A Gaggle of Genres

One of the problems with generic roleplaying games is trying to work out quite what you can with them. The obvious answer is anything and everything, and whilst this is true, that might not be enough of an answer. Advice and tools which will help a Game Master do that anything and everything will always be useful. And whether it is GURPS, the HERO System, or Savage Worlds, there are a lot of supplements which address particular genres and settings. The Cypher System from Monte Cook Games is no exception. The Cypher System was introduced in 2013 with Numenera, the award-winning Science Fantasy roleplaying game of exploration and adventure in the very far future, which introduced new ideas in terms of roleplaying, such as player-facing mechanics and Game Master Intrusions, a new way of narratively increasing tension and awarding Experience Points. It also offered numerous options in terms of Player Characters, expressed in a way that clearly described what each did and which was also exciting. Since it first appeared, it has gone on to cover numerous different genres and even be used as the rules for roleplaying games based on a podcast or two. For example, High Noon at Midnight explores the Wild West, Neon Rain explores the Cyberpunk genre, and Stay Alive! dives into the horror genre. And this in addition to specific settings within these genres.

Expanded Worlds provides numerous options for Player Characters, an introduction to numerous genres, and a range of monsters, creatures, and NPCs that work with the previously explored genres. For Player Characters, there is a selection of new Descriptors and Foci. These fit the Cypher System’s means of defining a Player Character with the statement, “I am an adjective noun who verbs.” The noun is the Player Character’s Type, the adjective is a Descriptor which describes the character, and the verb is the Focus, or what the character does. For example, using the new Descriptors and Foci in Expanded Worlds enables player to create characters such as “I am a Meddlesome Adept who Changes Shape”, “I am Lawful Warrior who Collects Bounties”, “I am an Earnest Speaker who Governs”, and “I am a Chaotic Explorer who Drives Like a Maniac”. Several have extra details. For example, ‘Fell Through A Rabbit Hole’ has a ‘Nonsense’ table rolled on to create a random effect drawn from the surreal realm the character is connected to, such as ‘Unexpected Trapdoor’ or ‘Because I Said So’, that the player can then choose spend Intellect points to use. The Foci are a mix of the generic and the genre-specific. For example, ‘Descends from Nobility’, ‘Explores’, and ‘Figures Things Out’ veer towards the generic, useable in any setting, whilst ‘Hacks the Network’, ‘Is Haunted by Moths’, ‘Keeps a Magical Ally’, ‘Resides in Silicon’, and ‘Sailed Beneath the Jolly Roger’ have stronger or more specific requirement in terms of their setting and genre. The supplement does list the Foci by suggested genre. Nevertheless, there are a lot of Foci here and it is easy to go through them and package them into genres and settings of the Game Master’s own design.

Expanded Worlds explores seven genres across two chapters. The Fantastical Genres consist of ‘Post Apocalyptic’, ‘Mythological’, ‘Fairy Tale’, and ‘Childhood Adventure’, whilst the Gritty Genres consist of ‘Historical’, ‘Crime and Espionage’, and ‘Hard Science Fiction’. In each case, there is an overview of the genre, which includes suggestions as to what the players and Game Master might like to read or what, guidance on both creating and running the genre, followed by technical details that list threats, character types, Foci, and creatures all appropriate to the genre. Extras then add details specific to the genre. For the Post Apocalyptic genre this is a guide to scavenging, tables of junk and useful stuff, suggested artefacts like Enviroscanner and the Military Exoskeleton, and two Racial Descriptors in the form of the Morlock and Roach. For the Fairy Tale genre, it discusses the nature of Fairie, adds ‘Fairy Tale Wonders’ and ‘Fairy Artifact Quirk’ tables, and the Changeling Racial Descriptor. Notably, the ‘Childhood Adventure’ chapter gives an optional rule for playing young characters in the Cypher System without resorting to the Young Descriptor and so retaining flexibility in terms of options for the Player Characters. Of the four entries in the Fantastical Genres section, the ‘Mythological’ chapter feels just a bit too small, just not capable of handling its big subject. The inclusion of the Spear of Fate, Sword of Death, and Thunderbolt and Hellborn and Giant Racial Descriptors just hint at the possibility of the genre and really do leave the reader wanting more.

