Friday Fantasy: The Alchemist’s Fire

The alchemist, Kelvin Belmont, is distraught and distracted, and in need of help. He has received a letter from his brother, Solomon, begging for his help in dealing with a dangerous threat which seems to be hounding him. This is strange, for the brothers had a falling out and neither has spoken to the other in almost a decade. The question is, what is the nature of the threat such that one pair of estranged siblings would seek out the aid of the other? Fortunately, Kelvin does want to help his brother, but he is old and weary, ill-suited to such tasks. So, he decides to hire some doughty adventurers to check on his brother and to deliver the package that he requested. This is the core hook—though several other hooks are included to get the Player Characters to meet Kelvin—for the scenario, The Alchemist’s Fire: A Sisters Three Adventure. This is a scenario for Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying, the roleplaying game published by Free League Publishing.

The Alchemist’s Fire: A Sisters Three Adventure is published by Gallow’s Tomes as part of Free League Publishing’s Free League Workshop community content programme. The setting is the Bailwick of Fenwick and the three hamlets—Amber, Burgundy, and Lapis—which stand on the shores of Loch Maeglen. This can be used as or adapted to fit the Game Master’s own setting, or it can be slotted into the Misty Vale setting as detailed in the Dragonbane Core Set. To that end, it is suggested that they be placed around the unnamed lake in the Misty Vale just south of the Temple of the Purple Flame and the Magna Woods. Alternatively, they can be placed on the other side of the Drakmar Pass from where the ‘Secret of the Dargon Emperor’ campaign begins. Each of the three hamlets is associated with and named for a statue of a woman, collectively known as The Sisters. In the case of Lapis, the starting point for The Alchemist's Fire, the statue is of lapis. The hamlet is described in broad detail, noting its most important business and their colourful proprietors and patrons, including the inn with a Dwarven innkeeper with an ear for ‘Dad jokes’, a grumpy Mallard sailor wanting to return to the sea, an overly curious Halfling cartographer, and a baker with a line in hot buttered muffins. Besides talking to the inhabitants, which may earn the Player Characters some rumours, divided between those pertinent to the scenario and those left for the Game Master to develop or ignore as is her wont, can of course, do a bit of shopping.

Eventually, the Player Characters will make their way to Ravenhook Tower, the home of Kelvin Belmont. Once they get past his cagey manner, he will employ them to deliver a cart, which he will provide, full of flasks of a blue liquid that ignites upon impact when thrown—Fire Flasks. The alchemist’s brother has asked him to deliver to his tower, Coralholm, which lies to the east. The journey is not without its dangers as the Blue Root Mountains are full of Worgs and Goblins—and worse. Plus, the Player Characters are essentially driving a bomb on wheels, and if anything goes wrong, there is the chance of a massive explosion. In fact, a really, really big explosion which is going to leave them at a disadvantage later in the scenario.

However, by the time the Player Characters reach Solomon Belmont’s tower of Coralholm, it is too late. Someone has already broken in and when the Player Characters find him, they also find an army of frogs harassing him. This is after a nasty encounter with a Giant Slime that can shoot ooze-coated skulls out of its gelatinous depths and make weapons protrude from its body. Of course, this fight can be eased with the application of a Fire Flask or two. Once the fight is over, Solomon is pleased to see the Player Characters—in complete contrast to his brother—but he fears that the frog men will be back and asks the Player Characters to mount what is effectively, a ‘tower defence’. The players and their characters have time to set up defences and they are encouraged to lay traps and build defensive points as well as prepare the ballista on the roof. The fight comes with its own maps and feels like a cross between the Battle of Helm’s Deep and the destruction of Isengard in The Two Towers of The Lord of the Rings, but with the Player Characters and Solomon Belmont as the defenders in both cases. Of course, this is on a very much smaller scale in either case. It does include a ‘Squad Dice’ mechanic for handling when more squads of Frog Men appear on the battlefield.

The scenario does end with some unanswered questions. This includes the cause of the estrangement between the brothers and the identity and aims of an antagonist—hopefully to be detailed in another scenario. That said, if the Player Characters never find out, it is no great loss. Rounding out The Alchemist’s Fire: A Sisters Three Adventure is another table of encounters should the Player Characters venture into the woods near the hamlet of Lapis and some full page pieces of artwork. These are actually quite good, especially that of the Briar Mawr, the malign walking tree carrying a platform of Frog Men in its branches (which the Player Characters can attempt to topple).

Two points arise from the setting. One is that the author cannot decide whether the setting for The Alchemist’s Fire—Lapis—is a hamlet or a town. The other is the name, ‘Bailwick of Fenwick’. Putting aside the rhyming, it does sound very much like the Duchy of Grand Fenwick from the Peter Sellers’ film, The Mouse That Roared.

Physically, The Alchemist’s Fire is well laid out in the style of Dragonbane. It does feel heavier in its use of colour and art style, even a little cartoonish. That said, the artwork works, whilst the maps are decent.

If the plot to The Alchemist’s Fire is straightforward, its details are colourful and detailed, and all together, the whole affair is easy to run and easy to slot into a campaign. Offering a good mix of roleplaying with some surprisingly nasty and challenging encounters, The Alchemist’s Fire: A Sisters Three Adventure is an impressively sturdy little adventure that should play through in two or so sessions.

