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 a 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.

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Name: A Colour in a Dark Age

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jonathan Baxter

Setting: Cthulhu Dark Ages or Cthulhu Through the Ages: Guidelines for Playing Call of Cthulhu in Seven Different Eras
Product: Scenario
What You Get: 28.29 MB nineteen-page, full colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: In the Dark Ages there is only one colour between them.
Plot Hook: A draining experience could be spreading...
Plot Development: Warring factions, cowed villagers, heresy, religious persecution, a siege, and a cookbook.
Plot Support: Investigator strategies, sixteen fully-stated up NPCs, and seven full colour maps.

Pros
# Support for Cthulhu Dark Ages# Can be played just using Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition
# Designed for three players (but playable by more)
# Creepy opening scenes
# Open-ended design
# Scope for scenery-chewing NPCs
# Scope for inter-factional skulduggery
# Big climax

Cons
# Support for Cthulhu Dark Ages
# Poorly explained set-up
# Open-ended plot
# Not suitable for the new Keeper
# Possible party split
# Potentially easy access to powerful Mythos tomes

Conclusion
# Unfamiliar setting
# Underwritten set-up
# The Mythos meets B-Movie, blood & guts, hack & slash with a whiff of a rose!

UPDATE 11/10/2019:  Four new poses have been added to the Fantasy Creatures set; a knight; a minotaur; a griffin and a snake woman.


The new sets from SCS Direct are finally available on Amazon . . . only about two years later than expected.  They are only available on Amazon so far. I do not even see them on SCS's own website yet.  

These are nice sets of figures.  In addition to the "Fantasy Creatures" and "Robots" labels, they each have a decal identifying them as "Wicked Duals."  The figures are a bit smaller than SCS's zombie and monster sets. I like all of the Fantasy Creatures except for the pixie.  There was no need for a pixie.  I was hoping for a lizardman in this set, but no, we get a pixie.  The Robots score very high on the weird scale, and I like that.  I just wish they came in more, or better, colors.  

Fantasy Creatures

New poses added in 2019,




















Robots

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—and so on, as the anniversaries come up. 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.
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The very first adventure that roleplaying hobby gave us was the dungeon and the purest form of the dungeon is the megadungeon. The megadungeon is like a dungeon, a complex of rooms and corridors beneath the earth populated by traps, puzzles, treasure, and monsters, but on a larger scale. Often a much larger scale—a scale large enough that the dungeon itself becomes the focus of the campaign. In such a megadungeon, the player characters will either visit the dungeon again and again, returning to the surface regularly to rest, resupply, and research, or there may be areas within the dungeon where they can rest or even resupply, so that they rarely return to the surface. Although other fantasy and fantasy-like roleplaying games do do dungeons or dungeons that are not ‘dungeons’—for example, Numenera and Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne—the megadungeon remains very much the province of Dungeons & Dragons and its various editions and iterations. The Old School Renaissance—a period so far contemporaneous with Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition—has been the greater source of the megadungeon in the last fifteen years. Notable examples include Barrowmaze and Dwimmermount, both published for use with Labyrinth Lord, both large tomes in themselves, but another megadungeon, Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls, offers much more stripped back play.

Written and published by the author of The Dungeon Alphabet: An A-Z Reference for Classic Dungeon Design for use with Labyrinth Lord in 2009, Stonehell Dungeon offers a constrained five level dungeon with some seven hundred locations, complete with a detailed history, numerous factions, and a surprisingly reasonable rationale for its existence. And all that in just one hundred and thirty four pages. Plus that is only half of the dungeon as another five Levels and another six hundred locations are detailed in the second part, Stonehell Dungeon: Into the Heart of Hell. This sounds like an awful lot and an awful lot in relatively few pages. The question is, how does it manage to do what sounds like an all but impossible task?

Stonehell Dungeon does this by using the one-page dungeon format—best seen in the One-Page Contest—designed to fit a complete, compact adventure on a single page which a Labyrinth Lord can read and prepare in a few minutes before running it for her players in a session (or two). Thus the Labyrinth Lord has to pack in the monsters, the treasure, the puzzles, the traps, and the story into as tight a space as possible and it still offer a high degree of playability. Now the design of Stonehell Dungeon does not strictly adhere to the one-page dungeon format, but the fact that it does is not without its consequences, both good and bad,

Since Stonehell Dungeon is a megadungeon, it cannot simply fit one level into the one-page dungeon format, so instead it divides each level into four quadrants, each of which receives not the one-page dungeon treatment, but a double-page spread treatment—twice. The first of these highlights the salient features and nature of the quadrant with an overview, a description of its population, special dungeon notes, important NPCs, and any new monsters, spells, or magic items. This is the main body of the text for the quadrant, for the second double-page spread gives a map of the quadrant, tables for elements such as wandering monsters and random crypt contents, lists its notable features, and then provides a room key for all of the quadrant’s notable locations. This last feature is highly economical with its words, according each or location no more than three sentences each—and rarely that. What is this means that Stonehell Dungeon manages to pack in descriptions—thumbnail descriptions, but descriptions nonetheless—of thirty to forty rooms in just over page! 

Now what the room descriptions do not include are any monster stats. These are are included in a double-page spread given for the level and all four of its quadrants as a whole. This double-page spread shows the four quadrant maps together as a whole so that the Labyrinth Lord can see their connection and this is accompanied by an overview of the level as a whole and a full monster list for the level, including their stats. What this means is that the Referee is not going to be running Stonehell Dungeon from just the double-page spread of the quadrant map and room list, but will still need to refer to the overviews of both the quadrant and the level. That said, the format means that this cross-referencing is kept to a minimum and with a printout of the monster list to hand the Labyrinth Lord could just work from just the double-page spread of the quadrant map and the room list.

What this means is that Stonehell Dungeon can be run with the minimum of fuss, quadrant by quadrant, level by level. Even preparation is relatively light, since the quadrants, for the most part, are fairly self-contained, with little overlap from quadrant to another, though there is some overlap in the deeper levels. This almost compartmentalisation means that it is relatively easy for the Labyrinth Lord excise a quadrant from Stonehell Dungeon and run it elsewhere or on its own. On the downside, it means that the story and the narrative in the dungeon can also become compartmentalised because the connections between individual quadrants are also limited. Now to be fair, there are story and plot elements in Stonehell Dungeon mostly through the hooks which pull the adventurers into the dungeons, but this being a dungeon for the Old School Renaissance, there is less of an emphasis upon plot and more on what the players and their characters bring to the adventure and dungeon.

As to the plot and rationale of Stonehell Dungeon, it is a former prison, a penal solution for a tyrant some three centuries ago who had too many enemies and not enough gaol space. Begun as an experiment, the tyrant fed in more and more prisoners who had to dig and expand its confines in order to make space. The prison was also self-governing, the guards only there to prevent escapes and as ever greater numbers have been forced in, a malign society of rival gangs was formed. When the tyrant and his regime was overthrown, the prison was abandoned, few escaped, and the limited reform or rescue teams sent in, never returned. Those who remained went mad and many descended into cannibalism as something seemed to feed on and exacerbate the madness and later spread Chaos… In the centuries since Stonehell Dungeon was abandoned, it has been a base for bandits and brigands, a destination for adventurers, and more. Today, its location is well-known, lying at the far end of a gorge when the ruins of the prison’s fortifications and above ground facilities now stand. Together, these serve as Level 0 for the dungeon.

