Gear & Teeth

To date, Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos, Chaosium, Inc’s supplement of Pulp action set during the nineteen thirties for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition has been supported by not one, but two campaigns. The better known of these is The Two-Headed Serpent: An Epic Action-Packed and Globe-Spanning Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu, a campaign in the traditional sense of Lovecraftian investigative horror. It presented a world-spanning conspiracy, which took the heroic investigators from Bolivia, New York, Borneo, and Oklahoma to the Belgian Congo, Iceland, and Brazil—and beyond! The other campaign is A Cold Fire Within: A Mind-Bending Campaign for Pulp Cthulhu, which although like The Two-Headed Serpent is based in New York and takes place in the nineteen thirties, is very different in tone and scope. Inspired by both ‘The Mound’, the horror/science fiction novella ghost-written by H. P. Lovecraft for Zealia Bishop, and Sinclair Lewis’ alternate history satire, It Can’t Happen Here, it combines fringe science or ‘Science!’ with the fringe politics of the period for a campaign that is as much Science Fiction as it is horror. Thus, it has been a while since there has been support for Pulp Cthulhu.

Tooth & Claw: Two Scenarios for Pulp Cthulhu presents two scenarios set in New England in the Desperate Decade—‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ and ‘Wolf Among the Flock’. Whilst both scenarios are written for use with Pulp Cthulhu and use classic elements of the Mythos, they vary in tone and application of the Mythos. ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ is the more straightforward of the two, combining ‘Science!’ with traditional elements of both the Mythos and Jewish mythology in traditional Pulp detective narrative, whilst ‘Wolf Among the Flock’ gives the use of traditional Mythos creature a pleasing twist and sets the whole affair in an enclosed, sweaty, hothouse affair. Both scenarios can be played in two or three sessions and both scenarios are easy to add to a campaign. Neither scenario has any specific requirements, but ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ will play better if an Investigator understands Yiddish and/or German and has a good working knowledge of ‘Science!’, whilst ‘Wolf Among the Flock’ will play well if the Investigators have points in the Science (Biology) and Science (Zoology) skills as well as, surprisingly, Other Language (American Sign Language). The ‘Animal Companion’ Talent may prove to be fun addition and a Big Game Hunter Investigator would work very well with ‘Wolf Among the Flock’.

‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ is set in Boston and opens in 1933  the Investigators being hired by the director of the city’s Museum of Fine Arts to investigate a break-in and theft. Several priceless artefacts have been stolen from the museum’s Judaica Exhibition, the exhibition arranged to show solidarity with the city’s Jewish community. The leads point to the nightwatchman, beaten up during the robbery, but who is yet to come into work again and the nature of the stolen Hebrew artefacts. Threads lead into the city’s Jewish and antiquarian communities and also into its criminal underworld, much reduced in influence and power in the wake of the lifting of Prohibition, before reaching the Boston Futurist Society, whose members are made up of freethinkers and radicals.

This is not a complex investigation and that is entirely in keeping with Pulp Cthulhu. As is the presence of the police, also investigating the break-in at the museum and who may be played as an ally or an enemy, and a squad of heavies led by a severe-looking woman wearing an eyepatch (she must be evil, she is wearing an eyepatch), again also ‘investigating’ the break-in at the museum. There is room for a punch-up or two or a chase with heavies, whilst working with those that can help the Investigators is a little harder.

Ultimately, ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ will probably end with a break-in of the Investigators’ own devising, a confrontation with a misguided techno-millionaire, and a bruising attempt to prevent a nasty summoning. ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ is a well written scenario which combines the Mythos and supreme ambition with its inspiration, The Golem: How He Came into the World, the 1920 German silent horror film. In fact, there is a chance in game that the Investigators will actually remember having seen the film. The result is a scenario that is a bit too familiar and more experienced players may work out what is going on early on and then need to play against their knowledge until it becomes obvious to their Investigators.

‘Wolf Among the Flock’ begins with the Investigators receiving notices of and invitations to the memorial service for Michael and Rachael Durney, famed explorers and collectors who travelled the world and built a private zoo at their family home between Boston and Arkham, and recently killed by a bear in their menagerie. This requires some set-up, perhaps in previous scenario (there is a connection given to the Boston Futurist Society, though the Durneys were members, not cultists), to really make its story be more tragic. In the wake of their deaths, the Durneys’ daughter, Naomi, has become a recluse, taken to her room, and decided to dissolve the zoo and sell off its animals.

