Friday Fantasy: Drink Deep from the River of my Hate

Drink Deep from the River of my Hate 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. Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is designed for Expert Heroes and can be run as a scenario for slightly more experienced Player Characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard.

In Drink Deep from the River of my Hate religious fury and war comes to the Borderlands. Following his  exile from Paradise, the archon Invidian the Fallen has sworn to take his revenge upon the High One and his followers wherever they may be. This has drawn him to the Auxen Vale where there is both a Temple of the High One in Auxen Village and the Holy Brothers Monastery also dedicated to the High One. With him is a band of marauders known as the Unbelievers. Whilst some of them fight for him because of his reputation and his desire to kill all and any worshippers of the High One, others simply fight for him because they can indulge in their own murderous desires and take their share of the plunder. Ahead of their progress across the Borderlands rumours have spread of burned shrines, sacked temples, murdered priests, and slaughtered villagers, giving rise to fear in many and a loss of faith in some. Now those fears have materialised in in Auxen Vale and Father Montaine, the priest of the Temple of the High One in Auxen Village, has sought out the help of mercenaries and adventurers in the defence of the vale and village.

This then is a classic village-defence scenario, not quite The Magnificent Seven, more the malign quartet. The Player Characters need to survey the area, perhaps find some allies (there are some potential allies, but they are far from willing), and reconnoitre the enemy and its activities. To that end several locations are detailed across the vale, including the village of Auxen itself, the monastery, the nearby woods, and the ruined keep where Invidian the Fallen and the Unbelievers have made their camp. None of the NPCs or creatures who live in Auxen Vale are given stats, nor are there any stats included for Invidian the Fallen and most of his acolytes and followers. The Sage will have to provide those. However, stats are provided for his chief lieutenant, Agada the Seer, a fiend-worshipping diviner who takes pleasure in torturing and killing priests of the High One. She is quite vile!

Unfortunately, the NPCs are the cause of a big problem with Drink Deep from the River of my Hate. Or rather, the number of them. Including its leaders, there are over seventy members of the Unbelievers. This is a lot of stats to provide and a lot of NPCs for the Sage to control. Fortunately, most of them are raider wildlings, and except for the major assaults on the village, the Unbelivers will not be operating together, but rather in smaller warbands. Ideally, the Player Characters need to picking these separate warbands off, one-by-one, so as to reduce numbers they will be ultimately facing in the assault on the village.

The nature of the scenario means that it works better with some set-up time, so as to lead the Player Characters into its events. That set-up should ideally also involve the Sage creating some maps for the various locations, including at least the keep where the Unbelievers are based and the village. The Sage may also want to add a hook or two to involve the potential other allies for the villagers.

Physically, Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is decently presented. The map of the Auxum Vale is nice and clear and the scenario is well written.

Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is a classic set-up in terms of fantasy roleplaying and it is a well done, player driven scenario. However, it is underwritten in places and needs development—not too much, but a little more than it should—to make it easier to set up and run. 

[DCC Day #7] Pestilence at the Peak of Law

As well as contributing to Free RPG Day every year Goodman Games also has its own ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day’. The day is notable not only for the events and the range of adventures being played for Goodman Games’ roleplaying games, but also for the scenarios it releases specifically to be played on the day. For ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2026’, which took place today on Saturday, July 18th, 2026, the publisher is releasing not one, not two, but three scenarios, plus a limited edition printing of Dungeon Crawl Classics #112: Mother of M0nsters. Two of the scenarios, ‘The Temple of Fluttering Terror’ and ‘The Crawl is Not Always Greener’, appear in the duology, the DCC Day 2026 Adventure Pack. ‘The Temple of Fluttering Terror’ is written for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, the spiritual successor to Gamma World, ‘The Crawl is Not Always Greener’ is for use with Xcrawl Classics Roleplaying Game, which combines Dungeons & Dragons and World Wrestling Entertainment, turns it into a blood sport, televises it, and throws in celebrity culture in an alternate dystopia shot through with a knowing black humour. Lastly, both Dungeon Crawl Classics #112: Mother of M0nsters and DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law are written for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics.

