Jonstown Jottings #106: Marsh Attacks!

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?
Marsh Attacks! The Blackthorn Campaign Sourcebook is sourcebook for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the Blackthorn Campaign scenario book.

It is a one-hundred-and-thirty-three page, full colour, 21.97 MB PDF.

It is a one-hundred-and-thirty page, full colour book.

The layout is tidy, the illustrations vary in quality, but all are at least good. The cartography is also good, a mix of classic and modern.

Where is it set?
Marsh Attacks! The Blackthorn Campaign Sourcebook is set in the lands of Lismelder tribe, Greydog clan and Delecti the Necromancer’s Upland Marsh in the year 1625 S.T. immediately after the Dragonrise.

Who do you play?

Marsh Attacks! The Blackthorn Campaign Sourcebook is designed to be played using members of the Greydog Clan of the Lismelder tribe (and potentially Ducks). There are no restrictions upon choice of cult, but members of the Orlanth and Humakt cult will predominate.

What do you need?

Marsh Attacks! The Blackthorn Campaign Sourcebook requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack, Lands of RuneQuest: Dragon Pass, and Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers. The Glorantha Bestiary and The Red Book of Magic may be useful. (A number of magazines and fanzines are also listed as being useful, but these are not readily available.)

What do you get?
Marsh Attacks! is the sourcebook for Lismelder tribe, Greydog clan and Delecti the Necromancer’s Upland Marsh. It is as much a history book as a description for all three in 1625 S.T. shortly after the Dragonrise. As the former, it tracks the Lismelder tribe from its founding in 1353 S.T. between the Upland Marshes and the Starfire Ridge, though its near annihilation by Delecti’s undead during the Zombie War and the forging of close ties—in some cases, very close ties—with the Ducks and later becoming part of the Kingdom of Sartar. The tribe suffered under Lunar occupation, as did so many of Sartar’s tribes, but the close ties with the Ducks means it refused to participate in the Duck Hunts that the Lunar Empire instigated. As the tribe continued to warn about the expansion of the Upland Marsh—marked by the newly planted Blackthorn Trees—its clans came under attack from the east. There had long been enmity between Lismelder and Colymar tribes, often over who held grazing rights to the Starfire Ridges, but a combination of the Great Winter, food shortages, and rumours of stockpiled food, lead the Colymar tribe to attack the Greydog Inn, famed for its beer and hospitality. The attack was repulsed, though at great cost. In the wake of the Dragon Rise, the attention of the tribe is once again turning west and worrying about what Delecti the Necromancer is planning.

Although Marsh Attacks! gives a good overview of the Lismelder tribe, its focus is on the Greydog clan. This includes it own history, a breakdown of its steads and families, cult membership numbers (which also acts as a guide to the preferred cults for both tribe and clan), a description and floor plans of the Greydog Inn and its Longbrewer Hospitality Oath (which has surprisingly long terms) and its fare including the extra effects of certain drinks, holy days, and more. There are rules too for brewing, including a magical or special brew. This expand the Craft (Brewing) skill and add the Brew Rune spell, which stackable and can be cast to increase the likelihood of improving the quality of the beverage.

Whilst the Greydog Inn provides a social focus for the clan and the campaign, the Temple of Indrodar, gives it a duty. After Orlanth and Ernalda, the most popular cult is that of Humakt, and whilst Humakt and his warriors are dedicated to ending the scourge of the undead, those without souls. For the Lismelder tribe and the Greydog clan, as well as the warriors at the Temple of Indrodar, this means defeating Delecti the Necromacer and destroying his undead menace, or at least withstanding the spread of the Upland Marsh and thus his reach. The Temple of Indrodar is dedicated to Humakt and then his hero cults of Indrodar Greydog, Li Phanquan, Yan Starcere and Makla Mann. Given the focus of the companion campaign, it should be no surprises that it is fully mapped and detailed, but there are rules too for Temple of Indrodar Humakti adventurer generation. These add the Upland Marsh Lore skill and replace some of the gifts and geases gained by Humakti.

The description of the Upland Marsh traces its origins to its creation by Delecti and his allies following the destruction of the Empire of the Wyrms Friends. It notes that Delecti is an undead necromancer, Hero-Priest of Vivamort, rumoured to have been a sorcerer on the Council of the Empire of the Wyrms Friends, and technically neutral in Dragon Pass—though open to bribes, very big bribes! It adds the ‘Clodhopping’ skill, which covers safe movement across the marsh and the ability to spot safe bits of ground. It is accompanied by a detailed gazetteer, an extensive set of encounter tables plus stats for very odd undead. Dinosaur Zombie, Griffin Zombie, Pterodactyl Zombie, Wyvern Zombie, anyone? These are not the weirdest and worst of the monsters to be found in the Upland Marsh. Numerous plants are also described, the worst of which is the Blackthorn Tree, planted by Delecti’s Dancers in the Dark to spread the borders of the Upland Marsh.

The complex content in Marsh Attacks! consists of The ‘Gloranthan Battle Rules’. These are designed to handle skirmishes all the way up to full scale battles, from ten to five thousand combatants per side, building forces around their overall size, leaders, and heroes, with the Game Master adding in encounters, opportunities, and special events as necessary. Passions will motivate combatants to keep fighting and are used to determine unit morale. The outcomes will ultimately be determined by Battle rolls, whilst the Intensity of the battle will determine how brutal and bloody the battle is, and how likely the Player Characters will need to get involved. The rules allow from charging, forming shieldwalls or phalanxes, use of chariots and cavalry, and Player Character posture, which will indicate how long he will fight for and its effect upon nearby squads. A heroic posture means that the Player Character must fight for four rounds and will increase the squad’s morale. A cowardly posture means that the Player Character can retreat, but if not seriously wounded, squad moral will suffer. After the battle, the winner can gain Reputation, ransom the enemy captured, and may even find some plunder. The system does require a fair bit of preparation upon the part of the Game Master as ‘Battle Cards’ for each squad need to be created. These effectively look like NPC stats. As well as having to prepare any ‘Battle Cards’, the Game Master may want to run several sample battles by herself to gain an understand of how the rules work.

