As usual, the Triffid Ranch Sunday Porch Sale runs this Sunday, and every Sunday this month, from 7:00 am to noon. (For those who have been asking this week, yes, we can take cards. As I like to put it, … Continue reading →

Welp, we’re a fair portion of the way through the kidney stone of a year known as 2020, and we haven’t even hit autumn yet. Whether you look at this year as the end of the 2010s or the beginning … Continue reading →

Published in 2014, Colt Express is a super fun game of bandits raiding a train in the Wild West, which would go to be the 2015 Spiel des Jahres Winner. It has been supported by a handful of expansions, such as Colt Express: Horses & Stagecoach, including even a Delorean! However, as good as it looks and as fun as it is to play, it can be slightly fiddly to set up, being played as it is, on a cardboard train along which the players move their bandits, grab bags of loot, punch and shoot their rivals, all the while avoiding the US Marshall protecting the local mine’s payroll. This of course, is done through pre-programmed movement and then resolved in a chaotic slew of actions. The latest addition to the Colt Express family is designed to counter all of that—it is a pocket-sized, pocket-friendly, time-friendly game in which the bandits race up and down a Union Pacific train, guns blazing at each other as the train crew uncouples Train Car after Train Car. Which bandit will be the last standing on the speeding train and so be the one to get away and win Super Colt Express?

Published by Ludonaute, Super Colt Express is designed be played by between three and seven players, aged eight and up, and in just fifteen minutes. Inside the little square box can be found seven Bandit meeples—one each for Belle, Cheyenne, Django, Doc, Ghost, Mei, and Tuco, eight Train Cars and one Locomotive card, a First Player card, and six sets of Action cards, one for each Bandit. The Train Cards have a Loot value on their reverse which is only revealed when there is a tie between the Bandits—the highest Loot value wins! Each Bandit meeple holds a revolver in his or her hand, and whichever direction the gun is pointing, that is the direction in which the Bandit is facing. Apart from the artwork, each set of Action cards is identical, providing four manoeuvres. ‘Flip’ changes the direction in which a Bandit is pointing his or her gun—up the train to the Locomotive or down the train to the last car or caboose. ‘Change Floor’ enables a Bandit to climb up to, or down from, the roof of the train. ‘Move’ enables a Bandit to move to the adjacent Train Car in the direction he or she is facing. ‘Fire’ enables a Bandit to shoot the first rival Bandit in his or her line of sight. Any Bandit who is shot, is knocked back one car and onto his or her back, stunned. If a Bandit is shot and is knocked off the train, then he or she is out of the game, but if not knocked from the train, a player can use any Action card to do a ‘Wake Up’ Action and get up.

Game set-up for Super Colt Express is simple. The Locomotive card and one Train Card per player are placed on the table in a line with the Locomotive at the front. Each player receives his Bandit meeple and four associated Action cards—‘Change Floor’, ‘Flip’, ‘Move’, and ‘Fire’. One player is randomly determined to be the First Player and his Bandit is placed in the penultimate Train Car, and then the other players place their Bandits in the next Train Car, one-by-one. The Bandits in the rear half of the train face towards the Locomotive, the other facing away from it towards the rear of the train.

From Round to Round, Super Colt Express is played out over two phases. In ‘Phase 1: Schemin’!’, each player chooses three of his Bandit’s Action cards and places them face down in stack. These will be played in order from the top down, so a player needs to be careful to get the order right to reflect what he wants his Bandit to do in a Round. In ‘Phase 2: Shootin’!’, beginning with the First Player, each reveals his topmost Action and carries out that Action. So the Bandits will move, shoot, change direction or ‘Flip’, and climb up or down from the roof, or ‘Change Floor’. At the end of the Round, once all Action cards have been resolved, the last Train Car in the train—the Caboose—is unhitched and left behind by the train. If a Bandit is aboard this Train Car, he or she is out of the game. The Bandit furthest towards the front of the train is awarded the lost Train Car for its Loot value on te back of its card.

A new Round then begins with a new First Player. Super Colt Express ends when the last Train Car has been unhooked and only the Locomotive remains. If the one Bandit survives, then he or she wins and gets away. If there are multiple Bandits on the Locomotive, then the Bandit with the most Loot—as determined by the value of the Train Cards in their hands, is the winner.

In addition, Super Colt Express comes with two expansions. These are optional and can be used with each other or on their own with the core game. ‘Extension: Horse’ gives each Bandit a ‘Horse’ Action which enables him or her to ride to the Locomotive at the front of the train, whilst ‘Extension: Reflex’ allows a Bandit who is stunned to get up and shoot the first bandit he or she sees. If not stunned, a Bandit instead shoots himself or herself in the foot and consequently, is stunned! Neither expansion increases the maximum number of Action cards a Bandit can play—they are still limited to three per Round.

Physically, Super Colt Express is very well presented. The artwork is excellent, much of which players will recognise from Colt Express. The rules are easy to read and grasp, and Super Colt Express can be played almost out of the box, with no more than five minutes preparation. The cards are of good quality and the meeple Bandits sturdy and attractive.

Super Colt Express plays quickly and easily as intended. However, the fewer number and similarity of actions in the game when compared to Colt Express does mean that some of the flavour has been lost from the original game and thus less scope for table talk and interaction between the Bandits and the players. Certainly, anyone who has played Colt Express will miss that.

On initial play, the temptation is to try and blast away with the ‘Fire’ Action, but the ‘Move’ and ‘Flip’ Actions quickly become as important as Bandits closer to the rear of the train need to move forward to the front before a Train Car is uncouple and lost and Bandits closer to the front of the train need to turn round if they are to move away from the soon to be uncoupled rear of the train. As the Bandits move from Train Car to the next and climb up or down from the roof, then there is room for more chaos and random results. Once issue though, is if a stunned Bandit gets up after a ‘Wake Up’ Action has been played and is then shot again, effectively meaning that not only does the Bandit lose his or her current action in getting up, but his or her next action too because another Action card has to be played as ‘Wake Up’ Action—and that is no fun. Thankfully, this does not last as there are only three Actions per Round and it is quickly over.

Super Colt Express is a quick-playing, fun blast ’em sort of game. However, it gets better later in the game as there are fewer players—their Bandits having been knocked off the train—and becomes a bit more of a ‘cat and mouse’ game of trying manoeuvre into the right place, at the right time to keep your opponents from the front of the train, as Train car after Train Car is lost from the rear of the train.

Shock, Original ink illustration by Keator - Volume 1, Issue 04,  November 1969

Shock, Original ink illustration by Kijonah - Volume 1, Issue 03, September 1969

The cryptic message, or even messenger, is likely one of the oldest tropes in RPGs next to "you all meet in an inn."

It is a central feature of the Ravenloft module, likely because of it's prominence in Dracula.  It's a good hook to get otherwise sane adventurers to go into a creepy castle that they know has a vampire in it.  They have a leg up on Harker. 

The difference between a message to the characters and hanging out in the bar is one of tangible props.

While I discovered in college that D&D&Drinking don't mix well for me.  Soaking some resume paper in a bath of tea and setting it in the sun to dry as a message to the characters also really pleases the players.

