[Fanzine Focus XLI] Carcass Crawler Issue #0

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Then there is also Old School Essentials.

Carcass Crawler is ‘The Official Fanzine Old-School Essentials zine’. Published by Necrotic Gnome, Old School Essentials is the retroclone based upon the version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons designed by Tom Moldvay and published in 1981, and Carcass Crawler provides content and options for it. It is pleasingly ‘old school’ in its sensibilities, being a medley of things in its content rather than just the one thing or the one roleplaying game as has been the trend in gaming fanzines, especially with ZineQuest. To date, Carcass Crawler #1, Carcass Crawler Issue #2, Carcass Crawler Issue #3, and Carcass Crawler Issue #4 have all focused on providing new Classes and Races, both in ‘Race as Class’ and ‘Race and Class’ formats as well as general support for Old School Essentials.

Carcass Crawler Issue #0 is an exception in one or two ways. Published as part of the Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Kickstarter campaign in November, 2020, it focuses almost exclusively on new Races and Classes with relatively little general support for the retroclone and was only available as part of the Kickstarter. Primarily, it presents eight new Classes, but it does ask the question, “Too Many Classes?”. The combination of Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy and Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy offers numerous Classes, all of them the roleplaying game’s variations upon traditional Dungeons & Dragons-style Classes. From issue to issue, Carcass Crawler offers more and more choice, but is it too much? The answer to the question is a bit of a prevarication, suggesting out that lots of groups like lots and lots of Classes because they like the choice, whilst also suggesting that the choice could be restricted according to the nature and flavour of the campaign the Game Master is running. The latter is not a new idea, but it would be fascinating to see the idea put into practice for Old-School Essentials with a set of campaign frameworks that see and explain the use of both standard Classes for Old School Essentials and those drawn from the pages of Carcass Crawler.

Carcass Crawler Issue #0 offers eight new Classes and three new fantasy Races. The first of the new Classes is the Arcane Bard, surprisingly inspired by the version of the Class found in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition! It is less than a variant upon the Druid, but more of a jack-of-all-trades Class which combines the abilities of the Fighter, the Magic-User, and the Thief. The Class’s songs can have an ‘Anti-Charm’ effect, cast arcane spells from Second Level, has various Thief-like skills, and in particular, has the ‘Lore’ skill that enables the Class to know about monsters, magic items, or heroes of folktale and legend. The Beast Master is alternative warrior to the Ranger, the Class forging strong bond with animal companions coming to be able to view their eyes and communicate with them empathically. The Changeling Class offers the chance for a player to roleplay a Doppelgänger! The Changeling’s ‘Beguile’ skill enables the Class to speak highly persuasively in an almost Charm-like effect, at least temporarily, and with ‘Shape-Stealing’ can mimic the forms of others, unconscious or slain, an effect lasting for one Turn per Level. The Chaos Knight can ‘Command the Dead’, effectively the reverse of the Cleric’s ‘Turn Undead’, cast spells at high Level, gains an Infernal Steed, and daily, touch a victim to ‘Life Drain’ and heal himself with the drained Hit Points. Essentially, the Chaos Knight is the equivalent to the classic anti-Paladin concept.

Where the Classes in Carcass Crawler Issue #0 gets interesting is the Mage, which instead of Vancian magic uses a skill system like the Thief Class. It is inspired by Tolkien’s Gandalf the Grey, and has the skills of ‘Detect Magic’, ‘Open/Close’ doors and locks, ‘Rally/Fear’, ‘Read Magic’, and ‘Suggestion’, as well as a powerful Mage’s Staff and even a magical bonus to Armour Class and limited ability to heal others. Although the Class can cast spells from scrolls, it is much, much less of the artillery-style Class seen elsewhere in other iterations of Dungeons & Dragons, offering more flexibility overall, but less damage output. The Mutoid is an odd Class that mixes in some Thief skills with abilities granted by the mismatched body parts of various creatures. For example, ‘Beast Ears’ gives better hearing, ‘Clawed Hand’ an improved unarmed attack damage, and ‘Sticky tongue’, which enables a Mutoid to grab a nearby object and even attack with it. Of the eight Classes featured in the issue of the fanzine, this is perhaps the least interesting and feels more as if it should be in a post-apocalyptic setting.

The Mycelian takes a classic of Dungeons & Dragons fantasy and turns it into a character Class. This is the Mushroom Men found in underground caverns everywhere and as a Class is a maximum of Sixth Levels Class that can spray pacifying or hallucinogenic spores daily, has a Infravision, no need to eat or sleep only rejuvenate daily, and gains increased damage and Armour Class as it grows one foot Level by Level. At Sixth Level, its ‘Fungal Reanimation’ enables it to reanimate human corpses as fungal zombies! Lastly, the Warden is a non-magical version of the classic Ranger. The Warden has better ‘Awareness’ and less easily surprised, and is better at ‘Foraging and Hunting’, ‘Pursuit’, ‘Surprise Attack’ in the wilderness, and ‘Tracking’.

Of the previous eight Classes, the Changeling, the Mutoid, and the Mycelian have adhered to Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy and done ‘Race as Class’. In other words, there is no separation of Race and Class. The three fantasy Races Carcass Crawler Issue #0 offer the alternative which adheres to Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy and does ‘Race and Class’. This gives greater flexibility and greater skills for all three Races.

