A few newer products for HYPERBOREA I have picked up recently. Some came with the Kickstarter, others I picked up.

Atlas of Hyperborea

PDF and softcover. 36 pages.

This covers the whole HYPERBOREA world. There is an overview map and then broken up into detailed segments.  The softcover book is great, and the PDF does allow you to zoom in for more detail.

It is a good map, but you need the HYPERBOREA RPG to get the full use out of it.

Hyperborea Annual Calendar

PDF. 14 pages.

This is a great product. It is the 13 month, 28-day per month HYPERBOREAN calendar. It has the moon phases of the two moons, Phobos and Celene, and plenty of room to add your own details.  While you need the RPG to use this for Hyperborea, it would work out well for a homebrew world if you liked.

Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess

PDF. Color cover, black & white interior art.

This is an old-school adventure for 4 to 6 characters of 5th to 7th level.  

Lemuria. Ancient cults. Dinosaurs and demon apes. This adventure has everything. I kinda wish it could have been done for lower levels because it is a great introduction to sorts of adventures that HYPERBOREA should be the best at. While I originally grabbed this as a supplement to some other related adventures (and still might use it as such) it really, really feels at home in Hyperborea the most.

On that note it can be easily used in whatever OSR/Old-School system feels the most as home to your groups.

Plus it has a Dimetrodon in it. So I am already sold on it. 

Yesterday I covered the Player's book. Today let's go with the Referee's Manual.

HYPERBOREA Referee's Manual

PDF and Hardcover. 308 pages. Color cover, black & white art with full-color art pages.

Chapter 10: Introduction Again, this is our introduction this time for the Game Master or Referee's point of view. What the Referee does for the game and more. 

Chapter 11: Refereeing This get's into the Game Mastering process in detail. This covers grant experience for the characters and setting up the campaign. 

Chapter 12: Bestiary Our monster section and truthfully one of my favorites. The expected ones are here, but there are also plenty of new ones.  This covers roughly 130 pages.  There are interesting new takes on some classic "D&D" monsters, plus many new ones like a bunch of new "lesser" and "sublunary" demons. The format is most similar to Basic or Labyrinth Lord, and it is full of the usual suspects with some Lovecraftian Horrors, and even remnants of alien and bygone ages. "Demons" are here, but no devils. 

Chapter 13: Treasure Covers treasure types and magical treasure. Among the magic items are things like Radium Pistols and other sc-fi artifacts. Very pulpy. It also includes some rules on scribing spell and protection scrolls. There is even a small section on Alchemy in Hyperborea. Very useful to have really.

Chapter 14: Gazetteer.  The lands are a pastiche of Howard, Vance, Lovecraft, and Smith.  If these names mean anything to you, then you know or have an idea, of what you are going to get here.  This section has been greatly expanded from the previous editions. Included here are the gods again and a little more on religion.  Basically, you get the idea that gods are either something you swear by (or to) or get sacrificed to by crazy cultists.  So yeah, you know I am a fan.

Appendix A: Weather in Hyperborea. Likely more important here than, say, other game worlds. Weather in Hyperborea is dangerous. 

Appendix B: Hazards of Hyperborea. There are horrible things waiting for you in Hyperborea and they are not all monsters or the weather. 

Appendix C: Waterborne Expeditions. Covers waterborne adventures and combat. 

Appendix D: Warefare and Siege. Your characters have built their strongholds. Now someone wants to know it down.  Here are the rules.

Appendix E: OGL Statement. The OGL statement for this book.

Nearly every aspect of this game has seen expansion since the 2nd Edition; some sections more than others, but it is a great upgrade.

I started my Hyperborea 3e week yesterday with a new monster; let's start it off properly with a review of the new 3e HYPERBOREA Player's Manual.

With the new 3rd Edition, we have some changes. First, the game is now simply called "HYPERBOREA" and not "Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 3rd Edition."  Secondly, the Player's Manual and the Referee's Manual are now separate books. Much like the 1st Edition was. Only this time, they are full hardcover books.

HYPERBOREA Player's Manual

PDF and Hardcover. 324 pages. Color cover, black & white art with full color art pages.

For my review, I am going to be considering the hardcover from the Kickstarter and the PDFs from DriveThruRPG.

The book starts with the credits, acknowledgments, and dedication to John Eric Holmes, the author/editor of the "Holmes" Basic edition. 

Chapter 1: Introduction this covers what this game is and what RPGs in general are. This is important and worth a read since it sets the stage for what sort of sub-genre this game covers, "swords, sorcery, and weird science-fantasy."  The classics of Swords and Sorcery are covered here briefly and how they add to the feeling of this game. This is pure Howard, Lovecraft, and Smith.

Chapter 2: Character Generation covers character creation. This chapter is brief covering of what you can do with the five chapters.  This also has a listing of the common "facts" known to every character. There is a section on leveling up. 

Chapter 3: Statistics or the "rolling up characters" chapter. The six recognizable methods are presented here. The most common of course is Method III; roll 4d6 drop the lowest.  We also have the same six attributes we have always had.

Each class has a "Fighting Ability" (FA) and a "Casting Ability" (CA) which relates to attacks. So yes, even magicians can get a little better in combat as they go up in level.  It's a great little shorthand and works great.  So a 4th level Fighter has a fighting ability of 4. A 4th level magician still only has a fighting ability of 1 and a cleric 3 and thief 3.  Subclasses can and do vary.

AC is descending (like old school games), BUT with the Fighting Ability stat it could be converted to an ascending AC easily.

Chapter 4: Classes We still have our Basic Four; Fighter, Magician, Cleric, and Theif.  Each also gets a number of subclasses.  Fighters get Barbarian, Berserker, Cataphract, Huntsman, Paladin, Ranger, and Warlock.  The Magician has Cryomancer, Illusionist, Necromancer, Pyromancer, and Witch. The Cleric has the Druid, Monk, Priest, Runegraver, and Shaman.  Finally, the Thief has the Assassin, Bard, Legerdemainist, Purloiner, and Scout.  

Each subclass is very much like its parent classes with some changes.  The classes look pretty well balanced.

Chapter 5: Background This covers all the things about the character that "happened" before they were characters.

Races are dealt with first. They include Amazons, Atlanteans, Esquimaux, Hyperboreans, Ixians, Kelts, Kimmerians, Lemurians, Picts, and Vikings along with the catch-all "Common" race of man.  No elves or dwarves here. Physique is also covered. 

Alignment is a simpler affair of Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Evil, and Neutral.

Along with race, there are various languages the characters can learn/know.  There are also gods here, an interesting mix of Greek, Lovecraftian, Norse, and Smith gods. 

There are background skills and weapon skills. Though I misread "charcoaler" as "chocolatier," and now I want a character with this background. 

Chapter 6: Equipment Or the "let's go shopping" chapter.  If you missed the "to hit modifiers vs. armor types/AC" in AD&D then I have a treat for you. Weapons here are more detailed than they were in previous editions of HYPERBOREA; or at least more detailed than my memory of the older editions.  Just checked, this one is much more detailed. 

