[Free RPG Day 2026] Air & Wind

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

For Free RPG Day 2026, Magpie Games published not one book, but six—Adventure Booklet 1: Earth & Root, Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind, and Adventure Booklet 5: Water & Mist as well as the Expanded Rules supplement. These are all for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns for any roleplaying game. This is the roleplaying adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, animated series which are inspired by the indigenous cultures of North America and Asia, in particular, China, Chinese martial arts, and the ability to ‘bend’ or manipulate the four elements—water, earth, fire, and air. Only one person can bend all four elements, and he is known as the ‘Avatar’, and not only does he serve as the link between the physical world and the spirit world, but he is also responsible for maintaining harmony between the world’s four nations. In the roleplaying game, the players roleplay characters, or companions, who are capable of bending one of the elements as well as practising martial arts, all with the aim of protecting the world from harm and those unable to stand up to misuse of power.

As with the other four Adventure Booklets, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind originally appeared in Wan Shi Tong’s Adventure Guide, which explores and presents adventures in the different eras of the Avatarverse, including the Kyoshi, Roku, the Hundred Year War, Aang, and Korra periods. Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind presents an adventure during the Aang period that sees them chased across the Earth Kingdom on a picturesque journey through the air accompanied by a wanted thief and the priceless artefact that she stole! Of course, there are numerous factions and peoples who want the artefact back and the thief apprehended. These include Yuzhen Sr., the owner and CEO of Sparrowkeet Air, the company which discovered the artefact, and his son, Yuzhen Jr—though they have very different reasons, and the Snowrats mercenary group and the Yu Dao Bounty Hunter’s Guild both of whom have picked up the bounty on the thief, and last of all, an inventor simply wanting to examine the artefact for what it is rather than anything else.

Like the scenario in Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel, the scenario presented in Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is a chase scenario. It begins in Boat Bottom, a sleepy fishing village on the coast of the western Earth Kingdom and will ultimately end with the Player Characters and their companion climbing the steps of the Beifong Metalbinding Academy on a mountain north of Yu Dao. Whilst the Player Characters are in Boat Bottom, they are approached by a hooded figure who asks for their help. They realise that they have seen her face before—on wanted posters pasted and dropped everywhere by Sparrowkeet Air, a corporation specialising in the construction of aerial contraptions. Her name is Qian Yu and she explains that she is not a thief, but rather an archaeologist who unearthed a lost Air Nomad artefact from before the Hundred Year War and took it with when she discovered that Sparrowkeet Air planned to sell it rather make it available to the whole world.

Once the Player Characters decide to trust Qian Yu, there are a couple of impediments to get out of Boat Bottom under the noses of the Sparrowkeet Air Guard. First, the artefact gets stolen and then the airship that she has ‘borrowed’ needs repairing, let alone a good pilot! After that, the chase is on, and the Player Characters are free to pilot the airship wherever they want. However, before that, the players get to decide a few things as part of the set-up. One is individually why they are in Boat Bottom and the other is the type and nature of the artefact that Qian Yu has excavated. This includes what it is, what makes it rare and irreplaceable as well as difficult to conceal or keep safe, why it is beautiful, and what is its historical meaning. This gives the players some investment in the artefact and in the need to get it somewhere safe.

What this means is that there is plenty of opportunity for confrontation and conflict, but there is chance too for roleplaying—especially with General Onomu. Initially, she is rude and entitled, still a general of the Fire Nation at heart, and will probably remain so unless the Player Characters intervene and perhaps help soften her attitudes towards those around her. This gives the Game Master a potentially interesting story arc for the general to portray.

Like the scenario in Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel, the scenario presented in Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is less open in its plotting and more directed. The Player Characters are not as free in their actions in this scenario than they are in the others in that they have a mission to perform and do have to travel from ‘A’ to ‘E’ via ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’. Yet like those other entries in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ series, its ending is open-ended and determined by the actions and decisions of the Player Characters as is the order in which they can visit the scenario’s various locations. These possibilities are discussed and there is solid advice for the Game Master along with detailed descriptions of all of the NPCs, groups, and important locations. In addition, there is advice too for the Game Master on how to handle airship combat scenes—primarily as narrative fight scenes until the Player Characters and NPCs get close to board the other’s vessel and on how to set up the scenario if the players are using their own characters rather than the pre-generated quintet which is included in Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind. The five pre-generated Player Characters for the adventure have all decided to help Qian Yu. They include Taiki the Bold, a Waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe keen to make a name for himself; Lan the Guardian, a warrior fisherwoman from Boat Bottom who wants to help the whole group; Kiki the Hammer, a Firebender who was going to take the bounty on Qian Yu, but has changed her mind; Yuxuan the Idealist, a technologist and trap builder wanting to find a way home; and Chesa the Rogue, an Earthbender want to escape his family’s banditry.

