I have put my massive War of the Witch Queens on pause for a little bit to focus on my 1st Edition Forgotten Realms game. It is fine, since I am using it to build up some of the myths and legends that War of the Witch Queens will rely on. While my current War of the Witch Queens uses Old School Essentials, I have been enjoying it a lot, but...I am running into some issues. Well. Issues of my own creation.

Limitation #1: Level Caps and Limits

Limits on levels. I love OSE, but one of its selling points/strengths is its limiting issue for me. Sure, 14 levels is a lot, but I am running into ideas that I want to run for characters of 15+ level. 17th level comes up a lot for me. This is also one of the reasons why I dropped Hyperborea early on for this reason too. 

This campaign isn’t just a dungeon crawl or hex-crawl, it's a mythic saga that spans worlds, timelines, and divine destinies. Characters in this game aren't just heroes; they are on the path to becoming legends, saints, or even immortals. And I keep finding myself writing material that expects 15th level and beyond. More and more often, 17th-level content crops up in my outlines. That’s not a comfortable fit for OSE without some heavy modification.

Not to mention level limits on any demi-human species. Of course Hyperborea had not demi-humans at all. 

Limitation #2: Multi-Classing

I love OSE. But one place it really falls down is Multi-classing. Yes, there are some rules, but the elegance of the system is lost when you try to do it. It's not my strongest reason, but it is a reason all the same. 

Limitation #3: Multiversal Storytelling

I want to explore various worlds and settings. OSE can do this, it can even do it well, but I want to go a little beyond the norm. 

OSE can absolutely be used to tell stories that span worlds. In fact, it does it better than many modern systems, since its rules are modular and light. But for War of the Witch Queens, I want to go beyond the norm. I’m not just talking about visiting the elemental planes or spending a session in Ravenloft. I’m talking about fully developed worlds with unique metaphysics, rules of magic, and mythic gravity, all of them linked by a larger cosmological mystery, the Witch Queens, their empowered thrones, and the shadow of The One Who Remains.

OSE can be made to do this. But I need a system that does this out of the box.

Solution: Wasted Lands

When I was participating in the 2025 Character Creation Challenge, I was reminded of how flexible Wasted Lands/O.G.R.E.S. really is.  

Wasted Lands is mythic fantasy turned up to eleven. It was designed for heroes who become gods, for magics that shape and warp reality itself, and for worlds so ancient they crumble under the weight of memory. The core assumption of Wasted Lands is that the characters matter in a way that changes the cosmos, which aligns exactly with my vision for War of the Witch Queens.

Why Wasted Lands Works for War of the Witch Queens

No Arbitrary Level Caps

Characters in Wasted Lands are meant to grow in power until they ascend to the ranks of the divine. There’s no artificial ceiling to limit storytelling or advancement. If I want characters to bind a dying god to a black star, I don’t need to “homebrew” Epic Levels; I just use the Divine/Heroic Touchstone system as written.

Built-In Mythic Scope

Wasted Lands expects multiversal and mythological play. Characters can literally change the nature of reality. That’s not just compatible with War of the Witch Queens; that’s the point of the entire campaign.

Flexible Mechanics for Multiple Worlds

O.G.R.E.S. is modular, allowing me to shift between gritty sword-and-sorcery realism, dreamlike metaphysics, or high-magic cosmic horror as needed. That’s ideal when a single session might take place in ancient Atlantis, the post-apocalyptic future, or a faerie world frozen in regret.

Ties to Night Shift and Thirteen Parsecs

Since Wasted Lands is cross-compatible with Night Shift (another system I use for witchy, modern supernatural tales), I can link stories and characters across eras and genres. My witches don’t just belong in this kind of cosmology; they thrive in it.

While the Wasted Lands mythology will certainly be in play here, I may or may not set any of these adventures in the time of The Dreaming Age or even the Earth of the Dreaming Age. I'll use this more as my Rosetta Stone to translate between all the various games I'll be using.

So What Happens Next?

While I’m still using my Forgotten Realms game to build some of the core myths behind War of the Witch Queens, I’ll be shifting the main campaign engine to Wasted Lands going forward. I may still post some OSE conversions or support for it, especially early-level material, but to experience War of the Witch Queens the way I envision it, it will live and breathe in the mythic realms of the Wasted Lands.

This also gives me an instant hook into my multiversal threat, The One Who Remains. I will already be featuring this threat in my Forgotten Realms game, and absolutely for War of the Witch Queen.  

The Witch Queens of the Wasted Lands

One of my conceits of the War of the Witch Queens was to "adopt" all sorts of witches from various games, settings, and the like, and bring them into this campaign. Given the Sword & Sorcery roots of Wasted Lands, I wanted to grab some witches from various S&S games. Some of these are familiar to you all here since I have already mentioned them in conjunction with War of the Witch Queens before: Methyn Sarr, Miriam, and newcomer, Tamsin Shalles. I will feature their native games tomorrow. 

Each of these characters is found on different worlds in vastly different times. But the wonderful thing about Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is that versions of these characters can exist at the same time and place. Wasted Lands, Barbarians of Lemuria, Hyperborea, and Sword & Sorcery Codex all share enough of the same DNA to be cousins. I will say this: anyone playing one of these games can get a lot out of playing, or at least owning and reading, the other three.

I am also going with a pure D&D feel to these, so humans are humans and not the proto-humans of the Dreaming Age. I have already done Wasted Lands stats for Larina, Aradia, Darlessa, Kersy the Sea Witch, Skylla, Tanith Winters, and for two of Grenda's Forgotten Realms witches, Rhiannon and Briana Highstar. And of course, the current Big Bad of the War of the Witch Queens, Kelek the Cruel.

Note: The sorcerer of Wasted Lands is mechanically the same as NIGHT SHIFT's witch. But I am going to call them witches here. Also, since I am moving away from Hyperborea and OSE for this, I can go beyond their level limits of 12 and 14, respectively. 

Each also has a homeland in the Wasted Lands that is the closest analogue to their lands in their original games.

Methyn Sarr, Witch Queen of the Fire Coast
From Barbarians of Lemuria

I have mentioned Methyn Sarr here before; she is a great character and one of my favorite things about Barbarians of Lemuria. 

Methyn Sarr
Class: Sorceress (Witch) / Necromancer
Level: 10 / 5
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult
Homeland: Lemuria (West coast)

Abilities
Strength: 10 (0) 
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 10 (0) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) A

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 4 (Battle Harness)
Vitality: 55
Degeneracy: 11
Corruption: 2 (Eyes turned yellow, Aura of discomfort)

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +3 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Spell Attack: +5
Saves: +3 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer)

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers: Beguile Person, Enhanced Senses, Succubus, Psychic Power: Pyrokinesis 

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead (43%), See Dead People, Summon the Dead (65%), Command Spirits, Protection from Spirits, Death Knell, Suggestion (Spirits), Protection from Undead, Taste the Grave

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts, Command, Drain Vitality, Mystical Senses
Second Level: Defile, Eternal Flame, Invoke Fear, Subtle Influence
Third Level: Concussive Blast, Dark Lightning, Globe of Darkness
Fourth Level: Beguile Monster, Kiss of the Succubus, Protection against the Deeper Dark
Fifth Level: Dominate Other, Shadow Armor

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: Unique Mode of Defense (Battle Harness) 
2nd Level: Additional Vitality Points
3rd Level: Charm Creatures
4th Level: Magical Recovery
5th Level: Great Power (Fire)

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic, Evil

Gear
Blood Dagger of Zaggath (adds +1d6 damage due to dripping fire blood), Battle Harness, crown

I gave her levels of Necromancer in this version to replicate her levels of "Druid of Zaggarth" from Barbarians of Lemuria. I figure she gets a Heroic/Divine Touchstone every 3 character levels. 

Miriam, Witch-Queen of Yithorium
From Hyperborea

Miriam is the name I have given to the Witch-Queen of Yithorium from the Hyperborea RPG. Though she is seriously viewed through the lens of Greyhawk. She is rather great, and I love using her. I have also decided that her loyal Cowan is a mighty warrior (10th level) named Zavoda. 

Miriam, Witch-Queen of Yithorium
Class: Sorceress (Witch)
Level: 15
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Scholar
Homeland: Hyperborea (Near the Blood Sea)

Abilities
Strength: 12 (0) 
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 13 (+1) 
Intelligence: 18 (+3) A
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 9
Vitality: 68
Degeneracy: 6
Corruption: 1 (Aura of discomfort)

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +3 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Spell Attack: +8
Saves: +4 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer).

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (5): Astral Projection, Succubus, Psychic Power: ESP, Beguile, Shadow Walking

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Beast Speech, Command, Chill Ray, Night Vision, Drain Vitality
Second Level: Invoke Fear, Animal Summoning, Subtle Influence, Defile, See Invisible
Third Level: Dark Lightning, Curse, Clairvoyance, Globe of Darkness
Fourth Level: Black Tentacles, Protection against the Deeper Dark, Forbearance of Dimensional Travel, Kiss of the Succubus
Fifth Level: Banishment, Create Soul Vessel, Dominate Other, Shadow Armor
Sixth Level: Destroy Undead, Shadow Duplicate, Uluation of the Deeper Dark
Seventh Level: Wave of Mutilation, Widdershins Dance
Eighth Level: Gaze of the Abyss

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Sense the Presence of the Deeper Dark
2nd Level: Luck Benefit
3rd Level: Spirit Guide
4th Level: Magical Recovery
5th Level: Glamour

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic, Evil, Deeper Dark

Gear
Leather Armor, dagger, crown

Miriam has evolved some since I first stated her up. She has been moving to a witch of the Old Ones for some time now. In the Wasted Lands she would likely be that witch trying to bring the Old Ones back. 

Tamsin Shalles
From Sword & Sorcery Codex

Tamsin is a new one for me. I have been playing around with the Sword & Sorcery Codex (see tomorrow), and it is a great system and has a lot to offer in terms of feel and style. It can do about 80% of what I want. She is not as powerful as the other two, not yet anyway. 

Tamsin Shalles
Class: Sorceress (Witch) / Renegade
Level: 5 / 2
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Barbarian
Homeland: Fennokarelia

Abilities
Strength: 11 (0) 
Agility: 13 (+1) N
Toughness: 13 (+1) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 14 (+1) 
Persona: 16 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 8
Vitality: 30
Degeneracy: 2
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Spell Attack: +x
Saves: +2 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer).

