I mentioned earlier in this year that my oldest son's group is running through ALL editions of D&D to celebrate 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons. They made characters, and they are taking them through each edition. They have done OD&D, Basic and they are now ready for 1st Edition Advanced.  The characters are now 2nd to 4th level, but there are only 5 of them. And they want me to run an AD&D game for them.

Last week I finally figured out what I am going to run.  They will go through the Orange version of module B3 Palace of the Silver Princess.

I will explain its infamy to them and run it like it was 1981 for them. So, a mix of B/X and AD&D. Just like we did it.  I'll talk more about the adventure, but for now, I want to focus on a small side matter with the adventure(s). 

That is, who exactly are the thieves, Duchess and Candella?

In Search of...Duchess and Candella

In both versions of the adventure, you encounter two thieves pretending to be Lady Maidservants. Well... not convincingly, since they know very little about what a maidservant does or where anything in the castle is.  But they are earnest and "very attractive" and ask to join the party. 

Now, I always thought that "Duchess" was the dark-haired one and "Candella" the light-haired one. Largely because I thought the dark-haired one looked like a Duchess and Candella is said to have a string of pearls on her. The orange version gives us their ages as 18 for Duchess and 20 for Candella. 

I always liked that art. You are catching two thieves almost red-handed, and the look of surprise on Candella's face and her hair flying about was just great. 

They became minor recurring NPCs in my games. Showing up, stealing something here and there, and then disappearing again. If the PCs were ever tossed into jail, then sure enough, Duchess and Candella were already there.

I had not thought about them much, and they certainly don't get the ink that the likes of Aleena or Morgan Ironwolf get, but they were/are fun NPCs, and I wanted to know more about them.  Turns out I am not the only one.

What does the Web Say?

There are a few links worth visiting and following up on. First is Greyhawk Musings: On Duchess and Candella.  This is a great place to start due to its thoroughness. In fact, this blog is a treasure trove of information on them, and I respect David Leonard for that.  He speculates that the dark-haired woman thief in G3, The Hall of the Fire Giant King, is Duchess now 11th level. This begs the question, what happened to Candella? Side note: I used that very same thief as a recurring character when I ran G3, but for me, it was Evelyn the Princess Escalla. But I appreciate what he is doing here.  Like me, he equates Duchess with the dark-haired woman and Candella with the light-haired one. 

We learn from no less of a luminary himself, Frank Mentzer, that these two figures were not just Jean Well's characters; they were her favorite duo of characters. She also did the art of them in Polyhedron #4.  

Sadly, we can't ask Wells herself, as she passed away in 2012.

Greyhawk lore master Jason Zavoda made some similar observations and connections for Greyhawk.

I mentioned I was not the only one to find these two fun. They have appeared in more recent products as well. Or at least homages to them.

Candella, sans Duchess, appears on the cover of Blueholme.

She is the one getting the treasure. Wearing the same outfit as Candella at least.

In a minor cameo, but also a cover, no less, they are part of the new D&D Companion Project. I hope to have more on that soon. 

And as I mentioned above, the 11th-level thief from G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King might also be Duchess, without Candella.

Duchess and Candella in Other Adventures

B12 Queen's Harvest is another Basic-level adventure. This time though the "B" is from the BECMI flavor of Basic and not the BX one.

Very early on in this Carl Sargent-penned adventure from 1989, we are introduced to two thieves, Erren and Sarrah, on pages 6-7.  Their ages and appearances line up with Candella and Duchess, even if their stats don't quite match, though. It is not a stretch of the imagination to assume that Candella and Duchess also have other aliases. They are presented in an NPC Mini-Capsule, so they are important to the adventure, though no other details are given.

The fan module by Agathokles, The Dymrak Dread, makes this connection solid with Sarrah, now known as "the Duchess," and part of the Thieves Guild, and her friend Erren Candella. Here they are 5th and 6th level respectively.  This adventure also has Orcus and witches in it, so it is worth my coming back to.

Another adventure to feature them, and this time by name, is the Palace of the Golden Princess, an homage to the original (Orange) Palace of the Silver Princess and Jean Wells herself. There are 5e and OSE versions of the adventure, and they are tied to a comic series taking place in a land inspired by the map in the Original B3 Palace of the Silver Princess. There are even some allusions (in an oblique way) to the Return to the Keep on the Borderlands.

They also briefly appear in Mr. Welch's Mystara Player's Guide for 5e, notably under Mystara's Most Wanted.

Thought their biggest feature run has been in the various Folio Black Label adventures. Most notably in Folio: Black Label #10 and The Complete Folio Black Label. 

In The Complete Folio Black Label (covering Black Label 1-6 with extras), nearly every piece of art features our daring duo in all sorts of predicaments throughout all the adventures.  They are also rendered by various artists like Brian Brinlee, Peter Bradley, and Simon Adams, among others. Folio: Black Label #4  and Folio: Black Label #5 even feature them on the cover. Honestly, I bought a bunch of these just to see how much Candella and Duchess art there was in them.

Another artist whose work has been featured in the Folio: Black Label books is Domenico Neziti.  He has done so many pieces of Duchess and Candella that I am giving him his own space below.

Here are a few of his pieces from his Instagram page.

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A post shared by Domenico Neziti (@domenico_neziti)

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A post shared by Domenico Neziti (@domenico_neziti)

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A post shared by Domenico Neziti (@domenico_neziti)

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A post shared by Domenico Neziti (@domenico_neziti)

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A post shared by Domenico Neziti (@domenico_neziti)

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A post shared by Domenico Neziti (@domenico_neziti)

And another I could not find on his Instagram.

Domenico Neziti "Demon Bait"

He clearly has these two down, with some more on his DeviantArt page.

With new books out like Folio: Black Label series it is easy to see how these two have had all sorts of adventures. I can see something akin to distaff versions of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, though maybe less magic. Likely a bit closer to The Rat Queens. When I used them in games I always made Candella closer to the Thief-Acrobat concept and Duchess maybe a little closer to a Thief-Assassin. But I don't get "evil" off of either of them, really. Plus, Duchess doesn't have the strength score to be an assassin. Maybe more fighter-thief.

Duchess and Candella in my Games

Duchess and Candella, Sheets from Dark Wizard Games

I have used them in the past, as I mentioned, but never to the extent I have some other characters and certainly not to the level some other gamers have.

Given all the art out there, they have certainly had a lot of adventures, and some that look outright crazy. But these two seem like fun characters to have "madcap adventures."  I mean, is Morgan Ironwolf going to pretend to be half-naked bait for a demon? No, I don't see it.  I'd love to use these two in my Forgotten Realms adventures but honestly they are so Mystara/Oerth feeling for me I can't see moving them over any easier than I could move the B-modules over.

I have at least figured out how they met. This came up in an adventure before. They were both, independently trying to steal this ruby, from the local guild-mistress of thieves. They didn't know the other was also trying, nor did either know this was the guild mistress. They failed, and the guild mistress, Amara, impressed by their attempt or something else, took them in and made them work together. The two became good friends, and their careers began.  In my mind, Candella had been a tavern wench who had become tired of watching adventurers coming in with ill-gotten gains when she could have all that gold. Duchess' background is a bit darker. She was a servant girl working for a Baron and Baroness. The Baroness had accused her of stealing a necklace, but she had not. The Baron, who was broke, had sold it to cover some of his debts and suggested she could work off her guilt in his bed chamber. When she refused, he got violent, and she ran to escape him, and he fell down the stairs to his death. Knowing she would be blamed and likely executed, she ran. She thinks she is still wanted for the Baron's murder. She isn't; no one ever looked for her. In fact, the Baron's debt was so great that the local authorities had plenty of other suspects. The Baroness died soon after in the home of a relative.

I know, according to the art above, that Candella gains some Boots of Flying, and Duchess gets a huge magic sword. 

Since my oldest is running his group through all of the editions of D&D I'll also do versions of them for every edition. Say 2nd level for D&D Basic/Expert, 4th level for AD&D 1st, 8th level for AD&D 2nd Editon, 12th level for D&D 3.x, 16th level for D&D 4e Essentials (better Rogues), and 20th for D&D 5th Edition.  That should be fun, really.  Course I'll need some good prestige classes when I get to 3.x. I think I'll post them when I get around to stating them all up. 

While I will keep them at the same level, at any given time, Candella is about 600 XP ahead of Duchess. 

Candella and Duchess for B/X. Art by Brian Brinlee and Domenico Neziti, 
Vitruvian Character Sheets Blog of Exalted Deeds

While reading up on them, I saw one person online refer to them as a couple of "party girls." I mean, sure, that fits. The vibe I have always had with them was they were both adventuresses out for a bit of fun and hopefully score some treasure. Ok, a lot of treasure. Though at least one academic dissertation places them in the role of temptresses. I suppose that would work too, though not how I would play them. 

Have you used these two in your games? How did it work for you? What happened with them?

Links

• Module B3, Palace of the Silver Princess
• Module B12, Queen's Harvest
• Folio: Black Label #4
• Folio: Black Label #5
• The Folio: The Complete Black Label
• Palace of the Golden Princess: Old School Essentials and 5e.
• The Dymrak Dread
• Zenopus Archives, Jean Wells, author and illustrator
• Greyhawk Musings, an essential starting place for this topic
• On the Ratik That Was, Wasn’t, Then Was Again
• On Duchess and Candella
• Dragonsfoot, Jean Wells illustration of Duchess and Candella?
• ENWorld, Palace of the Silver Princess - your experiences?
• The Piazza
• Did Elmore's Anielle appear on the cover of this Folio adventure?
• New illustration of Duchess and Candella
• Vaults of Pandius on the Original B3
• Mystara's own Mr. Welch
• 5e Mystara Player's Guide
• and the infamous, Things Mr. Welch can no longer do in a RPG
• Artist Domenico Neziti
• Instagram, Facebook, DeviantArt
• Dungeon Fantastic, Review: B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (Green cover)
• Duchess and Candella as someone's NPCs on Obsidian Portal.
• My post marking Jean Wells passing.

 On Saturday, February 10th we ushered in the Chinese Year of the Dragon.  Since this is 2024, it is the Year of the Wood Dragon.

Reflecting on my last This Old Dragon, I have always tried to balance how powerful dragons need to be in an old-school game.   I want to keep dragons powerful but not so powerful that they make 1st edition Tiamat and Bahamut look weak. 

It is a balancing act. I also want to consider how much more powerful they get as they age. 

Dragon, Wood
Huge Dragon

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Neutral [Chaotic Neutral]
Movement: 120' (40') [12"]
  Fly: 180' (60') [18"]
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 7d8+28** (66 hp) (6HD to 8HD)
  Huge: 7d12+28** (74 hp)
THAC0: 8 (+11)
Attacks: 2 claws, 1 bite, + special
Damage: 1d6+3x2, 2d8+3
Special: Breath weapons (Choking Cloud), camouflage, dragon fear, low-light vision (120’), magic use, shape change
Save: Monster 7
Morale: 10 (10)
Treasure Hoard Class: Special

Habitat: Temperate Forests
Probability Asleep: 25% 
Probability of Speech: 90%
Breath Weapon: Choking Cloud
Spells: First: 3, Second: 3, Third: 1

Wood dragons appear similar to green dragons in general form but lack wings. They can still fly due to their innate magic. Their coloration is usually some sort of brown that looks like polished wood, accented with bits of green and yellow. This gives them a natural camouflage ability (75% hide outdoors) in their preferred environment, temperate forests.

These dragons can attack with a claw-and-claw-and-bite routine in dragon form. In human form, they can wield a weapon. In either form, they can use magic as a magic-user of the 6th level. 

Their breath weapon is a cloud of choking smoke. It requires a save vs. breath weapon or take damage equal to the dragon's current hit points. Save results in half-damage. The area of effect is 50 ft by 50 ft in front of the dragon, which has reduced vision to all but the dragon. Attacks are at -2 for the next round following the breath weapon attack.

Wood dragons are lively, dynamic creatures. They can be quite friendly, but their moods switch easily and quickly. Many pursue some artistic or academic endeavor that takes all of their time and focus. It is in this pursuit they are most likely to engage with others.  Like all dragons, they hoard their treasures, which are always related to their interests. So, instead of gold and jewels, it will be art, paintings, or books. 

Wood Dragon encounters both Green and Orange dragons in their home environments and finds both sorts unpleasant and distasteful.

Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters is an anthology of monsters and figures from myth, fantasy, and history, all presented for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Published by EN Publishing, it collects the ninety or so entries in the Mythological Figures column written by Mike Myler, which ran from March 2018 to April 2022. Within its pages, the reader will find gods from a variety of pantheons, creatures from numerous folklore traditions, characters from Shakespeare, heroes and villains from history, and figures from fiction and popular culture. Together, they and the format of the book draw on two older sources in roleplaying. One is the Deities & Demigods supplement to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, which presented a panoply of pantheons, including the gods and heroes of each. So, it is no surprise that James M. Ward, co-author of Deities & Demigods, provides the foreword to Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters. The other is Dragon magazine, which during its early years would publish adaptations of heroes and villains from myth, legend, and popular culture. Just Deities & Demigods and the articles in the pages of Dragon magazine, the entries in Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters are a mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar, from a range of cultures around the world.
Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters divides its entries in to two types—at least mechanically. All of the heroes and villains are designed as if they were Player Characters in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, including characters with multiple Levels in different Classes. For example, the Pirate Queen, Ching Shih, is a Fifth Level Bard, Seventh Level Rogue, and an Eighth Level Fighter, whilst Hercules is an Eighth Level Barbarian and an Eleventh level Fighter. Where possible, the builds for entries favour Feats that grants the characters greater abilities than a flat increase to an ability score would. For example, Robin Hood has the Superb Aim Feat rather than an increase to his Dexterity which would take it above eighteen. Many of the entries use the Warlord archetype, such as George Washington or the Pirate Queen, Ching Shih. This provides a range of Warlord Tactics and Tactical Manoeuvres with which to build the character. The detail of these and the Warlord archetype are given at the front of the book. The book also makes use of Classes from The Masterclass Codex: Sixteen New Character Classes For Your Fifth Edition Campaign. They include the Gunfighter for Billy the Kid, Fatebender for Harry Houdini, Tinkerer for Nikola Tesla, Savant for Sherlock Holmes, and Geomancer for Zhuang Zhou, but the Dungeon Master does not need access to The Masterclass Codex: Sixteen New Character Classes For Your Fifth Edition Campaign to use these characters in Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters.

