Friday Fantasy: Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands

Far from any frozen climes, from any mountains or tundra, or ice-churned seas, lies the strangest of lands. Qaasuitsup Nunaat, or Land of Polar Darkness, is inhospitable, ice and snowbound, its once life-giving lake frozen over, and where there were fields that settlers from far away came to till and make new lives, there are dunes and drifts of snow. The paradise that drew so many is long gone, frozen in a wasteland that stands in contrast to the surrounding jungle and warm coastal waters. Overhead nightly hangs the aurora borealis, bringing colour to the region where there is white of snow and black of ice. Ancient myths tell of the story of Imeq-inua, or Lake Spirit, who saw to it that the land was protected and made fertile and prosperous. Then the lake froze and the temperature dropped. In the crops, the trees and plants, and any animal that could not flee the region died. The settlers fled and the few that remained froze or starved to death. Now wolves have the run of region, howling and hounding intruders, whilst strange Iced-Blooded Mutants have been encountered by those brave—or foolish—enough to want to investigate what has become of the former paradise. Perhaps hired to restore the region to its original balmy climate or discover where the Iced-Blooded Mutants come from and if they are a threat, or cast ashore shipwrecked on the coast, or drawn by whispers of the Lake Spirit herself, the Player Characters found themselves in a strangely frigid land.

Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands is a mini-hexcrawl published by Angry Golem Games. Designed for Player Characters of between First and Third Level, it is the third in the publisher’s ‘Fortnightly Adventures’ series, begun with Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower, which is intended to provide a brand-new, original module every two weeks—each exploring a different biome, mysterious locale, and unique challenge. Having done a section of desert, a strange tower, and a mystery to uncover in The Hollow Tower and a volcanic island with a volcano, a temple with some hot springs, and more in Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact, the series switches to sub-polar region, all iced up and snowed under for Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands. It is written for use with Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy, published by Necrotic Gnome Productions, which is based on the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh, and which together present a very accessible, very well designed, and superbly presented reimplementation of the rules.

What Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands details is an eleven-hexagon region of frozen tundra. Each takes roughly two hours to explore, so the region is not a large one overall and could easily be crossed in a day in any direction. In fact, it could actually be reduced in size without losing anything and it could easily be treated as a mini-location as a whole and placed in a single hex in a Game Master’s campaign. This might be to keep it as written as an oddly frozen location amidst much warmer climes or even move it to actual colder regions where its previous warmer and more fertile status would have been the oddity. 

The five locations in Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands consist of the ‘Experiments Base’, ‘Watchtower’, ‘Longhouse’, ‘Permafrost Caves’, and ‘The Lake’. Of these, only the ‘Experiments Base’ and ‘Permafrost Caves’ are fully mapped, but all are reasonably well detailed, bar ‘The Lake’ which is not detailed at all. ‘Experiments Base’ is where the scholars who brought about the changes to the valley with its radical climate change operate out of and continue to conduct research that their masters have since deemed unethical. The ‘Watchtower’ is home to a former guardian of the valley, whilst the ‘Longhouse’ is home to a gang of criminals desperately surviving after being washed ashore from the ship they were being transported in and attempted to take over. The ‘Permafrost Caves’ is home to a reclusive Frost Giant who prefers the company of the pack of wolves he keeps. The monsters and NPCs given full stats consist of the four scholars—two Wizards and two apprentices— and the new monster, the super-strong ‘Ice-Blooded Mutants’, who unarmed punches are so cold they inflict frostburn! The ‘Ice-Blooded Mutants’ are the result of another experiment by the scholars and are their servants and bodyguards.

There is a plot to Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands, the possibility that the Player Characters could discover the cause of how the valley became frozen and then perhaps reverse its effects. The problem is that as written, there is little in way of clues to find and little to really push either plot or Player Characters forward. It is as if the Player Characters are expected to wander around in the hope of finding something that might suggest a course of action. The few NPCs described—the scholars who are effectively the villains of the piece—are underwritten and lack both character and motivation. Similarly, beyond being reclusive, the Frost Giant residing in the ‘Permafrost Caves’ has no characterisation. In order to find a solution to the situation in the valley, the Player Characters do need to find why of dealing with him, but there are suggestions as how he might react to their presence. Lastly, the escaped prisoners at the ‘Longhouse’ will defend themselves, but that is about as much motivation as they are given.

Physically, Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands is decently done. The layout is clean and tidy and the illustrations are good. However, the scenario very much needs an edit.

Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands is disappointing. It is underwritten and it is underdeveloped. The plot concerning the current state of the valley and its potential reversal has been left for the Game Master to properly flesh out and the NPCs all need characterisation and explanations as to either what they know or what they want—and sometimes both. It does not help that the adventure is poorly edited with odd turns of phrase that make it jarring to read. Ultimately, Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands is a flaccid affair, an indication that the concept of releasing a complete mini-adventure every two weeks has got beyond the creators and run out of steam. At its very best, Fortnightly Adventures #2: On the Frozen Wastelands is something that the prospective Game Master might want to develop properly herself, as that is only way to get it into a ready-to-run state.

