The Masterclass Codex is a compilation of compilations. It complies two supplements—A Touch of Class: Seven New Classes for 5th Edition and A Touch More Class: 9 More Classes for 5th Edition—into one volume, both of which compile content from EN5ider, EN Publishing’s Patreon magazine dedicated to supporting Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Together, it compiles a total of sixteen new Classes, from the Alchemist and the Bloodweaver to the Savant and the Tinkerer. In between there are a lot of new spellcasting Classes, though physical Classes are not totally ignored, and a lot of options for the Dungeon Master and player alike. The player, of course, to play, but the Dungeon Master to pick and choose from in terms of what she wants to see in her game world. Thus, a Dungeon Master could take one, two, or more of these Classes and make them particular to her campaign—or parts of her campaign—or she could throw everything into the mix and say have them all come together in a setting like Planescape.

The format of the Classes in The Masterclass Codex follows that of The Player’s Handbook. It opens with an explanation of the class, suggestions for a quick build, features of the class, before delving into the particulars of the class. Added to this is a little fiction to add flavour. Alongside all of this, there are new Feats and spells, monsters, and a whole bit more. This ‘more’ rounds out the entries in the supplement and develops ways in which they can be brought into a game.

The Masterclass Codex opens with the Alchemist. This combines magic with scientific rigour for a spellcaster that throws acid, cold, or fire bombs, and then concocts potions and mixes for its spells. It is not quite clear if the Alchemist is throwing these vials or drinking them. The Alchemist makes Discoveries, which can be Smart Alchemy which allows a bomb to explode and target only hostile targets, Extend Potion to double its duration, Potion of Rejuvenation to restore a spell slot, and Spontaneous Recovery to amplify his healing without a short rest. Advanced Sciences are the Alchemist’s specialities and include the Sciences of Creation, Destruction, Illumination, Mutation, and Regeneration. These respectively enable the Alchemist to craft a homunculus out of clay and remould it as a servant and combatant; to enhance his bombs; to temporarily enhance mental attributes and gain mental spells; to physically enhance the body though a cost to Intelligence, though this cannot be repeated too often, lest the Alchemist poison himself; and to enhance healing and even gain resurrection! To this, ‘Scientific Sorcery’ gives the Alchemist’s Apprentice Background, new items, and even Feats like the Alchemical Artillerist, making him better at throwing alchemical weapons, and Pernicious Poisoner, to faster produce poisons.

There are a lot of interesting options here, but some step on the toes of other Classes. The Science of Mutation pushes the Alchemist towards the Barbarian Class, whilst the Science of Regeneration leans towards the Cleric Class. Other aspects feel underdeveloped, like the Pernicious Poisoner Feat. It is great for creating poisons, but not using them. What about adding their use to the bomb-throwing ability of the Class, so what you have is a battlefield poisoner? Combine that with Smart Alchemy and you have targeted poison bombs—nasty! Lastly, if this Class is supposed to be about adding science to magic, what about being able to identify potions and poisons?

The Cardcaster draws on the Tarot deck to cast spells, and actually requires a player to have one in order to determine what spells his character can cast. For example, a First Level Cardcaster has a hand size of two and draws two of the Major Arcana. The Fool gives the options Detect Poison and Disease, Expeditious Retreat, Hideous Laughter, and Mage Armour, whilst The Magician lists Burning Hands, Create/Destroy Water, Detect Magic, Floating Disc, Unseen Image, or Silent Image. The Cardcaster selects the spell and expends the card. In game, the Cardcaster can also throw cards to inflict magical slashing damage. In terms of development, the Cardcaster focuses on particular arcana, the Knight of Swords turning the Cardcaster into a sword-wielding spellcaster; Page of Wands gives greater command of the user’s Tarot deck; the Queen of Cups lets the user spread her love by supporting others; King of Pentacles makes the Cardcaster richer; and Jack of Beasts has the caster summon and control beasts. Not all of these are necessarily adventure options, the Queen of Cups and King of Pentacles feel like they suited to campaigns where adventuring rarely done, and the Jack of Beasts is an oddity that does not fit the tarot. Overall, the Class would be interesting play, adding a physicality and uncertainty with its card-drawing aspect.

The Diabolist is an Evil Class enters into dark pacts with devils and possibly demons. It is accompanied by range new types of both like the Accuser Devil or the Coloxus, and includes the feat Voodoo, which raises its own issues in tying an aspect of a real-world religion into an evil Class like the Diabolist. The Diabolist is suited to certain campaigns or in general as an NPC Class, and even then, perhaps it could have been presented as a variant of the Warlock Class which fundamentally is very similar. The Feywalker draws from the powers of the Fey realms to become a chaotic, even whimsical, combatants that flit around the battlefield, gaining a fey companion and fey charm, and binding his soul to the fey through either the Sphere of Beasts, Sphere of Plants, or Sphere of Entropy. Of these Spheres, the first two step into similar areas to that of the Druid Class, whilst the third plays up the randomness of chaos. Ultimately though, this is a fighter best at home in the forest, embracing its mysteries. The Morph Class is a shapechanger, connected to either nature or the fey, either specialising in infiltration and deception as a Doppelganger, raw animal power and presence in Primordial Beast, the scoundrel’s antics of the Trickster. Again, it feels a little like the Druid, one who has specialised in shapechanging, yet at the same time wondering whether Primordial Beast would better fit the Druid and the Trickster the Feywalker.

If the Alchemist is one of the Classes that stands out in The Masterclass Codex, the other is the Noble. Like its Warlord counterpart from Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, the Noble is all about supporting his allies. The Noble can offer a rallying word for an ally to recover Hit Points direct them to take an action on his turn. The Noble either follows the Path of the Brave to become a better warrior; the Path of the Heart to beguile others with his innocence, though this comes at the cost of martial abilities; the Path of the Mystic Royal to combine spellcasting and command of others; and the Path of the Tactician to further direct and command the actions of his allies. This is very nicely done Class overall, perhaps best suited to larger groups where the Noble has the room to stand to the side offering advice and actions. Of the four subclasses, the Path of the Heart really stands out for its roleplaying potential as everyone around such a Noble works to keep her alive whilst benefiting from her advice and actions. Throw in a few scoundrel-like Classes alongside the Noble and it could be a lot of fun.

The Occultist stands out as the oddity in The Masterclass Codex, because it is not a Class that specialises in the occult per se, although it does bring an element of horror into play. Instead, it is a transformative Class in that Occultist delves into dark lore or suffers from a tainted family bloodline that will turn him into a supernatural beast or monster of some kind. These are represented by multiple paths. These are the Abomination, more Mister Hyde than Doctor Jekyll; the cosmic power of the Horror; the dark energies of the Nightmare; the primal acidity of the Ooze; and the classic powers of the Vampire and the Werecreature. Of these, the Path of the Ooze is the most original. The Class as such feels more suited to either NPC use or a horror-focused campaign or setting.

If the Occultist brings the macabre to The Masterclass Codex, the Bloodweaver uses his abilities to control blood to empower himself and affect others. The Traditions of the Class enable the healing of the Bloodweaver and his allies with Bloodbinder; to curse, cripple, and kill with Crimson Witch; and even to turn the Bloodweaver’s own blood into weapons as a Scarlet Reaper. This is in addition to Disciplines, such as Blood Reach which turns the Bloodweaver’s fingernails into hard-as-steel (surely iron would have been better?), ten-foot-long talons, or Taint Blood, poisoning a target’s blood! The Class lists multiple Disciples, all of which require the expenditure of points from the Player Character’s Sanguine Reservoir. Some of these Disciplines and abilities do require the Bloodweaver to suffer damage as well as expend point from the Sanguine Reservoir. The Bloodweaver is an enjoyably horrible Class, being more akin to a blood-themed superhero—or rather anti-superhero—than necessarily a classic Dungeons & Dragons-style Player Character.

The superhero feel continues with the luck-based Fatebender. Where the Bloodweaver has points from his Sanguine Reservoir, the Fatebender has, of course, Fate Points. They can be expended to have something improbable happen nearby or force someone nearby (including himself) to reroll an attack, ability check, or saving throw. The Destined Prospects for the Class include Mascot who radiates good luck around him to his allies and benefits from their good fortune in return; the Jinx instead radiates bad luck to his enemies and benefits from their misfortune in return—including ‘Under a Ladder’ and ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’; and Weaver lets him change fate around him. The latter is not as fun or entertaining as Jinx, and with both Mascot and Jinx, there is something of the swashbuckler to the Class.

If the Occultist was the oddity from A Touch of Class: Seven New Classes for 5th Edition, then the Gemini is the oddity from A Touch More Class: 9 More Classes for 5th Edition. As the name suggests, the Class is all about twins and doubles, and thematically, it has Balances between the two rather than disciplines or paths. The Atavist plays with age, balancing between young and old; Equalist between mind and body, one embodying the former, the latter the other, and this changes every day; and the Reluctant Hero between fear and fearlessness. Roleplaying wise, this has possibilities, but it forces a player to roleplay two characters rather one and that complicates things. The Geomancer draws from the five Chinese elements—earth, fire, metal, water, and wood—and follows one four different Orders. These are Order of the Apothecary, Order of the Architect, Order of the Conqueror, and Order of the Rune Knight. They are respectively, healers, builders—civil servants and city planners are suggested, seekers of peace through conflict, and mighty warriors. The Geomancer is underwritten and of the subclasses, the Order of the Apothecary and Order of the Architect just about fit, whereas the others do not quite.

The Gunfighter lets the Dungeon Master and her players bring firearms into the game. It has its particular Fighting Styles—Archery, Carbineer (gunfighting from horseback), Harquebusier (using hand cannons!), Matchlock Mobility, Point-Black Shooter, and Sharp Aim—though Archery is the odd one out here. The Codes of the Gun are Bushwhacker, for the Player Character who prefers to ambush his targets; Drifter, for the famous or infamous travelling gunfighter; and Maverick, which brings magical gun tricks to the battlefield. Annoyingly, there are no rules for actually using guns to accompany the Class, a major omission. Otherwise, this is a sold Class inspired by Westerns, but mapped back onto earlier firearms.

The Lodestar begins play with a broken soul, but able to coalesce those pieces of broken soul into physical magical spheres that the Lodestar has to constantly keep tethered to his soul. As tethered as they are, the Lodestar can fling them at an enemy to inflict damage, use them to block attacks, and more. Training method include Control, which grants fine manipulation of the spheres; Imaginative to enhance the Lodestar’s artistic capability and imagination as well as the Lodestar’s form; and Instinct in which the spheres become part of Lodestar’s training and combat regimen. The Class feels inspired by the Ioun stones of Dungeons & Dragons, but then turned into an odd sort of martial artist. Overall, it does not really come together in a way that is enticing to play.

The Monster Tamer offers different ways to capture and train pets. The Class adheres three different Regimens. The Animalist has respect for animals and his pet to enhance it; the Monstrous finds kinship with monsters rather than beasts; the Oddball is drawn to the weirder creatures, like the Gelatinous Cube or the Otyugh! The Monster Tamer also teaches his pets tricks, including attacks, using the features of the creature, and even unnatural behaviour! The choice of tamed monster can be really powerful, backed up with a surprisingly high number of Hit Points for the Class.

Inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, the Savant is a Class with the Aptitudes of Adversary, which is all about manoeuvring the enemy into danger; the Chirurgeon and its focus on healing; and the Co-ordinator, who uses knowledge to aid others on the battlefield and make deductions about others. The third of these then, combines elements of the Noble with classic detective, whilst the first is a fighter variant. These are backed up with Tricks which distract or direct opponents across the battlefield. Inspired, of course, by Sherlock Holmes and similar figures with genius levels of observation and deduction, there is lots of roleplaying potential in the Class, even if, ultimately the Aptitudes slightly underwhelm as choices.

Lastly, the Tinkerer brings the gadgeteer to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. The Tinkerer—not necessarily a Gnome, of course—craft ‘Affect-Engines’ that consume mystical power and transform into elemental energy, either cold, flame, or lightning, which can be spat out for various effects. One issue is that upon first glance, the Class cannot do anything really interesting until its gets to Second Level. This is not quite the case, as the Tinkerer can build items, which require an Affect-Engine, for example, a hand-rocket or a power-tool. Once a Tinkerer acquires a few Levels and the ability to have more than one Affect-Engine in play, he can construct more powerful items and items which a few more options in their use. All this is really only obvious in looking at the list of example items at the end of the Class description, so only then does the Tinkerer not look as underpowered at First Level. That said, the creation of these devices does not money as well as a bit of time.

Once the Tinkerer is Second Level, he can cast spells and can attack an Affect-Engine to a weapon or object to add its elemental effect, including inflicting extra damage by expending a spell slot. The Tinkerer focuses on one of three Fields of Study. The Bombardier turns his Affect-Engines into artillery pieces; the Mechanic over engineers his Affect-Engine to improve its efficiency; and the Steam Knight turns the heavy armour worn by the Tinkerer into power armour! Overall, this looks like a fun Class to play around with and if there was a suitable Steampunk setting, this would make a suitable addition.

In addition to the extra demons and devils for the Diabolist Class and backgrounds for the Alchemist, The Masterclass Codex adds ‘Tailored Magic Items’ that a Player Character of a particular Class gets better at using. For example, the Diabolist’s Whip increases that Class’s ability to conjure demons and devils and gains bonuses to both attack and damage, but later inflicts extra necrotic damage. There are items listed for both the supplement’s new Classes and the standard ones in the Player’s Handbook.

