The Voodoo that Huhu do

Now in its tenth year, Saturday, June 17th is Free RPG Day and with it comes an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably they are 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 quickstart. One of the regular pieces of support comes once again from Lamentations of the Flame Princess, the Finnish-based publisher best known for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay and its scenarios like Death Frost Doom, A Red and Pleasant Land, and Bloodmother Skyfortress. Following on from last year’s release for Free RPG Day in 2016, Slügs!, which asked the question, ‘Do you need a cornucopia of Slügs!?’, as well being controversial for it political sliming, Lamentations of the Flame Princess brings us Vaginas Are Magic!

Vaginas Are Magic! is designed to be provocative. It is a gaming supplement and it does material that a Dungeon Master could bring to his gaming table, but it is designed to be provocative. After all, it has the word ‘vaginas’ in the title. It is not designed to be offensive, though there is certainly capacity for some to take offence at its tone and content. For as a book, Vaginas Are Magic!—sometimes known as ‘VAM’, but honestly(!)—is mature in tone and content and two or three pieces of its artwork are of an adult nature. Some might even say pornographic. There is also the fact that what Vaginas Are Magic! is, is a sourcebook of magic and spells that can only be cast by women who can have children. This again is something that some may take offence at. So the question is, is Vaginas Are Magic! offensive? Arguably no, since there should be room in the hobby for what is mature, adult material, as the majority of gamers are adults—and in comparison to some material published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess—this is much more measured, adult gameable content. Now when it comes to the illustrations, then arguably, two or three pieces are strong in nature and probably stronger than is necessary. The rest of the content though, is definitely designed to provoke a reaction, but how much of a reaction will be down to the reader.

So what of the content and the book itself? Essentially, Vaginas Are Magic! presents two things. One is a stripped down magic system for Magic-users, the other is a grimoire. The former does away with spell levels and the need for the Read Magic spell. Instead, a Magic-user has potentially access to any spells and can cast any spell that she knows at whatever Level she wants. So, a Fifth Level Magic-user could cast Magic Missile as a First, Second, Third, Fourth, or Fifth Level Magic-user. A Magic-user has a number of spell slots equal to her Level, but this limit is only for casting memorised spells safely. Once these slots have been exhausted, she can cast as many slots again, but with the chance that she might miscast them and thus have to roll on the Miscast Table each time she casts again. After that, a Magic-user must rest and memorise her spells again. A Magic-user at First Level knows three randomly determined spells and since spells have no Level limit, there is is no limit to how many can be learned. This then presents a very quick and easy magic system that expands a Magic-user’s choice of spells and has the potential to make her very powerful even at First Level. A First Level Magic-user with Cloudkill or Fireball or Teleport, anyone? Of course, there is little to stop a Games Master from adapting these rules to the other spellcasting Classes.

This new magic system is spelt out inside the book’s front cover, leaving the actual book to be devoted to the contents of Vaginas Are Magic! This consists of a primer on magic in the author’s campaign—essentially how dangerous magic is physically, mentally, and socially, and how it should be taken out of the hands of grey-bearded old men—and a grimoire of some twenty spells, from A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Chaosgoat Law to Triumph of Death and Volcanic Slut. These names though, are the song titles of classic black metal tracks which the author has deemed suitable enough to work as the names of interesting spells. In keeping with the magic system presented at the front of the book, each of the actual spells given in Vaginas Are Magic! comes without Level, spell components, range, and so on. 

What each spell does come with though, is a full-page illustration, a description, and a miscast table, and the result for each is a stripped back, self-contained feel. So, for example, A Blaze in the Northern Sky weakens a planet’s inherent defences such that a meteor is able to enter the atmosphere and indeed, blaze a light across the sky. This turns night into day, affecting nocturnal and diurnal creatures alike, and inspiring sheer terror or loyalty out of sheer terror for being to summon this object from the heavens. Should this spell go awry, possible effects include the meteor impacting on the ground, odd radiation, temporary banishment of night as the meteor burns up very slowly, driving the local inhabitants insane, and so on. It is illustrated with an image of a meteor lighting up a landscape as it blazes across the sky. 

What A Blaze in the Northern Sky showcases is the greater ramifications a spell can have on a campaign. This is applied again and again throughout the twenty or so spells, so not one can really be cast without consequences. In other words, there are ‘no fire and forget’ spells a la traditional Dungeons & Dragons in Vaginas Are Magic! 

Some of the spells in Vaginas Are Magic! are not all that interesting or useful. For example, Sepulchral Voice allows the caster to steal and use the voices of those she has killed, whilst Raise the Dead enables her to do that from the walls, floors, and ceiling of wherever the caster is, but the dead do not obey her. Rather they fixate on others around her—which includes other player characters! It has potential as a barrier perhaps, but the danger to others… This does not mean that these spells are wholly useless, but rather that their utility is not wholly immediate and really, it will be down to player ingenuity to get the best use out of them. Other spells though, can have lasting effects—effects with ramifications for a campaign. For example, Chaosgoat Law can be cast to summon the Chaosgoat which settle an argument, a dispute, and so on, the resulting ruling once the cases of either side have been put, being binding—whatever the consequences and whether one side is ‘right’ or not. Into the Crypts of the Rays brings the Magic-user into astral contact with an old master—possibly Gilles de Rais—who will answer one question, but in return ask the caster to become the vessel for his return to the world for he is currently trapped in his old chateau. Is this too strong a price to pay, bearing the essence of the old master and bringing to term, not quite knowing what the caster might have unleashed on the world—once again? On a more mechanical basis, My Journey to the Stars transports the caster into a stellar garden, deconstructs them, and then recreates her anew, but with one attribute physically rolled and assigned the new value. This can be done over and over, but there are diminishing returns…

Physically, Vaginas Are Magic! is a cleanly laid out book in black and white behind a full colour photo cover that has the potential for provocation. Inside, the book is professionally presented, the artwork is good, and the writing good.

So what you have in Vaginas Are Magic! is a magic system and some new spells accompanied by reasons to limit their use and by reasons to provoke a negative reaction. It should be made clear that there is some validity to that reaction, if only for the choice of adult artwork rather than in writing a book for spell-casting women in your favourite retroclone. What you also have though, is some interesting spells and the point that magic is not the sole province of grey bearded old men and that women can be as powerful and have access to potentially as powerful and as interesting spells as those grey bearded old men—if not more so. This may limit its use by some gamers, but that does not negate its point and it does not limit the use of these spells by female player characters. Vaginas Are Magic! may not be quite at home in your campaign, but it may be worth look nevertheless. 

Free RPG Day: Free RPG Day 2017 – Swords Against Owlbears/Font of Knowledge

Now in its tenth year, Saturday, June 17th is Free RPG Day  and with it comes an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably they are 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 quickstart. One of the regular pieces of support for an existing roleplaying game in 2017 is Free RPG Day 2017 – Swords Against Owlbears/Font of Knowledge flipbook. Published by Pelgrane Press, best known for 13th Age, the dramatic Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying game, and Trail of Cthulhu, the clue-orientated roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror. Like previous releases from Pelgrane Press for Free RPG Day, the Free RPG Day 2017 – Swords Against Owlbears/Font of Knowledge flipbook presents two adventures for two different systems. The first is for 13th Age, whilst the other is for TimeWatch, the roleplaying game of time travel investigation and action. Each adventure is relatively short, playable in roughly a session or two.

