Peril in Punjar

“Murder!” is the cry as death stalks the squalid and stinking streets of Spittle-Fields. As fog swirls around what light they carry in the dark and dingy alleys of the district abutting the Plague Gate, the Player Characters discover what will be the first of several bodies of women, accosted on the streets, their bodies slashed open far from where eyes can see, and internal organs cut free before the culprit flees back into the night. It is one hundred years since there were last such killings, a spate of brutal deaths called the ‘Autumn of Terror’, also of women, attributed to a killer never caught, but known only as the ‘Ripper’! Has he returned once again to strike fear into the good folk of some of the grimiest and grimmest quarters of the city of Punjar—Spittle-Fields Market Quarter, bustling by day, abandoned by night, the narrow alleys of Tenements Quarter, the sinister strangeness of White Chapel Quarter, and the bleakness of the Benevolent Craftsmen’s Quarter—or is some manic killing in his name? Can the Player Characters track down the killer down before he strikes again? Can the Player Characters uncover his motives and what they mean for the future of the city? Can the Player Character survive the horror revealed as they discover more? This the set-up for Return of the Ripper: An urban horror investigation for character levels 1-3.

Return of the Ripper: An urban horror investigation for character levels 1-3 is a mini-campaign published by Strange Quark Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game from Goodman Games. It is also a curious beast. It takes place in Punjar, a city that has been the setting for multiple scenarios in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line, but has not been detailed as a setting apart from Punjar: The Tarnished Jewel. It is a homage to the scenario, Dungeon Crawl Classics #24: Legend of the Ripper with which it shares the same theme. It is also inspired by and a prequel to Dungeon Crawl Classics #75: The Sea Queen Escapes! in that its events can lead into the events described in ‘The Sunken Kingdom of Ru’ in the scenario.

Perhaps the strangest thing about Return of the Ripper is that it is inspired by the Jack the Ripper murders in Victorian London in the late 1880s and it avoids all of the dangers of such adaptations such as giving a rationale behind the killings, such as the Cthulhu Mythos. Its primary method of doing so is by shifting the story to another genre and another city, although one heavily inspired by the London of the Ripper murders and the Victorian era. Its secondary method is to shift the story forward by a century, so what the Player Characters are investigating are murders inspired by Jack the Ripper rather than the murders that he committed. That said, Return of the Ripper is heavily inspired by two deeply connected works. One is Alan Moore’s comic strip, From Hell, and the other is Peter Ackroyd’s Hawksmoor. These are not the only influences upon Return of the Ripper, but together they underpin is cosmology and its architecture. All those influences from Michael Moorcock’s Gloriana to ‘Talon of Weng Chiang’ for Doctor Who are listed in the campaign’s own and extensive ‘Appendix N’. What is clear from this is that the author is fascinated by the Jack the Ripper murders, Ripperology, and its associated conspiracy theories.

The campaign opens with the Player Characters discovering the body of the Ripper’s first victim, Marianne Nickel. They have the chance to examine her corpse and talk to the crowd who have gathered around in the midst of Spittle-Fields Market and gain their first clues. This will give them a name and the details of a witness, which will lead them through Spittle-Fields Market and in and out of the other quarters as they trace Marianne’s movement and history. From there, the trail runs, if not cold, then at least cooler. The problem is not that it is designed as a free-form investigation with the Player Characters free to go where they will in pursuit of clues and further information, but it is written like a free-form urban sandcrawl rather than a dedicated investigation. What this means is that the murder mystery lacks structure that the Judge can easily navigate and follow the clues to reveal more of the mystery behind the murder. The plot and the motivation for the murders are both explained well and there is ‘The Murder Map’ which links the clues. Unfortunately, it is placed at the back of the book and it is not as clear is could have been.

The consequences of this are that the Judge is going to have to study Return of the Ripper quite closely in order to grasp the ins and outs of its plot, do some deconstruction of her own, and put it back together to get the best out of it. Besides ‘The Murder Map’ and the breakdown of the plot, the Judge is given three more victims whose deaths can be used to push the plot further long and a big table of rumours (for which she will need a thirty-sided die) that can be learned from NPCs (named and unnamed) and used as prompts to give the characters and their players a little nudge here and there. Plus, there is another agent with a deep interest in the murders, who may be a help or a hindrance, but is ultimately, a victim.

The investigation will ultimately reveals the culprits behind the deaths, a misogynist cult with grand plans that harness the geometric magic of the architecture of Spittle-Fields and its four quarters. From there, the campaign takes a strange turn, less Victorian urban sandcrawl, first above ground and then below, but a literal sandcrawl across a dimension beyond before delving deep into a pyramid that links to the events of Dungeon Crawl Classics #75: The Sea Queen Escapes!. Here is where the Player Characters will confront the survivors of the cult and its leader and hopefully bring the murderous reign of the Ripper to an end.

If Return of the Ripper is challenging to digest and so present to the players and their characters, it is not a challenge when comes to either detail or flavour. The people and places of this grimy, grotty quarter of Punjar are lovingly and engagingly detailed. There are places described in the write-ups for each of the quarters, such as Value Second-Hand Goods, the Ratcatcher, The Blackguard’s Bar, and others that could appear in future adventures without any changes. This is not to say that Return of the Ripper is the definite guide to Punjar’s streets, but it is a start. Perhaps the oddest addition though, is that of the Butcher of Brisbane from the Fifty-First Century, Magnus Creel, along with his murderous homunculus, Mister Sin! One other aspect of the campaign to note that it is humancentric. All of the NPCs are human, making you wish that there was the Victorian era setting for Dungeon Crawl Classics which would work with the campaign rather than playing in the fantasy genre.

