Miskatonic Monday #350: Cthulhu Ireland

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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Cthulhu Ireland: 1920s Horror Roleplaying on the Isle of the Fey is special because it is a full-blown sourcebook for a region that is relatively little visited by any era or version of Call of Cthulhu and because it is one of the very few handful of titles originally released a part of Chaosium, Inc.’s Miskatonic University Library Association series of monographs. Originally published as Mysteries of Ireland – Horror Roleplaying in 1920s Ireland in 2012, it has been updated for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. It includes a complete guide to the Irish Republic of the period as well as Northern Ireland, its four major cities, its society, culture, and history, its folklore, and much more. That more includes an examination of the Mythos and its presence in and around Ireland, drawing parallels between myth and the Mythos, and five scenarios that will in turn will see the Investigators trapped in an Irish pub on a dark and stormy night by a fearsome creature out of faerie folklore, have a run in with batrachian horrors off the Irish coast after a smuggling operation goes wrong, fight a demon trapped beneath a village church, uncover the dark machinations of spiritualists, and discover the fecund and ghostly secrets on an island on Beltane Eve!

Cthulhu Ireland: 1920s Horror Roleplaying on the Isle of the Fey opens with H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, ‘The Moon Bog’, a classic tale of rural horror in which the main characters ignore the warnings of the local villagers, decrying them as peasant superstition. Despite the existence of this story in the Lovecraft canon,Call of Cthulhu is notable in its lack of scenarios set on the Emerald Isle, certainly in comparison to the number set in the United Kingdom just over the water. ‘Other Irish Call Of Cthulhu Resources And Scenarios’ at the end of the supplement does a very good and well researched job of actually pointing out that there are more than you think. Nevertheless, this lack may be due to a combination of the differences between the cultures between England and Ireland and the political unrest and its consequences during the early part of the classic period for Call of Cthulhu making the writing of scenarios a challenge. As the supplement makes clear though, the Irish War Of Independence and the Irish Civil War that followed were over by 1923 and that whilst both sectarianism and occasional acts of violence occurred throughout the period, there were very few major incidents. Much like other historical aspects of the Roaring Twenties, a Keeper and her players need not engage with this element of the setting.

The geography and history of Ireland gives a firm foundation for what follows in Cthulhu Ireland, coming up to date with the end of the Irish Civil War and followed by a chronology of events at home and abroad that affect first the Irish Free State and then the Republic of Ireland. The overview in turn covers religion, justice and the police, currency and banks, fashion, the Irish language, and technology. The latter highlights the slow spread of technology throughout the country, whether that is the telephone, radio, electricity, and so on. In terms of transport, the horse and cart or the bicycle are more commonly used than the motorcar, but the island has an extensive railway network. Aviation is very limited, as is medical care, especially when it comes to mental illness. Players being players, will, of course, ask about firearms and for those that do, they will be delighted to discover that they are not strictly controlled. Particular attention is paid to public houses and drinking, an integral part of Irish culture, whilst cinema, theatre, and all manner of sports are discussed. Throughout, there are a lot of little details that will add flavour and verisimilitude to any excursion to Ireland by the Investigators. These include names of Irish coins and notes, the establishment of the Committee on Evil Literature to ban materials considered obscene or liable to corrupt public morals, and a discussion of Poitín—or Irish Moonshine. What comes across clearly is that Ireland is primarily a rural society and much of the excitement and the modernity of the period in terms of the racy culture of the Jazz Age that spread from the United States of America in the post war period was simply limited to the wealthier and more urbane classes of the cities.

The supplement begins its turn to the strange with an examination of festivals, such as St. Patrick’s Day, the Battle of the Boyne, Bealtaine, and more. Perhaps the most mundane, yet still odd, are the descriptions of the folkloric activities of the Mummers, Wrenboys, and Strawboys, all masked, but performing plays, protecting against a sorcerous seductress, and blessing weddings, respectively. It categorises various archaeological sites, including treasure hoards and bog bodies, before looking at the preponderance of haunted castles across the island. There is quick mention of various lines of traditional research in Ireland—newspapers, museums, and universities, before various occult and numerous occult societies are examined in more detail. This includes the miracles of St. Patrick as well as witches and warlocks, and more up to date, the notable psychics of the day. Not one but two different Hellfire Clubs are described as having been founded amongst the aristocracy of Dublin, whilst more recently, the Hermetic Society, the Dublin branch of the Theosophical Society is very popular amongst the leading figures of Irish literature of the day.

The supplement draws links between the origin myths of Ireland and the Mythos, most notably cultists of Chaugnar Faugn, believing that Fintan, husband of Noah’s granddaughter, believing that he is an acolyte of the Horror from the Hills, and will bear him from the Plateau of Leng to the new land; that the enemy that plagued the waves settlers who came to the west of Ireland, the Fomorians, are in fact giant Deep Ones and their misshapen shoggoth slaves; and that Mórrígan, the tripartite goddess of fertility, war and fate, who was worshipped by and aided the Tuatha Dé Danann in their defeat of the Fir Bolg, is in fact, Shub-Niggaurath. Lugh of the Long is worshiped still by the Tuatha Dé Danann in the Otherworld and some also in the mortal world, though few know him to be one of the many masks of Nyarlathotep.

In terms of new Mythos species and other entities, the most notable are the Merrow. They are actually Deep Ones, descended from the twisted monsters and giants who fought the Tuatha Dé Danann, who hold sway on and below Tory Island off the coast of County Donegal, whilst their bloodlines trickle down the families up and down the nearby coast. Most species and creatures are more obviously drawn from Irish folklore, such as the Tuatha Dé Danann or Faerie Folk, the Banshee—friendly and hateful, the Leprechaun, the Púca, and both the Witch and the Witch’s Familiar. If there is anything lacking, it is a broader discussion of the presence of the Mythos in Ireland, so no mention of Cthulhu or Yog-Sothoth or Ghouls or the Mi-Go, for example. Now the Mi-Go do appear in two of the scenarios, but there is no broader overview of the Mythos in Ireland during this period in terms of inhuman and human activity. Yet what is detailed is pleasingly woven into the background and the history of Ireland, as well as its myths and legends, the latter often quite familiar and obfuscating the truth. As with the earlier list of haunted castles, there is a map marking the various Mythos sites across the Irish landscape. Further, these entries and many of the entries throughout Cthulhu Ireland are accompanied by boxes marked ‘Fairie Contact’, ‘Spiritual Threat’, or ‘Mythos Threat’, which suggest links to the Mythos and ideas that the Keeper could develop further. Such as, for example, the possibility that some Mummer groups might know and want to perform the play, The King in Yellow; that the head of antiquities at National Museum of Ireland is the Austrian, Adolf Mahr, who believes in the esoteric teachings of the Austrian occultist and proto-Nazi Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, and wants to disseminate them in Irish occult circles; and that if the stone idol known as the Naomhóg of Inishkea was recovered and rededicated to Manannán mac Lir, leader of the Tuatha Dé Danann, King of the Otherworld and master of the sea, it would grant great powers over the weather and the sea. The hooks, both Mythos and magical in nature, continue throughout the descriptions of the four cities detailed in Cthulhu Ireland. They are, in turn, Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Galway, and each is given a solid writeup.

