For those who thought that last weekend’s liquidation sale was big, you’ll want to come out this weekend to see everything that came from the propagation area. If you haven’t been to the gallery in a while, this is the … Continue reading →

The world is dying. It no more than a few scattered lands on the Endless Sea, the beleaguered inhabitants and other survivors scrabbling for one last scrum of comfort, even at the cost others, as the prophecies of the Two-Headed Basilisks are coming true. Seven Miseries as predicted in from The Calendar of Nechrubel – The Nameless Scriptures and the seventh Misery will herald the actual end of the world… In north-western Kergüs, Blood-Countess Anthelia cries out for colour and warmth from her white stone castle in the black glass city of Alliáns, yet in her ice-wracked lands, everything the fragile countess touches, looks upon, and breathes upon is drained of colour. Yet she remains on her throne, clinging to her throne, her youth, her power, and the traditions that ensure that all is right and proper. That includes the treatment of those at her court whom she would count as a rival. No ruler may sentence a member of their court to death. The death of a rival is the rise of the martyr. There are ways and means of treating and punishing a rival that leave him ruined, if not destroyed, rather than death. For the rivals of Lady Anthelia of Kergüs, the Blood Countess, there is Her Lady’s Schackel. This is a prison hulk, once a great ship of Kergüs’ navy, now adrift on the Endless Sea, scored by acid rain, haunted by ghosts and ghasts, and seemingly unwanted by the Endless Sea, but unable to come to shore. Worse, ‘the 7’, those who were once rivals or enemies of the queen and confined to Her Lady’s Schackel have mutinied and escaped their confines, if not the rotting hulk of their prison, their profanities constantly warping the cabins and hallways of the vessel so that no two decks are alike and every deck is different each time someone enters it… Everyone knows that there is an abomination aboard that will soon come ashore and when it does a Misery will fall on the world. Until then it waits aboard the prison barge floating on the Endless sea.
This is the set-up for 7 Aboard the Schackel, semi-randomly generated prison-crawl adventure published by Bite-Sized Gaming following a successful Kickstarter campaign. It is compatible with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. It includes tables to create Player Character motivations, plots, room and location contents, random events and sounds, curses and trinkets, the state in which the surviving members of the former crew can be found, full details of the seven escaped inmates, and more.
Set-up for 7 Aboard the Schackel begins with the tables ‘2d4troubling Ties’ and ‘2d4 Conceived Plots’. For example, the ‘Lady’s Man/Woman’ entry in the former places the Player Character in fealty to Lady Anthelia who has tasked him with slaying the abomination aboard the barge, whilst the entry in the latter table places Förtära as the primary target abomination aboard, an obese woman who has entered into a bargain with a great beast from the depths of the Endless Sea and is ready to birth a cold foetus on the land which will inherit the remaining land… These two tables provide different motivations and primary enemy for any play-through of the prison-crawl, but in play, the Game Master rolls dice to populate and detail each deck of the Her Lady’s Schackel and does every time the Player Characters move from one deck to another. This includes returning to a deck that the Player Characters have already visited or explored. What the Game Master is rolling for is appearance and placement of a member of ‘the 7’, any ‘Servile Cretins’, ‘Covetous Souls’, ‘Crippled Captives’, and ‘Butchered Flesh’. Named creatures will not reappear if they are killed and the number of dice rolled each time a deck is re-entered if the Player Characters manage to clear a deck. There are five decks on the Her Lady’s Schackel.
The bulk of 7 Aboard the Schackel is dedicated to the denizens aboard the Her Lady’s Schackel. These start with ‘the 7’, monstrously fallen men and women sentenced to imprisonment aboard the prison barge. They include the ‘Falskhet, the False King’, able to command—temporarily—those he strikes with his sceptre, but also cause a target’s bones to snap and pop with his ‘Cruel Wrath’ and suffer any damage he would instead with ‘Egotistical Leech’. In his former life, he was a scapegoat for a failed uprising against Lady Anthelia and now unleashes his anger and resentment against her on anyone around him. All of ‘the 7’ are described in similar detail with clear stats and a background and an agenda. In addition, the denizens include ‘tenth-spirits’, the spectres of those given as a tithe to the Endless Sea and cursed to stay in its cold embrace rather than pass on. They include Thera, a young girl still clutching a seaweed doll and in a search of a parent and even Törgar, the dethroned and dishonoured captain of the Her Lady’s Schackel. The Servile Cretins are lingering, broken creatures which remain aboard the vessel, like the ‘Blick’, plucked eyes animated by profane magic which cast about their withering gaze.

One issue with 7 Aboard the Schackel is the focus upon its denizens, monsters, and creatures. It leaves relatively little room for the tools to help the Game Master detail the Her Lady’s Schackel. There are tables for rolling random room names and mostly useless trinkets for the Player Characters to find, but little else. This leaves the Game Master room of course to create her own descriptions, but more prompts and suggestions would have been useful. Another is that randomising each deck every time the Player Characters enter a deck is time consuming and potentially means more work for the Game Master. If that is the case, an option would be to create a deck’s layout and description just the once per playthrough. Lastly, one issue with 7 Aboard the Schackel is the use of the word ‘cretin’ to describe some of its denizens. It is derogatory and potentially offensive.
Physically, 7 Aboard the Schackel is presented in the artpunk style of Mörk Borg. It does mean that it places it is not easy to read and that may impede play. The artwork is decent, a dark, twisted swathe of the grim and the brutal.
7 Aboard the Schackel brings to life an almost living ship, its random elements giving it a flexibility that a standard would not necessarily possess. In fact, running it as a campaign scenario would mean not making the fullest use of this feature. It would work as a one-shot, with the Player Characters having different motivations for going aboard the Her Lady’s Schackel and possibly with a trimming of a deck or two, as a convention scenario also. In whatever way it is used, 7 Aboard the Schackel is a bloody and brutal grim dark prison crawl caught between the Endless Deep and the end of the world.

