Mauve Madness II

From the detective stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the ghost stories of M.R. James, from the adventure tales of H. Rider Haggard to the speculative fiction of H.G. Wells, and the social commentary and mystery of Charles Dickens to the fantasies of Lewis Carroll, from the so-called perversities of Oscar Wilde to the murders of Jack the Ripper, from the fog-shrouded streets of London to the dusty frontier of the Punjab, from the refined and mannered lives of the aristocracy with their downstairs servants to the squalor of the slums and rookeries, there is much that we know about the Victorian Age in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This is the period of La Belle Époque, the Golden Age between the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 when the great European powers dominated the world like never before, their rivalries and tensions affecting millions of people around the world, but barely at home, a situation that would drastically change in the twentieth century when the great alliances that had previously helped to keep the peace calamitously clashed and changed the world like never before. This is a world that will be familiar to many, though both history and fiction, and has been ripe for gaming since “The first ‘Truly British’ role playing game”, that is, Victorian Adventure published in 1983. It is a roleplaying game that William A. Barton certainly saw and reviewed and perhaps was influenced by when he wrote Cthulhu by Gaslight: Horror Roleplaying in 1890s England, published by Chaosium, Inc. in 1986. This boxed set shifted the horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos from the Jazz Age and the USA of the 1920s as presented in Call of Cthulhu in 1981 (and ever since) to the streets of London and the far reaches of the British Empire in the Mauve Decade. It has remained a popular setting for Call of Cthulhu over the years, the setting receiving two further editions in 1988 and 2012, but it returns with a fourth edition with the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide and Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide.

Together, both volumes return the Mythos to the Mauve Decade of the 1890s as a standalone book. What this means is that neither of the Keeper Rulebook or the Investigator Handbook for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is required to run and play Cthulhu by Gaslight. In addition, the setting and rules are compatible with Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos for a more adventurous style of play and with Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos in the Old West, should a Keeper and her players want to escape the stuffy confines of London and the East Coast of the USA and venture onto the American frontier. Of the two, the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide – Mysteries & Frights in the Victorian Age presents a grand overview of the Victorian era and setting, its society and attitudes, its science and pseudoscience, and of course, the means to create Investigators appropriate to the era, whether that is in Victorian London or the wider British Empire, or further afield on the east coast of the United States of America and even in Lovecraft country. What the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide does not do, is explore the horror of the period. That is what the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide is for.

If the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide is all about preparing for the horrors of the Victorian Age, then the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide is all about those horrors. As it acknowledges, the period was rife with real-world horror, including cruelty, crime, poverty, and disease, let alone social attitudes, even before thinking about the place of the Mythos and its influence in the period. It is thus no surprise that the supplement begins with the mundane, even ordinary horror, that the Investigators are likely to encounter again and again. The deprivations of the workhouse, the last recourse of the destitute where the poor were divided by age and gender, effectively splitting families up, and then essentially then forcing them to work as a punishment for being poor. This is described in detail as are Victorian asylums and also crime and punishment before it explores some of the most notorious crimes of the era. This includes a pleasingly sober treatment of the Jack the Ripper murders and the ‘Murder Castle’ of H.H. Holmes at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, which is suggested as alternative excursion, and some nicely detailed real-world crime figures, including the ‘Napoleon of Crime’ and the Forty Elephants, an all-female gang of shop-lifters and extortionists, both of which are begging to be added to a Cthulhu by Gaslight scenario or campaign.

Of the villainous organisations, the ‘Hatfield Club’ is a dining club for university students is an obvious nod to the Bullingdon Club, but with its cruelty and heartlessness turned up a notch, and the ‘Morley Gang’, ex-Resurrection Men turned caterers to England’s Ghoul population! The next Mythos connection is more controversial, linking scientist Francis Galton and his belief in eugenics to contact with Martians via a Mi-Go artefact. More benign is the ‘Servants of Empire’, an organisation consisting of civil servants in the Colonial Office and India Office, which secretly directs investigations into the Mythos and the occult, and would serve well as a patron or Investigator organisation, though its designs are ultimately imperial. More neutral perhaps is the inclusion of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, expanding on the details in the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide, presented as an organisation that the Investigators can join and progress through its Orders alongside their normal careers and investigations into the Mythos. It can be used as a social organisation as much an occult one, but it is up to the Keeper to decide how much its members know about the Mythos and how much actual magic they know. In conjunction with Pulp Cthulhu, it could become a Mythos fighting organisation, but lean in the other direction, the members of the Golden Dawn become mystical dabblers at best, unaware of the dangers they are dealing with. Mechanically, members of the Golden Dawn are supported with rules for astral travel and combat, skills like Hermetic Ritual, Astral Projection, and Divination, as well as astral monsters. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has been detailed for Call of Cthulhu before in the 1996 supplement from Pagan Publishing, The Golden Dawn. Of course, that supplement has long been out of print and complemented with the content from the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide, it is pleasure to have it detailed once again, giving the Keeper the scope to use it and its members however she wants. Equally, there is scope here for Chaosium, Inc. to support this inclusion with further content.

