Miskatonic Monday #294: The Assignment

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

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Name: The Assignment

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Marco Carrer

Setting: Cthulhu Invictus

Product: One-on-One Scenario
What You Get: Ten page, 310.87 KB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Sometimes a femme fatale lives up to her name

Plot Hook: A Finder doesn’t always want to find what he’s looking for
Plot Support: Staging advice, one pre-generated Investigator, four NPCs, one handout, floorplans, and one Mythos creature.

Production Values: Plain

Pros

# Scenario for The 7th Edition Guide to Cthulhu Invictus: Cosmic Horror Roleplaying in Ancient Rome

# One Keeper, one Investigator one-shot

# Short, one session noir-style investigation

# Plot could be adapted to a Noir-style setting

# Strigiformophobia

# Necrophobia

# Teraphobia

Cons

# Needs a good edit

# Familiar noir-style plot

Conclusion

# Short and bloody noir-style investigation

# Serviceable and easy to use

2003: Pax Gladivs

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

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The idea of using the Internet to deliver a roleplaying game was still new in 2003. Deep7 was one of the pioneers, publishing a series of mini-roleplaying games via what would become DriveThruRPG.com. This series was the 1PG line, a line of simple roleplaying games each focused upon a particular genre and specifically, the cinematic version of that genre and a cinematic style of play. Each entry in the series was—and still is—low preparation, easy to learn, and easy to grasp because each leaned into a cinematic genre. These factors were enhanced by the format which limited a particular aspect of each roleplaying game and its genre to a single page each. Hence the ‘1PG’ name. Thus, the rules of play fit on a single page, the rules for character generation fit on a single page, the advice for the Referee fits on a single page, each scenario fits on a single page, and so on. The 1PG series did espionage with Agent S.E.V.E.N., pulp action with Dime Heroes, and Irwin Allen-style disaster movies with Disaster!, and more.

Published in 2003, Pax Gladivs: Epic Sword & Sandals Adventure was Deep7’s entry into the Swords & Sandal genre of epic stories set in Ancient Rome, inspired by such films as Gladiator and Ben Hur—and that is really all that the players need to know. For the Referee, play is intended to be epic and exciting, but never slow, with quick and dirty intrigues in the villas of the rich, blood spilled on the sands of the arena to cheers of thousands, chases back and forth across the empire by the emboldened barbarians, and so on. Every story should have a good villain and the action should first, the rules second. This amounts to the advice given in Pax Gladivs, which boils down to stick on the soundtrack to Gladiator, describe the scene, and let the action and the drama begin.

A Player Character in Pax Gladivs is simply defined. He has four stats—Vigour, Splendour, Scheming, and Acumen. Both these and the roleplaying game’s various skills are rated between one and three. In addition, a Player Character has Spirit, his charisma and your mental and physical bearing; Guts, which is his courage and bravery; Blood is his Hit Points; and Esteem, which is a measure of his fame and respect. To create a Player Character, a player rolls a three-sided die for each stat, assigns between four and six points between skills, rolls to determine how much Spirit, Guts, and Blood he has, and then rolls against each stat to gain a point of Esteem if successful. Lastly, he rolls for money and for Background and Provenance. Background is his status and occupation, such as Senator or Gladiator, whilst Provenance determines where he is from. Both Background and Provenance provide a mixture of bonuses to stats, skills, and secondary factors.

Name: Albus

Background: Slave Provenance: Rome

Vigour 3 (Drinking 1, Running 1)

Splendour 2 (Etiquette 1)

Scheming 3 (Con 2, Dodge 2, Sneaking 1)

Acumen 3

SPIRIT 2 GUTS 4 BLOOD 19 ESTEEM 3

Mechanically, as with other 1PG titles, Pax Gladivs is simple. To have a character undertake an action his player chooses the appropriate combination of a stat and a skill and attempts to roll equal to or under the target number the combination creates on a single six-sided die. Rolls of one always succeed, whilst rolls of six always fail. Fear is handled via a Guts check, and if failed, the Player Character loses a point of Spirit. Losing all Spirit means losing heart and the will to adventure. The only way to recover Spirit is to survive until the end of a scenario and assign Character Points earned then. Contests of will are rolled against Spirit, but a player can add his character’s Esteem. Combat is only slightly more complex. In combat, the Fighting skill is used for melee, Archery for ranged attacks, and Dodge for evading them. Rolls are made by those involved in the fight simultaneously, with the combatant who makes the roll by the widest margin succeeding. Ties go to the defender, but if both opponents are attacking, ties mean that both attacks succeed. Damage for each weapon type is a set value, for example, five for a short sword and fifteen for a ballista bolt! The attacker’s Vigour value is added to the damaged for melee attacks and all damage is deducted from the Player Character’s Blood value, and armour reduces the damage suffered—one point for thick robes, two for leather, and three for mail or scale.

