Fuzzy Felt Fantasy

It is the Dungeon Era. A period of untrammelled capitalism and capitalists—tycoons and robber barons—who have in the past few years brought about a time of competing corporations racing to out expand each other, outgrow each other, and out exploit each other. In the Mucklands, this brought about a semblance of order, replacing a long period where the land was dominated by monsters, fiends, warlords, and wizards that was brought about by the mysterious Gloom King. He caused the great civilisations and nations of the past to fracture and break, initiating a sense of decay that continues to this day. And although the peoples of the Mucklands no longer have the monsters, fiends, warlords, and wizards to worry about, they now have to worry about being on time for their shifts in the mines, factories, and dungeons where they labour daily. Yet there are some who believe in the old stories and the old ways, who want to go adventuring and be heroic and perhaps even help the good folk of the Mucklands in the oppressive Dungeon Era. For such heroes, there are opportunities to delve into dungeons and strike it rich, even find Magnificent magical items of yesteryore and become filthy rich. Alternatively, being heroes, the Player Characters could keep such items safe from those that would exploit them, or indeed, put them to good use and help the people of the Mucklands from being oppressed by the tycoons and perhaps save them if the rumours are true about the return of the Gloom King.

This is the setting for Land of Eem, the roleplaying game that won the 2026 Origins Award for Roleplaying Game of the Year. Published by Exalted Funeral, the roleplaying game is based on the graphic novel series Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo, and the book series Dungeoneer Adventures, and probably has the best elevator pitch of any roleplaying game of the last five years—‘The Lord of the Rings meets The Muppets’. To be fair, Land of Eem is not that. Well, not that exactly, primarily for licensing reasons. What it really means is that Land of Eem is a roleplaying game of epic whimsical fantasy. There is scope for great adventure, but it is shot through with silliness and absurdity, as well as a grimness from the setting also being a Post-Apocalyptic one too. Plus, the use of sputtertech and sparkwork technologies, primarily employed by the tycoons in machinery to faster mine the land and chop down the trees. This is not the only contrast in Land of Eem. Its play is intended to be about the exploration and discovery of Eem’s ancient past, driven by the players and their characters in a hexcrawl using the Land of Eem: The Mucklands SandboxCampaign Setting. This gives it an Old School Renaissance feel, as does the fact that it is a Class and Level roleplaying game, but Land of Eem is not an Old School Renaissance-style roleplaying game. Instead, it encourages player input into the world; Experience Points are earned for roleplaying, exploration, and engaging with the story rather than slaying monsters; and whilst combat is an aspect of game play, Land of Eem is a talk first and not even a fight second roleplaying game, and to reflect that, every monster can be talked to. This combination of contrasts, together with a light and easy rules system and Player Character options means that Land of Eem is family friendly too. However, it is not an introductory roleplaying game in terms of learning to play, whereas as a game to teach to roleplay, its light rules and scope for player input make it a good choice. For the experienced roleplayer, Land of Eem—at least in the form of the core rulebook—is very easy to read through and gain a good grasp of how the roleplaying game is played.

The Land of Eem: Core Rulebook is the starting point. It provides the means to create Player Characters, gives the rules for adventuring—including travelling, exploration, conflict, and combat, the means to craft items mundane and magnificent, a short bestiary, lots and lots of random tables, and a starting adventure.

A Player Character in Land of Eem is defined by Attributes, Skills, his Folk, a Class, and Homeland. The four Attributes are Vim, Vigour, Knack, and Knowhow. Of these Vigour and Knowhow are obvious in meaning. Vim covers a Player Character’s charisma and intuition; Knack is his dexterity and agility. (This terminology is problematic since Vim and Vigour actually mean the same thing and ideally the authors should have used another word instead.) An Attribute ranges in value from ‘-3’ to ‘+3’ and has four associated Skills. Land of Eem offers an impressive sixteen choices in terms of Folk, the equivalent of Race or Species in other roleplaying games.

The options are Boggarts, Boggles, Bogrils, Bugbears, Gelatinous Goos, Gnomes, Goblins, Humans, Imps, Mushrums, Quortles, Shryms, Skeletons, Welkins, Whalens, and Wugs. Boggarts are the most populous Folk in the Mucklands and are related to Goblins, but do not have the same pointy teeth and noses; Boggles are smaller relatives of Goblins with pointy noses and ears who love mischief; Bogrils are frog people with a love travel and wandering; and Bugbears are bear-like in outlook and size, and like the simple things in life, but have an equally big temper. Gelatinous Goos are sentient jelly-like creatures from Eem’s core who understand Folk Tongue, but cannot speak it, instead speaking Gelatinous Gooese; Gnomes are magical beings who protect nature from harm and are very happy in their outlook, and often travel in the company of a small animal like a squirrel; Goblins are the primary architects of the Dungeon Era, highly industrious and enterprising, valuing education and a good job; and Humans are reputed to have been amongst the greatest heroes of the past, but are rare in the Dungeon Era. The red, winged Imps have been summoned and hatched by magic, but escaped from the sorcerers and witches who summoned them, so value freedom and excitement; Mushrums are fungal folk who can communicate with other fungal folk via telepathy, but are very literal when dealing with others; the turtle-like Quortles have an affinity for alchemy and herbalism and after many years of war, value politeness and hospitality; and Shryms are furry and shrew-like and fascinated with technology, having invented sputtertech and sparkworks. Skeletons are rare sentient, talking skeletons who have retained their souls, but lost the memories of their past lives, and have their own wants and dreams; Welkins are bird-folk who can fly for short distances if not holding anything; Whalens are humanoid whales, usually ocean-faring, and known for their rousing singing and hardiness; and Wugs are bigger, brawnier Boggarts with large hands and feet, with a reputation for being simple, but are surprisingly perceptive.