The last part of Marsh Attacks! is dedicated to creating Player Characters. A member of the Lismedler tribe will not be a Chariot Driver or Philosopher, so will become a Warrior (Humakti) if either are rolled. There are starting Passions for the eight Lismelder clans and replacement events for the Battle of Grizzly Peak, Boldhome Campaign, and other events during character creation. Otherwise, these changes are minor, whereas those for ‘Dragon Pass: Duck Adventurers’ is more significant, expanding those details given in the RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary. Dragon Pass Ducks have the Marshsense ability and new occupations include Boater and Upland Marsh Scout. This is accompanied by a guide to roleplaying Ducks and the Duck factions. The former is useful. Lastly, Engizi, the Sky River Titan, is written in the style of the cult books for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. This is not of immediate use, though that will change once the campaign is published.

Marsh Attacks! The Blackthorn Campaign Sourcebook is primarily going to be of use when the actual Blackthorn campaign itself is released. However, it has is a lot of background and information that can be applied to a wider campaign, particularly for Greydog Player Characters and NPCs or for campaigns or scenarios where Ducks or Upland Marsh the play a role, such as DuckPac, The Howling Tower, or GLORANTHA: A trek in the Marsh.

Overall, Marsh Attacks! The Blackthorn Campaign Sourcebook is solid, useful sourcebook with a nice pun of a title.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—Marsh Attacks! is an excellent introduction to the Lismelder tribe, Greydog clan, and the Upland Marsh in particular with solid support for Greydog clan Player Characters, whether that is in readiness for the Blackthorn campaign or general play.

No—Marsh Attacks! is too location specific for a lot of its content to be readily useful for a broader Dragon Pass campaign except Greydog clan and/or Duck Player Characters.

Maybe—Marsh Attacks! is too location and story specific to adapt to elsewhere with ease, but may be useful for Greydog clan and/or Duck Player Characters and Duck-related content set in Dragon Pass.

Miskatonic Monday #433: Off to the Races

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

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Name: Off to the Races

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Montsho Shelby

Setting: 1930, USA

Product: Urban horror one-shot
What You Get: Twenty-four page, 37.2 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something.” – Wilson Mizner

Plot Hook: Ten races. Ten bets. Ten wins. One man. A sure thing?
Plot Support: Staging advice, three pre-generated Investigators, twelve(?) NPCs, and three monsters.

Production Values: Messy

Pros

# A tap dancer, an ex-convict, and a hellfire and brimstone nun investigate crime...

# Very much a one-shot
# Radical change of tone and pace

# Eutychemaphobia

# Neophobia

# Tachophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Cartoonishly over the top stream of consciousness

# Underdeveloped Investigators

# Not a Call of Cthulhu scenario, but written for Call of Cthulhu

Conclusion

# A Mage: The Ascension or Unknown Armies scenario for Call of Cthulhu

# Not sure if the author is off to the races, or the scenario is...

# Reviews from R’lyeh Discommends

The One Ring II Starter II

It is the year 2965 of the Third Age. Over two decades ago, the Free Peoples of Middle-earth come together to defeat a great host of Orcs and other creatures, as well as the dread dragon, Smaug, at the Battle of the Five Armies. It seemed that a peace had settled on lands long threatened by the Shadow, but now that tide is turning. There are tales of strange folk and strange doings beyond the borders of the civilised lands, there are tales told round the fireside of monsters and other evils long thought banished, but which are now feared to have returned. Yet in such times, as before, there have been the stalwart warriors, curious scholars, and the stealthy scouts who know that there is a truth to many of the tales, that the sinister threats of old have not been truly vanquished, merely driven back, bruised and bleeding, into the shadows where they can nurse their wounds, bide their time, and grow in numbers and take council from their dark masters to strike once again. Knowing this, they will journey into the lone lands, rough woods, craggy mountains, and dark barrows to determine the nature and numbers of the threats to the Free Peoples that remain. Thus does a fellowship, a company of stalwarts, finds itself travelling out of Bree and into the North Downs to investigate a report of a shadow falling upon an ancient stone circle.

This is the set-up for The One Ring™ Starter Set – Over Hill and Under Hill. Published by Free League Publishing, this is actually the second starter set for The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings. Which begs the question, what is second edition of The One Ring roleplaying game doing with a starter set when it already has one? And when that starter set was actually a lot of fun? Well, the truth is that as good as it was and as fun as it was to play, The One Ring Starter Set was not without its problems, most of which were conceptual and chronological. The One Ring Starter Set did four things. First it introduced the rules; second, it provided a complete mini-campaign to play through; third, it served as a sourcebook for the Shire; and fourth, it let you play as Hobbits. In particular, as Drogo Baggins, Esmeralda Took, Lobelia Bracegirdle, Paladin Took II, Primula Brandybuck, and Rorimac Brandybuck which together represent the generation between that of Bilbo, and that of Frodo Baggins, Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck. Which was great if you liked Hobbits and wanted to explore the Shire. However, this limited player choice, since they could not roleplay other members of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth; it underplayed the peril of the setting of the wider Middle-earth, reducing it to mild; and there was no scope beyond its box to really continue playing the same characters. This was because the publisher was not supporting this feature of The One Ring Starter Set, plus, its events take place before the starting year of The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings. Fortunately, The One Ring™ Starter Set – Over Hill and Under Hill does most of these things, but with fewer Hobbits and less of a restriction chronologically (or geographically).

Anyway, The One Ring™ Starter Set – Over Hill and Under Hill. Inside the box can be found a full set of The One Ring dice, a bag of plastic stands, a ‘Getting Started’ sheet, the twenty-four-page ‘The One Ring – Rules’ booklet, the sixteen-page ‘The One Ring – Over Hill and Under Hill’ booklet, five pre-generated Player-heroes, handout for the adventure, a map of Eriador with a combat diagram on the reverse, and a set of twenty-three cardboard stand-up figures. The dice consist of two twelve-sided Feat Dice and six six-sided Success Dice, whilst the ‘Getting Started’ sheet introduces the starter set, tells the reader how to get started, and suggests further supplements that are available for The One Ring. ‘The One Ring – Rules’ booklet condenses the core rules of play, whilst ‘The One Ring – Over Hill and Under Hill’ booklet details the scenario that the Loremaster will be running and her players roleplaying. The five pre-generated Player-heroes are detailed on double-sided sheets with an illustration and some background on the front and the full game stats on the back. They consist of a Barding Captain, a Dwarf of Durin’s Folk who is a Champion, an Elf of Lindon who is a scholar, a Hobbit Treasure-Hunter, and a Warden who is a Ranger. The cardboard stand-up figures depict both the members of the company and the foes they will face during the adventure.