As the first guests at the estate, the Investigators are given a grand tour and quickly realise that the house, the grounds, and the zoo are beginning to go to seed as the dissolution proceeds. There are fewer staff, fewer animals, and the animals that remain are nervous and disquieted. The Investigators are free to roam the grounds as they like, but there are couple of set pieces—nasty set pieces at that—and later, they will also be communicate, in limited fashion, with another victim of an animal attack on the  zoo grounds. Whilst the story is explicitly light on the Mythos, it is suffused with paranoia right through to the very end when the Mythos breaks out and runs rampant!

In terms of plotting, ‘Wolf Among the Flock’ is not as direct as ‘Of Clockwork & Clay’ and so the Investigators have more freedom as where to they go and what they do. This can work against the scenario—its only weakness—if the Investigators decide to follow certain clues to their conclusions. The Keeper is advised to forestall this from happening, which begs the question, why allow it at all? Otherwise, ‘Wolf Among the Flock’ is the better of the two scenarios in Clockwork & Claws. This is because it takes a familiar Mythos entity and does something different with it, shifting the weirdness and the horror into, “Though Nature, red in tooth and claw” as well as an unexpected direction in terms of rebirth and transcendance. Which gives what is a scenario for Pulp Cthulhu a subtler feel through most of its play than the Keeper and her players might otherwise expect.

Physically, Clockwork & Claws is well appointed. The maps and handouts are all decently done, and even if the artwork varies a little in quality, the art direction is very good. Time is taken to illustrate numerous scenes and artefacts which the Keeper can then show to her players. The cartography feels a little tight in places, but is otherwise very good. There is also content in the book which can be used beyond its pages, such as that on Boston, perhaps point to the usefulness of a Boston sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu.

Tooth & Claw: Two Scenarios for Pulp Cthulhu is not without its issues—the familiarity of Mythos and its application and that there only two scenarios here, rather than three or four, the latter disappointing because there is not really very much support for Pulp Cthulhu. Nevertheless, the two scenarios in Tooth & Claw: Two Scenarios for Pulp Cthulhu support the setting with two scenarios that are entertaining and playable, one of which is creepy and freaky in its final revelations.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Secret Wars Expansion Preview

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

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

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Secret Wars Expansion Preview is a scenario for the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game which as the title suggests, previews the Secret Wars Expansion supplement. Both scenario and supplement are based the Secret Wars comic and event published by Marvel Comics in 2015. This involved the destruction of the Marvel Universe and various other alternate universes with the Earth of each universe being combined into a Battleworld. The Battleworld for the Secret Wars Expansion Preview is Egyptia. This Egyptian-themed Battleworld gives fealty to the God Emperor Doom, his rule enforced by his cadre of Thors. The action of the scenario takes place in the city of Men-Nefer in the Lower Kingdom of Egyptia, the location of the Temple of Khonshu, dedicated to the Battleworld’s ruler, Baron Khonshu. She has oppressed the mutants in her realm, forcing them to work, building pyramid and other monuments to her, promising retribution upon the ordinary population if they rebel. However, this does not mean that there is no underground resistance and recently, its leader, Mastermind, has learned that Baron Khonshu is holding an important prisoner in her temple—Ra the Sun god. If he can be freed, then he can rally the people and help overthrown Baron Khonshu. As the scenario opens, Mastermind has gathered his best agents—Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Polaris, Rogue, and Wolverine—and together they will strike at the temple and free Ra!

The scenario is designed for four or five players, and chronologically takes place before the events of Secret Wars Journal #1. There is some advice on running the scenario, what the Narrator will need, and more, but ultimately, the Narrator will need the quick-start rules (available here) or the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game rulebook, and also the character profiles for the various heroes. There is a little bit of background to the scenario, but not too much and it gets going fairly quickly. It is essentially, a strike and prison breakout mission as the players need to work out how their superheroes are going to cross the city under curfew—when Baron Khonshu leaves her temple to wander the land—and get into the temple. Several methods are suggested with Mastermind serving as sounding board for any ideas put forward by the players and their characters.

Once a plan of action has been decided, the action starts as the Player Characters and Mastermind make their way to the temple, find a way in, deal with guards, and free the Sun god. This is a straightforward scenario, but it includes a few surprises along the way, such as the nature of the guards at the temple, who exactly Ra is, and who the Thors are that the Player Characters will face at the climax of the scenario. Stats are included for Baron Khonshu, Spector, and the Temple Guards. There are suggestions as to what might happen at the end of the scenarios and several adventure seeds too, if the Game Master wants to continue the scenario.

What is interesting about the scenario in Secret Wars Expansion Preview is the chance to play familiar characters from the Marvel Universe of Earth 616 in an unusual situation as alternate versions of those characters. Notably, the scenario’s primary NPC, Mastermind, is actually a villain on Earth 616, but here is a more sympathetic character, even though he is not without his own motives.