The ‘Expanded Equipment’ lists and describes thirty-three items, from Backpack, Barrel, and Bedroll to Whistle, Wine (two pints), and Wolfsbane (one bunch). Serviceable.

Physically, Carcass Crawler Issue #0 is well written and well presented. The artwork is excellent and the cartography good. It sets the template for future issues.

Ultimately, Carcass Crawler Issue #0 is a problematic issue of the fanzine. Not because it is bad, because it is not. It actually sets the template for the issues that have followed and its content is eminently playable. Rather, the problem is that it was an exclusive to the Kickstarter and is no longer available. Perhaps there is scope for an Old School Essentials Class Companion which would reprint the Classes in this effectively ‘lost’ issue and other issues to reach a wider audience? In the meantime, if you have access to Carcass Crawler Issue #0, the equipment list is useful and the Classes offers more choices for your classic fantasy roleplaying.

[Fanzine Focus XLI] The Dragon Horde Issue #1

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. However, the vicissitudes of time and taste along with publisher decisions and in many cases, the publication of newer, hotter retroclones that capture the imagination of the Old School Renaissance means that some retroclones fall out of favour and so are no longer actively supported, whether that is by their publishers or their fans through fanzines. Such is the case with Labyrinth Lord. Fortunately, modern digital publishing means that many of the fanzines published for Labyrinth Lord and other, now less popular retroclones, are still available to download, and just like the fanzines of the early years of the hobby, they are still worth examining because their content is compatible with even the most contemporary of retroclones. One such fanzine is The Dragon Horde.

The Dragon Horde Issue #1 was published in July, 2013. What is apparent from the start is that this is a fanzine inspired not by the cut and paste, hand typed fanzines of the seventies and early eighties, but by the fanzines that appeared in the mid- to late-eighties with the appearance of the first commercially available Desk Top Publishing software. Thus, it has a look and feel of a booklet done on a dot matrix printer, which make it a little hard to read. This is confirmed in the author’s editorial and so the fanzine deals a double dose of nostalgia with the combination of its look and content. Published by New Big Dragon Games Unlimited, it states on the front that it is, “A Publication Dedicated to Tabletop Role-playing Games”, which given that it is primarily written for one retroclone, is a stretch. The other single content in the issue that is not for Labyrinth Lord is for the author’s own generic roleplaying game resurrected from the same period that inspired the fanzine, The System. The article, ‘Familiars Found – Guidelines for Spellcaster Familiars in New Big Dragon’s Universal RPG The System’ is serviceable enough and so mechanically light that it could been for almost any retroclone let alone the publisher’s own roleplaying game. Consequently, the inclusion of an article for a roleplaying game other than a retroclone is surprisingly unobtrusive and is really just another article about familiars that is, well, familiar. Otherwise, the stats given in the rest of the issue are written for use with Original Dungeons & Dragons, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, and Basic Dungeons & Dragons.

The issue begins with ‘The Monster Roster’ and a pair of monsters. The ‘Leech-Man’ is exactly that, a man-sized, man-shaped version of the leech, whilst the ‘Beguine’ is a Neutral Good hybrid-Race that combines Elves and Halflings. The ‘Leech-Man’ is the more interesting of the two and could easily be added to a campaign as a monster in a swampy or cave-like environments, whilst the ‘Beguine’ does not fulfil any real purpose. The ‘d30 FEATURE’—drawn from The d30 DM Companion—is ‘Where Does the Weapon Hit?’ gives a quick and dirty means of handling hit locations using a thirty-sided die, modified by attacker’s height, and allowing for the possibility of different armour being worn in different locations.

The very basic map of ‘Yal Caramon’ is accompanied by ‘Lerdyn Chrisawn’s Chronicle’, a history of the continent. This discusses the several thousand years of the continent via the more than fifteen thousand volumes of Chrisawn’s Chronicle. The volumes are mostly written as a series of poems and epics before becoming more ordinary and prosaic as much of the continent settled down, became peaceful and organized, and then being upended when the Chaos came and the south-western lands were broiled for a thousand days as if under as many suns. Unfortunately, the most recent volumes have been stolen away, suspected by many as means to hide the culprits for the Chaos. As a very brief history, this is actually quite interesting and has the potential to be expanded and developed into something playable. However, there is no sense of place or geography to either really and it would require no little development to be something more.

The following NPC Class in ‘New NPC Class: Chroniclist’ does fit the setting though and could be added to others. The Classes specialises in languages, learning a new one every Level, and at later Levels gain the abilities of Memorisation and Insight, able to detect true meaning in someone’s words, and Comprehension, able to decipher unknown texts. From Second Level, the Chroniclist gains a ‘Branch’ at every Level, each one an area of geographical, cultural, military, and social knowledge. The deeper the knowledge of a Branch, the more exacting a question a Chroniclist can answer. Effectively, the Chroniclist is variant of the Sage NPC Class, but focuses on linguistics and anthropology as much as history and geography. They are very specialised, but very powerful within that specialisation.