Also included are details of the Basic Moves and Balance Moves in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game—in addition the Moves for all of the Player Characters—and the techniques that are not in the core book, plus the combat exchanges, statuses, and basic techniques. The Legendary NPC in Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is Toph Beifong, an Earthbender that the Player Characters can meet at end of the scenario and whom Qian Yu knows. She can become an ally and teacher of the Player Characters in the future beyond the scenario.

Physically, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is well presented, sturdy booklet.

Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is an exciting chase scenario with a chance for the Player Characters to add a little history to the setting, fly an airship, visit numerous locations and ultimately confront corporate greed. It is a great mix and that is in addition to all of the other opportunities for combat and interaction. Again, as with other entries in the series, Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra will enjoy the background too and overall, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is great support for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game.

Friday Fantasy: Underworld

In the cool of the ‘Underworld’ lurk spiders, centipedes, lizards, beetles, and bats—and of course, things much, much worse. It is a rougher, quieter place than the surface world, colder too with no light to shine in its caverns or over the black waters of its deep lakes. Adventurers venture deep underground perhaps looking for resources, hunting for threats to the surface world and its inhabitants, or even searching for lost treasure. Yet stray too long in the dark of the Underworld and anyone venturing below may be overwhelmed by the constant blackness and lack of light, their imaginations formulating things that they can see the edge of their vision, even horrors that can even unreal can work at their minds and composure. This is what might lie below the world of Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying, the roleplaying game published by Free League Publishing, and is explored in the supplement, Underworld.

Underworld is a mini-supplement and anthology of scenarios for Dragonbane which can easily be added to the Game Master’s own campaign or used to expand the ‘Misty Vale’ campaign setting detailed in the Dragonbane Core Set—not outwards, but downwards. Besides its three adventures, it gives an overview of what the ‘Underworld’ is like and describes several features, some of which can work with the three adventures. These include the bronze bridges which regularly cross three particular rivers in the ‘Underworld’ and if walked over or under trigger a dream-like vision in the walker, something that denizens take advantage of to ambush the momentary dreamers, and the Black Swans found on the three rivers that supposedly bring death to any demon that touches them, but which are hated by Goblins. There are some nice little elements here, odd enough to stand out, but with room to add more alongside them if the Game Master wants to. In terms of the Misty Vale, Underground details four different entrances via which the Player Characters enter the ‘Underworld’ and begin to explore part of its depths.

Each of the three ‘Underworld Quests’ has its own reward and the more the Player Characters complete, the more they will be rewarded. Each of the three also involves a demon and each also has a link to the ‘Secret of the Dragon Emperor’, which lies at the heart of the ‘Misty Vale’ campaign. In ‘Lair of Kavor’, the Player Characters descend to a subterranean Dwarven fort, perhaps in search of herbs or looking for something that might have been preying on local farmstock. It is occupied by a band of goblins and contains several demonic shrines and there are several puzzles that the Player Characters can poke at for various odd effects, including triggering some roleplaying. The demon is a Kavor Demon, a scraggy, four-armed thing with a vertical, many toothed mouth and eyes on either side which revel in carnage, can be distracted by fresh meat and blood. As a former Dwarven fortress, there is a lovely sense of the former occupants’ boredom when posted there, but as an ‘Underworld’ location and adventure site, it is underwritten. There is no explanation why the demon shrines are there and what the relationship is between the Goblins and the demon. So, the Game Master is likely going to want to develop that, as well as deciding where the herbs are located.

