Cthulhoid Choices: 4thulhu

As it acknowledges, there are too many games about Cthulhu and the Mythos. So why one more? Especially given that the publisher, Just Crunch Games, has its very own roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror in the form of Cthulhu Hack, Second Edition. So, what is the point of 4thulhu: A 4-sided System for Cosmic Horror? Well, it exists because the author wanted to create a roleplaying game using only four-sided dice. Which begs the question, what exactly does it offer the player and Director of roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror that other, similar roleplaying games do not? That is a difficult question to answer. Since Call of Cthulhu and Trail of Cthulhu are mainstays, and there is even lighter roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror than 4thulhu, and that is Cthulhu Dark. Think then of 4thulhu as an alternative to Cthulhu Dark when players and Directors want something lighter, but with a little more mechanical nuance. An absolute cynic might be describe 4thulhu as yet another roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror for the collector. Morse so given its obscurity. That said, 4thulhu is inexpensive. In fact, the four four-sided dice needed to play the roleplaying game are probably going to cost as much, if not more than the price of 4thulhu.

In order to run and play 4thulhu: A 4-sided System for Cosmic Horror, a group will need some four-sided dice—at least four—and copies of the Player Character sheet (though an index card will do just as well). A Player Character in 4thulhu has four attributes. These are Grit, Form, Lore, and Mien, corresponding to physical power, agility, knowledge, and personality and willpower. These are valued at two each, and then one can be adjusted up and another down. Injury and Realisation are derived values. A player can alternatively roll for the attributes. A Player Character has up to twelve skills. These are rated Expert, Adept, Novice, and Unskilled. An Expert skill means that a Player Character will succeed on a roll of two or more; three or more for an Adept skill; four for a Novice skill; and rolls of four on two four-sided dice. It is important to note that the player can select as many as he wants at the start of play, but he can also leave them blank until they are needed, in which case he selects at that point, during play.

Henry Brinded, Antiquarian
Grit1 Form 2 Lore 3 Mien 2
Injury 4
Realisation 4
Skills
Ancient Languages (Expert), History (Adept), Artillery (Novice), Accounting (Adept)

Mechanically, 4thulhu is as simple as outlined above, whilst attribute checks are rolled like unskilled checks. Combat and similar situations are handled as opposed rolls. If one combatant succeeds and rolls higher, it is the winner; a stalemate occurs if combatants roll the same value and succeed; and if both sides fail, they both suffer negative effects. Damage is brutal with a melee weapon or a light firearm inflicting two points of Injury. If a Player Character has his Injury reduced to zero, he is unconscious. The most complex rule here is how facing the Cosmic Truth is handled. Here a Player Character’s Realisation is subtracted from five and that is the target number, the minimum target number being two or more. If the roll is successful, the Player Character can carry, but if not, his Realisation is reduced by one. If it is reduced to zero, the Player Character might blackout or run away or hide, and so on. Recovery of Injury takes weeks and months for Realisation.

The adversaries in 4thulhu are defined in a fashion similar to Player Characters. The Director can adjust the attributes and assign skills as necessary, and the more powerful the adversary the more unbalanced it will be in comparison to a Player Character. 4thulhu gives details for six Mythos races and entities, including the Colour Out of Space, Deep Ones, Elder Things, Fungi from Yuggoth, Nightgaunts, and Ghouls. 4thulhu does not cover Mythos tomes, spells, or the ‘gods’. Here the Director will need to improvise. There are brief notes on converting content from other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror and on improvising horror. The latter actually covers everything you might find in a larger, more detailed roleplaying game, but in the briefest of fashions. More bullet points than paragraphs. To help set up a scenario, 4thulhu includes a set of ‘Unforeseen Circumstances’ tables, which annoyingly require six-sided dice rather than four-sided dice. The advice is good, though light.

The scaling of 4thulhu to use a four-sided die does mean that there is not a lot of mechanical depth or longevity to its play. In comparison with similar games, Player Characters are weaker and there is no scope for experience or growth. So, 4thulhu is likely to be used for one-shots, short scenarios, or mini-campaigns at best. The advice that emphasises improvisation also lends itself towards this conclusion too.

Physically, 4thulhu is slightly roughly presented with extra inserts. It is lightly illustrated. It is decently written.

