[Free RPG Day 2025] Laurel’s Canopy

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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Published by Magpie Games, Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game is a roleplaying game based on the award-winning Root: A Game of Woodland Might & Right board game, about conflict and power, featuring struggles between cats, birds, mice, and more. The Woodland consists of dense forest interspersed by ‘Clearings’ where its many inhabitants—dominated by foxes, mice, rabbits, and birds live, work, and trade from their villages. Birds can also be found spread out in the canopy throughout the forest. Recently, the Woodland was thrown into chaos when the ruling Eyrie Dynasties tore themselves apart in a civil war and left power vacuums throughout the Woodland. With no single governing power, the many Clearings of the Woodland have coped as best they can—or not at all, but many fell under the sway or the occupation of the forces of the Marquise de Cat, leader of an industrious empire from far away. More recently, the civil war between the Eyrie Dynasties has ended and is regroupings its forces to retake its ancestral domains, whilst other denizens of the Woodland, wanting to be free of both the Marquisate and the Eyrie Dynasties, have formed the Woodland Alliance and secretly foment for independence.

Between the Clearings and the Paths which connect them, creatures, individuals, and bands live in the dense, often dangerous forest. Amongst these are the Vagabonds—exiles, outcasts, strangers, oddities, idealists, rebels, criminals, freethinkers. They are hardened to the toughness of life in the forest, but whilst some turn to crime and banditry, others come to Clearings to trade, work, and sometimes take jobs that no other upstanding citizens of any Clearing would do—or have the skill to undertake. Of course, in Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game, Vagabonds are the Player Characters.

Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game is ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’, the mechanics based on the award-winning post-apocalyptic roleplaying game, Apocalypse World, published by Lumpley Games in 2010. At the heart of these mechanics are Playbooks and their sets of Moves. Now, Playbooks are really Player Characters and their character sheets, and Moves are actions, skills, and knowledges, and every Playbook is a collection of Moves. Some of these Moves are generic in nature, such as ‘Persuade an NPC’ or ‘Attempt a Roguish Feat’, and every Player Character or Vagabond can attempt them. Others are particular to a Playbook, for example, ‘Silent Paws’ for a Ranger Vagabond or ‘Arsonist’ for the Scoundrel Vagabond.

To undertake an action or Move in a ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ roleplaying game—or Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game, a character’s player rolls two six-sided dice and adds the value of an attribute such as Charm, Cunning, Finesse, Luck, or Might, or Reputation, to the result. A full success is achieved on a result of ten or more; a partial success is achieved with a cost, complication, or consequence on a result of seven, eight, or nine; and a failure is scored on a result of six or less. Essentially, this generates results of ‘yes’, ‘yes, but…’ with consequences, and ‘no’. Notably though, the Game Master does not roll in ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ roleplaying game—or Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game.

So for example, if a Player Character wants to ‘Read a Tense Situation’, his player is rolling to have his character learn the answers to questions such as ‘What’s my best way out/in/through?’, ‘Who or what is the biggest threat?’, ‘Who or what is most vulnerable to me?’, ‘What should I be on the lookout for?’, or ‘Who is in control here?’. To make the Move, the player rolls the dice and his character’s Cunning to the result. On a result of ten or more, the player can ask three of these questions, whilst on a result of seven, eight, or nine, he only gets to ask one.

Moves particular to a Playbook can add to an attribute, such as ‘Master Thief’, which adds one to a character’s Finesse or allow another attribute to be substituted for a particular Move, for example, ‘Threatening Visage’, which enables a Player Character to use his Might instead of Charm when using open threats or naked steel on attempts to ‘Persuade an NPC’. Others are fully detailed Moves, such as ‘Grab and Smash’. When a Player Character wants to smash through some scenery to reach someone or something, his player rolls the character’s Might in a test. The Move enables the character to reach the target on a hit. However, this is not without its consequences. This can the character hurting himself and the player marking an injury, break an important part of his surroundings, or damage or leave behind a piece of gear. One a roll of 10+, the character suffers one of these consequences; on a roll of 7-9, he suffers two; and on a miss, he smashes but is left totally vulnerable on the other side.

Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart is the Free RPG Day 2025 from Magpie Games for Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game. It includes an explanation of the core rules, six pre-generated Player Characters or Vagabonds and their Playbooks, and a complete setting or Clearing for them to explore. From the overview of the game and an explanation of the characters to playing the game and its many Moves, the introduction to the Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game in Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart is well-written. The publisher is well practised when it comes to presenting these Root quick-starts. It is notable that all of the Vagabonds are essentially roguish in nature, so in addition to the Basic Moves, such as ‘Figure Someone Out’, ‘Persuade an NPC’, ‘Trick an NPC’, ‘Trust Fate’, and ‘Wreck Something’, they can ‘Attempt a Roguish Feat’. This covers Acrobatics, Blindside, Counterfeit, Disable Device, Hide, Pick Lock, Pick Pocket, Sleight of Hand, and Sneak. Each of these requires an associated Feat to attempt, and each of the six pregenerated Vagabonds has one, two, or more of the Feats depending just how roguish they are. Otherwise, a Vagabond’s player rolls the ‘Trust to Fate’ Move.

The six pre-generated Vagabonds include Nimble the Thief, a stealthy raccoon burglar and pickpocket looking to prove his skill; Saga the Chronicler, a possum and fearlessly inquisitive scholar; Lucasta the Raconteur, a weasel storyteller and singer who wants to hold truth to power in her performances; Keilee the Tinker, a messy, but adept beaver who advocates freethinking and is hunting her enemy, Minuet de León; Laeliana the Arbiter, a mole mercenary looking to defend those who cannot defend themselves; and Umberto the Raider, a mouse who loves the fight and being adored as a hero. All six of these Vagabonds have links to the given Clearing and its NPCs in Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart, and all six are complete with Natures and Drives, stats, backgrounds, Moves, Feats, and equipment. All a player has to do is decide on a couple of connections and each Playbook is ready to play.

As its title suggests, the given Clearing in Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart is Laurel’s Canopy. Its description comes with an overarching issue and conflicts within the Clearing, important NPCs, places to go, and more. The situation in Laurel’s Canopy is different to that of most Clearings, dominated as it is by the diktats of power from before the Grand Civil War. It is part of the Eyrie Dynasty, led by Nanit Osprey, whose uncle, Pandion, instituted a set of Decrees that ensured stability in the Clearing. However, in the wake of Grand Civil War, the strict interpretation of the decrees has led to famine with fish left rotting the warehouses, over foraging in the surrounding forest, and a standoff between Nanit Osprey and the Clerkdom which enforces the Decrees. Meanwhile, Corvid Conspiracy Leader Ambrosius Conroy campaigns for fairer representation of all, whilst seeking to undermine Nanit Osprey’s rule and Silver Sally leads a rebellion which gives her cover for her own objectives. Lastly, the mouse scholar, Theodore Twitchwhisker has been accused of plagiarism by Mister Stubby, a lizard who runs the Lost Tail Bakery. He contends that the mouse’s Book of Twin Dragons, an inflammatory description of the Lizard cult orthodoxy, was based on a work of fiction of his own, for which the manuscript is missing. This has led to the bakery being picketed, the relationship between the lizards and non-avian citizens of Laurel’s Canopy becoming strained.