The other type of entry in Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters are its monsters. They are designed as monsters and thus not designed to be playable, and all have their own fantastical abilities. For example, Baba Yaga has Agonising Cackle which racks that hear it with pain, Dracula has Misty Escape enabling him to transform and escape as a cloud of mist, and Dorian Gray has Regeneration, which grants him a massive bonus of thirty Hit Points at the start of his turn! In Dorian Gray’s case, the latter ability is granted by his Life-Catching Portrait that he famously keeps hidden in his attic. Many of the entries have artefacts and magical weapons and devices, and these too, are included in the write-ups, such as Excalibur for Arthur Pendragon, Baba Yaga’s Broom and Baba Yaga’s Chicken Hut for Baba Yaga, the Somnambulatory Brew and Transforming Wand for Circe, the Wings of Icarus for Daedalus, and so on. Some characters detailed in the book are known for being accompanied by their companions, so these too, are also included. Thus, Sancho Panza is included in the entry for Don Quixote and Doctor John Watson alongside Sherlock Holmes.

Most entries in Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters are given two pages, but some like Genghis Khan or Thor Odinson warrant four pages. Each includes a decent and description alongside the full stats and mechanical details. There are design notes included as necessary and a Background option.

So what of the individual entries in Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters? Well, the most modern historical figure is Harry Houdini, famous escapologist. The most modern monster—and most modern entry in the supplement—is the Mothman, the infamous furry flying cryptid found in West Virginia. Most the entries are of much older figures. Many are drawn from particular pantheons and mythologies. For example, Achilles, Antaeus, Cerberus, Circe, Daedalus, Hercules, Odysseus, and Perseus are all drawn from Greek Myth, whilst Fafnir and Fenrir, Loki, and Thor Odinson come from Greek Myth. Other come from specific stories, such as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza from Miguel de Cervantes’ novel of the same name or Caliban and Prospero from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Others have their own stories which they are drawn from, but together form another story. For example, Allan Quatermain, Dorian Gray, Dracula, The Invisible Man, Jekyll & Hyde, and Nemo all come from works by different authors, but together they lend themselves to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. There is also a lot that will be unfamiliar to readers. They include the aforementioned Pirate Queen, Ching Shih; Droṇa, the Indian warrior and guru who wielded Asi, the sword of Lord Vishnu; Hayreddin Barbarossa, the greatest naval commander of the Ottoman Empire; seventeenth century opera singer and duellist, Julie D’Aubigny; the hero Māui from the Pacific Islands; and Musō Gonnosuke, rival to Miyamoto Musashi, also detailed in the book. Such entries cast light on the unfamiliar and the unknown, entreating the reader to want to find out more.

There are some extras included too, such as the Nautilus for Nemo, the table of Master Alchemist’s Treasures for Jekyll & Hyde and the table of Viking Treasure Hoard for Harald Hardrada, the last Viking! There are also some odd shifts in tone between entries. Thus, the book switches from describing the Easter Bunny to detailing Elizabeth Báthory and from Santa Claus to Sherlock Holmes. This is due to the entries being originally published as columns, so the shift in tone would not have so readily apparent.

So how to use the content of Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters? The monsters are there, of course, the Player Characters to fight and confront, and in turn, for them to plot against the Player Characters. The characters are a mix of archetypes and classic roles, which the players can aspire to for their own characters. The characters can also be threats on their own, for example, the book suggesting an encounter with a time-travelling Billy the Kid, but as archetypes, they can be used as replacement Player Characters or NPCs. All the Dungeon Master need do is change the name. For example, need a peasant thief? Then Aladdin is a good choice. Or a folk hero who is good with a bow? Robin Hood is good for that.

Physically, Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters is solidly presented and organised. The artwork varies in quality, most of it decent, but not necessarily great. Some entries feel brief, but in most cases, they serve as an introduction to the figure or monster detailed. Rounding out the book is a good index of its entries including their origins, and of their treasures too.

So what is missing from the pages of Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters? What might have been useful is a bibliography, but research is not difficult, so not as much a problem as it could have been. In terms of entries, there are a lot from Greek myth, especially in comparison to Norse myth, so more of the latter would have been welcome. If there is one figure missing from book, it is that of Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, Professor James Moriarty.

Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters is a solid sourcebook of the familiar and the unfamiliar, of heroes and villains, of monsters and magical beings. It picks up and continues a grand tradition of presenting figures out of history, myth, and popular culture in way that they can be brought to the table to be fought, interacted with, learned from, emulated, and more, whilst also leaving the reader wanting to find out more about them.

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

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she 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?
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules are designed to introduce the rules and setting for the fifth edition of the medieval-set roleplaying originally published in 1977 by Fantasy Games Unlimited. Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition is now published by Britannia Game Designs Ltd. and draws deeply upon Medieval history, but offers options in terms of elements of fantasy and magic and miracles that the Game Master can choose from to create her setting and game style.

It is designed to be played by between four and six players, but includes seven pre-generated Player Characters. Plus, of course, the Game Master.

It is a fifty page, full colour book.

The quick-start is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is excellent. The rules are a slightly stripped down version from the core rulebook, but do include examples of the rules which speed the learning of the game. The maps are nicely done.

How long will it take to play?
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules and its adventure, ‘Where Heroes Fear to Tread’, can be played through in one or two sessions.

What else do you need to play?
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules requires a pair of percentile dice and a single ten-sided die per player. The extra ten-sided die should be different in colour to the percentile dice.

Who do you play?
The seven Player Characters in the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules consist of Master William Malister, a Forester; the Knight, Sir Edmund Silverheart; Magus Barnabus Hook, Mage; Rosamund Godspell, a Priest; the Warriors, Ursilda Dortmund and Heartha Brunswick; and the Herald, Lord Otto Gavilon. All seven Player Characters are Third Level and have their own character sheet. In addition, Magus Barnabus Hook has his own grimoire and Rosamund Godspell her own prayerbook.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has nine stats—Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intellect, Wisdom, Discipline, Bardic Voice, Appearance, and Spirit. Agility, Ferocity, and Charisma are derived attributes. Each Player Character has a similar set of base skills, skills relevant to his Vocation, and Combat skills. Attributes can range between two and twenty-five, whilst skills are represented as percentage values. A Player Character has a number of Action Points which are primarily expended on actions taken and attacks made in combat, whilst Fatigue Points are lost in combat prior to Body Points. Fatigue Points are also used to power spells.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules, and thus Chivalry and Sorcery, Fifth Edition, uses the ‘Skillskape’ system. This uses percentile dice as well as an extra ten-sided die. This extra die is the Crit Die. Both the percentile dice and the Crit Die are rolled at the same time. The Total Success Chance (TSC%) of a skill or action is a combination of the Basic Chance of Success (BCS%), the Player Character’s Personal Skill Factor (PSF%) in the skill, and any modifiers. It is possible to have a Total Success Chance above Maximum Chance of Success (Max%) or a Total Success Chance below the Minimum Chance of Success (Min%). The higher it is above the Maximum Chance of Success, the greater the bonus to the Crit Die, whereas the lower it is below the Minimum Chance of Success, the greater the penalty to the Crit Die.

The roll on the percentile dice determines whether the skill or attribute roll is a success or a failure. The Crit Die determines the magnitude of the success or failure. A roll of ten on the Crit Die is always a Critical result, whether a success or failure. Skills in Chivalry and Sorcery, Fifth Edition have their own specific Critical Outcomes table, but the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules uses the one table, ‘Critical Outcomes - General’.

How does combat work?
Combat in the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules uses an Action Point economy to handle movement, attacks, defensive stances, spellcasting, and other actions. Damage suffered is deducted from a combatant’s Fatigue Points, but if a Critical success is rolled on the Crit Die, an extra die’s worth of damage is rolled and that is deducted from the defendant’s Body Points. Armour and shields reduce damage, but both can be rendered useless and shields even shattered if too much damage is suffered.

How does Magic work?
In the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules, spells are fully learnt and are cast automatically. Once cast, a spell must be aimed at the target recipient, opponent, or area that the caster wants the spell to affect. A Resistance Roll by the target, if allowed, can ameliorate or even negate the effects of a spell. A spell has a cost in Fatigue Points for it to be cast. If the targeting of a spell is unsuccessful, it is dispelled without having any effect. A Critical Failure doubles the Fatigue Point cost, a Critical Success halves it.

The pre-generated Player Character, Magus Barnabus Hook, is a Hex Mage and knows a number of cantrips, sorcery spells, and hexes. Sleep and Hold Person are both cantrips; Fear and Shadowbolt are sorcery spells; and Blurred Image and Lesser Illusion are hexes. Each spell is described in detail in a sperate grimoire for Magus Barnabus Hook.

How do Miracles work?
A miracle is performed via an Act of Faith, such as a , in a fashion similar to casting spells. Some prayers or rituals automatically work, but others require a die roll. This is made against the priest’s faith or that of the person being targeted. An Act of Faith costs the priest both Fatigue Points and Spirit. A successful Act of Faith costs no Spirit, but a Critical Failure means it does and the Priest’s Faith is shaken. A Critical Success means that the Priest actually gains Spirit!

The pre-generated Player Character, Rosamund Godspell, is a Priest. She has access to prayers such as Blessing, Prayer for Luck, and Sanctification. The prayer, Restore the Faithful, can be performed to grant a believer restored Fatigue Points, whilst Cure the Wounded, does the same for Body Points. A believer can be a recipient of either spell only once per day. Each prayer is described in detail in a sperate prayer book for Rosamund Godspell.

What do you play?
In the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules, the scenario is ‘Where Heroes Fear to Tread’. This is set in Marakush, the default world for Chivalry & Sorcery. It takes place in the Kingdom of Urtind where a few days ago, a group of pilgrims was attacked and captured by a Goblin and Tylwyth Du (Dark Elf) warband and taken back to their Lord, Grink of the Rock, in the Darken Forest. The Player Characters are hired by the religious fighting order, the Order of the Blue Rose, to deliver a ransom for the pilgrims to Grink of the Rock, a dragon! The Player Characters need to cross some rough farming country and through an area known as the ‘Killing Ground’ having been the site of numerous border conflicts to get to the forest. Here they will have to deal with the dragon lord and goblins. The scenario is action-packed and can be played through in a single session or expanded with the included random encounters to last a second session.

Is there anything missing?
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules are complete and it even comes multiple examples of play to help the Game Master understand the rules.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules are not too difficult to prepare. The primary issue with the rules is the number of abbreviations that the Game Master and her players need to learn, which makes the rules look more complex than they are.
Is it worth it?
Yes. The Chivalry and Sorcery rules have a reputation for being complex. Not so in the Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules, which presents a streamlined version of them and supports them with plenty of examples of play and a decent scenario that can be played in a single session.Where can you get it?
The Chivalry and Sorcery, 5th Edition Quick Start Rules is available to download here.

Far up the River Whey there lives a monster. Well, not exactly a monster to be. It is not even as if he wants to be a monster. He is just old and lonely without his late wife and he has not long come back from being drowned. He has his grandchildren. After all, not for nothing were he and his wife known as Grandpa and Grandma Tolling. But they are young and he is old, and the young and the old do not understand each other. Especially when one of them has come back from the dead. So now Grandpa Tolling, not long since drowned, in the idle moments of his busy like—mostly as it was before—dreams of having companions like himself. Drowned. Connected to the waters of the river—somehow. And as the dead old man sleeps, the river rises and lowers, thrashes and surges, and the natural inhabitants of the river, the Naiads, are frightened. The river is their realm and they do not want to lose to some strange dead thing. The few remaining inhabitants of the nearest settlement, the town of Fatfish, have other worries. The river nearby was once full of fish just waiting to be hauled from the waters and fill the fishermen’s nets. Now the stocks of fish have long since gone and the fishing boats and their crews with them, leaving the once rich river port to fall into destitution, its inhabitants into despair and desperation. The few remaining inhabitants are divided between those who want to leave, those who want to stay, and those who simply no longer care. What might give them cause to leave are the dangers of the rising and falling waters of the fish-depleted river, were they to understand what those dangers mean. Were they to understand the now unnatural nature of the ‘Wet Grandpa’ on the Cursed Island, just across from the village, they might be more concerned…
Wet Grandpa is a scenario from Melsonian Arts Council, a publisher best known for Troika!, the science-fantasy role-playing game of exploring the multiverse. The scenario is ostensibly written for use with the Old School Renaissance, but in terms of stats it is relatively light. This means that Wet Grandpa can be run using all manner of Old School Renaissance retroclones, much in the manner of The Haunted Hamlet & other hexes, but with relatively little adjustment the scenario would work with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or even RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha or Old Gods of Appalachia. Wet Grandpa sets up a fantastic situation, one full of roleplaying potential, but the uneven presentation and tone works all too often to undermine what is an evocatively sodden and bedraggled situation built around the interaction and relationships between various NPCs. Fundamentally, the problem is twofold. First, the players’ introduction consists of a man selling a roughly printed treasure map to their Player Characters. The seller explains that the treasure site is near Fatfish, a community about two weeks’ travel up the River Whey. This is not only an underwhelming hook for the players, let alone their characters, it ignores the richness of the situation in and around Fatfish and the interactions between the NPCs, any part of which could have been used to hook the Player Characters. Instead, the given hook is bland, even boring.

Second, the Referee’s Introduction does not start with an introduction to the scenario, but with an explanation of the situation of Grandpa Tolling. At that point, the Game Master is wondering how the two are connected. In fact, there are three strands to the scenario—Grandpa Tolling, the town of Fatfish, and the Naiads—but it is not until the reader gets to the last strand that he can begin to work out what is going on. So, from the start, the Game Master is unclear as to what she is reading and how it all links together, which hampers both her understanding and her preparation time. To be fair, once the Game Master has read much further into the book, she will be able to grasp what is going on and make the connections ready for her and her players, but this does not negate what is a fundamental error upon the part of the author.

