Quick-Start Saturday: Time Without Tide

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

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

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What is it?
Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is the quick-start for Time Without Tide : Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog, a post-apocalyptic steampunk horror roleplaying game set during the Time Without Tide following the Victorian Age of Decadence during which the moon fell from the sky, vaporising as it hit the ground, splintering cities, shrouding the ruins in Lunar Dust, and unleashing the Unknown, an unforgiving horizonless fog that mutates anything unprotected by bright light.

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is a sixty-two e page, 22.91 MB full colour PDF.

It is well produced with excellent artwork. The maps also very good.

How long will it take to play?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes the scenario ‘Lonely Phareflaw’. It can be played in a single session.

What else do you need to play?
The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog needs several six-sided dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes six pre-generated Player Characters. Six are given and are members of the Dowsing Odd relay crew. They include a steadfast protector who wields a Greatlight, a heavy, double-handed lantern to burn protect the fog and protect her allies; a charming socialite who is a radical freethinker and a good shot; a sturdy mechanic who wields a pickaxe to smash monsters; an orphan with a lot of luck; a noble turned reluctant assassin with amphibian traits; and a reanimated corpse turned doctor.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in the Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is defined by his name and pre-delving resumé, Traits, Skills, Health, and Records. Each Trait—Body, Mind, and Will—has a score value and a health value, which range which one and five. The six skills—Culture, Industry, Navigation, Skulduggery, Survival, and Violence—are rated between zero and five. Records are what makes a Delver special. They consist of Items, Features, and Adaptations. Items are equipment that a Delver takes with him and things he found. (Notably, it is assumed that a Delver is competent enough to replenish supplies and so basic supplies do not need to be tracked.) Features are specialities and skill focuses that make each Delver stand out. Adaptations reflect exposure to the Unknown, evolving the infecting with malign detrimental powers or beneficial mutations. All Records take up slots. For Items, they take up Body slots; Features take up Mind slots; and Adaptations take up Will slots. Records can be depleted and typically require a safe or three-day rest to restore.

How do the mechanics work?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog uses a dice pool of six-sided dice. The dice pool is equal to the value of a Trait and a Skill. This can be any pair suitable for the situation. Each roll of a five or six is a counted as a success or Mark. A standard difficulty requires a player to roll two or more Marks, but the difficulty can range from one and easy to five and very hard. An ally can spend a whole action to assist and add half his dice to the pool and if the roll is a failure, a Delver can strain, suffer damage to the Mind, and reroll any dice. Any Marks in excess of the difficulty become Boons. These can be spent on extra effects. This is generally to halve the time of a task or to improve its quality, but this is not covered in any depth in the Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog, although they are used for combat.

How does combat work?

Combat in The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog uses a combination of the Violence Skill and Body Trait to hit things, the Violence Skill and Mind Trait to shoot things, and the Violence Skill and Will Trait to scare things. Initiative is a simple roll of a six-sided die and a Delver can take one major and one minor action. The action is fought across zones, each of which has room for four combatants.  The Unknown floods the battlefield and not only deplete Will, but make things harder to hit. The only way to counter this is to cast the light from a Lantern, which will hold back the Unknown, protecting the Delver and perhaps his allies. Exposure to the Unknown can lead to a loss of Will.

Combat includes a number of a number of Boon options for surplus Marks. For example, if a Delver is wielding two weapons, he can use a Boon to trigger Flurry and make an extra attack or increase the effect of a Invigoration on another ally Boon by Boon.

Most damage amounts to either one or two points depending upon the weapon and benefits gained from Boons. Damage represents an injury rather than a scrape or bruise. If the Health of any Trait is reduced to zero, the Delver is on the verge of dying. A simple recovery test will restore the Delver to one Health, but if failed, the Health of the Delver is still restored, but suffers a malignant Adaptation (for example, he becomes an ‘Overthinker’, his brain swelling painfully against the inside of his skull, meaning that it is harder for him to Strain), is closer to death, and everything is harder to do.

How does travel work?

Travel is a major part of play in The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog as the Delvers leave their Safe Harbours and explore the World of Fog to preserve the fading light. The day is eighteen hours long and divided into three segments. Each segment spent travelling requires the assignment of the Ward or effect of a lantern, rolling to overcome any obstacles that the Game Master places in their path, and dealing with random events—two dice are rolled and for each six, a random event happens. Yes, this means that two can occur in the same Segment. During any Segment spent in camp resting, a Delver can also take a major one-hour action and any number of immediate actions. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog only provides a basic introduction to travel.

When travelling on an expedition, the Delver will carry a Relay, a ‘Decadent Device’, that is, a relic from the Age of Decadence, which are calibrated beacons. Using the Relay, a Delver party can teleport to any beacon they have calibrated their Relay to, typically using it to return home after an expedition.

What do you play?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes the scenario ‘Lonely Phareflaw’. The scenario involves an expedition to the Phareflaw Lighthouse, which went dark during Deep Winter. The Delvers are hired by the Saltport council to restore Phareflaw’s light travelling aboard the Riverboat Drastic which will be used to construct a Tenderhold, a fortified settlement around the lighthouse. The scenario begins with the Delvers’ arrival on the beach below the lighthouse and once ashore they will need to make their way up the cliffs to the lighthouse. The latter is indeed dark and the Delvers will need to break in and in exploring, restore its light. ‘Lonely Phareflaw’ is a solid, action-orientated scenario that in a very, very slight way feels like a Dickensian version of Aliens.

In addition to the scenario, The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes an introduction to the Delvers’ home port of Saltport, the Last City. It is accompanied by a fetching map. As well as including the pre-generated Delvers, the appendix includes a good introduction to the setting and the roleplaying game for the benefit of the players.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. Although The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog does feel slightly out of order in places, it is relatively straightforward and not too challenging to prepare.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is a well done, solidly engaging introduction to the basics of The Time Without Tide: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog. Anyone looking for a post-apocalyptic, Dickensian steampunk horror roleplaying game should definitely give this a try.

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is published by Chaosium, Inc., and is available to download here.

Friday Fantasy: Haunting of Beggar’s Creek

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

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek opens with the Player Characters traveling along Towers Track, one of the roads leading to Four Towers, the guild-dominated city known for the dungeons that extend deep under the city and Delver Halls, its distinctive district home to the delver companies, the groups of professional treasure-hunters who live off what they can recover from the depths. The countryside either side of the road is lightly wooded and dotted with small farms, but what catches their attention is the body of young man on the road. There is blood encrusted around his nose and eyes as well as on his face, and his bluish-white skin, feels cold to the touch. There is no obvious cause of death and no obvious sign of a scuffle. The nearest settlement is Beggar’s Creek, just along the road, a town best known for Beggar’s Bridge which crosses the creek and the large inn, the Muggin’s Rest, which caters to the townsfolk, the farmers and farmhands, and the frequent travellers on their way to Four Towers.