The first of the two scenarios is for TimeWatch, the roleplaying game in which the player characters are members of the eponymous agency, policing and repairing the time stream from natural chronological disasters and meddlers. The plot to ‘Font of Knowledge’ is very much a play on words, involving the mass extinction of humanity and weirdly, an inappropriate use of the font, Comic Sans. To foil this plot, the agents will need to operate in their own time bubble, passing up and down the time stream to determine what caused the extinction of the timeline and why a thirteenth century religious tract now appears to have been originally in one of the most reviled fonts of all time. The scenario consists of a few scenes, but they provide a good mix of investigative, combat, and roleplaying opportunities. This being a time travel adventure, there is also the chance to meet a historical figure, this time Leonardo de Vinci.

The scenario is deadly in places and it should be made clear that the fate of humanity is on the line. So the Game Master may not want to throw such responsibility at his player characters, but there is nothing to stop ‘Font of Knowledge’ being dropped into an ongoing campaign and it is in fact, easy to do so. Otherwise, it serves as a good one-shot. To that end, the scenario is supported by six pre-generated agents, a mix of historical figures, both real and fictional, and the slightly pulpy Science Fiction agents. So the real historical figures include Colonel Thomas Blood and Julie d’Aubigny, whilst the historical includes a near ageless African immortal. The others include an uplifted gorilla and a health monitoring robot. Overall, a good mix and some fun characters.

The second scenario is for 13th Age. ‘Swords Against Owlbears’ is an excuse to write a scenario involving owlbears, especially one explaining where the strange hybrid creatures come from. Unlike ‘Font of Knowledge’ this is a much more difficult scenario to run with an existing group since it begins with the player characters trapped and altered beyond all recognition. The question is, who imprisoned them and what has been done to them? In the fact, the person responsible is known as the Maker of Many and she is a true Frankenstein, constantly pushing at the boundaries of life, art, and death, all in the name of knowledge. Once the player characters have smashed their way out of their vats, they will quickly find out two things--and after that, they will find out a third. First, they are mutagenic, which means that one from encounter to the next, they will be swapping mutations with each other and just every creature they encounter. So they might find themselves mutating into a half-monkey better Armour Class and climbing skill, lots of curiosity, or a half-moss thing which can collapse to the floor to avoid an attack, but which suffers from depression. The scenario includes some twenty or so mutation cards to spread around and swap from one encounter to the next, ranging from chicken and hydra to squirrel and rosebush, each with advantages and quirks.

Second, they are in the Twisted Gardens, which can be best described as ‘Moreau’s Murder Island’. Third, there is a way out of their predicament, but it involves more murder and danger and having to make a deal with the Maker of Many. ‘Swords Against Owlbears’ is a mix of the fun house and the murder house and should provide good session of bonkers fighting. It does come with six pre-generated adventurers, all Sixth Level, including a Tielfling Paladin, a Human Rogue, a Gnome Barbarian, a Half-Elf Sorcerer, a Dark Elf Ceric, and a Halfling Druid. These all need their ‘One Unique Thing’ which defines them to be decided upon as well as their Icon relationships and exactly why they are in the Twisted Gardens. The characters are just the bare bones, so anything beyond this will have to be created during play.

Of course, Free RPG Day 2017 – Swords Against Owlbears/Font of Knowledge flipbook is not really a flip book. One scenario follows the other rather than having to flip the book over and around to get to the other scenario. Unfortunately, as it appeared on Free RPG Day, Free RPG Day 2017 – Swords Against Owlbears/Font of Knowledge flipbook does have problems with both adventures. Most notably for ‘Font of Knowledge’, none of the pre-generated agent came with any stats, and for ‘Swords Against Owlbears’, some stats for both monsters and pre-generated adventurers needed updating. Fortunately, the PDF version has since been fixed and the errata for both adventures is available from Pelgrane Press. One other issue with ‘Swords Against Owlbears’ is that the map is not the easiest to work out what is where and it could have done with a better key, so careful study of the map is required. The overall effect of these issues is to make Free RPG Day 2017 – Swords Against Owlbears/Font of Knowledge flipbook feel just a little rushed.

Although not as good as it should have been on the day, the good news is that Pelgrane Press has fixed Free RPG Day 2017 – Swords Against Owlbears/Font of Knowledge flipbook. The result is an entertaining pair of adventures, both suited to one shot play, even convention play, and do a nice job of showcasing both systems.

Free RPG Day 2017: Familiars of Terra – Dissonant Notes

Now in its tenth year, Saturday, June 17th was Free RPG Day and with it came an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably these are 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 quickstart. The scenarios are of course for existing games, but whilst the quickstarts may likewise also be for existing games, many are for forthcoming games, giving gamers a chance to experience a new game or setting before they are released. One such title is Familiars of Terra – Dissonant Notes, published by Angry Hamster Publishing.

Familiars of Terra is set in a world not unlike our own, perhaps a few decades ahead and not long after a nasty war which left areas of badlands to be scavenged or avoided. What marks it out as being particularly different is that everyone has a familiar or animal companion who bonds with them and grows with them. A Familiar cares for and helps its human companion, but for certain heroic humans—known as Seekers—Familiars will not only grow and bond with them, but also evolve. So, a snake companion might grow wings and an electrical strike, whilst a cat might gain size to rival that of a leopard or lion. This is a setting inspired by the Pokémon video games and animated television series and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

Players in Familiars of Terra play not one, but two characters. One is a Seeker, the other is his Familiar. Both are defined by five attributes—Agility, Awareness, Charm, Might, and Wit, plus Health. The five attributes range between five and ten for humans, slightly lower for Familiars. Humans have traits like Nerdy (Music) and Acrobatic, a mix of skills and advantages, whilst Familiars have both combat manoeuvres and traits. Combat manoeuvres grant advantages in fights, like Bleed, which inflicts extra damage, and Shield, which blocks all damage. Each combat manoeuvre has a limited number of uses in each battle. A Familiar’s traits tend to be more fantastic than those of his human, so they might be ‘Hover’, ‘Quills’, ‘Blue’ (has blue skin and fur and can freeze an object with its icy breath once per session), and so on.

The mechanics of Familiars of Terra are simple enough. Each player requires his own deck of playing cards minus the Jokers. Each time a Seeker or a Familiar wants to take an action, his player draws a card and if it is equal to or lower than the value of the attribute, then they succeed. The Game Master can adjust the attribute value up and down depending upon the difficulty of the task. Combat is equally as simple, each player having a hand of cards that he can discard and redraw if he has a bad hand, though this is at the loss of a turn. On his turn, a player selects a card and reveals it simultaneously—usually with the Game Master—and the winner inflicting one point of damage on an opponent. Combat manoeuvres add greatly to combat, giving more options and adding a dynamism to the action.

In addition, a Seeker and his Familiar has Familiar Points. These are awarded for inventive and descriptive play and enable a Familiar to draw two cards for an action and choose one, to discard and draw cards in combat without losing a turn, to play an extra card for an action or in combat, and to declare combat manoeuvres at the end of a round rather than in order of Agility.

