All the Action—Everywhere

Inspired by the classic action films of the past sixty years—Die Hard, Goldfinger, Kingsman, Ocean’s Eleven, Hot Fuzz, Lethal Weapon, and John Wick, the cinematic action roleplaying game Outgunned is designed to do three things. One is to handle a variety of different action films, from chases and heists to Spy-Fi and hostage situations. The second is to help deliver short action-packed sessions, tending towards one-shots or ‘Shots’, and in keeping with the genre, sequels. The third is to play fast and easy, and definitely encourage the action. Originally published by Two Little Mice following a successful Kickstarter campaign, but now published by Free League Publishing, the award-winning Outgunned fills what would appear to cover a relatively limited niche in roleplaying. Which is not a bad thing. However, Action Flicks begs to differ, shucking off its leather jacket, peering over the top of its sunglasses, and giving a million dollar grin in a hundred thousand dollar direct-to-video movie before taking you round the universe—or is that multiverse? This is a supplement which takes you to ten different genres which you knew that Outgunned should and could do, lets you play in them for a bit, or at least for a long as the film lasts, leaving you waiting for the sequel.

Action Flicks is a book of mini-settings for Outgunned. Or rather sub-genres, because it does Space Opera, martial arts or Wuxia, swashbuckling, superpowers, kids in danger (bicycles optional), magical kids, hunting aliens, hunting ghosts New York-style, hunting vampires and/or werewolves, and cyberpunk. Which is a lot for a small, two-hundred page book. Each sub-genre is given a similar treatment. This includes an introduction to the specific sub-genre, a list of what it contains; ‘Action Homework’—a lengthy list of the touchstone films and television series which inspires the particular sub-genre treatment in Action Flicks that both the Director and her players should watch; an examination of its core themes and some hooks for the Director to develop into full missions; new rules and roles; new enemies and enemy feats; new genre-specific mechanics; and both a Hero ready for action and a dedicated Hero Sheet.

Or rather sub-genres, because it does Space Opera, martial arts or Wuxia, swashbuckling, superpowers, kids in danger (bicycles optional), magical kids, hunting aliens, hunting ghosts New York-style, hunting vampires and/or werewolves, and cyberpunk. Which is a lot for a small, two-hundred page book. Each sub-genre is given a similar treatment. This includes an introduction to the specific sub-genre, a list of what it contains; ‘Action Homework’—a lengthy list of the touchstone films and television series which inspires the particular sub-genre treatment in Action Flicks that both the Director and her players should watch; an examination of its core themes and some hooks for the Director to develop into full missions; new rules and roles; new enemies and enemy feats; new genre-specific mechanics; and both a Hero ready for action and a dedicated Hero Sheet.

The selection of sub-genres opens with ‘Star Raiders’ whose ‘Action Homework’ lists Firefly, The Fifth Element, The Mandalorian, Star Trek, and John Carter, but the touchstone for this first treatment is very obviously Star Wars. Which is no bad thing, since every treatment in Action Flicks is intended to be obvious in its inspiration just as with much the action films which inspire the core rules of Outgunned and thus its visual look and story beats are meant to be easy to grasp and run with. The core themes of ‘Star Raiders’ is ‘Know the Other’, that everyone in the galaxy is alien is each other and that a Hero should learn to navigate the differences in physiology and culture and work with others, whilst ‘For Freedom’ states that a Hero will always yearn to look to the sky and fly free despite what the authorities or the alien invaders or robot revolutionaries want.

In terms of new rules and gear, ‘Star Raiders’ replaces bullets with lasers, which are always loaded, so instead of running out of rounds, overheat. The weapons also include the Laster Crossbow as well as the Laser Blade. Star Pilots get to replace the Proven Driver Feat with the Star Pilot Feat, whilst the ‘Alien Diplomacy’ feat grants free rerolls on interactions with alien species and negates the standard penalty when doing so, ‘Hyperlight Evasion’ lets a starship crew jump to hyperlight to avoid a chase, and ‘Shoot First’ does exactly what you think it should. New roles include ‘Logical Thinker’, ‘Lonely Stranger’, and ‘Lovable Scoundrel’, whilst the ready-to-play Hero is the eponymous ‘Star Raider’, who could be Han Solo, Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds, or Korben Dallas. Alien Feats ‘Amphibian’, ‘Big Guy’, ‘Little Guy’, ‘Brainiac’, and more enable player and Director alike to create alien Heroes and NPCs, whilst the rules for Starships adapt the vehicle rules to outer space by adding the need for a ‘Copilot’ and giving special actions such as ‘Raised Shields’ and ‘Asteroid Field’, the latter turning every action into a Gamble when passing through them.

