Arrakis is the most important planet in the Known Universe. From it flows the Spice Melange, and thus the power to control the Imperium. Spacing Guild navigators consume it in vast quantities to be able to fold space and thus ensure the interstellar travel and trade that underpins the Landsraad, the alliance of Houses Great and Minor, and CHOAM—or Combine Honnette Ober Advancer Mercantiles—which controls all trade and contracts across the Imperium, including that of Spice. The Bene Gesserit uses give their Sisters the gift of foresight and so pursue its own program even as it is advises Houses Major and Minor. To those that can afford it, Spice is a means to prolong life and delay aging, and for the noble houses, which means being able to plan and bring to fruition plots that take generations to bring about. The Emperor holds the key to extracting Spice, for it is within his gift to grant Arrakis and the right to extract Spice to the House of his choosing. It is both a gift and a curse, for although it will make the House occupying Arrakis rich, the House must ensure the Spice continues to flow even as rival Houses plot to undermine their efforts, smugglers shift Spice from under its nose, and very environment of Arrakis—endless dessert, high temperatures, and sandworms hundreds of meters long which can swallow a spice harvester whole—threaten to disrupt and undermine their operations. Then there are the Fremen, the mysterious inhabitants of the deep desert, secretive and insular, who have their plans for their world, ones which do not involve the Emperor or the governing House, and for which they only await the right sign.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is, as the title suggests the sourcebook for the world known as Dune for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game, the roleplaying game based on both the recent films and the fictional universe and novels originally created by Frank Herbert. The supplement provides an overview and details of the world of Arrakis, its history and geography; the Fremen and their history and culture, as well as new character Archetypes and Talents; the ecology of the Sandworm and how to ride them; and the secrets of Spice, how it is harvested, and its effect upon the Known Universe, plus Spice-related Talents. This is all supported by new campaign ideas and frameworks and a scenario.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook starts with the planet itself and its history, which given the secrecy of the Fremen is little known and consequently there are few details here and the supplement is more about Arrakis as is, rather than as was. That said, there are suggestions for using Arrakis as a setting in the different Eras of Play for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium, though again, these are only briefly touched upon. More detail is given to the various locations in the cities of Carthag and Arrakeen and the roles they play in the setting. For example, the Conservatory Garden at the Residency in Arrakeen is initially presented as a gift to Lady Jessica, even though it is a sacrilegious waste of water, but it actually becomes a blueprint for the greening of Arrakis. All of the various locations are accorded plot hooks, rumours, and a suggested encounter or hazard for the Game Master to develop. Primarily intended for The Imperium, The Ascension of Muad’dib, and Era of the God Emperor Eras of Play, these locations are neatly done whilst leaving plenty of space in both cities for the Game Master to add her own content. The nature of the desert and how it changes as Muad’dib’s reign and that of his heirs progress, and beyond, is explored in detail. This broadens the options for the earlier discussion of the different Eras of Play.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not just a sourcebook for the planet of Dune. It is also the sourcebook for Fremen, revealing further details of their history, culture, and outlook after that given in Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. This covers their oral history, their attitudes to live and death, plus of course, the importance they attach to water. Interesting here is the inclusion of the Jacurutu, a tribe massacred for stealing water and reviled ever since, such that their sietch is a taboo place. Descendants of the Jacurutu are included as an option for Player Character Fremen, which would have to be kept secret otherwise they would be an outcast. This inclusion adds a wrinkle in the otherwise uniform nature of the Fremen and perhaps the supplement could done with more of this to add a little more variety here and there. Fremen technology is examined in detail, noting the high degree of its craftsmanship and including Fremen Stillsuits, the feared Crysknife, and the Deathstill which is used to extract the water from the dead, as well as the Distrans Bat, domesticated bats used to record and send messages over long distances. Rules also cover worm riding, whilst the section on ‘Fremen and Outsiders’ covers their attitudes and dealings with various factions on and off world. This is useful whether the Player Characters are Fremen themselves or outsiders to make contact or deal with the Fremen, so helpful for the Game Master and her players. The section on playing through the period of the reign of Muad’dib, more tightly focuses on The Ascension of Muad’dib Era of Play and the changes that the Fremen undergo, both culturally and spiritually.

For Fremen Player Characters and NPCs, Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook adds a table of life Events, new Foci—such as Desert Navigation, Fremen Culture, Pottery, and Stillness, new Fremen Templates including Naib, Fedaykin, Sayadina, and Ecologist. Bolstered with new Talents, many of which are Fremen specific, ranging from Chosen of Shai-Hulud (skilled worm rider), Crysknife Master, and Desert Walker to Tooth Crafter (craftsmen who make the crysknives), Water Wisdom, and Ways of Ichwan Bedwine (Fremen oral history), this is where there is some variation between Fremen. A set of tables allow the creation of sietch, including size, influence, and reputation. There is advice here on the roles they can have in a campaign.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not just a sourcebook for the planet of Dune and Fremen. It is also the sourcebook for the Spice itself and this even includes Spice-related Talents like Spice Refinement, Enhanced Lifespan, Shortening the Way, and Voice of the Inner dark. Many of these require the consumption of Spice. The focus though, is on the physical nature of Spice and effects, where it comes from and how it is extracted, and the ramifications of all of this. In particular the need to balance the time spent extracting Spice and the inevitable arrival of a sandworm which threatens the loss of equipment and workers and extracting and smuggling Spice without attracting the attention of the planet’s governing House or any Imperial oversight. It should be noted that all of the factions on Arrakis, and not just the actual Smugglers, smuggle Spice, for there are always willing purchasers. Suggested roles are given for a harvesting crew which lends itself to what would literally be a very dirty campaign, the Player Characters having to deal with the stress of harvesting as well as the difficulties and intrigues of rival harvesters, criminal and smuggling gangs, and the all too ready to take a bribe authorities.

Campaign support covers the culture life and communities of Arrakis, including artists, mercenaries, and engineering, as well as locations where they might be found, and numerous NPCs. These include Bounty Hunter, Craftsperson, Fremen Craftsperson, Fremen Sayyadina, Market Seller, Mystic, Ornithopter Pilot, Spice Manager, Spice Worker, and others, plus factions such as Bankers, Courtesans, Criminals, Importers, and Manufacturers. Campaigns specific to Arrakis include Spice Smugglers, Imperial Agents, Fremen, Bene Gesserit, Guerrillas and Revolutionaries, and Explorers of the Old Empire. Each of these is supports the Game Master in their own way. The NPCs include named examples that the Game Master can bring to her campaign and a scenario hook; each faction includes a campaign inspiration; and each of the more detailed campaign frameworks on Arrakis includes suitability for the different Eras of Play, suitable Archetypes, and notable Assets, Factions, and Antagonists. In the case of the campaign inspirations and the frameworks, the Game Master will need to develop these further, but she is given two far more detailed campaign outlines as well. ‘Shadows on the Sand’ sees a group of smugglers, descendants of House Richese, the former governors of Arrakis which had all but bankrupted itself in extracting Spice before the fiefdom was taken away from them and given to the Harkonnens, attempting to survive and smuggle spice whilst keeping its true identity a secret. There are some interesting ideas here that the players and characters to see the story of Dune from a different viewpoint. ‘The House of Heslin’ is about a House Minor attempting to establish and run a merchant operation in Carthag and so establish itself on Arrakis. This will probably involve more intrigue and interaction within the city than the other campaign set-up. It would have been interesting to add a similarly developed third campaign idea here, one focusing on the Fremen rather than outsiders as the other two do.

Rounding out Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is the scenario, ‘The Water Must Flow’. Set during the governorship of House Harkonnen, a drought triggers riots and leaves the Player Characters’ House with insufficient water to pay the Water Tax to the Harkonnens. As rioters swirl around the city, they are forced to attend a feast hosted by another House Minor, this one allied to House Harkonnen. There, they may be able to find a way of negotiating a solution to their own House’s situation. What they do find is a friendly face—although how far that can be trusted is another matter—which suggests investigating the recent hijacking of a carryall with a delivery of water. The trail will lead into deadly plot in in Carthag’s many shadows and then out into the nearby desert. It is a solid scenario that can easily be run as a sequel to ‘Harvesters of Dune’, the scenario from the Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: The Roleplaying Game core rulebook.

Physically, Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is a nice-looking supplement. It is well written, and it includes some decent artwork, although sadly, not every Archetype is illustrated. One issue with Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is that there are no maps. So, no maps of Carthag and Arrakeen, the only cities on the planet, and even no maps of the planet itself. All would have been useful, although there are no maps of either city upon which the writers can draw upon within the canon itself. The lack of a map of Arrakis is even odder, since they do exist and this is a world sourcebook.

Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is not lacking in content, but it does leave the reader wanting more in places. Primarily this is in the history and future history of Arrakis and its importance in the Known Universe, their descriptions underwritten in comparison to the default period of Dune – Adventures in the Imperium—the decades before the accession of House Atreides to the fiefdom. Here is where Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook comes alive and gets interesting, providing support and ideas for campaigns involving Spice harvesting and smuggling in particular, and the Fremen to a lesser extent. The background and details, as well as the Player Character and NPC options, for the Fremen, are good support for player and Game Master alike. Sand and Dust – The Arrakis Sourcebook is solid support for Dune – Adventures in the Imperium opens up and develops options for campaigns set on Arrakis.

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.

