Now it might seem inappropriate for a new version of Pandemic—the 2008 game of fighting and finding a cure to four outbreaks of different diseases—to be published in the midst of an actual pandemic. It might also seem inappropriate that its subject focuses entirely on North America given the high number of deaths from the Covid-19 virus in the USA. If you believe that to be so, then this review is not for you. However, you would be wrong in your thinking. To start with, the publication date of the new game is entirely coincidental. Second, the subject matter of the new game—just like the original—is about researching, teaching and finding a cure for multiple diseases, which is exactly what scientists are doing right now. So both Pandemic and the new game are about providing medical aid and saving people, undeniably positive rather than negative in both their subject matter and what the players are doing. If you still find the subject matter distasteful, then this review is not for you.

The original Pandemic was published in 2008 to much acclaim. In the game, between one and four players take the role of members of the Center for Disease Control working against four global epidemics—red, blue, yellow, and black—in a race to save humanity. The game was one of the first titles to really distill the concept of the co-operative game, a game in which the players played not against each other, but against the board and the game itself, into something that was simple, elegant, and ultimately, very popular.  In Pandemic, the players race around the world, travelling from city to city in an effort to treat diseases and find a cure for them whilst staving off the effects of outbreaks that will spread these diseases from one city to every adjacent city. Too many outbreaks and the players will fail and humanity is doomed. Fail to find cures to all four diseases and the players will fail and humanity is doomed. Like all cooperative games, Pandemic is designed to be difficult to beat and can be made even more challenging through the various expansions.

The latest addition to the Pandemic family of boardgames is Pandemic Hot Zone: North America. Published by Z-Man Games, this again is designed for between one and four players, has players cooperating to treat and find a cure to several diseases, and is played against the game rather than the players against each other. It is however, not the same game as Pandemic, for whilst there are many similarities, there are also several differences. The first of these is that there are only three diseases to find a cure for and the second is that it is set entirely in North America, as opposed to the four diseases and global scope of Pandemic. The third is the playing time. Pandemic Hot Zone: North America can be played in thirty minutes as opposed to the sixty minutes of standard Pandemic.

Those are the most obvious differences, but there are others. These include only needing four cards of the same colour to cure a disease instead of four, and there being only one Research Station, rather than multiple Research Stations. This is of course in Atlanta at the Center for Disease Control headquarters. This negates the need for the ‘Operations Expert’ from Pandemic, who can establish Research Stations around the world and the ability of the players to shuttle back and forth between them. The Researcher and Dispatcher roles in Pandemic Hot Zone: North America are slightly different from Pandemic, but these differences are relatively minor. Pandemic Hot Zone: North America has only three Epidemic cards, which are always used in the game, whereas standard Pandemic has three, four, and five, the number used to vary the difficulty of beating the game. Diseases cannot be eradicated in Pandemic Hot Zone: North America, whereas in standard Pandemic, they can, preventing their appearance during the game. Lastly, rather than alter the number of Epidemic cards to vary the difficulty of beating the game, Pandemic Hot Zone: North America provides Crisis cards. During game set-up, the number of Crisis cards can be varied to set the game’s difficulty, plus each Crisis card is different, so adding an extra random element to game play.

Nevertheless, game play in Pandemic Hot Zone: North America is similar to that of Pandemic. Each turn, a player will move round the map treating diseases to prevent there being too many on the board, visiting cities for which they have a card to give to another player, and when a player has the requisite four cards of one colour, rushing back to Atlanta to find cure for the disease of that colour. Designed for two to four players, aged eight and up, Pandemic Hot Zone: North America is won by finding a cure for all three diseases. This is the only winning condition, whereas there are several losing conditions. Pandemic Hot Zone: North America is lost if four Outbreaks occur, the players run out of disease cubes of any colour to add to the board, or when the Player Deck is depleted.

As its title suggests, Pandemic Hot Zone: North America is played on a map of North America. This depicts twenty-four cities across the USA, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. These are divided into three zones—the blue zone covering the north-east, eastern seaboard, and midwest; the red zone covering the south, south-west, and west; and the yellow zone covering Mexico, Louisiana, Florida, Cuba, and the Dominican Republican. These cities are connected by various routes along which both the players will travel as they move around the continent and the game’s three diseases will travel whenever there is Outbreak in one city. This happens whenever a city with three disease cubes has more cubes of the ame colour added to it. In which case the disease spreads to directly connected cities.

The game offers four different roles. These are the Dispatcher which can move any player’s pawn to another city where is already another player’s pawn or move another player’s pawn to a connected city; the Generalist, which can do five actions each turn rather than the standard four; the Medic, which can remove all of the disease cubes of one colour in a city rather than just the one when he takes the Treat Disease action or remove all of the cubes for a cured disease for free; and the Researcher, who can give cards to another player whose pawn is in the same city and the cards do not need to match the city they are in.

As well as the board, there are two decks of cards, both of which contain a card for each of the twenty-four cities on the board. The Infection deck is used to determine where incidences of the game’s three diseases will occur. Over the course of the game, Infection cards drawn will be reshuffled and added back to the top of the Infection deck to represent the populations of cities being constantly prone to the game’s three diseases. The cards in the Player deck are used in several ways. Each represents a single city and can be used to travel to or from a particular city, so to or from Boston. Once a player has four cards of a single colour—red, blue, or yellow—then he can travel to Atlanta and use them to find a cure. To acquire four cards of a single colour, a player can either draw them from the Player deck at the end of his turn or take them from or be given them by a fellow player.

In addition, the Player deck contains three other types of card. When an Epidemic card is drawn it increases the rate of infection—the number of cards drawn from from the Infection deck at the end of a a player’s turn, determines the city where a new occurrence of a disease happens, and shuffles the Infection cards in the discard pile back onto the Infection deck to reinfect cities that have already suffered disease already. The Event cards each provide a one-time bonus, such as ‘One Quiet Night’ which allows the current player to skip the ‘Draw Infection Cards’ phase of his turn or ‘Borrowed Time’ which enables the current player to take two additional actions.

Crisis Cards make the game’s play more challenging and are played immediately when drawn. So ‘Logistics Failure’ forces the current player  ‘Draw Infection Cards’ phase of his turn, whilst ‘Limited Options’ forces each player to reduce the size of his hand from six to five. This is temporary, but does last until another Crisis card is drawn. These Crisis cards are really the new mechanic to the Pandemic family, not only can they be used as a means to adjust the game’s difficulty rather than using the Epidemic cards, they can also add an ongoing, if temporary, effect that will hinder the players’ progress. There are just seven of them in the game, but because only three or six of them are used in the game—depending upon the difficulty of the game desired—there is always a degree of randomness and uncertainty as to which Crisis cards the players will face.

Game set-up is simple enough. Each player is given a role and two randomly drawn Player cards whilst the remainder of the Player deck is seeded with the three Epidemic cards. Six cards are drawn from the Infection deck to determine where the three diseases first occur on the board and to form the discard pile. Then on his turn, a player will move round the map, treating diseases, taking or giving Player cards, and so on. At the end of his turn, he draws two more cards from the Player deck, adding them to his hand or immediately resolving them if they are Crisis cards or Epidemic cards. Lastly, he draws Infection cards from the Infection deck—starting at two and rising to four—and adds disease cubes to the cities indicated on the cards drawn. Play continues like this until the game is won by all three diseases being cured or lost by having four Outbreaks occur, running out of disease cubes, or depleting the Player deck.

Pandemic Hot Zone: North America is easy to lose, but challenging to win. Plus winning does feel good. Like any Pandemic game, there is a real sense of achievement in working together, discovering curses to the diseases, and so winning the game.

Time is tight. With a four player game, the number of cards in the Player deck will range between twenty-three and twenty-nine, giving the players between eleven and fourteen turns between them before the game ends. So players need to plan and coordinate their actions from turn to turn, and this is not taking into account the effects of Epidemic and Crisis cards. So the players are constantly thinking, planning, and having to adjust to unexpected events (well, they are not unexpected, their being built into the game and its set-up, so think unexpected timing of events), so game play is both thoughtful and tense. However, since it is a cooperative game, there is the opportunity to discuss what your actions are going to be and that alleviates some of the tension—a little.

Physically, Pandemic Hot Zone: North America is very nicely presented. Everything is in full colour, all of the cards are easy to read, and the rulebook quickly guides you through set-up and answers your questions. It even has a list of the differences between Pandemic Hot Zone: North America and Pandemic. Lastly, the playing pieces are all done in solid plastic. Everything then, is of a high quality.

So the first question is, is Pandemic Hot Zone: North America a good game? To which the answer is, yes, yes it is a good game. However, it might just be a slightly too difficult or challenging for its minimum age range of eight and older.

So the second question is, should you add Pandemic Hot Zone: North America to the Pandemic family of games you already own. Well, that depends, because the real question is, who is Pandemic Hot Zone: North America really aimed at? For fundamentally, Pandemic Hot Zone: North America is really just a shorter, more tense version of Pandemic, and if you own Pandemic, it may well not be sufficiently different from Pandemic to warrant adding it to your collection. Though that will probably not stop you if we are honest. Yes, the playing area is different, but really the major difference is the addition of the Crisis cards. Otherwise, the gameplay is just like the original Pandemic. 

The clue as to what Pandemic Hot Zone: North America is lies in the size of the game and two other games—Ticket to Ride: London and Ticket to Ride: New York. Both of these are smaller, shorter implementations of the 2004 classic Ticket to Ride. They offer minor variations upon the standard Ticket to Ride rules and a reduction in both playing time, actual size, and price of the game, as well as providing the designer with a new format in which to explore the Ticket to Ride concept. Similarly, Pandemic Hot Zone: North America offers its designer a new format in which to explore the Pandemic concept as well as reduced size, playing time, and price. Which means that in the future there will be other entries in the Pandemic Hot Zone series.

Overall, Pandemic Hot Zone: North America does not actually have a great deal of new game play to offer the dedicated Pandemic fan, who will probably view the game as essentially ‘Pocket Pandemic’. However, Pandemic Hot Zone: North America’s combination reduced playing time, size, and price make it a less daunting introduction to the Pandemic family of games.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: A Lark in the Cage

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Noah Lloyd
Setting: London, 1895

Product: Scenario
What You Get: 10.70 MB fifty-eight-page, full-colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A cuckoo in the nest reveals monsters and a monstrous plot, but which is the greater evil? 
Plot Hook: When the investigators are attacked by a monstrous man after a neighbour claims that her recently-born baby is not hers, could there be truth in her hysteria?
Plot Development: A missing lover and dead men in the Thames takes the investigators back and forth across the river whilst a feat of engineering—their final destination—goes on below.
Plot Support: Six pre-generated investigators, eleven NPCs and entities, two maps, and seven handouts.

Pros
# A scenario for Cthulhu by Gaslight
# A family affair
# Full play-through available here
# Acknowledges the attitudes of the period
# Includes ‘Bulwark of the Hudson’, a one-page prequel scenario
# Nice handouts
# Excellent use of an engineering marvel 
# Avoids clichéd investigators
# Good production values
# Decent investigative plot
# Mired in dirt and ordure

Cons# Acknowledges the attitudes of the period
# Wide margins
# Plot connections could be slightly clearer
# High potential for disaster
# Very specific in terms of time and place

Conclusion
# A good scenario for Cthulhu by Gaslight
# Avoids clichéd investigators
# Good production values
# Mired in dirt and ordure

One of the interesting aspects of the treatment given Star Trek as a roleplaying game by Modiphius Entertainment is that it examines directly the role of crew and positions aboard ships and at postings in Starfleet. No other Star Trek roleplaying game has done this, but to date, there are three supplements for the Star Trek Adventures: The Roleplaying Game which focus on the six departments of Starfleet. These are organised division by division, so The Command Division supplement focuses on the Command and Conn departments, The Sciences Division supplement on the Science and Medical departments, and The Operations Division supplement focuses on the Security and Engineering departments. Each supplement details the various branches and departments within each division, their role in Starfleet, an expanded list of Talents and Focuses for characters within each division, plots and campaigns which focus on characters within each division, supporting characters from within each division—including canonical NPCs, and more.

As with much of the Star Trek Adventures line, The Operations Division supplement is presented as an in-game—and in-world—briefing to members of both the Engineering and Operations departments. It quickly sets out the roles of members of both departments, so that the Engineering officer is responsible for running and maintaining the ship’s engines and much of the technology aboard ship, as well as fixing anything which breaks down, goes wrong, or is damaged, whilst the Operations officer is responsible for handling day-to-day tasks aboard ship, plus roles such in security and at tactical stations. So at their most basic, the Engineering officer fixes the ship whilst the Operations officer runs the ship and protects it. In comparison to the roles defined for the other departments in The Command Division and The Sciences Division, those in The Operations Division are not quite as obviously flashy or as prestigious, and if the supplement were to keep to that remit, then it would not be very interesting. Fortunately, The Operations Division goes beyond that.

The supplement begins by highlighting the differences for the roles it covers between the three series that fall under the remit of Star Trek Adventures—Enterprise, Star Trek: The Original Series, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is because the divisions undergo the most changes between the three, most obviously the shift in roles and shirt colours for Engineering and Security officers between Star Trek: The Original Series, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Then it begins by examining the different agencies within Starfleet which make up the Operations Division—Fleet Operations, Starfleet Intelligence, Starfleet Corps of Engineers, and Section 31. Both are examined from two sides, what each agency’s mission is and what it actually does before discussing how it can be brought into a game. So Fleet Operations oversees the deployment and disposition of Starfleet personnel and resources throughout Federation space and oversees Mission Operations, Science Operations, Tactical operations, Shipyard Operations, and Starbase Operations. The section on Starfleet Intelligence highlights how it conducts enlightened operations in comparison the agencies of other galactic powers, such as Cardassia’s Obsidian Order, this in reaction not only to the practices of those other agencies, but also some of the morally grey operations run by Starfleet Intelligence in the past. Accompanying this section is ‘Recruited to Starfleet Intelligence’, a new career event for use during character generation, and some ideas as to how to involve plain Starfleet Player Characters in Starfleet Intelligence missions.

Of course, the Starfleet Corps of Engineers has a reputation as being made up of miracle workers, but that reputation often only extends as far as building, fixing, and maintaining starships. What its description makes clear is that it does a lot more, ranging from the investigation of alien technologies and disaster relief to distress call response to terraforming support. It also highlights how it works hand-in-hand with civilian agencies also, and together these all lend themselves to scenario ideas which can bring a Starfleet Engineering officer into the spotlight. A nice touch is the inclusion of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers Safety Regulations for ‘Investigation of Technological Elements of Indeterminate Origin’ which would add flavour and verisimilitude when running that type of episode. Lastly, there is Section 31. Now this is supposed to be the agency which handles threats which jeopardise the continued existence of the Federation by any means necessary, believing that the ends justify the means. What is not given here is a definite description of Section 31, but rather what it might be, so it might be a rogue agency, a complete fantasy, a story spun by one man—Luther Sloan, a plot by the Tal Shiar, and so on. This enables the Game Master to tailor Section 31 to fit her campaign and what she thinks the agency wants to be. In general though, Section 31 should operate through layers of intermediaries and obfuscation.

As per the other volumes in this series, the chapter on Operations Division characters present guides to creating Player Characters who have attended either Security School or Engineering School. For both there are guides to creating effective—or at least focused—Engineering and Security officers, along with  a range of new Focuses and Talents. So for Security officers, there are the Criminal Organisations and Forensics Focuses and the Combat medic and Lead Investigator Talents, and the Advanced Holograms and Reverse Engineering Focuses and Maintenance Specialist and Miracle Worker Talents for Engineering officers. For the Security officers there are possible roles a Player Character or NPC might have on a combat squad such as Explosive Ordnance Expert or Field Medic, and if the game is set during Enterprise, a guide to creating MACO or Military Assault Command Operations officers. 