Beyond the abandoned and explored and re-explored opening ‘Hell’s Antechamber’ inside Stonehell Dungeon’s entrance, once the adventurers are in, there is the neutral ground of a Kobold Village of dungeon caretakers to be found, a Hobgoblin army preparing for conquest, a Dwarf on an architectural survey expedition to be joined, a former serpentine temple which adds an element of Cosmic Horror, an asylum, Wererat mercenaries and spies, a ghost funeral skiff whose crew are still looking looking to take away the dead—and the not-so-dead, whilst the laboratory of the Plated Mage and a strange alien race push Stonehell Dungeon into weird Science Fantasy territory. Not all of this is all that interesting, in general, barring the Kobold Village, any section involving races like Orcs and Hobgoblins feels like they have to be there in order to counterpoint the odder and more interesting aspects of Stonehell Dungeon where the author has been freer with his imagination. Even then, Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls is not as weird as it could be, for there are another five levels to come in Stonehell Dungeon: Into the Heart of Hell, and even by the fifth level of the dungeon, very little of weirdness has been touched upon. Of course, if the Labyrinth Lord decides to end the megadungeon playthrough there, it does end with a confrontation with a very well handled monster.

Physically, Stonehell Dungeon is a surprisingly slim book given what it provides. It is lightly illustrated, primarily with publicly available artwork. The writing and editing are generally decent, though the near adherence to the one-page dungeon format does mean that the content feels cramped in places. Another issue is that in the overview pages, elements are typically discussed before their placement in the room lists for each quadrant, so Labyrinth Lord will need to get used to that format rather than the sequential format of other adventures and campaigns.

Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls is not necessarily the perfect example of a megadungeon to come out of the Old School Renaissance, but it is undeniably a good one. It offers the means to use the stripped back mechanics beloved of the Old School Renaissance which leave room for the Labyrinth Lord’s and her players’ own rulings and input respectively. As much as it is representative of the Old School Renaissance, it is equally of another aspect of the hobby—that nothing new goes out of print. Stonehell Dungeon was published in 2009 and Print on Demand means that a decade on it is still available.

Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls manages to achieve control of its content via the one-page dungeon format which prevents it from sprawling unnecessarily, which means that it is easier for the Labyrinth Lord to run the megadungeon quadrant by quadrant. Yet at the same time that format places constraints upon its storytelling possibilities and perhaps plots that all too often fight to escape beyond their quadrants. Overall, Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls is an incredible piece of design, economical of format and word count in a way which helps the Labyrinth Lord run the dungeon off the page.

Whitehack is a retroclone, a hack, a rough cut of Dungeons & Dragons which sets out to bring a higher degree of flexibility and design than most other roleplaying games of the Old School Renaissance. It bears some mechanical similarities to The Black Hack, but there are more differences than similarities. The Black Hack focuses on dungeon delving and traditional Dungeons & Dragons-style of play with traditional elements such as the Races and Classes found in Dungeons & Dragons, but with mechanics similar to that of Numenera to support player-focused play. Whitehack can do that, but is designed to do Races, Classes, and magic of the players’ and Referee’s choice combined with a simple mechanic, and as much as this provides player and Referee alike with a huge amount of creative freedom, it also comes with a certain degree of conceptual complexity.

A character in Whitehack looks much like a Dungeons & Dragons character, but not. A character has six characteristics—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, plus a Class and Level, Armour Class, Hit Points, and so on. Value for various factors, including Hit Points, along with Attack Value—representing a character’s martial prowess, Saving Throw—rolled to avoid dangers and hazards, Slots—special abilities, and Groups—origins/links/professions, are provided by a character’s Class. Instead of traditional fantasy Classes like Fighter, Cleric, Thief, and Wizard, Whitehack has three, all with just ten Levels—Deft, Strong, and Wise. Each Class has some core abilities. Thus Deft characters can roll for double damage when attacking from a dexterously advantageous position, attune themselves to certain objects or animals to do amazing things with them; Strong characters are good in melee and get better such as being able to climb and fight huge opponents or attack with two weapons, and can even learn attack moves from opponents they kill; and Wise characters can do magic, whether that is prayers, spells, rituals, and so forth.

So far, so simple, and so far, not that interesting, but exactly what the Classes, the Slots, and the Groups represent is where Whitehack begins to get interesting. This is because it is entirely up to each player to decide what they are. So a Deft character might be a swashbuckling duellist, a wandering monk from faraway, an agile thief; a Strong character could be a mighty-thewed barbarian, a gigantic prehistoric hominid named Joe Miller, a loyal knight; and a Wise could be a wizard, a priest, a druid, or even a mad scientist. Slots are both special abilities and the number of times that a character can use a special per day, so it is possible to know more than one special ability, but be limited in the number of uses. The player of course tailors the Slots to the character, a Deft archer might know trick shots or jungle acrobat be accompanied by a loyal panther; a charismatic Strong character might boost morale or instil fear, whilst a loyal Strong character could protect others; and a Wise summoner might call things from the netherworld or a Wise steampunk tinkerer might fiddle with a Universal Engine to get any number of effects. 

Then a character has Groups. Every character starts with two of these, representing his Species—if other human, his vocation, or an affiliation with a guild or tribe or school or whatever. An affiliation might even be a strong personality trait or belief, such as Lawful, Evil, or Hesta will always guide me. Whatever the Group, it is always associated with an attribute and whenever the player has to make a check against an attribute when its associated group comes into play, it is always with a bonus. 

Thurston Smith
Level 1 Deft Hero
Hit Dice 1 Attack Value 10 
Move Value 25 Saving Throw 7 
Armour Class 3 Hit Points 5 

Strength 08 
Dexterity 15 (+1 to Initiative) [Treasure Hunter]
Constitution 13 
Intelligence 17 [The Last University]
Wisdom 07 
Charisma 14