The scenario in The Dragon Horde Issue #1 is ‘The Undertemple of Arkon – An Adventure for Characters Levels 1-3’. The Player Characters are engaged to investigate the remains of a temple which was founded by a cult dedicated to a large, very charming cat known as ‘Shadowcat’ and thrown down by the locals when the cult too large and too much of a threat, and where culists have recently returned. The dungeon does have a cat-theme running through it, but is often repetitive. The cultists are definitely back and definitely evil, even sacrificing the Bugbears which had taken up residence to feed to the reluctant panthers! The final battle against Arkon could have been better handled, since his major ability relies on his enemies looking into his eyes, and there is no real explanation as to what Arkon is beyond a big panther, what his cultists want, and so on. Underwritten without those explanations and serviceable with them.

Better still—and likely best of all in the issue—is ‘Seven New Magical Weapons’. This does what it describes, but is inventive. For example, Fumbleblade is a +1 dagger that forces the defender when struck on a roll of a natural twenty to drop everything in his hands, and Sickening Sword, a +1 longsword that inflicts, with a failed Saving Throw versus Poison, to temporarily suffer nausea and a penalty to hit. These are different and add some pleasing variety to the usual mix of magical weapons.

Lastly, ‘Who Speaks What: A Languages Spoken Crib Sheet’ is exactly that, a quick guide to the languages spoken by Dungeons & Dragons fantasy races and ‘Who’s in the Tavern: Tables to Fill the Tables at the Local Tavern’ provides a set of tables for rolling up tavern patrons. Both useful in their own way.

Physically, The Dragon Horde Issue #1 is as ever so slightly rough as you would for a fanzine using the early desktop publishing software. Problematically, this is intentionally so, such as with the choice of typeface which does make the fanzine challenging to read. The artwork is decent though, especially the cover.

The Dragon Horde Issue #1 is a love letter to the author’s past and the fanzines of his youth, and it does suffer for it. It is not as easy to read as it should be and its content is not as well realised as it could because of the lack context or background. There are bits and pieces in the issue that a Game Master might want to pick over, but they are far and few between, and given, this is not a fanzine that has yet found its voice or knows what it is yet.

[Fanzine Focus XLI] Cursed Scroll #1

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. A more recent Old School Renaissance-style roleplaying game which right from the start of its appearance began being supported by fanzines, is ShadowDark, published by The Arcane Library. One such fanzine is Cursed Scroll. This is not only a fanzine for ShadowDark, but since it is actually published by The Arcane Library, it is the official fanzine for ShadowDark, fulfilling a similar role as Carcass Crawler does for Necrotic Gnome of Old School Essentials.

Cursed Scroll #1 carries the subtitle of ‘Shadowdark Zine Vol. 1: Diablerie!’. Published in December 2021, the theme for the inaugural issue is all things demonic and diabolic, and this includes both a mini-hexcrawl and a mini dungeon as well as three new Classes, new monsters, and spells. All of which is linked, so that the Game Master is provided with a complete mini-setting and campaign that can be run as is, added to her campaign, or pulled out and used separately. The setting for Cursed Scroll #1 is ‘The Gloaming’, an ancient forest of black trees, moss strewn standing stones, and fog-shrouded marshes, but worse, demons that hatch from the region’s dark marrow trees, forcing inhabitants to cower behind wooden palisades, warily watching for diabolic incursion and waiting for the Knights of St. Ydris to ride forth from Greywall Priory and strike down the demons and dismiss from this blighted mortal realm, as is their mandate. ‘The Gloaming’ is a hexcrawl covering an area of seventeen by eleven hexes, thirty-four by twenty-two miles, roughly seven-hundred-and-fifty square miles. It has tables for rumours and encounters and in ‘The Gloaming Hex Key’, gives detailed descriptions of twenty-five locations across the region. These include crazy Uncle Grigor, a witch who wades barefoot through the bogs collecting leeches for treatment and pickling and who might take on an apprentice who shares the same love of leeches and leechcraft; Victoria, a maternal werewolf who has recently lost her cubs and from her Bone Cave is now plotting to turn the children of a local village into a new pack of werewolf cubs; and the Mud Pit where Ixidian, a swamp dragon, who writhes in the murk and the mud of a deep ravine, greedily awaiting the next sacrifice thrown to him by cultists that have made camp nearby and prey on nearby passing travellers.

Two notable locations include Greywall Priory from where the small order, the Knights of St. Ydris, attempt to put an end to the demons that threaten the region and Bittermold Keep, the former seat of the Bittermold family, its stone walls long melted by the slime which bubbles up deep from under the ground from a shrine dedicated to the primordial ooze, Mugdulblub, poisoning the minds of those it does not melt. These are both expanded in different ways. For the Knights of St. Ydris, there is a new Class, whilst for Bittermold Keep, there is a complete mini-dungeon. ‘The Gloaming’ has a mouldering, muddy feel of a land gripped by lurking horror and foreboding. ‘The Gloaming’ is deigned for First Level Player Characters.