Physically, Secret Wars Expansion Preview is well presented. The map is nice and clear and it should be no surprise that the art is good too, given the sources that the designers can draw upon.

The Secret Wars Expansion Preview is a solid scenario, serviceable scenario for the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game and a decent preview of the Secret Wars Expansion.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Terror in Tortuga

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

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

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

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

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What is it?
The Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure is the quick-start for Pirate Borg, the self-described, “Worst Pirate RPG Ever Made™!”. It is published by Limithron via Free League Publishing.

The Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure is a twenty page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?
The Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure includes the scenario, ‘Terror in Tortuga’, a sandbox affair which is more open ended and can be played through in a single session or it might last two or three sessions.

What else do you need to play?
The error in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure needs a full set of polyhedral dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure does include any pre-generated Player Pirates. Instead, it gives full rules for creating a Player Pirate of a single Class, that is, ‘Pirate’, much like the Pirate Borg Starter Set. (Alternatively, players can create pirates using the publisher’s Random PC Generator or create them using the full rules in the Pirate Borg core rulebook.)

How is a Player Character defined?

In Pirate Borg, a Player Pirate is defined by his Abilities, Class, gear, and Devil’s Luck. The five Abilities are Strength, Agility, Presence, Toughness, and Spirit, each rated between ‘-3’ and ‘+3’. A Player Pirate also has a weapon, clothing, and hat as well as a container, a cheap item, and a fancy item. Additional tables also provide a background, distinctive flaw, physical trademark, idiosyncrasies, unfortunate incidents and conditions, and thing of importance. All of these things are rolled for along with the Pirate Borg’s core abilities.

How do the mechanics work?

Mechanically Pirate Borg is based upon Mörk Borg—hence the name—the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and also published by Free League Publishing. A player rolls a twenty-sided die, modifies the result by one of his character’s abilities, and attempts to beat a Difficulty Rating of twelve, though the Difficulty Rating can be higher or lower. The Difficulty Rating may go up or down depending on the situation, but whatever the situation, the player always rolls, even in combat or as both Mörk Borg and Pirate Borg terms it, violence.

Every Player Character also has the Devil’s Luck. Each Class receives a different amount of this, but the Pirate Class, the only Class presented in the Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure only has one or two points. It can be spent to inflict maximum damage on a single attack, reroll any die, lower the Difficulty rating of a Test, neutralise a Critical or a Fumble, and to lower damage suffered by a random amount.

It should be noted that the Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure neatly summaries the rules, including those for combat, to a single two-page spread at the rear of the book.

How does combat work?

Initiative in the Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure is a simple roll of a six-sided die, with the enemies going first if low, the Player Pirates if high. Violence requires a roll of a twenty-sided versus twelve, modified by Strength for a physical attack and Presence for a ranged attack, to hit. It is the same roll to avoid being hit, modified by Agility. Armour is represented by a die value, from -d2 for light armour to -d6 for heavy armour, representing the amount of damage it stops. Medium and heavy armour each add a modifier to any Agility action by the Player Pirate, including defending himself. This is pleasingly simple and offers a character some tactical choice—just when is it better to avoid taking the blows or avoid taking the damage? Armour can also be damaged, due to a Fumble when defending, reducing its protective effectiveness, and a critical hit in combat inflicts double damage or allows another attack. A fumble with a black powder firearm will result in a misfire. A Player Pirate whose Hit Points are reduced to below zero is dead, but at zero, is broken and can recover.

How does magic work?

In Pirate Borg, a Player Pirate has access to Arcane Rituals. They are not available in the Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure.

What do you play?

The scenario in Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure is ‘Terror in Tortuga’. It is a mini-sandbox on the island port of Tortuga, a self-styled ‘Cesspool of Scum, Filth, and ASH’, a sin city currently under the control of Anne Bonney and her crew; Calico Jack, ASH broker; and the Flail, Ghoul Lord of Tortuga. Besides describing the three NPCs, the scenario includes detailed descriptions of the various locations in the port, rumours and secrets, random events, and a projected timeline which suggests what might happen if the Player Pirates do nothing.

The scenario is preceded by a quick overview of the setting, including an explanation of what ASH is. Which is the desiccated ectoplasmic remnants of destroyed undead that can be inhaled or smoked for magical effects. It is also highly addictive. Four jobs and hooks are detailed and these can be mixed and matched to fit the length and scope of the intended session. These include clearing Tortuga of all undead, including the Flail; harvesting ASH and/or the undead; assassinating Calico Jack; and robbing an ASH warehouse. The scenario includes the full details of ‘Fort de Rocher’, the zombie-infested headquarters of the Flail.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure is complete as is.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure is easy to grasp and prepare. It is Player Pirate-driven, so the Game Master will need to adjust events for their actions.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure includes everything for a great introduction to Pirate Borg offering plenty to do in Tortuga, whether running as a one shot or adding to a campaign.