If the ‘Mythological’ chapter feels all too small for its subject matter, then too many of the entries in the ‘Gritty Genres’ section are all broad for what they are trying to cover. The ‘Historical’ genre chapter races through thousands of years of history in three pages and just cannot do it justice. The thumbnail descriptions of the different periods are just enough to intrigue the reader, but without helping in terms of what to read next or how to set adventures there. There is mention of some books, but simply not enough. Oddly, the ‘Crime and Espionage’ chapter works in one way, but not another, the problem being that it encompasses two different genres in one. What this means is that whilst all of the technical details—suggested character types, Foci, creatures and NPCs, and items—work with both genres, the advice does not as it means it is just too broad. Fortunately, the ‘Hard Science Fiction’ chapter more than makes up for deficiencies of the previous two chapters. Whether covering the effects of gravity on combat, survival in the vacuum of space, the unlikelihood of the Player Characters having their own spaceship, and so on, the advice here is to the point and useful.

For the Game Master, there is a selection of creatures and NPCs. Many of the creatures will work across more than one of the genres detailed in Expanded Worlds. For example, the Bogeyman and the Fairy can be used in the Fairy Tale and Childhood Adventure genres. Some genres are better supported than others. The ‘Mythological’ genre is particularly well supported with the Cambion, Cerberus, Hydra, Minotaur, Satyr, and Typhon, and similarly, the ‘Post Apocalyptic’ genre is solidly supported with the Abomination, Devolved, Fusion Hound, Gamma Worm, Glowing Roach, and Mad Creation. There are oddities though, such as the Killer Clown and the Night Gaunt, which seem to have wandered in from other genres. The most entertaining entries are the Erlking, an animated morass of woodland debris which loves to hunt and eat children, a former fairy noble stripped of his title and lands and exiled into the plant body, and the Shoe Thief, which hides under the bed and in other dark places in the home stealing single shoes and socks, pens and paperclips, gathering in groups and building up the courage to steal books, pets, and your little brother! The NPC descriptions are drier in comparison, serviceable and functional rather than inspiring.

Physically, Expanded Worlds is decently written and well written. The illustrations are excellent.

Expanded Worlds is hit and miss in terms of its content. Some of its genre write-ups are woefully underwritten because conceptually, there is too much to write about and not enough space to do it in, meaning that the book cannot do them justice. Indeed, it would take whole supplements the size of Expanded Worlds to do any one of its genres proper justice—and it has. Yet at their best, some of the write-ups do work as solid introductions to their respective genres and as introductions they are given good support in terms of playable, useful content. In that, the Fantastical Genres are better treated than the Gritty Genres, and both are given solid support by the Foci and Descriptors. Expanded Worlds is a good, but not perfect introduction to a variety of genres for the Cypher System.

Friday Fantasy: The Cursed Farm

It is midsummer, and Hrafn Reginsson, the local goði, asks the Player Characters for help. He asks them to visit the farm of a distant neighbour, Björg Finnsdóttir, who unexpectedly and uncharacteristically, has requested his help. He fears that the situation must be fraught if she is asking for his help. When the Player Characters arrive, it appears that the goði’s fears are well placed. Björg Finnsdóttir’s farm has clearly fallen into a state of disrepair and disarray. The kale patch has overgrown and seems to rustle strangely; the barley field has been trampled and its soil churned up by several cows that aggressively rove its extent; and then there is Björg Finnsdóttir’s pride and joy, a grove of red currant berry shrubs that made the farm famous for miles around, now reduced to burned and shattered stumps. Björg Finnsdóttir herself—and her family, which includes two farmhands, are tired and drawn, clearly deeply concerned at their plight and that of the farm. This is the situation that the Player Characters find in The Cursed Farm.

The Cursed Farm is a scenario for Age of Vikings: The Roleplaying Game, the low fantasy, deeply historical game published by Chaosium, Inc. and designed to help tell stories of home, hearth, and honour, myth and magic, and bring new sagas to life. Subtitled ‘An Introductory Scenario for the Age of Vikings Roleplaying Game’, it is designed as a first scenario be played for the roleplaying game and in many cases it has been. That said, it is not designed as a quick-start. In other words, it does not come with the rules necessary to play it, although links are provided so that the Game Master has a set of ready-to-play Player Characters. Instead, The Cursed Farm works as a demonstration scenario. It not only tells a tale of how dark Viking magic can come to affect the innocent, of past lives, and misplaced ambitions, but involves a classic Norse monster too! Further, it can be run in a single session. This means that is very easy add to a campaign, to be run as a showcase for the Game Master’s own group, or run as a demonstration scenario at a convention. In the case of the latter two options, this includes teaching the rules to the players. The rules themselves are not difficult to learn and anyone with experience of Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine will pick them up with ease.