Fortunately, once Wet Grandpa gets into its individual sections, it begins to come alive—or not in the case of the undead Grandpa Tolling. The descriptions of his current life and that of the few remaining inhabitants of Fatfish are evocatively forlorn and forgotten. An elderly couple, the Caplins, sit in their cabin, waiting for their sons to return, but they never will; with the loss of fish stocks, former fishing boat owner, Karlin Wilamyer, has forbidden his family from leaving though they want to, whilst his brother who did get away, wants to rescue his niece and nephew; the families of Dana Strix and Haren Greene have all died or left, either that or the two lovers simply murdered them; and Jorf Quine is waiting for his aunt to die so he can leave, and he might hurry it along—just a little. The families, what there is of them, are mouldering into the ground. Here there are some taunt little tensions between the various NPCs which only need the presence of the Player Characters to be brought out into play. The Game Master will need to develop her description of Fatfish itself, mostly drawing upon the detailed timeline included, such as suggesting the number of houses, the insect swarm ridden gardens, and so on.

As much opposed to Grandpa Tolling as scared of what he might become, the four Naiads—one per season—are also similarly detailed. Each of the four Naiads has a distinct form and character, Winter being an emaciated cougar, Summer a giant glass-eyed crow, and so on. They are minor gods at this point, but depending upon the actions of the Player Characters may grow in stature and power to become gods. Although capricious, they can be interacted with as what they really want is Grandpa Tolling dealt with. As a reward, the Naiads will grant access to their shared treasury, or simply abandon it, leaving for the Player Characters to discover and plunder, if they ascend to godhead. The treasury is a short, little dungeon whose primary threat is a nasty trap.

Rounding out Wet Grandpa is a guide to what happens if nobody stops Grandpa Tolling, followed by stats and more descriptions of the inhabitants of Fatfish and an encounter table for the area around the village. This includes the River Whey and the Cursed Island upon which Grandpa Tolling and his family of orphans live. It could also be used for the long two-week journey up the River Whey to Fatfish.

Physically, Wet Grandpa is presented as a board book, with a non-glossy, plain matte cover and no spine so that the glue binding is visible. The feeling in the hand is rough and tactile like that of the much later Frontier Scum. The scenario is readable and well written—in places. Elsewhere, the content is poorly organised. The artwork is bright and colourful, if rough.

Wet Grandpa has all of the elements to present a tensely playable situation between a dying village, a rising, but unwanted unnatural power, and fearful natural powers. Yet time and again, its poor organisation and its poor presentation of information hamper its ease of use and preparation. Potentially, there is a good scenario to be played in Wet Grandpa, if the Game Master is prepared to put the effort in pulling it out and putting the various parts together in a more playable fashion.

 Some fun Kickstarters this week and quite the random selection. So let's get to it.

Wizard Van: The Roleplaying Zine Where Rock Never Dies

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/barrelridergames/wizard-van?ref=theotherside

James M. Spahn is one of the good guys. He has scores of titles and has worked some of the best games of the last 10 years. This 22-page zine is rather a modest release; it takes a short time to fund and has no stretch goals, but it looks absolutely fun.  Plus it is only $10 for both the print and pdf.

Looks fantastic.

Bellatryx #1

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geezercomics/bellatryx-1?ref=theotherside

This new indie comic is about a 300-year-old witch back to get revenge on the apprentice who betrayed her. This also looks fun and the witch makes me think of the daughter of Willow Rosenberg and Hermione Granger.  Not a bad mix really.

$5 for the PDF is also a good deal.

Morgana Le Fay #1

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/etherealcomics/morgana-le-fay-1?ref=theotherside

There are only a few hours left on this one, and it also looks like fun. Plus it is about Morgana Le Fay, so that is always a plus in my mind. 

Nightmare in Wonderland #1 - NSFW Queer Fairytale Romance

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comicuno/nightmareinwonderland1?ref=theotherside

Kat Calamia and Phil Falco are the creators who gave us "Beast and Snow," a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and Snow White as a werewolf and vampire. This is her next one and is part of the same universe. In fact this comic is the first of a shared universe, the EverAfterVerse.

If this one is half as fun as "Beast and Snow" then it will be great. 

Plus, like the Kickstarter for "Beast and Snow," you get an indie comics bundle that is absolutely huge. Tons of fun comics from various creators. 

And now for something completely different.

Sentai & Sensibility RPG

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/9thlevel/sentai-and-sensibility?ref=theotherside

This is best described as "Power Rangers in Regency England."  Well, I am a sucker for any Regency or Victorian RPG, and this one looks like a lot of fun.

Replace the crazy Power Ranger tech with Steampunk and the proper society of the Regency era you come close to this game. 

It looks silly and it looks like a ton of fun.

--

Enjoy the weekend!

Race down the highway in pursuit of a tank whose driver, dangerous mercenary, Own Shaw, has stolen a top-secret computer chip, ramming and forcing the SUVs protecting Shaw into and under the tank to stop it. Chase a semi-truck and manoeuvre close to it so that you can climb out of the driving seat of your vehicle onto it roof and leap onto the semi-truck, through open its back door, and throw its cargo to the other waiting drivers, all the while the semi-truck driver blasts away at you with his shotgun! Protect a hacker as you are chased by a helicopter which can track her laptop and launch missiles at her to stop her getting away. Leap from vehicle to vehicle, brawl atop different vehicles with the enemy, take control of an enemy vehicle and wreck it before leaping back to their own to climb back behind its wheel, and perform amazing stunts in order to beat the bad guys… These are the tasks faced by Dominic Toretto, Brian O’Conner, Letty Ortiz, Roman Pearce, Tej Parker, and Han Seoul-Oh at the wheel of either an American Muscle, Import Racer, Street Drifter, or Exotic Supercar vehicles. This is also the set-up for Fast & Furious: Highway Heist, a board game which brings the high-octane action of the Fast & Furious franchise of films to the table. It is a co-operative, dice and stunt game designed to be played by one to four players, aged twelve and up, published by Funko Games. It has also been designed by the Prospero Hall team, which has a track record of taking intellectual properties—some of them decades old such as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Jaws: A Boardgame of Strategy and Suspense—and turning them into playable games. In taking advantage of decades’ worth of game design and mechanical improvement, these games typically far outshine those games published at the time when the intellectual properties they are based on were first released, both in terms of mechanics and play style. In other words, a Prospero Hall design is respectful of the source material and bases both play style and mechanics directly upon it.

Fast & Furious: Highway Heist is a superbly supported with lots of bits and pieces in its box, the most eye-catching of which, are of course, the vehicles. These consist, not just of those driven by the heroes—American Muscle, Import Racer, Street Drifter, and Exotic Supercar—but also a tank, a semi-truck, and a helicopter. All are nicely detailed and look great on the table. There are six Character Boards, one each for Dominic Toretto, Brian O’Conner, Letty Ortiz, Roman Pearce, Tej Parker, and Han Seoul-Oh, and four Vehicle Boards for the vehicles they will drive. The game has three scenarios—‘Tank Assault’, ‘Semi Heist’, and ‘Chopper Takedown’—each of which is supported by its own instruction sheet, Scenario Board, a set of Stunt cards for the players, and a set of Enemy Cards for the opposition’s Actions. Plus, there are Reference Cards, tokens for cargo and certain characters and Boosts to Actions, dice for both the players and the enemy, and pegs for the characters and the enemy which slot into holes atop each vehicle to indicate if a driver is on top of, rather than driving, a vehicle. Which all together means that it both looks a lot and busy as well as complicated. Fortunately, whilst it is a lot, it is actually not as complicated as it looks and it turns out to be quite fun.

The Character Boards and Vehicle Boards slot together and are double-sided. A Character Board depicts the character, his special Action, the standard Actions he can take, and ratings in Speed, Control, Athletics, and Defence. Speed and Control are used when the character is behind the wheel of his vehicle, Athletics is used when he is atop his own or another vehicle, and Defence is used to avoid damage from other vehicles. A Vehicle Board has its own special ability, plus ratings in Speed, Control, and Defence, and a series of slots to indicate how much damage the vehicle can suffer. The combined rating in Speed, Control, or Defence from both Character Board and Vehicle Board indicates how many dice a player rolls, and whilst this will not change for the Character Board, it will change if the character is driving another vehicle and the Vehicle Board is changed. The Character Board is turned over at the end of a player’s turn to indicate that the character is exhausted and can only roll Defence against incoming damage and that the player needs to roll the Enemy die. The Vehicle Board is turned over and used whenever a character is driving an Enemy SUV rather than his own vehicle.

Each of the scenario instruction sheets explains the set-up, additional rules, and winning conditions, as well as giving some strategy tips for the players. Each set of Stunt Cards for each scenario details a manoeuvre that the players can attempt. For example, ‘Chain Reaction’ in ‘Tank Heist’ enables a player to drive into two SUVs which are in a straight line. This causes one SUV to crash into the other, turning it into a Wreck which can be tossed into any direction, potentially hitting the tank and causing damage. It requires a Speed roll. ‘Grappling Hook’ lets a player snare another player’s vehicle, enemy SUV, or wreck and pull it towards his vehicle. It requires a Control roll. ‘Stop Hitting Yourself’ requires a player to be atop an enemy SUV which he forces to swerve into the tank, inflicting damage, and ending with him atop the tank. This requires an Athletics roll.

There is a set of Enemy Cards for each scenario. Each Enemy Card has two sets of effects, one when it is drawn and another when it is in the ‘Activate!’ spot on the Scenario Board. For example, ‘Meat Grinder’ for the ‘Tank Heist’ scenario adds two new Enemy SUVs behind the Tank when revealed, but when activated on the ‘Activate!’ spot on a Scenario Board, each Player Vehicle adjacent to both the Tank and an Enemy SUV is squeezed and suffers damage. The Stunt cards are large, whereas the Enemy Cards are standard size.

The Scenario Board for each scenario is double-sided. One guides the players through the set-up of the scenario, which when done, is turned over to provide the rules for the scenario. Each Scenario Board spots for the Enemy Cards, one of which is the ‘Activate!’ spot, and also a track for the amount of damage the Tank—or other vehicle—can suffer during play. The tracks are actually cut into the Scenario Boards, much like the damage track is cut into the Vehicle Boards. The Character Boards do not have a damage track as the players cannot be killed.

Play of Fast & Furious: Highway Heist—for all three scenarios—takes place on the Road Board. This shows a simple road, marked with a twelve by six grid. Player Vehicles and Enemy SUVs are constantly moving along and manoeuvring back and forth on the road represented by the Road Board, but they do not leave it. In other words, they constantly keep pace with each other. Only when a vehicle is wrecked and becomes undrivable does it get left behind as all of the other vehicles continue moving.

Core play in Fast & Furious: Highway Heist is simple. On his turn, a player can undertake two Actions. There are eight standard Actions. In the ‘Drive’ Action, the player moves his vehicle a number of spaces equal to the combination of his character’s Speed and his vehicle’s Speed. The ‘Leap’ Action lets a player’s character jump from atop his current vehicle onto another player’s vehicle or an Enemy SUV. The target vehicle must be within a number of spaces equal to the character’s Athletics skill. Pegs are used to indicate if a character or an enemy is atop a vehicle. A ‘Ram’ Action is used to destroy an Enemy SUV and turn it into a Wreck; ‘Force’ Action lets a player force another Player Vehicle or Enemy SUV two spaces in any direction; ‘Shake’ forces an Enemy Peg off the top of a Player Vehicle whilst at its wheel; ‘Brawl’ can happen when a player and an Enemy Peg are atop the same vehicle and if successful, the player knocks the Enemy Peg off the vehicle, and the ‘Hijack’ Action lets a player already atop an Enemy SUV take control of the vehicle. The last Action a player can take is Take Boost Token, and this must be done as the second of his two Actions on his turn.

Alternatively, a player can take a ‘Stunt Action’. These are represented by the Stunt Cards and there are always three in play at any one time. Each has specific conditions which have to be fulfilled and are much more effective than the standard Actions. The Stunt Cards are constantly changing, moving off the end of the Road Board, and the players have three rounds in which to perform before it is replaced. A Stunt can also only be performed once or twice, as indicated by the number of Boost Tokens on its Stunt Card. After successfully performing it, a player receives the Boost Token on the Stunt Card and when there are no more Boost Tokens on the Stunt Card, it is exhausted and cannot be performed. However, it remains on the Road Board until it moves off the end, reducing the number of possible Stunt Actions available until replaced. Stunt Cards come in three levels for each scenario and get progressively more spectacular and effective.

The ‘Ram’, ‘Force’, ‘Shake’, ‘Brawl’, ‘Hijack’, and most of the ‘Stunt’ Actions all require a roll of the Effort Dice to succeed, using the Skills from both the player’s character and his vehicle, as necessary. A player can use Boost Tokens to either improve his roll on the Effort Dice or to assist another player and increase the number of Effort dice he has to roll.

Once a player has taken his two Actions, he rolls the Enemy Die. The results on this die can activate all of the Enemy SUVs, which either move closer to or slam into the player vehicles; activate the Enemy Pegs which either damage or hijack the player vehicles; and move the Main Enemy—which is different depending on the scenario—and then move the Enemy Cards on the Scenario Board and resolve the one in the ‘Activate!’ spot.

Once a player has taken his turn, he flips his Character Card over to its Exhausted side. When every player’s Character Card is exhausted, the round is over. On the Road Board, all of the Wrecks move back, possibly off the Road Board, as the Player Vehicles and the Enemy Vehicles speed forward. If a vehicle, including a Player Vehicle, is behind a Wreck, it will crash and also become a Wreck! Both the Enemy Cards and the Stunt Cards are moved along their respective boards and new ones added. This ends the round.

Play continues like this until the game is either won or lost. Fast & Furious: Highway Heist is won by achieving the objective in a scenario or performing the Level 3 Stunt Action that will win the game. However, it is lost if the players do not achieve the winning conditions in a scenario or the Level 3 Stunt Action for the scenario moves off the Road Board, meaning there are no Stunt Actions for the players to attempt.

The three scenarios in Fast & Furious: Highway Heist all vary in terms of their objectives and complexity. ‘Tank Assault’ is the simplest and should be played first. The players have to destroy the tank before it can get away. This is done by manoeuvring Enemy SUVs and Wrecks into it and inflicting damage. In ‘Semi Heist’, the players must get atop the trailer of a semi-truck and open its cargo door—this actually opens on the model of the semi-truck!—to throw stolen cargo to waiting Player Vehicles below. The Player Vehicles need to be in the right position to receive the cargo and whilst this is happening the driver of the semi-truck is taking shotgun blasts at the character atop his trailer. ‘Semi Heist’ adds ‘Reactive Stunts’, which can be performed even when it is not a player’s turn. ‘Chopper Takedown’ is the most complex. The players are trying to get a hacker to safety, but there is a helicopter which can pick up her computer on radar. The stronger the radar signal, the more damage the helicopter’s missiles will do. The players win by destroying both the main villain’s vehicle and the helicopter. The latter is done by a player launching his vehicle into the air via a wreck and performing a mid-air ram attack! It is possible to transfer the hacker from one vehicle to another if the one she is in is damaged. Where in the earlier scenarios, the players have to track the damage suffered by the Tank and the shotgun shells fired, here they have to track the Radar signal strength, the damage done to the villain’s vehicle, and the damage done to the helicopter.

