Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide introduced the Old World to roleplaying. The first of the two core books for the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game, it began the roleplaying adaptation from Cubicle 7 Entertainment of Warhammer: The Old World, the miniatures combat rules from Games Workshop. This is set in a period two centuries prior to the better-known roleplaying game set in the Old World, that is, the venerable Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition. Its focus is less on the assaults and attacks by the forces of Chaos and on the Chaos within, and more on internal strife, whether political, between the Elector Counts, or religious, between the Sigmarites and Ulricans and others. The Old World as a setting has always drawn heavily from history, particularly the Early Modern period of Europe, but with Warhammer: The Old World and thus Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game, the inspiration is more heavily that of the Thirty Years War and its political and religious strife. It covered character creation, the core rules, combat, magic, and more, but as a very player-focused book, it left a great to explained. Primarily, what the Player Characters are going to be doing in the Old World and how that differs from the future of the venerable, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition.

Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide is the counterpart to the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide. What Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide gives the Game Master is a toolkit with which to run a campaign, backing it up with Game Master specific rules and a bestiary of allies and antagonists, creatures and monsters, and more, that all together takes half of the book. It opens though with a description of the setting for Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game—and it is a very specific setting. This is the fortified, if ramshackle river port of Talagaad, perched between the Talabec River and the towering walls of the Taalbaston—the giant crater in which the nearby city of Talabheim sits, which stands on the Wizard’s Way, the road that crosses over the bridge known as the and up over the walls of the Taalbaston and is the only legal route into the crater. Control of Talagaad is important since it is a source of much wealth, whether from the taxes levied on the goods going to Talabheim and from lower prices paid for goods being smuggled into the city. Consequently, the town is rife with crime and corruption, petty and otherwise, whether committed by its ordinary citizenry, criminal underclass, or even its excise officers.

Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide expands upon the description of Talagaad given in the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide. This covers the port’s origins and current state, law and order, and descriptions of two notable districts—the docks and the Markebundt, where all the trade occurs. There are descriptions of various NPCs, but more importantly, the tensions and points of conflict within Talagaad. These are primarily political and criminal, but all to do with the wealth that flows through the port. Not just the corruption between the Talagaad Watch and the criminal underworld, but also between Magistrate Raggusera and the local nobles and merchants and between Magistrate Ragguser and Duke Ludwig XII, ruler of the Grand Duchy of Talabec, over what Magistrate Ragguser tells the duke when he is secretly in his employ. There are tensions too between the state army regiments in Talagaad. On the one hand there is the local Talagaad Longsights, which occasionally backs up the Watch and is partly trusted by the locals, and on the other, there is the Talabheim 11th, recently posted to the port by Duke Ludwig following the assassination of several nobles from the neighbouring Duchy of Osterlund, and not at all trusted.

Spread between the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide and the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide, the description of Talagaad is far from complete, but the Game Master should get a good feel for it from the details so far. This is helped by the numerous hooks and scenario ideas spread through the description, but what really helps are the Contacts. These are really only mentioned as part of the character creation process in the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide, but here they come into their own as fully rounded NPCs, complete with descriptions of who they are, what their motivations and needs are, what favours they might bestow, their allies and enemies, and what gossip and secret they know. They are each based on a different archetype—a lord, a conspirator, an old soldier, a vagabond, a heretic, and so on—and linked to several of the character types in the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide as well as the other Contacts. These are designed as a Game Master tool, a cast of characters that can link the Player Characters together (since there are only twenty and each Player Character has two contacts, there is bound to be some crossover), hook them into a story or plot, bring the world to life, tie the Player Characters to the setting, and more. Above all, they give Talagaad a personal touch and differing views of what the town is like and what is going on.

What is going on in Talagaad is explored through what Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game calls ‘Grim Portents’ and ‘Dark Threads’. Some of the latter may be connected to the former, and some of the Contacts are connected to both, but ‘Grim Portents’ are really events that initiate a plot and bring the Player Characters together—no matter what their background, confronting them with a situation that they cannot ignore and cannot deal with alone, whose consequences will endure long after the problem has been dealt with. Three examples are given, each with a detailed opening scene and then descriptions of what happens next as the plot thickens and its instigators move against the Player Characters, and then grim reminders of that opening scene that will haunt the Player Characters as the plot plays out. The three include an incendiary encounter with an Osterlund noble with a very, very dark family secret; suffering a curse from beyond the grave from a witch whose fiery execution the Player Characters witnessed; and the aftermath of escaping a fearsome band of Beastmen ritualists who captured the Player Characters and were about to sacrifice them. The three are backed with a good explanation of what a ‘Grim Portent’ is, what it is designed to do, and how to run it. This includes how to get the Player Characters involved—either at the start or later with a new Player Character, what to do if the Player Characters just decide to run away, and so on

‘Dark Threads’ are the network of links and bonds which together link and bind the various NPCs—including the Contacts detailed earlier, and factions in and about Talagaad. This includes not just the Grand Duchy of Talabec and Talagaad, but also the neighbouring Grand County of Osterlund and Principality of Reikland, the Red Eyez Tribe of Goblins, the Hexenguilde, a devious band of warlocks, The Sheltered Flame, a band of fanatical Sigmarites, and more. These are all mapped out on a diagram and then further detailed in the Contact descriptions and in entries in the bestiary that makes half of the book. Of course, the Contacts, ‘Grim Portents’, and ‘Dark Threads’ are designed around the default campaign for Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game, set in and around Talagaad, and if the Game Master wants to set her campaign elsewhere, she will need to adapt these or create her own.

In addition to the advice on handling the Contacts, the ‘Grim Portents’, and the ‘Dark Threads’ as a Game Master, the general advice in the Warhammer: Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide is also good. Whilst it makes clear that Warhammer: Old World Roleplaying Game could be run as a one-shot, it is designed to be run as campaign, and certainly, the Contacts, ‘Grim Portents’, and ‘Dark Threads’ are all designed to facilitate that. The advice compares the advantages and disadvantages of a sandbox versus a directed campaign, gives guidance on portraying memorable NPCs, help with Player Character creation—especially with tying the results into the Game Master’s campaign, designing adventures, how to create a mystery, and more. The advice on creating mysteries is a good list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ as is that for creating one-shots, and there is excellent advice on handling fights in the roleplaying game to make them challenging, but fun, and also on how to make the game more ‘Warhammer’. The advice on combat includes setting stakes to make the fight both interesting and worthwhile, allowing enemies to run away rather than just be lambs for the slaughter, and knowing when NPCs will decide that it is better to retreat rather than simply give up. The section on making the roleplaying game more ‘Warhammer’ gives fun little pointers, like the eerie green light of Morrslieb appearing from behind a cloud, bathing the street in its baleful glare or the sound of a trumpet heralding a troop of Knightly Order cavalry, trotting down the Wizard’s Road whilst mere commoners scatter to avoid them.

Just as with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Player Characters in the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game can suffer Corruption and fall into the swirling, betentacled arms of Chaos. Indeed, the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game all but pushes the Player Characters down this path to Damnation as they are drawn into events by a ‘Grim Portent’. When a Player Character is exposed to corruptive influence, whether that is fighting a battle against Beastmen or mutants, witnessing a Chaos ritual or minor daemon, reading a passage from the Liber Chaotica, or becoming possessed by a daemon, a Willpower test is required. Failure means suffering a condition such as being ‘Drained’ by an unnatural malaise or ‘Deafened’ by the sound of demonic laughter and also becoming Vulnerable. The Player Character has been touched by, but not yet embraced Chaos. At this point the Game Master presents the player and his character with a boon that will give the character an advantage in return for accepting a darker aspect of their character. If this is accepted, the Player Character no longer Vulnerable, but Tempted, and puts him on the Path to Corruption. There are five of these paths described. Four of these—‘Blood Must Flow’, ‘Secrets of Sorcery’, ‘Enduring the Unendurable’, and ‘Dark Obsession’—equate roughly to the four Ruinous Powers, whilst the fifth, ‘Child of the Forest’, takes the Tempted down to the route to transforming into a Beastman! Each path describes the benefits and downfalls gained, all ultimately leading to the Player Character becoming Damned and either lost to Chaos or a new and dangerous, but familiar NPC for Game Master.

There is guidance on gaming and roleplaying with a Player Character on of the five paths, but this most comes down to the other Player Characters not wanting to associate with such a Player Character for very long! Also discussed is the possibility of a Player Character finding his way back up a path, but this is a daunting challenge as you would expect. What is surprising is that throughout all of this, there is only the one die roll—the first Willpower test. After that, it is all down to the choices made by the player and his character. In other words, beyond that first Willpower test, it is about roleplaying and whether the character will give into temptation or not, and not about relying on or blaming the dice for the outcome. The player decides, not the dice, and that has great roleplaying potential.

The penultimate chapter describes some thirty or so magic items—weapons, armour, talismans, and arcane items, but no potions of any kind. Nor are there any rules for creating potions or healing draughts, or for crafting items. The entries are all neatly detailed and many illustrated, but it is noted that they should be difficult to get or find. Given that, their inclusion given the lack of potions and rules for crafting, whilst it is interesting to see what such magical items look like in Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game, they are so far out of the reach of the Player Characters that their inclusion seems out of place.

The last section in the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide, ‘Allies and Antagonists’, is the longest in the book. Although it does categorise its entries as Minion, Brutes, Champions and Monstrosities, this is no mere bestiary, since it is designed to do two things. One is to provide NPCs and threats for the Old World in general, allowing the Game Master to use them in her own scenarios and campaigns, whilst the other is to provide NPCs and threats for the default campaign and its set-up for the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game, much of it tied into the Contacts, the ‘Grim Portents’, and ‘Dark Threats’. So for Grand Duchy of Talabec, there is a description of the noble house of Feuerbach, it goals and methods, what it is like as an enemy, and what might be the cause of the feud with it, and then there are stats and details of citizens and subjects of Talabec—from peasantry and footpads to the nobility and state troops, knights, Ogres and Halflings, Imperial Dwarfs, and more. It then does the same for the Grand County of Osterlund and the Principality of Reikland, adding different groups and NPC types, so that a Priest of Ulric and Knight of the White Wolf are described under the Grand County of Osterlund, whilst the Sigmarite Cultist and Witch Hunter are described under the Principality of Reikland. This does mean that entries are not organised alphabetically how a bestiary might arrange it, but rather done thematically.

There are other sections of ‘Witches and Warlocks’, ‘Pets and Mounts’—the latter including the Giant Spiders that Goblins might ride in the woods, but also enemy groups which are effectively organisations and so presented treated in the same format as those for Grand Duchy of Talabec, Grand County of Osterlund, and Principality of Reikland. Thus, for the Beastmen there is the ‘The Slaughtered Stag Warherd’; for the Orcs and Goblins, the ‘The Red Eyez Tribe’, and for the undead, the ‘Dominion of Dusk’. There are some really nasty creatures here, especially amongst the ‘Dominion of Dusk’ and the ‘Monsters of the Great Forest’ which in the case of the latter mean that the Player Characters are really not going to want to go down the woods with each other, let alone. All of the entries in the ‘Allies and Antagonists’ section have very clear and simple stats accompanied by a lot of useful information about how they might be used in a scenario or how the Player Characters might run into them. What is missing from the options available, are any real Chaos creatures beloved of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and the Old World, although some of the ‘The Slaughtered Stag Warherd’ do count. This is intentional, since the threat of Chaos is not a big part of the setting, which instead focuses on internal conflicts and tensions. Overall, this really is not just a good bestiary, but a further source of background material and advice on use the contents of that bestiary.

And yet, for all that is presented in the pages of both Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide and the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide, there is something missing, and that is an adventure. An adventure that comes complete with a plot and a beginning, a middle, and an exciting end. In other words, we do not quite know what a Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game scenario looks like. There is no denying that the Contacts, ‘Grim Portents’, and ‘Dark Threads’, combined with the contents of the bestiary, are all really good. Yet they only lay the groundwork for the campaign to come, whether that is the one published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment or the one developed by the Game Master. To be clear, an experienced Games Master will be able to take what the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide provides and develop that into the start of a campaign, but a less experienced Game Master is likely to have some difficulty without more of a helping hand.