The scenario is a murder mystery, almost a cliché in its backstory and its set-up. The Player Characters are not suspects themselves and once they have been directed to take the body to the nearby cemetery for burial, they are free to do what they want. They could walk away, continue their journey, and leave it at that—and that is the scenario’s biggest weakness. It really does rely upon the players’ curiosity and that of their characters. If they remain and investigate, the Player Characters will discover that their discovery was not the first and the bodies of several men have been found on the road in similar circumstances. Worse, their spirits have been seen prowling the area at night and the locals are worried, including the owners of the Muggin’s Rest. So, the question is, what is killing the men and causing their spirits to walk at night instead of passing on?

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek mixes a mini-sandbox with some decent interaction and investigation with a big dollop of horror thrown in. There is a surprisingly large cast of NPCs to talk to and question, a few locations to visit—none of them overly detailed, and a distinct difference in tone between day and night. By day, it is bucolic, tinged by the locals’ concern at the curse which seems to have beset the area. By night, ghosts and worse walk, perhaps leading to situation wherein the owners of the Muggin’s Rest, their family, guests and patrons, as well as the Player Characters, all find themselves under siege by the undead! This is only one possible climax to the scenario, but it is one that can be used to push the plot behind the scenario to a conclusion, especially if the Player Characters have not resolved it by then.

There are not a lot of moving parts to Haunting of Beggar’s Creek, but they are enough to keep the Sage busy and most of them will require more preparation than most other scenarios for Shadow of the Weird Wizard. This mostly consists of a lot of NPCs and ideally a map and a floorplan. The scenario would certainly benefit from a map of the area around the Muggin’s Rest and Beggar’s Creek, and whilst the Sage will need to draw one herself, she will probably find it easier to find a floorplan of an inn to represent the Muggin’s Rest. These are perhaps the only omissions from Haunting of Beggar’s Creek.

Physically, Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is decently presented and well written.

Haunting of Beggar’s Creek is a thoroughly likeable and engaging scenario, a classic set-up in terms of fantasy and horror roleplaying. It does need pulling apart a bit to make clear all of the clues and a fair amount of preparation, but once done, this player-driven scenario will provide a good session or two’s worth of solid play.

Grey City Future

With its near future setting of a San Franciso ravaged by climate change and protected from the sea by seawalls, the bulk of its population having moved off-world  in ‘The Scramble for Stars’ to start again on the megacorporate-sponsored colonies, and the use of Synths or biological androids as a pliable workforce in their stead, Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG feels very much inspired by Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Published two years after the latter film by British publisher, Dragon Turtle Games, Ltd., Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG is also noticeable for the fact that its mechanics are derived from those used for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Although San Francisco is the default city setting in Carbon 2185 and the one detailed in the core rulebook, there are other cities around the world. The cities of London, Manhattan, and Tokyo are detailed in the Carbon 2185 | Cities Sourcebook, mapping out their glittering highlights and grungy lowlifes, whilst Berlin 2185 explores what could be a brighter future.

The Berlin of Berlin 2185 is different to other cities of the late twenty-second century. Whilst their response to environmental collapse has been to cede control to the corporations and slide into a cyberpunk dystopia, the Berlin Mandate Group, at the direction and donations of the Philanthropist has instead sought to share the city’s wealth. To use to protect the city, preserving the old buildings for prosperity whilst constructing more sustainable ones; to introduce a Universal Income and eliminate homelessness; and to establish a drone-driven energy dome over the city, protecting its citizenry, flora, and fauna from the worst effects of UV radiation and other contaminants—effectively, cutting edge weather control. Free from corporate control and capitalist drives, Berlin has become both a scientific and technological paradise and powerhouse.

Another big difference between Berlin and the other major cities of the world is the limited presence of the big corporations—Tusk in particular. The anti-corporate attitude is not just Berlin Mandate Group policy, but deeply woven into Berlin society. In particular, its Punk scene, heavily influenced by the Punk scene in London, but given a German twist in the form of NuWave Punk. A popular slogan of the Berlin Punk movement is, “Keine Unternehmen mehr, keine Lügen mehr!” or “No more Corporations, no more lies!”. The music and associated underground scene are nicely detailed, noting the degree of crossover between London and Berlin whilst emphasising the differences, that it is more accepting of LGBTQA+ members and LGBTQA+ bands as the ‘Gay Capital of Europe’, and that the authorities in the city have a grater tolerance towards the scene than might be found in other cities.

In general Cyberpunk terms, the description of Berlin amounts to a paradise. It is well organised and divided along need, not greed, the roads are uniform, the public transport system non-obtrusive, there are actual trees growing in the city, and at night, one can see the see the stars—unlike any other city in 2185. So where then are the tensions that will bring the Player Characters—or Cyberpunks as they are known—to Berlin and help the Game Master create plots and stories for her campaign. Obviously, one scale there may be tensions one band and another in the city’s punk scene, but on another, the corporations, with their limited presence in the city, would like to know the secrets of Berlin Mandate Group and how the city is run so effectively, let alone steal the flora of the city found nowhere else quite so obviously. For the most part there are jobs that most of the roles in the city legitimately. Docs are in high demand in the city’s medical sector, whether in emergency response teams operating in the city or beyond it or in medical research; Enforcers can find work as bodyguards, and even do clandestine work for the Berlin Mandate Group; Hackers can find work protecting from net-based and Sphere-based corporate intrusion; and the net-based and the Berlin Mandate Group might even employ a Scoundrel.

Some of these tasks are reflected in the new character options included in Berlin 2185. They include a Public Enforcement Officer highly trained in de-escalation and non-lethal resolution, but also heavily scrutinised  by their precincts and the Berlin Mandate Group for wrongful use of violence, and then Media Officer, Scientist, and Agent for the Berlin Mandate Group. The Media Officer will be covering up details as well as presenting them to the press; the Scientist will have access to some of the most advanced technology on the planet; and the Agent does the dirty work that the Media Officer for the Berlin Mandate Group avoids doing. The others include the Eco-Punk Ganger—an environmentalist punk rocker, Drone Operator—much in demand in the skies above Berlin, Media Personality, and Construction Engineer. There is also a discussion of Origins for Cyberpunks appropriate to Berlin, of which Korporate Kids and Badlanders are rare and High Flyers and Sleekers uncommon. The most common are Regular Joes and Gutter Punks.