Miskatonic Monday #402: The Grotesque by Gaslight

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 Grotesque by Gaslight

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Ryan Graham Theobalds

Setting: Kew Gardens, 1893

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Thirty-Three page, 16.98 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The consequences of colonial botany

Plot Hook: Something nasty in the greenhouse

Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, two NPCs, one handout, one map, one Mythos tome, one Mythos spell, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Hunting-monster, monster-hunting murder mystery at Kew Gardens

# More set-up then anything else

# Easy to add to a campaign or run as a one-shot
# Decent pre-generated Investigators

# Botanophobia

# Dendroophobia

# Hyloptophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# No NPC stats

# Suggested shift to the Jazz Age not explored
# References Green and Pleasant Land (not needed to run the scenario)

# May require H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands
# Rougher than the author’s other scenarios

Conclusion

# Explores the consequences of colonial botany

# Serviceable set-up and outline that the Keeper will need to develop further

Miskatonic Monday #401: Attack of the Brain Bats!

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: Attack of the Brain Bats!

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Tod Miller

Setting: Vermont, 1920s

Product: One-shot
What You Get: Thirty-Three page, 16.98 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: For the Investigators it is going to be a ‘Picnic in Hell’!

Plot Hook: “Like a bat out of hell

Oh, like a bat out of hell

Oh, like a bat out of hell

Oh, like a bat out of hell (I’ll be gone when the morning comes)

Like a bat out of hell (I’ll be gone when the morning comes)

Like a bat out of hell (ooh, ooh)”

—Bat Out of Hell, Jim Steinman

Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators, two NPCs, two handouts, one map, one Mythos tome, one Mythos spell, and four Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Good

Pros

# Open-ended invasion from space scenario

# Easy to adapt to other nations and time periods

# Has a fifties in the twenties feel
# Easy to prepare, but player-led with no set outcome

# Hylophobia

# Kinemortophobia

# Chiroptophobia

Cons

# Batty
# Has a fifties in the twenties feel

Conclusion

# Entertainingly batty tale of invasion and zombification

# “We’re going a space-bat hunt!”

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends

Sorcery & Steel & Powder & Psionics

Civilisation is divided and in decline. Two great nations stand opposed to each other. Witch-hunters search the length and breadth of the Maloresian Empire for signs of sorcery and execute all those who tainted so as incense and the prayers from a thousand temples of the Church of Mendorf calling for salvation and damnation clash with the sound of hammer on anvil and smoke from the gunsmiths’ forges that pour forth blades, cuirasses, and wheel-locks. Just as the inquisitors of the Church of Mendorf would put the members of the Cult of the Star to the sword and the flame for their heresy, it would launch a crusade against the Urden, the realm of the Sorcerer King. Yet it is powerless to do so, for in the Empire’s ruined Senate Hall, twelve noble lords lie dead, their corpses twisted by powers that radiate malevolent energy even now. Rumour places their deaths firmly upon the sorcerers of Urden whose vile practices have seen them erect great towers of black stone that stab the skies. Their magics are powered by Star Dust, refined from the Star Shards that fell to earth long ago and found in the Borderlands between the two nations, and used in the crafting of all manner of magical concoctions and artefacts. Yet this power is not without is dangers, for it is highly radioactive and deadly. The greatest of the Star Shards is the Hope Star, divided in two, each half held by the Maloresian Empire and the sorcerous kingdom of Urden. There are other nations and powers, including the pirate Caliphate of Khalida and the Free-Trade Nations, in these Borderlands, but beyond lie the Wastes that encroach upon the bastions of civilisation. They are scarlet blights upon the landscape where stars fell in ancient times and breed horrors and monsters that to this day withstand sorcery and steel, powder and faith. Yet there are secrets and artefacts to be found in the Wastes and to this day, many set forth from the Keep on the Borderlands to explore the crystal-lined caves that lie nearby and face the horrors within.

This is the world of Firnum, the setting for Barrows & Borderlands, which describes itself as “A Weird Science Fantasy Old-School Style Role Playing Game set in a Dark Radioactive Wasteland of Magic, Black-powder, and Dragons!” Designed and published by Matthew Tap, it consists of four books—Book 1: Men & Mutants, Book 2: Psychics & Sorcerers, Book 3: Horrors & Treasure, and Book 4: The Underworld & Borderlands—and is unashamedly ‘Old School’ in its design. It is a Class and Level roleplaying game, it uses THAC0, and its various subsystems use different mechanics, but there are some modernisms, such as spellcasting not being Vancian, that is, cast and forget, but requires a casting roll and there is a chance of miscasting. Its primary inspirations are Original Dungeons & Dragons and Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship, but set in a near-apocalyptic (or possibly post-apocalyptic) world that draws from the seventeenth century and a lot of the illustrations from the period rather than the medievalism of Dungeons & Dragons. Thus, you have magic and the worship of gods alongside gunpowder and steel and psychic powers and mutations. There are even elements of the Mythos within its setting, though that of Robert W. Chambers rather than H.P. Lovecraft with the inclusion of Carcosan aliens and the King in Yellow and Carcosa as rumours, as well as the inclusion of Greys, or Zeta Reticulans.