Beyond this, Pax Gladivs adds rules for genre in the form of the Circus Maximus. It suggests making use of vehicle combat rules in The 1P Companion for chariot races and combat, but the Referee can get by with what is given here. In the arena, Esteem can be used to add a Player Character’s Spirit to the Fighting skill or Armour Value, gain more Blood, invoke the crowd to temporarily increase Guts, turn the crowd against the atonement, or increase the Dodge skill. This only lasts a round and the point of Esteem is lost for the day. If a Player Character uses a point of Esteem to inflict a killing blow, it is not lost. It is permanently lost if a Player Character is defeated, but not dead, and he pleads with the Emperor to spare his life, which requires a Performance check. Wins in the arena will earn a Player Character further Esteem, and if he can earn enough Esteem in this way, he can gain his freedom and become a Freedman, but not a citizen. That requires service as a soldier. A Player Character who begins play as a Gladiator does so with Esteem, but anyone sold into service as a Gladiator loses all of his previous Esteem and has to begin again.

The rules for Pax Gladivs amount to just four pages and the character sheet actually contains two sheets. The rest of the roleplaying game consists of six scenarios, each a page long. Together, they form a mini-campaign, which begins with dramatic fashion in ‘The Iron Lion’, when a lion with iron-shod claws is unleashed on the streets of Rome to attack a particular senator! Who would engineer such an attack? The senator rewards those that helped save him—that is, the Player Characters—by taking them into his employ and quickly they discover that his life is still in danger. The plot continues over the Alps and into Southern Germania where the senator is due to enter into treaty talks with the barbarian tribes across the border. The overall plot is fairly simple, but complicated with double-crossing action back and forth and lots of attempts to stop the senator. The players and their characters need not think too much about the plot, but go with it for the action and the drama.

Physically, Pax Gladivs is cleanly and simply laid out. Bar the cover, it is not really illustrated and the roleplaying game as a whole, very much needs a good edit. Some of the phrasing and terminology is inconsistent, but it is easy to work out how every thing should play.

These smaller games often get forgotten given how old they are, but many of the 1PG titles are worth revisiting or visiting for the first time because they deliver what they promise—cinematically styled, genre focused mini-games that are easy to prepare and run, all with scenarios, some of which form mini-campaigns. Pax Gladivs: Epic Sword & Sandals Adventure was there in 2003 for a quick, dirty, and simple pick-up game set in Rome and it pretty much still is in 2023.

Quick-Start Saturday: Cohors Cthulhu

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

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

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What is it?

The Cohors Cthulhu Quickstart Guide is the quick-start for Cohors Cthulhu, the roleplaying game of Lovecraftian pulp investigative horror and action set at the height of the Roman Empire. It is published by Modiphius Entertainment, which also publishes Achtung! Cthulhu, set during World War II.

It includes a basic explanation of the setting, its factions, rules for actions and combat, magic in the setting, weapon qualities, the mission, ‘Rude Awakening’, six ready-to-play, Player Characters, and a Quick Reference Sheet for Tests.

It is an eighty-three page, full colour 48.20 MB PDF.

It needs a slight edit in places.

The quick-start is illustrated with some excellent, full colour, painted artwork. The rules do need to be carefully read through as they are moderately complex, especially when it comes to both magic and mêlée combat. The Cohors Cthulhu Quickstart Guide and thus Cohors Cthulhu place an emphasis on mêlée combat over ranged combat.

The scenario, ‘Rude Awakening’, and of course, Cohors Cthulhu, do involve horror. They are suited for a mature audience. There is some safety advice included to take account of this.

It should be noted that Cohors Cthulhu is not the first roleplaying game or supplement to explore Ancient Rome through the lens of Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying. The 7th Edition Guide to Cthulhu Invictus: Cosmic Horror Roleplaying in Ancient Rome does that for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, but the tone of Cohors Cthulhu is Pulpier and more action orientated.

How long will it take to play?
The Cohors Cthulhu Quick Start and its adventure, ‘Rude Awakening’, is designed to be played through in one or two sessions.

