Spell Etiquette

Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is the newest edition of the roleplaying game whose lineage goes all the way back to the early eighties. Its origins lie in a series of supplements which could be used together or used on their own to replace parts of Dungeons & Dragons that a playing group did not like. First, in 1980, with Arms Laws, and then followed Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law, and Campaign Law. Published by Iron Crown Enterprises, it would not be until 1984 that all four of these books would be collected in a box as Rolemaster, a roleplaying game of its very own as the first complete edition. In the four decades since, there have been three new editions, and all four have been known for their  complexity and push to offer a realistic alternative. These editions have likewise been known for their resolution mechanic, a percentile system in which the aim is not to roll low and under, but roll high and attempt to get as high as possible above one hundred, and likewise, they have always been known for the number of tables within their books—the critical hit tables in particular. Published by Iron Crown Enterprises in 2022, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is the heart of Rolemaster Unified and can be seen as the fifth edition of the venerable roleplaying game. It combines two aspects of the original edition of rules—‘Character Law’ and ‘Arms Law’—with ‘Game Master Law’, enabling the creation of Player Characters, the use of skills and combat, healing, social skills, environmental dangers and situations, and a lot more. However, although playable, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is not really complete on its own. For that the Game Master and her players will need Spell Law, Creature Law I, and Treasure Law.

Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law is the spell and magic system for Rolemaster Unified. It brings the rules for magic and spellcasting in line with updated core rules and in doing so presents one-hundred-and-seventy-one Spell Lists for all of the spellcasting Professions. Each Spell List consists of twenty spells from the most basic to the most complex, covering all twenty levels, and then is extended, so that an extra spell can be learned at the twenty-fifth, thirtieth, thirty-fifth, fortieth, and fiftieth levels, for a total of twenty-five spells per Spell List, and a grand total of over four thousand spells in the book! It is no wonder that two thirds of Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law is devoted to these Spell Lists! What this means is that there are no empty spell levels up to level twenty and the thirty-fifth and fortieth level spells are new. 

Magic is divided into three types. The Realm of Channelling, whose Professions draw their power from an external source, typically a god of some kind; Realm of Essence draw upon the power around them; and the Realm of Mentalism draws directly upon the mind of the caster. Outside of the Professions of the Realm of Arms, each of the spell-casting Professions fits into one of these. Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law further classifies spellcasters into three types—Pure spellcasters, Hybrid spellcasters, and Semi-spellcasters. Pure spellcasters draw from one realm of power, for example, the Druid focuses on spells that interact with the natural world and Illusionists on spells of misdirection and illusion. Hybrid spellcasters combine two realms of power, such as the Healer drawing from Channelling and Mentalism to heal and learn Body Development, whilst the Sorcerer combines Essence and Channelling for raw destruction! Semi-spellcasters focus primarily on physical skills backed up some magical power. For example, the Bard improves his performance with his spells from the realm of essence, whilst aiding friends and baffling foes, whereas the Monk draws his spells from the realm of Mentalism to perform great physical feats and enhance himself Wuxia-style.

The history given is short and broad, really leaving a lot of room for the Game Master to create her own background, and the various spell types and spell parameters are described in short, but informative fashion. Notable here is that the Alchemical spell type is mentioned and not detailed in this supplement, instead described in Treasure Law. Advice suggests ways in which magic can be customized, whether changing it to fit a setting, adding flavour, or adjusting the mechanics. It is fairly broad advice given that it is only a few pages long and arguably it deserves a supplement of its own, but this is a good introduction. One example addresses ways in which the Game Master might think about Evil Spell Lists. There are Evil spell lists for all three Realms. For example, Curses and Demonic Summons for Channelling; Darkness and Necromantic Ways for Essence; and Mind Death and Mind Domination for Mentalism. Of course, whether or not they are actually ‘evil’ will depend upon the world that the Game Master is running and its morality, and to reflect that, the example suggests tying the Evil Spell Lists to corruptive vices. This lends their casting to entertaining roleplaying possibilities, but it is only one suggestion, and you do wish that there was room to explore this and other ideas more.

Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law covers learning and casting spells in a straightforward  fashion. This is via academic means as a default, which does leave the Game Master to develop other means (and perhaps the subject of another supplement) of learning. The actual casting roll consists of a standard open-ended percentile roll to which will be added the ranks that the caster has in the Spell List, his Realm Stat, and the bonus for the type of list. Additional modifiers can be applied for how subtle the caster wants the spellcasting to be, how fast, how preparation has been done beforehand, whether the caster is ‘overcasting’ and casting a spell higher than his Level, armour worn, and spell mastery. The latter allows some modification of a spell, like changing its colour, changing its effects in terms of duration, range, area affected, and so on. Power Points typically equal to the spell’s level are expended in the process. If the result is a failure and negative, the player rolls on the appropriate spell failure table. There is one for each Realm. If appropriate, a Resistance Roll can be made against the effects of the spell, and given that this is a dice roll, can lead to situations where the target of the spell heroically withstands the effects of a powerful spell or oddly, falls prey to the effects of a much weaker spell!

Besides standard spellcasting, Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law also explains a number of other options. This includes magic items that add spells or Power Points, casting from Runes, and innate casting—typically found amongst magical creatures and races, but the most significant addition is that of ritual casting. Where ordinary spellcasting is tactical, this is strategic, requiring time, preparation, ritual items, and possibly, multiple participants and greater investment of Power Points and even the caster’s own blood! These all provide modifiers of their own, but others come from the ritualist’s knowledge of the spell, the Spell List it comes from, the realms the Power Points are drawn from, and the auspiciousness of the time, place, and any associated prophecy. Then it comes down to a straightforward casting roll and the interpretation of its effects. This is all really simple and easy to understand, but that simplicity and ease leaves room for the Game Master and her players to add detail and flavour and roleplay it as is their wont. 

Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law comes to close with specific spell notes such as how Curse and Disease spells are handled, demons and familiars summoned, Dream spells interpreted, and Illusion and Mind Trick spells work. These notes are not extensive, but clarify specific aspects of these spells and make them easier to use in play. And then in between, there are the Spell Lists, extensive and detailed almost every spell that a Game Master and her players might want.

Coming to Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law and its nearly three hundred pages and you would expect that it is going to be a complex affair. It is not. Spellcasting and learning spells and casting rituals are all covered in fifty pages, with clear explanations and examples. The basics of spellcasting are going to be easy to understand. The complexity comes in the extensive Spell Lists with their multiple spells and having to learn what the spells do. In other words, the learning curve comes here rather than at the beginning. Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law does actually list more spells than in previous editions and whilst that does give more spells to choose from, there are no gaps in the Spell Lists, so that a spellcaster learns a spell at every level. Some of those spells are repetitions of previous spells, or rather repetitions of previous spells with minor tweaks and adjustments. What this represents is not so much repetitions as learning new ways to cast a spell and extend its parameters.

Physically, Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law is serviceable at best. The layout is perfunctory, and the text is dense. The unprepossessing layout is not helped by the artwork which is bland. Of course, it does not help that two third of the book consists of tables. 

Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law carries the tagline of “A Magic System Adaptable To Any Fantasy Role Playing System” and there is no denying that Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law could be used with the fantasy roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice. In that, it harks back to the intent of the original supplements—Arms Laws, Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law, and Campaign Law—which were intended to replace parts of whatever roleplaying game that the Game Master was unhappy with. Most obviously, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. That though, was forty years ago and there is less of a desire to hybridise or kitbash a roleplaying game these days and there are fewer roleplaying games which are compatible with Rolemaster Unified, let alone Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law. If a Game Master wanted an alternative spellcasting system, then there can be no doubt that Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law is a good choice, and certainly a comprehensive choice, just for the hundreds of spells alone. Yet it is in conjunction with Rolemaster Unified CORE Law that Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law will come into its own, supporting all of its fifteen spell-casting Professions and bringing their full capabilities to life with clearly explained rules and additions.