Chapter 7: Sorcery This is our spell chapter but it also covers alchemy. Spells are split up by character class. Spells are limit to 6th level since classes are all limited to 12 levels. Spell descriptions are all alphabetical. This covers about 75 pages.  

Chapter 8: Adventure. This chapter improves over the previous editions. It covers all sorts of adventure topics like hirelings and henchmen, climbing, doors, nonstandard actions, time and movement.

Chapter 9: Combat. All sorts of combat topics are covered. Critical hits, unarmed combat, mounted combat and more. Damage and madness are also covered. The madness section is small and not really designed to mimic the real world. 

Appendix A: Name Generator. Pretty useful, really, to get the right feel of the game. Afterall "Bob the Barbarian" isn't going to cut it here. 

Appendix B: Lordship and Strongholds. What each class and subclass gains as a Lord or Lady of their chosen strongholds.  There is a great section on creating strongholds as well.

Appendix C: Cooperative Gaming. This covers how well to play in a group.

Appendix D: OGL Statement. This is our OGL statement.

These appendices (with the exception of D) are all new. 

There is also a great index.

So I will admit I was unsure about backing the 3rd Edition of HYPERBOREA.  I have the 1st and 2nd Editions and they have served me well over the last few years.  This edition brings enough new material to the table that it really is the definitive version of the game. 

The leatherette covers are really nice and I am happy I waited for it. Since the Player's and Ref's books are now separate, I could, if I wanted, pick up another Player's book.

The art is great. There are some reused pieces and still plenty of new ones. It uses the art well and helps set the tone of the game.

I’m regularly asked about “average Texas winter weather,” and some don’t seem to understand the completely rational and logical answer “There isn’t any.” Oh, there might have been a time in the early Pliocene when keeping records for a few … 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: Good Vibes OnlyPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Phaedra Florou & Stars Are Right

Setting: Modern day England
Product: ScenarioWhat You Get: Forty-six page, 38.86 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “Why can’t the Mythos make you happy?”Plot Hook: A spiritual retreat is the place to find a newer, better you.
Plot Support: Three NPCs, six handouts, two maps, one Mythos tome, six Mythos spells, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Shot modern one-shot# Can be adapted to other periods and places# Creepy, culty sense of otherness# Surprisingly benign scenario # Horribly in-game handouts# Neophobia# Cherophobia# Anthrophobia
Cons# NPC led in places# Short
Conclusion# New Age horror involving the loss of self and becoming the new you at a definitely well-intentioned spiritual retreat# Well-intentioned happiness is sure to get all the players’ backs up, but remember, “Breathe deeply, calm yourself… everything will be alright.”

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: Tears of a ClownPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Paul Mazumdar

Setting: 1890s Cambridge University
Product: ScenarioWhat You Get: Sixteen page, 3.88 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “Dare to wear the foolish clown face.” – Frank SinatraPlot Hook: A missing friend might just have run away with the circus.
Plot Support: Five NPCs, five pre-generated Investigators, five  handouts and maps, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos monsters.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Cthulhu by Gaslight scenario# Short, one session scenario# Makes use of Operate Heavy Machinery# Creepy, crawly, repugnant investigation# Nice addition of the historical detail# Entomophobia# Seplophobia# Festumtoyphobia# Coulrophobia# Scoleciphobia# Autophobia
Cons# Needs a slight edit# Makes use of Operate Heavy Machinery# Underwritten in places# Maps are small
Conclusion# Creepy, crawly, repugnant investigation which combines a lot of  horrifying elements and things people are afraid of.# Short and direct scenario which is underwritten in places, but supported with excellent illustrations

It is getting cold here in Chicago, and that makes me want to pull out some Hyperborea. So I am going to be spending some time with the new Hyperborea this week. It is also Monstrous Monday, so let get a monster ready for that.  

My wife and I watched the new Netflix movie "Troll" recently. It was fun. It will not win any awards for originality, but it was fun. Reminded me a bit of the "Troll Hunter" movie from a bit back. We also watched the original "Willow" movie from 1988. It also had some trolls in it, though very different.  She had never seen the movie, and it had been decades since I had. It reminded me once again how much I don't care for the standard AD&D-inspired troll and prefer something closer to myth and legend.

So. Let's put this all together with something new-ish.  So here is a troll I am reworking and presented in Hyperborea format.

Troll, Jötunn

Jötunn Troll: #E 1 | AL CE | SZ L (30') | MV 40 | DX 9 | AC 2
HD 14 | #A 3/1 (claw/claw/bite) | D 1d6+5/1d6+5/2d6+5
SV 10 | ML 8 | XP 2,300 | TC D | Special: See Below

This immense rock-skinned brute wields a tree branch for a club. Their mouths are filled with jutting teeth and tusks.

Jötunn trolls are gigantic horrors. Prowling in frigid wastes, these rapacious creatures have the same insatiable appetites of common trolls but require much more sustenance because of their excessive size. Jötunn trolls stand 30 feet tall and weigh roughly 25,000 pounds. They can live for up to 1,000 years. Their most curious feature is many will have multiple heads, sometimes even sprouting a new head after several years.  It is generally believed that the older the troll, the more heads it will have.

Jötunn trolls spawn with either their own kind or with other trolls. In the latter case, there is only a 5% chance the offspring will be a jötunn troll. Apart from brief mating periods, jötunn trolls are solitary, although some cull together bands of other giants into devastating war parties that can lay waste to entire regions. Like all trolls, the Jötunn Troll can regenerate. This begins the round after taking damage, and they regenerate at a rate of 4 hp per round in temperatures near freezing.  If the temperatures are warmer, then this slows to 3 hp per round. At temperatures of 100 degrees or more, their regeneration stops altogether. They cannot regenerate from fire or acid-based attacks.

Once every 1d4 rounds as a regular attack action, a jötunn troll can emit a cacophonous roar. All creatures within a 60-foot spread of the troll must make a save vs. paralysis or become confused for 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting effect. 

A jötunn troll with multiple heads has a +4 bonus on all saving throws against mind-affecting effects. In addition, whenever a jötunn troll must make a save vs. these effects, it can roll the saving throw twice and take the better of the two results.

Jötunn Trolls have highly advanced senses. So highly tuned, in fact, they can "smell" the difference between "good" and "evil" alignments, preferring to attack, and hopefully eat, those of good or lawful alignments over evil or chaos. These senses allow them to small prey as far away as 300 ft and "smell alignment" as far away as 30 ft.

Based on the "Jotund Troll" from Pathfinder

Section 15

Troll, Jotund. Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3, © 2011, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors Jesse Benner, Jason Bulmahn, Adam Daigle, James Jacobs, Michael Kenway, Rob McCreary, Patrick Renie, Chris Sims, F. Wesley Schneider, James L. Sutter, and Russ Taylor, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.

