Every year Goodman Games publishes a holiday-themed scenario. Some years it is for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, other years it is for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. For 2020, the scenario is for the former rather than the latter. Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town is a Level 2 adventure, that is, it is designed for Player Characters of Second Level. Which means that it is not 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. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town is not even a scenario which can be easily slotted into a campaign. This is due to two factors. First, it thoroughly embraces its Christmas theme and second, it is intended as a one-shot.

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town takes place in The Frozen North, home to Christmas Town where Lord Claus and Mrs. Claus resides together, a Peppermint Mine, Christmas Tree Forest, and more. At the centre of Christmas Town, atop a majestic pine tree, sits the Yule-Light, casting its joyful and life-enhancing light over the small town and its inhabitants. Yet its radiant light, a symbol of goodwill and hope to all, has of late, waned, and in its dim glow, a gloom has fallen over Christmas Town, just on Christmas Eve. At the same time, a sickly-sweet wind has begun to blow from the north, and Lord Claus himself has been stricken. Elsewhere, there are rumours that the Abominable Snow Monster of The North has returned from beyond the Polar Wastes in search of food, and Lord Claus’ trusted champions—Yukon of Cornelius, Rudolph the Red, and the powerful dental-mancer, Hermey, have all gone missing. Yet these pale into significance given the possibility of the Yule-Light being extinguished and allowing evil seep into the world… 

As Lord Claus lies sick in his bed, he urges a band of doubty adventurers, including an Elf Toymaker, a Who-Ville Halfling, Fledgling Reindeer, Mrs. Claus, a Snowman, a Special Delivery Courier, and a Lamplighter, to go forth and look for his missing lieutenants, before warning them that the Grinch has awoken, and that perhaps the true spirit of Christmas may be found in his lair… Wherever that is? Inspired by classic Christmas stories like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, and especially How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town comes with numerous maps, a puzzle or two, seven pre-generated Player Characters, and an eight-location sand-crawl. Initially, the Player Characters will have only a little idea as to which location to go to first, relying at first on what little knowledge they possess and rumours they can learn in Christmas Town, and then at each of the scenario eight locations. These include Christmas Tree Forest, the Isle of Misfits which is home to King Moonracer, a Peppermint Mine, the Winter Warlock’s Tower, and more. At most these, none of which run to more than a handful or two of entries, the Player Characters should be able to find not just clues, but also magical items which will help them elsewhere.

There is a duality to the tone of Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town. The most obvious is humorous and light-hearted, playing up the elements of traditional Christmas stories and especially How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, for this is very much an American Christmas. This is seen especially in the pre-generated Player Characters, which are Christmas-themed versions of traditional Dungeon Crawl Classics Classes. For example, Fireball the Reindeer is a Warrior who attacks with antlers and hooves, and has limited flight, and Mrs. Claus is actually a Cleric armed with a rolling pin and in addition to divine spells, can rustle up delectable dishes with ease. And of course, the choice of monsters drawn from Christmas stories are fairly humorous, as are some of the encounters, such as the Strange Metal Pole which the Player Characters are compelled to lick and have their tongues stuck which is not good for spellcasters). Conversely, the other side to Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town is fairly grim. Such as with an Abyssal Reindeer Demon armed with a crossbow capable of pecking out the eyes of his targets! Thankfully the grim bits counter the sugary sweet bits in the module.

Ultimately, the likelihood is that Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town will be completed in a single session—perhaps two at the very most. This can be done using two approaches. One would be to play through it like a typical sandbox adventure, primarily using brute force, and there is a lot of opportunity for that, but the other approach would be to play to the scenario’s Christmas theme, which when combined with good roleplaying will work in places. Similarly, the scenario’s puzzles, of which there are two, can be dealt with using either of these approaches. Both are fairly silly affairs and depending upon the play style of the group, may be accepted as is or considered to be just a little frustrating. That said, the scenario might have been improved with a third puzzle to really round it out a little—a trio of puzzles is more fitting than just a pair.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town is decently done. The artwork is fun, but the maps are perhaps a little dark and a lighter look might have suited the tone of the scenario better.

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2020 Holiday Module: The Doom That Came to Christmas Town is a thematically fun one-off, working best when players and Judge alike embrace and play up to its themes. It is good for that end of year palette cleanser, a change of pace and tone between campaigns or breaks in campaigns.

The gods have always fought against the generations of gods that came before them. In Greek myth, the Olympians—the gods with which we are most familiar from Greek and Roman mythology—fought a decade-long battle to see who would have dominion over the world. This is the ‘Titanomachy’, or War of the Titans. It is this war and this intergenerational conflict of young gods rebelling against and ultimately defeating their parents which is a major influence for Scion, the roleplaying game in which players roleplay the mortal descendants of gods—or Scions—who grow to become both the agents and the active presence of their parents in The World, the mortal realms as we know them. Of course, such tales of intergenerational godly conflict are not confined to Greek and Roman mythology, and neither are the Scions. Thus, in Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero, they include not just the Theoi or Greco-Roman pantheon, but also the Aesir or Norse Gods, the Manitou or Algonquian pantheon, Netjer or Egyptian pantheon, the Kami or Japanese Gods, the Tuatha Dé Danann or Irish Gods, the Óríshá or Yórúba pantheon, the Devá or Gods of South Asia, the Shén or Chinese pantheon, and Teōtl or Aztec pantheon. And each pantheon has its own set of Titans, older deities more archetypal embodiments of a particular purview whose pursuit of their primal urges tend to have destructive effects, especially on the mortal realms. Consequently, the Gods, many of them children of the Titans, imprisoned the Titans, who have rattled their chains ever since, more recently weakening them and allowing their more monstrous offspring to enter The World and threaten humanity. However, the relationships between the Gods and their Titans varies from one Pantheon to the next, and it is these relationships which are explored in Titanomachy, a supplement for both Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero which brings the second War against the Gods one step closer.

Published by Onyx Path Publishing, Titanomachy can be divided into three large chapters. The first of these is devoted to ‘The Titans’ and details the various Titans of Scion’s ten pantheons—or rather it does not. In each case, the Titan is fully detailed, including aliases, callings and purviews, relationships and agendas, view of other pantheons, and current priorities. There are typically three or four entries per pantheon, plus the Birthrights for the Scions of the Titans of that pantheon. These include creatures, followers, guides, and relics.

For example, the Titans for the Aesir are Jörð, Nidhoggr, Surtur, and Ymir. Jörð is described as the most beautiful of Aesir, an Earth Mother and creator of the Dwarves, whose father was killed by Asgardians and who was in turn abandoned by Odin, and ultimately, their son, Thor. Although she misses her son, her heart has grown bitter at the treatment by both him and his father. Jörð’s Callings are Guardian, Lover, and Primaeval,  and her Purviews are Beauty, Earth, Epic Stamina, Fertility, and Passion (Love). Her relationships and agendas primarily involve looking for companionship beyond the confines of the Pantheon, having grown bored of their repetitive behaviour, but as intelligent and skilled as she is, her own behaviour is often smothering and repetitive. Jörð holds the other Aesir in contempt, but is beginning beyond its confines for ideas and companionship, and her current priorities include protecting endangered species, and protecting and loving those Scions she creates—and of course, expecting much love in return. Automatically, Jörð makes for a great—or is that terrible mother figure?—especially if the Scion Player Character is related to Thor or Odin, or even simply red-headed. She could even be supporting radical eco-activists in their efforts to protect endangered species.

The other Titans of the Aesir—and of course, those of the other pantheons, are given a similar treatment. Thus for the rest of the Aesir, Nidhoggr is either the ‘Corpse-Chewer’ or ‘The Pretender’, who might be the serpent who gnaws the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, or who might be the nemesis or simply a trick of Niõhöggr, who also gnaws the roots of Yggdrasil. It is intentionally confusing, but Scions of either are bent on the destruction of the other. As for Surtur, he is only concerned with his duty—fiery destruction and causing natural disasters for regrowth, and lastly, Ymir, the father-of-himself and all of the Aesir, plots to take Asgard as is his right, but his head-in-clouds mind and drive to micro-manage his fellow Titans and his own Scions means that he is rarely successful.

In terms of Birthrights, the Scions of the Titans of the Aesir might have access to creatures such as the cows sacred to Ymir, which he uses to send messages—whether in the slaughterhouse house or on the dairy farm, whilst Jörð uses her Followers the Dvergar, as her Messengers and Guides. An unaligned Guide and Messenger is Ratatoskr, the squirrel of the World Tree, who when not annoying Nidhoggr (or Niõhöggr) carries news and spreads lies, surely a great role model for a scurrilous gossip mongering Titan Scion! Then for relics, the ‘Brains in a Bottle’ provides a means of very limited communication with Ymir, ‘Jörð’s Bracelets’ allow the wearer to draw power directly from earth, ‘Nidhoggr’s Tooth’ is a dagger carved from a tooth capable of piercing any armour and holding any poison, and ‘Ymir’s Skull Fragment’ enables the user to view anywhere visible from the sky.

Titanomachy does this in turn for each of the Titans for almost all of the Pantheons, giving the Storyguide a wide range of options and foes to bring into her campaign. Where this diversity gets really interesting though, is how each of the various pantheons relates to its Titans. The Devá or Gods of South Asia loathe not only their own Titans, but those of other pantheons and take exception to pantheons who are more forgiving of them. The Titans and the Kami or Japanese Gods simply hate each other over a betrayal which happened centuries before, whilst those of the Manitou or Algonquian pantheon are simply seen as troublesome members of the same family. Similarly, the Titans of the Netjer or Egyptian pantheon are also accepted, but more as a balancing counterparts to their corresponding gods who defeat them over and over. The Titans facing the Shén of the Chinese pantheon are mired and quantified into the celestial bureaucracy, whilst those of the Teōtl or Aztec pantheon work to destroy the world completely, just as they have four times before. Of course, the gods of the Theoi or Greco-Roman pantheon hate their Titans, whilst the Tuatha Dé Domnann are only Titans because they lost their battle against the Tuatha Dé Danann or Irish Gods. Lastly, the exceptions are the gods of the Óríshá or Yórúba pantheon, which lacks Titans and dismisses the concept, fundamentally because of the divisive and delegitimizing nature of the categorisation.

Having presented the Storyguide with such a diverse range of mythological creatures, would be gods, former gods, and more, the second chapter to Titanomachy delves into ‘Storyguiding’. This highlights the questions a Storyguide needs to address before bringing Titans into her campaign—how big a role, which pantheons, has the Cold War between the gods and the Titans turned ‘hot’, and so on. What level are the Player Characters involved in the war—hot or cold—at street level, globetrotting across The World, or delving in and out of Terra Incognita, increasing the mythic stakes at each level? Along with numerous plot hooks covering numerous Titans presented in the previous chapter, there is also good advice on how to use the Titans. As NPCs, they might range free, come to the Player Characters for help (or vice versa), languish in prison (which is traditional) and thus requiring a visit, and even serve as allies. One interesting option covered is as Titan Scions, that is as Player Characters, having a Titan Calling instead of a Scion Calling. This lends itself to some great roleplaying challenges and storytelling possibilities as Titans are often prone to inhuman behaviour due to their parentage (whether actual or adopted). However, this may not be welcome in every playing group, and the authors suggest that for this reason, the inclusion of Titan Scions as Player Characters be discussed first.

The various levels of play—street level, globetrotting around The World, and into Terra Incognita are supported with three extended scenario outlines, each three acts long and accompanied by stats for the Storyguide characters. The street level scenario is  ‘Diaspora’, a locked room type mystery where the room is actually a whole airport in which the Scion must find some stolen relics, uncover imposters, solve a murder, and survive an apocalyptic boss fight in the course of an afternoon. The World scenario, ‘Lunar New Year’ is more open and can either start a campaign or be dropped into it as the Scions investigate the disruptive activities of a chaotic Titan Scion in New York. ‘Bring Forth a Greater Thunder’ is the Terra Incognito scenario and is far more open in its structure, consisting of key scenes and various subplots. All three scenarios involve the three areas of play intrinsic to Storypath games—action-adventure, intrigue, and procedural, and all nicely show what a Scion scenario can involve.

Lastly, the chapter on ‘Storyguiding’ discusses another type of entity key to many pantheons and mythologies—dragons! Dragons claim to have existed before the creation of The World and to have been the first in The World, which many Titans find objectionable. This is exacerbated by there being some overlap between Titans and Dragons, so that there may be two beings of the same name, but be different all together and be the same at the same time. As with the earlier Nidhoggr (or Niõhöggr), this is intended to be slightly confusing. Potentially though, Dragons represent a threat that Scions and Titans can both agree on.

The third and final chapter in Titanomachy consists of ‘Antagonists’, a wide range of enemies, potential allies, and other Storyguide characters. There is a guide to adjusting adversaries up and down to match the Scions and building archetypes adding Qualities and Flairs like ‘Bringing the House Down’, ‘Entrap’, and ‘Miasma’ to  base Spawn or Titanic minions, before listing over eighty examples. These include the familiar creatures of myth and legend, from Banshee, Fomorians, Gremlins to Internet Trolls (Lesser and Greater), Phouka, and Wendigo, alongside the unfamiliar and the individual. The former are drawn from mythologies less familiar to a Western audience, for example, the Harionago, female monsters who stalk the streets strangling with their hair anyone who returns their smiles or the Tikoloshe, creatures of polluted water and spite born to make the lives of others miserable. The latter are individual Titan Scions, such as Ed and Edie Jackson, sweet old pensioners adopted by Prometheus who setting fire to buildings and even Timothy Allgood, a tireless advocate for the release of Titans everywhere, who may be simply a good talk show guest or an actual Titan Scion.

Lastly, an appendix provides a raft of new rules. These include Collateral, a means of handling damage or events  to the environment around them when the Scions face Titan Scions or creatures of legendary size, and numerous Birthrights, from Cyclops, Dragon Secretary, and Grigori Rasputin to Cursed Copper Goods, Silk Spider Shawls, and Sinister Hands. The appendix is rounded off with a wide selection of Knacks that any Storyguide character or Player Character Titan Scion can have, depending upon their Titan Calling.

Physically, Titanomachy is well written and well presented. The artwork varies a little in quality, but otherwise, this is a decent looking book.

Titanomachy could simply have just been a book of monsters and their stats. Fortunately, it is much more than that. Many of the Titans and creatures and Titan Scions are monsters and are likely to serve as enemies to the Player Character Scions, but Titanomachy provides and discusses options to make them much more—frenemies, potential and/or temporary allies, and thus more interesting. In doing so, it builds on the thoroughly enjoyable descriptions of the Titans given for each of the pantheons that in turn lend themselves to great story hooks, interesting relationships with the Player Character Scions, and good roleplaying. All that and the descriptions also serve as more great introductions to the stories and myths of each pantheon such that the reader wants to find out more. Plus there are the detailed scenario outlines and plot hooks and actual monster, creature, and Titan Scion descriptions and stats which all together almost feel like a bonus!

Titanomachy is not just a great read for the Storyguide, but an indispensable guide to both the obvious foes of the Player Character Scions and how to turn a few of them into something more than just foes. Once the Storyguide has her Player Character Scions on their paths to divinity, Titanomachy is a next-step purchase for both Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero.

In comparison to Tales from the Loop, there is relatively little support for its sequel, Things from the Flood. Both share a setting in Mälaröarna, the islands of Lake Mälaren, east of Stockholm, first in the 1980s and then in 1990s, the site of the Facility for Research in High Energy Physics—or ‘The Loop’—the world’s largest particle accelerator, constructed and run by the government agency, Riksenergi. Both are settings drawn from Simon Stålenhag’s artwork, Tales from the Loop contrasting an almost pastoral idyll against a hi-tech world of the Loop, robots, and skies filled with ‘magnetrine vessels’, freighters and slow liners whose engines repel against the Earth’s magnetic field, an effect only possible in northern latitudes. In Things from the Flood, the pastoral idyll has been spoiled, the lands around the Loop spoiled by a hot, brown liquid bubbling up out of the ground, Riksenergi being shut down and the Loop being sold off, robots suffering from a strange cancer, and the resulting economic crisis would lead to depression, personality changes, divorces, gambling disorders, and more… Where Tales from the Loop is positive in tone and has a fascination with technology, Things from the Flood is darker and has a fear of technology.

Thankfully for fans of Things from the Flood—and other titles from Free League Publishing, there is the Free League Workshop. Much like the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons, this is a platform for creators to publish and distribute their own original content, which means that they also have a space to showcase their creativity and their inventiveness, to do something different, and perhaps even surprise us. So it is with Somethings are Better Left Unsaid.