Barrows & Borderlands Book 1: Men & Mutants introduces the setting and provides the means to create characters. A Player Character has seven attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Radiation Resist—which range in value between three and eighteen. He will have a Race which grant some inherent abilities and Class that give him his abilities. He will also have a Star Sign that will grant him a single bonus, plus one or more skills, which divided between ‘Common’, ‘Middling’, and ‘Gentry’ which suggests a Player Character’s social origins. The skills are included for roleplaying depth rather than to support a skill mechanic, but a Game Master may allow a Player Character an advantage in a situation where they are being used or simply let the Player Character know a certain fact or attempt an action. The skills, such as ‘Beggar’, ‘Watchmaker’, or ‘Philosopher’, can also be used to determine the origins and type of character that the player s roleplaying. A Player Character will have a named relative who will inherit his wares and chattels should he go missing for long enough, and an Alignment, either Lawful (good or evil), Neutral, or Chaotic (good or evil).

The nine Races include traditional Pure-Strain Humans, Halflings, and Dwarves, and are joined by Kobolds, Starborn, Greenskulls, Mutants, Mycelians, and Fairies. Kobolds, Mutants, Greenskulls, and Starborn are demi-humans altered by the radiation of the stars and dark magiks. The dog-like Kobolds are said to have been once the slaves of dragons; Starborn are the living fragments of fallen stars given flesh and form, exiles from heaven that the Church would burn; Greenskulls are undead creatures of radiation appearing as either pale green skeletons or having green translucent skin; Mutants can be Humans, Animals, or Plants and continue to mutate; Mycelians are colonies of intelligent fungi with voices like rotting leaves that trade in prophecies and poisons; and Fairies are bewinged fey tricksters that promise wishes and enchantments. The Classes are Fighting-Man, Magic-User, Cleric, Half-Caster, Thief, Gamma, and Psychic. The Half-Caster is one-part Fighting-Man, one-part Magic-User, but is not as good at fighting or spell-casting; Psychics employ psionic powers; and Gammas have mutant powers—both beneficial and detrimental, and can have more.

The list of mutations for the Gamma is not extensive in comparison to other post-apocalyptic roleplaying games and its single table includes both beneficial and detrimental mutations. So, options include ‘Radiation Eyes’, ‘Wings’, and ‘Density Shift Self’, and ‘Carrion Odour’, ‘Non-Sensory Nerve Endings’, and ‘Bulbous Skull’.

Character creation in Barrows & Borderlands is a matter of rolling three six-sided dice and recording them in order for the seven attributes (though it does allow alternative means of generating them). The player selects a Race and Class for his character, rolls for a Star Sign and number and category of skills, and then picks skills from those categories.

Name: Billy Bones Bonce
Class: Psychic Level: 1
Race: Greenskull

Birthsign: Moon (tides/cycles) (+1 Firearms damage)

Hit Points: 6
THAC0: 19
Saving Throw: 19 (+2 versus Paralysis and Sorcery)
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Strength 8 (-1 Damage)
Dexterity 10
Constitution 16 (+1 HP, +1 versus Radiation (Death) Saves)
Intelligence 18 (+8 Languages Spoken)
Wisdom 14
Charisma 09 (Maximum Number of Retainers: 4)
Radiation Resist 12

Racial Abilities
Immune to Radiation. Does not need sleep. Starts with a 2:6 chance to form a human disguise from a fresh dead body. Has Infravision at a range of 60’.

Psychic Strength: 104
Psychic Abilities
Telepathy 3 (Know Alignment, Thought Influence, Empathy)

Skills
Common: beggar, domestic servant, paper-ink maker, apprentice
Middling: printer, apothecary, schoolmaster
Gentry: astrologer, lawyer, duellist

The equipment list is surprisingly short, but includes matchlock, flintlock, and wheellock black powder firearms. All firearms have a chance of misfiring and muskets ignore five points of armour, whilst pistols only do so at close range. (Presumably, this means that the defender’s Armour Class is reduced.) Basic combat is simple enough with rolls being made to hit on a twenty-sided die, the target number determined by comparing the attacker’s THAC0 value with the Armour Class of the defender. The combat rules cover options such as charging, mounted combat, spear charges, shield walls, and more. Shield techniques allow for shield bashes and cover for allies; defensive and aggressive stances, which will alter Armour Class and a character’s ‘To Hit’ chance; blocking and parrying and dodging for defensive techniques; having a shot ready and firing on the move for archery techniques; disarming and making double-feints in melee combat; and mounted shot and pike and shot formation for firearm techniques. These are not the only options, but there is a comprehensive list of them, allowing a Player Character to do more than simply hack and slash.

Barrows & Borderlands Book 2: Psychics & Sorcerers covers magic and psionics. Spells require a free hand and the freedom to speak to cast, and mechanically, a casting roll. This is done by comparing the caster’s Level with the Level of the spell and rolling two six-sided dice. The result can be that the spell is cast immediately, its effect delayed by up to six Rounds, or a chance that a Critical Miscast occurs. This always happens if two is rolled on the dice. It is possible for a caster to cast a spell that is above his Level, but this increases a chance of a Critical Miscast. When the possibility of a Critical Miscast is indicated, the player must make a Saving Throw versus Spells. On failure, he must roll on the ‘Magic-User Critical Miscast Table’, which at its worst obliterates the caster or changes reality so that he was never born. Other results include forcing the caster to cast every spell he knows at a random target (which includes the other Player Characters), the caster’s bones disappearing, suffering a random mutation, and so on. There is a Critical Miscast Table for the Magic-User, but not the Cleric. Learning a new spell, which can be from a scroll, tome, a master, or self-created, requires a roll under the Player Character’s Prime Requisite attribute, modified by the difference between the caster’s Level and the Level of the spell. Magic-Users and Clerics can also counterspell against another caster.