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 FuneralPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michał Pietrzak

Setting: Jazz Age Lovecraft Country
Product: ScenarioWhat You Get: Sixteen page, 847.69 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Some imaginary friends are the stuff of nightmares.Plot Hook: A family funeral unleashes forgotten fears.
Plot Support: Eleven NPCs, two handouts, three occult tomes, one Mythos tome, one Mythos spell, and three (Mythos) monsters.Production Values: Simple.
Pros# Lovecraft Country scenario# Dreamlands adjacent?# Adaptable to Cthulhu by Gaslight or the modern day# Eerie sense of unreality# Somniphobia# Oneirophobia
Cons# Needs a strong edit# No manor floor plan
Conclusion# Short, one session low-key investigation with an unsettling sense of Gothic unreality by night and grey normality by day# Suitable for a small group of Investigators, who should all be related

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 Chill in Abashiri – A 1920s Taisho-Era Japan ScenarioPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Michael Reid

Setting: 1920s Japan
Product: One-shotWhat You Get: Thirty-nine page, 9.57 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Sometimes the cost of isolation leaves you out in the cold.Plot Hook: A dead guard at Japan’s prison lures the Investigators into a deadly plot to protect the nation.
Plot Support: Four pre-generated Investigators, nine NPCs, eight handouts/maps, one Mythos tome, two Mythos spells, and one Mythos god.Production Values: Decent.
Pros# Very different historical setting# Period politics# Excellent handouts# Refreshingly different and detailed mystery# Entertaining “I predict a riot” set-piece# Frigophobia# Agoraphobia
Cons# Needs an edit# Period politics# Not Ithaqua?# Needs an extra list of NPC names and crimes
Conclusion# Excellent, focused investigation with a suitably frigid feel throughout reflecting the politics of the period# Strange Aeons-style scenario in which the Investigators confront the Mythos in a different time and place

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 Wolf in the LabyrinthPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Malcolm Harbrow

Setting: Jazz Age Arkham
Product: ScenarioWhat You Get: Twenty-two page, 1.31 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What are you prepared to sacrifice to save someone?Plot Hook: A missing author of macabre stories might just get the Investigators lost.
Plot Support: Eleven NPCs, seven handouts, one map, one Mythos artefact, and no Mythos monsters.Production Values: Simple.
Pros# Lovecraft Country scenario# Solid investigation# Can be tied into Miskatonic University# Refreshingly different mystery# The Mythos can only be managed, never defeated...# Adaptable to Cthulhu by Gaslight or the modern day# Suitable for one, two, or three Investigators# All investigation, no action# Would suit an Investigator with the Artist Occupation# Mazeophobia# Artophobia# Diokophobia
Cons# Needs a slight edit# No stats for the NPCs# The Mythos can only be managed, never defeated...# All investigation, no action
Conclusion# Excellent low-key investigation with a claustrophobic feel involving a variation upon a classic Mythos artefact whose effects can only be managed, never defeated.# Suitable for a small group of Investigators, but lacks stats for the various NPCs

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, will releasing 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 to be reviewed. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