Somethings are Better Left Unsaid is a scenario for Things from the Flood, and whilst it does involve things, it does not involve either floods, Loops, or even Sweden. It is still set in the 1990s though, but Australia, rather than Sweden, and the Teens are still teenagers. It is the second in a series of adventures—the first being Shakespeare’s Monkeys—involving the efforts of the research company, Northstar R&D, led by its founding CEO, Jeremy Longstaff, which wants to bring some of the technological and scientific benefits, in particular, the magic of magnetite, from the Loops in Sweden and Boulder City, Nevada, to the Southern Hemisphere. It is a short, one or two session scenario set in the lakeside town of Jindabyne, a small tourist resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia.

Despite sharing the same location and being set in Australia, Somethings are Better Left Unsaid is a little different in comparison to Shakespeare’s Monkeys. In a way, it feels less Australian because it does not involve an intelligent creature a la the series, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (which in Shakespeare’s Monkeys manages to feel simultaneously appropriate and inappropriate). However, because it forgoes this obvious potential for parody, it allows the authors to bring in something which is genuinely Australian and so brings colour into the scenario which was not present in Shakespeare’s Monkeys. This is Behind the News, a long-running news programme broadcast on Australia’s ABC TV and aimed at upper primary and lower secondary students to help them understand issues and events outside their own lives. Show the players an episode of this—especially those from the nineties and perhaps worked into scenes earlier in Shakespeare’s Monkeys and that would go towards adding colour to the four scenarios.

The other difference between the two scenarios is that Somethings are Better Left Unsaid brings the threat at its heart closer to home—or at least closer to school. The Teens of Jindabyne begin to have the weirder feelings than the norm—that they almost know what others are thinking and of floating just above their bodies as they fall asleep at night, just as radios keep squawking static and the sound of voices begging. Could these be connected? The one day at school, just as they are about to watch the latest episode of Behind the News, their science teacher, along with a fellow student,  faints in class. If they go to check on either of them in hospital the next day, they discover that the local doctors are both perplexed and worried, but a strange old man, accompanied by bodyguards no less, seems to be taking an interest in them. Things take a really weird turn the next day when the substitute the science teacher who is sick, Doctor Matianov, is actually the strange old man who was seen at the hospital the day before. This is not just weird, for it gets worse when it becomes obvious that Doctor Matianov is actually a terrible teacher! Just what is going on and just what does it have to do with Doctor Matianov? Is he really a teacher? Has he joined the staff at the school for reasons of his own?

Somethings are Better Left Unsaid is creepy and weird and ties into our fears—and those of the Teens—of conspiracies (Doctor Matianov is actually Russian), loss (in particular of important mentors and friends), and the supernatural (the weird voices heard over the radio, at the very least). It is darker in tone than the earlier Shakespeare’s Monkeys and is more focused and confined to just the school and the hospital, rather than being more open in terms of its play area. The result is that Somethings are Better Left Unsaid is shorter and more likely to played through in a single, intense session (though it could stretch to two). Similarly, just as with Shakespeare’s Monkeys, the decently explained plot is easily adapted to other settings—even back to Mälaröarna or Boulder City! There is however one issue with Somethings are Better Left Unsaid which it shared with Shakespeare’s Monkeys. It leaves the connections to Northstar R&D undeveloped and unexplored, and perhaps it would have been better for this scenario and the previous one to have dropped some hints or foreshadowed at the corporation’s involvement.

Physically, Somethings are Better Left Unsaid is a decently laid out document and follows the format for Things from the Flood. Some of the artwork is decent too, and the maps are nicely done. The darker turn of Somethings are Better Left Unsaid is not unwelcome scenario in what is another likeable enough affair that offers the chance to explore the world of Things from the Flood from a different perspective. It feels as if it is laying the foundation for something larger, but not telling the Game Master what it is yet, and that really needs to come through in the next scenarios to be released.

FATE of Cthulhu added two elements to Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying—time travel and foreknowledge. Published by Evil Hat Games, the 2020 horror roleplaying game was built around campaign frameworks that cast the Player Characters as survivors in a post-apocalyptic future thirty years into the future, the apocalypse itself involving various aspects and entities of the Mythos. Not only as survivors though, because having entered into a pact with the Old One, Yog-Sothoth, they have unlocked the secret of time travel and come back to the present. They have come back aware of the steps along the way which brought about the apocalypse and they come back ready to fight it. This though is not a fight against the Cthulhu Mythos in general, but rather a single Old One and its cultists, and each thwarting of an Old One is a self-contained campaign in its own right, in which no other element of the Mythos appears.

The five campaigns, or timelines, presented in FATE of Cthulhu in turn have the Investigators facing Cthulhu, Dagon, Shub-Nigggurath, Nyarlathotep, and the King in Yellow. Each consists of  five events, the last of which is always the rise of the Old One itself. The events represent the roadmap to that last apocalyptic confrontation, and can each be further broken down into four event catalysts which can be people, places, foes, and things. The significance of these events are represented by a die face, that is either a bank, a ‘–’, or a ‘+’. These start out with two blanks and two ‘–’, the aim of the players and their investigators being to try to prevent their being too many, if any ‘–’ symbols in play and ideally to flip them from ‘–’ to blank and from blank to ‘+’. Ultimately the more ‘+’ there are, the more positive the ripple will be back down the timeline and the more of a chance the investigators have to defeat or prevent the rise of the Old One. Conversely, too many ‘–’ and the known timeline will play out as follows and the less likely the chance the investigators have in stopping the Old One.

Each of the five timelines comes with details of what a time traveller from 2050 would know about it, more detail for the Game Master with a breakdown of the events and their Aspects, Stunts, Mythos creatures, and NPCs. Most of these can serve as useful inspiration for the Game Master as well as the advice given on running FATE of Cthulhu and her creating her own timelines. After all, there are numerous Mythos entities presenting the prospective Game Master ready to create her own timeline with a variety of different aspects, purviews, and even degrees of power, but nevertheless capable of bringing about an apocalypse. However, Evil Hat Games has already begun to do that with its own series of timelines, each again dealing with a different Mythos entity and a different downfall for mankind. The first of these is The Rise of Yig.

Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig is different. It is triggered by a surprise eclipse in 2020, visible only in northern Mexico and in the southern United States, casting the whole of the region into shadow and it was into this darkness that Yig—the Father of Serpents—awoke. Wherever he walked, civilisation was destroyed in his wake; his full psychic emanations led to terrifying dreams of snakes and other reptiles; new species of snakes appeared with a painfully venomous bite that defied science, only those that pledged themselves to the Father of Serpents and became his foot soldiers, the Children of Yig, proved to be immune; Serpentmen appeared and struck at important leaders; and the weather heated up the planet leading to the spread of a hothouse jungle which would swallow up city after city in less than a year. Only in the polar regions has mankind been able to find a refuge…

In that year, organisations also appeared to combat the threat faced by humanity. Organisations such as the Center for Defense against Elder Threats from the UN, the Chimalli Union, and the Dark Light Net which had all long prepared in secret in case such an event as this occurred. However, the one of the Old Ones that they had not been prepared for is Yig. That is the first difference in Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig in comparison with the five timelines given in FATE of Cthulhu. Yig is almost comprehensible in his actions, and has a reputation for benevolence when it comes to mankind, being mostly concerned with the well-being of his children—reptiles, snakes, and of course, Serpentmen. So the question is, was Yig planning the downfall of mankind in 2020, or was there something else going on with this most benign of Old Ones?

As with the timelines in the core rules, Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig details the history of its apocalypse and the four events which led up to it for the benefit of the Investigators who will be aware when they jump back from the future. It is accompanied by a more detailed timeline for Game Master along with their four event catalysts (which can be people, places, foes, or things) and their die face settings which the players and their Investigators will need to change by making enquiries and working to defeat the cult. There are details of threats and situations, including cultists like the Agents of the Snake and Snakepersons, the relics and magic associated with the cult, and in particular, the agents of Center for Defense against Elder Threats from the UN, the Chimalli Union, and the Dark Light Net.

If there is an issue with Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig it is that it is very busy and there is a lot going on, but the Game Master is given a clearer explanation at the end of the supplement. That is the other difference between Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig and the five timelines given in FATE of Cthulhu. It is more complex, not as straightforward, and there are multiple factions involved across the timeline. This makes for a much more challenging campaign, both to run and play, for the players and their Investigators to determine what is going on and what the motives are of the various factions involved in the apocalypse—on both sides. Then for the Game Master to depict the various members of these factions. Again, the clearer explanation at the end of the supplement is a big help with that.

Physically, Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig is cleanly presented. It is easy to read and the lay out is tidy, though it needs an edit in places. The artwork is good also.

Although Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig is specially written for use with FATE of Cthulhu and very much built around the Investigators coming back from the future forearmed with knowledge of the past, there is nothing to stop a Game Master from using to run from the opposite direction and from a point of ignorance. That is, as a standard campaign a la other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror, whether that is actually for FATE of Cthulhu or another roleplaying game. Plus, given the nature of the threat faced in Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig, it is easy to comb the support for roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror to find, if not more Yig-related scenarios, then at least more Serpentmen scenarios. Which gives it a flexibility beyond FATE of Cthulhu.

Darkest Timeline: The Rise of Yig gets the ‘Darkest Timeline’ series off to a strong start. It serves up a horridly ophidiophobic and fairly complex framework that will take some effort to really run right, but delivers a surprising take on Yig and his associated Mythos.

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

Published by Harper Collins Publishers, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 opens with a history, done as a timeline, which runs from the Dungeons & Dragons of 1974 to the recent release of the Baldur’s Gate III and Dark Alliance computer games. It includes each of the roleplaying game’s various editions, and highlights their best features, plus notable highlights such as the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon and the estimated number of players. The ‘D&D Quick-Start Guide’ suggests the first steps that a prospective player take to get into the game, from choosing the party and deciding who would be Dungeon Master to grabbing pencil and paper and selecting a campaign. Then it is onto ‘Creating a Character’, which actually serves as an easier to grasp guide to the process, and actually better than that given in the Player’s Handbook. As you would expect, it neatly breaks the character sheet down and takes the reader through the process step-by-step—though of course, the reader will still need to refer to the full rules.

The would-be Dungeon Master receives a similar treatment, beginning with ‘Master Dungeon-Mastering’, looking at a possible next step the player might want to take after playing a few games of Dungeons & Dragons. This takes her from ‘Choosing your Campaign’ and ‘Setting the Scene’ through to ‘Planning Encounters’ and ‘Roleplaying’, and includes a quick guide to running combat. The one issue with this article is really the choice of illustration for when choosing the beginning campaign—Dungeons & Dragons Essentials rather than the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. There is nothing wrong with including the illustration of Dungeons & Dragons Essentials, but the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set is the more obvious entry point. The next step for the Dungeon Master is ‘Tips for World-Building’ which poses her several questions should she want to begin creating her own setting, her own campaign world. Unsurprisingly, it is fairly basic, but it serves as a set of beginning pointers.

One of the best features about any new roleplaying game is an example of play since it showcases how the game is intended to be played and be played. ‘A Tale of a First Encounter’ is a lengthy, three-part example of play which is set in an inn where several adventurers come together to form a party before an unexpected showdown with a bunch of bandits. It weaves in and out of game play and table talk and ultimately shows how dangerous combat can be as well as giving some idea of how Dungeons & Dragons can be played. Unfortunately not set in a dungeon, it does however show it is very much a social game, a game played by a diversity of players. If ‘A Tale of a First Encounter’ shows how the game is played, two other articles showcase how Dungeons & Dragons can also be consumed. The first is ‘Spectator Mode’ which features the seven most well-known real-play live streams, with Critical Role at the top of course. The second is ‘Audiophile’, which does the same for podcasts. Although there are no links, but they point to another way in which a prospective player can learn how the game can be played and enjoyed if he cannot immediately begin playing, and so ease himself into Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition vicariously. ‘Beyond the Tabletop’ does a similar thing, but points towards some of the card games, computer games, and comics currently available for Dungeons & Dragons.

Once a player begins play, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 suggests options to improve both his gaming experience and that of his fellow players. ‘Level Up Your Table’ gives a host of accessories that he can add, such as DM Screens, maps, miniatures, apps, and more. Similarly, ‘Adventurers League’ and ‘Extra Life’ point to how a player can take his Dungeons & Dragons away from home and into the gaming community itself. The former with regular events at his local games shop (and ‘Your Friendly Neighbourhood Game Store’ points to just a very few of the very many available, as well as giving a player an idea of what they look like), whilst the latter tells the player how the gaming he normally does for fun can mean a bit more by raising money for charity through playing Dungeons & Dragons, and is a worthy inclusion in the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021.

Much of the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 can be divided into four strands, including ‘A Tale of a First Encounter’, that run throughout its pages. The first of these is ‘Xanathar’s Classes 101’, which provides an overview of each of the twelve Classes from the Player’s Handbook. Each profile states what a Class is good for, what Proficiencies and Special Skills it has, and why a player should select that particular Class and why he should avoid it. Thus a Bard is described as a jack-of-all-trades, has boosts to his Performance-based skills, and his special skill is Inspiration, used to boost the attacks and saving throws of his allies. Lastly, the descriptions suggest that a player chose the Bard if he wants a character who can perform, persuade, and strategise, but avoid if he instead wants to inflict lots of damage. The counterpart to this is ‘Folk of the Realms’ which does the same for the Player Character Races in the Forgotten Realms and thus the Player’s Handbook. ‘Adventures Across the Multiverse’ guides the reader round some of the most notable worlds and locations in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Thus for ‘Adventures Across the Multiverse: Forgotten Realms’ it identifies Icewind Dale, Neverwinter, and the Lost Mine of Phandelver, whilst Waterdeep is linked to the campaign, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Baldur’s Gate to Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, and Chult to Tomb of Annihilation. The series does the same for Ravenloft and Eberron, although there are very few actual campaigns and supplements associated with them for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in comparison to the Forgotten Realms. Later on though, the ‘Adventure Collection’ highlights all of the releases and campaigns for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition to date.

If ‘Xanathar’s Classes 101’ showcases the Classes of Dungeons & Dragons, then ‘Volo’s [Abridged] Guide to…’ does the same for its monsters. It covers the classics, including Rakshasa, Mimics, Wights, Liches, Beholder, and Duergar, telling the reader what they look like, what their favoured attacks are, how to defeat them, and other pertinent facts. This is a decent enough strand, but perhaps the choice of monsters is not as interesting as it could have been, but with so many to choose from…

Scattered throughout the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 is a handful of puzzles and games. This includes ‘Scrambled Spells’, anagrams of spells taken from Player’s Handbook, Sudukos for both spells and Player Character details, a treasure hunt set on the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms; a wordsearch of Dungeons & Dragons monsters, a spot the difference puzzle, a maze, and more. They are clearly designed for a younger audience—as is the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021—but do show whatever theme you apply to them, the puzzles themselves have hardly changed, if at all, in decades.

Physically, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 is snappily presented. There is plenty of full colour artwork drawn from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and the writing is clear and kept short, so is an easy read for its intended audience. One nice touch is the inclusion of photographs of game shops and people playing, showing that the game has a broader appeal than just at the potential player’s table and that they are having fun at the table. In comparison, the annuals past, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 is slim, but packs a lot into its pages.

Unfortunately, the two elements that are missing from the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 those of the very title of the roleplaying game itself—no dungeons and no dragons. As inclusive and as well written and as well presented as the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 actually is, that really is a major omission.

Over the years, there have been plenty of introductions to Dungeons & Dragons, some of them decent, some them of utterly pointless and useless, such as the Dungeon Survival Guide and the ‘What exactly were you thinking, Wizards of the Coast?!’ Wizards Presents: Races and Classes and Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters books that heralded the arrival of the Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. Fortunately, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 is far superior to any of those.

The Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 is genuinely an interesting and informative read. To be fair, this is not a book or supplement that a dedicated player or Dungeon Master is going to need, or even want, to read. After all, much of this will be familiar to him or her. However, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 provides a good introduction to the roleplaying game, especially as a next step after reading the Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides series and playing the Endless Quest series. It provides a broader overview than either of those two series and better showcases the next steps that a player and a Dungeon Master take should he or she want to start playing. And like all Christmas annuals, the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021 is a good gift to the younger reader, especially one with an interest in fantasy and games, but better than those Christmas annuals of old, for there is much, much more fun to be had beyond the pages of the Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2021.

