1994: The Whispering Vault

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary, and the new edition of that, Dungeons & Dragons, 2024, in the year of the game’s fiftieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

In your life, you came to realise the truth of the world. You saw beyond the five senses. Your world, our world, was the Realm of Flesh, woven together by the physical laws to provide form and substance. As one of the Enlightened you learned that there was another plane of existence in parallel that was free of those laws. This is the Realm of Essence. Between the Realm of Flesh and the Realm of Essence lies the Neitherspace, home to hordes of the creatures known as Shadows who desire to interact with both the Realm of Flesh and the Realm of Essence. The Shadows are ever watching the Realm of Flesh and there are those that would force their way into the Realm of Flesh. Some play a role in the lives of Man. They are called Awakened Shadows and they are dangerous for they do not think like us. Some to fulfil their alien passions. They are called the Unbidden and they are worse. They awaken Shadows and bind them to physical vessels as Minions. To the ordinary man and woman unlucky enough to encounter them, they are the monsters of myth and legend. As an Enlightened, you knew better. You dedicated your life to investigating their doings and to protecting the Realm of Flesh from their intrusions. And then you were Chosen. The Stalkers came for you, freeing you of your physical bonds, forging your Humanity into Five Keys, and giving you a gift from the Primal Powers. This is the Immortal Essence to serve as a Stalker. Combined with your mortal origins you have the ability to return to Realm of Flesh, your duty to protect its inhabitants from the Unbidden and mend the Enigma left behind by the Unbidden’s absence that if left unattended, will spread corruption that will infect the Realm of Flesh and more…

This is the set-up for The Whispering Vault, a horror roleplaying game published by Pariah Press in 1994. (A prerelease was published in limited numbers for Gen Con in 1993). In classic nineties style, the Player Characters are monsters, but monsters with mortal origins and attitudes whose understanding of mankind and their world, enables them to better protect the Realm of Flesh in their new form as they once did in their original flesh. As Stalkers, they exist beyond the Realm of Flesh, each residing in their own Domain the nature of which reflects what they were and did in life. When they return to the Realm of Flesh, their Avatar is woven into a Vessel, the Vessel hiding the oddly inhuman or horrific form that their Avatar takes. The search for the Unbidden—called a Hunt—can take a Stalker anywhere, so there is scope for a scenario in The Whispering Vault to be set anywhere and anywhen, the roleplaying game possessing a time travel element. The fact that The Whispering Vault has monsters entering different time periods via a body that can be rewoven each time creating a different body almost makes the roleplaying game sound like, ‘Quantum Leap with monsters hunting monsters’.

There is a duality to the Player Character or Stalker in The Whispering Vault, reflected in his Avatar and his Vessel. First though, a player must decide what his Stalker did during his mortal existence. This involves determining where and when he was born, who he was and how he lived, why he hunted the Unseen, and how he was recruited as one of the Chosen. Then he decides upon his Avatar, what he looks like as one of the Chosen, reflecting what he looked like in life, but still obviously supernatural, and his Domain, where his Avatar resides. The Avatar has four Attributes—Awareness, Insight, Presence, and Willpower—which range in value between three and seven, with ratings of four and five being seen as reliable. The Avatar has a number of Disciplines, special powers taught by the Primal Powers for the Stalkers to wield in the Realm of Flesh against the Unbidden and their servants. For example, ‘Conjure’ enables an Avatar to create small objects, ‘Dominate’ gives them mind control, and ‘Savage’ to inflict more damage in melee combat. It is possible to gain Mastery in a Discipline and gain access to wider powers and the ability to improvise with Inspirations. When on a Hunt, a Stalker can summon phantoms of Essence to serve him. For example, ‘Chronovores’ slow mortals, ‘Flits’ reduce the damage from ranged attacks, and ‘Rippers’ tear the Husks off Minions. A Vessel’s Attributes are physical—Dexterity, Fortitude, and Strength—and range in value between three and six, but can be more.

A Stalker has Five Keys, both symbols of his Office and his connection to the Realm of Flesh, granting him his powers, whilst anchoring him to what he was. The Five Keys are either Virtues, Flaws, or Memories, and a Stalker has at least one each. They are also a physical object that can be stolen and without them, a Stalker cannot use Karma or his powers. If someone else holds his Five Keys, a Stalker cannot directly act against them.

To create his Stalker, a player divides twenty-two points between the four attributes of the Avatar. Selects a number of Disciplines equal to the Avatar’s Awareness, and a number of Servitors equal to his Presence. Summoning a Servitor inflicts damage on a Stalker, unless he has Mastery in doing so. It is recommended that a player select a Servitor in which his Avatar has Mastery so that it can be brought into play without damaging him. He assigns points equal to the Avatar’s Willpower to the three physical attributes of his Vessel. Lastly, he defines the Five Keys for his Stalker. It is suggested that initially, the player defines only a few of these. The process is not difficult, but it involves making a fair number of choices, a process hampered, if only a little, by the terminology used in The Whispering Vault.

NAME: ‘Cagliostro’

When And Where Were You Born?

I was born in Lancashire in 1936

Who Were You And How Did You Live?

I was Harold ‘Harry’ Rawllins. I worked at the theatres as a mind reader. I read people. I was a fake.

Why Did You Hunt The Unseen?

I read someone who was not normal, evil even, and turned out to be something not human, but looked like it. I knew I had to stop him. There were more.

How Were You Recruited?

I encountered others like me, who could see beyond.

Domain: A replica of the Lancaster Grand Theatre

FIVE KEYS

Virtuous: Courage

Flaws: Pride

Memories: The applause of the audience

AVATAR

Awareness 6 Insight 5 Presence 6 Willpower 5

Disciplines: Delve (Mastery), Dominate, Foresight, Terrify, Ward

Servitors: Dreadwyrms, Ferretters, Glamours (Mastery), Gremlins, Trackers

VESSEL

Dexterity 5 Fortitude 4 Strength 4

Skills

Attack +2, Charm +6, Defend +2, Mask +4, Mend +2, Occultism +2, Prestidigitation (Focus) +4, Sensitivity +4

Vitality 10

Karma 5

Mechanically, The Whispering Vault is simple. To have his Stalker undertake an action, his player makes a Challenge Roll. The Difficulty of the Challenge ranges from Routine and eight to Very Hard and eighteen, and it can be altered by modifiers from ‘-4’ and Routine to ‘+5’ and Very Hard. The player rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to the Attribute being used and counts either the highest result on a single die or the highest total of the matching dice. To this total is added the value of an appropriate skill. A point of Karma can be spent to reroll any dice.

For example, Cagliostro and his Circle of Stalkers is tracking an Unbidden which is preying on wealthy widows. He has used his Trackers to locate at a country house where a party is being held. He decides to enter the house via the tradesman’s entrance. There is a member of staff on duty at the door, preventing those without permission from entering. Cagliostro’s player describes how he has been booked as the entertainment for the evening. The Game Master sets the Difficulty at Average or twelve, but applies an Easy modifier because the comings and goings make the staff member a little harassed. So, the Difficulty is reduced to ten. Cagliostro’s player will roll six dice for his Presence Attribute and apply his Charm skill. He rolls two, two, three, six, six, and six. This is an incredible roll and with the addition of his Charm skill, gives a final result of twenty-four! The Game Master rules that the staff member accepts everything that Cagliostro says and further, accepts the other members of his Circle as part of his troupe and directs other members of staff to help them inside.

Combat uses the same mechanics, but The Whispering Vault eschews the use of hard and fast rules for things like range modifiers, recoil, and reload times. Instead, conflicts are intended to be run as a narrative told by both the players and the Game Master, and both are encouraged to roleplay such situations. Where actions require resolution, Challenge Rolls are made, but to resolve an attack the Stalker makes an Attack Challenge against his opponent’s Defend Attribute, and to defend himself, a Stalker makes a Defend Challenge against his opponent’s Attack Attribute. Effectively then, in this, The Whispering Vault is player-facing in its mechanics—and player-facing in its mechanics a good twenty years before it became fashionable with designs such as Numenera.