-oOo-
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game was published in 2002. Published by Eden Studios, Inc., best known for the definitive roleplaying game of zombie action and survival, All Flesh Must be Eaten, it is an adaptation of the cult television series which ran between 1997 and 2003. Set in the California town of Sunnydale, it depicts the lives, loves, and conflicts of a group of friends who fight vampires. Or rather a group of friends who help out Buffy Summers, a girl in high school who becomes the ‘Slayer’, or Vampire Slayer, chosen and empowered fate to battle against vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. Despite wanting to live a normal life, Buffy is constantly stalked and attacked by vampires, whilst other powers—known in the series as ‘Big Bads’—plot against her, all attracted to Sunnydale because it sits atop a Hellmouth. As a Slayer, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches and trains her, and helped by her friends, who are collectively known as the ‘Scooby Gang’ in reference to the long running cartoon. As much as the term ‘Scooby Gang’ is appropriate, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is very much a more modern approach to the idea of monster hunting, reflected in the look and tone of the series, dealing up three parts action-horror, irony, and feeling combined with strong positive roles and depictions of its characters, especially the female ones.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game is designed to be played in two ways. First, it can be played using the cast from the television series, and to that end, character sheets are provided for the series’ protagonists up until season five. This is perfect for one shots or convention games, and like many licensed roleplaying games is an attractive means to introduce fans of a particular intellectual property to the concept of roleplaying. However, the second way is playing using characters of the players’ own creation, as is standard in most roleplaying games. That comes up against an issue. Which is, who plays the Slayer? There is only meant to be one Slayer, although as the Buffyverse expands, this is not the case. This ranges from the initially canonical there can only be the one Slayer or one and a replacement Slayer to a handful of Slayers and male or canine Slayers! It all depends on how far the gaming group wants to diverge from the television series. In part, who gets to roleplay the Slayer is important because just as in the television series, the Slayer in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game is very powerful, the other roles less so (although over time they can grow into their own).
A character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game is defined by Attributes, Qualities and Drawback, and Skills, as well as Drama Points. The six attributes are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower. Qualities are advantages and Drawbacks are disadvantages. Attributes typically range between one and five, but can be higher depending on character type and Qualities selected. Skills range between zero and ten in value. Character creation begins with selecting a Character Type, each of which defines the number of points which can be assigned to Attributes, Qualities and Drawback, and Skills. Three are given—White Hat, Hero, and Experienced Hero. White Hats are ordinary folk, like Xander Harris or Willow Rosenberg, specialised in particular skills, such as magic, knowledge, or the occult, and who on their own, have difficulty facing a vampire. Heroes are stronger and faster, able to face a vampire one-on-one and destroy it, such as Buffy or Riley of the Initiative. Experienced Heroes are even stronger and represent Buffy later in the television series, but are not recommended for starting play. Although there is no Character Type for it, some of the Scooby Gang from the series are designed as Experienced White Hats. Once a Character Type is chosen, it is a matter of assigning the points and designing the character, often building out from a Quality based on the player’s concept, for example, a Watcher character requires the Watcher Quality or a warlock or wizard would need the Sorcery Quality. The character creation is not difficult and is clearly explained, plus the book includes not only twelve starting Player Characters or archetypes as examples, including New Slayer, Watcher, Former Vampire Groupie, Psychic, Beginner Witch, and more, but also character sheets for all of the major cast and members of the Scooby Gang, including Spike and Angel, with adjustments season by season, from seasons one to five.
Theodore Buckner is from Philadelphia, but has been sent to Sunnydale to live with his grandmother, whilst his parents are working abroad. He has learned to be self-sufficient and strong willed because he has been bullied at school ever since he can remember, whilst at home, he has learned to keep an eye on his grandmother and her medications, as she is often housebound. He loves reading and playing Dungeons & Dragons, and was fascinated by some books he found in his grandmother’s library which revealed that magic is real. Now he can play his favourite character Class, a Warlock!
NAME: Theodore BucknerCHARACTER TYPE: White HatCHARACTER CONCEPT: Gamer turned WarlockLife Points: 28Drama Points: 20ATTRIBUTESStrength 1 Dexterity 2 Constitution 2 Intelligence 4* Perception 3 Willpower 5*(1 Level from Nerd Quality)
QUALITIES (+8 from Drawbacks)Good Luck-2 (+2), Hard to Kill-2 (+2), Nerd (+3), Occult Library (+1), Sorcery-2 (+10)
DRAWBACKSUnattractive (-1), Clown (-1), Misfit (-2), Dependent (Grandmother) (-2), Teenager (-2)
SKILLSAcrobatics 0 Art 0 Computers 2 Crime 0 Doctor 1 Driving 0 Getting Medieval 0 Gun Fu 0 Influence 1 Knowledge 4 Kung Fu 1 Languages 1 Mr. Fix-It 0 Notice 0 Occultism 1 Science 3 Sports 0 Wild Card (Dungeons & Dragons) 2Manoeuvres / Bonus / Base / Damage NotesDodge / 2 / — / Defense actionMagic / 8 / Varies By spellStake / 2 / 0 / Slash/stab (Through the Heart) 0 2 ×5 vs. vampiresTelekinesis / 7 / 2 × Success Levels Bash or Slash/stab
Mechanically, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game uses the Unisystem mechanics first seen in All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Or rather, it uses a stripped-down version called Cinematic Unisystem designed for faster, more dynamic play, which would go on to be used in several of Eden Studios, Inc.’s  other roleplaying games, including the Angel Roleplaying Game, Army of Darkness Roleplaying Game, and Ghosts of Albion Roleplaying Game. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a ten-sided die, and adds either the appropriate attribute and skill or double the attribute if no skill is involved, plus any bonuses from appropriate Qualities. The roll itself can be modified for difficulty and other factors, but the aim is always to roll nine or more. A typical White Hat will be adding five or six to this roll at most, whilst a Slayer, even a starting Slayer, will be adding twelve in combat. The aim here is not just to succeed, but to roll multiple Success Levels, one for every two points above nine. This determines how well the Player Character performed or how much of a task he completed, or how much extra damage he inflicted in combat. Besides standard actions, the rules cover research, fear checks or ‘getting the wiggins’, but the main focus is upon combat.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an action-horror television series and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game is an action action-horror roleplaying game, and both cinematic in style. In fact, it is also a martial arts action-horror roleplaying game, because the Slayer in particular, will be engaging in jump kicks and spin kicks and sweep kicks, slam tackles, and more as well as decapitations, feints, dodges, wrestling holds, and so on, not forgetting of course, Through the Heart stake action. Gun combat is covered in the rules, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer is all about the cinematic, martial arts action rather than shooting things—which would attract the police—and so all of those martial arts manoeuvres are built into the roleplaying game, and whilst the players should be noting them down on their character sheet, there is very handy list and their effects in the back of the book. Success Levels count for a lot in the game as the greater the number of Success Levels a Player Character can generate, the more damage he can inflict, and in some cases, the greater the multiplier to determine the damage inflicted. Most notably, the damage done when attempting to stake a vampire through the heart. This is not instant in the game, it is possible to miss the heart, but if the damage exceeds the target vampire’s Life points, then he is done and dusted. This modelled by applying a multiplier of five to the Success Levels to determine the damage done.
With Qualities such as Slayer and Hard to Kill, as well as high physical attributes and combat skills, the Slayer will find herself rolling with the punches, spin kicking vamps, and dusting them to death (again) with alacrity. Not so, the White Hats. Even the weakest, newest of vampires represents a severe challenge for them, and unless they get lucky, they are toast. Fortunately, they have two means of withstanding vampire attacks. First is teamwork, hopefully work together until the Slayer can land the final stake. The second is Drama Points. Drama Points are a balancing factor in the game. White Hats have double the number that Heroes have—and they need them.
There are five uses of Drama Points—‘Heroic Feat’, ‘I Think I’m Okay’, ‘Righteous Fury’, ‘Plot Twists’, and ‘Back from the Dead’. ‘Heroic Feat’ grants a +10 bonus to a single roll, in and out of combat; ‘I Think I’m Okay’ halves all of the damage that the Player Character has suffered so far; ‘Righteous Fury’  gives +5 to all combat rolls for a whole fight; ‘Plot Twists’ enables the player to add or change an aspect the game; and ‘Back from the Dead’ does exactly that for characters who are dead. However, once spent, Drama Points are used and cannot be regenerated. Instead, they have to be earned or purchased. The latter uses Experience Points and costs more for a Hero than a White Hat—again enforcing the one advantage that the White Hat has over a Hero. They are earned for coming up with funny, quotable lines in game, for committing heroic acts, and for when something bad happens to a character.
Magic, as per the television series is primarily used as a narrative device, requiring research to determine if a spell is available in the Player Character’s Occult Library, which only contains a limited number of spells until more volumes are found. The rules allow for some magic spells to be cast in combat, but emphasises rituals rather than quickly unleashed bolts of fire. A handful of spells is listed, but the likelihood is that the Player Character Witch or Warlock will be building spells from scratch, which the rules do focus on. To cast a spell, the Witch or Warlock’s player adds the character’s Willpower, Occultism, and Sorcery to a roll of the die. It is not enough to succeed, but the Success Levels rolled must equal the Power Level of the spell, for example, the Power Level of seven for Amy’s ‘Rat-Ification’ Spell. If the number of Success Levels is lower than the Power Level, then there are side effects, and there is a table to determine what they are, which allows for plenty of input from the Director. Lastly, magic using characters can use telekinesis for various things, including attacks. The magic system is fairly short, and would be greatly expanded upon with The Magic Box supplement. For the Player Character Witch or Warlock this supplement is a must, since the core rules really only explore the subject so far… Consequently, this is perhaps where the BBuffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game is at its weakest.
For the Director—as the Game Master is known in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game—there background on Sunnydale and stats and backgrounds for all of its important NPCs. Monsters and vampires have their own chapter too, primarily focusing on vampires and demons, and as well as the means for the Director to create her own, there are stats for just every monster, vampire, Big Bad, and more included in the book. For the most part, the NPC and monster stats are kept simple, with just three attributes— Muscle, Combat, and Brains, along with simplified abilities intended to make them easier to use in play. In addition, there is advice for the Director on setting up and running a series, in particular, how to start with the Big Bad and work out from there, defining his aims and resources, when he will appear in episodes, working out the plot and adding subplots, and then doing the same with episodes. Particular attention is paid to special episodes—season premieres and season finales, all of which should help the Director build a season which emulates the format and structure of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game. It is a very well-done piece of analysis rewritten as advice for the Director.
Then the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game puts all of that advice into practice with the scenario, ‘Sweeps Week’. Set in Sunnydale with the Player Characters in Sunnydale, it presents an intriguing pop culture mystery with more than a few red herrings and plenty of action. It is a great starting adventure which comes with plenty of tips for the Director, gets the tone of the television series rights, and showcases how beginning adventures in rulebooks do not have to be an afterthought. A good adventure in the core showcases the types of adventures it is intended to handle and what the Player Characters should be doing in play, and ‘Sweeps Night’ does that very well.
Physically, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game is incredibly well presented. It is liberally illustrated with photographs from the series, and where artwork is used, such as in the sample archetypes, that too is very nicely done. The book uses the Buffy the Vampire Slayer trade dress very well and similarly, the book is incredibly well written, designed for both the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan new to roleplaying and the roleplayer new to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The opening fiction sets the scene, as does the overviews of the first five seasons of the television series, with explanations of what the book is in between. Whilst there is no example of character generation, there are numerous examples of Player Characters, both members of the cast and starting archetype characters. The latter are accompanied by backgrounds and roleplaying notes as well, all ready to hand out to the players. Interspersed throughout are quote after quote from the series, further enforcing the feel of the series in the roleplaying game, backed up by the glossary of ‘Buffy Speak’ at the back of the book. This is followed by glossary of gaming terms, reference tables, and an index, and there plenty of examples of the rules in play throughout too, including an extended example of combat, something that modern roleplaying games all too often omit.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a very geeky television series, a combination of action, horror, comedy, and drama, all served up with a very knowing sense of irony. The the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game captures that and not only puts it on the page, but makes it playable. The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game, published by Decipher, Inc. also in 2002, would go on to win the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game 2002. As a licensed adaptation of its source material, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game is undeniably the superior design and implementation, showing a wonderfully enjoyable and insightful understanding of the source material. Under any circumstances, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game is one of the outstanding roleplaying adaptations, which if there was a list of top licensed roleplaying games, deserves to go in the top five, if not the top three.

