Shall we go shopping? Shopping can be a necessity, it can be a chore, and it can be fun. Whether online or in person, we need to shop for essentials, but there are times when it can be a pleasure. Perhaps browsing for a new book or looking for the perfect outfit for that big event. Shopping in roleplaying though? Exactly the same. For the Game Master, it can be an exercise in tedium as her players pick over the contents of the rulebook’s equipment list or the roleplaying game’s equipment guide. For the player, it can be all part of the roleplaying experience, building his characters with the right gear, whether for flavour or the right effect. It even has a certain mystique of its own, because in most cases, what a player is buying for his character, is not a pint of milk, a loaf of bread, and a box of tea bags, but everything he could never imagine buying for himself. A chain hauberk, a short sword, a silver mirror, sleeping furs, a bag of caltrops, a Geiger counter, a Bergmann M.P.18,I submachine gun, a vial of black scorpion contact poison, and whatnot and so on and so on… What then of the staff? The life of the shop worker is very rarely exciting, bar the occasional encounter with a shoplifter or a fire evacuation, but what if that was not the case? Could a day in the life of a shop worker actually be exciting, or even interesting? With Get It At Sutler’s, it could actually be both.
Get It At Sutler’s is a supplement for TROIKA!, the science-fantasy role-playing game of exploring the multiverse. It is published by the Melsonian Arts Council, and much like the recent Whalgravaak’s Warehouse and The Hand of God adventures, it presents another aspect of the great city of Troika which lies at the heart of said multiverse. Its focus is firmly upon shopping, but firmly upon the staff perspective, and upon the hijinks and misadventures they have as employees of the greatest, the most fashionable, and the most prestigious department store in all of Troika. Whether it is Harrods, Liberty, Selfridges, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Le Bon Marché, and even Grace Brothers from the BBC comedy series, Are You Being Served?, the department store not only sells you everything, but it does also so with courtesy and a degree of prestige. Its halls are places to be seen and its name carries a certain cachet, and its always polite staff have a certain way of doing things, for a department store is a world unto itself. Sutler’s is no different. It is just a whole weirder—and it really, really specialises in fish.
There is no call for any particular character type for Get It At Sutler’s. The Player Characters have simply applied for a job at the department store and in this age of the gig economy, can put in a shift at any time of the day or night. Except bank holidays, when Sutler’s is closed. The management pays only for shifts worked. After all, a Player Character cannot spend all of his time adventuring across the multiverse and does have rent and food to pay for. Plus, all that time spent adventuring across the multiverse does not always pay for said rent and food. Putting in a shift at Sutler’s might just mean keeping the turbot from the door.
What Get It At Sutler’s is not is a complete guide to a department store, from the basement to the top floor, from department to department, from deliveries in to deliveries out, from just out the back to the department’s café where being seen is all that matters, from its prestigious food hall to the office of the night manager. Rather, it is an adventure or encounter generator. All the players have to do is to decide that their characters are to put in a shift and the Game Master can make a roll on the ‘shop business matrix’ to determine the time of year, how busy the shift will be, and what the most exciting thing that will happen to the characters on that shift. The six categories are ‘Quiet Day’, ‘Helping Customers’, ‘Stock Control’, ‘Feast Day’, ‘Tourists’, and ‘Heaving Wall of Flesh’, the latter referring to a day when Sutler’s is very busy and the Player Characters are facing ‘Too Many Customers’.For example, a roll for ‘Heaving Wall of Flesh’ might be “A live-catch tank leaked overnight, and the stain looks like the gaping face of St Mungo. People looking for his blessings are queuing along every isle, mixed in with innocent fish buyers. Tensions flare.” whilst a roll for ‘Stock Control’ a day might involve, “The Society of Porters and Basin Fillers is on strike, meaning you must collect your own fish from the back warehouses. You may TEST YOUR LUCK or else get lost and trapped in the store overnight. Beware the Nightmanager.”Beyond an adventure or encounter generator, What Get It At Sutler’s is also a bestiary of Enemies that the Player Characters might face on a shift at the department store. From the All-Terrain Shark, the Cutter Clam that can be used as weapons with their fleshy siphons, and the Palyngers, the city’s eels that are known to be incumbent souls standing ready to be reborn, but are still a staple food, to the members of Troika’s great and good, such as the Alcalde, the city’s unpredictable peacekeepers and spies commanded by the Great Cairo, the Cocksure Gamins, juveniles on great adventures of armies, kings, and queens, which actually look delinquency, and simply, Too Many Customers. There are also members of Sutler’s’ staff, such as the genial Daymanager, who everyone sees once, but rarely sees again; the long-legged, pinstriped Floorwalkers whose bodies lurk near the ceiling, only descending to deal with violent incidences; and the well-built and sunburnt barbarians who work as Florists despite their violent sense of humour and toxic work culture. Then there is the Nightmanager, the counterbalance and sinister shadow to the Daymanager, again rarely seen, but known to break the rules, replenish the stock, and creepily observe the doings of the department store. As you would expect from a Troika! supplement, these are all weird and odd and intriguing, and there are even mini-adventures or hooks, like those for the Disciplinary Ordeal, that can take place instead of a Player Character being fired!
Get It At Sutler’s closes with three appendices. In turn, these detail the Troikan year, a selection of fish products, and ‘Pisceans in the Second House – A Sutler’s Adventure’. This introduces Sutler’s and takes the Player Characters from their interview with the beatific Daymanager and into their first shift as a probationary member of staff. It is an unsettlingly fishy affair, and rightly so. The suggestion is that this could happen after the events detailed in ‘The Blancmange & Thistle’, the scenario in the Troika! rulebook. Of course, it would be fascinating to see an anthology of scenarios set just within the halls and departments of Sutler’s.
Physically, Get It At Sutler’s is a delightful book. Troika!’s art is always off kilter and Get It At Sutler’s is no different. In between, full page greyscale pieces capture the vastness and scope of the department store, as well as just how busy it can get.
Get It At Sutler’s is not a campaign setting or a sourcebook in the traditional sense. It does depict and describe a setting, but rather than simply laying out the details, it places them in encounters to be found by the Game Master, and then developed and presented to her players. It gives ideas and encounters—and lots of them—in a world within a world, that of a department store, that the Player Characters will visit when they need money or the Game Master wants to run something in between fuller, more traditional scenarios. Such traditional scenarios might even be run as ‘Disciplinary Ordeals’ since the management at Sutler’s is loath to truly fire anyone. The supplement is thus particularly useful when not all of the players are present or the campaign is between scenarios.
Get It At Sutler’s is a delightfully unconventional framework and book of encounters and hooks for the Game Master to develop and so bring to life, the world of the department store, in true Troika! style. It is a world of piscine peculiarity and harrowing hierarchy, one that gives the Player Characters something to do and somewhere to be, on their quite literally, odd offdays.

 This week's Into the Forgotten Realms game was interrupted again. My oldest, Liam, wanted to go to Games Plus to buy a particular FFG/Edge Star Wars book. I had been wanting to go to pick up some paints and primer for all the demons and devils I have been printing out lately. 

Aside...don't expect to see many of my painted minis here. I am really just not that good, but looking over the Shadowheart I finished last night, I am getting better. 

Anyway, they didn't have the book he wanted, so he bought a bunch of others. Hey, he is a professional with a full-time job.  He can spend his money how he likes. He is saving for a condo so he can move out, and in truth, I am not rushing the professional live-in-chef out the door.

Game night became a session of character creation and painting. 

The new EDGE (previously Fantasy Flight Games) Star Wars RPG is fun. I am not a huge fan of a bunch of unique fiddly dice, but it seems fine here. He is starting a game with his group set during the Old Republic Days.

We had a blast, I even threatened to take my old Star Wars figures out of storage. 

While my fondness for the d20 Star Wars game is largely based on my desire back in the early 1980s to mix "D&D and Star Wars," this game is pretty good.  The books are gorgeous with a good mix of screen stills from the movies and art. Plus we keep remarking on how they had the "new book" smell.

We printed out some character sheets and got to work.

Ever since he was little, Liam loved Mandalorians. He has outgrown two different Jango Fett cosplay outfits, and he has a huge collection of Mandalorian Lego mini-figs and two (or three) Lego Slave-I kits. so he made a whole cadre of Mandalorian commandos. Which is also the next set of minis he wants me to paint. 

Of course, he was not the only one there with obsessions.

One of his players is playing a Nightsister. I told him I had a Nightsister mini he could use for it in my "witch box."  I told him he could have it.

I told Liam to offer the Bugbear first!

You already know where I am going with this. I mean if Liam recreated his iconic Bounty Hunter he plays in every game, and I am given the option of playing a goth, Force-wielding witch then what do you think I am going to do?

Jedis are so 1980s, new game, new (ish) idea.  Besides, I already had an action figure for her.

Larina Nix

Species: Human
Career: Mystic
Specialization Trees: Nightsister Witch

Soak Value 0
Wounds 11
Strain 13
Defense 0

Characteristics
Brawn 1
Agility 1
Intellect 2
Cunning 2
Willpower 3
Presence 3

Skills
General: Charm 3, Discipline 2, Medicine 1, Perception 2, Stealth 1, Survival 2
Combat: Melee 1
Knowledge: Lore 1, Outer Rim 1

Talents
Witchcraft: Force Rating +1
Summon Item: Duskblade

Force Powers
Conjure. Magnitude 1, Control 1
Move (aka TK). Magnitude 2, Range 1, Control 1

Force Rating 2

Weapons
Duskblade, Dam +3, Pierce 2, Superior. Summonable

Motivations
Faith (Natural World), Ambition (Enlightenment and Discovery)

Morality
Strength: Curiosity
Weakness: Obsession
Morality: 50

Gender: Female
Age: 25
Height: 1.6 meters
Build: Average
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue

So who is this Larina? She is a brand new character (just 110 XP used). I figure she was left on Dathomir and raised by the Nightsisters. I am hesitant to say she is/was the only human on Dathomir because I know very little about Star Wars outside of the movies and Disney+ shows. But she is rare enough and at the time of the game she was the only human she knew. 

She is adventuring out into the galaxy to discover who she is and why she was left there. As she progresses, I want to give me more mental/psychic force powers.  I am not sure if she ran away from Dathomir (say like the Doctor) or was allowed to leave to further the goals of the Mother Superior (like Shadowheart). Either way she is discovering the galaxy is much, much larger than she knew. 

This allows me to play my favorite archetype with her, the country-girl/pagan visiting the big city. She is naïve, but not dumb, on the contrary, she is quite intelligent (strange that is exactly the sort of girl I married). I saw there was an option for religion, so she worships "The Winged Goddess."  I saw that and thought, if it was related to the Great Bird of the Galaxy, and almost immediately I began concocting a Star Wars/Star Trek crossover!

I'd also like her to get an astromech droid. Something that would act as her "familiar" and because I also loved those little guys. 

I am not sure how much of this game I will play. My son is very excited for it, but I'd love to get back to the Forgotten Realms sometime soon.

OH, and the book he wanted? Turns out it is a fan-made guide that we can download for free!

NOTE: It seems that Dathomiri are more or less human anyway. Ok. No worries.

 I am continuing on my journey through the titles of Appendix N, looking for the Witches that haunted those pages. This week, I have Part 2 of my overview of the Witches of Robert E. Howard, this time focusing on his horror tales.  As I covered in Part 1 of Howard, his DNA is deeply woven into the core of D&D. This is easy to see in Conan, the wandering mercenary (in many tales) having adventure after adventure. what I didn't expect was see so much, maybe even more, from his tales of horror.

Howard's horror runs all over the place.  He was obviously significantly influenced by Celtic history, especially with his Bran Mak Morn character, and a lot of these feed into his horror tales. There is a Conan-like character in his "The House of Arabu" doing battle with none other than Lilith herself and other demons. He even dips into Lovecraftian tales. Now, some people have called these "pastiches," but to me, they are nothing of the sort; they are original contributions to the mythos that are every bit as valid as Lovecraft's own and on par with Clark Ashton Smith. Where Howard shined, though, was "Southern Gothic"; he was to the south and south-west (esp. Texas) what Lovecraft was to New England. Many of tales are interlinked and there is some good opportunities for deep scholarship on how his tales link to each other and to his contemporaries (like Lovecraft) and even how his stories influenced others. I can't say for certainty, but his tale "The Haunter of the Ring" (already steeped in his own mythos connected to Conan) feels like it could have influenced Fritz Leiber's "Conjure Wife."  

