot of the planning and interaction associated with a heist takes place off-camera, before the adventure proper starts.

Masks of Lankhmar is an entertaining and fast-paced and atmospheric introduction to the City of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes. It would work well as a convention scenario and it would work well as a campaign starter that can be played in a single session or fleshed out using the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set.

Friday Filler: Last Defense!

It does not matter what you are doing. Working construction, cooking barbeque just like any dad, going to school on your skateboard, playing football for your champion team, on shift as a paramedic, or even just being a good dog, you always remember where you were when the invasion began. Not just Space Aliens are invading your hometown, but also Spider Robots, Sentient Plants, Giant Tentacles, and the Junk Blob! All of these Threats can be defeated, but only with the right scientific knowhow, and thus the right scientists. Unfortunately, the invasion has damaged buildings across the town and the fallen rubble has trapped every scientist in the town. With authorities busy elsewhere dealing with the Threats, it is up to you, ordinary men, women, and children, to rescue the scientists and defeat the invading Threats. All it takes is the right tools, a bit of co-operation with each other, and above all, speed. This is the set-up for Last Defense!, a game of planetary and hometown defence that is noticeable for three things. First, it is co-operative. Second, it is played in real-time. Third, it has a time limit. That time limit is twenty minutes. A time limit that never changes from one game to the next.

Last Defense! is designed to be played by between two and six players, aged eight and up. It also requires an app to play, as this acts as the game’s timer—hence the twenty-minute time limit. Published by Funko Games, it is designed by the Prospero Hall team, which has a track record of taking intellectual properties—some of them decades old such as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Jaws: A Boardgame of Strategy and Suspense—and turning them into playable games. Last Defense! is not based on any intellectual property, but instead takes its inspiration from the Science Fiction ‘B’ movies of the nineteen fifties. The game is easy to learn and play.

The game consists of a game board, six character cards and figures, two dice, thirty-two tool cards, thirteen rubble tokens, thirteen scientist tokens, five Threat movers, five Threat cards, and the rules pamphlet. The board depicts various locations in the town, such as a school, bank, farmers’ market, hospital, megastore, plaza, and rest area. The six characters cards depict a BBQ Dad, Construction Worker, Good Dog, On-Call Nurse, Skateboarder, and Soccer Champ. Each character card has a full illustration, the character’s starting location, and a list of what a player does when it is it his turn. The character figures match their illustrations on their cards, and whilst not very detailed, do stand out in play on the board. The Tools die is numbered between one and three and indicates how many Tool cards a player draws when rolled on his turn, whilst the Move dice is numbered between two and four, indicating how many spaces he can move on his turn. The Tool cards depict a variety of objects, most notable of which are the Flare cards, which can be used to distract an invader and get past it. The rubble tokens hide the tools needed, such as a hard hat and a pair of pliers, to move the rubble and free the trapped scientist. The scientists include meteorologists, astrophysicists, biologists, chemists, and more. The five Threat cards and Threat movers (or standees) consist of Giant Tentacles, Junk Blob, Sentient Plants, Space Aliens, and Spider Robots. Each Threat card indicates which scientists known how to defeat it. For example, an astrophysicist and meteorologist will defeat the Space Aliens, whilst the biologist and engineer will defeat the Giant Tentacles.
To win Last Defense!, the players need to explore the rubble, reveal the tools necessary to free the scientist trapped by the rubble and get the tools to the location, then transport the rescued scientist to the plaza space in the middle of the town. If the right pair of scientists is in the plaza, they will defeat one of the Threats, whether a player is there or not. Only four of the five Threats will be invading the players’ hometown, but which ones varies from game to game. Once all four Threats are defeated, the players win the game. Otherwise, they lose.
Last Defense! is set up with the characters in their starting locations, the tool cards shuffled, and several sets of Token Stacks created. Each Token Stack consists of a rubble token placed on top of a scientist token, both face down. The app guides the players through this process, step-by-step, and then when everything is ready, it indicates which of the locations on the board have people trapped by rubble on them. A Token Stack is placed on these, with more being added when a Threat moves to a location. Both the four Threats invading and when they move are randomly determined by the app, which periodically announces threat movement.
On his turn, a player rolls both dice. He draws a number of Tool cards equal to the roll on the Tool die and moves as many spaces as he wants, up to the number rolled on the Move die. If he enters a location with a token stack, he can turn over a rubble token, revealing the tools required to free the scientist trapped by the rubble. If he has the right tools, he can free the scientist and transport him to the plaza. If a player ends his move on the same space as another player, he can give a Tool card to that player or take a Tool card from that player. A player can hold a maximum of five Tool cards. Instead of a scientist, a player might uncover a helicopter. This can be used to transport a player directly to another location on the board. If a threat occupies a location, a player cannot move into a location or end his turn on a location occupied by a threat, unless he can distract it with a flare or the location is special to the player, such as the school for the soccer champ or the shopping mall for the skateboarder.
If a player is in a location when a Threat appears in or moves to a location, the player is sent to the rest area and starts his move from there next turn, but leaves any scientists he had behind in that location. A new Token Stack is added to that location. In this way, the appearance or movement of a Threat impedes movement around the board, although what it can do is actually impede overall player progress as it can prevent them getting already revealed scientists to the plaza to stop the threats. Scientists on a location with a Threat on it cannot be reached unless the player has a Flare Tool card or the location is special to the player.
Play proceeds like this until the Threats are defeated and everyone wins or time runs out with one or more Threat left undefeated and everyone loses. Play is fast and energetic, the board game’s real time nature requiring a player to act rather than overthink his actions lest time be wasted, rolling the dice, drawing cards, moving, and then handing the dice to the next player. All the while, the players are listening to ominous nature of the app soundtrack, waiting for its news reporter to interrupt with some breaking news as to where a Threat has appeared or moved too.
Physically, Last Defense! is a very well done board game. All of the artwork is bright and breezy and the rules are clearly explained, and quick and easy to learn. The components are also of high quality. The app includes a link to a video to learn how to play, but once a game begins keeps everything moving, reminding the players as to their time limit. One player will need to keep an eye on the app as the game progresses.
Last Defense! is a simple, straightforward co-operative game. It is easy to lean by both younger players and a family audience. As a family game, it is bright and breezy, fast playing, and tense. For board game veterans, Last Defense! is solidly playable, but does not offer much in the way of depth or replay value. There is an option for a more advanced game, but this does not add anything in the way of complexity or extra options. Any player wanting special ability like that provided for each of the characters in Pandemic will be disappointed.
Last Defense! is a solid family game that mixes modern, co-operative play with play against the clock that adds just about the right sense of jeopardy. Its twenty-minute play time means that it does not outstay its welcome, and whilst veteran players will find it a little too light, this is still game that they can play with their family.

Miskatonic Monday #271: Tiger in Human Skin

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 InvictusThe PastoresPrimal StateRipples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in EgyptReturn of the RipperRise of the DeadRise 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: Tiger in Human SkinPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Agata Brig

Setting: Swindon, Lovecraft Country
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-one page, 1.47 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The circus always leaves chaos in its wake...Plot Hook: When a monster crosses your path...
Plot Support: Staging advice, four NPCs, one Mythos monster, and a piglet.Production Values: Plain.
Pros# Begins en media res
# Easy to slot into an existing campaign
# Easy to adjust to other times and places# Coulrophobia# Achondroplasiaphobia# Tigriphobia
Cons# Needs a slight edit# Linear# Easy to spot the villain
# Feels as if the background could been more accessible for the Investigators

Conclusion# A circus came to town and left a monster in its wake# Linear push to get the Investigators to the showdown without any real investigation

Miskatonic Monday #270: A Murder at Heck’s Peak

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 InvictusThe PastoresPrimal StateRipples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in EgyptReturn of the RipperRise of the DeadRise 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: A Murder at Heck’s PeakPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Vovina Games

Setting: Colorado, 1877
Product: Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
What You Get: Forty-eight page, 80.69 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Strangers and murder don’t mixPlot Hook: Hell comes to Heck’s Peak—or has it already left?
Plot Support: Staging advice, seven NPCs, and eight Mythos monsters.Production Values: Plain.
Pros# Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
# Lengthy investigation
# Clear information on what every NPC knows# Mythos on Mythos action# Ichthyophobia# Scotophobia# Phagophobia
Cons# Needs a good edit# No maps# Parts of the backstory left undeveloped# Could have been better organised
Conclusion# Solid mix of investigation and action let down by poor organisation# Expect to be deranged on the range in this Mythos mix-up showdown

Dogs & The Devil’s Due

You are a Dog. You are a Dandy Dog. You are one of the Devil’s Dandy Dogs. You are a creature made of the Devil’s shadow and a shadow of what you once were. As a Dandy Dog you are tasked with collecting souls for the Devil. This will take you back to the world that was once your home and face numerous peoples, visit various places, confront creatures, engage in experiences that perhaps might recall your memories, and solve conundrums. You may even be Tempted. In the process, you will gain a Soul, through agreement or through guile, but never force, that you return to your Master. Neither good nor evil, the Devil is smart, wily, debonair, wicked, generally willing to play by the rules, a cunning conversationalist, a fierce and loyal protector of their dogs. Thus, he will be grateful for the Soul, but he will always have one more task and that is for you to tell him of how you gained the Soul. In other words, he wants to be entertained.