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (2): Beguile Person, Succubus

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defense, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-2), Perception, Vital Strike x2

Stealth Skills
Open Locks: 25%
Bypass Traps: 20%
Sleight of Hand: 30%
Sneak: 30%

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Summon Familiar (Imp), Mystical Senses, Armor of Earth
Second Level: Vampiric Augmentation, Eternal Flame
Third Level: Oily Cloud of the Deeper Dark

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Power: Glamour
2nd Level: Additional use of Beguile

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic, Summoning

Gear
Dagger

She isn't quite there yet, but her specialty will be demon summoning and control. Right now, she relies on her charms (natural and supernatural) along with her renegade skills to cheat and con her way through most situations. 

I gave each of them the Beguile and Succubus powers to cover the levels of "Temptress" both Tamsin and Methyn have, and I assume Miriam would have. Beguile to well...beguile, and succubus to cause the up close damage.

These women are all evil and up to no good and I can't help but love them all. If they could put aside their mutual hate, they could team up and be a force to be reckoned with.

I kinda want a mini-series of War of the Witch Queens now to just cover these three and their drama. They are not responsible for the death of the High Witch Queen, but they are all vying for her throne. 

Doing these reminds me how much fun Wasted Lands really is. 

 In today's Witches of Appendix N, I want to dive into an author I have not read since my early college days. Back in 1987, I stumbled on a rare (for me at the time) treasure, a used bookstore! I began to hunt down all the books I had wanted to read that my home library did not have. I had not yet discovered that my new university library was the most extensive open-shelf library in the state of Illinois. So armed with my handwritten Appendix N list, and some others, I went on my first adventure. 

I found a Thongor book by Lin Carter and another one edited by him, Flashing Swords #4. I paid something like $2 for both. I read the Thongor book and I wasn't exactly impressed. Ok sure it was pulpy fun, but I think after nearly a decade of hype, I expected more. I don't know what happened to that book, but Flashing Swords #4 I kept and still have. It featured an introduction by Carter, which I found more interesting than his prose, as well as stories by Jack Vance, Poul Anderson, Katherine Kurtz, and Michael Moorcock.

The experience soured me on Carter for a long time. Which is too bad, really, because I was always a fan of Lemuria and tales about it. 

I recently decided to revisit Lin Carter and Lemuria (among other places) to see if his worlds feature any witches. I knew he had evil wizards galore, but I could remember any witches per se.

I am not going to focus on all his works; there is too much, and some of it falls outside of the "Appendix N" definition. So, for me, this means no sci-fi and only fantasy published before 1977. With one notable exception. Well...that and the cover above. But that is the only Lin Carter book I still have. 

Thongor and Lemurian Magic

When we turn to Lin Carter’s Thongor of Lemuria novels, we find a world absolutely steeped in magic, though, interestingly, witches themselves are mostly absent.

The lost continent of Lemuria is filled with sorcerers, necromancers, and cults devoted to dark gods. We have cities like Zaar, ruled by black magicians; the Priests of Yamath, calling upon the Dark Gods with forbidden rites; and the ancient Dragon Kings, reptilian overlords who wield both sorcery and advanced science. There are even the evil druids of Lemuria. Black Druids who try to emulate the Dragon Kings, Yellow Druids, the magician-priests who worship Yamath, and the Red Druids, magician-priests of the God, Slidith.

What’s striking, however, is that named witches or sorceresses are virtually nonexistent in Carter’s original Thongor novels. While plenty of pulp sorcerers fill the landscape, female magic-users are conspicuously rare. The closest we get comes much later, in Thongor and the Witch-Queen of Lemuria by Robert M. Price, written after Carter’s death. My notable exception.

Most of the wizards and other magic-users are evil. One exception is Sharajsha the Great. A mighty wizard of Lemuria and a friend of Thongor. His exploits with Thongor could be where I got the idea for my own "Starsword." 

In short, Lemuria is rich in dark sorcery, but witches, as we think of them, never truly walk its jungles and haunted cities.

Gondwane and Magic

When we move from Lemuria to the last continent of Gondwane, Lin Carter’s World's End series, we enter a far richer landscape for magic and witchcraft. The Thongor books were light on witches, but Gondwane is filled with decadent magicians, ancient traditions, and powerful sorcerers.

In The Enchantress of World's End (1975), we meet Zelmarine, Queen of Red Magic. While Carter never calls her a witch outright, she fully embodies the pulp sorceress archetype: beautiful, dangerous, and wielding real magical power. Zelmarine easily fits the "witch-equivalent" role I’ve seen in many other Appendix N works.

Zelmarine is not just a sorceress; she is also a temptress. So fairly typical of the genre. I do find her interesting in the sense that she is entirely red, skin, hair, eyes, teeth, the lot. She would make for a great witch. But, sadly, that is about all she has to offer us. Like many of Carter's characters, she is not much more than this. 

Gondwane itself teems with magicians, enchanters, and warlocks, far more than Thongor’s Lemuria ever did. Even some that are not 100% evil in nature, our Red Enchantress here. Carter blends elements of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth and Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique with his own brand of pulp world-building, creating a setting where elaborate magical schools and rivalries dominate a decaying world.

It's also worth noting that Carter introduces The Illusionist of Narelon, in The Warrior of World's End (1974), one book earlier. The Illusionist's presence may have contributed to Gygax's inclusion of the Illusionist class in the AD&D Player’s Handbook. At the very least, he reflects the kind of specialist magician that AD&D codifies soon after. Illusion magic was rarely featured in the pulps before this.

The Warrior of World's End (1974) also gave us the Vorpal Blade's use in an Appendix N source, obviously from its previous introduction in  Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. This is not the only thing Carter borrows from Carroll. Some of the names of lands and people seem to come right out of same font of nonsense words as does Jabberwocky. 

The Gondwane books are light and never seem to take themselves very seriously. The characters are less characters and more caricatures. Plus, after a bit, I grew tired of the exceptionally silly names. But hey, kudos to Carter for making his end-of-time world sound alien. 

I *can* see a lot of what is in these books making its way into AD&D and other writings. It could be the recency effect in his reading and writing. 

A good example is Deirdre, the cavalier of "Artifact of Evil," is more or less a grown-up version of Xarda, the "knightrix" of Jemmerdy. Deirdre is likely Gygax's homage to Xarda, either consciously or not. Or maybe both are homages to Red Sonja.

According the experts, Hoi and Jeff at the Appendix N Book Club, Lin Carter was a friend of Gygax's and it is very, very likely there was a lot of cross-pollination between his tales and D&D. 

Conclusion

Revisiting Lin Carter has been a mixed bag, a blend of nostalgia and reevaluation. While I came in search of witches, I found instead a patchwork of pulp sorcery, weird magic, and the unmistakable fingerprints of an author who, despite his flaws, helped shape the genre that shaped my youth. There may not be witches by name in Lemuria or Gondwane, not in the way I hoped, but Carter’s worlds still crackle with the kind of raw, chaotic magic that feels just a few pages away from something I’d drop into a campaign. In the end, it’s not always about what’s printed on the page; sometimes it’s about what might have been, or what could still be, with a little creative license.

 Quick one today. I am not what I consider to be a FunkoPop collector. I have a couple I really like, mostly little witches and Red Sonja. But I saw this new one out and decided to treat myself to an early birthday present.

She looks great next my Funko Pop Larina.

And they share the shelf with my books on witchcraft and demonology appropriately enough.

Like I said, I am not a huge collector, but I think one of The Simbul might be fun.

 Today marks the 95 anniversary of the birth of American author Lin Carter.  I didn't plan it this way, but I have been going back and rereading some of Carter's work, especially his entries in Gygax's Appendix N. So today I want to revisit a favorite bad guy of mine, the Ophidians or Snake Men/Serpent Men, and recast them as "The Serpent Men of Lemuria." 

I am not trying to cling to one particular idea here. This is a pastiche of many sources. Lin Carter, Robert E. Howard, Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. 

This recasting is not designed to be incompatible with my previous post on Ophidians, but rather an enhancement to it. 

Serpent Men of Lemuria (Ophidians)

Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 2–20 (nobles 1–4; lesser 2–100; emissaries 1–10; abominations 1–8)
Armor Class: Varies (see below)
Move: 12" (Swim 12")
Hit Dice: Varies (see below)
% in Lair: 60%
Treasure Type: Varies (see below)
No. of Attacks: Varies
Damage/Attack: Varies
Special Attacks: Poison, charm, constriction, magic
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: High to Genius
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Size: M to L (5' to 15' long)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil 

The Serpent Men of Lemuria are the degenerate remnants of an ancient pre-human empire that once ruled the world from their black ziggurats of Lemuria. Worshippers of forgotten serpent gods, they are a deeply hierarchical species whose society is divided into castes: Nobles, Emissaries, Lessers, Abominations, and the rare Progenitors.

The Serpent Men dwell in lost cities, endless deserts, and jungle-cloaked ruins where the bones of their former empire still stand. Their society is steeped in sorcery, cruelty, and ancient blood magic.

Lesser Serpent Men (Rank & File)

Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3+1
No. of Attacks: 2 (weapons) or 1 (bite)
Damage/Attack: Weapon (usually scimitars 1d8) or bite 1d6 + poison
Special Attacks: Poison (save vs poison or die in 1d4+2 rounds)
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom
Treasure Type: Q×10 (minor trophies, jewelry)

Description: The Lesser caste are the numerous warrior-slaves of the Serpent Men, with humanoid torsos and snake-like lower bodies. They wield cruel curved blades and favor ambush tactics. Though not highly intelligent individually, they are cunning pack hunters.

Noble Serpent Men (Ruling Caste)

Armor Class: 2
Hit Dice: 9+3
No. of Attacks: 1 (weapon or bite)
Damage/Attack: Weapon (1d8) or bite 1d6 + poison
Special Attacks: Poison (save vs poison or die in 1d4+2 rounds); Command lesser castes
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom; immune to petrification (basilisks, medusae)
Treasure Type: H, S (temple hoards)

Description: The Nobles rule through bloodline purity, cruelty, and mastery of ancient secrets. With humanoid heads covered in fine scales, they resemble blasphemous parodies of men. Their venom is deadlier than the Lesser caste, and their minds sharp with sorcerous knowledge of the old gods.