What really surprised me was not that Howard was a good writer; he is full stop. But how great his horror stories are. Lovecraft himself sang Howard's praises, and he was worthy of them.

So who are the witches of Howard's Horror tales? Let's take a look.  Instead of going by witch, I am going to go by tale. Each witch is very much situated in each tale.

"Sea Curse" (1928)

Moll Farrell is an archetypical "Sea Witch." She lives in an old hut near the sea, where the tide almost comes to her doorstep, with her daughter. She collects shells and mussels and everyone thinks she is a witch. She proves it by laying a deadly curse on the two men who raped and killed her daughter. The men die, more or less, at each other's hands.

The tale drips with old-world superstition, the inevitability of doom, and the slow, creeping vengeance of the sea. Moll is an agent of vengeance and could have been found on a different coast on the Atlantic in some Celtic dream-hidden past.

The best part of the tale is the Ghost Ship filled with sailors who have committed foul crimes coming up from Hell to take the souls of the men. The image is fantastic. 

"Rattle of Bones" (1929)

A short Solomon Kane tale involving a haunted inn, a skeleton that rises from its resting place, and hints of ancient sorcery. Our "witch" here is an ancient necromancer from Russia who comes back from the dead for his vengeance. Not explicitly a witch, but the tale feels like it was ripped right out of a D&D adventure. 

"The Hills of the Dead" (1930)

Another pivotal Solomon Kane story where Kane teams up with N’Longa, a powerful African shaman and necromancer. N’Longa gifts Kane the magical Staff of Solomon, a potent artifact used to destroy vampires. N’Longa’s magic includes spirit possession and resurrection.

N'Longa's magic is called "voodoo" but that word wasn't used in Kane's time. The religious practices that went into voodoo (Vodún) did exist. 

Again, no explicit witch, though N'Longa is a great character, this tale is great for the abandoned city of vampires.

"Dig Me No Grave" (1937)

What would you get if Howard decided to write about the death Aleister Crowley 10 years before he died? You might get something very much like "Dig Me No Grave."

This tale deals with the temptation of forbidden knowledge. A scholar inherits an occult tome linked to a demon-worshipping cult. The story is Lovecraftian in tone, but the ritual magic and descent into damnation echo the witch-pact trope.

"The Children of the Night" (1931)

This tale is filled with ideas that Howard would come back to many times. 

First, there is the dream/reincarnation story that ties modern characters to ancient, savage rites. In later tales he even he explicitly links Conan and Bran Mak Morn to modern day people. 

Secondly, it features the Serpent People and hints at sorcerous cults and blood sacrifice. The Serpent People are the literary creature from whence a lot of D&D monsters spring. The Yuan-ti and Ophidians are the obvious ones, but in truth, these creatures bear more than a little resemblance to the class D&D Troglodytes. It might be that these were the root of those creatures. 

Third, and this one is big, it contributes to the Lovecraftian mythos by introducing the "Unaussprechlichen Kulten" of von Junzt. This is it's first appearance in print. This is one of the reasons why I say that Howard is not an imitator of the Lovecraftian mythos, he is a bona fide contributor. 

Lastly, the infamous "Black Stone," which will feature in many of his tales in one form or another.

"The Black Stone" (1931)

Speaking of which. This tale also features the Black Stone and "Unaussprechlichen Kulten." 

Arguably Howard’s most Lovecraftian tale. A monolithic stone and the rites performed there by a degenerate cult speak to primal, prehistoric sorcery. There’s an implied witch-queen who led the rites.  The monolith is now located in a village in Hungary called "Stregoicavar," meaning something like "Witch Town."  

Howard gives us a lot of history with ancient rites and even connects this to Margaret Murray's work on the Witch Cult of Europe. The toad-god the witches are worshiping is likely CAS;s Tsathoggua, a creature who would appear again in "The Thing on the Roof."

The Necronomicon gets name checked here as well.

"The Thing on the Roof" (1932)

This tale features forbidden books (Unaussprechlichen Kulten) , temple ruins, and an occultist who ignores all warnings. 

There is even a pre-Aztec Lich worshiping evil gods (likely Tsathoggua, but only described as a toad-like thing), and evil rituals.

I included this tale and the previous two not so much for their witches, but for their cults and their connection to the Mythos. 

"People of the Dark" (1932)

A man relives a past life where he was involved in betrayal and murder. This tale our narrator, John O'Brien, is the reincarnated Conan, and he enters Dagon's Cave to kill a rival for the hand of a woman. This one features almost everything. Conan, Lovecraftian connections, and even the Little People/Children of the Night. 

"Worms of the Earth" (1932)

Bran Mak Morn allies with a banished witch named Atla to awaken the Worms, ancient subterranean horrors, to take vengeance on the Romans. The story is primal, grim, and unrelenting. 

The worms appear to be another name for the quasi-human Children of the Night. The more and more I read about them the more I am convinced this where the D&D interpretation of the Troglodytes came from. 

Alta, the witch-woman of Dagon-moor, is one of our very few named witches. She is half-human and "half-worm" or Children of the Night. The implication here is that the Children were human or at least akin to humans.  She is human enough that her price to help Bran is that he must spend the night with her. Likely meaning there is some new half-human descendant of Bran out there now. 

This also features the Black Stone. Are these pieces all part of the monolith of ancient times? Hard to say. The piece that Bran uses is small enough for him to carry. 

Dagon's Moor, Dagon's Meer, and Dagon's Barrow are all mentioned here as further connections to the Mythos.

"The House of Arabu" (1952)

This tale was also published as "Witch From Hell’s Kitchen" though that title doesn't do it any justice. 

This tale features Pyrrhas, who is Conan in all but name really. Our main antagonist (well...) is Lilitu (really summoned by one of Conan's, I mean Pyrrhas's enemies), she appears very much as does the Lilitu of ancient myth with her mate Ardat-Lili. Of course Ardat-lilî is also a female demon (like the same sources as Lilitu) so imagine my humor when Howard describes Ardat-Lili as male. I guess somethings were still a bridge to far when he wrote this.

There are spells and the most interesting thing to me is the Lilith - Tiamat connection. Something I have explored more on these pages. 

"Black Canaan" (1936)

Southern gothic horror meets voodoo-style witchcraft. The antagonist is Zekura, a beautiful and deadly sorceress who wields spiritual power and commands zombies. She’s both feared and revered.

Normally I don't comment on the racism of some of these tales, but this one seem a bit much even for the time. Or maybe I just know how bad it actually was. Apropos of nothing, Lovecraft thought this was one of Howard's best tales. 

"The Haunter of the Ring" (1934)

A ghostly avenger stalks the land after being wronged in life. The haunting is linked to curses and violated oaths. No witches, but damn, this feels like it could have influenced "Conjure Wife."

It does feature the Ring of Thoth-Amon, a magical artifact possessed by a spirit that can possess its wearer. A form of sympathetic magic, where the curse leaps through the ages. This ring has appeared in Conan tales before. 

"Pigeons from Hell" (1938)

Howard’s most famous horror story. Southern gothic with heavy voodoo and ghost-witch elements. A woman in the Blassenville family turned to witchcraft and exacts revenge from beyond the grave as a zuvembie. Features zombified servants and spectral appearances.

Stephen King called this Howard's finest tale.

--

So there is a lot to dig into here. Howard obviously had heard of or read Murray's Witch Cult Hypothesis, since so many of tales embrace the central themes. Where Murray saw a continuous line of ancient fertility cults in a positive light, Howard saw an ancient pre-Christian and degenerate religion honoring dark, forgotten gods. In reality both points of view are as real as the other, and both suit my purposes well.

Moll Farrell and Atla are his main "named" witches, and each serves her role well. Moll feels like a solid Sea Witch, whereas Atla is something else. I have been exploring the concept of "Dragon Witches" within a tradition I've coined the Scaled Sisterhood. I could include ideas from ancient serpent cults too. 

Again, no "Conclusion." I want to venture deeper into the tales of Kull, Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn for Part 3.

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk This week’s "Monstrous Monday" post isn’t a spotlight on a new monster or a dive into old-school related myths. Instead, I will talk about something more urgent: censorship. And no, not the hand-wringing, moral-panic kind from the 1980s. I’m talking about what’s happening right now on platforms like Itch.io and Steam, where a right-wing, conservative activist group is working hard to reshape what creators are allowed to make and what audiences are allowed to see.

So let’s get some background.

Recently, Itch.io, one of the best havens for indie games, visual novels, and tabletop RPGs (including a wide range of weird, odd, and experimental content), published a troubling update. They announced new changes to their adult content policy, citing legal pressures and platform hosting concerns:

• Update on NSFW content - Itch.io

They were, as expected, dragged on Bluesky. 

Meanwhile, Steam, the world’s largest digital distribution platform for games, began removing or suppressing adult titles, including ones that had been live for years. Devs have reported de-listings, warnings, and murky policy enforcement.

• Steam Tracker: List of games no longer available on Steam (click "Changed" to sort by date)
• Steam DB: Recent Events

At the center of this firestorm is Collective Shout (no, I am not going to link), an Australian evangelical anti-porn group led by Melinda Tankard Reist. This group openly brags about pressuring Valve (the company behind Steam), and even seems to be taking credit for Itch.io’s recent clampdown.

• Collective Shout's letter to the payment processors
• Wired: Steam and Itch Are Pulling Porn Games. Devs Say It's Censorship.
• Vice (archived): Group Behind Steam Censorship Has Powerful Allies*

(*Note: this is an archived article. Collective Shout convinced Vice to remove it.)

Collective Shout brands itself as a protector of women and children, but its tactics lean toward religious authoritarianism and a disdain for anything outside its narrow moral view. And their rhetoric? Let’s just say it’s unhinged enough that it would make Jack Thompson (you know, the Godfather of Censoring Video Games) raise an eyebrow. They’ve publicly accused creators of being “pedo-gamer fetishists” and cheered on the removal of queer, kink-positive, and sex-worker-inclusive games.

• PC Gamer: “Pedo-gamer fetishists” and censorship rules

Even Yoko Taro, creator of NieR: Automata, has weighed in, calling out how this sort of censorship affects global creative freedom.

• GamesRadar: “You can even censor another country’s free speech” – Yoko Taro

Let me be 100% clear: This isn’t about “defending porn.” This is about defending expression. Games, like books, films, and zines, explore all corners of the human experience, including sexuality, trauma, queerness, kink, power dynamics, and yes, pleasure. When we allow puritanical groups with political connections to dictate what stories can be told or which creators get silenced, we all lose.

Censorship doesn’t protect anyone. It punishes the marginalized, erases nuance, and sanitizes creativity until all that’s left is bland, corporate-safe pap.

More to the point, games (and really all media) that seem to be disproportionately targeted are ones with an LGBTQI+ point of view. 

• On itch.io, payment processors, and the developers and creatives affected

I have seen Collective Shout members described as TERFs (Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminists), but I can't confirm or deny that. 

Tabletop RPGs, like the ones hosted on Itch.io, have always thrived on the edges of queer voices, indie voices, outsider art, and strange ideas. If we let these spaces get steamrolled by a group with an agenda straight out of a 1980s morality panic or a 1990s purity pledge, we risk losing not just games, but an entire movement.

We’ve fought this battle before, whether it was Tipper Gore and the PMRC, Jack Chick and his satanic panic tracts, or TSR’s late-stage moral cleanup. And we’ll fight it again. Because games are worth defending. Art is worth defending. And freedom, messy, complicated, deeply human freedom, is always worth defending.

So what can we do?

No doubt, Itch.io and Steam caved to these internet bullies, but they were not given much of an option. The real fault lies with Collective Shout and the payment processors they contacted. But they could have handled it much better. 
Obviously, going after Collective Shout is precisely what they want people to do. These types of groups thrive on this and like to show how they are really the innocents, only thinking of the children, and the rest of the world is out to get them.  So, don't give them the satisfaction. They are not protecting anyone; they are just the next level of book-banners. 