The various sectors of the city are also described, including a few notable locations, the feel of the place, what food and drink options are available, and what secrets are hidden there. This is followed by a table of encounters. For example, the feel of the Science Park is dominated by the smell of actual live plants and clean water in the fountains, there are vending machines from the city ubiquitous currywurst can be purchased, but few restaurants, and the area is home to Research & Development Labs, Tech Facilities, and the Berlin Mandate Group’s Science Division, as well as the Foresters Houses. The latter is where the city’s foresters live, their job to protect the city’s flora—with prejudice. The secrets here include the Berlin Mandate Group’s complex here, hidden by trees, and rumours of access to an old botanical garden from before Berlin was built over. Compare that to the Construction Sector with its Drone Stations, Barge Launches which launch the huge vessels that do the heavy construction across the site, often deploying massive 3D printers to manufacture on site whole buildings and parts of buildings, and the Observation Watches from their launch can be safely viewed. Its atmosphere is of low hum from all of the devices across the vast maintenance and construction complexes, the air filled with drones and transports. Food and drink are available via vending machines or at canteens, whilst alcohol is forbidden. There is a secret construction project going on here, one that requires printers and factories to operate day and night. All of the nine sectors come with a set of encounters that serve as prompts for the Game Master to develop.

Berlin 2185 does include a section on the Undercity, the dark underbelly of what is old and new Berlin in 2185. Out of the old buildings and tunnels formed through collapse and being built over, long poisoned and irradiated by war and pollution, a nascent organisation called the Cabal is trying to establish itself in the city above. It has corporate connections, but mostly consists of bully-boy asshole white-supremacist fanatics. The Undercity is the Cabal’s territory, but it is home to mutated plants and animals and former humans. (The supplement suggests appropriate monsters from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.) It is quite a short section in comparison to the descriptions of the sectors in the upper city and the city as a whole. Plus, as  really only the main antagonist in Berlin 2185, it does lack advice on how to use it and on how to interface its plans with the upper world, as well as possible hooks that the Game Master could develop into something playable. It leaves the Game Master to handle that.

Another issue with Berlin 2185 is its treatment of its secrets. Some it does tell the Game Master what they are and others not. Whilst the main two threaten to change the nature of Carbon 2185 towards a more Science Fiction genre rather than a Cyberpunk one. It is never quite explicitly explained what they and certainly the ramifications of their discovery are never explored. This would not be so much of a problem if Berlin was not so much of paradise and had a bit more conflict that the Game Master could work from.

Physically, Berlin 2185 is well presented with plenty of artwork to get across the idea that Berlin is a radically different, all but utopian city comparison to the others of Carbon 2185. Sadly, this leaves less room to depict the seamier side of the city where the Cyberpunks are likely to congregate. There is no map either and the layout is untidy.

Berlin 2185 presents something radically different for Carbon 2185. A city with a positive outlook and a sense of hope. The result is engaging, even fascinating in comparison to the other cities in this future, but it does leave the Game Master with a lot of work to develop content and story lines given the lack of conflict in Berlin. There is possibility in the well done section on Punk and the underground music scene, but the remainder feels as if the content could have been developed a bit more, made that bit more engaging. Berlin 2185 is a welcome addition to the Carbon 218 setting, but the Game Master is going to work harder to bring more than its utopia to life and tell interesting stories.

Snæland Sagas #06: The Mystery of Raider Monks

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, and The Companions of Arthur for Pendragon, Sagas of the North is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Iceland the other lands that the Vikings travelled to. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Age of Vikings. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Icelandic settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Vikings Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Age of Vikings campaigns.

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What is the Nature of the Saga?

The Mystery of Raider Monks is a supplement for use with Age of Vikings.

It is a full colour, seventeen page, 14.13 MB PDF.

It contains a secret message the author’s cat.

The layout is tidy, but it does need an edit in places.

Where is the Saga set?

The Mystery of Raider Monks begins near the home of the Player Characters or that of their goði, but will take them far away and back again!

Who should be the subject of this Saga?

Any type of Player Character can take part in this saga. A Player Character able to sail a ship will be useful.

What does the Saga require?

The Mystery of Raider Monks only requires the Age of Vikings core rulebook.

Where will the Vikings go in this Saga?

The Mystery of the Raider Monks starts with a bang—or rather, with the clash of steel—and a mystery. As the title suggests, why are monks landing on the Icelandic coast and attacking any farmstead they find? It sounds as they are going ‘Vikinging’ or raiding, but they seem hellbent on beating to death anyone they find with their clubs and maces and do so in the name of Christ. The influx of Christianity and its increased adoption by many Icelanders is seen as a threat by many, but is this taking things too far? The scenario opens with such a raid and the Player Characters close by to intervene and hopefully drive the monks back to their ship. The staging advice for the battle is solid and the opening scenes provide some decent opportunities for the Player Characters to shine.

Even though the behaviour of the monks seems very strange, everyone after the battle will be calling for revenge and likely for the blood debt now owed by the monks to be paid. This will take the form of a raid on the monastery in Ireland where the monks who attacked the farmsteads came from. Securing the necessary boats can be run in as much detailed required, but could present some opportunities for roleplaying if the players want their characters to negotiate and bargain for supplies and boats. Or it could be run somewhere between the two, but either way it should make use of the Preparation rules in Age of Vikings. A second round of preparation should follow once the Player Characters and their ships reach the Irish coast as they scout the area, land in a favourable position, and so on. The sea journey is glossed over in the scenario, but an encounter roll or two would not go amiss if the Game Master and her players have more time.

The raid itself uses the rules from Age of Vikings for handling the process, and again, can be as abstract or detailed as is necessary. Again, the Player Characters will be facing yet more surprisingly fanatical Christian monks, but also, potentially, the true villain behind the raids. Although the scenario can be played as a one-shot, it works best as an addition to campaign as there are ramifications and consequences of the events of the raid on Ireland.

What will the Skalds sing of this Saga?

The Mystery of the Raider Monks is a short scenario that will probably take a session or two at most to complete. It not only presents an intriguing mystery—though quickly resolved—it also makes good use of the Preparation and Raiding rules. Although the Game Master may want to flesh it out a little, primarily in the scenes in which the raid on the monastery is being prepared, The Mystery of the Raider Monks is solid addition to any Age of Vikings campaign.