Physically, Fast & Furious: Highway Heist is very well presented and designed. The rules are well explained, the vehicles nicely detailed, and whilst the art does not use photographs from the films, it is still very good, capturing their high-speed action.

For a family or younger audience, Fast & Furious: Highway Heist is probably a bit too complex, both in terms of the number of options a player has and co-operative play. That though, can be alleviated with the help of a more experienced player and the online guides to play video. Also, being scenario-based means that once the three scenarios in Fast & Furious: Highway Heist have been played through two or three times and won, the longevity and replayability of the game is greatly diminished.

Fast & Furious: Highway Heist is another fine adaptation of an intellectual property by Prospero Hall. In fact, the designers have taken an intellectual property that would seem not to lend itself to adaptation as a board game and actually turned it into one that is exciting and fun. It has physicality to its play as the vehicles manoeuvre back and forth across the road, speed up and slow down, brake to avoid wrecks, and the drivers jump from atop one vehicle to another to brawl each with other and hijack vehicles, which you can all visualise as you play. Yet that is only the standard play. Add in the Stunt Cards and the action of the play goes up, getting more and more spectacular. In doing so, it captures the action of the Fast & Furious films and there can be no doubt that fans of the franchise will enjoy game. For more general board game players, the attraction is of another good adaptation by Prospero Hall of mechanics to fit the game’s theme. Ultimately, whilst it may not offer long term play,Fast & Furious: Highway Heist captures the speed and action of the films, bringing their physicality to the table in a solid design.

 This weekend, Saturday, February 10, is the start of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon. Very nice how it lines up with the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. So I cheated a little and went digging for a Dragon Magazine that featured Dragons. Not too difficult really. So lets head to the Summer of 1988. I just finished my Freshman year of college. I spent my summer working and calling this girl I had met in the fall, piling up a HUGE bill on my Sprint card. No worries, in just seven more years I'd marry her. George Michael dominates the airwaves. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" hit the screens, and on the shelves and game tables everywhere was Issue #134 of This Old Dragon!

Our cover, "Sword of Dawn," is from Charles Vess. I have seen a lot of his work since this issue and I have always liked it. 

Letters let us know that this is the 12th Anniversary issue of Dragon Magazine, so it's a nice milestone to be sure. 

Forum gives us some ideas on modifying the Magic-user to make it less prone to dying early on. Others debate the merits of the Experience system.

We get to our main feature right away. Dragons!

The Dragon's Bestiary gives us seven new dragons from various authors including Dragon VIP and the father of the Realms, Ed Greenwood. They are all interesting to be honest, and I'd like to see new versions of them. Had there been a Monster Manual III, they would have been it. 

Ed Friedlander is up with Give Dragons A Fighting Chance, which aims to make dragons much scarier. Something that started with Dragonlance and continues to today. He discusses physical attacks, making better use of dragon spellcasters, and better tactics. He uses the example of Razisiz the Blue Dragon from the DMG p. 81. Both in his "regular" stats and his beefed-up version here. A few recommendations for previous articles that cover similar ground are also mentioned.

An advertisement for an AD&D computer game, Pool of Radiance, is next. Get it for the IBM-PC and Commodore 64/128.

Friend of the Other Side, Vince Garcia, is next with Serpents and Sorcery. This article is all about getting more out of the spell-casting powers dragons have and making good use of their spells in their local environs. Really good article that you can still use today. 

Lords & Legend was a sometimes feature with various personalities. This time it is Dragotha the Undead Dragon from module S2 White Plume Mountain. He would make an appearance again in the 3e days, but his 1st Edition AD&D stats and background are given to us here by William Simpson. 

Greg Sharp gives us a good one, The Ecology of the Red Dragon. I am surprised that there were not more Ecology Of articles about Dragons. They are some of the biggest creatures in the game, and yet they don't feature very often. 

This issue is already falling apart, so I can go ahead and do this without worry.

Skip Williams is dispensing wisdom again in Sage Advice. This time, covering a lot of character questions. 

Bazaar of the Bizarre is usually a favorite feature of mine. But this one not so much. It has a bunch of "less than serious" items, and honestly, it feels like an April feature that they could not fit in. I would have rather seen more dragon-related treasures. 

Another friend of the Other Side, Bruce Heard, is up with some errata, clarifications, and more for the Orc Wars game they had back in issue #132.

Jame Brunet has our short fiction piece, "Eyes of Redemption."

TSR Previews covers Summer 1988. Lots of Marvel Super Heroes, some Dragonlance, and Top Secret.  The Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game is up for June. I didn't understand the fascination with Bullwinkle and Rocky then, and I still don't. Keep in mind that when this game was released, there had not been any new B&R content made for 20 years. I mean, I am not completely immune to the effects it had on pop culture, but it seems like an odd choice. Yes, I would later learn why this game was made, but back then, it made no sense to me. 

Arcane Lore from D.F. Fjellhaugen gives us some cleric spells for healing.

The official Origins Awards ballot for 1987 is next. What were your choices?

This year was an odd one where Gen Con and Origins were held together in 1988. 

Dennis McLaughlin has some sniper rifles for Top Secret in Sighting In. Likely this could all be converted to other games if needed.

Part of my The Game Wizards is cut out.  Looking at my Dragon CD-ROM, I can only guess the previous owner wanted the picture of the Godzillia-like monster.

Ah. How can you tell it is the 80s? The fascination with all things Japanese. Hell, I even read Shōgun that summer. The Role-Playing Reviews from Jim Bambra covers Bushido, the AD&D Oriental Adventures, and the RuneQuest Land of the Ninja.  "Oriental" is now considered to be an archaic term at best and pejorative at worst. I will not debate that here. In fact, what I am most interested in here now is how 1988 Dragon was talking about Gary Gygax. So how are they? Well, while the plainly visible cover says "Gary Gygax" right on it, his name is never mentioned in the review. Design is credited to David "Zeb" Cook, who, in all likelihood, did do the lion's share of the work on it. Again, not going to debate here and now, but maybe if I ever do review it myself.  The article largely focuses on how closely the various products are linked to real feudal Japan. Bambra mentions that by making Kara-Tur a fictional land using influences from Japan, China, and Korea you can side-step some of these issues.

Catching Some Rays by Daniel Salas deals with radiation damage in Gamma World. 

The Lessers (Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk) are back in The Role of Computers with Dream Zone, Strike-Fleet (Naval Simulator), and The Pawn (adventure) get the most coverage. 

David Edward Martin, another friend, is up with more powers for the Marvel Super Heroes game in The Ultimate Addenda's Addenda.

This means that outside of some reviews, every article here was about a TSR game. This is a trend that will continue and grow. 

Gamers' Guide covers some small ads. Always fun to look at these. A half-page section alone on Play By Mail games. One in particular is out of Ottawa, IL, a tiny little farm town a few miles south and west of Aurora. It was even smaller back then. My wife is from that area, I am sure I have driven by it.

Convention Calendar gives us the best conventions for the Summer and into the Fall of 1988. One was within easy driving distance to me back then, Capitol-Con IV at the Prairie Capital Convention Center on July 9. Wonder what I was doing then? Likely working at Pizza Hut.

Dragonmirth has the usual collection of comics. Among them was Yamara, whom I caught occasionally enough to find amusing but never often enough to know what was going on with it. There is Elmore's Snarf Quest, now up to episode #58, that's close to 5 years. 

I am sure this is not the first "All TSR, All the Time" issue, but I know that trend is coming. Eventually, all game magazines went this way. White Dwarf had made this switch as early as two years prior, so I guess I am not surprised. It makes sense from a financial point of view, I suppose I miss the days when a game magazine covered multiple games from a variety of publishers.  Today we have the internet for all that. 

So overall a fine issue with some gems; the dragon stuff is great, and I'd like to use it somewhere. 

Happy Year of the Dragon!

I knew my exploration of the Forgotten Realms would take me to new and unexpected places. I just didn't think it was going to be this soon.

In my exploration of the Forgotten Realms product Moonshae, I discovered an interesting bit of knowledge. In the back of that book it mentions that Adventure Module N4 Treasure Hunt can be used with the Moonshae Islands. I later discovered that the islands in N4 were moved over to the Forgotten Realms for this purpose.  So I had to switch courses and check out this module. I am really happy I did.

This module is not just an introduction module, but maybe THE introduction to the game module. Where you have an honest-to-Gary Session 0 and start with 0-Level characters in 1986. Given I am new to all things Realms, I might as well start at level 0!

N4 Treasure Hunt

by Aaron Allston, 48 pages (2 full color map pages, 36 pages of adventure, 10 pages of character profiles) black & white interiors. Art by Stephen Fabian. Cartographers: David F. "Diesel" LaForce, Stephen D. Sullivan, Bill Reuter, Stephanie Tabat. Cover art by Jeff Easley/

For this review, I am considering the PDF and Print on Demand version from DriveThruRPG/DMSGuild.

Treasure Hunt is a completely introductory adventure for players of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition game. I say "players" since I feel this adventure still requires a bit of rules savvy from the Dungeon Master, at least in terms of some of the lifts needed to work with the 0-level characters. However, reading this one nearly 40 years later, with honestly tens of thousands of hours spent on this game, there are nice gems here.

Speaking of which. I am not going to attempt to judge this adventure by the same yardstick as new Level-0 or the so-called "Funnel" adventures. That is not fair to the author nor the adventure itself. This has to judged on the merits of its time. But I will tell you this, I'd run this today, as is, with no changes to be honest.

There is a Player's Introduction and Dungeon Master's Introduction. 

This is the most interesting parts for me today since they cover the rules of rolling up and playing Level-0 characters.  For starters, you don't have a class yet. You are a Normal Human (or elf, or half-elf, or whatever), and you have 1d6 hit points and maybe a secondary skill. You don't even have an alignment. The plot revolves around your character, either one you make or use from the starting characters, being kidnapped by pirates, and then your pirate captors are shipwrecked and mostly all killed. Now, you are stuck in the Korinn Archipelago, later added to the north of the Moonshaes.

From here the new PCs work out an escape plan and defeat their first enemy, the last pirate.

As the players play through the challenges presented on these islands they can build up what their character does and earn some XP. They are all 500 xp away from level 1. The adventure explains that even 1st level characters have some training. A fighter at level 1 is called a Veteran. A 1st level Cleric is an Acolyte. Even thieves and magic-users have some skills at first level that 0-levels do not.  Want to be a thief? Try picking that lock. Want to be a Cleric? What do you feel when you enter the Temple of the Goddess and how do you react? You won't know till the end (or near that) and you won't get there till you try.

Frankly, it is great. A fantastic set of mini-mechanics to get the story going and flowing.  

The adventure itself is divided into six "episodes." And episode is a good word here since there is a bit of cinematic feel to this. It feels like Aaron Allston watched a lot of Raiders of the Lost Ark, or more to the point, Romancing the Stone. This is a good thing.

Each episode gives the new PCs something tangible to do. Defeat the pirate, stop the orcs and goblins, explore the Temple, explore the Sea King's Manor, and so on. While there is a great feel to all of this, add a bit of the Moonshaes to it, and thus some Celtic and Old Norse culture to it all, and it becomes a fun mix.

Even for the time, the adventure is a bit linear, but not in a terrible way. I mean, let's be honest, the plot is "I've been captured, now I am free, but how do I get out of here?"  At the end of each episode, there is a debrief for the DM on handling anything that went amiss, tracking the character's class and alignment progression, and so on. There are even contingencies if certain NPCs are not encountered or die before they are supposed to do something. So, linear but with enough branches to keep it fresh. 

Experience points are tracked all along the way, so there is a chance the characters will break the 500 XP threshold by the end of episode 5. 

There are appendices on "What if Things Go Wrong" or "What if the Character Dies?" and all are handled pretty well. There are some clever Player's Maps and the map of the islands. 

The character profiles in the back can be used as potential PCs or NPCs. A few are even worded to be male or female. Someone online would have screamed, "Woke!" at it, but it is presented here as just one of many options. I do feel more care was taken here to entice both male and female new players to the game.

This adventure is a good one for new players. The only thing missing here is some more guidance for new DMs. Something that B2 Keep on the Borderlands does rather well. Maybe the perfect starting trilogy is this adventure, then T1 the Village of Hommlet, and ending with B2 Keep on the Borderlands.

About the Print-on-Demand Scan

This is a print of a scanned image. So there is some fuzziness to some of the letters. It is obviously not as sharp as, say, a direct from digital print. It is still very readable.  Getting the PoD and PDF will give a book you can use and be able to print out the character cards and player maps as needed. 

Treasure Hunt in the Forgotten Realms

I already mentioned that the location of this adventure, the Korinn Archipelago, was dropped as right into the Moonshae Isles, which were already an addition by Douglas Niles to the Forgotten Realms, supplanting Ed Greenwood's own islands that were there. Already the Realms are evolving in front of our eyes and it is not even fully 1987 yet.

As an adventure, it is also a great start for Realms-centric characters. I had already planned to make my start in the Moonshaes, this just sets characters on the path of adventure in a different way. You didn't meet in a tavern or bar. You were captured and met your companions along the way. Something we will see again in Baldur's Gate 3 or even, to a degree, Skyrim. 

The Temple of the Goddess in Episode Three can easily become a Temple to the Earth Mother / Chauntea. Lots of different Goddesses are given as example, but I thought it might be fun if the Earth Mother appears as all of them. Playing into my fascination with "the Goddess is all goddesses" motif.

Sinéad's Perspective

At the outset of these reviews, I said I wanted to explore the Realms through the eyes of a native, but one that was just as naïve as me. Sinéad is that character. She was chosen partially because she has a pseudo-Celtic background (so starting the Moonshaes was great). She was a Forgotten Realms native already, but mostly because she was just so much damn fun in Baldur's Gate 3. 

For Sinéad, I re-did her sheet as a 0-level character.  The DMG suggests using Method I for rolling up characters; 4d6 drop the lowest and arrange as desired. Well. I did that with Sinéad as a first level, so I opted to use a trick I used all the time in Unisystem's point build, I just knocked a few points off. 