The family will quickly reveal what they know and the Player Characters are free to examine the farm and its current state, and will very likely discover that as the title of the scenario states, that it is cursed. The Second Sight skill is important here and a mixture of interaction and perception skills will play a major part in determining what is happening at the farm. The likelihood is that the Player Characters will quickly track down the source of the curse and deal directly with it. This can result in combat, and in particular, there is a chance for a warrior and his honour to shine, and even ultimately benefit. Combat is not the only solution though, and the source is willing to communicate and wait. That said, the Game Master is given an optional combat encounter if the Player Characters have avoided combat so far or if she wants to add another combat encounter. Ultimately, resolving the situation in The Cursed Farm relies upon interaction and perception. To that end though, the NPCs are simply drawn and the Game Master will need to strengthen their individual characters in her portrayal of them. This is due more to the limited page rather than any other reason.

Physically, The Cursed Farm is solidly presented. It is well written, easy to understand, and quick to prepare, and the artwork is good. The cartography, done in colour and black and white, with versions for both the players and the Game Masters, is clear and easy to read.

The Cursed Farm is good little scenario for Age of Vikings: The Roleplaying Game. It is straightforward and easy to prepare, whether to add to a campaign or run as a demonstration, and gives a good flavour of Icelandic horror and mystery.

[DCC Day #7] DCC Day 2026 Adventure Pack

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

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As in past years, the DCC Day 2026 Adventure Pack contains two adventures. The first and longest of the two is ‘The Temple of Fluttering Terror’ are written for use with Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, the spiritual successor to Gamma World. It is designed for a party of three to six Player Characters of First Level and begins with them in the jungle on the back of a fast-flowing river on the other wise of which is an island with some pre-disaster ruins on it.

The Player Characters—or Seekers—have been sent by their respective tribes to rescue a much-fabled artefact, called AESOP, from the ruins. AESOP is rumoured to be a learning device from before the disaster used to teach children. If it can be brought back, it will be a great asset to the confederation of local villages. Unfortunately, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and a series of storms has led to widespread flooding and the rising waters threaten the buildings in which AESOP is located. Thus, the Seekers have to survive the environment and the weather, explore the buildings, find AESOP, and then haul it back! The dangers of the floods are represented by a ‘Deluge Effects’ table which is triggered when a natural roll of one or twenty is rolled. The waters can swell and surge, the winds rise, wildlife flee, and more, plus some effects also increase the die size by a step for subsequent rolls. Which means that as the scenario progresses, the effects of the storm get worse and worse. Then if a Seeker gets caught in the waters, then is a ‘Fighting the Flood Waters’ table to be rolled on, the greater the strength of the Seeker, the less likely he will be swept away.

The ruins on the island are those of Pennsville Learning Academy, so the Seekers are exploring the ruins of an ancient school. As you would expect, there are classrooms dedicated to different subjects, including history, science, and art, a cafeteria, and so on. Each location contains a mix of things to experience and lots of things to loot. For example, in the history classroom, the Experio5400 is a teaching device that beams a holographic, immersive experience straight into the eyes of nearby pupils. One experience is given, but the Judge can be inventive here too, adding her own historical scenes, whether from actual history or the history between now and the events of the disaster that led to Terra AD. However, it is loot where the author gets to be inventive. Items to be looted include a Cheat Lens that when worn provides answers to written questions; a chemical cabinet in the science classroom full of ingredients to be mixed for various effects; school lockers containing things such as a Jet Board, a Dysfunctional Robotic Playmate, Acks Body Spray (incites attacks from nearby feral creatures!), and more.

Finally, there is AESOP itself. It is a A.I. with a pleasing personality—though for entertainment value, the Judge could readily change it—that the Seekers can talks to and ask questions of. The Judge has a list of questions and answers to facilitate any interaction. AESOP is easy to find, but rather than challenging to deal with, it is challenging to move! The seekers must find a way of transporting it out of the ruins, across the island, and then over the river with its raging waters. ‘The Temple of Fluttering Terror’ is a good mix of exploration and combat, twisting a familiar location and making it a dangerous and rewarding in equal measure, before escalating the danger with the weather. The result is an excellent, entertaining scenario for the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game.

The second scenario is ‘The Crawl is Not Always Greener’, which is designed for the Xcrawl Classics Role-Playing Game and for party of four to six Player Characters of First Level. Their Agent informs them that they have been invited to participate in a new gig—an Xcrawl designed by a first-time Dungeon Judge. Not just any first-time Dungeon Judge, but Tiger Silva, the world’s most famous and accomplished pro-golfer, who wants to try his hand at a different sport. Apart from the fact that it being organised by one of the most famous sportsmen in the North American Empire, it is meant to be a low-key affair. It is a chance for the Player Characters to pick up some new sponsors, look good in a celebrity-driven event, and perhaps move into the orbit of the rich and famous by association.

