Miskatonic Monday #400: Rewind – A 1980s Anthology

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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With a trade dress that is a nod to the Blockbuster chain of home video rental shops, the Keeper and her players are going to know where they with Rewind – A 1980s Anthology. This is a collection of connected scenarios that throws them back into the nostalgia of the eighties, Reagan’s America, and the films to rent from the local video library. It consists of five individual scenarios, plus a prequel that can also be played as a flashback, each of which is inspired by a particular set of films from the period. They take place in and around the fictional Butcher Creek, a wholly unremarkable town that has been absorbed by a nearby larger city and had what was its major employer for decades shut down its operations. As a consequence, like so many towns and cities in Reagan’s America, it is suffering from a post-industrial combination of malaise, decline, and loss of identity. This lends its scenarios a certain sense of scuzzy desperation as cults take advantage of the townsfolks’ desperation and hopelessness to bring their plans to fruition and entities from beyond infiltrate the town.

All six scenarios are quite short, designed to be played in approximately two hours—equal to the running time of a video cassette—though some have scope for a longer playing time. Although there are suggestions as to adjust to a lower number of players, the ideal number for all six scenarios is five players. Each scenario is inspired by a different series of films released on video during the period and as a consequence, each has a both a different theme and a different cast of pre-generated Investigators. This gives Rewind – A 1980s Anthology a portmanteau structure and a disparate nature, so that there is no one strong hook that a standard campaign for Call of Cthulhu would have. Rather than be run as a traditional, dedicated campaign, Rewind – A 1980s Anthology might instead be run as what are initially one-off scenarios, in any order, set in the same place with the players making connections with elements of the previous scenarios as they roleplay through them. In addition, none of the scenarios conclude in a satisfactory conclusion or with questions answered. Only the finale does.

The anthology opens with the prequel, ‘I Can’t Stand It’. Inspired by Hillstreet Blues, it is actually set in the late seventies, and casts the Player Characters as ‘cowboy cops’ who act first and complain about the paperwork afterwards. A routine callout to a notoriously seedy motel leads to a late night hostage situation, followed by a car chase and deadly motor vehicle collision, and a revelation that will have repercussions in later scenarios. The film Repo Man is the inspiration for the first part of the campaign, ‘Best Damn Car in the Yard’, in which a rough team of repo men who are given the emergency task of recovering a stolen bright green 1970 Plymouth Barracuda with black graphics. Their hunt for the missing vehicle leads them into a confrontation with local mobsters and probable arrest, at which point one of the surviving cops from ‘I Can’t Stand It’ might tell them about the events back in 1978 and so allow the Keeper to run the prequel as a flashback.

‘Insert Coin for Credit’ is inspired by Tron and Weird Science. The Investigators are teenagers who like to hang out at Butcher Creek’s Sure Shot arcade and get to try their hands at a few arcade classics before the mystery begins. This is around a strange game that two other teenagers are obsessed with—and increasingly so, becoming violent in their attempts to play it. At the same time, the Investigators begin to suffer strange dreams and become obsessed themselves. When the arcade game disappears can they track it down and discover what it really is? The Investigators are employees of Trajan’s Pizza in the third scenario, ‘Special Delivery’, which is inspired by Terminator, Alien, and other slasher/stalker films. First, one of their number begins to suffer seizures and then they all do. As they occur again and again, investigating that evening’s pizza deliveries leads to death, mystery, and indications that something not of this Earth is stalking them.

Karate Kid/Cobra Kai and Kung-Fu Hustle are the inspiration for ‘Dojo Nights’ which casts the Investigators as students at the town’s dojo. This is the most combative of the scenarios in Rewind – A 1980s Anthology as the students face off against each other several times in the course of the scenario. Their sensei is desperate to recover some books taken from him to repay a debt, a process which could get them into trouble, and definitely will when they return the books and he becomes obsessed and wants to control all of his students. The ‘Finale – Gotta Die of Something, Kid’ potentially brings all of the survivors from the previous five scenarios together, giving the player multiple options as who they might roleplay for the climax of Rewind – A 1980s Anthology. Also returning are the remaining foes from the previous scenarios so the players could also roleplay the Investigators in those scenarios too, the Keeper keeping the action going by switching back and forth between the different groups and foes. As the townsfolk rise in a brainwashed stupor, the surviving Investigators need to stop each of their foes’ final plans before a showdown with the source of the threat for everything that has been happening in Butcher Creek.

Physically, what is striking about Rewind – A 1980s Anthology is the use of different trade dresses. Most obviously, its cover is a reference to the Blockbuster chain, but inside the guide to Butcher Creek is done as an insert to Yellow Pages, the commercial telephone directory, and the scenario backgrounds are themed. ‘Fight to Live’ takes place in and around a dojo, so is decorated with dragons and Chinese Hanzi script, ‘Special Delivery’ is a done as an Italian pizzeria, and so on. It is very cheesy, but it does not always work. The Yellow Pages guide is a bit too vibrant and uses a lot of different fonts that make it difficult to read. In addition, the NPC stat blocks, done as Blockbuster-style membership cards are slightly too small to read with ease and the anthology also needs a good edit.

Rewind – A 1980s Anthology is ambitious, but unlike a traditional campaign for Call of Cthulhu, there is insufficient scope for the players, let alone the Investigators in the individual scenarios, to really gain any idea of what is going on or to really affect what is going on until the finale of the campaign. The Investigators do not come to fully realise who or what the antagonist is and what they are trying to do, and there are no real ways of their finding this out. There is even an organisation in the campaign which probably does know, appearing as it does at the end of several of the scenarios, to offer to help by cleaning up after the Investigators’ activities. It is not explained who they and they certainly do not explain to the Investigators what is going on either. Individually, the scenarios are thematically engaging and pack a decent amount of action and social interaction within their two-hour running times, but as a whole, Rewind – A 1980s Anthology leaves much of the mystery out of the grasp of Investigators and their players.

Blood for the Blood Queen!

It is 1586 and Queen Elizabeth holds Mary, Queen of Scots still prisoner. Powerful, yet on the periphery of Europe, she is anathema to every good Catholic and every Catholic majesty on the continent, and to the Pope in Rome. Philip II of Spain, once also King of England by marriage to Elizabeth’s older half-sister, Queen Mary, sees it as his divine duty to overthrow his sister-in-law as a heretic and install Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne of England. It is a year before Queen Elizabeth will execute Mary, Queen of Scots and two years before King Philip launched the ill-fated Spanish Armada to defeat England’s sea power and invade, making England catholic once again. Meanwhile, he plots and directs court to undermine the English throne at every turn. In 1586, at his bidding, his court astrologer, Abiathar Crescas, will launch a plot that will see Queen Elizabeth suborned and replaced by the end of the year! Only the condemned men and women in the employ of Doctor John Dee, heretics themselves who would have been executed long ago were it not for Sir Francis Walsingham giving them a stay of execution whilst they investigate occult threats to both Queen and kingdom, are all that stand between Spain and a dastardly demonic plot to overthrow her majesty! This is the situation that faces the Agents in Abaddon’s Puppet, a scenario for Just Crunch Games’ The Dee Sanction, the roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe.