There are options which are missing from 4thulhu: A 4-sided System for Cosmic Horror—spells, tomes, and gods in particular. It is not a comprehensive roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror, but it is quick and easy to play, while relying on greater improvisation and creativity upon the part of the Director than another roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror might. Ultimately, 4thulhu: A 4-sided System for Cosmic Horror is a workable, if limited mini-roleplaying game.

Friday Fantasy: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos

There is no denying the ambition of Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos. It plucks the Player Characters out of their ordinary adventuring lives and places them on a cosmic stage before the Lords of Chaos, forces them to enter their service and hunt for a lost artefact, and whilst promising rich rewards, dangles in front of them the possibility of betrayal at the hands of their own—and this not in a scenario for Eighth or Ninth Level Player Characters, but First Level Player Characters! Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos opens in strong fashion, with an emphasis on roleplaying. Yes, it is something of a deus ex machina, but it hooks the players and their characters immediately. It also sets up the Player Characters to distrust each other and not only is that intentional, the scenario gives great advice on how to do this. What happens is that each of the Player Characters is approached privately by one of the Lords of Chaos and asked to hand over the lost artefact to them individually in return for greater reward. To handle this, as you would expect, the Judge is advised to take each of the players aside and play this approach by a Lord of Chaos in private. So far, so good, but the advice goes one step further by suggesting that the Judge take aside the player with the least trusted character and talk to him, but not have one of the Lords of Chaos approach his character. This is the equivalent of a ‘chef’s kiss’, because it sows distrust even further and for once, the least trusted Player Character will be innocent despite what his fellow adventurers might believe. To ensure that this has the desired effect, it is also suggested that the scenario be run with Player Characters who have bonded in a Character Funnel.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at theCourt of Chaos ais scenario published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It begins with the Player Characters being drawn to the Court of Chaos and given a fait accompli by the Lords of Chaos—find the Yokeless Egg, an artefact infused with the First Chaos, which has been kept locked away for eons and forgotten about on the Plane of Law. The Player Characters are given a chance to discuss the situation and even partake of some hospitality in their own guest rooms, which is when each of the Lords of Chaos (and other individuals) approaches one of the Player Characters. Each of the Lords of Chaos will approach a different type of Player Character, as determined by Race, Class, or gender, before they are all brought back together the following morning. The individual, one-on-one scenes between the Lords of Chaos and the Player Characters are enhanced by handouts that individual depict all five. One is a heavily armoured, three armed warrior wearing a cloak of dead persons’ faces, another is a giant eyeball walking on chicken legs, and yet another is a hooded and cloaked figure whose face appears to be pair of elephantine trunks that end in dead hands! These are not pleasant encounters despite their honeyed words!

Of course, the Player Characters will accept the task allotted to them. They are then transported to the Plane of Law. The Yokeless Egg is actually easy to find, the Player Characters being dropped more or less on its doorstep, or at least, the cataphract it is contained in. Which it turns out, because this is the Plane of Law, is a giant flawless diamond. Inside, the Player Characters find five doors behind which there is room containing a trial of some kind. The trials are themed ‘Creation, ‘Construction’, ‘Enlightenment’, ‘Sacrifice’, and ‘Judgement’, and most of them consist of quite straightforward, even obvious—though obviousness would suite the Plane of Law—puzzles. The players and their characters will quickly work their way through them. That said, the most fun trial suggests that the Game Master place a piece of modelling clay in front of the players and have them work it into an object that will potentially solve the puzzle. It is a pity that the other trials are not as inventive as this. Unfortunately, the final scene on the Plane of Law involves the Player Characters facing off against better reflections of themselves, which is a cliché.

Once the Player Characters have the Yokeless Egg, they can return to the Plane of Chaos and stand before the Lords of Chaos. It is here that pandemonium can reign, depending upon the decisions of the players and their characters. If they have collectively decided to give the Yokeless Egg to the Lords of Chaos as a whole, then they will all receive a reward. However, if one or more of the Player Characters has decided to give it to just the one Lord of Chaos (or someone else), then there is the possibility that the other Player Characters could get left behind, stranded on the Plane of Law, that a fight begins between the Lords of Chaos and their minions, and the betrayer having earned the ire of his fellow Player Characters. The scenario covers a variety of outcomes, depending upon whom the Player Characters actually give the Yokeless Egg.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos is joyously different to other scenarios for the roleplaying game. There is scope for roleplaying and room for intrigue, as well as inherent intra-party conflict and betrayal. Which may well mean that the scenario is not suitable for every group of players, but still, it is very well handled in this scenario. It is neither overplayed or not underdone, instead, simply setting it up so that the players and their characters make the choice and thus determine in part how the scenario will end. Nor is it necessarily game-ending and the consequences are fully explored—at least within the scope of the scenario. What lets the scenario down slightly is the middle act, the scenes on the Plane of Law which lean towards the prosaic. They are not terrible, or even bad, but rather are simply not as fun or as exciting as the scenes involving the Lords of Chaos, whether for the Judge or the players. Especially for the Judge though, who is given a great cast of NPCs to portray with their capricious natures and malicious motives.

