Miskatonic Monday #411: The Disappearance in Montignac

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.

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Name: The Disappearance in Montignac

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Thomas Baudart

Setting: France, 2015

Product: One-shot
What You Get: Ten-page, 1.58 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A missing persons case attracts a podcast squad

Plot Hook: Find the girl, make a podcast, get famous

Plot Support: Staging advice, no pre-generated Investigators, one NPC, two handouts, one map, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Simple investigation 

# Scope for development

# Family horror story

# Sciophobia

# Castlephobia

# Entomophobia

Cons

# Needs a good edit and localisation

# Some NPCs underdeveloped

# Why is the castle causing Sanity loss?

Conclusion

# Not enough time to really allow for an investigation

# Small village, family horror scenario that could benefit from development and clarification

A Copernican Catastrophe

It is the year 1580 and one of the greatest mathematicians, astronomers, and physicians of the age has been dead these past thirty-seven years. Nicolaus Copernicus is most famous for formulating a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its centre. So, the question is, why has someone sent Doctor John Dee, court astronomer to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, Copernicus’ coffin? And why does it contain a skeleton with a silver dagger plunged into its chest plate with a note attached which reads, “Do you Believe now?” Doctor Dee knows that the skeleton is not that of Copernicus, since he had more teeth than the skeleton, but cannot fathom why someone should send both it and the coffin to him. Nevertheless, he is definitely intrigued by the delivery and strongly suspects that this is a trap. Which is why he sends agents to the village of Frombork in Poland to investigate, since they are, after all, condemned men. Condemned men whose heresy—as minor as it was—is enough for them to have been executed long ago were it not for Sir Francis Walsingham giving them a stay of execution whilst they investigate occult threats to both Queen and kingdom, are all that stand between an even greater heresy and the reordering of the cosmos that would undo all of Copernicus’ theories! This is the situation that faces the Agents in Only A Fool, a scenario for Just Crunch Games’ The Dee Sanction, the roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe.

Only A Fool is not your average scenario for The Dee Sanction. To begin with it is the winner of a scenario-writing competition on The Raspy Raven Discord which hosts a lot of online games, and then it is not set in Merry Olde England, but in Poland. This requires that the Player Characters speak Polish and Doctor Dee employs them because they can. This is not usual for the Player Characters in The Dee Sanction, so Only a Fool is better suited to play as a one-shot or convention scenario.

Armed with details of Copernicus’ life and studies, the Player Characters travel to the village outside of the Archcathedral of Frombork and from there investigate and follow the clues that lead them into the cathedral, Copernicus Tower where Nicolaus Copernicus conducted his astronomical research, and beyond the village to where his mistress, Anna Schilling, still lives. The investigation is relatively short and not overly complex, essentially a mini-sandbox with a handful of locations. However, the Player Characters will quickly realise that they are being watched and that despite the rationality of Copernicus’ thesis, there are men and women in the village and the Archcathedral of Frombork who very much still hold to the heliocentrism of the past several thousand years. Their belief is ardent and raises the questions, what else do they believe in and what powers does that belief grant them? In fact, belief and non-belief lies at the heart of the scenario and the Player Characters will be constantly asked if they are believers or non-believers. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Believers will see the acts of heresy that are carried out during the scenario, but will also be suspectable to them as well, whilst Non-Believers will not be affected by them because they cannot see them. Further, some NPCs will only readily talk to Believers and talking to some of those NPCs is vital to the plot.

Ultimately, the scenario will climax at a performance of the malign Dischordant Harmoney at a Grand Alignment Eclipse in which Belief and Non-Belief are the weapons that the enemy and the Player Characters must wield against each other. The Dischordant Harmoney is performed on the organ in the Archcathedral of Frombork, so the climax has an over the top Gothic feel. Given that Only a Fool is best used as a convention or one-shot scenario, it is a pity that a set of pre-generated could not have been included with the scenario.

Physically, Only A Fool is tightly laid out over three pages. It is lightly illustrated and does need an edit. The single map is slightly too small to be fully effective and would have benefited from being on a whole page rather than half a page. Nevertheless, everything is decently organised and easy to use straight from the page.

Only a Fool is pulpy Gothic horror scenario that really benefits from its very different setting to that usually seen in scenarios for The Dee Sanction and from the players and their characters having to explore the consequences of belief and non-belief. It is short, direct, and easy to prepare, so is a solid convention or one-shot scenario.

Victory & Venom

Achtung! Cthulhu is the roleplaying game of fast-paced pulp action and Mythos magic published by Modiphius Entertainment. It is pitches the Allied Agents of the Britain’s Section M, the United States’ Majestic, and the brave Resistance into a Secret War against those Nazi Agents and organisations which would command and entreat with the occult and forces beyond the understanding of mankind. They are willing to risk their lives and their sanity against malicious Nazi villains and the unfathomable gods and monsters of the Mythos themselves, each striving for supremacy in mankind’s darkest yet finest hour! Yet even the darkest of drives to take advantage of the Mythos is riven by differing ideologies and approaches pandering to Hitler’s whims. The Black Sun consists of Nazi warrior-sorcerers supreme who use foul magic and summoned creatures from nameless dimensions to dominate the battlefields of men, whilst Nachtwölfe, the Night Wolves, utilise technology, biological enhancements, and wunderwaffen (wonder weapons) to win the war for Germany. Ultimately, both utilise and fall under the malign influence of the Mythos, the forces of which have their own unknowable designs…

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands is the eighth release for Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20, and the third campaign following on from Achtung! Cthulhu: Shadows of Atlantis and Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Forest of Fear. There are two notable factors about the campaign and the supplement. First is that it is the second of the ‘Early War’ campaigns, beginning in May, 1941 at the same time as the Siege of Tobruk. What this means is that it can be run after the events of Achtung! Cthulhu: Shadows of Atlantis with relatively low experienced Player Characters, despite it actually being released after Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Forest of Fear, which is set in late 1944. The second is that it is not just a campaign, but also a sourcebook for Achtung! Cthulhu, providing a guide to the allies and enemies participating in the Secret War across North Africa, their aims, equipment, NPCs, threats, and more, along with numerous Player Character options and a host of Adventure seeds that the Game Master can all use to develop her own scenarios and missions, as well as run the other scenarios that Modiphius Entertainment has published that are set in this theatre of war. This means that Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands is effectively two books in one. The book actually has two tables of content—one for the sourcebook half and one for the campaign—and even the edges of the pages are coloured differently to distinguish the two!