The scenario included in Familiars of Terra – Dissonant Notes is the eponymous ‘Dissonant Notes’. Designed for three to five players, it takes place in the town of Rockingchair where the Seekers and their Familiars are attending Wenlii, a local music festival. Unfortunately, half way through the event there is a stampede and several people and their familiars get hurt. The Seekers and their Familiars have the chance to intervene and save some of those caught up in the stampede, but not stop it. Their bravery and intervention identifies them as Seekers to the Wenlii organisers who hire them to find out why the stampede occurred and to prevent it from happening again. The investigation will see the Seekers and their Familiars looking round the rest of the festival, dealing with rival bands, negotiating with the police, and more, all before solving the mystery. It is a decent scenario and should give the Seekers and in particular, the Familiars, plenty of opportunity for investigation, interaction, and combat.

Familiars of Terra – Dissonant Notes is generally well presented and well written, if somewhat plain. Certainly, illustrations of the provided Familiars would have been a nice addition, but the main problem is that the Seekers do feel somewhat bland in comparison to their Familiars. This is not helped by the fact that some traits are repeated between different Seekers, meaning that they are not really very different at all. A nice touch is that the scenario does include a short glossary, which explains some of its more obscure terms.

Familiars of Terra – Dissonant Notes nicely does what it sets out to do and what a good quickstart should. This is present the setting, the mechanics, and a scenario as efficiently as it can in the space available. The mechanics are simple and playing both Seeker and Familiar provides opportunity to roleplay. Familiars of Terra – Dissonant Notes is a solid quickstart and should provide a good session’s worth of game play.

Free RPG Day 2017: The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart

Now in its tenth year, Saturday, June 17th was Free RPG Day and with it comes an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably they are 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 quickstart. One of the regular pieces of support for an existing roleplaying game in 2017 is The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart. Published by Third Eye Games, best known for roleplaying games such as Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. and Mermaid Adventures, The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition is a game inspired by anime and movies such as Naruto and Kung Fu Hustle in which the Emperor of Izou has declared war against the ten Ninja clans, forcing once rivals to co-operate as the Lotus Coalition to ensure their survival. Players take the role of these ninja, whose role in this setting is as honourable if stealthy warriors, since this is not a world with samurai.

Characters in The Ninja Crusade belong one of the ten ninja clans, each of which has its own speciality. So the Blazing Dancers are performers and acrobats, the Pack of the Moon are farmers and herders known for their specially bred ninja-dogs, and the Living Chronicle are historians who keep stories and knowledge on their bodies and in their minds. Besides a Clan, a Ninja is defined by twenty or so skills, plus an Element, Profession, Tragedy, Wartime Role, Clan, Contacts, Martial Training, and two ‘Ways of…’, the latter paths of training. Each of the Element, Profession, Tragedy, Wartime Role, and Clan provides a Gift and a Trigger. The Gift grants a bonus, whilst the Trigger gives Karma under certain conditions. For example, the Water Element with its Devious Temperament gives an underhanded Ninja a bonus to his Fighting when attacking in unsportsmanlike way and earns him Karma when he cheats the wrong person and it comes back to haunt him. 

To undertake an action, a character combines two skills appropriate to the action and then rolls a number of ten-sided dice equal to the combination. For example, to go on a lengthy journey a Ninja might need to roll a combination of his Travel and Fortitude skills, to quickly draw and throw a blade, he would roll a combination of Speed and Marksmanship skills. Rolls of seven, eight, and nine count as successes, whilst rolls of ten count as two successes. A simple task requires the one success, a moderate task two successes, and so on all the way up to five successes for a legendary task. If three or more successes are rolled above the difficulty, then a boost is gained, which can be a damage bonus, extra opponents being targeted, bonus information being earned, halves a task’s time, complete a task with style, trigger a weapon’s condition—for example, a brutal weapon inflicts extra damage whilst a piercing weapon ignores a level of armour—and so on. A critical failure appears to be any failure in which ones are rolled, the more ones rolled, the worse the result, though neither is clearly explained in The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart.

In combat, a Ninja gets one action plus one for each success rolled on his dynamic dice. These can then be spent to conduct various dynamic actions—inflict harm (make an attack), plan an attack (aid a friend), increase damage inflicted, knock an opponent back or down, mold Ki to regenerate it, dodge or block an attack, and so on. Ki can be spent as part of dynamic actions to do various things to temporarily gain certain effects, for example, counter attack, deeper cuts, deflect attack, and thicker skin. Now exactly how much Ki a player begins play with is not made clear in The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart as none of the pre-generated ninja have any. Perhaps a ninja needs to mold his Ki to generate it before it can be used? Attacks appear to be resolved as opposed rolls, for example, an attacker’s Perception plus Marksmanship versus a defender’s Athletics plus Speed, but again, this is not spelled out in The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart.

The basic damage inflicted in any attack is modified by the number of successes rolled, the weapon used, and any dynamic or boost damage. It can be quite deadly given that the sample pre-generated Ninja have a Health of between five and eight. To forestall a ninja taking too much damage, whether this is to their Health or their Pysche, a Ninja can instead suffer a Condition, equal to the value of the damage taken. This might be Bleeding, Bruised, Burned, Slowed, Afraid, Confused, Scarred, and so on. There is a limit to the level of these Conditions and how many a Ninja can have, so it is not possible for a Ninja to accumulate Condition upon Condition—eventually he will suffer actual damage, whether physical or mental. Each Condition has, of course, a negative effect, and depending on its severity, it may take a scene, days, or even weeks to recover from a Condition.

Accompanying the rules is a scenario, ‘Trial of the Lotus’, and six pregenerated Ninja.This sees them sent on a mission under of the guidance of MasterDaiku, whose approval they need to work for to successfully complete the mission. This is to infiltrate a neighbouring region, get past various guards and soldiers, and then sneak into the Autumn Brand Festival. It includes lots of tests of skill as well as of character and should provide a good session’s worth of play, if not two.

Technically, ‘Trial of the Lotus’ requires four Ninja, not six. Which begs the question as why there are six pre-generated Ninja included in The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart. The given answer is so that the adventure can be played again, but with different characters. This is problematic since it is unlikely to happen and because although it showcases more character types, they take up extra space that could have been better devoted to explaining the rules, because ultimately, it is the rules that suffer in The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart. Or rather their explanation does. Another page or two, perhaps including an example of play, a fuller explanation of the core mechanics, an explanation of Ki, and so on, would not have gone amiss.

Well presented, if not well developed, The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart is not as good as it should be. The essential problem is that it is ill suited for beginning players and game masters alike because it does not explain enough of the rules or guide them through how the game should be played. This should not be as much of a problem for the experienced player or game master who will be able to make the connections between the rules given in The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart and so be able to play or run the given adventure. Another two pages—or rather, two fewer pre-generated Ninja—and The Ninja Crusade, Second Edition QuickStart could have been the quickstart it should have been.

Free RPG Day 2017: Starfinder: First Contact

Now in its tenth year, Saturday, June 17th is Free RPG Day and with it comes an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably they are tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera. The scenarios are of course for existing games, but whilst the quickstarts may likewise also be for existing games, many are for forthcoming games, giving gamers a chance to experience a new game or setting before they are released. One such title is neither a scenario nor a quickstart, but a teaser, introducing elements of a forthcoming roleplaying game. That title is Starfinder: First Contact.

