Water Works

Twilight 2000: Roleplaying in the World War III That Never Was opens with the Player Characters on the run, attempting to escape the last hurrah of the US 5th Mechanized Infantry Division near the city of Kalisz in central Poland or the 2nd Marine Division near the central city of Örebro in Sweden. Where do they go? Where do they find shelter? Where do they find food and water? Spare parts for their vehicles? Extra ammunition for their weapons? Published by Free League Publishing, Twilight 2000 presents an expansive sandbox setting that the Player Characters can explore, forage, loot, protect, and even settle. A sandbox setting consisting of a broken world, torn apart and poisoned by war and weapons of mass destruction, followed by disease and starvation. In the immediacy of the aftermath of the war, it is a grim setting where every day is a struggle to survive at best, a fight at worst. Urban Operations, the first supplement for Twilight 2000: Roleplaying in the World War III That Never Was, examined the status of cities and other settlements in the broken world of 2000, in particular, updating the supplement, The Free City of Krakow, for the first edition of Twilight 2000 from 1984. This was followed by The Black Madonna, a scenario that updated the original The Black Madonna from 1985 and detailed the Silesia region of southern Poland. This journey and that of the Player Characters continues with Hostile Waters.

Hostile Waters is the marine and riverine supplement for Twilight 2000. It explores one of the few remaining and most reliable means of travel in the post-apocalyptic world of Twilight 2000—rivers, canals, lakes, and even the sea; presents specific rules for travel and combat on the water—whether up and down rivers and canals , or along the coast; details new equipment and vehicles; and describes factions that can be encountered and plots that can play out as the Player Characters try and find a safer way to cross Poland or Sweden. It maps out and offers two routes for that. One is the River Vistula, which runs all the way across Poland from Kraków, Warsaw, and Toruń, before emptying into the sea at Gdańsk, whilst the other is Göta Canal, Sweden’s ‘Blue Ribbon’, which runs from Gothenburg to Söderköping, connecting western and eastern Sweden via series of lakes and rivers as well as the canal. 

In doing so, Hostile Waters is an update and expansion of the scenario, Pirates of the Vistula, published in 1985 for the first edition of Twilight 2000. This pushes on the rough campaign outline begun with ‘OPERATION Reset’ in Twilight 2000 and continued with The Black Madonna and Urban Operations. It will conclude with Operation Reset, based on The Ruins of Warsaw, also published in 1985. These are not the only links other to scenarios in Hostile Waters. During the course of their travels, the Player Characters may learn about an operation to repatriate surviving Americans more fully explored in Going Home from 1986 and even discover the existence of a surviving Ohio-class nuclear submarine, foreshadowing perhaps, the events of The Last Submarine Trilogy.

Hostile Waters is a boxed set as is standard for Free League Publishing’s supplements for Twilight 2000. It contains the one-hundred-and-four-page ‘Hostile Waters’ source and scenario book; twenty-six new Encounter Cards; sixteen modular battle maps; six scenario specific battle maps; tokens for the battle maps; and a large, double-sided map, with northern Poland on one side and southern Sweden on the other. Both maps on the double-sided map abut the one included in Twilight 2000 which depicts southern Poland on one side and northern Sweden on the other. Together they cover the whole of Poland and Sweden respectively and depict the main riverine environments along which the Player Characters are likely to be travelling in Hostile Waters. The tokens depict the various vessels detailed in the ‘Hostile Waters’ book as either fully operational or as a wreck. The scenario specific battle maps in turn depict a castle, a submarine—inside and out, an island, and a floating village. There is a set of floorplans for the River Queen, a tugboat that appears in one of the scenarios. The depict stretches of river with docks, bridges, islands, banks (and or shores), harbours, and even a canal lock! The Encounter Cards can be mixed and matched with those released with Twilight 2000 and its supplements, but are in the main designed provide random encounters when travelling along a river, whether that is on the water or on the bank. They include storms, discovering bodies floating in the water, mines, a ship cemetery, Russian fishermen, pirates in speedboats, a shootout on a nearby bank, and more. All of these are of a solid quality, full, and look great on the table. The only thing missing is perhaps a map with a river section with a more pronounced curve to it. As per usual, all of the modular and will work with the maps previously published for Twilight 2000.

Hostile Waters is a boxed set as is standard for Free League Publishing’s supplements for Twilight 2000. It contains the one-hundred-and-four-page ‘Hostile Waters’ source and scenario book; twenty-six new Encounter Cards; sixteen modular battle maps; six scenario specific battle maps; tokens for the battle maps; and a large, double-sided map, with northern Poland on one side and southern Sweden on the other. Both maps on the double-sided map abut the one included in Twilight 2000 which depicts southern Poland on one side and northern Sweden on the other. Together they cover the whole of Poland and Sweden respectively and depict the main riverine environments along which the Player Characters are likely to be travelling in Hostile Waters. The tokens depict the various vessels detailed in the ‘Hostile Waters’ book as either fully operational or as a wreck. The scenario specific battle maps in turn depict a castle, a submarine—inside and out, an island, and a floating village. There is a set of floorplans for the River Queen, a tugboat that appears in one of the scenarios. The depict stretches of river with docks, bridges, islands, banks (and or shores), harbours, and even a canal lock! The Encounter Cards can be mixed and matched with those released with Twilight 2000 and its supplements, but are in the main designed provide random encounters when travelling along a river, whether that is on the water or on the bank. They include storms, discovering bodies floating in the water, mines, a ship cemetery, Russian fishermen, pirates in speedboats, a shootout on a nearby bank, and more. All of these are of a solid quality, full, and look great on the table. The only thing missing is perhaps a map with a river section with a more pronounced curve to it. As per usual, all of the modular and will work with the maps previously published for Twilight 2000.