The spells for both the Magic-User and the Cleric will be familiar to anyone who has played plenty of Dungeons & Dragons. Only those of Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Level for the Magic-User are new. These are powerful spells, such as Adaptive Blast which sends a blast of energy at a target adapting to the type of energy to which it is most vulnerable; Jaws of the Snake God which summons a giant, spectral snake that bites a target for one-to-one-hundred damage and ignores armour; and Dark Forest, which summons a singe square-mile of forest with trees that grow to be a hundred feet tall and a population of up to one hundred Giant Spiders, up to one hundred Evil Shadows, and up to one hundred Orcs at the caster’s command.

One of the spells does stray into poor taste. Insanity Multiplied inflicts a form of mental instability on everyone within a one-mile radius for eight hours. These include being manic depressive, paranoid, schizophrenic, sexually perverse, and violently homicidal. Times and attitudes have changed and whilst this would have no doubt have acceptable in the roleplaying games of some forty years ago, it is not the case today. This is a spell that the Game Master may want to consider leaving out of her game.

It is possible for any Player Character to a Wild Psionic, but they have fewer points to invest in disciplines and there even the chance of their suffering Psycho-desynchronization when attempting to learn a new discipline and losing points from their attributes. The Psychic Class does not suffer this. There are twelve disciplines and they include Telekinesis, Cell Adjustment, Object/Aura Reading, Mental Assault, and Living Weaponry. Each Discipline has six different effects. For example, Telepathy has the effects, from one to six in ascending order of ‘Know Alignment’, ‘Thought Influence’, ‘Empathy’, ‘ESP’, ‘Commune’, and ‘Mind Control’. Each Disciple requires two points of Investment to gain the first effect, but after that, only one point is required to gain the next effect. To use a Discipline, a Psychic’s player rolls a single six-sided die. If the result is equal to or less than the Investment level, then the Psychic can the desired effect. If a one is rolled, only the base effect can be used and the Psychic cannot use the Discipline until the next day. However, with some disciplines, it is possible to push the roll again and again, improving the effect each time until the Psychic is able to use the desired effect. For example, if a Psychic has invested in the Pyrokinesis Discipline enough to know ‘Spark of Flame’, ‘Control Fire’, and ‘Heat Metal’, his player could attempt to push the roll three times to trigger ‘Immolation’ and set the target alight!

Several of the Disciplines provide means for a Psychic to attack others, but he can also duel with another Psychic. This is essentially the equivalent of ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’ in which the duellists each select a Defence Mode and an Attack Mode and compare the results. These can be nothing or they inflict damage to the duellist’s Psychic Strength (to the point where they are unconscious), or hopefully stun them, which means they can do nothing and are at their opponent’s mercy. Overall, the Psionics rules are simple enough and provide a mix of spell-like and other effects that can make the Psychic Class flexible and powerful.

Barrows & Borderlands Book 3: Horrors & Treasure is the bestiary for Barrows & Borderlands. It includes many, many monsters and creatures that will be recognisable from Dungeons & Dragons—Black Puddings, Cockatrices, Gargoyles, Lycanthropes, Mimics, Owl Bears, Rust Monsters, Trolls, Will O’Wisps, and Yellow Molds. These are joined by the less familiar creatures such as Ladies of the Lake who offer a divine pact sealed with the gift of a weapon, Mirror Men that ape their opponent’s equipment and fighting style, the slow, but hard hitting Robots, the Silver Men of gleaming liquid metal that shoot eye-beams, and Dynaco Employees, mutants in synthetic work-suits that follow the diktats of a secret ancient organisation. There are a lot of entries as it also includes dinosaurs, dragons, giants, and golems.

The treasure also many items that will be familiar from Dungeons & Dragons, but also devices particular to the world of Firnum. For example, Sword +1 vs. Robots and Magic Gun +2, and swords as well as guns can be intelligent. Some weapons and devices are not magical, but technological. For example, the Dynaco Anti-Material Rifle which fires rounds that ignore armour; the Ray Gun powered by a Star Shard magazine; and Lukas’ Laser Sword, an energy blade that ignores damage reduction and five points of armour. Armour is treated in a similar fashion, all the way up to Dynaco Star Armour, a suit of powered armour. Similarly, the miscellaneous items are a mixture of the familiar and unfamiliar.

Barrows & Borderlands Book 4: The Underworld & Borderlands is the Game Master’s book for Barrows & Borderlands. It suggests two main ways of playing Barrows & Borderlands and exploring the world of Firnum—The Underworld and The Borderlands. It also suggests adhering to strict timekeeping of one real-world day being equal to one game day, which has consequences on play including time management and where the Player Characters are in the setting. It also demands more of the players and the Game Master, making Barrows & Borderlands more a commitment to play. The primary advice is about preparing for either style of play, designing The Underworld and filling it with features and traps and encounters, and working from a single village location to creating a wilderness landscape and adding locations and settlements and populating them. It gives guidance on how encounters are handled, including wandering monsters, and also on building domains and aerial combat. It also includes an example of play of a party exploring an Underworld.