Since 2009, Paizo Publishing has been releasing and supporting material for its Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, a Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying game and in fact, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game remains one of the best supported games currently available, with innumerable supplements, scenarios, and campaigns. In previous years, Paizo Publishing has supported Free RPG Day with scenarios like We Be Goblins. For 2017, Paizo Publishing released Starfinder: First Contact. This is a teaser for Starfinder, Paizo Publishing’s Science Fantasy roleplaying game which takes the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game forward thousands and thousands of years and to the stars. To some extent, the genre of ‘Dungeons & Dragons in Space!’ has been explored before, most notably with TSR, Inc.’s Spelljammer in 1989 and then with the Dragonstar Starfarer's Handbook from Fantasy Flight Games in 2001.

As a first glance, Starfinder: First Contact does three things. First and second, it introduces us to what is different in the Starfinder Roleplaying Game in comparison to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and it tells us what is new in the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Third, it introduces us to eleven monsters and creatures that are home not just to Golarion—the campaign setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game—but the Golarion solar system. Much of what is different as presented in Starfinder: First Contact relates to how monsters and creatures are presented in Starfinder. So, taking its cue from Pathfinder Unchained, the monster stat block in the Starfinder Roleplaying Game is slimmed down, for example, only listing ability modifiers and not ability scores; only listing feats that let a monster do something, whilst subsuming feats that grant bonuses into the relevant statistic; and the unification of the various types of sense beyond the basics into blindsight and blindsense. The new comes in the form of Class Abilities like the Cloaking Field, a kinetically rechargeable device that grants a bonus to the Stealth skill, and Grenade Expert, being able to throw a grenade further and jury-rig a small grenade within a few minutes; Universal Monster rules such as Limited Telepathy and Unliving; and weapon abilities, like Arc, Burn, and Explode, representing how much deadlier weapons—especially guns and energy weapons—are in the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

Perhaps though, the most interesting suggestion in Starfinder: First Contact and thus Starfinder Roleplaying Game is that the new roleplaying game is going to allow the players to roleplay a great many of the races as aliens. Now they are weaker versions of the standard interpretations of the races, but enable a player to take the role of a Space Goblin junker, a Ratfolk mechanic, spellhacking Lashunta technomancer, and so on. Eleven races are given in Starfinder: First Contact—Bloodbrother, Contemplative, Ellicoth, Haan, Ksarik, Necrovite, Orocoran, Sarcesian, Security Robot, Space Goblin, and Space Pirate. Ranging from 1/3 to 13 in terms of C/R, the Contemplative, Haan, Sarcesian, and Space Goblin are given Racial Traits to allow them to be played as Alien player characters.

Unfortunately, there is nothing of the background of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game to be found in the pages of Starfinder: First Contact. That said, a very little of the background can be gleaned from the monster and creature descriptions. For example, the importance of Absalom Station, infested as it is with Space Goblins who use it as a staging point from where they can hijack ships and travel to the stars and how security on the station is handled by Security Robots, whilst some gangs have hacked some Security Robots and used them to protect their own interests. Unfortunately, all a little too slight to give much of the flavour and the feel of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

Being a release from Paizo Publishing, it should be no surprise that Starfinder: First Contact is a slickly produced and well-presented booklet. In comparison to other releases for Free RPG Day 2017, Starfinder: First Contact is very technical in nature and has little to offer the casual gamer beyond perhaps being a little intriguing. For the devotee of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game there is much in the pages of Starfinder: First Contact to entice their interest, especially if they are looking to expand their genre from fantasy to science fantasy and to see the future of Golarion pushed thousands of years into the future.

Free RPG Day 2017: Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure

Now in its tenth year, Saturday, June 17th is Free RPG Day and with it comes an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably they are tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera. One of the regular pieces of support for an existing roleplaying game in 2017 is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure, which serves as an introduction to one of the leading Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games published by Goodman Games. It takes its cue from Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Adventure Starter published in 2011, but has been greatly expanded to the rules enough to take characters from Zero Level to Second Level, provide two adventures, and introduce the key concepts to the roleplaying game. Thus, it has been expanded from sixteen to forty-eight pages.

Derived from the d20 System, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game sits somewhere between Basic Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in terms of its complexity. The most radical step in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game is the starting point. Players begin by playing not one, but several Zero Level characters, each each a serf or peasant looking beyond a life tied to the fields and the seasons or the forge and the hammer to prove themselves and perhaps progress enough to become a skilled adventurer and eventually make a name for themselves. Unfortunately, delving into tombs and the lairs of both men and beasts is a risky venture and death is all but a certainty for the lone delver… In numbers, there is the chance that one or more will survive long enough to go onto greater things! This is what the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game terms a ‘Character Creation Funnel’.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure provides rules for the creation process, player rolling for six Abilities—Strength, Agility, Stamina, Personality, Intelligence, and Luck—in strict order on three six-sided dice, plus Hit Points on a four-sided die and an occupation. The latter will determine the character’s Race—Race is a Class in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game just as it was in Basic Dungeons & Dragons, a weapon, and a possession related to his occupation.

Bert Truss
Zero Level Human Caravan Guard
STR 13 (+1) AGL 15 (+1) STM 8 (-1)
PER 13 (+1) INT 12 (+0) LCK 10 (+0)
Hit Points: 3
Saving Throws
Fortitude -1 Reflex +1 Willpower +1
Alignment: Lawful
Birth Augur: Unholy House
Luck Benefit: Corruption Rolls
Weapon: Short Sword (1d6)
Equipment: Linen (1 yard)
41cp

Of the stats, only Luck requires any explanation. It can be used for various skill checks and rolls, but its primary use is for each character’s single Luck Benefit—in Bert’s case, for rolls against corruption. It is burned when used in this fashion and can only be regained by a player roleplaying his character to his Alignment. The Luck bonus also applies to critical hit, fumble, and corruption rolls as well as various Class-based rolls. For example, the Elf receives it as a bonus to rolls for one single spell and a Warrior to rolls for a single weapon such as a longsword or a war hammer. Further, both the Thief and the Halfling Classes are exceptionally lucky. Not only are their Luck bonuses doubled when they burn Luck, they actually regain Luck each day equal to their Level. In addition, if a party has a Halfling amongst its numbers that Halfling can pass his expended Luck to other members of the party!

Mechanically, for a character to do anything, whether Sneak Silently, cast a spell, or make an attack, a player rolls a twenty-sided die and after adding any bonuses hopes to beat a Difficulty Class or an Armor Class. Rolls of one are a fumble and rolls of a twenty are a critical. The Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure includes a Fumble Table as well Critical Hit Tables for each of the Classes. Famously, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game also uses a multitude of dice, including three, five, seven, fourteen, sixteen, twenty-four, and thirty-sided dice as well as the standard polyhedral dice. Although penalties and bonuses can be applied to dice rolls, the dice themselves can get better or worse, stepping up or stepping down a size depending upon the situation. For example, a Warrior can attack twice in a Round instead of attacking and moving, but makes the first attack using a twenty-sided die and the second attack using a sixteen-sided die. 