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Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is a scenario for Adventures in Rokugan, the Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition compatible version of Legends of the Five Rings. Originally published by Alderac Entertainment Group in 1997, but now published by EDGE Studio, Legends of the Five Rings and thus Adventures in Rokugan is set in Rokugan, a setting similar to feudal Japan, but with influences and elements of other Asian cultures, as well as magic and mythical beasts. The setting for Legend of the Five Rings, Fifth Edition is Rokugan. It is Known as the Emerald Empire and has been ruled for a thousand years by the Hantei emperors—the current emperor is Hantei XXXVIII—who have divided it between seven Great Clans. These are the Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, and Unicorn clans. Although each is comprised of Samurai—the bushi warriors, mannered courtiers, and shugenja, priests who pray to the kami, or spirits, for aid, each is different in character. The Crab Clan use its strength to man the wall that protects the Empire from the Shadowlands, but its members are regarded as uncouth and ill mannered; the Crane Clan is known as the Left Hand of the Emperor and has many wealthy and influential politicians; the Dragon Clan remains aloof from most affairs in its mountain fast, but has sallied forth to aid the empire several times; the Lion Clan is the Right Hand of the Emperor, being devoted bushi; the Phoenix Clan is known for its shugenja and primarily concerns itself with spiritual matters; the Scorpion Clan is the Emperor’s Underhand and revels in its villainous status and reputation; and lastly, the Unicorn Clan is Rokugan’s cavalry, having spent several centuries in the Gaijin lands to the West. The Mantis are a minor clan of seafarers and traders, most notable having travelled far beyond Rokugan by sea.
Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest requires the Adventures in Rokugan rules and includes six pre-generated Player Characters. These consist of a Crane bushi and bodyguard, a Crab infiltrator, a Crane ritualist or shugenja, a Mantis clan duellist, a Crab clan courtier/bushi, and a Ningyo Ritualist. These are very detailed Player Characters, and notably, not all of the Player Characters are Human as is the norm in Legends of the Five Rings. This includes a Spectre, a Mazoku or demon, and a Ningyo or ‘human-fish’. All six have detailed backgrounds and motivations.
Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is designed to be played in a single four-hour session and is set on Earthquake Fish Bay, which is known for its storms and being administered by the Yasuki, the Crab Clan courtiers and merchants who once part of the Crane Clan. Consequently, the Crane still view both the land and its administrators as belonging to it. The main village in the region, Storm Eel’s Rest, also supports a monastery on Unnamed Island, an island wracked by storms. The tension between the Crab and the Crane Clans is what drives much of the scenario.
The scenario begins en media res. The Player Characters are aboard the Spider Lily, sailing across Earthquake Fish Bay in search of a missing vessel. After the Game Master reads out the general introduction and the introduction for each of the Player Character—which oddly, does give away some of the secrets about each Player Character—they set out across the bay. After a random encounter, they locate the missing vessel, driven onto Unnamed Island by the storms. The Player Characters will quickly discover that the ship is under attack as is the monastery by various aquatic monsters—crab horrors, amphibious horrors, and stinging horrors. The monastery is under assault because it hides a secret. They are Stormkeepers, protectors of the bay from the spirit of the great beast which centuries before stalked the bay bringing down storms and lightning from its body and the sky. Its skull is kept warded, but spirits are assaulting the monastery as well as many aquatic minions!
Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is short and it is combat focused. There is a lot of flavour to it and there is some interesting detail to the pre-generated Player Characters. However, there is relatively little scope for these details to come out in play rather than be read out at the start of the scenario by the Game Master. The latter is odd and it feels only necessary because the scenario is intended to be played in a four-hour slot. If the scenario is run beyond that time limit, then the introductions for the Player Characters could be kept for the players to reveal through play and roleplaying and perhaps a better and simpler introduction be created in order to speed up play and the beginning of the scenario.
Physically, Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is well presented. The map is excellent and artwork superb. The scenario is well written.
Adventures in Rokugan: Storm Eel’s Rest is a solid scenario that fits within a single session and nicely showcases the setting of Rokugan, such as the tensions between the Crab and the Crane Clans. It is playable in the intended four-hour slot, but to really bring out the Player Character backgrounds through roleplaying, it needs more time and to shift the Player Character introductions to under their control and better introductions supplied.

Academies of the Arcane has a problem. Or rather, the subject matter of Academies of the Arcane has problem. Academies of the Arcane is a roleplaying supplement about creating and playing in your own school of wizardry. Which means that it draws comparisons with the series of novels starring Harry Potter and set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and by association, the contentious views of the series’ author, J.K. Rowling. Academies of the Arcane and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are about academic institutions modelled on British boarding schools with their own peculiar practices and traditions where magic is researched and taught. That though, is where the comparisons end. For although there is nothing to stop a Game Master and her players using Academies of the Arcane to create and roleplay a game similar to that of the Harry Potter, should they so desire, that is not its raison d’etre. In fact, doing so would actually be to ignore the possibilities and options that the book presents that enable the Game Master and her players to create their school of magic and everything associated with it—school uniforms, school houses, teachers, locations, events, classes, and more—and roleplay their students’ time at the school.
Academies of the Arcane is a supplement for Troika! Numinous Edition. Published by the Melsonian Arts Council following a successful Kickstarter campaign, presents some forty or so tables, over a third of the supplement, for creating numerous different aspects of an institution dedicated to the teaching of magic. Academies of the Arcane does not start there though. It begins with advice and suggestions for the Game Master on how to use the book and the types of campaign frameworks and framework elements it can be used for. These include using the magical school as a place of intrigue, betrayal, and treachery; as a base of operations from which the students can set out to undertake the very dangerous process of learning magic—at the school and beyond; to explore the pride and factionalism of the board school model and its houses, but with wizards and magic; and play not as young students, but as graduate students or members of the faculty, or interlopers at the school with a mission of their own. None of these concepts are explored in any great detail, but they are solid starting points from which Game Masters and players can develop their own frameworks, aided of course, by the familiarity of Academies of the Arcane’s subject matters and settings.

Academies of the Arcane provides some thirty-six student Backgrounds. These begin with the Prodigal Magus—who just happens to have an interesting birthmark or scar that glows when he casts spells, and the Warlock of the Withered Ouroboros, who is trying to avoid the fate of being consumed by his own magic. All have several possessions and several advanced skills, including spells, as well as a special ability. Others include odder creations such as Tiger Conceptual, Worm Troll, Printer’s Devil, and Precocious Ooze. These is a fantastic mix of the ordinary and the outré, and whilst a player can choose one from the thirty-six available, rolling for his character’s Background as intended adds to the challenge. Added to this are some ninety or so spells, from Acumen, Alignment Language, and Astral Parasite to Window-Weald, Word Feaster, and Wormcast. The spells are as weird and wonderful as the Backgrounds, such as the Word Feaster which enables the caster to eat the vocabulary of another wizard and effective silence them temporarily; Discordance which disrupts time with the terrible singing of the cosmos and upends the initiative stack in combat; and Manifest Doubt, which reveals a flaw in a personal philosophy, forcing the victim to collapse into painful introspection or double down on his belief. The spell notes that no philosophy is truly pure and so there is always a flaw to take advantage of.

Then Academies of the Arcane presents the tables needed to create an academy. This starts with the name such as ‘Father Ankou’s Cage of Arcane Triumph’ or ‘Drimcliff University of the Torment Eternal’. After this, rolls are made for campus appearance, interior and exterior, nearby notable locations, school uniform, history, recent troubles, and rumours. There are tables for creating houses and their mascots and mottos, notoriety and troubles, and for the classes and subjects that the Player Characters can take and study. As well as tables for creating members of the faculty, there is guidance for running classes and the school itself, and even a wizarding competition. Rounding out the book is a wild selection of interesting magical items such as familiars, The Adder-Skin Book of New Fate, Ancient Indelible Foods of the Gods, and more, all of which be used to drive stories at the wizarding school.

Although Academies of the Arcane is designed to be played used Troika!, a Science Fantasy roleplaying game of baroque weirdness, it need not be. Both Academies of the Arcane and Troika! are Old School Renaissance adjacent, in addition to being British Old School Renaissance in its inspiration. The simplicity of the mechanics Troika! and Academies of the Arcane—the latter’s spells in particular, combined with the lack of mechanics in its numerous tables and the prompts they contain, mean that the supplement is easy to use as a framework in another roleplaying game. This could be generic like the Cypher System or Savage Worlds or a retroclone like Old School Essentials. Either way, Academies of the Arcane is sufficiently generic to make adapting to another set of rules or a setting relatively easy.

Physically, Academies of the Arcane is cleanly and tidily presented. The artwork is excellent whether of the inclusive nature of the student body, the wonder of the arcane, or the exquisite nature of the magical items. The clarity of the design to Academies of the Arcane means that it has few problems and even then, they are minor at best. One is the size of the book, larger than that typical of supplements for Troika! Then again, getting all of the supplement’s tables into a digest-sized book and making them useable would have been challenging. The other is perhaps the brevity of the content, but then that content is designed as an extensive series of prompts to push the Game Master and her players to create their own arcane academy. However, that leaves one element of the genre unaddressed and likely intentionally so. Academies of the Arcane focuses on the fantasy of the magic and learning the magic and ignores the ordinary aspects of living in the equivalent of boarding school (for magic). So, there is no contrast between the ordinary and extraordinary, no push and between the two. The problem with doing so of course returns Academies of the Arcane to the problem of its subject matter and comparisons with Harry Potter, which could have been contentious. Thus, the aspect of the setting is left unmentioned and unexplored and in the hands of the Game Master and her players should they decide to include it in their game.

Ultimately, Academies of the Arcane provides everything the Game Master and her players need to run a game set at a sorcerous school, but not just any institute of invocation. Instead, an academy of the arcane that they create and make their own, telling the stories of their students, their studies, their rivalries, and adventures, and that is what makes Academies of the Arcane the toolkit of choice for its genre.

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.

