Mausritter – Sword-and-Whiskers roleplaying is a rules-light fantasy adventure microclone in which the very big and very dangerous world is explored from a mouse eye’s point of view. It encompasses not only the world of nature, but also the world that the players themselves live in. This is our world, but one in which the mice are anthropomorphic and can talk, as can other species. Beyond the walls of their home, the world is one of opportunity and adventure, fraught with hazards natural and unnatural, those untouched by mankind and those imposed by mankind. Using the base mechanics from Into the Odd, mice in Mausritter need to be brave, resourceful and clever, as well as lucky if they are to survive. Scenarios for Mausritter tend to be location based. Either the mice having to explore a single location, which could actually be a tree stump, a human-sized suit of armour, a grandfather clock, or an abandoned human-made shack, as in Mausritter: Honey in the Rafters or a sandbox setting containing numerous locations, such as Mausritter: The Estate Adventure Collection or Mayfield. In being real places—or places inspired by the real world—there is definitely a sense of wonder about these locations because we are seeing and exploring them from a very different angle. Would this sense of wonder be invoked if the setting were real, and not only real, incredibly familiar to almost everyone in the world, let alone the country? What if a Mausritter campaign took place in a seat of power? What if a Mausritter campaign took place in 10 Downing Street, one of the most famous addresses in the world?

10 Downing: A Mausritter Campaign is set inside the cramped splendour of the Georgian townhouse that is 10 Downing Street, home to the Prime Minster of Great Britain and the seat of the government in office. In recent decades, it has been home to some colossal figures of British politics, including Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and Boris Johnson. It is also notoriously infested with mice and other rodents and for several centuries there has been a cat in residence at 10 Downing Street, appointed as ‘Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office’. The current holder of the title—and the first to do so officially, is Larry. Having served through five premierships to date, Larry is the lord of all he surveys. His reputation as a mouser has varied over the years, but Larry is no fool. He knows that his presence is enough to instil fear in the mice also resident in 10 Downing Street and so in order to avoid undue chasing and catching of mice, he has come to an agreement with the mice. If they avoid making trouble and certainly avoid coming to the notice of the building’s many human inhabitants, he will leave them be. This leaves him with a mice retinue of servants and time to focus—at least occasionally—upon a more pressing problem: rats! This then, is the basics of the situation as describing in 10 Downing, which also presents the complete floorplans for all three floors of the house and numerous storylines and five ready-to-play quests and adventures involving six rival factions, eight new hirelings, new creatures, new treasures, and new spells. 10 Downing: A Mausritter Campaign includes everything a Mouse Master and her micey medley need to play through a mini-campaign of multiple mouse sessions.

10 Downing presents an overview of the house combined with the floorplans. These have been marked with the important locations, such as the Cocked Hat Rats stronghold, tunnels through the wall, and the Chief Mouser’s domain. These are briefly described as are the locations throughout the building, adding in details such as available quests to be started there and treasures to be found there. Some of these are thematically fun, such as the Flaming Churchill, a cigar which belonged to Winston Churchill and whose odour keeps cats away. The various factions, such as The House of Lordly Mice, the original mice in the house, or the Cocked Hats Rats, a gang of cockney rats, which are interlopers in the house. This sets up a social divide in 10 Downing Street over which Larry the cat lords it all. 10 Downing includes six quests, such as scavenging for food during a feast held in the dinning room, fomenting rebellion against Lord Mouse and his cabinet.

The quests and the adventure locations are given more detail. These include breaking into a bust in search of a powerful spell tablet or rescuing the nephew of the Lord Mouse after the Cocked Hat Rats have kidnaped him. Some of the quests have random elements and some also have the potential to change the balance of power in 10 Downing Street. All six quests are solid affairs, and supported for stats of the major NPCs and creatures. In addition, there new items in the forms of traps (to ensnare the corgis), new stealth spells, and treasures such as razor blade or teacup handle weapons and even Paddington’s Coat as armour.

What 10 Downing cannot really do is bring the human element into play. Of course, the many human locations that are the setting for other Mausritter campaigns and scenarios are busy places with many humans moving about, living and working, but in 10 Downing Street, the footfall is incredibly high. There are politicians, ministers, government officials, Downing Street staff, security, and even the Prime Minister’s family all moving about, and doing so through much of the day. Only once do the humans appear in the Encounters table, and even then, they are the cleaners, there after everyone else has gone—for the day, or to bed. That said, one of the quests does involve the Queen coming to tea—which of course, dates 10 Downing—and the Player Characters setting traps to prevent the corgis from causing any trouble. It gives the quest a delightful personal presence that everyone will enjoy. Yet it is disappointing that the personal presence comes from a visitor rather than anyone who is expected to be in 10 Downing Street. More so because we all have good idea who would be in the house, depending, of course, upon which Premiership the Game Master decides to set her 10 Downing campaign during. Now of course, the author cannot account for the five (actually, three if we want to be historically accurate since the Queen could really only have visited three of them for tea) Prime Ministers, the members of their cabinets, staff, or family. This is something that the Game Master will have to work into her campaign herself. Which will require some research upon the part of the Game Master.

Physically, 10 Downing is breezily presented. The self-penned artwork is cartoony, but the author mixes in a lot of public domain art too. The floorplans are a little small, but the PDF comes with larger maps that a little clearer.

10 Downing: A Mausritter Campaign has everything that the Game Master needs to run a campaign set in 10 Downing Street. However, it requires some research and development upon the part of the Game Master to fully bring out its political nuances and influences, but for a certain audience, 10 Downing: A Mausritter Campaign will give a chance for their mice to play when the Prime Minister is away.

 Encounter area 18 has a hidden pit trap.

The 15' by 15' trap is hidden. The floor gives way and the party falls 20' for 2d6 hp of damage. The walls are smooth and offer no footholds. 

Deep in the forest stands a grand cathedral. A grand cathedral dedicated to ‘Aulde Dawne’, a Gold Dragon who answered the call to protect the peoples of the nearby village and give them her blessing. In return the villagers gave tribute to her and a temple was built, then upgraded, and more tribute was made. Yet this was never enough, for eventually ‘Aulde Dawne’ went mad and rampaged across the countryside, and it took heroes a great effort to be put a stop to her predations. Yet as successful as those heroes were, they never found the treasure hoard that had been given to ‘Aulde Dawne’ over the years and neither has anyone else since. For a great many years, the Cathedral of the Golden Dragon has been sealed up, but rumours abound of not just the great treasure to be found in its vaults, surely hidden where none has been able to find it to date, but also great secrets. This is the set-up for The Dragon’s Secret, a dungeon adventure published by Fifth Wall Games & Miniatures for use with Swords & Wizardry that requires a party of six to eight Player Characters of Fifth to Seventh Level. Notably, it is designed by Jennell Jaquays, best known as the designer of one of the greatest Dungeons & Dragons scenarios ever published, Dark Tower, and certainly the best scenario that Judges Guild ever published. If The Dragon’s Secret is half as good as Dark Tower, or even Caverns of Thracia, then this is definitely a dungeon worth looking at.

The Dragon’s Secret is based on maps that Jaquays drew as a teenager and the adventure that she subsequently developed for both the 2017 North Texas RPG Con and the Dungeons of Doom IV Kickstarter campaign. The current and completed version consists of some thirty-four locations across three levels, homebrew rules, a few factions, two new Player Character species, several new monsters, and a potential means to access the author’s own The Thousands Worlds campaign setting. All packaged in an easy-to-use fashion. The ease of use extends to adapting to the Game Master’s own campaign, since the Cathedral of the Golden Dragon is located in a relatively isolated forest. Consequently, it would work in settings such as The Midderlands or Dolmenwood without any problems, just as it would in the Game Master’s own campaign setting. The scenario includes several ‘Dragon Tales’ or reasons why the Player Characters might want to get involved, including helping would be villagers resettle an abandoned village called Dragon’s Gold; going for the bounty on a pair of wizard’s apprentices; collecting a spider venom which could induce a zombie-like effect; and so on. These can be used to involve the Player Characters and tie the scenario into the Game Master’s campaign.

The Dragon’s Secret begins with the author giving some engaging context and history to the dungeon before she settles down and provides the backstory to the scenario and explains how the book works. The backstory is genuinely original and clever, leaving you to wonder why you never thought of it. Essentially, the presence of ‘Aulde Dawne’ and the construction of the Cathedral of the Golden Dragon was one big confidence trick. A good one, which is one reason why the Game Master should take a look at The Dragon’s Secret rather than the reviewer unnecessarily giving too much away. Then the scenario’s format for its room features—Snapshots, Backstory, Remarkables, Secrets, Curios, Traps, Treasure, and Denizens—is explained. Of these, ‘Snapshots’ represents what a Player Character would be aware of upon first glance; ‘Backstory’ adds further details, sometimes for the benefit of the Player Characters rather than the Game Master; ‘Remarkables’ are the standout features of the location; ‘Curios’ are often exotic, out of place, or out of context objects randomly found (and rolled for on a table at the back of the book); and Denizens covers everything that might be encountered in the location. Denizen descriptions then have their own features—Tactics/Roleplay, Encounters, Snapshots, Insight, Profiles, Lore, and Tales. ‘Encounters’ is where a denizen may be encountered; ‘Insights’ the Player Characters’ first impressions of him; ‘Lore’ gives any rumours or gossip associated with him; ‘Profile; a more detailed description of the denizen; and ‘Tales’ are ideas for further adventures which might involve the denizen and the Player Characters. Not every denizen or group has all of these features, but they all do provide a structured means of providing detail about them.

Besides random encounters, The Dragon’s Secret includes several factions. These include a band of Fowl Folk Adventurers and a group of merchants. All of whom have full stats and guides on their tactics in a fight and on how to roleplay them. Their presence, as well as that of Erebox the Aardvark, can drive the adventure forward or can impede the Player Characters’ progress depending on how they interact with them. There is also a table of random encounters for outside of the dungeon, though in the main, The Dragon’s Secret is not a wilderness and dungeon adventure. There is scope here for the Game Master to expand this aspect of the adventure if she wants to.

There are some decent encounters to found across the dungeon, supported with some terrific NPCs. For example, there is a Giant Clockwork Automaton, which will clank and bash about with the Player Characters in its chamber, but search further and they find the operators of the device, who were having ‘fun’ with them. Both are very well described and the Game Master will have a lot of fun herself in portraying them. Then there is a Black Onyx Skull, a cursed magical item that wakes up nearby undead, but a cost of draining a Player Character’s Levels. The finale itself takes place in a giant cavern against a trio of ghoulish-dragons and their ghoul minions, each of the undead dragons slightly different in design and personality. It is a grand fight around a towered spiral staircase and in and out of the nearby tunnels, and definitely deserves to be played on the table with miniatures.

However, the design of The Dragon’s Secret is split in two. One half is dedicated to its backstory, with the Player Characters attempting to find their way to Aulde Dawne’s hoard and possibly learning about the Cult of the Gold Dragon. The former is more likely than the latter, with it unlikely that the Player Characters will ever learn the back story to the scenario. The half of the dungeon is dedicated to a series of rooms that are only tangentially connected to each and not to the back story. These locations draw from the funhouse style of dungeons, with rooms full of random ideas and concepts. The Player Characters will have to investigate these in order to find the keys to puzzle to get to the end, but they do not anything more than a weird randomness to the whole thing.

As good as the back story is to The Dragon’s Secret and as fun and as entertaining as some of its encounters are, problems abound with the scenario, the majority of which extend from it not quite being a completed book and it not being fully edited. There are design issues with the format of room descriptions and adherence to that format, which can often lead to minor elements being mentioned before the more important elements that the Game Master will definitely need to know. For example, the fact that there might be a curio at the bottom of a pit before mentioning the fact that the room does actually contain a pit trap or waiting until the description of the denizens in the Denizen section that there are actually zombies in the room. It is often unclear how one room connects to another or how aspects of a room interact with another, or where the important pieces of a puzzle are in the rest of the dungeon, let alone the fact that there is tunnel going nowhere. The dungeon maps are almost, but not quite decent, being numbered in an odd order and there being one location mentioned in the text, but which is not on the map. It turns out that this location is actually outside the dungeon, on the plateau behind the cathedral. Obviously, the description should have been in the wilderness section where the Player Characters could have encountered it there!

The writing also veers between humour and annoyingly pointless text. Examples of the former include, “What’s worse than zombies or spiders? Zombie spiders!!” and a room called ‘The Unpopular Dead’. Examples of the latter include the Backstory for the ‘The Pot O’ Silver’ location, which reads, “There’s obviously a story here, but now is not the time for its telling.” and the Backstory for ‘She’s Got Legs …’, which reads, “This was a room that originally just had centipedes in it. I made it more interesting in the update. Oh? You were expecting backstory about the centipede goddess? That’s yet another story.” And? Exactly when is a good time to tell that story? If so much attention is paid to providing the Game Master with detail and information throughout the rest of the scenario, why not here?

All of these problems are not insurmountable. All it takes to overcome them is good preparation upon the part of Game Master. However, it is not just ‘good’ preparation required by the Game Master, but extra preparation, in order have the necessary and often wayward information at her fingertips.