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands begins with an overview of Egypt and Libya and its major settlements and locations, including those associated with the Mythos. The most notable of these is Irem, the City of Pillars, here shifted from its Arabian desert location as described in H.P. Lovecraft’s The Nameless City which describes it as having been built by a sapient reptile species. Given the latter, this makes sense, since the major Mythos threat in North Africa in Achtung! Cthulhu is not the Deep Ones or the Mi-Go or the Nazi outré agencies, Nachtwölfe and Black Sun, but the Ophidians or Serpent People. The activities of all of these factions in Achtung! Cthulhu in North Africa are also described as well as those of Section M and Majestic. The main aim of Section M is to thwart the efforts of Black Sun to scour the region for as many artefacts and tomes as it can lay its hands on and prevent Nachtwölfe from finding further deposits of Blauer Kristall that fuel its advanced weaponry. The American Majestic is not as busy in the region, at least not until after the success of Operation Torch in 1942 and whilst it shares some of the same aims as Section, is not as subtle about it, causing some friction. This does play a little into the stereotyping of Americans in the period, but that does not feel out of place in the Pulp fiction of Achtung! Cthulhu. Alongside the details of Nachtwölfe operations is a description of Adlerhorst, its own ‘Eagle’s Nest’, located in a huge cave complex hidden deep in the Tunisian desert.

The Deep Ones are a major faction in Achtung! Cthulhu, but given the environment, not in Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands. They are relegated to minor faction, and joined by the bloodthirsty Children of Typhon dedicated to Yig and thus rivals to the Serpent’s Tooth; a handful of Free French occultists of the Géo Gras, who loathe Black Sun in particular for looting its lore; the Mi-Go, who may occasionally ally with Nachtwölfe, but have their own alien agenda; and the Eye of Ur, an Italian association of occultists dedicated to transcending the limits of the human form, whose origins dates back to Ancient Rome and whose leaders prefer to play the long game, are obsessed with the Great Library of Alexandria, and have longstanding links to the Black Pharoah, Nyarlathotep himself. They tend to have a Roman-theme, but modernised. They do not play a role in the campaign, but do appear in some of the adventure seeds, plus, of course, their presence makes sense since Italy has colonial possessions in North Africa and is one of the Axis powers. The Eye of Ur would likely play a role in any scenario or campaign involving Italian forces or figure later in the war once the Allies have invaded Italy. Player Characters may find allies in the form of a handful of Free French occultists of the Géo Gras and the more familiar Order of the Alnim, whose members loathe the Ophidians.

For the Game Master, there are stats for numerous Allied, Axis, and occult heroes and villains. Australian infantry, New Zealand Desert Patrol Soldier, an Alnim warrior, and German Afrika Korps troops and Italian forces. The BLACK SUN Krokodilmeister has an Augmented Assault Crocodile bound to him (instead of the traditional hound) and wears a face mask with an extended and toothed maw and a trench coat of cured crocodile skin, whilst the Nachtwölfe ‘Skorpian’ Class Sniper wears a ‘Skorpian’-class environment suit to survive long periods in the desert on deep observation missions whilst armed with an MK89 ‘Auslöscher’ Sniper Rifle. It feels like something out of Dune rather than Achtung! Cthulhu. There are stats too, for members of the Eye of Ur and Serpent’s Tooth cultists.

Of course, particular attention is paid to the Ophidians, the serpentine humanoid species that once dominated the planet millions of years ago in the Pliocene Era and have long been in hibernation, whilst those who are awake consider Humanity to be nothing more than mammalian vermin. This is because the Ophidians are a major Mythos faction in the region and the primary threat in the campaign. Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands details their history, their long term and their current aims, and the effects of their toxins as well as what is known or conjectured about them. The latter is done via the notes, letters, and histories of the late Professor George Linden, found poisoned in his office following a fire that destroyed much of his research. It adds a human touch to the reptilian slant that follows in the descriptions of the various Ophidian villains and NPCs. Along with their bestiary—including several snake types, equipment, spells, and rituals, this aspect of the supplement significantly expands the threat of the Ophidians given in the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Gamemaster’s Guide, providing the Game Master with options in how they can be used both in North Africa and elsewhere in the world where they might be found. The options are expanded because the Ophidians are divided between two different factions, the Atavistic and the Evolved, the former believing that their species should not change, whilst the latter believe that they should adapt to the changing nature of their world. A table of ‘Evolved Powers’ allows the Game Master to customise her Evolved Ophidian threats. Amongst the creatures listed which the Ophidians use is the Gryphon, and pleasingly, the supplement allows for the possibility that a Player Character might actually want one as a mount of his own!

Amongst the descriptions of the various items of equipment and vehicles for all of the factions, there are rules for mines and how to detect them. There are notable arms and armour such as the Dämon Luger, which feels very much like organic gun from the film, Existenz, but looks like a Luger and shoots plasma rather than teeth, and the Aegida Tactical Shield, an energy shield which looks like a scutum when activated, so used as protection device by the Eye of Ur. Lastly, Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands adds Robowaffe, one of them a remote-controlled walking tank (so not quite a mecha) and the other, essentially a drone.

In terms of Player Character options, the supplement provides six new archetypes—the Adventurer, Diplomat, Gambler, Guide, Smuggler, and Spy. New Backgrounds include Alnim Mystic and Warrior, Archaeologist, Desert Rat, French Foreign Legionary, Free French Fighter, Greek Sacred Band member, LRDG Officer and Soldier, and Popski’s Private Army Privateer, plus Characteristics such as ‘Blood of Yig’, ‘Called to Mystery’, and ‘Rugged’, and Talents like ‘Evil Eye’, ‘Well-Informed’, ‘Eidetic Memory’, ‘Spray and Pray’, ‘Battlefield Sawbones’, and ‘Hunker Down’. These are a mix of those suited to North Africa, but many can be combined with the options from the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide and other sourcebooks. They also enable players to create the classic archetypes of the pulp genre, but also be more inventive.