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The most radical release for Free RPG 2023 is as in previous years, Level 1. Published by 9th Level Games, Level 1 is an annual RPG anthology series of ‘Independent Roleplaying Games’ specifically released for Free RPG Day. Where the other offerings for Free RPG Day 2023—or any other Free RPG Day—provide one-shots, one use quick-starts, or adventures, Level 1 is something that can be dipped into multiple times, in some cases its contents can played once, twice, or more—even in the space of a single evening! The subject matters for these entries ranges from the adult to the kid friendly and from action to cozy, and back again, but what they have in common is that they are non-commercial in nature and they often tell stories in non-commercial fashion compared to the other offerings for Free RPG Day 2023. The entries in the anthology often ask direct questions of the players, deal with mature subjects, and involve varying degrees of introspection, and for some players, this may be uncomfortable or simply too different from traditional roleplaying games. So the anthology includes ‘Be Safe, Have Fun’, a set of tools and terms for ensuring that everyone can play within their comfort zone. It is a good essay and useful not just for the games presented in the pages of LEVEL 1 – Volume 1, Level 1 Volume 2, and Level 1 Volume 3, which were published for their Free RPG Day events in 2020, 2021, and 2023 respectively, but for any roleplaying game.
The games in Level 1 Volume 4 all together require dice, tokens, a deck of ordinary playing cards, a tarot deck, and even gifts such as incense, drinks, food, oils or lotions, or a song. It should also be noted that many of the entries include a solo option. The anthology features fourteen roleplaying games all with the theme of ‘endings’. This does not necessarily mean the end, though it does in several of the titles in the anthology, but the end of situations and circumstances. Consequently, the ‘Be Safe, Have Fun’ safety tools are perhaps more pertinent than in previous issues of the anthology.
The first entry in Level 1 Volume 4 though, does deal with a finality. Mark Kennedy’s ‘Hero Catastrophe’ is a storytelling game of the last hurrah of classic epic fantasy genre heroes. They are lost in a magical wilderness with no hope of escape, but armed with four Moves in common—‘Manifest’, ‘Manipulate’, ‘Master’, and ‘Master’—and a weapon and a Heroic Silhouette, such as Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Druid, or Bard, they will be faced with catastrophe after catastrophe, and whilst they can make changes to the world around them, will ultimately fail, wrestling with their fate. They have limited Harm they can suffer and a Fate number and a Death Roll. When this Fate number is rolled on Move, something tied to the Player Character’s Fate will happen to his benefit, whilst when the Death Roll is rolled, it indicates a Fail and each Fail necessitates a roll on the ‘Catastrophes’ table. Procedural in nature, ‘Hero Catastrophe’ is designed to have the players and their heroes ultimately fail, but how they fail and what their last stories are is what matters.
If ‘Hero Catastrophe’ deals with imminent death, ‘Filling an empty breath’ by Dustin Blottenberger deals with a failed funeral ceremony to deal with a death, leaving one of the undead at the Player Characters’ feet. This is the roleplaying game where the gifts are partaken of and the aim is to break the curse that left the deceased one of the restless dead, first establishing connections to the deceased and thus each other, write a eulogy for them, and then describe what went wrong, how the revenant has changed and what their wishes are, and ultimately what rituals need to be performed to put them to rest. This creates a set of written artefacts, which each player must decide if he wants to sacrifice or not. If everyone does, the revenant is laid to rest, but not if a player decides not to. ‘Filling an empty breath’ is storytelling game, primarily driven by prompts, that will see the Players Characters decide the fate of the revenant and the consequences of that fate.
‘Daiquiris and Drunk Girls’ by K.J. and C.J. Lappin is the most fun of the entries in the anthology. It enables the players to roleplay the events of a hen do or bachelorette party and the end of the bride being single. As the players describe their character’s activities, such as karaoke or discovering that really is Elvis who turned up at the bar, they attempt to collect enough Cool Points to actually look cool and be remembered for the great party everyone had before the Mean Bartender accrues too many Anger Points or the characters too many Drunk Points and the Mean Bartender throws them out. ‘Daiquiris and Drunk Girls’ is simple and easy to play, but in embracing the clichés of the situation, there is scope too for some fun roleplaying.
The earlier ‘Hero Catastrophe’ explored the afterlife of heroes. M. Belanger’s ‘Rainbow Bridge’ does the same for household pets. In comparison, this is a safe space, with the pets going on a journey together and having two types of encounters along the way. A Memory is of their past life, a good time which can be shared with others, whilst a Passage gives a character the opportunity to move on to a new life. The players share these until all of the characters have taken advantage of a Passage. ‘Rainbow Bridge’ is the simplest and lightest of the entries in Level 1 Volume 4. ‘Live Without Warning’ is a solo game which explores the last day of the character. Written by Rue Dickey, the character uses Comfort to make his life and those others easier, Thrill to add excitement, and Recompense to address regrets and become a better person. The player draws from a tarot deck to determine a prompt and rolls the dice to determine whether the character struggles with the event or learns from it. This occurs once an hour over the course of twelve hours until an attribute is reduced to zero or the day is over. At which point, the player takes the time to reflect upon the day. Like the earlier ‘Rainbow Bridge’, ‘Live Without Warning’ is simple, but it is more reflective and mature in tone.
Nat Mesnard’s ‘Adventurer’s Respite’ returns to the subject matter of the earlier ‘Hero Catastrophe’. Rather than taking place in an afterlife, the adventurers have come to a valley known for its restorative benefits. Arriving at the Last Homely Hall, the Player Characters realise how tired they are, but want to share what brought them to the valley. In turn, the Player Characters will visit various locations in the valley and attempt to finding healing here. This can be positive or negative, the player narrating the outcome, with the aim being not to lose any Health. If all of the Player Characters lose all of their Health, they are lost to the valley, but a Player Character can sacrifice his own Health to restore others. Players are free to reflect on what their characters gained from the respite if anything, determined mostly by their Health.
‘A Necessary Miracle’ by Gabrielle Rabinowitz is a journaling game in a similar style to Thousand Year Old Vampire. It is about recovering an important treasure which has been lost to you. The player has coins he can spend to gain Miracles in the hunt for the lost object and can effectively never run out, though he not have enough coins to gain the benefit of the greater miracles. ‘A Necessary Miracle’ is short and sweet and benefits from an example of play even for a game as small as this.

Two of the roleplaying games in Level 1 Volume 4 deal with getting lost as much as with endings. Noah Lemelson’s ‘Labyrinth’ is about searching for endless maze whilst being chased by the equivalent of a Minotaur. It is not necessarily the half-man, half-bull of classic Greek mythology, but still a guardian of the Labyrinth which hunt the Wanderers. Both the players and the Spirit of the Labyrinth—the Game Master—define Character Trait cards and Revelation Cards. Character Traits are divided between Traits which define facts about them and Regrets, vague memories of something wrong they did in the past. They also define Revelation Cards, each of which consist of cards for Memory, Object, Location and a Fact About the Minotaur. The Spirit of the Labyrinth reassigns the Character Trait cards randomly to the players and their Wanderers, and will give out the Revelation Cards during play. Wanderers also have a Class—‘The Muscle’, ‘The Survivor’, ‘The Intellectual’, and ‘The Strange’—which defines their die type when rolling Actions. If a player successfully rolls an Action, he narrates the outcome of the Action. Otherwise, the Spirit of the Labyrinth does it. As the Wanderers explore the ever-changing sections of the labyrinth, they begin to recall memories, triggered by the Revelation Cards the Spirit of the Labyrinth hands out. Eventually, all of the Revelation Cards will be given out, memories regained and explored, and full facts known about the Minotaur, leading to a confrontation with the beast. This can be played out in any fashion, narratively or mechanically. Part of the challenge of ‘Labyrinth’ is playing with its randomly assigned Traits and revealed Revelation Cards, and the desire to escape does give it a decent drive.
‘Are You Lost, Traveller?’ by H.L. Black has a labyrinthine quality to it, but has a more interesting set-up than ‘Labyrinth’ does. The Player Characters are both players and their Avatars, playing or exploring one last virtual world before it is shut down. Each Aavatar has a Connection, a combination health and Wi-Fi strength, which if reduced to zero, boots them from the server. It includes a sample world/game called ‘Eternal Realm ’98’ and without that, ‘Are You Lost, Traveller?’ is underwritten, neither Game Master or nor player not knowing quite what to do with the mechanics. A lost opportunity and done better with .Dungeon.

‘Dear Marley’ takes the players back to high school. It can be their high school or a high school of their imagination, but Brigitte Winter’s game take place on the last day. Everyone is friends—more or less-with Marley, the heart of their social group. The game establishes their relationship with Marley and then as they reflect on the end of their time at high school, tell the stories of four yearbook photos in which they and Marley both appear. In the process, they leave messages in in the yearbook and the tells the story of the relationship. This is developed until the yearbook is full and the class song is sung and then everyone has the chance to reflect upon what they created. The connections and relationships are created randomly and that is what prompts the changes to the relationships over the course of the game.
Sylvia Gimenez’s ‘Hauntrification’ is about ghosts. The players take the roles of a Wraith, Poltergeist, Banshee, or Maze, and have to learn to deal with the arrival of mortal Newcomers in their Home, both controlled by the Game Master or Voice of the Living. As Ghosts they have a background in both life and death plus a Binding which ties them to the Home and Bonds with each other. ‘Hauntrification’ is primarily set-up in that it establishes the Ghosts, their Home, and the Newcomers, and then leaves what happens next up to the players. Do the Ghosts want to drive the interlopers from their Home, come to some arrangement, and do something else? Supplied with an example scenario, ‘Hauntrification’ does feel like the BBC and CBS television series Ghosts, although the Newcomers can only sense the Ghosts and possibly their emotions. The Ghosts have a surprising degree of agency, but affecting the living is hard work in this fun roleplaying game.
‘ARC – A Game About The End’ by Zak Eidsvoog & Ian Rickett is a storytelling game about the story of a Subject, from beginning to end. The Subject could be the life of one person or of a whole empire. Players take it in turns to define the Subject and then in turn a Desire that the Subject wants. Whether or not the Subject gets a Desire is determined by a vote, which is held once each Desire is established. The outcome is narrated and a new Desire chosen. Once four or more Desires have been voted on and their outcome narrated, the game ends with each player narrating a Legacy based on the completed story of the Subject. Several sample Subjects and Desires are suggested, but it is easy to create these in play. Being played without cards or dice, ‘ARC – A Game About The End’ is an easy, straightforward framework with which to tell stories almost anywhere.
The penultimate roleplaying game in Level 1 Volume 4 is ‘Atop the Burning Heap’. Designed by Goat Song Publishing, this is a single player game of pyrrhic victory. It uses the Spades cards from a standard deck of playing cards to represent obstacles the player has overcome, whilst the other cards—Diamonds are resources, Clubs are people, and Hearts are morals—represent the costs paid or sacrifices made to overcome these obstacles. Their values determine if they overcome the value of the Spades cards. The player does not name or identify the exact nature of the costs or sacrifices at the time they are made in play. Instead, this is done in the epilogue when the player also asks if they were worth making. The setting for ‘Atop the Burning Heap’ is a city rife with crime and political infighting and comes with tables corresponding to the four suites in the deck of playing cards, but the player could easily create tables of his own. This is another relatively short roleplaying game, but one that intentionally saves the shock of the player’s failure until the very end.
The last entry in Level 1 Volume 4 is ‘An Epic Ending – A Game About Dying For What’s Right’ by Helena Real. It returns to the subject of fantasy heroes and their final chapter. It uses the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics to tell their desperate self-sacrifice which if successful, will stop a villain threatening all of reality. Consequently, it is the closest to a traditional roleplaying game in the anthology, but still intended to be played in a single session. Anyone familiar with Powered by the Apocalypse will have no issue setting this up and running it, but for anyone coming to the roleplaying game and its rules anew, ‘An Epic Ending – A Game About Dying For What’s Right’ will feel very incomplete. Even the author recommends reading a Powered by the Apocalypse to understand the mechanics. Consequently, the setting or settings possible in ‘An Epic Ending – A Game About Dying For What’s Right’ feel underwritten or incomplete and it brings Level 1 Volume 4 to a close in an underwhelming fashion.
Physically, Level 1 Volume 4 is a slim, digest-sized book. Although it needs an edit in places, the book is well presented, and reasonably illustrated. In general, it is an easy read, and most of it is easy to grasp. It should be noted that the issue carries advertising, so it does have the feel of a magazine.

As with previous issues, Level 1 Volume 4 is the richest and deepest of the releases for Free RPG Day 2023, is not as rich or as deep as the entries in previous volumes. Several of the roleplaying games in the anthology feel incomplete or use very similar mechanics and themes so that those which do often play out in a similar fashion, which means a lack of variety, at least on one level. However peruse the pages of the anthology and there are some interesting games to read about and play. These include ‘Filling an Empty Breath’, ‘Daiquiris and Drunk Girls’, and ‘A Necessary Miracle’, which stand out from the rest because they are different. Overall, despite the varying quality and playability of the games in Level 1 Volume 4, its pages still present interesting and challenging storytelling games that are worth playing and an session or so contemplating the end.