Numerous Victorian notables are described in the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide, some of whom are given Mythos connections, such as Major General Chares George Gordon having encountered cults and monsters, but not yet connected them to a ‘Mythos’, and Madame Helena Blavatsky’s links to the ‘Mahatmas’ or ‘Masters of Ancient Wisdom’, whomever or whatever they are—it is left up to the Keeper to decide. Some of these have stats, but not all, and in addition, there are some fictional characters included. Amongst them are Ayesha or ‘She’ of H. Rider Haggard’s eponymous novel, Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and Doctor Moreau from H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau. What they do not include is Sherlock Holmes and that really does not feel like an omission since the rationality of the character would be at odds with the Mythos.

The general advice for the Keeper gives some guidance on dealing with problematic content, but mostly focuses on advice for the new Keeper that looks at different campaign types and themes. The most notable of the latter are Victorian Science Fiction and Folk Horror, as well as advice on using particular aspects of the period, whether that is the workhouse, Victorian family values, the Empire, the Dreamlands, and even the Martians. The inclusion of the Martians obviously ties into H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and their appearance in earlier editions of Cthulhu by Gaslight, as well as the discussion of Francis Galton and the stats for the Martians given in this supplement.

In terms of the Mythos and horror, the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide details numerous Mythos tomes, many familiar to the Call of Cthulhu Keeper, many not. It also describes the activities of many cults across the country. Some like the cults of Shub-Niggurath or the Cult of the King in Yellow are dedicated to particular entities and so their treatment is comparatively broad, but some of the most entertaining are those that particular to the period. For example, The Factory Girls’ Sunday Club is made up of young girls who work in factories and having discovered and studied a Mythos tome, their leader is bent on revenge on all those who have done her wrong, whilst the Mothers’ Institute is a middle class charitable organisation in favour of women’s suffrage, whose members actually worship Shub-Niggurath free of the influence of men!

However, the bestiary is of limited use. Its focus is on Victorian horror. So, the Beast People of The Island of Doctor Moreau and the Martians of The War of the Worlds alongside personality monsters like Carmilla, the eponymous vampire from Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel, Count Dracula from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Helen Vaughn from Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan. This shifts the focus of Cthulhu by Gaslight away from the traditional Mythos of Call of Cthulhu and towards a Gothic, even a ‘Universal’, style of horror, and even a Pulp style of horror. Although it shows the flexibility and differences of the setting, it still means that the Keeper will need access to the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook if she wants details of the Mythos monsters and entities contained therein, perhaps in developing the cults mentioned earlier in this supplement.

The Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide includes two scenarios. The first is ‘The Forby Masterwork’, previously published as ‘The Masterwork of Nicholas Formby’ in 1993’s Sacraments of Evil. It is also a Gothic horror scenario rather than a Mythos scenario. It takes place over the course of a weekend in August 1890, at the Forby home in West London. In keeping with the genre, it involves family illness, a family curse, a dastardly villain, a monster stalking the grounds, and secret upon secrets. It also includes two options in terms of set-up. In option one, the Investigators are asked for help by an old school friend, Harold Forby, who is suffering from an old childhood sickness, in finding a family treasure that might restore the family fortune. In option two, the Investigators are not of Middle or Upper Class standing, but of Lower Class—and worse—of criminal standing! Perhaps associates of the Forty Elephants crime gang mentioned earlier in the book, these Investigators are hired by the Forby family as new servants and go in search of the treasure for their own ends. Advice is given on running both groups, but the criminal Investigator option is likely to be the most entertaining and likely the most demanding to play and run. The scenario mostly confined to the family mansion, its grounds, and nearby locations, is a busy affair, heavy on investigation and interaction and there are a fair few number of NPCs to keep track of. The scenario is pervaded by a wane, sickly feel as the Investigators tiptoe around the house and household dealing with the family and servants, including a very annoying nine-year-old boy. The only real problem is that the name of one of the NPCs which is bit too on the nose, but otherwise this is a well done, creepy affair.