Unfortunately, the Engineering officer does not really have any more options like the Security officer, although both his player and the Game Master are likely to get fun out of the Technobabble Table. Similarly, they are likely to get a lot of use out of the Advanced Technologies chapter, which covers the tools and technologies to be found aboard a starship or starbase, and elsewhere. So micro-optic drills, engineering tricorders, hperspanner, sonic driver(!), and so on, along with starship systems like artificial gravity and inertial compensators, replicators and transporters, and more. Experimental technology covers some of the more dangerous technologies which Federation has explored, for example, Doctor Richard Daystrom’s M-5 multitronic unit and Synaptic Scanning Technique for transferring human minds into android bodies, or perhaps even into computers. In addition, rules cover jury-rigging devices, something that Engineers are probably going to find themselves doing a lot.

One of the best sections in both The Command Division and The Sciences Division is for the Game Master, suggesting how they might be used in storylines. It divides the possible plot components into red, gold and blue—diplomacy, combat, or science components respectively—and expands upon them. So red plot components can include conspiracies, diplomacy, first contact, and more, whilst blue components can include deep space exploration, evacuation, research, and so on. For The Operations Division, this does exactly the same for Security officers and Engineering officers. Again, this is a really good section for both roles, but bolstering it with details such as Starfleet Regulations for Away Missions, handling criminal investigations, recovering derelicts, diagnostics, and alien technologies. Just as with The Command Division and The Sciences Division, this is one of the best sections in The Operations Division.

In comparison to The Command Division and The Sciences Division, the ‘Operations Personnel’ chapter feels much shorter. It provides various NPCs, like the Starfleet Security Officer, the Engineer’s Mate, and the MACO Soldier Supporting NPCs and the Informant and the Engineering Specialist Minor NPCs. It includes three Major NPCs, notably Luther Sloan of Section 31 and Doctor Leah Brahms of the Daystrom Institute. She was only listed in The Sciences Division despite its coverage of the Daystrom Institute, so it is good to see her included here.

Rounding out The Operations Division is ‘Red Alert’. This is a set of skirmish rules intended to use Modiphius Entertainment’s miniatures and tile sets in order to handle small unit engagements. Although they could be run as a straight Star Trek miniatures combat game—and the rules are available to download for free to that end—they really are designed as an extension of the roleplaying combat rules. What this means that whole engagements can be handled more tactically with more detail. The rules cover squad creation, combat actions, and terrain particular to Star Trek such as Jefferies Tubes and Turbolifts. The support for the rules is not extensive, really only covering Federation, Klingon, and Romulan warriors and their weapons, so a Game Master may want to create her own content beyond the rules and support given. The rules come with a complete six-mission mini-campaign in which the crew of the Enterprise-D have to withstand a Klingon assault on the ship in the middle of a diplomatic summit. The rules are decent enough and they do give scope for Operations officers—Security officers in particular—to do more and bring their training to the tabletop.

Physically, The Operations Division supplement is again a decent looking book. Notably though, whilst the artwork is decent, it often feels bland and not really relevant to content it is placed alongside. There are fewer in-game reports, diary entries, and so on, and in many cases, they are not all that interesting or inspiring for the Game Master. The reduced in-game content also means the layout does not feel as busy and has a bit more room for its contents to breath. The layout is done in the style of the LCARS—Library Computer Access/Retrieval System—operating system used by Starfleet. So everything is laid out over a rich black with the text done in soft colours. This is very in keeping with the theme and period setting of Star Trek Adventures, but it is imposing, even intimidating in its look, and whilst it is not always easy to find things on the page because of the book’s look, it is easier in The Operations Division supplement because it is less cluttered than in other supplements for the line. Lastly, in comparison to the other books in this series, this feels less busy, better organised, and therefore a little more accessible.

In comparison to other supplements for Star Trek Adventures, what is missing from The Operations Division is more starships. This might have felt like an omission in any other supplement, but to be blunt, the treatment of starships has not always felt well-handled in those supplements, so the lack of them here is not really an omission. That said, what might have been useful here is the inclusion of some starbases since engineers are responsible for building and maintaining them as much as they are starships.

If there is an issue with The Operations Division, it is perhaps that it does not delve into the day-to-day aspects of running and maintaining Starfleet which Operations is responsible for. In places, it touches upon some of the approaches and procedures that Security and Engineering officers follow, such as for Away missions, but more would have added verisimilitude to running Star Trek Adventures. Not necessarily all of the time, but occasionally, at the very least, and what it would allow is to make the breaking or sidestepping of such procedures more dynamic. Which is, after all, what the Player Characters are going to do. 

Like the other two books, The Operations Divisions is at its best when dealing with specific elements of the Star Trek setting, but unlike the other two books, its treatment of Security officers and Engineering officers is better balanced, although it definitely feels as if Security officers get slightly better treatment. This is not counting the ‘Red Alert’ rules, the inclusion of which does favour Security officers, because the ‘Red Alert’ rules do feel a bit much like filler in The Operations Division since they are available elsewhere. This is not to say that a group would not get any play out of ‘Red Alert’, but of all the content in The Operations Division, ‘Red Alert’ is very much an option.

Overall, The Operations Division is a solid supplement for Star Trek Adventures. Fundamentally, what The Operations Division does is take the less glamorous roles in Star Trek—Security officers and Engineering officers—and makes what they do both interesting and challenging.

One of the great features—amongst many—of 13th Age is how it handles characters, making each Player Character unique, emphasising narrative gameplay elements, and upping the action. Published by Pelgrane Press, a wide range of character Classes were presented in both 13th Age and 13 True Ways, but one of the aspects of 13th Age is that Player Characters can only advance to Tenth Level. What this means is that campaigns are relatively short and new campaigns can be begun relatively easily and relatively regularly, so having a wider range in terms of character choice is always useful. Now whilst presenting new Player Character Classes has not been the focus of titles from Pelgrane Press, it does mean that there is scope for other publishers to provide a Game Master and her players with such options. This is exactly what Kinoko Games has done with Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets.

Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets presents six new Classes—the monstrous Abomination, the destiny-shaping Fateweaver, the mind-bending Psion, the berserking Savage, the dashing Swordmage and the dark-souled Warlock. All come with the Class Features and Talents, plus features specific to the Class just as you would expect for a Class for 13th Age. In addition, each is accompanied with notes on the Play Style for the Class, ideas for Backgrounds, the Icons associated with the Class, which of the Dungeons & Dragons-style Races it works with, options for Multi-Class versions, and ‘Riffs and Variations’, essentially extra ideas on how each Class would play. This is not all though, for Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets also includes notes how some of the Classes from the 13th Age core book and 13 True Ways would work with the new half dozen it provides, as well as various new magic items. These are also designed to work with the six Classes in Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets.

The first new Class is the Abomination. This takes the transformed monster of Gothic fiction, horror films, superhero comics, and the like, and brings it into 13th Age as a combat monster! So that could be the Beast of Beauty and the Beast, the Wolf Man of The Wolf Man, and the Incredible Hulk of Marvel comics. Now by default, the Abomination cannot transform, although with the right Talent it is possible, but it could be a failed experiment, a thing which crept out of hell, and so on. It relies upon its natural weapons in combat, which it then augments with an element such as poison or fire which it can spit. As an intimidating, raging combat beast, it can be made dragon-, snake-, and troll-like amongst other flavours, make it harder, and so on, all depending upon the Talents chosen. The Abomination has Maneuvres like a Fighter which trigger on a flexible basis, so the player rolls to attack and then selects the Maneuvre which the roll has triggered rather than selecting the Maneuvre beforehand. The Abomination can be played as a raging, rampaging beast of a monster, but with the appropriate selection, the player gets to do that as well as roleplay out the tragedy of the Abomination’s existence.

In comparison to the Abomination, the Fateweaver is a step up or two in terms of complexity. Fundamentally, the Fateweaver breaks the Fourth Wall in order to manipulate the dice and the narrative. Naturally the Icons take an interest in the Fateweaver, perhaps a wandering fortuneteller or disgraced court jester, because of his ability to manipulate and shape destinies—which is their job after all! To model this, the Fateweaver receives Talents such as ‘Astrologer’, which enables the character to predict the future and if correct, regain a spell or recovery, or increase the Escalation by one; ‘Stage Performer’, which allows the Fateweaver to reroll an attack or action in a scene or battle as long as he has an audience; if the Fateweaver thinks life to be a joke, then ‘Harlequin’ lets him add an extra effect to a spell—as long as the other players (and not the other characters) think it is funny. A Fateweaver can also cast two types of spells, standard spells and Meditations. To use the Fateweaver meditates to enter a state known as Focus to connect to threads of reality, once he has Focus, a Fateweaver expends to both cast a spell and gain the spell’s Focus effect. For example, Reveal What Was Hidden shows the Fateweaver something on the battlefield or nearby that the rest of the party had not seen, or Mantra of Cleansing, which allows the Fateweaver to make a saving throw against an ongoing effect.

Potentially, the Fateweaver is a dynamic support character, but the intricacies of its design mean it is not easy to learn and harder to master. The disruptive nature of the style of play may also mean that the Class may not fit with every single campaign. That though, will come down to what sort of campaign the Game Master wants to run.

Then there is the Psion. Again, this is more complex, but where the Fateweaver feels all new, the Psion is familiar in what it does and how it works. Psions specialise in three of six disciplines—Blaster, Egotist (body alteration), Nomad (teleportation), Seer (clairsentience), Shaper (object creation, including arms, armour, and constructs), and Telepath (including mental control of others). These are fuelled by Psionic Power Points, which are recovered by resting. Every Psion has the base at-will minor powers for all six disciplines, but over time, can learn the greater powers of their selected disciplines. They can also offset the set cost of their powers by selecting certain Talents, but for the more potent powers a player will still need to husband his character’s Power Points throughout a scenario. Whether it is powers like ‘Withering Limbs’ or ‘Stretchable Forms’, there is the feel of superhero or Jedi powers to the Psion’s abilities. In other words, these powers are more obvious in what they are and how they work, but at the same there is a wider range of them, allowing a player to better tailor his character. Some extra notes suggest how the powers might be tied to other sources and mapping them onto the various schools of magic in Dungeons & Dragons. For the setting of 13th Age, the Dragon Empire, there are some interesting suggestions as who or what might be a Psion’s patron, since psionics do not actually quite fit the setting.

The Savage though is a front rank combatant, able to use Frenzy dice to fuel their powers, heal themselves, or increase damage. These dice increase in size and number as the Savage gains Level. Gained through successful hits, they can be spent on Frenzy Powers. Some of these expend Frenzy dice in return for their effect, such as ‘Frenzied Leap’ which enables the Savage to leap across the battlefield, or ‘Iron Determination’ which grants a reroll on a failed save or death save. Others though, such as ‘Cry for Blood’, which inflicts damage on multiple nearby enemies, and since it is a melee attack, the Savage gains a Frenzy die. The Talents for the Savage add colour as much as a mechanical effect, so ‘Born to the Saddle’ makes the character a skilled rider, especially in combat, whilst ‘Full Metal Berserk’ allows him to wear heavy armour without penalty rather than the standard leather and hides. The background for the Savage in the Dragon Empire, the setting of the 13th Age is also interesting, placing it outside of the empire, their being from beyond civilised lands. The Savage Class is slightly problematic in that it is not dissimilar to the Barbarian Class. This is more thematic than mechanical though.

Where the Psion feels familiar to longtime players of Dungeons & Dragons-style games, the last two Classes will be familiar to more recent players. The first of these is the Swordmage, which as the title suggests combines swordplay and arcane magic. The Swordmage is primarily a defensive Class, placing Sigils on their opponents using the Mark with Sigil spell. What this does is force the enemy so marked to focus on the Swordmage and then punish them when they attack an ally. So a Sigil of Vengeance lets the Swordmage teleport immediately to the marked opponent and attack him if the opponent is attacking someone else. Other Sigils inflict damage or force rerolls on the opponent, and so on. A Swordmage starts off with one Sigil and gains more as he gains Levels. In addition, a Swordmage automatically has Mage Armour and can redirect it with his off hand to increase his Armour Class. Most Swordmage Talents alter how the Swordmage fights and casts spells and sigils, again adding flavour as much as mechanics. Thus ‘Skull Blade’ gives access to Necromancer spells and ‘Twin Blade Style’ grants the ability to fight with two weapons and apply its effects to all spells which deal weapon damage. Most Swordmage spells are colourful blade attacks which do arcane damage. For example, Keen Blade enables a Swordmage player to reroll dice on an attack and take the best, whilst Freezing Strike inflicts cold damage and immoblises the target! Overall, the Swordmage here has a Manga or Martial Arts feel to it.

The sixth and last Class is the Warlock. This will be familiar to various versions of Dungeons & Dragons, but here specialise in blasting spells which inflict damage, curses which have harmful effects, and hexes which have a range of  mostly protective effects. Thus Hungry Shadows blasts a target with negative energy—even more if the target is cursed, Burning Retribution both burns and curses the target, and Demon Tongue grants rerolls on Charisma-based rolls. As with versions elsewhere, the Warlock presented here has a Warlock Pact, but being for 13th Age, it is with an Icon rather than something nebulous. So a Divine Pact is with the Priestess, a Knightly Pact is with the Crusader, and so on. This grants the Warlock a minor effect, typically triggered by the Escalation Die, and then essentially provides the flavour for how the Warlock casts his magic.  All of the Warlock spells can be cast at-will, so they are not quite as powerful, but they are flashy and fun. Further, the Warlock can have any of the spells and adjust their flavour to his Pact.

Beyond the six Classes it details, Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets gives various Talents for the Classes from 13th Age core book and 13 True Ways. So ‘Lycanthrope’ for the Barbarian will transform the character into the Abomination when the Barbarian rages, and the Eldritch Knight can use the ‘Mark with Sigil’ feature of the Swordmage. Again, these flavour the various Classes slightly, but do not push a Class over into the other. Lastly, Magic Items adds items specific to the six Classes in Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets, and more. Abominations can take severed body parts—poison glands, slappy tails, troll hearts, and more—and add them to his body as Grafts, whilst Crystals, such as Jewel of Storing or Reflecting Bead, are designed to work with the Psion Class. There are lots of magic items given here, all useful for adding a little more flavour and feel to playing 13th Age.

Physically, Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets is tidily presented. The book is decently written, whilst the artwork in the main consists of full colour pieces for each of the six Classes. If there is an issue with the art, it is perhaps that veers too far towards the ‘Chainmail Bikini’ school of art. The art overall, is done in a Manga style.

Fundamentally in coming to Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets, both players and the Game Master has to ask themselves if they want or need extra character Classes for their campaign. None of the half dozen in the supplement are necessary to play 13th Age, but of course they expand the range of options available and in some ways what sort of stories can be told. Obviously the tragedy of the Abomination and the Warlock eventually having to come to terms with the Pact made to gain his powers. Some Classes may be too close to others to have them at the table together, for example the Savage and the Barbarian, so a gaming group may want to be careful in its choice of Classes available. Some of the Classes make you wonder whether the ‘Archmage Engine’ of 13th Age could be used for other genres. For example, take the Abomination Class and do a superhero character like Hulk, and whilst that might be the most obvious, there are Talents scattered throughout Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets which lend themselves to other superheroes or genres.

Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets is solid support for 13th Age. If as a 13th Age Game Master you want more Classes, the Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets provides a decent range of new Classes and more to bring into her 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?
Heortlings of Sartar is a short supplment for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, part of the author’s ‘Monsters of the Month’ series.

It is a twenty-five page, full colour, 2.05 MB PDF.

Heortlings of Sartar is well presented and organised. It is not illustrated and needs a slight edit.

Where is it set?
Dragon Pass, specifically Sartar, but its contents can be used wherever Heortlings and Sartarites might be encountered.

Who do you play?
Heortlings of Sartar is primarily for the Game Master who will portray its very many NPCs.

What do you need?
RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

What do you get?
Stat blocks.

Forty-two of them.