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, th 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?
Caravan Alley is a supplement for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which describes the next two stops along the Caravan Alley, a trade route running from Sartar to the Eiritha Hills in eastern Prax, its inhabitants, and their daily lives.

It is the sequel to Day’s Rest.

It is a thirty-seven page, full colour 3.98 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy and the artwork excellent.

Notes are provided to enable the content to be used with QuestWorlds (HeroQuest).
Where is it set?Caravan Alley is set at at two oases on a southern trade route in Prax. One is ‘Tourney Altar’, which has a temple and dueling ground sacred to Humakt, the other is ‘Biggle Stone’, renowned for its unusual fungi.
Who do you play?
Caravan Alley details two locations that almost any Player Character can visit. A Humkati might want pray or duel at Tourney Altar, an Issaries merchant would want to trade at Biggle Stone for its fungal products, and a Lhankor Mhy might to study the fungi for its properties.
What do you need?
Caravan Alley requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Book of Red Magic. Both Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers and Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses may be useful. Day’s Rest has details of how to create Oasis Folk Player Characters and NPCs if necessary.
What do you get?Caravan Alley follows the format of Day’s Rest in detailing its two settlements. Both are populated by tribes of Oasis Folk and both are controlled by the different Praxian nomad tribes. The Bison Tribe in the case of Day’s Rest and Tourney Altar and the High Llama Tribe in the case of Biggle Stone. All three have markets where visitors can trade and stop under the supervision of the controlling tribes, whilst the area where the Oasis Folk dwell and have their fields is separate. Contact between the Oasis Folk and visitors kept limited and the controlling tribe for each oasis benefits from the goods and crops that the Oasis Folk grow and make.

Of the two, Tourney Altar is the more important as it is the site of the only permanent temple to Humakt in Prax or the Wastes, outside of the River of Cradles. Consequently, it has more visitors and thus all five of the NPCs given are Humakti, including a zombie-hunting Duck who turned to Humakt because he was squeamish about bringing death to the living, but not the undead, and an Impala Rider wanting to prove himself on the duelling field. Current permanent residents include the current high priest of the temple, Emund Dwarfbane, who is the most senior priest of the cult in Prax and a respected Humakti philosophers. A Pol Joni, he is better suited to the sedentary role of priest at the temple than any Praxian nomad. The temple also has a permanent swordsmith in residence, and that is currently the Bison Rider, Takeer Redson. The description of Tourney Altar includes some details of the worship of Humakt in Prax.

Where Tourney Altar consists of cliffs upon stand the temple to Humakt and the dueling ground with the oasis and the fields and village of the Oasis Folk below, Biggle Stone sits around a swamp that sit in a cleft in the Eiritha Hills. Here the Oasis Folk, different to those of Day’s Rest and Tourney Altar, work their fields and tend to the rich fungal growths that pervade the swamp itself. The description details the secret worship of the Oasis Folk, connected to a Darkness spirit, mostly ignored by their High Llama Tribe masters. The High Llama Tribe residents of the oasis are more transient than those at either Day’s Rest or Tourney Altar, but this does not mean that its current inhabitants are no less interesting, like Bodrak Drosh, the Storm Bull Chaos Fighter, who wandered into the oasis from the caves below, has no idea quite where is, refuses to ask for help, and is still convinced that Chaos can be found in the caves, and Ogzad, a Troll merchant actually come to oasis to find fungi!

The descriptions of both Tourney Altar and Biggle Stone includes a map of each oasis and extra information. In the case of Tourney Altar, this is details of Humakti worship in Prax and in the case of Biggle Stone, it includes foodstuffs, poisons, and medicines derived from fungi as well as several exotic fungi. The numerous NPCs—ten for Tourney Altar and eleven for Biggle Stone—are all accorded detailed descriptions and full stats, but do not include their ages, oddly. However, they do include hooks and motivations that the Game Master can develop into plots for her campaign and Player Characters.
As solid a pair of descriptions as Caravan Alley gives, there are two or three issues which do make it as easy to use as it could have been. A minor issue is that the map of each oasis could have more closely placed to its key or the keys included upon both maps. A few story hooks would have been useful to more readily get the Player Characters to either location, beyond the hooks already included for each NPC. The main problem with the supplement is that it does involve slavery. Now this is part of Glorantha as a setting and whilst the treatment of the Oasis Folk as slaves is not necessarily a poor one—in game or out, this does not mean that everyone is going to be comfortable with either its portrayal or even its inclusion in their game.
Is it worth your time?Yes—Caravan Alley is a useful addition for any campaign set in or passing through Prax, or involves Praxians or worshippers of Humakt. No—Caravan Alley is specific to Prax and a Game Master’s may not be set there or may not want to enter an area of Glorantha where slavery is obvious.Maybe—Caravan Alley is a useful addition for a campaign involving Prax or Humakt worshippers, but it involves themes which not every player will be comfortable with.

Threat Analysis 1: Collateral is simply put, the bestiary and monster book for S.L.A. Industries, the roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism. Mort City, its rain sodden, polluted, and overly populated heart, located on the industrially stripped planet of Mort and surrounded by five Cannibal Sectors, is beset by threats from within and from without. Dream Entities materialise from anomalies in the fabric of reality and feed and draw upon the bleakest of thoughts and darkest of desires and so become the monsters that the citizens of Mort City’s Downtown fear the most. Mort City’s gangs offer family and even an element of hope to the city’s disenfranchised youth and as they have corporatized, they have created a niche for themselves in Mort City’s ecology. Manchines are the relics of past age, cyborgs created to quell mass riots, suborned by a threat and intelligence who is a major threat to S.L.A. Industries. Serial Killers are pervasive in Downtown, driven to kill after a childhood of televised gore, junk food, and ingrained malaise, the most murderous of them in turn becoming stars in the televised gore being feed to the next generation. Ex-War Criminals are ex-military veterans unable to integrate back into society who go into hiding with their gear, either deep in Downtown or into the Cannibal Sectors where they really do not want to be disturbed. Unfortunately, S.L.A. Industries has other ideas. Carrien are the descendants of an alien race in S.L.A. Industries, devolved into bestial, ravaging creatures, most likely to be found in the Cannibal Sectors, as are the eponymous Cannibals. Scavs are the result of another scientific breakthrough, this time biogenetic, the gasmask-wearing armoured humanoids who having established outposts deep in Lower Downtown to study the inhabitants and how the city works. These are just some of the creatures, as well as their arms, armour, equipment, and motivation, detailed in Threat Analysis 1: Collateral, and this is not the only content in the supplement.

Threat Analysis 1: Collateral opens with a chapter on the ‘Dream Entities’. First introduced in the excellent supplement, Cannibal Sector One, these are the by-products of the breakdown in reality that initially take the form of negative energy, but which coalesces into a Dream Sac. This feeds on immediate vicinity’s history of violence, fear, and folklore. The Dream Sac gives birth to a still unreal creature that can evolve into something that not only embodies that history of violence, fear, and folklore, it reinforces it. However, there are numerous paths down which the entity in the Dream Sac can evolve, potentially going through multiple phases, from the initial Embryonic Phase, through the Juvenile Phase, Bloom Phase, and Consolidation Phase, and into the Integration Phase when the Dream Entity becomes organic and part of reality. Thankfully, these creatures are rare, but there are numerous other types of Dream Entities that SLA Operatives might encounter otherwise. These include the Titter which likes to present themselves as lost children, crying out for help, but ready to strike at whomever comes to their aid and then torture and murder with childlike glee; the Green Horror which rose up from the massacre of Shivers in Cannibal Sector One and almost organically replicates and warps the green Body Blocker armour that Shivers are renowned for wearing; and the Rainfolk, which whilst looking like ordinary Downtown citizens, unnerve those around them with unblinking eyes and unsettling mannerisms. Then there is the Dream Master, which leads and ensnares other Dream Entities, aiming to build a Dream Army. Lastly even their presence can have deleterious effect upon the environment, infecting Citizens with a deteriorating effect known as The Grey which appears to spread memetically and can lead to whole neighbourhoods being condemned if not dealt with.
In addition to detailing the various types of Dream Entity and their evolution, the chapter details the abilities they can have. These include Manifestation Abilities like ‘Cannibalistic Regeneration’ and ‘Dread Stench’ and Distortions, the main form of attack for Dream Entities, which affect the reality around their victims, like Mind Control and Time Distortion. There is Dream Hardware too, ranging from weapons such as the Dream Blade and Fear Staff to Dream-interpreted equipment such as the Oinky-Boinky and Oopsie Daisy, the former pig-like toy you do not want to possess and the latter a weaponised balloon from a children’s television series… There is no denying the weirdness of Dream Entities and it was a weirdness that seemed intrusive when they first appeared in Cannibal Sector One. Here though, they are better and more clearly explained, and given a wider range of options which will allow the Game Master to underplay that weirdness or go full blast with it.

The treatment of ‘Mort City Gangs’ is a contrast in the conventional after the Dream Entities. This talks about gang structure, gang values and activities, and roles within a gang along with their stats. This goes from Gang Boss at the top all the way down to Gang Prospects. Notably, gangs are organised, many having signed up to a Gang Charter that regulates their activities and those of their members, primarily as a means to make money, but do so without attracting the undue attention of S.L.A. Industries. Several gangs are described as well, including Krosstown Traffic, which is noted as one of Mort City’s oldest surviving gangs (having been referenced in numerous supplements for the roleplaying game), but not necessarily its largest. There is even a gang of Dream Entities, consisting of Titters, though they are not really a gang in the traditional sense. Instead of making money through robberies or protection rackets, its members are sent out to scavenge for ‘objects of interest’ for their Dream Master. The Gang Code is detailed, as are the weapons sold to them by soft companies and K’Shangs, the civilian powersuits that the gangs like to modify and use. Of course, the gangs are presented as a threat, but out of all the threats presented in Threat Analysis 1: Collateral, this one has the possibility to be basis of a S.L.A. Industries campaign, just from a different angle to that of SLA Ops.

However, the one threat that is presented as a Player Character option are the Manchines. Originally built to quell civil unrest, Digger took control of them and turned them against S.L.A. Industries. Now they form a network of lairs connected by a radio network, monitoring activities across the Cannibal Sectors and into Downtown. They are surprisingly docile, really only active when one is disturbed and attacked, and if destroyed, the others moving to fill the hole in the network. Manchines are scary because they wrap themselves in human flesh, but some do break connect with Digger and they resume their old programming. This opens up the possibility of a Player Character Manchine, even as an unsanctioned SLA Op, and there is a full list of modifications to customise both NPCs and possible Player Characters.