Mechanically, Return of the Ripper details some thirty diseases, from the inconvenient to incurable, that the Player Characters might encounter, or worse, catch and suffer whilst in Punjar. They include Cholera, Dropsy, Typhus, Small Pox, Great Pox, Black Plague, and Bubonic Plague. This is in addition to the minor ailments like Beggar’s Boils, Gout, and Soot Lung listed earlier in the book and which the Commoners might suffer. Given the horrific and bloody nature of the campaign, it also adds rules for both Fright and Nausea. These come into play when the Player Characters encounter something horrifying or revolting, for example, being in an ominously dread place like a fog-swirled graveyard or discovering an eviscerated corpse or viewing disgusting disease symptoms such as maggot infested wounds or being doused in foul liquids like tanning fluids or sewage. This triggers a Difficulty Check and if failed, the player rolls a die equal to the value of Difficulty Check to determine the effect, making full use of the dice range in Dungeon Crawl Classics. This gives a wide variety of checks, from bring anxious for a number of rounds to actually mad (the Judge is recommended to consult The Cthulhu Alphabet for further details) for Fright and from being queasy for a few rounds to catching disease for Nausea. Nausea has an area-of-effect and does not stack, whereas Fright is time-based and does stack, so if a Player Characters is already affected, both the Difficulty Check for the next situation and the associated die rolled for the effect if failed are increased. There is a nice escalation to the effects from Fright so that a Player Character can go from jittery and unnerved to hair turning white and going mad with a lot of different effects in between rather than foisting madness immediately upon them, saving that possibility for towards the end of the campaign.

The campaign is ably supported with a lot of back matter. Not just the Appendix N, which details all of the inspirational reading and watching for the campaign, effectively serving as the designer’s notes, but also a ‘Murder Map’ that links the clues to campaign’s mystery, guides to disease in Punjar, the rules for fright and fear, a glossary of architectural terms, the campaign’s handouts, and a list of sobriquets, or first names. Unfortunately, the latter feels half finished without a list of accompanying surnames.

Physically, Return of the Ripper is a good-looking book. The cartography is clear and easy to use and the writing decent, though it needs an edit in places. The main issue with its organisation is a lack of an index.

That Return of the Ripper: An urban horror investigation for character levels 1-3 needs effort upon the part of the Judge to pull it apart and understand its plot and its various parts is disappointing, but that plot is actually a rather good Ripperology pastiche and the parts do show off the author’s fascination with the subject matter. If not as easy to prepare and run as it should be, Return of the Ripper: An urban horror investigation for character levels 1-3 has the potential to be a great adventure, a Victorian horror fantasy rife with grit and grime, determination and degradation, and eventually, hope and redemption.

The Best Witches’ Besties

It is an undeniable truth that the Witch gets a lot of bad press. Not necessarily within the roleplaying hobby, but from without, for the Witch is seen as a figure of evil, often—though not necessarily—a female figure of evil, and a figure to be feared and persecuted. Much of this stems from the historical witch-hunts of the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeen, and eighteenth centuries, along with the associated imagery, that is, the crone with the broom, pointy hat, black cat, cauldron, and more. When a Witch does appear in roleplaying, whether it is a historical or a fantasy setting, it is typically as the villain, as the perpetrator of some vile crime or mystery for the player characters to solve and stop. Publisher The Other Side has published a number of supplements written not only as a counter to the clichés of the witch figure, but to bring the Witch as a character Class to roleplaying after being disappointed at the lack of the Witch in the Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. However, there is a tradition of telling stories about witches, often aimed at younger readers, such as in the Harry Potter stories or The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy, and if your players are fans so either, a book like The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is probably not going to the most appropriate option. In which case, Tales of the Village from Arion Games might.

Familiars of the Village is a supplement for Tales of the Village which helps to bring to life an aspect of witch life which give every witch a permanent companion who can act as guide, sage, conscience (for good or ill), and friend. A familiar is first defined by its animal type, which can be anything from rabbit, bat, and mouse to guinea pig, tortoise, and hedgehog, but surprisingly does not include owl. Second, it is defined by its Background, which is broken down into Origin, Age, Skill, Trait, and Drawback. Thus, for example, a Familiar’s Origin can be ‘Wild’, meaning that it was raised in the wilderness or ‘Lineage’, meaning that it comes from a long line of Familiars; Age runs from young to old; Skill can be ‘Curiosity’, ‘Talkative’, or ‘Teeth & Claws (Beak& Claws)’; Trait can be ‘Eager’, ‘Healer’, or ‘Wise’; and Drawback can be ‘Apprentice’, ‘Excitable’, or ‘Slow’. Third, a Familiar has five Abilities which are Strength, Speed, Communication, Hiding, and Knowledge. These are either Untrained, Trained, or Master.

Creating a Familiar is a simple matter of choosing an animal type and the different elements of its Background. The player then divides two points amongst the familiar’s Abilities. This can either be to have two that the Familiar is Trained in or one that it is a Master in. If Untrained, a player must roll five or more to generate a Success; if Trained, four or more; and if a Master, three or more. Lastly, the player can give his Familiar a name and as little or as much backstory as is needed. The process is easy enough, but four examples are included.

Where Familiars of the Village gets interesting is in its suggestion as to who might roleplay the Familiars in a game of Tales of the Village. This is the parents of the players, but it could be other responsible adults too. The role of the Familiar is guide and mentor the Witch it is companion to, so not that dissimilar to the role of a parent. The aim is to give advice and make suggestions, but not take the lead, so the young player has room to roleplay and explore without being led or told what to do by a parent. This works better in smaller groups so there is a balance between parents and children, Witches and Familiars.