‘The One Ring – Rules’ booklet introduces the rules and more. It explains the basic setting, that of the year 2965 of the Third Age, and also the roles of the Player-heroes and the Loremaster—as the Game Master is known in The One Ring. It gives an example of play and a break down of what a Player-hero looks like and the various elements that a player will find on a Player-hero sheet. The rules cover basic resolution, how Endurance and Hope work, and then how Player-hero can withstand the effects of the Shadow or suffer them if not... The longest section is devoted to combat and it supported by good example of in action using the Player-heroes in the starter set. Also covered are the rules for Council, essentially negotiating and entreating with NPCs, and making Journeys. This has always been a big feature of The One Ring, very much inspired by journeys made in both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Hobbit, and the roleplaying game was originally one of the first to really make travel a big feature of its play.

Mechanically, The One Ring uses dice pools formed of six-sided dice and the twelve-sided Feat die. The six-sided Success dice are marked with an Elven Rune for ‘1’ on the six face, whilst the Feat dice is marked one through ten, and one face with the ‘Eye of Sauron’ Icon and one face with the ‘Gandalf’ Rune. When rolled, these can all together give various results. A simple numerical total that beats a Target Number is a standard success, but if the roll beats a Target Number and one or more Elven Runes are rolled, they indicate a Great or even an Extraordinary success. If the ‘Eye of Sauron’ Icon is rolled, this is the worst result and does not contribute anything towards the roll. Conversely, if the ‘Gandalf’ Rune is rolled, the action automatically succeeds, even if the total does not beat the target number.

The Target Number itself is determined by a Player-hero’s Attributes, either Strength, Heart, or Wits, depending upon if the player is rolling for a skill, combat proficiency, Wisdom, or Valour. In addition, if a skill is Favoured or Ill-favoured, a player rolls two Feat dice, counting the higher result if Favoured, the lower if Ill-favoured. Extra Success dice can be purchased and rolled through the expenditure of Hope.

Combat uses the same mechanics, but uses a Player-hero’s Combat Proficiencies—either Axes, Bows, Swords, or Spears, which are rolled against the Target Number derived from his Strength. This is modified by the enemy’s Parry rating. Damage inflicted is deducted from a Player-hero’s Endurance, which can result in him being Weary if his Endurance is knocked below his Load (essentially what he is carrying), and knocked out if it is reduced to zero. However, adversaries cannot become Weary, but are knocked out or eliminated when their Endurance is reduced to zero. If one or more Elven ‘1’ Runes are rolled on the Success dice, they can spent to inflict Heavy Blows and more Endurance damage, Fend Off the next attack against you, Pierce armour and potentially do a Piercing Blow, which is definitely inflicted if a ten or a ‘Gandalf’ Rune is rolled. If a Piercing Blow is struck, the defendant’s player rolls to see if his Player-hero’s armour protects him. Wounded Player-heroes recover Endurance slowly and are knocked out if a second Wound is suffered. Adversaries are typically killed by Wounds.

Each of the different aspects of the rules—journeys, Shadow, councils (this in a most unexpected fashion), and combat—are clearly organised and compartmentalised in the scenario in ‘The One Ring – Over Hill and Under Hill’ booklet. This does not mean that the narrative is compartmentalised though, as the scenes and the application of the different aspects of the rules does flow logically. The adventure itself begins The Prancing Pony in Bree where the company is to meet a hunter who had a strange and terrifying encounter at a stone circle in the North Downs. At the behest of their patron, the Lady Gilraen (mother of Aragorn), the members of the company are to listen to what the hunter has to say, glean what useful information he has, and set out to investigate. The scenario provides opportunities for undertaking a journey, exposure to the Shadow and the potential to suffer its effects, decent roleplaying in the Council, and combat against an evil that has returned to blight the North Downs and the lands of Rhudaur to the east. The scenario will end with the Player-heroes descending into a cave system in sight of Mount Cram. They will need to proceed with great care and with luck and good judgement, should at least be able to rescue some prisoners, but may also be able to defeat an ancient evil out of Angmar too.

‘Over Hill and Under Hill’ is a good adventure. It showcases the rules for The One Ring, presents an dark and dangerous situation for the Player-heroes, and gives them a chance to be heroic. It is playable in two sessions and there are option scenes that the Loremaster can use to extend the scenario to three. The scenario also sets the players up with heroes ready to continue playing, most likely in Ruins of the Lost Realm with Tales from the Lone-Lands. After all, they are a company and they do have a Patron.

Physically, The One Ring™ Starter Set – Over Hill and Under Hill is a good looking package. The artwork is excellent, much of it drawn from The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings core rulebook. The map of Eriador and the combat diagram on its reverse are also good. The cardboard stand-up figures are nice too. The only bad thing to say about the contents of this starter set is that the dice are not as nice as those in the original starter set.

It should be noted that much of The One Ring™ Starter Set – Over Hill and Under Hill will be of use even after a group has played through the adventures. The ‘The One Ring – Rules’ booklet will serve as a light rules reference at the table, the map and combat diagram will be in constant use—as will the dice. The Player-heroes provided can continue to be played after the adventure has been played through, but if they are to learn from their experiences, the core rulebook will be needed.

The One Ring™ Starter Set – Over Hill and Under Hill is the starter set that The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings needed. It both showcases the key aspects of the rules and how a typical game of The One Ring is played, and in doing so, it sets up the Loremaster and her players for continued play in Middle-earth.

The Other OSR: Pitcrawler

If you opened the pages of Pitcrawler and wondered if you had wandered into a ‘choose your own adventure’ path book a la the Fighting Fantasy series of solo books, then you might be forgiven for being confused about what you are holding in your hand. Once you get past it, you actually find out what Pitcrawler is and why it had to start with ‘choose your own adventure’ path book. This is because the whole ‘choose your own adventure’ path book is designed to introduce the reader to the concept of roleplaying and what a roleplaying game is, and so actually prepare the player for what Pitcrawler actually is. Which is a fantasy roleplaying game inspired by classic Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf solo adventure books, but instead of being a ‘Choose-Your-Own-Adventure’ game, it is designed to be played by two players. One is the Adventurer; the other is the Games Master. It is as simple as that, but also a lot more than that and lot less than that—and none of that is bad.