The Other OSR: Miseries & Misfortunes V

Miseries & Misfortunes is a roleplaying game set in seventeenth century France designed and published following a successful Kickstarter campaign by Luke Crane, best known for the fantasy roleplaying game, Burning Wheel. Notably, it is based on the mechanics of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. Originally, Miseries & Misfortunes appeared as a fanzine in 2015, but its second edition has since been developed to add new systems for skills, combat, magic, and more. However, the underlying philosophy of Miseries & Misfortunes still leans back into the play style of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. For example, the differing mechanics of rolling low for skill checks, but high for combat rolls and saving throws. Plus, the Player Characters exist in an uncaring world where bad luck, misfortune, and even death will befall them and there will be no one left to commiserate or mourn except the other characters and their players. Further, Miseries & Misfortunes is not a cinematic swashbuckling game of musketeers versus the Cardinal’s guards. It is grimmer and grimier than that, and the Player Characters can come from all walks of life. That said, it is set in the similar period as Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, so will be familiar to many players. The other major inspiration for Miseries & Misfortunes is Les Misères et les Malheurs de la Guerre, a set of eighteen etchings by French artist Jacques Callot that grimly depict the nature of the conflict in the early years of the Thirty Years War.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 5: Homage to Catalonia is the fifth of the roleplaying game’s rulebooks. The first, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 gives the core rules for the roleplaying game, and the second, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux provides the means to actually create Player Characters, and together they make up the core rules. Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane expands on this with rules for magic and related Lifepaths, and Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères offers modes of play and further subsystems that also expand upon the core play, whilst Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 5: Homage to Catalonia provides something that that Miseries & Misfortunes has been missing to date—a scenario.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 5: Homage to Catalonia is an introductory scenario set in 1647 in the disputed region of Catalonia. Triggering The Reaper’s War in 1640 by declaring itself a republic independent of Spain, Catalonia then declared itself a county of France the following year, in the process acquiring a strong ally. France accepted and made King Louis XIII the count of the newly acquired region. Of course, Cardinal Richelieu was not doing this out of the goodness of his heart, but rather to keep the Spanish Habsburgs in check, adding one more conflict to those that Madrid faced in the Spanish Netherlands, the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, and South America. It is picaresque in nature, taking the Player Characters back and forth across Catalonia.

The set-up for scenario recommends that the Player Characters include at least one of their number to take either the Lifepath of Barber Surgeon, Doctor, Military Engineer, Miquelet, Officer, Petty Noble, Segador, or Soldier. Of these, the Miquelet, a member of the militia, and the Segador, one of the farmers that rose up during The Reaper’s War, are both detailed at the back of Miseries & Misfortunes Book 5: Homage to Catalonia, whereas the Barber Surgeon, Doctor, and Military Engineer are described in Miseries & Misfortunes Book 6: Paris, 1648. The players will have an advantage throughout the scenario if their characters come from a diverse range of backgrounds and social origins. At least one Player Character should have a high Precedence or Reputation. The players also need to decide on a motif, a reason why they are together. Several are suggested going back several years, including The Reaper’s War itself if the Player Characters are all Catalan.

The scenario is divided into twelve events, split into two parts. For an introductory scenario, it is a surprisingly lengthy affair, each half likely taking three sessions at least to play through. The scenario opens in the wake of the first defeat for the daring commander of the French forces, the Prince de Condé, his failure to capture the fortress city of Lerida. Despite the failure, the Player Characters have distinguished themselves—the players need to decide how before the start of play—and brought themselves to the attention of the Prince de Condé. They are invited to attend what turns out to be a rather subdued soirée and have the chance to mingle, learn various rumours about the recent battle and the attendees, and if they are of sufficient standing, pay their respects to the Prince de Condé. The event is interrupted with the arrival of a message from Paris—the Prince de Condé has been summoned home.

To prevent the possibility of a Spanish attempt to capture himself and his entourage, the Prince de Condé decides to play a ruse and a joke on them. Or rather on Governor Don Gregorio Brito of Portugal, the commander of the fortress at Lerida, with whom the Prince de Condé has a surprisingly cordial relationship. The Player Characters are volunteered for this important diversion, which is to accompany a mule train bearing gifts for Governor Don Gregorio Brito of Portugal with the ambitious Chevalier de Jumeaux riding as the stand in or decoy for the Prince de Condé.

The rest of this first half involves dealing with a pensive Chevalier de Jumeaux and a Spanish spy looking to take advantage of the Prince de Condé’s plans, unaware that it is actually a ruse. The spy will lead a force in an attempt to capture the Prince de Condé and steal all of his gifts for the governor of Lerida. This will result in a confrontation of some kind, with where and when depending on the actions and decisions of the Player Characters. The scenario details a dilapidated farmhouse where they might hold out against the Spanish assault, almost mirroring the French efforts at Lerida. If they survive this, the Player Characters will need to find a way of delivering the mules and the gifts they are bearing to Governor Don Gregorio Brito of Portugal, hopefully without ending up in gaol.

The second half of Miseries & Misfortunes Book 5: Homage to Catalonia begins with the Player Characters bearing another message, though one not requiring a mule train, to Bishop Duran in the town of Seu d’Urgell. He accepts the letter and also requests that they do some ‘dirty work’ for him. Bandits have plagued the area for some years and more recently they captured a Jesuit priest who was bringing the bishop a valuable bible for him to study and are now holding him to ransom. The bishop would like the Player Characters to free the Jesuit priest and gives them what funds he has free to pay the ransom. This though, is not the asking price the bandits are asking for in return for freeing the priest.

In order to deliver the ransom the Player Characters will need to ascend into the Pyrenees and Andorra via the La Pas de la Casa. Here is where the problems begin for the Player Characters. They run into a traffic jam at a bottleneck which the bandits are cleverly using to rob everyone entering the pass intending to go onto France. This includes the Player Characters! How they deal with this robbery will affect later interactions with the bandits, but the bandits will have the upper hand throughout this half of the scenario and they know the region and have restored a Roman watchtower as their holdout. The Player Characters are free to approach this in whatever way they want and the scenario covers a variety of actions, including going to the local lord and seeking his support in ridding the area of the bandits.

The scenario in Miseries & Misfortunes Book 5: Homage to Catalonia comes to a close with a discussion of the possible outcomes. Defeat at the hands of the bandits will be doubly disastrous as the Player Characters will also lose the patronage of the Prince de Condé. In addition, all of the NPCs that the Player Characters will directly interact with are given full write-ups, and there are new options for the Player Characters. These include the aforementioned Lifepaths of the Miquelet and the Segador, and these are joined by the Bruxia, a Catalan witch. Added to these are notes on Catalan skills, mentalities, politics, and religion, plus two types of Catalan magic. These are for the Bruxia, and consist of Bruixeria, which involves spellcasting by applying the Devil’s Unguent, and Felitico, which involves creating fetishes through which their power is channelled. There is plenty of potential as you would expect in these Lifepaths, but the Bruxia is going to have a tough time against devout Christians.

Physically, Miseries & Misfortunes Book 5: Homage to Catalonia is well presented and written. It is lightly illustrated with the major illustrations being used to locations where the scenario’s major confrontations take place. Each scene is very well organised with a detailed breakdown that provides an overview, details of patron, antagonists, supporting cast, opportunities, and outcomes. They do have ‘Mood and Bread’ ratings for each event, but these are for the Crowd rules from Miseries & Misfortunes Book 6: Paris, 1648. Footnotes throughout provide translations and further explanations as necessary.

Miseries & Misfortunes Book 5: Homage to Catalonia is no simple introductory adventure and even when it is presenting a situation typical to an introductory scenario, that is, dealing with banditry, there is no simple and direct method of dealing with them. They are, like all of the NPCs in the scenario, presented as intelligent persons and as having strong motives. Some of those accompanying the Player Characters will want to fight too readily, whilst others will avoid fights as best they can, and when it comes to the villains, if the players and their characters do defeat them, they should feel like they have achieved something. That Miseries & Misfortunes Book 5: Homage to Catalonia pulls away from the politics and mores of Paris typical of the Roleplaying genre by shifting to a little known conflict is also a plus. The scenario is also supported by a wealth of historical detail, including capturing some of the region’s radical politics.