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High in the Acherak Mountains there is a Dwarven Monastery that sits above the Dwarven kingdoms far below and under the ground. It is dedicated to Daenthar, but the monks there have a secret purpose in addition to worshipping Daenthar, the Dwarven lord of the mountains as close to his realm as they can get, and that is to protect the world against a servant of Chaos known as the Matron of Pestilence. In years past, as an agent of Nimlurun, the Chaos god of filth and pestilence, Matron of Pestilence unleashed a plague upon the kingdoms of Acherak, but having imprisoned it, the monks have long worked to ensure that it would never be free to unleash its scourge of contagion again. However, what the monks could not do is destroy the Matron of Pestilence, for that requires the Hammer of the Mountaintop. Sadly, that great weapon is long lost and the monks never thought it would be in their possession. Fortunately, it has been found and perhaps the long-hoped for dream of ending the threat of the Matron of Pestilence will come to pass… Unfortunately, agents of Nimlurun have found a way to infiltrate the monastery and work to free the Chaos god’s servant. They have not managed to do so yet, but it is only a matter of time.

This is the set-up for DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law, the offering for DCC Day 2026 for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It is designed for group of four to six Player Characters of Second level, one of which should be a Cleric and another should preferably be a Dwarf. The ability to read Dwarven will be very useful in the scenario and either the Dwarf or the Cleric should be an adherent of Law rather than Chaos. The scenario can be played through in a single session and includes different hooks for the various Classes in Dungeon Crawl Classics.

In true Dwarven fashion, the Acherak Monastery is an austere place, with polished floors and bas reliefs on the walls. Equally, it appears to be quite a simple place, with a single archive, dormitory, sacristy, and so on. However, there is more to the monastery than meets the eye. As well as worshipping Daenthar, the monks are known for the brewing of a very fine mead and there are signs of it throughout the monastery, including some broken and empty casks. There is also a black slime that coats the walls and floors of the monastery. The oily, viscous substance adheres to everything it touches, can soak through clothing and leather, and worse, seeks new victims to infect. The scenario includes a ‘Rotting Corruption’ table to determine its effects upon any poor Player Character so infected and this adds a sickly, putrefying feel to the scenario. Make no mistake, this back slime is unholy, but DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law does discuss numerous ways of treating the symptoms and ultimately, of finding a cure, but in the meantime, the Player Characters are in for a sweaty, virulent experience.

Ultimately, there is a puzzle at the heart of DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law—one poisoned by agents of Nimlurun before they arrive—that the Player Characters will have to solve in order to defeat the Matron of Pestilence, save the Acherak Monastery, and save themselves. Given the timeframe for the scenario, it is not too challenging a puzzle and there are clues to be found that will reveal what has happened and what needs to be done next. This should lead to a climatic confrontation with the Matron of Pestilence and her servants in her secret prison. It will be a tough fight—especially if one or more of the Player Characters is infected with the corruption—but again, several means of slaying her given.

Physically, the DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law is as well done as you would expect for a release from Goodman Games. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork nicely captures the foulness that the Player Characters will be facing in the scenario. The cartography is perhaps a little plain, but is serviceable enough.

DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law should have the feel of cleanliness and sharpness of the air of high mountain peaks, but instead, it has a vile, smeary, fungal, and viscous feel, which also contrasts with the austerity of the monastery. There are some enjoyably oozy, oily, odious encounters along the way to overcoming a great evil in DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law and this is a deliciously repulsive scenario.

Miskatonic Monday #447: The Black Tide

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

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Name: The Black Tide

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jeremy Clifford

Setting: The high seas, 1690

Product: Scenario

What You Get: Thirty-four page, 3.77 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What foul blackness flows in with the tide?