Miskatonic Monday #449: Whispers In The Frostbound Woods

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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Whispers In The Frostbound Woods – A 1940s Call of Cthulhu Scenario is an interesting scenario set at intriguing period in time and with two close, almost parallel storylines which can only be played by different groups. Set in February, 1941, it takes place in the deep winter of the frozen north on the border between the Soviet Union and Finland. An interim peace has broken out between the relatively new countries, uneasy after the Winter War of the previous two years which led to Finland being forced cede territory to the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, these concessions are not enough for Moscow and it has intensified its espionage and infiltration activities across the border, especially in Karelia, parts of which it had gained from Finland in the settlement of the Winter War. To that end, it has been sending small groups of infiltrators, called ‘Desants’, often consisting of Fins living in the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (the former parts of Karelia gained from Finland), across the border. They are tasked with reconnaissance, sabotage, and disrupting Finnish efforts to maintain control over its borders. In response, Finland sent patrols of the Finnish Civil Guard to track and counter Desant operations.

At the start of Whispers In The Frostbound Woods, as part of Projekt Snegoviy Tsar—Winter King—an NKVD-led unit of desants has been dropped into Finnish Karelia to examine a location to determine whether it matches historical records and folklore descriptions and document any significant findings at the location, including photographs, sketches, and notes. Alerted by the sighting of parachutes and Soviet aeroplanes in Finnish airspace, a patrol of the Finnish Civil Guard has been ordered to locate and apprehend all foreign operatives that have landed in Finland. At the start of Whispers In The Frostbound Woods, the players are presented with a choice—play the Desants or the Finnish Civil Guard. Of the two, the story for the Desants is more fraught.

The scenario is supported with a lot of historical detail, which itself makes for an interesting read. All together, this covers the relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union, recent history of Karelia, the history of the Desants and the Finnish Civil Guard, and the typical equipment used by both groups. There are not only descriptions for the Keeper for both groups involved in the situation in Whispers In The Frostbound Woods, but a detailed description of what each does if they are used as NPCs rather than as Investigators. There is also a guide to hypothermia taken from the pages of Malleus Monstrorum Volume I: Monsters.

Effectively, two storylines run through Whispers In The Frostbound Woods, one slightly behind the other. For example, Desant team will experience fully its parachute landing in Finland, whereas the Finnish Civil Guard patrol will discover it afterwards and get to examine it. Other scenes either group will experience the same. As they travel, they will experience horrors of both past and present, including some quite visceral scenes, a flashback to a sacrifice that took place more than a thousand years in the past is particularly nasty. Eventually, the Desants group will reach the location indicated by their orders with the Finnish Civil Guard patrol close behind. The latter will find the former in disarray, split by infighting, if not actually dead. This is driven by the strangeness that both groups have experienced, but also the Mythos entity which has been manipulating events all along—for both groups. It is up to the Keeper to decide where and when this manipulation directly takes place. Some advice is included to that end, but given that this does involve the direct manipulation of an Investigator, the scenario is best run by an experienced Keeper and played by experienced players.

Beyond the details of the Mythos threat—a rival to Ithaqua—Whispers In The Frostbound Woods includes a lot of support for both Keeper and players. This includes nine well-done handouts as well as eight Investigators for the Finnish Civil Guard patrol and seven Investigators for Desants. This is to allow for a ready supply of replacement Investigators no matter which group is being played. The appendices include lists of period names and clocks for tracking both body temperature in conjunction with the earlier rules for hypothermia and also the influence of the Mythos entity at the heart of the scenario. Perhaps the most important appendix is the one providing Keeper guidance on the mind control used in the scenario. The advice is decent, but perhaps could have been put together with the details of the scenario Mythos threat and the progress clocks so that it does not feel as if the scenario is avoiding giving any advice at all.

Physically, Whispers In The Frostbound Woods – A 1940s Call of Cthulhu Scenario is decently done. The artwork is serviceable, but the handouts and choice of photographs used are very good.

An ambitious pair of Keepers could actually run the two strands in Whispers In The Frostbound Woods – A 1940s Call of Cthulhu Scenario separate, but in parallel to each other. One running the Desant mission, the other the Finnish Civil Guard patrol, before the final confrontation at the end. It would involve careful staging, but it could be done. Another option would be one group to play through the scenario as the Desant mission, and then a second group play through the scenario as the Finnish Civil Guard patrol, encountering the events and whatever was left behind in the wake of the Desant mission’s passing. It is a pity that options like this are not addressed in the scenario. Of the two groups, the progress of the Desant mission will be more freeform, whilst the Finnish Civil Guard patrol will often be reacting to whatever the Desant group has left behind and so its progress is more structured.

Whispers In The Frostbound Woods – A 1940s Call of Cthulhu Scenario is a linear scenario, not once, but twice. First on an expedition scenario and second on a chase scenario, and whilst each also has its own different tone, both are wintery, unsettling, and disturbing in places. Although there is more potential to its structure than is explore in the scenario, there is a sharp, icy grip to Whispers In The Frostbound Woods – A 1940s Call of Cthulhu Scenario.

1986: Phoenix Command

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

—oOo—

If the apogee of the military roleplaying game was Twilight 2000 in 1984, there was yet life in the genre still. Not in 1985, but in 1986, there were four military roleplaying games published. Delta Force: America Strikes Back! from Task Force Games, Eternal Soldier from Tai-Gear Simulations, Freedom Fighters from Fantasy Games Unlimited, and The Price of Freedom from West End Games were all published in 1986 and that is ignoring the paramilitary elements of the setting for 2300 AD from Game Designers’ Workshop. But in the four decades since, the straight military roleplaying game has been a rarity, and barring the return of Twilight: 2000 with Twilight 2000: Roleplaying in the World War III That Never Was from Free League Publishing, most, such as War Stories: A World War 2 RPG from Firelock Games and Alien: The Roleplaying Game from Free League Publishing, have been set in the theatres of World War 2 and Science Fiction. Of the four from 1986, perhaps the most famous—or should that be infamous?—was Phoenix Command.

Phoenix Command was published by Leading Edge Games, which had already released its first roleplaying game Rhand: Morningstar Missions, in 1984. It was designed as an accurate simulation of gunshot wounds with detailed aiming and firing rules, and authentic modern weapon data to create a simple, fast-paced game with an incredibly realistic feel. It came as a boxed set which included a forty-eight page, spiral-bound ‘Combat System Rule Book’; a twenty-six page, fully illustrated ‘Phoenix Command Modern Military Small Arms Supplement’; four double-sided Reference Cards; character sheets; and a single ten-sided die. Like many roleplaying books from Leading Edge games there was a streak of sly humour that ran through the quotations given in the extra-wide margins of the ‘Combat System Rule Book’. For example, ‘Blam. Blam. “Stop.” Blam. “Police.” Blam. Officer Axly.’ and ‘If you can’t dazzle them with style, riddle them with bullets.” Corley Norris’. The tone of that humour is set by the blurb on the back cover of the box:

“Are you tired of your current small arms combat system? Tired of inconsistencies and rules that simply don't work? If so, we invite you to conduct a short test:

Using your current small arms combat system, place the muzzle of a large caliber pistol between your character's eyes. Squeeze the trigger. Continue squeezing the trigger until he falls unconscious. Then have a friend put a band-aid over that nasty .45 caliber dent in his skull, and try not to get him shot too often in the week or two it takes to heal.