What Barrows & Borderlands Book 4: The Underworld & Borderlands does not do is present Firmnum as a setting or explain any of its secrets or details of the setting. This is frustrating, because right from the start, Barrows & Borderlands has been suggesting and hinting as to what it is, telling the reader about elements of the setting, but going no further. Instead, author opens Barrows & Borderlands Book 4: The Underworld & Borderlands with, “Instead of creating my own version of the Borderlands for you to explore, I find it more pertinent to give you the tools necessary to make your own.” On the one hand, this is a laudable aim. It is telling the prospective Game Master that she has all of the tools necessary to create her own campaign, but her own setting as well. It means that Barrows & Borderlands emulates those early versions of Dungeons & Dragons that presented rules for playing in a fantasy realm whose inspirations—the works of Robert E. Howard or J.R.R. Tolkien—would have been familiar to the Game Master and the player. And if that is what the Game Master and her players want, then Barrows & Borderlands provides that. On the other hand, it is disingenuous. The issue is twofold. The first issue is that Barrows & Borderlands is not upfront enough about being a toolkit and leaving it until the fourth of its rulebooks to be clear that it is, is a mistake. The second issue is that Barrows & Borderlands is not explicit in telling the reader that there is no actual setting in the roleplaying game. What the introduction states is the following:

“The Borderlands is abstract, a land of mystery to be decided by the Referee and the Players. The core concepts are set, but specific locations, adventures, and battles are up to the emergent creativity of all at the table. A sampling of histories and lores exist within this book which suggest Nations and Powers exist outside the Confines of the Borderlands.”

The Borderlands—as presented in Barrows & Borderlands—are too abstract and whilst the presentation of histories and lores are suggestive of an interesting setting to come, it is a setting that the roleplaying game has no intention of delivering. Arguably, Barrows & Borderlands might actually be a better game without those histories and lores. As to the ‘core concepts’, they are very much not set. Fundamental questions such as, ‘What are the Borderlands?’, ‘What is the Dynaco Corporation?’, ‘What are Star Shards?’, ‘What are barrows in the context of the Borderlands?’, and even something as basic as, ‘What languages are spoken in and around the Borderlands?’ are left unanswered. If those elements were more sharply defined, then perhaps they would form a firmer basis upon which the Game Master and her players could build their version of the Borderlands through emergent play.

Physically, Barrows & Borderlands is presented as and looks like a roleplaying game from TSR, Inc. from the nineteen-seventies, but much cleaner, tidier, and sharper. The artwork, much of it drawn from the public domain, is not bad and together, the whole effect just says that this is an Old School Renaissance roleplaying game. In general—especially when it comes the rules, the roleplaying game is clearly written. However, elsewhere the writing is more opaque.

Despite its omissions, Barrows & Borderlands is very likeable roleplaying game. It has all the rules necessary to run a post-apocalyptic weird science fantasy campaign, and yet… whilst it describes itself as “A Weird Science Fantasy Old-School Style Role Playing Game set in a Dark Radioactive Wasteland of Magic, Black-powder, and Dragons!” and there can be no doubt that it delivers on being “A Weird Science Fantasy Old-School Style Role Playing Game… of Magic, Black-powder, and Dragons!”, what it fails to do is give the Game Master and her players the promised “…Dark Radioactive Wasteland…” Barrows & Borderlands is either a toolkit which hints unnecessarily at a setting or a desperately underdeveloped setting attached to a decent set of rules. Barrows & Borderlands really needs to be one or the other, rather than both. Or Barrows & Borderlands really, really needs Book 5: The Borderlands to give the Game Master and her players a starting point.

1975: Boot Hill

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

Despite the analogy that roleplaying is like the games of cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians that we played as children, it is surprising that there are so few roleplaying games in either genre or that so few of these roleplaying games have been popular. Indeed, it would not be until the publication of Gangster! by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1979 that the hobby would have its first ‘cops and robbers’ (or cops and gangsters) roleplaying, whereas the first cowboys and Indians roleplaying game appeared in 1975, the year following the release of Dungeon & Dragons. There have been several Wild West roleplaying games published since, many of them, well-researched, well-designed roleplaying games, but few have been truly popular and when they were, it was with a big dash of horror. Boot Hill was the third roleplaying game to be published by TSR, Inc. Designed by Brian Blume and E. Gary Gygax, it was subtitled, ‘Rules for “Wild West” Gunfights and Campaigns with Miniature Figures on a Man-to-Man Scale’. That it does not say ‘roleplaying game’ is indicative of the nascent hobby into which it was released. The idea of roleplaying as a pastime in a shared world was new; many early titles that the hobby calls roleplaying games today had their roots in wargames and were seen as an adjunct to that hobby, rather than the separate thing they would evolve into; and the term ‘roleplaying game’ had yet to be defined. Boot Hill definitely had its roots in wargaming as its subtitle suggests, but was there more to it than that?

Unlike most wargames, the play of Boot Hill focuses upon the single figure, or ‘character’, each one controlled by a different player to recreate gun fights, barroom brawls, and other situations synonymous with the Wild West. The action is meant to be inspired by both history and Hollywood—both film and television. To that end, the book includes two scenarios, both historically based. One is the ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’ and the other is the ‘Battle of Coffeyville’. However, Boot Hill be played in a number of ways. One is as simple gunfights or shootouts, which are more akin to a traditional wargame, but played at a skirmish level with single figures. Another is as a freeform in which the players have roles assigned to them—represented by the figures—and they attempt actions that are appropriate to those roles. It is made clear that none of these ways to play require a Referee, the players being expected to resolve any rules difficulties between themselves. However, it is suggested that a “…[R]eferee is nice to have for some games…” Of course, a Referee can adjudicate the rules and she can also set-up the town for the freeform style of play and assign roles to the players. Boot Hill definitely makes clear that the game can be played using 25 mm or 30 mm scale figures, but advises strongly that the plastic figures from Airfix are not suitable as they are difficult to paint!

