Weird Wizard Wondrousness

For a thousand years there has existed a divide in the land. In the west stands the Great Kingdom and many other nations that arose following the collapse of earlier civilisations and kingdoms, most notably the Old Empire. In the east, the land is dominated by one figure—the Weird Wizard. Whether a fallen god, cast down from the stars by Lord Death himself or a traveller from another world swallowed by darkness, the Weird Wizard established himself and brooked no challenge. None dared do so, for rumours came of the great changes he wrought over his lands, raising mountains to reach the stars, setting rocks to flow like a waterfall into a great chasm, islands floating in the sky, forests of mushrooms, or the clockworks he established to run his capital, the Forbidden City. His shadow, the ‘Shadow of the Weird Wizard’ reached beyond the divide, for surely all of the ills—great and small—that beset the peoples of the Great Kingdom could be blamed for whatever strangeness he was enacting in his lands. Then one day, he disappeared. No one knows why, but it remains a matter of much speculation, from lowly taverns to the great courts. Whether the gods decided to punish him by sealing him away with the Ancient Ones or a mighty ended his reign with a single blow of his sword, perhaps one day someone will discover what happened to him. With his disappearance too went the divide between the Great Kingdom and all the lands to the east. With it went stability and assurance as the Great Kingdom fell into civil war. No one knows if the two are connected. What they do know is that refugees have fled to the borderlands as monsters from the east—cruel faeries, hybrid beasts, the undead, multilegged hulking collectors, and floating eyes that hang in the air trailing their nerve endings—have skulked west into the borderlands. As explorers slip into the east in search of answers, the inhabitants and refugees in the borderlands need protecting. It is a time for brave adventurers to step forth and stop the monsters, to protect the people, and perhaps track them to their source, and so become heroes.

This is the set-up for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, a roleplaying game of high fantasy, high magic, and high adventure published by Schwalb Entertainment following a successful Kickstarter campaign. The publisher is best known for the grim dark, horror fantasy roleplaying game, Shadow of the Demon Lord, but whilst both Shadow of the Demon Lord and Shadow of the Weird Wizard use the same Demon Lord Engine for their mechanics, Shadow of the Weird Wizard is not as bleak and the Player Characters are intended to champion the innocent, brave grave dangers, and right terrible wrongs. In other words, they are meant to be heroes rather than just protagonists. Shadow of the Weird Wizard consists of two core books. One is Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the other is Secrets of the Weird Wizard, but Shadow of the Weird Wizard is the core book, providing an introduction to the setting, the core rules for combat and magic, the means to create Player Characters, and lots and lots of spells and career choices.

Although there is some history given for the setting of Shadow of the Weird Wizard, it really defines the nature of the world and what it is like rather than geographical and political specifics. These are that the world of Erth is much like that of Earth, including the Sun and the Moon, a day lasting twenty-four hours, and week seven days, and so on. This is where the differences end because Erth is home to multiple species— Dwarfs, Faeries, Clockworks, Dragonets, and more, as well as weird hybrid creatures, dragons, and monsters. Magic is real and studied, there is technological development (including muskets and bicycles), the gods exist and some even walk the Erth, the Ancient Ones were defeated by Lord Death and remain asleep, and so on. The combination gives the setting a sense of familiarity and difference. The companion volume, Secrets of the Weird Wizard, does go into more detail, as well as doing one more pertinent thing, and that is providing Ancestry details. Only the Human Ancestry is available in Shadow of the Weird Wizard, which is disappointing. However, Secrets of the Weird Wizard is intended as companion, so details of Archon (exiled angels), Cambion (Human and Fiend parentage), Centaur, Changeling, Clockwork, Daeva, Dhampir, Dragonet, Dwarf, Elf, Faun, Goblin, Halfling, Haren (leporine or rabbit-like), Harpy, Hobgoblin, Janni (masters of elemental magic), Naga, Pollywog, Revenant, Sphinx, Spriggan, Sprite, Triton, Warg, and Woodwose ancestries can all be found in its pages.

As with other Demon Lord Engine roleplaying games, Shadow of the Weird Wizard is a Class or Profession and Level roleplaying game. A Player Character starts at First Level and can rise as far as Tenth Level (although Secrets of the Weird Wizard does give options for continued play beyond this). As a Player Character gains Levels he will enter and follow different Paths, each Path providing an array of benefits. These include setting the Player Character’s natural defence and Health, and determining languages spoken, bonus damage, and talents. Some also grant access to Traditions, different schools of magic, mostly for the spellcasting character types, some martial and skill-based character options grant access to limited magic.

The most basic Paths are Fighter, Mage, Priest, and Rogue, which provides benefits at First, Second, and Fifth Level. At Third Level, a Player Character can enter an Expert Path, categorised as Paths of Battle, Paths of Faith, Paths of Power, and Paths of Skill, which provides benefits at Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Ninth Level, and at Seventh Level, he enters a Master Path. These are categorised as Paths of Arms, Paths of the Gods, Paths of Magic, and Paths of prowess, granting benefits at Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth Level. The choice of Paths widen as a Player Character gains Levels, so that whilst at the beginning one Rogue will very much be like another Rogue, by the time a Rogue has followed the Expert Path and entered the Master Path, he really is different in comparison to another Rogue. So, a Priest might begin as just that, but for his Master Path, he might become a Cleric and cast miracles or an Inquisitor, a Paladin, or a Theurge who summons angels to aid him, and then for the Master Path he could continue to cast miracles as a High Priest, or switch to become a Moon Celebrant in service to Sister Moon.

Besides Ancestry and Level, a Player Character is defined by four attributes—Strength, Agility, Intellect, and Will. These initially range in value between nine and twelve and provide a modifier, which is equal to the attribute minus ten. He will also have a basic profession; what he did before becoming an adventurer which will provide an item of equipment. The creation process starts by selecting an Ancestry (only Human in Shadow of the Weird Wizard, but another option from Secrets of the Weird Wizard), and then rolling for the Player Character’s Profession, and then Distinctive Feature, Affability, Dependability, Outlook, Receptiveness, Sociability, Piety, and Religions. The process is quick and easy.

Name: Tilia
Ancestry: Human
Profession: Hunter (Wilderness)
Level 1
Novice Path: Priest
Distinctive Feature: Different coloured eyes
Affability: You can fend for yourself in social situations, but you’re also fine when alone.
Dependability: You try to be conscientious, but sometimes fall short
Outlook: You strive to be a positive, upbeat person. You look for the good in all things and hope for the best.
Receptiveness: New ideas and activities make you uncomfortable.
Sociability: You believe people can be good or bad. You withhold judgment about someone until you get to know them.
Piety: You believe in the gods and offer prayers to them all.
Religions: Horned Lord
Divine Calling: Some tragedy or horrific experience saw you turn to the gods for meaning. You might have suffered an attack by undead, encountered a spirit, or had someone close to you fall into the clutches of a diabolical fiend.

Strength 11 (+1) Agility 10 (+0) Intellect 13 (+3) Will 11 (+1)
Natural Defence: 9 Health: 14

Languages: Common and one other language
Traditions: Primal, Animism
Talents: Prayer (Magical), Holy Symbol (Magical), Holy Smite, Holy Healing, Holy Denunciation, Armor of the Ancient Oak, Bestial Aspect
Spells: Plant the Seed, Stalk Prey

The basic mechanic in Shadow of the Weird Wizard is simple and straightforward, whether a player needs to make an attribute check, an attack roll, or a roll against an attack or spell for his character. The player rolls a twenty-sided die and adds any Attribute bonuses or penalties, and if the result is ten or more, or is equal to or greater than the target number, typically the target’s Defence value, his character succeeds. In addition, a Player Character can also have Boons or Banes—each a six-sided die—that he can add to, or subtract from, the roll. These can come from a Path, a Talent, or spell, and Banes and Boons cancel each other out prior to rolling, but when rolling multiples of either type, only the highest number rolled counts and is added to the total. A critical success occurs on a roll higher than the target or a natural twenty, whilst a critical failure occurs if the result is zero or less. This can occur due to the effect of a Bane reducing the final result. In comparison, a luck roll is made without any modifiers and the target number is always ten.

