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: Akhenaten Unveiled

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: James Austin
Setting: Ancient Egypt (Cthulhu Invictus)
Product: Scenario
What You Get: 38.56 MB, thirty-five-page full colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: ‘Death on the Nile’

Plot Hook: King Amenhotep IV rejected the Egyptian gods. You have been assigned to assassinate him.
Plot Development: A perilous trip down the Nile leads to party town, strange magic, and ‘The King is dead! Long live the King!’
Plot Support: Glossary, twelve NPCs and monsters, its own Appendix N, two handouts, one spell, and six pregenerated investigators.

 Pros
# Intriguing plot
# Cthulhu Invictus one-s+hot
# Set in Ancient Egypt
# Physical puzzles
# Cthulhu Invictus meets Stargate

Cons
# Cthulhu Invictus meets Stargate
# Pregenerated Investigators lack motivation
# Assassination set-ups needs development 
# Non-Mythos scenario

Conclusion
# Feels underdeveloped in places
# Physical puzzles
# Original, but non-Mythos plot

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: Little Torches 

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Heinrich D. Moore
Setting: 1990s

Product: Scenario
What You Get: 8.29 MB sixty-page, full-colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “Fly too close to the sun, and you’ll burn your wings.”
Plot Hook: What causes a college student to immolate herself in front of you? Her depression? Her mother’s cult? Or something else…? Plot Development: An explosively fiery beginning, a constantly burning box, dreams of a lighthouse, and the warmth of the sun.Plot Support: Fourteen full-colour Investigator handouts, twenty NPCs and Mythos creatures and entities, and five pregenenrated Investigators.

Pros
# Opens strongly, with a fiery bang!!
# Cast of interesting NPCs
# Well explained artefact
# Straightforward plot literally becomes labyrinthine
# Parallel plots in and out of dream
# Adaptable to other time periods with a little effort
# Potential to be developed into a Mythos versus the Mythos campaign
# Innovative use of handouts to pull investigators into the plot
# Handouts used to help develop each investigator
# Interesting in-game interpretation of the Great Old One, Cthugha 

Cons# Themes of isolation and alienation not suitable for all
# Pregenerated investigators tied to the plot, but not the set-up
# Innovative use of handouts to pull investigators into plot may feel too much like solo play.
# Needs careful preparation by the Keeper
# Overeggs the Mythos in places
# Handout and scenario structure gives Keeper a lot to keep track off.

Conclusion
# Intriguing encounter with the Mythos which starts with a bang!
# Innovative use of handouts to encourage roleplaying# Needs careful preparation by the Keeper

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

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What is it?
Valley of Plenty is the first part of The Jaldonkillers Saga, a campaign for QuestWorlds (HeroQuest Glorantha). 

It is a one-hundred-and-fifty page, full colour, Print on Demand softback book.

Although it needs a slight edit in places, Valley of Plenty is nicely presented with some reasonable artwork. The cover is pleasingly bucolic.

Where is it set?
Valley of Plenty is set in the lands of the Blue Jay clan of the Dundealos tribe in southwest Sartar on the border with Prax.

When is it set?
Valley of Plenty begins in 1602 and will explore events which take place in 1602, 1605, 1607, and 1608.

Who do you play?
Members of the Wildlings, the gang led by the younger daughters of Dinorth Many-Spears, leader of the Blue Jay clan and King of the Dundealos tribe. They are in turn children, teenagers, young adults, and finally adults, who will play and then grow into their roles in the tribe.

What do you need?
Valley of Plenty requires QuestWorlds to play. (At the time of the publication of Valley of Plenty, only the QuestWorlds - System Reference Document is available. Alternatively, Valley of Plenty can be run using HeroQuest: Glorantha.).

Valley of Plenty also makes reference to Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes, Sartar Companion, Sartar Player’s Primer, The Coming Storm: The Red Cow Volume I, The Eleven Lights: The Red Cow Volume II, The Guide to Glorantha, and The Glorantha Sourcebook. Of these, Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes will provide details of the gods and their associated cults that are also worshiped by the Blue Jay clan, whilst The Glorantha Sourcebook provides wider background.

What do you get?
Valley of Plenty is notable as a release on the Jonstown Compendium for being the first for use with QuestWorlds rule-system—Chaosium, Inc.’s update for HeroQuest. It is both a sourcebook for, and the first part of, The Jaldonkillers Saga, a campaign set in Sartar which will take a group of characters from the idyll of their childhood through the sundering of their tribe and beyond to its reconstitution in exile and then the efforts made to retake both their tribe’s lands and glory. This is framed against the invasion of Sartar by the Lunar Empire and its repulsion following the Dragonrise. Valley of Plenty only covers the first part of this and sets everything up and deeply involves the players and their characters in their clan through notable events in the early lives.

The player characters begin play as children. They are members of the Wildings, a gang lead by the younger daughters of Dinorth Many-Spears leader of the Blue Jay clan and King of the Dundealos tribe, who have plenty of time to play and have fun. No matter what trouble they get into, the Wildlings have the favour of the king—though sometimes not his wife—and this has interesting implications for the campaign. It means that as the campaign progresses and the characters grow, the characters’ friendship with the king’s daughters and his favour enable them to grow into a place close to the king and the events that will beset the clan, rather than being the default set-up from the outset. So initially, the campaign will have a little of the feel of Swallows and Amazons or Five Go Adventuring Again, but this will change as the characters grow, become adults, and assume their full roles in the clan.

The structure of the campaign is episodic. The first takes place when the Player Characters are eight or nine, beginning with a day that many players will recognise from a hot summer’s day from their own childhoods, before going on to explore the consequences of the day. From an adult perspective, it is very light-hearted, but not so from that of children. In particular, the second scenario, ‘Two Frogs Too Many’ presents a challenge typical of that which might be faced by an adult adventurer in Glorantha, but here appropriately scaled down to match the ability levels of the children. (Mechanically, of course, this does mean that the abilities of the Player Characters or the threat they face have been scaled down, but for QuestWorlds, they have been scaled down narratively.) The second is set in 1605 when they are eleven or twelve, have some responsibilities, but still time to slip away on an adventure, one that brings then face-to-face with the clan’s enemies and then have a day at the races. In 1607, the Player Characters will undergo their rites of passage and become adults, before in 1608, engage in adult activities—a raid and the difficulties of engaging with a rival clan. The Player Characters will have their first encounter with the Lunars, a sign of things to come in future parts of The Jaldonkillers Saga.

In between these periods of intense activities, the players roll for events which will affect them and their families and learn of ongoing events in the tribe and the wider world. All the adventures though, are really well done, in presenting tasks and challenges appropriate to the ages of the Player Characters, the risks and responsibilities growing with each new chapter. Each period comes with additional seeds and throughout the bonuses to be gained and changes to be made to each character’s stats as they grow up and eventually gain responsibilities, meaning that the characters grow up both mechanically and narratively into adults and members of the tribe. At the same time, both they and the Game Master are growing into QuestWorlds’ mechanics, the campaign introducing different elements of the rules as it progresses.

In addition to the mechanical progression, Valley of Plenty also presents the background information that the Player Characters would know, also progress. Notably, this is done through two player handouts, ‘Child’s Knowledge’ and ‘Youngster’s Knowledge’, which present their world view rather than that the clan’s adults. These present a Sartarite clan from first principles, then second principles, and then the wider world, introducing Glorantha in an easy to digest step-by-step fashion. Other handouts cover the gods commonly worshiped by the Blue Jay Clan and the Dundealos tribe and details of the small city of Dundealosford, and the surrounding area. For the Game Master, there is more information about the Jaldonkillers tribe, including very full write-ups of the cults of Elmal (the Jaldonkillers being Horse Orlanthi, though the Player Characters are ‘City Jays’, living in Dundealosford), Redalda, Andred, and Drogarsi the Skald, as well as the Shamanic Tradition of the Steadfast Circle. These are exceptionally well done, and full of suggestions as what benefits worshippers—and the Player Characters—can gain from belonging to each cult as well as extra details that the Game Master can bring into play and each cult’s role in Blue Jay society. The cult of Andred—she is the goddess of victory and justice deferred—is new, as is the shamanic tradition write-up, and it should be noted that the cult descriptions for Elmal, Redalda, and Drogarsi are written from a non-Orlanthi perspective. So if a player would participate in a different campaign, he would need to be apprised of the differences. Further, not all of the cults which the Blue Jays belong to are covered in Valley of Plenty and a Game Master may need access to Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes if a player decides his character belongs to one of those.

On the downside, some of these handouts are lengthy and in places it feels as if the players need to do a bit of homework to play Valley of Plenty. As much as it is designed as an introduction to Glorantha—although one from a particular point of view—there is still a degree of buy-in upon the part of the players. Another issue is that Valley of Plenty only takes The Jaldonkillers Saga campaign so far, that is from childhood to adulthood, and not as far as the events surrounding the sundering of the tribe. Of course, Valley of Plenty sets up and hints at the events to come, but anyone expecting more will be disappointed, plus the scenarios in Valley of Plenty do not really end on a high point or a low point, or indeed with any great sense of a climax. These issues are minor, however, and will not really impinge on a play-through of Valley of Plenty.

With Valley of Plenty, the Jonstown Compendium has not one, but two good starter campaigns—campaigns that start from first principles about Glorantha and who the Player Characters are in the world—and take them deeper into the setting. The other of course is Six Seasons in Sartar. It is not difficult to draw comparisons between the two, because they share a number of similarities. They both focus on the one clan, their storylines both involve the sundering of their clans and subsequent reclamations, and both have the Player Characters beginning play before they are adults. However, whilst the events of Six Seasons in Sartar are more direct, those of Valley of Plenty are gentler, with more adventures before the Player Characters come of age. Of course, the big difference between Six Seasons in Sartar and Valley of Plenty is that the former is written for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha whereas the latter is written for QuestWorlds. In fact, this is a good thing, since it means that they do compete with each other, though there is nothing to stop a Game Master adapting Valley of Plenty for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. However, she would need to take care as the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha mechnics are not as forgiving when handling children Player Characters as QuestWorlds is.

Valley of Plenty is an excellent campaign, an excellent campaign for Glorantha, and an excellent entry point for playing in Glorantha—so good that it could easy have been published by Chaosium. It guides both Game Master and her players, step-by-step, into the game and the world of Glorantha as well as the mechanics of QuestWorlds, in an enjoyably gentle fashion, supporting the process with an easily digestible background and details that can be brought into play. As an introduction to, and a first campaign—literally and narratively—for, Glorantha for QuestWorlds, this is a must buy, and were not for the fact that Valley of Plenty is written for use with QuestWorlds rather than RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, one of the first purchases which should be made from the Jonstown Compendium. 

Is it worth your time?
Yes—Valley of Plenty is a near perfect introduction to gaming in Glorantha and should be your first QuestWorlds purchase.
No—Valley of Plenty is another Glorantha campaign starter and for another set of rules when there is more enough for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha right now.
Maybe—Valley of Plenty contains background as well as adventures which could be adapted to your campaign or indeed, rules system, of your choice.

The Last Equation is a short, but challenging investigation for use with Arc Dream Publishing’s Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. It can be played using either the roleplaying game’s full rules or those from Delta Green: Need to Know. It opens with bloody murder. The Agents are activated by Delta Green after the secret interagency conspiracy is alerted to the presence of a strange series of numbers painted on Highway Six in Teaneck, New Jersey, right outside the home of a family of eight who had just been gunned down by an assailant who was witnessed spray-painting the numbers before blowing his own head off. He has been identified as  Michael Wei, a mathematics student at Columbia University in New York, which makes the crime an interstate case and so the FBI is already involved. Which makes getting the Delta Green Agents involved a whole lot easier.

At the outset, The Last Equation looks to be relatively straightforward case. After all, the identity of the murderer is clear and he committed suicide. However, the Agents are not tasked with investigating the case per se, but rather with providing an acceptable cause for Wei’s action and then eradicating any traces of his research. This is not an easy task and the Agents are faced with difficulties right from the start. Not only do they have to take care to maintain their covers, they also have to alter the evidence—and both are criminal acts. At the same time, the Agents face two other dangers. One is a news team which takes an understandable, but annoying interest in what is a sensationalist crime as well as the members of law enforcement assigned to investigate it. The other is the nature of the threat itself—a cross between a virus and a meme—which threatens to spiral out of control and begin to replicate. Unless the Agents are careful, this will come home to them very quickly.

The second part of the scenario takes the Agents from New Jersey to New York and beyond—certainly if events spiral out of control, which they very much threaten to do in The Last Equation. As the danger appears to spread, there is the chance that one or more of the Agents falls victim to it and as they too spiral into madness, the likelihood increases they too, will become part of the problem. In a way, The Last Equation models an Agent’s mental trajectory in the long term as he investigates a multitude of cases on behalf of Delta Green, but radically and deleteriously accelerated. It also highlights Delta Green’s ruthlessness and there are also some quite weird and creepy moments once the investigation moves away from New Jersey, which under any other circumstances would look like coincidences, but in The Last Equation are anything but. Ultimately, The Last Equation is not a scenario about investigating the Unnatural, but about containing it.

Previously available from the author’s website, The Last Equation has been redesigned and presented in full colour. As will other titles for Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game, it is generally well presented and well written, and as you would expect, the artwork is excellent. However, there is not enough of it and the Handler will probably want to supply portraits of the scenario’s various NPCs. There is solid advice on how to handle the consequences of the Agents’ evidence cover up or alteration—whether successful or not, but Handler may want to prepare a timeline for easy reference. Two timelines of events are included, but whilst separate, they cover the same period of time and might be easier to track as one timeline.

The Last Equation could be run as a one-shot or even as a convention scenario, but it would need to be played with some alacrity to fit easily within a four-hour slot. It is better run as a two to three session scenario, and it is easy to add to a campaign. Overall, The Last Equation is a nasty scenario which will challenge the Agents’ capacity to not only deal with the Unnatural, but also with the consequences of their cover-up. 

Pax Londinium is a supplement for Liminal, the urban fantasy roleplaying game set entirely within the United Kingdom, a United Kingdom with a Hidden World populated by the strange and the otherworldly, in which magic and magicians, vampires, werewolves, the fae, and many myths of the British Isles are real. The United Kingdom of Liminal is riven by factions, such as the conservative Council of Merlin, the scheming vampires of the Soldality of the Crown, the Fae lords, the Queen of Hyde Park and the wife-hunting Winter King of the north, whilst the Order of St, Bede, a Christian order, is dedicated to protecting the mundane world from magic and the supernatural and keeping it and the existence of magic a secret. Where Fortean or inexplicable crimes occur, P Division, a national agency of the British police, are likely to investigate, but cannot mention magic, for fear such knowledge might leak… The players take the role of ‘Liminals’, able to stand astride the mundane and the Hidden World, working as a Crew—which the players create along with their characters—which has its own objectives and facilities, to investigate the weirdness and mysteries that seeps into the real from the Hidden World. 

As its title suggests, Pax Londinium takes the Crew to the capital of the United Kingdom and steps back and forth across the Liminal to explore its strange and long history, its factions and personalities, its diverse cultures and their place in the Liminal, and more. In doing so, what it is not, is a London source book per se—either mundane or magical. There is so much to mundane London that the pages of Pax Londinium would be overflowing before it even made the crossing of the Liminal and back again—and anyway, there are available numerous books on mundane and magical London (many of which are listed in Pax Londinuim’s bibliography in the introduction). There is also plenty that is magical or mystical in London, whether that is Jack the Ripper or Doctor John Dee, but Pax Londinium steadfastly avoids such obvious elements—and is very much the better book for it. The book also wears its influences upon its sleeve—the fiction of Ben Aaronovitch, Paul Cornell and Neil Gaiman—and both acknowledges and is unapologetical about doing so, most obviously in the inclusion of the Hidden, the homeless folk of the city who have slipped across the Liminal, to be in the city, but never seen by its mundane inhabitants.

Pax Londinium begins by stating what makes the city of London different, highlighting the differences between Greater London the City of London, that it is multicultural and constantly changing, and that its history is both obvious and obfuscated. It also states that it is home to lots of Liminal beings—ghosts, gods and goddesses, trolls, the fae, magicians, and more. What keeps them from acting against each other is the ‘Pax Londinium’, which divides the city in two, north and south, the dividing barrier being the River Thames. North of the river and the Hidden are free to act and plot as they will, but south, such Liminal activity is all but forbidden. In fact, the Hidden are often prevented from crossing the river, whether this by a taxi driver telling that he won’t go south of the river—in fact, this is the Knowledge, a neutral manifestation of the genus loci of the city; the Trolls of the Duchess of Bridges physically stopping you; or P Division suggesting that you had best be moving on.

As you would expect, the supplement covers the presence of the core factions in Liminal in the city. So the Council of Merlin somewhat reluctantly maintains a private members club, often accessed by its members via their privately created and maintained Thriceway Gates. The Court of Queen of Hyde Park is a powerful presence, but must contend with the thieving Boggarts ruled by King Pilferer which infest the Hidden city and Temese, the River Spirit of the Thames who would have her throne. She has the support of the Duchess of Bridges who commands the Trolls found on very many bridges and in as many tunnels and the Lady of Flowers, the spirit of the city’s trees and plants whose fortune and presence wax and wane with the seasons and whose Flower Knights act to protect all women. The Mercury Collegium has four guilds in the city—one of which, the East End Guild, is a firm of magical gangsters! The Order of St. Bede cannot prevent London being home to a multitude of the Hidden, but attempts to curb their influence, whilst also maintaining the Pax Londinium. P Division does the same, but is more proactive as its branch, working closely with the Order of St. Bede to stamp out any vampire presence in the city. Thus, the Sodality of the Crown keeps out of city—despite its obvious attractions for any vampire, though it fears that there might be rogue vampire at large. Similarly, the werewolves of the Jaeger Family are rarely seen in the city.