In addition, there are also two further problems, both idiosyncratic in nature. These are the addition of the two new Player Character species—also given as monsters—from the author’s campaign. These are the Fowl Folk and Earth Pigs, or rather Ducks (and other waterfowl) and Aardvarks. The latter are clearly drawn from the long-running comic book series, Cerebos the Aardvark, whilst the former are heavily influenced by the Durulz, or Ducks of Glorantha and RuneQuest. In fact, one major NPC, Erebox the Aardvark is more or less Cerebos the Aardvark renamed and given stats for the adventure. Both species tend to be played for their inherent humour, let alone their oddness, both of which may feel out of place in the Game Master’s own campaign. As a one shot, their inclusion is fine, but as part of a campaign, they will probably require adding in earlier lest their inclusion feel unnecessarily odd or out of place.

Physically, The Dragon’s Secret looks great. The artwork is excellent and the maps good bar the missing and the extra locations. The text itself needs a good edit and the scenario as a whole a little more development that would come with a good editor asking the author questions.
The Dragon’s Secret is playable as written, but requires more preparation time than it ordinarily should. In general, the funhouse aspects of the dungeon outweigh its theme and the plot of its backstory, and anyone coming to the adventure expecting something like Dark Tower or The Caverns of Thracia will be disappointed. Nevertheless, with some extra effort upon the part of the designer, let alone the Game Master when she comes to run it, and The Dragon’s Secret will be an enjoyably detailed funhouse dungeon. Unfortunately, The Dragon’s Secret is not a Jaquays classic.

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

—oOo—

Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track is the contribution to Free RPG Day 2023 from Wet Ink Games, best known as the publisher of horror roleplaying games, Never Going Home and Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall. In comparison, Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track is anything other a horror roleplaying game. Heckin’ Good Doggos is a light, family friendly roleplaying game of canine anthropomorphism in which the player take the roles of family dogs who go on adventures which involve ‘Dogs doin’ Dog Stuff’ and being a ‘good doggo’, and Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track is the quick-start for it. It contains the quick-start rules for the roleplaying game’s +One System, six ready-to-play pre-generated dog characters, and a full adventure, ‘Someone’s Last Day at the Track’. In order to play, a group will need a pool of six-sided dice and at least one deck of ordinary playing cards. One if there are less than five players, two if there are six players. In general, the +One System is not too complex, the idea of playing dogs will be familiar to almost everyone, and the scenario is fairly simple. The only possible downside to the scenario is that it takes place at a dog track, that is, a track where dogs are raced and there is gambling on the winners of each race. What this means is that the scenario takes place in a more adult setting than may be suitable for younger participants and that not everyone is going to familiar with what a dog track is.
A Good Doggo in Heckin’ Good Doggos is defined by his Breed, his Best Friend, three Attributes, Training, Paw Size, and Character Growth. Breed can be Cute, Friendly, Big, and Fast, and this allows the player to add a card to a Conflict without playing a card. For example, the Cute Breed allows a Heart card to be played and Fast a Club card. His Best Friend is his human owner or a human the dog knows and who has an occupation or equipment which the dog can call upon the human to use if necessary. Attributes are Brawn, Smarts, and Guts, each of which has three associated areas of Training. For example, ‘Sensing’, ‘Knowing’, and ‘Fiddling’ for Smarts. His Paw Size indicates how many cards his player can hold in his hand during play. Attributes range between one and ten, skills between one and five, and Paw Size between four and seven. Character growth is achieved at the end of an adventure and can give a dog a new skill, or improve an Attribute, Skill, or Paw Size. A dog also has a note to indicate how he helps and what his neighbourhood is like.
Mechanically, Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track and thus Heckin’ Good Doggos uses the +One System. This involves rolling a number of six-sided dice each to the skill being used. Each five or six rolled is a success. Harder tasks require more Successes. ‘+One Manipulations’ enable a player to change the outcome using points from the Attribute associated with the Skill. Prior to a roll, a manipulation can be made to add a die to a roll or even gain a skill in a previously untrained skill, if only temporarily. After the roll, to increase the value of a die roll by one—typically from a four to a five—and to reroll any number of dice. In addition to skill rolls, dogs can face Challenges, which are attempted by the whole pack as a group effort. They simply need to roll a number of Successes equal to the target number for the Challenge for the whole pack to succeed.
Playing cards in the +One System are played on a one-for-one basis rather than their value with each suite being tied to a narrative theme. These are Spades to friends and relationships, Hearts to cutes and being cute, Diamonds to Teeth and direct physical attacks, and Clubs to Paws and overcoming physical obstacles. Jokers can substitute for anyone of these and players begin play with four cards. All cards can be spent to help heal a dog, but normally they are used to resolve a conflict or add a Success. A player has to narrate how his dog takes advantage of the card’s theme in helping his dog overcome the conflict or Challenge.
Conflicts are like Challenges, but do not use dice, only the cards. Conflicts are also not necessarily fights, but situations that the dogs might have to defeat, escape, or otherwise end the conflict. The Narrator sets a Target Number in terms of the number of cards required, and the Target Number can vary not only in terms of difficulty, but also in how the Conflict can be resolved. For example, the dogs wants to get into a building where dog fights are being held. The Narrator might suggest that the dogs push past the bouncers on the door (three Clubs or Paws), but the bouncers will know they have got in; sneak in via a broken widow (four Clubs or Paws) and nobody knows they are in the building; and being friendly with the bouncers (four Spades or Friends). The objective is to provide the players and their Pack with options, and if the Pack lacks the right cards, they can play any card and narrate how its suit works to overcome the Conflict. However, this is likely to come at the cost of a consequence suffered.
In general, the rules are clearly explained and there are plenty of examples play as well. There is advice also on setting the tone of play and on using Safety Tools such as the X-Card.
Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track comes with six pre-generated dog Player Characters. There is a good mix of dog types, but the Narrator should be careful to makes sure that there are as many areas as possible of Training covered if there are fewer than five or six players.
The scenario in Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track is the eponymous ‘Someone’s Last Day at the Track’ It takes place at the local dog track on the biggest race day of the year, the State Derby. The dogs have the opportunity to get in on their day, ideally with their Best Friends, mooch around for a bit, being a good doggo, sniffing about, and hopefully finding some good, if not necessarily wholesome treats to scarf down. There are the kennels to investigate, the concessions area, and the race track itself, but very quickly, the dogs will run into the track’s criminal fraternity—the dog gang under the stands! The leader of the dog gang wants to know who the fastest runner is going to be in the State Derby. Can the Player Character dogs find out or do they have other plans? It is a fairly simply plot, but this combined with the other doggy activities and learning the mechanics will provide a gaming group with a single session’s worth of play.
Physically, Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track is brightly, cheerfully presented. The writing is clear and the illustrated of the various dogs are excellent. It is a pity that none of the character sheets for the dogs have illustrations, although it does leave room for the players to decide their own dog species. 
Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track is a good quick-start and a good introduction to Heckin’ Good Doggos. Its setting and its mechanics make it suitable for younger teenagers and older players and an experienced Narrator, especially one who has run some storytelling style games, will be able to grasp the +One System and explain how it works with ease. Overall, the setting and theme to Heckin’ Good Doggos – Someone’s Last Day at the Track will be familiar to almost everyone, making it very accessible, because everyone knows how to be a good dog, if only for an evening.

 Encounter area 17 is the normal haunt of a favorite creature of the Vampire Queen. A creature she had brought in from beyond reality.

She called the creature the Labyrinthine Lurker. 

The Labyrinthine Lurker is a creature of stealth and shadow, resembling a sleek, upright, serpentine being with iridescent scales that blend seamlessly with the darkness of the maze. Its eyes glow with an eerie, hypnotic light, and it moves with a sinuous grace that allows it to navigate the labyrinthine corridors with ease.

It has something akin to arms and hands, but these are manifestations of shadows it can use to manipulate items. 

Labyrinthine Lurker
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 11+22 (72 hp)
Move: 15" (Can phase through solid objects for 1 round)
Attacks: 1 bite or special
Damage: 2d6 or special
THAC0: 11 [+8]
No. Appearing: 1
Save As: D6 W7 P8 B9 S10 (11)
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 1300
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: Nil

The Lurker takes advantage of the strange magical energies of this maze.

It's attack is a bite. It drains a little bit of blood each time. It tries reducing a victim to 0 hp so it can feed on the dying energies of the victims.

It has the following Special Abilities.

Shadow Cloak: The Labyrinthine Lurker can blend into the shadows, becoming nearly invisible to the naked eye. It uses this ability to lie in wait for unsuspecting adventurers, striking with precision when they least expect it.

Echo Step: The creature can move without making a sound, allowing it to stalk its prey silently. It leaves behind illusory echoes, confusing adventurers about its actual location within the maze.

Dimensional Phasing: The Labyrinthine Lurker has the power to phase through solid objects within the maze temporarily. This ability enables it to ambush adventurers by emerging from walls or the floor, making it a formidable opponent.

Labyrinth's Embrace: When the Labyrinthine Lurker closes in on its target, it can envelop them in a temporary pocket dimension. Inside this dimension, time seems to slow down for the trapped adventurer, giving the Lurker an advantage (+2 to hit) in combat.

Killing the Lurker will cause it to dissolve into a caustic pool of black goo. Anyone within 5' of it, when it reaches 0 hp, will be splashed with the black acidic blood and take 1d6 hp of damage per round until the goo is removed. Water is good, any form of alcohol is better. 

--

I am sitting in a parking lot waiting for my wife to wrap up a work thing. Hopefully, the formating is fine.

 One of the last major gods of this Pantheon is Schmied, the god of craftsmen, ironworking, fire, and dwarves. He is often depicted as a dwarf.

Schmied

Schmied is a syncretic god who combines aspects of the Greek Hephaestus, the Roman Vulcan, the Norse Sons of Ivaldi and the myth of Weyland the Smith and thus Goibhnie of the Celts. All of these figures are related and likely all trace their origin back to a Proto-Indo European Smith God. Given the book I am reading now on PIE language reconstruction this could have been the God credited with giving humanity the wheel.

Schied here has a bit of all these gods as seen through the idea of the grumpy dwarf. I opted to take this somewhat stereotypical route because I figure he is the source of this archetype. I wanted him dour, grumpy, and largely unlikable. This comes, I admit, more from my readings of Goidhnie (Gowan) of the Celts. Though Vulcan and the Sons of Ivaldi were not going to win any popularity contests. Which interestingly enough, gets me to the first myth of the god.

Both Hephaestus and Vulcan are married off to their myths respective Goddess of Love. Here is where I wanted to differ. I honestly can't see Liebhaberin getting married at all. She is too busy cultivating young (and thus pre-married) love. But I did want to have a myth where Schmied got married to a beautiful woman, largely by trickery. Like I said he is an unpleasant god.

Schmied and Skalda

Skalda (note: not exactly Skaldi) was the beautiful goddess of Song and Poetry, in particular epic poetry. She decided one day she needed a husband. So she sought out the Gods to find a suitable candidate. Skalda wanted to find a husband among the greatest of Gods so she announced her attention. Her eye was set on Jäger and she began to openly court the God. His sister Jägerin, would not have it seeing Skalda as trying to improve her own standing among the gods. So she convinced Schmied, who she knew desperately desired Skalda, to begin to send her gifts.  Schmied fashioned a lute of pure gold that would play itself if commanded to Skalda. He sent her a breastplate of gold. A spear fashioned out of the rays of the sun. And automaton handmaidens carved out of pure ivory and inlaid with gold that were indistinguishable from living nymphs. 

Skalda, who believed that it was Jäger who sent her all these gifts swore before the Gods that she would only marry the God who had sent her such wonderful treasures. Expecting Jäger to step forward she was shocked and disgusted to see it was not the Bright God of the Sun, but the twisted God of Smiths.  But an oath before the Gods is an oath unbreakable. 

They did produce a son, Künstler, the God of fine art. But she has refused his bed ever since. 

SCHMIED (God of Smithing, Crafting, Fire and Dwarves)

Intermediate God

ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: 9" 
HIT POINTS: 275
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK:  1d10+5, 1d10+5
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Summon fire
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +1 or better to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 70%

SIZE: M (4' 1")
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All, smiths, craftsmen, dwarves
SYMBOL: A large hammer
PLANE: Erde (Prime Material)

CLERIC/DRUID: 10th level Cleric
FIGHTER: 5th level Fighter
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 10th level Magic-user
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: Nil
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 23 I: 12 W: 20 D: 16 C: 24 CH: 8

Schmied is the god of craftsmen, smiths, fire (in its creation aspect), as well as dwarves and kobolds. He appears as a heavily muscled dwarf covered in soot and grime from working in the forge. 

Schmied has very little to say to others. He prefers to spend his time in the forge working with his brothers (who have demigod status) creating items of great art. It is said that his forge can create anything and the magic items the gods wield were all created here.