Physically, The Masterclass Codex is very much two books in one—A Touch of Class: Seven New Classes for 5th Edition and A Touch More Class: 9 More Classes for 5th Edition—with one having a red trade dress and the other a green trade dress. The layout is clean and tidy, and everything is very accessible, especially with its larger typeface. The artwork, some of it publicly available images, is variable in its quality. Overall, it is and it does feel very much a like a compilation.

Ultimately, The Masterclass Codex is what you might call a Marmite book, Marmite soft, dark brown foodstuff that is so salty-tasting—without actually containing any salt—that it divides most people into two groups. They either love it or they loath it. So it is with The Masterclass Codex, and not once, but twice. People are going to either love it or loathe it because it is written for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and then people are going to either love it or loathe it because they like or dislike one, two, or more of the Classes in its pages. For those that dislike it, for either reason, The Masterclass Codex is book to avoid, though there is nothing to stop a Game Master from taking any one of the Classes in its pages and stripping it down to adapt to the Dungeons & Dragons-style game of her choice. On the other hand, there is a lot to like in the pages of The Masterclass Codex. The sixteen Classes are interesting and will add both a different flavour and a different style of play to a game, as well as presenting challenges in terms of getting used to how they play. Their inclusion both adds to the play of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and to the Dungeon Master’s campaign world. The Gun Fighter adds firearms and so they exist in the world, the Occultist suggests a horror element, perhaps similar to that of Ravenloft, and the Noble adds a sense of command and control and so on. The Noble is the one Class that will make it to play, particularly if a group is missing the Warlord from Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition.
The Masterclass Codex is not a book that every Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition group or Dungeon Master is going to want or need. Its contents are, after all, optional. However, as a set of options, having them on the shelf is no bad thing. They are a set of new play options to try out, a set of new play options around which to build a world.
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En Publishing will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

A woman sits at the dining table, the meal ready before her, a housewife and siren awaiting the arrival of her husband home, working late, or is he? Lovers, one poisoning the other to keep them even as they stray. Siblings, monsters all, confined by their father’s love and control until they have had enough and decided to ensure their escape by eating him. A nuclear family of loving cannibals whose predations have become too much and as the police closes in, enjoy one last meal of each other. A New Year’s Eve party at the end of 1999 when the world might end at the stroke of midnight and the ball drops, whilst visions of an alternate present haunt the party-goers. Mealtimes—dinner especially—can be times to celebrate, but sometimes they are performances of tension and despair, each course serving up another dish and another act that ratchets up the tension until it becomes unbearable and someone snaps. Seething. Shouting. Screaming. Raging. Worse. Thankfully, these are not scenes of everyday domestic distress, but of set-ups for—and from—the Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous.

Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous is an anthology of American freeform live action horror roleplaying games that use the themes of food and consumption to explore horror in suburban environments. Published by Pelgrane Press—better known for Trail of Cthulhu and 13th Age and similar roleplaying games—following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous is written and designed by Banana Chan and Sadia Bies, and contains a total of fourteen ‘Live Action Role Playing’ games or LARPs. These are not the traditional fantasy LARPS with multiple participants wielding foam weapons, but much smaller, more intimate affairs, that emphasise drama and tension. This is done via the set-up and then through character design and prompts. The players are free to interpret these prompts within the play, but these LARPS are designed to tell a particular story even if the outcome will vary from one playthrough to the next. The format and style is influenced by the Nordic style, but the fourteen here are classified as American freeform LARPS. All fourteen though, are reminiscent of murder mystery parties, each twisted into their own American horror story.
Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous opens with a short explanation of what LARPS, before delving into a discussion of calibration tools and setting expectations, essentially safety tools. Some of these are particular to LARPS, like ‘Tap and Scratch’, tap being used to indicate that a player wants to step out of a scene, ‘scratch’ to indicate that a player is enjoying a scene. Others, such as ‘Lines and Veils’ and the ‘X-Card’ will be familiar to standard tabletop roleplaying games. There are notes too on expectations for solo play, since some of the LARPs in the anthology are designed for one, and the experience of play can be made all the more intense because of the solitary situation. There is advice too for how to handle the debriefing following a solo LARP, necessary because being designed for one, there is no scope for post-play discussion with others as there is in a standard LARP with more participants.

The fourteen LARPs in Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous range widely in terms of length and number of participants. From one to as many as eight players, and from under an hour to no more than three. All follow the same format. This includes, obviously, the playing time and the number of players, but to this are listed content warnings, tone and media touchstones—inspirational reading and watching, calibration tools—safety tools to be observed for the particular LARP, and items needed. The latter typically begin with a dinner meal and a table, and can be as simple as print-outs of the LARP’s prompt cards and a mannequin, or as complex as an unusual ingredient, a washcloth, a bathtub, a cup of water, a coin, and a pair of pyjamas. Others require video recordings, particular room types, and more. Following some background there is always a guide to how the LARP will work, but beyond that, each of the LARPs will vary. Many include character and prompt cards that are required in order to play.
Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous opens with ‘A Housewife in Her Twenties’, a solo affair in which a housewife—who happens to be a siren—who goes through the steps of preparing to have her husband come home from work. Doing her make-up, dressing, and preparing and cooking the evening meal, before sitting down to eat—and all this is actually doing those things rather than describing acting them out as you would in a roleplaying game. Throughout there are prompts and questions as to how you react, and there is potential here for transgression, and it is intentionally designed to scritch and scratch and needle, both physically and emotionally. Similarly, ‘TV Dinner’ is very personal as the player, living alone, enjoys a takeout meal, and suddenly realises that someone in the television series he is watching is talking to him. This explores loneliness and what might change as a result of the interaction. All three of the solo LARPs here have the feel more of solo journalling games, although the LARP aspect calls for a physicality that most journalling games do not.

‘My Love, A Poison’ is designed for two players. It is about a relationship that is about to founder, one poisoning the other after discovering their infidelity. It is intimate, consensually so, the player poisoner lacing the victim’s food with an unusual flavour. There is no reveal in the sense that the poisoned participant is caught unaware, both players knowing from the starter who is the poisoner and the poisoned. ‘Goodbye Father’ is not dissimilar. It is for three players, all taking the roles of monstrous siblings who want to escape the constraints their father has placed on their lives and have jointly decided to kill and consume him. The tension and horror of knowing what is coming is ratchetted up by much of the play being done in silence, communication being done via notes or even texts, except when Father speaks, and ultimately when he is dead and they escape. Then they freely find their voices… ‘Love and Betrayal’ begins with three of its protagonists waking up to encounter a Personal Assistant hurrying to get them to rehearsals for scenes from a soap opera. As they do so, the Personal Assistant interrupts with notes from the ‘Director’ on how he wants them to perform, stuck to their scripts becoming increasingly revelatory with secrets about themselves rather than their characters in the soap opera. It is short and direct and very quickly the players will learn that their characters are in a seriously perilous situation. For more players—as many as six—is ‘What Lies Beneath’ is another family affair, which begins on a sombre note. One of their number, the youngest, recently died, and there are revelations about his death to be made by each of the other members of the family. The LARP requires a fair bit of set-up in terms of questions, both as a group and a player. There is a lot in this LARP that is unspoken, and that includes quite literally the ‘Unspoken’, an unacknowledged presence that literally lurks under the table. The ‘Unspoken’ is almost the LARP’s director, using certain actions to indicate that someone is lying, when to reveal secrets, and ultimately to replace one of the family. It is weird and requires quite a lot upon the part of the person playing the ‘Unspoken’.

Physically, Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous is a lovely book. It is well written, with clear and careful instructions and advice. The artwork is a colourful range of the weird and the disturbing, each piece pointing to the horrors to come in the LARPs that follow. Thankfully, the tooth motif on the dust jacket does not follow through into the pages of the anthology.

Inspired by films such as Get Out and Hereditary, television series like Hannibal and Sharp Objects, the French folk tale Bluebeard, and Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1944 play No Exit, Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous is a demanding set of horrifying situations, fraught with emotion and tension that preys upon the participants, whilst asking a lot of them in terms of commitment. Players new to LARPS, even mature players—which is what the anthology demands—may find that too much, even with the excellent advice on safety tools and running each one. Nevertheless, they likely benefit from the presence and guidance of more experienced players. Who, of course, will find a great deal to engage with and run here. In terms of physical set-up and commitment, the contents of Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous are less demanding, because they are all designed to be run at home.

Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous is an excellent anthology of LARPs that brings the horror of the family and its relationships to the perfect venue—at the dinner table—and keeps it at home.
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Pelgrane Press will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

It is a year to celebrate. The Queen’s Onyx Jubilee is about to begin, marking the ninety-fifth year of the merciful monarch’s glorious reign. Queen Yoros has the good fortune to be so long-lived and so youthful still, and her people rejoice at her fortune and the beneficence of her reign. She is even gracious enough to invite subjects from all levels of society, including the peasantry. For them, this is a chance to see the queen, to enjoy her hospitality, to pay their respects, and to make memories that they will tell their grandchildren. Unfortunately, only one of these facts is actually true. Whilst the queen is holding a celebration—of a sort—and does want the peasants to attend, hence the invitations, this is not necessarily to their good fortune, although it might be the making of them… They awake to find themselves in an opulent palace, a bitter taste in their mouths and bestial death cultists looming over them. Where are they? How did they get there? How do they get out? These are questions to be answered in Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen, a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.
Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen is, as the title suggests, the one-hundred-and-first title in the ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics’ line from Goodman Games. Befitting the fact that it has passed that milestone, Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen is a Character Funnel. This is a feature of Dungeon Crawl Classics, a scenario specifically designed for Zero Level Player Characters in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen certainly is tough, a great mausoleum turned fouled fane, crawling with savage cultists, sepulchres marked with vicious traps, the smell of death and decay unavoidable, all the while something monstrous lurks in the upper halls ready to vomit flesh-burrowing grave worms at intruders, and a mellifluous voice urges intruders to come to her rescue… Inspired by the short stories ‘The Charnel God’ by Clark Ashton Smith and ‘Imprisoned with the Pharaohs’ by H.P. Lovecraft—and surprisingly—Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. The whole complex has been turned into a temple to Mordiggian, a god of death, and it combines a slightly eerie feel with a Lovecraftian undertone and a sense of dread and uncertainty, all punctuated with screams of terror and death…

Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen begins en media res. The Player Characters awake to find themselves lying on the floor amidst rows of bodies. Cultists pick over the corpses. It is a wonderfully creepy opening. Once the Player Characters have dealt with the cultists—as is typical for a Dungeon Crawl Classics Character Funnel—with a mass brawl relying on luck rather than skill, because after all, they are intentionally incompetent, they can begin to explore. There is a lovely scale and grandeur to what is the royal funerary complex, dwarfing the Player Characters, its opulence, let alone the persistent and pervading stench of the grave, constantly serving to remind them that they are out of place.

The Player Characters have two objectives. One is to find out where they are, the other is to get out of wherever they are. To do that they are pulled onwards by the mysterious voice into the first of several funeral vaults. These are the last resting places of various royal personages, holding not just the bodies of kings and queens, but items that are necessary for the Player Characters’ survival in helping them defeat the ghastly threats they are likely to face towards the end of the scenario. They are also the opportunity for the author to have some fun with the Judge in presenting puzzles and traps for the players and their characters to overcome and/or survive. They often include a great table of random (or appear to be random) events that can befall the Player Characters, either killing them in interesting ways or changing them radically in true Dungeon Crawl Classics fashion. If the Player Characters can overcome these nicely detailed set pieces, they have the means to defeat the threats they will later face. Wielding these means also hints at possible roles or Classes that the survivors can take after completing the scenario, that is, Cleric, Thief, Warrior, and Wizard.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen being a Character Funnel means that there is a possibility of a Total Party Kill. Fortunately, the scenario offsets that by providing a ready supply of bodies, some of which like the original Player Characters, may not actually be dead. These can readily replace the original Player Characters, so that a player could easily play through the scenario and complete it with a completely different set of Player Characters. Given the deadliness of the scenario in places, this is a distinct possibility, as is the chance that the Player Characters make an attempt to escape the funeral palace, totally unprepared, get killed, and almost have to start again, looking for the means to defeat the foul foes that killed their forbears and successfully gain their freedom.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen is very well presented. If the frontispiece looks a little goofy, the rest of the artwork is decent and the cartography is excellent, nicely depicting the scale of the funeral complex. The scenario also includes four handouts and these are nicely done.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen is a really nicely done Character Funnel with lots of atmosphere and dread, but it does leave the Judge and her players wanting at the end. The issue is that in escaping the funeral palace and in the process, both discovering quite why Queen Yoros has managed both to stay so young and achieve the ninety-fifth year of her glorious reign and ending that reign, their actions have potentially calamitous consequences for her kingdom. The question is, what happens next? What happens to the kingdom which has just lost its (evil) queen? What are the consequences for the Player Characters? Of course, this is entirely up to the Judge to develop, but the idea of having inadvertently brought down a kingdom is such a delicious idea that you wish that Goodman Games would actually publish a sequel exploring what happens next.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen is a richly detailed and enjoyably thematic Character Funnel. It gets the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game’s second century of scenarios off to a delightfully grand and morbid start.

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Goodman Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

One of the most interesting and innovative roleplaying games of 2021 has to be Inspirisles. Published by Hatchlings Games, Inspirisles is an Arthurian storytelling game in which young teenagers find their way into the mysterious lands of the fae that mirror the British Isles where through the Shaping of magic collect Belief enough to protect the World Tree and so become Pendragons, the descendants of Arthur and Guinevere. It is specifically designed to do three things. First it is designed to be played by young adults. Second, it is designed to be played by the deaf and the hard of hearing. Third, and as a consequence of the latter, it is designed as both an introduction to and to help teach, Deaf culture and sign language—both American Sign Language and British Sign Language. To do that it uses sign language as part of game play. Just as words, letters, numbers, and expressions are shaped out in sign language, in Inspirisles, the players Shape out their characters’ magical control of the Elements, meaning that the players are literally Shaping what their characters are Shaping, and it gives the game a wonderful physicality.