Another issue with the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide is the way it is organised. The ‘Grim Portents’ are followed by the Contacts, followed by the advice for the Game Master which after a few pages covers the ‘Grim Portents’ and the ‘Dark Threads’. Then there is a table of ‘Events in Talagaad’ placed oddly at the end of the section on advice for the Game Master, when ideally that should have been placed earlier in the book with the description of Talagaad. Given that this book is for the Game Master, the advice and the subject of that advice could have been better placed, ideally following on from each other rather than sperate. Everything is there, but simply not in the right place to use as easily as it should have been.

Physically, the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide is very well presented. The artwork is excellent, and the book is easy to read. However, it could have been better organised in places, and it does need an edit here and there.

If you want to play Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game, then the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide is absolute must. It provides a setting, it provides the beginnings of stories, and it provides friends and enemies as well as solid advice for the Game Master. However, it does not provide a ready starting point for Game Master and that limits its utility to Game Masters who are less experienced, and it very much focuses on Talagaad as a setting, which limits its utility to the Game Master who wants to set her Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game elsewhere. That said, where it shines is in the tools provided to make Talagaad and the beginnings of the campaign come alive—the Contacts, the ‘Grim Portents’, the ‘Dark Threads’, and numerous entries in the lengthy ‘Allies and Antagonists’ section. The Game Master will need to do some development work in terms of actual adventures and even a campaign to bring all its great content into play, but the Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Gamemaster’s Guide gives the Game Master all that she needs to work with to make a start.

Quick-starts are a 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 two. 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 the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she 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.

—oOo—
What is it?
Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart is the quick-start for Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork, the roleplaying game based on the satirical fantasy works of Sir Terry Pratchett published by Modiphius Entertainment and focusing on the great city of Ankh-Morpork, set in a particular Now somewhere around the events of the novels, Going Postal and Thud!.

It is a forty-eight page, 12.99 MB full black and white PDF.

It is decently written and the artwork is excellent. It does need an edit in places.

How long will it take to play?
Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart is designed to be played through in a single session, two at the very most.
What else do you need to play?
The Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart needs a standard set of polyhedral dice, including percentile dice, per player. Except that is, the die between the seventh- and nineth-sided dice. This known as as the ‘Narrativium Die’ and is rolled by the Game Master.

It also requires some puns.

Who do you play?
The Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart includes six pre-generated Player Characters, all of whom are members of Ankh-Morpork’s City Watch. They consist of a veteran Zombie who very close to retirement; an Igorina recruit good with a needle; a surprisingly charismatic Troll; a Dwarf Crimescene Iconographer; a gifted beggar who surprised her parents by joining the Watch; and a very observant Gargoyle.
How is a Player Character defined?A Player Character in the Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart has a number of Traits that define who and what he is and what what he can do. They include the character’s name, the group he belongs to, species and background, his experiences and where he fits into his group, his core—his outlook on life and how he reacts to the world, quirks, and description. He may gain other Traits, primarily consequences for failing Tests. He also has several points of Luck. All six come with a good description as well as the other Traits and an excellent illustration.
How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork uses an opposed dice roll system. A player decides what he wants his character to do, selects a Trait, and explains how said Trait is appropriate for the Test. The player is encouraged to define how appropriate a Trait from one situation to the next, even that twists the meaning of the words. The Game Master will assign an Outcome Die that the player will roll. If the justification is perfect or suitability appropriate for what the Player Character can do, this is a twelve-sided die, but if the rationale is dodgy or shaky, or the Player Character has no idea what he is doing, it is a four-sided die. The Game Master may also assign the six-sided die or the ten-sided die depending upon the quality of the reasoning. In addition, the Game Master decides on the consequences of failure.
The roll of the Outcome Die is compared with the ‘Narrativium Die’. If the result on the Outcome Die is higher, the Player Character succeeds, but if the result on the ‘Narrativium Die’ is higher, he fails and the Game Master can narrate the result, which can be a new Trait, representing unforeseen consequences or twists.
If the test was a failure, another Player Character can attempt to help. This costs a point of Luck and the player will decide on the appropriate Trait and the Game Master assign it an Outcome Die. The roll is made against the result of the ‘Narrativium Die’ already rolled. If the result of the new Outcome Die is higher, then the Player Characters succeed, but if it is a tie or lower, the consequences affect both Player Characters and and are worse.

Luck can also be spent to reduce the effects of consequences.
On extremely rare occasions, a Game Master can decide that a plan devised by the players is so outlandishly absurd or ridiculously clever or astoundingly unlikely, that, “it’s a million to one chance, but it just might work.” In which case, it actually does.
How does combat work?
There are no specific combat mechanics in the Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart. Instead, Tests are rolled as normal with the ‘Narrativium Die’ standing in for the opposition and the outcome narrated.
How does magic work?
If you are not prepared to put your time in and complete your studies at Unseen University, there really is no hope of you actually finding out...
What do you play?
The scenario in the Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart is ‘Up in Smoke’. As member of the Watch, the Player Characters are assigned—by Sir Samual Vimes, no less—to investigate a burglary at Lady Ramkin’s Sunshine Sanctuary for Sick Dragons. The investigation will take the Player Characters back and forth across the Misbegot Bridge over the River Ankh and the scenario is actually organised geographically, with the various sites of investigation laid out either side of the bridge. Every location includes a description, details of what happened there previously and any NPCs, as well as a list of clues and possible consequences should things go wrong. This is slightly odd if a bit clever, as it also places the finale in the middle of the investigation! The finale is very written as an action scene with a chase, a dilemma, and plenty of complications and consequences.
Is there anything missing?
No. The Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart has everything the Game Master and her players will need to play, including advice on tone, safety tools, and a good example of play. There is also a Reference Sheet on the last page.
Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart is very easy to prepare.
Is it worth it?
Yes. There a lot to like about the Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart. It is simple and straightforward, the rules are very easy to grasp and allow for a lot of player input and Trait twisting in light, narrative fashion. ‘Up in Smoke’ is a solid scenario and the pre-generated Player Characters are all nicely, nicely done. The Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart really is one of the easiest of quick-starts to run and play.
The Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork Quickstart. is published by Modiphius Entertainment and is available to download here.

Only scholars and adventurers care about the past. One for the knowledge they can gather and the other for the treasure they can find. The civilisation of the ancient Azinir people, lying in the Great Desert south of The Known Lands fell a thousand years ago after thousands of sacrifices were made in both blood and labour to build a great temple for their king. It was dedicated to his demonic patron Atum-Isfet, Lord of Entropy and patron of un-death and upon its completion, the King of the Azinir people sealed himself, his concubines, and his attendants inside the temple-pyramid, taking with him some claim, the royal treasury. The King of the Azinir was never seen again and the kingdom collapsed, the king’s disappearance passed into legend, and then even that was all but forgotten. Except recently, a nomad stumbled into the city of Dumatat, half mad after surviving a terrible journey across the desert, and told stories of how he had survived in shadow of a great structure, but had not dared enter the dark and foreboding entrance high up on its surface. As these spread, the people of Dumatat suddenly recalled the legends of the King of the Azinir and wondered if the nomad had found the mad king’s final resting place. So too did the flood of treasure hunters and adventurers which flooded into the city, hoping to find the temple and plunder the by now famed lost treasury of the recently remembered kingdom.
This is the set-up for The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet published by Death Guaranteed Games. It is designed for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game from Goodman Games and 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 Zero Level characters and have them play through a 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. The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet requires between sixteen and twenty-four Zero Level Player Characters, so between four and six players. In terms of the set-up for The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet, what this means is that the Player Characters are not the adventurers and treasure hunters come to plunder the kingdom of Azinir’s treasury—though unusually for a ‘Character Funnel’, there is potential scope for them to do so within the scenario itself. They are instead the members of the poor and the down at heel of the Dumatat, lucky enough to be employed by these adventurers and treasure hunters as servants and hirelings, muleskinners and hunters, and so on, all for the princely sum of ten gold apiece.

Unfortunately for their employers and potentially, fortunately for the Player Characters, events do not turn out quite how they expect. The Player Characters are ordered to stay outside in the base camp whilst their employers climb to the entrance to the pyramid high on its side. This lasts only so long when the camp is attacked by an enormous Roc and the only cover is that entrance, now lit by torches. Inside, the Player Characters make a grisly discovery, a corpse freshly stripped down to the bone lying on the floor, its boots recognisable as belonging to one of the six treasure hunters that employed them! What the players and their characters find inside the pyramid is a classic Ancient Egyptian tomb whose design designed by both classic pulp horror and pulp action. There are swarms of flesh-eating scarab beetles, there are vengeful spirits, there are traps, and more. The scenario is influenced by both The Mummy and Raiders of the Lost Ark and every encounter is nasty and deadly, not just for Zero Level Player Characters, but also First Level Player Characters—as the NPCs employing the Player Characters discover. As with any Character Funnel, the Player Characters will need to rely on their wits and their luck and whatever they find in order to survive The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet. There is a distinct possibility of a TPK, or ‘Total Party Kill’, especially if the Player Characters are too inquisitive.

However, the seven detailed locations of the Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet make up only the second part of The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet. This middle section of the scenario can be begun with the Player Characters at the base camp and run in a single session, perhaps as a one-shot or a convention scenario. To run as a longer scenario, the Judge can use the first and third sections of The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet. The first takes the expedition from the city of Dumatat to the site to the pyramid, mostly physical in nature, crossing rivers and climbing mountain passes, but also a chance to gain the benefit of a fortune being told. The third section continues the scenario and takes the Player Characters further below the pyramid. It is recommended that the Player Characters have a chance to rise to First Level and so have all the benefits of a Class. This third part of the scenario feels more random in nature and less thematic than the second part, so not as coherent.

To support the scenario, The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet includes details of Atum-Isfet as a Patron and write-ups of three spells—Entropic Hand, Swarm Walker (which enables the caster to transform into a swarm of scarabs at the moment of being attacked to avoid injury), and Dire Supplication. Should a Player Character end up worshipping Atum-Isfet as a Cleric, these spells are a lot of fun to use and are even better if he can find the intelligent dagger, the ceremonial blade of Atum-Isfet! Lastly, there are a couple of handouts which should give the players and their characters a clue or two that might aid their survival. Oddly, none of the NPCs use these spells, which is a pity.

Physically, The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet is decently presented. It is decently written, whilst the maps and artwork are serviceable, and of course, not quite as polished as the scenarios from Goodman Games. The handouts are good though.
The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet is an entertaining and suitably nasty and challenging Zero Level Character Funnel for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. For the Judge wanting an Egyptian-themed, pulp-horror-fantasy scenario that is surprisingly flexible in its set-up, The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet is a decent choice.

Galgenbeck is the last refuge of humanity and the last refuge of all in the land of Tveland. As the seas rise, the crops fail, wars continue without reason, the dead walk, plague runs rampant, the burden of taxes weighs heavier on all, and the peasantry seek help and succour within the walls of the city. Perhaps from the Shadow King, King Sigfúm, perhaps from the church of the Two-Headed Basilisks, its cathedral in Galgenbeck dedicated to the god Nechrubel and headed by the arch-priestess Josilfa. Both king and priestess heed the prophecies of the Two-Headed Basilisks that the herald the end of the world and are slowly becoming true. What happens though if the city itself is cursed, or worse, infested? What will authorities do to prevent the spread of the infestation beyond its walls? How will those trapped inside cope with increasingly limited supplies of food and water survive? Will law and order hold, or will the city descend into mob rule? When arch-priestess Josilfa declares Galgenbeck to be infested with the Mind Parasites, the city is closed and ringed by the implacable soldiery of the king’s Shadow Guard, and the city’s thousands of inhabitants, rich and poor, are trapped within its walls—the Player Characters amongst them. How will the Player Characters survive Three Weeks In The Streets?

