2008: Saga of the Rat King

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

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In 2003, Goodman Games launched its long running Dungeon Crawl Classics series, which combined old style play with modern rules, with Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King. In that scenario, the Player Characters’ investigations into raids by Goblin bandits on caravans carrying silver ore lead to the nearby Gannu Silver Mine which turned out to be infested by not just Goblins, but rats and Wererats. The final confrontation in the mine is with Lawrence Gannu, cursed by the villagers of Silverton to be a Wererat after they blamed his father for a dangerous discovery in the mines, returned to take his revenge upon the villagers. This scenario was more recently republished as Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King, for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. In 2006, the publisher released a sequel, Dungeon Crawl Classics #27: Revenge of the Rat King. The Player Characters have an opportunity to confront Aaron Gannu, father of Lawrence, in this sequel. However, he has other designs on the Player Characters and they are tested sorely as he lures them into his lair, weakens them and depletes their resources, before capturing them. Fortunately, the Player Characters, only armed with luck and wits, do have the opportunity to escape, find their possessions, and fully arm themselves once again before the final showdown. Both Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King and Dungeon Crawl Classics #27: Revenge of the Rat King were written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, rather than the publisher’s own (not yet published) Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King is not written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition or Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Published in 2008 for sale at Gen Con Indy in 2008, it is instead a special module in more ways than one, First, it is written for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, rare in 2008 as it would be for today. second, it combined both Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King and Dungeon Crawl Classics #27: Revenge of the Rat King. Third, it not only compiles the previously published scenarios, but includes a third new part, ‘The Scourge of Silverton’. This connects the two scenarios and it means that together, all three parts can be played as a single campaign taking the Player Characters from First Level all the way up to Sixth Level.

The plot to both Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King and Dungeon Crawl Classics #27: Revenge of the Rat King remain the same. In the former, the Player Characters explored the apparently abandoned Gannu Silver Mine and find it crawling with Goblins and Wererats, one level of the mine being reworked with zombie slaves, and Lawrence Gannu the Wererat overseeing it all as well as something else hidden deep in the bowels of the mine. In the latter, the Player Characters are in the city of Soulgrave tracking down a ring of slavers and are lured in one big dungeon trap by Aaron Gannu, father of Lawrence, who will have his revenge! Divided over three acts, the Player Characters will be tested in each. First, with a series of challenging dungeon encounters designed to wear them down; second by capturing them and stripping them of all their equipment; and third, with dangerous battle against Aaron Gannu’s minions and finally, Aaron Gannu himself. It remains an evil dungeon. However, there are changes to both because, understandably, this is a compilation for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, not Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition.

The most obvious change is from a roleplaying game with intrinsic rules for skills, skill checks, and other activities to a roleplaying game without those. Here we are in classic ‘rulings not rules’ territory, Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King leaving it very much up to the Dungeon Master to decide upon the specifics of how resolve a Player Character action. Unfortunately, this is not consistently applied throughout the adventure anthology, giving it slightly unbalanced feel. Without the suggested mechanic solution for each and every situation, it feels authentic to the design and play of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, but where they are included, they intrude rather than feel natural.

However, the adaptation from Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition has been less consistently applied to the ‘Idylls of the Rat King’ part of the campaign. One of these is narrative in that as a section of boxed text explains whilst Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King had Goblin Wererats as its main monsters, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition restricts lycanthropy to Humans only. Thus, there are no Goblin Wererats in Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King, only Human ones. Neither are there any Goblin Clerics in Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King, these also having been changed to Human Clerics, though still devoted to the rat gods Narrimunth and Nimlurun. Similarly, the Goblin Wizard of the original has been changed to Human Wizard, but in this his illustration is that of the Goblin in the original, and whilst the bandit chief and his guards are now described as Human, their illustration still shows them to be Goblins. Lastly, Half-Orc slavers have been added to the scenario. These effectively replace the Goblins who would fight to the death to protect the young Goblins in the tribe’s nursery. So now the Half-Orc slavers will fight to the death to protect their slaves, which though ties in with the slave ring theme found in ‘Revenge of the Rat King’, it still does not make sense narratively.

It should be noted that ‘Revenge of the Rat King’ still retains the story element of the Player Characters being captured by the Rat King. As problematic as this in terms of storytelling and player agency, it is very difficult to change this because it is pivotal to the events of the scenario.

In between ‘Idylls of the Rat King’ and ‘Revenge of the Rat King’ is ‘The Scourge of Silverton’. This is designed for Player Characters of Third and Fourth Level. It is designed as a short bridging affair between the two scenarios, but it is not a full enough adventure to provide sufficient Experience Points to take the Player Characters from ‘Idylls of the Rat King’ to ‘Revenge of the Rat King’, so the Dungeon Master will want to run other content before it as ‘The Scourge of Silverton’ is a direct prequel to ‘Revenge of the Rat King’. It provides a specific reason for the Player Characters to travel from Silverton to Soulgrave. The scenario draws the Player Characters back to Silverton, which has been restored to its fortunes with the death of Lawrence Gannu and the driving out of his bandits at their hands. Lawrence’s younger half-brother, Marcus, equally as evil, has heard of his brother’s death and working with their father, has concocted a plan to take revenge upon the Player Characters. This will play out in ‘Revenge of the Rat King’, but to set this up and draw the Player Characters in, Marcus kidnaps several of the villagers from Silverton and holds them to ransom. The villagers of Silverton ask the Player Characters to deliver the ransom to the Deveraux Silver Mine and ensure the safe return of the hostages.

The Player Characters have the choice of handing over the ransom or fighting their way into the mine. Either way, they will have a fight to get to the hostages as the situation is not simply a ransom and hostage exchange, but of course, a trap! Marcus has seeded the mine with traps and groups of his men, who will snipe and harass the Player Characters as they work their way to where the hostages are being held. Ultimately, there will be a confrontation with Marcus, but he and his chief henchman will escape the mine in Indiana and the Temple of Doom style in a mine cart with the Player Characters in hot pursuit.

‘The Scourge of Silverton’ is a set-up and also a set-up to a set-up, that of ‘Revenge of the Rat King’. It is short and serviceable, playable in a single session or so, and primarily combat focused. The addition of Marcus Gannu is the main addition to the trilogy in terms of its storytelling, but the main problem with ‘The Scourge of Silverton’ is that it sets up Marcus Gannu as a villain, but then lets him exit the trilogy of scenarios as he does not appear in the updated version of ‘Revenge of the Rat King’.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King is done in the then style of the Dungeon Crawl Classics line. The artwork is decent, though not always befitting the text, and the cartography varies in style and quality. This is from the very plain, even dull, maps of ‘Idylls of the Rat King’ to the detailed maps for ‘Revenge of the Rat King’ and ‘The Scourge of Silverton’. Unfortunately, Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King is not let down by its adaptation to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, but rather by its lack of consistency when it comes to terminology and phrasing. Errors are strewn throughout the book. Not necessarily to make Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King unplayable, but more than enough to irk the veteran of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and potentially confuse the Dungeon Master who has less experience of playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King provides three different styes of dungeons. ‘Idylls of the Rat King’ is a dungeon crawl; ‘The Scourge of Silverton’ is an extended combat encounter, a game of cat-and-mouse through the mines; and ‘Revenge of the Rat King’ is a challenging, even evil, obstacle course that will test the players’ lateral thinking and dungeoneering skills perhaps more than those of their characters. This gives it variety that is neatly tied to its theme of revenge that runs through all three parts.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King is really a trilogy in two parts because ‘The Scourge of Silverton’ is not enough to bridge the gap between the events of ‘Idylls of the Rat King’ and ‘Revenge of the Rat King’. It does, however, provide a reason for the Player Characters to play through ‘Revenge of the Rat King’, so very much a mini-prequel. Which means that Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King is not really a mini-campaign either, since it has a beginning and an end, but no real middle. The Dungeon Master will have to provide that, and perhaps one way of doing it, is to use Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King as a precursor to the classic campaign, Against the Slave Lords, since there are elements in ‘Revenge of the Rat King’ inspired by that campaign.