Languages: Draconic, Underearth, Common

Special Abilities
Master of the Whip

Whilst Hit Points and weapon damage in Whitehack is rolled on six-sided dice, the roleplaying game’s mechanic uses a twenty-sided die—or two. For his hero to undertake an action, a player rolls a twenty-sided die and attempts to roll equal to or under the appropriate attribute. A roll of twenty is a fumble, but a roll equal to the value of the attribute is a critical success. The Referee can make this task easier or harder by increasing or decreasing the value of the attribute for the purposes of the task. If a character has an appropriate group next to the attribute being rolled against, then the player can make a ‘positive double roll’ and roll two twenty-sided dice with only one needing to be equal to or under the attribute for the character to succeed. (Other roleplaying games would call this ‘rolling with advantage’.) If though,  pairs are rolled on ‘positive double roll’ equal to or under the attribute then the character gains an extra bonus of some kind, but if the pairs are over the attribute, he suffers an extra detrimental effect in addition to his failure.
For example, Thurston Smith is on an archaeological expedition and is exploring a necropolis in search of the tomb of Naranda, Lord of the White Scales, an infamous White Dragon cultist. Searching a catacomb complex he comes across the sarcophagus of another potentially important cultist. The stone coffin is carved as if the occupant was wrapped in the wings of a dragon and engraved in the Draconic tongue. Thurston speaks Draconic, but the engravings are faded and the Draconic an ancient variant. To read what it says, Thurston’s player will need to make an Intelligence check. Which for Thurston will be seventeen. Thurston also has an appropriate Group attached to his Intelligence—The Last University—so his player gets to make a ‘double positive roll’. The Referee states that the condition of the engravings makes it harder to read them and levies a penalty. So now Thurston’s player much make a ‘Double Positive Roll’ against a target of fifteen. He rolls six and six—a positive, but not critical success. The Referee identifies the tomb as belonging to Oshun the Minor, another cultist, but one who was part the schism that killed Naranda, Lord of the White Scales and was said to have gone to the grave with some of his enemy’s secrets.Whitehack uses the same mechanic for attacking in combat, but with an adjustment to how Armour Class is handled. The Armour Class scale in Whitehack is ascending, but ascends from zero, indicating no armour, then two for Cloth, three for Leather, and so on. Shields increase Armour Class by one. (A table provides a means of conversion from traditional ascending and descending Armour Class scales found in other fantasy roleplaying games.) When a character attacks an opponent wearing armour or with an Armour Class value, his player is rolling against both the character’s attribute and the opponent’s Armour Class. If the player rolls equal to or under his character’s attribute, but above the Armour Class value, then the attack is successful, but if the roll is under both the attribute and the Armour Class value, then the attack fails.
For example, Thurston, having opened up the sarcophagus of Oshun the Minor, is confronted with the corpse of the long dead priest, reanimated as an Ice Zombie. Thurston quickly draws his flintlock pistol and fires at the looming desiccated ice figure. Thurston’s attack will go first because he is using a firearm and the player will be rolling against Thurston’s Dexterity. However, the Oshun the Minor is flesh and bone hardened by ice, which gives him an Armour Class of three. Any roll of four to sixteen will mean that Thurston’s shot has hit, but a roll of seventeen or more means a miss, and a roll of three or lower means that he has hit Oshun the Minor, but the Ice Zombie’s frozen skin has stopped the ball from Thurston’s handgun.Contests between characters or NPCs can be handled via the simple comparison of attribute rolls, but for longer contests an Auction mechanic can be used. Each participant rolls a six-sided die and keeping the result a secret, bids the value of the number rolled or less as a qualifier much like Armour Class. For example, if Thurston wanted to escape the cold clutches of Oshun the Minor, his player might roll a four on the six-sided die, and bid a three to escape, meaning that he has to roll under Thurston’s Dexterity of seventeen, but over the bid of three to succeed. If he fails, then the Referee gets to bid for Oshun the Minor to catch him… 

Having given the players the freedom to imagine and design their characters how they like just using the three Classes, Whitehack gives the Wise Class and thus spellcasters the freedom to create almost any magic that they like. The downside is that casting spells, doing prayers, performing rituals, and so on costs the caster Hit Points—and the more complex the spell and its effects, the more Hit Points it costs. Now the Wise character does get these Hit Points back faster than any other Class—though not from his own magic—and he can mitigate the Hit Point loss. This might be through the use of the right equipment or tools, ingredients, place, gestures, and so on.
For example, Darius the Spider Mage wants to sneak past some guards in a torchlit cavern. He decides to cast Move Like an Arachnid and climb up the walls and along the ceiling. The Referee states that this will cost Darius 1d6+2 in Hit Points to cast. Darius’ player says that the Spider Mage will make it appear that he has eight legs as part of the casting and rub crushed spiders into his hands and feet. For the first, the Referee agrees to reduce the cost to 1d6+1 and then to 1d6 for the second. Darius’ player rolls the die and loses three Hit Points, but successfully casts the spell...Essentially, spellcasting in Whitehack is a negotiation between the player and the Referee, the player aiming to cast a spell closest to the desired effect, whilst losing as few Hit Points as possible, whereas the Referee is aiming to have the Wise character cast something plausible taking into account the character’s concept, Level, and Groups. This works whatever type of spell or effect the Wise character is aiming for, including the creation of artefacts, although this costs the caster permanent Hit Points rather than temporary ones. For those who like the traditional spells of Dungeons & Dragons and other retroclones, Whitehack includes a list for the players and Referee as a reference to aid them in a more traditional style of fantasy roleplaying game.

Beyond these core rules, Whitehack provides rules for corruption and then four new Classes. The first two are the Brave and the Fortunate, whilst the Dagonite and the Marionette are given as two examples of Race of Class. All four are slightly more complex Classes, the first two designed to be used as replacements should a player character die during the game, the second two to fit the campaign setting given at the end of the Whitehack. All four though, work as examples for the Referee to design her own. Whitehack also provides the Referee on advice when running the game, covering designing or adapting settings, creating adventures and constructing dungeons, and handling campaigns.

Although a full list of monsters is included in Whitehack, it is very much a list and a list a traditional monsters, and given that they are traditional monsters, they do not really anything in the way of an explanation. Instead, Whitehack focuses on building monsters, including ‘Boss’ monsters which have to be taken down stage by stage. The monsters given as an example include Mountain Orcs—stealthy cannibals who are rumoured to be lycanthropes, Rock Snails—beasts of burden whose shells are used as shelter by the travellers they carry; and Whitecloaks, a lawful religious cult dedicated to fighting and curing the corrupted and the cursed. These monsters, much like the artefacts given in Whitehack such as the Dagonite Needle Gun and the Ghost Box—a device for speaking to the undead spirits trapped within, are part of ‘The White Curse’, the campaign setting included in Whitehack.

‘The White Curse’ is a post-apocalypse fantasy setting in which the blood of an evil Witch King seeped into the ground, causing a terrible cold to spread and many of its inhabitants to suffer from a curse that turns them into the Twisted. As the Witch King works to return to the mortal world, one cult known as the Watchers attempts to stop it whilst the Witch Cult works for its master. The world is one of shattered cities buried under ice and freezing seas forcing the amphibious Dagonites to seek refuge on the land, as the Witch Cult searches the ruins for ancient artefacts and the Watchers attempt to stop them. The set-up suggests that the player character party could be part of either organisation which lends itself to some interesting roleplaying possibilities.

Whitehack comes with a scenario, ‘The Chapterhouse Murders’, set within the enclosed chapterhouse of the Whitecloaks. The player characters will need to conduct their investigations outside the chapterhouse in the gorge city of Ode and then find their way inside to continue. Much of the scenario is built around a mindmap of relationships that the Referee will need to work from, with the investigation inside the chapterhouse combining a dungeon crawl and a murder mystery, but playd out with stealth. Clues learned in ‘The Chapterhouse Murders’ will lead the player characters out of the city of Ode and after a murderous MacGuffin, the significance of which will vary according to which side the player characters are working for. ‘The White Curse’ provides impressive support for Whitehack, solid playable fantasy content with both steampunk-esque and Lovecraftian elements.

Whitehack is available in a variety of formats, but the simplest and handiest is a sixty-four page digest-sized book. All versions are illustrated, but the layout is clean and tidy and whilst it needs an edit here and there, the writing is engaging. One issue is with the organisation which puts all of the play examples together in one place and not with the rules they illustrate. This means that grasping the rules is not as immediately as easy as it should be and that is at odds with the simplicity and intent of Whitehack.

As much as many retroclones are designed to emulate particular iterations of Dungeons & Dragons and in many cases, it is claimed that they can do a variety of different types and styles of fantasy too. Now Whitehack can do the traditional fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons and the support and scenarios for traditional Dungeons & Dragons and other retroclones can be adapted to Whitehack—a matter of the Referee making the adjustment of the mechanics and numbers from the other to Whitehack, which can be done on the fly once she is used to it—what Whitehack offers is the flexibility and freedom to do more. Not just for the Referee, but the players who have the freedom to create the characters they want without the constraints of traditional fantasy. On the downside though, the freedom means a lack of options to choose from and for some players and Referees this can be paralysing. (In which case, Whitehack may not be for such players and Referees and perhaps The Black Hack would be a more suitable choice as it is more traditional in the options and fantasy it offers.)