Unfortunately, there is no real advice on how to run such a situation and no doubt that such advice would have been useful for both veteran roleplayers and those new to the hobby. Similarly, there are no scenario ideas or writing advice for scenarios involving Witches and their Familiars. Given that the Familiar Character Sheet is printed twice, this is a major omission.

Physically, Familiars of the Village is neatly and tidily presented. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is cute.

Just as Tales of the Village is not an introductory roleplaying game, the ideas suggested by Familiars of the Village are not introductory either. They can be worked through by an experienced Game Master, but anyone else is left to their devices when it comes to implementing them in play. The means for creating Familiars for Tales of the Village are fine, but everything else could have done with a page or two of advice and scenario ideas, leaving Familiars of the Village underdeveloped.

Friday Fantasy: Creep, Skrag, Creep!

Something is really, really wrong. Your last memory was of the dinner to celebrate your good fortune, being selected to leave your isolated island home of Alviz and travel to the coastal town of Lys where you have been promised work in the copper mines and a chance of a better future. Then it was waving goodbye to friend and family aboard the sailing ship the Star of Nostro, captained by Kristene de Keradel. Now you are awake with a headache, a stiff back, and a tongue like the bark of a tree, in the low light and stench of the ship’s hold, your wrist shackled to a pole by a rusty chain. You are not alone. There are other villagers chained to the same pole as you are and then more chained to other poles scattered around the hold, some alive, but others dead and bloated, the source of the stench that is lodged in your nostrils. Then one of your fellow prisoners screams. There is movement coming out of the darkness, black dragons scuttling between those bound to the poles, and then one of them snaps at a prisoner who shrieks in pain as with a crunch the thing bites off his hand!

This is the startling set-up to Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #5: Creep, Skrag, Creep!, a scenario published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It is both a horror and a ‘Character Funnel’. A ‘Character Funnel’ is a signature feature of Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game which takes Zero Level Player Characters—usually four per player—and pushes them through a Zero Level dungeon. Devoid of the abilities, spells, combat acumen, and Hit Points that a Class and even First Level would grant them, the Player Characters must instead rely upon their previous occupation and whatever equipment that granted them, the few Hit Points they possess, their wits, whatever they can find or scavenge, and above all, luck. The ‘Character Funnel’ has proven to be popular feature Dungeon Crawl Classics, not just to play, but also to design, because each has to present the right mix of death and danger which makes a total party kill a high probability, yet still allow for some of the Player Characters to survive and so ascend to First Level. Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #5: Creep, Skrag, Creep! is the second Horror ‘Character Funnel’ for Dungeon Crawl Classics after Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #1: They Served Brandolyn Red.

The opening scene of the scene drops the Player Characters into the middle of the action, desperately trying to break free of their chains as they fend off the black dragons that want to chomp down on them and their fellow prisoners. Survival is their priority, but they are also going to want answers to questions like ‘Where are the crew?’ and ‘What are those creatures?’ The Player Characters will find an answer to the first question, but finding an answer to the second will take longer. The crew are dead, and whatever those creatures are, they are going to stalk and attack the Player Characters—and worse, there is something much worse somewhere on the ship. The mother! It will attack the Player Characters—wherever they are aboard the vessel—again and again for it wants something from each and every one of them! Can the Player Characters survive long enough to work out what is going on and even longer to find a way out of the horrifying situation they are in?

By now though, the players should have worked out what is going on. The dead and gutted crew, the monsters that scuttle to attack again and again, and a ship adrift… If those clues are not enough for them to work it out, then the name of the ship that the Player Characters marooned aboard should. In fact, the name of ship, the Star of Nostro, should be a dead giveaway. For Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #5: Creep, Skrag, Creep! is effectively an adaptation of the film Alien for Dungeon Crawl Classics, if not in deep space where no one can hear you scream, then on the high seas where everyone can!

Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #5: Creep, Skrag, Creep! is as much an investigative scenario as it is a horror scenario. It is also very self-contained, limited to the Star of Nostro and its cargo holds, cabins and quarters, rigging, and its three decks. There are plenty of clues to be found as what has happened, but not necessarily enough time to find them all as the creatures and its offspring return to strike again and again. However, determining what has happened aboard the Star of Nostro is only half of the scenario. The second half is all about getting off the ship, because much like the film that inspired it, ultimately, there is no way for the Player Characters to stop the predations of the creature. There are clues on and about the ship that suggest a way for the Player Characters to escape the horrors that they are suffering, and if the scenario does not end in a Total Party Kill, they will have their chance in a big showdown.

There is plenty of advice for the Judge on running the scenario as well as making adjustments to tone down its lethality. Its default lethality works well for a one-shot or convention game, but if run as part of a campaign, the Judge may want to adjust it down a little. In addition, there are tables for ‘Rumors and Personality Quirks’ which add flavour and detail and help bring the Player Characters to life—at least for as long as that lasts—and ‘Sailor Tattoos’, the patterns for which can be found aboard the ship. If applied correctly, these can provide a benefit similar to the star signs that a player rolls for during character creation, working as temporary magical items. Further support is provided in the appendices, which list people, places, and things, full details of the creature, and a means of tracking it movement timing throughout the scenario, all of which makes the scenario easier to run.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #5: Creep, Skrag, Creep! is as well presented as you would expect for a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The writing, the artwork, the cover in particular, and the cartography are all excellent.

Probably the very last thing that anyone was screaming for is a scenario for Dungeon Crawl Classics or any old School Renaissance retroclone that does Alien on the high seas. Yet Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #5: Creep, Skrag, Creep! is going to make the players scream in the opening scene, groan once they work out what is going on, and then scream and scream again as the creature keeps coming back for more. By its very nature and by its very inspiration, Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #5: Creep, Skrag, Creep! demands more engagement than the average scenario for Dungeon Crawl Classics. If the players do buy into the survival horror of Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #5: Creep, Skrag, Creep! and if any of their characters live to tell the tale and make First Level, then they really will have survived a horrifying ordeal!