Every Folk suggests some names and gives a Size, Skill adjustments, suggested Homelands, and possible Perks and Quirks. Of the sixteen, two are notable, but for different reasons. Gnomes can only be Gnomes, that is, they cannot take any other Class then Gnome and are thus the only Folk in Land of Eem that can cast magic. Humans are rare and unlike other fantasy roleplaying games, not the default Folk in the Land of Eem. Think of them then, a bit like guests stars in The Muppet Show, especially if they choose the Bard Class, since means that they can sing, dance, and otherwise perform!

In comparison with the lengthy selection of Folk, Land of Eem offers just six Classes. The Bard supports the other Player Characters with song to inspire, invigorate, and more; the Dungeoneer is the treasure hunter and adventurer who comes with his and crew to help him explore as well as lots of gear; and the Gnome, who can cast magic and are the particular bane of certain creatures or beings, which differs from Gnome to Gnome. The Knight-Errant is a travelling knight, heroic and loyal; the Loyal Chum is the classic ally and travelling companion, providing lots of support and help in and out of the dungeon; and the Rascal is a rogue, thief, ruffian, and so forth. Each Class grants some base Perks, some giving multiple options for a player to choose from, and then two abilities at each Level. What is interesting here is that once a Player Character gains a new Level, his player has to select one of the abilities at the previous Level to keep and one to give up. It gives the player some decisions to make in terms of his character’s progression.

To create a character, a player selects a Class and its Perks, assigns modifiers to Attributes and tweaks Skills, determines derived stats, and then a Folk and associated Perks—adding more in return for a Quirk, and selects a Homeland that adds Proficiencies and equipment. Lastly, the player develops his character’s backstory, including ideal, flaw, relationships, personal quests, and more. The process is not difficult, but it does mean working through a fair number of choices.

Name: Gravy
Folk: Skeleton
Class: Knight-Errant Level: 1
Size: Medium
Homeland: The Underlands

ATTRIBUTES/SKILLS
Vim +1/Charm -1, Inspire +1, Mettle +0, Perception -1
Vigour +2/Athletics -1, Intimidate +1, Might +0, Vitality +0
Knack +0/Nimbleness +1, Search +0, Sneak +0, Trickery +0Knowhow -1/Lore +0, Realms +0, Tinker +0, Wilderness +0

ABILITIES
Wayfarer
Inspiring Orders

PERKS
Unfinished Business
Bag of Bones

QUIRKS
Feared

PROFICIENCIES
Underlands Lore, Seeing in the Dark
Attack +2
Defence +0
Courage: 16
Dread: 8
Quest Points: 2
Inventory Slots: 20

EQUIPMENT
Mucklands Pony
Magnificent weapon (True +1 Dread)
Canteen, Crowbar, Hard Hat, Normal Rations, Rappelling Harness, 50’ Rope, Pickaxe

BACKSTORY
“I defended the town from bandits, and took up the sword to protect others.”
Ideal: Rescue someone from danger
Flaw: Refuse to rest even when it’s prudent
Personal Quest: Restore the Mucklands to its former glory; Avenge Sir Oomarine and prove their sacrifice was not in vain.

Mechanically, Land of Eem uses a twelve-sided die in a system in a system that is not unlike Powered by the Apocalypse in its resolution results. It is very much not Powered by the Apocalypse, but the similarities are there. When a player wants his character to undertake an action, he rolls a twelve-sided die and adds a value for the appropriate skill, plus any other modifiers. The total modifier cannot exceed ‘+3’ or ‘-3’, due to skill or circumstances. Results of two or less are a ‘Complete Failure’ and indicate that something else has gone wrong; three to five and the attempt is a ‘Failure with a Plus’, meaning that there is an unexpected silver lining; six to eight means a ‘Success with a Twist’ which adds a complication; nine to eleven is a ‘Success’ and the Player Character does what he set out to do; and twelve or more is a ‘Complete Success’, the Player Character not only succeeding, but gaining an extra benefit into the bargain. The Game Master will narrate the outcome, but is encouraged to welcome player input too. The ‘Failure with a Plus’ and ‘Success with a Twist’ results are going to feed into the narrative driven aspects—as light as they are—of Land of Eem. Advantage and Disadvantage work as in other roleplaying games, and Player Characters have Quest Points that can be spent to add a ‘+1’ bonus after a roll (useful to improve a skill check up a category), as well as being used to activate certain Abilities and Perks.

Combat in Land of Eem uses the same rules, but with a tweak or two. However, first, the Player Characters have to get there, because combat is the last act action that takes place in any Conflict. A Conflict is divided into four phases. These are ‘Parley’, ‘Improvise’, ‘Run’ and ‘Combat’. One of the things that Land of Eem emphasises is that most monsters are people too and if the Player Characters can find the right approach, then the monsters will listen to them, and a fight will not ensue. However, their patient is not infinite, mechanically measured by each monster’s Parley rating. If the Player Characters’ fail too many Parley attempts, they will have to resort to other methods to resolve the encounter. In the ‘Improvise’ Phase, the Player Characters can find another way to resolve the situation and if that fails, they can simply choose to leg it in the ‘Run’ phase. Lastly, there is the ‘Combat’ phase.

