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

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

—oOo—
Name: The HeatPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michał Pietrzak

Setting: Jazz Age KingsportProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Eighteen page, 729.45 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The family that feuds spreads its love as Kingsport heats up...Plot Hook: Frayed tempers seem strange in a happy family, could it be the heatwave?
Plot Support: Staging advice, three handouts, seven NPCs, one floorplan, two Mythos monsters, three new spells, and one Mythos tome. Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros# One night one-shot# Straightforward investigation# Potential Lovecraft Country campaign starter# Low key, Mythos-infused twist upon Greek myth# Underplayed introduction to the Mythos# Interesting options given for scenario’s end# Sympathetically portrayed villain
Cons# Needs a good edit# Backstory remains hidden, so hides the more subtle horror# Straightforward investigation# Big clue on the front page!# Options given for scenario’s end incomplete
Conclusion# Short, but direct investigative one-shot which could work as a Lovecraft Country campaign starter# Horrifying Mythos-infused twist upon Greek myth that needs development in places, but still works despite that.

Under the guidance and protection of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Karl-Franz I, the Glorious Empire is a bountiful bastion of civilisation and order, together with its faith in the great gods Sigmar and Ulric, a redoubtable fortress against its many enemies and the forces of Chaos that threaten it from without. Great armies of Orcs, Goblins, and worse—Chaos Warriors, Beastmen, Mutants, and Daemons. Yet there are dangers from within too. Bickering nobles, fumbling and feuding for power and influence undermine both defences and resolve of the greatest and most powerful nation in the Old World, pirates who prey on the shipping of the empire’s mighty rivers and bandits who pick at the weary traveller on its network or roads that bisect the deep swathes of forest, and worse. Numerous cults hide in the shadows, some appearing to be no more than excuses for frowned upon frivolity and debauchery, but all too many dedicated to the Ruinous Powers, those dark gods from which the Winds of Magic do blow and threaten to corrupt the unwary and the ambitious, even as they are studied and harnessed by the Colleges of Magic. The practices and beliefs of such cult threaten mind, body, and soul of the members, twisting them, mutating them, and driving them to spread the reach of Chaos until the Witchfinders act, burn them out and put them to the sword, before covering their activities up. Meanwhile, the citizens labour for themselves and their families and pay their taxes to the Empire for protection by day, drink and gamble and gossip as agitators cry out for better life and the overthrow of some noble or other (or even the Emperor himself—what heresy!) if they can by evening, before retiring to behind closed doors by night, fearful of what stalks the forests, what lies in the village over yonder, what curse a witch may lay upon them, and what Beastmen might catch them unwary on the morrow, rip them limb from limb—or worse! Yet there are some who see there is more to life than mere drudgery. They may never be nobles, but they might make coin enough to get by, they might make a difference in driving off monsters and mutants even as the locals look at them in fear and wonderment, and they might just help keep the Empire safe!

This is the Empire and the Old World, the setting for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. The publication of its fourth edition by Cubicle Seven Entertainment is a reminder that once upon a time, Games Workshop published roleplaying games. Chief amongst these was of course Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which even thirty years on, remains the definitive British roleplaying game. Its mix of fantasy, European history—the Holy Roman Empire in particular, Moorcockian cosmology, humour, grim and perilous feel, disease and damnation, and mud and shit underfoot, very much set it apart from the fantasy found in other roleplaying games of the time—and arguably since. Perhaps the best expression of those elements is not in the roleplaying game itself, but in what is arguably the greatest British roleplaying campaign ever published—The Enemy Within. Subsequently published by Hogshead Publishing, before returning to Games Workshop via Black Industries with a second edition designed by Green Ronin Publishing, and then by Fantasy Flight Games as a third edition which combined the roleplaying with physical elements such as cards and counters usually found in board games and so was not compatible with either the first or the second editions (although it was still playable as a roleplaying game). Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition shares the same setting as the previous editions, but mechanically draws from the first and second editions, remaining a relatively low, percentile driven set of mechanics, designed to do ‘grim and perilous’ roleplaying in a world of mud and blood, Chaos and fear, and desperation and danger. It is a roleplaying game in which minor nobles, dwarf slayers, witch hunters, ex-soldiers, merchants, road wardens, petty wizards, priests to Sigmar and Ulrich, and of course, rat catchers—plus little dog, hold back incursions by the forces of Chaos, run scams, uncover cults and conspiracies, and more, all in the face of intransigence and callousness upon the part of the ruling classes and the churches.

A Player Character in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition has a Species—Human (Reiklander), Halfling, Dwarf, High Elf, or Wood Elf; a Class—Academic, Burgher, Courtier, Peasant, Ranger, Riverfolk, Rogue, or Warrior; and Career, such as Nun, Watchman, Duellist, Hedge Witch, Pedlar, Wrecker, Grave Robber, or Warrior Priest. He has ten attributes—Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Initiative, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, Willpower, and Fellowship—expressed as percentages. His Fate and Fortune are linked together as destiny and his luck, and his Resilience is his inner strength and linked to grit through the ‘single word’ Motivation which drives him to act. Skills, both Basic and Advanced, as well as Talents are derived from the character’s Species and Career. Advanced skills are only available to those who have studied or practiced them and require at least one Advance in them to use. An Advance is an improvement of a skill by +1%, and these can be applied to skills and characteristics. Each Class and Career provides trappings and items of equipment. A Player Character also has Ambitions, short term and long. Fulfilling the former will grant an Experience Point bonus, whilst fulfilling the latter might reward an even larger Experience Point reward or even see the Player Character retire! Similarly, the Party of Player Characters will also have its own ambitions.

One notable facet of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is that of Careers and how Player Characters can advance through or even change them, and it is no different in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition. Each Career has four levels, presented on the same page, and when a Player Character wants to change Career, he either moves up to the next level of the Career he is in or a completely new one. It costs Experience Points to change a Career, more if the Career is in an entirely different Class. All of the Classes, Careers, Species, and so on, are nicely detailed, including the thoughts of the various Species on other Species and options for Species aspects such as ‘Animosity (Elves)’ for the Dwarfs, which let a player decide rather than adhere to a stereotype.

Character creation in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition—apart from attributes, which are all random—can be random or chosen by the player. If the former, extra Experience Points are awarded to the Player Character, for each stage the player decides to roll and keep the result. The last step process is answering questions about the character’s origins, family life and childhood, why he left home, best friends, greatest desire, and more. This can include adding Psychological Traits like Fear (Snakes), Frenzy, or Hatred (Slavers), primarily for roleplaying opportunities rather than mechanical benefits. The process is not particularly quick, if only because there is a fair amount of information to note down. In general, if rolled, the chances of roll up a non-Human Player Character is slim and certain Careers are unavailable to some Species. For example, the Priest is a Human-only Career, the are no Dwarf or Halfling Wizards, and of course, the Slayer is a Dwarf-only Career.

Sigfreda von Stark is the youngest daughter of House Stark, sister to several older brothers. Where her brothers were taught to fight, she was not allowed to, and her brothers made fun of her. She learned to give as good as she got, and this went from taunting to punches and she gave as good as she got. Forbidden to enlist in the army and despite being married (he avoids her for the black eye she gave him on their wedding night), she applies her muscle and underhand means of applying it to making a living without him or his annoying mother. What she can, she saves for training.

Name: Sigfreda von Stark
Species: Human (Reiklander)
Class: Warrior
Career: Protagonist
Motivation: Greed
Ambition: To beat the snot out of her brothers

Age: 22 Height: 5’ 6”
Eye Colour: Blue Hair Colour: Dark Brown

Weapon Skill 32 Ballistic Skill 33
Strength 38 Toughness 31
Initiative 33 Agility 34
Dexterity 34 Intelligence 35
Willpower 34 Fellowship 27

Wounds: 12
Fate: 3
Resilience: 3
Movement: 4

Skills: Athletics +5, Cool +5, Dodge +5, Endurance +5, Entertain (Taunt) +5, Evaluate +5, Gossip +5, Haggle +5, Intimidate +5, Language (Bretonnian) +3, Language (Wastelander) +3, Lore (Reikland) +3, Melee (Basic) +5, Melee (Brawling) +7
Talents: Acute Sense (Listen), Dirty Fighting, Noble Blood, Savvy, Sixth Sense, Warrior Born
Trappings: Mask, Clothing, Hand Weapon, Dagger, Pouch, Knuckledusters, Leather Jack

Mechanically, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition uses percentile dice. A Simple test is roll against an attribute or skill plus attribute. If the situation requires the Game Master and player to know how well his character did, he rolls a Dramatic Test. This is slightly more complex in that the ‘tens’ value on the dice roll is subtracted from the ‘tens’ value of the skill. This determines the Player Character’s Success Level, which can be positive or negative. The higher it is, the better the outcome, the lower—or more negative—it is, the worse the outcome. Opposed rolls generally compare Success Levels, the Player Character or NPC with more succeeding over the other.

For example, Sigfreda is a hired by a brewery to persuade the landlord of a rough, riverside tavern, Klatt’s Bier Haus, to pay his bills. Her player will roll Sigfreda’s Intimidate plus Strength (42%), which will be opposed by Klatt the landlord’s Cool plus Will Power (32). Sigfreda’s player rolls 23. Subtracting ‘tens’ value of the dice roll, or two, from the ‘tens’ value of the skill value gives two Success Levels. The Game Master rolls 63 for the landlord, which leaves him with minus three Success Levels. Without having to lay a hand on him, Sigfreda has reduced him to a quivering mess, and he quickly apologises, saying that it is not his fault because some local toughs have been taking nearly all takings in protection money. Sigfreda’s player spots an opportunity and asks how much Klatt the landlord would pay to get these toughs off his back…

Melee combat also uses opposed rolls—Weapon Skill versus Weapon Skill if parrying or the Dodge Skill if trying to get out of the way, whereas missile attacks, rolled on Ballistic Skill are Simple Tests. Success Levels not only determine if a Player Character manages to strike his opponent in combat, but also the amount of extra damage inflicted. Damage is determined by a combination of the Success Levels from the attack roll, the weapon, and the Strength Bonus, with armour and the target’s inherent Toughness counting against the incoming damage. If a double is rolled—eleven, twenty-two, thirty-three, and so on—then a critical hit has been made. This can be made when attacking or parrying, and it can even be made when an opponent has rolled more Success Levels than the character’s player. Thus, a character can lose an exchange of blows, but still inflict an effect. In addition, the combat mechanics in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition are designed to have a character build upon success, gaining Advantage when attacking an opponent who is surprised, charging into combat, defeating an important NPC, and so on, gaining a +10 bonus to combat actions each time. This is lost if a Player Character or NPC loses an opposed roll or suffers a wound, but is designed to give a Player Character an edge as he gains momentum in a fight. Both players and Game Master are expected to keep track of Advantage for both the Player Characters and NPCs, the suggestion being that tokens be used where everyone can see them.

Later that morning, the two toughs, Klaus and Karl, call in to take the day’s takings from Klatt’s Bier Haus. As Karl keeps an eye on the door, Sigfreda informs Klaus at the bar that the tavern’s takings are not available and that neither of them is welcome at the establishment. Unfortunately, Sigfreda fails to intimidate him like she did Klatt and Klaus steps in close and asks, “Says who?” “Me—and this mug” she responds and with that she slams the mug of beer into his face. Klaus is no fool and the Game Master gives him a chance of spotting the attack, but fails the Perception Test. Klaus now has the Surprised Condition, which grants Sigfreda a +20% bonus on the Melee (Brawling) Test for her attack. For this one attack, she has a 59% attack chance, opposed by Klaus’ Melee (Brawling) Test of 32%. Sigfreda’s player rolls 22%, which gives her three Success Levels and is a Critical Hit too. The Game Master rolls 98%, which minus six Success Levels! Sigfreda is using an improvised weapon, which means that she inflicts a base of her Strength Bonus (three) plus Success Levels (three) plus weapon base damage (one) plus her one level of Dirty Fighting (one), for a total of eight! In addition, Sigfreda has +1 Advantage.

Normally, the result of the Melee (Brawling) Test would be reversed to determine the location struck, which in this case would be Klaus’ left arm. However, the Critical Hit means it is randomly determined, which is a roll of the 05% and the head! Klaus’ Toughness Bonus of three means the thug suffers five Wounds. Plus, Sigfreda’s player rolls 32% on the Head Critical Wounds table. This means that Klaus suffers two more Wounds, which ignore armour and Toughness, and suffers the Stunned Condition. Until the Game Master can make a successful Endurance Test for Klaus, the thug cannot take an action and is at a penalty to all Tests. In addition, Sigfreda has +1 Advantage. At the end of the round, she is at +2 Advantage. As Klaus wavers, Karl grips his club and rushes towards Sigfreda as she slips her knuckledusters onto her hands.

Combat in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition is designed to have the Player Characters’ fortunes fluctuate back and forth across the battle, as well as encourage their players to be tactical in order to take and maintain Advantage. It covers not simple hand-to-hand melees, but also two-weapon fighting, mounted combat, movement, chases, pulling blows, and more. Damage is not just a case of inflicting as many Wounds as possible, but also Conditions which will be typically inflicted through Critical Wounds. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition has a table for each location, and the results are all brutal. Long time fans of the roleplaying game will be pleased to see the last entry for the Head Critical Wounds table: “Your head is entirely severed from your neck and soars through the air, landing 1d10 feet away in a random direction (see Scatter). Your body collapses, instantly dead.”

However, the Player Characters do have number of factors in their favour. First, they have Fate Points and Fortune Points. Fortune Points grant a Player Character a little luck and allow his player to reroll a failed Test, add a Success Level to a Dramatic Test after it is rolled, and to disregard Initiative order and have the character act when they want. Fate Points are spent to avoid death or completely avoid taking incoming damage. Second, they have Resilience Points and Resolve Points. Resilience Points grant immunity to a Psychological Trait or effect for a round, enable the Player Character to ignore all modifiers from all Critical Wounds for a round, or remove a Condition. Resilience Points are spent to prevent a Player Character from suffering a mutation due to Corruption or to select the result of a Test, which in combat can be right down to location and the Critical Wounds table. These do all give a Player Character an advantage, something to fall back on in an emergency, but mechanically, are four different types of points really necessary? It is cumbersome and difficult to remember what does what. Why not reduce the number of types and increase the costs of what they can do? (Of course, this increases the number of times a player can use the lesser benefit, but this is cumbersome still.)

In addition to suffering horrible, scarring wounds in bar fights, let alone on the battlefield, Player Characters can encounter Lesser Daemons, Mutants, Warpstone, Chaos worshippers and their temples, and worse, let alone suffering despair, all of which can lead to them suffering Corruption and gaining Corruption Points. Corruption and gaining Corruption Points can even be gained for making a ‘Dark Deal’ with the Ruinous Power, the player choosing—and it is always the player’s choice in what is a Faustian Pact—this option when out of Fortune Points and really, really needing to reroll a failed Test. Except for Elves, which are only affected mentally, Corruption twists both body and mind. Corruption Points can be lost in a number of ways. Absolution, but that requires a great deed, such as cleansing a Chaos temple; accepting a Mutation, but has its own dangers, especially if the witchfinders find out; and listening to Dark Whispers. Again, this is the player’s choice, but in return for the Corruption Point, something bad will happen, such as a prisoner being allowed to escape, an ally being accidentally shot, or falling asleep on watch… Which is a delightful narrative mechanic with the Game Master literally leaning over the table and whispering into the player’s ear. Also covered are ailments, diseases, and infections—all of which are as unpleasant as you would expect, but not quite as much fun as the rules for Corruption.