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Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror: The Corpse That Love Built – 2018 Halloween Module was the previous scenario in the series •

The next scenario is Dungeon Crawl Classics Horror #6: The Web of All-Torment.

Friday Fear: A Wolf in the Fold

It is the height the Victorian era and tragedy has struck the village of Haxbury on the border between Wales and England. There has been a spate of attacks upon local farm animals, but now the attacks have escalated with the death of Geraint Thomas. The local farmer has been found mauled to death and partially eaten and the all the villagers fear that it will not be long before there is another attack and another one of their number is killed. Local doctor, Gregory Harcourt, has turned to friends and asked them to come to Haxbury to help him uncover the truth of the situation. What kind of beast is stalking the good farming folk of Haxbury? A wild dog? A big cat? Or something worse as many of the ignorant and superstitious inhabitants of Haxbury fear? This is the set-up for A Wolf in the Fold, a scenario published by Funny Shaped Dice Productions. It is is a short, one or two-session horror scenario, the third in the publisher’s ‘Frightshow Classics’ line. As with other titles in the line, it is ostensibly written for use with Chill or Cryptworld: Chilling Adventures into the Unexplained, the percentile mechanics of the scenario mean that it could easily be adapted to run with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and similar roleplaying games.

A Wolf in the Fold starts with the mystery behind the attacks in Haxbury, but the simple fact is that the answer to the mystery is obvious. The villagers and their livestock are being predated upon by a werewolf. The title of the scenario heavily hints that this is the case and there is a picture of a giant wolf-like creature on the front cover. If the situation is obvious, what then is the point of A Wolf in the Fold? The point is playing a classic, if familiar situation, one that we have likely seen in roleplaying scenarios and on the silver screen and engaging in its milieu. That milieu is the Victorian era, the 1860s, familiar and easily grasped. Further, A Wolf in the Fold is plotted much like a film. This is no surprise, since the scenario is inspired by the Hammer Horror film, The Curse of the Werewolf, and the ‘Children of the Full Moon’ episode of Hammer House of Horror television series, as well as horror classics like The Wolf-Man and An American Werewolf in London. The point is that whilst the players know that a werewolf is involved, their characters do not, and so they have to play to that and engage with the scenario’s plot. The point is not knowing that a werewolf is involved in the scenario, but finding out who the werewolf is—and ultimately, this and the final reveal at the climax at the end of the scenario is what will keep the players on their toes as much as their characters. Now, this is not a new set up for the ‘Frightshow Classics’ line. Carmilla, the Victorian-era novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, is the basis for the scenario of the same name. Fortunately, A Wolf in the Fold is not obvious in its plotting as Carmilla and leaves its reveal as to the identity of the werewolf right until the end in a big confrontational climax!

The plot to A Wolf in the Fold proceeds at pace over the course of a few days. The Player Characters arrive in Haxbury and learn about the situation. They have a chance to interact with the suspicious villagers, hopefully earn their trust, and learn about the victims of the attacks. Their first opportunity to face the creature comes in the village’s church graveyard as they stand watch with other men of the village, and suddenly faced with more men than it expected the creature runs off. The chase will lead the Player Characters out of the village and to the confrontation. At which point, the scenario will identify the monster of the scenario. Is it the lord of the manor, the oblivious, if slightly arrogant Sir Henry Castaigne? Is it Mister Slater, his attentive, if gloomy manservant? Is it the Reverend Daniel Thorpe, who sees the attacks upon the village and villagers as God’s judgement? Is it Mrs Davies, dour innkeeper with a distrust of visitors?

The Fear Master is supported with a full write up of the Werewolf which appears in the scenario and can, of course, be used in her own scenarios. There is a map of Haxbury as well as two handouts and eight pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of a sturdy big game hunter and gambler, his Sikh companion, a trained nurse and social reformer, a foolhardy, but ambitious journalist, an Oxford University professor with an interest in mythology and folklore, an ex-burglar turned inquiry agent, a mentalist with the ability to speak to the dead, and a surgeon who studied under Doctor Joseph Bell and has an interest in forensic pathology. There is a potentially creepy moment when the mentalist does have a chance to use her ability to talk to the dead, which the Fear Master should play up for its worth, especially as it takes place in an ice house. There is a little advice for the Fear Master, basically adding a little diversion here and there, but otherwise, A Wolf in the Fold is very straightforward in its plotting.

Physically, A Wolf in the Fold is ably presented. The cover echoes the classic look of scenarios for Chill, while the internal artwork and the cartography are both very good. The art includes the best strategic use of a three candle candelabra in an autopsy in any scenario for any roleplaying game in the past half century.

From the start, it is patently clear what is going on in A Wolf in the Fold. It is not so much a case of finding out what is going on as finding out who is responsible. The scenario does do the unexpected here and is all the more welcome for it. However, it could have done with a little misdirection. Perhaps Sir Henry Castaigne slipping out at night to see a certain young widow a la Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles or a big dog being hunted down and shot and everyone thinking that the threat is over. The scenario will work without these, but could be better with them. Lastly, A Wolf in the Fold is going make demands of the players in terms of their roleplaying, that is, roleplaying characters who have no idea what is going when they themselves very much do! So, it calls for the players to really engage with story and if not fully overplay it, at least ham it up a bit in keeping with its inspiration. Ultimately, A Wolf in the Fold might be obvious, but it is also likeable, engaging, and easy to run in a single session.