• Support creators whose work is under threat. Buy directly when you can. Leave reviews. Share links. Seriously. This is the best thing you can do to help the creators.

• Push back on platform censorship. Write to Valve and other storefronts and ask for clear, fair policies that don’t buckle to extremist pressure.

• Contact Payment Processors. Pressure works both ways.

• Stay informed about groups like Collective Shout. Know what they really stand for.

• Speak up. Silence only helps the status quo, and that is how these groups win.

• Visit. https://stopcollectiveshout.com/ to learn more.

And please. Don't try invoking the 1st Amendment here. That is about protecting American citizens against having their speech impaired by the American government. This is a global situation. 
Full Disclosure Statement: I do not have any games on Itch.io or on Steam. This doesn't affect me at all, but that is not a good reason to stay silent. 

Since 2015, we have been able to leave the Ark and explore the post-apocalypse, perhaps discover what happened, and even search for somewhere safe to live alongside the different groups. First with the mutants of Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days, then with the uplifted animals of Mutant: Genlab Alpha, the robots of Mutant: Year Zero – Mechatron – Rise of the Robots Roleplaying, and with the surviving humans of Mutant: Year Zero – Elysium. These four books consist of campaigns in their own right and they come together in The Gray Death, but the relationships between these diverse groups is not always an easy one and with resources scarce, including artefacts left over from before in the Old Age, it can lead to these very different groups coming to blows—and worse! This then, is the set-up for Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars, a skirmish wargame set in a post-apocalyptic future which takes place in an area known as the Zone.

Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Skirmish Mayhem in the Mutant: Year Zero Universe is a complete skirmish game which comes with everything that you need to play. This includes miniatures, rules, dice, cards, terrain, and more, all designed to be played by two players, aged fourteen and up, and plays in roughly ninety minutes. An expansion, Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics adds a second set of factions so that four players can play. Published by Free League Publishing following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars is notable for a number of things. Most obviously, that it is set in the Mutant: Year Zero universe, and not only that, but it is compatible with the four setting and campaign books for Mutant: Year Zero and the Year Zero mechanics such that it is possible to take a Player Character from one of the roleplaying games and adapt it to Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars. In fact, fans of Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days and Mutant: Genlab Alpha will recognise many of figures in Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Skirmish Mayhem in the Mutant: Year Zero Universe as being based on the artwork from those books. As will fans of the computer game, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. Both Dux, a duck hybrid, and Bormin, a pig hybrid, are included as miniatures in the core game.

Further, it is designed by Andy Chambers, whose wargames pedigree is unparalleled—Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic, and Warhammer Fantasy Battle for Games Workshop and Dropzone Commander from Hawk Games. Altogether, Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Skirmish Mayhem in the Mutant: Year Zero Universe sounds like an attractive package—and that is before you even get to open the box.
Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics is to date, the only expansion for the game. As with Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars, this comes with can be found ten miniatures, nearly eighty cards, one hundred tokens, ten custom dice, three sheets of cardboard terrain, and a measuring rule. What it does not come with is the rulebook or the map sheet, so the core box is still required to play. The terrain is done in full colour and on heavy cardstock, slotting together easily to create a total of thirteen pieces, consisting of walls, trees, and the ruins of buildings, some of them with an upper floor. The terrain is urban rather than rural, consisting of buildings and walls, with no trees. Notable are the walkways which allow the miniatures to move between buildings above ground level and the damaged remains of a bus, although it could be a train or underground train carriage too. Either way, it is possible to put the miniatures inside it. The terrain also comes apart easily for easy storage. The measuring rule and the tokens are bright and breezy and easy to use and see. The dice consist of two sets, the yellow base dice and the black gear dice, and they are easy to read and feel good in the hand. The cards come in two sizes. The standard size cards consist of the character cards which list each character’s stats, starting gear, and mutations or modules. They are double-sided, one side showing the character healthy, the other when he is bloodied. Other standard size cards depict obstacles and monsters that might be encountered during play, as well as Trigger cards initiate events in a scenario when they are drawn. The small cards consist of the starting equipment, modules, and mutations for the characters, as well as artefacts that can be found and are often being fought over in Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars.
Then of course, there are the miniatures. These are done in 32 millimetre, a durable plastic, and divided into two sets of five. One set of five from the Nova Cult Psionicists and one set of five from the Mechatron Robots. All ten miniatures are highly detailed and highly individualised and really stand out in play. As with the miniatures in the core game, they have been given a simple wash that makes them stand out a little more on the table and gives them a matt finish that makes them easier to handle. Fans of the roleplaying games Mutant: Year Zero – Mechatron – Rise of the Robots Roleplaying and Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days will recognise some of the characters portrayed by the miniatures. Lastly, the miniatures, cards, and dice all sit in their own tray which has a lid, for very easy storage. There is even an empty slot on the try in which the game’s tokens can be readily stored.
The scenario booklet for Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics runs to just eight pages and is mostly dominated by the expansion set’s five scenarios. Together they form a linked mini-campaign that plays out across the Zone. A new threat has arisen, one capable of taking control of factions and turning them against each other. This begins with ‘Scenario 1: Monster Bonanza’, which sees more and monsters driven to attack the factions, whilst the true nature of the threat, a murderous mutant chieftain called the Hydra, is revealed in ‘Scenario 2: The Hydra Rises’. In ‘Scenario 3: Escorting the Emperor’, the humans of the Ancients—as depicted in Mutant: Year Zero – Elysium—have returned to build the future of the Dawnworld, but needs protection from the Hydra. In this scenario, the Emperor’s Scrap Carriage—making use of the new terrain piece included in Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics—needs to be escorted across the map as it is attacked by Hydra forces, and again, a player’s faction may find itself fulling under Hydra’s influence. The Hydra’s ability to spread his psionic influence is revealed in ‘Scenario 4: Beacons of Hope’, whilst he is finally confronted in ‘Scenario 5: Final Showdown’. All but the first scenario requires a minimum of three players, and all can be played with four players, so at least one of the factions from the core box is required to play through the campaign. They all make use of the Trigger cards to add events and escalate the threat present throughout the mini-campaign.
Each of the two factions in Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics are notably different to each other. The Mechatron Robots all have low Survival scores, reflecting their weakness when it comes to avoiding or taking advantage the dangers of the Zone or take of them, whereas the Nova Cult Psionicists are more varied in their ability scores. The Mechatron Robots are also equipped differently to the Nova Cult Psionicists. Where the Nova Cult Psionicists have Mutations such as ‘Puppeteer’, ‘Magnetism’, and ‘Clairvoyance’, the Mechatron Robots have Modules like ‘Pincers’, ‘System Override’, and ‘Grenade Launch’. Each of the models in Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics, as in the core game, begins play with a standard Mutation or Module, to which is added a random one at the beginning of play. Other cards add a range of threats and encounters, such as ‘Acid Grass’, ‘Psionic Butterflies’, and ‘Magnetic Field’.
Physically, Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics is very well put together and every is of a decent quality. The cards and the tokens are bright and colourful, the terrain and the map sheet are sturdy if suitably drab, the dice feel good in the hand, and the rulebook is light and easy to read. Above all, the miniatures are superb and really stand out in play, and are pleasingly individual so that you do get attached to them.
Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics opens up a lot of utility and versatility for Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Skirmish Mayhem in the Mutant: Year Zero Universe. New factions and thus new character types, plus new monsters and a new campaign. The only downside to the new campaign is that most of its scenarios require a minimum of three players, limiting its use. There are ways around that, such as the players taking it in turn to control a third faction or playing with two factions each. Of course, there is nothing to stop the scenarios from the core set being played through again, but with the two new factions from Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics. In fact, this a good option if there are only two players and if the players want to get used to playing the new factions before leaping into the campaign in Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics.
If you enjoyed Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Skirmish Mayhem in the Mutant: Year Zero Universe, then Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars – Robots & Psionics is definitely going to give you more of what you want.

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.
—oOo—Senet is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, it is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases. Senet is also one of the very few magazines about games to actually be available for sale on the high street.

Senet Issue 14 was published in the spring of 2024 and is physically notable for its four-part, split cover inspired by the game Art Society and some classic pieces of artwork from around the world. The editorial highlights the fact that 2024 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons and that as well as being the first and most successful roleplaying game, it has had its own influence upon boardgames, the editor noting that the first Eurogame inspired by Dungeons & Dragons—2012’s Lords of Waterdeep—was the editor’s first Eurogame. Which means that the editor has been playing Euro-style games for less time than you would think and playing roleplaying games for longer than you would think! Plus the article is a bit of nostalgia upon his part.

The issue proper begins with highlighting some of the forthcoming games with its regular preview, ‘Behold’. There is an unintended theme running through the previewed games, the board game Nature exploring evolution through a series of modules; players finding undiscovered animals on an unexplored mythical island and establishing nature reserves for them in Wondrous Creatures; and critters living in ice floe villages fighting monsters in FLOE, and that is animals and creatures of various kinds. The combat continues in Tibetana, but this is a game in which the aim is to grow by spreading cultures rather than being a game about war without confrontation. It is the most intriguing of titles previewed in the issue, though perhaps not as quite as intriguing as in previous issues of the magazine. ‘Points’, the regular column of readers’ letters, contains a mix of praise for the magazine and a discussion of gaming culture, including suggestions of how to interact with other gamers by focusing on them rather than oneself and a quick report on board game display at the Young Victoria & Albert museum in London. It shoehorns in more letters in than normal, rising from four to five, but as with the previous issues, there is scope here for expansion of this letters page to give space to more voices and readers of Senet, and so build a community. ‘For Love of the Game’, continuing the journey of the designer Tristian Hall towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth—and beyond. Here he looks at what to do after the game has been fulfilled via Kickstarter and what the options are if a designer wants to keep the momentum going for his game. As Hall points out, the designer is in sales now. The question is, how more life is there in this journey and should space be made other voices?

The tried and tested format of the magazine continues in Senet Issue 14: Two interviews, one with a designer, one with an artist, and one article exploring a game mechanic whilst another looks at a game theme. It is a format that works well since it throws a light on different aspects of the hobby and its creators. The mechanic in the issue is ‘Conflict of Interest’. Dan Thurot examines the prisoner’s dilemma, the classic scenario in game theory that shows why two rational individuals might not cooperate, even if it is in their best interest to do so. It begins with its historical origins and development by the RAND Corporation and sees how it has been extended into board game design. In doing so, it hits some classic board game designs from the last seventy years. Most notably, Diplomacy, but also Cosmic Encounter from EON and its subsequent reimplementation, Avalon Hill’s Dune. The article looks at the balance between self-interest and the needs of the group, often expressed as the semi-co-operative style of play, and what becomes clear is that the mechanic is used to explore some really interesting themes. In Cosmic Encounter, Dune, and Diplomacy, this was the balance of power, but in games like We’re Sinking! A Pirate’s Dilemma and HMS Dolores, it is about the division of loot, and in the very recent Molly House, from Wehrlegig Games, this is between the need to maintain a group lifestyle and being forced to inform.

Dan Jolin also conducts issue’s first interview in ‘Larger Than Life’. This is with Brazilian board-game illustrator Weberson Santiago. His artwork was first seen in the international version of Coup, but his art, which he describes as possessing personality, has been seen since in The Bloody Inn, a game of murderous innkeepers from 2015; Avalon: Big Box, a re-implementation of The Resistance: Avalon, the Arthurian version of The Resistance, set in the same universe as Coup; and Kelp, the octopus versus shark game previewed in the previous issue of the magazine. The style is varied, but there is a theatricality and a little of the gothic to much of the artwork on show here. What is always enjoyable about these interviews is that they give an artist the chance to talk about his inspirations and how he interpreted a project.