As you would expect, this Xcrawl is entirely Golf-themed and that starts with the sponsorships on offer, which include the Ultra Whack Golf Clubs and Golfing Gear and Super Aid Sports Drinks. It continues with the individual locations in the Xcrawl, a giant miniature putt-putt golf course, which include woad-painted Goblin Picts which attack to the sound of bad bagpipes being played (and unfortunately the bagpipe-player is a non-combatant, so cannot be attacked and the Player Characters will need to find another way to stop the playing) reflecting Golf’s Scottish origins; a giant sand trap and a even bigger windmill with deadly spinning blades; and a battle with a giant gopher! All of which is confronted whilst attempting to whack a giant Golf ball through the dungeon and into the cup at the end of each room. Being a dungeon for the Xcrawl Classics Role-Playing Game, the adventure is straightforward and linear, that feel exacerbated by the need to drive the giant Golf ball from one end of the dungeon to the other, room by room. However, it is ever so tongue-in-cheek and fits with the absurdity of the world of Xcrawl.

The absurdity of setting and the scenario are made all the more so by the satirical elements worked into it. These dig at the theme of Golf and at the contemporary politics surrounding Golf. These are likely to amuse or irritate in equal measure, but given the theme, it is no surprise they are included. ‘The Crawl is Not Always Greener’ is a silly, but fun adventure and there are notes too if the Judge wants to add it to her campaign.

Physically, the DCC Day 2026 Adventure Pack is as well done as you would expect for a release from Goodman Games. The artwork is decent, but a little cartoonish in places—which actually suits the Xcrawl Classics Role-Playing Game.

The DCC Day 2026 Adventure Pack delivers two good scenarios for two different games, but of the two, ‘The Temple of Fluttering Terror’ is the most inventive and interesting, but ‘The Crawl is Not Always Greener’ is sillier and more immediately entertaining. Both are fun to play and both are easy to add to a campaign as they are to run as one-shots.

Rotten Labour Relations

Downright Nasty is a scenario for the PunkApocalyptic: the Roleplaying Game, set in a terrible future dominated by vicious gangs, dangerous mutants, and predatory monsters spawned by the strange chemicals and radiation released in the days that followed the Time Before The Shit Hit. This is a post-apocalyptic setting with an adult tone, both grimy and grim, if not a little unhinged. Or a lot unhinged. As Mercs, the Player Characters take the jobs that most settlements want to avoid being associated with, whether that is because of bravery or pragmatism, and once out in the Wastelands, they face strange creatures, gangers and cannibals, plus an environment which just as likely turn on them or mutate them even more. PunkApocalyptic: the Roleplaying Game is based on Shadow of the Demon Lord and like the other roleplaying games based on its mechanics, Player Characters progress from Level One to Level Ten, their progress divided between three Paths—Novice, Expert, and Master, gaining greater ability, skill, and specialisation. A Novice Path begins at Level One, an Expert path at Level Three, and a Master Path at Level Seven. Adventures for PunkApocalyptic: the Roleplaying Game are tailored to these three Paths. Downright Nasty is a mission for Novice Mercs and sends them into the Lower Septic to restore some order.

Downright Nasty is essentially about dispute in a wasteland settlement. Vaguely east of Scrapbridge and south of Liberty City is Septic Town, a settlement which has got rich fishing for and selling megatroutasses, the large trout-like fish studded with fleshy protuberances that look like bare arses, that tastes surprisingly good. Well, some of those that live in the town, those that live in Upper Septic Town, an old bridge, have made plenty of money selling the fish across the Wasteland and have attitudes to match. The rest live in Lower Septic Tank, in ramshackle buildings stacked on a series of floating platforms connected by rope and wood walkways on the foul and stinkingly green waters that they also fish. With minimal pay and some healthcare, the conditions are deplorable, but of late, they have got worse. People have gone missing, the megatroutasses are refusing to bite, and the numbers of leechcrabs has risen becoming an increasing threat. So, the Low Tankers have organised and are demanding both better pay and some protections, which is really annoying the Upper Tankers. In response, the Upper Tankers have hired the Mercs to descend into Lower Septic Tank and restore order before the mobs start demanding mob rule or something.

Of course, there is more to the story than militant mutants in the Lower Septic Tank. It turns out that the Lower Tankers are victims in the three ways. First by the oppression of the Upper Tankers; second at the hands a rogue medical doctor, Doctor Dare; and third, at the claws of a very scary monster called The Grim. The Mercs can begin play in Lower Septic Tank, or the Game Master can run a scene getting to Septic Town and negotiating terms for their employment. The scenario can be run after ‘Two Dead in Shit Town’ found in the PunkApocalyptic: the Roleplaying Game core rulebook, but it is not a direct sequel. The players and their Mercs are free to approach the scenario however they want, but whilst beating up the Lower Tankers will likely win the Upper tankers favour, it will not really solve the problem. Talking though will, gaining the Mercs some leads, and ultimately the location of the two threats currently preying on the Lower Tankers. The investigation is straightforward, mostly involving talking to an oddball cast of characters, before a couple of nasty showdowns with the villains of the piece.