I remember when LARPing was getting really big in the 90s (yes it was a thing before that, but not where I lived) and I was confused. Playing D&D in 80s we did some of that, but doing too much of it got you pegged as one of those "steam tunnel weirdoes" and with the Satanic Panic still on people's minds we tried to avoid too many real-world activities.  Hell, I got looked at weird for dressing in all black.  Now? No one bats an eye. 

A message then, as a prop, was always easy to create.  Now it is even easier. 

Plus it is also a good way to get the adventurers back on track.  They are wandering off in the wrong direction? A messenger shows up with news!  Doing the wrong thing?  A booming voice from the clouds! Ok, I tend to avoid divine, or even powerful, intervention like that. I didn't even use the Protectors in B3 where they were needed.  Fire is often it's own lesson.

Right now I am planning on some minor divine intervention in my Order of the Platinum Dragon campaign.  The characters (and players) are really just about 6 hours of play time away from completing the adventure and really, the campaign.  I have a post script though I want them to do.  I might need to nudge them into the right direction.  If they don't...well I'll need a plan for what happens when a group of 18th level character land smack in the middle of my Drow civil war.

Well. Last night's derecho here in the mid-west left me without power for a while, so I did not get a chance to write today's post ahead of time.

Today is Day 11 and the word is Stack.

This is a pretty easy one.  I typically have two stacks I am working on.

My TBR, to Be Read, Pile, and my Research Stack.

I mentioned my research stack yesterday.  I am going through a lot of books and some older D&D material to research my High Witchcraft Tradition.

My current TBR includes a lot of philosophy. I am currently working through "The Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida" by Prof. Lawerence Cahoone.  I am likely to continue this path with "The Philosophy of Science" and the "Great Scientific Ideas that Changed the World" or I might take a break from this and go with this "Early Middle Ages" book.  Or I might reread Robert A. Heinlein's "Friday."

Hard call. Depends on how drained I am after Cahoone's book. While I read philosophy of science in grad school, I have not read any philosophy proper, unless you count John Dewey or Paulo Freire, since I was an undergrad.  

Normally when I start a new project, like the High Witchcraft book, I find a book that supplements it well.  I have not done that this time. I hope my writing doesn't suffer for it.

 wanted to use a spinner to randomly give movement points.  also some paperwork and cards, just ideas in progress for the civil war game. the idea with the card is to shuffle all the units in a deck, then turn the card over, some have the unit that moves next, others have random effects that modify the battle conditions.

Still painting on the Benton Hussars.  got the faces done, so pretty nearly there, dark blues, the flag, and the odds and  ends details.  maybe one more day on it should do the trick?

 

 gaming campaign map. Goosegau vs. Rubenschmeckerrau.

 

Okay, so it’s August. The porch was getting increasingly cramped, and with multiple people arriving at once, allowing social distancing while browsing was nearly impossible. Also, the old porch layout only allowed a small selection of plants, and part of … Continue reading →

When it comes to RPGs I really don't have a lot of "Wants."

I have been successful in my career so many daily needs of home, food, and health are all covered.  
I certainly don't *need* any books or games. I have enough here to last me the rest of my life and then some.

Though I do think back to a time when a combination of my low income, lack of access and lack of choice produced some Wants in my RPG life.  

The biggest examples of these are my various witch books.  

I have often said that the main drive behind everything I write and publish is a reflection of the wants I had of growing up in the 80s. 
I write the books I wanted to buy back then, but couldn't.  Sometimes that couldn't was because I could not afford it or didn't have access to a good Local Game Store. But most often it was because the books I wanted didn't even exist. 

So really nearly all my "wants" are in the form of "I want to write this book." or "I want to run this game."
And there are a lot of those.

I am currently working on two separate projects (well...more than two, but these are the two I am talking about today).  I have alluded to them both in passing, but I guess today is a good day to make them official.

First, and since today is Monstrous Monday it is good to mention it, is my book on monsters.

The Basic Bestiary: Monsters from the Other Side is my homage to the Fiend Folio and the source of many of those monsters, The Fiend Factory from White Dwarf magazine. 

This book takes monsters that have appeared in my various witch books and monsters that have been featured on Monstrous Mondays.  So very much like the Fiend Folio.  I have even retained the alliteration of the original monster books.  Like the Fiend Folio I am including some new, never before seen monsters as well.  Also like the Fiend Folio/Fiend Factory relationship not all the Monstrous Mondays monsters will go into this book. I am going to leave some of the sillier or snarkier monsters out.

It was the original Monster Manual that got me into D&D all the way back in the 70s.  This also stands as my homage to that.

Presently the book is 220+ with 300+ monsters and no art yet.  So far on par with the original monster books.  The final art for the cover is not yet set and there will be a soft-cover version for fans of "Basic-era" D&D and a hard-cover for fans of "Advanced-era" D&D. While I love the Fuseli art, it predates my beloved Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood art by about 80 years.  But, given the source material, it is quite apropos.  Though I might look for something that works better as a full cover. I am just loathed to not use this somehow.  Unless I can find something from say, Hieronymus Bosch. but he is even further outside my Pre-Raphaelite time period.

Second I have what I have been calling my "Last Witch Book."

The High Secret Order: The High Witchcraft Tradition is going to be the culmination of everything I have written about the witch to date.

Every witch book under the Basic-era Games banner I have written was designed to capture a particular Zeitgeist of playing.  Daughters of Darkness captured the witch as an evil temptress vibe.  The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch captured that Fall/Winter of 1979 when I was heavy into mythology and picked up the Monster Manual for the first time and my experimentations with the Holmes Basic book.  The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch was not going for any particular time save for the fun of Halloween.  The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch was made to capture the time playing Moldvay/Cook & Marsh B/X D&D game and my times discovering both Norse and Celtic myth as an alternative to Greek myths.

As the last Basic-era Witch book this book covers the time of me moving away from Basic-era D&D towards Advanced D&D. Though it is less about a "time" and more about a "process."  I can go with the process of moving from Holmes Basic (and their promise of a witch class) to AD&D.  I can go with the Greyhawk supplement for OD&D as the first real springboard towards what would become AD&D. Or I can go with my own process of moving from B/X Basic to AD&D and a time when we all mixed all the above freely and without concern that we were "doing it right."

Such things might not matter to you, or they might. I just want to capture that time/feeling and make it solid just for a little bit. My gift to that young teen in the middle of the mid-west who could not get his hands on the books he wanted. Let alone books with witches and demons in it in the 80s in an extremely White-Christian small town.  My book is the book form of the Santana song "Hold On" which consequently is from the same time period.

Again. Like Basic Bestiary above the art is not 100% final. I like Daniel Gardner's painting, but again he is outside of myPre-Raphaelite time period. The "compatible with" designation is not on yet since I am not 100% sure which game I want to make this compatible with.  I have a few choices, but the idea is to capture the proper feel of the time and I need to look to a clone ruleset that does the time in mind well.  Just like Children of the Gods was my time with Holmes, Blueholme Rules was a perfect fit. Basic Bestiary will go with Labyrinth Lord. 

So far my research into my last witch book is moving ahead, but not a lot of writing yet.

I keep saying "last witch book" because there are other things I want to do. I'd love to write some 5e material and I even have a good idea for a 5e series.