Pitcrawler is published by MacGuffin & Co., which is best known for the superlative Odd Jobs: RPG Micro Settings Vol. I, the anthology of genuinely good systemless campaign settings and ideas. Pitcrawler is both a storytelling game and not a storytelling game, in that both player and Game Master are working together to create a story and world with the player encouraged to make suggestions, but whilst the Game Master is most definitely not competing with the player, she is making the game and world challenging for the player and his character. Pitcrawler is both a traditional fantasy roleplaying game and not a traditional fantasy roleplaying game. There is hero who will have adventures and may even go on a great quest (or just a little one), and may delve into ‘Pits’ as it calls dungeons. However, there is no given world or world lore in the Pitcrawler. It is presumed to be over-the-top grim fantasy, but one which eschews traditional ‘Old School’ elements with its traditional treatment of females and races, alignments, and its play styles. The only background element that will be consistent from one play through to another is the world has Wizards who are powerful magicians capable of changing the world around them, not always to the benefit of the inhabitants. Wizards are also very rich and their tombs are often worth plundering. Wizards are sufficiently powerful that as a group they could destroy a minor god and even face down a major one!

Pitcrawler does not just eschew traditional ‘Old School’. It goes further in describing itself as having “Progressive Lefty Values”. And to be clear, this is not a bad thing either. After all, there are plenty of roleplaying games, almost all of them under the ‘Old School’ banner which do have those traditional elements if you want them. Pitcrawler is simply a roleplaying game that offers a different perspective and greatly widens—even if only by one roleplaying game versus hundreds of traditional roleplaying games—the choice for the player who wants to play what is a self-confessed progressive fantasy roleplaying game.

A Player Character in Pitcrawler is an Adventurer. An Adventurer is not a Wizard as Wizards are evil and an Adventurer cannot perform magic (though he can use artefacts). An Adventurer has five qualities. These are Face, Feet, Fingers, Fists, and Heart. Each is rated by a die type, from a four-sided die to a twelve-sided die. The die type attached to each quality is determined randomly. He starts play with seven Hit Points, a Background, three areas of Expertise, a Companion, and some equipment. The Backgrounds, which indicate what the Adventurer did before he came a Pitcrawler, include Animal Farmer, Bookkeeper, Entertainer, Gambler, Midwife, Tax Collector, and more. Each Background provides two items of equipment and two areas of Expertise, one of which is mandatory, the other the player can choose. A third s determined randomly. The Background also provides some equipment, two other items are determined randomly, and the player choses a weapon. What is not on the character is anything akin to Intellect, Perception, and Defence. This is because the Adventurer is as intelligent as his player; instead of rolling for Perception, the player is expected to ask questions and the Game Master is expected to answer them honestly; and Pitcrawler is a player-facing roleplaying game. That is, he is the only one rolling dice whereas the Game Master will not—except for random chance or contests between NPCs.

To create an Adventurer, a player rolls for his Qualities, Background, extra Expertise, and selects a Companion. The Companion assists with particular types of tests and can perform a particular ability once per scenario. For example, the Priest can assist with tests of willpower and pass a Complicated Heart test for the Adventurer once per scenario. The player should name the Companion and explain why the Companion is accompanying the Adventurer. The process is quick and easy, which makes it good if an Adventurer dies. If he does, one of the features of Pitcrawler is legacies in which the new Adventurer is somehow related or linked to the one that died and will gain a benefit as a result.

Pallavi Iapheth
Level: 1
Face d10 Feet d12 Fingers d8 Fists d6 Heart d4
Hit Point: 7
Background: Tax Collector
Expertise: Accounting, Haggling, Gambling
Items: Book, fake jewels, measuring tape, weighing scales, pistol
Companion: Bruiser (Bob)

To have him undertake an action, the Adventurer’s player rolls an appropriate quality die and aims to equal to or higher than a Difficulty set by the Game Master. The Difficulty ranges from three or Simple to eighteen or Inconceivable. When a quality die is rolled, it can explode, which means that it is possible for the Adventurer to overcome a challenge even if the die type is low. In addition, the difficulty of the test can be lowered one step if the Adventurer has a relevant Expertise, a Useful item, or is Assisted by a Companion or NPC willing to help. A critical success, equal to double the number needed to succeed, grants the Adventurer an extra reward. Failure can lead to loss of Hit Points and/or a consequence which will send the scenario in a different direction.

If failure is likely, the Adventurer can instead ‘Put his heart Into It’ and his player roll the Heart quality die and add it to the total. If the roll is a failure, it is counted as a critical failure. One clever mechanic is that of ‘Thumbs’, which apes the keeping of the thumb on a previous page in a solo adventure book as the player explores the story on another. In effect, this allows the player to turn back the clock in the scenario to a reset point and there make a different choice. A player can have up to five Thumbs depending upon the difficulty of the play.

As with other player-facing roleplaying games, in combat, a player will be rolling to have his Adventurer avoid damage. It can be kept as simple as that, but it can be made more complex and detailed with the rules for advanced fights. These add more detail to opponents, allows for multiple opponents, range, the Adventurer or the enemy gaining the upper hand (whether through preparation, observation, or research), more detailed Companion involvement, and so on. The added complexity has its advantages in work, providing more mini-prompts with which to narrate the combat, but does slow game play down comparatively.

Beyond the simplicity of the rules, there is advice for the Game Master on easing the player into his first scenario and onto the next, as well as creating scenarios. These are effectively outlines or prompts that provide a foundation from which she can improvise from, consisting of a concept, objective, antagonist, location, complication, factions, and twists along with a hook that the Game Master can use to bait the Adventurer. The setting for Pitcrawler is described in broad detail—Wizards rule everything, dangers are everywhere and there are rewards to be won; and no thinking creature inherently evil, but that does not mean that they are necessarily good; and whilst there are a lot of gods, they are not necessarily going to be helpful. Particular attention is paid to the nature of Wizards, that they are ambitious, respect other Wizards only, are otherworldly and nerdy, and are egotistical. This is accompanied by a quick guide to creating a Wizard.