Now, using Phoenix Command, place the same pistol in the same place. Squeeze the trigger. You now have a choice: you can either roll up a new character or rush the body to a very sophisticated medical facility and discover the joys of role-playing a vegetable.

If you are nodding your head and smiling, and thinking that it would be nice to have a combat system that really works, welcome to Phoenix Command!”

This then sets out the stall for Phoenix Command. It was a highly detailed, highly accurate simulation of small arms combat designed to be used on its own, but more obvious as a replacement for the smalls combat rules that the Game Master and his players were dissatisfied with from whatever modern or military roleplaying game they were playing. There was fertile ground for this in 1986, whether it was The Morrow Project or Merc, Delta Force or The Price of Freedom, or more obviously, Twilight 2000. Essentially, just like the constituent parts of Rolemaster—Arms Law, Spell Law, Claw Law, Character Law, and Campaign Law—before it became a roleplaying game all on its own, were designed to replace the parts of the fantasy roleplaying game that a group was dissatisfied with, Phoenix Command was designed to bolt onto the modern or military roleplaying game of a group’s choice. However, unlike the various parts of Rolemaster which coalesced into a roleplaying game all of its own, Phoenix Command and its various supplements never would. Instead, stripped down versions of the rules would appear in Living Steel and the Aliens Adventure Game.

The spiral-bound ‘Combat System Rule Book’ is surprisingly short. However, do not in any way think that this means that Phoenix Command is not as complex as its reputation suggests it is. Phoenix Command is complex and that starts with Player Character. First, a player rolls three six-sided each for Strength, Will, Health, and Agility. Then the Game Master or player decides on the Player Character’s Gun Combat Skill Level. This ranges from one to twenty, with an average solider having a 2nd Skill Level, a veteran a 3rd or 4th Skill Level, an elite soldier a 5th Skill Level, 6th Skill Level, or 7th Skill Level, and a marksman a 9th Skill Level at the very least. What determines the actual Gun Combat Skill Level will depend upon the role that the Player Character has in whatever game or encounter that the Game Master is about to run or by the rough skill level in the roleplaying game that Phoenix Command is being used to replace. It should be noted that beyond noting that it represents the Player Character’s competence with small arms, there is no real explanation of what it is beyond that, and it is also the only skill in Phoenix Command.

What the player is instructed to do next is determine Encumbrance. This is the total weight of armour, clothing weapons, and equipment carried into combat. There is a surprisingly short equipment list and no real explanation of what each item is in comparison to the explanations of what each gun is in the ‘Combat System Rule Book’ and the ‘Phoenix Command Modern Military Small Arms Supplement’. After that, it gets complex with a lot of cross-referencing on tables. Base Speed is determined by cross-referencing Strength and Encumbrance on Table 2A and Base Speed and Agility on table 2B to find out the Player Character’s Maximum Speed. (This means that should a Player Character drop or shed a lot of weight, such as dropping a Squad Assault Weapon and switching to a pistol, all of this will need to be recalculated…) The Gun Combat Skill Level is checked on Table 2C for the Player Character’s Skill Accuracy Level, which measures his actual skill with weapons and knowledge of small arms tactics. Typically, a Player Character’s Skill Accuracy Level is six points higher than his Gun Combat Skill Level. Skill Factor is the Player Character’s Agility plus Gun Combat Skill Level, but there is no explanation as what it is. The number of his Combat Actions is determined by cross-referencing Maximum Speed with Skill Factor. Knockout Value is derived from Will and Gun Combat Skill Level. This is percentage chance of a combatant withstanding the pain of wounds and not falling unconscious.

Officer John Smith
Strength 11 Will 9 Health 11 Agility 12
Gun Combat Skill Level: 3rd Skill Level
Encumbrance 13.2 lb.
Base Speed: 2.5
Maximum Speed: 5
Skill Accuracy Level: 9
Skill Factor: 12
Combat Actions: 4
Knockout Value: 13

EQUIPMENT
Clothing (5 lb.)
Medium Flexible Armour (2.6 lb.)
Fighting Harness (0.6 lb.)
Holster (0.4 lb.)
Magazine Pouch (two magazines) (2.2 lb.)
Beretta M92F (2.4 lb.)

There is an example character, but not example of the creation process. There is also the basics of pre-generated troops intended to be used as quick NPCs.

Mechanically, there is no skill roll in Phoenix Command and no rules for handling actions that are not directly related to combat. So, the ‘Combat System Rule Book’ quickly moves on to weapons, movement, actions, and shooting. Each weapon has data for length, wait, reload time, rate of fire, ammunition capacity, and ammunition weight and feed device, which you would expect as per any roleplaying game with firearms. Added to this are Sustained Automatic Burst, a weapon’s accuracy during burst fire; Aim Time Accuracy Level Modifier, a measure of a weapon’s accuracy when time is spent aiming; Relative Impact Damage and Damage Class, which measures bullet penetration and bullet damage capability respectively; and Minimum Arc, the minimum number of hexes over which a burst of automatic fire is spread. Then each weapon has Ballistic Data and this is not for the weapon itself, but for different types of ammunition—Full Metal Jacket, Hollow Point, Armour, Jacketed Hollow Point, and Jacketed Soft Point—the Relative Impact Damage and Damage Class varying according to range.

Phoenix Command is intended to be played on a grid of two-yard hexes in a continuous stream of two-second phases. In each phase, the player will expend his Combat Actions on movement and actions that have an Action Cost. Movement takes into account direction of movement—forward, backward, oblique, and sideways; stance, including crouching, hands and knees, and belly crawl; elevation and terrain and depth of water; injury; and more. Actions include assuming a firing stance, ducking, changing facing, getting up and down, breaking and clearing glass from a window, drawing a pistol from multiple different types of holsters, tossing a grenade, and so on. The list is extensive, but advice is included on how to work out what the Action Cost is for any action not listed.

Each phase is broken down into three periods. First, in the Allocation period, players and Game Master allocate their Combat Actions. A player does not have to allocate all of them, but can save some of them for the Response period. In the Movement Period all combatants expend their Combat Actions assigned to movement, whilst any remaining Combat Actions are spent in the Response period. This can be on type of action, except movement. Primarily, it is spent is on combat actions. Fire resolution takes place at the end of the phase.