Of course, Pax Londinium adds new factions. These include the aforementioned The Knowledge and the Hidden, but also add numerous guilds, such as the Guild of Water and Light—or Lighters, who guide fallen Visible Londoners back to the mundane world, the Guild of Sewer Hunters, which hunts the horrors below, and the Guild of Toshers, which scours the city’s sewers and tunnels for lost things. The sewers are home to Queen Rat, who takes secret lovers and grants them incredible luck—as long as they keep their liaison a secret. There is a handful of mysteries too, some obvious like the Ravens and the Raven Master and his duties—and who he might report to, and the Ancient Livery Companies, but others less so, like the Pig-Headed Woman of Maida Vale and the Bleeding Heart which sometimes plays a big role in swearing pacts and agreements.

London is also a city of both gods and the dead—no surprise given its history. The gods include a mixture of the native and the non-native. The former includes the Guardian Head of Bran the Blessed, who watches over Britain and whose head is buried under the Tower of London, as well as Branwen, the actual goddess of Britain, her fate tied to the land. The latter includes the Cult of Diana the Hunter, a ruthless cult dedicated to the ambitions of its female members; the Children of Ra, which is attempting to increase the city’s connection to Egyptian magic and so dominate the Council of Merlin and the Mercury Collegium; and the spirits known Orisha, which accept Liminal from around the world with the Queen of Hyde Park’s blessing, in ‘Little Lagos’, south of the river. In general, that non-native gods are the more interesting of the two and the more developed. The dead make their presence felt through the negative magical energy released in the spiritual disruption caused by the excavations for the Underground and Eurostar, which now seethes through the London Underground, while Mr. Killburn’s Acquisitions Association keeps bodysnatching very modern and the #7 Ghost Bus, which runs round London, even south of the river unimpeded and into the Ghost Domains where Ghost Courts meet.

Pax Londinium comes with a number of encounters, including ‘Ahmed’s VHS Wonderland’, a grimy VHS video equipment and cassettes which is actually a cover for an emporium of magical artefacts, spell components, and more, and New Aeon Books, a trendy magical crafts shop which is gleefully treated as a joke by the Hidden. These are all easy to use and drop into a Liminal game set in the capital, or simply serve as inspiration for the Game Master. Similarly, ‘The Worshipful Company of Investigators’, a Crew which investigates instances of the Hidden seeping into the mundane at the behest of its anonymous benefactor, The Professor, can work as a Player Character organisation for a Liminal game set in London, as an example, or a rival organisation. It includes writeups of several read-to-play would be Player Characters or NPCs. Lastly, the new rules add Chronomancy as a power for a Mage.

There is a lot to like about Pax Londinium. Primarily what it does is add a lot to the city, whilst leaving more than enough space for the Game Master to develop her own ideas. Plus, for the most part, a great of the content is new and original. It could have gone for the cliché, but mostly avoids that, so that when it includes the Ravens of London, its familiarity grounds the setting rather than overegging it. Which would have happened if Jack the Ripper had been included for example. Perhaps one element which is left unexplained is why London was divided north and south by the River Thames as part of the Pax Londinium—the reason why the Pax Londinium was made is given, the reason for the exact terms is not. What it amounts to though, is a means to control the Hidden and magic in the city by the factions north of the river.

Physically, this book is both simple and beautiful. The layout is the former, clean and easy to read. The art is the latter. It consists of a mix of stunning depictions of London vistas and London Liminal. The artwork throughout Pax Londinium is in turns weird and wonderful, mystical and majestic, intriguing and inspiring. This is award-winning artwork.

At just eighty pages, Pax Londinium is a short book, but it uses its space in a very economical fashion. It sketches out Liminal London in broad details before narrowing its focus again and again, first on the city’s factions, then its gods, right down to individual locations and elements which the Liminal Game Master can bring into her game. It makes the content both easy to access and bring to the table, and it is backed up by an excellent bibliography should the Game Master want to conduct research of her own. Pax Londinium showcases how to do a city book for Pax Londinium and showcases not the capital as we see it, but the peace of London on the other side the Liminal.

Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire is a supplement for the trilogy of post-Man, post-apocalypse fantasy roleplaying games—Pugmire Fantasy Tabletop Roleplaying Game, Monarchies of Mau, and Pirates of Pugmire. It is something of an odd product, not being the Realms of Pugmire Guide’s Handbook, for an example, and not really possessing a singular focus. Now it does contain advice for the Guide—as the Game Master is known in the Realms of Pugmire roleplaying games—but it also contains a whole lot more. This includes the Realms of Pugmire Style Guide, useful for example for wouldbe authors wanting to create content for the Canis Minor Community Content Program; a number of blog posts which explore the setting and reveal some of its secrets; a conversion guide between the OGL for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and Pugmire; and a FAQ.

Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire opens with the Style Guide for the Realms of Pugmire roleplaying game. This not only lists the lexicon of game-related terms and their correct spellings, but also covers the game line’s tone, how magic and religion is handled, that it is ‘Inclusive Fantasy’, and it uses ‘Gendered Language’. For example, Pugmire is game of adventure and quiet morality, light-hearted with implied humour rather than out and out humour; never revealing to the characters that their magic is actually lost technology; that it is best in general to default gender-neutral terms like ‘dog’ and ‘cat’ rather than ‘he’ and ‘she’; to avoid both binary and non-binary gender terms; and so on. In some ways, this is a dull start to Buried Bones and of limited use. However, as an editor and reviewer it is interesting to see a Style Guide in print, it is actually of use to the Realms of Pugmire Guide. Especially if she wants to create content for the Canis Minor Community Content Program, but also if she wants a more explicit guide to how the designer wants Pugmire and its companion roleplaying games to feel.

‘Claws and Effect’ draws from a series of blog posts to explore various topics not necessarily explored in Pugmire Fantasy Tabletop Roleplaying Game, Monarchies of Mau, or Pirates of Pugmire. In the process, it addresses a number of topics are commonly raised when it comes to both games and setting. Most notable amongst these are the question, ‘Is this a Joke?’ and the description of Pugmire as ‘Just D&D with Dogs’. In addressing the former, it makes clear that although Pugmire Fantasy Tabletop Roleplaying Game is not necessarily a serious game, it is not a jokey one despite there being elements of implied humour in the setting. In fact, it does explore serious issues, such as loss—particularly of every Good Dog’s Master, the ethics and dogma of being a Good Dog, both cultural and racial (or rather, species) differences. Now when it comes to the latter, I have been guilty of giving Pugmire that description, but essentially not what the game is about, but rather as an elevator pitch to sell the game (verbally rather than in a written review). The chapter also discusses the nature of the different Breeds and Callings in Pugmire—the equivalent of Race and Class in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Here Buried Bones begins to dig into the author’s design decisions, why he created the game as he did, not just for Pugmire Fantasy Tabletop Roleplaying Game, but also for Monarchies of Mau and Pirates of Pugmire.

Other elements of the setting and rules are also explored—how money or ‘Plastic’ is handled in the setting, the implied rules of the Fortune mechanics, and the dynamics between the various species in the setting. All of this is designer commentary, giving the Guide a peek behind the curtain, answering what turns out to be not-so important questions such as, ‘Where is Humanity?’, ‘What exactly happened in the War of Cats and Dogs?’, ‘What is the exact nature of Nine Lives in Mau?’, and ‘What lies in the Lands Beyond?’. What is so pleasing here is the designer’s honesty. This is not to say that other designers are not honest, but rather that here where the designer says that he does not know something or has not decided something about the Realms of Pugmire setting, then he simply says so. There is Guide Advice too, covering different types of play like long-term and troupe play, styles of play including silly, gritty, and epic, and creating adventures. The advice emphasises the importance of the player characters, balancing types of scenes, setting jokes and humour within the setting, but letting the players get the punchline rather than have the author or scenario deliver it, and making every NPC important. All of this is solid advice, not just for the Guide wanting to create adventures for her own group, but for the Guide wanting to publish and submit them as part of the Canis Minor Community Content Program. Lastly, there is an ‘Appendix P’—the equivalent of the ‘Appendix N’ of inspiration found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—but for the Realms of Pugmire setting. This includes books such as The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and The Tao of Pooh, comics like Mouseguard and Maus, roleplaying games and supplements such as S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Tales of the Floating Vagabond. It is a good selection of books and titles and more, and there is even little explanation with some of the entries.

Rounding out Buried Bones is ‘5e OGL Changes’ and ‘Frequently Asked Questions’. The ‘5e OGL Changes’ enables a Dungeon Master to run a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition game of Pugmire. It also highlights the differences, useful if a playing group or would be author is moving between the two. The ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ does exactly what you would expect.

Physically, Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire is a slim book, easy to read, and illustrated with several fully painted pieces. None of the artwork is new, having appeared in previous Realms of Pugmire titles, but that does not mean that it is not good. Overall, Buried Bones is as good looking a book as you would expect for the line.

However, Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire is not a book that the Pugmire Guide absolutely must have. She can run or write adventures for own playing group without it, but it does contain plenty of interesting information, working as it does, as the equivalent of the Guide’s Companion—the referee’s handbook, the designer’s notes, and the style guide all in one. So not only interesting, but also useful if the Guide wants to know a little more of the context and the secrets to the setting. However, if a Guide or an author wants to write her own scenarios or content for publication as part of Canis Minor Community Content Program, Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire is a must-have. 

Published in 2014, Colt Express is a super fun game of bandits raiding a train in the Wild West, which would go to be the 2015 Spiel des Jahres Winner. It has been supported by a handful of expansions, such as Colt Express: Horses & Stagecoach, including even a Delorean! However, as good as it looks and as fun as it is to play, it can be slightly fiddly to set up, being played as it is, on a cardboard train along which the players move their bandits, grab bags of loot, punch and shoot their rivals, all the while avoiding the US Marshall protecting the local mine’s payroll. This of course, is done through pre-programmed movement and then resolved in a chaotic slew of actions. The latest addition to the Colt Express family is designed to counter all of that—it is a pocket-sized, pocket-friendly, time-friendly game in which the bandits race up and down a Union Pacific train, guns blazing at each other as the train crew uncouples Train Car after Train Car. Which bandit will be the last standing on the speeding train and so be the one to get away and win Super Colt Express?

Published by Ludonaute, Super Colt Express is designed be played by between three and seven players, aged eight and up, and in just fifteen minutes. Inside the little square box can be found seven Bandit meeples—one each for Belle, Cheyenne, Django, Doc, Ghost, Mei, and Tuco, eight Train Cars and one Locomotive card, a First Player card, and six sets of Action cards, one for each Bandit. The Train Cards have a Loot value on their reverse which is only revealed when there is a tie between the Bandits—the highest Loot value wins! Each Bandit meeple holds a revolver in his or her hand, and whichever direction the gun is pointing, that is the direction in which the Bandit is facing. Apart from the artwork, each set of Action cards is identical, providing four manoeuvres. ‘Flip’ changes the direction in which a Bandit is pointing his or her gun—up the train to the Locomotive or down the train to the last car or caboose. ‘Change Floor’ enables a Bandit to climb up to, or down from, the roof of the train. ‘Move’ enables a Bandit to move to the adjacent Train Car in the direction he or she is facing. ‘Fire’ enables a Bandit to shoot the first rival Bandit in his or her line of sight. Any Bandit who is shot, is knocked back one car and onto his or her back, stunned. If a Bandit is shot and is knocked off the train, then he or she is out of the game, but if not knocked from the train, a player can use any Action card to do a ‘Wake Up’ Action and get up.

Game set-up for Super Colt Express is simple. The Locomotive card and one Train Card per player are placed on the table in a line with the Locomotive at the front. Each player receives his Bandit meeple and four associated Action cards—‘Change Floor’, ‘Flip’, ‘Move’, and ‘Fire’. One player is randomly determined to be the First Player and his Bandit is placed in the penultimate Train Car, and then the other players place their Bandits in the next Train Car, one-by-one. The Bandits in the rear half of the train face towards the Locomotive, the other facing away from it towards the rear of the train.

From Round to Round, Super Colt Express is played out over two phases. In ‘Phase 1: Schemin’!’, each player chooses three of his Bandit’s Action cards and places them face down in stack. These will be played in order from the top down, so a player needs to be careful to get the order right to reflect what he wants his Bandit to do in a Round. In ‘Phase 2: Shootin’!’, beginning with the First Player, each reveals his topmost Action and carries out that Action. So the Bandits will move, shoot, change direction or ‘Flip’, and climb up or down from the roof, or ‘Change Floor’. At the end of the Round, once all Action cards have been resolved, the last Train Car in the train—the Caboose—is unhitched and left behind by the train. If a Bandit is aboard this Train Car, he or she is out of the game. The Bandit furthest towards the front of the train is awarded the lost Train Car for its Loot value on te back of its card.

A new Round then begins with a new First Player. Super Colt Express ends when the last Train Car has been unhooked and only the Locomotive remains. If the one Bandit survives, then he or she wins and gets away. If there are multiple Bandits on the Locomotive, then the Bandit with the most Loot—as determined by the value of the Train Cards in their hands, is the winner.

In addition, Super Colt Express comes with two expansions. These are optional and can be used with each other or on their own with the core game. ‘Extension: Horse’ gives each Bandit a ‘Horse’ Action which enables him or her to ride to the Locomotive at the front of the train, whilst ‘Extension: Reflex’ allows a Bandit who is stunned to get up and shoot the first bandit he or she sees. If not stunned, a Bandit instead shoots himself or herself in the foot and consequently, is stunned! Neither expansion increases the maximum number of Action cards a Bandit can play—they are still limited to three per Round.

Physically, Super Colt Express is very well presented. The artwork is excellent, much of which players will recognise from Colt Express. The rules are easy to read and grasp, and Super Colt Express can be played almost out of the box, with no more than five minutes preparation. The cards are of good quality and the meeple Bandits sturdy and attractive.

Super Colt Express plays quickly and easily as intended. However, the fewer number and similarity of actions in the game when compared to Colt Express does mean that some of the flavour has been lost from the original game and thus less scope for table talk and interaction between the Bandits and the players. Certainly, anyone who has played Colt Express will miss that.

On initial play, the temptation is to try and blast away with the ‘Fire’ Action, but the ‘Move’ and ‘Flip’ Actions quickly become as important as Bandits closer to the rear of the train need to move forward to the front before a Train Car is uncouple and lost and Bandits closer to the front of the train need to turn round if they are to move away from the soon to be uncoupled rear of the train. As the Bandits move from Train Car to the next and climb up or down from the roof, then there is room for more chaos and random results. Once issue though, is if a stunned Bandit gets up after a ‘Wake Up’ Action has been played and is then shot again, effectively meaning that not only does the Bandit lose his or her current action in getting up, but his or her next action too because another Action card has to be played as ‘Wake Up’ Action—and that is no fun. Thankfully, this does not last as there are only three Actions per Round and it is quickly over.

Super Colt Express is a quick-playing, fun blast ’em sort of game. However, it gets better later in the game as there are fewer players—their Bandits having been knocked off the train—and becomes a bit more of a ‘cat and mouse’ game of trying manoeuvre into the right place, at the right time to keep your opponents from the front of the train, as Train car after Train Car is lost from the rear of the train.

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—and so on, as the anniversaries come up. 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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The year 2000 is significant in the gaming hobby because it marked the beginning of the ‘d20 Era’, a period of unparalleled creativity by publishers large and small—and tiny, as they used the d20 System to power game after game, scenario after scenario, supplement after supplement, genre after genre. Some new, some old, some simple reskins. And there are publishers twenty or so years later who are still writing using the d20 System. As much as publishers explored different worlds and settings using the d20 System and its System Reference Document, at its heart was one roleplaying game, launched in the year 2000—Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition. Just as Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is the top roleplaying game today, Dungeons  Dragons, Third Edition was the top roleplaying game of its day, and the advent of the d20 System let other publishers play in the Dungeons & Dragons sandpit, just as many had back in the early days of the hobby. The aim of this series of reviews is not to review Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition itself, for that would not necessarily make for an interesting review. Rather it is to look at some of the interesting titles which came out of the d20 System boom that started twenty years ago.

From the off, the d20 System allowed publishers to ride the wave of popularity that was Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, and that started at Gen Con 2000 with adventures from publishers such as Atlas Games and Green Ronin Publishing. The former was an established publisher, best known for roleplaying games such as Over the Edge and Feng Shui: Action Movie Roleplaying, would launch its Penumbra line of d20 System supplements with one of the first adventures for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition—Three Days to Kill. The latter was new publisher with just Ork! The Roleplaying Game to its name, but with its own first for scenario for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, would not only launch its own line of d20 System supplements and scenarios, it would also launch the first setting for the d20 System and the first genres for the d20 System. The title from Green Ronin Publishing was, of course, Death in Freeport.


Death in Freeport is a short adventure for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, released on August 10th, 2000 at Gen Con, the same day the new Player’s Handbook. Designed to be played by four or so Player Characters of First to Third Level, it did exactly the same thing as The Wizard’s Amulet from Necromancer Games and Three Days to Kill from Atlas Games—also released at the same time, and that is provide some which a purchaser of the Player’s Handbook could run with a minimum of preparation. Death in Freeport did more though. It presented a setting in the form of Freeport, a pirate city with elements of Lovecraftian horror, which Green Ronin would revisit in numerous supplements over the next decade, not just for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, but also for other game systems, such as the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, FATE, and Shadow of the Demon Lord. It also promised sequels and within a year, two sequels, Terror in Freeport and Madness in Freeport, would follow, which together withDeath in Freeport would form the Freeport Trilogy.

The setting for the trilogy and Death in Freeport is the Freeport of the title, a pirate city built around a safe harbour in the Serpent’s Teeth islands. Millennia ago, the islands were part of the continent ruled by the Serpent People Empire of Valossa. A religious schism between the worshippers of Yig, Father of Serpents, and the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign would fester until the Brotherhood summoned their own dark god, a Great Old One known as the Unspeakable One. This would shatter both the scientifically and magically advanced Empire of Valossa and the continent it stood—leaving only the islands of the Serpent’s Teeth. The survivors would be scattered, leaving room for the rise of humanity and other races. Today, Freeport is a ruled by a pirate captain known as the Sea Lord and become a powerful force rivalling many nations, but currently seems concerned more with its own affairs rather than of the continental powers.