Escape to England!

Achtung! Cthulhu is the roleplaying game of fast-paced pulp action and Mythos magic published by Modiphius Entertainment. It is pitches the Allied Agents of the Britain’s Section M, the United States’ Majestic, and the brave Resistance into a Secret War against those Nazi Agents and organisations which would command and entreat with the occult and forces beyond the understanding of mankind. They are willing to risk their lives and their sanity against malicious Nazi villains and the unfathomable gods and monsters of the Mythos themselves, each striving for supremacy in mankind’s darkest yet finest hour! Yet even the darkest of drives to take advantage of the Mythos is riven by differing ideologies and approaches pandering to Hitler’s whims. The Black Sun consists of Nazi warrior-sorcerers supreme who use foul magic and summoned creatures from nameless dimensions to dominate the battlefields of men, whilst Nachtwölfe, the Night Wolves, utilise technology, biological enhancements, and wunderwaffen (wonder weapons) to win the war for Germany. Ultimately, both utilise and fall under the malign influence of the Mythos, the forces of which have their own unknowable designs…

Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Rendezvous at Rouen is a scenario that takes Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 almost all of the way back to to the start of the Secret War. It opens in early June, 1940. The Nazi war machine is has driven into France with its radical Blitzkrieg tactics and the British Expeditionary Force, along with elements of the French, Belgian, and Dutch armies already having successfully completed Operation Dynamo and evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk. Also operating in Northern France are agents from Section M, conducting Operation Ultimatum in an effort to find and evacuate as much occult-related material as they can—tomes, artefacts, and more—before it falls into the hands of either Black Sun or Nachtwölfe. The agents may have evacuated along with the troops from Dunkirk or Section M may have asked them to stay in France to see what other occult artefacts and tomes they can find and possibly monitor who or what Black Sun or Nachtwölfe are targeting as the occupation of France by Germany continues apace. Either way, they will learn of the activities of Black Sun Jans Stöller in the village of Saint Sulac, southwest of the city of Rouen in Normandy. Perhaps if the agents can stop him, they will at last be ready to be evacuated to England.

Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Rendezvous at Rouen is written to be run following from the events in ‘Mission: A Quick Trip to France’ from the Achtung! Cthulhu Quick-Start. It is also actually designed to be run from the rules given in the Achtung! Cthulhu Quick-Start, though of course, it can be run using the full rules too. Further, both the Achtung! Cthulhu Quick-Start and Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Rendezvous at Rouen can be combined with the demonstration scenario, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum, which takes place during the late stages of the German invasion of France, so before the events of the other two parts. Together, they can form an exciting little storyline. It should be noted that Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Rendezvous at Rouen is not an official scenario for Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20, but published as part of the ‘Modiphius World Builders’ community content programme.

Essentially, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Rendezvous at Rouen is one big chase scenario which starts with the Player Characters on the outskirts of the city, needing to get in and find the home of their contact who can provide with the details of what they need to do next. Which is to get into Rouen Cathedral and find a way into the catacombs. From here they can follow an escape route once used by the Bishops of Rouen in centuries past and get to meeting point beside the River Seine which runs under the city. Unfortunately, Black Sun has got there before the Player Characters and is not only investigating what lies beneath the cathedral, but conducting some sort of ritual. They will chase the Player Characters to their rendezvous where they can make the connection that enable them to get back to England.

The scenario is a tense affair, either involving a lot of stealth to avoid the patrols in the streets of Rouen or attempting to get away from the Black Sun units in the catacombs and tunnels beneath the city. How well the Player Characters do in getting away from the Black Sun units chasing them determines the end of the scenario and when they actually have to confront the creature that Black Sun was summoning. This is with a giant eel with two arms, imprisoned long ago by Saint Romanus, the Bishop of Rouen in the seventh century CE. The ideal battle should take place at the mouth of the River Seine with the Player Characters aboard the fishing trawler taking them to England as the monster slices through the water to attack them and the boat again and again in true Jaws style.

The plot is thus straightforward and simple, but mechanically detailed. This includes getting across Rouen, but more importantly, the chase through the catacombs under the city. This makes use of an extended test, which is both fully explained and supported by an example. Further support comes in the form of a chase worksheet, as well as stats for all of the NPCs and Mythos monsters and the boat(s) that the Player Characters might end up using in their escape from France.

Physically, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Rendezvous at Rouen is well presented. The maps of Rouen—one for the players, one for the Game Master—are very nice, and the artwork is good too.

Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Rendezvous at Rouen is simplistic in its plotting and is really one long chase scenario with a big confrontation at the end. However, it provides a big ending for the events of Achtung! Cthulhu Quick-Start, one that is a bit more exciting than a cliff-hanger and definitely gets the Player Characters home in time for tea, biscuits, and their next mission in the SecretWar.

Miskatonic Monday #455: Whiteout

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

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Name: Whiteout

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Authors: Macabre Margin Games

Setting: British Columbia, Canada, Modern Day

Product: One-shot

What You Get: Six page, 1.73 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “Colder by the hour, more dead with every breath.”