A Player Character in Boot Hill has four abilities. These are Speed, Personal Bravery, and Personal Accuracy, which are rated as percentiles, whilst Strength is rated between eight and twenty. To determine their values, percentile dice are rolled for each with results of seventy or below receiving a small bonus to the result. Personal Accuracy is rolled twice, once for thrown weapons and once for fired weapons. The process is very quick.

Nellie ‘Whip’ Woodard

Speed 65 (Very Quick)

Personal Bravery 64 (Above Average)

Personal Accuracy (Fired Weapons) 68 (Fair)

Personal Accuracy (Thrown Weapons) 98 (Crack Shot)

Strength 13 (Average)

The rules for Boot Hill are written as a wargame. Movement and range are measured in inches and the rules very much focus on combat. The outcome of a gunfight begins by determining who has the ‘First Shot’. Who can shoot first is determined by individual Speed ratings, weapon speeds, surprise, movement, and wounds suffered, as well as if a gunfighter is drawing two guns or shooting from the hip. Then, the chance To Hit is determined. This has a base value of 50% which is modified by the range, movement of the firer and the target, Personal Accuracy, Personal Bravery, Wounds suffered, and Personal Experience, that is, the number of gunfights that the induvial has been. Surviving a lot of gunfights gets a shooter a big bonus!

If the attack is successful, two means of determining damage and wounds suffered are provided. The ‘Fast Hit Location Method’ determines if the gunfighter has suffered a light or serious wound, or is dead—and there is a 15% chance of the latter happening! The second uses the ‘Exact Hit Location Chart’ and requires two rolls. Once to determine where a bullet has hit the target and the severity of the wound. Again, there is a chance that a bullet will kill the target straightaway, from 10% for a hit to the shoulder to 60% for a hit to head! Otherwise, damage reduces a character’s Strength, rendering him unconscious if reduced to zero, and slows his movement.

The brawling rules are simpler, but not quite as clearly explained. Instead of determining who has the ‘First Shot’, the players determine who gets to try and land the ‘First Blow’. The faster brawler gets to throw two punches or grapple, whilst the defender gets to defend himself by punching or grappling in return. The brawling rules allow for weapon use, though knives and cutting weapons use the tables for determining damage in gunfights. Blunt weapons simply do slightly more damage. Results can be a miss with no second punch, glancing blow, blocked, jab, hook, and so on.

The ‘Advanced Rules’ cover simultaneous, hidden, and vehicle movement, and options such as firing during movement and firing at horses. Minor character morale covers the response of everyone other than a player’s character and includes both cavalry and Indians. There is a list of ‘Miscellaneous Characters’, from Town Marshals and Deputies to Merchants, Clerks, and Saloon Girls. There is light guidance too, on setting up a town, suggesting what might be found within its boundaries, as a Mexican or Chinese quarter, and that the interiors of buildings should be mapped out as well as exteriors.

Optional rules suggest alternative rules for determining the ‘First Shot’, being a ‘Sharpshooter’ if the character has a very high Personal Accuracy, stunning attacks, the effects of intoxication, dynamite and possible injuries from dynamite, misfires, Gatling guns, and cannons. Particular attention is paid to the gambler, meaning that the actions of a character beyond combat is actually covered in Boot Hill. The gambler has a percentage score for his ability to manipulate cards and avoid being caught cheating. Gambling is handled by straight percentile rolls, highest roll winning, the gambler having a bonus. If a gambler wins too often, his fellow cardplayers get a chance to determine if he has cheated. The campaign rules expand play beyond the typical frontier town with rules for mapping, rules for posses, and tracking.

Perhaps the most attention in Boot Hill is paid to the two scenarios, ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’ and ‘Battle of Coffeyville’, which are given in the Appendices. This includes historical background, set-up, and stats for the various characters involved. Both come with rough maps of their locations. It is suggested that these can played over and over, perhaps a hallmark of a wargame rather than roleplaying game. Rounding out the appendices is a list of prices and wages as well as sample town map.

Physically, Boot Hill is plainly laid out, though readable. The artwork is scruffy and the maps are rudimentary.

Boot Hill is both more than a set of wargames miniatures rules and less than a roleplaying game. Its emphasis upon single characters, and their capacity for growth and the capacity for doing things other than gunfighting and brawling, if implicit rather explicit—except for the gambling rules, push it towards roleplaying, but the deadliness of the combat system and emphasis upon combat is definitely more akin to a wargame. What it is more akin to is a ‘Braunstein’, a wargame with players taking individual roles in a Napoleonic Germany, and then developed by David Wesely in the late sixties and later developed by Duane Jenkins into a Wild West ‘Braunstein’ set in the fictional, ‘Brownstone Texas’. This suggests that Boot Hill has the capacity for roleplaying and to be a roleplaying game, but it is very much reliant upon the Game Master and players to do that rather than the game itself encourage them to do so. Boot Hill has always been included in the canon of roleplaying games, but where the later editions of the game—published in 1979 and 1990—do qualify and count as roleplaying games, it can be strongly argued that its original, first edition version barely qualifies as a roleplaying game.

Quick-Start Saturday: The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules

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 Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules is the quick-start for The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG, the roleplaying game based on the Planet of the Apes film franchise. Specifically, it is based on the original 1968 film, Planet of the Apes, followed by Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, as well as the 1974 television series and later novels and comic book series.