Miseries & Misfortunes Book 5: Homage to Catalonia showcases how Miseries & Misfortunes and its genre can be more than the swashbuckling and the savoir faire and the politics and Paris so beloved of the genre. It includes a good mix of roleplaying and action in an unfamiliar land and conflict that will surprise many expecting a more traditional swashbuckling foray.

The Other OSR: Miseries & Misfortunes IV

Miseries & Misfortunes is a roleplaying game set in seventeenth century France designed and published following a successful Kickstarter campaign by Luke Crane, best known for the fantasy roleplaying game, Burning Wheel. Notably, it is based on the mechanics of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. Originally, Miseries & Misfortunes appeared as a fanzine in 2015, but its second edition has since been developed to add new systems for skills, combat, magic, and more. However, the underlying philosophy of Miseries & Misfortunes still leans back into the play style of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. For example, the differing mechanics of rolling low for skill checks, but high for combat rolls and saving throws. Plus, the Player Characters exist in an uncaring world where bad luck, misfortune, and even death will befall them and there will be no one left to commiserate or mourn except the other characters and their players. Further, Miseries & Misfortunes is not a cinematic swashbuckling game of musketeers versus the Cardinal’s guards. It is grimmer and grimier than that, and the Player Characters can come from all walks of life. That said, it is set in the similar period as Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, so will be familiar to many players. The other major inspiration for Miseries & Misfortunes is Les Misères et les Malheurs de la Guerre, a set of eighteen etchings by French artist Jacques Callot that grimly depict the nature of the conflict in the early years of the Thirty Years War.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères is the fourth of the roleplaying game’s rulebooks. The first, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 gives the core rules for the roleplaying game, and the second, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux provides the means to actually create Player Characters, and together they make up the core rules. Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane expands on this with rules for magic and related Lifepaths, whilst Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères offers modes of play and further subsystems that also expand upon the core play. As the introduction to the supplement states, what it it offers is ‘More Misery’, with the majority of the supplement intended for use by the Game Master, but all of the new rules will add detail and flavour to her campaign and affect the lives of the Player Characters in some ways.

The supplement opens in interesting fashion. If the majority of Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères is for the eyes of the Game Master, the opening essay should be read by player and Game Master alike. ‘Modernity’ provides the reader with an eye-opening perspective of what life was like and people believed in 1648. This includes the belief that the world was in decline, the high point having been classical Rome and Greece, that the science and philosophy of thought we know of today were not for the common man, history and its ideas were accepted truths, disease was spread by miasmas and worms, cities had yet to be transformed by the dictates of either mass or public transport and so streets remained as they did in the Medieval period, and so on. It is a fascinating read that does not swerve the worst that the era had to offer, including misogyny and ant-Semitism. This is not necessarily to enforce their presence in play, but rather acknowledge that they were part of the culture in 1648. This is an excellent start to the supplement.

The majority of Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères consists of two sections. One is ‘Mode de Jeu’, or ‘mode of play’, the other is ‘Petits Systémes’. ‘Mode de Jeu’ begins with ‘Moments’, which examines the structure of play in Miseries & Misfortunes, which is made up of the eponymous ‘Moments’ in time, essentially situations or scenarios that the Player Characters can involve themselves in. It divides them into two types—‘Historical’ and ‘Novel’. The first of these are based around actual events, the aim being to involve the Player Characters in their events, whilst the second are plots and events that the Game Master creates herself. The Game Master sets up a timeline of moments, a mix of both types, that he weaves a plot through. The players do not roleplay through them one after another in linear fashion, but have the freedom to dip in and out of the timeline, according to their needs and those of the plot. There is even a full breakdown of a Historical Moment, making you wish that there was a full book of such events for the Game Master to use. To mark the passage of time, after the playthrough of a Moment and any subsequent downtime, the play of Miseries & Misfortunes switches to narrative scenes in which the lives of the Player Characters’ dependents are examined to see what has happened to them in the meantime and how they might have been affected by the actions of the Player Characters.

To support the ‘Moments’, ‘Mode de Jeu’ breaks down two types of plots—quests and intrigues—and discusses how to prepare for play. This includes right at the start of a campaign and comes with some excellent suggestions, such as having the player recap the adventures and heroics of their characters, even just the one of their characters. There is good advice on creating antagonists and the supporting cast too and the chapter ends with a discussion on safety tools. Arguably, given the nature of the setting for Miseries & Misfortunes, this could have been placed earlier in the book.

‘Petits Systémes’ or small systems, provides a number of sub-systems that expands options and rules for Miseries & Misfortunes. These begin with ‘Favour’, the gaining of the patronage from notable figures, based on the traits that these potential patrons seek or value, such as charm or cleverness or piety. If the Player Characters perform tasks and missions in accordance with those traits, they will gain patronage and be rewarded. If not, the patron will feel disappointed and even feel betrayed. The Player Characters can have more than one patron and it is suggested that beyond the first or major patron, the players should each control and roleplay a patron rather than the Game Master in what is another shift to narrative style play.

Perhaps the new addition that most players will be interested is ‘Duello’, which are rules for duelling in Miseries & Misfortunes. This starts with the legal difficulties of duelling, having been outlawed by the king’s father and grandfather, versus the desire of the nobility to satisfy their honour, and goes on to cover issuing a challenge, employing a duellist, the duelling code, and more. A duellist’s Duelling skill is based on his Mêlée and how many Lifepath skills he has in Fencer. This greatly favours the latter as it should, hence the need for some to hire a duellist to protect their honour. Ideally, the duel should be played out on a grid of squares—which can be constrained by the location and its features—with the actual cut and thrust of the swordplay done as series of initiative tests to first see who can outmanoeuvre the other and the options then available to both, such as ‘Barbed Words’, ‘Break Grips’ if the duellists are in a tie, ‘Trip’, ‘Inside Cut’, and more. There is a pleasing back and forth flow to the rules, but whilst they allow for manoeuvre and movement, these are not duelling rules for swashbuckling and cinematic play. So, footwork, but not jumping and leaping. This is all about swordplay and honour, but as the rules suggest, not necessarily to the death. Lastly, ‘Duello’ points out there are legal ramifications for duelling even when a duel does not end in a death, such as a six-month prison sentence for the soufflet—the slapping of another in the face with a glove! Overall, ‘Duello’ adds a nice combination of skill and roleplay to Miseries & Misfortunes and is likely to be one of the most used rulesets in the supplement.

Penultimately, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères takes an unpleasant turn with ‘Disease’, an examination of maladies and infections in the period. As noted in ‘Modernity’ earlier in the book, disease was rife in the period. The best that a Player Character can hope for is rest and the hope that he receives proper treatment—or at least what can be regarded as the proper treatment of the day. There are three recognised sources of treatment—Barber, Chirurgy, and Physic—which provide different means to treat different diseases. The use of the improper source, insufficient skill (represented by Gnosis , the degree of knowledge a practitioner knows, as detailed in Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane), and even a complete of skill can result in Quackery, the ability to appear to be aiding the sufferer whilst not actually doing anything to help or even inflicting further suffering. This can include a range of tonics, baths, and pills—and even prayer! The section includes a full list of diseases, their symptoms, and cures—both legitimate and quack. It all makes for very grim reading and a player had best hope that his character does not fall ill, because having to roleplay the treatment, let alone the symptoms, is not going to be pleasant. Lastly, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères gives guidelines on communications and languages in ‘Communications’.

Physically, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères is well presented and written with lots of period artwork and etchings which helps impart its historical setting. It does lack an index, but this is not so much of an issue given the compartmentalised nature of its various subjects.

Ultimately, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères is the equivalent of a Miseries & Misfortunes miscellany or a Miseries & Misfortunes companion. Some of the content is more useful than others and some does add more detail and complexity than every group will want to in engage with. ‘Chevaux’ is an example of the latter, whilst ‘Duello’ is an example of the former. Then some of it is fascinatingly revelatory, like the ‘Modernity’ essay, and in the case of ‘Disease’, both revelatory and grim. Elsewhere, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères provides support for campaigns with its discussion of ‘Moments’ and ‘Favour’ that also at the same time do shift the roleplaying game away from its Old School Renaissance roots towards a slightly more narrative style of play. Ultimately, the ‘Duello’ chapter is what is going attract the Game Master and her players to the supplement, but there is a lot more misery in the pages of Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 4: Plus de Misères to explore and bring into play.