I have a Blue Rose book coming out soon which I am pretty happy with and I have had a desire to write some more for BESM4 after picking it up earlier this summer.

So there is a lot I want to do.

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


—oOo—
The year 2000 is significant in the gaming hobby because it marked the beginning of the ‘d20 Era’, a period of unparalleled creativity by publishers large and small—and tiny, as they used the d20 System to power game after game, scenario after scenario, supplement after supplement, genre after genre. Some new, some old, some simple reskins. And there are publishers twenty or so years later who are still writing using the d20 System. As much as publishers explored different worlds and settings using the d20 System and its System Reference Document, at its heart was one roleplaying game, launched in the year 2000—Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition. Just as Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is the top roleplaying game today, Dungeons  Dragons, Third Edition was the top roleplaying game of its day, and the advent of the d20 System let other publishers play in the Dungeons & Dragons sandpit, just as many had back in the early days of the hobby. The aim of this series of reviews is not to review Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition itself, for that would not necessarily make for an interesting review. Rather it is to look at some of the interesting titles which came out of the d20 System boom that started twenty years ago.

From the off, the d20 System allowed publishers to ride the wave of popularity that was Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, and that started at Gen Con 2000 with adventures from publishers such as Atlas Games and Green Ronin Publishing. The former was an established publisher, best known for roleplaying games such as Over the Edge and Feng Shui: Action Movie Roleplaying, would launch its Penumbra line of d20 System supplements with one of the first adventures for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition—Three Days to Kill. The latter was new publisher with just Ork! The Roleplaying Game to its name, but with its own first for scenario for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, would not only launch its own line of d20 System supplements and scenarios, it would also launch the first setting for the d20 System and the first genres for the d20 System. The title from Green Ronin Publishing was, of course, Death in Freeport.


Death in Freeport is a short adventure for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, released on August 10th, 2000 at Gen Con, the same day the new Player’s Handbook. Designed to be played by four or so Player Characters of First to Third Level, it did exactly the same thing as The Wizard’s Amulet from Necromancer Games and Three Days to Kill from Atlas Games—also released at the same time, and that is provide some which a purchaser of the Player’s Handbook could run with a minimum of preparation. Death in Freeport did more though. It presented a setting in the form of Freeport, a pirate city with elements of Lovecraftian horror, which Green Ronin would revisit in numerous supplements over the next decade, not just for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, but also for other game systems, such as the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, FATE, and Shadow of the Demon Lord. It also promised sequels and within a year, two sequels, Terror in Freeport and Madness in Freeport, would follow, which together withDeath in Freeport would form the Freeport Trilogy.

The setting for the trilogy and Death in Freeport is the Freeport of the title, a pirate city built around a safe harbour in the Serpent’s Teeth islands. Millennia ago, the islands were part of the continent ruled by the Serpent People Empire of Valossa. A religious schism between the worshippers of Yig, Father of Serpents, and the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign would fester until the Brotherhood summoned their own dark god, a Great Old One known as the Unspeakable One. This would shatter both the scientifically and magically advanced Empire of Valossa and the continent it stood—leaving only the islands of the Serpent’s Teeth. The survivors would be scattered, leaving room for the rise of humanity and other races. Today, Freeport is a ruled by a pirate captain known as the Sea Lord and become a powerful force rivalling many nations, but currently seems concerned more with its own affairs rather than of the continental powers.

The scenario itself opens with four protagonists—a Gnome Fighter, a Half-Elf Sorcerer, a Human Rogue, and a Dwarf Cleric—arrive on the docks in Freeport. They are quickly beset upon by a press gang looking to take them back to sea, but will be quickly driven by determined action upon the part of the Player Characters. Consequently, they are asked by Brother Egil, a cleric of the Brotherhood of Knowledge, to look for a colleague, Lucius, who has gone missing. Curiously, Lucius has form here, having suffered a personality change, begun asking strange questions, and then disappearing some six years previously. He reappeared two years ago, much like his old self, but Brother Egil fears that his friend has suffered another relapse.

As an investigative plot, Death in Freeport is quite straightforward. It will lead the Player Characters—or Investigators—from the docks to Lucius’ house to an all-Orc crewed ship whose captain has information about Lucius’ past, and then to the Temple of Knowledge and beyond. There are a number of confrontations along the way, effectively highlighting the lawless nature of Freeport, but ultimately the Player Characters will find themselves underneath the city in the headquarters of a secret eldritch cult where they will confront a number of Lovecraftian horrors. This is quite a tough confrontation, the scenario’s antagonist being several Levels higher than the Player Characters, so having more than the four pre-generated Player Characters is probably a good idea.

At its heart, Death in Freeport is a Call of Cthulhu scenario in a fantasy setting. It shows in the choice of antagonists and the power behind them—Serpent People and the Great Old One known as the Unspeakable One, and in the investigative style plot complete with its handout clues. As a Call of Cthulhu scenario in a fantasy setting, Death in Freeport is undeniably a fantastical, slightly pulpy combination. That said, for Call of Cthulhu veterans, it may not offer a strong investigative plot, but will provide for a more-action orientated adventure in the style of Dungeons & Dragons, even perhaps as a Dreamlands-set adventure…? Whereas, for Dungeons & Dragons players it offers an investigative style of play that may be new to them, and less of the dungeoneering style of play. Dungeons & Dragons players may also be disappointed by the relative lack of loot or treasure to be found throughout the scenario, but that seems fitting given that Death in Freeport is not a traditional Dungeons & Dragons scenario.

One issue with the scenario is its brevity. It is quite short, offering perhaps just a couple of session’s worth of play. However, this makes it quite easy to bring Death in Freeport to the table and with a minimum of preparation, the point being that it is designed to showcase what Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition can do and provide something that can be played straight after the Player’s Handbook has been purchased. The scenario is not only supported with the four pre-generated adventurers, but also a good history of Freeport, a short overview of the city, full stats for all of the NPCs, and a monster in the form of the Serpent People. The scenario has a couple of handouts and there is also a map of Freeport, which in combination with the short description is enough for the Dungeon Master to work with until the release of more background. The relative lack of information about Freeport also gives Death in Freeport plenty of flexibility when it comes to the Dungeon Master adding it to her own campaign world—as does not naming the gods and temples in Freeport, which are instead kept generic, like the Temple of Knowledge.

Physically, Death in Freeport is handily presented. If the front cover by Brom is not exactly relevant to the scenario, there is no denying its impact. The interior artwork is excellent though and nicely depicts the grim, sometimes eldritch feel to both plot and city. The maps are also decent.


—oOo—

Death in Freeport would go on to win the Origins Awards for Best Roleplaying Adventure in 2001 and the 2001 ENnie Award for ‘Best Adventure’. It was reviewed in Polyhedron 147 (Vol. 21, No, 2 July 2001) in The Polyhedron Review by Stephen Radney-MacFarland. He wrote, that a successful d20 product,  “...[H]as to present enough fun to be contagious to as many imaginations as possible while giving enough slack to allow it to fit into almost everyone's vision of the ideal fantasy game setting.” before concluding that. “Almost no d20 adventure. thus far, has been able to do that as well as Death in Freeport.” He also awarded the scenario high scores for its accessibility, art, design, and value.