The second scenario is ‘Lair of Rumej’. A wealthy noble hires the Player Characters to collect monster parts as trophies for his room or a ghost calls out to one of the Player Characters to whom it is related, for release. Either way, this leads the Player Characters into a series of caves at the end of which can be heard singing of the glory of demonic immortality. The Rumej demon is spherical in shape and has eight tentacles, each of which ends with a sucker which contains an eye in. It is also hovers in the air. The ‘Lair of Rumej’ is obviously more straightforward, but does not suffer from that simplicity. In fact, ‘Lair of Rumej’ is easier to use because it is simple and the Game Master does not have to develop any details herself.

The third scenario is ‘Lair of Vekar’. The Player Characters are hired to scout out an old mine to see whether it is safe and is still viable today or simply they fall into a sinkhole! What they find is a former Wolfkin-operated mine, though no real signs of anything worth salvaging or that the mine is viable. However, it is the lair of a Vekar-Demon, bony and humanoid shaped with the soul of a mortal burning in its chest and bat wings either side of its eyeless head. Again, it feels underdeveloped, but not quite as much as Lair of Kavor’.

Rounding out Underworld are three random maps that the Game Master can develop as is her wont, though suggestions are given. There is also a pair of ‘Magic Items & Treasure’ tables that the Game Master can use with the supplement or her campaign in general. They are all good magical items and the Game Master will likely want to flesh them out a bit to make them stand out.

Physically, Underworld is rough and does need an edit. The maps are blocky and not the easiest to use. There are versions for both player and Game Master, but those for the Game Master are not numbered which means that they are not as easy to use from the page as they should be. The artwork for the demons is decent though.

Underworld is a bit rough and ready and in places will require some development upon the part by the Game Master to really flesh the locations out. The demons are decently done and have an entertaining range of attacks—though more for the Game Master than her players—so will surprise both players and characters. Overall, Underworld is something to work with rather than being quite ready to play.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Things Go To Hell

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

One of the perennial contributors to Free RPG Day is Paizo, Inc., a publisher whose titles for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game have proved popular and often in demand long after the event. The emphasis in these releases have invariably been upon small species. Thus, in past years, the titles released for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have typically involved adventures with diminutive Player Characters, first Kobolds, then Goblins, and then with the release of A Fistful of Flowers for Free RPG Day 2022 and A Few Flowers More for Free RPG Day 2023, it was Leshies, where as for Free RPG Day 2024, it was the turn of toys with The Great Toy Heist! However, for Free RPG Day 2025, The Scourge of Sheerleaf switched things up by increasing the scale of the adventure and making the villain of the piece even bigger! Although the situation and the villain is very different for Things Go To Hell, the entry for Free RPG Day continues to do things on a bigger scale!

Things Go To Hell is designed for four Seventh Level Player Characters and makes use of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Player Core, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game GM Core, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Monster Core. Barring the fact that the Player Characters are Seventh Level which means that they are quite complex in terms of what they can do and are capable of, especially the two spellcasters in the pre-generated quartet, the scenario is fairly straightforward, easy to prepare, and easy to run.

The scenario opens with the Player Characters suddenly awakening—a Halfling animating to life after being posed as a statue, the spark of life returning to the eyes of both a berobed automaton and an armed and armoured skeleton, and a human male being spat out of a strangely organic pod—to find that a lot of time has passed since their last memories and that they are still in Fanespire, a foul tower owned by the archmage, Ydris Veloch. All four realise three facts. The first is that Ydris Veloch is dead; the second that each of them was treated as an object by the late wizard; and the third is that the tower is no longer where it was. The latter is confirmed when they look out of the windows at the top of the tower and see a literal hellscape. Working their way down several floors, they encounter what is very obviously a devil. This is Gosterion, a ‘phistophilus’—a contract devil—who is quite happy to chat to the Player Characters. He will also explain the situation. Ydris Veloch had a contract with Dispater in the city of Dis which gave him possession of Fanespire in return for his soul and with his recent death during the Hellfire Crisis, and so he is currently searching the tower for the late wizard’s soul. Worse, since Ydris Veloch considered all four Player Characters to be property and at the time of his death were in the possession of the wizard, they are actually part of the contract that Ydris Veloch had with Hell and thus owned by Hell.

The good thing is that the Player Characters get to argue their case and potentially come to some kind of arrangement. Gosterion will let the Player Characters go if they can find Ydris Veloch’s soul for him. So ideally, the Player Characters will return to searching Fanespire for the soul of its former master. Unfortunately, it is not so much of search as the scenario only has three locations, but it will see the Player Character confront their former gaoler. Then once done, Gosterion will send them home, bearing in mind that the Player Characters will be making a deal with a devil.