—oOo—

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos also includes a second scenario, ‘War Pit of the Chaos-Wizards: A Savage Spectacle, Starring Your 2nd Level Adventurers!’. This can be run as a thematic sequel to the main scenario, since it since it starts with the Player Characters being plucked from wherever they are and being asked to serve a servant of Chaos. This time though, it is not one of the Lords of Chaos, but a member of the Xeno-Coven, a loose confederation of ultra-powerful, chaotic sorcerers who aim to conquer or subjugate the multiverse in the name of the Chaos-gods.

This is Akhen-Am-Set, Scion of the Seventh Ritual of ‘Death, The Devourer’, an Adept of ancient, pre-Punjaran necromancy, who walks around on a carpet of insects so it looks like she floats. The Xeno-Coven holds irregular ‘Shadow-Meets’ at which its members work out agreements as to how they will work together and who will hold the Proctorship and be its leader. To avoid losses amongst their numbers, they field forces in an arena, the winner being declared the Proctor. This time, Akhen-Am-Set has decided that the Player Characters will be her proxies. There is, though, a catch.

The Player Characters have to die first. Which is not the bad bit. The bad bit is that Akhen-Am-Set raises them as undead and has them fight in the arena. Which has various consequences—especially for any Cleric. However, she does not just raise them as undead, she specifically raises them as ‘ento-morlocks’, or insect-ghoul hybrids, complete with features from the insect in question. Which can be Scarab Beetle, Scorpion, Wasp, Ant, or Mantis. Mandibles, insect eyes, acid-spitting, multiple legs, stingers, and more. Which is cool. All of which raises the Player Characters from Second Level to Third Level. Which is also cool. The scenario also details the forces fielded by Akhen-Am-Set’s rivals, including fey-like hyenas, reptilian metal golems, a cone-shaped humanoid demon with flesh of hardened lava, and Zeta Rettaxans from the planet Romulac.

Ultimately, ‘War Pit of the Chaos-Wizards’ is a big battle fought over several rounds in a star-shaped with eight points, which the Player Characters must study if they are to take advantage of its various environmental effects. It takes a little set-up as the Judge will need to copy and prepare new character sheets for the players and lastly, whilst the scenario is a fun fight-fest with a creepy moment to two here and there (such as when the Player Characters are transformed in ‘ento-morlocks’), it does have a sting in the tail…

—oOo—

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos is as well presented as you would expect for a scenario from Goodman Games. The artwork is good throughout with the illustrations of the Lords of Chaos on the handouts really standing out. The cartography is also as good as you would expect.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos is not perfect. The scenes on the Plane of Law are underwhelming in comparison to those on the Plane of Chaos. This is because the scenes on the Plane of Chaos really are fun and the potential for intra-party feuding and betrayal is intelligently handled. Dungeon Crawl Classics #80: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos lives up to its ambition and delivers something just a bit special and really memorable for First Level Player Characters.

Jeffin’ Chaos

In 1994, Earth was under attack. A sociopathic physicist from World War II was sending creatures enhanced with psychic and biomechanical powers from the planet she had made her home, to wreak havoc and take control. Earth responded by psychically sending its own agents to strike at the physicist’s operations. However, due to the inaccuracy of the technology, the agents found themselves not in control of an alien body each, but rather in control of a single body collectively, constantly vying for control as they took the fight to the enemy. In 2026, the Earth is still under attack and under threat of invasion—and not all of the hive-mind aliens beamed from another world are not happy about it. They occupy the same body, they all have different objectives, but some want to go home and some want to stay once they have completed their missions. The body is called The Jeff. They do not have exact control of The Jeff and they do not fully understand the world where they have been sent. There is the possibility that the Humans around The Jeff will realise that The Jeff is not Jeff, but something else. Especially once Jeff starts using alien powers. Then chaos will happen. Humans will panic. Alien hunters will appear. The Jeff might fail.