Being a book of two distinct halves means that Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands warrants three conclusions. One for each half and then the book as a whole. There can be no doubt that the supplement half of Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands provides a lot for the Game Master to use in her own scenarios and campaign. There are plenty of adventure ideas too and a good overview of the setting. However, the map of the region is underwhelming and does not mark all of the locations described. Whilst there are rules for mines and minesweeping, there are no rules for desert travel or survival—at least not in the supplement half of the book. They are instead saved for a whole chapter of ‘The Serpent & The Sands’ campaign. There is no denying that they are the focus of that chapter, but arguably they should have been in the supplement half with the rest of the rules. And perhaps if Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands had actually been divided into two books, they would have been. If that was the case, the fifth chapter of the campaign would have been different, or at least had a different focus, whilst without the campaign half, the supplement could have included a scenario or two that explored the activities of other factions—the Eye of Ur in particular, in a bit more detail as well as one for the Ophidians that could have been added to the campaign.

The campaign in Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands consists of ten-parts and will take the Player Characters west from Cairo and Alexandria to Tobruk and back, as well deep into the deserts and beyond. It is fast-paced, some of the chapters being playable in a single session, and it does have a focused narrative, the Player Characters being directed and driven to attempt and complete a series of missions. So, there is not a wide variety of options in terms of what the Player Characters can do and where they can go in the grand scheme of things. This is the nature of what is effectively a military horror campaign. The Player Characters are under orders. The military nature of the setting means that mass combat occurs several times throughout the campaign and that in combination with the number of NPCs and combatants is where the relative complexity of the campaign lies.

‘The Serpent & The Sands’ campaign begins in classic pulp fashion. The Player Characters meet an old friend, Aisha Aziz, an experienced agent of the Order of the Alnim, in Alexandria and shortly after they meet in a café, she is assassinated. She has time to tell the Player Characters what she came to tell them before she dies, that they should seek the Oasis of the Veiled Moon and a ziggurat beyond, and to do so, should find the Australian, Bruce Taylor, as the time of the snake is high. Going after the assassins leads to a rooftop chase and the revelation that they are Ophidians and worshippers of Yig. As soon as it learns of this, Section M wants the Player Characters to investigate this and find out what Bruce Taylor knows. He is a soldier with the Australian army and unfortunately is stationed behind enemy lines in the besieged city of Tobruk, several days travel west of Alexandria. The Player Characters can get a lift with the Long Range Desert Group and will have the chance to gain some impromptu desert training, before being dropped off and having to get across enemy lines themselves. It turns out that Bruce Taylor is in the guardhouse and facing a firing squad for deserting. He willingly joins up with the Player Characters and his commanding officer is happy to get rid of him. Taylor is a chancer though, so not to be trusted, but the Player Characters have no choice in escorting him back to Cairo, because they need his knowledge.

Taylor will help the Player Characters and he will get them into the Oasis of the Veiled Moon and beyond, but ‘The Serpent & The Sands’ is a Pulp horror campaign and so he will betray the Player Characters. The Game Master should play up his smiling, scoundrelly nature and much like the death of Aisha Aziz, the players should expect it and to some extent accept it as part of the genre. It will follow the discovery of a site of bloody carnage in the ziggurat where the true nature of the foe that threatens the North African theatre comes to light, the release of an Ophidian called Alom Shallar from her tomb. It is at this point that Taylor exits ‘The Serpent & The Sands’, which is a pity because he is one of the few well developed NPCs in the campaign and his absence means that there is no narrative arc for him in the campaign.

Up until this point, the campaign is straightforward and direct. It takes a break in the middle for a long trek through the desert using the supplement’s travel and survival rules, before returning to that style afterwards. Instead of using pre-determined encounters as in previous and subsequent chapters, the Game Master is creating random encounters for the Player Characters to run into. There is nothing wrong with bringing desert travel and survival rules into play, but the way in which it is done in this campaign is problematic. Focusing upon them to the exclusion of all else does not push the plot forward and focusing upon them in one chapter begs several questions. Why were they not used in pervious—and subsequent—chapters involving desert travel? Why were they not included in the supplement half of Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands rather than the campaign half? Ultimately, the inclusion of the rules to the exclusion of all else does not make a lot of narrative sense here, as the Game Master could simply cut them and the campaign would not be affected.

After their trek in the desert, the Player Characters will get to the Caravanserai of a Thousand Fragrant Sighs. Here they can restock and supply, but also discover signs of Serpent’s Tooth cult activity and allies from the Order of the Alnim. These are vital as the Player Characters penetrate the labyrinth of the Serpent’s Lair where the Serpent’s Tooth are performing a ritual. The Player Characters have the opportunity to both disrupt the ritual and learn from the past in clues left behind by Alexander the Great as well as the location of the Temple of Stars. From this chapter onwards, the Player Characters are chasing Alom Shallar and her Ophidian retinue, attempting to stop her from finding the means and ways to complete her ultimate aim—summon the ancient Ophidian city of Sethopolis and establish herself as an important power in the middle of North Africa. These chapters are longer and more complex than the ones in the first half of the campaign, particular chapters involving puzzles and stealth, ultimately to a final confrontation in the depths of the Ophidian city. This is a tough, big battle as you would expect, but interestingly, along the way, the Player Characters can collect some allies—and not the ones that they expect. This aspect of the campaign highlights how in the Secret War of Achtung! Cthulhu, not every Mythos faction is willing to co-operate with any other and sometimes rivalries will push them to find other allies, even ones that would otherwise be enemies.

The grand sweep of North Africa allows us to draw from a variety of themes of images, especially for World War 2. Egypt has its teeming cities and its ancient history and mysteries, whilst the desert has its arid sands and scouring sandstorms, its excessive heat and lack of water. It evokes images of sweeping tank battles, hidden fields of mines, holding out against overwhelming forces as in the film Sahara, driving out of the desert in a Long Range Desert Group Patrol Vehicle to strike at Axis airfields like The Rat Patrol, Tobruk, or SAS: Rogue Heroes, and making the long trek across the dunes, hot and thirsty, trying to get back to Allied lines for one ice cold beer as in Ice Cold in Alex. Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands combines these with the Pulp action of secret oases, strange pyramids, untrustworthy natives—in this case, cultists, hidden kingdoms, and Nazi-punching action of Raiders of the Lost Ark! Of course, ‘The Serpent & The Sands’ campaign takes the “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” quote from that film and runs with it. Plus, there are one or two nods to the film throughout the campaign, including a rolling ball trap.