The Terror in Tortuga: PIRATE BORG Quickstart & Adventure is available to download here.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Fire & Brimstone

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

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

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For Free RPG Day 2026, Magpie Games published not one book, but six—Adventure Booklet 1: Earth & Root, Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind, and Adventure Booklet 5: Water & Mist as well as the Expanded Rules supplement. These are all for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns for any roleplaying game. This is the roleplaying adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, animated series which are inspired by the indigenous cultures of North America and Asia, in particular, China, Chinese martial arts, and the ability to ‘bend’ or manipulate the four elements—water, earth, fire, and air. Only one person can bend all four elements, and he is known as the ‘Avatar’, and not only does he serve as the link between the physical world and the spirit world, but he is also responsible for maintaining harmony between the world’s four nations. In the roleplaying game, the players roleplay characters, or companions, who are capable of bending one of the elements as well as practising martial arts, all with the aim of protecting the world from harm and those unable to stand up to misuse of power.

As with the other four Adventure Booklets, Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone originally appeared in Wan Shi Tong’s Adventure Guide, which explores and presents adventures in the different eras of the Avatarverse, including the Kyoshi, Roku, the Hundred Year War, Aang, and Korra periods. Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone presents a Roku Era Adventure whose action takes place at the Four Nations Summit & Technological Symposium in Hari Bulkan, the capital of the Fire Nation. Shortly after the opening ceremony with performances and displays by all four nations, Kuchtei, the Fire Nation’s Minister of Education, Science, and Technology bursts into the meeting hall and announces that someone has stolen multiple crates containing rare meteorite metal. When forged, this metal can be used to create unbreakable weapons and devices and so is worth more than its weight in gold! Kuchtei demands that the thief or thieves reveal themselves and when no-one is forthcoming, announces that security will increased and when the perpetrator is found, he will feel the full force of the Fire Nation’s law. In the wake of this announcement, Taqukaq, a famous Waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe approaches the Player Characters, explains the situation, and asks them to investigate, to find out not only who stole the meteorite metal, but also why.

The scenario presented in Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone is like a murder mystery in a cosy country house a la Agatha Christie, except the Player Characters are not investigating a murder, but a theft and are at a conference rather than a country house. Nevertheless, they are in a small environment, there are numerous witnesses to interview and interrogate, and there are multiple suspects. This though is a scenario for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, which means that whilst there are multiple suspects, there not one set culprit and not one set solution to the crime. Instead, the Game Master is expected to build the adventure plot and story around the actions and investigation conducted by the Player Characters. There is also not a given end to the scenario, but a discussion of how it might end, along with advice on running the scenario as a whole. This covers how to pace the scenario, escalate the situation with events, both create and handle good clues, and running the investigation. In particular, how to shift the story from its investigative process and interaction with the various NPCs and factions to combat scenes and back again, as well as some answers to additional questions that might arise during play.

Beyond this set-up—and it is a very detailed set-up—the Player Characters are free to approach the investigation however they want. To that end, all of the NPCs, groups, and important locations are described in detail and backed up with the solid advice for the Game Master. In addition, there is advice too for the Game Master on who to set up the scenario if the players are using their own characters rather than the pre-generated quintet which is included in Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone. The five pre-generated Player Characters for the adventure are all Air Nomads attending the conference on behalf of the Elders of the Southern Air Temple to help keep the peace and report back on ideas presented at the event. They include the excitable and ambitious Bo the Bold; the spirit seer Chegu the Icon, reluctant about her revered position and who also comes with an air bison; Ema the Idealist who is building devices that mimic airbending abilities; Sherah the Pillar, a covert operative; and Norbu the Rogue, a troublemaker and thrillseeker glad to be away from the temple.

Also included are details of the Basic Moves and Balance Moves in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game—in addition the Moves for all of the Player Characters—and the techniques that are not in the core book, plus the combat exchanges, statuses, and basic techniques. Taqukaq is also fully described and there is advice too on how to use Legendary NPCs like Taqukaq. Also detailed are the various Techniques used in the scenario by the NPCs not found in the core rulebook. In some ways, the Game Master advice is so complete and feels longer than the broader description of the situation in Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone and the summit location.

Physically, Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone is well presented, sturdy booklet.

Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone is not a scenario in the traditional sense, but very much more of a highly detailed set-up backed up with all of the background, stats, and advice that the Game Master needs to respond in what will very much be a Player Character-driven investigation and story. This makes it a bit more complex to run than the previous Adventure Booklet 1: Earth & Root and the Game Master needs to prepare it with care to cover most eventualities. Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra will enjoy the background too and overall, Adventure Booklet 2: Fire & Brimstone is great support for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Creature Curation Presents #1

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

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

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Creature Curation Presents #1 is a slightly different product for Free RPG Day because it is an anthology of three adventures for three different roleplaying games, all three of them compatible with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. One of the three roleplaying games will be familiar, it previously having appeared as support for Free RPG Day with Into the Würmhole back in 2021, whilst the others will be less so. One thing to bear in mind with Creature Curation Presents #1 is that whilst it states that the quick-start rules are included, this is not actually the case. Instead QR codes are provided for each of the three roleplaying games as well as either a QR code to a character generator for the roleplaying game or a set of pre-generated Player Characters. This makes preparation a little slower than it ordinarily might have been if they had been included, but not overly so.

The first scenario, ‘Impaled Obelisk’, is for Vast Grimm, the pre-apocalypse Science Fiction roleplaying game set in a very future in which cultists have unleashed the infection of THEY, whose infection of Würms and the Grimm have hollowed out and shattered worlds, including the Earth. Humanity’s last hope is the Gate of Infinite Stars, through which the uninfected survivors can escape and find a universe where they will be free of the Würms and the gnawing… In the meantime, pirates and cultists prey on the survivors as desperate men and women gather together in Legions and explore what remains of the universe, perhaps hoping to find something that will towards humanity’s continued survival and the construction of the Gate of Infinite Stars

In ‘Impaled Obelisk’, the Legion answer the distress call of the Gallant Obelisk, a starship that went missing nine decades ago and is found to have crashed nose first into the surface of the planetoid, Caladron 7. It is unlikely that any of the original crew are still alive, but there may still be much to scavenge, some of which will be valuable, some of which might help mankind. Caladron 7’s low gravity means that the Player Characters can easily propel themselves up its length, exploring its corridors, research facilities, scientific laboratories, crew quarters, engineering spaces, and more. Everything seems to be covered in a Web Goo and none of the bodies of the crew can be found. ‘Impaled Obelisk’ is a classic ‘wrecked spaceship as dungeon’ scenario, not a little like Alien, but ‘Grimm’ in its own way. It is easy to run as a one-shot or add to a Game Master’s campaign.

The second scenario is for Raptor Ruckus. This is inspired by 1993’s Jurassic Park and is a survival horror roleplaying game in which the Player Characters are staff at the world’s new and greatest theme park about to excite the world about dinosaurs once again! Of course, things can go wrong. There can be storms or breakdowns or worse, agents of Basilisk, the anti-human doomsday cult, working to sabotage and undermine the whole project!

In ‘Airborne’, the Player Characters are returning to the island park after showing off one of the dinosaurs to investors on the mainland. They are travelling aboard a Lockheed C-130 transport along with a kentosaurus, sedated and caged. Suddenly, there is a bang and the aeroplane pitches nose down—is it about to crash? Just as bad is that one of the creature handlers draws a gun and points it at the Player Characters! Thus, the adventure starts with a bang and carries on from there as they are faced by one dangerously dinosaurous situation after another. They have to get out of the aeroplane, are attacked by Pteranodons on the way down, and find themselves on the wrong side of the fence back in the dinosaur park! And even when they get to the other side, it looks like saboteurs have been hard at work whilst the Player Characters have been away on the mainland. The scenario includes the stats for some dinosaurs, a pair of fanatical cultists, and an entertaining NPC to portray. Pleasingly, it does include a dinosaur chase, exactly as you would want, and overall, this is an excitingly tense chase scenario from start to finish that can lead into Fragmentation, the first campaign for Raptor Ruckus.

The third scenario is for Neon Bastardz. This is a near future roleplaying game inspired by Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland and all of the bad ‘B’ and straight to video trashy Sci-Fi movies of the eighties and noughties. The Player Characters are Skumdogs, lowlife-not-quite-scum pushed to take the dirty jobs no one wants to do, from cleaning the sewers of CHUDs to finding radical treasures in the wastelands for the Detroit-Prime Hyper-Lux.