Of course, most, if not all of the Occupations from the Investigator’s Handbook for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, are appropriate to Cthulhu Ireland. Four new Occupations—the Tinker or Irish Traveller, the Great War Veteran, the Fairie Doctor, and the Seanchaí—are given along with some minor modifications. For Irish Investigators, it is suggested that they know the Irish language as English, that they have an increased minimum Ride skill, and that the Occult skill be replaced by Folklore. Three out of the four new Occupations all start play with a higher Folklore skill than other Investigators and even a minimum of Cthulhu Mythos knowledge. The Tinker is similar to the Romany Gypsies, but are not related, and mostly get by apart from the political upheavals of the day. The Great War Veteran not only fought in the 1914-1918 war, but likely the Irish War Of Independence and the Irish Civil War that followed and is inured to acts of violence. This is only Occupation not to have a higher Folklore skill or start play with the Cthulhu Mythos skill. The Fairie Doctor was actually abducted by the Fairie for seven years. This requires a high Appearance as they only take beautiful people and once returned, the Fairie Doctor has knowledge of how herbs can be used for good or ill depending on the time of day, can see past some Fairie disguises, create Fairie artefacts like Witch Bottles and Hag Stones, and knows some spells. The Keeper may want to consult The Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic for further folk magic spells. The fourth and last Occupation is the Seanchaí are wandering keepers of ancient lore and storytellers who may also have been taken by the Fairie and may thus also be Fairie blessed.

To support its five scenarios, Cthulhu Ireland includes ten pre-generated Investigators, four of which employ the supplement’s new Occupations. Sadly though, none of the ten come with a backstory. All five scenarios are graded according to the challenge they offer, with two being suitable for beginning Investigators and the other three being of an intermediate challenge suitable for Investigators with some knowledge of the Mythos. The first three scenarios—‘Fear The Púca’, ‘Poitín For Father Moloch’, and ‘The Demon In St Niclaus’s Church’—are more physical in nature, whilst ‘The Secret Of The Goligher Circle’ is the only scenario that is like a classic Mythos investigation, whereas ‘Fear The Púca’, ‘Poitín For Father Moloch’, ‘The Demon In St Niclaus’s Church’, and ‘Blood Fruit’ have ties—of varying strength—to Irish folklore. ‘The Secret Of The Goligher Circle’ is also the only scenario to take place in a city, the others all being set in rural environments.

Attending the wedding of a friend and out drinking before the wedding, the Investigators find themselves first trapped in the village pub and then the village itself in ‘Fear The Púca’. The Fairie creature has gone on the rampage and abducted the groom’s brother after he took wood from a fairie fort just outside the village. To find the brother and free the village from the Púca, the Investigators must negotiate with both the family and the crotchety old wise woman before descending into a nearby cave system, all whilst being harried by the Púca. It gets across the superstitious and well-founded fears of the villagers and the dangers of meddling when you should (and probably do) know better.

‘Poitín For Father Moloch’ has a similar theme. The Investigators have been asked or hired to collect a delivery of Poitín, or Irish moonshine, from smugglers on an island just off the coast. The arranged meeting goes awry when agreed signal changes to an SOS and gunshots are fired. Rushing to help the Investigators discover a bloodbath and signs that the smugglers have been attacked by an odd mix of creatures. Here the antagonists are the Merrow, the supplement’s version of the Deep Ones, who like the Púca in ‘Fear The Púca’, harass the Investigators all the way to the solution, though in a more murderous fashion. The scenario has a nice pace to it all the way to the finish.

An explosion opens ‘The Demon In St Niclaus’s Church’. It is set in 1922, at the height of the Irish Civil War, it is set entirely within the confines of an abandoned church which hides a secret. For centuries, it has been the prison of a terrible creature, which has now been freed following the detonation of dynamite that the IRA had been storing and did not want to fall into the hands of the authorities. All the clues are contained within the ruins of the church and the scenario is essentially a horrifyingly creepy locked room puzzle.

‘The Secret Of The Goligher Circle’ is set in Belfast and involves two real-life figures. One is the Irish spiritualist medium, Kathleen Goligher, and the other is William Jackson Crawford, a local engineer and academic who investigated and endorsed him before his suicide in 1920. In the scenario, his sister asks the Investigators to look into his death, which she does not believe to have been a suicide. Crawford’s interest in the occult and the local branch of the Theosophic Society, as well as his fascination with spiritualism, quickly becomes apparent. The scenario’s set piece is a séance with Kathleen Goligher, which will need careful handling upon the part of the Keeper, but which has the potential to be most unsettling. Further investigation leads to a strange house on the outskirts of the city below Cave Hill. The investigation is meatier than the previous three scenarios, being more of a traditional Call of Cthulhu scenario. That investigation could have been slightly better organised, but will reveal that the solution is very much grounded in the Mythos rather than spiritualism and ghosts.

Lastly, ‘Blood Fruit’ obviously and self-admittedly takes its inspiration from the 1973 film, The Wicker Man. It will climax on the night of Beltane, but opens in delicious fashion: At breakfast, an Investigator’s blood orange literally bleeds the words, ‘help us’. Where did the blood orange come from and how did the message get inside? It turns out that the tropical fruit is grown on an island off the Irish coast and this is not the first time that messages have appeared in fruit from the island. This is the island of Ortansey, which lies just off the coast of County Cork. The Investigators will be able to discover some background about its owner, Lord Connor O’Brian, before they go there, that his family were killed in a boating accident and he disappeared for several years in the 1890s. It is only since his return that the island has become renowned for its tropical fruit. The Investigators will need to be inventive in producing a reason for visiting the island as the owner is very careful about who has access. The island is surprisingly warm, infested with snakes (unlike the rest of Ireland), and the islanders are very open in both their paganism despite claiming to be good Christians and their sexuality. Both will be very shocking to the attitudes of the day. The upcoming Beltane festival will speed events along to a climax that does involve sacrifice, but not necessarily the Investigators and not in a giant wicker man. The investigation will be quite challenging as the Investigators need to maintain convincing covers for their reason to be there and allay suspicions as they make their enquiries. The challenge for the players is roleplaying through an obvious, but still different pastiche. The latter, combined with the semi-tropical paradise that is the island, gives ‘Blood Fruit’ an air of unreality, intentionally at odds with the rest of Ireland and out of place in the book. Nevertheless, ‘Blood Fruit’ is a good scenario, an antidote perhaps to the often darkly, fey nature of the other scenarios.

Physically, Cthulhu Ireland: 1920s Horror Roleplaying on the Isle of the Fey is very well presented. The artwork is decent and the maps are good. Although it needs an edit in places, it is well written and engaging. Sadly, for a book of its size, there is no index.