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the world’s first roleplaying game, Senet Issue 14 does not sidestep into the world of roleplaying, but explores how the world’s first roleplaying game has sidestepped into board games. In ‘The Advance of D&D’, Matt Thrower goes all the back to the first Dungeons & Dragons-inspired, but not an actual official Dungeons & Dragons board game, Dungeon!, before looking at more modern implementations. It points out how Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition was more board game like with its grid-based play, annoying some of the roleplaying game’s players, but attracting board game players in its board game implementation, starting off with Castle Ravenloft. Many of the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired board games are battle rather than dungeon-based, so Lords of Waterdeep is one of the most radical designs to be based on the roleplaying game. This has interesting history, having been developed during lunch hours, but to date, the application of Dungeons & Dragons in board games has mainly been on battles rather than subtler conflicts as in Lords of Waterdeep. The article also suggests some other board games inspired by roleplaying games, but the inclusion of a trading card game like Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, feels like a stretch. Overall, an interesting read that explores Dungeons & Dragons-inspired board games which do more than simulate roleplaying or offer very light roleplaying.

The issue’s designer interview is with David Thompson. In ‘The Good Soldier’, Alexandra Sonechkina interviews the co-designer of Undaunted, the squad-level infantry wargame set in Normandy. The notable feature of his designs, nearly all of them with other designers, is how they focus on the individual. He talks about how the original design came about and then how the Science Fiction version of the Undaunted series, Undaunted 2200: Callisto, was developed. Another good interview which really piques the interest in the designer’s titles.

‘Unboxed’, Senet’s reviews section covers a wide range of games. The most notable are of Le Scorpion Masqué’s Sky Team, the two-player, limited communication board game of landing passenger aeroplanes and of the ecology and climate control-themed, 2024 Kennerspiel des Jahres Winner from CMYK and co-designer, Matt Leacock, Daybreak, and it is the latter that is ‘Senet’s Top Choice’. The inspiration for the issue’s cover, Art Society, is reviewed too, as The Fox Experiment, the new game from Elizabeth Hargreaves, the designer of the highly regarded Wingspan. The review strays into roleplaying a little with Acturus’ Endless Destinies: The Clockwork City, but with a card rather than dice mechanic, but its inclusion reflects another cross section of interesting games put under the lens.

As is traditional, Senet Issue 14 comes to a close with the regular end columns, ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For ‘How to Play’, ‘Lord of the flies: how to win at Hive’ by Joe Schulz, in which he explains how he switched from judo following a shoulder injury to the two-player game Hive in 2015 and has since been world champion four times. Lastly, Pasan Fernando and Damian Armitage, the duo behind Meeples Abroad, pull out Merv: The Heart of Silk for their ‘Shelf of Shame’ and discover a strategic, city-building game and the wealth of options it offers.

Physically, Senet Issue 14 is shows off the board games it previews and reviews to great effect, just as you would expect. It contains a good mix of interesting and informative articles, ‘Conflict of Interest’ showing off a surprising mix of games that the prisoner’s dilemma has been applied to and ‘The Advance of D&D’ explores another side of the roleplaying game in its anniversary year. This is all backed up by some informative reviews. Senet Issue 14 is another good issue with a wide rage of content in a well presented package.

These figures are the new leaders for my undead army.  

In the heavens there is a war between the Stars, between the stars of light and darkness, and of life and consumption. The black hole stars called ‘Photovores’ seek to consume all other Stars, and where they cannot, they cajole others to steal and enslave the other Stars. They are opposed by all other Stars, led by the wise White Dwarf Stars. When a Photovore dies, its death echoes across the heavens and echoes on worlds as lightning. On the world of Zós, the death of the most evil of Photovores, Pséphtes, struck a boy and in time, the ghost of Pséphtes corrupted him and helped him become Photiós, the King known as ‘The Pantokrator’. His most loyal and fouled servants, the Corrupted Men, spread and controlled time through their Timekeepers, interfaces between space and time, from which hatched The Pantokrator’s other minions, the Spider Lords. The Pantokrator raised armies and took to the skies, murdering Stars and enslaving Planets, even personally stabbing in the heart, Ánthraka, the much beloved Moon of Zós. In response to the rise of The Pantokrator’s empire, the Stars attacked its many colonies and even Zós itself. Their mightiest weapon was Átmos, the Stellar Wind, which brought an austere nuclear winter to every world it touched. A hatred for the Stars grew in the heart of Pséphtes and his puppet, The Pantokrator, and even as they were driven back to the world of Zós, they plotted to restore their empire. Yet as they do so, the Star whose light bathes Zós is dying and there are those who plot in spite of The Pantokrator, seeking to replace the Star with something manmade, a Sun whose light and warmth can be taxed and thus fund The Pantokrator’s desire for empire again. Even then there are those who would take advantage of this plot to instigate a seemingly never ending solar eclipse and elevate themselves to sit alongside Pséphtes!

This is the background for Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord, one of the strangest of adventures for Dungeons & Dragons—for any edition, let along Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Published by Hit Point Press, it is based upon Astromythos: Book One – World Art Book, an epic mythology presented in heroic verse created by artist and author, Jon Sideriadis. Thankfully, Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord is not in heroic verse, but it is epic in scale and requirements. It is designed for a party of Tenth Level Player Characters, who by the end of the campaign, will reach Fifteenth Level. The scenario combines cosmic horror and—very—high fantasy in a universe that is biological on an astronomical scale and will see the Player Characters crossing the dead bones of a dying world and plunging quite literally into the heart and bowels of a mountain before ascending to the heavens to confront a mistress Spider Lord at the heart of her lair, from which she woven a web around the Sun and planet of Zós. All of which is depicted in stunning artwork which captures the cosmic mythology of the setting. And the Game Master is definitely going to want to show the artwork in Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord to her players, so that they can grasp the alien grandeur of the Astromythos through which their characters are journeying. (There is, though, a deck of spell and item cards, which do show off the author’s artwork, but this is a campaign or scenario that really warrants a book of artwork to show the players, a la S1 Tomb of Horrors.)
There is, though, the matter of getting the Player Characters to the start of the scenario. The suggested hooks all boil down to the Player Characters beginning the scenario in the dungeons of King Photiós’ meteor castle on Zós and their being summoned to his court to be sent on a mission. They might be natives to Zós, but there is no suggestion as to what a native of Zós might look like in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition given in Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord. The extremely otherworldly nature of Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord lends itself to it being run as if it were a shared dream, but the reality of Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord also suggests that it could be run in conjunction with any setting involving alternate planes or travel between the stars, most obviously the Planescape Campaign Setting or Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, or their more modern iterations.

At the beginning of the scenario, the Player Characters are directed by King Photiós to fetch Dulos, a man whom the rather unpleasant monarch tells them is key to the restoration of his kingdom. This requires a journey, first on a train pulled by a biomechanical heart—the Artery Railway—and then on foot through the Flayed Wood to Nanókora, a poisoned village of bone. There are few if any survivors, but Dulos is one of them, and whilst he will thank the Player Characters for rescuing him, he will also plead for their aid. He will tell them of the truth of King Photiós’ evil and that only by allowing the trees to grow once again can the world of Zós be saved from his poison. Dulos will join the Player Characters if they decide to help him—King Photiós will attempt to kill them as thanks for their help even if they decide otherwise, and Dulos will guide them through much of the rest of the scenario. Travelling under what is now a perpetual solar eclipse, Dulos directs the Player Characters up the nearby mountains to find someone who can help recultivate the trees, but when their way back down is blocked, they are forced to make a detour into the mountain itself. The caves themselves have a very organic feel and layout, though it may not necessarily be obvious to players and their characters unless they map it out.

Once they are free of the mountain, having been captured by a two-headed ogre of cratered rock and been thrown into his pot along the way in classic fantasy style, the Player Characters enter the Skeletal Wood and search for the Zenith Door, a magical door in the sky which should open at noon daily and allow travellers to be transported into orbit and beyond. However, the perpetual solar eclipse means that it remains permanently closed, so another route is needed. This is aboard a garbage barge, for which its captain which charge a fortune, but it will get the Player Characters to the heavens to first confront one Spider Lord, Lord Skurigelos, in his dead asteroid lair and then another, Lady Klevastis, his mistress in her Horned Moon Keep on the lunar surface, after having penetrated the moonflesh mines. As befitting their Spider Lords, both asteroid lair and castle are overrun by spiders and festooned with webs, although they are not the only threat that the Player Characters will face. There is the possibility of their being captured in the asteroid lair and having to escape a torture chamber, but the exploration in both locations will culminate in a confrontation with a Spider Lord. The final fight in the scenario is incredibly tough, and unless they spot and take advantage of Lady Klevastis’ weakness, there is the possibility of a total party kill. (If that happens, it is almost worth playing through this part of the scenario again, as it might emphasise the dream-like nature of Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord.)

There are some suggestions as to how to continue the scenario, which will require no little development by the Game Master, but in this and the scenario itself, the Game Master is decently supported in Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord, something that is really useful given how different the nature of the scenario really is. This includes a good overview of the background to the setting and the scenario itself, as well as a list and descriptions of the scenario’s named NPCs. The first of the scenario’s three appendices describes new magic items, the second its bestiary, and the third, its new spells. The new magic items include some fearsome weapons, like Bone Divider, a Moonflesh great axe that requires a Strength of twenty to wield, is enchanted by Tidal Force so that it knocks opponents back thirty feet with a blow, and on a natural twenty cleaves an opponent in two in a shower of sparks and stardust! The bestiary describes some twenty-seven new creatures, including ‘Clock Mites, Mites of Many Colours and Neon Corruptors of Time’, ‘Spider Ghouls, Half-Man/Half-Spider Failed Experiments of Lord Skurigelos’, and ‘Star-Slayers, Dreaded Warriors of the Pantokrator King and Superhuman Slayers of Stars’, some of which should find their way into other cosmic or planar settings for Dungeons & Dragons.

Physically, Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord is incredibly well presented with fantastic artwork that will amaze the reader. Depictions of things such as ‘Opticos, Asteroid Abomination, Lord of the Opticons and the Spies of Photovóros’, all blue-grey and beautiful eyes looking in different directions, is genuinely creepy, even Gilliam-esque, whilst elsewhere, there is a dark religiosity to the artwork.

Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord is a linear scenario, one that is not difficult to run, but given the fearsome nature of many of the foes, difficult to overcome by the players and their characters. It is also difficult, or at least awkward, to add to a campaign easily, given the cosmic nature of its fantasy. Running it as a dream is likely the easiest way, since it requires the least explanation and will have the least effect upon an ongoing campaign, and it can be run alongside an existing campaign. In whatever way a Game Master decides to run it, Astromythos: Lair of the Spider Lord is a genuinely fantastical scenario played out on an astronomical-biomechanical scale with some amazing imagery.

The LitRPG genre appears to have got a loot box of its own with the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. LitRPG—or ‘Literary Role Playing Game’ is a genre of fiction in which the protagonists of the story are in a computerised game world, one that they are aware of being in, and have an understanding of the mechanics of the game world they are in. The term itself is barely more than a decade old, but it can be argued that books such as the 1978 Quag Keep by Andre Norton and the 1981 Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes are its precursors. With Dungeon Crawler Carl, the genre reaches a wider audience as the reader follows the exploits of an ordinary joe and his ex-girlfriend’s super-precious show cat, as together they attempt to survive a mega-dungeon and in the process save the world. The result is a knowing satire of roleplaying that combines the fish-out-of-water oddness of Douglas Adams’ The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with the bureaucratic cruelty of Stephen King’s The Running Man.

The book opens with the destruction of the Earth, although not all of it, and not by a Vogon Constructor fleet. The Borant Corporation, an alien company from outer space, has bought the planet’s mineral rights and because no-one put in an objection, has flattened every building and turned the inside of the planet into a megadungeon with eighteen levels that the remaining fourteen million survivors of the planet must fight their way through. Of course, not everyone is going to survive, and the book maintains a running count that rapidly decreases as the secrets and lethality of the dungeon are revealed. All of which will be broadcast to the galaxy as one big reality video event—Big Brother or Survivor in a dungeon, if you will. This is how the purchasing corporation plans to recover its costs in the short term, focusing on the exploits and travails of the survivors who do well as Dungeon Crawlers. One such is Carl, ex-Coast Guard marine mechanic, who happens to be outside in the freezing winds of Seattle when the flattening occurs, wearing a leather jacket, no trousers, and a pair of crocs. His choice of clothes, certainly the lack of trousers and proper shoes, becomes a running joke throughout the book. As does his means of fighting—kicking and applying explosives to almost any situation, and his navigating his way around the interface. The latter is done as a computer roleplaying game interface that plays out in the minds of the Dungeon Crawlers.