Abaddon’s Puppet takes place in late 1586. It begins with Doctor John Dee instructing the Agents to continue investigating Christopher Marlowe after the events outlined in the scenario, ‘Ex Libris’ (which can be found in The Dee Sanction Adventures: A True & Faithful Transcription of Matters Concerning Lost Books, Strange Sorceries, Befouled Poppets, Accusations of Witchcraft, and Assorted HELLSCAPES) and word reaching the Agents of the bodies of children being found in the Thames, each one strangely withered, as if aged. This gives the Agents two lines of inquiry, one more difficult than the other. Investigating Christopher Marlowe is hampered by the fact that he has disappeared, but he was last seen coaching a young actor, Victor Smith, who has also disappeared. The Agents need to be circumspect here, since the clues point to Victor Smith working at the estate of Lord Wessex at nearby Egham. The other line of inquiry is more direct, taking the Agents along the banks of the Thames and surrounding streets on the trail of the bodies leading to an orphanage and a foundered ship just upriver. Eventually, this will lead to signs of very bloody doings in a nearby cellar. If the Agents are quick, they may well discover the perpetrators of bloody doings in situ and bring the scenario to much earlier end. However, it is more likely that they will be long gone by the Agents get there and it will be necessary to follow the other line of inquiry to the conclusion of the scenario. This takes place at Kenilworth Castle, owned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, where Abiathar Crescas and other Catholic conspirators work to bring their demonic plan to fruition and so engineer her dethronement and replacement by Mary, Queen of Scots.

Abaddon’s Puppet is a well organised affair. Each plot strand—the two investigations into Christopher Marlowe and the bodies in the water, followed by the journey to and the confrontation at Castle Kenilworth—is presented on a single page. This includes an overview and lists of clues, characters, and locations, the lists presenting the information as a series of bullet points. However, there is no direct connective tissue between the lists and it is not directly clear as to what clue each NPC knows and why. For the experienced Game Master this is not a problem as she can make the narrative connections and so bring the interactions between the NPCs and the Agents to life. For the less experienced Game Master this will be more of a hurdle and she may well want to assign each clue to a particular NPC or group of NPCs as part of her preparation. The Game Master might also want to create a few minor NPCs too should the players and their Agents want to talk to the families of the ‘adopted’ children. Otherwise, the organisation makes the scenario very easy to run from the page.

Physically, Abaddon’s Puppet is short, but decently organised and illustrated. Everything is clearly laid out and easy to find, and although lightly illustrated, it is a nice-looking scenario.

Taking some inspiration from the film Shakespeare in Love, Abaddon’s Puppet presents a dark, twisted plot against Queen Elizabeth that combines some pleasing investigation, a horrifying and challenging confrontation against the occult, and outright, bloody treason! In truth, the Agents are going to be lucky to survive the confrontation against Abaddon at the end of the scenario, but if they do, they will have proved their worth and their loyalty to the crown. Of course, having already been condemned to death and under stay of execution, their reward is never going to be more than a mere thanks and another assignment. Such is the power of The Dee Sanction.

Fallout Together

The year is 2287. It is two centuries since the Great War between the USA and China that turned the world into irradiated, chemically polluted Wastelands. The Commonwealth is no different, in part overrun by feral ghouls, raiders, and super mutants, whilst in the background the remnants of pre-war corporations and institutes plot to dominate the region. Not all is lost, for the survivors, whether descendants of those who survived the great war, intelligent ghouls and super mutants, and former dwellers of the vaults established by Vault-Tec who have begun to leave the refuges that have protected them for centuries, are working to rebuild. Yet there remain many threats to face and secrets to uncover if the Commonwealth is to be safe and able to prosper. This setting may well, unsurprisingly, be familiar to many. This is because it is that of Fallout 4, the award-winning action roleplaying game published by Bethesda Softworks in 2015 and updated in 2025 for its tenth year anniversary with Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, which depicts a post-apocalyptic future that is heavily influenced by American culture and kitsch of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. And it is also that of the Fallout television series available on Amazon Prime Video. Arguably, it is one of the most well-known post-apocalyptic settings and either playing Fallout 4 or watching Fallout is not the only way in which to explore and enjoy this world.

Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – The Post Nuclear Tabletop Role Playing Game is published by Modiphius Entertainment and what it provides is the means for a group of players to explore the Commonwealth and uncover its secrets together. The core rules are set specifically at the start of the computer game, Fallout 4, so that the characters—if not the players—will have no idea as to the machinations of Vault-Tec or the Institute, or other factions, although they will be aware of the broad geography of the Commonwealth and the location of Diamond City. Where in Fallout 4 the only choice is to play the ‘Sole Survivor’ of Vault 111, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, the players have the option to play an Initiate of the Brotherhood of Steel, an intelligent Ghoul, an intelligent Super Mutant, a Mister Handy robot, or Survivor, as well as a Vault Dweller. As with Fallout 4, there is a strong emphasis in play in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game upon the environmental dangers of the Commonwealth, on scavenging, and on crafting. The rules for latter mean that a Player Character can use things found in and under the wastelands of the Commonwealth to cook food and drink, concoct healing stimpaks and other drugs or chems, and construct and modify both weapons and armour, including modifying power armour. What the latter means is that players new to Fallout: The Roleplaying Game can have fun exploring what their characters can make, but players familiar to Fallout 4 can create in the roleplaying game, what their ‘Sole Survivor’ created or modified in the computer game. So, if a Player Character wants to turn that standard pipe gun into a .38 Pipe Rifle with Powerful Receiver, Ported Barrel, Sharpshooter’s Grip, Recoil-Compensating Stock, Large Quick-Eject Magazine, Short Scope, and Suppressor, then he can—if he has the right parts, modifications, Perks, and access to a Weapons Bench. This is just one of the ways in which Fallout: The Roleplaying Game emulates Fallout 4.