[Free RPG Day 2026] The Crooked House

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. 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. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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The Crooked House is a haunted manifestation of the Crooked Queen, a twisted wooden edifice in the American Gothic edifice that stands on the hill above the village and has many names and owners. Today it is known as Druskenvald Manor, named for the current owners Philip and Adela Druskenvald, given the building and its grounds as gift from the local mayor, eager to have someone own and restore it and perhaps bring some life to the village. In the past, it was Lockwood Estate, but they died or disappeared in a great tragedy, it has stood empty until the Druskenvalds arrived. Now they are in danger, for the building twists all who stay within its walls, playing on their worst fears, the minions of the Crooked Queen driving them to madness and preparing them for sacrifice within its walls! Now Philip and Adela Druskenvald are the next victims of both the house and the Crooked Queen, and the Player Characters have invited to dine with them. Most obviously to celebrate their good fortune, but also because Adela has been suffering from unsettling nightmares…

The Crooked House: Folk Horror Roleplaying for Four 3 Characters is a scenario for The Crooked Moon, the folk horror roleplaying game setting for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition published by Avantris Entertainment. It includes a dark and dangerous mystery and some thoroughly vile monsters and villains, all wrapped up in an atmospherically twisted haunted house.

The first thing that strikes you about The Crooked House are its production values. Against its sepia tones that make it stand out from anything else released for Free RPG Day, the artwork is excellent, especially of the monsters that appear in the scenario. The three dimensional cutaway map of the house is good too, although perhaps a little dark to read proper. The standard maps are really good though, capturing the feel of a lived in house that has gone to seed due to its misuse by the Crooked Queen and her servants, including Vessla Browntooth, the Weasel Hag, and the Crooked Man, Vessla’s minion, who will taunt the Player Characters again and again, before fading away each time.

In fact, the Crooked Man is the first person that the Player Characters will encounter in the adventure, hinting at that the things they will find inside whilst also relishing what might become of them once they are inside. Some of that is also foreshadowed in the paintings that they find in the foyer that in turn unsettlingly depicting the former occupants and the current occupants, and worse, the Player Characters! Even then, the paintings have been cursed and have deleterious effect upon anyone who examines them. They are the first of many things that have been twisted in the crooked house and there is a constant pattern of the familiar features of a family home so twisted and turned to horror. Many of these things are classic haunted house elements, such as the spirit board in the parlour and need to hold a séance, a self-playing harpsichord in the music room, a rich feast that quickly reveals itself to be rotten and then attacks the Player Characters, and so on. Yet there are some little tweaks here and there, like the haunted wooden doll which instead of attacking the Player Characters begs for their help in checking for monsters, and instead of a deluge of blood flowing out of a room and into the hallway a la the film The Shining, the Player Characters are in the bathroom when it fountains up from the plughole! In nearly every instance, the Player Characters need to engage with these in order find a half dozen artefacts connected to the history of the house and its former occupants.

As the Player Characters advance through the house, they are harried by a variety of nasty creatures including a sneak of weasels, which does not give up and they all speak in voice, saying the same phrase over and over, as well as a Boogleswarm, a swarm of fey weasels that covets and collects teeth (like the Tooth Fairy, but without leaving a pound coin under the pillow). In fact, teeth are one of the recurring motifs throughout The Crooked House, the Player Character find them crunched under foot and inserted into nooks and crannies. The weaselly nature of the scenario does not stop there, for eventually, the Player Characters will make their way to the top of the house and manage to open the way to the secret chamber where Vessla Browntooth, the Weasel Hag is performing the ritual she needs to sacrifice the souls of Philip and Adela Druskenvald. Will the Player Characters be able to stop her?

Besides the excellent maps, the Game Master is given full stats for all of the monsters in The Crooked House. Notably, all of them have a ‘secret’, something that a Player Character might know about with an appropriate skill roll. These are suggested, but it would have been nice if there was a way to discover them narratively as part of the playthrough of the scenario. The Treasury details a pair of interesting magical items found the house, but which are actually cursed (of course, they should be). Also included is a quartet of Player Characters. They consist of a Gnarlborn Druid, a Plagueborn Monk, a Stoneborn Cultist, and a Threadborn Reveler. They are not poor example Player Characters, but there is no explanation though how they relate to each other, the scenario, or The Crooked Moon setting. They fit a Gothic horror-fantasy setting, not a modern setting of any kind, and both Philip and Adela Druskenvald are depicted as modern characters, dressed for the Jazz Age of the nineteen twenties. Consequently, they feel out of place alongside the scenario.

Physically, The Crooked House: Folk Horror Roleplaying for Four 3 Characters is very well presented. The artwork and the artwork are both great and the maps excellent.

The Crooked House: Folk Horror Roleplaying for Four 3 Characters is thoroughly enjoyable, Gothic horror, haunted house scenario. What lets it does as a whole are the sample Player Characters which not match the feel of the scenario. That said, there is nothing to stop the Game Master from running the scenario with a slight adjustment using standard Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition or a modern horror treatment such as FiveEvil.

[Free RPG Day 2026] No Place Like Homebrew

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. 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. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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No Place Like Homebrew is a sampler for No Place Like Homebrew, a supplement from Roll & Play Press, which provides the Game Master with hundreds of settlements, factions, NPCs, monsters, countries, and more. Everything is clearly laid out and colour-coded—purple for characters, brown for factions, green for locations, and red for creatures—such that the Game Master can consult the supplement and find something that she wants in the right section. Further, where needed it has stats. In the supplement, these are for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, making it compatible with the world’s number one roleplaying game, but these are neatly compartmentalised such that a Game Master could easily ignore them and develop the content using the system and stats of her choice. The No Place Like Homebrew sampler has no such stats, but is colour-coded and thus everything is easy to find and identify what category each falls into.

The No Place Like Homebrew sampler opens with a handful of countries, leading with a description of Theotalis, ‘Opulent country rich in silver.’, known for Castle Theotalis and its gleaming spire as well as the fact silver views run in abundance across the county. The citizens are wealthy and silver is held as sacred though the mines are now mechanised. Dotted across the country are old silver statues which may be a source of riddles, advice, or snippets of lost history depending upon who you ask. Conversely, ‘Fozanzia’, a ‘Magical, smog filled-wasteland’, was once a centre of arcane research, but was reduced to an unhabitable wasteland following a failed attempt to artificially recreate dragon’s breath as a weapon. It is now shrouded in thick, draconic fog, scorching golden yellow by day, freezing grey by night. Except for the dragons and wyverns that roam the sky, the only things that live under the pall of magical fallout are hardy, but have mutated. However, if a creature survives long breathing in the miasma, it develops its own dragon breath… All six entries are categorised ‘Setting’ and ‘Country’, but also fall into a combination of the ‘Exploration’, ‘Safe’, ‘Magic’, ‘Horror’, ‘Dangerous’, and other categories. 

Under ‘Realms and Leaders’, the sampler details three different dragons. ‘The Winged Terror’ is a wounded wyvern, recently escaped from a gladiatorial arena and clumsily trying to adapt to outside world; ‘Precept Regent’ are father, mother, and son Gold Dragons travel the world learning and giving lectures on all manner of different subjects; and ‘The Underking’ claims dominion over all that lies under the ground and sees mining efforts as invasions! Thus, we have a creature that is wild new threat to the countryside, a trio that might be the very sages that the Player Characters are looking for, and a would-be ruler of the Underworld.