These four Conflicts make up the plots to be explored and developed in the Clearing and each is fully detailed and includes notes on what happens if the vagabonds do not get involved and leave the Conflict to develop on its own. For the Game Master there is a good overview of the Clearing and notes of where to begin when running the Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart and getting the Vagabonds involved. This is enhanced by each Vagabond having a link to and thus a motivation for visiting Laurel’s Canopy. There are suggestions also as to how escalate the situation for each of the Vagabonds to draw them further into the ongoing events in Laurel’s Canopy. Some of the conflicts are a little subtle too, often with NPCs attempting to achieve the same quite personal aim, so the Game Master will need to read them more closely to understand them and be able to impart them to her players.

Physically, Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart is a fantastic looking booklet, done in full colour and printed on heavy paper stock. It is well written and the artwork, taken from or inspired by the Root: A Game of Woodland Might & Right board game, is bright and breezy, and really attractive. Even cute. Simply, just as Root: The Pellenicky Glade Quickstart was for Free RPG Day 2020, Root: The Bertram’s Cove Quickstart was for Free RPG Day 2021, the Root: Talon Hill Quickstart for Free RPG 2022, and the Root: Hacksaw Dell Quickstart for Free RPG Day 2023, Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart is physically one of the most impressive of all the releases for Free RPG Day 2023.

If there is an issue with Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart it is that it looks busy and it looks complex—something that often besets ‘Powered by the Apocalypse’ roleplaying games. Not only do players need their Vagabond’s Playbooks, but also reference sheets for all of the game’s Basic Moves and Weapon Moves—and that is a lot of information. However, it means that a player has all of the information he needs to play his Vagabond to hand, he does not need to refer to the rules for explanations of the rules or his Vagabond’s Moves. That also means that there is some preparation required to make sure that each player has the lists of Moves his Vagabond needs. Another issue is that the relative complexity and the density of the information in Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart means that it is not a beginner’s game and the Game Master will need a bit of experience to run Laurel’s Canopy and its conflicts.

Ultimately, the Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart comes with everything necessary to play and keep the attention of a playing group for probably three or four sessions, possibly more. Although it needs a careful read through and preparation by the Game Master, Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart is a very good introduction to the rules, the setting, and conflicts in Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game—and it looks damned good too. For the Game Master who is already running a Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game campaign, the Root: Laurel’s Canopy Quickstart provides another Clearing that she can add to her campaign with the others available in the proper quick-start for the roleplaying game as well as releases for previous Free RPG Days.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Wires in the Wood

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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The world has changed, but whomever changed it, is long gone. The world has been abandoned. This leaves room for the world to be explored and foraged and artefacts found and artefacts upcycled. This is the very simple set-up for Wires in the Woods: A trash-foraging TTRPG. Based on the artwork of Simon J. Curd, this is published by Critical Kit, Ltd, a publisher best known for Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG, which can be played as a solo journalling roleplaying game or as a two-player game storytelling game. The Wires in the Woods: A trash-foraging TTRPG Solo Quickstart is the version released for Free RPG Day and as the title suggests is designed to be played solo. It requires a standard deck of playing cards, two six-sided dice, a token to represent the forager’s location, and a means of recording the story.

In Wires in the Woods: A trash-foraging TTRPG Solo Quickstart, the player controls the story of a Forager, an animal who will explore the abandoned world and undertake ‘Upcycling Tasks’. This involves the discovery of artefacts left behind and combining two or more of them to solve a problem. Perhaps a bridge over a ravine creaks and is missing several planks, leaving dangerous gaps or a set of wild hedgerows form a giant puzzle that is easy to get lost in and some creatures need help finding their way out. The cycle of the game is to explore different locations, find artefacts, discover problems, and transport the upcycled artefacts to the problem to solve it. The locations, artefacts, problems, and the upcycled artefacts are used as prompts by the player record the story of his Forager.

A Forager has only the one attribute, Zeal. It costs Zeal to explore and move from location to location, but is earned by completing Upcycling Tasks. The full game allows a player to choose a different Forager, each with a different skill, but the quick-start only includes the one. This is the ‘Scamper’, a raccoon-like creature with horns or antlers, and the skill, ‘Fleet of Foot’. This enables him to move to a location with the red suite without expending any Zeal.

The exploration area has a maximum area of a six-by-four grid. The standard deck of playing cards requires a little preparation. The game is played without jokers, three cards are drawn as trigger cards and three as Upcycling Task cards. Twenty-one cards are drawn to form the locations deck. The details of the trigger cards are shuffled into the locations deck, whilst the Upcycling Task cards are kept to one side. On a turn, the player draws a card from the locations deck, adds it to the grid and notes down the location description determined by the card’s colour and value. If the card drawn is a trigger card, the player can reveal one of the three Upcycling Tasks. This is determined by the value of the trigger card. At the end of a turn, the player rolls for an event or an encounter.

Game play ends when the Forager has either un out of Zeal or completed all three of his Upcycling Tasks. Although Wires in the Woods: A trash-foraging TTRPG Solo Quickstart is a quick-start designed to introduce the game and therefore does not include all of the roleplaying game’s prompts, it does include enough to enable it to be replayed. There are twenty-six location descriptions, thirteen Upcycling Tasks, and twelve Artefacts awaiting recycling. A player could easily play through it a second time and have a different experience dealing with different Upcycling Tasks, and perhaps even a third time!

Wires in the Woods: A trash-foraging TTRPG Solo Quickstart is a post-apocalyptic setting, one in which strange, not quite recognisable (mutated?) creatures explore a world left by mankind? The location and artefact descriptions are recognisably that of our own world, although the descriptions of the artefacts leave out their actual name. Thus, “There’s something trapped inside this that looks at you. Lots of pressy things and two skinny little arms that break easily. It also has a tail. It won’t talk to you.” is actually a television! This is classic post-apocalyptic roleplaying, a player completely aware of what an object from the past is, but having to roleplay his character not knowing what it is and what it does.

Physically, Wires in the Woods: A trash-foraging TTRPG Solo Quickstart is charming little book. Simon J. Curd’s artwork is strange, perhaps a little creepy, and delightful.

Wires in the Woods: A trash-foraging TTRPG Solo Quickstart is a charming and surprising fulsome introduction to the full roleplaying game, one that provides an equally surprising amount of game play. It serves as a decent introduction to journalling roleplaying games and the artwork of Simon J. Curd.

Friday Fantasy: Nations & Cannons

The year is 1775. The long simmering resentments of the colonies in North America towards the British Crown have finally boiled over. The first military clashes between the British garrisons and new raised rebel militias have occurred and the Second Continental Congress is working towards the establishment of an American government and the establishment of both a Continental Army and a Continental Navy in defiance of the colonial governors and the British army that will be sent to quell the rebellion. The rally cry has gone out across all thirteen colonies for patriots to serve in any way they can and men and women of every stripe and background, all nations and origins, to help throw off the yoke of the British oppressor. Some will serve in the front line against the massed ranks of the Red Coats, some will help organise supplies, some will run messages, and some will serve, if not in secret, then in ways that are quick and quiet. They will perform missions that do not call for massed ranks, but engage instead in ‘petite guerre’, or small war. This is the situation in Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e.

Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e is published by Flagbearer Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign. As the title suggests, it is a historical campaign setting for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, but almost as radical as the Revolutionary War was in the eighteenth century, Nations & Cannons makes profound changes to some of the fundamentals of Dungeons & Dragons. It is a purely historical setting. The Player Characters are all Human and the foes they will face are all Human—bar the odd wolf or angry bear. The Player Characters have all taken up arms and all Classes have a martial bent. Only four Classes from Dungeons & Dragons are used—the Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue, and these are joined by the Firebrand as well as new subclasses for the included Classes. Magic and all magic-using Classes, whether arcane or divine, are deliberately left out. All monsters are left out. This is not a setting in which the Player Characters will face the supernatural as written. Instead of spells, the Ranger and the Firebrand can employ ‘Gambits’, ploys or tactics born of personal knowledge and skill, to gain an advantage in certain situations, whether on the battlefield or in the drawing room or in front of a restive crowd. The end result is a Dungeons & Dragons setting unlike any other and a Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying experience unlike any other.