That emulation beings with the Player Character and Player Character creation. This is because a Player Character in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game will look more familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4 than anyone who has played a 2d20 System roleplaying game. A Player Character has seven ‘S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes’. These are Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Of these, Luck is the default attribute when the outcome of a situation depends on chance rather than Player Character skill or knowledge. The seven attributes are rated between four and ten and will be familiar to anyone who has played Fallout 4. A Player Character has ratings in skills including Athletics, Barter, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee Weapons, Pilot, Repair, Science, Small Guns, Sneak, Speech, Survival, Throwing, and Unarmed. Of these, Athletics, Survival, Throwing, and Pilot are additions to the other thirteen which are taken from Fallout 4. Skills are ranked between zero and six. Some skills are marked as Tag skills, indicating expertise or talent. A Player Character will also have several Perks and Traits, essentially the equivalent of advantages and disadvantages, and he will have Luck Points equal to his Luck Attribute. The list of Perks is extensive and players of Fallout 4 will again recognise them as they include ‘Aquaboy/Aquagirl’, ‘Armourer’, ‘Bloody mess’, ‘Cap Collector’, ‘Commando’, ‘Dogmeat’, and many, many more.

To create a character, a player first selects an Origin—either, ‘Brotherhood of Steel’, ‘Ghoul’, ‘Super Mutant’, ‘Mister Handy’, ‘Survivor’, or ‘Vault Dweller’. This provides him with a Trait and an equipment pack. The ‘Survivor’ has choice of Traits and equipment packs. He assigns five points to his ‘S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes’; selects three Tag Skills to receive a bonus and distributes ranks equal to character’s Intelligence plus six to his skills; and picks his first Perk from those he qualifies for. As he gains each new Level, he can puck another Perk. Lastly, the player picks an equipment pack based on his character’s Origin, a trinket, and adds the equipment gained from his Tag Skills. The process is simple and straightforward.

Name: Trader Joe
Origin: Survivor
Level: 1
Traits: Gifted, Fast Shot
Perks: Junktown Jerky Vendor
Luck: 4
Carry Weight: 190 lbs Damage Resistance: 0 Defence 1
Initiative: 11 Health Points: 12 Melee Damage: 0

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Attributes
Strength 4 Perception 7 Endurance 7 Charisma 8 Intelligence 7 Agility 4 Luck 5

Skills
Athletics 0 Barter 4 (Tag) Big Guns 0 Energy Weapons 0 Explosives 0 Lockpick 2 Medicine 1 Melee Weapons 0 Pilot 0 Repair 2 Science 1 Small Guns 2 Sneak 0 Speech 4 (Tag) Survival 2 (Tag) Throwing 0 Unarmed 2

Equipment
Tough clothing, leather armour chest piece, pipe gun (ten .38 calibre rounds of ammunition), brightly coloured bandanna, trading wares (eleven.308 ammo, five missiles, nine .50 ammo, Radaway, Healing Salve, Dirty Water, two Holotape Players, eight bobby pins), pack brahmin, formal hat and clothing, 83 caps

Mechanically, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game uses the 2d20 System seen in many of the roleplaying games published by Modiphius Entertainment, such as Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 or Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. To undertake an action in the 2d20 System in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of an Attribute and a Skill to generate successes. Each roll under this total counts as a success, an average task requiring two successes, the aim being to generate a number of successes equal to, or greater, than the Difficulty Value, which typically ranges between zero and five. Rolls of one count as a critical success and create two successes, as does rolling under the value of the Skill when it is a Tagged Skill. A roll of twenty adds a Complication to the situation, such as making noise when a Player Character is trying to be stealthy or breaking a bobby pin when picking the lock of a safe.

Successes generated above the Difficulty Value are turned into Action Points. These are another change from traditional 2d20 System roleplaying games in which the players generate and have Momentum to use for their characters, whilst the Game Master has Threat to make the lives of the Player Characters more challenging and give his NPCs advantages in play. Action Points replace both Momentum and Threat and are a shared resource of which a group can have up to six. They can be used to purchase more dice for a Skill test, to Obtain Information from the Game Master, Reduce Time spent on a test, or to take an Additional Minor Action or Additional Major Action.

In addition, a player can also spend Luck Points (the total based on his Luck attribute) to gain an advantage in a situation. With Luck of the Draw, a player can spend his character’s Luck Points to add a fact or detail or item to the area he is in that would benefit him. Other uses include Stacked Deck, which enables a player to substitute his character’s Luck Attribute instead of another, Lucky Timing, which lets a survivor interrupt the Initiative order, and Miss Fortune to reroll dice.

Combat in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is quite detailed in comparison to other 2d20 System roleplaying games. A Player Character can attempt one Minor Action and one Major Action per round, but Action Points can be spent to take one more of each. Minor Actions include Aim, Draw Item, Move, Take Chem, and more, whilst Major Actions include Attack, Command an NPC, Defend, Rally, Sprint, and others. During combat, Action Points can be expended to purchase more dice for a Skill test, to Obtain Information from the Overseer, to take an Additional Minor Action or Additional Major Action, or to add extra Combat Dice.

One noticeable difference in combat between Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and other 2d20 System roleplaying games is that the Player Characters have hit locations. Again, this reflects the nature of the computer game with its PIP Boy and VATS system. Damage is inflicted per random Hit Location and it is possible to target a particular Hit Location. The number of Combat Dice rolled to determine damage is based on the weapon, Action Points spent to purchase more Combat Dice, Perks, and other factors. Combat Dice determine not only the number of points of damage inflicted, but the ‘Damage Effects Trigger’ of the weapon used. This has an extra effect, such as Piercing, which ignores a point of Damage Resistance or Spread, which means an additional target is hit. Both damage inflicted and Damage Resistance can be physical, energy, radiation, or poison. Armour is rated for its Damage Resistance against physical, energy or radiation damage and because armour is handled as both suits of armour worn and individual locations, it means unless a character is wearing a complete suit of armour, the player or Game Master has to keep track of what armour is worn where and what resistances it has. As much as this emulates armour in Fallout 4 it also adds a layer of detail and potential complexity to the game. If five or more points of damage is inflicted to a single Hit Location, then a critical hit is scored. Ammunition is tracked.

Radiation damage is handled differently. It reduces the Maximum Health Points of a Player Character rather than his current Health Points. Until cured, this reduces both his Maximum Health Points and the number of Health Points which can be cured. The rules also cover other environmental dangers, scavenging, and loot. The scavenging rules define whether a location has been searched before, the difficulty of searching the location, its size, and so on, followed by rolls on the different loot tables. Scavenging plays a big role in the play of Fallout 4 and so it does here, far more so than many other post-apocalyptic roleplaying games in comparison, to the point where it can overwhelm the players as much as it can the player in Fallout 4.