The ‘Hostile Waters’ source and scenario book begins by making the point that since the Twilight War has smashed much of the infrastructure—sources of food, sources of water, transport networks, and more—that made modern life possibly, the post-war world has been turned back centuries to a time when waterways—rivers, lakes, and canals were vital society. Not only did they provide the fastest and most reliable form of transport, but they were sources of water, whether that was to drink, to irrigate crops, to supply livestock, or even use in various manufacturing tasks. As survivors abandon towns and cities without ready access to water, those that do have access or stand on navigable waterways become important trade hubs and places to protect. Or target, because in the post-war world, pirates have reappeared, preying on the traffic up and down the river and the towns along the river. Some pirates have ambitions beyond merely raiding as well. And since the war is not officially over, militaries on both sides of the war often patrol these waters too, clashing with other and pirates. Armed boats are not the only hazard on the waterways of Europe. Some routes are mined to stop traffic or barricaded by brigands looking to collect a toll, wrecks—submerged or not are a shipping hazard, and the war has prevented maintenance of all and any waterways, which can lead to rivers and lakes silting up and broken canal locks. That is in addition to any water having been poisoned by chemical or biological contaminants, let alone radiation.

Mechanically, riverine and nautical combat is treated like an extension of the vehicle rules in Twilight 2000. A boat can be anywhere from a rowboat or sailboat all the way up to patrol boats and missile boats. The larger the boat, the bigger its crew and the less manoeuvrable it is, but the more likely it to have fixed weapon points. Otherwise, crews will use portable weapons. The rules cover boat size, movement, water depth and running aground, sinking, and damage to both the hull and components, as well as travel and combat. In general, unless on the open sea, boats of all sizes will be limited in their manoeuvrability on rivers, lakes, and canals, and the players to take both this and the depth of the water into account. There is a good example of naval combat to show the Game Master how the rules work along with descriptions of various types of mine sown in the waterways of Europe and different naval weapons like  anti-ship missiles, surface-air missiles, and torpedoes. This is backed up by the descriptions, illustrations, and stats for twenty-two water vessels of various kinds, including civilian boats and those operated by the USA, the Soviet Union, Poland, Sweden, and NATO. The rules also cover swimming, fighting in water, and drowning.

The four new factions added to Twilight 2000 in Hostile Waters can all be encountered along the waterways of either Poland or Sweden. They include the Pirates of the Vistula (or Sea Wolves in Sweden), which can be independent of or under the command of Baron Czarny (King Vasa), the warlord of Warsaw (or Stockholm), but which is attempting to take control of the river and its various towns, and has been quite ruthless in doing so. Led by an ex-popstar turned crime boss, the Pirates of the Vistula are the default antagonists in Hostile Waters, having been adapted from the earlier Pirates of the Vistula scenario. The other factions include the remnants of the U.S. 6th Fleet, assigned to blockade any Soviet naval operations, but currently planning a repatriation effort back to the USA, whilst a Russian Naval Spetsnaz group, reporting to the KGB rather than the GRU, currently monitors activity in a broken Europe, looking for loyal Soviet units, but prepared to target smaller threats like the Player Characters if necessary. The last of the factions, the Troupe, is perhaps the most fun, a travelling group of actors, performing classic Shakespearian plays as well as Star Wars and classic episodes of original Star Trek. All four factions are fully detailed, complete with important NPCs written up and goals for the group as well as the NPCs.

The five new plots provide frameworks for stories that can play out as the Player Characters travel up and down Europe’s waterways. The first, ‘Operation Reset’, first introduced in Urban Operations, brings a slight Science Fiction element into play with a secret Soviet technology programme that CIA and DIA are trying to track down. The Player Characters will not find it here, but instead locate it in the ruins of Warsaw in Operation Reset. Nor do the details actually explain what it is, but that does not matter here because the Player Characters are really only looking for clues and people who know more at this stage. The other plots include locating a decorated Russian general being held by pirates; looking for a missing US submarine that might still be armed with nuclear missiles; finding a way to get home to the USA via the US 6th Fleet; and supporting one town or another over access to a supply of water. The four plots are nicely detailed and come with a detailed, often lengthy countdown of events suggesting how they might play out once the Player Characters get involved.

Several scenario sites are detailed that tie in with the plots and the factions. The River Queen is a moving location, a mobile base, or river tugboat, that will travel up and down the River Vistula. In the original Pirates of the Vistula, the tugboat’s captain was travelling down the Vistula to Warsaw to rescue his family and this can still drive the plot forward. The other scenario sites include a floating village of boats which is being targeted by river pirates; the castle base of the river pirates where they are also holding an important prisoner—but are not aware of how important; the USS Maine, an Ohio-class nuclear submarine; and an island where some hoped to escape to form a utopian society, but which is now on the verge of collapse and hides a very deadly secret!

Obviously, some of the factions, plots, and scenario sites do tie together. The Pirates of the Vistula are the major threat during the scenario and the Player Characters can run into them as a result of an Encounter Card or because of the plot involving the prisoner they hold or the floating village scenario they are targeting. The U.S.S. Maine has its own plot and scenario location, whilst the other factions and scenario sites have their own internal plots as well. Some of these can be used on their own, but travelling aboard the River Queen journeys to Warsaw (Stockholm) is intended as a spine around which the other plots will revolve. Together, the various factions, plots, and scenario sites form a toolkit or set of options, some of which can be used on their own, but are really intended as a means for the Game Master to create a set of interlocking hooks and events for a lengthy journey and multiple stories.

To that end, the ‘Hostile Waters’ book comes to close with a pair of appendices that detail in turn the Vistula and the Göta Canal. Complete with history, rumours, a guide to travelling their lengths, and inhabitants that the Player Characters might encounter, these provide a geographical guide to the terrain through which they will be travelling in Hostile Waters.