There are notes too on how to add the ‘Power’ to ‘Star Raiders’. This combines the ‘Samurai’ Role from World of Killers with the Mental Powers of ‘Great Powers’, the superhero treatment later in the book. It is a pity that the Director needs to refer to another supplement, because this neatly distils the essence the archetype with just about enough a nod to the source, yet leaving room for Director and player to develop it as they want. Lastly, the ready-to-play Hero sheet is for very cute ‘Young Alien Nobody’.

‘Star Raiders’ packs a lot into its sixteen pages, enabling the Director to pick it up and start developing a galaxy her own and missions to fit, or taking the obvious inspiration from the ‘Action Homework’ and then running missions in their galaxies using Outgunned (rather than any licensed roleplaying games). Which is the point of Action Flicks. Yet ‘Star Raiders’ also does not quite pack enough, which an issue with a lot of the sub-genre treatments in Action Flicks. In the case of ‘Star Raiders’, there could have been more options for Alien Feats and the rules for robots are underwhelming, simply treating them as aliens and letting them take more Feats later on. As a sub-genre, ‘Star Raiders’ leans very much into space opera which does not feel right for one of its inspirations, Star Trek, which in most of its incarnations, is not as cinematic as Outgunned. Similarly, John Carter is a great choice for Outgunned, but deserves its own ‘Swords & Planet’ Action Flick entry rather than being lumped in with everything else here.

‘Rising Dragon’ is inspired by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers and brings Wuxia to Outgunned giving the option of Heroes learning Ancient Martial Arts such as Dragon Style, Drunken Style, or Monkey Style as they and everyone already knows martial arts, replacing with Plan B: Bullet with Plan B: Blade (again from World of Killers), and swapping Adrenaline with Qi. Daring Noble and Vengeful Ghost are fitting new roles and along with a range of new Feats, this is a solid little genre set that does not just have to remain fixed in some mythical past. It is easily mixed with sub-genres if the Director wants to run more Hong Kong-style films. The Pirates of the Caribbean, The Three Musketeers, and The Princess Bride are the inspiration for ‘Cloak & Dagger’, which does swashbuckling action. There are rules for horses, carriages, and flintlock weapons, and Plan B: Bullet is again replaced with Plan B: Blade, whilst the new Friendly Brute and Witty Casanova roles fit both the sub-genre and the humour that often runs through it. Depending upon the type of film, the Director and her players may need to engage with the humour more than in others.

Fundamental to the sub-genre is duelling and for this ‘Cloak & Dagger’ adapts the duelling rules from Household, also from Two Little Mice. With admonition not to repeat an action twice because it is boring, it suggests mixing skills to make duels exciting and dynamic, and optionally, adding Challenge Feats so the Director can customise a challenger to make him a capable duellist. It notes that the rules could apply to Heroes too should their ardours and tempers fly enough for them to want to settle matters of honour with each other. These Duelling rules enable a Director to set up some great scenes and confrontations and they could be used with ‘Rising Dragon’ too for confrontations with weapons rather than martial arts.

‘Great Powers’ is the superhero treatment for Outgunned in Action Flicks. It draws from Kick-Ass, Watchmen, and Daredevil amongst others. It gives rules for what happens to vigilantes whose identities are exposed, Plan B: Blast to go alongside Plan B: Bullet and Plan B: Blade, and ‘Powerless’, a new condition when a Superhero suffers the effects of his weakness. There are numerous new roles, like Billionaire Philanthropist and Chatty Mercenary, and specific to the genre, Super Feats rather than Feats. Every Superhero gets one at character creation and can swap a standard Feat for another one. Super Feats include ‘Flight’, ‘Gadget’ (which can cover retractable claws, spiderwebs, returning weapons, and so on), ‘Mind Powers’, ‘Regeneration’, ‘Super-Speed’, and more. The silliest is ‘Ruler of the Sea’, which lets the Superhero talk to fish! ‘Great Powers’ manages to cover a lot, but it has three problems. One, obviously, is that it has been superseded by Outgunned Superheroes. Two, the superhero genre encompasses a lot of subgenres itself and sixteen pages cannot cover everything. Three, ‘Great Powers’ has to work hard to get up to the Four Colour sub-genre and being for Outgunned is a better fit for the street level style.

