Companion Chronicles #6: The Serpent of Mildenhall

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

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What is the Nature of the Quest?

The Serpent of Mildenhall is a scenario for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, seventeen page, 36.22 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy and it is nicely illustrated.

Where is the Quest Set?

The Serpent of Mildenhall is set in the County of Gentian, just north of Salisbury. The location and extensive travel notes make it easy to add to a campaign.

Who should go on this Quest?

The Serpent of Mildenhall does not have any particular requirements in terms of its Player-knights as written. The skills of Folklore, Hunting, Play, Sing, and Swim are likely to be useful in resolving the scenario.

What does the Quest require?

The Serpent of Mildenhall requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition rules or the Pendragon Starter Set.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

The Serpent of Mildenhall begins with the Player-knights travelling on the roads north of the County of Salisbury when they hear the cries of a woman. Her son has been snatched and carried away into a nearby pool by a fearsome serpent. The boy’s grandfather suggests going to the local lord and his liege for help and advice in searching for the boy. This sets up the core tensions within the scenario. The local lord, the Baron of Gentian, is barely eighteen and not yet knighted, but likely too reckless to not get himself into trouble, whilst his mother, Dowager Baroness, Joene, resents the presence of Player-knights as they likely to be based in Salisbury and there has long been a dispute between the Barony of Gentian and the County of Salisbury as to the ownership of some land between them.

The aim of the scenario is to rescue the boy before he is eaten. The scenario details several methods of achieving them, and whilst it is possible to resolve the situation peacefully, the players and their knights need to be lucky to do so. Depending upon the outcome of the scenario, the Player-knights may have helped ease tensions between Barony of Gentian and the County of Salisbury or exacerbated them. If one or more players roll very well, their knights may even end up with a very strange friend!

The Serpent of Mildenhall can be played through in a single session, two at the very most. It is easy to slip into a campaign as it begins as the Player-knights travelling on the road.

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

The Serpent of Mildenhall is a serviceable mini- or sidequest that can be dropped into any campaign. It is easy to prepare and can also be run when a player or two is been unable to attend the next session.

Miskatonic Monday #325: Fear Jet

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

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Name: Fear Jet

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Andy Miller

Setting: 1970s USA and beyond...

Product: Scenario
What You Get: One-hundred-and-twenty-four page, 97.64 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: A flight into The King in Yellow via the liminality of Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here and Groundhog Day

Plot Hook: When fear of flying takes you out of this world...

Plot Support: Staging advice, twenty-four pre-generated Investigators, twenty-four Investigator portraits, five handouts, one map and one deck plan, fourteen NPCs, two Mythos tomes, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Excellent

Pros

# Bizarrely, fantastically detailed scenario

# Can be run as a convention scenario
# Can be run over and over until some Investigators escapes...

# Easy to adapt to other periods during the Age of Flight

# Has extensive notes to adapt it to other eras for call of Cthulhu

# Xanthophobia

# Aerophobia

# Fasciphobia

Cons

# Highly detailed scenario

# Challenging to run as a convention scenario

# Would not work half as well without the pun

# What happens next?

Conclusion

# Weird flight into unreality and back again. Possibly.

# Enjoyably, constantly creepy, but too wearing to run again and again?

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

1984: Middle-earth Role Playing

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, and the new edition of that, Dungeons & Dragons, 2024, in the year of the game’s fiftieth 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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Middle-earth Role Playing: a complete system for adventuring in J.R.R. Tolkien’s World was published in 1984 by Iron Crown Enterprises, Inc., then best known for the complex fantasy roleplaying game, Rolemaster, recently republished in a new edition as Rolemaster Unified CORE Law. Known by the abbreviation, MERP, It was intended to introduce roleplayers to the world of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and the fans of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to roleplaying, as was made clear in the introduction: “J. R .R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth provides an ideal setting for a fantasy role playing game. It is a reflection of our world as we perceive it, as well as a construction of mythology by a great and learned man. Middle-earth is itself undying, living in the minds of all who tread its paths. Each reader adds to it his or her own vision. It is only natural, then, to use this incredible foundation in a fantasy role playing context. In this way those close to Middle-earth can experience it in a new way, filling the gaps and discovering the mysteries that have always concerned them.”

For the next fifteen years, Iron Crown Enterprises, Inc. would support the roleplaying game with first an updated version of the core rules and then a second edition in 1986, as well as nearly one hundred supplements and supplements detailing Middle-earth. Many of these supplements are highly regarded by fans of the roleplaying game today and much in demand, reaching high prices when they come up for sale. The first edition though, is centred on a slim, if dense, one-hundred-and-four-page book which comes in a strikingly red box that also contains the sixteen-page ‘MERP Counter and Display Guidelines’ which consists of a guide to the roleplaying game’s set of full-colour counters and the fourteen maps and floorplans for the scenario in the rulebook. The maps, which depict a mix of a castle and its various buildings, a set of caves, and wilderness areas, are marked with a hex grid so that the counters can be used with them. There are also two twenty-sided dice in the box, each marked ‘0’ to ‘9’ twice.

The roleplaying game opens with a good introduction to what roleplaying is and notes that Rolemaster is available if a group wants, “…[A]n an expanded combat system, an expanded spell system, a more flexible character development system, and guidelines for a campaign game or larger scale game. These systems allow MERP to be expanded to handle higher level characters and to increase the variations and options available to the Gamemaster and the players.” In fact, Middle-earth Role Playing will only take a Player Character up to Tenth Level. Beyond that, the Game Master and here players will need to switch to Rolemaster, if they had not done so by then. Which is very likely. The introduction also includes ‘A Sample Adventure in a FRP Setting’, a complete example of play. In this, an Elven Mage, a Umli Animist, a Dwarven Warrior, and a Hobbit Scout are escorting a merchant’s caravan from Rivendell to Bree, when after deciding to make camp for the night, discover a partially ruin tower that might offer them shelter. When they move to scout it out for safety, they are ambushed by three Orcs who have been sleeping in the tower’s cellar. It is quite a detailed example of play, having the players roll dice before even the mechanics and rules of the roleplaying game have been explained. Nevertheless, it is fun and it is exciting, and it gives a good idea of what playing Middle-earth Role Playing is like: detailed, tactical, and complex. It is also something that the rules will return to again to show various aspects of the roleplaying game work. From the standpoint of a fan of Tolkien and Middle-earth, what really stands out, is the fact that there is an Elf Mage and he does cast magic, including a Shield spell and a Levitate spell. This inclusion points to the primary complaint about Middle-earth Role Playing and that is the degree of magic which the Player Characters had access to in comparison to what fans read in the novels. It is not an unfair comment or complaint, but this is a fantasy roleplaying game from 1984 and a fantasy roleplaying game from 1984 has magic in it, because after all, just like Dungeons & Dragons and also Middle-earth Role Playing, every fantasy roleplaying game from 1984 had magic and wizards in it. For the most part though, the magic in Middle-earth Role Playing lacked the flashiness of magic in Dungeons & Dragons.

Middle-earth Role Playing sets out a lot of the definitions and conventions of the roleplaying game well before a player gets anywhere near rolling any dice. This includes defining terms from both Middle-earth and the roleplaying game, describes the basics of rolling dice, and the definitions of a character. The latter consists of the mental and physical statistics, and race and culture. There are six statistics—Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, Intuition, and Presence—each rated between one and a hundred. Race and culture incudes each species’ Physical Characteristics, Culture, and Other Factors, all of which quite detailed and quite lengthy. The physical characteristics consist of Build, Colouring, Endurance, Height, Lifespan, Resistance, and Special Abilities. The Culture lists Clothing and Decoration, Fears and Inabilities, Lifestyle, Marriage Pattern, and Pattern. The Other Factors are Demeanour, Language, Prejudices, Restrictions on Professions, and Background Options. The latter indicates the number of points a player has to assign to his character’s backstory.