Physically, Downright Nasty is several pages of text. There is an illustration of The Grim and a ‘Local Colour’ table to add some flavour, but otherwise, the scenario is dense. One thing that it does lack is a map and given that the scenario is a monster hunt, a map of Lower Septic Town and its surrounds would have been useful. (There is one here though.)

Downright Nasty can be played through in a single session or two and has a distinctly grubby, greasy feel to it from start to finish, and honestly, even if the Mercs are successful, sort out the problems besetting the Lower Tankers, and get paid, the sad news is that the lives of the Lower Tankers are not going to get better. After all, the Upper Tankers like it that way and whilst there is nothing to stop the Game Master from adapting its plot to the post-apocalyptic roleplaying game setting of her choice, it fits the grim and grimy nature of the world of PunkApocalyptic: the Roleplaying Game.

Miskatonic Monday #445: After The Flood

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: After the Flood

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Keith Craig

Setting: Nebraska, USA, 2019

Product: Scenario

What You Get: thirty-one page, 3.34 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: “A mycelial network is a map of a fungus’ recent history and is a helpful reminder that all life-forms are in fact processes not things.” – Merlin Sheldrake

Plot Hook: The calm after the flood
Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, eight handouts, six NPCs, six maps and floorplans, and five Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Serviceable

Pros

# Suitably flat-feeling investigation across post-flood farmland

# Infectious horror that flirts with Ufology

# Classic Mythos-style Men-in-Black confrontation

# Makes use of the Malleus Monstrorum (notes included)

# Would work easily with with Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game

# Entomophobia

# Mycophobia

# Mysophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit
# Underwritten pre-generated Investigators

# Makes use of the Malleus Monstrorum (notes included)

Conclusion

# What fear blooms in a washed out, washed away horror?

# Classic Mythos-style Men-in-Black confrontation

# Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends 

City in the RED

Almost all of the famous cities in roleplaying are fantasy cities. Waterdeep, the ‘City of Splendours’ from the Forgotten Realms, and Sigil, the City of Doors from Planescape, both for Dungeons & Dragons from Wizards of the Coast; Freeport: The City of Adventure from Green Ronin Publishing; and Pavis in Glorantha for RuneQuest from Chaosium, Inc. Conversely, famous cities in roleplaying in the Science Fiction genre are few and far between. Both come from the Cyberpunk genre. One, of course, is the real world city of Seattle in the Sixth World of Shadowrun, whilst the other is the fictional Night City of Cyberpunk 2013, Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., and Cyberpunk RED. Night City began life as Coronado City, incorporated in the early nineties and envisioned as a planned urban community by Richard Night on the coast of northern California. After his murder, it was renamed in his honour, but crime moved in and the city was dominated by mob wars for a decade, before corporate interests disrupted the activities of the various criminal organisations. Night City became notorious as a battleground between Militech and Arasaka during the Fourth Corporate War, which came to a head with the detonation of nuclear device atop Arasaka’s Night City headquarters which devastated the city’s Corporate Centre, allegedly placed by the famous Rockerboy, Johnny Silverhand. The reconstruction efforts, led by Richard Night’s widow and corporate interests, under a new charter, have been ongoing now for twenty-five years, disrupted by an earthquake, a terrorist attack by cultists who believe the nuclear detonation is sacred, and a near-war between Nomad groups that run the transport of passengers and goods in and out of the city. None more so than in the ‘Hot Zone’, the site of the city’s original corporate centre where the bomb went off. It is 2045, the Time of the Red, and Night City remains a heavily armed, corporate-run city-state in the south of the Free State of Northern California, a Free Port serving as the gateway to the Pacifica Confederation that consists of Northern California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and British Columbia.

Night City 2045 is an update of the Night City supplement, covering its history and current status for use with Cyberpunk RED. It is comprehensive guide to the city, an in-world handbook for the tourist or other visitor which they could purchase and download to their Agent called An Outsider’s Guide to Night City, compiled by independent Medias, each describing one of the city’s different districts. As the introduction makes clear, what this means is that the not all of the information in the supplement is true, so the players and their Edgerunners cannot wholly rely upon it and the Game Master is free to determine the veracity of any one detail or another. In terms of timeframe, apart from it being set in the year 2045, Night City 2045 is set during the events of Tales of the RED: Street Stories and Tales of the RED: Hope Reborn. This does mean that there will be spoilers present. The reader will also spot locations from other supplements such as Danger Gal Dossier – A Faction and NPC Guide for Cyberpunk Red and also elements from the computer game, Cyberpunk 2077. For example, players will recognise the Tyger Claws gang which they will encounter early in the computer game and will recognise the Royal Blue Radio, The Dirge, and Night FM radio stations. Long-time fans of Cyberpunk will recognise some of the in-jokes too, such as the descriptions of the Petrochem Plastics Plant and the SovOil Plastics Plant being all but identical—two sides of the same coin.