Cthulhu Ireland: 1920s Horror Roleplaying on the Isle of the Fey is the definitive guide to Ireland in the 1920s for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, since there is no official guide from Chaosium, Inc. Thankfully, as the unofficial guide to Ireland for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the supplement is almost as good as if Chaosium, Inc. had published it. It is informative and it is interesting and it deals with the difficult history during the early part of this period with care and sensitivity. Although it does not provide an overview of the Mythos in Ireland during twenties, what it does add to the Mythos is engagingly woven into Irish folklore and legend, ensuring that both have an even darker edge to them rather than being treated in a quaint or twee fashion. Further, given its closeness to the United Kingdom, Cthulhu Ireland: 1920s Horror Roleplaying on the Isle of the Fey is also a good companion to any campaign set on the British Isles and would complement Cthulhu by Gaslight as well. Overall, Cthulhu Ireland: 1920s Horror Roleplaying on the Isle of the Fey is an impressive addition to the Miskatonic Repository and a great addition to Call of Cthulhu.

Companion Chronicles #12: The Adventure of the Secret Admirer

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

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What is the Nature of the Quest?

The Adventure of the Secret Admirer is a supplement for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, six page, 3.68 MB PDF.

The layout is a little untidy and it is lightly illustrated.

Where is the Quest Set?

The Adventure of the Secret Admirer is suitable to run with any campaign for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It is nominally set in the county of Sussex, but can be easily be shifted elsewhere to suit the Game Master’s campaign.

Who should go on this Quest?

The Adventure of the Secret Admirer is suitable for knights of all types. It will appeal to Player-knights who uphold the ideals of courtly romance in particular. It is suitable for play with smaller groups of Player-knights or even a single Player-knight.

Player-knights with a good Recognise skill and a high Jousting (Charge) skill will be at an advantage.

What does the Quest require?

Heirs & Spares requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition rules or the Pendragon Starter Set.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

The Adventure of the Secret Admirer begins with the Lady Colette approaching the Player-knights for a favour. Her parents are unhappily married, Sir Uren, her father a gruff and elderly knight famed for his bravery during the Saxon Wars, her mother, the Lady Elise, a French heiress. During the last two months whilst her father has been away, her mother has been visited by a succession of knights, each bearing flowers and declaring her to be the most beautiful lady in Sussex. Each knight claims to have been defeated in a joust by the Knight of the Flowers, the terms of the defeat requiring that they each deliver the flowers and make the declaration. None though, saw the face of Knight of the Flowers. Lady Colette is worried how her father will react to this flood of romantic intention and asks the Player-knights to find the Knight of the Flowers and persuade him to stop.

The scenario is short, in two parts—though with options to expand it a little—and should take no more than a session to play through. In the first part, the Player-knights will ride back and forth across the county in search of the various defeated knights and question them in turn. Some may want to joust, others require a little help, but the Player-knights will quickly learn where the Knight of the Flowers might be found. In the second part, the Player-knights confront the Knight of the Flowers and may well discover exactly who is… This final encounter is quite challenging and it may mean result in the Player-knights actually failing to learn the identity of the secret admirer.

The Adventure of the Secret Admirer is a short, straightforward adventure. One element it does not employ as written are any Player-knight’s Traits or Passions. This is a major omission and the Game Master will need to work with her players to develop opportunities for this.

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

The Adventure of the Secret Admirer is a charming affair that is easy to prepare and run, but just let down the lack of sophistication it comes to the full use of Pendragon, Sixth Edition’s signature character mechanics.

Here and There

Grimsbury stands at the confluence of two rivers, some miles inland from the sea, its industry struggling to recover from the return to civilian production following World War 2, and its buildings rising back from the harbour and Lower Town and up and over the steep bluffs on which New Town Sits. Surrounded by forests and a landscape pockmarked with neolithic and other archaeological sites, it is perhaps best known for the nearby Grimsbury Facility, the site of the United Kingdom’s first commercial nuclear power plant, built in 1957. It remains, though, little considered by those outside the town and its surrounds. Located perhaps in the West Country or the northwest of England, this is how many in Grimsbury like it. For Grimsbury has a secret… Magick is never far from the surface in the town and the surroundings. It flows through the ley lines and in and around ancient sites, and from There to Here. Here is the world around us, but There is another realm of existence, place in between Here and what lies beyond, serving as a nexus point through which mortal men from Here can pass and the denizens of beyond can pass into Here. There is an unnatural world, a place where mortal men will die of thirst and starvation no matter how much they eat or drink. It is best accessed by The Village, an older version of Grimsbury which lies in the There and from which other realms may be found in the rural surrounds as well as monsters and fiends and other dangers. In Grimsbury, magick is to be contested over, between the members of the White Lodge adheres to the ‘right-handed path’ and works to thwart the drive for power and greed of the Black Lodge, whose members follow the ‘left-handed path’. To be investigated and its practitioners monitored, such as by ‘The Chimera Group’, set up by the Military of Defence in the wake of World War 2. To be shared such as the members of The Society of Lightning Strike Survivors whose members meet regularly to share their experiences and prescient visions of the future. To be stolen by the Ironhand, kidnappers and slavers originating from beyond, but accessing the Here via There. It might be 1964, it might be 1974, it might be 1984, or it might be all of them in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG.

The Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG is published by Unique Publications. As the title suggests it is a Folk Horror roleplaying game set in England. Set sometime in the latter half of the twentieth century, it is inspired by the film The Wicker Man, as well as British television series of the seventies and eighties such as Children of the Stones, The Sandbaggers, Dr. Who, and The Changes. As such its themes are of Ancient Britain, magic and ley lines, errant scientific experimentation, ‘Wyrd’ personalities, and secrets and lies. Mechanically, it uses the Year Zero Engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days, so will be familiar to players of a variety of different roleplaying games. In addition to the rules for character creation, it includes its own magick system, as well as a guide to the setting of Grimsbury, the town and its surrounds, as well as the There. Plus, there are plenty of scenario hooks and advice for both player and Counsellor, the Game Master is known in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG.

A Player Character in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG is defined by his Archetype, Age, Abilities, Skills, and Talents. He will also have Luck Points, Stress, Finances, and Reputation and Contacts, and may be able to use Folk Magick depending on the Archetype. There are twenty Archetypes, each given a single page explaining what they are and what they can do, plus Ability and Skill adjustments, potential flaws, and talents to choose from. The mundane Archetypes are Agent, Archaeologist, Aristocrat, Army Grunt/Soldier, Beatnik/Flower Child, Burglar, Commando, Copper, Mystical Scholar, Paranormal Researcher, Politician, Private Investigator, and Reporter, whilst the mystical are Hedge Witch/Warlock, Potion Maker, Priest, Sorcerer, Summoner, Walker, and Witch/Warlock. All of the latter have the Mysticism Attribute and can use Practical Magick. Age determines how many points a player has to spend on Abilities and Skills, plus his Luck Points and Financial Bonus. Younger Player Characters have more points to spend on Abilities, fewer to spend on Skills, more Luck Points, and no Finance Bonus, whereas Mature Player Characters have fewer points to spend on Abilities, more on Skills, fewer Luck Points, and a higher Financial Bonus. The Abilities are Strength, Agility, Ken—a combination of knowledge, perception, and willpower, and Connect—self-awareness and manipulation of others. They range in value between one and five. The Mysticism Ability is only available to certain Archetypes and represents the capacity to harness and understand Magick. There are twelve skills, three per Ability, and they range in value between one and five, but can go much higher. There are modifications provided if the Counsellor and her players want to roleplay in ‘hardcore’ mode, with lower Ability scores and fewer skills.