A campaign of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition could entirely focus upon the adventures that the Player Characters have, but the rules do cover what they can do on their downtime as option. A Player Character is subject to random events, but he can simply spend money, train an animal, bank his treasure, consult an expert, craft an object, train, invention something, and more. There are potential endeavours for Species and Classes as well as general ones, but all together, they help the Player Characters’ develop and grow, and explore their lives away from the stresses of adventuring.

Religion and faith play important roles in The Empire and the Old World. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition presents numerous gods and cults in accessible fashion, the primary focus being Sigmar and his associated pantheon. There are lots of little details here that help bring their worship alive, most notably the various strictures for each deity which their most devout or Blessed worshippers follow, and which if violated, will earn them Sin Points. Gain too many and if the worshipper appeals to his god, then he may bring the Wrath of the Gods down upon his head. Careers such as Nun, Priest, and Warrior Priest, provide the Bless Talent enabling such Blessed to enact Blessings, whilst the Invoke Talent lets the Blessed call on their gods for the more powerful miracles. There are only a limited number of Blessings and Miracles per god, and then only for primary gods worshipped in The Empire. In comparison, the Chaos Gods are only given a cursory examination.

Magic is one of the most powerful aspects of the Old World, drawing as it does from the Winds of Magic which can only be seen by those who possess the Second Sight. Only Elves and Humans use magic, but where Elves can harness more than the one of the eight Winds of Magic, Humans rarely can, and often follow such a path to damnation and the influence of the Ruinous Powers. Accepted, but rarely trusted by the populace at large, magic is studied at the Colleges of Magic in Altdorf, the capital of The Empire, as eight different lores—The Lore of Light, The Lore of Metal, The Lore of Life, The Lore of Heavens, The Lore of Shadows, The Lore of Death, The Lore of Fire, and The Lore of Beasts. The Lore of Hedgecraft and the Lore of Witchcraft are also known, but not sanctioned by Colleges of Magic, and both are rarely practiced. Divided into Petty, Arcane, Lore, and Chaos spells, casting requires the Language (Magick) Skill for minor spells and the Channelling skill for major ones. It is possible to Overcast, extending the Range, Area of Effect, Duration, or number of Targets, though this requires a greater number of Success Levels when making the test, but a critical roll, whether a Critical success or a Fumble, the player’s caster has to roll on the miscast tables—the ‘Minor Miscast Table’ for lesser spells and the ‘Major Miscast Table’ for the more powerful spells. For example, ‘Unfasten’ on the former causes all belts, buckles, and laces undo, causing pouches to drop, armour to fall off, and trews fall down, whilst ‘Traitor’s Heart’ on the latter prompts the Dark Gods to entice the caster to commit horrendous perfidy. They will grant him all Fortune Points he has lost should he betray or attack a friend and a gift of one Fate Point if the caster causes a friend to lose a fate Point. Overall, the rules for magic and spell casting, are straightforward and easy to use, and they do cover the both the Lore of Hedgecraft and Lore of Witchcraft, as well as Dark Magic, the latter primarily for the Game Master’s NPCs.

On addition to some decent advice on running the game for the Game Master, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition includes a good guide to Reikland—though not the greater Empire, a timeline of The Empire, an extensive look at goods and crafting in ‘The Consumer’s Guide’, and a bestiary, complete with illustrations and an explanation of the bestial traits. It covers ordinary animals such as bears and boars, green-skinned hordes like Orcs, Goblins, and Snotlings, Daemons, Beastmen, Mutants, and a whole lot more. All good supporting material and all useful to running the roleplaying game, although ‘The Consumer’s Guide’ feels oddly placed so far back in the book. The bestiary is far from complete, but is certainly comprehensive enough for most starting campaigns. The one omission here is the lack of a scenario. Although there are several hooks given in the guide to Reikland, the omission feels even odder given that the last page of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition is an advert for scenario anthology Rough Nights & Hard Nights, which opens with, “Continue Your Adventures With…” which is really difficult to do if the core book does not provide the Game Master and her players that starting adventure to actually continue from!

Physically, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition is very well presented. The layout is clean and tidy, and from the start, the artwork is excellent, and the world of The Empire is very well illustrated throughout. There is initially an idyllic feel to The Empire in its depiction early in the book, shifting to a grimmer and grimier feel later on. Throughout, the writing is good, although it could have benefited from more fulsome examples in places to really to get a feel for the flow of the game.

Long-time fans of this roleplaying game will pick up Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition and feel very much at home with its dingy, dangerous, and sometimes decadent depiction of the Old World and The Empire in particular, combined with often brutal and bruising mechanics. Though not quite as brutal and bruising as perhaps in previous iterations, with Player Characters having to access to Fate Points and Fortune Points, Resilience Points and Resolve Points, and then trying to achieve and maintain control of Advantage in combat. The addition of the four Hero Point types does feel like it is overegging the mechanics’ attempt to keep the Player Characters alive, but the addition of Corruption Points and Sin Points, and their use are entertaining narrative-focused additions. Despite these additions, newer players may find the sometimes-unforgiving mechanics too much and potentially be uncomfortable with the often-intolerant attitudes and politics that are part and parcel of the setting and always have been. Well then, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Editionis not their roleplaying game.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition is fantastic iteration of the classic British roleplaying game, returning grim and perilous roleplaying to where it started in the Old World. There is mud and blood to be trudged though, there is Chaos to be faced, there are cults to be looked into and smashed in disgust, and there are Beastmen to be hacked down, and by Sigmar’s hammer, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition is the right way to do it.

Beyond the great frontier lies the Lost Frontier, dominated by Covett City, a teeming, bloated city of exploited masses and stinking industries, which arises out of the tarry swamps its factories pollute. Melanethon P. Murrsom, sits at the head of the Incorporation which controls this coastal city and whose influence reaches far and wide. Inland across to Sunken Hill where coffins are chained shut before burial and the dead are said to ring their grave bells still even as looters plunder the coffins that rise from the swamp. Across Carcass County where the roots of the ancient bloodgum trees have a taste for flesh. To Slackgaff-by-the-Sea in Stubbshead County, strife riven by an unpaid debt owed to the Incorporation. To frozen Dalliance in the south across the sea, where the Allied Governess rules with a love as cold as the artic wastes beyond the newly reopened silver mines that the Incorporation previously closed and claimed to have been worked out. West to Fort Gullet, an oil city where the gun rules and Marshal Betjemen Knapp and his posse of ne’er-do-wells enforce their law at gunpoint. Beyond to Palace in the Dust Barrens where the Redrum Boys, outlaws all, protect the exiles, homesteaders, bushwhackers, and deserters from Incorporation carpetbaggers, sending them packing after taking all they have on them—plus a pound of flesh—back to Covett city, even as they ensure that the hill around remain lawless. To Sickwater Oasis in the north, where the klepto-meritocratic Outlaw Union recognises only the licences it issues, otherwise killing all lawmen and bounty hunters, and hates any other legalise otherwise to the point of murder. At the edge of the Lost Frontier stretches the Western Expanse, accessible by the hellmouth of Allhallows Canyon, and beyond that lies the Scree Knives, a purgatory of slat flats where only the desperate pioneer and sanctimonious sect finds a home.

This is the setting for Frontier Scum: A Game About WantedOutlaws Making Their Mark on a Lost Frontier. It is inspired by the Acid Westerns, such as Jodorowsky’s El Topo, Jarmusch’s Dead Man, and Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk, which twisted the traditional westerns of the twentieth century and their conservatism with the radical counterculture of the sixties. Instead of codes of honour and morality and the mythic search for justice and a chance to begin again in a land of golden opportunity, the west of the Acid Western is infused with uncertainty and loss, the landscape and its promise of renewal subverted by avarice and ambition. The Lost Frontier of Frontier Scum is not the frontier of the Wild West, nor the frontier of the Weird West—its horrors being mundane and manmade, but a frontier, almost a hallucination of a twisted frontier of its very own. Published by GamesOmnivorous, Frontier Scum is an Old School Renaissance adjacent roleplaying game, inspired mechanically by Mörk Borg, in which the players take the roles of Outlaws. They are criminals and they are guilty. They did the crime they are accused of and are going to be hanged. Perhaps, if they can escape their fate at the end of a noose, then perhaps they can make their mark—pull off the biggest heist, win the biggest pot in a poker game, hit a silver motherlode, or even reap their own brand of justice—on the Lost Frontier.

An Outlaw in Frontier Scum has four stats—Grit, Slick, Wits, and Luck—which range in value from -3 to +3. He also has a pair of traits which make him stand out, a crime which he most definitely did commit and why he is wanted (dead or alive), a background which helps define starting skills and equipment, plus a bonus skill and a bonus item. He also has a canteen of water, a stolen horse, and a gun and some ammunition. Most importantly, he has a hat. This hat will save his life. Probably. So, he should keep it close. Probably wear it. Character creation is entirely randomly, except skills. These are devised by the player, though the event which inspired their selection is randomly determined. 

Windor ‘Grubworm’ Casket
A Charlatan and a Fraud
Outlaw Scum with ‘An Artist’s Soul’ and ‘Plague-Pox Scars’
Who is Wanted Dead or Alive for the Crime of Attempted Fraud

Grit -2 Slick 0 Wits +1 Luck -2
Hit Points: 2

Skills
Sympathetic Begging (lost all his stock)
Bargaining (sold some actual treasure)
Disguise Disease (you caught the Plague-Pox)

Items
Self-Help Bible
Expensive Perfume
Tin of sixteen biscuits

Stolen Mount
Donkey (HP 2, Morale 8, slow, bad at manoeuvring)

Gun
Pocket pistol (d6)

Hat
A stiff bowler, brushed to perfection, with an emergency ten dollar note inside the hat.

Mechanically, Frontier Scum requires a simple roll of a twenty-sided die against a Difficulty Rating, the standard Difficulty Rating being twelve, with the appropriate stat applied as a modifier. The standard rules for Advantage and Disadvantage are used, the former primarily derived from a Outlaw’s skills, and each player has an Ace up his Sleeve, which can be expended to reroll any die result which is not a one or twenty. If a player rolls a natural twenty on an ability check, he has the choice of choosing an additional Ace or a new skill. (This new skill must relate to the situation under which it was rolled, up to a maximum of six skills.) However, if a player rolls a natural one on an ability check, every player loses all of their Aces! In general, Frontier Scum is player-facing, so the players roll the dice, for example, to hit with an attack or to avoid an attack rather than the Game Master rolling an NPC’s attack.

Gun combat is nasty, and shots always hit (except tricky shots which require a roll). Damage dice can explode, so characters can be killed with a single shot or hit with extra shots from fanning a pistol or slamming in more rounds from a repeater rifle! Fortunately, every good character should be wearing a hat. If a player is shot, he can ignore damage by having his hat shot off his head. Which is an entertaining emulation of the genre! Then afterwards, once the fight is over, a player can roll his character’s Luck to retrieve his hat and see if it is still wearable.

An Outlaw can take damage that reduces him to zero Hit Points, necessitating a Death Check. This can result in straight death, but it might leave him dying and losing ability points, but it could also result in the Outlaw gaining ability points! An Outlaw can also suffer one of two Conditions—Drunk and Miserable. Of the two, Drunk is the more entertaining, with the Miserable Condition either due to being skunked, rain-sodden, frostbitten poisoned, exhausted, or some other cause, which prevents the Outlaw from healing when rested until the cause is addressed. When Drunk, an Outlaw swaps two abilities at random and that is always how he reacts when drunk. It is a potentially entertaining effect, and depending on the value of the abilities swapped, could be disadvantageous to the Outlaw or advantageous.

For the Game Master there are numerous tables upon which to roll for inspiration, from ‘Scum on the Trail’ and ‘Scum on the Streets’ to ‘House Loot’, Pocket Loot’, and ‘Tomb Loot’. There is even a ‘Going on a Bender’ table, followed by ‘What Was Won’, ‘What was Lost’, and ‘Who You Owe’ tables for evening’s carousing at the saloon. There are tables of employment opportunities and bounties too, sufficient enough to provide a variety of encounters, set-ups, and developments. Frontier Scum also includes the scenario, ‘Escape the Organ Rail’, which begins with the Outlaws held aboard a black penal train being transported to their execution. Naturally linear in design—after all, the Outlaws have to fight and make their way up the train to the engine to effect an escape, the scenario is presented in car order from the Outlaws’ cells to the engine. Each car is shown in cross section rather than floor plan. The Outlaws begin play shackled together hand and feet, which should challenge the players until they find the right keys. Although Frontier Scum is intended to be a more mundane version of the Old West than the horror of the Weird West, the scenario does involve elements of the weird and horror. If the Outlaws succeed in stopping the train and escaping, there is the chance they get away with some loot, find themselves a patron, or if they want, there is an ‘Epilogue Or How To Spend 10,000 Silver’ table if they scarper.

Physically, Frontier Scum has an immediate presence. It is done as a board book, with a non-glossy, plain matte cover and no spine so that the glue binding is visible. The feeling in the hand is rough and tactile like no other roleplaying game. Inside, the black and white layout is done as a Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalogue and it is incredibly atmospheric, pulling the reader into the setting with tight blocks of black and white, and period style illustrations. The graphic design on Frontier Scum really brings the game to life and adds so much to its atmosphere.

Imagine in 1895 if the paste up artist at Sears, Roebuck and Co., high on absinthe and laudanum, sat down to create a game of the vanishing frontier. Frontier Scum: A Game About Wanted Outlaws Making Their Mark on a Lost Frontier is what you would get, a roleplaying game of the last, dark days of desperate Outlaws surviving on a dream of the frontier turned nightmare, ravaged by avarice and ambition, and the vicissitudes of modernity and misuse.

Mutant Crawl Classics #12: When Manimals Attack is the eleventh release for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, the spiritual successor to Gamma World published by Goodman Games. Designed for Second Level player characters, what this means is that Mutant Crawl Classics 12: When Manimals Attack is not a Character Funnel, one of the signature features of both the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game it is mechanically based upon—in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. In terms of the setting, known as Terra A.D., or ‘Terra After Disaster’, this is a ‘Rite of Passage’ and in Mutants, Manimals, and Plantients, the stress of it will trigger ‘Metagenesis’, their DNA expressing itself and their mutations blossoming forth. By the time the Player Characters in Mutant Crawl Classics #12: When Manimals Attack have reached Second Level, they will have had numerous adventures, should have understanding as to how their mutant powers and how at least some of the various weapons, devices, and artefacts of the Ancients they have found work and can use on their future adventures.
Mutant Crawl Classics #12: When Manimals Attack begins with the Player Characters coming to the rescue of a young Manimal, who has been chased up a tree by some ravenous preyor beasts. They will learn that although she cannot talk very much, her name is ‘Anji’. She is friendly, seems fascinated by the village’s sole pure Strain Human, and despite her Mustelid appearance, claims she comes she is ‘ooman’ and that she comes from the fabled lands of ‘tsoo’. She seems to settle into the Player Characters’ village, but in the middle of the night attackers loom out of the darkness, setting hut after hut alight. In the morning, the tracks are easy to find—with signs of something apelike, something feline, and something unknown—and lead out into the jungle. Barring an encounter or two, the Player Characters are able to follow the tracks back to a large domed structure. On the side can be seen the word, ‘ZUU’.
The scenario assumes that the most likely approach the Player Characters will take is stealth, following Anji’s escape route out of the ‘tsoo’ back to within its confines. There they find themselves not in a building as such but a stretch of open grasslands, the sky a different colour… Once they have dealt with the robots informing visitors that park is a closed and they are trespassing and that any Manimals are in the wrong zone, interacting with the Manimals will reveal the situation. They are trapped in a habitant, ruled over by the Savage One and his brutal guards, but it was the Savage One who made them stronger and better than they were. Finding out further information means breaking out of this one habitant and into the others, and there is some fun to be had seeing the Player Characters exploring some radically different climes than the ones they are used to. It is interesting to see the Player Characters challenged in this. Ultimately, they will be able to determine what is going on at the ‘ZUU’, and either rescue or free the numerous Manimals in its various habitats.
Mutant Crawl Classics #12: When Manimals Attack is a short scenario, emphasising stealth and investigation in preparation for a confrontation with the Savage One and his brutal guards. The strangely bestial creature has plans for more than just the ‘ZUU’, wanting to convert Terrans of all types into the Manimals they were meant to be. He certainly has the means to do so. The scenario is reminiscent of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau as well as two Cryptic Alliances from Gamma World—the ‘Zoopremisists’ and ‘The Ranks of the Fit’. They are not the same of course, but there are similarities. The scenario is, though, about confronting and fighting the supremacy of one species type over another in the world of Terra A.D. It should be no surprise that the Savage One is portrayed as a supremacist monster and certainly as a monster by the artist, Kelly Jones, on the front cover of the module.
Physically, Mutant Crawl Classics #12: When Manimals Attack is cleanly and tidily laid out. As you would expect for a book from Goodman Games, the scenario—especially its locations—is highly detailed and is given a decent piece of cartography. However, the Savage One is illustrated not once, but three times if the cover is included, and it is too much. Ideally, an illustration and even a map—after all, it would have had a visitors’ map before the Great Disaster—of the ‘ZUU’ could have been included as handouts, both of them helping to enhance and improve game play.
Mutant Crawl Classics #12: When Manimals Attack is decent scenario which should provide two good sessions worth of play or so. Full of detail, it which presents an interesting confrontation for Manimal Player Characters in particular.