Fallout: The Roleplaying Game includes an extensive equipment list which takes up a fifth of the whole book and so supports the scavenging rules. It includes all of the weapons, armour, modifications, recipes, trinkets, junk, and more to be found in the Commonwealth of Fallout 4. Players of Fallout 4 will recognise all of these, whether it is globes of the world, packs of Salisbury Steaks, the Powerfist, Deathclaw Gauntlet, Super Sledge, Gatling Laser, Fat Man, Laster Musket, T-45 Power Armour, Nuka-Cola in all flavours, Mentats, and more. Notable amongst them are the various books, magazines, and comics, each of which provides its own Perk. For example, issues of Wasteland Survival Guide might ‘Coupon Spectacular’ shifts the price of food and drink in the reader’s favour, whilst ‘Water Aerobics for Ghouls’ reduces the difficulty of Athletics tests for swimming. Of course, there are issues too, of Grognak The Barbarian to found and read, granting Perks like ‘Blood on the Harp’ which increases melee damage and ‘Jungle of the Bat-Babies’ which increases resistance to poison.

Mechanically, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is not as streamlined as more recent 2d20 System roleplaying games. This is because it has to emulate its source material, Fallout 4, so there are more attributes, more skills, there are rules for crafting, hit locations in combat, and so on. Yet the end result is the rules to the roleplaying game are not necessarily overly complex, but rather overly detailed, especially when it comes to the recipes and the modifications of weapons, armour, and so on. To some players, it may be too much, the play of Fallout 4 warrants it and so Fallout: The Roleplaying Game has to include it because it reflects the source material and it provides a means by which the Player Characters can improve themselves—by building and modifying better gear.

Roughly half of Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is dedicated to detailing aspects of its background. This includes histories of the Commonwealth’s corporations, pre-war and post-war, and suggestions as what role they might play in the Commonwealth of 2287. For example, the distinctive architecture of the Red Rocket shops always stands out and indicate somewhere that is generally safe and defensible. Manufacturers and big tech companies are also detailed and this includes some of their secrets, which ordinarily would only be discovered in the course of play of Fallout 4. Particular attention is paid to Vault-Tec and its activities within the vaults it established, including a table of possible wacky quests that Player Characters might trigger upon exploring a random vault. Again, these will need developing by the Game Master. This is in addition to several vault-related plots, plot seeds, and side quests. The Commonwealth is given a similar treatment with an extensive gazetteer describing many familiar locations such as Concord and its Museum of Freedom where the Minuteman, Preston Garvey has holed up against besieging raiders, one of the first encounters in Fallout 4. Diamond City is given particular attention as it will likely form a base of operations for the Player Characters. These are all accompanied by descriptions of generic locations and Commonwealth plots.

The advice for the Game Master on running Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is sound, focusing on managing the rules as well as safety guidelines as tentatively exploring the idea of running the roleplaying game in the wasteland of the former USA away from the Commonwealth. The advice highlights how the biggest danger in the wasteland is actually other people and suggests ways in which the dark humour of Fallout 4 can be brought into play. A bestiary gives descriptions and stats for a vast array of animals, monsters, mutated humanoids, and NPCs, from Bloodbugs, Bloatflies, and the two-headed pack beasts known as Brahmin to Synths, Turrets, and Raiders, via Ghouls, Glowing Ones, members of the Brotherhood of Steel, Railroad Agents, and Wastelanders.

The final support for the Game Master is the scenario, ‘With A Bang, Or A Whimper’. This can be played as is, or as a sequel to ‘Starter Set Quest: Machine’, the scenario in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – Starter Set, and is set before the start of Fallout 4. The quest begins in a recently created town—which the players are encouraged to flesh out the details of—that is celebrating its first anniversary. A murder-mystery leads to a pattern of other strange behaviour by other townsfolk, and manipulation by one of the major factions in the Commonwealth. This is a solid scenario, though it does work better as a sequel to ‘Starter Set Quest: Machine’.

Physically, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is a well written and engaging book illustrated with good, but clashing art styles. On the one side there is kitsch of Fallout 4, but on the other hand, there is the excellent depiction of the ruin that Commonwealth has been reduced to.

If you are a fan of the Fallout series of computer games, but not necessarily Fallout 4, then Fallout: The Roleplaying Game is not going to be as flexible as you might want a Fallout roleplaying game to be, since its focus is very much Fallout 4. As an emulation of Fallout 4, the only thing that is missing, are the rules for communities and building and improving them. Those rules are to be found in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game Settler’s Guide Book. Everything else that you would want in a Fallout 4 roleplaying game is included in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game and in such comprehensive fashion that it also works as a good sourcebook for Fallout 4. Of course, a player who has played Fallout 4 will get more out of Fallout: The Roleplaying Game than if they have not, but there is sufficient background and information in the book that a player definitely does not need to have played it to understand the basic aspects of the Commonwealth setting or the genre. Overall, Fallout: The Roleplaying Game – The Post Nuclear Tabletop Role Playing Game is a really good adaption of Fallout 4 that enables a gaming group to explore the setting of the Commonwealth and its plots and factions together.

Inquisitorial Intelligence I

The light of the Emperor’s divine might reaches everywhere—but not always. Only in recent years has the Great Rift begun to unseal and the mysterious Noctis Aeterna begun to recede, the Days of Blinding ended, and links reforged with worlds in the Marcharius Sector lost under its pall and beyond the sector itself. As communication, trade, and psychic links have been reestablished with Terra, the Imperium has worked hard to restore its rightful authority and ensure that no deviancy from creed has taken place in the Days of Blinding. Despite this still, heretics turn to the Dark Gods with their promises and falsehoods and corruption is rife, wasting the Emperor’s resources and wealth, and from without, there is always the danger of raids by Orks or worse, Tyranoids. Yet routing out such heresies and corruption is no matter, but an issue of politics and influence as well as loyalty and devotion. The Emperor’s great servants search out those they deem worthy to serve them and the Imperium, directing them to investigate mysteries and murders, experience horror and heresies, expose corruption and callousness, whether in in pursuit of their patron’s agenda, his faction’s agenda, the Emperor’s will, or all three. In return they will gain privileges far beyond that imagined by their fellows—the chance to travel and see worlds far beyond their own, enjoy wealth and comfort that though modest is more than they could have dreamed of, and witness great events that they might have heard of years later by rumour or newscast. This though, is not without its costs, for they will face the worst that the forces of Chaos has to fling at them, the possibility of death, and if they fail, exile and loss of all that they have gained. In the Forty-First Millennium, everyone is an asset and everyone is expendable, but some can survive long enough to make a difference in the face of an uncaring universe and the machinery of the Imperium of Mankind grinding its way forward into a glorious future.

This is the set-up in Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum, the spiritual successor to Dark Heresy, the very first fully realised roleplaying game to be set within the Warhammer 40,000 milieu and published in 2008, the very first roleplaying game that Games Workshop had published in two decades. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum is published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment and sets up the Player Characters as Acolytes in service to an Inquisitor dedicated to protecting the Imperium of mankind from threats within, threats beyond, and threats without. The Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is one of two supplements that make up a two volume set and together expand upon the role of the Inquisition within the Imperium and its mission within the Macharian Sector, the other being the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide.

The Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is not wholly for use by the players, but the majority of it is player- or rather Acolyte-facing. It can be roughly divided into three sections. In the first, it looks at Holy Orders of the Inquisition, its philosophies, factions, what it demands of its Acolytes, and guidance on creating the Inquisitor who will serve as patron to the Acolytes or be his rival. In the second, it expands upon Acolyte creation, offering new options in terms of skills, talents, psychic powers, and equipment, including Familiars. In the third, it looks at what the Acolytes are doing when they are on a mission and what they do between new missions. It does include checklists for both Patron and Acolyte creation, but both player and Game Master will still need to access the core rulebook.

What Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide makes clear is that despite the fact that an Inquisitor’s authority is second only to the Emperor himself and that an Inquisitor’s Acolytes are his eyes and ears, muscle and sinew, the Acolytes are more investigators than enforcers. Their duty is still to investigate, identify, and root out signs of heretical activity, but theirs is subtle task, what the supplement calls ‘Inquisitorial Espionage’, until, of course, everything blows up in their faces, and they have to go in, bolters blazing, or even calling in support—all the way up to Space Marine Chapters. Who or what the Acolytes will be directed to investigate will primarily depend upon the Holy Order that their patron belongs, to, either Ordo Hereticus, Ordo Malleus, and Ordo Xenos, which investigate heresy hidden within the Imperium, hunt down signs of daemonic activity, and fight against alien or xeno incursions respectively. The Holy Order that the Acolytes’ patron belongs to will, of course, influence the types of threats they will be investigating and the nature of campaign the Game Master is running.

Within each Holy Order, the Inquisitors—and thus potential patrons for the Acolytes—are primarily divided between two philosophies. Puritans tend to burn out any and all signs of heresy without mercy, whereas Radicals are prepared to use heretics and cults as tools to root greater evils. Both philosophies have their dangers. Puritans will destroy one evil before another might be revealed, whilst Radicals can allow a heresy to fester and spread whilst in search of other signs. Of course, the degree to which an Inquisitor holds to either philosophy varies—and many not even hold to either, but is further complicated by adherence to more specific philosophies. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide describes several, including the pessimistic and bombastic, Monodominants who believe that Humanity will be wiped out if any enemy survives and so enemy must be permitted to survive; the Polypsykana want to nurture and develop Humanity’s psychic potential to the point where it transcends physical form and so protect psykers; Oblationists believe that any and every means should be used to root out threats to Humanity, including heretical ones; and Amalathians favour balance and tradition with a dislike of factional infighting. Amalathianism is said to have been the philosophy that drove Lord Solar Macharius to launch his crusade and consequently is the dominant philosophy in the Macharian Sector—at least publicly. More philosophies are detailed in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide.

Mechanically, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide provides the means to create Patrons from all three Holy Orders, including their philosophies, demeanour, and Boons and Liabilities. The latter two will vary depending upon if a Patron is a Puritan or radical, and a range of new ones are added too. They include Beacon of Judgement, Death Cult Agents, Dubious Allies, and Hunting Hounds, as well as Crisis of Faith, Deadly assignments, Obsessive Objective, and Wheels Within Wheels. This is in addition to the Duty Boon of Limitless Authority that all Inquisitors possess and is physically represented by their individual Inquisitorial Rosettes, the badges of office that they forge upon becoming an Inquisitor. Technically it can get Inquisitors and their Acolytes everywhere, and they have been known to lend them, or facsimiles of them, to their Acolytes to enforce their authority in their Patron’s name. However, wielding such authority is not subtle and not without its consequences.

For the Acolyte, it highlights how dangerous their work is and how gaining recognition is rare, even though many aspire to become their Patron’s Interrogator and perhaps even an Inquisitor themselves. Mechanically, there are expanded Origins for the Macharian Sector, such as ‘Damned Useful – Daemonic Host’ or ‘Damned Useful – Null Persona’, ‘Death World Veteran’, ‘Penitent’, and more. The expanded Faction options focus on the relationship between each Faction and the Inquisition, whilst also enabling an Acolyte to begin play with a background in one of the three Holy Orders. In addition, there are four new Roles. These are the ‘Assassin’, the ‘Cruciator’', the ‘Explicator’, and ‘Seeker’. The Cruciator is both chirurgeon and interrogator; the Explicator is a data specialist, including forbidden lore and heresy; and the Seeker is judge, jury, and executioner of heretics and xenos, often hunting targets behind enemy lines or undercover. There are new skills such as ‘Lore: Major Ordos’ for each of the three Holy Orders, ‘Xeno-Cant’ for communicating with xenos, and Disguise, whilst the new Talents include ‘Blunt Force Authority’ by which Acolytes use their Patron in an overbearing manner to greater effect at a lose of Subtlety, ‘Cult Infiltrator’ which enables the Acolyte to infiltrates at a cost of Corruption, ‘Gut Instinct’, ‘Subtle Psyker’, and ‘Unwavering Will’. One strange Talent is ‘Subtle Mutation’, which marks the Acolyte as a mutant, but not an obvious one. With this Talent, the Acolyte has both a positive and a negative mutation, which his Patron may know or may not about, but which the Acolyte still keeps hidden. The new Psychic powers include minor ones available to all Psykers, like ‘Auditory Manipulation’, ‘Force Bolt’, ‘Mark’ by which a Psyker can leave physical mark of his psychic power on a surface or target and which can be tracked, ‘Induce Panic’, and ‘Stimulating Jolt’, zapping the target’s nervous system with a jolt of psychic energy to bolster it against fatigue and temporarily against falling unconscious.

An Acolyte can also arm and equip himself with an array of new weapons, armour, and gear. The new weapons include a mixture of exotic, daemonbane, null, power, tainted, and even xenos weapons, including the forging of Nemesis weapons. All of these are rare or only available to the wealthy, so for the most part out of the reach of Acolytes, unless they scavage them or are given to them as gifts. Literally, the most Radical of weapons is the Daemonblade, which has a daemon bound into it and has a feature like ‘Unholy Venom’ or ‘Mind Leech’, but also a quirk, such as “A baleful eye sits within the cross guard, and many teeth grow from the hilt, encircling the wielder’s hand in a none-too-subtle threat.” Wielding such a weapon carries with it the danger of Corruption. There are details for grenades and explosives too, and even rules for ‘Requisitions’, essentially gaining support from other factions should a situation demand it.