In combat, he swings a giant hammer for 1d10+5 points of damage twice per round. He has the spell-casting ability of a 10th-level magic-user and a 10th-level cleric. He is quick to anger and will use his hammer attack first and his six brothers will join in (1d8+4 for their attacks).

He is also the god of the dwarves and kobolds, or knockers. 

Animal: Ox
Rainment: (Head) bare (Body) none
Color(s): Red, Black
Holy Days: The three days prior to the Summer Soltice and the three days after. 
Sacrifices: An ox or bull, sacrificed and cooked in a large fire. 
Place of Worship: Forges and Cave mouths. 

He is married to Skalda, the beautiful goddess of epic poetry and song, but she wants nothing to do with him.

He maintains a large home for them both in Himmel, but he stays on Erde in a cave where he toils over the forges with his brothers and their kobold assistants.

Skalda

Skalda is the beautiful but haughty and arrogant goddess of epic poetry and music. While her skill unmatched, she is jealous of the other goddess and always wants more. Though when she is sitting with her lute and creating new poems, few can match her charm and eloquence. 

SKALDA (Demi-Goddess of Epic Poetry and Music)
Demigoddess

ARMOR CLASS: -3
MOVE: 12"
HIT POINTS: 75
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d8/1d8
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Charming voice
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Inspiring aura
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%

SIZE: M (6' 2")
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All, Bards
SYMBOL: Lute
PLANE: Erde (Prime Material)

CLERIC/DRUID: 9th Level Cleric
FIGHTER: Nil
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 5th level Illusionist
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: 15th level Bard
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 13 I:12 W: 16 D: 18 C: 14 CH: 21

Skalda is the demigoddess of epic poetry and music. She is beautiful, eloquent, and utterly vain. She knows that her gift is required by the gods to remain in mortals' minds. The apples of Ôstara may keep the gods young and immortal, but it is Skalda's songs keep them in their hearts.

This goddess appears as a very tall (6' 2") warrior goddess. She wears a golden breastplate that only fits her, granting her very low armor class. She wields a spear that when thrown, will return to her hand and her golden lute. Once she sets the lute to play it will play independently of her. 

Her voice has a constant Charm Person effect that is effective against all save for dwarves. Failing to save vs. spells means the victim is charmed and will do no harm to the goddess. She can also use her voice to inspire, granting all that hear it an additional 1d8 roll to use as needed: to attack, damage, saves or any other roll. This can be granted three times per day. 

She does not have many worshipers of her own, but all Bards pay her homage. 

Links

• One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 3, the Roman-Norse Pantheon
• The Monsters
• My overview and rules for these postings
• Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar
• Alp
• Die Hüne
• Jötunar
• Hautveränderer
• Heuler
• Draugr
• Doppelsauger
• Nøkk
• The Gods
• Unser Vater, Father of the Gods
• Sisters of the Dawn, Liebhaberin and Ôstara
• The Mother Goddesses Herde Oberin, Mutter Natur, and Großmutter
• The Divine Twins
• Hüne Vater, Großvater, and Großmutter
• Ides, Demi-Goddess of Protection and War
• Helga, Goddess of Magic, Ghosts, and Witchcraft
• Hüter, Lord of the Dead
• Betrüger, The Trickster God
• Kriegskönig, The God of War
• Verwildert, the God of Wild Nature
• Wood Maidens
• Vater Meeren
• Schmied
• Skalda

 When the characters enter Encounter Area 16 they are met with a Night Hag.

The Night Hag is angry, but not at the characters (yet). She was trapped here by the same magic that draws others into this Labyrinth. Talking to the Hag will let them know more about the magic that grabbed her. She was not in the lower planes, but rather on the Prime Material in a different part of the PC's world.

The Hag will claim she only needs the power from one soul to be able to Gate them all out, the PCs just need to choose.  

If they don't then she will try to kill one PC and then just gate herself out once she has the soul. 

In addition to her normal treasure she has five (5) soul coins. These coins contain the souls of one person. They can be used as currency in the Lower Planes or be given to a cleric of 18th level who can use them to raise the person whose soul was taken.

 Working through the remaining Gods for my D&DGII The Black Forest Mythos. Today I have the God of the Sea.

Vater Meeren

Vater Meeren is an odd one for this group of gods. He is powerful and is a greater god since he controls the Oceans and the Sea, something that was very important to both groups these myths come from. But he is also a remote and distant god to these Pagans since at the time these myths would have been created, say the 6th and 7th Centuries CE, they are a little removed, geographically, from the sea. I also have this group as being fairly insular so their myths can grow with out the "contamination" of what is going on around them; ie the Christian conversion of Europe.

Vater Meeren himself combines aspects of Neptune/Poseidon along with other aspects of Odin (Odin had so many aspects his DNA is in every god) and Thor when he was a maritime God.  I also wanted to give him aspects of Ullr who had been a more important god. Thus Vater Meeren is the God of the Sea, Oceans, Death as a process (a Psychopomp), and Winter.

He is the brother of Unser Vater and Hüter, much like their Roman counterparts, but also refers to Odin's two brothers Vili and Vé in their role as Gods of Creation.

Like Neptune/Poseidon and Odin this god is also fond of horses.

VATER MEEREN (God of the Sea and Oceans)

Greater God

ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: 12" // Swim 48" // Horse: 36"
HIT POINTS: 380
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK:  1d10+5, 1d10+5, wave
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Wave, control weather
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +3 or better to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50%

SIZE: M (6' 1")
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All, Sailors
SYMBOL: A wave
PLANE: Erde 

CLERIC/DRUID: 20rd level Druid
FIGHTER: 15th level Ranger
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 10th level Magic-user
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: 10th level Bard
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 23 I: 15 W: 22 D: 18 C: 20 CH: 17

Vater Meeren is the God of the Oceans and the Sea. He lives under the waves and everything that is not land or sky is his. He had once been more powerful, equal to his brother Unser Vater, but his power has waned, though he is believed to have another ascendence soon.

Vater Meeren appears as a heavily muscled man in his prime with a full head of red hair and beard with bright blue eyes. These eyes turn gray and cloudy when he is angry, which is often. 

When he attacks he uses a giant spear made from the horn of a titanic narwhal. He can also attack with a giant wave of water, doing 6d6 hp of damage (save for half). Additionally, he can control the weather around any body of water, summon up to 100 HD worth of sea creatures three times per day, as well cast spells as if he were a 20th level druid, 10th level magic-user, and a 10th level bard.

One of his roles is to make sure the dead are sent to their proper afterlife, either in Himmel or in Hölle. So in this respect, he works hand in hand with his brothers. 

Vater Meeren is not allowed to set foot on dry land. So if he has business he needs to attend to he will travel by horse. His horse for these tasks is Schnelläufer and he can run on water, land, or air with equal ease. Since neither Vater Meeren nor Schnelläufer need to rest, eat or sleep, they can run for days to complete whatever task they need and be back in the sea as they need too. 

Animal: Horse, Narwhal
Rainment: (Head) crown of coral (Body) none
Color(s): Blue, Red
Holy Days: Nights of the Full moon
Sacrifices: Gold, weapons offered to the sea. 
Place of Worship: Sea shores, near lakes or any body of water.

Vater Meeren took the Celtic-Roman Epona as a wife (one of many) and it is believed this is the origin of the Nøkk.

Links

• One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 3, the Roman-Norse Pantheon
• The Monsters
• My overview and rules for these postings
• Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar
• Alp
• Die Hüne
• Jötunar
• Hautveränderer
• Heuler
• Draugr
• Doppelsauger
• Nøkk
• The Gods
• Unser Vater, Father of the Gods
• Sisters of the Dawn, Liebhaberin and Ôstara
• The Mother Goddesses Herde Oberin, Mutter Natur, and Großmutter
• The Divine Twins
• Hüne Vater, Großvater, and Großmutter
• Ides, Demi-Goddess of Protection and War
• Helga, Goddess of Magic, Ghosts, and Witchcraft
• Hüter, Lord of the Dead
• Betrüger, The Trickster God
• Kriegskönig, The God of War
• Verwildert, the God of Wild Nature
• Wood Maidens
• Vater Meeren

 Encounter area 15 is in an odd little cul-de-sac. There is a group of monsters like goblins, trolls, and even a couple of minotaurs. They are all sitting around an ethereal woman playing a cello. 

The cellist plays and the monsters are entranced. As long as she plays the monsters here will stay entranced. She will not attack, nor get the monsters to do so. If she is attacked she will entice them to attack back.

The monsters are: 

• 6 Goblins
• 4 Ogres
• 4 Trolls
• 2 Minotaurs

The cellist herself is a Faerie Lord who has the stats of a 10th-level elf. 

 Today's god leans a bit more into the Greek/Roman side of the equation, though there are still bits from the Norse and even Norse-Celtic influences.  Introducing Verwildert, the God of Wild Nature and the Protector of animals, grains, and other parts of nature.

Verwildert

This god combines aspects of Pan/Fanus as well as Bacchus/Dionysus.  From the Norse side, we get wilder aspects of Odin and Freyr, especially in Freyr's roles in fertility and fecundity. Many of Æsir gods of the Norse pantheon have more in common with Pan than the other Greek/Roman gods. 

My group of Pagans here are living very close to nature (and Nature). Not, out some sort of neo-pagan ideal dreamed up by 20th Century writers (and 21st Century game writers), but because that was their reality. This group was a bad winter away from total barbarism and they knew that. A God like Verdwildert was the manifestation of that. The god that gave them grains and crops they could cultivate, the wolf that ate their sheep, and the storms that destroyed their farms and homes.  

Nature is always just a few steps removed from madness.

VERWILDERT (God of Wild Nature)

Intermediate God

ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: 36"
HIT POINTS: 280
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK:  1d8+3, 1d8+3
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Inspire Madness, Druid magic
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 or better to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50%

SIZE: M (5' 9")
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All, Farmers, Druids
SYMBOL: Hawk
PLANE: Erde 

CLERIC/DRUID: 23rd level Druid
FIGHTER: 10th level Ranger
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: 20th level Bard
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 18 I: 15 W: 22 D: 18 C: 20 CH: 23

Verwildert is the God of and the Protector of Wild Nature. He first taught humans how to cultivate land, not to tame nature, but to learn how to work with it. He is not an agricultural god, per se, but he is the patron of all growing things. He is also the god of the storm and flood that destroys, the wolf that kills, and secrets hidden it dark places. 

This god appears as a grizzled old wild man of the woods, with the antlers of a stag as headdress. He is hairy and bearded. Often, his idols feature an enormous phallus, which some claim is true for the god himself. Verwildert has little time for humans, though he is not overtly hostile to them at first. Like all nature, he is dangerous and can destroy.  Even he fears the raw power of Nature herself in the form of Mutter Natur, who is his own mother. Despite this human worshippers usually find Verwildert to be more approachable than Mutter Natur.

Verwildert can attack with two great fists or cast spells as a 23rd-level Druid. Three times per day, he can Inspire Madness, which will cause those who fail to save to drop their weapons (or whatever they are holding) and attack anyone close to them. Spellcasters are unable to cast spells. 

Animal: All, but the Wolf is a favorite
Rainment: (Head) horns of a stag (Body) none
Color(s): Red, Green
Holy Days: Nights of the New and Full moon; Also May 1st
Sacrifices: Everything is sacred to Nature, the weakest animals culled so the pack may survive
Place of Worship: Any natural setting. 

Verwildert has two groups of followers/worshipers he is associated with. The Wild Hunt and Wood Maidens.

The Wild Hunt

This band of hunters is known across the continent. In the times when Verwildert leads them, they ride and run across the land on the nights of the New Moon. These hunters are a mixed lot. Supernatural hunting dogs (like Hell hounds), undead hunters (wights), ghosts of hunters who died while hunting, and warriors not allowed into Himmel. 

Wood Maidens

Wood Maidens are a type of demi-goddesses, or semi-goddesses, that are the personification of wild nature. They appear as nymphs, but are more akin to the Maenads of Greek/Roman myth. These goddess represent nature run wild. They are the goddesses of wine, ecstasy, and fertility. It is said that they are active to still the blood of men and women.

They are the face of Nature that humans try to tame but ultimately cannot. 

WOOD MAIDENS (Demi-Goddess of Wild Nature, Ecstasy, and Fertility)

Demigoddess

ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: 36"
HIT POINTS: 50
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d6+1/1d6+1 (claws)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Inspire ecstasy
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Wild Aura aura
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%

SIZE: M (5'2")
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All
SYMBOL: Maiden's face
PLANE: Erde (Prime Material)

CLERIC/DRUID: 4th level Druid
FIGHTER: Nil
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: Nil
WITCH/WARLOCK: 5th level Witch
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 13 I: 14 W: 16 D: 15 C: 18 CH: 24

Wood Maidens are demi-goddesses representing wild nature and the power to renew life. They are also the demigoddess of wine, ecstasy, and fertility. They claim they are the offspring of Verwildert and Liebhaberin or even Verwildert and Ôstara. Possibly both are true. 