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

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What is it?The Lottery is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a thirty-one page, full colour, 11.4 MB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy, and the artwork and cartography excellent. It needs an edit in places.

Where is it set?
The Lottery is set in the river valley of The Deep Cut, just inside the Glowline in Lunar Tarsh.

Who do you play?A set of six pre-generated Player Characters are provided, all members of the same trade party from Esrolia.
What do you need?
The Indagos Bull requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the Glorantha Bestiary.
What do you get?The Lottery is a one-shot scenario based on Shirly Jackson’s short story, ‘The Lottery’. It begins with an Esrolian trade caravan arriving at a village just inside the Glowline in Lunar Tarsh. Here its members get caught up in a macabre ritual—the voluntary sacrifice to the dread Crimson Bat of villagers, decided by lottery, in order to keep the rest of the village safe. With two members of the caravan taken, it is up to the Player Characters to persuade the villagers to stop this ghastly ritual and rescue their family members being taken away to be eaten!
The Lottery does start with a problem. It has to start with the ritual and get to the point where the cultists of the Crimson Bat take those selected by the lottery before the Player Characters can act. Which involves a fair degree of exposition. However, once the scenario proper does start and they can act, the Player Characters will find themselves racing up and down the valley to reach the other villages and try and persuade their inhabitants that the covenant between them and the Lunar Empire is based on a lie. Fortunately, the Player Characters do have proof, although exactly how is handled in game is underwritten.
Once past the set-up, the players and their characters are free to approach the situation however they want. The scenario focuses on the primary routes across the valley, the Player Characters having the advantage in terms of speed over the Crimson Bat cultists’ wagon, and the NPCs they will have to deal with in the various villages. For the players, there is a pre-generated character each, complete with illustration, whilst for the Game Master, there are stats for the abducted NPCs, the villagers and the local wyter, and the Crimson Bat cultists. There are several handouts and maps. There is also advice on the possible outcomes depending upon the actions of the Player Characters.
The Lottery is a short scenario, intended to be played in a single session. It could easily be run as a convention scenario. It is more difficult to run as a campaign scenario, primarily because the Player Characters are likely to have the Passion of antipathy towards the Lunar Empire and this will influence their initial reactions. None of the provided pre-generated Player Characters have such a Passion.
Is it worth your time?Yes—The Lottery is a clever adaptation of a classic short story to Glorantha, which although requires a degree of exposition, leads to an exciting player driven situation.No—The Lottery is of little use if the Game Master’s campaign is not set in Lunar Tarsh, or near there, or involves Player Characters who right from the start hate the Lunar Empire.Maybe—The Lottery is a difficult scenario to use in an ongoing campaign, primarily due to geography and likely antipathy towards the Lunar Empire, and would be easier to run as a convention scenario.

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

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What is it?The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a twenty-six page, full colour, 7.43 MB PDF.

The layout is clean if uneven. The illustrations are decent, but the maps vary in quality. The scenario requires an edit.

Where is it set?
The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is set in Pavis County, north-east of Garhound, just before before the Big Earth Season Fair.

Who do you play?Player Characters of all types could play this scenario, but Eiritha and Yelm worshippers might be useful as would Orlanth and Ernalda worshippers.
What do you need?
The Indagos Bull requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the Glorantha Bestiary. Supplements such as Pavis: Threshold to Danger and Pavis: Gateway to Adventure may be useful for background material, but neither is required. 
What do you get?The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is a mystery and investigative scenario which takes place in Pavis County, north-east of Garhound, just before before the Big Earth Season Fair. It is two days before the Eiritha High Holy Day and the two events that everyone is looking forward to—the Indagos Bull contest and the Indagos Cow contest. Attendees at the Big Earth Season Fair are allowed to bet on the outcome and the winner of each contest will win cash prizes, whilst the winning animals play the central role in the Eiritha Fertility Ritual conducted at the culmination of fair to grant a community blessing that will ensure healthy and numerous offspring from the area’s cattle. For the last twelve years, farmer Bilijo Jyles has won this contest with several prize bulls and ensured a fine blessing for the region in each of those years. Unfortunately, Farmer Jyles’ prize bull for this year has gone missing!
Whether by Farmer Jyles, the Eiritha priestess, or some other authority, the Player Characters are hired to locate the bull, or alternatively, they are merely passing through and see the notices posted about and volunteer to find the missing bull. The scenario itself is presented as a series of clues, locations, and NPCs with an explanation as to what has happened to the bull. The Player Characters are free to follow these in whatever order they like, whether that is visiting the local farmers on their steads, interviewing locals at the tavern, looking for rumours, and so on. The scenario and its solution to its mystery are quite straightforward, but there are one or two wrinkles along the way.

The scenario is supported with notes on Praxian construction and farming, Eiritha and her cult and temples, and more. Farms for two of the major NPCs in the scenario are nicely and appropriately mapped, and whilst there is a regional map, there are no maps of either the town of Indagos or the end scene for the scenario. Also missing is anything about the Indagos Cow contest, which might be something that the Player Characters could make enquiries about. Sadly, the missing bull is not named. The scenario can easily be adjusted to fit elsewhere. For example, perhaps the missing bull could be a case for the Player Characters from Tales of the Sun County Militia: Sandheart Volume 1?
Written and published as part of the ‘Storytelling Collective’, The Indagos Bull is rough around the edges, and can be best described as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of Silver Blaze’ meets Radio 4’s The Archers, but in Prax’. However, its plot is solid and relatively simple, and above all, engaging. The scenario is also short and could be run in a single session.
Is it worth your time?Yes—The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is a solidly plotted and clearly presented missing bull mystery, that although rough around the edges, can easily be added to a campaign set in Prax.No—The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is of little use if the Game Master’s campaign is not set in Prax or Eiritha is not an important figure.Maybe—The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is useful if the Game Master wants to take her campaign into Prax, but adapting it outside of Prax might take extra effort.