What else do you need to play?
The Cohors Cthulhu Quick Start requires five twenty-sided dice per player, several six-sided dice, and twelve tokens, divided into two colours. The tokens will be used to represent Momentum and Threat throughout the scenario.

Who do you play?
The four Player Characters include a Germanic priest of Tiwaz (or Tyr)—he is the only Player Character who can cast magic, an Aegyptus scholar and occultist, a North African legionary, a Germanic archer and scout, a Greek courier, and a Gaulish smuggler and bandit. The priest is capable of casting traditional magic.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has seven stats—Agility, Brawn, Coordination, Gravitas, Insight, Reason, and Will. Stats are rated between seven and twelve, whilst the twelve skills in the roleplaying game are rated between zero and five. He has one or more Foci, each Focus being attached to a skill and representing greater specialisation, and one or more Truths. These are facts which when applied to a situation, can make a task easier or harder, or even possible, depending on the Truth and situation. Each Player Character also has a Fortune point. This is used to let a Player Character perform a heroic action or gain an advantage in a life or death situation.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, the Cohors Cthulhu Quick Start 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 Cohors Cthulhu, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of an Attribute and a Skill. Each roll under this total counts as a success, an average task requiring two successes. Rolls of one count as two successes and if a character has an appropriate Focus, rolls under the value of the Skill also count as two successes. In the main, because a typical difficulty will only be a Target Number of one, players will find themselves rolling excess Successes which becomes Momentum. This is a resource shared between all of the players which can be spent to create an Opportunity and so add more dice to a roll—typically needed because more than two successes are required to succeed, to create an advantage in a situation or remove a complication, create a problem for the opposition, and to obtain information. It is a finite ever-decreasing resource, so the players need to roll well and keep generating it, especially if they want to save some for the big scene or climatic battle in an adventure.

Where the players and their characters have access to Momentum, the Game Master has Threat. This can be used for similar functions as Momentum, but also to trigger NPC special abilities. She begins each session with a pool of Threat, but can gain more through various circumstances. These include a player purchasing extra dice to roll on a test, a player rolling a natural twenty and so adding two Threat (instead of the usual Complication), the situation itself being threatening, or NPCs rolling well and generating Momentum and so adding that to Threat pool. In return, the Game Master can spend it on minor inconveniences, complications, and serious complications to inflict upon the player characters, as well as triggering NPC special abilities, having NPCs seize the initiative, and bringing the environment dramatically into play.

Each Agent has a point of Fortune. It can be spent to perform cinematic feats such as ‘Critical Success’, ‘Re-Roll’, ‘Additional Major Action’, ‘Avoid Defeat’, and ‘Make It Happen’.

How does combat work?
Combat in Cohors Cthulhu uses the same mechanics, but offers more options in terms of what Momentum can be spent on. This includes doing extra damage, disarming an opponent, keeping the initiative—initiative works by alternating between the player characters and the NPCs and keeping it allows two player characters to act before an NPC does, avoid an injury, and so on. Damage in combat is rolled on the Challenge dice, the number of Achtung! Cthulhu symbols rolled determining how much damage is inflicted. A similar roll is made to resist the damage, and any leftover is deducted from a Player Character’s Stress. If a character’s Stress is reduced to zero or five or more damage is inflicted, then a Player Character is injured. Any Cohors Cthulhu symbols rolled indicate an effect as well as the damage. Damage can be deadly, but can be offset by the use of armour and shields.

How does magic work?
Magic in Cohors Cthulhu is divided into two disciplines—battlefield magic and ritualistic magic. The former consists of spells, curses, hexes, charms, and blessings, which are primarily used in combat. The latter is more complex and takes longer to cast, and is used to contact or summon the entities of the Mythos, travel to other planes of existence, and make lasting changes. Magic is also split into traditions, such as Runic and Oracular, or can be learned via Research. Spells are first bound into a spellcaster’s ‘mantle’, such as a staff or wand, and then can be cast from the mantle. Casting a spell has a cost in terms of mental damage to the spellcaster, whether successful or not, and if a damage spell, inflicts stress damage on the target. Momentum can be spent on ‘Cost Resistance’ for the spellcaster, ‘Bonus Damage’, and ‘Duration Increase’.

What do you play?
The setting for Cohors Cthulhu is the Second Century CE. A Hidden War is taking place behind Rome’s politicking and border expansion. The acolytes of the malign gods of the Mythos—Nyarlathotep, the God of a Thousand Forms, Sarthothus, the Shattered God, who infected the relics of lost Atlantis, and Mormo, Lord of the Woods—work in secret to subvert the temples and cults of the empire and beyond. Athena herself lends her wisdom in directing the activities of ‘The Temperari’, whilst an inner cabal within the temple to the Aurora, the Goddess of Dawn, called the ‘Fingers of Dawn’ dedicate themselves to defeating the forces of Mythos.