Overisles [https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/460542/overisles-campaign-setting-for-inspirisles?affiliate_id=392872] is the first campaign for Inspirales, following on from the scenario collection, Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology [https://rlyehreviews.blogspot.com/2022/10/scenarios-for-shaping.html]. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tatteredbear/overisles], it takes the roleplaying game in a wholly direction—into the air and island hopping across the archipelago with the Pendragons riding astride their great feathered beasts, the Nimbus. At stake is the fate of the islands. All over the islands, Disbelief, brought about through greed, corruption, cruelty, and bloodshed, is bubbling up under the Nests of the Nimbus, masses of darkness that enable the great birds’ eggs to be stolen, Belief to weaken, and the islands to be dragged down from the skies. Could the culprits be Wyrm Pirates, infamous for stealing the eggs, or could it be something else? The Silver Apples, former Pendragons who stayed on once their quests were complete rather than returning to their lives on Earth far below, have searched far and wide for the cause, but all they have found so far, are hints of shadowy creatures roaming the islands committing theft after theft.
Although Overisles does include a quick guide to creating Pendragons, but the Inspirisles rulebook is needed to create the Player Characters. In addition, the Grail Guide—as the Game Master is called—requires a pair of six-sided dice for use with the campaign’s various tables. The actual play requirements for Overisles are simple. Just five participants, one of whom will be the Grail Guide, the others taking the roles of the Pendragons, ideally one for each of the setting’s four Elements. Control and use of these four Elements is done via Shaping, the magical means used to overcome Belief Barriers and enter into Disbelief Battles. The former are puzzles or problems which the Pendragons need to solve or overcome, whilst the latter are contests against a threat infused with Disbelief, for example, a troll who has built a bridge into a community and is about to pillage it. Players and their Pendragons work together to solve a problem, explaining how their Shaping and their use of their Element contribute to the solution, working through a Leader. The Leader will change from problem to problem, depending upon which Element is best suited to dealing with the current situation. Key to Shaping, of course, is the use of Sign Language.
Overisles adds another form of Shaping. This is Feathering, which represents communication between the Nimbus and the Pendragon. Eight new words are added in both British and American Sign Language to handle the instructions that a rider will give his Nimbus, whilst in game, his Pendragon will bond with his Nimbus, its feathers coming to reflect the hue of the Element that the Pendragon specialises. There are other means to cross from one island to another, such as the Sky Bridges, but riding a Nimbus gives Pendragon the freedom of movement.
The play of Overisles involves the Pendragons travelling from island to island, encountering NPCs and possibly ‘monsters’, searching for signs of Disbelief, and hopefully solving each situation or problem on each island. Their progress is tracked in two ways. One is by the Pendragons and their players, in terms of the number of Nimbus Eggs and the amount of Belief they retrieve and offer. As they retrieve and offer more of both, they will unlock stronger Shapes and gain access to better items. The other is by the Grail Guide, and is the degree of Calamity which can befall the Archipelago. Whilst Disbelief can be reduced by recovering Nimbus Eggs, if it and Calamity increase, it can trigger calamitous events, starting with a Vorm Storm, when the captain of The Gallant Gull, which takes the Pendragons to Wingrest, the biggest island of the archipelago and the starting point for the campaign, loses control of his emotions all the way up to one of the Nests plummeting to the ground below, and beyond. When this occurs, the Pendragons have to act immediately in order to prevent a disaster.
Overisles details numerous NPCs across the Archipelago, including the four Crests who lead the peoples across the islands, the elite of the Silver Apples—including a very truthful Squirrel, and dangerous beings, like the Corrupted Glow (Glow are winged and birdlike creatures who research Belief, but the Corrupted Glow have been overcome by Disbelief) and Wyrm Pirates. Wingrest is described in broad detail, and there are a number of interesting NPCs that the Pendragons can encounter here in addition to the Crests.
A good quarter of Overisles is dedicated to describing the twenty islands of the Archipelago. For example, Felisia is home to many cats, including its king, Cat Sith. Its notable features include the Great Cat Tree, decorated with colourful tassels and ribbons, and dotted with sun dappled platforms and homes; the Sunning Hills, carpeted with lush grass where the Feliseans can bask or catch fish from the verdant pools; and the Green Fields, which consist of fields of catnip and cat grass, all to please the inhabitants’ sense of smell. It is inhabited by the Feliseans, anthropomorphic cats. Of late though, dark clouds have been rolling over the Sunning Hills at a moment’s notice, and where Cat Sith once hosted picnics, festivals, fishing competitions, and more, he has not been seen in weeks. The Pendragons will want to find out why and this is presented as a series of tasks that will see them climb the Great Cat Tree to Cat Sith’s palace, stand in for him at a festival, and come to his aid. These tasks are presented in succinct fashion and the Grail Guide will want to flesh them out and add a little colour too. All of the island descriptions follow a similar pattern—a description of a handful of important locations and NPCs, the problem causing Disbelief on the island, and the tasks to be done to overcome the Disbelief.
What this means is that the Pendragons have twenty islands to explore in any fashion that they want. That though may be a problem. The Players may not necessarily know which island to visit first and there are no real links in terms of hooks or pointers which will pull the Pendragons from one island to the next. On the one hand, this gives both them and their players a lot of freedom, but that freedom can be daunting. Thus, the Grail Guide may want to throw in some hooks and rumours in order to give her players some ideas as to where their Pendragons should go. One thing that the Grail Guide has to do is decide who is actually responsible for the rise in Disbelief across the Archipelago. Several suggestions are given, but the Grail Guide will need to decide as to who and why.
Physically, Overisles is brightly presented and decently written. The artwork is bright and engaging, one particularly enjoyable piece is of the island of Wingrest floating unseen over the British Isles.
Where Overisles has a problem is that it is underwritten in places and is perhaps too open in its structure, such that it lacks a good starting point and hooks to give reasons for the Pendragons to go to an island and their players to want their Pendragons to go to an island. It is here that it needs development upon the part of the Grail Master and that is in addition to deciding who the villain of the piece is. Inspirales does deserve a campaign, but Overisles is not quite the campaign it fully deserves. It needs a bit more input to run than it should and for less experienced players this could be off-putting. Of course, there are no other campaigns for Inspirales, so Overisles is the only option. Once the preparation has been done, Overisles will be a decent option, not just the only option.

—oOo—
Hatchlings Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

 Harker has one of the most memorable encounters in Castle Dracula and the horror of his situation is laid bare. 

Later: the Morning of 16 May.—God preserve my sanity, for to this I am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant when he made Hamlet say:—

“My tablets! quick, my tablets!
’Tis meet that I put it down,” etc.,

for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me.

The Count’s mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold upon me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say!

When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book and pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count’s warning came into my mind, but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me, and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The soft moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where, of old, ladies had sat and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay, I could look at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring for the dust, composed myself for sleep. I suppose I must have fallen asleep; I hope so, but I fear, for all that followed was startlingly real—so real that now sitting here in the broad, full sunlight of the morning, I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep.

I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I came into it; I could see along the floor, in the brilliant moonlight, my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they threw no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes that seemed to be almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was fair, as fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some day it should meet Mina’s eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth. They whispered together, and then they all three laughed—such a silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her on. One said:—

“Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to begin.” The other added:—

“He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all.” I lay quiet, looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood.

I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat. Then she paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as one’s flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer—nearer. I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited—waited with beating heart.

But at that instant, another sensation swept through me as quick as lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant’s power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires; the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to cut through the air and then ring round the room he said:—

“How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you’ll have to deal with me.” The fair girl, with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:—

“You yourself never loved; you never love!” On this the other women joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper:—

“Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work to be done.”

“Are we to have nothing to-night?” said one of them, with a low laugh, as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and which moved as though there were some living thing within it. For answer he nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a half-smothered child. The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with horror; but as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful bag. There was no door near them, and they could not have passed me without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the rays of the moonlight and pass out through the window, for I could see outside the dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely faded away.

Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious.

CHAPTER IV

JONATHAN HARKER’S JOURNAL—continued

I AWOKE in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, from some cause or another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof. Of one thing I am glad: if it was that the Count carried me here and undressed me, he must have been hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I am sure this diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look round this room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who were—who are—waiting to suck my blood.

--

Notes

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous

A lot is going on here.

Harker is misquoting Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5 here and leaving out the most important part: " One may smile and smile and be a villain." This is an obvious allusion to Dracula himself. While I am inclined to think that Stoker assumed his readers would know the full quote and insert the missing line on their own, Dracula became so popular that it might go over casual readers' heads.

This is the section where Harker meets the infamous Brides of Dracula. They would all later get names and backgrounds by various authors, but what is important here is how they are contested to Mina Murray, Harker's fiancée.  This is not the last time that the "pureness and wholeness" of Mina is used to contrast against the evils of Dracula. Stoker runs the risk of putting Mina on a pedestal, but it is a line I think he manages to avoid crossing. 

This section, "tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand" can be heard in the 1992 FFC Bram Stoker's Dracula when the Brides enter the room where Harker (played by Keanu Reeves). 

The Brides are Dracula's vampire thralls and his harem, something the real-life Vlad Dracula would have been familiar with during his time as a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. They also represent his debased sexuality and contrasting it again to the love (and monogamy) of Mina and Jonathan.  It was the Victorian era afterall.

The Brides themselves are also seen as "anti-wives." Not only are they willing to consort with Jonathan, but their eating of a baby is the inverse of motherhood. 

There is even suggestion of two of the brides, who are said to look like the Count, that they could be related. Extending the Count's perversion on into incest.

More horrors are to come.

 Normally, I do these for a topic related to Dungeons & Dragons or some other concept. But May is my Sci-Fi month, and I LOVE Star Trek. So, let's take a deep dive and explore the strange past of Star Trek Lower Deck's own Beckett Mariner!

Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner

Mariner's On-Screen Dates

We know that she had the following postings. I am putting my best guesses at her age in parentheses. 

• 2349-50: Likely birth year(s).
• 2368: First Year at Starfleet Academy (16-17)
• 2372-2375: Served aboard Deep Space 9 (20-21 to 23-24)
• 2370s: Served aboard the USS Atlantis (24+)
• 2379 (or thereabouts): Served on the USS Quinto (30s)
• 2380: Served on the USS Cerritos (30s)

Those are all established (more or less) dates, ages are only a guess. Yes, she is a 30 year old Ensign on the Cerritos.

What about other evidence of her existence? The first big one comes from the Star Trek: Next Generation episode "The First Duty" in the 5th Season of TNG. We know from both TNG and Lower Decks this was Stardate 45703.9 or 2368.

Nitpickers Guild and Vulcan Stev Blog

So, obviously, that background actress was not supposed to be Beckett Mariner. But it is really, really convenient. 

Captain Mom Carol Freeman

What else do we know about Beckett? Well, her mom, Carol Freeman, is a Starfleet Captain. Capt. Will Riker described himself as "Carol's Mentor," which she said, "I wouldn't go that far." We know that in 2381 she is the Captain of the U.S.S. Cerritos so when exactly was Riker her "mentor?"

I am going to suggest she served aboard the Enterprise sometime between 2363 and 2371 (SD 48212.4 – 48975.1). She was friends with Sonya Gomez, who was also a Captain at the same time and was an Ensign on the Enterprise in 2364-2365. And, and this is the big one, Carol piloted the Enterprise out of spacedock. At some point she served on the Enterprise, was mentored by Riker, met and became friends with Sonya Gomez.

It is not a stretch then that Beckett was also on the Enterprise during this time. Is there evidence for this? Of course! Or...well, there is some flimsy circumstantial evidence. 

Beckett on the Enterprise-D

The Star Trek: TNG episode When the Bough Breaks takes place in 2364. It features a bunch of kids, including one young girl who could be a young Beckett Mariner.  You can see the scene here:

If Beckett is 18 in 2368, she would be 14 in 2364. The girl in the video looks younger than 14. If we assume she was particularly gifted and joined Starfleet at 16-17, then we could say she was 12-13 here.

So, maybe not her, but it certainly *could* be. 

For other potential Becket Mariner sightings, I will have to go through TNG Seasons 1 to 5 and Deep Space Nice Seasons 4 to 7. You'd think I could just, you know, remember with all the times I have watched these. 

I am looking forward to finding more evidence!  In the meantime, on to my next "In Search Of" topic.

 Things have taken a turn at Castle Dracula. 

15 May.—Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard fashion. He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without avail—the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went down the stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains; but the door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count’s room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder, and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle further to the right than the rooms I knew and a storey lower down. From the windows I could see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the windows of the end room looking out both west and south. On the latter side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere “modernity” cannot kill.

--

Notes

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous

Harker learns more about his prison and will soon take to exploring parts of the castle he has been told not to explore. 

It is now that he sees plenty of Mountain Ash trees in the mountains nearby. This is one of the woods required to kill a vampire. Stoker doesn't use this method in the story but knows its significance. 

I noted before that Harker was likely using the Pitman Shorthand method since it had become rather popular in the 19th Century. This is just another, albeit small, example of Stoker setting modern 19th-century England against old-world Europe. Here at least, the old world seems to be winning except for the increasingly smaller space around Harker. 