As its title suggests, ‘Weirder Things’ covers inspirations such as The Goonies, Karate Kid, and most obviously, Stranger Things. Which again is quite a lot. First, it makes everyone young and removes the ‘Too Young to Die’ Feat and very much inspired by Stranger Things replaces a young Hero’s catchphrase with his favourite song and then backs it up with Plan B: Beat which comes into play when a Hero listens to that favourite song. The Director and her players need to decide quite how dangerous and deadly a ‘Weirder Things’ should be. Several Feats get replaced like ‘Better Than Walking’ for ‘Proven Driver’ and ‘Popular’ for ‘Heartbreaker’. The Hero ready for action is ‘The Loser’, very much inspired by Kevin McCallister from Home Alone along with many others.

‘A Kind of Magic’ is mostly obviously inspired by the Harry Potter books and films, but again it wants to cover a whole lot more like Doctor Strange, Big Trouble in Little China, and The Dresden Files. With rules for incantations and wands, magical culture, flying cars and broomsticks, and roles such as ‘Charming Bookworm’ and ‘Chosen One’ it really wants to stick to modelling the Harry Potter books and films rather than trying cover everything under its ‘Action Homework’. It does not help those aims by needing the Director and players to adapt the ‘Dog Trainer’ role from World of Killers and switch out the dog for an owl (or another suitable creature) to have a magical familiar. There is a short list of spells, each of which is effectively treated as a piece of Gear. The more obvious companion to ‘A Kind of Magic’ is ‘Weirder Things’, but ultimately, it would be a stretch for ‘A Kind of Magic’ to cover all of the inspirations it lists and perhaps there should be an Urban Fantasy treatment for Outgunned?

‘Killing Aliens’ is again more obvious in its inspirations—Aliens, Predator, Starship Troopers, and so on—but switches the role of the Heroes around to be the hunted in ‘You Are The Prey’. ‘Whatever It Takes’ gives the Hero an edge, but typically at a cost as the situation gets ever more desperate. Despite switching the Hero from hunter to hunted, this is a straightforward adaptation backed up with lots of alien enemies for the Director to build and several that come on-demand ready to play. ‘Ghost Hunters’ does the same with its ghosts and ghoulies on-demand or waiting to be built in a sub-genre adaptation that might include Caspar and Beetlejuice amongst its inspirations, but really is Ghostbusters writ large, especially with the new conditions of ‘Possessed’ and ‘Smeared’ (in sticky green ectoplasmic discharge!?).

Hunting takes place at night in the penultimate sub-genre treatment with ‘Midnight Wars’. Underworld and Blade are the primary inspirations, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer is another touchstone. It introduces three modes—‘Humans versus Monsters’, ‘Monsters versus Humans’, and ‘Monsters versus Monsters’—as the wars between vampires, werewolves, and humans continue. Plan B: Bullet and Plan B: Blade are joined by Plan B: Blood & Beast and Monstrous Feats such as ‘Lycanthrope’ and ‘Nosferatu’ enable a Hero to be a Monster Hero! The new gear is designed for anti-vampire and anti-vampire action and the new Role is the Slayer, looking exactly like Blade. This works well with the earlier ‘A Kind of Magic’ too.

The last sub-genre treatment is ‘Neon Noir’ which does cyberpunk for Outgunned. If the Director wants to add androids to this future, then the Synth Alien Feat option from ‘Star Raiders’ is the suggested option, whilst psychic powers can come from the ‘Great Powers’ sub-genre. The primary is that of cyberware, which is treated as gear. Every Hero in ‘Neon Noir’ has one piece, whilst the given Role of Solo can have another item. A Hero can also give up Feats to have more. Some of the items could easily added to the ‘Great Powers’ sub-genre to give an extra source of powers.

What is apparent with all ten of the sub-genres explored in Action Flicks for Outgunned is that how many will work with each other. For example, ‘Midnight Wars’, ‘A Kind of Magic’, and ‘Weirder Things’ to really do Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Action Flicks runs with the mix and match options and throws them all into the mixing bowl with ‘Everything at Once’. This allows Heroes to jump from one universe to another and even learn the Feats of one universe to take it to another and presents a new Role, ‘The Master of the Multiverse’, who can jump from universe to universe and channel the power of the Multiverse. It is a special Role, combining Role, Trope, and Job in one that uses a Multiverse Roulette instead of a Death Roulette. When ‘The Master of the Multiverse’ uses his Plan B: Break to create a crack in reality to the advantage of his allies, is Left for Dead, or taps into power of the Multiverse to Go to another universe, Grab an object from another universe, Send a target to another universe, or Pass to someone else in this universe, there is a chance that an Anomaly is created and that can really miss with the universe! ‘The Master of the Multiverse’ has a lot of power, but there is a price.

Physically, Action Flicks is a good looking book. The artwork is excellent and the layout clean and tidy, and easy to read.