‘The Serpent & The Sands’ campaign is a muscular affair, an entertaining mix of pulp action and weird science. It is not a great campaign, but not a bad campaign either, both solidly straightforward and playable. There are missteps, notably the inclusion of a chapter entirely focused upon desert travel and survival when that should have been part of the campaign as a whole. The Pulp nature of the campaign’s plotting also means that the players do need to accept certain story beats such as betrayal and failure to achieve certain objectives in the later part of the campaign and so set up the final confrontation. The point is the campaign is tightly plotted. If the players can accept that, then ‘The Serpent & The Sands’ campaign is short enough that it will not outstay its welcome whilst moving on the overall campaign framework through the early part of the war.

Physically, Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands is well presented. The artwork is great and everything is well organised. However, it is not as accessible as it could have been, because although there are two tables of content—one for the supplement and one for the campaign—there is no index. It could have done with more artwork, especially for the NPCs to make them better presentable for the players. The campaign could also have done with more maps of certain locations. That said, their inclusion would have eased the running of the campaign rather than being a necessity.

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands is literally a book of two halves. Arguably, it could and should have been two books, a supplement and a campaign. That would have given the Game Master the choice, to be able to purchase the sourcebook half of the book and use it to create her own content without having to purchase the campaign. Certainly, making it two books would have avoided some of the issues with the narrative of the campaign and made the supplement more obviously useful. However, it is not two books. Nevertheless, it is still a book of two halves and the supplement half of the book is better and more useful than the campaign side. Of course, it is useful to run the campaign, but its contents can be used beyond the campaign. The campaign itself is solid and entertaining, but no more than that. Together, they make Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent & The Sands a good package that has a lot of playable and useful content that expands the Secret War.

Mystery & Monsters?

One of the great things with the Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying – Core Box from Free League Publishing is that it comes with everything necessary to play. The means to create Player Characters, the rules, a solo adventure, pre-generated Player Characters, a setting in peril in the form of the Misty Vale, and a complete hexcrawl campaign set within the Misty Vale. A reimagining of Sweden’s first fantasy roleplaying game, Drakar och Demoner, originally published in 1982, Dragonbane combined modern rules and mechanics with an Old School Renaissance sensibility. Plus, with the ‘The Secret of the Dragon Emperor’ campaign, it offers multiple sessions’ worth of play. However, beyond the box, the options for Dragonbane are a little more limited. There is the Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying – Rulebook and a new campaign, Path of Glory, an update of the original campaign for Drakar och Demoner. One definite issue with Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying – Core Box and the Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying – Rulebook is the limited options in terms of monsters. Certainly, enough for the ‘The Secret of the Dragon Emperor’ campaign, but not necessarily enough for long term play.

The Dragonbane Bestiary introduces some sixty-three new monsters for the roleplaying game. Not just monsters, but creatures and beasts and undead and dragons and demons, and more. Every entry includes a description, some stats, and an illustration just like a bestiary for any other roleplaying game, but the Dragonbane Bestiary does more than that. In addition, every entry includes a random encounter that the Game Master can run as and when as well as an adventure seed that the Game Master can develop into something longer than the simple random encounter. Yet that is not all, because unlike any other bestiary for any other roleplaying game, the Dragonbane Bestiary includes content that can be used by the players as well as the Game Master. Plus, it is superbly illustrated by David Brasgalla giving the creatures and beings it depicts a Scandinavian sensibility to all of the entries.

Although the world beyond the Misty Vale is not all that developed, there is some world building written into the Dragonbane Bestiary. This is because it is written as the journal entries of the Halfling adventurer and researcher, Theodora Sneezewort, who often has derisory opinions of her fellow scholars. She provides the commentary on each and every monster, often as the counterpoint to a more parochial point of view about the entries. The latter is given as a quote, whilst she provides the bulk of the entry description. This is followed by the monster stats and the options that add variety to combat in Dragonbane.

The sixty-three entries are catalogued into nine categories—Nightkin, Rare Kin, Insectoids, Trolls, Giants, Beasts, Undead, Dragons, and Demons—by Theodora Sneezewort and in each case, she explains why. For example, she notes that the Nightkin, those kin that are uncomfortable in the sun, are often regarded as being under the thrall of darkness and evil, and history is rife with stories of the battles between Elves and Orcs, Humans and Goblins. That they have a short temper and an often deserved reputation for burning and pillaging the lands of others, but she offers hints that Orcs can be scholarly, that Nightkin can want peace, and their heroes fought oppression, and wights and ghosts, all to better their future. Thus, what we get here is two sides to the argument about a broad category of so-called monsters, in this case dominated by negatives as much perceived wisdom, but hinting too that there might be more to the individual kin. Similarly, the Rarekin live on the margins and are often regarded as legends and if not legends, as fairies responsible for child abductions, but Theodora Sneezewort condemns such views, saying that they are far from the truth.

What the Dragonbane Bestiary does for the player is offer further choice in terms of Kin beyond those—Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Elf, Mallard, and Wolfkin—detailed in the Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying – Core Box. The new Kin are Orc, Ogre, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Frog People, Karkion, Cat People, Lizard People, and Satyr. They are treated in two ways in the supplement. First, they are listed as ‘Non-Monsters’ meaning that they are treated as NPCs and handled as Player Characters rather than as traditional monsters. Second, they can be selected as the Kin for Player Characters if everyone at the table agrees. Each has their own Ability. For example, the Goblin has ‘Resilient’ which gives them a Boon to resist poison and disease and enables them to make camp without a Bushcraft skill roll; Ogres have a ‘Slam’ attack rolled with a Boon that inflicts damage, cannot be parried, and normal size targets are knocked prone; and Cat People have ‘Nine Lives’ which grants a Boon on Death rolls and can reduce falling damage. Perhaps the one that players will pick is the Catkin as their ability is both fitting and given how lethal Dragonbane can be, but all of the abilities are kept simple and add flavour to each Kin.