Plot Hook: Some treasures are more trouble than they are worth.
Plot Support: Staging advice, four NPCs, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# High seas, supernatural horror

# Strong advice on running the scenario

# Not so much the ‘Black Spot’ as the ‘Black Oil’

# Could the island be R’lyeh?

# Melanophobia

# Elaiophobia

# Trypophobia

Cons

# No deck plans or maps

# No pre-generated Investigators

# No advice on creating piratical Investigators

# No NPCs detailed

# No crew manifest

Conclusion

# Solid, detailed outline undone by a lack of NPCs to empathise with

# Linear, survival horror scenario 

Miskatonic Monday #446: Feed the Many

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

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Name: Feed the Many

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Lauren Hodges

Setting: Arkham, 1920s

Product: Scenario

What You Get: Thirty-nine page, 4.97 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The Thing from Another Trattoria

Plot Hook: What makes one restaurant more popular than another?
Plot Support: Staging advice, two handouts, three NPCs, two floorplans, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Suitable for one Investigator and Keeper play

# Easy to add to an Arkham-based campaign

# Solid, food-based investigation

# Probably can be played quicker than the suggested running time

# Easy to adapt to other cities and Little Italys

# Deipnophobia

# Scoleciphobia

# Cibophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

Conclusion

# Trattoria on trattoria action!

# Well presented investigation suitable for one-on-one play

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends 

Xanthophobia

Call of Cthulhu is big in Japan. Bigger than Dungeons & Dragons and the Japanese devotees of Call of Cthulhu have their official campaign from Chaosium, Inc., that enables them and devotees around the world to explore a significant period in recent Japanese history. In doing so, they find a country at the height of its economic dominance at the end of the electronic era, unknowingly threatened by insidious memetic virus that finds vectors in prayer books and manga and dreams, mapping on its pattern onto the psyches of its victims who then will seek to spread it wider. It wraps itself around faith and culture and hope, but is utterly alien. That threat is the King in Yellow, drawn from the short story collection by R.C. Chambers, The King in Yellow, and re-interpreted for the ‘Bubble Economy’ period in The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising as the Prince of Pale Leaves. This is not the first time that Call of Cthulhu and Chaosium, Inc. have visited Japan, the supplement, Secrets of Japan being published in 2005. In more recent years, the Miskatonic Repository has become an outlet for titles written by Japanese authors, such as Japonism 2024. Similarly, it is two decades since Chaosium, Inc. explored Hastur and the mythos of the King in Yellow with the campaign, Tatters of the King, published in 2006.

The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising: Encountering the King in Yellow in 1980s Japan is a published by Chaosium, Inc. for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and notable for a number of factors. One is that it is a modular campaign, that can be expanded with The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Carcosa Manifest, simply ran as is, or run as sperate, standalone scenarios. The second is that the supplement is co-written by residents of Japan, including the Sons of Singularity—responsible for The Sassoon Files: A Sourcebook for the Call of Cthulhu and GUMSHOE Role Playing Games and Journal d’Indochine—and Chaosium, Inc. Which gives it an authenticity and a strong sense of place. Third, almost like a meme itself, the scenarios in The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising can be played over and over again, as the players and their (new?) Investigators search for an alternate ending. Of course, the Prince of Pale Leaves can twist and change and learn, so that what might have worked in a previous playthrough (alternate timeline?) is not guaranteed to work in the current one.

What The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising is not, is a sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu in Japan in the late eighties. It does contain a glossary of terms in the appendix and it does contain source material and useful they are too. The source material covers Japan and its work-orientated culture during the period, examines the life of the working adult and the student, the divide between the generations and its consequences, organised crime, transportation, and more. That more focuses on the technology available, noting that personal computers and pagers are widely available, the Internet has yet to appear, mobile phones are rare, and weapons even rarer! So, no firearms, and despite what some might think, no swords—and definitely no Ninja! The downside to The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising not being a sourcebook book for Call of Cthulhu in Japan in the late eighties is that there is little in the way of advice for creating Investigators for the period. Even then, it only extends as far as telling the Keeper that Investigator should be able to speak Japanese and players to avoid the discriminatory cultural biases endemic to the period, though that was beginning to change. This leaves the Keeper and her players to be inventive should they want to create their own Investigators or have to create replacements in the event of Investigator death. That said, several pre-generated Investigators are provided and they represent a good mix of Japanese and non-Japanese characters.