It is a eighty-six page, 55.08 MB full colour PDF.

It is decently written and the artwork really is very good.

How long will it take to play?
The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules is designed to be played through in two sessions.

What else do you need to play?
The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules needs a handful of six-sided dice, one of which must be a different colour to represent the Wild Die.

Who do you play?
The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules includes six pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of an ambitious Chimpanzee Statesape, a Gorilla Veteran scout, a Gorilla Constable, an Orangutan Lawgiver, almost muckraking Chimpanzee Journalist, and a Gorilla Serviceape.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in the The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG can be a Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Orangutan, Mutant, Human or Tribal Human, or even an ‘Astro-Naut’. In The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules needs, they are either Chimpanzee, Gorilla, or Orangutan. A Player Character has six Attributes—Dexterity, Knowledge, Mechanical, Perception, Strength, and Willpower—and their associated skills. They are rated by a die code, indicating the number of six-sided dice it has as well as a bonus, either ‘+1’ or ‘+2’. A Player Character will also have a memento that grants him a bonus under specific circumstances, background, and motive. In The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG, a Player Character can also have a Quirk, which enables to have a Remarkable Ability, but those in the The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules do not.

How do the mechanics work?

The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules—and thus The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG—uses a variant of the D6 System first seen in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game published by West End Games in 1987. This variant is called the ‘Magnetic Variant’ or ‘D6MV’. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to the attribute, plus a skill, if appropriate. The result is compared to a Difficulty Number, ranging from five or ‘Very Easy’ to thirty or ‘Extremely Difficult’, with fifteen being ‘Average’, to determine the degree of success. If the result is equal to the Difficulty Number, it is a ‘Partial Success’, which means that the Player Character succeeds, but with a setback. If the result is greater than the Difficulty Number, it is an ‘Ordinary Success’, but if three times greater than the Difficulty Number, it is an ‘Exceptional Success’ and the action is achieved with greater speed, accuracy, or effect. Conversely, if the result is less than the Difficulty Number, it can be simple ‘Ordinary Failure’, ‘Exceptional Failure’, or ‘Catastrophic Failure’, depending on how low it is. With an ‘Exceptional Failure’, something bad will happen to the Player Character, but not immediately, whereas with a ‘Catastrophic Failure’, it happens immediately.

One of the dice rolled on an action is always the Wild Die. If it rolls a six, then the Player Character gains an advantage, which can be elevating a successful roll by one step, gaining Hero Points, or granting another Player Character a Hero Point. If the roll is a failure and the Wild Die result is still a success, a player can roll it again and hope that it rolls more sixes to add to the total. If the Wild Die rolls a one, then something bad happens, even if the action was otherwise a success. This can be to add a setback, lowering the degree of success by one step, and so on. Some of these options will grant the Player Character more Hero Points.

Hero Points are also earned from ingenuity or good play. They can be spent to double the Die Code for a single roll, to reroll a result, or to turn a Wounded, Incapacitated, or Mortally Wounded condition into ‘Just a Flesh’ wound.

How does combat work?
Initiative in combat is a group roll, either using the Reflex skill if the combatants are aware of the fight, or just Perception if not. It is rolled at the start of each round to reflect the back and forth of cinematic pulp action of the source material. Hand-to-hand attacks are rolled using the Brawl or Melee skills against the defender’s defence value. Ranged attacks use either the Marksmanship, Thrown, or Gunnery skills, the Difficulty Number determined by the defender’s defence value and the range. A defender—and thus a Player Character—has three defence values. These are ‘Surprised Defence’, ‘Ready Defence’, and ‘Psyche Defence’, each of which is derived from an attribute. Damage—whether from a combination of Strength and a melee weapon’s damage or a ranged weapon’s damage—is compared to the defender’s Strength to give a result of either ‘Stunned’, ‘Wounded’, ‘Incapacitated’, or ‘Mortally Wounded’. The rules in The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules also cover mental trauma and recovery as well as general recovery.

What do you play?

The scenario in The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules is ‘The Deadliest Prey’. In this an affluent, but bored and ambitious Chimpanzee uses his position and connections to organise a lawgiver-sponsored hunt for one of the deadliest of predators to have appeared in years—a meat-eating, ape-murdering Human! So far, he has proved himself to be a highly deadly and elusive threat, and this is further enforced when the members of the current expedition—of which, the Player Characters are a part—are attacked and their supplies destroyed. The Player Characters are forced to rely on their survival skills as they attempt to track down the Human predator. The situation escalates as the Player Characters become the hunted as well as the hunters. The scenario is a sandcrawl in which the Player Characters track down the predators and explore the region. It is decently detailed, but is very much a ‘pull-and-push’ scenario as the LAWGIVER—as the Game Master is known—reacts to the actions of the Player Characters and pushes back at them with the very active threat that they face. The scenario also allows for a greater freedom of action upon the part of the Player Characters as they are free to wander wherever they want in the valley and on the hillsides where it is set. It means that ‘The Deadliest Prey’ is more complex to run than the typical quick-start.

Is there anything missing?
No. Not as written. However, it is disappointing that the quick-start does not use the rules for Quirks and Remarkable Abilities to show off better how special the Player Characters are. The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules includes a good introduction to the history and background to Planet of the Apes that also provides the general viewpoints of the various factions, starting with the apes. It also incudes lots of references to the full rules and what is to be found in the full rulebook for The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG. Which does become a little wearisome.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules is easy to prepare.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules is a very good looking product that does a good job of introducing both the future that is Planet of the Apes and the rules to the roleplaying game, along with a solid adventure that gives the Player Characters more agency than most quick-start adventures and is thus more complex to run.