That said, there is some replication between Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying – Core Box and the Dragonbane Bestiary. The Adult Dragon, Ghost, Giant Spider, Goblin, Griffon, Harpy, Manticore, Minotaur, Orc, Skeleton, and Wight are repeated from the Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying – Core Box, but in keeping with the rest of the Dragonbane Bestiary, their entries are expanded with the descriptions by Theodora Sneezewort, the random encounters, and the adventure seed. Further, the Goblin and Orc are presented as Kin rather than just threats.

Elsewhere, the Dragonbane Bestiary draws on myth for creatures such as Mermaids, Naiads, Minotaurs, Basilisks, and Chimera. There are tweaks though, such as the Medusa being able to fly and able to pummel foes with her fists as well as the snakes that are her hair that bite and her terrifying gaze which is capable of turning anyone to stone within meters. A few are more clearly drawn from Scandinavian folklore, such as the Brook Horse and the Lindworm. There are also different types of similar monster. So, under Trolls there is the Cave Troll, the Forest Troll, and the Mountain Troll; the Dragon is categorised as the Hatching Dragon, Young Dragon, Adult Dragon, and Ancient Dragon; and the Demon category includes write-ups of the Blood Demon, Chaos Demon, Guardian Demon, and Shadow Demon. The oddest entries in the Dragonbane Bestiary are the Karkion and the Insectoids, with even Theodora Sneezewort noting how odd and alien the latter are. The Karkion is a ‘Non-Monster’ Kin, almost cat-like, but with wings like a bat. They are scholars and mages that hunt for lore about demons, but there is little more to them than that. The Insectoids include the Ant People, Beetle Kin, and Spider Kin. Of these, Ant People will communicate with outsiders and even Beetle Kin can be found employed as bodyguards by the wealthy. The Spider Kin are definitely the most mysterious, spinning strange webs that capture magic rather than prey.

Physically, the Dragonbane Bestiary is superbly presented. The writing is engaging and the artwork is a delight, evoking senses of wonder and fright in equal measure. The Giant Spider bearing down upon the Elf in its web is scary, whilst the Skeleton slamming open a door makes you want to jump.

The Dragonbane Bestiary and Theodora Sneezewort get to the point of these creatures quickly, meaning that they simple to use in play. The random encounters are easier to use than the adventure seeds and that is not just because the Game Master has to develop them. There is not a great deal of information in the write-ups of these creatures and monsters for the Game Master to work with and what there is, tends to be more flavour than definitive fact. On the one hand, this leaves plenty of room for the Game Master to develop more her own details about the creature, on the other, it leaves the Game Master with more to develop than just the adventure seed. Certainly, in comparison to other bestiaries far less attention is paid to the ecologies and life cycles of these creatures. In places this leaves the player adrift, such as with the Karkion, which are different enough that more information is needed.

The Dragonbane Bestiary is a book that the player is going to want for more character options and the Game Master is going to want to develop her Dragonbane campaign beyond the pages of ‘The Secret of the Dragon Emperor’ campaign in the Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying – Core Box with new threats and new Kin. As much as the content is useful to that end, it does lean into the mystery of both monster and Kin a little too much, leaving details to be developed by the Game Master. What that means is that whilst the Dragonbane Bestiary is useful and easy in bringing encounters with its entries into play, it is harder to use beyond that in campaign development than it ideally should be. The Dragonbane Bestiary is a very lovely book, but not quite as useful as it should have been.

The Other OSR: Player’s Survival Guide

It is curious to note that since its original publication in 2018, the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG from Tuesday Knight Games has been reliant upon the single rulebook, the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG – Player’s Survival Guide. First as a ‘Zero Edition’ and then as an actual ‘First Edition’. Curious, because despite the horror roleplaying rules detailing no alien threats and giving no advice for the Warden—as the Game Master is known in Mothership—the has proved to be success, with numerous authors writing and publishing scenarios of their own as well as titles from the publisher. What the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG offered was a stripped down, fast playing Science Fiction system that supported a number of sub-genres. Most obviously Blue Collar Science Fiction with horror and Military Science Science Fiction, the most obvious inspirations being the films Alien and Aliens, as well as Outland, Dark Star, Silent Running, and Event Horizon. Yet the authors of third-party content for the roleplaying game have also offered sandboxes such as Desert Moon of Karth and Cosmic Horror like What We Give To Alien Gods, showing how the simplicity of Mothership could be adjusted to handle other types of Science Fiction. This combination of flexibility and simplicity has made it attractive to the Old School Renaissance segment of the hobby, despite Mothership not actually sharing roots with the family of Old School Renaissance roleplaying games derived from the different editions of Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, at best, Old School Renaissance adjacent.

With the publication of the Mothership Core Box and the Mothership Deluxe Box following a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2024, the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG has a complete set of rules for what is its first edition. The includes rules the construction and option of spaceships with Shipbreaker’s Toolkit, monstrous threats with Unconfirmed Contact Reports, and a guide for refereeing the roleplaying game in the form of The Warden’s Operations Manual.

—oOo—

The Player’s Survival Guide is the core rulebook for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG, detailing as it does the the rules for character creation, Stress and Panic, and combat. The book also comes with a content warning giving that Mothership is a horror game and best suited for mature players. Plus, there is advice on being a great player, waning them that their characters can die, that the game is stacked against them, that they will be faced with difficult choices, that they should pay attention, and finally, to accompany the content warning, to create a safe play environment. Of course, it is obvious, but is short and to the point, readying the player for his first experience of play in the Mothership universe.

A Player Character in Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG has four Stats—Strength, Speed, Intellect, and Combat—together indicate how well he might perform under trying conditions. He also has three Saves—Sanity, Fear, and Body—which are his capacity to withstand the effects of different kinds of trauma. There are four Classes, which determine what skills he begins play and how he reacts to Stress and Panic. These are Marines, Androids, Scientists, and Teamsters, essentially modelling the type of characters that appear in Alien and Aliens. When a Marine fails a Panic Check, all nearby Player Character must make a Fear Save; Fear Saves made by Player Characters close to an Android at made at a Disadvantage; when a Scientist fails a Sanity Save, all nearby Player Character gain one Stress; and once per session, a Teamster can make a Panic Check at a Disadvantage. Skills are rated as Trained, Expert, or Master, or ‘+10%’, ‘+15%’, or ‘+20%’ respectively. Penultimately, he has a Loadout, Trinket, and Patch, the Loadout being his equipment, the Trinket something that might give him good fortune, and the Patch is the slogan or saying, which may or may not have some meaning, he has sewn onto his clothes or equipment. Lastly, he has a value for ‘High Score’, which starts at zero and may not actually change since it represents the number of missions or assignments or sessions completed (or survived). It has no mechanical effect, being something that the player and Warden can track. The rules suggest that the average High Score is four, so that and better is something for both player and character to aim for.