Her "1st Level" abilities add up to 92, so I took 10 off and re-distributed the points among her six abilities. Then I added on back. My world. My rules. I also felt that since her main defining feature at this point is that she is a half-elf, I decided that was her class. So I used a Basic-D&D style sheet. The one I have above is from New Big Dragon Games Unlimited's GM screen.

Since my concept of her is a proto-Bard at this point, and she is young, I figure she really doesn't have any secondary skills yet. At best, she can play the lute or flute. If she was captured by pirates, she likely lost whatever she had. This would be a bigger loss to her than however much gold she had. 

At the end of the adventure, she becomes a magic-user with her one spell, Burning Hands. The same spell she accidentally burned down the barn she was in back at home, which was why she was running and how she got caught by pirates. 

After this adventure, how could she possibly go home? There is an entire world out there. 

Besides, she survived pirates. What can be worse than that?

Oh. And since I have had friends do this exact thing, after her adventure here, Sinéad uses the dagger she found to chop off her hair and dye some of it. Seems like a perfectly reasonable trauma reaction to me. 

She is just a kid at this point.

Final Thoughts

If I had been smarter, I would have used this first when re-creating Sinéad on paper, but as it is, this worked out fine. This is also a great new-to-me adventure for a new-to-me world. While I LOVE B2 Keep on the Borderlands, it is too closely tied to Greyhawk and the Known World for me to really adapt it over the Realms. Would it even fit in the Realms? I am sure many online users have found a home for it. Maybe one day I could as well, but for now, this is a great adventure to start with. In fact, I want to go through all the N, aka "Novice," adventures and see how they fit my needs here. But for now, I am pretty happy with this.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Stars Over SiberiaPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Rjurik Davidson

Setting: 1920s Soviet UnionProduct: One shot
What You Get: Sixty-two page, 10.91 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The horror of the Soviet Union lies within and withoutPlot Hook: Will a Scientific discovery be for the Soviet Union or Stalin?Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, eight handouts, one new spell, and one new Mythos creature.Production Values: Untidy
Pros# Engaging atmosphere of political uncertainty# Strong sense of history# Brilliant colours, but not a Colour Out of Space# Paranoia# Metathesiophobia# Paranoia
Cons# Needs an edit# Could have been better organised# Not a Colour Out of Space, but like a Colour Out of Space? # Does every Soviet-era scenario always have to involve things falling from the sky?
Conclusion# Untidy, but atmospheric allegory of Stalinist crystallisation # Reveals the horror of Stalinist Russia

 For the next few weeks, I will be posting monsters for use in the various "Powered by O.G.R.E.S." games I work on and use. These are NIGHT SHIFT, Wasted Lands, and the upcoming Thirteen Parsecs. I would also like to use this space to feature some new artists and their work. 

Up first is a favorite around here. This one is bigger.

Astral Spider by John Kozlowski

Astral Spider, Greater

No. Appearing: 1
AC: 4
Move: 40 ft and Special (Astral)
ViD: 8
Special: Wits and toughness drain. 1 point/day each
XP VALUE: 1,600

Greater Astral Spiders are larger and more terrifying versions of the smaller Astral Spiders. Like their smaller cousins, they are not true spiders but creatures of the deeper dark.  These creatures are about three feet high and six feet long when manifesting in the material world. Since they are not true spiders but creatures of fear from the Deeper Dark, they are not limited to just 8 legs.

As their name suggests, these creatures are native to the astral plane, but they are attracted to people with psychic or empathic abilities.  These creatures drain Wits (wisdom) and Toughness (constitution). Like the smaller varieties, these creatures are invisible. They find targets that have high levels of empathy (psychics, witches, sorcerers) and attach themselves to feed. They do not have a physical attack in terms of Vitality damage.

An astrally projected or sensitive witch can see these creatures, either on themselves or others. A Dismissal spell can remove the spider, but they can only be attacked in the Astral Plane. A Dimensional Anchor used against it can prevent it from latching back onto a victim.  A Lesser Restoration and one week of bed rest for each day of ability loss will cure the victim. Without magic, the recovery period is one week per point of Wits and Toughness lost each. Thus, a minimum of two weeks.

Use in the Wasted Lands

During the Dreaming Age the Astral Spiders were far more common and could manifest in the Material World more easily. There is conjecture on their relationship to the other denizens of the Deeper Dark, but few are willing to study them up close.  These creatures can sometimes be summoned by dark-aligned Sorcerers, but with no real means of controlling them, they can be the victim just as often.

Use in NIGHT SHIFT

These creatures cause much fear in the communities of psychics and witches. There is a lot of talk on various online groups on how to best deal with them, but there is little to no consensus.

Use in Thirteen Parsecs

As in the Dreaming Age, Astral Spiders are able to manifest in the Material World. What is worse that due to their ability to travel via the Astral, attacking starships on the Solar Frontier is as easy to them as attacking a sleeping person back on Earth.  The closer a planet is to the Solar Frontier, the more likely an attack by an Astral Spider will become. 

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

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

—oOo—
Name: Flash Cthulhu – Café au MortePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michael Reid

Setting: 1920s BostonProduct: One-Location, One-Hour Scenario
What You Get: Eight page, 1.94 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Even cultists need coffeePlot Hook: Coffee, Cultists, and Chaos.Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, six NPCs, one map, and one spell.Production Values: Plain
Pros# Short, sharp, encounter# Easy to slot into a campaign or between scenarios# Easy to adapt to other times and settings# The investigators are cultists, the cultists are investigators?# Set-up designed for confusion# Potential convention mini-scenario# Anthropobia# Imposter Syndrome# Foniasophobia
Cons# Needs a slight edit# Set-up designed for confusion# The investigators are cultists, the cultists are investigators?
Conclusion# Short, strange encounter with yourselves# Easy to use no matter the time and setting

A camping trip on the edge of the Norfolk Broads and the edge of the Norfolk Loop leads to a strange encounter late at night. A pulse of energy in the sky over the Loop appears to open a rift and something flies through it and over the Kid viewing it, bathing him in a strange, purple light. Then it flies away. In the following days there is a surge of activity at the Norfolk Loop, one of the United Kingdom’s leading scientific and technological centres of study and development, its staff disrupted through a change of management and the new management scouring the area around the Loop, including the nearby seaside resort of Great Yarmouth. The Kid who saw the event and was bathed in the light is drawn to a site that a team from the Norfolk Loop is investigating. There he and his friends make an amazing discovery—an egg. A strange, translucent, purple egg-shaped object. Could this have been left behind by the thing that flew out of the rift? Why is the Kid drawn to it? If it is an egg, what is going to hatch out of it? This is the set-up for They Grow Up So Fast.

They Grow Up So Fast is the second campaign for Tales from the Loop – Roleplaying in the ’80s That Never Was, the roleplaying game of childhood in an alternate 1980s in which young teenagers explore rural small-town Sweden, but a rural small-town Sweden in which its streets, woods and fields, and skies and seas are populated by robots, gravitic tractors and freighters, strange sensor devices, and even creatures from the long past. To the inhabitants of this landscape, this is all perfectly normal—at least to the adults. To the children of this landscape, this technology is a thing of fascination, of wonderment, and of the strangeness that often only they can see. In Tales from the Loop, it is often this technology that is the cause of the adventures that the children—the Player Characters—will have away from their mundane, often difficult lives at home and at school. Published by Free League Publishing, the Ennie-award winning Tales from the Loop is not solely a Swedish-based setting. By default, it is set on Mälaröarna, the islands of Lake Mälaren, which lies to the west of Stockholm. This is the site of the Facility for Research in High Energy Physics—or ‘The Loop’—the world’s largest particle accelerator, constructed and run by the government agency, Riksenergi. There is another Loop however, an American counterpart to The Loop, this time located under Boulder City in the Mojave Desert in Nevada, near the Hoover Dam. Here the particle accelerator is operated by the Department of Advanced Research into Technology and there is an extensive exchange programme in terms of personnel and knowledge between the staff of both ‘Loops’. With the publication of Our Friends the Machines & Other Mysteries, a third Loop was introduced. This is ‘The Broads Loop’, located under the Norfolk Broads in the East of England and built and operated by MAFF, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food. It is in and about ‘The Norfolk Broads Loop’ that They Grow Up So Fast is set.

They Grow Up So Fast is a short, four-part campaign set in 1988, with its four scenarios divided between the four seasons. It opens in the Spring with ‘Easter Egg Hunt’, in which one of the Kids will have a strange encounter on a campaign trip and together with his friends, come into possession of a strange alien that together they will feel drawn to hide and protect. A few weeks later in the Summer and ‘The Best of What Might Be’, the egg hatches and the Kids bond with the oddly cow-like creature that is revealed. As school begins in the Autumn and ‘The Year’s Last, Loveliest Smile’, the Kids will have to move the surprisingly cute lain and find it a better hiding place. The campaign comes to close with ‘You can’t Get Too Much…’ with a race to find the creature once again and get it home… All of this whilst facing school bullies, news interest about UFO sightings, staff upheaval at the nearby Loop and its consequences as a new government organisation—ReGIS or ‘Regional Geomagnetic Information Sciences’, part of the Ministry of Defence—takes over, protests at the Loop, and a highly qualified, but very new and very inexperienced science teacher who takes a deep interest in their activities. Each scenario is intended to run in roughly four hours or so, perhaps two sessions at most, that They Grow Up So Fast really is very short campaign.

To help the Game Master set the scene for the campaign, there is a solid primer on the United Kingdom and the Norfolk Broads of the late eighties. This covers activities that Kids might engage in, what they might listen to, and what they might watch. There is even a discussion of the politics of the period. Altogether, there is enough here for the Game Master to provide a picture of the eighties for her players, although no doubt there is plenty more to draw on elsewhere and so set further set the background. Nevertheless, there is genuine sense of nostalgia in the description given here and any Game Master or player of certain age, who grew up during this period in the United Kingdom, will recognise it. Further, as with other supplements for Tales from the Loop, there are notes and suggestions on how to run They Grow Up So Fast in either the Swedish or the American setting, including maps of the appropriate locations around their respective Loops. Each of the four scenarios is well organised and follow the pattern set in the core rules by being divided into five phases—‘Introducing the Kids’, ‘Introducing the Mystery’, ‘Solving the Mystery’, ‘Showdown’, ‘Aftermath’, and ‘Change’. Details of countdown events are given to push each Mystery along as well as suggested scenes and other advice.
To help the Game Master set the scene for the campaign, there is a solid primer on the United Kingdom and the Norfolk Broads of the late eighties. This covers activities that Kids might engage in, what they might listen to, and what they might watch. There is even a discussion of the politics of the period. Altogether, there is enough here for the Game Master to provide a picture of the eighties for her players, although no doubt there is plenty more to draw on elsewhere and so set further set the background. Nevertheless, there is genuine sense of nostalgia in the description given here and any Game Master or player of certain age, who grew up during this period in the United Kingdom, will recognise it. Further, as with other supplements for Tales from the Loop, there are notes and suggestions on how to run They Grow Up So Fast in either the Swedish or the American setting, including maps of the appropriate locations around their respective Loops. Each of the four scenarios is well organised and follow the pattern set in the core rules by being divided into five phases—‘Introducing the Kids’, ‘Introducing the Mystery’, ‘Solving the Mystery’, ‘Showdown’, ‘Aftermath’, and ‘Change’. Details of countdown events are given to push each Mystery along as well as suggested scenes and other advice.

Physically, They Grow Up So Fast is as well presented as you would expect for a Tales from the Loop title. Of course, it highlights Simon Stålenhag’s fantastic artwork, but the writing is also good and the layout is clean, tidy, and accessible. All four scenarios follow the same format, making them easy to access and relatively easy to run.

It is great to have a campaign for Tales from the Loop set in the United Kingdom and given the fact that its four scenarios take place over the course of the year, there is scope for the Game Master to run other scenarios in between those four. However, the scenarios do rely on the extensive use of the Charm and Sneak more than the others and the plot to They Grow Up So Fast is underwhelming. This is primarily due to two factors. One is the familiarity of its plot, which feels very much like the plot of one of the films suggested as inspiration, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. Other suggested mood setting films include Pete’s Dragon, Free Willy, and Gremlins. One effect though, of setting the campaign in the United Kingdom, is to give They Grow Up So Fast certain shabbiness as if the Children’s Film Foundation made E.T. The Extra Terrestrial on a very much reduced budget! The other factor is that as written the ending does not feel quite as climatic as it should, it can even end in an even more underwhelming failure, but that will probably be different in play and the Game Master will need to up the pace depending upon the flow of events.

They Grow Up So Fast is a solid enough campaign, but not on par with other releases for Tales from the Loop. Ultimately, this is due the familiarity of the plot, but if the Game Master is looking for a Tales from the Loop campaign in the style of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, then They Grow Up So Fast is exactly what she is looking for.

The year is 1648. The War of the Counter-Reformation never seems to end as what was at first a civil between the Germanic states of the Holy Roman Empire over the rights and dominance of the Lutheran and Catholic churches that drew other nations of Europe and escalated into a contest for European dominance between Habsburg-ruled Spain and Austria, and the French House of Bourbon. Surrounded by Spanish Hapsburgs to the south, east, and north, France not only faces enemies from without, but also within, for the kingdom is divided by many loyalties. Louis XIV is only ten, but has already been king for five years. His mother, Queen Anne, a former Habsburg princess and the most hated woman in France, governs as regent with aid of her able prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, the most hated man in France. Together they have kept France safe, but the continued need for more funds to maintain the war effort requires more taxes to be raised and more offices to be sold, arousing the anger of Parlement. Worse, the burden of the taxes will fall upon the bourgeois and the peasantry, those of the third estate or menu peuple, and the poor, or les maginaux, whilst the nobility of the second estate pay little and the clergy of the first estate pay none. All of which is collected in a manner which is inefficient and prone to corruption. Thus, there is a divide between all levels of society, between those who can afford to pay taxes and pay little and those who cannot afford to pay taxes and pay more. There are divisions of religion between the Catholics, Lutherans, Huguenots, and Jews. There are divisions of loyalty and politics between the Royalists who support Queen Anne and Cardinal Mazarin; the Frondeurs who oppose both them and the heavy tax burden; the Noblists who oppose Queen Anne and Cardinal Mazarin in order to maintain the independence of France’s great families; the Hapsburg faction which would ally with the biggest power in Europe as it would be best to be on the winning side and the right side of God; and the Cardinalists, who recognise Mazarin as the real power in France and believe his efforts have kept France safe to date. This is France in 1648 and the background to Miseries & Misfortunes.