Whitehack is a retroclone package in two parts. The first the rules, simple and easy, but unconstrained in terms of what each player wants in his character and the Referee wants in the design of her fantasy world. The second is an example setting and scenario combination showcase with enough content to get a game of Whitehack going, yet with room enough for the Referee to expand and develop as is her wont. Overall, Whitehack is a great retroclone for giving player and Referee design freedom alike—and then showcasing how it can be done.

There is no denying the continued and growing popularity of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, with it having appeared on the television series Stranger Things and it no longer being seen as a hobby solely the preserve of typically male, nerdy teenagers and young adults. Yet as acceptable a hobby as roleplaying and in particular, playing Dungeons & Dragons has become, getting into the hobby is still a daunting prospect. Imagine if you will, being faced with making your first character for your first game of Dungeons & Dragons? For nearly all of us, this is not very far from being a challenge, for we all started somewhere and we all had to make that first step—however many years ago it was. What do you play? What choices do you make? As well written as both Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set and the Player’s Handbook are, both still present the prospective reader and player with a lot of choices, but without really answering that first question after deciding that you want to play, and that is, “What do I want to play?”

Step forward Warriors & Weapons, part of the ‘Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides Series’ published by Ten Speed Press. It is an introductory guide to Dungeons & Dragons, designed as a primer to many of the types of characters that can be played in the game, plus the arms and armour they will equip themselves with and the various tools they will carry when go adventuring. Notably, it is profusely illustrated, no page consisting entirely of text. The artwork is all drawn from and matches the style of Dungeon & Dragons, Fifth Edition, so as much as it provides an introduction to characters in the roleplaying game, it provides an introduction to the look of the roleplaying game, so providing continuity between the other books in the ‘Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides Series’ and the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set and the core rulebooks. This use of art and the digest size of the book means that from the start, Warriors & Weapons is an attractive little package.

As to the content, it can really be divided into three sections—‘Fantasy Races’, ‘Character Classes’, and ‘Equipment’. The first covers nine Races found in Dungeons & Dragons. These are Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Dragonborn, Kenku, Tabaxi, Tiefling, and Tortle, with each being accorded a double-page spread. Along with an illustration, this opens with a simple set of questions and a suggestion, such as, “Are you fascinated by how the world works?”, “Do you sometimes talk too much?”, and “Do you long to see the world and make new friends along the way?”, which the book answers with, “You might be a Gnome!”. This is accompanied by more information about the Race, some ideas of their typical names, and typical attributes, so Intellect, Industrious, Dexterity, and Tricky for Gnomes.

The six Character Classes in Warriors & Weapons, all of a martial bent, are given a similar treatment. They are Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, and Rogue, each entry asking questions similar to those of the Races, detailing their archetypes, their equipment and attributes, and so on. Thus the Martial Archetypes of Battle Master, Champion, and Eldritch Knight for the Fighter Class, that they can use all arms and armour, and gain from Second Wind, which gives them greater resolve. Further each Class is accompanied by an exemplar or legendary member of that Class. So there is Wulfgar the Warhammer for the Barbarian and Shandie Freefoot for the Rogue, with descriptions of what they can do and what it would be like to play them. All six are notables from the Forgotten Realms, veteran fans likely to enjoy the inclusion of Minsc the Mighty along with Boo the Hamster. 

The Class section ends with two things. The first is a ‘Class Flowchart’ which asks a few questions and quickly guides the prospective player to the Class that he might like to play. It does seem odd to have this placed after the descriptions of the Classes rather than before and it seems even odder not have a ‘Race Flowchart’ in the previous section. The other is a look at ‘Character Background & Inspiration’, basically introducing some of the Backgrounds from the Player’s Handbook. Lastly, it asks what makes your character special beyond Race and Class, including flaws.

The first two sections have been all about who are you and what do you do. The third and final section, deals with equipment, detailing not just clothes, but arms, armour—the latter with a special warning about the dangers of encountering a Rust Monster, and kits and packs. Packs in particular get some attention, a full page illustration and a description each, all handily presented. If there is a single niggle with the whole of this useful reference section, it is that the Pike is included in the description of polearms rather than the humble spear.

Rounding out Warriors & Weapons is some last words about building a hero, telling the reader that he is on his first steps composing his adventurer’s story. It opens up a little to ask the player to wonder about the other heroes his character will adventure alongside, what and where his adventures take place, and of course, why? It explains a bit more about the play of Dungeons & Dragons, so serving as a light primer before the player gets to the table.  

There are just two issues with Warriors & Weapons. The first is that as an introduction to the types of characters you can play in Dungeons & Dragons, as its title suggests, it only gets half of the job done. It does not cover Clerics, Sorcerers, and Wizards, or indeed any of the other spellcasting character types in Dungeons & Dragons. All that is covered in Wizards & Spells, the companion to Warriors & Weapons. So to learn about those character types—and thus all of the character types in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition—the prospective player as yet unsure as  to which to play will need to buy the two books. That said, neither book is expensive. Unfortunately, Wizards & Spells is not available until March of 2020, so the prospective Wizard-playing player wanting to know more will still have to consult the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set or the Player’s Handbook.

The other issue is that Warriors & Weapons includes some non-standard Races. These are the Kenku, the Tabaxi, and the Tortle. None of these three are in the Player’s Handbook and so any prospective looking to play a member of these Races is going to be disappointed. Further, there are no pointers as where the details of these Races can be found. Obviously, the next step from Warriors & Weapons is the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set or the Player’s Handbook, but not for those Races. For a book so obviously intended to be helpful, their inclusion and their lack of pointers is odd to say the least, if not simply just unhelpful.

Physically, Warriors & Weapons is an attractive little hardback. It is bright, it is breezy, and it shows a prospective player what he can play, both in the art and the writing. Further, the art shows lots of adventuring scenes which can only spur the prospective player’s imagination.

Now obviously, Warriors & Weapons is designed to showcase Dungeons & Dragons and introduce the prospective player to what he can roleplay. And this it does well enough, given that another book is needed to cover all of the choices available. It should be noted that given the lack of statistics and other values, Warriors & Weapons would also work as an introduction to Dungeons & Dragons-style retroclones, though in its look, it is brighter and breezier than the style and tone of the typical fantasy roleplaying game from the Old School Renaissance.

As an introduction to some of the character types you can play in Dungeons & Dragons and a little of the types of adventures such characters can have, Warriors & Weapons very nicely works as a book to give as a gift for the prospective or curious player. Especially if he has played any of the Endless Quest solo adventure books published by Wizards of the Coast. Warriors & Weapons though, is also a book to have at the table as a reference guide. Of course the Player’s Handbook does that too, but Warriors & Weapons, by virtue of its size, its brevity, and its lack of gaming stats, is handier and easier to use. So questions like, “How does a Fighter fight?” or “What does a Dragonborn look like?” or “What is scale mail?” or “What is in an Explorer’s Pack?” can all be answered by flipping through the pages of this smaller, much shorter tome.