However, The Whispering Vault actually pays more attention to the damage inflicted rather than the inflicting it. The emphasis is placed on melee rather than ranged damage since Shadows and the Unbidden take less damage from ranged damage. The base damage for a Stalker is based on his Strength Attribute, modified by the Savage and Rend Disciplines, and a player is expected to be inventive in how his Stalker actually attacks his opponents based on the Stalker he has created. The example given is a Stalker shooting chains from its eyes (so very Hellraiser, one of likely inspirations for the roleplaying game), but Cagliostro could shoot out streams of magic scarfs or throw playing cards or use magic rings to entangle and rip. In general, a Stalker relies on its own intrinsic weapons and those abilities granted by Disciplines rather than wielding weapons of the Mortals, and unless he has an appropriate Focus Skill, suffers an attack penalty when using them. Damage suffered by a Stalker (and other supernatural beings) is divided by his Fortitude Attribute before it reduces his Vitality, but once his Vitality is reduced to zero, the damage reduces his other Attributes. Which Attributes are reduced is up to the player, but if a Stalker’s Fortitude is reduced to zero, he is killed. In general, Stalkers are sturdier than Mortals, and there is a cap on the amount of damage that they can inflict on Stalkers, whereas Mortals are easier to kill. A Shadow can be damaged enough to destroy its flesh and force it back into the Neitherspace, whilst Unbidden needs to have its much weaker Vessel destroyed, forcing it to reveal its true, and much stronger, form.

The core of The Whispering Vault is its Disciplines which grant Stalkers to alter the Realm of Flesh. Some are more powerful than others, weakening the Vessel they reside and costing them points of Vitality. If a Stalker has Mastery in a Discipline, then he can improvise further uses of it, called Inspirations, his player describing the desired effect and the Game Master adjudicating it. Using an Inspiration costs Karma, but the Game Master can simply disallow an inspiration, nor does she have to explain why it does not work, the book suggesting that she tell that, “…[t]he Dream can only be stretched so far.” (The Dream being how the Primal Powers envision the Realm of Flesh.) Honestly, it would have been better to have the player and Game Master negotiate on the effects rather than the latter simply saying no. If successful, the player is encouraged to describe how the Inspiration works and similarly visualise and describe how the supernatural abilities of the Disciplines appear, as if they were special effects in a film. The Inspiration guidelines are underwritten and the advice could have been better.

Servitors are given a similar description as Disciplines. A Servitor costs Vitality to summon, and requires the use of the Evoke skill, but cannot be seen by those unable to see Essence. Some are less useful than others, such as ‘Cloudlings’ that absorb moisture from the air only to release it as a rainstorm later, but others like ‘Gremlins’ disrupt machinery and devices, ‘Flits’ that intercept ranged attacks, and ‘Devourers’ that consume nonliving matter. Much like the Discipline descriptions, the Servitors are often underwritten in terms of what they can do and are open to no little degree of interpretation. In the right hands, this can grant a lot of flexibility, but in the wrong hands, is potentially open to abuse. Conversely, the skills are better described and clearer in their use.

The Whispering Vault is played as a series of Hunts. A Hunt consists of a number of steps, which begin with the Stalkers being contacted by a mortal Supplicant—effectively what the Player Characters were before they became Stalkers—who is endangered by an Enigma. The Stalkers are transported to the Realm of Flesh by the Navigators, which bridge Flesh and Essence, via the Winding Path along which is a Barrier through which they have to pass, dismissing the Barrier’s Guardian to do so. Once in the Realm of Flesh, they enter their Vessels and look for the Enigma and Mend it, then search for the Unbidden and its Minions. They must be defeated, the Unbidden bound, judgement passed upon it, and after calling the Navigators to return them and their quarry to the Realm of Essence, banish the Unbidden into the ‘Whispering Vault’ of the title. There are some variations to this, depending primarily on the age of the Navigator summoned, as the mature ‘Old One’ Navigators can manifest a guide to help and interact with the Stalkers as they follow the path, but can also be infested with parasites that will likely attack the Stalkers.

Of course, the Game Master need not run her players and their Stalkers through all of the steps of Hunt every time she runs The Whispering Vault. In a one-shot certainly, but for long term play, perhaps the first two Hunts and then after that when it is part of the story. At each step, The Whispering Vault expands upon its weirder, wider universe, for example, should an Enigma not be mended, corruption will grow and grow until the affected area becomes one of the Shadowlands and is shifted into the Neitherspace. The primary cause of an Enigma is an Unbidden, and once that has been dealt with—defeated and bound—Enigmas can be repaired, so that Shadowlands can be interesting places in which to locate a Hunt. This is because Shadowlands are also temporally isolated and free of the constraints of the Dream, which means that the Stalkers do not have to worry about revealing themselves unnecessarily, but also allows free reign for the Unbidden to indulge in its passions.

When on a Hunt, the Stalkers are protected by the Veil, meaning that anyone unable to see or is sensitive to them and other creatures of Essence, will ignore their horrifying appearance or supernatural actions. A Stalker can shift from the Veil slightly by Masking, or casting an illusion on himself, appearing as that much more impressive, or he can even drop the Veil and reveal his true form for full effect. This is rare because Stalkers are expected to adhere to the Forbiddance to protect the Dream. Under the terms of the Forbiddance, the Stalkers cannot alter time and affect the lives of mortals unnecessarily—meaning effectively, protect the innocent and target the Minions of the Unbidden. There are consequences for breaking the Forbidden, right up to the Primal Powers interceding and destroying a Stalker’s Vessel and returning him to his Domain. A player is given the opportunity to undo an action that would lead to such an Intercession, but repeated actions that lead to further Intercessions will see the Stalker cast into the Whispering Vault (and thus out of the campaign).

After a Hunt, a Stalker can be awarded Karma and Experience Points. The latter are obviously spent to improve the Stalker, but another option is to purchase Group Powers. Every member of a Circle must agree to it and in narrative terms, the Circle needs to have gained the approval of the Primal Powers. They are expensive too, costing five Karma each. For example, ‘Blood Bond’ lets the members of a Circle share their Vitality with each other, whilst ‘Helping hand’ grants them bonuses on combined actions, typically for Banishing, Binding, Evocation, and Mending. If a Circle does exceptionally well, it may even be awarded a Group Power.

The campaign advice is more about the Group Powers than the help on running the game or campaigns, although there is the suggestion of a ‘Watchers’ style in which the Stalkers sit on a hotspot where places and periods of history invite the intrusion and presence of the Unbidden. This requires more effort upon the part of both the Game Master and her players to set up, but gives the Stalkers a base of operations—or Sanctum—within the Realm of Flesh. The rules cover the creation of the Sanctum, which can have its own Enchantments, but as interesting as this possible set-up is, there is no real advice on how to run such a campaign.

Roughly, the last third of The Whispering Vault is dedicated to the threats that the Stalkers will face, primarily the Unbidden. An actually has a life stage once it has reached the Realm of Flesh, beginning as Beast which has an overwhelming desire to hunt and eat. Once sated, it is free to indulge in the Passions which drove it to enter the Realm of Flesh, and when it transcends these Passions, it becomes an Architect, concerned with long term plans for its continued existence in the Realm of Flesh. Thus, there are different types of Unbidden with different actions and drives, which will affect the challenges that the Stalkers will face on a Hunt. Unbidden also have their own special abilities, enabling the Game Master to design and customise her own. There is also what is a guide to creating Shadows, and effectively of bestiary of them, including some very nasty, creepy creations, such the three-limbed, cameras-for eyes Rethrett, or ‘Cameramen’, which lurk in television sets and record your actions, except in Great Britain where they are repulsed by the BBC! Lastly, there is a guide to mortal threats, including a sample cult or two and some sample Stalkers.