Physically, Hostile Waters is very well presented. Everything is in full colour, the artwork is excellent, and the maps are clear and easy to use.

Much like Urban Operations and The Black Madonna before it, Hostile Waters is a toolkit rather than a traditional scenario. It can be pulled apart and its individual parts run as the Game Master wants in her campaign, but she can also use those parts to construct a darkly picaresque voyage into the unknown, whether down the Vistula in Poland or along the Göta Canal across Sweden, setting up some great stories in the process. All backed with surprisingly straightforward nautical rules and ably supported with some great maps.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Rescue on Raxil

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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Since its original publication in 2017, titles for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game—the Science-Fiction/Science Fantasy role-playing game published by Paizo Publishing—have been a regular feature of Free RPG Day. Free RPG Day 2026 is no exception, but this year, the scenario is for Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition. This is Rescue on Raxil, a short scenario for five Third Level Player Characters. Its plot and set-up are simple. Raxil is a peaceful, fertile world with a delicate ecology, which is suddenly threatened by the arrival of a clandestine expedition from Absolute Zero, an augmentation research group with little regard for both the effect of their research on the environment and the ethics when it comes to its experiments, and even worse secret backers, Frozen Trove! Despite the best attempts of Absolute Zero, word has got out about its operations and contact has been made off world with the mystical protectors known as the Xenowardens. They have dispatched a team of operatives to land on Raxil, get as close to the Absolute Zero laboratory as possible, and then shut its operations down as well as gathering proof of the connection between Absolute Zero and Frozen Trove.

The scenario is short and so throws the Player Characters into the action in the first of three scenes. They are dropped deep in the forest near the Absolute Zero where they suddenly see two strange creatures. These are Dracotoads, the first signs of Absolute Zero’s activities, two toads spliced with modified dragon glands. The Player Characters can fight them, but two of them have Wildwise Grafts which allows them to talk to animals, so they can use other means to get past the Dracotoads. They can do the same with the next encounter too. The scenario will climax in the laboratory with Player Characters confronting the leader of the Absolute Zero expedition, Feskagazar, a non-binary dragonkin genetic scientist. This is a nicely staged affair with the Player Characters needing to decide whether they want to fight Feskagazar or save the research data they have set to delete.

Rescue on Raxil includes five pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of an Elf Envoy, a Skittermander Witchwarper, a Raxilite Mystic, a Ryphorian Operative, and a Dragonkin Solarian. All are Third Level and all are given a two-page spread which includes a background, advice on playing the character in and out of combat, and relationship to the other Player Characters. Besides the Starfinder Player Core, the scenario also makes use of the Starfinder Galaxy Guide and Starfinder Galactic Ancestries. Maps of the two locations in the scenario are placed inside the front and back cover.

Physically, Rescue on Raxil is as professionally presented as you would expect for Paizo, Inc. It is in full colour, the art and cartography are excellent, and the adventure is well written.

Rescue on Raxil is a straightforward Science Fiction adventure. In fact, too straightforward. Even simplistic. Two of the encounters can be solved by talking and it ends with a big fight at the end. There is not enough variety in the game play or the challenges and it could have done with another encounter to give it some variety and perhaps a little less in the way of character backgrounds for what is a short adventure. Rescue on Raxil is as professional a product as you would expect from Paizo Publishing, but just too short and lacking variety to make it a good one-shot or demonstration scenario.

Friday Fantasy: Shrine of the Cabbage God

High in the mountains, across the sea in an old colony, there is plateau long dried out and dusty from drought and the wind. Once it was fertile, dominated by fields of rich brassica, or cabbages, and at the centre stood a temple. A temple to Oleracea, petty-god of cabbages. His followers and priesthood were slaughtered men who came in boats and the temple was all but destroyed, partially buried by a vengeful Earth goddess. For decades, if not centuries, Oleracea has been forced to sleep, weakened by a lack of worshippers and a lack of tribute, but now the weather has turned and rain has soaked the soil of the plateau and cabbages are growing again. Word is spreading that there is one last temple to plunder, a temple to a minor agricultural god, but a temple said to be full of gold and precious gems that was ignored when the colony was originally conquered. Perhaps the Player Characters learn about the temple by rumour or are sold a map showing its location? A priestess of the god of earth has received visions of a minor, but annoying god of old stirring in the mountains and wants to hire adventurers to ensure that this god remains buried or a messianic nobleman wants proof of his divinity and wants the wak’as—or relics—of other gods for planned new temple, and his aides have identified Oleracea’s shrine as a potential source? A famous hero has gone missing and the only clue is a map to Oleracea’s shrine that he left behind or a local family is getting annoyed by the recently awakened skull of an ancestor which keeps telling his descendants to go to the shrine in the mountain and they want someone to return the skull to the shrine.

This is the set-up to Shrine of the Cabbage God, a dungeon-scenario published by Coldlight Press. It is designed for a party of Fourth to Sixth Level Player Characters and is written for use with the B/X version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. Which means that it will work very well with Old School Essentials from Necrotic Gnome and can be easily adapted to the retroclone of the Game Master’s choice.

The background to the scenario does have some demands to make it fit a Game Master’s campaign world. In particular, a Mesoamerican world faraway over the sea that long ago was discovered, conquered, and colonised, much like Central and South America. Sufficient time also needs to have passed for the temple to Oleracea to have fallen into ruin, and of course, it needs to have a pantheon with an earth goddess. Surprisingly, the one setting that is actually more or less fits much of those demands is Pirate Borg!