Action Flicks is fantastically, genre-encompassing ambitious covering ten genres and over one hundred films and television series. However, Action Flicks cannot encompass everything about all of its genres. It just does not have the space. It also means that that none of the genres it explores are quite ready to play and in all too many cases, like ‘Great Powers’ and Outgunned Superheroes, the Director is going to wish that there was more, especially where genre descriptions really have to work hard to handle some of the given inspirational suggestions. However, the core essentials of its cinematic settings and sub-genres, ably supported with rule changes and additions, are all here in Action Flicks to help get the Director with every movie and mission the Director wants to write for Outgunned. The good news is that there are now sequels too—Action Flicks Vol. 2 and Action Flicks Vol. 3.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Air & Wind

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

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

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

As with the other four Adventure Booklets, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind originally appeared in Wan Shi Tong’s Adventure Guide, which explores and presents adventures in the different eras of the Avatarverse, including the Kyoshi, Roku, the Hundred Year War, Aang, and Korra periods. Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind presents an adventure during the Aang period that sees them chased across the Earth Kingdom on a picturesque journey through the air accompanied by a wanted thief and the priceless artefact that she stole! Of course, there are numerous factions and peoples who want the artefact back and the thief apprehended. These include Yuzhen Sr., the owner and CEO of Sparrowkeet Air, the company which discovered the artefact, and his son, Yuzhen Jr—though they have very different reasons, and the Snowrats mercenary group and the Yu Dao Bounty Hunter’s Guild both of whom have picked up the bounty on the thief, and last of all, an inventor simply wanting to examine the artefact for what it is rather than anything else.

Like the scenario in Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel, the scenario presented in Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is a chase scenario. It begins in Boat Bottom, a sleepy fishing village on the coast of the western Earth Kingdom and will ultimately end with the Player Characters and their companion climbing the steps of the Beifong Metalbinding Academy on a mountain north of Yu Dao. Whilst the Player Characters are in Boat Bottom, they are approached by a hooded figure who asks for their help. They realise that they have seen her face before—on wanted posters pasted and dropped everywhere by Sparrowkeet Air, a corporation specialising in the construction of aerial contraptions. Her name is Qian Yu and she explains that she is not a thief, but rather an archaeologist who unearthed a lost Air Nomad artefact from before the Hundred Year War and took it with when she discovered that Sparrowkeet Air planned to sell it rather make it available to the whole world.

Once the Player Characters decide to trust Qian Yu, there are a couple of impediments to get out of Boat Bottom under the noses of the Sparrowkeet Air Guard. First, the artefact gets stolen and then the airship that she has ‘borrowed’ needs repairing, let alone a good pilot! After that, the chase is on, and the Player Characters are free to pilot the airship wherever they want. However, before that, the players get to decide a few things as part of the set-up. One is individually why they are in Boat Bottom and the other is the type and nature of the artefact that Qian Yu has excavated. This includes what it is, what makes it rare and irreplaceable as well as difficult to conceal or keep safe, why it is beautiful, and what is its historical meaning. This gives the players some investment in the artefact and in the need to get it somewhere safe.

What this means is that there is plenty of opportunity for confrontation and conflict, but there is chance too for roleplaying—especially with General Onomu. Initially, she is rude and entitled, still a general of the Fire Nation at heart, and will probably remain so unless the Player Characters intervene and perhaps help soften her attitudes towards those around her. This gives the Game Master a potentially interesting story arc for the general to portray.

Like the scenario in Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel, the scenario presented in Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is less open in its plotting and more directed. The Player Characters are not as free in their actions in this scenario than they are in the others in that they have a mission to perform and do have to travel from ‘A’ to ‘E’ via ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’. Yet like those other entries in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ series, its ending is open-ended and determined by the actions and decisions of the Player Characters as is the order in which they can visit the scenario’s various locations. These possibilities are discussed and there is solid advice for the Game Master along with detailed descriptions of all of the NPCs, groups, and important locations. In addition, there is advice too for the Game Master on how to handle airship combat scenes—primarily as narrative fight scenes until the Player Characters and NPCs get close to board the other’s vessel and on how to set up the scenario if the players are using their own characters rather than the pre-generated quintet which is included in Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind. The five pre-generated Player Characters for the adventure have all decided to help Qian Yu. They include Taiki the Bold, a Waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe keen to make a name for himself; Lan the Guardian, a warrior fisherwoman from Boat Bottom who wants to help the whole group; Kiki the Hammer, a Firebender who was going to take the bounty on Qian Yu, but has changed her mind; Yuxuan the Idealist, a technologist and trap builder wanting to find a way home; and Chesa the Rogue, an Earthbender want to escape his family’s banditry.