In combat, the players and Game Master are not rolling on the standard results table, but on one each for melee combat and ranged combat. The latter allows for ‘Miss with a Plus’ and ‘Grazing Shot’ result, but more interestingly, former allows for a ‘Hit with a Counterattack’ as well as a ‘Miss with a Plus’ result. The ‘Hit with a Counterattack’ means that the defender can immediately attack back at his attacker and if the result is also ‘Hit with a Counterattack’, the original attacker can strike back. This sets up a potential exchange or flurry of blows like a duel and can be get deadly quite quickly.

Damage is called Dread and can take many forms. It can be poison, fear, exhaustion, and other factors, but it reduces a Player Character’s Courage. Physical Dread, especially that suffered in combat, is the only form of Dread that can be blocked by armour and shields. The die rolled by a player for his character to determine how much Dread he inflicts in combat is determined by his Class. Dread reduces a Player Character’s Courage and if it is reduced to zero, he is knocked out temporarily and his player must make a Vitality Check to Resist Wounds or suffer the Wounded Condition. This imposes a penalty on all of the Player Character’s subsequent rolls. It is possible to recover, but if it happens again, the player has to make a Vitality Check to Defy Death. If failed, the Player Character can make one last heroic act before dying.

Equipment carried and encumbrance are handled by an Inventory Slot system which both measures how much a Player Character can carry and how bulky an item is. Money, rations, arrows, and other consumables are tracked by rolling a Usage Die for each. When they are used, the player rolls the Usage Die and if the result is a one or two, then the Usage Die has to step down to the next smaller die size. Both rules are imported from modern derivations of Old School Renaissance roleplaying games and just push Land of Eem a little towards an Old School style of play. Land of Eem includes an extensive list of equipment, and along with tables for finding and creating Treasure Hoards and Magnificent items, the latter providing a variety of different effects.

Almost extending out of the equipment rules, Land of Eem provides a pleasingly set of rules for crafting. Any attempt requires a crafter to have the correct tools and a roll on the appropriate table and there is one each for crafting mundane items, magnificent items, alchemical items, cooking, and magical items. This feels not dissimilar to a video game or MMORPG and it is backed up with a guide to finding components, tables of component locations, and tables of hundreds of component descriptions and recipes. There is a wealth of detail here that the Game Master can mine for flavour and verisimilitude in her campaign and for any Player Character who wants to focus on crafting, there is plenty of scope here. Most crafting attempts will take place when a Player Character is not actually adventuring and this is expanded upon with tables for other activities during Downtime, including gambling, gathering information, partying, performing, researching, and even working!

As written, Land of Eem is intended to be played as a hexcrawl across the Land of Eem: The Mucklands Sandbox Campaign Setting. Travel across the Land of Eem is kept simple and is played out over six-mile-wide hexes. Each day is divided into four six-hour turns and the Player Characters will typically spend the day turns travelling—one or two hexes per turn—or exploring a single hex. Each turn spent travelling requires a Travel Check, which can result in a perilous or dangerous encounter, a bump in the road (a minor setback), an uneventful journey, or a discovery, and there are tables for all of that. Similarly, a roll can be made to see if something dangerous or interesting happens if the Player Characters decide to explore a hex. During the Night turns, the Player Characters are encouraged to ‘Make Camp’ and rest, but they can also heal and they can also engage in ‘Story Time’. This encourages some roleplaying between the Player Characters and is one way for them to earn Experience Points.

If there is an aspect of the Land of Eem: Core Rulebook is the relative shortness of the bestiary or ‘Adversaries’ chapter. From Bandits, Blinking Cave-Inchers, and Cairn Stingers to Snagbunnies, Weorgs, and Witches, there are only twenty-six entries. To be fair, it is enough in the short term and there is also the Land of Eem: Bestiary Vol. 1, which also details a whole lot more. On the plus side, every entry is illustrated and there is room to breathe for all of its details which include its stats, abilities, how social it is, how it acts in combat, and its behaviour in both victory and defeat, both of which are a really nice extra and extra useful detail. Many also indicate what could be crafted from them. Adversaries are categorised by Type and Class. Types are either Creatures, which are sentient and can talk; Critters, animals and beasts which may be able to speak a little; and Creepers that are pests, bugs, and vermin more environmental threats. The Classes are Goons, Bruisers, and Champions. There is a guide to making adversaries on the fly, but it is basic.

The advice for the Game Master on running Land of Eem is solid and useful and includes a guide to vehicle and mass combat and tables for creating random dungeons and mazes. They are brief and could have done with much greater development. That said, they are followed by an extensive set of tables for just everything else, including NPCs, location aspects, encounters perilous and dangerous, discoveries, random dungeon elements, magic items, relics, books, boons, curses, and spells. There is so much information in these tables that the Game Master can use to add detail and flavour to her game with the content of these tables. This is a great set of tables and certainly one of the best sets of resources in the Land of Eem: Core Rulebook.

The Land of Eem: Core Rulebook is rounded out with an adventure, ‘Wally’s Waffles and Rats!’. It is a short, one or two session affair in which Wally Dunkwhiffle has lost the property deed to his waffle house and hires the Player Characters look for it in the basement. Unfortunately, the rats that Wally was husbanding as a source of meat escaped, ate an entire Bogril Glowing Cheese wheel, gained intelligence, dug into the dungeon next door to the basement of Wally’s Waffles and Weorgs, taking the property deed with them, and declared their own kingdom. It is a suitably silly dungeon affair, but plenty of scope for roleplaying. Especially at the start when interacting with the patrons of Wally’s Waffles and Weorgs, which feels like an odder and more fantastical version of Cheers! It provides a great mix of roleplaying and dungeoneering and just enjoyable whimsy.

Physically, Land of Eem: Core Rulebook is a genuinely great looking book. The artwork is a delight and captures the quirkiness of the setting, cartoonish on the one hand, deadly and dangerous on the other. The book is also very well written and accessible.