 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 a 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: Prisoners’ DilemmaPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Aaron Sinner and Todd Walden

Setting: Soviet Era Russia
Product: One-shot survival horror
What You Get: Fifty-five page, 30.90 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Soviet Era Survival Horror.Plot Hook: Some horrors lie outside the Gulag.Plot Support: Detailed plot, four decent handouts, five maps, three pre-generated Investigators, and a new thing from beyond. Production Values: Good.
Pros
# Soviet Era Survival Horror# Pre-generated prisoners # Environmental survival horror# Challenging NPCs for the Keeper to roleplay# Challenging NPCs for the Investigators to interact with# Scope for conflict between the Investigators# Short, tightly plotted, one or two session one-shot# Inspired by real events, the Dyatlov Pass Incident
# Strong plot
Cons
# Linear, often heavy-handed plot
# Limited scope for player agency# Challenging NPCs for the Keeper to roleplay# Challenging NPCs for the Investigators to interact with# Scope for conflict between the Investigators# Potential Total Party Kill
Conclusion
# Soviet Era Survival Horror# Strong, but linear, and often heavy-handed plot# Scope for conflict between the Investigators# Nasty one-shot

England under the reign of Elizabeth Tudor is imperilled from all sides. From the Church of Rome and all of its adherent nations across Europe, as well as those within England who had not renounced their Catholicism and become members of the Church of England. And also from the supernatural and the practitioners of magick who grow stranger and more prevalent as the wall of blind faith that protected the country and the monarchy had been weakened. First, by her father, Henry VIII’s break from Rome, his establishment of the Church of England, and Dissolution of the Monasteries; second, by her sister, Queen Mary’s reestablishment of Catholicism in the country in an attempt to undo her father’s scheming; and third, by the schism in Christianity that would give rise to fanatics upon both sides. The resultant rise in magical and incidences of the supernatural were not seen as being due to a loss of faith, but to a rise in the practice of witchcraft, such that five years after succeeding to the throne, Queen Elizabeth passed an Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts, which particular made it a capital offence to employ magick to kill another and a felony to use it to maim or to consort with evil spirits, provoke love, or seek buried treasure. However, at the urging of Francis Walsingham, master of the Queen’s spy network in Europe, and Doctor John Dee, astrologer, alchemist, and companion in words to the Queen, she made an amendment—The Dee Sanction. This permitted the practice of magick in defence of the realm; it permitted those with heretical knowledge to work off their sentence in service to, and in protection of, Her Majesty; and it gave England a first line of defence against magick, its practitioners, and the supernatural. The fate of such agents would remain in the hands of Walsingham and Dee, their punishment abated—at least for the time being, and perhaps, just perhaps, despite what they have seen and what they have done, both in service of the Queen and before it, they might find absolution, they might have their sentences commuted.

This is the set-up for The Dee Sanction, a roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe. Designed and published by the creator of The Cthulhu Hack following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a stripped back, Old School Renaissance-style (but not actual Old School Renaissance) roleplaying game of Tudor horror, investigation, and magic. The Agents of Dee, the Player Characters, are vulnerable and expendable, amateurs at best only slightly supernatural, criminals marked for death, and thus beneath the contempt of the privileged. They are duty bound to investigate and stop supernatural threats which could kill them, for should they run, they will be hunted and hanged for the criminals they are, and being expendable kept in the dark as to the truth of any situation or even any monster they might face, and ultimately if their efforts to stop the horrors and the supernatural which might threaten the realm fail, they are the ones to blame.

An Agent in The Dee Sanction is first defined by three Resources—Physicall, Intellectuall, and Supernaturall. These are rated by die type—initially a six-sided die for all, but one or more of these can be stepped down a die type in order to increase one or the other two according to the player’s preference. An Agent also has a Back Story which represents crucial steps in their life leading up to and beyond the point they stepped onto the black path that resulted in both their enlightenment and the dark mark on their soul. It also includes an Occupation, which provides a choice of eight Abilities, of which a player selects three; a damning Association and a Focus for enlightenment; and a Favour, a minor, very low key magical, Angelic means of influence that the Agent can bear upon the world. An Agent has Hits—how much harm he can withstand when wavering in face of Threats or Hazards; Unravelling, a further Resource which represents the balance of his humours, which can be upset through fear and exposure to the Unnatural; and lastly, a single Fortune token which allows a reroll. Elements such as the Back Story and Favour are determined randomly, either by rolling dice or drawing cards from a standard deck.

Mistress Conquest works the streets of London at night with a crew disposing of its rubbish. Always wanting to better herself and find a better place for women in general, in the discovery of a strange book— The Voynich Manuscript—she saw an opportunity to learn and perhaps gain knowledge that would help her. Unfortunately, she was able to learn little before the book’s previous owners came for her, but the members of The Octagon Society recognised her ambitions and believed that they could be aligned with their aims to find balance in both mind and spirit as a route to a higher purpose or form. She was able to learn a little before the society was rounded up as part of the enforcement of the Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts.

Janet Conquest
Intellectuall d8
Physicall d6
Supernaturall d4

Back Story
Occupation – Scavenger
Abilities – Scavenging, Night-Work, Astrology
Association – The Octagon Society
Focus – The Voynich Manuscript
Favour – Moisten (Stain, Spatter, Damp)

Hits 3
Unravelling d8
Fortune 1

Mechanically, The Dee Sanction has the feel of The Black Hack and Cthulhu Hack, but instead of deploying the standard attributes, uses its Resource mechanics instead. Thus whenever an Agent faces a Challenge, whether a Threat or a Hazard, his player rolls the appropriate Resource die. A roll of three or more and the Agent succeeds. However, if the result is a one or a two, the Challenge Falters and the Agent suffers a Consequence. This does not mean that an Agent has failed, but rather that his progress is slowed or achieved with unforeseen ramifications or a complication. In combat, this is typically not an unforeseen ramification but rather a loss of a Hit, but in other situations an Agent could be Humiliated with a social Challenge or Exhausted after an endurance Challenge. In addition, a Resource can be stepped up to the next higher die type or down to the next lower die type due to environmental factors, preparation, enemy power, and even Abilities. If the die type drops below d4, the Challenge becomes a Call to Fail, and the player has the option for his Agent to step back from the situation or take the Consequence. Combat is handled in a similar fashion, with a Moment representing a few seconds and initiative only failed on Falter. As with The Black Hack, the mechanics are player-facing, so in combat he rolls for his Agent to attack and to defend against attacks. A success on an attack and typically a single Hit is inflicted and a success on a defend, the Agent avoids harm, but suffers it on a Falter. If an Agent is reduced to zero Hits, he is dying and if his player rolls a Falter three times he dies. Otherwise, he is Out of Action and suffers a Consequence of the Game Master’s choice.

The Dee Sanction being a horror roleplaying game has its equivalent of a Sanity mechanic, in its case, the Unravelling. When the uniformity of belief divided and called into question and the Dissolution of the Monasteries scouring England’s symbols of belief, the Unravelling began… Across the country, in dense and trackless forest, along stretches of rambling roads, and within the ruins of broken churches and abbeys, somethings otherworldly snaked into the mortal world, Chaos blossomed in dark places, and there have been many nights when the Wild Hunt rides out. Exposure to unnatural horrors, rampant chaos, or the influence of other worlds is disruptive, traumatic, and unsettling, and when an Agent encounters the inhuman, the abhorrent, and the impossible, his player rolls the Unravelling Resource. Again, rolls of three or more and the Agent has the mental and perhaps moral fortitude to withstand the otherwise horrid effects of the unnatural, whilst a roll of one or two indicates a Falter. Where in other situations, a Falter indicates a success with complications, when facing the otherworldly, a Falter indicates that the Agent has suffered mental, soul scouring complications and one of his Humours has been upset. Not only is the Agent’s Unravelling die stepped down to its next lower step, the Agent suffers an Immediate Effect which lasts for a scene and an Ongoing Consequence which lasts until the Agent has had an overnight rest. Major frights may require the Unravelling die to be stepped down before the roll is made!
For example, Mistress Conquest has been directed to investigate sightings of a pony with blazing eyes in the Queen’s forests to the south. Near the village of Allum Green, she sets out to locate and confirm the truth of the matter. The Game Master says that searching for signs at night is a Challenge and will force her Intellectuall Resource to be stepped down, but Mistress Conquest’s player suggests that her Night-Work Ability would help in the situation. The Game Master agrees and Mistress Conquest’s player rolls her full Intellectuall Resource die. The roll is successful and some hours later, Mistress Conquest comes across the strange beast in the middle of a track. As it turns and snorts at its new watcher, its eyes blaze with fire and Mistress Conquest is taken afrit. The Game Master asks her player to roll her Agent’s Unravelling die. Unfortunately, the result is a Falter and Mistress Conquest must suffer the effects. Her player rolls an eight-sided die for the Immediate Effect and a six-sided die for the Ongoing Consequence. Mistress Conquest’s Black Bile Humour is up and the Immediate Effect is that she is overwhelmed by extreme emotion, her eyes filling with tears, and her body given over to deep sobs. The Ongoing Consequence is that once her tears and sobs have dried up, she is struck Sullen into a resentful silence and despondent, having been scared by the unnatural beast.Besides their own Abilities and Resources, the Agents have access to a number of tools and devices. One set is narrative in nature, the others not. The narrative tools are six broad influences in Tradecraft—Access, Conspiracy, Kit, Magic, System, and Vigilance. Access represents contacts and associations that the Agents can take advantage of; Conspiracy dealings with anything which questions the status quo and common sense; Kit, the right equipment or ingredient; Magic, knowledge of the Other World; System, the ability to work the country’s bureaucracy; and Vigilance, watchfulness, caution, and curiosity. Each facet of Tradecraft is a shared Resource between the Agents, and just the one is chosen at the beginning of each adventure or mission, representing how the Agents plan to deal with the unexpected or unknown they might encounter as part of their investigations. At the end of the mission, that facet is lost, whether it has been used as part of the Agents’ enquiries or not. Its primary use is to counter the Marks possessed by the enemies, hazards, and other threats that the Agents will encounter. Marks are narrative objectives, representing tasks that the Agents need to fulfil in order to successfully investigate and deal with a threat to the realm, and since only one can be addressed in each adventure, they lend themselves to play over the course of two or more adventures in dealing with a single mission.
For example, the Agents have been tasked with investigating the activities of one Sidney Montague, a student at Oxford who has been taking an interest in particular books at the college and so his tutors have alerted Doctor Dee. Montague’s mother regularly attends court and so has the favour of the Queen, so the Agents have to be careful in how they proceed. The Game Master sets three Marks. One is Conspiracy to determine what the Montague is bringing into his country retreat from the continent; the second is Kit, finding the right device to deal with the Barghest Montague has summoned and is roaming the forest; and the third is System, the Agents needing to obtain a signed and sealed legal writ giving them permission to search the house.The other tools are magical devices which aid the Agents in their investigations. They each have a Black Seal or amulet which allows them to communicate with Dee from a distance and also eventually, understand other languages and they have access to Stone Houses, a series of refuges and sanctuaries across Europe and the Middle East, that only those wearing the Black Seal may enter. Dee himself has Mercator’s Void, used as part of scrying rituals, and he can send Mister Garland, a supernatural manifestation, either a ghost or even an archangel, to serve as a briefing officer for the Agents and a contact for Dee. Specifically, the designer notes that Mister Garland serves as the equivalent of the character Al from Quantum Leap and the miniature tape recorder from Mission: Impossible, and that is an indicator of the tone of The Dee Sanction. It is an investigative horror roleplaying game set in the Tudor period, but it is not written as a strictly historical roleplaying game. It is intended to be played more as a horror mystery television series set in the Tudor period of an alternate Europe which makes the elements of magick, conspiracies, and so on, are real. And the devices themselves are reskinned anachronisms which facilitate, but break neither the narrative nor the tone of the television series.

For the Game Master there is a listing of the major enemies of the Queen, including the Pope and the Catholic Church, Mary, Queen of Scots, the Fae of the Great Wood, and more, plus a short bestiary—with it being easy to add more from other sources, background information about the Tudor Age and on both Walsingham and Dee, advice on running the game and even on converting adventures and their plots from elsewhere. Notably, it highlights how fragile the Agents are, having only a few Hits and their Unravelling almost a certainty… It also suggests that the Agents and their players keep a journal, both as means to record their progress and suspicions, and perhaps a means of the Game Master to develop further adventures from, and also a way for a replacement Agent to come up to speed quickly in an investigation should one of them die! Rounding out The Dee Sanction is the one-shot, ‘Lost in Translation’. It takes place during the great tour of European courts undertaken by John Dee and Edward Kelley in pursuit of occult knowledge, with the Agents being sent to recover a lost relic whilst they are in Poland. In doing so, they confront the creeping incursion of the unnatural that has come about with the weakening of faith across the continent, and whilst there are political benefits to be gained from a successful outcome, they will not be without their consequences… It feels a little odd to have a scenario in a roleplaying game which focuses on Tudor England set on the continent, especially in the core book. That said, as a one-shot it is fine and it can be adjusted back to England if that is what the Game Master wants, plus it would work later on in a campaign which could go abroad. Despite it being a solid introduction to the setting, it would have been perhaps stronger in storytelling terms to have gone with the pilot for The Dee Sanction television series, that is, the ‘how the Agents got into this mess and this is how they get out of it’ story and explored that aspect of the setting a bit further.

Physically, The Dee Sanction comes as a handy, digest-sized supplement. It is perhaps a little busy in terms of its layout, with a lot of bold text and so it does need a closer read in places than its then obvious simplicity warrants. The artwork has a nicely idiosyncratic feel to it and overall, there is no denying the certain charm to its physical look and feel.

Despite some missed opportunities in the choice of scenario, The Dee Sanction is a fantastical little offering of desperate horror and occult investigative roleplaying in a different age, but one with which we will be familiar from our fascination with the period. It is thus easily accessible in terms of the setting, just as is its horror and its set-up, all eased by simple mechanics that both create interesting Agents and make game play quick.

 It is impossible to ignore the influence of Dungeons & Dragons and the effect that its imprint has had on the gaming hobby. It remains the most popular roleplaying game some forty or more years since it was first published, and it is a design and a set-up which for many was their first experience of roleplaying—and one to which they return again and again. This explains the popularity of the Old School Renaissance and the many retroclones—roleplaying games which seek to emulate the mechanics and play style of previous editions Dungeons & Dragons—which that movement has spawned in the last fifteen years. Just as with the Indie Game movement before it began as an amateur endeavour, so did the Old School Renaissance, and just as with the Indie Game movement before it, many of the aspects of the Old School Renaissance are being adopted by mainstream roleplaying publishers who go on to publish retroclones of their own. Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, published by Goodman Games is a perfect example of this. Other publishers have been around long enough for them to publish new editions of their games which originally appeared in the first few years of the hobby, whilst still others are taking their new, more contemporary games and mapping them onto the retroclone.

Yet there are other roleplaying games which draw upon the roleplaying games of the 1970s, part of the Old School Renaissance, but which may not necessarily draw directly upon Dungeons & Dragons. Some are new, like Forbidden Lands – Raiders & Rogues in a Cursed World and Classic Fantasy: Dungeoneering Adventures, d100 Style!, but others are almost as old as Dungeons & Dragons. One of these is The Fantasy Trip, published by Metagaming Concepts in 1980. Designed by Steve Jackson, this was a fantasy roleplaying game built around two earlier microgames, also designed by Steve Jackson, MicroGame #3: Melee in 1977 and MicroGame #6: Wizard in 1978. With the closure of Metagaming Concepts in 1983, The Fantasy Trip and its various titles went out of print. Steve Jackson would go on to found Steve Jackson Games and design further titles like Car Wars and Munchkin as well as the detailed, universal roleplaying game, GURPS. Then in December, 2017, Steve Jackson announced that he had got the rights back to The Fantasy Trip and then in April, 2019, following a successful Kickstarter campaign Steve Jackson Games republished The Fantasy Trip. The mascot version of The Fantasy Trip is of course, The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition. 