Emissary Serpent Men (Sorcerer-Priests)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 6+2
No. of Attacks: 1 weapon or spell
Damage/Attack: Weapon (usually dagger 1d4+1) or by spell
Special Attacks: Charm (victims save at −1); spells as 5th-level Illusionist
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom; partially resistant to charm (save at +1 vs charm attempts)
Treasure Type: O, R (spell components, magical items, rare scrolls)

Description: Emissaries are the sorcerer-priests of the Ophidians, acting as the voice of the nobles to the outside world. Though appearing nearly human, they bear forked tongues, scaled skin, and slitted eyes. Their spells manipulate the minds of humans, making them ideal infiltrators and agents.

Abomination Serpent Men (Spawn of Forbidden Unions)

Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 10+2
No. of Attacks: 2 slams and bite
Damage/Attack: 1d6+3 / 1d6+3 (slams), bite 1d6+3 + poison
Special Attacks: Constriction (if both slam attacks hit same target); poison bite (save vs poison or die in 1d4+1 rounds)
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom; berserk rage grants +2 to hit when wounded
Treasure Type: None

Description: The Abominations are cursed progeny — bloated masses of serpentine horror, many-limbed or many-headed, each uniquely malformed. Used as shock troops, they know only hatred for all life. The nobles use them as living engines of slaughter.

Progenitor Serpent Men (Ancient Mage-Priests)

Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 9
No. of Attacks: 1 weapon or spell
Damage/Attack: By weapon or spell
Special Attacks: Cast as 5th-level Magic-User and 4th-level Cleric
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom; difficult to detect (treat as continuous nondetection spell)
Treasure Type: Q, S, U (ancient relics, rare spellbooks, forbidden lore)

Description: The Progenitors are the oldest of the Serpent Men, their bodies concealed by illusory human skins. They are few, paranoid, and driven by a desire for immortality. Most nobles seek to destroy them out of fear.

Ecology and Religion

The Serpent Men worship ancient pre-human serpent deities, long forgotten by man. Whether these are true gods or eldritch cosmic entities is unknown. In their black ziggurats, sacrifices are made to these dark powers, feeding the Ophidian sorceries that sustain their dwindling bloodlines.

The Cult of The One Who Remains

In the lost jungles and steaming lowlands of ancient Lemuria, where black ziggurats rise like broken teeth through the mists, the Ophidian Serpent Men whisper prayers to a god few mortals dare name. The humans who know of it call it The One Who Remains; the Serpent Men call it Ssath Ur-Raa, He Who Waits Beyond All Coils.

To the Serpent Men, all things, kingdoms, races, even the gods themselves, are as molted skins, discarded and forgotten. After all, they watched the Old Ones rise into power and then fall into their deep cosmic slumbers. Only the great cosmic serpent at the center of all existence endures. They believe that when the final sun gutters out and the last star grows cold, The One Who Remains will still exist, coiled at the center of the void, the last and eternal devourer. It is not death, but endless, unbroken continuation. Not life, but consumption without end.

Within their ancient temples, deep beneath the crumbling ziggurats of Lemuria, the Serpent Men enact terrible rites in its honor. Victims are dragged screaming into stone chambers and placed upon altars of obsidian and jade. There, their lifeblood is spilled, seeping into channels cut into the floor, flowing in great spirals that mimic the infinite coils of their god. Blood is both offering and currency, traded for visions, power, and the brief illusion of immortality.

The priesthood of The One Who Remains is layered like the coils of their god. At its center sits the High Oracle of the Last Coil, always one of the ancient Progenitors, older than memory and rumored to have gazed directly into the eyes of the Sleeper Beneath the Last Coil. Around the Oracle gather the Lords of the Black Coil, drawn from the most ancient noble bloodlines. It is they who oversee the Abomination-Births, deliberately breeding the most monstrous of their kind as offerings and as weapons in their ceaseless wars. Beneath them are the Coilspeakers, the Emissaries who master the ancient arts of dream-sorcery and illusion. With whispered words and flickering gestures, they cloud the minds of men and bend them to the will of their Ophidian masters.

Even among the Lesser caste, faith in The One Who Remains is absolute, though their understanding is crude. They serve as the laborers, the warriors, and the butchers of the faith. For every sacrifice, for every abomination birthed, for every rival enslaved or destroyed, the Serpent Men believe themselves one coil closer to their god’s embrace.

Yet it is not merely blood and flesh they offer. The Coilspeakers enter trances where they seek visions from the outer reaches of the world, glimpsing patterns spiraling into infinite madness. Those few who return speak of collapsing worlds, of unraveling realities, and of other realms where The One Who Remains reaches through fractured dimensions to consume entire existences. Whether these are prophetic glimpses or delusions born of their own degeneracy, none can say.

To the Ophidians, all is a spiral, the twisting of bloodlines, the coiling of bodies in ritual embrace, the spiraling glyphs carved into the temple stones. And at the center of every spiral is The One Who Remains.

Even now, as the last of their ancient cities crumble, and humanity rises beyond the jungles they once ruled, the Ophidians believe that all victories of man are but passing skins. In the end, when all is uncoiled and the world breathes its final breath, only their god shall remain.

--

I have been hanging on to The One Who Remains for many years now. Trying to find good ways to sneak it into various writings. He made his first appearance in my Buffy RPG adventure "The Dark Druid" and he is the "something else" I mentioned in Fear Dorich's stats. 

Who, or what, is The One Who Remains? That is a much more complicated question and deserves a careful answer. In the future. 

 Had to switch my Friday posts here, was going to do this one next week and have a Fantasy Friday for today, but fell down a rabbit hole and ended buying three more games to talk about. That's fine I have Kickstarters today that seem to be speaking to me directly.

Up first, Tales of the Valiant.

Player's Guide 2: New Power for 5E and TOV Players

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deepmagic/players-guide-2-new-power-for-5e-and-tov-players?ref=theotherside

Tales of the Valiant is Kobold Press' 5e-compatible RPG sans the OGL. I don't play a lot of 5e these days, but I do keep my eye out. And this one grabbed me. I already detailed Tales of the Valiant in previous Fantasy Fridays.

You can easily see why if you download their preview. 

Yup. That's right, a 5e-compatible Witch class. Now I have played a lot of 5e witches thanks to DMsGuild and other sites. Some are great, some less so. But this one looks like a lot of fun, really. Honestly, I don't really care what else the book has, that is enough for me. There are three new classes here and sub-classes for all the base classes. That's 16 classes total for ToV. There is a witch and a warlock. 

Vanguards are featured in the preview and remind me of Pathfinder 2's champions or even the Cavalier of old. Yes, I already have a character in mind to make for this. In fact, he is perfect since it was Kobold Press' Shadow Fey book that made me want to make the character in the first place. With this book I could actually do Scáthaithe, Larina, and their daughter Taryn all in the same system for a change. In my Fantasy Friday coverage of ToV I mentioned that there were no good options to do Larina with. That changes with this.

The Kickstarter is funded, so they don't need my help at all. But there are a lot of good add-ons and stretch goals. I think I am going to get the fancy-looking limited edition cover. I am a slut of a book with a ribbon.

Sadly, it won't be out till January of 2026. 

I have the Tales of the Valiant books in PDF. I'll need to get those in hardcovers, too, now. 

I already featured this one, but I want to do it again. 

Frightshow Classics LIVES!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frightshowclassics/frightshow-classics-lives?ref=theotherside

This Kickstarter will feature a lot of art from the late Jim Holloway. They have been working with Jim's family to get this art out there in remembrance of him and the game he did so many illustrations for, 1st Edition Chill.

This round also features an adventure adapting the famous gothic story "Carmilla" for use with this system.

What system is that? Good of you to ask! The adventures are overtly for Chill first Edition. The Pacesetter version. BUT these adventures can be played on their own with no extra rule book since everything you need is included in the adventure itself. You can even move them over to your system of choice.

I wrote a couple for this line, The Golem and The Nightmare.

I even provided a video tribute featuring my favorite Jim Holloway art. 

Last month, I made the claim that D&D 5.5/2024 Edition should have its own campaign world. This generated some very lively discussions. However, more than a few people were confused as to the purpose of that post.

Yes. You can make your own game world. Everyone can. Everyone does.

But that post wasn't about that.

It was about Wizards of the Coast making a new world. A product for sale and a marketing tool. Something to help emphasize and feature the new rules and vision of the D&D 2024 game. A flagship setting that tells the players, “This is what this edition is for.”

So, to be up front, here are the objectives of this post:

To identify what makes the 2024 Edition of D&D 5e different, and what a campaign world should do to support these new rules and views.

So, what should a world for D&D 5.5/2024 look like?

A world that welcomes heroes of every species, that speaks the same bold language as the rules and art? It shouldn't just retrofit old kingdoms, it should feel like the start of a new mythology. Not a museum for nostalgia, but a canvas for discovery.

What is the Point of View of the New Game?

The new D&D game is not the same Sword & Sorcery game rooted in the pulp epics of R.E. Howard, the epic fantasy of Tolkien, or the weird horror of Lovecraft. Sure, those roots are still there, but they’ve become fertilizer for something new. D&D fantasy is now its own genre, just as recognizable and distinct as High Fantasy or Grimdark.

D&D 2024 is Heroic Fantasy, Reforged.

The rules assume you are powerful, competent, and connected to a world that matters. This isn’t about crawling through dungeons looking for 14 copper pieces and a rusty dagger. This is a game where characters shape the world, not just loot it.

And the world they shape should reflect that.

This quote from early in the Player's Handbook (p. 4) sets the tone.

“There’s no winning and losing in D&D, at least not the way those terms are usually understood. Together you and friends create an exciting story of adventurers who confront perils. Sometimes an adventurer might come to a tragic end. Even so, the other adventurers can search for powerful magic to revive their fallen comrade, or the character’s player might create a new character to carry on. No matter what happens, if everyone has a good time and creates a memorable story, they all win.”

This new world is not the Realms. It is not Greyhawk. It is not born of Dragonlance’s epic saga or Eberron’s intrigue. Modules or boxed sets from the 1980s don't hold this world together. It doesn't need to be. It can stand on its own, because the new edition does. This new world draws on all of those, but it is, or should be, its own new thing.

D&D 2024 is no longer just inspired by existing fantasy genres; it has become its own unique blend: a fusion of classic fantasy, modern storytelling, video game logic, and collaborative heroism. Most of the players of this game have never read any of the books in Appendix N, nor do they need to. It's not required reading, it's not homework. 