They can be found roaming the lands, inspiring ecstasy to renew life where they can. But they also represent nature running wild; they create life and they also can destroy it. The same ecstasy that bring lovers together can also drive them apart, or drive people to jealousy. This aura extends 60' from their person. This is increased by an additional 30' for each Wood Maiden in a group. There can be as many as dozen in a single group. This will produce an aura up to 400'.

They appear as wild women. Often running through the wilderness wearing simple clothing and often barefoot even in the deepest of winters. When they run they often have wolves accompanying them leading to the belief they are werewolves (they are not).

Wood Maidens are the chaotic counterpart to the Ides.

May 1st, May Day

On the First of May, the Wood Maiden gather in large numbers of a score or more. They can be seen running across the land, where their wild aura can extend even further. At this time they are chased by the Wild Hunt. Overtly it is so the Wild hunt can run them down in an etiological myth of Man vs. Nature. Often the Wood Maidens are captured by members of the Hunt. Just as often the Maidens kill the Huntsmen. In the case where a Maiden is captured and she doesn't kill the Huntsman, the Maiden becomes a normal human; often as a high priestess of Verwildert. The moral here is that Humankind can't tame nature, much less conquer it. 

This is symbolically celebrated in a fertility rite where the young women of the community run through the woods in an attempt to be captured by the young men. The women wear flowers in their hair which they can give to whomever finds them. This is considered akin to a marriage proposal. It is said that any child conceived in these rites is blessed by the gods. 

For Use in NIGHT SHIFT

Of all the myths I have written, this is the one most likely to have survived to modern times to feature in NIGHT SHIFT. It is a Folk Horror sort of tale. Think "Midsommer" and "The Wickerman."

A good hook is something from Norse/Germanic myths. The PCs are on some sort of hiking trip, and they come across a nearly naked young woman running through the woods chased by something.  The PCs naturally try to help her, only to discover that she is part of an ancient rite.  Is she innocent? Is she the monster? Likely it will be more complicated than that. 

I'll need to develop these more.

Links

• One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 3, the Roman-Norse Pantheon
• The Monsters
• My overview and rules for these postings
• Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar
• Alp
• Die Hüne
• Jötunar
• Hautveränderer
• Heuler
• Draugr
• Doppelsauger
• The Gods
• Unser Vater, Father of the Gods
• Sisters of the Dawn, Liebhaberin and Ôstara
• The Mother Goddesses Herde Oberin, Mutter Natur, and Großmutter
• The Divine Twins
• Hüne Vater, Großvater, and Großmutter
• Ides, Demi-Goddess of Protection and War
• Helga, Goddess of Magic, Ghosts, and Witchcraft
• Hüter, Lord of the Dead
• Betrüger, The Trickster God
• Kriegskönig, The God of War
• Verwildert, the God of Wild Nature
• Wood Maidens

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

—oOo—

What is it?
Tarkalor’s Keep is an adventure location for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which presents a simple situation that the Game Master can run and prepare for a single session’s worth of play.

It is an eleven page, full colour 2.03 KB PDF.

The layout is tidy, the artwork and cartography rough, but serviceable.

The scenario is can be easily be adapted to the rules system of the Game Master’s choice.
Where is it set?As written, Tarkalor’s Keep takes in the disputed territory between the lands of the Varmandi and the Malani clans, close to Apple Lane. The suggested time frame is during dark season of 1626 after the death of Kallyr Starbrow. However, with some adjustment, the scenario can be placed anywhere where there are rival, sometimes feuding clans.
Who do you play?
Tarkalor’s Keep does not require any specific character type.
What do you need?
Eurmal’s Truth requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha; Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers for information about the Cult of Gagarth; and the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack for its information about the Varmandi clan and the surrounding area. The scenario, Vinga’s Ford, also contains useful information and could be run as an uncconected prequel to Tarkalor’s Keep.
What do you get?Tarkalor’s Keep presents a situation that the Player Characters are tasked with investigating and resolving. With tensions high between the Varmandi and the Malani clans, the Varmandi clan chief, Korol Serpent Tongue, suspects that they are responsible for the reports of the recent occupation of nearby Tarkalor Keep. He wants the Player Characters to investigate, confirm his suspicions, and if so drive them out in readiness for occupation by his own clan warriors.

The majority of Tarkalor’s Keep is devoted to describing Tarkalor Keep and its current occupants—and it is not who Korol Serpent Tongue thinks it is. In fact, the situation is nowhere near as straightforward as the tower being occupied by Malani tribesmen. The occupants are in fact two-fold, making the best of living alongside each other, using the tower as a refuge. The dominant group consists of Gagarthi outlaws, whilst the other consists of cowed Seven Mothers worshippers. The former are not welcome in good society because they have been exiled from their tribes for the crimes they committed, whilst the latter are unwelcome across Sartar because of the recent occupation of the region by the Lunar Empire. Neither group is spoiling for a fight, but the situation is difficult and neither group wants to be driven out, especially at this time of the year. Ultimately, the situation at Tarkalor’s Keep is one that the Player Characters are going to have to resolve and it is unlikely that this is can be done to the satisfaction of everyone concerned, whether that is the occupants, Korol Serpent Tongue, or the Malani. The choices made by the Player Characters will have ongoing ramifications on the campaign.
Tarkalor’s Keep includes the stats and background for all its NPCs, plus a description and floorplan of the keep itself. There are ideas too as to possible outcomes, but they are only suggestions. What the scenario does lack is suggestions as to the rewards that Korol Serpent Tongue might offer the Player Characters.
Is it worth your time?Yes—Tarkalor’s Keep presents a short and knotty problem that the Game Master can quickly prepare and drop into her campaign, especially if based at Apple Lane.No—Tarkalor’s Keep involves the Gagarthi, is in Sartar, or its suggested time frame is in the future of the Game Master’s campaign, so is not suitable for the campaign.Maybe—Tarkalor’s Keep presents a short and knotty problem which with a few adjustments can easily be set wherever the Game Master has set her campaign.

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

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

—oOo—
Name: The Worm of Wall StreetPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Paul StJohn Mackintosh

Setting: Modern day New YorkProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-four page, 25.79 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Hedge Fund Horror!Plot Hook: A Wall Street flash crash triggers an investigation into a hedge fund which stands untouched.
Plot Support: Staging advice, eight pre-generated Investigators, two NPCs, two maps and floor plans, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos creatures.Production Values: Serviceable
Pros# Intriguing, novel setting# Simple, straightforward one-shot# Easy to adapt to other time periods# Feels very eighties# Possible links to Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, Lovecraft Country, and Keziah Mason# Scoleciphobia# Kinemortophobia# Anthropophagusphobia
Cons# Needs an edit# No pre-generated Investigator backgrounds# Keeper will need to generate Investigator links and motivations
Conclusion# Solid, eighties-style Hedge Fund Horror on Wall Street# Unique location with surprisingly timely plot

Published by Nightfall Games, The Terminator RPG is based upon The Terminator, the original film by James Cameron from 1984 and then on the seventeen or so comic book storylines published by Dark Horse Comics between 1990 and 2019. The Science Fiction horror roleplaying game enables play in two time periods. The first is the future of the here and now, or at least an alternative here and now. This is the future of Judgement Day, in which the A.I. Skynet attempted to destroy its creators and the rest of humanity in nuclear, biological, and chemical conflagration before sending out increasingly sophisticated machines to wipe out humanity, whether through brute force or infiltration followed by brute force. The Resistance arose, led by those who had been preparing for Judgement Day and the rise of the robots, most notably, John Connor, to defeat Skynet and its forces. By the end of the 2020s, the Resistance would prevail, but not before Skynet developed temporal technology with Time Displacement Equipment, enabling it to send Terminator units back into the past and attack those who would become a danger to it in the future. Thus, the war against the machines became not a war of resistance and rebellion against Skynet, but a war through time, a hunt for Skynet’s agents across the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This opens up the second time period, the 1980s, and whilst it would be possible to run campaigns in both periods without any crossover, travelling back from the 2020s opens up the possibility of some entertaining ‘fish out of water’ style roleplaying. In general, the emphasis in The Terminator RPG is on the period of the 2020s, but there is still plenty of information about the 1980s to run a campaign set there. This is the inspiration for The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book.
The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book presents a series of fifteen interlinked missions across both the devastated future post Judgement Day and the unware period of the horrors to come, 1980s. Many of the missions can be played on their own, but by linking them, the Resistance Fighters can explore stories that weave in and out of, and parallel to, those of Sarah Connor, the future leader of the Resistance, her son, John Connor. What this means is that the players and their Resistance Fighters are not playing out the key events of The Terminator, but like the comic stories published by Dark Horse which specifically inspire many of the missions in The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book, instead exploring the world and stories away from the core story. There are one or two wholly original missions in the collection as well, but in general, the players and their Resistance Fighters will be telling their own stories, stories that support and contribute towards the core story. The interlinking nature of the missions is also quite loose, with in some cases, years passing between one mission and the next, enabling the Game Master to develop and add her own plots and missions between those given in this supplement. In addition, The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book has been written as part of the publisher’s ‘Signature Series’, which brings together a number of scenarios or missions from a variety of authors to provide different styles and approaches to a setting—or in this case, The Terminator franchise.
The campaign will see the Resistance Fighters fighting and surviving their way back and forth across the post-apocalyptic future of North America in the 2020s and even to a Moscow dominated by MIR, Skynet’s Russian subsidiary A.I., before throwing them back into the past of the 1980s, with rug-pulling deviation along the way. Here, in the past of both the Resistance Fighters and their players, the Resistance Fighters will hide out until needed, searching for three things. One is signs of Skynet’s operations from the future trying to ensure it creation and domination of that future. Two is looking for the events and persons involved in the creation, whether intentionally or inadvertently. Three, ultimately, chasing after Sarah Connor and her son, if not to actually locate the fugitives themselves, then at least prevent Skynet and its various terminator units, let alone the authorities, from locating them. This again, will take them back and forth across America, before a push long way south of the border. Throughout, the Resistance Fighters will encounter terminator model after terminator model, in some cases, hordes of them. In each and every incidence, the fights will be tough, the nearly unstoppable nature of the terminators horrifying, the encounter always desperate, whether defeat or victory. This does not vary whether it is the past or the future. In the future, the Resistance Fighters will have the advantage of advanced weaponry, but that will be against multiple terminators, whereas in the past, the Resistance Fighters will encounter terminators in ones and twos, but will only be armed with the weapons of the 1980s that they can scavenge or steal.
The campaign begins in the future, post-Judgement Day. The Resistance Fighters will find themselves investigating damaged Terminator Complexes for information about Skynet’s operations, visiting Russia and Moscow by submarine to curb Skynet’s operations there, and being hunted by Terminators before being rescued by unfamiliar faces. They will ultimately be given a mission by unexpectedly familiar face, before being thrown back into the past of the 1980s. This is where the bulk of the campaign takes place, missions include tracking down a notorious serial killer, survive being hunted again—though this time in rundown New York city of the period, stop a Terminator effort to take advantage of period communications (this nicely adds a Terminator twist to the suspicious man atop the telegraph pole. Very eighties and seventies), and hunt down a Terminator nurse—suitably named Nurse Hatchet—in a hospital before it reaches its target. The missions are suitable varied, but will involve a lot of action and combat as well as the desperate planning and investigation. The Resistance Fighters will also need to adapt to living in the 1980s whilst fulfilling missions and avoiding the attention of the authorities.
Structurally, the interlinked nature of the scenarios in The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book means that it is loose in places and there are long gaps between scenarios. There are two ways to address this. One is for the Game Master to add her own content to fill those perceived gaps or to run the campaign episodically, perhaps running other roleplaying games during the gaps to suggest that time has passed. Of course, there is nothing to stop the Game Master running the campaign for her group straight, from beginning to end.
To support the campaign, The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book includes two appendices. One contains seven pre-generated Resistance Fighters, some of whom are more critical to certain scenarios than others. The second provides statistics and descriptions for the campaign’s NPCs, which are surprisingly few in number. This is because the campaign draws from the core rulebook for The Terminator RPG for the majority of its NPC and Terminator stats.
However, as a whole, the campaign is lacking in a number of things. One is maps. There is only one location for which a map is given in the whole of the campaign. Now in many cases, it is easy to visual and describe certain locations, such as a hospital or a pawn shop, but there are number of bunkers and similar locations which would have been easier to visualise and impart their descriptions to the players had they been given maps. In most cases, though not all, the locations are decently described and so the Game Master can create her own. Another is hacking diagrams. There are some in the campaign, but not enough to be a strong feature of the campaign or threaten to overwhelm it with a large number of hacking attempts being needed. So, this is not an omission so much as a feature, and whilst a hacker will be required as part of the campaign, his technical skills will probably be required more often.
Physically, The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book is decently presented, well-written, and illustrated with some good artwork. The book is easy to read and includes staging notes and suggestions for the Game Master from one scenario to the next.
The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book is not a campaign in the traditional sense of there being a beginning, a middle, and an end. It definitely has a middle, and it could be argued that it has two middles rather than one with the switch in time periods, but in a more traditional campaign, the ending would involve the Player Characters defeating the big villain and bringing the story to a close. Not so in The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book, which does not come to end with the Resistance Fighters defeating the big villain. Rather, they will defeat a big villain and so contribute towards the defeat of the big villain, that is, Skynet. Which makes sense since the Resistance Fighters are not the stars of The Terminator franchise, but the stars of a story within The Terminator franchise. Overall, The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book is solid support for The Terminator RPG, providing the Game Master with some great Science Fiction horror with which to torment the Resistance Fighters and their players as they battle to make a difference and help save the future of humanity.

