The Other OSR: Eye of the Aeons

Troika! is both a setting and a roleplaying game. As the latter, it provides simple, clear mechanics inspired by the Fighting Fantasy series of solo adventure books, but combined with a wonderfully weird cast of character types, all ready to play the constantly odd introductory adventure, ‘The Blancmange and Thistle’. As the former, it takes the Player Characters on adventures through the multiverse, from one strange sphere to another, to visit twin towers which in their dying are spreading a blight that are turning a world to dust, investigate murder on the Nantucket Sleigh Ride on an ice planet, and investigate hard boiled murder and economic malfeasance following the collapse of the Scarf-Worm investment bubble. At the heart of Troika! stands the city itself, large, undefined, existing somewhere in the cosmos with easy access from one dimension after another, visited by tourists from across the universe and next door, and in game terms, possessing room aplenty for further additions, details, and locations. One such location is Eye of the Aeons.

Eye of the Aeons is the third entry in a new series of scenarios for Troika! from the Melsonian Arts Council begun with Whalgravaak’s Warehouse and continued with The Hand of God. This is the ‘1:5 Troika Adventures’ series, which places an emphasis on shorter, location-based adventures, typically hexcrawls or dungeoncrawls, set within the city of Troika, but which do not provide new Backgrounds for Player Characters or ‘Hack’ how Troika! is played. Eye of the Aeons lives up to these tenets, in that it is a dungeoncrawl that takes place in a single castle location, but arguably fails to live up to these tenets by not actually being set in the city of Troika, but in the rubbish and detritus strewn wastes beyond the city’s extensive walls. The location is the Manse of Mirrors, a walled castle consisting of seven domes and three towers that is home to Queen Yanwa of the Cyclopes. It is of particular interest to the Wizards of the College Illuminate, a minor school of magic in the city of Troika, because it also houses the Eye of the Aeons, a mysterious prism of immense power said to be cause of the Red Eye Curse that afflicts some of the college’s members. ;Victims of this curse randomly shoot a fire bolt that pierces armour, which makes them a danger to others. ;Queen Yanwa of the Cyclopes also suffers from the Red Eye Curse, but is rumoured to dole out an elixir that cures or at least alleviates the ailment, attracting many sufferers, known as ‘Burning Eye Pilgrims’ to the manse in the hope of relief. Unfortunately, Queen Yanwa has been beset by rebellion, not once, but twice. The Cyclopes’ former servants, the Anthropophagi, which have four arms and hands and no legs, so always walk on their hands, a single eye and a mouth in their stomach, and no head, have rebelled and set up their own kingdom in the manse, where they squabble and fight, and regularly hold elections to see who the new Jub-Jub will be. Worse, Yorg the Usurper has dethroned Queen Yanwa, and studies the Eye of the Aeons in hopes that it will repower his golden barge and enable him and his compatriots to escape to the Outer Spheres where he hopes they will be safe from the fate ordained for him. Add in rumours of a Chaos Godling at the heart of the manse, a missing wizard’s apprentice, and treasures said to be hidden within its walls, and the Manse of Mirrors sounds like an intriguing place to visit and explore.

Getting the Player Characters to the Manse of Mirrors requires some set-up. Several hooks are given, ranging from shattering the mirrors in the manse to prevent something terrible from approaching this sphere to finding a cure to the Red Eye Curse by asking Yorg the Usurper. One or more of these can be used to drive the Player Characters to explore the manse and interact with its factions, who though opposed to each other maintain a rough truce between themselves, barring the odd raid or Queen Yanwa’s Cyclopes deciding to turn the mighty weapon atop the Gun Tower on somewhere in the Manse. That said, the ; obvious starting point and entrance into the Manse is not as clearly signposted as it could be and the factions, the relationships between them. and what they want are not as clearly explained as they could be. Which is a pity because it hinders the set-up process and getting the Player Characters involved in Eye of the Aeons.

The likelihood is that the Player Characters will begin at the Burning Eye Pilgrims’ Camp in one of the ruined tower, though there are other options as how they might enter the Manse. Here they can pick up rumours, interact with the members of the various factions, and begin to learn more about the situation within the Manse. Beyond this the grounds of the manse are split between a very large pond and an equally large, but overgrown garden. The pond is dominated by the boathouse, home to the rowdy Anthropophagi, and the blind boatwoman who sees beauty in ugliness and ugliness in beauty and cleanliness, and who prefers to be paid in trinkets and eyes. The garden is an oasis of calm by comparison. The Manse, though, is dominated by its nineteen towers, many of them in ruins, some of them containing mounds of rubbish and rubble, and some home to the rival factions of the Cyclopes. Others though house sets of mirrors, set up in differing fashions, sometimes to hold an object in place between them, sometimes to hold something or someone within. The mirrors form the major magical element of the scenario and finding the way to operate them will grant access to some of the secrets in the Manse of Mirrors.

There are some nasty surprises to be found and dangers to be encountered in the walls of the Manse of Mirrors, but Eye of the Aeons is not a scenario that drips with menace or suffers a sense of impending doom. Rather, the Manse of Mirrors feels forlorn, run down, and forgotten, the last refuge of a fallen Queen, that the Player Characters can explore and pick over, perhaps siding with one faction or another as they attempt to fulfil their objectives within the manse. This will expose them to the weirdness and wonder to be found in the Manse of Mirrors.

The scenario is supported by stats the various faction members in the Manse of Mirrors, as well as the enemies that the Player Characters might face. There is a list of new equipment too, but many of the items to be found within the manse’s walls are drawn from the Troika! rulebook.

Physically, Eye of the Aeons is very well presented. The layout is tidy and the artwork is excellent.

Eye of the Aeons is far from a bad adventure, but in comparison to other scenarios for Troika! and its ‘1:5 Troika Adventures’ series, it does not grab the reader and make him want to run it. Unlike the first two entries in the series, it lacks the enthrallment of a good elevator pitch and its set-up needs development itself to motivate the players and their characters to want to explore the Manse of the Mirrors. None of that is beyond the ability of a good Game Master to fix, and if that is done, Eye of the Aeons is a quiet, eerie manse meander punctuated by hullabaloo and horror.