Feathering Fantasy

One of the most interesting and innovative roleplaying games of 2021 has to be Inspirisles. Published by Hatchlings Games, Inspirisles is an Arthurian storytelling game in which young teenagers find their way into the mysterious lands of the fae that mirror the British Isles where through the Shaping of magic collect Belief enough to protect the World Tree and so become Pendragons, the descendants of Arthur and Guinevere. It is specifically designed to do three things. First it is designed to be played by young adults. Second, it is designed to be played by the deaf and the hard of hearing. Third, and as a consequence of the latter, it is designed as both an introduction to and to help teach, Deaf culture and sign language—both American Sign Language and British Sign Language. To do that it uses sign language as part of game play. Just as words, letters, numbers, and expressions are shaped out in sign language, in Inspirisles, the players Shape out their characters’ magical control of the Elements, meaning that the players are literally Shaping what their characters are Shaping, and it gives the game a wonderful physicality.

Overisles is the first campaign for Inspirales, following on from the scenario collection, Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it takes the roleplaying game in a wholly direction—into the air and island hopping across the archipelago with the Pendragons riding astride their great feathered beasts, the Nimbus. At stake is the fate of the islands. All over the islands, Disbelief, brought about through greed, corruption, cruelty, and bloodshed, is bubbling up under the Nests of the Nimbus, masses of darkness that enable the great birds’ eggs to be stolen, Belief to weaken, and the islands to be dragged down from the skies. Could the culprits be Wyrm Pirates, infamous for stealing the eggs, or could it be something else? The Silver Apples, former Pendragons who stayed on once their quests were complete rather than returning to their lives on Earth far below, have searched far and wide for the cause, but all they have found so far, are hints of shadowy creatures roaming the islands committing theft after theft.

Although Overisles does include a quick guide to creating Pendragons, the Inspirisles rulebook is needed to create the Player Characters. In addition, the Grail Guide—as the Game Master is called—requires a pair of six-sided dice for use with the campaign’s various tables. The actual play requirements for Overisles are simple. Just five participants, one of whom will be the Grail Guide, the others taking the roles of the Pendragons, ideally one for each of the setting’s four Elements. Control and use of these four Elements is done via Shaping, the magical means used to overcome Belief Barriers and enter into Disbelief Battles. The former are puzzles or problems which the Pendragons need to solve or overcome, whilst the latter are contests against a threat infused with Disbelief, for example, a troll who has built a bridge into a community and is about to pillage it. Players and their Pendragons work together to solve a problem, explaining how their Shaping and their use of their Element contribute to the solution, working through a Leader. The Leader will change from problem to problem, depending upon which Element is best suited to dealing with the current situation. Key to Shaping, of course, is the use of Sign Language.

Overisles adds another form of Shaping. This is Feathering, which represents communication between the Nimbus and the Pendragon. Eight new words are added in both British and American Sign Language to handle the instructions that a rider will give his Nimbus, whilst in game, his Pendragon will bond with his Nimbus, its feathers coming to reflect the hue of the Element that the Pendragon specialises. There are other means to cross from one island to another, such as the Sky Bridges, but riding a Nimbus gives Pendragon the freedom of movement.

The play of Overisles involves the Pendragons travelling from island to island, encountering NPCs and possibly ‘monsters’, searching for signs of Disbelief, and hopefully solving each situation or problem on each island. Their progress is tracked in two ways. One is by the Pendragons and their players, in terms of the number of Nimbus Eggs and the amount of Belief they retrieve and offer. As they retrieve and offer more of both, they will unlock stronger Shapes and gain access to better items. The other is by the Grail Guide, and is the degree of Calamity which can befall the Archipelago. Whilst Disbelief can be reduced by recovering Nimbus Eggs, if it and Calamity increase, it can trigger calamitous events, starting with a Vorm Storm, when the captain of The Gallant Gull, which takes the Pendragons to Wingrest, the biggest island of the archipelago and the starting point for the campaign, loses control of his emotions all the way up to one of the Nests plummeting to the ground below, and beyond. When this occurs, the Pendragons have to act immediately in order to prevent a disaster.

Overisles details numerous NPCs across the Archipelago, including the four Crests who lead the peoples across the islands, the elite of the Silver Apples—including a very truthful Squirrel, and dangerous beings, like the Corrupted Glow (Glow are winged and birdlike creatures who research Belief, but the Corrupted Glow have been overcome by Disbelief) and Wyrm Pirates. Wingrest is described in broad detail, and there are a number of interesting NPCs that the Pendragons can encounter here in addition to the Crests.

A good quarter of Overisles is dedicated to describing the twenty islands of the Archipelago. For example, Felisia is home to many cats, including its king, Cat Sith. Its notable features include the Great Cat Tree, decorated with colourful tassels and ribbons, and dotted with sun dappled platforms and homes; the Sunning Hills, carpeted with lush grass where the Feliseans can bask or catch fish from the verdant pools; and the Green Fields, which consist of fields of catnip and cat grass, all to please the inhabitants’ sense of smell. It is inhabited by the Feliseans, anthropomorphic cats. Of late though, dark clouds have been rolling over the Sunning Hills at a moment’s notice, and where Cat Sith once hosted picnics, festivals, fishing competitions, and more, he has not been seen in weeks. The Pendragons will want to find out why and this is presented as a series of tasks that will see them climb the Great Cat Tree to Cat Sith’s palace, stand in for him at a festival, and come to his aid. These tasks are presented in succinct fashion and the Grail Guide will want to flesh them out and add a little colour too. All of the island descriptions follow a similar pattern—a description of a handful of important locations and NPCs, the problem causing Disbelief on the island, and the tasks to be done to overcome the Disbelief.

What this means is that the Pendragons have twenty islands to explore in any fashion that they want. That though may be a problem. The Players may not necessarily know which island to visit first and there are no real links in terms of hooks or pointers which will pull the Pendragons from one island to the next. On the one hand, this gives both them and their players a lot of freedom, but that freedom can be daunting. Thus, the Grail Guide may want to throw in some hooks and rumours in order to give her players some ideas as to where their Pendragons should go. One thing that the Grail Guide has to do is decide who is actually responsible for the rise in Disbelief across the Archipelago. Several suggestions are given, but the Grail Guide will need to decide as to who and why.

Physically, Overisles is brightly presented and decently written. The artwork is bright and engaging, one particularly enjoyable piece is of the island of Wingrest floating unseen over the British Isles.

Where Overisles has a problem is that it is underwritten in places and is perhaps too open in its structure, such that it lacks a good starting point and hooks to give reasons for the Pendragons to go to an island and their players to want their Pendragons to go to an island. It is here that it needs development upon the part of the Grail Master and that is in addition to deciding who the villain of the piece is. Inspirales does deserve a campaign, but Overisles is not quite the campaign it fully deserves. It needs a bit more input to run than it should and for less experienced players this could be off-putting. Of course, there are no other campaigns for Inspirales, so Overisles is the only option. Once the preparation has been done, Overisles will be a decent option, not just the only option.

—oOo—

Hatchlings Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

The Other OSR: Miseries & Misfortunes III

Miseries & Misfortunes is a roleplaying game set in seventeenth century France designed and published following a successful Kickstarter campaign by Luke Crane, best known for the fantasy roleplaying game, Burning Wheel. Notably, it is based on the mechanics of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. Originally, Miseries & Misfortunes appeared as a fanzine in 2015, but its second edition has since been developed to add new systems for skills, combat, magic, and more. However, the underlying philosophy of Miseries & Misfortunes still leans back into the play style of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. For example, the differing mechanics of rolling low for skill checks, but high for combat rolls and saving throws. Plus, the Player Characters exist in an uncaring world where bad luck, misfortune, and even death will befall them and there will be no one left to commiserate or mourn except the other characters and their players. Further, Miseries & Misfortunes is not a cinematic swashbuckling game of musketeers versus the Cardinal’s guards. It is grimmer and grimier than that, and the Player Characters can come from all walks of life. That said, it is set in the similar period as Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, so will be familiar to many players. The other major inspiration for Miseries & Misfortunes is Les Misères et les Malheurs de la Guerre, a set of eighteen etchings by French artist Jacques Callot that grimly depict the nature of the conflict in the early years of the Thirty Years War.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane is the third of the roleplaying game’s rulebooks. The first, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 1: Roleplaying in 1648 gives the core rules for the roleplaying game, and the second, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 2: Les Fruits Malheureux provides the means to actually create Player Characters, and together they make up the core rules. Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane does two things. One is that it provides the rules for learning and casting various types of magic and the other is a set of Lifepaths for both religious and arcane character types. The Game Master can make use of some of the Lifepaths without making use of the rules for magic.