Yesterday, I discussed the various editions of TSR's Gamma World. In 1997 Wizards of the Coast, flush full of cash from their runaway hit Magic: The Gathering, bought TSR and all their debt, becoming the owner of everything TSR had ever produced. This famously included Dungeons & Dragons, but also Gamma World. They would then produce some new editions of this game as well.

Each edition here uses a different set of rules, and are not exactly compatible with each other.

Fifth Edition (2000)

This edition of Gamma World was designed for the Sci-fi game Alternity. I'll have much more to say about that when I do my review and deep dive into Alternity later this month.

But like all the Alternity titles, this one is out of print and unavailable from DriveThruRPG. Thankfully, I still have my own copy.

This edition is notable for also (like the 3rd Edition) not being compatible with the then-current edition of Dungeons & Dragons.  This one appeared at the end of the AD&D 2nd edition era and right before the D&D 3.0 era. 

Omega World (2002)

This was an adaptation of the d20 rules to play a Gamma World-like mini-game. It appeared in Dungeon Magazine #94 and was a stand-alone affair. It is the odd child of the Gamma World family, and that is saying something, but it is a rather fun game in a tight little package.

This requires the D&D 3.0 game to play, not the d20 Modern Rules which would not be released for another month or so.

Sixth Edition (2003-2005)

Along with Ravenloft, Wizards of the Coast had Arthaus, an imprint of White Wolf, create the d20 Edition of Gamma World. This was a fairly robust edition with both a Player's Handbook and a Game Master's Guide. A Machines and Mutants book was also released, mimicking the classic three book format D&D has always used. 

That is not the only way it mimicked D&D. This version of Gamma World used the d20 Modern rules, making it to this point the most compatible with the then-current D&D (3.5). It also made it compatible with all of Wizard's of the Coast's d20 Future line, which included some materials from both Alternity and Star Frontiers. It was also compatible with WotC's d20 Star Wars.

The book titles are a little misleading. The Player's Handbook has the setting information. Character creation and most of the rules are still in the d20 Modern book, needed to play. The Game Master's Guide is less about running a Gamma World game and more about running any sort of RPG. The Machines and Mutants book, aka the Monster Manual, is pretty much what it says it is. 

Wizards of the Coast sought cohesion in the Alternity line, which they achieved by accident in the d20 era. This also means that the Omega World game is 100% (or 95-99%) compatible with this.

In truth, this is a solid edition that makes some solid attempts at updating the Gamma World mythology to better suit 21st-century technology and genetics. 

While it is not perfect, it is very playable and it was always in the back of my mind when I tried out various d20 sci-fi games.

Seventh Edition (2010)

Gamma World came back again, and this time in-house at Wizards of the Coast. Gamma World 7th Edition was built on the same rules as D&D 4th Edition, and they are quite compatible in that respect. Gamma World characters tend to be more powerful and more random as befitting the nature of the genre. 

I know the least about this game. Though I did watch some people play it at Gen Con 2011 when it was released, and it looked fun, I'm not sure it felt like Gamma World to me. But I don't deny the people playing it had a good time. 

If Gamma World 6e was a serious grimdark post-apoc setting, then this one returned to its weird roots. I think this is one of the reasons I like 6e better than 7e. Also, I think the D&D4 rules, while I am fine with them for D&D4, don't click with me here.  The cards seemed a step too much for me.  Though I am equally certain I could mine this for ideas.

--

All editions though can be great fun, if you are willing to ignore the fact that levels of radiation talked about in these games would just kill everyone and not really make them mutants. But that is why they are Science Fantasy and not Science Fiction per se. None of that matters, though; the real reason here is to play a radioactive plant ape that speaks in a Cajun accent and swings a stop sign as a weapon.

A while back, I reviewed TSR's First Edition of the post-apocalyptic science fantasy RPG Gamma World. 

Since I am focusing this year on the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, it is only fitting that I spend so much time with its sister game, Gamma World. There are currently seven editions of Gamma World, all following the same general theme: It is the 25th Century, and the Earth has been nearly destroyed by some global cataclysm. The nature of this cataclysm and the amount of humanity that survived changes from edition to edition. 

All editions of Gamma World are credited to James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet. It was based on Ward's earlier sci-fi game, Metamorphosis Alpha. MA would give us Gamma World and the AD&D adventure Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

The remnants of humanity and other beings now struggle to survive in a harsh and mutated world filled with bizarre creatures, dangerous mutants, and remnants of advanced technology. 

Like Dungeons & Dragons, players take on the roles of adventurers exploring this radioactive wasteland. They can choose from various mutant characters with unique abilities, ranging from humanoid animals and plant people to cyborgs and psychic mutants. 

Characters adventure in abandoned, destroyed cities, looking for the remains of civilization or something to survive in the wasteland. 

In many, many ways, Gamma World IS Dungeons & Dragons. There is no magic, but there are high-tech, weird radiation and psychic powers. Making Gamma World into a D&D world is not a stretch. The 1st and 2nd edition rules are similar enough to Basic-era and AD&D 1st editions to make translations easy. In fact, the 1st edition of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide has conversion guidelines. Gamma World 4th edition is also very close to AD&D 2nd edition to make translations there east too. Dragon Magazine #183 has a conversion guideline for Gamma Word 4th edition and AD&D 2nd edition.

First Edition (1978)

I reviewed this one in detail a while back. It is also the one I am most familiar with. 

Second Edition (1983)

This was one of the more popular versions of the game, coming out at the height of classic D&D's popularity. While I mentioned it is compatible with AD&D 1st edition, it has more in common with the Red Box D&D Basic that came out around the same time. It even came with the same sort of dice as the Basic sets. Considering that GW1 most closely resembles the Moldvay Basic set, this is not a surprise. 

Gamma World 2nd edition is compatible with GW 1st edition, and is generally the same rules expanded and cleared up. Even the adventures and products for this game kept the same numbering codes from 1st edition. 

This edition is expanded over GW1 and includes an introductory adventure. There are few more "monsters" in this one as well, but I'd need to set them side by side to figure out which ones are new.

Third Edition (1986)

This version of Gamma World also expands on the earlier editions. Notable setting changes include doubling the number of humans that died in the apocalypse and the rules have changed. While characters are still generated the same way and all the stat blocks look similar there is an addition of an "Action Table" for rolling outcomes. The feel is similar to what we see in 1st Edition Chill from Pacesetter and TSR's own Marvel Super Heroes RPG's FASERIP system.  The system requires only a d6 and a d10. There are notes on how to use to generate other types of dice rolls. 

Unlike GW1 and GW2, this version was not as out of the box compatible with D&D to the same degree the others were. Characters, as did the monsters, still looked very similar, but the system was different enough to increase the incompatibility. 

The idea here was to streamline the game and make the action faster. Sadly, several errors in the game made this difficult. It did feature one of the first meta-plot arcs for Gamma World, but sadly was not finished in print.

Fourth Edition (1992)

This edition of the game brought it back to its roots, so to speak. It is very compatible with the then-current AD&D 2nd Edition. There are some very interesting design choices here too including a good skill system and a very d20 like combat resolution system with "Ascending" armor classes. In some ways you could adapt this to AD&D for a near AD&D 2.5 edition that shows a good transition between AD&D 2nd ed and what will become D&D 3rd edition, but that is 8 years and a different company in the future.

Interestingly, this edition was also playtested over the GEnie BBS service way back before the internet became ubiquitous. 

The art in this edition features some of the best art from the "Four Horsemen of TSR," Jeff Easley, Clyde Caldwell, Larry Elmore, and Keith Parkinson.

Sadly, this was to be the last version of Gamma World to be produced by TSR. They announced they were going to switch gears and do a new version of Metamorphosis Alpha for their new Amazing Engine game line. 

The Fifth Edition, while published under the TSR name was really a Wizards of the Coast product and I'll discuss that one tomorrow.

Which one should you get?

All things being equal, I would go for the 4th edition rules myself. The 1st and 2nd have a great nostalgia factor for me, and while I have the 1st Edition, I likely go with the 2nd.

The 1st, 3rd, and 4th edition rules are all available as Print on Demand versions now. So that is also in their favor. I understand the 4th edition rules are very clean and a good print. I can vouch for the 1st edition rules myself. The 3rd has some issues, but I am also not a fan of the action table, so I am giving it a pass.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Flash Cthulhu – Sell YourselfPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michael Reid

Setting: USA, 2008Product: One-Location, One-Hour Scenario
What You Get: Eight page, 1.35 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: You’ll go through hell to get this job!Plot Hook: In a recession, it is every man for himselfPlot Support: Staging advice and four pre-generated Investigators.Production Values: Plain
Pros# Sanity scouring sweatbox# Calls for strong roleplaying under duress # Easy to adapt to other times and settings# Potential convention mini-scenario# Heliopobia# Rogophobia# Thanatophobia
Cons# Highly adversarial
Conclusion# Short, sharp bloody hour of incandescent interrogation# Aggressively antagonistic affair that calls for good roleplaying

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Dreams to Fill the VacuumPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author Richard Watt

Setting: Detroit, 1995Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty page, 23.75 MB PDFElevator Pitch: Dreams aren’t always the right things to havePlot Hook: Talk of demons and cults are a sure sign of distress
Plot Support: Staging advice, eleven handouts, two floorplans, and  four NPCs.Production Values: Good.
Pros# Weird contrast of madness and mirage# Easy to adapt to other times and locations# Delightfully creepy, upfront antagonist# Decent handouts# Designed for experienced Investigators# Easily adapted to Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game# Could steer into the Dreamlands# Oneirophobia# Automatonophobia# Melophobia# Leophobia
Cons# Designed for experienced Investigators# Feels underwritten and more of a detailed outline
Conclusion# The demons are real in a race to save a woman from her dreams# Weird and woozy mix of action and aberration

  A few days have passed, and Jonathan has discovered that things are very wrong in Castle Dracula and Dracula himself.

12 May.—Let me begin with facts—bare, meagre facts, verified by books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own observation, or my memory of them. Last evening when the Count came from his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the doing of certain kinds of business. I had spent the day wearily over books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the matters I had been examining at Lincoln’s Inn. There was a certain method in the Count’s inquiries, so I shall try to put them down in sequence; the knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to me.

First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more. I told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not be wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as only one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to militate against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one man to attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not by any chance mislead him, so he said:—

“I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from under the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far from London, buys for me through your good self my place at London. Good! Now here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange that I have sought the services of one so far off from London instead of some one resident there, that my motive was that no local interest might be served save my wish only; and as one of London residence might, perhaps, have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus afield to seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest. Now, suppose I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to Newcastle, or Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it not be that it could with more ease be done by consigning to one in these ports?” I answered that certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of agency one for the other, so that local work could be done locally on instruction from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by him without further trouble.

“But,” said he, “I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it not so?”

“Of course,” I replied; and “such is often done by men of business, who do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person.”

“Good!” he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability, and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made a wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of or foresee. For a man who was never in the country, and who did not evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books available, he suddenly stood up and said:—

“Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter Hawkins, or to any other?” It was with some bitterness in my heart that I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of sending letters to anybody.

“Then write now, my young friend,” he said, laying a heavy hand on my shoulder: “write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now.”

“Do you wish me to stay so long?” I asked, for my heart grew cold at the thought.

“I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not stinted. Is it not so?”

What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins’s interest, not mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, while Count Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but in his own smooth, resistless way:—

“I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please your friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to getting home to them. Is it not so?” As he spoke he handed me three sheets of note-paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest foreign post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only formal notes now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle the Count, if he did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to some books on his table. Then he took up my two and placed them with his own, and put by his writing materials, after which, the instant the door had closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so, for under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way I could.

One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the third was to Coutts & Co., London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth, bankers, Buda-Pesth. The second and fourth were unsealed. I was just about to look at them when I saw the door-handle move. I sank back in my seat, having just had time to replace the letters as they had been and to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter in his hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped them carefully, and then turning to me, said:—

“I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish.” At the door he turned, and after a moment’s pause said:—

“Let me advise you, my dear young friend—nay, let me warn you with all seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do, then haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will then be safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then”—He finished his speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were washing them. I quite understood; my only doubt was as to whether any dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom and mystery which seemed closing around me.

Later.—I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed—I imagine that my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain.

When he left me I went to my room. After a little while, not hearing any sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could look out towards the South. There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow darkness of the courtyard. Looking out on this, I felt that I was indeed in prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air, though it were of the night. I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and am full of all sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is ground for my terrible fear in this accursed place! I looked out over the beautiful expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was almost as light as day. In the soft light the distant hills became melted, and the shadows in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness. The mere beauty seemed to cheer me; there was peace and comfort in every breath I drew. As I leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a storey below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of the rooms, that the windows of the Count’s own room would look out. The window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though weatherworn, was still complete; but it was evidently many a day since the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework, and looked carefully out.

What I saw was the Count’s head coming out from the window. I did not see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, face down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept looking, and it could be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall.

What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me; I am in fear—in awful fear—and there is no escape for me; I am encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of....

--

Notes

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous

We are seeing some more explicitly "non-human" behavior from the Count including this rather famous scene of the Count crawling down the side of his castle head first.

Dracula has Harker write letters, obviously to cover his own tracks. But I question how long that little ruse of his would work.