The second scenario is ‘Oranges & Lemons’. It shifts the action to Shoreditch in East London, involves middle and lower class Investigators, and starts with a bang! The Investigators are at a coffee shop when a man stands up, cries out for help, staggers over to them, vomits copiously over them, and then drops down dead on the floor where his corpse rapidly desiccates. The players and their Investigators may need a bit of a push to investigate the death, but when they do, they quickly learn that the man’s death was not only odd one in the district of late. Learning more will send the Investigators back and forth across the district as they discover one victim after another, and quickly, the strange rash of deaths is linked to a local apothecary and then to a well. What will also drive the Investigators to act is the possibility that one or more of them will begin to feel ill and even act out of character, which begs the question, have they been infected by the same thing as those who died? The scenario makes good use of London’s history and the Victorian obsession with waters, having been influenced by the Broad Street Pump and cholera outbreak of 1854. This is the more straightforward of the two scenarios in the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide and is easier to run. The Keeper advice on how handle possible Investigator infection will keep the players on edge whilst the finale really does reveal that there was something nasty in the water!

Unfortunately, the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide could have been better organised. There are places in the book where the flow of the content is split by the intrusion of unrelated material, such as floorplans between the discussion of the workhouse and crime and punishment and the situational rules placed in the middle of the advice for the Keeper. Another issue is that even together, the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide and the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide do not feel complete. Certainly, the Keeper can run both scenarios in the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide and create and run scenarios using the Victorian horrors it details, but beyond that, the Keeper is going to want to consult the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook for a deeper treatment of the Mythos at least.

Physically, the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide is a good-looking book. It needs a slight edit, but the book is well written and very readable, and the artwork and the cartography are both decent.

The Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide does a good job of complementing the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide with an informative and genuinely interesting guide to horrors mundane and horrors Victorian rather than Mythos. It is better in its treatment and examination of Gothic horror, Victorian Science Fiction, and folk horror than it is Mythos horror, though it does at least lay the groundwork for the latter in its pleasingly extensive coverage of Mythos-related cults in the period. Their details and that of the Golden Dawn do lend themselves to some great campaign possibilities and scenario ideas should the Keeper—or publisher—want to develop them. However, as presented and in terms of Lovecraftian investigative horror, the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Keepers’ Guide does slightly underwhelm, leaving it reliant on the more experienced Keeper to bring out the best in the book.

Spell Etiquette

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quick-Start Saturday: Gates of Krystalia Demo

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

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

—oOo—

What is it?
The Gates of Krystalia Demo is the quick-start for the Gates of Krystalia TTJRPG, the roleplaying game based on Japanese anime and isekai stories. ‘Isekai’, meaning ‘other world’ is a subgenre of anime, manga, and fantasy in which the protagonist is suddenly transported, summoned, or reincarnated into a completely different, often magical universe.

It is a one-hundred-and-two page, 22.76 MB full colour PDF.

The writing style is that of a narrator giving game play advice in a computer RPG.

How long will it take to play?
Unfortunately, The Gates of Krystalia Demo does not come with a ready-to-play scenario. The demo does come with some a handful of enemies which can be used as a part of the scenario that the ‘Deux’—as the Game Master is known in The Gates of Krystalia—would need to write.

What else do you need to play?
The Gates of Krystalia Demo needs what it calls a ‘French’ set of cards per player as well as the Deux. This is effectively a standard deck of play cards with the Jokers removed.

Who do you play?
In Gates of Krystalia, the Heroes can be Humans, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Kemonomimi, Oni, Astralis, Demons, Elves, Kobolds, or Orcs. Potential Classes include Tamer, Berserker, Healer, Mage, Priest, Assassin, Knight, Engineer, Ninja, or Shaman. The Gates of Krystalia Demo details just three Races and four Classes. The Races are Humans, Elves, and the fox-like Kemonomimi, whilst the Classes are Berserker, Knight, Mage, and Ninja. Each Race provides adjustments to a Hero’s Abilities, two innate abilities, whilst the Class determines the Hero’s combat style and specialisations. A Hero has a Rank, from Heroic to Legendary, which will provide further bonuses. One of these, ‘Origin From Another World’, grants a bonus to an Ability and an Innate Ability is in keeping with the isekai subgenre.

How is a Hero defined?