The reason he is outside is Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk. This is the prize-winning show cat belonging to Beatrice, Carl’s girlfriend. Quickly after Carl finds himself in the dungeon, Princess Donut gets uplifted and turned from a pet into a Dungeon Crawler, and thus into a character in her own right, whilst Carl is classified as her bodyguard. After getting a briefing in a Safe Room, Carl and Donut set out to explore and find an entrance to the next level down, taking down mobs and bosses on the way. As they progress, Carl and Donut learn that there is much more to the dungeon than at first seems. It is built on a regular floorplan with blocks with district bosses rather than something more organic in design and the Artificial Intelligence behind the dungeon tailors the loot boxes that both Carl and Donut receive. So, Donut receives items that enhance her Charisma—after all, she is a princess—and lots of torches, whilst Carl receives items that enhance his feet and ability to stamp and kick, but is never destined to receive any trousers. There are daily updates on the dungeon that occur in response to the Dungeon Crawlers’ actions, television shows which Carl and Donut get scheduled to appear on once they begin to get famous and accrue followers, and politics playing out behind the scenes that this first book only hints at, but which will likely play out in the subsequent books in the series.

In terms of character, Carl himself, does not entirely come across as entirely likeable. More of an everyman than a hero, in keeping with the genre, he is both aware of Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder and uses that knowledge to his advantage. Given the circumstances, it is understandable that he is exasperated, sometimes angry, by his situation, and that extends to his attitude to his girlfriend, Bea, who is first revealed to be cheating on him and then promiscuously cheating on him. It is a note of poor characterisation, not just in terms of Carl, but also of Bea, upon the part of the author, and it is not the only negative portrayal of women in the book. Several of the monsters, especially the boss monsters are more gross caricatures than monsters. Yet, Carl is driven to be the hero, to want to help the survivors from the old peoples’ home that was nearby his home and get them down to Level Two and then Level Three. To do that, he is forced to kill a lot of monsters, including a nursery of goblins, and he does feel guilty about it in exactly the opposite way that the average player of Dungeons & Dragons likely does not. The need to kill to Level up to survive almost assuages the feelings of guilt that Carl suffers from these actions, whilst the revelation that many of the monster denizens are literally waiting in fear for a dungeon crawler to turn up and kill them all, does the exact opposite.

In comparison, Queen Donut is a more interesting and likeable character even though she has the morality and attitude of a cat, uplifted to sentience and full expression. Queen Donut is often more insightful and aware than Carl is, but as a cat she is self-centred and embraces the fame of being a social media star where Carl bridles against it.

Dungeon Crawler Carl combines horror and humour, but not always effectively. The megadunegon as reality and what Carl and Donut have to do is the source for both, but it emphasises the horror more than the humour, which is from the absurdity of the situation. Both begin to weary after a while from the repetition of both and the book being just a little too long to really sustain either. The humour is also a bit too obvious and just not sharp enough to be really satirical, rarely getting above being amusing rather laugh out loud or clever.

Dungeon Crawler Carl ends almost midsentence, or at least mid-decision, rather than on definite conclusion or cliffhanger, so there is no impetus to start reading the next book if the reader has not decided already. Any reader who is not a roleplayer, whether of tabletop roleplaying games or computer games, is less likely to do so, whereas role-players are more likely to do so, since the series is squarely aimed at them, they are going to get the references, and really, there is not a lot of fiction aimed directly at them anyway. For them, the fact that they can buy this at their local bookshop is a bonus as is the fact that they might see the series adapted for television.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is an amiable read, a very knowing poke at traditional roleplaying played out on an absurd stage. It does not quite outstay its welcome, but it could have been sharper and leaner.

 Got some game time in my oldest last night. Instead of actual playing we rolled up a bunch of characters we might try out and discussed our various takes on the Forgotten Realms. My campaign, "Into the Forgotten Realms" vs. his "It's Always Sunny in Waterdeep." There are more differences than just tone, we talked about the assumptions underlying my AD&D 1st Ed, "Into" vs his D&D 5th Ed, "Sunny."

We also talked about my ideas for "Occult D&D" a little and how we can use it for either game. 

One of the characters I worked on combined a lot of these ideas. Her name is Tarjä and she is a multi-classed witch/assassin. She is not ready for posting yet, but her species is. Tarjä is a Fane-born Witch.

The Fane-born are an idea I have been playing with, off and on, for a long time. A species similar to humans, but separate. In the DC universe, they might be called Homo magi. They are a race deeply immersed in magic. 

Fane-born

Also known as: Changelings, Hag-born, Witch-kin, Hollow-Eyed

“There are children born under broken moons, with too-wide eyes and whispers in their sleep. We call them changelings. But they call themselves Fane-born, and they remember things we were never meant to know.”

- From the Journal of Larina Nix

The Fane-born are a mysterious and eerie race of humanoids born from the tangled roots of old magic, faerie mischief, and witchcraft. Some are said to be the offspring of witches and dark spirits; others are left in mortal homes as changelings or molded from magic in long-forgotten rituals. Their presence unsettles the common folk, and they are often driven away or feared as portents of ill fortune.

Yet among witches, they are honored, or at least tolerated, as strange siblings in the arcane bloodline. They possess a natural affinity for the occult, a strong spiritual presence, and an uncanny ability to see beyond the veils of the world.

Game Statistics (AD&D 1st Edition)

Level Limits

• Witch: Unlimited
• Warlock: Unlimited
• Thief: Unlimited
• Magic-User: Based on Intelligence
• Int 13 = Level 9
• Int 14 = Level 10
• Int 15 = Level 11
• Illusionist: Based on Intelligence
• Int 14 = Level 8
• Int 15 = Level 9
• Int 16 = Level 10
• Fighter: 6
• Druid: Based on Wisdom
• Wis 12 = Level 8
• Wis 13 = Level 9
• Wis 14 = Level 10
• Wis 15 = Level 11
• Wis 16 = Level 12
• Wis 17 = Level 13
• Wis 18 = Level 14

 (Cannot be Clerics, Paladins, Rangers, or Monks)

Ability Adjustments: +1 Wisdom, +1 Charisma, -1 Constitution

 Minimum Scores: Wis 13, Cha 13

 Maximum Constitution: 17

 Alignment Tendencies: Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, or Chaotic Good

 Height/Weight: 5’2" to 5’10", 90–140 lbs.

 Age Ranges: Same as human.

Racial Abilities

Innate Spellcasting: Choose one at character creation: Detect Magic, Read Magic, or Charm Person 1/day

Uncanny Presence: +2 bonus on saving throws vs. charm, fear, or possession

Occult Intuition: Can attempt to identify magical items on a roll of 1–2 on 1d6 after 10 minutes of focused examination

Ghost Sight: Can perceive into the Ethereal Plane or overlapping Faerie realms. Allows them to see invisible or ethereal creatures to 60'.

 Languages: Gains Faerie/Sylvan/Elvish as a free language. 

Cultural Notes

Origins: Some are born to mortal witches under eclipses; others are swapped at birth by fae creatures or raised by covens. Others still can be born to human parents exposed to powerful witchcraft. 

Society: Rarely form settlements of their own. Most travel between witch circles, shrines, and isolated steads.

Appearance: Unnerving beauty or eerie awkwardness; heterochromia, white hair at birth, overly long fingers, or no reflection. Some have small horns (can be hidden with hair styles), oddly proportioned limbs, or other odd appearances that can't quite be quantified at first, but lead to an unsettled feeling. 

Reputation: Seen as cursed, unholy, or dangerous. Even when doing good, their motives are questioned.

They have a bonus to Charisma and Wisdom to reflect their personal willpower and personality, but they are treated as having a Charisma score of 2 less (-2) for the purposes of reaction roles among humans and hiring human retainers.

--

Might tweak this some more as we play. Going to also convert them to 5e for my son's game. 

 No post today. Celebrating my 30-year anniversary! Wild that I have been married for 30 years. 

Here is my Facebook post for it. 

 I opened up my BlueSky to a real treat this afternoon!

Steve Kenson, the creator of Mutants & Masterminds, saw my post from earlier today and offered his version of Larina for the soon-to-be-released Mutants & Masterminds 4! I mean, really? How awesome is that? 

Here is what he did.

Nix the Witch Queen

Abilities • 40 points
Strength 0, Stamina 2, Agility 2, Intellect 5, Awareness 6, Presence 5 Skills • 20 points
Insight 4 (+10), Investigation 5 (+10), Magic 7 (+12), Perception 6 (+12), Persuasion 6 (+11), Ranged Combat: Witchcraft 4 (+10), Stealth 4 (+6), Technology 2 (+7), Treatment 2 (+7)

Advantages • 6 points

Connected, Contacts, Fearless, Evasion, Improvised Effect: Magic, Well-Informed

Powers • 67 points

Warding Sigils: Array (6 points) • 11 points

• DAE – Sigil of Deflection: Enhanced Dodge 6
• DAE – Sigil of Fortitude: Enhanced Fortitude 6
• DAE – Sigil of Will: Enhanced Will 6

Witchcraft: Array (21 points) • 34 points

• DAE – Divination: Enhanced Senses 10: Detect Magic, Acute, Analytical, Ranged; Postcognition 3; Precognition 3
• DAE – Glamour: Hallucination 7
• DAE – Levitation: Flight 10
• DAE – Part the Veil: Teleport 5, Accurate, Extended
• DAE – Spellbind: Ranged Paralyze 10, Accurate
• DAE – Witchfire Bolt: Blast 10, Accurate
• DAE – Witchfire Ward: Protection 10, Hardened, Sustained

Witch’s Familiar: Summon 4: Cotton the Cat: Use the 20-point Cat archetype plus Insubstantial 4; Continuous, Heroic, Mental Link; Enhanced Danger Sense, Enhanced Insight 2, Enhanced Perception 2 for Nix • 22 points

Combat • 28 points

Initiative +2, Attack 6, Defense 8

Resistances • 6 points

Dodge 8/14, Fortitude 7/13, Toughness 2/12, Will 7/13

(base rank/maximum rank with power effects)

Complications

Motivation: Responsibility – Uses her powers to protect and guide those who are Gifted or lost in the veil.

Enemies – The Necromancer and the Refrigerator

Power Loss: Spellcasting – Incantations and gestures are required for spellcasting. If unable to do either, Nix cannot use powers.

Relationship: Cotton – Her familiar is bound to her soul; if destroyed, Larina’s Will is Impaired for a day.

Reputation – Known in mystical circles; feared by some, worshipped by others.

Secret – Her knowledge of other worlds and timelines is dangerous to certain factions.

Notes

This is Nix based on how Tim presented her for M&M 3e. Were I Tim’s GM, I’d ask if having Nix’s Mystic Shield and Flight in her Witchcraft Array was preferred to having them as independent powers she could use at all times, although either is a perfectly viable option. A few particular conversion notes:

The playtest draft doesn’t use 3e’s Dexterity or Fighting abilities, although the Attack ability subsumes some of their functions.

Nix’s skills are largely unchanged, apart from replacing Expertise with the Magic skill.

Advantages not present in the playtest draft were removed, so there’s definitely room to add some additional ones. Improved Effect replaces Ritualist. She might qualify for Fearless 2 rather than just 1 rank (1 is now Resistance, 2 is Immunity). Nix’s is a great candidate for the Impressive Superiority or Instant Counter reaction advantages, or replacing her Attractive ranks with more interaction skill ranks. Second Chance could be replaced with Resistance to Mental Powers (5 points) or Resistance to Will Effects (15 points).

I assumed all of her Array Alternate Effects were Dynamic; which gives her a lot of flexibility, albeit a lot to juggle and manage in the midst of play as well.

This version of Nix is 167 points total, just a few over the PL 11 starting amount, and a bit low for PL 13, but her listed traits only hit the PL 12 limits, and even that only because of her max Dodge + Toughness: Her resistances can’t all be at their maximum at the same time because they’re Dynamic Alternate Effects.