Combat uses the same core mechanic, with attack rolls being against the target’s Defence value, either natural or derived from armour worn. Damage is accrued up to the limit of the target’s Health. If the target suffers damage equal to, or greater than, half his Health, he is injured and may suffer extra effects from certain Talents and spells, and if he suffers total damage equal to his Health, he is his incapacitated. Damage beyond this actually reduces his Health and the amount of damage he can suffer. If his Health is reduced to zero, he is dead. In general, Player Characters have more Health than in other Demon Lord Engine roleplaying games.

The most radical element of combat is how initiative works in Shadow of the Weird Wizard. In a round, a combatant can move and use an action, whether an attack or casting a spell or something else, but the Player Characters do not automatically act first. The NPCs and any monsters controlled by the Sage—as the Game Master is known—move and act first, followed by the Player Characters, which can be in any order. However, some effects and actions enable the Player Characters to act out of turn, using Reactions. For example, a Free Attack occurs as a Reaction if an enemy moves out of reach without retreating, a Dodge is a Reaction, and so is ‘Taking the Initiative’. If the Player Characters are aware of their enemies at the beginning of a new round, then they can use a Reaction to ‘Take the Initiative’ and act before the enemy does. They can do this in any order they like. That said, effects such as wearing heavy armour prevents the ‘Take the Initiative’ Reaction. This seems more complex than it really is and really means that the Player Characters have more control than it first appears.

Magic and spellcasting is also kept simple. Shadow of the Weird Wizard a total of thirty-three Traditions from Aeromancy, Alchemy, and Alteration to Technomancy, Teleportation, and War. Each provides four Talents and eighteen spells spread across Novice, Expert, and Master Paths. Each spell description includes its effects as well as its target and number of castings. The latter is the number of times that a spellcaster can cast it between rests, which never changes unless a player decides to choose that spell again, doubling the amount. Spell effects, especially damage effects, do increase as the caster moves into the next Path. For the most part, casting a spell is also automatic, though a player may need to make an attribute check to gain a particular effect and improve its effects, or to strike a target. This is done on a spell by spell basis, so that any player with a Mage or Priest character will need to learn the specifics of every spell that their character knows. Lastly, Mage and Priest Player Characters can learn any Traditions that they want, though Priests are likely to pick those that relate to their faiths and their gods.

Besides Paths and spells, Shadow of the Weird Wizard includes rules for most adventuring situations, common information that every Player Character will know, how to handle social situations, companions and hirelings, and a lengthy guide to equipment that includes a few magical items, explosives, clockwork prosthetic and wheeled chairs, and more. Yet it is the Paths and Spells that dominate Shadow of the Weird Wizard. Beyond the four Novice Paths, Shadow of the Weird Wizard details forty-two Expert Paths and one-hundred-and-twenty-one Master Paths, and whilst a Player Character could specialise, combining Expert and Master Paths to be the best at a particular way of fighting, school of magic, or expertise, he is also free to switch Paths entirely because there are no prerequisites. It means that the possible combinations are more than might be explored over the course of multiple campaigns!

Physically, Shadow of the Weird Wizard is a densely presented book. The artwork is good and it is well written, but there is a lot of information in the book, obviously related to character creation as well as the core rules. Given that density, the core rules could have been made more obvious and perhaps a reference page included at the start or end of the book to make it easier to run.

Shadow of the Weird Wizard is the equivalent of the Player’s Handbook for Shadow of the Weird Wizard. It is not quite perfect, the inclusion of only one Ancestry limits player choice, but a roleplaying group is going to be using Secrets of the Weird Wizard anyway, so this is not as much of an issue as it could have been, whereas the density of the book making the rules less accessible than they could have been, is more of an issue. Not an insurmountable issue by any means, but rather one that could have eased. Nevertheless, as well as presenting a more streamlined version of the Demon Lord Engine mechanics for its rules, it presents the player with hundreds of options and then hundreds and hundreds of choices and combinations in terms of what his character is and can be. Want to become a Berserker who Juggernauts his way through walls? A Holy Avenger who employs Necromancy to wreak his vengeance? An Inheritor of a mighty magical weapon who as Diabolist deals in the Dark Arts? An Artificer who imbues technology with magic and pilots his own War Machine? All these—and a whole lot more—are possible in Shadow of the Weird Wizard. Overall, Shadow of the Weird Wizard is a comprehensive set-up and introduction to playing positive, high fantasy using the Demon Lord Engine.

The Full Zero to Hero

Like any good action film, Mission Dossier: Project Medusa starts with a bang! Not with the bang of a gunshot, but with the sound a door being kicked open and the bruised and bloody contact that the Heroes have been waiting for, being thrown to the floor of the diner where they have been waiting for him. After the requisite brawl with the thugs that beat him and came after the Heroes, the chase is on the MacGuffin of the title—a speedy drive to the airfield followed by a race to board a departing aeroplane, which before it reaches it destination, will explode, deliberately, of course, leaving the heroes in mid air and short of parachutes… This then is the opening part of Mission Dossier: Project Medusa, a scenario, or ‘mini-campaign’ for Outgunned, the cinematic action roleplaying game inspired by the classic action films of the past sixty years—Die Hard, Goldfinger, Kingsman, Ocean’s Eleven, Hot Fuzz, Lethal Weapon, and John Wick.

Mission Dossier: Project Medusa is ‘A 3-Shot Introductory Campaign for Outgunned’ and if it seems familiar, there is a good reasons for this. This is because its first part, or shot, ‘Race Against Time’ is used in both the core rulebook as the introductory scenario and in Outgunned– Zero to Hero, the quick-start for Outgunned. So, by the time the Director and her players get to Mission Dossier: Project Medusa, they may already have played through the first part. That said, it is nice to have the whole scenario in one place, and further, all of Mission Dossier: Project Medusa can be run using the Outgunned – Zero to Hero rather than the full rules in Outgunned. Both Outgunned and Mission Dossier: Project Medusa were funded via a Kickstarter campaign and published by the Italian publisher, Two Little Mice, via Free League Publishing. Mission Dossier: Project Medusa comes with four ready-to-play Heroes—a maverick undercover police officer, a hotshot driver and pilot, an ever cheerful bounty hunter, and a charming martial artist—and can be played through in two or three sessions. Some elements of these Heroes are written into the story, so if the players want to create their own Heroes, the Director will need to link them to the plot. If the players do want to create their own Heroes, it is recommended that one of them be a hotshot driver.

Mission Dossier: Project Medusa quickly summarises the plot and its three shots, introduces the four Heroes (character sheets for each of them is included at the back), and both explains who the villain is and what his dastardly plan is. This is the charming Greek philanthropist, Konstantin Stamos, who has a very dark past and a suitcase to take delivery of. The suitcase is the MacGuffin of the scenario and contains a deadly virus, which if unleashed, would kill millions. ‘Race Against Time’ is not clear as to where it is set beyond an unspecified sea-side city, but the action definitely switches to Greece for the second and parts of the scenario, ‘Unwanted Guests’ and ‘Into the Heart of Medusa’. In ‘Unwanted Guests’, the Heroes land in Greece and discover who is behind the beating up of the Heroes’ contact in the previous act, one Konstantin Stamos, and that he is holding a big party very shortly. Which gives an opportunity for the Heroes to infiltrate the event, trying to avoid the attention of the security at Stamos’ villa, and learning more of the villain’s secrets. Since this is the second act, it will end with another fight, of course, a big fight, and will end with the Heroes being captured and imprisoned. ‘Into the Heart of Medusa’, they discover the truly monstrous nature of both Stamos’ plans and its origins, fight their way out of a collapsing secret laboratory, and engage in a helicopter chase, before a final showdown between Stamos and one Hero atop a cliff.