A Hero in Gates of Krystalia has four Abilities: Charisma, Agility, Intelligence, and Toughness. These start out at zero and are adjusted by the Hero’s Race and a bonus from the ‘Origin From Another World’ trait. Each Ability is associated with a suit of cards. These are Spades for Intelligence, Hearts for Charisma, Clubs for Toughness, and Diamonds for Agility. Two of these will be Blessed Suits. At Heroic Rank, the Hero has four combat techniques and any of these match the Hero’s Blessed Suits, they will benefit from the Blessed Damage effect.

Each player also has a Vital Energy deck. This the standard deck of playing cards (with the Jokers removed) which represents the Hero’s physical and mental resources. Its cards are consumed when performing tasks or in combat, and from suffering damage. If the Vital Energy deck is exhausted, the Player Character collapses unconscious and if not healed quickly enough in combat, he can die. Sleep and some Combat Techniques can refill the Vital Energy deck.

How do the mechanics work?

When a player wants his Hero to undertake an action in Gates of Krystalia, the Deux sets a Difficulty Value from Simple and five to Impossible and twenty. The player draws a card from his Vital Energy deck and applies any bonuses or penalties set by the Deux. If the result exceeds the Difficulty Value, the Player Character succeeds. This is a simple test.

A Competence Test—which can be social, athletic, intellectual, or physical—also requires the draw of a card and any bonuses or penalties set by the Deux. To this is added the Hero’s Ability value, whether positive or negative. If the suit of the card drawn matches one of the Hero’s Blessed Suit, the total value of the card, plus situational and Ability modifiers, is doubled.

The card drawn from the Vital Energy deck in either case is discarded.

How does combat work?

In combat, initiative is determined by a draw of a single card, but otherwise uses the same mechanics as Competence Tests. Instead of drawing a single card, Player Characters and major enemies draw five cards for each scene (or turn). These are each combatant’s Strategy Cards. An attacker selects a Combat Technique and a single Strategy Card. A major enemy does the same. The Deux will draw a card if the enemy is standard rather than major. Both Combat Techniques and Strategy Cards are revealed simultaneously and whomever has the higher total will inflict damage on the other. If they are the same, no damage is inflicted on either combatant.

The base damage is inflicted if the selected Strategy Card is a number card. If it is a face card, the effect of the Combat Technique is also applied, but if it is an Ace, the base damage is doubled and the effect of the Combat Technique is also applied. If the suit of the selected Strategy Card matches the attacker’s Blessed Suit, the base damage is doubled.

In addition, a player can attempt to build a combo. A combo can be a set of cards or a run of consecutive cards, from the same suit or not, and will increase the base damage. This does increase the number of cards used and discarded.

Armour will stop some Base Damage, but better armour will also block conditions as well. When damage is suffered, cards are discarded from the Vital Energy deck.

Overall, the combat rules give each player tactical control and options in every fight without having to rely on the randomness of dice, but instead trying to get the very best of of his Strategy Cards. Working out if the effects of a Combat Technique and if a combo can be put together is not immediately easy and will initially slow play a fair bit. It may well be better if the cards are played openly initially until the players have a good idea of how combat works and how their Heroes’ Combat Techniques work.

How does magic work?

Magic involves power transmitted by the dormant archangel Krystallia or the dark forces of the Demon King and comes in various elements: Darkness, Earth, Fire, Ice, Light, Lighting, Nature, Poison, Water, and Wind. The Gates of Krystalia Demo does not include any specific spells, and only incudes the Combat Technique ‘Beyond the Limit’ that delivers a power blast that is magic-related.

What of the Gates of Krystalia?

The world of Gates of Krystalia is lightly detailed in the Gates of Krystalia Demo. It gives a description of Krystalia, the capital and Jewel of the Kingdom of Light, with its towers of pure crystal above streets paved in quartz. It is home to a Grand Bazaar where merchants from a thousand worlds hawk their wares and a School of Magic that defies the laws of physics, whilst below, craftsmen in the Foundation work the magical forges and alchemical laboratories to keep the city running. Travellers and visitors come to the city via the dimensional portals of the Gate District where reality seems to pulse and fluctuate every time a portal opens. The city is a beacon of hope where magic and mystery foment and home to the Archangel Krystalia, the Sleeping Guardian of the kingdom of Light, who used all of her power to seal away the dark threat, the Sovereign Demon Nergal.

