Solitaire: A Fistful of Feathers

Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG is a journaling game which enables the player to take to the skies as a corvidae—crow, magpie, jackdaw, or rook—over multiple landscapes and differing genres, achieving objectives, exploring, and growing as they learn and grow old. Published by Critical Kit, a publisher better known for its scenarios for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. The roleplaying game combines the simple mechanics and use of a deck of playing cards typical of a journaling game with five genres—‘Urban Crow’, ‘Cyber-Crow’, ‘Gothic Crow’, ‘Fantasy Crow’, ‘Clockwork Crow’, and ‘Ravens of the Tower’. Each of these presents a different place and time for the bird to fly over, land on, encounter the denizens, and more, whilst Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow is a supplement that took the game in an entirely different direction, to the edge of Lovecraft Country. Now, A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow takes the player all the way to American frontier. As in Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG, the player’s crow will take to the air, but here fluttering and feathering over the Rooklands, perhaps as representative of the law deputised by the local sheriff or a bounty hunter, or even an outlaw on the run. Protect towns from predating gangs, take part in a sharpshooting contests (with a tiny gun), discover a nugget of gold and trade it in for cash, and more. From the Dread Canyon and Prospector’s Peril in the north to Storm Creek and the Howling Mines in the south, the Rooklands are a frontier for your crow to explore and make her own.

Mechanically, Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG, and thus A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow is simple. It uses a standard deck of playing cards and when a player wants his bird to undertake an action, he draws a card from the deck. This sets the difficulty number of the task. To see whether the bird succeeds, he draws another card and adds the value of a skill to the number of the card if appropriate. If it is equal or greater than the difficulty number, the bird succeeds. If an action is made with Authority, whether due to circumstances or a skill, the player draws two cards and uses the highest one, whereas if made at a Penalty, two cards are drawn and the lowest value one used. When drawn, a Joker can be used or saved for later. If the latter, it can be used to automatically succeed at a combat or skill check, to heal injuries, or to discard a card and draw again. Combat is a matter of drawing a card for each opponent, adding a skill if appropriate, and comparing the totals of the cards and the skills. The highest total wins each round and inflicts an injury. Eventually, when the deck is exhausted, the discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the new deck.

The play and thus the journaling of Be Like a Crow is driven by objectives as achieving these will enable a player’s crow to advance through his lifecycle. An objective for the ‘A Fistful of Feathers’ setting, might be for example, “A wealthy merchant is convinced her husband was murdered by [character] using [object] in [location]. Try to find the evidence and bring the culprit to justice. ($3 reward)”. The player will also need to draw cards to identify the character, the object, and the location, and then as his bird flies from hex to hex across the map, draw cards for events in flight, and then for events when he lands. The player is free to, and advised to, ignore prompts if they do not fit the story, and this may be necessary if a prompt is drawn again, but ideally, the player should be using the prompts as drawn to tell a story and build the life of his crow.

A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow requires the core rules of Be Like a Crow, as well as a standard deck of playing cards. As well as providing the rules, it provides the prompts for events in flight and on land that are standard to each of the roleplaying game’s settings, but what A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow provides is its own set of tables its objectives, objects, characters, and locations. Two sets of objectives are provided, one for the red suits and one for the black suits, the same again for characters or NPCs, and again for objects and locations for A Fistful of Feathers. Thus locations can be a hotel on main street or a broken stagecoach, an object might be a single Morgan silver dollar or the skull of a vulture, and a character a snake-oil seller whose product actually does what it claims or a town sheriff who will turn a blind eye to most things if they are bribed with the right object.

Most, if not all of the entries have a Wild West theme, whether that is having to rush to a town where a character is due to be hanged for crime that he did not commit with evidence that will exonerate the condemned or a debt-ridden gambler (human or otherwise), desperate and dangerous. In addition to the core play of Be Like a Crow, what A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow does is extend the play to ‘suited, booted, and looted’. A player’s crow can earn dollars for achieving objectives and purchase objects with the money. He also has an archetype which grants a particular bonus. The Sharpshooter can inflict extra damage if the player draws a high enough card in combat. The Law Master can attempt to befriend or scare a character, and if successful, the character will give the player’s crow the information or an object in his possession. The Bounty Hunter can generate an objective to bring in a character when he lands as a bounty and if completed, will collect an object or $2. The Outlaw is hardy and resilient, suffering fewer injuries, has better navigate and search checks, and heals quicker.

In terms of locations, A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow includes its own setting, the Rooklands, a Wild West frontier of rocks, semi-desert, mesas, canyons, mines, and more. This is a classic Wild West setting as depicted on screen.

Physically, A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow is a slim affair. It is lightly illustrated with images appropriate to the genre and the map is nicely done, but it does need a slight edit. As a supplement to Be Like a Crow, there is a dusty, hot wind quality to A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow. Between the vultures overhead and the varmints on the ground, A Fistful of Feathers – a Wild West Setting for Be Like a Crow is a new way to explore a crow’s life in a classic genre from a bird’s-eye view.

Corvidae Versus Cthulhu

Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG is a journaling game which enables the player to take to the skies as a corvidae—crow, magpie, jackdaw, or rook—over multiple landscapes and differing genres, achieving objectives, exploring, and growing as they learn and grow old. Published by Critical Kit, a publisher better known for its scenarios for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. The roleplaying game combines the simple mechanics and use of a deck of playing cards typical of a journaling game with five genres—‘Urban Crow’, ‘Cyber-Crow’, ‘Gothic Crow’, ‘Fantasy Crow’, ‘Clockwork Crow’, and ‘Ravens of the Tower’. Each of these presents a different place and time for the bird to fly over, land on, encounter the denizens, and more. Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow is a supplement that takes the game in an entirely different direction, to the edge of Lovecraft Country. As in Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG, the player’s crow will take to the air, here encountering the weird and the eldritch, including cults of Pelicans, tentacled terrors terrorising boats traveling up and down the river, forests where the trees are dying from a luminously purple rot, as well as notables from Lovecraft Country, including Doctor Henry Armitage and Brown Jenkin.

Mechanically, Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG, and thus Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow is simple. It uses a standard deck of playing cards and when a player wants his bird to undertake an action, he draws a card from the deck. This sets the difficulty number of the task. To see whether the bird succeeds, he draws another card and adds the value of a skill to the number of the card if appropriate. If it is equal or greater than the difficulty number, the bird succeeds. If an action is made with Authority, whether due to circumstances or a skill, the player draws two cards and uses the highest one, whereas if made at a Penalty, two cards are drawn and the lowest value one used. When drawn, a Joker can be used or saved for later. If the latter, it can be used to automatically succeed at a combat or skill check, to heal injuries, or to discard a card and draw again. Combat is a matter of drawing a card for each opponent, adding a skill if appropriate, and comparing the totals of the cards and the skills. The highest total wins each round and inflicts an injury. Eventually, when the deck is exhausted, the discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the new deck.

The play and thus the journaling of Be Like a Crow is driven by objectives as achieving these will enable a bird to advance through his lifecycle. An objective for the ‘Crowthulhu’ setting, might be for example, “A cult of [characters] has stolen [object] from the museum. They are performing a dark ritual with it near [location]. Attempt to stop them.” The player will also need to draw cards to identify the character, the object, and the location, and then as his bird flies from hex to hex across the map, draw cards for events in flight, and then for events when he lands. The player is free to, and advised to, ignore prompts if they do not fit the story, and this may be necessary if a prompt is drawn again, but ideally, the player should be using the prompts as drawn to tell a story and build the life of his crow.

Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow requires the core rules of Be Like a Crow, as well as a standard deck of playing cards. As well as providing the rules, it provides the prompts for events in flight and on land that are standard to each of the roleplaying game’s settings, but what Crowthulhu provides is its own set of tables its objectives, objects, characters, and locations. Two sets of objectives are provided, one for the red suits and one for the black suits, the same again for characters or NPCs, and again for objects and locations for Crowthulhu. Thus locations can be the dreamer’s dimension or the bedsit of an ageing musician, an object could be a scroll of Egyptian hieroglyphics which can be traded with an academic for another object or a miniature flail made tentacles that can be used in an attack, a character a crazed sea captain who talks in riddles or Herbert West, a shamed medical student researching reanimation, and an objective that cats are disappearing from the local area and the crow must find them and prevent further disappearances or a professor at the university has found a dangerous tome and plans to harness its powers, and the crow must go there and destroy it before he can!