The temple complex itself consists of several crumbling Offering Houses above ground with the two Levels of the temple below ground. Everywhere there is dust and other signs of disuse, but the brassica theme shines through, whether it is the statues of men with cabbages for crowns, a seedbank of ancient cabbage varieties, and a tomb where an Avatar of Oleracea crouches in deep sleep, its bolted cabbage body humanoid in shape, but with its ears and eyes covered by the stony hands of a rocky statue. This rocky statue is an earth elemental assigned by the earth goddess to ensure that Oleracea can see or speak through his avatar, its presence a pleasing reminder of the earth goddess’ desire to punish the minor god! This is not this is not the only sign of the earth goddess’ presence in the temple as several earth elementals prowl the complex. The Player Characters may also discover other manifestations of Oleracea.

There are some utterly fantastic details to the scenario. For example, there are classic traps in the scenario a la the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, corridors with poison dart traps in the walls. It is called the ‘Genuflectory’ and its walls are carved with scenes of priests bowing deeply and kneeling, a hint as to what the Player Characters should do. Yet if they do activate the poison dart traps, it is so long has passed since the temple was actively used, the darts themselves have crumbled and all the holes out of which the darts were once fired do is belch the poisonous dust that remains. In the past, the priests would have kneeled and bowed to avoid the darts flying overhead, but now, if the Player Characters take the hint on the walls, they will be bowing and kneeling into the poisonous dust! It is a lovely detail that although effectively a bait and switch, is thematically appropriate.

Elsewhere, the Player Characters find a table with two masks on it, one of which has a melted face on the inside of it, whilst on the floor lies a dead man with his face missing! Both masks are valuable, but will literally melt the face off anyone who wears it without the correct vestments being worn. Nearby, there is a mummy on a table who will communicate with the Player Characters only sarcastically unless she is plied with food and alcohol. A gleaming golden dagger hangs suspended five feet above a raised square platform in a Calendar Chamber, a domed chamber with a ceiling painted in now yellowing white, marked with black specks for the stars. The dagger is one of the more powerful magical items in the scenario and the Player Characters are likely to want to grab it. Should a Player Character do so, he will find his hand and arm inserted in goopy acid! The platform is actually occupied by a translucent gelatinous cube, with the dagger suspended at its centre.

However, the scenario is underdeveloped in places. For example, the scenario does not explain to the Game Master what the mummy will tell the Player Characters and there are various bodies strewn about the complex, all of them thieves who were pillaging the temple, but none of the bodies are detailed. Similarly, the Game Master may want to detail the thieves who have survived the dungeon so far and have been unable to find their out. She will also need to decide where some of the individual locations are in a room since they are not clearly marked.

Physically, Shrine of the Cabbage God is scrappy. There are few illustrations and the maps are serviceable at least. The writing is often rushed and could have been better phrased in places.

Shrine of the Cabbage God is thematic delight! Who knew you could design such an interesting and enjoyable dungeon around a common garden vegetable—and do so as effectively as this? However, the scenario needs a polish, some development of the details, and an edit. In other words, Shrine of the Cabbage God deserves for someone to give it the professional treatment and make it shine as much as it deserves to.

[Free RPG Day 2026] The Archivist’s Curse

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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Quick-starts are a means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps two. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

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What is it?
The Archivist’s Curse is the quick-start for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the roleplaying game based on Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Scandinavian Folklore as collected and illustrated by Johan Egerkrans, and published by Free League Publishing. It is an investigative horror game set in Scandinavia during the nineteenth century that explores the clash between modernity and folklore.

The Archivist’s Curse is a forty-four page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?
The Archivist’s Curse can be played in roughly a single session or two.

What else do you need to play?
The Archivist’s Curse needs at least six six-sided dice per player and a set of cards numbered from one to ten. These can be taken from an ordinary deck of playing cards.

Who do you play?
The Archivist’s Curse includes five pre-generated Player Characters. The consist of an Occultist, Private Detective, Servant, Academic, and Vampire Hunter, who all five have the ‘Sight’ and can see vaesen.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is defined by his Attributes and Skills; a Motivation, a Trauma, and a Dark Secret; a Talent and a relationship with another Player Character, a memento, and some equipment. The Attributes are Physique, Precision, Logic, and Empathy, and rated between two and five, whilst Skills are rated between one and five. Motivation explains why the Player Character is prepared to hunt down and confront vaesen, whilst Trauma explains why or how the Player Character gained the Sight; and the Dark Secret is something that the Player Character wants to keep. Each Talent is a special ability, such as ‘Medium’, which enables the Player Character to predict other people’s futures and to contact the dead or ‘Elementary’ which lets a player ask the Game Master to explain how certain clues are connected once per session. A Memento is a possession which the Player Character holds dear that by interacting with it, will help him overcome a Condition.

How do the mechanics work?

The Archivist’s Curse and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying uses the Year Zero Engine. When a player wants his character to undertake an action, he rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to a combination of his character’s Attribute and Skill, plus whatever bonus or penalty dice the Game Master awards, such as from the situation or a Talent. To succeed, the player typically needs to roll a single Success or six—though sometimes it may be more—on any of the dice. Extra Successes can be expended to gain various effects. In combat, this will be more damage, but in other situations it will usually mean learning more information.

If a player fails a roll, he can instead choose to Push the roll. This enables the player to reroll the dice which did not result in Successes in the hope of getting some or more Successes. Doing so will inflict a Condition on the Player Character, either Exhausted, Battered, or Wounded for Physical Conditions, or Angry, Frightened, or Hopeless for Mental Conditions. Suffer too many of either Physical or Mental Conditions and the Player Character will be Broken, meaning that he cannot act.

How does combat work?