—oOo—
Death in Freeport is a Pulpy ‘B’ movie of a scenario, one which wears its influences on its sleeve, but it showcased the fact that Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition could do more than just generic fantasy and that fantasy could very much be fun. The simple plot and themes to Death in Freeport mean it is still easy to run the scenario thirty years on and just as easily adapt to the rules system of your choice. Better, more detailed, and more involving scenarios and settings would follow for the d20 System—including a great deal of support for Freeport—but Death in Freeport was there at the start with adventure that was both eldritch and exciting, and hinted at what was to come.

—oOo—
To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the release of Death in Freeport, Green Ronin Publishing is releasing an updated version for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. You can Return to Freeport with new edition here.

 SCS Direct is at it again.  They have just released a second series of their Fantasy Creatures.  Twelve new figures in the same old light and dark gray.

Hmm. Light. Light has not been on my mind very much lately.

Shadow has.

Often when talking about light one also brings up dark as in the opposite of, or the absence of, light.  If you pay any attention to what is going on in the world of D&D publishing now there has been a strong push to change, or alter, the nature of certain "dark" races like Drow and Orcs.  I am not going to get into that today, nor do I even find the topic particularly interesting.  Want "good" Drow? Ok. Fine have them. Want good orcs? Sure! They existed in 2nd Ed, nothing new here. My Desert Orcs have been portrayed as "good" since I came up with them.

But if an "evil" race or species can be good, then a "good" race can also be evil.  I pretty much play elves as xenophobic assholes who really don't give two-shits about humans and frankly are just hoping they all kill themselves off.  Are they evil? No, but they are not "good" either.

But extremes are dull. They are cartoon versions of the people I want to represent.  Give me nuance. Give me flaws AND strengths.  Good and Evil. Light and Dark.  

Give me Shadows.

I got to thinking back in June when I was doing my BECMI work I picked a copy of the Shadow Elves guide for the BECMI system.   The Shadow Elves of Mystara are more interesting than Drow.  They are little more nuanced than the Drow are, and this was back in the late 80s.

While reading this I could not help but think of the Shadar-kai from newer D&D. The Shadar-kai from 3rd and 5th Edition D&D are a type of elf/fey, but they were more human-like in D&D 4 where they got the largest treatment.  

There is also the Shadow Fey from Kobold Press which are also interesting.

Between all these treatments there is something I am sure I can use. 

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


—oOo—


Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium was published by Wizards of the Coast in the year 2000. With the forthcoming DUNE: ADVENTURES in the IMPERIUM roleplaying game from Modiphius Entertainment as well as a new film directed by Denis Villeneuve, the 2020 is the perfect time to re-examine the hobby’s first attempt to bring Frank Herbert’s seminal Science Fiction work to tabletop roleplaying. That Wizards of the Coast published Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium in a limited release is something of surprise, for it had originally been designed by Last Unicorn Games, a publisher best known for its three, highly regarded roleplaying games based on the Star Trek franchise. When Wizards of the Coast purchased Last Unicorn Games, it agreed to publish the roleplaying game, but declined to renew the licence with the Herbert Estate and so there it ended. Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, limited to just three thousand copies, was destined to become a collector’s piece, often selling for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. It would never get a reprint and the supplements announced in its pages, including Federated Houses of the Landsraad and The Spacing Guild Companion, would never see print. Similarly, a d20 System version of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium from Wizards of the Coast would not see print either, although one of the designers did release The Voice from the Outer World, Chapter One, an excerpt from what would be one the first adventure.

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is set before the events of the first novel, Dune. The Imperium has ruled mankind across the Known Universe for some ten millennia following a fierce anti-technological backlash—the Butlerian Jihad—which led to the rejection of all thinking machines and the profound development of the human potential. Over the centuries since these have coalesced into several great schools—the Spacing Guild, many of its members forcibly evolved into the Guild Navigators capable of folding space and enabling interstellar travel; the Bene Gesserit sisterhood and its genetics programme to protect humanity; the Mentat school, its graduates capable of great acts of computation and analysis; the Suk Medical School, its doctors incapable of harming their patients due to their ‘imperial conditioning’; and the Swordsmaster’s School of Ginaz, its graduates peerless soldiers and duellists. 

For millennia, power in the Imperium has rested on several pillars. These are the Padishah Emperor, backed by his elite Sardaukar military forces; the Landsraad Council which represented the Imperium’s Great Houses—was headed by the Emperor; and CHOAM—or Combine Honnete Over Advanced Mercantiles—the great mercantile body which controlled the Imperium’s economy and every product or service manufactured, sold, and purchased. Most of the Great Houses hold directorships in CHOAM as well as their fiefdoms from the Emperor. The most important of these products is the Spice melange, which is only mined on the planet Arrakis, and as well as its anagathic properties, also enables the Guild Navigators to fold space. The last pillar is the Space Guild, which holds a monopoly on space travel and maintains a strictly neutral stance when it comes to Imperial politics.

Although the Imperium is at peace and open warfare is rare, both the Great Houses and the Houses Minor feud with each other, sometimes over rivalries going back to the foundation of the Imperium. The Rules of Kanly guide negotiations and diplomacy, but also govern how the Houses wage war on each other—typically through formal duels, assassination, and political hostage-taking and ransoms. These rules are very likely to play a great role in any campaign of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, because the default set-up for such a campaign is to cast the Player Characters as members of the Entourage belonging to a House Minor allied to one of the Great Houses. They will be House Adepts of the Bene Gesserit, House Assassins, House Strategists, House Mentats, House Nobles—perhaps even the heir, House Swordmaster, or House Suk. This leaves a lot of character options, whether that is Fremen Warrior or spice smuggler, to be covered in other supplements—which of course, never appeared.

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium presents six Great Houses—three known and three new—to which the Player Character House Minor can ally—and three Houses Minor for each. The three Great Houses are House Atreides, both feted and hated for its leadership, courage, and morality—and whose fortunes are the subject of the novel; House Corrino, the Imperial House which sits on the Golden Lion Throne and which fears the influence of the Atreides; and House Harkonnen, the rapaciously mercantile and treacherous enemies of the Atreides. The three new Great Houses are House Moritani, which successfully waged a War of Assassins against House Ginaz and now occupy the world of Grumman; House Tsieda, a withdrawn and traditionalist House which specialises in legal consultation and representation; and House Wallach, a military House staunchly loyal to the Emperor. Each of the six Great Houses is given a solid write-up, whilst allied Houses Minor are given shorter, though enough to develop more details from, descriptions, and one is given full stats.

Alternatively, the Game Master and her players could create their one House Minor. Each House Minor is defined by four Attributes, each of which has two Edges, or particular talents related to the attributes. The Attributes are rated between one and five and the Edges between minus two and plus two. The House Attributes and their Edges are Status plus Aegis and Favour, Wealth plus Holdings and Stockpiles, Influence plus Popularity and Authority, and Security plus Military and Intelligence. A House Minor also has an Ancestry, including Name and Homeworld, a Title and a Fiefdom, Renown, and Assets. The Fiefdom can anything from a City District to a Subfief, and the Title from Magistrate to Siridar Governor or Baronet. To create a House Minor, a House Minor Archetype is selected from a choice of six—House Defender, House Pawn, House Favourite, House Reformer, House Pretender, and House Sleeper—which provide the base stats for House Minor, and fifteen Development Points are spent on various House aspects.