One is issue with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is the complexity of its stat blocks, especially in the time it takes to create them for NPCs. RuneQuest II—or RuneQuest Classic—solved this issue with a number of supplements such as Fangs, RuneQuest Source Pack Alpha: Trolls and Trollkin, RuneQuest Source Pack Beta: Creatures of Chaos 1: Scorpion Men and Broos, and RuneQuest Source Pack Gamma: Militia & Mercenaries. Heortlings of Sartar is essentially the equivalent of those supplements, but with a bit more context and written for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

Heortlings of Sartar provides the stats for the types of NPCs that the adventurers are likely to encounter throughout Sartar. They fall into four categories—the nobility, free folk, unfree folk, and outlaws. So the nobility includes the notables to be found in Sartarite villages and settlements, such as a Lhankor Mhy Lawspeaker, Priestess of Ernalda, Storm Voice, Thane, and Village Chieftain. The free folk covers Landholders, Merchants, Crafters, Militia Warriors, Healers, Herders, and so on, whilst the unfree folk gives stats for Stickpickers, Tenant Farmers, Thralls, and the like. Lastly, Bandits, Lunar Deserters, and Tricksters are listed under outlaws.

Each NPC is presented on its own page and clearly laid out, both for ease of reading and printing. Where NPCs have an allied spirit—such as the Lhankor Mhy Lawspeaker the Priestess of Ernalda—these are given their own stat blocks, although this does mean that the pages for these NPCs are slightly more cramped in comparison to the other NPCs. Where the Player Characters might encounter more than one of a type of NPC, for example, the bandits or the Lunar deserters, they are given more generic stat blocks with four to a page. It should also be noted that none of these NPCs have every skill they might have listed, but rather just the ones which are pertinent to to their roles. This obviously cuts down on probable clutter and anyway, the supplement suggests standard values for the skills they do not have.

One notable omission from Heortlings of Sartar is the inclusion of stats for either a Clan Chief or a Tribal King. Again, this is by design since both should be unique individuals rather than simple stat blocks.

Although every NPC comes with a thumbnail description, they do feel underwritten in places, leaving the Game Master wanting a little more explanation. For example, the fact that there is a difference between the hunting styles of Odayla and Yinkin worshippers is mentioned, but not explained. In addition, the none of hunter characters have pets.

Lastly, for a supplement intended to be as utilitarian as it is, it is lacking one last, very useful feature—a list of names. The inclusion of this would have made Heortlings of Sartar just that little bit easier and faster to use. 

Is it worth your time?
Yes. Heortlings of Sartar is as utilitarian a supplement as the Game Master might imagine, but utilitarian means useful and practical—and Heortlings of Sartar is certainly that. Perfect for when the Game Master needs the off-the-shelf stats for a local NPC.
a list of names. 
No. Heortlings of Sartar will be of little use to you if your campaign is not set anywhere near Sartar or you like to create your own NPC stats.
Maybe. Heortlings and Sartarites get everywhere, so eventually the Player Characters might run into them, so then Heortlings of Sartar might be useful.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Unremembered

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Heinrich D. Moore

Setting: 1990s New Orleans

Product: Scenario
What You Get: 11.13 MB forty-three-page, full colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: When no-one remembers the father, can the missing son be found before he too is forgotten? 
Plot Hook: New Orleans police detectives are assigned to find a teenager missing after he receives a letter from the father his mother denies knowing. Just who was the father and what is the denial of his existence masking?
Plot Development: Difficult investigation in a wretched city, high school breakdown, and a town lost from the bayou.
Plot Support: Six pre-generated investigators, eight NPCs and entities, and ten handouts.

Pros
# Based on the James Blish short story,‘More Light’
# Murky investigation
# Creepy use of masks
# Nice handouts
# Two or three session one-shot
# Could be adapted to Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game
# Solid slice of Southern Gothic

Cons# One pre-generated investigator needs stronger ties
# Maps would have been useful
# Sanity rewards and losses too high
# Climax needs careful handling
# Very specific in terms of time and place

Conclusion
# Missing person case masks a creepy plot
# Solid slice of Southern Gothic

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?
Six Seasons in Sartar: A Campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is a short campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It is based on a campaign presented on the author’s blog.

Six Seasons in Sartar: A Campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is a commentary upon Six Seasons in Sartar, an epic poem by Usuphus of Jonstown, which tells of the tragic fall of the Haraborn, the Clan of the Black Stag, the 13th Colymar clan.

It is a one-hundred-and-forty-four page, full colour, 79.61 MB PDF.

Six Seasons in Sartar: A Campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is well presented, decently written, though it needs an edit in places, and includes a decent range of artwork. The front cover is good.

Where is it set?
Dragon Pass in Glorantha, specifically in ‘Black Stage Vale’, a narrow, vee-shaped valley high in the mountains between Mounts Quivin and Kagradus in the lands of the Colymar tribe, specifically between Sea Season 1619 ST and Sea Season 1620 ST. 

Who do you play?
Members of the Haraborn, the Clan of the Black Stag, the 13th Colymar clan, not yet initiated, typically Orlanth and Ernalda worshippers.

What do you need?
RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and RuneQuest – Glorantha Bestiary.

What do you get?
Six Seasons in Sartar is not just one thing. Well, actually it is just one thing—a campaign, but it also is more than the sum of its parts, for each and every one of those parts stands out on its own. Not necessarily because they are gameable, but together they contribute to the campaign as a very satisfactory whole.

First—and most obviously, Six Seasons in Sartar is a campaign. Much like the vale in which the Haraborn make their home and the events of the campaign play, its focus is very narrow, taking the Player Characters through the travails and tribulations of the last year of the Haraborn, the Clan of the Black Stag, the 13th Colymar clan. It begins with their initiation and takes them season by season through 1619 ST and into 1620 ST. These individual adventures will involve the Player Characters in a mystery concerning the sudden appearance of a ghost, the activities of the rebels holding out against the Lunar Empire’s occupation of Sartar, and the abduction of a guest. Ultimately, the campaign will reveal secrets about the history of the vale which bring it to the attention of Kallyr Starbrow and following a confrontation with an agent of the Lunar Empire, lead to a sundering of the clan at the hands of the empire’s indigent servants. 

In between the six parts which make up the campaign, the Game Master can weave various secondary plots and events—here called ‘episodes’—such as a birth or funeral, a romance or a cattle raid, and so on. Many of these episodes are optional, and whilst including them does lengthen the play of the campaign, they also add depth to its play and serve to involve the players and their characters in the community that is the Haraborn clan. Although their use is given as optional, the campaign will be all the better not just because of the extra added depth, but also because their use gives scope for the Game Master to focus on each of the characters in play, to give them time in the spotlight. 

Second, Six Seasons in Sartar is a description of a complete clan, the Haraborn. This includes the complete history and mythology of the clan, as well as its wyter, the chieftain and his Ring—the clan council, plus the geography of the vale that is the clan’s home. It explains who they are and what their outlook is—that of deeply conservative mountain folk who value tradition, have limited contact with the outside world, and are devoted to the Storm Tribe. It explains their Runic ties, predominately Air/Storm and Earth, though some may be ‘Troll-touched’ and tied to the Darkness Rune. Members of the Haraborn clan are also members of the White Hart ‘spirit cult’, and expected to be useful to the clan—that is, to not go off seeking adventure. This cult is entirely local and provides interesting cervine spells such as Stag’s Crown which enables the user to sprout a twelve-point rack of antlers or Deerbrother which creates a Mind Link with the nearest deer and allow the caster to see and hear what the deer sees and hears, as well as cast spells through the deer.

This description and background support both the campaign and explains the constraints placed on character generation. This is as per the normal process, but the characters have to be of the Haraborn clan, have either the Air, Earth, or Darkness Rune, and instead of having an Occupation, have what is really their parents' Occupation. Occupations such as Bandit, Chariot Driver, Fisher, Philosopher, or Thief are all unlikely, but this still offers plenty of choice. As to cult, no starting characters for the campaign yet belongs to a cult, for their choice of, and their joining a cult will come about through play. All characters are Lay members of Ernalda if female, Orlanth if male. Lastly, each character’s family history will end with their parents in 1618 and none of them will receive the standard skill bonuses. The end result is a youth between fifteen and sixteen years of age, ready to be initiated.

Third, Six Seasons in Sartar is an initiation into the mysteries of Glorantha. This can be seen in various elements of the campaign. Most obviously in two ways. The first of these is the essay on the nature of heroquests, supported by the rules for them later in the book. This includes the three types of heroquest—‘This World Heroquest’, the ritual re-enactment of Myth; the ‘Hero Planes Heroquest’, in which the heroquesters temporarily become gods to gain a boon or blessing, in particular for their community; and the ‘Otherworld Heroquest’, in which the heroquesters travel deeper into the God Plane to create a new of their own! It also suggests rewards for each and the means to begin them. The other form of initiation is the actual complete presentation of two initiation rites, one for Orlanth lay worshippers and one for Ernalda lay worshippers. They each form the two starting parts of the campaign, one for male characters, one for female characters. Mechanically, the process serves as part of the characters’ personal history, but they also work to point each character towards the cult they will ultimately become initiates of. For example, a Lay member of the Ernalda cult might lean towards Babestor Gor as a cult if she favours the Death Rune over the Fertility Rune during her initiation. Playing out the initiation also gets the player and his character involved from the start, forcing him to make choices in play rather than at the start and so make those choices significant.

Later events in the scenario might also be said to further initiate the Game Master into the greater mysteries of Glorantha, notably an encounter with Kallyr Starbrow. Pleasingly, despite her role in the forthcoming hero wars and past events, she never overshadows the efforts of the player characters and interestingly, she never quite comes across as wholly heroic. As to the initiations, these are absolutely fantastic tools for the Game Master to enforce Glorantha’s mysteries from the start, and it would be absolutely fantastic to see further initiations similar to this but for other cults on the Jonstown Compendium.

Fourth, Six Seasons in Sartar is a toolkit. Take the various bits of the campaign and what you have is a set of tools and elements which the Game Master can obviously use as part of running Six Seasons in Sartar, but can also take them and use them in her own campaign. So this is not just the advice and discussion as to the nature of heroquests and how to run them, as well as the initiation scenarios, but also the rules for creating and running streamlined NPCs, the streamlined rules for handling battles, cattle raids, and heroquests, events such as funerals and births, romance, and more. All of these can be separated from Six Seasons in Sartar and the Game Master bring them into her own game.

Fifth, Six Seasons in Sartar is a conceit. Throughout the campaign, commentary is provided by a number of notable Gloranthan scholars and experts in Third Age literature, not necessarily upon the campaign itself, but upon Usuphus of Jonstown’s epic, Six Seasons in Sartar. These often offer contradictory opinions and so mirror that of Gloranthaphiles about various topics on Glorantha. They include excerpts from works such as ‘Usuphus: A Feminist Perspective’ by Adhira Chatterjee and Noah Webber’s lecture, ‘The Symbolism of the Star Heart and Predark in Six Seasons in Sartar.’, and what they do is enables the author himself to step out of the campaign itself and add further commentary, not just from his own point of view, but from opposing views. Beyond that, the conceit pushes Six Seasons in Sartar as a campaign from being a mere campaign into being an epic, because essentially, it is what a heroic poem does.

Of course, Six Seasons in Sartar comes to an end. The climax manages to be both sad and satisfying, but it leaves the Game Master wanting more, the players and the characters wondering what comes next. Possibilities are discussed and suggested, most obviously about reuniting the scattered Haraborn, the aim being for the Game Master to write the next episodes of the campaign (and thus the poem, or perhaps a new one). Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see an official sequel, both in terms of the campaign and the clan, plus of course, to the epic poem, Six Seasons in Sartar. This could easily fit in the period between the end of the Six Seasons in Sartar campaign 1620 ST and the jumping off point for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha in 1625 ST.

Is it worth your time?
Yes. Six Seasons in Sartar: A Campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is a superb treatment of community, myth, and tragedy in Glorantha, grounding the players and their characters in the community, pulling them into the myth, and having them play out the tragedy. Whilst the tools and the discussion are undeniably useful, as a campaign starter it has no equal—it should be one of the first titles a prospective Game Master of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha should purchase from the Jonstown Compendium.
No. Six Seasons in Sartar: A Campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha presents an alternative campaign set-up, one which takes place prior to the default starting date for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, and you may already have begun your campaign. Six Seasons in Sartar: A Campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha also places limits upon character choice and your players may want to play characters who do not fit within its remit.
Maybe. Six Seasons in Sartar: A Campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha includes content which is useful beyond the limits of its campaign—the initiation rites, the notes on heroquests, rules for streamlined NPCs, quick resolution rules for battles, and more. All useful in an ongoing 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?
Vinga’s Ford is a short scenario for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a nineteen page, full colour, 12.27 MB PDF.

Vinga’s Ford is well presented and decently written, and is illustrated with simple artwork.

Where is it set?
Dragon Pass, specifically between Oakton and Apple Lane in Sartar. Alternatively, it can be set on any river which feeds into the Upland Marsh.

Who do you play?
Vinga’s Ford works well if the Player Characters include a Vinga worshipper amongst their number, but an Orlanthi works just as well. A Humakti and a shaman may also prove useful.

With some alterations, an experienced Game Master could adjust Vinga’s Ford to be played by Troll Player Characters.

What do you need?
RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and RuneQuest – Glorantha Bestiary for its information on Trolls and Ducks at the very least. If run at its default location, then the Game Master will also need the information on Apple Lane found in the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack.

Alternatively, Vinga’s Ford could easily be adapted to be run using 13th Age and 13th Age Glorantha. This will require some effort upon the part of the 13th Age Glorantha Game Master.

What do you get?
The Player Characters are the road travelling between Oakton and Apple Lane in the northern territories of the Colymar Tribe when they have to cross the Swan River at Vinga’s Ford. However, their crossing is impeded by zombies, a strange occurrence this far from the Upland Marsh. When an unexpected ally comes to their aid, they are alerted to a greater danger—a vampire, one of Delecti the Necromancer’s feared ‘Dancers in Darkness’. The question is, what is that vile creature’s interest in Vinga’s Ford?

After some investigation—at either Apple Lane or Oakton—the Player Characters will learn of an annual occurrence at the ford. This is the ghostly appearance of a battle between a Vingan and some Trolls. Of course, this is happening that very evening, so the Player Characters have the opportunity to investigate further, foil the plans of the ‘Dancer in Darkness’, and join the battle themselves!

Vinga’s Ford is an ‘on-the-road’ adventure, which whilst built around a pair of connected battles, further involves the Player Characters in the mystical elements of Glorantha and how that can physically alter the world around them. It can also be used to introduce them to some of the elements of horror—essentially the doings of Delecti the Necromancer and the doings of his servants—though at some remove, found in Glorantha and also to Ducks.

As an ‘on-the-road’ adventure, it can easily added to a campaign to liven up a journey. If run at its default location, then it could be run as part as a journey to or from Runegate, Jonstown, and even Dangerford. This would make it suitable adventure to be run before or after adventures such as The Duel at Dangerford, Arrows of War, and ‘Darkness at Runegate’. It could also be used to help expand upon the scenarios to be found in the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Starter Set.

One issue with Vinga’s Ford is the attitude of the villagers—in either Apple Lane or Oakton—towards Ducks. Amongst some members of either community it is suggested that it is not positive, and whilst Ducks are not held in the highest of regards in many parts of Sartar and beyond, this is not the case in Apple Lane as portrayed in the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack. Here the village has a prominent Duck resident, so the attitudes do not sit well with the descriptions given of the village. That said, not every inhabitant of Apple Lane is detailed and there is scope for them to hold such prejudices. 

Is it worth your time?
Yes. Vinga’s Ford is a solid side quest scenario, easily added to any journey to involve the Player Characters in ancient battles and the doings of both Ducks and Delecti the Necromancer. 
No. Vinga’s Ford will be of little use to you if you have issues with Ducks or are not running a campaign set in Sartar.
Maybe. The ongoing battle at the heart of Vinga’s Ford could be adapted to be between combatants other than a Vingan and some Trolls with some effort and changes to the mythology as necessary.