The four Player Characters are interesting in their variety. They consist of Hila, a genderless Automaton Cleric and healer for hire who was under contract with Ydris Veloch; Klixi Halfstep, a female Halfling thief who was robbing Fanespire; Tiberius, a male Skeleton Fighter who was the head of Ydris Veloch’s security; and ‘Ydris Veloch’, a male Human Wizard and a clone of Ydris Veloch who regarded him to be a failure. All distrust each other, but given the current circumstances must work together. All four are given a two-page spread each and each includes his background, a guide to playing the character, with notes on whet he will do in combat, exploration, and when healing is required, as well as what he thinks about the other characters. The four Player Characters are very well done and easy to read, and also include references for the various abilities.

Physically, Things Go To Hell is professionally presented. The artwork is excellent and the writing is clear. The map of three of the levels of Fanespire are also decent.

Things Go To Hell has a very likeable set-up which throws four unlikely Player Characters together and forces them to work hand in hand whereas that would be unlikely to happen. Yet after the entertaining interaction with Gosterion and the legal ramifications of the situation that the Player Characters are in, the scenario cuts to a climax with a fight. The fight makes sense, but the Player Characters are not expected to do anything else because all of the rooms on the other floors are shut up. So, the Player Characters never get to explore them and never actually get to look for Ydris Veloch’s soul. There is huge potential here for roleplaying and exploration here, given that one Player Character was the head of the wizard’s security and another was robbing him, but it is ignored in favour of cutting to the chase. All it would have to develop the story and play a little more is two or three smaller encounters in the tower to take advantage of those opportunities. It does not help that each Player Character is given a two page spread which effectively presents more information than is really needed for a short one-shot like Things Go To Hell. If they could have been shortened, then perhaps room could have been made for more scenes and locations.

Ultimately, the set-up to Things Go To Hell is sophisticated and the pre-generated Player Characters in Things Go To Hell are sophisticated, but the plotting and the story potential is unsophisticated. Fortunately, an experienced Game Master should be able to detail two or three floors for the Player Characters to investigate and give the players the opportunity to roleplay and explore the search for Ydris Veloch’s soul more fully.

Danger During Dunkirk

Achtung! Cthulhu is the roleplaying game of fast-paced pulp action and Mythos magic published by Modiphius Entertainment. It is pitches the Allied Agents of the Britain’s Section M, the United States’ Majestic, and the brave Resistance into a Secret War against those Nazi Agents and organisations which would command and entreat with the occult and forces beyond the understanding of mankind. They are willing to risk their lives and their sanity against malicious Nazi villains and the unfathomable gods and monsters of the Mythos themselves, each striving for supremacy in mankind’s darkest yet finest hour! Yet even the darkest of drives to take advantage of the Mythos is riven by differing ideologies and approaches pandering to Hitler’s whims. The Black Sun consists of Nazi warrior-sorcerers supreme who use foul magic and summoned creatures from nameless dimensions to dominate the battlefields of men, whilst Nachtwölfe, the Night Wolves, utilise technology, biological enhancements, and wunderwaffen (wonder weapons) to win the war for Germany. Ultimately, both utilise and fall under the malign influence of the Mythos, the forces of which have their own unknowable designs…

Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is a scenario that takes Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 almost all of the way back to to the start of the Secret War. It opens in late May, 1940. The Nazi war machine is driving into France with its radical Blitzkrieg tactics and is retreating back to the Dunkirk on the French north coast, awaiting the beginning of Operation Dynamo and the evacuation from the beaches outside of the port. Alongside this is an effort by Section M to find and evacuate as much occult-related material as it can—tomes, artefacts, and more—before it falls into the hands of either Black Sun or Nachtwölfe. Unfortunately, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the German Luftwaffe has already caught up with Professor Guilbert Paschal, a Section M researcher operating in Normandy and racing to reach Dunkirk when his convoy was destroyed. From its field base in France, Section M sends its agents to investigate the ruins of the convoy, determine the fate of Professor Paschal, and recover his equipment and research. Whatever they are, they could be crucial in understanding Germany’s objectives in the Secret War.