Make no mistake, Mission Dossier: Project Medusa is linear and straightforward, and whilst there is opportunity for the players to embellish parts of the scenario, there is no deviation from its plot. This should be okay though, since the players are here for an action film, not a melodrama, and for their heroes to land punches and shoot the villains and look very, very cool whilst doing it.

What is particularly noticeable about Mission Dossier: Project Medusa is its format. The details of the scenario are always placed on the left, whilst the advice—or ‘Pro-Tips’—for the Director, is always placed on the right in a big, bold, red block with the text in white and different typefaces used on each page. The ‘Pro-Tips’ varies in size, or rather width, throughout the scenario. On some two-page spreads, it is a simple sidebar, on others, it takes up a whole page. The latter includes every scene and situation in the adventure, the advice and suggestions keyed to particular scenes. The advice suggests moments when the Heroes have an opportunity to rest and remove a Condition they might have suffered in a previous scene, the best way to handle a scene, ideas as to how a scene might be expanded or embellished typically to enable the players to develop their Heroes, and to expand on the villains’ actions. The advice is very good and there is so much of it that Mission Dossier: Project Medusa might actually be considered to be half-adventure, half-advice for the Director. Certainly, there is a lot here that the Director can learn and apply to subsequent Outgunned campaigns.

Lastly, Mission Dossier: Project Medusa includes not one, but six ideas which the Director can develop into full scenarios, all connected to the events of Mission Dossier: Project Medusa. These are divided into three sequels and three prequels, so that with the latter, the Director could run some flashback scenarios before the sequels which link to the mysterious organisation that Stamos was connected to. What this organisation is and what it wants is very much up to the Director to decide and develop (unless, of course, the publisher develops a further campaign in the meantime).

Physically, beyond the depictions of the Heroes and major NPCs, Mission Dossier: Project Medusa is not illustrated. Nor are there any maps. The latter should not be too much of an issue, since many of the locations in the scenario will be familiar from all manner of action films. That said, there is nothing to stop the Director from finding her own maps and floorplans. Otherwise, the layout is clean and tidy and effective as outlined earlier. It does need an edit in places though.

Mission Dossier: Project Medusa is exactly what you want in a scenario for an action movie. It is fast paced, there are secrets and betrayals to discover, a mystery to be solved, the world to be saved, and lots and lots of opportunities for the Heroes to be heroic. Of course, this means that there are more than a few clichés of the genre along the way, but they are to be expected and the players should be buying into them as much as they are the cinematic action and chance for their Heroes to look cool. Supported by excellent advice for Director, Mission Dossier: Project Medusa is an entertaining introduction to running and playing Outgunned – Cinematic Action Role Playing Game.

Magazine Madness 43: Interface RED Volume 4

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Technically Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 is not a magazine. It collects some of the downloadable content made available for Cyberpunk RED, the fourth edition of R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Cyberpunk roleplaying game. So, its origins are not those of a magazine, but between 1990 and 1992, Prometheus Press published six issues of the magazine, Interface, which provided support for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. It this mantle that Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3, and future issues is picking up in providing support for the current edition of the roleplaying game. As a consequence of the issue collecting previously available downloadable content, there is a lot in the issue that is both immediately useful and can be prepared for play with relative ease. There is also some that is not, and may not make it into a Game Master’s campaign.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 opens with ‘Hornet’s Pharmacy: A Chemical Wonderland’, which introduces a dealer—Hornet—in street drugs, his wares, and more. There are combat drugs for the Solo, of course, but surprisingly for the Exec and the Netrunner too. ‘Berserker’, which lets the user shrug off the immediate effects of Critical Injuries, so good for the Solo, whilst the Exec becomes a killer in the office with temporary bonuses to Will and Cool with ‘Prime Time’, but a huge loss of Humanity, and ‘Sixgun’, which gives a Netrunner a bonus to Speed when Jacked in and always effect a Safe Jack Out, but reduces his Move and Ref. Additive Compounds include a ‘Delaying Compound’, which can delay the effects of a substance, and ‘Distilling Compound’, which supercharges any substance, increasing the difficulty to resist its effects. New gear includes the Suzumebachi Assassin Drone, which can be operated remotely and is equipped with a dartgun, and new Cyberware, such as the ‘Pursuit Security Inc. Gas Jet’, which is installed in a cyberarm and is an aerosol gas launcher that effectively works as an exotic shotgun that sprays the chemical or toxin of the user’s choice.

‘Black Chrome+: Extra Content for Black Chrome’ puts the Edgerunners in contact with another dealer, Molly Anderson, who has stuff left out of Black Chrome. There is ‘Junk Ammunition’ and ‘Scavenged Armour’ for the Edgerunner on a budget, incendiary grenades, of course called ‘Molotov Cocktails’, and more. The content of ‘Black Chrome+: Extra Content for Black Chrome’ is less useful than ‘Hornet’s Pharmacy: A Chemical Wonderland’, since it is really filling in niches rather than presenting items of more general use. What is definite of use in ‘Black Chrome+: Extra Content for Black Chrome’ is the answers to questions, “What does X style look like?” and “What do External and Internal Linear Frames look like?” Part of Player Character generation in Cyberpunk RED is deciding what the Player Character looks like and to that end, Cyberpunk RED suggests ten basic fashion types, such as ‘Bag Lady Chic’, ‘Gang Colours’, and ‘Urban Flash’. In response to R. Talsorian Games, Inc. having to answer the first question one too many times, it decides to show you with a set of mini illustrations for each fashion type that nicely bring this aspect of 2045 to life. Then it does the same for Linear Frames along with some description too. Again, very useful because the Game Master can show her players rather than just tell.

The fact that ‘Achievements and Loot Boxes’ was the publisher’s April Fool’s download makes complete sense, since it is bonkers, but it is easy to imagine it being integrated into play. It is a reward system, known as the ‘M.R.A.M.A.Z.E.’ or ‘Mystery Reward Achievements Making (you) Attain (the) Zenith (of) Existence’ program, which gives an Edgerunner a trophy for attaining certain targets. For example, ‘15 Minutes of Fame’ is awarded when an Edgerunner reaches Reputation level 7, ‘Going Dark’ for completing a mission without resorting to combat, and ‘Pub Crawl’, for a buying a drink in a bar in each one of Night City’s districts. In return, a player can turn an Achievement in to gain a reroll or one of Mr. Amaze’s Mystery Boxes, randomly rolled for. This adds loot boxes to the play of Cyberpunk RED and versions of the Achievement Badges are given that the Game Master could print out and actually put on badges! It is a very silly option and probably the best way to use it is either to ignore it or to combine it with a city wide event with a limited time frame.

‘Stickball: The sport of the street’ gives the rules for the game that some gangs in Night City, as well as other groups, use as a means to settle disputes. It is a non-lethal combat sport in which microwavers, acid paintballs, heavy handguns loaded with Stickball-sanctioned rubber ammunition, smoke grenades, stun batons, stun guns, and Stickball Sticks are ‘legal’ weapons, the game being played with electrified balls and electromagnetic lacrosse sticks. Although the players and their Edgerunners need to learn the rules to Stickball, this adds a non-lethal option for an action session or so. Of course, if violence is the preferred option, then a gang might take the engines off one or more AV-4s, bolt them onto a combination of bus, truck, and/or junk, and hang whatever it can off the sides and mount the biggest weapons it can to create a cobbled-together scrap vehicle that might just give the gang the means to stand up to the hi-tech, dedicated combat vehicles fielded by law enforcement and corporate military forces. If only for a little while… The result is ‘The Dreaded Punknaught’, a Mad Max-style battering ram, weapons platform, and ganger transport that the article gives the means and guide for the Game Master to create one for her gangs. It even comes with a character sheet for the Punknaught and its own death table, and the vehicle can be used as threat to the Edgerunners, as a temporary vehicle for the Edgerunners, and the Edgerunners might even have to build one themselves!