The Gates of Krystalia Demo also details several enemies and also equipment and potential allies. Allies develop along with the Heroes and will increase the number cards in a Hero’s Vital Energy deck. In addition to developing his Hero and possible Allies, a player can develop a home and visit places such as saunas and spas to relax and recover.

One point of controversy is the set of six sample allies. Not that they are all female, but rather that collectively they are called the ‘The Hero’s Harem’. This is at odds with the tone and style of the rest of the book and the actual meaning of the word, and is a poor choice of wordage.

Is there anything missing?
Yes. The Gates of Krystalia Demo is not a quick-start or demonstration of the full roleplaying game in the traditional sense. There are no sample Heroes and no ready-to-play scenario. It is better described as a showcase that provides the Deux and her players with a taste of the roleplaying game rather than providing them with anything to play.

Is it easy to prepare?
No. The Gates of Krystalia Demo does not have content that can be prepared quickly or easily. The Deux will need to write a scenario and the players create Heroes.

Is it worth it?
Yes. That though, is a qualified ‘Yes’. The Gates of Krystalia Demo does give the reader a good feel for the rules, especially the tactical nature of the combat rules, but the setting description is light and whilst there is content enough that a Deux could run a session or two using the Gates of Krystalia Demo, it will take effort upon the part of Deux to develop it into something playable.

The Gates of Krystalia Demo is published by Top Notch International LTD and is available to download here.

Friday Fantasy: Trip the Light Fantastic

Trip the Light Fantastic is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. Eye of the Serpent is designed for Expert Heroes and can be run as a scenario for slightly more experienced Player Characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard. Like One Bad Apple before it, Trip the Light Fantastic confronts the players and their Heroes with one of the changes in Shadow of the Weird Wizard in comparison with traditional fantasy roleplaying games.

Trip the Light Fantastic starts out with a cliché and gets better. It starts with a village seemingly abandoned, apparently mid-activity, when the Player Characters come upon it. The village could be any number of the ones that have been settled in Borderlands and although the village can be one that the Player Characters have never been to before, the scenario works better and is likely to have more of an emotional impact if the village is one that the Player Characters have been to before and know some of the inhabitants. This might be because the Player Characters live there or because they have simply visited it before, but either way, it requires some degree of set-up upon the part of the Game Master. There are odd signs about like lots of small footprints dotted about and the milk being spoiled in addition to the missing people and livestock. The clues point towards a nearby grove of trees where the Player Characters are swarmed by Atomies, tiny faeries, that play pranks upon them and steal items from them, and if the Player Characters follow them, they find themselves elsewhere and in another realm. Then the scenario proper can begin!

The Player Characters find themselves in a faerie realm. It is heavily forested with faces in the bark of the tall trees and glowing motes drifting softly providing light under the canopy and seems like an otherworldly idyll. There appears to be no way back and so the Player Characters will need to search for one in addition to searching for the missing villagers. Fortunately, a stranger says that he will offer them a means of returning to the mortal realm in return for undertaking a number of tasks for him. These include things such as fetching the mirror from the bottom of Starry Pond or freeing Old Man Time from the witch. There are five of tasks, four of which are at set locations, whilst one can be encountered randomly at the Game Master’s choosing. There are another six locations within the realm not associated with the tasks that the Player Characters have been set, including a stair into the clouds that will fling the Player Characters randomly across the realm, a wishing well, and a sword in a stone. There is a sense of whimsy to the place as you would expect for a faery realm, but a darkness too. An old hag steeps in her bad luck and tormenting any she captures with her resentments, including an old knight whom she keeps chained up under the watchful eye of a carnivorous tree, a quartet of Poweries that wear blood red caps that like to refresh the colour of said caps with the blood of their dinner guests, and the discovery of the fate of the missing villagers. There is a definite streak of cruelty and darkness to many of these encounters , but some humour too, such as the bird that the Player Characters have been directed to rescue singing every time someone comes near waking up the Ogre holding him captive in the process like a bad version of Tweety and Sylvester (just give the Ogre a lisp to highlight the comparison)!

Physically, Trip the Light Fantastic is decently presented. The map of the faery realm is nice and clear and the scenario is well written.

The only thing Trip the Light Fantastic is perhaps missing is a random encounter table and again, the Game Master will need to provide the stats for all of the monsters as well as setting up the village so that the players and their characters have a connection to it. The scenario is will likely take longer to play than the previous scenarios, probably two to three sessions. Overall, Trip the Light Fantastic is an entertaining mini-sandcrawl through a dark amd whimsical mini-realm filled with mini-quests and mini-encounters.