The 2024 Rules Philosophy: Why This Edition Feels Different

The 2024 edition does not simply revise the math or tidy up the rulebooks. It reflects a new philosophy that reshapes how players engage with the game world:

• Heroic from Level 1: Characters are competent, capable, and connected from the start. They are agents of change, not fragile wanderers.
• Background Defines Destiny: Backgrounds carry some mechanical weight, adjusting ability scores, granting a starting feat, and shaping a character’s narrative role.
• Species, Not Race: The old assumptions are gone. Every ancestry is valid, integrated, and part of the world’s core mythology from the beginning.
• Epic Play Is Expected: Epic Boons and expanded high-level content create long arcs where characters leave permanent marks on the world. Bastions given them a place to grow.
• Rest and Recovery Shift: Revised rest rules and healing mechanics de-emphasize attrition gameplay and resource management in favor of narrative pacing.
• Inspiration & Heroic Dice: The system encourages cinematic moments, rewarding bold choices and emotional storytelling.
• Moral Complexity Over Alignment: The world emphasizes choices, consequences, and motivations rather than rigid alignment tags.
• Collaborative Worldbuilding: Bastions, crafting, and political influence give players tangible ways to build and shape the world around them.

This isn’t just new mechanics; it’s a new gameplay rhythm. The world that supports this edition must reflect these values: vibrant, inclusive, and full of heroic possibility.

A Place for Everyone

Last time, I mentioned that human-centric is no longer the norm. Tieflings, kenku, rabbitfolk, genasi, and goliaths are not "weird options," they are the foundation. We’re not explaining their presence as magical accidents. They are the world’s people. Full stop.

And that means designing a world where they belong from the start.

This is not just a question of species, but of society. The world needs to be built from the ground up as a multicultural setting. Not a monoculture with elves here and dwarves over there, but a place where cities are melting pots, just like our own. Diverse, imperfect, growing, and alive.

The landscape must reflect this (we are not drifting too far afield here):

• Forests for Elves, Firbolgs, and Gnomes.
• Mountains for Dwarves, Goliaths, and Dragonborn.
• Elemental zones, volcanoes, storm-swept coastlines, and crystal deserts for Genasi (and maybe Dragonborn too).
• Planar-infused regions where Githyanki, Tieflings, and Aasimar emerged from divine or infernal events not exiled, not feared, but part of the world’s mythic history.
• Underground realms and deep caverns, not evil hives, but mysterious cultures for Svirfneblin, Kobolds, even Goblinoid societies.

You don't explain these people as oddities or invaders. You explain them as native to this world’s story.

And yes, it must use 'species,' not 'race.' Background and culture shape identity as much or more than biology. This is a world that embraces the idea that what you choose matters.

By everyone, I don't just mean "Characters" but "Players" as well. A new world would not just serve veteran players looking for a fresh canvas; it would provide an accessible, self-contained starting point for brand-new players who are being drawn into D&D through its growing cultural presence.

A Place for Bastions, Magical Shops, and More

Blame Skyrim, Minecraft, Animal Crossing, or Critical Role, modern players want to build. The 2024 edition's rules for Bastions are a direct response to this.

So the world must support that mechanic. Not just as a gimmick, but as a narrative engine.

• Frontier zones and wild lands for players to reclaim and shape.
• Urban districts where old guildhalls, mage towers, or abandoned temples can be refurbished into faction bases.
• Political factions that reward player heroes with lands, titles, or responsibilities.
• Magical areas, ripe for discovery and filled with mystery and potential.

A Bastion isn’t just a stronghold; it’s a symbol of the character’s impact on the world. A forge, a sanctuary, a school, a demiplane, it should reflect the kind of hero, and the player, who built it.

And magic items? They’re not just loot anymore, they’re craft. The world should have rare components, legendary artificers, and magical economies that support the idea that players make as much as they take.  Characters no longer search for a magical weapon, they search for the items, rare and wonderful, to craft this magical weapon. 

A Place for Heroes, Not Murder Hobos

This is maybe the most important shift of all.

D&D 2024 assumes that the characters will be heroes from the start. The world should provide the challenges to allow them to do that. 

In that vein, while the emphasis on alignment is lessened, the heroic deeds of the characters, informed by their backgrounds and motivations, is pushed to the front. 

That means the world must reinforce heroism:

• Villains have goals, not alignment tags. They make choices that harm others, threaten communities, or disrupt the world’s spiritual balance, and heroes rise to challenge them.
• NPCs matter, not just as quest-givers or obstacles, but as people whose lives improve (or suffer) depending on what the heroes do.
  
• Monsters have new and updated lore. A new world needs to feature the unique abilities, behaviors, and updated lore of the 2024 monsters as integral parts of its ecosystems and mythos. Old "evil" species have new motivations, and old "heroic" creatures have new purposes. All of these have to have a place in the world
• Factions reward good deeds not only with gold and magic but with respect, stories, and influence.

When characters act heroically, the world should respond. They gain allies. They inspire others. They become part of the land’s living mythology.

This is a world that expects heroes to rise, and needs them to.

Don't get me wrong here, I have seen D&D 5e characters do things that can be classified as war crimes, but characters are always going to that. This is about the world that the new rules tries to build and how the PCs can build within it. 

A Place Worth Saving

Lastly, the world itself must be beautiful.

Not just dangerous or mysterious, it is those, but also wondrous. Filled with things worth protecting.

• Floating islands with gardens tended by treants and air genasi.
• A continent slowly awakening after a divine slumber, its forests singing with echoes of lost gods.
• Cities built in the bones of giant beasts, their spires crafted from dragonbone and crystal.
• A golden river that flows backward, carrying visions of future destinies.
• Hidden portals, ancient mysteries, new lands still becoming.
• A world that has a unique, even special, place in the D&D Multiverse.

Because players want to care. And caring starts with wonder.

Honorable Mentions

I would be remiss if I did not mention some campaign worlds that can do all of this in one form or another.

Eberron did for 3e what this new world should do for 5e. Can it do all of this now? I don't know Eberron is the world I am the least knowledgeable about.

The Forgotten Realms can also do this. And in many significant ways, it does do this. The Forgotten Realms of the Baldur's Gate 3 game does at least and still balances what the old-school gamers like. Take the questline in Act 1 for example. You need to wipe out a camp of goblins. Mind you, you are not doing this just because they are Goblins. You are doing it because they are worshippers of the evil Cult of the Absolute, bent on tyrannical conquest. If you take them out, then a group of tieflings can get to safety (in theory). The different species and factions don't have to get along in this new world.

We will be getting an updated Forgotten Realms campaign setting later this year.

Points of Light of Nentir Vale tried to do this with D&D 4e, but that had many issues of its own to deal with. That world had a mish-mash of all the previous worlds before it in a grand experiment of sorts, but it never took off as well as I think WotC wanted it to do. 

Mystara does this well. Like the Forgotten Realms, nearly every hex on this world (and in it!) has been explored or at least discussed. But my refrain for the last 30 years has been "Mystara can do that" anytime someone asks if a world can do X, Y, or Z. Mystara can do all of the above. Though there are no Gods in Mystara. This may or may not be an issue for some. Certainly, D&D 5.5 can support this, but players like their characters to have gods. 

Exandria is the world from the Critical Role actual plays and supported by four rule books. This world does in fact do all the above and has a place for all sorts of humanoids in the world.  It even has some gods from all over the D&D multiverse, including a few from Pathfinder. It was more or less custom-made for D&D 5 (2014 edition) by Matt Mercer. It is even mentioned in the new 2024 DMG. Its biggest drawback is that it is very much Mercer's world. Unless something changes, we are not likely to see any more Exandria for D&D 5. Mercer and crew have their new Daggerheart game out now, and they are going to want to support that. 

I like Exandria. I love Mystara, and I have grown to love the Realms. But maybe we do need something new. 

Why a New World Matters

A brand-new setting would do more than showcase the rules. It would define the cultural and creative identity of this edition, just as Greyhawk, Dragonlance, the Realms, or Eberron defined their eras. For new players entering through the 2024 gateway, it becomes their first mythology, one unburdened by decades of inherited continuity. 

A world that says: This is what D&D means now.

 Today, let's take a look at one of the key authors from Appendix N: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Gygax himself lists him, citing the Pellucidar, Mars, and Venus series. Burroughs' influence on early D&D is evident in many aspects, including weird monsters, lost civilizations, Hollow Earth settings, and pulp action. But what about witches? Do we find any in his works?

Well… not really. But that absence is interesting in itself.

Where are Burroughs' Witches?

Burroughs doesn’t give us many witches in the traditional sense. No crones stirring cauldrons, no hags in the wilderness, and very few spellcasters as we'd recognize them. Instead, his worlds are filled with cults, priesthoods, ancient science, and psionics, powers adjacent to witchcraft, but rarely crossing the line.

Barsoom: Psychic Powers and Cults

The Barsoom novels (beginning with A Princess of Mars) give us a world rich with ancient cultures and bizarre religions. The white-robed Therns and black-skinned First Born present us with sinister religious orders, but their power lies in manipulation, deception, and lost technology rather than magic. The Lotharians use mental projection to summon phantom armies, an ability that feels more psionic than arcane.

Women like Dejah Thoris, Thuvia, and Tara are formidable, but not witches in a magical sense, or in any sense really. Barsoom lacks the archetype of the spellcasting sorceress; its dangers are physical, political, and technological.  

I will point out that the "goddess" Issus reminds me a lot of the Githyanki Lich-Queen Vlaakith.  Like the Barsoomians, the Githyanki are egg-laying humanoids. The Githzerai, in fact, remind me a lot of Therns and Lotharians. The Githzerai’s ascetic discipline echoes the mental control of the Lotharians and the secretive religious structure of the Therns.

Now I love the Barsoom books. They are great pulpy reads and a lot of fun. Squint and you can see the roots of both Dune and Star Wars here. Their morality is very much black & white. There are no shades of gray. Evil is Evil with a capital "E" and good is always righteous. 

Tarzan: Witch Doctors and Jungle Sorcery

The Tarzan novels get closer to something resembling witchcraft, featuring witch doctors, shamans, and tribal magicians. These characters, as filtered through Burroughs’ colonialist lens, often serve as either dangerous manipulators or comic foils. Occasionally, they seem to exhibit powers that might be called magical, curses, rituals, spirit summoning, but most of the time it's left ambiguous whether their abilities are real or elaborate fakery.