One of the useful articles back in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2 was ‘Cargo Containers & Cube Hotels’ which explored options of where an Edgerunner might live if on a budget. ‘Corporate Conapts & Studio Apartments’ is the sequel, presenting more luxurious choices for when an Edgerunner is ready to move out of the modified Cargo Container home. The focus here is on the types of accommodation that the various corporations provide and where they are in Night City. For example, the employees of bitter rivals Petrochem and SovOil both reside in the ‘Petrochem & SovOil Joint Temporary Housing Solution’ near their offices. The facility is cheap because it is what they could get after they blew each other’s apartment blocks and to avoid each, the employees of Petrochem use one lift and one tennis court and the employees of SovOil use another. Unless one of the lifts breaks down and, in the meantime, human resources for both companies say it is just temporary. There are lots of little details like this, plus the article suggests what apartments are like in different districts and what fittings the up and coming Edgerunner might furnish his new home with. Real instant coffee, smart oven, and orbital crystal shower head for the ultimate in water pressure are some of the options here. The article definitely needed more though, and a sequel would be fitting since players do like to go shopping, if not always for guns.

‘Halloween Screamsheets: three spooky shorts for Cyberpunk RED’ outlines three scenarios to run during October. In ‘Haunted Vendit Haunts NCU Campus’, it appears that someone is aping a Continental Brands Triti-Fizz Vendit to sell flavours that the corporation does not and denies it is testing. The Edgerunners are hired to find the rogue Vendit, put it out of operation, and return the remains for analysis. In ‘Spook Up at Ghostglobe Halloween’, the EdgeRunners are hired by the Goth poser gang, the Sinful Adams, to run security for its upcoming Halloween event and prevent the Philharmonic Vampyres from crashing the event. This is a point defence scenario, which works especially well if the Edgerunners have encountered the Philharmonic Vampyres before, perhaps in ‘A Night at the Opera – Darkness and Desire in Night City’, from Tales of the RED: Street Stories. The third Screamsheet is ‘TSpooks’ Terror, Episode 21: Werewolf in Watson’. After a series of werewolf sightings and the supposed death of one in the district, the assistant coroner asks the Edgerunners to investivate what looks like enforced body sculpting. This a more detailed investigation than the previous two, but all three can be played through in a single session, and whilst all three involve Halloween, none of them have a whiff of the supernatural about them. This does not stop them from being horrific in places. Of the three, ‘Haunted Vendit Haunts NCU Campus’ is the screamsheet with least connection to Halloween, so can be run at any time of the year, whilst the other two are more specific in their time setting. All three are good solid screamsheets though, easily played through in a single session or two.

Penultimately, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 offers up its by now traditional Christmas carol suitable for the ‘Time of the Red’ and twelve classic pieces of cyberware or gear from days of Cyberpunk past. The head-mounted Cybercam EX -1 is every Media’s dream, whilst the Tech will want to get his hands on the Master Mechanic’s Tool Kit, especially given the bonus it gives to all tech-related rolls. Meanwhile the Cops of the NCPD swear by the Cyberscanner which picks up the cyberware installed in a suspect and the ION Cuffs that when placed on the suspect’s wrists shuts them down.

Lastly, ‘Cyberfists of Fury: Expanded Martial Arts’ adds twenty-three new martial arts forms for Cyberpunk RED which has martial artists learn multiple forms as their skill level increases, each form providing its own Special Moves as access to the Shared Special Moves common to most forms. The new forms in the article are divided between the traditional, such as Boxing, which provides Knockout Punch and Punch Combination, and Tai Chi, like Joint Manipulation and Lu, and the new, specific to the ‘Time of the Red’. Unsurprisingly, Arasaka and Militech have their own forms. Arasaka-te teaches Counter Strike and Escape Hold, whilst Militech Commando Training includes Combat Knife Training and Commando Disarm. For the Full Body Conversion, there is PanzerFaust with Borg Fist and Inner Chrome. There are also weapons-focused martial arts including Kendo or ‘Way of the Sword’, the archery focused Kyudo, and Gun Fu, the latter a modern Form with the Special Moves of Combat Reload and the amusingly named Woo Technique.

The need to choose a Form with each increase in skill level enables martial artists to learn a wide range of techniques and styles, and can be used in a variety of ways. One is to suggest a martial artist’s origins, such as training in Arasaka-te versus Capoeira, whilst another is set up a roleplaying opportunity, a martial artist Edgerunner needing to find and satisfy a teacher to learn a new Form and its Special Moves. Then of course, a Form can suggest details about an NPC as well as the way in which he fights. The article expands the options available to both player and Game Master and is undoubtedly useful to any campaign in which martial arts play a role, however significant.

Physically, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 is cleanly, tidily laid out. The artwork is decent too and everything is easy to read. Notably, many of the articles open with colour fiction that detail individuals and places that a Game Master could easily use help bring her campaign to life, for example, Hornet of ‘Hornet’s Pharmacy: A Chemical Wonderland’.

Although much of it was originally available for free, as with previous issues, with the publication of Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4, it is nice to have it in print. And again, as before, all of it is useful in some ways, but barring the drug-related gear of ‘Hornet’s Pharmacy: A Chemical Wonderland’, the new equipment detailed in the issue is the least interesting content. ‘Halloween Screamsheets: three spooky shorts for Cyberpunk RED’ gives three good scenarios, whilst ‘Cyberfists of Fury: Expanded Martial Arts’ expands the character options in the roleplaying game in very useful fashion and ‘Corporate Conapts & Studio Apartments’ adds further detail and colour to the downtime of the Edgerunner with Eurobucks to spend. Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4 brings a wealth of new detail to Cyberpunk RED and there is something useful in its pages for every Cyberpunk RED Game Master.

Friday Fantasy: Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower

Today the desert region is known only for the nomads that cross its sands, the tales of ancient myth and legends of what it once was, and the monsters said to lurk there. In times past, despite its dry environs, it was crossed by well-known trade routes on which the once-great Anhurak people—or the Children of the Burning Stone and the Wandering Stars, as scholar say they called themselves—grew rich and powerful ensuring the safe passage of goods and people. When they sought to build a settlement in the middle of the routes, they began by establishing a great tower for their leader, Mahrun Tal’Zahir, with the help of the group’s Cartographer. Yet legends say they turned on him soon after and fled the desert after the settlement began to sink into the sands. Now all that remains are half-buried houses and the tower itself, although only the top three of its five storeys are visible. This is the setting for ‘The Desert Forgotten by Time’ with which stands The Hollow Tower.

Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower is a mini-hexcrawl published by Angry Golem Games. It is the inaugural in the publisher’s ‘Fortnightly Adventures’ series which is intended to provide a brand-new, original module every two weeks—each exploring a different biome, mysterious locale, and unique challenge. For The Hollow Tower, this is a section of desert, a strange tower, and a mystery to uncover. It is written for use with Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy, published by Necrotic Gnome Productions, it is based on the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh, and presents a very accessible, very well designed, and superbly presented reimplementation of the rules.

What Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower details is a seven-hexagon rosette of desert terrain. Each takes roughly two hours to explore, so the region is not a large one overall. In fact, it could easily be treated as a mini-location as a whole and placed in a single hex in a Game Master’s campaign. In that case, what would distinguish it from other hexes is the Eternal Sandstorm that rolls around the region, moving from hex to hex within the region. This is part of a curse said by the Anhurak people to have been laid on the region by their leader, Mahrun Tal’Zahir. A handful of hooks are included to get the Player Characters involved, including one of their number having “[a] dream about the sunken city and felt drawn to the mysterious place.” and being hired to investigate the region and make sure it is secure, primarily from the giant ants that plague it. These are not enthralling hooks and the Game Master will likely want to create her own that are stronger and likely tied to her campaign setting.

The four adventure locations in Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower consist of a ‘Giant Ant Lair’, ‘Mahrun’s Tomb’, ‘The Sunken City’, and ‘The Hollow Tower’ itself.