To create a character, a player decides on his character’s Age and from this spends the given points on Abilities and Skills, whilst noting down the other factors. He also chooses an Archetype, noting down its benefits. He chooses two Talents. One of these will come from the Archetype itself, for example, ‘We Served Together’ and ‘Do you know who I am?’ for the Politician, whilst the other comes from a general list, such as ‘Crime Scene Investigation’ and ‘Smuggler’.

Our sample Player Character is Snowdrop Jones, the daughter of a hippy who grew up on a commune. She grew up sickly, but the den mother prepared many home and other natural remedies to treat her. In the process she learned many of the recipes and more, gaining more of an education in the old ways and superstitions than from what modern schooling could offer. She has a reputation for being dreamy and a short attention span, but she cares about people and magic, using what she knows to help.

Name: Snowdrop Jones
Archetype: Beatnik/Flower Child Age: 23
Health Points: 5

Stress Points: 8
Luck Points: 5
Magick Points: 7
Financial Bonus: -2
Carrying Allowance: 40

ABILITIES/SKILLS

Strength: 2
Agility: 3 Sneak 1
Ken: 3 Detect/Observe 1,

Magickal Focus – Folk Magic 1, Magickal Focus – Potion Making 2, Willpower 1
Connect: 4 Read 1, Manipulate 2, Heal/Console 2
Mysticism: 4

TALENTS
Just the Thing, Keeper of the Old Ways

FLAW
Short Attention Span

Mechanically, the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG uses the Year Zero Engine, which requires rolls of six-sided dice, the aim being to roll sixes as they count as successes. To have his character undertake an action, the player assembles a dice pool formed from the combination of an Ability, skill, gear, and assistance from another Player Character. Typically, a single Success is required for a Player Character to achieve his aims, but further Successes may grant a Bonus Effect determined by the Counsellor. If four or more Success are rolled, the result is a Critical Success, but a Critical Failure if four or more ones—or Banes—are rolled.

Any result with no sixes counts as a failure. At this point, the player can decide to ‘Push the Roll’. This allows him to roll the entire dice pool. A Pushed Roll that generates Successes means that the Player Character achieved his aim, but a Pushed Roll that generates Success and Banes, means that the Player Character achieved his aim, but with consequences, whilst a Pushed Roll without any Successes and one or more Banes is a failure with consequences. The Counsellor has a table to which she can refer to determine what the consequences might be. These might be that the Player Character suffers a fainting spell and loses two Stress points, gains a revival, or wakes up on a train with no idea how he got there, all depending upon the situation in which the action was attempted.

A Pushed Roll also has one other side effect and that is that the Player Character loses a point of Stress, reflecting how unnerving or odd he finds the world of Grimsbury right now. Particularly unnerving or scary situations may require a Player Character to make a Stress Check. Any rolled Success means that the Player Character has passed, whilst no Successes are a failure and the Player Character loses another point of Stress. Worse though, any Failure with a Bane means that not only is the Player Character’s further Stress reduced by one (or more), and he will also commit an involuntary action as determined by the Counsellor, such as falling over or dropping an item or crying out. Lastly, should a Player Character’s Stress be reduced to zero, he is in a state of Panic and needs to roll on the ‘Panic Effects’ table. He could suffer from a cardiac arrest and drop dead or he could suffer from hallucinations for the next few hours.

If all else fails, a Player Character can also rely on Luck. This can be burned to reroll any check, revise a fact or scene, or to use an additional Folklore Magick action and have it succeed. However, burning Luck triggers a Stress Check. Luck is very slow to recover, resetting at the end of an adventure or at least refilling over the course of a year of game time.

Combat in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG, like most roleplaying games using the Year Zero Engine, is short, brutal, and often nasty. Although many of the Archetypes in the roleplaying game will rely upon it, more interesting is the use of Magick in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG. It encompasses more than just casting spells, including ritual, sacrifice, chemistry, celebration, performance (singing & dancing), gathering, geomancy, and more. The roleplaying game keeps the description of magick quite broad, so allowing for the creativity of the players and their character when using it. Magick is also woven into the landscape of both the Here and the There, so the environment, whether that is the alignment of the planets or a nearby ley line, will also often affect Magick and its casting.

Mechanically, knowledge of each of the different types and areas of Magick is treated as a different ‘Focus’, an area of specialist understanding. This ranges from ‘Brew Potions’, ‘Dimensional Travel/Gates’, and ‘Enchant Items’ to ‘Read Minds’, ‘Illusion/Disguise’, and ‘Summoning’ via ‘Mental Control’, ‘Nature – Plants’, ‘Foresight/ Portents/Visions’, and ‘Heal Up’. The player of a practitioner of Magick does not roll to see whether a spell or other magical outcome succeeds, but to see what its effect is and how effective it is. This is called a ‘Magickal Effect Roll’ and in general it works like a standard skill roll in the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG. The base dice pool consists of the Player Character’s Mysticism and a Magickal Skill plus one die per Magick Point invested in the use of Magick. The dice for Player Character’s Mysticism and a Magickal Skill are rolled together, whilst the dice for Magick Points are rolled separately. A roll with no Success and no Banes means that the attempt succeeds with the desired effect. If Successes are rolled, the Magick has an even greater effect than intended. However, if Banes are rolled—and they can only be rolled on the dice for the Magickal Points—there are consequences. This might be as simple as the effect draining more Magick Points than intended (and if that drains all of the practitioner’s Magick Points, there is a chance he will die), the effect simply fizzling out, being more amazing or disastrous than intended, and so on…

All Magickal effects require a minimum of a single Magickal Point. This will be enough to get the desired Magickal outcome, but does not guarantee it. What a player is doing when his character expends more Magickal Points, is not trying to achieve a greater effect, but trying to increase the chances of the desired effect. It has a brute force feel to it, unsubtle and with a higher chance of consequences. Magickal Points can be recovered through rest, through certain abilities and items, and even conducting a Recharge Ritual on or near a Ley Line. Ley lines can also be used to boost Magickal actions, transport practitioner’s of Geomancy, and more.

The setting of Grimsbury is described in in engaging detail, focusing upon individual and interesting locations such as the Old Square in Lower Square with its funicular railway up the bluff to Upper Grimsbury and the Lunchroom, serving the dockworkers daily, where the soup is good, there is time to chat or exchange microfilm, and the owner, Mrs. Mablethorpe, is a dab hand with the potions. Magic tricks can be learned at Ash’s Magic Shop and performances at Rodney’s Puppet theatre have taken on an air cruelty when the puppets talk about Rodney, whilst beyond the town walking paths follow the same routes as hunters did thousands of years ago from cairn to standing stone, the Grimsbury Facility, a secretive team of technomages at the nuclear power plant is investigating far more than just subatomic particles—it is attempting to understand and control the There. The landscape is dotted with neolithic sites and burial mounds like the Hill and Crown, marked with a spiralling path and topped with an ancient sacred grove where Druid still make sacrifices to appease the spirits. Gates and potential gates can also be found, each one offering a connection between the Here and the There, though the means of activating them is rarely the same twice. There is unnatural and unsettling, faded quality to it, but in the counterpart to modern Grimsbury, the village it once was, a man in a tweed suit with a pot of tea on the go, maintains a chalkboard of names, tasks, and opportunities, an inn stands with plenty of patrons but no sight of any proprietor, and the Camera Shoppe, film can obtained that will reveal the invisible. A wonderful range of personalities are detailed, as are numerous factions, such as a flock of shape changing birds that really like to share secrets, the Grimbury Ramblers who walk from one neolithic stone to the next in search of the Blessing of the Stone, and the Conclave, Travellers that move from beyond to There and Here in search of the entities which would do great evil across all of There.