This is the set-up for The Devil’s Dandy Dogs, a storytelling game published by Monte Cook Games. Best played by four or five players, who together make up a pack, plus the Diviner—as the Game Master is known—it is designed to be played with a minimum of preparation, and more! That more is very easy set up by the Diviner and play straight out of the box for the players. In fact, a would-be Diviner could open the box, read through the rules in thirty (at the very most) minutes and be ready to run The Devil’s Dandy Dogs. All of which is facilitated by quick and easy character or Dandy Dog options and creation, and equally as easy, card-driven, scenario or soul fetch creation. It can be played in a single session or over multiple sessions, making it suitable for both one-shots and convention play, as well as extended play. Play itself is collaborative with the Diviner establishing the set-up and soul fetch and then working with her players building the world that their Dandy Dogs will operate in. This world can be historical, it can be fantasy, it can be horror, it can be Science Fiction, it can be today or it can be yesterday. This is decided upon by the Diviner and her players, as can the tone and mood of the game. No matter who the soul belongs to that the Dandy Dogs have been sent to collect and the problem they need to overcome or condition they need to fulfil in order to do so, when the session begins, the Dandy Dogs will already have succeeded in bringing a Soul to the Devil. And since they have already succeeded, the Dandy Dogs will be telling the story of what has happened and so The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is played in the past tense. This facilitates a certain play style, such as being able to remember what happened next and ask another player what happened next, meaning that the “I did this” of The Devil’s Dandy Dogs rather than the “I do this” of other roleplaying games brings a certain nuance to play.

The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is a boxed game. Below the handy ‘What’s in the Box?’ sheet, there are two books, a playmat, eleven character sheets, four dice, and over one hundred cards. The first book, ‘The Devil’s Dandy Dogs’ explains the rules and how to set up a game, whilst the second, ‘The Devil’s Playbook’ is the reference for the thirty-six cards of the ‘Diviner’s Deck’, explaining how the cards are used on the ‘Soul’s Arrow’, the cloth playmat where the spread of cards is placed after it is drawn. The eleven character sheets are mini-portfolios, one each for the roleplaying game’s eleven roles, with explanations of how the roles work in play and how the game’s mechanics work. Three of the dice have the symbol for success on one face and the symbol for failure on one face, with the other four blank. Successes and failures are named different things depending on the situation. The Temptation die has the success symbol on four faces and failure symbol on two. It can be rolled during an action to bring a Dog’s Drive into play, but has a chance of the Dog falling prey to his Temptation. The cards are large, Tarot-card sized, done on glossy stock and done in very full colour. Their primary use is to set up the ‘Deal with the Devil’, the details of the Soul Fetch that the Dandy Dogs have to undertake, including the Person, the Place, the Pact, the Complication, and more.

A Dandy Dog is defined by his Role, Name, Goal, Devil’s Mark and Traits. The Roles include The Beloved, The Hearthed, The Faithful, The Vermillion, and more. Each Role gives a Dandy Dog his personality, Drive, Temptation, Tricks or supernatural gifts, and storytelling style. The player picks his Dandy Dog’s Role, Goal, decides on the Devil’s Mark, and decides whether his Dandy Dog is Good in one Trait, Very Good in a second, and Best in a third. The three Traits are Devil, which represents supernatural and magical actions, such as Dreamwalking, Sensing Magic, Shadowwalking, and Soulbearing; Dandy, used in social situations and interacting with the world; and Dog, which is all about the things a dog can do. Each Dandy Dog must be unique, different from one player to the next.

Name: Dasha
Role: The Frolic
Devil: Good Dandy: Very Good Dog: Best
Drive: Play
Temptation: Hunger
Goal: To become a real dog
Tricks: Become Dog, These Violent Delights
Devil’s Mark: A Dog Chasing Its Tail

Mechanically, The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is simple. To undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to the rating of the Trait used. Three for Best, two for Very Good, and one for Good. A roll of six or ‘Devil’s Eyebrow’ means the Dandy Dog succeeds superbly; two, three, four, and five are blank and are the ‘Devil’s Duty’, meaning the Dandy Dog has succeeded without being either entertaining or exciting; and one or ‘Devil’s Delight’, means that the Dandy Dog has failed and done so spectacularly. In combat, a six becomes ‘Devil’s Tooth & Claw’ and a one becomes a ‘Devil’s Concern’. During a scene, the Diviner can use ‘Call & Response’ to bring a Dandy Dog into narrative and go back and forth to the Dandy Dog’s player who narrates what he does according to each result on a die. It is possible to save one die if a Dandy Dog has any left over at the end of this, and if he does run out, a Dandy Dog can ask a packmate to ‘Throw Me A Bone!’ if another Dandy Dog has kept one spare.

In addition, a Dandy Dog can bring his Drive into play if relevant. If a roll of three, four, five, and six, then the Dandy Dog succeeds and something amazing happens. However, on a role of one or two, the Dandy Dog’s Drive overtakes him, he gains a Temptation card, and he cannot act until his Pack helps him. (Notably, the symbols are not named on the Temptation die, unlike on the standard dice for ordinary and combat results.) There are also two further outcomes. ‘Fates Folly’ is triggered when three ‘ones’ are used in a scene by the Pack as a whole and the Diviner adds a ‘Fates Folly’ card to the ‘Soul’s Arrow’ playmat. A ‘Devil’s Door’ card is added to the ‘Soul’s Arrow’ playmat by the Diviner when the three ‘sixes’ are used in a scene by the Pack as a whole.

The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is structured into several beats. In ‘Hearth & Home’, the players collectively describe what their Dandy Dogs’ Devil is like—this is the character that the Diviner will be portraying, and then in ‘Deal with Devil’, the Diviner draws the three cards and plays them on the ‘Soul’s Arrow’. One for the Person who made the Pact with the Devil—that person already having made the pact to give up his or her Soul, second for the Place where the Person can be found, and the third for Pact between the Person and the Devil. Each card has a corresponding entry in the ‘The Devil’s Playbook’ which can be used to guide the Diviner. Each Pact involves a Deal, and this can help the Person retrieve something or someone important, achieve mastery or success, complete unfinished business for them, protect or heal someone for the Person, or Assist the Person in some way… These options give some great situations and set-ups that essentially complicate what the Dandy Dogs will have had to do in order to obtain the intended Soul, which will be played out the third best, ‘Fun & Games’. The last beat is ‘Dark Night of the Soul’, in which the Dandy Dogs face their toughest challenge in obtaining the Soul, but the Diviner also presents three Pact of the Pact cards from which the Dandy Dogs can choose from one. This will give them a collective ability such as the Dandy Dogs assume a ‘True Form’ all together, a single solid creature with all of its advantages and disadvantages, or ‘Through Time’ when the Dandy Dogs step out of time and place into a safe, warm comfortable place and then return with ‘real’ no time passed, but subjectively having had a chance to plan, discuss, and prepare to continue the resolution of the scene. Lastly, the Dandy Dogs return to ‘Hearth & Home’ and the Soul Fetch.

There is another best, ‘The Devil’s Interlude’. It is an optional best, which can be used to add a scene between the other beats, pause the story, or to add a moment of levity. Whilst in the short term, a Dandy Dog and his pack are trying to retrieve a promised Soul, in the long term a Dandy Dog can be working towards his Goal and the gaining of Memory Shards. The latter are primarily gained for collecting a Soul and go towards completion of a Goal, but they can also be expended to ‘Mend a Tear’ and heal the damage that would disconnect a Dandy Dog from the Devil’s shadow or together with other Dandy Dogs keep a Pact of the Pack card.