The ‘Giant Ant Lair’ is detailed, but not given a map. That said it is a simple encounter, more bug extermination that anything else. ‘Mahrun’s Tomb’ is singular in nature, consisting of single room under a cairn of white stone. He is though, still ‘alive’, and will plead his case with the Player Characters, telling them of how he was wronged. There is the possibility that the Player Characters discover his tomb and even aid him before his true nature is revealed when they discover the secrets of ‘The Hollow Tower’. (The point when the Player Characters confront him is both when they discover what a charmingly challenging foe he is, since he is actually powered by the stars, and when any NPC accompanying them turns out to a cultist dedicated to him.) ‘The Sunken City’ consists of ruins which the Player Characters can scavenge before ascending the spiral staircase with winds around ‘The Hollow Tower’.

The most detailed location in in Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower is ‘The Hollow Tower’ itself where Mahrun Tal’Zahir once worked and studied. It inverts the exploration by making it from the top down, rather than bottom up, and is filled with secrets and the occasional monster. In comparison to other locations in the region, and barring the occasional random encounter, the focus is on exploration and investigation rather than combat or interaction. There is plenty to find, whether an indestructible chest which can either be opened with its key or cut open with a magical weapon, a pot plant with gem petals, and a ghost in the cells which wants help to move on to the afterlife. There is also ‘Anhurak’s Peculiar Library’ filled with potentially interesting books. These are listed by type and value, but the Game Master might want to develop them further to add detail and possible bonuses for their study.

What there is not in Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower is any plot or sense of story. There is no imminent danger in the region which threatens to spill over into the surrounds and Mahrun Tal’Zahir remains trapped in his tomb. Instead, the Player Characters will have to poke around to find out what is going on and potentially find out who Mahrun Tal’Zahir was and what he has become. However, there are elements here around which a plot can be strung in the setting with the addition of a rumour or two and some NPCs, perhaps some scholars or cultists with an interest in Mahrun Tal’Zahir and the civilization he left behind. These through, require development by the Game Master, but with their inclusion, the Player Characters might have stronger motivation to visit the region.

Physically, Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower is decently done. The layout is clean and tidy, the illustrations good, and the hexcrawl is an easy read.

Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower veers from overview to detail and back again. In places it feels underdeveloped, whilst in others, comparatively overly detailed. It leaves a lot for the Game Master to create herself to make it more useable and useful, but it at least provides the bare bones for that in what is attractive-looking minx-hexcrawl.

Friday Filler: Maskmen

The mini-games from Oink Games pack a lot of game play into small packages. In fact, the publisher’s small boxes have become as much part of its signature trade design as a design challenge for its game designers who have to pack their creations into these small boxes. The result is that the games themselves are easy to fit on the shelf and easy to fit into a pocket or bag to take to the next game session. And another aspect of Oink Games’ designs is that they have been around longer than most gamers realise, much longer than the publisher’s breakout title, Scout, published in 2019 and the Origins Awards Best Card Game Winner and a Spiel des Jahres Nominee in 2022. Maskmen is a much older game, having been published in 2014, and like Scout, is a ‘ladder climbing’ game in which the players must play cards of an equal or higher value of the previous set already played. Where in Scout, the players were trying to have their performers outperform each other in the circus, in Maskmen, the players are promotors trying to have their wrestlers gain dominance over each other and win Lucha libre seasons.

Maskmen is designed to be played by two to six players, aged nine plus, and can be played in twenty minutes. Inside the box are sixty Wrestler Cards, thirty Strength Markers, and twelve Score Markers. The Wrestler Cards represent the six different wrestlers in different colours, ten each. The Strength Markers match the colours of the Wrestler Cards and there are five of each colour. Both Wrestler Cards and Strength Markers depict the masks worn by the luchadores, the masked Mexican wresters, and importantly, the Wrestler Cards are not numbered. The Score Markers are valued ‘+2’, ‘+1’, and ‘-1’, and are awarded at the end of each season for the winner, the runner-up, and the player in last place. The game is played over four rounds or Seasons and the player with the most points at the end of the four is the winner.

At the start of each season, each player is dealt a hand of Wrestler Cards, the amount varying according to the number of players. The first player—initially determined by the most recent person to have viewed a wrestling match,* but on subsequent seasons, the player who came last in the previous season—plays one Wrestler Card. This puts the Strength Marker for one luchador into the ring. Subsequently, the players can play their Wrestler Cards in one of two ways. The first is to establish a luchador whose dominance over any luchador has yet to be established. This must be over another luchador and done with one more Wrestler Card than was previous played, up to a maximum of three cards. The other is to play Wrestler Cards on a luchador who is stronger than a previously played luchador. If a player cannot or does not want to play any more Wrestler Cards, he can ‘throw in the towel’ and his participation in the Season is over.

What is important here is that the Wrestler Cards are not numbered and instead, it is the number of Wrestler Cards played on a luchador versus another luchador that establishes the dominance of one over another. The dominance of one luchador over another is tracked using the Strength Markers. These depict the masks of Maskmen’s six luchadores and have little cutouts where each luchador’s mouth and chin are visible. These cutouts match the curve of the top of each luchador’s head, which means they can be stacked up the table to show which one is on top of another and has dominance over the luchadores below him. Once dominance has been established for one luchador over another, it cannot be changed during the season. However, it is not always possible to establish the ladders, or hierarchies, of dominance of every luchador over another and this can lead to the creation of multiple ladders on the table, showing the relationships between some luchadores, but not others.

Ultimately, a season will come to an end when one player has played all of his cards for that season. He wins the season and the ‘+2’ winner’s belt. The runner-up is determined by whomever has the least cards in his hand, and the loser, the one with the most.

Although the aim of every play is to empty his hand, he need not rush to do so. There is scope in Maskmen to be tactical, a player holding three Wrestler Cards of one colour until it is the right moment to establish a luchador’s dominance rather than rushing them out early, playing smaller numbers of cards to maintain dominance, and so on. It is not too tactical though, just enough to keep a veteran player happy and a casual player intrigued. The game is at its most casual at two players, random at five or six with the cards divided among so many players, and cutthroat at three of four.

The theme of battling luchadores is a way for the players to empty their hands of Wrestler Cards, but whilst quite light, it is a stronger than in Scout. This is because the theme in Scout does not affect or enable the telling of stories, whereas in Maskmen, the theme of one luchador being stronger or better than another is physically depicted in the ladder of masks on the table and players can, if they want, tell the story of how any one luchador performs over a whole season. Plus, over the course of the game, a luchador of one colour might be at the bottom of the hierarchy in one season, only to bounce back in the next season and narratively, fight his way to the top.

Physically, Maskmen is a sturdy tight package. The artwork on the Wrestler Cards and the Strength Markers is striking and simple, whilst the rules pamphlet is easy to read. The stacking of the Strength Markers which show the hierarchy of dominance is not as easy to understand as it could be and the owner of Maskmen should definitely play through a few hands himself to understand how it works before teaching it to others.

Maskmen is a fun little filler, which makes use of an engaging theme to drive its game play. Its basic play is easy to teach and it offers some depth beyond that, but not too much, making suitable for family and casual play as well as play by experienced players too.

One Bad Lock-In

If they are very lucky, for the agents of Doctor John Dee, it will be an evening like any other. Unluckily—rather luckily, for were they not such agents serving the crown, Walsingham would have not spared them their sentence for heresy—it is not going to be an evening like any other. Their employer, Mister Garland, sends the agents on what should be a simple collection task at The Admiral’s Compass, an inn in the once great port of Winchelsea, its once busy harbour silted up and its status as one of the Cinque Ports long since lost. Take possession of a valuable package and safely transport it Dee at Mortlake, they are told. Unfortunately, the contents of the package are far more dangerous than the Agents might suppose and certainly far more dangerous than the unfortunately greedy and larcenous stable boy at the inn could ever imagine. However, a furtive delivery and collection and a foolish theft are not the only events that are going to take place and be resolved at The Admiral’s Compass that night. This is the situation as laid out to the Agents in The Admiral’s Compass, a scenario for Just Crunch Games’ The Dee Sanction, the roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe.