—oOo—
House Molo claims its origins date back to before it was granted to House Harkonnen. Its relationship with its liege has always been rocky and House Molo has long agitated under the Harkonnen grasp, almost to the point of rebellion on a number of times. To date, the Imperial Charter granted to the Tormburg School of Engineering—famed for its petrochemical and chemical engineers—has afforded the House Minor a degree of protection as has a number of careful marriages. The family has a strong tradition of fielding arena champions, which goes to back to the clan matriarch, Althena IX von Molo, successfully settling a legal dispute with the House Minor’s liege, the Harkonnens, some centuries ago. House Minor von Molo has also fielded champions on behalf of other Houses Minor on Gedi Prime and consequently, it is not unknown for the Harkonnen Barons in frustration to appoint von Molo champions to represent its enemies. House Minor von Molo is all but loyal to the Harkonnens, but wants better treatment for the populace and less avaricious policies.

House Minor Profile
Name: von Molo
Ancestry: Harkonnen
Homeworld: Gedi Prime
Title: 3 (Siridar-Ritter) 
Fiefdom: 2 (Free-City of Tormburg)
Renown: 1
Assets: 5
Attributes (House Sleeper archetype)
Status: 3
Wealth: 3 (Stockpiles +1)
Influence: 2 (Authority -1, Popularity -1)
Security: 3 (Intelligence +1)

—oOo—
The stats for the Player Characters’ House Minor come into play during ‘Interludes’, the periods between adventures when both players and the Narrator conduct a   ‘Narrative Debriefing’ during which they can discuss how the Player Characters’ actions furthered their House’s goals, the aim having been to complete anyone of a number of Narrative Ventures. These might be an act of diplomacy or political campaign at the Sysselraad—the planetary equivalent of the Lansraad for all of the Houses Minor on a planet, training military forces, intelligence or counter-intelligence manoeuvres, investing in a business venture, and so on. Mechanically, they require investment upon the part of the players using the House Minor’s Asset points and their success depends upon a Test similar to Skill Test. However, the rewards are simply numerical—more Asset points to spent on developing the House Minor. Arguably there is a missed opportunity here to present something more interesting and more involving, perhaps not dissimilar to what Green Ronin Publishing did for A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, the RPG based on the fantasy works of George R.R. Martin. Perhaps more interesting and more involving would have been published in the unpublished Federated Houses of the Landsraad?

A character in Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is defined by Attributes, Edges, Skills, Traits, Renown, Caste, and Equipment. There are five Attributes, and each has four Edges. The Attributes are rated between one and six—the latter the limits of Human potential, and the Edges between minus two and plus two. The character Attributes and their Edges are Physique plus Strength and Constitution, Coordination plus Dexterity and Reaction, Intellect plus Perception and Logic, Charisma plus Presence and Willpower, and Prescience plus Sight and Vision. Skills are rated between one and five, and typically require a specialisation, for example, Culture (House), Computation (Straight-Line), and BG Way (Petit Betrayals). It should be pointed out that the skill list is fairly extensive, and there is no little nuance to them, especially in the Specialisations. For example, the Statecraft skills has the Specialisations of Artifice, Equivocation, Mind Games, and Perjury. In addition, there is some overlap between some Skills and Specialisations, such as Statecraft (Threats), Interrogation (Coercion), and Racketeering (Extortion), which could be used to blackmail or intimidate an enemy—all depending upon the circumstances, of course. Now this is can either be interpreted as too many skills or it could simply be a matter of nuance and as well as circumstances, could represent differing approaches to a task. A nice touch is how example difficulties are given for each skill.

Of course, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium being set in the Dune universe, it needs certain skills to reflect the special abilities of graduates of schools such as the Mentat and the Bene Gesserit. So for the Mentat there is Computation, Mentat Trance, and Projection, whilst for the Bene Gesserit, there is BG Way, Ritualism, and Voice. Also included are the Prescience and Prophecy Skills, which when used grant glimpses of the future. Apart from the latter two Skills—since they are less likely to appear in a campaign—these all do feel as if they are could use further development and explanation. As useful as the example difficulties given to each skill description are, one thing that is missing is explanations of what the Specialisations are. In general, this is not a problem, it can in some cases leave Narrator and player alike scratching their head. For example, the Mentat Computation Skill has the Specialisations of Probability Computation, Straight-line computation, and Comparative Induction, whilst the Projection skill has the Approximation Analysis, Factual Analysis, Proximity Hypothesis, and Zero-bias Matrices Specialisations, but in neither is there any explanation of how they work or what they are. Given that the Mentat will have these Specialisations, it is frustrating to have them explained. In the short term, the Narrator could probably have said that more information was forthcoming in a supplement—perhaps the Narrator’s Guide?—but not in the long term.

Traits are advantages or disadvantages, such as Bimanual Fighting, Latent Prescience—necessary to raise the Prescience Attribute to one and to be able to choose its associated Skills, Shield Fighting, Addiction, Human—meaning you have been tested as the Bene Gesserit, Genetic Eunuch, and so on. Some Traits are particular to certain Schools, such as Prana-Bindu Conditioning, Truthsaying, and Weirding Combat for the Bene Gesserit, Imperial Conditioning and  Pyretic Conscience of the Suk Doctors, and Machine Logic and Mental Awareness of the Mentats.

Every character will have a place on the ‘Faufreluches’ or Imperial caste system. The Emperor, the Imperial Family, the Great Houses, Houses Minor, and so on, are Regis-Familia. Most Player Characters will Na-Familia—named family, Household vassals, or Imperial citizens, or Bondsman—Bonded Professionals. Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is not a roleplaying game which dwells particularly on equipment, though there is some discussion of it since it has distinct ramifications upon play, whether that is the use of melee weapons or slow projectile weapons against opponents wearing shields—infamously, shooting a lasgun at a shield can result in an atomic explosion, or the need to contract the Spacing Guild to travel from one star system to another. In general though, a Player Character will have whatever he needs to do his job.

Once the players and Narrator have decided upon or created their House Minor, each player can create his character who will be part of the House Minor’s Entourage. Three methods are provided to create a character. The first is to choose one of the seven pre-generated templates—House Adept, House Assassin, House Strategist, House Mentat, House Noble, House Swordmaster, and House Suk—and then personalise it a few Development Points. The second is to build it out of a series of four packages and overlays. These consist of a character’s House Allegiance, which determines which Great House the House Minor is allied to and his base Attributes, Skills, and Traits; Vocational Conditioning, such as Bene Gesserit Adept or Master Strategist; and a Background History package like Mentat Priming or Slave Pits, House Service like Personal Confidante or Warmaster, ad Personal Calling like Advocate or Sleeper Agent. Lastly, a player has a few Development Points to personalise his character with, and his Caste and Renown to set. The third method is point-based, a player being give one-hundred-and-thirty Development Points to spend. This is the longest and most complex method.