Initiative in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying uses Initiative Cards, numbered from one to ten, which determines when a Player Character, NPC, or Vaesen acts each round, though it is possible to swap Initiative cards between Player Characters and/or friendly NPCs each Round. In each Round, a Player Character has a Slow action and a Fast action. A Fast action is typically movement or a reaction—such as dodging or parrying—whilst a Slow action will usually be an attack, whether ranged or melee. Each weapon has a base damage, which can be increased with extra successes on an attack roll, whilst some weapons also grant a bonus to attack rolls. Damage from combat is also inflicted in terms of Conditions.

In general, vaesen cannot be killed or destroyed in combat. Investigators in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying usually confront and fight a vaesen long enough to perform a ritual that will drive it away or destroy it.

How does fear work?

A Fear test is required if a Player Character encounters a vaesen or magic, the number of Successes required determined by the Fear value of the creature, magic, or situation. Although it can be bolstered by the presence of allies, if a Fear test is failed, the Player Character can suffer from one or more metal conditions, but will be Terrified. In which case, the Player Character will either flee, freeze, faint, or frenzy. A Terrified Player Character can attempt a Fear Test on subsequent Rounds to act normally.

What do you play?

The Archivist’s Curse includes the scenario of the same name. It is not a traditional scenario for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying in terms of its set-up. Usually, after the Player Characters have each had an encounter with one of the vaesen, they are individually invited to join The Society, an organisation dedicated to investigating and cataloguing the vaesen and their clashes with mankind. Unfortunately, The Society was dissolved and nobody has been investigating the vaesen for decades. The Player Characters are handed the keys to its decrepit headquarters, Castle Gyllencreutz, in the Swedish city of Uppsala, and directed to begin its activities once again. In ‘The Archivist’s Curse’ all five Player characters have reasons to visit the National Archives on Knights’ Isle in central Stockholm in Sweden. The set-up also requires that two Player Characters appear first in the scenario, one after the other.

The scenario is entirely location bound in the four-storey building of The National Archives. It combines a haunting and a family tragedy which are revealed over the course of the Player Characters’ investigation and exploration of The National Archives—the Esoteric and Egyptology Sections in particular. There are plenty of handouts, a superb map of The National Archives, and a countdown of weird and spooky events which will drive the story to its climax. Overall, it is a very well done investigation.

However, ‘The Archivist’s Curse’ is set up to tell the story of one particular Player Character, whilst another Player Character has been hired to investigate the other. This calls for careful roleplaying upon the part of the two players assigned those characters. The scenario also does not involve traditional vaesen and players expecting a Nordic threat may be disappointed. The scenario also works best with all five Player Characters.

‘The Archivist’s Curse’ can be played as a one-off scenario, but it could also be used as a prequel, especially if the players decide to keep the same characters from the scenario. This can be as a prequel to both the Vaesen – Starter Set and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying itself, the former providing a short, but effective introduction to Castle Gyllencreutz and the activities of The Society. Another option is as a prequel to Vaesen: City of my Nightmares, an urban-based campaign set in and around Stockholm which involves a scenario in The National Archives.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Archivist’s Curse has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Archivist’s Curse uses a familiar set of rules in the Year Zero Engine and their explanation is very clear and includes several examples of play.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Archivist’s Curse is well-appointed with great artwork, good handouts, and a superb set of floorplans of The National Archives. The scenario is excellent and a very good introduction to Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying.

The Archivist’s Curse is published by Free League Publishing, and is available to download here (coming soon).

Companion Chronicles #25: Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies

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

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What is the Nature of the Quest?

Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies is an extended mini-campaign for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition.

It is a full colour, twenty-four page, 2.01 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy, though it does need a slight edit.

Where is the Quest Set?

Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies is a scenario for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It does not have a specific year or geographical location, but should ideally be placed near the lands of the Player-knights’ liege lord where there could be two feuding lords whose lands border each other’s.

Who should go on this Quest?

Any type of Player-knight can go on this quest.

The Player-knights should have sufficient standing represent their liege lord. The Trusting and Suspicious Personality Traits will play a big role in the campaign.

What does the Quest require?

Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?

The events of Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies take place over the course of four years and concern the allegiance signed between the Player-Knights’ liege lord and Sir Cynwall of Brickwall Manor, who lives relatively close to the liege lord’s lands. The Game Master will need to decide upon the reason why the Player-Knights’ liege lord wants the alliance, but Sir Cynwall seeks the support of the Player-Knights’ liege lord because he has a feud with his neighbour, Sir Ulprus, over land use rights. Unfortunately, this feud will be the source of growing friction between and Sir Cynwall and Sir Ulprus that will be the cause of an actual war between the two knights. However, the situation in Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies is not as simple or as straightforward as it may seem. The Player-Knights may realise this early on if they succeed in a roll against their Suspicious Trait, whilst if they instead succeed in a roll against their Trusting Trait, it will be much later on in the campaign that their doubts will be raised.

The campaign begins in Year One with the Player-Knights at the signing of the treaty as their liege lord’s representatives. At the following banquets, they witness a miracle performed by a travelling pilgrim and establish a relationship with one of Sir Cynwall’s friends, Fray Senach. The scenario foreshadows the campaign as a whole, relying upon the Player-Knights’ Trusting and Suspicious Personality Traits to determine its flow and their reactions. Ideally, Year One will end with the Player-Knights having gained Sir Cynwall’s trust. They return to his castle in Year Two to follow up on the signing of the alliance and assess his defences. To everyone’s surprise, Sir Cynwall announces that he and his son, Sir Effin, will go on pilgrimage, but before they can, Fray Senach is found dead. The evidence points towards one of Sir Cynwall’s household as being responsible. This greatly upsets Sir Cynwall and in Year Three, he seeks to end his feud with Sir Ulprus. Tragically, as an agreement is about to be announced at a banquet, Sir Cynwall drops dead! He has been poisoned and surely, Sir Ulprus was responsible. Anger leads to war and Sir Effin lays siege to Sir Ulprus’ castle. By now, the Player-Knights may have their own suspicions as to who might be actually behind this, but may not have proof or their suspicions confirmed. Whether they do or not, in Year Four, they will gain confirmation—or revelation depending upon the players’ rolls—and hunt the villain down.

Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies is a scenario that demands that the players respect the rolls made against their Knights’ Personality Traits. Experienced players will probably quickly ascertain who the villain is, if not the motive of that villain, and need to roleplay against this knowledge. This is the scenario’s primary weakness, but good roleplayers should be able to cope.

Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies is best run mixed with other scenarios so that the players and their knights can focus on other events and adventures rather than solely on the events of this scenario. This allows its story to shift into the background as the Player-Knights get on with other duties, and then pop out again the next year. This grants the Game Master some flexibility in what she runs parallel to it whether that is single scenarios or parts of an ongoing campaign of her own.

Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?

In places, Friends to Friends, Enemies to Enemies could have been more clearly written. For example, the explanation of the scenario could have been more clearly written for the benefit of the Game Master. However, this does not mean that it is necessarily harder to run, rather that it requires more preparation than it otherwise should. It demands good roleplaying from the players and that they cab keep their knowledge separate to what their Knights know. This can be challenging, but rewards careful play and the pay-off at the end when the villain behind it all is truly unmasked will be all the more delicious.

[Free RPG Day 2026] All Bets Are Off

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

With Everyday Heroes, publisher Evil Genius Games did for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in 2022 what d20 Modern did for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition in 2002. That is, facilitate and handle roleplaying in the here and now, in the world we see outside our windows, on our television screens, and at the cinema. It went even further though by doing something not actually included in the rulebook. This is providing access to a number of source and scenario supplements all based upon a surprising range of films. In fact, a range of films which nobody expected to see turned into roleplaying material despite their popularity in the hobby such as The Crow™ Cinematic Adventure and Escape From New York™ Cinematic Adventure. For Free RPG Day 2026, the publisher has contributed the scenario, All Bets Are Off.

All Bets Are Off carries the subtitle ‘A Free RPG Day adventure that proves every great heist fails at the escape’ and whilst the scenario does involve a heist, it remains to be seen if the escape fails. The scenario is designed for gang of four or five First to Second Level Heroes who together make up a professional heist team known in criminal circles as the ‘Stacked Deck’. However, since Everyday Heroes casts its protagonists as Heroes, the protagonists in the scenarios are only ‘technically’ criminals. Or rather, the Heroes are criminals with a heart who research organized crime money laundering locations, plan elaborate heists, and steal veritable fortunes from them. The money is then split between the members, their helpful associates, and their two clandestine benefactors, the Always sisters, Grace and Charity.

At the start of this adventure, the Stacked Deck has just performed a perfect, by-the-numbers hit on the Cold Cash Castle, a local casino well-known to be a front for the Rasmussen organized crime syndicate. The heist has gone off perfectly, and the team made it out of the casino, and is making a dash for its getaway van. All Heroes need to do is clamber aboard, but as soon as the vehicle is in sight, its tires are screaming and belching smoke as it drives away! Which leaves the Heroes in the lurch and needing to make their way across twenty blocks of the city to get to the planned pick-up point.

All Bets Are Off is a chase scenario. The Heroes have exited the casino, clown masks on in true American heist fashion, guns in hand, and black holdalls full of cash slung over their shoulders, with Syndicate Agents on their tail. How exactly they get across the city is detailed in numerous scenes, in turn using the environment and overcoming any number of challenges. These include diving down alleys and climbing fire escapes, dodging barely leashed guard dogs, facing down corrupt cops on their tail (how did they find them so fast?), and getting out from under the sight of a red sight dot, before finally trying to get past a police blockade. This is one of two scenes where the Heroes get to be inventive in how they overcome the problem, along with an encounter with a restaurant line chef as she steps out of the kitchen and is surprised at their sudden appearance. 

The scenario is intended to be played in a single session and comes with multiple endings depending on how well the Heroes have done. It includes notes on how to use it with ‘E.G.O.’, the Evil Genius Organized-Play Programme and also comes with six pre-generated Heroes. They are all Second Level and include an ex-MMA fighter, a sharpshooter, a bodyguard, a sleuth, and a leader. They all come with some background, fairly broad in detail. The inside front and back cover include a map of the streets that the Handler can use if she wants to employ miniatures.

Physically, All Bets Are Off is decently presented. The artwork is excellent and the Handler should use it to show her players various scenes in the scenario.

All Bets Are Off is short and simple. Arguably, it is not just simple, but simplistic too. Although its various scenes are thematically appropriate, too many of them come down to simple dice roll and beyond that, there is not a lot for the Heroes to really do. The scenario could easily be played through in a couple of hours and the Handler may want to add another encounter or two, perhaps have the Heroes hide out in a department store as Syndicate agents from the casino they just robbed stalk them or a race through a restaurant kitchen where an appropriately cinematic fight can take place. For a quick and easy-to-prepare demonstration game, All Bets Are Off is fine, but will need more if a Handler wants to better show off Every Day Heroes or use it her campaign.