Besides a history and timeline of Night City, there is a guide to its weather, how to gain its citizenship (including a State Identification Number or SIN), getting there and getting around the city and how much that costs (including getting a driving licence and registering vehicles at the DMV), government, legal framework (justice tends to be summary, the arrested are presumed to be guilty, The Judge is an A.I., and fines can be reduced by public flogging(!) with an electro whip), public services from 911 (also A.I. run) and Backing to medical care and education, utilities and their provision, and media. There is a complete guide to the city’s factions—gangs, criminal organisations, and security providers. Be sure to avoid the Bozos, the faction-driven clown gang whose pranks are deadly; never busk without the Julliard Guild’s permission; and go to the Piranhas if you want the best party in the city. All of the factions have their badges or patches on show and these are used to mark their territory on the supplement’s maps.

There is also a full set of maps for the whole of Night City which show the various elements of the city are. These include its NCART and Rail Lines, bars, brothels, casinos and clubs, housing sites, and medical vendors and markets, with each map also serving as an index of sorts.

Two fifths of Night City 2045 is devoted to mapping and detailing its twenty-four districts from Little Europe, Upper Marina, and the Old Combat Zone on the Island and the Pacifica Playground and Rancho Coronado in the South Side. Each follows the same format. An introduction by a noted Media who provides an overview of the district, followed by details of its city manager and his politics, security provider, recent history, then its locations, and lastly personalities. It is rarely for any location to be given a simple, one paragraph description, most of them are fairly lengthy, and in cases of locations such as markets and high-rises, expanded to give the businesses and persons working and selling out of them. Similarly, the ‘McCartney Field Stadium’ details all of the teams and franchises based in its facilities. The descriptions are written in character, so Leon Vetti, writing about Downtown tells you that whilst ‘Europa Meatworks’ might be the best artisanal butcher’s shop in the city, beloved of foodies and sometimes offering some exotic cuts of meat, he wonders where the meat comes from, offering several suggestions in a conversational tone, whilst next door, ‘Folio’, might feel like a genuine fortune tellers, but that is all drug-laced herbal tea, laser-focused cold reading, and Garden Patch research! Nearby, ‘Goosetopia’ sells collectible vinyl models of geese in different costumes in limited editions. Utterly absurd of course, but in each these there is enough detail that a Game Master can develp a hook or plot. Maybe someone wants to know where ‘Europa Meatworks’ is sourcing its raw cuts, someone’s grandmother is spending too much money at ‘Folio’, and how far will a collector go to complete his collection of vinyl geese? And that is just from a single page. Just about every location description suggests something that a Game Master can develop.

Of course, there really is too much to go through in Night City 2045, but one district that most readers and Game Masters will be interested in is the ‘Hot zone’, what is left of the corporate zone shattered and irradiated by the Fourth Corporate War. So bad its Utility Code is 10. At the heart is the crater where the Araska headquarters once stood, surrounded by buildings in various states of disrepair, some barely standing, others shedding parts and materials like deadly rain. On the edge stands ‘Dark Zone One’, a black zone where any drone flown over it cannot record any footage, snipers shoot anyone who enters, and the urban explorers steer clear; ‘The Dump’ where cleared wreckage from the district is stored (and unofficially picked over by scavengers); and Father Grace, a pastor for the ‘Global Church of Elvis’, lives in ‘Graceland Medical’, out of which he operates an armoured mobile clinic, dispensing healthcare to the nearby scavenger camps for free. The district description is shorter than most, but it is the most different and environmentally at least, the most dangerous.

Night City 2045 does not confine itself solely to within the city boundaries. It goes beyond them to detail the Outskirts where the ‘Municipal Landfill’, ‘Night City Spaceport’, and ‘Militech Ballistics and Explosives Range’ are all located. Night City 2045 finishes on a wacky note, one that presents ‘The Happiest Place in Night City’. This is ‘Playland by the Sea’, a theme pack not part of the city, but just off the coast and with ‘Six Lands of Happiness’. It gives the kitsch banality of a theme park a sharped-edged twist of being run in the dark future of 2045, with the Piranhas gang running security and dealing drugs because anything else would be worse! Its six zones, such as Lovers Lane, Haunted Woods, and Grand Junction with its recreation of San Francisco in 1851, all lend themselves to some weird places to business or simply just run some downtime on a day out! The map of ‘Playland by the Sea’ is a really great, just getting its slightly cheesy feel right.