TheAdmiral’s Compass is a short, single session scenario, published under the ‘Sanction Community Content Creation Licence’, that is location-based and could easily be run as a convention scenario, but just as simply slipped into an ongoing campaign. Its events all take place within the confines of the inn over the course of a single evening. Besides the collection of the package, the other threads—appropriately—involve a prisoner exchange with a Spanish envoy and the sad story of a young sailor whom came home scarred by his experiences serving aboard the Counter Armada launched by Sir Francis Drake in April, 1589, following the defeat of the Spanish Armada the previous year. Initially, the three strands are separate, but by mid-evening, they will crash into each other and become increasingly intertwined and involve the Agents more and more. This all takes place against the backdrop of a storm that keeps the inn isolated and its staff and patrons reluctant to step outside, plus the growing realisation that something is stalking them both. Mixed into this are at least a couple of creepy scenes, more so if either player or Agent is an arachnophobe!

Physically, The Admiral’s Compass is short, but decently organised and illustrated. Everything is clearly laid out and easy to find and there is both a floorplan and a description of the Inn. Overall, a nice-looking scenario.

The Admiral’s Compass can be run as a standard or a convention scenario or one-shot. As either of the later, the Game Master will need to prepare some ready-to-play Agents, complete with agendas of their own and agendas tied to the various members of staff and patrons at the inn. Otherwise, The Admiral’s Compass is a neat little horror scenario which takes place on a dark and stormy night.

Miskatonic Monday #398: Up on the Rooftop

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.

—oOo—

Name: Up on the Rooftop

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: James Cross

Setting: Vermont, 2018

Product: One-shot
What You Get: Forty-eight page, 9.69 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: For every child, there is a Christmas when they lose their innocence

Plot Hook: Christmas holiday becomes Christmas horror, Christmas cheer become Christmas fear

Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators, six NPCs, ten handouts, two maps, one Mythos tome, four Mythos spells, and one Mythos monster.

Production Values: Decent

Pros

# Nicely detailed cinematic horror scenario

# Includes advice for convention and campaign play

# Builds from creepy to whiteout worriment (and worse)
# Pleasingly unsettling cover

# Teraphobia

# Clausophobia

# Tarandophobia

Cons

# Can include the death of a child

Conclusion

# Well done, holiday horror that adds a new twist on an old staple

# Ruins Christmas for Floridians everywhere

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Magic in the USA

Just as with the works of fiction it is based upon, the Rivers of London series of novels and graphic novels by Ben Aaronovitch, the Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, focuses upon the demi-monde of the city of London and the wider British Isles. However, the novel Whispers Under Ground and the novellas The October Man and Winter’s Gifts, opened up the wider world to suggest that magic and the activities of the genius loci—or river spirits—and the fae are on the rise in as faraway places as Germany and the USA. Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA does exactly the same for the roleplaying game in the USA. It primarily explores two things in the USA. One is the history of the magic and magic practitioners in the USA and the other is law enforcement in the USA, supporting this with factions and scenarios and more. Together this highlights the differences between the United Kingdom and the USA, as well as suggesting options and ways as who the Player Characters are and how they investigate case files that deal with magic and the demi-monde. It supports this with plenty of advice and case file hooks for the Game Master, a pair of scenarios of differing complexity, and a set of ready-to-play Player Character investigators.

Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA starts by explaining the cultural differences between the United Kingdom and the USA in terms of magic. The most obvious is that there is no equivalent of the Folly in the USA, so no equivalent of ‘magic cops’, and no Federal oversight of magic. This does not mean that there is no Federally-connected organisation that deals with magic and magic-related crime. One is the Critical Incident Response Group of the FBI, to which Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds belongs, the other is Alderman Technical Solutions, previous incarnations of which were the de facto magical law enforcers for the US government, but which is now a private military contractor whose primary remit remains the investigation and suppression of hostile genii locorum. More common are lone practitioners or independent organised groups. One such is the ‘Librarians’ of the New York Library Association from False Value, which are fully detailed and statted here. Others include a variety of hedge wizards, monster hunters, and so on, including a coven of New Orleans witches; the luchador-inspired Las Serpientes vigilantes which hunt vampires and street gangs in Southern California; and the Cryptid Kickers, a team which makes an online paranormal reality show. Also described is Mr. Sunday, a magical fixer who can be used to bring disparate Investigators together, and last, and definitely worst, the ASU or ‘Against Spiritual Usurpation’, who most radical members hunt practitioners because they believe them to leeching magic from the natural world.

All of this is written as if a report put together by Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds, including—as she wryly notes—her own Critical Incident Response Group. She notes that the origins of Newtonian practice in the USA were in the craft that Benjamen Franklin and Thomas Jefferson learned in and brought back from Europe. Their different philosophies, culturally divided along the Mason-Dixon line, saw the founding of two societies, Franklin’s ‘Virtuous Men’ and Jefferson’s ‘Virginia Gentleman’s Company’, which would clash in the American Civil War and refuse to serve alongside each other in the Second World War. The ‘Virtuous Men’ were disbanded following revelations made to the House Un-American Activities Committee, whilst the ‘Virginia Gentleman’s Company’ was re-founded as Alderman Technical Solutions.

The consequences of all of this is that magic and its practice in the USA—and the demi-monde to some extent due to the suppression programmes conducted by the ‘Virginia Gentleman’s Company’—is steadfastly disorganised and disparate in feel and nature. In comparison to Player Characters in Great Britain, those in the USA will have no official police (or federal) law enforcement authority and little to no official magical training. There will also be no ‘official’ telephone call in the night instructing the Player Characters to investigate a strange incident, though there may unofficial ones from a journalist or law enforcement officer aware of the Player Characters’ interest in such matters. Player Characters will often have no back-up and have to work alone, often avoiding entanglement with the authorities, and perhaps going as far as using forged identification to pass themselves as members of law enforcement. If they are magic practitioners, they are likely to be hedge wizards or strongly allied with the Librarians. One option discussed as a possibility is an Indigenous practitioner, but this is not developed and left very much in the hands of the player to develop with the help of the Game Master.

The disadvantage of this is that it is more difficult to set-up a game in the USA because there is less of a readymade structure and the Player Characters will be less capable. The advantage is that there is less of a stricture as to who the Player Characters might be and how they might go about conducting an investigation. The Game Master also has more options in terms of the type of campaign she wants to run and where she wants to set it, and lastly, the players are going to know less about the setting and its American demi-monde than they might in a Rivers of London campaign set in the United Kingdom.

Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is rounded out with five appendices. The first details the six members of the Cryptid Kickers, an online paranormal reality

Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA does include a decent explanation of American law enforcement from local to federal, plenty of case seeds for the Game Master to develop, and details about the demi-monde in the USA. The most amusing of which is where nazareths, or goblin markets, are held. This is at gun shows, which brings its own challenges, of course, and at Science Fiction & Fantasy Conventions, which lends itself to members of the demi-monde openly being themselves as cos-players! Either way, the Player Characters are going to have approach either type of event with such care lest they stick out from the crowd to both the mundane and the outré attendees.

Almost half of Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is dedicated to a pair of highly detailed case files. The first, ‘Woolly Bully’ takes places in the depths of Red Cedar Forest in Montana where the body of a local meth dealer has been found dead after a bear attack, although there is speculation that it as a bigfoot attack! The scenario involves some investigation in the nearby town of Merriweather, but is primarily focused on what lies in the woods and what secrets are hidden out there. The Player Characters will need to conduct at least one excursion into the woods, which the local sheriff will discourage. Once the Player Characters do go into the woods, the scenario is fairly linear, the Game Master having the option to add further encounters. There is advice too, on how to get the Player Characters involved, depending on who they work for or if they are independents, and lots of advice on how to stage various scenes to the extent that the ‘Woolly Bully’ is good introductory case for a Game Master to run. However, the scenario does have the potential to turn violent and end up with the Player Characters facing a tough opponent, so does not quite feel like a traditional Rivers of London case file in that way. Otherwise, a straightforward, but well done case file.