Magic works differently to the Vancian arrangement typically seen in Dungeons & Dragons. Magic is mercurial. What this means is that from casting of a spell to the next, a spell can have different results. For example, the classic standby of First Level Wizards everywhere, Magic Missile, might manifest as a meteor, a screaming, clawing eagle, a ray of frost, a force axe, or so on. When cast, a Wizard might throw a single Magic Missile that only does a single point of damage; one that might do normal damage; multiple missiles or a single powerful one; and so on. Alternatively, the Wizard’s casting might result in a Misfire, which for Magic Missile might cause the caster’s allies or himself to be hit by multiple Magic Missiles, or to blow a hole under the caster’s feet! Worse, the casting of the spell might have a Corrupting influence upon the caster, which for Magic Missile might cause the skin of the caster’s hands and forearms to change colour to acid green or become translucent or to become invisible every time he casts Magic Missile! This is in addition to the chances of the Wizard suffering from Major or even Greater Corruption… Some ten spells are detailed Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure, taking up roughly, a quarter of the booklet.

Once past the funnel, the characters can move up to First Level and acquire a proper Class—either Cleric, Thief, Warrior, or Wizard, or one of the Races, Dwarf, Elf, or Halfling. Further information is provided so that a character can progress to Second Level. The adventures in Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure should be enough for a character to reach First Level and definitely progress towards Second Level.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure includes two adventures. The first, which immediately follows the rules is ‘The Portal Under The Stairs’, which appeared in the original Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Adventure Starter back in 2011. This has the would-be adventures venturing into an ancient war-wizard’s tomb after its entryway becomes open when the stars come right. Designed for Zero Level and First Level characters this is short, just ten location dungeon primarily consisting of traps and puzzles with some deadly combat encounters thrown in. Its three pages are short enough that a group could roll up their characters and funnel them through the adventure to see who survives in a single session. The second scenario, located on the opposite side of Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure is ‘Gnole House’.

Drawing on the writings of Lord Dunsany, it presents a bucolic, moss festooned house infested by Gnoles, grubby little creatures with a love of hats, scarves, and eating other humanoids. The legend of Gnole House tells of the house and its inhabitants in the woods, of missing merchants and travellers, and of the emeralds and other treasures. This is reason enough for the adventurers to investigate. What they find is a house of horror hidden under a veneer of gentility. It is definitely not a dungeon in the classic sense, but should be played as it is, having many of the classic dungeon features. Again, there is a good session or two involved in the adventure, a good mix of exploration and examination with some combat and a little roleplaying.

Physically, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure is well presented, the writing is clear, and artwork is in general excellent throughout, echoing the style and ethos of the three core rulebooks for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. If there is an issue with the layout it that it could have been better organised with stopping for the Game Master and the players so that they do not need to read everything to the play of the game and are ready to jump into ‘The Portal Under The Stairs’ adventure as soon as the Zero Level characters have been created. Then there could have been another section dealing with going up a Level and creating First Level characters already to play ‘Gnole House’. This would have made it a better introduction, a more organised introduction, and better suited to those with less experience of roleplaying.

Although it is not quite perfect, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure is a thoroughly good package. The rules are nicely explained, the style of game is nicely explained, the artwork is good, the two adventures are good. Any player or Game Master with any experience of Dungeons & Dragons will pick this up with ease and be able to bring it to the table with relatively little experience—and once the first adventure is complete, only a bit more preparation is required to play the second adventure. The Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game Quick Start Rules & Intro Adventure is simply a good introduction to the game and a little bit more.

Free RPG Day 2017: Robert E. Howard's Conan – The Pit of Kutallu

Saturday, June 17th is Free RPG Day and with it comes an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably they are tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera. The scenarios are of course for existing games, but whilst the quickstarts may likewise also be for existing games, many are for forthcoming games, giving gamers a chance to experience a new game or setting before they are  released. One such title is Conan: The Pit of Kutallu.

Conan: The Pit of Kutallu is a standalone adventure and quickstart—though not the quickstart, which is available here—for use with Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, to be published by Modiphius Entertainment following a successful Kickstarter campaign. It includes the rules needed to run the adventure, four pre-generated adventurers, and the adventure itself, essentially enough to play through the adventure in a couple of sessions at the very most.

Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of uses the 2d20 System and so does Conan: The Pit of Kutallu. Previously seen in Mutant Chronicles, when a character undertakes an action, his player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to roll low. This roll is made against an Attribute or against an Attribute plus the Expertise value of a skill. Each roll under this Target Number generates a success. Further, a character can also have a Focus associated with a skill. This is not added to the skill or the Target Number, but ranging between one and three, it represents a ‘critical’ target which when rolled also generates a success. So when a player rolls his character’s Focus for a skill, two successes are generated. The number of successes generated are compared against a Difficulty Rating, one being average, two being challenging, and so on. Any successes generated above the Difficulty Rating are counted as Momentum and these can be spent for various effects. For example, to learn more information, reduce time taken, improve the quality of the check, and so on, whilst in combat they could be used to increase the damage, target a specific area, or disarm an opponent. They can also be used to buy extra dice to roll for actions and they can even be saved to be used as a pool to draw from to represent teamwork and further co-operation.

For example, Papius Varro, an Aquilonian noble (and one of the pre-generated heroes in Conan: Pit of Kutallu) has been captured by pirates and taken aboard their ship. A storm has driven the ship ashore and as it crashes onto the rocks, the pirates have abandoned it and are trying to row to safety, leaving the noble behind. Papius has already snatched up a sword and wants to leap into the boat. The Game Master sets the Test Difficulty to D2 or Challenging. This means that Papius’ player needs to roll two successes with his Acrobatics skill. Papius has an Agility of ten, an Acrobatics of two, giving him a Target Number of twelve. He also has a Focus of two.

Papius’ player has two dice to roll, but to ensure that he succeeds, decides to purchase another using the group’s Momentum. So now he has three dice to roll. He rolls one, five, and twenty. This is both good and bad. The five generates one Success, the one generates two Successes because it is under the Focus of the skill, and the twenty generates a Complication. Since Papius’ player has rolled three Successes, he not only succeeds, but also generates one Momentum. Knowing that Papius is going to suffer a Complication immediately, his player donates the extra Momentum back to the group pool. The Game Master rules that the effect of the Complication is that Papius lands off-balance in the pirate’s boat and loses grip of his sword. Papius has escaped the shattering ship, but is unarmed and standing in a pitching rowing boat full of pirates!

Complications occur on rolls of nineteen (if unskilled) or twenty (if skilled) and represent critical failures, but failures in narrative terms rather than mechanical terms. What this means is that a character can succeed, but still suffer a complication. In addition, all characters have access to Fortune, points of which can be used to add a bonus die like Momentum, add an action, recovery mentally or physically, ignore wounds or trauma, or make a story declaration. Fortune is earned for invoking one of a character’s traits, good roleplaying, and so on, but earning Fortune is a little beyond the scope of Conan: The Pit of Kutallu. The Game Master also has his own fund of points--Doom points. These are are used to activate an NPC ability or environmental effect, to have an NPC grab the initiative or overcome a Complication, and so on. The Game Master begins each session with a limited supply of Doom, but it can be augmented by a player buying extra dice instead of using Momentum (having run out), as the result of a Complication, or even lingering over a course of action.

Combat includes melee, ranged, and threat attacks. What this means is that a character can suffer physical attacks which reduce Vigor and mental attacks which reduce Resolve. An attack which inflicts five or more damage or reduces a character’s Resolve or Vigor to zero, also inflicts Harm, either Wounds if physical Harm or Trauma if mental Harm. A character who suffers four Trauma or four Wounds is incapacitated. Beyond that and a character is either dead or mad. In addition to damage, certain weapons have qualities that can impose certain Effects with the right roll of the combat dice. For example, a weapon with the Quality, Vicious 1, inflicts extra damage for each Effect result rolled. Armour and cover can help Soak physical damage, whilst Courage can Soak mental damage. 