NAME: Boyd Tófa

CLASS: Teamster

STATS

Strength 42 Speed 45 Intellect 41 Combat 44

SAVES

Sanity 35 Fear 29 Body 24

Health: 5

Stress: 2

SKILLS

Trained (+10%): Zero-G, Industrial Equipment, Rimwise

Expert (+15%): Piloting

Master (+20%):

Credits: 100cr

Trinket: Pamphlet: Android Overlords

Patch: “Powered By Coffee”

Loadout: Standard Crew Attire (AP 1), Nail Gun (32 rounds), Head Lamp, Toolbelt with Assorted Tools, Lunch Box

Player Character creation is an easy process, just as it always was with the Zero Edition of the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. This was because the character sheet was marked with a flow chart that led the player through the process. Here in the new edition of Player’s Survival Guide it not only been retained, but slimmed down and streamlined for ease of use.

Mechanically, the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG is percentile game. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls percentile dice, aiming to roll equal to or under the appropriate Stat. To avoid dangers, a player can make a similar roll against a Save. A Save is rolled against Sanity to withstand the illogical nature of the universe and to deal with Stress; Fear for fear itself, isolation, and emotional distress; and Body to resist physical effects such as hunger, disease, and invasion organisms. Rolls can be made with Advantage and Disadvantage, meaning that a player rolls the dice twice, taking the best result if at an Advantage and the worst result if at a Disadvantage. A roll of a double counts as a critical success if the roll is equal to, or under the Stat or Save, a critical failure if over. A critical failure also triggers a Panic Check. If appropriate, a player can add one of his character’s Skills to the roll, whether a Stat Roll or a Save.

However, there is a further penalty to failed rolls. The Player Character gains a point of Stress, up to maximum of twenty. Under certain situations, such as seeing another crewmember die, multiple crewmembers failing a Panic Check at the same time, when encountering something horrific and unearthly for the first time, a Player Character must roll a Panic Check. This is a roll of a twenty-sided die, the aim being to roll above the Player Character’s current Stress. A failure requires a roll on the Panic Table. The result is a random effect such as a ‘Loss of Confidence’, ‘Haunted’, ‘Deathwish’, or ‘Heart Attack/Short Circuit (Android)’.

Combat is designed to be fast and deadly. During each round, a Player Character can move and undertake a single action. Attacks are handled by a Combat Check and armour protects up to a certain limit, but above that is destroyed. Some Armour can have Damage Reduction. Damage is subtracted from the defendant’s Health. When Health is reduced to zero, a roll is made on the Wounds Table. The Wounds Table has options for Blunt Force, Bleeding, Gunshot, Fire & Explosives, and Gore & Massive damage.

In terms of further support, there are options for Player Character training skills, although it will actually take years to do so and apart from military training, has to be paid for. The rules cover the effects of different atmospheres, cryosickness from time spent in the cryopods used for long space journeys or hyperspace jumps, starvation, radiation, and more. When not on a mission or assignment, there are ports that the Player Characters’ ship can dock, where they can engage in rest and recreation, and mechanically, each make a Rest Save to reduce their Stress. This can be made at Advantage if a Player Character participates in consensual sex, recreational drug use, heavy drinking, prayer, or other suitable leisure activity. (This is another why the Player’s Survival Guide makes that consent is required.) Contractors can also be hired at ports and once hired, become NPCs defined by a simple format, but potentially upgradable to full Player Character should one of the existing ones somehow die…

If there is anything missing from the Player’s Survival Guide, it is the omission of the stealth skill. This seems odd given that the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG is a horror roleplaying game and such situations often require the Player Characters to sneak around to avoid alerting whatever threat they are facing. That said, one of the several examples of play does show a Player Character attempting to sneak. Instead of making a Stat Check with a Stealth skill added on as a bonus, the player instead rolls a Stat Check with the outcome being that a successful check indicates that it has been done quietly. So instead of the absence of a Stealth skill, the attempt is rolled into whatever it is that the Player Character is attempting to achieve. This could have been made clearer in the rules rather than an example of play.

Physically, the Player’s Survival Guide is very well presented. The layout is clean and tidy, and the book is easy to read. Learning the rules is eased by the numerous examples of play. The artwork is also good throughout.

The ‘Zero Edition’ of the Player’s Survival Guide has proved to be a Science Fiction workhouse, supporting the creation of numerous scenarios and supplements and fanzines within the Blue Collar Science Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Science Fiction Horror genres. The Player’s Survival Guide for Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG, First Edition does and will do the same thing. The new edition of the Player’s Survival Guide is really accessible and everything in its pages are easy to learn—helped by the reference guide on the back—and it lays the foundation of the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG.

Friday Fantasy: The Darkness Under The Water Foul

Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part is notable for two particular facts. One is written and published by Heidi Gygax Garland—yes, the daughter of E. Gary Gygax—and her husband, Erik Gygax Garland. The other is that it is a frustratingly bad module, a linear dungeon design with almost no plot, limited player agency, and a majority of its encounters designed to do nothing more than impede and confound both players and characters. Published by Gaxland Games, it is a module written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and Player Characters of First Level. Conversion, of course, to the rules of the Game Master’s choice is far from challenging, but the PDF version of the scenario is accompanied with conversions for both Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and Castles & Crusades. In addition, the PDF version includes some setting background that the module itself does not. This details Sørholde, a warm, dry, and fortified Dwarven port-city sitting on the island of The Dundel. In Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, the Player Characters were hired by a famed auctioneer to rescue a local noblewoman, the Lady Heiress. She had been kidnapped by Crikpaw and was being held hostage on Governor’s Island, which lies north of Sørholde. In addition to returning with the Lady Heiress, safe and sound, the Player Characters were expected to return with the signet ring from the house of Ukoh An—which Crikpaw is searching for—and ideally with Crikpaw. Dead or alive. Unfortunately, none of that was actually possible in Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part with the module ending with the Lady Heiress sailing off into the distance. Which leads us to Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul.