The scenario itself opens with four protagonists—a Gnome Fighter, a Half-Elf Sorcerer, a Human Rogue, and a Dwarf Cleric—arrive on the docks in Freeport. They are quickly beset upon by a press gang looking to take them back to sea, but will be quickly driven by determined action upon the part of the Player Characters. Consequently, they are asked by Brother Egil, a cleric of the Brotherhood of Knowledge, to look for a colleague, Lucius, who has gone missing. Curiously, Lucius has form here, having suffered a personality change, begun asking strange questions, and then disappearing some six years previously. He reappeared two years ago, much like his old self, but Brother Egil fears that his friend has suffered another relapse.

As an investigative plot, Death in Freeport is quite straightforward. It will lead the Player Characters—or Investigators—from the docks to Lucius’ house to an all-Orc crewed ship whose captain has information about Lucius’ past, and then to the Temple of Knowledge and beyond. There are a number of confrontations along the way, effectively highlighting the lawless nature of Freeport, but ultimately the Player Characters will find themselves underneath the city in the headquarters of a secret eldritch cult where they will confront a number of Lovecraftian horrors. This is quite a tough confrontation, the scenario’s antagonist being several Levels higher than the Player Characters, so having more than the four pre-generated Player Characters is probably a good idea.

At its heart, Death in Freeport is a Call of Cthulhu scenario in a fantasy setting. It shows in the choice of antagonists and the power behind them—Serpent People and the Great Old One known as the Unspeakable One, and in the investigative style plot complete with its handout clues. As a Call of Cthulhu scenario in a fantasy setting, Death in Freeport is undeniably a fantastical, slightly pulpy combination. That said, for Call of Cthulhu veterans, it may not offer a strong investigative plot, but will provide for a more-action orientated adventure in the style of Dungeons & Dragons, even perhaps as a Dreamlands-set adventure…? Whereas, for Dungeons & Dragons players it offers an investigative style of play that may be new to them, and less of the dungeoneering style of play. Dungeons & Dragons players may also be disappointed by the relative lack of loot or treasure to be found throughout the scenario, but that seems fitting given that Death in Freeport is not a traditional Dungeons & Dragons scenario.

One issue with the scenario is its brevity. It is quite short, offering perhaps just a couple of session’s worth of play. However, this makes it quite easy to bring Death in Freeport to the table and with a minimum of preparation, the point being that it is designed to showcase what Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition can do and provide something that can be played straight after the Player’s Handbook has been purchased. The scenario is not only supported with the four pre-generated adventurers, but also a good history of Freeport, a short overview of the city, full stats for all of the NPCs, and a monster in the form of the Serpent People. The scenario has a couple of handouts and there is also a map of Freeport, which in combination with the short description is enough for the Dungeon Master to work with until the release of more background. The relative lack of information about Freeport also gives Death in Freeport plenty of flexibility when it comes to the Dungeon Master adding it to her own campaign world—as does not naming the gods and temples in Freeport, which are instead kept generic, like the Temple of Knowledge.

Physically, Death in Freeport is handily presented. If the front cover by Brom is not exactly relevant to the scenario, there is no denying its impact. The interior artwork is excellent though and nicely depicts the grim, sometimes eldritch feel to both plot and city. The maps are also decent.


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Death in Freeport would go on to win the Origins Awards for Best Roleplaying Adventure in 2001 and the 2001 ENnie Award for ‘Best Adventure’. It was reviewed in Polyhedron 147 (Vol. 21, No, 2 July 2001) in The Polyhedron Review by Stephen Radney-MacFarland. He wrote, that a successful d20 product,  “...[H]as to present enough fun to be contagious to as many imaginations as possible while giving enough slack to allow it to fit into almost everyone's vision of the ideal fantasy game setting.” before concluding that. “Almost no d20 adventure. thus far, has been able to do that as well as Death in Freeport.” He also awarded the scenario high scores for its accessibility, art, design, and value.


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Death in Freeport is a Pulpy ‘B’ movie of a scenario, one which wears its influences on its sleeve, but it showcased the fact that Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition could do more than just generic fantasy and that fantasy could very much be fun. The simple plot and themes to Death in Freeport mean it is still easy to run the scenario thirty years on and just as easily adapt to the rules system of your choice. Better, more detailed, and more involving scenarios and settings would follow for the d20 System—including a great deal of support for Freeport—but Death in Freeport was there at the start with adventure that was both eldritch and exciting, and hinted at what was to come.

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To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the release of Death in Freeport, Green Ronin Publishing is releasing an updated version for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. You can Return to Freeport with new edition here.

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—and so on, as the anniversaries come up. 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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Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium was published by Wizards of the Coast in the year 2000. With the forthcoming DUNE: ADVENTURES in the IMPERIUM roleplaying game from Modiphius Entertainment as well as a new film directed by Denis Villeneuve, the 2020 is the perfect time to re-examine the hobby’s first attempt to bring Frank Herbert’s seminal Science Fiction work to tabletop roleplaying. That Wizards of the Coast published Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium in a limited release is something of surprise, for it had originally been designed by Last Unicorn Games, a publisher best known for its three, highly regarded roleplaying games based on the Star Trek franchise. When Wizards of the Coast purchased Last Unicorn Games, it agreed to publish the roleplaying game, but declined to renew the licence with the Herbert Estate and so there it ended. Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, limited to just three thousand copies, was destined to become a collector’s piece, often selling for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. It would never get a reprint and the supplements announced in its pages, including Federated Houses of the Landsraad and The Spacing Guild Companion, would never see print. Similarly, a d20 System version of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium from Wizards of the Coast would not see print either, although one of the designers did release The Voice from the Outer World, Chapter One, an excerpt from what would be one the first adventure.

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is set before the events of the first novel, Dune. The Imperium has ruled mankind across the Known Universe for some ten millennia following a fierce anti-technological backlash—the Butlerian Jihad—which led to the rejection of all thinking machines and the profound development of the human potential. Over the centuries since these have coalesced into several great schools—the Spacing Guild, many of its members forcibly evolved into the Guild Navigators capable of folding space and enabling interstellar travel; the Bene Gesserit sisterhood and its genetics programme to protect humanity; the Mentat school, its graduates capable of great acts of computation and analysis; the Suk Medical School, its doctors incapable of harming their patients due to their ‘imperial conditioning’; and the Swordsmaster’s School of Ginaz, its graduates peerless soldiers and duellists. 

For millennia, power in the Imperium has rested on several pillars. These are the Padishah Emperor, backed by his elite Sardaukar military forces; the Landsraad Council which represented the Imperium’s Great Houses—was headed by the Emperor; and CHOAM—or Combine Honnete Over Advanced Mercantiles—the great mercantile body which controlled the Imperium’s economy and every product or service manufactured, sold, and purchased. Most of the Great Houses hold directorships in CHOAM as well as their fiefdoms from the Emperor. The most important of these products is the Spice melange, which is only mined on the planet Arrakis, and as well as its anagathic properties, also enables the Guild Navigators to fold space. The last pillar is the Space Guild, which holds a monopoly on space travel and maintains a strictly neutral stance when it comes to Imperial politics.

Although the Imperium is at peace and open warfare is rare, both the Great Houses and the Houses Minor feud with each other, sometimes over rivalries going back to the foundation of the Imperium. The Rules of Kanly guide negotiations and diplomacy, but also govern how the Houses wage war on each other—typically through formal duels, assassination, and political hostage-taking and ransoms. These rules are very likely to play a great role in any campaign of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, because the default set-up for such a campaign is to cast the Player Characters as members of the Entourage belonging to a House Minor allied to one of the Great Houses. They will be House Adepts of the Bene Gesserit, House Assassins, House Strategists, House Mentats, House Nobles—perhaps even the heir, House Swordmaster, or House Suk. This leaves a lot of character options, whether that is Fremen Warrior or spice smuggler, to be covered in other supplements—which of course, never appeared.

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium presents six Great Houses—three known and three new—to which the Player Character House Minor can ally—and three Houses Minor for each. The three Great Houses are House Atreides, both feted and hated for its leadership, courage, and morality—and whose fortunes are the subject of the novel; House Corrino, the Imperial House which sits on the Golden Lion Throne and which fears the influence of the Atreides; and House Harkonnen, the rapaciously mercantile and treacherous enemies of the Atreides. The three new Great Houses are House Moritani, which successfully waged a War of Assassins against House Ginaz and now occupy the world of Grumman; House Tsieda, a withdrawn and traditionalist House which specialises in legal consultation and representation; and House Wallach, a military House staunchly loyal to the Emperor. Each of the six Great Houses is given a solid write-up, whilst allied Houses Minor are given shorter, though enough to develop more details from, descriptions, and one is given full stats.

Alternatively, the Game Master and her players could create their one House Minor. Each House Minor is defined by four Attributes, each of which has two Edges, or particular talents related to the attributes. The Attributes are rated between one and five and the Edges between minus two and plus two. The House Attributes and their Edges are Status plus Aegis and Favour, Wealth plus Holdings and Stockpiles, Influence plus Popularity and Authority, and Security plus Military and Intelligence. A House Minor also has an Ancestry, including Name and Homeworld, a Title and a Fiefdom, Renown, and Assets. The Fiefdom can anything from a City District to a Subfief, and the Title from Magistrate to Siridar Governor or Baronet. To create a House Minor, a House Minor Archetype is selected from a choice of six—House Defender, House Pawn, House Favourite, House Reformer, House Pretender, and House Sleeper—which provide the base stats for House Minor, and fifteen Development Points are spent on various House aspects.

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House Molo claims its origins date back to before it was granted to House Harkonnen. Its relationship with its liege has always been rocky and House Molo has long agitated under the Harkonnen grasp, almost to the point of rebellion on a number of times. To date, the Imperial Charter granted to the Tormburg School of Engineering—famed for its petrochemical and chemical engineers—has afforded the House Minor a degree of protection as has a number of careful marriages. The family has a strong tradition of fielding arena champions, which goes to back to the clan matriarch, Althena IX von Molo, successfully settling a legal dispute with the House Minor’s liege, the Harkonnens, some centuries ago. House Minor von Molo has also fielded champions on behalf of other Houses Minor on Gedi Prime and consequently, it is not unknown for the Harkonnen Barons in frustration to appoint von Molo champions to represent its enemies. House Minor von Molo is all but loyal to the Harkonnens, but wants better treatment for the populace and less avaricious policies.

House Minor Profile
Name: von Molo
Ancestry: Harkonnen
Homeworld: Gedi Prime
Title: 3 (Siridar-Ritter) 
Fiefdom: 2 (Free-City of Tormburg)
Renown: 1
Assets: 5
Attributes (House Sleeper archetype)
Status: 3
Wealth: 3 (Stockpiles +1)
Influence: 2 (Authority -1, Popularity -1)
Security: 3 (Intelligence +1)

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The stats for the Player Characters’ House Minor come into play during ‘Interludes’, the periods between adventures when both players and the Narrator conduct a   ‘Narrative Debriefing’ during which they can discuss how the Player Characters’ actions furthered their House’s goals, the aim having been to complete anyone of a number of Narrative Ventures. These might be an act of diplomacy or political campaign at the Sysselraad—the planetary equivalent of the Lansraad for all of the Houses Minor on a planet, training military forces, intelligence or counter-intelligence manoeuvres, investing in a business venture, and so on. Mechanically, they require investment upon the part of the players using the House Minor’s Asset points and their success depends upon a Test similar to Skill Test. However, the rewards are simply numerical—more Asset points to spent on developing the House Minor. Arguably there is a missed opportunity here to present something more interesting and more involving, perhaps not dissimilar to what Green Ronin Publishing did for A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, the RPG based on the fantasy works of George R.R. Martin. Perhaps more interesting and more involving would have been published in the unpublished Federated Houses of the Landsraad?

A character in Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is defined by Attributes, Edges, Skills, Traits, Renown, Caste, and Equipment. There are five Attributes, and each has four Edges. The Attributes are rated between one and six—the latter the limits of Human potential, and the Edges between minus two and plus two. The character Attributes and their Edges are Physique plus Strength and Constitution, Coordination plus Dexterity and Reaction, Intellect plus Perception and Logic, Charisma plus Presence and Willpower, and Prescience plus Sight and Vision. Skills are rated between one and five, and typically require a specialisation, for example, Culture (House), Computation (Straight-Line), and BG Way (Petit Betrayals). It should be pointed out that the skill list is fairly extensive, and there is no little nuance to them, especially in the Specialisations. For example, the Statecraft skills has the Specialisations of Artifice, Equivocation, Mind Games, and Perjury. In addition, there is some overlap between some Skills and Specialisations, such as Statecraft (Threats), Interrogation (Coercion), and Racketeering (Extortion), which could be used to blackmail or intimidate an enemy—all depending upon the circumstances, of course. Now this is can either be interpreted as too many skills or it could simply be a matter of nuance and as well as circumstances, could represent differing approaches to a task. A nice touch is how example difficulties are given for each skill.

Of course, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium being set in the Dune universe, it needs certain skills to reflect the special abilities of graduates of schools such as the Mentat and the Bene Gesserit. So for the Mentat there is Computation, Mentat Trance, and Projection, whilst for the Bene Gesserit, there is BG Way, Ritualism, and Voice. Also included are the Prescience and Prophecy Skills, which when used grant glimpses of the future. Apart from the latter two Skills—since they are less likely to appear in a campaign—these all do feel as if they are could use further development and explanation. As useful as the example difficulties given to each skill description are, one thing that is missing is explanations of what the Specialisations are. In general, this is not a problem, it can in some cases leave Narrator and player alike scratching their head. For example, the Mentat Computation Skill has the Specialisations of Probability Computation, Straight-line computation, and Comparative Induction, whilst the Projection skill has the Approximation Analysis, Factual Analysis, Proximity Hypothesis, and Zero-bias Matrices Specialisations, but in neither is there any explanation of how they work or what they are. Given that the Mentat will have these Specialisations, it is frustrating to have them explained. In the short term, the Narrator could probably have said that more information was forthcoming in a supplement—perhaps the Narrator’s Guide?—but not in the long term.

Traits are advantages or disadvantages, such as Bimanual Fighting, Latent Prescience—necessary to raise the Prescience Attribute to one and to be able to choose its associated Skills, Shield Fighting, Addiction, Human—meaning you have been tested as the Bene Gesserit, Genetic Eunuch, and so on. Some Traits are particular to certain Schools, such as Prana-Bindu Conditioning, Truthsaying, and Weirding Combat for the Bene Gesserit, Imperial Conditioning and  Pyretic Conscience of the Suk Doctors, and Machine Logic and Mental Awareness of the Mentats.

Every character will have a place on the ‘Faufreluches’ or Imperial caste system. The Emperor, the Imperial Family, the Great Houses, Houses Minor, and so on, are Regis-Familia. Most Player Characters will Na-Familia—named family, Household vassals, or Imperial citizens, or Bondsman—Bonded Professionals. Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is not a roleplaying game which dwells particularly on equipment, though there is some discussion of it since it has distinct ramifications upon play, whether that is the use of melee weapons or slow projectile weapons against opponents wearing shields—infamously, shooting a lasgun at a shield can result in an atomic explosion, or the need to contract the Spacing Guild to travel from one star system to another. In general though, a Player Character will have whatever he needs to do his job.

Once the players and Narrator have decided upon or created their House Minor, each player can create his character who will be part of the House Minor’s Entourage. Three methods are provided to create a character. The first is to choose one of the seven pre-generated templates—House Adept, House Assassin, House Strategist, House Mentat, House Noble, House Swordmaster, and House Suk—and then personalise it a few Development Points. The second is to build it out of a series of four packages and overlays. These consist of a character’s House Allegiance, which determines which Great House the House Minor is allied to and his base Attributes, Skills, and Traits; Vocational Conditioning, such as Bene Gesserit Adept or Master Strategist; and a Background History package like Mentat Priming or Slave Pits, House Service like Personal Confidante or Warmaster, ad Personal Calling like Advocate or Sleeper Agent. Lastly, a player has a few Development Points to personalise his character with, and his Caste and Renown to set. The third method is point-based, a player being give one-hundred-and-thirty Development Points to spend. This is the longest and most complex method.

—oOo—
Olifer Taheri grew up in the notorious Harkonnen slave pits on Gedi Prime. He not only survived, but was part of a rebellion in his youth. This was put viciously by the planetary police and many of Olifer’s friends were killed, even butchered. He was captured and thrown into the arenas to fight again and again until he was killed. Not only did he survive, but defeated his first opponents, and eventually he gained some notoriety. House Harkonnen came to hate him and was planning to execute for his ‘crimes’ during the slave rebellion, but House Molo instead offered to purchase him. The Harkonnens did, and House Molo sent him to Ginaz. Currently he serves as the House Swordmaster and takes pleasure defeating Harkonnen fighters in the arena.