As much as The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is a lovely looking game, the main, but minor issues are due to that physicality. First, the cards could have been slightly thicker. The cards are also quite bendy. Not all of the card types are readily named so that does impede play slightly. Secondly, the symbols on the dice are consistent across the standard and Temptation dice, but are not consistently named in the game, which is confusing.

Physically, The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is very well presented. The artwork on the cards is great and the rulebook is very well written. This includes good examples of play and solid advice from start to finish.

The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is a very good game in a box and it is a very quick game in a box, combining portability, ease of set-up, and mechanical simplicity with scope to tell the great stories of the final moments of those who have sold their soul to the Devil. Honestly, once the Diviner has learned how to make a ‘Deal with the Devil’ and read through the rules, she can run The Devil’s Dandy Dogs at any time. Mechanically, it is that simple. The complexity comes in the Pact made between the Devil and those willing to give up his Soul and ensuring that it is fulfilled, that is, in the story not the rules. Beautifully presented, The Devil’s Dandy Dogs’ combination of easy-to-learn rules and challenging storytelling make it the perfect pick-up, no preparation, be a good dog, dance with the Devil roleplaying game.

A Hoard of Heresies

In 1307, the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar, were summarily attacked and arrested by French forces, on orders from King Philip IV of France with permission from Pope Clement V. It marked the beginning of the end of the order, which for two hundred years had dedicated itself to protecting Christians making their pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Its leaders would be tried for heresy, but before the arrest their arrest in Templar’s Parisian stronghold, the Enclos du Temple, they would issue one final set of orders: the last Templars were to take the secrets of the order to safety. They would be the last thirty to escape the fallen stronghold and theirs would be a perilous journey across Europe in search of sanctuary, harried all the way first by forces loyal to King Philip, and then the Inquisition. Their story and their efforts to find sanctuary, perhaps in the process discovering the true secrets of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, are told in Heirs to Heresy: The Fall of the Knights Templar, a roleplaying game published by Osprey Games.

Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear is the first supplement for Heirs to Heresy. That roleplaying game is essentially a toolkit to run a single type of campaign, one that tells of the Player Character Templars’ flight away from Paris to a sanctuary, whichever one that is… Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear is a companion volume, providing a range of support and content that adds to that toolkit, thus giving the Grand Master more options to enhance her campaign or even run a new campaign. The supplement includes the advice and warning from the core rulebook about dealing with the negative aspects of both history and the portrayal of the Knights Templar, before getting on with the new content. The first of which is three new knightly orders—the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which was concerned with protecting and ensuring the sanctity of the holy sites; the Knights Hospitaller, which operated hospitals for the benefit of pilgrims; and the Order of Saint Lazarus, Leper Knights who aid commoners who have been harmed or hurt. Each Order has two special abilities. For example, a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre has ‘First Among Equals’ and ‘Secure the Holy Spaces’. The first of these gives the knight an advantage when dealing with other orders because the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is the oldest order, has precedence, and reports directly to the Pope, whilst the second increases their Damage Reduction when defending a sacred or consecrated sites. The inclusion of these three orders open up Player Character and NPC options, and perhaps because none of the three orders have been arrested by the French King and accused of heresy, also perhaps as a more general roleplaying game involving militant orders rather than one dealing with the last actions of the free Templars.

Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear does include a fourth order, the Teutonic knights. They are not, though, included as a Player Character option, but as NPC villains. Several options are suggested as to why, from Teutonic Grand Master simply coveted the Templar wealth to the Teutonic Order having been corrupted by some dark influence. However, as a possible ally, a location somewhere in the Teutonic Order’s lands might become the sanctuary that the Player Characters are trying to reach and that lends itself to a campaign with a Gothic feel located in Eastern Europe.

‘Modes of Play’ gives rules for solo play or play without a Grand Master. This includes the ‘Yes/No Oracle’, a simple means of resolving player choices, and tables of Action and Theme options to inspire and prompt the player. A set of tables, based on their Health level, whether Full, Halved, or Quartered, provides random actions in combat for NPCs, whilst another provides reactions out of combat. A further set of tables enable the Grand Master to create a conspiracy and the basis of a campaign using the content in this supplement and the core rulebook.

In Heirs to Heresy, a Player Character Knight can bring his faith and commitment to bear on a situation. To reflect this, he has Faith points to spend on various effects, including adding his Faith Attribute to a single Test, damage total, or reducing incoming damage by the same, to reroll a single Test, and if they factor into a campaign, power esoterica, Gifts, and Relics. Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear adds an option for using Faith called ‘Acts of Faith’. These include ‘Acts of Exorcism’, ‘Acts of Foresight’, ‘Acts of Healing’, and ‘Acts of Sacrifice’, the latter enabling the Player Character to protect a fallen ally against a grave threat. All four ‘Acts of Faith’ require the expenditure of a point of Faith and a may require a Religion skill test. The converse, ‘Acts of Fear’, including ‘Acts of Deceit’, ‘Acts of Incitement’, and ‘Acts of Violence’, require Corruption points, which are gained for committing sins, to be used. It is possible for a Player Character Knight, to be corrupt and have fallen from the Grace of God, and use these ‘Acts of Fear’. However, should such a Knight become too corrupt, there will be no way back for him to the Grace of God, and he becomes an NPC under the control of the Grand Master and likely a major threat to the Player Characters.

‘Strongholds and Sieges’ adds rules for building bases, such as castles and fortifications, and then laying siege to them. These include natural caverns, towers, and new fortifications, and a stronghold has actions of its own that the players can trigger. This can be to Fortify, Repair, or Upgrade the structure, Hire an employee (such as a Blacksmith, Builder, or Priest), Rest, or spend time in Introspection. Rest grants temporary Stamina points and Introspection points to spend on advancing Faith. Strongholds have Traits of their own, such as Famous, Gnostic Monastery (which grants an esoteric benefit), Living(!), and even Religious Sanctuary. The Siege rules are an addition to the Mass Battle system and are fairly quick and dirty, the aim being to reduce the Army Strength of one side to zero. Both Attacker and Defender have a limited number of options—Assault, Resupply, Sabotage, or Starve Out for the Attacker and Fortify, Repair, Sally Forth, and Smuggle in Supplies for the Defender, but can undertake four actions per day. There is room too for Player Character actions and roleplaying too, but the rules are quick and simple.

At the core of Heirs to Heresy are the relics, one of which the Player Characters are attempting to get from Paris to sanctuary. The choice can determine certain aspects of the campaign, such as how Faith interacts with the Player Characters. The four here are the Ark of the Covenant, the Head of Saint John Baptist, the Turn Shroud, and the Spear of Longinus. For example, the Ark of the Covenant will slay the unfaithful, grant insight and Faith for a battle, and if unlocked, that is, a Player Character attunes to it, it grants further Faith. Of course, it is relatively large and so not easy to transport. Each one of these four is major Christian relic and will really affect the nature of a campaign.

As well as the relic they are charged with protecting, the Player Characters may have access to another resources, that of the Templar spy networks to be found in the cities and towns across Europe. Most obviously, they could be used to provide safehouses as the Player Characters flee from Paris, but they can also provide supplies and information, and perhaps they can actually be made greater use of if the Player Characters establish a stronghold and want monitor or weaken the forces hunting for them. There are tables too for creating NPCs and their personalities, for exploration and the weather, and a host of new enemies, mobs both supernatural and mundane, and supernatural foes such as the Basilisk, Maddening Mist, and Warlocks or Witches.

The supplement also comes with four adventures of varying length and complexity. ‘The Wolfcairn’ finds the Player Characters camping somewhere deep in the forest when they begin to be stalked by a massive wolf that is more than it seems; in ‘The Basilisk’s Den’ they visit a tavern of that name looking for a connection to the local Templar spy network and run against all manner of NPCs with their own interests; in ‘Last Stand’, the Inquisition has caught up with the Player Characters who will have to hold them off, perhaps giving one of their number to make a desperate final defence of the others; and lastly, the ‘Cursed Brothers’ interlude gives the Player Characters a chance for respite at a Templar castle, but their fellow brothers turn out to be as bad as King Philip IV of France claimed the order to be. All four scenarios are easy to run and include pointers on their set-up descriptions of locations and NPCs, and both consequences and possible complications. They are all relatively easy to drop into a campaign. Lastly, the supplement includes another three pre-generated Player Characters, one for each of the new orders given at the start of the book.

Physically, Heirs to Heresy is cleanly and simply presented. The book is easy to read and the artwork is excellent.

Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear is not absolutely necessary to play a campaign of Heirs to Heresy. What it does do though, is provide a range of options and rules that can be used to expand the Grand Master’s campaign. The new scenarios are the easiest to use, each one readily dropped into a campaign, whilst the rules for spy networks, sieges, and ‘Acts of Faith’ require more effort and perhaps certain situations to arise to be fully useful. Overall, Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear widens the number of options that the Grand Master can choose from when planning her campaign and when making it more exciting in play, so making it useful for any Heirs to Heresy: The Fall of the Knights Templar campaign.

Solitaire: Thousand Empty Light

Thank you for accepting this assignment. As a valued employee of the HAZMOS CORP we have trust in your resilience and reliability to undertake this task. TEL 022 is the only artificial structure on Unadopted Planetary Body 154, or UPB 154. HAZMOS CORP currently owns the maintenance contract on this facility and the Department of Offworld Contact Monitoring has detected that TEL 022 is currently without light or power. The Department of Offworld Contact Fulfilment has signed you, a fully trained LAMPLIGHTER, to fulfil the immediate terms of the contract. You will be transported to UPB 154. An atmospheric vehicle will insert you onto UPB 154 and you will gain access to TEL 022. Once inside you are directed to descend to the bottom of TEL 022 and proceed section by section through TEL 022. In each section you will restore power and light. In each section, please record your visual assessment and maintenance report in the MemoComm module for HAZMOS CORP records as part of the contract. You are advised that TEL 022 is a sub oceanic facility. Please record any depth complications in consultation with the PNEUMATIC AND NARCOTIC INCIDENT CHART, or PANIC reference, provided. Throughout this assignment you are reminded to adhere to the standard practice for the fulfilment of HAZMOS CORP maintenance contracts and follow the OBSERVE RESOLVE ACT CONCLUDE LEAVE EVIDENCE, or ORACLE, System. By following the ORACLE System, you will ensure your safety and HAZMOS CORP’s continued responsibility for your safety and wellbeing. Failure to adhere to the ORACLE System may threaten your safety and wellbeing, the capacity of HAZMOS CORP to fulfil the contract, and negate any liability HAZMOS CORP is contractually obliged to fulfil with regard to your physical and mental status. On behalf of the HAZMOS CORP, the Director thanks you for your attention and action in these matters and looks forward to you being a continued and valued member of the HAZMOS CORP family.

This is the set-up for Thousand Empty Light, a supplement for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game, published by House of Valley following a successful Kickstarter campaign, which is several things which together make it more than a straightforward supplement or scenario. On the one level, it is actually the manual and guidance book released by the HAZMOS CORP for fulfilling the maintenance contract for TEL 022. On another, it is actually a piece of horror fiction which follows the progress of the assigned Lamplighter as he descends into TEL 022 and makes his way along it one segmented tunnel, visually scanning each area, reading the reports recorded by the previous Lamplighter to conduct maintenance on the facility, recording his report, and coming to the realisation that there is something odd going on in TEL 022 and that HAZMOS CORP is not telling its employee the true purpose of the facility. And lastly, it is a solo adventure for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game, one whose rules can be adapted to use in other scenarios for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. As a solo adventure, it can be played as written, but the player can also record his reports, turning Thousand Empty Light into a journaling scenario. Further, given that Thousand Empty Light is designed for solo play and thus one player, it could actually be run one-on-one, with a single player and a Warden. The latter will be easier than in most solo roleplaying experiences because the structure of TEL 022 actually informs the structure of the scenario—it is linear. Although it is interactive fiction, Thousand Empty Light is literally straightforward as opposed to the non-linearity of most works of interactive fiction such as the Fighting Fantasy series.

TEL 022, the setting for Thousand Empty Light, is situated deep under the ocean of UPB 154. It is accessed via a caisson that juts above the ocean surface, the Lamplighter descending via the caisson and undergoing hyperbaric intervention. At the bottom, the Lamplighter is tasked with proceeding through the five sections of the facility in order, each one sealed at either end. In each section, he must follow the standard WORKFLOW: review the reports previously recorded on the hand-cranked MemoComm module, assess the situation, and restore both light and power, record his own report, and check for depth complications. This includes following the ORACLE System.

Notably, the ‘O’ or ‘OBSERVE’ step of the ORACLE System uses Semiotic Standard as a means of providing a randomising factor. Semiotic Standard is actually a system of signs and symbols—‘Semiotic Standard For All Commercial Trans-Stellar Utility Lifter And Heavy Element Transport Spacecraft’—created by the American film designer, Ron Cobb, as icons for the commercial spacetug, Nostromo, in the film Alien. There are fifty of these and they are recreated on the back cover of Thousand Empty Light and numbered. Where there is a degree of doubt and uncertainty, the player can roll to determine which one will influence the actions of his character. Each has been amended with a potential outcome, either ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Yes, But’, and ‘No, but’, to prompt the player along with the icon itself. They are not the easiest of prompts to use, but their verisimilitude and the sense of worldbuilding they enforce are undeniable.

In addition, the player, as the Lamplighter, has to record incidents and near misses and record them on an Incident Form. These can be trips and falls, injury and illness, unsafe disrepair, excessive noise, newly-identified, and more. When they occur, they are randomly assigned a value between one and ten. They do not have an immediate effect, but if another incident occurs which is randomly assigned the same value as a previous incident, it triggers repercussions from that previous incident. The higher the assigned value, the greater the effect of the repercussions. It also triggers a PANIC check upon the part of the Lamplighter which requires referring to the PANIC reference. This is also required when the Lamplighter transitions from one section to another.

In terms of a Player Character and his abilities, Thousand Empty Light recommends Mechanical Repair and Jury-Rigging as skills and training in industrial equipment. Otherwise, it adheres to standard rules for character creation for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. He is assigned a flashlight, a rebreather, and a dive gauge, and some of the hazards he will face are explained—depth complications, unlit areas, corrosive seawater, flooding, raiders, and an array of strange creatures and environmental effects. Once the Lamplighter has signed a Letter of Last Resort, he enters the caisson and the first section. It is at this point that Thousand Empty Light begins to resemble a journalling game, because what the player will be in each section is using its description and the MemoComm module recordings his Lamplighter has access to as prompts to ask questions. Answers to these questions are determined by rolling on the Semiotic Standard table on the back of the book, as well as other factors. The player can then decide how his Lamplighter responds, what action he takes, and so on, following the ORACLE System again and again until the section has been fully explored and the Lamplighter has completed the WORKFLOW for that section.

As the Lamplighter proceeds from one section to the next the oppressive, often claustrophobic atmosphere grows, the unsettling nature of even the first four sections of TEL 022 exacerbating his sense of panic. This is first forced by the need to make a PANIC check when entering a new section and then by events generated by the player from the questions prompted by the descriptive content. One thing that Thousand Empty Light does not explain is what is in the fifth section. It is described as a High Value Asset early in the maintenance manual, and the Lamplighter is cautioned not to interact with it. In a sense, it does not matter, since getting to the last section will have been trial enough and asking those questions may be too much. Like the story of his Lamplighter’s progress through TEL 022, it is up to the player to decide, though there is, perhaps, the hint that it lies closer to home…
In addition, there are secrets in Thousand Empty Light that are hidden by a code. These are not decipherable without further purchase by the player. They are not necessary to play through Thousand Empty Light though.

Physically, Thousand Empty Light is impressive. The writing captures the right tone of corporate attitude and care, which of course, is never going to be enough as a playthrough reveals. Similarly, the layout adds to this and the combination of the two is why Thousand Empty Light actually works better as a piece of fiction perhaps more than it does as a solo adventure or a set of solo rules for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. Part of that is due to the fact that the explanation of how they work is written as a corporate maintenance manual rather than as a roleplaying game supplement. At the same time though, if it actually had that clearer explanation of the rules, it might actually have disrupted the veracity of the atmosphere in Thousand Empty Light.

Lastly, it should be noted that the name of the scenario has been randomly generated. By any stretch of the imagination, it is meaningless.

As a piece of horror fiction and interactive fiction, Thousand Empty Light superbly and successfully combines a sense of corporate sheen and corporate creepiness, the former ratcheted down, the latter ratcheted up, as the player and his Lamplighter proceeds further into TEL 022. As a set of solo rules, Thousand Empty Light underwhelms due to under-explaining and that, combined with their specific application by the HAZMOS CORP here, makes them difficult to apply elsewhere for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. Perhaps a new ORACLE System and PANIC reference is required?