The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Quickstart Rules is published by Magnetic Press Play and is available to download here.

Friday Fantasy: The Tower Out of Time

A never-before seen ‘bearded star’—or comet—is seen skittering across the night sky that mystics and astrologers have labelled ‘Serbok’, which just happens to be the old word for ‘serpent’. Any coincidence? Then, in the nearby forest, woodcutters report the appearance of, again, a never seen before dark lake, its waters full of strange fish and other creatures, with a tower standing on the water’s edge, its walls not of traditional mortar and stone, but of a material with leathery appearance, as if cut and sewn from monstrously giant reptile! The woodcutters knew better than to stick around, but their departure was heralded by the sudden emitting of a burning beam of light out of the top of the tower and up into the sky. Even now, the fiery ray continues to sear its way into the heavens, visible from beyond the confines of the forest. Any coincidence? Are the two connected? Well, of course they are! The comet marks the impending return of S’lissakk, a serpent-man sorcerer of great renown from the empire of E’shernulus, who since that time has travelling the comos aboard his voidcraft. His return is guided by the tower, the Pharos of Scales, which itself has been piloted through time by S’lissakk’s apprentice, H’lisk, to ensure that the beacon is in the right time to anticipate his master’s return.

This is the set-up to Dungeon Crawl Classics #77.5: The Tower Out of Time, a scenario published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The scenario was published in 2013 as a special incentive to Game Masters participating in the DCCRPG World Tour 2013, which promoted the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game both in store and at conventions, and then was later suggested as a demonstration scenario for Free RPG in 2013. It is designed for a party of six Second Level Player Characters and has both a quick set-up time and a quick playing time. It can easily be played in a single session and prepared in less than hour. That set-up also makes it easy to add to a campaign, the Judge only needing to locate the forests where the Pharos of Scales has appeared in her campaign world.

The Pharos of Scales is actually made of prehistoric reptile hide stiffened and toughened through the wonders of ancient Serpent-Man sorcery, with doors made of ‘soap-bubble’-like membranes that instantly reform when there is nothing is breaking them. This weirdness continues inside, enforcing a sense of ancient primordial hothouse origins on each of its floors. The layout of the tower is simple with no more than two rooms per storey. The lower levels consist of an arboretum that provides an environment more to the liking of H’lisk and his servants as well as their quarters. The latter are Ape-Men controlled via Cerebraleechs that look like parasites attached to the back of their necks and granting them a psionic attack in addition to their physicality. Above this is an example of Serpent-Man science, what looks like exotic jungle flower supported by three thick and fleshy stems to which are attached small, hairy anthropoid creature known as Antehumans, precursors to Humanity, via tubes that pierce their bodies, siphoning off blood to feed the flower-like device. This is the beacon itself and H’lisk and his Ape-Men servants will fight to the death to protect it!

One entertaining change to this style of adventure, is that it changes when H’lisk gets to do his villainous monologue! He gets to have this and any conversation with the Player Characters when they are on the floor below, so that when they do get to confront him, there is no delay in the fight starting. This is the only opportunity for roleplaying in the adventure and gives the Judge to explain some of the scenario’s background without the players deciding that their characters automatically attack rather than listen to any monologue. This is enforced by the design of the tower which places a trap on the ramp up from the storey that the Player Characters are on and the storey where H’lisk is. The point is highlighted in a rather entertaining section of boxed text, ‘Behind the Scenes’, which gives some insight to the final confrontation and what happened during the scenario’s play test.

The scenario comes to a close with a puzzle door—which comes with its own rather nice handout—that the Player Characters must solve if they want to get to the roof, though there not anything up there worth investigating. It may well be that the puzzle door is more rewarding if the Player Characters have climbed the tower and are attempting to break in from the roof. It ends that, with the arrival of S’lissakk in his voidship. Where he lands depends upon whether the beacon is still working. If it is, his voidship splashes down in the lake beside the tower, but if not, it will be much further way. What happens next—and the details of S’lissakk—are left for the Judge to develop. Rounding off the scenario, in addition to the map, are details of ‘Serbok: The Slithering Shadow’ as a Patron, although no new spells are included.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #77.5: The Tower Out of Time is decently presented. The writing is good, the artwork is decent, and the handout is nicely done. The cover is very well done, getting across its weirdness in comparison to normal wizard’s towers.

Ultimately, that is what Dungeon Crawl Classics #77.5: The Tower Out of Time is—a wizard’s tower. It is just that the wizard’s tower is a weird Serpent-Man wizard’s tower! Dungeon Crawl Classics #77.5: The Tower Out of Time is a small adventure, really only providing a session’s worth of engagingly thematic play. However, as much as his return is heralded by its background, the scenario leaves what happens with S’lissakk undeveloped and in the hands of the Judge, who is left without any ideas or suggestions. Without developing that further, as written, the actual ending of is either a cliffhanger or an anticlimax, and if the Judge decides to forgo the arrival of S’lissakk, then there is the possibility that the players and characters may have no idea what it is exactly they have been doing in the scenario. Dungeon Crawl Classics #77.5: The Tower Out of Time is short and very serviceable, but its ending leaves the Judge without any answers and plenty of questions to ask.