The centre part of the sampler is devoted to the widest selection of interesting options to import into the Game Master’s campaign—people, organisations, and the occasional monster. Unfortunately, whether it is the ‘Syphapods’, translucent underground octopi that drop on people and suffocate and constrict them or the ‘Duneshredders’, landsharks that swim in the desert sands, the monsters in the sampler manage to be uninspired and uninspiring. Much, much better are the NPCs. ‘Cerulea Prim’ is a Stone Giant renowned for cave paintings, occasionally takes commissions to paint murals, but lets others add to the paintings in her cave and now wants to find an inspiring band of heroes to feature in her next work. The ‘Shardpick Syndicate’ is a band of Dwarves known for their diamond-tipped picks which enable them to rework old mines and dig out previously inaccessible seams of ore and gems, but this is all a front for its leader’s true aim—finding a lost city! ‘Nym’ is a Nothic fascinated by the surface world and tortures those it captures for their knowledge and secrets, but giving up the knowledge beforehand might prevent her from attacking you. Other entries include a  popular author looking for inspiration in the wilderness, a high priest to a sun god wanting donations to restore his remote temple whilst pining for the love that his faith denies him, and an assassin who uses scorpion venom, but who has lost his favourite and mostly deadly scorpion! Overall, it is a nice range and there is definitely something or someone that the Game Master can add to her campaign.

Pride of place goes to ‘The Copperpot Arms’, an inn so large it has capacity for five hundred guests. It is fully detailed and ready to use, and even though the map is too small, it gets across a sense of its layout. Lastly, the No Place Like Homebrew sampler gives an idea of its ‘Campaign Primers’. These include tone, inspiration, and pitch, as well as campaign overview, lore and mechanics, key locations, important characters, and inciting incident. Lastly, there are some Session Zero questions to put to the players about their characters. The included ‘Pirate Campaign: King of the Blue’ is inspired by One Piece meets Monster Hunter and consists of a world of drifting island nations, one of which is Theotalis from earlier in the sampler (and the book), and the big hook is the hunt for a shipwreck said to be laden with pirate treasure. The primer comes with NPCs; lore and mechanics such as building crew reputation, upgrading ships, and using knock-off electrum coins in a world where the silver coin is the prime currency can get a pirate or a Player Character into trouble; and an inciting incident to get the campaign started. Overall, it is a good page of details, but still with room aplenty for the Game Master to add her own content.

Physically, the No Place Like Homebrew sampler is well presented. It readable and accessible and the artwork is decent.

The obvious problem with the No Place Like Homebrew sampler is that it is bitty, lots of little things rather than one whole that can be used as is. As a preview though, it does a good job of showcasing what is in the actual No Place Like Homebrew book and there is content in the sampler that the Game Master can take inspiration from. It is far from the best item published for Free RPG Day 2026, but where others might get immediately used, it might be something that the Game Master dips into at a later date.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. 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. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire is a scenario for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. It is published by Loke BattleMats and is designed to be played with four Player Characters, each of Third Level, and completed in a single session, two at most. The set-up is simple. The village of Oakhaven is best known for its tranquillity and the Brightspire, a beacon lighthouse that baths and protects the town and its inhabitants in a reassuring light. Now, however, long cracks have formed in its walls and the light atop its height is sputtering. Already, the Brightspire’s keeper, Wrenna, and her apprentices, have entered the tower and descended into the crypts underneath to investigate the situation. That though, was three days ago and none of them are returned, leaving the villagers concerned and Sprocket, Wrenna’s Zephyr Cat familiar, is agitated. With help at least a day’s travel away, the villagers ask the Player Characters for help.

Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire is a straightforward dungeon with two large areas, one to explore and one where the Player Characters will confront the scenario’s villain. To get to these, the Player Characters need to open the door to the tower which involves a puzzle. Whilst the scenario gives multiple ways of solving this puzzle, these are all for the characters rather than the players and there is no way to work out how to solve the puzzle without the roll of the dice. Fortunately, this is the only real negative aspect to the scenario. Below is the first of the scenario’s two set pieces, the ‘Arcwell Chamber’. This has a Lair Feature, ‘Blinding Strobe’, which is the Arcwell flaring randomly—as seen as by the sputtering light atop the tower—which here has effect of temporarily blinding anyone in the room! When this will happen is rolled for randomly each round on a twenty-sided die and in addition to the Player Characters making a Saving Throw against the effect, the players can guess which number the Dungeon Master rolled on the die. If successful, their characters close their eyes to the strobing light just in time. Of course, the monsters in the room are not affected by the ‘Blinding Strobe’ effect.

Below is the ‘Ancestral Vault’ of the family that built the Britghtspire. Here the Player Characters will fight the scenario’s villain, hopefully rescue Wrenna, and discover the real reason why the Brightspire was constructed. Both set pieces are well designed and both will challenge the players and their characters, but one nice touch is that the designer clearly highlights (though in pink rather than the suggested purple) when a particular ability of one of the Player Characters will be useful in a scene.

The advice for the scenario begins with ‘5E in 5 Minutes’, a very quick guide to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, followed by an explanation of the scenario’s adventure, the hook to get the Player Characters involved, and an explanation of the background for the Dungeon Master. All of this is easy to read and prepare, and there is advice too, on how to run the dungeon, including adjusting the difficulty as necessary, and so on. Of course, Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire being published by Loke BattleMats means there are maps for both levels of the dungeon and counters for both the Player Characters and the monsters as well as Wrenna and Sprocket. Four pre-generated Player Characters consist of a Human Rogue, a Human Ranger, a Human Fighter, and a Human Cleric. These are all fully fledged characters with backgrounds, suggested actions, and a key phrase as well as their stats.

Physically, Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire is well presented. The artwork is decent, but the maps are very good. This should no surprise given the publisher. One nice touch is that references to monsters, items—magic or not, and clues are colour-coded to make them easier to spot.

Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire is an easy, solidly designed dungeon to run with relatively little preparation time. It can be run as a one-shot, a convention scenario, or run as part of a campaign. Lastly, of course, Sprocket is very cute—and the Dungeon Master will have fun roleplaying him.

[Free RPG Day 2026] All Bets Are Off

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. 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. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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With Everyday Heroes, publisher Evil Genius Games did for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in 2022 what d20 Modern did for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition in 2002. That is, facilitate and handle roleplaying in the here and now, in the world we see outside our windows, on our television screens, and at the cinema. It went even further though by doing something not actually included in the rulebook. This is providing access to a number of source and scenario supplements all based upon a surprising range of films. In fact, a range of films which nobody expected to see turned into roleplaying material despite their popularity in the hobby such as The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure and Escape From New York™ Cinematic Adventure. For Free RPG Day 2026, the publisher has contributed the scenario, All Bets Are Off.

All Bets Are Off carries the subtitle ‘A Free RPG Day adventure that proves every great heist fails at the escape’ and whilst the scenario does involve a heist, it remains to be seen if the escape fails. The scenario is designed for gang of four or five First to Second Level Heroes who together make up a professional heist team known in criminal circles as the ‘Stacked Deck’. However, since Everyday Heroes casts its protagonists as Heroes, the protagonists in the scenarios are only ‘technically’ criminals. Or rather, the Heroes are criminals with a heart who research organized crime money laundering locations, plan elaborate heists, and steal veritable fortunes from them. The money is then split between the members, their helpful associates, and their two clandestine benefactors, the Always sisters, Grace and Charity.

At the start of this adventure, the Stacked Deck has just performed a perfect, by-the-numbers hit on the Cold Cash Castle, a local casino well-known to be a front for the Rasmussen organized crime syndicate. The heist has gone off perfectly, and the team made it out of the casino, and is making a dash for its getaway van. All Heroes need to do is clamber aboard, but as soon as the vehicle is in sight, its tires are screaming and belching smoke as it drives away! Which leaves the Heroes in the lurch and needing to make their way across twenty blocks of the city to get to the planned pick-up point.

All Bets Are Off is a chase scenario. The Heroes have exited the casino, clown masks on in true American heist fashion, guns in hand, and black holdalls full of cash slung over their shoulders, with Syndicate Agents on their tail. How exactly they get across the city is detailed in numerous scenes, in turn using the environment and overcoming any number of challenges. These include diving down alleys and climbing fire escapes, dodging barely leashed guard dogs, facing down corrupt cops on their tail (how did they find them so fast?), and getting out from under the sight of a red sight dot, before finally trying to get past a police blockade. This is one of two scenes where the Heroes get to be inventive in how they overcome the problem, along with an encounter with a restaurant line chef as she steps out of the kitchen and is surprised at their sudden appearance. 