Compare and contrast Nix with the Origin Edition Mystic archetype for some similarities and differences!

I mean, how can I argue with any of that? 

When the Origin Edition draft for Mutants & Masterminds Fourth Edition is out next week and the full game is out later on, I'll come back to her and see. 

Yes. This is going to be a lot of fun. Hey, does this mean that Larina has been visiting Freedom City? I am looking forward to hearing what she did there.

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. 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: Bunny The Eldritch SlayerPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Andrew Edward

Setting: Late nineties teen televisionProduct: Scenario for Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos
What You Get: Sixteen page, 2.30 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Not the Buffy you knowPlot Hook: Rescue the Bunny in lurve...Plot Support: Staging advice, five Scoobies, two NPCs, three handouts, one map, one Mythos spell, and one Mythos monsterProduction Values: Decent
Pros# Great cover# It knows, you know, and it knows you know# Either a loving pastiche or a knowing rip-off# Gelotophonia# Turophobia# Ephebiphobia
Cons# Vangelis
Conclusion# Cheesetastic pastiche or parody that does what you expect# Cultist-punching action in a pink highlighter love letter to a nineties classic

 Something a little special today. ‪Steve Kenson of Green Ronin announced on BlueSky and YouTube that there will be a new edition of his best-selling Superhero RPG, Mutants & Masterminds. I have long been a fan of this game. It also seems timely since we are now ushering in a new DC Universe on the big screen. Ever since Green Ronin had published DC Adventures as their lead-up to M&M 3.0, I have been tying my own Mutants & Masterminds games more directly to the DC Universe.  

It has been 15 years since M&M was updated, and even a couple of years ago, I was asking for a new edition. So a new edition is long overdue. I am excited about it.  

The Hero Handbook will be the first book out and there will be a quickstart/playtest version out soon and a limited print run for Gen Con.

Honestly, it could not come at a better time. Like many RPG publishers, Green Ronin is getting screwed over in the Diamond Bankruptcy filing. 

I have been writing about and working on so much "Occult D&D" lately, I have not really had the bandwidth for any supers thoughts, that's one of the reasons why my "Countdown to Superman" posts were just movie reviews and not character write-ups as well. BTW if you want fun write-ups check out Pun's posts over at Halls of the Nephilim. 

I had a lot of fun exploring the Atlantean roots of Larina on Friday. I pulled out her M&M sheets and thought maybe I should update her. Afterall Steve Kenson is a witch, and Green Ronin recently re-released their 3rd Era/d20/OGL "Witch's Handbook" one of my favorite witch books, also by Steve Kenson. I have stats here for her for Prowlers & Paragons, Mighty Protectors, Superbabes, and DC Heroes.  This might give me more ways to explore A.R.T.E.M.I.S. as well.  

Larina Nichols aka "Nix the Witch"
(Mutants & Masterminds 2.0)

Concept: Multiversal Witch, Protector of the Gifted 
 Identity: Secret
 Power Level: 11
 Power Points: 165

AbilitiesStrength: 10 (+0)Dexterity: 12 (+1)Constitution: 12 (+1)Intelligence: 20 (+5)Wisdom: 18 (+4)Charisma: 20 (+5)

Saves

Toughness: +8 (+1 Con, +7 Force Field)
Fortitude: +6 (+1 Con, +5 base)
Reflex: +6 (+1 Dex, +5 base)
Will: +12 (+4 Wis, +8 base)

Combat
Initiative: +3Base Attack: +4Ranged (Magic Blast): +8Melee (Dagger): +4
Defense: 20/14

Hero Points: 1

Movement Base 30 / 60 /120

Skills

Bluff +13 (8 ranks)
Concentration +12 (8 ranks)
Diplomacy +12 (8 ranks)
Gather Information +8 (4 ranks)
Knowledge (Arcane Lore) +20 (16 ranks)
Knowledge (Behaviorial Sciences) +12 (8 ranks
Knowledge (Current Events) +12 (8 ranks)
Knowledge (Theology/Philosophy) +13 (8 ranks)
Notice +12 (8 ranks)
Sense Motive +12 (8 ranks)
Search +13 (8 ranks)

Feats

All-out Attack
Artificer
Attractive (2)
Attack Specialization (1)
Connected
Contacts
Fearless
Dodge Focus
Ritualist
Second Chance (Will saves vs mental effects)
Well-Informed

Powers

Magic Control Array (22 PP, Dynamic)
   Magic-based powers linked through versatile casting

Mystic Blast – Damage 10 [Ranged, Magic descriptor]
   Power Feats: Accurate 2 (+4 to hit), Dynamic

Glamour – Illusion 6 [All senses]
   Concentration, Resist: Will, Dynamic

Witchfire Ward – Force Field 7 (Sustained)
   Power Feats: Subtle, Dynamic

Spellbind – Paralyze 8 (Will save, Magic)
   Extras: Ranged; Flaws: Action (Standard), Dynamic

Divination – Super-Senses 6 (Postcognition, Precognition, Detect Magic – Ranged/Accurate/Acute)

Teleport (Mirror Walk) – Teleport 6 (600 ft)
   Extras: Accurate, Extended; Flaws: Medium (mirror or water), Dynamic

Familiar: Cotton (8 PP)

Summon 3 – Small incorporeal white cat
  Heroic
  Extras: Mental Link, Feature: Danger Sense (for Larina), +2 to Notice/Sense Motive when nearby
  Cotton may take Independent actions to warn or investigate

Complications

Motivation (Responsibility): Feels a duty to protect young witches and the magically gifted
Enemies: The Necromancer, The Refrigerator
Fame/Infamy: Known in occult and supernatural circles; mistrusted by certain agencies
Power Loss: Incantations and gestures required for spellcasting

Notes: I combined about three different write-ups here for her. I like her starting at PL 11, a nice nod to her stats in AD&D when I wrote my first Witch books (Magic-user 1/Witch 10 dual class). 

---

Larina Nicohols aka "Nix the Witch Queen"
(Mutants & Masterminds 3.0)

Concept: Multiversal Witch, Protector of the Gifted 
 Identity: Secret
 Power Level: 13
 Power Points: 197 (2 over)

Strength 0
Stamina 2
Agility 2
Dexterity 2
Fighting 3
Intellect 5
Awareness 6
Presence 5

Skills
Athletics  (+0), Deception  (+5), Expertise: Occult 7 (+12), Expertise: Magic 7 (+12), Insight 4 (+10), Intimidation  (+5), Investigation 5 (+10), Perception 6 (+12), Persuasion 6 (+11), Stealth 4 (+6), Technology 2 (+7), Treatment 2 (+7)

Advantages
All-out Attack, Artificer, Attractive 2, Connected, Contacts, Fearless, Evasion 1, Ritualist, Second Chance 1, Well-Informed, Accurate Attack [Arcane Blast]

Offense
Initiative +2

Defense
Dodge 14, Parry 7
Toughness 12 (Def Roll 0), Fortitude 13, Will 13

Powers

Witchraft (Magic)
     Witchfire Blast: Blast 10 [Accurate]
     Alt: Mystic Shield: Protection 10
     Alt: Part the Veil: Teleport 4
     Alt: Divination: Senses 6
     Alt: Binding Curse : Affliction 8
     Alt: Glamour : Illusion 6
     Alt: Call Familiar (Cotton): Summon 4
     Alt: Fly: Flight 7

Warding Sigils
     Warding Sigils - Dodge: Enhanced Dodge 6
     Alt: Warning Sigils - Fortitude: Enhanced Fortitude 6
     Alt: Warning Sigils - Will: Enhanced Will 6

Second Sight
     Second Sight: Senses 6

Familiar: Cotton
     Familiar - Cotton: Summon 4

Complications
Motivation: Responsibility – Uses her power to protect and guide those who are Gifted or lost in the veil
Fame/Infamy – Known in mystical circles; feared by some, worshipped by others
Power Loss (Silenced) – Incantation and gestures are required for spellcasting
Relationship: Cotton – Her familiar is bound to her soul; if destroyed, Larina suffers a -2 to all Will-based effects for 24 hours
Uncovered Secret – Her knowledge of other worlds and timelines is dangerous to certain factions
Enemy: The Necromancer, The Refrigerator

Notes: For 3rd edition, I bumped up her PL to 13.  I figured she gained some power.  Again this is the combination of about two or three (one was a version of the other, so 2.5) different versions of her. The two different editions are not continuous versions of her, but rather what I wanted to do at the time. 

That is one of the strengths of M&M, you can build a character so many different ways. That's one of the reasons I have so many different versions of her. 

Mutants & Masterminds 4.0 should be fun as well and I am really looking forward to it.

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. 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: HUMPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Sean Liddle

Setting: World War II PlymouthProduct: Outline
What You Get: Six page, 173.34 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Three Go Mad in DevonPlot Hook: What is the source of the constant HUM in the forest?Plot Support: Staging adviceProduction Values: Plain
Pros# Pleasing sense of a rural idyll# Detailed outline# Potential for child-like curiosity and terror# Potential for sequels # Misophonia# Entomophobia# Hylophobia
Cons# No pre-generated Investigators
# Outline rather than scenario
Conclusion# Engaging low key scenario with intriguing sense of an idyll spoiled# Detailed outline still leaves the Keeper with work to do

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha 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?A Broo Did It And Ran Away is “A 5 page plot with 2 parts” for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which presents a short mystery that the Game Master can run as a single session’s worth of play or possibly longer.

It is a two page, full colour 534.26 KB PDF.

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

The scenario hook can be easily be adapted to the rules system of the Game Master’s choice.
Where is it set?As written, A Broo Did It And Ran Away takes place in the same lands as the Player Characters’ clan. This can be in Sartar or any settled land. Ideally, it should be located adjacent to a forest and near some hills, and it should be run during Earth Season.
Who do you play?
A Broo Did It And Ran Away does not suggest any specific character type, but as it ends in a fight, combat capable Player Characters are recommended and ideally, it should not include a Storm Bull, as an NPC fulfils this roll and drives the plot.
What do you need?
A Broo Did It And Ran Away requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha only. The RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary may be useful, but is not essential to play.
What do you get?A Broo Did It And Ran Away does give the scenario’s antagonists away in its title, but it is easily adapted to a campaign and run in a single session. It opens with the Player Characters helping out their clan during earth Season by getting the harvest in, working the fields owned by Adestra and her husband, Barkos. When a Storm Bull starts attacking the field that the Player Characters are working, claiming that it is tainted with Chaos, then something odd has to be going on. To investigate, the Player Characters will need to calm the Storm Bull and look round the field, and beyond. Adestra seems nervous. Is it just because there is a Storm Bull claiming that one of her fields is tainted by Chaos or does she know something more?
Ultimately, the Player Characters’ investigation will force to Adestra to respond. She may confess all or she may make an attempt to solve the problem herself. Either way, the clues will point to a hermit who has recently moved into the area and begun living in a nearby cave. Confronting the hermit will reveal who and what she actually is and lead to a nasty combat in a confined space. This requires careful adjustment by the Game Master to match the threat with the combat capabilities of the Player Characters.
However the scenario ends, the Player Characters should learn that Adestra has been a fool rather than evil. Nevertheless, give what she has done, there should be consequences. This will be handled by the chief of the clan, but it may be an interesting situation to roleplay if one of the Player Characters is the clan chief or even just the Thane of Apple Lane.
Is it worth your time?Yes—A Broo Did It And Ran Away presents a combination of a small mystery, a small, but brutal combat, and a small dilemma that can easily dropped into a campaign on clan lands and played in a single session.No—A Broo Did It And Ran Away is just a tiny bit too silly, perhaps too brutal a fight, and a Game Master’s campaign may necessarily take in clan lands.Maybe—A Broo Did It And Ran Away is serviceable enough and perhaps a scenario that the Game Master might want to keep is her back pocket to run in between other scenarios or when not all of her players are present.