The action begins with the agents of Section M—the Player Characters—roaring up to the site of the convoy’s destruction on British Expeditionary Force provided motorcycles. Time must be of the essence! The agents have time though to investigate the site and gather both clues and left-behind advanced British anti-Mythos technology before following the trail to the nearby ruins of a medieval castle, its towers ablaze with blue flashes of lightning. A contingent of Nachtwölfe troops has got there first though and the agents will need to get past them before climbing to the top of the castle and face another faction in the Secret War. After that, it is time to pack found so far and head home to dear old Blighty and tea and biscuits!

If this sounds a bit short, then that is because it is. Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is written as a demonstration scenario, one that can be run in an hour and showcase the roleplaying game’s background and 2d20 System mechanics. In terms of background the scenario is simple. There is a mission, it involves the occult, there are Nazis, and there are Mythos entities to face. Which means that at least three of the setting main elements are involved, the others being the other factions in the Secret War and the rivalries between them. If there is an issue here, it is that Nachtwölfe troops have no weapons or items of Blauer Kristall technology which the organisation’s signature.

In terms of the mechanics, the scenario’s three scenes guide the Game Master through the key mechanics that she needs to get her players used to. This starts off with a simple skill roll and the generation and use of Momentum, ways for the Game Master to complicate a scene, combat, the use of Fortune and Truths, and so on. None of it is complex and it is handled in an easy fashion. However, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is not a quick-start and the Game Master will need to know the rules and have access to them prior to play. That said, the Game Master can run the scenario using the rules in the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide and the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Gamemaster’s Guide, or she can use the rules found in the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Quick-start. The latter is actually a good option, since it includes ‘A Quick Trip to France’. This scenario takes place in June, 1940 and sees the agents return to now occupied France mere weeks after the end of Operation Dynamo. Specifically, near the city of Rouen in Normandy, so potentially where the late Professor Guilbert Paschal was conducting his last mission. Effectively, although designed as a taster to Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 and the Secret War, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum works very well as a prequel to the ‘A Quick Trip to France’.

As a demonstration scenario, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum includes four pre-generated agents. They consist of a German journalist and satirist who has fled the Nazis, a French spy/burglar/killer for hire, a French-Canadian female mechanic and bomb-maker, and a female occultist armed with a couple of Yog-Sothothery-style spells. These are decent enough, but could easily be replaced by agents of the players’ own design.

Physically, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is well presented. The map of the castle is excellent and each of the pre-generated agents is accompanied by a nice illustration.

Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is a simple affair by design. Since it is a one-hour demonstration scenario, it is not one that a Game Master is going to pick to run for her group when there are plenty of other options available for the roleplaying game, including of course, the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Quick-start. However, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum comes into its own as a prelude to the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Quick-start, almost right at the start of of an Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20 campaign.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Ash & Steel

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

For Free RPG Day 2026, Magpie Games published not one book, but six—Adventure Booklet 1: Earth & Root, Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind, and Adventure Booklet 5: Water & Mist as well as the Expanded Rules supplement. These are all for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns for any roleplaying game. This is the roleplaying adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, animated series which are inspired by the indigenous cultures of North America and Asia, in particular, China, Chinese martial arts, and the ability to ‘bend’ or manipulate the four elements—water, earth, fire, and air. Only one person can bend all four elements, and he is known as the ‘Avatar’, and not only does he serve as the link between the physical world and the spirit world, but he is also responsible for maintaining harmony between the world’s four nations. In the roleplaying game, the players roleplay characters, or companions, who are capable of bending one of the elements as well as practising martial arts, all with the aim of protecting the world from harm and those unable to stand up to misuse of power.

As with the other four Adventure Booklets, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel originally appeared in Wan Shi Tong’s Adventure Guide, which explores and presents adventures in the different eras of the Avatarverse, including the Kyoshi, Roku, the Hundred Year War, Aang, and Korra periods. Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel presents a Hundred Year War Adventure whose action will take the Player Characters from the borders of the Fire Nation to a Ba Sing Se outpost as they accompany, Onomu, a defecting Fire Nation general who is seeking asylum and carrying stolen Fire Nation war plans as leverage to their master, Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of the Earth Nation. Of course, not everyone wants Onomu to reach Ba Sing Se. There are Earth Kingdom rebels who want their own revenge on the defecting general and of course, Fire Lord Ozai of the Fire Nation wants the general stopped and the plans returned. However, that is not everyone who stands in the way of General Onomu and the Player Characters.