In ‘Killing Detroit Prime Style’, the Player Characters are gangers, members of a war party perhaps hired to do a job for BioRent Worldwide, Detroit-Prime’s leading biotech manufacturer. The offices of BioRent Worldwide on floor #207 of the city’s megablock have been taken over by Ninja. It is up to the gangers to break into the building, ascend to floor #207, find the Ninja and beat their ass before sending them back to their dojo in body bags. Floor #207 is large with separate areas that might take up whole floors in lesser blocks, but whether the cubicle maze, client consultation room, organ storage, executive offices, and so on, the gangers will find Ninja. The gangers can earn ‘Friendship Points’ by saving civilians who are at risk, sparing an enemy who surrenders, giving an emotional speech, fighting back-to-back with an ally, and so on. They can be spent to re-roll any die, heal a downed ally, add a bonus to an ally’s attack, and so on. All very eighties buddy movie and cinematic. ‘Killing Detroit Prime Style’ is a beat ’em up scenario, very much more style than substance and easily the easiest of the three scenarios in the anthology to prepare.

Physically, Creature Curation Presents #1 is a blast of bright neon colour. Of the three, ‘Airborne’ for Raptor Ruckus is underwritten in places, but otherwise, all three are easy to grasp. The artwork is decent throughout, but the cartography is plain if serviceable.

Creature Curation Presents #1 packs in three easy-to-run scenarios that a Game Master can each run in a single session. ‘Impaled Obelisk’ for Vast Grimm and ‘Airborne’ for Raptor Ruckus are the best of the three, as ‘Killing Detroit Prime Style’ is Neon Bastardz is simplistic, but all three are solid introductions to their respective roleplaying games.

Friday Filler: Split the Hoard

You have persevered. You have made it to the end of the dungeon. The dragon is dead. You survived. Right before you are not only the dragon’s hulking corpse, but also its hoard. Mounds of gold coins and gems and jewels. Then the magical items. What matters now is how you divide the hoard between you. It would not be too difficult normally, but this time, there is a deadline looming. Scavengers are coming to take what they can and they will not take any prisoners. So, you need to pick over the hoard, argue for the best bits, and get out again. And you do not have to entirely honest about it—you can demand it or even steal it too! All of you are savvy enough to get out of the dungeons, but the question is, who is going to get out with the most and the best? As veteran adventurers, you know it is never a good idea to split the party, but splitting the hoard is another matter.

This is the set-up to Split the Hoard. This is the first card game from EN Publishing, known for the ACE!—or the Awfully Cheerful Engine!—and Level Up! roleplaying games. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is intended to be played by between two and five players, aged fourteen and over, and plays in twenty minutes.

Split the Hoard consists of five Player Boards and five Privacy Screens, one-hundred-and-three Hoard cards, twenty Title cards, a Dragon card, the Rulebook, and the Appendices. The five Player Boards depict five classic fantasy archetypes—Cleric, Druid, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard—and grant an ability, mark the three spaces where the player places the Hoard cards representing treasure he has found, and shows the round order. For example, the Warrior’s ability is to win ties for Arms titles and gain a random treasure from the Hoard deck if an Arms treasure is taken from his haul. The spaces on the Player Board where he places treasures up for negotiation are marked with one, two, or three coins. One oddity is that the Player Boards are double-sided, but the same on both sides, where it would have been nice for the illustration of the hero to be of one gender on one side and another on the other, or perhaps a different ability.

The Hoard cards are double-sided. On the back is a Coin and when played face down like this, these Coin cards are used to set the prices for treasures and to purchase treasures. On the front of each Hoard card is the details of a specific treasure. These are divided into five categories—Arcane, Arms, Holy, Natural, and Wealth—corresponding to the five archetypes of the Player Boards. A Treasure card either has a ‘Rank’ or ‘Victory Point’ value. The ‘Rank’ value is totalled in combination with other Treasure cards to determine if a hero is eligible to certain Title card. The ‘Victory Point’ value contributes to a player’s final score at the end of the game. A Treasure card will also have a special ability. For example, the ‘Grimoire’ can be discarded in the Claim phase to allow a player to draw an extra hidden Title card from the Title deck, whilst in the Negotiate phase, the ‘Sword’ can be discarded to allow a player to negotiate for an extra Treasure.

The Title cards are scoring objectives for the game. Each has a victory condition such as “Score if you have the highest combined value of rank cards” for the Archmage or “Score if you possess a Ruby and an Armour” for the Captain. Five of these are the Starting Titles that are visible from the beginning of the game and can be won by anyone. The others are kept secret by the players before being revealed at the end of the game to see if their scoring conditions have been fulfilled.

Penultimately, the ‘Rulebook’ is short at just twenty-pages, but includes examples of play throughout. Lastly, the ‘Appendices’ is almost three times the length of the ‘Rulebook’ and explains how each of the Treasure cards and Title cards work. It is a handy reference that makes it easier to check the specifics of each Treasure card or Title card and it also has examples of the game’s cards in play as well.

At the start of the game, each player receives a random Player Board, a Privacy Screen, a random Title card, and four Coin cards. The five Starting Titles are placed where everyone can see them. The game is played in rounds consisting of three phases—‘Reveal’, ‘Negotiate’, and ‘Claim’. In the ‘Reveal’ phase, the players take it in turns to draw three Treasure cards and arrange them however they want on the one, two, or three slots on their Player Board, one Treasure card per slot. A Player can increase the cost of a Treasure by adding Coin cards from his Haul.

In the ‘Negotiate’ phase, each player lifts his Privacy Screen and reveals the Treasures has picked over from the Hoard. In turn, each player either takes two cards from the Hoard deck as Coin cards (that is, face down) and adds them to his Haul or negotiates for a single Treasure from another player. As long as the active player can pay the cost in Coin cards, determined by the base cost for the slot on another player’s Player Board and any extra Coin cards the player has placed on his Player Board, a player cannot stop the active player from taking a Treasure card. In the phase, ‘Claim’, Coin cards placed on Player Boards to increase Treasure prices are discarded and any Treasures remaining on a Player Board go into their respective player’s Haul. If there are no Treasures on a player’s Player Board, he draws three new Treasure cards and adds them to his Haul.

The heart of the game play for Split the Hoard is all built around a ‘I Cut, You Choose’ mechanic in which each player is deciding upon the value of his Treasure cards he is offering in each round, whilst the other players are deciding whether or not to choose something. Here is where the bluff and speculation come into play, rather than negotiation as such. Indeed, the actual ‘Negotiate’ phase is a misnomer since no actual negotiation. Instead, what a player is trying to do find the Treasure cards he wants on other player’s Player Boards whilst trying to keep hold of these he wants to score with at the end of the game. The obvious way to do that is protect a Treasure card by increasing the price that another player has to pay, but this has its own cost, since a player must invest Coins to raise that price. If the Treasure they are attached to is bought, the player will get the Coins back, but if not, they are lost. This is where the speculation comes into play. Further, a player could actually lure another player into thinking a Treasure with Coin cards attached is actually valuable or something he wants, bluffing the player into thinking that he is denying him a Treasure he wants to keep.

The aim of the game is, of course, for a player to get Treasure cards into his Haul and use them to score points at the end of the game. However, a player can also discard a face-up Treasure card from his Haul to activate its ability. The range from being able to draw more Coins from the Hoard deck, more Titles from the Title deck, take an extra Treasure from another player’s Player Board, move a Treasure from your Player Board to your Haul, and so on, manipulating different parts of the game’s play. Each player must balance the need to keep Treasure cards for the end game’s scoring and using their special abilities. Treasure cards played for their special abilities can be played at any time during the phase indicated on the card, even when it is not a player’s turn.

The game ends when a player cannot draw any cards from the Hoard deck. Each player scores Victory Points for Starting Tile cards and Hidden Title cards whose scoring conditions they fulfilled and then also for Treasure cards. If there is a tie, the winner is the player with the most Coins in his Haul. Here is where the game play gets complex in comparison to the base game play as each player tries to work out his total Rank value from the Treasure cards in his Haul to determine which Title cards he qualifies for. This is the hardest bit of Split the Hoard to learn and teach, but once everyone has the hang of it, game play is fast enough.

Physically, Split the Hoard is very nicely presented. Both ‘Rulebook’ and ‘Appendices’ are well written and provide clear explanations of the various parts of the game. The artwork on the cards is excellent and everything is solid and sturdy. EN Publishing has done an excellent job with the production values on Split the Hoard.

Split the Hoard is a very likeable game, good looking, easy to teach and play, and makes excellent use of its theme. It is a very solid filler that fans of classic fantasy roleplaying will definitely enjoy and a good first game from EN Publishing.

[Fanzine Focus XLIV] High Passage Number Two

On the tail of Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showcased how another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. As new fanzines have appeared, there has been an interest in the fanzines of the past, and as that interest has grown, they have become highly collectible, and consequently more difficult to obtain and write about. However, in writing about them, the reader should be aware that these fanzines were written and published between thirty and forty years ago, typically by roleplayers in their teens and twenties. What this means is that sometimes the language and terminology used reflects this and though the language and terminology is not socially acceptable today, that use should not be held against the authors and publishers unduly.