Fire resolution assumes that combatants take time to aim. The rules allow for hip fire and snapshots, both of which are done at a penalty, but otherwise to gain the full accuracy of a weapon, a player needs to assume a firing stance, which takes Combat Actions, and then spend one or more Combat Actions aiming. The Odds of Hitting is determined by aim time, firing stance, range, visibility, movement, and size of target. Each of these provides an Accuracy Level Modifier (ALM), which are in turn the Aim Time ALM, Target Range ALM, Firing Stance/Situation ALM, Visibility ALM, Movement ALM, Target Size ALM, and Effective Accuracy Level ALM. The Aim Time ALM will vary according to weapon and every weapon has a table for the number of Combat Actions spent aiming and the resulting modifiers. Visibility ALM accounts for smoke, darkness, optical scope, and so on. The Target Size ALM not only includes the stance and position of the target, but modifiers for the head, body, arms, and legs, which can be applied if an attacker wants to shoot at a specific body location. The total number of Accuracy Level Modifiers are called the Effective Accuracy Level and the higher this is, the greater the Odds of Hitting. This is cross-referenced on the Single Shot Odds Table to get a percentile chance and this is rolled equal to, or under, for a single to hit a target.

In addition, Phoenix Command also takes into account visibility of a target if the target moves. So, a target might be visible at the start and in the middle of the Movement Period, but not at the end, it allows a shooter to potentially fire at a target before he moves behind cover. It simply applies an Action Count penalty, the longer the target is out of line of sight the higher the Action Count penalty.

So far, this is the only time that anyone has made a dice roll. And what is important here is that it is not a skill roll of any kind—at least not in the traditional sense of a roleplaying game. Rather it is determined by the choices made by the player as to what stance his character will take, how many Combat Actions will be spent aiming, what weapon he is using, and so on. The character that a player has created and is controlling has no immediate effect on how good, or how accurate, a shot he is. Ultimately what the factors created during character generation influence is how many Combat Actions he has in a single phase. The more he has, the more can move, take cover, and so on, but ultimately, the more time he can spend aiming.

This though, is only for single shots. The process for fully automatic fire is slightly different. It is done in half second bursts into an Arc of Fire that indicates how many bullets are fired into each hex and thus at each target. Target visibility, which already accounted for the amount of time that the target was visible over the course of a single phase also indicates how many bursts can be fired at a target. In addition to aim time, firing stance, range, visibility, movement, and size of target all being factors in finding out the Odds of Hitting, automatic fire adds elevation as well as Arc of Fire. Automatic Elevation target size modifier replaces Target Size ALM and is taken from the Burst Elevation Odds Table. It is rolled first and if successful, the burst is at the correct elevation and a roll to hit using the Automatic Weapon Hit Chance Table. The chance of hitting depends on the Arc of Fire and Rate of Fire and is rolled per target, with the result also indicating how many bullets hit. An attacker can continue to first bursts or fully automatic fire from one phase to the next, but there is a Sustained Automatic Burst penalty for each weapon which is applied to the Effective Accuracy Level on each subsequent rounds of firing.

The next dice roll is to find out where a target is hit. This is a simple roll on the ‘Hit Location and Damage Table’ which gives different results based upon the target was looking around or over cover, if he was firing around or over cover, and if he is in the open. The amount of Physical Damage inflicted is determined by the weapon’s Damage Class and Effective Impact Damage. However, first you need to know what the Effective Impact damage is and that is worked out by subtracting the Protection Factors of any armour worn from the Relative Impact Damage. Relative Impact Damage is a measure of a bullet’s penetrating power and both that and the Damage Class depend upon the range of the attack and the type of ammunition fired. Armour is by location and its Protection Factors will vary from four for Light Flexible to thirty for Heavy Rigid. If the Effective Impact Damage is reduced to zero by the Protection Factors, the shot does not penetrate and no damage is inflicted. If the Effective Impact Damage is more than zero, but less than the Protection Factors, the shot penetrates, but its damage is reduced. To learn how much, the roll for the hit location is cross referenced with the correct Effective Impact Damage for the Damage Class of the weapon. If the Effective Impact Damage is greater than the Protection Factors, the shot penetrates and inflicts the full amount of Effective Impact Damage listed under the Damage Class. (The term used here is “full Damage Class (DC) column”, but there is no Damage Column marked ‘Full’, so presumably, the authors meant the maximum value.) Depending upon the Effective Impact Damage, the Damage Class, and the hit location, the Physical Damage inflicted can range from one to millions of points. Hit locations run from forehead to ankle-foot and also include glancing blows to general locations. In general, hits to the head—forehead, eye/nose, and mouth—will inflict anywhere from hundreds of points of Physical Damage to hundreds of thousands of Physical Damage.

The rules also allow for disabling blows if the shot hits an arm or leg and a target being knocked out by damage suffered. Any damage suffered greater than a target’s Knockout Value and there is a 25% chance that he will be rendered unconscious. This rises to 75% if the damage suffered is more than twice the target’s Knockout Value and 98% if is more than three times the target’s Knockout Value. And to remind ourselves, Knockout Value is not determined by Health, but by Will and Gun Combat Skill Level, so effectively, the better you are at firing guns, the less likelihood you have of falling unconscious due to pain.

After a battle, all wounded characters must check to see if they will live. Physical Damage Total is how much damage a character has suffered, whilst the Damage Total is a measure of the severity of the injuries suffered. To get the Damage Total, the Physical Damage is multiplied by ten and then divided by the character’s Health. The Medical Aid And Recovery Table is consulted to discover the Critical Time Period during which time the character must receive aid and the Recovery Roll to be made at the end of this period. This will vary according to whether the character receives no aid, first aid, goes to an aid station or field hospital, or is sent to a modern trauma centre. There are suggested adjustments for trauma centres, or hospitals, from 1831 to 2345—even though the weapons listed in the ‘Phoenix Command Modern Military Small Arms Supplement’ cover the period from 1910 to roughly 1990. The Recovery Roll is a percentile value and if the roll is made, the target will survive, the Critical Time Period also indicating how long it takes for the target to recover. Results of “00” on the Medical Aid And Recovery Table mean that the character cannot survive. The rules also account for the lingering effects of old injuries.

In general, if a target suffers a Damage Total of one hundred or more, he is in trouble without dedicated medical aid. At a Damage Total of a thousand and more and the Recovery Roll values plummet. However, there is no chance of a character dying in actual combat. There is a chance of being knocked out—a good chance—and only after a combat is it discovered whether a character has lived or died. For all that Phoenix Command claims to be accurate simulation of gunshot wounds, there is no means of working out if a character is dead in the midst of a shootout and no rules for rendering first aim whilst in combat. Experienced players of Phoenix Command can estimate the likelihood of a target not recovering from the amount of damage suffered, but both omissions make no sense.