Magic in Miseries & Misfortunes can only be learned through the reading and studying of the written word. This is primarily from grimoires which contain hidden truths far beyond that of the two divine books of Christianity—the Book of God and the Book of Nature. This knowledge is called ‘Gnosis’ and it is required to perform rituals, cast spells, and mix formulae. Through Gnosis, a practitioner can study the physical and metaphysical properties of the world and learn to alter numerous substances through Chymistry; Goëtia to summon and command demons; Necromancy to affect the world, particularly spirits and the dead; Theology to understand and communicate with the divine to invoke prayers of one’s faith; and Theurgy to summon and bind aerial spirits or angels. There are parallels certainly in the study of ‘Gnosis’ and the Mythos of Call of Cthulhu, but with differences. One is that there is no Sanity loss for reading the grimoires in Miseries & Misfortunes, but the other is that where a Player Character will know how much Cthulhu Mythos knowledge his Investigator has, a Player Character in Miseries & Misfortunes does not. Instead, it is kept secret by the Game Master.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane lists some one-hundred-and-forty grimoires. Most have a language requirement to be read, and any attempt to read a grimoire can lead to a successful interpretation or a misinterpretation. The reader who misinterprets a grimoire can attempt to read it again, but the amount of Gnosis he can learn from it is reduced. If this happens too many times, the grimoire actually becomes useless. A reader’s Gnosis also needs to be high enough to be able to interpret the grimoire, which takes time. However, a failure to misinterpret can lead to a long period of meditation without learning anything, the learning of false knowledge, and again, the degradation of the text. The process takes time, whatever the outcome. Another way of gaining Gnosis is through appreciation of great art and beauty, though the Player Character needs to be open to this rather than being stubborn.

Once learned, Gnosis represents the degree of knowledge a practitioner knows, no matter which tradition he follows or studies, each of which has its own skill. Chymistry includes a list of chymical formulae; Goëtia comes with a list of demons, their form and office—the latter the purview of their powers, and Demons can only be summoned at certain times of the day; Necomancy a list of highly detailed spells; Theology divides its prayers between those used by Catholics and those used by Protestants; and Theurgy, a surprisingly short list of Angels and their offices. Notably, each of the practices has its own set of unintended results and catastrophic results, many of which are quite amusing. In addition to the major difficulties of learning and casting, there are social challenges in learning Gnosis. Many of the traditions have been declared heresy and practitioners are hunted by the Inquisition.

The particular tradition that a practitioner studies depends on the Lifepaths they have followed. Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane includes five new Lifepaths. These are Exorcist, Jesuit Priest, Occultist, Protestant Pastor, and Philosopher. Thus, the Exorcist studies Goëtia, the Jesuit Priest and the Pastor Theology, the Occultist both Goëtia and Theurgy, and the Philosopher, Chymistery. All five begin a six-sided die’s worth of Gnosis.

Physically, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane is well presented and written, and although it does include some examples, these feel underwritten in places. It is illustrated with a period artwork and etchings which helps impart its historical setting. If it is missing anything, it is an index, but at just forty pages, this is not too much of an issue.

Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane provides a solid set of rules for adding ‘magic’ to the world of Miseries & Misfortune, although it is not really magic or even as simple as magic. In many cases the practitioners are dealing with the profane and the heretical, so dangerous both metaphysically and socially. It also takes time to research and interpret, so it involves more effort and work than most magic systems, so more commitment upon the part of the players and their characters. Of the traditions, Theurgy does feel underwritten, but the others are nicely detailed, and if there is anything missing, it is a Nun Lifepath and notes for Gnosis studying NPCs. Otherwise, Miseries & Misfortunes – Book 3: The Sacred & The Profane expands its Early Modern France setting both mechanically and thematically adding dangerous knowledge.

Your Own Private Arcane Academy

Academies of the Arcane has a problem. Or rather, the subject matter of Academies of the Arcane has problem. Academies of the Arcane is a roleplaying supplement about creating and playing in your own school of wizardry. Which means that it draws comparisons with the series of novels starring Harry Potter and set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and by association, the contentious views of the series’ author, J.K. Rowling. Academies of the Arcane and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are about academic institutions modelled on British boarding schools with their own peculiar practices and traditions where magic is researched and taught. That though, is where the comparisons end. For although there is nothing to stop a Game Master and her players using Academies of the Arcane to create and roleplay a game similar to that of the Harry Potter, should they so desire, that is not its raison d’etre. In fact, doing so would actually be to ignore the possibilities and options that the book presents that enable the Game Master and her players to create their school of magic and everything associated with it—school uniforms, school houses, teachers, locations, events, classes, and more—and roleplay their students’ time at the school.

Academies of the Arcane is a supplement for Troika! Numinous Edition. Published by the Melsonian Arts Council following a successful Kickstarter campaign, presents some forty or so tables, over a third of the supplement, for creating numerous different aspects of an institution dedicated to the teaching of magic. Academies of the Arcane does not start there though. It begins with advice and suggestions for the Game Master on how to use the book and the types of campaign frameworks and framework elements it can be used for. These include using the magical school as a place of intrigue, betrayal, and treachery; as a base of operations from which the students can set out to undertake the very dangerous process of learning magic—at the school and beyond; to explore the pride and factionalism of the board school model and its houses, but with wizards and magic; and play not as young students, but as graduate students or members of the faculty, or interlopers at the school with a mission of their own. None of these concepts are explored in any great detail, but they are solid starting points from which Game Masters and players can develop their own frameworks, aided of course, by the familiarity of Academies of the Arcane’s subject matters and settings.

Academies of the Arcane provides some thirty-six student Backgrounds. These begin with the Prodigal Magus—who just happens to have an interesting birthmark or scar that glows when he casts spells, and the Warlock of the Withered Ouroboros, who is trying to avoid the fate of being consumed by his own magic. All have several possessions and several advanced skills, including spells, as well as a special ability. Others include odder creations such as Tiger Conceptual, Worm Troll, Printer’s Devil, and Precocious Ooze. These is a fantastic mix of the ordinary and the outré, and whilst a player can choose one from the thirty-six available, rolling for his character’s Background as intended adds to the challenge. Added to this are some ninety or so spells, from Acumen, Alignment Language, and Astral Parasite to Window-Weald, Word Feaster, and Wormcast. The spells are as weird and wonderful as the Backgrounds, such as the Word Feaster which enables the caster to eat the vocabulary of another wizard and effective silence them temporarily; Discordance which disrupts time with the terrible singing of the cosmos and upends the initiative stack in combat; and Manifest Doubt, which reveals a flaw in a personal philosophy, forcing the victim to collapse into painful introspection or double down on his belief. The spell notes that no philosophy is truly pure and so there is always a flaw to take advantage of.

Then Academies of the Arcane presents the tables needed to create an academy. This starts with the name such as ‘Father Ankou’s Cage of Arcane Triumph’ or ‘Drimcliff University of the Torment Eternal’. After this, rolls are made for campus appearance, interior and exterior, nearby notable locations, school uniform, history, recent troubles, and rumours. There are tables for creating houses and their mascots and mottos, notoriety and troubles, and for the classes and subjects that the Player Characters can take and study. As well as tables for creating members of the faculty, there is guidance for running classes and the school itself, and even a wizarding competition. Rounding out the book is a wild selection of interesting magical items such as familiars, The Adder-Skin Book of New Fate, Ancient Indelible Foods of the Gods, and more, all of which be used to drive stories at the wizarding school.