Physically, The Whispering Vault is an amazing looking book. It is superbly illustrated from start to finish, with black and white, sometimes scratchy artwork that imparts a sense of horrifying weirdness. The book is both well written and not well written. There main text is accompanied by decent game world fiction and plenty of examples, but it uses a lot of odd terminology and obfuscatory phrasing, constantly leaving the reader to wonder quite what a term means, so that despite mechanical simplicity, the game is not as easy as it should be to learn or teach. It does not help that there is no index or actually, worse, no glossary.

—oOo—

William Spencer-Hale reviewed The Whispering Vault in ‘Closer Look’ in Shadis Issue #14 (July/August 1994). He described the roleplaying game as, “…[A]n outstanding accomplishment for designer/author Mike Nystul…” and its set-up of having the players roleplay, “…[T]he otherworldly, immortal protectors of human’s reality.” as “…[A]n original and inspired creation that is a breath of fresh air in the roleplaying industry.” He concluded his positive review by saying, “All in all, The Whispering Vault is a game worthy of the attention of any fan of horror roleplaying. This game is a welcome addition to any library and, out of all the roleplaying materials that I own, this is one that I will actually enjoy playing.”

It is traditional in many of these cases for Dragon Magazine to review a roleplaying game not once, but twice. So it is with The Whispering Vault in the pages of Dragon Magazine, both times by Lester Smith. In ‘Role-playing Reviews’ in Dragon Magazine Issue #208 (August 1994), he reviewed the ‘Black Book’ pre-release edition released at the previous Gen Con and praised the roleplaying game’s “powerful new mythology” and said, “A strong atmosphere of brooding horror and heroic action is conveyed by the text, from vocabulary created, to creatures described, to setting depicted.” He noted that that there were things missing from this edition of the roleplaying game, such as the description of the Shape-changing skill (called the Morph Discipline in the first edition), details of the Five Keys, and so on. Before awarding The Whispering Vault a score of four out of six, he concluded, “From the taste given in this black book edition, I definitely recommend this game for anyone who likes heroic horror. It is one of the most inventive treatments of the subject I have yet encountered.”

Lester Smith followed up his initial review with one of the first edition in ‘Role-playing Reviews’ in Dragon Magazine Issue #217 (May 1995). He was as congratulatory in this review as he was in his previous review, launching it with, “I hope it won’t sound audacious for me to say that I think the CoC RPG finds its match in the WHISPERING VAULT* game.” He continued with, “The book’s presentation is excellent, nearly flawless… The attitude projected by both text and art is uniformly dark, brooding, and extremely strange. The end result is a virtually seamless presentation of Nystul’s vision of horror (except for Talon, a sample PC at the very back of the book, whose premise and art I didn’t think fit the rest in the original book, and who seems even more out of place in this version; but hey, that’s only one character sheet). And that unique vision is both shockingly strange and yet universal in scope.” Smith concluded his second review by awarding The Whispering Vault six out of six and saying, “This product is pure, distilled horror, with some of the most concise yet effective mechanics ever published; its relative slimness simply means that you’ll digest the game more quickly initially, and reference it more easily during play.”

Rick Swan would echo Lester Smith’s praise for The Whispering Vault in ‘Role-playing Reviews’ in Dragon Magazine Issue #218 (June 1995). In his review of Dangerous Prey, the first supplement for the roleplaying game, he said, “What’s WHISPERING VAULT, you ask? Only one of the smartest, spookiest horror RPGs that ever clawed its way from a crypt.”

William Spencer-Hale also reviewed The Whispering Vault a second time, but the second time would be as a ‘Pyramid Pick’ in Pyramid Vol. 1 #10 (November/December, 1994) and with exactly the same review. It can be found here.

Continuing the trend for double review reviews, The Whispering Vault was also reviewed twice in White Wolf Magazine. First was by Sam Chupp in ‘Capsule Reviews’ in White Wolf Magazine Issue 40 (February, 1994), who said of the ‘Black Book’ pre-release edition, “It would be easy to write this game off as “Call of Cthulhu with Super Powers,” but Mike Nystul’s game of supernatural hunters is a much deeper, much more artistic roleplaying game than that. You play angelic/demonic agents who hunt down the horrors that escape your level of reality.” before awarding it a score of four out of five and concluding, “The Whispering Vault will appeal to you if you like horror- or superhero-style games, but I think you’ll enjoy the elegance, uniqueness and atmosphere of the game even if you don’t play those games. 1 heartily recommend The Whispering Vault, prototype that it is.”

The second review appeared in White Wolf Magazine Issue 44 (June, 1994) and was a ‘Featured Review’ by none other than William Spencer-Hale. As with his review in Pyramid Vol. 1 #10, it was the exact same review as he had published in Shadis Issue #14.

—oOo—

The Whispering Vault looks and feels like a classic roleplaying game of the nineties, similar to that of Vampire: the Masquerade and Kult. It has the Player Characters as monsters battling other monsters, it has its own mythology that explains the universe and what the monsters really are, and it has fantastic artwork from some of the best artists of the period— Jeff Laubenstein, Earl Geier, Larry MacDougall, and others. And despite the often obfuscatory nature of the setting and its language, The Whispering Vault actually has a very simple set-up and it has surprisingly simple rules, that together make it more accessible than it should be. It is such a pity that The Whispering Vault has never received a proper second edition and more development, for it genuinely is a weird and creepy horror game, one that gives a lot of room for player and Game Master alike to affect the narrative and tell the tales of the true horrors from beyond.

Typeface Terror

When the body of a man is found lying face up in his West London flat with a large hole in his chest surrounded by organised piles of books, it sounds like a strange case, and probably a case for The Folly. Or rather, the ‘Special Assessment Unit’ of London Metropolitan Police Service, which in particular deals with magic and the Demi-Monde, and under the command of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, registered practitioner of Newtonian magic, is increasing the number of its operational staff as crimes involving magic also rise. And so, it proves to be with the death of Edgar Marsh. Assiduous investigation involving close examination of the flat, interviews with neighbours, and an autopsy establish that Edgar was a loner, was obsessed with history and mudlarking on the Thames shore, died under strange circumstances, and once an Initial Vestigium Assessment has been conducted, that magic was involved in his death, and that very definitely, this is a case for the Folly. It is also the set-up for The Font of All Evil.

The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames is an investigation and case file for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, based on the Rivers of London novels by Ben Aaronovitch. Published by Chaosium, Inc., this is another short case file for the roleplaying game which can be played in a single session and perhaps used as a convention scenario. Or it can be added to campaign, perhaps run after ‘The Bookshop’ from the core rulebook or Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game. One issue perhaps with the scenario is that it set on a specific date—Thursday, 19th May, 2016. This tied into ebb and flow of the Thames tidal estuary, but the scenario need not be set on that particular date. The authors suggest that the Game Moderator can check the tides for the particular day on which she wants to set the scenario, but another option would be to still set it on Thursday, 19th May, 2016 and run it on later date as a training exercise, possibly conducted by Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale himself.

The case itself is quite straightforward—no surprise given that it was originally written as a convention scenario—and within a relatively short amount of time, should have a prime suspect. The second half of the scenario will involve confirming his involvement, tracking him down, and finally confronting him. Throughout, there is excellent advice for the Game Master and at every stage, there are suggestions as where the Player Characters could go next to continue or further their investigation. There are nods also to the various novels the Rivers of London series, pointers to possible consequences to the Player Character actions. This is in addition to the advice given to the Game Moderator at the start of the scenario, which suggests the means of introducing the Player Characters, what Occupations are useful, and what skills will be helpful. Of the Occupations, ideally, the Player Characters should have a Police Officer or Detective and a Practitioner of magic amongst their number. The scenario even goes so far as to suggest which pre-generated Player Characters from the Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game core book are suitable, adjusting for player numbers as necessary.