The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition is a big box of things, including the original two microgames. So instead of reviewing the deep box as a whole, it is worth examining the constituent parts of The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition one by one, delving ever deeper into its depths bit by bit. The first of these is Melee, quick to set up, quick to play game of man-to-man combat, followed by Wizard, which did exactly the same for sorcerers and other magic-users. The third part of this triumvirate is Death Test, which combined the two original scenarios—‘Death Test’ and ‘Death Test 2’—both originally published as MicroQuest 1: Death Test and MicroQuest 1: Death Test 2 in 1980. bringing the trilogy of mini-boxed sets together is The Fantasy Trip: In the Labyrinth. This is not yet another mini-box, but a book which combines their content into one volume and expands upon with further rules, expansions, and options which lift Melee and Wizard up from being combat and magical skirmish games respectively into an actual roleplaying game. What it lacks though is the counters and maps to be found both in Melee and Wizard, but that is not an issue with The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition.
The Fantasy Trip: In the Labyrinth is a combination of three books for The Fantasy Trip. The first two are Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard which provided expanded rules for Melee and Wizard respectively. The third is In the Labyrinth: Game Masters’ Campaign and Adventure Guide, published originally in 1980, which added a role-playing system and a fantasy-world background for the whole of The Fantasy Trip line, as well as introducing a point-buy skill system for the system as whole—rather than just spells in Wizard. The new version of In the Labyrinth collates all of that content into one supplement for The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition. It includes rules for creating characters, the core mechanics, notes on designing labyrinths, rules for both advanced combat and advanced magic, and it introduces the setting of Cidri, including a lengthy bestiary. All that, that there are two notable aspects to In the Labyrinth. First, the Game Master and her players could just start with In the Labyrinth as their introduction to The Fantasy Trip, instead of Melee and Wizard (and Death Test). That might steepen the learning curve though, and there is something to be said of the experience of trying out the basics of both games prior to coming to In the Labyrinth, though the supplement does serve as the capstone for The Fantasy Trip. Second, In the Labyrinth and The Fantasy Trip look like any other generic fantasy system, but dig down into the mechanics and the setting details, and whilst on one level, it does look fairly generic—and could be run as generic fantasy, it really is quite a bit different.
After introducing and explaining the concept of roleplaying, In the Labyrinth introduces the world of Cidri. This is a large world with an Earth-like gravity and environments, which until a few hundred years ago was the playground of an ancient all-powerful race of dimension travellers called the Mnoren. It was one of many worlds they created before they disappeared, but this has many continents, many of them connected by magical gates, and many peoples imported from the original Earth. Consequently, historical faiths and cultures of Earth can be found on Cidri, so Vikings, Aztecs, Persians, Samurai, and so on, can all be found on the world—somewhere. As can adherents of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, as well as those faith to gods and goddesses and pantheons unknown on Earth. Notably, whilst there are numerous faiths and religions to be found on Cidri, along with their priests, churches, and temples, the gods themselves do not appear in the world, and it is actually possible for the devout to achieve apotheosis. This mix of the fantastic and the real explains the cover to In the Labyrinth, which shows a wizard, a priest, a Norman knight, and a Roman legionnaire together best by monsters, a mix which otherwise be incongruous. What it also means is that almost any fantasy or historical setting can be dropped into the Cidri, such is the scale and scope of the planet.
In comparison to most fantasy settings, Cidri is relatively technologically advanced, gunpowder being known, but expensive—requiring dragon dung, and gunpowder weapons being unreliable. Despite these technological advances, magic is more prevalent and the Wizards’ Guild holds no little influence and power—far more than the Mechanicians’ Guild. Other guilds include the Thieves’ Guild, the Scholars’ Guild, the Mercenaries’ Guild. Alongside the guilds, In the Labyrinth covers various jobs and occupations which the Player Characters can have when not actually adventuring and so earn an honest (or dishonest depending upon occupation) income. 
A character in In the Labyrinth and thus The Fantasy Trip is defined by three attributes—Strength (ST),  Dexterity (DX), and Intelligence (IQ). Strength covers how many hits a character has, what weapons he can use, how effective he is in hand-to-hand combat, and for a Wizard, how many spells he can cast, each spell having a cost that is paid in Strength points, not only to cast the spell, but also maintain it if necessary. Dexterity covers how easily a Hero or Wizard can hit an opponent, disengage from the enemy, and how quickly he can attack. Intelligence governs the number of spells a Wizard knows, the maximum level of spells he knows—each spell has an IQ rating between eight and sixteen which the Wizard’s Intelligence must match for him to know, and his resistance to illusions and Control spells. With In the Labyrinth, Intelligence is also how many Talents a character knows. Both Heroes and Wizards can learn spells and Talents, but Heroes learn spells with great difficulty, just as Wizards learn Talents with great difficulty. 
In the Labyrinth and The Fantasy Trip is not a Class and Level system, but a Class and Spell or Talent system. It has only has the two Classes—Hero and Wizard. Yet, a Hero need not be the fighter of Melee and a Wizard need not be the classic adventuring wizard a la Dungeons & Dragons, guidelines being included to cover everything from the barbarian, the gadgeteer, and the merchant to the martial wizard, townsman wizard, and the wizardly thief. It is possible to create a priest, which can be a simple cleric or monk, or may actually know a limited number of spells. However, technically such priests would be Wizards with a Talent or two or a Hero who knows a spell or two. 
In the Labyrinth expands upon Wizard to include over one-hundred-and-fifty spells. These all have a minimum IQ rating to understand, from IQ 8 to IQ 20 and a ST cost to cast, and if necessary, to maintain. So they range from the simple Blur at IQ 8, a defensive spell which levies a penalty on DX when attacking the caster and costs 1 ST to cast and maintain to the IQ 20 Word of Command which costs 3 ST and affects those that fail their save for a whole minute. Typical words include ‘Believe’, ‘Come’, and ‘Quiet’, and the Wizard needs to learn the spell for each word. Similarly, it adds a range of Talents, which again have a minimum IQ rating for a character to know, from IQ 7 to IQ 14. These have a purchase cost, so the IQ 7 Talent of Brawling costs a point to purchase, whilst the IQ 14 Talent of Alchemy costs three points. Most grant the simple ability to use something like a knife or do something like diplomacy or undertake a profession such as Engineer or Theologian. Many Talents have prerequisites, so that Unarmed Combat I grants the ability to attack punches and kicks more effectively, and then Unarmed Combat II increases the effectiveness and adds ability to throw opponents or evade them, and so on up to Unarmed Combat V. 
To create a character, a player takes a base character with ST 8, DX 8, and IQ 8, and divides eight points between them with ten being the human average. Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, and Halflings have different starting values. Then, if a Wizard, the player has points equal to his character’s IQ with which to purchase spells, whilst similarly with a Hero, the player has points equal to his character’s IQ with which to purchase Talents. The process is relatively easy, but a random character generator is provided to speed the process up. 
Deodato Patriarca
Human – Hero – HealerMotivation: Desire for adventure 
Appearance: Average (5)Bravery: Brave (9)Friendliness: Friendly (8)Honesty: Less than truthful (5)Mood: Shy (4)
Strength 08Dexterity 12Intelligence 12MA 08
Talents: Diplomacy (1), Naturalist (1), Detect Lies (2), Physicker (2), Expert Naturalist (2), Woodsman (1), Courtly Graces (1), Unarmed Combat (1) 
Mechanically, In the Labyrinth and The Fantasy Trip are simple and straightforward. Whether a character undertakes an action, such as striking an opponent with a sword or following some tracks, or needs to make a Save to avoid an unpleasant or difficult situation, such withstanding the effects of a spell or dodging a falling log trap, his player rolls three six-sided dice and attempts to roll under the appropriate attribute. Rolls of three, four, and five indicate degrees of critical success, whilst rolls of sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen, indicate degrees of critical failure. The attribute may be adjusted, whether that is due to wearing armour or environmental conditions, but the main means of adjusting the difficulty of a task is by increasing or reducing the number of dice a player has to roll, and guidelines cover both critical successes and failures with the adjusted number of dice. It is simple and it is quick, and as a logical extension of both Melee and Wizard it presents a relatively easy learning curve.
Where In the Labyrinth and The Fantasy Trip becomes complex is in the advanced rules for both combat and magic. Advanced Combat is designed to cover just about every situation imaginable, starting from the combat order and options such as dodging, charging, disengaging, and casting spells to weapon types, fighting on broken ground, stairs, and in narrow tunnels, ambushes, unarmed combat, gunpowder bombs, taking prisoners, and more… The options are neatly explained and the Advanced Combat rules are backed up with a solid example of combat in play. Magic is treated as comprehensively in Advanced Magic. Thus types of spells—missile and thrown spells, control spells, illusions—including their limitations and even their disbelief by animals, and casting from both books and spells. Both of the latter take more time, but where casting from a scroll can be done in combat, casting from a book cannot. There is a complete guide to casting that most wanted spell, Wish, plus Advanced Magic takes the Wizard away from adventuring and into the laboratory with rules for alchemy, the enchantment of magical items, and more, accompanied by lists of potions and magical items that the Wizard can manufacture, or perhaps when adventuring, discover with his fellow Wizards and Heroes. 
Expanding upon Melee and Wizard, the bestiary for the world of Cidri in In the Labyrinth includes over hundred different entries, from humanoids, intelligent monsters, and ghosts, wights, and revenants to water creatures, plants, and nuisance creatures—the latter amusingly including children! All of the humanoid races are playable, with Orcs being more vicious rather than evil, Goblins being crafty and capable of giving and keeping their word rather than again being evil or nasty, and Gargoyles turn out to be tough and trustworthy, but distrust others because their gallbladders are used by alchemists in various different potions. The only addition to the humanoids on Cidri are the silly, annoying Prootwaddles, whilst the major addition to intelligent races are Octopi, which are capable of walking on land and wielding weapons and shields, but are cowardly, greedy, and dishonest! In the main, the various entries in In the Labyrinth’s bestiary will be familiar from other fantasy roleplaying games, but in many cases, there are little differences which will make adventuring on Cidri a different experience. So Vampires and Werewolves are actually suffering from a disease which they can pass on and can be cured of, and Wights, whilst undead, have a physical form that can attack and be attacked, and further, may not necessarily be evil. In some ways, it is this bestiary which showcases the default setting for The Fantasy Trip the best. 
In addition, In the Labyrinth includes rules and guidelines on creating and stocking labyrinths and on taking the game beyond the confines of such a labyrinth. Along with a few random tables to help stock both locations, these sections are relatively short, almost as if the actual labyrinths are not necessarily the focus despite the title of the supplement. There is a sample labyrinth included though, just a few locations and it is used in the example of combat later in the supplement. That said, the labyrinths do look weird done on hex maps rather than the square maps we are used to after decades of Dungeons & Dragons. Rounding out In the Labyrinth are descriptions of the village of Bendwyn and the Duchy of Dran in Southern Elyntia, both a couple of pages in length. These are very much a starting point for the prospective Game Master to develop, so a little basic, but nevertheless with a few hooks that she can employ. 
Physically, In the Labyrinth looks a little old-fashioned by being black and white throughout, and whilst the artwork varies in quality, some of it is excellent and some of it feels anachronistic in places. Nevertheless, it is a cleanly presented book and it is all very readable. 
Despite originally having been published in 1980, In the Labyrinth feels modern. Part of this is down to the presentation—clean, bright, and tidy, just as you would expect from Steve Jackson Games, but in the main, it is due to it being a point-buy system. In fact, one of the earliest of point-buy systems and probably one of the simplest. That simplicity is where In the Labyrinth shines, providing the means to run a fantasy roleplaying system that the Game Master and her group with a solid starting point upon which to add the advanced rules. The simplicity also provides a flexibility in terms character creation, suggestions being given to create numerous different types of character, but still only using what are effectively, two different Classes. Another reason that In the Labyrinth feels modern is that in its design can be seen the genesis of Steve Jackson Games’ other great roleplaying design—GURPS. So many of the elements of In the Labyrinth would go on to inform or even appear in one of the great generic point-buy roleplaying systems. 
As much as In the Labyrinth effectively explains and showcases the mechanics of The Fantasy Trip, it is less successful at showcasing the world of Cidri. At best the description of the giant multi-continent world of Cidri is an introduction to and explanation of why it is, but at worst, that explanation is bland and uninteresting. The problem here is that Cidri is presented as an every-world, a world that can have every historical setting in it plus fantasy, and whilst that gives the Game Master a lot of scope, it is also intimidating and it really does not give the Game Master a starting point. It should feel fantastic, but despite being fantasy, it does not. A more experienced Game Master will have less of a problem with this and be able to develop more of the setting herself, playing around with the potentially intriguing mix of real world and fantasy cultures rubbing up against each other. 
In the Labyrinth is a great supplement, packing a lot of well-explained and well-presented options into its pages. The result lifts the combat and magic-focused play of Melee and Wizard into a fully rounded The Fantasy Trip roleplaying game.

In comparison to Tales from the Loop, there is relatively little support for its sequel, Things from the Flood. Both share a setting in Mälaröarna, the islands of Lake Mälaren, east of Stockholm, first in the 1980s and then in 1990s, the site of the Facility for Research in High Energy Physics—or ‘The Loop’—the world’s largest particle accelerator, constructed and run by the government agency, Riksenergi. Both are settings drawn from Simon Stålenhag’s artwork, Tales from the Loop contrasting an almost pastoral idyll against a hi-tech world of the Loop, robots, and skies filled with ‘magnetrine vessels’, freighters and slow liners whose engines repel against the Earth’s magnetic field, an effect only possible in northern latitudes. In Things from the Flood, the pastoral idyll has been spoiled, the lands around the Loop spoiled by a hot, brown liquid bubbling up out of the ground, Riksenergi being shut down and the Loop being sold off, robots suffering from a strange cancer, and the resulting economic crisis would lead to depression, personality changes, divorces, gambling disorders, and more… Where Tales from the Loop is positive in tone and has a fascination with technology, Things from the Flood is darker and has a fear of technology.

Thankfully for fans of Things from the Flood—and other titles from Free League Publishing, there is the Free League Workshop. Much like the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons, this is a platform for creators to publish and distribute their own original content, which means that they also have a space to showcase their creativity and their inventiveness, to do something different, and perhaps even surprise us. So it is with Shakespeare’s Monkeys.

Shakespeare’s Monkeys is a scenario for Things from the Flood, and whilst it does involve things, it does not involve either floods, Loops, or even Sweden. It is still set in the 1990s though, but Australia, rather than Sweden, and the Teens are still teenagers. It is the first in a series of adventures involving the efforts of the research company, Northstar R&D, led by its founding CEO, Jeremy Longstaff, which wants to bring some of the technological and scientific benefits, in particular, the magic of magnetite, from the Loops in Sweden and Boulder City, Nevada, to the Southern Hemisphere. It is a short, one or two session scenario set in the lakeside town of Jindabyne, a small tourist resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia.

As the title suggests, the scenario concerns a monkey—or rather a troop of monkeys, or rather it starts with one monkey and then involves a whole lot of them. Perhaps one of the Teen finds out he has a really smart possum breaking into the garden shed for food, but it turns out to be a monkey or the Teens hear about (or encounter) some weird, hippy American asking questions about the new buildings on the island out in the lake or they even hear about monkey sightings round the town. Either way, the Teens will soon encounter a troop of monkeys about town and in particular, one monkey who appears to have been modified with an antenna and ultimately wants to make friends. However, the Teens will not be only ones interested in the monkeys, or rather the one monkey, and when they investigate further, they will discover the presence of the strange American in town and his interest in the buildings on the island on the lake. Ultimately, they will follow the clues out to the island and discover not only what is going on there, but also how it affects the monkey who has befriended them, as well as the other monkeys.

Shakespeare’s Monkeys is the first in a series of adventures for Things from the Flood and a fairly sad one at that. It is short, playable in a session or two, and in general, its well-explained plot is easily adapted to other settings—even back to Mälaröarna or Boulder City! This may be a solution to a problem which the author of the scenario fails to address, and that is its setting. In Things from the Flood—and before that, Tales from the Loop—there is background information on both the Sweden and the USA of the nineties and eighties, but Shakespeare’s Monkeys has none. Just as American culture and Swedish culture are different, so is that of Australia. Whilst there is a map of Jindabyne, there is no background given either. Which leaves the Game Master with a lot of information to research to get the setting right, unless both players and Game Master want to rely upon soap operas for their knowledge of Australia, or given the fact thatShakespeare’s Monkeys involves an intelligent animal, episodes of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (which manages to feel simultaneously appropriate and inappropriate). Now to some extent, the players and their Game Master will construct some of the elements of the setting of Jindabyne around their characters, that is built into Things from the Flood, but to shift the roleplaying game to somewhere else and not provide this is an oversight.

Another consequence of the lack of background, is that the consequences to the scenario—not the conclusion—is underwritten. Again, the Game Master will need to work out what these are, but again that will be derived from whatever she and her players develop in terms of their setting.