Three Weeks In The Streets describes itself as a city-prison scenario for use with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and also published by Free League Publishing. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign,it even comes with its own official playlist to provide a soundtrack and begins with an encounter or two on the way to the city. It kicks off with the official announment made by the town crier, that the mind parasite is spreading and the arch-priestess has ordered the city closed. What do the Player Characters do? Do they try to fight or sneak their own way past the king’s Shadow Guard, the chance of being successful being very doubtful? They must try to find ready supplies of food and water, and every day the mob grows—and may even absorb the Player Characters—fuelled by truths and rumours that spread as surely and as quickly as the mind parasites. They are likely to encounter some of the worst and the best of Galgenbeck’s citizenry, those not wealthy enough to lock themselves up in their fortified and guarded mansions. One day after another takes on a regular pattern, of dread as yet another day dawns, of doom as night falls. As the rumours swirl and food and water supplies dwindle, the inhabitants of the city grow desperate and the tension rises, the collective stress and anxiety threatens to explode into mass hysteria. And then…
Only the first week of Three Weeks In The Streets is meant to be played out in this fashion and then it is meant to jump two weeks to the conclusion of the quarantine. By this time, the Player Characters, as well as everyone else in the city, is starving and dehydrated, but it is now that the arch-priestess Josilfa decides to step out of the Cathedral of the Twin Basilisks and deliver her judgement upon the people of Galgenbeck. It is as monstrous as you would expect.
The process is handled through an array of tables that explain survival and foraging, the waxing and waning of the mob and its mentality—gloriously depicted above a depiction of a mob a la Les Misérables, rumours and truths, events by day and by night, cover ‘Red-Eyed Rowdiness’ and ‘Drunken Debauchery’, and more. The events by day—the ‘Daily Dread’—may be as simple as the Church distributing food (with a chance of violence) or as horrible as citizens being dragged by their hair, screaming, to the town circle for execution, whilst those for the night—the ‘Daily Doom’—might see the mob breaking into the city stores for food or younglings being sold for food or labour, and a malaise sets over the city. ‘Mass Hysteria’, when it breaks out, is worse and ranges from the town burning for five days to the mob scouring entire city for personal items that it is sure is infested with the Mind Parasites.
The advice for the process is explained at the end of the scenario. This notes the fact that NPCs are likely to fall victim to group-think and that there are various factions that the Player Characters can take advantage of or ally with. The mob is described as a looming threat, one that the Player Characters can only avoid for so long. Similarly, there is advice too on what to do if the Player Characters simply decide to hunker down and try to wait it out with the supplies they have. Also detailed are various NPCs and creatures that threaten the city under lockdown, including the Shadow King’s Guard and Clerics of Josilfa Migol, plus the Galbeckian Pale Ones that do not understand why they might be blamed for the Mind Parasite infestation, Nerhrubel’s Rats that steal items (including those of the Player Characters), Wolves that specifically gather to prey on the weak, and more. Above it all are the bells of the cathedral, rung daily by Josilfa Migol, as she curses the city!

Three Weeks In The Streets is a toolkit that turns all of Galgenbeck into a prison in which the guards are as much inmates as the Player Characters and the rest of the city’s inhabitants. It has an incredible sense of uncertain, but still escalating calamity and probable rather than potential doom as the mob swirls in and out of the rumours and truths that ripple back and forth. It requires an experienced Game Master since it is not quite as tightly procedural as it could have been. That said, because it is not as as tightly procedural as it could have been, there is room for the Game Master to add her own content. Some of the scenarios or content which could be used in conjunction with Three Weeks In The Streets includes The God of Many Faces mini-hexcrawl and the various NPCs from Strange Citizens of the City, which could be woven in and around the events already outlined.

Physically, Three Weeks In The Streets apes the Artpunk style of Mörk Borg, but without overwhelming the look or legibility. The choice of artwork is appropriate and the result is that Three Weeks In The Streets is a decent looking scenario.
Three Weeks In The Streets is executed in a slightly chaotic fashion, so it is not quite as easy to run from the page as it could be. Nevertheless, Three Weeks In The Streets is a genuinely original and clever idea for Mörk Borg, giving the Game Master everything necessary to run a city-wide prison riot and have the Player Characters try to survive starvation, paranoia, and mass hysteria!

 

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

—oOo—
What is the Nature of the Quest?The Unlikely Hero is a short encounter for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, eight page, 5.68 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy, though it does need an edit.
Where is the Quest Set?The Unlikely Hero is a scenario for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It can be set in any year and is easily added to any root with a relatively isolated bridge over a river near a forest.
Who should go on this Quest?
Any type Player-knight can go on this quest. It could be run with just a single Player-knight. The encounter will test each Player-knight’s Trusting and Suspicious Traits. Any dog-living Player-knight will also be tested and potentially rewarded. The Chirurgery skill will be useful, or if not, a seasoned squire will do.
What does the Quest require?
The Unlikely Hero requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?
In The Unlikely Hero, the Player-knights come across a strange situation. A damsel blocks their way across a bridge. Her clothes are ragged and dirty, she holds her hands to her face, and she is weeping. Yet there is no sign of where she came from, nor any horse or carriage, and no indications as to how she ended up in this situation.
The encounter hinges how trusting the Player-knights are, although the arrival of a large mastiff dog may further arouse their suspicions or it set them on an entirely new direction, depending on how their players roll. The encounter will quickly come to head either way and the truth of the situation revealed. The situation is very simple, and really what the Game Master has to do is to play up the distress of the damsel until either the suspicions of the Player-knights have been allayed or proven. At which point, the Player-knights will have the opportunity to gain a little glory and extend some chivalrous courtesy.

Some players may find it annoying and even frustrating that the damsel is less than forthcoming in her answers, but this perfectly in keeping with the situation. It might also have been useful if there had been a romance and marriage option explored for after the scenario. 
Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?The Unlikely Hero is a serviceable encounter that pushes the Trusting and Suspicious Traits of the Player-knights just a little too hard. That said, it is short and easily added as an encounter along the road in any campaign. It can played through in a single session, very likely much less.

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. 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: The Son of NyxPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: NekoMimi

Setting: Kuiper Belt, 2098Product: Scenario
What You Get: Eighteen page, 3.62 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A ‘nightmare’ of crisis management at the end of the worlds…Plot Hook: “Reality is merely an interpretation of our senses.” – Neil deGrasse TysonPlot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, and some Mythos aliensProduction Values: Plain
Pros# One hour Science Fiction horror one-shot
# Inspired by the ‘Flash Cthulhu’ series# Originally a submission for the Japanese ‘Call of Cthulhu TRPG Scenario Contest 2024’# Thematic prequel to Flash Cthulhu – Christmas on Charon
# Derealisation Disorder# Oneirophobia# Depersonalization-Derealisation Disorder
Cons# Keeper may need to adjust to make sure the Investigators are divided to play out all of the scenario# Needs an edit

Conclusion# A clash of realities at the end of the worlds# An escape room-style horror scenario

 Bendhover front page today...

GLUMMY REBELLION IN MULTIPLE OPPRESSORBADIAN CANTONS

OUTLAWS BURN GOVERNMENT BANK.

STREET BATTLES IN STYROFOAMYBAD

3 LEGIONS OF NATIONAL TROOPS ORDERED TO SUPPRESS UPRISINGS; MANY TROOPS DISLOYAL.

A Secret Society known as the “Glummys” has risen in rebellion against the Dictatorship of Chairman Glumjaw. Antember 5th they risked open battle with National Soldiers, led by Majorette Margy Margoffsya near Gloomdrul. The Glummys loss was over 20 killed, perhaps 40 wounded. On the following day 13 unlucky bodies were counted unclaimed and unburied on the field. National losses are said to be small, the Glummys claim magical protection and went into battle armed entirely with common farming implements. Though dispersed, in the Glumdrul area, they are reassembling and preparing for further fighting.

Telegrams from the Gnarnool Station state the the “Glummies” are gathering there in force threatening the lives of loyal government families and visiting foreigners. The homes of tens of Polyestrine, Gueratian, and Guapmolotlic merchants have been looted and loyal servants were hanged by mobs carrying banners proclaiming “Magical Power” and “Follow the Witches, Fight the Dictator!” The countryside south and east of Garnool and north of Styrofoamybad is greatly disturbed.

Street battles in Styrofoamybad continue with military patrols having been attacked with several dead and injured, the Government Bank was robbed, and burned to the ground by a violent mob on Fryday. The Government of Chairman Grimjaw has summoned 3 legions of National Troops to the Capitol, though treason from railway workers has impeded the progress of the various columns.

The situation in Oppressorbad is being watched closely by Polyesterdelphia, Guerat, and Mantz. Guerat has rattled it’s saber, moving two divisions to Moopighaven and Beaume, determined to keep the Guntish Secret Societies from crossing the border. Mantz has been less overtly militant, but has offered police forces to Oppressorbad to curb border crossings by the bandits. Gross Montaigne, with it’s plastic mines that feed the Balsabad Industrial region is economically dependent on Oppressorbad and has expressed frustration with the Glumjaw government’s inability to keep the trains running.

Twosday saw a small mixed force of Glummy bandits descend from the mountains near Baddog in the direction of Grimshore only to be caught between National Troops from Laducat and a wandering patrol of the Fabuouth Armee in a fire fight on the Vinalville-Laducat road. Mr. Earlow our corespondent is currently looking into this affair and we will deliver more on it presently.

p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }
 

Okay. Let us start with the pitch. The Borellus Connection is The Statement of Randolph Carter meets The French Connection with the journalistic attention to detail of Frederick Forsyth writing a Suppressed Transmission. And if that fails to get your gaming juices roiling, then there is definitely something missing from your essential saltes since your last resurrection. It is crime meets Cthulhu, the Age of Aquarius shot up on smack, DELTA GREEN versus the drug trade, when the cowboys could protect the USA—and the world—with a bit of swagger, and evil was still easy to identify, sometimes because they were still your allies despite what happened in World War 2. It is a campaign of Lovecraftian investigative horror that will take you places rarely visited in the genre in an age that remains all but unexplored in roleplaying.
The Borellus Connection is a campaign for The Fall of DELTA GREEN, the winner of the 2019 Gold ENNIE Award for Best Setting. Published by Pelgrane Press and using the GUMSHOE System, what The Fall of DELTA GREEN does is turn the clock back on DELTA GREEN—and its modern iteration, DELTA GREEN: The Roleplaying Game from Arc Dream Publishing—to take a ride through its last hurrah, the decade of the swinging sixties in which the USA would land men on the Moon, but get mired in conflict in Southeast Asia, in which the optimism of hippism and free love would be marred by murder, and in which DELTA GREEN would be overwhelmed by threats domestic and foreign—and its own hubris. The campaign will take the Agents from the sweltering heat of the jungles of the Vietnam War and into the sweaty morass of money and misfeasance that is Saigon, before swinging into the weird reality of burgeoning international air travel, and then to Turkey and Lebanon. From there it races back across Europe to the cutting edge of the Cold War and the dark aftermath of the previous war, and at last, brings the campaign home and into the wake for the death of the counterculture, as the dark romantism of the previous century torments the next. This is a campaign designed by Ken Hite—the author of The Fall of DELTA GREEN—but actually developed and written by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan.
The campaign does not stipulate what types of Agents it requires the players to roleplay. Both military veterans and former members of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics will be useful, but members of the FBI will be good as will any Agent with good surveillance skills. Similarly, there are no skills stipulated as being necessary to complete the campaign, but slots left open for languages may prove to be useful.

The campaign begins in 1968 just prior to the establishment of the BNDD, or Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, by the Justice Department. As the precursor of the DEA, it is assigned to investigate and disrupt the flow of drugs into the United States, in particular, the heroin coming out of the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia and Turkey. The Agents are assigned to the new agency, but investigating and stopping the worldwide trade in narcotics is only half of their job and their least important one. The global nature of the trade means that the Agents can be assigned to any number of exotic, faraway places with legitimate reasons to be there. Which is perfect cover for their other job—investigating and thwarting the forces of the Unnatural before they become a threat to American interests and the world. What this means is that there is a constant duality to The Borellus Connection. The Agents’ investigations are always twofold—the drugs and the Unnatural—and there is always a constant pull back and forth between. Fortunately, or unfortunately, as the campaign progresses, it becomes clear that the Unnatural has coiled its ways around the drug trade, so making it potentially easier to investigate both at the same time, but potentially making the investigation of the drug trade Unnaturally dangerous, as opposed to just dangerous.