The scenario is intended to be played in a single session and comes with multiple endings depending on how well the Heroes have done. It includes notes on how to use it with ‘E.G.O.’, the Evil Genius Organized-Play Programme and also comes with six pre-generated Heroes. They are all Second Level and include an ex-MMA fighter, a sharpshooter, a bodyguard, a sleuth, and a leader. They all come with some background, fairly broad in detail. The inside front and back cover include a map of the streets that the Handler can use if she wants to employ miniatures.

Physically, All Bets Are Off is decently presented. The artwork is excellent and the Handler should use it to show her players various scenes in the scenario.

All Bets Are Off is short and simple. Arguably, it is not just simple, but simplistic too. Although its various scenes are thematically appropriate, too many of them come down to simple dice roll and beyond that, there is not a lot for the Heroes to really do. The scenario could easily be played through in a couple of hours and the Handler may want to add another encounter or two, perhaps have the Heroes hide out in a department store as Syndicate agents from the casino they just robbed stalk them or a race through a restaurant kitchen where an appropriately cinematic fight can take place. For a quick and easy-to-prepare demonstration game, All Bets Are Off is fine, but will need more if a Handler wants to better show off Every Day Heroes or use it her campaign.

Grey City Future

With its near future setting of a San Franciso ravaged by climate change and protected from the sea by seawalls, the bulk of its population having moved off-world  in ‘The Scramble for Stars’ to start again on the megacorporate-sponsored colonies, and the use of Synths or biological androids as a pliable workforce in their stead, Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG feels very much inspired by Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Published two years after the latter film by British publisher, Dragon Turtle Games, Ltd., Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG is also noticeable for the fact that its mechanics are derived from those used for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Although San Francisco is the default city setting in Carbon 2185 and the one detailed in the core rulebook, there are other cities around the world. The cities of London, Manhattan, and Tokyo are detailed in the Carbon 2185 | Cities Sourcebook, mapping out their glittering highlights and grungy lowlifes, whilst Berlin 2185 explores what could be a brighter future.

The Berlin of Berlin 2185 is different to other cities of the late twenty-second century. Whilst their response to environmental collapse has been to cede control to the corporations and slide into a cyberpunk dystopia, the Berlin Mandate Group, at the direction and donations of the Philanthropist has instead sought to share the city’s wealth. To use to protect the city, preserving the old buildings for prosperity whilst constructing more sustainable ones; to introduce a Universal Income and eliminate homelessness; and to establish a drone-driven energy dome over the city, protecting its citizenry, flora, and fauna from the worst effects of UV radiation and other contaminants—effectively, cutting edge weather control. Free from corporate control and capitalist drives, Berlin has become both a scientific and technological paradise and powerhouse.

Another big difference between Berlin and the other major cities of the world is the limited presence of the big corporations—Tusk in particular. The anti-corporate attitude is not just Berlin Mandate Group policy, but deeply woven into Berlin society. In particular, its Punk scene, heavily influenced by the Punk scene in London, but given a German twist in the form of NuWave Punk. A popular slogan of the Berlin Punk movement is, “Keine Unternehmen mehr, keine Lügen mehr!” or “No more Corporations, no more lies!”. The music and associated underground scene are nicely detailed, noting the degree of crossover between London and Berlin whilst emphasising the differences, that it is more accepting of LGBTQA+ members and LGBTQA+ bands as the ‘Gay Capital of Europe’, and that the authorities in the city have a grater tolerance towards the scene than might be found in other cities.

In general Cyberpunk terms, the description of Berlin amounts to a paradise. It is well organised and divided along need, not greed, the roads are uniform, the public transport system non-obtrusive, there are actual trees growing in the city, and at night, one can see the see the stars—unlike any other city in 2185. So where then are the tensions that will bring the Player Characters—or Cyberpunks as they are known—to Berlin and help the Game Master create plots and stories for her campaign. Obviously, one scale there may be tensions one band and another in the city’s punk scene, but on another, the corporations, with their limited presence in the city, would like to know the secrets of Berlin Mandate Group and how the city is run so effectively, let alone steal the flora of the city found nowhere else quite so obviously. For the most part there are jobs that most of the roles in the city legitimately. Docs are in high demand in the city’s medical sector, whether in emergency response teams operating in the city or beyond it or in medical research; Enforcers can find work as bodyguards, and even do clandestine work for the Berlin Mandate Group; Hackers can find work protecting from net-based and Sphere-based corporate intrusion; and the net-based and the Berlin Mandate Group might even employ a Scoundrel.

Some of these tasks are reflected in the new character options included in Berlin 2185. They include a Public Enforcement Officer highly trained in de-escalation and non-lethal resolution, but also heavily scrutinised  by their precincts and the Berlin Mandate Group for wrongful use of violence, and then Media Officer, Scientist, and Agent for the Berlin Mandate Group. The Media Officer will be covering up details as well as presenting them to the press; the Scientist will have access to some of the most advanced technology on the planet; and the Agent does the dirty work that the Media Officer for the Berlin Mandate Group avoids doing. The others include the Eco-Punk Ganger—an environmentalist punk rocker, Drone Operator—much in demand in the skies above Berlin, Media Personality, and Construction Engineer. There is also a discussion of Origins for Cyberpunks appropriate to Berlin, of which Korporate Kids and Badlanders are rare and High Flyers and Sleekers uncommon. The most common are Regular Joes and Gutter Punks.

The various sectors of the city are also described, including a few notable locations, the feel of the place, what food and drink options are available, and what secrets are hidden there. This is followed by a table of encounters. For example, the feel of the Science Park is dominated by the smell of actual live plants and clean water in the fountains, there are vending machines from the city ubiquitous currywurst can be purchased, but few restaurants, and the area is home to Research & Development Labs, Tech Facilities, and the Berlin Mandate Group’s Science Division, as well as the Foresters Houses. The latter is where the city’s foresters live, their job to protect the city’s flora—with prejudice. The secrets here include the Berlin Mandate Group’s complex here, hidden by trees, and rumours of access to an old botanical garden from before Berlin was built over. Compare that to the Construction Sector with its Drone Stations, Barge Launches which launch the huge vessels that do the heavy construction across the site, often deploying massive 3D printers to manufacture on site whole buildings and parts of buildings, and the Observation Watches from their launch can be safely viewed. Its atmosphere is of low hum from all of the devices across the vast maintenance and construction complexes, the air filled with drones and transports. Food and drink are available via vending machines or at canteens, whilst alcohol is forbidden. There is a secret construction project going on here, one that requires printers and factories to operate day and night. All of the nine sectors come with a set of encounters that serve as prompts for the Game Master to develop.

Berlin 2185 does include a section on the Undercity, the dark underbelly of what is old and new Berlin in 2185. Out of the old buildings and tunnels formed through collapse and being built over, long poisoned and irradiated by war and pollution, a nascent organisation called the Cabal is trying to establish itself in the city above. It has corporate connections, but mostly consists of bully-boy asshole white-supremacist fanatics. The Undercity is the Cabal’s territory, but it is home to mutated plants and animals and former humans. (The supplement suggests appropriate monsters from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.) It is quite a short section in comparison to the descriptions of the sectors in the upper city and the city as a whole. Plus, as  really only the main antagonist in Berlin 2185, it does lack advice on how to use it and on how to interface its plans with the upper world, as well as possible hooks that the Game Master could develop into something playable. It leaves the Game Master to handle that.

Another issue with Berlin 2185 is its treatment of its secrets. Some it does tell the Game Master what they are and others not. Whilst the main two threaten to change the nature of Carbon 2185 towards a more Science Fiction genre rather than a Cyberpunk one. It is never quite explicitly explained what they and certainly the ramifications of their discovery are never explored. This would not be so much of a problem if Berlin was not so much of paradise and had a bit more conflict that the Game Master could work from.