All of this is supported by some decent adventure seeds, both in the Here and the There, some of which are quite grim. There is some serviceable advice for Player and Counsellor alike. However, the rulebook does not include a beginning scenario and it does not include much in way of advice on running the game in the long term. The biggest omission is the lack of threats. No NPC is given stats and neither are there any stats for magickal threat or threat from the There. To that end, the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG requires a companion detailing more of this aspect of the setting.

Physically, the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG is cleanly and tidily laid out.

The Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG has an engaging sense of otherness to it with the descriptions of the various Archetypes and of the Grimsbury of the Here and the There that somehow give a sense of somewhen between the 1950s and the 1980s. The rules are tried and tested, but the magick system offers a degree of flexibility combined with a sharp edge of danger if pushed too far. Yet the lack of mechanical threat and NPC and monster stats hinder the use of the setting by the Counsellor, which may persuade her to look to other rules that might provide the numbers and those threats where the Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG does not. The Grimsbury English Folk Horror RPG is a very likeable setting as written, but it awaits completion and further support in anticipation of an excursion to its Here and There.

The Shadow of Scandal

The London Spiritualist Society is threatened with scandal! Just three weeks ago, one of the society’s junior members died in the library under strange circumstances and if word got out, its austere and respected reputation as an upright and proper dedication with an interest in the occult and the burgeoning spiritualist movement would suffer greatly. Such is the worry that this will come to pass, that the board of the society has decided that the incident should be investigated properly and fully with the aim of confirming that the society itself was not to blame and that no suspicion of impropriety can be attached to the society. The investigators are of course to be discreet themselves, whilst also bring to bear their experiences in dealing with the occult and the outré. So begins The Strange Case of the Shadow Traveller, a short two-act scenario for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. It is published by Stygian Fox Publishing, best known for the anthologies Things We leave Behind and Fear’s Sharp Little Needles: Twenty-Six Hunting Forays into Horror, as well as New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, Second Edition, the return of a classic. As written, it is intended to be compatible with the publisher’s Hudson & Brand, Inquiry Agents of the Obscure, a Victorian Era setting supplement, published in 2017 when there no Cthulhu by Gaslight in print. However, in 2025, there is, and The Strange Case of the Shadow Traveller can be run with just Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and then with the fourth edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight, and perhaps a little easier now than it can with Hudson & Brand, Inquiry Agents of the Obscure.

The Strange Case of the Shadow Traveller begins with the Investigators at the headquarters of the London Spiritualist Society. They can already be members or even associates, but they should all have some experience with spiritualism and the occult and certainly acquired a reputation for discretion. They are informed that three weeks before, a trio of younger members broke in the society’s library and attempted a ceremony, one in which the board member believes they attempted to summon some malevolent spirit. At the end of the ceremony, one of the three was dead, a second was so traumatised he had to be hospitalised in an asylum, and the third resigned from the society. Each of the three represents the Investigators’ opening lines of inquiry. Of course, one of them is dead, although the Investigators will be told where his grave is, but the other two, Sir Peter Wahlmesey and Miss Sarah Mulberry can be visited and both will recant what happened during the ceremony, though with varying degrees of reluctance. Miss Mulberry can be interviewed at her flat, whilst Sir Peter has been institutionalised for his own good. Pleasingly, the scenario actually points out that he is receiving—by standards of the day—very good care at the asylum, and further, the scenario nicely emphasises the fragility of his current state rather than it actually being horrified.

Although the Investigators can learn a certain amount from both participants in the ceremony, very little of pertains to subsequent events and what pushes the Investigators to investigate further in the second act does feel like a deus ex machina, an intervention signposting where they should go. This comes after a very violent encounter with a horse and carriage which points to the Investigators to the home of the man killed during the ceremony, Richard Keye. This is a small mansion, but one which has been turned into half a slaughterhouse, half haunted house, one marked with some classic horror house motifs, such as something lurking in the bathtub or body parts strangely protruding from the walls. Again, much like the encounter in the asylum, these are nicely underplayed and in some cases, benign in nature and intent, if not outcome. There are some nicely creepy scenes and encounters throughout the house, but ultimately, the scenario funnels the Investigators into a final confrontation with the threat at the heart of the scenario.

Physically, The Strange Case of the Shadow Traveller is short and tidy, neat little hardback like the publisher’s earlier Nightmare on the Necropolis Express. It is done in the style of a penny dreadful, though with some colour artwork, some of which is quite decent. The map is clear and easy to use, whilst the book does need an edit in places.

If The Strange Case of the Shadow Traveller presents its horror stoutly enough, it wavers when it comes to other theme, that of impropriety and scandal. With the society of the Victorian Era, there is plenty of scope for it within the scenario, not just due to the death in the library of the London Spiritualist Society, but also because one of the NPCs is transgender. That the latter is included is not a criticism or issue in terms of the story, but The Strange Case of the Shadow Traveller does not explore or really what happens if information about becomes more widely known. Of course, the scenario was written before the publication of the new edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight, but the Cthulhu by Gaslight: Investigators’ Guide – Mysteries & Frights in the Victorian Age does include rules for reputation and suffering damage to it. Obviously, this is less of an issue if the scenario is run as a one-shot rather than being used in a campaign.

Although set in the Victorian era of Cthulhu by Gaslight, there is very little to stop the Keeper adapting The Strange Case of the Shadow Traveller to other time periods, and whatever the time period, its brevity means that it is easy to slot into an ongoing campaign. Whilst it does not concern the traditional Cthulhu Mythos in any way, its themes of spiritualism and propriety are appropriate to the period, though it does not go as far it could have done in examining the consequences of impropriety. Nevertheless, and although quite light on investigation, The Strange Case of the Shadow Traveller is an engaging one-session of body horror and possession.

Quick-Start Saturday: Sisterhood

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.

—oOo—

What is it?
Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide is the quick-start for Sisterhood, a roleplaying game of ‘nuns with guns’ who fight demonic possession, cults, and other occult activities that threaten the world. It is published by Parable Games, best known for the horror roleplaying game, Shiver – Role-playing Tales in the Strange & the Unknown.

It is a twenty-nine page, 2.88 MB full colour PDF.

How long will it take to play?
Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide is designed to be played through in a single session. Any longer than that and you are not punching the demons hard enough.