In D&D terms, you might think of them as hedge witches, low-level druids, or non-player character wise men with access to rituals and charms.

Pellucidar and Venus: Weird Science Over Sorcery

In Pellucidar (Hollow Earth) and Amtor (Venus), we again see lost civilizations, bizarre creatures, and strange cults. But again, no true witches. The high priests and priestesses here serve more as political or religious authorities than practitioners of magic. Burroughs always leans toward "lost science" as an explanation for the strange phenomena of these worlds.

I enjoyed the Pellucidar series quite a lot, the Venus ones less so. No reason really, I just think the Venus ones paled in comparison to the Mars tales.

Why No Witches?

Burroughs was far more interested in physical adventure than in metaphysical horror or occult mystery. His heroes battle monsters, topple tyrants, and rescue lost princesses, but they rarely confront dark sorcery or the supernatural. It is possible that he was more of a product of early 20th-century American Rationalism. However, this was also a time of unprecedented expansion in claims of the supernatural, the emergence of new religions, and spiritualism. To be more blunt, ERB just wasn't into that. Perhaps it had something to do with his Military father and his Chicago upbringing, as well as his move west to Idaho as a young man. 

Where Howard or Leiber fill their worlds with sinister witches and warlocks, Burroughs replaces that with forbidden science, hypnotic mental powers, and decaying civilizations clinging to ancient secrets.

Nothing at all wrong with Weird Science. The pulp serial reels of movie houses were filled with them. I would argue that he was one of the driving forces behind the pulp serials of the 1930s and 40s. Same two-fisted action, same blend of heroes, damsels in distress, and lots of strange science. John Carter is the godfather of Commander Cody as much as he is of Luke Skywalker. This is even more evident in the Tarzan movies.

Conclusion

Though witches are virtually absent in Burroughs' works, his settings offer plenty of material for pretty much anything else you can do in D&D. His influence on D&D is undeniable, but primarily through setting and adventure rather than through magic systems. 

Adaptation

Ok, just because ERB doesn't have any sort of magic in his Barsoom books, that doesn't mean I am not going to use them. 

I have always been fascinated with Mars. Either reading about the planet or looking up at it through my old telescope, Mars is fascinating. ERB has his Barsoom tales, Clark Ashton Smith had his tales, and lets not forget H.G. Wells. Mars is a place I keep wanting to go back to. I'll have to expand this thread more.

 It's not a Kickstart Your Weekend, but honestly, I couldn't wait for this one. My friend, Yeti Spaghetti, has a new Kickstarter to support the next batch of Frightshow Classics adventures.  Since I wrote a couple of these in the past I guess that makes me one of the friends of "Yeti Spaghetti and Friends!"

Frightshow Classics LIVES!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frightshowclassics/frightshow-classics-lives?ref=theotherside

This Kickstarter will feature a lot of art from the late Jim Holloway. They have been working with Jim's family to get this art out there in remembrance of him and the game he did so many illustrations for, 1st Edition Chill.

This round also features an adventure adapting the famous gothic story "Carmilla" for use with this system.

What system is that? Good of you to ask! The adventures are overtly for Chill first Edition. The Pacesetter version. BUT these adventures can be played on their own with no extra rule book since everything you need is included in the adventure itself. You can even move them over to your system of choice.

I wrote a couple for this line, The Golem and The Nightmare.

I even provided a video tribute featuring my favorite Jim Holloway art. 

So check it out.

Maybe I should extend my "Year of Fantasy RPG" to include some "Urban Fantasy!"

Bowing out of a Monstrous Monday post for today since it is the start of June. 

Historically, around here, June has been my time to devote to D&D, with a particular focus on B/X and BECMI D&D. This year, I was going to focus on FRPGs that were not D&D, but I am going to bend my own rules a little here. I do have a few non-D&D Fantasy RPGs I'll cover this month (3 or 4, looking over my notes), as well as some D&D-related content.

Another theme coming up for me is "1985." Including a few projects I am working on that have that as a connecting theme. One you already know about, you just didn't know that was a theme of it yet. My 1357 DR Forgotten Realms campaign is taking on a solid "1985" feel to it.  Since the campaign setting came out in 1987 and is assumed to be 1357, I am setting by "game feel" for how I was playing in 1985-1986. 1987 was a very different sort of year for me, gaming-wise, so I opted for something more mid-80s in feeling. Plus, my son and I were talking a lot about music from that time (he is really getting into the Talking Heads), so I made a new 1985 playlist for background noise. 

June, of course, always reminds me of summers playing D&D (and some Chill, and some DC Heroes). It was a great time. Yeah, I was also working all the time. I started saving for college in 1984, but it was still a great time. 

Posts this month are going to be around this loose theme and moving me closer to completion for a couple of new projects. Among these are a new OSE "Classic Classes" release, a couple more "Myths & Monsters" for 1st Ed. And a few ideas I have been mulling over that are not really ready for the light of day. This is all still part of my efforts to finish up some of the started, but never completed, projects sitting on my hard drives. 

I am rather looking forward to it all.

When you are called into to investigate a violent assault at an address in Putney, Southwest London, it sounds like any other day on the job in Putney, let alone London. When it turns out that that the assailant is described by an eyewitness as looking like, “… [S]omething straight out of one of those pirate films.”, then you know this is no ordinary case. It is, instead, a case for The Folly. Or rather, the ‘Special Assessment Unit’ of London Metropolitan Police Service, which in particular deals with magic and the Demi-Monde, and under the command of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, registered practitioner of Newtonian magic, is increasing the number of its operational staff as crimes involving magic also rise. Which includes the Player Characters, who are then assigned to investigate the affray at the house in Kingsmere Close. Whilst the victims of the assault are not saying much, it quickly becomes clear that they are up to no good, as they have turned the house into a cannabis farm and are not the actual owners of the house. Further, once an Initial Vestigium Assessment has been conducted, it confirms that magic was used in the assault, and that very definitely means that this is a case for the Folly. So where is the owner of the house? Who is the man dressed like a pirate, quite likely an unlicensed practitioner of magic, and why did he attack the operators of a cannabis farm in a quiet corner of Southwest London? All pressing questions in Jimmy’s Last Dance: A Swashbuckling Case File of Family Intrigue.

Jimmy’s Last Dance: A Swashbuckling Case File of Family Intrigue is an investigation and case file for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, based on the Rivers of London novels by Ben Aaronovitch. Published by Chaosium, Inc., this is a lengthier case file than previous releases for the roleplaying game, one that will probably take two or so sessions to play through. Or it can be added to campaign, perhaps run after ‘The Bookshop’ from the core rulebook or the case files, Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game and The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames. One issue perhaps with the scenario is that it set in a specific year and that it involves a political scandal that was at its height at the time. The year is 2016 and the scandal is The Windrush Scandal. Of course, the authors advise the Game Master to handle the issue with care and it is certainly not a problem that The Windrush Scandal is part of the scenario—in fact, it is actually woven into the plot of the case file—but rather that the timeframe is quite specific and thus difficult to shift the case file to another year.

There are multiple plot strands to the investigation, ones that will lead the Player Characters to a criminal gang, a solicitor with less than ethical standards, a rotten son-in-law and a bare-suspecting daughter, and an old lady with interesting secrets of her own. Then ultimately to the ‘pirate’ who attacked the cannabis farm and who has his own agenda throughout the scenario. Sometimes that and his movements will intersect with those of the Player Characters and their investigation. Although they can return to the Folly to conduct research, most of the investigation is confined to the borough of Putney itself and involves lots of Police dogwork—interviews, surveillance, and so on. Over the course of the investigation, the Player Characters will be conducting multiple interviews, all of which nicely presented to help the Game Master answer their questions and portray the various NPCs. In addition, there are some decent handouts that the Player Characters will be able to find through various research avenues.

There is good advice for the Game Master throughout the scenario. This starts with suggested Player Character types and roles, how to portray a pirate without sounding like Robert Newton, and continues with notes from both Peter Grant and Ben Aaronovitch. It is recommended that at least one Player Character be a police officer or detective and that one be a Newtonian apprentice or hedge wizard. Suggestions are given too, if the players want to roleplay pre-generated characters from the core rulebook. The oddest advice is on various pieces of British vernacular, such as the meaning of the term ‘old bag’ when used as a pejorative to describe a woman, old or not. Whilst a British audience will find this amusing, for a non-British Game Master, it explains the vernacular and gives alternatives where necessary. This gives her the choice of enforcing the verisimilitude with the given terms or using less pejorative ones. The structure of the scenario is nicely supported with both a relationship map and a plot progression chart, to help the Game Master keep track of the investigation and more importantly, the location of the ‘pirate’.

Physically, Jimmy’s Last Dance: A Swashbuckling Case File of Family Intrigue is clean, tidy, and easy to use. The maps and plot progression diagram are easy to use, the advice is good throughout, and the portraits of the various NPCs are excellent.

Jimmy’s Last Dance: A Swashbuckling Case File of Family Intrigue is a richly detailed investigation that combines parochially British charm and menace, backed up with good advice for the Game Master—and if things go right, a cozy ending.

—oOo—

Chaosium, Inc. will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

Escape the Dark Sector: The Game of Deep Space Adventure is about survival. About making a break from the cell of the detention block of a vast space station where they have found themselves incarcerated. They have an opportunity to escape their imprisonment, but the route they must take, between the detention block and their spaceship, is fraught with danger. The escapees must find their way out of the Detention Level, through the Heart of the Station, and then the Forgotten Zones to their impounded spaceship—and escape! Published by Themeborne Ltd., Escape the Dark Sector is the Science Fiction sequel to Escape the Dark Castle: The Game of Atmospheric Adventure, which was inspired by the Fighting Fantasy series of solo adventure books and also the dark fantasy artwork of those books. As with its fantasy predecessor, Escape the Dark Sector can be played solo or collectively and offered plenty of replay value and variability with six Character Cards, fifty-three Chapter Cards—fifteen of which form the encounter deck, and five Boss Cards. Then of course, there are game’s three expansions: Escape the Dark Sector – Mission Pack 1: Twisted Tech, Escape the Dark Sector – Mission Pack 2: Mutant Syndrome, and Escape the Dark Sector – Mission Pack 3: Quantum Rift. Each of these provided players with new characters to play, a new mechanic—which meant a new challenge to overcome, new equipment, and of course, a new Boss standing in the way of the players’ escape. However, when it came to death—and there is no denying that Escape the Dark Sector is definitely about death, as well as escaping, if not more so—what neither Escape the Dark Sector, nor any of its expansions, or even Escape the Dark Castle, could offer was much mote than a mechanical outcome whenever a player’s character dies in the game.