The Knights of St. Ydris is the first of thee Classes in the issue, a cursed knight who follows St. Ydris in embracing the demonic to fight the unholy. Notably, three times a day he can undergo ‘Demonic Possession’ to increase damage done and from Third Level, can lean Witch’s spells. The version of the Warlock Class is radically different to that normally seen in Dungeons & Dragons-style gaming. They are howling warriors and doomspeakers for their patrons, such as Shune the Vile, Mugdulblub, or The Willowman. Each of these grants random Patron Boons, and it is these that the influence what a Warlock can do. For example, Warlocks of Almazzat can temporarily gain advantage on melee attacks and initiative, whilst those of Titania can temporally hypnotise creatures, learn to wield a longbow, and gain protection against hostile spells. The Warlock is not a straightforward Class to play, but requires effort upon the part of both player and Game Master to bring the relationship between Warlock and Patron to life. The Witch Class is more traditional, being described as a cackling crone with milky eyes that can see portents, but also gains a familiar and potentially, the ability to teleport to the familiar once per day, as well as having its own set of Witch spells. All three Classes have their own set of titles that vary according to Alignment, a table of Diabolic Backgrounds, and for the Warlock, descriptions of the Patron options.

The Witch spells are a good mix. For example, Bogboil transforms an area of ground into a boiling, muddy bog of quicksand; Broomstick enables the Witch to fly; Cat’s Eye lets her see invisible creatures and secret doors with eyes that have turned to slits; and with Curse, she can instil curses such as horrible boils and warts, a constantly shrill voice, always losing at gambling, an irrational fear, and so on. Most work better with the Witch Class rather than the Knights of St. Ydris, and a player with a Knight of St. Ydris character may want to work with the Game Master to select the spells that he thinks is appropriate.

Many of the monsters in Cursed Scroll #1 can be found in ‘The Gloaming’ or ‘The Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub’. They include the Marrow Fiend, the wolf-like demons that hatch from the area’s marrow trees; Howlers, cannibalistic Halflings with sharpened teeth; and the Tar Bat, which an oil tar that it will set alight by flying into open flames and potentially doing more damage. Also included are stats for two of the Warlock’s possible Patrons, Mugdulblub and The Willowman.

The last entry in Cursed Scroll #1 is ‘The Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub’. This is a one-level dungeon for First Level Player Characters, the squelchy, acid-scarred dungeon below Bittermold Keep. The factions in the dungeon include devolved members of the Bittermold family; Howlers, Halfling cultists dedicated to Mugdulblub, whose leader is happy to let all dissolve if it will defeat the Bittermolds; vengeful Catfish mutated by Mugdulblub who are annoyed about being sacrifices; and Mugdulblub himself, who considers only the survivors worthy of worshipping him. The dungeon comes with rumours, but the Game Master may want more to get her players and their characters involved. The dungeon itself is clammy and muculent with barely a dry surface and plenty of sludge and mud underfoot. It is good for a mini-campaign as part of ‘The Gloaming’ hexcrawl, but can be run separately. Whether run separately or as part of the hexcrawl, the dungeon should take two or three sessions to fully explore.

Physically, Cursed Scroll #1 adheres to the style of ShadowDark. Thus, it is clean, tidy, and laid out. The illustrations and cartography are also good.

What is a so good about Cursed Scroll #1 is that it is a complete package, a mini-supplement all of its very own. That means that it is also easy to drop into a campaign and easy to add to. For example, the more recent Dark Visions and The Tower of Six would work well with this. Cursed Scroll #1: Shadowdark Zine Vol. 1: Diablerie! is a good first issue packed with playable content for ShadowDark.

[Fanzine Focus XLI] Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue No. 11

On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed how another Dungeon Master and her group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons,RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. Another popular choice of system for fanzines, is Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, such as Crawl! and Crawling Under a Broken Moon. Some of these fanzines provide fantasy support for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, but others explore other genres for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. One such fanzine is the aforementioned Crawling Under A Broken Moon.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 11 was published in in January, 2016 by Shield of Faith Studios. It continued the detailing of post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth which had begun in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 1, and would be continued in Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 2, which added further Classes, monsters, and weapons, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 3, which provided the means to create Player Characters and gave them a Character Funnel to play, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 4, which detailed several Patrons for the setting, whilst Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 5 explored one of the inspirations for the setting and fanzine, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 6 continued that trend with another inspiration, Mad Max. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 7 continued the technical and vehicular themes of the previous issue, whilst also detailing a major metropolis of the setting. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 8 and Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 9 were both a marked change in terms of content and style, together presenting an A to Z for the post-apocalyptic setting of Umerica and Urth. Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 10 switched back to more traditional content by focusing on monsters.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine No. #11 brings a sense of humour to the issues of the fanzine with ‘Worship, Umerica Style!’ by Tim Bruns and Reid San Filippo. It presents fourteen new on the Patrons of Umerica. These are kept quite stripped down to a simple rules bonus for their adherents, a list of favoured weapons, creatures considered unholy, and suggestions as how adherents worship. Unlike Patrons for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, there are no specific Disapproval mechanics, no spells, and the like. Instead, there are inventive creations drawing on pop culture. These start with a musical trio of Classica, goddess of Rhythm and Order, Kizz, whose worshippers hunt for ‘Enlightened Awesomeness’ and are particularly keen on the axe as a weapon, and their supposed love child, Technos Discos, the chaos god of music and terrible bringer of beats. There are some lovely touches here, such as the clerics of Santa, the jolly avatar of giving, hope, and joy, prefer to use weapons that use ammunition because shooting ammunition is an act of giving, whereas $ or ‘Cash’, impartial goddess of barter and wealth prefer weapons that do not expend ammunition because it is expensive, unless it can be recovered. Of course, in the post-apocalyptic future of Umerica, there gods of petroleum and its products, Petrolex, and mutations, Nuka, the Mother of Mutants, whilst Elmos is the Evil Puppet Master and corrupter of children! In places, you do wish that there was more detail to these gods, but otherwise this is an enjoyably tongue-in-cheek pantheon that inventively interprets the past of Umerica—and our present.