The Races are broken down into three categories and two separate Races. For the Dwarves, there are Dwarves and the Umli—or Half-Dwarves from the far north of Middle-earth. For the Elves, there are Silvan Elves, Sindar, and Noldor. The largest category consists of Men and encompass Beornings, Black Númenóreans, Corsairs, Dorwinrim, Dúnedain, Dunlendings, Easterlings, Haradrim, Lossoth, Rohirrim, Rural Men, Urban Men, Variags, Woodmen, and Woses. Lastly, there are Half-Elves, who must decide to live as a mortal Man or as an immortal Elf, and Hobbits. The entry for Hobbits gives three primary varieties, or tribes, of Hobbits—Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides—but does not distinguish between them mechanically. There are a lot of options here, including amongst the Men, many cultures who fell under the sway of either Sauron or Saruman, so they do not necessarily feel like a natural fit for a roleplaying game based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Further, included alongside these are entries for Orcs—Common Orcs, Uruk-Hai, and Half-Orcs, and for Trolls—Normal Trolls, Olog-hai, and Half-Trolls. These are not there to be used as Player Characters, but more as background material to help the Game Master portray them, though since this is not explained until ten pages later at the start of character creation, a reader might be led to believe otherwise. (It also suggests that the Game Master might allow them as Player Characters after the events of The Lord of the Rings, during the Fourth Age.) One thing that is missing from the Race and Culture descriptions are any suggestions as to what typical names might be for each.

Beyond the various Races, the definitions include languages, Skill Ranks and Skill Bonuses, Skills, Professions, Backgrounds, Experience Points and how they earned, including Kill Points, Manoeuvre Points, Spell Points, Idea Points, Travel Points, and Miscellaneous Points. Whilst Player Character Rank runs from First to Tenth Level, Skill Ranks run from zero to twenty—and more. Each Skill Rank provides a +5 Skill Bonus up to Skill Rank Ten, but beyond that, it flattens out to grand total of +70 at Skill Rank Twenty. The lengthy list of skills is broken down into Moving And Manoeuvring, Weapon Skills, General Skills, Subterfuge Skills, Magical Skills, Miscellaneous Skills and Capabilities, and Secondary Skills. Of these, Moving And Manoeuvring accounts for a Player Character’s ability to move about the battlefield and gain the initiative, but is not trained in as one skill, but several, each one for different type of armour—no armour, soft leather, rigid leather, chain, and plate. The Magical Skills include Read Runes, Use Items, and Directed Spells.

There are six Professions. These are Warrior, Scout, Animist, Mage, Ranger, and Bard. Or in parentheses, ‘Fighter’, ‘Thief’, ‘Cleric’, ‘Magician’, ‘Tracker’, and ‘jack-of-all-trades’. Each provides bonuses in terms the Ranks a Player Character can have in particular skills, and although there is no limit on what skills a Player Character can attempt to learn, learning skills outside of his Profession is more difficult. Each of the Professions has restrictions on what spells they can learn. However, these are not restrictions in terms of Professions not being able to cast spells, except for the Animist and Mage Professions, but limits on what spell lists each Profession can draw from. Here again, we have a case of Middle-earth Role Playing of not just making available magic to specialist character types despite the source material not reflecting this, but also every Player Character, no matter their Profession, which again, the source material does not reflect. Lastly, should a player want to roleplay a character similar to one portrayed in the fiction, it lists several of them along with their Professions in Middle-earth Role Playing. Thus, Aragorn II is a Dúnedain Ranger, Elrond a Half-elf Animist, Éomer a Rohirrim Warrior, Frodo a Hobbit Scout, Galadriel a Noldor Elf Mage, Gandalf a Human Mage (but actually one of the lstari), Gimili a Dwarf Warrior, Glorfindel a Noldor Elf Bard, Legolas a Sindar Elf Warrior, and Radagast a Human Animist (but actually one of the lstari).

Background Options are a way in which a Player Character can stand out. They include Special Abilities, Special Items, Money, Hobby Skill Ranks, Statistic Increases, and Languages. A player can assign his character Background Points as he wants and from this, working with the Game Master, create a suitable background and origins for his character. There is not much in the way of advice to help either the player or the Game Master do this, but it is nevertheless a welcome feature for a roleplaying game published in 1984. Special Abilities can include empathy with a type of animal, which grants an animal companion, being very observant, having lightning reactions, and move. Special items include items that provide a bonus to a skill—examples including ‘+10 Saddle’ that gives a bonus to riding and a ‘+10 suit of armour’ that adds to the wearer’s general Defensive Bonus and a Daily Spell Item that grants spells that that be cast a few times a day without expending Power Points. The Special Items are fairly limited, but feel more in keeping with the source material than the Daily Spell Item does, as they more like well-crafted items than actual magical objects.

To create a character, a player rolls percentile for each Statistic and assigns them as he wants. Elves must assign a high result to their Presence, but each Profession has a key Statistic and this will be set at ninety. If high enough, a Statistic will provide a bonus to skills and Power Points for spellcasting. A player can choose or roll of his character’s Race and Culture, and selects skills gained during his character’s adolescence, chooses his Profession, Background Options, and apprenticeship skills. The number of Ranks in a skill, plus bonuses from a Statistic, the Profession, Race or Culture, and Special Item, all combine to give the total bonus for a skill.

Name: Crugell
Race: Wose
Height: 4’ 7”
Weight: 135 lbs.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Demeanour: Quiet

STATS/BONUSES
Strength 92 Normal Bonus +10 Race Bonus +00 Total +10
Agility 57 Normal Bonus +00 Race Bonus +00 Total +00
Constitution 90 Normal Bonus +10 Race Bonus +05 Total +15
Intelligence 42 Normal Bonus +00 Race Bonus +00 Total +00
Intuition 46 Normal Bonus +00 Race Bonus +00 Total +00
Presence 34 Normal Bonus +00 Race Bonus -05 Total -05
Appearance +00 Normal Bonus +00 Race Bonus +00 Total +00

Realm: Channelling
Power Points: 2
Experience Points: 10,000.

Special: Night-vision; +25 bonus to Tracking manoeuvres; +15 bonus for Foraging; +10 Handaxe; Very Observant +10 bonus to Perception and Tracking; Animal Empathy – Weasel

LANGUAGES
Pûkael Rank 5
Westron Rank 2

SKILLS
Movement And Manoeuvre:
No Armour – Rank/Bonus: 2/+10 Total: +10
Soft Leather – Rank/Bonus: 4/+20 Total: +20
Weapon Skills:
1-H Edged – Rank/Bonus: 3/+15 Prof. Bonus +2 Stat Bonus +10 Item Bonus +10 Total: +37
Thrown – Rank/Bonus: 5/+25 Prof. Bonus +2 Total: +27
Polearms – Rank/Bonus: 2/+10 Prof. Bonus +2 Stat Bonus +10 Total: +22
General Skills:
Climb – Rank/Bonus: 3/+15 Prof. Bonus +3 Total: +18
Swim – Rank/Bonus: 3/+15 Prof. Bonus +3 Total: +18
Track – Rank/Bonus: 2/+10 Prof. Bonus +3 Special Bonus +35 Total: +48
Subterfuge Skills:
Ambush – Rank/Bonus: 3/+15 Total: +15
Stalk/Hide – Rank/Bonus: 5/+25 Prof. Bonus +2 Total: +27
Miscellaneous Skills:
Body Development – Rank/Bonus: 2/+10 Stat Bonus +10 Special Bonus +5 SP: 21
Perception – Rank/Bonus: 2/+10 Prof. Bonus +2 Special Bonus +10 Total: +22
Secondary Skills:
Wood-carving – Rank/Bonus: 5/+25 Total: +25

EQUIPMENT
Handaxe, Javelins (three), Soft Leather Armour

Character generation in Middle-earth Role Playing is not difficult, but it takes time, both to complete and actually to learn. It is helped by a decent example, but anyone new to roleplaying, the process is daunting.