Although Academies of the Arcane is designed to be played used Troika!, a Science Fantasy roleplaying game of baroque weirdness, it need not be. Both Academies of the Arcane and Troika! are Old School Renaissance adjacent, in addition to being British Old School Renaissance in its inspiration. The simplicity of the mechanics Troika! and Academies of the Arcane—the latter’s spells in particular, combined with the lack of mechanics in its numerous tables and the prompts they contain, mean that the supplement is easy to use as a framework in another roleplaying game. This could be generic like the Cypher System or Savage Worlds or a retroclone like Old School Essentials. Either way, Academies of the Arcane is sufficiently generic to make adapting to another set of rules or a setting relatively easy.

Physically, Academies of the Arcane is cleanly and tidily presented. The artwork is excellent whether of the inclusive nature of the student body, the wonder of the arcane, or the exquisite nature of the magical items. The clarity of the design to Academies of the Arcane means that it has few problems and even then, they are minor at best. One is the size of the book, larger than that typical of supplements for Troika! Then again, getting all of the supplement’s tables into a digest-sized book and making them useable would have been challenging. The other is perhaps the brevity of the content, but then that content is designed as an extensive series of prompts to push the Game Master and her players to create their own arcane academy. However, that leaves one element of the genre unaddressed and likely intentionally so. Academies of the Arcane focuses on the fantasy of the magic and learning the magic and ignores the ordinary aspects of living in the equivalent of boarding school (for magic). So, there is no contrast between the ordinary and extraordinary, no push and pull between the two. The problem with doing so of course returns Academies of the Arcane to the problem of its subject matter and comparisons with Harry Potter, which could have been contentious. Thus, the aspect of the setting is left unmentioned and unexplored and in the hands of the Game Master and her players should they decide to include it in their game.

Ultimately, Academies of the Arcane provides everything the Game Master and her players need to run a game set at a sorcerous school, but not just any institute of invocation. Instead, an academy of the arcane that they create and make their own, telling the stories of their students, their studies, their rivalries, and adventures, and that is what makes Academies of the Arcane the toolkit of choice for its genre.

Scenarios for Shaping

One of the most interesting and innovative roleplaying games of 2021 has to be Inspirisles. Published by Hatchlings Games, Inspirisles is an Arthurian storytelling game in which young teenagers find their way into the mysterious lands of the fae that mirror the British Isles where through the Shaping of magic collect Belief enough to protect the World Tree and so become Pendragons. It is specifically designed to do three things. First it is designed to be played by young adults. Second, it is designed to be played by the deaf and the hard of hearing. As a consequence of the latter, it is designed as both an introduction to and to help teach, Deaf culture and sign language—both American Sign Language and British Sign Language. To do that it uses sign language as part of game play. Just as words, letters, numbers, and expressions are shaped out in sign language, in Inspirisles, the players Shape out their characters’ magical control of the Elements, meaning that the players are literally Shaping what their characters are Shaping, and it gives the game a wonderful physicality.

The first supplement to be released for Inspirisles is Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology. This is a collection of short adventures written by diverse range of writers which are intended to run after the players and their Pendragons have played through ‘Questing Day’, the scenario in the core rulebook. Most of them can played through in a single session or so, but a few might take two sessions, and for the most part, consist of a number of challenges in which the Pendragons will Shape their magic and roleplay around. The anthology opens with Logan Timmins’ ‘Birthday Ball’, in which the Pendragons attend the best birthday party ever held on Avalon, which proves not only difficult to get into, but the organisers also need help getting it ready! The party and event theme continues with ‘Feeding into the Festivities’ by Jerrod Bacon, but instead of a birthday party, the Pendragons attend the Miasma Food Festival, get to play in a few festival games, and help out by gathering ingredients and then by cooking themselves. There are some nice recipes included here and suggestions how the Pendragons can use their Shaping to do the cooking. Dave Thaumavore’s ‘The Great Barrow Derby’ is a step up in complexity and as the Pendragons travel to Barrow to join a competition run there by the Piskies, although initially, they are not given the welcome they would normally expect. There are protests about the event and the Pendragons will have to compete if they are to uncover what lies behind the protests.

The fourth adventure is Bee’s ‘Paint the Night’. It takes place in Shedscale where the Pendragons have come to relax, but instead find a flustered young Wyrmbitten in need of their help. She has a fireworks display to put on and is overwhelmed by the task. This is an opportunity for the Pendragons to bring their Belief into play and so help put on a stunning event. ‘The Polar Express’ by Small Red Robin is set in the frozen north where they are asked to go in search of a postal worker who is late, only to discover his sleigh has been attacked by a wilderwyrm and needs to be repaired. Helping with the deliveries gets them getting caught up in a rivalry between local wrestler, before being chased home by the wilderwyrm. There is more plot to this scenario and elements nicely come back to hunt the Pendragons. Ashley Cheeseman’s ‘A Bridge and a Song’ in contrast is a city adventure, set in Weldspa. The city comes under attack by Trolls who are building another bone bridge which will get them over the city walls. The city’s G.O.A.T. (Grand Operations Against Trollkind) Commander asks the Pendragons to help stop the bridge builders even as his own forces hold back the rest of the Trolls. The scenario sets up a simple race against time and make use of Inspirisles’ Calamity Meter to measure the severity of the challenge the Pendragons will face.

‘A Rising Storm’ by Marren J.T. MacAdam sets up a quest straight away—can the Pendragons track down the dread wyrm pirate captain, Serenalyne? At stake is a cache of stolen Belief that will help heal the World Tree. Set in Trident, the Pendragons appear to be luck because the cache is only being guarded in the pirates’ cave hideout. Can the Pendragons sneak in, take the cache, and get out again before the dread wyrm pirate captain, Serenalyne returns? Well, yes they can, but that is when they get picked up by another ship taking a keen interest in their activities. If there is an issue here it is that the dread wyrm pirate captain does make an appearance and this scenario is either deserving of a sequel where she does—perhaps she tracks the Pendragons down to get the cache of Belief back?—or at least more of an appearance here. Robin S. Carver’s ‘Journey to the Cave of Black Lights’ sends the Pendragons in a different direction—deep into the belly of the Underisles for a dance competition. It proves to be a difficult journey, but it is a chance for the Pendragons to experience a different environment so the scenario should ideally run after they have visited several of the other places in the Overisles. The scenario ends with the Pendragons being offered the chance to learn some Shadow Shaping and warning of what that entails… The last adventurer in the collection is ‘Rockshow’ by Rowan Thorley. The Pendragons receive an invitation from the Knockers of Penreggi to a rock concert. Rock of another kind lies at the heart of scenario’s plot, which involves the appearance of a much older Pendragon and some pleasing links to Dorset and the Jurassic Coast.

Rounding out Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology in the third chapter is a set of nine new Shapes in both American and British Sign Language. This nicely adds to the vocabulary begun in Inspirisles.

Physically, Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology is brightly presented. However, it does need an edit in places and the only illustrations are of the new Shapes in the third chapter. What is missing from the collection is both an index and a contents page. Given the relative length of the supplement, the absence of the latter is more of an issue.

Throughout all of the scenarios in Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology, the Pendragons are given opportunities to share their adventures and tell a tale or two, and so increase their fame and reputation. In terms of content, Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology does focus on celebrations and festivities. Consequently, as much as it gives the collection a certain joyousness, the occasionally one-note feel makes the anthology difficult to use. That said, many of the scenarios would work as shorter affairs between longer, more involved scenarios, ones that deal with some of the bigger themes and elements in Inspirisles, such as ensuring that the World Tree is not poisoned by Disbelief and Calamity does not befall the Overlisles. However, the relative brevity of the scenarios means that they are easy to read and easy to prepare, and thus easy to run as demonstration scenarios where an explanation of both sign language and deaf culture may be required.

Overall, Shapes of Adventure: An Inspirisles Anthology is a solid collection of nine scenarios for Inspirisles that Game Master can use to demonstrate the roleplaying game or work into her campaign with a little care.