The core book for Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e presents the means to create Player Characters, lists equipment and gives a new means to carry it, rules for ‘Gambits’ rather than magic, artillery rules, a roster of enemies and threats, Game Master advice, and a short, introductory adventure. There is also a short timeline and an appendix detailing the effects of ‘Inclement Weather’, including on the forearms of the period. Of course, the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is required to play. Given the lethality of firearms, it is suggested that Player Characters in Nations & Cannons begin play at Second Level.

A Player Character in Nations & Cannons has the same core stats as an adventurer in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and will also have a Class and Subclass, but instead of Race has an Origin and a Heritage. Heritage is the Player Character’s cultural upbringing and the source of his first language. Some thirty or so such Heritages are listed, representing a wide range of cultures, including African, European, and Indigenous. This is accompanied by a quick guide to the regions of the Thirteen Colonies—and beyond—which provides some geographical context to the Origins. Where a Heritage provides no mechanical benefit beyond a known language, a Player Character’s Origin gives him all of the mechanical benefits that Race would in other Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games. There are six Origins—Officer, Pioneer, Renegade, Scholar, Scout, and Veteran—representing what the Player Character did before joining the patriotic cause.

In terms of Class, Nations & Cannons uses four from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. These are Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue. Each represents a different approach to fighting the war against the British. The Barbarian is a big brave warrior, ready to take part in military assaults; the Fighter is a skilled soldier or mercenary; the Ranger is a sapper, sentry, skirmisher, or scout; and the Rogue, the ex-criminal, sailor, or hired gun. Each of the four Classes has its own Subclass. These are the Grenadier for the Barbarian, Turncoat for the Fighter, Trailblazer for the Ranger, and Marksman for the Ranger. Nations & Cannons suggests that players use these Subclasses only, but also suggests that other Subclasses from standard Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition can also be used. These are the Berserker and Totem Warrior for the Barbarian, Champion and Battlemaster for the Fighter, Hunter and Beastmaster for the Ranger, and the Thief and Assassin for the Rogue. However, some of these do possess more magical abilities, which are not in keeping with the tone of Nations & Cannons, so the player and Game Master will need to work out mundane explanations for how they work.

In terms of new Classes, Nations & Cannons offers only one. This is the Firebrand. Whether through stirring speeches given before a crowd or inspiring poetry distributed via pamphlets, the Firebrand can inflame the passions of the masses with his words. The role encompasses orator and authors, diplomats, preachers, and the like. It has the Subclasses of Chaplain and the Demagogue. The former is more of an eloquent speaker and emphasises soothing words and healing through its Gambits, whilst the latter tends towards more barbed turns of phrase. The Firebrand is Nations & Cannons’ equivalent of two Classes, depending upon the Subclass. Chaplain is akin to the Cleric, but relies on advice and gentle guidance to both heal and advise, whilst the Demagogue is akin to the Bard Class, but relies more on rhetoric than rhyme to taunt and jab at his opponents.

Lastly, a Player Character will have a Background. The eight given include Career Soldier, Convict, Folk Healer, Fur Trader, Homesteader, Immigrant, Parishioner, and Son of Liberty. There are also some new Feats, such as Bayonet Charger, Printer’s Apprentice, Rifle Expert, and Ruffian. Overall, the character options in Nations & Cannons represent a wide diversity of archetypes from the period that the players can create or play against. One nice touch is that throughout, Nations & Cannons points to historical figures who fit these archetypes. Thus, Allan McLane for the Officer Origin, Thomas Paine for the Firebrand Class, Sally St. Clair for the Convict Background, and so on.

In terms of equipment, Nations & Cannons gives starting packages for each Class and suggests rewards such as Leave Accrued and salary for successfully completing Missions. Amongst the various items of equipment and weapons, such as the Gunstock Club, Coat Pistol, and Liège Musket, Nations & Cannons provides a means for the Player Character to carry more weapons and equipment and gain other benefits. This is through the wearing of Wargear. For example, a Powdered Wig enables the wearer to cast the Code Duello gambit once per day, carry three more pistols with a Pistol Brace, and gain the Proficiency Bonus to the damage and healing properties of potions and poultices by wearing a Hunting Pouch. Some of these do require attunement, much like magic items in Dungeons & Dragons, but here it is more akin to getting used to using such items.

Firearms, as expected of the setting, are slow to load, deadly, and unreliable. Thus, it takes an action or an attack to reload a single round (and weapons that have more than one load are rare), typically inflict two or three dice worth of damage, and have a misfire chance. When rolled, the firearm—and also artillery—cannot be used until it is repaired. Artillery pieces are ‘crew-served’ weapons meaning it takes multiple people to crew such a weapon and co-ordinated action. It is not enough to simply have a gunner ‘Aim & Fire’, but other crewmembers will need to ‘Swab & Reload’ the weapon, and if necessary, ‘Reposition’ it. Bonuses to the roll for these actions are gained if more than one crewman does them, but even if fully crewed, an artillery piece cannot be reloaded and fired on the same round. The rules for artillery are kept short, but also cover a range of ordnance types and ballistic damage. As expected, artillery damage is nasty!

The most radical change that Nations & Cannons makes to Dungeons & Dragons is to dispense with magic. Except not quite. Nations & Cannons replaces them with ‘Gambits’, representing tricks, schemes, and stratagems, rather than just simple spells. That said, Nations & Cannons uses the architecture of Dungeons & Dragons, so mechanically, a ‘Gambit’ still looks like a spell. Each has a Level, a casting time, range, component requirement, and a duration. Those targeted can also make a Saving Throw against their effects. Two of the Classes in Nations & Cannons can use Gambits, the Firebrand and the Ranger, drawing from the spells in the Player’s Handbook as well as the new ones in Nations & Cannons. For example, the Code Duello, can be cast as a bonus action to challenge someone to single combat, but cast over a single hour, it becomes a public notice that the target has seven days in which to respond, whilst with Foxfire, the Player Character grabs a handful of fungi and throws it into the air to create an eerie glow of bioluminescence, outlining targets. Some have a heroic, action-film quality, such as Blowback, with which the Player Character shoots a grenade coming towards him to disable or deflect it, or Improvised Artillery, in which the Player Character turns a log into a one-shot cannon.

The Firebrand effectively knows all of the Gambits available for his current Level. What limits their use is the number of slots the Firebrand has to use per day, and the number of Resolve Points he has to use per day. Resolve can be spent cast Gambits that a Firebrand does not have access to, whether because that they have not been selected by his player or because the Gambits are of a higher Level than the Firebrand knows. There is one issue with the Gambits in that they can sometimes emulate actions that the Player Characters might want to take, but not necessarily know the Gambit for. For example, they might want to turn a log into a one-shot cannon or issue a duelling challenge. In such incidents, the Game Master will need to adjudicate the effects, but whatever they are, they should be less than the Gambit. What the Gambit actually ensures is that the desired effect works and has a defined effect.