― John Green

Plot Hook: Trapped in a breath 
Plot Support: Staging advice, four (five) pre-generated Investigators, three NPCs, two handouts, and eleven Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Charming

Pros

# Two-hour/one-session horror scenario 

# Creepy, night-time ‘zombie-like’ nightmare in the rising snow

# Easily adapted to other snowy climes

# Easy to prepare

# Chionophobia

# Cryophobia
# Somniphobia

Cons

# No clean map

# No map of the chalet

Conclusion

# Rising snow, rising horror horror one-shot
# Weird, creepy interpretation of hypothermia

Your Advanced Player’s Handbook

Depending upon your point of view, when it comes to roleplaying games, we live in an age blessed or cursed by choice. There are too many to choose from, too many genres, and of course, not enough time to them all. This situation is not really different when it comes to playing the big roleplaying games of the hobby’s first and premier genre to this day—fantasy. For some, roleplaying is synonymous with Dungeons & Dragons and thus synonymous with fantasy. That was true in the early days of the hobby with Dungeon & Dragons in 1974 and it remains true today with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Yet not everyone is happy with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and this has led to an ever expanding array of options in terms of Dungeons & Dragons fantasy. Many of the alternatives, from Old School Essentials to Labyrinth Lord, from OSRIC and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, draw from previous iterations of Dungeons & Dragons. However, there are also modern variations of Dungeons & Dragons that offer choices in terms of options and complexity, most notably the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Tales of the Valiant. Then there is Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition.

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition is a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition compatible roleplaying game that offers Dungeons & Dragons-style play with more options and with it greater complexity. Not necessarily a huge amount of complexity, but enough that switching from another Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying game to Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition requires some adjustment. As with Dungeons & Dragons, there are three core rulebooks. These are Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide, Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Monstrous Menagerie, and Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Trials & Treasures. Of these, the player will only need access to the first, whilst the second two are definitely for the Narrator, who will of course need all three books.

The Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide is the book for player. It covers Player Character creation and details what a player can roleplay; combat and adventuring; numerous spells, combat manoeuvres, and exploration knacks; and lots of adventuring equipment, weapons, armour, vehicles, and strongholds. It comes as a fat slab of a book, but fortunately, a player does not to read everything in it. He needs to know how to create a character and what his character can do, how both adventuring and combat works, and what the expectations of play are. So, he can pick the parts that he needs to play right now and if he changes a character, he simply needs to read the description of the things that the new character can do. What it means is that the player just needs to read the bits that are pertinent and read the other bits latter.

Starting with the Player Character, he will have Hit Points, Abilities and Ability Modifiers, and a Proficiency Bonus in Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition just as he does in Dungeon & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Otherwise, a Player Character is defined by his Heritage, Culture, Background, Destiny, and Class. Heritage represents a Player Character’s parentage, what might be called ‘Species’ or ‘Race’ in other fantasy roleplaying games; ‘Culture’ is the environment in which the Player Grew up in; ‘Background’ his occupation; ‘Destiny’ his story, both what has happened in the past and then could happen in the future; and ‘Class’ what his abilities are. The Heritage, whether it is Dragonborn, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Human, Orc, Planetouched (either Aasimar or Tielfling), or Mixed Heritage sets age, size, and speed for the Player Character, but also grants certain gifts and a paragon gift at Tenth level. For example, an Elf has ‘Darkvision’, ‘Fey Ancestry’, and ‘Trance’, but can have the gift of either ‘Mystic Rapport’, ‘Prescient Vision’, or ‘Preternatural Awareness’, and when the Player Character reaches Tenth Level, can have ‘Elfsight’, ‘Inexorable Insight’, or ‘Spiritual Awareness’. The traditional Half-Elf or Half-Orc found in other similar fantasy roleplaying games can be represented by using the Mixed Heritage option.

Humans in Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition have the traits of ‘Fast Learner’ and ‘Intrepid’. The first means that a Human Player Character gains knowledge or skill faster, but not necessarily the wisdom to use it, reflected by an extra skill Proficiency and requiring less time to train in armour, tools, armour. The second means that in a pinch, a Human player Character can make an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw with Expertise, and then again after a short or long rest. The Human Player Character also has the choice of the Gifts of ‘Diehard Survivor’, ‘Ingenious Focus’, and ‘Spirited Traveller’, with the Paragon Gifts of ‘Determined’, ‘Wind at Your Back’, and ‘Voracious Learner’. Altogether, this covers some of the character of humanity and makes a Human Player Character that little bit more dynamic.

A Player Character’s ‘Culture’ can be Caravanner, Circusfolk, Collegiate, Cosmopolitan, Dragonbound, Dragoncult, Forsaken, Godbound, Imperial, Itinerant, Lone Wanderer, Nomad, Settler, Steamforged, Stoneworthy, Tyrannised, Villager, Warhordling, Wildling, Deep Dwarf, Deep Gnome, Eladrin, Forest Gnome, Forgotten Folx, High Elf, Hill Dwarf, Kithbáin Halfling, Mountain Dwarf, Mustbairn Halfling, Shadow Elf, Stoic Orc, Stout Halfling, Tinker Gnome, Tunnel Halfling, or Wood Elf. What each provides a range of different traits, skill proficiencies, languages, and more. For example, Cosmopolitan means that the Player Character knows how to be ‘Discretely Armed’, has ‘Fashion Sense’ and can thus read others through their bearing and what they wear, ‘Skill Versatility’ grants Proficiency in Culture and another skill, ‘Urban Denizen’ means he knows his way around a city, is ‘Well-Connected’ and knows someone from another culture or heritage, and is literate in Common and two other languages.

What is interesting about some of these Cultures is that ordinarily, they would actually be represented by the equivalent of Heritage in other roleplaying games. So, for example, the Elf Heritage represents a base line, but if a player wants an Elf from the Dreaming or Fey Wild, he chooses the ‘Eladrin’ Culture, and then more traditional Elf types are represented by the ‘High Elf’ or ‘Wood Elf’ Cultures, whilst the ‘Shadow Elf’ Culture does the ‘Dark’ Elf or ‘Drow’ of other fantasy roleplaying games. Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition does this in turn for the Dwarf, Gnome, and Halfling Heritages and is much easier way of handling the differentiation.