What does surprise about Night City 2045 is the lack of new rules or mechanics. The two primary additions handle security response to alerts or difficult situations and the service status of the local utilities. Every district in Night City 2045 and every building is given a Security Code. This gives a number representing the likelihood of designated security—appointed or self-appointed—responding to an alert, the faction (gang, Night City Olice Department, or security contractor) which will respond, and an Intensity descriptor—‘Light’, ‘Medium’, or ‘Medium’—which indicates the degree of that response. A Utility Code indicates whether or not the location or district has working access to power, water, and CitiNet, the latter the city’s information network. A Utility Code is given per district rather than per location. When narratively appropriate, the Game Master can roll against the Utility Code to see if the utilities are working, and of course, this can the situation the Edgerunners are in either easier or more difficult. The Security Code is the same whether the Edgerunners want to avoid security entanglements or alert local security. Both mechanics are incredibly simple and easy to use.

Apart from these two rules, Night City 2045 only includes stats for various NPCs found in particular districts. For example, Biotechnica Guards and Night City University Guards in University District, Night City Plaza Busker in The Glen, Combat Cabb Driver in South Night City, and Forklift Driver in Port of Night City. Many of these could appear elsewhere, the Night City Plaza Busker on a street corner or the Forklift Driver in any warehouse, for example.

As much information as there is in Night City 2045—and there is a lot—the supplement is not perfect. The problem is with the maps. The issue is that the orthographic maps in the original Night City supplement were great, whereas in Night City 2045 they are not. They are not terrible maps and they are serviceable, but anyone expecting more will be disappointed.

Physically, Night City 2045 is tidily presented. The artwork is used to depict each district at the head of each chapter and so capture some of the flavour described later. The maps are clear and simple, if unexciting.

Whether it is places where they live, places they want to go, places they have to go, Night City 2045 provides the Game Master with details and descriptions that she can use to bring the experiences of the Edgerunners to life. There are plenty of hooks too, which the Game Master can winkle out and develop, or perhaps let lie for the players and their Edgerunners to discover when perusing An Outsider’s Guide to Night City on their Agents. Versatile and packed full of lore, Night City 2045 is a supplement that the Cyberpunk RED Game Master will find very useful.

A Talagaad Tally

Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide and Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide introduced the Old World, the prequel setting to the venerable Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition. Based on the Warhammer: The Old World, the miniatures combat rules from Games Workshop, Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game is published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment and focuses on a setting that is torn by internal strife, whether political, between the Elector Counts, or religious, between the Sigmarites and Ulricans and others, rather than on the assaults and attacks by the forces of Chaos and on the Chaos within, though this does not mean that Chaos is no less of a threat to the Empire. It is also very specific in its setting. This is the fortified, if ramshackle river port of Talagaad, perched between the Talabec River and the towering walls of the Taalbaston—the giant crater in which the nearby city of Talabheim sits, which stands on the Wizard’s Way, the road that crosses over the bridge known as the and up over the walls of the Taalbaston and is the only legal route into the crater. Control of Talagaad is important since it is a source of much wealth, whether from the taxes levied on the goods going to Talabheim and from lower prices paid for goods being smuggled into the city. Consequently, the town is rife with crime and corruption, petty and otherwise, whether committed by its ordinary citizenry, criminal underclass, or even its excise officers. This is the subject of Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game – Talagaad Adventures.

Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game – Talagaad Adventures is an anthology of five adventures that can be run with any type of Player Characters, though a good mix is recommended in terms of capabilities and status. As in the case of the latter, it will enable the Player Characters to interact with all levels of society. It is suggested that the Player Characters have two adventures under their belt, so the Game Master may want to run the Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game – Starter Set at the very least. The adventures themselves are tied into ‘Grim Portents’ and ‘Dark Threads’ at the Talagaad and thus to the various Contacts that the Player Characters have. However, the adventures do not explore those ‘Grim Portents’ as such, the plots that will bring the Player Characters together and push them to act. Rather they connect to them, but do not develop them directly. Further, the five together do not form a campaign, and they can be played in any order, though it is suggested that the last scenario in the anthology, ‘The Siege of Klepzig’ be run last as a climax to the quintet. What this means is that the individual scenarios in Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game – Talagaad Adventures can be run on their own or woven into the Game Master’s campaign

The adventures take place in and around Talagaad, but also up and down the River Talabec and back again. ‘Something Fishy’ begins in Talagaad with the Player Characters inadvertently caught up in the assassination of the town’s town crier in the Fischmarkt. The Talabheim 11th State Troops are sent into to keep the peace as much as investigate and by investigate, pin the blame on the Player Characters! Sergeant Dunkel suggests they have links with the Redgrins, a brutal criminal gang that claims part of the docks as their turf. With Dunkel on their tail, the Player Characters will need to investigate the victim himself and his associates, survive a blunt interview with the Redgrins, and get the killer to confess. The scenario has a grubby, greasy feel to it and it climaxes in a big showdown between the villain of the piece and a horde of vengeful ghosts dragged up from the riverbed, the Redgrins, and the Talabheim 11th State Troops with the Player Characters caught in the middle!