What is so impressive about the Land of Eem: Core Rulebook is that for all of the information in its pages, the rules are very easy to pick up and understand, and further they are easy to teach. Which includes younger players who will appreciate the whimsical tone of the setting and gameplay. These rules also nicely balance an Old School sensibility with the hexcrawl play and potentially dangerous combat with the storytelling possibilities of the resolution mechanic. There is more complexity in the roleplaying game when it comes to the wealth of detail in the setting support in the Land of Eem: Core Rulebook, but that detail is really designed for long term play rather than overwhelming any players right now.

The Land of Eem: Core Rulebook is brilliantly accessible and entertaining, a great introduction to the land of Eem and Land of Eem. Not only is a joy to read, but successfully imparts the joy, drollery, and danger of the setting.

Your Invincible Starter

A good starter set has to do a number of different things. It has to introduce and explain the roleplaying game it is a starter set for, whether that is the roleplaying game’s setting, mechanics, or both. It has to both tell and show what the players and their characters are expected to do in the setting and how they do it, first with the rules and then with a scenario. It has to provide everything that a group needs to play—rules, scenario, pre-generated Player Characters, and dice—and ideally more. Maps, handouts, tokens, and the like are all items that will help bring the world of the roleplaying game’s setting to life and give the players something to look at and interact with. Above all, a good starter should showcase the roleplaying game and entice both Game Master and her players to want to roleplay more with the rules and in that setting by picking up the core rulebook, and if the contents of the start set support continued play, whether that is providing an extra set of dice or maps for the setting, then all the better.

—oOo—

In a world of superheroes, events on Earth are about to change. The planet’s most powerful superhero, ‘Omni-Man’ has been revealed as the killer of Earth’s premier superhero team, the Guardians of the Globe and when confronted by his teenage son, ‘Invincible’, almost killed him. Thousands of civilians died too, and in the aftermath, ‘Omni-Man’ fled the planet. In the wake of these events, the Global Defence Agency, operating from a secret base under the Pentagon, a secret organization that safeguards the world from the shadows and keeps a close watch over all superpowered activity, is forced to take a pro-active stance. It is recruiting superpowered individuals to protect against superpowered criminal activities, alien invasions, and so on. This is the set-up for Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying and specifically, the Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set. Published by Free League Publishing, both are based on Invincible, the American comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, and published by Image Comics, and subsequently developed as a television series on Amazon Prime. Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying is a departure for Free League Publishing since presents a genre that the publisher has not previously explored.

The Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set is the introduction to the setting and the rules for the roleplaying game. Open up the box and inside can be found a full set of ten six-sided Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying dice, ten Initiative cards, ten Social Scene cards—one each for five of the pre-generated Superhero characters included in the box, and a pack of twelve stands for the standees also in the box. Below this there is a ‘Read me First’ sheet which explains what is in the box, what the Game Master and her players need to do next, and once the contents of the Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set have been played through where they should look. Underneath this is the twenty-two page ‘Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Rules’ book, thirty-six page ‘Metro Mayhem’ scenario book, five Reference Cards, a thirty-four by twenty-two inch, double-sided poster map, thirty-two standees for the heroes and their adversaries, and a set of action tokens. The Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set does carry a minimum age of sixteen plus as the source material is often brutal and bloody.

The ‘Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Rules’ book introduces the set properly and quickly explains what it is, the basics of the setting, the use of safety tools, and its play structure, which divides its scenes into three types. ‘Briefings’ are when the superheroes are told about their mission, ‘Action’ scenes focus on combat and action, and ‘Social’ scenes are where the bulk of the roleplaying and interaction takes place. The ‘Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Rules’ book includes a set of Social Scene cards that can be used during the scenario to initiate scenes and interactions appropriate to each superhero. These cards each give two options and enable a player to explore the agenda and hopes of the superhero that he is playing. It then breaks down how a superhero is defined. He has a role, six attributes, several derived stats, plus Powers, Talents, Drawbacks, Personal Details, Resources and Gear, and reputation. The eight Roles are Blaster, Brains, Brawn, Controller, Defender, Leader, Striker, and Wildcard, and they define how a superhero operates, but provides no mechanical benefit. The six attributes are Fighting, Agility, Strength, Reason, Intuition, and Presence, and they range in value between ‘1’ or ‘Poor’ and ‘12’ or ‘Invincible’. A superhero’s Powers, Talents, and Drawbacks will vary from superhero to superhero, but the options available are not explored in the Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set. Instead, they limited to those presented on the pre-generated superheroes and thus enough to play through the given scenario. Personal Details encompasses a superhero’s Occupation, Personality, Drive, Flaw, and Key Relationships.

Mechanically, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying uses the Year Zero Engine, first seen in Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days. To have a superhero undertake an action, his player rolls a number of dice equal to the appropriate attribute value. The Game Master can add or deduct dice depending on the difficulty of the task, whilst Gear used and the support from allies can add dice. Each roll of a six is counted as a Success and only a single Success is required to succeed at most tasks. If more Successes are rolled, these can be used to gain bonus effects called stunts. These can be used to have a superhero to complete the task quickly or quietly, learn something new, and help a friend by passing him a Success if they are working on a similar project. However, if no Success are rolled, the Superhero has failed and that failure should ideally have dramatic effects. Alternatively, the player can choose to Push the roll. When this happens, the player rerolls any dice which do not show a one or a six. Whether the roll is a success or a failure, the Superhero suffers a point of Stress for each one rolled overall.