Miseries & Misfortunes is a roleplaying game set in seventeenth century France designed and published following a successful Kickstarter campaign by Luke Crane, best known for the fantasy roleplaying game, Burning Wheel. Notably, it is based on the mechanics of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. Originally, Miseries & Misfortunes appeared as a fanzine in 2015, but its second edition has since been developed to add new systems for skills, combat, magic, and more. However, the underlying philosophy of Miseries & Misfortunes still leans back into the play style of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. For example, the differing mechanics of rolling low for skill checks, but high for combat rolls and saving throws. Plus, the Player Characters exist in an uncaring world where bad luck, misfortune, and even death will befall them and there will be no one left to commiserate or mourn except the other characters and their players. Further, Miseries & Misfortunes is not a cinematic swashbuckling game of musketeers versus the Cardinal’s guards. It is grimmer and grimier than that, and the Player Characters can come from all walks of life. That said, it is set in the similar period as Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, so will be familiar to many players. The other major inspiration for Miseries & Misfortunes is Les Misères et les Malheurs de la Guerre, a set of eighteen etchings by French artist Jacques Callot that grimly depict the nature of the conflict in the early years of the Thirty Years War.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux is the second of the roleplaying game’s two core rulebooks. The first, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 provides the core rules for the roleplaying game, whilst the second, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux provides the means to actually create Player Characters. Further rulebooks and supplements add expanded rules, magic, science, and divinity, provide a detailed scenario and setting, and describe Paris in this period. A Player Character in Miseries & Misfortunes has six governing abilities—Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. These range in value between three and eighteen, but can go lower. Each provides a bonus to the roleplaying game’s eight skills, but for situations where pure Strength or Intelligence is required, a roll equal to, or less than the value will succeed. The eight core skills are Break, Improvise, Listen, Parley, Sang Froid, Search, Sneak, and Traverse. Of these Sang Froid, or ‘cold blood’, is the strong will and steeliness needed to commit acts of violence. Each skill is represented by a die type and rating, for example, ‘3/6’, meaning that the Player Character must roll three or less on a six-sided die to succeed. If a skill is raised to ‘5/6’ and then raised again, its die type increases to ‘7/8’, meaning that the Player Character must roll seven or less on an eight-sided die to succeed. The maximum a Player Character can have in a skill is ‘19/20’. The rating of a skill can be raised during character generation, following the Life Paths presented in Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux, and temporarily during play with bonuses for situation and the Player Character’s actions. A skill rating reduced to zero is ‘Unmoored’ and rolled on ‘1/10’.

A Player Character has four saves—Artillery, Chance, Poison & Plague, and Terror. These are set at sixteen. They can be lowered as a result of events in a Player Character’s Life Path. Similarly, his values for Defence—based on Strength, and Dodge—based on Dexterity, are also modified by a Player Character’s Life Path. Hit Points and Will—lost either in a duel of wits, from losing a fight, from encountering the supernatural, or being attacked in the press—are also determined by a Player Character’s Life Path. A Player Character has three Mentalités, Nationality, Politics, and Religion, which are also treated like skills. In the core rules for Miseries & Misfortunes, Nationality will be French, but Politics can be Royalist, Froundeur, Noblist, Hapsburg, or Cardinalist, whilst Religion can be Catholic, Lutheran, Huguenot, or Jewish. All of which will set up rivalries and influence interaction as play progresses. Lastly, a Player Character will have Precedence, which will depend upon which of the three estates he belongs to and his station within that estate. This is the equivalent of his social status and will play a role in interactions with NPCs and in duels of wit.

To create a character, a player first works with the other players to create a Motif. This is a bond that the Player Characters share together as a group, can be invoked during play. Once decided, the player rolls for his character’s Quality of Birth and Wealth, which determines his income source and the number of obligations he has. This is followed by rolls for his income range and property type owned, which can also increase his number of obligations, the first of which is to the state and the second to the self. Dependents and their lifestyles increase the Player Character’s Obligation. The player rolls Mentalités for his character followed by his abilities. The latter are rolled on three six-sided dice, in order, and can provide modifiers to basic skills, saves, and more.

Following this, the Player Character is put through a series of Lifepaths. A Lifepath provides the base Hit Points for the Player Character, along with modifiers to Saves and basic skills, plus skills particular to the Lifepath for a total of six. Each Lifepath has a maximum of six Levels, with each Level requiring certain objectives to be fulfilled before the Player Character can advance. For example, to advance to Third Level, a Musketeer must both defend the honour of the Musketeers and defend his honour in a duel. Each Level grants all of the bonuses, but one less skill each time. Thus, a Third Level Sailor selects four skills to improve, but only three at Fifth Level. There are twelve Lifepaths. These are Américain(e), Clerk, Factotum, Filou, Gamin(e), Infantry Officer, Merchant-Venturer, Musketeer, Passeur, Petty Noble, Sailor, and Soldier. Of these, Américain(e) are those who have returned from the colonies, including escaped slaves; Filou are petty criminals; Gamin(e) are the orphans and urchins, the younger siblings of the Filou; and the Passeur ferries goods and persons across the River Seine in Paris. For a starting Player Character it is suggested that three Levels be taken in the one Lifepath. In addition, at each Level, a base skill also increases.

The choice of starting Lifepath also determines a Player Character’s starting age, whilst the Quality of Birth his life expectancy. The latter is rolled by the Game Master rather than the player and kept secret. The difference between current age and life expectancy becomes the Player Character’s Mortal Coil, which can be spent to gain bonuses to rolls and saves. Lastly, the player works what the character’s Measures—Hit Points, Will, Defence and Dodge, Morale, Reputation, and Precedence—all are determined.

In addition to completing tasks and objectives necessary to advance to the next Level of a Lifepath, a Player Character can attempt to complete tasks and objectives necessary to advance to the next Level of his three Mentalités—Nationality, Politics, and Religion. For example, to advance his Nationality Mentalité from First Level to Second Level, his Player Character must visit the capital for a royal celebration and see the king or queen as well as boast about the indomitable spirit and proud national character of his character, whilst to do the same for his Religious Mentalité, he simply has to attend to religious ceremonies in support of his faith.
Our sample Player Character is Phillippus. His family are paper makers and booksellers. His intelligence was spotted at an early age and he benefited from a Jesuit education despite his faith and was sponsored to attend university. He has recently graduated and is seeking a position as a clerk to better himself. His family includes two cousins by marriage who are pleased of the opportunity to work in the family business, whilst his younger brother has yet to decide his future.

Phillippus
Third Level Clerk
Age: 21 (Life Expectancy 60, Mortal Coil 39)

Quality of Birth: Artisan
Social Strata: Artisan
Income Source: Business Income Range: 5
Property: City Home (Asset Value: 3) Wealth Rating: 5/6
Debts: Owes a small debt

Obligations: 9
State 1/6 Personal 1/6

Dependents: 3
Younger cousin (In-law, Bread Alone, Obligation 1), Older Cousin (In-law, Bread Alone, Obligation 1), Younger Brother (Blood, Respectable, Obligation 2)

MENTALITÉS
Nationality: French 1/6 Politics: Royalist 1/6 Religion: Huguenot 1/6

ABILITIES
Strength 10 Intelligence 17 (+2) Wisdom 13 (+1) Dexterity 11 Constitution 13 (+1) Charisma 14 (+1)

SKILLS
Accounting 5/6, Break 1/6 Composition 5/6, Improvise 2/6 Listen 3/6 Parley 4/6 Sang Froid 2/6 Search 3/6 Sneak 2/6 Traverse 2/6

OTHER LIFEPATH SKILLS
Documentarian (+2 to hit with Accuse, confess, and Threaten actions in Duel of Wits with documentary support), Record Keeper (+2 to Search skill in libraries, archives, or government offices)

LANGUAGES
French 7/8, Greek 1/6, Latin 3/6, Spanish 2/6

SAVES
Artillery 16 Chance 13 Poison & Plague 12 Terror 15

MEASURES
Hit Points: 9 Will: 8
Defence: 10 Dodge: 11 Morale: 8
Reputation: 5 Precedence: 3rd État/3

The process is not difficult, but it is detailed and it is fiddly. There are a lot of numbers to note down and so on, so the process does take a bit of time. If there is anything missing from the selection of Lifepaths, it is those for the members of the clergy, the First Estate. These though are actually detailed in Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane. Another issue, perhaps, is the role of women in the setting. There is no discussion of this, whether to adhere to a historical attitudes and roles or run the roleplaying game allowing more wider roles for both men and women. Ultimately, this will be up to the Game Master and her players to decide. That said, from the Lifepaths given, there is also no adventuress-style role akin to that of Milady de Winter, as depicted in The Three Musketeers. Yet in the case of Milady de Winter, there is also no Nun Lifepath to start from, either in Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux or Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane. To start then, a player might start with Filou or Gamine and build a similar history using other Lifepaths such as Petty Noble.
Beyond the basics of creating a character, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux covers Virtues and Flaws, such as Patient or Compassionate, Cruel or Gluttonous. These tied to a Player Character’s six abilities, but are not selected during the creation process. Instead, they are chosen and earned through play, several sessions into the game. Rounding out Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux is a section of equipment and for the Game Master a set of tables for creating NPCs. More broadly, there is a short guide to curses appropriate to the period and in ‘Mode of the Day’, a guide to the speech patterns of the period. Though short, this is a delight, making clear that the players and their characters should be polite, speak obliquely and colourfully, and use more words than a modern speaker would. For example, “Monsieur, I wish it were the case that you had cause to visit the Netherlands just the once and so could spend your time at home in this very fine house with its bounteous wine cellar and extensive, if unleafed, library, in the tender embrace of your beautiful wife, on French soil as every true patriot should, but I have it on very good authority, the Dutch authorities indeed, that you have been seen in Rotterdam more than once. Indeed, Dutch records show that you purchased numerous cargoes, but unfortunately, having searched the state records, my efforts have been in vain. I simply cannot find any record of the taxes owed to the crown on those cargoes. I am but a humble bureaucrat, perhaps you can enlightenment me as to where you sold those cargoes and what taxes you paid on them?”

Physically, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux is well presented and written, and includes a full example of character creation, which goes some way to ease the learning of the process. It is illustrated with a period artwork and etchings which helps impart its historical setting. If it is missing anything, it is an index, but at just over sixty pages, this is not too much of an issue.
Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux presents the character creation process for Miseries & Misfortunes in as straightforward a fashion as is possible. It could have done with a simple listing of the complete step-by-step process with page numbers, but the book is quite short, so the process is not necessarily difficult, but rather takes a little getting used to, given the number of things that a player has to do to create a character. The resulting Player Character sits somewhere in terms of complexity and detail between Maelstrom and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, capable, but fragile as per the Old School Renaissance origins of Miseries & Misfortunes demands.

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—
“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”, (L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between, 1953). Never is there a more apt quote for Lashings of Ginger Beer: A spiffing role-playing game. In the twenty-first century, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to roleplaying games in which we play children or teenagers going off on adventures, free of the aegis of either parents or adults, of which Tales from the Loop and Kids on Bikes are most well-known. First published in 1995 by Beyond Belief Games, it is the 2003 edition that is the best-known version. As any Briton of a certain age, what Lashings of Ginger Beer is about—or is inspired by—is the adventures of the Famous Five, the characters from the series of books by children’s author, Enid Blyton. The five, Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the Dog, cycle into the countryside or sail across to an island where they explore the area, notice things out of the ordinary, discover secret tunnels, uncover criminal activities, and help bring the perpetrators to justice. Not just the Famous Five, but also the characters of Blyton’s Secret Seven and those of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons. In the bucolic idyll found over the Easter and summer holidays such characters will engage in carefree camping trips, have adventures, not worry about school or home life, and enjoy massive farmhouse teas or hampers of food.
A kid in Lashings of Ginger Beer has four attributes—Tough, Deft, Clever, and Charm. These range in value between one and three. Younger kids have better ratings in Deft and Charm, whilst older kids have higher Tough and Clever attributes. Each Kid has a Kid Type—Good (‘Normal’), Swot (‘Bookworm’), or Truant (‘Tomboy’). These model the members of the Famous Five to an extent. So that the rebellious George is most obviously a Truant (‘Tomboy’), whilst Dick and Julian are Good kids, and Anne either a Good kid or a Swot. All Kids have two things they are good at, Hide and Snoop, whilst each Kid Type provides a further list of things a Kid is good at. The Good Kid Type is good at ‘Act Innocently’, ‘Camping’, Hobbies’, Sports’, ‘Ride Bicycle’, and ‘Spot Nasty People’. The Swot is good at ‘Sciences’, ‘History’, Geography’, ‘Languages’, ‘Music’, and ‘Useless Facts’. The Truant is good at ‘Fighting’, ‘Wriggle (from Grasp)’, ‘Climb Trees & Walls’, ‘Catapult’, ‘Throwing Things’, and ‘Lie Convincingly’.

To create a Kid, a player decides upon his Kid’s age, which sets the four attributes, and then add a single point to one. He then chooses a Kid Type and divides eight points between the things that the Kid Type is good at. It is possible to select things that the Kid is good at from another Kid Type, but this is more expensive. He also begins with three useful things, two of which he has to purchase. It is assumed that he has a few shillings and pence saved from pocket money and in addition, may have brothers and sisters. Lastly, all of the players should decide what their gang is called, for example, ‘The Fearless Four’ or ‘The Mysterious Crew’. A gang can also have a scruffy dog, which can be taught a handful of commands.

Henry
Kid Type: Swot Age: 13
Tough 2 Deft 2 Clever 3 Charm 2
Things He Is Good At:

Sciences 2 History 1 Geography 1 Languages 1 Music 1 Useless Facts 2

Mechanically, Lashings of Ginger Beer uses pools of six-sided dice equal to an attribute plus the thing that the Kid is good at. A roll of one six is a success, with additional success meaning that the Kid has achieved the task with greater alacrity. Contests are won by whomever rolls the most successes, though ties are possible. This includes combat, where a tie might result in a standoff. If a Kid suffers damage, he loses points of his Tough attribute. If a Kid has his Tough attribute reduced to zero, he is not killed, of course, but rather bruised, with a black eye or the scraped knee. Lastly, the result of any roll also determines who gains the narration rights to the outcome, the player if his Kid is successful, the Game Master if the Kid is unsuccessful.