Brutal Imperilment in the Bag of Infinite Holding is a short and clever, if slightly silly scenario for the fantasy roleplaying game of your choice. Published by Mottokrosh Machinations, it is nominally written for use with Hypertellurians: Fantastic Thrills Through the Ultracosm, but in terms of mechanics, it is all but systemless. Certainly, it would work with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and any number of Old School Renaissance retroclones or roleplaying games which involve high magic. The set-up is very simple. The Queen has lost her prized possessions—the crown jewels and her beloved poodle, Duchess—and she charges the Player Characters with their retrieval. She may even accompany them! That sounds simple enough, but nothing about this situation is so, for the Queen happened to lose both of them into her magical Bag of Infinite Holding!

Players and Dungeon Masters of a certain again will remember a certain adventure from Imagine Issue Number 15 (June, 1984)—‘Round the Bend’, in which the player characters, all Half-Orcs in the employ of a wizard, are shrunk down into miniaturised size and sent down the drain in order to retrieve various items on his behalf. Brutal Imperilment in the Bag of Infinite Holding is not dissimilar in that in climbing into the bag of holding, the player characters are shrunk down. What they discover is that the reason it is a Bag of Infinite Holding is because one Bag of Holding has been put inside another Bag of Holding or lost in another Bag of Holding, and then again—and then again. Thus once shrunk, the player characters find themselves inside a Bag of Holding big enough to be room connected to a series of Bags of Holding, each also the size of room. What you have then with Brutal Imperilment in the Bag of Infinite Holding is a dungeon, but not just any dungeon. Rather a dungeon made up of bags containing a completely random assortment of things, persons, monsters, traps, treasures, and more. As long as it could end up in a bag, or rather a Bag of Infinite Holding, it can end up being in this ‘dungeon’.

Barring the first three bags—or rooms—none of the actual locations in Brutal Imperilment in the Bag of Infinite Holding is described, although they are mapped. Even as mapped, they are simply a series of connected boxes, each box representing a bag or room across three levels—the Early Bags, The Weird Middle Belt, and The Far Depths. It also suggests how the Game Master can set up and map the adventure herself to create a different layout. Primarily though, what the Game Master will be doing is populating the dungeon herself and to do this, the scenario provides tables of random room or bag descriptions, for the Early Bags, The Weird Middle Belt, and The Far Depths. These are backed up with a Random Finds table in the first appendix.

What this set-up means is that Brutal Imperilment in the Bag of Infinite Holding could be run with a minimum of preparation—indeed barely any preparation at all. Especially if she has a handy book of ready-to-run monsters just in case the player characters run into them. As to particular system, only is Hypertellurians: Fantastic Thrills Through the Ultracosm is referenced, but no stats are given, for either the NPCs and monsters or the pre-generated player characters given in the second appendix. They include a fop, a Dwarven weremole spymaster, a merfolk skeleton necromancer, an avaricious purple octopus wearing a diving helmet, the queen’s highly sceptical maid, a Dark Elf cleric, and the Queen herself. None have any stats or skills, but all have strengths and weaknesses, a drive, a secret, and some gear, such that the Game Master could easily create them using the system of her choice. Or alternatively, the players could simply roleplay them as written and roll dice as necessary.

Of course, a Bag of Infinite Holding is a very Dungeons & Dragons thing, but the set-up need not involve that signature magical item at all. The third appendix suggests various alternatives, such as Fae Door Portals and Wells, even gives one or two ideas as to how the adventure could be used in different ways. The book also includes notes on roleplaying the various inhabitants of the labyrinth of bags as well as possible epilogues, including one suggestion that the complex of Bag of Holding upon Bag of Holding is actually not unlike a certain Christopher Nolan film. 

Physically, Brutal Imperilment in the Bag of Infinite Holding is a slim book. Whether cartoony or realistic, the illustrations are excellent, and the writing decent, if perhaps succinct. Overall, the adventure should provide a session or two’s worth of slightly silly, tongue-in-cheek fantasy roleplay, with very low preparation time. If you wanted to adventure to find out what is at the bottom of the bag, then Brutal Imperilment in the Bag of Infinite Holding lets you fall in and go beyond its limits.

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. As popular in the Old School Renaissance as the genre is, not all fanzines are devoted to Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games.

The world of Glorantha has had any number of fanzines dedicated to it over its forty year or so history, most notably, Wyrm’s Footnotes and Tales of the Reaching Moon. Published by D101 Games, Hearts in Glorantha is a more recent fanzine, having been published on an irregular basis since 2008. A total of seven issues have been published to date, with the first five collated as Hearts in Glorantha Vol 1 Collected. The inaugural issue, Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 Summer 2008 was subtitled ‘Mythology & Glorantha’ and its focus is very much on the mythology and bringing it to your game. As well as the ‘Mythology & Glorantha’, it comes with two region guides, duck tales, an interview, and more.

The issue opens with John Ossoway’s ‘God Fall’. This details a location in north-eastern Prax, at least a week’s waterless journey from anywhere, a location where a century ago, a new star blazed across the sky and fell to earth. Hailed as a fallen god, its worshippers are known to receive prophetic visions and healing from him whilst they wait until the time he awakens, reveals his identity, and rewards them for their devotion. Both location and cult are described, and there are also notes for shifting God Fall to the Second Age. What is missing here is a scenario seed or two, something to give the description some application to help the Game Master include it in her game.

Publisher and editor of Hearts in Glorantha, Newt Newport, contributes several pieces to this first issue of the fanzine. The first is ‘Prologue Method For Character Generation’, which breaks the character creation process in HeroQuest into three steps—Childhood, Rites of Passage, and Early Experience, and has player and Game Master together explore what happened at each stage. This rewards both with enhanced character creation and background and experience of how the character works in play. He also details a frontier country in the Eastern Wilds of Ralios in two articles—‘Karia’ and ‘Karia Mythology and History’. The first is a gazetteer for Karia, a rough land and only separated from Dorastor Land of Doom by the Kartolin Pass, barely populated by settlers from the Kingdom of Delela, exiles from the Dukedom of Naskorion, and Trolls from the Queendom of Halikiv. The second provides context and background, not just from one point of view, but multiple points. This includes the Orlanthis, the Trolls, and more, before bringing the region up to date at the dawn of the Hero Wars.

‘Homeland: Kralori’ by Mark Galeotti explores Kralorela, the Kingdom of Splendor in Eastern Genertela. It details this very traditional, caste-bound culture, their common faiths, and the Kralori pantheon. This is supported with particular Keywords for use with HeroQuest and nicely captures the conservative nature of the society. Elsewhere Stuart Mousir-Harrison describes Aweke, a low-growing ground herb found across Pralorela and elsewhere for ‘Flora of Glorantha’. It details how although difficult to cultivate, it has stimulating and endurance-enhancing properties.

The ‘Mythology & Glorantha’ focus gets underway with David Dunham’s ‘The Tale Theft’. This is a ‘do-it-yourself’ means of creating heroquests, using words and ideas on cards as elements which players can tribute towards both creation and play of a heroquest. By implication, it is written for use with HeroQuest and supported by a full example or two. This emphasises the storytelling aspects of HeroQuest and would actually work with the next article, ‘Location Mythlets’. Here Jane Williams looks at how to take the two-line myths from the Dragon Pass Gazetteer and by answering a few questions—what the Game Masters wants, how to build the myth, how it might differ from the myth’s norm, and how it might all go together. Again, it comes several examples. How a heroquest might differ from the norm is entertainingly illustrated in the first of third pieces of fiction in the issue. This is in James Williams’ second contribution to the issue, ‘Lookout Hill’, telling how a heroquest to ensure that the Thunder Brothers burned off the darkness at the foot of the Quivini Mountains became something more. The second piece of fiction, Jeff Richards’ ‘The Seduction of Tarahelera’ tells of what is perhaps a more straightforward heroquest, but is no less entertaining. The third is ‘Using a Charm’, an instructive piece on the nature of dealing with spirits by Greg Stafford.

Perhaps the most fun piece in Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 is ‘Rymes & Ribbolds Royall – The Kings and Queens of the Durulz’. Written by Stewart Stansfield with Keith Nellist, this presents idea that a chronicle of the kings and queens of the wereducks of Dragon Pass was written as a series of comedic poems, most notably by the skald known as Waddlewit. This is supported by three sample excerpts and histories for a particular monarch, as well as the full stats in HeroQuest for the artefacts associated with them. So for example, Holgreema the Rotbane, Queen Starbolt, wanton despot who wooed the river god, performed the Cutting of the Zombie Chain, and cast her left eye into the swamp to watch its borders is accompanied by a write-up of the Chariot of the Gods, Spirits, and Essences of the Creek-Stream River, a water-chariot made from a giant Dragonsnail shell. Typical spirits associated with the chariot are also described. All together a highly entertaining piece of lore.

The interview in Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 is with Jeff Richard. ‘Newt Talks to Jeff Richard’ is a fairly lengthy piece covering a number of subjects, including the then development of HeroQuest 2, as well as Pavis: Gateway to Glorantha, Cults of Sartar, and more. It highlights in the main the intended ease of play of HeroQuest 2 in comparison to the first edition of HeroQuest. As interesting as the interview is in capturing the then state of roleplaying Glorantha—after all, 2008 was a very different time with different publishers—it is not particularly interesting in itself.

The single scenario in Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 is Newt Newport’s ‘Fixing the Wrong’. Set in Dragon Pass, it casts the player characters as either Lunars or Heortlings. Since published in Gloranthan Adventures 1: New Beginnings, it takes place in the former lands of the Hazel Owl clan, which was all but obliterated by the Lunar Empire following an uprising. The Lunar Empire was not without compassion and established a mission house to attend to the refugees who survived, including the then beautiful daughter of Hazel Owl chieftain, Jalhena the Gentle. Driven mad by the experience, in the years since, Jalhena the Gentle has become Jalhena the Hag and a Lunar convert, so when she approaches the neighbouring Birch Shaper clan in order to claim the hand of the chief’s son in marriage, mediators are required. Which is where the Player Characters become involved. The scenario comes with a full cast list, location descriptions, and scenes, including a heroquest. Of course, timewise, this is now a slightly difficult scenario to run, but it could certainly be run as a flashback.

Physically, Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 Summer 2008 is decently presented. It needs a slight edit in places, but is in the main, very readable. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is good—or even excellent in the case of the ducks! Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 Summer 2008 is twelve years old and it shows very much in the choice of gaming systems referenced—though this is generally down with a little touch—and of course, the time frame. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the contents are invalid or useless, the discussion on the nature and construction of heroquests is thoughtful, the fiction entertaining, and the background interesting if not immediately useful. Overall, Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 Summer 2008 is a solidly thoughtful first issue.

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. As popular in the Old School Renaissance as the genre is, not all fanzines are devoted to fantasy.

Gamma Zine carries the subtitle, ‘A Fanzine supporting early post-apocalyptic, science-fantasy RPGs – specifically First Edition Gamma World by TSR.’ This then, is a fanzine dedicated to the very first post-apocalyptic roleplaying game, Gamma World, First Edition, published by TSR, Inc. in 1978. Gamma Zine #1 was published in April, 2019, following a successful Kickstarter campaign as part of Zine Quest 1. Published by ThrowiGames!, it came as a black and white booklet, packed with content, including adventures, equipment, monsters, and more. Published as part of Zine Quest 2, Gamma Zine #2 was published in February, 2020 and promised more of the same—adventures, equipment, monsters, fiction, and so on.

Where Gamma Zine #1 began with a short interview with James M. Ward, the designer of both Gamma World and its predecessor, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma Zine #2 starts with ‘An Interview with Luke Gygax’. This is not just because his father is E. Gary Gygax, but also because he is listed as the co-author of GW1 Legion of Gold, the very first scenario for Gamma World. What is interesting about the development of the module is that Luke Gygax was just nine or ten years old at the time the adventure was written. Thus we we read about his influence over the design of the module as well as the time he spent as a child with his father. Which adds a more personal touch to our views of the man who co-created Dungeons & Dragons and began the hobby.

‘New Horrors from the Wasteland’ provides two new monsters. One is the Chog, a canine creature which seems to adsorb radiation and expell it in its bite. The bad news for the Player Characters is that the stronger the intensity of the radiation it has adsorbed, the worse its bite! The other creature is the Dizard, a lizard-type known for its tenaciousness when attacking—it likes to get a grip and keep hold, forcing a Player Character to try and break that grip! Leather taken from the Dizard is also known to be sturdy and all but fire proof.

Gamma Zine #2 also continues adding something not found in Gamma World—a Class. Classes are not a feature of Gamma World, but ‘Class Option — The Wasteland Blacksmith’ shows how they could be added to added. Following on from Artificer from Gamma Zine #1, in Gamma Zine #2, this is the Wasteland Blacksmith who makes and repairs things from the wasteland junk, earning Experience Points for doing so, but does not gain as many Experience Points from mere combat. The rules are fairly basic, but it adds flavour and enables a player to add a skill and round out his character a bit more. ‘Artifacts of the Ancients’ in Gamma Zine #1 concentrated on weapons, but ‘Artifacts of the Ancients’ in Gamma Zine #2 focuses on tools and survival aids. So the Stimpack Drone is designed to be used to deliver doses of a healing agent by remote, but others have adapted it to deliver poisons and radiation and more! The Hop-Pack provides the wearer with short jumps, the collapsible axe is a handy tool, and the Survivor Armband is perfect for anyone wanting their Gamma World adventures to be a bit more like the computer game, Fallout!

Gamma Zine #2 comes with three adventures. The first is ‘Adventure #1 — The Millionaire’s Vault’ describes the vault where a millionaire from before the apocalypse hoarded his most valuable possessions. Unless the Player Characters are looking for the reputed  ‘Cure All’ said to be hidden in its depths, there is little reason for them to visit what is actually a converted missile silo. It is more of an adventure location and as an adventure location, would work well with ‘Adventure #2 — Paradise Island’. The island of the title is home to farmers and fishermen and is known to trade in foodstuffs, but when the Player Characters arrive they discover that the island has been attacked by pirates and their mercenary island. In comparison to ‘Adventure #1 — The Millionaire’s Vault’, and even though it is quite simple, there is a whole lot more plot in ‘Adventure #2 — Paradise Island’. The vault from ‘Adventure #1 — The Millionaire’s Vault’ could easily be moved onto Paradise Island, and ‘Adventure #2 — Paradise Island’ enlarged and expanded, perhaps to form a hexcrawl of its very own also using the three adventures in Gamma Zine #1. 

‘Adventure #3 — Rescue!’ likewise includes a bit more of a plot. It describes a pre-apocalypse, advanced detention facility and the idea in the scenario is that the Player Characters need to rescue someone held in one of its cells. It is quite detailed and should present a challenge to any Player Characters attempting to break or con their way into the facility. The map is a little cramped and difficult to read, and it does feel as it could have been better orientated on the page.

The issue also includes two pieces of fiction. The first is  ‘The Hunted, Chapter Two’ which picks up from the cliffhanger that ended in ‘The Hunted, Chapter One’. In the first part, Whyla and her faithful cybernetic hound, Arnold, were ambushed by bandits and this gives the payoff. Again it is nicely written and with the resolution of the first cliffhanger sets up another. Unfortunately, the other piece of fiction, though again decently written, is not just as engaging. ‘Opportunity of Lifetime, Prologue’ really sets everything up for the next part, detailing how a student is selected for an important scientific mission. Set before the apocalypse, not a great happens and at three pages in length, it is too long a read. Hopefully the next chapter provide a better payoff.

Lastly, Gamma Zine #2 gives the Game Master another ‘Artifact Use (Solution) Flowcharts’. The focus of this set is guns and ammunition. So there are flowcharts for identifying revolvers and semi-automatics, along with standard and advanced ammunition types. It splits ammunition types because they are easy to get mixed up. Of course, some groups will find them fiddly and annoying, but they are part of the mechanics to Gamma World, so having more of them is fun.

Physically, Gamma Zine #2 is neat and tidy. It is decently written and nicely illustrated with good art throughout. Each of the scenarios is accompanied by excellent maps.

If you enjoyed Gamma Zine #1, then the likelihood is that you will enjoy Gamma Zine #2. It provides excellent support for the first edition of Gamma World, as well as for post-apocalyptic roleplaying games with a drier, slightly less fantastic tone, such as Free League Publishing’s Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. It is not perfect though, there being a bit too much fiction and the adventures being more encounter locations than actual scenarios. This does not mean that they are not useful and the Referee can easily pick and choose how she uses the content. Certainly the adventures could be used to populate a hexcrawl of the Referee’s own devising. Overall, Gamma Zine #2 is continued solid support for Gamma World.