Olifer Taheri
House Allegiance: House Harkonnen
House: Molo
Vocational Conditioning: Swordmaster 
Background History: Slave Pits
House Service: Weapons Master
Personal Calling: Arena Fighting

Attributes:
Physique 2 (Constitution +1, Strength +1)
Coordination 4 (Reaction +1) 
Intellect 2 (Perception +1)
Charisma 2 (Presence +2, Willpower +1)
Prescience 0

Skills:
Armament 3 (Operation 2, Repair 2)
Armed Combat 3 (Duelling 4)
Athletics 2 (Climbing 1, Running 1)
Charm 1 (Flattery 1)
Culture 1 (Harkonnen 1)
Dodge 4 (Evade 2, Sidestep 1)
First Aid 1
History 1 (Harkonnen 1)
Leadership 2 (Guerrilla Operations 2)
Military Operations 2 (Guerrilla Warfare 2)
Observation 1 (Search 1)
Politics 1 (Harkonnen 1)
Ranged Combat 2 (Stunner 1)
Security 1 (Systems 2)
Stealth 1
Survival 1
Unarmed Combat 3
World Knowledge 1 (Gedi Prime 1)

Traits
Alertness 1, Bimanual Fighting 2, Duelling 3, Heroism 2, Information Network 1, Resilience 1, Shield Fighting 1, Whipcord Reflexes3, Code of Conduct +3

Renown: Valor 1
Caste: 3 (Bondsman)

Karama: 3

Equipment: House uniform, personal shield, slip-tip, stunner, sword

—oOo—
Mechanically, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium uses the ICON System, as used in Last Unicorn Games’ Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek Role Playing Game. It is a six-sided dice mechanic. To undertake an action a player rolls a number of dice equal to an Attribute plus an applicable Edge, one which should be of a different colour. This is the Drama Die. The player takes the highest value rolled on the dice and adds the Skill to get a total. This is compared to a Test Difficulty, which ranges from four or Routine all the way up to thirteen or Difficult. If a six is rolled on the Drama Die, then the player can use that and add the result of the next highest die to the total. Rolling a six on the Drama Die will typically result in a critical success, whilst rolling a one on the Drama Die and not succeeding, a grievous failure. 
For example, Olifer Taheri is attending some arena games with his master, Tobias Molo and they are accompanying Adan Fosconi, the Master of the Arena on a tour of the training area. Fosconi asks Taheri his opinion of the fighters there and the swordmaster decides to flatter the Arena Master. The Narrator describes this as a Routine Test, giving Taheri a Difficulty number of six. Taheri’s player will be rolling a total of four dice, two for his Charisma and another two for his Presence Edge. He will be adding one for his Charm Skill and one for his Flattery Specialisation. Taheri’s player rolls one, three, six, and six on the Drama Die. This means he adds the next highest value die—also a six—plus Taheri’s skill for a total of fourteen. This is an exceptional roll and being both six higher than the Difficulty and a six was rolled on the Drama Die means that a critical success has been scored. Master Fosconi laps up Taheri’s praise and is already thinking of how much money he can win by betting on his fighters in the arena that afternoon.In addition, each Player Characters also has Karma, which can be spent on a one-for-one basis to modify the results of Test. However, he will only have a few points and this may not be enough given how difficult it is to roll overcome a Moderate or Test Difficulty of seven if a character has a low skill value, and a Challenging or Test Difficulty of ten or more   with medium or high skill values. The problem here is that rolling high is dependent on roll a six on the one die—the Drama Die. Thus, rolling high is a relatively rare occurrence. Otherwise, the ICON System is generally simple and easy to use.

In comparison, combat in Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is much more complex. Its focus is on personal combat and it leaves the larger combats, guerrilla actions or other acts of warfare to be handled as House Ventures. What this means is that combat is tactically rich, but strategically poor, which undermines so much of what the roleplaying game is about—the fortunes of a House Minor and the Player Characters’ involvement in that. The rules do cover elements particular to the Dune universe, and much like the setting there is an emphasis on melee combat and duelling. So the Duelling Trait grants access to various special manoeuvres in combat, as does Shield Fighting, which teaches a fighter to be slower in combat in order to penetrate an opponent’s shield, but penalises them when unshielded, because he trained to be slow. The Bene Gesserit have their own form of martial arts, called Weirding Combat.

Mechanically, combat is not merely a matter of trading blows back and forth from one round to the next. Combatants receive a pool of Option Points to spend on manoeuvres in combat, but effectively this pool becomes two, because each combatant will be spending and tracking points spent on two types of manoeuvre Option—Actions and Reactions—and each combatant can spend an equal number of points on both. Actions include Aim, Hand attack, Slow Attack, and Autofire, whilst Block, Parry, and Riposte, are Reactions. Some can be both, such as Attack Sinister and Slow Sinister Attack. With each subsequent manoeuvre—Action or Reaction—the cost in terms of Action Points goes up, and as long as a character has Action Points to spend, he can act. Traits such as Weirding Combat and Duelling grant access to particular subsets of manoeuvre, invariably better than the standard attack and defensive manoeuvres. The range of manoeuvres available in combat is what makes combat so tactically rich and used effectively, it can reflect the cut, thrust, block, counter strike, and more of a duel or combat. Although it helps that there is extensive example of combat in the rules, there is no denying their complexity and the fact that they give a lot for both Narrator and player to keep track of from round to round.
For example, later the same day at the arena, Adan Fosconi, the Master of the Arena enraged at the loses made on the bets he placed on his gladiators decides to take his revenge by sending some thugs to beat up Olifer Taheri and perhaps even kidnap his master, Tobias Molo. Olifer Taheri has the Alertness Trait and the Narrator has rolled in secret to determine if the swordmaster spots the thugs. He does and with a shout of, “Get behind me, my lord!”, reaches down to his belt to activate his shield and draw his sword and dagger. Taheri’s Initiative is equal to his Coordination of 4 and Reaction +1, so a total of five, and this is also the number of Option Points his player has to spend. The Criminals have Coordination of 2 and Reaction +1, so have three Initiative and three Option Points. The Narrator declares that the first action of the Criminals is to Attack. This costs them one Option Point each, leaving one point remaining for Attack Options and three for Reaction Options. Taherio declares that his is to Parry Sinister, a Reaction which will cost him one, leaving five points remaining for Attack Options and four for Reaction Options. The Narrator rolls for the first Criminal—two dice for his Coordination of 2 and adds his Armed Combat of 3—and gets a total of eight. Tehari’s player rolls five dice for his Coordination of 4 and adds his Armed Combat of 3 and Duelling of 4. His total of ten easily beats the Criminal’s eight, and Tehari blocks the attack with his dagger. Tehari then declares a Riposte. This has a cost of one, but because he has done one Reaction, its cost goes up to two, leaving him with two for Reaction Options. The Narrator states that the first Criminal will attempt to Dodge, which will set the Difficulty Test for Tehari’s Riposte. The Dodge will leave the Criminal with one point for Reaction Options. The Criminal rolls three dice—two for his Coordination of 2 and one for his Reaction +1—and adds the Criminal  Dodge Skill of 1. The Narrator rolls a total of 6. Tehari’s player rolls four dice for his Coordination of 4 and adds his Armed Combat of 3 and Duelling of 4. Unfortunately, Tehari’s player rolls a total of 13. This is more than the Criminal’s Dodge value and likely a critical hit, so the first Criminal is probably badly hurt. However, there are still two other Criminals to Tehari to defeat and they have not attacked yet…In terms of background, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium provides a history of the Imperium—though no timeline, a discussion of the Great Convention which keeps the peace, details of six of the Great Houses and their worlds, technology and equipment, the Great Schools, and some of the personages of the Imperium. It is overall, a good overview, but in the long term will likely be found wanting as the Narrator wants more information. Where there is focused information is in the presentation of ‘Chusuk, the ‘Music Planet’’, which gets a whole chapter of its own. This is the presentation of a single planet as an example setting, Great House, and Houses Minor. It is home to a relatively new Great House, House Varota, renowned for its musicianship, craft as instrument makers, its devotion to the arts, and also spies. Chusuk is also home to a notable religious sect, the Navachristians. It is a good example of what a Narrator could come up with as a world for his own chronicle and showcases perhaps what a supplement devoted to the worlds of the Dune universe would have looked like. It is followed by short scenario in its own chapter, ‘Instrument of Kanly’, which continues the musical theme and sees the Player Characters’ Entourage come to Chusek in search of a stolen musical instrument. Again, this is a decent, a low-key adventure suitable for beginning players and characters, only really let down by the fact that it is the first part of a two-chapter story arc. It involves lots of diplomacy, interaction, treachery, and some combat, effectively showcasing various elements of the rules, and along the way, allowing the authors to have fun with some musical puns. That said, both chapters containing the adventure and the planetary description do feel out of place in the middle of the book.

In addition, the Narrator is given not one, but effectively two chapters on how to be a good Game Master. ‘Chapter VI: A Voice from the Outer Void’ is general advice, covering how to set a scene, using the mechanics, keeping the players interested, and so on. It is useful, solid advice. It is followed by ‘Chapter VII: Pillars of the Universe’ which delves into themes and ideas particular to Dune—Human Conditioning, Plans within Plans, Preservation of Bloodlines, Messianic Prophecy, and more, before going on to discuss how to create a chronicle of the Narrator’s own. The discussion of the themes and ideas is fascinating, but ultimately feels too short. Hopefully the release of a supplement like the Narrator’s Guide would have presented these subjects in much more of the depth they deserved, but of course, this was not to be.

Physically, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is very nicely presented. There is plenty of artwork, much of it very good, the book is generally well written, and well laid throughout. No little thought has been given to the organisation of the book thematically. So, the book is divided into ‘Book One: Imperium Familia’, introducing the setting and rules, and ‘Book Two: DUNE Oracle’ and ‘Book Three: Imperial Archives’ providing more background and a scenario. Then Skills and Traits are organised thematically into Valour of the Brave, Learning of the Wise, Justice of the Great, and Prayers of the Righteous—covering physical and combat, knowledge, political and social, and other Skills and Traits respectively.

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is a fantastic game, there is an undeniable depth to its treatment of the Frank Herbert’s Dune universe—which comes the quantification necessary when designing and playing a roleplaying game, it enables players to create characters which feel right for the setting, it provides a decent enough of background, and it provides both a reason to play in what the player characters do and something for them to play in the form of the scenario. However, that background is unlikely to be enough to support a campaign in the long term, especially when delving into the intricacies of the Bene Gesserit or the Mentats, and the other Great Schools, and much of the background is not presented in an easy-to-use fashion—for example, there is no chronology attached to the extensive history. The focus of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is also narrow in terms of what you can play, the types of campaign, and the scope of the background—Arrakis is very much an afterthought and it is not possible to create characters from there with any ease. The rules feel overwritten in places, for example, in the number of Skills available, and underwritten in others, in their explanation, whilst the ICON System does not feel quite up to the task. Nor do the rules effectively support or explain the House progress through the use of the House Ventures, which is disappointing given the fact that the Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is all about roleplaying the fortunes of a House Minor.

Today, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is a collector’s piece, worth no little amount of money. Unless you are a collector or an avid fan of the Dune setting, it probably is not worth your having. As a roleplaying game, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is everything that want to start playing the Dune universe—characters, background, advice, starting adventure, and more. Only in a particular way though—as a House Minor Entourage—but a resourceful playing group could deconstruct the rules to run other games in the Dune universe with some effort. However, as written, the scope of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is limited, indeed the clue is on the front cover where it says, ‘Limited Edition’, and any Narrator would probably exhaust those limitations fairly quickly. This is not necessarily the fault of the Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium Core Rulebook itself, which really should be seen the starting point for the rest of the line, just as with any other roleplaying game. Although underdeveloped in places, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium successfully gives you the means to roleplay in the Dune universe and makes the setting a believable one to roleplay in, both for fans of the Dune universe and roleplayers in general, but ultimately, its potential will remain lost and untapped.

To date, Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos, Chaosium, Inc’s supplement of Pulp action set during the nineteen thirties for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition has been supported by not one, but two campaigns. The better known of these is The Two-Headed Serpent: An Epic Action-Packed and Globe-Spanning Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu, a campaign in the traditional sense of Lovecraftian investigative horror. It presented a world-spanning conspiracy, which took the heroic investigators from Bolivia, New York, Borneo, and Oklahoma to the Belgian Congo, Iceland, and Brazil—and beyond! The other campaign is A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu, which although like The Two-Headed Serpent is set in New York and takes place in the nineteen thirties, is very different in tone and scope.

A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu takes place in 1935, ‘technically’ never leaves New York State, and focuses on investigators with Psychic abilities—using the optional Psychic ability rules from Pulp Cthulhu—or have an interest in Parapsychology. It takes two works of fiction as its inspiration. The first is ‘The Mound’, the horror/science fiction novella ghost-written by H. P. Lovecraft for Zealia Bishop, which tells of a mound that conceals a gateway to a subterranean civilization, the realm of K’n-yan. The second is Sinclair Lewis’ alternate history satire, It Can’t Happen Here, in which populist demagogue Berzelius ‘Buzz’ Windrip is elected President of the United States and with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force imposes totalitarian rule similar to the Germany and Italy of the Desperate Decade. Against this febrile background, the campaign draws links between the fringe science—whether Parapsychology or Occultism—and the fringe politics of the period.

Campaign set-up is supported by six pre-generated Investigators. They include a diverse range of backgrounds, from a Russian Cult Leader, an African American female Mechanic/Aviator, and a female Investigative Journalist to a Hispanic ex-Soldier, a female Scientist, and an Explorer. Only two of them have Psychic Talents, but the campaign can be run with the optional Psychic Talents rules from Pulp Cthulhu or without. It also adds a new Investigator Organisation, The Open Mind Group, a hero organisation whose members are fascinated by the possibility of powers of the mind—whatever their source. In general, the organisation is apolitical and politely asks members who are overtly political to refrain from discussing their views or leave.

The structure of the campaign, over the course of five of its six chapters, is linear. It takes the Investigators from New York City upstate into New York state’s Catskill Mountains, and from there, it takes a turn for weird as it plunges deep into the bowels of the Earth and across the sybarite and immortal remnants of the K’n-yan Empire. It begins with a missing persons case, a fellow member of The Open Mind Group approaching the Investigators because Brendan Sterling, her husband, has gone missing. He has a greater fascination with the outré than she does, and this has led him to participate in experiments in past-life regression. Investigating Sterling’s disappearance will first lead them to his links with various populist fringe political movements and then to the scientists who associate with them. Unfortunately, no sign of him has been seen either, and following him will lead the investigators upstate and into the Catskills. From there, the path literally leads inexplicably into the depths and the strange realms of the Empire of the K’n-yan. By now the Investigators will have already encountered some strangeness, most notably their  suddenly being cast into space and having to find their way back—being chased by some very strange cats—and ghosts haunting the halls of a centre for parapsychological studies in what is arguably one of the most bizarre encounters in Call of Cthulhu. These and similar encounters hint at the things to come in later chapters—far below the surface.

What lies below is the remains of the K’n-yan Empire, its immortal survivors divided between indolent sybarites residing in the mouldering towns and plantations, their buildings a combination of gold and weird science, and religious fanatics out in the surrounding wilds. Often cannibals and evilly indifferent, they are not perhaps the worst that the Investigators will encounter for there are surface dwellers other than their quarry down here and some of are looking to re-establish the K’n-yan Empire… It is here too that the Investigators will learn perhaps of the ultimate aims of the campaign’s antagonists and just what they will have to do to stop them. The culmination of the campaign itself is a suitably over-the-top drive further into the depths of the Earth to confront the villains of the piece and prevent their plans. The sixth chapter takes the campaign in an even more radical direction and can be run at any time in the campaign once the Investigators have sufficient means and motivation—even in the middle of other chapters.

As a campaign, A Cold Fire Within does something different. There have been plenty of scenarios for Call of Cthulhu which deal with the Science Fictional aspects of Lovecraft’s Cosmic Horror, but not a campaign. It is very much not a campaign of Lovecraftian investigative horror in the eldritch sense, but rather one of fringe science—or ‘Science!’ and fringe theories ranging from Theosophy to the Hollow Earth. A campaign which sees one ancient subterranean scientific empire attempt to rise again, aided by zealous surface dwellers, as the power and influence of Fascism grows and spreads on the surface world. However, as linear and as straightforward as the campaign is, and as solid a hook it provides to pull the Investigators into its events, the Keeper will need to work hard to keep the players and their Investigators on track and motivated. Especially to the point in the campaign where they learn what is really going on and then have a few more options in what they can do. The Keeper also has a lot of NPCs to portray, there being quite a large cast given the relatively short nature of the campaign. If the campaign misses an opportunity, it is perhaps the chance for a flashforward to see the consequences if they fail to stop the antagonists’ plans—this is only hinted at in the conclusion.

Rounding out A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu is a set of four appendices. These collect the campaign’s handouts and maps for easy copying by the Keeper, new tomes and spells, new skills and psychic power, and K’n-yanian Equipment and Vehicles. The new skills include Lore (K’n-yan) and Language (K’n-yan), and Science (Parapsychology), whilst the new Psychic Powers are Dematerialisation and Telepathy. The section on K’n-yanian Equipment and Vehicles details all of the devices and artefacts which the Investigators will discover in the subterranean world of the K’n-yan and any Investigator with a mechanical bent—especially if he falls into the Grease Monkey archetype—will undoubtedly want to tinker with and repair. Lastly, the six pre-generated Investigators are given.

Physically, A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu is a slim, full colour hardback. In keeping with the other Call of Cthulhu titles, the book looks superb, the layout is clean, the artwork—whether black and white, two-tone, or full colour—is superb throughout, though the cover is not necessarily as eye-catching as could have been. The maps are excellent throughout though, although perhaps the campaign could have benefited from better maps of the Catskill Mountains, New York state, and New York City.

There is a Science Fiction genre called Planetary Romance—best typified by the Barsoom-set of stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs—in which much of the story’s action and adventure takes place on exotic alien worlds, noted for their distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds. Now A Cold Fire Within is not set on another world, but it is set in another world, one which also has distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds in the form of the differing groups of the K’n-yan. Further, A Cold Fire Within is a Science Fiction campaign, involving as it does ‘fringe’ science and strange technologies, but of course against a background of Cosmic Horror. What this means is that A Cold Fire Within is a campaign of ‘Inner Planetary Horror’, one which both proves the existence of fringe science and to the horrific applications it can be put to. 

The very latest entry in the Ticket to Ride franchise is Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam. Like those other Ticket to Ride games, it is another card-drawing, route-claiming board game based around transport links and like those other Ticket to Ride games, it uses the same mechanics. Thus the players will draw Transportation cards and then use them to claim Routes and by claiming Routes, link the two locations marked on Destination Tickets, the aim being to gain as many points as possible by claiming Routes and completing Destination Tickets, whilst avoiding losing by failing to complete Destination Tickets. Yet rather than being another big box game like the original Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride: Europe, or Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries, it takes its cue from Ticket to Ride: New York and Ticket to Ride: London. It is thus a smaller game designed for fewer players with a shorter playing time, a game based around a city rather than a country or a continent. It is also notably different in terms of theme and period.

Published by Days of Wonder and designed for play by two to four players, aged eight and up, Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam is easy to learn, can be played out of the box in five minutes, and played through in less than twenty minutes. Now where Ticket to Ride: New York had the players racing across Manhattan in the nineteen fifties attempting to connect its various tourist hotspots going via taxis rather than trains and Ticket to Ride: London has the players racing across London in the nineteen sixties, attempting to connect its various tourist hotspots going via buses rather than trains or taxes, Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam takes the Ticket to Ride franchise back to the seventeenth century and the middle of the ‘Gouden Eeuw’, the Dutch Golden Age when Amsterdam was the beating heart of global trade and the wealthiest city on Earth. Of course, it being the seventeenth century, there are no trains! So instead, the players will be fulfilling Contracts by delivering goods across the Dutch port by horse and cart—and if they take the right route, then they can claim a Merchandise Bonus too.

Inside the small box can be found a small board which depicts the centre of Amsterdam, from Nieuwe Waal in the northwest to Blauwbrug in the southeast and De Hendriken in the southwest to Oude Waal in the northeast. Notably, several of the routes are marked with Cart Symbols. When one of these routes is claimed, a player is rewarded with a Merchandise Bonus card. At the end of the game, each player will be rewarded with bonus points depending on the number of Merchandise Bonus cards he has. Besides the board map of Amsterdam, Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam comes with sixty-four plastic Buses—sixteen in each colour, as well as a scoring marker for each colour, forty-four Transportation cards—in six colours plus the multi-coloured wild cards, twenty-four Contract cards—the equivalent of Destination Tickets in other Ticket to Ride titles, sixteen Merchandise Bonus cards, and the rules leaflet. The latter is clearly written, easy to understand, and the opening pages show how to set up the game. It can be read through in mere minutes and played started all but immediately.

Play in Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam is the same as standard Ticket to Ride. Each player starts the game with some Contract cards and some Transportation cards. On his turn, a player can take one of three actions. Either draw two Transportation cards; draw two Contract cards and either keep one or two, but must keep one; or claim a route between two connected Locations. To claim a route, a player must expend a number of cards equal to its length, either matching the colour of the route or a mix of matching colour cards and the multi-coloured cards, which essentially act as wild cards. Some routes are marked in grey and so can use any set of colours or multi-coloured cards. No route is longer than four spaces and a player will score points for each route claimed.

All of which points to standard Ticket to Ride game play. Now as with Ticket to Ride: New York and Ticket to Ride: London, what marks Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam as being different from that of standard game play is most obviously its size, but once it reaches the table, what marks it out as being different is its speed of play. With fewer Cart pieces per player—sixteen as opposed to the forty-five in standard Ticket to Ride—a player has fewer resources and with fewer routes to claim, so play is quick. The shortness of the routes—no route being longer than four spaces—means that a player will spend less time drawing Transportation cards, rather than having to draw again and again in order to have the right number of Transportation cards needed for long routes—routes five, six, and seven spaces in length are common in standard Ticket to Ride. With fewer Locations, fewer Contract cards, and fewer Carts with which to claim them, a player will probably be aiming to complete no more than three or four Destination Tickets—probably fewer given how tight and competitive the board map is, especially when the players want to start competing for the all-important routes marked with Cart symbols.

The other major difference—apart from the theme—is the inclusion of the Merchandise Bonus cards. If a player is careful to claim the routes with Cart symbols, he will be awarded a bonus at the end of the game equal to one or two contracts. The difficulty comes not necessarily in claiming them, but balancing between claiming routes with Cart symbols and those without. For the most part, the routes with Cart symbols lie on the outer edge of the map and they tend to be both longer routes and not as direct as going through the city centre and the centre of the map. Whilst any of the Contract cards an be completed by whatever series of routes a player decides to build, most of them encourage a player to build routes across Amsterdam rather than around it. Of course, this will be complicated by competition for routes between the players which will likely deny one player or another a route that a player wants to use to complete a Contract card.

What the addition of the Merchandise Bonus cards is reminiscent of, is the Stock Shard cards of the Pennsylvania map from Ticket to Ride Map Collection Vol. 5: United Kingdom + Pennsylvania. In that expansion, every time a player claimed he route, he could in most cases, also claim a Stock Share card in a particular company. At the end of the game, a player would score bonus points depending upon the number of Stock Share cards he held in the various companies in the expansion. Now Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam does not have Stock Share cards, but the Contract cards do work like them in that the more a player has, the more points he will score at the end of the game.

Physically, Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam is very nicely produced. It feels a little darker in tone, but the Cart pieces are cute, the cards feel small though are still easy to read, and the rules leaflet is short, but easy to understand. Notably though, the Transportation cards are very well designed, not just clear in colour, but unlike the Train cards in Ticket to Ride, the artwork is obviously and clearly different on each colour card. For example, the pink card has a man rolling a barrel, the blue card a sailing ship, the black card a barge, and so on. This makes them a lot easier to use than the standard Ticket to Ride cards.

Like Ticket to Ride: New York and Ticket to Ride: London, what Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam offers is all of the play of Ticket to Ride in a smaller, faster playing version, that easy to learn and easy to transport. However, unlike those other titles, Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam is tighter and more competitive, a player needing to balance the need to complete Contract cards against the possibility of extra points from the Merchandise bonus cards, with the reduced playing time only exacerbating this. For younger players, Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam may be too tight, too competitive, but for veteran Ticket to Ride fans, Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam offers a tighter game and an enjoyably different theming.

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

—oOo—


What is it?
Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd presents an odd, even whimsical creature for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a thirteen-page, full colour, 1.49 MB PDF.

Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd is well presented and decently written.

Where is it set?
Dolorous Edd, the subject of Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd,  can be encountered anywhere in Dragon Pass, or even in Glorantha.

Who do you play?
Anyone can encounter Dolorous Edd. Hunters might want to track him, Lhankor Mhy might want to clarify know facts about him, and a Shaman might want to dedicate a cult to him!

What do you need?
Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, but RuneQuest – Glorantha Bestiary might be useful. 

What do you get?
Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd details ‘Dolorous Edd’, a singularly strange creature who wanders Dragon Pass seemingly at random and is known to a multitude of different people across the region. He is a tall and looming  beast, long, but with skin wrinkled into folds, tiny feet, and constantly weeping eyes. He is seen watching folk and tends to run—or leap—away if encountered. There are lots of rumours and tales about him, the likelihood being that the Player Characters will know something about him, such that if they do encounter him, they will not be completely unaware of his existence.

As well as providing the full stats and personality of this beast, Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd a rumours table suggesting what both Player Characters and NPCs might know about him (there is much to be learned over a pint), three scenario seeds, a complete description of the cult dedicated to Dolorous Edd, and the folklore about him. Actually, there is no cult devoted to Dolorous Edd—at least not yet. Instead it is up to the Player Characters to do so, especially if one of them is a Shaman. Full details of such a cult is given should a Player Character decide to establish one, including appropriate Rune spells. A good third of Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd is devoted to the folklore surrounding his appearances and activities. If there is an issue with this, it is that it is not really designed to be read by the players, so the Game Master may want to adapt it so should the Player Characters want to do a little more research into Dolorous Edd. That said, the folklore will instead work as inspiration for the Game Master in presenting the rumours related to him and perhaps in creating further encounters with this great, fantastically quaint creature.

Is it worth your time?
Yes—Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd epitomises ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’ in presenting a “Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie” who may be simply encountered, hunted, be made friends with, a mystery to be uncovered, or even worshiped!
No—Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd is perhaps ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’ a step too far, a silly creature more Douglas Addams than Greg Stafford.
Maybe—Monster of the Month #7: Dolorous Edd is strange and whimsical, but its weirdness is easy enough to bring to your Glorantha with relatively little preparation.

The format of One-on-One roleplaying—one Investigator and one Keeper—is not new to Lovecraftian investigative horror. It goes all the way back to the scenario, ‘Paper Chase’, originally published in the Cthulhu Companion from 1983 and most recently included in the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, and more recently explored in Cthulhu Confidential, published by Pelgrane Press for clue-orientated roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror, Trail of Cthulhu. Chaosium, Inc. returns to the format for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, with Does Love Forgive? One-to-One Scenarios for Call of Cthulhu, its special release for the ‘Virtual’ Gen Con of 2020. Originally published for the Polish version of Call of Cthulhu by Black Monk Games as Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy? for Valentine’s Day 2020, the two scenarios in Does Love Forgive? are set in the USA, one in 1929 and one in 1932, one in Chicago and one in New York, and both can be played through in a single session or so. Does Love Forgive? is also notable for its all-women writing team and for being one of the few non-English language titles for Call of Cthulhu to be translated and developed for the English market.

From the outset, Does Love Forgive? addresses two difficulty factors related to the format and the subject matter. The first is the difficulty of playing the two scenarios and here it introduces a pair of indicators to show the Difficulty Level and the estimated number of gaming sessions necessary to complete the two scenarios in the anthology. These range from ‘Very Easy’ to ‘Very Hard’ for the Difficulty Level and one, two, three, or four sessions for the play length. The first scenario, ‘Love You to Death’, has a Difficulty Level of ‘Very Easy’ and a play length of one session, whilst the second, ‘Mask of Desire’, has a Difficulty Level of ‘Easy’ and a play length of one session. Both are clearly marked at the beginning of each scenario. Overall, this is a useful addition to Call of Cthulhu, and hopefully it will be used in more scenarios. Both scenarios though, can be played using the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set or the full Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition rules.

The difficulty is with the subject at the heart of Does Love Forgive?—and that is love. Being focused on the one player and the one Keeper, the format of one-on-one roleplaying is potentially more intense and potentially more intimate, which when combined with as emotional a subject matter as ‘love’, means that the some of the situations in the two scenarios have the capacity to make player, Keeper, or both uncomfortable when roleplaying their romantic or highly emotionally-charged scenes. The authors suggest both player and Keeper discuss any potentially problematic plot elements that they might be uncomfortable with and set the parameters for themselves, and that certainly the Keeper should take care in handling the emotional scenes throughout both scenarios. Overall this is good advice and definitely worth reading as part of preparing both. Other advice for the Keeper covers the use of NPCs to provide support to the protagonist and the use of Luck to modify most rolls during play.

The first scenario is ‘Love You to Death’. This takes place in Chicago on Friday, February 15th, 1929—the day after the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The Investigator is a Private Eye—either one of the player’s own creation or taken from the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set—who grew up in an orphanage where he was very good friends with two girls, Hattie and Ellen. It has been years since he has seen either, one being now married and the other having been adopted years before. Then on the morning following the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Hattie knocks on his office door. Her faithful dog has been picked up by the police and is due to be put down. Fortunately, the Investigator has a friend at the police station and not only will he be able to learn how the dog came to be picked up, but also more about the terrible events of the day before. However, by the time the Investigator returns the dog to Hattie, she has disappeared… Could this be related to the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre?

‘Love You to Death’ is of course a love triangle, but one coloured by both other emotions and the Mythos. Being the simpler of the two scenarios, ‘Love You to Death’ should be a relatively easy mystery to solve, and in fact, experienced players of Call of Cthulhu may find it a little too easy. This is unlikely though if the player is new to Call of Cthulhu or he has played through the scenarios in Call of Cthulhu Starter Set. At times it does feel as the player and his Investigator is being dragged around—in some cases literally—a little. There are suggestions if the Keeper wants to add a complication or two and these are probably best used if the player has plenty of experience with Call of Cthulhu. This is a nice little investigation, adroitly framed around the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, but without miring it unnecessarily in the Mythos.

‘Mask of Desire’ shifts to New York and 1932. This is a much less tightly plotted scenario, requiring a slightly more complex set-up. The Investigator lives with two close friends, Anna, a wouldbe singer, and Lucas, a reluctant lawyer. The player is free to decide the nature of the relationship between his Investigator and Anna and Lucas and also what his actual Occupation is, both of which needs to be done before play begins as it will very much influence the interaction between the Investigator and his housemates throughout the scenario. The three have been invited to a party hosted by Madame de Tisson at her swanky apartment on the Upper West Side. The wealthy, and notoriously louche socialite is known for her libertine attitudes and her interest in objects d’art, so it seems odd that Lucas is seen talking to her discreetly, especially since he is concerned about Anna and her worries about her audition the following day with Nancy Turner, the famous jazz orchestra conductor. 

The scenario very much revolves around a nasty MacGuffin which promises a lot, but at a price—and who has it and what they are doing with it. Like any good MacGuffin it quickly falls into the trio of friends’ hands and as the friends learn more about it and what it can do, it is likely to drive a wedge between them. They are not the only ones with an interest in the object—an interest which could turn deadly. The scenario is again quite linear, but being more complex, there are more options to take into consideration, there being quite a lot of ‘If this happens, then this happens’, ‘If the Investigator does this, then this happens’, and so on. In many ways, not that different from any scenario for Call of Cthulhu, but it is more obvious in its format. ‘Mask of Desire’ is, though, far more of a character piece than many Call of Cthulhu scenarios, focusing on the friendships which the player will have helped build during the set-up phase prior to play. That does bring the MacGuffin’s malign influence and what it drives men to do much closer to home than in many Call of Cthulhu scenarios and mean its impact will be all the stronger and more emotional.

Physically, Does Love Forgive? is well presented and well-written. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is decent. If the anthology is missing anything, then perhaps a few more NPC portraits would not have gone amiss, though the Keeper can remedy that with some images taken from the Internet, and perhaps for ease of play, a ready-made Investigator, at least for ‘Love You to Death’.

The presence of the Mythos in Does Love Forgive? is quite mild by comparison, but it need not be overly Eldritch given that the two scenarios in the anthology are for a single player and his Investigator. Which makes the anthology more than suitable for play following the Cthulhu Starter Set, not necessarily using the same Investigator, of course. Of the two scenarios, ‘Mask of Desire’ is the more sophisticated and will thus be appreciated by a wider audience—‘Love You to Death’ possibly being a bit too straightforward for experienced players. Then there is the question of the title’s anthology, to which the answer is with some Luck and good roleplaying upon the part of the player, then certainly, otherwise the last thing the Mythos will do is forgive. Overall, as the first release in English for Black Monk Games, Does Love Forgive? One-to-One Scenarios for Call of Cthulhu, is a very welcome addition to the way in which Call of Cthulhu can be played and hopefully the format will be supported with further scenarios, if not a campaign!

Since 2013, Goodman Games, the publisher of  Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic has released a book especially for Gen Con, the largest tabletop hobby gaming event in the world. That book is the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book, a look back at the previous year, a preview of the year to come, staff biographies, and a whole lot more, including adventures and lots tidbits and silliness. The first was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but not being able to pick up a copy from Goodman Games when they first attended UK Games Expo  in 2019, it was actually the second to be reviewed after the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. Fortunately, Reviews from R’lyeh manages to return to the correct order for Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book.

The Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Guide is a vastly bigger book than either the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book or Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. In fact, it almost double the size of the first two volumes in the series combined! Its pages contain a mix of interviews, art, scenarios, game support, fiction, and randomness, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book starting off with some of the latter with a series of dice-themed articles. The first of these—and the first of the articles in Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book—is Dieter Zimmerman’s ‘Tables For Thieves’, a set of tables for things such as places to meet in secret and buy on the black market. Its companion piece is themed not along one subject matter, but the type of die rolled, ‘Twenty Funky Dice Tables’ by Ken St. Andre offering up tables such as ‘D2: Random Monster Encounters’ and ‘ D7: Random Dungeon Name Generator’. All of which use the various shapes of dice also used in Dungeon Crawl Classics. Of course, even if the Game Master is not going to roll the dice on these tables, they are will at least serve as inspiration. The various non-standard dice used in Dungeon Crawl Classics come under the spotlight in Terry Olson’s ‘Cranking Up the Funk in DCC Dice Rolling’ which examines the probabilities and mathematics of the Dungeon Crawl Classics—and now Mutant Crawl Classics—dice. It is unfortunately the driest article in Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book, but doubtless it will appeal to some gamers who like both dice and the numbers behind them.

The highlight of the dice section though is ‘An Interview with Colonel Lou Zocchi’. As the title suggests, this is with an interview with Lou Zocchi, best known for his dice—in particular, his one-hundred-sided Zocchihedron—and his long involvement with the gaming industry. The lengthy interview goes into this and his development of dice for the industry, how to roll dice, and more. It is an absolutely fascinating piece, but only hints at some of the stories which the interviewee could tell. It would certainly be fascinating to read more of his tales from the industry and have them in print.

The Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book includes not one, but four scenarios. All four have in common the danger of using big magical items—all the more so because two of the four scenarios are for Zero Level characters. The first scenario, ‘The Black Feather Blade’ by Daniel J. Bishop is for First Level characters who are sent to recover the Black Feather Blade of the title, the famed sword of the infamous Bran Corvidu, Feast-Lord of Crows, who was devoted to the Crow God Malotoch and ravaged the Northern Kingdoms a century ago. They may be doing this for greed, or because they are devoted agents of Law or Chaos. The ‘dungeon’ consists of a number of barrow tombs, the Player Characters needing to determine which one belongs to the infamous warlord is buried and giving the dungeon a slightly dispersed feeling. Another difference is that the scenario includes two rival factions also after the Black Feather Blade, which adds some roleplaying opportunities and a bit of friction to the scenario.

Jon Hook’s ‘Evil Reborn’ is for Fourth Level characters. Although this is a standalone adventure, it can also be run as a sequel to Dungeon Crawl Classics #13: Crypt of the Devil Lich. Since the events of that scenario, the devil-lich Chalychia has been trapped for centuries, but that has given the time to devise a means to escape. The Player Characters will have come to the town of Cillamar which has recently been beset by a series of raids that have seen the town’s children stolen. The Player Characters are asked to both rescue them and stop it from happening again, which will take them into frozen stygian wastelands and Chalychia’s tower refuge. This is a good mini-scenario with some fun twists on classic monsters.

The other two scenarios in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book are definitely its highlight, presenting as they do variations upon the classic Zero-Level Character Funnel which is a feature of the Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game. In the classic Character Funnel, each player roleplays not one character, but four! Each is Zero Level, hoping to survive an adventure and acquire the ten Experience Points necessary to go up to First Level and gain a Class. Both ‘The Seven Pits of Serzrekan’ and ‘The Hypercube of Myt’ are different in that they are Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Funnel Tournaments. In these, each player is given a single Zero-Level character and when the character dies, they are out of the tournament and another player takes his place with his own newly created Zero-Level character. Success in the tournament is measured in the number of encounters a Player Character survives. Advice is given on running such tournaments.