The world has endured much in the last eight decades in what has been an interesting twenty-first century. December 24th, 2011, marked the end of the five-thousand-year Mayan calendar and the beginning of the next, and with it came unimaginable change. U.G.E., or ‘Unexplained Genetic Expression’, gave rise to the birth of mutant and changeling children, followed by ‘Goblinisation’, in which a tenth of the population mutated into hideous forms. Although their appearance triggered global race riots, they became recognised as Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, and Trolls, separate species in their own right, members of Metahumanity known as the Awakened. Dragons appeared in the skies and were greater than anyone even imagined, owning corporations, becoming media stars, and one even getting elected president—before being assassinated on the day of his inauguration. Corporations were recognised as sovereign states unto themselves, so rose the power of the mega corps, all chasing status on the ten-member Corporate Council, regulating their activities where once national governments had done so. Recognition of the corporations and their extraterritoriality weakened the United States as the Native American demand for recognition turned into an armed struggle that would eventually force Canada, Mexico, and the United States to recognise the Native American Nations under the terms of the Treaty of Denver. Worse was to follow with the data Crash of ‘29 as a killer virus destroyed data and systems worldwide, toppling governments and threatening to destroy the USA. In response, operatives co-opted by the US government and using advanced cybertechnology entered cyberspace and fought the virus. Not all survived, but several of those who did took that technology to market, ultimately leading to personal cyberdecks which allowed individuals to easily access cyberspace and travel anywhere from the comfort of their own homes. In the wake of the Crash of ’29, what remained of the United States merged with Canada to form the United Canadian and American States in order to save both their economies and resources. It was followed by the secession of the Confederated American States four years later, and the founding of Tir Tairngire, an Elf nation just outside of Seattle. The rise of two types of technology—cybernetics and virtual reality would lead to widespread adoption of cyberware as augmentations and the Matrix, the descendant of the World Wide Web, its virtual reality or augmented reality accessed via cybernetic implants, a commlink, even the natural ability of the Technomancer, has run parallel with the rise and study of magic through various traditions.

By the year 2080, the divide between rich and poor, between SIN and SINless has only got wider. A SIN or ‘System Identification Number’ provides state and corporate recognition, access to education, healthcare, and potentially a job, but that job is going to be as a wage slave serving the interests of a corporation. Some of the SINless see their not being part of the system as a badge of honour. It enables them to undertake jobs and tasks that having a SIN would make very difficult, whether that is protecting the rights of fellow slum dwellers or becoming Shadowrunners. Shadowrunners do the jobs, perform the heists and personnel extractions, steal data, babysit assets, investigate mysteries, and the like that corporations and other agencies with a budget big enough do not want to be seen doing. Employed by a ‘Mister Johnson’, they are a corporate fixer’s deniable assets, willingly paid to do underhand tasks that would otherwise ruin a corporation’s reputation, until that is, the Shadowrunners become a liability!

This is the setting for Shadowrun – Sixth World, the roleplaying game originally published in 1989 by FASA, Inc. and subsequently developed over the course of thirty years into novels and short story anthologies, miniatures games, card games—collectible and otherwise, computer games, and more, including, of course, a detailed background and history of the Sixth World setting itself, which also spanned the roleplaying game’s thirty year history, from 2050 to 2080. It combines three genres in particular, two of them particularly not being obvious bedfellows—Cyberpunk, Fantasy, and Urban Fantasy. It is a roleplaying game in which the Player Characters take the roles of Shadowrunners, freelance operatives trying to get by without attracting too much attention, but getting involved anyway.

Shadowrun – Sixth World is the latest iteration of the rulebook, published by Catalyst Game Labs essentially the sixth edition for the setting’s Sixth World. It introduces the setting, provides the means to create the numerous types of Player Characters possible, run the different aspects of the setting—primarily magic and the Matrix, details a wide array of threats and other NPCs and creatures, lists numerous items that the Player Characters can equip themselves with, and hidden at the back, almost like an afterthought, provides a handy introduction to the Seattle of 2080 that includes several NPC contacts and almost twenty scenario hooks! This is all peppered with fiction set within the world of Shadowrun that helps to impart its flavour and feel, examples of the rules in action, and a pair of pullout sections that showcase just a little of the artwork of the roleplaying’s past thirty years. Veteran players will recognise many of these pieces.

One of the first things Shadowrun – Sixth World does is highlight the differences between it and previous editions. This is aimed at the veteran player coming to the new edition. So, what then are those changes? First, and foremost, it includes faster easier rules for Edge, the undefinable element of risk taking, guts, and heedless ignorance in the face of danger, stripped down skills, Armour not being part of the Damage Resistance test, the Elimination of Limits, a hangover from the previous, more complicated rules, simplified action, spells no longer needing Force, and altered Matrix functions. The aim is to provide simpler, more streamlined mechanics that encourage greater, faster, and more dynamic action, whilst ultimately making play easier.

A Player Character in Shadowrun has a mix of physical, mental, special attributes, typically one to six. The four physical attributes are Body, Agility, Reaction, and Strength, and the four mental attributes are Willpower, Logic, Intuition, and Charisma. The four Special attributes are Edge, Magic, Resonance, and Essence. Of these, only magic-using Player Characters have Magic and only Technomancers have Resonance, whilst all Player Characters have Edge and Essence. The latter measures how much cyberware, bioware, and other augmentations that a Player Character can have before he becomes too machine-like. It also measures the capacity for a Player Character to use magic. Install too many augmentations and the Player Character’s Essence is reduced, and so is his capacity to use magic. Skills, on the same scale as attributes are divided between active skills and knowledge skills, plus languages. A Player Character has a Metatype—Dwarf, Elf, Human, Ork, or Troll—which conform to the classic fantasy versions of them, plus a Lifestyle, ranging from Street and Squatter to High and Luxury, which apart from Street has to be paid for and maintained. He can also have Qualities, positive or negative, such as Analytical Mind, Catlike, AR Vertigo, or Combat Paralysis.

A Player Character will also have a broad role, either Arcane Specialist, Face, Street Samurai, or Technology Specialist, but within them there are several ways of achieving what each role is designed to do. The Arcane Specialist can be a Mage, a Shaman, or an Adept, the latter being able to focus his magic inwards to enhance himself either physically or socially; a Face can be skill based, a social Adept, or augmented with the right cyberware or bioware; and a Street Samurai can be all skill focused, a physical Adept, or heavily augmented with cyberware. The Technology Specialist can either hack into the Matrix or operate vehicles and drones, either through technological means or innate magical means. The Decker uses technology to hack the Matrix, whilst the Rigger uses it to control technology. The Technomancer uses innate magical ability to hack the Matrix, whilst the Dronomancer uses it to control technology. In general, Player Characters will be specialists in their role. There is some flexibility in terms of character design and the degree to which a character is augmented, but that degree will always be limited by how much a player wants his Arcane Specialist character to be able to use magic.

Character creation itself is not an easy process and takes some getting used to. It uses an updated version of the Priority System first seen in Shadowrun, First Edition in 1989. A player sets the priorities for his character’s Metatype, points to assign to skills and attributes, Magic or Resonance capability, and Resources. Metatype also includes Adjustment Points, which are then spent on Edge, attributes for that Metatype, and either Magic or Resonance. Resources are not just spent on weapons, armour, and other equipment, but also cyberware. At the end of the process, a Player Character receives some Knowledge and Language skills for free (but can purchase more), chooses Contacts and some Qualities, and spends Karma to customise the character. This is in addition to a series of questions designed to help the player envision his character and his motivation as well as his place in the Sixth World. Alternatively, a set of ten pre-generated archetypes provide ready-to-play Player Characters or examples to show what the end result looks like.

Kimama Sanchez
Metatype: Ork Role: Shaman
Racial Qualities: Low-light Vision, Built Tough 1

Body 6 Agility 4 Reaction 3 Strength 6
Willpower 4 Logic 2 Intuition 2 Charisma 5
Edge 4 Magic 6 Essence 6

Attack Rating: 9 Defence Rating: 6+3 Initiative: 5+1d6
Composure: 9 Judge Intentions: 6 Memory: 4 Lift/Carry: 10

Skills: Astral 1, Athletics 1, Close Combat 1, Conjuring 5, Influence 1, Perception 1, Sorcery 5 (Spellcasting +2)

Knowledge Skills: Spirit Types, Seattle Dive Bars

Languages: Or’zet

Spells: Analyse Truth, Antidote, Armour, Confusion, Detect Life, Detect Magic, Heal, Mindlink, Stabilise, Stunbolt

Rituals: Circle of Healing, Ward

Qualities: Mentor Spirit (Bear), Combat Paralysis, Quick Healer, Built Tough (2)

Contacts: Bartender (Connection 2/Loyalty 3), Beat Cop (Connection 2/Loyalty 3), Fixer (Connection 3/Loyalty 2), Mechanic (Connection 3/Loyalty 3), Mafia Consigliere (Connection 3/Loyalty 1), Mentor (Connection 3/Loyalty 3)

Equipment: Extendable Baton, Combat Knife, Lined Coat, Metalink Commlink, Credstick, Lifestyle – Squatter (Prepaid, One Month), Evo Falcon, ¥3557

Mechanically, at its most basic, Shadowrun – Sixth World is quite simple. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a dice pool of six-sided dice, results of five and six counting as successes or hits. If more than half of the results consist of ones, then there is potential for a glitch or critical glitch. The dice pool typically consists of the total of an attribute and a skill, a task having a threshold, which represents the number of hits a player has to roll to succeed. This is a straightforward Simple test, whilst an Extended test consists of two Simple tests, the side rolling the most hits winning the outcome. Extended tests are essentially a series of Simple tests, the Player Character having a period of time in which to roll them in order to achieve a greater threshold. Alternatively, a player can buy hits, dividing the number of dice in his dice pool by four and counting the result as the number of hits.

Edge gives an advantage to a Player Character’s action. The cost ranges from one to five Edge. So, for example, a one-Edge Boost will enable a player to reroll a die or add three to Initiative; a two-Edge Boost lets him add one to a die, give an ally an Edge, or Negate an Edge used by an enemy; a three-Edge Boost grants an automatic hit or heals a some Stun damage; a four-Edge Boost can add Edge to the dice pool and make results of six explode or reroll all failed dice; and a five-Edge Boost can make results if two count as glitches for the enemy or create a special effect, that benefits the action. These are not the only Edge Boosts, but in addition, there are Edge Actions. These include making a Big Speech, a Called Shot, a Knockout Blow, or gaining Sudden Insight, all of which have their benefits. Lastly, Edge can be permanently burned to gain a ‘Smackdown’ when a Player Character really, really has to hit hard, and ‘Not Dead Yet’ when otherwise, it looks like the Player Character should be.

Edge is integral to play. A Player Character can earn Edge through, especially in combat encounters, up to a temporary maximum of seven, so a player should not only be looking for opportunities to earn it, but opportunities to spend it too. Thus, ideally, there should be a constant turnover of Edge as play progresses. Yet, this is hampered by the sheer number of Edge Boosts and Edge Actions and they are a lot to remember. In fact, too many to remember with having a reference sheet to hand for every player, let alone the Game Master.
One Saturday night, Kimama Sanchez gets home from the bar where she has been drinking to find four gangers, members of the 7th Avenue Slashers, attempting to lift her Evo Falcon. They have a Professional Rating of two, so their attributes are all two with skills to match, except for their intimidating manner and willingness to throw their weight around. Kimama Sanchez just wants to go to bed, so to avoid a fight, she attempts to intimidate the gangers. As a tough-looking Ork, Kimama is definitely more physically powerful than any of the gangers. This gains her an extra point of Edge from the Game Master. Kimama’s player keeps that in reserve and rolls her dice pool, which consists of six dice, equal to her Charisma + Influence. This will be opposed by the gangers’ Willpower + Intuition, equal to two each. The Game Master rolls this as a group, stating that for each hit that Kimama’s player scores more than the gangers, one of them will flee. The Game Master rolls three, three, six, and six. Kimama’s player rolls two, three, four, six, six, and six, a good roll, but only enough to affect one ganger. Fortunately, Kimama has the extra Edge awarded because she is tough-looking and her player decides to use it as well as a point of her innate Edge to purchase a two-Edge Boost to add one to one of the die results. She turns the result of four into five and now has two hits. This means that she has successfully intimidated two of the gangers, who after Kimama asks gruffly, “Hey, squishies, you really wanna be trying this, this time of the morning?”, decide that taking on a tough-looking Ork this time of the morning is not for them.The core mechanics are used throughout Shadowrun – Sixth World, including all of the mechanical subsets that handle the different aspects of the rules—magic, Technomancy, the matrix, rigging, and so on. Combat is surprisingly treated in just twenty pages, but that also includes plenty of examples that really help the Game Master grasp the rules. At the core, combat revolves around comparing Attack Rating to Defence Rating, and if one is greater than the other by four or more, that combatant gains a point of Edge. More Edge can be gained from the situation, from gear, and more. Edge can be spent before or after the roll. Damage can be soaked by rolling hits generated from a roll based on the Body attribute. Damage is applied to the defendant’s Condition Monitor. Overall, the combat covers ranged and melee combat, grappling, knockdown, explosives, gas attacks, spray attacks, and more.

Magic is divided into two traditions, Hermeticism and Shamanism, the former being academic in nature, the latter more experienced and performative in nature. The first relies on Logic as its attribute, the second on Charisma as its attribute. The rules cover spells, conjuring, summoning, enchantments, alchemy, and more. Adepts have innate powers, such as Astral Perception, Danger Sense, Killing Hands, and more. One danger of using magic for any tradition is the possibility of Drain because using or casting magic is tiring. Every spell has a Drain Value, and when it is cast, the magic-using character’s player must make a roll to withstand its effect. For every hit, the Drain Value is reduced. Any Drain Value left over inflicts stun damage, but this is stun damage that cannot simply be healed. It must be rested to recover from!
It is Sunday morning following a Seattle night out and Kimama is still facing down two gangers who want to steal her bike and were not put off by her intimidating manner. One of them draws a streetline special and points the pistol at her and with a sneer says, “Whatcha gonna do ’bout it, trog?” The other one pulls out a knife. Things have taken a bad turn, one which Kimama wanted to avoid. Combat is about to ensue, which begins with initiative. The Game Master will roll one die and add four for the gangers, whilst Kimama’s player will roll one die and add five. However, Kimama has the negative Quality of ‘Combat Paralysis’, which not only halves the result, but means that she goes last in the first round. The Game Master rolls one, adds four, for a total of five. Kimama’s play rolls a five and adds five for a total of ten. Halved, this is five. What this means is that after the first round when Kimama has to go last due to her Combat Paralysis, she has the same Initiative as the remaining gangers. However, since her Edge is four compared to their one from their Professional Rating of one, this breaks the tie and she will go first in subsequent rounds.