Conflict in Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying uses the same core mechanics. Initiative uses a deck of cards numbered from one to ten, and extra cards may need to be drawn if a Superhero has additional actions. In a round, a Superhero can perform a Full Action and a Quick Action or two Quick Actions. A Full Action is a Slugfest, Charge, or Shooting attack, using a superpower, breaking or lifting something, saving bystanders, and so on. Quick Actions can be to move into an adjacent zone, blocking a slugfest attack or dodging a shooting attack, engaging in banter, and more. Some of the Quick Actions can be used to interrupt the actions of an opponent and they can be saved for this purpose to use later in a round. A combatant can also give an Order to grant extra dice to an ally’s action. Movement can be on the ground and in the air with different elevations counted as separate zones. The action also allows for smashing through doors and walls. In a Slugfest attack, extra Successes can be spent on Stunts including Double Damage, Knockback, Stun, Bang Heads, Trap, Disarm, and Deadly Hit, and Special Stunt. Those for Shooting attacks include Double Damage, Suppressed, Trick Shot, Disarm, and Deadly Hit. A player is also free to create his own Stunts and use with the Game Master’s permission. Armour reduces damage, but when a combatant’s Health is reduced to zero, he is broken and suffers a Critical Injury. Critical Injuries can be inflicted without reducing a combatant’s Health to zero. Critical Injuries take weeks or months to recover from, but Health is recovered faster. A combatant can suffer Stress, often from a Banter Action in combat, but primarily through the use of a Superhero’s Powers. When a Superhero’s Resolve is reduced to zero due to Stress, he is stressed out, cannot use any Superpowers which require Stress to be gained or push any rolls.

The rules also cover minions, challenges, and other hazards. Notably, a Superhero can use a Slugfest attack to ‘Wreck a Zone’, the Superhero or Supervillain ripping up objects and using them to hit, throw at, or smash an opponent. This grants bonus dice to an attack, means the attack can be made into an adjacent zone, and completely wrecks the zone, meaning it cannot be wrecked again. It requires a minimum Strength wreck certain types of terrain and this means it is possible to level office interiors, city streets, and whole buildings! Just like we see in superhero films, Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying allows for the possibility that a fight between superpowered individuals is not without its consequences.

The Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying comes with six pre-generated Superheroes ready to play. They are Atom Eve who can manipulate matter; Bulletproof who can absorb damage to boost his combat skills; Monster Girl, who transforms into a monstrous troll-like creature due a curse, but gets younger when she transforms back; Rex Splode, who has a blast attack and can leap great distances; Robot, a construct who has great reasoning and can analyse a situation and create a plan to support his allies; and Invincible, who is half-alien and can fly and is tough and lucky. Of the six, Invincible does not have Social Scene cards, so his player will need to suggest situations or scenes when can reduce his Stress. All of the details on each character sheet are clear presented. For example, “BLAST: You can perform a shooting attack with Damage 3, Range 0/3.” is Atom Eve’s direct attack form, whilst she has the Talent of “KNOWLEDGEABLE (NATURAL SCIENCES): You get +3 dice to REASON rolls to recall, find, or understand information related to physical sciences like biology, chemistry, astronomy, genetics, physics, and geology.” For the most part, the Powers for all six pre-generated Superheroes are straightforward and easy to understand, and most of them are quite direct in their effects. Of those that are not, Robot’s superpowers are supportive in nature and will require some consideration in how they are used in play to best support the other Superheroes.

The events of the ‘Metro Mayhem’ scenario book take place after Invincible has been defeated by his father, Omni-Man, leaving him to recover from his injuries whilst he flees the planet. Global Defence Agency asks the Superheroes to investigate the activities of the Mauler twins, hyperintelligent criminals who do not know which one of them is other’s clone, following their escape from Stronghold Penitentiary. The scenario begins with a briefing before being divided into three acts. The first two Acts have an Action Scene each, followed by Social Scene—when the Social Scene cards can be used to set-up particular scenes, whilst the Action Scene of the third Act is followed by the epilogue. The story takes the Superheroes first to warehouse to investigate the activities of the Mauler Twins, followed by a confrontation with the supervillain behind it all, and concludes with dealing with the consequences of the supervillain’s plan. It is an exciting affair, with the Superheroes having the chance to save scientists and civilians, fight supervillains, and ultimately go up against kaiju, all with a little time in between for some roleplaying and interaction. All of which is played out on the maps, one side showing individual locations where Acts One and Two take place, and the cityscape where Act Three occurs.

Physically, the Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set is very well presented. All of the components are decent quality and both the rules and the scenario are written in a clear fashion that makes it all easy to grasp and understand. Backed up, of course, by plenty of artwork from the comic book series that gives it a Four Colour style contrasting with its often bloody scenes of conflict. Many of the components can be used beyond the playthrough of the Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set, including the dice, reference sheets, and standees and counters. This makes it a good utility pack for Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying as much as it does an introduction.

The honest truth is that the Superhero genre is not one that most people thought that the Year Zero Engine would ever try to tackle. The Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set shows that it can work, the result being a fast-playing, bruising, knockabout system that gives the players and their Superheroes lots of dice to roll and lots of Powers and Stunts to choose from, and so lots of options. The core mechanic is simple—in fact simpler than most Year Zero Engine roleplaying games—and where the roleplaying game’s complexity does come, is in those choices and the spending of the extra Success to choose Stunts. So, a player will need a little time to not only understand how the Stunts work, but primarily how his Superhero’s powers work. Of course, this is like almost any other roleplaying game, but in a superhero roleplaying that is intended to be fast-playing as Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set is, the Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set almost needs a training mission to get the players used to their Superheroes and their choices.