There are men and woman who study angels. There are men and women who study demons. What those angelogists and demonologists do not tell you is that they are not just the two sides of the same coin—they are the same coin. That is according to the Order of Mercyful Sepulcher. This sisterhood holds that angels and demons are members of the same race who come from a place called the Empyrean and that concepts such as heaven, hell, angels and demons are a flawed attempt to classify both Empyrean and the entities found there. Rather than fear or revere such angels and demons, the Order of Mercyful Sepulcher summons them, commands them, and uses their power. The nuns of the order, wrapped in their empowering Bad Habits and wreathed with a Halo, armed with Hallowed Hand Grenades and a M.A.C.E. (Masterful Armament for Crushing Enemies), and travelling in their T.O.M.B.S. (Tactical Ordinance Mobile Battle Shrine) travel the Ultracosm on the hunt for heresy, ready to burn it out. Or they too might be regarded as a heretical sect, harbouring blasphemous tomes and adhering to dissentive dictums, and practicing the activities of the apostate! It is all up to the Games Machinator as detailed in Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher.

Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher is a setting neutral supplement, a means to add battle nuns to her campaign, whether heretical or in search of heresy. Published by Mottokrosh Machinations, best known for Hypertellurians: Fantastic Thrills Through the Ultracosm, the Old School Renaissance adjacent roleplaying game of retro science fantasy, Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher could easily be used in that setting to play up the occult aspects of the Games Machinator’s campaign, whether that involves one Player Character or a group of Player Characters from the order. Alternatively, the content of the supplement can be added to a fantasy roleplaying game to add occult and ‘grimdark’ elements, whether that is a Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, or a Zweihänder Grim & Perilous campaign. To that end, Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher includes stats and details for Hypertellurians: Fantastic Thrills Through the Ultracosm and a guide to adapt it to Dungeons & Dragons, which means that its content can be used with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.

Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher begins and ends as a toolkit for the Games Machinator and her players to create their own version of the order of battle nuns. The beginning consists of a list of tenets, goals, and enemies of the order, so that one iteration of the order is likely to be different from another. The end, the first of the supplement’s appendices, consists of descriptions of four members of an example order, the Gallas Coven. They include the Mother Superior, its veteran leader; a former ancient bronze war machine turned sister; a pilot from the future; and a loyal brute of a caretaker, the only male member of the quartet. These are written up with a concept, strengths and weaknesses, background, and secret to which the Games Machinator and her players need only develop stats and abilities. The other two of the three appendices in Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher consist of a decent bibliography and a good list of inspirational media, such as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Zardoz.

The bulk of Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher is dedicated to the tomes and rituals they contain, and the benefits that the sisterhood gain in performing them. For example, Merarrhythmisis Beatae, sometimes known as the ‘black scrolls’, contains the true names of angels and thus the means to tempt or coerce them into the mortal realm where the rituals can be performed in full. The description of the book includes an extract and several associated rumours, the latter useful should the Games Machinator want to work the book into her campaign. The major spell—being the equivalent of a Seventh, Eighth, or Ninth Level spell in Dungeons & Dragons—requires the participants, willing or unwilling, to be anointed with the true names of angels and can take several hours to cast. Once done, it grants an angelic power, such as ‘Perfect Pitch Singing’, ‘Feathered Wings’, or ‘Compel Good Deed’, as well as an angelic mutation, like ‘Cherubic’ (literally small, chubby, and naked), ‘Caustic’ saliva and sweat, or ‘Goat-Legged’. It can result in a complication such as permanent, uncontrolled, lasting, or traumatic. All of the ten tomes, including The Flaggellant’s Agrapha, Be thou alike Cadat, Ablations of the heavenly host, and Concerning the needle and other instruments are nicely detailed and full of flavour.

‘Reliquary—Tools of the Order’ details items mundane and marvelous both worn and used by the order. Bad Habits are the uniform of the order and grant abilities such as Corseted, which works as light armour or even Symbiotic, which is an entity in itself that provides the wearer strength and healing as long as the wearer follows the motivation of the symbiote. Weapons include ‘Hallowed Hand Grenade’, which has a variety of effect from drenching the target in a vile stench to imposing redemption on them and making them feel the weight of his sins and the aforementioned M.A.C.E., both blunt and flanged, and which requires a ceremony that marks the wielder out to any Empyrean being as being blessed with knowledge of them. The order’s most well-known device is the T.O.M.B.S., part war machine, part shrine, with no two exactly alike. It is accompanied by a full, two-page illustration.

Besides the trio of appendices, Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher is rounded with a pair of detailed adventure seeds. One involves the haunting of the Player Characters’ T.O.M.B.S., the other a nun whose aims verge on the heretical. Each comes with a list of possible scenes, treasures, and in the case of the first, opponents. Alongside these is a handful of shorter adventure seeds which will require more development.

Physically, Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher is decently presented and laid out. The artwork is cartoonish in style, matching the slightly tongue-in-cheek tone of the book.