Where The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames disappoints—if only slightly—is in its treatment of the wound that killed poor Edgar Marsh. The scenario suggests that not every Game Moderator and her group relish depictions of violence and bloodshed, which is fine, but consequently, the scenario obfuscates what exactly the cause of death is until quite late on in the book and initially it is difficult to work out exactly why the case falls under the remit of The Folly. When it is made explicit, the Game Moderator will need to take that information and carry it back to the beginning of the scenario should she want to work it into her descriptions for the benefit of her players and their characters. Also, the scenario does not address what might happen should the Player Characters actually fail… After all, what killed Edgar Marsh could also be threat to the monarchy!

Where The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames delights is in its pleasing combination of London life, history, and magic. The weaponisation of Doves Type has a certain elegance to it.

Physically, The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames is clean, tidy, and easy to use. The maps and plot progression diagram are easy to use, the advice is good throughout, and the illustrations are decent, a reasonable mix of the old and the new.

The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames is a detailed and entertaining, if short, case file for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, compact enough to be run as a convention scenario, but just as easily run at a more leisurely pace at the gaming table.

Quick-Start Saturday: DUNGEON, INC.

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

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

—oOo—

What is it?
The Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set is the quick-start for Dungeon, Inc., a roleplaying game which reverses the dungeon and has the players roleplaying its denizens withstanding assaults on the corridors, rooms, and caverns against intruding adventurers. It combines this with the ‘dungeon-as-a-business’ corporatisation and outsources it to a special agency, which is where the Player Characters come in. They are monsters sent out to work particular sites, protect the facilities, cause not too much damage themselves and definitely not engage in any looting before having to report back to the office and their line manager.

It is also the English language quick-start for the French roleplaying game, Donjon & Cie.

It is a twelve-page, 14.24 MB full colour PDF.

The quick-start is not illustrated bar the cover and the map.

How long will it take to play?
The Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set and its adventure, ‘Certified? In the Bowels of the Dungeon’, is designed to be played through in one session.

What else do you need to play?
The Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set requires a standard set of polyhedral dice with ideally, two twenty-sided dice.

Who do you play?
The five Player Characters—or Trainees—in the Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set consist of a Cautious Banshee, Blasé Dwarf, Lordly Imp, Intimidating Goatling, and Dapper Goblin.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character in the Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set—and thus Dungeon, Inc.—will look familiar to anyone who has played a micro-clone like The Black Hack or Whitehack. A Player Character has six stats. These are Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma, and they range in value between three and eighteen. A Player Character will also two traits, one defining his species (or profession if Human), the other his personality. For example, a Human Stevedore or a Sultry Bugbear.

A Player Character can also be a Specialist or have a Talent. Each time the Talent or the Specialist training is used, there is a chance that it cannot be used again that day, as per the rules for Risk Dice (see below). A Player Character with Martial Training will have more Hit Points.

Dungeon, Inc. does not use Classes.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, there are three key elements to the Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set—and thus Dungeon, Inc. The first is that to have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a twenty-sided die and attempts to under or equal to the appropriate stat. A trait can make this roll easier or harder. If easier, then the player rolls with advantage, if harder, he rolls with disadvantage.

The second is ‘Risk Dice’. These are standard polyhedral dice, the four-sided to the twelve-sided dice, placed in a descending chain and used to represent resources or a growing threat. When there is a chance that a Player Character will use a resource or a threat will grow, its current die is rolled. If the result is one, two, or three, then the resource is partially depleted or the threat actually grows, and current used to represent it, it is stepped down to the next die size down in the chain. If a four-sided die is rolled and forced to step down, the resource it represents is fully depleted or the threat it represents comes to pass.

The third is Favours. These represent relationships and contacts with other employees of Dungeon, Inc. Favour is treated like a Risk Die in that there is a chance that they will run out for a Player Character. When used successfully, they can grant a bonus to a character whose player narrates how the Favor grants that benefits. A typical benefit is grant Advantage on an action.

How does combat work?
Combat in the Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set as per Dungeon, Inc. Initiative is handled in narrative fashion rather than rolled for, armour is represented by a Risk die, and a Player Character reduced to zero Hit Points is unconscious. When he recovers, he will gain a negative trait related to the injury. Only one roll is made per player per combat round. A successful roll under the appropriate stat means that the attacks against the Player Character have missed and all of his have succeeded. An unsuccessful roll means that the attack made by the Player Character has missed and all attacks against him have succeeded. It is brutally binary.

How does Magic work?

A Player Character with magical training can cast spells. Spells have a cost in Hit Point to cast and require a roll against an appropriate stat. Alternatively, spell components or a magical foci can be used to negate the Hit Point loss. The spell components or magical foci will have their own Risk Dice. The actual effects of a spell will be agreed on between the player and Game Master.

What do you play?

‘Certified? In the Bowels of the Dungeon’ finds the Player Characters—or Trainees—suddenly find themselves assigned by their Tutor (whom it is encouraged that the players collectively create and describe) to an alternative ‘client aerie’ as part of their certification. This is ‘The Giant’s Entrails’. To the sniggering of their future colleagues, the Player Characters are assigned random equipment kits and then find themselves quite literally in the bowels of a dungeons. It is a fairly foul assignment, but still a fun one to play through and unlike many dungeon adventures, these Player Characters will find themselves getting graded when they get back.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set includes everything that the Game Master and five players need to play through it. (Though a PowerPoint presentation might not be out of character for the game.)

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in the Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set are easy to prepare.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set presents the basics of a different, even modernised way to experience classic roleplaying dungeons with a sly dose of humour. That said, neither the Players nor the Game Master get to experience the full corporate culture of Dungeon, Inc. That though, might be a blessing, as nobody wants to be put off the game before it is even available!

Where can you get it?
The Certification Test – A DUNGEON, INC. Quickstart Set is available to download here.

An Ubersreik Quartet

The two great features of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set were twofold. First, in ‘A Guide to Ubersreik’, it introduced Ubersreik, the fortress-town in the south of the Reikland, and its surrounding duchy that are in turmoil after an announcement from the emperor that unseated the ruling House Jungfreud. It left the town’s burghers and minor members of the nobility spotting an opportunity to take control themselves and much of this was explored in ‘The Adventure Book’, which provided a five-part mini-campaign and more story hooks. This was the second great thing about the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set—lots to roleplay. Although Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set was in part designed to set the Game Master and her players up reader for the majestic The Enemy Within campaign—after all, almost everything is in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition is—what if instead of leaping into that campaign, the Player Characters wanted to stay in and around Ubersreik? Fortunately, and almost immediately, publisher Cubicle Seven Entertainment began publishing scenarios set in and around the Duchy of Ubersreik, so the Player Characters could not only continue their involvement in the political upheaval in the town, but also explore its surroundings.

Ubersreik Adventures III: Perilous Adventures And Grim Escapades In The Grand Duchy Of Ubersreik continues the series begun with Ubersreik Adventures: Six Grim and Perilous Scenarios in the Duchy of Ubersreik and continued with Ubersreik Adventures II: More Grim and Perilous Scenarios in the Duchy of Ubersreik. The four scenarios within its pages take the Player Characters around the edges of the Grand Duchy of Ubersreik, and then back to city itself, all the whilst involving themselves in the doings of the duchy’s nobility and thus skirting some of the machinations playing out in the region. In the process they will be employed to check on the attitudes of the staff at a hunting lodge whose ownership has been changed one from one noble to another, protect a village from marauding Orcs and Goblins as the inhabitants mumble about who gets to rule the village, uncover infection and ambition in a mining still suffering from a lingering sickness, and get caught up in the love affairs of the young nobility of Ubersreik.

In addition, the four scenarios in the anthology are connected and together form a sequence intended to be played in order as presented. The connections are most obviously familial in nature, taking the Player Characters from one noble relation to another and in the process encountering various members of the noble families feuding for control of the Grand Duchy. The other connections are obviously secret and link some of the nobles that the Player Characters will meet, but definitely not all, to the Ruinous Powers, some of which may come to light, some of which may not, and often when it does, the noble families want to kept it a secret lest it spoil their claim to the Grand Duchy of Ubersreik! Each of the four scenario includes advice on how to run under different circumstances, but ideally, they should be run one after another in sequence. However, the scenarios are not where the anthology begins.