Warriors & Weapons is not perfect by any means, but it is a bright and easy read, the first part of what should serve as a light introduction to Dungeons & Dragons. One that nicely works as a gift as much as it does a reference work.

k141:

Dragon Familiar

'Taumel' or 'Frenzy'

'Gluckspiel' or 'Game of Chance'

'The Devil as Matchmaker'


Artworks found at the online collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Artworks found at the online collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The publication of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition by Cubicle Seven Entertainment is a reminder that once upon a time, Games Workshop published roleplaying games. Chief amongst these was of course Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which even thirty years on, remains the definitive British roleplaying game. Its mix of fantasy, European history, Moorcockian cosmology, humour, grim and perilous feel, disease and damnation, and mud and shit underfoot, very much set it apart from the fantasy found in other roleplaying games of the time—and arguably since. Perhaps the best expression of those elements is not in the roleplaying game itself, but in what is arguably the greatest British roleplaying campaign ever published—The Enemy Within. Published in six parts—The Enemy Within, Shadows Over Bögenhafen, Death on the Reik, Power Behind the Throne, Something Rotten in Kislev, and Empire in Flames—between 1986 and 1989, it thrust a band of lowly adventurers into a conspiracy that threatened the Empire not from without, but within, pushing them onto a larger stage which will bring them to the attention of the great, the good, and the bad and ultimately place the fate of the Empire in their hands. Mostly.

The Enemy Within as a campaign has been much discussed and examined over the years, the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay fanzine, Warpstone, which ran for thirty issues from 1996, paying particular to the campaign through histories and interviews with the authors and designers. My own history with the campaign begins in 1986 as a fan of  Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, playing through much of it three times—playing different characters each time—as published and then with different groups in the 1990s, before reading through the campaign as whole twice as a Hogshead Publishing employee. In the twenty years since, there has been discussion of revisiting The Enemy Within campaign, whether the original campaign using Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Second Edition, or the version of the campaign published by Fantasy Flight Games for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Third Edition. With the publication of the campaign again by Cubicle Seven Entertainment there may well be a chance that I will revisit it at the gaming table again, but in the meantime, it is worth looking again at the constituent parts of The Enemy Within campaign.

The first part of The Enemy Within is of course, The Enemy Within. Later reprints amalgamated this with Shadows Over Bögenhafen and Death on the Reik as Games Workshop’s Warhammer Adventure and Warhammer Campaign, or with Shadows over Bögenhafen as Hogshead Publishing’s Shadows Over Bögenhafen. The original came as a folio, much like the scenarios for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons from TSR, Inc., thick with content—a fifty-six page campaign booklet, a full colour poster of The Empire, and eight pages of handouts, the latter including letters and other clues for scenario included in the booklet, as well as six pre-generated player characters, and a map and calendar of The Empire for the players.

From the off, The Enemy Within clearly states what it is about and what the player characters will be facing. The Empire—described as the greatest land in the Old World—is under attack, but not from the many mutants, Beastmen, and Chaos Warriors that lurk in the all-too thick forests on the edge of civilisation, but from within the mighty civilisation itself. Whilst they do attack and maraud the lands and peoples near to their forest lairs, the true threat comes the members of the guild, merchant, burgermeister, and noble classes who have turned to the worship in secret of the Chaos Gods in return for promises of power, pleasure, and worse. Whether they understand the true perfidy they will unleash on The Empire or not with vile devotions, they are the true enemy, which will only be revealed as campaign progresses and the adventurers are pulled deeper into the horrors hidden behind façades of nobility and civility…

Having set out its remit, The Enemy Within booklet gives good advice for the Game Master in running both the campaign and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Notable amongst this advice is being flexible, being dramatic, and being humorous in presenting the Old World and the campaign. Certainly the humorous aspect to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is one that sets it apart from other roleplaying games, though as the campaign progresses, the authors’ predilection for puns and bad German word play becomes more groan worthy than actually funny. Then as well as covering travel in the Empire—primarily via its canal network and its coaching companies—more than half of the booklet expands upon the background of The Empire and the Old World given in the core rulebook, which was not really as extensive as it could have been. This covers the history of the Empire, from its founding with the unification of the tribes by Sigmar Heldenhammer and defeat of the Goblin armies, right up to the present day, its accompanying list of Emperors including a sly dig at eighties politics with the election of Empress Magraritha in 1979. (The inclusion of Boris the Incompetent on the timeline is just coincidence. Hopefully.)

The background covers not just the Empire’s history and emperors, but the current figurehead of an emperor, his advisors, and the Electors, the latter the members of the nobility who elect the Emperor. Below this, it examines the political and economic structure of the Empire; its guilds, nobility, and ordinary folk; its religion—primarily the Cult of Sigmar, the Empire’s state religion, but also prescribed cults like those devoted to Kháine and the Chaos gods; and its geography and means of communication over long distances, plus a short gazetteer. This is followed by stats for Soldiers of the Empire and Standard NPCs for The Enemy Within campaign. These are accompanied by illustrations of the typical dress worn in the Empire, a guide to herbs found in the Empire, and Mutants in the Empire.

All of which is useful material for the Game Master. A lot of this will come into play during a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay campaign, not just The Enemy Within campaign, though that will involve mutants, it will involve the Empire’s Electors, and one of the pre-generated player characters is a herbalist. Much of this and The Empire is inspired by the history of the Germanic principalities, duchies, and other states of the Holy Roman Empire, which gives Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay its mittel-European sensibility and thus much of its identity which sets it apart from other fantasy roleplaying games. 

The scenario in The Enemy Within is ‘Mistaken Identity’. This begins with a cliché—the player characters answering a call for adventurers wanted in the Imperial capital, Altdorf—but is it? Perhaps in any other fantasy roleplaying game, but here it works because the player characters are at the bottom of the heap and cannot really expect to improve themselves except by answering this call. Some players may grumble at the admonishment that no Dwarves apply, but since no Dwarves are included in the six pre-generated characters, this is not really an issue. Of course, by the time the adventurers get to Altdorf to sign up, the potential employer will have already departed having hired everyone he needed. And by then, the adventurers will also have been distracted by other events…

‘Mistaken Identity’ is a travel adventure. The need for the player characters to get from Delberz to Altdorf more or less hides the linear nature of the scenario’s storyline, which is really designed to get the player characters from one plot point to the next. These plot points are twofold. The first is to get the player characters to discover the dead body of one Kastor Lieberung, a man who is the spitting image of one of their number and who happens to have a letter informing him of an inheritance in the town of Bögenhafen. The possibility of riches and elevation to the nobility is the real hook here, the fact that only one or two of the player characters is literate is a further reason to keep everyone together, since it is unlikely that doppelganger will be able to read the letter. The second is to wonder why certain men are taking a desperate interest in the player character—or rather Kastor Lieberung who the player character is impersonating—and third, why someone else wants those men and then Kastor Lieberung, dead. Of course, Kastor Lieberung is actually a dead Chaos cultist, and understandably, this will have repercussions throughout the rest of The Enemy Within campaign as death and murder follows in the adventurers’ wake (and not just at the end of their swords and axes, The Enemy Within campaign involving a fair bit of combat)...

Along the way, the Game Master has some fun scenes to portray. These begin with a night at the Coach and Horses Inn, populated with a range of characters ready to set out aboard the coach the next day. Here the player characters get to rub up against and probably rub up the wrong way various members of society, including a cardsharp on the make, an imperious noble who will employ her bodyguards to keep the player characters away, a cultist (from another cult!), and two very drunk coachmen. The player characters are free to do what they want here and roleplay their characters in the inn and on the road, before throwing them into the plot proper following a combat with Mutants on the road. This will have nasty consequences for one of the player characters as it turns out one of the Mutants was a friend. After this, there is the famous ear-scratching scene by cultists in Altdorf, a run-in with Hooray Heinrichs spoiling for a fight between their bodyguards and the oiks, and meet-up with an old friend, circumstances around these pushing the player characters to scarper from Altdorf—and on to Shadows Over Bögenhafen, the next part of The Enemy Within…

The Enemy Within comes with six pre-generated player characters, all in their first Career, and all ready to play except for each player needing to select his character’s first Advance. They are all complete with an illustration, background, and personality description. They include an Elf Minstrel, a Halfling Herbalist, and Human Boatman, Labourer, Thief, and Wizard’s Apprentice, and despite this range, they are a fairly ordinary lot. This though nicely plays off against the extraordinary series of events that they will find themselves thrust into as The Enemy Within progresses. The first part of the campaign also includes six player handouts, all nicely done on heavy stock.