The Other OSR: THREE from the LOCKER

THREE from the LOCKER is a ‘Pamphlet Bundle’ for Pirate Borg, the self-described, “Worst Pirate RPG Ever Made™!”, published by Limithron. It is published by SkeletonKey Games, which previously released the excellent fanzine, Tales from the Locker #1, and consists of a mini-adventure, Sweet Tusk, and two mini-supplements, Blood in the Water and Raise the Black, that are also available separately. In turn, they give the Game Master a location-based scenario that combines H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau with George Orwell’s Animal Farm in the Dark Caribbean; six possible situations when the ship that the Player Characters are aboard is rendered into a derelict, whether from a ship-to-ship engagement, a terrible storm, a run in with sea monsters, or other threat, and about to sink; and what might happen when a pirate captain orders his crew to ‘raise the black’ and hoist the jolly roger! All pamphlets are available on their own as well as a bundle (or pack if physical). They do share the same trade dress, so definitely feel as if they should be bought together!

Sweet Tusk promises ‘Pigs Plot, Rum Flow, Adventure Awaits’ in detailing a costal rum plantation and rum distillery that was once home to a necromancer and his cult, but is now home to a passel of pigs, some sentient, some feral, many bipedal, most of them anthropomorphised. The Player Characters could simply wash ashore at the plantation a la Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau, but the adventure’s own hooks include looking for a new source of rum, being sent to exterminate ‘feral’ pigs to prevent them from spreading across the Dark Caribbean, or being hired to retrieve an item from the plantation for its previous owners. To get the best out of the location, the Game Master should ideally combine the latter with one of the first two as that will drive the Player Characters to interact with most of the inhabitants of the plantations, its plot threads, and explore its depths.

The plantation is dominated by two factions. One is lead by Lord Wembly Trembleton and wants to restore the rum distillery and sugar mill with the aim of becoming self-sufficient, whilst Scrofa, the plantation’s spiritual leader, her sorcery twisted by the necromantic studies she found that belonged to the previous owner, is becoming increasingly and brutally isolationist. The Player Characters will need to deal with them and explore the plantations—including the tunnels that have been dug under the plantation (and make it feel like a Vietcong tunnel network)—to achieve their given objectives. Alternatively, the Player Characters might ignore them altogether and clear out the whole of plantation and take it over and run it themselves as a going concern.

Sweet Tusk has a hot, sweaty feel, sticky with perspiration and sugar and piggy peculiarity. The latter is probably the only reason why the Game Master might not want to run Sweet Tusk, talking pigs not necessarily going to suit every campaign. As written though, it adds an off-kilter element that the Game Master can throw at her players and their characters and have fun portraying a passel of pigs in the process.

Blood in the Water gives the Game Master ‘Six Sinking Ship Scenarios’. The Game Master can use this when the Player Characters’ ship, or the ship that they are on, either selecting one of the options or rolling for it. Each one has events happening on deck and three zones surrounding the vessel, out to thirty feet and beyond. The six options include the ‘Feeding Frenzy’ of a shark attack on the ship going down; ‘Tentacles from the Deep’ that flail at the ship and its crew and passenger; a ‘Powder Magazine Explosion’ that sends fire and shrapnel across the deck and beyond; the ship and floating wreckage being thrown about by ‘Angry Seas’; ghosts that come looking for new crewmembers in ‘Revenant Recruitment’; and potentially the crew and passengers being saved with a kiss by ‘Meddling Mermaids’! Since the action in each divided into four zones—three plus the deck—where different things will happen, there is a degree of procedure to running any one of these post-disaster ship encounters. Not a lengthy procedure, but quite a simple one, and they all do add a bit of flavour to a sinking ship situation beyond the Player Characters abandoning ship and racing for the boats. Added to this is a sea shanty, Sharks in the Water, that a ship’s crew can sing to give its members bonuses to tests in the first few rounds of the sinking ship. The Game Master might want to have her players and their characters learn this in response to having been in a sinking ship the first time and so learn from their experience. Blood in the Water is quite specific in the situation it needs to trigger its use and that trigger is not going to happen that often, but definitely useful to have on the shelf though.