Ubersreik Adventures III: Perilous Adventures And Grim Escapades In The Grand Duchy Of Ubersreik opens ‘A Tragic Tale Of Upheaval’. This charts the causes and machinations that have thrown Ubersreik into turmoil, unseated the ruling von Jungfreud family, and left both its future and its future governance up in the air. This collates information from both the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set and The Enemy Within campaign, so it does include background about both, even spoilers, so the reader be warned. The article covers the years 2509 to 2513 IC and beyond with the default period being the Occupation as detailed in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set, in each era—each era lasting a year or two—giving what is publicly known as well as what is going on behind the scenes, suggestions as what sort of adventures can be run, some scenario hooks, and rumours. Included too are lists of adventures from the differing periods and which sourcebooks they come from. There are descriptions of the various claimants to the Grand Duchy of Ubersreik too. All together, this provides a grand overview of the setting to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Station, so that the Game Master can create her own content.

The first of the four scenarios in the anthology is ‘An Eye For An Eye’. Lord Aschaffenberg, recently married into the von Bruner family, has come into possession of Grunewald Lodge, which was previously owned by Andreas von Bruner, a young scion who was subject to some unsavoury rumours. He has the Player Characters hired to surreptitiously check on the lodge staff. Once they arrive at the Grunewold Lodge, the Player Characters discover a mixture of surly and disaffected staff, only begrudgingly willing to accept the change in circumstances, and unwilling to discuss whatever happened to Andreas von Bruner. Although they do not know it, the Player Characters are up against a deadline, but the manor house is relatively small and the staff numbers low so the investigation is far from insurmountable. Ideally, they should be able to uncover some, if not all, of what has been going on at the manor house before the climax of the scenario.

Unfortunately, there is an error in the scenario. One of the NPCs gets nervous when the Player Characters lift a carpet in particular room to look for a trapdoor, but the room does not actually have a carpet or a trapdoor, or indeed anything built into the room that connects to the secret activities taking place at the hunting lodge. The Game Master will need to adjust as necessary. Nevertheless, the scenario is an entertaining manor horror mystery, playable in a single session or two. What though is really interesting about ‘An Eye For An Eye’ is that it is an adaptation to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Third Edition. In particular, it is an adaption of the scenario that first introduced Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Third Edition in its core boxed set in 2009. Hopefully, this will not be the only such adaptation as there some excellent adventures waiting to be given similar treatment.

‘Mutiny & The Beast’ is intended to be run directly after the events of ‘An Eye For An Eye’. Lord Aschaffenberg asks the Player Characters to travel to Ubersreik to deliver a letter to his wife, Ludmilla, but also stop off at the village of Geissbach where he believes there is a doctor who can attend to the wounded at the hunting lodge. A typical Reikland village, the Player Characters have the chance to alter its fate not once but twice. First, by influencing the politics of village, quietly split between the old ways of tradition and the new ways of supporting the recently built coaching inn and its support of a coach and trade route between Ubersreik and Bögenhafen. Second, by coming to its defence when it is threatened by marauding Orcs and Goblins. Bookended by an initial encounter with such creatures at the start and then rollocking fight up and down what the Greenskins is the ideal version of a Human siege tower at the finish, ‘Mutiny & The Beast’ is a good mix of roleplaying and combat. The effect on the politics in the village is nicely underplayed so that the players and their characters may not necessarily be aware of it.

‘Horror Of Hugeldal’ starts nasty and gets nastier. It is intended to be played after ‘Mutiny & The Beast’ with the Player Characters arriving in Ubersreik and successfully delivering the letter to Ludmilla Aschaffenberg. She asks them to deliver another message, this time to her cousin, Agnetha von Bruner, in the mining town of Hugeldal in the foothills of the Grey Mountains. Baroness von Bruner has recently been ill and Lady Ludmilla wants to send a message of support. The horror starts on the road when the Player Characters encounter the tail end of a very deadly bandit attack on a group of priests of Shallya. Renowned for the healing blessings, what kind of bastard would attack priests of Shallya? When they come to their rescue and aid, the Shallyans will also explain that they have been exiled from Hugeldal. Given how high the regard in which the priests of Shallya are held, who would exile them from any town, let alone Hugeldal?

One issue with ‘Horror Of Hugeldal’ is that Player Characters may already have visited the town in ‘Ash in the Wind’ from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set, so ideally the Game Master should have run several scenarios between the two. When she does run it, what the Player Characters will discover in Hugeldal is a depressed mining town which has lost many of its inhabitants to ghoulpox and most of the survivors have been marked buy it. They are all resentful for the failure of the priests of Shallya to treat the disease, but praise Doktor Vorsatz who was able to find a cure. Careful investigation will reveal that there is more going on than anyone other than the Player Characters might suspect, but who or what is behind the ‘Horror Of Hugeldal’ is revealed in a quite gloriously revolting climax.

The anthology comes to a close with ‘Mirror of Desire’, which returns the Player Characters to the city of Ubersreik and embroils them in the courtship of Esmerelda Fenstermacher by three young nobles. Ludmilla Aschaffenberg again asks for their help, this time to let the course of young love run its course, whilst fathers of two of the suitors want help in untangling their sons from the situation. Both are daunting tasks and neither potential patron is going to be happy if the Player Characters favour one over the other. This is Cyrano de Bergerac, but done Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay style, with eminently unsuitable suitors on all sides. The scenario is open ended as to how the Player Characters go about their tasks and similarly, there is scope for the Game Master to add her own content as well. Similarly, the scenario has the potential to be fairly open-ended if the Player Characters allow it to run to its conclusion. This leaves them with at least the one loose end to tidy up, and hopefully, it is one that the authors might return to, though there is nothing to stop the Game Master from writing her own sequel. If there is anything missing from the scenario it is an illustration of young Esmerelda Fenstermacher, so the Game Master may want to supply one herself. Overall, ‘Mirror of Desire’ is little clichéd in places given that it is a love story, but it is a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay love story after all, and its gets suitably grim and perilous.

Physically, Ubersreik Adventures III: Perilous Adventures And Grim Escapades In The Grand Duchy Of Ubersreik is a great looking book. The artwork is excellent and the maps are more than decent. However, it does need another edit and there are sections of text missing. Since this is a book for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, there numerous of puns such as ‘A Town Called Malaise’, but calling a pair of minor NPCs ‘Herman Vorst’ and ‘Osk Hessel’ is probably in questionable taste.

Ubersreik Adventures III: Perilous Adventures And Grim Escapades In The Grand Duchy Of Ubersreik nicely embroils the Player Characters in the web of connections between the claimants to Grand Duchy, revealing their humanity and occasionally, their inhumanity in the process. These connections give the quartet a neatly underplayed narrative that pushes the Player Characters’ involvement towards the climax of the Ubersreik plot. That though, it is yet to come. In the meantime, Ubersreik Adventures III: Perilous Adventures And Grim Escapades In The Grand Duchy Of Ubersreik is an entertaining quartet of scenarios with a good mix of combat, investigation, and roleplaying.

Internecine Ice Cream Infighting

We all like ice cream. There is nothing like a 99 Flake on a hot summer’s day with its soft, Mr. Whippy—thank you Margaret Thatcher, crunchy cone, and a stick of fabulous Cadbury’s Flake chocolate. And the ice cream man with his ice cream van would like to do nothing better than sell you that 99 Flake on a hot summer’s day. But if there is another ice cream man with his ice cream van fouling his pitch and stealing his sales, what is an ice cream man with his ice cream van to do? Why go to war, of course! Plus, the closer an ice cream man with his ice cream van is to another ice cream man with his ice cream van, the easier it is to sabotage his sales, his product, his pitch. This is the subject of Whippy Wars, a storytelling game of over-the-top action, convoluted plans, disruptive interruptions, clever ripostes, and more, all in the pursuit of ice cream sales. Now there really is such a thing as ‘Whippy Wars’ and worse, such as the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars, which the designer will definitely tell you is not the subject of Whippy Wars,* which is instead, a game of cartoonishly violent action.