With the ‘Familiar Bonded’ Talent, an Acolyte can have a Familiar, and if he takes the Talent again, he can bond with a Cyber- or Psyber-Familiars. However, the Acolyte still needs to find and purchase such a Familiar and they can be expensive. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide describes how Familiars can be used in and out of combat, how to train them, which often requires the Acolyte to invest further in his Familiar. Full rules are included for creating a Familiar with numerous ways in which it can be improved and enhanced. The rules are supported by a ‘Familiar Bestiary’ which includes well known ones such as the Cherubim, Cyber-Mastiff, and Multi-Task Servo-Skull, as well as a variety of rarer, and thus more expense ones. Once in play, a Familiar requires its own character sheet.

In terms of actual play, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide adds a new mechanic called ‘Subtlety’. This tracks how aware heretics, cultists, and other Inquisitors are of the Acolytes’ actions and enables the Game Master to create a response to their increasing prominence. There is a balance to the rules since a high ‘Subtlety’ enables the Acolytes to operate in secret without the targets being aware that they are being investigated, whereas a low ‘Subtlety’ can become a demonstration of their Patron’s power and influence in shattering a cult or burning out a nest of xenos. Mechanically, what it means that with a high ‘Subtlety’, the Acolytes will gain a bonus to clandestine activities and a penalty to blatant ones, whereas with a low ‘Subtlety’, the reverse is true. It is a straightforward mechanic, but it provides a way for both players and Game Master to track consequences of their Acolytes’ actions and provide a mechanical effect as well as a narrative one.

Lastly, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide suggests options for ‘Between Options’. These include ‘Inquisition Group Endeavours’ such as ‘Search for Xenos Infiltration’, ‘Punish Dissent’, and ‘Pool Knowledge’ alongside ‘Inquisition Individual Endeavours’ like ‘Cultivate Network’, ‘Erase Truth’ (or knowledge of heresy), ‘Familiar Training’ for the Acolyte with a Familiar, and ‘Mental Sanitisation’ through Imperial re-education to cleanse the Acolyte’s mind of the terrible things he has seen. Attentively, an Acolyte can enter ‘Inquisition Long-Term Endeavours’. These include ‘Craft Anointed Weapon’ to create a holy weapon, ‘Craft Daemonblade’ which could attract the attention of a Puritan Inquisitor, ‘Learn a True Name’ of a daemon, and ‘Research Cultist Network Ciphers’. These are intended to be combined with a random event and together these can have an influence on subsequent sessions of game play as well as give opportunities to roleplay between missions.

Physically, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is very well presented. The book is cleanly, tidily presented and an easy read. The artwork is also good.

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is a combined handbook for players and their Acolytes, explaining what their duties are as Acolytes, who and what their Patron Inquisitor is, and giving them new options terms of who the Acolytes are, what they can do, and what they can wield in the ongoing battle against enemies inimical to Humanity. As well as expanding player options, it provides details with which the Game Master can flesh out her campaign and help bring it to life. The result is that Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is a solid combination of content that will enhance any Imperium Maledictum campaign.

Solitaire: Exclusion Zone Botanist

Call of Cthulhu is the preeminent roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror and has been for over four decades now. The roleplaying game gives the chance for the players and their Investigators to explore a world in which the latter are exposed, initially often indirectly, but as the story or investigation progresses, increasingly directly, to alien forces beyond their comprehension. So, beyond that what they encounter is often interpreted as indescribable, yet supernatural monsters or gods wielding magic, but in reality is something more, a confrontation with the true nature of the universe and the realisation as to the terrible insignificance of mankind with it and an understanding that despite, there are those that would embrace and worship the powers that be for their own ends. Such a realisation and such an understanding often leave those so foolish as to investigate the unknown clutching at, or even, losing their sanity, and condemned to a life knowing truths to which they wish they were never exposed. This blueprint has set the way in which other games—roleplaying games, board games, card games, and more—have presented Lovecraftian investigative horror, but as many as there that do follow that blueprint, there are others have explored the Mythos in different ways.

Cthulhoid Choices is a strand of reviews that examine other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror and of Cosmic, but not necessarily Horror. Previous reviews which can be considered part of this strand include Cthulhu Hack, Realms of Crawling Chaos, and the Apocthulhu Roleplaying Game.

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The North East Unified Containment & Sylvan Exclusion Zone 502-H is a densely forested area that the government deemed to be a danger to the country and quarantined. All access and egress are denied. Inside the 103 km2 area, the forest continues to grow, but not only grow for its flora mutates and anything, or indeed, anyone, who enters and stays for too long also mutates. Yet the government deems that the North East Unified Containment & Sylvan Exclusion Zone 502-H, or just ‘Exclusion Zone’, is monitored inside and out. It thus orders the bureau to regularly send operatives into the ‘Exclusion Zone’ to monitor and catalogue the new species of plant to be found within its confines. This is not without its dangers. Some of the previous botanists sent into the ‘Exclusion Zone’ have never returned via the ‘Infiltration/Exfiltration Portal’ and rumours says that some who did return were radically changed by their experiences and discoveries within the Exclusion Zone. Operation within the Exclusion Zone is hampered by the inability of all and any electronic or electrical equipment to function within the Exclusion Zone. Operatives are equipped with standard camping and survival gear, a standard handgun, and the means to sketch and record the new plants found within its confines. You are the next operative, the next ‘Exclusion Zone Botanist’.

This is the set-up for Exclusion Zone Botanist: New Agent Handbook – A Solo Drawing & Sketching Game. It is a solo drawing and journalling game in which the player will record both the plants discovered and the experiences of his character, within the ‘Exclusion Zone Botanist’. Published by Exeunt Press, it is very obviously inspired by Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer and The Colour Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft and so is a horror game involving primarily isolation, but also the danger of body horror and gore. It requires a map of the Exclusion Zone—included in the book, a token to mark the Botanist’s position on the map, a journal or means to record the incursion, and two six-sided dice. As a ‘Drawing & Sketching Game’, Exclusion Zone Botanist also requires pens, pencils, paints, or another means of drawing and colouring. As well as a quiet space, the rulebook suggests that lights be dimmed when the game is being played.

Exclusion Zone Botanist is intended to be played hour-by-hour, hex-by-hex, and has a simple play loop. The Botanist spends one hour in each hex on the map, there being a total of twenty-eight hexes on the map divided into six numbered zones. In each hour and thus each hex, the player as the Botanist will do three things. First, he rolls to see if he has discovered a new plant; second, he rolls to see if the Exclusion Zone has corrupted him; and third, he moves on to a new hex. If he does discover a new plant, he rolls for its details. This includes its size, leaf shape, and leaf arrangement, followed by its unusual plant feature. There are four groups of increasingly weird features, from a plant with black leaves that reflect no light that the Botanist has an urge to touch and which uses some other means to survive than green chlorophyll to a plant with shiny, reflective metal skin under thick bark around which rocks and dirt floats, and then so does the Botanist. Other plants unleash corrupting spores, have caustic berries that kill flora and fauna nearby, and a trunk that appears to be marked by twisted human faces, that the Botanist thinks he might recognise… Whether or not the Botanist discovers a new plant, he determines whether he is corrupted by rolling both dice. If the result of both dice is less than the current ‘Risk Value’, which goes up over the course of a day, that is, the longer he spends in the Exclusion Zone, he becomes corrupted. This shows by the Botanist beginning to itch, and then corrupted again, to have small lumps form under his skin, and then again, followed by tiny sprouts erupting from the lumps… Lastly, the Botanist moves on to a new hex.