In ‘The Hungry Towers’, the Player Characters are sent upriver to two villages standing opposite each other on a tributary of the Talabec River where a longstanding feud between the lords of Taggenfeld and Silberwald, the von Taglich family and the Fasthner-Ludenhofs respectively, has broken out once again. As a result of the feud, huge towers have been erected on opposite banks of the river and manned in fear of war between the minor baronies. Although they have letters of introduction, the Player Characters have to deal with stubborn nobles and their advisors, try to get to the bottom of the situation, and make it clear to either side, that everybody is going to lose in the unnecessarily tense situation. Multiple paths to resolving the situation are suggested, including suing for peace, revealing a bigger danger, siding with once faction or the other, and even inciting a rebellion. This is a thoroughly entertaining scenario, a mini-Cold War playing on the pettiness of the Empire’s nobility, and giving the Player Characters agency aplenty to resolve the situation.

If ‘The Hungry Towers’ feels like a mini-Cold War scenario, ‘Oars in the Water’ is more like Heart of Darkness. A contact of the Player Characters asks them to go down river to Ahlenhof and return with a river trader, Sibylle Reiss, who writes that she fears being attacked by a band of river pirates. As they travel back aboard her vessel, The Limping Lass, it is soon clear that Reiss is being tracked by another vessel, though her pursuers are no ordinary pirates. They are instead, fanatical Sigmarite cultists and they will do anything to stop The Limping Lass from reaching Talagaad. This includes attempting to sink her, attacking her crew when she is beached to make repairs, blocking the river, and more. However, as they travel upriver, the situation grows ever more tense and Reiss is forced to take desperate actions, ones that threaten reveal her secrets. The scenario brings out some of the tensions in the Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game setting and takes to monstrous extreme.

The Player Characters and the whole of Talagaard gets to party in ‘If the Leaves are Green’. If ‘Oars in the Water’ twists the classic Warhammer trope of travelling by river, ‘If the Leaves are Green’ firmly tweaks the classic Warhammer trope of a carnival or festival. In the harvested fields outside of Talagaard, the townsfolk enjoy the Mittherbst festival at which the Priests of Ulric welcome the approach of winter as the Rhya’s faithful give thanks for the recent harvest. As darkness falls, the Hounds of Taal, fervent worshippers of the god of nature, begin a ceremony, having donned masks of beasts and imbibed potent wine, and it is at this point that Beastmen stream into the firelight, slashing and biting and headbutting and then grabbing and retreating! As the town guards rush out to rescue any survivors, it is clear that they are not going to do anything about those kidnapped until daylight. After all, who can blame them? Who would be foolish enough to rush into Beastmen-infested woods in the middle of night? Only the Player Characters, of course. Their motivation should at least that one of their contacts has been taken, and what results is a harrowing race through the night to track down the various bands of fleeing Beastmen and get to them before they carry whatever foul plans they have for their captives! If successful, the Player Characters will have proven themselves mighty heroes, but the scenario does not ignore the costs of defeat either.

The quintet comes to a close with ‘The Siege of Klepzig’. The Player Characters are conscripted or volunteered into haphazard force of professional soldiers and militia to help defend a village which stands in the path of an army of Orc and Goblin raiders of the Red Eyez Tribe bearing down from the nearby Barren Hills. The scenario is a classic military muddle under siege with the added complication of claims to Klepzig from rival noble families, and the search for some secrets. The scenario is solidly written, but does not feel as exciting as the previous ‘If the Leaves are Green’. Instead, of desperate acts of heroism, this more desperate acts of survival under siege, and perhaps if the Game Master wants a more rousing finish to the anthology, she might swap the order of the scenarios. Essentially, if there are opportunities for grim and glorious storytelling in ‘If the Leaves are Green’, then ‘The Siege of Klepzig’ is definitely more grom than glorious.

Physically, Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game – Talagaad Adventures is well presented. The illustrations are also good and the maps clear and easy to use, although there could have more of them.

Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game – Talagaad Adventures is a solid selection of scenarios for Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game that is going to serve as great additions to a Game Master’s campaign. At their best, they explore the Old World in unexpected, exciting, and entertaining ways.