The campaign provides a good overview of the BNDD, who the Agents’ DELTA GREEN handler is, and of the linked twin networks that entwine their way through the campaign. One is the drug trade itself, running out of the Golden Triangle, east to the USA and also out of Turkey, and both west through Marseille to the USA. This network is dominated by the Union Corse—and closer to home in the USA by the Mafia. The other network is headed by an immortal sorcerer, an associate of Joseph Curwen of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward fame, who hides within the Union Corse as its chief chemist and who uses its network to secrete his own agents around the world to protect his own interests and to work towards his plans for domination beyond his mortal immortality. This includes moving a lot the necessary materials via the same routes as the heroin. The campaign constantly hints that there is a lot more going than it outwardly appears and there is a shadowy figure behind it all, but the Agents do not learn his identity or get the chance to confront him until the very last mission.
The campaign begins with ‘Operation JADE PHOENIX’. Following a briefing at the CIA headquarters at Langley, the Agents are sent into Laos to confirm that a Kuomintang-backed Shan warlord is funding his operations through opium smuggling, but in reality, their mission is to help conduct a double assassination. The CIA wants the warlord dead, whilst DELTA GREEN’s target is a Kuen-Yuin sorcerer. They will have a military escort, but the assassinations are to be carried out by a United States Marine Corps sniper, one Sergeant Adolph Lepus, already just a few shots away from being the stone-cold killer feared by every DELTA GREEN agent in the future. The scenario is perhaps the most straightforward, certainly the simplest, of the missions in the campaign, even if it is complicated by an inexperienced commanding officer of the escort, the limited time frame set by Tiger Transit, and the Mythos machinations of the second target. It is otherwise a twisted military or mercenary style scenario, one in which some of the Agents are likely to be out of their depth—or out of their comfort zone, that should introduce the players and their Agents to the core of the campaign.
That core comes to the fore in ‘Operation ALONSO’, the most complex scenario in the campaign. The Agents are turned around in Hong Kong on their way home and sent back to Vietnam as newly minted recruits for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Once there, their cover operation is to run surveillance on a narcotics summit at the Continental Palace hotel in Saigon between Unione Corse bosses and emissaries from Marseille with local operations, whilst their actual mission is to ferret out signs of a resurgent Cthulhu cult that DELTA GREEN targeted a decade before. The challenge for the Agents is not only to navigate an unfamiliar city and equally unfamiliar military and espionage operations all on a war footing, but navigate a city where virtually everyone is on the take and their actions have a chance of alerting not only the heroin operation they are investigating, but also the Viet Cong that have infiltrated the city. Arouse the suspicions of either and the Agents will find themselves becoming the targets. In addition to infiltrating the hotel where the summit is being held, the Agents have to look for the activities of the Cthulhu cult in Saigon and beyond into the swamps outside the city where they might get a chance to conduct their own defoliation operation. They will also discover for the first time how weird and twisted some of the operatives connected to Union Corse really are. This as opposed to ‘Operation JADE PHOENIX’, where the weirdness seems local.
The scenario is made also the more complex by being set at the height of the Vietnam War and so amidst a morass of strange names and abbreviations. Add in a lot of organisations with different aims and sometimes overlapping areas of responsibility, and there is a lot for both the Handler and her players, let alone the Agents, to keep track off. It also makes it more challenging in comparison to prepare. Otherwise, this is a quagmire of a scenario, hot and sticky, that will take multiple sessions to complete.
The campaign narrows—quite literally—to the width and length of a Boeing 707. In ‘Operation HORUS HOURS’, the Agents are given another pair of assignments to conduct during their return to the USA. The BNDD wants the Agents to track some smugglers into the USA and DELTA GREEN wants the Agents to identify the purchaser in the USA of an Unnatural relic being transported aboard the aeroplane by a courier. The scenario takes place at the very dawn of the golden age of international air travel, but before the arrival of the Boeing 747 and similar large passenger jets, so the journey back from Hong Kong is via Sydney, Australia, Tahiti and Easter Island, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Panama City, and Los Angeles, and takes over one hundred hours in total! Since this is 1968, the Agents and other passengers aboard the flight have a lot of freedom of movement and face much lower security compared to modern flights, so the Agents have scope to move around, identify the smugglers, and spot the courier—and similarly, the smugglers and the courier have the opportunity to realise they are being watched and who by.
This tense, enclosed environment is exacerbated by the release of a nasty chemical that gets into the ventilation system and unleashes some of the Unnatural contraband being smuggled as well as tipping passengers and crew alike over into series of trippy dreams. And the dreams get weirder and weirder the closer the aeroplane gets to the site of sunken R’lyeh, a lovely contrivance of a flypast that brings another aspect of the Unnatural into play and requires intervention on Easter Island. ‘Operation HORUS HOURS’ has a submarine feel to it, of the Agents lost as if underwater, drowning in dreams and drugs.
The arrival of the Agents in the USA at the end of ‘Operation HORUS HOURS’ brings the first half of The Borellus Connection to close. The second half moves to the Middle East and Europe where the Agents investigate the drug trafficking running through Marseille for the BNDD and what looks like the activities—past and present—of an occultist somehow connected to the Union Corse for DELTA GREEN. ‘Operation DE PROFUNDIS’ takes place in eastern Turkey where the BNDD wants the Agents to investigate how the heroin is being transported through the country and DELTA GREEN wants them to investigate the death of Charles Whiteman, a British archaeologist at a dig site after his body vanished on the way back to England. Since this is set at an archaeological dig site, this has the feel of a more traditional scenario for almost any other roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror, but all more creepier because of the appearance and behaviour of the man who arrives to take control of the dig site with the permission of the dead and missing man! Clumsy and awkward, with a raspy voice and his hands always covered in gloves. He is very obviously suspicious and hiding something… This is likely the Agents’ first encounter with one of the servants of the shadowy figure at the heart of the conspiracy. All of these servants are monstrous in their way, but surprisingly, there is something sad about this man.
The location for ‘Operation SECOND LOOK’ is Beirut, Lebanon where the BNDD wants a drug deal investigated, and DELTA GREEN wants know why François Genoud, a Swiss Nazi sympathiser and intelligence broker, stopped informing for them and ‘gently’ reminded who he owes his continued existence to what he thinks are members of the CIA. Getting to the Genoud takes a bit of work and if they lean on him too hard, he goes running to his actual CIA masters, headed by retired agent, Miles Copeland, Jr., which will likely lead to the Agents earning a rebuke. The Agents can also discover the smuggling operation is shipping something big through the city, something guarded by a contingent of soldiers from the Egyptian army! The city has a post-colonial, seedy opulence to it and members of the Union Corse have a legitimacy that enables them to operate in the open, leading to scenes where the Agents have the opportunity to rub shoulders with them and even receive an offer that exposes the friction within the Union Corse and between the campaign’s two strands.
By now it should be clear that the use the Union Corse’s smuggling routes is twofold. One—and most obviously—to traffic drugs into the USA, and the other, hiding within that operation, to transport occult materials around the world. DELTA GREEN has the Agents follow the latter track, following the route of Charles Whiteman’s body into Germany in ‘Operation PURITAN’. Unfortunately, the Agents get sidetracked by another DELTA GREEN investigation meaning that it is no longer a duality, but a triality! Another DELTA GREEN briefing officer in Munich tasks the Agent with investigating what appears to be Unnatural prayers being broadcast via Radio Liberty into the Soviet Union. This forces the Agents into a more challenging balancing act, but as their investigation into the broadcasts takes them into Munich’s Turkish diaspora, it becomes apparent that all three are connected and lead back to the past activities in central Europe of the sorcerer at the heart of conspiracy. To confirm this, the Agents must cross the Iron Curtain on a quick excursion to Prague in the Prague Spring and almost back in time to dark house warped by monstrous sorceries. The mission comes to an end with a chance to save the world, but potentially end history in another twenty years, although the Agents are unlikely to be aware of either.
The penultimate mission is ‘Operation MISTRAL’ set in Marseille. By this point, the Agents know that they are on the trail of Jaques Vènice, the scar-faced chemist responsible for ensuring the quality of the heroin coming out of Turkey and the Golden Triangle and very probably using the Union Corse’s smuggling network as a cover for his own sorcerous activities. They may also have learnt his true identity. In ‘Operation MISTRAL’ they have chance to track him down in Marseille, the heart of the Union Corse’s smuggling operation. Another Mythos element comes into play here as the sorcerer uses a cult dedicated to another entity and the student protests that began in Paris and have spread to ‘La Cité Phocéenne’ as cover for his activities, as well as links to the authorities for both the Union Corse and the cult. The Agents may have an ally here and may also be able to take advantage of the friction within the Union Corse which will see one faction give up Jaques Vènice and potentially reveal his true identity. Either way, the Agents are definitely on his trail now and the operation will likely end with them chasing him across France and perhaps through another reality, all the way to the campaign’s finale.
‘Operation NEPENTHE’—named for the drug capable of banishing grief or trouble from a person’s mind described in Homer’s Odyssey—brings the campaign home to ‘Mob-town’, the city of Baltimore infamous for its riots, of which the latest it is trying to recover from with a national guard presence on the streets. The Agents are ostensibly here to follow up on Union Corse links to the city, but their DELTA GREEN handler all but gives them carte blanche to do what takes to stop the sorcerer’s plans. The latter has deep historical rather than modern ties to the city and as his gathered energies and plans coalesce, thorn bushes sprout from the strangest of places, the eyes of the city’s junkies turn towards the Agents, and time slips… The Agents need to slip too, back into city’s past and that of sorcerer, perhaps as far back as the last days of Baltimore’s most famous son. Of course, there is also the chance of the Agents getting lost in time and of failure, of the eastern seaboard getting lost in a bubble of time, but if they succeed, knowing that they saved millions is the only reward, and that they alone, are the only ones to know, are the only reward.

The Borellus Connection is a big sprawling campaign in the mode of the globetrotting campaigns of classic Lovecraftian investigative horror. Yet it owes some of its structure and tone to the conspiratorial structure of campaign in the designer’s other roleplaying game, Night’s Black Agents, whilst at the same time being loose enough that many of the individual scenarios could be run on their own. In addition to duality of the campaign’s entwined threads, its secrets are heavily obfuscated behind layers of obligation and history, and is only in the very later parts of the campaign that the players and their Agents begin to realise who or what they are facing. Since the Agents are sent hither and thither, they and their players do not have overall agency as they might in other globetrotting campaigns of classic Lovecraftian investigative horror and so it is not easy for them to step back from the overall campaign and work out what the overall picture is. The intricacy and connections within the campaign mean that the players are probably going to need their own corkboard, let alone their Agents. In terms of tone, the campaign veers towards Pulp, but there is often a brutality to it, hulking in the shadows until forced to act. The best and most unnerving of that brutality may occur after one or more of the Agents has been killed.

For the Handler there is not much advice on setting up the campaign and the advice throughout is not always as strong as it could be. Hence, this really is a campaign for the experienced Handler in terms of its structure and detail, but the balance between the Mythos and the mundane is well handled and the campaign is rich in historical detail. The Agents really get to get to meet some real and genuinely interesting historical figures and the Handler who wants more detail, there is a decent bibliography at the end. In terms of the Mythos, there is no one central threat in terms of the other, although the campaign does bounce between several differing Mythos traditions. Rather the threat faced is arguably all too human, but one who has fully embraced the inhuman in an attempt to realise his ambitions.
Physically, The Borellus Connection is a dense affair and as a whole, heavy going. Individual missions are well organised and explained with details of the mission spine and the key characters at the start before diving into the detail. The cartography is decent, but the artwork is intentionally obfuscatory, hinting and suggesting rather than clarifying.

The Borellus Connection is a big demanding campaign that is going to take no little commitment upon the part of the Handler, her players, and their Agents to run, play, and complete. There is a fantastic sense of energy and grime to this campaign, of the Agents constantly wading through the seedy underbelly of both humanity and alchemy, caught between the mundane and the Mythos, and ultimately, out of game, how far and what strange places, The Borellus Connection takes one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous stories.

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—
What is it?The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever is a sourcebook and first part of a campaign for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha in which the Player Characters come to the city of Pavis and attempt to make a life and reputation for themselves.

It is the first part of The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut campaign.

It is an update of a campaign previously available in the nineties and includes commentary from the author on both the original and current version of the campaign.

It is a full colour, two-hundred-and-twenty-four-page, 105.55 MB PDF.

It is a full colour, two-hundred-and-twenty-page hardback.

The layout is clean and tidy, though a little tight in places, and it is decently illustrated.