* If you really wanted to roleplay the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars, Fiasco is a better option.

Whippy Wars is published by Black Armada, best known for the Lovecraftesque storytelling game and Last Fleet, the best roleplaying game for telling a story like that of BattleStar Galactica. Whippy Wars requires between two and four players, some six-sided dice, a stacking tower such as Jenga, and some index cards to record notes. Each player should give his ice cream van a name, a look, and ideally an ice cream van chime with which to advertise his wares. He can also name his Ice Cream Man as well. The aim of the game is for each Ice Cream Man is to eliminate his rivals, make the most money, and avoid prison.

At the start of the game, each Ice Cream Man begins play with between two and twelve Ices to sell and between the Ice Cream Men there are a number of Punter dice equal to the players. These are rolled and represent groups of Punters that an Ice Cream Man can sell Ices to and which can down or even leave the Ice Cream pitch. In each round, an Ice Cream Man has three things that he can do. The first is a single Action from which he can gain a benefit, the second is an Intervention in response to another Ice Cream Man’s Action, and the third is set up a Trap. Penultimately, blocks are pulled from the Jenga tower by the Ice Cream Man who took the highest-level Action and gets to keep them. If the tower should fall, the rozzers turn up and investigate. If a player rolls less than the number of Jenga pieces in front of him, his Ice Cream Man is arrested and goes to jail. If it is higher, the evidence is not enough to get his Ice Cream Man arrested and he can continue selling Ices, gaining Punters, and queering the Ice Cream Pitch for his rivals. At the end of a round, the players get to roll for Loot. The player whose Ice Cream Man made the most Loot and did not go to jail wins the game. If everyone goes to jail, everyone loses, including the Punters because there is no one to sell them Ices.

Actions, Interventions, and Traps are rated From Level One to Level Five. The higher the Level, the more outrageous they are, but the greater the benefit they grant and the greater the number of blocks a player has to draw from the Jenga tower. For example, at Level One, ‘Marketing and Bureaucracy’, an Action might be to offer an exciting new flavour or bribe council officials to get them to give an Ice Cream Man a good pitch, and the benefit will be to take a Punter die from those in the middle or add extra one to those in the middle and roll it, whereas Level Three, ‘Serious Pranks and Petty Criminality’ could be to break into a rival Ice Cream Man’s van and steal their stock or glue his van’s hatch shut and march his Punters to your Ice Cream Van, and the benefit would be to steal an Ices Die or a Punters Die from target player. Thus, Actions and Interventions get more and more outrageous and even dangerous, and similarly, so the Traps. On the first turn, the players have access to just the Level One Actions, Interventions, and Traps, but the other levels become available on subsequent rounds, so that by the fifth round, the Ice Cream Men will put their rivals in hospital and blowing up their Ice Cream Vans, using anti-tank weapons and portable singularities, and so on. Thus, there is an escalation to Whippy Wars which quickly makes the action ridiculous and the play quick from start to finish.

Play in a round starts with the player who rolled the higher initiative. He narrates an Action and then the other players have the opportunity to respond with either an Invention or pass. A player only gets a single Action or Intervention per round, but an Intervention can also be taken against another player’s Intervention. Interventions are resolved narratively and the player whose Ice Cream Man comes out top will gain the Benefit. Play continues until each player has taken an Action and an Intervention, the Intervention used to mess with another player’s Intervention or saved in the round to target an Ice Cream Man not yet targeted. At the end of round, each player designs and notes down a Trap that can be set off against an Action or Intervention by another Ice Cream Man.

In addition, Whippy Wars includes guidelines on the nature and physics of the violence in the game. It is cartoon violence, that of pianos falling from the sky or stepping rakes, and so on, rather than the extremes of ignoring gravity when walking or running off cliffs or painting train tunnels on walls. When the players cannot agree on a narrated outcome, then they should take a vote on it.

Physically, Whippy Wars is lightly illustrated and a little untidy in terms of its layout. It is easy to play, requiring no preparation, but perhaps could have done with an example round of play. That aside, Whippy Wars is ridiculously absurd and silly, but in a small, parochially British way because it is about something as ordinary as selling ice creams.

The Other OSR: Runecairn: Into the Nine Realms

Runecairn: Into the Nine Realms is an anthology of short one-page scenarios and encounters for use with Runecairn: Wardensaga (or its earlier version, Runecairn), the Norse fantasy tabletop roleplaying game published By Odin’s Beard. Unlike most Norse- or Viking-themed roleplaying games, Runecairn: Wardensaga takes place after Ragnarök has come to pass, leaving a world without gods and beset by darkness and danger, into which a lone hero strides, ready to defend the innocent and the weak who still survive amidst this chaos. It is specifically designed to be played by a single Game Master—or Warden—and a single player (although the rules do provide for other options), whilst mechanically, it is inspired by minimalist Old School Renaissance roleplaying games such as Cairn, Into the Odd, and Knave. What this means is that the sixteen entries in Runecairn: Into the Nine Realms can easily be adapted to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice and their minimalist format makes the processing of adapting that much easier.

The format for Runecairn: Into the Nine Realms is very simple. A single page dominated by a map of the encounter with the accompanying text providing a brief overview and almost as equally brief descriptions of the various locations, plus a legend for the map. The maps are all hand drawn and possess a certain roughness. This does not mean that they are bad maps, but rather they are not as polished as they might have been. There are no stats given for any of the monsters, the Warden expected to simply use those found in the Runecairn: Wardensaga rulebook or the Runecairn Bestiary. The side effect of this means that if the Game Master is adapting the scenarios to the another rules, she can similarly use the stats from the bestiary for the roleplaying game she is using.

The sixteen scenarios in Runecairn: Into the Nine Realms open with ‘Worldserpent Hollow’, a simple dungeon with clearly marked areas of light and darkness, full of skeletons, draugr, and secrets a Dwarf is excavating, and ends with ‘Limbs of Yggdrasil’, the immense ash tree pockmarked with the stumps of branches long cut from the tree behind which the Hero can hunker down for protection as spectral archers pepper his path with arrows. In between, the Hero will face another ‘Storm of Arrows’ as he crosses a kill zone that is already stabbed with ten-foot-long arrows embedded in the ground; come across a settlement already put to the torch and the inhabitants sacrificed by desperate cultists in ‘Mistbound Village’; discover a ‘Grove of Woe’, with its corrupted trees that reach down and grab passing travellers with a noose and are already strung with hanging cultists, whilst a lindworm lurks on the edge of the grove; and break into ‘The Ring Fortress’ which contains a great hammer-shaped cairn and has cultists are preparing for great unknown event whilst two ghost colossuses circle outside, wailing and smashing their hammers on the ground! ‘The Ring Fortress’ could contain the ‘Cairn of Thunder’, a hammer-shaped cairn, hand-dug, ringing to the constant sounding hammering, and home to a massive bone titan which if it climbs from its pits and stands, will bring the cairn down upon itself and the Player Character!

Many of the encounters are linear in nature, with a set entry and exit, so that not only is there a sense of progression from the beginning of an encounter to its end, but also from the beginning of the anthology to the end, as if the Player Character is on a great journey, perhaps searching for something. In some cases, the Warden will need to work with the player (or players) to provide some motivation for the hero to engage with an encounter. Others can simply be placed in the Player Character’s path as he journeys onward. All encounters begin with a bonfire, a sanctuary of light and rest in the darkness of the after-Ragnarök.

Physically, Runecairn: Into the Nine Realms is presented in as simple a fashion as possible. They are all easy to read and in addition, many of them are accompanied by some very good pieces of art. The depiction of the two ghost colossuses circling the Ring Fortress is exceptionally good.