‘Background’ is what a Player Character did before he became an adventurer. This can be Acolyte, Artisan, Charlatan, Criminal, Cultist, Entertainer, Exile, Farmer, Folk Hero, Gambler, Guard, Guildmember, Hermit, Marauder, Noble, Outlander, Sage, Sailor, Soldier, Trader, or Urchin. This grants the first of the Player Character’s two Ability bonuses, Proficiency in two skills as well as tools and languages, a connection, a memento, and feature which shows how the Player Character interacts with the world. For example, The Cultist Background grants +1 to Intelligence and another ability; Proficiencies in Religion and either Arcana or Deception; a language; a holy symbol, common clothes, and five torches; and the ‘Forbidden Lore’ Feature which allows the Player Character to research a topic and knows in what book if he fails an Arcana or Religion check. Of course, members of the cult that the former cultist belonged to, might be looking for him.

‘Destiny’ gives a Player Character with Motivation and Inspiration and a means of fulfilling this Destiny. The given Destinies are Chaos, Coming of Age, Devotion, Dominion, Excellence, Knowledge, Metamorphosis, Revenge, Underdog, and Wealth. For example, the Motivation for ‘Knowledge’ might be ‘Meaning, ‘Superiority, or ‘A Cure’; the Source of inspiration is ‘Learning’, which grants a Player Character Inspiration after studying for eight hours or more or making a discovery; the Inspiration Feature is ‘Critical Evaluation’ which enables the Player Character to use that Inspiration to assess a creature or item and learn one thing about it; and the Fulfilment Feature is ‘Converging Theories’ which happens when the Player Character brings together scientific and spiritual theories in a single hypothesis. It grants bonuses to the Player Character’s Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, as well as increasing their maximums. Essentially, a Player Character’s Destiny is a roleplaying incentive. In other words, roleplay the Motivation and desire behind the Destiny and the Player Character will be rewarded with a mechanical benefit in the form of Inspiration. It is also an indication from the player to the Narrator what sort of story arc he wants his character to have in addition whatever stories and plots the Narrator has planned.

The Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide details thirteen Classes. These are Adept, Bard, Berserker, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Herald, Marshal, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. Of these, the Adept is the equivalent of the Monk in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, the Berserker of the Barbarian, and the Herald of the Paladin. The Marshal is a new Class, war leaders and motivators, providing support on and off the battlefield. Every Class opens up three or more Archetypes at Third Level, which grants more specialised abilities over the course of a Player Character’s progress. For the Cleric, this includes ‘Healer’, ‘Oracle’, ‘Sun Priest’, and ‘War Priest’, whilst for the Marshall, this is ‘Gambling General’, ‘Swift Strategist’, and ‘Talented Tactician’. For the most part, there will be a lot that is familiar with these Classes in comparison to similar fantasy roleplaying games, but there are a lot of changes too, for example, allowing the Warlock to have Intelligence and Wisdom as a primary ability, rather than just Charisma.

One of the biggest changes is to the Fighter Class. It still gets Fighting Styles, such as ‘Duelling’, ‘Protection’, and ‘Two-Weapon Fighting’, and then adheres to a Fighter Archetype such as ‘Brute’, ‘Duellist’, ‘Gladiator’, ‘Knight’, and ‘Sharpshooter’. The Fighter, as well as the other martial Classes—the Berserker, the Herald, the Marshal, and the Ranger—also has access to Combat Manoeuvres. To use a Combat Manoeuvre, the Player Character expends Exertion, the cost varying from Combat Manoeuvre to Combat Manoeuvre. A basic Combat Manoeuvre, like ‘Disarm’ or ‘Knockdown’, does not cost anything and inflicts basic damage, whereas, ‘Missile Volley’ costs two Exertion and enables the Player Character to attack a number of opponents equal to his Proficiency value and ‘Iron Will’ costs a single point, but grants Advantage on a Saving Throw to resist being charmed or frightened. There are roughly one-hundred-and-fifty Combat Manoeuvres, and what they enable a player to do is really design a Martial character and have him fight how he wants and how he wants him to be cool.

All of the character and Class information is followed by the equipment chapter. This covers everything you would expect—arms, armour, adventuring gear, mounts, and more. The more includes rare weapons, different materials, and spellcasting foci, but also services, hospitable donations, and even building strongholds. The latter includes numerous example buildings. Then there is a chapter on multi-classing and Feats which a player can choose instead of improving an Ability when prompted when the character gains a new Level. Another addition to the range of Feats is Synergy Feats, which enable a Player Character to enhance a Feat he already has. In addition, some Synergy Feats require multi-classing as well. For example, ‘Bladechanter’ enables the Player Character to treat dual-wielded weapons as a combination of spell components and focus, grants him an Armour Class bonus equal to his Intelligence if he is not wearing armour, and the capacity to cast a spell through a weapon that has been used to strike an opponent. This requires the Player Character to be at least a Third Level Fighter, a Third Level Wizard, and posses the Two-Weapon Fighting style. Later on, the Player Character can then take the ‘Whirling Incantor’ and ‘Eldritch Whirlwind Master’ Feats at later Levels.

To create a character, a player first rolls his Ability values. This is done on four six-sided dice and the lowest value discarded. (Other methods are also provided.) He then chooses his character’s Heritage, Culture, Background, Destiny, and Class, followed by equipment. Every Class description includes lists of possible starting equipment and the equipment section includes equipment per Class past First Level. This does include some magical items. The creation process is not challenging, but it does involve multiple choices and it takes a while. Of course, with multiple players, it means that the set-up time for a campaign is a little more involved and replacing a Player Character mid-play is not quick either.