The cartography is decent for the most part.
Where is it set?The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever takes place in the city of Pavis and its surrounds (but not the Big Rubble).
It is set in ST 1619.
Who do you play?
The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever suggests and even provides a wide range of character types. What it mandates is that the Player Characters are all new to the city of Pavis.
What do you need?
The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, the RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary, and the Red Book of Magic. It also requires The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 02: New Pavis: The City that Time Forgot, Pavis: Threshold to Danger, and Big Rubble: The Deadly City.

In addition, Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers, Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses, Cults of RuneQuest: The Gods of Fire and Sky, and Cults of RuneQuest: The Lunar Way will all be useful. Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun may also be useful.
What do you get?The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever is the archetypal release made available on the Jonstown Compendium. It is written by fans for fans. It is messy. It requires a high number of other sourcebooks to fully work. It requires a high degree of knowledge about Glorantha. It contains a lot of information that is extraneous. It is overwritten. It is incomplete. It is set outside the current time frame for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. Of course, this will not be a problem if the Game Master has access to all of the supporting material that she needs to set up and run the campaign, but if not, this is a campaign that the Game Master might want to wait to run or perhaps play it before she does so. Nevertheless, there is the start of an interesting campaign here which is designed for beginning characters and to some extent beginning players. However, whether the players are new to Glorantha or not, an experienced Game Master is needed.
The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever is the reconstruction of old campaign created in the nineties that was influenced by conversations with the late Greg Stafford. It does rely upon the Game Master having access to both Pavis: Threshold to Danger, and Big Rubble: Threshold to Danger, as the author did when he first ran it. He puts this in context a historical backdrop to the campaign, both in game and out, the in-game backdrop providing a history of the original Pavis City, its destruction, the founding of New Pavis, and the invasion of the Lunar Empire. This is supported by an introduction to the city, overviews of the region, a discussion of its local languages, and then... Well, then it takes hard turn into a lot of background about Pavis in ST 1619 that is potentially going to confuse the reader and leave him wondering what he has got himself into.

The problem is that The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever really opens with a lot of background material that is useful, just not necessarily useful in this first part of the campaign, and content that the players and their characters are very unlikely to interact with starting out. This includes the full details of the New Pavis Knowledge Temple—run jointly by the cults of Lhankor Mhy and Irrippi Ontor—and their various subcults and factions; full details of the Lunar military presence in and around Pavis and their regimental magic and spirits; a history of Pavis, the founder of old Pavis and his cult, as well as the Flintnail the Dwarf Father subcult of the Pavis cult; details of Old Pavic magic and alternative means of a Praxian shaman gaining his magic as well as the Raven as a Praxian spirit cult; the Flintnail Dwarves in Pavis; the Cult of Donandar as full cult rather than a subcult; and details of the the criminal underworld in Pavis. The latter very much expands upon the information given in Pavis: Threshold to Danger, suggesting new criminal occupations such as the Confidence Merchant, Pick-Pocket, Roofer, Strong-Arm Specialist, and even Assassin! Plus, it details various gangs in the city, including details of The Hidden One, a Lanbril subcult worshipped by the Hole Lords Gang. In addition to the various gangs, Jorjar’s Trollkin Nightwatch, almost as criminal as the gangs and all of its members open to bribes, is detailed. There is a section on the general knowledge that any local will have of the Big Rubble and a gazetteer of Pavis County, plus full stats for the numerous NPCs to accompany the descriptions of the various factions and organisations. This includes the notable members of the Knowledge Temple, soldiery of the Lunar regiments present in the city, the auxiliaries and mercenaries found outside the city in Pavis County, the members of the criminal gangs, and Jorjar’s Trollkin Nightwatch.
It is a lot to take in, and none of the information is actually bad or uninteresting. Rather, it is not easy to tell what is relevant and what is not. Or rather, what is relevant right now and what is not. There is a lot here that the Player Characters are more likely to interact with later in the campaign, including the Knowledge Temple, the Cult of Pavis and the Flintnail Dwarves, and the Cult of Donandar. Initially, it is possible to play a character who worships Lhankor Mhy and wants to join one of the subcults or an entertainer who wants to join the Cult of Donandar—and this is seen in some of the pre-generated Player Characters that the campaign provides. Later in the campaign it will a different matter, as it will be very likely that the Player Characters will have interacted with these various groups and factions and learned more about them. To that end, the campaign makes two suggestions. One is that if Player Character dies, then his replacement can have stronger ties to or even be a native and a member of one of these cults, whilst the other is that each player create a second character who is native to Pavis and be member of one of these cults. Again though, this is for later in the campaign.

The second half of the book focuses on the campaign and its set-up. It is thus more direct and there are elements during the set-up and in the opening stages of the campaign that make use of the content previously presented and so begin to provide some much-needed context. In terms of character creation, beyond requiring that they be new to Pavis, The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever does actually suggest a lot of options. Suggestions in terms of Race include Baboons, Crested Dragonewts, Ducks, Dark Trolls, Dwarves, Elves, Morokanth, Newtlings, and more. The creation process is streamlined, there not being available the family history tables for this period as there are for ST 1625 in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and to this it adds two new skills, Streetwise and Pavic Philosophy, both of which will factor in the campaign. Included here too, are the game details of the local Lhankor Mhy subcults discussed earlier—Cobrin the Reseracher and Marlogh the Investigator,* plus Mercario the Street Entertainer, a subcult of Pavis and Donandar, and Thandros the Trader, a subcult of Pavis and Issaries. This is followed by information about the Zola Fel Riverfolk and their Cult of Zola Fel, the Aldryami of Old Pavis out in the Big Rubble, the Yelmalions of Pavis and Sun County, their associated cults, and if the Game Master and her players wants to cut to the chase, six pre-generated Player Characters. These are very nicely detailed and ready to play as well as offering a diverse range of characters.
* Yes, really.

The campaign proper begins with ‘New Faces in Town’. For whatever reason, the Player Characters have come to Pavis to start afresh and so they arrive with only the barest of knowledge of both the city and the Big Rubble it abuts, unsure of where to start and what to do. The campaign strongly recommends that the very last thing that the Player Characters do at this stage is run off and look for adventure or treasure in the Big Rubble, since their ignorance and lack of skill is likely to get them killed. So instead, the opening sequences all about the mundane steps of settling into a new place—finding food, looking for somewhere to live, and getting a job or two. Several infamous establishments are described here, including Gimpy’s Tavern, Geo’s Inn, and Rowdy Djo Lo’s, as possible places to eat and stay. Here the campaign is grounding the Player Characters in the city, beginning to make it their home, and backs this up with small encounters and small job opportunities that the Game Master will need to tailor to her players and their characters, giving them a slice of life in Pavis.
The first full scenario in The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever is ‘Ghost In The Darkness’. It is a classic set-up in that the newcomers to the city get got up in fracas, picked upon by one of Pavis’ many criminal gangs, and find themselves under arrest by the city watch for a breach of the peace. Since they are new here, the judges are surprisingly lenient, sentencing the Player Characters to civic duties befitting their talents and temperament for at least one season. Which is why, with intervention of a priest of the Pavis Cult, they find themselves attached to Captain Draximedes, a Yelmalion officer posted to the city as part of the treaty with Sun County. Draximedes is a solider through and through, but takes the Player Characters in hand and gives them time and money to prepare for their first assignment. This is to ride out into the contested eastern borderlands between Pavis County and the Sun Dome lands where independent settlers have their home in the rough, frontier country. Out towards Vulture Country some of the settlers have organised the building of a sturdier bridge over the White Rock River to facilitate both travel and trade, but there has been a series of deaths at construction site and the work crew have called for aid.
This is primarily a travelogue scenario in which they accompany Captain Draximedes out into the countryside and onto the frontier, interacting with fellow travellers, stopping off at various settlements, solving some of their problems, and so on. The last part of the scenario takes place at the bridge construction site where they can learn what has happened so far and perhaps begin their investigation, but what the Player Characters cannot do at this point is resolve the scenario. This is because the finale is actually contained in the next part of the campaign, The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 02: New Pavis: The City that Time Forgot. There is no denying that this is disappointing, because what it means is that there is no closure to The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever and that it is not a complete chapter. And arguably, there is content in The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever which could have been saved for the next or a subsequent volume in the series and the resulting space been devoted to enabling the Game Master, her players, and their characters to complete the introductory chapter to the campaign.

The scenario, what there is of it, is a solid affair with opportunities for roleplaying and even some combat. Ultimately, what it is providing several sessions of tempering, both in game and out, as the characters learn to work together under the watchful eye of Captain Draximedes, the players learn about their characters and the rules, and both learn a bit more about the setting.
What this all means is that The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever presents the prospective Game Master with not so much problems, as impediments to play: the requirement for a large number of source books, the amount of setting material presented in the first half of the book, and the anti-climactic scenario. Some of these are less of an issue for some Game Masters than others, and get past at least the first two, and what Game Master has in her hands is a very enjoyable introduction to roleplaying in and around the city of Pavis, accompanied by advice and lots of options and help in creating Player Characters and getting them involved in the street life of Pavis. If the rest of the campaign is as decently done as the actual start in The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever, then the campaign will be worth investing in.
Is it worth your time?Yes—The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever is a good start to the campaign that will ultimately reward its high buy-in and investment.No—The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever requires too much of an investment and buy-in, falls too much under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’, and it is probably set too far away from where the Game Master’s own campaign is set.Maybe—The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion – Director’s Cut: Vol. 01: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever does not make its set-up easy to get to and really get going, but the Game Master willing to make the investment and who wants a campaign away from the roleplaying game’s current focus might want to take a look at it.

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.
—oOo—Senet is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, it is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases. Senet is also one of the very few magazines about games to actually be available for sale on the high street.

Senet Issue 16 was published in the winter of 2024 and what the covers hints at—if, that is, the reader recognises the style of illustrator Kyle Ferrin—what the focus of the issue is, and that is, a big interview with Cole Wehrle, the designer of several popular, and critically acclaimed board games, including Root, Oath, and Arcs. If not, then the cover is not giving away very much, but then that is what the editorial is there for, and indeed it explains all. As well as the interview with Cole Wehrle, the editorial highlights the issue’s game play and theme articles. The former is that of solo play, once that the editor admits having enjoyed with a series of games, whilst the latter is all about witches and witchcraft. Not only appropriate for the time of year when the issue was published, but coincidentally, appropriate for the time of year when this review is being written (even if, unfortunately, a year late!).

As expected, ‘Behold’ begins the issue proper, highlighting some of the then forthcoming games with a preview and a hint or two of what to expect. The notable titles include Ada’s Dream and Tenby. The first is a complex game about Ada Lovelace and her program designs for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, involving as it does dice, character cards, and a rondel. The preview is clear about the complexity of Ada’s Dream, but the subject is fascinating enough to warrant a closer look. The second is simpler, a tableau game about laying out the fronts of houses in the Welsh coastal resort of the same name, in part based on their colour, a common feature of Welsh towns with their pastel-coloured buildings. ‘Points’, the regular column of readers’ letters, contains a mix of praise for the magazine and a discussion of gaming culture. It still feels limited at just a single page and it is clear from the letters that the magazine is well liked, so it seems a shame that it cannot be expanded to build a community around the magazine via the letters page. Hopefully, this will change in the future when the page count for the magazine is increased. Similarly, ‘For Love of the Game’ continues the journey of the designer Tristian Hall towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth—and beyond. By now, very beyond. In ‘Time to Play’ he explores what he does in in downtime away from designing and publishing games, which surprisingly, is playing games, running counter to the idea that you should never take your day job home with you by working on other projects. This though is a variety of games, including roleplaying games and games from other designers. Much of it is to spur his creativity, but he cannot avoid doing a little market research too. By this point though, the column has left its remit way behind, and it would be interesting to see another designer share his diary.

The sixteenth issue of the magazine keeps to its tried and tested format of two interviews, one with a designer and one with an artist, and two articles about games, one about specific type or game or mechanic and the other about a theme. As mentioned previously, the interview with the designer is with Cole Wehrle in Dan Thurot’s dubiously titled ‘Give It A Wehrle’. Wehrle is the designer of some very high profile titles, mostly from Leder Games, including Root, Oath, and Arcs, but also some more controversial, but arguably more interesting titles like John Company and Molly House from the company he shares with his brother, Wehrlegig Games. Here he discusses the development of Root, and then Arcs, in particular how it differs from typical Science Fiction civilisation board games that adhere to the 4X format—eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Surprisingly, the focus is less on Arcs, at the time his latest game, than still on Root. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating interview, one which also examines the differences between how Wehrle designs for Leder Games and his own company. It does feel as if it could have been a longer interview looking at his other designs in greater depth. Perhaps in a later issue?