Overall, Gambits are a fascinating way to get around the intrinsic aspect that Dungeons & Dragons has magic and certain Classes can cast spells. They are grounded in the period setting and they force a player to think differently. No longer does he say, “My Wizard casts Spare the Dying”, but instead would say, “My Chaplain will call upon the Lord’s name and with his guidance, he will Spare the Dying.” There is potential for far roleplaying in the use of Gambits than there is for the ‘fire and forget’ Vancian spell-casting of Dungeons & Dragons.

As befits the historical setting, the ‘Enemy Roster’ in Nations & Cannons focuses on men and women rather than beasts. There are a few of the latter, like the bull moose and the rattlesnake, but aside from the artillery units, the ordinary human threats are categorised into three types according to role and Hit Die. From the six-sided die to the ten-sided die, they are in turn, Partisans, Irregulars, and Soldiers, representing greater threats. Each of the Partisan, Irregular, and Soldier types is given a little background alongside the stats and even at just twenty or so entries, provides a good mix that the Game master can use as threats and NPCs.

Nations & Cannons includes a single beginning scenario, designed for five Player Characters of Second Level, which actually takes place early in the uprising in the autumn of 1775. In ‘Invasion of Canada’, the Player Characters accompany Ethan Allen of Vermont on a second attempt to scout the length of the Richelieu River and recruit locals to the American cause, prior to an invasion by the Continental Army. Unfortunately, the mission does not go well and the Player Characters are forced to retreat, but can take part in the assault of a British held fort. The scenario is set against the historical events of the period, but does not negate player agency. It is playable in a single session, but will more likely take a little more than that, especially if the optional scenes are used. The various NPCs are nicely detailed.

Physically, Nations & Cannons is a slim book, mostly done in sepia tones with depictions of the period. The result is attractive and for the most part written. Where it is a little odd is that it occasionally refers to soldiers and NPCs as ‘creatures’, implying at some point they would be crewing artillery pieces!

Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e has two big problems. The first is that it is written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and no matter how hard the designers have worked to make Nations & Cannons a roleplaying game setting that fits its historical background whilst still retaining the underlying architecture of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, to some minds, it is still too much. There is no getting away from this, but in Flagbearer Games’ defence, the changes it has wrought make Nations & Cannons unlike any other roleplaying game setting written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.

The second problem is the history. Nations & Cannons is a historical setting which enables the Game Master and her players to run and roleplay a game set in a politically and militarily turbulent period of history with definite heroes and villains. It is highly unlikely that any British roleplayer is going to object to roleplaying a character fighting the British oppressor in 1775 in order to establish a nation free of the British Empire. This is because the American War of Independence is but a blip in British history, and the loss of the Thirteen Colonies was quickly eclipsed by an even bigger British Empire. Whereas to an American roleplayer, the American War of Independence is integral to his country’s founding mythology. What this means is that to the American roleplayer, the setting of Nations & Cannons will have a familiarity that most non-Americans will not. At barely more than a hundred pages long, Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e does not pack a lot of history into its pages. Nor does it include a bibliography. Ultimately, this leaves a lot of research and reading to do for the Game Master not steeped in the conflict and period.

What is striking about Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e is that it feels and reads like a historical setting rather than just a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition adaptation. The underlying architecture is still there, making Nations & Cannons mechanically familiar, but the changes in terms of the Origins, Heritages, Classes, and especially the new Firebrand Class and the Gambits, change the feel, the flavour, and the tone of the game. Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e is the most interesting and the most impressive adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition to date, an intriguing invocation of the Revolutionary War that begs to be played and begs for more support.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Shock and Mayhem

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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Shock and Mayhem is a scenario for not one roleplaying game, but two! Published by Renegade Games Studios, it is designed to be used with the Transformers Roleplaying Game and the G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game, whereas the publisher’s contribution for Free RPG Day 2024, Unnatural Disaster, was also written use with the Power Rangers Roleplaying Game and the My Little Pony Roleplaying Game as well. In fact, Shock and Mayhem is intended to run and played with a mix of Transformers and G.I. Joe operatives, though the Game Master could adapt it so that it could be run with just Transformers or G.I. Joe operatives rather than both. Whichever group the Game Master decides to run it for, Shock and Mayhem is written for use with four to six Third Level Player Characters.

The adventure begins with the Player Characters sent to a liaison point where they will meet Wheeljack of the Autobots and Breaker of G.I. Joe, who together will give them a briefing. It is an emergency situation. If the Transformer Player Characters are not aware of G.I. Joe and vice versa, Wheeljack and Breaker will explain who the other is, but more importantly, tell them that the Decepticons and Conbra are working together. Top Decepticon scientist, Shockwave, is working with COBRA commander, General Mayhem to develop a dangerous new form of concentrated energy processing. This had been identified as Energon-V and it will provide the Decepticons with a new source of concentrated power and enhance the weapons of the Iron Grenadiers of COBRA. Each member of this temporary alliance has assigned a lieutenant to the project, Deluge of the Decepticons, and Baron Unbreakable, ambitious Iron Grenadiers officer and protégé of Mistress Armada. There is a secret testing facility nearby in the badlands of Arizona, and the Player Characters’ objective is to obtain a sample, destroy the rest, and prevent either of the Decepticons or COBRA from developing the new energy former any further.

Shock and Mayhem is a straightforward adventure. The Player Characters travel deeper into the Arizona Badlands to the location of the joint Deception/COBRA-facility, taking advantage of a thunderstorm to either sneak up on it or assault it. Suitably, it opens the action with a bang and continues with a chase as the Player Characters next try to prevent the dangerous alliance from obtaining the chemicals necessary to keep Energon-V stable and stop it from just exploding, and then go after what has been stockpiled so far. There are two chemicals, each in a different location, a desert storage bunker and a cryogenics warehouse, and these can be tackled in any order. However, destroying the chemicals at one, will alert the guards at the other, so that they will be prepared when the Player Characters do arrive. The capture of at least one of the lieutenants—and as the scenario makes clear—the ethical interrogation of either, gives the Player Characters information as the whereabouts of Shockwave and General Mayhem. Facing either one of them will be a tough challenge, but together they are too tough to face in a stand-up fight, so the adventure suggests that the Player Characters use other means, such as stealth and playing one villain off against the other. The scenario ends with the suggested narration for various outcomes, including victory and defeat.

The scenario is supported with an appendix of threats that the Player Characters will face. This includes a COBRA H.I.S.S. II vehicle, Iron Grenadier Foot Soldier, and General Mayhem for COBRA, and the Decepticon soldier and spy, Deluge, and Shockwave. There are no stats for Baron Unbreakable, but notes are given on how to adjust the Iron Grenadier Foot Soldier to reflect his skill and experience.

Physically, Shock and Mayhem is a decently, cleanly laid out booklet with artwork from the two different roleplaying games it draws from, the Transformers Roleplaying Game and the G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game. There are no maps, but then the locations in the scenario are intentionally generic in nature, so that it can easily be run without them.

Shock and Mayhem is a straightforward, uncomplicated scenario, whether the Game Master is running it for the Transformers Roleplaying Game 0r the G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game—or as intended, for both. The Player Characters get the opportunity to sneak around, blow stuff up, and defeat the bad guys. As a demonstration scenario, this is exactly what you want. As a scenario in a campaign, this is a short, in-between affair that the Game Master can easily slip into her ongoing plot or develop something from to present a bigger and more complex story.