What else do you need to play?
The Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide needs a full set of standard polyhedral dice per player. Tokens (or possibly miniatures) are required to represent the Sisters and the cultists and demons they will face. In addition to the character sheets for the Sisters, the Mother Superior—as the Game Master in Sisterhood is known—will need to print out ‘The Way of the Cross’ battlemap.

Who do you play?
The four Player Characters—or kickarse Nuns—in the Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide consist of an ex-criminal, a seer, a brawler, and an ex-resistance fighter.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Sister in Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide has four stats—Faith, Cunning, Empathy, and Fortitude. These represent a Sister’s spiritual power, logical thinking, emotional capability, and strength and resilience, and are measured by die size, from a six-sided to a ten-sided die. Body and Spirit represent her physical fortitude and the fortitude of her Soul respectively. Her ability to call upon divine intervention is measured in points of Divinity, which has a variety of uses. She also has several skills. One of these is her ‘Past Skill’, picked up during her life before she became a Nun and one is her ‘Divinity Recharge’ by which she can recharge her Divinity Points after having used them. For example, in her Past, Sister Agatha was a Criminal. Her ‘Past Skill’ is ‘Illicit Activity’, which grants a bonus to Empathy challenges when dealing with crooks and her ‘Divinity Recharge’ is triggered when she kills an enemy from Ambush or Vantage. Each Sister has two further skills in addition to these.

How do the mechanics work?

Mechanically, Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide uses a Dice Challenge system. When a player wants his Nun to undertake an action, he rolls one his stat dice, whilst the Mother Superior rolls a Challenge die, which varies in size according to the difficulty of the task. A four-sided die is ‘Trivial’, a six-sided die is normal, an eight-sided die is ‘Difficult’, and so on, all the way up to a twenty-sided die or ‘Apocalyptic’! Whomever rolls the highest succeeds. A Sister can gain more dice to roll if another Sister helps her, as well as from Skills, Relics, and Blessings. In general, if a Sister is ‘Blessed’, her player rolls the next highest size die, but the next lowest die size if she is ‘Cursed’. Alternatively, the Sister Superior could simply set a target or Difficulty Class that the player and his Sister has to beat.

Combat in Sisterhood works slightly differently to that found in other roleplaying games. It employs ‘The Way of the Cross’ and is played out on a battlemap made up of the ‘Cross’ and the ‘Pentagram’. Different areas within the ‘Cross’ and the ‘Pentagram’ are marked with terms such as ‘Hidden’, ‘Flank’, ‘Brawl’, and more, which represent manoeuvres and tactics that both sides can move into and make use of, as well as range. A Sister can undertake three actions per turn, such as ‘Reposition’, ‘Attack’, ‘Assist’, ‘Use’, and so on. The Nuns will start a fight from the ‘Cross’, whilst the demons and their servants start in the ‘Pentagram’. In general, combat in Sisterhood has a tactical, if slightly abstract feel.

How does combat work?
Combat in Sisterhood works slightly differently to that found in other roleplaying games. It employs ‘The Way of the Cross’ and is played out on a battlemap made up of the ‘Cross’ and the ‘Pentagram’. Different areas within the ‘Cross’ and the ‘Pentagram’ are marked with terms such as ‘Hidden’, ‘Flank’, ‘Brawl’, and more, which represent manoeuvres and tactics that both sides can move into and make use of, as well as range. A Sister can undertake three actions per turn, such as ‘Reposition’, ‘Attack’, ‘Assist’, ‘Use’, and so on. The Nuns will start a fight from the ‘Cross’, whilst the demons and their servants start in the ‘Pentagram’. In general, combat in Sisterhood has a tactical, if slightly abstract feel.

How Divine are the Sisters?
A Sister in Sisterhood has access to the Divine in the form of points of Divinity. She has three of these at First Level and will gain more when she acquires another Level. Divinity can be spent to gain ‘Divine Intervention’ and an extra six-sided die to a result in a challenge; to trigger certain skills; to gain a ‘Dice of Divinity’ or twenty-sided that replaces a Sister’s main die, which requires every Sister to expend a point of Divinity; and to power certain relics and holy weapons. Spent Divinity can be regained by resting, through prayer, and a Sister using her ‘Recharge Skill’.

What do you play?

The scenario in Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide is ‘The Lost Covent’. The Sisters are tasked with investigating a former, but isolated convent to determine if it is being used for cult activities, recover a relic left, and then cleanse the chapel. It is a quick affair, beginning with an investigation of the former convent before a confrontation with the cultists in the chapel. The Sisters will barely have a chance to recover before the chapel is assaulted by even more heavily armed cultists—including Cultist Rangers(!) and a Machine Gun Team(!)—attempting to stop them from consecrating the chapel once more. It is very combat focused and probably needed a bit more investigation and a bit more room for interaction and roleplaying.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide has everything the the Mother Superior and her Sisters will need to play.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in the Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide are very easy to prepare. They are light and easy to use as much as they are to teach, although the players will need to to get used to ‘The Way of the Cross’ upon which combat is handled.

Is it worth it?
Yes—for the most part. The Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide presents everything you you need to play a brutal game of Nun-on-Demon action, with an emphasis on the action and combat and the tactics played out on the ‘The Way of the Cross’. However, this emphasis on action and combat means that there is more ‘nuns with guns’ than ‘nuns with anything else’ action in the scenario. More of the latter would have allowed the Sisters to shine out of combat and given scope for all of their past lives to be brought into play. The Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide is a fast and fun, but not quite all it could have been.

The Sisterhood – Quickstart Guide is published by Parable Games and is available to download here.

The Other OSR: Kavlov’s Sanctuary

It is over a thousand years since the great wizard, Kavlov, drew upon his magics to bind and imprison Balthazar, a three-eyed demon of Uzran, in the Halls of Dread below the Dreaded Hills. It is said that he sacrificed himself to ensure that the demon would never again walk the mortal realm and spread his influence, for he was not seen again. This is not the case, for Kavlov not only drew upon his mighty magics to bind the demon in place, but he also bound himself to ensure that they did not fail. Yet failing they are and as the wizard’s power fades, so do the bindings that hold the demon in place. As they weaken, so the influence of Balthazar has spread once again, and many and diverse a group of men and monsters have found their way to the Dreaded Hills and there settled within the network of caves that thread out down the hill under which the demon’s bindings lie. Dread creatures and monstrous men are abroad in the forests and hills nearby, threatening those unwise to be travelling through the region and the nearby village of Sanctuary, noted as haven for the bereaved, its guilds and temples dedicated to ensuring that the deceased are accorded a proper burial. As darkness begins to spread and seep into the hearts of men, what will the Player Characters do? Strike a blow for the safety of all concerned and prevent those that still worship the demon from freeing him of his shackles or do they side with the demon and work to free him and so unleash his dark desires upon the world once again?