Secrecy & Survivability

The world of Spume is hellhole and you definitely would not want to live there. Most of the few hundred that do live on the planet reside in the single dome settlement of Dryavis, where they conduct mining operations via remote drones and vehicles. Outside of the dome, the planet, with its thin, tainted atmosphere, is subject to near constant seismic activity, widespread volcanic activity, and a near constant rain of ash and rocks, all at extremes of temperature and intermittent radioactivity. Located within the Darrian Confederation in the Darrian Subector of the Spinward Marches, just two parsecs away from the capital and one parsec away from the homeworld, nobody would willing want to visit Spume. Except that researchers in the departments of geophysical sciences and engineering at Idikelin University have discovered new properties of certain materials when exposed to the magma of an active volcano and want them further investigated. To that end, it has mounted an expedition to Spume consisting of a planetologist, vulcanologist, seismologist, two materials specialists, and a technician to conduct in the field experiments. The fully equipped expedition will establish a base and conduct field experiments on Spume and report back with its findings within a few months.

This is the set-up for Ashfall, the first part of a trilogy of scenarios published by March Harrier Publishing for use with Traveller, Second Edition from Mongoose Publishing. Together, they form a mini-campaign for six players who will roleplay the six pre-generated scientist or technician characters. In addition to the core rulebook, the Game Master will need access to Alien Module 3: Darrians or Aliens of Charted Space Vol. 3, whilst the Central Supply Catalogue will also be useful. Access to various issues of The Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society may be helpful, but are not crucial to running the scenario.

The plot to Ashfall sees the Player Characters arrive on Spume and set up their camp with three possible choices given. Contact with Dryavis is possible, but limited, and for the most part, the Player Characters will be alone. That is, until they receive a most unexpected knock on the door to the survival dome which has been constructed over the Advanced Base (Pressurised) they have set up. Until the scenario, the Player Characters spend their time conducting field research and analysing the results, having spent some time constructing and setting up the camp. This plays out over several days using the rules given to handle the results of the research. This is fairly dry, and although there are some minor rivalries between the expedition members, as the scenario notes, Darrian community ethic means that means there is much less likely to be inter-departmental or inter-faculty rivalry than there might be within an expedition from a university from the Third Imperium. This is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a trio of Special Arm agents, who want to investigate the activities of the various academics. Each of them does have a secret, which a player is free to reveal or not during his character’s interrogation, but none of them are truly terrible or shocking. In fact, they are minor at best and reflect the Darrian cultural conservatism at worst. For the most part, the Player Characters will find the presence of the Special Arm agents a distraction from their ongoing work.

The other role that the Special Arm agents can play in the scenario is as a source of replacement Placement Characters. This is because the scenario takes another, sudden swerve which sets up the last, much more challenging third act. This occurs after the expedition’s base suffers a sudden catastrophe in the form of a landslip! The Player Characters have only minutes to get into their vacuum suits and grab what equipment they can before fleeing. Unfortunately, the expedition’s ATV is also destroyed in the accident. This leaves the Player Characters with little choice, but to make their way across Spume on foot. It possible to ask the miners at Dryavis to help rescue them, but contact is limited due to the environment and the equipment at the mining base not being entirely suited to such a role. The last third of the scenario is a gruelling trek across Spume’s barren, cracked, and often venting landscape. Multiple encounters are suggested, through problematically, one of the encounters does require access to Ashfall III: Into the Crust.

In terms of support for the players, Ashfall not only includes the six pre-generated scientists and technicians, but also six sets of roleplaying notes. These have been created using Myers-Briggs type indicators and are intended to be handed out randomly, meaning any time the Game Master runs Ashfall, the Player Characters remain the same, but the personalities are random. That said, not everyone is going to want to use these personality indicators, though if they were, it is a pity that they are not presented as handouts. Otherwise, Ashfall is a technical scenario. There are maps of the planet, a list of equipment assigned to the expedition, rules for handling research, and details of the vehicles used by the miners at Dryavis. There is a list of the personnel at Dryavis, though the Game Master will need access to Ashfall II: Under the Dome for the full details.

Ashfall can be played as is, but it is written to be the first part of a trilogy. There are discoveries to be made in the scenario, after all, what is a science-themed adventure without discoveries? However, these discoveries are dry at best and it does not help that a hint at a potentially interesting discovery requires access to Ashfall III: Into the Crust.

Physically, Ashfall is a tidy affair. The plan of the expedition base is somewhat threadbare, but the illustrations are serviceable and planetary maps decent enough.

Ashfall is a classic survival scenario for Traveller, the Player Characters forced to trek across hostile territory and make the best of what they have with them. This is going to be challenging since Spume is hostile to life and the Player Characters lack the Vacc Suit skill, whilst only one of them has the Survival skill. Which sets up an interesting dynamic as this is the technician, whose role is seen as less worthy than that of the scientists. Although the Player Characters should have remained in the office, Ashfall should be a bonding experience for them and it will set them up for Ashfall II: Under the Dome. Ultimately, Ashfall is a dry, technical adventure that requires a higher degree of engagement from the players in order to get through what is the first act of a trilogy to get to the potentially more interesting second and third parts.

Miskatonic Monday #415: Fungal Bodies

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: Fungal Bodies

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Stuart McNair

Setting: Lancashire, United Kingdom, 1926

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-three-page, 72.05 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “Ey up! It’s The X-Files!”