Ultimately, there will come a point in the day when the Botanist feels that he has done or found enough or pushed as far into the Exclusion Zone as he can. Then it is case of returning to the ‘Infiltration/Exfiltration Portal’, either by the route he took through the Exclusion Zone or via new route. The latter is more likely if he has discovered some of the weirder, perhaps deadlier, plants to be found in the Exclusion Zone. However, it still takes an hour to move each hex and the Botanist still risks suffering Corruption each and every hour…

Physically, Exclusion Zone Botanist: New Agent Handbook – A Solo Drawing & Sketching Game is well presented. The layout is stark and clean, strange plants lurking, ready to corrupt the Botanist. It is also well written and an easy read.

Exclusion Zone Botanist: New Agent Handbook – A Solo Drawing & Sketching Game reveals itself to have been a drawing game first and a journalling game second. It can be both or one or the other, but as a drawing and sketching game, the Botanist does not need to be a skilled artist to explore the Exclusion Zone. The Botanist can though, approach the drawing and sketching aspect however he wants, use whatever materials he wants, and produce as rough or as finished an illustration of each plant as he wants. There is nothing to stop the Botanist from creating simple drawings or fully realised pieces, and he can even treat the process of playing through Exclusion Zone Botanist as an artistic exercise. And of course, drawing and sketching game, Exclusion Zone Botanist is not only forcing the Botanist to contemplate the fantastic and often frightful flora in the Exclusion Zone, but to visualise and realise them too, to create an image of the source of his horror!

On one level, Exclusion Zone Botanist: New Agent Handbook – A Solo Drawing & Sketching Game is disappointing as there are no revelations or discoveries to be made that explain what the North East Unified Containment & Sylvan Exclusion Zone 502-H is. No secrets or signs, and certainly no indication that any other scientist or botanist has entered the Exclusion Zone before the Botanist. Perhaps the Exclusion Zone corrupts everything brought into its limits or its resets itself every time the Botanist enters or the Botanist is caught in a time loop? Such speculation lies outside the scope of the roleplaying game as written, whilst the lack of answers and revelation only serves to enhance the survival horror and body horror, and of course, the sense of isolation, which lie at the heart of this journalling game. Exclusion Zone Botanist: New Agent Handbook – A Solo Drawing & Sketching Game has the capacity to be truly creepy and unnerving and in asking the player to both visualise and realise that, truly horrifying.

Friday Fantasy: Return of the Green Death

Doom comes once again to the village of Riverside! Sixty years ago, Terrapocalypse the Great Green Wyrm—‘The Green Death’—descended upon the tower of the Coterie of the Way Wizards that had traditionally protected the trading port that stands at the confluence of the Cranen and Iron Wash Rivers. It ravaged the tower with green flame and spread its poison across the surrounding the land with its toxic breath and then fell on the village. It took prisoners and turned the region into a wasteland. Then it disappeared and the people returned and re-established the village, building it once again into a rough, but profitable town. Were it not for the prophetic words of an old crone who begs in Riverside, ‘The Green Death’ would have been passed into legend, but now green flames have been seen erupting from atop of the old tower of Coterie of the Way Wizards. The villagers fear that the dragon has returned and worry what it will do next. The village guild masters have paid a tribute to Terrapocalypse’s emissary, though some whisper that if this continues, it will bankrupt Riverside. Worse, the Festival of the Harvest Moon, Riverside’s autumn trade moot occurs in six days and the guild masters fear that word of the return of the ‘The Green Death’ will dissuade people from attending, damaging the village’s reputation and portending a poor winter. Thus, with less than a week to go, the guild masters resort to desperate measures—they will hire adventurers to investigate the old tower of Coterie of the Way Wizards, find out if Terrapocalypse the Great Green Wyrm has truly returned, and drive away his emissary.

This is the set-up for Return of the Green Death, a scenario for ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the Old School Renaissance and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from The Arcane Library. The scenario is written and published by John White and designed to be played by four First Level Player Characters. And as a set-up, it is a scam. The players are likely to realise this fairly quickly, if not their characters. Terrapocalypse’s emissary, Renlo Lullsen the Enchanter—much like the titular Wizard of Oz—has charmed the inhabitants of Riverside with a lot of green-coloured special effects and is now exhorting them. He also has other agents in the village and they will do their best to persuade the Player Characters not to get involved if they learn that the Guild Masters have hired them to investigate the tower of the Coterie of the Way Wizards. The NPC whom the Game Master will have the most fun roleplaying is the Old Crone, the beggar who is the last remaining worshipper of the Green Death and can impart some useful information in between her mad utterances and pleas for a copper or two. However, bar rumours about there being a vampire in the village, the Player Characters will not linger long in Riverside.

The Player Characters can find multiple ways into the tower of the Coterie of the Way Wizards, including via an underground lake and lift into the tower, where they will encounter some Mist Dwarfs. They are noted as being notorious slavers, but quickly disappear from the scenario, their appearance left unexplored and undeveloped. The tower itself is infested with Kobolds, who for the most part are either working or playing. Player Characters who employ stealth and even a little charm can make relatively easy progress through the tower. There are some fun encounters such as playing a gambling game with the Kobolds using animal bones, saving a Halfling from a deathmatch with giant lizards being prodded to attack by Kobolds, and coming across a Half-Ogre harem! There are secrets to be uncovered too, some left over from when the tower was occupied by wizards and some to do with Renlo Lullsen’s activities.

However, there are elements in Return of the Green Death which are left are unexplained. For example, why exactly the Kobolds are excavating parts of the tower? How are the Mist Dwarves involved? What is nature of the dragon atop the tower that the Player Characters need to get past? Lastly, Renlo Lullsen remains an opaque figure. The author never fully explains who he is and what he wants and the Player Characters never have an opportunity to interact with him beyond the physical fight in the final confrontation atop the tower. There are no suggestions as to what he might say, so that he remains a flat, two-dimensional villain to fight, and nothing more.

Rounding out Return of the Green Death are some suggestions as to what might happen next, previewing the sequel, Fates of Doom. Appendices detail several new spells, a handful of new magic items, and the monster stats as well as all of the maps for the scenario. These maps are intended to be used with the Player Characters.

