On final approach to the end of the year, and Busy Season at the Triffid Ranch is up and going from now until New Year’s Eve. Some of the frantic activity is due to the Halloween season, where everybody wants … Continue reading →

Curse of the Daughterbrides is a horror of a scenario, with a horrible set-up, a horrid plot, and a horrendous curse. First in the activities of the main NPCs, who break a terrible taboo, and second, in the unexpected effect of a curse cast upon the main NPCs that instead affects almost everyone else. Its set-up is likely to upset a few, thankfully, whilst there are likely to be more than that, much more, who will be upset by the effect of the curse, and then of course, there will plenty who will take offence at just everything to do with the scenario. Curse of the Daughterbrides is a scenario for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay, and whilst the name of that roleplaying game is likely to arouse the ire of many people, let alone the fact that the scenario is written by the publisher, the likelihood is that the scenario’s subject matters are likely to anger them more. So as the title suggests, or at least hints, Curse of the Daughterbrides, deals with incest. That then is the taboo broken in the scenario. The effect of the curse is suicide, both by the NPCs—typically in front of the Player Characters—and because the curse spreads, by the Player Characters themselves. There is no Saving Throw. Given the way that the curse works, there is a strong possibility of a TPK—a Total Party Kill. Or rather, a Total Party Kill Themselves. However, it can be avoided, though doing so in the long term will be a challenge, and there are ways to potentially lift the curse. Which would solve the problem of the curse, but not the taboo.

Curse of the Daughterbrides, like other scenarios published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess it is set in the game’s default early Modern Period. Specifically, in 1630 England, so it would work well with several of the other publisher’s titles or equally easily adapted to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice. Though to be fair, it is very more of a one-shot and whilst the author suggests ways in which the scenario could be added to an ongoing campaign, he even states that the scenario is unsuitable for ongoing play. As the scenario opens, the Player Characters are visiting the Cornish village of Dammell Green—the scenario suggests that the Game Master come up with a reason—where the local festival is being held. Normally this would be pleasant, even jolly affair, but not this year. Pandemonium seems to have rained on the event and everyone there, man, woman, and child, including attendees and stallholders is dead. Almost fifty people dead and it seems by their own hand. As the Player Characters go about the small village they encounter surviving villagers, who do two things. First, they tell the Player Characters that they are screwed and second, they kill themselves using the nearest available means in front of the Player Characters. With that, the Player Characters know that they cursed, how the curse works, and that they are now vectors for the curse. A curse, remember, which will drive them to commit suicide under the right circumstances.

So what exactly, is going on in Dammell Green?

Not long before the Player Characters arrived in the village, a Wizard attending the festive encountered a family he had met before. A family he knew to practise incest, and, in his disgust, he cursed them. Unfortunately, the magical fortitude of family caused the curse to rebound affect everyone else nearby. Which it did. To terrible effect. Now the family—the family of the Daughterbrides of the title—can be talked and reasoned with. They are actually nice people. The elderly patriarch of the family, Daveth Nancarrow—he of the daughterbrides—will be protective of his family and simply want to move on. His daughters and his daughters and his daughters will defer to him, again, wanting to leave the village lest they attract trouble. The Player Characters can also find the offending and offended wizard, but is unlikely to be of immediate help.

Several solutions to the curse are suggested. The Game Master is free to choose whichever feels more appropriate. The Game Master is supported with a detailed background of the family and various members at the heart of the scenario, including a family tree, details of Neythan Liddicoat, the Wizard and his curse, advice on setting the scenario up rather than running it, a list of potential victims for the Player Characters to ensnare in the curse, and a description of the village.

There is even a Daughterbride Class given should a player decide he wants one of the brides of Daveth Nancarrow as his character in future campaigns. The anti-magical ability of the Class explains why the curse cast upon them by Neythan Liddicoat failed to work. The Class is not without its roleplaying challenges, but there definitely would have to be some lines and veils drawn for some scenes when playing her. Though of course, why would you?

Physically, Curse of the Daughterbrides is well presented. It is well written, the map is clear, and the image of an old-fashioned razor used over and over decent enough. To be fair, it is almost a relief that the various situations in the scenario are not illustrated.

The confluence of two wrongs at the heart of Curse of the Daughterbrides do set up a pair of moral quandaries that the players and their characters may have to find a solution for in the scenario. One is what to do with the Wizard whose curse went awry, and the other is what to do with the incestuous Daveth Nancarrow and his brood. Both are left up to the Game Master and her players to address, but if they can get to that point and if not necessarily deal with them both, then at least discuss the possible outcomes, perhaps there is at least some positive outcome to the suffering that the scenario puts everyone through.

Curse of the Daughterbrides does not revel in its subject matter. In fact, it is quite straightforward about it. Which makes it easy to run, and probably as a single-session one-shot. It is simple enough that it possible to envision it being played and potential outcomes explored. Yet why would you? The subject matters at the heart of the scenario are ghastly, genuinely capable of upsetting some people and disgusting others, let alone the fact that the potential outcome of the scenario could be frustrating from a play perspective or that the Game Master might have to describe fifty ways of killing yourself at a village festival. Which is unpleasant in its own way. The subject matters though, remain unpleasant and unpalatable, and for many—despite what the author says—unsuitable to be included in a roleplaying scenario. This is not say that that either subject is unsuitable to be included in a roleplaying scenario, but here there is no delicacy or subtlety. The author is unashamedly pushing it into the faces of both the players and their characters, and again, that is likely to be too much for many a player.

The set-up of Curse of the Daughterbrides is a case of dropping the Player Characters into, if not a no-win situation, then one that is very close, and forcing them to work out how to get out of it. There are plenty of scenarios like that, but here the subject matters just make it worse.

There are going to be some who will be happy to play through Curse of the Daughterbrides, and they are to be commended for their mental fortitude, emotional strength, and hardy stomachs. Others though, should definitely avoid what is a horridly horrible horror of a scenario, very likely with good reason.

Lâminas & Feitiços or Blades & Spells is a minimalist fantasy roleplaying game from South America. In fact, Blades & Spells is another Bronze Age, Swords & Sorcery minimalist fantasy roleplaying game done in pamphlet form from Brazil. In actuality, Blades & Spells is a series of pamphlets, building from the core rules pamphlet to add optional rules, character archetypes, spells, a setting and its gods, and more, giving it the feel of a ‘plug and play’ toolkit. The Storyteller and her players can play using just the core rules, but beyond that, they are free to choose the pamphlets they want to use and just game with those, ignoring the others. So what is Blades & Spells? It describes itself as “…[A] simple, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG game where the Storyteller challenges the Player and not the character sheet.” It is written to pay homage to the classic Sword & Sorcery literature, uses the Basic Universal System—or ‘B.U.S.’—a simple set of mechanics using two six-sided dice, and in play is intended to challenge the player and his decisions rather than have the player rely upon what is written upon his character sheet. Which, being a minimalist roleplaying game, is not much. So although it eschews what the designer describes as the ‘classic restrictions’ of Class, Race, and Level, and it is very much not a Retroclone, there is no denying that Blades & Spells leans into the Old School Renaissance sensibilities.

Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG provides the core rules to the roleplaying game. They are a simple, straightforward set of mechanics, emphasising a deadly world of adventure in which the heroes wield both weapons and magic. Beyond the core rules, Blades & Spells is fully supported with a series of optional pamphlets which expand upon its basics and turn it into a fully rounded roleplaying game. All together these might be seen as  the equivalent of a ‘Blades & Spells Companion’, although they just as easily could be combined into the one publication. In terms of setting, Blades & Spells only goes so far in stating that the default is the Bronze Age and hinting that this setting might be in the Middle East—or at least a fantasy version of it.

Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman describes this setting. ‘The Land of Aaman’ is roughly analogous to ancient Mesopotamia in the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris. The rivers here are the Numadai and Thaar, the lands between them a plateau dotted by ruins of societies past, including ragged ziggurats and complexes below them populated by aberrations and filled with treasures to be plundered. These are believed to be all that is left of great and glorious civilisations once ruled by demi-gods, washed away it is said in the sacred texts, by a cataclysmic flood. The plateau is home to eight city-states. These are described as being fairly similar, most of their tightly packed buildings being constructed of mud bricks and each city being dominated by a large ziggurat temple, a palace, and an arena where bloody gladiator bouts are staged to placate the masses. What separates the city-states are their reputations and the god that each holds to be supreme. For example, Aruk was once the seat to a mighty dynasty of kings, but has declined as the squabbles and intrigues of its nobility have grown, whilst the people of Aqeron, the largest city-state, worship Amurak, the sun god to the near exclusion of all other gods. 

Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman does describe the ‘Lands Beyond’, but not in great detail. It mentions that the Numadai and Thaar flow into the Gulf of the Qoros Sea, that various primitive tribes inhabit the Gemini Delta, and that Amazon warriors raid the peoples of the plateau for both plunder and slaves. Also mentioned is Khmet, a great pharaonic kingdom that sits on the banks of a mighty river that divides a wide desert.

Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond goes into further detail than The Land of Aaman does, in turn, describing Kandar’s Range, the Kingdom of Khmet, and the Middle Sea. In most cases, it is easy to determine what their real-world analogies are. Thus, the Kingdom of Khmet is Ancient Egypt, straddling the great Gonn river and wealthy enough to erect huge pyramidal temples and monuments, whilst Kandar’s Range is all but impassable Himalayas, home to a forbidden monastery on the frigid plateau of Daru, where veiled monks worship in secret. The slopes of the mountains are renowned for rare and wonderful herbs that grown in their soil. These include the trance and vison-inducing lotus as well as the Lo’Ra herb, sought by many arcanists wanting to use it in their rituals. Far to the south-east of the plateau is the kingdom of Hindra, rich in spices, ivory domes, fakirs, and mystics, and thus roughly analogous to India. The supplement also details the nations along the Middle Sea which separates the Kingdom of Khmet from its nearest neighbours as well as those along the Sea Qoros into which the Numadai and Thaar flow. This includes the Amazons of Xendria.
As overviews of a setting, both Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman and Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond are fine. As useful descriptions of a campaign setting, they are anything but. Between the two them there simply is not enough playable content and not enough for the Game Master to really work with and create adventures from. There are no maps in either supplement, and that is less of an issue than perhaps possible scenario hooks or a little more detail that might have made them stand out a little and thus been more useful for the Game Master.
Physically, both Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman and Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond are fine. The layout is clean and tidy, and both titles are easy to read.
Blades & Spells: The Land of Aaman and Blades & Spells: The Lands Beyond together do provide context and setting for the Blades & Spells: An agile, objective and dynamic minimalist RPG if not the detail. They are at best a starting point for the Blades & Spells Game Master—and that is likely the point, but it does not prevent the reader from wishing that there was a little detail to make the land of Aaman stand out.

A regular question at Triffid Ranch events and shows involves the notice on the ID tags for North American pitcher plants and Australian triggerplants: “Put into dormancy in winter.” Quite understandably, this concerns beginning carnivorous plant keepers, because “put into … Continue reading →

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: The Pharaoh’s SacrificePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Keith DEdinburgh

Setting: Jazz Age EdinburghProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Fifty page, 2.66 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Some moves in the game will make you lose more than the game.Plot Hook: Missing anthropologist leads to ludographic horror!
Plot Support: Eight NPCs, twelve handouts, two maps, one Mythos spell, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos monsters.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Solid Edinburgh-set investigation# Potential addition to a Shadows Over Scotland campaign# Engaging combination of themes# Good handouts# Intriguing twist upon the widower bringing wife back from the dead set-up
# Ludophobia
Cons# Intriguing twist upon the widower bringing wife back from the dead set-up# More maps would have been useful
# Unnecessary Sanity losses in places# Potential for Investigators and players to get lost in rabbit holes# Jumpity is not a real game
Conclusion# Clichéd backstory and motivations are enlivened by solid investigation and engaging combination of themes# Decently done handouts support a scenario easily added to a Scotland or United Kingdom-set campaign

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: A Balance of BloodPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Matt Puccio

Setting: Kingdom of Armenia, Second Century C.E.Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-two page, 5.18 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Identifying the greater evil can be a diplomatic challengePlot Hook: Diplomatic envoys discover a house of horror and woe
Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators with backgrounds, three maps, six  NPCs, one spell, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos monsters.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Scenario for Cthulhu Invictus# Interesting location for a Cthulhu Invictus scenario# Pleasing sense of tension# Every NPC is monstrous!# Potential Cthulhu Invictus campaign starter# Detailed investigation# Good advice for portraying the NPCs# Nicely illustrated# Gerontophobia
Cons# Needs an edit# Some locations not mapped# Illustrations could be used as handouts, but no handouts!# Needs a careful read through by the Keeper
Conclusion# Investigators must face night terrors and day terrors in a meaty investigation at the edge of the empire where identifying either victim or ally will prove challenging.
# Solid scenario for Cthulhu Invictus with an interesting historical background and setting.

The island of Avallen is one of legend and song. The oldest legend and first song tell of the Wild Hunt, how great heroes of the Vallic peoples stepped into the Otherworld or Annwn where ultimately, they sacrificed themselves to stop Avallen from being plagued by abominations known as Ffieidd-Dra. The victors of the Wild Hunt returned and were acclaimed by their peoples, becoming the ‘Divine Briendal’, or immortal god-kings and god-queens of the five clans that exist to this day. Rivalry between the clans and the ‘Divine Briendal’ led to civil war. The resulting bloodshed would undermine the divine power and influence of each of the god-kings and god-queens as followers either lost their lives or their faith. It was this that brought the wars to an end and made the Briendal to retreat into the Annwn and swear a pact never to intervene in the affairs of the Vallic again. Yet songs of their legend continue to be sung by bards to this day, along with the legends and tales of other heroes who were influenced by the Wild Hunt and then had their own songs. The island of Avallen is one that cries out for legend and song, for heroes and adventurers, for it is a land under threat and a land divided.

The abominations known as Ffieidd-Dra, such as the water-borne Afanc or the mighty porcine Ysgithyrwyn, each driven by a hatred of the Briendal, break through from the Otherworld and spread chaos and destruction. Fiends, like the seductive Baobhan Sith and the cursed Werefolk, also slip through from the Otherworld to spread their malign influence. The undead, ghosts, and vengeful Spirits, all known as the Unshapen, remain in the mortal realm, as yet unwilling to let go and enter the Otherworld. Otherworldly predators, the Wyrd, such the Adar Llwch, great dust eagles which grant great rewards to the winners of the games of riddles they favour and peck the losers to death, or Cat Sith, which feeds off the spirits of both the dead and the living, hunt both the Otherworld and the real world. The Fae can be equally as dangerous, though sometimes their curiosity can make them commit acts of kindness too. These are not the only threats to the Vallic, but there is one that divides them rather than is common to all of the clans. Roughly a generation ago, the Raxian Empire invaded. Aided by the strong ties and an alliance formed by decades of trade with the most southerly clan, Pen Cawr, the Raxian Empire set out to add the barbarous peoples of the island which lay off its western coast at the end of the world, but the defeat of its army by an alliance of the other clans prevented further expansion. Not all of the Pen Cawr clan have accepted the presence of the Raxians, but the assimilation has seen a continued Raxian military presence, Raxian construction techniques and writing being taken, and Raxian culture practices accepted, even as the Raxians adopt the worship of the gods of the Vallic—if only for protection.