So, this is not actually a description of the same roleplaying game. The first is a description of Khaotic, published in 1994 by Marquee Press. The second and more recent is The Jeff Paradox. This is a weird, alien invasion roleplaying game published by Critical Kit Ltd, best known for Be Like A Crow – A Solo RPG and Aces Over the Adriatic: A Solo RPG. In The Jeff Paradox, the players each controls a Node, a fragment of an alien hive mind, but with their own goals, hidden skills, and some of Jeff’s alien powers, such as Shape-Shifting, Enhanced Strength, Speed, and Memory Wipe. The Jeff has been sent to explore the Earth and finds itself in an area where there are a lot of Humans—a shopping centre, a railway station, a high street, a theatre, and so on. Each player will set his Node’s own secret agendas and from those the Game Master will sketch out an environment where those agendas can potentially be achieved. The Jeff Paradox is designed for three or more players, one of whom will be the Game Master, a six-sided die, and twenty-five Influence Tokens per player. The Jeff Paradox concludes when The Jeff dies, is fully exposed as an alien construct, returns home or permanently settles on Earth (as decided by the Game Master), or the players run out of Influence Tokens. It is possible for a player to win in The Jeff. This is based on the number of goals achieved by his Node.

A Node is simply defined. It has a mundane skill, an Alien ability, and is allied with a faction—Homeward or Earthbound—set by the Game Master. The Node also has three goals, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. These are worth three, two, and one points when completed respectively, and can actually be achieved multiple times, by any player. Which means that a rival Node can score points for another!

Node X&P*%X9

Faction: Earthbound

Alien Ability: Telekinesis

Skill: Administration

Primary Goal: Find out what the Chester-Perry Conglomerate actually does

Secondary Goal: Track everyone who goes into the stationary cupboard

Tertiary Goal: Eat Maccaroni Cheese

The Jeff also requires some set-up by the Game Master, who defines the environment which The Jeff will be exploring. This is based upon the goals that the players have set for their Nodes. The environment should be relatively small, but have scope for the goals to be achieved, hopefully with some crossover between the Nodes. In play, the Game Master tracks three factors. One is the Faction Alignment Slider, which tracks which faction is winning and done is in secret. The other two are the Chaos Counter and the Alien Exposure Level. The Chaos Counter increases for failed actions and when it reaches ten, The Jeff has a chaotic breakdown and the Alien Exposure Level increases. The Alien Exposure Level also increases when Humans witness the use of Alien Abilities or odd behaviour by The Jeff and may ultimately trigger the appearance of the Men in Black hunting aliens…

The Jeff Paradox is played in a series of scenes. Each scene, the players will bid for control of The Jeff with their Influence Tokens. The winner narrates what he wants The Jeff to do in that scene. If it requires a die roll, a roll of six automatically succeeds; a roll of three, four, or five only succeeds if it involves the Node’s Mundane Skill or Alien Ability; and a roll or one or two always fails—humorously, the Chaos Counter increases by one, and the Game Master narrates the outcome. Then the players bid for control again. Notably, unsuccessful bids do not mean that Influence Tokens are lost, so that players who do not take control early on have a greater chance of doing so later in the game.

As much as the players and their Nodes want to succeed, failure will push The Jeff Paradox forward. It raises the Chaos Counter and subsequently, the Alien Exposure Level. When the Chaos Counter is filled, the Game Master is encouraged to alter the situation, introduce chaos, increase the consequences, and so on. This is, of course, where much of its humour will come from.

Although The Jeff Paradox includes advice for the Game Master on set-up, there is little in the way of advice on running the game. It is a fairly simple storytelling roleplaying game, but the lack of advice here still makes it better suited to the experienced Game Master. The other issues with The Jeff Paradox are to do with game set-up. There is a break in the flow of the game between players creating Nodes with their goals and the Game Master sketching out an environment where those might be achieved. An example, ready-to-play environment (or two), complete with goals for the Nodes might have been useful and would have made game set-up faster. However, an experienced Game Master should be able to overcome these issues. For convention plays of The Jeff Paradox, the Game Master might want to prepare Nodes with goals, skills, and Alien Abilities and an environment ahead of time.

Physically, The Jeff Paradox is an easy read and cleanly laid out. It is printed white on black, so may not be easy to read for everyone.

The Jeff Paradox is an entertaining roleplaying game in which the players need to explore the Human world whilst balancing the need to hide his alien nature and continue appearing Human, but perhaps needing to use his alien abilities to achieve his goals. It is good for the occasional play through and with some preparation good for conventions too.

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.

—oOo—

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.