Seasons of Mysteries is an anthology of scenarios for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the Sweden-set roleplaying of folkloric horror set during the nineteenth century published by Free League Publishing. It presents four mysteries which will take the members of the Society, the organisation which investigates the situations which arise from the clash between modern society and the traditions that have grown up from living alongside the supernatural creatures called Vaesen, to the boundaries of Sweden—and beyond. In turn they take the Player Characters to the central valleys of Sweden where strange things are happening—possibly an abduction, but definitely drowned cows; to an ironworks where the owner has been bewitched by a local preacher; across the Danish straits and onto Jutland to confront the guardian of the moors; and across the Gulf of Finland to northeast Russia as guests of honour at an event held by the ruling noble. What sets this quartet of adventures apart is their seasonal nature. They are all standalone, and there is one for each season—spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
All four adventures follow the same structure. The ‘Background’ and ‘Conflict’ explains the situation for each scenario, whilst the ‘Invitation’ tells the Game Master how to get the Player Characters involved. In Seasons of Mysteries, the primary form of ‘Invitation’ is the letter, which will typically summon the Player Characters to the town or village where the mystery is taking place, the getting there detailed in the ‘Journey’, typically a mix of railway and coach journeys. It should be noted that every mystery has moment or two when the Player Characters can prepare and goes into some detail about the journey. There is an opportunity for roleplaying here, perhaps resulting in longer travel scenes than the core rulebook necessarily recommends. The ‘Countdown and Catastrophe’ presents the Game Master with one or two sets of events which take place as the Player Characters’ investigation proceeds, sometimes triggered by the Player Characters, sometimes triggered by the NPCs, whilst ‘Locations’ cover NPCs, Challenges, and Clues, all leading to a ‘Confrontation’ and its eventual ‘Aftermath’. For the most part, the mysteries are well organised, a mix of the sandbox and events which the Game Master will need to carefully orchestrate around the actions of her Player Characters. Only the most pertinent of the locations in each town or village is described and the Game Master is advised to create others as needed, though she will very likely need a ready list of Swedish names to hand for whenever the Player Characters run into an NPC or two.
Also included with every scenario is a set of trigger warnings, kept to a minimum, and unobtrusively placed in the top, lefthand corner on the opening page of each scenario. Plus, there are notes too, for running each of the four scenarios with Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland, although of course, the Game Master will need to make some adjustments in terms of names and geography.
Seasons of Mysteries opens with ‘A Dance with Death’ set in the ‘dales’ of central Sweden in the springtime. Here in a traditional farming community, mostly concerned with its cattle and its music. Here a farm labourer woke by the banks of the nearby lake unaware of how she got there and two cows have been found drowned. A local farm owner asks the Player Characters to investigate. What they discover is a miasma of paranoia and uncertainty, fuelled by an undercurrent of unrequited love and a Faustian pact. There is a degree of misdirection in the scenario, including a big floating clue, and a sense that the villains are not always what they seem. There are nice roleplaying touches too, such as making friends—or at least good impression—with the locals at a party, including finding out just how well the Player Characters can dance. This scenario has a lovely bucolic feel, a twisted tale of love and desire and possession at the appropriate time of the year.
Taking place at the heart of summer, ‘Fireheart’ literally boils with heat and everything is seen through a heat haze. The mystery focuses on the Häryd ironworks on Lake Hären in Smolandia, owned by two brothers. As drought dries up the land around them, one brother grows greedier and greedier as the other comes to believe that an evangelist preacher has bewitched the first, leading to a rift between the two. There is certainly something going at the ironworks, for the brother who remains is obsessed with his wealth and his foreman, known as ‘Swine’, drives the ironwork’s labourers mercilessly. If the Player Characters can get past Swine, whether through subterfuge or stealth, they can perhaps discover something about the first brother’s obsession, but get toom close they too might end up suffering from it as well! As the temperature rises, confrontation is all but inevitable, though it will perhaps force the truth to be revealed. This is fantastical on a grand scale, a back story out of myth and fairy tale, which will lead to an encounter with the greatest of mythical beasts. Unlike the other scenarios in the anthology, ‘Fireheart’ uses a mythic not found in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, but introduces it here.
One of the themes of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is the conflict between modernity and change, and the old ways, and this best explored in the anthology in ‘The Devil on the Moor’. This is set on the moors of Jutland where the Danish Society for Moorland Reclamation is conducting an engineering project to restore the land to its former fertility. Taking place during the Autumn, the lead engineer believes that a demon is sabotaging the project. The Player Characters will have the past notes from a reputed Danish folklorist to examine for clues, but must also find a way to get the recalcitrant locals to talk as everyone seems on edge and strange mists swirl about the place and seem to make people disappear. There are some gruesome moments too, though less of a sense of misdirection as in the other scenarios in the anthology. In the notes on adapting the scenario to Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland, the author suggests referring Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ The Hound of the Baskervilles for its sense of isolation and its mists swirling across boggy terrain, and that atmosphere fits this scenario too, which is a well-done retelling of a revenge from beyond the grave mystery. The scenario does not forget Linnea, the woman who originally invited the Player Characters to reform the Society, either, as she plays a central role in getting them involved in the events in Denmark.
Seasons of Mysteries comes to a close with the very, very wintery ‘A Winter’s Tale’. The Player Characters are invited by a Russian nobleman to a symposium on the strange and the supernatural at his home in the province of Ingria, once a Swedish possession, but now part of the Russian empire. Their journey is interrupted by a terrible snowstorm and they are forced to take refuge in a nearby inn, along with several other guests, some of whom were bound for the same symposium as the Player Characters—including two very well-known monster hunters! Unfortunately, not all is well at the inn. The owner’s sister died recently and as the weather closes in, the intensity of the snowstorm increases and the temperature drops, and try as they might, nobody can keep a fire going for very long. Potentially, this scenario could descend into one of survival horror, but investigation and interrogation lies at the heart of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying. There is a lot of exposition to get through at points, but it is not like the Player Characters are going very far. Plus, all of the suspects and the clues are to be found in one place, the inn, in what is a bitterly claustrophobic scenario.
Physically, Seasons of Mysteries is a lovely looking book. The cover is stark and wintery, and has a lovely tactile feel. The scenarios are all well written, the handouts are well done—if a plain in places, and the cartography is excellent.
One issue with the previous anthology, A Wicked Secret, was its lack of geography and history. Sweden at the time when Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, A Wicked Secret and Other Mysteries, and A Season of Mysteries is set, is unlikely to be a familiar place to many Game Masters or their players. There was not always the explanation of the whys and wherefores to a scenario, but that is not wholly an issue with Seasons of Mysteries. It could have done with a little more geographical explanation or a map, as to where its scenarios are set, at least for those set in Sweden, in relation the country as a whole. This is less of an issue with the two scenarios set outside of Sweden, where enough information is provided.
The investigations in Seasons of Mysteries are not necessarily wholly original, primarily because their threats are drawn from folklore and the stories around them, so there is often a sense of the familiarity to the scenarios. This does not mean that the scenarios are bad, because they are all well written and plotted, and they very effectively explore the clash between tradition and modernity, which often leads to a breakdown between man and Vaesen which is explored in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying. If perhaps there is a downside to the adventures it is that they are seasonally based, which as much as that plays into and influences the nature and atmosphere of each scenario, it means that they are not quite as versatile. Nevertheless, Seasons of Mysteries is an excellent and engaging second quartet of mysteries, each markedly different in terms of tone and feel and each presenting different challenges for the Player Characters in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying.

Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG is a journaling game which enables the player to take to the skies as a corvidae—crow, magpie, jackdaw, or rook—over multiple landscapes and differing genres, achieving objectives, exploring, and growing as they learn and grow old. Published by Critical Kit, a publisher better known for its scenarios for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. The roleplaying game combines the simple mechanics and use of a deck of playing cards typical of a journaling game with five genres—‘Urban Crow’, ‘Cyber-Crow’, ‘Gothic Crow’, ‘Fantasy Crow’, ‘Clockwork Crow’, and ‘Ravens of the Tower’. Each of these presents a different place and time for the bird to fly over, land on, encounter the denizens, and more. Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow is a supplement that takes the game in an entirely different direction, to the edge of Lovecraft Country. As in Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG, the player’s crow will take to the air, here encountering the weird and the eldritch, including cults of Pelicans, tentacled terrors terrorising boats traveling up and down the river, forests where the trees are dying from a luminously purple rot, as well as notables from Lovecraft Country, including Doctor Henry Armitage and Brown Jenkin.

Mechanically, Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG, and thus Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow is simple. It uses a standard deck of playing cards and when a player wants his bird to undertake an action, he draws a card from the deck. This sets the difficulty number of the task. To see whether the bird succeeds, he draws another card and adds the value of a skill to the number of the card if appropriate. If it is equal or greater than the difficulty number, the bird succeeds. If an action is made with Authority, whether due to circumstances or a skill, the player draws two cards and uses the highest one, whereas if made at a Penalty, two cards are drawn and the lowest value one used. When drawn, a Joker can be used or saved for later. If the latter, it can be used to automatically succeed at a combat or skill check, to heal injuries, or to discard a card and draw again. Combat is a matter of drawing a card for each opponent, adding a skill if appropriate, and comparing the totals of the cards and the skills. The highest total wins each round and inflicts an injury. Eventually, when the deck is exhausted, the discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the new deck.

The play and thus the journaling of Be Like a Crow is driven by objectives as achieving these will enable a bird to advance through his lifecycle. An objective for the ‘Crowthulhu’ setting, might be for example, “A cult of [characters] has stolen [object] from the museum. They are performing a dark ritual with it near [location]. Attempt to stop them.” The player will also need to draw cards to identify the character, the object, and the location, and then as his bird flies from hex to hex across the map, draw cards for events in flight, and then for events when he lands. The player is free to, and advised to, ignore prompts if they do not fit the story, and this may be necessary if a prompt is drawn again, but ideally, the player should be using the prompts as drawn to tell a story and build the life of his crow.

Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow requires the core rules of Be Like a Crow, as well as a standard deck of playing cards. As well as providing the rules, it provides the prompts for events in flight and on land that are standard to each of the roleplaying game’s settings, but what Crowthulhu provides is its own set of tables its objectives, objects, characters, and locations. Two sets of objectives are provided, one for the red suits and one for the black suits, the same again for characters or NPCs, and again for objects and locations for Crowthulhu. Thus locations can be the dreamer’s dimension or the bedsit of an ageing musician, an object could be a scroll of Egyptian hieroglyphics which can be traded with an academic for another object or a miniature flail made tentacles that can be used in an attack, a character a crazed sea captain who talks in riddles or Herbert West, a shamed medical student researching reanimation, and an objective that cats are disappearing from the local area and the crow must find them and prevent further disappearances or a professor at the university has found a dangerous tome and plans to harness its powers, and the crow must go there and destroy it before he can!

Most, if not all of the entries have a Lovecraftian theme, whether that is investigating why a geologist has been acting strangely after he visited a recent meteor crash or encountering Brown Jenkin who will befriend the crow, but his manner is antagonistic and he probably wants you to fail. Many of the encounters involve FEAR, whether that is with a Deep One or a swan high-priest of Crowthulhu. (Crowthulhu itself is not defined in the supplement, being left up to the player’s imagination to describe.) Fear is the new mechanic introduced in Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow. As with other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror, this measures a character’s—or crow’s—reaction to the cosmic horror of the Mythos and ability to withstand its debilitating effects. It comes into play when the Fear prompt is drawn and is tested much like a standard skill or ability test in the game. However, failure means that the crow is fearful and his player must add a tick to his Fear section on the character sheet. Once a crow has any ticks marked off under his Fear, the number acts as a penalty to all of his actions including other Fear checks, representing the traditional downward spiral of the crow’s sanity typical of the genre, though kept simple for the journaling format and style of play. It is possible for a crow to become less afraid. Either by expending a Joker card, which removes all Fear ticks, or potentially just a single one when exploring a new location.

In terms of locations, Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow includes its own setting, the Massachusetts town of Rooksbridge. This is the town in the nineteen twenties, supposedly built on a site where witches were executed in the seventeenth century, but is now best known for its relatively isolated location, along with its asylum and its university, which specialises in American history, and of course, has a library which specialises in the occult. From Blasted Heath and Crowdaw River to Independence Hill and Wytch House, has a decently hinted New England, post-colonial feel to it.

Physically, Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow is a slim affair. It is lightly illustrated with images of odd creatures, but the map is nicely done and has a period feel, plus the supplement is decently written. Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow flies in and out of the Cthulhu Mythos, veering between it and its own corvidae cosmic horror. It might veer too far into its own avian weirdness for the Mythos purist, but for others it provides a whole new way in which to explore the New England touched upon by Lovecraft and look upon it from a bird’s-eye view.

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It starts with a briefing on the move, before dropping off in the city. An agent is missing, but believed to have obtained information about a terrorist organisation known as SOUL, which has been conducting covert operations, including those designed to destabilise governments. The agent, Silver, has the information stored in a cranial data implant, and it can only be accessed by Ness, a hacker working with Silver. The agents’ mission is to locate and extract both Silver and Ness, but if something has happened to Silver, to extract the data with Ness’ help and ensure that it does not fall into the wrong hands. It is highly likely that SOUL agents will want to recover the data and will stop at nothing to ensure their success. The agents should expect determined opposition. Lastly, this is a covert operation. Under no circumstances should local law enforcement or intelligence agencies become aware of the mission or involved.

This is the set-up for The Spy Game: Mission Booklet 1 – Deadly Data, a mission or short scenario for The Spy Game: A Roleplaying Game of Action & Espionage. Published by Black Cat Gaming, this is the roleplaying game of cinematic Spy-Fi action set in the immediate future chases, subterfuge, high-tech equipment, and more, using the mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, but eschewing some of the social attitudes and mores of the genre. The Spy Game: Mission Booklet 1 – Deadly Data comes with everything that the Game Master needs to run the scenario—plot, NPCs, floor plans, details of the equipment the Player Character agents will be issued with, staging advice, and suggestions as what happens the SOUL agents succeed at certain points rather than the Player Characters.

