Friday Fantasy: The Jovian Visitor

A year ago, the astronomer Giovanni Conti died and his student, Vincenzo Costa, set out to fulfil his last oath to his master. That is to protect his master’s work, which the Roman Inquisition and the church has good reason to be heretical. Thus, he took several tomes and notebooks from Giovanni Conti’s Florence villa and hid them around the city. Since then, Costa’s work has enabled him to revisit these locations and check that the books are still there. However, now they are missing. In desperation, he hires the Player Characters. They will need to check on the former locations and follow up on the clues that Costa will give them. This will lead them to a cult which has stolen the books for their astronomical knowledge and is using to bring about the culmination of its aims—the summoning of a second God. So far, the activities of the cult, the Cult of Secundus Deus, have not attracted the attention of either the city authorities or the Roman Inquisition, so both activities and beliefs are heretical. Of course, there is the possibility of the Player Characters’ investigation attracting the attention of the city authorities and ending up before the magistrates…

This is the set-up for The Jovian Visitor, a scenario for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Designed to be played by three to five Player Characters of First to Third Level, it is written by Glynn Seal, best known as the creator of the Midderlands Old School Renaissance setting, this is, thankfully, a much simpler, shorter, and above all, cleaner affair than his previously, quite literally, excrescent Faecal Lands. Set in Florence in 1642, The Jovian Visitor can also work as a sequel to Galileo 2: Judgment Day. That scenario involved the persecution of the famed astronomer Galileo Galilei by Pope Urban VIII using a Automaton or ‘L’Assassino Meccanico’, and the attempt by the astronomer to escape his house arrest and the mechanical man who has been tormenting him. Now neither Galileo Galilei, or his assistant, Vincenzo Viviani, actually appear in The Jovian Visitor, Giovanni Conti and his student, Vincenzo Costa, are modelled on them. Replacing them with their real world counterparts is easy to do, and it makes the scenario more interesting if the Player Characters encountered him when playing through the events of Galileo 2: Judgment Day.

The investigation itself is relatively straightforward. Vincenzo Costa will be able to furnish the Player Characters with some initial leads, including the locations where he hid the four books and the identity of a previous assistant. Following these will lead them down a number of blind alleys and possibly into punch-ups with the citizens of Florence if they irk them too much or getting arrested by the city watch of they cannot explain their interest in the four locations across the city. It is encounter with the latter that the scenario is at its weakest, not quite explaining what the outcome is if the Player Characters are brought before the city magistrates. If, however, the Player Characters can avoid entanglements with the authorities, they will also learn that they are being watched by a mysterious lady in red. It turns out that she is an important figure in the Cult of Secundus Deus, and will go out of her way to persuade the Player Characters to curb their interest in the books.

Coloured a little by a random encounter or two, persistent Player Characters should soon learn that something is going on in the woods on the hills to the north of the city, where flashes of light have been seen in the sky. Clues found there point to the imminent fruition of the plans of the Cult of Secundus Deus. Can the Player Characters act in time to prevent the summoning of the Second God? And if he is not a god, just what is he? That though, is not something that the Player Characters, or indeed, the whole world really wants to find out.

Physically, The Jovian Visitor is well presented. The artwork is decent, and of course, the cartography is excellent. The map of Florence, in particular, is very nice.

The Jovian Visitor is a short affair, easily played through in a single session, two at most. It has the feel of Lovecraftian investigative horror scenario, though of course, without the Mythos, and that is no bad thing. That it can work as a sequel to Galileo 2: Judgment Day is a bonus, but even on its own, it is a serviceable, if short little mystery that can easily be added to a campaign or adapted to fit elsewhere. That is a whole lot cleaner than the last book from the author for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying is a double bonus!

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DISCLAIMER: The author of this review is an editor who has both edited titles for Lamentations of the Flame Princess on a freelance basis and edited titles for the author of this book on a freelance basis. He was not involved in the production of this book and his connection to both publisher and author has no bearing on the resulting review.

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Lamentations of the Flame Princess will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.