Plot Hook: Missing bomb ingredients lead to the discovery of a bigger threat in the Red Rose County

Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators, seven NPCs, six handouts, two maps, and five Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Engagingly creepy, environmental horror scenario

# Great illustrations and handouts

# Easily adapted to take place after any conflict

# A fungus-based scenario that does not involve a Colour Out of Space

# Includes Trigger/Threshold mechanic for tracking NPC trust

# Will the Committee of Imperial Defence return in a sequel?

# Excellent art

# Mycophobia

# Sucker-phobia

# Mysophobia

Cons

# Floorplans would have been useful

Conclusion

# Chemical warfare and fungal fears up north!
# Trigger/Threshold mechanic is a good roleplaying tool

Miskatonic Monday #414: Whispers from the Bramble’s Heart

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: Whispers from the Bramble’s Heart

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Robert Gresham

Setting: Oregon, USA 1925

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-three-page, 15.11 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Ambition is the poison that spoils the fruit.

Plot Hook: What is the seed of corruption in small town Oregon?

Plot Support: Staging advice, six NPCs, fifteen handouts, six maps and floor plans, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Variable

Pros

# Solid investigation with multiple hooks

# Easy to adapt to other settings and eras

# Adaptable to Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos

# A fruit-based scenario that does not involve a Colour Out of Space

# Excellent art

# Aichmophobia

# Fructophobia

# Pedophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit
# Heavily plotted in places

Conclusion

# Slightly heavy-handed in places, but a serviceably creepy scenario

# Something rotten in the heart of Oregon

Time & Tide

For three hundred years, the floating city of Naviri has been a beacon of comfort, co-operation, and community. Located in the shallow waters of a tropical lagoon, it consists of a number of large, permanent islands—or docks—as well as many floating ones, hence its nickname of the ‘Floating City’ or ‘Floating Islands of Naviri’, that together make up a warm and welcoming home under azure skies dotted with the fluffiest of white clouds. Despite their differences, numerous species live and work together in the city—Betalods, Chameleons, Crocs, Cuttlebeards, Frogs, Golfins, Humans, Iotas, Magnafrons, Nag’i, Salamanders, Turtles, and Tyros. Yet despite Naviri being a tropical paradise, it is sandwiched between two great threats. Behind it is the endless of expanse of the Droskani Desert, home to desert raiders and fiends, but also the grey-haired Human traders who make the twice annual journey from their home in Stoen on the far mountainous side of the continent to Naviri. Before it looms the Fold. A great storm that has been calcified into a glacier of apocalyptic weather and monsters. Naviri has always suffered from storms, but the city weathered them and the sea monsters that followed in their wake, protected by the Tidal Blades, elite guardians of the Floating Islands. For centuries, the Tidal Blades protected the city from both the storms and the monsters, as well as helping the community and helping to keep order. Fifteen years ago, the city was threatened by the biggest storm in recorded history. The Tidal Blades were no match for its ferocity or that of the monsters that invaded the reef. The city’s leaders asked the Tidal Blades to deploy an experimental piece of technology developed by Arcanists of the Citadel of Time called the Fold that would halt the storm and the sea monsters. Answering the call, in what became known as the Great Battle, the Tidal Blades successfully activated the Fold. It worked, but at a cost. The Fold stopped time. It trapped both storm and monsters in time, but also stopped the Tidal Blades in time. Now, the Fold has begun to weaken. Sea monsters are slipping through. How long until the Fold fails and who will protect the city now and then when it does? For there no Tidal Blades any longer…

This is the setting for two board games published by Druid City Games. In Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef, the heroes undertake a series of challenges across the island and in three arenas as part of the Tournament of Heroes in an attempt to be acclaimed one of the Tidal Blades. In its sequel, Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders, the Tidal Blades are entrusted with the Nexus, a device that will enable them to enter the Fold, unfreeze time, discover its secrets, and hopefully recuse the Tidal Blade heroes of the Great Battle. It is also the setting for Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game, published by Monte Cook Games. It is set roughly at the same time as Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef, but can be set before or after, and although mechanically different, the board game could be used to play out the Player Characters’ efforts to become the new Tidal Blades. Or that can be played as part of the roleplaying game, which suggests several paths—or story arcs—that a Player Character can participate in to eventually become a Tidal Blade. In addition to being a roleplaying game, along with its rules for creating Player Characters and playing the game, Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game provides details of the world, making it a gazetteer of the setting, and two scenarios. It is a roleplaying game of hope and adventure, community and duty, exploration and heroism. It is an aquatic Science Fiction setting in which advanced Michronic technology enables Michronic Loops, or time jumps, often moments into the past to change the present.

As with other roleplaying games from Monte Cook Games, Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game uses the Cypher System, first seen in Numenera in 2013. A Player Character in the Cypher System and Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game has three stats or Pools. These are Might, Speed, and Intellect, and represent a combination of effort and health for a character. Typically, they range between eight and twenty in value. Might covers physical activity, strength, and melee combat; Speed, any activity involving agility, movement, stealth, or ranged combat; and Intellect, intelligence, charisma, and magical capacity. In game, points from these pools will be spent to lower the difficulty of a task, but they can also be lost through damage, whether physical or mental. A Player Character has an Edge score, tied to one of the three pools. This reduces the cost of points spent from the associated pool to lower the difficulty of a task, possibly even to zero depending upon the Edge rating.

A Player Character can be summed up in a simple statement—“I am an adjective species noun who verbs.” The adjective is the ‘Descriptor’, describing how the Player Character acts or his manner; the species is one of the thirteen species who live in Naviri; the noun is one of the four character ‘Types’ in the roleplaying game; and the verb is the Player Character’s ‘Focus, that is what he does. For example, “I am an Exiled Human Speaker who Doesn’t Do Much.”, “I am Sea-Born Tyro Explorer who Sails the Howling Seas.”, “I am an Intelligent Betalod Adept who Conducts Weird Science.”, and “I am Vicious Croc Fighter who Fights Dirty.” The four Types are Adept, Explorer, Fighter, and Speaker. Besides Human, the Species include the pink, semi-aquatic newt-like Betalods who are telepaths and good at analysing their environment; Crocs are aggressive combatants, often with regard to their own safety; Cuttlebeards have face tentacles used as manipulators and to enhance their speech, who are sociable and read the histories of objects; Nag’i are mutant, aquatic humans known for doing everything with a flourish or a quip; and more. All of the Species have one inability as well several abilities to choose from, as do the Descriptors and Foci.