Shaping the Story

In ages past, following the defeat and death of King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, Queen Guinevere slipped through the All’s Well portal and into the mysterious lands of the fae that were a mirror to the British Isles. These lands were and are known for their magics—their ability to Shape, that is the Shaping of the four elements—Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, and two powerful opposing energies, Belief and Disbelief. Disbelief, brought about through greed, corruption, cruelty, and bloodshed, is strong enough to damage the World Tree at the base of the Islands, but Belief can be stronger still, strong enough to restore the health of the World Tree. The islands are also home to many fae, known as the Friends. These include the flightless, but birdlike Glimmer who sometimes use Shadowshaping for criminal ends; the goatlike Capra, typically traders, but who dislike Trolls and their bridges; the four-armed Piskies who like building automata; the regal Wyrmbitten who regret knowing nothing about their heritage; the turtlelike Bucca who prefer the freedom of the ocean; the molelike Knockers who enjoy solitary lives digging for silver and gems; the winged and birdlike Glow, who research Belief; and the Giantheld, peaceful stone giants. Queen Guinevere found the Islands at war with powerful Shape-wielding Wyrms who hoarded Belief, the conflict enabling Disbelief to wither the World Tree. Together, Queen Guinevere and the fae forced the Wyrms into hiding, and she made a pact with the fae, that whenever the World Tree was poisoned by Disbelief, some of her descendants would follow their dreams into the Islands, and there learn to Shape magic, collect enough Belief, and so heal the World Tree. Every few generations, several teenagers enter the Islands and learn and adventure together. They are known as Pendragons, and once their adventures are over, they can return to the real world as if no time has passed at all, but some do stay, and continue to adventure and even train new Pendragons.

This is the setting for Inspirisles, a storytelling roleplaying game published by Hatchlings Games. It is a storytelling game set in a magical realm, in which teenagers learn to Shape the elements and go on adventures together, solve puzzles, combat Disbelief through Belief—though not through bloodshed as it is forbidden in the Islands, heal the World Tree, and prevent Calamity befalling the islands. The latter is done by undertaking a second quest—the recovery of the pieces of Excalibur which were stolen following King Arthur’s burial in the Islands. Calamity is gained by failing tasks or tests, and as it grows, Trolls build new bridges into communities and ravage them, cold iron is used to kill fae, a Wellbeing from another dimension appears via the All’s Well, and the Questing Beast might slip free of the Underisles to stalk the Pendragons.

Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Inspirisles is inspired by Arthurian legend and Celtic myth, and by films such as Labyrinth and The Neverending Story. Designed to be played by teenagers and young adults, it is written to be inclusive of identity and gender. Ideally, this should be five players, one for each of the four Elements, plus the Grail Guide, the name for the Game Master in Inspirisles. More particular though is the fact that it is designed to be played by the deaf and the hard of hearing, and to support that, not only does it provide an introduction to and help teach Deaf culture and sign language—both American Sign Language and British Sign Language—it uses sign language as part of game play. Just as words, letters, numbers, and expressions are shaped out in sign language, in Inspirisles, the players Shape out their characters’ magical control of the Elements. Of course, magic has always had a somatic aspect, even in something like the shaping and casting of Isho in SkyRealms of Jorune, but in Inspirisles, the players are literally Shaping what their characters are Shaping, and it gives the game a wonderful physicality.

A Pendragon is simply defined and very quick to create. They have a name and set of preferred pronouns, a past memory of their ancestor’s time in the Islands and a connected Friend associated with that memory, a preferred Element (Air, Earth, Fire, or Water) and its associated patron, a hobby they are passionate about, and a Sanctuary which is entered via the Questing Cabin they share with their fellow Pendragons. The Questing Cabin is somewhere they can reflect on their adventures and plan further adventures. The latter is a personal space where they will always feel safe and contains five items which are important to them. Several tables are provided for the players to choose from if they are short of ideas.

Name: Bowie
Pronouns: Them/Their
Element: Water Patron: Athelyn Friend: Wyrmbitten
Hobby: Tarot
Sanctuary: My grandmother’s room with its rich colourful hangings, smell of incense, well-worn and much used tarot deck on the table, and a plate of her favourite biscuits
Items Worn: Headphones, nose piercing, jumper
Items Carried: Ukulele, mug

Mechanically, Inspirisles is all about its magic through the Elements and Shaping. Both Elements and Shaping are used to overcome Belief Barriers and enter into Disbelief Battles. The former are puzzles or problems which the Pendragons need to solve or overcome, whilst the latter are contests against a threat infused with Disbelief, for example, a troll who has built a bridge into a community and is about to pillage it. Players and their Pendragons work together to solve a problem, explaining how their Shaping and their use of their Element contribute to the solution, working through a Leader. The Leader will change from problem to problem, depending upon which Element is best suited to dealing with the current situation.

Shaping itself comes in three Levels—Weak, Strong, and Potent. These are increasing complexities of sign language, from signing out simple words to facial expressions and body language to full sentences with syntax. At its simplest, a player and their Pendragon would sign ‘W-A-T-E-R’ or ‘E-A-R-T-H’, and the greater the Level of the Shaping, the more bonuses can be contributed to a situation. Learning to Shape—and thus sign language—is helped by the Lexicon in Inspirisles’ appendices of both American Sign Language and British Sign Language.

To undertake a Test, the Leader rolls three six-sided dice, the target number always being eleven or more. The difficulty is represented by the number of Tests, typically one, two, or three, but can go as high as five for tough opponents or situations, that the Pendragons have to pass. A roll of three or four is an automatic failure and always adds Disbelief to the Calamity Meter, whilst a roll of seventeen or eighteen is an Unshakeable success and grants the Pendragons Belief. The Level of Shaping and the contribution of the other Pendragons both add bonuses and allow rerolls. As aggressive Elements, Air and Fire can force an opponent to reroll some of their dice, whilst the defensive Earth and Water enable a Leader to reroll some of their dice. In Disbelief Battles, the dominant Element—Fire dominates Earth, Earth dominates Air, Air dominates Water, and Water dominates Fire—can remove an opponent’s capacity to reroll. The point of having the one Leader roll is that it keeps the mechanics simple and fast, but by having everyone else round the table contribute, Inspirisles encourages teamwork.

For example, the Pendragons need to cross over to a nearby island, but the bridge has been badly damaged in a severe storm. If they can get to the island, they hope to find out why. The Pendragons decide that Dana will be the Leader as the dominant Element is Earth, her player described how she will restore and repair the bridge. In turn, Bowie describes how she Shapes the Water to keep it away from the bridge and so prevent it from being washed away, Ember will Shape Fire to light the way, and Nolan will Shape the Air to make it easier to lift the stones of the bridge back into place. Each of the players successfully Shapes and their Element, granting a bonus of four to the roll. Dana rolls the three six-sided dice and gets one, two, and three. With the bonus of four, this gives a total of ten, so not enough to succeed. Fortunately, Earth is the dominant Element and allows a Leader to reroll. So Dana’s player rerolls the one and gets a two, which changes the total to eleven and thus a success.

For the Grail Guardian, there is advice on the types of Tests which Shaping can be used in, including Smarts, Speed, Survival, and Social Tests, handling and narrating failure, and more, noting that whilst injury is possible, Bloodshed is not. There is only a small selection of ‘monsters’ or threats described, but the Grail Guardian could easily find other sources. Besides a description of the Islands and the Underisles—written as a tour, there is an adventure, ‘Questing Day’ and suggestions to further inspire the Grail Guardian.

Where Inspirisles comes up short is really handling Pendragon progression—it is possible to be rewarded with items infused with the Elements which add bonuses in Tests, but Inspirisles never gets round to detailing its end point, that is what happens at the World Tree and the giving of collected belief there. Whilst there are Cheat Sheets for Belief Barrier and Disbelief Battle Tests, both are perfunctory at best, and do not reference the rules for them earlier in the book. In fact, the rules for Belief Barrier and Disbelief Battle Tests are best explained in the examples rather than the rules. This is compounded by the lack of an index, which would have made everything much, much easier to find.