Tactics & Tales (Part II)

13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide is not the companion volume to the 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook. Published by Pelgrane Press, it is instead a direct continuation, literally picking up with chapter eight following on from the character seven at the end of the 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook. Together, they make up the core rules for 13th Age Second Edition, the ‘Fantasy 20’ or ‘F20’ roleplaying game derived from different editions of Dungeons & Dragons which combines the crunch of epic battles with narrative or story-telling aspects for grand adventures where the Heroes are special because of their individual ‘One Unique Thing’ which sets them apart from the inhabitants of the Dragon Empire. They are true heroes, each linked to two or three of the Icons, the great powers of the Dragon Empire in 13th Age, whose influence over the story can be positive or negative, depending upon the nature of the relationship. The 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook contains everything necessary for the players, including rules for character creation, the place of the characters in the world and their relationships with the Icons, the great powers of the age, the core mechanics, and combat, plus a fantastic example of play and character creation. The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide contains everything else, including a description of the Dragon Empire, the setting for 13th Age, advice on running the game, a bestiary, a treasury, and an introductory scenario.

The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide starts with a description of its setting, the Dragon Empire. This is located at the centre of a large disc-shaped land surrounded by ocean and consists of the Land, the Underworld, and the Overworld. Seven cities line the shore of the stable Midland Sea, enabling easy travel between them, and each associated with one or more of the Icons. For example, Axis, the City of Swords, is home to the Emperor, but also has links to the Archmage, Crusader, and Great Gold Wyrm, whilst Glitterhaegen, the City of Coins is linked to Prince of Shadows, the Emperor, and the Dwarf King. It dips in and out subject matter, highlighting interesting elements of the setting, such the fact that the magic that causes the calmness of the Midland Sea forces monsters onto the nearby shores; that nobody likes to live too near the Imperial roads because they are haunted; and dungeons claw their way out of the earth and roam the land until stopped! Particular attention is paid to these dungeons as they are important and potential adventuring sites in a campaign, but for the most part, the write-up of the Dragon Empire is described by the authors as being ‘half-designed’. This is intentional as it leaves room for the Game Master to add her own details. There is a gazetteer which adds more specific details, whilst still leaving room aplenty for the Game Master’s own input.

This even applies to the history of the Dragon Empire with just a whole two pages devoted to it; or rather to the 13th Age and the past twelve Ages. Each Age began, rose and prospered before collapsing due to some catastrophe, and was replaced by a new Age. Each Age is associated with particular Icons and some Icons my appear in some Ages and not others, and so on. The overall description is brief at just two pages and so the Game Master may want to refer to one of the best supplements for the first edition of the roleplaying game, The Book of Ages.

Campaign advice discusses various topics—campaign identity, the ten-arc structure for the shorter campaign, customising the Icons to fit the campaign, and some examples. Campaign identity offers up a few other suggestions beyond the classic ‘Heroes on a Mission’, but clearly states that the ‘Forbidden Theme’ of a bait and switch theme to an Icon should never be done. The ten-arc structure is tailored to the maximum of ten Levels that a Hero in 13th Age can achieved, essentially one arc per Level, this replacing the Ten-Session Campaign concept from 13th Age First Edition. Customising the Icons to fit the campaign is intended to be a collaborative process between the Game Master and her players, starting with the Game Master selecting the Icon to her campaign’s main focus, whether as patron or villain, the players adding the Icons they want to see, and the Game Master deciding on the involvement of the unnamed Icons. This is supported by examples from each of the book’s authors. For example, ‘Servants of the Court’ sets up the Elf Queen as the primary heroic Icon with more powers and purviews than the Heroes suspect as she was also the Prince of Shadows with a combination of Archmage and Diabolist as the Icon villain. Of the other Icons, the Dwarf King had died whilst killing the Orc Lord; the Priestess championed civilisation whilst propping up a weak Emperor and was also the Dawn Captain, prophesised to die and become the Crusader; and both the High Druid and Lich King were involved elsewhere. These four examples actually better explain the concepts the customising process than the advice itself, showing the flexibility of the Icon roles in a campaign, whether that is in the 13th Age or a previous Age.

13th Age is played out in arcs, each consisting of three or four combat scenes or battles leavened with narrative scenes in between. The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide discusses in detail how to design battles per arc, primarily adjusting them for the Level and number of Heroes. There is an optimal balance for the Monster Level versus the Hero Level, but the advice suggests ways in which this can be adjusted up or down, usually to fit a narrative. This might the Game Master wants the Heroes to wade through one or two hordes of monsters before they confront a bigger threat at the end of the arc, but there is plenty of scope to vary this or just simply balance all three or four of the battles that make up an arc. The advice also covers balancing the roles of monsters on the battlefield, such as archers, blockers, casters, troops, and so on; fighting a single monster type versus a single monster; ways making an encounter unfair and thus more challenging; and even making the battlefield itself dangerous as well as adding traps.

The process of designing a battle is not complex if the Game Master decides to use the suggested optimal Monster Levels, simply choosing the appropriate foes and their roles from the bestiary. However, the process does involve a little bit more arithmetic if the Game Master wants to create a battle where the Monsters Levels are not optimised to make a battle less challenging or more challenging. Fortunately, the designers have worked out the adjusted values beforehand and provide them for the Game Master in a handy table. That said, the Game Master should probably stick to the optimised Monster Levels for the first few battles and tinker with the battle design on subsequent ones. The process is pleasingly supported with a lengthy example of a Game Master designing multiple battles across the whole progress of the Heroes for First Level to Tenth Level.

Having discussed how to fit the monsters into arcs and monster roles, the 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide devotes half of its pages to talking about its monsters. The monster stat block is kept streamlined and as well as an explanation of the various monster abilities, there are lists of the monsters themselves by Level, strength (standard, mook, double strength, and elite), and Role. In comparison to other fantasy roleplaying games, one obvious addition to a monster stat block for 13th Age is that of an Icon symbol, indicating a specific link or relationship between a monster and an Icon. These can be positive, negative, or mixed, and not all of the Icons in 13th Age have relationships with the monsters in the 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide, but where they do, it enables the Game Master to tailor encounters and battles to the Icons featuring in her scenario or campaign. It is followed by more guidelines on tinkering with monsters, this on adjusting the stats of an existing monster or designing one from scratch.