For ‘Racial Recast’, David VC reinterprets the Halfling of classic fantasy for the Umerica setting with ‘Feral Urchin – An alternative for Halflings in CUaBM’. Instead of Hobbits or Halflings, these are runaway children who answered the call of whispers from someone called Pann, thought to be “past the second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning.” How barbaric they become depends on their Alignment. The Chaotic Wildchildren are known for their abundant Luck, though things around them tend to break, and for flying into a berserk rage called a ‘Wild Rumpus’ when they become beast-like. The Neutral Slingers are crack shots, whilst Lawful Nerds are skilled with Weapon Tinkering, Bot Repair, Computer Use, Vehicle Repair, and General Tech. Of the three, the Slinger is really a bit one-note, but the other two have a more scope in what they can do.

‘Weapons of the Wasteland’ details more arms and armour of the setting, much of it scavenged from the past. For example, Protective Sports Gear is the equivalent of padded armour, whilst ‘Retread Armour’, made from tire treads attached to heavy cloth is equal to studded leather armour. The rare armour includes the Silver Suit and Bubble Helm, which combine to make a whole, very light suit, Force Field Belt, and Power Armour. Common homemade weapons include Can Grenades, Chainsaws, Compound Bows, Pipe Guns, Scrap Guns, and more.

‘Cheap, A.K.A. damaged, goods’ divides items down into Not Bad, Bad, and Total Crap. Each has a higher fumble roll, but at a reduced cost. If an item breaks, there are rules for a quick fix, which can be done on the fly and requires a few supplies like duct tape or instant epoxy. However, this will only last a few rounds or until a fumble is rolled.

The inspiration for David VC’s new Class is, of course, the film Tron. ‘The Hologram’ is an A.I. contained in a Frisbee-like and sized disc. Long since separated from Cyberspace, they can use the disc to both attack and defend, are energy dependent, and can hack computers and explore them as if they are cyberspace. A Hologram will die if the Disc is destroyed, but from Fifth Level onwards, can create a backup. Every Hologram has an Occupation, what their purpose was originally, which could be a video game character, business/financial program, medical, intelligence gathering bot, and so on. Each Occupation provides a Disc symbol, purpose, suggested appearance, and some tools, much a Player Character for a character funnel. This adds some variation and should influence how a player roleplays his Hologram character.

The issue comes to a close with more entries in the ‘Twisted Menagerie’. These include the ‘Scorpionoid’, a greedy, mercenary creature that can get addicted to caffeine-based soft drinks. This is followed by ‘By the way… When deities call in a favor’, a fun table of requests that a deity might make of one of his followers, but definitely a Cleric! The entries vary according to Alignment, but they are a fun way to spice up a Player Character Cleric’s life.

Physically, Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 11 is as serviceably presented and as a little rough around the edges as the other fanzines in the line. Of course, the problem with Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 11 is that much of its contents have been represented to a more professional standard in the pages of The Umerican Survival Guide – Core Setting Guide, so it has been superseded and superseded by a cleaner, slicker presentation of the material.

Crawling Under A Broken Moon Fanzine Issue No. 10 is an enjoyable issue with lots of sly, slightly silly humour that help bring aspects of the Umerica settings to life. The opening ‘Worship, Umerica Style!’ article is really good, the issue’s highlight bringing the role of the Cleric to the fore with entertaining background material. Although that article is very specific to the Umerica, setting that there is still plenty in the issue that will work with other post apocalyptic roleplaying games and not just the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game or Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic.

Snæland Sagas #01: Hulda’s Last Song

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

—oOo—

What is the Nature of the Saga?

Hulda’s Last Song is a scenario for use with Age of Vikings.

It is a full colour, eighteen page, 1.50 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy, but it does need an edit in places.

Where is the Saga set?

Hulda’s Last Song takes place in the hreppur, or settlement, of Raufarhöfn, in the very far north and remote Norðurþing region of Iceland.

Who should be the subject of this Saga?

Any type of Player Character can go on this quest. A seiðkona may be useful or alternatively a Player Character with the Skaldic Poetry skill.

What does the Saga require?

Hulda’s Last Song only requires the Age of Vikings core rulebook.

Where will the Vikings go in this Saga?

Hulda’s Last Song opens with the funeral for Hulda, the respected seiðkona of the village of Raufarhöfn. Unfortunately, it is disrupted by the unexpected appearance of a frenzied polar bear that attacks Vigdís, another visiting seiðkona. Once the Player Characters have dealt with the polar bear and helped protect the mourners attacking the funeral, Vigdís will reveal that the future survival of Raufarhöfn is threatened because Hulda died before she could pass on the details of a ritual obligation that kept the hreppur protected. The Player Characters are asked to investigate and find out what the ritual was, what it requires, and if can be performed again, with or without the help of Vigdís.