Mechanically, Middle-earth Role Playing is both simple and complex. The simple is the core mechanism, that of rolling percentile dice. Most rolls will be open ended, so that if a player rolls ninety-six and above, he gets to roll again and add the result. This is a successful roll and the higher it is, the better the outcome. Conversely, if he rolls five or under, he rolls again and subtracts the new result. Then as long as he keeps rolling ninety-six and above, he keeps rolling and subtracting. The lower the total result, the worse the outcome. Either way, to this is added the total bonus of the skill that the Player Character is testing. The bonuses are Offensive Bonuses, including weapon and Directed Spell bonuses, Defensive Bonuses for shields and armour, Moving Manoeuvre Bonuses for every type of movement, and Static Manoeuvre Bonuses for actions not involving movement, or really, for just about any other skill in the game.

The complexity comes in the individual resolution for each action, invariably requiring the need for the Game Master to refer a particular table for the outcome. Make no mistake, Middle-earth Role Playing makes use of a lot tables, including sixteen for character generation and experience, and twenty-nine for attacks, critical results, fumbles and failures, manoeuvres, and more.

For a Static Manoeuvre, the Game Master can assign a Difficulty Modifier, which ranges from ‘+30’ and Routine to ‘-70’ and Absurd. The player then rolls the dice, adds Static Manoeuvre Bonuses and refer to ‘Static Maneuver Table (MT-2)’ (which is on page seventy-eight, twenty pages after the explanation of the mechanic and after several pages of tables dedicated to spellcasting and combat). There are entries for ‘General’ results, followed by results for ‘Interaction and Influence’, ‘Disarming Traps and Picking Locks’, ‘Reading Runes and Using Items’, and ‘Perception and Tracking’. Results of twenty-six and under are counted as a ‘Blunder’, ninety-one to one-hundred-and-ten a ‘Near Success’, and above that a ‘Success’, with ‘Absolute Success’ being a result of one-hundred-and-seventy-six or more.

For example, Crugell is tracking a band of Orcs which has strayed into Wose territory. It is night and whilst as a Wose, Crugell has good night sight, the Game Master assigns a difficulty of Hard or ‘-10’. Crugell’s player rolls the dice, adds Crugell’s Static Manoeuvre Bonus from his Track skill, which is ‘+48’ and applies the difficulty modifier. The roll is ‘93’, not enough to trigger another roll, but still good, nonetheless. To this, the player adds the Static Manoeuvre Bonus and deducts the modifier. The result is a total of ‘131’, which on the ‘Static Maneuver Table (MT-2)’ gives, “SUCCESS: You gain all of the information on the topic that required the perception roll.” The Game Master states that Crugell has found the track left behind by the Orcs and is following them.

Combat lies at the heart of Middle-earth Role Playing and is the most complex part of the game. The sequence of action in a round consists of preparing or spell, missile and thrown weapon attacks—including missile parrying and missile weapon reloading, Movement Manoeuvres, melee attacks and parries, movement, and Static Manoeuvres. The actions are conducted in order of Movement and Manoeuvre Bonus, with an attack consisting of a standard open-ended dice roll, modified by the attacker Offensive Bonus, minus the defender’s parry modifier—also subtracted from the defender’s Offensive Bonus, with the result being determined by consulting the table for the weapon type used and cross-referencing the modified roll with the armour worn by the defender. The outcome ranges from one to one-hundred-and-fifty, as opposed to the possible one-hundred-and-seventy-six or more on the ‘Static Maneuver Table (MT-2)’, and includes various types of fumble to the number of hits inflicted and beyond that critical results, which inflict hits and an extra, severe effect. A critical result requires a further roll on the critical result table, such as the ‘Crush Critical Table (CT-1)’ or ‘Puncture Critical Table (CT-3)’ tables. There are also critical result tables for spell attack effects that involve heat, cold, electricity, and impact.

For example, Crugell and the other Wose he is with, have caught up with the Orcs who strayed onto their lands. After the opening ambush, the Orcs have turned and are charging at their attackers. The Game Master gives Crugell and his companions one more round before the Orcs reach them. Crugell has his handaxe in one hand and a javelin in another, which he decides to throw at the Orc who is charging towards him. Crugell has an Offensive Bonus with his Thrown skill of ‘+27’. He waits until the Orc is within 30” of him so that there is no negative modifier for range and throws the javelin. The Orc, wearing chain armour, has a Defensive Bonus of ‘+30’. It is deducted from Crugell’s Attack Bonus, reducing it to ‘-03’. The situation is not good for the Wose, but he is lucky as his player rolls ‘97’. This means that he can roll again. The second roll is ‘56’. So, the grand result is ‘97+56+27-30’ or ‘150’, which is the maximum roll on the ‘Missile Weapons Attack Table (AT-4)’. Comparing that to the chain armour worn by the Orc, the result is ‘25E’, which means that the Orc suffers 25 Hits and Crugell’s player receives a ‘+20’ bonus to the roll on the ‘Puncture Critical Table (CT-3)’ table. He rolls ‘29’, adds the bonus and the entry for ‘49’ reads “Strike alongside of chest. 1 hit per round. Stunned 1 round.” As the Orc is staggered by the impact of the javelin, Crugell readies to launch a charge that will take advantage of his opponent’s current status.

Magic in Middle-earth Role Playing is divided into two broad types. ‘Essence’, utilised by Mages and Bards draws from the power of the world itself, whilst ‘Channelling’, cast by Animists and Rangers, draws from the power of the Valar. Spells are organised into six categories: Essence Open Lists, Mage Lists, Bard Lists, Channelling Open Lists, Animist Lists, and Ranger Lists. Individual lists—of which there are forty-eight in Middle-earth Role Playing! Each list contains ten spells, for a grand total of four-hundred-and-eighty spells… There are spell lists for ‘Physical Enhancement’, ‘Unbarring Ways’ for unlocking things, ‘Ice Law’, ‘Wind Law’, ‘Controlling Songs’, ‘Path Mastery’ for paths and routes, ‘Organ Ways’ and ‘Bone/Muscle Ways’ for healing, and so on. The range of spells is impressive and actually some of do feel appropriate to the setting. For example, ‘Plant Mastery’ with its Plant Lore, Instant herbal Cures, Herb Mastery, are suitably low key, but not all spells and not all spell lists.

Casting a spell is simply a matter of the caster having enough Power Points and the player making a successful skill roll, typically the Directed Spell skill. It only takes a round, but a Player Character can spend up to four rounds beforehand to gain a casting bonus. The resolution is the same as Static Manoeuvre, but instead of consulting the ‘Static Maneuver Table MT-2’ for the outcome, the player refers to the ‘Base Attack Table (AT-9)’ to determine if the spell succeeds or fails. This is even in a non-combat situation. For spells cast in combat there is also the ‘Ball Spells Attack Table (AT-8)’ and ‘Bolt Spells Attack Table (AT-9)’.

In addition, magical items like spell adders enable a caster to cast extra spells and spell multipliers increase the number of Power Points a caster has access to. Magic items, such as Rune Paper, Potions, and Daily Spell Items, can contain spells as well, and it is not only possible to find such items during play, but even buy them! Several such items are listed, for example, Staff of Firebolts, Wand of Shock Bolts, and Dagger with Daily II (twice per day) Levitate Spell. These are incredibly expensive in the game, costing hundreds of Gold Pieces, when in comparison, a Player Character starts play with only two Gold Pieces (and needs to devote points from his Background options to gain more). Nevertheless, it begs the question, is there meant to be a magical item economy in Middle-earth?

All of which, again, runs counter to what is depicted in both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Middle-earth as a setting in both is not one where magic is common, and yet the Player Characters have ready access to it in one form or another. Worse, Middle-earth Role Playing tells the reader right at the start of the section on ‘Magic and Spells’ that, “Middle-earth had unique ties to the Undying Lands which created a potential for the appearance and use of significant power (magic). Such power manifested itself on a massive scale in the First Age, and to a lesser, but significant degree in the Second Age. By the time of the late Third Age, it was quite subtle - except in the cases of Dragons, the Balrog, Saruman, and (of course) Sauron, This low-key approach to the utilization of great power was a factor relating to the nature of those possessing the gift.” Further, “Men and Hobbits were not great friends of spells and often were unaware of their usage outside of fairy tales and legends. This created an atmosphere where magical occurrences were rarely seen and often became merged or confused with natural events.” It goes on to explain that, “One of the primary reasons for this subtle and secret use of magic and spells is the presence of Sauron in Mordor.” since the use of magic will likely attract his attention. Lastly, the designers compound this by advising, “When constructing the setting for a fantasy role playing game based upon Middle-earth, a Gamemaster must take great care to show restraint regarding the use of magic. Magic-users are relatively rare, although most folk had some “magic” in them, and open displays of power are still rarer.”

For decades, Middle-earth Role Playing has been regarded as a roleplaying game based on Middle-earth in which there was too much magic, in which the Player Characters had access to too much magic. Yet despite the designers warning the Game Master of the dangers of having too much magic in the game, they ignore their own advice and give it to her anyway. It makes no sense.

In terms of Middle-earth as a setting, Middle-earth Role Playing treats it in broad strokes, talking about types of locations and areas and hazards that might be encountered rather than specifics. There is some details about religion in general and the Valar, and each of entries for the numerous Races and Cultures include details of their common religious practices. Where it is specific is in the descriptions of the various creatures and monsters that the Player characters might encounter. The includes Balrogs, Dragons, and Nazgûl as well as Great Eagles and Ents. The former really are as nasty and as fearsome as you would expect, fierce challenges even for higher Level Player Characters. It only touches very briefly upon when the Game Master should set her Middle-earth Role Playing campaign, suggesting that the Second Age and Third Age when Sauron is trying to defeat the Free Peoples does not give her as much freedom as setting her campaign in the Fourth Age. For play in the Second Age and Third Age, it suggests that the Game Master consult Iron Crown Enterprise’s own Campaign and Adventure Guidebook to Middle-earth.

One aspect of the setting of Middle-earth that Middle-earth Role Playing does not explore is the horror of Sauron and the dark influence of the Shadow. There is mention of how fearsome the Nazgûl and Balrogs are, but no discussion of the forces of darkness which pervade the Second and Third Ages of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

In terms of a specific setting and what a group plays, Middle-earth Role Playing devotes the last few pages of the rulebook to ‘A Sample Game Environment’. It divides its play environs into three areas—a civilised area, a countryside area, and adventure sites. The civilised area is the ‘Inn at the Last Bridge’, located just off the Great East Road leading from the Elven haven of Rivendell to the settled western lands and the town of Bree, with the Trollshaws to the north. The Trollshaws form the countryside area for the scenario, subject to roaming Hill-trolls from the Ettenmoors and Orc patrols from Angmar. The adventure sites consist of ‘A Hill-Troll Lair’ and Herubar Gûlar, a ‘Ruined Castle’. The adventure is set in TA 1640, centuries before the events of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The inn is run by the Grumm family, and it is the disappearance of the family’s son that forms the plot hook for the scenario. The Innkeeper offers a reasonably substantial reward for his son’s safe return—a whole two gold pieces—and investigating his disappearance leads the Player Characters out into the Trollshaws and a deadly encounter with some trolls hiding out in their caves. Other rumours lead to the ruined castle, once the ‘Dwelling of the Lord of High Sorcery’, which hides secrets and monsters and treasures. This is a challenging adventure as the Trolls and Orcs and other enemies are tough opponents, but the rewards are potentially high given some of the treasures to be found in the castle. This is not a bad scenario, but neither is it a good one. It is perfectly playable, but barring the encounter with the trolls does not feel particularly Tolkienesque. Nevertheless, this is a scenario that has been played by thousands of players because it was the first scenario for Middle-earth Role Playing and the one included with every edition of the roleplaying game.

Physically, Middle-earth Role Playing is well-written and presented. The maps are nice and clear and book is not difficult to read, even though it packs a lot into its hundred or so pages. It could have been better organised. Many of the various sections feel out of place, with there often being several pages between the rules for an action and the table that the Game Master needs to refer to determine its outcome. Consequently, it takes a long time to get to the point where the player can begin to understand how the game is played.

—oOo— 

Although Jonathan Sutherland reviewed several supplements for Middle-earth Role Playing in ‘Open Box’ in White Dwarf Issue 50 (February 1984), it would not be until White Dwarf Issue 58 (October 1984) that he reviewed the core rules. Of A Campaign and Adventure Guidebook for Middle-earth, Angmar: Land of the Witch King, Angmar: Land of the Witch King, The Court of Ardor in Southern Middle Earth, Umbar: Haven of the Corsairs, Northern Mirkwood: The Wood-Elves Realm, and Southern Mirkwood: Haunt of the Necromancer, he collectively said, “In conclusion I would recommend this series, it's not necessary to get them all as they stand up as scenarios on their own, but it would be fun to see all the expanded maps fitted together when all the series is finally released, and play a mammoth campaign spanning the entirety of Middle Earth using the wealth of detail available. My only reservation regarding the system is the price, but when you look at a comparable product both in price and in subject, it’s not bad.” Of the core rules, he was more positive, stating that, “In conclusion, MERP is a well conceived, reasonably well written system. I can’t say it’s easy and ideal for beginners but I can honestly recommend that you try it. MERP gets my vote as best new RPG this year; in fact I’ve not been so impressed since I first read Call of Cthulhu. The system is also geared to readily accept other Rolemaster spinoffs and recommends them often. For an important game, the price is just right – very god value!” (For reference, Middle-earth Role Playing cost £6.95 in 1984). Lastly, he gave Middle-earth Role Playing an overall score of nine out of ten. 

White Dwarf would return to Middle-earth Role Playing the following year in White Dwarf Issue 66 (June 1985), by which time publisher Games Workshop had its edition of the roleplaying game. In ‘The Road Goes Ever On: Inside Middle Earth Role-Playing’, Graham Staplehurst stated that, “Iron Crown has done superb development work on areas that Tolkien neglected or left unspecified.” in reference to the many supplements released by the publisher. Of the mechanics, he said, “The combat system can be rather bloody, which is no bad thing. AD&D players will probably come to grief the first time they meet orcs, as these are the real thing!” Yet as with other reviewers and commentators, he had reservations about the magic system in Middle-earth Role Playing. “The only facet of the MERP system I would quarrel with is the magic system. In Tolkien’s world, magic was a very rare thing when one considers it in the form of lightning bolt and fireball. Magic was present, but as a subtle and inherent quality of many things and people.”, noting the lack of offensive spellcasting seen in the fiction and then only by the extremely powerful, such as Gandalf. Staplehurst pointed out that, “The MERP system gives these sorts of powers to almost anyone after the acquisition of relatively few experience points; for me, it upsets the flavor of the game and its authenticity.” Despite this, his conclusion was positive: “MERP can be used to recreate the great adventures of which Tolkien wrote: going with Frodo or Bilbo or Beren into the lair of evil and trying to escape alive, and it can go some way to fulfilling the desires of people who want to know more about Tolkien’s world.”