Physically, Berlin 2185 is well presented with plenty of artwork to get across the idea that Berlin is a radically different, all but utopian city comparison to the others of Carbon 2185. Sadly, this leaves less room to depict the seamier side of the city where the Cyberpunks are likely to congregate. There is no map either and the layout is untidy.

Berlin 2185 presents something radically different for Carbon 2185. A city with a positive outlook and a sense of hope. The result is engaging, even fascinating in comparison to the other cities in this future, but it does leave the Game Master with a lot of work to develop content and story lines given the lack of conflict in Berlin. There is possibility in the well done section on Punk and the underground music scene, but the remainder feels as if the content could have been developed a bit more, made that bit more engaging. Berlin 2185 is a welcome addition to the Carbon 218 setting, but the Game Master is going to work harder to bring more than its utopia to life and tell interesting stories.

Friday Fantasy: Idylls of the Rat King

The silver shipments out of Silverton north to the capitol of Archbridge have suddenly ceased. Goblin bandits have been attacking the caravans laden with silver ore, killing innocent miners, and stealing cargo. Their base of operations has been identified as the old Gannu Silver Mine, abandoned almost a century ago. Perhaps the Player Characters learn off this when they stop off at the Silver Cup Inn in the village. Or they are asked to find out why a young nobleman is suffering a vile fever after the caravan he was travelling with was attacked by Goblins. Or perhaps the Player Characters are approached by the leader of the Miner’s Guild whose operations have been sabotaged and caravans raided by goblins. He believes that the Goblins are being aided by an ancient evil that was the actual cause of the mine being closed almost a century ago. Whichever way in which the Player Characters learn of the situation in Silverton, they find themselves outside the collapsed tunnel entrance to the Gannu Silver Mine with Goblin footprints all about, ready to investigate. If this set-up sounds familiar, that is because it is. It is the set-up to Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the RatKing, the very first scenario in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, published by Goodman Games in 2003. It is also familiar because Reviews from R’lyeh only recently reviewed Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King in 2023 on its twentieth anniversary. So why review it again quite so soon? The reason is that Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King that it is being reviewed here. Instead, it is Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King that is being reviewed.

Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls ofthe Rat King is not for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, or even Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game. As its full title suggests, it is instead designed for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Or rather adapted for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Intended to be played by four to six Player Characters of First to Third Level, what it does is combine the modern rules of the world’s most popular roleplaying game with the sensibilities of the Old School. However, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King does get off to an odd start by directly quoting the opening paragraph from the original: “Remember the golden days of role playing, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Well, those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics feature bloody combat, intriguing dungeons, and no NPCs who aren't meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know must be there somewhere.” Of course, as an adaptation, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King will deliver all of those elements, but it is an odd way in which to start the scenario, referring back to the original in such a direct manner, but without referring to the rules its uses. It is almost as if the publisher forgot to rewrite the opening paragraph to account for the adaptation.

However, beyond that, there is relatively little that is different from the original scenario. It still recommends the inclusion of a Player Character Rogue and a Good-aligned Cleric, as well as a Fighter with a silvered weapon. The scenario consists of a four-Level ‘Abandoned Silver Mine’ infested with Goblins and rats, but there is worse to be found the deeper that the Player Characters go. This is revealed initially in a fun encounter at the end of the First Level with the Goblin Boss, who turns out to be a Wererat! To get to him though, there is the upper level of the mine to explore and plenty of stiff opposition from the Goblins to overcome. The latter due to a division in the Goblin tribe between those who are Wererats and those who are not, and those who are not, are frightened of those who are. This creates a little bit of tension in the scenario, though not necessarily something that the Player Characters are going to be aware of necessarily. What they are likely to be aware of is the number of secret chambers and vaults, given that under Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, it is easier to find secret doors, which are scattered across this and all levels of the mine. These are worth finding, not just because they might contain treasure, but because they may also contain silvered or magical weapons and useful clues to the secrets of the mine.

The encounter with the Wererat Goblin Chief is a sign of things to come. There are some entertaining encounters with the tribe’s torturer and jailer—into whose custody any Player Character who is captured will end up, a Goblin sorcerer, a Gnome necromancer, a vampiress, and ultimately, the real villain behind the recent events. These last two encounters are tough, but they do present opportunities for roleplaying as opposed to rollplaying. In between, there is a whole level still being worked by miners still. Zombie miners, but miners, nonetheless.

There are some changes between Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King and the original Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King. For example, there is no daycare area or family room area for the Goblin tribe on the second level in Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King as there is in Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King. Which means there is no suggested Experience Point penalty should the Player Characters decide to slaughter the females and children of the Goblin tribe. This shifts the feel of the mine in original scenario from being the home to a Goblin tribe to this updated version in which the mine feel more like a Goblin military outpost. Also missing are the zombie badgers from the third level, but the several temples dedicated to the rat gods, Narrimunth and Nimlurun, remain. Effectively, some of the original spikiness of Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King has been scoured to take the edges off, so it is smoother, more palatable to a wider audience.

Rounding out Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King are three appendices. The first details the new monsters for the scenario. They include a Goblin Priest, Horned Giant Rat, Ogre Skeleton, and Wererat Goblin. The second details the village of Silverton. It is a one-page description of the village and its notable inhabitants. The third contains three handouts. If found during the adventure, the players and their characters will be able to learn about the secret history of the mine.

Physically, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King is well presented and, in many ways, an improvement. The maps are a vast improvement with some actual detail, but they are small and not as easy to read as they could have been. It also needs editing in places.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat Kingg has been republished before, most notably with its sequel, Dungeon Crawl Classics #27: Revenge of the Rat King, rewritten for use Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, and released at Gen Con 2008. Surprisingly, the scenario was not republished on its twentieth anniversary in 2023, nor indeed updated for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics. This update, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King is not unwelcome, but feels both slightly rushed and an odd choice in terms of roleplaying rules. That aside, Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King is a serviceable scenario now brought to a wider audience.

Calm & Charm

Far out in the ocean lies a land of peace and tranquillity, where the people live in harmony with the spirits and the spirit world, and each other. Where magic is woven into the fabric of the land, where folk magic, academy wizardry, and witches covens are as acceptable as each other, whilst potions are often used to help with work and other tasks, and where certain technology of the ancient past remains and has been adopted and adapted to work in the present. They include cartridges, cassettes, and VHS tapes, and instaprint cameras. The cartridges, cassettes, and VHS tapes have been discovered to contain hidden messages—singing, music, and voices, and on the VHS tapes, images too, but spellcasters have turned them into spellbooks, played on portable cassette players. The pictures developed and shaken from the instaprint cameras show up magical auras in addition to their pictures. However, the most common technology left over from the first age is that of Vending Machines, and they can be found anywhere and everywhere. Enchanted by wizards and witches they are used as workshops and to sell magical trinkets, but are often prone to theft by skilled thieves, so often they have guardians, awakened cats being the most common. There is no one government on the island, the various communities agreeing to get along and nor is there true evil, though there is villainy and there is corruption. The island was recently beset by a great earthquake and tsunami, just three months ago, and there are rumours of zones of supernatural Corruption on the eastern side of the island where the tsunami struck. This is a quiet self-contained island, its inhabitants rarely wanting to see what lies beyond the horizon—and when those that do, they do not return, instead preferring lives of contemplation of the island around them and companionship with family and friends. The island is not perfect though, for there are perils and there are dangers, and when conflicts arise, the islanders seek to resolve them peacefully rather than combatively.

This is the setting for Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass. Published by 1985 Games, best known for its dice and its Dungeon Craft range of map and terrain packs, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, but do not let that put you off. Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass describes itself as ‘leisure fantasy’, intended to tell cozy, charming stories that are character rather than conflict driven. There is room still for conflict and heroism, but it is not necessarily the focus of the setting, or least not the whole focus. It is as much about exploration and interaction as conflict and heroism. Much of the charm of the setting is imparted by the illustrations which are a delight, done in the style of Studio Ghibli, also one of the inspirations for Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass, along with the Zelda series of computer games and the rural Japan of the eighties.