Mechanically, Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, as with other modern iterations of Dungeons & Dragons is a d20 System roleplaying game. Like Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, whenever a player wants his character to undertake an action, he rolls a twenty-sided die and attempts to equal to, or greater than, a difficulty value. This can be the Armour Class of an opponent, the Difficulty Class of an Ability or Skill check, a Saving Throw, and so on. A natural roll of twenty will always succeed and is counted as a Critical Success, whilst a roll of a natural one is counted as a Critical Failure. In either case, there will be extra effects. It uses the rules for Advantage and Disadvantage introduced with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and now prevalent in a great many other roleplaying games. Lastly, it includes Expertise. This represents greater knowledge or skill about a situation and whether from a Class feature or trait, grants a Player Character an extra die to roll when attempting an action. This is a four-sided die, but if Player Character is granted more than one Expertise die, the size of the die to be rolled is increased rather than multiple dice being rolled. The Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide goes into some detail about how and when Ability and Skill rolls might be made, the Difficulty Classes, the outcomes situation by situation, including both Critical Success and Critical Failure, and so on, and all of which is illustratively helpful. It adds two new skills, Culture and Engineering, and a host of Specialities that grant a Player Character Expertise. All Player Characters have Specialities at First Level and gain more as their Proficiency Bonus increases.

Adventuring covers everything from time, movement, and travelling to what a Player Character does during downtime, when he is not adventuring, and then also his Prestige, his reputation, and optionally, calling in favours, based on Prestige. The rules for both adventuring and combat work as you would expect. Three additions in combat include the actions ‘Press the Attack’, ‘Fall Back’, and ‘Sprint’. ‘Press the Attack’ enables a Player Character to focus on an opponent and attack with Expertise, but the defender can ‘Fall Back’ as Reaction to move back and negate the attacker’s use of Expertise. ‘Sprint’ is when a Player Character does nothing but run and this will quadruple or triple the Player Character’s Speed depending upon armour worn. Two other additions are ‘World Actions’ and ‘Countdowns’. ‘World Actions’ make environments dynamic and potentially dangerous. For example, ‘Frigid’ gives an environment that can have ‘Frostbitten Surface’, ‘Icy Patch’, and ‘Snow’, meaning that the touching cold surfaces can inflict cold damage, changing direction when moving can be difficult, and the area is obscured. The ‘World Action’ is ‘Cold Chill’ which forces the Player Character to make a Saving Throw versus Constitution or suffer cold damage. ‘Countdowns’ covers situations when a Player Character is racing against time, for example, can a cliff be scaled before it crumbles or will a thief pick a lock before the guards complete their rounds? This is handled by pool of six sided-dice rolled at the beginning of every round. Each roll of six means that a die is removed from the pool and when there are no more dice to roll, the potential danger is triggered. It adds lots of randomness to situations such as this.

One fifth of the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide is dedicated to spells and spellcasting, most of which lists all of the spells for the various spellcasting Classes. There are lots of tweaks throughout the spell list, so anyone coming to Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition from a similar roleplaying game will need to give each spell description a closer examination than they might otherwise think. Some spells are absent, such as Arcane Gate and Aura of Life, but there are new additions such as Soulwrought Fists and Searing Equation. Perhaps the biggest addition are rare versions of spells. There are lots of spells named for famous wizards in Dungeons & Dragons, such as Bigby’s Arcane Hand, Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound, and Tenser’s Floating Disk. In fact, many of the changes to the spells in the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide have been made so that they no longer contain such names for obvious reasons. In Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, rare spells are variants of existing spells that spellcasters have reworked and made their own. For example, Magic Missile is a ubiquitous spell, which launches a trio of glowing bolts at one or more targets, but Kreven’s Ruinous Magic Missile is a version which causes targets hit by this spell’s missiles to suffer the Rattled condition unless they make a Saving Throw versus Strength.

Lastly, the appendices in the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide covers conditions, including tracked conditions such as fatigue and strife, and mental stress effects; gods, faith, and beliefs, including Domains for the Cleric Class; a small selection of beasts and creatures; and notes on compatibility. The latter is not an extensive list, more a starting point. However, it still means that a lot of the content for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition can be imported into Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition.

Physically, the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide is very well presented. The book is well written and the artwork is decent throughout.

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition and thus the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide is a choice and all about choice. It is an alternative to Dungeon & Dragons, Fifth Edition, one that the Narrator and her players are likely to choose because they want more choice and detail in their fantasy roleplaying. There can be no doubt that the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide delivers that, whether that is the options for Heritage, Culture, and Background in particular, follow by Destiny and Class, or the addition of Combat Manoeuvres which empower the martial Classes and make their combat options more exciting and dynamic. There are lots of useful details which help player and Narrator alike, such as the detailed examples of skill and Ability checks and Critical Successes and Failures which give an idea of how and when they work (or not). Of course, with all these extra elements and the greater choice and detail comes greater complexity and more involved play mechanically. This will suit some players and not others, but there plenty of other, similar roleplaying games offering a similar style of play if Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition is too much. That is one of the benefits of having so much choice.

One issue with Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition and in particular, the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide is its accessibility. A player or Narrator coming to Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition will have less of a problem making the switch than someone new to the hobby picking up the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide for the first time. For either, but especially the player new to the hobby, the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide really could have been improved with some examples of character creation and play and combat, to see the rules in action. That would have made it choices easier to grasp and better displayed the designers’ intent, more so given just how daunting the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide is as a book.

As an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, what Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition offers is more choice and more detail, and with it, more complexity. That is what some players and some Narrators want and the Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition – Adventurer’s Guide delivers that and for the most part, delivers and explains that very well.