—oOo—
Olifer Taheri grew up in the notorious Harkonnen slave pits on Gedi Prime. He not only survived, but was part of a rebellion in his youth. This was put viciously by the planetary police and many of Olifer’s friends were killed, even butchered. He was captured and thrown into the arenas to fight again and again until he was killed. Not only did he survive, but defeated his first opponents, and eventually he gained some notoriety. House Harkonnen came to hate him and was planning to execute for his ‘crimes’ during the slave rebellion, but House Molo instead offered to purchase him. The Harkonnens did, and House Molo sent him to Ginaz. Currently he serves as the House Swordmaster and takes pleasure defeating Harkonnen fighters in the arena.

Olifer Taheri
House Allegiance: House Harkonnen
House: Molo
Vocational Conditioning: Swordmaster 
Background History: Slave Pits
House Service: Weapons Master
Personal Calling: Arena Fighting

Attributes:
Physique 2 (Constitution +1, Strength +1)
Coordination 4 (Reaction +1) 
Intellect 2 (Perception +1)
Charisma 2 (Presence +2, Willpower +1)
Prescience 0

Skills:
Armament 3 (Operation 2, Repair 2)
Armed Combat 3 (Duelling 4)
Athletics 2 (Climbing 1, Running 1)
Charm 1 (Flattery 1)
Culture 1 (Harkonnen 1)
Dodge 4 (Evade 2, Sidestep 1)
First Aid 1
History 1 (Harkonnen 1)
Leadership 2 (Guerrilla Operations 2)
Military Operations 2 (Guerrilla Warfare 2)
Observation 1 (Search 1)
Politics 1 (Harkonnen 1)
Ranged Combat 2 (Stunner 1)
Security 1 (Systems 2)
Stealth 1
Survival 1
Unarmed Combat 3
World Knowledge 1 (Gedi Prime 1)

Traits
Alertness 1, Bimanual Fighting 2, Duelling 3, Heroism 2, Information Network 1, Resilience 1, Shield Fighting 1, Whipcord Reflexes3, Code of Conduct +3

Renown: Valor 1
Caste: 3 (Bondsman)

Karama: 3

Equipment: House uniform, personal shield, slip-tip, stunner, sword

—oOo—
Mechanically, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium uses the ICON System, as used in Last Unicorn Games’ Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek Role Playing Game. It is a six-sided dice mechanic. To undertake an action a player rolls a number of dice equal to an Attribute plus an applicable Edge, one which should be of a different colour. This is the Drama Die. The player takes the highest value rolled on the dice and adds the Skill to get a total. This is compared to a Test Difficulty, which ranges from four or Routine all the way up to thirteen or Difficult. If a six is rolled on the Drama Die, then the player can use that and add the result of the next highest die to the total. Rolling a six on the Drama Die will typically result in a critical success, whilst rolling a one on the Drama Die and not succeeding, a grievous failure. 
For example, Olifer Taheri is attending some arena games with his master, Tobias Molo and they are accompanying Adan Fosconi, the Master of the Arena on a tour of the training area. Fosconi asks Taheri his opinion of the fighters there and the swordmaster decides to flatter the Arena Master. The Narrator describes this as a Routine Test, giving Taheri a Difficulty number of six. Taheri’s player will be rolling a total of four dice, two for his Charisma and another two for his Presence Edge. He will be adding one for his Charm Skill and one for his Flattery Specialisation. Taheri’s player rolls one, three, six, and six on the Drama Die. This means he adds the next highest value die—also a six—plus Taheri’s skill for a total of fourteen. This is an exceptional roll and being both six higher than the Difficulty and a six was rolled on the Drama Die means that a critical success has been scored. Master Fosconi laps up Taheri’s praise and is already thinking of how much money he can win by betting on his fighters in the arena that afternoon.In addition, each Player Characters also has Karma, which can be spent on a one-for-one basis to modify the results of Test. However, he will only have a few points and this may not be enough given how difficult it is to roll overcome a Moderate or Test Difficulty of seven if a character has a low skill value, and a Challenging or Test Difficulty of ten or more   with medium or high skill values. The problem here is that rolling high is dependent on roll a six on the one die—the Drama Die. Thus, rolling high is a relatively rare occurrence. Otherwise, the ICON System is generally simple and easy to use.

In comparison, combat in Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is much more complex. Its focus is on personal combat and it leaves the larger combats, guerrilla actions or other acts of warfare to be handled as House Ventures. What this means is that combat is tactically rich, but strategically poor, which undermines so much of what the roleplaying game is about—the fortunes of a House Minor and the Player Characters’ involvement in that. The rules do cover elements particular to the Dune universe, and much like the setting there is an emphasis on melee combat and duelling. So the Duelling Trait grants access to various special manoeuvres in combat, as does Shield Fighting, which teaches a fighter to be slower in combat in order to penetrate an opponent’s shield, but penalises them when unshielded, because he trained to be slow. The Bene Gesserit have their own form of martial arts, called Weirding Combat.