In the ecologically ravaged future, twelve billion people live on Earth in environmentally sealed kilometre high city blocks clustered around ‘lungs’, the colossal city-sized atmosphere processors located on the coasts. Many attempt to get off Earth and sign up to crew the service vessels maintaining stations, outposts, and mines in other star systems; the tugboats hauling the refineries back to Earth; the Arbiter ships as Colonial Marshals investigating crimes on behalf of the Interstellar Department of Trading; as military units preventing (or even conducting) civil unrest or hostile takeovers; as scientific survey teams; or as Deep Space Support Teams—DSSTs, or ‘Dusters’, effectively serving as troubleshooters for their employers. Last twenty-five years and you get to retire to a life of luxury. However, it is not that easy… Space travel takes time, even with the Gravity Assisted Drive, a minimum of a week per light year, meaning trips can take months with most of that time spent in LongSleep. Starships are places to work, utilitarian, but capable of protecting you from the vacuum of space, radiation, and random asteroids. Therese though are not the only dangers involved in space travel and mankind spreading beyond the Solar System...
Spending time in space has a psychological effect and has been known to send men mad. Murderously mad. A.I.s and other systems can malfunction. Outbreaks of diseases and viruses—known and unknown—can ravage colonies, starships, and space stations. Terrorist groups have their own agendas, like The Children of the Cradle, which wants to stop mankind spreading beyond Earth. There are cults too with their own aims and even corporations have their often, highly secret aims. Colonists, scientists, star crew and others report ghosts out in the black, but who believes that? Does not mean that it cannot send them mad... There is even the whisper that the Gravity Assisted Drive itself has a psychological effect on people, though no one has been able to prove and to be honest, no one wants to, especially the corporations. Of course, nobody has yet found any sign of any alien species, and certainly not any face-chomping xenomorphs. Faced with all that, it is wonder that anyone engages in any space travel, and if any starship crew run into any of this, the best they can do is survive. There are those that will do more then just survive. They will investigate. They identify the nature of the threat and they will nullify its effects—if they can. Special Operations Squads (SOS), equipped, armed, and trained to deal with dangerous situations, have been trained by the government of Earth to face these problems, even though it often means working for one of the corporations.
This is the set-up for Pressure: Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying, a roleplaying game inspired by the Blue Collar Science Fiction of the nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties, such as Alien, Outland, Silent Running, and Blade Runner, plus computer games like Dead Space. Published by Osprey Games—the imprint of Osprey Publishing best known for its highly illustrated military history books—Pressure: Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying is in fact a sequel to Those Dark Places: Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying, in which the Player Characters are members of corporate Deep Space Support Teams—DSSTs, or ‘Dusters’. In Pressure, the Player Characters are members of the Special Operations Squads Division, knoen as SOS Operatives. If Those Dark Places is the equivalent of Alien, then Pressure is the sequel, Aliens. Notably, Pressure uses the same conceit as Those Dark Places, that the play of the roleplaying game is actually an internal training programme, a test of the potential abilities of the ‘Duster’, or in this case SOS Division operatives. This does not always have to be case, but it is what the roleplaying game defaults to, and notably, Pressure is more upfront about it. Further, in addition to being a sequel to Those Dark Places, this roleplaying game is also an expansion, both in terms of the mechanics and the setting. That said, the Game Master can run Pressure without needing to reference Those Dark Places.

An SOS Division operative is defined by his name and description, CASE File, his skills, and Pressure. His CASE File represents his actual attributes—Charisma-Agility-Strength-Education, which are rated between one and four. It should be noted that Strength works as the equivalent of a Crew Member’s Hit Points, as well as his physical presence. Where in Those Dark Places a Duster has one or two Crew Positions he is qualified for, such as Navigation Officer or Medical Officer, SOS Division operative has skills and this includes combat skills, which notably, Those Dark Places did not have. Some skills require specialist training and if a player does not invest any points in them, his SOS Division operative cannot use them. To create an SOS Division operative, a player assigns ten points to his operative’s CASE File and then three points to skills of his choice. The process is more complex than that of Those Dark Places, but only slightly so, and it is still very simple. In addition, the player is encouraged to answer a number of questions to help develop his operative.

One alternative offered instead of a standard SOS Division operative, a player can roleplay a SAM or Synthetic Automation. A SAM is not affected by Pressure, but all Charisma or Education rolls require an extra round of processing to complete. A SAM is also not fully human in appearance, with smooth features, lack of hair, and unblinking eyes. SAMs are banned from the massive HyperCities of Earth.

SOS Division Operative Rosen was recruited into the SOS Division pending a conviction for computer hacking. Despite her technical role, she has put through the routine physical training, but this has not curbed her cynical edge. She is fascinated with discovering secrets still (which is what got her into trouble in the first place) and knows that being part of SOS Division will actually give her greater access than before.

Rachel Rosen
Charisma 3 Agility 1 Strength 2 Education 4
Pressure Bonus: 6
Pressure Level: 0

Skills: Charisma/Con 1; Education/Computers 2

Mechanically, Pressure is very simple and requires no more than a six-sided die or two per player. To have his SOS Division operative undertake a task, a player rolls a six-sided die and adds the values for the appropriate Attribute and skill, or just the Attribute if the SOS Division operative does not have the skill. The target Difficulty Number is typically seven, but may be adjusted down to six if easier, or up to eight if more difficult. If the task warrants it, rolling the target number exactly counts as a partial success rather than a complete success. In that case, the player needs to roll over the target difficulty.

In the long term, the combined value of an Attribute plus Skill cannot exceed six. If all the skills of an SOS Operative reach their maximum, he is considered to have achieved Elite Team status. One element of game play preventing this that Experience Points can be be spent immediately, during play, to modify rolls. This can be rolls made by the player and rolls made by the Game Monitor—as the Game Master is known in Pressure—so that a player can improve his SOS Division operative’s chance of success at succeeding in an action or chance of failure when an NPC acts against him. This can be before or after the roll. Experience Points spent in this way are permanently lost.

As well as adding skills to the setting of Those Dark Places, what Pressure also adds is a set of combat mechanics. Combatants can undertake two actions per round, initiative is handled via an Agility roll, mêlée is handled as opposed rolls, and ranged combat as standard tests, with the number to hit being seven, increased to eight if the target is in partial cover. Attacks can be dodged using the Dodge skill, but the defending combatant can only focus on this action and loses his next action. A partial success means that he will suffer only one point of damage, a complete success means he avoids all of it. Damage is rolled on a six-sided die, but each weapon or attack type has a Damage Cap. For example, a punch or kick inflicts one point of damage, but a Gauss Pistol inflicts three. Damage is still rolled for, with a roll higher than the Damage Cap indicating that the maximum amount of damage has been inflicted. In addition, each point of damage suffered serves as a penalty, raising the Difficulty Number for all tasks. Combat is brutal, but SOS Division operatives are given BallCom Mk II body armour as protection. On a roll of five or six, this will protect the wearer against direct kinetic attacks, but not explosive or energy damage.

However, Pressure does get more complex when dealing with stress and difficult situations, or Pressure. An SOS Division operative has a Pressure Bonus, equal to his Strength and Education, and a Pressure Level, which runs from one to six. A Pressure Roll is made when an SOS Division operative is under duress or stress, and all a player has to do is roll a six-sided die and add his operative’s Pressure Bonus to beat a difficulty number of ten. Succeed and the SOS Division operative withstands the stress of the situation, but fail and his Pressure Level rises by one level. However, when an SOS Division operative’s Pressure Level rises to two, and each time it rises another level due to a failed Pressure Roll, the SOS Division operative’s player rolls a six-sided die and the result is under the current value of his Pressure Level, the SOS Division operative suffers an Episode. This requires a roll on the Episode table, the results ranging from ‘Jitters’ and losing points from a SOS Division operative’s Attributes, up through Exhausted, Rigid, Catatonia, and ‘Insane Fear’. Whenever an SOS Division operative’s player needs to make a roll on the Episode Table, the maximum result possible is limited by the SOS Division operative’s Pressure Level. So at Pressure Level 3, an SOS Division operative can only be In Shock and suffer points lost from either his Agility or Strength, but not anything worse.

One issue with Pressure Level and Episodes is that a Crew Member cannot immediately recover from either. It takes time in LongSleep or back on Earth to even begin to recover… Worse, once an SOS Division operative suffers an Episode, its effects linger, and he can suffer from it again and again until he manages to control his personal demons.

And that is almost the extent of the rules to Pressure. There is a list of equipment and of typical salaries for a range of roles, a range of NPCs, and there are rules for vehicles and vehicle combat, spaceships and space combat. Spaceships are working spaces, with only a fifth of their displacement dedicated to crew and cargo space, the rest being ship’s system. In keeping with brutality of personal combat in Pressure, the rules for spaceship combat are equally as brutal, but on a bigger scale and a greater chance of death or damage from explosions, fire, electricity, and decompression.

If Pressure expands the rules from those in Those Dark Places, it also does something of greater significance—it greatly expands the setting shared by both roleplaying games. This is delivered as part of the Officer’s Briefing that Pressure is written as, but what both this Officer’s Briefing and Pressure do is present information that the average person on Earth does not have access to. Already, SOS Division operatives are being treated as different and as being part of elite, privy to information that they cannot share. This includes what the SOS Division operatives might encounter ‘Out in the Darkness’ of the furthers reaches of space, such as dangerous terrorists and cults, rogue A.I.s, malfunctioning SAMs and bio-pets, ‘ghosts spirits’, and so on, but again, notably not aliens, bug-eyed or otherwise. In terms of the setting, Pressure provides a complete future history with a timeline from the early twenty-second century to the mid twenty-fourth century, descriptions of the four dominant corporations and other organisations (including criminal and terrorist), and information about the state of Earth, installations and stations in orbit and throughout the Solar System. It touches upon what might be found beyond in ‘Explored Space’, but leaves much of this to be developed by the Game Monitor herself.

Rounding out Pressure is a short mission, ‘The Foster Report’, intended to be played as part of the SOS Division operatives’ training in the ‘Edu-Net’. The squad responds to a distress call from research facility run by Foster Private Endeavours, reporting that it has suffered a containment failure. It is a quick and dirty affair, with advice for the Game Monitor for handling various aspects of the rules, and should offer a single session’s worth of play.

Physically, Pressure is cleanly and tidily laid out. Although it is an attractive looking book, Pressure does have an issue in being delivered as an officer’s briefing because it does not make all of the content easy to use. So for example, the rules for SOS Division operative creation is spread out over several sections where the relevant rules are explained and there is no one cheat sheet guide to operative creation. Similarly, the rules for using Experience Points to adjust rolls are listed under the general rules for Experience Points, but not mentioned in the explanation of the core rules, and the rules for using cybernetics are squirrelled away in the description of Earth and its environs. That said, Pressure, being delivered as an officer’s briefing, is written in an engaging, conversational style.

What Pressure does is take the background and setting of Those Dark Places and expand from a tightly-focused genre emulation into a full Science Fiction roleplaying game. Within the setting itself, it moves Those Dark Places from the survival horror genre to more actioned-orientated horror, where the Player Characters, or SOS Division operatives, have to investigate and confront the horror, rather than merely do their best and run away. It opens up the possibility of Pressure being run as a more general Science Fiction roleplaying game as well, and thus a wider range of plots and possible source material to adapt. Fundamentally no less brutal—even with the guns and the armour—Pressure: Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying is not just Aliens to the Alien of Those Dark Places: Industrial Science Fiction Roleplaying, taking the action straight to the horror, but a fuller, more detailed roleplaying game whose expanded rules and setting open up a wider range of stories and adventures.

Before the advent of the internet, the magazine was the focus of the hobby’s attention, a platform in whose pages could be news, reviews, and content for the roleplaying game of each reader’s choice, as well as a classified section and a letters page where the issues of day—or at least month—could be raised and discussed in chronically lengthy manner. In this way, such magazines as White Dwarf, Imagine, Dragon, and many others since, came to be our community’s focal point and sounding board, especially a magazine that was long running. Yet depending upon when you entered the hobby and picked up your first issue of a roleplaying magazine, you could have missed a mere handful of issues or many. Which would have left you wondering what was in those prior issues. Today, tracking down back issues to find out and complete a magazine’s run is much easier than it was then, but many publishers offered another solution—the ‘Best of…’ magazine. This was a compilation of curated articles and support, containing the best content to have appeared in the magazine’s pages.

