Decyphering Dionosaurs

One-hundred-and-fourteen years ago, the Time Machines screamed and self-destructed. In the process, they trapped twenty-thousand Commuters sixty-five million years in the past in the Cretaceous Period. Worse, at some point in the future, the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event will kill everyone and almost everything on the planet. In the century since the ‘Last Commute’, the survivors of the ‘Gre-Vakian c trials’ mission have adapted to their world, cut off from their homes in the twenty-fourth century and no longer able to rely upon their employers, the interstellar conglomerate, Space and Time, Interglobal (SATI). Their home, Grevakc, is spread out over two continents, Laramidia and Appalachia, divided by the Western Inner Sea, on what would be one day be the North American continent. They now breed dinosaurs, many people taking them as companions often controlled via cybernetic implants, whilst dinosaurs in the wild still remain a threat. A wide range of technology is used, a mix of that developed in the Cretaceous from leather, scales, fur, and bones, and future advances such as smart fluids, wetweave, piezotextiles, and more. Advanced arms, armour, and technology remain the province of SATI, suspected of holding caches in its bases across Grevakc, some of which are known, many of which are hidden. SATI dominates the few cities and many of the towns that have arisen since the ‘Last Commute’, its membership dominated by descendants of original SATI employees, working to maintain its grip on advanced technology whilst also trying to restore the ability to time travel and either go home or make contact with the corporation in the future. However, they opposed by the ‘Butterflies’, a guerrilla group, inspired by Ray Bradbury’s short story, ‘A Sound of Thunder.’, that is staunchly anti-technology and opposed to any use of time travel technology, working to ensure that Humanity in the Cretaceous Period dies out in the upcoming Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event and thus preventing them altering the evolutionary time path. A more recently founded organisation is the ‘Genesix Fellowship’, a religious group that openly preaches about its desire to find the ‘Garden of Eden’, seeing the destruction of time travel technology as God’s punishment for Humanity’s failure to find it, believing that the secret to its location can be found in dinosaur DNA, and knowing that when it is found, God will repair the time machines. One of the side effects of the destruction of the Time Travel machines—or perhaps the attempts by scientists to restore it—are ‘Time Anomalies’. Appearing as glitches or flickering mirages, they can last from a few hours to even years and are known to drop technologies, objects, and information from the future in the form of cyphers, artifacts, and remnants, and these are a steady supply of things from the future.

This is the set-up for Predation, a Science Fiction campaign involving dinosaurs, time travel, dinosaurs, cybernetics, dinosaurs, post-apocalypse, dinosaurs, and dinosaurs. Published by Monte Cook Games, it is a setting for use with Cypher System, first seen in Numenera in 2013. This is a setting which gives the players new character options, a new paradise to explore, secrets to discover, potentially a mystery to solve, and most fun of all, dinosaur companions! Or of course, it could be used as a means to add dinosaurs to other Cypher System roleplaying games and settings—in fact, The Way of the Dinosaur: Converting Predation for Numenera and The Strange is a complete guide to that—and it could be used as world that the Player Characters or ‘Recursors’ could visit in The Strange. In general though, this is a setting that stands alone, primarily because it presents a world that that is genuinely different and original.

In terms of character options, Predation makes multiple changes to what a player can play, whilst still adhering to the standard format that the Cypher System uses describe and encapsulate a Player Character. This is “I am a [adjective] [noun] who [verbs]”, where the noun is the character’s Type; the adjective a Descriptor, such as Clever or Swift, that defines the character and how he does things; and the verb is the Focus or what the character does that makes him unique. There are four Types—Karn, Tec, Pteryx, and Osteon. These roughly equate to the Warrior, Adept, and Explorer respectively, whilst the Osteon fulfils the social role. Plus, unlike the Adept, the Tec deploys science rather than magic. The Karn is also capable of fighting dinosaurs as well as other threats. There are only five now Descriptors—‘Daring’, ‘Empirical’, ‘Savage’, ‘Slick’, and ‘Volcanic’. These are mostly self-explanatory and it is easy to tie these to particular Types, such as an Empirical Tec, a Slick Osteon, or a Daring Pteryx. The exception is ‘Volcanic’, meaning a character who bides his time and then acts big or explosively, giving up actions to inflict greater damage when he does attack, but is always slow to act.

Similarly, there are four new Foci. These are ‘Plays God’, ‘Predates’, ‘Self-Evolves’, and ‘Walks with Dinosaurs’. ‘Plays God’ means that the Player Character employs genetics and cloning to grow, develop, and engineer dinosaurs; ‘Predates’ means he grows claws and teeth and more to hunt and fight more like a dinosaur; ‘Self-Evolves’ enables him to make a better version of himself through bioengineering and cybernetics; and ‘Walks with Dinosaurs’ means that he prefers the company of dinosaurs and can communicate with them. In addition to a list of Foci appropriate to the setting, Predation lists several Foci that are problematic and ways around them. For example, ‘Builds Cyborgs’ replaces ‘Builds Robots’ because there are no robots in the setting (they did not travel well from the future); ‘Moves Like a Raptor’ replaces ‘Moves Like a Cat’ as there are no cats—traditional pets—in the setting; and ‘Sees Through Time’ is adjusted to take account of the Time Anomalies so that a Player Character can see through time rather than travel through time.

The ‘Walks with Dinosaurs’ Focus highlights another feature of the Predation setting. Effectively, it effectively replaces the ‘Control Beasts’ Focus. Beasts, and dinosaurs in particular, play a big role in the setting and further, every Player Character has a dinosaur companion. This can be a Tyrannosaur, Raptor, Ornithomimid, Ceratopsian and Ankylosaur, Pterosaur, or even an Early Mammal type and stats and abilities which will develop as a Player Character does. Each has a personality trait, like Clever, Curious, or Intimidating, which grants their Player Character an asset when attempting certain tasks, but comes with its downsides too. For example, a Timid Companion grants an asset on all stealth actions, but is likely to runaway and hide from danger. The dinosaur companion is treated like another Player Character rather than an NPC, but instead of it being roleplayed by the player whose character it is companion, it is roleplayed by the player to his left. So every dinosaur companion is a player character, but roleplayed by someone else.