Beyond this, there are some notes on Idyllic England, suggestions as what the Kids’ gang name—and book series—name might be, and a short list of appropriate language for the period, so that something that is good, would be “Wizard!” or a disappointed Kid might exclaim, “Darn it!” There are notes too on the play of the game, no more than a paragraph, to the effect that Lashings of Ginger Beer is meant to be fun, that the rules are not in any way realistic, and that they are this way to fit the style of Idyllic England. Half of Lashings of Ginger Beer is dedicated to ‘Adventures & Mysteries’. There are six of these, which take a circus, a mysterious manor, a haunted castle, and so on. These are really all quite fun and are obviously inspired by the fiction.

Mechanically, Lashings of Ginger Beer is simple, even simplistic, and lacking in nuance. Part of the issue is with the Kid options available, which are limited and offer too many skills across the three Kid Types. It is difficult to design a Kid outside of its Type, confining them to strict archetypes. Plus, it is difficult to design Kids like Anne of the Famous Five, which would closer model the source material.

Physically, and in keeping with the style and tone of the game, Lashings of Ginger Beer is a simple affair. The layout is clean and tidy, the line art a mix of period pieces and modern additions. The latter is not as good as the former, but the latter is not accompanied by anachronistic titles.

If you are of a certain age, Lashings of Ginger Beer: A spiffing role-playing game has a problem. Much like Pendragon has the issue of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Lashings of Ginger Beer: A spiffing role-playing game has The Comic Strip Presents... Five Go Mad in Dorset. Broadcast in 1982, this parodied the children adventurer format of the Famous Five and the social attitudes prevalent in Blyton’s stories. It is difficult to roleplay Lashings of Ginger Beer without lapsing into that parody and quoting from it. Yet even as that it is a problem, it is one that Lashings of Ginger Beer acknowledges, though without actually mentioning it. For example, the very title, Lashings of Ginger Beer’, is taken from The Comic Strip Presents... Five Go Mad in Dorset rather than Enid Blyton’s books where it never appears. Then the artwork parodies the source material too, for example, with Julian and Dick in bathing suits, running into the water and shouting how good the acid that they have just taken is and suggesting that they should give some to Timmy the Dog. Some of the captions to the artwork, all of its period appropriate, are even more suggestive. So even as Lashings of Ginger Beer is presenting itself as a straightforward roleplaying game based on a very English genre, it is both parodying both itself and its source material, whilst also acknowledging the parody. Which establishes an odd dissonance between the tone of the writing and the tone of the artwork, between the tone of the game and source material and the anachronism of the parody.

Besides having a problem, Lashings of Ginger Beer: A spiffing role-playing game is a deeply problematic game, primarily because of its source material and influences that are reflective of the time when they were written and the social attitudes of the time when they were written. The Famous Five books present an England that is a White, Middle-Class idyll in which foreigners cannot be trusted, women have their place, and you can be snobs about both the poor and the rich. It is fair to say that Lashings of Ginger Beer does not reflect any of this itself, but for a modern audience aware of the issues with the source material, it is always going to be lurking in the background as they play.

Another issue with Lashings of Ginger Beer is that it shows its age in terms of design, especially in comparison to the number of roleplaying games that explore the children adventurer genre currently available. For example, Kids on Bikes from Hunters Entertainment and Renegade Studios and Tales from the Loop from Free League Publishing are both more sophisticated in terms of their mechanics, yet without much more in the way of complexity. They also offer more choice and more nuance in that choice in terms of what the players can choose as their characters and character archetypes. Similarly, roleplaying games like Tales from the Loop also offer more emotional sophistication in terms of the Player Characters and especially in terms of their family lives, which reflect the often difficult and fractured nature of the family during the eighties when it is set.
Consequently, were a designer to create a children adventurer-type roleplaying game today, it would be unlikely to be based upon or draw from the same source material and though it would aim for mechanical simplicity in its rules, it would offer a wider of options to play and it would address the emotional nuances in the genre. Design demands have changed radically since 2003.
Of course, to be fair, Lashings of Ginger Beer is not set in the eighties and it is set in an idyll when the idea of family difficulties was something to be kept behind closed doors as best could be, but the upshot is that none of the Player Characters in the roleplaying game possess anything akin to emotional depth or a life away from their adventures. Lashings of Ginger Beer is about roleplaying in that interlude, carefree and joyous, between the responsibilities of home, family, and school, as much as it is on exploration, snooping, and unmasking smugglers and international criminal masterminds on the Dorset coast.
Here then, ultimately lies the charm of Lashings of Ginger Beer: A spiffing role-playing game—and it is charming—the emulation and clear love of its source material, despite its underwhelming rules. It is never going to escape the issues with its source material and there have been better treatments of the children adventurer genre since, but Lashings of Ginger Beer: A spiffing role-playing game, one of the earliest entries in its genre, is simple and charming.

Calamity has befallen London (and beyond). The year before last, a great comet was seen in the sky, surely a sign of an ill portend. Last year it proved to be so as the plague swept through the city, infected households being forced to isolate as the authorities nailed the doors to houses shut. Carts roll through the city collecting the dead, ready to transport them to great burial pits, so many are they. The King and his court have fled the city, leaving the poor to suffer and survive—if they can. Now a worse calamity has struck the city. A strange alien has discovered the city and seen the suffering of its inhabitants as an opportunity to spread its own its seed—literally—and so turn all of the surviving inhabitants into a cult wholly devoted to it. First London. Then the world. This is the set-up for Beware The Mindfuck!, a scenario for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess. It is a little different from other scenarios released by the publisher. Though set in the roleplaying game’s default era of the Early Modern period, it is much shorter than the typical scenario from the publisher at twelve pages long, it is more obviously a one-shot, and it is designed for Player Characters of Fourth Level. It also carries an ‘18+ Explicit Content’ label on the front cover—and it deserves to.

Be warned. The language and the tone of Beware The Mindfuck! is strong and of an adult nature and it deserves that warning label. Some of that language is repeated as part of the review where necessary.

More specifically, it is Saturday, 1st September 1666. The plague has raged across the city for a year. An alien being known only as the Mindfucker has occupied the church on Pudding Lane. It has begun ejaculating ‘Ectoparasitoid Jizz’ out of its penis-like tentacle and this ejaculate is not only identical to the fleas that are the vector for the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, but also one of its two effects is to infect the victims it bites with symptoms that are not dissimilar to Yersinia pestis. This effect is fatal. The other effect is not fatal, but does cause its victims to fall under the sway of the Mindfucker. Not only that, but they also become fanatically devoted to the alien, worshipping and serving him in any fashion they can. Having established itself and its cult in the church, even amongst the chaos of the plague-ridden city, its presence has been noticed… There are two suggestions as to how it comes to the attention of the Player Characters. One is for them to be employed by the Catholic Church to locate and investigate a new faith called the Saints of Psion, the other is for some of Player Characters to stumble across another Player Character that has already been grabbed by the Mindfucker’s fanatics and is being carried back to the church.

If Beware The Mindfuck! is anything, it is a collection of NPCs, monsters, and encounters that the Player Characters might meet in the course of the scenario. This course sees the Player Characters cross London from an unspecified starting point to Pudding Lane. There is some description of the city and of the plague itself, but in the main, Beware The Mindfuck! is dedicated to its inhabitants and encounters. The former include watchmen who use their authority to line their pockets, body snatchers who will knock out and grab the living to sell to doctors looking for a cure to the plague, and plague doctors whose remedy for the plague, borne in horribly large syringes, is actually deadlier than the plague itself! The encounters take in all of these and more, including rat swarms, bigger rat swarms, men handing out victuals, a turncoat from the cult, and an infected nun. Perhaps the weirdest of all is the conspiracy theorist who sounds mad, but actually is speaking the truth and is modelled on Alex Jones, and the reviewer who turns up and criticises the actual scenario that the players are playing and the Game Master is running. This appears to be hilarious, at least as far as the author is concerned.

It all ends with a few haphazard notes from the author as to the lack of map and what he added to the second playtest, but not in the published scenario. Which ultimately, does not amount to much more than a meatgrinder of one nasty encounter after another across London before the Player Characters get to the church on Pudding Lane and hopefully discover that they cannot kill the alien in a standup fight and so resort to other means to destroy both it and its cultists. Presumably with fire, because this is Pudding Lane and it is London and it is 1666. Which is about as much plot as there is.

Physically, Beware The Mindfuck! is short, clean, and tidy. It needs a slight edit, but the main thing it lacks is a map or two. The author is fully aware of this and makes a point of it. Not only that, but also lampooning reviewers in the encounter table complaining about the lack of maps. He makes the legitimate point that there are plenty of maps of seventeenth century London online that the Game Master can use. This is fair, although what is not fair, is the lack of maps of the alien’s lair to be found online. He also makes the point that when he runs a game, he does not use maps. This is also a legitimate point, but only in two places. First in his mind and second at his table. However, Beware The Mindfuck! is not written or published to be solely run at the author’s table and solely by the author, but by other Game Masters and in other places. Said Game Masters might want or appreciate the inclusion of a map, but in this case the author willfully and illegitimately ignores what they might want or need. Make of that what you will.

Beware The Mindfuck! is coarse, boorish, and vulgar. At its best—and that is not a term that can be applied in general to this scenario—Beware The Mindfuck! possesses an attention to detail parts in describing its vile depiction of plague-ridden London. At its worst—and that is a term that can be applied in general to this scenario—Beware The Mindfuck! is prurient and unpleasant. Fans of Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying will probably appreciate it for that. Anyone else will probably find little of use in its pages and are advised to avoid it.

—oOo—
DISCLAIMER: The author of this review is an editor who has edited titles for Lamentations of the Flame Princess on a freelance basis. He was not involved in the production of this book and his connection to both publisher and thus the author has no bearing on the resulting review.

 I have been blogging for a long time. 16 years, 17 when April hits. Prior to that, I had a website, The Other Side, that I started mainly as a means to teach myself HTML and, later, PHP.  To point is I consider myself up on top of what is happening in my little nook of the Internet. It's not everything, but I am generally not surprised by things.

This picture has nothing at all to do with this post. I just love it. Simon Bunny is now 6.

So I was...well, surprised when a recent call for blog sites on a recent social media post turned up dozens of blogs I had never seen or read before.

My effort then for February is to follow and interact with more of these "new to me" blogs and expand out to more. Also, I want to get my own readership up a bit. Granted I know I am niche flavor inside a niche market. It might be likely that I have appealed to everyone I am going to. But I guess there is that off chance that I have not. I'd like to find those people, I'd like them to find me. 

The ultimate goal, of course, is to are new ideas to read and new things I have considered. This is D&D's and RPG's 50th anniversary, I have been active for 45 years of that. Even then, I don't pretend to know it all. I mean, think you know games? Go to Gen Con one year and be amazed at all the stuff you know and how much more you don't.

What can you do?

Simple! Recommend me a new blog. Recommend an old one you really like for me to read. Let's expand our circles of community.

From the delightful Where’s My Shoggoth? to H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu for beginning readers, there have been numerous attempts to meld the Cosmic Horror of Lovecraft’s fiction with the children’s author of your choice or in the children’s book format. Some are simple as the Mythos ABC books, whilst others are clever parodies, such as TinTin meets Lovecraft and Ken Hite’s Where the Deep Ones Are published by Atlas Games. At the same time, whilst many can be read by or to children, they often inject a sense of humour into the highly baroque and densely descriptive style of Lovecraft’s writing and this acts as a counter to the cosmic horror and the unknown at the heart of his fiction. Of course, today, Cthulhu and his ilk are known far and wide across multiple media, if not necessarily, the actual details of the story where he appears. A Call To Cthulhu follows this well trod path and not only acknowledges the original story where great Cthulhu first appeared, but many others by H.P. Lovecraft.

A Call To Cthulhu is written and drawn by Norm Konyu and published by Titan Books as part of its Nova imprint for teenage readers. Described as “part comicbook, part artbook, part unsuitable-for-toddlers storybook”, it is a thoroughly modern imagining of Mythos, coming at it via an all too familiar aspect of contemporary life to look back at and reference Lovecraft’s major stories and creations one by one. Cthulhu though, remains the central figure and for reasons that will become clear never strays from the narrative, a lurking, looming figure despite the distances between the narrator and the Great Old One. The conceit of A Call To Cthulhu is that of an unwanted telephone call, one received by Cthulhu himself on his mobile telephone from an unknown caller. Reception it seems, is excellent near the Pacific oceanic pole of inaccessibility, let alone on the ocean floor! It must be something eldritch. The caller—it could be Lovecraft himself or simply the narrator, being shown only in silhouette at the table in the library where he has been reading more than safe for his sanity of the Elder Gods—then begins to berate and castigate Cthulhu for his monstrous nature and inhuman attitudes, complaining how he cannot sleep, that he hears rats in the walls, and hates him, and would give him a wedgie were he a step closer!

The irreverent tone does not just apply to Great Cthulhu, but almost every creation of Lovecraft comes in for a tongue lashing. These, as is most of the book, are presented in richly coloured double spreads contrasting with the text on its stark white pages. The style of the prose is simple, being in the ‘ABCB’ rhyming style, making easy to read—especially aloud. For example:
“Born of the Nameless Mist
Yog-Sothoth is a jerk
Outside of the Galaxy
Where he tends to lurk”

and

“Sharks can be scary
So can a two-headed calf
But penguins, dear Cthulhu
Really?
Are you having a laugh?”

Thus A Call To Cthulhu takes the reader to Dunwich of ‘The Dunwich Horror’ and the Antarctic of ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, but these are not the only stories and places referenced in the book. The narrator in turn takes us to the empty quarter of ‘The Nameless City’, the worst town on the coast of New England in ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’, sidesteps into the Dreamlands for an encounter with ‘The Cats of Ulthar’, and beyond in pursuit of Kadath in ‘The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath’, before a final confrontation with the eponymous Old One he is awoken and the pirate ship, the Alert, is rammed into his head! All told A Call To Cthulhu encompasses fifteen of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories. Of the author’s choices, all but two can be regarded as well known. The lesser known ones here are ‘The White Ship’ and ‘The terrible Old Man’, and whilst there is nothing wrong with their inclusion, they do take the place of more well known stories such as ‘Herbert West, Reanimator’ that on recognition alone would have merited inclusion. Another issue is that ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ has two double spreads devoted to it rather than the one of everything else, but arguably that is the largest of Lovecraft’s stories and so deserves the extra attention.