Most, if not all of the entries have a Lovecraftian theme, whether that is investigating why a geologist has been acting strangely after he visited a recent meteor crash or encountering Brown Jenkin who will befriend the crow, but his manner is antagonistic and he probably wants you to fail. Many of the encounters involve FEAR, whether that is with a Deep One or a swan high-priest of Crowthulhu. (Crowthulhu itself is not defined in the supplement, being left up to the player’s imagination to describe.) Fear is the new mechanic introduced in Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow. As with other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror, this measures a character’s—or crow’s—reaction to the cosmic horror of the Mythos and ability to withstand its debilitating effects. It comes into play when the Fear prompt is drawn and is tested much like a standard skill or ability test in the game. However, failure means that the crow is fearful and his player must add a tick to his Fear section on the character sheet. Once a crow has any ticks marked off under his Fear, the number acts as a penalty to all of his actions including other Fear checks, representing the traditional downward spiral of the crow’s sanity typical of the genre, though kept simple for the journaling format and style of play. It is possible for a crow to become less afraid. Either by expending a Joker card, which removes all Fear ticks, or potentially just a single one when exploring a new location.

In terms of locations, Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow includes its own setting, the Massachusetts town of Rooksbridge. This is the town in the nineteen twenties, supposedly built on a site where witches were executed in the seventeenth century, but is now best known for its relatively isolated location, along with its asylum and its university, which specialises in American history, and of course, has a library which specialises in the occult. From Blasted Heath and Crowdaw River to Independence Hill and Wytch House, has a decently hinted New England, post-colonial feel to it.

Physically, Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow is a slim affair. It is lightly illustrated with images of odd creatures, but the map is nicely done and has a period feel, plus the supplement is decently written. Crowthulhu: A Cosmic Horror Setting For Be Like A Crow flies in and out of the Cthulhu Mythos, veering between it and its own corvidae cosmic horror. It might veer too far into its own avian weirdness for the Mythos purist, but for others it provides a whole new way in which to explore the New England touched upon by Lovecraft and look upon it from a bird’s-eye view.

Solitaire: Be Like a Crow

Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG is a journaling game which enables the player to take to the skies as a corvidae—crow, magpie, jackdaw, or rook—over multiple landscapes and differing genres, achieving objectives, exploring, and growing as they learn and grow old. It is clever and thoughtful in that it makes the reader and player think outside of what they might traditionally roleplay and explore a world quite literally from a bird’s-eye view. It combines the simple mechanics and use of a deck of playing cards typical of a journaling game with five genres—‘Urban Crow’, ‘Cyber-Crow’, ‘Gothic Crow’, ‘Fantasy Crow’, ‘Clockwork Crow’, and ‘Ravens of the Tower’. Each of these presents a different place and time for the bird to fly over, land on, encounter the denizens, and more. The book is easy to read and the rules and set-up easy to grasp, such that the player can start reading and taking inspiration from the prompts in Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG and begin making recording entries in his journal, with little difficulty.

Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG is not a roleplaying game about anthropomorphic birds. The player is very much exploring worlds and recording the experiences of an actual bird, as it goes from a fledgling to a juvenile to an adult. Each bird is defined by its size and habits such as nesting, diet, notable characteristics, and habitat. In game terms, each type of bird begins play with a certain number of ticks in various skills. Skills are broken down into four categories—‘Travel & Exploration’, ‘Social Interaction’, ‘Tools & Rituals’, and ‘Combat’—each of which has four skills. A corvidae begins play with two ticks in any one skill and one tick in a skill in each category, plus ticks in five skills for his species. He also has authority with two skills. The player’s choice of setting will add ticks to certain skills as well.

Jay
Species: Magpie
Lifecycle Stage: Fledgling
Setting: Cyber-Crow
Injuries:

SKILLS
Travel & Exploration: Fly 1, Hop 1, Search 2, Navigate 1
Social Interaction:  Befriend 1, Signal –, Scare 1, Mate –
Tools & Rituals: Dance –, Sing –, Use Tool 1, Preen 1
Combat: Peck 1, Claw –, Divebomb 1, Evade 1

Mechanically, Be Like a Crow is simple. It uses a standard deck of playing cards and when a player wants his bird to undertake an action, he draws a card from the deck. This sets the difficulty number of the task. To see whether the bird succeeds, he draws another card and adds the value of a skill to the number of the card if appropriate. If it is equal or greater than the difficulty number, the bird succeeds. If an action is made with Authority, whether due to circumstances or a skill, the player draws two cards and uses the highest one, whereas if made at a Penalty, two cards are drawn and the lowest value one used. When drawn, a Joker can be used or saved for later. If the latter, it can be used to automatically succeed at a combat or skill check, to heal injuries, or to discard a card and draw again. Combat is a matter of drawing a card for each opponent, adding a skill if appropriate, and comparing the totals of the cards and the skills. The highest total wins each round and inflicts an injury. Eventually, when the deck is exhausted, the discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the new deck.

Half of Be Like a Crow consists of prompts and settings. There are prompts for events in flight and on land that are standard to all six settings, but each setting has its set of tables for objectives, objects, characters, and locations. Only one set of objectives is given for each setting, but the objects, characters, and locations are divided between the black and the red suit colours. This gives thirteen objectives per setting and double that for each of the other categories. Each setting also includes a double-page, full colour map. Notes on each setting give the extra abilities and skills that a bird gains at each stage of his lifecycle, from fledgling all the way up to ol’ crow.

The play and thus the journaling of Be Like a Crow is driven by objectives as achieving these will enable a bird to advance through his lifecycle. An objective for the ‘Clockwork Crow’ setting, might be for example, “[character] has gone missing, last seen in [location]. Air ship pirates might be involved. Travel there and find them and return them back to their home in [location].” The player will also need to draw cards to identify the character and both locations, and then as his bird flies from hex to hex across the map, draw cards for events in flight, and then for events when he lands. The player is free to, and advised to, ignore prompts if they do not fit the story, and this may be necessary if a prompt is drawn again, but ideally, the player should be using the prompts as drawn to tell a story and build the life of his crow.

Physically, Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG is a lovely little book. The artwork throughout is excellent and the book is well written and easy to use.

Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG is published by Critical Kit, a publisher better known for its scenarios for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, as is unlike anything that the publisher has released. It sets out to provide the means to explore the life of an animal, sometimes in a fantastical setting, sometimes not, constantly prompting the player to tell his crow’s story, where he went, what he did, and who he met, but always to think like a bird. In keeping a journal it enables the player to articulate and express that experience of the world around him, from a very different point of view, and that roleplaying in a non-traditional way. The result is the Player Character in Be Like a Crow soars and flaps, hops and preens, pecks and divebombs, exploring a world from above and below, always through the beady eyes of his bird. The result is that Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG is a delightfully contemplative and engagingly different playing experience.

Crow Recall

With Everyday Heroes, publisher Evil Genius Games did for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in 2202 what d20 Modern did for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition in 2002. That is, facilitate and handle roleplaying in the here and now, in the world we see outside our windows, on our television screens, and at the cinema. It went even further though by doing something not actually included in the rulebook. This is providing access to a number of source and scenario supplements all based upon a surprising range of films. In fact, a range of films which nobody expected to see turned into roleplaying material despite their popularity in the hobby. These consist of The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure, Escape From New York™ Cinematic Adventure, Highlander Cinematic Adventure, Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure, Pacific Rim Cinematic Adventure, and Total Recall Cinematic Adventure. These showcase at least, what Everyday Heroes can do and are, equally, six good reasons to play Everyday Heroes. Each entry in this Cinematic Adventure series draws on the core film it is based upon as well as extra source material, to provide background material for the setting, new options for Player Characters, advice for the Game Master, and a full-length adventure, ready to play.

The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is the first cinematic adventure sourcebook for Everyday Heroes. This draws specifically upon the 1994 film, The Crow, starring Brandon Lee, and the 1989 comic series by James O’Barr, as well as the 1996 sequel, The Crow: City of Angels. The later sequels are lesser source material for the supplement. This does mean that together, the subject for two halves of the book, scenario and sourcebook, does carry a number of subject warnings and like the comic book and film, is intended for a mature audience, dealing as it does with death and loss, drug addiction, torture, suicide, and other adult subjects. The world of The Crow and thus The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is one in which the spirits of the dead are real. Their task is to guide the souls of the recently dead to the afterlife that is the underworld, to guard the gates to the underworld, and also return with messages and omens. Yet there are some spirits who escape the Underworld and find a way back to the world of the living—they are the Reborn. If a Reborn has been returned by a Crow spirit, then he too is called ‘The Crow’, but there are many other spirits of the dead—the Butterfly, the Cat, the Moth, and others. Each type of spirit is drawn to particular types of deaths and brings those who suffer them back as Reborn and even bestows particular types of quests related to both the deaths and the types. Guided by their spirits, Reborn walk the Earth again, not as one of the living, but the living dead, tasked with enacting revenge upon those who caused their death and fulfilling the quests set by the spirit. The Reborn find the world as dark and as tragic as they left it, the strong thea desire for a better world no more than a fleeting hope...