There are two notable additions in terms of the mechanics specific to the campaign. The first is Exposure Points gained through exposure to the Sutra of Pale Leaves, whether through glancing at it, reading it, hearing it being read, and so on. As they are gained—whether by an Investigator or NPC—those exposed begin to fixate on Sutra of Pale Leaves, suffer dreams and altered perception, gain creative inspiration, and even begin to see the Prince of Pale Leaves. These are the very least of the effects of continued exposure, whilst The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising suggests that Sanity loss and severe orders suffered are ‘side effects’. Surprisingly, being exposed can have its rewards such as unexplained luck and being immune to Sanity loss, though these come at the cost of more Exposure Points. All this reflects the effects of the memetic virus rewriting the code in the sufferer’s brain. Exposure Points are kept secret from the players and count up in contrast to Sanity points counting down. The second addition is more distinctly defined and numbered ‘Endings’. Running from ‘0: Party Wipe (Failure)’ and up, these categorise player success in a scenario and are a common feature of scenarios in Japan where they enable players to simply communicate how well they did in a scenario. Strangely, this number gives a scenario what are effectively ‘winning conditions’, which is at odds with almost any description of how roleplaying works. However, they explicitly support the replay value of the scenarios and campaign since having achieved an Ending and a value in one playthrough, the players can playthrough the scenario with the aim of achieving a different Ending and ideally a higher value.

In addition to being different in how it spreads its influence, the ‘Mythos’ threat and its associated cult are also different in The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising. The cult—the Association of Pale Leaves—is mad and dangerous, but it is not murderous. In other words, no sacrifices before altars at the dead of night at propitious times of the year. It can resort to violence when protecting its interests and its assets, but in the main, what it wants to do is proselytise. To that end, the Sutra of Pale Leaves and its different versions play a bigger role in the campaign than the cult itself, and although the cult is detailed, the focus of the scenarios in The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising is not on the cult itself, but rather on the twistings of the memetic transmission of its master’s message. This also means that there is no real beginning, no real ending to The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising—and that feels wholly appropriate, even though some players may be disappointed.

Similarly, the Prince of Pale Leaves is surprisingly human in its form and face even if it is alien. It is also calm, calculating, and confident, never angry, never Machiavellian, but it is manipulative and several of the scenarios revolve around the Prince of Pale Leaves’ manipulation of the Investigators. In other words, it has none of the sardonic and manipulative qualities of Nyarlathotep, and so perhaps requires much more subtle roleplaying upon the part of the Keeper.

Narratively, the campaign adds ‘Confidants’. These are inspired by Jackson Elias of Masks of Nyarlathotep fame and are designed to serve as hooks, facilitating the involvement of the Investigators in the plots. Several are given, both general and scenario-specific, but the main one is a special agent of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, the equivalent of Japan’s FBI, but the others include a Buddhist monk and abbot, and heiress-turned anti-occult crusader. Their use is not mandatory, but they will flavour and influence how the Investigators are introduced to each scenario and potentially grant them access to various resources. For the players, the campaign includes Lore Sheets which provide them with information about Japan and its culture that their Investigators would ordinarily know.

The trilogy of scenarios in The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising opens with ‘Dream Eater’. The Investigators are asked to look into an outbreak of insomnia in the historic town of Ikaruga. Sufferers also report having been tormented by a six-legged, purple tapir-like beast in their dreams when they do sleep. The incidences seem have started in a particular district of the town, significant only for a recent road accident in which an old man accidentally knocked down and killed a young girl. The old man is a master of traditional Japanese calligraphy. Interviewing him reveals that he is still remorseful, but is not affected by the sleeplessness affecting the rest of the town because a monk gave him a book of scripture to recite from. This is, of course, the Sutra of Pale Leaves, and will be the Investigators’ first exposure to it… What is interesting here is that the Investigators are inadvertently investigating two things at once, both cause and solution, and likewise working for two opposing masters without realising it. This is a scenario where the Investigators are going to be presented with a lot of information fairly quickly and the challenge is what to do with information rather than finding it out. There are hints and intimations throughout that not all is as straightforward as the situation at first might seem and both players and their Investigators need to be on their toes to realise this.