‘Serial Killers’ are given a similar treatment to the earlier Mort City Gangs. It categorises them and gives them stats as well as presenting ‘The Homicidal Pattern’, a list of common factors that seem to drive the creation of Serial Killers in Downtown. Cognates—Serial Killer collectives—are also discussed, along with examples, and so is the current status of Serial Killers in Mort City. Whilst they are often hunted by S.L.A. Industries, the soft company, Realtime Media broadcasts film of their activities, most notably on Channel Slice and Dice with its primetime Blood Soaked Hour which shows a Cognate facing another threat. This is supported by S.L.A. Industries to the point where a Serial Killer is allowed to get a ShowBiz Agent and when he has, he can legally travel to see his agent without the possibility of his being arrested.

Both ‘Scary Monsters’ and ‘Planet Mort Fauna’ details a wide of threats. In the former, this includes numerous types of Ex-War Criminals—War World Veterans currently lured into broadcast combat in Cannibal Sector Three by Realtime Media, the feral descendants of aliens known as Carrien, and numerous types of Cannibals, such as Cannibal Butcher, Cannibal Mastiff, and Cannibal Outcast. In the latter, the most normal creatures are the Carnivorous Pigs and Canines. Add to that Arrowhead Cockroach, which infests Downtown and the Cannibal Sectors and can change its carapace pattern and colour in response to threats, but it also can be turned into a cheesy past; Cannibals and other creatures transformed into Sector Mutants—KZ Mutants, KZ Dogs, and Skulkers—after drinking from heavily polluted pools in the Cannibal Sectors; and Gnaggots, maggot-like creatures capable of flight with a headache-inducing stench and mandibles that can bit through some armour, which can spend years dormant underground before bursting from the ground under the right climatic conditions in their thousands and swarming their targets. In between, ‘The Children of Scarogg’ present the descendants of biogenetic experimentation that S.L.A. Industries kept secret. Known as both Scavs and Vodyanoy, the former because they will attack and scavenge the arms and armour of anyone they attack. The gasmask wearing, towering figures have begun to infiltrate Downtown where they establish bases and outposts where they can begin to observe and experiment on the inhabitants. They have even begun taking over or establishing factories far from the eyes of S.L.A. Industries, where for the most part, they are safe from attack or interference.

The last chapter in Threat Analysis 1: Collateral returns to the subject of the first, ‘Dream Entities’, although from a different angle. ‘Naga 7 Division’ is both a new and a very ancient department within the hierarchy of S.L.A. Industries, dedicated to investigating and cataloguing the nature of reality of the World of Progress and beyond and assessing and dealing with the threats to it. This most obviously includes Dream Entities and Naga 7 Division trains agents who often work alongside SLA Ops to handle BPNs (S.L.A. Industries’ assignments) specific to its remit. As well as a detailed history of Naga 7 Division, which highlights its secretive and often duplicitous nature, the chapter gives three new options for the Player Character. These are Field Agents—Humans who have the ability to ‘Sense Artefact’ and locate the relics and legendary items from the past or beyond reality; Aethernauts—specialists who conduct the field work necessary to understand Dream Entities; and AetherTrackers—Advanced Carrien capable of tracking Dream Entities with ‘Dreamhound’. Operatives from Naga 7 Division are assigned Aether Armour suits, capable of withstanding the effects of the Gray and other esoteric threats, and weapons such as the Fracture Blade or Volt Gun, which are capable damaging Dream Entities. Operatives from Naga 7 Division are expected to undertake standard BPNs like any other SLA Op, but in game terms their role is very specific and the Game Master will want to decide whether she wants to include them and how much, just as she will with the Dream Entities from the start of the book. The obvious option is to run a campaign primarily focused around Naga 7 Division and the Dream Entities, which would explore and push at the nature of the reality of World of Progress and S.L.A. Industries as a setting.

Besides all of the threats and monsters described in the pages of Threat Analysis 1: Collateral, the supplement has another aspect which makes it all the more interesting. This is the amount of colour fiction which permeates the book with commentary on almost every aspect of the threats and other content found within its pages. This is both within the World of Progress and without the World of Progress, developing the secrets revealed and hinted at in S.L.A. Industries, Second Edition. Above all, the colour fiction brings flavour and in-game perspective to the setting.

Physically, Threat Analysis 1: Collateral is a clean, tidy looking book. It needs a slight edit in places, but the artwork is superb, brilliantly depicting the weird and worrisome threats in the supplement in almost too rich a detail, just as in other supplements for S.L.A. Industries.

Threat Analysis 1: Collateral is a supplement that every S.L.A. Industries Game Master is going to want and need. It is no mere collection of stats, but lives up to its title of ‘Threat Analysis’ by examining and assessing each danger to Mort City and the World of Progress in detail that will enable the Game Master to make each and every one interesting, even intriguing, and very likely monstrously repulsive, than simply something to just kill.

Uncharted Journeys is a supplement designed to make getting there as interesting and eventful as actually arriving at the destination. Published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, the supplement provides rules for laying out a route, preparing for the journey, and conducting the trip and involve the Player Characters at every stage; rules for encountering travellers on the way and creating ruins that the Player Characters might pass by; and then hundreds and hundreds of encounters categorised by location. In fact, there are almost two thousand encounters given in the pages in the book and they take up three quarters of the book! However, there is a sense of déjà vu to Uncharted Journeys, the feeling that you might have seen similar rules for such Journeys before. This is because they have been adapted from two earlier roleplaying games published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment which have extensive travel rules if not necessarily the enormous collection of events and encounters. These are The One Ring: Adventures OverThe Edge Of The Wild and its counterpart for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, Adventures in Middle-earth, and with both being based on the journeys undertaken by the Company in The Hobbit and the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings, both roleplaying games placed an emphasis on such journeys. With Uncharted Journeys, the Dungeon Master has the option to make journeys in her campaign as important and as dangerous and interesting as Tolkien does in Middle-earth, whether important, interesting, dangerous, or all three on each and every journey, or only on the occasional journey. Then of course, the Dungeon Master has access to all of the encounters in Uncharted Journeys as well.

Uncharted Journeys begins by discussing what Role each Player Character will undertake on a Journey. There are four—Leader, Outrider, Quartermaster, and Sentry. The Leader will keep the party’s morale and provide Inspirational Resolve during the Group Travel check. The Outrider finds the safest path and has some say over the type of encounter that the Party has. The Dungeon Master will roll and describe two encounters, without giving any specifics away, and the Outrider makes the choice between the two. The Quartermaster keeps the Party well-prepared and fed on the journey. The Sentry is ever vigilant, covering the Part’s trail and looking out for followers and ambushes. It is possible to double up on these Roles, but this will come at a Disadvantage. If there are more Player Characters than Roles, then two Player Characters can take the same Role and its checks will made with Advantage. Particular Classes are better suited to the different Roles. Thus, the Barbarian and the Ranger is a good Outrider, the Cleric a good Leader or Quartermaster, and so on. In general, the various Classes are suited to either Leader, Outrider, or Quartermaster, whilst the Sentry is left as a catch-all in terms of Class suitability.

A journey is divided into three stages—‘Set the Route’, ‘Prepare’, and ‘Make the Journey’. In the first stage, the players and their characters select a destination, which will determine its length and thus the possible number of encounters. A Journey can be Short, Medium, Long, or Very Long, ranging from fifteen miles long to a thousand miles and more, and two days in length to more than a month in length.

Journey Difficulty is determined by the terrain and weather. Having set the boundaries of the Journey and some expectations in ‘Set the Route’, in the ‘Prepare’ stage, Roles are assigned and the Player Characters can make preparations with actions such as ‘Brew Tonics’, ‘Chart Course’, ‘Procure Mounts’, and so on. These require a skill check and will provide a bonus on the Journey itself. For example, ‘Prepare a Feast’ requires a Wisdom or Charisma (Cook’s Utensils) check. If successful, the first time a Player Character would suffer a level of Exhaustion on the Journey, the Exhaustion is ignored. There are lots of options here which enable the Player Characters to play to their strengths. The third stage, ‘Make the Journey’ involves the players each making a Group Travel Check according to the Role their character has for the Journey. Succeed and the Player Characters will reduce the number of Encounters they have on the Journey. Fail and they will have Encounters extra to those indicated by the length of the Journey. For this, the Dungeon Master rolls for the Encounter Type, for example, ‘A Bump in the Road’ or ‘A Place to Rest’ and consults the table for that category for the region type the Player Characters are travelling through. Of course, the Dungeon master will still need to provide the stats and details herself, but everything else is covered in the pages of the supplement.

There is guidance too on what happened if the Journey is abandoned, but oddly, there is more to do once the Journey is complete, but this is not a stage in itself. At the end of a Journey, after all of the Encounters have been resolved, each Player Character make a Constitution check. Failure leaves the Player Character with a level of Exhaustion, success grants him temporary Hit Points, and success for every Player Character means they are also Inspired. The Player Character with the Sentry Role also rolls to see if the Party arrives safely or not, which might mean ‘Unforeseen Danger’ or it might mean complete ‘Safety’ or anywhere in between. It is at that this point that the Dungeon Master can also give out rewards, short-term, bonuses, and Experience Points. The Journey rules take up just twenty-two pages out of a two-hundred-and-ninety-five book. They provide the means to make Journeys not just more of a challenge, but interesting. There is room too within the mechanics to do two things. One is to roleplay out the events of the story, and as a result, allow the other, to play out a story.

The Encounters themselves are listed type by type and region by region in the largest section of the book. First, it sets the parameters and requirements for Encounter Type. For example, ‘A Chance Meeting’ requires the holder of the Leader Role to make a Wisdom (Insight) to gauge the mood of NPCs encountered, which will make the Group Check, which requires everyone to make a Charisma (Persuasion) or Wisdom (Insight) to impress the NPCs, easier or more difficult. Success might mean the NPCs points the Player Characters to a nearby ‘Natural Wonder’, a ‘Place to Rest’, or even ‘Hidden Reserves’, whilst failure could result in ‘A Bump in the Road’, ‘Danger Afoot’, or a ‘Deadly Fight’. These are Encounter Types in themselves, so there is a definite sense of progression if this occurs. ‘A Place to Rest’ has the Quartermaster Role make a Wisdom (Survival) check to gain Advantage—and hopefully not Disadvantage—on the Constitution (Perception) that all of the Player Characters have to roll. Success means they gain the benefit of a long Rest or a Short Rest, but failure can inflict a level of Exhaustion. If the Encounter Type provides the mechanical aspect of the Encounter, the flavour comes from the description given in the Encounter tables. For example, a ‘Place to Rest’ for the Great Cities Encounter Type could be ‘Bardcore’ where the Player Characters can perform at an inn for their bed and board, even after they have gone to bed, or a ‘Perfectly Normal Pub’ where the patrons seem to be highly engrossed in their own doings. Could there be something strange going on? Whereas, a ‘Place to Rest’ for the Hellscapes Encounter Type could be the ‘Sleep of the Just’ where an abandoned iron prison offers a refuge or a ‘Curious Cabinet’ where in a Tielfing trader offers the Player Characters the change rest in her cabinet, some disassembly required—and not of the cabinet! In many cases, if the Player Characters are successful, they gain Inspiration. However, multiple successful Encounters can mean multiple incidences of Inspiration. Of course, this is not possible, so in such incidences, they gain extra temporary Hit Points, bolstered by the success of their Journey.