Friday Fantasy: Tales of the Wolfguard

Blizzard Vale is the most northerly of the Empire’s provinces, a long valley cutting through the mighty Moonmaiden Range, perpetually snow-covered and marked with sparse stands of conifers, ice-covered lakes, and frigid rivers. Here can be found the clans of the barbarian Elves, long driven out of the vale by the Empire and into the surrounding mountains and much reduced from what they once were, and no longer considered a threat by the Empire. At the entrance to the valley stands the town of Ysvindur, an imperial provincial capital that would have long since been abandoned were it not for the exotic goods that merchants from the south come to buy from the Elf clans. Indeed, both the governor or legate and his various bureaucrats consider a posting by the Emperor to Ysvindur and the Blizzard Vale a disappointment at the very least, a punishment at the very most. Yet there are those who welcome assignment or exile to Ysvindur, either because they wish to make a new start on the frontier and escape whatever misfortune or scandal befell them in the capital or because they have been sentenced to serve in the north for crimes that might have otherwise seen them imprisoned or even exiled. They serve in the Wolfguard, whose members are dedicated to protecting the vale and Ysvindur. Their endeavours are explored in Tales of the Wolfguard.

Tales of the Wolfguard is a hexcrawl published by Hellwinter Forge of Wonders for use with Old School Essentials, Necrotic Gnome’s interpretation and redesign of the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh. It is designed to be played using Third Level Player Characters, ideally members of the Wolfguard, newly appointed, prepared for exile and a new life in the frigid north. The roles within the Wolfguard map onto Classes of Old School Essentials and other retroclone. As record keepers for the Wolfguard, Chroniclers are Acrobats and Bards; Priests provide spiritual and healing needs as Clerics and Druids; Rooks are its frontlines warriors and are Barbarians, Dwarves, Fighters, Knights, and Paladins; Striders are its spies and scouts, so are acrobats, Assassins, half-Orcs, Rangers, and Thieves; and Warlocks deal with arcane magic and thus are Elves, Illusionists, and Wizards. The Wolfguard also has its own headquarters, the Faraway Den, roughly a day’s ride from Ysvindur, a keep carved out of the mountainside and featuring an armoury, a thermal pool, infirmary, and temple. Fully mapped and detailed, the Faraway Den is relatively small, capable of housing only twelve members, which also indicates the maximum size of the Wolfguard. Also housed in the Faraway Den’s temple is its ‘Syare’. This is an arcane orb, part of a network which enables magical and instant communication between the sites where they are installed. Essentially, think of the Palantir devices from The Lord of the Rings. It enables the Wolfguard to maintain contact with the Legate through his Syare in Ysvindur and even with Emperor Egon Kruvaja XII, far to the south, via the Sovereign Syare housed in the Imperial Palace.

If the Game Master does decide to use the Wolfguard as her Player Character organisation—which feels similar to that of the Night’s Watch from A Game of Thrones, one of its great features—and that of Tales of the Wolfguard—is the capacity for the Faraway Den and the Player Characters to attune to each other. This is done by the players investing their characters’ Experience Points in the Faraway Den itself. Invest enough Experience Points and it unlocks a feature. For example, for nine hundred Experience Points, the orb lights in the Faraway Den will turn red whenever someone with evil intent enters Windswept Pass that leads to the Wolfguard’s base of operations. There are a total of fourteen upgrades, some of which grant Reaction bonuses with certain groups or enable the keep’s thermal pool to restore an energy drain caused by the undead once a month, and they let the Player Characters make the Faraway Den their home and collectively personalise it. This echoes the community building rules to be found in Free League Publishing titles such as Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, and are more than welcome here.

The setting for Tales of the Wolfguard, Blizzard Vale, is described in a mix of broad and thumbnail detail, the latter typically focusing on particular locations and points of interest across the valley. Ysvindur lies partially dug into a mountain, its notable buildings beside the Legate’s palace include House of Pleasures where the Last Stand is popular gambling game (its rules also included) and Kastran’s Bric-à-Brac, from the Dwarf owner sells all manner of things, including potions and even magical items. Local traditions and typical dishes, like elk jerky (dried with a blend of spices and perfect for long journeys through the Blizzard Vale) and the hearty frostberry stew, add flavour and feel. There are secrets too, including threats that belie the reputation of the Blizzard Vale as a sleepy backwater. One of them is a sect of assassins and criminals known as the Scorpion Milk, and although Tales of the Wolfguard does not actually tell the Game Master what the sect’s aim is in and around Ysvindur, it does provide a random table of its possible actions as it works to destabilise the region and take advantage of it. This is one of the features of Tales of the Wolfguard, tables that provide hooks and details.

A more obvious threat—according to some in Ysvindur—are the Barbarian Elves. This attitude dates back to the Empire’s first encounters with the Elves of the Blizzard Vale and the rumours of demihuman and human sacrifice. The Legate, Lord Rathlas, believes them to be a threat. Of course, the situation is not quite as simple and the Player Characters have the chance to interest with the Elves from the moments they arrive in the Blizzard Vale and again on a regular basis at the Barbarian Market held each month by the Elf leader, Byrde of the Ice Gaze, outside the walls of Ysvindur. This is where the merchants who come from the south can purchase the exotic goods that can be sold elsewhere in the Empire. A table of such goods is given too, and include the foul-smelling ‘Ice Grease’ which is very effective against the cold, and ‘Tnar’, a board game played by the Elves. Tales of the Wolfguard also gives the rules for the board game too along with a full sized board. The game is simplistic, but getting a player and his character to play against an NPC would add a certain verisimilitude.

Other secrets include a race of birdmen and a set of ancient ruins. The former, the Ikaryas, reside in mystical seclusion atop the mountains, their existence is either completely ignored or regarded as nothing more than myths. The latter consists of a shattered tower that was once the home of a dark sorceress known as the Winter Crone. Although the tower itself is not mapped out or detailed, several mini-dungeons are described, including caves, temples, libraries, and more, their entrances strewn across the ruins that litter the small valley where the Winter’s Crone tower stands. Their exact locations are not mapped out, but instead triggered by the rolls on the encounter table. The dungeons themselves—each generated by Watabou’s One Page Dungeon [https://itch.io/profile/watabou]—are briefly described and the Game Master may want to flesh them out some more. Similarly, the Ikaryas have their own set of encounters.

The Game Master is further supported by stats for all of the various monsters and NPCs, a table of legends and rumours that the Game Master can use to develop her own encounters, and a ‘Quest Plot Generator’, a set of tables which determines a quest or scenario’s setting and theme, villain and his motivation, possible reward for the Player Characters, the scenario starting point, twist, and climax. Lastly, Tales of the Wolfguard includes an introductory adventure which assumes that the Player Characters are members of the Wolfguard. It begins at the entrance to Windswept Pass which leads up to the Faraway Den and sees them investigate the disappearance of the former garrison there and involves Elf Barbarians and a dark villain. The scenario mentions the villain only by name, the intention being to have the Game Master develop this herself.

In addition, Tales of the Wolfguard comes with six pre-generated Player Characters, each with a reason to join the Wolfguard. Not all of them are pleasant. They also all have magical weapons. That said, if there is anything actually missing from the pages of Tales of the Wolfguard, it is a table of reasons to join the Wolfguard should the players want to create their own characters. There is even a mini-soundtrack to play during the running of the scenario.

Physically, Tales of the Wolfguard is well presented and the layout clean and tidy. The artwork is decent and the cartography good.

Tales of the Wolfguard comes with lots of playable content and room for both the players and their characters to make their mark on the Blizzard Vale and the Game Master to develop further material. This can be her own content or it can be inspired or drawn from the many prompts and hooks to be found in the pages of Tales of the Wolfguard. This is by design, as beyond the starting scenario and initial setting content, the Game Master is expected to develop further material. That can also apply to some of the existing content, such as the dungeons, which do require further fleshing out. Overall, Tales of the Wolfguard is a good combination of hexcrawl, hexcrawl toolkit, atmospherically frigid setting, and hooks for the Game Master’s imagination. It would be great to see some further content released for Tales of the Wolfguard, but in the meantime, the Game Master has everything she needs to make it her own.