Harley Stroh’s ‘The Seven Pits of Serzrekan’ presents just three of the pits and can be run as intended or be played using Third Level Player Characters. The Player Characters are unwitting agents of the warlock Sezrekan who seeks to avert his doom by bringing an end to the multiverse. For this he requires three artefacts—the Crown of the Seraphim, Tyrving, the cursed foebrand, and Tarnhelm, the dragon-helm. Anyone brave enough to wield them gains access to great power, capable of defeating the enemies and servants of Sezrekan, but courts disaster in doing so, for the weapons are terribly dangerous. In terms of traditional fantasy roleplaying adventures, ‘The Seven Pits of Serzrekan’ lacks a conclusion, the point of it being survival rather achieving a particular objective. This makes it difficult to run, even if using Third Level Player Characters, and then there is the logistics of setting up and running a Funnel Tournament—the playing space, the number of players, and so on. Yet there is something amazing in the scope and scale of ‘The Seven Pits of Serzrekan’, supported by a wealth of detail and grim sub-hellish atmosphere, which just makes you go, “Woah!” Sadly, what is included in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is just a snapshot of ‘The Seven Pits of Serzrekan’. It would be brilliant to see the complete version.

The other Funnel Tournament in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is a group effort from ‘The DCCabal’ and unlike ‘The Seven Pits of Serzrekan’, complete. It also has a Science Fiction element. ‘The Hypercube of Myt’ takes place in an artefact of the same name, a tesseract—or hypercube—which is the last remnant of the Keep of Myt, once the estate of grand vizier of the Kingdom of Morr, the chaotic mage Mytus the Mad. The door to the Hypercube opens once a year at the annual Festival of the Fatted Calf. The festival is famous for drawing the curious, the foolhardy, and the incautious from far and wide to ponder the mysteries of the Cube. Inside is a vast space of a limited number of highly detailed locations and there is plenty to be found and interacted with throughout. The rooms and artefacts are weird and wacky and the Judge should have a lot of fun both describing them and what happens as the Player Characters interact with them, as well as portraying some of the actions of the NPCs—including a religious schism between the Player Characters! Unlike ‘The Seven Pits of Serzrekan’, there is definite way of concluding ‘The Hypercube of Myt’ and of getting out of it—there is a definite exit—but perhaps getting to it may well not be quite as obvious as it should be, leading to frustration upon the part of the players and their characters.

Goodman Games’ ‘World Tour’ is a staple of the Gen Con Program series and the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is no exception. Since it covers the previous year, this is ‘DCC RPG Worlds Tour 2014’ which has been upgraded into a full colour insert of photographs taken at Gen Con and other events throughout the year, showcasing not just Goodman Games’ Road Crew, but the players and winners of various sessions and tournaments. It is a nice snapshot of the year past and from one year to the next, tracks the doings of the team at Goodman Games. The last few pages of the colour insert showcases the art of both Doug Kovacs and William McAusland. Both of their portfolios are given full space later in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book, but in black and white rather than in colour. Both ‘Classic Dungeon Crawl Art Folio: Doug Kovacs’ and ‘Classic Dungeon Crawl Art Folio: William McAusland’ are accompanied by interviews with both artists. Doug Kovacs in ‘D20 Questions: Doug Kovac’ (which originally appeared in Level Up #2, September 2009) and ‘An Interview with Dungeon Crawl Classics Cover Artist Doug Kovacs’ (which originally appeared in Meeple Monthly, July 2014), and William McAusland in an interview new to the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book.

Naturally, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book focuses upon the Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game, but it pays plenty of attention to other titles published by Goodman Games as well. This begins with Brendan Lasalle’s Xcrawl, the roleplaying game of gladiatorial and tournament dungeoneering campaign setting receives attention with a couple of pieces. First with ‘Xcrawl Apocalypse: The Athlete’, a preview of a Class for the post-apocalyptic version of the setting. This is a very physical Class, all about their Strength, Agility, or Stamina, getting in close and grappling—the latter supported by a full table of critical results for grappling attacks and holds. More entertaining is ‘Best Possible Combination’, Lasalle’s short story set in the standard setting for Xcrawl which captures some of the perils and worries of being a participant in the Xcrawl games. This is not only his only piece of fiction in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book, the other being ‘Journey to the Hole in the Sky’, which captures the flavour and feel of a Character Funnel in a story rather than in play.

‘Appendix F: The Ythoth Raider’ is ‘An expansion of the Purple Planet Author’s Edition Glossography’ by Harley Stroh for his Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jules Verne inspired Perils on the Purple Planet setting. It describes what is essentially a Prestige Class for the Player Character who succumbs to the power of ythoth mushrooms and becomes a gaunt, blue-skinned raider who searches the multiverse for more of the mushroom. He is an addicted Thrall to the Bloom—and so this piece is more William S. Burroughs than Edgar Rice Burroughs—and will gain mental powers skin to the Magic-User’s spells, though if the powers fail there is the chance that the user’s head will explode!

The post-apocalyptic genre receives a fair degree of coverage in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book. This includes two articles for Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship, the post-apocalyptic captive world set aboard a massive colony starship, both of which do what their titles say. So Robert Payne’s ‘New Devices for the Starship Warden’, which adds lots of mundane objects like adhesive, musical instruments, and utility belts, whilst ‘Even More Mutations’ by Dieter Zimmerman gives new mutations such as Omniphage which gives the mutant the teeth and digestive tract needed to eat almost anything and Apportation, which enables the Mutant to teleport objects he wants or needs from anywhere within a mile. Both articles are useful additions to Metamorphosis Alpha as more objects and more mutations are always welcome. The coverage of the genre in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is accompanied by a lengthy preview of the forthcoming Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. Of course, a bit redundant in 2020, but in 2015, this would have really effectively showcased the then forthcoming roleplaying game.

2020 has seen the publication of The Cthulhu Alphabet, but in 2015 it was merely a suggestion. Bradley McDevitt’s ‘The Mythos Alphabet’ was its forerunner, a series of tables such as ‘D is for Deep Ones’ and ‘M is for Madness’, along with ‘A Dozen Demonic Deep One Plots’, ‘Six Fearsome Fanes’, and ‘Six Grisly Decorat ions for a Temple’. This is not the normal sort of thing you see for Lovecraftian investigative horror, but it works as list after list of ideas and suggestions, which a Keeper (or Judge) can grab and add to her game. Again, fun and something to pull off the shelf and consult for inspiration.

Of course, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is not without its silliness and its fripperies. The silliness includes the advice column, ‘Dear Archmage Abby’, in which the eponymous agony aunt gives guidance on life, love, and the d20 mechanics in an entertaining fashion, whilst the fripperies includes artwork for the ‘2015 Mailing Labels’, which capture a bit more of Goodman Games in 2014. The last thing in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is both a frippery and bit of history. This is ‘Judges Guild 1977 Fantasy Catalog’, a complete facsimile of the publisher’s mail order catalogue from 1977. This is a lovely addition to the volume, providing a snapshot of gaming as it was forty years ago, a bit history that nicely bookends the interview with Lou Zocchi at the start of the book.

Physically, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is a thick softback book, which due to the colour inserts in the centre, does feel a bit stiff in the hand. Apart from that, the book is clean and tidily presented, lavishly illustrated throughout, and a good-looking book both in black and white, and in colour.

On one level, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is an anthology of magazine articles, but in this day and age of course—as well as 2015—there is no such thing as the roleplaying magazine. So what you have instead is the equivalent of comic book’s Christmas annual—but published in the summer rather than in the winter—for fans of Goodman Games’ roleplaying games. There is though, something for everyone in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book, whether that is lovers of history of the hobby, fantasy roleplayers, devotees of Lovecraftian investigative horror, and more. Some of it is gonzo, perhaps bonkers—the two Tournament Funnels in particular, but overall, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2015 Program Book is a bumper book of gaming goodness.

It is an undeniable truth that the Witch gets a lot of bad press. Not necessarily within the roleplaying hobby, but from without, for the Witch is seen as a figure of evil, often—though not necessarily—a female figure of evil, and a figure to be feared and persecuted. Much of this stems from the historical witch-hunts of the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeen, and eighteenth centuries, along with the associated imagery, that is, the crone with the broom, pointy hat, black cat, cauldron, and more. When a Witch does appear in roleplaying, whether it is a historical or a fantasy setting, it is typically as the villain, as the perpetrator of some vile crime or mystery for the player characters to solve and stop. Publisher The Other Side has published a number of supplements written not only as a counter to the clichés of the witch figure, but to bring the Witch as a character Class to roleplaying after being disappointed at the lack of the Witch in the Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. Each of these supplements draws upon more historical interpretations of the Witch—sometimes to counter the clichés, sometimes to enforce them—and presents her as a playable character Class. Each book is published under the label of ‘Basic Era Games’, and whilst the exact Retroclone each book is written to be used with may vary, essentially, they are all compatible. Which means that the Game Master can mix and match traditions, have player characters from matching traditions, and so on.
The first book in the series, Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games is designed for use with Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord and presents the Witch as dedicated to the Mara Tradition, that of the Dark Mother—Lilith, the First Woman, the First Witch, and the Mother of Demons. The second book in the series is The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games, which was written for use with Dreamscape Design’s Blueholme Rules, the retroclone based on the 1977 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set designed by J. Eric Holmes, and which focused on not so much as ‘Evil’ or Chaotic witches, but upon the Classical traditions of Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome, and Sumeria. Again, Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games, the next and third entry in the line presents a different take upon the Witch, whilst the fourth, The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition, presents another different and very modern—if slightly silly—take upon the Witch. The fifth entry, The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition, is written for use with Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy, Necrotic Gnome’s interpretation and redesign of the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh. It focuses on believers in ‘The Old Ways’, of ancient gods and practices with a strong belief in the supernatural and a strong connection to the natural world and the cycle of its passing seasons.

The Warlock is part of the series of books published by The Other Side exploring the place and role of the witch in the Old School Renaissance, but is in many ways different to those explorations. What it is not, is the presentation of the ‘male’ counterpoint to the witch, since that is not what a warlock is. Nor is it the exploration of an archetypal figure from history and its adaptation to gaming. Instead, it presents a wholly different Class, very much more of fantasy figure, somewhere between the Cleric, the Magic-User, and the Witch. In some cases hated figure—hated because they are believed to have dealings with the infernal, hated because they are believed to be evil, and hated because they steal spells. There is truth in all of that, but there is much more to this figure, as detailed in The Warlock, a companion to The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition and also written for use with Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy.

As a Class, the Warlock is a spell-caster who like the Witch has a patron. Now whilst the Witch worships her patron and her relationship with her patron is more divine in nature, the Warlock has more of an equal relationship with his Patron or is the student to the Patron’s teacher. A witch will typically worship a goddess and whilst a warlock may have a deity as a patron, he may also have a lost god, a demon, a devil, a dragon, a lord of the fae, or even with the cosmos, death, or chaos itself. The magic and spells of the Witch are primarily divine in nature, but for the Warlock, they are arcane in nature. The fundamental difference between the spell-casting Classes is that Clerics pray for their power and spells, Magic-Users study for their powers and spells, and the Warlock takes it.

In mechanical terms, the Warlock starts with the ability to unleash an Arcane Blast at will and a familiar. Unlike the Witch, this familiar is not a spirit in animal guise, but an actual spirit, so immaterial and unable to attack or be attacked. The Warlock player is free to describe what form the familiar takes, though ideally it should be something associated with his Patron. So if a Warlock’s Patron is the cosmos, it could be miniature star; death itself or a god of death, a floating skull; the devil, a miniature imp; and so on. Fundamental to the Warlock is the Pact he enters with his Patron. The Warlock presents four types of Pacts. These are Chaos, Cosmic, Death, and Dragon. There is some flexibility in how a Pact can be interpreted, so a Cosmic Pact could be with the stars, something beyond the stars, celestial beings, or something chthonic.

Not only will the Warlock learn his spells from his Patron, he will gain Invocations, spell-like powers that enable to do great magical deeds, but without the need for the study that that the Magic-User would require or the need for the Cleric to pray. Arcane Blast is an Invocation, but The Warlock lists some fifty or so further Invocations. They include a mix of those which can be selected by any Warlock and then those tied to a particular Patron. So, Armour of Shadows, which lets a Warlock cast Mage Armour at-will, and Eldritch Sight, which allows him to cast Detect Magic just as freely, are both general Invocations. Whereas Claws of the Ghoul is a Third Level Invocation which gives a Warlock clawed unarmed attacks and a chance to paralyse an opponent and requires a Death Pact, whilst Form of the Dragon requires a Dragon Pact and allows a Warlock to change into a dragon-like creature once per day.

Liang Yun
Second Level Warlock
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Pact: Draconic (Green Dragons: Dziban)

STR 12 (Open Doors 2-in-6)
INT 14 (+1 Language, Literate)
WIS 10 
DEX 17 (+2 AC, Missile, +1 Initiative)
CON 13 (+1 Hit Points)
CHR 15 (+1 NPC reaction, Max. 5 Retainers, Loyalty 8)

Armour Class: 13 (Leather)
Hit Points: 7
Weapons: Dagger, Staff
THAC0 20

Languages: Draconic, Mandarin

Invocations
Arcane Blast, Claws of the Dragon

Spells: (Cantrips) – Aura Reading, Guiding Star, Message, Object Reading; (First Level) – Read Magic, Spirit Servant, Taint

Familiar: Mingyu

In terms of spells, The Warlock lists almost eighty. A very few, like Augury, will be familiar, but most feel new and different. For example, Wailing Lament causes the target to wail and sob uncontrollably for an hour, Moon Touched is a plea to the Moon to silver and make magical a weapon which will now glow faintly of moonlight, and Poisonous Stare with which a Warlock can poison a target, forcing them to lose both Hit Points and Constitution! Now none of the spells are keyed to a particular Pact, which would perhaps have made designing or creating a particular type or themed Warlock easier by both Game Master or player. This then is perhaps a missed opportunity, so a player or Game Master creating a Warlock will need to pick and choose with care what spells suit their Warlock.

In addition to the Warlock’s own spells, the Class has two other types of spells. First, the Class can learn Magic-User spells—something which annoys Magic-Users and gives the Warlock the reputation for stealing spells. Second, The Warlock also adds Cantrips, or Zero-Level spells. Some thirteen of the spells in the supplement are Cantrips. For example, Aura Reading enables a Warlock to read the auras of those around them, determining their Alignment, health, magical nature (or not), and whether or not they have been cursed; Guiding Star enables a Warlock to guide himself in complete darkness or if blind; and Quick Sleeping makes a willing victim fall asleep. Lastly, the spells are listed by the other spellcasting Classes for Old School Essentials—Clerics, Druids, Illusionists, and Magic-Users—so that the contents of The Warlock can be used with the wider rules.

Unlike other titles devoted to the Witch by The Other Side, The Warlock does not include any new monsters, or monsters at all. It does however, add twenty or magical items. A few are keyed to particular Pacts, such as the Astrolabe of Fate, which grants a Warlock with a Cosmic Pact or an astrologer a +1 bonus to a single roll three times a day, but most are simply valued by Warlocks. A Dragontooth Charm provides a +1 saving throw versus the dragon breath of one type of dragon; a Hat of Spell Storing is valued by Illusionists, Magic-Users, and Warlocks for its capacity to store multiple levels of spells; and the Witch Whistle summons an army of rats, giant rats, or even wererats, depending on the songs known. Some are quite fun, such as the Rod of the Fire Mountain Warlock, which increases the die type of fire type spells and is surely a nod to The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the Fighting Fantasy solo adventure book, whilst every Warlock will want to obtain the Staff of the Warlock, the equivalent of the Magic-User’s Staff of Wizardry.

Lastly, where the Witch Class has the Coven, a gathering of witches, typically to worship their patron goddess, the Warlock Class has the Lodge. These are secret orders where Warlocks can meet and study, typically belong to one type of Pact, or allied Pacts. The Warlock details four such lodges, of which only the one is not essentially ‘evil’. This is problematic, for although the Warlock as a Class can create his own Lodge, the lack of wider examples means a lack of choice, a lack of roleplaying opportunities, and a lack of something for the Player Character Warlock to aspire to.

Physically, The Warlock comes as a digest-sized book as opposed to the standard size for the other titles in the series. This is intentional, since it keeps it keeps it the same size as the rest of the Old School Essentials line. The book is generally well written and the artwork is decent, but some elements could have been better organised. In particular the Invocations are listed alphabetically and not by Pact type or Level, so it makes choosing them that little bit more of an effort. Further, an appendix lists both spells and cantrips alphabetically and by Level and gives page numbers, but for the Invocation there is just a simple alphabetical listing.

The Class presented in The Warlock may be slightly too powerful in comparison to other Classes for Old School Essentials because the Warlock has a lot of powers that he can freely use, whereas all of the other spellcasting Classes have to work at their magic and so their players have to work at playing their magic. Further, although there are a lot of ideas and options in The Warlock, they could have been better organised and better developed to give a player a wider choice in how he builds and plays his Warlock character. Work around these issues though and The Warlock present a Class which looks to be fantastic and fun to play.

Pillars of Glass is an adventure for Béthorm: The Plane of Tékumel, the most recent roleplaying game to explore the world of Tékumel, the linguistic and cultural setting developed by Professor M.A.R. Barker. Published by UniGames, it is designed to be played between four and six players with moderate;y experienced characters, but can easily be adjusted should there be more. It is set just south of the Kúrt Hills—a region detailed by the publisher’s The Kúrt Hills Atlas—and a few Tsán east of the city of Katalál. What it details is an ancient site which possibly dates as far back as the Bednálljan period, part of the Underworld known to lie below the surface of Tékumel. Consisting of a circle of natural crystalline spires around an opening into the Underworld, there are rumours that site might be connected to the Pariah God known as the One Other.

Like High and Dry, Pillars of Glass presents several introductions, each one depending upon the role and duties of the Player Characters. So if the Player Characters are in the region conducting a trade negotiation on behalf of their clan, they are asked to investigate some wild animal attacks by the other negotiator; if they are on temple business, they are asked to investigate the Pillars of Glass site because the records the temple has are incomplete; if on legion or military business, they have stationed nearby to police the area and are ordered to investigate the animal attacks; if they are adventurers, they have heard of the animal attacks and know it would be heroic to investigate and put a stop to them; and if they are ‘Heroes of the Age’, then they are drawn to the site by a vision. As in High and Dry, these are a very welcome feature.