The scenario presented in Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel is a chase scenario. It begins in West Heiatu, a Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom and will end when the Player Characters reach the outpost of Ba Sing Se. The scenario details five locations that the Player Characters will visit on the way along with various NPCs that they may also meet at each. Previous scenarios in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ series for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game for Free RPG Day have detailed escalations, events that can be used by the Game Master to increase the tension and sense of danger over the course of an adventure. Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel breaks its escalations down into one per location turning each into an individual mini-adventure. For example, the So Bai Oasis is a quiet stop along the route, far from the ongoing war between the Fire and Earth Nations, that gives the Player Characters a chance to rest after a confrontation between Fire Nation soldiers and the Rough Rhinos, Earth Nation rebels. However, the escalation for the location suggests that the Rough Rhinos catch up with the Player Characters and General Onomu and tear the town apart in an attempt to find them!

What this means is that there is plenty of opportunity for confrontation and conflict, but there is chance too for roleplaying—especially with General Onomu. Initially, she is rude and entitled, still a general of the Fire Nation at heart, and will probably remain so unless the Player Characters intervene and perhaps help soften her attitudes towards those around her. This gives the Game Master a potentially interesting story arc for the general to portray.

Another difference between Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel and the other entries in ‘Adventure Booklet’ series is that it is less open in its plotting and more directed. The Player Characters are not as free in their actions in this scenario than they are in the others in that they have a mission to perform and do have to travel from ‘A’ to ‘E’ via ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’. Yet like those other entries in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ series, its ending is open-ended and determined by the actions and decisions of the Player Characters. These possibilities are discussed and there is solid advice for the Game Master along with detailed descriptions of all of the NPCs, groups, and important locations. In addition, there is advice too for the Game Master on how to set up the scenario if the players are using their own characters rather than the pre-generated quintet which is included in Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel. The five pre-generated Player Characters for the adventure are all 

Air Nomads attending the conference on behalf of the Elders of the Southern Air Temple to help keep the peace and report back on ideas presented at the event. They are all resistance fighters from different nations who met in fighting the Fire Nation. They include Xinyi the Adamant, an Earthbender who suffered at the hands of the Fire Nation; Nalu the Hammer, a Northern Water Tribe warrior who fled south to fight the Fire Nation; Lana the Icon, a Southern Water Tribe spiritual healer who wants to help others; Zimo the Pillar, a Firebender who wants to stop her nation from enacting its plan to conquer every nation; and Xiao the Prodigy, a martial arts master trained by monks who is unsure of using his abilities to fight.

Also included are details of the Basic Moves and Balance Moves in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game—in addition the Moves for all of the Player Characters—and the techniques that are not in the core book, plus the combat exchanges, statuses, and basic techniques. Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of the Earth Nation is also fully described and there is advice too on how to use Legendary NPCs like Long Feng. Notably, he remains off camera for much of the scenario and there is the possibility that the Player Characters never get to meet him at all! He is a very different NPC compared to the Legendary NPCs in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ series.

Physically, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel is well presented, sturdy booklet.

Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel is more of a traditional scenario than the previous two entries in the series, being more plot driven and slightly less Player Character-driven. This makes it easier to run than those other entries, an exciting mix of chase and combat, interaction and intrigue in a solidly done scenario with some interesting consequences to explore. Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra will enjoy the background too and overall, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel is great support for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game.

Gear & Teeth

To date, Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos, Chaosium, Inc’s supplement of Pulp action set during the nineteen thirties for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition has been supported by not one, but two campaigns. The better known of these is The Two-Headed Serpent: An Epic Action-Packed and Globe-Spanning Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu, a campaign in the traditional sense of Lovecraftian investigative horror. It presented a world-spanning conspiracy, which took the heroic investigators from Bolivia, New York, Borneo, and Oklahoma to the Belgian Congo, Iceland, and Brazil—and beyond! The other campaign is A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu, which although like The Two-Headed Serpent is based in New York and takes place in the nineteen thirties, is very different in tone and scope. Inspired by both ‘The Mound’, the horror/science fiction novella ghost-written by H. P. Lovecraft for Zealia Bishop, and Sinclair Lewis’ alternate history satire, It Can’t Happen Here, it combines fringe science or ‘Science!’ with the fringe politics of the period for a campaign that is as much Science Fiction as it is horror. Thus, it has been a while since there has been support for Pulp Cthulhu.