Physically, Return of the Green Death is tidily presented and the artwork is decent throughout. The maps are all good and those for the Game Master are marked with the monster locations. However, the scenario could have done with more maps and illustrations. These include maps of the wider region showing the relationship between Riverside and the tower of the Coterie of the Way Wizards. There are also no illustrations of the tower, so that it is only depicted on the inside by the maps, and the overall effect is a lack of context and feel for the region as a whole.

Return of the Green Death is a decent enough adventure, but at points, whether it is more maps or illustrations, or unfortunately, more NPC character development, it is lacking. Meaning that the Game Master is going to have flesh out parts of the scenario for it to be a fully realised affair.

The Other OSR: Eye of the Aeons

Troika! is both a setting and a roleplaying game. As the latter, it provides simple, clear mechanics inspired by the Fighting Fantasy series of solo adventure books, but combined with a wonderfully weird cast of character types, all ready to play the constantly odd introductory adventure, ‘The Blancmange and Thistle’. As the former, it takes the Player Characters on adventures through the multiverse, from one strange sphere to another, to visit twin towers which in their dying are spreading a blight that are turning a world to dust, investigate murder on the Nantucket Sleigh Ride on an ice planet, and investigate hard boiled murder and economic malfeasance following the collapse of the Scarf-Worm investment bubble. At the heart of Troika! stands the city itself, large, undefined, existing somewhere in the cosmos with easy access from one dimension after another, visited by tourists from across the universe and next door, and in game terms, possessing room aplenty for further additions, details, and locations. One such location is Eye of the Aeons.

Eye of the Aeons is the third entry in a new series of scenarios for Troika! from the Melsonian Arts Council begun with Whalgravaak’s Warehouse and continued with The Hand of God. This is the ‘1:5 Troika Adventures’ series, which places an emphasis on shorter, location-based adventures, typically hexcrawls or dungeoncrawls, set within the city of Troika, but which do not provide new Backgrounds for Player Characters or ‘Hack’ how Troika! is played. Eye of the Aeons lives up to these tenets, in that it is a dungeoncrawl that takes place in a single castle location, but arguably fails to live up to these tenets by not actually being set in the city of Troika, but in the rubbish and detritus strewn wastes beyond the city’s extensive walls. The location is the Manse of Mirrors, a walled castle consisting of seven domes and three towers that is home to Queen Yanwa of the Cyclopes. It is of particular interest to the Wizards of the College Illuminate, a minor school of magic in the city of Troika, because it also houses the Eye of the Aeons, a mysterious prism of immense power said to be cause of the Red Eye Curse that afflicts some of the college’s members. ;Victims of this curse randomly shoot a fire bolt that pierces armour, which makes them a danger to others. ;Queen Yanwa of the Cyclopes also suffers from the Red Eye Curse, but is rumoured to dole out an elixir that cures or at least alleviates the ailment, attracting many sufferers, known as ‘Burning Eye Pilgrims’ to the manse in the hope of relief. Unfortunately, Queen Yanwa has been beset by rebellion, not once, but twice. The Cyclopes’ former servants, the Anthropophagi, which have four arms and hands and no legs, so always walk on their hands, a single eye and a mouth in their stomach, and no head, have rebelled and set up their own kingdom in the manse, where they squabble and fight, and regularly hold elections to see who the new Jub-Jub will be. Worse, Yorg the Usurper has dethroned Queen Yanwa, and studies the Eye of the Aeons in hopes that it will repower his golden barge and enable him and his compatriots to escape to the Outer Spheres where he hopes they will be safe from the fate ordained for him. Add in rumours of a Chaos Godling at the heart of the manse, a missing wizard’s apprentice, and treasures said to be hidden within its walls, and the Manse of Mirrors sounds like an intriguing place to visit and explore.

Getting the Player Characters to the Manse of Mirrors requires some set-up. Several hooks are given, ranging from shattering the mirrors in the manse to prevent something terrible from approaching this sphere to finding a cure to the Red Eye Curse by asking Yorg the Usurper. One or more of these can be used to drive the Player Characters to explore the manse and interact with its factions, who though opposed to each other maintain a rough truce between themselves, barring the odd raid or Queen Yanwa’s Cyclopes deciding to turn the mighty weapon atop the Gun Tower on somewhere in the Manse. That said, the ; obvious starting point and entrance into the Manse is not as clearly signposted as it could be and the factions, the relationships between them. and what they want are not as clearly explained as they could be. Which is a pity because it hinders the set-up process and getting the Player Characters involved in Eye of the Aeons.

The likelihood is that the Player Characters will begin at the Burning Eye Pilgrims’ Camp in one of the ruined tower, though there are other options as how they might enter the Manse. Here they can pick up rumours, interact with the members of the various factions, and begin to learn more about the situation within the Manse. Beyond this the grounds of the manse are split between a very large pond and an equally large, but overgrown garden. The pond is dominated by the boathouse, home to the rowdy Anthropophagi, and the blind boatwoman who sees beauty in ugliness and ugliness in beauty and cleanliness, and who prefers to be paid in trinkets and eyes. The garden is an oasis of calm by comparison. The Manse, though, is dominated by its nineteen towers, many of them in ruins, some of them containing mounds of rubbish and rubble, and some home to the rival factions of the Cyclopes. Others though house sets of mirrors, set up in differing fashions, sometimes to hold an object in place between them, sometimes to hold something or someone within. The mirrors form the major magical element of the scenario and finding the way to operate them will grant access to some of the secrets in the Manse of Mirrors.

There are some nasty surprises to be found and dangers to be encountered in the walls of the Manse of Mirrors, but Eye of the Aeons is not a scenario that drips with menace or suffers a sense of impending doom. Rather, the Manse of Mirrors feels forlorn, run down, and forgotten, the last refuge of a fallen Queen, that the Player Characters can explore and pick over, perhaps siding with one faction or another as they attempt to fulfil their objectives within the manse. This will expose them to the weirdness and wonder to be found in the Manse of Mirrors.

The scenario is supported by stats the various faction members in the Manse of Mirrors, as well as the enemies that the Player Characters might face. There is a list of new equipment too, but many of the items to be found within the manse’s walls are drawn from the Troika! rulebook.

Physically, Eye of the Aeons is very well presented. The layout is tidy and the artwork is excellent.

Eye of the Aeons is far from a bad adventure, but in comparison to other scenarios for Troika! and its ‘1:5 Troika Adventures’ series, it does not grab the reader and make him want to run it. Unlike the first two entries in the series, it lacks the enthrallment of a good elevator pitch and its set-up needs development itself to motivate the players and their characters to want to explore the Manse of the Mirrors. None of that is beyond the ability of a good Game Master to fix, and if that is done, Eye of the Aeons is a quiet, eerie manse meander punctuated by hullabaloo and horror.