Miskatonic Monday #359: The Kangaroo Route

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 Kangaroo Route

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Royce Wilson

Setting: 1930s United Kingdom to Australia, and all points between

Product: Sourcebook
What You Get: Fifty-Seven page, 42.81 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “It Pays To Fly British” – Quantas Empire Airways

Plot Hook: London to Sydney in eleven days and see the Empire!

Plot Support: Aviation and travel history, a fully detailed aeroplane, seventeen adventure hooks, seventeen NPCs, three handouts, three maps, and more.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Detailed journey descriptions—there and back again!

# Potential campaign structure

# Visits places rarely touched upon by Lovecraftian investigative horror

# Interesting passengers

# Cocktail recipes!

# Useful for any pre- and post-World War II roleplaying game

# Aerophobia

# Hodophobia

# Thalassophobia

Cons

# Limited in time frame and geography
# Lots of story hooks, but all need developing

# Not a Mythos sourcebook per se...

Conclusion

# Richly detailed journey description for the rich only!

# Brings verisimilitude to a long voyage

[Free RPG Day 2025] GAS-N-GUNS-A-GOGO

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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Perhaps the oddest release for Free RPG Day 2025 is GAS-N-GUNS-A-GOGO, which describes itself as “a zero-prep introduction to roleplaying with cars and guns”. It is published by 9th Level Games, best known for Kobolds Ate My Baby! and more recently, the controversial Rebel Scum roleplaying game. GAS-N-GUNS-A-GOGO is odd because it is written for the Thunder Road: Vendetta RPG and because it comes in a notepad format. Even the Thunder Road: Vendetta RPG is odd because it is based on the Thunder Road: Vendetta board game, the restored version of Thunder Road from 1986, originally published by Milton Bradley, but now published by Restoration Games. The setting for all three of these—Thunder Road, Thunder Road: Vendetta, and Thunder Road: Vendetta RPG—is a post-apocalyptic world in which freeway warriors race and duke it out on what remains of the highways. Effectively, what the board game and the roleplaying game are, are adaptations, unlicensed, of Mad Max, Mad Max 2, and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Open up GAS-N-GUNS-A-GOGO and it quickly tells the reader, that as the MC, that he is going to be running a game for the next thirty minutes and explains what the various symbols mean in terms of reading thing out to the players, reading for himself, which describe obstacles, and so on. Some sections also have a symbol indicating that the MC tear the page out and flip it over. This is done straight away to reveal the basic rules as well as the characters. There are four Player Characters. They consist of Heavy Metal Crotch Rocket,a motorcycle; Off Road Football Jeep; Spooky Armoured Hearse; and Hefty Garbage Truck.

A Player Character has four stats—Shift, Street, Shoot, and Slam. Shift is a Player Character’s senses and knowledge, Steer is driving and physical action, Shoot covers all violence, and Slam is being brave and tough. Each stat has a run of numbers assigned to each stat. For example, the Heavy Metal Crotch Rocket has ‘2 and 3’ assigned to Shift, ‘3, 4, and 5’ to Steer, ‘4, 5, 6, and 7’ to Shoot, and ‘5, 6, 7,8, and 9’ to Slam. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a single die, the size of which depends on the character. A Heavy Metal Crotch Rocket always rolls a four-sided die, for example. In order to roll higher than the maximum on the die, the player needs to roll the maximum on the die, and that allows him to roll again and add the result. In addition, if the player rolls a one and can justify to the MC that his character can do an action, he succeeds. He must ‘Take the Wheel’ and put his character in danger though. In addition, some Player Characters can undertake actions with Advantage, meaning that two dice are rolled and the highest selected.

If a roll is a failure or something bad happens to a Player Character, there is a chance that he is in danger and takes a point of Danger. In which case, the player rolls his character’s die type and if the result is equal to or less than the character’s current Danger value, the character dies! If the roll is above his character’s current Danger value, he survives. Thus, Player Characters with low die types need to be careful, but the system—called the Polymorph System—and used also for the Mazes Fantasy Roleplaying, also published by 9th Level Games, can be lethal. This is especially so with combat, as the system is player-facing, that is, all the rolls in the game are made by the players. So, missing an opponent, means there is a chance of being fatally struck and killed by an opponent! The system is player-facing, so the MC never has to roll any dice.

The set-up for GAS-N-GUNS-A-GOGO is simple. All four Player Characters are from Friendlytown, but whilst they are away, the town was raided by Desert Pirates. Now all four are on the road, on the trail of the Desert Pirates, racing to catch up with them before the get to canyon up ahead. One of Desert Pirates spots them and about face, races to attack the Player Characters. This is played out on a simple map that looks like one of the board pieces from Thunder Road: Vendetta and gets everyone involved in a fight and used to the rules. The adventure will take the Player Characters racing into canyon, dodging obstacles and traps, and eventually to face the pirate captain in her gas station headquarters.

Physically, GAS-N-GUNS-A-GOGO is surprisingly well presented, in that it is surprise to work out exactly how it works and when you do… The information is clearly and cleverly presented for both the MC and the Player Characters in a format which is reminiscent of the flipbooks used for the scenarios for the Dark Sun setting for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition from TSR, Inc. However, the rules for the play are not quite as clearly presented for the MC as they could have been, but most of them become apparent once you play.

GAS-N-GUNS-A-GOGO is a bit cheap and cheerful, but it does succeed in what it sets out to do, and that is present a simple, direct, and exciting roleplaying experience in thirty minutes. It does this with easy to learn rules, a very straightforward scenario, and a clever format.

Your SHIVER Slasher Starter

Summer camp is a tradition. A chance for the parents to take a break from their children and a chance for the children to meet other children, enjoy the outdoors, engage in outdoor activities and have some fun, whilst for the camp counsellors, it is a chance to get away from their parents, take some responsibility, and maybe have fun with their fellow camp counsellors after their charges are all in their bunks. Summer camp is also a tradition of blood and tragedy, terror and death, as some seemingly random, unrelenting Slasher sneaks out of the surrounding woods and stalks the occupants of the camp, stabbing them, cutting them, hacking them, and putting them to death in murderously inventive ways. That is, until there is one ‘Final Girl’, a survivor who will somehow put an end to the Slasher’s rage-fuelled rampage, and then go on to live a life of happiness and love, untroubled by the trauma inflicted upon her by the monster that pursued her and her friends that night… Or perhaps not.

Camp Blood is a summer sleep-away camp located on the shores of Camp Blood, surrounded by the woods, with a dark history. In the sixties, its attendees, children and camp counsellors, were stalked by a Slasher known as Lopsy, and of the staff and camp counsellors, only three survived. Now, a decade later, they have returned to Camp Blood and led by camp counsellor, Cindy Beyers, have opened it up again and welcomed another group of children for another summer of exciting and educational activities which will definitely make the counsellors’ young charges learn and grow into better adults. Of course, after a month of Cindy Beyers recounting the legend of Lopsy at every fireside ghost story telling session, everyone is tired of hearing about the Slasher and looking forward to going home! Just one more sleep and summer will come to an end…

This is the set-up for ‘Return to Camp Blood’, the scenario in the SHIVER Slasher Starter Set, one of two themed starter sets published by Parable Games for SHIVER – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown. The other is the SHIVER Blockbuster Starter Set. More specifically, the SHIVER Slasher Starter Set ties in with the campaign supplement, SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder, in which the Player Characters suffer an attack by a Slasher and the survivors and their descendants will go on to suffer further attacks by different Slashers down the decades, from the twenties to the noughties, each decade highlighting a different style of Slasher film. What this means is that the SHIVER Slasher Starter Set can be run as one-shot, a classic Summer Camp Slasher horror film in the style of Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp, and Cheerleader Camp, but it can also be slotted into the full SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder campaign. This can be done as a flash forwards-style prequel to the full campaign, which then switches back to the beginning, if the Director does not have SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder or it can be simply inserted into the campaign if she does.