The second case file is just as detailed, but switches the mystery to the West Coast of Los Angeles as well as keeping it in Montana. ‘A Regular Picture Palace Drama’ is a more complex affair than ‘Woolly Bully’, but it can be run as a sequel. It is a MacGuffin hunt, one which concerns a very magical piece of Hollywood and which some desperate people and organisations are desperate to get hold of, and will literally chase people down to do so. The investigation begins with news of a magical artefact, a revolver known as a buntline special, has surfaced and set the demi-monde gossiping. Attempting to track it down in Bozeman, Montana, where it was seen at a gun show, reveals the efforts to which some people will go to obtain it, including robbery and murder and car chases, but by the end of the first act, the Investigators will have learned that the artefact has been taken to Los Angeles. This being Hollywood, this is where the scenario gets weirder and where the authors being to have their fun, as the Player Characters begin experiencing oddly spectral recreations of old Hollywood films leading to a showdown with whichever one of their chasers has survived so far. Despite the increased complexity, the case file comes with plenty of staging advice and could be used to set up a campaign in Los Angeles, perhaps a new West Coast Critical Incident Response Group office after the outbreak of even weirder weirdness or one involving the Arrowsmith organisation which deals in the preservation of rare Hollywood films and relics. The scenario closes with eight case file seeds, some of which do include Arrowsmith, others some of the factions detailed elsewhere in the book.

‘A Regular Picture Palace Drama’ is definitely the more interesting and more entertaining of the two scenarios. If there is anything missing, it is an opportunity for the Player Characters to actually go to a gun show as described earlier in the book as an American nazareth.

Rounding out Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is a set of five appendices. The first details the members of the Cryptid Kickers paranormal online series investigators as Player Characters, potentially ready to play the two scenarios in the supplement. There are four members of the Cryptid Kickers, plus a couple of friends who help out. Two of the Cryptid Kickers are practitioners, though in secret. The second appendix details several new spells. For example, Treaclefoot is used to stick two things together temporarily, people’s shoes to the floor most obviously; Casus Levis, softens a person’s landing after a fall; and Winter’s Breath is cast to radically drop the temperature in a small sphere, including causing a violent bronchospasm if cast on a victim’s head. The ‘New Creatures’ appendix introduces malignancies and despairs, types of hostile spirits; ‘Talking Racoons’ as the American equivalent to Foxes; and ‘Old Soldiers’, lower fae with an affinity for conflict having been reborn on a battlefield after extended fighting. They are available as a Player Character option. The fourth chapter lists and describes the most notable cryptid in most of the states. It is only marginally useful since it leaves the Game Master to create the stats for them and the lack of those is really the only shortcoming to Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA. The last appendix consists of an extensive list of inspiration from books, graphic novels, films and television series, podcasts, and more.

There are some limitations to Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA. The lack of further cryptid stats and the limited options if a Game Master wants a more organised set-up for her campaign. They are understandable, since not everything has been detailed in the Rivers of London series of novels and books. Plus, they do leave a lot of room for the Game Master to create her own content for her campaign.

Physically, Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is very well presented. The book is an engaging read, full of interesting details, and there is a Ben Aaronovitch vignette at the start—sadly too short. The artwork is also good, although one has to wonder what it is that Bob Ross was going to paint.

There is very likely much more to explore in the USA in the world of Rivers of London as Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is a not a complete guide to the setting. It is, however, a solid introduction that presents the Game Master with both plenty to use in her campaign and room to develop her own, backed up with two entertaining scenarios.

Cthulhoid Choices: Cryptid Creeks

Call of Cthulhu is the preeminent roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror and has been for over four decades now. The roleplaying game gives the chance for the players and their Investigators to explore a world in which the latter are exposed, initially often indirectly, but as the story or investigation progresses, increasingly directly, to alien forces beyond their comprehension. So, beyond that what they encounter is often interpreted as indescribable, yet supernatural monsters or gods wielding magic, but in reality is something more, a confrontation with the true nature of the universe and the realisation as to the terrible insignificance of mankind with it and an understanding that despite, there are those that would embrace and worship the powers that be for their own ends. Such a realisation and such an understanding often leave those so foolish as to investigate the unknown clutching at, or even, losing their sanity, and condemned to a life knowing truths to which they wish they were never exposed. This blueprint has set the way in which other games—roleplaying games, board games, card games, and more—have presented Lovecraftian investigative horror, but as many as there that do follow that blueprint, there are others have explored the Mythos in different ways.

Cthulhoid Choices is a strand of reviews that examine other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror and of Cosmic, but not necessarily Horror. Previous reviews which can be considered part of this strand include Cthulhu Hack, Realms of Crawling Chaos, and the Apocthulhu Roleplaying Game.

—oOo—

Shingleford is in danger from manipulation and catastrophe. It is not the first time that this happened to the town which stands on the mouth of the Clawfoot estuary. It happened in the autumn of 1962 and was stopped, but can it be stopped this time? The enigmatic, if friendly, figure of the Peddler has come to town, selling the townsfolk what they want in the form of little Trinkets he takes from his travelling case. When the owners of these Trinkets sleep, the Trinkets take their deepest resentments and twist them into Curses, and in this way, their owners become Cursekeepers, exhilarated by the eldritch power granted by their Trinkets and now capable of casting their Curses on others, whether that is an individual, their family or other group, or an establishment. These curses will grow and threaten to overwhelm the community. If these Curses and the influence of the Peddler were stopped in 1962, how can they be stopped today? Simply through the efforts of the River Scouts, the stories of Hilda Buckle, and the careful eye of The Watcher. The Watcher is an intelligent animal or cryptid, a spirit of the river who will inform the River Scouts of new Curses and keep a watch over them. Hilda Buckle is an old woman who lives in a shack on Bulrush Island further upriver and who has a reputation for telling fanciful stories, fanciful stories that begin to look very much the events that are occurring in Shingleford and up and down the river. The River Scouts are local teenagers who discovered the old River Scouts clubhouse, abandoned after the events of 1962, and upon turning it into a den, were visited by the ghost of a young girl who told them of how she helped lift the Curse in 1962. Other ghosts asked them to read the River Scout Pledge and provide protection for the Clawfoot and Shingleford once again, presenting them with Sashes that will help them defeat the Curses.

This is the set-up for Cryptid Creeks, a roleplaying game of eldritch investigative horror, that takes its inspiration from films such as The Goonies and Stand by Me, television series like Gravity Falls and Stranger Things, and graphic novels such as The Lumberjanes. Although a roleplaying game of eldritch investigative horror, and thus adjacent to it, Cryptid Creeks is not a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror and does not involve the Cthulhu Mythos. Which means it offers a similar style of play, but without the familiarity with or issues of anything Lovecraftian. Further, in keeping with its inspirations and with the age of its protagonists, it is designed to be played, if not necessarily run, by a teenage audience. This does not mean that it cannot be enjoyed by more mature playing group, but it is in keeping with the publisher’s other roleplaying game, Inspirales, aimed at a similar age group. Published by Hatchlings Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is described as ‘Cosy Horror’, meaning that it is suitable for a family audience. Cryptid Creeks is also ‘Carved from Brindlewood’, which means that it is a Powered by the Apocalypse system roleplaying game, but one using the lighter, more investigative-focused variant of Brindlewood Bay.

A River Scout in Cryptid Creeks is defined by five attributes—Athletic, Smart, Cool, Smooth, and Attuned—which range in value from ‘-3’ to ‘+3’, and are used to modify dice rolls. He will be defined by a Playbook, which defines the base value for the attributes, a gift from the Watcher, provides Moves or actions particular to each Playbook, gives Setback and Perks, and offers ways in which the River Scout can improve himself. The six Playbooks are Athlete, Medic, Musician, Bookworm, Sailor, and Misfit. For the most part, they conform to high school type roles, though with a couple options which fit the setting of Cryptid Creeks. These are the Sailor, who will help the River Scouts get up and down the Clawfoot, and the Misfit, who is a little bit special because he is the Watcher’s champion and can work with the Eeries, the chaotic, tiny cryptids which watch over Shingleford for Curses and deliver messages to and for the Watcher. Each Playbook also suggests touchstones, or characters from films and television, that fall within the Playbook.