1980 got the format off to a good start with both The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios and The Best of White Dwarf Articles from Games Workshop as well as the Best of Dragon from TSR, Inc. Both publishers would release further volumes of all three series, and TSR, Inc. would also reprint its volumes. Other publishers have published similar volumes and in more recent times, creators in the Old School Renaissance have begun to collate and collect content despite the relative youth of that movement. This includes The Gongfarmer’s Almanac which has collected community content for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game since 2015 and Populated Hexes Monthly Year One which collected the content from the Populated Hexes Monthly fanzine. The ‘Best of…’ series of reviews will look at these and many of the curated and compiled titles from the last four decades of roleplaying.

—oOo—
The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios was published in 1980. Unlike its counterpart, The Best of White Dwarf Articles, it did not have the benefit of containing “Selected material from the first 3 years of White Dwarf”. Where The Best of White Dwarf Articles could draw from White Dwarf Issue No. 1 to White Dwarf Issue No. 20, the first scenario its pages only appeared in White Dwarf Issue No. 9 with ‘The Lichway’. Prior to that, the dungeon encounter, ‘Lair of the Demon Queen’ whish appeared in White Dwarf Issue No. 7 and ‘A Place in the Wilderness’ in White Dwarf Issue No. 11, and although both are included in this anthology, neither are scenarios in the strict roleplaying definition. However, within a few issues of ‘The Lichway’ being published, scenarios would become a regular feature of White Dwarf and grow in both detail and sophistication. Further, unlike The Best of White Dwarf Articles, the range of roleplaying games supported by The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios is not limited to just Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller. There are scenarios for RuneQuest, Gamma World, and Chivalry & Socerery, and like Ian Livingstone pointed out in his editorial, “Readers should also bear in mind that with a little thought, these adventures can be used in games systems other than the others for they were designed; the Pool of the Standing Stones, for example has been successfully converted to C&S.” Indeed, many of the scenarios in The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios are not just playable to today, they can still be converted and updated to more modern roleplaying games or updated iterations of older roleplaying games. Consequently, the contents of The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios are far more applicable and useable today than the contents of The Best of White Dwarf Articles.

The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios opens with the magnificent ‘The Halls of Tizun Thane’ for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, from White Dwarf Issue No. 18. Written by Albie Fiore, its title is inspired by Robert E. Howard’s ‘The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune’ and there are references too to other stories by Howard throughout the scenario. Yet, the Swords & Sorcery influences are trumped by the Vancian tone, this scenario feeling as if comes from the pages of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth novels. There are nods too, to other content from White Dwarf, such as the lamented Houri Class from White Dwarf Issue No. 13 (republished in The Best of White Dwarf Articles) and the Necromancer Class, which would not be published until White Dwarf Issue No. 35! The adventure itself sees a village in peril from strange shadowy figures that hunt and kill at night and the villagers are sure come from the nearby mansion of Tizun Thane, a wizard who lives with his two brothers. The mansion itself is located in the middle of a lake in the caldera of a volcano, a palace of exotic delights full of secret doors and mysteries alongside the mundane areas where his servants worked. However, the Player Characters will quickly learn that he is dead and consequently, the household has descended into rivalry and factionalism as the brothers feud with each other, whilst the murderer lurks, lamenting his actions. There are new monsters, like the chimpanzee-like Nandie-Bear, run riot over the mansion’s rooftops; Carbuncle, an armadillo-like creature which will foretell the future of the Player Characters again and again for the fun of it and the chaos it will cause; the death-worm-like Necrophidius; the brain-eating, Wendigo-like, Gu’en-deeko.

However, it is the map of the mansion that so clearly stands out, richly detailed and interesting. Combine it with the description and what the Dungeon Master has, is a building which before it began to go to seed, was lived and worked in, so lacks the artifice that a dungeon adventure would have by comparison. It is a tough adventure for First and Second Level Player Characters, especially given that the threat endangering the villagers are not ones that the Player Characters can really affect. Even if they do manage to find magic weapons capable of inflicting damage, they are incredibly tough. ‘The Halls of Tizun Thane’ is a great scenario, a superb mix of rich detail, lovely cartography, and roleplaying potential with its factionalism and decent NPCs. There is even scope to expand the scenario via the previous owner’s set of magic mirrors which the Player Characters could learn to use and travel back and forth on various adventures. They would, of course, have to claim the house and make it their own. To effectively run the scenario, the Dungeon Master will need to unpack it as part of her preparation, but ‘The Halls of Tizun Thane’ is almost worth the price of admission in The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios.

Unfortunately, John Bethell’s ‘Lair of the White Wyrm’ is not. Originally published in White Dwarf Issue No. 14 for use with RuneQuest, it details a former two-level Dragonewt colony which is rumoured to have harboured a young Wyrm. The problem is that the dungeon is zoo-like in its design, with a mixture of traps and differing creatures present without making any real sense. There are Dwarves, Dark Trolls and Trollkin, Scorpionmen (oddly chained up in a five-foot wide corridor, whilst still leaving for the Player Characters to get past), Broo, and a Duck played for silliness. It is mishmash of elements which really do not fit the setting and really lack motivation.

First published in White Dwarf Issue No. 16, ‘Paths of the Lil’ is the sole entry for use with Gamma World. Written by James M. Ward, designer of Metamorphosis Alpha and co-designer of Gamma World, this details the lair of diminutive Lil, an almost fae-like species known for their beauty, the toughness of their wings, and their willingness to defend their lairs, which consist of dense thickets of brambles covered in surprisingly sharp thorns. Assaulting the ‘Paths of the Lil’ would be a tough challenge and the Player Characters would really need a good reason to do so. The encounter is decently detailed though and could easily be added to a Game Master’s Gamma World campaign, perhaps adding the ‘Paths of the Lil’ and its occupants as a faction rather than an enemy straight off.

The second of the scenarios in the anthology for RuneQuest is also the first of two scenarios taken from the pages of White Dwarf Issue No. 19. ‘Jorthan’s Rescue’ by John T. Sapienza Jr. and Stephen R. Marsh is a raid or rescue style scenario in which the Player Characters are hired by a merchant to rescue her noble husband, who has been kidnapped by a gang of Trollkin and is holding him to ransom. The Player Characters simply have to sneak up on the abandoned hunting lodge where the Trollkin are holding Jorthan and bust him out. The gang consists in the main of Trollkin, but they are led by a Dark Troll bruiser and secretly, his mate of choice. The emphasis is upon combat as the Player Characters fight their way through the lodge, and whilst the Trollkin are dangerous individually, there are quite a few of them. The scenario packs not just a lot of stats—this being a scenario for RuneQuest 2 and so every monster gets full stats—into its pages, but quite a bit of detail and humour too. For example, the Trollkin guarding the front door is called Sleepy and he will be woken up when the spear he has leaning against the door is knocked over. The scenario also comes with an alternative layout for a different set-up. Overall, the scenario feels slightly too compact for all of the information it has to present, but again, it is easy to use and easy to adapt, especially for the RuneQuest Game Master who wants to move it from the suggested location of between Boldhome and the Pavis Rubble. (Indeed, this is exactly what I did with the version updated for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha). Overall, a very playable and exciting little scenario.

Lew Pulsipher—a regular contributor to White Dwarf who already had articles published in The Best of White Dwarf Articles—contributes two scenarios to The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios. The first is ‘A Bar-Room Brawl: D&D Style’ from White Dwarf Issue No. 11. This opens with a nice bit of background to the scenario ion that it was originally run at DragonMeet 1 all the way back in August 1978, as a convention scenario. Combine the map with some miniatures for both the brawlers and the fixtures and fittings of the tavern, and this would, indeed, look like quite impressive on the table at a convention. Stated for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, it packs everything that the Dungeon Master needs into three pages. This includes—in the centrespread of The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios—the open floorplan of the tavern, furniture and fixtures to cut out and use on the floorplan, and details and tokens for some fifteen would-be brawlers. This includes a wererat, a Female Assassin, Gnoll, Anticleric, and Bar-Keeper, as well as a mix of adventurer types, plus the rest of the NPC staff. All of the Player Characters have motivations, such as the Wererat wanting to kill all clerics, the Ranger on the track of a Wererat, a Female Fighter with a hatred of non-humans, the Gnoll is a bouncer—only armed with a two-handed sword, and so on. The scenario also incudes some play results, but unfortunately it is also let down by the motivation for the Anticleric. This is, “You want a woman, either voluntarily or by rape. (Time required for the act is at least two rounds, not including time necessary to remove your armour.)” This reprehensibly unpleasant, more so than the inclusion of the Houri Class in The Best of White Dwarf Articles. These days such a thing would not be allowed and rightly so, but its inclusion here and in White Dwarf Issue No. 11 was a sign that the editors did not get everything right at the time.
Fortunately, the second entry from Lew Pulsipher is not as unpleasant, but is not really a scenario. ‘A Place in the Wilderness’ appeared in White Dwarf Issue No. 6 and what it details are the species of Dragons from the Jack Vance novel, The Dragon Masters, and a very little of the setting. It does not include the full Science Fiction elements of the setting, such as spaceships or beam or pellet weapons, but just the Dragons. Even at a page long, it feels out of place in the anthology, more article than scenario.

There is a certain sense of loss to Don Turnbull’s contribution to The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios, of what would be, had we had had access to his Greenlands dungeon. ‘Lair of the Demon Queen’ from White Dwarf Issue No. 7 details a single encounter for use with Dungeons & Dragons and Player Characters of roughly Seventh Level—a rare occurrence of a scenario not designed for low-level Player Characters. It is a puzzle encounter with the Player Characters trapped in a room with a number of puzzles the clues to which are given out by a series of magic mouths in verse form. It only does this three times, so that players had better pay attention. By deciphering the verse, the Player Characters can solve the puzzle, or at least set off the various traps without suffering any damage, revealing a number of hidden areas as they progress. Most of these contain a mix of treasure and undead—often quite nasty undead, ultimately leading to the release of the ‘Demon Queen’ herself. Turnbull does give as so much suggest monsters and populate the encounter, and for the ‘Demon Queen’ he suggests a Banshee and a much nastier one than would appear in Dungeons & Dragons. This one cannot die unless someone dies first, that is, one of the Player Characters. The rewards he suggests are rich indeed, but are they worth the loss of a Player Character (or if the players are amoral, of a hireling)? The encounter is written in an engaging and chatty style and provides a big challenge for both characters and players.

The only scenario for Traveller in The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios is ‘The Sable Rose Affair’. Bob McWilliams’ scenario originally appeared in White Dwarf Issue No. 17 and primarily takes place on the Alell, a high-law world in the Regina subsector of the Spinward Marches. There has been an outbreak of piracy across the subsector and the Imperial Galactic Survey’s Planetary Rescue Systems Inspectorate (or PRSI) have identified a man on Alell who is a front for the local government, which is a communist-style impersonal bureaucracy, which is ultimately behind the piracy. He owns a club, the Sable Rose, in the Journeyman’s Quarter of the planetary capital, Naness. The Player Characters, as members of a PRSI Task Force—several pre-generated Player Characters, all ex-army or ex-marine, are given—are tasked with infiltrating the club, locating the target, and extracting him from both club and off-world without arousing local suspicion. Besides the pre-generated Player Characters, the scenario includes a good set of maps and floorplans, and is notably, broken up into a series of short modules, graphically presented as a series of files strewn over a table. These are literally designed to be modular, so that there are some for the players’ eyes and some only for the Game Master. There are suggestions on how the scenario can be played out with two sets of Player Characters, one the PRSI Task Force and one the staff and head of the club. Either way, this a very nicely detailed one-shot, but also easy to fit into a more-military-focused campaign, a type which Traveller readily supported with Book 4: Mercenary.

‘Grakt’s Crag’ by Will Stephenson appeared in appeared in White Dwarf Issue No. 20 and is a scenario for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition for Third Level Player Characters. It details the tomb of a long dead king and his queen, and until recently, no one had managed to break into it. The Player Characters will discover as they explore the tomb, either through the original entrance or the entrances dug by the intruder. He has also hired guards to keep others, like the Player Characters, out. As a tomb, the scenario is linear and filled with traps—many of which are deadly—and puzzles, including a series weighted and unweighted elevator plates, different each time, that the Player Characters must overcome. Overall, it is a serviceable enough dungeon that will test the players and their characters.

‘Ogre Hunt’ by Tom Keenes is the single scenario for Chivalry & Sorcery. The second scenario to appear in White Dwarf Issue No. 19, this is designed for four to seven low-level Player Characters and is set in the forest and valley near of the quiet village of Harlow, on the southern border of Arden in the Southmarch region. Conflict between the Empire of Archaeron and Arden means that the local lord and his men are away, leaving the village defenceless and open to the predations of an ogre. The Player Characters are hired to track the threat down and deal with it. ‘Ogre Hunt’ is short and simple, a one-session affair that essentially points the Player Characters in the right direction after encounters with a couple of NPCs. Here there are opportunities for roleplaying before the confrontation with the ogre, but the overall simplicity, along with the scenario being just two pages, makes it easy to run and easy to adapt to the setting or system of the Game Master’s choice. The only issue is that the maps are too dark in places to be able to find certain locations, but otherwise, ‘Ogre Hunt’ is still very playable and very adaptable.