Add battle nuns and their devout militancy to any campaign and it sends the campaign off into the realms of the camp as far as the border with the fetishist and the kinky. That much is at least acknowledged in the list of inspirational media for Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher and that means that its content is not going to be for everyone or every campaign. Yet there are elements in the supplement, the ten tomes in particular, which would be more than suitable for a grimdark campaign without necessarily dragging in the possibly prurient content elsewhere. This is not to say that the content is prurient, but by the time its reaches the table and players being players… A campaign or scenario involving Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher could become unnecessarily adult in tone for some players. Overall, there is a lot of roleplaying potential in playing battle nuns and using Solemn Scriptures of the Battle Nuns of the Mercyful Sepulcher, but it needs a group of players happy with its content and a Games Machinator ready for the jokes that are going to fly!

Continuing down this hallway is the next cell.

This room is filled with Green Slime.  There are two on the floor, and one dripping from the ceiling. They are packed in so tightly there is no chance of surprise. One on the floor gets an "attack" as it rolls out.

Destroying the slimes will reveal 2 Swords +1. These are all that are left from the last group of adventurers. 

As if the Saturday liquidation sale wasn’t lively enough, then came Sunday and the Superb Owl party. For those unfamiliar with the great state, nation, and planet of Texas, the Superb Owl is an annual event where a majority of … Continue reading →

This door is open and there is light coming from a portal inside the room.

This room also has a large number of goblins, 1d6+3. Again these goblins are different than all the previous ones (from yet another world, these goblins have monkey feet) these goblins are a bit tougher and all wield +1 maces or +1 spears. Their world is rather magic rich.  

They have XP as a 1+1 HD creature.

Each goblin has a bag of 6 GP and 1d6+5 SP.

The portal will close in 1d4 rounds and reopen again in 6+1d12 days.

 Monster Mash is now out in both PDF and Print on Demand, and I am very, very happy with it.

Work is going on for Monster Mash II: A Green and Pleasant Land now. Classes are built, just need some edits. I also bought a bunch of art from Dean Spencer so his art will fill the book for a single artistic vision.

But one thing people have asked me is, "Can I use Monster Mash" with the OSE-Advanced Rules?

While my intent was always to stick with OSE-Classic, there is nothing stopping you from using OSE-Advanced rules.  In fact, here are my guidelines.

For this, I am going to use the races and classes from OSE-Advanced. If there is another race or class (say from one of Carcass Crawlers or other sources) you can use the closest analog. 

Races

OSE, for the moment still uses the out-moded "Races." I fully expect that will change but until I am using it as a "rules term" only.  

Note: ANY Game Master can over-rule these level limits as they see fit.

In every case these different races retain any abilities from 1st level on. 

Awakened Golem 

Requirements: 13 or greater in STR and CON, 10 or greater in WIS
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR and CON, -2 to CHA

Acrobat: NA
Assassin: 10th (must have a DEX score greater than 13
Barbarian: 14th
Bard: NA
Cleric: NA
Druid: NA (and I would add they are so far removed to nature they can never be druids)
Fighter: 14th
Illusionist: NA
Knight: NA
Magic-User: NA* (special cases could arise)
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 14th
Gothic Witch: NA
Profane Necromancer: 10th (similar special cases)

Catflok

Requirements: 12 or greater in DEX
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR and CON, -2 to CHA

Acrobat: 10th
Assassin: 10th
Barbarian: 9th
Bard: 7th
Cleric: 8th
Druid: 9th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: 7th
Knight: NA
Magic-User: 7th
Paladin: NA
Ranger: 8th
Thief: 10th
Gothic Witch: 9th
Profane Necromancer: 7th

Ghost

Requirements: None
Ability Modifiers: STR, DEX, and CON are effectively 0

Ghosts can be anything but are limited to 10th level.

Hagling

Requirements: 12 or greater in WIS
Ability Modifiers: +1 to WIS

Acrobat: NA
Assassin: NA
Barbarian: 8th
Bard: NA
Cleric: 10th
Druid: 10th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: 10th
Knight: NA
Magic-User: 11th
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 10th
Gothic Witch: 13th
Profane Necromancer: 13th

Hobgoblin

Requirements: None
Ability Modifiers: +1 to CON

Acrobat: NA
Assassin: 8th
Barbarian: 10th
Bard: NA
Cleric: 5th
Druid: 6th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: NA
Knight: NA
Magic-User: NA
Paladin: NA
Ranger: 5th
Thief: 10th
Gothic Witch: 4th
Profane Necromancer: 4th

Lycanthrope, Wererat

Requirements: 11 or greater on DEX and CON
Ability Modifiers: +1 to DEX

Acrobat: 8th
Assassin: 8th
Barbarian: 5th
Bard: 5th
Cleric: 4th
Druid: 4th
Fighter: 6th
Illusionist: NA
Knight: NA
Magic-User: NA
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 8th
Gothic Witch: NA
Profane Necromancer: NA

Lycanthrope, Werewolf

Requirements: 11 or greater on STR and CON
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR

Acrobat: NA
Assassin: 8th
Barbarian: 10th
Bard: 5th
Cleric: 4th
Druid: 4th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: NA
Knight: NA
Magic-User: NA
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 8th
Gothic Witch: NA
Profane Necromancer: NA

Revenant

Requirements: None
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR, DEX, and CON

Revenants can be anything but are limited to 9th level.

Shade

Requirements: 12 or greater on CHA
Ability Modifiers: None

Shades can be anything but are limited to 10th level.

Shadow Elf

Requirements: 15 or greater on DEX
Ability Modifiers: +1 to DEX

Acrobat: 10th
Assassin: 10th
Barbarian: NA
Bard: 10th
Cleric: 5th
Druid: 5th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: 9th
Knight: 10th
Magic-User: 8th
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 10th
Gothic Witch: 10th
Profane Necromancer: 10th

Vampire

Requirements: 13 or greater on STR and CHA
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR

Vampires can be anything, but combined with a class they are limited to 12th level.

Classes

Monster Mash also includes two "human" Classes, the Gothic Witch and the Profane Necromancer.  The Gothic witch follows the same format of my other witch classes. The Profane Necromancer is essentially a Necromancer with various evil Cleric abilities added in.

Here are some suggestions.

Gothic Witch

Drow: 10th
Duergar: 7th
Dwarf: NA* (Dwarf witches are known as Xothia and use other witch rules.)
Elf: NA* (Elf witches are known as Kuruni and use other witch rules.)
Gnome: NA* (Gnome witches are known as Good Walkers and use other witch rules.)
Half-Elf: 14th (Half-elves can choose a variety of witches.)
Halfling: NA* (Halfling witches are known as Herb Women and use other witch rules.)
Half-Orc: 10th* (Half-orc witches are also known as Bogglebos.)
Human: 14th
Svirfneblin: NA (Svirfneblin would likely be a type of Xothia.)

Profane Necromancer

Drow: 9th
Duergar: 7th
Dwarf: NA
Elf: 8th
Gnome: NA
Half-Elf: 9th
Halfling: NA
Half-Orc: NA
Human: 13th
Svirfneblin: NA

A note about the Profane Necromancer. 

There are so many Necromancer classes for Basic-era rule and OSR rulesets. Even OSE has its own Necromancer. Mine is an homage to the Death Master of the late Len Lakofka. But use whichever one you like the best, and feel free to use some or all of my spells with it. 

Again, individual GMs can make adjustments as they see fit.

One of the stranger sensations involved with shutting down the gallery involves habits. After a year or so in a new location, there’s a routine: you turn so to get into the driveway, you avoid a particular parking spot when … Continue reading →

Continuing down this hallway, there is another door on your left. Like all the cells on this level, this one is locked.

This room is empty though there is an eerie, eldritch glow to everything. Lying on the ground is a large shield.

The shield is heavy and requires a Strength of 16 to use properly. It is magic. It provides +2 to AC and even a +1 to magical attacks that are directed (fireballs, magic missiles, curses) but not non-combat-based magic (area of effect spells where the bearer can walk in or illusions).

It’s getting closer, and a lot of back inventory, in the form of plants kept in propagation containers in preparation for 2023 shows that aren’t going to happen, came out for the Superb Owl’s approval. Apparently a lot of people … Continue reading →

I did some fundraising over the weekend. Not a lot, but I hope it helped.

Last week I mentioned that I was going to donate all the profits of my various witch books to the Trevor Project in support of LGBTQ people, but in solidarity with the trans community.  When the print copy of Monster Mash went live yesterday, I thought, what the hell, I'll add yesterday in as well.

The results are in.

Not as much as I would have liked to be honest, but I guess I can't complain.

So $40.00 in sales. I said I would match all sales, so $80.00 and I figure I will round that up to $100.00.

So donation was sent in, and I asked my day-job employer to match my donation, which they will since I know The Trevor Project is on their list of approved charities.

IF you buy a copy of Monster Mash this week and want your purchase to go towards this donation then just shoot me an email and I'll get it added in a future donation (likely next week).

Thanks, everyone!

After turning the corner to get to Room 13, you continue on. All doors are on the right-hand side of this hallway.

Inside room 14 is a human male looking over another portal. On the other side of the portal is a dungeon room that looks very similar to the one they are currently in.  

The man, a Warlock, will speak to the characters in a language they do not understand.  After a few tries of failing to communicate, he will blast what he believes to be the wizard with an Eldritch Blast. He has to roll to hit (THAC0: 19), and it causes 1d6+2 points of damage. He can do this every round.  He has AC 9 and 11 hp.

There is a 30% chance he has a magic item suitable for a wizard/magic-user.

The portal leads to another world that looks exactly like the one they have left, and they might not even realize they have gone anywhere. The world is the same, but the rules here use the Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition rules.  Tell the players to give you back their sheets and hand them the same characters for the 4th Edition version of the game.

--

This monster for this room was inspired by the old Monster & Treasure assortment for the Second level.

I figure if he was a warlock, then he might as well be a 4th Edition one!

This one took a little longer, but I am very pleased with the results.

As of today, you can now get my Monster Mash in Print on Demand! 

Monster Mash Now in Print on Demand

This FULL-COLOR Hardcover is A5 sized, 148mm X 210mm, (8.3" x 5.8"), so it will look great sitting next to your copies of Old-School Essentials on your shelf. It will look even better sitting next to it on your gaming table.

I admit that I think this one is the most attractive of all my recent books.  I have never done a full-color book on my own, and I am pleased with the results. It has given me some ideas on how to improve it for next time.

It looks great with Old-School Essentials Classic as well as my OSE witch books and my A5-sized books like Craft of the Wise and the Pumpkin Spice Witch.

I guess now is as good as a time as any to mention I am working on Monster Mash 2: A Green and Pleasant Land.  Hopefully in your hands soon now that the OGL drama has died down for now.

 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: All Part of the GamePublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Matt ‘Doc’ Tracey

Setting: Jazz Age New England
Product: ScenarioWhat You Get: twenty-four page, 2.58 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Murder mystery party most foul! Plot Hook: A university reunion is a chance to renew old friendships.Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, five NPCs, two handouts, one map, and three Mythos monsters.Production Values: Plain.
Pros# Murder mystery meets the Mythos in a locked room set-up# Short, focused scenario# It could be the Yellow Sign...# Easy to adapt to other modern time periods and settings# Easy to adapt to elsewhere# Masklophobia
Cons# Needs a good edit# What does the swirling sigil look like?# Not necessarily a Mythos scenario# Underwritten clues and investigation
Conclusion# Murder mystery meets the Mythos—and whilst no spoilers—the culprit is the cliché!# Mythos twist of the knife into the country house murder cliché undone by underdeveloped investigation.

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: Al-Azif Unearthed: The UnravelingPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: John Crowdis

Setting: Jazz Age Boston
Product: ScenarioWhat You Get: Seventy-eight page, 33.73 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A merging of Mythos events unleashes hotel hell!Plot Hook: A newspaper classified advert announces the existence of an unknown scroll and an auction.
Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators, fourteen NPCs, nineteen handouts, one map, one ghost, one Mythos artifact, one Mythos spell, and three Mythos monsters.Production Values: High.
Pros# First part of ‘Al-Azif Unearthed’ campaign exploring origins of the Necronomicon# Classic auction goes wrong Call of Cthulhu scenario# Inspired by Paul Carrick artwork# High production values and solid support for the Keeper# Excellent handouts# Solid investigation and set-up# Makes use of the Chase mechanics# Highly detailed NPCs and interaction# Includes map of Boston (in a Call of Cthulhu scenario!?)# Easy to adapt to other modern time periods and settings# Papyrophobia# Dikophobia
Cons# Needs a slight edit# Another hotel hell scenario (in New England)# Makes use of the Chase mechanics# Classic auction goes wrong Call of Cthulhu scenario# Solid investigation and interaction undone by third act chase
Conclusion# Well presented scenario whose initial emphasis on investigation and interaction is undone in the last act with a big chase scene from an unstoppable monster# Decent introduction to the ‘Al-Azif Unearthed’ campaign that works better as a campaign starter rather than a one-shot

This room has another open portal. Coming through is a sight terrible to behold.

Coming through is a group (6) of Madhatter Goblins. These goblins do not appear to be similar at all to the other goblins encountered so far.

These goblins wear the skulls of their kills on their own heads. The leader is the one with the most heads.

The portal closes when the last goblin comes through. Any character on the other side when it closes is lost forever.

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

—oOo—
It has been a decade since a party of heroic adventurers ascended into the Drachensgrab Hills in the humanoid-infested Pomarj peninsula and infiltrated the secret Slave Lord city of Suderham, only to be captured and cast into the dungeons below, bereft of any possession, including arms, armour, and all magical items. Undaunted, these heroes managed to escape the dungeons, reclaim their possessions, and confront the Slave Lords even as the volcano above Suderham erupted and the god known as the Earth Dragon took her revenge. Their brave efforts put an end to the scourge of the Slavelords along the Wild Coast, ensuring that no man, woman, or child feared capture and being thrown into life slavery and drudgery that would likely only end with their death. However, it appears that is not to be, for ten years they were last sighted, the yellow sails of the Slavelords have been unfurled again. In the ports along the Wild Coast the yellow sailed ships of the Slave Lords have unloaded their dreadful cargo and on the waters of the Woolly Bay they have struck at ship after ship and raided town after town. Yet, their ambition and reach has grown. They have been seen as far north as the waters of Nyr Dyv, the ‘lake of unknown depths’, most surely having sailed the length of the Solitaries in order to get so far. As the half-orc warlord, Turrosh Mak, has unified the bickering humanoid tribes of the Pomarj into a rapacious nation and conquered over half of the Wild Coast, there is a threat of old which seems to sail before him. The Slavelords of old have returned!
This is the set-up for Slavers, one of the last supplements to be published by Wizards of the Coast for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition and certainly the last campaign to be published for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition. Published in 2000, this is a sequel to classic campaign for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, which began life as the 1980 Open Tournament run by TSR, Inc. and would be published as the four part ‘Aerie’ or ‘A’ Series—A1: Slavepits of the Undercity, A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, and A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. This would be collected in 1986 in A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords, before being later reprinted in 2013 as A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords,which included the addition of a prequel module, A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry. If A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords and A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords can be considered to be ‘Old School’, Slavers is anything but. The original quartet’s beginning as a tournament series of dungeons mark the ‘A’ Series as being tactical affairs, the activities of the Player Characters focused on taking direct action against the Slavelords, and that is even with the expansion of the original tournament adventures into full modules for sale. Slavers opens up the world and plot of the ‘A’ Series, turning it into an investigative and strategic campaign across central Greyhawk as the Player Characters attempt to find clues to the Slavelord’s activities, allies, bases, and ultimately, their location. Slavers has a plot, but it is not one that the players and their characters will necessarily adhere to as they go about their investigations. The Dungeon Master has the busy task of planting clues, directing the activities of the Slavelords and their allies as they become aware of the Player Characters’ activities, and responding to the players’ actions, for Slavers is a very player driven campaign.
Slavers is designed to be played by a group of five to eight Player Characters of Fourth and Fifth Levels and is set in the World of Greyhawk. It is a standalone campaign, but is likely to involve some sea combat, so a supplement such as Of Ships and the Sea, the ninth and last of the ‘Dungeon Master Guide Rules Supplement’ series will be useful. Similarly, the Tome of Magic will be useful for its spells. In addition, C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness and The Star Cairns are suggested as useful optional extras since the Player Characters are likely to be travelling nearby. Lastly, ‘See the Pomarj—and Die!’ from Dragon Magazine#167 will provide extra background, but an appendix in the back of Slavers greatly expands upon the region.
Slavers will take the Player Characters from the town foyers out into the waters of the Nyr Dyv and down the length of Selintan River out into Woolly Bay. Having first found hidden base on the shores of the Nyr Dyv, the Player Characters will find more hidden bases and Slavelord waystations along the coast of Woolly Bay, and there find more clues which point to the Slavelord operations as originating to the south. Following the clues will lead them deep into the peninsula of the Pomarj, much like the A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords and A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords, in search of the secret capital of the Slavelords. Once located, the Player Characters can discover and confront the true power behind the Slavelords—the temple of the Earth Dragon. This is given as a ‘Suggested Adventure Outline’ in the opening chapter of Slavers which presents ‘The Dungeon Master’s Notes’. As is clearly stated, “Preparation is required.” since the clues are not pre-written, only the primary locations and NPCs, along with further suggestions and ideas as to what might happen at those locations.
Slavers is divided into four chapters. The first is ‘The Land of Dyvers’, which covers that city and the Nyr Dyv, providing a history of the city and surrounding region, as well as detailed descriptions of both. It is accompanied by a table of random encounters and a breakdown of the slave raids across the area, and who is involved and in charge of them. These are supported by short rules for naval combat if the Dungeon Master does not have access to Of Ships and the Sea. The major Slavelord base, Slavers Cove, is fully written up as a location, as are the nearby Caverns of Blackthorn, home to a hidden lair of various humanoid species. ‘Dyvers Intrigues’ suggests many ways in which the Player Characters can become involved in the activities of the Slavelords. Perhaps investigating an assassination attempt on a priestess leading anti-shipping activity against the slavers, trying to find out why so many of the local Half-Orcs are being offered jobs on the Wild Coast, uncover the true nature of a new religion that has appeared in Dyvers, or simply have them employed as guards on a barge that is attacked by Slavelord ships. The advice here is to tie these plot ideas to local NPCs, whether as potential employers, enemies, or both.
The opening ‘The Land of Dyvers’ chapter sets the format for the other three. ‘North Woolly Bay’ presents the coastal area at the southern end of the Selintan River. In particular, it details the city of Hardby as well as the north end of Woolly Bay and the various locations and regions along its coast. Here the cities and villages not yet conquered by the Half-Orc tyrant, Emperor Turrosh Mak, are at least prepared for war, with anti-piracy activities conducted throughout the region and Greyhawk forces having established Bright Tower Keep, a fortification at the southern mouth of the Selintan River to monitor local shipping. Two slaver bases are detailed here, including the ruined city of Cantona where any operations against it will be hampered by an anti-magic zone! There are also descriptions of how the slaves are transported along the coast, pirate activity in the bay, and as before, various additional adventure ideas for the Dungeon Master to develop.
‘The Orcish Wild Coast’ presents the city of Elredd in some detail as it is a major base of operations for the slavers. Again, its history and current state are described in some detail, a city of mercenaries, pirates, and humanoids, most of them working for Emperor Turrosh Mak and thus the Slavelords. However, there are a few neutral individuals in the city too and just outside it, a party of Good aligned adventurers conducting their own operations against the occupants of the city. The latter are potential allies for the Player Characters as they attempt their own infiltration of the city, whether in secret or in disguise. Discovering quite what is going on in the city and putting an end to it will be challenging any group of Player Characters.