In the year of our lord, 1631, a strange island came to be on the coast of the city of Plymouth, in the fair county of Devon, where none had stood before. From all around it could be seen, far and wide, for a great light shone from atop a lighthouse that stood at very centre of the strangely circular isle. When sailors saw the light, their only thought was to sail their ships until they beach them upon the shores of that very island, and soon there was not one ship at sea for many miles to see. The merchants of the city did rain much in the way of complaints, for the light was clearly a danger to their livelihoods and did raise fair sum with which to reward brave adventurers who would venture to the shores of the aberrant isle and seek out the reason for the beguiling light. This is the set-up for The Obsidian Anti-Pharos, a scenario designed for low Level Player Characters for use with Lamentations ofthe Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. Published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess, the scenario is primarily a short mini-dungeon that slots easily into the default historical period for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay—that is, the early modern period of the seventeenth century—and equally, is as easy to adapt to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice. The dungeon though is tough and unforgiving and if the Player Characters are to survive, they are going to need to have a lot of luck on their side.
The Obsidian Ant-Pharos provides the Player Characters with two options for their getting involved. However, whether offered a reward of a thousand silver or being shipwrecked on the shore of the island itself, what the Player Characters discover is a perfectly round island at the centre of which stands the strange tower, fifty foot tall and apparently cut from one piece of black stone. The thickly wooded island itself is divided into two hemispheres by a barricade, each occupied by a different, but antagonistic tribe. In addition to each tribe hating the other, primarily because of the way it worships the occupant of the tower, Khepegoris, each tribe practises cannibalism and will happily eat any sailor washed up on the shore. Which is just the second problem that the Player Characters has to deal with getting onto the island—the first being withstanding the effects of the hypnotic light beams cast by the type of the tower. (Of course, the aim is the scenario to get to and investigate the tower, but players do object to their characters being pulled about so obviously…) Neither tribe, both descended from the Khepegoris’ servants, can agree on what colour the doors to the tower should be either—one side believes it should blue, the other it should be yellow, and wear wooden masks painted accordingly.
The third big problem that the Player Characters will face is getting into the tower. The doors on the outside—the ones which one tribe wants to paint yellow, the other tribe blue—are false and if anyone touches them, they vanish. This is the fourth big problem. The actual entrance is a hatch in the ground that appears at random, so initially, the players are going think that there are multiple hatches across the island. The key to the hatch is also missing (sort of). The Game Master will definitely need to drop some hints as to how the Player Characters might find the clues to getting into the tower. That fourth big problem remains in the meantime, because when a Player Character touches either of the false doors, not only does he vanish, but reappears on a platform in a room, surrounded by water (but which is actually potent acid) with a door by the wall, some forty feet away. This is the tower prison. It is left up to the player’s ingenuity to work out exactly how his character is going to get out of the situation, but the fourth big problem is not the true nature of the problem. Instead, it is the fact that it separates the Player Characters from each other and splits the party. Touching the false doors on the outside of the tower is not the only method the scenario has of splitting the party by dumping one or more in this prison.
As the Player Characters proceed up the tower, they will encounter a maze, a grotto with a bejewelled alligator-shaped automaton, a bed chamber, and more. There is a clue to be found to how to proceed through the maze, but beyond that? The tower has very much been built to dissuade visitors and intruders and so any attempt to move forward upon the part of the Player Characters will be down to guess work as there are no clues whatsoever. For example, the bejewelled alligator-shaped automaton contains two keys, one of which will open the door to the next room. Pull that one out and the Player Character will be fine, but pull the other out and the Player Character loses a limb. There is no way of knowing which is the right key. In effect, The Obsidian Anti-Pharos shares elements of the death-trap dungeon a la S1 The Tomb of Horrors, but with less of a reliance on puzzles. Plus, Khepegoris returns and is really not very happy about anyone having been meddling in his home. How exactly he returns is unlikely to turn out well for at least one Player Character…
Which leaves the fifth and final big problem for the Player Characters—what do they do about Khepegoris if he does return? He need not return, that being down to Player Character invention, but if he does, Khepegoris is very much of a higher Level than they are and they unlikely to pose a real threat to him. He may even reward them for bringing him back to life. If he stays, his research will remain a regular threat to local shipping, so the Player Characters may be back again, this time to kill him—if they can. Ultimately, the best outcome for the Player Characters is not to summon him at all—inadvertently or otherwise, as his presence will radically alter the campaign.
Physically, The Obsidian Anti-Pharos is laid out white on black and has solid artwork and cartography. Unfortunately, the editing is slipshod, and the result is the scenario feels rushed in places.
The Obsidian Anti-Pharos does have its moments—the interaction and roleplaying with either of the two tribes should prove entertaining and watching the players come up means to escape the acid pool prison should prove either inventive or frustrating. Yet the end result is underwhelming, a dissatisfying death-trap dungeon that does not seem to reward the players and their characters for their guesswork and is likely to end in an exercise in frustration for both.

Escape the Dark Sector: The Game of Deep Space Adventure brought the brutality of the Fighting Fantasy solo adventure books of the eighties to both Science Fiction and co-operative game play for up to four players in which their characters begin incarcerated in the detention block of a vast space station and must work together to ensure their escape. Published by Themeborne, with its multiple encounters, traps, aliens, robots, objects, and more as well as a different end of game Boss every time, Escape the Dark Sector offered a high replay value, especially as a game never lasted longer than thirty minutes. Now, like its predecessor, Escape the Dark Castle: The Game of Atmospheric Adventure, the game has not one, but three expansions! Funded via a Kickstarter campaign, each of the three expansions—Escape the Dark Sector – Mission Pack 1: Twisted Tech, Escape the Dark Sector – Mission Pack 2: Mutant Syndrome, and Escape the Dark Sector – Mission Pack 3: Quantum Rift—adds a new Boss, new Chapters, new Items, and more, taking the path of the escapees off in new directions to face new encounters and new dangers. Each expansion can be played on its own with the base game, or mixed and matched to add one, two, or three mission packs that increase the replay value of the core game.
Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box is no mere pretty box to hold the core game and all three of its expansions, although it is pretty. The large, square, and sturdy box is matte black and has circuitry picked out in UV detailing for quite a subtle effect and a quiet, but imposing presence on your shelf. Inside there is space to hold and organise all of the game’s cards—sleeved or unsleeved—as well as dice, playmats for the escapees, scorepads, pencils, and the various rulebooks. If you are looking for somewhere to hold your copy of Escape the Dark Sector and its three expansions, both to store and organise for play, then Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box is very much what you need. That is not all though.
In addition to holding everything for the game, Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box also comes with its own content. These begin with not one, but four new Bosses which could be faced at the end of a game as part of the players’ escape attempt. They include ‘The Changeling’, which can never take two consecutive wounds of the same type so that the escapees need to vary their attack types; ‘The Monolith’, simply inflicts damage by its very presence and cannot be flanked, so there is no teaming up for attacks; ‘Grottle & Snork’ are a pair of murderous aliens who also cannot be flanked, but vary their attack type from round to round; and ‘Madame Chrome’, a cyborg or robot defended by a drone swarm.
The three new Start cards provide new beginning points for the escapees, all three of which have them finding a way out of their cells. For example, having prised their cell doors open, one Start card presents the players with two options. If they take the left door, the players ‘Discard the first Act 1 Chapter Card’ and each draw a ‘Starting Weapon Card’ for each escapee. If they take the right door, the players ‘Add one Act 1 Chapter Card’ to the mission deck and then a ‘Starting Weapon Card’ for each escapee as well as two new Item Cards. This Start Card presents the players with a simple choice—reduce the number of Chapter Cards and thus the difficulty of the escape attempt and get a simple reward, or increase the number of Chapter Cards and thus the difficulty of the escape attempt and get a bigger reward. The most fun involves a scavenger breaking into the escapees’ cell and the players having the choice of fighting it or making a bargain with it. If they defeat it, the escapees gain all of the scavenger’s items, but if they strike a bargain, they gain one item it has previously stolen, and they get to ‘Discard the first Act 1 Chapter Card’. It is delightfully thematic.
The new crew member is K-100, an android escapee. It rolls an entirely different die—a twelve-sided die. One faced is marked with a ‘Triple’, the face being marked with all three traits. This counts as a Double when rolled and a Block in close combat. However, one face of the die is ‘Blank!’ and this is rolled, the android’s neural-net freezes and it is forced to reboot for the next round. This is the player missing a go, but again, it is thematically appropriate.
Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box adds three new Items or pieces of equipment. The ‘Alien Blaster’ can fire both ballistic ammunition and energy ammunition, the player being able to choose between them. Since it is an ‘Alien Blaster’, sometimes its bio-identification feature will discourage the escapee from using it with its imposter repulsion system, converting an ammo die into damage it inflicts on the wielder! The escapees begin play with the ‘Life Support Module’ in their inventory and can be used be transfer Hit Points between escapees. It is then discarded after use.
The biggest Item in the Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box is the ‘Demolition Mech’! This has its reference card and Event Card, which is drawn randomly from the Item Deck. Any escapee can pilot it, but cannot carry Items when doing so. The ‘Demolition Mech’ itself is represented by four mech section cards which together form the image of the mech itself. Although the pilot cannot use any Items or mutations (from Escape the Dark Sector – Mission Pack 2: Mutant Syndrome), he can use the mech’s Demo-Cannon in ranged combat or Wrecking Ball in close combat. Both are powerful weapons. In addition, the ‘Demolition Mech’ is armoured, able to take any amount of damage on each of the four locations—represented by its four mech section cards—but only the once. When that happens, the damaged mech section card is turned over and cannot take any further damage. Damage to the torso can destroy the Demo-Cannon or it can hinder the use of the Wrecking Ball. Should all four section cards of the ‘Demolition Mech’ be damaged, it explodes! The pilot is thrown from the wreckage and suffers a lot of damage. The pilot can eject from the ‘Demolition Mech’ before this happens.
The ‘Demolition Mech’ adds a new level to the play of Escape the Dark Sector, literally powering it up. Of course, it has a downside or two. Push its use to far when it takes damage and an escapee can be badly injured, and it also limits what an escapee can carry. Its use is fun though and energises the game when the event card for the ‘Demolition Mech’ is drawn.
Lastly, Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box comes with a new ‘YOU’. This is in sturdy metal and has a hefty weight to it as it passes from one player to the next, Chapter Card after Chapter Card.
Physically, Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box is as well produced as the core game. The new Start Card and Boss Cards are large and in general easy to read and understand, whilst the ‘Demolition Mech’ includes its own reference card. Each one is illustrated in Black and White, in a style which echoes that of the Fighting Fantasy series and Warhammer 40K last seen in the nineteen eighties. The box itself is sturdy and capacious.
Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box is both an entertaining and a practical addition to Escape the Dark Sector. As with the three Mission Packs for Escape the Dark Sector, this box adds more randomness and just a little more flavour to the play of the game, but always balances the advantage that any one card—Crew Member, Chapter Card, Start Card, Boss Card, and even the ‘Demolition Mech’ cards—with potential disadvantages too. The Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box provides more choice and more randomness and more Sci-Fi theme, as well as more storage space, nicely rounding (or squaring off) out the game with its own big box.

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. A more recent retroclone of choice to support has been Mörk Borg.
Published in November, 2020, Strange Citizens of the City is one of three similar fanzines released by Philip Reed Games as a result of the Strange Citizens of the City Kickstarter campaign, the others being Strange Inhabitants of the Forest and Strange Visitors to the City. It follows on from the publisher’s Delayed Blast Gamemaster fanzine, by presenting a set of tables upon which the Game Master can roll and bring in elements to her game. Whilst Delayed Blast Gamemaster detailed monsters, environments, and more, with a cover which reads, “Roll 2d6 and say hello to Evil”, Strange Citizens of the City is all about the encounter and all about encounters with evil.
Strange Citizens of the City follows the format of Strange Inhabitants of the Forest, consisting of four tables—or rather sets of entries—which populate and add detail to a large location, in this case, a nameless city. The issue opens with the eponymous ‘Strange Citizens of the City’ which presents a table of villains or villain-like NPCs to be encountered in the forest. Each is given their own two-page spread, with a large illustration, a full page of text providing background, and of course, notes and stats. The notes typically suggest how much money the Player Characters might make from their loot or handing in proof of their deaths, though not always. They include Günter Buckler, Back-Alley Merchant, a dealer in all manner of goods who never steps out of the shadows, but who has no premises and no inventory, but can always get what you want—in a few days. The strange, twisted man is a wanted, known criminal, but sometimes demand exceeds what he can deal with his own and then he employs others to obtain items for him, which of course, could be the Player Characters. As to the thing that rides his back, it is best not to ask… Dinko and Bruno, Disciples of Skullheart, are unholy twins swathed in heavy robes and wearing strange masks, dedicated to a dead god. These zealots have acquired a small following, but want to establish a temple to Skullheart and so revive him. What happens when they do, remains to be seen, but for the moment, the city authorities regard them as no more than charlatans. Roland Repnik, Priest and Inventor, is held in high regard, hypnotically preaching against the evil which he claims pervades the city, but which he himself promulgates and helps bring about the End of Days… In secret, he conducts ghastly secrets in body manipulation. One of the victims of these experiments is Iapio Eskola, Reconstructed Warrior, a shattered survivor of a great battle whose armless and legless torso Repnik bonded to an infernally-fired, multi-legged, body that gives him the centaur form. Although the priest wanted Iapio Eskola as his bodyguard, the warrior fled, driven by his anger and desire to be free, and now works in the city as guard and enforcer despite being shunned and reviled for his appearance. Repnik wants him back and has commanded his followers to leave alone, but fears that Iapio Eskola will have his vengeance one day…
‘Strange Citizens of the City’ takes up over half of Strange Citizens of the City. It presents a collection of monsters and the monstrous, many of them evil in nature, and if not that, evil looking. They are invariably challenging opponents should the Player Characters go after then for their bounty. One difference between Strange Citizens of the City and Strange Inhabitants of the Forest, is that all of the NPCs described in this table—and elsewhere in the fanzine—do all feel as if they would fit in the one city. A dark twisted city where arcanotech, a mixture of magic and technology is available.
‘Strange Citizens of the City’ is followed by a shorter table, ‘Hired Goons’. This is a small collection of hirelings, simply detailed and each with a special trait, such as ‘Cowardly’ or ‘Intimidating’. Some are beneficial, such as ‘Calculating Leader’ for Arnold Jespersen, whose ability to command and direct grants combatants a small bonus to damage in a fight. Most are negative. For example, Sis Ermengol suffers from ‘Overwhelming Greed’ and will even change sides in a fight if offered enough coin (his description suggesting a perception check be made, even in battle, to notice this, and potentially take advantage of it), whilst the very presence of the ‘Spell-Touched’ Samuel Paasio will erase any scroll he comes near. This is an entertaining selection of minor NPCs which should add extra detail and flavour to any party expedition or task.
Similarly, the entries on the ‘(Possibly) Harmless Wanderers’ will also add colour and detail to a game, but this time on the streets of the city. None come with stats as they are there for flavour rather than anything else. They include Niene Meirer, the old and wrinkled pie seller, whose wares contain whatever meat she is able to find that day—including rat! The resulting pie might be tasty, but not the resulting stomach upset. Others range from a skilled puppeteer who performs unsettling shows using puppets carved from sewage-soaked wood to a pickpocket who specialises in rolling drunks and who might have something interesting to sell the next day. The selection is accompanied by an extra table of rumours.