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry.

The Wormskin fanzine, published by Necrotic Gnome is written for use with Labyrinth Lord and issue by issue, details an area known as Dolmenwood, a mythical wood, an ancient place of tall trees and thick soil, rich in fungi and festooned with moss and brambles and rife with dark whimsy. Wormskin No. 1 was published in December, 2015, and was followed by Wormskin No. 2 in March, 2016. Both issues introduced the setting with a set of articles rich in flavour and atmosphere, but lacking a certain focus in that the region itself, Dolmenwood, was not detailed. Fortunately, in March, 2017, Necrotic Gnome Productions released Welcome to Dolmenwood, a free introduction to the setting. Further, Wormskin No. 3 and Wormskin No. 4, published in July, 2016 and Winter 2016 respectively, improved hugely upon the first and second issues, together providing a better introduction to Dolmenwood, giving some excellent answers to some very good questions about the setting before delving into what is the biggest secret of Dolmenwood. Published in the winter of 2017, Wormskin No. 5 looked at how the region might be explored, whilst also presenting the region around ‘Hag’s Addle’. Wormskin No. 6 focused on the area around Prigwort, as well as detailing ‘The Fairy Lords of Dolmenwood’ and the ‘Unseasons’ that beset the region.

Wormskin No. 7 was published in the autumn of 2017. The issue opens with two almost mundane, but actually very useful articles. The first, ‘Common Names in Dolmenwood’ lists thirty names each for men and women, Elves, Moss Dwarfs, Woodgrues, and Grimalkin—all given as Classes in earlier editions of the fanzine, plus liturgical names for Clerics, and then Honourifics for Clerics, Fighters, Thieves, and Magic-Users. The second, ‘Henchmen of Dolmenwood’ gives rules for locating and creating henchmen and then equipping them according to Class and Race. These obviously work together, but whether in combination or apart, they fill another part of Dolmenwood’s jigsaw puzzle. Especially the ‘Common Names in Dolmenwood’ which allows the Referee to easily name common NPCs.
The bulk of the issue though is dedicated to detailing another twenty-one hexes of Dolmenwood. These include seven hexes in the north around the hamlet of Drigbolton, seven hexes in central Dolmenwood to the east of the town of Prigwort, and in the south, seven hexes around the road from Lankshorn to Dreg. So ‘Drigbolton and Surrounds’ opens with the description of ‘The Hall of the Formorian’, a domed hall atop a marble slab which is home to a blue-skinned immortal giant bound by duty to await the arrival of an unknown man named Jack, a cottage of full of ghosts ready to trade secrets, whilst near the ghost town of Midgewarrow lies the manor home Lady Mariejay Haeroth, local noble and reclusive witch. The town of Drigbolton is mentioned, but not detailed, a full description being given in the scenario, The Weird that Befell Drigbolton.
Near Prigwort is the Ravine of the Stag Lord, a lonely natural amphitheatre where the Stag Lord manifests from the Otherworld to receive homage, though sadly without his head which has been stolen! What boons might he and his stag allies bestow should someone return the lost head to him? South of the ravine on the road is the Refuge of St. Keye, a stopping point on the old pilgrimage to the abandoned Abbey of St. Clewd. Here travellers can find a night’s rest and food if they are willing to listen to a sermon or two. Before that stands the Wenchgate—from the local name for Dryads, an arch of living trees and branches carved with faces that said to welcome travellers to Dolmenwood. Northeast of Lankshorn, not far from the Ditchway is a curiously formed hillock, which will radiate strongly should any magic that detects undead be cast upon it. This is because it is actually the skull of giant of a prodigious size no longer seen in these ages. With a skull that big, what could be inside it? Travellers looking for entertainment might want to visit the Port of Dreg and Shantywood Isle, the former a seedy haunt of thieves, smugglers, charlatans, and more, the latter a cliff-sided island upon which sits Chateau Shantywood. This is a ‘manor of ill repute’, but one which is an independent state of its own! The owner, Madame Shantywood is as much a repository of rumours and pillowtalk as she is ambitious to increase her influence.
The last part of Wormskin Issue Number 7 is devoted to ‘Monsters of Dolmenwood’. This presents some nine creatures native to the Eldritch region. The format for the monster entries has been shortened into a more concise fashion by excising the lair and encounter details which were included in previous entries in the series. This is disappointing because these added detail and examples which made the monster entries easier for use by the Referee. Nevertheless, these are good monsters, many of which have appeared in this and previous issues of the fanzine, either as known denizens of Dolmenwood or as playable character types and Races. They include the Drunewife, the womenfolk of the Drune known for their enchanting songs, and their herbalism and pottery, who are often accompanied by Kilnlings, the clay figurines that serve them. The Giant Psionic Snails are gargantuan denizens of the Otherworld who feed on the energy of Dolmenwood’s Ley Lines, who are often sort out for their knowledge of the Otherworld. One is thought to reside near Lankshorn, where its thoughts manifest as a tea tent that serves the mostly refreshing of brews.
Physically, Wormskin Issue Number 7 is as well presented as previous issues. The layout is clean and unfussy, the tables of ‘Common Names in Dolmenwood’ and ‘Henchmen of Dolmenwood’ make subtle use of colour and are so easy to read. As per usual, the issue uses a mix of publicly available artwork and commissioned pieces, the latter capturing the quirky nature of Dolmenwood. The issue’s use of colour is judicious and so stands out where it appears.
Wormskin Issue Number 7 is a solid issue, detailing yet more of Dolmenwood’s weird locations and inhabitants. Of course the issue suffers from the ‘Part Work’ format of Wormskin so putting it all together is all a bit daunting. It gives Dolmenwood a patchwork feel, the issue lending itself more to parts which a Referee can pull out and add to her game rather than Dolmenwood. 

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Another choice is Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

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

Where Crawl! No. 1 was something of a mixed bag, Crawl! #2 was a surprisingly focused, exploring the role of loot in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and describing various pieces of treasure and items of equipment that the Player Characters might find and use. Similarly Crawl! #3 was just as focused, but the subject of its focus was magic rather than treasure. Unfortunately, the fact that a later printing of Crawl! No. 1 reprinted content from Crawl! #3 somewhat undermined the content and usefulness of Crawl! #3. Now Crawl! Issue Number Four is just as focused as the second and third issues, but the good news is that its contents remains its own. It also differs in content from earlier in presenting the one thing—and that is a scenario.

Published in September, 2013, the whole of Crawl! Issue Number Four is devoted to Yves Larochelle’s ‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’, a scenario for Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game for characters of Fifth Level. From the start, you can tell that Crawl! Issue Number Four is an Old School Renaissance scenario, since it comes with a loose cover on the inside of which the scenario’s area map is printed. The village of Thorum has recently suffered a rash of strange occurrences—the holy symbols of the Goddess of Justice have been stolen, damaged, and destroyed; bodies have been stolen from the village graveyard and been found disfigured in the nearby river; the brother of the local head cleric has been kidnapped; and a group of bandits is known to operate near the village. The question is, are these facts and events all connected? The Player Characters are asked to investigate and determine exactly what is going on.

Essentially ‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’ does the traditional ‘Village in Peril’ set-up, but for mid-Level characters rather than low-Level characters. It presents numerous avenues of  investigation for the Player Characters to look into and follow up. The Player Characters should be able to grab a lead or two and perhaps gain an ally or two whilst in Thorum. The village itself is lightly detailed, so the Judge might want to develop it some more herself. Certainly, the Judge may want to provide floor plans of the local Church of the Goddess of Justice, but for the most part, she can make it up as the Player Characters conduct their investigation. Ideally, they should find the leads pointing towards the perpetrator of all of this, though there is the possibility that they circumvent much of the investigation and cut to the chase—the dungeon!

Consisting of just fifteen locations, ‘Macrobius’ Dungeon’ is fairly linear and for the most part, fairly uninteresting. The maze in its midst is really superfluous and some of the locations really deserved  more description. There is a nasty deathtrap though—well, what would be the point of a deathtrap if it is not nasty?—which the Judge will have fun with, as she will with the scenario’s antagonist, Macrobius, a wizard whose ambition and greed has led him to turn to evil. As is traditional.

‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’ is slightly oddly organised in that the scenario’s major NPCs are kept separate from the locations and potential scenes where they are encountered. What this means is that the Judge will need to flip back and forth from locations to NPCs, and although that may not slow the running of the adventure down too, it is slight awkward. In addition, the scenario includes its own ‘Appendix H’ and ‘Appendix N’. The first details a river dragon which the Player Characters may encounter and is likely to be more of a hindrance for them if they engage with it, whilst the latter details a couple of magical items both of which play an important role in the scenario.

Physically, ‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’ and thus Crawl! Issue Number Four, is neat and tidy. It is light on artwork, but the few pieces are rather nice, and the writing is generally clear and easy to read. The two maps feel a bit heavy in their style and the dungeon map feels rather cramped, especially given how little information it has to convey. The format with separate is a very knowing, lovely touch.

‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’ is reasonable enough adventure, with some good investigative links and some accompanying NPCs who should be fun to portray. However, the scenario feels underwritten and underwhelming in places—the dungeon in particular—and the Judge may want to develop just a little bit further. Even without that development, ‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’ should provide a session or two’s worth of play, but with that development, the scenario may be a little more flavoursome and a little more engaging. Overall, ‘The Tainted Forest Thorum’ is an okay dungeon, which means that Crawl! Issue Number Four is an okay issue of the fanzine.

In a recent conversation on Twitter, a poster asked the question, “What’s a good retroclone based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons?” Various answers were given, most notably OSRIC™ System (Old School Reference and Index Compilation) and Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea: A Roleplaying Game of Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Fantasy. My response was that in most cases, retroclones start with a version of Dungeons & Dragons or Basic Dungeons & Dragons and then build up from there to emulate Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Certainly, this is the case with Labyrinth Lord and Advanced Labyrinth Lord. It is also the case 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. With Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy presents options which emulate Advanced Dungeons & Dragons whilst restraining them in order to avoid the complexities of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.


Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy actually consists of two separate books. These are Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells. Now the two books complement each other, but also work on their own—though only to an extent. This is because some of the Classes from Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules use some of the spells from Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells, but simply the Magic-User from Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy could use the Illusionist spells from Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells and a game of Old School Essentials using Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules could be run without using the spells from Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells or without using the Classes that use those spells. However, Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells really work together and ideally the Referee should combine both if she wants to run Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy.

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules provides Referee and her players with some fifteen new Classes. In keeping with Old School Essentials, nine of these Classes are Human-only Classes. These are Acrobat, Assassin, Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Illusionist, Knight, Paladin, and Ranger. What is interesting here is the inspiration for these Classes. Not just Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, but with the inclusion of the Acrobat, Barbarian, and Knight—as nods to the Thief-Acrobat, Barbarian, and Cavalier respectively—Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules actually draws upon that most contentious of supplements for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, that is, Unearthed Arcana. The other six Classes are Demihuman Classes and in keeping with Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy with ‘Race as Class’ rather than Player Characters possessing both Race and Class. The six are Drow, Duergar, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Svirfneblin, and again, in bringing these to Old School Essentials, the supplement draws heavily upon the Unearthed Urcana. The inclusion of the Drow, Duergar, and Svirfneblin also draws from the Underworld of Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games, which Old Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules also add to Old School Essentials as an adventuring environment. What is clearly missing from these fifteen new Classes is the inclusion of the Monk as a new Class, but the publisher aims to include that in a supplement to mythical Asian adventures, what will likely be the equivalent of Oriental Adventures for Old School Essentials.

For the most part, the Classes in Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules will be familiar. So the Acrobat and the Assassin are like the Thief Class, but lack skills such as Pick Pocket, Find Trap, and so on. Instead, the Acrobat focuses on jumping, tumbling, and evading, whilst the Assassin focusses on kills by stealth. Similarly, the Barbarian has some stealth skills in the wilderness, fears all use of magic, and can eventually strike otherwise invulnerable foes. The Knight adheres to a chivalric code, always attempts to wear the best armour and wield the best weapons, is a good horseman, and is immune to fear. The Paladin casts divine magic, can lay on hands to heal and turn or destroy undead. The Ranger is rarely surprised, casts Druidic spells, can track, and also perform surprise attacks in the wilderness. The Bard is different in that it can cast Druidic spells from the Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells, charm and fascinate an audience with his music and singing and learns languages and lore. Druids are of Neutral Alignment, also cast Druidic spells, can Pass Without Trace in the wilderness, rarely get lost in the woods, and can eventually shape change into animals. The Illusionist is like the Magic-User, but casts spells from Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells.

Of the six ‘Race as Class’ Classes, the Drow are like Elves, but know Divine rather than Arcane spells, suffer light sensitivity, and have an affinity for spiders. Duergar are like Dwarves, but suffer from light insensitivity and notably have mental powers like Invisibility and Enlargement that can be used daily. Gnomes cast Illusionist spells, but can wear armour and also speak with burrowing animals. Half-Elves can all use all weapons and armour and can also cast arcane spells, though not as many as an Elf or a Magic-User. The Half-Orc can use all weapons and light armour and has a number of Thief skills, whilst the Svifneblin can blend into stone, has illusion resistance, can speak with Earth Elementals, can understand the murmurs of stone, and also suffer from light sensitivity.

What is notable with all of these Classes is that the designer has tried to keep them unique, to keep their abilities from encroaching on those of Classes, and to keep them from being too powerful. The likelihood is that he has almost succeeded with the fifteen new Classes. There is some overlap of skills, for example, the Move Silently skill being shared by several different Classes. Plus Classes like the Knight and the Paladin do feel powerful in comparison to the standard Classes. That said, all of the Classes feel reined in when comparing them to their original versions from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

In addition to the supplement’s dozen or so Classes, Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules also provides a number of Advanced Character Options. These include rules for making Old School Essentials a Race and Class roleplaying game, separating the two. So all three ‘Race as Class’ Classes from Old School Essentials— Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling—as well as Humans are presented as Races, as are the Drow, Duergar, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Svirfneblin. All bar Humans have Level limits on the Classes available to them, though if this is lifted, options are given to account for the lack of Human innate abilities. Further rules cover the use of poison, extra rules for combat including two-weapon fighting and parrying, multi-classing, as well as secondary skills and weapon proficiencies. Of course these add complexity in play, but they also add depth and they move Old School Essentials towards, but not to the level of complexities of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. And again, these rules are all optional.


Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells is the companion volume and very much contains what it says on the tin. It presents thirty-four Druid spells, from First to Fifth Level, and seventy-two Illusionist spells, from First to Sixth Level. Druid spells focus on survival, healing, and offence, so Predict Weather, Cure Light Wounds, and Call Lightning. Illusion spells focus on deception, mind control, and warping reality, so Dancing Lights, Fascinate, and Mirror Image. The selection and range have been kept in line with the Cleric and Magic-User spells of Old School Essentials, so the numbers for the Druid are the same as the Cleric, just as the numbers for the Illusionist are the same as the Magic-User. What is fantastic about Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells is how well the book is organised. It has an index for the spells plus the inside of the front and back covers are effectively used, not just with spell lists, but spot rules too. It makes Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells highly accessible and useable at the table.

Physically, both Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells are nattily presented little hardbacks. In particular, Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules follows the format of Old School Essentials by keeping its various elements particularly succinct. So every Class is kept to a single two-page spread, each individual Race to a single page, and so on. Both books are illustrated in black and white and for the most part, the artwork is good.

If there is an issue with Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells it is really that not all of either book works without referring to the other. If the Druid and Illusionist Classes are in play, then really, Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells is really necessary to effectively play because not only the Druid and Illusionist use these spells, but so do the Bard, the Gnome, and the Ranger. If there is another issue with either book, it is that they pull Old School Essentials away from its origins in the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons and its accompanying Expert Set. The inclusion of elements from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons may not sit well with some players and Referees of Old School Essentials, but fundamentally, both Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells are optional. Which means that they are not integral to playing or running Old School Essentials and neither Referee nor player have to purchase them to play the roleplaying game.