Ultimately, the Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set is a great introduction to Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying and the world of Invincible. It presents everything necessary to play in its bruising, knockback, and sometimes bloody world using surprisingly simple rules, but giving players and their Superheroes plenty of choices when it comes to their actions.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, it did not take place outside of the USA due to US customs issues, which means that none of the physical content has shipped to the UK. It is hoped that with the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh will able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day for future reviews.

—oOo—

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

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

—oOo—

What is it?
The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules is the quick-start for Wizard Riders, the post apocalypse roleplaying game of (mostly drunk) wizard bikers riding maguscycles they are bonded to across the world in the very future of Orth under a red sun.

The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules is a thirty-nine page, 10.28 MB full colour PDF.

How long will it take to play?
The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules includes the scenario ‘The Vanishing of Dotshire’. It can be played in roughly a single session.

What else do you need to play?
The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules needs a standard set of polyhedral dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules includes six pre-generated Player Characters or Wizard-Bikers. They include a lucky Wizard-Biker, a Natural Wizzer Wizard-Biker, a Wizard-Biker who likes to plan, a perceptive Wizard-Biker, an ace maguscycle-riding Wizard-Biker, and a threateningly ambidextrous Wizard-Biker.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Wizard-Biker in the Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules is defined by his name, and then six attributes, which are Brawn, Twitch, Daring, Brains, Presence, and Fortune. Of the six, Twitch is a Wizard-Biker’s dexterity and agility, whilst Fortune is his Luck and points that can be spent to activate special powers. Each attribute also has one or more associated skills. Each attribute and skill has is represented by a single die type, typically ranging from a ‘d4’ to a ‘d12’. An attribute or a skill can be marked as having an ‘Upgrade’, for example, ‘D8+Upgrade’. This means that a die in the Feat Pool for any action involving that attribute or skill can be upgraded to a larger size. A Wizard-Biker has a Gift, an advantage which grants him a bonus under certain circumstances. For example, ‘Juryrigger’ allows a die to be re-rolled for a Repair Feat whilst ‘Ambidextrous’ lets a Wizard-Biker make attacks with both hands in one round and only suffer a single Downgrade to each attack. This also includes ‘Wizzer Power’, which can be taken multiple times, each time granting the Wizard-Biker a spell-like power.

How do the mechanics work?

The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules uses what it calls the ‘Dice Core’ system. When a Wizard-Biker wants to attempt an action, it is called a ‘Feat’. His player assembles a ‘Feat Pool’ of three dice consisting of a Skill Die, an Attribute die, and a Feat Die. For Standard Feats, such as breaking down a door or punching someone, the Feat Die is a ‘D8’, but is a ‘D6’ for Complex Feats liked a called shot or attempting trauma care. The player then applies any Upgrades or Downgrades to any of the dice in the ‘Feat Pool’. Upgrades can come from the skill or attribute, or from the situation, as can Downgrades. The dice are rolled and totalled, the aim being equal to or beat a Difficulty Rating, which can range in value from four or ‘Rookie Rider’ to twenty-two or ‘Ace Rider’, with thirteen or ‘Standard’ being the median Difficulty Rating. If the result is exceeded by three or more, a Critical Success has been achieved and for every three-point threshold on the roll after that, a further Critical Success is achieved. A roll of three on the Feat Pool’ indicates a Critical Failure.

A Wizard-Biker also has Plot Points. In the Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules, these can be spent to perform a ‘Counterstrike’, ‘Defy Physics’ when the Wizard-Biker is riding his maguscycle, ‘Doubletime’ to move extra fast in combat, ‘Interfere’ in the actions of an NPC or other Wizard-Biker, or trigger ‘Natural Healing’.

How does combat work?

Initiative is determined by a simple roll, but after the first round, a player can spend points of his Wizard-Biker’s Daring attribute and then roll a die to change his Initiative value. The more points spent, the larger the die size can be rolled. This will come at a loss of Focus, especially on a given target. Attacks are opposed rolls between a ‘Feat Pool’ of a Weapon Skill, Attribute Die, and Feat Die for the attacker and a ‘Feat Pool’ of the Armour plus the Twitch and Daring attributes. Weapons inflict a base value in terms of damage, but this increases the more Critical Successes a player rolls. Three Critical Successes will also damage the defender’s armour, inflicting a Downgrade to future Defence rolls.

Damage can come from an attack in combat, suffering too much Fatigue, and so on. Wounds are recorded on a Wound Track with each Wound suffered applying a Downgrade to skills and attributes, and ultimately Feats, before the Wizard-Biker is knocked out or killed.

How does magic work?

A Wizard-Biker has a number of Special Powers which can be freely cast. They include Aether Lance, which gives him a lighter-than-air lance he can wield whilst riding his maguscycle; Deadeye’ grants a random number of Upgrades to apply to ranged attacks; Fireball does exactly what you expect; Ghost Hand gives a Wizard-Biker an extra hand to control at range; and Special Powers such as Smoke Cloud and Oil Slick give effects that can be used on the road. Every Special Ability has five Power Levels, so a Wizard-Biker can improve and specialise. In addition to extra effects, increasing the Power Level of a Special Power also increases the size of the Feat Die that a player adds to the ‘Feat Pool’ he rolls for the Special Power. Some twenty-one Special Abilities are detailed and all six sample Wizard-Bikers have three or four Special Abilities.

Do Wizard-Bikers Get Bikes?