Andy Blakeman reviewed Middle-earth Role Playing in ‘Game Reviews’ in Imagine No. 22 (January 1985)—notably in an issue dedicated to the works of Michael Moorcock!—and began by making clear the links that roleplayers have between such a work of fiction like that of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and the feeling that they seek to create in play, and consequently, it was inevitable that the roleplaying hobby and Tolkien’s creation would be brought together. Then, when such a convergence took place, it was important to ensure that all those involved were best suited to the project. His iniatial comments were positive: “Iron Crown Enterprises’ Middle earth Role Playing is this marriage; by its links with Tolkien, it cannot fail to attract many new ganers to the obby; and I am rerasonably sure that these newcomers will not be disappointed.” However, he was not impressed by the order of the layout, but did praise the source material in terms of the linguistics and the detailing of the various Races and Cultures. He was found that the rules were “…[A]n operative deterrent to hack-and-slay gaming.”, but “Where they they fall donw is in mode of play. Rules are supposed to be hidden… In real life there are ‘rules’ — the laws of physics and chemistry and so on — which regulates our actions; but we tend not to be conscious of the rules governing it all. We act, and witness the results. And so it should be in role-playing. In Lord of the Rings, magics is a deeply mysterious phenomenon; yet in MERP the atmosphere is destroyed through the players’ contact with the rules. The results of actions are faithfully recreated but the wonderment which surrounds the magic is lost. This is not a fault peculiar to MERP, however, and it is something a competent GM could overcome…”

William A. Barton provided more of an overview of the core rules and numerous supplements for it than an actual review of Middle-earth Role Playing in ‘I.C.E.’s Middle-earth Modules’ in Space Game Number 73 (March/April 1985). He identified several problems, such as, “Missing from the MERP rules is any in-depth description of the history or geography of Middle-earth, though the sample adventure in the rulebook provides at least a small section of the land in which to start a campaign — the Trollshaws.”, though added that the setting was so well known that information included should be enough to be starting with, before highlighting the poor organisation and the nature of the Rolemaster mechanics in Middle-earth Role Playing. With the latter, he said, “I wonder, also, about the appropriateness of some of the Rolemaster mechanics in the Middle-earth context — the spells in particular. Is this an accurate portrayal of magic in Tolkien’s realm? Of course, the laws of magic were never spelled out (no pun intended) in Lord of the Rings, and the MERP magic system works adequately, so this isn’t a major stumbling block.” Ultimately though, he was positive, concluding with, “If you haven’t yet taken a trip to Middle-earth via the Iron Crown, I recommend you remedy the situation as soon as possible.” 

Jonathan Tweet reviewed Middle-earth Role Playing in ‘Game Reviews’ in Different Worlds Issue 46 (May/June 1987). He began with, “The game rules, derived from ICE’s popular Rolemaster series, are well thought out and detailed. Unfortunately, the setting and the game rules mesh poorly, facing players with a choice between faithfulness to Tolkien’s genius and fully using the game mechanics.” Although he found that the roleplaying game nicely brought Middle-earth to roleplaying, and the rules to be detailed and appealing, he said in awarding the roleplaying game just three stars out of four, “What keeps MERP from being a four-star game is that the beautiful setting and intricate game rules do not match. Fantasy games have been heavily influenced by the example of Dungeons &  Dragons. Typically, an adventuring group comprising several races and classes  wanders around a fantasy world blasting monsters with big spells and winning lots of magic items, and when someone gets killed they dish out some money and get the character back to life. MERP was designed to be played this way. As a  gamemaster, one would have to be willing to rise above the designer’s expectations to capture the true flavor of Middle-Earth. Monster-trashing and dungeon-looting are available in any homemade world, but Middle-Earth should inspire players to causes more noble than self-aggrandizement.” His criticisms continued with the treatment of magic in Middle-earth Role Playing, adding, “More ill-fitting is the prevalence of magic. The idea of spells being as common-place as the game would have it is a sad concession to role-playing tradition and it cheapens Middle-Earth.” 

The popularity of Tolkien and Middle-earth, and the fact that it was the only roleplaying game based on the author’s creation is likely why Middle-earth Role Playing was placed at number eleven of ‘Arcane Presents the Top 50 Roleplaying Games 1996’ which appeared in Arcane #14 (December 1996). Editor Paul Pettengale said, “The popularity of the books, we would suggest, explains why the game based on Tolkien’s world is so popular. The system is overly complicated (being based on the complex Rolemaster system - see number 15), and it suffers from the problem of timing. For example, at which time do you set your campaign? Set it before The Lord of the Rings and everyone knows what’s going to happen, set it after The Lord of the Rings and you’ve got to make a whole load of stuff up. Still, the supplements are all good, if you get off on bucketfuls of detail and polished prose. Not for everyone, sure, but die-hard Tolkien fans should check it out.” 

—oOo—

Middle-earth Role Playing: a complete system for adventuring in J.R.R. Tolkien’s World was published in 1984 and it shows. Even though it uses a streamlined version of the Rolemaster rules, it possesses a complexity and a level of detail that was prevalent at the time—and in addition, the book encouraged the Game Master and her players to migrate to the even more complex Rolemaster for yet more detail and more options. Further, as a roleplaying game based on Tolkien’s Middle-earth, it does not feel like the Middle-earth depicted in The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. It is obviously set in Middle-earth with its Hobbits and different types of Elf, its selection of monsters, a scenario set in the Trollshaws, and so on, but the prevalence of magic, whether it is the possible access to magic for all Player Characters, the inclusion of the Mage as a Profession, or the preponderance of magical items runs counter to the world where magic is rare and where and when it occurs, feels special. The problem is that in terms of design Middle-earth Role Playing takes its cue not from Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings, or The Hobbit, but from other roleplaying games and obviously, on other fantasy roleplaying games. Thus, like Dungeons & Dragons, it has to have Player Characters who are capable of learning magic and casting spells, it has to have plenty of magical items and artefacts for the Player Characters to find and wield, and so on.

Yet for all that Middle-earth Role Playing includes that makes it feel unlike a roleplaying game based on Tolkien’s writings, it still feels like a roleplaying game based on and in Middle-earth because it still has many of the elements taken from the setting. So, the options in terms of Races and Cultures that the players can role play, the monsters that their characters will face, and nods at least to the setting in the included scenario. With the inclusion of magic, what Middle-earth Role Playing really feels like is a high fantasy version of Middle-earth, rather than the low fantasy version we are used to reading about in the fiction and seeing more recently on the screen.

Further, Middle-earth Role Playing is not a bad roleplaying game per se. For all of its complexities, it is a coherent and complete design. It very much requires better organisation to be more coherent and easier to learn, though even if it had that, it is not a roleplaying game suitable for anyone new to the hobby. A fan of Tolkien and Middle-earth coming to Middle-earth Role Playing as his first roleplaying game would at the very least be daunted by the learning curve necessary to learn play it, if not outright confounded and confused.

Middle-earth Role Playing is not without a certain charm, borne of nostalgia more than anything else since it allowed us to visit and roleplay in the world of Middle-earth for the very first time. As a design Middle-earth Role Playing: a complete system for adventuring in J.R.R. Tolkien’s World is coherent and sound, if poorly organised, and is more a roleplaying game which models Middle-earth using the framework of what a roleplaying game should be like, rather than what Middle-earth should be like.

—oOo—

For Dave Paterson because he loves it so.

The Other OSR: Vast Grimm

The universe will not end with a bang, but a gnawing. A gnawing in your brain. A gnawing in the asteroid in which you make grimy, ramshackle home. A gnawing in the remnants of planets. A gnawing in the universe. A gnawing that will grow and grow until the parasites erupt. Erupt and unleash as Würms. Würms that will infect others and spread the gnawing. Würms that grow and grow and erupt from planets shattering them into pieces, to grow and grow and become the Grimm. There have been Würms and Grimm everywhere in the universe for centuries, where once they were only in one place. The Primordial Mausoleum of THEY. It was the Six, the Disciples of Fatuma, who following the prophecies put down in the Book of Fatuma, who made a pilgrimage to the Primordial Mausoleum of THEY and deployed the Power of Tributes to decrypt the Mystical Lock sealing the Mausoleum. It was then that the First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass. They drew in the stale air of the Mausoleum, becoming one with the THEY and breathing out the parasites. The Six scattered, bringing the word and the infection of THEY to every corner of the ’verse. Almost seven centuries have passed and the survivors cling to life, looking out for any signs of THEY or hiding it inside them in the hope that it never erupt and spread… The Earth is gone. Shattered into large pieces. There are places and planets where the remnants of Mankind survive, squabbling over resources and power, fearing the parasitical infectious word of THEY, but not without hope. There are whispers over the Netwürk of a means to escape the end of this universe by entering another, one entirely free of THEY. The Scientifics call it the Gate of Infinite Stars. Yet time is running out. The First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass and so has every other Prophecy of Fatuma since. Except the last Seven Torments. Will the last Seven Torments come to pass and allow the Würms and the Grimm to consume the ’verse and with it, the last of Mankind? Or will the lucky few find their way to the Gate of Infinite Stars and at last be free of the Würms and the Grimm in a better, brighter future? That is, of course, if everyone fleeing through the Gate of Infinite Stars is free of the gnawing…