If ‘The Halls of Tizun Thane’ is almost worth the price of admission in The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios, then ‘The Lichway’ caps that and together, both are worth the price of admission alone. Originally appearing in White Dwarf Issue No. 9, this is another scenario by Albie Fiore and again it is another classic. Designed for a party of First level Player Characters for Dungeons & Dragons, it describes a large burial complex where an ancient people entombed their dead. The complex has long since been abandoned and its builders long since disappeared, but it contains promise of treasure and bounty on a wizard of ill repute. At its heart is one big trap. Set the trap off and the Player Characters will unleash a problem not just for themselves, but the surrounding area, much like Death Frost Doom did for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying in 2009. Surrounding this central trap, which the Player Characters really have to be proactive in order to set off, are the halls of the Lichway and its surrounding rooms. Here the Player Characters will find a variety of dangers, including several NPCs, all simply and easily presented and very easy for the Dungeon Master to bring into play. A favourite NPC is a would-be wizard who is absolutely useless at everything, but still under the effects of a Charm spell. So, he will be incredibly helpful, just not any good at it! However, there is the strong inference that one of the NPCs has been raping another whom he is holding prisoner. Now this is not quite as bad having to roleplay a character who is prepared to commit rape as in the earlier ‘A Bar-Room Brawl: D&D Style’, but that in no way makes it any good as a story element. Again, it is proof that times and attitudes have changed, ‘The Lichway’ originally having been published forty-five years ago, and that the editors of White Dwarf did not always get it right. That said, adjust or change this aspect of the interaction between the NPCs, and ‘The Lichway’ is still a very good adventure. In fact, like ‘The Halls of Tizun Thane’, it is a great adventure with an eerie feel to it as sound whistles around the halls of the complex and NPCs plot and plan from its side rooms.

Lastly, ‘Pool of the Standing Stones’ is an adventure for Dungeons & Dragons for Player Characters of Fifth and Sixth Level. Written by Bill Howard and published in White Dwarf Issue No. 12., it begins in odd fashion, with the Player Characters coming to the aid of a law-abiding village who had several of its young women abducted by a druid. This is because he believed the village to be too Lawful, so introduced some balancing Chaos with the abduction. Deal with him and potentially, they will find something else, a complex dedicated to evil. The resulting dungeon is a nicely detailed complex, home to some vile characters and elements. However, one of the NPCs does wear armour adapted for the molestation of women. Again, not as bad having to roleplay a character who is prepared to commit rape as in the earlier ‘A Bar-Room Brawl: D&D Style’, but that in no way makes it any good as a story element, even though in this case, it is not quite as explicit.

As with The Best of White Dwarf Articles, there is one last aspect of The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios to enjoy and that is the adverts. There is a sense of nostalgia and wonder in examining these adverts from the past, for shops that have long since closed down such as Dungeons & Starships or Forever People and for products long out of print, Ral Patha’s board games—Witch’s Cauldron, Final Frontier, Galactic Grenadiers, and Caverns Deep, and then Metagaming’s The Fantasy Trip.

Physically, The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios is cleanly, tidily presented. The Conan-esque, Frazetta-style cover by Steve Brown is great and whilst there is less artwork in the anthology than in The Best of White Dwarf Articles, there is more cartography and this is almost all uniformly great.

The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios is undoubtedly a great anthology of scenarios. It is not perfect, some entries are not really scenarios and some are merely fine, but the best, ‘The Halls of Tizun Thane’ and ‘The Lichway’ standout as great pieces of both scenario and adventure design. Together, they are worth the price of a copy of The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios—both in 1980 at time of publication and now. What spoils the adventures slightly are the prurient, unfortunate, and unnecessary references to the poor treatment of women in even some of the great scenarios in the anthology. And only ‘slightly’ because such references can be removed and something else placed in their stead with only minor adjustments when it comes to updating the scenarios, and because times and attitudes do change. Of course, there is also the element of nostalgia in returning to these scenarios and reading and playing through them again, but in so many cases, that nostalgia is warranted. The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios was an excellent anthology of scenarios in 1980, showcasing how quickly White Dwarf had matured and developed in terms of adventure design and sophistication within just fifteen issues, and even putting nostalgia aside, it is still a great anthology of scenarios. For the British roleplayer of a certain age, there can be no doubt that The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios was and remains the definitive anthology of the best content from either White Dwarf or any roleplaying magazine. compilation 

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

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

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What is it?
The Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide is the quick-start for Dreams And Machines, the post-apocalypse Sciece Fiction roleplaying game set on another world in the far future, where the ruins of the world that was—including giant mecha—lie all around. It includes a basic explanation of the setting, rules for action and combat, setting rules, the adventure, ‘Shelter’, and six ready-to-play, Player Characters.
It is a thirty-page, 45.76 MB full colour PDF.
The quick-start is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is is decent. The rules are clearly explained and are a less mechanically detailed version of the 2d20 System.

How long will it take to play?
The Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide and its adventure, ‘Shelter’, is designed to be played through in one session, two at most.

What else do you need to play?
The Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide requires at least two twenty-sided dice per player and two sets of different coloured tokens, one to represent Momentum, one to represent Threat.

Who do you play?
The six Player Characters in the Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide consist of a warrior Guardian, a Tech, a supportive Guardian, a stealthy and haggling Grabber, a Mediator, and a Gatherer.
How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character in the Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide—and thus Dreams And Machines—will look familiar to anyone who has played a 2d20 System roleplaying game. A Player Character has four attributes: Might, Quickness, Insight, and Resolve. These range in value between six and sixteen. He has seven skills, Move, Fight, Sneak, Talk, Operate, Study, and Survive, all quite broad, and ranging in value between one and six. A Player Character’s Tech Level is measure of their familiarity with science and technology, whilst Talents are special abilities and Bonds are a Player Character’s connections to his fellow adventurers. Either through support or rivalries with his Bonds, a Player Character can gain Spirit. Supply points represent salvage and parts that the Player Character can use make temporary, but useful items. Lastly, every Player Character has two Truths. When these facts are brought into play, they can raise or lower the difficulty of a test, or even make it possible.
How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, the Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide—and thus Dreams And Machines—uses the 2d20 System seen in many of the roleplaying games published by Modiphius Entertainment, such as Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 or Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. To undertake an action in the 2d20 System in Dreams And Machines, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of an Attribute and a Skill. Each roll under this total counts as a success, an average task requiring two successes, the aim being to generate a number of successes equal to, or greater, than the Difficulty value. Rolls under the value of the Skill also count as two successes. A roll of twenty adds a complication to the situation. Dealing with higher Tech levels increases the Difficulty value and adds Threat. Successes generated beyond the Difficulty value generate Momentum.

Momentum is a shared resource. It can be used to gain a ‘Second Wind’ and increase a Player Character’s Spirit, ‘Create Truth’, ‘Ask a Question’ of the Game Master, increase ‘Damage’ against a target, ‘Reduce Time’ for an action, and gain a second action with ‘Follow-Up’. The Player Characters have a maximum Momentum of six.

If a Player Character has access to no Momentum, he can instead give the Game Master Threat. It is the equivalent of Momentum, but for NPCs. It is primarily used in the same fashion, but for NPCs.

In addition to access to Momentum, a Player Character has his own resource to fall back on. This is Spirit, his inner reserves of concentration and stamina. It can be spent to add an extra twenty-sided die to a test or to re-roll one. It can also be spent to avoid an injury. It can be recovered by resting, spending Momentum (as per ‘Second Wind’), gaining an ‘Adrenalin Rush’ in return for increasing the Game Master’s pool of Threat, and through a Player Character’s Bonds. If a Player Character loses all of his Spirit, he becomes exhausted, which means he can be weary, breathless, confused, and so on. This will mean he will automatically fail tests related to the type of exhaustion and suffer a penalty on all others, until he rests.

How does combat work?
Combat in the Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide is kept simple. A Player Character has five options: ‘Attack’, ‘Counterattack’, ‘Avoid Danger’, ‘Confront Problem’, and ‘Define Truth’. Actual attacks are contested rolls, so the attacker has to roll more successes than the defender. ‘Counterattack’ allows an attack back after a successful defence, whilst ‘Confront Problem’, and ‘Define Truth’ are in general more appropriate for situations where there is danger and confrontation, but not necessarily a fight. If a Player Character or NPC suffers an Injury, then they are defeated, although some NPCs can suffer multiple Injuries. Spirit can be spent to avoid an Injury, whilst armour will reduce the amount of Spirit necessary to avoid the Injury.
What do you play?
‘Shelter’ is set in and around the settlement of New Mossgrove, a trade town standing within the shadow of one of the largest mechs anyone had ever seen. The six pre-generated Player Characters are bored teenagers who decide to explore the wilderness. Taking shelter from a sudden storm, they discover the entrance to some tunnels containing rail tracks. These lead to long abandoned industrial and other facilities, where unfortunately, the Player Characters will awaken an overly protective program and in attempting to escape both it and back to the surface, a more immediate threat.
The scenario is a short mix of exploration and combat and only focuses on what may be found underground rather than on the planet’s surface. It includes full stats for the threats that the Player Characters will face and some nice guidelines on what they use their Supply points on to create makeshift weapons and on how to use the environment.
Is there anything missing?
The scenario could have included several questions that the overprotective program will ask the Player Characters rather than rely upon the Game Master to create her own.
Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in the Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide are relatively easy to prepare. A Game Master who already run a 2d20 System roleplaying game will have no problem with this.
Is it worth it?
Not entirely. The Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide only presents a snapshot of its setting and the scenario is more serviceable than spectacular. However, the rules are both well explained and implemented in the scenario.
Where can you get it?
The Dreams And Machines: Quickstart Guide is available to download here.

The town of Stennard finds itself in desperate need. Due to the constant rain, the fields have become waterlogged and the crops have failed and famine is imminent. The leader of the town, Constable Clarice Hems, has turned to desperate measures and sent the town’s best hunters into the forbidden lands to the west. Hopefully, despite their reputation for being grim and foreboding, even home to evil creatures, the hunters will be able to return with sources of game that will keep the inhabitants of Stennard alive during the forthcoming winter.
Unfortunately, the party has failed to return, and Constable Stennard has been forced to put the callout for help, not just in Stennard, but also the nearby towns, in searching for the missing hunters. Those from near and far—at least as far as the closet town—have assembled in the town hall and following instructions and promise of ten copper piece reward—are ready to follow the road out of Stennard and into the dreary, blighted lands to the west. This is the set-up for The Precipice of Corruption, a scenario for Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, the Dungeons & Dragons-style retroclone inspired by ‘Appendix N’ of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition.