Creating a character is a matter of making some choices, assigning a few points here and there, and so on. It is a fairly simple process, but there are a lot of options to choose from.

Sepiella

“I am an Inquisitive Cuttlebeard Adept who Delves the Fourth Dimension.”

Background: “You used to sneak into the Atoll of the Crab Mystics when you were young and that’s where you became enamoured of becoming an Adept”

Arc: Uncover a Secret

Tier 1 Adept

Might 9 Speed 12 Intellect 19 [Edge 1]

Effort 1

Inability: Medium and Heavy Weapons

Hindrances: Hearing/Noticing Dangers, Initiative, Physical Labour

Abilities: Anticipation, Far Step, Michronic Training, Onslaught, Scan, See History

Skills: Geography [Trained], History [Trained], Learning [Trained], Light weapons [Practiced], Pleasant Social Interactions [Trained]

Mechanically, as a Cypher System roleplaying game, Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game is player facing. Thus, in combat, a player not only rolls for his character to make an attack, but also rolls to avoid any attacks made against his character. Essentially this shifts the game’s mechanical elements from the Game Master to the player, leaving the Game Master to focus on the story, on roleplaying NPCs, and so on. When it comes to tasks, the Player Character is attempting to overcome a Task Difficulty, ranging from one and Simple to ten and Impossible. The target number is actually three times the Task Difficulty. So, a Task Difficulty of four or Difficult, means that the target number is twelve, whilst a Task Difficulty of seven or Formidable, means that the target number is twenty-one. The aim of the player is lower this Task Difficulty. This can be done in a number of ways.

Modifiers, whether from favourable circumstances, skills, or good equipment, can decrease the Difficulty, whilst skills give bonuses to the roll. Trained skills—skills can either be Practiced or Trained—can reduce the Difficulty, but the primary method is for a player to spend points from his relevant Stat pools. This is called applying Effort. Applying the first level of Effort, which will reduce the target number by one, is three points from the relevant Stat pool. Additional applications of Effort beyond this cost two points. The cost of spending points from a Stat pool is reduced by its associated Edge, which if the Edge is high enough, can reduce the Effort to zero, which means that the Player Character gets to do the action for free—or effortlessly!

Rolls of one enable a free GM Intrusion—essentially a complication to the current situation that does not reward the Player Character with any Experience Points, whereas rolls of seventeen and eighteen in combat grant damage bonuses. Rolls of nineteen and twenty in combat can also grant damage bonuses, but alternatively, can grant minor and major effects. For example, distracting an opponent or striking a specific body part. Rolls of nineteen and twenty in non-combat situations grant minor and major effects, which the player and Game Master can decide on in play. In combat, light weapons always inflict two points of damage, medium weapons four points, and heavy weapons six points, and damage is reduced by armour. NPCs simply possess a Level, which like the Task Difficulty ranges between one and ten and is multiplied by three to get a target number to successfully attack them.

Experience Points in Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game are earned in several ways, primarily through achieving objectives, making discoveries, and so on. There are two significant means of a Player Character gaining Experience Points. The first is ‘GM In trusion’. These are designed to make a situation and the Player Character’s life more interesting or more complicated. For example, the Player Character might automatically set off a trap or an NPC important to the Player Character is imperilled. Suggested Intrusions are given for the four character Types and the Foci. When this occurs, the Game Master makes an Intrusion and offers the player and his character two Experience Points. The player does not have to accept this ‘GM Intrusion’, but this costs an Experience Point. If he does accept the Intrusion, the player receives the two Experience Points, keeps one and then gives the other to another player, explaining why he and his character deserves the other Experience Point. The ‘GM Intrusion’ mechanic encourages a player to accept story and situational complications and place their character in danger, making the story much more exciting.

There is the reverse of the ‘GM Intrusion’, which is ‘Player Intrusion’. With this, a player spends an Experience Point to present a solution to a problem or complication. These make relatively small, quite immediate changes to a situation, such as an old friend suddenly showing up, a device used by a NPC malfunctioning, and so on.

The other means of gaining Experience Points is the Character Arc. A Player Character begins play with one Character Arc for free, but extra can be purchased at the cost of Experience Points to reflect a Player Character’s dedication to the arc’s aim. Each Character Arc consists of several steps—Opening, two or three development steps, followed by a Climax and a Resolution. Suggested Character Arcs include ‘Avenge’, ‘Become a Parent’, ‘Enterprise’, ‘Finish a Great Work’, make a ‘New Discovery’, and so on, that the Player Character can follow and be awarded Experience Points for each stage completed. This formalises and rewards players for engaging in their characters’ objectives. he selection of the Character Arc during character creation signals to the Game Master what sort of story a player wants to explore with his character.