This is the setting for Legends of Avallen: A Tabletop RPG Inspired by Celtic Mythology in Roman Britain, published by Adder Stone Games. Although inspired by the historical situation of the Roman invasion of Britain in the first century AD, this is not necessarily a roleplaying about the conflict between the invaders and the invaded, but rather a roleplaying game about keeping the land and its people safe, about protecting it from incursions from the Otherworld, and about men and women who grow beyond their ordinary lives to become heroes and forge legends that the bards will sing of in tales down the ages. Legends of Avallen maps this out, so that such men and women—the Player Characters—begin life with a simple Profession, such as Crafter, Priest, Scribe, Tamer (of animals), or Thief, and after a Quest or two, take up an adventuring Class, like Warrior or Mage, before going on to follow a Legendary Path like Druid, Gladiator, or Slayer. A player can select a Class at Level Two and a Legendary path at Level Five, and then follow that all the way to Level Fifteen. Now there are some obvious paths for a Player Character. For example, a Tamer would become a Reaver and then a Slayer; a Scribe a Mage and then a Magister; and a Bard a Mystic, and then a Fili. However, a Player Character is free to follow whatever path his player decides, so whilst Legends of Avallen provides the framework and structure, it leaves the choices to the player. It does one other thing though and that is make following Legendary Paths difficult. To earn each ability of a Legendary Path—and a Player Character can switch back and forth between several—a Player Character must complete a trial. The book suggests several for the various abilities across all of the Legendary Paths. What this means is that Player Character progression is mere accumulation of Experience Points, but a chance to be tested, and whether or not the Player Character succeeds, to turn that into a storytelling and roleplaying opportunity.

A Player Character in Legends of Avallen has four attributes—Agility, Spirit Vigour, and Wit. These range in value between -1 and +5. He also has a Profession, of which there are ten to choose from. These are Alchemist, Bard, Crafter, Merchant, Priest, Scavenger, Scribe, Socialite, Tamer, and Thief. His Personal Aspects include Motivation, Virtue, and Flaw, and he also has an Origin, Name, and Appearance. Origin will be from one Avallen’s five Clans or the Raxian Empire, and provides typical names and appearances. The process of character creation is simple. The player assigns +1 to one attribute and -1 to another, and then chooses all the rest. The book even suggests Motivations, Virtues, and Flaws that the player can choose from so that they remain unrelated.

Iulia is the eldest daughter of Caeso, a retired military commander with mercantile interests in Port Magnus. Her younger brothers currently serve in the army elsewhere in the Empire. She helps run her father’s business as he is getting older and is not as well as he once was. She fears that with this news, her brothers will be called back to take over, whereas she wants to take control herself and perhaps do some good with her wealth.

Name: Iulia
Origin: Raxian
Appearance: Raven haired
Profession: Socialite
Motivations: I will rise to the top (Influence)
Virtues: I help the needy (Benevolent)
Flaws: My image is everything (Vain)

Vigour -1 | 0 Agility
Spirit +1 | 0 Wit

Expertise: Politics, Etiquette, Courtship
Abilities: Introduce

Beyond that, there are four Classes to choose from at Level Two—Mage, Mystic, Reaver, and Warrior, and ten Legendary Paths to follow at Level Five. These include Druid, which can shapeshift; the luck-based Fae Touched; Fili, a bard who casts magic through music; Gladiator, a warrior who uses flourishes to enhance his combat ability; Magister, a mage who enhance his spells in numerous, often challenging ways; Maleficus, a mage who can bind Unshapen and other lost spirits; Primus, a commander who shapes the battlefield for his allies; Slayer use openings to strike at and take down dangerous creatures; Swyn-Pict, a warrior who paints himself in dyes to protect himself and even draw ethereal weapons from; and Teulu, a protective warrior who increases his Fury as he is hit, using it to enhance his defence and damage. In addition, every Player Character and potential legendary hero has a character arc reflected in mechanics that will see each gain both Resolve and Burdens—overcoming the latter to gain the former, suffer a Descent into self-doubt, undergo Transformation in the course of rising from the Descent, before ultimately, achieving Recognition as to whether the Player Character is a hero or an anti-hero.

Mechanically, Legends of Avallen uses a standard deck of playing cards as its resolution system, including the Jokers. Each of the four attributes is tied to one of the four standard suits. Thus, Hearts for Vigour, Diamonds for Agility, Spades for Spirit, and Clubs for Wit. They are paired three times. First into physical attributes by colour, Vigour (Hearts) and Agility (Diamonds), and mental by colour, Spirit (Spades) and Wit (Clubs). Second, into strength and endurance attributes—Vigour (Hearts) and Spirit (Spades), and into speed and subtlety attributes—Agility (Diamonds) and Wit (Clubs). Third, into diagonally opposing attributes, Vigour (Hearts) versus Wit (Clubs) and Spirit (Spades) versus Agility (Diamonds). When a player wants his character to undertake a task, he draws a card and checks both its rank and if it matches the colour or suit of the attribute being used. Ordinary numbered cards are worth one rank, whilst Court cards are worth two. If the colour of the card matches that of the attribute, it is worth an extra rank, or two extra ranks if it matches the suit. The Joker that matches the colour of the attribute, generates four ranks. These ranks are added to the attribute value.

Conversely, the card’s rank—one if a number card and two if a Court card, is subtracted from the attribute value if it does not match the attribute’s colour. This is doubled if the card is of the suit opposite to that of the attribute. A Joker which does not match the colour of the attribute subtracts four ranks from the attribute. The final result is compared with the Check Difficulty of the task to see if the Player Character is successful. The typical Check Difficulty is one, but can be lower or higher. The result can be a Critical Success, Success, Failure, or Critical Failure, depending on the card drawn. Both a Critical Success and a Failure will earn the Player Character an Edge, but his opponent an Edge on a Critical Failure.

Fortunately for a Player Character, the outcome of an action or task does not just rest on the turn of a single card. A Player Character can gain Advantage from a situation, from someone helping him, or from an ability. Each level of Advantage allows a player to draw an extra card and use the best one. Being at a Disadvantage forces a player to draw an extra card for each level of Disadvantage and use the worst one, although levels of Advantage and Disadvantage do cancel each other out. Edge is essentially a card that the player draws and keeps face down until the task or action that his character needs to succeed, in which case it is used to give his character Advantage. If a Player Character is on the verge of failure, he can also Exert himself or his equipment to upgrade a Failure to a Success, if being opposed, to downgrade an Opponent’s Success to a Failure. However, this means that the Player Character cannot exert himself again until he rests, if his equipment was used, that the item is now broken and cannot be used at all.

Mechanically, the system is simple enough, but its nuances are not easily taught and do take some adjusting to. Nor is it immediately obvious what the Check Difficulty should be for each test. However, once that adjustment is made, the advanced rules come together more easily. Combat has a stripped back feel, with attacks being made using Agility (Diamonds) against an opponent’s Agility—though some weapons favour other attributes, damage being determined by the weapon and the attacker’s Vigour (Hearts), defence by the opponent’s Armour Rating, derived from his armour and his Vigour. If hurt, a combatant does not lose ranks of Vigour, but is simply wounded. Of course, one reaction to this would be for the defender to Exert himself or his equipment to avoid such an outcome. Combat also covers grappling, ambushes, sneak attacks, and more, but also offers tips for the players, the most important of which are co-operation and strategise, rather than to simply rush in.

Similarly, magic in Legends of Avallen is designed to be challenging. Both Mystic and Mage spells have a Complexity rating, ranging from one to four, which acts as Disadvantage when the caster attempts to cast the spell. The caster can also increase the scope and range of a spell, but that also raises the Complexity. So apart from the simplest of spells—which can become more flexible as the Mage Mystic grows in power and is capable of overcoming the extra Complexity—it pays for the caster to prepare, whether that is having the right equipment, setting up a ritual, and so on.