The Spy Game: Mission Booklet 1 – Deadly Data is easy to add to a campaign. In fact, it is designed as a ‘mission-between-mission’ scenario, one that can be easily slotted between other scenarios. If the Game Master wants to take a more en media res approach, it could even be used as a campaign starter, with the Player Characters hastily assembled and sent on their first mission together. However, designed for Player Characters of Fourth and Fifth Levels, it best works as an addition to a campaign. In terms of character types, Classes from The Spy Game such as Face, Hacker, Infiltrator, Martial Artist, and Technician will probably have moments to shine in the scenario, but a Hacker is definitely needed, as is a Player Character who can drive.

Other than the plot, much of the scenario is flexible and can easily be replaced with details from the Game Master’s own campaign. The agency that the Player Characters work for is never named, and neither is the city where the action takes place, although it does have to be coastal city, ideally with port facilities. The feel of the scenario is very American, but again, that can also be changed. That said, if set in the USA, cities like Miami, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, are all good choices. Although SOUL is named as the villainous agency of the piece, it too is never defined, and the Game Master is free to substitute whichever enemy organisation she wants from her campaign, or even add SOUL to her campaign.

The Spy Game: Mission Booklet 1 – Deadly Data is divided into three acts. In the first, the Player Characters will begin their investigation and attempt to find Ness before the SOUL agents do. Whether or not they are able to find Ness initially, in the second act, they succeed in tracking both Silver and Ness to a city hospital. Confrontations with SOUL agents—preferably ones in which the police will not be alerted—are likely in both situations. In the third act, everything comes to a climax as either the SOUL agents attempt to escape the city with both Ness and Silver in their possession, chased by the Player Characters, or the Player Characters attempt to escape the city with both Ness and Silver in their possession, chased by the SOUL agents. This brings the scenario to an exciting climax and gives the Game Master the perfect reason to bring out the chase rules for The Spy Game.

In addition to the scenario, The Spy Game: Mission Booklet 1 – Deadly Data includes elements that the Game Master can reuse in her won campaign. They include equipment like the Remote Control SUV and Smart Watches, and stats for the SOUL Agents, and more. It is disappointing that the SOUL Agents are rather soulless and lack personalities.

Physically, The Spy Game: Mission Booklet 1 – Deadly Data is clean and tidy, and easy to read. Bar the front cover, it is not illustrated, but the scenario is short and boxes of supplementary text do break up the main text. The scenario comes with two sets of floorplans, both excellent, although why the smaller set is presented on a page of its own, whereas the smaller one is not, remains a mystery. The other issue with the scenario is that it is printed without a card cover, so although printed on good paper, it is not as sturdy as it could be.

The Spy Game: Mission Booklet 1 – Deadly Data is short, but not short on detail. It needs careful preparation, but once done, is easily dropped into a Game Master’s The Spy Game campaign, ready to provide a session or two’s worth exciting Spy-Fi action.

Word and rumour are spreading across the whole of Europe. Miucci Carnivo is the greatest fashion designer of his age, his clothes and outfits in high demand not only in his home city of Seville, but across the whole of Spain and beyond. The dress he has fashioned for the Countess Serena de Reya for her wedding is said to have cost eighteen thousand gold pieces and taken him three months to make. He is never short of clients with deep pockets ready to purchase his latest designs, and he himself has become a wealthy man. Yet, his private life is a matter of debate and it is rumoured that strange men and women are to come to his house at night on a regular basis. Then there is the matter of his greatest rival, Francisco Alcon, found slaughtered in his home. Is Miucci Carnivo connected to his death, and if so, then how? These rumours have even reached his ears and he is worried—though these are not his only concerns. The dress he has designed for Countess Serena de Reya has gone missing and several of his customers have also turned up dead. All of which could affect his business, if not ruin his good name. Thus, he hires the Player Characters to investigate all of this, and he is prepared to pay handsomely—which should be enough to pique their interest and get them involved!

This is the set-up for In a Deadly Fashion, a murder mystery and mystery scenario for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. Like other scenarios published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess it is set in the game’s default early Modern Period. Specifically, in Seville, Spain, 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. Yet by its very nature, the scenario is easily adaptable to other roleplaying games set in the same period, such as Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, or even a time travel roleplaying game such as Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space! The scenario is not without its issues though, primarily due to its historical setting, which means that it involves religious bigotry. The scenario does not involve it directly in its story line, but it is present by implication. Further, the scenario involves a cult and some of the activities its members engage in are both listed and illustrated—the latter not explicitly, but it is clear what is happening. It is entirely up to the Game Master and her players how they want to deal with this aspect in play, but it is easy easy to draw a veil over this if necessary.

Whether hired by Carnivo, the government, a relative of one of the victims, or simply greedy enough to take an interest in some very valuable items of clothing, In a Deadly Fashion is easy to set-up and run. As Carnivo, the Game Master quickly points the Player Characters in the direction of the four avenues of investigation—the homes of Countess Serena de Reya, the two customers who died, and the rival tailor. Each of these has their own section in the book, which detail the locations, NPCs, clues, and so on, to be found there. The investigation itself is detailed, but limited. There are few if any clues beyond these locations, but if the Player Characters do come unstuck and are unable to progress any further, an NPC is provided who can point them in the right direction. There is also the equivalent of the local Catholic police who might be interested too, and could be helpful to the Player Characters, leading to an encounter with a bishop with a laconic and oddly elliptical manner.

Ultimately, the clues should lead back on themselves and point towards Miucci Carnivo as being the culprit—rather his clothes! For reasons unknown, they have taken on a life of their own and conducting a series of murderous acts. The scenario should ideally come to head as the Player Characters return to Carnivo’s mansion with all of its nouveau riche fripperies to confront him, only to find a cult party in full swing and the discovery of the missing dress before it animates and attacks! This is intended to be creepy, even unnerving, and should be a good set-piece with which to end the scenario.

In a Deadly Fashion is not a scenario which needs much in the way of maps. However, its one map, that of Carnivo’s mansion, is oddly placed, nowhere near the descriptions of its locations towards the back of the book. Nor is the actual presented in a fashion that makes it easy to read and use by the Game Master. The finale, or at least the aftermath, of the scenario is underwritten, as is the description of Seville. Of course, that makes the scenario to adapt elsewhere to the city of the Game Master’s choice, but if that is not an option, she will still needed to conduct some research on seventeenth century Spain and Seville. Even a page of information would have been useful, since it is rare for any scenario to be set there, let alone one for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. There is though, decent advice on running a murder mystery and on running one in which the Player Characters are equipped with magic.

Physically, In a Deadly Fashion is a very presentable, if slim hardback. The writing is clear and easy to grasp, much of it little more than bullet points, such that a Game Master can prepare the scenario quickly and easily. The map is more pretty than serviceable, whilst the artwork is excellent, done in dense, rich palette of colours.

In a Deadly Fashion is easy to read and quick to prepare, and can be run more or less from the page. It is a solid murder mystery which should provide two or three session’s worth of creepy, horrific play

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