The actual bestiary itself runs from Dire Rat, Giant Beetle, and Wolf to Wraith, Wyvern, and Zombie, including Demons, Dragons (notably the chromatic ones rather than the metallic ones, since the Heroes are more likely going to be fighting the former, Ghouls, Goblins, Kobolds, Oozes, Sahuagin, and Stirges, it is for the most part, very much a classic ‘F20’ style bestiary. The only new addition is the Hungry Star, but there are plenty of variations within many of the monster entries, and many have sections titled ‘Icons’, ‘In Play’, ‘In Your Campaign’ and ‘At Your Table’. For example, the Kobold entry has stats for the Kobold Recruit, Kobold Hero, Kobold Warrior, and Kobold Archer. The ‘In Your Campaign’ entry asks lots of the questions of Game Master as to the character of Kobolds in her campaign and notes that several variations appear in the 13th Age Bestiary and 13th Age Bestiary 2. The ‘Icons’ entry for the Ettin suggests that if one head has been swayed by the Diabolist, the other has been influenced by the Three. ‘In Play’ for the Otyugh states that it lives in filth and slime near the entrance to enemies’ caverns, so that it is close enough to alert the enemies if it attacks the Heroes or it joins the enemies if they are fighting the Heroes, before stating that, “Oytyughs were more common in an ancient age, when adventurers were so poor they used 10-foot poles to turn over dung heaps in search of loot.”

Some monsters get extended entries, for example, the Dragons. This makes entire sense, since as their entry notes, they are the Heroes of the monster world! Besides standard abilities, they are tough and have their own personalities, and they have dragon-ticks and campaign abilities. A dragon-trick can be used once per turn, such as its godlike reflexes that let a dragon reroll initiative or its magnificent scales to force a player to reroll an attack against its Armour Class. In comparison, campaign abilities like humanoid form or spells are intended to be used when appropriate rather than in every single battle that a dragon appears. Demons and NPCs are treated in a similar fashion adding further flexibility.

The treasure chapter divides its items into two types. These are one-use items and true magic items which are essentially alive, have their own personalities, and need to be attuned to. One-use items are typically potions—healing and resistance—and runes that apply bonuses to armour or a weapon or spellcasting, and there is a guide to their discovery per Hero Level. Similarly, the availability of magic items is tracked according to the Hero Level and by the tier of the campaign—Adventurer, Champion, or Epic. The personalities of magical items are reflected in quirks, quips, and quiddities. Quirks push the wielder of a magic item to act a certain way, such as dressing nicely at every social occasion or spouting puns; quips are phrases or comments that a magic item wants to hear its wielder say or a phase it wants the wielder to do; and a quiddity is its personality, effectively turning a magic item into a mini-NPC. A true magic will typically have one or more of these and they add individuality to each and every item. In many cases, magic items have more interesting mechanical effects than they do in other ‘F20’ roleplaying games and many are also linked to particular Icons. For example, the Boots of Elvenkind are linked to the Elf Queen and Prince of Shadows and require a skill check for the wearer to move quietly, but the player rolls twice an uses the higher roll, and in game needs a Quip such as ambiguous smile or mouthing the word ‘silent’ in Elvish. The list of magic items and also of wondrous items, is not extensive, but it is more than sufficient multiple arcs and campaigns, especially when it comes to weapons, since these are not listed by sword or spear or mace, but by the magical effect, so that weapons can be tailored to the campaign and the weapons wielded by the Heroes.

The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide is rounded out with an introductory adventure, ‘A Bad Moon & The Wrong Stars’. It takes the classic ‘F20’ set-up of a ‘village-in-peril’ and gives it the 13th Age twist along with plenty of room for the Game Master’s input in form of Icon links and the details of the village. That village is Longmeadow, built on some ancient ruins. The Heroes are escorting a scholar of past Ages to Longmeadow when they are attacked by strangely dressed Elves. Investigation, again tailored to the Icons, will reveal the presence of a Living Dungeon nearby. This is the site of the adventure’s climax and what is interesting here is that the dungeon design is tiny at just four locations. In another ‘F20’ roleplaying game this would probably not be enough, but in 13th Age each room is battle, so a big encounter that all together with the fight on the road makes up a whole arc. In story terms, the play of this Living Dungeon, as much as it is in 13th Age, is not about lengthy exploration, but about getting to the action and the exciting bits. Each of the locations and the battles is detailed, some quite extensively so. Overall, ‘A Bad Moon & The Wrong Stars’ is a good introduction to the play of 13th Age and its key setting feature of Living Dungeons whilst having a lot of flexibility for the Game Master to adjust it to her players and their Heroes.

The 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide comes to a close with an array of appendices. These include a guide to using content from 13th Age First Edition, more options for the Game Master, a price list (if the Game Master and her players want to track Gold Pieces in their campaign, though 13th Age usually avoids this), tables for Game Master, a list of 13th Age First Edition resources, an excellent combined glossary and index, and more. All very useful.

Physically, the 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide is well written and an enjoyable read, though there is less input and commentary in this book than their was in the 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook. The artwork is suitably heroic for the Heroes and monstrous for the monsters and all together, very good.

Despite its origins in two earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons, it takes some adjustment to both play and run 13th Age since its combination of crunch and story is quite structured. The 13th Age Second Edition Heroes’ Handbook eased that process for the player and the Game Master, whilst the 13th Age Second Edition Gamemaster’s Guide does the same specifically for the Game Master in helping her in the process of setting up and running battles, arcs, and campaign.