Finally, ‘The Pomarj’ takes the campaign and the Player Characters into the heartland of Emperor Turrosh Mak’s domain. This covers both the rough nature of the local terrain and the many and various humanoid tribes who live there, including Flinds, Gnolls, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, and Orcs, as well as various smaller tribes. Two locations are described in detail. One is Highport, the port city where A1: Slavepits of the Undercity is set and begins the A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords campaign and continues the A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords campaign. Highport is really only a staging post for the campaign because the advice in the chapter is really on how the Player Characters might get across the region to Mount Drachenkopf and the town of Kalen Lekos, the heart of Turrosh Mak’s Orcish Empire and the Earth Dragon cult, and thus the Slavelords. Both locations are described in detail again, with the Temple of the Earth Dragon fully written up ready for the rousing climax to the campaign.
Rounding out Slavers is an appendix which provides a brief history of the Pomarj, a description of the Earth Dragon cult, a list of the new magical items in the campaign, and notes on the hero-deities Kelanen, hero-god of swords, sword skills, and balance, and Murlynd, Gnomish hero-god of ‘magical technology’. The latter two entries are more extras than anything directly useful to the campaign, whilst the rest expands and supports the material already given elsewhere in the campaign. The history of the Pomarj describes the rise of the original Slavelords, their fall at the hands of the original heroes, and the rise of the despotic Half-Orc emperor, Turrosh Mak, followed by the return of the Slavelords and the events which trigger the beginning of the campaign itself.
Physically, Slavers is cleanly and tidily presented. The pen and ink artwork is excellent throughout, small pieces which pleasingly illustrate the various NPCs, monsters, and locations of the campaign. There isa nice use of the ‘greyhawk’ as a motif throughout the book, first watchful, then in flight, and lastly striking in the supplement’s closing chapter. The cartography is more serviceable than interesting. If Slavers is a comprehensive overview of the central region of Flanaess and the machinations of the Slavelords, its omissions are in the main, minor. It does lack an index, greatly hampering its utility and requiring greater study upon the part of the Dungeon Master. This is the main issue with the campaign. The others are that it would have been if there had been a map of the whole region given, rather than one of Nyr Dyv and Woolly Bay and one of the Pomarj, and also the lack of rumour tables. Only one location in the campaign has a rumour table!
—oOo—
By the year 2000, there were few if any avenues for roleplaying game reviews were limited. The only review would appear in Steve Jackson Games’ online e-zine, Pyramid. In the May 12, 2000, issue, the reviewer wrote, “Slavers is fully self-contained; familiarity with the old modules is not necessary to fully enjoy or utilize Slavers. However, the new adventure is full of references to the originals, including locations, events and NPCs, making it a lot more enjoyable for fans of the classic modules.” However, the review also noted that, “Strangely enough, Slavers in not part of TSR's Silver Anniversary Return to . . . line, even though the Slavelords series, originally published in 1980-81, certainly satisfies their criteria of being part of the shared history of many long-time D&D players. It is, however, better than the aforementioned "nostalgia" products that I have seen.”
—oOo—
As the reviewer in Pyramid pointed out, Slavers was not part of the series of nostalgia releases published by Wizards of the Coast, which had included Return to Keep on the Borderlands and Silver Anniversary Collector's Edition Boxed Set. This does seem strange, since so many of the campaigns and modules, all of them of a similar era and all of them regarded as classics were given the Silver Anniversary treatment. Further, barring A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords, the series has not been revisited in the modern iteration of Dungeons & Dragons by Wizards of the Coast. That may well be due to its subject matter of slavery as much as the campaign being intrinsically tied to the World of Greyhawk.
Slavers is a tough, challenging campaign for Dungeon Master and player alike. Although there are plenty of opportunities for combat, the campaign will roleplaying and intrigue in equal measure, and both are necessary as a great many of the enemies present in Slavers are a lot tougher than the Player Characters. Slavers mixes the certainty of the evil nature of the Slavelords’ activities with the uncertainty of who the Player Characters can trust and whether they have truly dealt with the true leaders of the organisation. The Slavelords have spies throughout the region taking advantage of local and political resentments and their vile leader, Markessa, has captured a number of fellow Elves and forcibly remade them in her own image. Nor is the campaign necessarily over once the Player Characters have killed the leadership of the Slavelords. Their actions will cause chaos throughout the region and there are likely to be members of the organisation still operating well beyond the decapitation of its leadership. Slavers includes a selection of adventures exploring the ramifications of the Player Characters’ success.
Along the way, there are numerous nods and call-backs in Slavers to A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords, mostly minor, that the players of that previous campaign will enjoy spotting. Although a sequel, it is not necessary to have played through A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords to enjoy Slavers and the many differences between the two in terms of plot and structure might even mean that some players might actually enjoy Slavers! One definite absence is that of a dungeon in the traditional sense, Slavers including adventure locations rather than dungeons. However, Slavers can of course be run by the Dungeon Master as is and as intended by the authors, as a sequel to A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords, set some ten years later in the year CY 591.However, there is some flexibility to the campaign in how it could be used. Although not used in the campaign, the Player Characters could easily revisit the sites—or at least some of them—in A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords to search for possible clues, enabling the Dungeon Master to repopulate them and so use that older content.
One way in which Slavers cannot be used as written is as a direct sequel to A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords is with the same Player Characters. This is primarily due to the difference in Levels, A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords being written for Player Characters of Seventh to Eleventh Levels and Slavers for Fourth and Fifth Levels. One option suggested in Return to Keep on the Borderlands is the Player Characters be the children of those who played the original B2 Keep on the Borderlands. This is not an option for Slavers as written as the time gap between it and A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords is ten years compared to that of twenty between B2 Keep on the Borderlands and Return to Keep on the Borderlands.
Slavers and A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords and A0-A4:Against the Slave Lords are worlds apart. If not in theme and basic plot, then very much in terms of plot design, setting, and Dungeon Master input. Slavers is not pre-plotted, but does suggest an outline, one that the Dungeon Master is free to ignore or use as is her wont. The setting, from Dyvers and Nyr Dyv in the north to Pomarj in the south, is greatly expanded upon, describing numerous towns and locations as well as the Pomarj in no little detail. Where A1-4: Scourge of the Slavelords and A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords called for Dungeon Master input in terms of readying and understanding how each is intended to be played out, Slavers calls for the Dungeon Master to study its content and develop clues, plots, encounters, and more. That more being to comprehend the content enough to react to both the actions and courses of actions decided upon by her players and their characters. In effect, Slavers is not a campaign in the classic sense of being heavily pre-plotted, but far more of an overview. Slavers is a campaign for the experienced Dungeon Master, one willing to put the time and effort in to make it her own, and together with her players, memorable. In contrast to its forebears, Slavers feels surprisingly modern and flexible for a module for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, but even as that roleplaying game’s last hurrah it showed how far both roleplaying design and the storytelling possibilities of an older system had come.