Physically, Inspirisles is clearly presented and written in an engaging and personal style. The reader is constantly addressed by in-game characters and the book is illustrated with bright depictions of Pendragons, and the Islands and their inhabitants. The book could have been better organised in places and it definitely needs an index. Overall though, there is very much a sense of warmth to the book.

Inspirisles is primarily a roleplaying game written for the Deaf community to play, but it is also a teaching aid in that students (and others) can learn both sign language and the skill of storytelling through play of Inspirisles. As the latter it does have its limitations in that it is only primer, and likewise, being aimed at a teenage audience does mean that it will not necessarily appeal to everyone. Another limitation perhaps is that not everyone will want to learn a sign language to play, so Inspirisles is unlikely to be for them. Then again, think of it as learning magic, and actually learning something new and magical which has a use away from the table.

Inspirisles is definitely a roleplaying game with an audience which is unfortunately not always considered by the hobby, but by creating a roleplaying game built around sign language, Hatchling Games has created a game which supports and recognises the way in which the Deaf community communicates and brings a physicality to the play. The result is that Inspirisles is both a clever way and a novel way in which to introduce gaming to the Deaf community and both Deaf culture and sign language to the gaming community.

A Spellbinding Corollary

Magic plays a vital role in the world of Glorantha and thus RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. Characters—both Player Characters and NPCs—commonly have access to magic, typically Rune magic and Spirit magic. The manifestation of the former represents the connection between the mortal world and the realm of the gods, between Age of Time and God Time, and bringing of the power the gods into the mundane realm, whilst the manifestation of the latter is the result of communicating with the spirits found in world’s natural energies. Rune magic is the more powerful of the two and characters have only limited access to it, whereas Spirit magic can be more freely cast to limited effect. What that means in terms of gameplay is that every player needs to know what his character’s spells do and every Game Master what her NPCs’ spells do. This is where The Red Book of Magic comes to the fore.

The Red Book of Magic, however, is much more than just a big list of spells. Published by Chaosium, Inc., it is in fact two big lists of spells—one for Rune magic and Spirit magic—and then some more. Between the two lists it details some five hundred and more spells, almost four-hundred-and-fifty Rune spells and almost seventy Spirit magic, of which over one-hundred-and-fifty Rune magic spells and over thirty Spirit magic spells that are new to RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. Further, there is an explanation of spell terminology, explanations of how both types of magic are cast and work—and appear, sound, and feel to work when cast, discussion of rituals, and more. The coverage though is wholly upon Rune and Spirit magic rather than either Sorcery. Doubtless, it will receive its own supplement, as may Shamanism—which of course uses Spirit magic, but its greater effects are more than just simple Spirit magic, and of course, a book devoted to Rune magic and Spirit magic, like The Red Book of Magic, has greater utility in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

Within Glorantha itself, The Red Book of Magic is an important magical text, consisting of fragments of the Red Revised Book, itself based on the much earlier Red Book, penned by Zzabur the Sorcerer Supreme. The Red Revised Book was the first work to separate Rune magic from Spirit magic, and to codify numerous different spells with near-identical effects, for example, Bladesharp or Heal, into a common spell with a simple and widely accepted descriptive name. It is supplemented by the Carmanian mystic Hepherones’ Statement of Magic, which serves to add colour before going into detail, but in effect, what this means that The Red Book of Magic is a resource in game and out, and thus any character–and thus his player or her Game Master—could consult its pages (barring technicalities such as literacy of course). Most of all though, with descriptions of hundreds of spells, The Red Book of Magic is a simple and accessible resource to have at the table, its size making it a lot easier to reference than the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha rulebook.

In the pages of the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha rulebook there is an emphasis upon the Rune spells known by the cults associated by the Lightbringers, which is understandable given their prominence in Sartar and its surrounds, the default setting for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. The Red Revised Book expands greatly upon that list of spells, with lots of new Rune spells associated with the Beast, Chaos, Fire, and Plant Runes. So for example, Butterflight is a Beast spell grants the caster the wings of the butterfly and the ability to fly, and Summon Insect Swarm enables the caster to summon swarms of insects of various sizes, depending upon the Rune points stacked into the spell; Bat Wings is a Moon and Chaos spell which grants bat’s wings to members of the cult of the Crimson Bat and Devour Book a Chaos spell which enables the caster to rip the knowledge from books, scrolls, and even carvings; Arrow of Light is a Fire spell which inflicts one six-sided die’s worth of damage direct to the target’s Hit Points ignoring armour if his POW is overcome and Destroy Clouds clears the immediate sky of clouds; and Chameleon is a Plant spell which increases the caster’s Hide skill and lets him use it when moving and Plant Spy turns any plant it is cast on into a remote spy, transmitting sound and touch to caster from its leaves. Similarly, there are numerous spells for the Darkness, Illusion, and Water Runes.

Spirit magic is given a similar treatment, again exploring how it is cast and works—and then appears, sounds, and feels to work when cast, and so on, before detailing its descriptions. Fun new spells given here include Hotfoot, which causes a burning sensation in the target’s strong enough that they cannot stand upon it, Sneeze which inflicts a nearly incapacitating sneezing fit on the target, and Solace, which relieves the mental distress in a target. In comparison with the Rune magic spells, the Spirit magic spells, certainly the new ones, feel less useful, because every Rune spell description includes its associated Runes, and therefore it is actually easier to link them to their casters and their cults, whether that is Plant Rune spells for Aldryami, the Chaos Rune for various vile Chaos worshippers as well as Lunar worshippers, and the Darkness Rune for Trolls.

The other reason why The Red Book of Magic is a useful resource is that in addition to presenting new spells adds a handful of new rules and other elements. This includes rules for creating new Rune spells, which when combined with the wide range of Rune spells in the supplement, could be used by the Game Master to create her own cults for her game; the addition of monsters like the War Tree (which requires the Plant Rune spells Animate War Tree and Create War Tree to create and control) and Manlings (Chaotic humanoids which bud from the caster of the spell, Spawn Manling); a guide to Rune metals and their properties; how illusions work with the various Illusion Rune spells such as Illusory Sight and Illusory Substance; and the collection and use of healing plants. In addition, many of the spells previously presented in other supplements and scenarios for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha have been revisited and revised—not such that they function differently, but rather to provide clarity. For example, the Heal Wound Rune spell is accorded supplementary information that not only clarifies its function, but explains how it works from cult to cult.

The Red Book of Magic is not without its issues. One is that there is no list of Rune magic spells, when there is a list of Spirit magic spells. In part, this is understandable. The list of Spirit magic spells is less than a page long whereas such a list of Rune magic spells runs to forty pages (the Rune Spell Reference Tables are available for free download as well as accompanying the PDF for the supplement), and that would increase the book’s page count by a third. Similarly, there is no list of spells by cult for either Rune magic or Spirit. Again, its inclusion would have greatly increased the page count. Yet its inclusion would have been undoubtedly useful, helping Game Master and player link the various spells to the cults and thus to Glorantha as a setting. Plus it would also have made it easier to cross reference with the forthcoming Gods of Glorantha supplement. Ultimately this is not to say that The Red Book of Magic is a bad or useless supplement because it lacks either of those lists, far from it. Rather, that their inclusion would have not only enhanced the utility of what is already a very useful supplement, but gone beyond that into making it indispensable.

Physically, The Red Book of Magic is on par with the standards set by previous releases for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It is clearly written and easy to read, which after all, was the point, and it is decently illustrated.

At its most basic, The Red Book of Magic is a serviceable supplement to have at the gaming table during play, a book to refer to when the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha core rulebook is in use, and away from the gaming table, for reference by the Game Master. It is very much a useful rather than a must-have supplement, that is, at its time of publication. The usefulness of The Red Book of Magic is going to grow and grow as more supplements are released for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. Not just the forthcoming Gods of Glorantha, but future supplements devoted to the Aldryami, to Trolls, and to the Lunar Empire, for example, with The Red Book of Magic serving as the corollary or magic companion to the new supplement. (And that does not include the many titles available on the Jonstown Compendium.) Right now, The Red Book of Magic is undoubtedly useful, but for the future of your Glorantha game, it is an investment.