The third pamphlet is Raise the Black. This expands upon the various effects of the jolly roger in play. First, when ‘Raising the Black’, that is, hoisting the jolly roger and its effects upon the crew of the vessel being targeted by the pirate ship. In play, the ship’s captain of the pirate ship tests his Presence and result, which depends upon the size of the targeted vessel in comparison to the pirate vessel, may leave the crew plucky still and laughing off the threat or feeling doomed and wanting no part of the battle. There are plenty of options in between and effectively determines the morale of targeted vessels. ‘Witchjacks’ are special flags, ensorcelled versions of the jolly roger, that grant special powers that can be used once per day. For example, the Banner of the Black Whale grants an extra die of damage in ramming attacks and extra damage the further it has travelled, whilst the Pennant of the Mermaid grants an extra Crew Action. A pirate captain is unlikely to want to fly a flag other than his own, so there are rules included that enable to cut up a Witchjack and sew the resulting parts and its magic into the pirate captain’s own flag. This does not always work, but it destroys the original flag. Minor, but optional rules beyond this are included to help speed up naval combat and ‘D20 Pirate Flags’ give options for both a Player Character or an NPC crew if the Game Master needs to a pirate flag quickly. Given that a third of the pamphlet is taken up illustrations of jolly roger flags, Raise the Black is the least useful of the three pamphlets in THREE from the LOCKER and add the least to the play of Pirate Borg.

Physically, the three pamphlets of THREE from the LOCKER are all decently presented. They are clearly and simply laid out and all easy to read and use. Sweet Tusk is the busiest, so is harder to read, but only slightly so, and nothing that is going to impede the Game Master running the scenario from the page. The artwork is light, but the cartography is decent.

THREE from the LOCKER is solid support for Pirate Borg, the scenario Sweet Tusk being the highlight of the three, entertaining and enjoyable, a Player Character-driven plantation-crawl that is easy to add to a Game Master’s campaign. The other two pamphlets are shorter and not quite as entertaining as Sweet Tusk and Raise the Black not quite as useful, but in the right circumstances, still good to have in the ship’s locker.

Vaesen d’Italia

Italian Chronicles is a supplement for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the Roleplaying Game of investigative folklore horror set in nineteenth century Scandinavia published by Free League Publishing. There has been a push to explore the set-up at the heart of Vasen, that of the clash between folklore and modernity in an age of industrialisation, shifting populations, changing attitudes, and forgetting the customs of past as a secret organisation attempts to catalogue those forgotten customs and prevent the clashes between folklore and modernity in countries beyond Scandinavia. However, most of them have remained north of the Alps, leaving the rich folklore and culture clashes of Southern Europe under much sunnier climes unexplored. Italian Chronicles introduces us to the world of the Vaesen and the Society in nineteenth century Mythic Italy. This includes a discussion of the conflicts which lie at the heart of Italian society in the late nineteenth century—the rich versus the poor, the nobility versus the bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie versus the proletariat; and the north-south divide between the industrialised and modernising north and the agricultural, poorer south. It provides basic introductions to the cities, many of whom are undergoing major transformations as they industrialise and peasants emigrate looking for work and a better life. There are descriptions of the leading Italian great and the good of the period, societies and groups active up and down the country; details of mysterious places; and a short history of the Society and its investigation of Vaesen in Italy. All of which is supported with three new archetypes and six new supernatural creatures.

Italian Chronicles is published as part of the Free League Workshop and starts with a description of Mythic Italy. This highlights the notable divides in the country during the period and its important cities. These include the northern industrial triangle of Turin, Milan, and Genoa, the medieval and Renaissance grandeur of Bologna and Florence, before moving south through the splendour of Rome as it rushes to be the city’s new capital, and down to Naples and Palermo, undergoing their own transformation with their loss of independence. Turin is the ‘magical city’, Italy esoteric and occultic capital which has its own zones of light and dark influencing magic in the city, whilst also standing in an alchemical triangle of ‘white magic’ along with Prague and Lyon, and an alchemical triangle of ‘black magic’ with London and San Francisco. How these zones affect magic in the city is not explored, but short descriptions of numerous arcane and occultic sites across the city, as well as legends up and down Italy, are included.

Numerous notables, including Cavour, Garibaldi, Verdi, and Puccini are given thumbnail portraits, alongside less well known figures such as Carmine Crocco, the so-called ‘Napoleon or the General of the Brigands’, the spiritualist Eusapia Palladino, and Cesere Lombroso, the father of modern criminology. The most notable of the societies and groups alongside the actual Society is the Inquisition, which is still operating in the nineteenth century and which the Society suspects of harbouring all manner of secrets, of already knowing about Vaesen, and of some of its members actually possessing the Sight that the Society’s members possess. The Inquisition has long suppressed occult practices and broken op occult organisations, most recently in the seventeenth century, the Accademia della Mandragora. One survivor of this suppression found refuge with the Society in Scandinavia and another, a herbalist, found refuge in southern Italy. The herbalist would later found the Order of Herbalists, based in Turin.