One of the aspects inherent to Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game and all Cypher System roleplaying games and settings are the Cypher System’s namesake—Cyphers. Again, first seen in Numenera, Cyphers are typically one-use things which help a Player Character. In the Science Fantasy world of Numenera, they are physical or Manifest devices and objects which might heal a Player Character, inflict damage on an opponent or hinder him, aid an attack, turn him invisible or reveal something that is invisible, increase or decrease gravity, and so on. They are effectively, one-shot Player Character abilities that are free. In the Science Fiction setting like that of Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game, Cyphers are parts of Tidal Blade relics which so broken that they can only be used once or fruits that can be harvested. Cyphers are always obvious, but not always obvious in what they can do. Plus only a few Cyphers can be carried at any one time, otherwise there are side effects which can be dangerous. Artefacts can also be found. These are rare, but do have multiple uses.

Intrinsic to the setting of Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game is Michronic energy. This powers the technology in and around Navri and can be manipulated to enable time travel. A Michronic Loop or time leap will only take a Player Character back a few seconds into the past, but will enable him to reattempt an action or do another action instead. This can have the side effect of a memory loss. Mechanically, it requires the expenditure of Experience Points to allow a reroll, but devices such as a ‘Time Stretch’ Cyber or a Shell Shield artefact, or the abilities of someone who ‘Delves the Fourth Dimension’ also allow it. Where changes can be made as a result of a time leap, it is considered all but impossible when travelling in hyperdimensional space as the past is fixed whereas the future remains a series of possibilities.

In terms of support, the advice for the Game Master is as good as you would expect for a Monte Cook title, expanding upon this advice with setting specific guidance, such as running challenges. In terms of setting, Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game gives a gazetteer of Naviri, a bestiary of both creatures and NPCs, notes on languages, and two scenarios as well as details of various Cyphers and artefacts that the Player Characters can scavenge. Notable locations in the city of Naviri include the Citadel of Time from where the city is governed and much of its technology is developed and manufactured, and the Chronosseum, the Lamara Stadium, and the Droska Ring where festivals and other events are held, such as challenges. Challenges are a major part of Naviri culture and seen as a way of proving oneself, ultimately preparing participants for the Tournament of Heroes. There are numerous different challenges, including races and battles, and each venue has its own. Challenges are not intended for beginning Player Characters, but like the Tournament of Heroes, something for them to aspire to. Other cultural notes include elements such as the fact that killing other people is frowned upon, unless in self-defence, which is more likely the further away you are from the city. The bestiary lists a wide range of creatures, including the legendary Akora, a creature so big, it can be seen from miles as it emerges from the water, the volcano on its back spewing lava and ash! There is a variety of crabs as well as things like the Dragonslime, which has a dragon-like head and an octopus-like body, its tentacles exuding a burning slime, and the Whirlpool Weaver, a manta ray-like beast that can detect, absorb, and even use Michronic energy. 

The first of the two scenarios is ‘Chef Surprise’. This is designed as an introductory scenario in which the Player Characters are asked to help out a restaurant by obtaining some special ingredients from a distant island. Once past finding and equipping a boat, the scenario is all about the trip there and what the Player Characters find on the island, an on-the-run band of thieves hiding out. It presents a moral dilemma for the Player Characters to sort out, but is fairly direct affair and there is advice for the Game Master on running it throughout. The second scenario, ‘A Dock of Their Own’ is more complex and broken into discrete tasks, meaning that it can be run is or spaced out as series of events over the course of an ongoing campaign. The Game Master advice suggests ways in which it could be tied into a Player Character Arc, but leaves some of the scenario set-up to the Game Master, specifically how Player Characters might get involved in the project at the heart of the scenario, which building a dock that they can freely use. It is not a bad scenario, but it is not as immediately useful and ultimately it really works better as a framework into which the Game Master can add her won content.

There is nothing missing from Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game per se. It contains everything that a Game Master and her players need to begin playing and set up and support the aims of their characters. It also serves as a good introduction to the Tidal Blades setting. Yet there still remains much that is unexplained and unexplored, most obviously the Droskani Desert and the Flow. Both deserve further treatment and adventures involving them. A more minor issue that the example of play is given at the back of the book rather than the front where it would have been more obviously useful, especially to anyone new to roleplaying as a hobby.

Physically, Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game is well presented and written. The artwork, much of it in a cartoon style, is good. The illustrations of both buildings and sea-going vessels in Naviri are excellent. Overall, the artwork does a great job of imparting the look and feel of the world of Tidal Blades, a mixture of anthropomorphism and anime.

Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game is a Saturday morning cartoon of a roleplaying game, bright and breezy and positive. This makes it suitable for play by a younger audience, but it is not written for them, so requires a more experienced Game Master. Further, although the Cypher System is not complex, the Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game is a still daunting prospect for any fan of the two board games it is based upon, but for the fan who does roleplay, the Tidal Blades: The Roleplaying Game is much easier to grasp, presenting the players with a wealth of character options and an interesting setting to explore.

Jonstown Jottings #104: Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

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What is it?
Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 is an anthology of source material and scenarios the continues the campaign begun in Fires of Mingai: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 2 for use with Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1, both written for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a one-hundred-and-forty page, full colour, 74.50 MB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy, but the text feels disorganised in places and requires an edit. The artwork varies in quality, but some of it is very good.

The cartography is decent.

Where is it set?
Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 is set on Tamoro and Lutva, two of the five Korolan Islands that make up the Korolan Isles which lie in the Jewelled Islands, the Islands of Wonder that lie to the east, as well as two islands that lie outside of Korola Isles.

Who do you play?

Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 is designed to be used with Player Characters who are native to the Korolan Islands. The possibility of outsiders playing the scenario, along with a Player Character native to the islands, is explored in more depth than in previous volumes in the series, suggesting that alongside at least one Player Character who is native to the islands, the outsiders could be ‘new hires from strange lands’ in the in service of Queen Tamerana, a major NPC introduced in the previous volume who plays a much bigger role in this one.

What do you need?

Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 requires Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1, Fires of Mingai: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 2, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, the Glorantha Bestiary, and The Red Book of Magic. In addition, the Guide to Glorantha and The Stafford Library – Vol VI Revealed Mythologies may be useful.

What do you get?
Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 includes some rules as well as more setting material and background. These are for ships and seafaring, particularly in the East Isles. Each vessel is defined by its Draft, Freeboard, Speed, Seaworthiness, Hull Quality, Structure Points, and more. They note that the Craft (Carpentry) skill is vital for ship maintenance and making minor repairs is a constant activity, and that Sea Lore or Shiphandling are used for navigation, augmented by Celestial Lore and the Cult Lore of the appropriate sea deity. Bound together stick charts are used by some cults. Numerous ship types from the raft and the canoe to the Lancaran warship of Fereva and the Andin War Canoe (both of which appear in the following scenarios) are detailed and illustrated. Warfare mostly consists of ramming and boarding along with the use of magic. The only thing missing here are deck plans, but otherwise these rules are serviceable.

Fires of Mingai: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 2 is anthology of scenarios set on two islands previously detailed in Korolan Islands: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 1. More specific setting information is provided for both islands, including settlements, major landmarks, and NPCs minor and major. Thus, for Mingai, this is the village of Verena; the Crack of Fire, sacred place to the women of Mingemelor cult; and Red Top Hill, renowned for its red rocks and the former occupant, a wizard called Red Top. Particular attention is paid to the village of Serena, since Mingai is the setting for three of the scenarios in the anthology. Whilst, for Sitoro Island, this the Senate House of Sitoro, seat of the Korolan senate, and the Dream Canal, which flows down from Laughing Plateau, and if paddled up to the waterfall at its far reaches, a gateway to the Dreamworld may be found and entered. Only the one scenario, the third, is set on Sitoro Island.

As with previous sourcebooks in the series, Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 provides specific setting information about two more islands, in this case, Tamoro and Luvata, including settlements, major landmarks, NPCs minor and major, and the gods and cults particular to them. For this supplement, the most important of the gods is the Trickster, as one of his cultists plays a big role in the supplement’s two scenarios.  For  Tamoro, there is a description of Mount Tamorongo, revered as the Parondpara, god of the island, home to a labyrinthine temple complex, details of Simotora, its capital, as well as other settlements. There are write-ups of various NPCs, including Tamerana, Queen of Korola and the members of her court. In comparison, Lutvata is low-lying and marshy, and notably surrounded by an impassable reef of sharp corals that protects it and provides extra income for the fishermen who know the secret routes through it. Again, its ruling family is detailed, as are various locations. Its highlights include the Dance Mat, a large, multi-coloured rug on which dance rituals are performed and the Wet Fett Inn, a floating tavern with the bottom of its hull cut out, which caters to sea folk rather than humans and other land folk. Both sections are accompanied by classic ‘What your grandfather told you’ sections that neatly sum up the cultural outlook of the peoples of each island.

The first and shorter of the two scenarios is ‘Pirates of the Horizon’. It is two-part scenario that can be played through in roughly two or three sessions. It opens with the Player Characters in the coastal village of Anotora on Tamoro Island where they are told that pirate ships have been seen nearby. Summoned to an audience with Queen Tamerana, she tells them that they are not pirate ships, but Lancarans, warships of the Ferevan queen, and asks the Player Characters to sail out and find out what they want. The audience also gives a chance to interact with both the queen’s court and family, setting up relationships that play a bigger role in the second scenario. The Player Characters are able to find one of the ships and learn from its captain and passengers that its purpose is peaceful and what their purpose, though it is not part of the scenario itself. Instead, that really begins when on the way back, the Player Characters learn that one of the ships from the fleet of five has turned pirate and attacked a nearby village.

Confronting the pirates sets up a standoff that is only going to be broken by skilful bargaining or a bloody fight, if not both, whilst the immediate consequences require the latter when the Ferevan queen learns of what the crew did whilst sailing as part of her fleet. The long term consequences are almost an afterthought, but will set up another confrontation with pirates as the mask that hosts village of Anotora’s wyter is stolen and the Player Characters are asked to get it back. The trail leads to an uninhabited island where fortunately, the crew are getting drunk on the beach, making it easier for the Player Characters to sneak aboard the pirates’ vessel and get away. 

The second adventure, ‘Islands of the Lost’, is a much longer affair in three parts that will take multiple sessions to complete. It combines a mystery with Romeo & Juliet-style set-up as Queen Tamerana’s youngest daughter, Yotheata Earth-Sleep, vanishes. In ‘Islands of the Lost Part 1: Thief of Hearts’, the Player Characters are again, asked by the queen to investigate, and soon discover that the missing woman is in a secret relationship with Raingo, the son of chief Itos Arinta of Luvata, the much hated rival Queen Tamerana. They must follow in Yotheata’s path to Luvata and after some adventures on the island and a confrontation with Raingo, learn that she has disappeared at sea after fleeing Luvata.