The other interview is with the artist, Joan Guardiet. In ‘The Explorer’, Dan Jolin talks to him about the games he has illustrated and the varied approach he takes to each. Senet always gives the space to showcase an artist’s work and this is no exception, enabling the reader to look at the different styles across several games. For example, Mazescape series of solo map exploration titles from Devir, are inspired by MC Escher and the computer game, Monument Valley, and have an angular look, whilst La Viña, also from Devir, has a delicate, intentionally ethereal look in its depiction of its various grapes and vines. Across the six games depicted it is almost a surprise to see they are all illustrated by the same artist.

In between the interviews, ‘Game of Crones’ by Alexandra Sonechkina explores the role of the witch has in board games, tracking her role as villain from early titles like Hexenhaus from 1952 and Milton Bradley Games’ Which Witch? from the seventies to more positive depictions in games such as the 2015 Kennerspiel des Jahres Winner Broom Service from Alea and KOSMOS’ Techno Witches from 2005. Common themes in witch-based games include broom races, potion making, and spell casting, but the most common is that of witches on trial, which of course, has a strong historical precedent. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 figure strongly, as in games like Façade Games’ social deduction game, Salem 1692, but Septima from Mindclash Games counters this by having the players working to solve the problem that the witches are accused of and are on trial for. Lastly, the article points out that the subject is controversial because perceptions of witchcraft differ, but suggests that more positive depictions might counter this controversy.

Matt Thrower’s ‘Party of One’ examines a style of play that has become increasingly common over the last few years as an increasing number of publishers offer extra rules for their games that allow them to be played solo. The article lists the Mage Knight Board Game, Wingspan, Dune: Imperium, Cascadia, and the Imperium series as all possessing good solo variants to what are well regarded games, but notes that the origins of solo play in board games lies in card games and puzzles which do not offer the narrative possibility that a solo board game can. Even playing board games solo can offer this as well as the means to learn the rules, and that is before you get to games that are deigned to be played solo. Here there is possibility to tell stories and have play experiences that other board games with more players would not. Overall, this is an interesting article, but it could have better highlighted games designed to be played solo rather than games with solo variants.

‘Unboxed’, Senet’s reviews section covers a wide range of games, top of which is Arcs, designed by the issue’s star interviewee, Cole Wehrle, and here awarded ‘Senet’s Top Choice’. The game is given a very good review, and it does look like a terrific game. Elsewhere there is courtly theme to the reviews with a look at both For the Queen from Darrington Press and Courtesans from Catch Up Games, but one of the more interesting titles reviewed is Hollandspiele’s Striking Flint, a game about the General Motors strike of 1936 to 1937 in Flint. Michigan. The game involves placing workers to stop actions being done and so resist the police and other strike breakers, so is described as an ‘anti-worker placement game’. The issue does not ignore more commercial fare with a review of Disney Lorcana: Gateway from Ravensburger.

As is traditional, Senet Issue 16 comes to a close with the regular end columns, ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For ‘How to Play’, ‘How to be a Games Guru’ by Will Brasher, talks about his role as a games guru working at the games café, Chance & Counters, in Birmingham. This provides the reader with an interesting and quite detailed perspective of actually providing recommendations and helping people play games. Lastly, Banzainator of Board Games Anonymous, pulls Everdell for her ‘Shelf of Shame’. The reason why she has not played is because it was too light for her and this proves to be the case with some caveats. She would only play it again with two players rather than more.

Physically, Senet Issue 16 is shows off the board games it previews and reviews to great effect, just as you would expect. The highlight of the issue is the interview with Cole Wehrle, which definitely feels as if should be longer, but the article on witches and witchcraft as a theme is also good. This is another good issue providing solid and informative discussion of board games and their culture.

If there has to be a GM Companion for ShadowDark—and the honest truth is that there does actually have to be, since there is no official companion to ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the Old School Renaissance and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from The Arcane Library—then there surely has to be the equivalent for the player. Well, similarly, there is, and that book is the Player Companion for ShadowDark. Like the GM Companion for ShadowDark, this is a third-party supplement for the roleplaying game which is designed to expand on the content in the core rulebook. It includes new Backgrounds, over twenty Ancestries, over thirty new Classes, plus new gemstones and metals, weapons, armour types and materials, adventuring gear galore, and plants, poisons, and traps, as well as catalysts to give spells that little bit more oomph when needed. Of course, a great deal of this volume is aimed at the player, but like the GM Companion for ShadowDark, which was aimed at the Game Master, yet still contained elements that the player could use, the Player Companion for ShadowDark contains content that the Game Master can also use. Probably more so, since the Game Master will be using the content of the Player Companion for ShadowDark to help create her world and her campaign.
The Player Companion for ShadowDark is—like the GM Companion for ShadowDark—published by Chubby Funster. The ‘Alternative Background Table’ lists twenty options, from Agitator, Artist, and Athlete to Trader, Translator, and Wanderlust, all of which are intended to not conflict with the Classes that follow after the Ancestries. Each of the twenty-four Ancestries is given a simple description and a simple ability. For example, the Proudfoot Halfling is ‘Stealthy’ can effectively turn invisible for three Rounds once per day, whilst the Stoutheart Halfling is ‘Quick’ and gains a +3 bonus to Initiative. The Changeling is ‘Mercurial’ and can use innate illusion magic to change their facial features; the Dragonborn has ‘Fire Breath’ and can do so instead of a standard attack; and a Goblin can simply never be surprised in combat. Some, such as the Dark Elf, Deep Gnome, Dragonborn, Gray Elf, Proudfoot Halfling, Stoutheart Halfling, and Wood Elf, are all inspired by both classic fantasy and classic Dungeons & Dragons, enabling a player to select an Ancestry for his character that he might be familiar with from those sources. Others are less obviously inspired, like the Changeling and Gold Dwarf, whilst others still, including the Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Kobold, open up the possibility of roleplaying the Humanoid races of Dungeons & Dragons as Player Characters.
The primary selling point of Player Companion for ShadowDark is its thirty-six new Classes. The full thirty-six consists of Archer, Assassin, Beastmaster, Berserker, Brigand, Buccaneer, Burglar, Charlatan, Conjurer, Druid, Elementalist, Enchanter, Explorer, Gladiator, Mage, Mariner, Monk, Mystic, Necromancer, Noble, Oracle, Pugilist, Ranger, Rogue, Savage, Scholar, Scout, Shaman, Soldier, Sorcerer, Spy, Squire, Thug, Urchin, Valkyrie, and Witch. Some, like the Assassin, Druid, Ranger, and Sorcerer, draw upon classic Classes from Dungeons & Dragons for their inspiration, but in some cases, there is not a great deal of variation between these new Classes. For example, the Brigand, the Burglar, and the Rogue all have ‘Shadowed’ and ‘Thievery’. ‘Shadowed’ grants advantage on Stealth checks and a bonus when motionless, and with ‘Thievery’ on checks to disguise himself, shadow someone, find and disable traps, pickpocket, and pick locks. The main difference—mechanically—is that the Brigand has ‘Knockout’, being able to knock an unsuspecting victim unconscious with a sap; the Burglar can easily grab objects at close distance with ‘Palm’; and the Rogue has ‘Backstab’ and ‘Taking Cover’. There is the same element with the Priest and Wizard type Classes too, all sharing the same core abilities with one or maybe two other abilities.

What this highlights is that many of the Classes in the Player Companion for ShadowDark are variations upon a theme. Which may or not be a problem. Used all together, it is a case of there not being enough to differentiate between the Class types, but used judiciously, any of the Classes would work well. For example, all of the Wizard-type Classes would work together if a campaign was set around a magic college and all of the Rogue Classes would work in a big urban environment, but in another campaign, the Game Master might decide that only certain Classes within the various types work within her campaign world, suggesting perhaps, that magic works or that the gods are worshipped in a particular way.

If many of the Classes in the Player Companion for ShadowDark are variations upon a theme, this is not to say that the Class designs are bad. The Archer is simple and straightforward, good with a bow and arrow, able to target specific body parts for various effects and gains better benefits from cover; the Assassin can ‘Backstab’, is ‘Shadowed’ like the Thief-type Classes, but can use ‘Venom’ instead of ‘Thievery’; the Druid has ‘Nature Affinity’, can cast ‘Priest Spells’, and ‘Shapeshift’; and the Necromancer can ‘Command Undead’ as well as do ‘Scroll Study’ and cast ‘Wizard Spells’. In other designs, there is more originality. For example, the Noble knows extra ‘Languages’, gives Advantage on morale for his NPC allies as well as a bonus to attack rolls and initiative with his ‘Leadership’, mind-affecting spells and powers are rolled against him are made at Disadvantage due to his ‘Nobility’, and he gains greater ‘Wealth’. Otherwise, the Noble is a Fighter type, but the abilities of the Class do lend itself to some interesting roleplaying. Similarly, the Valkyrie is a Cleric type Class and can cast ‘Priest Spells’, but added to that, she is ‘Favoured’ and if she uses a luck token to deliver a killing blow, she gets it back, and she has ‘Raven’, meaning she has an unkindness of raven familiars.
Beyond the Ancestries and Classes, the Player Companion for ShadowDark focuses on equipment. ‘Gemstones and Metals’ describes thirty gemstones and metallic trade bars that can be found as treasure and/or traded, whilst the twenty-five weapons gives more choices in combat, many of them of with their unique features. For example, the bastard does more damage if wielded two-handed, the bearded axe and the javelin can be thrown and inflicts different damage if thrown, whilst the dagger can also be thrown, but the wielder can choose whether to use his Strength or Dexterity depending on the bonus. Conversely, ‘Armour’ does not give its various types of protection unique features. The exceptions are the helmet, which grants the wearer Advantage when resisting concussion, blasts, sonic attacks, falling debris, or similar dangers, and the large shield kite, which improve Armour Class when wielded on horseback. There are guidelines for the effects of adamantine, bronze, and mithril armour though.
This is followed by a huge section on ‘Adventuring Gear’ which describes one hundred items that a Player Character might have in his backpack, from acid, an air bladder, and alcohol to a whistle, wooden stakes, and writing ink. It is an exhaustive and quite detailed list. Similarly, ‘Plants and Poisons’ describes twenty-five beans, compounds, flowers, fungi, herbs, roots, and venoms that have a variety of effects, not just poisoning. From arsenic and belladonna to tamarind and wolfsbane, the entries are even more detailed than those given in the ‘Adventuring Gear’ section. This is all useful information, whether for the Assassin or Druid Classes, for alchemists, and of course, for evil NPCs. ‘Traps’ describes six devices that a Player Character could buy and set, such as a flash trap that blinds or a sticky trap that hinders. It gives a cost, which suggests that they can be purchased off the shelf, which might be case in a Game Master’s campaign world. For another Game Master’s campaign world, guidelines on building such traps would have been more useful.
Lastly, the Player Companion for ShadowDark describes something completely different—‘Spell Catalysts’. These are things—seeds, berries, resins, petals, roots, bark, flowers, metals, wood, spices, glass, honey, bone, leaves, and more—that when used in conjunction with a particular spell, enhances its effects. For example, a handful of leaves from the mint plant when held casting Levitate enables the caster to move horizontally without needing to push himself off another surface or if the caster holds an olive when casting Magic Missile, the missiles inflict extra damage and can knock a target to the ground! All eighty-five of these, from achiote and anise to wool and wormwood, empower the spellcaster in some way, though limited in each case. The Player Character can buy multiple catalysts at a time, but on the downside, each catalyst takes up a gear slot and can be expensive. For example, it might only cost five silver pieces to purchase the olives for the Magic Missile catalyst, but the silk for the Passwall catalyst is eighty-five gold! Thus this option is not necessarily going to overpower a game, especially if the cost and encumbrance rules are applied, but when it counts, it will give the caster that little bit more of an edge.
Physically, like its forebear, the GM Companion for ShadowDark, the Player Companion for ShadowDark is a decent looking book. The layout is clean and tidy, the artwork is decent, and the book is well written.
Where the GM Companion for ShadowDark is a really useful book for ShadowDark and definitely a book that the Game Master for ShadowDark should have, the Player Companion for ShadowDark is not. This is not to say that none of its content is useful, but rather to say that its content can be useful. The Player Companion for ShadowDark is very much a book that the Game Master will need to pack and choose from, rather than simply use wholesale. She needs to ask herself if she wants every one of its Ancestries and Classes in her game, especially since some of the Classes are really variations rather than whole new Classes. Of course, she can simply decide what she wants for her own setting, but including all of them can lead to too much choice. The rest of the book—the adventuring gear, the arms and armour, the poisons, and the spell catalysts—all add a lot of detail, and whilst well done, again, the Game Master has to ask herself if she wants that degree of detail in her game. There is some useful and interesting content in its pages, but ultimately, the Player Companion for ShadowDark is about choice and giving options, more so for the Game Master than its title suggests.