Physically, The Enemy Within is an engaging product. The writing is excellent, the advice solid, and the new background useful. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay has always been renowned for its artwork, but in coming back to The Enemy Within, it is artistically disappointing. Much of it is cartoonish even as it tries to evoke the Old World’s ‘grim and perilous’ feel. This is not to say that some of it is not good, but on the strength of this first part of the campaign, it needs work. Conversely, the maps are all well done.

Both Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and The Enemy Within were reviewed in Dragon #124 (August 1987) by Ken Rolston, who would go on to write Something Rotten in Kislev, the fifth part of The Enemy Within campaign. He commented that, “...The Enemy Within makes a very good first impression. Though that first impression weakens slightly on careful examination, it’s nonetheless a stand-out product, highly recommended, and a promising initial release for WFR’s line of campaign and adventure supplements.” Of the adventure structure, he said, “The adventure also depends on an unusually egregious use of plot manipulation to get the PCs from one encounter to the next. The encounters are excellent – elaborately staged, with detailed NPCs, GM presentation tips, and fine role-playing opportunities. The adventure materials are complete to current industry standards – prepared character sheets, with character personality and background notes, player handout props, GM reference summary sheets, attractive, functional maps and diagrams. But the creaking of the plot mechanisms for shuttling the PCs from encounter to encounter is a bit distracting. The adventure could be run without all the dubious coincidences – but the best parts of the adventure depend on those coincidences. If I ran this adventure, I would earnestly and shamelessly steer the PCs right into them. But I’d be a lot more careful about eroding my players’ trust in the plot devices. “Say, what a coincidence – again…”” Nevertheless, he was ultimately positive about the adventure. Similarly, Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer Number 82 (July/Aug 1988) reviewed not just The Enemy Within, but also its sequels, Shadows Over Bögenhafen and Death on the Reik. Of The Enemy Within, reviewer Richard A. Edwards said that, “If you want to bring your roleplaying group a new experience in roleplaying and introduce them to new complexities of plot then run, do not walk, to your game store and purchase a copy.” The late Stewart Wieck reviewed both Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, The Enemy Within, Shadows Over Bögenhafen, and Death on the Reik in White Wolf Magazine #9 (February, 1988), focussing in the main on the roleplaying game itself. He said, “The Enemy Within, Shadows Over Bögenhafen, and Death on the Reik are all very attractive and worthwhile supplements. The Enemy Within forms the basis for all of the WFRP adventures that follow. It begins an entire campaign for WFRP.” before awarding The Enemy Within a score out of eight out of ten.

The Enemy Within consists of two parts. In the first, it gives the Game Master the background—political, legal, travel, geographical, religious, and more—to The Empire, providing the background against which the events of The Enemy Within campaign as a whole will play out. At this initial stage, this is not obvious, but as the campaign progresses, it will become so, for one of the things that the authors do not do is lay out the whole plot. That will only come when it is complete. As to ‘Mistaken Identity’, it is easy to complain that the scenario is linear and too much of a railroad, but if so, it does what it is designed to do—pull them into the adventure before waylaying them with a completely different plot and shoving them into the campaign proper. As a set-up, it takes a session or two, and perhaps its plot is heavy-handed in places (though it hides it well), but The Enemy Within is a solid start to the definitive British fantasy roleplaying campaign.


—oOo—
With thanks to Shannon Appelcline for arranging access to White Wolf Magazine #9.

I started to specialize my toy soldier collection in fantasy around twenty years ago when I realized just how many figures and sets are available.  Nobody else I knew of was collecting this stuff.  When I really got into it, I started having a blast finding and learning about a whole category of toy soldiers that other, and much older and knowledgeable, collectors were ignoring.  It has been my pleasure to share what I have learned through this blog.  
Some fantasy toy soldiers are much harder to find than others and some sets are very difficult to complete.  Their are fairly common sets with just one or a few super rare figures that make them hard to complete, and other sets are all very rare.  Below is my best guess at the twenty rarest. I have tried to add pictures of individual figures that make certain sets hard to complete.   These are all complete sets of original figures, no bootlegs and no worries about color variations, just the base figure sets.  These were all commercially  produced  and mass marketed.  There are no custom figures like the insanely rare sets made by the Alliance of the Free on this list.
My list is based on twenty years of experience collecting and conversations with other collectors since I started this blog. That is all I have to go on.  So, the rankings are debatable.  I have looked for solid information without any success. I even summoned Cthulhu last Christmas and offered up my brother's soul but he did not have any useful insights.  


20.  Toyco Demons & Dragonriders.











19.  Arco Dragons n' Monsters.

















18. Durham Fantasy Figures.








17.  Unknown 1980s Soft Rubber Weirdness.









16.  Skinner The Lurkers.



















15. Supreme Dragon's Lair Castle Playset Figures.










14. Simba The Legend of Zortan.









13.  Percy Jackson Movie Figures.











12.  HEI Vampires.













11.  Larime Blacktar.



 


10.  Galaxy Warriors.












9.  Unknown Ant Warriors.








8. Games Work Shop Fighting Fantasy. 





















7. Oritet Elves, Dwarves, Goblins & Fairy Tail Characters.
















6.  Unknown Vending/Party Favor Rubber Orcs.









5.  Polotoy Battle of the Ancients (and other titles).














4. TSR Dungeons & Dragons Character Figures.



3. Helm Toy Playset Figures.



2. Yolanda?  Horrors n' Heroes.









1.  LarGo Toys Stingers & Wings.

Welcome to the fifth character build guide. I know this is a niche RPG and as such, I’m not getting a lot of traffic to this blog, but if you are reading and enjoying these guides, please leave a comment and let me know what’s working for you, what isn’t, and what you’d like to see. Let’s get started on the build. In modern gaming terms a Support class or character is someone that heals, protects, or enhances the abilities and effectiveness of their allies. Comics have had their fair share of characters with healing abilities, but I was having a hard time finding heroes that are purely built for support. This being the case, I looked at the V&V 3.0 Abilities for inspiration, and to one of my players whose character Lodestar is one of the most tightly designed in our entire campaign. Unfortunately, he’s currently in a coma under the care of the Crusaders. That’s what happens when you’re so effective—the villains tend to focus on you to your detriment. Lodestar was built to heal and protect his allies, but it’s how he does it that’s so slick. He does this—correction, did this—by exploiting Teleportation. With the Teleportation Modifier “Beam” he used it to teleport dangerous villains away or bring allies close to him where he could then use Healing. Teleportation takes place during Movement which saved his Action for Healing or creating Force Bubbles. In addition to his support, he had one offensive tool—the humble but very effective Power Blast. This meant that no matter what the situation was, Lodestar was always contributing something—mobility, protection, healing, or damage. Entire fights would pivot on his versatility and this made his character the ultimate Support in my eyes. Until now.