The Precipice of Corruption is published by Breaker Press Games and is a Character Funnel. This is a feature of Dungeon Crawl Classics, a scenario specifically designed for Zero Level Player Characters in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. The Precipice of Corruption is a linear affair, really directing the progress of the Player Characters from the moment they set out on foot from Stennard until they confront the one responsible for the disappearance of the hunters and something much worse in a temple to a vile and corrupt god. Where the scenario really stands out is its tone and artwork. The artwork is heavy and oppressive, run through with the stench of corruption, its style echoing that of much of the British roleplaying titles from the eighties and nineties, such as the Fighting Fantasy solo adventure series or Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. In fact, there is an amazing amount of artwork in The Precipice of Corruption, including several that the Judge will want to show her players during play. The tone matches the artwork, vile and repellent, bringing to the fore pits of reeking ordure and maggots and insects that bite and burrow into flesh. Even entering into the forbidden lands to the west is unnerving and again and again, the courage of the Player Characters will be tested. This is handled by a series of fear checks that escalate over the course of the scenario. Succeed, and a Player Character will be able to press on, but fail, and a Player Character will flee, perhaps to safety, perhaps to his death, having run full pelt, in a blind panic, into a hazard that his earlier, cooler head meant he could pass it by.
The adventure is divided into three acts. The first two acts are quite short. ‘Act I: 10 Coppers’ opens the scenario with the Player Characters in Stennard, gives them a chance to hoover up a rumour or two, and gets them to and across the river, either by fording it, or making their way through the unsettling tunnel of the bridge. ‘Act II: Across the River’ finds them on the other and gets them to the final destination of the missing hunter. Here the Player Characters must figure out how to open an otherwise impenetrable door and get inside and onto ‘Act III: The Temple of Herlezzect’. This is the final part of the scenario where all will be revealed the Player Characters, and again, the design of this temple to the Debased God and Patron of Deceit, Corruption, and Decay, is as linear as the rest of the scenario. However, it is not a matter of the Player Characters walking in and making their way to final Hall of Corruption, the inner sanctum. In the warm and foetid air of the temple, they will assaulted and harassed from all sides by Nolids, a tribe of corrupted and degenerate men who have been warped into goblin-like creatures by Herlezzect’s influence and decided to cut of their eyelids in homage, using the cracks in the walls on both sides of the route. Their senses will be constantly assailed by the stench of rotting ordure and the buzzing of insects. There are moments of relief and perhaps even of civilisation, but they are spoiled by the practices and attitudes of the Orange Coven which worships Herlezzect and whose members staff the temple. The final confrontation is intended to be anything other than a ‘TPK’ or ‘Total Party Kill’. ‘Gorrecck the Lidless’, the big monster of the scenario is capable of slaughtering them to a man, Halfling, Elf, or Dwarf, but the advice tells the Judge to play up his arrogance and have him grandstand, rather than run amok. Even so, with the support of magic from a member of the Orange Coven, this is still a challenging fight, just as it should be at the end of a scenario. Options other than simply fighting ‘Gorrecck the Lidless’ are mentioned, but these are not going to go well for the Player Characters.
The Precipice of Corruption is supported with detailed NPCs and monsters. The latter includes the aforementioned Nolids, but also the maggot-like Corpse Crawlers, Giant Spitting Flies, and Scuttling Insects, all of them icky, nasty things. The former includes all of the NPCs that appear in the scenario, the most fun of which are Squelicck, the oily Nolid lieutenant to ‘Gorrecck the Lidless’, and Vela Correnwood, one of the missing hunters, whose reputation in Stennard is that of a witch. This is in fact due to her Luck attribute being so incredibly low that her bad luck not only affects her, but also those around her. This of course, includes the Player Characters, which should be entertaining for all concerned—mostly.
If there is a problem with The Precipice of Corruption, it is that can be expanded with further content. The scenario already includes several suggestions as sequels, but these are not the problem. Rather that Beaker Press Games has released several supplements that expand upon the setting that given the Judge the option of turning the scenario into more than a straightforward Character Funnel that can be run in a session or two or even as a convention scenario. For example, The Stennard Courier Vol. 1 provides details of Stennard, The Tome of Debasement adds spells specific to the Orange Coven, and Wide-eyed Terror, an extended encounter that can be included as part of the scenario. It is annoying to have to purchase all of these extras to add these options, especially when The Precipice of Corruption refers to them in its pages.
Physically, The Precipice of Corruption is solidly presented. The layout and style has a feel of that of the eighties, its art heavy, yet slightly tongue-in-cheek in places. The writing is decent, as are the maps.
The Precipice of Corruption has a lot to recommend it. As a scenario it has a dark, foetid atmosphere that, enhanced by the interior artwork, will have the players, let alone their characters, revulsed and revolted at the effluvia underfoot and the grubby, grotty insects that threaten to bite and burrow. The scenario has a surprisingly European feel to it and anyone looking for a grim and dark Character Funnel should definitely take a look at The Precipice of Corruption.

Tiny Epic Galaxies is almost, but not quite a ‘4X’ game. That is a game whose mechanics focus on ‘Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate’. Twilight Imperium, for example, is a classic example of a ‘4X’ game, but Tiny Epic Galaxies forgoes the Exterminate aspect to focus instead upon ‘Explore, Expand, Exploit’ for a competitive, but not combative board game. Tiny Epic Galaxies is a Science Fiction board game in which two to five players—though there is a solo option included—compete to exploit the abilities of planets across the galaxy, expand their fleet of rocketships, and colonise planets in order to expand their territories and become the preeminent power in the galaxy, and so win the game. Tiny Epic Galaxies is designed to played and does indeed play in thirty or so minutes and combines dice rolling and rerolling mechanics, player Follow mechanics, order assignment, and secret objectives. The third in the Tiny Epic series, following on from Tiny Epic Kingdoms and Tiny Epic Defenders, it is published by Gamelyn Games and like the rest in the line, Tiny Epic Galaxies packs a lot of high-quality game components and game play into a relatively small—though not tiny—box. Consequently, if the components are a bit small for ease of use for big fingers, the game itself is easy to transport, easy to store, and occupies very little space on the table, all whilst still offering big game play.

Tiny Epic Galaxies comes with a lot of components. These consist of five Galaxy Player Mats, a Control Mat, forty Planet Cards, twelve Secret Mission Cards, seven Action Dice, twenty Ships, and five each of the Empire, Energy, and Culture Tokens, plus the twelve-page rulebook. Each Galaxy Player Mat consists of five tracks. One for Culture and Energy combined, and then one each to track a player’s Victory Points, the number of dice he can roll on his turn, the number of rocket ships he can have in his fleet, and the size of his empire. Increase the size of his empire and the number of Victory Points, dice to roll, and rocket ships to launch and move, all go up as well. To increase his empire a player will need to spend Energy and Culture.

Each player uses the Control Mat when it is their turn and it primarily has spaces for the dice as a player uses them. It also summarises all of the actions and has a Converter space which is used to sacrifice two dice in order to get the result a player wants on a third. One minor issue is that there is only one Control Mat and it would have been useful for every player to have one for ease of use.

The game’s objectives consist of the Planet Cards and the Secret Mission Cards. Each Planet Card is illustrated with a picture of a planet, which is surrounded by a track. This is the Colonisation Track which a player will move a ship along to in order to claim the planet and add it to his galaxy. It has a Victory Point value, ranging between one and seven, the greater the Victory Point value, the longer it takes to colonise. Lastly, it has a special ability. For example, ‘All players harvest 1 Energy, but you harvest 2 Energy’, ‘Spend 2 Energy to advance +2 Diplomacy’, ‘Utilise the action of an un-colonised planet’, or ‘Reroll any of your inactive dice’. A player can use a planetary ability by landing a ship on it or if he has it in his galaxy. Secret Mission Cards provide a player with a means of scoring points in secret and an objective to aim as well building his galaxy. For example, ‘Gain 2 if you have all of your ships in your galaxy at the end of the game’ or ‘Gain 3 if you have the most planets at the end of the game’.

The game’s seven dice are marked with six symbols, each indicating an action that a player can do. These are ‘Move A Ship’, ‘Acquire Energy’, ‘Acquire Culture’, ‘Diplomacy’, ‘Economic’, and ‘Utilise A Colony’. The ‘Move A Ship’ action lets a player land a ship on a planet and use its ability or allow it to enter orbit in readiness to move it along the colonise track on each planet. ‘Acquire Energy’ and ‘Acquire Culture’ add a point to the track on the player’s Galaxy Player Mat. The amount in either case depends upon the planets the player has assigned his ships to currently. The ‘Diplomacy’ and the ‘Economic’ actions enable a player to move one of his ships along the Colonise Track of a planet depending upon whether the planet is susceptible to Economic or Diplomatic influence. Lastly, ‘Utilise A Colony’ enables a player to either upgrade his galaxy and once he has added a colony to his empire, he can activate its ability.

At the beginning of the game, each player receives four ships and a Galaxy Mat plus associated tokens. Initially, a player can only use two ships, but can add the other two during play. He also receives two Secret Mission Cards and chooses one of them. Several Planet Cards are placed down for the players to try and claim. These will be refreshed as they are claimed one by one.

On a turn, a player rolls the dice and then uses the symbols rolled to undertake actions. It is as simple as that, the player making the best use of the symbols rolled and their associated actions. A player can reroll his dice as many times he wants, but for every reroll after the first, he has to pay an Energy cost. However, there is a wrinkle and that is Tiny Epic Galaxies’ ‘Follow’ mechanic. This is similar to that of Glory to Rome, which allowed the other players to immediately do the same action that the current player has just done. However, in Tiny Epic Galaxies, the Following players have to pay a point of Culture. Thus, it is important for players to build up their Culture so that they can do Follow actions. On the downside, the Follow mechanic does mean that a player’s turn can be interrupted over and over with Follow actions.

Play continues until a player has accrued twenty-one Victory Points. Then play continues until everyone has had the same number of turns. After that, Secret Mission cards are revealed and Victory Points are awarded for those. The player with the most Victory Points is the winner.

Besides keeping his Culture high, a player needs to keep a balance between building up his galaxy and gaining colonies. Building up his galaxy has the benefit of giving a player both extra ships to move around and more dice to roll. Gaining colonies gives a player ready access to their special abilities, as opposed to a player simply landing a ship on a colony in play to use it once. Although the primary interaction between players is via the Follow action, players can also interact through the effects of the various special abilities of the planets and racing to colonise a planet.

Physically, Tiny Epic Galaxies is very nicely produced. If the Galaxy Mats for each player and the Control Mat are a bit small, they are still clear and easy to read. The quality of the game is very good, but the inclusion of wooden spaceships and tokens just gives it that extra touch of class. Similarly, the fact that the wooden spaceships are designed to look like classic space opera rocketships gives it another touch of class, though a retro one. The rules are easy to read and understand. One minor issue is that everything does not quite fit in the game’s box. It is very full and everything goes in, but the lid is not quite flush. Nevertheless, Tiny Epic Galaxies is a good-looking game that also feels pleasingly tactile.

Tiny Epic Galaxies is a fantastic filler, which not only fits into a thirty-minute window with its playing time, but offers a player a wide variety of actions, both in terms of dice actions and the special abilities of the colonies, and then of course in the planets they can attempt to colonise. There is also enough variety in the number of planets available to give the game plenty of replay value. And then there is the theme, which Tiny Epic Galaxies simply does perfectly. In fact, Tiny Epic Galaxies is the perfect ‘3X’ board game—‘Explore, Expand, Exploit’—and the fact that it does it in a perfectly appointed, ‘tiny’ fashion without losing any game play or components just makes it that bit better.

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?
Eurmal’s Truth is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which presents a simple, straightforward plot outline that the Game Master can run and prepare for a single session’s worth of play.

It is a two page, full colour 257.16 KB PDF.

The layout is tidy, the artwork rough, but serviceable. It does need an edit.

The scenario is can be easily be adapted to the rules system of the Game Master’s choice.
Where is it set?As written, Eurmal’s Truth takes in the lands of any clan of the Locaem tribe, specifically beginning at Salvi Top. However, with some adjustment, the scenario can be placed anywhere where the presence of Eurmali is accepted and has been under the occupation of the Lunar Empire.
Who do you play?
Eurmal’s Truth does not require any specific character type. Worshippers of Eurmal are not required, but a shaman could be useful.
What do you need?
Eurmal’s Truth requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha only. However, The Book of Red Magic and both Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers and Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses may be useful for the cult connections.
What do you get? Eurmal’s Truth is a murder mystery. Not so much a ‘whodunnit’ as a ‘didtheydoit’. Just as respected priest is about to acclaim the new King of the Locaem, an Eurmali, a member of the local clown society, not only accuses him of murder, but gives the location of the body too. With such a claim hanging over his head, the acclamation cannot be made, the priest’s status is in doubt, and his family is affronted. This situation must be sorted out, the priest’s guilt or innocence verified, and the accusing Eurmali proven to be either a lie or telling the truth. Fortunately, the Eurmali knows where the body is and the Player Characters are passing by—and as a neutral party with no interest in local politics or events, are requested to investigate.
The plot really has two strands. Determining whether the priest is guilty or not and once determined, what the Player Characters do with the information. The priest’s family have an interest, in particular, in ensuring that he continues to hold such an important position and role in the clan. The scenario details both the site of the ‘possible’ body dump and gives suggestions as to possible consequences of what the Player Characters discover and what they do with the information.
The scenario does require some development upon the part of the Game Master. She will need to create and develop some NPCs, in particular, the Eurmali accompanying the Player Characters and the members of the tribal ring and the priest’s family. Stats may also be required depending upon the actions of the Player Characters. This is not a criticism of Eurmal’s Truth, since there is only so much that can be packed into even a detailed, two-page scenario outline.
Eurmal’s Truth is short, simple, and to the point. It is easy to prepare and run, and it is easy to slot into an ongoing campaign, especially if the Player Characters are travelling somewhere or the Game Master wants a short interlude or side Quest or there are fewer players in the group than normal.
More scenarios in this format this would be a welcome addition to the the Jonstown Compendium.
Also, the alternative title, ‘The Bear Facts’ would have worked.
Is it worth your time?Yes—Eurmal’s Truth is a short, sharp, sweet plot that the Game Master can quickly prepare and drop into her campaign.No—Eurmal’s Truth involves those irritating buggers, the Eurmali, and anyway the Game Master’s campaign is not set in Sartar.Maybe—Eurmal’s Truth does involve the Eurmali and not everyone is comfortable with the tricksters in play, but here the scenario plays up to their nature as disruptive force for good.

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 FloodPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Cesar Silva

Setting: Jazz Age New EnglandProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Nineteen page, 2.06 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise—Deep Ones!Plot Hook: A missing persons case sends the Investigators deep into the weird woods of New England
Plot Support: Staging advice and two Mythos creatures.Production Values: Excellent
Pros# The Sinister Secret of (the) Saltmarsh# Simple, but not straightforward plot# Easy to adapt to other time periods# Mysophobia# Ichthyophobia# Teraphobia
Cons# Needs a very strong edit# ‘Glens’ of New England?# NPC descriptions, but no stats# Simple, but not straightforward plot# Instructions to draw the map, instead of an actual map
Conclusion# Very serviceable plot undone by a lack of maps and NPC stats# Unsettling small town horror that could be better and easier to run