Physically, Shakespeare’s Monkeys is a decently laid out document and follows the format for Things from the Flood. Some of the artwork is decent too, and the maps are nicely done. Ultimately, when coming to run and play Shakespeare’s Monkeys, the issue that both Game Master and players will have address is the fact that it is set in Australia and it does involve an animal, so that may lead to some humour around the table. The issues with the background and lack of it aside, Shakespeare’s Monkeys is a likeable enough scenario that offers the chance to explore the world of Things from the Flood from a different perspective.

Isolated by nature and isolated by attitude and elitism, Ambershine Isle is known across the realm of Aashiyana for its illustrious academies and guilds, its power and influence which spreads far and wide—especially when it comes to the arts, and thus for its discerning critics and aesthetes whose opinions and tastes have the capacity to make an artist or a performer into one of the greats or cast him into obscurity. Every three years, Ambershine Isle holds the ‘Festival of Ambitions’, a magnificent gala which attracts the ambitious and the aspiring from across the realm, hoping to be picked from amongst the throngs and be recognised for their skill and their talent. Some are fortunate enough to have had their potential has already been noted by the isle’s academies and guilds and so been offered a magical invitation to Ambershine Isle. Others will have to make their own way there—whether one of the would-be artistes, or simply a merchant or grifter, wanting to take advantage of the ‘Festival of Ambitions’. However, the route to Ambershine Isle is not easy, leading across a series of atolls which only seasonally connect the mainland with the Isle and with the upcoming festival, is jammed with slowing moving carriages and crowds undertaking what is a pilgrimage to the arts, only further impeded by the tortuously complex bureaucracy at the gates to Ambershine Isle. There is another route though—across the Steaming Sea, but it takes a special ship to be able to withstand its corrosive waters and a special crew (or set of passengers) to hold off the dangerous aquatic monsters and pirates to be found in and on those waters. The Dreamer is that ship and those passengers are the Player Characters.

This is the set-up for Voyage to Ambershine Isle, the inaugural scenario for the Aashiyana Campaign setting—Aashiyana being the Urdu word for home—from PanicNot!, a collective of creators based in Mumbai. Designed to be both run using Dungeons & Dragons & Fifth Edition and ‘Systems Agnostic’, both scenario and setting are inspired by inspired by South Asian—and specifically Indian—culture, with Voyage to Ambershine Isle being written for First Level characters and intended to be played in a session or two. Over the course of the adventure’s three acts, the Player Characters will get to know Captain Wannaba and his wife, First Mate Mistress Wannafi, the owners of The Dreamer, meet the passengers, deal with stowaways, face some of the Steaming Sea’s deadly wildlife, and get involved in one or two of the schemes of the passengers aboard the vessel.

Voyage to Ambershine Isle begins slowly, but quickly gets the action going. After an opportunity for the Player Characters and the NPCs to introduce themselves, discuss their future plans, and perhaps pick up a hint or two as the secrets and motives of others, The Dreamer—a converted garbage barge sitting in a mithral hull to withstand the corrosive waters of the Steaming Sea—lurches as its hits something—hard! As the captain and his wife attempt to bring the vessel under control, they call for help, tasks made all the more difficult by a horde of Steamed Crabs which scuttle aboard at the same time. The crustaceans seem particularly drawn to below decks and following in their wake into the cramped corridors and quarters, the Player Characters have opportunities for both combat in the close confines and the discovery or two of secrets belonging to both crew and passengers as they check the various cabins, quarters, and other spaces below deck. Eventually, the Player Characters will discover the cause of The Dreamer lurching—the hull has been pierced and plugged by a Giant Mithral Crab! The Player Characters are free to handle this encounter in any way they like and it is nicely explained, going over the various options and outcomes. This can involve combat or roleplaying, though there is an optimal solution to the situation.

Once the situation below has been sorted, the Game Master has two options, or routes, for the scenario’s third act. ‘Route A’ is the shorter of the two, intended to bring Voyage to Ambershine Isle to close if the playing group is short of time, perhaps if the Game Master is running it as a convention scenario. It is very much a case of ‘wham-bam and we are done’ with little in the way of Player Character input and so is the least satisfying. ‘Route B’ is the longer of the two, and sees the Player Characters involved with a passenger complaint—a theft. The situation is not too difficult to resolve and may benefit from the Player Characters’ investigations below deck earlier in the scenario. Again, the encounter is nicely explained and gives options for the outcome, one of which would be to run the first option, ‘Route A’ as the scenario’s big climax if things go really wrong—really wrong! Once the dust has settled, culprits apprehended, secrets revealed, and perhaps a mighty monster defeated (perhaps), the Player Characters will have arrived on the shores of Ambershine Isle.

In addition to the advice on managing the encounters in the first and second acts, the Game Master is given further support for Voyage to Ambershine Isle with a series of appendices. These provide the stats for all of the NPCs and monsters—motivations for each is given earlier in the text, deck plans for The Dreamer, descriptions of the magic items and loot to found in the adventure, a big set of URLs for links to ‘GM Resources’ to help her run the scenario, and a table of trinkets to be found aboard the ship. The list of Game Master resources is particularly useful if the Game Master has never run a combat or a roleplaying adventure set at sea before, but includes links to general advice also.

Voyage to Ambershine Isle is not badly laid out and it makes good use of its art, as well as sporting the rather fetching painting of a Dutch Ship by Utagawa Yoshitomi. The scenario needs a tighter edit in places, but is otherwise well written and easy to understand.

The main issue with Voyage to Ambershine Isle is its brevity. It is too short to really get a feel of the Aashiyana setting and what makes it different from any other campaign other than it being from a collective of Mumbai-based authors. This is not necessarily to criticise the adventure itself, which though short, is action-packed and has plenty of opportunities for both roleplaying and investigation. Perhaps the best way to showcase the Aashiyana setting would have included some pre-generated Player Characters, each with their own motivations for wanting to go to Ambershine Isle and attend the ‘Festival of Ambitions’. As a short, sea-based adventure, Voyage to Ambershine Isle is pretty good and easily adapted to the setting of the Game Master’s choice, the encounter advice very much helping with that. For example, 50 Fathoms for Savage Worlds would be a suitable setting for it.

As the first scenario from new publisher PanicNot!, Voyage to Ambershine Isle is a short, but exciting combination of roleplaying, investigation, and combat, backed up with solid support for the Game Master. As an introduction to the Aashiyana setting Voyage to Ambershine Isle is underwritten and needs something more to really entice either Game Master or her players.

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

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


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Name: The Folly of Ponsonby-WildPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Iain Ross

Setting: Jazz Age Britain
Product: Hotel Horror Mystery Scenario
What You Get: Forty-two page, 7.98 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: West Country Weirdness.Plot Hook: A widow in need, a husband’s legacy shrouded...Plot Support: Plot outline, five decent handouts, five maps, five pre-generated Investigators, and a new servitor of a new Old One. Production Values: Decent.
Pros
# Part One of a Very British Horror# Introductory scenario # Very Green & Pleasant Land# Nicely illustrated with period photographs# Nice array of curios and details# Cosy Call of Cthulhu# Short, tightly plotted, one or two session scenario# “It’s in the trees, it’s coming!”
Cons
# Underwhelming maps
# Needs editing# Anachronisms ahoy# Overwhelming climax for an introductory scenario
Conclusion
# Underwhelming maps# Needs editing# Short, tightly plotted, one or two session scenario# Very Green & Pleasant Land

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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Sometimes the choice of game to review is not yours to make. So, it is, once again, with this review. This review came as a surprise and was completely unplanned. But with the sad news of the death of Andrew Hackard at Steve Jackson Games, it seemed timely to review the card game which he was in charge of and would take out into the gaming hobby with versions like Munchkin Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Munchkin Pathfinder, and Munchkin Gloom. Then into the mainstream with editions which date have included Munchkin SpongeBob SquarePants, Munchkin: Disney, Munchkin: Disney Duck Tales, Munchkin Harry Potter, Munchkin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Munchkin Shakespeare. Then when Reviews from R’lyeh checked when Munchkin was first published, the year 2001, it was obvious that a twentieth anniversary review was warranted, and when upon finding that the nearest copy to hand had never been opened, an Unboxing in the Nook, was also required. So this review is both a retrospective and an acknowledgement that the hobby has lost another who by all accounts was a good friend and will be much missed.

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Munchkin is many things. It is a fantasy roleplaying game without any roleplaying. It is a fantasy card game which parodies fantasy roleplaying. It is a silly fantasy card game with a clever design. It is a fantasy card game which parodies Dungeons & Dragons. It is a dungeon exploration game without a dungeon. It is a fantasy card game which parodies a particular play style of fantasy roleplaying. It is a fantasy card game which understands its genre. It is a fantasy card game with simple rules, but sophisticated interaction of its cards. It is a fantasy card game whose format has become a template for numerous variations, iterations, licences, and accessories. It is a fantasy card game which won the 2001 Origins Awards for Best Traditional Card Game. Above all, it is a fantasy card game which is not just fun to play, it can be laugh out loud fun to play.

So the first question is, what is a ‘Munchkin’? The most obvious answer is the race of little people from Frank L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, enslaved by the Wicked Witch of the East. In roleplaying parlance, a ‘Munchkin’ is the type of roleplayer—typically a roleplayer of Dungeons & Dragons (but it applies to any roleplaying game)—who will always try and maximise his character’s stats, kill anything in his path for the maximum Experience Points possible, find and optimise the best gear and/or magical items possible, and acquire as many Levels as he can, all the while ignoring the roleplaying aspects of the game, his character’s personality, and that of any other Player Character around the table to the detriment of everyone else’s fun. Unless of course, everyone else is also a Munchkin, in which case, all bets are off! Munchkins are not always fun to game with and to an extent this can be true of the Munchkin card game. It can outstay its welcome. However, Munchkin is both fun to play and funny.

So in Munchkin the card game you are attempting to be the most munch-kiny. To out-munchkin your fellow munchkins. To be the munchkin’s munchkin. To win, to be top Munchkin, you need to be the first to acquire Level Ten—and you start at Level One. To go up a Level, you need to kill monsters. Kill a monster, gain a Level. Monsters can be hard though, and you need better treasure and better gear which will improve your ability to kill Monsters. Better treasure and better gear comes from killing monsters. Sometimes you are never going to kill a monster on your own—you are just not enough of a munchkin. So you negotiate with your fellow munchkins for a share of the treasure, and together you might defeat that tough monster—but you gain the Level. Ultimately, when Level Ten is in sight and you have chance of being the uber-munchkin, negotiating and working together is not going to work. It is just you and the monster (and whatever monsters and perils your rival munchkins can throw into your path) and your bestest gear. Never fear though, YOU will get to Level Ten!

First published in 2001, Munchkin from Steve Jackson Games is designed for three to six players, aged twelve and up. It has a playing time of an hour, but games typically last half that time. It consists of two decks of cards—Dungeon cards and Treasure cards. Dungeon cards have a dungeon door on the back whilst Treasure cards have a pile of loot. Chief amongst the Dungeon cards are the monster cards, from the lowly Level 1 Potted Plant and Drooling Slime to the dread Level 20 Squidzilla and the Level 20 Plutonium Dragon. Defeat them and not only are your rewarded with Treasure cards, but also a Level or two, depending on the toughness of the monster. Fail to defeat them and a monster might kill you (it’s okay, you can start again back at Level One), make you lose a Level, or lose an item. Others includes Curses like ‘Curse! Income Tax’ or ‘Curse! Duck of Doom’ which force you to discard items; and Classes, Races, and Genders—Cleric, Thief, Warrior, and Wizard, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling (Human is the default), and Male and Female. The Classes, Races, and Genders will often determine what gear you can and what magical items and weapons you can wield, and lose the wrong one or have it changed to another, perhaps because of a Curse! and you lose the associated items.

The Treasure cards include single use items like potions, like the ‘Polymorph Potion’, which turns a monster into a parrot which flies away, leaving behind its treasure, and spells, like ‘Magic Missile’ which adds a one-use bonus in combat. Then there are magic items—lots and lots of magic items. These include the ‘Kneepads of Allure’ which force another player to help you, and ‘Boots of Butt-Kicking’ and ‘Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment’, both of which add bonuses when you fight monsters. There is a limit to how many items you can carry—one item of footwear, one item of head gear, suit of armour, an item in each hand, or an item in both hands, just as you would in a fantasy roleplaying game. 

Munchkin is quite simple to play. At the start of the game, you and the other players receive four cards, receive two Dungeon cards and two Treasure cards, and equip yourself from them as best you can. On your turn, you ‘Open a Door’ and draw a card from the Dungeon deck. If a monster, you fight it or you run away. If not, the card goes into your hand or is equipped immediately, or if a Curse!, played immediately. If you did not encounter a monster, you can ‘Look for Trouble’ and play one from your hand. Either way, if you defeat the monster, go up a Level, and you can ‘Loot the Room’ and draw cards from the Treasure deck.

To defeat a monster, the total of your Level, plus bonuses from any items equipped and any one-shot items must be greater than that of the monster’s Level. However a rival can play cards which will hinder you and so prevent you from defeating the monster. Then you have two options. One is to run away, but doing so may have consequences depending on the monster faced, as well as losing any opportunity of gaining any treasure. Alternatively, you can ‘Ask for Help’. Essentially, bribe another player into helping you defeat a monster that you cannot defeat on your own, typically with the treasure, or the best of the treasure that you will find when you ‘Loot the Room’. This can become a negotiation and even if another player agrees to help you, it does not stop a rival from throwing in cards to further hinder you.

Play continues like this until a player reaches Level Nine and looks ready to get to Level Ten and win the game. Then all bets are off. Up until this point, players have been hindering each other because they can, because it is funny, because they do not want to see another player gain a hoard of treasure cards, but now… But now, they have to stop the player in the lead from winning. If there is another player in the lead, then give his opponent a potion which will increase its Level, send a Wandering Monster in his way and increase the number he has to fight, Backstab him (if you are a lowdown, sneaky Thief), or curse them with a Curse! card—it is all legal. Expect the same response though, if you are the one in the lead…

However, there are many criticisms levelled at Munchkin. That it is too luck-based, that it is too random, that it is unbalanced, that much of the game play is exception based, that it involves too much ‘take that’ style of play between the players, and that this is exacerbated as a game gets closer and closer to one player attaining Level Ten, and everyone else gangs up on the player about to win. All of those criticisms are true. Yet that does not mean that Munchkin is a terrible game—far from it. Yes, it is luck based in that you are drawing from two large decks—larger once any of the expansions are added—and you might draw a monster you cannot defeat or start off with a hand of cards you cannot use, but then so might the other players or if they have better hands of cards than you, they might have worse hands in another game. So game play can swing this way and that, but part of the play is getting the best out of the cards in your hands and going on to get better cards—or worse, and perhaps winning the game. And even if Munchkin ditches the roleplaying aspect that it draws so much inspiration, there is still a story to be told in those ups and downs, the good fortune and the bad.

Munchkin is also exception based in its game play and many of the cards will run counter to the core rules, but again, that is the point. Those exceptions are where much of the game’s flavour and humour come into play and enforce the many aspects of the genre it is parodying. As to Munchkin being too much a case of too much ‘take that’ in its game play, that is also true, just as it is true that the game play gets more and more back-stabby towards the end of the game and there is a chance that someone will win. And again, this is in the genre and the style of play that the game draws from and parodies. The clue is in the game’s subtitle—“Kill the Monsters • Steal the Treasure • Stab Your Buddy”.

Ultimately, the answer to the accusation that Munchkin is that too luck-based and too random is that it is not a Eurogame. It is not designed to be balanced or necessarily fair in its game play, and the fact that it is luck based, that it is simple to play, and that it is heavily, heavily thematic, actually makes it a fine example that the antithesis to the classic Eurogame. In other words, Munchkin is classic Ameritrash. Lots of luck, lots of theme, and lost of fun.

However, there are legitimate criticisms that can be levelled at Munchkin. It is designed for players aged ten and up and this leads to a several issues. One is that the artwork on the cards can be suggestive in one or two places, and the second is that jokes may well be lost on younger players because they are unlikely to be as familiar as the type of fantasy and play that Munchkin is parodying. The latter may be ignored at least if younger players are prepared to embrace the silliness and humour of the game, and the former can be addressed by older players or adults pruning the cards in play to ensure that some the more suggestive ones—and they are no worse than that—are removed. Another is that the ‘take that’ backing-stabbing element is not friendly and so not necessarily suited to younger players. Altogether, that may mean that Munchkin is not necessarily family-friendly, but of course, that may depend upon the family and the type of games that its likes to play. Lastly, as simple as the game play is, learning what card works with which other cards, can be a little daunting, especially if the players are not familiar with the genre. This is one of the problems with the exceptionalism built onto the game’s cards, but a play through or two and this should be less of an issue.