Now all of this takes up sixteen pages of the ‘Combat System Rule Book’! Which begs the question, “What the hell is in the rest of the book?” There is some advice for running Phoenix Command, which includes delegating some of the tasks, using a ranging stick, and using markers to indicate each character’s status. There are two sample scenarios. Scenario one is ‘The Bridge of Oppenheim’, a beginning scenario for five to eight players and involves German and NATO forces facing a Russian invasion just outside Mainz and Wiesbaden. Each player controls a single figure, so all together equal to two squads who must hold off forty-eight Russians! It is designed to teach the rules for Odds of Hitting and damage. The second scenario is ‘The Defence of the Apollo Rey’. It places for four SAS (Special Action Squad) commandos aboard a vessel that has been taken over by nine terrorists. It is not as static as ‘The Bridge of Oppenheim’, with the terrorists searching for passengers and the commandos trying to incapacitate the terrorists without alerting them. Both scenarios come with maps and pre-generated characters.

The remaining ten pages of provide optional rules. These differentiate between non-blocking cover—that is, cover that blocks sight, not penetration and blocking cover that does both; field of view which can be increased by expending Combat Actions to look around; shotguns which involve Base Pellet Hit Chance and a Pattern Radius in working out the resulting Effective Accuracy Level; explosives and grenades, which includes the possibility of damage from both shrapnel and concussion; improved accuracy for all weapons; spotting and sound detection; defensive skills, initiative, and morale; Master Phasing Count; and second shot accuracy, pinned targets, and semiauto bursts. Of these, the Master Phasing Count is a means of determining when detailed timing of fire occurs, such as who fires first. This is discovered by cross-referencing a character’s number of Combat Actions with the Action Count and is measured in tenths of seconds. The defensive skills are the only rule to use a character’s Intelligence and the first mention that a character should have an Intelligence characteristic, but the inference is that it comes from the roleplaying game whose combat rules Phoenix Command is replacing rather be rolled for as in a standard roleplaying game.

The ‘Combat System Rule Book’ packs a lot of rules and a lot of detail in its forty-eight pages. There are moments where it is possible to see what the designers intended and grasp the rules as written, helped by numerous examples. However, turn the page and there is another set of rules for another specific situation and they have their own complexity. And then again. The advice for the Game Master suggests delegating tasks to her fellow players, but that assumes they understand the rules. The complexity of the game means that it is challenging to teach and none of it is necessarily intuitive or easy to grasp, whilst the constant need to consult the tables at the back of the ‘Combat System Rule Book’ can only serve to slow down the play of the game. At the very least, what Phoenix Command needs is a set of flow charts per player, one flow chart per action, and even as much as that would ease play, there is no denying that it would still be intimidating.

In comparison to the ‘Combat System Rule Book’, the ‘Phoenix Command Modern Military Small Arms Supplement’ is straight forward. It lists almost one-hundred-and-twenty handguns, submachine guns, assault rifles, squad automatic weapons, general purpose machine guns, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, shotguns, grenade launchers, anti-tank rockets, and rocket propelled grenades, and twenty-four grenades. The earliest weapon given is the Browning M1911A1, whilst the then most recent are the Italian Benelli CB-M2 submachine gun, German Heckler & Koch G11 assault rifle, and British XLE85E1 assault rifle, all of which were underdevelopment at the time of Phoenix Command’s publication. The only thing missing perhaps is a standard .38 caliber revolver instead of just the Smith & Wesson M36 2” Barrel, Chief’s Special.

Physically, Phoenix Command is well-presented and the production values are high. With its spiral bound format, the ‘Combat System Rule Book’ definitely looks like the technical manual it is supposed to be. There is a glossary of terms, and even though it is only forty-eight pages long, the ‘Combat System Rule Book’ could have done with an index. Arguably, ‘Phoenix Command Modern Military Small Arms Supplement’ could have done with one too. Otherwise, the illustrations—nearly all of them guns—are fine and the maps serviceable.

—oOo—

Roman J. Andron reviewed Phoenix Command in ‘Game Reviews’ in Different Worlds. No. 47 (Fall 1987). He opened with, “IMPRESSIVE. THAT is the first word that comes to mind when Phoenix Command is implemented in a game. Never before have such high degrees of realism and playability been achieved simultaneously in the gaming world. Compared to this, all other combat systems are nothing.” His only issues were with the use of English (or Imperial) measurements rather than Metric and that the high number of abbreviations slowed down the process of learning the rules. Other than that, the review was very positive and Andron awarded it four stars before concluding with “I heartily recommend this system to weapons buffs or anyone wanting to put realism into their role-playing or wargaming. Phoenix Command provides for a simple yet highly-realistic simulation of modern firearms combat. However, my recommendations cannot do justice to the system. It has to be used to be fully appreciated.”

—oOo—

Although Phoenix Command can be praised for its degree of detail and accuracy, in terms of game design it is a developmental dead end. It represents the simulationist drive for accuracy and detail pushed to the nth degree, to the point of not necessarily unplayability, but at the cost of playability and engagement. More skirmish wargame than roleplaying game, Phoenix Command is a love letter to statistics, the nadir of the trend of military roleplaying games in the nineteen eighties, and today, a dinosaur.

Dirt & Danger

Dust & Blood: Two Scenarios of Gaslight London is a duology of scenarios for Cthulhu by Gaslight, the expansion for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition which explores the place of the Cthulhu Mythos in the last decades of the Victorian era. Its two scenarios take the Investigators into the grimier and grimmer side of Victorian life. The first, ‘Ashes to Ashes’, is a short, one session scenario, suited to both a new Keeper and new players, but with an intriguing set-up that veteran players and history lovers will still enjoy. Its running length also means that the scenario can be used as a demonstration or convention. Whilst ‘Ashes to Ashes’ is new, the second scenario, ‘Signs Writ in Scarlet’ is not, having first appeared in Sacraments of Evil, the 1993 anthology for Cthulhu by Gaslight, Second Edition. It is a much longer, more open world sandbox affair best suited for the more experienced Keeper and her players. Of the two, ‘Signs Writ in Scarlet’ is easier to add to an ongoing campaign and could be run as an indirect sequel to ‘Ashes to Ashes’. ‘Ashes to Ashes’ could also be used as a campaign starter. Both scenarios are supported by a plethora of maps and handouts, as well as ten pre-generated Investigators. Four of them are specifically designed to be used with ‘Ashes to Ashes’, but the introduction includes advice on how to use the ten of the pre-generated Investigators with the two scenarios.