Yes. A Wizard-Biker in Wizard Riders has a maguscycle. It has stats for Handling, Build, and Zoom. These are when a Wizard-Biker wants to do something extra with his maguscycle than simply go at top speed. A basic Riding Feat roll is done in two stages. First, a Riding Feat roll to gain Upgrades, and second, the Vehicle Feat roll to do the desired action, modified by the Upgrades previously generated. The rules for chases are supported by a good example of play and they also cover vehicle damage and passenger damage. All of this requires a Bond between the Wizard-Biker and his maguscycle, the process of which is also detailed. This Bond has multiple levels and each level grants a bonus to the bonded rider.

What do you play?

The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules includes the scenario ‘The Vanishing of Dotshire’. The Wizard-Bikers’ club is running low on supplies. The beer is flat, the snacks stale, and the power coils for the members’ maguscycles are running seriously low. When they ride to the village of Dotshire in search of new supplies, they discover it swirled with fog. The Wizard-Bikers must ride into the fog to reach the village and find out what is happening and what caused it. It is a short, single-session scenario.

Is there anything missing?
Yes. The Age of Vikings Quickstart has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario, but it could have done with some more examples, especially of combat.

Is it easy to prepare?
No. The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start is a different ruleset and will be unfamiliar to most players, so it requires a higher degree of teaching. Also, the Game Master will need to copy out all of the Player Character Wizard-Bikers onto character sheets.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start feels a bit underdeveloped in places, but it is a solid introduction to the rules and world of Wizard-Riders. Its combination of setting, Player Character type, and themes manages to be both silly and surprising given the usual gaming content that the publisher releases, but all the more fun for that.

The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start is published by Catalyst Game Labs, and is available to download here.

Friday Fantasy: Drink Deep from the River of my Hate

Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is a scenario for Shadow of the Weird Wizard, the roleplaying game set on the world of Erth in the Borderlands between the remnants of once great empires and the realm of the Weird Wizard greatly changed by his magics. The unexplained disappearance of the Weird Wizard allowed all manner of creatures and strangeness to flood into the empires and kingdoms causing strife and civil war, as refugees fled into the borderlands and adventurers ventured into the Weird Wizard’s lands into explore its strangeness, hopefully stop any dangerous threats, and perhaps return with treasures both magical and mundane. Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for Shadow of the Weird Wizard are tailored to these three Paths. Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is designed for Expert Heroes and can be run as a scenario for slightly more experienced Player Characters for Shadow of the Weird Wizard.

In Drink Deep from the River of my Hate religious fury and war comes to the Borderlands. Following his  exile from Paradise, the archon Invidian the Fallen has sworn to take his revenge upon the High One and his followers wherever they may be. This has drawn him to the Auxen Vale where there is both a Temple of the High One in Auxen Village and the Holy Brothers Monastery also dedicated to the High One. With him is a band of marauders known as the Unbelievers. Whilst some of them fight for him because of his reputation and his desire to kill all and any worshippers of the High One, others simply fight for him because they can indulge in their own murderous desires and take their share of the plunder. Ahead of their progress across the Borderlands rumours have spread of burned shrines, sacked temples, murdered priests, and slaughtered villagers, giving rise to fear in many and a loss of faith in some. Now those fears have materialised in in Auxen Vale and Father Montaine, the priest of the Temple of the High One in Auxen Village, has sought out the help of mercenaries and adventurers in the defence of the vale and village.

This then is a classic village-defence scenario, not quite The Magnificent Seven, more the malign quartet. The Player Characters need to survey the area, perhaps find some allies (there are some potential allies, but they are far from willing), and reconnoitre the enemy and its activities. To that end several locations are detailed across the vale, including the village of Auxen itself, the monastery, the nearby woods, and the ruined keep where Invidian the Fallen and the Unbelievers have made their camp. None of the NPCs or creatures who live in Auxen Vale are given stats, nor are there any stats included for Invidian the Fallen and most of his acolytes and followers. The Sage will have to provide those. However, stats are provided for his chief lieutenant, Agada the Seer, a fiend-worshipping diviner who takes pleasure in torturing and killing priests of the High One. She is quite vile!

Unfortunately, the NPCs are the cause of a big problem with Drink Deep from the River of my Hate. Or rather, the number of them. Including its leaders, there are over seventy members of the Unbelievers. This is a lot of stats to provide and a lot of NPCs for the Sage to control. Fortunately, most of them are raider wildlings, and except for the major assaults on the village, the Unbelivers will not be operating together, but rather in smaller warbands. Ideally, the Player Characters need to picking these separate warbands off, one-by-one, so as to reduce numbers they will be ultimately facing in the assault on the village.

The nature of the scenario means that it works better with some set-up time, so as to lead the Player Characters into its events. That set-up should ideally also involve the Sage creating some maps for the various locations, including at least the keep where the Unbelievers are based and the village. The Sage may also want to add a hook or two to involve the potential other allies for the villagers.

Physically, Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is decently presented. The map of the Auxum Vale is nice and clear and the scenario is well written.

Drink Deep from the River of my Hate is a classic set-up in terms of fantasy roleplaying and it is a well done, player driven scenario. However, it is underwritten in places and needs development—not too much, but a little more than it should—to make it easier to set up and run. 

[DCC Day #7] Pestilence at the Peak of Law

As well as contributing to Free RPG Day every year Goodman Games also has its own ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day’. The day is notable not only for the events and the range of adventures being played for Goodman Games’ roleplaying games, but also for the scenarios it releases specifically to be played on the day. For ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2026’, which took place today on Saturday, July 18th, 2026, the publisher is releasing not one, not two, but three scenarios, plus a limited edition printing of Dungeon Crawl Classics #112: Mother of M0nsters. Two of the scenarios, ‘The Temple of Fluttering Terror’ and ‘The Crawl is Not Always Greener’, appear in the duology, the DCC Day 2026 Adventure Pack. ‘The Temple of Fluttering Terror’ is written for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, the spiritual successor to Gamma World, ‘The Crawl is Not Always Greener’ is for use with Xcrawl Classics Roleplaying Game, which combines Dungeons & Dragons and World Wrestling Entertainment, turns it into a blood sport, televises it, and throws in celebrity culture in an alternate dystopia shot through with a knowing black humour. Lastly, both Dungeon Crawl Classics #112: Mother of M0nsters and DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law are written for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics.