The setting and background to the island of Obojima is richly detailed. This includes the primary differences between it and any other Dungeons & Dragons setting. These are that it consists of the Primary Realm and the Spirit Realm only, that it possible to travel between the two, though getting in is usually easier than getting out, and that bustling markets, floating shrines, ghost ships, and megalithic temples might be found there. As Obojimans have no ‘souls’, there are no ghosts, though a spirit in the Primary Realm might act like one and technically no demons or fiends, though a sinful spirit might act like one. Numerous organisations, such as the Academic Adventurers of the AHA, the Knights of the Postal Service of Courier Brigade, Sword Schools, Witches and Covens, and more, which the Player Characters can interact with and even join, are detailed, along with numerous locations, each with NPCs, wandering encounter tables, points of interest, adventure hooks, and rumours and legends. There are notes too on the tone and vibe for each one, such as ‘Festive, Jovial, Inviting, Magical’ for Matango Village, Mysterious, Ancient, Hopeful, Ominous’ for the Temple of Shoom, a partially submerged ziggurat, ‘Adventurous Spirit, Innovation All Around, Industriousness’ for Sky Kite Valley, and ‘Witchy, Academical, Focused, Mysterious, Closed Off’ for the Domain of the Fish Head Coven. The names of these locations are evocative on their own, but each is richly detailed with lots of flavour that as player you want to have your character visit and as a Game Master you want to take the characters there. Even a minor location, such as the ‘Wandering Line’, train tracks that assemble out of nowhere and a three-car train appears to take the Player Characters anywhere they want as long as the Conductor accepts their payment for the tickets, and then both tracks and train disappear as soon as they alight (or are kicked off), feels fantastical and adorable. That said, in comparison, the millennia long history of Obojima is distinctly underwritten, but then it almost does not matter. There is plenty of room in that history for the Game Master to add her own details, but not enough history that it might get in the way of storytelling.

In terms of Player Character options, Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass provides four Ancestries, eleven Subclass Options, six new Backgrounds, twenty new Feats, and two new skills. The Ancestries are Humans, Dara, Elves, and Nakudama, but there are guidelines on how the other Dungeons & Dragons Ancestries might be brought into play. The Dara emerged from the forests of the island three centuries ago and are divided into two types. Blue Dara are tall, hairless, and have a single eye, and can create Knowledge Talismans that anyone can use to gain a one-off bonus to an ability check. Red Dara are short, have two eyes, and can create Might Talismans that grant a bonus to Saving Throws. All Dara can gain knowledge from the fingerprint-like glyphs left in the forests and can create a range of other talismans. Elves are born to human parents and are connected to the Spirit Realm as indicated by the Oaka Mark they each bear and the cantrip and extra spell that each Oaka Mark grants. Elves also have Ethereal Sight, enabling them to look into the Spirit Realm. The Nakudama are oldest people on Obojima, frog-like and amphibious with a grasping tongue, and highly social. The new Backgrounds include Apprentice of AHA, Apprentice Diver, Apprentice Witch, Courier Brigade Cadet, Mechanic, and Spirit Kin, and the new skills are Mechanic and Salvage. Feats include Boomerang Expert, Canden and Moon’s Master Cut, Tellu and Scale’s Master Cut, and Toraf and Bolder’s Master Cut for defeating a master at their respective sword schools, Potion Brewer for creating more potions and with finesse, and Nakudama’s Electric Bloodline or Nakudama’s Toxin Bloodline which awaken the abilities of the ancient Nakudama warring bloodlines.

Instead of whole new Classes, Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass provides an extra Subclass for the Classes in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. The features and abilities for some of these Subclasses come in play at First Level, mostly for the arcane spellcasters, but other at Third Level as standard and others later still. Only the Cleric does not receive a new Subclass, but the others consist of the Path of the Belly Brewer for the Barbarian, College of Masks for the Bard, Circle of the Petal for the Druid, The Spirit-Fused for the Fighter, the Sheep Dragon Shepherd for the Monk, the Oath of the River for the Paladin, the Corrupted Ranger for the Ranger, the Waxwork Rogue for the Rogue, the Oni Bloodline for the Sorcerer, The Lantern for the Warlock, and the Origami Mage for the Wizard.

Many of these Subclasses are a delight. For example, Circle of the Petal enables the Druid infuse the magic of the island into flower petals, summoning them to perform a dance, improving Armour Class, making lunge attacks with them, and even taking damage for allies, and later imbuing the petals with life to form beasts that serve the Druid, whilst The Spirit-Fused Fighter becomes the vessel for a spirit that has died and channel its essence to increase damage, into objects to various effect such as finding objects, bonding with a First Age vehicle like a bicycle or moped which is indestructible and can be summoned anywhere for a hour, and later cast the Jolt cantrip to power technology. The downside is that The Spirit-Fused Fighter only has access to a couple of these channelling options, when all of them are good. The Sheep Dragon Shepherd for Monk brings the skills and abilities herding sheep dragons, often regarded as the epitome of goodness and authenticity on the island, to bear in other situations. This includes summoning allies he can see closer to him, to blast enemies using the Sheep Dragon’s wind pistol, to deflect attacks against allies, and even walk in the air.

Perhaps the strangest is Corrupted Ranger, whose body has somehow become fouled by the strange magic. When struck, the Corrupted Ranger gains curse markers which are then released as necrotic damage when the Corrupted Ranger strikes an opponent, and his body sometimes seems to act or move of its volition (this allows the Corrupted Ranger to replace the result of a Strength or Dexterity check with a set value rather than a rolled value). In the long term, the Corrupted Ranger suffers an ailment like greying vision, failing lungs, or loss of feel. With the Oni Bloodline, the Sorcerer has an Oni trapped within him, desperate to get free. Oni traits—eyes, horns, skin, tongue, and hair—manifest the more Sorcery Points that the Sorcerer expends. The Oni traits grant abilities of their own, such as charismatic eyes and tongue that adds a fear component to any spell with a verbal component. However, with this Subclass it does feel as if there should be more of a downside to transforming into an Oni.

The magic and ordinariness of Obojima continue with the equipment. There are martial weapons such as a Secret Stone Sword, Sheperd Crook, and Vertebrae Sword—the tines of which can be twisted off for extra damage, but the simple melee weapons include fans, frying pans, iron tea kettles, and umbrellas! Magical items are delightfully mundane, such as a Burnright Brand Hair Dryer which can be used to cast Burning Hands, Cone of Cold, and Gust of Wind; a CRT TV & Chicken Timer that records a fuzzy video of events in its vicinity; Cube of Cubes, which is used to cast a particular spell when one of its sides is solved; a Gametoy which activates a different skill proficiency every time a new cartridge is inserted into it; and a Ruby Red Bike, that when ridden at the right speed creates a Wall of Fire spell!

Since the island is restricted to two planes—the Primary Realm and the Spirit Realm—Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass omits spells that deal with other planes, such as Astral Projection, Plane Shift, and Teleport, as well as reality-altering spells like Wish and True Resurrection. It includes its own spells amongst the various lists for the spellcasting Classes. For example, Butterfly Storm creates a cloud of butterflies that obscures an area, but also clears fog and smoke; Festival King temporarily turns a target into a festival king complete with gaudy crown and cape who enamours anyone who comes too close to him; Origami Bird Swarm launches a flock of origami birds at a target inflicting slashing damage; and with Create Spirit Train Stop, the caster creates a temporary stop for the Wandering Line.

The biggest change to magic in Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass is its emphasis upon potions. They come in three types and three rarities. Combat potions such as Rabbit’s Speed, Gargoyle Hooch, and Dragon Frog Transmutation grants bonuses and benefits in a fight. Utility potions like Detective’s Tonic, Pocket Stomach, Breakfast in a Bottle, and Umi’s Powerful Undertow provide advantages and benefits out of combat. Whimsical potions such as Melodious Bird Calls, Pocket Portal, and Chicken Chaser grant odd, even silly benefits. Potions are further divided by their rarity, which can be common, uncommon, or rare. Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass gives sixty for each type of potion for each rarity, for a total of five-hundred-and-forty potions, all of them inventive, all of them interesting, and all of them illustrated. Yet, that is not all.

Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass includes detailed rules for brewing potions too. Numerous ingredients are listed and illustrated, again common, uncommon, or rare, and again, delightful in their detail. For example, a Living Spud is an uncommon ingredient, a potato that pops up out of the ground and wanders off on a long meandering trek, revered wherever it goes, whilst Bubble Gum is rare, found stuck to floors, walls, under tables, and the bottom of shoes, typically in ruined buildings from the First Age. Unchewed Bubble Gum still in its wrapper is rarer still. Many of the common ingredients can be purchased, but others have to foraged for, and Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass lists the ingredients by region too. Once found—and regional almanacs can help with that, they can be scanned with an Arcane Detection Kit to determine their suitability and added to the pot. Each ingredient has a rating for its Combat, Utility, and Whimsy rating. When a potion is brewed, three ingredients are used and the Combat, Utility, and Whimsy ratings for all three are added together. The highest of the three values determines the category of the potion and its actual type. What this means is that there is no one way in which to brew a particular potion. Mechanically, it comes down to the numbers, but thematically, it gives a lot of flexibility, and the Player Character wanting to focus on potions, through play, he can create his own recipe book. Further, potions only take ten minutes to brew, so the process does not slow play, and of course, finding the right potion and the right ingredients can an adventure in itself.

However, there is no skill check associated with potion brewing and so no chance that it can go wrong. Although anyone can brew potions, the Player Character options for brewing are slightly underwhelming. There is no Subclass option which specialises in brewing potion, so no potion master or alchemist. There is the Potion Brewer Feat, which primarily allows the potion brewer to choose from the two highest totals of Combat, Utility, and Whimsy ratings, and the Apprentice Witch background begins with some ingredients and with the Coven Witch Feat, the Player Character will know two potion recipes. Another option is the Path of the Belly Brewer Subclass for the Barbarian, which brews concoctions in his stomach. However, this is all internalised, so only he can use the results rather than they be bottle for use by the rest of the party and whilst the Barbarian can learn common potion recipes, he is limited in what can learn. This is a missed opportunity.

Character development is encouraged not to be just mechanical in Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass. During character creation a player is encouraged to create some goals, weaknesses, desires, and so on for his character as well as think about what the character will be like at Tenth Level. The Game Master is encouraged to account for these in the campaign and as part of Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass’ ‘Hero’s Journey Boon System’ reward the player for good roleplaying and for the character changing and evolving through play. Boons can also be lost if the character reverts from the change and not all of Boons are positive. For example, the Mercy Boon is earned when a Player Character has the power to deal out judgement, but learns the compassion and understanding to hold back. When the Player Character makes an attack that would reduce an opponent below zero Hit Points, he can forgo the damage and instead make a Charisma skill check with Advantage. Whereas the Selfishness Boon is gained when a Player Character’s actions have been to the detriment of those closest to him and means that when he takes damage, he can instead heal Hit Points for every ally he has close by, and they suffer necrotic damage in return! There are some great roleplaying opportunities here, but as the authors advise, not all of these boons are going sit well with every group and they should definitely discuss their inclusion at the start of a campaign.

Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass has an extensive bestiary, and whilst it includes monsters in the traditional since, the emphasis is on friends and foes, on companion spirits and their goals, and on antagonists rather than enemies. Companions, typically spirits such as an animated pocket video game, flying goose spirit, animated bubbles, or a flaying radish, are NPCs, controlled by the Game Master. They give her another way to interact with the players and their characters, drive stories, and so on. The advice for creating and running antagonists is excellent, focusing not just on why an antagonist is acting the way he is, but also the ultimate outcome of the Player Characters’ interactions with him. The bestiary is really engaging and fantastically illustrated, from the Cat Of Prodigious Size, the Corrupted Muk that emerges from pools of Corruption, Dragons, and Dragon Frogs to Goro Goro (or Sake Demon), Mosslings, Sheep Dragons, Skeletal Fish, and Soda Slimes.

Lastly, Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass includes three adventures. In ‘The Curious World Within’, the Player Characters help out a Postal Knight and are shrunk to the size of a mouse in order to find a letter in a witch’s house; ‘Below the Shallows’ sends the Player Characters to the ocean floor to explore a sunken town in search of a kite-plane hijacked and stolen by fish folk pirates; and after saving a Dara novelist and her dog companion from a dangerous howler attack (howlers are humanoid hyenas) in ‘Lost Within The Crawling Canopy’, the Player Characters are engulfed by the Crawling Canopy, a moving forest that roams the Gale Fields. What is odd is that none of the three adventures is for First Level Player Characters, which leaves Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass without a clear starting point.

Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass is a setting with secrets, and more importantly, a setting that will raise questions from the players. Most commonly, why is there eighties technology from Japan on the island? Penultimately, in a chapter for the Game Master’s eyes only, ‘Mysteries, History, and More’, the designers do address this and other mysteries. In some cases, there is no definitive answer, and in others, multiple possible answers are given, leaving it to in-world and in-game discussion to debate as much as decide on the answer. This may not satisfy every Game Master, but it keeps the setting mysterious and magical.

Physically, Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass is presented in a very clean and accessible fashion. What stands out though, is the artwork, which is superb, depicting both the world and its tone, whilst making its inspirations clear. Pick this book up and you are transported to another world on the strength of the art alone.

Roleplaying games which take inspiration from Studio Ghibli are not new; Golden Sky Stories and Ryuutama being the most well known examples. However, no roleplaying game or setting has embraced or depicted that inspiration as strongly as Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass. Whilst Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass is not perfect, it successfully and engagingly brings its world to life, first through its illustrations, and then through its description. Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass presents a world that you would be happy to see on screen or in a manga or play on a screen, but lets you roleplay in it, explore it, experience its charm, and delve into its mysteries. Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass becalms Dungeons & Dragons in a world of wonder and whimsy and it is utterly adorable.

Quick-Start Saturday: ShadowSun Revised

Quick-starts are a 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 two. 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 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?
ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart is the quick-start for ShadowSun Revised, a dark, post-apocalyptic desert setting which uses ShadowDark as its rules. It is inspired by, and implements, the world of Athas, the setting for Dark Sun, the ‘Swords & Planet’ Conan-meets-John Carter-style campaign for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, published in 1991. It is one of the few Dungeons & Dragons settings not to have been updated to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition despite it being a fan favourite. Further, the differences between Athas and traditional fantasy roleplaying, both mechanically and thematically, especially given its inclusion of psionics, has meant that there has been relatively little drive within the Old School Renaissance to recreate Athas or Dark Sun.

It consists of two separate books.

The ‘Player Quickstart for ShadowSun’ is a seventy-six page, 15.37 MB full black and white PDF. The ‘GM Quickstart for ShadowSun’ is a sixty-two page, 12.81 MB full black and white PDF.

How long will it take to play?
ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart includes the scenario ‘Colossi’s Rest’. This will take a session or two to complete.

What else do you need to play?
The ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart needs a standard set of polyhedral dice and the ShadowDark rules.

Who do you play?
The ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart does not include any pre-generated Player Characters, but shows off eight Ancestries and eight Classes. The eight Ancestries consist of Dwarf, Elf, Goliath, Hawkfolk, Human, Lizardfolk, Mantisfolk, and Mule. Of these, the Dwarf and Human Ancestries are what you would expect, whereas the Elf Ancestry differs from Dungeons & Dragons (or ShadowDark), and the rest are new. Elves are nomads, moving from one oasis to another, with limited views on property, so they are often mistrusted in the city-states and the worst of them become raiders and bandits. Goliaths are giant humanoids, but not actually Giants, created as a race by the Mage-Kings. They are fascinated by other cultures and adhere to personal aesthetics which influence their outlook. Hawkfolk have wings, and whilst they prefer to live in high places, cannot truly fly, only hover. Lizardfolk hunt the dusk sinks and Black silt seas for food and construct most of the ships sailing the Black. Mantisfolk are semi-nomadic insectoid humanoids who are absolutely loyal to their clutchmates. Mules are the infertile offspring of Humans and Dwarves, often born into slavery and thrown into the arena as pit fighters and gladiators.