Two thirds of Pitcrawler consists of ten appendices. Some of these support Adventurer creation, but others provide lists of equipment, magic potions, and magic items to buy (the Adventurer can buy one of each of the magic potions and magic items between scenarios). The ‘Tome of Foes’ gives lots of suggested foes, ready to throw into the path of the Adventurer, whilst ‘Iconic Wizards’ describes some twenty-five different Wizards. These include An’Nimat the Dancer who is fascinated with music and sound and uses spells to make others move to the music including everyone in her domain the new moon; Bombatel the War Wizard, who resides in a cratered and battered domain, and is often hired by other Wizards to fight for them; Malsain the Rotmonger, who studies decay, disease, and entropy from her domain mired in slime and plague, and is shunned by other Wizards as a consequence; and Salvia the Chef, so enamoured of good food and the artistry of cooking, that he gave up his studies and made his mansion into a bistro, using magic to develop new ingredients, but not actually cook with. This is accompanied by ‘A Pitcrawler’s Progress’, a complete ten-part campaign, which takes the Adventurer from saving someone important to him in a fishing town that is being attacked by leviathan to delving into tombs, climbing mage towers, and more as he chases down The Sunless, a cult dedicated to awakening its dead god of darkness. Each of the parts has been opened up beyond simple prompts, but the structure does not limit the Game Master or the player in developing the world how they want in play, working from the prompts that the individual scenarios give. What is made clear is that ‘A Pitcrawler’s Progress’ is not a default setting for the roleplaying game, but something to define during play. Overall, ‘A Pitcrawler’s Progress’ provides the Game Master and player all that they need to get playing bar their creativity.

Unfortunately, there is not much in the way of pits or crawling in Pitcrawler. Despite all of its efforts to create a roleplaying game that treats a traditional roleplaying game style and concept in a non-traditional fashion, it seems odd that it does not talk about how to create and play dungeons in Pitcrawler. Given how much this is part of the traditional play that Pitcrawler is emulating, it is a major omission. The other is that for a roleplaying game that works from prompts and wants to push the imagination of both Game Master and player, it seems short of smaller, more general tables to help with that.

Physically, Pitcrawler is well presented. It is an easy read and the artwork constantly echoes the look of the Fighting Fantasy series.

Pitcrawler is different. It brings storytelling elements to Old School Renaissance play without any of its assumptions or traditions and what that means is greater flexibility in tone, style, and nature of the world that the Game Master and player will work together to create and the Adventurer will explore. Some of the elements are not as developed as they should have been, such as ‘pits’, perhaps opening up the possibility of a pit companion to this main rulebook. Ultimately, Pitcrawler opens up classic fantasy roleplaying to players and Game Master who would normally avoid it and allows them to make it their own together. The combination of a lack of assumed lore with it being a one-on-one roleplaying game also makes it easier to get a group—or pair—together and start playing.

Age of Athena II

It is an age of chaos. The once mighty city-states of Greece have become isolated refuges, sanctuaries against the monsters and creatures and bandits and undead that roam beyond their walls, preying upon the weak and ravaging the land. In response, the people cry out for help and beseech the gods of Olympus. Yet only one of their number hears their cries and only a handful of men and women answers her appeal for heroes. She is Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, strategic war, handicraft, and the city, the daughter of Zeus who sprang from his head fully formed. They are the Demigods, born of divine and mortal parentage and so granted some of the gifts of the gods and they stand fast, ready to answer the hollering for help, the need to fight the legendary monsters of the age, to protect the innocent and the helpless, and to seek out adventure. This is the set-up for Warriors of Athena, a skirmish scale miniatures wargame from Osprey Games. Written by the designer of the highly regarded Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, it is a game in which a player creates a Warband, consisting of a Hero and several Companions, the number ranging between one and seven (depending upon the number of players, the more players, the fewer the number of Companions in a Warband), and takes them on quests set by Athena. What is notable about Warriors of Athena is that it is not designed to be adversarial, that is, one player or more players playing against each other as is traditional in miniature wargames. Instead, it can be played in one of four modes. First, it can be played in Solo mode against the game itself, with the player controlling his miniatures and the actions of the monsters and other threats as well as when random events taking place being determined by the rules. Second, it can be played co-operatively, with two or more players and their Heroes and Warbands working together to complete a quest. Third, it can be played with an Oracle. This is another player who will control the actions and movement of any threats as a referee. Fourth, the Oracle not only controls the actions and movement of any threats as normal, but also runs scenes in between which do not take place on the table of terrain where all the action happens. Instead, they are run in the theatre of the mind in the same way that a roleplaying game would be run. In the latter mode, Warriors of Athena develops one of the particular aspects of skirmish level miniatures wargaming, which is the strong identification that a player will develop with the members of his Warband. The Hero and his Companions will grow and change as result of their successfully fulfilling Quests and so will a player’s investment in them.

At the core of the game are two books, both needed to play. Warriors of Athena: Heroes gives the core rules for the game, including how to create a Warband consisting of the Hero and his Companions, running combats, and handling campaigns and rewards. Warriors of Athena: Quests explains how to create and run Quests, and provides a bestiary of threats and four ready-to-play multi-scenario campaigns.  In addition to the rules, a player requires miniatures, both to represent his Warband and monsters and creatures, some terrain and buildings such as temples, a pack of ordinary playing cards, a twenty-sided die, and a play area, roughly thirty inches square. Warriors of Athena can be played using any scale miniatures and miniatures from any manufacturer (though North Star Military Figures does manufacture a range of miniatures to support the rules). The introduction explains all of this and a bit more, gently pushing players to play the game with an Oracle to the full effect, whilst still acknowledging that playing Age of Athena as a straightforward wargame without the roleplaying element is perfectly fine too.

Each Quest follows the same format. This includes a summary that gives an overview and lays out what the Heroes are attempting to do, how many scenes there are, a list of the miniatures required and set-up needed, a short narrative passage to be read out by the Oracle, actions that the Heroes can take before the scenario starts, special rules involved, the Challenge Level that be adjusted to make the scenario more difficult, the rewards to be gained if the Heroes are successful, and a narrative in the epilogue if the Heroes are successful. There are also scenes that the Oracle can insert into the scenario to enhance the narrative elements of play. These are of course optional, much more like those in a roleplaying game, and do not actually require the miniatures. The special rules typically involve seeding the playing area with clue markers and then the possible results that can be drawn when a hero moves adjacent and can examine them.