The year is 1873. Ulysses S. Grant begins his second term as President of the United States. There is no let up in the Indian Wars on the new American frontier as barbed wire, denim jeans, and the 1873 model Winchester rifle, ‘The Gun That Won the West’, are all invented. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Sioux for the first time and P.T. Barnum’s circus, The Greatest Show on Earth, debuts in New York City. The wounds of the Civil War remain and in the wake of the economic crisis that followed, an ever growing number have fled west into the newly American territories of Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, along with parts of New Mexico and Colorado, looking to find new lives for themselves in what were once part of Mexico. Settlers, prospectors, miners, cattlemen and herders, businessmen and women, farmers, outlaws and lawmen, all seeking their fortune one way or another in the new lands. There they bring strife and they find strife, with each other and with the peoples already there, which includes the Native Americans and the Hispanics. Greed and prejudice still drive some men. Others want to avoid such concerns and to live a good life, to make a good life for their families and for others, and to protect themselves and their homes.
The American frontier of 1873 is the setting for Tales of the Old West. Funded via a Kickstarter campaign and published by Effekt, this is a roleplaying game which returns to old genre, that of ‘Cowboys & Indians’, combining a mature approach to both the subject matter and the history with the application of the Year Zero engine. This means that it uses the same mechanics first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days, the Alien: The Roleplaying Game, and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, all roleplaying games published by Free League Publishing. It also means that it has a familiar mechanical structure and design. It uses six-sided dice—here of two colours, one for Trouble dice and the other for standard dice—with the aim being to roll a single six as a success. Each Player Character has an Archetype, an Age which determines the points to be assigned to the four Attributes and Abilities, which is what Tales of the Old West calls skills (younger Player Character have higher Attributes and lower Abilities, older have lower Attributes and higher Abilities), one or more Talents derived from the Archetype (there are other generic Talents available when a Player Character gains experience), a Faith or belief that sums up their outlook on life, a Dream which will drive the Player Character to act, and together with other Player Characters, a town or settlement where they live and which they try to improve. Each Player Character will also have Relationships with his fellow Player Characters, one of whom he will regard as his Pardner. Talents, Relationships, and Faiths are all suggested by the Archetypes. Then, Tales of the Old West has a set of community rules which first see the Player Characters invest in a business and then in the long term, are used track the growth and prosperity of the town or settlement where the Player Characters live. As the seasons pass, the town provides hooks and opportunities for adventure and roleplaying and can be used to drive the ongoing campaign forward.
A Player Character in Tales of the Old West has four attributes—Grit, Quick, Cunning, and Docity. Of these, Docity is the ability of a character to learn. He has an Archetype, of which there are ten. These are Gentlefolk, Grifter, Homesteader, Labourer, Lawman, Outlaw, Prospector, Ranch Hand, Tracker, and Trader. Some of these are quite broad. So, Gentlefolk includes artists, journalists, teacher, entertainers, politicians, and so on, whilst Grifter covers swindlers, cardsharps, thieves, and the like. The Archetype sets the base value for attributes and skills, and provides options in terms of Talents, Dream, and Faith. For example, the Prospector suggests the Talents of Brawler, Engineer, Guard Dog, and Herbalist, whilst his Dream might be ‘“There’s gold to be found in them thar hills” and it’s all going to be yours’ or ‘The railroad will build a new civilisation in the west, and you will be the architect’, and his Faith, ‘God’s design is all around me, and he has a design for my fate too’ or ‘The Strength of the land itself keeps me on my feet.’ Faith need not be religious faith—although religious, Christian faith, prevailed during this period and often drove the expansion west, but can instead be a firmly held belief.

Tales of the Old West provides two means to create a Player Character. In the quick method, a player selects an Archetype and modifies it according to the age—Greenhorn, Tested, and Old-Timer—of the Player Character. He then selects one or more Talents, according to age, and then a Faith and a Dream, chooses some equipment. Lastly, he decides on the Relationships his Player Character has with the others.

Name: Virgil BruceArchetype: TraderAge: Greenhorn
Grit: 04 Labour 1 Presence 1 Fightin’ 0 Resilience 0Quick: 03 Move 0 Operate 0 Shootin’ 0 Light-Fingered 0Cunning: 04 Hawkeye 0 Nature 0 Insight 2 Animal Handlin’ 0Docity: 04 Performin’ 2 Makin’ 2 Doctorin’ 0 Booklearnin’ 2
TalentsLawyer
Big Dream‘Where there is opportunity, so comes law, and by the Lord this town needs a judge in good standing—that will be you.’
Faith (4)‘Money talks. Always has, always will.’
Gear$45Ounce of goldRoper repeating shotgun and D6 rounds
The other method is to use the Lifepath system included in Tales of the Old West. This provides a more detailed Player Character, determining where he comes from and what his family is like, and then what he has done. This is how he has made his Living, up to three times, depending upon his age. This provides far more flavour and detail.
Name: Deborah LeungArchetype: TraderAge: Tested
Place of Birth: ChinaUpbringing: “You come from an old sea-faring family. It is said your forefathers traded across the Pacific long before the Europeans discovered that coast. If it’s true, it made them rich. Gain +1 point of Capital.”What Of The Family You Left Behind?: “Your family was big until the curse. Death, madness, and foolishness reduced them all to ruins, and you had no choice to leave those who still survived behind.”Livings: Frontier Folk (‘You used to come into town just to sell your furs. But it’s warmer to sit and sell those furs. So now you sell clothes for the discerning outdoorsman. Make your next Living roll on the Trader Living Outcome Table.’)Trader (‘You make the most of the influx of single men coming to the town by advertising “employment opportunities for young women” back east. Your successful bordello earns you the respect of a town elder. Make your next Living Roll on the Gentlefolk Living Outcome Table.’)
Grit: 04 Labour 0 Presence 4 Fightin’ 2 Resilience 1Quick: 02 Move 0 Operate 0 Shootin’ 0 Light-Fingered 0Cunning: 04 Hawkeye 2 Nature 0 Insight 3 Animal Handlin’ 0Docity: 04 Performin’ 4 Makin’ 3 Doctorin’ 0 Booklearnin’ 1
TalentsKnife FighterCharming
Big Dream‘Where there is opportunity, there is a woman. I will make my way to respectability in this town and beyond.’
Faith (4)‘Money talks. Always has, always will.’
GearKnifeOutfit: Store with 1 CapitalOutfit: Salon with 1D3 CapitalCapital: 1Harford Coach Gun & 2D6 Cartridges$28
Mechanically, Tales of the Old West uses the Year Zero engine. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to a combination of Attribute and Ability. The pool of dice consists of ‘Trouble’ dice and standard dice. There will always be ‘Trouble’ dice in the dice pool, up to five. A single roll of a six on either die type indicates a success. Multiple successes improve the outcome and allow the Player Character to perform stunts. In combat, these might be to inflict extra damage or inflict a critical injury, but for other Abilities, Stunts include giving a bonus on subsequent rolls, completing a task quicker, impressing someone, and so on. If no sixes are rolled, the action fails. If ones are rolled on the ‘Trouble’ dice, these have no effect unless the player decides to ‘push’ the roll. This enables him to reroll any dice that did not roll a one or a six. However, if there are any ones remaining after the roll has been pushed, even if the Player Character has succeeded, they trigger a check on the ‘Trouble Outcome Table’. There is a ‘Trouble Outcome Table’ for conflict and physical situations and for social and mental situations. The effects vary depending how many ones have been rolled.
For example, if a Player Character has generated three ones in a conflict, the outcome might be “You’re shaken and shocked. For the rest of the scene, you suffer -2 to all rolls using the ability that suffered the Trouble” or “Your gun explodes, your weapon breaks and slices into you, or your blow catches something sharp. You suffer a 6 dice attack, either with Damage and Critical rating of your weapon or Damage 1, Crit 1.” The roll can have a straightforward outcome, but it can also escalate from one column to the next if a player rolls high enough.
Pushing a roll costs a Player Character a point of Faith, of which he has four at the start of every scenario, and ideally, the reason for Pushing a roll should tie in with the Player Character’s Faith statement. Faith can also be spent to buy off Trouble dice showing a one. It is better to do this before a roll is pushed as it still allows the dice to be rolled as part of the Push attempt, but negates the dice if done after the Pushed roll. Faith can be recovered for making good rolls without Pushing, or for undertaking actions such as a Player Character saving his Pardner, praying, or taking revenge, and for performing rituals like cleaning a weapon, grooming a horse, going to church, and so on. Faith can be lost, though this is a roleplaying choice rather than a mechanical one.
Conflict in Tales of the Old West uses the same core mechanics. Initiative is determined by drawing cards from a deck of ordinary playing cards, whilst in combat, a Player Character can act twice per round. This is either a fast action and a slow action, or two fast actions. A Slow Action might be ‘Shoot’, ‘Melee Attack’, and ‘Mount’, whilst a ‘Fast Action might be ‘Quick Shot’, ‘Aim’, and ‘Draw Weapon’. The rules cover brawling, the use of the lasso, as well as gunfights, including, of course, duels. As expected, duels are a step-by-step process, beginning with the face-off and then going through the draw and the shoot-off to see who is left standing. Other combat rules cover fanning, overwatch, cover, and ammunition. All weapons inflict a minimum amount of damage, applied directly to the defender’s Attributes. Damage done to Grit is called Hurts, if to Quick it is Shakes, to Cunning it is Vexes, and to Docity, it is Doubts. If reduced to zero, an Attribute is Broken. However, if the number of Successes rolled on an attack equal the Crit Rating of the weapon used, then a critical attack has been made. Critical hits are inflicted if either Grit or Quick is Broken. Overall, combat is fairly quick and brutal. Weapons are quite detailed and include a variety of historical models, noting in particular the difference between single action and double action pistols, the former being slower, but lighter and more accurate, the latter being heavier, but faster.
So far, so good. Tales of the Old West can do all of the things that you expect of a Wild West roleplaying game. Duels, gambling, chases, cattle rustling, bank robberies, and more. However, where it really begins to shine is in its support and capacity for long term play. This can start during Player Character creation with the players deciding upon a group concept. Suggestions include lawmen and bounty hunters, outlaws, ranchers, farmers, business owners, vaqueros & cowboys, and mountain folk. Selecting a concept suggests the type of campaign that the players want to roleplay as well as granting their players bonuses in terms of equipment and money. Whatever the campaign concept, what Tales of the Old West really encourages the players and their characters to do is to earn sufficient dollars to make enough Capital, which can then be invested in a business. This can then generate further monies to make more Capital and so on. This gives both the players and their characters a personal attachment to the town. Alongside this, with the Turn of the Season, as well as potentially, from scenarios, the players earn Settlement Points, which can also be invested in the town. The progress and growth of the town itself is tracked in six ratings—Farming, Mercantile, Natural Riches, Law, Civic, and Welfare. The Settlement Points are spent on amenities that will adjust the various ratings. For example, holding a Season fair will increase farming and Mercantile both by one, Civic by two, but reduce Law by one. The combination of town prosperity, the Player Characters’ business outcome, a personal fortune roll, and the amenities added with the expenditure of Settlement Points, and what the Game Master has is a set of prompts around which she can design adventures, roleplaying opportunities, and themes. However, whilst a town can grow and prosper, it can also decline and fail, as can a Player Character’s business, the latter especially if the Player Character gets into debt, whether through gambling or other causes.
This is supported by a discussion of possible themes for a campaign and fifteen detailed story seeds. In terms of setting, Tales of the Old West provides an overview of the Wild West and its frontier, but focuses very much on the New Mexico territory, presenting a description and a history as well as a campaign framework set in the southwest of the territory. This is ‘The King of Santa Fe’. Set across three fictional towns, it focuses on the machinations and corruption in the Santa Fe Ring, the cadre of politicians and businessmen which dominate the corrupt politics of the territory and circle the governor, Marsh Giddings. All three towns are described, including the mining and lumber town of  Steaming Rock, the hunting town of Carson’s Folly, and ranching and mining town of Jornada Springs. All three towns include descriptions of its most notable citizens, and come with several campaign adventure outlines, two of which are the campaign starters and the campaign finishers. This is in addition to the descriptions of the territory’s major towns of cities of Albuquerque, Lincoln, Silver City, and even Las Vegas. Rounding out the support is a starting scenario, ‘Patience is a Virtue’.