In this way, the scenario is quite straightforward. The Player Characters will visit Hulda’s hut to learn more information and go on to perform the ritual. Of course, it is not quite as simple as that and there are some engaging ornithologically mystical encounters along the way and the Player Characters will need to answer some riddles to get all of the answers they need. These can be answered with the players’ own knowledge or guesswork or simply rely upon Skaldic Poetry skill checks. (If the players rely on the former rather than the latter, then they should receive a chance to improve their characters’ Skaldic Poetry skills.) Once armed with the necessary knowledge, the Player Characters can attempt the ritual, which is nicely detailed and includes options for every Player Character to participate, not just a Player Character seiðkona. If successful, any Player Character seiðkona will be tied to the hreppur, although another option is suggested if Raufarhöfn is not the Player Characters’ home.

Hulda’s Last Song is more of a convention scenario than not. Its set-up and more so, given that its remote location makes it more challenging to add to a campaign. Even a one-shot or convention scenario, the Game Master may want to flesh out the scenario little by detailing some NPCs and their personalities in Raufarhöfn and perhaps add a combat encounter along the way if there is time. The scenario already includes optional encounters for travel to the ritual site. If run as part of a campaign, the Game Master could use Raufarhöfn as the starting point for her campaign or move it elsewhere. Again, she may also want to flesh out the NPCs and add further encounters. If the Player Characters are not native to Raufarhöfn, the likelihood is that they have been sent as representatives from their hreppur and/or their hreppur’s seiðkona to pay respects to Hulda.

What will the Skalds sing of this Saga?

Hulda’s Last Song is a good convention or one-shot scenario for Age of Vikings, that with some adjustment can be used as part of a campaign. Its mystical focus makes it a challenging scenario for a seiðkona, but if successful, all the Player Characters will be nicely rewarded, not just the seiðkona.

Miskatonic Monday #427: The Old Church Graveyard

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

—oOo—

Name: The Old Church Graveyard

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Eddy Sutton

Setting: USA, 1986

Product: One shot
What You Get: Seventeen-page, 303.74 BB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Kids versus the church

Plot Hook: The lure of the hymn leads to horror 

Plot Support: No staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators and four backup pre-generated Investigators, four combat relics, and three monsters from the grave.

Production Values: Scrawled

Pros

# Easy to prepare

# Easy to adjust to other times and cities

# Coimetrophobia

# Kinemortophobia

# Ecclesiophobia

Cons

# Not a scenario, but an outline for the author to run

# Bullet points do not a scenario make

# A combat-focused cemetery crawl by any other name 

# No plot given

Conclusion

# All the implications of a plot, but no plot given
# Should this have been drawn in crayon?

# Reviews from R’lyeh Discommends

Inquisitorial Intelligence II

The light of the Emperor’s divine might reaches everywhere—but not always. Only in recent years has the Great Rift begun to unseal and the mysterious Noctis Aeterna begun to recede, the Days of Blinding ended, and links reforged with worlds in the Marcharius Sector lost under its pall and beyond the sector itself. As communication, trade, and psychic links have been re-established with Terra, the Imperium has worked hard to restore its rightful authority and ensure that no deviancy from creed has taken place in the Days of Blinding. Despite this still, from within heretics turn to the Dark Gods with their promises and falsehoods and corruption is rife, wasting the Emperor’s resources and wealth, and from without, there is always the danger of raids by Orks or worse, Tyranoids. Yet routing out such heresies and corruption is no simple matter, but an issue of politics and influence as well as loyalty and devotion. The Emperor’s great servants search out those they deem worthy to serve them and the Imperium, directing them to investigate mysteries and murders, experience horror and heresies, expose corruption and callousness, whether in in pursuit of their patron’s agenda, his faction’s agenda, the Emperor’s will, or all three. In return they will gain privileges far beyond that imagined by their fellows—the chance to travel and see worlds far beyond their own, enjoy wealth and comfort that though modest is more than they could have dreamed of, and witness great events that they might have heard of years later by rumour or newscast. This though, is not without its costs, for they will face the worst that the forces of Chaos has to fling at them, the possibility of death, and if they fail, exile and loss of all that they have gained. In the Forty-First Millennium, everyone is an asset and everyone is expendable, but some can survive long enough to make a difference in the face of an uncaring universe and the machinery of the Imperium of Mankind grinding its way forward into a glorious future.

This is the set-up in Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum, the spiritual successor to Dark Heresy, the very first fully realised roleplaying game to be set within the Warhammer 40,000 milieu and published in 2008, the very first roleplaying game that Games Workshop had published in two decades. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum is published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment and sets up the Player Characters as Acolytes in service to an Inquisitor dedicated to protecting the Imperium of mankind from threats within, threats beyond, and threats without. The Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is the first of two supplements that make up a two volume set and together expand upon the role of the Inquisition within the Imperium and its mission within the Macharian Sector, the other being the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide.

The Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide is more than a simple guide to the Inquisition of the Marcharius Sector. It does expand upon the background material given in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide—and arguably, between the two, there is some repetition, but not a lot—but it includes much more that the Game Master can use and even develop as part of her Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum campaign. It includes expanded notes on the Inquisition and its philosophies, a guide to running Inquisition adventures and roleplaying Inquisitors, looks at some of the most radical tools has to hand in investigating, learning about, and eradicating heresy, details a decades-long campaign frame work, and provides contacts, threats, and case files. If the emphasis in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide was on the Acolytes, that is, the Player Characters, and their Patron Inquisitor, in Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide, the emphasis on the Patron Inquisitor, his rivals, and the Inquisition in general. Lastly, unlike Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide, this is definitely a book for the Game Master rather than the player.

After a quick refresher about the three Holy Orders of the Inquisition—Ordo Hereticus, Ordo Malleus, and Ordo Xenos—and their goals, philosophies, and techniques, the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide gives a quick overview of some the allies that the Inquisition can rely upon if needs direct force and intervention, it presents a more detailed examination of the philosophies of the Inquisition. This expands upon the information given in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide and adds further eight Philosophies. These include Horusian, the belief that the God-Emperor will return as a living god, requiring an appropriate vessel to embody, which will be facilitated by the power of the Warp; Libricaranism, which holds that the status quo within the Imperium must be maintained at any cost, that no-one, no matter their status, is beyond reproach, and every Infractionist, revolutionary, and heretic must be put to death; and adherents of Seculos Attendous believe that the Adeptus Ministorum is slowly corrupting and hampering the growth of the Imperium, that the Adeptus Ministorum is unnecessary to embrace the God-Emperor’s Power, and for Mankind to be free, the Imperial Cult must be removed from power. In each case, the tenets and modus operandi of each Philosophy is outlined and suggestions are given as how to roleplay an adherent of the Philosophy, along with a scenario hook. This highlights further how the Inquisition is not a monolithic organisation and helps the Game Master portray both the Acolytes’ Patron Inquisitors and those Inquisitors that appear latter in the book.

Further help for the Game Master comes in the form an examination of how the Inquisition relates to the Imperium in terms of means, methods, and power. It is backed with a good guide to running adventures for Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum that includes direct pointers on how to make a campaign feel like Warhammer and on how to make it feel like Imperium Maledictum. Thus, it suggests for the former that everything should be big, from thousand-layer hive cities to cathedral-like voidships; that Mankind relies on technology despite the fears and restrictions imposed by Imperial law; and that on some level, everyone is terrified and that fear is pervasive. Whilst for the former, it suggests both Noir and Gothic themes, deadly encounters, the application of brains over brawn, and the unique nature of the relationship between the Acolytes and their Patron Inquisitor. The advice covers setting up a game, running a campaign, handling an investigation, and more.

In terms of investigation, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide includes a great guide to what to look for when investigating first signs of Chaos and then Xenos. The section is particularly good in listing the marks of Chaos for the four gods—Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch. In comparison, the signs of xenos are less colourful. However, as much as the Inquisition works hard to eradicate signs of heresy, there are Philosophies in the Inquisition that hold that heretical knowledge can be turned on the heresies themselves. The supplement examines such Radical methods via the use of ‘Forbidden Knowledge’ as a skill specialisation. This requires the ‘Forbidden Knowledge’ Talent, which an Acolyte can only gain with permission of the Game Master, and its use is very much not without its dangers. There are Philosophies that hold that even knowing such knowledge is heretical, which would put a knowledgeable Acolyte in peril, but there is also the danger of possession by a demon! Of course, learning such knowledge means that an Acolyte is likely to gain Corruption Points and definitely will if he is possessed! The degree of demonic influence—and eventual possession—is tracked on the Possession Tracker, which goes from one and ‘The Puppet’ to one hundred and ‘The Chosen’. With the latter, there is no hope of the Acolyte being exorcised or redeemed, but otherwise there is a possibility. All of which presents the possibility of an interesting roleplaying challenge for a player willing to have his Acolyte fall under demonic influences and perhaps find a way back…

The advice on roleplaying Inquisitors is also good, looking at both their greater interactions and actions across the Marcharius Sector and their lesser interactions and actions with the Acolytes, which will primarily come through the briefings and debriefings that the Acolytes will receive from their Patron Inquisitor. All this leads up to the presentation of six sample Inquisitors, each complete with their own secrets and their own Inquisitor Patron Sheets. Any one of the six could be the Acolytes’ Patron Inquisitor, but all six have a role to play in ‘The Heresies Macharia’.

Arguably, ‘The Heresies Macharia’ is the heart of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide. This is not a campaign as such, but a campaign framework around which the Game Master can insert her own content as well as develop and run the suggested mission outlines. It follows the death of Inquisitor Lord Hieronymo Drake that left the Marcharius Sector and its Inquisitors without an Inquisitor Lord, a position which his former Interrogator, now Inquisitor herself, Sylvestrine Horst, schemes for over the course of seven Conclaves. A Conclave is an opportunity to share resources ad information, determine threats which need to be addressed, and perhaps agree on the activities of the Inquisition for the next few years before the next Conclave. However, they are also a chance to ascertain the status of rival Inquisitors, both learn and substantiate rumours, discover secrets, get involved in intrigues, and more. For the players and their Acolytes, it is an opportunity to engage in politics and decisions that have sector-wide and Inquisitorial repercussions and consequences as their support their own patron Inquisitor. It is also a chance for the Acolytes to spend more time in the company of their Inquisitor than they would normally do, and if they campaign hard and succeed, may put them on the path to potential greatness on the coattails of their patron Inquisitor as he is elevated to the position on Inquisitor Lord. This can be a Patron Inquisitor already created prior to the start of the campaign or one of the six detailed earlier in the book, each of which plays a role in the campaign. This can include the instigator of the campaign, Sylvestrine Horst.