This is the set-up for K-1 Kavlov’s Sanctuary, a scenario and sandcrawl for use with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. Published by The Dungeon’s Key following a successful Kickstarter campaign, K-1 Kavlov’s Sanctuary may well be written for use with Mörk Borg (there is also a version written for use with Necrotic Gnome’s Old School Essentials, the retroclone based on the 1980-81 version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons), but what it is inspired by, is a classic module for Basic Dungeons & Dragons. This is B2, Keep on the Borderlands, which presented a frontier base of operations—the keep of the title—from which the Player Characters could operate and the Caves of Chaos, the series of caves and caverns in which all manner of humanoid tribes could be found in service to the forces of evil. The inspiration then, provides for a base of operations, in this case, the settlement of Sanctuary, a wilderness area packed with danger, and a big threat, in this case, the caves under the Dreaded Hills, a set of thirteen mini-dungeons. K-1 Kavlov’s Sanctuary, though, manages to provide not just more than this, but ultimately and effectively less than this.

The book begins with seven Classes for Mörk Borg. These are the Flesh Weaver, which uses a bone needle and bloody sinew to alter the flesh of himself and others; the Blood Baron, who must drink the blood of others to retain his virility; the Degenerate Cannibal, whose own body is nutritious and restores Hit Points, but must eat the raw meat of other humanoids to sustain himself; the Mycotic Fiend, which grows on the body of its host and never needs to eat or drink; the Skinned Bastard, a former child abductee who can invade the dreams of others and whose toughened scar-tissue skin is resilient to damage from magical and physical sources; the Disgraced Court Alchemist, whose surprisingly continued royal patronage gives him advantage in gaining reagents and who is accompanied by a foul smelling, but loyal aide; and a Roach God Emissary, an undying servant to the deity who is sent spells each day by his god, each one scrawled on the wings of its cockroach servants. Bar the Disgraced Court Alchemist, there is a grotesque, even gruesome, quality to all of these Classes, all befitting Mörk Borg. Further, they lend themselves to a play style in which the Player Characters are freaks and monsters and do want Balthazar to be freed.

The given base of operations for the Player Characters is the village of Sanctuary, dominated by its guilds dedicated to mortuary services. They include the Grave Diggers’ Guild, Coffin Makers’ Guild, Embalmers’ Guild, and the Undertakers’ Guild. There is also the chapel, under which the devil (?) Balthazar is bound. The stones of the chapel weep the blood of the demon/devil, which is collected in a cistern underneath the chapel's basement and used in rituals or added to meals for the dying. The head of the chapel, the Master of Rituals leads the town, whilst his deputy, the Deacon, has been corrupted by Balthazar and is leading his acolytes in freeing the demon. The village also has tenement blocks, a general store, a traders, a bake shop, a textiles shop, and a merchant bank, and almost none of it is presented in a way that makes it come to life or engage the interest. What is potentially of interest is one NPC who is a werewolf, one who heads the chapel and the village, and one who is his deputy who is working against him. None of them are named and none of them are given suggestions as to what they might do over the course of the scenario or in response to the Player Characters’ actions. Further and putting aside the fact that the facilities feel more suited to an urban area than a rustic one, all of these facilities in the village are only protected by guards at a watchtower. There are no walls around the village so it feels as if Sanctuary could be overrun and raised to the ground at any minute, but the real problem is simply that the village does not feel lived in and none of its inhabitants feel like real people.

There are more interesting elements in the wilderness, like the Fey who lurk in the Deadwoods and instead of killing their victims, flay them and wear their skins. This is the source of Skinned Bastards Class earlier in the book, potentially setting up an interesting plot hook for a Skinned Bastard Player Character. Yet nothing is developed from this and there is no explanation of why the Fey do this. In comparison, the Bog Witch is more developed and thus more interesting, a crone who lives deep in a swamp and will sell interesting wares, such as a Wand of Health that costs one hundred dirty fingernails or a Potion of Verities which forces the imbiber to answer all questions truthfully for ten minutes and costs four flagons of wine and a bunch of spices. These wares are engagingly inventive and the Bog Witch will also ask potential purchasers for help in searching for her missing albino children. Yet again, the author fails to follow through in setting something interesting up as the entry for the Bog Witch does not tell the Game Master where those children might be found.

The thirteen dungeons range from a ‘Dwarfling Cave’ and the ‘Cannibals’ Den’ to the ‘Wight’s Crypt’ and the ‘Halls of the Dead’. Most are just four pages long and all have their maps repeated on each two-page spread for ease of reference. There are some entertaining dungeons amongst this devil’s dozen. For example, the ‘Gorgon Temple’ has an Egyptian-themed, sepulchral feel, whilst the ‘Hobgoblin Arena’ adds a little excitement in the form of gladiatorial games. Yet all of the dungeons appear to exist in a vacuum. There are connections between some of them, but they are very few and far between, and none of the occupants ever appear to interact with the occupants of another dungeon, and certainly never go outside since none of the occupants appear on any of the encounter tables. Further, none of the dungeons have explanations as to what they are, what their occupants are, and what those occupants do before the actual descriptions begin. Instead, K-1 Kavlov’s Sanctuary commits the cardinal sin of ‘Read to find out’ rather than telling the Game Master what she actually needs to know upfront. Even then, when she does find out, it is unlikely to make sense. For example, the ‘Wight’s Crypt’ has no Wights, but is instead full of Vampires and the ‘Cyclops’ lair’ is not just home to a Cyclops, but a gang of feral children who serve him. Why are they there and why do they not just run away? The Dreaded Hills even have ‘Leper Colony’ and a ‘Laboratory’, both places of butchery and torture rather of healing or study, recurring themes which run throughout many of the dungeons.

Physically, everything in K-1 Kavlov’s Sanctuary designed to help the Game Master just gets in the way. Both of the area maps in the scenario are designed to, and do, look like those of B2, Keep on the Borderlands. This is not a problem with the ‘Wilderness Map’, given a two-page spread, but the map of the Dreaded Hills, designed to look like the map of the Caves of Chaos from B2, Keep on the Borderlands, is laughably too small. It represents an area approximately 570 by 460 feet, is marked with entrances and caves of thirteen such cave complexes in that area, and is then fitted onto a single digest size page. It looks vaguely pretty, but is unreadable. What should they do to counteract that? Perhaps include excerpts of this map to use with each dungeon? Well, no, that would have been too obvious. Instead, each mini-dungeon has its own map, redrawn and done in white on muted colours to the blandest effect possible. The maps of each dungeon are functional and utterly lacking in terms of inspiration or style. Then there is the writing. It aims to be concise and to the point, but all too often it leaves the Game Master without any real idea as to what is going on. Over and over, the Game Master is forced to ‘Read to find out’.

K-1 Kavlov’s Sanctuary is overambitious, but underdeveloped and underwhelming. It attempts to bring the sensibilities of Mörk Borg to classic Basic Dungeons & Dragons-style play and classic Basic Dungeons & Dragons-style play to Mörk Borg. Although it succeeds tonally in bringing the sensibilities of Mörk Borg to classic Basic Dungeons & Dragons-style play, often overly so with its scenes of torture and other gruesomeness, it fails in too many other ways. It simply does not provide enough context and set things up sufficiently to enable the Game Master to run it effectively and engage her players and their characters with any ease, too many things are left unexplained, and tonally, it really only works if the Player Characters are working to release the demon rather than keep him bound under the earth—especially if the players decide to roleplay the new Classes included at the front of the book. Ultimately, K-1 Kavlov’s Sanctuary promises much, but fails to deliver fully and effectively on that promise.