Mechanically, combat is not merely a matter of trading blows back and forth from one round to the next. Combatants receive a pool of Option Points to spend on manoeuvres in combat, but effectively this pool becomes two, because each combatant will be spending and tracking points spent on two types of manoeuvre Option—Actions and Reactions—and each combatant can spend an equal number of points on both. Actions include Aim, Hand attack, Slow Attack, and Autofire, whilst Block, Parry, and Riposte, are Reactions. Some can be both, such as Attack Sinister and Slow Sinister Attack. With each subsequent manoeuvre—Action or Reaction—the cost in terms of Action Points goes up, and as long as a character has Action Points to spend, he can act. Traits such as Weirding Combat and Duelling grant access to particular subsets of manoeuvre, invariably better than the standard attack and defensive manoeuvres. The range of manoeuvres available in combat is what makes combat so tactically rich and used effectively, it can reflect the cut, thrust, block, counter strike, and more of a duel or combat. Although it helps that there is extensive example of combat in the rules, there is no denying their complexity and the fact that they give a lot for both Narrator and player to keep track of from round to round.
For example, later the same day at the arena, Adan Fosconi, the Master of the Arena enraged at the loses made on the bets he placed on his gladiators decides to take his revenge by sending some thugs to beat up Olifer Taheri and perhaps even kidnap his master, Tobias Molo. Olifer Taheri has the Alertness Trait and the Narrator has rolled in secret to determine if the swordmaster spots the thugs. He does and with a shout of, “Get behind me, my lord!”, reaches down to his belt to activate his shield and draw his sword and dagger. Taheri’s Initiative is equal to his Coordination of 4 and Reaction +1, so a total of five, and this is also the number of Option Points his player has to spend. The Criminals have Coordination of 2 and Reaction +1, so have three Initiative and three Option Points. The Narrator declares that the first action of the Criminals is to Attack. This costs them one Option Point each, leaving one point remaining for Attack Options and three for Reaction Options. Taherio declares that his is to Parry Sinister, a Reaction which will cost him one, leaving five points remaining for Attack Options and four for Reaction Options. The Narrator rolls for the first Criminal—two dice for his Coordination of 2 and adds his Armed Combat of 3—and gets a total of eight. Tehari’s player rolls five dice for his Coordination of 4 and adds his Armed Combat of 3 and Duelling of 4. His total of ten easily beats the Criminal’s eight, and Tehari blocks the attack with his dagger. Tehari then declares a Riposte. This has a cost of one, but because he has done one Reaction, its cost goes up to two, leaving him with two for Reaction Options. The Narrator states that the first Criminal will attempt to Dodge, which will set the Difficulty Test for Tehari’s Riposte. The Dodge will leave the Criminal with one point for Reaction Options. The Criminal rolls three dice—two for his Coordination of 2 and one for his Reaction +1—and adds the Criminal  Dodge Skill of 1. The Narrator rolls a total of 6. Tehari’s player rolls four dice for his Coordination of 4 and adds his Armed Combat of 3 and Duelling of 4. Unfortunately, Tehari’s player rolls a total of 13. This is more than the Criminal’s Dodge value and likely a critical hit, so the first Criminal is probably badly hurt. However, there are still two other Criminals to Tehari to defeat and they have not attacked yet…In terms of background, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium provides a history of the Imperium—though no timeline, a discussion of the Great Convention which keeps the peace, details of six of the Great Houses and their worlds, technology and equipment, the Great Schools, and some of the personages of the Imperium. It is overall, a good overview, but in the long term will likely be found wanting as the Narrator wants more information. Where there is focused information is in the presentation of ‘Chusuk, the ‘Music Planet’’, which gets a whole chapter of its own. This is the presentation of a single planet as an example setting, Great House, and Houses Minor. It is home to a relatively new Great House, House Varota, renowned for its musicianship, craft as instrument makers, its devotion to the arts, and also spies. Chusuk is also home to a notable religious sect, the Navachristians. It is a good example of what a Narrator could come up with as a world for his own chronicle and showcases perhaps what a supplement devoted to the worlds of the Dune universe would have looked like. It is followed by short scenario in its own chapter, ‘Instrument of Kanly’, which continues the musical theme and sees the Player Characters’ Entourage come to Chusek in search of a stolen musical instrument. Again, this is a decent, a low-key adventure suitable for beginning players and characters, only really let down by the fact that it is the first part of a two-chapter story arc. It involves lots of diplomacy, interaction, treachery, and some combat, effectively showcasing various elements of the rules, and along the way, allowing the authors to have fun with some musical puns. That said, both chapters containing the adventure and the planetary description do feel out of place in the middle of the book.

In addition, the Narrator is given not one, but effectively two chapters on how to be a good Game Master. ‘Chapter VI: A Voice from the Outer Void’ is general advice, covering how to set a scene, using the mechanics, keeping the players interested, and so on. It is useful, solid advice. It is followed by ‘Chapter VII: Pillars of the Universe’ which delves into themes and ideas particular to Dune—Human Conditioning, Plans within Plans, Preservation of Bloodlines, Messianic Prophecy, and more, before going on to discuss how to create a chronicle of the Narrator’s own. The discussion of the themes and ideas is fascinating, but ultimately feels too short. Hopefully the release of a supplement like the Narrator’s Guide would have presented these subjects in much more of the depth they deserved, but of course, this was not to be.

Physically, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is very nicely presented. There is plenty of artwork, much of it very good, the book is generally well written, and well laid throughout. No little thought has been given to the organisation of the book thematically. So, the book is divided into ‘Book One: Imperium Familia’, introducing the setting and rules, and ‘Book Two: DUNE Oracle’ and ‘Book Three: Imperial Archives’ providing more background and a scenario. Then Skills and Traits are organised thematically into Valour of the Brave, Learning of the Wise, Justice of the Great, and Prayers of the Righteous—covering physical and combat, knowledge, political and social, and other Skills and Traits respectively.

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is a fantastic game, there is an undeniable depth to its treatment of the Frank Herbert’s Dune universe—which comes the quantification necessary when designing and playing a roleplaying game, it enables players to create characters which feel right for the setting, it provides a decent enough of background, and it provides both a reason to play in what the player characters do and something for them to play in the form of the scenario. However, that background is unlikely to be enough to support a campaign in the long term, especially when delving into the intricacies of the Bene Gesserit or the Mentats, and the other Great Schools, and much of the background is not presented in an easy-to-use fashion—for example, there is no chronology attached to the extensive history. The focus of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is also narrow in terms of what you can play, the types of campaign, and the scope of the background—Arrakis is very much an afterthought and it is not possible to create characters from there with any ease. The rules feel overwritten in places, for example, in the number of Skills available, and underwritten in others, in their explanation, whilst the ICON System does not feel quite up to the task. Nor do the rules effectively support or explain the House progress through the use of the House Ventures, which is disappointing given the fact that the Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is all about roleplaying the fortunes of a House Minor.

Today, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is a collector’s piece, worth no little amount of money. Unless you are a collector or an avid fan of the Dune setting, it probably is not worth your having. As a roleplaying game, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is everything that want to start playing the Dune universe—characters, background, advice, starting adventure, and more. Only in a particular way though—as a House Minor Entourage—but a resourceful playing group could deconstruct the rules to run other games in the Dune universe with some effort. However, as written, the scope of Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is limited, indeed the clue is on the front cover where it says, ‘Limited Edition’, and any Narrator would probably exhaust those limitations fairly quickly. This is not necessarily the fault of the Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium Core Rulebook itself, which really should be seen the starting point for the rest of the line, just as with any other roleplaying game. Although underdeveloped in places, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium successfully gives you the means to roleplay in the Dune universe and makes the setting a believable one to roleplay in, both for fans of the Dune universe and roleplayers in general, but ultimately, its potential will remain lost and untapped.

I was going to do something today on Shadow Elves and the Shadar-kai, but I am going to hold off on that since my son pointed out some more 5e material on them. 

So lets go with another favorite Shade of mine.  Djinn in the Shade.

Djinn is a a very talented artist who loves to draw her D&D characters and others.  
I featured her as a Featured Artist a while back (and I really need to do more of those).   But she is just so much fun I was looking for any excuse to talk about her again.

You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, but the best place is her Pateron site where she has a lot of art. 

Now a lot of it ranges to the adult to the very adult end of the spectrum, but all of it is so much fun.

I am particularly pleased with all the art she has done for me over the last year or more, including a lot of my iconic witch Larina. 

In fact she rather loves my little witch and has included here in this AWESOME comic where all her patrons of her Pateron site submitted their D&D characters to a pirate cruise, battle, and party afterward.

The battle itself is a little too risque even for my blog! But here are some pieces of it.

To see all the rest you will have to become a patron. Want to join here D&D parties like these? Then absolutely become a patron.

You can find her at:

• Pateron: https://www.patreon.com/djinnintheshade/posts
• DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/djinninthebox
• Twitter (sometimes NSFW): https://twitter.com/Djinninthebox
• Instagram (Main): https://www.instagram.com/djinninthebox/
• Instagram (sorta NSWF): https://www.instagram.com/djinnintheshade/
• Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/djinninthebox
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djinninthebox-407996516407917

To date, Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos, Chaosium, Inc’s supplement of Pulp action set during the nineteen thirties for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition has been supported by not one, but two campaigns. The better known of these is The Two-Headed Serpent: An Epic Action-Packed and Globe-Spanning Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu, a campaign in the traditional sense of Lovecraftian investigative horror. It presented a world-spanning conspiracy, which took the heroic investigators from Bolivia, New York, Borneo, and Oklahoma to the Belgian Congo, Iceland, and Brazil—and beyond! The other campaign is A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu, which although like The Two-Headed Serpent is set in New York and takes place in the nineteen thirties, is very different in tone and scope.