The primary new options given in The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure are for the Player Characters. These Hero Options include a number of new Backgrounds, such as Abused, Cult Escapee, Near-Death Experience, and Suicide Survivor. Already, these showcase the dark side of the setting. The new Professions include those from the seamier and rougher side of life, including Charity worker, Chop Shop Jockey—someone who cuts up stolen vehicles for their parts, stage Magician, Occultist, and Snitch. Many of these are directly inspired by characters in the film, including the Kid and Pawn Shop Owner. Two Classes after given. The Reborn is a Wise Hero who begins with a Spirit Bond, a Reborn Body, and the ability to Vanish at will. The Reborn also has Powers, such as Death’s Power to substitute the Reborn’s Wisdom bonus for the Strength or Dexterity modifier, Share Experience of his past life with another or Force Experience on another. These require the Reborn’s player to spend Focus to activate. The Reborn also has a Mask of Death associated with his Spirit. The Spirit grants its Reborn with benefits such as skill proficiencies and enhancements to the powers it also grants. For example, the Butterfly Spirit has Charming Presence, which allows a reroll on a failed Charisma check, Glamour to change appearances, Serenity to calm someone, and Sweet Nectar to heal others. All of these powers require the expenditure of Focus and they are the gift of the Spirit that the Reborn can use. In some ways they are also the gift of the Game Master, since the Spirit is not under the control of the Reborn and his player, but is instead an NPC. This allows the Spirit to become a character in its own right rather than just an extension of the Reborn. In addition, each Spirit comes with full stats as a Tiny Monster, and a discussion of its character, the souls it is drawn to, and both the type of quests it gives and some sample quests. Eight Spirits are detailed in this fashion in The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure, including the Butterfly, the Cat, the Crow, the Mastiff, the Moth, the Owl, the Snake, and the Spider.

The other option is the Soothsayer, a Smart Hero. The Soothsayer has Talents and Plans. The Talents include ‘As Foretold’ which enables the Soothsayer to substitute one of two twenty-sided his player rolls at the start of each adventure, whilst ‘Blessing of Fortune’ lets him grant a four-sided die as a bonus to other Player Heroes. The Soothsayer’s Plans include Bend Fate, Clairvoyance, Read the Omens, Witness Your End, and more, all of which are enhanced as the Soothsayer rises in Level. In addition to the two new Hero types, The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure lists several new Feats, divided between General and Multiclass Feats. The former includes Knife Fighter, Pyro, and Ritual Lore, whilst the latter includes Soothsayer Training and Advanced Soothsayer Training letting a Player Hero with another Class gain its mystical abilities. Similarly, the Spirit Servant Multiclass Feat enables a Player Hero who is not a Reborn to acquire a Spirit companion.

The only new rules in The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure are for Ritual Magic. Although several sample rituals are included, the rules in the main are narrative-based. Mechanically, Ritual Magic consists of deciding upon the effects of the spell, researching it, learning it, and then casting the spell. The guidelines are nicely supported with a good example. Conversely, where the rules and advice on handling Ritual Magic in The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure are more than enough for the Game Master to include them in play, the advice for the Game Master for running a scenario or campaign in the style of The Crow comes up short at just two pages. There is advice here on setting the mood, having more than one Reborn—and thus more than one quest—is in play, on playing Spirit allies, and running Ritual Magic (again!), and handling prophetic dreams. However, what the advice does not cover is the setting for scenarios set in the world of The Crow or the types of villains that the Player Heroes might be attempting to enact revenge against. The advice is followed a handful of scenario hooks.

Approximately half of The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is dedicated to its adventure, ‘Prayers of the Past’, which even comes with its own soundtrack! The scenario is intended for Player Heroes of Fifth and Sixth Level and can be adjusted to be played with just one player, although the ideal number is five. It can also be run with just the one Reborn Player Hero or multiple Reborn Player Heroes. The set-up involves a Zero Session where the Player Heroes decide upon and play out what happened to the Reborn they are either playing or their Player Heroes know, which can can take a single scene or be developed into a longer session, so that the prequel to the scenario proper plays out as a series of prequels rather the one. Hooks are provided if the players cannot come up their own.

Each of the multiple Session Zeroes takes place in a different city before ‘Prayers of the Past’ draws the Player Heroes back to Detroit and the events of The Crow, coming together at Club Trash in a bloody orgy of revenge and violence. It is a solidly grim affair which works as a one-shot or even a campaign starter, overall, effectively drawing from the source material to create a situation and story which fits within that source material. Safety tools are strongly recommended throughout, if necessary, as the scenario is very much intended for a mature audience. In addition, the staging advice for Game Master is also decent throughout, and in fact, actually better in places than the scant advice given for the Game Master in her own chapter.

Lastly, ‘The Cast’ chapter provides stats and details of a variety of NPCs and more. The NPCs are divided into three categories. The first are general, including ordinary characters as well as spiritual ones, and there are suggestions here too, as to which NPC types to use to portray various characters from both The Crow and The Crow: City of Angels. These NPC types are drawn from both the Everyday Heroes core rulebook and The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure. The second category consists of NPCs for the scenario, ‘Prayers of the Past’, whilst the third consists of protagonists from both The Crow and The Crow: City of Angels. This includes Eric Draven, Darryl Albrecht, Sarah, and others. The more consists of five pre-generated Player Heroes, including a Soothsayer, an Omen of Disaster (a Reborn with a Moth Spirit bond), an Omen of Vengeance (a Reborn with a Snake Spirit bond), an Omen of Love (a Reborn with a Butterfly Spirit bond), and an Omen of Pain (a Reborn with a Crow Spirit bond). These support the scenario being played with multiple Reborn,

Physically, The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is cleanly, tidily presented. Unfortunately, the sourcebook is not illustrated with images from the films, but the artwork in their stead is decent. However, the book does need another edit in places.

The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is not a sourcebook for the world of The Crow—either the comics or the films. There is some background, more sufficient to do what The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is designed to do rather than be exhaustive. What The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is designed to do is present the means and tools for a Game Master to run and her players to roleplay a scenario or campaign in the style of The Crow and within the world of The Crow—and this, bar the underwhelming advice for Game Master—it succeeds at. The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure is a solid first entry in the series of Cinematic Adventures for Everyday Heroes, expanding it into the realms of the mystical and with new Player Hero options and a good scenario, bringing world of The Crow to the gaming table.

Crow's Black Agents

Things have been very quiet for over the last two years for A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, the RPG based on the fantasy works of George R.R. Martin published by Green Ronin Publishing. Indeed there have been two whole series of the television adaptation, A Game of Thrones, broadcast since the release of the last supplement, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night's Watch, back in 2012. This being the last supplement to be released—though more have been promised, including a full adventure, Dragon’s Hoard—is not its only distinction. One is that A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night's Watch won the 2013 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement, whilst another is that the supplement is the first to take A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying into the unknown and beyond the lands of the Seven Kingdoms.

A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night's Watch can roughly be divided in half, each half devoted to a campaigns equally divided by the Wall, the gigantic structure of ice, stone, and ancient magic that separates the warm lands of lords and kings of Westeros to the south from the frozen and brutal wilderness to the north. the Wall protects the Seven Kingdoms from ancient dangers—many considered to be no more than the stuff of legend—and the Wildlings, the free folk who kneel to no king and constantly work to bypass or ascend the Wall to raid lands beyond. the Wall is constantly manned by the men of the Night’s Watch, thieves, murderers, and members of the nobility who have forsworn their previous lives and pledged their loyalty to the only independent military force in Westeros. On the other side of the Wall the many tribes of the Wildlings live independently, surviving off the land, feuding with each other, but always with an eye to the rich, warmer lands to the south—if they can find a way past the Wall.

Both of the campaign options suggested in Night’s Watch are markedly different to the default given in A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, although the same mechanics are used. That default involves the player characters creating their own noble house and its leading members and attempting to navigate its and their military and political fortunes in the ‘Game of Thrones’ that dominates Westeros as best typified by A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Chronicle Starter—and of course, both the novels and the television series. When they ‘Take the Black’, whether low born or high born, the player characters will forget their pasts and former ties and pledge their allegiance and loyalty to the Night’s Watch—for life. Having done so, they will become Rangers who regularly guard the Wall and conduct missions to the north known as ‘Rangings’; Builders who patrol the Wall and the castles along it, making repairs and maintaining the structure of both; or Stewards, who keep the Night’s Watch organised and supplied. By the reign of Robert Baratheon, these tasks have become increasingly difficult as the stories of the dangers from other side of the Wall have become legends rather than history and the Night’s Watch has become more of a dumping ground for criminals, ne’er do wells, and those nobles who have lost in the constant feuding to the south than a duty to be fulfilled. This does not mean that the men of the Night’s Watch do not hold their duty and their oath to be unimportant, as after all, they face execution should they desert the Wall. Nevertheless, as their numbers and the number of castles on the Wall fully manned dwindle, only they suspect the growing threat as Winter draws near and Mance Rayder is said to have united all of the tribes of the Wildings as the King-Beyond-the Wall.

Creating a character for a Night’s Watch campaign uses the standard rules from A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, but where a player character would usually select a House and a Bloodline, here the Night’s Watch replaces both. Characters will also lack the Status they once had in the Seven Kingdoms. Whatever their role in the Night’s Watch, a character also starts with one less Destiny point with which to purchase Benefits, but in its stead starts with the Brother of the Night’s Watch, which comes with three options, one per branch of the Night’s Watch. In addition to Brother of the Night’s Watch, the supplement introduces a number of new Benefits and Drawbacks, such as Defensive Engineer, Favoured of Wildlings, Convict, and Kneeler. There is still room for the various Roles in A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying—Expert, Fighter, Leader, Rogue, and Schemer—but they do not figure quite as prominently as they do in a standard A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Game. Certainly the Night’s Watch is intolerant of active thieves and there is less scope for a Schemer to intrigue, though rivalries between castles of the Wall are not unknown. 

Our sample character is Endrew Waters. He can barely remember his mother, but he recalls her death and he recalls that on her deathbed, she drew a promise from the local septon that her son would be accepted as a novice of the Faith of the Seven. Orphaned, he began training as a novice, but he found another calling—entertaining. Endrew ran away to join an acting troupe and for over a decade he travelled the Seven Kingdoms, performing before audiences both low born and high born. Two years he performed before House Bracken in the Riverlands and struck up a friendship with the heir that blossomed into an affair. This lasted a few months during which Endrew became a favourite in the Bracken Household, but it was brought to an end when the heir’s mother came to him and told him to leave. Her son she said, was besotted with Endrew and she knew him well enough that he would never consent to marriage and children if Endrew did not leave—and if there was any possibility that Endrew might return, she knew her son might follow him. She gave him a choice… Hunted down like a deer in the woods or the Night’s Watch. Endrew left for the Wall the following morning.

Endrew is a reluctant member of the Night’s Watch. He hates fighting and he hates the cold. He is beginning to find a place with his ability to entertain, but his primary duties involve the repair of other brothers’ clothing and equipment.

Endrew Waters (Adult Schemer)
Agility 3, Animal Handling 2, Athletics 3, Awareness 3 (Empathy 1B), Cunning 3 (Memory 1B), Deception 4 (Bluff 1B), Endurance 3, Fighting 3 (Long Blades 1B), Healing 3, Knowledge 4 (Education 1B), Language 3 (Common, High Valyrian, Valyrian), Marksmanship 2, Persuasion 5 (Charm 1B, Seduce 1B), Status 1 (Steward 1B), Stealth 2, Survival 2, Thievery 3, Warfare 2, Will 3

Social Background: Lowborn
Background Event: You had an affair with a member of the nobility
Reason for Taking the Black: You are avoiding a scandal
Reasons for Desertion: You cannot tolerate callous cruelty
Goal: Fame Motivation: Love Virtue: Devoted Vice: Cowardly
Qualities: Destiny Points 1, Brother of the Night’s Watch (Steward), Charismatic (Charm +2), Mummer, Trade (Tailor)
Attributes
Awareness 3
Intrigue Defence 7 / Composure 9
Move 4 (3) / Sprint 16 (14)
Combat Defence 8 (10 with shield) / Armour Rating 4 / Health 9
Attack Longsword 3+1B (3 damage)
Attack Shield 3 (1 damage; defensive +2)
Personal Gear: Longsword, Ring Mail, Medium Shield, Warm Clothing, Black Cloak

Night’s Watch campaigns primarily involve guarding the Wall, but there are plenty of other options for adventures and campaigns. There are Rangings north of the Wall, tracking down Wildlings who have made it into the Gift—the lands immediately south of the Wall, racing after a deserter before he can get too far and there is reason enough for him to be executed, and travelling south to petition for more money and men for the Wall. Most of these will involve the player characters serving at one of the few castles stilled manned, most likely Castle Black, but another option given sees the player characters being given a command of their own and assigned to castle. During the reign of Robert Baratheon, this is likely to be one of the many abandoned castles along the Wall, but during an earlier period of the eight thousand history of the Wall, it might be a new castle. Restoring and managing a castle is the equivalent of running a house in a standard A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign, except that it is more challenging, the upkeep is harder, and the player characters are not trying to promulgate their family by creating an heir…

Now there is one very obvious issue with a Night’s Watch campaign. Despite its egalitarian leanings in that all men are more or less equal amongst the Night’s Watch and most positions of authority are held on merit, it does lack female roles. Now there is no reason why they cannot be included should the GM allow them in his game, but the presence of women amongst the Night’s Watch, which is after all, a brotherhood, is neither canon to the novels or the television series. This may well be an issue in some campaigns, but not if the GM takes his campaign north of the Wall and sets it amongst the Wildlings.

The life of a Wildling—Wildling being the derogatory term used by the peoples of Westeros for those who live north of the Wall—is quite possibly nasty, brutal, and short, but it is free. Unlike the soft men of the south, a Wildling does not kneel. For he is a member of the Free Folk. Further, a Wildling must be able to survive and contribute to his tribe, hunting for food and resources, protecting the tribe and keeping it strong. Raids on rival tribes are common—more common than raids south of the Wall—and whilst most of these will be for food and other resources, it is common practice for men of a tribe to raid another for wives. Most women of the Free Folk, known as Spearwives, are as tough as the men. Most tribes are nomadic, but some have formed permanent settlements around important resources. Their technology is roughly that of the Stone Age, primarily making use of wood, bone, and stone, though some tribes have the means to make bronze and most tribes make use of arms and armour that they can take from the Night’s Watch or trade with merchants from across the sea in Essos.

Like creating a member of the Night’s Watch, creating a member of the Free Folk uses the standard rules in A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. Similarly, the various Roles—Expert, Fighter, Leader, Rogue, and Schemer—exist, but those of Fighter, Leader, and Rogue tend to dominate. Where a brother of the Night’s Watch replaces his House and Bloodline with the Night’s Watch, a Wildling replaces them with Tribe and Lands. Like the Night’s Watch, the Free Folk also place a similar lack of value upon Status as well as a lack of value on Knowledge and both are likely to start at lower values. They also have access to a host of new Benefits. Many of these relate to a particular tribe, like ‘Born of the Thenn Tribes’ or ‘Born of the Nightrunners’, but others include ‘Giant Friend’, ‘Spearwife’, and ‘Winter-Touched’. It should also be noted that the Free Folk possess a greater awareness of the old ways and Greensight, Skinchanger, Warg, and Warg Dreams are far common than they are in the south.

Our sample character is Tsersi, though not born of the Ice Wives was found and raised by them. She has worked hard to be as good as any natural-born Ice Wife, but in her heart she she does not quite feel one of them. Thus she strives to be better whilst being tolerant of her fellow tribe members, but known to be intolerant, if not outright cruel to outsiders.

Tsersi (Young Adult Fighter)
Agility 3, Animal Handling 4 (Ride 1B, Train 1B), Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Cunning 3, Deception 2 , Endurance 4 (Stamina 1B), Fighting 4 (Spears 1B), Healing 2, Knowledge 1, Language 2 (Common, Old Tongue), Marksmanship 2, Persuasion 3, Status 1 , Stealth 3, Survival 4 (Hunt 1B), Thievery 2, Warfare 3, Will 4 (Dedication 1B)
Social Background: Free Folk
Background Event: Stolen from another tribe 
Goal: Security Motivation: Excellence Virtue: Magnanimous Vice: Cruel
Qualities: Destiny Points 2, Animal Cohort, Blood of the Wildlings, Born of the Ice Wives
Attributes
Awareness 3
Intrigue Defence 7 / Composure 12
Move 4 (3) / Sprint 16 (14)
Combat Defence 9 / Armour Rating 4 / Health 12
Attack Spear 3+1B (3 damage)
Personal Gear: Spear, Furs, Warm Clothing, Black Cloak, Bear

Multiple tribes are described, from the Cannibal Clans of the Ice River and the Cave Dweller Clans to the Ice Wives and the Walrus Men. All of these tribes are available to play in a Night’s Watch campaign and part of playing a Wildling campaign will typically involve the players creating and directing the fate of their characters’ tribe. This is more of a requirement than it is in a campaign where the player characters are sworn brothers of the Night’s Watch, where creating and running a castle is just an option, and is much like the requirement in a standard A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign for the players to create their characters’ noble house. Like a castle on the Wall, the lands of a Wildling tribe will have access to fewer resources and have a hard time surviving, but depending on the tribe may be able to field a number of new military units, including Bear Riders, Dog Runners, Giants, and Mammoth Riders.

Being descended from the First Men, the Wildlings not only have more legends about the Others, the creatures of extreme cold from the far north, they also know them to be real rather than mere legends as the men of the south believe. A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night’s Watch not only details these legends, it also gives stats and write-ups for many of these inhuman creatures. This includes the infamous King of Winter and the White Lady—the lesser, though no less dangerous White Walkers and Wights, being described in the core rules for A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying—and it is here that Night’s Watch departs from canon. The authors explain that their new material is based upon what details are given in the books and to not include more information about the Others would have been a missed opportunity. To be honest this material is likely to be used rarely in a GM’s campaign and even then, not used directly, but rather to hint at the threat coming from the north as part of build towards a final confrontation.

As well as the detailed descriptions of the Gift, the Wall and it castles, and the lands beyond the Wall, various notables from the source material are given full write-ups. North of the Wall, these include Mance Rayder and his lieutenants, such as Tormund Giantsbane, Alfyn Crowkiller, Harma the Dogshead, and Lord o’Bones; on the Wall itself, they include Small Paul, Cotter Pyke, and Ser Denys Mallister. A notable and pleasing inclusion is that of Dolorous Edd Tollet, a fan favourite character. Notable absences include Ser Jeor Mormont and Maester Aemon. Lastly, supporting each of the book’s three sections—on the Night’s Watch, the Wildlings, and the Others, Night’s Watch gives over thirty adventure seeds and stories. These include a set of five adventure seeds for each branch of the Night’s Watch; eight fully detailed story hooks for Rangings; and another seven for the Wildlings and six involving the Others. All of these are excellent scenario ideas and nicely illustrate many of the ideas discussed elsewhere in the book. In particular there is one scenario hook where a Ranging comes across what looks to be an orphaned Wildling. This is a simple enough idea, but the authors then turn round and present the situation from the Wildlings’ point of view as a separate scenario, essentially abling a group of players to play through it twice, but each time with a different approach.

Of course, the obvious way in which to use the Night’s Watch sourcebook is as setting supplement to run campaigns either involving the men of the Night’s Watch or the Wildlings. The supplement offers plenty of scope and ideas for both options, but this does not mean that the two cannot interact. Plenty of members of the Night’s Watch have deserted and fled north to live amongst the Free Folk, whilst the Night’s Watch does take in Wildlings orphans and raise them to serve on the Wall. After all, Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, was both, a Wildling foundling adopted by the Night’s Watch who later deserted. Further, the supplement could be used to create characters from beyond the Wall who now live south of it, such as Osha, who is a member of the Stark household.

Physically, Night’s Watch maintains the standards set for the A Game of Ice and Fire Roleplaying line. The writing is excellent, the artwork good, and the book is well presented.

Taking A Game of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign to the Wall and beyond frees it from the constraints of a standard A Game of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign and its focus upon the player characters’ noble house and its and their future. There are still constraints, in particular the oath sworn by the brothers of the Night’s Watch, but the focus in a game set on the Wall and beyond is more on survival and fighting rather than intrigue and deception. Although a Night’s Watch campaign has an understandably military bent, both Night’s Watch and Wildling campaigns feel freer and much more like traditional fantasy campaigns. Plus there are actual monsters to encounter and confront, much like a traditional fantasy campaign.

However it is used, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night’s Watch offers plenty of scope for the campaigns it sets up and backs this up with detail and solid story hooks. It is a well written supplement that combines great source material with well realised application.

Solitaire: Aces Over the Adriatic

There is something utterly romantic and beguiling as you soar through the skies above the azure waters of the Adriatic, the sun glinting off your wingtips, the wind rushing past your head, and the roar of the engine in your ears. Higher, faster, the dreams of your nation embodied in the sleek frame of the machine in your hands, for a moment you are free. Free of the demands of national pride and prestige, free of expectations, and maybe even free of the memories that you can never truly escape, no matter how fast or how high you fly… And then you turn over and dive. Dive back down to the exaltation of the crowds, to the popping glare of the press, to be amongst the men and women placed on a pedestal who are your peers and like you, know the freedom of flight, and to return to the horrors of your past and the creeping horror of Fascism along the shores of the Adriatic.

In Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG, you are that pilot. Perhaps a veteran of the Great War, mourning the loss of comrades, your skill and experience has put you at the controls of a seaplane, an entry into the ongoing Coupe d’Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, a biennial race for seaplanes and flying boats. You race for your country, but you also race for the memory of your friends lost in combat and you race for the love and glory of flying. Yet the speed and manoeuvrability of your machine may also see you undertaking missions facing pirates that are a threat the skies over the Adriatic, delivering urgent mail to Milan, or carrying contraband in sealed cases. Published by Critical Kit, Ltd, a publisher best known for Be Like a Crow: A Solo RPG, this is actually a French roleplaying game written in conjunction with the Musée de l’Hydraviation in Biscarrosse, France. It is semi-historical in that in addition to being inspired by the technical innovation and the romance brought about by the Schneider Trophy in the interwar years, it is also inspired by the Studio Ghibli film, Porco Rosso.

A Pilot in Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG is defined by his Nationality, Age, some Personality features, a personal distinctive feature, a distinctive feature for his aircraft, and a Perk. Nationality will also determine the Pilot’s name and possibly the type of aircraft he is flying, whilst age will determine whether or not he served in the Great War. The Perk can apply to the aircraft, such as ‘Military-grade weapons’ or ‘Speed’, or it can apply to the Pilot like ‘Calm’ or ‘Daredevil’. He also has values for Gauge, Glory, and Nostalgia. Gauge represents the amount of damage that both Pilot and aircraft can withstand; Glory is the Pilot’s fame and ambition, as it rises, the Pilot will gain Perks, a nickname, and honorary titles; and Nostalgia is the Pilot’s link to his past and if it grows too high, the Pilot may suffer from melancholy and if it reaches ten, will forces them to hang up his flying helmet and goggles.

Name: Otillie Gottschalk
Nationality: German
Age: 31
Nickname: None
Honorary Title: None
Personality: Clever, Chatty, Clumsy
Distinctive Features: Pet Dachshund, ‘Rudy’
Aircraft’s Distinctive Features: Dark Blue
Perks: Intuition
Gauge: 4
Glory: 0
Nostalgia: 0

Actions and Questions are handled in a straightforward manner. An answer to a question can be determined by a simple roll of a six-sided die, but there is a table of more nuanced answer options included. For actions, A Pilot in Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG employs the ‘Push System’. When the player wants his Pilot to undertake an action, he rolls a six-sided die. This is the ‘Initial Die’. It is impossible to fail on the roll of the ‘Initial Die’. A result of four or less is a ‘Weak Success’, or a success with consequences, whilst a result of five or six is a ‘Strong Success’. It is as simple as that, but what if the player rolls a ‘Weak Success’, but wants a ‘Strong Success’? he can then roll a which can lead to a failure. The results of the ‘Push Die’ are added to the results of the ‘Initial Die’. If the total is still less than four, it is still a ‘Weak Success’ and the player can roll another ‘Push Die’; if it is five or six, it is a ‘Strong Success’; and if it is seven or more, it is a failure. Effectively, the Pilot is constantly pushing the envelope and there is a chance that it can be pushed too far.

The play of the games flows back and forth between Missions and Memories. A mission might be to ferry a wealthy passenger to Venice or help cover the story of another famous pilot for the Pilot’s national press. A Memory can come from any activity, such as visiting a city or whilst a Pilot repairs his aircraft, and might be about the war, friends, past loves, and so on. Both require a roll to succeed. Each Mission has four Challenge Points and the player rolls to reduce these, a ‘Strong Success’ reducing two, ‘Weak Success’, and a failure, none. The faster a player can reduce the Challenge Points, the more Glory his Pilot will be rewarded. Glory can be spent to gain more Perks and as the total Glory accrued rises, the Pilot will gain a Nickname and an Honorary Title. However, results of a Failure and a ‘Weak Success’ both reduce ‘Gauge’ the joint measure of damage that a Pilot and his aircraft can suffer. Pilot and aeroplane can keep flying as long as their Gauge is one or more, but if it is reduced to zero, they will crash.

A Memory takes place between Missions. If successful, it can restore Gauge and refresh Perks used. However, in the process of reliving a Memory, a Pilot gains Nostalgia and if that ever rises to ten, the Pilot will retire. In addition, it is possible to have a Flashback during a Mission, which works similar to a Memory and also increases Nostalgia. So there is a balance here between keeping flying and succeeding and getting lost in reminiscence. And of course, throughout, the player is writing a journal—or is that keeping a logbook?—of the story of his Pilot and his aeroplane over the skies of Europe. It is here Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG that comes into its own in supporting the Player.

Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG is rich in background detail. There are descriptions of Europe in the interwar period, Fascist Italy, seaplanes and flying boats, the Schneider Trophy, and more. These descriptions are more overview than detail, but they are enough for the player to start with. Besides the table of Missions, there is ‘The Control Tower’ which provides tables for weather conditions, iconic places, NPCs including historical pilots and sponsors, generating pirate group names, and more. All of which the player can use to generate details and elements of his Pilot’s life in and out of the cockpit and as it is logged. There is advice too on how to play Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG, the author suggesting, for example, that the player control and tell the stories of multiple Pilots at once as if writing a drama, and on how to make the play harder or easier.

Unlike many journalling games, Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG has the scope to be more than just a solo game. The rules are simple and straightforward and the content in terms of setting and support is potentially more than enough for a Game Master—Air Marshal?—to run Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG as a storytelling game for a small group of players, whose Pilots could simply be rivals, members of a squadron, or even an aerial circus.

Physically, Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG is a beautiful little book. There are plenty of period photographs and the book is well written. The character sheet is a little busy, but it has everything on there that a player needs to know, including the basics of the rules.

Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG does over romanticise its setting a little, content to let the spectre of Fascism hang in the background rather than engage with it and so leaving the darker elements of play to the Memories of the Pilot and thus in the past rather than in the now. Thus, despite being based on the history of the Interwar Period, it leans more towards the fantasy of its other inspiration, the Studio Ghibli film, Porco Rosso, in its play. To be fair though, bringing that into play would have been challenging and since the player is telling the story of his Pilot, he is free to bring those elements into play if he wants to. Nevertheless, Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG is an utterly charming roleplaying game and an utter delight for fans of history, especially aviation history.

Solitaire: Midnight Melodies

You are not dead, but you could be. You hover somewhere between life and death, unable to take the bony grasp of the Grim Reaper and take the next step to the beyond. Perturbed at this state of affairs, it is possible that this has happened before for instead of leaving you, Death gives you a job. A job as well as your night job. A job you will do after your night job. Every night you perform on the stage, playing cool, cool tunes in set after set at the jazz club, and then, when the last of the audience has gone and the lights are up, you find a scrap of paper at the bottom of the tips jar. On it is a name. The name of someone who died at the wrong time and without permission. A name and a death that you have until sunrise to investigate to determine the cause and what happened. You are an agent of the Department of Unauthorized Deaths and in the dark of the night you become a sleuth for the supernatural, using Death-given spectral abilities to slip into the darkest of shadows, seeking the souls of the wrongly departed and bring harmony to them. To aid you in your investigations, the Department of Unauthorized Deaths grants certain supernatural gifts, each of which calls upon different notes in your repertoire, including being able to talk to with the spirits, passing through walls, and even glimpse echoes of the past or the future. Yet rely too much upon such Blue Notes and you may be pulled too close to death…

This is the set-up for Midnight Melodies, a solo roleplaying and journaling game in which you play a jazz pianist recruited by the Grim Reaper. It is inspired by Pixar’s Soul and DC Comic’s John Constantine, but this is a roleplaying game which could be inspired by series such as Tru Calling, Dead Like Me, and Johnny Staccato. It is published by Critical Kit Ltd, best known for Be Like A Crow – A Solo RPG and to play the game, a player requires a six-sided die, a twelve-sided die, a journal or notebook, a cool jazz playlist (the book suggests Ambient Soundscapes – Private Eye Moods: Smooth Film Noir Jazz Mix), and a piano. The latter can be an online piano and Midnight Melodies does not require the player to be able to play said piano.

A Player Character in Midnight Melodies has a name, a set of six Actions, unique Talents, and a Blue Note reserve. There are five Actions—Talk, Move, Force, Handle, and Discern—two of which Dominant, meaning that the Player Character is good at them, and one Diminished, which means he struggles with it. Creating a character is fast simple, rolling for a name and deciding which Actions are Dominant and which one is Diminished.

Skylar ‘Mist’ Monroe
Talk+ Move Force– Handle Discern+
Blue Notes 6

Mechanically, Midnight Melodies is simple. The player selects the appropriate Action, rolls a six-sided die, and adds one if the Action is Dominant and deducts one if it is Diminished. The result varies from one and ‘No, and…’ to six and ‘Yes, and…’, with ‘No, but…’ and ‘Yes, but…’ in between. These are clear simple prompts for the player intended to help him interpret and then write about the results of his character’s actions. Each of the Talents in Midnight Melodies is tied to a particular Action and their use involves a standard roll. One element not explored is what happens if the Player Character employs too many of his Blue Notes, which does undermine the threat at the heart of every investigation.

The actual play of Midnight Melodies is about conducting investigations. The Player Characters has an extra gift that will help him when it comes to investigating deaths. Each death leaves a series of Tones that the Player Character can hear and will help him find out what has happened. Each death consists of nine Tones divided into three Chords. Collect all nine Tones and give the Reaper the three Chords before sunrise and the night’s investigation is done. The victim is initially known by his or her name and occupation, but will also later be revealed to have had a secret too. The Tones set a pattern for an investigation and in turn reveal the victim’s identity, the death scene, the first clue, an unexpected twist, signs of the supernatural, hints of something stranger, the discovery of the entity responsible, what their motive was, and an insight into the death.

Midnight Melodies suggests three styles of play for any investigation—‘Freeform’, ‘Challenges’, or ‘Story Beats’. Freeform requires the random selection of six motifs for Drive, Descriptor, Role, Action, Mood, and Theme—for example, ‘Embrace’, ‘Rustic’, ‘Spectator’, ‘Risk’, ‘Melancholic’, and ‘Trust’—which then the player is encouraged to riff from to tell the story of the investigation. ‘Challenges’ makes use of the Action mechanics supported by a set of tables, one each for the five Actions, whilst ‘Story Beats’ is tied to the three Chords and the nine Tones, which actually follow the structure of a detective story, whether on television or not. Ultimately, the Player Character will confront a supernatural entity, such as ‘Vlokkriat’, “A patchwork of various materials—stone, cloth, metal, all moving in a sinuous manner.”, with the Trait of “Can drown victims in its embrace; reflects distorted versions of reality.” and Motivation of “Seeks to balance its own ancient debt, where each death offsets a life it once inadvertently saved.” Midnight Melodies is then a roleplaying game of monster hunting and saving the world against the supernatural.

Once how the victim was killed has been discovered and who or what committed the murder is determined and confronted, the Player Character can communicate the information to the Grim Reaper. This can be simple matter of the player writing down in the journal that his character has done it, but Midnight Melodies includes the pass this on through the motif of the Chords and Tones. The player does this by randomly rolling for the investigation’s nine Tones and playing them on a piano (on or offline). It brings each investigation to a discordant, mournful close as the sun seeps over the horizon and perhaps, gives the Player Character some respite in the normality of daylight… Before another jazz set and another name at the bottom of the tip jar.

Physically, Midnight Melodies is decently presented. It is well written, and the artwork is good too, combining a sense of music and noir in its stark tones.

Midnight Melodies is great for the player who wants to write tell stories of investigation and supernatural horror and it provides some great prompts to do that as its Tones sound and Chords play out. However, it really is only set up for single investigations. The continuation of story elements from one investigation to another is very much left to the player to do and there are tables to create story elements except the investigation itself. There is also no resolution to Midnight Melodies beyond the individual investigations, so now way to know if the Player Character will ever be free of his obligation to Department of Unauthorized Deaths? The only way in which Midnight Melodies ends is when the Player Character has dealt with all twelve Entities and that is not satisfying.

Midnight Melodies is a thematic delight, exploring a classic story and roleplaying game set-up in stylish fashion and giving the player scope to tell good stories. Yet the lack of long-term resolution means that Midnight Melodies feels like a cancelled television series.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Wires in the Wood

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

—oOo—

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review 2500: The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game

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

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The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game was published in 1984 by TSR, Inc. It was an attempt to create an introductory roleplaying game based on the highly successful films, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Although supported by six adventures and an accessory pack, it was poorly received and would prove to be a failure. The licence lapsed the following year. In the years since, it has gained a poor reputation for not only being a flop, but also for being a badly designed game. Even in some cases, one of the worst roleplaying games ever published. Its problems can be attributed to just two design decisions. The first decision limited what you could play. The options were Indiana Jones and then Sallah, Marion Ravenwood, Short Round, Willie Scott, Wu Han, and Jock Lindsey. They were the only options because The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game does not have rules for character creation. Even then, the choice of characters for a young teenage audience was extremely limited. Did anyone really want to roleplay Willie Scott, let alone Wu Han or Jock Lindsey? Plus, this is not a roleplaying game for more than a few players, one of whom gets to roleplay Indiana Jones, whilst the others play his sidekicks, who are going to change from one story to the next. The second decision is more mechanical, but effectively, none of the heroes can die in The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game. This models the films—except for poor Wu Han, of course—but no matter how bruised or battered he gets, how far he falls, Indiana Jones cannot die. He can suffer a lot of damage, but he cannot die. Then, when he does suffer damage, he takes weeks to heal, which does not model what we see on screen. Forty years since it was published, is The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game as bad as its reputation claims it to be?

The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game comes as a boxed set. Inside is the sixty-four-page Games Rules Booklet, an eight-page Evidence File, a World of Indiana Jones Map, a Referee’s Screen, and three-dimensional cardboard figures to cut out and use in play. The Games Rules Booklet contains all of the rules to play, as well as a solo scenario, ‘The Ikons of Ikammanen’, which leads in to a scenario that can be played by multiple players. The Evidence File gives stats for Indiana Jones and his six companions, plus maps and clues for the ‘The Ikons of Ikammanen’ scenario. The World of Indiana Jones Map depicts the world as it was in the nineteen thirties and is marked with the common travel routes, sadly not in thick red lines though. The Referee’s Screen has many of the tables on it needed to play, but not all. The Referee will need to refer to the Games Rules Booklet for the ‘Chase Flow Chart’ as well as the back of the Games Rules Booklet for the ‘Modified Check Table’ and the ‘Check Results Table’ as both require full colour and only the front of the Referee’s Screen is in colour. The three-dimensional cardboard figures include all of the heroes, NPCs that appear in ‘The Ikons of Ikammanen’ adventure, and generic Goons and Villains. They also include a few rough buildings.

With a little colour fiction, the Games Rules Booklet pulls the reader into an explanation of what a roleplaying game is and the basics of the mechanics and what a Player Character looks like. Following this is ‘The Ikons of Ikammanen’ scenario, at this stage a solo adventure, although not a ‘choose your own’ style of solo adventure. Rather, it provides a few options, but keeps them all to the same page. In each case, what it is doing is getting the reader to make a few dice rolls and show how the previously explained rules work in practice, going from one page to two, and then more as the rules have to handle more complex situations. It does this in turn for combat, chases, and more, until it gets to part four and dealing with ‘Cronies & Contacts’ where Indiana Jones has to interact with some NPCs. This requires an actual player and a Referee. Up until that point it has been the reader playing through this, so what this means is that to get to this point, the Referee has to play through the first three parts and the player has to play through the first three parts, and then they have to come together for part four and beyond… This is annoyingly clumsy in its execution when the simplest solution would have been to have had player and Referee involved from the start. From this point on though, the remaining five chapters of the adventure do require the Referee and then  another player to take the role of Indiana Jones. That said, the format of the author explaining or telling the reader rules and then showing the reader the rules and getting him to use them in play is a good idea. It is just that its execution is poor.

Instead of character generation, The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game simply gives the stats for Indiana Jones and his sidekicks from the films Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. A character has seven attributes—Strength, Movement, Prowess, Backbone, Instinct, and Appeal. Prowess is his fighting ability; Backbone is his determination and his guts, as well as his ability to overcome irrational fears; and Instinct is his perception. There is no Intelligence type ability, but there are Knowledges, areas of expertise that let a character do certain things or simply know about them. Notably Indiana Jones is not that much better than his sidekicks. Both Indiana Jones and Willie Scott have irrational fears that require a Backbone Check to overcome lest they be frozen in fear and ultimately, their players to roleplay their way past them. Some of the Player Characters have notes such as Wu Han knowing a little archaeology and being a master of disguise.

Indiana Jones
Attributes
Strength 68
Movement 80
Prowess 76
Backbone 72
Instinct 80
Appeal 88

Movement Rate (running); 25 squares (5 areas)/turn
Weapons: bullwhip, pistol, knife
Money: $500
Knowledges: Archaeology, Driving, Parachuting, Surveying
Irrational Fears: fear of snakes
Notes: Indy wears glasses to correct an astigmatism

Mechanically, The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game is a percentile system, similar, but very simplified in comparison to, the mechanics used in Marvel Super Heroes, also published in 1984. To have a character undertake an action, his player makes an Attribute Check. The Attribute Check is easily modified by either doubling the value if the task is easier, or halving or even quartering it if the task is difficult. Modifiers cancel each other out, so that a Prowess Check to shoot an NPC would be doubled because the weapon is resting on a solid object, but halved because the target is in cover. If the result on percentile dice is equal to, or less than, the attribute value, the character succeeds, but if how well the character succeeds, the Referee can consult the ‘Modified Check Table’ on the back of the rulebook. This compares the result of dice roll to the modified Attribute Check. The result is a colour coding and when that colour is checked on the ‘Check Results Table’ it will give a more nuanced outcome, depending upon whether a character is attempting to inflict damage in combat, discover something using Instinct, or persuade someone using Appeal.

For example, Indiana Jones wants to find the next clue to the location of a tomb. He is in a library, but a gang of goons is after him, so the Referee rules that this increases the difficulty and halves Doctor Jones’ Instinct of 80. So, his player will be making an Instinct Check of 40. He rolls ‘07’. This is between ‘06’ and a quarter of his current Instinct Rating and indicates a yellow box. Checking the corresponding yellow box under Instinct ‘Check Results Table’ and the Referee can tell Indiana’s player that he has a ‘What or Where’ result, meaning that he has found the information he was looking for.

If the result is five or less, then the character gets a ‘Lucky Break’, but suffers a ‘Bad Break’ if the player rolls ninety-six or more. A Lucky Break on a Movement Check might be that the enemy falls and trips up his companions or a trap fails to work on an Instinct Check. A Bad Break might be that an NPC finds the character repulsive on an Appeal Check or the character’s knife or sword breaks on a Prowess Check. However, the important line here is, “No one ever dies as a result of a Lucky Break or a Bad Break. Such events just make things just a little more interesting—one way or another.”

Combat is more complex and stats slightly oddly in that rolling for initiative is optional. The players and the Referee only roll if they want to act before anyone else. A Movement Check is used for initiative and also if a character’s action is to move, whilst a Prowess Check is used for all attacks. Specific actions, such as Indiana Jones using his bullwhip to snatch a gun from a goon’s hand or attempt to knock a goon off his feet rather than inflicting straight damage are handled as modifiers to the attacker’s Prowess. The level of damage inflicted is determined by the quality of the roll and checking on both the ‘Modified Check Table’ and the ‘Check Results Table’. The outcome can either be light, medium, or serious damage. Brawling inflicts injuries, whilst Shooting inflicts wounds. Some weapons increase the severity of damage inflicted, for example, from light to medium. This tends to be weapons that inflict injuries, such as a blackjack or the buttstock of a rifle when used as a club, whilst piercing or cutting weapons inflict wounds. Both injuries and wounds can lead to Attribute Ratings being reduced and unconsciousness, whilst wounds can result in death—although how that is handled is not addressed and in fact, this is the only mention of death in the roleplaying game. Goons—such as Nazi guards or Nepalese thugs—always act after the heroes and are knocked out if they suffer serious damage, whereas villains, like rival archaeologist René Belloq, act and take damage like a Player Character. The fact that Goons can be knocked out by serious damage does model the films, for example, Indiana Jones shooting the swordsman in the marketplace scene or the fistfight against the German Luftwaffe mechanic. The roll also determines where the damage is inflicted. This is done by reversing the numbers on the roll and consulting the ‘Action Results Table’ on the Referee’s Screen.

For example, Indiana Jones is fighting his way out of the library and wants to punch one of the Nazis in front of him. This is a Prowess Check. Indiana has a Prowess of 76. His player rolls ‘25’ and the Referee compares it to the ‘Modified Check Table’ and the ‘Check Results Table’. This is between a quarter and a half of Indiana’s Prowess and indicates medium damage. The result of ‘25’ is reversed to ‘52’ and the ‘Action Results Table’ consulted—Indiana has landed a good blow in the Nazi goon’s gut! This forces a Strength Check on the goon. The check is successful and so all of the Nazi’s Attribute Ratings are halved for this and the next round. (If the roll failed, then the Nazi would have been knocked unconscious.)

As this is a roleplaying game based on Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, there are rules for vehicles, chases, and combat whilst in a chase. This is the most complex part of the rules in the roleplaying game, but is decently explained, there is an example of it in play, and then the reader gets to try it out. The rules also make use of the ‘Chase Flow Chart’, which model routes and intersections and possible hazards that the Player Characters might encounter. (A similar chart would later appear in Top Secret/S.I., published by TSR, Inc. in 1987.) Other rules cover money, travel, equipment, and dangerous events. Of these, the rules for money are arguably superfluous since money never plays a factor in the films. The rules for dangerous events, whether falling, hanging on to a failing rope bridge, riding a runaway cart in a mine, drowning, and more are simply given a Danger Rating which works like an Attribute in play, using the same ‘Modified Check Table’ and ‘Check Results Table’.

There is good advice for the player as well as the Referee. For the player, this is about having fun, getting into the adventure spirit, and playing the good guys. In fact, there is a rule for enforcing the latter, the Referee having the right to demand a Backbone Check if she thinks that Indiana Jones, or a sidekick, is about to do something out of character. Since there is no means of creating Player Characters in The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game, there is no way of improving them either. There is, though, an optional rule for Player Points. These are earned by achieving the objectives in an adventure overall and in some episodes as well, such as rescuing an NPC or obtaining the artefact that Indiana Jones is searching for, whilst the Referee can earn them by having the NPCs capture the Player Characters or retain the artefact that the Player Characters are after. The players and the Referee can also reward each other with Player Points at the end of an adventure or episode for making the play fun, good roleplaying, and coming up with good ideas. A player cannot earn more than five Player Points per adventure or episode and cannot have more than fifteen in total. Player Points can only be spent to reduce the severity of a Player Character’s wounds or injuries, for example, from serious to medium, at a cost of five Player Points each time. This also applies to the Referee and her NPCs.

Another way to earn Player Points is a special bonus if a Player Character sacrifices himself to save another Player Character or NPC. If a Player Character is killed, the Player Points are carried over to the player’s new one. Given the lack of discussion of character death in The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game, this seems at odds with the nature of its play, and whilst the expenditure of Player Points counters the sometimes severity of the combat system, in hindsight it feels so limiting that they cannot be spent to undertake heroic or cinematic action. That said, this is a roleplaying game published in 1984 and the idea of Hero Points or Luck Points, of which Player Points are a sort, had yet to be adopted by the wider gaming hobby. Yet this is despite the pioneer of their broader use, James Bond 007: Role-Playing In Her Majesty’s Secret Service, being published by Victory Games the year before.

In terms of background, The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game provides a timeline and a very short history of the 1930s, plus descriptions of various archaeological locations around the world, none of which are marked on the World Map. The advice for the Referee is decent enough. The scenario though, ‘The Ikons of Ikammanen’, is in parts exciting, but as a whole never more than serviceable. It opens with the death of a former student of Doctor Jones, which puts him on the trail of a set of legendary artefacts from West Africa. Here he will be captured along with the student’s sister—who also took classes under Indiana Jones—by a greedy local, and together they will be forced to explore a mysterious and deadly volcanic island. The scenario stretches credulity in places, such as when a Nazi submarine torpedoes the ship they are on, rescues them, and actually transports them across the Atlantic to New York! It is a direct adaptation of the first story of Marvel Comics’ The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones series and highlights how ultimately, The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game is a very direct adaptation of the source material rather than a setting to be explored. It is disappointing that an original story could not have been included, perhaps one that could actually have involved more than one player. That said, it does get comic artist and writer, John Byrne, who wrote ‘The Ikons of Ikammanen’ for The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones comic, a roleplaying game design credit!

Physically, The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game is underwhelming. The Games Rules Booklet is illustrated with images from the first two films, all in black and white, but the rulebook does feel cramped and busy. The most colourful items are the three-dimensional cardboard three-dimensional cardboard figures, but the artwork is far from great. It captures the look of Indiana Jones and his sidekicks in the clothing that they wear rather than their actual appearance.

—oOo—

The first review of The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game appeared in Imagine No. 21 (December 1984), appropriately in an issue dedicated to superhero roleplaying games! In ‘Games Reviews’, Paul Mason said, “The main strength of the rules lies in the system used. The designers have come up with an ingenious way of combining chance with success, quality of result and (in the case of combat) hit locations with a single percentage role. The whole game depends on this simple system, making it easy to pick up.” In the main though, he was critical of the game, finishing with, “…[W]hile the game structure is spot on, the execution is poor, making me feel overall that the game is a missed opportunity.”

The most positive of its reviews would appear in the pages of Imagine magazine’s rival. In Adrian Knowles’ review of The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game in ‘Open Box’ in White Dwarf Issue 61 (January 1985) he highlighted how the rules are designed for someone with little roleplaying experience, commenting that, “It is very obvious that the game has been produced entirely with a young market in mind - players totally new to the idea of roleplaying will find it easy to play and pick up and good fun to boot.” and that, “Experienced gamers, I suspect, will regard the game with horror - a character who is unthinkable [sic], ridiculous!”. (Presumably, he meant ‘unkillable’ rather than ‘unthinkable’.) He concluded with, “Although I found the game to be quite enjoyable (but then I had spend [sic] the evening propping up a bar before tackling it) it only has appeal as a ‘one-off’ game - good for a break but unlikely to have lasting appeal. It is fun, however, and no matter what crazy stunt you attempt, Indy will survive.” before awarding it seven out of ten.

Steve Crow was less charitable in his review which appeared in the ‘Capsule Reviews’ section of Space Gamer Number 73 (March/April 1985). He was critical throughout and ended with, “Indiana Jones is so locked into the concept of the two movies that it is practically useless for anything outside of reenacting the movies or similar plots. FGU’s Daredevils and Hero Games’ Justice Inc. both take a broader look at the genre of 30s roleplaying, giving you a chance to take your life into your own hands with characters of your own creation. Indiana Jones does neither.”

The negative reviews continued with Different Worlds Issue 39 (May/June 19865). In ‘Game Reviews’, Russell Grant Collins reviewed The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game as well as the first two adventures, IJ1 – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Adventure Pack and IJ2 – Raiders of the Lost Ark Adventure Pack. He summed up both roleplaying game and scenarios with “In conclusion, avoid this game; if you play some other system that is set in this time period and are willing to do the conversions, the modules might be worth it, especially Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Perhaps the oddest review would appear in the pages of Dragon No. 215 (March 1995). In ‘Role-Playing Reviews’, Rick Swan gave an overview of numerous roleplaying games and settings with ‘Something for everyone? West end Games’ MASTERBOOK game’. In examining The World Of Indiana Jones—which was published exactly ten years after The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game, he said of the first version that, “It wasn’t a big hit—I picked mine up at a GEN CON® Game Fair for fifty cents, still in the shrink wrap—possibly because of the elementary mechanics, more likely due to the exclusion of a character-creation system. Instead of dreaming up your own PC, you simply assumed the role of your favourite character from the films. Thus, the game ensured a flurry of fist-fights as players squabbled over who got to be Indy.”

—oOo—

Although the licence for the roleplaying game would lapse in 1985, The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game would infamously and curiously have an afterlife that lives on today. According to legend, when the licence was lost, all copies of the roleplaying game had to be burned. Employees at TSR (UK) rescued the last, partially burned copy, and its remnants would end up encased in a Perspex pyramid, the only words legible being ‘diana Jones’. In the twenty-first century, this became the trophy for the Diana Jones Award For Excellence In Gaming, serving as an accolade for everything that The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game was not. The irony is not subtle.

The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game was, notoriously, the roleplaying game that applied the ‘™’ or trademark symbol to the word ‘Nazi’ as in ‘Nazi™’. Except this really is a roleplaying myth. Many of the three-dimensional figures do have both the Trademark and the Copyright symbols on their bases. These are all named characters from the films—Indiana Jones, Sallah, Marion Ravenwood, and so on. The others like the various Goons, the Ship Captain, and yes, the Nazi, do not.

What is surprising about The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game is that in some ways it is not as bad as its reputation suggests, but in every other way, its poor reputation is deserved. Mechanically, The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game is a good game and the way in which a single Attribute Check can determine its qualitative outcome and in combat, the hit location, with a single roll, is actually elegant and fast playing. Yet the way in which it handles the effects of damage, death, and effectively, script immunity for Indiana Jones, Sallah, Marion Ravenwood, and so on, underwhelms any sense of jeopardy. Of course, the sense of peril seen on screen is not real, because ultimately, we know that Indiana Jones will prevail, but The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game makes it explicit. Indiana Jones can take any amount of damage and come back from it, and though optional, the use of Player Points, enforces this. At the same time, you want the Player Points to allow you to do other things, just like Indiana Jones does on screen, but the rules are not there for that. The limitations of who and what you can play also limits choice and the number of participants. What The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game really is, is not so much a roleplaying game, with its freedom for the Game Master and her players to create their content in terms of characters and adventures, as an ‘adventure’ game designed to emulate very closely the films and stories upon which it is based.

By modern standards, it would not actually take much to adjust The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game into something more playable. The underlying mechanics are workable. It is the choices made to model the films too closely that undermine the rules and the roleplaying game as a whole. The result is that as both a roleplaying game and a roleplaying game based on the world of Indiana Jones, The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game fails to satisfy.