The Other OSR: Candle

The Player Characters know that they are in trouble when they appear somewhere different than to where they were. The Player Characters know that they are in trouble when they appear somewhere to the stench of incense, blood, and burnt hair, and the sounds of screams echoing around the high-vaulted ceiling of the room lit by blood red candles. The Player Characters know that they are in trouble when they appear in a summoning circle, one marked with lines filled with salt and powdered silver, and two of the five cultists in the room dead on the floor, their throats cut. The Player Characters know that they are in trouble when they appear somewhere and towering over them is a devil, skin like blackened iron, his horns craping the ceiling, and steam rising from every one of his pores. He is looking down on them and he is furious. As well as knowing that they are in trouble, the Player Characters have no idea where they are, how they got there, and even if there is a way out of where they are, let alone the reason why the devil is angry at them. And they definitely have no idea that the situation they are in is entirely their own fault.

This is the set-up for Candle: A Reverse Dungeon Crawl. Published by Loot the Room, this is a scenario for 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. Although the scenario can be run at almost any time, it actually requires a bit more set-up, ideally in several adventures run before Candle. This is because of the ‘candle’ of the tile, which is what puts them in their new and terrifying situation. The candle, or Taper, consists of two feet of thin, twisted wax with a goat’s hair wick. When lit it provides light equivalent to a candle visible to the person holding and anyone touching the wielder. Although it burns with the strong smell you would expect from burning hair, the wax never melts and the candle burns indefinitely, and its light is only visible to the wielder and those touching him. The intent is that Player Characters get used to benefiting from it, being able to move in the dark without being seen—although the smell will be a giveaway. At which point, the Game Master runs the scenario and the Player Characters suffer the unforeseen consequences of the Taper’s use and origins.

The devil’s name is Gomduloch. Not only does he hate being summoned, he thinks the Player Characters are somehow connected to his being summoned, and now he hates them. Having butchered some cultists—and definitely willing to butcher more—he is coming for the Player Characters. So not only do the Player Characters have to find their way out of a dungeon filled with cultists, dead bodies, roaming imps and devils, and all the perversity and horrors you would expect of a cultists’ lair, but they have to do that whilst being chased by a very angry devil.

The scenario begins in what would be the last room in any other dungeon, the room where the summoning would be about to take place were this any other dungeon. Then it proceeds to present its rooms backwards, from thirty-three counting down to one, and the exit. Divided over two Levels, one above ground, the other below, the dungeon is relatively linear, but instead of the Player Characters going in and discovering its secrets as they get to towards the end of the dungeon, here they begin by discovering those secrets on the way out. There are plenty of secrets to be found and discoveries to be made. The secrets will help the Player Characters, often to withstand, at least temporarily, the influence and reach of Gomduloch, whilst the discoveries tend towards the gruesome. What else would you expect though, it is a scenario for Mörk Borg after all. The challenge, ultimately, is to discover a way to banish Gomduloch and get away. In the case of Candle, survival is its own reward, so the players and their characters should expect very little reward beyond that.

Physically, Candle: A Reverse Dungeon Crawl is well presented. Each location is given a one-page description and the map for the relevant Level is also included on the two-page spread. Bar the Taper itself, there is no artwork in the book. The only issue with the presentation is in the choice of fount for the sidebars, which is too fine and too light to be read with any ease.

Reverse dungeons are not new. In most cases, they set up the Player Characters as prisoners and expect them to escape their confinement, making them about breaking out, not breaking in, but others flip the dungeon by making the Player Characters the monsters not the heroes. Reverse Dungeon, published by Wizards of the Coast in 2000 is an example of the latter, whilst Escape from Astigar’s Lair, published by Judges Guild in 1980, is an example of the former. Of course, Candle: A Reverse Dungeon Crawl is definitely an example of the former, but given the nature of the Player Characters in Mörk Borg, it could also be argued as being an example of the latter. That said, as much as the Player Characters are monstrous in Mörk Borg, they face worse monsters in Candle.

The problem with Candle: A Reverse Dungeon Crawl is the Taper. The Game Master has to set the scenario by luring the Player Characters not only into finding it, but also using it and coming to love. Without that, the scenario is far less effective. There is no advice for the Game Master to ease or overcome that problem. Nevertheless, once set-up, Candle: A Reverse Dungeon Crawl opens with a bang and keeps the horror going with the desperate Player Characters going to be so glad to have escaped their imprisonment in the cultists’ lair, let alone the anger of Gomduloch!