Issues aside—and to be fair, they are far from being either major or insurmountable issues—Munchkin is plain, simple silly fun. In fact, it can be laugh out loud round the table fun. This starts with the titles of the cards and the artwork on the cards. For example, on the ‘Magic Missile’ card, instead of whatever dweomer-driven dart the spell normally suggests, the caster is actually holding a rocket-powered missile; that on the ‘Curse! Change Race’ card, the victim’s pointy ears have popped off, as if he was losing his Elfiness; instead the Level 1 monster being a mall rat, it is a ‘Maul Rat’, an actual rat with a maul!; and the Level 16 ‘Wight Brothers’ are not a pair of undead brothers, but a pair of undead mechanic brothers! Game play, the back and forth of the cards can be as equally as funny. After all, it is undeniably funny when you are about to defeat the easily beatable Level 1 ‘Drooling Slime’ and a rival whammies you with the ‘Ancient’ card (illustrated with a bespectacled old dragon) which adds ten levels to the monster and makes it unbeatable.

Then, there are the in-jokes and the references. Munchkin is rife with them, each time taking the joke or the reference and poking fun at them, making us laugh at a memory or a story, and reminding us how silly they are. Whether that is the title of the game itself, Munchkin, or the ‘Gelatinous Octahedron’ or ‘Gazebo’ monsters, or ‘Bribe GM with Food’, ‘Whine at the GM’, and ‘Invoke Obscure Rules’ cards which grant you an extra Level, and which all invoke a certain style of play or occurred in a session of Dungeons & Dragons long ago that you were definitely not playing. Munchkin then is poking fun at us and it is funny.

Physically, Munchkin is well presented. Both rules and cards are easy to read, and the cards are fantastically illustrated by John Kovalic in sepia tones, with many of the characters from his long running Dork Tower comic strip making appearances. It is clear that a great deal of thought has gone into the look of the game and into getting the jokes, in-jokes, and the humour right. Even now, not have played it in a few years, just looking at the cards and their jokes are still funny. However, there is a lot of space in the box, so the owner will need to add dividers or means to stop the cards from sliding around, but that does mean that there is room for expansions! And what expansions there were! In the past twenty years Steve Jackson Games has taken the format of Munchkin and not parodied other genres, from pirates in Munchkin Booty!, vampires in Munchkin Bites!, and Science Fiction in Star Munchkin to facing cosmic horror in Munchkin Cthulhu, superheroes in Super Munchkin, and martial arts in Munchkin Fu—and a whole lot more. There can be no denying the success of the format and its adaptability, and it has remained Steve Jackson Games’ best seller for years.

Munchkin is not a great game and it is not a classic, and yes, ultimately, its humour can outstay its welcome, and if you prefer more balanced play, then it is probably too much of an Ameritrash game for you. It is instead a joke-filled, funny filler of a classic beer and pretzels game, that really can make you and your players laugh out loud round the table when playing it, and how many games can do that? Munchkin makes us laugh at ourselves and our hobby and that is what makes it fun to play.

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

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Parallel Worlds feels a little old-fashioned. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that it supports the gaming hobby with content for a variety of games. So an issue might include new monsters, spells, treasures, reviews of newly released titles, scenarios, discussions of how to play, painting guides, and the like… That is how it has been all the way back to the earliest days of The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that it can be purchased, if not from your local news agents, then from your local games store. Just like The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines could be back in the day. However, Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day. By which Reviews from R’lyeh means that Parallel Worlds has reached the grand old age of twenty-one—and these days, that is no magazine achievement for a magazine, gaming or otherwise.
Parallel Worlds #21 promises ‘The Best in Escapism’. It offers a mix of scenarios and support for various roleplaying games as well as interviews with creators and reviews of various books and games. The issue opens with editor Chris Cunliffe’s editorial lamenting the challenging nature of differing opinions and expressing them online, but highlighting that actually, through differing opinions you can discover new things, and that to some extent, the magazine is a vehicle for that. The first content in the issue is ‘Farsight – An Interview with Dario Pesce and Francesco Lucenti’, the Venice-based designers of their new roleplaying game, Farsight, and their company, Lightfish Games. As entertaining as the interview is, it actually focuses very little upon Farsight, the Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition evolved roleplaying game, recently published following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Whether talking about themselves and their influences, this is still intriguing enough to make the reader want to check out the roleplaying game itself.
The actual gaming content in the issue begins with a scenario for Black Void, the roleplaying game of esoteric fantasy set in and around Llyhn the Eternal City, a dystopian cosmopolis and trading hub at the epicentre between the Cosmos and the Void. Here, Living in filthy alleys and shanties among beggars, slaves and the casteless, humanity is very much at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Llyhn, a city inhabited and ruled by eerie beings from faraway worlds, bizarre sapient entities and otherworldly Daimons from beyond the Veil. However, there are factions in the city who want this to change, for humanity to rise beyond its meagre existence, of which the latest is ‘The Cause’, a movement to unite humanity and work to improve its conditions. In Joel Lonergan’s ‘Offers Too Good’, the Player Characters are present at a recruitment drive for ‘The Cause’ and even if they decline to join, they get an offer of a job—join and find out exactly what the leaders of ‘The Cause’ want. The scenario is short and will pose a moral dilemma for the Player Characters, but really feels like a set-up to something bigger.
Stephen Turner, the designer and publisher of Chivalry & Sorcery, Fifth Edition, adds to the world of the Dragon Reaches with ‘Languages of the Dragon Reaches’. Again short, it explores the linguistic development of the setting and provides two scripts—Tadarn Runes and Bethrin Script, both of which Game Master can use to add flavour to her Chivalry & Sorcery campaign. The world’s most popular roleplaying game in the world comes under the spotlight, or at least an aspect of it, in ‘The Three Pillars of D&D Part 3: Exploration’ by Ben Potts. Previous entries in the series examined social interaction and combat, and if they were as decently done as this third and final part, then both are worth tracking down and reading. This article identifies the key elements of exploration in Dungeons & Dragons—travel and puzzles (and traps), and suggests ways in which they can be made both challenging and interesting to play. It also examines how Short Rests and Long Rests work in the game and points own how clunky they are and how they impede one character Class and not another. However, solutions are suggested as are ways in which both Short Rests and Long Rests—Short Rests in particular, can be made to be exciting and interesting without the Player Characters necessarily losing the benefits of either. In examining the way in which Dungeons & Dragons is played, this article feels old fashioned in that similar articles of its ilk have been written again and again over the years, but of course, looking at the various previous editions of the roleplaying game, rather than the current one. This does not in any way make it a poor article and any Dungeon Master running a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition game will find this an interesting and informative article, full of suggestions and advice that will either help her run a better and more fun game, or perhaps confirm that she is already implementing both and making her game better and more fun.
Editor Chris Cunliffe’s ‘From Tabletop to Desktop’, part of Parallel Worlds’ ongoing ‘Games Master Class’ series treads ground much touched upon by Wyrd Science – Session Zero, that of the shift of play around the table to play online precipitated by COVID-19. He explores his own problems in making that shift, as well as those of his fellow players, plus the changes in terms of preparation, socialising, and interaction within the game itself. In particular, more preparation is required, conversation and interaction are more focused, but does not flow as well as they would around the table, and play time is not just much slower, but also more tiring. This does not mean that gaming online is impossible, in fact, mechanically, it is much, much easier than it was a decade ago… However, for many gamers, it is the only roleplaying possible, but it is possible and it is very much easier than it once was. What one advantage it does omit is that online gaming brings people together, not just from the next town or nearby big city, but from around the world. (For example, I regularly game and chat with players who are not just ten miles away, but hundreds and even thousands of miles away.) Another development that the author ignores is that of virtual conventions. Still the article is informative and warns the potential online player and Game Master of the issues he and she will face when taking the next step into the virtual world, though perhaps it could have highlighted the benefits a bit more and perhaps included the experiences of others who have made the jump.
The remainder of Parallel Worlds #21 is devoted to reviews. They include reviews of Sentinel Comics – The Roleplaying Game, Land of the Rising Sun—the historically inspired adaptation of Chivalry & Sorcerery, Fifth Edition, and The Dark Peaks: Deep Maw. The problem with the first two reviews—the review of Land of the Rising Sun in particular is definitely underwritten—is that they focus just a little too much on the artwork than the text, so that they are drawn out, perhaps taking up space for another review or even a series of thumbnail reviews which might have broadened the appeal of the magazine and made it more useful. In comparison, the review of The Dark Peaks: Deep Maw is more focused and more engaging. Similarly, the reviews of A Hole in the Sky, an audio book by Peter Hamilton and the Young Adult space opera novel, Kitara, by Gideon Marcus, do not suffer from that problem.
Perhaps the least interesting articles in Parallel Worlds #21 are saved to last. ‘Moving to Dystopia: Why an Established Crime Writer is Turning to Dystopian Fiction’ is an interview with Leigh Russell about why she is making the aforementioned shift, whilst ‘Rules of Succession: Appreciating Crusader Kings III’ is about Chris Cunliffe’s experiences with the computer games Crusader Kings II and Crusader Kings III. The latter is interesting from the roleplaying experiences it offers, but again feels too long, whereas the former is short, with extra artwork making it both longer and more of an infomercial than an actual interview.
Physically, Parallel Worlds #21 is professionally presented and written. The layout is clean, strong, and easy to look at, and in general is easy to read. In places, especially in the reviews, the artwork does overpower the text, but overall, this is a good-looking affair.
The problem with Parallel Worlds #21 is that it simply needs more content which will attract gamers and readers to come back to it and content that a Game Master can bring to her table. This is not to say that the issue lacks good content—for example, ‘The Three Pillars of D&D Part 3: Exploration’ and ‘From Tabletop to Desktop’ are both informative and useful, and the scenario, ‘Offers Too Good’, is a good introduction to Black Void. However, too many articles are strung out and the issue lacks content that would attract a wider audience, perhaps the addition of a scenario or article aimed at larger fanbases for different games who might pick up the issue and then appreciate the rest of the content might have helped. This is in addition to generic content too. Of course, it is difficult to take in the swathes of roleplaying titles being released from one month to the next, but there could have been more reviews too, which again, could have appealed to a wider audience.
There can be no doubt that roleplaying magazines have a hard time surviving in contemporary times, but Parallel Worlds #21 does not make it easy for itself by having too much content which does not support the hobby and which is too light. There are a few good articles within the issue and it needs to build on those to bring readers back to it on a regular basis rather than their simply checking out an issue to see if there might be something good in its pages.
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An Unboxing in the Nook video is available here.

The Level of the Lost is a scenario for Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship. The first Science Fiction roleplaying game and the first post-apocalypse roleplaying game, Metamorphosis Alpha is set aboard the Starship Warden, a generation spaceship which has suffered an unknown catastrophic event which killed the crew and most of the million or so colonists and left the ship irradiated and many of the survivors and the flora and fauna aboard mutated. Some three centuries later, as Humans, Mutated Humans, Mutated Animals, and Mutated Plants, the Player Characters, knowing nothing of their captive universe, would leave their village to explore strange realm around them, wielding fantastic mutant powers and discovering how to wield fantastic devices of the gods and the ancients that is technology, ultimately learn of their enclosed world. Originally published in 1976, it would go on to influence a whole genre of roleplaying games, starting with Gamma World, right down to Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic from Goodman Games. And it would be Goodman Games which brought the roleplaying game back with the stunning Metamorphosis Alpha Collector’s Edition in 2016, and support the forty-year old roleplaying game with a number of supplements, many which would be collected in the ‘Metamorphosis Alpha Treasure Chest’.

The Level of the Lost is written by the designer of Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls and very much wears its inspiration on its sleeve. Well, actually it does not wear one inspiration on its sleeve, so much as have it roar above the jungle canopy and then stomp and chomp on the Player Characters with said inspiration. Then, with the second inspiration, just let the scenario and the Player Characters’ involvement in it get on with it. The first inspiration is Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton—who receives a big name check throughout the scenario, and what this means is that The Level of the Lost is a scenario in which the Player Characters will be confronted with big, roaring, stomping, chomping dinosaurs and because The Level of the Lost is a scenario for Metamorphosis Alpha, those big roaring, stomping, chomping dinosaurs have mutant powers too. The second inspiration, that of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel, The Lost World, really sums up the whole of the scenario in being set on a lost world or ‘Level’ of the Starship Warden (or rather half-Level), which the Player Characters have limited access to. The result is that The Level of the Lost is big, bruising, and anything other than subtle, but mutant dinosaurs means mutant dinosaurs—and that can only mean one thing. Well two things actually—danger and over-the-top fun.  

The events of The Level of the Lost takes place behind a feature known as the ‘Impenetrable Wall’. Rumour has it that the fabled trader, Gurn the Far-Travelled, has found one of the fabled Command Rings, perhaps one of the most potent artifact of the original crew, since it grants the wearer  complete control over the Starship Warden and access to any Level and through any door—including the previously closed door in the ‘Impenetrable Wall’. So when his robot companion is found damaged outside the open door through the ‘Impenetrable Wall’, there has to be truth in the rumours. The question is, what happened to Gurn the Far-Travelled and wherever he is, does he still have the Command Ring?

What lies beyond the ‘Impenetrable Wall’ is a mini-sandbox comprised of increasingly difficult encounters with dinosaurs made all the more challenging by the fact that they, like many of the Player Characters, possess mutations and the fact that their larger metabolisms means that many of the mutations and devices will not be as effective upon them. There are other encounters too, including with a tribe of reptilian humanoids and a unit of highly trained Pure Strain Humans, but in the main, the Player Characters are free to wander where they will. The forests and mists will not necessarily help them in orienting themselves, but gaining access to one of the few remaining observation towers may give them the lay of the land. By the second of the scenario’s three acts, the Player Characters will ideally have discovered the ‘Crichton Initiative Cloning Lab’ at the heart of the preserve and begun to winkle out some of its secrets. This includes the recent comings and goings with the opening of the door in the ‘Impenetrable Wall’ which allow the Player Characters to tighten their search for Gurn the Far-Travelled. The scenario comes to a climax in the third act when, of course, the Player Characters face off against the ‘King of the Dinosaurs’! Naturally, this is a Metamorphosis Alpha version of the ‘King of the Dinosaurs’, so the Game Master should expect something strange—and the author certainly delivers.

The Level of the Lost is a tough adventure and is best suited for experienced Player Characters with plenty of equipment and weaponry to help protect themselves in the verdant habitat of the Dinosaur Preserve. Certainly, they and their players deserve to feel a sense of accomplishment in defeating some of the mighty beasts to be found within the enclosure—especially the last one. Plus, if they do, then they are amply rewarded. Even with that reward and that sense of accomplishment, this as the scenario outlines, is only the beginning of their troubles for the Player Characters. Not only have they come into possession of an artefact that everyone wants, they must learn to use it wisely and not run off into regions of the Starship Warden that they now have access to, but which they may well be unprepared for.

Physically, The Level of the Lost is cleanly presented. The maps are nicely done as are the illustrations, although not all of them match the text, which is actually much more thematic where there is a mismatch. As an actual adventure, it is a tough affair, primarily offering a mix of exploration and combat—the latter in particular. Any adventure for Metamorphosis Alpha is going to be challenging, but The Level of the Lost is tougher than most, which should be no surprising given the type of creatures faced. Plus, given the nature of the reward involved, it should be run later in a campaign when the Player Characters and their story are ready for a change and a push onwards to discover some of the Starship Warden’s bigger secrets…

The Captain’s Table is a scenario for Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship. The first Science Fiction roleplaying game and the first post-apocalypse roleplaying game, Metamorphosis Alpha is set aboard the Starship Warden, a generation spaceship which has suffered an unknown catastrophic event which killed the crew and most of the million or so colonists and left the ship irradiated and many of the survivors and the flora and fauna aboard mutated. Some three centuries later, as Humans, Mutated Humans, Mutated Animals, and Mutated Plants, the Player Characters, knowing nothing of their captive universe, would leave their village to explore strange realm around them, wielding fantastic mutant powers and discovering how to wield fantastic devices of the gods and the ancients that is technology, ultimately learn of their enclosed world. Originally published in 1976, it would go on to influence a whole genre of roleplaying games, starting with Gamma World, right down to Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic from Goodman Games. And it would be Goodman Games which brought the roleplaying game back with the stunning Metamorphosis Alpha Collector’s Edition in 2016, and support the forty-year old roleplaying game with a number of supplements, many which would be collected in the ‘Metamorphosis Alpha Treasure Chest’.