In between all of the rules—well all twenty-two pages of rules—and the Encounters—all two-hundred-and-twenty-three pages of them—are the means to create NPCs which the Player Characters might meet in the Encounters, as well as where and when. This covers their backgrounds and their demeanours, and is supported with twelve example encounters. Then Uncharted Journeys does the same for ruins. This is more extensive with tables for who built the ruins, how old they are, what the ruins are and their possible points of interest, what they look like now, and what they might be used for currently. They are very nicely done, the result being a quick and dirty location created with a few rolls that the Dungeon Master can take the time to further detail, as necessary.

Physically, Uncharted Journeys is very well produced. Its rules are clearly written and easy to use, and the artwork excellent throughout.

Uncharted Journeys provides the means to support an aspect of fantasy roleplaying games and Dungeons & Dragons, that Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in particular does not do—and that is journeys and expeditions and their consequences. With an inexhaustive list of Encounters and clear simple rules Uncharted Journeys gives the Dungeon Master and her players the option to play journeys and expeditions out and make them both challenging and interesting, and events along the way matter.

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—

Losing Face is a quick-start and adventure for Swords of the Serpentine, the swords and sorcery roleplaying game using the GUMSHOE System. Published by Pelgrane Press, this is a roleplaying game of daring heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city full of skullduggery and death, inspired by the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Thieves’ World stories. Since, it uses the GUMSHOE System, Swords of the Serpentine is an investigation-orientated roleplaying game, which means that if a Hero has points in a particular Investigative Ability, he will always be able to find clues related to the ability, and if he has points in that ability, can gain further clues, and then it is up to the players to interpret the clue or clues found to push the story along. Alongside that though, it mixes in social and physical combat so that the Heroes can defeat their opponents through wit, guile, and intimidation as well as with a blade, and sorcery powerful and easy enough to tear a tower apart, if the sorcerer is prepared to accept the corruption to both his body and soul. Losing Face presents the rules for Swords of the Serpentine sufficient enough to play through the scenario, a five-scene mystery which has scope for expansion by the Game Master and for plenty of input by the players, and six pre-generated Heroes ready to be played as part of the scenario.
A Hero in Losing Face and thus Swords of the Serpentine is defined by his Investigative Abilities and their associated pools of points, General Abilities, Allegiances, and Corruption. Investigative Abilities, such as Charm, Vigilance, Forgotten Lore, and Skulduggery, enable a Hero to find clues related to the ability and when spending points from their associated pools, to gain bonuses of various types. This includes increasing the amount of damage inflicted, increase the effectiveness of a General Ability, gain temporary Armour or Grit, create a unique special effect, and more. Investigative Abilities are divided between four categories or roles—Sentinel (a cross between a private investigator and a ghost hunter, because they can sometimes see ghosts), Sorcerer, Thief, and Warrior—and a Hero can rating in any of the Investigative Abilities across the four categories or roles, or specialise in one or two. Allegiances are with factions within the city, like the Ancient Nobility or The Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers, and can be spent like Investigative Abilities. General Abilities require a six-sided die to be rolled and a player can expend points from the General Ability pool to improve the roll. Typically, the target for this roll is three or four, and for each three points the roll exceeds the target, the attack can affect an extra target. A result of five or more higher than the target indicates an attack is a critical and inflicts an extra die’s worth of damage. Attacks use Warfare, Sway, or Sorcery depending on whether they are physical, social, or sorcerous. These three can also be used to perform Manoeuvres, which do not inflict damage, but do have an effect, like disarming a foe, persuading them, and more.
Corruption represents a Player Character’s capacity to perform sorcery. Points from its pool can be spent to cast powerful spells, but expending Corruption like this triggers a Health check. Whether this fails or succeeds, it causes Corruption, either ‘Internalised’ or ‘Externalised’. If Internalised, it changes something physical about the Player Character, but if ‘Externalised’, it can affect the other Player Characters’ morale or sickens and pollutes the reality in the immediate area. Overall, there is a lot of flexibility to how the players describe their Heroes’ using their Investigative Abilities and General Abilities, and so on.
‘Losing Face’ is the eponymous scenario in the quick-start. It takes place in the constantly sinking city of Eversink where funerary statuary ensures the deceased persons’ place in heaven, but if broken, their spirit is broken or flung out of heaven. Unfortunately, the statues are everywhere and breaking them is both a sin and a crime. The scenario begins with a contact or patron bring them the body of a woman who is all but lifeless, and left without a face! Who is she and how did she end up like this? Numerous clues are provided as to what and who she is. Plus, who did this to her and why? The antagonist of the scenario does indeed have a grand plan, and determining what that is and stopping it will challenge the Player Characters. It is a really good piece of investigative fantasy that should take a session or two to play through and in the process show of the investigative process of Swords of the Serpentine.
Losing Face also includes six pre-generated characters. These include an ageless warrior, a retired church prophet, an under-acolyte in training, a likeable thief, a disinherited noble sorcerer, and an intimidating inquisitor or sentinel. These are slimmed down versions of the full character sheets, but more than adequate for the scenario.
Physically, Losing Face is speedily presented. It rushes through the rules for Swords of the Serpentine in six pages, including quick reference tables for difficulty numbers, sorcery, health, and morale. These are quite handy, as the rules will need careful study to comprehend as there is fair number of options in the terms of ways that the players can spend their characters’ Investigative Ability and General Ability points.
Losing Face is a good introduction to Swords of the Serpentine. The rules are presented in handy, if speedy fashion, and once the players grasp how they work, they provide scope for improvising details and aspects about their Heroes and bringing dynamic action—whether physical, social, or sorcerous—into play. This is packaged with an engaging scenario which again allows scope for some improvisation whilst still having plenty of meaty investigation to get involved in.

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—

The Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is the quick-start for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns for any roleplaying game. Published by Magpie Games, this is the roleplaying adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, animated series which are inspired by the indigenous cultures of North America and Asia, in particular, China, Chinese martial arts, and the ability to ‘bend’ or manipulate the four elements—water, earth, fire, and air. Only one person can bend all four elements, and he is known as the ‘Avatar’, and not only does he serve as the link between the physical world and the spirit world, but he is also responsible for maintaining harmony between the world’s four nations. In the roleplaying game, the players roleplay characters, or companions, who are capable of bending one of the elements as well as practising martial arts, all with the aim of protecting the world from harm and those unable to stand up to misuse of power. The Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is designed for three to six players, one of whom will be the Game Master, and includes five pre-generated Player Characters, rules and advice for the Game Master, and a situation or scenario, the ‘Movers & Shakers’, of the title.
The Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet and thus Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’, the mechanics based on the award-winning post-apocalyptic roleplaying game, Apocalypse World, published by Lumpley Games in 2010. At the heart of these mechanics are Playbooks and their sets of Moves. Now, Playbooks are really Player Characters and their character sheets, and Moves are actions, skills, and knowledges, and every Playbook is a collection of Moves. Some of these Moves are generic in nature, such as ‘Guide and Comfort’ or ‘Rely on your Skill and Training’, and every Player Character can attempt them. Others are particular to a Playbook, for example, Qacha, the Guardian, one of the five pre-generated Player Characters, has the Moves, ‘Catch a Liar’, ‘Suspicious Mind’, ‘Martyr Complex’, and ‘A Warrior’s Heart’.
To undertake an action or Move in a ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ roleplaying game—or Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, a character’s player rolls two six-sided dice and adds the value of an attribute such as Creativity, Focus, Harmony, and Passion, to the result. A full success is achieved on a result of ten or more; a partial success is achieved with a cost, complication, or consequence on a result of seven, eight, or nine; and a failure is scored on a result of six or less. Essentially, this generates results of ‘yes’, ‘yes, but…’ with consequences, and ‘no’. Notably though, the Game Master does not roll in ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ roleplaying game—or Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, although she does have Moves of her own.
So, for example, if Erdene, the Prodigy, wants to assess an opponent, her player will select the ‘Judging a Rival’ Move. The aim is to have Erdene determine the rival’s strengths and weaknesses, how she can show dominance or submission to the rival, what the rival intends to do next, and what the rival wishes that Erdene would do next. To make the Move, the player rolls the dice and his Erdene’s Focus to the result. On a result of ten or more, the player can ask two of these questions, whilst on a result of seven, eight, or nine, he only gets to ask one.
Besides the four stats, a Player Character has Backgrounds, for example, Urban and Military, Demeanours like Confident and Warm, and a Training, such as Airbending. He also has a Fighting Style, like ‘Strong individual streams of air, like a Firebender’s flame jets’. His Balance is represented by a track, which runs from ‘+3’ to ‘-3’, for example, between the Principles of Excellence and Community. Events and the effects of Moves can shift the Player Character’s Balance up and down the track. This represents a Player Character’s core personality and if this Balance is pushed off the track, which can lead to a loss of a Player Character’s powers, his acting against his principles, or even give in to the enemy. A Player Character’s Balance can be restored through rest and reflection, but this takes time. In addition, a Player Character has an aspect that adds depth and detail, as well as motivation. For example, Thi, the Hammer, has ‘Bringing Them Down’ which sets him up to confront a single enemy. In his case, it is Amrita, the lieutenant of the Creeping Crystal Triad that Thi once worked for and is trying to make up for having done so. When facing Amrita, Thi has a penalty to all interactive Moves, but when fighting Amrita, becomes Inspired and clears all fatigue. A Player Character has two or three ‘Fighting Techniques’ and notes on connections, a Moment of Balance when he can restore his Balance, and a Background.
As the quick-start for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet provides both an introduction to the setting and the mechanics. The former includes a basic overview of the setting, the ‘Avatarverse’ and its five ages and four nations, plus descriptions of Airbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Waterbending, followed by Weapons and Technology, and the roles that they all play in the ‘Avatarverse’. It provides a short, basic introduction to the setting, whilst the scenario gives more setting specific details. The explanation of the rules is more extensive, covering what a roleplaying game is, the need for safety tools, how to frame scenes, and more, all before going into detail about Moves. This includes the Basic Moves common to every character, plus Balance Moves, which affects the Balance Track, as well as Combat Exchanges. In general, combat in the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet and in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is run as a series of one-on-one combats rather than mass brawls, no matter the number of combatants. They require combatant to first select an approach, either ‘Defend and Manoeuvre’, ‘Advance and Attack’, or ‘Evade and Observe’, this being the basic style the character wants to assume. After that, a combatant can select a Fighting Technique associated with the approach. For example, Erdene, the Prodigy, has three Fighting Techniques. Both ‘Steady Stance’ and ‘Air Swipe’ are associated with the ‘Defend and Manoeuvre’ approach and ‘Small Vortex’ with the ‘Evade and Observe’ approach.
What there is not in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is any Moves connected to Bending, or the manipulation of an element. A Player Character needs to be trained in Bending, whether Airbending, Earthbending, Firebending, or Waterbending, and these colours what he does and the Moves he makes. For example, Meeka, the Idealist, is a Waterbender and she has the fighting style involving ice spikes, either flung or driven up from the ground or through the walls. With the ‘Disorient’ Fighting Technique, she pummels the foe with quick blows, in this case a flurry of ice shards, but with ‘Slip Over ice’, she slides around the environment with ease to put off an enemy off-balance, this could be over the ice she creates or the water from partly melted ice she has created.
The scenario in the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is the eponymous ‘Movers & Shakers’, which is set during the Korra Era of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The Player Characters are hired to protect the production of a new mover—or film—called ‘Sengo: lady of the Winds’. It has been plagued with equipment malfunctions and breakdowns, and an executive at Varrimovers International Studios fears that someone is attempting to sabotage the production of a mover that could restore the studio’s fortunes. This is certainly the case and that someone is connected to the backstory of one of the five pre-generated Player Characters. Over the course of four days, the Player Characters must protect the film, its production, its crew, and its cast from attacks from without by members of the Creeping Crystal Triad and tensions from within between the cast and crew. With the latter there is scope for investigation and roleplay and with the former, there is scope for roleplaying and combat. Like the publisher’s scenarios for Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game, ‘Movers & Shakers’ is not a linear scenario. Rather it is a situation or scenario, comprised of detailed descriptions of the various locations and NPCs, that the players and their characters can explore, the Game Master reacting to their decisions and making Moves of her own to keep up the tension, the storyline, and the action as necessary. It is primarily player-driven and the Game Master will need to understand all of the scenario’s elements to run it properly. This does mean that the scenario—and also the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet—are really designed for the beginning Game Master. She is accorded good advice on how to run the scenario, but for someone new to the hobby, it is likely to be daunting prospect.
The five pre-generated Player Characters include a rash airbender with great airbending ability who exasperates her sister, who has sworn to protect her. The others are a former triad employee who is good with technology, who is trying to redeem himself; a former soldier and waterbender who wants to help and heal the world; and an earthbender who wants to live up his father’s skill, but not his reputation. All five pre-generated Player Characters are nicely designed, capable, and interesting, and include backgrounds and connections to one or more of the other Player Characters.
Physically, the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is well presented, sturdy booklet. Running to some fifty-pages, there is plenty of advice and help for the Game Master, including summaries of the Moves, Combat Exchanges, Fighting Techniques, and more at the back. Although it needs a slight edit in places, the main issue perhaps is the lack of examples that would ease the learning of the ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ mechanics, especially the Combat Exchanges of Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game. The detailed nature of the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet also means that the Game Master does have a lot to learn and prepare.
The density of Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet and the non-linear, sandbox style nature of its scenario, ‘Movers & Shakers’, means that Game Master needs to study the booklet in order to prepare and run the adventure. For anyone new to roleplaying, perhaps fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra and having picked up the Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet to find out what roleplaying is, this is too dense and not supported with examples that would have made the learning process easier. For the more experienced roleplayer, and certainly anyone with experience of ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’, this will be very much less of an issue.
The Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet is a fun, entertaining introduction to Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game and the worlds of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Fans of both will enjoy this, as will any player who enjoys anime and martial arts, but Movers & Shakers Free RPG Day Booklet definitely benefits from an experienced Game Master.