This has its challenges. It is not a new idea, originally appearing in White Wolf’s Wraith: The Oblivion with another player roleplaying a Player Character’s dark side, his Shadow, and then seen more recently with John Wick’s WIELD: Chronicles of the Vatcha. It doubles the number of Player Characters at the table, though of course, the actual Player Characters dominate play with their dinosaur companions getting time in the spotlight. A dinosaur companion though does not simply take orders as if it is an adjunct to the Player Character, but instead a player must interact with the player roleplaying his dinosaur companion and he must roll to see whether his dinosaur companion agrees to his request. This need not be for every action and it does get easier as both Player Character and dinosaur companion gain experience. This changes some of the dynamic around the table and increases the amount of extra play and effort that a player has to put into the game. Not only is he roleplaying his character and understanding what he is capable of, he has to roleplay and understand what another Player Character’s dinosaur companion is capable of, he needs to know what his own character’s dinosaur companion is capable of. Plus, the need to persuade a dinosaur companion to act can slow play. The last challenge is that this is a style of play rarely seen and unfamiliar to most roleplayers and, even there is an example of it in play, it will take some adjusting to.

In terms of equipment, Predation is underwhelming. There is a good discussion of the materials available, a mixture of future technology brought from the future and developed since as well as that adapted from what can be harvested from the now. The future technology includes smart fluid and piezotextiles, wetweave produced from genetically modified orb weaver spiders, and solarium, an artificial biofilm that absorbs solar energy to heal itself, whilst shrilk film is made from shrimp shells and spidersilk proteins to create, a thin, clear material as strong as aluminium , but biodegradable. Anything made from furs, scales, and leather is cheap and easy to find, but advanced technology can be very expensive, especially if it came from the future. Included are body upgrades, augments, and enhancements, such as nightvision, cybernetic limbs, and cybernetic limb or tail, but the list at just five entries is disappointingly short. The Game Master may want to consult the Cypher System’s Cyberpunk supplement, Neon Rain, for further ideas. Another issue is that the gear is a bit bland when it really could have done with some branding.

Cyphers, artifacts, and remnants are also something that is changed for the Predation. Cyphers are vestigial remnants of far-future technologies, sciences, and information storage systems that have slipped into the past and can be found in the Time Anomalies. When he walks through a Time Anomaly, Cyphers map themselves onto the Player Character’s DNA and when activated erase themselves afterwards. For example, a ‘Biological Plait’ releases a compound that weaves itself into the user’s blood, brain, and musculature for effects such as temporally increasing his Might, Speed, or Intellect Pool, training him in a skill, and so on. ‘Dinosenses’ enhances his senses when it comes to dinosaurs granting an asset when studying, understanding, and communicating with dinosaurs. ‘Timeseeker’ enables the use to detect Time Anomalies nearby, determine their intensity, and know how they will last. Artefacts can appear with greater abilities, but also have limited use and same can appear that not working at all. Many carry the SATI logo, which marks them as company property, but if not in the possession of a SATI employee, then such marks will be erased. Examples include the ‘Bibliotheca’, a disk that when embedded under the skin enables the user to download a digital book that works as an asset on an area of knowledge for twenty-four hours; ‘Microbial Mood Ring’ which reads the user’s gut bacteria and changes colour if there is an environmental hazard nearby; and a ‘Sky Map’ that provides an augmented reality version of the night sky to grant an asset when predicting the weather, navigating the world, and astronomy.

Remnants are items spat out by the Time Anomalies that have no actual game effect or use as they are neither weapons, armour, or devices. In general, they can be anything from a ‘Broken mug with MARS LANDING ’21 written on it in English’ to a ‘Hollow rubber creature that squeaks when compressed’. They can be sold, but in the main, they enforce the idea that not everything coming out of the Time Anomalies is useful, simply adding flavour and detail to the setting rather than anything else.

The setting of Predation is richly detailed with a good overview, and a gazetteer that covers both Laramidia and Appalachia, its factions and its secrets, societies, and more. Of course, in terms of the setting, what we are really here for the dinosaurs. The bestiary describes many new additions, many of which have or can have upgrades like physical armour, sharper claws, electrode brainwiring, subvocal speech systems, and even cybernetic limbs. In general, the Game Master will probably want to refer to the Cypher System core rulebook for dinosaurs unaugmented, as most here do have some cybernetics or have been genetically altered or bred. The Acroplocerex (ankylosaurus or Euoplocephalus) is typically heavily armoured with hydraulic armour to serve in SATI convoys; the Argoraptor, trained to operate in packs by SATI; Nerezza are gliding raptors using as scouts and silent thieves; Supersauri, composite dinosuars derived from numerous genetic materials and planned as SATI superweapons, but are fearsome whether in the wild or under control; and Teslasaurus, ankylosaurs injected with electric eel genetic materials in the hope of creating docile bioelectrogenesis hosts to biologically power base facilities, but made aggressive by the process and they are used for mobile energy defence and offence. All of these dinosaurs reflect the changes in scientific knowledge about them, so that many are brightly coloured and have feathers. This does not mean that they are strictly scientifically accurate, and they do not need to be, the point being that this is a Science Fiction roleplaying setting and the nod to scientific accuracy is still present. Combine these with dinosaur entries from the Cypher System core rulebook and the Cypher System Bestiary and the Game Master has a lot to play with.

The advice for the Game Master covers the nature of time travel in the setting and how strong the Science Fiction should be, as well as giving some campaign seeds in addition to the ‘Reading the Bones’ boxed sections with gives numerous adventure seeds. It makes clear that the setting focuses primarily on mission-based play rather than simple exploration as in other Cypher System settings. The advice also expands greatly upon the secrets of the setting as they pertain to SATI—something not accorded to ‘Butterflies’ and the ‘Genesix Fellowship’, although SATI and what its plans were for the ‘Gre-Vakian c trials’ mission underpin the setting as a whole, whereas the other two factions are more straightforward. However, the explanation given in ‘SATI’S Big Mystery: A Guide For GMs’ only gives part of the mystery as definitive, leaving parts of it for the Game Master to decide. The supplement makes clear that the ramifications of whatever discoveries the Player Characters make—and there are big ramifications—lie outside the scope of Predation. However, it leaves the setting with big questions that the Game Master is very likely going to have to answer in the long term because they are questions that the players and their characters are going to ask and want answers to. Why did the Time Travel machines break down? What was the purpose of the ‘Gre-Vakian c trials’ mission? Can the Time Machines be repaired? Can the people of Grevakc escape to the future and what happens if they do? Or is Grevakc doomed to be destroyed by the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event and become lost footnote in history like the Roanoke colony? In some ways, what Predation really describes is a richly detailed campaign set-up with the endgame very much in the Game Master’s hands.

Lastly, the Game Master is given an introductory adventure, ‘Promised Land’. It takes place in a town best known for its dinosaur wrestling and has the Player Characters looking for a top-ranking dino-wrestler for a mutual friend of theirs. The clues lead them out into the nearby jungle and the discovery of a Time Anomaly and other secrets. It is a decent scenario.

Physically, Predation is well written, well presented, and accessible. The artwork is as good as you would expect for a book from Monte Cook Games and the writing is engaging.

There is a lot about Predation that just makes you go, “That’s cool.” A great set-up of being trapped in the past, dinosaurs and dinosaur companions, augmented dinosaurs, and mysteries—big mysteries. Yet as enticing and as entertaining as this setting is, it is the big mysteries where it leaves the Game Master and her players wanting more. A sequel, a whole campaign, something that pushes the setting forwards towards the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event, but in the process gives answers and explanations and perhaps closure. Instead, it leaves the Game Master to really develop that and that is a lot of work and it might not lead to answers that everyone is happy with. (To be fair neither would a commercially published campaign, but it is less likely.) This makes Predation sound like a bad product, but it is definitely not. It has everything for the Game Master and her players to start playing and exploring the setting and potentially for the Game Master to write a campaign.

Predation is great setting. It is fresh and exciting and original. It is the Planetary Romance genre done in the past where the players and their characters get to have exciting adventures with dinosaurs and explore a verdant paradise. Whether there is hope or an end is ultimately up to the Game Master.

[Free RPG Day 2026] An Afternoon Outing

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

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

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

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

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What is it?
The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is the quick-start for the Dungeons & Kittens RPG, published by EDGE Studio.

The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is a thirty-two page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?

The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing includes the scenario, ‘An Afternoon Outing’, a short scenario which can be played through in one session.

What else do you need to play?
The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing needs three six-sided dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing includes five pre-generated Player Kittens. These are presented on bright and breezy character sheets which include an explanation of the basic rules, the background for each Player Kitten, and explanations for their spells.

How is a Player Kitten defined?

A Player-Kitten in Dungeons & Kittens has three abilities—Strong, Smart, and Cute—and one or more skills. These include ‘Draw & Paint’, ‘Hiss & Growl’ (brawling and intimidation), ‘Read Sky & Stars’, ‘Scratch!’ (for melee combat) and ‘Shake Your Booty’ (for athletics and acrobatics). A Player-Kitten either has a skill or he does not, and if he does, it gives Advantage on a roll. He will also have a Character Trait, a descriptor that can work as an advantage or disadvantage. He can carry up to five ‘Purr-ecious’ items in his backpack and can use ‘Meowgic’ and thus can cast spells.

How do the mechanics work?

When a player wants his Kitten to undertake an action, the Storyteller—as the Game Master is known in Dungeons & Kittens—selects the appropriate ability and the player rolls three six-sided dice. Each die result that is equal to or less than the ability counts as a Success. An Easy action requires one Success, a Medium action requires two Successes, a Difficult action requires three Successes, and a Legendary action requires four Successes. If the player rolls a number of Successes equal to the difficulty of the action, his Kitten succeeds. Fewer Successes than the difficulty and the player has a choice of simply failing to succeed without consequences, whereas no Success and the action is definitely a failure. If a player rolls three of the same number, his Kitten gains an edge, whether the roll was a success or failure. If a Kitten has Advantage, his player rolls four dice, but only two dice if he is at Disadvantage. A player can re-roll one or more dice with the right ‘Purr-ecious’ items.

Each Player Kitten has a Trait, such as Brave or Curious. It can be used in two ways, once ach session. One is to grant Advantage, the other, when it gets a Kitten into a dangerous situation, his player can give a Furr-endship point to another player. A Furr-endship point can be spent on one of two ways. First, to ensure that a single dice roll succeeds. Second, with a big hug and purring in their ear, to give one Heart—the equivalent of Hit Points in Dungeons & Kittens—to another Player Kitten. To regain spent Furr-endship points, a Player Kitten must spend time with his fellow Player Kittens away from adventuring and doing other things.

How do catfights work?

Combat or ‘Catfights’ in Dungeons & Kittens consist of two types. In a ‘Fang Catfight’, a Player Kitten attempts to intimidate, frighten, or convince another rather than hurt them, whereas in a ‘Claw Fight’, the aim is to hurt them. When a Player Kitten enters a ‘Claw Fight’, the stress causes him to lose a Furr-endship point due to the stress! Without a Furr-endship point, a Player Kitten cannot fight. In general, the Player Kittens act before anyone else, but if a Player Kitten takes an aggressive action, the Storyteller chooses who acts nest. If a Kitten takes a non-aggressive or helpful action, his player decides who acts next. Possible actions include Help to give Advantage to another Kitten; Hinder to give Disadvantage; Attack to reduce an enemy’s Heart points, whether in a ‘Fang Catfight’ or a ‘Claw Fight’; and Interact and Move. 

At any point, anyone caught in a Catfight can surrender and that is always respected. However, an opponent must surrender if his Heart points are reduced to zero in a ‘Fang Catfight’, but in a ‘Claw Fight’, he may seriously injured.

How does Meowgic work?

Every Player Kitten knows some Meowgic, has a spellbook, and can cast spells. To have his Kitten cast a spell, a player rolls dice against the Ability given for the spell. For example, the spell Slipper Patrol, requires a single Success against the Strong Ability and with a success, the caster and his fellow kittens can walk and run without hurting their legs or paws.

What do you play?

Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing provides plenty of support for its scenario, ‘An Afternoon Outing’. This includes a description of the background, that it is post-apocalyptic setting in which mankind has long since disappeared, leaving some animals with the gift of speech and imagination, the ability to anticipate and predict, and the capacity to invent. It is set in and around the Kingdom of Cats, ruled by the insatiably large and lazy King Walter from his tower in Cat Tree City. King Walter’s most unfair law is the ‘Exile of Kittens’. This exiles young kittens from the kingdom on the pretence of an initiation quest, supposedly to return to King Walter with a great treasure in hand. King Walter supposedly draws the names of the young kittens to be exiled at random, but everyone knows this is a lie. The Player Kittens are the latest to have their names drawn by King Walter.

In addition, Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing provides advice on being a Storyteller and being a good player. These are both well written sections and easy to grasp, but unlike almost any other quick-start, they need to be read by all of the players. This is because in Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing, more than one player will take a turn being the Storyteller. However, the scenario is short and it only includes two points when the it instructs the current Storyteller to handover the scenario to another player and at each point, the new Storyteller has to go and read the advice on being a Storyteller and then prepare the next scene. It is a nice idea, but does not quite work. There are five Player Characters and only three opportunities to be the Storyteller, so not everyone is going to get a go. Plus, there is going to be delay in play as the new Storyteller prepares to run the next scene. Not so much of a problem for the experienced Game Master, but for anyone new, they are being put on the spot.

The ‘An Afternoon Outing’ scenario is a flashback to an event early in the Player Kittens’ exile and consists of two scenes in which problems have to be solved with a confrontation in the third. In the opening scene, one of the Player Kittens falls into the pool of water around which they are all playing. The idea here is that the player of the Kitten who falls into the water is actually the first Storyteller, which gets around the problem of that player and his Kitten not having as much agency since his Kitten has fallen into the water. It also means that running it with a single Storyteller sets up a scene one player can do anything because his Kitten has fallen into the pool and is drowning. Effectively, ‘An Afternoon Outing’ is built around a good idea, but limits who can participate in it, and if the Storyteller wants to run the scenario because it limits the opportunity for everyone to have a go at being Storyteller, it introduces the problem of a lack of agency.

In spite of this problematic set-up, ‘An Afternoon Outing’ is well written with lots of advice for running each of its three scenes, whether that is making suggestions as what the Player Kittens might do in all three scenarios and how the NPCs that arrive might act in the third scene. Where the Player Kittens have to solve problems in the first two scenes, in the third scene, they confront minions of King Walter and ultimately decide the fate of the item that caused the situation in the first place. The advice is also good in that it has lots of questions that the Storyteller can ask her players and the situations are nicely detailed. The tone is also friendly and positive, making it suitable to be run for younger players.

Is there anything missing?
No. Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is complete as is. 

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is easy to grasp and prepare.

Is it worth it?
No. Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is really a likeable quick-start, easy to learn and teach, and suitable for younger players. Even the included scenario is a good introduction to Dungeons & Kittens, but unfortunately, the design structure does not deliver its core concept to every player, and in adhering to its design structure, it makes it challenging for it to be run as a standard scenario.

The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is available from EDGE Studio.

Friday Fantasy: Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between

Four centuries ago, the dwarves mining the Brackenhoorg struck the mountain’s knotted nexus of lye lines and in the process caused the mine to be flooded with verdigrint ooze. As a consequence, the Dwarves shut the mine down and closed it up before fleeing the mountain. Four weeks ago, fey lord and vintner, Slaveral, steered his planar-travelling villa into the mountain and crashed it into the mines. Four months ago, he accidentally attempted to poison the Unseelie Queen with a cold-iron-laced bottle and after she turned him and his servants into giant bugs, banished him from the realm of the fey. Inside, Lord Slaveral, now an elephant-sized flea, drank deep of the verdigrint ooze and oozed himself into a coma. Yet Lord Slaveral is not without his followers beyond the confines of them mine and now, following a rockslide that exposed the gatehouse to the mine, a band of his cultists has entered the old mine to worship and free their lord. The cultists are not the only ones to learn that the mine is accessible once again. The wizard Calamastes is said to be prepared to pay for a rubbing of an old Dwarven Everstone located in the mine; the mine boss, Dericka Horn, recalls stories of burrowing creatures that worked the Brackenhoorg and wants an intact egg; local Halfling, Kasden Orchenhopper, claims his son went into the gatehouse with his ‘bug-faced’ friends and wants him found; and the Onyx Ducke is said to have donated a Staff of Healing to the Brackenhoorg before the mines flooded. Anyone of these could be reason enough to want to explore Brackenhoorg.

This is the set-up for Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between, an ooze overlaid, gunge gooped, slimed slathered scenario from Slime Mind Studio for use with ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the Old School Renaissance and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from The Arcane Library. Funded via a Kickstarter campaign, it presents a weird, cloyingly sweet miasmic dungeon for a party of Player Characters of First to Third Level. As they enter the former mine, the Player Characters will discover every surface is covered or encrusted with a green slime (not the Green Slime monster of classic Dungeons & Dragons fantasy) that oozes out of cracks, drips from the ceiling, and pools on the floor. Worse, it adheres to metal, blood, and fire, eating into metal and covering it with a patina that leaves weapons severely weakened and armour inflexible, as well as attracting bugs, slugs, and snails that get super drunk on its sweetness. Places are infested with Perish Lillies, a plant with a red flower and blood-sucking thorns that can release a sparkly, psychedelic pollen! Verdigools, ooze-drowned dwarves, lurk here and there; the Goolette, a hulking, slavering lizard dripping green slime stalks the halls; and jolly, murder-living cultists dedicated to Slaveral, seek new victims to sacrifice when not enjoying the steamy shrine/spa where everyone in the mine can enjoy the relaxing pool of warm saliva!

The design of both the scenario and the dungeon is dominated by the colour green with splashes of red here and there. The dungeon itself is very nicely designed. The mine level sits atop the remains of Lord Slaveral’s damaged inter-planar villa and its grounds. Every entry is presented in a clear, easy format with bullet points that enable the Game Master to work straight from the page. Sound plays an important role in the dungeon, such as the occupants of a neighbouring room which can hear loud noises made by the Player Characters, slurping sounds from another room, and so on. There is a dynamic feel to the dungeon, at least in terms of its physicality. There are some fantastic locations such as a tunnel which is blocked with scarlet lilies that have blood-sucking thorns and if cleared will regrow if it has a source of blood—and there happens to be the corpse of cultist entangled in its roots; an ‘Ooze Cascade’, an emerald waterfall of verdigrint ooze that has been frozen by a fireball-slinging cultist whose body is encased in the waterfall(!); and the ‘Steamy Shrine’ filled with green steam created from a mix of verdigrint ooze aerated by a spit spewing mask worn by a statue and due to a widely-known curse that turns the tongue into a grub that east everything, is treated as neutral ground. In general, the mines level is more interesting than that of Lord Slaveral’s shunted villa.

There can be no doubt that Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between is delightfully foul, fetid, and fuggy in its atmosphere and ambiance, but the scenario does not quite work in terms of storytelling. To begin with, the hooks are underwritten, and apart from the missing Halfling, Meck, do not personalise the reasons why the Player Characters would want to delve very far in the Brackenhoorg. Of course, the Brackenhoorg has only recently opened up, so chronologically, it might be challenging to develop interesting hooks, but once the Player Characters are in the mine, the scenario does not go out of its way to pull them in. Relying upon a combination of player and character curiosity is not enough. The environment itself is off-putting, the green verdigrint ooze encrusting everything and making equipment harder to use, impeding their progress and given that Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between is meant to be a puzzle dungeon, the puzzle aspects of the dungeon are really pushed into the background, as are, to a lesser effect, the Fey aspects of the dungeon. Further, it is not easy to bring the aims of the NPCs into play in the dungeon. Which is disappointing given that they are behind what has happened so far in the mine. There is a timeline of events that will happen if the Player Characters do nothing, but these have very little effect upon the mine as a whole. What it more needed is a stronger idea of the events that will happen and what the NPCs will do if the Player Characters actually do something. For example, what if the cultists and their leader fail in their plan to sacrifice another NPC? The major NPCs are presented in an accessible format, which does include motivations, but it is simply not enough.

Physically, Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between is superbly presented. The layout, the artwork, and the cartography are excellent, contributing to so much of the atmosphere of the scenario.

Marvellously mucculent and oozily original, Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between is a genuinely atmospheric and different dungeon. It should be, could be, a great dungeon, but ultimately, the Game Master needs to develop its plot and the aims of the NPCs to make them easier and more obvious for the players and their characters to engage with them. Do that and Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between has the chance to really shine with an oily sheen as it deserves and be a truly memorable adventure.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne

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

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

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The Rat King Returns! For Free RPG Day 2026, Goodman Games published an adventure that was special in three ways. Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne is a scenario that celebrates Goodman Games’ twenty-fifth anniversary by bringing back a villain first seen in 2003 with Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King, the first adventure it published for the Dungeon Crawl Classics line. Second it celebrates the twenty or so years of Free RPG Day that tells the story of its genesis. Third it celebrates the contributions of Goodman Games to Free Free RPG over the years, with a gallery of every cover of every title donated to Free RPG Day in that time on the inside front and back covers. Sadly, they are presented in black and white, but nevertheless, it is still see them good in one place.

The scenario, Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne, is written to be systems neutral, but includes stats and write-ups for its NPCs and monsters for the publisher’s own Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. With the inclusion of the latter, the scenario works well with the recent Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King, but with the inclusion of the former, Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne marks the first time that the Rat King saga has been written for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. It is designed for a party of First and Second Level Player Characters and can primarily be used in one of two ways. The first is as a sequel to the events of Fifth Edition Fantasy #31: Idylls of the Rat King, taking place a few weeks or months later, using the same Player Characters. The second is as sequel as sequel to Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King, the saga of as a whole, taking place decades later. Of course, it can also be used as a standalone scenario, but either way the scenario can be played through in a single session.

The scenario opens with the Player Characters once again in the village of Silverton, the site of ‘Idylls of the Rat King’. Of late, there has been no merchant traffic along the road to the north to the city of Soulgrave and the village’s constable has not returned after having gone to investigate. (Oh, how the village has suffered.) A dwarven merchant claims that Lawrence Gannu, the Wererat and Rat King that threatened the village as an act of revenge that played out in ‘Idylls of the Rat King’. There are numerous rumours to gather, but quickly the local miner’s guild offers a reward and the Player Characters are on the road to the Silverton Mines (once again).

What the Player Characters discover is a much changed mine. It is smaller, no longer infested with either Goblins, Wererats, or Goblin-Wererats, let alone a vampire. That vampire though, Serrenna Valuois, who was long buried deep below the Silverton Mine, and who may or may not have been killed at the end of ‘Idylls of the Rat King’, has direct influence upon the mines as they are now and the scenario. Her hatred and her thirst, long left unslaked in the centuries of her imprisonment has been reflected and manifest in the Unslaked, a horror that has instilled occupants of the mines and creatures nearby with increasingly debilitating thirst that can only be quenched by fresh blood. There are several encounters throughout the mine where the Player Characters encounter victims of the Unslaked, who will attack randomly upon sight and several where they will be touched by the Unslaked and influenced by its thirst, as well as the possibility that, they too, might be influenced. Magical healing will definitely lift the effects of the Unslaked, but there are means of resisting the effect, the exact details of which are left to the Dungeon Master or Judge to decide.

The scenario packs a lot into a short space. There are the constable and his colleagues to rescue, plenty of call-backs to ‘Idylls of the Rat King’ to discover, and not one showdown, but two! The last one is with the Rat King himself—and that actually might set up a sequel. Of course, there already is a sequel in the form of Dungeon Crawl Classics #27: Revenge of the Rat King and Dungeon Crawl Classics: Saga of the Rat King, but there is potential for the Rat King to be revisited in future scenarios.

Rounding out Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne is ‘The Secret History of Free RPG’. This is a two-page interview conducted by Stu Horvath—author of Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground: A Guide to Tabletop Roleplaying Games from D&D to Mothership—with Joseph Goodman and the Aldo Ghiozzi. It is a pleasing little read that captures the beginnings of an annual fixture of our hobby.