What lies beneath the Pillars of Glass is a maze-like complex of ten rooms and nine encounters. There is a significant flame and heat theme running throughout the complex of odd rooms, which often seem to be designed to do no more than subject the occupants to particular temperatures and forms of heat. Player Characters who have studied a particular ancient language or civilisation, or who are worshippers of either Vimúhla or Chiténg, will have advantages when exploring the complex, but as they work their way around the maze, they may come to feel that they are being tested. There is a little treasure to be found, including a rather nifty artefact for anyone who visits the Underworld regularly—though by its nature, the temple of Vimúhla or Chiténg would very likely want it, or would pay out a reward for obtaining it.

The encounters are all with seemingly random creatures. However, none of them are identified as being responsible for the animal attacks which form the hook to get most groups involved in investigating the site. Consequently, the Game Master will need to do this, simply reading the descriptions of the creatures that appear in the scenario in Béthorm: The Plane of Tékumel, and selecting the most appropriate.

Physically, Pillars of Glass is a black and white with colour cover, ten-page, 6.93 MB PDF. The cover is eye-catching for its simplicity, the PDF is decently illustrated and written.

As a dungeon—or portion of the Underworld—Pillars of Glass does feel a bit random, and although there is a theme to it, it my feel that way to the players. Consisting of  just ten locations and a few encounters means that it should provide two sessions worth of play, though there is scope for further exploration—though for far more experienced Player Characters and with something that the Game Master would have had to have designed herself. Although it is disappointing that the Game Master will need to develop the hook of the animal attacks herself for use with other groups, perhaps the best way of presenting the adventure is as an archaeological or temple-based expedition, sent to the Pillars of Glass in order to explore what lies beyond the opening into the ground, and then return with an interesting report.

Pillars of Glass is an adequate adventure. It needs a bit of effort upon the part of the Game Master and her players to work effectively—primarily in terms of motivation and supporting that motivation, but it casts a spotlight on the ‘dungeoneering’ or Underworld aspect of Tékumel before hinting that there is more below. The ‘dungeoneering’ aspect means that Pillars of Glass is also easier to read and understand, and play than the ‘mind your manners’ aspect of High and Dry, but the story itself is not as strong or as well developed.

When Trinity was originally published in 1997, it was a Science Fiction roleplaying game of Psion surviving in the twenty-first century following world war. Published by White Wolf Publishing, it would go on to spawn two prequels—Aberrant, a superhero game set in the early twenty-first century, and Adventure!, a Pulp action game set during the Jazz Age of the nineteen twenties. Together they formed the ‘Trinity Continuum’ and together they are being redesigned and republished in second editions by Onyx Path Publishing. However, the redesign is not as a series of standalone books. Instead, the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook—funded following a successful Kickstarter campaign—would provide the core mechanics, with Trinity Continuum: Aeon, Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, and Trinity Continuum: Adventure! providing specific setting and expanded background content for each of the three eras.
Now the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is not just the core rulebook for the Trinity Continuum, but it is a standalone set of roleplaying rules designed to emulate a particular range of genres. These encompass high-action, cinematic thrillers, Spy-Fi and heist movies, high tech techno-thrillers right up to near future Science Fiction and low-powered supers stories. So, Ocean’s Eleven, The Bourne Identity, Agents of Shield, Black Mirror, Eureka, Cryptonomicon, Leverage, and then Star Trek, The X-Files, The Martian, Stargate, and more. The more fantastic elements these settings have though, the more a Storyguide would need to create them for her campaign as they are obviously not covered in the book. At its core though, the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is a contemporary—or near contemporary—roleplaying game of cinematic action in which the Player Characters are competent and capable, are working for the better good, and in doing so are bringing a sense of hope to the world. What this means is that despite there not being a great deal of specific background in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook, a gaming group can still use it to play Hollywood- or television-style action adventure, intrigue, and investigative procedurals.
A Player Character in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is defined by his Concept and Aspirations, Paths, Skills and Skill Tricks and Specialities, Attributes, and a Template. The Concept is what the character—Best Wheelman in any Business, Reformed High Society Jewel Thief, Grandmother Hacker, and so on—whilst Aspirations, both two Short Term and one Long Term, are a character’s goals. A Short-Term Aspiration can be completed in a session, a Long-Term Aspiration takes multiple sessions. The Paths represent a character’s past and the decisions he has made and come in three forms—Origin, Role, and Society. The Origin Path is the character’s background and beginning; the Role Path is his occupation or expertise; and Society Path represents his link, positive or negative, to a particular Society. Several sample Societies are detailed in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook and together they form the primary background in the book. An Origin Path might be Military Brat or Suburbia; a Role Path might be Charismatic Leader or Medical Practitioner; and a Society Path might be to 9, the almost United Nations-sanctioned intelligence gathering and law enforcement private agency, or The Global Cartography Initiative.
Mechanically, each Path provides several building blocks towards creating a character. These are access to four skills and points to distribute between them; community, contact, and access connections to the Path; and Edges, which represent areas of specialised training. In the long term, a Path also provides route along which a player can develop his character, and will be rewarded in doing so with slightly reduced Experience Point costs. There are sixteen skills, with most of a character’s skills coming from his Paths. Any skill with a rating of three or more gains a Speciality, such as Pistols for the Aim skill, and then can have a Trick for each point of Skill of three or more, so ‘Mighty Lifter’ or ‘It’s All in the Reflexes’ for Athletics, ‘Connecting the Dots’ or ‘Elite Hacker’ for Enigmas, and ‘Backseat Driver’ or ‘I Can Figure It Out’ for Pilot. Most of a character’s Skills come from his Paths, though he does get extras. Lastly, a character has nine Attributes, divided between Physical, Mental, and Social arenas as well as three Approaches of Force, Finesse, and Resilience. Most actions require a combination of an Attribute and a Skill, but this can be any combination, so there is a lot of flexibility here. Attributes are rated between one and six, Paths and Skills are rated between one and five. It should be noted that the Storyguide and her players are encouraged to create their own Paths, Stunts, Societies, and more.
Lastly, each character has a Template. This marks the Player Character as being more than just a mere human, having been exposed to ‘Aeon Fluxx’, the energy which seems to occur when universes are too close. Each of Trinity Continuum: Aeon, Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, and Trinity Continuum: Adventure! will provide various super-powered Templates, but in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook, the Player Characters are generally Gifted, each Gift either being based on Luck or Aptitude, the latter tied to a skill.
To create a Player Character, a player defines his character’s Concept and Aspirations, then selects—or creates the three Paths and assigns the various points into each Path and its associated Skills and Edges, assigns more Skill points and picks Skill Tricks, assigns Attributes, and apply a Template. The process is by no means difficult, but does involve making a fair number of choices and it is not straightforward in that Attributes are selected last and in that a player will need to flip back and forth through the book to put a character together. This takes a bit of time as a player works through the process.
Our sample character is a reformed jewel thief who stole to support her father, an impoverished minor member of the Russian nobility. She was caught in the act of a theft on the French Riviera by Pharaoh’s Lightkeepers who were after the same artefact. Unlike the other occasion where she managed to escape her thefts, the Pharaoh’s Lightkeepers gave chase and managed to capture her. Instead of handing her into the authorities, they offered her missions and a better purpose.
Name: Claudia Romanov
Concept: High Society Former Jewel ThiefOrigin Path: Life of PrivilegeRole Path: The Sneak
Society Path: Pharaoh’s Lightkeepers
Moment of Inspiration: Exposure to Flux
ASPIRATIONSShort-Term Aspiration: To find out more about SteveShort-Term Aspiration: To learn what Hans Krueger knows
Long-Term Aspiration: To atone for her former life of crime
SKILLSAthletics 1, Close Combat 1, Culture 2, Enigmas 3, Integrity 2, Larceny 3, Persuasion 2, Pilot 1
ATTRIBUTES
Intellect 2 Might 1 Presence 3
Cunning 3 Dexterity 6 Manipulation 4
Resolve 2 Stamina 2 Composure 3

FACETS
Destructive: 0Intuitive: 2
Reflective: 1
Inspiration 3
EdgesArtefact 1, Big Hearted 1, Danger Sense 1, Direction Sense 1, Free Running 1, Photographic Memory 3, Skilled Liar 2
Specialities/Skill TricksGems & Jewellery (Larceny Speciality)Intricate Locks (Enigmas Speciality)That Was Already Mine (Larceny Trick)Instant Solution (Enigmas Trick)
Gifts
Contortionist, Nimble-Fingered, I’m on the List, X Marks the Spot
Path ContactsBoarding School Alumni –Naomi Rothschild 1Fence – Hector Mueller 1Police – Inspector James O’Keefe, Scotland Yard 1
Where Player Characters in Trinity Continuum: Aeon, Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, and Trinity Continuum: Adventure! will have psionics, superpowers, and so on, the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook focuses on skilled characters, often exceptionally skilled characters known as ‘Talents’. Each has a selection of Gifts, typically tied to a particular skill such as ‘Cold Read’ of a person using Culture or Empathy or ‘Daredevil’ for Pilot. Other Gifts are simply luck-based, such as ‘A Friend in Every Port’ or ‘Knee Deep in Brass’. Such Gifts are fuelled by Inspiration, which can also be used to create Enhancements to an action or skill attempt based on one a character’s Facets—Destructive, Intuitive, or Reflective, each representing differing ways of approaching a situation or problem, to undertake Dramatic Editing of a scene, or to improve a character’s current defence. Although a character only has a few points of Inspiration, it is easy to get back and so enable a character to shine again in a later scene.
Where the Trinity family originally used the Storyteller mechanics, the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is written for use with the Storypath system. The Storypath system can be best described as a distillation of the Storyteller system—the mechanics of which date all of the way back to Vampire: The Masquerade—and certainly anyone familiar with the Storyteller system will find that it has a lot in common with the Storypath system, except that the Storypath system is simpler and streamlined, designed for slightly cinematic, effect driven play. The core mechanic uses dice pools of ten-sided dice, typically formed from the combination of a skill and an attribute, for example Pilot and Dexterity to fly a helicopter, Survival and Stamina to cross a wilderness, and Persuasion and Manipulation to unobtrusively get someone to do what a character wants. These skill and attribute combinations are designed to be flexible, the aim being any situation is to score one or more Successes, a Success being a result of eight or more. Rolls of ten—or ‘10-again’—allow dice to be rolled again to gain further success.
To succeed, a player needs to roll at least one Success, and may need to roll more depending upon the Difficulty of the task. Should a character succeed, he can increase the number of Successes with an Enhancement, such as having a fast car in a race or the right outfit for the occasion. Any Successes generated beyond the Difficulty become Threshold Successes and represent how well the character has succeeded. These can be spent by the player to buy off Complications, for example, not attracting the attention of the Police in a car chase, or to purchase Stunts. These can cost nothing, for example, the Inflict Damage Stunt, whereas the Disarm Stunt costs two and the Critical Hit Stunt costs four. Stunts can be used to inflict a Complication upon an opponent, to create an Enhancement for the current or another Player Character, or create a means to Defend the Player Character, which then has to be overcome by the opposition. Stunts in theTrinity Continuum Core Rulebook will also come from a Player Character’s Edges and Gifts.
Under the Storypath system, and thus in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook, failure is never abject. Rather, if a player does not roll any Successes, then he receives a Consolation. This can be a ‘Twist of Fate’, which reveals an alternative approach or new information; a ‘Chance Meeting’ introduces a new helpful NPC; or an ‘’Unlooked-for Advantage’, an Enhancement which can be used in a future challenge. However, a character will typically gain Momentum, a single point for a simple failure, and two points for a Botch, the latter a failed roll in which a one is also rolled. Momentum is a resource shared by all of the players and they begin each game with a pool of points equal to their number. It is spent to activate Skill Tricks, to add extra dice to a roll, and to attempt rerolls for complex tasks.
The cinematic nature of combat in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is how reloading a gun is handled. If it is part of an action, such as shooting, then it becomes a Complication which a Player Character will need to spend a Success to buy off. A Reload action will typically be required when a player botches an attack with a gun or the character has performed the ‘Emptying the Magazine’ stunt for an automatic weapon. Rather than making the Reload action part of the mechanics, the rules make it part of the action.
One aspect of the action and the combat in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is that it not designed to be simple. Instead, it is designed to be complex, not mechanically, but narratively. The rules can handle the simple exchange of blows, feints, blocks, and deflections and does so with alacrity, but the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is inspired by the type of action and fights we see onscreen. What this means is that it allows for fights or pieces of action in difficult situations—fights or situations that the Storyguide is encouraged to create. For example, instead of a chase through city streets, the chase is through the streets of a city amidst a civil protest; instead of a fight to gain control of a vehicle, the fight is to gain control of a vehicle whilst it hurtles down the side of a mountain with faulty brakes. There is some complexity here in that a player has to calculate multiple actions, so in the case of driving down the mountain whilst fighting off the mook, his player will work out what he would roll for the driving attempt (Pilot plus Might) to keep the vehicle under control and what he would roll to fend off the attacks of the mook (Close Combat plus Dexterity). However, instead of making multiple rolls, the player will only make one roll, the one with the lowest number of dice. For example, Claudia Romanov has broken into the mansion of Hans Kreuger to steal the Gambaccini Quartet, a set of jewellery which she thinks has clues to the location of an ancient temple that she knows Kreuger has been searching for some nefarious purposes of his own. Unfortunately, an alarm has been triggered and as she attempts to work out the intricacies  of a complex lock system, a couple of guards are looking for whatever triggered the alarm. They have their torches out and are searching nearby. So Claudia wants to work out how to open the lock whilst avoiding the torch beams. Picking the lock would normally be a Larceny and Dexterity check, as would the stealth check to avoid the torch beams. The Storyguide though, states that the lock on Hans Kreuger’s vault is not straightforward and is more puzzle like, so suggests using Enigmas. This will be an Enigmas and Intellect roll. For Claudia, the Enigmas and Intellect will be with five dice, compared to the nine dice of the Larceny and Dexterity check, so her player will roll the former. The Storyguide sets the Difficulty at three. Claudia’s player rolls 3, 7, 9, 9, and 10. The target number for the dice is eight, which means that Claudia has succeeded. The roll of 10—or ‘10-again’—means that this die can be rolled again. A roll of a 9 adds another success for a total of four. Another two are added as an Enhancement for Claudia already have seen the plans for the locking mechanisms earlier in the adventure for a grand total of six. Three successes are used to overcome the difficulty. Claudia’s player decides that two of these extra successes will be spent to add a Complication, in this case leaving little or no trace for the security guards to follow as she makes her way out. The leftover success is used to make Claudia undertake the task quickly. Beyond the action mechanics, the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook gives rules for handling Procedurals—or investigative play, Intrigue for interacting with people, and making friends and bonds, handling super-science, and vehicles right up to multi-crew starships. Each of these sections is not necessarily innovative, but straightforward  and easy to use. So the Procedural rules focus not on the Player Characters getting the core clues—that is automatic, but on their interpretation and on obtaining clues extra or alternative to any core clue.  The Intrigue tracks an NPC’s attitude towards a Player Character, with the actions of the Player Character determining how this will change and whether the NPC will help him. The Super-Science rules neatly cover repairing, reverse engineering, and reforging of items and artefacts, complete with a list of flaws and stunts. Again, simple should cover most situations.
For the Storyguide there is solid advice on her responsibilities—including sharing some of them with her players, creating a campaign, how to run and improvise a game, and more. There is also a lengthy discussion of the genres that the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook covers along with examples of each. In terms of background, there is not really very much to be found in the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook. Primarily, this because the default setting for the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is the here and now, or the near here and now, with stories ripped from the headlines. To support the fantastical or ‘Talented’ elements of the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook’s here and now, it details five allegiances, such as the Aeon Society and The Neptune Society, as well as lesser allegiances, which the Player Characters belong to and each of which provides a Path during character generation, as well as frameworks upon which to hang a campaign.
Physically, the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is neat, larger than digest-sized hardback. It is well-written, the full colour artwork throughout is excellent, and the whole affair is attractive. Perhaps in places it feels a little too concise, for example, the sample combat feels as if it could have been better explained mechanically. It could also have been slightly better organised such as not having the Society Paths and the Gifts right at the back of the book, which makes the character creation process a bit of a chore. Neither of these issues are insurmountable, the Storyguide simply needing to work through the book to rough out potential niggles in the rules or book before bringing a game to the table, pretty much the same as she would for any other roleplaying game.
What the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook presents is not so much a roleplaying game with a setting, but a roleplaying game with a genre—the setting will be provided by the Storyguide and enhanced by the players. As a set of rules, the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook is the firm foundation upon which the three settings will rest, as a roleplaying game in its own right, the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook provides everything a gaming group will need for high-action roleplaying. It does both in a concise, easy-to-read fashion, leaving plenty of room for the Storyguide and her players to bring their ideas and their action to the table.

Sweetness is short, but harrowing investigation for use with Arc Dream Publishing’s Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game set on American soil. It can be played using the roleplaying game’s full rules or those from Delta Green: Need to Know—although there are similarities between Sweetness and Delta Green: Need to Know, which may mean the Handler may not want to run the two too closely together. The Agents are activated by Delta Green after the secret interagency conspiracy is alerted to the presence of a strange symbol on the door of the Bernier family of Tampa, Florida. Recently terrorised by a fire and weird graffiti, the local Police suspect that the Berniers, a multi-racial family, are victims of a hate attack, but one of Delta Green’s experts suspects that symbol on the door—carved with a horn or a claw and smeared with blood and effluvia—is the symbol of Kore, queen of the underworld, goddess of an ancient mystery cult. The agents are to get to Tampa, and once briefed, determine the origins of the mark and prevent any occurrence of it again from the same source or sources.