Welcome to the dark, grim future of Vast Grimm. Published by Infinite Black, it is a pre-apocalypse Science Fiction roleplaying game compatible with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. Not only compatible in terms of mechanics, but also in tone and structure, with little more than a handful of prophecies standing in the way of the Player Characters’ continued survival in the face of uncaring, dying world, in this case, universe. Where it differs though, is offering that hope, that chance of finding the Gate of Infinite Stars and escaping one dread future for another better one. The last Seven Torments are not set in stone though. The Game Master rolls a die, the size collectively chosen by the whole, at the start of each day. If the result is a one, then a Torment comes to pass, randomly determined from the thirty-six given. They are all eschatologically grim, such as “And a pocket will form in the darkness of space. Anything that goes near will be swallowed by its emptiness, and in 11 days the empty will have wallowed no less than 7 planets.” or “Tears of blood will flow from all who have sired children. One hour wept for each seed that has sprouted and taken root.”

A Player Character in Vast Grimm is defined by four abilities—Agility, Presence, Strength, and Toughness. Of the four, Presence is the odd one out. It is not just used for Charisma checks, but also for perception checks, ranged attacks, and wielding Neuromancy. The four abilities range in value from -3 to +3, these being equal to ability modifiers found in Dungeons & Dragons and other retroclones. He will also have a Class of which Vast Grimm offers eight. Each provides equipment, arms and armour, ability modifiers, possible past life events and skills particular to that Class. The eight include the MAnchiNe, a twisted fusion of flesh and machine who fought in the trenches with the Legions; the Soul Survivor, a wretch driven to survive no matter what the cost; the Lost Techno Maniac, who would prefer to be studying the Tributes in order to fully understand Neuromancy; the Twisted Biochemist who has become infected with the Würms in the course of his attempt to find a cure for the infection, and who yet may find that or succumb to the Grimm and self-pity; the Treacherous Merc, a bastard who thinks only of himself and will use violence to prove it; the Emobot’s mechanical mind and body means it is immune to infection, but its soul means it is not immune to the loss of people it cares about to the Grimm; the Devout is a blindly faithful Disciple of Fatuma who works to do all he can to bring about the prophecies of THEY; and the Harvester literally harvests Würms from the bodies of the dead in return for handsome bounties. To create a character, a player rolls for his Abilities, selects a Class, rolls for the details of that Class, and then for his character’s Misspent Youth, Battle Scars, Irritating Idiosyncrasies, and Starting Equipment.

Kratar

Twisted Biochemist

Addicted to Science: Always top of the class, your peers and teachers hated you.

Misspent Youth: Distracted

Irritating Idiosyncrasies: StarDust junkie. If there’s dust around, it’s going into your oxygen tank.

Battle Scars: Missing middle fingers, flipped off the wrong person.

Agility +0 Presence +2 Strength -1 Toughness +1

Hit Points: 6

Armour: Thin grade Carbon Fiber (-d2 damage)

Weapon: Inoculation Dart Gun (range 20’, holds 8 doses)

Equipment: Portable nanotech/chemical laboratory, today’s creations (two doses of Nanite Dance Party and two doses of Ass Blastin), 50 credits

Favours: Two

Mechanically, Vast Grimm is simple. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a twenty-sided die, modifies the result by one of his character’s Abilities, and attempts to beat a Difficulty Rating, typically twelve, but it can be higher or lower depending on the situation. Vast Grimm is also player-facing, meaning that the player always rolls whereas the Game Master does not. So, a player will roll for his character to hit in melee using his Strength and his Agility to avoid being hit. Armour is represented by a die value, from -d2 for light armour to -d6 for heavy armour, representing the amount of damage it stops. Medium and heavy armour each add a modifier to any Agility action by the character, including defending himself. This is pleasingly simple and offers a character some tactical choice—just when is it better to avoid taking the blows or avoid taking the damage?

Combat is potentially deadly. If a Player Character has his Hit Points reduced to zero, he is broken. As a result, he may be unconscious for a few rounds, lose a limb or eye and in the process also Ability points, haemorrhage and bleed to death, or possibly die! If his Hit Points are reduced to less than zero, he is definitely dead!

In addition, characters have access to Favours, of which a Player Character typically has one or two a day. They can be used to deal maximum damage on an attack, reroll any die—not just that player’s, lower the damage die rolled against a character, to neutralise a critical success or fumble, or to lower the Difficulty Rating on a test.

Instead of magic or the scrolls of Mörk Borg, what Vast Grimm gives are Tributes. These take advantage of the Neuromantic energy released at the same time as the Grimm when THEY opened the Primordial Mausoleum of THEY. This Neuromantic energy can be captured and stored on data chips called Tributes. They can be found on data chips or randomly downloaded from the Netwürk. A Tribute can be used by any Player Character. All it requires is a successful Presence Test and the expenditure of Neuromancy Points, which are derived from a Player Character’s Presence Ability. The effects are random, although some have been hacked so that work in a way that was not intended, such as “You’ve Been Spaced: One random creature within 30’ of the Tribute has the air around it sucked away for d6 rounds losing d4 damage each round.”, or still encrypted, clean and clear as intended as in, “Hive Mind Speak: To one of The Grimm, ask questions. For 3 rounds it will answer truthfully before the würm inside of them explodes.” Some twenty example Tributes are given. However, failure to activate a Tribute has its consequences. A simple failure results in the loss of Hit Points and dizziness for an hour. Worse are the results for a critical and a fumble result. Then the player has to roll on the Cataclysmic Condemnations table! (This is actually suggested as being optional, but where would be the fun in that?)

Exploring remains of the known universe, perhaps looking for the Gate of Infinite Stars, is fraught with danger. Vast Grimm both details six of these locations, whilst leaving plenty of space for the Game Master to create her own, like the ‘Waste Barges of Khallar’, the dumping ground for the universe’s trash where it builds and builds into mountains of filth and waste, protected by Shit King Saule’s rat-like army of trash people, and the Marauder’s Cryosfear, home to space raiders who have anchored their ships to the ice planet with multiple ships connected to form havens, and the threats that the Player Characters might face. The worst of these are the six parasitic Würms, which have a chance to infect anyone who comes in close contact with The Grimm. Each of the six—the Flesh Würm, the Blood Würm, the Brain Würm, the Heart Würm, the Gut Würm, and the Spinal Würm—is connected to one of the THEY and the Grimm god they each worship. Each parasite induces both pain and pleasure in the infected as it grows and grows, and has its own set of tables for the various effects, until at some point it gains total control over the character who their player must then give to the Game Master. A new character is then needed…

Other threats include random spaceships, rotten Earth Animal Mutations, Astro Zombies, Big Würms, and more, for a nasty selection of things that are almost, but not quite as bad as the Grimm. Oddly, the advice given in the back of Vast Grimm is more for the player than the Game Master, which probably would have been better placed towards the beginning of the book rather than after the entries for the monsters. The roleplaying game comes to a close with a beginning adventure, ‘DEATH aboard the CONUNDRUM: An Introductory Adventure for Vast Grimm’. The Netwürk is abuzz with rumours of an artefact, needed to operate the Gate of Infinite Stars, located aboard a spaceship, and it happens that the Player Characters are nearby. Unfortunately, so is a band of space raiders and then everyone is on their way to ransack the ship and take possession of the artefact. It is a solid ‘dungeon in space’ style adventure with lots of creeping about in the dark and dealing the people and other things already aboard… lastly, there are tables of adventure sparks, encounters, and so on, to spur the Game Master’s imagination.