The continued search for Yotheata Earth-Sleep goes awry in ‘Islands of the Lost Part 2: Bhat-Nupu’ as the Player Characters’ ship is caught in a boiling current and shipwrecked. This middle part is an almost static change of pace as the Player Characters and the crew and passengers try and survive on the desert island. Their capacity to do so is tracked as Survival Points and as they fall, so does the Constitution stat of both the Player Characters and the NPCs. The Player Characters have the chance to counter this through a series of survival encounters, including with the wildlife and other things on the island, all whilst they are attempting to build a raft. The effort is complicated by the activities of some of the surviving crew and passengers, including the scoundrelle who has been flitting in and out of the Player Characters’ adventures, the harsh environment, and assuaging the needs of some wonderfully mythical NPCs. The adventure concludes with a heroic rescue, though not yet of Yotheata Earth-Sleep, and a hard won escape from the island.

‘Islands of the Lost Part 3: Cwat-Bajat’ turns up the pulp action with a desert island temple full of zombies and undead, in what is effectively a dungeon! Even if the Game Master scales the opponents to the Player Characters, this is challenging situation and they will be hard-pressed to make their escape at the end, chased by Yotheata Earth-Sleep’s captors. If they succeed in getting her home, the Player Characters will be very rewarded.

This is a decent pair of adventures, and though linear, both take the time to discuss the different means by which the Player Characters might tackle one challenge or another. Early on, both scenarios call for gift-giving, so the players and their characters need to get used to that as part of the local customs. It would have been a nice touch if the scenarios had developed some ideas for gifts a little more, but there is nothing to stop the Game Master from doing that. Both scenarios offer plenty of opportunity to roleplay, especially in their early parts, whilst they tend to switch to action in the later parts. Better suited to the experienced Game Master, overall, these are entertaining scenarios that though perhaps a little heavily plotted in places, offer up lots of scope for good roleplaying, action, and excitement.

Much like Fires of Mingai: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 2 before it, one of the elements missing from Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 is a set of pre-generated Player Characters. Given the differences between the setting of Dragon Pass and the Korolan Islands, pre-generated Player Characters would serve as a way to ease the players into and past those differences, showcasing the different Occupations and Cults. It would also make the two scenarios in the anthology easier to run.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 continues both the entertaining scenarios from Fires of Mingai: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 2 and the exploration by the players and their characters of cultures different to those they would normally experience in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.No—Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 is too location specific and too radical a change in cultural outlook to be of use in a general RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha campaign.

Maybe—Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles – Volume 3 is too location specific and too radical a change in cultural outlook to be of use in a general RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha campaign, but its scenarios could be used to explore a clash of cultures.

The Other OSR: Warden’s Operation Guide

It is curious to note that since its original publication in 2018, the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG from Tuesday Knight Games has been reliant upon the single rulebook, the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG – Player’s Survival Guide. First as a ‘Zero Edition’ and then as an actual ‘First Edition’. Curious, because despite the horror roleplaying rules detailing no alien threats and giving no advice for the Warden—as the Game Master is known in Mothership—the has proved to be success, with numerous authors writing and publishing scenarios of their own as well as titles from the publisher. What the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG offered was a stripped down, fast playing Science Fiction system that supported a number of sub-genres. Most obviously Blue Collar Science Fiction with horror and Military Science Science Fiction, the most obvious inspirations being the films Alien and Aliens, as well as Outland, Dark Star, Silent Running, and Event Horizon. Yet the authors of third-party content for the roleplaying game have also offered sandboxes such as Desert Moon of Karth and Cosmic Horror like What We Give To Alien Gods, showing how the simplicity of Mothership could be adjusted to handle other types of Science Fiction. This combination of flexibility and simplicity has made it attractive to the Old School Renaissance segment of the hobby, despite Mothership not actually sharing roots with the family of Old School Renaissance roleplaying games derived from the different editions of Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, at best, Old School Renaissance adjacent.

With the publication of the Mothership Core Box and the Mothership Deluxe Box following a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2024, the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG has a complete set of rules for what is its first edition. The includes rules the construction and option of spaceships with Shipbreaker’s Toolkit, monstrous threats with Unconfirmed Contact Reports, and a guide for refereeing the roleplaying game in the form of the Warden’s Operations Manual.

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The Warden’s Operations Manual is the other of the core rulebooks after the Player’s Survival Guide for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. It is the guidebook for the Warden—as the Game Master is known in the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG—and it takes the Warden, neophyte or not, from the first steps of making the initial preparations for a campaign all the way up to running a campaign. Not just advice, but also suggestions, prompts, and more. In the process, it talks about creating and portraying horror, creating compelling mysteries and investigations, how to be a Warden—and a good at that, how to support player agency, interpreting the rules and making good rulings, handling different aspects of the rules, introducing house rules, and more. And in just sixty pages. It packs a lot into those pages.

The Warden’s Operations Manual is at its heart a book of questions and answers, asking and answering such questions as how do I get started? What should I run? Where do I find the horror in my scenario? What challenges do I give my Player Characters? There are effectively ten questions that it poses and gives answers to in explaining the step-by-step process. More experienced Wardens might want to miss or two, and in the long run, the Warden omit some too as she gets used to the process. It starts with simplest of things. Buying a notebook to serve as the Warden’s ‘Mothership Campaign Notebook’, inviting friends to play, and reading the Player’s Survival Guide, before choosing a scenario and asking what is the horror going to be? As it expands here, it suggests options, such as ‘Explore the Unknown’, ‘Salvage a Derelict Spaceship’, and ‘Survive a Colossal Disaster’, and to find the horror it gives the ‘TOMBS Cycle’, which stands for ‘Transgression, Omens, Manifestation, Banishment, Slumber’ Cycle. This is neat little summary of how a horror scenario typically plays. So, in ‘Transgression’, something has disturbed the Horror and caused it to activate or awaken; signs hinting of its activities or effect are found in ‘Omens’; its ‘Manifestation’ means that the Horror moves into the open and everyone can see what it is, and will now be hunted by it; ‘Banishment’ sees the Player Characters race to find a way to destroy or stop the Horror; and lastly, in ‘Slumber’, the Horror is banished or subdued, at least temporarily, until someone else triggers the ‘TOMBS Cycle’ once again. It is both a superbly succinct summary of just about any horror film—and very obviously of the key film which inspires the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG—and a framework that the Warden can return to again and again to construct further scenarios.