The SHIVER Slasher Starter Set contains two books, the ‘SHIVER Starter Rulebook’ and the ‘Return to Camp Blood’ scenario book, a set of seven pre-generated Player Characters, and a complete set of SHIVER dice. The ‘SHIVER Starter Rulebook’ is a concise version of SHIVER – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown rulebook and contains all of the rules necessary to run and play ‘Return to Camp Blood’. Player Characters in SHIVER can advance up to Tier Ten, but the ‘SHIVER Starter Rulebook’ only goes up as far as Tier Five. The SHIVER dice are of course, required to play, and one advantage of the SHIVER Slasher Starter Set is that once the scenario has been played through, the gaming group has another set of dice to continue playing the roleplaying game.

The seven pre-generated Player Characters in the SHIVER Slasher Starter Set match the roleplaying game’s seven Archetypes—the Warrior, the Maverick, the Scholar, the Socialite, the Fool, the Weird, and the Survivor—and each emphasises one of the six Core Skills and gives access to several Tiers of Abilities. The six Core Skills—effectively both skills and attributes—are Grit, Wit, Smarts, Heart, Luck, and Strange. Grit represents a character’s physical capabilities; Wit covers physical dexterity; Smarts is his intellect and capability with investigation and technology; Heart is his charisma and charm; Luck is his good fortune and the random of the universe; and Strange is his capacity for using magic, psychic powers, and so on. A Player Character also has a Luck Bank for storing Luck—one for all Archetypes, except for the Fool, who has space for three; a current Fear status—either Stable, Afraid, or Terrified; and a Lifeline—Weakened, Limping, Trauma, and Dead—which is the same for all Archetypes.

Mechanically, SHIVER uses a dice pool system of six-sided dice, their faces marked with the symbols for the roleplaying game’s six Core Skills—Grit, Wit, Smarts, Heart, Luck, and Strange. To these are added Talent dice, eight-sided dice marked with Luck and Strange symbols. When a player wants his character to undertake an action, he assembles a dice pool based on the action and its associated Core Skill plus Talent dice if the character has in that Core Skill. Further dice can be added or deducted depending on whether the Player Character has Advantage or Disadvantage, an Ability which applies, or the player wants to spend his character’s Luck, and on the character’s Fear status. The aim is to roll a number of symbols or successes in the appropriate Core Skill, the Challenge Rating ranging from one and Easy to five and Near Impossible. If the player rolls enough, then his character succeeds; if he rolls two Successes more than the Challenge Rating, it is a Critical Hit; and if a player rolls three or more dice and every symbol is a success, this is Full House. In combat, a Critical Hit doubles damage and a Full House triples it, but out of combat the Director can suggest other outcomes for both. If Luck symbols are rolled, one can be saved in the Player Character’s Luck Bank for later use, but if two are rolled, they can be exchanged for a single success on the current skill roll, or they can be used to turn the Doom Clock back by one minute.

A failed roll does not necessarily mean that the Player Character fails as he can use other means to succeed at the task if he rolls enough successes in another Core Skill for that task, though this requires some narrative explanation. However, a failed roll has consequences beyond simply not succeeding—each Strange symbol rolled pushes the Doom Clock up by a minute…

Combat uses the same mechanic with monsters and enemies—and the Player Characters when they are attacked—using the same Challenge Rating as skill tests. It is Turn-based, with the Director deciding whether each Player Character is acting First, in the Middle, or Last, depending upon their situation and what they want to do. Players are encouraged to be organised and know what their characters are capable of, the surroundings for the battle, and so on, in order to get the best out of their characters. With every Player Character possessing the same Lifeline (the equivalent of sixteen Health Points), combat can be simply nasty or nasty and deadly, depending upon the mode. Death is a strong possibility, no matter what the mode, and depending on the scenario, death need not be the end though. A Player Character could become a ghost and continue to provide help from the afterlife or even become an antagonist!

Fear in SHIVER uses the same Challenge Rating system and mechanics. A Fear Check is made with a Player Character’s Strange Dice, and if the player fails the check, the character becomes Afraid, and if Afraid, becomes Terrified. If Afraid, a Player Character loses one die from all Core Skills, and two if Terrified. This is temporary, and a Player Character can get rid of the effects of Fear by escaping or vanquishing the threat, steadying himself (this requires another Fear Check), or another Player Character uses an Ability to help him.

Narratively, SHIVER is played out against a Doom Clock. This is set at eleven o’clock at night and counts up minute by minute to Midnight and the Player Characters’ inevitable Doooommm! However, at ‘Quarter Past’, ‘Half Past’, ‘Quarter To’, and ‘Midnight’ certain events will happen, these being defined in the scenario or written in by the Director. Every scenario for SHIVER includes its own Doom Clock events. In general, the Doom Clock will tick up due to the actions of the Player Characters, whether that is because of a failed skill check with Strange symbols, a failed Fear Check, abilities for the Weird Archetype, Background Flaws, or simply interacting with the wrong things in game. What this means is that dice rolls become even more uncertain, their outcome having more of a negative effect potentially than just failures, but this is all in keeping with the genre. However, just as the Doom Clock can tick up to ‘Midnight’ through the Player Characters’ actions. It can also be turned back due to their actions. Rolling two Luck on skill checks, reaching Story Milestones, finding clues and important items, and certain Abilities can all turn the Doom Clock back.

‘Return to Camp Blood’ is the scenario in the SHIVER Slasher Starter Set. It casts the Player Characters as Camp Counsellors at the recently reopened, on another site (but nearby to the old one where the infamous massacre took place) Camp Blood. They have been serving as the camp lifeguard, assistant cook, and teachers of archery, nature, and crafts, and there is a camp roster of characters who can be linked back to the massacre at the original Camp Blood. There is a good explanation of its set-up and advice on how to run the scenario. It opens with the Player Characters sat round the campfire, chatting about their experiences over the summer, which sets up some nice little flashbacks that can be played through, such as stopping another counsellor picking on a young camp attendee or going in search of a missing member of staff. Not only does this allow the players to try out the mechanics of the roleplaying game before the action starts, it gives them their characters the opportunity to earn some merit badges—no matter the outcome—that can then be used by a player as a one-time bonus during the rest of the scenario.

After hearing Cindy Beyers relate the story of how Lopsy attacked the original Camp Blood one more time, the action proper begins! The Player Characters are sent to check on some missing counsellors who have sneaked off like any true teenagers in lust at summer camp must. Of course, this being a horror scenario in the Slasher genre, the missing counsellors are going to be found, in the burnt out ruins of the original camp, and of course, dead, and with signs of terror on their faces! That is when the Player Characters’ own terror begins as arrows fly out of the darkness and they are stalked back to the new camp, and back and forth, Slasher known as Lopsy seemingly having returned to wreak havoc just as he did a decade before. Initially, the Player Characters have a chance to hide, but this is a Slasher horror film and Lopsy is not going to let anyone hide for long! In keeping with the genre, the Player Characters will be flushed out and go on search of a means to stop the unrelenting stalker. Ultimately, the Player Characters will be forced to face the Slasher in a final confrontation, and that is when ‘Return to Camp Blood’ pulls its twist. It is a fitting twist, one that perceptive or knowing players might work out a little earlier as there are hints in the scenario, but ups the ante and makes for a big battle when during which the merit badges earned earlier are going to come in really handy.