As the title suggests, Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul expands upon Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. Or rather, it is a sequel rather than an expansion, since it is set very much after the events of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. The good news is that Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul is better than Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. The bad news is that it is not much better than Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. Further, it does nothing to advance the plot of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, such as it was.

Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul is designed for Player Characters of Second Level and opens with them returning to Governors island, the scene of previous adventure in which they not so much fail their objectives as were not allowed to attempt them by the authors. They have been overcome by need to return the pair of keys they were given during one of the first encounters in that adventure. The keys draw them through the wreckage of the dungeon to what is one of the most idiotic and pointless encounters in the adventure. This is the room with the paddling pool in which floats a rubber duck and which contains surprisingly deep water at the bottom of which is a locked gate. In the description of this room in Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, the Dungeon Master is expected to advise her players that, “It becomes obvious that the gate is unreachable at this time”. Which begs the question, when will it be reachable and what does it actually add to the adventure?

Well, as it turns out, with Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul, it is now possible to open the gate because the Player Characters have the keys. The problem with this is that the keys were gained by the Player Characters during the playthrough of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. So, that begs the question, why did the keys not draw the Player Characters back to that room with the paddling pool and the rubber duck when they were actually on the island the first time?

The Player Characters are free to wander through the rest of the dungeon, effectively tramping through the debris that they behind on their first visit. Thankfully, the truly stupid encounter with the Bucket of Fish is gone, having been replaced by an infinitely superior empty room. There are some combat encounters to be had along the way, but they are neither here nor there, and definitely far from interesting. In fact, the only interesting encounter is at the end of the dungeon with the female Barbarian depicted on the module’s front cover. Or rather it would have been interesting had the authors given anything more to do than just say hello. Unless she is there to fight the Player Characters, it is up to the Dungeon Master to decide what her motivation is.

That though still leaves what is below the room with the paddling pool and the rubber duck now that the Player Characters can gain access. There are six rooms or encounters below the paddling pool, three of which are combat encounters, two of which provide a little colour to the dungeon and one of the latter that has a sense of having had purpose. The final encounter is the finale of Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul. Here the Player Characters are faced with a big puzzle, a series of riddles that are not all that challenging. If the Player Characters solve the riddles, they cause a crypt to open. What climbs out is a Lich. A Lich with over one hundred Hit Points, numerous resistances and immunities, the spellcasting abilities of an Eighteenth Level spellcaster, and Legendary Actions, one of which is Frightful Presence, which the Lich will immediately use upon climbing out of his crypt. Of course, since the Player Characters are second Level, they have no hope of making the Saving Throw and withstanding the effects of Frightful Presence. Nor are they meant to and even if they could, it does not matter, because the Lich simply thanks the Player Characters for releasing him and vanishes.

What this Lich wants and where he is going, the scenario does not say. How he relates to the plot of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, if at all, the scenario does not say. It is not made clear that there is a connection between the Lich and the keys that drew the Player Characters back to Governors Island. Of course, the players and their characters are going to feel as if they have been duped. Which is correct, because they have. That said, they have earned some Experience Points and gained some treasure and had an experience, just not a very satisfying or enlightening one.

As an expansion to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, there is nothing in Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul that actually expands it in terms of plot or story. For that reason, there is no need for the Dungeon Master to even consider buying it. The only thing it does is add some rooms behind a gate that the Player Characters cannot under any circumstances get through unless the Dungeon Master does purchase Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul. And if she does and then she decides to run Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul, then out of twenty-four pages, only six pages, detailing two rooms, actually matter. One of those is the room with the paddling pool and the rubber duck, and the other is the room with the crypt for the Lich. Anything else is window dressing at best, distractions or delaying tactics at worst. They simply do not serve any purpose or add anything to the scenario. In fact, those six pages could have been shortened further by not including the stats for the Lich, since is mechanically and narratively impervious to the Player Characters.

Physically, Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul is not badly presented. The artwork is reasonable, the cartography is decent, and the two handouts are divided between the plain and the intriguing. It does need an edit.

Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul is an expansion to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part in two senses. One is physical, adding further rooms to the dungeon in Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. The other is in terms of questions and answers. As in the number of questions it raises as to what is going on, what the plot or story is, and so on, that it raises, and the number of answers it fails to give. In terms of narrative, it does not so much as expand the narrative of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, such as it is, as to bolt on another narrative that it does not do anything with. That said, there is the glimmer of inventiveness in the design of the puzzle in the scenario’s anticlimactic finale, but as for the rest of Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul? Well, it is simply not worth the effort to read as it adds nothing to what was already a poor scenario and really, the authors very much needed a developer or editor or friendly voice to point out the very many flaws of both Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part and Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul.

in the event that any Dungeon Master is attracted by the names attached to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part or Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul, she should avoid both. Both are frustratingly poor designs and Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul feels like a bauble stuck on a rubber duck.

Magazine Madness 44: Senet Issue 18

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.

As its cover suggests, with the publication of Senet Issue 18, the magazine reached its fifth anniversary and as its cover hints at, there is an Ancient Egypt in the issue. Or rather, the article in the issue that explores a theme in board games is Ancient Egypt. Which is appropriate given the name of the game magazine and it should be no surprise that alongside that article, the magazine explores the history of Senet, the Ancient Egyptian game that inspired the magazine and its name. That the magazine has lasted so long and appeared on the magazine shelves on your local high street deserves to be celebrated and so Senet Issue 18 feels just a bit special.