Unfortunately, beyond randomly determining where the Gate of Infinite Stars might be located, Vast Grimm is short on advice for the Game Master and playing it beyond the single scenario included. Thus, there is no discussion of campaign or long-term play. In so far as the Player Characters will hopefully find the Gate of Infinite Stars and use it before the end of this universe. Then of course, what happens next... Even though it would have been useful, the experienced Game Master will probably have no issue with this, but the Game Master with less experience may struggle to develop a campaign around the nihilistically grim horror of Vast Grimm.

Physically, Vast Grimm shares a lot of its production values with Mörk Borg. Both embrace the Artpunk aesthetic with its use of vibrant, often neon colours and heavy typefaces. It looks amazing, a swirling riot of colour that wants to reach out and infect everything, but it has to be said, it is not always the easiest of books to read.

Vast Grimm could be seen as Mörk Borg in space and that would not be an unfair assessment. However, Vast Grimm scales up the eschatological horror of Mörk Borg’s pre-apocalypse to cosmic levels and scales it down to make it horribly, infectiously personal with the plague of the Würms contaminating and breeding within every aspect of the universe, including, possibly, probably, the Player Characters. Then it offers hope, an objective, in the form of the Gate of Infinite Stars, for the players and their characters to aim for, though sadly it does not develop this aspect of the setting. This objective, though, is just enough to balance out the dread—even ever so slightly—as a glimmer of comfort and hope, and that actually makes Vast Grimm not quite as, well, grim. Overall, Vast Grimm is a eschatologically nasty Science Fiction horror game made all the more enjoyable because there is hope.

Quick-Start Saturday: Fallout

Quick-starts are means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps too. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

—oOo—

What is it?
The Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide is the quick-start for Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, the post-apocalyptic roleplaying game based on the computer game, Fallout 4, developed by Bethesda Game Studios. It is set in the year 2287, two centuries after a nuclear holocaust that ended a war between the United States and China, in the remains of New England, including Boston, an area called ‘The Commonwealth’.

It is a sixty-four-page, 119.56 MB full colour PDF.

The quick-start is very nicely illustrated with artwork taken from the computer game that captures the retrofuturism of the Fallout 4 setting. The rules are clearly explained and are a moderately complex version of the 2d20 System.

How long will it take to play?
The Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide and its adventure, ‘Machine Frequency’, is designed to be played through in one session, two at most.

What else do you need to play?
The Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide requires at least two twenty-sided dice per player, four six-sided dice, and tokens to keep track of Action Points.

Who do you play?
The six Player Characters in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide consist of a Vault Dweller skilled in computers, a charismatic Survivor with gambling debts, a Ghoul who fears mental degeneration, a Super Mutant bibliophile with long history, a Brotherhood Initiate with medical training, and a Mister Handy with personality problems.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide—and thus the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game—will look more familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4 than anyone who has played a 2d20 System roleplaying game. A Player Character has seven ‘S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes’. These are Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. These are rated between four and ten and will be familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4. He will ratings in skills including Athletics, Barter, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee Weapons, Pilot, Repair, Science, Small Guns, Sneak, Speech, Survival, Throwing, and Unarmed. Skills are ranked between zero and six. Some skills are marked as Tag skills, indicating expertise or talent. Tag skills improve a Player Character’s chances of a critical success. Each twenty-sided die rolled for a Tag skill that gives a result equal to or under the skill rank is a critical success, counting as two successes rather than one.

One noticeable difference between Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and other 2d20 System roleplaying games is that the Player Characters have hit locations. This reflects the nature of the computer game. A Player Character will also have several Perks and Traits, essentially the equivalent of advantages and disadvantages, and he will have Luck Points equal to his Luck Attribute. He does have a biography and a list of gear as well.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide—and thus the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide—uses the 2d20 System seen in many of the roleplaying games published by Modiphius Entertainment, such as Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 or Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. To undertake an action in the 2d20 System in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of an Attribute and a Skill to generate successes. Each roll under this total counts as a success, an average task requiring two successes, the aim being to generate a number of successes equal to, or greater, than the Difficulty Value, which typically ranges between zero and five. Rolls of one count as a critical success and create two successes, as does rolling under the value of the Skill when it is a Tagged Skill. A roll of twenty adds a Complication to the situation, such as making noise when a Player Character is trying to be stealthy or breaking a lock pick when opening a safe.

Successes generated above the Difficulty Value are turned into Action Points. Action Points are a shared resource and a group can have up to six. They can be used to purchase more dice for a Skill test, to Obtain Information from the Overseer, Reduce Time spent on a test, or to take an Additional Minor Action or Additional Major Action.

With Luck of the Draw, a player can spend his character’s Luck Points to add a fact or detail or item to the area he is in that would benefit him. Other uses include Stacked Deck, which enables a player to substitute his character’s Luck Attribute instead of another, Lucky Timing, which lets a survivor interrupt the Initiative order, and Miss Fortune to reroll dice.

The Overseer—as the Game Master is known—has her own supply of Action Points to use with her NPCs.

How does combat work?

Combat in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide is quite detailed in comparison to other 2d20 System roleplaying games. A Player Character can attempt one Minor Action and one Major Action per round, but Action Points can be spent to take one more of each. Minor Actions include Aim, Draw Item, Move, Take Chem, and more, whilst Major Actions include Attack, Command an NPC, Defend, Rally, Sprint, and others. During combat, Action Points can be expended to purchase more dice for a Skill test, to Obtain Information from the Overseer, to take an Additional Minor Action or Additional Major Action, or to add extra Combat Dice.

Damage is inflicted per random Hit Location and it is possible to target a particular Hit Location. The number of Combat Dice rolled to determine damage is based on the weapon, Action Points spent to purchase more Combat Dice, Perks, and other factors. Combat Dice determine not only the number of points of damage inflicted, but the ‘Damage Effects Trigger’ of the weapon used. This has an extra effect, such as Piercing, which ignores a point of Damage Resistance or Spread, which means an additional target is hit. Both damage inflicted and Damage Resistance can be physical, energy, radiation, or poison. If five or more points of damage is inflicted to a single Hit Location, then a critical hit is scored. Ammunition is tracked.

Radiation damage is handled differently. It reduces the Maximum Health Points of a Player Character rather than his current Health Points. Until cured, this reduces both his Maximum Health Points and the number of Health Points which can be cured.

What do you play?

‘Machine Frequency’ assumes that the Player Characters are travelling when they encounter Scribe Galen Portno, an elderly member of the Brotherhood of Steel. he operates a listening post and recently monitored a distress call from a Brotherhood Vertibird which crashed. He is awaiting reinforcements, but asks the Player Characters to go to the rescue of the downed crew. They have a chance to conduct some scavenging before reach the Vertibird where they find it being attacked by robots. Further clues will lead them to the controller of the robots as well as provide opportunities to explore and scavenge.

‘Machine Frequency’ is a good mix of exploration, scavenging, and combat. Players who have played Fallout 4 will feel right at home.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide includes everything that the Overseer and six players need to play through it.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide are not too difficult to prepare. A Overseer who already run a 2d20 System roleplaying game will need to adjust for the extra complexities and details of the system used in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, but will otherwise have no problem with this.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The rules and the scenario presented in allout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide really do feel like you are playing a tabletop version of Fallout 4. It is grim and gritty, with a little bit of knowing humour. Fans of both the computer game, the post apocalypse genre, and the Fallout television series will enjoy the chance to play this.

Where can you get it?
The Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Quickstart Guide is available to download here.