Stacking the Odds

The Job: A Game of Glorious Heists & Everything That Can Wrong In Them is a storytelling roleplaying game from an unexpected source—Games Omnivorous. The publisher is better known for its horror scenarios such as Cabin Risotto Fever and Eat the Rich, its systems neutral supplements such as Bottled Sea and its Old School Renaissance-style releases such as the Isle of Ixx and Frontier Scum: A Game About Wanted Outlaws Making Their Mark on a Lost Frontier. It is specifically designed for one-shot sessions in which the players take the role of a gang of expert thieves, who will plan and execute a heist or robbery, and overcome the obstacles that they as players build into the story as part of their characters’ planning for the ‘job’. This is a roleplaying game inspired not just by great films such as Ocean’s Eleven, The Italian Job, Logan Lucky, and Baby Driver, but also roleplaying games such as Leverage, Dread, and Fiasco. Perhaps the only entries missing from this bibliography are Reservoir Dogs and Rififi, but otherwise this is a solid bibliography and nice to see the author acknowledge his inspirations.
The Job: A Game of Glorious Heists & Everything That Can Wrong In Them is about stealing expensive jewels, priceless artworks, and world-famous artefacts and it is played in two parts, the Preparation Phase and the Action Phase, with between three and five players taking the roles of archetypes classic to the genre. To play, The Job requires a handful of six-sided dice and pen and paper. In the Preparation Phase, the players will plan the heist and set up scenes that they want to see played out in the Action Phase, stacking the heist against their characters as they add complications, describe locations, and build the world in which the heist is going to take place. In the Action Phase, the players will resolve the heist attempt, using their characters’ stunts to overcome complications, push the story forward, and to give each character time to shine. The Action Phase is played using a stack of six-sided dice which represents the pressure or tension in the heist attempt, with tension relieved by removing dice and ratcheted up by adding dice. When this stack falls, it is reset and thus the tension in the game begins again at zero, but after the first dice stack has fallen, more dice are added on the second and third rebuilds of the dice stack. If the third dice stack falls or is knocked over, the game ends as the heist fails and the Crewmembers suffer the consequences. If the third dice stack does not fall and the players complete all of the scenes they have created, the game ends with their characters being successful and getting away with the loot.

The start of The Job consists of the players picking an archetype, each one recognisable from the heist genre. These consist of the Animal Handler, Boss, Bruiser, Con Artist, Genius, Greaseman, Pickpocket, and Wheelman. A Crewmember does not have any stats in The Job, but the capacity to hold four items in his Inventory and four Stunts. Items are added to a Crewmember’s Inventory as necessary, but once a Crewmember has four items, he can carry no more and they cannot be changed. Which can mean that find himself in a situation where none of his equipment is going to help him. In general, Stunts give an Advantage for the character as well as special actions. For example, the Pickpocket has the Stunts of ‘Pickpocketing’, ‘Steal the Stack’, ‘Safecracking’, and ‘Magic Tricks’. ‘Pickpocketing’ gives him Advantage when stealing small objects and ‘Safecracking’ Advantage with delicate tasks such as picking locks, setting detonators, and the like. ‘Steal the Stack’ lets him steal a die from the dice Stack once during the Action Phase and ‘Magic Tricks’ actually gives him a magic trick, from close up magic to big stage events, and roll with Advantage. The four Inventory slots remain empty until the player decides he needs an item of equipment.

Once each player has decided upon the archetype he wants to play, the Referee presents them with the Brief. This gives the Crewmembers an object to steal, a budget to spend whilst conducting the heist, and six Complications. The Budget is spent during the Heist to equip a Crewmember with an item which will help him complete the Heist. The six Complications have to be added to the twelve Scenes that the players will create during the Preparation Phase. Depending on the Brief, they can be reinforced doors, laser sensors, guard dogs, and so on. The Complications are essentially the key points upon which the players will build and describe the scenes for their characters’ heists, their purpose being not to impede the heist or make it easier, but provide moments where the Crewmembers can shine as they do cool things to overcome the problem. All together these scenes will number exactly twelve—no more, no less, and consist of Infiltration, Deployment, Execution, and Escape scenes. When played out, they must be played in the order as written, and unlike other heist-themed roleplaying games, there are no flashbacks involved. What this means is that The Job is much more like a film heist rather than like that depicted on Leverage. The whole process for the Preparation Phase is collaborative, both between the players and between the players and the Referee, whose job it is make suggestions and adjudicate the players’ ideas in order to help fit the style of the heist. The Preparation Phase will appeal to players who like to plan.

The Action Phase begins with some set-up scenes. This is a chance for the players to narrate a pre-heist scene that establishes their character and gets them involved in the opening moves of the heist. This can include practicing manoeuvres and dummy runs, making a reconnaissance of the routine at the target of the heist, hacking into the building to make getting in later that much easier, getting hired as staff to get access to the building, and even stealing a particular item of equipment that will make the heist easier. None of this requires dice rolls, but it can generate Heat. For each set-up scene that generates Heat, the Referee adds a single die to the Dice Stack. This is a tower of dice, one on top of each other, which will be added to over the course of the Action Phase as the Crewmembers suffer setbacks, while certain Stunts can actually remove dice. For example, the Bruiser’s ‘Happy Birthday, Punk’ Stunt lets his player blow on the Dice Stack in an attempt to knock dice off.

Then the Action Phase proper begins. The Referee and the Referee work through the scenes one by one, resolving them in order. Whenever a Crewmember does anything risky, the Referee can call for a dice roll. Mechanically, The Job is very much like Powered by the Apocalypse. A player rolls two six-sided dice. If the result is six or less, the action fails, the player has to use an alternative method, and dice are added to the Dice Stack. On a result of seven or eight, the action is successful, but the player must either decide to add more dice to the Dice Stack or accept a Setback. A Setback is a complication which will come back to cause problems in subsequent scenes. If the result is ten or more, the action succeeds and the player gets to remove a die from the Dice Stack. If a Crewmember has an appropriate item of equipment or Stunt, his player can roll with Advantage, that is, roll three six-sided dice and ignore the worst result, but if the situation has adverse conditions or a Setback comes into play, the player rolls at a Disadvantage, that is, roll three six-sided dice and ignore the best result.

Play continues like this until either the third Dice Stack falls or all twelve Scenes are successfully narrated and roleplayed out. In the case of the latter, the Heist is successful and very player gets a final scene in which to narrate what happens to their Crewmember. However, if the third Dice Stack is knocked over, the Heist is unsuccessful, and the character of the player who knocked it over is caught. Everyone else is given one minute to write down what they do in response and which one of the other Crewmembers they involve. The notes are revealed and one player is designated to act as spokesman to narrate what happens based on the notes. If there are inconsistencies in the narration, the Referee can actually send a Crewmember to gaol! This, though, puts a lot of pressure on that one player not to screw the narration up and is at odds with the flow of the rest of the game where the players and their Crewmembers work together throughout both the Preparation Phase and the Action Phase.

To help her run The Job, it comes with an example Brief and its twelve Scenes all written out, an example play, solid advice for the Referee, and five sample Briefs, complete with Objects to steal and a Location to steal them from, as well as a Budget and a set of six complications. They include stealing cash from Madison Square Gardens, the Imperial State Crown from the Tower of London, a triceratops skull from the Natural History museum in London, Michelangelo’s David from a Scottish castle, and a prisoner from an unspecified high security prison. This in addition to the worked examples that the Referee can easily adapt to her own crew of players. Overall, these provide plenty of variety in terms of settings, objectives, and complications. There are notes too, on using The Job with other roleplaying games and even the Old School Renaissance.

Physically, The Job is incredibly eye-catching. The graphical style echoes that of Saul Bass and the film posters of the sixties and seventies, with use of stark blocks of colour and black and white images, giving the book a sense of energy and drama.

The Job: A Game of Glorious Heists & Everything That Can Wrong In Them is a neatly self-contained roleplaying game that is pleasingly portable, easy to learn, and engagingly familiar in its genre. It combines dramatic storytelling possibilities with the tension of a towering Dice Stack, but without going the full Jenga.

A Wingless Butterfly

The Mariposa Affair is a scenario for Traveller. It takes place on the balkanised world of Ruie in the Aramis Subsector of the Spinward Marches Sector and continues a storyline begun in Manticore and sees the Player Characters hired to investigate a threat the Third Imperium, one that threatens interstellar war. It ideally requires the Player Characters to have basic training in both weapons and various technical skills, and ideally, a starship. 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 The Mariposa Affair are straightforward enough that running it using Traveller, Classic Traveller, or Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition are all easy enough to do.