Also included are details of the Basic Moves and Balance Moves in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game—in addition the Moves for all of the Player Characters—and the techniques that are not in the core book, plus the combat exchanges, statuses, and basic techniques. The Legendary NPC in Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is Toph Beifong, an Earthbender that the Player Characters can meet at end of the scenario and whom Qian Yu knows. She can become an ally and teacher of the Player Characters in the future beyond the scenario.

Physically, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is well presented, sturdy booklet.

Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is an exciting chase scenario with a chance for the Player Characters to add a little history to the setting, fly an airship, visit numerous locations and ultimately confront corporate greed. It is a great mix and that is in addition to all of the other opportunities for combat and interaction. Again, as with other entries in the series, Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra will enjoy the background too and overall, Adventure Booklet 4: Air & Wind is great support for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game.

Friday Fantasy: Underworld

In the cool of the ‘Underworld’ lurk spiders, centipedes, lizards, beetles, and bats—and of course, things much, much worse. It is a rougher, quieter place than the surface world, colder too with no light to shine in its caverns or over the black waters of its deep lakes. Adventurers venture deep underground perhaps looking for resources, hunting for threats to the surface world and its inhabitants, or even searching for lost treasure. Yet stray too long in the dark of the Underworld and anyone venturing below may be overwhelmed by the constant blackness and lack of light, their imaginations formulating things that they can see the edge of their vision, even horrors that can even unreal can work at their minds and composure. This is what might lie below the world of Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying, the roleplaying game published by Free League Publishing, and is explored in the supplement, Underworld.

Underworld is a mini-supplement and anthology of scenarios for Dragonbane which can easily be added to the Game Master’s own campaign or used to expand the ‘Misty Vale’ campaign setting detailed in the Dragonbane Core Set—not outwards, but downwards. Besides its three adventures, it gives an overview of what the ‘Underworld’ is like and describes several features, some of which can work with the three adventures. These include the bronze bridges which regularly cross three particular rivers in the ‘Underworld’ and if walked over or under trigger a dream-like vision in the walker, something that denizens take advantage of to ambush the momentary dreamers, and the Black Swans found on the three rivers that supposedly bring death to any demon that touches them, but which are hated by Goblins. There are some nice little elements here, odd enough to stand out, but with room to add more alongside them if the Game Master wants to. In terms of the Misty Vale, Underground details four different entrances via which the Player Characters enter the ‘Underworld’ and begin to explore part of its depths.

Each of the three ‘Underworld Quests’ has its own reward and the more the Player Characters complete, the more they will be rewarded. Each of the three also involves a demon and each also has a link to the ‘Secret of the Dragon Emperor’, which lies at the heart of the ‘Misty Vale’ campaign. In ‘Lair of Kavor’, the Player Characters descend to a subterranean Dwarven fort, perhaps in search of herbs or looking for something that might have been preying on local farmstock. It is occupied by a band of goblins and contains several demonic shrines and there are several puzzles that the Player Characters can poke at for various odd effects, including triggering some roleplaying. The demon is a Kavor Demon, a scraggy, four-armed thing with a vertical, many toothed mouth and eyes on either side which revel in carnage, can be distracted by fresh meat and blood. As a former Dwarven fortress, there is a lovely sense of the former occupants’ boredom when posted there, but as an ‘Underworld’ location and adventure site, it is underwritten. There is no explanation why the demon shrines are there and what the relationship is between the Goblins and the demon. So, the Game Master is likely going to want to develop that, as well as deciding where the herbs are located.

The second scenario is ‘Lair of Rumej’. A wealthy noble hires the Player Characters to collect monster parts as trophies for his room or a ghost calls out to one of the Player Characters to whom it is related, for release. Either way, this leads the Player Characters into a series of caves at the end of which can be heard singing of the glory of demonic immortality. The Rumej demon is spherical in shape and has eight tentacles, each of which ends with a sucker which contains an eye in. It is also hovers in the air. The ‘Lair of Rumej’ is obviously more straightforward, but does not suffer from that simplicity. In fact, ‘Lair of Rumej’ is easier to use because it is simple and the Game Master does not have to develop any details herself.

The third scenario is ‘Lair of Vekar’. The Player Characters are hired to scout out an old mine to see whether it is safe and is still viable today or simply they fall into a sinkhole! What they find is a former Wolfkin-operated mine, though no real signs of anything worth salvaging or that the mine is viable. However, it is the lair of a Vekar-Demon, bony and humanoid shaped with the soul of a mortal burning in its chest and bat wings either side of its eyeless head. Again, it feels underdeveloped, but not quite as much as Lair of Kavor’.