Friday Fantasy: The 13th Skull

Dungeon Crawl Classics #71: The 13th Skull begins in grim, if slightly bonkers fashion. The Player Characters are present at a public execution. The thirteenth Duke Magnussen has condemned a man to death for the prophecies he has made across the city, calling for the death of the duke’s daughter lest the city be beset by a great disaster. As father and daughter watch the condemned man and his executioner climb the scaffolding, both hooded, one by a burlap sack, the other by a black leather executioner’s hood, and the executioner’s axe falls upon the neck of the condemned, everything seems to go wrong. The decapitated head has the face of the Duke himself and the executioner pulls off his hood to reveal a grinning silver skull. As the grinning metallic visage turns to face the Duke, a great winged lizard flaps down out of the sky to snatch up the Duke’s daughter, before the Silver Skulled executioner leaps on its back and leaps into the sky, heading for the Duke’s mountaintop keep. The city is in uproar and the Duke is determined to get his daughter back and will pay any souls brave enough to do so handsomely for it. The Silver Skull and its beast of burden was last seen entering a mountain cave said to be connected to Duke Magnussen XIII’s family crypts, which is why the brave Player Characters find themselves standing before a stout oak door, ready to venture into the Magnussen mausoleum, rescue the Duke’s daughter, and in the process, discover some dark family secrets.

This is as much set-up as there is for Dungeon Crawl Classics #71: The 13th Skull, the fifth scenario to be published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Designed by Joseph Goodman for a group of six to ten Fourth Level Player Characters, it is an important scenario for four reasons. One is that it is the fifth scenario to be written for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the fourth to be written for Player Characters who are not Zero level, and the fourth is that it is the first scenario for Fourth Level Player Characters. It is a short affair, designed to be played in a single session or so, so it can be used as a convention scenario. Alternatively, it can be played in a more leisurely fashion and be played through in two sessions rather than the single session. Either way, it is nasty, deadly affair. The eponymous scenario though, is not the only content in The 13th Skull. There is also a second scenario, ‘The Balance Blade’, designed for Second Level Player Characters and a companion piece, ‘Seven Strange Skulls’, both by Daniel J. Bishop.

The Player Characters have the opportunity to learn a rumour or two before they enter the crypts, which can either given out at the start of the adventure or roleplayed for if running the scenario as part of a campaign. The rumours revolve around suggestions that the first Duke Magnussen made a pact with something—though nobody knows what—and that family is somehow connected to the Silver Skull. Once inside the crypts, the scenario proceeds in rather linear fashion. There is really only one direction and that is down. After a dark and deadly encounter with lurking shadows that are a pleasingly creepy twist upon the classic Dungeons & Dragons version of the monsters, the Player Characters will descend to the main stage for the scenario where most of the action will take place.

The grand set piece for ‘The 13th Skull’ is an enormous cave, split in two by a river that flows out of the mountain via a waterfall and which contains both ‘The Stinking Pit of Hell’, a literal hellhole, and a fifty-foot-wide column whose base has been worn thin by the rushing waters, atop which is a magical circle containing the resting place of the Silver Skull. On either side of the river there is a circle of skulls, a pile of corpses, and access to a room containing a book containing pages that will transport the reader to different planes of existence. There is a sense of momentum to the scenario as the Player Characters explore the cave and move from one encounter to another, ultimately to attempt two tasks. One is to defeat and destroy the Silver Skull, and since this takes place atop a column in the middle of the river with a pit to Hell also in the middle of the river, if the Player Characters defeat it, they really are lined up to throw it off the top and into Hellhole, more or less, below. The other is find the Duke’s daughter and rescue her. This is incredibly difficult to achieve—and intentionally so. The Barbed Devil holding her ready for sacrifice has an area attack likely to kill given that she is Zero Level NPC. To that end, there is advice and playtest reports throughout The 13th Skull and what they make clear is the difficulty of saving the daughter and that few of the playtest groups succeeded. If their characters do manage to save the daughter, then they and their players should definitely feel a sense of achievement and their characters will be rewarded by the Duke. If not, he will castigate them for their failure and they will be dismissed without any reward, bar the fantastical magical items that they might have found below the crypts. Ultimately, ‘The 13th Skull’ feels more like a convention or tournament scenario, although in the case of the latter, a table of possible scores would have been useful.

The second scenario in The 13th Skull is ‘The Balance Blade’. It is designed for Second Level Player Characters and is again intended to be played in a single four-hour session. It has particular requirements in the form of a Wizard Player Character with a patron, and a mix of Alignments in the party, as well as index cards and coloured stickers to use in the adventure. In addition, a Thief is an absolute must. The adventure is littered with traps that will kill—or effectively kill—a Player Character if a Saving Throw is failed.

The set-up is that the wizard’s patron asks to retrieve a weapon called The Balance Blade from The Tomb of the Last Colossus, the resting place of the last of a race of cosmic colossi. The scenario is even more linear than ‘The 13th Skull’ and it only works as a convention scenario, as the last two encounters in the scenario are designed to trigger inter-party conflict. The penultimate scene is one which will be viewed differently depending upon the Alignment of the Player Characters. Lawful Player Characters will see a lonely woman sitting on a bed, Neutral Player Characters will see a lonely woman sitting on a bed with a child, and Chaotic Player Characters will see a succubus sitting on a bed with a strange spider-like creature—and none of this will change. The illusion will be maintained until the woman/woman and child/succubus and strange spider-like creature are dead. So, if a Chaotic Player Character attacks the succubus and strange spider-like creature, the Neutral Player Character will see the Chaotic Player Character attacking a woman and child, and the Lawful Player Character will see the Chaotic Player Character (and possibly the Neutral Player Character as well) attacking the woman, but will never, ever see the child. It is a challenging scene to run, one that really is designed to mess around with the perceptions of the characters and their players.

The last scene and thus the scenario ends with betrayal upon the part of the Wizard’s patron and then upon the part of the Wizard as he turns on the other Player Characters. The Wizard and his player have no choice in this and the scenario will end in the Wizard’s death no matter what his player decides to do. His player may well have some fun with his Wizard battling his fellow Player Characters, wielding the powerful blade of the title and the extra power granted to him by his patron, a la Elric and Stormbringer. For the other players and their characters, it is a distinctly underwhelming climax and an underwhelming scenario as a whole. As with the first scenario, there are some remarks about the playtest results and they are probably more interesting then the scenario itself.

The third and final entry in The 13th Skull is not another scenario, but an article vaguely connected to the eponymous scenario. ‘Seven Strange Skulls’ describes seven weird and magical skulls, two of them with their tables that use the thirty-sided die beloved of Dungeon Crawl Classics. The Crystal Skull of the Alien Juggernaut is the skull of a gigantic creature from another world that gives off a glow and a bonus to spellcasting, but has a chance of exploding when it gives this bonus. Grandmother’s Skull is the skull of a matrilineal ancestor which grants various spell effects to the wearer if sacrifices are made to it in the household shrine it also requires. Of course, the spirit in the skull will have demands of her own which a player and his character will find out if the former rolls a one! The Living Skull of the Emerald Enchanter is a weirdly legged skull with a nasty poisonous bite created in conjunction with the Emerald Enchanter, so would be an entertaining callback for any Judge who has run and player who has roleplayed Dungeon Crawl Classics #69: The Emerald Enchanter. Overall, these skulls are entertaining and fun to add to any game.

Physically, The 13th Skull is a very nicely done book. The maps are good—for both adventures—and the artwork is excellent.

Despite the additions of ‘The Balance Blade’ and ‘Seven Strange Skulls’, The 13th Skull is not a satisfying anthology of scenarios for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Both scenarios are effectively convention or even tournament scenarios, but not presented as such, because otherwise, they are difficult to use in campaign play. ‘The 13th Skull’ is the better of the two scenarios because it is easier to use, it is linear, but not to the point of a railroad, and it has room for player and character agency. ‘The Balance Blade’ has none of these in comparison. Whereas, in comparison, ‘Seven Strange Skulls’ is actually fun and entertaining. Ultimately, The 13th Skull is the first poor release for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. If The 13th Skull was presented as a pair of tournament scenarios and supported as such, that would have been more truthful and made the scenarios easier to use.