The quests open with ‘The Golden Hives’, designed for beginning Heroes. It introduces them and their players to Athena when she asks the former to exact her revenge against a trio of murderous cyclops, who have killed their father and eaten the honey that would have been paid as tribute to the gods of Olympus. The Heroes will fight through a field of aggressive mythic bees and then face the trio of cyclops. If they find a bloodied stone axe in the first scenario, this can be carried over into the second and will give the hero wielding it an advantage against the cyclops as it was the one they used to kill their father. This adds a nice narrative element to the paythrough of ‘The Golden Hives’, but there is only a small chance of this happening. So, the Oracle might want to increase the chance of the Heroes finding the weapon to enhance the narrative—and if they want to carry on to the next scenarios, perhaps provide it with a permanent ability. If the Heroes fail the first time, the quest allows for a second attempt—as do the other quests—though the Heroes will only earn a limited amount of Experience Points.

In the second quest, ‘The Imprisoned Oceanid’, the Heroes are directed to rescue an Oceanid who has been kidnapped by an evil cult called the Sons of Poseidon. Over the course of three scenarios, the Heroes will fight their way up a steep cliff under a hail of arrows from the cult’s archers and into the flooding caves where is being kept prisoner. The Heroes discover a defiled and pillaged temple dedicated to their patron, Athena, in the third quest, ‘The Rampage’, and chase down the group of marauding centaurs and satyrs. The number of scenarios is increased from three to four and which of the centaur ringleaders appear in which scenario is randomly determined. Those that do not appear in the first three, will all appear in the fourth and final part. The Heroes will chase the marauders over rocky hills, encountering signs of their activity as they cut a swathe of bloody horror across the countryside, ultimately to face the sorceress they serve, deep in the forest, at night, at the witching hour. There a chance that Ares, the God of War, will be attracted to the series of running battles in this quest and the Heroes will have to fight him! The last quest, ‘Tartarus Unbound’, is designed for experienced Heroes. The number of scenarios increases to five and takes the Heroes to the city of Aketra, recently split asunder in anger by the god, Hades, because its king refused honour after the death of his wife. As the city burns, a dragon has slithered up out of the ground and hatched a clutch of eggs and if neither of these are destroyed, it does not bode well for the nearby cities. The Heroes have to fight their way into the city, across a narrow bridge, and through its burning ruins, facing undead along the way (including the king who rejected Hades), to finally face-off against a fire-breathing dragon across building divided by streets flowing with lava! It is a great climatic scene for the end battle and if they do manage to defeat the dragon, the Heroes will be truly worthy of that title.

The last third of Warriors of Athena: Quests consists of advice and content supporting the player (or Oracle) who wants to create his own Quests. This breaks down the elements of a quest and a scenario, examining them in turn in terms of design rather than play. In turn, it discusses the goal of the quest and its structure, scenarios and their structure, but it also talks about the role of recurring characters, how to create an event table, design skill and stat rolls, and more. For the group that wants them, it discusses how to design and create scenes too. The advice is good and worth reading through even if the players have experience of writing content for games like this. Certainly, it will help if they have experience with roleplaying games, but is not wholly necessary.

Mechanically, the support includes a bestiary that covers animals, uncivilised races, undead, gods and goddesses, and monsters. So, boars and bulls, Amazons and Satyrs, skeletal archers and champions, Apollo and Artemis, and Gorgons and Minotaurs. The bestiary includes a list of creature traits too. The book comes to a close with a reference sheet for use during play.

Physically, Warriors of Athena: Quests is much like Warriors of Athena: Heroes. It is an easy read, but there are relatively few shots of the game being played, that is, photographs of miniatures on the table, in the book, in comparison to normal artwork. That artwork is excellent though, often depicting scenes of action and combat that you would want to see enacted on the table. The four quests are well written and easy to understand.

Of course, Warriors of Athena: Quests is only half of Warriors of Athena, that half being the rules in Warriors of Athena: Heroes. If the latter tells you how to play, then Warriors of Athena: Quests shows you not only how to play, but also how to design what you play. Each of the four quests is a mini-campaign in itself, but they are intended to be played in order, the Heroes gaining in experience to face ever tougher foe and more challenging situations. This is more like a roleplaying game than a traditional wargame—even a skirmish one. Whilst the optional addition of scenes and narrative also make the wargame much more like a roleplaying game, even if they are ignored, Warriors of Athena still feels like a roleplaying game in its focus upon individual characters, their growth from scenario to scenario, and in the multi-part structure of the quests. In fact, it would actually be possible to run the quests in Warriors of Athena: Quests without the miniatures as the theatre of the mind of a roleplaying game. That though, is not the point of Warriors of Athena. The point of Warriors of Athena is to present a skirmish wargame with roleplaying elements set in an age of Greek myth and legend when the heroes can become great warriors and figures of the age, and this it does well with rules and content that support both styles of play—wargaming with roleplaying or roleplaying with wargaming.

Friday Fantasy: Brought to Light

Brought to Light enables you to visit the great city of Eversink not once, but four times. The city stands at the mouth of the Serpentine River where it flows into Bay of Coins, cut through by canals crossed over by numerous bridges from one plaza to another, filled with flotillas of boats and gondolas, spoiled by outpourings of human and other waste waiting to be flushed out to sea, all to the sound of merchants, high and low, hawking their wares, and the chants of the priests. This as its cellars and basements continue to sink into the mire, despite the best efforts of the engineers of The Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers. Eversink is a city of feuds and rivalries and secrets, some secrets hidden in the rooms of buildings swallowed by the swamp upon which the city stands and a city of laws and traditions so complex and convoluted that no city official can expect to remember them all. The only crime that agreed upon and widely known is that of Sorcery, for hand-in-hand with Sorcery comes Corruption, and if a Sorcerer chooses not to internalise it, he must instead externalise it and that spiritually scars the surrounding terrain and brings the attention of the Inquisitors for it scars the blessings of the city’s patron goddess, Denari—and that may be Eversink’s ultimate secret. This is the setting for Swords of the Serpentine, the swords and sorcery roleplaying game of daring heroism, sly politics, daring thievery, incriminating secrets, feuding houses of the nobility, rampant corruption, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city full of skulduggery and death, that uses the GUMSHOE System and is published by Pelgrane Press.

It is also the setting for Brought to Light, an anthology of one-shot scenarios for Swords of the Serpentine. All four were originally run as demonstration scenarios at Gen Con and all four run the gamut of the roleplaying game’s tiers of play, from Fledgling to Sovereign. Which means that they showcase a range of Player Character types, campaign set-ups, and power levels in the setting of Eversink. Each scenario is structured the same way. This includes its adventure premise, setting, tone and hints for running the game—including inspirations, plot summary with a plot map, a breakdown of both the primary adversaries and the heroes, and how to start the scenario. This is followed by map of the scenario’s various scenes and the scenes themselves, the scenes further broken down skill by skill and how they apply and what the Player Characters will learn and lastly six pre-generated Player Characters specific to the scenario. Each scenario also includes a handout.