Ultimately, if you are playing Old School Essentials using Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells, then you are not playing the Basic Dungeons & Dragons of 1981. However, neither are you playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Instead, Old School Essentials using Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells presents the means to incorporate elements of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but in a restrained fashion, adhering to the simplicity of Old School Essentials throughout.

An Inner Darkness: Fighting for Justice Against Eldritch Horrors and Our Own Inhumanity is a Call of Cthulhu book with a difference. Published by Golden Goblin Press following a successful Kickstarter campaign, An Inner Darkness is an anthology of six scenarios for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition which explores where the all too human horrors of the Jazz Age and Desperate Decade intersect with the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. In six scenarios it deals with issues not normally explored or addressed in Call of Cthulhu—child labour and exploitation, the poor treatment suffered by veterans of the Great War in the subsequent decade, sexual assault, mob violence, and nativism and religious persecution and racial discrimination. None of these are easy subjects to deal with and for this reason An Inner Darkness comes with a Reader Advisory warning the reader that it contains Mature Content. What this also means is that An Inner Darkness is not necessarily a book for every Call of Cthulhu devotee or group—and that is fine. Just like the superlative Harlem Unbound from 2017, An Inner Darkness deserves to have a place on our gaming shelves, for if it is not to your tastes, then it is to someone else’s.

From the start it should be made clear that being an anthology of scenarios for a roleplaying game, the Reader Advisory on An Inner Darkness is all the more pertinent and all the more potent. This is entirely because of the nature of roleplaying itself. Neither the Keeper nor her players will be sat comfortably watching, reading, or listening to the content subject to the Reader Advisory. Instead, as players they will be roleplaying characters interacting with horrible situations and persons with points of view and opinion which though regarded as reprehensible today, would have been seen as the norm in the period in which the six scenarios in An Inner Darkness are set. Further, the Keeper has the unpleasant task of describing these situations and roleplaying the men and women who hold to such outlooks and opinions. Here is perhaps the one major issue with An Inner Darkness, that there is little in the way of advice for the Keeper in portraying these NPCs.

To get the very fullest of these scenarios the Keeper may want to have access to several other supplements. These include H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands, Secrets of New York, H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham, and Secrets of Los Angeles. Note that none of these supplements are necessary to run the scenarios in An Inner Darkness, but they may be useful.

An Inner Darkness opens with ‘Dreams of Silk’ by Christopher Smith Adair. This takes place in Brights Mill, Pennsylvania in 1922 and explores the darker side of child labour during the period, including unsafe conditions, dangerous materials, and a lack of concern for worker safety. Children of poor and working-class families were often expected to work as it brought much needed income for their families and there were fewer regulations and protections governing their working conditions. The investigators are asked by a representative of the Women’s Trade Union League to help investigate Hempstead Chemicals, a local manufacturer of cosmetics. Several of the child employees have fallen sick or even died after terrible accidents. Ultimately, the factory becomes the focus of the investigators’ attention, a nicely creepy environment, listless during the day, weird at night. The scenario also dovetails into The Dreamlands, though only in minor way. Here the Mythos is used to exacerbate the situation, though Humans are ultimately responsible for the situation. Pleasingly, the scenario also directly addresses the problems which occur should the investigators decide to burn the factory down, as well as possible consequences.

Brian M. Sammons’ ‘When This Lousy War is Over’ is about the conditions and experience of veterans, in particular, severely injured veterans—mentally and physically, returning from the Great War. Without easily available medical and psychiatric treatment or veterans’ services, the veterans have to rely on each other. Despite this, some are unable to cope back in ordinary society, and this lies at the heart of the scenario. Set in Arkham, Massachusetts, it begins with the investigators learning that a friend of theirs, a veteran of the Great War, has been found murdered. It quickly becomes apparent that the victim had no enemies and beyond his membership of the local outpost of the Veterans of Foreign Wars association, was an ordinary member of society. So who killed him? This feels very much like a traditional investigative scenario, but it examines the tensions between the members of Veterans of Foreign Wars and local society, how they are tolerated, but only up to a point. Of all the scenarios in the anthology, this is perhaps the most muscular in tone and likely to end in a stand-up fight.

The third scenario, Jeffrey Moeller’s ‘A Fresh Coat of White Paint’ is the first one where the Reader Advisory for An Inner Darkness is really applicable and the first one to really make the Keeper and her players uncomfortable. It is set outside Los Angeles in 1931 and is the first of two scenarios in the anthology to deal with nativism—the promotion and protection of the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants. During the nineteen twenties and thirties the target of nativism in California were Mexican immigrants, which was only exacerbated by the onset of the Great Depression. ‘A Fresh Coat of White Paint’ takes place in an actual location, the Elysian Park tramp stockade where ethnic Mexicans—whether immigrants or actual American citizens—are forcibly held until they agree to be extradited. The conditions are appalling as more and more Mexicans are rounded up and incarcerated, the guards openly racist, and the charity providing aid and food to the stockade barely so. As journalists, social activists, police officers, and so on, the investigators get called into the stockade when a young girl goes missing from within its confines. Now of course the Mythos is involved in her disappearance, but the real horror of the scenario is in dealing with the ghastly attitudes of the guards which has the implicit support of Los Angeles society. Investigating the disappearance will challenging enough, but stomaching the attitudes of the guards and the conditions the Mexicans are kept in is likely to be more challenging, worse because they may have to stomach it in order to get into the stockade. What is interesting about how the author of the scenario—an immigration lawyer—draws parallels between ‘A Fresh Coat of White Paint’ and the contemporary situation with immigration and migrants.

‘A Family Way’ switches to New York and confronts an issue at the heart of the Mythos, which has been alluded to over and over in Call of Cthulhu and Lovecraftian fiction—specifically the sexual assault on men and women by Deep Ones. When a young lady of the investigators’ acquaintance attempts to seduce one of them, it is quickly revealed that she is pregnant. Not only that, but pregnant through rape. The horror of this situation is compounded by the then attitudes towards women with unwanted pregnancies, rape, and the solutions to the problem. This includes abortion. Which will lead to some interesting—probably demanding—roleplaying as the players navigate their investigators through the situation and the Keeper portrays the victim. It almost seems superfluous that the scenario compounds the situation with the return of the Deep Ones responsible and whilst this leads to a memorable confrontation in New York harbour, hopefully in the long term the Keeper and players alike will remember ‘A Family Way’ for the nature of its origins and the roleplaying required.

Helen Gould’s ‘Fire Without Light’ confronts rampant racism and mob violence in the aftermath of the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921 in Oklahoma. It is a year later and tensions between the black and white communities in the town are still high—and set to get even higher as the scenario progresses. Whether as survivors of the riots, journalists or activists come to the town a year later, preachers come to provide succour, the investigators will find themselves faced with three challenges. The first is defusing the rising tensions to prevent any further outbreaks of violence, whilst the second is trying to find out what is causing tensions to escalate once again. The third though, is probably the most difficult, and again is having to deal with both the racism of the period and the then society’s acceptance of it.  The consequences of the investigators’ actions are nicely explored and there are potential links in the scenario’s set-up to Harlem Unbound.

The last scenario in the anthology takes the investigators to Maine and another period of intolerance and racism. ‘They Are From Away’ by Charles Gerard is set in the Pine Tree State in 1923 at a time when the Ku Klux Klan was highly active in the state’s politics. The targets of the Klan’s racism in this scenario are not African Americans, but rather French-Canadian immigrants who work the state’s lumber camps. The migrant workers are also vilified for their Roman Catholicism, which is decried as being unamerican. The investigators—professionals within the city’s Catholic community, church officials, activists rallying against the Klan’s activities, dissatisfied members of local law enforcement, and so on—are called to Bangor where a local church and the French-Canadian immigrants have both been subject to a rash of strange sanguinary occurrences. The investigation takes place against a backdrop of growing Klan activity, French-Canadian obstinance, and rumours of a curse, but help will come from a surprising source. For the most part, this is a straightforward enough investigative scenario, though one which literally has a bloody ending.

Rounding out An Inner Darkness is a trio of Investigator Organisations, a feature of Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition which helps explain and support the Investigators’ motivations for looking into the Mythos again and again. They start off strongly with ‘The Caldwell Book Mobile Service’ by Oscar Rios, a mobile library service which not only provides communities without a library access to books to borrow, but also fights the Mythos! The other two are both by Jeff Moeller and are not as strong. ‘A Bunch of Troublemakers’ describes a suffragette who infiltrates activist groups and spurs them into investigating the Mythos, whilst ‘Friends from Boston’ broadly details a protest group which funds efforts to expose governmental abuse, highlight injustice, and support reform. In comparison to ‘The Caldwell Book Mobile Service’ neither feel immediately compelling.

Physically, An Inner Darkness is a step up in quality from previous books from Golden Goblin Press. Colour is used throughout, and whilst the book is liberally illustrated, the use of colour marrs some of the artwork, making it look cartoonish and detracting from its intended impact. Photographs are used occasionally too, and these are sharp and well presented. The writing though, does feel rushed in places, and perhaps could have done with a closer edit.

An Inner Darkness presents a sextet of well researched, heavily historical scenarios which confront the reader, the player, the Keeper, and the investigator with the injustices, the awful attitudes, and accepted practices of the period. This makes them difficult to run—as does the specific time periods for many of the scenarios—and to play. As they should. Playing these scenarios should make player and Keeper alike uncomfortable, for they highlight how horror can be found in mankind’s darkest nature—and that is even before the Mythos exploits that nature. An Inner Darkness: Fighting for Justice Against Eldritch Horrors and Our Own Inhumanity deserves its ‘Mature Content’ advisory not just because of the subject matter, but also because despite its distasteful nature, it is handled in a mature fashion.

In ages past the world ended. In the skies above Babylon, the greatest city on Earth, specks of black mist appeared, pulsated, and grew, extending until the heavens were engulfed by an ocean of darkness. Even in the darkness, gashes could be seen in the newly sundered skies and from them cyclone-like tentacles reached out and began to rip the world apart. As prayers to the gods went unanswered, helpless men, women, and children were swept up into the turmoil and into the Void beyond… In this way the world ended, and mankind fell from grace. Many centuries have passed and the descendants of those survivors who were ripped from Ancient Mesopotamia struggle for their existence between the cracks and in the shadows in the slums of Llyhn the Eternal City, a dystopian cosmopolis and trading hub at the epicentre between the Cosmos and the Void. Living in filthy alleys and shanties among beggars, slaves and the casteless, they scrounge for scraps that fall from palaces of the unknowable alien Unseen Rulers of the city. Humanity is very much at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Llyhn, a city inhabited and ruled by eerie beings from faraway worlds, bizarre sapient entities and otherworldly Daimons from beyond the Veil. However, there are factions in the city who want this to change, for humanity to rise beyond its meagre existence. Chief amongst these are the three enclaves of humanity. These are the Feerdani enclave, consisting of a thousand labourers and dork workers ruled by the one-armed, elderly despot, Feerada; the ruins known as Beggars Court, ruled by the corpulent and paranoid self-styled Beggar King; and the Assembly, an inclusive enclave governed by a representative body which is seen as a beacon of hope in Llyhn. 

The Player Characters are inhabitants of Llyhn Eternal, seeking matronage or patronage with one of the enclaves, getting involved in the rivalries between the city’s many factions, perhaps even voyaging out from the order and constancy of the Cosmos into the chaos and catalyst that is the Void to other worlds, perhaps on missions of trade, exploration, diplomacy, and more. Yet between the stability of the Cosmos and the ethereal, fluctuating ocean of the Void, is the Veil, a metaphysical entity which keeps them apart, though there are places where the Veil is weakened to the point where the boundary between the Void and the Cosmos is blurred. This is where border worlds such as Llyhn are located.

This is the set-up for Black Void , a roleplaying game of esoteric dark fantasy published by Black Void Games and distributed by Modiphius Entertainment. Although there have been many roleplaying game of late published in Scandinavia, nearly all of them by Free League Publishing, Black Void has the distinction of being a Danish roleplaying game. It may well be the first Danish roleplaying game to be published in English.

As the descendants of Earth, Player Characters can be Pureblood Humans; Halfbloods, the result of interbreeding with another species, often regarded with hostility by other Humans; or Voidmarked, either born of esoteric and Human parents or exposed too much to the chaotic nature of the Void. They may Llyhn natives and perhaps enclave members, outsiders from a backwater world, recluses from the city, or perhaps even Lost Children returned from traversing the Void or rescued castaways from missing expeditions or colonies. A Player Character is defined by his homeworld, Traits, Background, Attributes, Powers, and Skills. A homeworld provides a Player Character with a little background information and a Talent, whilst his Traits—Agility, Awareness, Stamina, Strength, Intellect, Persuasion, Presence, and Willpower, typically rated between one and five for Human characters, but can go as high as twelve for other species. They are the equivalent of attributes or characteristics in other roleplaying games. They typically average three for most Humans and most Player Characters. Traits and Flaws are advantages and disadvantages, whilst Background defines a character’s social standing, allies, resources, and ancestry. Attributes and Powers are somewhat different. Attributes—what would be called traits in other roleplaying games—can either be Physical or Esoteric. Physical Attributes, for example, wings or horns, may be found amongst Halfblood and Voidmarked characters, whilst only the Voidmarked may have Esoteric Attributes, such as Ageless or the beguiling Daimonic Whispers. Powers are supernatural abilities, either Mystic powers, Blood Rituals, or Void powers. Mystic powers enable a character to channel his mental energies or inner Void to manifest phenomena and change reality around him; Blood Rituals require deal with sacrificial divination, bloodletting rituals, and other practices in order to enhance the practitioner; and Void powers are innate inhuman abilities and manifestations, available only to the enlightened.

For the most part, character generation is done by Point Buy. A player has forty-eight Character Points to spend on everything. Half of these are assigned to the character’s eight Traits, giving them a value of three each. Deducting three from each Trait gives its bonus for actions and skill rolls, so a Trait needs to be at least four to provide any bonus. The other half is spent on Talents, Backgrounds, Attributes, Powers, and Skills. Talents and Flaws are associated with particular Traits. A Trait must have a value of three or more to have an associated Talent, or a value of three or less to have an associated Flaw. Being a Halfblood or Voidmarked character also costs points, but grants access to Attributes that an ordinary Human character would not have. 

Skills are ranked between zero and twelve, from Dabbler to Legendary, and must be purchased at a Rank of zero before they can be raised to a positive value. For every three ranks in a skill, a character can have a specialisation, but each specialisation costs three points. A character also has two other values. Enlightenment is a measure of his intuitive understanding of the greater Cosmos, Void, and the Veil, and can be a boon or a bane, but ultimately tracks his climb to illumination and the powers that grants him. Initial Enlightenment depends on a character’s origins and can only be improved through play. Wastah represents a character’s personal influence, typically ranging between one and three.

Our sample character is Bagrah, an orphaned Halfblood human who nominally works in an abattoir handling animals, but finds more work as a small time thief, thug, and hired muscle. His height and weird eyes unnerve many people, which can be to his advantage. He wants to improve his existence, but does not know how.

Name: Bagrah
Race: Halfblood
Homeworld: Enlightened – Core
Age: 19 Gender: Male
Appearance: Lanky and wiry; feathery hair, vertical; slits for eyes

Agility 4 (+1) (Talent: Fast Reflexes)
Awareness 4 (+1) (Talent: Vigilant)
Stamina 3 
Strength 3 
Intellect 3 (Talent: Focused)
Persuasion 2 (-1) (Flaw: Blunt [Mild])
Presence 2 (-1) (Flaw: Bad Aura [Mild])
Willpower 3 

Health: 28 Sanity: 8 Move: 5 Defence Value: 9 Enlightenment: 0 Wastah: 0

Backgrounds: Caste: Kalbi, Local 
Powers: Retractable Small Claws, Night Vision

Skills: Athletics 1, Animal Handling 0, Dodge 1, Larceny 1, Stealth 1, Streetwise 1, Unarmed Combat 1

Notes: +1 interaction from homeworld; +1 modifier to subterfuge, disguise and associated rolls.