The three new archetypes are Teacher, Notable, and Migrant. Of these, the Teacher and the Migrant are obvious in what they are, whereas the Notable is not. It might be an administrator or a lawyer or a tax collector and some context would have been useful to make clear what it is. The Migrant does a new Talent, ‘Folk Wisdom’, which gives him a knowledge of folk traditions and customs as well as fairy tales, legends, and myths concerning supernatural creatures. Unfortunately, this has not been translated from the original Italian.

Numerous mysterious places and legends detailed as well as six new supernatural creatures. They include the Borda is a witch-like that haunts the swamps and marshes of the north looking to strangle the unwary with rope or ligature; Sprites are pranksters that differ in how they look across Italy, but the Monacello live in old houses in cities, has the appearance of a hooded monk, and can bring good luck, and the Salvanel, is wilder and dresses in leaves, and often makes travellers in the woods get lost; and the Marrabbecca is a shapeshifter that likes to live in the dark or shadows, preferably in old wells and water cisterns, from where it bewitches those who lean too close to the well such that they throw themselves in and are drowned. Besides their stats, all of the creature write-ups include secrets of the creatures that can be used against them and example conflicts that the Game Master can develop into fuller encounters.

Physically, Italian Chronicles is a basic affair. Unfortunately both artwork and writing are amateurish, but are at least in English. Not all of the supplement is.

One of the problems with Italian Chronicles and its version of Italy in the nineteenth century is that it attempts to present, “[A]n idealized, slightly timeless version, suitable as a backdrop for the activities of the Player Characters and the peninsula’s supernatural inhabitants.” Where that works in Vaesen is because its setting of Sweden is singular whole for whole of the nineteenth century, whereas Italy is not. In fact, Italy does not actually exist as a political entity until the Risorgimento—the unification of Italy—in 1861. Before that, the Italian peninsula consisted of a mix of kingdoms and duchies, some which were dominated by neighbouring France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, plus the Papal State. Arguably, Italy was not fully Italy as we recognise today until the capture of Rome in 1871. And before that, before the Napoleon Wars, the Italian peninsula was even more balkanised. Now it is this balkanisation that underpins many of the geographical, cultural, and linguistic divides in Italy and thus the conflicts in Italian Chronicles, whilst the others come from the drive to modernity and industrialisation that followed unification. The result is that even though it does not say so, Italian Chronicles really only focuses on the last forty years—and arguably—the last thirty years of the nineteenth century.

The authors do make the point that, “History should be a servant that gives the game a distinctive flavour rather than a master that stifles possibilities.” Which is a valid point, and if you are not aware of this history, then this perhaps less of an issue. If you are, then it feels as if that servant and those sixty years of history are being ignored and the whole of the century is being flattened into its last third.

However, perhaps the biggest problem with Italian Chronicles is that the description of its equivalent of the ‘Society’ is underwritten with a very short history and description and an address. We are never told how different it is to those in other countries and consequently the starting point or base of operations for any investigations into the Vaesen in Italy lacks character.

There is a surprising amount of content in Italian Chronicles, but most of it varies between short and brief, meaning that if the Game Master wants to set her campaign in Italy or send his Player Characters to Italy, she is going to have to do a lot of research herself to develop its content. There is no official supplement for Italy for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying and until there is, Italian Chronicles will have to do, but what it does is provide is only the most basic of introductions.

Miskatonic Monday #441: The Black String

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.

—oOo—

Name: The Black String

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Domoku

Setting: Lancashire Coast, 1926

Product: Scenario

What You Get: Twenty-six page, 3.94 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Invasion of the Body Worm

Plot Hook: A missing entomophile? A changed entomologist?
Plot Support: Staging advice, three NPCs, six handouts, three floorplans and maps, one Mythos tome, two new new Mythos spells, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Insects and body horror make for a classic threat

# Pleasing combination of theme and Mythos

# Has its creepy moments. Worm shower anyone?

# Solid investigation undone by the translation

# Scoleciphobia

# Mysophobia

# Entomophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Challenging to read

# Weak introduction

# Would benefit from pre-generated Investigators with motives

Conclusion

# Challenging to run due to the underwhelming introduction and translation

# Insect invading body horror at the Insectarium with some well done creepy scenes