Runecairn: Into the Nine Realms can be used in multiple ways. As a set of one-shots, as a set of encounters to place in the path of an ever onward moving hero, as inspiration for the Warden, or even as inspiration for the Game Master of another roleplaying game. Whether facing a hammer-wielding, niflmare-riding headless Jotunn in a broken village or crossing a water-logged battlefield contested by the living and the dead, there are some great encounters in Runecairn: Into the Nine Realms and some memorable confrontations with chaos and darkness.

Friday Faction: BattleTech Universe

In 2024, BattleTech is forty years old. Infamously, the game of ‘big, stompy robots’, in the four decades since the original publication of BattleTech: A Game of Armoured Combat by the FASA Corporation in 1984, the miniatures combat game has been expanded with numerous sets of new rules, supplements, several ranges of miniatures—both plastic and metal, over one hundred novels, a cartoon series, a collectible card game, and multiple computer games. What all of these have done—especially the novels—is develop the background and setting, covering a history that begins in the twenty-first century and runs all the way into the thirty-second century. It is detailed, involves multiple factions, hundreds of personalities, and a region of interstellar space surrounding Earth with a radius of roughly five hundred light years. Yet with this wealth of detail comes a complexity which leaves the prospective player to wonder where he should start with the game, which faction should he pick and why, and how did the current situation in the BattleTech universe get to be like it is. These are also questions—and more, that BattleTech Universe.

BattleTech Universe is the key lore book for the BattleTech setting. Published by Catalyst Game Labs, this is a complete history of the Inner Sphere from the theoretical foundations of the Kearny-Fuchida drive in 2018 and the launch of the TAS Pathfinder in 2107 through the Age of War and the Terran Hegemony, the foundation of the Great Houses, to the establishment of the Star League and a golden age. Then with the Amaris Coup, the collapse of the Star League, and the Exodus of the Star League Defence Force under General Aleksandr Kerensky, on through the Succession Wars that threatened a technological collapse into the fourth millennium and thirty-first century, to the Clan Invasion and the devastating onslaught of the invaders’ technologically advanced battlemech designs, the Dark Age that followed a collapse in the interstellar communications network, and ultimately, the capture of Terra by the Clans and the ascension of the ilClan, the one Clan to govern the others. In the process, the book not only provides a history of the BattleTech setting, but also gives a description of the current state of the Inner Sphere.

BattleTech Universe is really a book of two halves, though they are not equal halves. Less than a third of the book, the first half lays the foundation for the longer, second half. The development of the battlemech, the foundation of the Great Houses—Davion, Kurita, Liao Marik, and Steiner—and the four Succession Wars fought to decide which one of them would succeed to the position of First Lord and re-establish the Star League. This includes the development of the technology fundamental to the setting and its neo-feudalism—the battlemech and the pilots who become the new knights of the Inner Sphere. First with the Mackie, and then with its armour and weaponry, including autocannons, lasers, missile launchers, and more. Notable designs are highlighted, such as the Banshee, the Thunderbolts, and Frankenmechs! This groundwork sets everything up for what follows—the conflicts, the intrigues, the clash of personalities, the coming of the Clans, and much, much more. The reason that the second half is both longer and far more detailed is simple. It only covers one-hundred-and-twenty-six years, but these years are when the game is set and when the game’s setting is being developed as an active intellectual property, with events and clashes and stories within the setting that support new supplements and expansions for the game, giving new technologies and battlemech designs for players to deploy, and new battles to fight via new supplements and expansions for the game.

Throughout, BattleTech Universe highlights particular events such as the War of 3039, Operation Revival which saw the invasion of the Inner Sphere in 3049 and the battle of Tukayyid, the Word of Blake Jihad, the foundation of the Second Star League, and their consequences. This is supported by detailed background on the Clans and their culture and their technology, highlighting the radical differences between it and that of the Inner Sphere, and shining a spotlight on the feared Mad Cat battlemech and the baffling use of Elemental Battle Armour. Personalities, such as Victor Steiner-Davion and his resentful sister, Katherine Steiner-Davion, and more up to date with Yori Kurita, Julian Davion, and Danai Liao-Centrella, as well as the ilKhan, Alaric Ward, are given short biographies, including discussion of what motivated them. In between, other aspects of the BattleTech universe are not ignored. Thus, there are sections devoted to the major corporations of the Inner Sphere, the intelligence agencies operated by the Great Houses and other factions, and then, in between, there are maps, the changes in boundaries marking major changes in the history of the Inner Sphere and showing the winners and losers and which faction possesses which worlds.

The last third of BattleTech Universe is devoted to its many factions. Beginning with the five Great Houses, each faction is presented with its history, culture, and goals as well as what its future might be. For each of the eight Clans still existing in 3151, there is a similarly lengthy examination of their history and culture, and then shorter overviews of the twelve Lost Clans. The major kingdoms of the Periphery are given similar treatments, whilst the minor states are given a broad overview. Lastly, the most notable mercenary units are detailed, many of them well known across the Inner Sphere, such as Wolf’s Dragoons, the Gray Death Legion, and the Kell Hounds.

Physically, BattleTech Universe is a coffee table style full of great artwork drawn from the forty years of BattleTech’s publishing history combined with short, easy to digest essays on innumerable subjects. The book is well written, the artwork excellent, and the maps give some scale of the Inner Sphere, but each time they do show a large swathe of occupied space on just a couple of pages. If there is anything missing, it is an index and a bibliography of all of the books that the authors have drawn from for the contents of BattleTech Universe. That might have also helped for any reader wanting to delve deeper into the subject.

BattleTech Universe is an engaging and readable overview of the BattleTech setting and its history. Dedicated fans will probably prefer to delve deep into the supplements and sourcebooks that they have on their bookshelves, but this does not mean they will not enjoy the grand sweep of history presented in its pages, whilst those new to BattleTech will find BattleTech Universe a very useful introduction, readying them for the battlefield.

Friday Fantasy: Feast of the Gobbler Witch

Nine months ago, the Player Characters set sail aboard the Mayflower to the island of Alviz as members of a fanatical religious sect led by the charismatic Captain William Bradford and his second-in-command, Samual Parris. Adherents of Klazath, God of War, their sermons persuaded the Player Characters and other members of the cult that the word and yoke Klazath should be brought to the copper miners on the distant island of Lys. Unfortunately, the voyage has been struck by disaster, not once, but twice. First, when Captain Bradford was swept overboard during a sudden freak storm, and second, with a competent navigator aboard, when the vessel, its crew and passengers, were shipwrecked on the reef of a small, uncharted island. Where everyone aboard set out believing that they were journeying to bring the faith of Klazath to a far distant land, now they had to switch their focus to surviving on an island with no war to be fought in the name of Klazath. Their travails continued when the crops in the fields suffered a rot and with supplies dwindling, tensions rose rapidly and infighting broke out. This escalated when some of colonists began exhibiting paranoid and erratic behaviour, and in response to all of this, Magistrate Parris has declared that worshippers of foul Malotoch, the Carrion Crow Goddess of Death, have infiltrated the members of congregation and that they must be found and punished. Which turned into a witch hunt, literally, since Magistrate Parris condemned those of worshipping Malotoch as witches. As the paranoia grew, and the first handful of witches found guilty as charged and subsequently executed, the resulting hysteria spread through the colony and every man, woman, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling lives in fear of being accused. Which is exactly what has happened to the Player Characters at the start of Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch.

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, published by Goodman Games. It is a Character Funnel, and a Character Funnel is a scenario specifically designed for Zero Level Player Characters in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. The Character Funnel is a signature feature of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, and whilst they are challenging to play, they are also both fun and wrought with emotion as players often become highly attached to the poor four unfortunates, they are roleplaying who have found themselves in the situation. Some of the best Character Funnels really begin with the Zero Level Player Characters in desperate straits, much like the recent Dungeon Crawl Classics #101: The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen and exactly like Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch.