The solution is Death in Deep Space, the Science Fiction equivalent of The Death Book for Escape the Dark Castle. This is a book of over one hundred death scenes, each corresponding to a particular Chapter or Boss. It is very easy to use. Whenever a character dies as a result of the events in a Chapter or the showdown with a Boss, he checks the relevant entry in the pages of The Death Book. This is made possible because every card in Escape the Dark Castle as well as in all three of its expansions is marked with a unique code. Cross reference the code with corresponding entry in the book, whether for a Chapter or a Boss card, read out the description provided, and so provide an unfitting, but final end for your character, followed by that of everyone else.

For example, the details on the Boss card, ‘The Alien Queen’ reads as follows:

“Die, humansss!”

The Alien Queen was lying wait! Jets of venom fly towards you as she pounces—YOU must roll two HIT DICE now.

If a player should die in the course of this final confrontation before he and his companions, always a strong possibility in Escape the Dark Sector, he picks up Death in Deep Space and after finding the entry for ‘The Alien Queen’, he reads aloud the following:

The Alien Queen

Once it enters your bloodstream, the paralysing venom of the Alien Queen works quickly – a spreading rigidity coursing through your entire body, locking your joints one by one until you are all but paralysed. Even your eyelids cannot close, and you are forced to watch in horror as the terrible creature captures your fellow crew with equal ease.

With a series of hissed commands to her countless, scurrying servitor spawn, you are all dragged back her vast, deck-spanning nest. There, a slick, black, fleshy membrane covers the walls and beneath the vaguely humanoid shapes of her decomposing victims are still recognisable. Their shallow breaths rise and fall in eerie synchronicity, an indication that their suffering is yet to be ended. Soon, you and your crew join them.

Once in place, your spines are sliced open. The shimmering spools of nerve fibre that spill out are intertwined with those of the other captives suspended around – the connection sealed with a sticky, mucus coating. In this way, you become part of the fabric of the hive, a sensory node in a living web, lining the walls as far as the eye can see, warning the hive of approaching threats and passing the news back through the biotic chain in an instant.

For the rest of your days, your pain is theirs and theirs is yours; you see what they see and hear what they hear, your collective existence painfully prolonged in service to your bestial captor.

Your adventure ends here.

Physically, Death in Deep Space is a neat and tidy, if plain affair. A page of introduction explains how to use the book and contains the book’s single illustration which shows where the unique code for the Chapter or Boss card is located. Then each entry has a page of its own. There is a degree of repetition to the entries, but only a little, and it really only becomes apparent when reading the book from end to end, which is not its intended use. A small and relatively slim book, Death in Deep Space fits easily into Escape the Dark Sector: The Collector’s Box Set.

Death in Deep Space is book of endings, but one that provides a final narrative and some context to that death. Escape the Dark Sector is an enjoyable game, but character deaths can feel little, “Is that it?”. With Death in Deep Space, it is no longer the fact that you died, but very much how you died. Grim and ghoulish, The Death Book brings the death of every character, and with it, the game of Escape the Dark Sector to a nasty and unfortunate, but fitting end.

—oOo—

Themeborne Ltd. will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

I don't know how makes these but they come from China and are about 65mm.

It could be the seventies. It could be the eighties. It could be nineties. It could be now. Whatever the decade, the world is in danger and refuses to believe it. Creatures of the night stalk the darkness and only you have the knowledge and bravery to face their danger head on. So ready your UV torch, sharpen your stakes, bless your holy water, and load up the mystery wagon, because tonight you are going monster hunting! Are you ready to save the world and have nobody notice? Then that makes you a vampire hunter—fearless or otherwise! This is the simple set-up to Bite Me!, a scenario and mini-supplement for ACE!—or the Awfully Cheerful Engine!—the roleplaying game of fast, cinematic, action comedy, published by EN Publishing, best known for the W.O.I.N. or What’s Old is New roleplaying System, as used in Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD and Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition. Some of the entries in the series have been expansive, such as Orcs & Oubliettes and Strange Science, providing a detailed setting and an scenario, whilst others in the series have tended to be one-shot, film night specials. Bite Me! falls into the latter category.

As with other supplements for ACE!, both the genre and inspiration for Bite Me! are obvious. However, there is a twist. The genre involves vampires and vampire-hunting, so the obvious inspiration is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is not though, the only inspiration for Bite Me! and the other adds very tongue (or is that fang?)-in-cheek tone to the whole affair. That inspiration is the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, Scooby-Doo. So, this injects an extra dose of cheesiness into the play of the Awfully Cheerful Engine!. The bulk of Bite Me! is dedicated to a single adventure, ‘Darkness, BITES!’ and to that end, it provides four pre-generated Player Characters. However, it also gives the means for the players to create their own characters. These include suggested Roles such as talking Animals, Clerics, Druids, Slayers, Vampires, and Werewolves. To these are added the new Roles of Fortune Teller and Paranormal Investigator. The Fortune Teller gains the Power stat and can cast magic, but to begin with, does not know any spells. The Role also grants a bonus when using a tarot deck and knows if spirits are harmful. The Paranormal Investigator begins play never having encountered the supernatural, but has unveiled a lot of hoaxes. The Role gains a bonus when looking for clues and interacting with the authorities, and starts play with the Mystery Wagon, a mid-sized van.
In addition, various items of equipment are listed as being of use. These include garlic, holy symbol, tarot deck, EMF meter, pure salt, and more. In addition, there are stats for various things that the Player Characters might encounter, such as devil, mummy, poltergeist, and wolfman. The most amusing of these are the Crooked Property Developer (all together now, “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!”) and the Pirate Ghost.
The four pre-generated Player Characters consist of Fluffy Winters, reluctant vampire slayer; Lilo Thornberg, witty fortune teller; Rooby Roo, faithful dog; and Ted Bones, cheery paranormal investigator. All of whom are very knowingly tongue-in-cheek in being drawn from their sources.
The adventure, ‘Darkness, BITES!’ begins with news reports of strange occurrences at a rundown amusement park. It could be ghosts or it could be something else! In fact, it is both, because the adventure really leans into both of its inspirations. So, if the players are expecting there to be a Crooked Property Developer, they will not be disappointed, and if they are expecting ghosts, they will not be disappointed either. That though, is not the end of the scenario. The Crooked Property Developer is hiding something and that tips the Player Characters into a much darker storyline, which will see them race around town to find signs of occult and even vampiric activity—helped by a local psychic and chased by another classic monster—before finally tracking the evil down and confronting it in its lair. Not so much Transylvania, as Transylvania USA! The scenario is nicely detailed and plotted out and easy to run. It is not set in a specific city, so can be set anywhere the Game Master decides. It just needs to be big enough to have an abandoned amusement park. The play of it should take two sessions or so to play through.

Physically, Bite Me! is well presented with reasonable artwork. It needs a slight edit in places.
Bite Me! is very light in terms of its treatment of its inspirations—but then it has to be. The aim is to make those inspirations easy to grasp by Game Master and player alike and enable the players to engage with them as little or as much as they would like. Which is all part of making the main focus of Bite Me!, the adventure ‘Darkness, BITES!’, just as easy and as quick to prepare. Bite Me! should provide the Game Master and her players with a session or two’s worth fang-tastic and snacka-licious fun. All they have to is provide the snacks.

—oOo—
EN Publishing will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

 I was talking to my oldest about my desire to maybe, just maybr running a d20 Dark•Matter game sometime. He laughed at me. I asked him why and he asked if I remembered what a a pain in the ass d20 Modern was at higher levels. Characters having at least three classes, feats all over the place, a recording nightmare. He was right, but undaunted I jumped in. I figure I'd create a few characters. I have three characters from my WitchCraft game that I'd love to get back too. Then there were two others from a Cinematic Unisystem game set in Chicago, brother and sister private eyes, that I always thought migth be fun to revist. 

Yeah. That didn't work out really.

Now, to be fair, I am really, really out of practice building a d20 Modern Character, but damn I don't remember it being like this. In the end, I only did one (sorry, Scott and Heather) from my WitchCraft game. 

While I set out to try to do a fairly straightforward translation of the Alternity material to d20, that also didn't work out really. So in the end I did a "spiritual translation" of Larina's Alternity Dark•Matter version to d20.  They started out the same, but they drifted a bit apart.

I also could not find Scott's and Heather's sheets from my 1999 WitchCraft game, so at this point, I'd be basing them on their D&D alter egos, which may or may not be the best. Heather is a half-elf in D&D after all. I did find Eric MacAlister, Larina's ex-husband. But in truth, I never really did anything else with the guy after the 1999 game. She always worried that he would come after her, and he had kind of forgotten her. Plus, he was unable to fly post Sept. 11, 2001, due to all the restrictions. 

So here is my witch. She took a long time to build here, and I am not 100% sure I got her correct.

Larina "Nix" Nichols

Human Charismatic Hero 5 / Mystic 7

Strength 8 (-1)
Dexterity 12 (+1)
Constitution 12 (+1)
Intelligence 17 (+3)
Wisdom 17 (+3)
Charisma 19 (+4)

Hit Points 66

Speed 30ft.