High Passage Number Two was published by the High Passage Group in 1981, providing content for Classic Traveller published by Game Designers’ Workshop. Its content focuses on the Old Expanses sector of the Third Imperium between Terran and Vilani space. Where the first issue was written by fans and that showed in its quality, the second issue displays a marked improvement in quality, both in terms of the writing and the presentation. Some of this is reflected in the increase in price ($3.50 to $4.50), but what it was really due was the involvement of the FASA Corporation which was now publishing the fanzine. This gave the editors access to the artwork of William H. Keith Jr. and the layout skills available at FASA..

The featured content in High Passage Issue Number Two is ‘FEATURE Adventure: The Cobra Conspiracy’. The Player Characters are pirates, the crew of the corsair, Iron Hand, operating out of Ehart in the So Skire subsector of The Old Expanses sector. A representative from the Solomani rebels hires the Iron Hand and its crew to break into the DDD&S test facilities on Tama in the So Skire subsector and steal the FZ-72 Cobra, the new high performance fighter being tested for the Imperial Navy. Security is relatively light given the high incidence of pirate activity across the subsector, but the facility has hired mercenaries to beef up security.

This is the set-up to what is effectively a ‘snatch & grab’ mission and it is very fully supported. There is a full set of stats for the pirate crew of the Iron Hand and the equipment in their ship’s locker, as well as details of the fighter and the test facility. This is quite large and has a runway, fuel storage depot, heliport, and main complex, all separate. All four areas are mapped and some forty personnel are given stats and armament as needed. The duty rooster is accompanied by a daily schedule which indicates where each individual will be at any one time.

There are rumours for the subsector, some of them linked to the I.S.C.V. King Richard deck plans and Action Aboard: Adventures on the King Richard supplement from the FASA Corporation. Many also express anti-Imperial sentiment. There are more rumours that are specific to Tama, the site of the testing facilities. In addition, the Library Data aboard the Iron Hand will inform the Player Characters about the AK Mercenary Corporation, which has the contract at the DDD&S test facilities, as well as Diversified Dynamics Design and Shipyards (the first time that the name for DDD&S is explained), and more. In fact, the Library Data is good for The Expanses sector in general.

The advice for the Game Master covers the theft of the fighter and both refuelling it and launching it and how the staff at the facility will react, plus a rough breakdown of how the heist may play out. The Player Characters’ corsair may run into opposition on the run out from Tama. There are options too, for adding a twist or two and what might happen next if the scenario is being run as part of a campaign or the start of one. To run the adventure, the Game Master and her players require Basic Traveller, Book 4: Mercenary, and probably Book 5: High Guard. If the players want to create their own pirates, then Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium will be useful. Supplement 7: Gunboats & Traders will provide starship encounter tables.

‘The Cobra Conspiracy’ is a superbly detailed scenario, quite technical in its approach, but there are opportunities for roleplaying when researching the facilities and dealing with rumours on Tama in the lead up to the theft attempt. The scenario feels influenced by the technothriller novel Firefox, published in 1977 (and subsequently made into a film with Clint Eastwood in 1982), and that is no bad thing.

Further support for ‘The Cobra Conspiracy’ as well as play beyond or any campaign involving pirates, comes in the form of ‘STARSHIPFILES: Iron Fist Class Pirate Corsair’. This the model that the Player Characters will crew in the scenario and is a four hundred tonne design created using Traveller Book 2: Starships and based on the description given in the Pirate occupation in Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium. The design has three turrets each with three beam lasers, a cargo deck with doors large to admit a one hundred tonne vessel, and variable identification features. It includes deck plans too. The ‘Grav APC’ and the ‘AH-15 Aggressor Attack Helicopter’, both of which appear in the scenario, are detailed in ‘In Transit’.

The ‘Special Feature’ for the issue is the ‘Marc Miller Interview’. Conducted by Craig Johnson, it covers Miller’s background, gaming and design experience, the origins and influences of Traveller. At four pages long it feels lengthy and detailed, but is not complete, the second part coming in the next issue. Otherwise, a very good read, informative and interesting. ‘The Armoury’ provides illustrations for ‘Book 4 Small Arms’ or rather for Book 4: Mercenary, but is really filler. The ‘Star Atlas’ returns to the location for the scenario with a breakdown of the data for and map of the ‘SO SKIRE Subsector’.

Physically, High Passage Number Two is very nicely presented. The artwork is excellent and the cartography is good. The issue is so good in terms of presentation that is more akin to an actual supplement for Traveller.

High Passage Number One was a good first issue, but High Passage Number Two is a really good issue. Its scenario is fantastically well supported and much of its content can be used beyond the events of the scenario, whilst the interview is good enough to want to read part two. High Passage Number Two is simply excellent support for Traveller.