Tooth & Claw: Two Scenarios for Pulp Cthulhu presents two scenarios set in New England in the Desperate Decade—‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ and ‘Wolf Among the Flock’. Whilst both scenarios are written for use with Pulp Cthulhu and use classic elements of the Mythos, they vary in tone and application of the Mythos. ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ is the more straightforward of the two, combining ‘Science!’ with traditional elements of both the Mythos and Jewish mythology in traditional Pulp detective narrative, whilst ‘Wolf Among the Flock’ gives the use of traditional Mythos creature a pleasing twist and sets the whole affair in an enclosed, sweaty, hothouse affair. Both scenarios can be played in two or three sessions and both scenarios are easy to add to a campaign. Neither scenario has any specific requirements, but ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ will play better if an Investigator understands Yiddish and/or German and has a good working knowledge of ‘Science!’, whilst ‘Wolf Among the Flock’ will play well if the Investigators have points in the Science (Biology) and Science (Zoology) skills as well as, surprisingly, Other Language (American Sign Language). The ‘Animal Companion’ Talent may prove to be fun addition and a Big Game Hunter Investigator would work very well with ‘Wolf Among the Flock’.

‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ is set in Boston and opens in 1933  the Investigators being hired by the director of the city’s Museum of Fine Arts to investigate a break-in and theft. Several priceless artefacts have been stolen from the museum’s Judaica Exhibition, the exhibition arranged to show solidarity with the city’s Jewish community. The leads point to the nightwatchman, beaten up during the robbery, but who is yet to come into work again and the nature of the stolen Hebrew artefacts. Threads lead into the city’s Jewish and antiquarian communities and also into its criminal underworld, much reduced in influence and power in the wake of the lifting of Prohibition, before reaching the Boston Futurist Society, whose members are made up of freethinkers and radicals.

This is not a complex investigation and that is entirely in keeping with Pulp Cthulhu. As is the presence of the police, also investigating the break-in at the museum and who may be played as an ally or an enemy, and a squad of heavies led by a severe-looking woman wearing an eyepatch (she must be evil, she is wearing an eyepatch), again also ‘investigating’ the break-in at the museum. There is room for a punch-up or two or a chase with heavies, whilst working with those that can help the Investigators is a little harder.

Ultimately, ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ will probably end with a break-in of the Investigators’ own devising, a confrontation with a misguided techno-millionaire, and a bruising attempt to prevent a nasty summoning. ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ is a well written scenario which combines the Mythos and supreme ambition with its inspiration, The Golem: How He Came into the World, the 1920 German silent horror film. In fact, there is a chance in game that the Investigators will actually remember having seen the film. The result is a scenario that is a bit too familiar and more experienced players may work out what is going on early on and then need to play against their knowledge until it becomes obvious to their Investigators.

‘Wolf Among the Flock’ begins with the Investigators receiving notices of and invitations to the memorial service for Michael and Rachael Durney, famed explorers and collectors who travelled the world and built a private zoo at their family home between Boston and Arkham, and recently killed by a bear in their menagerie. This requires some set-up, perhaps in previous scenario (there is a connection given to the Boston Futurist Society, though the Durneys were members, not cultists), to really make its story be more tragic. In the wake of their deaths, the Durneys’ daughter, Naomi, has become a recluse, taken to her room, and decided to dissolve the zoo and sell off its animals.

As the first guests at the estate, the Investigators are given a grand tour and quickly realise that the house, the grounds, and the zoo are beginning to go to seed as the dissolution proceeds. There are fewer staff, fewer animals, and the animals that remain are nervous and disquieted. The Investigators are free to roam the grounds as they like, but there are couple of set pieces—nasty set pieces at that—and later, they will also be communicate, in limited fashion, with another victim of an animal attack on the  zoo grounds. Whilst the story is explicitly light on the Mythos, it is suffused with paranoia right through to the very end when the Mythos breaks out and runs rampant!