Character creation and getting the points balanced between Backgrounds, Traits, Powers, and Skills is slightly fiddly to get quite right. At even the standard power level for starting characters a player will need to decide which of these his character will focus on. Certainly unless a character is focused on skills, he is unlikely to have any Specialisations as they are so costly.

Mechanically, Black Void uses a standard roll and add mechanic, employing a twelve-sided die. To this will be added modifiers from a character’s appropriate Traits, Talents, and Skills. An easy task has a difficulty rating of four, an average task a difficulty rating of seven, a challenging task a difficulty rating of ten, and so on, going up in steps of three all the way up to twenty-five for an impossible task. A roll of a one is a critical fumble, whilst a roll of a twelve is a critical success and enables the die to be rerolled and the result added. Various effect rolls, such as weapon damage, are rolled on two, three, four, six, and twelve-sided dice.

Combat uses the same mechanics, the difficulty to hit an opponent determined by his Defence Value. In general, combatants get only one action per round and this can be used up if a character needs to dodge or parry an attack, so a player will need to be more careful in his choice of actions as there is no automatic attack attempt. Armour reduces damage, but its bulk can impede attacks or other actions, and weapons can have other properties, such as piercing for a spear or knockdown for a mace. Both arms and armour can be modified and customised for further effects.
                                                                                               
Magic plays a major role in Black Void and comes in three types—Blood Rituals, Mysticism, and Void powers. Of these, only Blood Rituals and Mysticism are available at the start of the game, whilst Void powers come through being exposed to the Void or gaining Enlightenment. Magic is very different to that of other fantasy roleplaying games and has an adult tone in places. Notably, this is with Blood Rituals, the practice of ceremonial sacrifice of living animals, beasts, and sometimes even sentient or Daimonic beings. This is divided between bloodletting, the blood being consecrated, offered, or ritually consumed to confer its innate powers and thus a temporary ability, bonus, or advantage on the practitioner or other recipient, and sacrificial divination, in which the entrails and blood of a sacrificial animal are examined to elicit an answer to a query supposed fortune, insight, or providence. Mysticism is influenced by the Void and enables its practitioners to alter reality with inexplicable, wondrous, and oftentimes quite dangerous phenomena, and as such can only be practised by the Voidmarked, the enlightened, or those who have otherwise been affected by the Void. Practitioners of Mysticism are either Furores or Gnostics, depending upon if they use their Willpower or Intellect respectively. Furores tended to be untrained and unleash passion fuelled displays of unrefined powers, whilst Gnostics are trained and meditative, capable of creating more subtle effects. They cannot channel as much power as Furores, but know techniques which enable them to withstand the deleterious effects should they lose control of their power.

Our sample Mystic is Gulandam, a healer and scholar in good standing with the Beggars Court despite his appearance. 

Name: Gulandam
Race: Voidmarked
Homeworld: Llyhn Native
Age: 59 (Elder) Gender: Female
Appearance: Short and obese; speckled skin, hair tendrils, all black eyes, tendril beard, four fingers on each hand, four toes on each foot.

Agility 2 (-1)
Awareness 3 
Stamina 2 (-1) (Flaw: Obese [Mild])
Strength 2 (-1) (Flaw: Frail [Mild])
Intellect 4 (+1) (Talent: Quick Learner)
Persuasion 3 
Presence 3 
Willpower 5 (+2) (Talent: Resolve)

Health: 16 Sanity: 39 Move: 4 Defence Value: 7 Enlightenment: 0 Wastah: 1

Backgrounds: Educated, Local

Powers: Ageless, True Sight, Mysticism (Gnostic) 1– Spheres: Life (2), Mind (2)

Skills: Anatomy 1, Bladed Weapons 0, Enquiry 1, Herbalism 1, Occult Lore 1 

Then there is Enlightenment. Through a growing awareness and comprehension of the Cosmos and the Void, a Player Character can climb tiers of Ascension, becoming increasingly sensitive to the Void and able to express various powers. Enlightenment only comes about through play and it is up to the Arbiter to decide when a Player Character progresses.
Bagrah has been hired to mug Gulandam, part of the rivalries besetting the Beggars Court. The Arbiter Gulandam’s player must make an opposed Observation roll versus Bagrah’s Stealth check. The Stealth check figures in Bagrah’s Agility modifier and Stealth skill, which is +1 each. His player rolls the die and adds +2 for a result of 9, modified to 11. Gulandam has no modifier, nor the Observation skill, so is untrained and suffers a -3 bonus. His player rolls an 11, modified to 8. Bagrah has achieved surprise and consequently, beyond his natural Defence Value of 7, Gulandam cannot react to the attack. Bagrah unleashes his claws and leaps to attack. His player will add +1 for Bagrah’s Agility modifier and +1 for his Unarmed Combat skill. Unfortunately, Bagrah’s player rolls a natural 1—a critical fumble! This means his player rolls on the Mishap Table, the result being a ten in which Bagrah pinches a nerve and cannot conduct any combat manoeuvres the following round.In the next round, both players roll for initiative. Gulandam has no modifier, but Bagrah gains a total bonus of +2 from his Agility and Fast Reflexes Talent. Bagrah’s player again rolls a natural 1! There is no penalty for this, but Bagrah is obviously slowed by the pain. Gulandam’s player simply rolls a 7. Now both players will declare their characters’ actions. Bagrah’s player says that he will be doing no more than dodge whatever Gulandam attack will make, whilst Gulandam’s player decides that the Mystic will strike fear into Bagrah using the Mind Sphere of his Gnosticism. This takes three separate steps. First to determine the Potency of the Mystic channelling, then make a to-hit roll and roll, followed by a damage roll.Potency depends on the channelling time, range, duration, area, and the Rank of the Sphere used. An instant channelling time has a Potency of 6, but Gulandam has time to concentrate before Bagrah can act. Gulandam spends a second concentrating on the channelling, reducing his initiative to 3 and the Potency to 5. Range is inside three metres and duration is instant, so the Potency is not increased, but the target of one person increases it by 1. It is also increased by 2 for Gulandam’s Rank in the Mind Sphere. This gives his player a Difficulty of 9 to beat. To this, Gulandam’s player will add +1 each for Gulandam’s Intellect modifier and Mysticism Rank. He rolls a 9, adds +2, for a total of 11. Gulandam has successfully channelled the Gnostic forces and his player now makes the to-hit roll. Bagrah has a high Defence Value and Gulandam has a poor Agility, giving a -1 modifier to the attack roll. Fortunately, Gulandam’s player rolls an 11, which means Gulandam successfully strikes his assailant. At Rank 2 of the Mind Sphere, Gulandam can force Bagrah’s player to make a roll against Difficulty rating of seven. Unfortunately, Bagrah’s player rolls a 5 and Bagrah is suddenly affeared… This means he has to roll on the Fear effect table, and on a seven, Bagrah is panicked, and must flee for three rounds and is at a penalty to act against Gulandam.Black Void is split into two parts. The first half presents the rules for both the players and the Arbiter—as the Game Master as known in Black Void—and quite an extensive equipment list also, including lists of physician’s tools, infusions and teas, services and labour, and so on. The second half is for the Arbiter. Here it presents solid advice on running and setting up a game, before delving into the world or worlds of Black Void itself. This includes an examination of the Void itself and the means and dangers of traversing it; perforations between the Void and the Cosmos, and the appearance and nature of the perforations where they appear; and information about the most common routes through, in particular those overseen by the Unseen Rulers of the Eternal City. The focus of the Arbiter’s section is Llyhn Eternal and here it is given a good breakdown of the city’s sections, factions, and so on, complete with decent maps, personalities, and plot hooks. The bestiary provides a selection of strange  sentient and non-sentient races. They include the curious and diminutive four-armed Aq’Jarea, traders and travellers known to hire guides and guides; the Eybolq, a black-scaled, aquatic-looking creature that swims through the air rather than the water and has a strange aims and known to feed upon the mental capabilities of its targets; and the Harith, bulky, six-armed blobs of muscle known for their sense of honour, their singing voices, and the great flotillas they travel the Void in. Lastly, nine worlds are described as potential destinations to go beyond the Veil.

Black Void is a roleplaying game in which not only are the Player Characters at the bottom, but so is the rest of Humanity. They cower at the bottom of a highly stratified and strict caste system, wanting to improve themselves as does the remnants of Humanity. However, step out of line and the powers that be in Llyhn the Eternal, the Unseen Rulers and their servants, are all too ready to swat Humanity like insects. Improving themselves will take matronage and patronage, allies, dangerous missions, and more. At times it involves the Player Characters to the Void, which may change them, make them less or more than Human. The question is, as the last bastion of Humanity, are they and the enclaves of Humanity in Llyhn prepared to sacrifice that? 

Physically, Black Void feels as dark as its name suggests. All of the pages are given a faded sepia wash and whilst is quite heavily illustrated, the artwork varies in quality. Much of the black and white art is of questionable quality, whilst the majority of the full artwork is very, it is often too dark, often murky, to really see the rich detail that it probably has. It needs an edit too in places, but otherwise in terms of the text is decently written.

Black Void is an amazing fantasy creation, dark and different in its feel with a great deal of originality and yet… Black Void simply suffers from poor design in terms of the way in which it presents its information. Fundamentally it is not sufficiently upfront what the game is or what is about and what the players can roleplay and what they are doing. In fact, there is not really enough background presented to the players at all before they are given the means of creating characters and then the rules. For the Arbiter, there is no explanation of what the game is about until halfway—two hundred pages—through the book. What this means is that the players are given the means—or the how—of character creation, but not the why. They have no context for what they are creating which leaves the Arbiter with extra work to do in order to educate her players. Certainly, Black Void needed some sample characters complete with backgrounds and motivations, some background with in-game voices explaining the factions and what they want, and so on. That would have prepared the players for character creation, given them basics about the background, given them some ideas about what to play, and also prepared the Arbiter for her own half of the book. It does not help that the core book lacks a scenario to help her get started either.

Black Void is a fantastical creation, genuinely original. It reads as if One Thousand and One Nights has been cast upon an alien shore under skies of cosmic horror and that is a weird combination. As a roleplaying game, Black Void takes more effort and makes more demands upon the players and the Arbiter than what its very different setting should, all of them unnecessary if it had been more clearly designed and presented. If as a Referee you are looking for a different, original fantasy setting, then Black Void is worth investigating, but bringing it to the table will be a challenge.

Best Left Buried is a fantasy horror roleplaying game in which characters venture into the crypts and caves below the earth in search of secrets and treasures and there face unnameable monsters, weird environments, eldritch magic, and more… Whilst deep underground, they will be under constant stress, face fears hitherto unknown, and the likelihood is that they will return from the depths physically and mentally scarred, the strangeness they have seen and the wounds they have suffered separating them from those not so foolish as to descend into the dark. Published by Soul Muppet Publishing, there are several versions of Best Left Buried. Although all three contain the same basic rules, they vary according to the extra information they contain. So Best Left Buried: The Zini Edition offers a lightweight, basic version intended for ease of play; Best Left Buried: Cryptdigger’s Guide To Survival includes more information for both player and information as well as everything in Best Left Buried: The Zini Edition; and Best Left Buried: Deluxe Edition contains everything plus background and extra rules.

Best Left Buried: The Zini Edition or A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Rules is probably the most accessible, presenting its contents in discrete, self-contained chapters or ‘Zinis’. The idea here is to minimise page-flipping and the format has also been applied to its companion, A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Dungeons. This is an anthology of fifteen mini-dungeons and mini-locales reduced to the ‘Zini’ format, just four pages per entry, written by a diverse number of writers working in the Old School Renaissance hobby. Each entry adheres to the same format, a title page providing an illustration of the dungeon’s main antagonist, a quick introduction to the dungeon, a page listing each of the monsters and any treasure to be found in the dungeon, and then a double-page spread showing the plans or maps of the dungeon, building, or locale with its room descriptions circling the map. The result is generally easy to read, though anyone used to traditional maps with their numbered locations may need to make a slight adjustment to get used to the self-contained design.

A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Dungeons is bookended by maps. It 
opens with a combined map and table of contents for the anthology’s content. The map is of the Eastern Isles, part of Soul Muppet Publishing’s The Thirteen Duchies of Lendal setting. It closes with a full map of The Thirteen Duchies of Lendal which shows an oddity that the Eastern Isles are actually in the west of Lendal. The map at the front of the book does at least mark the Eastern Isles’ major duchies along with the locations of the fifteen dungeons and their page numbers. This though highlights the issue of the lack background given in the anthology to either the Eastern Isles or The Thirteen Duchies of Lendal. A Zini devoted to either would have provided some context to the fifteen dungeons in A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Dungeons.

The dungeons or locations or encounters vary wildly and weirdly, from caves occupied by alien creatures from the stars and the unknown and halls and houses fallen to the macabre and the magical to islands which breath and swallow and ravines stalked by insectoid monsters. For example, ‘Hearteater’s Hall’ is a rural Elven manor house, home to the late Lord Holston, a Blood Elf who has and regressed into savagery and a meaty diet with servants who would love to have the Cryptdiggers to dinner, whilst ‘Like Family’ details Remly House, a manor home to a coven of mages which has not been heard from recently and so perhaps might be worth investigating or even burglarising… The Game Master will have fun with a particular NPC in this scenario, a talking book and there are lots of little details here for the player characters to dig into. Elsewhere ‘The Prophet’s Valley’ offers visions from the ninth child of a Gorgon at the end of a ravine—or plenty to steal and ‘Transmuter’s Tower’ is home to a noted wizard and sage who has not been seen since a calamitous sound was heard from within its walls. Other dungeons include tombs and caves and temples, and so on, some located in jungles, some in ravines, some by the coast.

Perhaps the two dungeons in A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Dungeons that stand out are not dungeons at all, but rather mini-hexcrawls which give the monsters and situations described room to breathe. Literally in the case of ‘Maw Isle’, and literally not in ‘White Hair’. ‘Maw Isle’ is part island, part tentacular monster, that hunts and crunches ships. The seas around the island seem to rise and fall as the island breathes even as shipwrecked survivors do their best to get by until rescue arrives or another ship presents a means of getting off the island. ‘White Hair’ is even stranger, a village, the surrounding hills, grottoes and tombs under a rain of white hair that falls each time a singular dragon takes to the sky. Exploring the mini-region exposes the Cryptdiggers to more and more of the strange hair and as it more and more gets everywhere, they get infected by it and they begin to transform… This is delightfully weird set-up, the infection driving the Cryptdiggers to discover what is going on.

In general, A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Dungeons provides a good mix of dungeons, houses, caves, and other adventuring location. There is always a sense danger to them, something not quite right about them, whether it is a mad researcher bent on obtaining hidden lore at all costs, alien scorpions attempting to conquer the world, or a fertility cult blasé about its sacrifices. The Zini format also leads to a sense of claustrophobia to the dungeons, if not the mini-hexcrawls. What they are missing though is context, the reason why they are there and, in many cases, why the Cryptdiggers would be interested in visiting such places. Now of course, the Game Master and her players can come up with motivations for the Player Characters, but there is no denying that one or two more, or even some, hooks would have helped to draw the Cryptdiggers into each location. 

Similarly, some information about the Eastern Isles would have been useful too, adding more context to the playing area for the Game Master and her players. Rounding out the anthology is a guide to adapting the monsters in A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Dungeons to Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games. This nicely expands the utility of the book and its contents. There are innumerable roleplaying games for which the contents of the anthology would work, whether that is Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or Mörk Borg.

Physically, A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Dungeons is a neat and tidy book, light on artwork, but what there is, is decent and the maps are all very clear.  Although in many cases, the Game Master and her players will have to supply context and motivations for the Cryptdiggers, A Doom to Speak – The Crypt Collection 1: Dungeons provides fifteen solid adventuring locations for a Best Left Buried game. They work as one-shots, but are flexible enough to work into a campaign or even be adapted to the dark fantasy roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice, but whatever the choice of game, they should each provide a good session’s worth of play. 

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry.