The second scenario, ‘Fanfic!’ explores the world of amateur manga artists and creators as the Investigators are asked to look into a new horror title that has become a much in demand underground hit amongst its ardently devoted teenage fans—and could be propaganda for a cult! Helped by a reserved young manga creator, the Investigators attend a Manga Market to try and find the creator of the subversive comic book. Again, there is the element of misdirection in dealing with a threat that is very much a danger, but not the whole threat. The danger here is that the misdirection actually works and the Investigators fail to realise quite what the other threat is. More than the other two scenarios in the book, ‘Fanfic!’ deserves repeat play to get beyond that misdirection, identify the other threat, and confront it atop a Tokyo landmark. This is an interesting exploration of a Japanese subculture that plays on the nature of viruses and gives it a sharp twist in applying it to the concept of memes.

The third and final scenario is the shortest. ‘The Pallid Masks of Tokyo’ begins with the discovery in an alley of a corpse with no face, or rather no facial features. The body, almost marked with deep and regular scars, is that of a Yakuza foot soldier and his boss will tell the investigators is that the dead man had been associating with a lieutenant called ‘Crazy Kazu’, who had gone rogue after spending time in the Secure Unit of the Tokyo Metropolitan Psychiatric Hospital. The latter is the focus of the latter half of the scenario and is a fittingly creepy location made all the more so by the influence of the Prince of Pale Leaves. Any investigation of Crazy Kazu will lead there and the Investigators might even receive an invitation to visit at night. Here they will find ‘Chateau Carcosa’, the Prince of Pale Leaves’ strongest manifestation on Earth. It brings a weird scenario to surprisingly direct conclusion, but not to the ongoing threat of the Prince of Pale Leaves and Sutra of Pale Leaves.

Physically, The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising is very well presented and written. The artwork ranges from the ukiyo-e style of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries to modern manga and much in between.

What The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising is not, is a campaign in the traditional sense for Call of Cthulhu. It is instead a framework that sets up a different interpretation of the King in Yellow mythos and showcases how that interpretation can be presented in three different scenarios and three different aspects of Japanese culture. And then further expanded with the companion volume, The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Carcosa Manifest. Unreal and uncanny, The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Twin Suns Rising: Encountering the King in Yellow in 1980s Japan is superb introduction to an unearthly devious threat whose full range of manifestations and vectors yet remain to be fully revealed and explored.

A Gaggle of Genres

One of the problems with generic roleplaying games is trying to work out quite what you can with them. The obvious answer is anything and everything, and whilst this is true, that might not be enough of an answer. Advice and tools which will help a Game Master do that anything and everything will always be useful. And whether it is GURPS, the HERO System, or Savage Worlds, there are a lot of supplements which address particular genres and settings. The Cypher System from Monte Cook Games is no exception. The Cypher System was introduced in 2013 with Numenera, the award-winning Science Fantasy roleplaying game of exploration and adventure in the very far future, which introduced new ideas in terms of roleplaying, such as player-facing mechanics and Game Master Intrusions, a new way of narratively increasing tension and awarding Experience Points. It also offered numerous options in terms of Player Characters, expressed in a way that clearly described what each did and which was also exciting. Since it first appeared, it has gone on to cover numerous different genres and even be used as the rules for roleplaying games based on a podcast or two. For example, High Noon at Midnight explores the Wild West, Neon Rain explores the Cyberpunk genre, and Stay Alive! dives into the horror genre. And this in addition to specific settings within these genres.

Expanded Worlds provides numerous options for Player Characters, an introduction to numerous genres, and a range of monsters, creatures, and NPCs that work with the previously explored genres. For Player Characters, there is a selection of new Descriptors and Foci. These fit the Cypher System’s means of defining a Player Character with the statement, “I am an adjective noun who verbs.” The noun is the Player Character’s Type, the adjective is a Descriptor which describes the character, and the verb is the Focus, or what the character does. For example, using the new Descriptors and Foci in Expanded Worlds enables player to create characters such as “I am a Meddlesome Adept who Changes Shape”, “I am Lawful Warrior who Collects Bounties”, “I am an Earnest Speaker who Governs”, and “I am a Chaotic Explorer who Drives Like a Maniac”. Several have extra details. For example, ‘Fell Through A Rabbit Hole’ has a ‘Nonsense’ table rolled on to create a random effect drawn from the surreal realm the character is connected to, such as ‘Unexpected Trapdoor’ or ‘Because I Said So’, that the player can then choose spend Intellect points to use. The Foci are a mix of the generic and the genre-specific. For example, ‘Descends from Nobility’, ‘Explores’, and ‘Figures Things Out’ veer towards the generic, useable in any setting, whilst ‘Hacks the Network’, ‘Is Haunted by Moths’, ‘Keeps a Magical Ally’, ‘Resides in Silicon’, and ‘Sailed Beneath the Jolly Roger’ have stronger or more specific requirement in terms of their setting and genre. The supplement does list the Foci by suggested genre. Nevertheless, there are a lot of Foci here and it is easy to go through them and package them into genres and settings of the Game Master’s own design.