Of course, Conan: The Pit of Kutallu can only give a taster of the rules to Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, but combat feels rough and bruising and actions possess a pleasing physicality. There is also plenty of scope for outcomes beyond a simple yes or no with the use of Momentum and of course, Doom. The rules given are certainly enough to play the scenario, ‘The Pit of Kutallu’.

In truth, ‘The Pit of Kutallu’ is not a particularly original in terms of plot. Designed for four characters, it opens with their having been recently captured by Kushite slavers and the ship they are held in being caught in a storm. Their motivation to escape is bolstered both by a fellow captive offering a handsome reward if they can free her too and the storm being bad enough to drive the ship ashore. Worse, their benefactor is swept into the water and dragged ashore by something batrachian. Now the adventurers will have to escape the shattering ship, get ashore, deal with the slavers, and trek into the interior where they will find the ruins of a lost city and who knows what…? It is straightforward, written to be action packed, and can be played in a single longer session—just about—though two sessions will probably be a typical playing time.

Four pre-generated adventurers are provided to play the adventure. They include a disciplined noble warrior, an accurate archer, an observant ex-pirate, and a brutal barbarian. The latter is the adventure’s Conan analogue and although all four characters possess Talents that are not used in the adventure, they are well designed, all different, and all suited to the physical nature of the adventure. More characters are available to download.

Physically, Conan: The Pit of Kutallu is clearly written, laid out in a tidy fashion, and pleasingly illustrated. It is a very nice looking booklet. The rules are clearly explained and if the adventure itself is not all that original, it nevertheless feels in keeping with the pulp fantasy genre, is written to be fast paced and action packed, and is supported by some good characters. Overall, Conan: The Pit of Kutallu is a crowd-pleasing introduction to Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of.

Free RPG Day 2017: The Spire of the Hunting Sound

Now in its tenth year, Saturday, June 17th is Free RPG Day and with it comes an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably they are tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera. One of the regular pieces of support for an existing roleplaying game in 2017 is The Spire of the Hunting Sound, a scenario for use with Monte Cook Games’ highly regarded and award-winning Numenera roleplaying game.

Numenera describes a world a billion years into the future in the Ninth Age, drastically changed by huge advances in science, but whilst the evidence of those changes is all around, the understanding of the science has long been lost. This does not mean that it cannot be regained and Numenera is all about discovering the great secrets of the past and using them to make a better world. Examples of this technology include Cyphers, one-use devices that the player characters can freely find and use for strange magical-like effects and there are lots of Cyphers to find and use, so the player characters are encouraged to use what they find—there will always be more. In essence, Numenera re-invented Dungeons & Dragons-style play, but in a Science Fantasy setting and combined it with accessible, player facing mechanics that allowed the GM to focus on storytelling. With the inclusion of some fantastic artwork—and every release for Numenera is superbly illustrated in full colour—that beautifully portrays the far future world of Numenera, you have an RPG setting with both scope and grandeur.

The Spire of the Hunting Sound is written by Dennis Detwiller, best known as a co-designer of Delta Green and Godlike, and is a complete scenario and introduction to the rules, but not quite a quick start set for Numenera since the GM will need to download a set of pre-generated adventurers. Once he has those, then The Spire of the Hunting Sound can be run with relatively little preparation. It should also be pointed out that the scenario is a lengthy affair and will take several sessions to play through, so is not the casual affair that a quick start might suggest.

As The Spire of the Hunting Sound opens, the adventurers find themselves aboard the Aelestrian, a Qi airship which has been hijacked by strange, musically robotic raiders. Attempts to wrest control from them ultimately proves futile as the airship is forced to the ground and the survivors find themselves stranded in a rolling green desert with only lights in the only far distance to indicate any sign of life. Having gathered supplies, the heroes are of course, the best suited to the difficult journey in search of help and rescue. Short of food and water, the heroes will be challenged again and again on this trek, essentially each time by the same thing—a prison and a puzzle. The first puzzle-prison is biological/mechanical in nature; the second is abstract in nature; and the second is interpersonal in nature. Each of these puzzles is a staging post for the overall journey, a point where the adventurers are expected to concentrate on things other their survival needs.

Unfortunately, both the structure and the nature of The Spire of the Hunting Sound means that it will not provide a good playing experience for everyone. The problem with the structure is its length and the repetition of the character actions. This is worse in the first and second staging points of the adventure where the player characters are trapped inside a puzzle box and have to find their way out. The second puzzle in particular, has the potential to be very frustrating because of its abstract nature and the need to work out how to solve the puzzle with very little in way of clues. If the puzzle is solved, there is a fun pay-off and some elements of the scenario that the heroes get to play with. Beyond this and actually succeeding in solving the puzzles and escaping, there is actually very little in terms of reward to completing The Spire of the Hunting Sound and very little terms in available cyphers to feed the cypher economy in Numenera. The latter can be problematic because there are encounters in the scenario designed to negate the adventurers’ cyphers and whilst that can be seen as a means to push the adventurers further forward, it can also be a frustrating experience for the players.

The second half of The Spire of the Hunting Sound presents an explanation of the rules to Numenera. It is a good explanation and it will be familiar to anyone who has The Numenera Starter Set. In fact the material from The Numenera Starter Set is more than enough to play though this scenario. Physically, The Spire of the Hunting Sound is as well presented as you would expect from a book from Monte Cook Games. The layout is clean, the writing clear, and the artwork, although recycled from other products, is excellent.

Rather than being necessarily a good scenario, The Spire of the Hunting Sound is different scenario and a scenario that not everyone will enjoy. It is though, a much better, more assured, and above all, complete product in comparison to The Numenera Starter Set. The puzzle nature of The Spire of the Hunting Sound means that it is not necessarily a suitable scenario to introduce the game with, but as a change of pace and tone, it will slip into an ongoing campaign with relative ease.

Free RPG Day: Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special

Saturday, June 17th was Free RPG Day—the tenth Free RPG Day and as was to be expected, it came with an array of new and interesting little releases. Invariably they are tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August—or even later, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera. Amongst the array each year there will always be one or more hotly anticipated title and one of these was the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure. This was joined by the first release for another old game, Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special.

Originally published in 1990 by West End Games, Torg was a cinematic multi-genre role-playing game in which the Earth was invaded by several different realities—or ‘cosms’—that mapped themselves onto our reality. Each cosm was essentially a different roleplaying genre, the Living Land being a Lost World-style jungle that covered much of the USA; Aysle, a magical low-tech world a la Dungeons & Dragons covering the United Kingdom; the Cyberpapacy of France combined cyberpunk with theocratic dystopia; Japan became Nippon Tech, an ultracapitalist nightmare society ruled by corporations; the New Nile Empire mixed Ancient Egypt with pulp action in North Africa; and Indonesia became Orrorsh, a  Gothic horror realm of the Victorian age. Each of these cosms had a High Lord who competed to dominate the others in the ‘Possibility Wars’, but as ‘Storm Knights’, the player characters not only remain resistant to the changes mapped by these cosms, but can go from one cosm to another unchanged. This allowed a mix of character types, so a stone age warrior-shaman from the Living Land could fight alongside a mage from Aysle, a hacker-priest from the Cyberpapacy, a martial artist from Nippon Tech, a consulting detective from Orrorsh, and a gadgeteer from the New Nile Empire and stand up against the High Lords in the desperate Possibility Wars. 