The lead ganger, armed with his Streetline Special, opens fire at Kimama. The Game Master rolls the ganger’s Firearms 2 + Agility 2, Kimama’s player will be rolling Reaction 3 + Intuition 2, whilst the Attack Rating of the Streetline Special is compared against Kimama’s Defence Rating. The Streetline Special has an Attack Rating of eight, whilst Kimama has a Defence Rating of nine, which includes the benefit of her lined coat. Since the Attacking Rating is not four greater than the Defence Rating, there is no Edge benefit. From the situation, the Game Master states that it is dimly lit in the alley alongside Kimama’s squat, but since she has low-light vision as an Ork, gives her a bonus Edge. The Game Master is rolling four dice, getting a result of four, six, six, and six, whilst Kimama’s player rolls two, three, three, five, and six. The Game Master rolled one more hit than Kimama’s player. This is added to the damage value of the Streetline Special, which is two, for a total of three damage. Kimama’s player now rolls to soak this damage, which is six for her Body. Her player rolls two, three, four, four, five, and five for two hits, leaving Kimama with a point of damage to suffer. Given how tough she is, this really is a scratch! This is marked off on the Physical damage Track of her Condition Monitor on the character sheet. Fortunately for Kimama, the other ganger thinks that the pistol is enough to change her mind and does not attack this round.

It is time for Kimama to act. She is not keen on violence, so decides to cast Stunbolt at the ganger with the gun. Kimama’s player will roll her Magic 6 + Sorcery 5 (Spellcasting +2) for a total of thirteen dice! This is definitely four higher than the ganger’s Defence Rating of three, so Kimama is awarded a bonus point of Edge, plus another one because of the poor light conditions and her Low-light Vision. So, she has two. The ganger will oppose the roll with his Willpower + Intuition total of four. Kimama’s player rolls one, one, one, one, three, three, four, four, four, five, six, six, and six, which is four hits and four ones. Fortunately, for Kimama, the number of ones rolled is not enough to cause a glitch. Her player decides to spend the two bonus points of Edge to turn two of the fours into fives, and now she has six hits. This is added to the total effect of the Stunbolt, which is five. The ganger is about to take eleven points of damage, though it is only stun damage. Since damage from direct combat spells cannot be resisted, this is applied directly to the ganger’s Condition Monitor, which is only nine. So down he goes, asleep in charge of a cheap gun. Still, Kimama must check for the effects of Drain because she has cast a spell. Stunbolt has a Drain value of three, so Kimama’s player must roll three hits or more, using her Willpower 4 + Charisma 6, to negate the effect. Kimama’s player rolls one, two, two, two, four, four, six, six, and six, which means three hits and no effect due to Drain! In the meantime, the last ganger is standing there with a knife, just having seen his compatriot fall over, wondering if he should run for it, grab the gun, or use his knife…The general effect of simplifying the mechanics is to streamline play, most notably with the different subsystems. The magic feels a lot more fluid and easier to run, whilst the rules for handling the Matrix, hacking, and the Decker character type have been adjusted so that Hackers are no longer quite playing what was essentially a separate game or combat to the rest of the Player Characters. This has been done by reducing the number of hacking related skills in the roleplaying, just as the number of skills have been reduced elsewhere in the rules; keeping Noise—the factor, such as distance, which occludes hacking attempts, which ensures that a Decker is on-site with the other Player Characters rather than somewhere else; and by shifting the timeframe of hacking attempts to be in line with that of the other Player Characters in the ‘real’ world. It is still quite technical, so actually something that both Game Master and a player whose character is a hacker, need to learn, and do so separately from the other players. As does the Technomancer, but there is a more personal feel to the play of this character type in comparison to the Decker. Similarly, the Rigger has a lot to encompass in terms of what the role can do, with the Technomancer’s equivalent feeling a bit more fluid. All of which stems from the efforts of the designers Shadowrun – Sixth World to ease play and reduce the seemingly insurmountable technicalities of the different subsystems in previous editions. This is not to say that they have not been removed completely, but they have been reduced.

The other aspect of Shadowrun—cyberware, is listed at the back of the book in the lengthy chapter of gear. Here is where the Game Master and her players will find all of the guns, katanas, armoured trench coats, cyberdecks, and cyberware they will need. Much of it is illustrated, and it also includes vehicles and a wide range of tools as well, all of which can be used to outfit the Player Characters as well as the NPCs, the latter according to their NuYen, the latter according to the needs of the budget. Here is where the players will spend the amount of money listed under Resources in the Priority Table for character creation.
For the Game Master there is a good selection of NPCs, including threats and surprisingly detailed contacts for the Player Characters, and critters, both mundane and awakened. Many of the latter are quite nasty, such as the Basilisk, the Ghoul, and the Vampire, and listings also include dragons, though not the named dragons of the setting. The section on running the game is fairly short, but the advice is good and there are rules here too, for handling ‘heat’, the measure of which the Player Characters might have come to the attention of the authorities. Beyond this—and beyond the numbered pages of the book, the Game Master is given an extra set of bonus content. This includes an overview of Seattle in 2080, its isolation and independence from the United Canadian and American States making a good spot in which to base a campaign, just as it did in the 2050 and the first edition of Shadowrun. There are even some extra Qualities which a Player Character can have as an inhabitant of particular districts in and around the city! The four NPCs given are fully rounded out and detailed, all ready for their involvement in some of the plots and hooks listed here at the end of the book. There are almost twenty of these, all ready to be fully fleshed out by the Game Master, so they will need some work to prepare for use with a playing group. Overall, the support for the Game Master is generous.
However, as complete as Shadowrun – Sixth World does feel, it is not perfect. Whilst it goes out of its way to explain what the changes are with the new edition and what the slang means in the setting, what it does not do is give a glossary of game terminology. That would have helped in places where game terms are mentioned before they are properly explained. There is no full example of character creation, so it is different to know quite what you are doing with the creation process, at least initially. There are just too many nuances to it for it to flow easily. There is no example of play. There is plenty of in-game fiction and examples of the rules, but not of general play, and again that would have helped ease the learning process of the game. In terms of background, anywhere beyond Seattle is glossed over, which is disappointing for anyone coming to the city from the surrounding area, especially from any of the Native American Nations or Tir Tairngire.

All that aside, the biggest issue with Shadowrun – Sixth World is its complexity. It is a complex game, one with several separate sets of rules for handling the activities of various roles in the game. All of which need to be learned and understood by a player and the Game Master if they are going to be brought into play. None of which is insurmountable, but it is a hurdle nevertheless, and it always has been since Shadowrun first appeared in 1989 and subsequent supplements and rulebooks added new roles. That said, the rules for Shadowrun – Sixth World really have been streamlined and they do a great deal to reduce the complexity. The challenge of learning to play is still there, but it has been eased.

Physically, Shadowrun – Sixth World is decently presented. In general, it is well written, but it does need an edit in places. The artwork though is good, and it is very nice to see the artwork of past editions presented in the book’s several pullouts.

Shadowrun – Sixth World is a great setting with a lot to explore and experience. That is not quite present in Shadowrun – Sixth World, which instead hints at it whilst presenting the means to access it and explore the wider world presented in other supplements. That means—magic, hacking, rigging, technomancy, combat, and more—have been reworked to be streamlined, and faster and easier to run and play, and so make playing or running Shadowrun not as daunting as it has been in previous editions. That is an impressive feat, and whilst Shadowrun still remains a roleplaying game that calls for more than a casual commitment, Shadowrun – Sixth World has made it more accessible and easier to learn.
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Catalyst Game Labs will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

In 2013, Cubicle 7 Entertainment celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the world’s longest running Science Fiction television series, Doctor Who, with the ambitious launch of a series of sourcebooks for its Ennie-award winning Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space roleplaying game. Beginning with The First Doctor Sourcebook, each of these would detail the complete era of one individual Doctor, his adventures, his companions, his character and outlook, the monsters he faced, and the themes of his incarnation, all supported with content that the Game Master can bring into her own campaign. The result has been a very well done series of sourcebooks that in turn has enabled the Game Master and her players to explore the different eras—all twelve of them to date, though there are more to come—and run adventures set during this period and encounter monsters and threats from this period. Ten years on and in 2023, the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who was celebrated. What would the publisher release to celebrate the world’s longest running Science Fiction television series this time around? The answer is Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure.

Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure is a two volume set which together provides an overview of Doctor Who, his Companions and adventures, themes and adversaries, from the First Doctor to the Thirteenth Doctor—and not only that, but the Fugitive Doctor too! Plus, the two volumes include a complete campaign between them, ‘A Lustre of Starlight’, which encompasses every Doctor and more. The two volumes of Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure are divided into Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book One and Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two. Both are, of course, written for use with with Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game – Second Edition, but easily compatible with the first edition. Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space roleplaying game. Each book details a different era of the television series. Thus Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book One examines the First Doctor all the way up to the Eighth Doctor, essentially ‘Classic Who’, whilst Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two details the period of the Ninth Doctor to the Thirteenth Doctor (and the Fugitive Doctor) before acknowledging at least visually, the Fourteenth Doctor, which of course, is all ‘Nu Who’.

Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book One introduced both the pair of volumes in the series and to Doctor Who, explaining its origins and history from its inception in 1963 to the beginning of its interregnum following the Doctor Who film in 1996, before explore the eras, companions, and adventures of the First Doctor through to the Eighth Doctor as well presenting the first eight parts of ‘A Lustre of Starlight’, a campaign that ultimately all of the Doctors detailed in the two volumes. Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two picks up where Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book One left off with another introduction. This though, is not of Doctor Who in general as with the first volume, but of what it calls ‘The Revival Era’. This gives an overview of the last—almost—two decades and thirteen series of Doctor Who, including the Fiftieth Anniversary, as well highlighting the differences between the old the new. Not just the budget, of course, and the single story episodes, but with the arrival of the Ninth Doctor and his encounter with Rose Tyler in ‘Rose’, how the stories of Doctor Who were not just about the adventures of man—and with era, woman as well—in a blue box that could travel in time and space, but about his companions too and how they reacted to and were changed by those adventures and their time with the Doctor. In roleplaying terms, what this sets up is a greater role for the Companions. They cannot be the Doctor or even his equal—except under very special circumstances, because there are always circumstances—but they can run alongside him, be the best that they can hope to be, and see the universe and the future and the past all at the same time.