Rounding out Underworld are three random maps that the Game Master can develop as is her wont, though suggestions are given. There is also a pair of ‘Magic Items & Treasure’ tables that the Game Master can use with the supplement or her campaign in general. They are all good magical items and the Game Master will likely want to flesh them out a bit to make them stand out.

Physically, Underworld is rough and does need an edit. The maps are blocky and not the easiest to use. There are versions for both player and Game Master, but those for the Game Master are not numbered which means that they are not as easy to use from the page as they should be. The artwork for the demons is decent though.

Underworld is a bit rough and ready and in places will require some development upon the part by the Game Master to really flesh the locations out. The demons are decently done and have an entertaining range of attacks—though more for the Game Master than her players—so will surprise both players and characters. Overall, Underworld is something to work with rather than being quite ready to play.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Things Go To Hell

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

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

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One of the perennial contributors to Free RPG Day is Paizo, Inc., a publisher whose titles for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game have proved popular and often in demand long after the event. The emphasis in these releases have invariably been upon small species. Thus, in past years, the titles released for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have typically involved adventures with diminutive Player Characters, first Kobolds, then Goblins, and then with the release of A Fistful of Flowers for Free RPG Day 2022 and A Few Flowers More for Free RPG Day 2023, it was Leshies, where as for Free RPG Day 2024, it was the turn of toys with The Great Toy Heist! However, for Free RPG Day 2025, The Scourge of Sheerleaf switched things up by increasing the scale of the adventure and making the villain of the piece even bigger! Although the situation and the villain is very different for Things Go To Hell, the entry for Free RPG Day continues to do things on a bigger scale!

Things Go To Hell is designed for four Seventh Level Player Characters and makes use of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Player Core, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game GM Core, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Monster Core. Barring the fact that the Player Characters are Seventh Level which means that they are quite complex in terms of what they can do and are capable of, especially the two spellcasters in the pre-generated quartet, the scenario is fairly straightforward, easy to prepare, and easy to run.

The scenario opens with the Player Characters suddenly awakening—a Halfling animating to life after being posed as a statue, the spark of life returning to the eyes of both a berobed automaton and an armed and armoured skeleton, and a human male being spat out of a strangely organic pod—to find that a lot of time has passed since their last memories and that they are still in Fanespire, a foul tower owned by the archmage, Ydris Veloch. All four realise three facts. The first is that Ydris Veloch is dead; the second that each of them was treated as an object by the late wizard; and the third is that the tower is no longer where it was. The latter is confirmed when they look out of the windows at the top of the tower and see a literal hellscape. Working their way down several floors, they encounter what is very obviously a devil. This is Gosterion, a ‘phistophilus’—a contract devil—who is quite happy to chat to the Player Characters. He will also explain the situation. Ydris Veloch had a contract with Dispater in the city of Dis which gave him possession of Fanespire in return for his soul and with his recent death during the Hellfire Crisis, and so he is currently searching the tower for the late wizard’s soul. Worse, since Ydris Veloch considered all four Player Characters to be property and at the time of his death were in the possession of the wizard, they are actually part of the contract that Ydris Veloch had with Hell and thus owned by Hell.

The good thing is that the Player Characters get to argue their case and potentially come to some kind of arrangement. Gosterion will let the Player Characters go if they can find Ydris Veloch’s soul for him. So ideally, the Player Characters will return to searching Fanespire for the soul of its former master. Unfortunately, it is not so much of search as the scenario only has three locations, but it will see the Player Character confront their former gaoler. Then once done, Gosterion will send them home, bearing in mind that the Player Characters will be making a deal with a devil.

The four Player Characters are interesting in their variety. They consist of Hila, a genderless Automaton Cleric and healer for hire who was under contract with Ydris Veloch; Klixi Halfstep, a female Halfling thief who was robbing Fanespire; Tiberius, a male Skeleton Fighter who was the head of Ydris Veloch’s security; and ‘Ydris Veloch’, a male Human Wizard and a clone of Ydris Veloch who regarded him to be a failure. All distrust each other, but given the current circumstances must work together. All four are given a two-page spread each and each includes his background, a guide to playing the character, with notes on whet he will do in combat, exploration, and when healing is required, as well as what he thinks about the other characters. The four Player Characters are very well done and easy to read, and also include references for the various abilities.

Physically, Things Go To Hell is professionally presented. The artwork is excellent and the writing is clear. The map of three of the levels of Fanespire are also decent.