Published in the spring of 2025, the issue adheres to its tried and tested format. Thus it opens with ‘Behold’, highlighting some of the then forthcoming games with a preview and a hint or two of what to expect. The most intriguing of the titles previewed here is Onada, a solo wargame that tells of the story of Hiroo Onada, a Japanese soldier who held out in the jungle of a Philippine island for almost thirty years after World War 2 ended. The player has to gather resources to survive, but doing so alerts the local inhabitants and eventually the authorities. Plus, he must deal with the problems of being alone for so long. The most cute title is Knitting Circle, Flatout Games’ cosy game about knitting in which the cats get to collect the stitches and the most fun game is Interstellar Adventures: The Sincerest Form of Flattery, an ‘escape room’ style game from Minty Noodles Ltd. that combines the play of solo adventure books and looks like a comic book. The other opening sections of the magazine are surprisingly good. The regular column of readers’ letters, ‘Points’, continues to be disappointingly constrained to a single page, waiting for room to expand and build into something more, yet covers a diverse range of matters including the lack of books about board games. Or rather the lack of books about board games on the shelves of bookshops. Actually, there have several such books that have made it to the those shelves, but they are not always easy to find. That said, coverage of such books might be a welcome addition in the pages of Senet. With ‘For Love of the Game’ the journey of the designer Tristian Hall continues towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth—and beyond. In ‘At Your Service’, he discusses logistics and fulfilment and dealing with the companies that provide such services, including shipping and delivery. This is informative and gives the publisher’s point of view when normally we only experience this part as customers.

Every issue consists of two interviews, one with an artist and one with a designer, plus an article about a theme in games and an article about a mechanic in games, and of course, Senet Issue 17 is no exception. The tried and tested formula begins with ‘Family Value’, Alexandra Sonechkina’s interview with designer, Ellie Dix. She is perhaps best known for The Shakespeare Game and The Jane Austen Game—both from Laurence King Publishing Ltd. and both of which can be found on the shelves of high street shops—and having won the Hasbro Women Innovators of Play contest in 2023. As well as discussing her gaming background and her favourite mechanism, deduction, Dix gets to explain her high regard for the family game. Or rather, the good family board game, since too often, she feels that the games that families play are terrible. It would have been interesting to have had her suggest some suitable games, but otherwise this is a solid interview with a designer that it is perhaps not as well known as the names that the magazine usually interviews. Dan Jolin interviews the artist Jeremy Nguyen in ‘New York State of Mind’. It is a less interesting piece because the artist has to date only illustrated three games—Inner Compass and Santa Monica, both from Alderac Entertainment Group’, and WizKids’ Rebuilding Seattle. Nevertheless, Nguyen’s striking artwork, inspired by the ‘ligne claire’ or ‘clear line’ style defined and used by Hergé, the creator of The Adventures of TinTin, is shown to good effect that you expect a Belgian reporter and a small white dog to step into view.

The aforementioned theme in Senet Issue 18 is Ancient Egypt and Dan Thurot’s ‘Pyramid Schemes’ gets off by making a startling point that not all board games treat the subject matter very well and this view comes from an expert, Doctor Julia Cromwell, an Egyptologist who specialises in tabletop games as a medium. She is critical of certain games, such as GameWorks SàRL’s Sobek that oversimplify Ancient Egypt, which either results in the flattening of the history or in the depiction of the people as stereotypes. Equally, she is positive about titles like Amun-Re from Alley Cat Games and Ankh: Gods of Egypt from CMON Global Limited, which acknowledge the differences between the Old and New Kingdoms, and Ergo Ludo Editions’ Pyramidice which brings the gods into play. It is clear from the piece that Ancient Egypt is a very popular theme with designers such as the prolific Reiner Knizia who has created multiple titles based on it with Tutankhamen from AMIGO, Ra from Alea, and Amun-Re amongst them. What these games all benefit from is familiarity. The pharaohs, the pyramids, the river Nile, hieroglyphics, mummies, and more are all undeniably well known and that makes games based on this theme all the more accessible.

As part of the article and for its anniversary, Senet Issue 18 also examines the history and significance of its namesake, the Ancient Egyptian board game, Senet. It is a fascinating article as much for what it cannot say as what it does. It suggests a possible theme to the game, but the absence is really the lack of rules to its play because nobody knows what they are. The other celebration in the issue is the ‘Fifth Anniversary Top Choice Special’ which collates ‘Senet’s Top Choice’ from each of the previous seventeen issues. It is nice to be reminded of them.

For the issue’s mechanic, Matt Thrower’s ‘Little Wars’ looks at skirmish games, board games and war games that are played at a smaller scale with a limited number of miniatures of figures per side. Their origins lie in H.G. Wells’ Little Wars rules and in more recent decades in roleplaying and Games Workshop’s War Hammer Fantasy Battles. Joseph McCullogh, the designer of Osprey Games’ Stargrave and Frostgrave provides an apt definition, “A skirmish game is wargame where you think about naming everyone on your team.” Although it looks at games as such as Star Wars: X-Wing from Fantasy Flight Games and Atomic Mass Games’ Star Wars: Shatterpoint, both based on a very popular intellectual property, it also devotes space to other and as it admits, stranger designs, like Max Fitzgerald’s Turnip28, Napoleonics-inspired post-apocalyptic rules that are in part about root vegetables, and Necromolds: Monster Battles, a game of modelling and squishing your miniatures from Necromolds LLC. The article though is not really about a mechanic, but a type of game, one that is examined here from outside of the wargaming hobby.

Senet’s reviews section, ‘Unboxed’ includes a look at Reiner Knizia’s then latest, Rebirth, published by Mighty Boards, a tile-laying design that is actually two board games in one and described as his elegant best. Survive the Island is Zygomatic’s update of Escape from Atlantis! from 1982 and described as an “’80s throwback”, whilst ‘Senet’s Top Choice’ for the issue is War Story: Occupied France, a game from Osprey Games with an interesting heritage. It is a collaboration between the designers of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective and the Undaunted series. It combines elements of the war game with the solo gamebook to help drive the story along with the game play, which has elements of roleplay as much as guerrilla tactics.

As per usual, the last two columns in Senet Issue 18 are ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For the former in ‘All for one and one against all’, James Nouch explores the ways in which different players view the play of games, especially in the face of skill imbalance between them. Lastly, the DJ, Andy Bush pulls a game from his ‘Shelf of Shame’. He delves back into gaming history to examine Magic Realm from 1979! He finds it thoroughly old-fashioned and overly complex such that he actually downloads a fan version of the rules for clarity, but still has fun.

Senet magazine always shows off the board games it previews and reviews to great effect, and Senet Issue 18 is no exception. It seems fitting as an anniversary issue that it a rather good read with the celebrations nicely understated. All of the articles are interesting and worth reading, with even the instalment of ‘For Love of the Game’ having something useful to say. Both ‘Pyramid Schemes’ and ‘Little Wars’ are informative and the standout articles in the issue.