The scenario, ‘Rude Awakening’ begins en media res. The Player Characters are travelling with a caravan on the border with Germania which has just been attacked by bandits. The caravan master suggests travelling to a nearby village where help might be acquired. However, not all is well in the village, including a number of strange deaths. Investigation reveals the source might be a local farm on the outskirts of the village, and when the Player Characters go to look, they discover dark, horrific secrets. Overall, the scenario has the feel of a traditional fantasy adventure, but infused with the Mythos.

Is there anything missing?
The Cohors Cthulhu Quick Start is complete.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in the Cohors Cthulhu Quick Start are relatively straightforward, but the Game Master will need to pay close attention to how both combat and magic works in the roleplaying game as they are more complex. The scenario, ‘Rude Awakening’, also requires a similar degree of attention and preparation.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Cohors Cthulhu Quick Start introduces the Cohors Cthulhu roleplaying game and setting, which combines pulp with Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying. The result is more action orientated and more muscular in its approach to investigating the Mythos.

Where can you get it?
The Cohors Cthulhu Quick Start is available to download here.

Friday Filler: Chariot Race

Chariot Race is a ‘Roll & Race’ board game. Now lots of board games are races, involving the rolling of dice to move. For example, Snakes & Ladders and Ludo are both children’s classics, both involving races, but Chariot Race is a modern board game and uses its dice rolls to create different effects and determine what a player can do from turn to turn, much like the earlier King of Tokyo. In the game, the players are charioteers, standing in their chariots, reins and whip in hand, javelins and caltrops to one side, ready to race, to the sound of the roaring crowd of the colosseum. To win, a player must be first across the line after completing two laps of the arena. Unfortunately, his rivals will not only do their best to outrace him, but they will also do their best to stop him—dropping caltrops into his path if he is behind, throwing javelins at him if close enough, and even ramming him! The result is a fantastic spectacle for the crowds and glory for the winner who can survive long enough to cross the finishing line. All this will be done according to the rolls of the dice—can a player slow his chariot down enough to get round a corner without risking damage or speed up to catch his competitors? Can he change lane to avoid an obstacle, a rival charioteer and his chariot, or caltrops thrown in his path? Can he attack a competitor? Can he gain the Favour of Fortuna and make repairs to his damaged chariot or alter the results of the other dice? Only the bravest of the brave and luckiest of the lucky charioteer will be able to find out in Chariot Race.

Published by Pegasus Spiele, the biggest draw for Chariot Race is the fact that it is designed by Matt Leacock, who is best known for designing Pandemic, the board game of the CDC attempting to find cures to diseases before they overwhelm the world. Where Pandemic is co-operative, Chariot Race is not. It competitive, combative even. Designed for two to six players aged eight and up, it can be played in fifteen to forty-five minutes, is easy to set up and play, and includes advanced options too.

The core components consist of a double-sided game board, six chariot pieces in different colours, six double-sided chariot boards which match the chariot pieces, twenty wooden caltrop markers, eighteen pointer clips, and five dice. There are also Dolphin tokens to indicate if a player is on his first or second lap. Everything is in full colour and easy to use in play. The game board depicts the oval of the colosseum with three tracks. On the one side, this is plain, but on the other, it is marked with heaps of stone which will damage any chariot which runs over them. The chariot boards are marked with three tracks—the Damage Track, the Speed Track, and the Fate Track. The Pointer Clips are used to track these numbers. The amount of Damage a player’s chariot has taken restricts its maximum speed and the amount of dice the player can on his turn. The five dice are marked with Horse (Normal movement), Double Horse (Sprint), Steer, Attack, and Favour of Fortuna symbols. In play, a player will use these to alter his chariot’s speed, change lane, attack his competitors, and alter his luck.

Initial order of the chariots is determined randomly and then the turn order works from the chariot in the lead backwards, that is, from front to back. A player’s turn consists of six phases—Repair, Adjust Initial Speed, Roll Dice, Obtain the Favour of Fortuna, Move, and Attack. The Repair and Attack phases are optional. In the Repair phase, a player can spend three Fate Points to repair his chariot by up to three points of damage. The Adjust Initial Speed requires the player to check that his chariot’s Initial Speed does not exceed its current Damage Value as more damage reduces its maximum speed. The player than rolls the dice, the number again determined by the chariot’s current Damage Value. Then the player rolls the dice. A player can reroll as many dice as he likes once, but can spend Fate points to reroll again or to adjust a single die face to any non-Fortuna side.