Lastly, ‘Places in the City’ describes various locations. These include ‘Harbold’s Raceway’, a crumbling arena where the city watch once trained, but is now a drinking and gambling den where races of all sorts are held, on all manner of beasts and mounts, including fan-favourite, Uudo Kuusk and his six-legged biomechanical undead creature built by Roland Repnik. At ‘Yesterday’s Lost Wares’, the wooden golems will push to make a deal over any and all of the goods on sale in this two-storey pawnshop, whilst ‘The Statue of the Defeated Dragon’, a piece of public art considered so wasteful that both the artist and the city official who commissioned were cornered and murdered, has become a meeting for thieves, though in certain light, the statue is so life-like that the unwary might believe it to be an actual red dragon!
Physically, Strange Citizens of the City is very nicely presented. Although it makes strong use of colour, it uses a softer palette than Mörk Borg, so is easier on the eye. The artwork throughout is excellent.
Strange Citizens of the City is a set in some strange city where twisted men and women and other things lurk in the side streets, where great evil hides behind populism, and arcanotech is put to dark uses. Although intended for use with Mörk Borg—and it shares the same doom-laden sensibility—the contents of the fanzine would work with any retroclone or be easily adapted to the roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice. However, they do all feel as if they live in the same city, a city waiting to be detailed. Perhaps a city that Philip Reed Games could detail in a future fanzine? In the meantime, Strange Citizens of the City is an entertaining and useful collection of NPCs for the Grimdark roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice.

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will 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 choice is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.
One of Us #1 is a post-apocalyptic fanzine for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Published by Starry Wisdom Press in January, 2021, it casts the Player Characters as drifters, grifters, ne’er-do-wells, and desperate cast asunder following the Big Mistake, a war of some kind that was perhaps a decade or two ago. This places it roughly in the desperate, dirty decade of the thirties or even ‘Golden Era’ of the fifties. The Player Characters are specifically carnies, members of a travelling carnival, indentured to the mysterious being known as The Madame. In exchange for wondrous powers and “a more perfect self,” The Madame calls upon the carnies to procure for her, magnificent artifacts, as the carnival crisscrosses the dusty and dangerous remains of a once robust and proud land. Their efforts and their presence do not go unnoticed—cannibal hobos, shadowy cults, and uncouth hecklers will do everything in their power to prevent your caravan from carrying out its mission.
One of Us #1 is primarily about the Classes and Races of the setting—all of which come from the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. This includes the Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings. The fanzine opens with ‘OCCUPTATIONS Now Hiring!’, a table of Occupations suitable for backgrounds and of course, Zero Level characters, all of them for a modern set period. All Classes can use two Signature Weapons from First Level. These are two weapons a Player Character or NPC can use without a penalty, whereas other weapons suffer a step down in die type as a penalty. The first of the Classes is the Strong-Person, which uses ‘Table G: Giants’ for critical hits, ‘Titan’s Might’ means a thirty-sided die is used for Strength checks, Strength of Will grants a Might Die used for all attacks and Strength checks, and Hidden Reserves allows Personality to be temporarily expended to gain an additional Might Die. The second Class, the Acrobat can ‘Roll with the Punches’ and has a better base Armour Class, Cat’s Grace which means the Acrobat can avoid damage too, and as a ‘Land Sailor’, is fast on land and in the air due to climbing, flipping, and leaping over obstacles. The Acrobat is also Ambidextrous and has a ‘Tumbling Die’ which is used for acrobatics and Mighty Deeds for ranged attacks. The Natural Wonder is the third Class and is one of ‘The Madame’s Perfect Children’ and so has Luck like a Halfling, has mutations due to ‘Atomic Singularities’, but due to ‘Mother’s Milk’, is fortified against radiation. An accompanying table provides the mutations.
The three Classes—Strong-Person, Acrobat, or Natural Wonder are all obvious in their inspiration, being archetypal Carnival types, and all well done in their design. Other Classes from both the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game can be imported with little changes, but the Wizard becomes the Mystic, the Cleric the Revivalist, and the Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling The Stranger From A Strange Land. Backed up with a short selection of equipment, these are thematically interesting Classes which should also be fun to play.
Quite what The Madame is never defined in One of Us #1. She could be a demon, the devil herself, a god, or she something in between. She does serve as a Patron for the Player Characters and so can be invoked and there is the danger of suffering Patron Taint. What she wants is trinkets and gewgaws which together will free her from the bondage which confines her to her magical caravan. And this really is the extent of the setting notes and background given in One of Us #1, and that really is the big issue with the fanzine. It is full of brilliant content that suggests possibilities of a type and style of game or campaign, but does not explore either or suggest scenario ideas. Or indeed, give a Character Funnel or scenario, either of which would have shown the Judge what the designers intended. Hopefully that will be provided in the pages of One of Us #2.
Rounding out One of Us #1 is a half dozen monsters particular to the Dust Bowl. These include the Rag Creep, a thing wrapped in rags soaked in grain alcohol, psychedelic desert flower, and camphor to sooth their radiation-burned skin; the Witherer, the spirit of an old woman who haunts water sources who begs others to help her find her lost children and then feeds on their goodwill and hope; and the Dust Preacher, a preacher in his former life not only failed to protect his flock, but made demands of them in return for his protection. Now it demands a tithe of its own Hit Points to gain one-shot actions such as second attack or a static lightning blast! All six monsters are nicely detailed and fit the setting.
Physically, One of Us #1 is well presented with excellent artwork. One of Us #1 is a superb little read, combining elements of horror and the fantastic against a backdrop of broken Americana. One of Us #1 is incomplete though, and more background and some scenarios and scenario hooks would be very, very welcome.

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. A more recent retroclone of choice to support has been Old School Essentials.
The Planar Compass series takes Dungeons & Dragons and the Old School Renaissance on a journey that out where it rarely goes—onto the Astral Realm and out between the planes. Of course, the option for travel in this liminal space has always been there in Dungeons & Dragons, most notably from Manual of the Planes all the way up to Spelljammer: Adventures in Space and the Planescape Campaign Setting. Whilst those supplements were for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, the Planar Compass series is written for use with Old School Essentials, and it not only introduces the Astral Realm, but adds new Classes and rules for one very contentious aspect of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—psionics! Planar Compass #1 introduced both the setting of the Astral Realm, presented Dreamhaven, a first calling point for the Player Characters to visit and explore, and provided details of several new Races found across the Astral Realm as well as the rules for psionics. Which turned to be easy to use and did not break the game. Planar Compass #2 takes the Player Characters further out onto the Astral Realms, or rather prevents everything that the Referee will need to take her campaign further out into the Astral Realms.

Planar Compass #2 was published in November 2021. Following on from Planar Compass #1, it promises strange sights, ever changing environmental dangers, and monsters the likes of which the Player Characters will never seen. Opening with a quick table listing all of the planes and explaining that the contents of issue are designed for mid-level play, Fourth Level and higher, and what titles are required to use it contents. It notes that the waters of the Astral Realms are the thoughts, hopes and dreams, and nightmares of all sentient beings of the multiverse, physical matter alien to it and are always either an intrusion or a traveller. Such waters are endless and there are many places that a good crew with a solid ship will be able to sail far and away to strange places—if both survive the dangers of the Astral Plane, many of which are intrusions and breakthroughs from other planes.
The dangers begin with the monsters—oddly placed before the sections on astral ships, astral sailing, and so on. These are all native to the Astral Realm and include Bubonic Barnacles which feeds on the wood ships and can grow into humanoid forms or algae blooms; the Astral Amphiptere, a semi-translucent dragon which dwells in island caves, and whose can cause planar tears which it can escape through or even others to use; Psychic Dugong, capable of telepathy, whose Psionic Milk restores psionic energy; and the Kear Imago. This last is a much-feared astral predator which scoops up ships and feeds on the psionic energy of their crews, leaving them husks ready for their larvae to occupy and grow in… A table of ‘Pirate Encounters’ is ready for the Referee to flesh out.
The rules for Astral Ships use the rules for water vehicles found in Old School Essentials, but adds five classes of Saving Throw similar to those for Player Characters and monsters. These are Storm, Collison, Fire, Water, and Plane Shift. These are rolled when a ship is subject to wind and gale forces, strikes an object or is struck by an object, is subject to flames or extreme heat, is subject to facing huge waves and torrential rains, and when transitioning between planes or suffering planar stress respectively. Two pieces of artillery are given to outfit ships on the Astral Plane—ballista and the Onauki fire thrower. Stats are given for ten types of astral ship, which include pirate ships and trading ships and warships, more or less what a Referee will need to run an Astral Sea campaign. They range from the Aldhelsi Drakkar and the Aldhelsi Knarr to the Tortuga and the Psionic Ship! Some of these, like the Human Catamaran, lie within the scope of a group of Player Characters purchasing the, rather than travelling on ships belonging to others. There are pirate ships and trading ships and warships
A handful of magical items are detailed too. The nastiest is the Sword of Astral Tether Cutting, a cruel, thin blade made from the remains of a meteor which can cut the tether between the physical and Astral bodies of the target, killing them instantly! The most interesting is the Sand from the Shores of Dreams, which can be sprinkled on someone so that the next time he sleeps, everyone nearby experiences his dreams. This presents interesting story possibilities, potentially another realm to explore and more.
The rules for astral sailing uses what it calls a ‘hex-flower’ or rosette to determine prevailing conditions around an astral ship, the direction of nearby encounters, and the direction of movement. Effectively, it sits under the astral ship as it sails from one hex to the next. Each turn of movement is handled through the same sequence of play in which the players roll for navigation, weather, and nearby planes, which the Referee uses to determine hazards and create encounters, and rolls to see if a Kear Imago has detected the vessel. The Referee and her players work together to describe the region the ship is sailing through.
Notably, the direction of movement is randomly determined, though the Onauk and Astral Sailors—both detailed in Planar Compass #1—have the ability to nudge the roll so that it is in the right direction. If the Kear Imago detects the ship, then the leviathan-sized creature will come hunting for it. Options for the encounters, weather, and planes near and far, are detailed separately along with a lovely set of hexes illustrated with icons that the Referee is going to want to be able to pull out and slip under the appropriate hex on the hex-flower. Large and small icons are used to represent everything from sighted vessel or signs of land, instruction of a plane, and more, with the size indicating distance away. Large are of course hear, small are faraway.
What is not made clear until the Referee gets to the adventure, ‘The Hunter Beneath the Waves’ is that the crew of ship needs to mask its ‘psychic load’ lest it be detected by a Kear Imago. This can be done by Astral Sailors or by consuming Psychic Ambergris, one of the magic items given earlier. If detected though, the Kear Imago will hunt the ship until either the ship and her crew get away or the leviathan swallows it whole. This lands the ship in its gut and the crew—that is, the Player Characters—have to navigate their way out of the beast. This is simulated using the hex-flower again, but here the crew are navigating the corporeal body of a beast rather than the Astral Sea, hoping to find the brain and engineer an escape. As you would expect it is nasty environment, the various descriptions of rooms such as the stomach, intestines, and waste chamber accompanied by optional tables for traps, NPCs, and location details. The rules are more or less the same for navigating the Astral Sea using the hex-flower, but instead of being able to nudge the direction roll through abilities innate to certain Classes, the Player Characters acquire ‘Travelling Points’ for encountering denizens of this ‘Kear Dungeon’, discovering and disarming traps, gaining information from friendly NPCs, and so on. The adventure is intentionally odd, surprisingly non-linear given its origins, and it does include some tough encounters. Plus although the players are unlikely to replay the ‘Kear Dungeon’ again, there is the possibility of their encountering a Kear Imago again. The fanzine does leave the Referee wondering what to do in that instance. Of course, there are always to get the Player Characters needing to climb back into a Kear Imago again, such as having to find a Wizard who has not been seen for years or go after a criminal. Lastly, the issue includes a table for ‘Astral Fishing’ and a set of adventure hooks waiting to be developed by the Referee as well a decent little comic strip which follows on from Planar Compass #1.
Physically, Planar Compass #2 is hit and miss. It is well written and it is gorgeous-looking. In places, individual hexes are are too dark and too murky, whilst the layout feels a bit tight in places and odd in others. Plus the organisation is odd with the monster descriptions placed up front. Nevertheless, it is engagingly written, the artwork is excellent, and all together, it is a lovely little book.
Planar Compass #2 is a solid set of rules taking Old School Essentials and almost any Old School Renaissance retroclone in an expected direction, out into the beyond of the Astral Sea. It does feel like a transition, going from the Dreamhaven of Planar Compass #1 to the somewhere else, but not telling you where necessarily. Ideally that will be revealed in Planar Compass #3. In the meantime, Planar Compass #2 has all the rules to enjoy boat trip or sail away to location of the Referee’s own devising across the Astral Sea and back again, effectively, ‘Astral-jammer’ for Old School Essentials.