—oOo—

High in the Acherak Mountains there is a Dwarven Monastery that sits above the Dwarven kingdoms far below and under the ground. It is dedicated to Daenthar, but the monks there have a secret purpose in addition to worshipping Daenthar, the Dwarven lord of the mountains as close to his realm as they can get, and that is to protect the world against a servant of Chaos known as the Matron of Pestilence. In years past, as an agent of Nimlurun, the Chaos god of filth and pestilence, Matron of Pestilence unleashed a plague upon the kingdoms of Acherak, but having imprisoned it, the monks have long worked to ensure that it would never be free to unleash its scourge of contagion again. However, what the monks could not do is destroy the Matron of Pestilence, for that requires the Hammer of the Mountaintop. Sadly, that great weapon is long lost and the monks never thought it would be in their possession. Fortunately, it has been found and perhaps the long-hoped for dream of ending the threat of the Matron of Pestilence will come to pass… Unfortunately, agents of Nimlurun have found a way to infiltrate the monastery and work to free the Chaos god’s servant. They have not managed to do so yet, but it is only a matter of time.

This is the set-up for DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law, the offering for DCC Day 2026 for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It is designed for group of four to six Player Characters of Second level, one of which should be a Cleric and another should preferably be a Dwarf. The ability to read Dwarven will be very useful in the scenario and either the Dwarf or the Cleric should be an adherent of Law rather than Chaos. The scenario can be played through in a single session and includes different hooks for the various Classes in Dungeon Crawl Classics.

In true Dwarven fashion, the Acherak Monastery is an austere place, with polished floors and bas reliefs on the walls. Equally, it appears to be quite a simple place, with a single archive, dormitory, sacristy, and so on. However, there is more to the monastery than meets the eye. As well as worshipping Daenthar, the monks are known for the brewing of a very fine mead and there are signs of it throughout the monastery, including some broken and empty casks. There is also a black slime that coats the walls and floors of the monastery. The oily, viscous substance adheres to everything it touches, can soak through clothing and leather, and worse, seeks new victims to infect. The scenario includes a ‘Rotting Corruption’ table to determine its effects upon any poor Player Character so infected and this adds a sickly, putrefying feel to the scenario. Make no mistake, this back slime is unholy, but DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law does discuss numerous ways of treating the symptoms and ultimately, of finding a cure, but in the meantime, the Player Characters are in for a sweaty, virulent experience.

Ultimately, there is a puzzle at the heart of DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law—one poisoned by agents of Nimlurun before they arrive—that the Player Characters will have to solve in order to defeat the Matron of Pestilence, save the Acherak Monastery, and save themselves. Given the timeframe for the scenario, it is not too challenging a puzzle and there are clues to be found that will reveal what has happened and what needs to be done next. This should lead to a climatic confrontation with the Matron of Pestilence and her servants in her secret prison. It will be a tough fight—especially if one or more of the Player Characters is infected with the corruption—but again, several means of slaying her given.

Physically, the DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law is as well done as you would expect for a release from Goodman Games. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork nicely captures the foulness that the Player Characters will be facing in the scenario. The cartography is perhaps a little plain, but is serviceable enough.

DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law should have the feel of cleanliness and sharpness of the air of high mountain peaks, but instead, it has a vile, smeary, fungal, and viscous feel, which also contrasts with the austerity of the monastery. There are some enjoyably oozy, oily, odious encounters along the way to overcoming a great evil in DCC Day #7: Pestilence at the Peak of Law and this is a deliciously repulsive scenario.

Miskatonic Monday #447: The Black Tide

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: The Black Tide

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Jeremy Clifford

Setting: The high seas, 1690

Product: Scenario

What You Get: Thirty-four page, 3.77 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What foul blackness flows in with the tide?

Plot Hook: Some treasures are more trouble than they are worth.
Plot Support: Staging advice, four NPCs, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# High seas, supernatural horror

# Strong advice on running the scenario

# Not so much the ‘Black Spot’ as the ‘Black Oil’

# Could the island be R’lyeh?

# Melanophobia

# Elaiophobia

# Trypophobia

Cons

# No deck plans or maps

# No pre-generated Investigators

# No advice on creating piratical Investigators

# No NPCs detailed

# No crew manifest

Conclusion

# Solid, detailed outline undone by a lack of NPCs to empathise with

# Linear, survival horror scenario 

Miskatonic Monday #446: Feed the Many

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: Feed the Many

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Lauren Hodges

Setting: Arkham, 1920s

Product: Scenario

What You Get: Thirty-nine page, 4.97 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The Thing from Another Trattoria

Plot Hook: What makes one restaurant more popular than another?
Plot Support: Staging advice, two handouts, three NPCs, two floorplans, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Suitable for one Investigator and Keeper play

# Easy to add to an Arkham-based campaign

# Solid, food-based investigation

# Probably can be played quicker than the suggested running time

# Easy to adapt to other cities and Little Italys

# Deipnophobia

# Scoleciphobia

# Cibophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

Conclusion

# Trattoria on trattoria action!

# Well presented investigation suitable for one-on-one play

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends