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.

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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.

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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.

Community & Coup D’état

Slaves of the Machine God is not one, but two campaigns for Numenera, the Science Fantasy roleplaying game of exploration and adventure published by Monte Cook Games, set billions of years into the future after multiple, highly technological and advanced civilisations have risen and fallen. It can be played through in one, not two, but three ways. The first is to play each campaign separately. The second is to play the individual parts of either campaign as separate scenarios that the Game Master can drop into her campaign. The second is play both campaigns not separately, but together as an interlocking whole, switching back and forth between the chapters in each campaign. The first campaign is ‘Relics of the Machine’, a more typical adventure campaign for use with Numenera Discovery, the first of the core rules for the second edition of the Numenera, which presents the setting of the Ninth World with everything needed to play including character creation, rules, Cyphers, a bestiary, advice for the Game Master, and some ready-to-pay scenarios. The second campaign is ‘Amber Keep’, a community building, development, and defence campaign for use with Numenera Destiny, the second of the core rules for the second edition of the Numenera, which expands the setting with new Player Character archetypes, salvaging and crafting rules, numenera, scenarios, and more, all designed to facilitate campaign play in which charting the future of the Ninth World is part of that play.

Slaves of the Machine God includes notes for the Game Master on running the campaigns together, separately, piecemeal, or even as a shortened version. A flowchart shows the order in which the parts of the two campaigns should be run together. If run together, the combined campaigns will take the Player Characters from Tier 1 all the way up to Tier 5, and that is without adding any adventures, although there is room between some of the chapters to do that. The setting is the Steadfast of the Ninth Age, the primary settled area, and so either part of Slaves of the Machine God is easy to slot into the Game Master’s own campaign. There are no specific Player Character requirements for either campaign. All three Character Types from Numenera Discovery—the Glaive, the Jack, and the Nano—all have abilities that work with Numenera Destiny and thus with the ‘Amber Keep’ campaign. Of the Character Types that will be useful from Numenera Destiny in the ‘Relics of the Machine’, the Delve is probably the most useful. Lastly, any Player Character able to interface or communicate with machinery, robots, and numenera, will also prove to be an asset.

‘Relics of the Machine’ requires a little set-up in that the Player Characters need to be friends with Radius, a mercenary with a metallic body, and done some work for the Amber Gleaners, a group of scholars and explorers. Radius remembers little of its background, but after an encounter with some mud-birds using a memory-stealing device, begins to recall some previously hidden memories. Following this a few weeks later, he disappears, and when they find him again, a Prophet of the Machine God is torturing him. She states that the Machine God is on the rise and seeks the loyalty of all robots and automata; that she has been instructed to find the Machine God’s ‘fallen angels’, each of whom has a divine key that will fully empower the Machine God; and that Radius is not the only one sought by the Prophet of the Machine God. The focus of the campaign moves to finding the other ‘fallen angels’, discover who or what Radius is and where it is from, and just what the Machine God and its minions are working towards. At the same time, other ‘fallen angels’ take an interest in Radius and Player Characters, but as the campaign progresses, together they will discover a strange society of hidden robots and automata that will be on the frontline when the Machine God does rise and the identities of the remaining ‘fallen angels’. Penultimately, they will learn the identity of the Machine God, Ciszan, and go in search of him on and in the Howling Pyramid.

The Howling Pyramid is where the campaign switches gear. Up until now, the Player Characters, accompanied by an increasingly grumpy Radius, have mostly been travelling back and forth from their base, often to far distant locations, to follow up on rumours and names. The Howling Pyramid is a massive pyramid floating and spinning in a black void, marked with deep, ravine-like striations and inverted natural laws in which sound imparts negative gravity and threatens to thrust anyone on the surface upwards and into the rough windstorms which whip across the upper surface. This is a weird and deadly dungeon—in true Numenera fashion—that will take multiple sessions to fully explore and for Radius to find its siblings before Ciszan can be confronted. There are multiple access points to the Howling Pyramid, but the starting point for the Player Characters’ exploration is likely to be decided randomly and the complete (or near complete) exploration of all five sides is likely to take at least three or four sessions in comparison to the one or two needed for the earlier chapters. Such a change of pace may well need some adjustment upon the part of the players given the speed of the earlier adventures.

One downside to the campaign is that it revolves around the actions of the NPC, Radius, and the Player Characters’ attachment to it. The players need to make that investment in it from the start and although that investment is strongly coupled with the imminent rise and threat of the Machine God as the campaign progresses, that need for investment never really lessens. That said, the campaign comes to close with not one, but two big clashes. Both are surprisingly personal and do not necessarily rely on combat prowess to overcome.

The other campaign, ‘Amber Keep’, also requires some set-up, though this is again, a connection to the explorers and scholars, the Amber Gleaners. It is a community-based campaign and like ‘Relics of the Machine’ before it, it consists of eight chapters. They are shorter than the chapters for ‘Relics of the Machine’ and in some cases, are less immediate, playing out over several months. At the start of ‘Amber Keep’, the Amber Gleaners ask the Player Characters to help set up a new settlement in the wilds. The campaign presents the Player Characters with opportunities to defend it—potentially against those who come looking for Radius if it settles in Amber Keep, deal with disasters natural and unnatural, confront ambition and nativism, and ultimately develop it, adding new facilities and buildings. One of the chapters specifically deals with the Player Characters getting involved in the development of the settlement over the course of several months. It would have been useful perhaps to be given some sign as what the settlement’s leaders want to see done or built, as that would added further opportunity for roleplaying. This being a campaign for Numenera, the threats to the settlement do get weirder as the campaign progresses, including needing to explore a mile-long tree floating freely in a pocket dimension and discovering a dangerous cloud chamber under the settlement site.

Of the two campaigns, ‘Amber Keep’ is the more flexible. In between its shorter chapters and the months-long when the Player Characters are engaged in long term problems, there is space for the Game Master to add her own content, whether that is to add short adventures or develop content based on what one or more of the Player Characters might want to do outside of either of the two campaigns. It also serves as change of pace from ‘Relics of the Machine’ campaign, not always necessarily relaxing, but different nonetheless and when the Game Master can show the effects of their actions in ‘Relics of the Machine’—one aspect of the campaign which could have been stronger. In addition, ‘Amber Keep’ gives the Game Master the opportunity to showcase the rules from Numenera Destiny and the players to try out the Character Types from that rulebook.

Physically, Slaves of the Machine God is generally well done, as you would for a book from Monte Cook Games. It does need a slight edit in places, though otherwise it is well organised and bookmarked, with references in the sidebars not only to other sections of the book, also Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny. The maps are in general, easy to use and read. The map of the Howling Pyramid is a notable exception, being murky and indistinct. Fortunately, a poster map is included of both it and another location, though not one of the Amber Keep settlement and its potential growth. In the long term, that would have been useful.

Although Slaves of the Machine God can be run piecemeal, it would be a shame to pull it apart, and to be honest, it would be almost as bad to run ‘Relics of the Machine’ and ‘Amber Keep’ separately. Both stand on their own as serviceable campaigns for the two modes of play in the second edition of Numenera, but together they are simply better, providing contrast in terms of both roleplaying and what the Player Characters are expected to do. Overall, Slaves of the Machine God is a solid combination of adventure and community roleplaying, showcasing the core play of both Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny.

Archaeology & Appreciation

The world of Spume is hellhole and you definitely would not want to live there. Most of the few hundred that do live on the planet reside in the single dome settlement of Dryavis, where they conduct mining operations via remote drones and vehicles. Outside of the dome, the planet, with its thin, tainted atmosphere, is subject to near constant seismic activity, widespread volcanic activity, and a near constant rain of ash and rocks, all at extremes of temperature and intermittent radioactivity. Located within the Darrian Confederation in the Darrian Subsector of the Spinward Marches, just two parsecs away from the capital and one parsec away from the homeworld, nobody would willing want to visit Spume. Except that the planetary population has risen by a handful with the arrival of a team of scientists from the departments of geophysical sciences and engineering at Idikelin University to conduct field research. Unfortunately, the site designated for the expedition’s base was highly prone to seismic activity and a sudden landslip upended the base and made it uninhabitable, forcing the surviving members of team to flee across the highly inhospitable surface of Spume. This is the set-up for and plot of Ashfall, the first part of a trilogy of scenarios published by March Harrier Publishing for use with Traveller, Second Edition from Mongoose Publishing. Having reach the safety of Dryavis, the mining base that is the only settlement on the planet, the Player Characters are given a chance to recover and recuperate, perhaps go over the the scientific data they have gathered so far, and even get involved in the daily lives and culture of the people that make the base their home. This and the discovery of a corporate conspiracy to replace the current crew with cheaper, genetically modified miners played out in Ashfall II: Under the Dome, the sequel to Ashfall.

The third final part of the trilogy, Ashfall III: Into the Crust, takes place barely a day after the events of Ashfall II: Under the Dome have been investigated and settled. Although they are neither miners nor technical staff at the base, the Player Characters have become accepted as part of the community. Especially if they helped undercover the conspiracy. As the Player Characters await the arrival of a vessel to return them home to their university life, they are contacted directly by an old ex-miner, recently retired. Ldok asks them to join him on the slopes of a volcano some five-hundred-and-fifty miles from Dryavis as he wants their help in analysing the sensor readings he has taken, checking the immediate area to determine if it is safe to explore further, and then investigate what he thinks he is found. What Ldok thinks he has found is a Maghiz-related base. The Maghiz was a catastrophic event that occurred two millennia ago when scientists triggered stellar flares that devastated the Darrian Confederation and significantly reduced both its Tech Level and population base. Exact details of the event that triggered the Maghiz are subject of much conjecture and secrecy as the government wants to understand how it was done so that it cannot occur again. There are rumours of Maghiz-related sites throughout Darrian space—and beyond, and all manner of conspiracy theories and absurd ideas have grown up about the so-called ‘Star Trigger’, and for the most part, anyone obsessed with anything Maghiz-related is dismissed as being at best harmless, at worst as a crank. Ldok falls into the former category rather than the latter, but is still respected for his knowledge and experience from working on Spume for decades.

Also respected are the Player Characters. This is due to both their survival trek across the surface of Spume and their involvement in the undercovering of the conspiracy, and it means that the administration will equip the Player Characters with a Survey/Repair G-Carrier and survival gear. This time, unlike their previous isolation on their own original research basis, they are told to get in contact if they have any problems. Ldok will be pleased to see the Player Characters and together they can confirm that he has detected a dense object hundreds of meters below the surface. They will need to blast their way down, but it is relatively safe (though of course, Ldok will break a leg because that is always what happens in this kind of adventure), and after manoeuvring their way down several shafts and through often tight crevasses, the Player Characters will make a discovery. Potentially, an astounding discover—and one that is not at all related to the Maghiz.

The fact that the secret in Ashfall III: Into the Crust is not at all Maghiz-related is refreshing in a scenario set within or connected to the Darrian Confederation. However, the discovery is ultimately underwhelming because once made, there really is no more story to tell beyond a possible incursion by the genetically modified miners making a protest. The Player Characters can report the site and once done, that really is it. The scenario is over and the Player Characters are likely to become famous because of the discovery. However, to offset that, the scenario offers other ways in which to continue the story, potentially to a more satisfying conclusion. They include the possibility that an ancient A.I. or robots start stalking the Player Characters; the Darrian navy could intervene with a squad of marines; and even the discovering of pre-Maghiz scientists still alive in low berths. In the case of the marines, full stats and background for the squad are given so that they can be used as NPCs or roleplayed as Player Characters, the squad being sent down to rescue a group of scientists and take control of their discovery, whilst for the pre-Maghiz scientists, there is list of adventure ideas which the Game Master use for inspiration when it comes to portraying the pre-Maghiz scientists and what they were doing or even develop into separate adventures.

No matter which the Game Master decides to run Ashfall III: Into the Crust, there is plenty of support. Besides the stats and descriptions for the aforementioned Survey/Repair G-Carrier and Darrian Navy marines, there are details for the Tech Level 16 Darrian robot, robot technology details beyond Tech Level 15 for Book 9: Robot, and of course, library data.

Unfortunately, none of the possible endings to Ashfall III: Into the Crust are very interesting. Having an A.I. or robot go rogue and start hunting the Player Characters is a cliché, but perhaps if the Player Characters are truly concerned about getting the information out and in the process, making themselves famous, the scenario could shift to one of survival horror. Yet it does not feel like a natural shift in terms of the storytelling, either for the scenario itself or the trilogy as a whole. Perhaps the ancient Darrian scientists waking up after two thousand years asleep in Low Berths and reacting poorly to the presence of the Player Characters might have been a more interesting alternative. It does not help that the final discovery that the Player Characters is given a very poor map as it does nothing to help the Game Master visual the discovery and relate its wonder to her players and their characters, or being usable for when a very advanced robot goes on the prowl.

Physically, Ashfall III: Into the Crust is decently presented and well written. The only poor aspect about the scenario is the quality of some of the maps.

Ashfall III: Into the Crust brings the Ashfall trilogy to a close. Not so much with a classic three-act story, but with two acts, the first one of anticipation as what the discovery might be and the second one of the fantastic sense of having made an amazing discovery. As to the third act, the climax of Ashfall III: Into the Crust, there is not one given that is really going to satisfy the players and their characters. Instead, the Game Master is expected to come up with something and for the finale of a trilogy, that just seems to ask too much. There are some interesting elements to Ashfall III: Into the Crust, but for an end to the scenario and an end to the trilogy, there should have been an ending, not a toolkit.

Friday Fantasy: The Tower of Six

The true purpose of the Tower of Six is all but forgotten. It was originally built by the mages guild to serve as a watchtower from which they monitored the imprisonment of a monstrous outsider. As the centuries passed, interest in their duty waned and all that the last mage, Stratovarius the Blind, knows is that the watchtower stands over a blind darkness. However, to learn this, the Player Characters will need to find him and that is now a lot more difficult than it was only a few weeks ago. This is because cultists of the god of nightmares have assaulted the tower, believing that what lies below is an avatar of the demigod, the Leviathan, and that it is their sworn duty to release him. To that end they have explored every part of the Tower of Six—above and below—and are now busy preparing a great ritual which will break the bindings and unchain him. The question is, how much of what Stratovarius the Blind knows is actually helpful? Are the nightmares cultists’ beliefs true and is there really an avatar of the Leviathan imprisoned below the tower? And if not, what exactly is imprisoned below the Tower of Six?

This is the set-up for The Tower of Six, a scenario for ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the Old School Renaissance and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from The Arcane Library It is published by RPG Ramblings, the scenario is a sequel to Dark Visions, the supplement that introduced rules for and details of some fifteen cults to ShadowDark as well as the new Classes of Cultist and Inquisitor. In particular, The Tower of Six as an adventure is a sequel to ‘In Cultist’s Wake’ and ‘As Above, So Below’, the two adventures in Dark Visions. Together they form a trilogy that can be played in several ways. One is a scenario in which the heroes attempt to thwart the plans of an evil cult. Another is one in which the Player Characters are members of a rival cult, which can be as amoral or as evil as the Nightmares cult, attempt to stop the efforts of the Nightmares cultists or even subvert those efforts and take control of them! Of these options, the first is best suited to a traditional campaign and a long-term campaign, whereas the other options are better suited to a shorter campaign as the tone is neither heroic nor morally good.

The Tower of Six includes not just the scenario. There are four new magical items, such as the Brazier of the Ethereal, which when burning reveals all invisible creatures nearby and the veils between the realms become visible, but it can draw the undead to it when alight, and the paired Wands of Symmetry, each of which contains the spells, Mindlink and Mirror Image, and when one wand is used, it cannot be used again until the other is used. It also introduces three new monsters, the Deep One Fanatic; the Mirrored One which can transform into the mirror of any humanoid of a similar size and gain any of its Class features—if any, and jump into and out of mirrors freely; and the Slavering, which tries to attach itself to the tongues of its victims and replace them, forcing them to speak Primordial and vomit prophecies of doom…

The adventure consists of a four storey tower, including the roof, with a cellar underneath, and then below that, a two-level dungeon. The upper parts are cramped and are really the remnants of a working and living space, ones that have been partially ransacked by the cultists over the previous few weeks. There are cultists and their allies moving about the tower, but the atmosphere is one of a ramshackle building already having gone to seed, which has been given a good going over. Things lurk in the tower, so there is a really creepy feel to the upper parts. This also where Stratovarius the Blind can also be found, so ideally the Player Characters should explore and investigate the tower, hopefully to discover some hints as to what is going on below. What is noticeable about the design of the tower is that the number of combatants and foes in the tower is limited. What this means is that it possible for that number to be  exhausted through random encounters and in terms of ‘Danger Level’, the tower is rated as unsafe, so the Game Master will be rolling for random encounters every three ‘crawling rounds’. This may be higher in the fewer locations in the upper levels that are in darkness.

In comparison, the two levels of the dungeon are in pitch darkness, so normal ShadowDark rules apply for light. Here also, is where the cultists are hard at work preparing for the ceremony that they hope will release the Leviathan. In addition, further clues can be found as what the original purpose of the tower was and what the cultists are planning. The scenario includes a timeline that tracks the cultists’ progress towards the completion of the ceremony. As you would expect, the foes get increasingly tougher and more capable the deeper that the Player Characters go, and there are nasty monsters down there—especially if the cultists succeed and the Leviathan is released. In fact, it is entirely possible for the Player Characters to begin exploring the tower and its dungeons, and if they take too long or leave the Tower of Six and then do not return in time, for the cultists’ plans to come to fruition and the Leviathan to be successfully released. This would have dire consequences on any campaign world, although the Game Master would have to determine exactly what they might be.

However, there is plenty of treasure to loot and some interesting magical items to be found, whether or not the Player Characters are entirely successful. In particular, any Player Characters are probably going to be well-rewarded given the number of spellbooks to be found in dungeon.

Physically, The Tower of Six is well presented. The layout and organisation adhere to the ShadowDark format and so it is easy to read and follow. It helps that excerpts are presented alongside their location descriptions and so make the adventure easier to run. There are issues with the layout, which is untidy in places and not always consistent.

The Tower of Six can be run on its own with some adjustment, but it really is designed to serve as the finale of the trilogy begun in Dark Visions. It forms a creepy capstone and brings the Player Characters up against the head of the cult and his minions, but it is a pity that he is not as well developed as an NPC as the other two NPCs in the adventure, one of whom is actually masquerading as a cultist and may side with the cultists or the Player Characters depending upon their actions. Adding The Tower of Six—along with its previous two parts—to most campaigns is easy. Together they form a solidly engaging trilogy for ShadowDark, but where they have the potential to shine and be more memorable, is if played as mini campaign with the Player Characters as cultists.

The Other OSR: The Cavern of Cursed Tears

The Cavern of Cursed Tears is a low preparation, pick-up-and-play scenario for Pirate Borg, the self-described, “Worst Pirate RPG Ever Made™!” Published by Limithron, it is an Old School Renaissance-style roleplaying game is set in the Dark Caribbean, a sea of tropical islands marked with European towns and fortresses and ruins of civilisations long gone, of shipwrecks with rich cargoes and even richer treasures, and of the Scourge. The Scourge made the dead walk once again, ghosts return to haunt the living, and monsters lurk ready to the foothold that the Europeans have established in the region. The governors and the viceroys, representatives of kings and queens, have forced to adapt and rule with no contact from home following the Scourge and even take advantage of the situation, especially since the discovery of the abilities and addictive nature of ASH, the ash of the burned and ground undead. Some seek to make money from the trade in ASH and some seek to control it, whilst others seek to repress it. This is another cause of the conflict in the Dark Caribbean. Pirate Borg casts the players as members of a crew who will sail the ASH-tinged waters the Dark Caribbean, raiding and smuggling, carousing and drinking, adventuring and exploring. Pirate Borg is based upon Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and also published by Free League Publishing.

The Cavern of Cursed Tears is said to be the last resting pace of the treasures of not one, but two pirate captains who happened to be in love with each other. The Cavern of Cursed Tears is rumoured to be of interest to both the British Royal Society and the Inquisition. The Cavern of Cursed Tears is said by many pirates to be cursed, but that will not stop Sir Barrington from looking for a crew to sail him to the island where it is located and then lead an expedition into its depths. These are just some of the rumours that can be discovered about the Cavern of Cursed Tears and certainly, the Game Master could create more. The rumours are the reason to get the Player Characters and their expedition to the mouth of the sinkhole that drops away into the dark. Below there are caverns filled with bones, caverns filled with bats, a cenote and a water maze, and much more that the Player Characters need to traverse before they get anywhere near its secrets.

The Cavern of Cursed Tears is straightforward and linear, there are good reasons for this, both in game and out of game. In game, this is a limited network of caves, but split over two levels. The lower level is mostly underwater and there is a great sense of verticality throughout. The Player Characters will need to do a lot of climbing and jumping to clamber from one cavern to the next, whilst below, any Player Character who can swim well and/or hold his breath will be at an advantage. In addition, the Antiquarian and Deep One Classes from the Down Among the Dead supplement for Pirate Borg are also appropriate, whilst any Player Character with a musical ability will be very useful. Out of game, The Cavern of Cursed Tears is straightforward and linear because it is presented in a trifold format with the whole of the cave network presented on the inside three pages, running from left to right as a side view cutaway, rather than as a more traditional top down map. This allows the descriptions of the upper parts of the cave network to be placed above the side-on view of the caves, with the descriptions of lower parts placed under the side-on view. This is a fantastic layout and as the Player Characters progress through the caves, the attention and eye of the Game Master is pulled across the inner of the trifold, and into the depths of both the cave network and its secrets.

There are elements of the supernatural in the upper two, sandwiched layers of the Cavern of Cursed Tears, notably Chonchonchon, Lord of the Grotto, a necrotic crocodile, but they come to the fore at the end of the cave network, below the upper sections. Here there is a lake and classic Mesoamerican step-pyramid with its own secrets to discover and treasures to plunder. There are some fantastic moments here, such as a shaft lined with dozens of skull-shaped stones, each with a glyph on their foreheads. The glyphs can be played as a tune and when that happens, five thousand glowing skulls appear, and chanting, form stairs leading down… This has a fantastic sense of pulp action a la the Indiana Jones films–and it is not the only one in the scenario. Plus, of course, there is something nasty protecting protecting the secrets of the Cavern of Cursed Tears. The stats for the cast and bestiary of the scenario are given on the back of the trifold and here and there, there are extra notes for the Game Master.

Physically, The Cavern of Cursed Tears is very nicely presented. It is clear and very easy to read and the trifold format is used highly effectively. The map, or rather the sideview of the caves, is well done, as is the step-pyramid below.

The Cavern of Cursed Tears will probably take a session or two to explore. It has a strong emphasis physical exploration with hints of the supernatural that manifest more fully at the end of the scenario. Self-contained, it could be run as a convention or demonstration scenario, but the Game Master might want to cut out the middle section of the cave network to ensure that her Player Characters reach the end. Otherwise, The Cavern of Cursed Tears is very easy to add to a Pirate Borg campaign. It has secrets, it has treasures, and both of those will attract all sorts. The Cavern of Cursed Tears is an entertaining mini-dungeon done the Pirate Borg way.