Expanded Worlds explores seven genres across two chapters. The Fantastical Genres consist of ‘Post Apocalyptic’, ‘Mythological’, ‘Fairy Tale’, and ‘Childhood Adventure’, whilst the Gritty Genres consist of ‘Historical’, ‘Crime and Espionage’, and ‘Hard Science Fiction’. In each case, there is an overview of the genre, which includes suggestions as to what the players and Game Master might like to read or what, guidance on both creating and running the genre, followed by technical details that list threats, character types, Foci, and creatures all appropriate to the genre. Extras then add details specific to the genre. For the Post Apocalyptic genre this is a guide to scavenging, tables of junk and useful stuff, suggested artefacts like Enviroscanner and the Military Exoskeleton, and two Racial Descriptors in the form of the Morlock and Roach. For the Fairy Tale genre, it discusses the nature of Fairie, adds ‘Fairy Tale Wonders’ and ‘Fairy Artifact Quirk’ tables, and the Changeling Racial Descriptor. Notably, the ‘Childhood Adventure’ chapter gives an optional rule for playing young characters in the Cypher System without resorting to the Young Descriptor and so retaining flexibility in terms of options for the Player Characters. Of the four entries in the Fantastical Genres section, the ‘Mythological’ chapter feels just a bit too small, just not capable of handling its big subject. The inclusion of the Spear of Fate, Sword of Death, and Thunderbolt and Hellborn and Giant Racial Descriptors just hint at the possibility of the genre and really do leave the reader wanting more.

If the ‘Mythological’ chapter feels all too small for its subject matter, then too many of the entries in the ‘Gritty Genres’ section are all broad for what they are trying to cover. The ‘Historical’ genre chapter races through thousands of years of history in three pages and just cannot do it justice. The thumbnail descriptions of the different periods are just enough to intrigue the reader, but without helping in terms of what to read next or how to set adventures there. There is mention of some books, but simply not enough. Oddly, the ‘Crime and Espionage’ chapter works in one way, but not another, the problem being that it encompasses two different genres in one. What this means is that whilst all of the technical details—suggested character types, Foci, creatures and NPCs, and items—work with both genres, the advice does not as it means it is just too broad. Fortunately, the ‘Hard Science Fiction’ chapter more than makes up for deficiencies of the previous two chapters. Whether covering the effects of gravity on combat, survival in the vacuum of space, the unlikelihood of the Player Characters having their own spaceship, and so on, the advice here is to the point and useful.

For the Game Master, there is a selection of creatures and NPCs. Many of the creatures will work across more than one of the genres detailed in Expanded Worlds. For example, the Bogeyman and the Fairy can be used in the Fairy Tale and Childhood Adventure genres. Some genres are better supported than others. The ‘Mythological’ genre is particularly well supported with the Cambion, Cerberus, Hydra, Minotaur, Satyr, and Typhon, and similarly, the ‘Post Apocalyptic’ genre is solidly supported with the Abomination, Devolved, Fusion Hound, Gamma Worm, Glowing Roach, and Mad Creation. There are oddities though, such as the Killer Clown and the Night Gaunt, which seem to have wandered in from other genres. The most entertaining entries are the Erlking, an animated morass of woodland debris which loves to hunt and eat children, a former fairy noble stripped of his title and lands and exiled into the plant body, and the Shoe Thief, which hides under the bed and in other dark places in the home stealing single shoes and socks, pens and paperclips, gathering in groups and building up the courage to steal books, pets, and your little brother! The NPC descriptions are drier in comparison, serviceable and functional rather than inspiring.