A number of plots run in the background to ‘The Heresies Macharia’, one connected to the activities of the late Inquisitor Lord Hieronymo Drake, another to an imminent threat from outside of the borders to the sector, and yet another one deals with an internal threat. The first Conclave involves all six Inquisitors detailed earlier in the supplement and they will continue to play a role throughout the campaign, not at every Conclave, but with more of presence to expose the players and their Acolytes to their various philosophies, Puritan or Radical. Besides the attendees, each Conclave describes the Intrigues and rumours and secrets that the Acolytes can get involved in and the Strifes. Each Strife represents a major issue or agenda that will be brought before the Conclave and discussed in terms of possible resolution. For example, at the first Conclave, one Strife concerns a missing, presumed dead Inquisitor, whilst another deal with the worrying rise of four cults on the world of Goros Pok that require investigation and either eradication or re-education, the latter two options varying depending on whether an Inquisitor is a Puritan or a Radical.

Each Strife has an associated mission outline that the Game Master can develop into a proper scenario or even series of scenarios. Some might take a session or two to resolve, but others might involve multiple sessions. Some may also be ongoing simultaneously such that the Acolytes can only be assigned to deal with one rather than the other. This enables other plots to unfold in the background whilst the Acolytes are dealing with one Strife plotline. If successful in a mission, the Acolytes will improve their Patron Inquisitor’s Legitimacy once they attend the next Conclave, but reduce it if they fail. Ultimately, if the Acolytes’ Patron Inquisitor has proven to be the most capable—as measured by his Legitimacy versus those of the other Inquisitors—of dealing with the emerging and growing threats, he is likely to be elevated to the position of Lord Inquisitor of the Marcharius Sector.

‘The Heresies Macharia’ has a grand scope with lots of play packed into some forty pages. However, the Game Master still has to unpack it and then develop the finer details of each Conclave, add numerous NPCs, and expand each of the given missions, as well as adding more of her own, in order to work it up into a full campaign that is ready to play. It presents a lot of work and effort. Of course, it means that the Game Master can make it her own, but at the same time, the reader is left wishing that none of this was necessary, that ‘The Heresies Macharia’ was ready to play. It is a great campaign outline, but it really deserves a book of its own.

With ‘The Heresies Macharia’ placed in the middle of the book, it does feel as if the first third of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide has been building support towards it, although there is plenty about that support which is useful outside of the campaign framework too. Contacts are barely touched upon in the core rulebook, but here the rules are expanded upon with guidance on finding, making, and maintaining contacts. This can be done both during a mission and during downtime, the strength of the relationship determined by the Influence that the Acolyte’s Patron Inquisitor has with the faction that the contact, but can be adjusted up and down depending upon the Acolytes’ actions and what they ask for. The mechanics are a good way in which to bring NPCs into play and they are supported by ten sample contacts from a variety of factions complete with the requests that they might make of the Acolytes and the rewards that the Acolytes in turn may receive.

Where the contacts can be inserted into any campaign, some of the supplement’s ‘Threats’ are more closely tied to ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework. For example, ‘The Company of the Twisted Sickle’ is a traitorous guard regiment in league with Nurgle cultFists on Goros Pok, an agricultural world where the first Conclave will direct the Acolytes to investigate a number of potential heresies. Each threat is given a decent description, including resources, methods, and secrets. There are also Genestealer Cults, cults devoted to Tzeentch and Nurgle, and more. The creepiest of them is ‘Momas the Murmurer’, a rumoured fear that spreads from world to world across the Macharian Sector, seemingly capable of possessing anyone and directing their actions as if they were puppets, and then disappearing. In comparison to the more overt Chaos-related threats, this is nicely subtle and underplayed. Rounding out the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide is a set of ready-to-play ‘Open Case Files’ and a short bestiary. As with the Threats, the ‘Open Case Files’ can be used with ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework or the Game Master’s own campaign.

Physically, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide is very well presented. The book is cleanly, tidily presented and an easy read. The artwork is also good.

With so much of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide dedicated to ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework in one fashion or another, the supplement does not feel quite as useful as the companion Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide. However, there is plenty that is useful and that can be used with the Game Master’s own campaign rather than the ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework. The Inquisitors and their Philosophies, the Contacts and the Threats, and more are all useful to that end as is the supplement’s good advice for running Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition. Ultimately though, whilst the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide does provide a great deal of support for the Game Master, at the same ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework shows what a campaign for the roleplaying game would look like, but does not provide the Game Master with something that is really ready to play. It does provide the Game Master with a great basis for a very good campaign that she can work on until that ready-to-play campaign arrives.