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will 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 choice is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.
Night Soil #Zero takes the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game as its direct inspiration. Specifically, it draws from the artwork of the fourth printing of the core rules to provide images that have in turn inspired the creation of monsters, magical items, spells, tables, and more that the Judge can bring to her game or campaign. It is a lovely idea, but the result is a bit of a mess, a hodgepodge of miscellaneous things and entries that unless you somehow know the artwork and its order in the fourth printing of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, may have you leafing through the pages of the admittedly short Night Soil #Zero in order to find something. Even at twenty-four pages, an index or list of contents and page numbers would not have gone amiss here.
Published by Inner Ham—previously known for Fantastic Exciting Imaginative: The Holmes Art ’Zine—Night Soil #Zero, opens with its first monster, the Terrordactyl, a giant reptile bird with retchingly awful bad breath and capable of snapping a target’s neck on a roll of a natural twenty, so a nasty thing to confront the Player Characters with. Not that interesting though. Weirder though, and definitely more modern, are the Horned Lobsterclops, which fight luchadors and underprepared explorers and scientists. Beating one in initiative trades accuracy for speed—the attacker’s die decreases by one step, and if a Horned Lobsterclop licks an opponent, on a failed Will save, it can cause them to scream and writhe, attempt to persuade the nearest ally to run (causing both to lose their actions in the next round), pass out temporarily, or simply flay uselessly at the creature’s sturdy carapace. This has a much pulpier feel then the other monsters and though fun, does need a suitably pulpy style of game to use it. An easier to use creature is the Phlogiston Elemental, which can appear whenever magic goes awry and takes more damage from wooden weapons than metal ones, making it a more difficult thing to defeat.
Perhaps the most flexible monster in the inaugural issue of the fanzine, is the Dogmen. Their love of bones means they often serve necromancer, and they often make good Warriors and Clerics. They can use all four Human Classes, but only up to Third Level. Although small, they have a strong bite, possess a keen sense of smell, and even their very presence enhances the effects of bone magic! On the downside, they are easily distracted, having to make Personality checks to avoid an Action Die and being bumped down a die for Saving Throws. Amusingly, this is called ‘Squirrel!’ and is a suitably silly feature for the henchmen role they are designed to fulfil. The other henchmen-type monsters are Death Guards, who have been hired and erroneously led to believe that they have been imbued with magical ability and otherworldly prowess. As terrible as they are, what they actually have is incredible self-belief and working together can inspire themselves to improve their Armour Class, Hit Points, speed, and so on, though only once per combat for each of the four such tricks they know. This is a concept worth exploring, as it could also be applied to cultists or other devotees, and more, but here it is rough and undeveloped.
The magical items begin with Horseshoes of Returning, innocuous, but favourite weapons for Halflings as they return to the hand once thrown. The other Halfling item of magic is the Pipe of Contentment, which can be smoked to regain points of Luck and even restore damage done to Intelligence or Personality. These are nicely done, flavoursome items that will please any halfling Player Character. From small to large as ‘Dead Giant, Uses of a’ suggests exactly that, whether keeping Chaos magic at bay if properly preserved, allowing its blood to spill and render the land infertile, feasted upon to increase Personality, the skull stolen to use as a cauldron by witches, and so on. For the Wizard, there is the Horned Cap, which makes him look like a badass and so might get him a free drink or a warmer bed, just to ensure that he is happy, or even potentially gain bonuses if Luck is burned, when casting spells related to bones, animals, or fear, and the Dragon Staff, which grants the user proficiency in, but not the capability of flight and a unique, randomly determined dragon power. There is even an Enchanted Skull Bookrest against which wizards and other magic-users rest their tomes and digests of knowledge where they can easily be read and understood, only for their content to shift into gibberish the moment they are taken away from the skull. It might protect a spell or other work of magic from prying eyes, but what if an Enchanted Skull Bookrest was stolen and one of the books which rested upon it, contained something of vital importance? Who would pay to get back and why?
The Cauldron of Contact aids in the fashioning of alchemical substances from other realms when burned over wood from Elfland, Faerie Forests, or Dryad Groves, or even contacting beings from those realms if wood cauldron from Elfland, Faerie Forests, or Dryad Groves is heated in the cauldron. There are potential side effects, such as the King of Elfland finding a future opportunity to strike the user or rolling corruption or all footwear being wet inside, causing the user’s feet to rot. This could be an interesting item, but is rather undeveloped as there are no mechanics as to when the side effects occur. 
The three spells in the issue are The Eye of Chaos, Shadowblend, and Seeking Shrieking Shrike. The first is a Second Level spell for Clerics which creates a glowing eye-like symbol that grants a bonus to Chaos-aligned creatures or zaps Law-aligned creatures; the second a First Level Wizard spell that enables him and his companions to blend into the shadows to increase their Armour Class; and the third a Second Level Cleric spell that creates an animal-shaped bolt which seeks out its target and hits on the next round after being cast. Seeking Shrieking Shrike is a fun spell, the others less so, but interesting additions to find in spell books or being cast by NPCs.
Other items are found in certain locations, such as the Speaking Headstone, which might not know much about the person whose grave it marks, but has seen a lot of vistors to the cemetery over the years, so may have the answers that the Player Characters are looking for. Unfortunately, it has a tendency to complain about the lack of crematorial etiquette and actually, would like a change of scenery, or even a holiday… The Speaking Headstone is just such a ridiculous idea, but it sounds a lot of fun for the Judge to roleplay, and her players and their characters are sure to loath it. Other locations include the partially submerged skull of a titan, which can be entered and then the length of its bones explored, the deeper the Player Characters penetrate, the better their magic, and a Hanging Tree whose potential effects include wiping from existence anyone who is hung from its branches or transforming them into some form of restitution for their crimes, or even causing another corpse to animate as one of the various undead. The Judge is free to choose, two of the options suggesting story possibilities, which the last feels almost traditional.
Physically, Night Soil #Zero is scrappy—intentionally scrappy. The artwork is likewise intentionally rough. Together with the use of the typewriter style font, the look of the fanzine is designed to match that of the fanzines and books of the seventies and even then their lack of professionalism. It may or may not trigger your sense of nostalgia, but that does not necessarily detract from the readability of the contents of the fanzine.
Night Soil #Zero is a mostly entertaining medley of the miscellaneous and the muddled, organised only by reference to another book. (Which is its major problem.) The inspired sits alongside the indifferent and reading the slim volume is very much a matter of whether you are going to get the former or latter, from one page to the next—or even on the same page! Night Soil #Zero is the equivalent of the blind box purchase for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game—there are definitely things in here that will inspire the Judge and there are definitely things which will leave him uninspired.

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.
Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will 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 choice is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

Published by Straycouches Press, Crawl! is one such fanzine dedicated to the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Since Crawl! No. 1 was published in March, 2012 has not only provided ongoing support for the roleplaying game, but also been kept in print by Goodman Games. Now because of online printing sources like Lulu.com, it is no longer as difficult to keep fanzines from going out of print, so it is not that much of a surprise that issues of Crawl! remain in print. It is though, pleasing to see a publisher like Goodman Games support fan efforts like this fanzine by keeping them in print and selling them directly.

Where Crawl! No. 1 was something of a mixed bag, Crawl! #2 was a surprisingly focused, exploring the role of loot in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and describing various pieces of treasure and items of equipment that the Player Characters might find and use. Similarly, Crawl! #3: The Magic Issue was just as focused, but the subject of its focus was magic rather than treasure. Unfortunately, the fact that a later printing of Crawl! No. 1 reprinted content from Crawl! #3 somewhat undermined the content and usefulness of Crawl! #3. Fortunately, Crawl! Issue Number Four was devoted to Yves Larochelle’s ‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’, a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game for characters of Fifth Level. Crawl! Issue V: Monsters continued the run of themed issues, focusing on monsters, but ultimately to not always impressive effect, whilst Crawl! No. 6: Classic Class Collection presented some interesting versions of classic Dungeons & Dragons-style Classes for Dungeon Crawl Classics, though not enough of them. Crawl! Issue No. 7: Tips! Tricks! Traps! was a bit of bit of a medley issue, addressing a number of different aspects of dungeoneering and fantasy roleplaying, whilst Crawl! No. 8: Firearms! did a fine job of giving rules for guns and exploring how to use in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Crawl! No. 9: The Arwich Grinder provided a complete classic Character Funnel in Lovecraftian mode. Crawl! Number 10: New Class Options! provided exactly what it said on the tin and provided new options for the Demi-Human Classes, whilst Crawl! Number 11: The Seafaring Issue took the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

Published in August, 2016, Crawl! Number 12: The Luck Issue takes the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game on a deep delve into what is perhaps one of the most confusing parts of its rules—and that concerns Luck. In some situations a player has to roll under to make a Luck save in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, but in others a traditional Difficulty Check value needs to be rolled against, the roll modified by the Player Character’s Luck Bonus or Penalty, if any. Numerous authors provide as many options as they can for the Judge to pick and choose from depending upon what would suit her game. This starts with ‘High or Low? Tips for Dealing with Standard Luck Checks’, by the fanzine’s editor, the Rev. Dak J. Ultimak. He suggests using a standard Ability Check, lowering it for a heroic campaign, raising it for a gritty campaign; determining the Difficulty Check randomly each time; or simply just stick to rolling under Luck. There are guidelines too for group Luck Checks. He then counters these options with ‘Alternative Luck Checks – Different Luck Mechanics Instead of Luck Checks’. The options here rolling as per a Traveller skill check; rolling dice al a Craps; pushing a Player Character’s Luck a la the games Dice or Greed; and even what it calls ‘Story Mode’, essentially the Failure, ‘Yes, but’, and ‘Success’ mechanics of roleplaying games using Powered by the Apocalypse. Lastly, in ‘Luck as a Guiding Force – Luck as a Motivator’, Rev. Dak J. Ultimak picks up on using Luck as a motivating force as suggested in chapter seven of Dungeon Crawl Classics, using Luck as rewards for suitable actions in a campaign. So, protecting innocents for a heroic campaign, completing missions in a mercenary campaign, and so on. So numerous options to choose from, the Judge being almost spoilt for choice Except no…
Crawl! Number 12: The Luck Issue does leave the Judge spoilt for choice. The choices continue with ‘Lucky Strikes of Derring Do – A New Way to Burn Luck’ by R.S. Tilton. This enables Classes other than the Warrior to burn Luck and so gain access to a Deed Die—the more Luck burned, the higher the Deed Die—as well as ‘Dastardly Deeds of Deceit’ for the Thief and Halfling Classes with ‘Hamstring’ and ‘Hindering Strike, or Strap Cutter’ manoeuvres, which open up the range of actions they can do.  These are joined by options such as burning Luck to gain a die reroll, to gain a die bump, to turn an ordinary item into a lucky one, and more. ‘Luck Tables’ cover everything (well mostly) from ‘Recovering the Body’ to ‘Feeling Lucky?’ via ‘Bad Hair Days’, the latter most amusing table in the issue.
Rounding out the issue is ‘The Dungeon Balladeer – Bard Songs’ by Mark Bishop. This gives the lyrics for ‘The Ballad of Pervis Grumcobble’, a song regularly performed in the DCC Tavern about the luckiest Halfling to ever live in the kingdom. Thematically, it sort of fits the theme of Crawl! Number 12: The Luck Issue, Halflings, of course, being renowned for their luck, but it is such a change of tone and subject matter that the article is very much an outlier in what is very mechanically focused issue. Plus, as what was designed to be the first in a series, ‘The Dungeon Balladeer – Bard Songs’, tuned out to be the only entry as Crawl! Number 12: The Luck Issue was the last issue of the fanzine.
Physically, Crawl! Number 12: The Luck Issue is decently done, a clean and tidy affair. The artwork—done by Mario T—is decent enough, but hampered by the theme of the issue as there really is not all that much that can be done to illustrate Luck.
Crawl! Number 12: The Luck Issue is the most disappointing issue to date. This is not to say that it is a bad issue per se, or even useless. Dedicated to Luck and overflowing with options that a Judge can pick and choose from, the question is, how many options do you need? How many are you going to use? Of course once chosen, the Judge may never want to look at the other articles and options and this issue itself again. The options are all reasonable, yet it is just too much Luck, too many options for the one issue. Then again, once a Judge has read through Crawl! Number 12: The Luck Issue, she will never have to read another article about Luck again.

She should be so lucky.

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

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

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Name: A Fishy BusinessPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Joerg Sterner

Setting: Jazz Age MaineProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Fifteen page, 15.25 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Between the Mob and the Mythos in Maine.Plot Hook: More to a delivery and a pickup than meets the eye on a road trip in New England
Plot Support: Staging advice, three handouts, six NPCs, three Mythos monsters to be, and one Mythos artefact. Production Values: Reasonable.
Pros# One night one-shot# Potential criminal campaign starter# Low key, weird road trip# Potential Lovecraft Country addition# Underplayed introduction to the Mythos# Lots of questions to be answered at scenario’s end# Broad scope for non-traditional Investigators
Cons# Needs a good edit# Lots of questions to be answered at scenario’s end# Light on Lovecraftian investigative horror# Underplayed introduction to the Mythos for a one-shot?
Conclusion# Short, but potentially interesting and entertaining introduction to the Mythos for a criminally-based campaign set in New England, which leaves a lot questions to be answered.# Short, underplayed investigation and encounter with the Mythos for a one-shot, which leaves too many questions to be answered as a one-shot.

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?
An Orlanthi Wedding is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a thirteen page, full colour, 636.29 KB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy. It is art free, but it needs an edit.

Where is it set?
An Orlanthi Wedding is set in and around the home tula of a Player Character who worships Orlanth. The default setting is Sartar.

Ideally, it should begin in Earth season.

Who do you play?
Player Characters of all types could play this scenario, but one Player Character should be a worshipper of Orlanth. By the default the bridegroom—the Player Character—is assumed to be male and the bride, female. This need not be the case and both players and the Game Master may find The Six Paths to be a useful resource if otherwise. In addition, the scenario does involve sex. Not in a graphic fashion, but it does mean that the scenario is best suited for mature players.

It is suitable for one-on-one with a Player Character and the Game Master, with the Player Character as the Orlanthi of course.

What do you need?
An Orlanthi Wedding requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the Glorantha Bestiary. King of Sartar and The Smoking Ruin and Other Stories will be useful references, but are not required to play the scenario. The original scenario was run as part of a Six Seasons in Sartar campaign and references are made to NPCs from that campaign, but it is not required to run the scenario and they can be substituted with other NPCs.
What do you get?An Orlanthi Wedding is written to be played over the course of several seasons and in between other adventures. When Doreva the Weaver from a neighbouring clan visits the Orlanthi Player Character’s village at the annual Earth Season festival of Ernalda’s high holy days, they meet and begin to form a relationship, and then court each other. Later in the year, their two clans will negotiate the marriage between the two.
Before the marriage takes place, the tribal Eurmali suggests that the Player Character present his bride with the same gifts that Orlanth gave Ernalda. This will require some persuasion and bargaining, as well as possible expenditure of coinage, but if successful, will trigger a minor HeroQuest in which he must fight for his bride against another suitor, just as Orlanth did for Ernalda. In the original encounter, this was with Yelm, but in this recreation, the Player Character must face a Yelmite heroquester—and must do so sans weapons! The other Player Characters have no such restrictions in facing those companions accompanying the interceding Yelmite heroquester.
Then, of course, the marriage takes place. Participants in the HeroQuest are greatly rewarded, the Player Character bridegroom in particular, and an important NPC will be added to the campaign.
If An Orlanthi Wedding has any limitations, it is that it is written specifically for an Orlanthi Player Character. Whilst this makes the scenario relatively easy to use because there are likely to be Orlanth-worshipping Player Characters amongst the party, it leaves the other side of the marriage—the Ernalda worshipping bride and what she experiences—unexplored. Similarly, it does not explore the possibility of both bride and bridegroom being Player Characters. The inclusion and exploration of those options would have increased the flexibility of the scenario. (Another option would be to explore this from the point of view of a Yelm worshipper, but that probably lies outside the scope of the scenario—unless they are a major NPC in the campaign or even a Player Character!)

Lastly, An Orlanthi Wedding will require careful roleplaying upon the part of the Game Master and the player whose Orlanthi Player Character is getting married.
Is it worth your time?Yes—An Orlanthi Wedding is an engaging scenario which draws the Orlanthi Player Character deeper into his community whilst showcasing Orlanthi marriage customs and myths and encouraging strong roleplaying.No—An Orlanthi Wedding is an engaging scenario, but unless one of the Player Characters is a worshipper of Orlanth, it is unlikely to be of use in your campaign.Maybe—An Orlanthi Wedding is an engaging scenario and even if one of the Player Characters is a worshipper of Orlanth, its subject matter and tone may be unsuitable for your campaign. However, it could be used to showcase the possibilities of that subject matter.

The publisher 12 to Midnight has developed its horror setting of Pinebox, Texas through a series of single scenarios written for use with Savage Worlds, the cinematic action RPG rules from Pinnacle Entertainment Group. In July, 2014, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the publisher released the setting through a particular lens and timeframe, that is as students at East Texas University. Over the course of their four-year degree courses, the students undertake study and various academic activities as well as having a social life, a job, and even an annoying roommate. Then of course, there is the weird stuff—ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and more… The challenge of course is that the students have to deal with both, but need to grow into being able to cope with both.