The format for each volume in the Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure set is the same for each Doctor. Every Doctor’s era opens with an introduction, asks who each Doctor is and who his Companions are, what the themes of the era are, gives an overview of his adventures, and details both the Doctor and each of his campions, complete with stats for use with Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game – Second Edition. Each of these sections is given a couple of pages each, with the section dedicated to the adventures typically being double that, though there are exceptions and for very good reason. Rounding out chapter is the next part of ‘A Lustre of Starlight’, the campaign which runs throughout both books.
Thus, for the Tenth Doctor, he is unlike the initially callous and slightly arrogant Ninth Doctor, who carries the burden of his predecessor’s actions and his belief that he destroyed Galifrey to prevent the Daleks from winning the Time War, and so is direct and forceful in manner. He would retain many of these characteristics throughout his Generation, but the presence and influence of Rose enables him to heal and his manner to soften. The Tenth Doctor retains the smile of his predecessor, but otherwise is younger, more energetic, and always, always running. His combination of compassion and pride will see him confront danger after danger, attempt to reason with the madness and the madmen of the universe, but ultimately be his undoing. The themes of the Tenth Doctor revolve around change. There is the change in the place of the Earth in the universe in the twenty-first century, because this is the era when humanity is confronted by the fact that they are not alone in that universe, and there is change in terms of how the earth is protected. First with the founding the Torchwood Institute following the werewolf attack on Queen Victoria in 1879 and then its destruction and collapse following the Battle of Canary Wharf.
The Tenth Doctor’s companions begin with Rose Tyler, who like so many before her must adjust to the radical change in manner and appearance in the Time Lord she had come to know, but they quickly joined by her boyfriend, Mickey Smith, followed by the brave Martha Jones who would go on to work for UNIT, and lastly the brilliantly brash and curious Donna Noble and her reliable grandfather, Wilfred Mott. The run through of all the Tenth Doctor’s adventures has a lot to cover, so does feel slightly underwritten and all too brief, which is an issue the pervades the supplement for all of its Doctors and those of the first volumes. Thankfully, nearly all of the Doctors in this volume have their own supplement which details their adventures, adversaries, and so on in much more detail, beginning with The Tenth Doctor Sourcebook. The chapter comes to a close with the next part of the campaign which runs through both volumes of Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure. This format and level of examination is repeated over and over throughout the book.
There are two chapters that are notable exceptions to this format. This is because of the paucity of information upon which to base a chapter as fulsome as those devoted to the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Doctors, either because the Doctor made only the single extended appearance or a series of quite fleeting appearances. These are chapters devoted to the War Doctor, the unacknowledged Doctor between the Eighth Doctor and the Ninth Doctor and the Fugitive Doctor who appeared very late in the adventures of the Thirteenth Doctor. The inclusion of the War Doctor and the Fugitive Doctor top and tail the chapters in the book, and where the other Doctors have their adventures and companions detailed, neither of them have their adventures so described. After all, there is a dearth of adventures upon which they can draw upon and it is the exact same problem that beset The Eighth Doctor Sourcebook. Where the War Doctor has no companions (though one os suggested for his adventure), the Fugitive Doctor does have one in the form of Karvanista, the Lupari Warrior, who is bound to Dan Lewis, but adventured with the Fugitive Doctor long in the past. Here at both the beginning and the end of the sourcebook is where Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two is at its most interesting, examining the unexplored possibilities of Doctors whose stories have yet to be, and indeed, may never, be told.
The campaign, ‘A Lustre of Starlight’, begun in Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book One, continues exploring the fate of the Taaron Ka, a mysterious diamond—perfect then for what is a treatment of the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who—over the course of thousands of years of history. Each part runs to three pages and three acts and is a complete story in itself, the connective thread being the diamond itself. As written, each part is designed to be played using the Doctor and his Companions of that era. For example, in ‘The Dalek Death Diamond’ for The War Doctor must team up with the Rani in a charge up the tower of a Gallifreyan time station in order to prevent the daleks getting hold of a Time Lord weapon of war, whilst for Ninth Doctor, ‘The Diamond Heist’ takes both him and Rose to south-east France towards the end of World War 2 where they team up with photographer Lee Miller to investigate an abandoned town where the Nazis have teamed up with aliens! The Tenth Doctor attends an auction on the dark side of the Moon in ‘Green with Envy’, whilst in ‘Search for the Stars’, the Eleventh Doctor comes to the aid of an Indian Space Agency mission on Mars that tumbles into the Ice Warriors. ‘Debt Repaid’ is set in twenty-first century India which is where Kate Stewart of UNIT sends the Twelfth Doctor where the Taaron Ka diamond was almost stolen and is likely to be stolen again, as is ‘Reparations’ for the Thirteenth Doctor, but in 1950, where the Taaron Ka diamond is being returned to its rightful place despite the objection of outside criminal interests.
Lastly, the secrets of the Taaron Ka diamond begin to be hinted at in ‘Division of Angels’ as the Fugitive Doctor and Karvanista, on the run from the Division and attempting to find something which will give them an advantage when dealing with the Division. This takes them deep into the Earth’s past and deep underground for a much more physical and combative encounter with the Weeping Angels. In general and as written, the episodes that make up the ‘A Lustre of Starlight’ campaign suggest three Player Characters—the Doctor and two Companions—but this does not strictly have to be adhered to. Each part should take no more than one or two sessions play through. Of course, a group is also free to create their own Timelord and set of Companions to play through the campaign, but if played as written, the players should swap roles from episode to episode based on preferences or bring in different Companions as needed.
This though changes with ‘An Unearthly Power’, the last part of the campaign, given in the first of the supplement’s two appendices. The Doctors—at least two, if not more, potentially all fifteen (not counting the Fifteenth, because he is not detailed in this supplement)—arrive, one by one, on a ‘Mystery Murder Cruise’ with a sixties theme on a steamship in the North Sea. This allows the players to go full Doctor, to each play one of the incarnations of the Doctor, their favourites bouncing off each other as personalities and quirks clash. Or possibly to dive deeper into troupe style play so that not only the players roleplaying their favourite Doctors, but their companions too! Where the previous adventures felt all too brief, this is a much more developed affair and so feels more realised and playable as a result. Consequently, this is the best adventure in the whole campaign, and it is a pity that others are each like a précis than fully rounded affairs.
Lastly, the second of the appendices in Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two looks at an aspect integral to the Doctor and Doctor Who over its sixty years—‘Regeneration’. This is a solid guide to the process and what it involves, drawing from the multiple times that the Doctor has regenerated.
Physically, Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two is superbly done. The cover is eye-catching and has a lovely tactile feel to it with the combination of lightly embossed text and the contrast between gloss and mat. The book is well written and laid out, but does need a slight edit here and there. There is, though, a nice use of colour and tone throughout. The paintings of each Doctor at the start of their respective chapters are excellent.
One thing that each volume does acknowledge is that the amount of information on the various Doctors is limited and that more information—in fact, much more information of each Doctor can be found in his or her respective sourcebook. This is also aided by the compatibility between the two editions of the roleplaying game. It is also a limitation for each volume, since there is going to be information in those sourcebooks which is not included in either of this set. Of course, neither volume of Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure is intended to be the definitive guide to a particular Doctor, but rather an overview of each era. For that, the reader and the Game Master will need access to the thirteen or so sourcebooks. Instead, each volume of Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure is something else.

As we reach—and pass—the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who, both Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book One and Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two are a chance for the Game Master and her players to look back as the series moves forward with first the Fourteenth Doctor and second the Fifteenth Doctor, now newly arrived with his first series. It provides an overview of what has gone before and gives them a chance to visit that past and decide whether they want to explore it in more depth with the other sourcebooks. Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two continues the examination of what has gone before begun in Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book One by looking back at the first two decades (or so) of Doctor Who’s revival in an entertaining and engaging fashion. Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two completes the pair, giving a solid introduction to roleplaying in the era of ‘Nu Who’ with the knowledge that there is more available.
Of the two, Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book One is the more interesting overall, because it is all in the past, and less familiar, but the Doctor Who: Sixty Years of Adventure Book Two has the most interesting content because it does encompass both the War Doctor and the Fugitive Doctor, both incarnations with untapped potential and scope for different stories.
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Cubicle 7 Entertainment will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

Quick-starts are means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps too. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she can still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

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What is it?Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules introduces the roleplaying game of the Undead in the Wild West. The Player Characters are the undead residents of Bardo’s Bluff—Skeletons, Zombies, Ghouls, and Vampires—who have returned to their unlife following their wrongful deaths, whether by accident or wrongly executed for a crime they did not commit.

It is an thirty page, full colour book.

The quick-start is decently illustrated with some excellent maps.

How long will it take to play?
Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules can be played through in a single session, or two sessions at most.

What else do you need to play?
Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules requires multiple six-sided dice.

Where is it set?
Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules is set in and around the town of Bardo’s Bluff, a sanctuary located in California governed by vampires who keep the peace, but there is always something or someone determined to make their lives hell.

Who do you play?
There are four ready-to-play Player Characters given in Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules. They consist of a Skeleton Bounty Hunter, a Ghoul Gravedigger, a Zombie Ranch Hand, and a Vampire Preacher.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has four attributes—Strength, Agility, Wits, and Empathy—and a single stat, Life Force, plus one or more skills. He also has an Undead Form, a Former Life, and a Wrongful Death. Each Undead Form provides an Undead Boon, an Undead Hindrance, and a form of Healing. For example, has the Undead Boon of ‘Hard Target’, which means that all attacks against it, except at Close range, are at a Disadvantage and the Undead Hindrance is ‘Rattle of Bones’, which imposes a penalty on all Sneak checks because of noise he makes. His means of healing is to use the bones of any dead to repair himself.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules and thus Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG, uses the Year Zero engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. To have a Player Character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to a combination of attribute and skill. A single roll of a six indicates a success. Multiple successes improve the outcome, especially in combat and conflict. 

If no sixes are rolled, the action fails. However, the Law Master—as the Game Master—can decide that the action succeeds, but with consequences. Alternatively, if the roll is a failure and no sixes are rolled, or a player wants more successes, he can Push the roll. This enables him to reroll any dice which did not result in a one or six. A roll can be Pushed once and any rolls of one on the Base Dice indicate that the Player Character has failed, but with greater consequences as the Law Master determines.

A roll can be made with Advantage or Disadvantage. Rolling with Advantage means that the player can Push the roll, but not suffer the consequences of any ones rolled. Rolling with Disadvantage means that the player cannot Push the roll.

How does combat work?
Conflict in Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules uses the same core mechanics. The rules for conflict cover both ranged and close combat, or ‘Scuffles’, as well as special attacks such as wrestling and grappling, ambushes and mounted combat. The rules are a very cut down version of those available in the Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG core book, so the Law Master and her players will have to adjudicate in more complex situations. Nevertheless, they are serviceable enough.

There are no rules for social conflict and the Law Master will need to judge the use of the ‘Poker Face’ skill on a case-by-case basis.

What do you play?
The adventure in Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules is ‘Showdown at Scorpion Gulch’. A Warmblood bounty hunter comes to Bardo’s Bluff, offering the Player Characters the chance to come to the aid of a recently risen revenant before she has to kill them. They will have to travel north to the Warmblood town of Scorpion Gulch via mystical means and there determine where he has gone, persuade him that they are there to rescue him, and deal with rogue undead who would take advantage of the situation. 

The scenario includes two maps. These are decently done, as is the map of Death Valley

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules are easy to prepare, especially if the Law Master has any experience with the Year Zero engine. The scenario itself is quite straightforward and overall, it requires very little in the way of preparation.
Is it worth it?
Yes. The Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules are a solid introduction to both its setting and its concepts, which are very easy to grasp as everyone is familiar with the Wild West and likely familiar with the Undead! 
Where can you get it?
The Death Valley: A Horror/Western TTRPG – Quick-Start Rules is available for purchase here.

—oOo—
Critical Kit will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

A year ago, the astronomer Giovanni Conti died and his student, Vincenzo Costa, set out to fulfil his last oath to his master. That is to protect his master’s work, which the Roman Inquisition and the church has good reason to be heretical. Thus, he took several tomes and notebooks from Giovanni Conti’s Florence villa and hid them around the city. Since then, Costa’s work has enabled him to revisit these locations and check that the books are still there. However, now they are missing. In desperation, he hires the Player Characters. They will need to check on the former locations and follow up on the clues that Costa will give them. This will lead them to a cult which has stolen the books for their astronomical knowledge and is using to bring about the culmination of its aims—the summoning of a second God. So far, the activities of the cult, the Cult of Secundus Deus, have not attracted the attention of either the city authorities or the Roman Inquisition, so both activities and beliefs are heretical. Of course, there is the possibility of the Player Characters’ investigation attracting the attention of the city authorities and ending up before the magistrates…

This is the set-up for The Jovian Visitor, a scenario for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Designed to be played by three to five Player Characters of First to Third Level, it is written by Glynn Seal, best known as the creator of the Midderlands Old School Renaissance setting, this is, thankfully, a much simpler, shorter, and above all, cleaner affair than his previously, quite literally, excrescent Faecal Lands. Set in Florence in 1642, The Jovian Visitor can also work as a sequel to Galileo 2: Judgment Day. That scenario involved the persecution of the famed astronomer Galileo Galilei by Pope Urban VIII using a Automaton or ‘L’Assassino Meccanico’, and the attempt by the astronomer to escape his house arrest and the mechanical man who has been tormenting him. Now neither Galileo Galilei, or his assistant, Vincenzo Viviani, actually appear in The Jovian Visitor, Giovanni Conti and his student, Vincenzo Costa, are modelled on them. Replacing them with their real world counterparts is easy to do, and it makes the scenario more interesting if the Player Characters encountered him when playing through the events of Galileo 2: Judgment Day.
The investigation itself is relatively straightforward. Vincenzo Costa will be able to furnish the Player Characters with some initial leads, including the locations where he hid the four books and the identity of a previous assistant. Following these will lead them down a number of blind alleys and possibly into punch-ups with the citizens of Florence if they irk them too much or getting arrested by the city watch of they cannot explain their interest in the four locations across the city. It is encounter with the latter that the scenario is at its weakest, not quite explaining what the outcome is if the Player Characters are brought before the city magistrates. If, however, the Player Characters can avoid entanglements with the authorities, they will also learn that they are being watched by a mysterious lady in red. It turns out that she is an important figure in the Cult of Secundus Deus, and will go out of her way to persuade the Player Characters to curb their interest in the books.
Coloured a little by a random encounter or two, persistent Player Characters should soon learn that something is going on in the woods on the hills to the north of the city, where flashes of light have been seen in the sky. Clues found there point to the imminent fruition of the plans of the Cult of Secundus Deus. Can the Player Characters act in time to prevent the summoning of the Second God? And if he is not a god, just what is he? That though, is not something that the Player Characters, or indeed, the whole world really wants to find out.
Physically, The Jovian Visitor is well presented. The artwork is decent, and of course, the cartography is excellent. The map of Florence, in particular, is very nice.
The Jovian Visitor is a short affair, easily played through in a single session, two at most. It has the feel of Lovecraftian investigative horror scenario, though of course, without the Mythos, and that is no bad thing. That it can work as a sequel to Galileo 2: Judgment Day is a bonus, but even on its own, it is a serviceable, if short little mystery that can easily be added to a campaign or adapted to fit elsewhere. That is a whole lot cleaner than the last book from the author for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying is a double bonus!
—oOo—
DISCLAIMER: The author of this review is an editor who has both edited titles for Lamentations of the Flame Princess on a freelance basis and edited titles for the author of this book on a freelance basis. He was not involved in the production of this book and his connection to both publisher and author has no bearing on the resulting review.

—oOo—
Lamentations of the Flame Princess will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

Lets hit some stretch goals!

Thirteen Parsecs

http://tinyurl.com/13psignuptim

Thirteen Parsecs is funded!

We want this game to be your sci-fi RPG of choice, so help us make that happen.

This uses the same O.G.R.E.S. as NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands. There will be "Solar Frontiers," which are mini-settings you can use to start your game. My Solar Frontiers will be "Space Truckers" and the currently titled "Dark Stars" my "horror in space" setting.

And this one from my friend David Flor and Darklight Entertainment.