For the most part, the current wave of fanzines is all fantasy orientated, a great many of them dedicated to and supporting the Old School Renaissance in one form or another. Essentially an Old School form of support for an Old School style of roleplaying game. So when a new fanzine appears dedicated to a different genre it can be a breath of fresh air and when that fanzine approaches its subject in more thoughtful and detailed fashion, then that breath of fresh air might be more than a little minty fresh. So it is with Back to the Spaceport: A Fanzine for Science Fiction Games. This is a Science Fiction fanzine dedicated to all types of Science Fiction gaming, so roleplaying and miniatures, for example. It is also a Science Fiction fanzine dedicated to Science Fiction in all of its many subgenres—urban (Cyberpunk and dystopian), post-apocalyptic, interstellar travel, Victorian and Edwardian, and so on. It is also a Science Fiction fanzine which is very British in its approach to Science and it also a Science Fiction fanzine that when necessary, is prepared to examine the issues posed when gaming with a particular Science Fiction genre.

Back to the Spaceport: A Fanzine for Science Fiction Games Phase 1, Datapacket 1 is entirely written and edited by David Haraldson and you can tell that it has a serious intent from the moment you open the front cover. He takes the time to credit all of the artists, the fonts used for each article, and the particular games. This is not necessarily interesting, but it points to an aspiration towards a professionalism and a seriousness. Then flip through the pages of the fanzine and there are copious footnotes, often links to outside sources of research and the like. In terms of presentation, the fanzine is clean and tidy, perhaps slightly cluttered in places, with artwork used judiciously. The use of different fonts for article titles is very eighties, as is the organisation of the contents into different departments. So ‘Yesterday’s Tomorrows’ for Edwardian and Victorian scientific romances, ‘Bright Lights, Mega City’ for urban Science Fiction, ‘Into the Ruins’ for post-apocalyptic Science Fiction, and so on, which is all very White Dwarf magazine.

The first department is ‘Yesterday’s Tomorrows’ and ‘The Green Hills of Venus’. This is the write-up of the first from the Challenger Distinguished Lectures given by Professor Octavian Black. It presents his findings on the successes and failures of the first few expeditions to Venus, starting with the 1889 Chadwick expedition. In classic style, it presents Venus as a hothouse jungle planet, complete with lizardmen and megafauna, but also hints at secrets deep within the planet. Complete with a story hook and lots of knowing Easter eggs if you know the genre, its gets the fanzine off to a good start.

‘Manchester, So Much To Answer For’ is the first entry for the ‘Bright Lights, Mega City’ department, presenting two Manchester-inspired gangs—the Rusholme Ruffians and Frank’s Gang a.k.a. the Sidebottoms. The former is a gang inspired by the eighties band, The Smiths, whilst the latter a gang inspired by the papier-mâché mask-helmet wearing media personality/artist, Frank Sidebottom. More attention is paid to the latter than the former and it shows with more ideas on their gang structure and how to use them. Certainly, Frank’s Gang makes for a fun prank/performance gang to add to a Cyberpunk roleplaying game as well as the Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD Roleplaying Game and Vurt: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game. ‘Me And My Melancholy Motor’ for ‘Into the Ruins’ provides the TEdison Razorback, a vehicle with an A.I. and a personality for getting around a post-apocalyptic world akin to that of Gamma World or Mutant Crawl Classics. Complete with a personality table and mental health crisis table, it provides a fun NPC for Game Master to bring to her campaign and roleplay.

The highlight of Back to the Spaceport: A Fanzine for Science Fiction Games Phase 1, Datapacket 1 is ‘Mx. Land & Dr. Britling See It Through’. The longest article in the issue, it explores the nature and problems of the Steampunk genre and how it applies to gaming as well as how the Steampunk movement regards gaming. In the first case, rarely as a ’punk genre and typically as a neo-colonial, imperialist celebration, and in the case of the latter, badly. Of the roleplaying games available, it highlights Marcus L. Rowland’s Forgotten Futures as probably the best roleplaying game of Victorian and Edwardian scientific romances and it also presents a manifesto for exploring the genre in the pages of Back to the Spaceport. This is an absolutely splendid read, interesting and thoughtful, certainly all but worth the price of the fanzine alone.

The articles for the departments ‘STL Signals’ and ‘Standing Orders’ are more personal and prosaic in nature. ‘STL Signals’ looks at PBM—or ‘Play by Mail’—games and the author’s experience with a couple of PBM games, Riftlords and Phoenix: Beyond the Stellar Empire. It is diverting enough and again harks back to the heyday of the hobby in the eighties. ‘Standing Orders’ is devoted to Science Fiction miniatures wargaming and ‘21st Century Fighting in Built-Up Areas’ looks at urban conflict scenarios in miniatures games where the line of sight extends across the whole of the playing area. Written for use with Ground Zero Games’ Stargrunt II rules, the rules and suggestions here can adapt to any rules system the reader prefers, the article is useful for anyone running these types of games, but is otherwise just a little esoteric in comparison to the other articles in Back to the Spaceport.

Of more use perhaps is ‘Art Crime’. Written for the ‘Under Other Constellations’ department, it is a set-up and a cast of supporting NPCs suitable for any Science Fiction roleplaying game in which interstellar travel is possible. Here the idea is that the transportation of ordinary goods is too expensive to make it worthwhile, but the shipment of luxury items, including art, does not. It consists of four detailed NPCs—The Thief, The Investigator, The Amateur Sleuth, and The Collector—around which the Game Master can build a scenario or encounter. Written for use with FrostByte Books’ M-Space and Design Mechanicsm’s Mythras Imperative, it would easily work with any number of Science Fiction roleplaying games and adapting the plot and NPCs should be easy enough. Lastly, ‘Music for Spaceports’—a nice nod to Music for Airports—reviews three albums of music suitable for use as background sounds in Science Fiction games. Of the eight articles in Back to the Spaceport: A Fanzine for Science Fiction Games Phase 1, Datapacket 1, this feels like filler.

—oOo—
In addition to the fanzine itself, Back to the Spaceport: A Fanzine for Science Fiction Games Phase 1, Datapacket 1 comes with an Old School Renaissance Science Fiction pullout. ‘On Xanadu, A Stately Pleasure Sphere!’ is written for use with White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying and similar Science Fiction roleplaying games, as well as Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game: Transhuman Adventure in the Second Age of Space, it presents a Space Opera-style scenario/hexcrawl on the planet Xanadu, the best source of the Star Flowers, a delicacy amongst the galaxy’s elite. The planetary governor, Magnus Dominus, spends his time in seclusion in his imperial palace whilst working the planet’s population piteously hard growing the precious star flowers. The set-up is open to multiple plots, including assassinating the governor, abducting him and putting him on trial, stealing something from his art collection, fomenting rebellion, and so on. This could easily be mixed in with the ‘Art Crime’ article from the issue. Overall, this is a nice extra to the actual issue and easy enough to add to a Game Master’s campaign.

—oOo—
It is a pleasure to have a fanzine which covers a genre in the variety of its subgenres and one which does so in as high a standard across all of them. It sets the bar high for future issues, one that we can only hope that the author can maintain for the second issue and also when other contributors write for it. Back to the Spaceport: A Fanzine for Science Fiction Games Phase 1, Datapacket 1 is an engaging piece from beginning to end, thoughtful and interesting, the article Steampunk a superb highlight.

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. 

Another fanzine, another different fanzine. Time & Tide is a fanzine dedicated, to SLA Industries, the 1993 Scottish roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism, recently expanded with the supplement, SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1. Published by Tanya Floaker following a successful Kickstarter campaign as part of the first Zine Quest, Time & Tide is subtitled ‘A fanzine examining why people love SLA Industries and the World of Progress’. It is of course not the only fanzine for SLA Industries. In the early noughties, tTH bIG pICTURE showcased another role for the fanzine, that is serving as a focal point for a roleplaying game’s fandom and support, often when that roleplaying game is between editions or out of print. As was the case with SLA Industries.

Time & Tide comes as thick sheaf of paper, a wodge of white text blocks on all dark photo backgrounds and scrappy art which screams late eighties, early nineties do-it-yourself layout. It is all filler, no game, but nevertheless all love, no hate. As the subtitle says, this is a fanzine about the love that the fans have for SLA Industries. At a hundred pages in length there are actually very few articles in the fanzine—just eight in all. There is also quite a bit of white—and more often than not—black space. The fanzine includes fiction, interviews, cake recipes, and more.

Time & Tide opens with ‘So Dark it’s U.V.’, a discussion of just why SLA Industries continues to be popular in spite of its sporadic publishing history. It also looks at the elements and themes of the game—of constantly changing technology, of suppression of knowledge, and of a truth that has its own dangers in knowing, overlaid by a Splatterpunk sensibility that reinforces the notion that life is cheap, that death can be comical, and that thrills meaning ratings (until the next thrill gets better ratings). It is a solid opening piece which lays the groundwork for the rest of the fanzine.

The highpoint of the fanzine is the ‘Interview with Nightfall Games’. The first of two interviews in the Time & Tide, this is with Jared Earle, co-author of SLA Industries and Mark Rapson of Word Forge Games, the new publisher of the roleplaying game. Conducted before the publication of SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1, this is a lengthy piece which looks at the history of the game and its future, in particular, its evolution as a war game setting in addition to being a roleplaying game. This is an informative and entertaining piece which really explains both Nightfall Games and Word Forge Games in the run up to the publication of SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1 and SLA Industries, Second Edition. The other interview is ‘Real Time’. This is with Ste Winwood about his involvement in running SLA Industries fan groups. Again, this is another personable interview highlighting the effectiveness of the fans in keeping a game alive with their support.

Between the two interviews is a much longer article, ‘The Mall of Progress’ by Ed Hill. This supports the new wargaming aspect of SLA Industries as the author takes the reader through the evolution of the terrain that he used to fight confrontations between the various factions in the World of Progress. So it goes from Cannibal Sector One over the Wall into Downtown and onto Garbage Alley and out again into the Ruined Mall and the Mall of Progress, and then back in again to a wretched housing block called Grim House. The step-by-step process looks at construction methods and the changing technology used and is accompanied by innumerable photographs. Unfortunately, these photographs hamper the article at every turn, being too dark and too murky to discern any detail. Whilst murk fits the World of Progress, it is not what you want in a wargames article where photos should bring to life what the designer has been doing. Worse, the layout of the article means extends the article over and over, and at a quarter of the fanzine’s page count combined with the poor resolution of the photographs, it just feels bloated and boring.

Tamsyn Kennedy’s ‘Underneath It All’ is the first of two pieces of fiction in Time & Tide. It tells of an Ebon’s almost worker drone existence before an encounter forces her awake and brings her to the notice of those that make her take the next step in ‘evolution’. This balances the humdrum with the eventual realisation that there is an alternative path in the ‘World of Progress’ to climbing the corporate ladder. The other piece of fiction is ‘Your Hole/Their Hole/My Hole’ by Roger Duthie which is very much the opposite of ‘Underneath It All’, telling of the wet, dank, stagnant, often horrifying nature of living on the dole in Downtown. It is quite a creepy piece, capturing life in the Mort City equivalent of a 1980s Glasgow council flat—elements of SLA Industries being a reaction to growing up and being unemployed in Thatcher’s Britain—from multiple points of view, intruders mundane and monstrous, as well as the dwelling’s occupants.

Quite literally filler, Coz Winwood’s ‘Cake Sector One’ gives recipes for SLA-themed baked goods. Three recipes are given—in oddly American measurements given the roleplaying game’s Scottish origins—and their inclusion would have been fine if they had there to offset something more substantial in terms of content in the fanzine. As it is, ‘Cake Sector One’ is all too light and fluffy in all too light and fluffy issue. Nice wordplay on the title though and there really ought to be a cooking show aimed at Shivers on duty in Cannibal Sector One within the game itself. Lastly, ‘The Bigger Picture’ is a more personal piece about SLA Industries played a role in his life and helped him when times were difficult. Hopefully the new edition of the roleplaying game and the chance to play again will make his better.

Physically, Time &  Tide is scrappy and scruffy as mentioned earlier. It certainly echoes the style of fanzines from their heyday in the eighties. Overall, it is difficult to come right out and recommend Time & Tide. It is just too light and fluffy in its content—even if that content is dark and oppressive in tone, but then what would expect, it is for SLA Industries after all—to be anything more.Time & Tide will of course appeal to devotees of SLA Industries, but it is nothing more than a diverting read as it does not include any support for the roleplaying game or the war game rules. Had it done so, then there might have been reason enough for the reader to look at it more than just the once. Time & Tide is very much not essential to playing SLA Industries and so nice enough to have if a fan, but you will not miss it from your gaming shelves if you don’t have it.

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

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and  Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. 

Delayed Blast Gamemaster is a fanzine of a different stripe. Published by Philip Reed Games following successful Kickstarter campaigns, Delayed Blast Gamemaster is a fanzine dedicated to supporting roleplaying fantasy games, but a particular style of fantasy roleplaying games—Dungeons & Dragons. Yet the issues are entirely systemless, which means that their contents can be used in Dungeons & Dragons, any of the fantasy roleplaying retroclones you care to name, and most fantasy roleplaying games with a little effort. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign as part of the inaugural Zine Quest, the first issue of Delayed Blast Gamemaster was published in  September, 2019.

What strikes you first about Delayed Blast Gamemaster #1 is its graphical design. It is all white art and text on matt black pages. Now before anyone complains that this might be ink heavy when comes to the printing out of the PDF, the fanzine is sold in both heavy and light ink formats. The effect though is striking, almost jauntily creepy and oppressive in its artwork’s depiction of skeletal archers, oozes, and overly ocular creatures. The text is both heavy and large, so is a lot easier to read than it otherwise might have been.

As to the concept behind Delayed Blast Gamemaster it is simply that of inspiration scattered subject by subject across nine tables. So ‘OneDTen Urban Locations’, ‘OneDSix Forgotten Spellbooks’, FiveDSix Unusual Treasures’, ‘OneDEight Dungeon Oddities’, ‘OneDSix Magic Shields’, ‘TwoDSix Potions’, ‘OneDSix Warped Monsters’, ‘OneDTwelve Adventure Hooks’, and ‘OneDFour Dungeon Doors’. So all that the Game Master has to do is pick a table or subject, roll the die, check the relevant entry, and use it as inspiration to create something of her or adapt the entry to the roleplaying game of her choice. The most obvious choice to adapt the entry to, is of course, Dungeons & Dragons, due to the similarities in language, but other roleplaying games would work too.

For example, roll a three on ‘OneDEight Dungeon Oddities’ and you get a Necromancer’s Chest, a combination trap-monster. It is simply a necromancer’s chest which he has trapped with several ghosts. Disarm the trap or use the key and of course, a Thief opens the chest without any problems; fail and two or more ghosts are unleashed to hunt the Thief and alert the chest’s owner! Roll a four on the ‘OneDSix Warped Monsters’ and the result is the Skeletal Mage, which simply suggests giving a standard skeleton monster a spell or two or more, all to add a simple twist on a classic monster. Roll a seven on ‘OneDTen Urban Locations’ and you have found yourself at Pies (and Lies) which describes a pie shop which sells cheap, moderately tasty, meat pies. The shop also does a nice sideline in rumours and secrets, which its owner and his family either sells off to the underworld or uses to blackmail the subject of those rumours and secrets.

Now there are a lot of entries and ideas in Delayed Blast Gamemaster #1, which is the point. Perhaps though, the design of the oddities and monsters dwell a little upon Oozes and monsters like the Mimic, with entries such as the Mimicspawn, Oozegoblin, and Weremimic, but the author at least is upfront about his fascination with such creatures. The main issue is that there no index, either of the entries or the tables. Otherwise, the fanzine is well written, easy to ready, and easy to use. Physically, there is a certain heft to it both in terms of production values—which are high for a fanzine—and its feel in the hand.


Delayed Blast Gamemaster #1 is simply lots of ideas a Game Master can bring to her game. She will need to do some work to bring them into her campaign, but the ideas will work with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition as much as they would with Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy , and whatever your choice of fantasy roleplaying game, further inspiration is never unwanted.