Legends of Avallen pays particular attention to both journeys and socialising. The rules for overland travel are not that dissimilar to that of The One Ring, with the Player Characters taking particular roles—Gatherer, Guide, Lookout, and Scout—each keyed to one of the suits in the playing deck. Having someone in each role will negate most dangers unless a Danger or Opportunity arises, then it is primarily down to the Player Character in that role to overcome the Dangers or gain from the Opportunity. Suggested Dangers and Opportunities are given for each role. The roleplaying game’s social mechanics come into play when an NPC has an Objection to co-operating with the Player Characters or allowing them to undertake a particular course of action. When this occurs, the Player Characters enter into a Parley with the NPC into an attempt to overcome the Objection, and do so before he loses his Patience—again, not dissimilar to the interaction rules in The One Ring. Roleplaying and interaction are encouraged, but much like spellcasting, preparation can greatly advantage the Player Characters, as can Incentives which will give them Advantage. The Motivations, Virtues, and Flaws of the Player Characters can also come into play, as can the social standing for both the Player Characters and the NPC. Although there are parallels here with The One Ring, the mechanics for Legends of Avallen are their own and their card-based nature gives them a very different feel.

In terms of background, Legends of Avallen gives a good overview of Vallic society, the clans and the Raxians and their lands, with the latter including a selection of Otherworldly Tales found within those lands which the Game Master can potentially build stories around. For the Game Master there is solid advice on running the game and her roles when doing so, including narrator, judge, and creator. The latter includes a guide to creating quests. The Bestiary also includes guidelines for Game Master to create her own NPCs and monsters as well as give them trophies which the Player Characters can loot, and in the case of the Alchemist and the Scavenger Professions turn into useful items, such as potions, weapons, armour, and so on. Rounding out Legends of Avallen is ‘The Sealing Stone’, a starting quest which is very nicely structured and sees the Player Characters help restore a relic and search for the persons last sent to restore it, but are now missing.

Physically, Legends of Avallen is a stunning looking book, beautifully illustrated with quite lovely artwork. It is well written, although it needs an edit in places, and a better index would make the book more accessible. That said, the rules are succinctly written with a minimum of fuss and numerous examples. The setting does use a lot of Welsh, especially in name places and monsters, but a pronunciation is included at the beginning of the book.

Legends of Avallen: A Tabletop RPG Inspired by Celtic Mythology in Roman Britain is an impressive roleplaying game. It has a setting which feels both familiar and different, shifting the conflict away from the historical of Celts versus Romans, to one of protecting the land from the dangers and wonders of the Otherworld. Ultimately, Legends of Avallen is a roleplaying game about quests and becoming great heroes and legends, with succinct mechanics and a structured route that together encourage storytelling and adventure.

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The Kickstarter for Against the Faerie Queene – A Celtic Campaign for LoA & 5E, the first supplement for Legends of Avallen: A Tabletop RPG Inspired by Celtic Mythology in Roman Britain is currently running.

Given the origins of the roleplaying hobby—in wargaming and in the drawing of dungeons that the first player characters, and a great many since, explored and plundered—it should be no surprise just how important maps are to the hobby. They serve as a means to show a tactical situation when using miniatures or tokens and to track the progress of the player characters through the dungeon—by both the players and the Dungeon Master. And since the publication of Dungeon Geomorphs, Set One: Basic Dungeon by TSR, Inc. in 1976, the hobby has found different ways in which to provide us with maps. Games Workshop published several Dungeon Floor Sets in the 1980s, culminating in Dungeon Planner Set 1: Caverns of the Dead and Dungeon Planner Set 2: Nightmare in Blackmarsh; Dwarven Forge has supplied dungeon enthusiasts with highly detailed, three-dimensional modular terrain since 1996; and any number of publishers have sold maps as PDFs via Drivethrurpg.com. Loke BattleMats does something a little different with its maps. It publishes them as books.
A Loke BattleMats book comes as a spiral-bound book. Every page is a map and every page actually light card with a plastic covering. The fact that it is spiral-bound means that the book lies completely flat and because there is a map on every page, every map can be used on its own or combined with the map on the opposite page to work as one big, double-page spread map. The fact that the book is spiral bound means that it can be folded back on itself and thus just one map used with ease or the book unfolded to reveal the other half of the map as necessary. The fact that every page has a plastic covering means that every page can be drawn on using a write-on/wipe-off pen. It is a brilliantly simple concept which has already garnered the publisher the UK Games Expo 2019 People’s Choice Awards for Best Accessory for the Big Book of Battlemats and both the UK Games Expo 2019 Best Accessory and UK Games Expo 2019 People’s Choice Awards Best Accessory for Giant Book of Battle Mats.
The newest release from Loke Battle Mats is The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats, which presents “60 Pages of Battle Mats for Modern Tabletop RPGs”, marked in either one-inch squares or one-inch hexes. The first map is plain, but the second is where the volume starts getting useful. The first map is of a classic motel, consisting of an office and a ring of small rooms each with an en suite bathroom. There is a certain seediness to it. This is followed by the first of several roads and streets. Some of these have roadside businesses like a bar or café, whilst others do not. 

For fans of Cyberpunk 2077, the collection includes an underground carpark and rooftops, complete with ventilation units and grills, whilst another has a helicopter landing pad. Other sites include an underground station,  plus a street entrance, a suite of offices and a foyer, parts of a cube farm, and a penthouse apartment or suite. For fans of ShadowRun, there is a convenience store a la a Stuffer Shack, whilst for fans of Bladerunner, there is a high floor of an apartment building, complete with parts of the apartments of the floor, a la the Bradbury Building. This is one of the disappointments of the book in that it is only big to one half of the floor. Perhaps if there is a second volume of The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats, the other half could be included in that?

The last few maps in The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats move properly outside. There is a very rough, dirt race track with a couple of burnt out vehicles, a street scene again with a ruined  vehicle and buildings on either side of the street. There are also maps of ruined buildings and ruined railway platform, complete with a train on its side. The book ends with another plain grid for the Game Master to draw the details on it as she needs them, but perhaps the most disappointing map is that of plain grasslands, which seems out of keeping with the feel and tone.

Essentially, as you leaf through the maps of The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats, they move from bright lights to darker places and into a darker, perhaps apocalyptic future. Or just simply ruins, or dilapidated locations out in the Badlands... What this highlights is the flexibility of the maps in the book. They work for several genres, not just the the Cyberpunk one. Most obviously, the Modern genre, but also the Science Fiction and the Post-Apocalyptic genres too. The most obvious is with The Big Book of Sci-Fi Battle Mats, but for the Cyberpunk genre, this collection plugs into Cyberpunk Red, expanding easily the maps and floor plan options which come with Cyberpunk RED Data Pack, Cyberpunk Red: Easy Mode, and the Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit. Of course, not forgetting other Cyberpunk roleplaying games such as Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG or ShadowRun. Then there are modern roleplaying games and post-apocalyptic roleplaying too numerous to mention that this supplement would work well with.
Physically, The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats is very nicely produced. The maps are clear, easy to use, fully painted, and vibrant with colour. One issue may well be with binding and the user might want to be a little careful folding the pages back and forth lest the pages crease or break around the spiral comb of the binding.
There is no denying the usefulness of maps when it comes to the tabletop gaming hobby. They help players and Game Masters alike visualise an area, they help track movement and position, and so on. If a gaming group does not regularly use miniatures in their modern, post apocalyptic, Science Fiction, or Cyberpunk roleplaying games, The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats might not be useful, but it will still help them visualise an area, and it may even encourage them to use them. If they already use miniatures, whether for roleplaying or wargaming, then the maps in The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats will be undeniably useful.
The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats is full of attractive, ready-to-use maps that the Game Master can bring to the table for the roleplaying game of her choice—and do so in a surprising range of genres. Both practical and pretty, The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats is an undeniably useful accessory for a surprising range of genres. If your gaming group likes its maps, then whether playing a Modern game, Science Fiction game, a Post Apocalyptic game, or a Cyberpunk game, The Big Book of Cyberpunk Battle Mats will definitely look good when put down on the table.