The eight new Classes are the Enforcer, Explorer, Gladiator, Infiltrator, Mentalist, Shaman, Sorcerer, and Warrior. The Enforcer is trained to subdue and capture others rather than kill them, can cause others to freeze on the spot with a look, can place a subdued opponent in manacles, and has Advantage when questioning a captive for information. The Explorer is a scout with Advantage on navigation and tracking checks, knows how to deal with poison, and oddly, knows how to take advantage of others if he wants to betray them. The Gladiator is good at brawling and cheating at gambling. The Infiltrator can knock a target out with a blackjack, has an ear for conversation, and is skilled at Thievery. The Mentalist has a calming presence, has access to psionic powers, knows the silent language of Vedinal. The Shaman can affect undead, has an elemental affinity which protects him against that element and can temporarily create a handful of it, and specialises in nature spellcasting. The Sorcerer is an arcane spellcaster that when spellcasting check is failed, results in defilement and the loss of Hit Points to either the caster or an ally or a captive, which can kill them. The Sorcerer can easily understand languages and learn spells by studying tablets. Lastly, the Warrior is a skirmisher, spurred on in the first few rounds of combat, knows how to use the environment to his advantage with dirty tricks, and is skilled with throwing weapons.

Both the Ancestries and the Classes are clearly inspired by Dark Sun and fans of the classic setting will recognise those inspirations here. One issue clearly implied in the ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart—and thus in ShadowSun Revised itself—is that of slaves and slavery. For example, the Mule is typically born into slavery, the encounter tables include slavers, and both the Enforcer and Gladiator Classes are connected to slavery within the setting. The Enforcer may be capturing them and the the Gladiator may well be a slave. Slavery is a facet of the pulp fantasy and ‘Swords & Planet’ genres that ShadowSun Revised draws from. As an emulation of those genres, it is not unreasonable to include it as part of the setting, but only if handled in a mature fashion. That said, not every player or group is going to want to accept that as part of their campaign.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in the ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart—and thus in ShadowSun Revised—is defined as a standard ShadowDark Player Character. However, there are three notable additions. The first two relate to the Ancestries. Each Ancestry has a means to regain Luck tokens and a Refusal. For example, if an Elf spends a week or more alone in the wilderness or a Mule spends a week performing hard labour, each will gain a Luck token. The Refusal reflects an outlook that the Ancestry does not have, such as the Mule’s rejection of metaphysics and any idea of an afterlife or an inability, like the Mantisfolk inability to swim in water, dust, or the Black due to a lack of buoyancy. The third is the fact that every Player Character has a Psionic power, called a Wild Talent, not just the Mentalist Class.

In addition, the traditional Alignment of Dungeons & Dragons is replaced by Apathy, Empathy, and Tyranny. As well as being an outlook, these also provide a possible means of gaining Luck tokens.

How do the mechanics work?

The ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart—and thus in ShadowSun Revised—uses the standard d20-based rules of ShadowDark.

How does combat work?
There are no specific combat mechanics in the ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart.

How does magic work?

Magic is formed from six Elements. These are Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Life, and Void. A spellcasting check is required to cast a spell. This can be rolled at Advantage or Disadvantage if an element is particularly strong in an area.

The arcane magic of the Sorcerer has potentially dangerous side effects. If a spellcasting check is failed, it will result in the loss of Hit Points in the caster, an ally, or a captive, and this loss can kill. A Critical Success allows one of a spell’s numerical effects to be doubled, whilst a Critical Failure means a magical mishap has happened. The caster loses the spell and a roll must be made on the Arcane Mishap table. At worst, this can result in a ‘Defilement Surge’, destroying all nearby plants and killing all nearby small creatures, and doing minor damage to all living creatures and inflicting heatstroke on them. If they are already suffering heatstroke, they die!

The nature magic of the Shaman has its own potentially dangerous side effects. However, being nature-based, they are not quite as dangerous.

How do Psionics work?

All Player Characters have a ‘Wild Talent’. This is a natural, but minor psionic ability. It does not include classic psionic abilities such as telepathy or teleportation or clairvoyance. Instead, a Player Character might be ‘Nimble’ and take half damage from falling and less damage from ranged attacks or have ‘Affinity’ with domesticated animals and all riding beasts are reliable. In a traditional roleplaying sense, these are more akin to advantages, but here they can still be interpreted as psionic abilities.

The Mentalist Class is the main user of Psionics, although some powerful NPCs and many creatures and monsters on Althea have them too. Where spells require a spellcasting check to cast them, psionic powers require Psionic Power check to activate a psionic power. The Critical Success and Critical Failure rules apply as normal and there is a Psionic Mishaps table for the latter. The psionic powers are organised into tiers just like the spells for the Sorcerer and the Shaman, but many of the higher tier psionic powers have prerequisites in terms of lower tier psionic powers. For example, Repel is a Tier 2 psionic power that can force opponents away from the user and potentially crush them against walls and other objects. The psionicist cannot learn it until he has mastered the Tier 1 power of Lift, which he uses to lift targets up off the ground and prevents them from moving or making melee attacks.

What do you play?

In addition to its scenario, ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart provides a lot of information about its world of Althea and the rules for ShadowSun Revised. From the start it makes clear that Althea is grim setting in a harsh world where everyone struggles for food, water, and shelter, and might is right. This is reflected in rations containing food and water being treated separately for purposes of survival, and a lack of water will lead to heatstroke, when every roll is made at Disadvantage, and Hit Point loss, which cannot be healed by magic. Extended deprivation like this will kill a Player Character.

The background to the setting explains how the once verdant world of Althea was transformed first by the Shadow Fall of its ancient moon of Sheera, from which the original inhabitants—the Wee Folk—of Althea stole its magic and transformed into many of the Ancestries known today. Second, by the ShadowSun which twisted the magic so that its use would defile the land and the sea, rendering them in deserts and silt. The ShadowSun also melted the metals causing them to flow into the depths, and now metal is rare, with arms and armour and other equipment constructed of wood, bone, and rock. This is reflected in the equipment list.

The travel rules account for the harsh nature of Athlea’s terrain and climate. Any distance travelled means that a Player Character will gain points of Exhaustion, the amount varying depending on the harshness of the terrain. Gain too many points of Exhaustion and a Player Character will suffer from deprivation, which again, is potentially lethal.

Most of what the Game Master and her players needs to run ShadowSun Revised is in the ‘Player Quickstart for ShadowSun’. The ‘GM Quickstart for ShadowSun’ covers terrain types, hazards, random encounters, dungeon types on Althea, and treasure as well as giving an extensive bestiary. It also includes the scenario, ‘Colossi’s Rest’. This is a dungeon adventure set in the body of a fallen golem that has been dug out by giant ants! The rumour tables will provide motivation and the Game Master might want to expand it little with some wilderness travel to show off the travel and survival rules, but the dungeon itself is very nicely detailed, a good mix of natural and the unnatural, both of which are a little weird.

Is there anything missing?
No. The ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario. Probably more than she needs to run the included scenario.

Is it easy to prepare?
No. The ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart contains a lot of information, and the players will need to create their own characters as well as the Game Master preparing the adventure.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart contains a wealth of information about the setting of Althea and the ShadowSun Revised rules. Arguably too much information in comparison to a traditional quick-start, being a lengthy and surprisingly detailed preview of what will be in the main rulebook rather than a quick-start. This does mean that preparing to run the scenario takes longer since the players actually need to create characters rather than choosing them, but it also means that it provides a very good feel for the world and shows you how its play will differ from that of traditional ShadowDark.

The ShadowSun Revised – Quickstart is published by Chubby Funster and is available to download here.