The skies darken as the storm clouds gather and the winds begin to whirl. The Tarrantula is caught in a hurricane and as her pirate crew tries to ride out the worst of the storm, up and down the swells as tall as her masts, a wicked galleon bears down upon her. A ship with hull of bones and torn black sails, flames roaring from the eyes of the skulls mounted on her aft, and then there is her crew. Black skeletons. They leap upon the crew of The Tarrantula and as battle swirls across her deck, one of the crew screams out, “Land!”. This is the beginning of Buried in the Bahamas: An Introductory Adventure for Pirate Borg. Specifically, it is designed to serve as an introductory adventure for not just for the players, but also the Game Master, one that can be run as the beginning of an ongoing campaign or as one-shot scenario that can be shortened to run as a one-shot, suitable for convention play. It begins with a linear introduction that will introduce the players and their characters to the setting and the rules—including how combat and the Devil’s Luck work—before throwing ashore and into a situation where they have more freedom of action. With this agency, they can sail the seas of the Dark Caribbean, fight zombies and sharks, and go in search of treasure!

Buried in the Bahamas: An Introductory Adventure for Pirate Borg is published by Limithron. As an adventure for Pirate Borg, it takes place in the Dark Caribbean, a sea of tropical islands marked with European towns and fortresses and ruins of civilisations long gone, of shipwrecks with rich cargoes and even richer treasures, and of the Scourge. The Scourge made the dead walk once again, ghosts return to haunt the living, and monsters lurk ready to smash the foothold that the Europeans have established in the region. The governors and the viceroys, representatives of kings and queens, have forced to adapt and rule with no contact from home following the Scourge and even take advantage of the situation, especially since the discovery of abilities and addictive nature of ASH, the ash of the burned and ground undead.

Buried in the Bahamas: An Introductory Adventure for Pirate Borg is based upon Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and also published by Free League Publishing. As an introductory scenario, it presents the Game Master and her players with a simple set-up and outlines the step-by-step process that will take everyone from an introduction to Pirate Borg and the Dark Caribbean through character creation and into the game and the scenario. This is intentionally tight at the beginning, with a battle scene that begins en media res and so throws them into the action, enables the players to establish their characters and get used to the rules, but as the scenario progresses, it opens up and the players and their characters have greater freedom of action.

The layout of Buried in the Bahamas is also designed with this in mind. The initial battle scene is all presented on a double page spread, including its set-up, guidance for the Game Master, what the players and their characters have to do, and the monsters and NPCs detailed the margins. The next scene is laid out in similar fashion, but presents more options in terms of what the Player Characters can do on the island they have been shipwrecked on. The island is tiny, but there is still room to explore and direct the other survivors, whether that is to build shelter or a raft to get off the island. What will drive the Player Characters to leave the island is not just survival, but the treasure map they were handed by the late captain of The Tarantula.

It is possession of this treasure map that will drive the second half of the scenario, pushing the Player Characters to sail to the other two islands nearby where the entrance to the cave where the treasure is hidden may be found. These islands are larger and far more detailed, enabling the Player Characters to spend time in a shanty town, dive on a wreck, and explore zombie-infested ruins. Ultimately, the Player Characters will discover the entrance to the Cave of Seven Skulls where the treasure has been hidden. The cave leads to a tomb complex, one that the Player Characters will have an advantage in exploring if their backgrounds are academic, archaeological, or linguistic in nature, but even so, this is a potentially deadly complex, but the rewards are high in terms of both coin and magic.

The Game Master can run Buried in the Bahamas as written and it will provide multiple sessions’ worth of play and potentially, lead into a longer campaign. Alternatively, the middle section of the scenario, where the Player Characters explore the larger of three islands in the scenario as a mini-hexcrawl, can be cut and the scenario run in fewer sessions, or even a single session. Throughout the scenario, there is advice for the Game Master and references to the core rules for Pirate Borg. The advice for the Game Master is stronger at the start of the scenario and that is appropriate, since this start is designed to ease both her and her players and their characters into the setting and the game.

Physically, Buried in the Bahamas is very well laid out. Almost everything is clearly presented and easy to read. The thing that is not, is the actual advice for the Game Master as it is given in a pale grey text on a white background making it difficult to read. Otherwise, the maps for the scenario are all nicely done and the artwork is reasonable.

Experienced players will enjoy it and get into its set-up and play faster, but Buried in the Bahamas: An Introductory Adventure for Pirate Borg is a really good beginning scenario for Pirate Borg. It is not only flexible in how it is used, but it effectively helps the Game Master guide her players into the world of the Dark Caribbean and the play of Pirate Borg.

This October Horror Movie Challenge, I am going "themeless." Well, not entirely themeless, I am going to hit some movies I have been wanting to see for a while. I am going to hit some movies with a strong occult themes to help with my Occult D&D ideas. And a lot of movies that are random picks. 
So, lets get in a Witchcraft Wednesday special!
Some horror movies become classics because they’re great. Others become classics because they’re terrible. And then there are the ones like Witchcraft (1988)—movies that sit in that odd middle space where you can’t really call them good, but you also can’t quite look away. This was the beginning of what would inexplicably become the longest-running horror franchise of all time, with over a dozen sequels. Yep, this little direct-to-video oddity outlasted Friday the 13th.

Witchcraft has always been out there, taunting me. The later direct-to-video offerings are essentially cheesy, low-grade horror with soft-core porn. There is a time and place for that, but not often in the Horror Movie Challenge. Still, I am not going to rule out more of these for the simple reasons that A.) this one wasn't so bad (ok it is, but) and B.) maybe there is something to extract here.

The setup is Gothic in all the right ways. The film opens with a young woman, Grace Churchill, giving birth to a child in a spooky old mansion, watched over by ominous figures who may or may not be part of a Satanic coven. The baby, William, grows up haunted by strange powers and a dark inheritance. That’s about as coherent as the plot gets. The rest is a mix of supernatural brooding, awkward family drama, softcore sex, and a finale where witchcraft and devil-worship clash in melodramatic fashion.

It’s the kind of movie that promises “occult terror” on the box but delivers more soap opera than sorcery. The budget clearly wasn’t there, and it shows—cheap sets, stilted acting, and special effects that would’ve been laughed off Tales from the Darkside. But there’s something about the sheer earnestness of it that makes it oddly watchable. You get the sense that everyone involved thought they were making something serious, maybe even artistic. Instead, they accidentally launched the trashiest franchise in horror history.

What stands out, though, is the vibe. Witchcraft is soaked in late-80s VHS energy, grainy lighting, synth score, and a sleazy Gothic tone that feels like it belongs in a tattered paperback you’d find in a used bookstore. It’s not scary, not really, but it is atmospheric in that “midnight cable TV/Cinemax” way.

Witchcraft (1988) isn’t good. But it’s important. It’s the seed from which a whole weird forest of bargain-bin horror would grow, a franchise that leaned more and more into sleaze and supernatural soap opera. I can't help but think that this series promises a better movie. 

Maybe I'll watch them all one day. But not this month. 

Occult D&D and NIGHT SHIFT

Yeah, there is a NIGHT SHIFT campaign here, but it is likely a silly one.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
Viewed: 1
First Time Views: 0

 It is the start of October and time for another foundational author for D&D from Gary's Appendix N. As always with this feature I am focusing on the witches presented in these tales.

Poul Anderson (1926-2001) is much better known for his Science Fiction tales, but he does have three (well, 2.5) fantasy stories on the Appendix N list, and two of these feature witches rather prominently: "Three Hearts and Three Lions" and "The Broken Sword."

I will take each in turn and also expand a little from "just witches" with these.

Three Hearts and Three Lions (1953)

Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions is already famous in D&D circles for giving us Law vs Chaos, the Swanmay, regenerating trolls, and even the proto-paladin in Holger Carlsen. But nestled amid the elves, trolls, and Moorcock-before-Moorcock cosmology is one of the first proper "witches" of Appendix N.

The unnamed witch of the forest hut is classic fairy-tale witchcraft: ugly, corrupt, but wielding real power. She brews potions, dabbles in deviltry, and represents the Chaos side of Anderson’s moral spectrum. Anderson clearly has one foot in the folkloric hag tradition; this witch could have walked right out of the Brothers Grimm, but her function in the story is thematic as much as narrative. She exists as a living symbol of the Chaos that Holger is pitted against, an incarnation of superstition and malice. While her interactions with Holger are not long, she is his first clue that magic, chaos, and evil are real, tangible things in the world/time.

Then there is Morgan Le Fey. She is Holger's former lover in a past life, and she is the main antagonist. She is a representative of the "Old Ways," the paganism of Europe, dying out in the face of rising Christianity. She is also representative of chaos, evil, and magic. Where the old hag is evil and ugly, Morgan Le Fey is evil and beautiful. Representing that evil does come in many guises and our hero needs to recognize that.

The battle is a parallel of the one Holger left in his time, World War II.

Both witches represent the two types of witches most often seen: the old Satanic Hag and the beautiful Pagan. Both, however, represent evil and mostly Chaos. 

The notion of Paganism/Old Ways versus Christianity is a recurring theme in Anderson's other significant Appendix N book.

The Broken Sword (1954/1971)

The Broken Sword gives us a much darker, more primal vision of witchcraft. 

Here we get another hag-witch who is close enough to the elves and trolls to have dealings with them, but is also very explicitly Satanic. She lives in a run-down cottage/hut, deals with the dark forces of evil, and has a talking rat familiar. Honestly, she could even be the same witch if so many years were not between them.

She also tempts our main antagonist, the Changeling Valgard, by glamouring herself into a beautiful woman. It is her desire for vengeance that sets the plot into motion. 

Like Three Hearts, the Witch, and she never is given a proper name, is a force of evil and chaos. Also like Three Hearts, the story centers around the battle between Pagans and Christianity, which Anderson casts here as Evil/Chaos vs Good/Law, respectively.

The elves and trolls of The Broken Sword are more similar to each other; both are forces of Chaos, for example, and an elf/troll child is a Changeling. Their magic is also described as akin to witchcraft ("witchsight" allows humans to see the world of faerie) and to the witchcraft the old hag employs. Many elves and trolls have "Warlocks" in their ranks.

Here, also, the big Pagans vs. Christians war takes a back seat to two warring factions of Pagans, the Elves/Faerie and the Trolls/Giants. The interaction our protagonist Valgard has with the displaced Faun is very telling. This area of England/British Isles is one of the last holdouts of the Pagan ways. 

The mixing of the various mythologies, Norse, Irish, Welsh, British, and Greek, is very D&D. 

That Last Half

I joked above, 2.5 books in Appendix N. The ".5" is "The High Crusade" which is more appropriately a Science Fiction or Science Fantasy novel. I didn't include it here because, simply, I have not read it. 

A Note About Trolls

Three Hearts and Three Lions is notable for giving us the "D&D Troll," but the ones in The Broken Sword are much more interesting. Yes, they are ugly and brutish, but they are also smarter, and while they have enough similarities to elves to produce offspring (with the help of magic), they are explicitly related to the Jotun of Norse myth. 

Closing Thoughts

Anderson gives us some compelling stories. While not explicitly set in the same world, they are also not not the same world. His epic war of Good vs. Evil, Law vs. Chaos, is something that rings loudly even today in all editions of D&D. His wars of Christians vs. Pagans ring loudly to me.

His witches are less characters and more caricatures at times, but this fits into the world view these books have: the witches are just pawns and tools. Even when they have agency, their fate is already predetermined.