Physically, Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne is well presented. Both the artwork and the cartography are decent too.

Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne is a short, horror scenario that fleshes out more of the Rat King and his saga, whether that is as part of the saga, or as a sequel. Players who have played the previous scenarios will enjoy the call-backs, whilst for those new to it, it could be their introduction to the saga with ‘Idylls of the Rat King’ run as a flashback. Or it could be simply run as a one-shot. In whatever way the Dungeon Master or the Judge decides to run Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne, it shows that there are yet more stories to be told in the fight against the Rat King.

Miskatonic Monday #453: The Man Who Sold the World

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

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Name: The Man Who Sold the World

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Authors: Maverick Haenze & James Bunnell

Setting: London, 1973

Product: One-shot

What You Get: Twenty-nine page, 5.35 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: David Bowie In the Mouth of Madness

Plot Hook: Moondust is missing!
Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, thousands of NPCs, two handouts, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# From sleaze to stardom and beyond!

# One-shot convention scenario

# Straightforward to run

# Phonophobia

# Blenophobia

# Melophobia

Cons

# Linear plotting
# Obvious mystery

Conclusion

# Per ardua ad astra

# Sparkly glam rock horror from outer space!

[Free RPG Day 2026] Avatar Legends: Expanded Play

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

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

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

As with the five Adventure Booklets, Avatar Legends: Expanded Play originally appeared in Wan Shi Tong’s Adventure Guide, which explores and presents adventures in the different eras of the Avatarverse, including the Kyoshi, Roku, the Hundred Year War, Aang, and Korra periods. Avatar Legends: Expanded Play presents the rules and extra supplementary material that supports the five Adventure Booklets. Each of the Adventure Booklets presented an individual Legendary NPC who in some way helped serve the plot, whether that was as a powerful ally, a capable teacher, a dangerous long-term foe. Avatar Legends: Expanded Play explores these roles further suggesting how they might be used and not only that, presents another nine Legendary NPCs taken from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Each of these is presented in a two-page spread, complete with a history, suggestions on how to play each NPC and how they can be brought into play, and techniques that they know. In each case, they also explain what they will be like as a teacher and where they might be found. Given the earlier discussion, it is disappointing though, that there is no discussion of how they might be a powerful ally or a dangerous foe, which leaves the Game Master to develop this aspect herself. Most of them come from the Hundred Year War Era and include Long Feng, manipulative head of the Dai Li; Azula, prodigious and dangerous Fire Nation princess; Katara, master waterbender and healer; Sokka, strategic non-bender and weapon master; Suki, resilient leader of the Kyoshi Warriors; Toph Beifong, inventor of metalbending (also from the Classic Era); and Ty Lee, Chi-blocking acrobat and martial artist. The others are Rangi, fierce firebending master and bodyguard from the Kyoshi Era, and Taqukaq, experienced waterbending mentor from the comics.

More specifically for the players, Avatar Legends: Expanded Play includes four new Playbooks that are each easy to bring to the table as new Player Characters. They consist of the Destined, the Elder, the Foundling, and the Razor. They are more focused on telling a specific type of story than those in the Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game. Indeed, there are suggestions too on how to mix and match these four with the ten in the Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game. Of the four, two stand out as slightly different. The Razor has been trained as a dangerous weapon, but now seeks a path to redemption, the other, the Elder, is radically different in terms of its storytelling. It is suggested that the Elder take on the role of a mentor, perhaps like Tenzin, Lin, or Iroh from the series. To support this, the Elder can have protégés and will know more Techniques, but it is harder for the Elder to learn new ones.

Rounding out the booklet are almost fifty new Techniques. These are split between universal techniques and from the six training paths, with some also marked as being rare, so hard to find masters who might teach them. Of course, these give the Player Characters something to work towards and some of the Legendary NPCs in the supplement might know and teach some of these Techniques.

Physically, Avatar Legends: Expanded Play is well presented, sturdy booklet.

Of all of the titles released for Free RPG day 2026 for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, the Avatar Legends: Expanded Play supplement is the one that a Game Master is likely to come back to again and again as its content supports campaign play with a solid set of Legendary NPCs, but then again, it does not ignore the player either. Overall, a good mix of new options.

Are You Invincible?

For decades, since the nineteen eighties, superheroes have been known about and been operating on Earth. The Guardians of Order, the planet’s greatest superheroes and greatest team of superheroes, working with the Global Defence Agency, a secret organisation based under the Pentagon responsible for managing situations beyond the capabilities of regular authorities, as well as overseeing and guiding the activities of super-powered individuals, faced challenges and battles again in both preserving law and order and in protecting the Earth. Now the Earth is in turmoil. The old Guardians of Order are dead and the new Guardians of Order are proving to be ineffective. Worse, it has been revealed that Omni-Man, an alien who has worked alongside the original Guardians of Order for decades and who came to be regarded as the planet’s mightiest protector, in a bruising fight with his son, Invincible, that not only did he come to Earth to prepare it for invasion by the Viltrum Empire, he also killed the original Guardians of Order. Now he is gone. In a world of superheroes, supervillains and supercrime, as well as the threat of alien invasion, can other superheroes, old and new, take up the mantle of keeping the Earth and its people safe?

This is the set-up for Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying. Published by Free League Publishing, it is based on Invincible, the American comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, and published by Image Comics, and subsequently developed as a television series on Amazon Prime. Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying is a departure for Free League Publishing since presents a genre that the publisher has not previously explored. The roleplaying game presents the means to roleplay superheroes in the world of Invincible, whether that is one of the many characters adapted from the comic book or one of each players’ own creation. It presents the background to the Invincible setting, full write-up and stats for sixty-four characters from the Invincible setting, advice on running the roleplaying game, and the means to play solo.

The introduction covers the basic elements of the setting, the different types of scenes—Briefings (which typically start a mission), Action, and Social, time, and the roleplaying game’s key themes. There are ‘Coming of Age’, ‘Everyday and Epic Struggles’, ‘Bloody, High-Stakes Action’, ‘The Hero/Villain Dynamic’, ‘Power and Responsibility’, and ‘Realistic Heroism’. Most of these are a common staple of the superhero genre, but here also drawn from the comic book series and the story of Mark Grayson, Invincible, and his relationship with his father, Nolan, Omni-Man. The one that is particular to the world of Invincible is ‘Bloody, High-Stakes Action’ with its often bloody and graphic violence in which battles are intense, injuries can be brutal, and death is an actual possibility and often permanent. Neither Invincible the comic book and Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying have the equivalent of plot amour common to the genre.