Initially well received, Torg gained its hardcore fans, but suffered from various issues as detailed here and it was out of print by 1996 and by 2006, the proposed second edition, Torg 2.0, had also not appeared. German publisher, Ulisses Spiele, best known for the leading German fantasy roleplaying game, The Dark Eye, has owned Torg since 2010, but it is only in 2017 that we are getting to see the second edition, known as Torg Eternity, with this Kickstarter campaign. Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special is an introduction to the new setting.

Unlike Torg, the setting for Torg Eternity is not of an Earth where the Storm Knights successfully defeated the High Lords, but one where the High Lords were far more successful in their desire to take the Earth and harvest its Possibilities. The ‘Core Earth’ of Torg Eternity is also more action orientated than our own and magic and miracles exist.

Torg Eternity uses similar mechanics to those used by Torg, what became known as Masterbook and would be subsequently used in West End Games’ own Science Fiction roleplaying game, Shatterzone, as well as a number of licensed properties, The World of Indiana Jones, The World of Necroscope, and The World of Tank Girl. In this system, a character’s attribute or attribute plus skill is compared against a Difficulty Number, the standard Difficulty Number being ten. To this is added a number generated on the Bonus Chart included at the bottom of each character sheet, which can range from -8 to +13 or more if a player rolls well. This is rolled on a twenty-sided die. The chart is very slightly slanted towards low or negative numbers, but if a player rolls a ten or a twenty on the die, he can keep rolling the die, adding up the numbers rolled to get a Die Total. The character’s  attribute or attribute plus skill plus the penalty or bonus generated on the Bonus Chart is the character’s Action Total. The Action Total is compared to the Difficulty Number to determine if the character is successful and then the Success Levels achieved. 

So for example, Tom is being chased by edeinos scouts—lizard warriors in the Living Land and having clambered out onto the fire escape decides to leap across the alley to the opposite fire escape. Tom has an attribute rating of seven for his Dexterity and a Maneuver skill rating of +2. This gives him a base Action Total of nine, but since the GM has set the the Difficulty Number at ten, Tom’s player needs to roll on the Bonus Chart. He rolls a twenty! This gives him a starting Die Total of +7, but since he has rolled twenty, he can roll again and add the total. He rolls two, which he adds to the twenty to get a Die Total of twenty-two and checking the Bonus Chart gives a bonus of +8 to add to the current Action Total, which is now seventeen. This is seven Success Levels above the Difficulty Number and gives Tom a Good result. 

The basic rules presented in the Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special cover actions, including interaction and physical attacks. The combat rules also cover options such as all-out attacks, combined actions, and so on. In addition, every Storm Knight have Possibilities, typically three per act of an adventure and these can be used to roll extra dice for an action and to negate Wounds and Shock suffered. One other aspect of the Torg Eternity that comes into play when a Mishap or one is rolled, is that any equipment being used which is not supported by the local reality loses its connection to its home cosm made possible by the Storm Knight and will not work until the connection can be made again.

The scenario in the Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special is ‘Invasion’. Designed to be played by up to six players plus the GM, it is set in New York on the very day that the ‘maelstrom bridge’ crashed onto the city and began turning both it and the rest of North America into the Living Land. It sees the Storm Knights—though they do not know it yet—try to get to a place of refuge away from the marauding dinosaurs and lizard warriors. Consisting of six relatively short scenes, it presents a solid showcase for the setting and its mechanics, but it is very action and combat orientated and not one of the scenes any interaction, at least in terms of the rules.

Besides the monsters, the scenario is supported by six sample characters. Including an academic, an executive, an athlete, a paramedic, a crook, and particularly up-to-date, a near celebrity, they represent a good mix of characters and Americans. Both they and the scenario is not quite ready to play though, as the sample characters do not come with their own character sheets and one will be needed to be filled in for each character. 

Physically, Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special is a slim, sixteen-page booklet. It is done in full colour, but is sparsely illustrated. The writing is pacey and a GM could prepare Invasion and have it ready to run in an hour. The adventure itself should be completed in a session.

Of course, Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special only covers a tiny fragment of the Torg Eternity setting, but the scenario drops the player characters into this setting and gets them up to speed quickly enough. The other issue is with the Torg Eternity mechanics, which are not quite straightforward and not quite intuitive, though they play reasonably enough.

Given that Torg Eternity encompasses a multiverse, the Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special really does only provide a taster of the Torg Eternity setting. It is enough of a taster for one session though and that is the point of the Torg Eternity Free RPG Day Special. 

Free RPG Day: RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure

For all of its forty-year history, RuneQuest as a roleplaying game has been intrinsically linked to the setting of Glorantha. Even if not quite so effectively as the recent republication of RuneQuest Classics proved, but for many of those four decades, that link has not been as strong as many think, and arguably in several cases, not even present at all. In much of that time, RuneQuest has been a set of rules to which the setting of Glorantha can be added and in the twenty first century, only the roleplaying games, Hero Wars and HeroQuest: Glorantha have combined both mechanics and setting. That all changes with the latest incarnation of RuneQuest, recently returned to the bosom of its original publisher, Chaosium, Inc.. RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha once again makes Glorantha intrinsic to RuneQuest.

Although 2017 is going to be a good year with the release of both 13th Age in Glorantha from Pelgrane Press following a successful Kickstarter campaign and RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha from Chaosium, before we see either, we will be given a taste of the latter with the release of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure. This is for Free RPG Day, the annual event for which various hobby gaming publishers supply an array of titles and paraphernalia intended to support or introduce their games—now in its tenth year. RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is designed to do the latter, introducing the new edition of the classic rules, as well as elements of the setting and a scenario that can be played through in a single good session, if not two.

RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha can be best described as Classic RuneQuest with bits of HeroQuest—or rather, bits of King Arthur: Pendragon—set during the Hero Wars. Or at least it does from the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – QuickStart and Adventure. Long time Gloranthaphiles and RuneQuesters will recognise many elements of this game that date all the way back to the original game. It remains a Basic Roleplay System roleplaying game, which means that characters have seven attributes—Strength, Constitution, Size, Intelligence, Dexterity, Charisma, and Power—which range between three and eighteen; individual skills are percentiles, including weapons; everyone has individual hit locations which can be armoured for better protection; and everyone has access to Spirit magic—or Battle magic; in combat, order of action is determined by Strike Rank; and when rolls need to be made between characters, NPCs, or objects, then the GM needs to refer to the Resistance Table. Similarly, in terms of the background, the period in which RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is set, that of Dragon Pass during the Hero Wars of the 1610s and 1620s after the Sartarite rebellion that threw out the occupying Lunar Empire, will be familiar to both Gloranthaphiles and RuneQuesters.