In terms of plotting, ‘Wolf Among the Flock’ is not as direct as ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ and so the Investigators have more freedom as where to they go and what they do. This can work against the scenario—its only weakness—if the Investigators decide to follow certain clues to their conclusions. The Keeper is advised to forestall this from happening, which begs the question, why allow it at all? Otherwise, ‘Wolf Among the Flock’ is the better of the two scenarios in Clockwork & Claws. This is because it takes a familiar Mythos entity and does something different with it, shifting the weirdness and the horror into, “Though Nature, red in tooth and claw” as well as an unexpected direction in terms of rebirth and transcendance. Which gives what is a scenario for Pulp Cthulhu a subtler feel through most of its play than the Keeper and her players might otherwise expect.

Physically, Clockwork & Claws is well appointed. The maps and handouts are all decently done, and even if the artwork varies a little in quality, the art direction is very good. Time is taken to illustrate numerous scenes and artefacts which the Keeper can then show to her players. The cartography feels a little tight in places, but is otherwise very good. There is also content in the book which can be used beyond its pages, such as that on Boston, perhaps point to the usefulness of a Boston sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu.

Tooth & Claw: Two Scenarios for Pulp Cthulhu is not without its issues—the familiarity of Mythos and its application and that there only two scenarios here, rather than three or four, the latter disappointing because there is not really very much support for Pulp Cthulhu. Nevertheless, the two scenarios in Tooth & Claw: Two Scenarios for Pulp Cthulhu support the setting with two scenarios that are entertaining and playable, one of which is creepy and freaky in its final revelations.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Secret Wars Expansion Preview

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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Secret Wars Expansion Preview is a scenario for the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game which as the title suggests, previews the Secret Wars Expansion supplement. Both scenario and supplement are based the Secret Wars comic and event published by Marvel Comics in 2015. This involved the destruction of the Marvel Universe and various other alternate universes with the Earth of each universe being combined into a Battleworld. The Battleworld for the Secret Wars Expansion Preview is Egyptia. This Egyptian-themed Battleworld gives fealty to the God Emperor Doom, his rule enforced by his cadre of Thors. The action of the scenario takes place in the city of Men-Nefer in the Lower Kingdom of Egyptia, the location of the Temple of Khonshu, dedicated to the Battleworld’s ruler, Baron Khonshu. She has oppressed the mutants in her realm, forcing them to work, building pyramid and other monuments to her, promising retribution upon the ordinary population if they rebel. However, this does not mean that there is no underground resistance and recently, its leader, Mastermind, has learned that Baron Khonshu is holding an important prisoner in her temple—Ra the Sun god. If he can be freed, then he can rally the people and help overthrown Baron Khonshu. As the scenario opens, Mastermind has gathered his best agents—Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Polaris, Rogue, and Wolverine—and together they will strike at the temple and free Ra!

The scenario is designed for four or five players, and chronologically takes place before the events of Secret Wars Journal #1. There is some advice on running the scenario, what the Narrator will need, and more, but ultimately, the Narrator will need the quick-start rules (available here) or the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game rulebook, and also the character profiles for the various heroes. There is a little bit of background to the scenario, but not too much and it gets going fairly quickly. It is essentially, a strike and prison breakout mission as the players need to work out how their superheroes are going to cross the city under curfew—when Baron Khonshu leaves her temple to wander the land—and get into the temple. Several methods are suggested with Mastermind serving as sounding board for any ideas put forward by the players and their characters.

Once a plan of action has been decided, the action starts as the Player Characters and Mastermind make their way to the temple, find a way in, deal with guards, and free the Sun god. This is a straightforward scenario, but it includes a few surprises along the way, such as the nature of the guards at the temple, who exactly Ra is, and who the Thors are that the Player Characters will face at the climax of the scenario. Stats are included for Baron Khonshu, Spector, and the Temple Guards. There are suggestions as to what might happen at the end of the scenarios and several adventure seeds too, if the Game Master wants to continue the scenario.

What is interesting about the scenario in Secret Wars Expansion Preview is the chance to play familiar characters from the Marvel Universe of Earth 616 in an unusual situation as alternate versions of those characters. Notably, the scenario’s primary NPC, Mastermind, is actually a villain on Earth 616, but here is a more sympathetic character, even though he is not without his own motives.

Physically, Secret Wars Expansion Preview is well presented. The map is nice and clear and it should be no surprise that the art is good too, given the sources that the designers can draw upon.

The Secret Wars Expansion Preview is a solid, serviceable scenario for the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game and a decent preview of the Secret Wars Expansion.