A Superhero is first defined by his Rank. This can be Teen Upstart, Street Defender, Global Guardian, or Cosmic Champion. This determines how many points his player has to assign to his starting and maximum Attribute points, number of starting powers, and starting reputation. He has a role, six attributes, several derived stats, plus Powers, Talents, Drawbacks, Personal Details, Resources and Gear, and reputation. The eight Roles are Blaster, Brains, Brawn, Controller, Defender, Leader, Striker, and Wildcard, and they define how a superhero operates, but provide no mechanical benefit. The six attributes are Fighting, Agility, Strength, Reason, Intuition, and Presence, and they range in value between ‘1’ or ‘Poor’ and ‘12’ or ‘Invincible’. A superhero’s Powers, Talents, and Drawbacks will vary from superhero to superhero. Personal Details encompasses a superhero’s Occupation, Personality, Drive, Flaw, and Key Relationships.

The Superhero creation process is not difficult. The standard procedure is to choose an Archetype such as Bruiser, Gadgeteer, Powersuit, Psychic, Sharpshooter, Speedster, or Vigilante. This suggests a Role, Attributes, Powers, and so on. It also gives options for Power Source, Hero Talent, Drawback, Occupation, Personality, Drive, Flaw, and Hero Name that a player can choose from or roll for. The latter means that a Superhero is partly randomly generated, partly not. Alternatively, a player is free to choose everything about his Superhero from start to finish, taking inspiration from the Archetype or not. Or a player could choose to one of the Superheroes detailed in the background section of the roleplaying game. It is possible for a player to select extra Powers or Power Boosts during the creation process by taking an extra Drawback or sacrificing Attribute points. The question that many players will have is, “Can I create this ‘superhero’ from this comic book/television series/film/franchise?” and the answer is yes. Not perfectly, but with some effort, yes.

Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying includes some seventy or so Powers, from Action Plan, Adaptation, and Adhesion to Transformation, Water Control, and Weather Control. These are divided into six Power Types—Attack, Control, Defence, Modification, Movement, and Sensory Power Types. Most Powers are graded into four Power Levels—Basic, Major, Massive, and Monstrous—and a Superhero must have each Power Level before progressing to the next. Individual powers tend to be relatively narrow in their application, but can include Boosts which change how the Power is used and Limits which restrict its use. For example, ‘Flight’, whether from wings, jet pack, cape, or magic carpet, allows a Superhero to fly two Zones in a single action, or four Zones at a cost of a point of Stress. This doubles at the Major, Massive, and Monstrous Power Levels. Its single Boost gives the Superhero ‘Interstellar Flight’ (which also requires the Life Support Power), whilst its Limit is ‘Gliding’, which means that the Superhero can only glide and must get to an higher altitude to launch himself and cannot simply stop mid-air.

Of course, there are two difficult Powers in any superhero roleplaying game—gadgeteering and sorcery. In Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying, there is no specific gadgeteering Power. Instead, there is the Technology Control Power and Knowledgeable (Technology) Talent, which can then be backed up with other Powers. So there are no rules for building or designing gadgets. This may limit player choice when it comes to certain superhero archetypes. Sorcery does not list any spells, but simply enables a Superhero to instantly duplicate any other Power or for a few minutes by suffering a point of Stress. This does mean that any Superhero with Sorcery is going to want to consult the core rulebook a lot of times during play.

Slipways

Name: Gavin Tuttle

Rank: Teen Upstart

Role: Mastermind

Occupation: Student

Personality: Reserved and thoughtful.

Drive: Acceptance. Gavin wants to be recognized and approval for being a hero.

Flaw: Naïve. Gavin is new to being a superhero.
Key Relationship: Spiteful Bully

Reputation: 0 Resources: 2

ATTRIBUTES

Good FIGHTING 3, Good AGILITY 3, Typical STRENGTH 2, Extraordinary REASON 5, Good INTUITION 3, Great PRESENCE 4

Health: 8 Resolve: 12 Slugfest Damage: 1

POWERS

POWER SOURCE: Mutation.

Basic INTANGIBILITY Gavin can turn himself sideways and two-dimensional

Basic TELEPORTATION Whilst Intangible, Gavin can slide along buildings and down the street

KNOWN TALENTS

Tactical Support, Knowledgeable (Technology)

DRWBACKS

Hard Times ×1

As well as each player creating his Superhero, together they also create a Team. Each Superhero has a specific relationship with another member of his Team in addition to the one provided by his Occupation. They have a Team Base too, which for a team of Teen Upstarts might be an unused wing of the school library or the basement of a tattoo parlour and for Street Defenders a former warehouse or family mansion. As with other roleplaying games from Free League Publishing, there are Base Upgrades that the Team can purchase using Karma, the roleplaying game’s equivalent of Experience Points.

Mechanically, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying uses the Year Zero Engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. To have a superhero undertake an action, his player rolls a number of dice equal to the appropriate attribute value. The Game Master can add or deduct dice depending on the difficulty of the task, whilst Gear used and the support from allies can add dice. Each roll of a six is counted as a Success and only a single Success is required to succeed at most tasks. If more Successes are rolled, these can be used to gain bonus effects called stunts. These can be used to have a superhero to complete the task quickly or quietly, learn something new, and help a friend by passing him a Success if they are working on a similar project. However, if no Success are rolled, the Superhero has failed and that failure should ideally have dramatic effects. Alternatively, the player can choose to Push the roll. When this happens, the player rerolls any dice which do not show a one or a six. Whether the roll is a success or a failure, the Superhero suffers a point of Stress for each one rolled overall.