Sweetness can be roughly divided into three parts. First, is the briefing, which takes place in the middle of an estate agency seminar in a Holiday Inn. The utterly banal atmosphere of the briefing nicely contrasts with the horror to come, which will only come in the second part once the Agents investigative the Berniers and their home, which for the most part is quite mundane. The family is well-off, and consists of a married couple and two children, the youngest of whom is profoundly deaf, and each of whom will have a different reaction to the recent events. The family seems perfectly normal, and for the part really are—whatever the players and their Agents might suspect—but they are not without their secrets, and with a little questioning, these will be revealed. The husband divorced his first wife and mother of his children because she had psychological problems and was abusing both son and daughter, but there has been no contact in years, and then there might be something else stalking the rooms of the house. All of this will quickly become apparent with some questioning upon the part of the agents.

The second part will come to close once the agents have confirmed that there definitely is something strange going on in the house and the investigation switches to the first wife. This requires the investigation to switch to across country, from Tampa to Chicago, and once the agents locate her, it quickly becomes apparent that she is sick—both physically and mentally—and acting strangely. She is barely making ends meet and living in utter squalor without a care for her well-being. Although ultimately, she is the antagonist in Sweetness, there are good reasons for this, although the agents will need to dig into her background and history in order to uncover this.

Fundamentally, Sweetness is a good scenario, contrasting the ordinary with the outré, but it has a few problems which stem primarily from its length—or lack thereof. The Handler will need to do a little preparation before running the scenario, such as getting photos for the NPCs and writing up a quick handout detailing the family. There is no image of the monster given in the book, and whilst it would have been nice if one had been included,  the Handler will probably be able to get away with describing it from the details given. The bigger problems with Sweetness are twofold. First, there is no real advice on how to handle a dénouement between the agents and the wife, but second, and worse, it describes an action upon the part of the scenario’s ‘monster’, but abandons the Handler when it comes to dealing with the consequences of that action. Especially given that the action will escalate the investigation from a simple matter of a hate crime into a kidnapping, and so bring a whole heap of trouble down upon the agents. Which will be made worse by the fact that there is no way of getting the kidnapping victim back—or least no method is detailed in the book, so the Handler may want determine a method herself.

Physically, Sweetness is neat, clean, and tidy. Although it needs a slight edit, it is easy to read and the three pieces of artwork—one of them actually a handout—are excellent. The map is clear and easy to read, but could have done with a scale and some furniture as it would have also made for a good handout.

Sweetness is an easy scenario to add to a Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game campaign. Its short length means that it could be played in a single session and its conciseness means that it could be run with just a handful of agents—or even one for a one-on-one game. However, it needs a bit more preparation upon the part of the Handler in terms of handouts and in terms of what happens with regard to the potential kidnapping and how the agents confront the scenario’s antagonist. This should not be challenge to an experienced Handler, but to a less experienced one, it may be. Lastly, at just twelve pages, Sweetness may not appear to be good value for money—at least in comparison to other titles for Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game. However, it should provide the Handler and her players with at least one, if not two sessions’ worth of play, so the value for money is very much in the eye of the beholder.

Sweetness is a creepy, sometimes nasty tale of horror and mystery—though the agents will have to dig to bring out the true nastiness hidden in the scenario’s backstory. Nicely contrasting the mundane with the mystery, with a bit of work upon the part of the Handler, Sweetness should be a little ‘treat’ for her Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game campaign.

It is an undeniable truth that the Witch gets a lot of bad press. Not necessarily within the roleplaying hobby, but from without, for the Witch is seen as a figure of evil, often—though not necessarily—a female figure of evil, and a figure to be feared and persecuted. Much of this stems from the historical witch-hunts of the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeen, and eighteenth centuries, along with the associated imagery, that is, the crone with the broom, pointy hat, black cat, cauldron, and more. When a Witch does appear in roleplaying, whether it is a historical or a fantasy setting, it is typically as the villain, as the perpetrator of some vile crime or mystery for the player characters to solve and stop. Publisher The Other Side has published a number of supplements written not only as a counter to the clichés of the witch figure, but to bring the Witch as a character Class to roleplaying after being disappointed at the lack of the Witch in the Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. Each of these supplements draws upon more historical interpretations of the Witch—sometimes to counter the clichés, sometimes to enforce them—and presents her as a playable character Class. Each book is published under the label of ‘Basic Era Games’, and whilst the exact Retroclone each book is written to be used with may vary, essentially, they are all compatible. Which means that the Game Master can mix and match traditions, have player characters from matching traditions, and so on.
The first book in the series, Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games is designed for use with Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord and presents the Witch as dedicated to the Mara Tradition, that of the Dark Mother—Lilith, the First Woman, the First Witch, and the Mother of Demons. The next book in the series is The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games, which was written for use with Dreamscape Design’s Blueholme Rules, the retroclone based on the 1977 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set designed by J. Eric Holmes, and which focused on not so much as ‘Evil’ or Chaotic witches, but upon the Classical traditions of Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome, and Sumeria. Again, Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games, the next and third entry in the line presents a different take upon the Witch, whilst the fourth, The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition, presents another different and very modern—if slightly silly—take upon the Witch. The fifth entry again draws upon another tradition.

The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition is written for use with Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy, Necrotic Gnome’s interpretation and redesign of the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh. Like the other titles in the series, it starts by presenting the same version of the Witch Class as in Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games, The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games, Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games, and The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition. What this means is that from one book to the next, this Class is going to serve as a template for the rest of the other supplements devoted to the Witch from The Other Side. So the Witch is a spellcaster capable of casting Witch spells and Witch rituals—a mixture of arcane and divine spells, has Occult Powers including herbal healing, many are reluctant to cast ‘black’ or evil magic, many are of Lawful Alignment, and have answered the Call of their Goddess (or other patron).
The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition focuses on believers in ‘The Old Ways’, of ancient gods and practices. Primary community-based with a strong belief in the supernatural and a strong connection to the natural world and the cycle of its passing seasons, they see themselves as the guardians of the growth and husbandry of food, and much of their lives revolve around the sowing, care, and harvesting of seeds and plants. Their treatment is not of one tradition, but many, all of them drawn from real world traditions. Real-world inspirations for this tradition include Asatru, the pagan beliefs of the Norse and northern Germanic peoples; the Druidic-like beliefs of the Celts of Ireland and Scotland; the Hellenic tradition of the lands settled by the Greeks. Notably, unlike other traditions, this is not a literate tradition, but instead memorise their spells and rituals.

As with other Traditions, the Witch Class of the Pagan Tradition has a familiar, such as a cat, frog, hedgehog, or stoat, and knows how to use herbs to create healing balms. However, it differs in a number of ways. For example, this Witch Class gains ‘Herbal Healing’—this the brewing of balms, options, and philters above and beyond the use of healing balms; is ‘Of the Land’ and can hide herself and one or more companions in rural areas, typically either to hide from hunters or when actually hunting; and with ‘Alter Visage’ can use the spell, Alter Self, to change her appearance to anyone of that she has seen before—even if only once. 

Perhaps the biggest difference is the addition of ‘Cowans’, or essentially boon companions with a strong bond with the Witch, that is, more than a trusted retainer. A Cowan is a Pagan Witch’s protector and can be Fighters, Barbarians, Rangers, Thieves, and Assassins, but cannot be other spellcasting Classes like the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Illusionist, Magic-User, or Paladin. They can also be simple NPCs without a Class, but more importantly, they can be other Player Characters, allowing for instant relationships and roleplaying links. Of course, this limits the Player Character Cowan’s options in terms of Class.

Becoming a Cowan costs actual Experience Points—fifty for an ordinary NPC, a hundred for the Thief type, and two hundred for all Fighter types. Where exactly the ordinary NPC gains these Experience Points is another matter and it is not quite clear if the characters becoming the Cowan is expending the Experience Points, the Witch is expending the Experience Points, or both. In return, both Cowan and Witch gain a number of small benefits. A Cowan can learn Zero-Level Rituals and participate in Ritual spells of higher Level too, gains better healing from his Witch’s healing—spells and balms, and has a bonus to saves versus spells cast by other Witches. Both Witch and Cowan also share Saving Throws, so that both can use the best between the two. In return, the Cowan is the Pagan Witch’s protector, which again sets up a roleplaying relationship and possible story hooks.


Beyond this, some of what a Pagan Witch does will depend upon the type of coven she belongs to. The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition offers two options. The first is Bándrui, who worship the Great Mother Goddess and whose covens consist of Pagan Witches, Green Witches, and Druids, a Pagan Witch of this tradition gaining the Druid’s Animal Shape abilities. The other is Followers of Aradia, who believe her to be the first witch, and are granted the Light spell as a daily ability. Both tend to be Lawful or Neutral in Alignment, but like other Pagan traditions, may practice live, including human sacrifice where necessary, typically as fertility rites. Just the two covens given here is disappointing and perhaps The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition could have included one or two more options to provide a player with greater choice.

The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition also discusses life as a Pagan Witch. This is not her life as an adventuring Witch, but the classic village wise woman, midwife, and healer of old. It covers the typical tasks she undertakes, such as childbirth and antenatal care, the cleansing—or smudging—of homes to free them of evil spirits, divination, healing, and so on, as well as the monies the Witch can charge and the Experience Points she can gain. Here then is how a non-adventuring NPC Witch gains her Experience Points to expend on those Cowans! It also gives more for an NPC Witch to do and thus more for the Game Master to build her portrayal of an NPC Witch around. Included as well, are notes on the seasons and places of power, all of which will have an effect on a Witch’s powers throughout the year.

Thisbe Haunted
Second Level Pagan Witch
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Coven: Followers of Aradia

STR 09 (Open Doors 5-in-6)
INT 13 (+1 Language, Literate)
WIS 17 (+2 to Save versus Magic)
DEX 11 
CON 16 (+2 Hit Points)
CHR 16 (+1 NPC reaction, Max. 7 Retainers, Loyalty 10)

Armour Class: 7 (Leather)
Hit Points: 11
Weapons: Dagger, Staff
THAC0 20

Languages: Elvish

Occult Powers
Healing balms (1d4+1/three times per day), Light (daily)

Spells: (First Level) – Mending, Toad


Familiar: Weasel (+1 to Dexterity checks)

The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition includes some one hundred spells, almost thirty monsters, some forty magical items, and a quartet of NPCs. As in previous books in the series, there are relatively few spells  which can be used to inflict direct damage like the Magic-User’s Burning Hands. There are spells which can inflict harm, for example, Toad—which curses the victim of the spell to turn into a filthy toad, or Loosen Bowels or Blindness/Deafness. Many of the spells reflect the often helpful, useful type of magic used by the Pagan Witch. So spells such as the familiar Mending, Locate Object, and Light are joined by spells such as Salving Rest—which grants the subject a good night’s rest as he continues to take a god night’s rest, and Create Corn Dolly—in fact the Witch creates a poppet she can send out to spy on others. Various others, like Toad, take the form of curses and the like. As in the previous books in the series, the various spells are joined by various rituals spells. There is something quite endearing in the Cake and Tea Ritual which is used by fellow Witches to begin and then cement friendships, which is then continued with Bonds of Hospitality which discourages participants from attacking each other. Other rituals are more obviously powerful, but the supplement adds further rituals which are Zero Level. These can be participated in by anyone, most notably a Witch’s Cowans. These are Bless Fertility, Ensure a Successful Hunt, Merry Greetings, and Summon a Witch, and all four would work well with other Witch traditions.

In terms of monsters and magic, The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition shares a lot in common with the previous The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition. Although the monsters are new, from Amphiptere, Bánánach, and Brownie to Wind Wraith, Woodnose,and Bog Zombie, as in The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition they feel as if they should be mostly encountered singularly rather than in droves or packs. That said, the monsters have more the feel of the countryside, whether rural or beyond into the wilds. The inclusion of the Killer Rabbit may be a bit silly though... Which of course fits the Pagan Witch tradition rather than the Pumpkin Spice Tradition. The magic items include brooms and cauldrons as well as magical instruments, rings, staves, and swords, some of which are familiar, such as the Broom of Flying and Cauldron of Plenty, but others like the Witch’s Gown, which provides various degrees of protection as well as being able to change its appearance once per day. Rounding the supplement are four unique NPC Witches, drawn from both myth and history, the latter including a suspected poisoner.

Physically, The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition continues the series’ improvement in the style and layout over the books before it. The artwork is much better and much better handled, and includes some pieces by Larry Elmore. The spells are also back to being listed by Level, so much easier to find.


The similarities between the two supplements—The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition and The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition—are not surprising since the traditions of the latter do draw upon the former. What The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition presents though is a rougher, wilder take upon the witch, one that feels more of a cliché because it draws upon more traditional depictions of the witch. This means that it has its darker aspects, not necessarily evil, but certainly darker. This is leavened by the role of the Pagan Witch as healer, midwife, and wise woman. If there is a disappointing feature of the book, it is that just two covens are not really enough options to choose from for the players, especially as it points to so many worldwide examples. Perhaps not as fully rounded as it could have been, The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition still presents plenty to to bring to a campaign.

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

—oOo—

What is it?
White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga presents a campaign starter for the much-maligned Malani clan for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is an eighty-eight-page, full colour, 21.69 MB PDF.

White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga is roughly presented and needs an edit.

Where is it set?

White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga is set amongst the lands of the Malani clan in Sartar in Dragon Pass.The illustrations are of variable quality.

Who do you play?

The Player Characters are members of the Namoldin Clan living along the Arfritha Vale. Six pre-generated Player Characters are provided, including a Humakti warrior, an Issaries trader, a Vinga warrior, an Orlanthi farmer, a Yinkini hunter, and an Odayla hunter.

What do you need?

White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga requires both RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and RuneQuest – Glorantha Bestiary. Much of White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga was created using Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes, but is not absolutely necessary to run the campaign.

What do you get?

White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga is not broken, but a ‘fixer-upper’, the first part of a campaign set in Sartar which needs some work and a bit of some love and attention upon the part of the Game Master to be made into something which she can run for her group. This is not to say that it does not come with everything necessary to get the campaign started—it has both background and setting, it has both a guide to creating characters for the campaign and a set of pre-generated Player Characters, its own Prosopaedia—a quick glossary of the gods pertinent to the setting, plus new cults, Rune and Spirit magic, a scenario, and various secrets. So there is a lot to White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga, but that is lot is perhaps lots of bit and pieces that are in themselves interesting and likeable, but together feel scrappy and not immediately relevant to each other.

White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga begins by presenting a history of the Malani Tribe and its relationship to the neighbouring tribes, before its focus grows tighter and tighter. First, on the Namoldin Clan along with its history and clan relationships, then on its tula circa 1620st and on the settlements along the Arfritha Vale and the Boranini River which runs down it, notably Famous Bell and Red Deer. There are some fantastic locations here and about, such as Dark Water Pool, home to an ancient freshwater turtle with a penchant for winning beards in riddling contests. Second, on the steads and notable features around Red Deer, in particular, Heldar’s Stead. This is the setting for White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga, and is home to the clan's richest farmer and cattle herder. Heldar himself is described as arrogant—arrogant enough to commission Long Tooth, an enchanted bronze-cast lumber saw, which actually kills plants on touch and tears through timber with ease. All the members of his homestead and the nearby village are described with many given full stats also.

Full rules are given for creating Namoldin Player Characters for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, including Passions, cultural weapons and skills, and suggested cults. Both Orlanth and Ernalda are given as default, but many of these are also tied to a character’s Occupation. However, these are not necessarily to the gods, but rather to particular aspects of them. Thus, not Ernalda for a Healer, but Bevara, a healing goddess of Ernalda, and for a fisherman, not Orlanth All Father, but Poverri, an Orlanthi fisher deity. Most of these aspects are given some explanation in the following Cults section, but not all, which is slightly problematic. Not necessarily for veteran Gloranthophiles, who may appreciate the degree of detail, but anyone new to Glorantha and RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, may be mystified by the level of detail and in places, the lack of accompanying explanation. However, the Cults section does include write-ups of some other cults for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, including the local Boranini River cult, Gustbran the Redsmith cult, Minlister the Brewer, Igruz Hardfrost, and Queen Bee, and these are accompanied by their associated spirit and rune magic, such as Igruz Hardfrost’s Ice Blade and Harden Liquor.

In addition, White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga provides rules for The Smithy—the  workshop home of Gustbran the Red-smith. Using these rules enables a Red-smith—whether an NPC or a Player Character—to cast weapons, to work out the costs of doing so, and possible outcomes. Craftwise this nicely adds to the world of Glorantha and not only shows just how much work goes into making the Player Characters’ weapons, but when combined with the earlier Weapon Naming Ritual Rune spell gives options for them to make or have made named weapons with interesting effects. As good as this, it does not really have any impact on the campaign, and it feels slightly out of place here.

In terms of adventuring content, White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga presents the short scenario, ‘White Stone Ruins’. It begins with the report of undead horrors being seen in the vicinity of ancient ruins in the forest that almost surrounds Heldar’s Stead, which will lead to exploration of those ruins and perhaps exposure of a secret cult operating in the area. This is primarily a combat and exploration scenario, and perhaps ‘The Missing Scythe’, a hunt for a scythe the brother to Long Tooth that has disappeared, is more interesting. There are also several other encounters and threads which a Game Master can work into the start of the White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga. Rounding out White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga is a full set of stats for various ‘Friends and Foes’ not given earlier in the supplement, as well as the pre-generated Player Characters.

White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga is rough around the edges and will need more effort upon the part of the Game Master to prepare and run than perhaps a more polished product would. It includes a lot of background material—which although interesting and good—which will be hard to bring into play, especially if the Game Master is new to Glorantha. The pre-generated Player Characters could have benefited from suggested ties and relationships to the community and inhabitants of Heldar’s Stead to better bring them into the campaign and perhaps the Game Master might want to create these prior to running the ‘White Stone Ruins’. Lastly, there are elements in White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga that a Game Master can extract and include in her own campaign—the rules for red-smithing, the new cults and spirit and rune magic, and more, could be used elsewhere.

Is it worth your time?

Yes. White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga is a decent, if scrappily presented campaign set-up in another part of Sartar which needs a bit of effort to work effectively, but which comes with background material and extras aplenty.

No. White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga is more background than campaign and its rough presentation and organisation make it challenging to prepare and run.

Maybe. White Stone Ruin: Part 1 of Red Deer Saga is more background than campaign and its rough presentation and organisation make it challenging to prepare and run. The background and extra rules are excellent and potentially worth adding to a campaign.