Defense 17, touch 17, flat 16

Init +1

Fort +9
Ref +8
Will +10

BaB/Grap +5 / +5
Melee/Ranged +5 / +6

AP 115 (lifetime)
Rep +7

Academic (starting occupation) University Librarian
Decipher Script
Knowledge (arcane lore)

Feats
Alertness
Attentive
Creative
Endurance
Educated (+2 on two knowledge skills)
Meticulous
Iron Will
Simple Weapon Proficiency [free]
Trustworthy
Toughness x1
Wild Talent (Psionic, Far Hand [TK])

Talents
Coordinate
Inspiration
Great Inspiration

Skills

Skill Name Key
Ability Skill
Modifier Ability
Modifier Ranks Misc.
Modifier Balance Dex* 1 = +1 Bluff Cha 12 = +4 +8 Climb Str* -1 = -1 Computer Use Int 6 = +3 +3 Concentration Con 9 = +1 +8 Craft (Structural) Int 3 = +3 Craft (Visual Art) Int 3 = +3 Craft (Writing) Int 3 = +3 Decipher Script Int 13 = +3 +10 Diplomacy Cha 16 = +4 +6 +2 [bluff] +2 [Knowledge, history] +2 [trustworthy] Disguise Cha 6 = +4 +2 Drive Dex* 1 = +1 Escape Artist Dex* 1 = +1 Forgery Int 5 = +3 +2 [meticulous] Gamble Wis 3 = +3 Gather Information Cha 6 = +4 +2 [trustworthy] Hide Dex* 1 = +1 Intimidate Cha 6 = +4 +2 [bluff] Jump Str* -1 = -1 Knowledge (arcane lore) Int 19 = +3 +14 +1 [Academic] +1 Knowledge (behavioral sciences) Int 9 = +3 +6 Knowledge (current events) Int 7 = +3 +4 Knowledge (earth & life sciences) Int 7 = +3 +4 Knowledge (history) Int 8 = +3 +5 Knowledge (popular culture) Int 5 = +3 +2 Knowledge (theology) Int 12 = +3 +8 +1 Listen Wis 9 = +3 +4 +2 [alertness] Move Silently Dex* 1 = +1 Navigate Int 3 = +3 Perform (Act) Cha 4 = +4 Perform (Dance) Cha 4 = +4 Perform (Keyboards) Cha 6 = +4 +2 Perform (Percussion) Cha 4 = +4 Perform (Sing) Cha 8 = +4 +4 Perform (Standup) Cha 4 = +4 Perform (String Inst.) Cha 4 = +4 Perform (Wind Inst.) Cha 8 = +4 +4 Research Int 10 = +3 +7 Ride Dex 1 = +1 Search Int 5 = +3 +2 [meticulous] Sense Motive Wis 5 = +3 +2 [attentive] Spellcraft Int 15 = +3 +10 +2 [Knowledge, arcane] Spot Wis 5 = +3 +2 [alertness] Survival Wis 3 = +3 Swim Str** -1 = -1 Treat Injury Wis 3 = +3

Spells

0-Level
Detect Magical Aura, Haywire, Light, Mending, Read Magic

1st-Level
Bane, Cause Fear, Comprehend Languages, Instant Identify, Sanctuary, Trace Purge

2nd-Level
Augury, Darkness, Daylight, Hold Person, Shatter

3rd-Level
Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Magic Circle, Secret Pocket

4th-Level
Divination, Greater Magic Weapon, Via Negativa

Incantations
Bibliolalia, Cast into Shadow, Dedicate Site, Mystic Veil, Quartz Compulsion

Equipment

Knife [1d4, crit 19-20, range inc 10ft., 1lb., one-handed, piercing]
Taser [1d4 special, crit --, range 2ft., 3lb., electricity]
First Aid Kit [Treat Injury DC 15, one use, negates normal -4 to Treat Injury checks, 3lb.]
Vampire Slayer Kit [Mossberg, 5 wood stakes, 5 phos. shls, silver holy symbols, hand xbow, 5 wood bolts, metal mirror, garlic necklace, alum. case, 20lb.]
Business Clothing [3lb.]
Casual Clothing [2lb.]
Overcoat [3lb.]
Digital Camera [connects to computer, 0.5lb.]
Notebook Computer [5lb.]
PDA [connects with computer, 0.5lb.] Portable Occult Library
Total Weight Carried: 41lb. (medium load)

2005 Volkswagen Beetle (Purple) ARCANIX Illinois License Plates.

Larina Nichols

Human Female
Alignment: Independent (Agent of A.R.T.E.M.I.S.)
DoB: 10/25/1969 (36 in 2006)
Place of Birth: Carbondale, IL
Current Residence: Chicago, IL

Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 127 lbs

Handiness: Right* (can write with Left hand, with difficulty)

Aliases: Larina MacAlister, Larina Nix, "Nixie."

So. This is a good build, I can't say I am 100% happy with it. There is so much customization you can do with d20 that the combinations and permutations are practically endless. 

I both miss and hate, at the same time, d20's multiclassing. I love how flexible it is and how you can combine all sorts of classes to get the exact character you want. But it is also tedious. I mean I could have gone down the path of Occultist, or Acolyte, or even going into the various Prestige classes. There is so much choice. 

I showed this to my son when he got off work Wednesday night/Thursday morning. He just laughed and reminded me yet again why we tend to play 5e, AD&D 1st ed and Basic D&D instead.

This exercise has also reminded me that I wanted to do a lot more with A.R.T.E.M.I.S. as well. 

The last two weeks you have spent in the city of Venice have been amazing. You have visited the Doge’s Palace, St. Mark's Basilica, and the Bridge of Sighs, as well as taken a gondola ride on the Grand Canal, explored the Rialto Market, and taken a day trip to the island of Murano to discover its unique glassblowing tradition. The food and wine have been good too, but now your holiday is nearly over. Your flight home leaves tomorrow, but you have one left one last thing you have to do to the last minute—gifts to take home for your friends and family. In fact, you are not really sure that you have enough time to search the shops for right gifts and get to Marco Polo International Airport for your flight home. It is not helped by the fact that the three friends you are buying for, hate it when they are not treated equally, but you have hired a gondola and you are going to search high and low for the right gifts for the right people—or miss your flight trying!

This is the set-up for Souvenirs from Venice, another game from Oink Games, the Japanese publisher best known for Scout. It is a set-collecting game designed for two to five players, aged eight and up, that can be played in thirty minutes, and it is from the same designers who did Deep Sea Adventure. The aim of the game is three sets of matching souvenirs and get to the airport. At the end of the game, each matching set of souvenirs will score points, whilst souvenirs that do not match will lose a player points. The players have to find the right souvenirs, make sure they do not have wrong souvenirs in their hands, and get to the airport. Only a player who gets to the airport in time will have a chance of being the winner.

Besides the rules in French, German, and Spanish as well as English, Souvenirs from Venice consists of forty-eight Souvenir Tiles, thirty Money Tokens, five Summary Cards, an Airport Card, a single die, and five Gondolas. The Souvenir Tiles range in value from five to ten and in turn depict Venetian Glass, Venetian Masks, Leather Goods, Gondolier Shirts, Squid Ink Pasta, and Fridge Magnets. Each Souvenir Tile is actually a shop and items are the goods they sell. Two depict the ‘Pigeon’ and ‘The Pigeon Feed Seller’. The die is marked one, two, and three, rather than one to six, and the gondolas are done in brightly coloured wood. The Summary Cards are reference cards for the play of the game.

Game set-up is simple. Each player receives a gondola, six Money Tokens, and a Sun. The Souvenir Tiles are laid out in a seven-by-seven grid, or five-by-five if two players, all face down, whilst the Airport Card is placed in one corner instead of a Souvenir Tile. The grid is open as the spaces in between represent the canals of Venice where players’ gondolas will travel, moving from intersection to intersection. All of the gondolas are placed on the Airport Card where they start play.

On his turn, each player must do three things in strict order. These are ‘Research’, ‘Move’, and ‘Buying or Selling’. In the ‘Research’ step, the player flips over any tile face down so that everyone can see it. In the ‘Move’, the player rolls the die and moves his gondola that exact number of spaces, hopping over any other player’s gondola in the way. ‘Buying or Selling’ gives a player two options. If he buys, it can be done in secret, looking at a Souvenir Tile adjacent to his gondola, but keeping it hidden from the other players, or he can buy any face up tile. Either way, he replaces it with Money Token. If he sells, he places a Souvenir Tile in his hand on the table face down, replacing a Money Token which he takes.

If the ‘Pigeon’ and ‘The Pigeon Feed Seller’ are both revealed—and they have to be revealed face up when discovered, they force each player to pass a Souvenir Tiles (or a Money Token if they have no Souvenir Tile) to the player on his left. This can mix things up, forcing a player to scramble to find matching Souvenir Tiles with the ones he has in his hand. However, this really comes into play later in the game rather than earlier, as the earlier it happens, the lower the chance it has of mucking up a player’s hand.

Souvenirs from Venice is a primarily a push-your-luck game, although it does have a memory element in that a player may need to remember the Souvenir Tiles he has looked at and where they are. However, what a player is mostly doing is pushing his luck to three sets of Souvenir Tiles, ideally of a higher rather than lower value. Of course, there are more of the latter than the former. Thankfully, a player can choose to sell to get rid of a poor value Souvenir Tile if he knows where one with a better value is or if he simply wants it out of his hand. The latter may be necessary because the other push-your-luck element of game is the timer element. Once all of the Souvenir Tiles have been bought or flipped over and face up, the flight leaves the airport. Anyone not at the airport by then, cannot score any points for the Souvenir Tile sets they have collected and automatically lose. Any player with sets of Souvenir Tiles at the airport gets to score, and the player with highest score wins.

Souvenirs from Venice is decently presented, if as with every Oink Games title, packed tightly into its little box. The quality of the components is good and the rules are clearly written.

Souvenirs from Venice is a solid, satisfying little game. It is a light game, better suited to family audiences and has a surprisingly decent theme that matches that lightness.

—oOo—
Oink Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

 Last year, I spent some quality time with the Alternity Game system, particularly Dark•Matter. I wanted to spend some time comparing the d20 version with the Alternity version. Actually my plans had been to cover a lot of the d20 Sci-fi games this month, but I just didn't really feel the drive to do it this year.

I wanted to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the d20 system (which I guess doesn't actually happen till Fall) but the desire wasn't there this year. I mean if Wizards of the Coast isn't going to put forth the effort then why should I?

Both games were produced by Wizards of the Coast and still have Wolfgang Baur and Monte Cook as their authors. There are "additional designers" who are basically the designers WotC had on their d20 Modern teams at the time. 

The books "feel" similar with the differences easily chalked up to different game systems, seven years, and the aid of additional designers and editors.

Rather than being the same game with different editions they feel like a "1st" and "2nd" edition of the game. The Alternity edition weighs in at 288 pages. The d20 one at 160 pages. This is expected since the bulk of the rules of the d20 version are handled by the d20 Modern book.

There is a subtle tone difference in the games. Alternity Dark•Matter is post X-files paranoia and distrust of the Government. The d20 edition is post 9/11 and distrust of everyone. Was this intentional or am I reading into it?

The two games' content is largely the same, minus system differences. 

You can play the same sorts of games with either version in basically the same way. The Alternity system was designed to cover a wide variety of Sci-Fi type "modern" games, and d20 is, well, d20. These strengths mean that you can add things to your games as you see fit. Obviously, 20 has a lot more options due to its greater success. 