Once the horror is in place, the Warden adds obstacles for the Player Characters to be overcome, which the Warden’s Operations Manual categorises as ‘Survive, Solve, or Save’. These are then broken down, offering choices. For example, for ‘Solve’ it offers questions or mysteries, puzzles or obstacles, and answers or secrets, and further expands upon them. The most common questions are ‘What happened here?’, ‘Who did it?’, and ‘Where are they?’ and some ideas are given as what they could be. For ‘Solve’, there is a really good table for defining NPCs along two axes—‘Helpful versus Unhelpful’ and ‘Powerful versus Powerless’. A helpful, but powerless NPC is a drinking buddy, whereas a powerful, unhelpful NPC is a gatekeeper. Lastly. The supplement takes the Warden through the process of drawing her scenario onto a map and then in tying it all together, providing something for each of the four roles in the roleplaying. Violence for Marines, something that Humans cannot do, but Androids can, some science or research for the Scientist, and something to build, repair, or pilot for the Teamster.

With the writing and the design out of the way, the middle part of the Warden’s Operations Manual is dedicated to advice on actually running the game. Here we are on more familiar territory, good for running almost any other roleplaying game, but very much focused on the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. There is direct and more immediate advice for the prospective Warden not to worry about the rules, to use common sense, to build up the horror slowly, to treat every violent encounter as if it could be last, and more. The advice on teaching the game is good for a Warden’s first game as much as it is the players as well as if the Warden runs the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG at conventions, and there is advice on that as well for setting the tone and safety limits for strangers (at conventions) in addition to that for friends.

It breaks down the cycle of play, examining each of the stages in turn, from the Warden describing the situation and answering the players’ questions through waiting for them to decide what they want their characters to do, the Warden setting the stakes for any conflict and explaining the consequences, and again waiting for the players to commit, to resolving the action. This is such a usual deconstruction of the game flow from minute to minute and what is so useful is that like a lot of the advice in the Warden’s Operations Manual, it applies to a lot of other roleplaying games and not just the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. And as with the earlier ‘TOMBS Cycle’ and ‘Survive, Solve, or Save’, it examines these aspects of play in further detail, noting how to handle time and tension, what to do about technology (lots of good options here such as offloading the explanation as to how a device or technology works onto the players and having futuristic technology work as badly as our own, alongside simply keeping track of it to make it part of the campaign background and focusing upon what it does rather than how it works), when to not roll dice and when to roll dice as well as resolving the action and the consequences of failure.

The suggestions for social situations are interesting in that NPCs should be obvious in their manner so that the Player Characters have a greater understanding of who they are and be in a better place to decide how to interact with them and what to do with the information they learn about or from them. The Warden is also told that she should tell players when an NPC is lying. Similarly, the Player Characters can lie to the NPCs. And all this without resort to dice rolls, although the Player Characters will suffer the consequences if found out and knowing that an NPC is lying leads to further investigation (or confrontation) as the Player Characters try to confirm it.

The advice on investigations is kept surprisingly short, boiling down to giving the players clues rather than making them roll for them, except when their characters are in a hurry or when time is short. Monsters and horrors are to be kept that, as ‘boss’ monsters that the Player Characters cannot readily defeat until they have more information about them. When it comes to combat and death, the Warden’s Operations Manual reiterates that the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG is a roleplaying game about people in the worst and most stressful situation possible and that this, in addition to the possibility that their characters might die, should always be made clear to the players.

The latter third of the Warden’s Operations Manual focuses upon building campaigns. Here it talks about style and types of campaign frames, such as space truckers, dogs of war, bounty hunters, and mining and salvage, creating factions, handling money and debt, and more. There is a bibliography too and some advice on telling a good story, like the fact that the game is about what the players do, that story happens in retrospect, and for the Warden to use her best ideas first rather than build up to them, and how to end a campaign. All of which is supported by tables of prompts and ideas that the Warden can pick from or roll on.

Physically, the Warden’s Operations Manual is well produced and very nicely illustrated, with many illustrations actually serving as examples of elements of the game, such as the illustration for tactical considerations or the ‘TOMBS Cycle’. The book is very readable. 

The Warden’s Operations Manual is a very good book of advice, help, and suggestions for the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG, but there is room for expansion in places. For example, the individual parts of ‘Survive, Solve, or Save’ get more attention than those of the ‘TOMBS Cycle’ and the campaign frames amount to no more than elevator pitches rather than actual frameworks. Despite this, the Warden’s Operations Manual is useful not just for the first time Warden, but worth reading and dipping into for the experienced one too. In going back to basics before giving sound advice that will give the prospective Warden a very good start in setting up and running her first game of the Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG, the Warden’s Operations Manual is an exceptionally good book.