This room is locked as the others are.

When the door is opened the room empties of its contents.

Inside are three Titanic Centipedes. These creatures are like Giant Centipedes but much larger. They have 2HD each. Their bites cause 1d8 damage and the same poison of their smaller kin. 

Inside their stomachs are a total of 42 gems worth a total of 2,300 GP.

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

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

—oOo—
What is it?Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart is a quick-start for Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness, the roleplaying game based on N.K. Jemisin’s multiple Hugo Award-winning Broken Earth trilogy, which consists of The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky. It is a post-apocalyptic survival horror roleplaying game with strong themes of co-operation, community, and ecology. The quick-start is designed to be played by six players.
It is a forty-six-page, full colour booklet.
It is published by Green Ronin Publishing.
How long will it take to play?The Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart is playable in between three and five hours, so can be played through in a single session.
Who do you play?
Six Player Characters are included. These consist of a group of friends or colleagues who all live in the Comm or community of Nuveen and have been randomly selected to investigate issues and gather facts for the Headwoman. They include a scientist and inventor, a community organizer, an expert in plants, medicine, and comm sanitation, an expert forager and hunter, a secret Orogene, and a furniture-maker who works at a crèche.
Characters in the setting of the Broken Earth are members of a use-caste, which represents their primary role in a comm. These are Breeder, Innovator, Leadership, Resistant, and Strongback. Together they have one goal. This is to prepare for the next Fifth Season, those cataclysmic events when Father Earth himself rages against humankind.
How is a Player Character defined?A Player Character has Abilities, Focuses, and Talents. There are nine Abilities—Accuracy, Communication, Constitution, Dexterity, Fighting, Intelligence, Perception, Strength, and Willpower. Each attribute is rated between -2 and 4, with 1 being the average, and each can have a Focus, an area of expertise such as Accuracy (Bows), Communication (Leadership), Intelligence (Medicine), or Willpower (self-Discipline). A Focus provides a bonus to associated skill rolls and, in some cases, access to a particular area of knowledge. A Talent represents an area of natural aptitude or special training. For example, Carousing grants the capacity to outlast anyone else when having fun and Orogeny enables a Player Character to ‘sess’ or sense geological activity. A Player Character also has one or more Relationships with other Player Characters or NPCs and Fortune Points to expend on adjusting die rolls. He is further defined by a Drive, Resources and Equipment, Health, Defence, Toughness, and Speed, and Goals, and Ties.
How do the mechanics work?The Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart uses the AGE System or ‘Adventure Game Engine’. If a Player Character wants to undertake an action, his player rolls three six-sided dice and totals the result to beat the difficulty of the test, ranging from eleven or Average to twenty-one or Nigh Impossible. An appropriate Ability and Focus is added to this. If any doubles are rolled on the dice and the action succeeds, the value on the Drama die generates Stunt Points. The player can expend these to gain bonuses, do amazing things, and gain an advantage in a situation. Stunts are divided into Action, Exploration, and Social categories. For example, ‘Lightning Attack’ is an Action Stunt which gives an extra attack, ‘Assist’ is an Exploration Stunt which enables a Player Character to help another with a bonus, and ‘Spot Tell’ is a Social Stunt which gives the Player Character an advantage when an NPC is lying to him.
Fortune Points are spent to modify a single die when undertaking an action. It costs double to modify the result on the Drama Die. However, modifying the other dice means that the Player Character has a greater chance of succeeding and of rolling doubles to generate Stunt Points.
How does combat work?
The rules for combat are given under ‘Action Encounters’ and are kept to just half a page in length. They are short and straightforward. A Game Moderator or player who is familiar with the AGE System or even other roleplaying games will have no problem with this, but anyone coming to the Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart from the novels and new to the concepts of roleplaying, may find the lack of example unhelpful.
However, it is important to note that in Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness and in ‘Stress Fractures’, the scenario in the Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart that neither combat nor violence are the solutions to any one situation. In particular, under ‘DON’T START NO SHIT’, the quick-start stresses that there are deep social consequences if the scenario is resolved in such a manner.
How does Orogeny work?
Orogenes are people who have the ability to sense or ‘sess’, as well as control to extent, heat, cold, and the earth itself. This can give them an advantage when sessing seismic activity and other acts of Father Earth. Unfortunately, Orogenes are widely distrusted. Mechanically, Orogeny is treated as a Talent and has its own Stunts.
What do you play?
The Broken World, the setting for N.K. Jemisin’s trilogy of novels and Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness is one where each comm and society struggles to overcome each season and prepare for the dangers of the coming one. Caches of stored food, medicine, and other supplies are used up and hopefully replenished over the course of a season. In ‘Stress Fractures’, the scenario in the Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart, the Player Characters are asked to investigate a major problem with this activity—someone has been stealing food! However, the situation in the comm makes a turn for the worse when a death occurs in the Comm’s glass smithy. The Player Characters are hurriedly assigned to investigate what develops into a locked room situation with the body and suspects in the glass smithy and an increasingly outraged crowd outside. To restore any sense of order, Player Characters must determine what happened, identify the killer, and placate the crowd. The latter may involve some physical action, but this is primarily a social encounter, though on a larger scale. Overall, the scenario explores the tensions which arise from the setting and the threat of geological, meteorological, and climatic change.
Is there anything missing?
The Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart could have done with a map of the various locations in the scenario. However, they are fairly generic and the Game Moderator should be able to find suitable floorplans or get by without them.
Is it easy to prepare?
The rules are easy to grasp and the various investigative leads and steps of the scenario are easy to follow. The Game Moderator will need to pay particular attention to these as they are the meat of the action.
Is it worth it?
The Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart is a solid introduction to the Broken World and N.K. Jemisin’s trilogy, as well as the roleplaying game itself. ‘Stress Fractures’, the scenario does a good job of presenting and exploring the tensions which arise from the setting and the threat of geological, meteorological, and climatic change, whilst also emphasising social and investigative methods of play over that of violence.
Where can you get it?
The Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart is available here.

Fifth Season: Roleplaying in the Stillness Quickstart is currently being funded via a Backerkit campaign.

The door to this room is also open and there is a commotion coming from inside.

A group of 3 goblins is attacking a single kobold. There are three other kobolds dead on the ground.

The goblins will attack the party when they enter, the kobold will try to find a way to escape. It will attack the party to get out of this room.

Each goblin has a sack of 50+1d10 CP and 2+1d4 SP. They have spears and daggers. The kobolds have 20 CP in total.