The Mariposa Affair 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, and a sequel to Manticore. It begins with the Player Characters on Regina in the Regina subsector in the Spinward Marches Sector, with the sudden interdiction of the planet. This is with good reason—Emperor Strephon Aella Alkhalikoi! is paying Regina a state visit. Then, the Player Characters get an invitation to the state banquet by lottery. This automatically throws them into the spotlight and then again, when a disastrous incident occurs. This is the assassination of the Emperor himself—in 1106 rather than a decade later in 1116—an event which propels the Player Characters back into the service of Duke Norris once again. He reveals that it was not the Emperor who killed, but a clone. Not though a sanctioned clone, designed to stand in for the Emperor, as revealed a few years after his ‘assassination’ at the hands of Archduke Dulinor. He wants them to travel to the neighbouring world of Ruie, which lies just on the other side of the Imperial border and there locate the laboratory and outpost where this clone was created.
The scenario proceeds apace in straightforward fashion, but the plotting is distinctly underwhelming. The Player Characters’ contact is also targeted by an assassination attempt, but no matter what the outcome of the assassination attempt, the clues point to a worked out mine on a nearby continent. Once there, they sneak into the mine, break into the secret laboratory, and destroy it. And that really is it... Effectively, The Mariposa Affair is a dungeon crawl, with seemingly innumerable checks for traps in the mine. In fact, the most interesting aspect of the scenario is the Library Data included at the back. Besides the Library Data, the scenario includes details of the world of Ruie and the Regina Subsector.
There has long been a tradition of writing scenarios based around major events in the canon of roleplaying settings. In the case of The Mariposa Affair, it is the causes behind and instigation of, the Fifth Frontier War. Unfortunately, The Mariposa Affair does not let the Player Characters discover those causes or affect their revelation. Instead, all that is handled by Duke Norris and his staff off-screen whilst the Player Characters are simply dealing with the one aspect of it. So it undermines their agency and the storytelling potential of the plot of both The Mariposa Affair and the other parts of its trilogy. Another issue is that the scenario does not really explore the consequences of what it sets up in any depth. That is, the assassination of a clone of the Emperor and a conspiracy to undermine the Third Imperium. It hints at the possibilities, but never really explores them. 
Physically, The Mariposa Affair is cleanly and tidily presented. The maps are decent enough, but layout grates on the eyes where the skills are laid out in bold. These really should have been separated from the paragraphs so that they do not just look like blocks of black text. The illustrations are nicely chosen.

Although it is better organised and written than the previous scenarios in the trilogy, The Mariposa Affair brings the trilogy to a distinctly underwhelming close. It feels as it should have been a bigger affair with more secrets to be revealed and more interesting things for the Player Characters to do, whereas all that it currently does is let them creep round the edges in a ‘dungeoncrawl’ type scenario whilst someone else makes all of the discoveries. Ultimately there are some interesting storytelling and plot possibilities to be found in The Mariposa Affair and the other scenarios in its trilogy—of which Manticore is the best—but they are simply not developed enough to be intersting.

Friday Fantasy: The Lost Universe

Exlaris was once a peaceful world where Dark Elves, Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Halflings, and Tieflings lived in harmony. Above all, these different peoples valued knowledge and scholars, wizards, and sorcerers were widely revered. They learned to harness the energy of the vacuum surrounding their planet, and they continued to grow and prosper, until The Breaking when Exlaris, along with its moon, was literally broken out of its orbit by too close an encounter with a Black Hole. Chaos erupted across the world as perpetual darkness fell and the heat from Exlaris’ sun was lost. In response, an archmage brought together a team of scholars and wizards who wove magics together that created a shield that surrounded the planet. This had two effects. First, it protected the rogue planet from the dangers of space travel and second, it maintained its atmosphere. This was magic so powerful it was kept secret lest it fall into the wrong hands. The energy drawn from the vacuum was harnessed to power lamps, both to light cities and heat the fields so that the farmers could continue to grow food. In the four centuries since, the peoples of Exlaris elevated the studious to positions of power and followed a tradition of making information freely available. Five major cities, all connected by a teleportation network, have specialised in the study of various sciences, but study of the cosmos is paramount. More recently, this has included making contact with the Earth in secret via the Hubble Space Telescope in order to learn about the world and its knowledge. Yet something has gone wrong in that contact and the Hubble Space Telescope has not only gone missing, it is as it never was… It is going to take a team of dedicated scientists and engineers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, mysteriously flung from the Earth onto Exlaris, to adventure on what is to them a whole new world in order to discover what has happened to the missing telescope!

This is the set-up for The Lost Universe, a scenario published by the last organisation you would be expecting to write and release a roleplaying scenario—NASA! It is designed to be played by a party of between four and seven Player Characters of between Seventh and Tenth Levels and is easily adaptable to the roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice, the most obvious being Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. It is intended to be played in a single session and designed around certain scientific principles. These include the ‘Energy of the Vacuum’, ‘Gravitational Lensing’, and ‘Red shifts/blue shifts’. These, as well as details of the Hubble Space Telescope and its Control Centre, are covered in several appendices at the back of the adventure, adding depth and detail to the scientific basis for the scenario.

Although the Player Characters are actually scientists and engineers from the Goddard Space Flight Center, what the players actually roleplay are characters native to Exlaris. These are typical adventurers found in Dungeons & Dragons into whose bodies, the minds of the engineers and scientists are suddenly cast, effectively tripling the strangeness of their situation. Not only do they have to get used to whole new world and a rogue planet cast into darkness at that, but they also have to adjust to new bodies and the sometimes strange and wondrous abilities that these bodies have, whether that is being able to wield a sword effectively or cast spells straight out of fantasy fiction. This aspect is not played up in the scenario, but rather the characters intrinsically know what they and their new host bodies can do, so there is no great sense of discovery there. That said, the Game Master could expand this aspect of the scenario if she wanted to. The Player Characters arrive at a transport hub for the teleportation portals between the planet’s major cities, and will quickly learn that they are in the city of Aldastron and that the city has been beset by a rash of disappearances powerful researchers in the last few weeks, which the city guard thinks were successful kidnap attempts. No one has yet claimed responsibility and tensions in the city are rising as a consequence. The Player Characters have a couple of avenues of investigation here. They can either approach the city guard, get introduced to a fixer in the city’s criminal underworld, or both. Of course, neither the fixer or the city guard have any love for each other and dealing with leads to some tension. Whomever they deal with, it quickly becomes apparent that people of Exlaris are aware of Earth and have a good idea that the Player Characters are from there, before they are directed to visit the city’s observatory.

At the observatory, the Player Characters are able to find out more information, including how they got to Exlaris and the fact that the Hubble Space Telescope is missing. Part of the explanation involves the scientific work that the Hubble Space Telescope was being used for and the Player Characters will learn something about this too. They can even find some notes related to the observatory’s study of the Hubble Space Telescope, its origins, and what it is being used for, these being provided as scientific handouts in the appendices. The clues point to Mokhsana, the former capital city of Exlaris.

If the play of The Lost Universe began with roleplaying in the city and continued with research at the observatory, the third shifts to Mokhsana, a city in the dark, and exploration and puzzles. The latter are tied to the scientific principles underlying the scenario, so there is an element of informing and educating to The Lost Universe. This should be no surprise since that is part of NASA’s remit, but here the players get to use that knowledge in practical, if literally fantastical, fashion as well. The scenario quickly comes to close with a confrontation with the villain responsible for the disappearances and a successful conclusion to the Player Characters’ investigation.

There are however, three things that The Lost Universe either does not include or includes only very lightly. It does not include a set of pre-generated Player Characters or stats for any NPCs or monsters, whilst its inclusion of rules and mechanics is very light, though what mechanical detail that is given definitely indicates a Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying game. This is all by design, because it means that the scenario is not tied to a specific rules system and NASA is not seen as favouring one particular Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying game over another. So, The Lost Universe can be played using Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, Old School Essentials, or Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay, with the Game Master providing the mechanical details of the rules and the monster stats, as necessary. The absence of pre-generated Player Characters means that the players can create their own characters or the Game Master can create her own. That said, whilst all this does make the scenario easily adaptable to the roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice, it actually increases the amount of preparation work she has to undertake before running the scenario.

Behind the eye-catching cover, The Lost Universe is cleanly and tidily laid out. It does need a slight edit, and bar photographs and technical drawings taken from NASA’s extensive library of images, it is very lightly illustrated. This has two consequences. First, the majority of the images are at the back of the scenario, and secondly, the scientific and historical details of the science behind The Lost Universe, are far better illustrated than the scenario’s fantasy elements. This is understandable though, given NASA’s prominent role in space sciences and the scientific basis for the scenario, but it does leave the Game Master without anything to take inspiration from visually when describing the world of Exlaris. A map of Aldastron and its surrounds is included, but not of any one particular location. The advice for the Game Master is decent throughout and the roleplaying advice on portraying each of the scenario’s NPCs is very good.