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

The first supplement to be released for Inspirisles is Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology. This is a collection of short adventures written by diverse range of writers which are intended to run after the players and their Pendragons have played through ‘Questing Day’, the scenario in the core rulebook. Most of them can played through in a single session or so, but a few might take two sessions, and for the most part, consist of a number of challenges in which the Pendragons will Shape their magic and roleplay around. The anthology opens with Logan Timmins’ ‘Birthday Ball’, in which the Pendragons attend the best birthday party ever held on Avalon, which proves not only difficult to get into, but the organisers also need help getting it ready! The party and event theme continues with ‘Feeding into the Festivities’ by Jerrod Bacon, but instead of a birthday party, the Pendragons attend the Miasma Food Festival, get to play in a few festival games, and help out by gathering ingredients and then by cooking themselves. There are some nice recipes included here and suggestions how the Pendragons can use their Shaping to do the cooking. Dave Thaumavore’s ‘The Great Barrow Derby’ is a step up in complexity and as the Pendragons travel to Barrow to join a competition run there by the Piskies, although initially, they are not given the welcome they would normally expect. There are protests about the event and the Pendragons will have to compete if they are to uncover what lies behind the protests.

The fourth adventure is Bee’s ‘Paint the Night’. It takes place in Shedscale where the Pendragons have come to relax, but instead find a flustered young Wyrmbitten in need of their help. She has a fireworks display to put on and is overwhelmed by the task. This is an opportunity for the Pendragons to bring their Belief into play and so help put on a stunning event. ‘The Polar Express’ by Small Red Robin is set in the frozen north where they are asked to go in search of a postal worker who is late, only to discover his sleigh has been attacked by a wilderwyrm and needs to be repaired. Helping with the deliveries gets them getting caught up in a rivalry between local wrestler, before being chased home by the wilderwyrm. There is more plot to this scenario and elements nicely come back to hunt the Pendragons. Ashley Cheeseman’s ‘A Bridge and a Song’ in contrast is a city adventure, set in Weldspa. The city comes under attack by Trolls who are building another bone bridge which will get them over the city walls. The city’s G.O.A.T. (Grand Operations Against Trollkind) Commander asks the Pendragons to help stop the bridge builders even as his own forces hold back the rest of the Trolls. The scenario sets up a simple race against time and make use of Inspirisles’ Calamity Meter to measure the severity of the challenge the Pendragons will face.

‘A Rising Storm’ by Marren J.T. MacAdam sets up a quest straight away—can the Pendragons track down the dread wyrm pirate captain, Serenalyne? At stake is a cache of stolen Belief that will help heal the World Tree. Set in Trident, the Pendragons appear to be luck because the cache is only being guarded in the pirates’ cave hideout. Can the Pendragons sneak in, take the cache, and get out again before the dread wyrm pirate captain, Serenalyne returns? Well, yes they can, but that is when they get picked up by another ship taking a keen interest in their activities. If there is an issue here it is that the dread wyrm pirate captain does make an appearance and this scenario is either deserving of a sequel where she does—perhaps she tracks the Pendragons down to get the cache of Belief back?—or at least more of an appearance here. Robin S. Carver’s ‘Journey to the Cave of Black Lights’ sends the Pendragons in a different direction—deep into the belly of the Underisles for a dance competition. It proves to be a difficult journey, but it is a chance for the Pendragons to experience a different environment so the scenario should ideally run after they have visited several of the other places in the Overisles. The scenario ends with the Pendragons being offered the chance to learn some Shadow Shaping and warning of what that entails… The last adventurer in the collection is ‘Rockshow’ by Rowan Thorley. The Pendragons receive an invitation from the Knockers of Penreggi to a rock concert. Rock of another kind lies at the heart of scenario’s plot, which involves the appearance of a much older Pendragon and some pleasing links to Dorset and the Jurassic Coast.

Rounding out Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology in the third chapter is a set of nine new Shapes in both American and British Sign Language. This nicely adds to the vocabulary begun in Inspirisles.

Physically, Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology is brightly presented. However, it does need an edit in places and the only illustrations are of the new Shapes in the third chapter. What is missing from the collection is both an index and a contents page. Given the relative length of the supplement, the absence of the latter is more of an issue.

Throughout all of the scenarios in Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology, the Pendragons are given opportunities to share their adventures and tell a tale or two, and so increase their fame and reputation. In terms of content, Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology does focus on celebrations and festivities. Consequently, as much as it gives the collection a certain joyousness, the occasionally one-note feel makes the anthology difficult to use. That said, many of the scenarios would work as shorter affairs between longer, more involved scenarios, ones that deal with some of the bigger themes and elements in Inspirisles, such as ensuring that the World Tree is not poisoned by Disbelief and Calamity does not befall the Overlisles. However, the relative brevity of the scenarios means that they are easy to read and easy to prepare, and thus easy to run as demonstration scenarios where an explanation of both sign language and deaf culture may be required.

Overall, Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology is a solid collection of nine scenarios for Inspirisles that Game Master can use to demonstrate the roleplaying game or work into her campaign with a little care.

Ooh boy, that cover – schlocky 70’s fantasy art at it’s finest

What’s new

• new comic artist – Will McLean – I love his funny comics and style

Articles

• vampires – how to run them and how player’s can deal with them
• Faceless Men & Clockwork Monsters – basically a session recap by Gygax of an D&D adventure that teleported into a Metamorphosis Alpha setting – to tell you the truth, this bored me to tears and I couldn’t finish it
• Tesseracts – how to confuse the map makers with a fiendish/confusing dungeon 4D cube thingy
• Boredom and the average D&D dungeon – basically how to design a level – give it a theme, eg Ancient Egypt, etc – this was pretty good
• a breakdown of the upcoming Gen Con schedule
• a short history of Adamanite – this starts off talking about armor classes and then turns into a made-up legend/history thing – it wasn’t clear what kind of article it was trying to be

Variants

• Jousting – modifications to the Chainmail rules to include adjustments for D&D character levels
• Wizards with a difference – basically spells for magic-users that specialise – eg a Wizard of Defense which has a lot of defensive spells, many of which are boosted in some way in addition to totally new spells
• Sights and Sounds in D&D – random tables to provide atmosphere
• bunch of joke monsters – like Munchkins – not particularly funny
• Angels in D&D – there are demons, so here are some counterpart angels

Ads

• for gen con
• for the Players Handbook – “Now Available!” – also has new Wizard logo

For those outside of Dallas, this weekend is Texas-OU Weekend, and all this really means to anybody outside is that downtown is going to be full of cosplayers living out the best documentary about the pregame festivities ever made. For … Continue reading →

Green Messiah continues Kelvin Green’s assault upon the small English village. Not content with dumping giant, Transformer-like fleshy aliens in More Than Meets The Eye: A Short Adventure with Lots of Tentacles on a village in Cornwall and then screwing—literally—with the inhabitants of a Devonshire in Fish Fuckers – Or, a Record, Compil’d in Truth, of the Sordid Activities of the People of Innsmouth, Devon, he does it again with the more simply titled, Green Messiah. However, Town Littleworth, the victimised village—or horrified hamlet—is in Sussex this time, so it is not the West Country being targeted by the author’s ire. The scenario though, is another case of the author taking a well-known intellectual property and inverting it to parodic effect. So in More Than Meets The Eye, it was The Transformers series of films directed by Michael Bay and in Fish Fuckers it was H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’. So what does Green Messiah invert? Most obviously upon reading the scenario, it is the origin story of the superhero, Superman, but as the author suggests another inspiration could have been the film Bright Burn, which also inverts the Superman story. In addition, Green Messiah is inspired by The Invasion of the Body Snatchers—the author wrongly suggesting that the 1978 version is better than the 1956 original—and another of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories, ‘The Colour Out of Space’, along with its recent film version. Add in a heavy dose of Men in (Puritan) Black as mulch and what you have in Green Messiah is a rich, peaty affair which may well change the Game Master’s campaign, but both her and the Player Characters will have fun playing it.