You see, V&V 3.0 introduced Ability Modifiers. These allow players to customize their Abilities in ways that make them totally unique, flavorful, and useful in ways that they might not have considered. One that jumped out at me when I was creating the Support character for this guide was Reversible. A Reversible Ability is one “…that can also produce the opposite effect (for example, an Electrical Bolt that can be used to inflict or heal Electrical Energy damage)” for the cost of 10 CPs. Speaking of healing, I’m gonna be honest here. Some of the Abilities as written are total stinkers, and Healing is probably one of the worst. Even with a whopping 20 CP investment you can only heal 2 Hit Points (4 if you Push), and it takes an entire Round. As soon as I saw Reversible, I flipped to one of the most powerful Abilities in the book—Siphon. Sure enough, Reversible makes this Ability better than Healing in every way. 10 CPs in Siphon with +10 more spent on Reversible has the same Range as Healing, but costs zero Power and can inflict 2d4 damage or heal 2d4 Hit Points. As I’ve said before, a Standard Power level hero—which is what I tend to build the most—has an Ability Cap of 20 CPs. So, with that in mind I started looking for other Abilities that are still powerful with only a 10 CP investment. Devitalization Ray is one such Ability. At 10 CPs it inflicts a staggering 2d8+d10 Power damage. A couple of hits can quickly shut down a target’s Abilities, and leaves them without a way to Push, or ‘Roll With’ Damage or Save Attacks. With the Reversible Modifier, Devitalization Ray perfectly fits our Support mold, replenishing buckets of Power to your allies.

As I’ve said before, I’m a huge fan of Lodestar’s design, and they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I’m going to pick up Force Field, and Teleport. I’ve seen firsthand how Power hungry his build is, so I’m also buying Energy. For defense and utility, I’m going to the well to pick up some Armor and Heightened Expertise. Here are our Abilities and their Modifiers:

Siphon w/ Reversible

Devitalization Ray w/ Reversible

Force Field w/ Area Effect – Perimeter, Moves with Self, Reduced PR, and Does Not Block Teleportation

Teleport w/ Beam

Energy w/ Gear

Armor w/ Gear and Light Partial Coverage

Heightened Expertise

Weaknesses:

Compulsion: Rejuvenator always puts the safety of others above her own.

The idea is to have a character that can not only replenish Hit Points, but Power as well which is arguably more valuable when you think about it. It’s used to fuel your Abilities, Push past your normal limits, and ‘Roll With’ Damaging and Save Attacks. Every point of Power represents offense, defense, damage mitigation, and resistance. I would argue that this version of Devitalization Ray is even more important than healing in most situations. Enough pontificating–I’m going to go do some min-maxing and then I’ll be back.

Introducing Rejuvenator!

Rejuvenator’s tactics focus on depleting her foes Power to end fights early thus preventing as much damage as possible. She always puts the health and well-being of her teammates above her own, teleporting them out of danger, healing them, or protecting them with Force Bubbles which she can carry and drop where needed. Her only offensive tool is Siphon, which has a range of Touch. While she does have protective Armor, getting into melee should be a last resort. Lastly, she has Heightened Expertise to increase her overall effectiveness in combat. I hope you found this guide helpful, and please feel free to submit your character build ideas or requests in the comments.

lackadaisycats:

lackadaisycats:

Patreon request for Rocky in the shape of a dragon. I was happy to oblige.
Originally, I posted it for Patrons in color, but I think I prefer it in more of a monotone like this.

———————————-
Lackadaisy is on Patreon - there’s extra stuff!

Here’s the color variant

Let’s cut to the chase, because this build is all about speed. The Speedster has been around since the 40s with the creation of the Flash, and later Quicksilver, Whizzer, Speed Demon, and so on. To me, a Speedster’s role is to even the odds by taking extra Turns each Round and using their increased movement rate to allow them to be everywhere at once. It’s akin to having two or three extra heroes on the battlefield. First let’s review the best Abilities a Speedster can buy: Super Speed (for extra turns), Speed (increased movement rate), Heightened Initiative, and Heightened Cool. Recommended Ability Modifiers are: Activation Power, Reduced Power Cost, Fast Acceleration, Water Running, and Body Part. While this archetype might seem very straightforward, there’s no reason we can’t take it in a new direction.

My concept for this Speedster is an unstoppable pursuer that isn’t hindered by the usual obstacles. V&V has no shortage of mobility Abilities, and while most V&V veterans think of Flight and Teleportation as being the premier ways to get around the battlefield, they would be mistaken. When your character can run nearly 200 miles per hour across water and up walls or through them, those other modes of travel will seem a bit tame. I’ll start with the core of our build. These Abilities are non-negotiable, and as such they will be maxed out at 20 CPs for this Standard Level hero.

Next, I’m going to fill out my character’s “Go Anywhere” suite of Abilities and Modifiers before moving on to offensive and defensive powers. The Speed modifier “Water Running” allows the character to run across the surface of liquids and the Physical Ability “Wall Crawling” allows our character to travel along sheer vertical or inverted surfaces; a bargain at only 5 CPs. That covers up and over, but what about through? That’s where Tunneling comes in. Tunneling allows a character to move through solids by opening a tunnel in front of them. The maximum SR (Structural Rating) of matter that the character can tunnel through is determined by how many CPs they spend, as is their maximum tunneling speed. Lastly, there is a Tunneling Damage bonus that you may apply to one of your character’s Attack Abilities. My Speedster digs with her hands, so I’m associating this bonus with their unarmed Punch attack. Let’s look at our Abilities thus far:

Super Speed

Speed

Wall-Crawling

Tunneling

Now that we have our mobility worked out, we need some offense, defense, and utility. With the Tunneling Damage bonus to her unarmed Punches she has a good offense, but I want to make sure she can land those hits. I’m choosing to go with Heightened Expertise. Normally I would choose Natural Weaponry, but we already have extra damage. The Power cost of her Super Speed is rather steep, and I want her to be able to Push her Punch damage and Tunneling Speed, so I’m choosing Armor for defense. It provides a good amount of flat damage reduction at no Power cost. For utility I want to support her Super Speed and Tunneling. Heightened Initiative grants a bonus to every Initiative Roll, and when you get three Turns per Round (three Initiative Rolls), this bonus is effectively tripled! Lastly, I don’t want her tunneling blindly with no idea where her quarry is, so she’s getting some X-ray specs in the form of Heightened Senses penetrating vision. Here’s the final loadout, Core Abilities in Bold as usual:

Super Speed with the Activation Power modifier. This doubles the cost of an Ability, but after the initial Activation, it costs 0 Power to use. If a combat lasts more than two Rounds, this Ability will pay for itself.

Speed with the Body Part modifier (I’m choosing legs, naturally) which refunds 5 CPs, which I’m spending on both Water Running (2.5 CPs) and Fast Acceleration (also 2.5 CPs). This allows my character to move across the surface of liquids and doubles their Acceleration Rate to 256”/Turn. Eat your heart out, Teleportation.

Wall-Crawling

Tunneling

Heightened Expertise

Heightened Initiative

Heightened Senses – Penetrating Vision with the Gear Modifier.

Armor with the Gear, Ablative, and Heavy Partial Coverage modifiers for a whopping 15 CP refund. Gear makes her armor breakable, Ablative causes it to lose Protection as it’s damaged, and Heavy Partial Coverage allows her enemies to ignore her armor by making a called shot at -6 To Hit, and it only provides ½ protection vs Area Effect Attacks. These may seem like large disadvantages but being able to max out her Protection is worth it.

Weaknesses: Can’t Hold Back because she never learned to pull her punches, and Compulsion—if she has Power left, she won’t stop chasing her quarry until she captures them or collapses from exhaustion.