A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu takes place in 1935, ‘technically’ never leaves New York State, and focuses on investigators with Psychic abilities—using the optional Psychic ability rules from Pulp Cthulhu—or have an interest in Parapsychology. It takes two works of fiction as its inspiration. The first is ‘The Mound’, the horror/science fiction novella ghost-written by H. P. Lovecraft for Zealia Bishop, which tells of a mound that conceals a gateway to a subterranean civilization, the realm of K’n-yan. The second is Sinclair Lewis’ alternate history satire, It Can’t Happen Here, in which populist demagogue Berzelius ‘Buzz’ Windrip is elected President of the United States and with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force imposes totalitarian rule similar to the Germany and Italy of the Desperate Decade. Against this febrile background, the campaign draws links between the fringe science—whether Parapsychology or Occultism—and the fringe politics of the period.

Campaign set-up is supported by six pre-generated Investigators. They include a diverse range of backgrounds, from a Russian Cult Leader, an African American female Mechanic/Aviator, and a female Investigative Journalist to a Hispanic ex-Soldier, a female Scientist, and an Explorer. Only two of them have Psychic Talents, but the campaign can be run with the optional Psychic Talents rules from Pulp Cthulhu or without. It also adds a new Investigator Organisation, The Open Mind Group, a hero organisation whose members are fascinated by the possibility of powers of the mind—whatever their source. In general, the organisation is apolitical and politely asks members who are overtly political to refrain from discussing their views or leave.

The structure of the campaign, over the course of five of its six chapters, is linear. It takes the Investigators from New York City upstate into New York state’s Catskill Mountains, and from there, it takes a turn for weird as it plunges deep into the bowels of the Earth and across the sybarite and immortal remnants of the K’n-yan Empire. It begins with a missing persons case, a fellow member of The Open Mind Group approaching the Investigators because Brendan Sterling, her husband, has gone missing. He has a greater fascination with the outré than she does, and this has led him to participate in experiments in past-life regression. Investigating Sterling’s disappearance will first lead them to his links with various populist fringe political movements and then to the scientists who associate with them. Unfortunately, no sign of him has been seen either, and following him will lead the investigators upstate and into the Catskills. From there, the path literally leads inexplicably into the depths and the strange realms of the Empire of the K’n-yan. By now the Investigators will have already encountered some strangeness, most notably their  suddenly being cast into space and having to find their way back—being chased by some very strange cats—and ghosts haunting the halls of a centre for parapsychological studies in what is arguably one of the most bizarre encounters in Call of Cthulhu. These and similar encounters hint at the things to come in later chapters—far below the surface.

What lies below is the remains of the K’n-yan Empire, its immortal survivors divided between indolent sybarites residing in the mouldering towns and plantations, their buildings a combination of gold and weird science, and religious fanatics out in the surrounding wilds. Often cannibals and evilly indifferent, they are not perhaps the worst that the Investigators will encounter for there are surface dwellers other than their quarry down here and some of are looking to re-establish the K’n-yan Empire… It is here too that the Investigators will learn perhaps of the ultimate aims of the campaign’s antagonists and just what they will have to do to stop them. The culmination of the campaign itself is a suitably over-the-top drive further into the depths of the Earth to confront the villains of the piece and prevent their plans. The sixth chapter takes the campaign in an even more radical direction and can be run at any time in the campaign once the Investigators have sufficient means and motivation—even in the middle of other chapters.

As a campaign, A Cold Fire Within does something different. There have been plenty of scenarios for Call of Cthulhu which deal with the Science Fictional aspects of Lovecraft’s Cosmic Horror, but not a campaign. It is very much not a campaign of Lovecraftian investigative horror in the eldritch sense, but rather one of fringe science—or ‘Science!’ and fringe theories ranging from Theosophy to the Hollow Earth. A campaign which sees one ancient subterranean scientific empire attempt to rise again, aided by zealous surface dwellers, as the power and influence of Fascism grows and spreads on the surface world. However, as linear and as straightforward as the campaign is, and as solid a hook it provides to pull the Investigators into its events, the Keeper will need to work hard to keep the players and their Investigators on track and motivated. Especially to the point in the campaign where they learn what is really going on and then have a few more options in what they can do. The Keeper also has a lot of NPCs to portray, there being quite a large cast given the relatively short nature of the campaign. If the campaign misses an opportunity, it is perhaps the chance for a flashforward to see the consequences if they fail to stop the antagonists’ plans—this is only hinted at in the conclusion.

Rounding out A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu is a set of four appendices. These collect the campaign’s handouts and maps for easy copying by the Keeper, new tomes and spells, new skills and psychic power, and K’n-yanian Equipment and Vehicles. The new skills include Lore (K’n-yan) and Language (K’n-yan), and Science (Parapsychology), whilst the new Psychic Powers are Dematerialisation and Telepathy. The section on K’n-yanian Equipment and Vehicles details all of the devices and artefacts which the Investigators will discover in the subterranean world of the K’n-yan and any Investigator with a mechanical bent—especially if he falls into the Grease Monkey archetype—will undoubtedly want to tinker with and repair. Lastly, the six pre-generated Investigators are given.

Physically, A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu is a slim, full colour hardback. In keeping with the other Call of Cthulhu titles, the book looks superb, the layout is clean, the artwork—whether black and white, two-tone, or full colour—is superb throughout, though the cover is not necessarily as eye-catching as could have been. The maps are excellent throughout though, although perhaps the campaign could have benefited from better maps of the Catskill Mountains, New York state, and New York City.

There is a Science Fiction genre called Planetary Romance—best typified by the Barsoom-set of stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs—in which much of the story’s action and adventure takes place on exotic alien worlds, noted for their distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds. Now A Cold Fire Within is not set on another world, but it is set in another world, one which also has distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds in the form of the differing groups of the K’n-yan. Further, A Cold Fire Within is a Science Fiction campaign, involving as it does ‘fringe’ science and strange technologies, but of course against a background of Cosmic Horror. What this means is that A Cold Fire Within is a campaign of ‘Inner Planetary Horror’, one which both proves the existence of fringe science and to the horrific applications it can be put to. 

Copies of NIGHT SHIFT: VETERANS OF THE SUPERNATURAL WARS have ALL been delivered to the Kickstarter backers and people are also getting the Kickstarter special Player's Guide.

You can order your own hardcover version at the publisher's website, at https://www.elflair.com/nightshift.html.
You can also buy the PDF at DriveThruRPG.

One of the things that really motivated Jason and me while working on this is music.  Spend any time here and you know I am a big music fan.  

So I thought it might be great to share some of the music that reminded us of the stories we were telling with NIGHT SHIFT and the games we have run.
Up this Friday Night Videoes are songs from my playlist.  Tonight, songs from The NIGHT SHIFT!