The anthology opens with ‘Ragamuffins’. Written for the Fledgling tier, it casts the Player Characters as urchins surviving as best they can on the streets of Eversink. Opening in exciting fashion with a rooftop chase, the Urchins find their home in Sag Harbour, the worst district in the city, has been robbed! This includes a precious MacGuffin that makes them feel safe in their hovel. The culprits are their regular bullies and the Urchins have to track down both and what the pair has done with the item, which ultimately leads to a horrible conspiracy underground. ‘Ragamuffins’ mixes grime and children’s own adventure in engaging fashion.

‘Murder Most Foul!’ takes the classic country murder mystery and gives it an Eversink twist, making it a locked-room—or rather locked-mansion—mystery. Master Pietro Contrari is the most famous and most successful freelance detective in the history of Eversink, having solved over nine hundred murders in thirty-five year career! He is holding a sixtieth birthday party at his mansion and the Player Characters’ patrons want to know the secret of Contrari’s success and so have got them invitations. The Player Characters are, of course, no slouches when it comes to investigations, and of course, there will be murder. Which sounds like a fantasy version of 1976’s Murder by Death. So, there is a ball at which everyone can circulate, a murder that Master Pietro Contrari is bound to solve, and a whole mansion to explore and investigate. This is a mansion crawl in which three investigations are running in parallel—one that of Contrari into the death, the second of the Player Characters into the death, and the third of the Player Characters into Contrari himself—with the first being separate from each. The scenario even ends with a, “But tell me inspector, what I don’t understand is…” scene in which the Player Characters get to turn it back on the master detective. This is an entertaining pastiche of all the genre clichés.

‘Smuggler’s End’ is another classic murder mystery style investigation, but here the Player Characters are members of the City Watch instructed by a very rare letter from the Triskadane, the city’s highly secret, anonymous rulers, to solve the death. The body is that of nobleman with a rakish and criminally connected reputation, now dressed in rags and seemly dumped on the streets of Sag Harbour with a knife in his back. How did the victim get there and who killed him? Add into the mix a sister whose haughty manner is going to make the players hate her, let alone their characters, who wants the body back for burial and will get it back in two days, and what you have is classic police style procedural in which justice crashes into city politics.

Politics rears its ugly head again in the fourth and final scenario in the anthology. ‘Takedown’ switches the Tier up to Sovereign and has the Player Characters take command of their greater resources rather than go toe-to-toe in direct combat—whether that is physical, verbal, or sorcerous—as they are constantly harried and harassed by their enemies. Again, the Player Characters are instructed by Triskadane, the city’s highly secret, anonymous rulers, to investigate and act against Judge Lorenzo Spina, Lord High Magistrate of Eversink—one of the most power, visible figures in the city. As creepily conveyed by a child, the Triskadane has foreseen that he poses a severe threat to the city. The scenario does not have a structure so much as it considers what actions the Player Characters might take and how their various Investigative and General abilities can be applied to the investigation, what they will learn in the process, and how Spina is likely to retaliate once he becomes aware of their activities. So, bar the initial one, there are no other scenes and the investigation and play process will be much more open. Tonally, ‘Takedown’ is much darker than the other scenarios and it probably the one on its own which could be expanded from a direct four hour affair into a mini-campaign. It is effectively a freeform played at the table and so requires greater input by the Game Master.

Physically, Brought to Light is very well laid out, nicely illustrated, and the individual organisation of the scenarios eases the Game Master’s job. However, as much as their portraits impart a feel for the pre-generated Player Characters, none of them have any ready background that is accessible to the players. Each does have some background—it is given in the breakdown of the heroes at the start of each scenario. So, whilst useful for the Game Master, she has to find a way to impart that to the players of these characters. Another issue is the lack of maps. All of the scenarios are to be run theatre of the mind, but in some cases, such as the mansion in ‘Murder Most Foul!’, map could have been useful given its location-based play.

The problem with Brought to Light is that not that it is a collection of bad scenarios; quite the contrary. These are all good, entertaining scenarios. Rather that it consists of one-shots, convention scenarios, and whilst they can used as the basis or starting points for ongoing campaigns, they are not easy to add to a campaign. Which ultimately means that Brought to Light is not as flexible as a more general anthology of scenarios might be. Nevertheless, Brought to Light is a good showcase for Swords of the Serpentine, capturing not just some of its possible set-ups, but also the feel and flavour of Eversink, its grottiness and grandeur, corruption and capriciousness, power and pettiness, and more.

Magazine Madness 47: Senet Issue 19

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—

Senet is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, it is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases. Senet is also one of the very few magazines about games to actually be available for sale on the high street.

Having reached its fifth anniversary with Senet Issue 18, Senet Issue 19 goes one better by being bigger. It increases in length by a fifth from seventy-two pages to eighty-eight. Which means more previews and reviews, plus new articles, all along the usual mix of interviews, examinations of themes and mechanisms, and looks at game design and game culture. Consequently, it feels a little thicker and sturdier in the hands and provides a wider look at the hobby. Published in the summer of 2025, much of Senet Issue 19 adheres to its tried and tested format. Thus it opens with ‘Behold’, highlighting some of the then forthcoming games with a preview and a hint or two of what to expect. The most intriguing of the titles previewed here include Spokes, a game about bicycle racing in a velodrome that involves placing vibrantly coloured literal spokes of bicycles; Night Soil, about the nightly collection and disposal of ordure in Tudor London; and Habemus Papam, a timely title in which the players are electors of the Roman Curia, directed to elect a new Pope, but which they themselves are not candidates for the papal throne.