I’ll go run the numbers and be back in a flash. Let’s meet Pursuer, the Speedster.

• 

A former Ultimate Fighting Champ, Sue lost the use of her legs when she suffered a spinal injury at the hands of a bookie and his thugs when she refused to throw a fight. When she heard that Manning Enterprises had opened human trials for an experimental drug that might restore her ability to walk, she immediately signed up. She regained the use of her legs but also gained superhuman Abilities, which got the attention of the Crusaders—the local superhero team. There she received training, along with her armor and x-ray goggles. When she fought professionally, she was known as a fierce and tenacious opponent and her crime fighting style is no different. With a top speed of 174 miles per hour she isn’t going to be beating the Mercury Mercenary in a foot race, but she can run across water (or any other liquid), on vertical or inverted surfaces, and she can see through and tunnel through nearly any material. This makes her a nightmare for the cowardly villains who would try to evade justice, and her fists.

geosaurus:

Dragons Love Hot Tubs!

LOD just released this set of four foot and two mounted 60mm amazons as historical rather than fantasy figures.  These are intended to be more realistic female warriors than the sexy figures made in Russia.  Some have armor and most show a little less skin than the Tehnolog or Oritet amazons.  I like both styles.   
They are made from a soft plastic.  The quality is very good but the aqua color is a bit difficult to photograph.  A nice set but a little expensive at around $30 a bag for 10 figures (two of each foot pose).






































Scale Shot

zwierzodudle:

a few months back i started drawing this dragon for my sister, she requested a mix of my geode dragons and plant dragons. since then i’ve been working on it on and off.

im so glad it’s finally finished ????????

sticksandsharks:

Lo’ and behold, the savage a-hole of the Dragon-Type family: Salamence.

A companion piece to this one.

sticksandsharks:

faerie dragon

Welcome to my third character build guide. This time we’re focusing on the master of the battlefield—the Controller. Comic book characters like Ice Man, Cable, and Graviton are great examples of this archetype. A Controller’s role is to incapacitate their enemies, de-buff them, and well—control them. Key Abilities for a Controller are: Darkness Control, Devitalization Ray, Emotion Control, Grapnel, Gravity Control, Ice Blast, Mind Control, Paralysis Ray, Paralytic Poison, Siphon, Telekinesis, and Transmutation. I highly recommend the following Ability Modifiers: Area Effect, Duration, and Success Power. There are more ways to play a Controller than any other archetype, but like the others builds it pays to remain focused. I would strongly suggest building around one controlling Ability—two at the most. All your other Abilities should either support your choice of Control or provide you with some utility and protection so you can stay in the fight long enough to be effective. With that in mind, I’ll start with the Control Ability—Gravity Control.

In V&V, much as in real life, Gravity is O.P. It can bring down the biggest and toughest foes you’ll face, and it’s very hard to protect against. Even if a target doesn’t take much damage, they’ll still be lying on their back staring at the sky (or ceiling) and thinking about that time they were upright and mobile. Those were good times, they might think—I should have appreciated them more. Anyway, let’s dive into Gravity Control—just like things with a lot of uh, gravity—the mechanics are very dense and need some unpacking. To quote the rules, Gravity Control are a set of Abilities that “enable a character to modify the pull of gravity on objects or areas. There are three forms of Gravity Control: Gravity Decrease, Gravity Increase, and Personal Gravity Well.” The first version allows you to make a target weightless or even fall upward, the second allows you to make a target weigh more thus pinning them to the ground, and the third is a kind of gravitational distortion that makes you harder to hit. I’m choosing to focus on Gravity Increase. While I think it’s funny to make someone fall upward for a while, the subsequent fall seems cruel, and this is a superhero I’m designing.

To make Gravity Increase better, we need to understand how it works exactly. First off, it’s a Voluntary Attack Ability with a range of ST (Strength) and it covers a 1” square. The multiplier to the weight of targets within the affected area depends on your CPs in Gravity Increase. For example, if you have 20 CPs in Gravity Increase, you multiply the weight of your target by eight. If their new weight exceeds their carrying capacity, they are pinned and dealt kinetic damage equal to their new Mass Roll minus their HTH Damage Roll. There’s a bit of a unique twist to Gravity Increase, and this is where the build gets interesting. Remember Pushing? Yeah—that thing where you spend 2 Power to do things like gain a +2 damage bonus, double your maximum speed, or gain a Save bonus? Well, forget that measly +2 bonus or multiplier. Where this Ability is concerned “Pushing increases the Weight Multiplier by a factor of (Power Spent +2)! “So?” you might say “2 power for Pushing + 2 = 4, times 8 = 32”, and you’d be right. Unless we have Willpower C) Self-Control, which allows you to Push for more than the normal amount—a lot more. For example, if you have 10 CPs in Self-Control, you get a +4 bonus to Pushing for the cost of 4 additional Power. So now you’re pushing for a total of (6 + 2) times 8 = 64! This makes your Gravity Increase effective against even the strongest targets, meaning you don’t have to be content to smush small fry into the dirt. Moving on to the other support Abilities.

Gravity increase costs 3 Power to use, and to maintain. If we’re going to be pushing for more than the normal amount, we’re gonna need some Power. Let’s grab Energy, which gives us 2 extra Power for each CP we spend. Twenty CPs gives us 40 extra Power to play with, allowing us to Push our Gravity Increase to awesome limits. Let’s review our Abilities so far:

Gravity Control B) Gravity Increase

Energy

Willpower C) Self-Control

There are couple of build directions that present themselves: Find other Abilities we can dump ludicrous amounts of Power into, or make sure we don’t get pasted by the first villain that turns their attentions on us. Both? Both. Monkey House Games recently added some Abilities to the official rules, and there just so happens to be one that benefits from our Willpower Pushing Bonus. Inertia. I know this article is getting long but stick with me—this is a sweet build. Inertia is an attack that reduces the movement rates of characters and vehicles by applying a divisor. As usual, the divisor is based on your CPs in this Ability. However, you can increase the divisor by Pushing, adding the extra Power spent directly to it. Inertia makes the cut. Even if we don’t invest many CPs into it, our Willpower will more than make up for it.

Let’s get this hero some Defensive Abilities before they get pounded. Our Tank was tough as nails, and our Blaster was evasive, so I want to mix it up a little bit. I like the theme we have going so far, and I want to expand on it. We have a hero that can tap into unseen forces to manipulate gravity and slow enemies to a crawl, so I’m going with Force Field. I’ll spare you the description as this Ability is straightforward—you wrap yourself in an invisible Force Field that deflects damage. It’s Power-hungry, but our hero can handle it.

Lastly, we want to hit as often as possible with our Gravity Control and Inertia. Normally I would grab Heightened Expertise, but this time I’m going with Heightened Agility. It raises our hero’s Physical Defense, To Hit chance, and gives them a healthy chunk of Power. Sometimes the best choices are a little boring. Inventory time:

Gravity Control

Willpower C) Self-Control

Inertia

Energy

Force Field

Heightened Expertise

Just as before, our Core Abilities are in bold—those are the ones we’re allowed to start at 20 CPs. I’m going to go apply some modifiers and Weaknesses, and then I’ll be back with our hero…

Introducing, Gravitas!

Gravitas is a young mutant with the power to manipulate Earth’s gravitational field. He is able to slow or even pin his enemies in place or use this force to shroud himself in a protective barrier. His will to do good and protect the innocent provides him with a deep well of energy that fuels his powerful abilities. I hope you liked this build guide. If you did, please let me know. If you didn’t, I’m impressed that you read this far. See you next time.