Things Go To Hell has a very likeable set-up which throws four unlikely Player Characters together and forces them to work hand in hand whereas that would be unlikely to happen. Yet after the entertaining interaction with Gosterion and the legal ramifications of the situation that the Player Characters are in, the scenario cuts to a climax with a fight. The fight makes sense, but the Player Characters are not expected to do anything else because all of the rooms on the other floors are shut up. So, the Player Characters never get to explore them and never actually get to look for Ydris Veloch’s soul. There is huge potential here for roleplaying and exploration here, given that one Player Character was the head of the wizard’s security and another was robbing him, but it is ignored in favour of cutting to the chase. All it would have to develop the story and play a little more is two or three smaller encounters in the tower to take advantage of those opportunities. It does not help that each Player Character is given a two page spread which effectively presents more information than is really needed for a short one-shot like Things Go To Hell. If they could have been shortened, then perhaps room could have been made for more scenes and locations.

Ultimately, the set-up to Things Go To Hell is sophisticated and the pre-generated Player Characters in Things Go To Hell are sophisticated, but the plotting and the story potential is unsophisticated. Fortunately, an experienced Game Master should be able to detail two or three floors for the Player Characters to investigate and give the players the opportunity to roleplay and explore the search for Ydris Veloch’s soul more fully.

Danger During Dunkirk

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

Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is a scenario that takes Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 almost all of the way back to to the start of the Secret War. It opens in late May, 1940. The Nazi war machine is driving into France with its radical Blitzkrieg tactics and is retreating back to the Dunkirk on the French north coast, awaiting the beginning of Operation Dynamo and the evacuation from the beaches outside of the port. Alongside this is an effort by Section M to find and evacuate as much occult-related material as it can—tomes, artefacts, and more—before it falls into the hands of either Black Sun or Nachtwölfe. Unfortunately, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the German Luftwaffe has already caught up with Professor Guilbert Paschal, a Section M researcher operating in Normandy and racing to reach Dunkirk when his convoy was destroyed. From its field base in France, Section M sends its agents to investigate the ruins of the convoy, determine the fate of Professor Paschal, and recover his equipment and research. Whatever they are, they could be crucial in understanding Germany’s objectives in the Secret War.

The action begins with the agents of Section M—the Player Characters—roaring up to the site of the convoy’s destruction on British Expeditionary Force provided motorcycles. Time must be of the essence! The agents have time though to investigate the site and gather both clues and left-behind advanced British anti-Mythos technology before following the trail to the nearby ruins of a medieval castle, its towers ablaze with blue flashes of lightning. A contingent of Nachtwölfe troops has got there first though and the agents will need to get past them before climbing to the top of the castle and face another faction in the Secret War. After that, it is time to pack found so far and head home to dear old Blighty and tea and biscuits!

If this sounds a bit short, then that is because it is. Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is written as a demonstration scenario, one that can be run in an hour and showcase the roleplaying game’s background and 2d20 System mechanics. In terms of background the scenario is simple. There is a mission, it involves the occult, there are Nazis, and there are Mythos entities to face. Which means that at least three of the setting main elements are involved, the others being the other factions in the Secret War and the rivalries between them. If there is an issue here, it is that Nachtwölfe troops have no weapons or items of Blauer Kristall technology which the organisation’s signature.

In terms of the mechanics, the scenario’s three scenes guide the Game Master through the key mechanics that she needs to get her players used to. This starts off with a simple skill roll and the generation and use of Momentum, ways for the Game Master to complicate a scene, combat, the use of Fortune and Truths, and so on. None of it is complex and it is handled in an easy fashion. However, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is not a quick-start and the Game Master will need to know the rules and have access to them prior to play. That said, the Game Master can run the scenario using the rules in the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Player’s Guide and the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Gamemaster’s Guide, or she can use the rules found in the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Quick-start. The latter is actually a good option, since it includes ‘A Quick Trip to France’. This scenario takes place in June, 1940 and sees the agents return to now occupied France mere weeks after the end of Operation Dynamo. Specifically, near the city of Rouen in Normandy, so potentially where the late Professor Guilbert Paschal was conducting his last mission. Effectively, although designed as a taster to Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 and the Secret War, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum works very well as a prequel to the ‘A Quick Trip to France’.

As a demonstration scenario, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum includes four pre-generated agents. They consist of a German journalist and satirist who has fled the Nazis, a French spy/burglar/killer for hire, a French-Canadian female mechanic and bomb-maker, and a female occultist armed with a couple of Yog-Sothothery-style spells. These are decent enough, but could easily be replaced by agents of the players’ own design.

Physically, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is well presented. The map of the castle is excellent and each of the pre-generated agents is accompanied by a nice illustration.

Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum is a simple affair by design. Since it is a one-hour demonstration scenario, it is not one that a Game Master is going to pick to run for her group when there are plenty of other options available for the roleplaying game, including of course, the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Quick-start. However, Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20: Operation Ultimatum comes into its own as a prelude to the Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Quick-start, almost right at the start of of an Achtung! Chtulhu 2d20 campaign.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Ash & Steel

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

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

—oOo—

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

As with the other four Adventure Booklets, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel originally appeared in Wan Shi Tong’s Adventure Guide, which explores and presents adventures in the different eras of the Avatarverse, including the Kyoshi, Roku, the Hundred Year War, Aang, and Korra periods. Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel presents a Hundred Year War Adventure whose action will take the Player Characters from the borders of the Fire Nation to a Ba Sing Se outpost as they accompany, Onomu, a defecting Fire Nation general who is seeking asylum and carrying stolen Fire Nation war plans as leverage to their master, Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of the Earth Nation. Of course, not everyone wants Onomu to reach Ba Sing Se. There are Earth Kingdom rebels who want their own revenge on the defecting general and of course, Fire Lord Ozai of the Fire Nation wants the general stopped and the plans returned. However, that is not everyone who stands in the way of General Onomu and the Player Characters.

The scenario presented in Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel is a chase scenario. It begins in West Heiatu, a Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom and will end when the Player Characters reach the outpost of Ba Sing Se. The scenario details five locations that the Player Characters will visit on the way along with various NPCs that they may also meet at each. Previous scenarios in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ series for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game for Free RPG Day have detailed escalations, events that can be used by the Game Master to increase the tension and sense of danger over the course of an adventure. Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel breaks its escalations down into one per location turning each into an individual mini-adventure. For example, the So Bai Oasis is a quiet stop along the route, far from the ongoing war between the Fire and Earth Nations, that gives the Player Characters a chance to rest after a confrontation between Fire Nation soldiers and the Rough Rhinos, Earth Nation rebels. However, the escalation for the location suggests that the Rough Rhinos catch up with the Player Characters and General Onomu and tear the town apart in an attempt to find them!

What this means is that there is plenty of opportunity for confrontation and conflict, but there is chance too for roleplaying—especially with General Onomu. Initially, she is rude and entitled, still a general of the Fire Nation at heart, and will probably remain so unless the Player Characters intervene and perhaps help soften her attitudes towards those around her. This gives the Game Master a potentially interesting story arc for the general to portray.

Another difference between Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel and the other entries in ‘Adventure Booklet’ series is that it is less open in its plotting and more directed. The Player Characters are not as free in their actions in this scenario than they are in the others in that they have a mission to perform and do have to travel from ‘A’ to ‘E’ via ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’. Yet like those other entries in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ series, its ending is open-ended and determined by the actions and decisions of the Player Characters. These possibilities are discussed and there is solid advice for the Game Master along with detailed descriptions of all of the NPCs, groups, and important locations. In addition, there is advice too for the Game Master on how to set up the scenario if the players are using their own characters rather than the pre-generated quintet which is included in Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel. The five pre-generated Player Characters for the adventure are all 

Air Nomads attending the conference on behalf of the Elders of the Southern Air Temple to help keep the peace and report back on ideas presented at the event. They are all resistance fighters from different nations who met in fighting the Fire Nation. They include Xinyi the Adamant, an Earthbender who suffered at the hands of the Fire Nation; Nalu the Hammer, a Northern Water Tribe warrior who fled south to fight the Fire Nation; Lana the Icon, a Southern Water Tribe spiritual healer who wants to help others; Zimo the Pillar, a Firebender who wants to stop her nation from enacting its plan to conquer every nation; and Xiao the Prodigy, a martial arts master trained by monks who is unsure of using his abilities to fight.

Also included are details of the Basic Moves and Balance Moves in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game—in addition the Moves for all of the Player Characters—and the techniques that are not in the core book, plus the combat exchanges, statuses, and basic techniques. Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of the Earth Nation is also fully described and there is advice too on how to use Legendary NPCs like Long Feng. Notably, he remains off camera for much of the scenario and there is the possibility that the Player Characters never get to meet him at all! He is a very different NPC compared to the Legendary NPCs in the ‘Adventure Booklet’ series.

Physically, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel is well presented, sturdy booklet.

Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel is more of a traditional scenario than the previous two entries in the series, being more plot driven and slightly less Player Character-driven. This makes it easier to run than those other entries, an exciting mix of chase and combat, interaction and intrigue in a solidly done scenario with some interesting consequences to explore. Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra will enjoy the background too and overall, Adventure Booklet 3: Ash & Steel is great support for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game.

Gear & Teeth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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