Atomic Age

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dlimedia/atomic-age?ref=theotherside

This is a new sci-fi post-apocalyptic d20-based game from David Flor and Dark Light Interactive. 

It looks like a lot of fun, and is going for that "Gamma World" vibe.  The core rules look fun, but the bestiary has me all kinds of excited. 

There is a Quick Start preview you can grab for free. 

So definitely check this one out!

 A shift in narrative as we watch the correspondence between Miss Mina Murray and Miss Lucy Westenra.

Letter from Miss Mina Murray to Miss Lucy Westenra.

“9 May.

“My dearest Lucy,—

“Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together freely and build our castles in the air. I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep up with Jonathan’s studies, and I have been practising shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph well enough I can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out for him on the typewriter, at which also I am practising very hard. He and I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a stenographic journal of his travels abroad. When I am with you I shall keep a diary in the same way. I don’t mean one of those two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner diaries, but a sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I do not suppose there will be much of interest to other people; but it is not intended for them. I may show it to Jonathan some day if there is in it anything worth sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try to do what I see lady journalists do: interviewing and writing descriptions and trying to remember conversations. I am told that, with a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that one hears said during a day. However, we shall see. I will tell you of my little plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan from Transylvania. He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I am longing to hear all his news. It must be so nice to see strange countries. I wonder if we—I mean Jonathan and I—shall ever see them together. There is the ten o’clock bell ringing. Good-bye.

“Your loving
“Mina.

“Tell me all the news when you write. You have not told me anything for a long time. I hear rumours, and especially of a tall, handsome, curly-haired man???”

--

Notes

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

We are introduced to Lucy and Mina here. Often swapped in movie adaptations. Mina will be married to Harker and Lucy...well poor Lucy will victim to Dracula. Not now, but soon.

The rumors are of a curly-haired man are one of Lucy's three suitors. This one is Arthur "Art" Holmwood (later the Lord Godalming). 

  That time again when I reach into the pile of Dragons under my desk and pull out one to read. This month, I am focusing on sci-fi, so in a bit of a cheat, I am pulling from the small selection of sci-fi-themed Dragons. Today's Dragon #183 comes to us from the summer of 1992. It's July; I just finished my undergrad degree and working on my Masters. My best friend from all over the world also graduated, but she is finishing up another bachelor's degree and will be moving to Chicago in a month or so. No. I am not ready for this. Spoiler: We decide in February of 1993 to start dating. Can't do it while we live in the same town I guess, have to wait till we are 300 miles apart. We are still married.  In the theatres, "A League of Their Own" is number 1. Mariah Carey is at #1 with "I'll Be There," and on the shelves and gaming tables everywhere is Issue #183 of This Old Dragon. 

Our cover this month is from Mike L. Scott and features Spelljammer "space whales" called Kindori. I noticed my oldest was prepping a new Spelljammer game, so I asked him if he knew about these guys.

So, at this point, I was not reading Dragon regularly. I knew of this issue, but nothing really about it. 

We were hit with some ads right away, which I enjoyed. One is for a Doctor Doom supplement for Marvel Super Heroes, and another is for Dungeons of Mystery. Dungeons of Mystery features the concept art and not the final art. The concept art has a solid "Mystara" feel to it that I rather like. Flipping the page more TSR ads for the new Dragonlance book and Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue.  I am not that familiar with this one outside of the name, I will have to track it down.

We get to the Contents and learn this month's special feature is Science and Fantasy. Great!

Letters cover a bunch of quick-shot answers from past issues in a rapid-fire fashion. I see the Witch from #114 is still stirring the pot, er, cauldron. 

Roger Moore's Editorial covers how to adapt some fantasy books to your AD&D game. There is a picture of four books, including The Princess Bride, but he only talks about two of them, "The Face in the Frost" and "The Last Unicorn."  He does mention he ran out of space and time for the others.

Bruce Nesmith is up first for our feature with Magic & Technology Meet At Last in his notes on converting AD&D 2nd Ed and Gamma World 4th Ed. Thankfully, it seems to be a bit easier than I expected since they are more closely related than I originally knew. Plus Gamma World essentially is using the d20 to hit AC mechanic we will later see in D&D 3rd Edition and the d20 rules. 

Advice to a High Lord is from Martin Wixted. It is interesting for a couple of reasons. First off it is copyrighted, so likely one of the articles that would cause so much drama when the Dragon CD-ROM came out, and it is about West End Games' TORG. So a rare non-TSR game. Though at this time they were still being featured, soon all other game support would drop.  I don't know much about TORG really. I saw people playing it when I would pop over to the Student Center when they had their RPG open games, but never played. I still see it a lot at Gen Con.

Speaking of which. Small ad for the combined Gen Con/Origins game show. 

People love pirates. Well...I admit I don't, but they are popular. "Avast, ye swaps, and heave to!" by Richard Baker III covers pirates and privateering in AD&D Spelljammer. While not a lot of mechanics, there is some good stuff here. It should work for AD&D 2nd Ed and the 5th Ed material my kid was reading over.

Ah...Now this looks fun. Unidentified Gaming Objects brings UFOs to your Fantasy RPG. Gregory W. Detwiler gives us great overview of what is going on in the skies a full year before the X-Files hit our TV screens. He provides a lot of what we might call "Conspiracy theories" today and gives you a way to work them into your games. A lot of these would be fantastic for *D&D. Though I am disappointed that in his otherwise great coverage on the Hollow Earth he doesn't mention Mystara as Hollow, published two years prior. His Bibliography is really good for pre-Internet publications. I would use these all in NIGHT SHIFT.

Game Science has a cool ad for the RANGE 1 electronic dice roller. After my CS 212 and STAT 501 courses, I learned about pseudorandom numbers. I never allowed these things in my games. Which was a moot point because I could never afford them back then! But still, I did like the idea.

Convention Calendar has your summer vacation travel plans ready. Oh, wait. I was in grad school then, I didn't get a summer vacation. In fact it was either 1992 or 1993 (can't remember) when the State of Illinois did not meet its budget and all workers, including Graduate TAs, were furloughed. I didn't get paid all summer long. That's why I could not afford fancy dice rollers. Anyway the format here has changed on the Calendar and it is easier to see the various states faster and easier.

FASA is up with a ShadowRun 2nd Edition ad. I loved ShadowRun, I loved the world building. I just wish I could have played it more. WAIT I can if I combine NIGHT SHIFT with Thirteen Parsecs! Note to Self, try this. 

Dragon Magazine 90s MVP, and friend of the Other Side, Bruce Heard is up with Part 30 of The Voyage of the Princess Ark. Second Note to Self: Track down all of these and review them in order. As usual there is a narrative piece and some game material too. 

Role Playing Reviews by Rick Swan covers the Leading Edge Games version of Aliens and FASA's MECHWARRIOR 2nd Edition. They get 2.5 and 3.5 stars respectively. Swan mentions he does not see the appeal of the Aliens franchise, so I wonder if that affects his review at all. BUT given my own personal experiences with Leading Edge Games, he might be right.

The Lesser Clan of Hartly, Patrica, and Kirk are back with more The Role of Computers. They look forward to the time when CD-ROMs lower the price of games not having to ship floppy disks! Yeah... They do review the first Civilization game which they rightfully give 5 stars. It is amazing what these old games used to be able to do with the limited hardware of the day. Granted, we didn't see it that way; I had my first Gateway 2000 computer and I thought I was living in the damn future.

Jean Rabe is up with an oddly placed (given the theme) The Vikings' Dragons, Part 2. This is a set of five linnorm dragons in AD&D Monstrous Compendium format ready to put into your binders. Love the idea, really, and the dragons are fun. Part 1 appeared in issue 182.

TSR Previews lets us know what is coming for July 1992. Most of these are featured as ads in this very magazine. 

Ardath Mayhar has our short fiction, Gryphon's Nest.

The MARVEL-PHILE from Steven E. Schend covers Cerise and Kylun from the Excalibur series. 

Forum covers some deeper discussions. I see some familiar names here like Alan Kellogg. 

Role of Books with John C. Bunnell has the new novels gamers might be interested in. Among those listed is new author, Laurell K. Hamilton and her Nightseer book. I bet she will be a big name later on! Also featured is the new one from Michael A. Stackpole (yes, that one).

Skip Williams has more Sage Advice. Anne Brown has shopping advice for your characters in The Game Wizards.

Dragonmirth has our back-pages comics. I recognize Yamara certainly. The Twilight Empire is features too. I never followed it. I should make an effort to try sometime. 

Gamers Guide has our small ads. Ads to cast your own metal minis, t-shirts with dragons, play-by-mail, and a new idea, computer-simulated galaxies. I can tell some of these were made with the Mac version of PageMaker and then printed out and sent to Dragon. Not a criticism, more fondness.

Ah, now something very interesting. Through the Looking Glass by Robert Bigalow covers minis but spends the first page discussing the banning of lead miniatures due to governmental regulations on lead. I remember this and felt like I was just getting to a point where I could afford them and then they go away! Well, I can't recall where that shook out, but plastic rules the tables now.

All in all, not a bad issue, just not as much science fiction as I wanted.

--

Remember, we have a new crowdfunding campaign to fund the production of our Thirteen Parsecs: Beyond the Solar Frontier Tabletop RPG. Please help us out if you can. If you can't pledge, then help us by sharing the links with all your friends. 

 Jonathan is beginning to sense things are not 100% what they seem in Castle Dracula and he is a prisoner here.

8 May.—I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting too diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling on me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk to I could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak with, and he!—I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. Let me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me to bear up, and imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am lost. Let me say at once how I stand—or seem to.

I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window, and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, and heard the Count’s voice saying to me, “Good-morning.” I started, for it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count’s salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in the mirror! The whole room behind me was displayed; but there was no sign of a man in it, except myself. This was startling, and, coming on the top of so many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there.

“Take care,” he said, “take care how you cut yourself. It is more dangerous than you think in this country.” Then seizing the shaving glass, he went on: “And this is the wretched thing that has done the mischief. It is a foul bauble of man’s vanity. Away with it!” and opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal.

When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is strange that as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle. I went out on the stairs, and found a room looking towards the South. The view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every opportunity of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through the forests.

But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there an available exit.

The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!

CHAPTER III

JONATHAN HARKER’S JOURNAL—continued

WHEN I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over me. I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I look back after a few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me that I was helpless I sat down quietly—as quietly as I have ever done anything in my life—and began to think over what was best to be done. I am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making my ideas known to the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done it himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only deceive me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need, and shall need, all my brains to get through.

I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below shut, and knew that the Count had returned. He did not come at once into the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along thought—that there were no servants in the house. When later I saw him through the chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in the dining-room, I was assured of it; for if he does himself all these menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. This gave me a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it must have been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that brought me here. This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his hand in silence. How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! for it is a comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Some time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my mind about it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count Dracula, as it may help me to understand. To-night he may talk of himself, if I turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, however, not to awake his suspicion.

 

Midnight.—I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he afterwards explained by saying that to a boyar the pride of his house and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said “we,” and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could put down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his great white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands as though he would crush it by main strength. One thing he said which I shall put down as nearly as I can; for it tells in its way the story of his race:—

“We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the were-wolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those old witches, who, expelled from Scythia had mated with the devils in the desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as Attila, whose blood is in these veins?” He held up his arms. “Is it a wonder that we were a conquering race; that we were proud; that when the Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he found us here when he reached the frontier; that the Honfoglalas was completed there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Szekelys were claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkey-land; ay, and more than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for, as the Turks say, ‘water sleeps, and enemy is sleepless.’ Who more gladly than we throughout the Four Nations received the ‘bloody sword,’ or at its warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph! They said that he thought only of himself. Bah! what good are peasants without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart to conduct it? Again, when, after the battle of Mohács, we threw off the Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the Szekelys—and the Dracula as their heart’s blood, their brains, and their swords—can boast a record that mushroom growths like the Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The warlike days are over. Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace; and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told.”

It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. (Mem., this diary seems horribly like the beginning of the “Arabian Nights,” for everything has to break off at cockcrow—or like the ghost of Hamlet’s father.)

--

Notes

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

There is a lot going on here. 

We get our first indication that Dracula is a vampire with the mirror (more on this) but also he can move about during the daylight hours. Something he does later on in the story, though we do read he is weakened. 

The mirror and the crucifix. Religious items as a weakness are well documented, and I barely need to cover these with my readers. The mirror should be noted. Originally vampires could not see their reflection because mirrors are backed with silver and considered to be a "pure" metal. Much the same reason why silver harms them. The silver of the mirror rejects the vampire reflection. Other myths make the claim that they have no soul and can't be reflected. This is fine for a Victorian Penny Dreadful, but in modern times and games it doesn't work. So how to I square this circle? I say that the vampire's true form is so horrible that none, even the vampire themselves, can bare to look at it. What you see in a psychic projection from the vampire. The vampire of course sees themselves in their true form in reflected surfaces. Humans can't see them in reflected surfaces, pictures or video recordings because our minds reject the image. It is too horrible for us to see.

"He must be a very peculiar man!" oh, Harker, you have no idea!

In the last section, Dracula talks about the wars and blood-soaked lands (and history) of his people. There are direct connections here to the historical Dracula again. Often, the Count doesn't even try to hide that he and the historical Dracula are the same, though if you are Harker, you could see this as a poet's licence of a proud but declining family. 

Harker likens his tale to that of "Arabian Nights," which has overtones of sexuality, even deviant sexuality as defined by the Victorian Era. This is not the last time Dracula will be seen as a sexual predator, and no one is safe from his gaze. This was a conscious effort on the part of Stoker. He wants the reader to feel uncomfortable in Dracula's presence.