It is an odd day when NASA—yes, NASA!—writes and publishes a roleplaying scenario. Not just a roleplaying scenario, but a fantasy one rather than a Science Fiction one! Of course, that fantasy is used as a vehicle to teach the players about the research being conducted via the Hubble Space Telescope, so in comparison to other fantasy roleplaying scenarios that is likely to feel heavy-handed because it is not something they are designed to do. Nevertheless, The Lost Universe is a solid scenario, good for a one-shot, but with a setting that is intriguing enough for a return visit or a sourcebook of its very own.

Friday Filler: Let’s Call the Exorcist

It is always bad when dad brings his work home with him. It is doubly bad when dad is an archaeologist and brings home a collection of rare artefacts from his latest excavation, some of which happen to be cursed. Not only cursed, but possessed by demons. Now, those demons have taken advantage of their situation to find whole new homes for themselves by possessing some of the children. Fortunately, mum has telephoned her friendly local exorcist and he has come round right away. Unfortunately, demons are clever, so neither mum nor the priest can tell which of the children is possessed and which of the children is not. The priest does know that if he can identify which of the artefacts carried the demons into the house, but they are scattered round the house. So, he has set up a scavenger hunt that all of the children can participate in, the aim being to find the right artefacts and dispel the demons! The downside to this is that the demon-possessed children are going to try and stop the priest and the innocent children. This is the set-up for Let’s Call the Exorcist, a hidden role and social deduction game whose theme and art is based on the work of graphic designer, Steven Rhodes, whose work parodies the children’s books of seventies and pokes a sly snook at the social attitudes of the period.

Let’s Call the Exorcist is published by Cryptozoic Entertainment and is designed to be played by between four and eight players, aged fourteen and up. The game is played over the course of several rounds in which the Innocent players attempt uncover the Holy Artefacts and the Possessed players try to find the Cursed Artefacts. Doing so will score points for the side that does so, whilst Blessings will score points for individual players. Mischiefs will disrupt and change the state of the game, sometimes to a player’s advantage, sometimes not. The first person to score seven points at the end of a round is the winner. A game can be played through in roughly thirty minutes.

Let’s Call the Exorcist consists of eight Role tiles, forty-three cards, and forty-five point tokens, plus a ten-page rule book. The Role tiles are divided between Innocent and Possessed, with there being more Innocent than Possessed. The cards are divided into four types—Holy Artefacts, Cursed Artefacts, Mischiefs, and Blessings. All four card types have instructions on them which come into play when they revealed. For example, the Holy Artifact, ‘The Blessed Prepuce’, lets the Chosen player peek at all of his remaining cards in play if it is the first Holy Artefact to be revealed; the Cursed Artefact, the ‘Disenchanted Mirror’ enables the Chosen and the Seeker at look at each other’s Roles; the ‘Consecration’ Blessing gives a point to both the Seeker and the Chosen; and the Mischief, ‘Is That You, Satan?’, forces the Seeker and the Chosen to shuffle their Roles together and deal back out randomly, but lets the Chosen take a peek at one of the Roles, either his own or the that of the Seeker. In general, Blessings will alter the number of points a player has, whilst Mischiefs allow a player to peek at Roles, change who will be Seeker next, or restrict who will be Seeker next.

Let’s Call the Exorcist is played out over a series of rounds, each of which consists of several deals. Each set up for the game and a deal varies according to the number of players. The more players there are, the more cards of each type in play, but no matter whether there are four players or eight, the number of Innocents always outnumbers the Possessed and the number of Holy Artefacts always outnumbers the Cursed Artefacts. Each player receives a random Role tile which is placed down in front of him. He can look at this Role tile when he is given it, but he cannot do so again unless a Mischief card instructs him to do so. Once the deck has been sorted and shuffled—this is the most complex part of play—it is dealt out to the players. Each player is free to look at his hand of cards and describe what they are as much as he wants, and can tell the truth about his cards or lie, but then shuffles the hand and places its cards face down in front of him. Then play begins. This switches back and forth between two roles, the Seeker and the Chosen. The Seeker selects a player, who becomes the Chosen, and any card in front of the Chosen. This card is turned over, and its instructions followed. Once this has been done, the Chosen becomes the next Seeker and can select another player to become the next Chosen. The resolved card goes into the middle of the table. Blessings and Mischiefs go out of play, whilst the Holy Artifacts and Cursed Artifacts add to a running total. Play continues back and forth until a total number of cards equal to the number of players have been revealed. This ends the deal.

To start a new deal, all of the face down cards are collected, shuffled, and dealt back out to the players as before, but this time with one fewer card each. Play then proceeds back and forth between the Seeker and Chosen roles until a total number of cards equal to the number of players have again been revealed. In this way, a maximum of four deals can be played per round, each deal reducing the number of cards a player has to reveal. The round ends when either the last Holy Artefact or the last Cursed Artefact is revealed. At this point, everyone reveals their Role tiles and the side that managed to reveal all of their Artefacts—Holy Artefacts for the Innocent and Unholy Artifacts for the Possessed—wins the round the points. A new round is begun and play continues until a player has scored seven points by the end of the round and thus won the game.

Let’s Call the Exorcist differs from other social deduction games in a number of ways. The most important being that a player’s Role can change from one round to the next. Consequently, there is no successfully deducing a player’s Role in one round and then excluding them from taking action in subsequent rounds. The point of the game is not to win because of the Role a player throughout the game, but adapt to the Role the player has during a round. However, a Role can also change within a round, so a player who begins a round as an Innocent and wants Holy Artefacts revealed in order to win the round, may end up being a Possessed who should instead be attempting to reveal Cursed Artefacts to win. Unfortunately, although a player will know when his Role tile has been changed, he will not know if it has actually been changed. So, he needs to find a way to peek at his own Role tile to find out which side he is now on. Effectively, not only is a player trying to work out what side his fellow players are on, but also potentially, what side he is on. In addition, a player only knows what cards he has in play at the beginning of a deal and again, that can change during play. Although it is possible to keep an approximate track of Roles and cards to a certain extent, the high possibility of changes in both cards and Roles adds a random factor and limits both a player’s knowledge and reliance on deducing other Roles.

The other factor that changes Let’s Call the Exorcist from other social deduction games are the cards and their cards which constantly change play. These also mean that there is always something happening throughout a deal. In addition, the cards are actually fun and reference a wide number of films. For example, the ‘Book of the Mostly Dead’ rather than the Book of the Dead from Evil Dead; ‘That One Ring’ rather than the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings; ‘The Ark of the Coveted’ rather than ‘The Ark of the Covenant’ from Raiders of the Lost Ark; and let’s not forget ‘The Blessed Prepuce’.

Physically, Let’s Call the Exorcist is decently presented. The rulebook is short and easy to read, and includes an example of play as well as explanations of what the various cards do. The artwork, with its bright, bold colours, is excellent, Steve Rhodes’ illustrations are sly and subversive, throwing the card game’s children into a very jolly version of The Exorcist.

The combination of horror and children in Let’s Call the Exorcist is not going to be to everyone’s taste. Others, though, will find it to be a lot of fun, and Let’s Call the Exorcist is fun. Fun and silly and ever so slightly tongue in cheek, Let’s Call the Exorcist is an antidote to all of those other po-faced social deduction games.

Miskatonic Monday #267: Flash Cthulhu – Fair Porcine Prize

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: Flash Cthulhu – Fair Porcine PrizePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michael Reid

Setting: Dark Ages EnglandProduct: One-Location, One-Hour Scenario for Cthulhu Dark Ages
What You Get: Eight page, 2.02 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Harvest horror as a horrid hog hogs it all.Plot Hook: A missing pig means everyone is slop!Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, one Mythos TomeTale, one Mythos spell, and one Mythos pig.Production Values: Plain
Pros# Some pigs are destined for bigger things. Are the Investigators?# Mini-scenario for Cthulhu Dark Ages # Short, sharp, encounter# Easy to slot into a campaign or between scenarios# Easy to adapt to other times and settings# Potential convention mini-scenario# Mysopobia# Phagophobia# Swinophobia
Cons# Needs a slight edit# No village map
Conclusion# “That’ll do, Pig. That’ll do.” NO! It damned well, won’t do!# Short, strange swinishly scarey encounter that is easy to use no matter the time and setting

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