Green Messiah is a scenario for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. Like other scenarios for the retroclone, it is set in the game’s default early Modern Period. Specifically, in 1630 England, so it would work well with several of the other publisher’s titles or equally easily adapted to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice. The story begins in 1624 when an alien spacecraft crash lands just outside an English hamlet. Upon investigating the site, a couple discover that the strange object contains a strange, alien baby, but being childless, the couple adopt the young boy as their own and name him Robert. The surname of the couple? Clark. In the following six years, the boy grows up strong and strange, green-skinned, pointy-eared, and black-eyed, almost Elf-like—were there actually any Elves in 1630 England or Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay, loved by his adopted parents, though he cannot truly understand the concept. An enormous tree grows in the centre of the hamlet, the ‘Great Tree’, over four hundred feet tall and fifty feet in diameter, and from atop its foliage, Robert begins plotting his domination of first Town Littleworth, then England, and beyond, the world. Exactly as he is programmed to do. For Robert is the seed of a plant space-empire, sent to Earth to grow and make a better world. Already, Robert has begun sending out his Radicinoids, ambulatory, carrot-like tubers that replicate and replace humans. Otherwise, all is well in the hamlet of Town Littleworth.

However, the appearance of the Great Tree and the strange goings on in Town Littleworth have attracted the attention of outsiders. The Seekers of Love is a cult of non-conformists who see in Robert the Second Coming of Christ, consisting of genuinely nice, peaceful folk. Officer ‘J’, Officer ‘M’, Officer ‘M’, and Officer ‘H’—either agents for the late (or not so late) Doctor John Dee or members of the armed wing of the Royal Horticultural Society (here pre-empting its actual founding in 1804)—have been assigned to investigate the reports of odd plants and weird fruit in the hamlet or signs of alien activity in the English countryside or… A quartet of bandits actually has very little interest as to what is going on in the hamlet except that back in 1622 when its members were on the run from the law, they buried their ill-gotten gains in a field on the Clark family farm. Now they have returned to claim their treasure, which is a bit difficult owing to the grove of alien plants and vegetation which has grown on the very site. Enter the Player Characters…

Green Messiah suggests numerous reasons why the Player Characters might also become interested in the situation in Town Littleworth. The least interesting of which is that they might just be passing through the hamlet. Others include searching for the bandits’ lost treasure, being employed by a wizard or alchemist or horticulturist to collect samples of the strange plants in the hamlet, searching for a missing friend (who of course, has been replaced by a Radicinoid), extracting someone from a cult formed by a bunch of non-conformists which is based in the area, and more…

Green Messiah is all set-up and a solidly described situation. It clearly explains each of the factions present in Town Littleworth and their motivations, including Robert, his adopted parents, the Seekers of Love, the Men in Black, and the bandits. The notable locations in Town Littleworth are also described in detail, including the Clark farm and its alien Grove, and those places associated with Robert. These include the Great Tree, its Roots—the nearest that Green Messiah gets to a dungeon, the Trunk, and the Top of the Tree. In other words, the Great Tree dominates both the hamlet and the scenario, it literally looms large… And it is here that the Player Characters are likely to have their confrontation with Robert after having explored the Grove and perhaps ferreted through the Roots, before climbing the Trunk.
Green Messiah is also one big ‘What If?’ as well as a number of smaller ‘What ifs?’ The big ‘What If?’ is what happens to Robert if the Player Characters do nothing and what happens if they decide to intervene. After that, answers are given to questions such as ‘What if one of the Men in Black has been replaced by a Radicinoid?’, ‘What do the cultists of the Seekers of Love do if Robert is killed?’, and ‘What happens if a Player Character actually eats a Radicinoid?’. (Yes, really.) There is even a set of guidelines for having a Radicinoid as a Player Character, including its Class abilities. Which is perfectly possible should the Player Characters stop (as in kill) Robert, but one of their number also dies and/or is replaced by a Radicinoid…

Rounding out Green Messiah is a table of all twenty of the weird fruit found to be growing in Town Littleworth, its own ‘Apendix N’ of inspiration, a table of random names for random inhabitants of the hamlet—replaced by the Radicinoids or not, and the various NPCs to be found in its environs. The inside of the front cover contains a fetching map of Town Littleworth and a quick description of its key features.

Physically, Green Messiah is very well produced. The slim, but sturdy hardback feels good in the hands and whilst green predominates, judicious use of colour makes the interior stand out. The cartography is also good, and the scenario is written in a light tone and with a very knowing wink. If there is anything missing, perhaps a countdown or reaction tracker could have been included that would have helped the Game Master determine Robert’s responses to the Player Characters’ actions as they go about Town Littleworth and attempt to find out what is going on in the hamlet.

Well written, well presented, Green Messiah is one of the more engaging releases from Lamentations of the Flame Princess for quite some time. Not a little ridiculous, Green Messiah is an entertaining and fun scenario.

A preamble on the enclosure backstories: For every subculture, there’s that one seemingly unattainable artifact that sums up the hopes and dreams of so many of its members. For computer buffs, it’s a piece of Charles Babbage’s original Difference Engine … Continue reading →

Now in its fifteenth year, Free RPG Day in 2022, was celebrated not once, but twice. First on Saturday, 25th June in the USA, and then on Saturday, 23rd July internationally. This was to prevent problem with past events when certain books did not arrive in time to be shipped internationally and so were not available outside of the USA. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Reviews from R’lyeh was get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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How to Raise the Dead is perhaps the most different—or at least most singular—of the releases for Free RPG Day in 2022. It is not a quick-start or a scenario for a roleplaying game, but a set of instructions booklet on how to build and paint a piece of terrain which can be added to a game and provide space in which the brave heroes can confront some undead in their natural environment—or is that their unnatural environment? This is at the doors of a necropolis, surely the tomb of some dark master or the entrance to a crypt network below a cemetery, but however it is used and brought to the table, the necropolis is sure to be the site for a confrontation between some brave adventurers and a band of armed and armoured skeletons or zombies before the adventurers dare to open to open the door to the necropolis and enter... Designed and written by Dave Taylor Miniatures, it shows a Game Master—or of course, a Dungeon Master—how to use a combination of Speedpaints Set from The Army Painter and miniatures and terrain pieces from Mantic Games’ Terrain Crate and Dungeon Essentials ranges.
In comparison to How to Build a Boss-Fight Final Chamber, the release for Free RPG 2021, How to Raise the Dead is relatively short and focused. It starts off by stating that many a Game Master wants to present her players with an immersive experience and one way of doing that is not only to use the appropriate terrain and miniatures, but also make it look good. It acknowledges that this can be daunting prospect in terms of the preparation and painting required, and so the aim of How to Raise the Dead to help break down the barriers that might stand in the Game Master’s way. How to Raise the Dead does this by taking the reader through a step-by-step process, not once, not twice, but three times, each with a different set of miniatures or pieces of terrain, in order to show the prospective painter how it can be done in as uncomplicated a fashion possible—and of course, using the Speedpaint Set. The latter is not included in the release for Free RPG Day 2022, but ‘The Necropolis’ along with the How to Raise the Dead booklet is. To follow completely the guide included in its pages, the Game Master will also need the ‘DUNGEON DEAD’ from the Mantic Games Dungeon Essentials Range and the bare trees found in Mantic Games’ Gothic Grounds set. Of course, the Dungeon Master is free to use these or similar terrain and miniatures from other manufacturers, and the likelihood is that the guidelines in How to Raise the Dead would still apply.
The two piece of terrain which come up with How to Raise the Dead—the necropolis and sturdy iron gate—are chunky pieces. How to Raise the Dead addresses these two pieces first, showing the Game Master how to prepare, prime, and then apply a ‘zenithal prime’ the model. The latter involves priming a layer of black first, and then a layer of white from above so that the black remains uncovered in the shadows. Then the model is painted using the Speedpaint Set. This includes going over it with grey for the base stonework, adding colour to the roof to represent an oxidised copper roof, and then adding highlights to pick particular details. It is really is simple, showing how this can be done in just eight steps. If there is an issue here, it does not quite focus in on the details in the latter stages, but with some experimentation, the Game Master should be able to pick out these details.
How to Raise the Dead then proceeds to show how to paint a cadre of undead and a set of trees and trunks using the Speedpaint Set. In comparison to the earlier guide to painting the Necropolis and Gate, these two actually better illustrated and consequently, more clearly explained. In comparison to the advice given in How to Build a Boss-Fight Final Chamber from last year, the advice in How to Raise the Dead is clearer and easier to understand, and it is better aimed at the Game Master new to this aspect of the hobby. If there is an issue with the instructions, it is that How to Raise the Dead does not state what items the Game Master will need before setting out to work on the project.
The last two pages in How to Raise the Dead before a raft of adverts are devoted to quartet of scenario hooks written with the Necropolis model and the band of undead guarding it in mind. The four are divided between three fantasy ideas and one modern one.
In ‘The Tomb of Varan Tor’, the resting place of a paladin has been desecrated by the black dragon Rotslug and it is rumoured that he has risen as a Death Knight, whilst in the ‘Lost Mines of Draul’, the necropolis is actually an entrance to a mine where Dwarves in search of mithril found a metal so malign that it corrupted them and turned them into the undead. In both cases, the threat is rumoured to be on the rise, ready to step out of the Necropolis and spread their dread to the wider world. The Necropolis stands at the heart of ‘The Dark Depths of Forlakk Forest’ in the third hook, thought by some to be connected to the Feywild, but by others to the Shadowfell. There is certainly some corruptive force at the forest’s heart, but what? And does it represent a greater threat? The modern hook is ‘The Freaks Come Out at Night’ in which a would-be reality television star and his friends search the sprawling tunnels of hospital in search for the results of horrific experiments said to have been conducted by a renowned medical expert. It is not quite clear how the latter uses the Necropolis and that is disappointing.
Physically, How to Raise the Dead is decently presented with lots of photographs as illustrations. It is underwritten in places, both the instructions and the hooks, and it does need an edit in others.