‘Ashes to Ashes’, the first of the two scenarios in Dust & Blood has one of the more interesting set-ups for any Call of Cthulhu scenario, let alone for Cthulhu by Gaslight. A set-up that outside of Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend is little known and a set-up that asks, “How did the Victorians get rid of their rubbish?” In Tudor times, the infamous gong farmers dug out and collected the ordure from privies and cesspits, but by the end of the Victorian era, extensive sewage systems had been built to prevent pollution and outbreaks of disease. That though, still left the household rubbish to be dealt with and that included tonnes of coal dust from each household. ‘Dustmen’ were employed by ‘dust yards’ to collect this dust and brought back to the dust-yard where it would be picked through by dust-sifters and fillers for anything valuable, including catskins, cinders, cork, oyster shells, and rags.

In ‘Ashes to Ashes’, the Investigators are employees at Lange’s Dust-Yard, either dustmen who collect the dust, totters who are rag-and-bone-men, dust-sifters, fillers, or workers on the destructor crew. All of these occupations are Lower Class roles, whilst the yard’s clerks are lower Middle Class roles. The scenario suggests minimum skill values for all of these Occupations and provides several NPCs who can be replaced by an Investigator if a player wants to take a particular role in the scenario. This gives the option for the players to create their own Investigators as well as choosing from the provided pre-generated Investigators. Also discussed are ways in which a Middle Class Investigator can be included, but at its core, ‘Ashes to Ashes’ is set in a working class environment which intentionally enforces the society of the time’s limits on where the Investigators can go, what they can do, and where they can be seen.

Given its length, it should be no surprise that ‘Ashes to Ashes’ starts with a bang. Or rather, with a bag. A bag that seems to be squirming. Has a pet been put out with the dust and the rubbish by mistake? It turns out not to be so, but something much stranger—a monstrous figure made of grey dust that that attacks the Investigators and other workers at the dust yard. This encounter begs the obvious question, “Where did the grey man and the bag he was in, come from?” The subsequent investigation quickly leads to a house at the posh end of the district that the dust yard works. Here the Investigators are confronted with a situation quite typical of Call of Cthulhu made all the more challenging by it being very much out of their Class and the location being very much not their place. It is a chance for them to see how the other half lives and the consequences of that. ‘Ashes to Ashes’ is a very likeable scenario, made all the more so by its genuinely different set-up and straightforward plot, made all the more difficult by the differences of Class.

The second scenario, ‘Signs Writ in Scarlet’, is longer and more demanding for both the Keeper and the players. It takes place over the course of three weeks beginning in October, 1889, and takes the Investigators down the streets and up the alleys of a Whitechapel scarred by the Jack the Ripper murders of the year before. In fact, the scenario is modelled on the murders and the reaction to them, but tells a story of its own rather than exploiting them or associating them with the Mythos. The district is beset by a new series of murders, this time of men rather than women, but found in similar circumstances in the fog and their flesh carved with curious symbols. The Investigators are either hired by the East End Citizens Committee, get intrigued by the newspaper reports, or are called in by Scotland Yard for their expertise, and so begin to look into the deaths. The scenario has twin parallel tracks that the Investigators will need to follow, one attending the many days of the coroner’s inquests held for each of the murder victims, the other working the streets and trying to gather clues via legwork. Both the coroner’s inquests and the deaths give the scenario a tight timeline and structure. What it means is that the Keeper will need to switch back and forth between the two investigative strands, one static, one free roaming. Players and Investigators will have more freedom of choice in the latter rather than the former, but the former is not without its incident and scope to ask questions.

The freedom of the street investigation is complicated by the fact that the Investigators are not the only ones looking into the deaths and searching for the culprit. Some of the groups conducting their own investigations have their own agendas and will not take kindly to the Investigators’ involvement. ‘Signs Writ in Scarlet’ has many more moving parts than ‘Ashes to Ashes’, is more detailed and involving, and has more NPCs for the Keeper to maintain a track of. The scenario also has two endings because it is not so much a matter of finding out who the murderer is, but a matter of finding out why. Investigating further will lead to some horrible revelations, although it is possible that the scenario will end in a bloody massacre should the players and their Investigators not continue their enquiries. This possibility and the complexity of the scenario are why it warrants more experienced Keeper and players.

The scenario update is not extensive, but it does include an option for use with Pulp Cthulhu: Two-fisted Action and Adventure Against the Mythos which links the perpetrator to the character of Sweeney Tood, first seen in the penny dreadful serial The String of Pearls. This does feel like the overegging the scenario, given how judiciously it makes use of the Jack the Ripper legend, but otherwise the scenario benefits from some careful staging advice. If ‘Ashes to Ashes’ is grimy, then ‘Signs Writ in Scarlet’ is grim, but richly detailed and a classic worth updating and reprinting given that it has been out of print for over three decades.

Physically, Dust & Blood: Two Scenarios of Gaslight London is as well presented as you would expect for a Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition supplement. The illustrations are also good, those for ‘Ashes to Ashes’ actually having a lighter feel then those for then ‘Signs Writ in Scarlet’.

One quibble with the writing is that in places it favours American terminology first rather than British terminology. For example, in ‘Ashes to Ashes’ , the description of the disposal of household waste opens with “Recycling of household garbage (or rubbish as it is known in England)…” rather than, “Recycling of household rubbish (or garbage as it is known in the USA)…” Obviously, Call of Cthulhu and Cthulhu by Gaslight are published by an American company and their largest audience is American, but what it feels like is that an explanation is being given to non-American readers about a setting that is not American. Whereas the explanation should be for the American reader because it is not an American setting. Similarly, for the storeys of a house, the scenario uses “First (Ground) Floor” and “Second Floor” rather than “Ground (First) Floor” and “First (Second) Floor”. Again, this is a quibble, but given that Cthulhu by Gaslight is set in Victorian Britain and both scenarios are set in London, this phrasing is inconsistent, reads oddly, and is just slightly jarring.

Dust & Blood: Two Scenarios of Gaslight London provides very solid support for Cthulhu by Gaslight with something new and something old. The new gives a new angle from which to explore the Mythos in the Victorian era, whilst the old examines the Victorian attitude to murder following a public panic. In all honesty, two scenarios feels just two slight and it is easier to add one to an existing campaign than the other, which limits its use. Nevertheless, both scenarios in Dust & Blood: Two Scenarios of Gaslight London are very welcome support for the Keeper of Cthulhu by Gaslight, one new and inventive, one old, but a classic.