The first of the new additions in Senet Issue 19 is ‘Across the Board’. This will be ongoing series in which the magazine talks to the hobby’s ‘movers and dice-shakers’. For the inaugural article, Ruth Haigh of The Treehouse Board Game Café in Sheffield is interviewed. Given the rise of the board game café in the past decade, it seems wholly appropriate that the magazine actually talk to someone who runs one to find out why and what life is like running one in comparison to a café without board games. It is an engaging interview and it will be interesting to see who the magazine talks to in future issues. However, it does return to the tried and tested with designer Tristian Hall’s ‘For Love of the Game’. This time, it is the ‘Designer’s day off’, and here he stretches an earlier comment of his that inspiration can come from anywhere into a whole column by telling you exactly where. Essentially, a guide to what the designer does when not working on board games that ends with the question, “So, what will you discover on your next designer’s day off?”, to which the answer is, “Hopefully not another waste of time and effort like this” as the long running column reaches its nadir. The only plus to this entry in the magazine is that it shows how very good the rest of the issue, especially with the expanded page count, actually is. Sadly, whilst the extra page count does what it can to obscure ‘For Love of the Game’, it has not be used to expand ‘Points’, the regular letter column in the magazine. The letters here wonder how game modifications come about—as seen through the eyes of children, raise an issue with the use of the word ‘shame’ in the title of magazine’s end column, ‘Shelf of Shame’, and suggests some books about board games to read. It is a pity that there are not more letters because there are some interesting ideas raised here, certainly worth discussing, and the latter about books about board games certainly highlights an area that the magazine is not covering.

Every issue consists of two interviews, one with an artist and one with a designer, plus an article about a theme in games and an article about a mechanic in games, and of course, Senet Issue 19 is no exception. In ‘The Explorer’, Dan Jolin interviews the designer of his favourite game, Scythe, and publisher of the highly popular Wingspan, Jamey Stegmaier. The title of the interview is reference to his then latest design, Vantage, the open-world board game inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It takes him from his first steps into gaming from Catan to Agricola and beyond. In particular, the interview highlights the quality of the components in Stegmaier games and how some of the design changes came about when working with Jakub Rozalksi whose artwork inspired the look at design of Scythe. It is a good interview, as is Alexandra Sonechkina’s one with Sandara Tang. In ‘A Cute Above’, the reader gets to enjoy her ‘cosy-cute’ fantasy artwork as seen in Flamecraft, Critter Kitchen, and Tea Witches. The artwork is genuinely that and will be enjoyed by anyone who also likes dragons. Sandara guides through some of her pieces that have a wonderful storybook quality to them.

In ‘The Explorer’, Dan Jolin interviews the designer of his favourite game, Scythe, and publisher of the highly popular Wingspan, Jamey Stegmaier. The title of the interview is reference to his then latest design, Vantage, the open-world board game inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It takes him from his first steps into gaming from Catan to Agricola and beyond. In particular, the interview highlights the quality of the components in Stegmaier and how some of the design changes came about when working with Jakub Rozalksi whose artwork inspired the look at design of Scythe. It is a good interview, as is Alexandra Sonechkina’s one with Sandara Tang. In ‘A Cute Above’, the reader gets to enjoy her ‘cosy-cute’ fantasy artwork as seen in Flamecraft, Critter Kitchen, and Tea Witches. The artwork is genuinely that and will be enjoyed by anyone who also likes dragons. Sandara guides through some of her pieces that have a wonderful storybook quality to them.

‘Risky Business’ by Dan Thurot explores the ‘push-your-luck’ mechanism in board games, as typified by the recent Flip 7. The mechanism—and the article looks at several of them, including dice rolling, card-flipping, tile-laying, tower-stacking (a la Jenga), and even pig-throwing (a la Pass the Pigs)—has a problem in its association with gambling, but the honestly, there plenty of games that use this mechanism that are not Blackjack or Poker. All these games do combine the thrill of taking a chance which can be sweetened or soured by the result. Balanced against this the need to ascertain which result is more likely. From the simplicity of a game like Flip 7 the article looks at surprisingly more complex games like Quacks of Quedlinburg or in the Psychedelic wargame, Wonderland’s War. What is made clear throughout by talking to designers is that these games need balancing and adjustment to get right as well as the fact that there is more to them than most people think.

The theme in the issue is travel and holidays as Tim Clare puts us in ‘Holiday Mode’. The theme goes all the way back to the seventeenth century and continues to be popular today, with designs such as Globetrotting and Let’s Go! To Japan. Underlying many designs with this theme, is the wish fulfilment of visiting faraway places, that is, going on holiday to places you want to go to, but cannot. In other cases, like Tokaido—inspired by Utagawa Hiroshige’s The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido series—it is the journey that matters, not the speed with which it completed. The article balances these great journeys with five pocket-sized games that are both holiday themed and could be taken on holiday.

The other major addition to Senet Issue 19 is ‘The Classic’ which looks at a classic board game in the hobby’s hall of fame each issue. For the first entry in the series, the board game in question is, of course, Catan. It opens with the sad news that many consider the game to be past its sell by date, too old, a cliché even… Matt Thrower’s assessment does not shy away from comments made by its detractors and by the perceived wisdom, but puts up a sturdy defence of the game, pointing out its achievements over the last thirty years—millions of copies sold in forty languages, awards won including the Spiel des Jahres, and above all, popularising the hobby. It will be interesting to see what titles will be considered classics in future issues.

Senet’s reviews section, ‘Unboxed’ includes a look at The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game, highly regarded for the strong inclusion of its theme, whilst Power Vacuum, a game of household appliances living in a dictatorship, which is also a trick-taking game is also praised. The Senet’s Top Choice for the issue is Finspan, a piscine reimaging of the popular Wingspan. Unfortunately, Paranoia: The Uncooperative Board Game appears to suffer too much from being like the roleplaying game it is based upon, so it is best enjoyed fans of the roleplaying game. The selection is not quite as wide as in previous issues, the titles being reviewed all being hobby games than family or party games. However, there are more of them in keeping with the increased page count.

As per usual, the last two columns in Senet Issue 19 are ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. ‘From bored to board: falling for game night’ by John DeQuadros which traces his path from scepticism about board games to acceptance and finally proponent of the hobby as space for socialising. It is a rather engaging piece that highlights the participation rather than the winning—and sometimes the play itself. Lastly, the streamer and content creator, Beneeta Kaur pulls a game from her ‘Shelf of Shame’. The title is Firenze, bought in 2019 and ignored until now. She discovers a game that she thoroughly enjoys and regrets having ignored it until now, all due to the dangers of being distracted.

Physically, Senet Issue 19 is as good as you expect. It is well written and a pleasing read. The issue is also good in itself, the increased page enabling wider coverage of the board games hobby. The new article series are nice additions and the extra reviews are more than welcome, and it will be good to see the new format bed in with future issues.