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—

If the releases for Dragon Shield Roleplaying have been one of the two oddest releases for Free RPG Day 2023, the other is the Loup Garou Free Preview. This is a preview for Loup Garou, part of the ‘Graphic Novel Adventures’ from Van Ryder Games, best known for its board games like Final Girl and Hostage Negotiator. Funded via Kickstarter, these ‘Graphic Novel Adventures’ are solo or ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ adventure books. The publisher has released several series of these and what sets them about from other solo adventures is that they are presented in graphic form rather than text format. So essentially, what the reader is reading and playing in is a graphic novel. Such things are not new, of course, in the nineteen eighties, Diceman was a five-issue series from Fleetway which published stories involving characters from its sister publication, 2000 AD, including Judge Dredd, Nemesis the Warlock, Sláine, Rogue Trooper, Torquemada, and ABC Warriors. Diceman also ventured into political satire with the comic strip ‘You are Ronald Reagan in: Twilight’s Last Gleaming’ and Fleetway would continue this theme with the separate solo adventure book, You are Maggie Thatcher: a dole-playing game in nineteen eighty-seven. However, times have moved on, and in comparison, to both titles, Loup Garou, as well as other titles in the ‘Graphic Novel Adventures’ series are done in full colour.
The story of Loup Garou is this. The protagonist is Eoras, an apprentice to the mage, Thedocred. One night, Thedocred sends him out into the forest to collect a vital ingredient for a potion, but whilst out on the errand, a foul beast—a loup garou—attacks him. Although a hunter comes to his rescue and slays the monster, Eoras discovers that he has been scratched and is thus condemned to transform into a loup garou himself! As a mere mage’s apprentice, Eoras knows just the single spell, but as a loup garou, he has tremendous physical strength and endurance, but can he use it wisely? Will he find a cure or will he tracked down by the hunter who slew the beast that scratched him? Above all, can Eoras survive? This, ultimately, this is the aim for the reader with Loup Garou.
The Loup Garou Free Preview is a heavily truncated version of Loup Garou. It takes some thirty-one panels and a two-page spread explanation to get to the start and ‘Panel #1’. The actual adventure consists of just twenty-nine panels drawn from the full version of Loup Garou, which contains at least two-hundred-and-eighty-nine panels, this being the highest number in the Loup Garou Free Preview. Eoras begins play with ten Hit Points and ten Magic Points and a rating of four in his Strength and one in Defence, these last being his attributes. In loup garou form, five is added to both. He also has a skill point which the reader can assign. At the back of the Loup Garou Free Preview is a Skill Tree, each of which consists of eight boxes, each containing three improvements a player can choose. Eoras is an Apprentice, so would select that box and tick off its first entry, ‘Spell: Shock’. The others are ‘Ice Armour’ and ‘Spell: Fireball’. From the Apprentice box, Eoras could improve via the Sorcerer, Mage, or Lycanthrope boxes. Other starting options include Healer, Soldier, and Survivor. For every ten Experience Points gained, either through defeating an enemy or solving a riddle, Eoras gains one Magic Point and one Hit Point, and the reader can gain one improvement.
Mechanically, Loup Garou is quite simple. Combat requires a roll of a six-sided die each round to determine how many Hit Points an opponent loses. The combatant’s Strength is added to this in mêlée to get the total result or the base damage of the spell being cast if magic is being used. It costs one Magic Point to cast a spell. The other major mechanic involves riddles. Solve these and the reader and Eoras is awarded with a good number of Experience Points. A minor mechanic involves picking up items to use later. These are included in the comic panels and the reader is free to decide whether Eoras picks up one or another.
In terms of play, Loup Garou Free Preview is limited. Which is fine because it is a preview. Consequently, there is just the one incidence of combat and one of solving riddles, whilst there are several items to spot and pack in Eoras’ bag, although no reason to use them in the preview. What the Loup Garou Free Preview does show off is the excellent artwork, though in places, the number indicating the next panel to turn to or choose from is a bit small to read with any ease. The visual means also exacerbates the aspect of any solo adventure book with illustrations. Even one with a few illustrations will have the reader intrigued by them and wondering how he can guide the protagonist of the adventure to that paragraph and thus that location to discover what is actually going on there. In the Loup Garou Free Preview and thus Loup Garou, with all of paragraphs being graphic novel panels, that is an even bigger feature. Even to the point of being a distraction!
Physically, Loup Garou Free Preview is very well presented. The artwork is excellent throughout and nicely captures Eoras’ desperation and worry throughout its few pages.
As a preview, Loup Garou Free Preview is surprisingly playable given its scant number of panels and plotlines. It should really only take the reader a single effort or two to play through the whole thing and even then, only fifteen minutes or so. Yet there remains the much longer and deeper story in Loup Garou, which Loup Garou Free Preview does leave you wondering about and whether or not Eoras survives or even discovers a cure to his malady. Loup Garou Free Preview is a solid introduction to Loup Garou and by the end of it, the reader will know if he wants to find out more. Reviews from R’lyeh definitely did.

 Normally I avoid tie-in fiction for RPGs. 90% of the time, you can what I call, "hear the dice being rolled in the background." Most of it tries to cleave too close to the rules and less interested in telling a good story. 

But that is not always the case.

Back when I was gearing up to run the GDQ series for my family, I wanted to read what others had done, to immerse myself in the world and the adventures again.  That is when I discovered the writing of Pauli Kidd.

Pauli took the familiar locations and then gave me characters I really enjoyed. The Justicar, Escalla, even Cinders. They were a very rare treat. She did a fantastic job here, and I never heard the dice once.

Set in the World of Greyhawk, these books are less about these fabled locations and more about the characters. I had so much fun with them that I included Evelyn, the Princess Escalla as the daughter of the Justicar and Escalla (half-human/half-pixie, looks like an elf) in my own running of these adventures. Through interaction with the party, she became the lead freedom fighter to free the surface elves from their enslavement by the Drow across multiple planes. 

Another set are the Brimstone Angels series for the Forgotten Realms by Erin M. Evans. While the books focus on the twin tieflings Farideh and Havilar, the books cover some of the biggest events in Faerûn and even deftly cover things like the changes in world history from 3rd Edition to 4th Edition to 5th Edition.

Her books were so well received that it even added details to the rules, such as Mahen, Farideh, and Havilar to the list of Dragonborn names. 

There are few others, but these are the best in my mind.

 Moving through the door, the party finds themselves in a long room. Inside waiting are two succubi.

They look at the party and tell them that all they really need are two more souls, and their 1,000 year servitude to the Vampire Queen is complete. So they are taking volunteers. 

If two characters agree to give up their souls (not likely) all four disappear in a cloud of brimstone.

If the alu-fiends are still alive, they do have souls, but the party would need to trick them somehow into giving their souls to the succubi.