Of all the releases on Free RPG Day 2022, How to Raise the Dead is the least useful—at least in the short term. It will take time for the Game Master to bring any of the contents to the table. Most obviously because she will need to have access to the Terrain Crate and Dungeon Essentials ranges, as well as the Speedpaints Set. Then prepare and paint the terrain following by developing and writing a scenario, perhaps one of the story hooks in How to Raise the Dead, perhaps one of her own. In comparison, most of the other titles released for Free RPG Day 2022 are quick-starts and scenarios and so can be brought to the table much more immediately. And of course, because How to Raise the Dead is designed to make use of the Terrain Crate and Dungeon Essentials ranges, plus the Speedpaints Set, it is also very much obviously designed to sell both them and other terrain sets. The other releases are similarly designed to do that too, so that is no criticism, but with How to Raise the Dead, it is more obvious.
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An Unboxing in the Nook of How to Raise the Dead appears here.

I was reorganizing my shelves trying to find some room for some new books when I found this little gem hiding in my lower shelves.  I totally forgot I had this!

Wizards (1982)

Wizards is described as "Avalon Hill's game of fantasy adventure."  It is easy to see why they would want to make this game too.

1982 was some prime years for Fantasy RPGs and D&D in particular. 

There are board game elements to this as well as plenty of RPG elements.  For example you can choose what sort of wizard character (Order) you will play; Wizard, Sorcerer, or Druid. Each also has four levels (Ranks).

The first part of the game is setting up all the locations of the various islands on the hex grid sea map.

After that the various wizards race around the map to collect various gems for the High Druid. There are seven, six are needed to win.

While this is going on there are various Event and Task cards that send your wizard on quests, trap them or other hazards. These add time it takes to complete your missions but they can also raise your Wizard rank and make you more powerful. 

From the rule book. Here is what is needed to play and win.

1. Join a Magical Order. Without that, you may not accept any Tasks or gain points of any kind.
2. Acquire Tasks and complete them for points of Knowledge, Power and/or Perception.
3. Fight the Evil Powers that take over the islands, making them inaccessible.
4. Advance to Rank 4 in your Order. 
5. When you are at Rank 4, collect all 6 Gems from the High Wizards.
6. When you have the Gems, pass them to the High Druid Rüktal in the Center of the Sacred Circle to win the game.

The game uses two six-sided dice.  










I love the *idea* of this game, but while I enjoyed the set up I could not get anyone to play it here.  My wife does not care for board games with RPG elements and my kids would rather play D&D.

I am adopting some ideas from this game though for my own games, most notably the War of the Witch Queens, but certainly others as well.

Traveller Envy and the Avalon Isles

I have talked a bit about my Traveller Envy here in the past. To finally overcome this I am taking all the various board games I am going to cover this month and create a new area of my world; the Isles of Avalon. The origins here should be pretty obvious, I am going to base a lot of the mythology of the lands on England, Ireland, and the various islands around them. Also, I am drawing heavily from the Avalon Hill games, so much so that the currently unnamed main island has a place called Avalon Hill. It will be my world's Glastonbury Tor.  There is a volcano on one of the islands (this will be an archipelago) where a famous Warlock lives.  With a volcano I can also get representations of all the elements; Earth, Water, Air and Fire.

There will be a smaller island nearby that I am calling the Island of the Necromancers.

I will spend this month detailing this place further.

If I get nothing else out of these board games then I think I will be fine.

Switching worlds, editions, and even systems now.  

This adventure was released in 2010 and is a prelude to their Reign of Winter adventure path released in 2013.

I am not entirely sure to be honest, but I think this is the adventure that prompted Paizo to make the Reign of Winter adventure path. 

The Witchwar Legacy

PDF and Print 32 pages. Color covers and interior art.

This adventure is for characters level 17 and essentially is a MacGuffin hunt for the Torc of Kostchtchie. The characters can choose to aid Elvanna, the Witch Queen of Irrisen gain the Torc or the demon-lord Kostchtchie. 

It is a short adventure, essentially a single location with a lot of monsters and NPCs.

It is a quick one, to be honest for such a high-level adventure. If it wasn't so high level it would be a great introduction to the Reign of Winter series. 

I feel like it could be run in the afternoon, but I also think I would like to adjust the threats to make it a little lower level. I would also tweak it a bit to fit the Reign of Winter series. 

My Snow/Ice/Winter Witch?

Elvanna is fantastic, but she never shows up here. She is a good witch...well an evil witch, but she is great at that. The Reign of Winter also features Elvanna but in a different sort of role and she dies in the end...or at least could die. Plus she is so wrapped up in everything I would have to change the Reign of Winter to work for War of the Witch Queens.

Still, she is rather great and I really want to use her. BUT I am also covering the "Reign of Winter" campaign in a couple of days and that, well, changes things. Tune back in for that.

1974 is a sweet spot for cheesy Italian Giallo horror. I don't think I have seen them all, but I have seen a lot.  

This one is also known as "L'ossessa" and "The Eerie Midnight Horror Show" (complete with Rocky Horror-style lips) it revolves around a religious statue of crucified Jesus purchased by Danila (Stella Carnacina). Luisa (Lucretia Love) It is obvious from the start that the "statue" is an actor (Ivan Rassimov) in heavy makeup but that is fine.

It is 1974, so the Exorcist is on EVERY Horror filmmaker's mind and this movie is no exception. 

Danila is some sort of art expert so she is working with the statue.  But while at a party she watches her mother,  in some sort of S&M affair with a younger man she leaves to go back to work. There she is all alone with the statue.  When he starts to move it is no surprise, but I wonder what the audiences in 1974 thought?  Likely they saw the same things we do now.   Eventually, the statue transforms into a human and in one stroke rips off ALL of Danila's clothes (neat trick that) they have very enthusiastic sex while the place burns...or not. It could all be in Danila's mind.  But she does keep experiencing things and no one believes her.   