Conflict in Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying uses the same core mechanics. Initiative uses a deck of cards numbered from one to ten, and extra cards may need to be drawn if a Superhero has additional actions. In a round, a Superhero can perform a Full Action and a Quick Action or two Quick Actions. A Full Action is a Slugfest, Charge, or Shooting attack, using a superpower, breaking or lifting something, saving bystanders, and so on. Quick Actions can be to move into an adjacent zone, blocking a slugfest attack or dodging a shooting attack, engaging in banter, and more. Some of the Quick Actions can be used to interrupt the actions of an opponent and they can be saved for this purpose to use later in a round. A combatant can also give an Order to grant extra dice to an ally’s action. Movement can be on the ground and in the air with different elevations counted as separate zones. The action also allows for smashing through doors and walls. In a Slugfest attack, extra Successes can be spent on Stunts including Double Damage, Knockback, Stun, Bang Heads, Trap, Disarm, and Deadly Hit, and Special Stunt. Those for Shooting attacks include Double Damage, Suppressed, Trick Shot, Disarm, and Deadly Hit. A player is also free to create his own Stunts and use with the Game Master’s permission. Armour reduces damage, but when a combatant’s Health is reduced to zero, he is broken and suffers a Critical Injury. Critical Injuries can be inflicted without reducing a combatant’s Health to zero. Critical Injuries take weeks or months to recover from, but Health is recovered faster. A combatant can suffer Stress, often from a Banter Action in combat, but primarily through the use of a Superhero’s Powers. When a Superhero’s Resolve is reduced to zero due to Stress, he is stressed out, cannot use any Superpowers which require Stress to be gained or push any rolls.

The rules also cover minions, challenges, and other hazards. Notably, a Superhero can use a Slugfest attack to ‘Wreck a Zone’, the Superhero or Supervillain ripping up objects and using them to hit, throw at, or smash an opponent. This grants bonus dice to an attack, means the attack can be made into an adjacent zone, and completely wrecks the zone, meaning it cannot be wrecked again. It requires a minimum Strength wreck certain types of terrain and this means it is possible to level office interiors, city streets, and whole buildings! Just like we see in superhero films, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying allows for the possibility that a fight between superpowered individuals is not without its consequences.

As much as Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying is fast playing, it is not without its hurdles that a player needs to overcome. However, these are not insurmountable. Rather that they may slow play down. First, a player needs to learn how his Superhero’s Powers work. Fortunately, unlike in some other superhero roleplaying games, none of the Powers in Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying are that complex. More challenging perhaps, is getting used to the wide range of Stunts that player can chose from in combat. There are a lot and picking the right one may at times slow play down in what is meant to be a fast-playing roleplaying game. Once a player gets used to them, play should proceed as designed.

For the Game Master, there is good advice on running Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying, including tips and how to capture the tone, structuring play through the different types of scene, adventure, and campaign. Challenges, for example a building burning or a runaway travel, are outlined too, and campaign play is expanded with suggested story arcs for the roleplaying game’s four Ranks, including Alternate Reality, Corporate Interests, Desperate Rescue, Dimensional Crisis, Environmental Disaster, Gang War, Invasion Force, Recurring Foe, and more. Some of these are supported by breakdowns of storylines in the comic, but all are accompanied by an example countdown and social hooks that the Game Master can bring into her game. These are further supported by tables for random threats, such as criminal activity, global dangers, and cosmic perils, which provide prompt after prompt, and to go with all of this, there are plenty of NPC stats too. One area that Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying does not touch upon is mixing Superheroes with different Ranks. This does not mean that such situations in game cannot arise, but rather that there is not advice on them. 

In terms of background, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying provides a good overview of the Invincible universe, from Earth to Mars and beyond the Viltrum Empire. Organisations like the Global Defence Agency, the Guardians of the Globe, the Lizard League, and Viltrum Empire are accompanied by both Action Hooks and Social Hooks. Specific locations, like the headquarters of the Global Defence Agency, Reginald Vel Johnson High School, and even Tailor Shoppe (where the budding Superhero can get a fitted tuxedo or prom dress by day and a flame retardant spandex suit by night) are also detailed, though not as much. The advice makes the city where a lot of the action of the comic book takes place is never identified—it is just the city. What that means is the Game Master can place all of the elements of the setting on Earth in the city of her choice and still have room for her material. In other words, play in the world of Invincible, but make it belong to both her as the Game Master and her players. Lastly, there stats and details for sixty-four characters from the Invincible setting, each given a page. Here and throughout the background section in particular, there are spoilers for the comic book. Nevertheless, this gives the Game Master a great cast of NPCs to use in her campaign.

Lastly, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying includes ‘Crisis Mode’. This everything that the prospective player needs to run the roleplaying game as a solo experience. Effectively, the player is creating a crisis that his Superhero must respond to each time with a few dice rolls and possibly escalating its intensity, but then resolving it via the ‘Forecast Analysis and Trajectory Engines (FATE)’ which act as the Game Master. Free League Publishing has form with this kind of solo play set of mechanics and it works well to provide a threat or situation and then any questions that the player might. In addition, it could be used by the Game Master as an extra threat generator for a standard, multi-player group.

Physically, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying is very well presented. The writing is good, but what is going to catch the eye is the artwork. Drawn from the comic series and animated series, it depicts a Four Colour style contrasting with its often bloody scenes of conflict.

The Superhero genre is not one that most people thought that the Year Zero Engine would ever try to tackle. After all, most Year Zero Engine roleplaying games are quite low key and often grim in tone. Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying proves otherwise, with a fast-playing, bruising, knockabout system that gives the players and their Superheroes lots of dice to roll and lots of Powers and Stunts to choose from, and so lots of options. In many ways, the core mechanic is simple—in fact simpler than most Year Zero Engine roleplaying games, for example, it only uses one type of dice and it does not use skills at all—and where the roleplaying game’s complexity does come, is in those choices and the spending of the extra Success to choose Stunts. In addition to that, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying is a good treatment of the world of Invincible, whilst still leaving of room for the Game Master to develop her own content, the setting working as a framework rather than a tableau. In other words, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying works as a superhero roleplaying game and as a roleplaying game set in the Invincible universe.

For the Game Master and her players looking for a fast-playing, battling and bruising superhero roleplaying game with lots of action and lots of options when in action, as well as a setting that details enough of the world, but not too much to get in the way (and keep fans of the comics happy), then Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying is a great choice.