In addition to the advice on the set-up and running of ‘Return to Camp Blood’, the Director is presented with a variety of endings she can use, Doom Clock events the players and their characters can trigger, and a compendium with depictions of all of the Camp Blood Badges, equipment that can be found and used in the fight against Lopsy, including Snuffles the bunny (who deserves star credit), and stats for the various enemies, which of course, includes Lopsy. There is advice too on how to portray him and what he does in combat.

Physically, the SHIVER Slasher Starter Set is a good-looking box. The inclusion of the roleplaying game’s tables on the inside lid of the cover means that the Director has an easy rules reference and screen, whilst the dice do sit in their own niche in the bottom of the box. The books themselves are well-presented with excellent artwork done in a style similar to that of Mike Mignola and his Hellboy comic. The writing is clear, but could have done with an edit in places.

The SHIVER Slasher Starter Set is a solid introduction to SHIVER – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown, whether or not the Director wants to run the SHIVER Slasher: Generation Murder campaign. If she does, then it is a worthy addition, fitting into a decade not covered in the sourcebook and campaign. If not, the scenario is still fun and the players can enjoy the clichés of the genre and the twist that ‘Return to Camp Blood’ gives them.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Titanskeep: Where the Zal River Flows

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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Titanskeep: Where the Zal River Flows is an introductory adventure set in the world of Kaelador and more specifically in Zaltroonia, a politically unstable region previously dominated by mining interests that have since left, relegating the area to one of lawlessness and greed. Worse, the major thoroughfare through the region, the Zal River, has been poisoned by the waters of a river in the netherworlds. Published by Hexed Ink LLC, it is actually intended as a systems neutral setting, but for this first adventure, it has been written to be played using six Third Level Player Characters for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. As the scenario opens, the Player Characters are travelling down the Zal River aboard a skiff, heading for Harthorpe, the port that stands at the mouth of the river where she flows into the sea. After the opportunity for the players to introduce their characters, the action gets going with an attack by giant mutant crocodiles that pitch everyone overboard, smashes the skiff, and leaves them fleeing the shore, where hopefully they will escape the notice of the vile amphibious reptiles chomping their supplies, the skiff, and the remains of her poor captain.

The Player Characters are thus stranded on the banks of the river, with at least a week’s walking required if they want to get to Harthorpe, and they barely have time to recover before they are attacked by bandits. The journey south takes them through the barren terrain along the river, through a swamp and out again, to get to the port. Once the bandits are dealt with, the next problem they face is one of food and water, but the Player Characters will have to deal with former colleagues in service to a warlord, transforming demons, and their reputations. What makes these encounters interesting is that each of the Player Characters has his or her own secret which should come into play as the scenario proceeds. Titanskeep: Where the Zal River Flows includes two appendices. The second gives the stats for the Demon Crocodile, but the first—and far more interesting appendix—gives the background and secrets to each of the scenario’s six pre-generated Player Characters. They include a Human Bard who has been hired to investigate the strange magical properties of the River Zal; an Elf Rogue looking for partner after they got separated following a theft; a Half-Orc Paladin with secret knowledge about the region of Zaltroonia; a Dwarf Barbarian who found himself in the service of a would-be warlord; a Human Cleric transporting one half of a holy relic; and a Gnome Ranger who is a suspect in a murder case. In addition, all six Player Characters have a strong motivation for wanting to get to Harthorpe.

Physically, Titanskeep: Where the Zal River Flows is a surprisingly small book, just a digest-sized booklet. It is also quite short, at fourteen pages long. This leaves room for just the one piece of art, depicting the city of Harthorpe. There is one map, but it is rather plain and not all that useful. A map of the region and the travel route would have been more useful.

Titanskeep: Where the Zal River Flows is not a great adventure. It is linear and picaresque and does not really bring to life what it is that makes the setting of Titanskeep and Kaelador and Zaltroonia different from any other. Yet the adventure is playable and the backgrounds to the Player Characters and their secrets should encourage roleplaying and these are nicely tied into the events of the story.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Arzium Quickstart Guide 2

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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The Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 is the introduction to the Arzium Roleplaying Game, the second following the release of the Arzium Quickstart Guide for Free RPG Day 2024. It is not, though, an introduction to the World of Arzium. That would be the series of board games designed by Ryan Laudkat and published by Red Raven Games, including Above and Below, Near and Far, and others. It presents a fantasy world filled with mysteries, magic, and forgotten technology, above and below ground. The Arzium Quickstart Guide is a slim affair, providing a very basic overview of the setting, an explanation of the mechanics, a short adventure, and four pre-generated Player Characters. Arzium is described as a world of strange mechanics and strange magics, some of it scavenged from fallen civilisations, some of its developed by the newly arisen city-states, industrialised with devices powered by bottled demons and rare crystals. The world is also a diverse one, being home to Humans, Hogfolk, Fishfolk, Lizardfolk, Birdfolk, and other species, including Robots! In the City-state of Arc, far to the south of Surstrayne Forest, location of the village of Above, and underneath it, the village of Below, the Academy of Gom has been beset by a series of thefts, which are believed to have been committed by a mysterious organisation known as the Shattered Knife! Although the Academy of Gom has tight purse strings, the thefts need to be investigated!

Mechanically, the Arzium Quickstart Guide and thus the Arzium Roleplaying Game, is a dice and resource management game. A Player Character has six attributes—Strength, Reflexes, Knowledge, Cunning, Perception, and Craft. Each ranges in value between zero and ten, and presents a pool of points that a player can spend to modify dice rolls. A standard difficulty is seven, whilst a hard one is ten. The maximum that a player can spend on a challenge is five. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a ten-sided die and attempts to equal or exceed the difficulty. Results less than the difficulty have a failure forward outcome in that the story continues despite the negative outcome. The latter might be an actual failure, but it can also be that the action succeeds and the Player Character or an item of equipment suffers damage, or even that the whole situation changes. In addition, if a six is rolled on the die, then a complication is automatically added to the situation. Resting for at least half a day will restore a Player Character’s spent attribute points.

In combat, the Player Characters typically act first and then the enemy. When a Player Character acts, he moves first and then takes an action. All attacks succeed in hitting and inflict damage as per the die type for the weapon or type of attack. The damage inflicted can be increased by spending points from the associated attribute. Armour reduces the amount of damage suffered. Attacks, abilities, and spells can also temporarily affect Power, a measure of NPC and monster ability to inflict more damage. Each monster and NPC gains one Power at the start of each turn, but because the Player Characters act first, they directly affect the monster and NPC capacity to inflict more damage. The rules also allow for gambits, inventive actions which can change the environment or affect monsters and NPCs, but without inflicting damage.

Casting spells requires the expenditure of Attribute points, but not a dice roll. However, a dice roll is required to take account of magic being whimsical and occasionally dangerous. When a spell is cast, the Game Master rolls a ten-sided die and if a one or two is rolled, she also rolls on the ‘Whimsical Magic’ table. This might result in the caster smelling like rotting garbage for a day or temporarily grants a nearby object life as it grows limbs and runs around in a chaotic manner.

Other rules for the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 and the Arzium Roleplaying Game can be found on the character sheet. For example, it uses an inventory system of boxes for gear and offers Memory Knots as a means to maximise a die roll. This requires the player to explain why a particular memory will help his character in the current situation. The Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 includes four pre-generated Player Characters. They include a Human Treasure Hunter good at exploring caves and old facilities, a Toadfolk Investigator with a grasping tongue, and a Hogfolk Curstic Mystic with a knowledge of curse-related spells.

The scenario in the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 is ‘Flight into Madness’. The Player Characters are hired by the Academy of Gom in the City-state of Arc following a series of thefts by the secret organisation known as the Shattered Knife and following an attempt by the Academy of Gom’s best and brightest to investigate the thefts thwarted by sabotage upon the part of the Shattered Knife. Boarding a ramshackle airship, the Player Characters are only armed with a couple of leads that their employer, Professor Argof, gave them. Following both will lead them over the seas to a large island and eventually to the secret base where the Shattered Knife has its headquarters. There they will meet, Zaradin, the head of the organisation, who will give them to opportunity to join him. The Player Characters are fee to do, fight, or run away. Fighting is a difficult option as there are so many members of the Shattered Knife that can call upon Zaradin. However, no stats are given for Zaradin.

‘Flight into Madness’ is short. Playable in an hour—or two at the most. Yet, the whole of the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 is short. Consequently, it feels underwritten and slightly underexplained, particularly when it comes to NPCs and combat, but the mechanics are simple enough that they can be understood. The scenario though is underwhelming and does not give the players and characters much to do beyond face a series of combat challenges.

Physically, the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 is decently put together. The cartography and artwork are good, and it is all clean and tidy. Yet as nice as it looks, the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 does not successfully bring the world of Arzium to life and make it a setting that you want to visit in play. There is not enough of the setting and the scenario is cursory and short and not enough to really sell the reader on the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2, let alone on the Arzium Roleplaying Game. Ultimately, the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 showcases everything that the Arzium Quickstart Guide got wrong for Free RPG 2024 by repeating them exactly. As an introduction to the setting of Arzium,the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 just about works. As as a quick-start the Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 comes up woefully short at barely four pages long of actual adventure...

[Free RPG Day 2025] Whispers of Chaos

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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Whispers of Chaos is a scenario for the Aetherial Expanse setting published by Ghostfire Gaming, one of three released by the publisher for Free RPG Day 2025. All three scenarios and settings are written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and designed to be played by a party of five to six Player Characters of Third Level. The scenario opens with ‘Welcome to the Aetherial Expanse’, a much needed description of the setting and its key features, because the scenario does not have a back cover blurb. What it tells the reader is that Aetherial Expanse is a realm of high fantasy which lies on the Astral Plane, one which combines the Age of Sail and Golden Age of Piracy with magic and swashbuckling action under a sky of swirling stars, that is just a little reminiscent of the Spelljammer setting for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition. Wind flows from the Elemental Planes to fill the sails of the ships, rain falls from the Material Plane on the islands that dot the Astral Plane and swirl around the Maelstrom, the enormous aether-storm at the heart of the Astral Sea. Planar Portals lead elsewhere, lost civilisations lie beneath the poisonous liquid aether of the Astral Sea, and aether comes in three forms—liquid, vapour, and solid. Aetherium crystal can be found floating in the Astral Sea like icebergs, but is rare and can even be used as a power source or a weapon. The Astral Emergents are those reborn and healed in the bodies of the recently dead, having been lost in the waters of the Astral Sea. Two powers from the Material Plane have invaded the Aetherial Expanse and founded colonies, the Kingdom of Ayris, a small, but powerful mercantile kingdom, and the expansive Karelagne Empire. It is less than a decade since the warring powers signed an uneasy truce, their rivalry exhibiting in feuds and acts of piracy and privateering.

In Whispers of Chaos, the Player Characters are hired by Professor Delkin Doss, an anthropology teacher. He wants to recover an ancient book of dark secrets, Godlike: Research, Stories, and Theories, which has been stolen from him by a sage, Dr. Marigold Brambletoe. A student, the Gnome, Sophia Blush, has managed to get word to him of where Doctor Brambletoe has taken the tome. This is the uninhabited Tumult Isle which lies close to the Maelstrom, where Nth Degree, a cult of Karelagne zealots, have established a base of operations where she can conduct his research. Unfortunately, Professor Delkin Doss is on a budget and has a booked passage on the Ethnos, completely unaware that some of the crew are very unhappy. So unhappy that they mutiny! This is the first big event of the scenario, throwing the Player Characters into the action, ideally being able to deal with the mutineers before sailing on, though notes are given suggesting what might happen if the mutineers prevail. Either way, the Ethnos is left shorthanded and the Player Characters are expected to pitch in. Here is where the scenario mixes it up with fun with some activities aboard ship—cooking meals, coming across a derelict ship, searching for Moose, the ship’s cat, and much more… These are pleasingly entertaining and keep the Player Characters busy until it throws them into the main action of the scenario.

This takes place in the Tumult Facility. The Player Characters need to find a way past the partially open frond or, but once inside discover a scene of bloody devastation. There are bodies everywhere as if monsters have been rampaging through the facility, and as they explore further, they will not only find several of those monsters, but also that the Tumult Facility has a surprisingly modern feel, including a welcome centre, shower room, and games room! Their progress is marked by the whole facility suddenly shaking again and again, each time the intensity increasing as if Tumult Isle was beset by ground tremors building up to an earthquake. This adds to the creepy tension that pervades the blood spattered facility, but eventually the Player Characters will discover the cause—a Maw, a great toothy mouth protruding from a crack in the ground, spitting monsters into the realm, as its tentacles flail and attempt to draw power from several Astral Emergent prisoners! The Player Characters are likely to have found Godlike: Research, Stories, and Theories by now, but this monstrous thing, even one constrained by the size of the crack in the floor of the facility, needs to be defeated, and even though it is constrained by the size of the crack in the floor of the facility, it is a challenging foe. Defeating the toothy, tentacled terror will bring the scenario to an exciting close.

The scenario comes with three appendices. The first gives stats and details for the scenario’s monsters, including a Ship Mimic! The second and third describe a card game that the Player Characters might play aboard ship and the effects of aether poisoning. The scenario includes maps of the Tumult Facility, the Ethnos, and the Astral Sea. A set of resources is also available for all three of the scenarios published by Ghostfire Gaming. They include maps, tokens, and pre-generated Player Characters for each. For Whispers of Chaos, the Player Characters consist of a Kobold Cleric with the Aether Domain; a Dwarf Fighter with the Corsair Raider subclass and Starlight Sea Raider Background; an Automaton Wizard with the Technomage Subclass and the Karalagne Naval Magewright Background; a Dragonborn Rogue with the Veiled Guardian Subclass and the Ayrissian Magnate Background; a Bard from the College Of The Blade Dancer and with the Opportunist Of The Expanse Background; and an Astral Emergent Ranger with the Expanse Wayfinder Subclass and the Silvery Sea Wanderer. All six are nicely detailed and come with some background as well as an illustration and an explanation of all their abilities and features.

Physically, Whispers of Chaos is well presented. The artwork and the maps are excellent, and the scenario is well written. The only disappointment is the lack of a back cover blurb to inform the reader what Whispers of Chaos actually is.

The biggest problem with Whispers of Chaos is the background. Not that it is not a good background—it is. Rather that there is a fair bit of it to impart to the players before they can start to play the scenario. Once over this hurdle, Whispers of Chaos is a really entertaining scenario, especially the scenes aboard the ship, that all together serves as a solid introduction to an intriguing setting.