The party can kill the succubi, but they will return in 21 days to do it all over again.  If it looks like the party will fight they will simply disappear and return later.  They have no treasure and are really prisoners of the Vampire Queen.

These demons are smart and are not fond of combat.

Succubus

Armor Class: 0 [19]
Hit Dice: 6+6*** (33 hp)
Attacks:  2 claws (1d3 x2) or 1 kiss (see below)
Special: Energy drain, demon abilities.
THAC0: 13 [+6]
Movement: 120’ (40’) / fly 180' (60') 
Saving Throws: D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (6+)
Morale: 8
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 825
Number Appearing: 1 (1d2) 
Treasure Type: I, Q (typically)

Succubi are demons (Lilim) that appear as beautiful women. They are not particularly strong, nor do they work well in groups, but they are cunning and exceptionally intelligent. 

The succubus's kiss can drain a victim of one energy level (or one point of Constitution). 

Succubi have the following demonic powers:

• Become Ethereal at will
• Charm Person
• Clairaudience
• ESP
• Shape-change, humanoid forms only
• Suggestion
• Succubi can also gate in other demons, but there is only a 40% chance the gate will open: 

• Type IV (70%)
• Type VI (25%)
• Lord or Prince (5%)
• Succubi never gate in Type V demons due to a long-standing enmity. 

 Favorite dice??? How do you choose that? I have different sets for different needs.

This is the set I use when playing Ravenloft of any other Horror themed D&D-like game. Made up my black and red dice with some Castles & Crusades dice thrown in.

These are my main D&D dice right now.

My Ghosts of Albion Dice.

I got a bunch of Drow Dice at Gen Con and have used at Gen Con when running the GDQ series.

Some of my oldest dice. Used these throughout highschool.

Various witch-themed dice.


Halloween-themed dice!

More old dice to add to my collections.

Some "Holmes-themed" dice, including some Gary Con ones.

A box of character-themed dice with their minis.

Various dice bags from my years of playing.

These though are my best sets. Original TSR-era Dragon Dice from the Basic and Expert sets. These are my "showcase" ones. These are the rules and dice that don't get played. I have plenty of other copies for the table. 

So you see...how can I choose?

Going back to Room #2 the next passage looks similar to the passageway for Room #6 (and #3).  Once entering the room the party sees two succubi.

These "succubi" are in fact two Alu-fiends.

Alu-Fiend Demon

Armor Class: 1 [18]
Hit Dice: 6+6*** (33 hp)
Attacks:  2 claws (1d4+2 x2) or 1 weapon (1d6) +2
THAC0: 13 [+6]
Movement: 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws: D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (6+)
Morale: 10
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 1,250
Number Appearing: 1d2 (1d4) 
Treasure Type: C

The alu-demon is the female demonic offspring of a succubus (or other Lilim) and human. Though part demon, not all alu-demons are inherently chaotic (although good alu-demons are extremely rare). The typical alu-demon has black or brown hair and dark green, brown, or black eyes.

Alu-demons might be sent to the Material Plane to seduce mortals. When on such missions they typically arrange their flowing hair so it hides their horns and also fold their wings against their backs (and tuck them under their robe, shirt, or whatever garment of clothing one happens to be wearing at the time).

Each time an alu-demon hits with its claw attack it gains temporary hit points equal to the damage she inflicts. These temporary hit points disappear in one hour. 

Alu-fiends have the following demonic powers:

• vampiric touch 
• immune to poison
• magic resistance (15%)
• telepathy 100 ft.
• Alu-fiends can cast the following spells: 

• Charm person (3/day)
• Dimension door (1/day)
• ESP (3/day)
• Suggestion (1/day)

There is a 15% chance that these alu-fiends will not attack at all.  They are here to drive victims to their "sisters" in Room 10, behind the closed door ahead.  They will claim they are trapped here due to the magic of the Vampire Queen. This is mostly true. They will claim that if the party can get a scepter from the next room they will be freed and seek their vengeance against the mages of the Vampire Queen (this is a complete lie. They heard this from other demons here).

Recently I read on fred's HM fan blog that Heavy Metal magazine is no more.

I have often said that Heavy Metal (the music, the magazine, and the movie) was/were as much of an influence on my early 80s gaming style as were the likes of Dragon magazine, White Dwarf, and really, far more than most of the Appendix N books.

The news comes to us via Bleeding Cool and Multiversity Comics.

While I have not read HM in a long time, it was part of my D&D experience as much as anything. I even rank Taarna among the celebrated heroes of fantasy, right along with Conan, Elric, Frodo, Fafhrd, and the Gray Mouser.

This is not an age that is kind to the printed word, less kind even to the printed word on paper. I don't hold out any hope that HM will return in a new form any more than I hope that Dragon will.

 I do have a few. There is the whole Werper family with Johan I as the first character I ever created and played for longer than one session. Every version of *D&D gets a new version of Johan as either a Paladin or Cleric. A (mostly) unbroken line of father and son dedicated to fighting evil, particularly the undead.

But I have to say my favorite character has to be my little witch Larina Nix/Larina Nichols.  Johan gets a new version (a son of the previous) in every version of D&D. Larina gets a version for every game I ever play.  I don't play her in every game, but I at least give her a try in the character creation rules.

I also like to get custom art of her and support artists.

I might be a little obsessed. 

 This room has no door, but is difficult to find due to the unnatural darkness.

Once in this room magical light can be seen.  There are treasure chests with coins (4,500 gp worth) and 1d10x10 rings of various shapes and sizes.  Of these 1d4+5 will be magical. 

The magical rings can be determined from the following table; Magical Rings.

There is no other treasures or creatures here.

 We live in an unprecedented time of access to media. For example, when I was a kid if I wanted to watch a Godzilla movie I had to wait for the various "creature feature" shows that would be on my local Channel 8, 11, or 12 on the weekends and then hope that one of them would be showing Godzilla.  As I got older my options progressively grew to cable channels, VHS, DVD, and then BluRay. Now I have streaming choices. Tubi was (and is) always good for horror, but now Pluto has stepped into the ring with their 24-hour Godzilla channel and Godzilla movies on demand. Subtitled, not dubbed, for the most part.

As expected, I have been watching it all the time. I am reminded there are some really, really bad ones here (Son of Godzilla comes to mind) but also some I really enjoy.  One of those was 1995's Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Yeah, I have it on DVD, but catching it one night was a nice treat.

It also made me want to come back to my idea of giant, Kaiju-like demons for my games.

A collection of DIY Demons

Destroyah is about the same size as the official D&D (4th Edition) Orcus, though Destroyah was only about 10 bucks. Given the 1" = 5' scale, a 6½" Destroyah comes out to about 32.5'.  With horn, 35'.

It makes for a very scary demon to be honest.

D&D Demons with your humble 5'9" blogger to scale.

I have done these Gargantua demons before for both Spellcraft & Swordplay and D&D 5.  I should also do them for my hybrid Basic/Advanced "Basic Bestiary" stat block.

Gargantua
Gargantuan Fiend (Demon, Calabim)

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 240' (80') [24"]
   Fly: 300' (100') [30']
   Swim: 300' (100') [30']
Armor Class: -7 [26]
Hit Dice: 30d8+180******** (315 hp)
 Gargantuan: 22d20+44******** (495 hp)
To Hit AC 0: 4 (+15)
Attacks: 2 claws, 1 bite, 1 tail, 1 breath weapon (typical) Damage: 4d8 x2, 4d12, 2d12, as per dragons
Special: Alternate forms, breath weapon, fear aura 120', immune to mind-affecting magics, magic resistance 75%, vulnerable to holy weapons.Save: Monster 30
Morale: 12 (12)
Treasure Hoard Class: None
XP: 38,750 (OSE) 38,750 (LL)

Str: 25 (+6) Dex: 10 (+0) Con: 25 (+6) Int: 6 (-1) Wis: 7 (-1) Cha: 2 (-4)

These horrors are destruction incarnate. These demons stand 40 to 50 feet tall.  Each one is unique, but all have characteristics in common.  They are typically humanoid in shape but could be covered in scales, leathery skin, fur, chitin, or any combination of these. Some gargantuas even have alternate forms they can transform into. This includes the sprouting of wings or even juvenile or ultimate forms. In one recorded case, a gargantua was able to divide into dozens of smaller forms of 1 HD each and then reform later as the larger, composite creature. 

Their intellect is far below that of animals, and they exist only to destroy.  Powerful Balor or even Arch Fiends can control them, but it is challenging for them to do.  Mostly they are sent somewhere where everything must be destroyed or eaten.  Gargantua will even fight and kill other demons.  

All gargantua have massive claw and bite attacks.  Any critical hit roll on a bite indicates the victim has been swallowed whole.  Every gargantuan also has a breath weapon attack like that of a dragon. Typically fire, but lighting and wind are also typical. They do damage equal to the number of hp they have remaining, save vs. Breath Weapon for half.

Human wizards have been known to try to summon these creatures, but the destruction they cause usually outweighs any perceived benefits they may offer.  The spells to do so are carefully guarded.

Some scholars theorize these creatures are the remains of the ancient Titans like the Jötunar or even Die Hüne. But most believe these creatures began as normal animals infused with the evil essences of demons and their homes in the vast Abyss. 

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

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

—oOo—
Name: A Network of TunnelsPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Sean F. Smith

Setting: 1920s LondonProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Fourteen page, 1.63 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Never leave a lawyer in a locked room when death is on the linePlot Hook: A lawyer missing from his locked room
Plot Support: One map, three NPCs, and one Mythos monster.Production Values: High School Power Point Essay.
Pros# Interesting twist upon ‘Megapolismancy’# More detailed outline than scenario# Straightforward, tightly plotted # Easy to add to a campaign# Easy to adjust to other time periods# Blennophobia# Molluscophobia# Gephyrophobia
Cons# More detailed outline than scenario# Underwritten# Untidy layout
Conclusion# Easy to add to a campaign ‘Megapolismantic’ scenario# More underwritten outline than scenario, but otherwise a serviceable investigation

 Oh, now that is an interesting question.

It is a tossup, really.

Victoria and Baker Street are two very historically accurate Victorian-era RPGs. No steampunk, no gothic horror, no supernatural. Straight-up exploration of one of the more fascinating ages (in my mind) in history.  I love my Steampunk. I LOVE my Gothic Horror and Supernatural. But that loves comes from a solid grounding in the age, and these game both managed to give me what I love and be very clever about it.

Likewise, I love the tales of King Arthur and an age of a Mythic Britan.

While less grounded in actual history, these books both capture their subject matter well. Pendragon and Chivalry & Sorcery are great fun, and I just don't get to play them enough. 

It is great to do a historically accurate RPG as Victoria and Baker Street show, but Pendragon and C&S also demonstrate why historical accuracy sometimes needs to take a backseat (or passenger seat) to a good game.