What sets RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha apart from the previous versions of RuneQuest are two obvious changes, one minor, one major. The minor change is to the combat rules—there is no Defence value, no value intrinsic to a player character, NPC, or creature which makes them more difficult to attack. Instead, the emphasis is moved to active values, essentially parrying with a weapon or a shield, or dodging. The major change is the inclusion of Runes—Elements, Powers, Forms, and Conditions—and Passions—commonly Devotion, Hate, Honour, Love, and Loyalty—that are used in various ways. Runes represent affinities with the gods and the fundamental building blocks of the world. Passions are how a character feels about the world, what he believes in, and how strong his ties are to his community and other groups. Runes are rolled against when attempting to cast Rune magic, but like Passions, a player character can take inspiration from them to guide his actions and invoke them to augment his actions. Like skills both Passions and Runes are represented by percentage values and when rolled against, they can provide a modifier that will augment the player character’s next action.

For example, a Sartarite farmer whose parents were killed by the invading Lunar Empire and is confronted by a squad of Lunar soldiers might invoke any number of Runes and Passions in order to determine his next course of action and then augment that action. Or his player might roll against his character’s Passion of Hate (Lunar Empire) 80% to determine his next action and when attacking with his spear might invoke his character’s Rune (Air) 80% to potentially augment his next action. So the player rolls 27% and in comparing that to the character’s Hate (Lunar Empire) 80%, it is clear that the character will attack the Lunar captain. The character takes up his spear and leaps from his mount intent on stabbing the Lunar captain with his spear,  calling upon Orlanth to aid him and invoking his Rune (Air) 80% as he does. His player rolls 30%, indicating a Success and a +20% bonus to his spear attack, which goes from 90% to 110%!

 Alternatively, the player might have decided that his character wanted to talk to the Lunar soldiers and the GM asked him to check against his Passion. Or the player might have just decided that his Passion was enough and invoked that for the attack roll. However they are used, what Runes and Passions are in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is both a means to tie the player and their characters into the setting of Glorantha and to both enhance and enforce their roleplaying.

After a quick introduction to the setting of Glorantha—an introduction that will be familiar from previous supplements—RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure runs through the rules and mechanics in good order, including various spot rules as necessary. They are clearly organised and will be familiar to anyone who has played RuneQuest. Understandably, there is a particular emphasis placed on the Passions and Runes, the former because they are an element new to RuneQuest if not to the Basic Roleplay System and the latter, whilst not new to RuneQuest, how they are used is.

In terms of magic, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha offers various types that will be familiar to both Gloranthaphiles and RuneQuesters. RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure though, focuses on two—Rune Magic and Spirit magic and does not include either Sorcerery or Spirit Combat as they are too complex to cover in the few pages on magic in the booklet. Of the two, Spirit Magic will be the familiar to most, being like the Battle Magic of previous editions, with spells like Bladesharp 1, Demoralise 3, Healing 2, and so on. These are spells that anyone can learn and cast, needing no more than Magic Points and a roll versus the character’s Power. Rune magic consists of spells that are only taught by the various cults that worship Glorantha’s many gods. They require the expenditure of Rune points—which are gained by the permanent sacrifice of Power and then replenished through proper worship of the gods—and then making a roll against the player character’s Rune affinity.

So for example, having delivered the initial blow against the Lunar captain, the Sartarite farmer might take a moment to cast Bladesharp 2. This requires the expenditure of two Magic Points and a Power check, a roll against the character’s POW×5, which is 60%. The farmer’s player makes the roll and the head of the farmer’s spear glistens with sharpness, adding a total of +10% to the farmer’s short spear skill and +2 to its damage. This increases the farmer’s Short Spear skill from 90% to 100% and its damage from 1D6+1 to 1D6+3.  

Alternatively, as a devout worshipper of Orlanth, the Sartarite farmer knows the Lightning Rune spell and casts it to bring down the wrath of Orlanth on his enemies, in this case, the Lunar captain. First, the farmer’s player rolls his affinity of Rune (Air) 80% and succeeds, then expends two Rune points. The farmer’s eyes flash with lightning and with a crack of thunder, the lightning strikes the Lunar captain in the right arm. Unfortunately, he fails his Resistance roll and he suffers 2D6 damage which ignores any armour he is wearing. An average damage roll will incapacitate the Lunar captain and a good damage roll will maim or blow the arm off… The situation looks poor for the Lunar captain.

Of course, having expended those two Rune points, the Sartarite farmer is unlikely to be able to cast Rune magic as powerful in the short term. He will need to worship at a proper shrine or festival in order to regain these, so a player character should never be frivolous in its use.

Half of the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure is devoted to the rules. The other half is devoted to a starting scenario, ‘The Broken Tower’, plus the five player characters. They include a noble farmer-warrior, son of the clan chieftain and initiate of Issaries; a cavalrywoman and initiate of Orlanth Adventurous; and an apprentice priestess of the Earth goddess Ernalda. All three are of the Ernaldori clan of the Colymar Tribe. The trio are accompanied by a revolutionary against the Lunars and scribe from Nochet, plus an initiate of Lhankor Mhy, as well as a heavy infantry soldier from Dunstop, in Lunar Tarsh, an initiate of Seven Mothers. All five are experienced characters and all have strong affinities in terms of Runes and Passions, as well as Spirit and Rune magic. Of the five, the only one that presents any difficulty in terms of play is the heavy infantry soldier from Dunstop, in Lunar Tarsh. For anyone coming to RuneQuest and Glorantha anew, the differences between playing a Sartarite rebel against the Lunar Empire and a renegade Tarshite Lunar soldier may be just a little too nuanced to roleplay effectively, let alone imparting that difference to those playing the Sartarites.

‘The Broken Tower’ takes place in an area known as ‘the badlands’ lying at the southernmost stretch of the Starfire Range of mountains. The player character are members or associates of the Ernaldori clan of the Colymar Tribe, assigned to track down some thieves who have not only stolen some of the tribe’s cattle, but also killed some of their tribe members. They chase the miscreants into the Badlands only for them to discover that the region is home to deadlier and much older foes than mere cattle thieves and murderers. It showcases the scope and some of the scale of the setting whilst keeping everything reasonably self-contained. The scenario includes opportunities for replaying and combat, though ultimately, what it does enforce is that combat is not the only solution and that the gods are very, very real.

Physically, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure is ably and tidily presented, though perhaps it is a bit too grey in terms of presentation. For players new to RuneQuest, the layout could have been better, in particular, the boxed sections, ‘Gloranthan Gods and Cults’ and ‘About Glorantha and RuneQuest’, really would have been more useful closer to the front of the booklet. The artwork is excellent, though of course it will no doubt look better in colour rather than in greyscale as it is here.

RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure is not really a product designed to introduce those new to roleplaying to the hobby as it does not provide that basic a starting point. That said, there is nothing to prevent someone new to roleplaying being introduced to the hobby as part of an existing group using the rules and adventure presented in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure. Those new to both RuneQuest and/or Glorantha, but not roleplaying in general will probably have no issues grasping either the rules or the basics of the setting, though no doubt the recently announced Glorantha QuickStart will likely make up for more than just the basics of the setting given here. For the long time Gloranthaphile or RuneQuester who has played RuneQuest in any form, whether RuneQuest Classics or HeroQuest Glorantha, then picking up and playing RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure will be ever so easy—and even easier if he has played King Arthur: Pendragon with its heavy reliance on traits and passions. In fact, for an experienced GM who is familiar with RuneQuest and Glorantha, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure is easy to use and ‘The Broken Tower’ is easy and quick to prepare. 

RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Quickstart and Adventure does exactly what it sets out to do and that is provide a good introduction to RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It does this not just for a single Free RPG Day, but for the foreseeable future.