The Captain’s Table is written by the designer of Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic and uses the spiritual beliefs of the Player Characters to draw them into adventure. Their spiritual belief system involves not just ancestor worship, but worship of the original officers who commanded the Starship Warden. Essentially, they have come to form a pantheon of their own for the tribe, so when the Player Characters come upon a holo-egg which unexpectedly projects a larger-than-life vision of Captain Jameson—one of the five original captains of the Warden—they are not only surprised, they almost struck down in religious awe! Further, when he asks for their aid in recovering a storage crate with materials essential to his plans, they realise that he is giving them a holy quest! Surely something that the Player Characters should undertake in order to prove their worthiness to both the ancients and the Great Officers? So begins the quest to The Captain’s Table.

The Captain’s Table is a relatively short scenario, consisting of three parts which should take a session or two to play through—if the Player Characters stick to their quest, that is. In the first part, they are given directions as to where to go and what they need to progress further, including an opening scene in which the Captain actually informs them where they are. That is, on a giant spaceship! Thus the Game Master may want to run this scenario a few sessions into her campaign after the characters have already learned this themselves rather it being revealed to them via a dose of exposition. Not only does the Captain give away information, he directs them to an armband which will allow access to certain parts of the ship. This includes the Cargo Deck, the scene for the second part of the scenario. Here is the main stage for the scenario, a single vast level thirty-our miles long and sixteen miles wide consisting of hundreds of mile-long cargo bays. One of these is the Player Characters’ destination, but they will need to make the trek there using the clues given by the hologram of Captain Jameson, negotiate (or possibly fight) with other scavengers for possession of what they have been sent to collect before taking it to Captain Jameson himself.

Despite its brevity, there is a lot of detail and flavour to the scenario. There are monsters and other creatures to be found, from Wolfoids and Felenoids—the latter with a penchant for fashion, to Space Weevils and intelligent Oozes, a whole Level of mostly unopened cargo crates to open, and of course, getting to have dinner literally at the Captain’s Table. Some of the encounters are designed to be combat encounters, but others involve roleplaying and the Game Master has some fun NPCs to roleplay. Although the scenario is relatively short, providing no more than a session or two’s worth of play, the Player Characters are free to go explore the whole of the Cargo Level, perhaps cracking open cargo bays and crates as they go, or the Cargo Level is somewhere that they can come back to again and again after the events of The Captain’s Table, looking for further supplies or devices that will help them in their exploration of the Starship Warden or just help their tribe survive. Either way, tables of encounters and cargo bay contents support both options.

If there is a problem with The Captain’s Table, it is the finale. As written, it is fine, it makes sense, and it is amusing, but some players may feel slightly cheated when they and their characters discover what has been going on. Consequently, players do need a sense humour when playing this scenario and not to be too po-faced about its revelations. Plus, ultimately, their characters are rewarded for their efforts and do learn more about the Starship Warden. For the Game Master there are some fun references too, most notably The Wizard of Oz, Red Dwarf, and Terminator 2, but these are handled with some subtlety. Plus in the long term, the Game Master can have the Player Characters return to the Cargo Deck as and when it suits the plot and ‘Captain Jameson’ hologram could become a recurring NPC. If there is an issue to the scenario, it is that the clues do need to be carefully presented if the players are to take advantage of them.

Physically, The Captain’s Table is engagingly written and nicely illustrated. The maps are well done, often illustrating events as much as locations within the adventure. The handouts are decent too, though the Game Master may need to be more direct in making their use by the players a little easier.

Both the plotting and the staging of The Captain’s Table are quite tightly tied to Metamorphosis Alpha and the Starship Warden. However, with a little bit of effort and teasing apart of its individual parts, both plot and the locations—especially the Cargo Deck, which could simply become an enormous warehouse—could be reworked into other post-apocalyptic settings. In general, the drier or less gonzo the setting, the more adaptation effort required, but the scenario would work with Mutant Crawl Classics, Gamma World, and even Mutant: Year Zero.

The Captain’s Table is a short, entertaining scenario which makes good use of its inspirations and provides content which the Game Master can return to. It is easy to add to any Metamorphosis Alpha campaign and should provide a session or two’s worth of play (and potentially more).

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 a 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: Tales From Ye Dusty Olde Crap Shoppe
Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: James Thompson

Setting: Modern Day
Product: Hunt & Chase Scenario
What You Get: Eighty page, 32.46 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Sometimes the shelves hold scares as well as books... and the book hunters become the hunted.Plot Hook: Lost books, lost customers, just how far back do these shelves go?Plot Support: Six plots or hooks, location description, two optional encounters, eleven maps, nineteen handouts, nine NPC statistics and illustrations, three monster statistics and illustrations, six pre-generated Investigators, and staging advice.Production Values: Good.
Pros
# Superbly disquieting book illustrations# Multiple, easy-to-combine plots and hooks# Straightforward plotting for all six plots# Potential introductory scenario or one-shot# Excellent artwork throughout# Delightfully dreary location# Entertainingly weird cast of NPCs for the Keeper to roleplay# Potential, unknowing entrance to the Great Library of Celaeno
# Potential introduction to The Yellow King # Could be adapted to The Yellow King Roleplaying Game# Could be adapted to Bookhounds of London
# Fourteen Weird Book Covers to Alarm Your Investigators# Squinty Crumpet
Cons
# Using some plots or hooks, may preclude a return visit to the location and scenario reuse
# Pre-generated Investigators not illustrated# Straightforward plotting for all six plots# Terrible title# Squinty Crumpet
Conclusion
# Superbly disquieting book illustrations# Multiple, easy-to-combine plots and hooks# Terrible title# Fourteen Weird Book Covers to Alarm Your Investigators# Squinty Crumpet

Destroyer of Worlds is a scenario for Alien: The Roleplaying Game. Like Chariot of the Gods—also available in the Alien: The Roleplaying Game Starter Set, it shares the same mode of play, but differs in terms of its campaign model. Thus, it is written for the roleplaying game’s Cinematic mode, and so is designed to emulate the drama of a film set within the Alien universe, emphasising high stakes situations, faster, more brutal play, and deadly encounters. However, where the campaign model for Chariot of the Gods is that of Space Truckers—star ship crews hauling goods and resources, as in Alien, the campaign model for Destroyer of Worlds is that of Colonial Marines, essentially military missions like Aliens. In Destroyer of Worlds then, the Player Characters get to face off against Xenomorphs as armed and dangerous marines, as they engage in a deadly manhunt on a near-abandoned colony world rife with intrigue and insurrection, just as war breaks out in orbit above. As the situation deteriorates around them, the Player Characters will find themselves the unfortunate victims of corporate, military, and interstellar politics, as something worse than their nightmares chases them off world…

The background for Destroyer of Worlds is the Oil Wars between the United Americas (UA), the Three World Empire, and the Union of Progressive Peoples (UPP), the race to locate fresh sources of petroleum which would keep their respective industries and militaries supplied. Thus, the strategic importance of petroleum-rich worlds has grown and grown over the years, with those close to national borders also creating severe tensions. One such world is the Ariarcus colony on Kruger 60 AEM. Located in the Outer Veil in United Americas space close to the border with the Union of Progressive Peoples, for decades the Ariarcus colony has proven its worth as a strategic source of oil, such that when the colonists were found selling oil to the UPP, the colony was seized as an asset and militarised, with units from both the United States Colonial Marine Corps and the Colonial Navy being stationed on and above the planet at Fort Nebraska. The colony has all but collapsed, with barely two thousand colonists left, most wanting to get off world, an insurrection which wants to be free of what its members see as the UA yoke and is ready to defect to the UPP, and as military forces are diverted to deal with a UPP attack on the neighbouring the Cygni 61 system and LV-038 colony, both the military and colonial administration declares an evacuation of the colony, the insurrection seizes the opportunity to reach out to the UPP. At the same time, a squad of Colonial Marines from Fort Nebraska’s Special Operations ‘Sin Eaters’ marine unit decide it is the moment to go AWOL…

Into this set-up are thrown a team of marines drawn from the forces left after the strike force has left for Cygni 61 system and LV-038 colony, including members of an assault team, a Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Defence Specialist, a Combat Technician/Hospital Corpsman Android, and two riflemen and drivers, led by a ‘Sin Eater’ commander. Their task is to locate the squad of Colonial Marines who have gone AWOL and prevent both them and any intelligence they possess from falling into the hands of the UPP. Each has his or her agenda—some have their own secrets too—that will come into play as their mission progresses, and over the course of a single few hours, they will track down the missing Colonial Marines, confront the Insurrectionists, get caught up in the outbreak of war, come under horrifying chemical attack, deal with rival factions desperate to make alliances, and as the order to evacuate is issued, face monster after monster the like of which they will have never encountered before, and ultimately, literally climb up out of Kruger 60 AEM’s gravity well. All of which takes place in the Antarctic environment of Ariarcus, a moon of the gas giant, Oblivion, under the never more than twilight gaze of the ever-watchful and oppressive Eye of Oblivion—an 11,000-kilometer-wide blue storm raging in the gas giant’s atmosphere.

Destroyer of Worlds is designed for three to five players, but includes a total of seven pre-generated Player Characters to form tthe ramshackle unit drawn together and assigned what will turn out to be a brutally nasty disaster of a mission. Essentially, those Colonial Marines initially appearing in the unit as NPCs are intended as replacement Player Characters, for make no mistake, this is a deadly scenario in which a ‘Total Party Kill’ is a distinct possibility. In fact, it might actually be worth the Game Mother preparing some of the other NPCs as replacement Player Characters, so deadly is the scenario in places. Potentially though, this would lead to a shift in the ‘party dynamics’ as NPCs from other factions become Player Characters and have their own agendas. Ultimately though, everyone’s agenda is to get off world, whatever the consequences.

Destroyer of Worlds is structured over three acts. In Act I, the Player Characters get their assignment and begin their investigation, tracking the missing Colonial Marines down across the Ariarcus colony, dealing with the last remnants of the colony infrastructure and administration, confronting the Insurrectionists, potentially encountering both corporate and UPP operatives with their own agendas, Xenomorphs, and more. As the Player Characters begin putting things together, Act II begins with a bang. Open conflict begins in orbit above between the UA and the UPP, the colony is hit with EMP attacks, bringing spacecraft and attack ships crashing down on the colony, and worse, an unknown ship showers the colony with the transformative Black Goo seen in Prometheus. The latter leads to some horrifying scenes as the remaining colonists are radically mutated or ripped apart. Combined with an order to evacuate the colony, this will drive the Player Characters to get off world, but the effect of the EMP attacks mean that the colony’s space elevator is not working. In Act III, this will force the Player Characters to delve into Fort Nebraska’s sublevels to get the power working again, and in the process, discover some of the darker secrets about just what has been going on at the base…

Destroyer of Worlds is big, bold, and brassy, an epic adventure from start to finish, and yet… As much as it captures the cinematic feel of Aliens and the later films, it is not an easy adventure to run and it is guilty of over-egging the pudding. The problems with the adventure are fourfold. First, there is a lot going on in the adventure, with multiple factions and multiple agendas, not including those of the Player Characters. Combined with events there is a lot for the Game Mother to keep to track off throughout the adventure, and this can be compounded later on in the second and third acts if the Player Characters are joined by NPCs—both innocent bystanders and members of other factions, who are equally as desperate to get off world. Second, the adventure does not just throw one Xenomorph element at the Player Characters, but all of them. So not just the Black Goo and the Anathema it creates, but also species Xenomorph XX121 from Alien and Aliens—from Egg to Queen, and subspecies. There is often little to no subtlety to this, and it is compounded by the third problem—the sheer number of Xenomorphs that the Player Characters will encounter throughout the adventure, especially in Act III. Consequently, their exploration of Fort Nebraska’s sublevels do take on a dungeon-like aspect, but with guns and grenades and Xenomorphs, instead of swords, spells, and Orcs, such that it feels as if everyone should be playing an Aliens boardgame rather than Alien: The Roleplaying Game. Fourth, because it is an adventure for Cinematic mode, Destroyer of Worlds is heavily plotted, in some cases for the Player Characters as much as the story itself, including one of the Player Characters beginning infected, their drive eventually being to locate a cure, which as the scenario plays out, they will hopefully discover exists. So it feels heavy-handed in places, but given that Destroyer of Worlds is a Cinematic one-shot, this is not as much of an issue as it could have been. Fifth, there is quite a lot going on off-camera in terms of the story that is never really explained, such as who exactly drops the Black Goo on the colony (it is intimated that this this is Engineers from Prometheus, just to further over-egg the pudding), why the Player Characters are selected, and so on. Yet, in the face of the unrelenting pace at which Destroyer of Worlds is telling its story, it almost does not matter. Certainly not for the Player Characters, but perhaps for the Game Mother?

Physically, Destroyer of Worlds comes as a boxed set, much like the Alien: The Roleplaying Game Starter Set—and almost as richly appointed. Open up the box and the purchaser is confronted with decks of cards, poster maps, character sheets, and the scenario book itself. The two decks of cards consist of twenty-one Personal Agendas, six Vehicle cards, two Weapon cards, nine NPC cards, and six Story cards. The Personal Agenda cards are given to the appropriate Player Characters at the beginning of each act and define their aims for that act, their being rewarded with Story Points based on how well their players roleplayed them. The Story cards are similar to the Personal Agenda cards, but reveal secret aspects of their particular Player Characters which again will affect their motivations. The other cards are a mix of the old and the new, some having appeared in the Alien: The Roleplaying Game Starter Set. These include a United States Colonial Marine Corps heavy tank (which the Player Characters can potentially commandeer), a pair of UUP vehicles, and the AK-4047, the UPP equivalent of the Pulse Rifle.

The main map is a thirty-four by twenty-two inches poster which depicts Ariaricus colony on one side and the interior of Fort Nebraska on the other. This is in addition to the two A3-sized maps which show individual locations. Of the three, the smaller maps are a lot easier to handle and sue at the table, but like all of the maps, they are done in the green-on-green blueprint style seen in the Alien universe. The seven Player Character sheets are easy to read, as is the scenario booklet, which is cleanly laid out in the style seen in Alien: The Roleplaying Game, the Alien: The Roleplaying Game Starter Set, and Chariot of the Gods. It is lightly illustrated with pieces taken from Alien: The Roleplaying Game, but the light layout makes up for that. Notably, the scenario book includes four appendices, one for all of the types of the Xenomorphs which appear in Destroyer of Worlds, one for the Talents which appear in the scenario, one for all of the stats for the gear and vehicles, and one for vehicle combat. The appendices of Talents and Xenomorphs do reprint material from Alien: The Roleplaying Game, but they are included for anyone running Destroyer of Worlds using just the  rather than Alien: The Roleplaying Game.

Destroyer of Worlds is a fantastic scenario, but not a perfect one. It has too many moving parts and too many Xenomorphs and too much going on that it needs careful handling and preparation upon the part of the Game Mother to run well. Yet it is big, it is bruising, it is over-the-top, and it delivers the pulsating combat action of Aliens and an eighties action movie. It has some great set pieces just like an eighties action movie and an Aliens horror movie should—the rain of Black Goo, assaulting the Insurrectionists’ compounds, getting back into Fort Nebraska, sneaking about in the sublevels of the base and the final confrontation on the space elevator… Ultimately, Destroyer of Worlds is a popcorn munching, shoot ‘em up horror movie of a scenario. Essentially, put on the Aliens soundtrack and expect the Player Characters to blast their way through it, get the bejuzus scared of them, get infected, confront Xenomorph after Xenomorph, probably die, and maybe, just maybe, survive.