As the scenario opens, the Player Characters are shackled together and condemned to death on Danver’s Green, the colony’s place of execution. After an attack by ‘Malotoch’s murder crows!’, Magistrate Parris offers them the opportunity to restore them to the bosom of the colony and Klazath’s good grace. They must locate the witch Abutit and take back the Holy Scythe of Mayflower that she has stolen. From the settlement of New Crimson and Danver’s Green, they need to explore the rest of the island, perhaps returning to the wreck of the Mayflower, examining the fields with their blighted crops, and so on. In the process, the Player Characters should discover some secrets that suggest that the situation on the colony and the true threat it faces is not as they have been told… Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch has just eleven locations, and not one, but two climaxes. The first involves brooms and flying atop a very high nest and the second, a fight at a feast alongside an unholy turkey, animated and murderous cranberry goo against a vampire!

Thematically then, what with its colonists, a ship called the Mayflower, a feast of turkey and cranberry sauce, the holiday in Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is Thanksgiving. However, it is quite a lot more than that given its length and the fact that it is a scenario for Dungeon Crawl Classics. Like a chef with a turkey baster, the author injects a squirt or two of Gothic horror to make the scenario Colonial Era Gothic Americana and another squirt or two of Arthur Miller to make it the scenario a Dungeon Crawl Classics version of The Crucible. After all, what else is a Character Funnel but a crucible for Zero Level player Characters?

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch can be played in a single session and includes a ‘DCC Holiday Placemat and Dice Drop 0 Level PC Generator’. This replaces the standard table in the Dungeon Crawl Classics rulebook for generating Zero Level Player Characters.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is as decently done as you would expect for Dungeon Crawl Classics. It is well written, the artwork is good, and the map easy to use. If it is lacking anything, it is illustrations of the scenario’s NPCs and major monsters that the Judge could show her players.

The major downside to Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is that it is a one-shot scenario. The Judge and her players are going to be left wondering what happens next to the characters who survived the ordeal on the island, and further, a Colonial Era setting for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game could be a lot of fun. Whether as a one-shot or the start of something that the Judge wants to write herself, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2021 Holiday Module: Feast of the Gobbler Witch is a highly entertaining and thematically silly Character Funnel for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, which at the end of it, nobody going to look at a turkey the same way again.

Stone Age Science Fantasy Beliefs

Primal Belief is a supplement for Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game. This roleplaying game of a Stone Age that never was, inspired by the fiction and films of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thundarr the Barbarian, Horizon Zero Dawn, the Cavemaster RPG and Hollow Earth Expedition, and more. This is a world in which humanity survives alongside dinosaurs and other creatures and ancient secrets and aliens lurk, with the Player Characters as warriors and hunters, shamans and sorcerers, exploring an environment dominated by a nature untrammelled by mankind. Primal Belief brings ‘Paleo-Faith & Proto-Religion in a Prehistoric World’ to the world of Primal Quest, including esoteric rituals, ancient animism, prehistoric shamans, and forgotten deities from the time before memory and record. What it comes down to is a set of random tables with which the Game Master can create gods, faiths, and religions, and then use them as set of prompts with which to further develop the tribe and world of the Player Characters in Primal Quest.

Primal Belief contains tables for ‘Naming Your Gods’, ‘Placing Your Gods’, ‘Worship Your Gods’, and ‘A Blessing from your Gods’ for a grand total of seventeen tables. All the Game Master has to do is roll a six-sided die several times and within a few minutes he has a complete religion. Or at least the basis for one. This will result in a random selection of results, some of which may not make much sense, but then again, a faith need not make total coherent sense, that is in the nature of a faith. Or alternatively, he can pick and choose, using the entries on the table to create a more tailored faith.

The sample faith is the Church of Zu-Xanu-Huwa, the shade of the stone, who slides between the cracks and breaks in the bones of the earth. He encourages the splitting and breaking of stone to build homes and settlements, but demands the spilling of blood upon those cracks, which includes human sacrifice when a new building is constructed, and in every building, there must be room left in shadow sacred to him.

Name: Zu-Xanu-Huwa
Elemental Focus: Earth (Stone)
Title: Daemon Domain: Civilisation
Rank: Regional Deity
Form: Phantom
Sacred Space: Stone Altars Veneration: Human Sacrifice Following: Church of…
Totems: Painted Tattoos Totem Figure: Miniature Hammer Patronage: Poets & Storytellers
Blessing: Marble Effect: Blast

Physically, Primal Belief is cleanly and simply laid out. It is easy to use—and that includes with any roleplaying game where a Game Master might want to create and add a faith to her campaign setting. It does include a ‘PRIMAL DEITY card’ that the Game Master can copy and use to record the details of the new faith she has created. It is only a half a page in size, so it is difficult to use. It would have been easier to use if it had been a full page in size.

The main problem with Primal Belief is that it is just six pages in length and amounts to a set of tables. Given the lack of advice on how to develop and portray the faiths that its tables can be used to create, or indeed, any type of advice, it is sparse, bordering on the threadbare. This is because, despite how it is sold, Primal Belief is not a supplement for Primal Quest, but an article. As an addition to a supplement, such as Primal Quest Companion, the tables of Primal Quest would be a fine addition. As a supplement on its own for which money is being charged? Just feels a bit rich…

Friday Filler: Dropolter

Most dexterity games involve removing things from a stack and trying to have the stack collapse or stacking things and not having things fall down, because if you cause the stack to fall down, you lose. Think Jenga or Bausack or Villa Paletti. One of the newest games from Oink Games is all about dropping things. Or rather, about dropping the right thing or things. Dropolter begins when everyone is asleep, but all of a sudden, eerie noises wake them up in the night. A ghostly wail. A thud. A boom. And then one-by-one, ghosts begins to appear from beneath each of the players’ beds. Fortunately, everyone is prepared and has the five charms to hand—quite literally—that will ward off the ghosts. However, the charms—each a little brass bell—have got mixed up with a number of items, including a Ring, a Cookie, a Key, a Seashell, and a Gem—and each player needs to get the right ones out of his hand whilst keeping the bells in his hand. Sounds easy, right? Well, it is far from easy, because each player has to do it only with the hand that he is holding the objects in. In other words, he cannot use his other hand!

That is about as far as the backstory goes in Dropolter—a game designed to be played by between two and five players, aged six or more, and in fifteen minutes—and as backstories go, that is incredibly thin. What it amounts to is that in each round, a player has five objects in his hand. These are a Ring, a Cookie, a Key, a Seashell, and a Gem. At the start of a round, a Theme Card is drawn and this will determine which of the five items each player has to drop from his hand. The Theme Cards range in difficulty from one to four objects. The first player to drop the required number of items from his hand and grab the very friendly Ghost Piece wins the round and is awarded a brass bell. This is added to his hand on subsequent rounds. The first player to get five brass bells, wins the game.

If a player drops a wrong object, he must start again with all five objects in his hand. Worse, if he drops a brass bell, he loses it and it is not added back into his hand.

The objects themselves are shaken in a player’s at the start of each round, and then after that, what a player is doing is manipulating them as they sit on his palm with his fingers and thumb, attempting to push, pull, and tip them from his hand with dropping anything else. This requires no little manual dexterity. There is a delightful sense of shared frustration as everyone concentrates, trying to manipulate the objects in their palm in a manual exercise that we rarely have to attempt, exacerbated when someone drops the wrong object, and relieved when someone drops the right objects.

Physically, Dropolter is as nicely done as you would expect for a game from Oink Games. The rules are easy to read and understand and the components, although small, each have a different shape and tactile feel that aids play.

With its promise of “Ghost vs Palm Muscle” action, Dropolter has a simplicity and physicality that are both a hindrance and a boon. It is simple to learn and teach, making it suitable for a wide audience, but it does not offer a great deal of game play beyond the short term. Its physicality gives it a highly interactive presence at the table, but not everyone has the manual dexterity to play and there are a lot of little pieces which are all too easy to loose. Yet Dropolter is the perfect filler game because it does not take that long to play. It is also the perfect novelty game, its very concept and physicality is intriguing enough to anyone who has not played it to ask, “How does this work again?” What this means is that Dropolter is a great little icebreaker, its novelty big enough despite the size of its box and components to make people want to play.