The ETU or East Texas University setting is fully supported by Degrees of Horror, a complete plot point campaign that builds and builds over the course of Study Group’s four-year degree courses. A plot point campaign differs from a standard campaign in that it is a framework of scenarios that advance the plot around which the Game Master can fit and run single scenarios not necessarily pertinent to the campaign’s core plot. These can be of the Game Master’s own design or bought off the shelf—several are available for the setting. The plot points are triggered under certain circumstances; it might be because the Player Characters visit a particular location or because of an action that they have taken. In Degrees of Horror the plot points are also built around areas of academic study and the year in which the Player Character student—or Study Group—are currently in. What this means is that in Degrees of Horror, the Study Group will encounter the first notions of the outré things to come in the first term as Freshmen and both the campaign and the Study Group’s investigations will come to fruition as Seniors at their graduation. However, what happens if the administration and the Dean at the university become aware of the Study Group’s activities? What if the Study Group manages to deal with a threat, but manages to bring outside attention to the strangeness going on at the university in the process and the Dean wants the members of the Study Group out of the way? The Dean cannot expel them, because that would arouse more attention, so what can he do? Well, he can send them abroad. Abroad where they will be out of harm’s way! Abroad where there are no supernatural dangers! Abroad where they cannot get into trouble!

East Texas University: Study Abroad offers not one, but four options for the Study Group which wants to see foreign climes and the Game Master who wants to take her campaign elsewhere—if only for a little while. The options include Costa Rica, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Each chapter includes background and history for the country, cultural differences, descriptions of the institutions where the Students will be studying, a number of Savage Tales (or scenarios) which the Game Master can run over the course of the Semester that the Study Group spends there, and full stats for all of the NPCs, monsters, and other threats that the Students will encounter as part of their investigations. One major cultural difference which is highlighted in each of the four countries is the lack of access to firearms, which may or may challenge some players and their characters in addition to the change in setting and culture. Of course, an East Texas University campaign is unlikely to use all four of settings in East Texas University: Study Abroad, so for those that go unused, the Game Master has a ready supply inspiration for Savage Tales of her own and the monsters to go with them. The anthology already includes a selection of fellow exchange students from around the world which the Game Master can include as NPCs alongside the Player Characters.

The anthology opens with Costa Rica. Geographically, this is the closest to Texas, and culturally it feels not dissimilar too—though of course, there are plenty of differences. The Students will be studying at the Tejas Learning Campus which turns out to be a secret outpost for the Sweet Heart Foundation, one of the major villains from Degrees of Horror. The isolated nature of the campus means that its research can be conducted away from prying eyes and the local cryptids, including Chupacabras, are suitable for both study and experimentation. These are not the only local cryptids that the Students will face, but they are the primary ones. All too quickly, the Students will discover why they have a newly and very recently appointed counsellor as their guide, have both a black dog and white dog stalking them, take one or terrible field trips, and discover quite why it is not a good idea to visit the local town alone—especially if you are female. Whilst there is a good variety of Savage Tales here, they still feel connected to the plots the Students left hanging back in Texas, almost as if they never left. Several of them could easily back to Texas, or at least the south west of the USA without too much difficulty, which cannot be said of the other three Foreign Exchange settings.

The Italy trip takes the Students to the northern city of Turin. Here they will find The Egyptian Museum, the Lombroso Museum—the Museum of Criminal Anthropology—which houses numerous remains of criminals and ‘madmen’, so is likely home to numerous ghosts, and of course, the Shroud of Turin. There are plenty of secrets too, mostly in the extensive network of tunnels below the city. Both museums feature in the first two Savage Tales, whilst the third takes the Students into the tunnels below the city. With just the three Savage Tales, all of them decent, the chapter feels somewhat underwhelming, but in fact, there is a lot here that the Game Master can develop herself, especially as there are several villains which the chapter does not make use of.

The horror in the Poland chapter is definitely Slavic and Jewish in nature—the Morowa Dziewica (murrain maiden), an old crone which bears the plague; the Dybbuk, or those possessed by a spirit; the Upir or ‘peasant’ vampire; and the Rusalka, spirits of women who lead others to their deaths. The Students will encounter one or more of these whilst studying in Białystok in the cold north east of Poland. Again, there is a lot of background and cultural detail here, but instead of sperate Savage Tales, this supports a mini-campaign consisting of five Savage Tales. The strangeness starts almost straight away, with an attack by a fellow student with a surprisingly explosive temper and creepy encounters at a puppet theatre, both of which bring the Students to the attention of certain interested parties, some who want their help, some who do not. The last three Savage Tales focus on the campaign, an investigation into a series of missing persons cases, which includes more than the one option for defeating the villain, one of which amusingly mundane. As a chapter and mini-campaign, the Poland chapter is a pleasing diversion away from the main campaign back at East Texas University if the Game Master is running Degrees of Horror.

The last chapter in East Texas University: Study Abroad is set in merry olde England at Ascalon University near the village of Uffington. The village, once the home of poet John Betjeman, is real even if the university is not, but the chapter incorporates plenty of the local features and history into its setting and accompanying Savage Tales. After a trip from Heathrow to Uffington, which not only highlights the fun of travel in the United Kingdom, but which is also literally beset by Gremlins, the Students settle in only to discover that death and strangeness has followed them! Like the Poland chapter before it, the Savage Tales in the England chapter before it builds towards a mini-campaign, but of course grounded in British folklore, legends, and the poetry of John Betjeman. It is perhaps not quite as focused as the campaign in the Poland chapter, but once it gets going, it has a sense of the bucolic and the ethereal to it. Again, this is a pleasing diversion away from the main campaign back at East Texas University if the Game Master is running Degrees of Horror.

Physically, East Texas University: Study Abroad is well presented and well written. It needs a slight edit in places, but the artwork is excellent and the maps clear and easy to read.

East Texas University: Study Abroad is solid addition to the East Texas University campaign setting and diversion away from the events of Degrees of Horror. Its use is limited though. The Game Master is unlikely more than one or two of these in an East Texas University campaign, but the anthology can be used in serval ways. As a diversion, but still with links back to the main campaign back home, as in the Costa Rica chapter; as a diversion of unconnected adventures as in the Italy chapter; or as separate mini-campaigns, as in the Poland and England chapters. The Poland and England chapters are the more engaging of the quartet, the Poland chapter in particular. Then of course, whatever that the Game Master does not use, she can draw from for inspiration for her own campaign, and there is always scope to develop further Savage Tales and drop them into the chapters as needed. Certainly, both the Poland and England Chapters could be developed into longer campaigns if the Game Master wanted to do so.

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

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It is often forgotten that Star Trek: The Role Playing Game, published by FASA in 1982 was not the first Star Trek roleplaying game. It is often forgotten that Call of Cthulhu, published by Chaosium, Inc. in 1981 was not the first licensed roleplaying game. The very first licensed roleplaying game and the very first roleplaying based on Star Trek was Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier, published Heritage Models, Inc. in 1978. It was best known for its miniatures and besides manufacturing fantasy miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons, it also produced miniatures for the rulesets it published, including both John Carter, Warlord of Mars: Adventure Gaming Handbook and Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier. In the late seventies, it was a major company in the growing hobby market, rivalling TSR, Inc., but by the beginning of the eighties, it was out of business.

Being published in 1978, means that Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier is based upon just the two sources—the original Star Trek series from the sixties and Star Trek: The Animated Series. Consequently, this includes the inclusion of the Kzinti from the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode, ‘The Slaver Weapon’, which would mark the first inclusion of the Kzinti in a roleplaying game a full six years before the publication of The Ringworld Roleplaying Game by Chaosium, Inc. However, the roleplaying and play in Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier is limited to landing missions, and there are no rules for starships or space travel whatsoever. The style of play emphasises exploration and especially combat, essentially ‘dungeon crawl’ or ‘sandbox’ style adventures or missions across planetary surfaces or inside alien structures, all played out over a hex grid. Despite this, the designer admonishes potential players that, “Combat should be the last resort of an officer of the Federation…” Even so, the majority of the rules are devoted to combat and if truth be told, Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier is still more miniatures combat game than roleplaying game with rules primarily designed to necessitate the use, and of course, purchase of miniatures, all available from Heritage Models, Inc.

Play in Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier primarily revolves around the Star Trek personalities, at least initially. Numerous members of the bridge crew and other crew aboard the Enterprise are listed, as well as numerous ‘villains’ such as the Klingon, Captain Koloth, and Sub-Commander Tal of the Romulan Star Empire. Just the basic stats though. There is no background given for any one of these personalities, let alone the Star Trek setting itself, so in coming to play or run Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier, both player and Mission Master—the roleplaying game’s term for the Game Master—need to know the stetting and the characters. On the plus side, Star Trek is so baked into the cultural zeitgeist—and was in 1978—that anyone coming to Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier should have more than a passing similarity to both, if not the nuances.

Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier is divided into the Basic Game and the Advanced Game. The Basic Game covers the basics of Personalities, the basics of the rules and combat, and a Basic Game scenario. The Advanced Game includes its own scenario, rules for character creation, expanded combat rules, familiar Star Trek life forms and their creation, expanded equipment, guidelines for creating scenarios, and notes for the Mission Master. So, in the Basic Game, the players take the roles of the Personalities from original Star Trek series from the sixties and Star Trek: The Animated Series, the Bridge Crew and other members of the Crew. A Personality in Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier is simply defined by his six abilities, all of which are self-explanatory bar one. That is Constitution, which works as a Personality’s Hit Points.

Captain James T. Kirk
Strength 13 Dexterity 14 Luck 15
Mentality 14 Charisma 16 Luck 13
Command
Phaser II
Communicator
Class 2 Hand-to-Hand
Plus 2 to Initiation
Plus 5 in Hand-to-Hand

Mechanically, Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier uses the rules from Space Patrol, published by Gamescience in 1977. If a player wants his Personality to undertake an action, he rolls three six-sided dice and if rolls under the appropriate ability, his Personality succeeds. Luck is used as a general saving throw. Combat takes place over Turns of a minute long, divided into Action Phases of two to five seconds long. Each Action Phase consists of four steps—Decision, Initiation, Execution, and Record-Keeping. Of these, Initiation is actually initiative, which is done in descending order of Dexterity. Decision is when the players decide what their Personalities do, and Execution is when their Personalities do their actions. This includes a full move, half move and attack, attack, reload, or stand up or lie down. Hand-to-Hand combat is handled through opposed rolls of a singe six-sided die plus modifiers. Hand-to-Hand and modifiers above twelve and below nine for Strength and Dexterity for the attacker, and Hand-to-Hand and modifiers above twelve and below nine for Luck for the defender. In Ranged Combat, the attacker and the defender again one die each. For the attacker, the player cross-references his Personality’s Dexterity with the range and roll under the result. If hit, the defending Personality’s player applies modifiers above twelve and below nine for Luck and the resulting number subtracted from the damage, the end result deducted from the defender’s Constitution. This can reduce the damage to nothing, but weapons can also stun. Creatures do not have the same abilities as the Personalities and characters, but just a simple Ability Rating.

The Basic Game also includes rules for basic equipment and even includes an example of play. The scenario in the Basic Game is ‘The Shuttlecraft Crash’. Essentially, this is a rerun of the classic episode, ‘The Galileo Seven’ in which the Personalities have crash-landed their shuttle and must search the area for dilithium deposits in the face of attacks by large, spear-wielding humanoids and other natural hazards. Strangely, the Advanced Game begins with the second scenario in Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier rather than the advanced rules. ‘The Slaver Ruins’ is partially based on ‘The Slaver Weapon’ episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series and sees the Player Characters investigate some ruins and try and stop the ancient technology hidden there from falling into Kzinti hands. Although both scenarios have strong exploratory elements, neither is really a roleplaying scenario by today’s standards since they consist of objectives for the Player Characters to achieve within a limited space and possess little in the way of story or plot development.

The Advanced Game introduces character creation. The default species for Player Characters is Human, but the list of ‘Familiar Star Trek Life Forms’ includes various playable species, such as Andorians, Caitians, and Vulcans alongside Tribbles, Horta, and Sehlats. Abilities are rolled on three six-sided dice and Player Characters have a one percent chance of possessing a single Psionic ability. Psionic ability rolls use the Mentality ability. In addition, a Player Character also has the Size and Movement abilities, the former modified by a roll of a twenty-sided die, the latter by the Player Character’s Strength and items carried. Besides the ‘Familiar Star Trek Life Forms’ lists there are rules for creating creatures as well as a greatly expanded list of equipment. In terms of characters, there are no rules for skills or progression or rank, so no sense of progression in the roleplaying game, at least mechanically.

Unsurprisingly, the Advanced Game also expands the rules for combat. So, Initiation is now a die roll modified by Dexterity and weapons now include an Initiation modifier. Weapons now take into account rate of fire, rounds, reload time, and so on. There are rules too for armour and shielding, from chainmail and kite shield all the way up to energy and kinetic shields and the Klingon armour vest. Grenades the effects of Phaser weapons on overload as well as high explosive, sonic, and photon types.

Whilst the introduction to both Star Trek and roleplaying in Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier can be best described as rudimentary, the advice for the Mission Master in terms of creating her own scenarios and notes is surprisingly good, amounting to roughly three pages between them. The Mission Master is advised to give her creatures motivations—such as the Horta protecting her young—and several scenarios are discussed, such as interstellar police and space salvage. There is even the suggestion that the players roleplay Klingons or Romulans instead! The notes cover both how to take inspiration from the source material and how not to, warns the Mission Master to be a fair arbiter and designer of scenarios, and lastly warns that if the Mission Master fails as a script writer, then just like Star Trek itself, her game will get cancelled!

Physically, it is difficult to judge Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier, since what is being reviewed is a facsimile rather than an original copy of the game. On that basis, it is surprising to see that it has an index, but there are no illustrations and the two maps, one for each scenario, are serviceable rather than attractive. However, on that basis, Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier very much needs an edit, because otherwise, no one will look at Commander Spack quite the same way ever again. The writing in general is concise and easy to understand for anyone coming to the hobby for the first time.

Another surprise is that the facsimile of Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier includes two extra articles, both of which are reprinted from Different Worlds magazine and are the only coverage that the roleplaying game received. ‘Kirk On Karit 2’ (Different Worlds Issue 4, August 1979) by Emmet F. Milestone is primarily a play report of a scenario that he wrote and ran at DunDraCon IV, but it includes an overview of the game plus rules for romantic entanglements, which of course, plays a big part in James T. Kirk’s activities, as well as other personalities in the series. Of more use is ‘Star Trek – Beyond the Final Frontier’ (Different Worlds Issue 18, January 1982), as it expands the rules and arguably rounds them out. Paul Montgomery Crabaugh’s article covers rolling for Player Character species, provides a Rank and Experience Point table as well as discussing Rank within the game, and adds rules for skills and shipboard assignments, including starship type and department. Lastly there are basic rules for creating planets and their populations and level of technology, as well as guidelines for travel at Warp speed. These are well thought out and greatly flesh out Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier, making it much more of a roleplaying game than the miniatures combat with roleplaying elements it was published as. However, Paul Montgomery Crabaugh’s greatly needed article came four years too late. FASA would published its highly regarded Star Trek: The Role Playing Game that same year as Crabaugh’s article and it would include just about everything that article did. Plus of course, it had photographs from the series and more importantly, rules for starship combat.

Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier dates from the early days of the hobby when its ties from wargaming had yet to be truly cut. Thus, this is far more of a wargame than a true roleplaying game, although there are rudimentary roleplaying elements present. The emphasis on combat also means that Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier is a poor Star Trek game, although in the hands of a good Mission Master and players knowledgeable of the source material, that could very much change. By modern standards, Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier is not a good, licensed roleplaying game, not really satisfying the interest of the average Star Trek fan, and neither is it a good roleplaying game. Yet it is not truly terrible, nor is it unplayable, even today. If someone was to run this at a convention as a wargame, complete with miniatures and terrain, it would be accepted as a slice of nostalgia. As a roleplaying game, it be less likely to be accepted as something that was playable. Then again, even in 1978, it is likely that Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier would have been regarded as no more than a serviceable game. Of course, we have since been spoiled with numerous and better Star Trek roleplaying games since 1978, but Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier deserves at least to be remembered as the first Star Trek roleplaying game and the first licensed roleplaying game.

As well as contributing to Free RPG Day every year Goodman Games also has its own ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day’, which sadly, is a very North American event. The day is notable not only for the events and the range of adventures being played for Goodman Games’ roleplaying games, but also for the scenarios it releases specifically to be played on the day. For ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2022’, which took place on Saturday, July 16th, 2022, the publisher released not one, not two, but three booklets. Two of these were specifically for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game—the supplement, Dungeon Crawl Classics Day: The Book of Fallen Gods, and the scenario, Dungeon Crawl Classics Day #3: Chanters in the Dark. The third, DCC Day 2022 Adventure Pack, is a duology of scenarios for both the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. Both scenarios are designed for Player Characters of Second Level, both are nicely detailed, and both can be played in a single session, but neither should take no longer than two sessions to complete.

DCC Day 2022 Adventure Pack opens with ‘Incident at Toad Fork’, a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game written by Brendan Lasalle. This returns to the Appalachian-style fantasy setting of The Shudder Mountains, first seen Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin and more recently compiled in Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin anthology. Consequently, the scenario has a strong sense of the rural versus the urban, the backwoods culture versus the sophisticated manners of the city, the distrust of the latter by the former, and the feeling that them there city folk are invariably out to bamboozle the good folk of The Shudder Mountains.
The scenario opens with the Player Characters invited to the Harvest Moon Dance, an important annual event when all of the Shudfolk from the communities across The Shudder Mountains come together. It is normally a joyous affair, with plenty of dancing and music, but this year is different. A strange shadow is cast over the activities as several of the young men suddenly bolt, running pell-mell into the surrounding woods, oblivious to all entreaties. The Elders entreat the Player Characters to go after them and they quickly encounter strange glamours and a representative of one the devil which competes for Shudfolk souls. This is a fun roleplaying encounter for the Judge to portray, the NPC being akin to the charming and seductive Mister Dark from the film, Something Wicked This Way Comes, as portrayed by Jonathan Pryce (or in this case, Vincent Price). Overall, reminiscent perhaps of Halloween, but set way in the mountains with a Hillbilly sensibility, if the Judge has not yet run Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin, then this is an entertaining and engaging adventure to add to the campaign setting.
Marzio Muscedere’s ‘The Last Life Guardian’ is the second scenario. In this adventure for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, members of the Player Characters’ village have learned a terrifying tale of horror and hope from a dying outland trader. He told them that a Pure Strain Human wizard with the ability to heal and even bring the dead back to life is being held prisoner by savage mutants within a time-ravaged superstructure of the Ancient Ones. The village Rememberers—the wisest of the villagers—have said that the trapped wizard must be none other than a fabled Life Guardian, a surviving member of an ancient pre-disaster order sworn to heal and protect mankind. Consequently, he must be rescued. Which of course, as village’s Seekers, those that go out and search for technology and knowledge of the Ancients and protect the villagers from outside threats, is a task for the Player Characters.
Once at the site of the time-ravaged superstructure, both Seekers and their players will quickly realise one fact each. The Seekers that even the lake is artificial and their players, what with the ruins of café alongside the lake and the tubes curling all over the place, that it is actually a former waterpark! Part of the fun of the scenario is in recognising this fact, as is discovering that it is home to a tribe of fishmen! So what you have is not-Deep Ones at the deep end of the pool and they are not happy with the presence of the Seekers. As well as dealing with the not-Deep Ones, there is still a decent bit of exploration and investigation to conduct, with only a relatively small bit of roleplaying at the scenario’s end. The various locations are nicely detailed, and a lot of thought has gone into twisting a simple waterpark into an aquatic den of danger in Terra A.D. Especially the zombie which appears if the Seekers are just that too curious! Primarily an exploration and combat scenario, the isolated location for ‘The Last Life Guardian’ makes it easy to drop into a campaign, with success granting the Player Characters a potentially useful campaign reward rather than personal ones. 
Physically, DCC Day 2022 Adventure Pack is decently done. The artwork is fun and the maps clear. The map for ‘The Last Life Guardian’ though will need careful examination by the Judge as it is a little busy. Both scenarios are well written and easy to read.

DCC Day 2022 Adventure Pack contains two entertaining scenarios. ‘The Last Life Guardian’ makes a great deal from the one location for the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, but ‘Incident at Toad Fork’ for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and specifically, The Shudder Mountains, is a fun, fast-paced Hillbilly horror scenario which will want to make the Judge take a closer look at the Appalachian-style fantasy of Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin—if he has not already.

Maps form such a fundamental part of our gaming experience. We explore them. We journey across them. We delve into them. We defend them. We attack them. We draw them. We create stories using them. We have been gaming maps for centuries, whether it is to conduct wargames like Kriegsspiel or H.G. Wells’ Little Wars, or more recently explore great dungeons such as B2 Keep on the Borderlands or sprawling sandboxes such as X1 Isle of Dread, or even create a community and its history with a game like The Quiet Year. There is also something else that we can do with maps and that is contemplate, and it is something that Paths does. Designed and drawn by the British Children’s Laureate, children’s book illustrator and author, and political cartoonist, Chris Riddell, Paths is the first game to be published by Betonmond. Or rather it is the first game published by Betonmond that is not a game, although it could be if you wanted.

Paths consists of fifty-two, large one-hundred-and-twenty-five by eighty-five-millimetre cards. Each depicts a landscape crisscrossed by one or more paths. A steep path leads up a hill to a round tower with a single door. A statue of a mermaid sits in the middle of a plaza around which stand a pyramid, a column, and other features. Paths cut through tunnels in the hills. A narrow path joins a junction surrounded by tall, narrow houses. A village sits atop a cliff overlooking a tower below. A field is divided by several routes, but leaves a single tent isolated. An abyss is encircled by the paths. A great viaduct crosses over a valley path. Paths connect to steps that descend to a single platform over a chasm or seemingly connect at random underneath a house that hangs from a wall. Who lives in the tower? Who was the mermaid? What lies in the tunnels? Who lives in the village and where does the narrow path lead? Why is the village higher than the tower? Who lurks in the abyss? What is the platform over the chasm used for? Who lives in the home hanging from the wall? These are just some of the questions that the cards in Paths provoke.

All of the cards are beautifully bucolic and are designed to form a grid, depicting an ever-greater area and range of terrain. As a deck they can be shuffled, cards drawn and laid out to form a whole map, and then done again and again to create new maps each time. Paths suggests that two cards be selected to mark the beginning and the end of a route, and then cards be drawn to map out the route between them, whether direct or meandering. The participant is encouraged to examine each card, asking what it makes him think of or how he feels? The process is intended to be contemplative, even meditative, the participant almost taking a walking holiday across his loving room table.

Lastly, Paths turns the participant into a player and the map cards into a game. It is suggested the map is built collaboratively with perhaps one player as the map-maker who knows the secrets behind each card and location to be revealed as the other players and their heroes add each card to the map. It is suggested that tokens be used and notes taken and dice be used for dice-battles—if needed. These are the limits of the suggestions in Paths, but it would be incredibly easy to import a set of simple rules or even create some. For example…

Paths: The RPG

1. Each player creates an adventurer, for example, a wizard or a warrior. Then name the character.
2. Players take turns as the Map-Maker. When it is your turn, draw a card and add it to the map. Describe it and answer any questions the other players have about it as their adventurers explore it. Portray any characters who live there. Perhaps they want to help the adventurers? Have something to tell them or sell to them (or both)? Perhaps they are hiding secrets? Is there an obstacle or some monsters? Are there secrets to be found?
3. As a player, describe what your adventurer does. Who does he talk to? Where does he look? Let the other players do the same.
4. If there is an obstacle or monster, the Map-Maker rolls a six-sided die. Each player rolls a six-sided die for his adventurer (another player rolls for the current Map-Maker’s adventurer). The highest result defeats or stops the other. If an adventurer would have an advantage because of the situation, a good idea, or he just would (perhaps through force of arms as a warrior or a spell cast by a wizard), he rolls two dice instead on one.
5. The next player becomes the Map-Maker.

Physically, the cards in Paths are large, glossy, and feel good in the hand. The leaflet runs to four pages and is a quick and simple read.

However the participant, player, or Map-Maker uses Paths, there is ultimately a simple truth to Paths. Which is that this set of cards is a beautiful and lovely artifact. A beautiful and lovely artifact which works as inspiration, contemplation, or a game.

Now in its fourteenth year, Free RPG Day in 2021, after a little delay due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, took place on Saturday, 16th October. As per usual, it came with an array of new and interesting little releases, which traditionally would have been tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Of course, in 2021, Free RPG Day took place after GenCon despite it also taking place later than its traditional start of August dates, but Reviews from R’lyeh was able to gain access to the titles released on the day due to a friendly local gaming shop and both Keith Mageau and David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3 in together sourcing and providing copies of the Free RPG Day 2020 titles. Reviews from R’lyeh would like to thank all three for their help.

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In 2020, the most radical release for Free RPG Day was LEVEL 1 – volume 1 2020. Published by 9th Level Games, Level 1 is an annual RPG anthology series of ‘Independent Roleplaying Games’ specifically released for Free RPG Day. LEVEL 1 – volume 1 2020 consisted of fifteen featuring role-playing games, standalone adventures, two-hundred-word Roleplaying Games, One Page Dungeons, and more! Where the other offerings for Free RPG Day 2020—or any other Free RPG Day—provide one-shots, one use quick-starts, or adventures, LEVEL 1 is something that can be dipped into multiple times, in some cases its contents can played once, twice, or more—even in the space of a single evening! The subject matters for these entries ranges from the adult to the weird and back again, but what they have in common is that they are non-commercial in nature and they often tell stories in non-commercial fashion compared to the other offerings for Free RPG Day 2020. The other differences are that Level 1 includes notes on audience—from Kid Friendly to Mature Adults, and tone—from Action and Cozy to Serious and Strange. Many of the games ask questions of the players and possess an internalised nature—more ‘How do I feel?’ than ‘I stride forth and do *this*’, and for some players, this may be uncomfortable or simply too different from traditional roleplaying games. So the anthology includes ‘Be Safe, Have fun’, a set of tools and terms for ensuring that everyone can play within their comfort zone. It is a good essay and useful not just for the games presented in the pages of LEVEL 1 – volume 1 2020 and its sequel, LEVEL 1 – volume 2 2021, which was published for Free RPG Day 2021, but for any roleplaying game,
LEVEL 1 – volume 3 2022—‘The Free RPG Day Anthology of Indie Roleplaying Games’—was made available on Free RPG Day in 2022 and once again provides some fifteen different roleplaying games of varying sizes, subject matters, and maturity in terms of tone. Once again, the volume opens with the same guidelines on safe play, consent, lines and veils, and so on, all useful reminders, especially given the subject matter for the issue, which is ‘myths and legends’. The issue is thus about forging great tales that will live through the ages and remembered long—or not—after the the protagonists have died.
LEVEL 1 – volume 3 2022 opens with Gabrielle Rabinowitz’s ‘The Victor’s Tale’. In this roleplaying game, great heroes face off against mythical monsters, like Beowulf versus Grendel or Hercules versus Lernaean Hydra. Their tales are well known, but what if the monsters had won? What form would their tale take? Designed for two to eight players, but really working best with two, since the game works around confrontations between the ‘Monstrous Hero’ and the ‘Heroic Monster’. It is a simple dice game in which it is possible to steal dice from each other, gain divine favour or even great luck, the aim being to reduce either the might or the will of the opponent. Both winner and loser narrate the result of each bout, but ultimately, the winner of the whole confrontation narrates the final outcome, and the loser’s narration is lost. This is a effective twist upon who is the hero and who is the monster, exploring the concept of the victor writing the history.
If ‘The Victor’s Tale’ gets the anthology off to a good start, it stutters with ‘Battle of the Bards’ by Dustin Winter. The problem with this song-writing game is that the mechanic for determining who wins the actual Battle of the Bands is a simple die roll to see who rolls the highest. It undermines all of the effort made by the players to each create a bard, decide on their bard’s look and musical style, and then randomly determine the length and theme of their entry song. If instead the game is about creating and performing songs, then why have the ‘battle’ aspect to it all? Consequently, ‘Battle of the Bands’ feels half-finished and unpolished.
‘sunlight… a feverdream for an unwilling god and a devoted saint’ by quinn b. rodriguez is an exercise in dialogue about the relationship between a reluctant god and a fervent devotee. Thus, it is more a series of prompts rather than mechanics, but they are effective and the format could easily be adapted to other genres. For example, between Doctor Who and one of Companions. ‘Judas, a dinner party’ is a dinner parlor inspired by the Last Supper and is intended to be played by a large group at a dinner party with multiple courses, with one player as the Host and the other as guests. Designed by Loretta Brady, Skylar Bottcher, Gianna Cormier, Glenn Given, and Samantha Sinacori, the aim is for the Host and another player, known as the Queen of Hearts, to be sat together at the end of the meal, whilst everyone wants to prevent this. Of course, everyone knows who the Host is, but only the Host and the Queen of Hearts know who holds that role. Then between each course, the Host asks two guests to exchange places and the guests altogether agree upon two guests to exchange places. The result is a hidden identity, semi-hidden movement game. Although there are notes on hosting and suggested courses, the game neither matches the anthology’s theme nor is necessarily all that interesting, and what marks this as being different to other hidden identity is the dinner party. The question is, do you need a parlor game with your multi-course meal or a multi-course meal with your parlor game? Especially when the hobby is saturated with hidden identity games?
In comparison, Steffie de Vaan’s ‘Wights’ is focused and sees Wights, descendants of the ancient Wight Wives, who are the downtrodden and the demonised of today’s society, who form a coven to protect themselves and others against the worst of society and its injustices, as well as the supernatural. It is a game of protecting minorities of all kinds, whether through Race, gender, or sexuality, and whether they are facing a band of transphobic thugs or their leader who turns out to be a minor demon, the Wights have the advantage in that they can perform supernatural feats by night. Although more a traditional design, this is a light, but engagingly driven roleplaying game about both activism and protecting communities even by those who would normally be persecuted.
Graham Gentz’s ‘Old Gods of Media’ picks up the anthology’s theme to greater effect, in the players take the roles of gods whose lifespans may last ages or just an age. They are gods of ideas that reach to every man and woman and child, perhaps to find a place, perhaps not. They may be a ‘Cartoon Caregiver Who Wants to be Real’ or a ‘Terrifying Ruler Who Teaches’, whose Brand Awareness will fluctuate over the span of time and it is this that they will track as they attempt to gain cult status. Over time, they will adapt to the prevailing media forms, and this itself is where the roleplaying game becomes interesting in this storytelling game.