In terms of tone, Tales of the Old West advises player and Game Master alike that the American West of the period is challenging in terms of both history and roleplaying, given the social attitudes of the period. It addresses in turn the status of women, Native Americans, the Hispanics, Chinese, and African Americans, clearly stating that participants should be respectful of the history and the diversity of the various peoples living in the setting it depicts, acknowledging the prejudices of the period, rather than embracing or revelling in them.
Physically, Tales of the Old West is a buff-coloured hardback with spots of muted colour that echoes classic depictions of the Old West. It is well written, easy to read, and a good looking book.
Respectful of the history, Tales of the Old West gives players and Game Masters alike the means to run and play more than a black and white, Cowboys & Indians game, a detailed, roleplaying campaign where the Player Characters are part of a community and building a better place. Modern, accessible, and playable, without being overly complex, Tales of the Old West is a thoroughly engaging and earnest treatment of the Old West.

You awake slowly, reaching through the murk of a befogged mind, guided by the sound of a bell. A constant sound. You are cold, it is night, and you are barefoot, just like the men and women standing around you. All dressed the same. Nightgowns. Eyes staring wide. You do not know who you are, but you know you are in Oakwood Springs, a sanitorium for the wealthy in the retreat town of Lake Geneva, though you are not quite sure why. You recall being questioned. Was it about what ailment or condition that besets you, or was not something else? You are not sure. The orderlies snap at you to return to your rooms, but unlike your fellow patients, whose faces only show bewilderment at being roused from their bed at this time of night, the look in the orderlies is one of fear. Why are you in Oakwood Springs? Are you sick or simply need rest? And just what is that the orderlies are afraid of?

This is the set-up for the Madness at Geneva Lake: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure. It is the second convention scenario to be published by Chaosium, Inc. for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the other being The Shadow Over Providence. Where that scenario is set during the roleplaying game’s classic period of the nineteen twenties, this scenario is set in December 1891—for a very good reason—and thus could be run using Cthulhu by Gaslight. However, Madness at Geneva Lake is just a little special. It was published for Gary Con XVII, the convention that celebrates the life of E. Gary Gygax, in conjunction with Gygax Ink, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Chaosium, Inc. It takes place in Lake Geneva, the Wisconsin town where E. Gary Gygax grew up, where TSR, Inc. was based, and where Gary Con is held each year. Lake Geneva stands on Geneva Lake and beginning at the end of the nineteenth century, was renowned as a resort town and retreat for the wealthy from Chicago to the east. Here the socialites would spend their summers and perhaps when they needed long term medical rest or treatment, months in the town’s expensive sanatoriums, receiving the most expensive medical care that money could buy.

However, times have changed in Lake Geneva. Winter has drawn in and as crisp snow lies on the ground, thick fog rolls in off the lake. Many of the visitors to the town, expecting to enjoy an excursion aboard one of the steamers, have returned to shore, touched and disturbed by a dread presence lurking in the icy depths of the lake. Is this why the Investigators are in Oakwood Springs?

The thrust of Madness at Geneva Lake: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure is quite simple. Cultists are attempting to summon something nasty, in this case from Geneva Lake. For veteran players of Call of Cthulhu, the identity of the cultists should be a surprise this far from the coast, being a mixture of Deep Ones and Deep One Hybrids as well as ordinary cultists. Actually, there are two factions of cultists involved in the whole affair, but the fact that there are two factions is unlikely to become apparent to the Investigators.

The scenario is divided into two acts. In the first act, the Investigators need to find why they are in Oakwood Springs, find their belongings, examine their patient records, and then escape the sanitorium. The emphasis is upon stealth, trying to get past the orderlies and the nightwatchmen, and attempting to get into the sanitorium’s various locked rooms. One of the pre-generated Investigators does have the Locksmith skill, so he will be useful, but in the main the Investigators will need to find the keys. All this whilst sleepwalking patients try to stagger out of the front door into the fog where things lurk, and towards Geneva Lake. The atmosphere in the sanitorium is creepy and tense, and this will grow and grow as the Investigators determine who they are and what they know. Despite the atmosphere in the sanitorium and despite the feeling that they are trapped, the Investigators are not truly in danger in the sanitorium. Further, they even have help in their attempts to escape.

The second act of Madness at Geneva Lake: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure begins with the Investigators having found out who they are and what they know, escaped from Oakwood Springs, and learned that the source of everyone’s anxiety and terror lies on Geneva Lake, and is tied to a well known paddle steamer, the Lucius Newberry. This is described as one of Lake Geneva’s more exquisite sidewheelers, “complete with a luxurious decor that included crystal, brass and polished fixtures, and even oil paintings.” The scenario should ideally culminate aboard the vessel, with the Investigators confronting a betentacled abomination and preventing a vile ritual. Amusingly, the best solution given is to set the ship alight and burn it down to the waterline. This is because the Lucius Newberry actually did catch fire in December 1891 and sink, and that in 1982, TSR, Inc. actually funded a salvage attempt on the recently discovered wreck of the vessel.

Over half of Madness at Geneva Lake: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure is dedicated to six appendices. These include all of the scenario’s adversaries and monsters, a dark history of both Lake Geneva and Geneva Lake, handouts, seven pre-generated Investigators, new spells, and details of Lake Geneva’s sanitoriums. The pre-generated Investigators all come with male and female options, but they do include a ‘brain in a jar’ capable of casting spells; a Deep One Hybrid; an archaeologist; a member of the clergy; a journalist and photographer; a private investigator; and a scientist. The ‘brain in a jar’ will present a roleplaying challenge, but integrating it into the scenario is likely to be more challenging.

Physically, Madness at Geneva Lake: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure is cleanly and tidily presented. The artwork is good, the cartography serviceable, and the handouts nicely done. However, the scenario does need another edit.

The scenario is short and serviceable, with a twist or two as well as an initial emphasis on stealth and investigation, which will satisfy veteran players of Call of Cthulhu. It is designed for convention play, so it misses an opportunity to really roleplay the recovery of the Investigators’ memories and their treatment at Oakwood Springs, and the shortness means that the true nature of the villains in the sanitorium never get a chance to come to the fore. Nevertheless, Madness at Geneva Lake: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure takes the classic set-up of amnesiac protagonists and being confined in a sanitorium and gives it a fast-paced spin through some roleplaying adjacent history!

Half fighter and half cleric.  These are in TihonFigureN's usual 60mm.  Made from a very soft material.  

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. 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. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

Into The Living Sands is a scenario for the Arora: Age of Desolation setting published by Ghostfire Gaming, one of three released by the publisher for Free RPG Day 2025. All three scenarios and settings are written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and designed to be played by a party of five to six Player Characters of Third Level. The scenario opens with ‘Welcome to the Arora: Age of Desolation’, a much needed description of the setting and its key features, because the scenario does not have a back cover blurb. What it tells the reader is that the setting for Arora: Age of Desolation is Arora, a post-apocalyptic world once ruled by dragons, but which has crumbled since they were infected with Shardscale, which causes instability and uncontrollable rage in dragons and similar creatures. Without the stability and structure provided by the dragons, the survivors fled in search of refuge. Their descendants face the constant danger of dragon warlords and their draconic warbands, whilst living in often extremely harsh conditions. In the desert region of Gallaht, they have adapted, harvesting water from quicksand, carving homes from the mesas known as ‘metehs’, which often collapse due to earthquakes, forcing the inhabitants to find a new meteh, often one that has risen from the ground due to the same earthquake activity, and race magical sand skiffs across the desert in search of resources, trade, and to avoid the desert pirates! The setting feels similar to that of Dark Sun, the savage, post-apocalyptic setting published by TSR, Inc. for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition in 1991. However, the parallels are relatively slight in that both are desert settings and both have dragons that feature at their core, but that is all.

At the beginning of Into the Living Sands, the Player Characters have travelled to the Claw of Khulud, the only permanent city in the Tremoring Badlands. Their metehs, all four of them, recently collapsed, forcing their inhabitants to resettle in a larger, single meteh. However, this has left the new meteh short of supplies and the Player Characters to obtain what they need and to entreat merchants to set up a regular water trade route to their new meteh. Unfortunately, Khulud was recently hit by a storm that destroyed supplies and depleted water stores. To replenish the latter, the city’s Trade Council is organising a ‘Great Water Race’, a daylong event in which participants go in search of water and attempt to bring back more than the other competitors. They are popular in Khulud and although dangerous, participants are well paid for the water they bring back and the winner is feted throughout the city. The Player Characters have already decided to enter the race, hoping that the money they will make on the water they bring back will be enough to buy the supplies their new meteh requires and that if they win, the local water merchants will be persuaded to set up a trade route.

Into the Living Sands is literally a sandbox. The Player Characters can go where they will in the scenario. There are pools to find and collect water from, secret locations to reach, and ruins to explore, and encounters to have along the way, including running into other competitors, being attacked by a swarm of Fulgurite Crabs with their razor-sharp shell, be misdirected by the illusions of a Wakeshark, and being chased by water pirates! The Player Characters need to make several choices, beginning with deciding upon which guide to help them crew their desert skiff and what type of desert skiff to choose. Five guides are detailed, each of whom has their own motivation and interests, some of them actually quite selfish, as well as advantages and disadvantages when it comes to participating in the Great Water Race. Some also know the locations of the secret locations, and only if the Player Characters choose them, will they be able to reach those locations. Similarly, the choice of desert skiff—either sturdy, standard, or swift—will affect what locations they can reach. The faster the skiff, the more distant places they will be able to reach. The unique and distant locations tend to have more water.

The Game Master will then tailor the scenario to the choices that the players and their characters have made. The scenario includes four locations and a total of ten encounters. Two of the encounters are categorised as ‘unique’ and do require the presence of particular NPCs, so not all of the scenario is going to be open to the Player Characters depending upon the choices made. That said, they could be added to an ongoing Arora: Age of Desolation campaign. Whichever of the locations and encounters the Game Master uses, the scenario comes to a close with a race back to the Claw of Khulud, chased by water pirates, and ultimately, the determination as to which of the competitors have brought back the most water and won the Great Water Race.

The scenario comes with several appendices. The first includes the stats for the various monsters, like the Lingering Wakeshark, Sand Elementals, and Crystal Snails, whilst the second provides rules for desert skiffs. This covers operation, combat, and mishaps, plus attachments that increase their versatility, like a boarding clamp, raider launcher, and reinforced steering sail. The third appendix covers water hunting and its rules, whilst the fourth gives the stats for various sizes of desert skiff. A set of resources is also available for all three of the scenarios published by Ghostfire Gaming. They include maps, tokens, and pre-generated Player Characters for each. One of the features of the Arora: Age of Desolation setting is that it does not have Races, species, lineages, or heritages in the traditional Dungeons & Dragons sense. Instead, the sentient humanoids of Arora have the potential to express the traits of any fantasy Race, bar the draconic Races. This leads to a diverse, mishmash set of Player Characters rather than ones delineated along traditional lines. For Into the Living Sands, the Player Characters consist of a Draconic Sorcerer and healer; an Equilibrist Rogue who likes storytelling and can talk to and understand both beasts and plants; a Legionnaire Fighter who is a good tracker and forager; a feline scavenger and cleric who worships the dragon goddess Jha-dhol; a Ranger who is a skilled hunter and is at home in the desert; and a Paladin who grew up in the darkness of caves and is lucky. All six are nicely detailed and come with some background as well as an illustration and an explanation of all their abilities and features.

Physically, Into the Living Sands is well presented. The artwork and the maps are excellent, and the scenario is well written. The only disappointments are the lack of a back cover blurb to inform the reader what Into the Living Sands actually is. That said, a map of the region without the secret locations marked would have been useful

Into the Living Sands is the most complex and demanding of the scenarios published by Ghostfire Gaming for Free RPG Day 2025. It requires the Game Master to adjust the scenario to her players and their characters rather than run a straightforward, plot-driven or exploratory scenario. If she can do that, Into the Living Sands is an exciting, action-packed scenario that introduces the Game Master and her players to a little of the strangeness that is Arora: Age of Desolation.