To create a River Scout, a player selects a Playbook and assigns one point to his attributes. He also picks one ability as well as the Watcher’s Gift. The process is simple and straightforward.

Every Scout has access to six Basic Moves in addition to the Moves of his Playbook. The Scout Move is carried out when a River Scout wants to do something risky or face a fear; the Eldritch Move is rolled when facing or dealing with the supernatural; the Snoop Move is for searching for Clues or conducting research; the Crew Move is for clearing Misfortunes and for strengthening bonds between the River Scouts; the Hilda Move is used when a River Scout wants to do something based on a story that Hilda has told him; and lastly the Answer a Question Move is made when the players feel that their River Scouts have gathered enough clues to discuss and then attempt a hypothesis about the nature of a Curse. As Cryptid Creeks is an investigative roleplaying game, the Snoop Move is a strong focus of the game, there is a certain delight in the Hilda Move which enables a player to add detail to the setting through play.

Mechanically, Cryptid Creeks is quite straightforward. To have his River Scout undertake an action, a player rolls two six-sided dice. On a roll of six or less, the result is a miss with a reaction; a roll of seven to nine is a hit with a complication; a roll of ten or eleven a straight hit; and a roll of twelve or more a triumph with a benefit. A player can also roll with Advantage, meaning he rolls three dice and uses the two highest, or Disadvantage, meaning that he rolls three dice and uses the two lowest. Advantage may come from a Move, the situation, or a useful item from the Clubhouse Collection. Disadvantage can come from the situation or a Misfortune.

In addition, each River Scout has access to a Sash, given to him by the ghosts in the Clubhouse. These can be used—and the roleplaying game advises that the players use them when a Curse is near its peak and the situation is much tougher—after a roll has been made to increase the success rating rolled. Narratively, a Sash has two effects, one that is out of game and one that is in game. The out of game effect is that it enables a player and his River Scout to view one dangerous path, represented by the poor roll, but as advised by the ghost who gave it to the River Scout, chose a path with better outcome that pushes them towards defeating the Peddler. The in-game effect depends upon whether the player chooses to lift his River Scout’s Sash as ‘The Sash of Ages’ or ‘The Sash of Endings’. When ‘The Sash of Ages’ is lifted, it invokes a nostalgic memory of a time before the character joined the River Scouts, whilst when ‘The Sash of Endings’ is lifted, the River Scout suffers from dark visions. For example, a ‘Sash of Ages’ for the Sailor Playbook is ‘A flashback showing your earliest memory in a boat’, whilst a ‘Sash of Endings’ might be ‘Ends in Ruins’ in which, ‘The townsfolk desperately search through the charred remains of the dinghy, even as the mast collapses.’ Each Playbook lists several of both types of Sashes which are crossed off as they are lifted. When a player crosses off the last Sash, his River Scout must retire.

Given its ‘Cozy Horror’ genre and the age of the River Scouts, it is no surprise that Cryptid Creeks has no combat system. Technically, it does not even have a damage system. Instead, a River Scout can suffer Misfortunes that can be physical, psychological, or supernatural, such as an allergic reaction, sprained ankle, being confused or horrified, or feeling a buzzing in the brain or being drawn to the Peddler. These can come about because of a player’s roll, of a River Scout’s action, and so on. A Misfortune means that River Scout’s player rolls with Disadvantage, and worse, when a River Scout suffers his fourth Misfortune, his player must mark off a Sash without the benefit of Lifting it. Narratively, Misfortunes and their mechanical effect can be negated by the Crew Move, played whilst travelling or at the Clubhouse.

Cryptid Creeks is played in four phases—the ‘Beginning of Episode’ Phase, ‘Investigation’ Phase, the ‘River’ Phase, and ‘End of Episode’ Phase. The ‘Beginning of Episode’ Phase includes a recap, a clubhouse montage, and the Navigator—as the Game Master is known—introduces a new Curse. In the ‘Investigation’ Phase, the River Scouts search for clues and gather information, which takes up the majority of play. The ‘River’ Phase is triggered whenever the River Scouts travel up and down the Clawfoot and enables the Navigator and players to expand the setting by adding and detailing new locations, the Navigator to showcase the setting and its eldritch elements, and the River Scout to share more emotionally touching scenes. In the ‘End of Episode’ Phase, the River Scouts claim the rewards for breaking a Curse, play out any scenes linked to Sashes lifted during the session, gain Experience Points for answering ‘End of Episode’ Questions, and in the appropriately named ‘Smores & Dreams’, the players can discuss that they liked about the episode and want to see more of.

For the Navigator, there is good advice on running the four different Phases, how to handle clues, locations, and side characters, and how to interpret the various Moves. There is also a breakdown of what a Curse looks like and the principles of being a good Navigator. These include rooting for the River Scouts, following their lead as they explore and expand the setting of Clawfoot and search for Clues, shift the spotlight between River Scouts, balance the cosy versus the eldritch, bring the world to life, embrace the otherworldly nature of Clawfoot, and keep collaboration with the players in mind. Although there is advice on how to run Cryptid Creeks as a one-shot, it is made clear that the roleplaying game is not intended to be run in a ‘monster-of-the-week’ format, but rather as a series consisting of several episodes. What this means is that although the River Scouts will initially be facing one Curse, the likelihood is that they will be facing two or three as the campaign progresses. A Curse consists of a main threat and several ‘tendrils’, associated dangers such as eldritch horrors and difficult Side Characters that typically want to stop the River Scouts. A Curse also has its own Sash, which can be Lifted like the River Scouts’ own, but without needing to tick their own off.

Beyond this, Cryptid Creeks provides the Navigator with tools and advice to create her own Curses, from concept and themes to presenting the Curse and clues to it and more. Almost half of Cryptid Creeks is devoted to the eight-part campaign or series, ‘The Peddler’s Revenge’ in which the River Scouts discover the threat to Shingleford and Clawfoot, investigate the Curses being laid upon the region, and ultimately uncover the secrets behind the Peddler. The campaign is supported by descriptions of various places in Shingleford and along the Clawfoot, but best of all, there is a pilot episode that the Navigator can use to kick-start her campaign. It provides a step-by-step guide that helps the Navigator teach the rules of Cryptid Creeks and explain what the roleplaying game is about to her players and then again, step-by-step, shows the Navigator how to show her players how to play and the flow of the game. Up until this point, Cryptid Creeks looked to be a good roleplaying game to run for a group of younger players who were new or relatively new to roleplaying games, ideally by a Game Master with some experience under her belt. Yet, the ‘Pilot Episode’ really shifts Cryptid Creeks away from this. It is very well done and really helps the neophyte Navigator—whether new to being a Game Master or new to Powered by the Apocalypse—grasp how Cryptid Creeks is run. The advice and step-by-step introduction of the ‘Pilot Episode’ make what was already a good starting roleplaying game for the players, into being a good one for the Navigator too.

Physically, Cryptid Creeks is brightly, breezily presented with engaging cartoonish artwork. The depiction of the Peddler in particular, looks like a version of David Tennant’s Doctor Who, but with tentacles coming out of his Mod suit! The roleplaying game is also well written and far from a difficult read.

Cryptid Creeks is not an introductory roleplaying game, but it definitely can be used to introduce players to the hobby and it can be a Navigator’s first roleplaying game as a Game Master. The advice to that end is very well done and this is combined with the accessibility of both the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics and the setting of Clawfoot with its cosy familiarity and the unsettling nature of the threat that the River Scouts and their home face. If looking for a ‘Cosy Horror’ roleplaying game or a Game Master’s first roleplaying game, Cryptid Creeks is a good choice. If looking for both, Cryptid Creeks is the perfect choice.