‘One Night at Bain House’ by Monica Valentinelli is another one-night affair, but a more interesting and playable game than the earlier ‘Judas, a dinner party’. The Player Characters are guests at a surprise costume ball, which turns out to be the revenge of monsters tired of being hunted. They turn the Player Characters into monsters, but which? Their aim is to determine which monster they are, exploring the house to reveal further secrets, expose invisible threats which plague all of them, and eventually find the cure. The game is diceless, so can be played anywhere with the losers of any actions temporarily taking over the role of Game Master to handle threats. It is also intended to be flexible, so it could be a co-operative game or an adversarial one, and so on. Overall, one of the more detailed and explained designs in the anthology. 
‘Maenads: A Savage Sisters Sheathe’ by Adriel Lee Wilson is an option for the Savage Sisters roleplaying game. The Maenads are actors, acrobats, singers, and performers of daring feats who travel the land performing and entertaining, whilst also ferreting out secret injustices which they put right. This puts a colourful spin upon ‘Savage Sisters: Heroic Women Against a Barbaric World’, which can be found in the pages of LEVEL 1 - volume 1 2020. ‘Vessel’ is another two-player game. Designed by Kyle Ott and Desks and Dorks, one player takes the role of the Vessel, perhaps a family figure or a reformed criminal, whilst the other is the occupying Entity, an Alien Implant or Eldritch Parasite. They take turns being the Game Master as the other attempts to achieve a goal, so the game swings from the ordinary to the outré and back again. Throughout, both will be forced to evaluate the other and the relationship they have with each other. The result is that they create two entwined stories in an odd, almost sitcom-like buddy movie. 

Naturally, ‘Gods of Rock’ by Patrick Watson & Nat Mesnard of Oat & Noodle Studios turns up the sound to eleven in a post-apocalyptic confrontation between two classic rock (music) gods who have been friends and enemies forever. The confrontation switches between duel and performance and back again, in far more effective fashion then the earlier ‘Battle of the Bands’. Dare Hickman’s ‘The Slate: A Game of Creation and Destruction’ is a storytelling game of creation of a world, populating it, filling it with life, destroying it, and so on. It is a short, one session game which progresses to a Final Judgement, an enjoyably sweet exercise in creation and destruction. It is difficult to describe ‘The Stars Were Many’ as a game exactly. V. R. Collins’ design is a solo game in which the player races to save the falling stars from their constellation. It is all done to a time limit in which the player draws cards to plot the movement of his stars to get them into alignment once again. It can be best described as more timed puzzle than a game.
Alexi Sargeant’s ‘To Wield the Blade of Ages’ has an enjoyably mythic quality. The players take the roles of Claimants to the Blade of Ages, come before the Swordkeeper to state their case as to why they should wield it next, as well working to undermine the claims of their rivals. Each Claimant will extoll his virtues and his glories, whilst also having to explaining the other claimants’ reports of your poor conduct and actions. The Swordkeeper will interview the claimants in turn, handing out Merit and Dishonour dice as he sees fit. These will eventually rolled, with the results from the Dishonour dice cancelling out those from the Merit dice, and the Claimant with the highest result not only being awarded the Blade of Ages, but also allowed to influence narration of how the other Claimants are remembered. This is an engaging game of competitive storytelling with the Swordkeeper also pushing back at the Claimants’ tales of their heroics and should prove entertaining to play.
Lastly, Jim Dagg’s ‘Insubordinate’ bills itself as “An antifascist science fantasy RPG inspired by Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and XIII.” Consequently, it pretty much wears that influence on its sleeve (or is that in its spikey hair and extraordinarily large blade?), so it is very easy to buy into the set-up and genre if you know the inspiration. The players take the roles of resistance fighters standing up against the all-powerful Dominion, which has decided to subvert, control, and leverage an Ancient Power to gain its power over the world. The players get to design characters using different battle styles, black elemental or sabotage spells, white protective spells, and techniques which include practical skills and tricks. The game is played as a series of missions, broken down in acts representing different hurdles the Player Characters have to overcome or defeat or avoid. ‘Insubordinate’ lends itself to campaign play and really should have the players humming the victory music at the end of every battle.

LEVEL 1 – volume 3 2022 is a slim, digest-sized book. Although it needs an edit in places, the book is well presented, and reasonably illustrated. In general, it is an easy read, and most of it is easy to grasp. It should be noted that the issue carries advertising, so it does have the feel of a magazine.

As with previous issues, LEVEL 1 – volume 3 2022 is the richest and deepest of the releases for Free RPG Day 2022. Not every one of the fifteen games in the anthology explores its theme of ‘myths and legends’, but for the most part, the fifteen are interesting, even challenging, and will provide good sessions of roleplaying. Some though are not interesting or even playable as a game, but the good outweighs the bad—or the uninteresting. Once again, despite the variable quality of its content, of all the releases for Free RPG Day 2022, LEVEL 1 - volume 3 2023 is the title that playing groups will come back to again and again to try something new each time.

Now in its fifteenth year, Free RPG Day in 2022, was celebrated not once, but twice. First on Saturday, 25th June in the USA, and then on Saturday, 23rd July internationally. This was to prevent problem with past events when certain books did not arrive in time to be shipped internationally and so were not available outside of the USA. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Reviews from R’lyeh was get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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Goodman Games provided two titles to support Free RPG 2022. The first was The Three-Wizard Conundrum, an entertaining scenario for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, much in the mode of The Dying Earth stories by Jack Vance. The other was an adventure for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, as you would expect, highly anticipated. Free RPG Day 2022 – Dungeon Crawl Classics: Danger in the Air is a Character Funnel, one of the features of both the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game—in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. If one or more of the Player Characters survive—and the players may need to share some of their surviving characters if one or more players get theirs killed—then they will have each acquired the sufficient Experience Points necessary to rise to the heady heights of First Level. In the process, they will gain a Class and all of its benefits.
Free RPG Day 2022 – Dungeon Crawl Classics: Danger in the Air begins with a strange occurrence. As the villagers look up, they see a strange alien creature drifting in the air above their homes, its translucent body rent with weeping wounds. Within its body can be seen a structure and from one damaged corner gold and other treasure glints, even as the occasional trickle of alien, though doubtless gold, coins rains from the sky. Already, other villagers have scavenged treasures beyond their imagination from the blobs of alien flesh which have fallen from the sky, but there is surely more—much more—to be found inside the odd combination of jellyfish with butterfly-like wings? Fortunately, there is an easy way up. Numerous tentacles and tendrils dangle from its underside, and if some brave souls can climb their length, there has to be a way inside. After all, how else did the treasure get there otherwise? There are certain to be dangers too, but any man, woman, elf, dwarf, or halfling, armed only with a stick or a pig or a piece of overly fragrant cheese, brave enough to make the climb and explore the strange structure is destined for better things.
Getting into the strange floating object is relatively easy and what the Player Characters discover is not one, but two weird combinations. The first is that of Science Fiction and fantasy, though actually, more the former than the latter. The second is strange biology with technology. This will be apparent to the players of course, but not their characters, for whom Clarke’s Third Law—“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”—definitely applies. This is because the object turns out to be an advanced interdimensional spacecraft which suffered a catastrophic encounter and with its occupants dead, drifted into the Player Characters’ world. It also means that there are a lot of strange devices and objects which the Player Characters can interact with to various effects. The adventure consists of just eleven locations across three floors, and it should no surprise that each includes lots of detail that the Judge can use to bring the adventure location to life.
A playing group should be able to play through Free RPG Day 2022 – Dungeon Crawl Classics: Danger in the Air in just about a single session. If any of the Player Characters survive long enough to discover and return with the treasure its vault holds, then they will be surprisingly wealthy as well having sufficient Experience Points to each First Level. The Judge also has a hook or two which she can develop into a possible sequel. Hopefully, Goodman Games will return to the story in a sequel to Free RPG Day 2022 – Dungeon Crawl Classics: Danger in the Air.
Physically, Free RPG Day 2022 – Dungeon Crawl Classics: Danger in the Air is slightly disappointing as it is not quite up to the standards usually set by the publisher. In places the writing is rushed and the map, whilst clearer than in other releases for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, is mislabelled. The artwork is excellent and entertaining though.
Free RPG Day 2022 – Dungeon Crawl Classics: Danger in the Air is a thoroughly entertaining scenario. It definitely offers a fun session of roleplaying mind-boggled villagers just trying to work what they have themselves into and wondering if they are going to be able to get out again. 

Now in its fifteenth year, Free RPG Day in 2022, was celebrated not once, but twice. First on Saturday, 25th June in the USA, and then on Saturday, 23rd July internationally. This was to prevent problem with past events when certain books did not arrive in time to be shipped internationally and so were not available outside of the USA. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Reviews from R’lyeh was get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future is the new quick-start and introduction to Cyberpunk Red, the fourth edition of the Cyberpunk roleplaying game originally published by R. Talsorian Games Inc. in 1988. Inspired by the Cyberpunk literary subgenre—of which William Gibson’s Neuromancer was a leading example—Cyberpunk Red is set in a dark future ravaged by disease, ecological collapse, corporate rapaciousness, and political unrest. The massive growth of corporations as extraterritorial entities, which radically dividing the future into one of extreme haves and havenots, was shattered in 2023 when a ‘pocket nuke’ was detonated in the Arasaka headquarters in the west coast metroplex of Night City. This ended the Fourth Corporate War between Arasaka and Militech, devastated Night City, and brought economic and environmental devastation to the world, causing a depression which continues two decades on... It ended corporate domination, reducing corporations to being local and international; turned much of the USA into a new Wild West where safe travel could often be promised by the Nomad tribes. For years after the nuclear detonation, the sky was red and still is at dawn dusk, leading the new age to be known as the Time of the Red.

The world of Cyberpunk Red is violent, neon cast, and dominated by technology to the point where it has been subsumed into the body. Cyberware enables humanity to be faster, stronger, have better senses, and more. Some have reacted to this mechanical invasion of the body with technoshock, but other have embraced it, living on the edge, taking advantage of their enhancements to be able to rip doors off with their cyberarms, drive their car or aerodyne with inhuman reflexes via interface plugs, tune into the infrared with cybereyes, or even cast their consciousness into local NET architectures at the speed of data. All to survive, make money, and build their rep. They are known as Edgerunners.
The setting for Cyberpunk Red and Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future is Night City, the independent west coast city state where the ‘pocket nuke’ was detonated in 2023 and is still rebuilding after the effects of the bomb. Services, supplies, and law enforcement are what you pay for. The reduced corporations still supply and provide almost everything, from power to food to medical services to media, often brought in by Nomad tribes that run transport in the new North America, independents do grow real food though, and whilst the corporations have their own security, freelancers and bodyguards are available for hire, though the city maintains a Maximum Force Tactical Division or ‘Psycho Squad’ or ‘MAX–TAC’ which handles cybernetic criminals or anyone suffering from Cyberpsychosis. As inhabitants of Night City, you get your information from city wide freestanding dataterms and news from screamsheets downloaded to a personal agent helps you with your daily life from phone calls to shopping; you wear clothing able to emit sounds and video, even monitor your condition; you do your shopping at self-contained, armed and armoured Vendits; you eat kibble or good prepack food if you can; and you go armed. Either a Polymer One-shot easily bought or printed, or something bigger purchased from a Fixer after it has been scavenged from the Fourth Corporate War or smuggled into the city. The same goes for Cyberware...
Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future devotes the first quarter of its forty-eight pages to introducing the genre of Cyberpunk and Cyberpunk Red as a setting. The former covers the attitudes of the genre—‘Style Over Substance’, ‘Attitude is Everything’, and ‘Live on the Edge’—before the latter provides a surprisingly detailed overview of Cyberpunk Red’s dark future. This overview is of course, much shortened from the Cyberpunk Red core rulebook, but there is a lot of information here, including a timeline running from 1990 to 2045 and a description of Night City, as well as its notable megacorporations, gangs, and street slang.
The middle part of Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future is devoted to explaining the rules. Mechanically, both it and Cyberpunk Red uses the Interlock system. In general, for his Edgerunner to do anything, a player will roll a ten-sided die and add the Edgerunner’s Stat and Skill (or Role Ability) to the result in order to beat a Difficulty Value. This Difficult Value is thirteen for an Everyday task, fifteen for Difficult, seventeen for Professional, twenty-one for Heroic, and so on. Critical successes—rolls of ten—enable a player to keep rolling and adding to his total as long as he keeps rolling ten, whereas Critical failures—rolls of one—forces him to roll again and subtract from the total, but just the once. In combat, chases, and so on, the rolls tend to be opposed, both sides rolling and adding their character’s Stat and appropriate Skill.
Combat covers gun combat, melee combat, and brawling, including various manoeuvres such as grab, choke, hold action, and more. Weapon damage is rolled on six-sided dice, such as five six-sided dice for a shotgun and three for a heavy pistol. Whenever a damage roll includes two or more rolls of six, a critical injury is inflicted and a roll on the Critical Injuries table is required. This can result in the character having a limb dismembered, a collapsed lung, crushed fingers, or worse… Also included in the rules is another kind of combat—the facedown. This enables a character to gain a psychological advantage over an opponent.
The scenario in Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future is ‘Getting Paid: A First Job for Cyberpunk Red’. It is short, consisting of really only two scenes, focusing on conflict and confrontation, and it should only take a single session to play through. Designed as an introduction to Night City and Cyberpunk Red, as the scenario opens, the Player Characters or Edge Runners have made a score, having stolen some money from the South Night City Docks. However, a gang of corrupt cops have learned about the theft and sets the Edge Runners up to take the money from them after beating up their fixer. After surviving an ambush, the Edge Runners are free to take whatever approach they want in getting the money back, including diplomacy, violence, and stealth.
‘Getting Paid: A First Job for Cyberpunk Red’ is designed to be played by five players and five pre-generated Edge Runners are provided in Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future. They are a Rockerboy, a Solo, a Tech, a Medtech, and a Media. Rockerboys are rock and roll rebels who use performance and rhetoric to fight authority; Solos are assassins, bodyguards, killers, and soldiers for hire in a lawless new world; Techs are renegade mechanics; Medtech are doctors who patch up meat and metal alike; and Medias are reporters and journalists looking to break the big story. Each pre-generated Edgerunner is given a two-page character sheet. On the front is an illustration of the Edgerunner as well as his full stats, skills, armour, weapons, cyberware, and gear. On the back is some background, plus spaces for the Edgerunner’s Lifepath to be filled in. Once a player has selected the Edgerunner he wants to play, he rolls on the Lifepath table—a feature of Cyberpunk going all the way back to Cyberpunk 2013 and replicated in a stripped back version in the Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future—to determine his Background, Motivation, Goals, Friends (other than the player characters), Enemies, Romance, and Personality. This nicely adds a degree of variation between the player characters and gets them rolling dice even before play, and in addition, the Game Master is encouraged to tie the results of some of these dice rolls into the scenario.
Physically, everything in the Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future is presented in full colour. The layout is clean and tidy, the illustrations are fully painted pieces and excellent. The two maps provided for the encounters in ‘Getting Paid: A First Job for Cyberpunk Red’ are also nicely done. Overall, Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future is an enjoyably readable product.
There are two issues with Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future, both of which it shares with the earlier Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit. One is that does not name its weapons or cyberware, so that all of the gear feels flat and generic, rather than giving flavour as it should. The second is that it does not include the Netrunner Role, the cybernetic master hackers of the post-NET world and brain burning secret stealers. This is understandable, as the Role is mechanically and conceptually far more complex than any of the Roles used in ‘Getting Paid: A First Job for Cyberpunk Red’, and its inclusion would potentially slow down game play in what is designed to be a fast-paced, action orientated scenario. That said, the Netrunner is one of Cyberpunk Red’s signature Roles and its absence is felt in Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future.
With its combination of background, rules, Edge Runners, and straightforward scenario, Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future does feel like a mini or stripped back version of the Cyberpunk Red core rule book. Essentially, as the title suggests, Cyberpunk Red on ‘Easy Mode’. Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode – An Introduction to the Dark Future is a solid, serviceable, and succinct introduction to Cyberpunk Red that delivers a one-session taster of the Time of the Red.