After having been told where to go by the narrator and Cthulhu has flown off in disgust, A Call To Cthulhu comes to a close two sections of reference material. The first of these asks, ‘Who was H.P. Lovecraft?’ The answer is is given in a short, one page biography which does not stray away from being honest about his social attitudes and racism. It does not dwell on them unnecessarily, but it does make it clear that he had them. The second is a story and illustration key that explains each image and its associated story. This is a useful and pleasing inclusion for the reader wanting to know more and understand the references.

A Call To Cthulhu is a slim volume, but beautifully illustrated veering the comic depictions of Cthulhu as he reacts to the unexpected caller and the more ominous depictions of the peoples, places, and things of the Mythos. Throughout there is a immense sense of scale, of things constantly looming over the reader, whether it is the Colour erupting in the sky in ‘The Colour Out of Space’ or the three-engined Dornier skiplane as it dips between the previously hidden peaks of the mountains and the strange city with its cyclopean architecture in ‘At the Mountains of Madness’.

As much as the narrator yells and screams at Cthulhu, telling the Great Old One how much he hates both him and other aspects of the Mythos, the comedic effect of this is contrasted by an underlying sense that the narrator is also frightened of them both. There is just enough of an edge to A Call To Cthulhu to hint at the horror of the Mythos, to suggest that it is something to be sacred of rather than to laugh at, but without truly scaring the younger reader or the listener who is having this book read to them. This though makes the book more appealing to the older reader as well as the Lovecraft devotee who will appreciate and understand the underlying fear and know its sources.

A little sharper, even spikier than most Lovecraft adaptations for children and younger readers, A Call To Cthulhu is a pleasure to read and a delight to look at. This is a Lovecraftian children’s book that can be read at bedtime and enjoyed by children and non-children alike.

 Let's start this series with the book that has the most meaning to me and the first one in the series: Wizards and Witches. Fitting for Imbolc on Thursday really.

Overview of the Series

The Enchanted World books from Time-LIFE were a series of high-quality, hardcover books sent to you via mail from Time-LIFE subscription. The first one you got for free was Wizards and Witches. This also makes it the most common one and the one you can find in most secondary markets. Fortunately for me, it was also my favorite.  

Imagine, if you can, a time when one of the world's largest publishers decided to invest in a series of books (21 in total) filled with full-color art, cloth-bound covers, and access to some of the world's greatest libraries and scholars. Libraries like the Bodleian Library at Oxford, Cambridge Library, and the London Library. Scholars like Prof. Tristram Potter Coffin (Chief Series Consultant),  Ellen Phillips (Series Director and Editor), and Prog. Brendan Lehane (author of this volume).

Well, that time was 40 years ago, and the Enchanted World series sought to capitalize on the growing fascination with all things fantasy, not in a small part due to the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons.

Over the years, I have seen a lot of collections of other folks' RPG books. It is no surprise when you see one or more of these books stuck in their mix of FRPGs.

Many of the books follow a similar pattern. Usually, 3-4 chapters of the book detail different aspects of the myths and folklore being covered. These are usually interspersed with some of the stories themselves or excerpts, as well as art. The art is often from classical sources or paintings depicting the stories or characters involved. There are also new pieces of art throughout. There are margin notes or marginalia with some other related tidbit of information. Each chapter ends with a longer story.

There is a bibliography, art credits, and some publication notes in the back.

These books were published around the world. Some of the European publications also had dust covers.

Wizards and Witches

by Brendan Lehane, 1984 (144 pages)
ISBN 0809452049, 0809452057 (US Editions)

This book is divided into three sections covering ancient wizards, wizards of the Middle Ages, and witches. There is quite a lot of art from Arthur Rackham here. 

Chapter One: Singers at the World's Dawn

Here, we begin with a tale of the old Finish wizard Väinämöinen and the young upstart Joukahainen in what could be considered a magical sing-off. The line between Bard and Wizard was very thin in ancient Finland. Thus it was when the world was young and youth could aspire to wizardry. We learn of other powerful names like Volga Vseslavich, Cathbad, Manannan Mac Lir, Taliesin, and, most well-known of all, Merlin. Not all were old men. Ceridwen, Circe, and Louhi were there too.

The thesis here is that in those olden days magic was something people could aspire too, but few could truly master. We get snippets of stories of all these wizards and sorceresses, each playing into the next. It is somewhere between a bedtime story and an undergraduate survey of various wizards. In between we get longer stories, like the "Wizard of Kiev" and "The Welsh Enchanter's Fosterling."  All cover magic in a semi-forgotten age that seems to have one foot in history and another in mythology.

Chapter Two: Masters of Forbidden Arts

If the last chapter dealt with magical using men and women as heroes as often as villains, then this chapter leaves no ambiguity on where it sees (or rather history sees) the wizard of the Middle Ages. Here the singing battles of Bard-Wizards are given way to the academic study of magic in dusty tomes of forgotten lore and those who sell their very soul for power. We encounter the likes of Roger Bacon (1219-1292), Oxford Scholar, Empirical Philosopher, Franciscan friar, and dabbler in magic. There is even a bit on Michel de Nostredame (1503-1566) aka Nostradamus. But for the most part we see magic going from a force of nature in a world where the rules are not yet set in stone, to men (for the most part) partaking in deals with demonic or devilish figures for power. All it takes is their soul.

We spend quite a bit of time on the legend of Faust and his deal with Mephistopheles. In fact, this one is so set into our vernacular that a "Faustian Deal" hardly needs any explanations. 

Given the time period, there is also a wonderful overview of the Tarot and its origins with some rather fantastic art. 

But most of all I loved the "Legions of the Night" section with its coverage of Demons. The descriptions of just the few here and the art by Louis Le Breton from the Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy were enough to make me want even more strange demons in my game. More so since it featured Astaroth. A demon that already fascinated me from when I first saw him in Best of Dragon II.

Harry Clarke's illustrations of Mephistopheles should be how the devil appears all the time. 

Along with the Tarot, there is some coverage on astrology. This predates the Middle Ages by, well, thousands of years really, but there was new keen importance on it at this time. 

Chapter Three: The Shadowy Sisterhood

Ah. Here are my witches. We get some cover on what could be called Folk Magic or Hedge Witchery, on how these natural healers were initially an important part of everyday life. The magic was simpler and more in tune with nature.

Throughout this chapter, the "helpers" of witches are mentioned. We call them Familiars. Up first is the hare, which they claim (and back up) was closer to the witch than the black cat we associate with today. This reminds me that rabbits and hares should really feature more in my games. The others include spiders, ravens and crows, cats, snakes, and toads, which they claim as one of the first animals to be associated with witches. I have read that before as well.

As the chapter professes the old Black Magic vs. White Magic trope appears. While less in favor today among Real WitchesTM (remember the ads with Litney Burns?) it is an important distinction of the time. It is almost the same divide as the "Natural" vs. "Academic" wizards of the first two chapters, really. 

There are various stories, mostly about how someone was suspected of witchcraft and what happened. But also the machinations of witches in general. 

There is a section flight and witches and how brooms were not used at first, but rather things like butter churns and distaffs. I even added distaffs to my games in part because of this connection. 

Our story at the end of this chapter is a classic tale of Baba Yaga and Vasilsa the Fair. Again featuring amazing artwork, this time right from Vasilisa the Beautiful by Ivan Bilibin.

Use in FRPGs

With so many books out there, there is no end to the ideas they can generate. Upfront, it should be noted there is nothing "new" here. The stories, the folklore, and even a lot of the art are things we have all seen before. The stories of wizards like Väinämöinen, Merlin, Faust, and Circe should all be known to anyone who has a passing interest in fantasy and, indeed, to anyone who has played FRPGs. But that is not where their value lies. These books do have tidbits that the causal pursuer of these tales would not know, and maybe even some for the more advanced students.

To be sure, while there is academic rigor here, these are not textbooks. But they are educational.

Reading these tales one could use them as the basis for other characters. There is more than just a little bit of Taliesin in my own Phygora, for example. These tales, often set right on top of each other, can give the reader and player plenty of means of comparison. 

This book also makes good arguments for the separation between, say, Wizards, Warlocks, and Witches (as represented by the three chapters) but less of an argument on where bards fit in. Are Taliesin and Väinämöinen wizards or bards, for example? It is not up to this book to decide but rather the reader.

If you are playing a game like D&D that lives in a different world, then ideas abound. I mean we know Gygax, Arneson and the early designers of the game were very much into folklore and mythology. Those elements are the hook for more of these, beyond the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths we were all raised on.  Like any good synthesis, it should make you want to check out the primary stories these are all from.  If you are playing a Medieval game, say Chivalry & Sorcery or Pendragon, then this is practically a sourcebook for you. I would even say it is a must-have for a Mage: Dark Ages or Mage: Sorcerers Crusade game.

Witches

I can't let it go unsaid, even if it is obvious, but this book profoundly affected me when it was out. While I did not own my own copy until much later on, I had friends that had it. Since this was the first of the series, many people had it. The art in this book set the feel for how I wanted my Witch class books to look. I have since included the art of Arthur Rackham and the Pre-Raphelites in many of my books. This was one of the books that made me want a witch book for D&D. When none showed in the stores I took it on myself to make it. I do know that my first encounter with the "Black School" of the Scholomance was from this book.

While I can't say with any certainty other than the timeline, this book was likely a contributing factor to one of my favorite themes in games; Pagans vs. Christians and how magic would later be demonized by the Church.

This series is lovely, and each book, while filled with things I already knew, also has many things I did not. 

My only real complaint? At 12.25" x 9", they just don't fit nicely into a standard bookcase.

Next Time: What is love?

 All month long, I have been giving you D&D characters of various editions I have converted over to the O.G.R.E.S.-powered Wasted Lands. Today, I am really putting my money where my mouth is and creating a new Witch Queen character native to the Wasted Lands' Dreaming Age. 

So I have presented several Witch Queens for my War of the Witch Queens campaign. The conceit is that every D&D-like world has a Witch Queen. I have presented several here and even converted a couple to Wasted Lands. But today's Queen began in the Wasted Lands and rose to power here. Will she be remembered later on? Obtain some level of divinity? Likely. The Witch Queen I am giving you today is Aradia, Queen of the Witches.

Aradia is an interesting figure. "Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches," was a book by American folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland. It makes the claim that Aradia was a historical figure from pagan Tuscany.  It is a similar idea that Margaret Murray's "The Witch-cult in Western Europe" would later adapt and adopt.

As fun as these ideas are, they don't hold up to the most basic academic scrutiny. Still, I like using them in my games, especially NIGHT SHIFT.  

Aradia is also great for Wasted Lands. 

Aradia, Queen of Witches

Aradia is described as the Daughter of the Roman Diana, who has many differences from her Greek counterpart, Artemis. Her father is Lucifer, who is described as a "Sun God" and is either Diana's son or brother. She seduces him and gives birth to their daughter, Aradia. In Leland's book, it is Diana, who is the Queen of Witches, and Aradia, who is akin to a witch Messiah. 

If we return to the Wasted Lands, Diana can be a Warrior/Sorceress from Minoa, and Lucifer would be a Warrior from Ashurii. Aradia learned her magic from mystics in Athenea and learned masters from Atlantis and Mu. She learned folk magic and the secret languages of plants and trees. She has traveled the world, learning magical practices. Her purpose is/was to spread beneficial magic, un-tainted by the Old Ones, to humanity. 

Aradia, then in the Wasted Lands, is the source of Witchcraft. 

Aradia, Queen of Witches

Class: Sorceress (Witch)
Level: 20
Species: Human
Alignment: Twilight Good
Background: Sorcerous

Abilities
Strength: 10 (+0) 
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) N
Wits: 18 (+3) N 
Persona: 20 (+4) A

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 4
Vitality: 114
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Spell Attack: +5
Saves: +7 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer), +2 to Wits saves (Sorcerous Background)

Sorcerous Background
Enhanced Sorcery +10%, Mystical Senses, Bonus Arcane Power: Precognition

Sorceress Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (7): Empathy, Enhanced Senses, Beguile, Detect Thoughts, Teleknesis, Telepathic Transmission, Astral Projection

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Armor of Earth, Bless, Command, Glamour, Predict Weather, Sleep
Second Level: Animal Summoning, Conjure Flame, Invisibility, Lesser Renewal, Subtle Influence
Third Level: Clairvoyance, Cure Disease, Curse, Fly, Speaking Corpse
Fourth Level: Befuddlement, Conjure Fire, Plant Speech, Metamorphosis, Plant Speech
Fifth Level: Banishment, Cornucopia, Restore Life, Shadow Armor
Sixth Level: Dispel Evil, Evoke Weather, Invisible Servant, Reincarnation
Seventh Level: Ball of Sunshine, Call the Restless Soul, Wave of Mutilation, Widdershins Dance
Eighth Level: Mind Shield, Prophesy, Wail of the Banshee
Ninth Level: Breath of the Goddess, Feedback Barrier, Sleeping Village

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: Plus 10% to Spell Casting
2nd Level: Additional Spell: Damage Undead
3rd Level: Familiar: Raven
4th Level: Magical Recovery
5th Level: Grant Spellcasting
6th Level: Immunity to Spells/Magic
7th Level: Cult
*7th Level: Cease to Age
8th Level: Bestow Blessing
9th Level: Heal Corruption

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Gear
Staff, Dagger

Aradia in the Wasted Lands

This is the start of Aradia she was the first mortal witch, and her actions are the beginnings of witchcraft in the world. She will be remembered after the Dreaming Age end, and the Age of Humans begin. Later, scholars will claim to know of her, but those memories are something deeper and much older.

Aradia in NIGHT SHIFT

This is the Aradia that Leland wrote about and the one Murry wished was true. She is still a force in the modern world, especially when it comes to witches, whom she sees as her progeny. 

Aradia in Thirteen Parsecs

Will Aradia make it beyond the Earth and out into the Solar Frontier? Who is to say, but the Sisters of the Aquarian Order would argue that she is still a force to be reckoned with in their lives.

Aradia in Dungeons & Dragons

In my OSR/BX/D&D games she would be a Classical Witch, but she would also be a Witch Queen Patron to various Warlocks. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games. Thirteen Parsecs is coming soon.