The entire time I was reading The Broken Sword, I could not help but wonder why witches didn't play a more prominent role in the game. Of course, the reason is simple. I was reading this looking for witches and not the larger themes. Gary, I assume, read these and saw the cosmic battle of Law vs. Chaos.  

None of the witches in these two tales would make for good Player Characters. They would, however, make for great NPCs using the Dragon Magazine witch class. 

In the AD&D Player's Handbook, it is mentioned that the Druid class is the same as the pre-Christian (not Gary's words) druid that has survived to Medieval times. If this is the case then certainly other "pagans" have survived. The witches of Poul Anderson certainly could be among those numbers.  

 from the Rockrump Morning Mail of Piefestober 2nd.  an article by Nedulum Nostrail.  

In Oppressorbad street fighting continues in Styrofoamybad between the combative religious extremists commonly called Glummies, and the national forces of Chairman Grimjaw.  Glummies armed with light machineguns and rifles have forced thier way from the outskirts towards the Motherland Steam Rail Station, and the Factories along the Clearmuck Waterfront.  Captain Colonel Grittoplast of the 76th National Legion has erected barricades on the routes leading to the National Plaza, and Chairman Grimjaw himself has been seen assisting the troops moving up field artillery.  On Fryday Evening Grittoplast's men opened fire upon a large body of Glummies, and halted the advance, while bugles near the waterfront indicated that the radical witches had  subverted railway operations, probably to bring artillery of their own up the line.  The civil war between the Oppressorbad National Government and the Guntish old Religionists continues to be cruel and unforgiving.  National forces are reported to have massacred injured fighters, while the Glummies have routinely burned mayors, librarians, doctors and teachers in the towns and villages they have gained control over.  It remains to be seen which faction will come out on top, but undoubtedly the common citizen of Oppressorbad will lose either way.

 It's October-eve, and that means big things here at The Other Side. I'm starting my Horror Movie Marathon here in a bit. And my theme this year is ... no theme at all! That's right, I am just going to watch horror movies as I find them, as they come to me, or however they get here. I plan to watch all the movies in The Conjuring universe and the movies in the Insidious series, too. 

Really looking forward to this month.

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

—oOo—
What is the Nature of the Quest?An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs is a supplement for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, eighteen page, 1.23 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy.
Where is the Quest Set?An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs is a supplement for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It is a collection of NPCs complete with between three and six adventure hooks that the Game Master can develop into full blown encounters and longer term content for for her campaign.
Who should go on this Quest?
Any type of Player-knight can go on this quest.
What does the Quest require?
An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.
Where will the Quest take the Knights?
An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs presents fourteen NPCs for Pendragon, Sixth Edition, each of whom can be used in a variety of ways and developed from a single encounter into a longer storyline. Each is simply presented on a single page with their background, anywhere between three and six story hooks, and a stat block. Some are name, others are presented as generic figures that the Game Master can easily adapt to her campaign. For example, ‘The Vengeful Squire’ is unnamed and can be former or current squire who could be spreading rumours about the Player-knight, accuses him of crimes—whether true or not, sowing discontent amongst his fellow squires, or even attempting to seduce the Player-knight’s spouse! Whereas ‘Sir Malcolm de Deux Visages’ is a knight well known and popular because he supports good causes, the church, and sponsors the knighthood of worthy squires. In private though, he is an entirely different character, cruel, greedy, and ambitious. He might persuade the Player-knights to do his bidding based on his reputation, plot to discredit a Player-knight to take possession of his land, and so on. As the entry notes, Sir Malcom’s reputation makes him a good recurring villain.
Many of the entries are magical in nature. For example, ‘Glutoniére, the Knight Giant’ details a French giant who after facing and defeating so many knights sent to kill him has developed a fascination with chivalry and comes to England to investigate and attempt to become a knight! The hooks suggest that he might develop an ardour for a young lady—much to the family’s dismay, actually ask to serve a Play-knight as his lord or squire, and more. The gender-flexible ‘The Knight of the White Hare’ might taunt and trick the Player-knights and ‘Pegleg, the Wooden Horse’ really is a wooden horse, but one who will serve the worthiest of the Player-knights until he returns to the fairy land of Gwneuthurwr Ceffylau!
Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?An Arthurian Gaggle of NPCs is both a useful and an enjoyable supplement, providing the Game Master with a range of interesting NPCs that will add colour and flavour to her campaign. Many of their accompanying hooks are simple enough that the Game Master can easily prepare a quick encounter, whether to foreshadow later events or simply run something in the here and now when there are fewer players available or between longer scenarios.

 I was looking for an idea to post today and saw that it was Michaelmas. Now I am not Catholic (I am not even a Christian, or a believer) but I thought this was a good excuse to round out my hierarchies of angels both for my Occult D&D project and for my Basic Bestiary.

A Word About My Basic Bestiary

This one is taking a bit. I am climbing the dual mountains of editing close to 400 monsters AND finding good art for them. I am funding the art myself, as I don't want to rely on crowdfunding for this. 

Angels

I have talked about the various angels and related creatures in my games before. 

• Monstrous Mondays: Angels
• Monstrous Mondays: The Agathós (and other Angels)
• Monstrous Mondays: Starchild (Occult D&D)

What I want to do is create groupings of various good-aligned outsiders (Celestials) and assign them hierarchies similar to those found in the lower planes. Angels, then, are the Lawful Good-aligned Celestials. 

The trick has been finding the right way to group them all, figure out the hierarchies as the Medieval scholars would have classified them, AND (and maybe the most important) find something that works well for the games I play.

The Archangels

The generals of Heaven's armies are the seven Archangels. While some scholars equate an archangel to a particular layer of the Seven Heavens, this is not really the case.  Of these seven, St. Michael is considered to be their leader and the most powerful. 

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
General of the Heavenly Hosts

FREQUENCY: Unique
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: –6
MOVE: 24”/36” (flying)
HIT DICE: 22 (231 hp)
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Special (holy relics only)
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 (flaming Holy Avenger sword +6)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d12 + 12 (STR and magic bonuses) + 1d8 fire per hit +6d6 damage to the "unholy."
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Holy Word at will; spell-like abilities as a 22nd-level cleric; Voice of Authority (as Command on all evil within 60’, no save vs. 6 HD or less); Haste 3/day; may summon 2–20 angels once per day.
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 or better weapon to hit; immune to fire, lightning, charm, petrification, poison, death magic; regenerates 3 hp/round; 90% magic resistance.
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 90%
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius (25)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Good
SIZE: Huge (9’–10’ tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: 350
— Attack/Defense Modes: All/All

“I have seen demons in their true forms, nightmare creatures born in dreams of madmen, and even sat in the galleries of a diabolic auction to bid back a mortal soul from the clutches of a Duke of Hell. I have faced things that should have unmade me, yet I walked away with laughter still on my lips.

But when Michael appeared, when the sky split as if dawn had come at midnight, my laughter died. I had thought devils horrific, but they are at least comprehensible: greedy, ambitious, vile. The Archangel is none of these things, and that is what made him terrifying. His presence was like a storm that judged the worth of every breath I had ever drawn. His eyes pierced every spell, every secret and lie I had cloaked myself in, and for a moment, I was naked in truth before the heavens. And he saw all. 

I confess, the most dreadful creature I have ever faced was not a demon or a devil or some abomination from beyond the veils of reality, but the Archangel himself. Not because he is cruel, but because he is absolute and just.”

- From the Journal of Larina Nix

Michael is one of the seven archangels and the greatest warrior among them. He appears as a towering, armored figure of radiant fire, bearing a great Holy Avenger that burns with divine light. His voice alone can turn entire legions of fiends.

When encountered, Michael is always on a mission of cosmic import, never idly wandering the planes. He may be summoned only by direct decree of the highest divine power. In battle, Michael is the equal and opposite of the greatest demon princes and arch-devils, such as Demogorgon or Asmodeus.

Michael is the war-leader of Heaven, the one who cast down Lucifer in the First Rebellion, and who wields the flaming sword at the threshold of Paradise. He is invoked in exorcisms, called upon as protector of the dying, and hailed as the angel of judgment. In many myths, Michael weighs the souls of the dead upon golden scales, determining whether they ascend or fall.

Unlike other celestials who guide, heal, or inspire, Michael exists to fight. His presence is a living reminder that the heavens themselves are not pacifistic, but hold a sword against the darkness. He embodies both the mercy of the divine and the implacable wrath of cosmic law.

The sword borne by Michael is no ordinary weapon, but a Holy Avenger of such potency that it channels his immense strength and divine fire together. Each strike inflicts 1d12 damage, to which both his +6 Strength bonus and +6 enchantment bonus are added, followed by an additional 1d8 points of searing flame. Against demons, devils, undead, and those faerie creatures which are inimical to Law and Good, the sword delivers an additional 6d6 points of radiant destruction. Few beings can withstand even a single blow.

Michael’s arsenal of powers extends beyond his martial prowess. He may utter a Holy Word at will, casting down evil beings as if by the decree of heaven itself. His Voice of Authority compels obedience in all creatures of non-good alignment within 60 feet, with no saving throw allowed for those of 6 hit dice or less. In battle, he moves with preternatural swiftness, able to Haste himself and his allies thrice per day, and once per day, he may summon an entire host of angels (2–20, of any order) to his side.

In defense, Michael is nearly unassailable. Only enchanted weapons of +2 or better may harm him. He is wholly immune to fire, lightning, charm, petrification, poison, and all death-dealing magics. His body regenerates 3 hit points per round even if dismembered or disintegrated, so long as a spark of his divine essence remains. In addition, he possesses a 90% magic resistance, rendering most spells against him useless.

To mortals, the sight of Michael is awe beyond bearing. His radiance is said to blind the unworthy, and even those of good heart find their voices stolen in his presence. Against him, demon princes falter, and arch-devils bow in bitter hatred.

Michael as a Patron of Celestial Warlocks

Unlike the dark bargains made with demons and devils, pacts with Archangel Michael are covenants rather than contracts. The warlock does not “steal” or “bind” power from him; instead, Michael bestows divine might upon the worthy as part of their service to the Cause of Law and Good. Such warlocks are sometimes called Knights of the Flame or Champions of the Dawn.

The requirements and duties of the Warlock of St. Michael are so strict that few can adhere to them. 

Requirements

Alignment: Lawful Good. Any deviation severs the pact.

Vows: The warlock must swear oaths of courage, protection of the innocent, and resistance to evil in all its forms. They may never knowingly ally with demons, devils, or the unseelie fae.

Service: At least once per year, the warlock must undertake a holy quest of Michael’s choosing (via vision, angelic messenger, or dream).

Gifts of Michael

Warlocks in covenant with Michael receive invocations suited to battle and the banishment of evil:

(Minimum level in parentheses.)

Radiant Smite (1st): Once per day per level, the warlock’s weapon shines with holy fire, dealing +1d6 radiant damage to undead, demons, devils, or evil faerie creatures.

Shield of the Host (3rd): The warlock may call upon angelic warding, granting them protection from evil 10’ radius for 1 turn once per day.

Voice of Command (5th): Once per day, the warlock may issue a single-word command (as the spell Command), affecting all evil creatures of 6 HD or less within 30’.

Flame of Michael (7th): The warlock may invoke Michael’s light, striking a foe with 3d6 holy fire (save vs. spells for half). Usable once per week.

Summon the Dawn (9th+): Once per month, the warlock may summon a single Agathós (Aurora, Astral, or Lunar) to aid them for 1 turn per caster level.

Drawbacks

Michael is implacable in judgment. Warlocks who deviate from his vows may find their powers withdrawn instantly. Should they betray their covenant or consort with the unholy, Michael himself may appear, not as a teacher, but as an executioner.

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. 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: Plus UltraPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michał Pietrzak

Setting: Hispaniola, 1665Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twelve page, 499.59 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Zombies of the CaribbeanPlot Hook: “This town (Town)Is coming like a ghost town”– ‘Ghost Town’, The SpecialsPlot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, five NPCs, and some zombiesProduction Values: Plain
Pros# Unwinnable war against a warlock can turn into a time chase
# Decent pre-generated Investigators# Kinemortophobia# Necrophobia# Chronophobia
Cons# Unwinnable war against a warlock can turn into a time chase

Conclusion# An experience in horror before the Investigators have the chance to put the knife in# Can be the end of the world if the Investigators do not get the hint