This is also a weakness. To play d20 Dark•Matter, you need the Dark•Matter rule book and the d20 Modern System rule book. I also added Urban Arcana material to play with as I like. 

The thing is, I am sitting here rereading all these books that I have not touched in years, and I am feeling a little nostalgic. Will I ever run a Dark•Matter game again? No. I can't see that happening, not really. NIGHT SHIFT is where my heart lies now. Which is too bad, really, because there is a lot of fun still to be had with this game. 

As I said last year, Dark•Matter is a great game, and I love the setting. The D20 system is better suited to me than the Alternity system, but both are a lot of fun.  While I could certainly play a Dark•Matter-like game with NIGHT SHIFT, I have so many games to play.

 So a bit of a treat. Commenter Mike Wevanne, replied to my post from Friday about Daggerheart, to let me know there is an official Playtest section, The Void, and that there was a new playtest class, the Warlock. 

From the Daggerheart Void page:

WARLOCK CLASS

Those who’ve traded their lives, or perhaps even their souls, to an otherworldly Patron in exchange for incredible power are known as Warlocks. Often, these mortals are at a point of desperation that leads them to such a sacrifice—to protect themselves or a loved one, aid their community, seek vengeance, increase their status, or otherwise further their ambitions. 

PLAYTEST TWO NEW SUBCLASSES:

PACT OF THE ENDLESS & PACT TO THE WRATHFUL

What is interesting to me is the introduction of a new domain, "Dread." This opens up numerous opportunities in the game. 

I was working on the "Fearless Five" last night for posting today, I am going to move that one off a bit now to digest this. I need to stat up a Warlock.

So far, Daggerheart has given me a "witch" I like in the Sorcerer. I also like the Wizard and Druid. It will be interesting to see what I can do with all of these classes.

For the moment, I am happy to keep Larina as a Sorcerer/Wizard multiclass, and Skylla (spoilers) as a Wizard.  Maybe I'll redo Nik Nak as a warlock. The "increase their status" works for him.

Looking forward to trying this out.

I am happy to announce that my newest Basic-Era witch book is now available in print-on-demand.

The Left Hand Path - The Diabolic & Demonic Witchcraft Traditions

https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/519741/The-Left-Hand-Path--The-Diabolic--Demonic-Witchcraft-Traditions?affiliate_id=10748

It looks great with all my other Basic Era books and it is the thickest one yet.

Available in softcover print and PDF.

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 how another Dungeon Master and her 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. However, not all fanzines written with the Old School Renaissance in mind need to be written for a specific retroclone. Although not the case now, the popularity of Traveller would spawn several fanzines, of which The Travellers’ Digest, published by Digest Group Publications, was the most well known and would eventually transform from a fanzine into a magazine.

The publication of The Travellers’ Digest #1 in December, 1985 marked the entry of Digest Group Publications into the hobby and from this small, but ambitious beginnings would stem a complete campaign and numerous highly-regarded supplements for Game Designers Workshop’s Traveller and MegaTraveller, as well as a magazine that all together would run for twenty-one issues between 1985 and 1990. The conceit was that The Travellers’ Digest was a magazine within the setting of the Third Imperium, its offices based on Deneb in the Deneb Sector, and that it awarded the Travellers’ Digest Touring Award. This award would be won by one of the Player Characters and thus the stage is set for ‘The Grand Tour’, the long-running campaign in the pages of The Travellers’ Digest. In classic fashion, as with Europe of the eighteenth century, this would take the Player Characters on a tour of the major capitals of known space. These include Vland, Capitol, Terra, the Aslan Hierate, and even across the Great Rift. The meat of this first issue, as well as subsequent issues, would be dedicated to an adventure, each a stop-off on the ‘The Grand Tour’, along with support for it. The date for the first issue of The Travellers’ Digest and thus when the campaign begins is 152-1101, the 152nd day of the 1101st year of the Imperium.

To best run ‘The Grand Tour’, the Referee will need access to The Atlas of the Imperium, Supplement 8: Library Data (A-M), Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z), Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats (or alternatively, Supplement 5: Azhanti High Lightning), as well as the core rules. In addition, other supplements would be required depending on the adventure. Of course, that was in 1985, and much, if not all, of the rules or background necessary have been updated since. The campaign is also specifically written for use with four pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of Akidda Laagiir, the journalist who won the Travellers’ Digest Touring Award; Dur Telemon, a scout and his nephew; Doctor Theodor Krenstein, a gifted-scientist and roboticist; and Doctor Krenstein’s valet, ‘Aybee’, or rather, ‘AB-101’. The fact is, AB-101 is a pseudo-biological robot, both protégé and prototype. Consequently, the mix of Player Characters are surprisingly non-traditional and not all of them are easily created used the means offered in Traveller or MegaTraveller. This is addressed within various issues of the fanzine.
The Travellers’ Digest #6 was published in 1986 with the success of the Origins Convention, which took place from July 3rd to 6th in Los Angeles, very much still on the minds of the editors. The event cemented the relationship between Digest Group Publications and Game Designers Workshop and laid the groundwork for a number of forthcoming products, including 101 Robots. The editorial also gave an overview of future issues of the fanzine and where they would take the heroes of ‘The Grand Tour’.

The sixth part of ‘The Grand Tour’ in The Travellers’ Digest #6 is ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’, written by Nancy and Robert Parker. The starting date for the adventure is 212-1102, or the two-hundredth-and-twelfth day of the year 1102 and surprisingly, the adventure does not need anything other than the standard books required by the campaign. The adventure itself is set on the world of Kaiid in the Shuna Subsector of the Lishun Sector. It is hot, wet world, described as a paradise, and is the seat of Count LeMorc, who permits parts of the world to be used as a hunting reserve. The primary target for the hunters is the Minlad, a bipedal creature that is easy to hunt and valued for its fur. However, its numbers are falling, a bone of contention between hunters who want to continue hunting it unabated, the hunters who want to limit the numbers that can be hunted, and environmentalists who want it stopped all together. Add into that is the fact that there are ongoing rumours and supposed sightings of giants out in the jungle.
The aim of the scenario is for Player Characters is to discover and prove to others that the Minlad are not just some simple species to be hunted, but a sentient species. Of course, hunting a sentient species is illegal in the Third Imperium—if it can be proved! This includes not only the hunters, but also an on-world Scout team already conducting a survey and Count LeMorc. The Minlad are a primitive species, but they are capable of communication and part of the adventure involves interacting with the Minlad and learning to understand their speech. This is a fascinating scenario that really will challenge the Player Characters as they try to save and understand the Minlad without the hunters reacting badly to the loss of income and potentially, to the realisation as to what they have done.
The world of Kaiid is described in some detail. This includes silhouettes and descriptions other fauna found on the planet, a map of the single large settlement near the Starport, and full information about the Minlad and their language. The adventure also includes a list of ‘Rumours, News, and Other Activities’ which can be used to drive the scenario and as well as a specialised crowd-swaying task for use with the Universal Task Profile.
This is a challenging scenario to roleplay because the Player Characters will need to a do a lot of persuasion and learn another language. It is also challenging to run, and that is due to its organisation. The scenario is presented as a series of ‘Nuggets’, a format which would be developed in later issues and in scenarios for Mega-Traveller. This compartmentalises the scenario’s information and/or scenes into separate sections to make it both non-linear and easier to run, but it is not as effective as it should be. Ultimately, what it is missing is a good reason for the Player Characters to want to visit Kaiid and a better overview of the nuggets. Otherwise, a genuinely fresh and interesting scenario.
The ’Playing the Characters’ series continues its deeper look at and guide to roleplaying the four pre-generated Player Characters for ‘The Grand Tour’. This time, it should be no surprise given the first contact nature of ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’, it is the turn of the ex-scout, Dur Telemon. With these, it is almost worth holding starting a playthrough of ‘The Grand Tour’ so that every player has one for their character. The scout/scout service strand to the issue continues with Nancy Parker’s ‘Persons and Unpersons’, which looks at what signifies Intelligence and how the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service defines it. The article first looks at the primary indicators—language and tool use—and then how the scout service reacts to it. This is an interesting read that nicely supports the adventure in the issue.
The Travellers’ Digest #6 details the Shuna Subsector, Subsector I of the Lishun Sector and part of the Domain of Antares and develops the Lishun Sector with ‘Library Data of the Lishun Sector’. All decent background, whilst Joe Fugate continues the fanzine’s examination and development of the UTP or Universal Task Profile in ‘The Gaming Digest: Tasks’ with a look at uncertain tasks. At the time, this would have been an interesting herald of what was to come, foreshadowing the upcoming adoption of the UTP for MegaTraveller. Today, it is less interesting unless the reader has a specific interest in the mechanical and rules development of Traveller. Lastly, the Traveller Tech Brief in this issue is ‘Grav Belts’. This fully details and describes the appearance, function, and operation of the grav belt. It includes a section on the use of grav belts in military operations which will certainly have application in some Game Masters’ campaigns.
Physically, The Travellers’ Digest #6 is, as with all of the issues so far, very obviously created using early layout software. The artwork is not great, but it does its job and it is far from dreadful.

—oOo—The Travellers’ Digest #6 was the first issue of the fanzine to be reviewed. This was by Herb Petro in The Imperium Staple Issue #8 (October, 1986). Of the Feature Adventure in the issue, he wrote, “The feature adventure, The Most Valuable Prey, uncovers the truth about the mysterious “Giants” on the world of Kalid in the Lishun sector. I don’t want to give away anything to those who might be potential players, but it is very good. In my opinion better that the feature adventure in issue #5.” He praised several of the other articles in the issue, of which he said overall, “TRAVELERS’ Digest has been growing. This issue is better than the last and the next promises to be even better.”—oOo—

Where The Traveller’s Digest #6 is at its weakest is making the connection in ‘The Grand Tour’ with the events of the previous issue and making clear why the Player Characters are on a minor hunting world. However, once they are, ‘Feature Adventure 6: The Most Valuable Prey’ is a very good scenario once the Game Master has it set up and worked her way around its Nuggets. The rest of the issue is good, but it is the scenario that really stands out for its depth and detail, as well as the demands it is going to place on the players (and their characters).

LOD has produced two sets of alien and human fighters.  They are both full of well detailed and very cool poses.  The first set is your classic "gray" aliens and the second set has squid faced aliens and space marines.  

Set 1 - The Grays.

Set 2 - The Squid Face Aliens.