Physically, Expanded Worlds is decently written and well written. The illustrations are excellent.

Expanded Worlds is hit and miss in terms of its content. Some of its genre write-ups are woefully underwritten because conceptually, there is too much to write about and not enough space to do it in, meaning that the book cannot do them justice. Indeed, it would take whole supplements the size of Expanded Worlds to do any one of its genres proper justice—and it has. Yet at their best, some of the write-ups do work as solid introductions to their respective genres and as introductions they are given good support in terms of playable, useful content. In that, the Fantastical Genres are better treated than the Gritty Genres, and both are given solid support by the Foci and Descriptors. Expanded Worlds is a good, but not perfect introduction to a variety of genres for the Cypher System.

Friday Fantasy: The Cursed Farm

It is midsummer, and Hrafn Reginsson, the local goði, asks the Player Characters for help. He asks them to visit the farm of a distant neighbour, Björg Finnsdóttir, who unexpectedly and uncharacteristically, has requested his help. He fears that the situation must be fraught if she is asking for his help. When the Player Characters arrive, it appears that the goði’s fears are well placed. Björg Finnsdóttir’s farm has clearly fallen into a state of disrepair and disarray. The kale patch has overgrown and seems to rustle strangely; the barley field has been trampled and its soil churned up by several cows that aggressively rove its extent; and then there is Björg Finnsdóttir’s pride and joy, a grove of red currant berry shrubs that made the farm famous for miles around, now reduced to burned and shattered stumps. Björg Finnsdóttir herself—and her family, which includes two farmhands, are tired and drawn, clearly deeply concerned at their plight and that of the farm. This is the situation that the Player Characters find in The Cursed Farm.

The Cursed Farm is a scenario for Age of Vikings: The Roleplaying Game, the low fantasy, deeply historical game published by Chaosium, Inc. and designed to help tell stories of home, hearth, and honour, myth and magic, and bring new sagas to life. Subtitled ‘An Introductory Scenario for the Age of Vikings Roleplaying Game’, it is designed as a first scenario be played for the roleplaying game and in many cases it has been. That said, it is not designed as a quick-start. In other words, it does not come with the rules necessary to play it, although links are provided so that the Game Master has a set of ready-to-play Player Characters. Instead, The Cursed Farm works as a demonstration scenario. It not only tells a tale of how dark Viking magic can come to affect the innocent, of past lives, and misplaced ambitions, but involves a classic Norse monster too! Further, it can be run in a single session. This means that is very easy add to a campaign, to be run as a showcase for the Game Master’s own group, or run as a demonstration scenario at a convention. In the case of the latter two options, this includes teaching the rules to the players. The rules themselves are not difficult to learn and anyone with experience of Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine will pick them up with ease.

The family will quickly reveal what they know and the Player Characters are free to examine the farm and its current state, and will very likely discover that as the title of the scenario states, that it is cursed. The Second Sight skill is important here and a mixture of interaction and perception skills will play a major part in determining what is happening at the farm. The likelihood is that the Player Characters will quickly track down the source of the curse and deal directly with it. This can result in combat, and in particular, there is a chance for a warrior and his honour to shine, and even ultimately benefit. Combat is not the only solution though, and the source is willing to communicate and wait. That said, the Game Master is given an optional combat encounter if the Player Characters have avoided combat so far or if she wants to add another combat encounter. Ultimately, resolving the situation in The Cursed Farm relies upon interaction and perception. To that end though, the NPCs are simply drawn and the Game Master will need to strengthen their individual characters in her portrayal of them. This is due more to the limited page rather than any other reason.

Physically, The Cursed Farm is solidly presented. It is well written, easy to understand, and quick to prepare, and the artwork is good. The cartography, done in colour and black and white, with versions for both the players and the Game Masters, is clear and easy to read.

The Cursed Farm is good little scenario for Age of Vikings: The Roleplaying Game. It is straightforward and easy to prepare, whether to add to a campaign or run as a demonstration, and gives a good flavour of Icelandic horror and mystery.