Naturally, she is possessed and tries to seduce her own father. They bring over a psychiatrist whose professional opinion is that she is unduly affected by her work. They head out to the country ("Better than any medicine" according to the medical professional) but they get a flat and Danila wanders off into an "Etruscan temple to Baal" where she sees an ancient ceremony to Satan.  In mid-hallucination, she is back in her own bed again freaking out. When the doctor examines her she does have the stigmata wounds inflicted on her in her hallucination.

I give the movie credit, they try really hard to make this a serious movie about an exorcism.  They get a priest in and I can't help but notice her room is set up similar to Regan's in The Exorcist.

The later half is basically Danila going crazy and various priests trying to exorcise her and it sorta falls apart here. 

Still, a neat idea even if not executed as well as the filmmaker might have liked.

Use for War of the Witch Queens

I love the idea of the old statue coming to life and the "Etruscan temple to Baal" just screams Orcus to me for D&D use.

Use for NIGHT SHIFT

All I could think of while watching this one was I need to figure out a way to do a psychiatrist or psychologist in NIGHT SHIFT.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 5
First Time Views: 4

Last night I covered an adventure that mentions the Ice Queen, but no more details than a mention. This works fine for me since I have a plethora of choices. Here is the first one I considered, but not my only one.

FIGHTING FANTASY - Caverns of the Snow Witch

PDF and Print. 45 pages. Color covers, black & white interiors.

This adventure has a solid pedigree.  It is based on Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy books from 1984.  This adventure is for the d20 system / D&D 3.0 system published in 2003. So nearly 20 apart, here I am nearly 20 years after that reviewing it. 

This adventure covers the same plot and situations from the Fighting Fantasy "choose your own adventure" book.  

The adventure is designed for one character or a small group of adventures.  Reading through it does follow the same plot lines as the Fighting Fantasy book. 

This adventure also features the Luck saves from the original book. It has some changes to the d20 ruleset. There are a few new monsters (including a Yeti!), some new spells, campaign notes, and some new NPCs.

There are a lot of location-based adventures, essentially a collection of encounters the PCs jump from one to the next. The advantage here is that it is easy to convert from d20 to what I am planning to use it with, Old-School Adventures.  

The Snow Witch in this adventure is a sorcerer/vampire which works great for d20/3.0. For my adventures, I would make her a proper witch. 

The adventure is fine, but I think I might be viewing it through what my "Nostalgia Goggles."  Am I reading a good adventure or am I reading something because it was enjoyable to me in the 1980s?

I guess in the end it doesn't matter, as long as I am having fun with it. 

Is She My Snow/Ice Witch?

Well, I guess I should really ask do I just need one? I have a few more choices but this one has some serious old-school street cred. My other Snow/Ice/Winter witches though are a little more interesting.

Still, this is a fun adventure and one I am looking forward to using.

 

I was not expecting much with this one and that is pretty much what I got. 

Four old friends, Kayla, Blake, Stacey, and Trish, decide to have a girls' weekend together. They rent out an old cabin at the Mabon Inn while an ancient Pagan festival is also going on. During the ceremony, the girls write down their fears on paper and burn them.  While they proceed to partake in the drugs, drinking, and dancing, one of the parishioners, Mrs. March, warns the girls not to stay till the end and that they should leave now.

They return home and head to bed. Kayla begins to hear noises and sees a hallucination of "Tyler" (some dude from her past that is never really explained). Blake goes for a swim and sees a dog coming for her. Stacey, who is always taking selfies, sees herself getting old.  For Trish, it is insects and bugs.

Weird stuff starts to happen, but everything is just so slow. Even the sex scene is dull.

Our first victim, Stacey, gets it while seeing herself getting old again in a mirror. She slips on her own blood and impales herself in the head on a bit of garden equipment.  The others go looking for her, but the creepy gardener has already hidden her.

Turns out the girls were the sacrifice and the "Goddess Mabon" is killing them with their own fears. While Trish and Kayla are learning this from Mrs. March, Blake is being chased by dogs. Runs until she is impaled on the antlers mounted on the gardener's truck.  I sense a pattern here.

The two remaining girls try to call 999 but this splits them up and Trish starts hallucinating about bugs and Kayla about Tyler.  Trish ends up drinking some drain cleaner or bleach because she thinks there are bugs in her mouth.  Kayla tries to drive her the hospital, but the way is blocked by the pagans.

In what has to be known as Chekhov's Flare Gun Kayla uses the Flare gun from early in the movie to shoot the wooden effigy of "Mabon" and break the Pagans' hold on them. Reminds me of a Batman comic I had read back in 1988 or so, but can't recall which one it was. 

We end with Kayla and Trish professing their love for each other as Kayla tries to drive them to a hospital.

I like the elements of the old creepy Pagan cult still lingering in the untamed places in rural England. That is fun, but this movie doesn't offer much more than that.

Use for War of the Witch Queens

Plenty of good background for folk horror, which is why I watched this one. But as usual, the writers don't quite get things right with mythology. Or more to the point they get it all wrong enough to be irritating.

Use for NIGHT SHIFT

Pretty much any movie I watch this month is going to have uses in NIGHT SHIFT.  For this one, I would love to use the old creepy pagan cult that still lives on in the dark and quiet places of the world. Though the original Wicker Man might be a better model for this.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 4
First Time Views: 3

Getting a new book in the mail is always a joy. Getting one you helped create is even better!

I got my author's copy of Blue Rose Six of Cups.

The PDF has been available for a bit and now the print book can be ordered from Green Ronin's online store.

As I have said in the past I adore Blue Rose. I just love the world, the system, everything about it. It is such a refresher after decades of "grim dark" RPGs.

I am particularly happy with this one. It has a new character I am particularly fond of.  My homage to the Piasa Bird and places I used to frequent. Another distateful member of the less than pleasant Meacham family. But most of all it was a joy and an honor to write something for Aldea. 

The Storm of the Century

The project lead, Joseph D. Carriker, for this book posted in Green Ronin News a little about this book. In particular, he talked about the "Storm of the Century" theme.  This was not something I (or to my knowledge) any of the other authors tried to do. I was pretty much working in my silo just to get this done with my only contact being Joseph. Who, please allow me to add, was great to work with.

Here is what he had to say about the storm.

One of the things I asked of our authors was to send me proposals for their adventures and gazetteers. In short order, it became apparent that (perhaps inspired by the elemental association of Cups with water) no less than three of the stories feature a massive coastal storm. Rather than require some of the authors to change their ideas, I thought I could include them all to highlight one of the interesting ways to use generally unrelated adventures.

Finding a common thread to run between adventures is an awesome way of building a sort of “accidental” campaign. The tumultuous weather plays a role in all three of the stories, and they are not written as being interrelated. An enterprising Narrator might, however, come up with some connecting concepts to help tie them together. Perhaps these are all part of a single, major storm system of some kind, a sort of terrifying storm of the century to strike the southern coast of Aldis? Or, perhaps there is something (or someone…) nefarious at work, hurling storm after storm into the world.

I do love this idea and the thought of a great storm coming to the southern coast of Aldis is too good to pass up. 

Personally, I think this is one of Blue Rose's greatest strengths when compared to D&D.  D&D can do a lot of great things. But it is largely still a game about and centered around combat.  In Blue Rose, you could make an adventure where the central focus was protecting a small coastal town from the coming storm. Not by fighting some demonic force or elemental, but as the Sovereign's Finest playing the role the National Guard does here. Organizing relief efforts, building sandbag walls, and figuring out what to do. Fantastic role-playing opportunity.  

So my darkfiend Dorgogz is not the cause of this massive storm, but rather he is here because of it. 

The adventures are leveled from 1 to 8 (mine for example is level 2-4). A new adventure, say levels 8-10 called "The Storm of the Century" would be this giant coastal storm.  Hmm...I am getting some ideas here.  With this sort of build-up, one could see that there is something connected and nefarious here. 

Can't wait to try out the other adventures in this book. They look great.