When the party is confronted with bush with golden, sparkling leaves, seeming to dance to a rhythm only it can hear and it implores with a booming voice for one of their number to dance because it has lost its magic and needs to be once again enthused with the ‘power o’ dance’ to get his jive, and the Game Master turns to her players and says that one of them must dance a dance of her choice in complete silence, and the other must guess what it is, then you know that this is no ordinary adventure, and no ordinary roleplaying game. When a Dorse—a mutant hybrid of a Horse and a Dragon—demands that everyone play ‘Naughty Imitation’ and impersonate a famous film star doing something naughty, then you know that this is no ordinary adventure, and no ordinary roleplaying game. When the party must create and perform a song or rhyme to open an emotionally needy chest, then you know that this is no ordinary adventure, and no ordinary roleplaying game. All of these sound like party games, which they are, and not like a roleplaying game at all, but these really are challenges presented in a roleplaying game which combines a classic fantasy quest to save the world with the type of games which will be familiar to a wider audience. This, when combined with simple, light rules, a straightforward plot, accessible presentation, and sense of humour, makes this roleplaying game almost the perfect means to introduce those unfamiliar to the concepts of roleplaying to their first actual roleplaying game.
The roleplaying game in question is The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle, published by The Party RPG. Designed to be played by between three and six players, including a Game Master, it presents a Dungeons & Dragons-style fantasy adventure, played as a one-shot over multiple sessions, but with very light rules, a physical component—the players are encouraged to dress up as their characters if they want and there are plenty of physical challenges and games throughout the quest, and a presentation intended for the scenario for the game to be played from the page. There is also scope for the players to share the role of Game Master, swapping from playing to refereeing for a scene, and then back again, so that in a game of five players, everyone could have a go at being a Game Master several times. Although it can be played round the table like a traditional roleplaying game—or these days over Zoom—it does not have to be and could easily be run in the lounge over the coffee table.

The setting for The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle is the Great Plains. Phosphorian, known for both his great villainy and his glowing member, has died. Upon hearing this tragic news, Burden Bluggerbuckle, his Orc boyfriend waiting at home in a floral apron, swears a mighty vengeance and sets out to cast the Enchantment of Unrelenting Rage which will rent the Great Plains in twain—at the very least! To save the Great Plains, a Squad—as opposed to a party which would confuse everyone in and out of The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle—of doughty adventurers who undertake Main Quests and Side Quests. Main Quests to acquire the six pieces of the Counter Enchantment which will break the Enchantment of Unrelenting Rage and Side Quests to enhance their abilities and gain gear that will help them on their grand quest. Over the course of sixteen scenes and locations, the Player Characters will encounter an exploding goat (he gets better), shout to reveal hidden items, find a way over a broken bridge, hunt for buried treasure, impersonate pigs, run into belligerent chickens, and a whole lot more.

In The Party RPG, the players are free to create characters that are whatever they want. A Unicorn with a sense of adventure? A brave warrior who rolls into battle in her wheelchair? A lizardry, wizardy gecko? A pilfering Chameleon? A middle-aged accountant fighting evil in his pipe and slippers? All possible and perfectly acceptable. A character is very simply defined. He has five Skills—Stealth, Awareness, Strength, Intelligence, and Speed—rated between one and ten. A player simply assigns five points between these, buys some basic equipment for his character, describes who and what he is, and thus he is ready to play. Fantastically, everything that a player needs is laid out on the character sheet. So on the front, there are the five skills, plus a tracker for the character’s Hit Points, Level, and Experience Points, and places to record his weapons and shield, plus items and armour. On the back is a step-by-step guide to character creation and an explanation of what all of the terms are in The Party RPG. The character sheet is very nicely done.

Frau Blücher is a no-nonsense housekeeper who has no truck with the end of the Great Plains. Otherwise, where else is her G.O.A.T. goat, Heidi, going to graze and headbutt anyone she does not like?

Name: Frau Blücher
Skills
Stealth 1
Awareness 2
Strength 0
Intelligence 1
Speed 1

Equipment: Simple Wand, Basic Leather Armour, Soap

Mechanically, The Party RPG is very simple, although it uses two resolution systems. The first is when the Player Characters are acting against the environment, such as climbing a tree or fording a fast-flowing stream, or when they are engaged in combat. This requires the player to roll three six-sided dice and add any bonuses from his character’s Skills and items of equipment. The aim is to roll high, with possible results including Pivotal Successes, Successes, Fails, and Epic Fails. For example, a task set at Moderate has a Pivotal Success threshold of fourteen or more, Success threshold of eleven and up, a Fail threshold of ten and below, and an Epic Fail threshold of seven or less. It is as simple as that. In general, Pivotal Successes, Successes, Fails, and Epic Fails will be set by the Game Master, though weapons and shields have their values, which will be better for the items purchased or found later in the quest. Damage is dependent on a Player Character’s Level—either one, two, or three six-sided dice, armour detracts from inflicted damage, and shields can totally deflect or partially block damage, and even break! A Pivotal Success result on an attack roll ignores the effects of armour.

The other resolution system, which is for Player Character versus NPCs, is dependent upon the Level of a Player Character or NPC—again one, two, or three six-sided dice. These are rolled and added together with the appropriate Skill Levels of both the Player Character and the NPC, and the highest result wins. Although simple enough, in fact, both mechanics are simple enough, it feels a little odd to have two separate, quite different systems for a game that is aiming to be as easy as it is.

The ease of play for The Party RPG is facilitated by its layout. Every location is broken down into a series of sections. The first section always sets out the objectives the Player Characters have to complete and instructions for the Game Master. This is followed by sections which set the scene, give handy tips, and always ends with one giving the suggested Experience Point awards depending on how well the Game Master thinks her players and their characters performed in the location. This ranges from ‘Abysmal’ and ‘10XP’ to ‘Terrific’ and ‘80XP’. A total of one hundred Experience Points are required for a Player Character to go up a Level—so will typically occur at every other location and grant a bonus Skill level, plus Hit Points, and enable a Player Character to use better equipment. Throughout the location, boxes in bold colours highlight what the Game Master needs to act upon—so red for combat or active actions like sneaking past some Goblins; blue for treasures to be rewarded to the Player Characters; purple for a physical out of game action, such as singing or dancing; green for ending a scene. The layout and these boxes further make The Party RPG easy to run from the page.

However, running The Party RPG does require some page flipping when it comes to combat and shopping—all of the stats for the NPCs and the equipment that the Player Characters can obtain through visiting shops or being rewarded are at the back of the book. A bookmark or two, should offset this issue to some extent.

Physically, The Party RPG is cleanly and tidily laid out. The writing varies depending upon the subject matter. It does tend towards bullet points in its style for a lot of the rules explanations. This is not an issue for the experienced Game Master, but anyone coming to the game anew will not find it as easy as it could have been. In comparison, the writing of the quest is more expansive and humorous and entertaining, so more engaging to read. The book’s artwork is excellent, but really too small for the Game Master to enjoy or use to add colour to the running of the game. It would have been great if the artwork had been larger and thus could have been shown to the players as their characters progressed onwards as part of their quest, and thus helped them envision the world their characters are exploring. One other effect of the writing and the simplicity is that The Party RPG is easy to prepare. An experienced Game Master will be able to read and grasp what is all going on the page from a simple readthrough. 
However, as clever and as fun and as silly as The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle is, it is not without its issues. The first one is the tone, which is adult in nature—though not explicit—and as written, The Party RPG is not suited for play by younger audiences, which is a pity given the simplicity and physicality of the roleplaying game. Of course, the Game Master can tone down or remove the adult humour during play, but perhaps the inclusion of alternative text better suited for younger and family audiences would have widened the accessibility of The Party RPG Second, the rules are simply not as well explained as they could be. This is not a matter of discounting their simplicity, but rather that they are more clearly explained for the Game Master than her players. Now there are examples of the three types of mechanics—Player Character versus the environment, versus NPCs, and combat—in The Party RPG, and they help, but there is no clear explanation otherwise. Third, once play is underway, there is no guidance from situation to situation as to the suggested scores for Pivotal Successes, Successes, Fails, and Epic Fails for the challenges the Player Characters will face. For the experienced Game Master, setting these suggested scores is not really going to be all that difficult, but anyone new to this type of game, it will be challenging, and makes The Party RPG not quite as readily suited for new Game Masters as the designers intended.

So is The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle actually a roleplaying game? The answer to that is both yes and no. Yes, because the players are rolling up and creating characters and having go away on adventures just like Dungeons & Dragons—or in the case of Dungeons & Dragons meets Toon or Dungeons & Dragons meets Tails of Equestria – The Storytelling Game. But no, because there are no means or advice to create anything other than a playthrough of ‘The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle’, and as a roleplaying game, The Party RPG is very much tied to that story line. So, it is more of a one-shot or a mini-campaign, but still a roleplaying game.
Throughout The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle, both Game Master and players, but especially the players, are encouraged to be inventive and creative, not just in terms of creating their characters, but also in terms of how they approach different situations. In return, the Game Master is encouraged to take these ideas on merit, to give them a chance to work, no matter how preposterous, and so support an inventive, slightly over-the-top, even a little silly style of play. Throughout, The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle never gets away from the fact that its play should be fun. Which also includes the physical elements that are likely to be more acceptable to a wider, more family audience than necessarily to a roleplaying audience, and that means that The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle could actually work as an introduction to roleplaying games (though it is not quite as suitable for new Game Masters as it could have been). Although it might not be for everyone, but for anyone ready to embrace its silliness, its simplicity, its scope for inventiveness, and its physicality, The Party RPG: The Rise of Burden Bluggerbuckle has the potential to be huge fun.

Out on the borders of the far Northwest lies a forest without end. Here doughty Lumberjacks and Lumberjills leap from tree to tree, felling and cutting the mighty pines for shipping back to civilisation. In the deeper parts of the forest, the great hairy hulks known as Sasquatches roam freely, feared by some as monsters, simply misunderstood say others, but unknown to all. If the exact nature of the Sasquatches remains unknown, then the secrets of the Squirrels are kept hidden—and they like that. For within their secluded city republic of Baudekin, sapient Squirrels and other members of the Sciuridae family from across the dimensions protect it secrets, most notably the Secret Gnawledge those contained within the roots of the Library Trees. For anyone wanting to set out into the forest, the place to start is Squeamish, a ‘nice, clean, company town’. Squeamish is a boomtown, a frontier town built by the Red Bear Lumber Company, and the many Lumberjacks and Lumberjills that work the forest work for a felling gang employed by the Red Bear Lumber Company. They work for the Red Bear Lumber Company, they live on the Red Bear Lumber Company property, they eat Red Bear Lumber Company food, and they have a long line of credit with the Red Bear Lumber Company. Perhaps though, one of those many Lumberjacks and Lumberjills—whether a Lumber-Fighter, Lumber-Cleric, Lumber-Thief, or Lumber-Wizard—will strike it lucky on a side hustle or with an independent gang and bring back that one rare botanical specimen which will set them up for life—or at least ensure they can pay off their credit. There are always Wizards and Alchemists willing to pay for such items. Adventurers come to Squeamish too, perhaps for those same rare botanical specimens, or to hunt for Sasquatch or rescue innocents kidnapped by the brutish creatures, or to enter a Lumberjack competition, or… Whatever the reason, they will need a guide—and there are plenty of those to go around. Perhaps hire a Gunkey—a cross between a goat and a jackass, and twice as stupid/foppish/lecherous as you would expect, rent out a half-useful, only half-tested device from Half-Mad Leach MacCleod, or simply feast on tasty street food from Odd Jacob—the ‘Salty Weasel Bites’ are a best seller!

This is the set-up for Lumberlands – Wampus Country Travel Guide I, a systemless, rules-agnostic fantasy roleplaying setting by the creator of Wampus Country. Published by Lost Pages, best known for the entertaining Genial Jack and the Burgs & Baillifs series, this is a comedy-style setting based on the Pacific Northwest—although it could be Vermont too, although mostly the Pacific Northwest because Portland—which is easy to adapt to the setting of the Game Master’s choice, whether that is Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, Savage Worlds, or Old School Essentials. So as a setting, right from the start, it is full of flannel (shirts), axes, bearded men, axes, maple syrup, axes, and weirdness, which sort of has a Twins Peaks feel to it.

Lumberlands is offered as a place to visit, rather than as a place to be from. Numerous reasons are given why, such as questing for the legendary Squirrel City, engaging in logging company intrigues, or even attempting to hire a family of Giant Beavers to gnaw you that perfect home. Lumberjack and Lumberjill culture is highlighted, how they are plain-dealing, strong, self-reliant, egalitarian (mostly), and so on, before suggesting what Lumber-versions of the four core character Classes might look like. So Lumber-Fighters prefer axes, wear flannel and dungarees, possess stunning beards, big stompin’ boots, and enjoy public displays of prowess, whilst the Lumber-Thief sports a smaller, often oiled beard, wears flannel ironically (?), is agile as a weasel, has canvas boots with good luck symbols, lumbergang tattoos, and pirate-style earrings. Not really enough to equate to an actual Class in terms of Dungeons & Dragons, more a set of pointers in the right direction, whether the Game Master simply wants to use the use the classic Dungeons & Dragons Classes as written with Lumberlands flannel, or actually create Lumberlands versions of those Classes. Lumberjacks and Lumberjills can worship any gods, but have their own too, like Timmerton, the demigod of the Lumberlands, a bare-chested mountain of a man with maple syrup dripping from his mighty beard, and the Cult of the Beaver, whose members are very fond of hard work and clean teeth.

Lumberjack and Lumberjill equipment includes the Lucky Flannel, which when combined with dungarees, counts as leather armour, and axes of all sorts—and custom-fitted axes for all sorts of situations. The list of possible customisations is only the first of several tables in Lumberlands – Wampus Country Travel Guide I. The next gives options adding a personality to your Gunkey, whilst there are several subtitles to the supplement’s quite detailed encounter table. Once out of Squeamish, having detailed the Red Bear Lumber Company and several of the town’s peoples and places, the supplement runs off into the woods, with all of its gear strapped atop a Gunkey of course, and begins to expose some of the secrets of Lumberland. This includes just who and what the Sasquatches are and they really are not what you think; a discussion of Squirrel politics, which might or might not be a parody of US state politics, less members of the rodent family of course; and somewhere—since there are no maps of the Lumberlands, ‘Portal-Land’, a dimensionally unstable triangle where easy access to other worlds can be gained (and vice versa), and time and gravity can shift, and is inhabited by the False Ones, strange humanoids with perfectly smiling porcelain masks, hypnotically pleasant lines in banter, horribly matching sweaters, and a willingness to invite adventurers to dinner…

Rounding out Lumberlands – Wampus Country Travel Guide I is a lengthy set of encounter tables, which are broken down by type, so Deadly Plant, Things of Nightmare, and Natural Wonders, and more. Each of the categories includes six detailed entries. Penultimately, there is a list of Lumberland familiars, including an ‘Enchanted Salmon of Wisdom’, which looks good on a wooden plaque and dispenses wisdom in song, and an ‘Animated Tattered Flannel, which could have been a shirt or a baby’s blanket, but which will happily wrap around the owner’s shoulder, but leaps to cover his nose and eyes in the event of a gas or powder attack! Lastly, there is final list, this one of potential Henchbeings, including one eyebrow-raising Marmot!

Physically, Lumberlands – Wampus Country Travel Guide I is neatly presented, although the text is a little fuzzy in places. The artwork is of course cartoonish, which suits the supplement perfectly.

Lumberlands – Wampus Country Travel Guide I is funny and engaging and inventive, but for all that, its tongue-in-cheek tone and subject matter is unlikely to be for everyone or every campaign. Both tone and subject matter mean that Lumberlands – Wampus Country Travel Guide I needs a higher degree of buy-in from the players as much as the Referee for everyone to enjoy it. The other issue is where to use it, as there are likely to be few campaigns or settings in which are going to be natural fits for its content. It means that the Referee should really consider if this supplement is going to be suitable for her campaign even before thinking about the work necessary to adapt it to the rules being used. That aside, Lumberlands – Wampus Country Travel Guide I is a delightfully silly satire upon the Pacific Northwest (or Vermont or Canada), its peoples and its politics, and its wildlife, and let us hope that there will be a Wampus Country Travel Guide II.
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A full unboxing of Lumberlands – Wampus Country Travel Guide I is available to view on Unboxing in the Nook.

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 a 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: One for One – Old Man Tompkins
Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Sean Liddle

Setting: 1950s Massachusetts
Product: Introductory Scenario
What You Get: Six page, 387.14 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Sometimes the Old Man who lives at the end of the lane really is the monster...Plot Hook:  No town can be this perfect—and it takes teenagers to see it.Plot Support: Map, plot, and staging advice.Production Values: Rough.
Pros
# Decent introductory scenario# Solid, single-session horror scenario# Potential convention scenario# Keeper can design her own NPCs
# Different historical setting# Mythos-lite
# Simple, direct plot# Inexpensive
Cons
# Needs an edit
# Keeper needs to create her own NPCs# Does not name the books# Mythos-lite# Inconsistent Sanity losses
Conclusion
# Needs an edit
# Simple, single-session horror scenario# Requires some preparation