Inside the Thunder Dome

In the not-too-distant future, 2020, civilisation is no more. It was wiped away by the falling of bombs, by the plagues that ran rampant, by rampant starvation, and the desperate, resulting scramble to survive. This was the Boom. It took place years, probably decades ago. What remains is the Waste, where communities cling together for support and protection, as well as access to supplies of clean food and water, hoping with withstand the predations of marauders, cannibals, and worse. One such community is Paradise City and in recent months, its inhabitants have suffered an outbreak of the plague known as Bleeding Fever. Fortunately, Paradise City’s leaders managed to obtain a cure from the Science Council of Heartbeat City. Unfortunately, the truck carrying the antidote was captured by the Saint, a local warlord who notoriously runs fights in her ‘domes of thunder’, or rather in electrified cages. Many communities send fighters to participate in these fights, but not Paradise City. Until now, that is… In order to get the antidote its citizens need, Paradise City is sending fighter for the first time, backed up with a team, the Saint’s next tournament, called ‘Lectric Buggalu’. However, the team is not there just to support the fighter, because if he does not win and cannot get the antidote back, the team is going to have to steal it and drive it all the way back to Paradise City.

The is the set-up for Domes of Thunder, a scenario and mini-supplement for ACE!—or the Awfully Cheerful Engine!—the roleplaying game of fast, cinematic, action comedy. Published by EN Publishing, best known for the W.O.I.N. or What’s Old is New roleplaying System, as used in Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD and Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition. Some of the entries in the series have been expansive, such as Orcs & Oubliettes and Strange Science, providing a detailed setting and an scenario, whilst others in the series have tended to be one-shot, film night specials. As with other supplements for ACE!, both the genre and inspiration for Domes of Thunder are obvious. The genre is Post Apocalyptic and the inspiration is the Mad Max series of films, specifically, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. This is a setting where guns and bullets are scare, petrol (or gasoline) is precious, and leather and scrap armour along with a pink mohawk are the only thing seen as fashionable since before the boom. The book provides some basic background and some rules additions before leaping into the scenario itself, which makes up two thirds of the supplement.

Domes of Thunder starts by suggesting some old Roles suitable for setting, as well as giving some new ones. The old include the Barbarian, Bounty Hunter, Cowboy, Outlaw, and more, and these are joined by the Cyborg, Driver, Gladiator, Mechanic, Mutant, and Survivalist. Each has a simple benefit, such as the Cyborg being able to a Brawling attack and inflict double damage by spending a point of Karma, the Driver gains the Driving Focus for free in addition to his other Focus, and the Mechanic can spend Karma to scrounge enough metal and plastics and parts to restore the Health of any vehicle. Since this is a cinematic setting, it adheres to the ‘Rule of Cool’ when it comes to personal armour. If it looks cool, it provides personal protection. Vehicles in Domes of Thunder—automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, and armoured RVs—have all been scavenged, patched, and repaired again and again, and players need to roll at the beginning of every Act to see if their characters’ vehicles have enough fuel. A vehicle is defined by four stats—Health, Bash, Steering, and Plating. Health is the amount of damage a vehicle it can take, Bash how much it can deal out when ramming or sideswiping another vehicle, Steering is its manoeuvrability, and Plating how much damage it stops. A handful of vehicles are given stats, but the game does not really need any more than that.

One of the things that Domes of Thunder makes clear is that it is not a setting in which speed matters. In fact, none of the vehicle have a speed rating. There are two reasons for this. One narrative, one physical. The physical is that the roads are strangely still maintained, but being marked by cracks and potholes, it is impossible to go too fact. The narrative is that all the interesting things happen when vehicles get close to each other, rather than one racing away simply because it is faster. It is possible to get away from another vehicle in a chase and catch up with another vehicle in a chase, but in Domes of Thunder, what determines this is the narrative and manoeuvring rolls. This is about as far as the driving rules and driving duel rules go in Domes of Thunder, essentially keeping them simple and fast.

The ‘Domes of Thunder’ adventure begins in the post-apocalyptic equivalent of the tavern in fantasy roleplaying—an old rest stop, now barricaded and fortified. The Player Characters are hired by the fighter from Paradise City and his manager to provide support and back-up on their journey to Saint’s Compound and help in getting the antidote out if things go wrong. And since, Domes of Thunder is effectively a one-shot, film night special, things are definitely going to go wrong. This starts with the Paradise City fighter being challenged by a rival fighter and ultimately ending up dead the next morning. Which also makes things more complex as one of the Player Characters will have to enter the ‘dome of thunder’ as the fighter representing Paradise City. There are other complications, but they are just bumps in the road. The main action takes place at Saint’s Compound, which turns out to be more like ‘Santa’s Compound’ if it was protected by armed ORCs and Elves. This is because it used to be a shopping mall and it was the mall’s Christmas Santa who fortified the mall not long after the Boom.

Apart from the Player Character who is going to fight in the dome, the other Player Characters are going to have to sneak around and investigate Saint’s Compound in search of the truck with the antidote for Bleeding Fever, try not to get caught—but hey, it is definitely more dramatic if they do as they have to escape the Saint’s (prison) workshop and then have to escape her compound too, and eventually race out of there in the truck with the antidote. It is fairly freeform in its structure and there is scope for the Game Master to add her own encounters and situations or simply play out the story to see where it goes. Ultimately, the scenario will end with the Player Characters with the truck containing the antidote driving hell for leather to Paradise City. There is good reason for this—the Saint is very annoyed with the Player Characters and she unleashes her dragon on them! This is not a dragon, but a helicopter, but it is so unfamiliar to the Player Characters that it might as well be. Finish the ‘dragon’ off, and the Player Characters can ride off into the sunset…

The ‘Domes of Thunder’ adventure is straightforward and should take a session or two to complete. If there are issues, it is that it introduces an NPC under one name and them changes it and that it skirts around what the nature of the apocalypse is. There are mutants and there is prejudice against them. For example, only pure strain humans with neither mutation or nor mechanical modification can participate in the games. Further, the scenario does play around with the fantasy genre a little so it may not be clear to players in particular, if the setting embraces elements of fantasy as well, and if so, quite how far. This is because the security for the Saint’s Compound are called ORCs and Saint’s infiltrators are called Elves. The ORCs are derived from the name of the shopping mall, which was the Odessa Retail Centre, whilst the Elves are essentially Santa’s ‘little helpers’. Nominally, the scenario actually be taking place at Christmas, but that is not entirely clear. So, tonally, Domes of Thunder feels slightly odd in places, but not enough to disrupt the scenario.

Physically, Domes of Thunder is well presented with reasonable artwork. It needs a slight edit in places.

Domes of Thunder is as straightforward an adventure as you want it to be. The plot is none too complex and what the Player Characters have to do is easy to grasp. Where the the complication comes in is whatever mess the Player Characters get themselves into. There is plenty of room for Game Master to add her own content, but as is, Domes of Thunder is easy to prepare and bring to the table for a session or two’s worth of uncomplicated post-apocalyptic, cinematic action.