Once a player has rolled the dice and made any rerolls, he begins applying them to his chariot. To Obtain the Favour of Fortuna he records any Fortuna symbols rolled on the dice. He can have a maximum of six. Then he can Move and Attack. However, actual movement is equal to his chariot’s Speed, and what the Horse (Normal movement) and Double Horse (Sprint) symbols do, is adjust that Speed. Horse (Normal movement) symbol lets a player adjust his chariot’s Speed, up or down, by one, whereas the Double Horse (Sprint) symbol lets a player adjust his chariot’s Speed, up or down, by two, but at the cost of a point of damage. The obvious reason for adjusting his chariot’s Speed is to catch up with another chariot, whether to pass it or ram it, but he may also need to slow down. This is because he might want to avoid another chariot or because he has to career around a corner! Both ends of the arena are marked numbers—higher numbers on the outside, lower numbers on the inside. If a chariot has a Speed higher than this number when it crosses through it, the chariot suffers damage. The inside track is shorter, but tighter, and so their number is lower. The outside track is longer, and its number is higher. On the expert board, which has stone heaps, the player might slowing down to avoid hitting them.

The Steer symbol allows a chariot to change lanes. Lastly, the player can use the Attack symbol to inflict damage on his rivals. First, by dropping a Caltrop on the track which another chariot might ride over and take damage from, and second, by throwing a javelin at a rival chariot. Another means of inflicting damage is to ram a chariot, but this inflicts damage to both the ramming chariot and the rammed chariot. It is possible to destroy a chariot, whether through poor handling round corners, riding over caltrops, being rammed, or having javelins thrown at it. A destroyed chariot means the player is out of the game, it leaves wreckage which does the same damage as a caltrop.

Chariot Race includes rules for two- and three-player games, with teams of chariots rather than singles. This enables a player to keep playing if he loses a chariot. Besides the alternative board on the other side marked with stone heaps, the chariot boards each have a different chariot on the back. They add a degree of variety to the game and a bit more individualism to the game.

Physically, Chariot Race is underwhelming. The components, done in full colour, are on thin card. The chariots are cardboard standees rather than wooden or plastic pieces. The dice are decently done though. Consequently, the feel is of a game with a lower budget and less durability. The rule book though, is clearly written, easy to read, and includes examples of play that ease learning the rules.

Chariot Race is primarily luck driven, with little in the way of player choices or tactics. Does a player race ahead to get a good start or hold back and avoid the carnage upfront as players battle for the lead, only to push forward on a chariot that has taken less damage and can thus maintain a higher speed? Other than that, a player is really only trying to make the best use of his dice rolls from one turn to the next. The result though tends to be a chaotic free-for-all, a brawl on two wheels drawn by thundering hooves and steaming nostrils of the horses. So, in the way Chariot Race does make a good filler. It is light, easy to understand, and quick to play. However, a group wanting something more thoughtful, less combative, but of a similar length, might try Ave Caesar. For more detailed, simulationist version of chariot racing, the classic Circus Maximus would be a good choice.

Ultimately, Chariot Race feels just a little too light, a little too lacking in depth for repeated play, and not enough choices. The variant rules do not add enough to keep the players’ attention for more than a few games, and ultimately, Chariot Race is more going to be remembered for the designer than the design.

Holiday Hullabaloo

Xcrawl is one of those originally clever fantasy settings that you wonder why nobody had ever though of it before. Originally a setting for the d20 System and published in 2002 as Xcrawl: Adventures in the Xtreme Dungeon League, what it did was take the concept of dungeoneering and turned it into not only a spectator sport, but an arena sport, in the process combining the razzmatazz of American sports with the bloodiness of Roman gladiatorial combat. Xcrawl is set in an alternate fantasy eighties where America is ruled by Emperor Ronald I and all of the fantasy races of Dungeons & Dragons have survived to the modern day, many living in the underworlds below each of the continents, whilst others sign up to work as ‘monsters’ and NPCs in the area. The Player Characters form teams and by successfully beating defeating Xcrawl runs, work their way up the different leagues, becoming famous and picking up sponsors on the way. The setting was adapted to Pathfinder, First Edition with the Maximum Xcrawl Core Rule Book, and it has been announced by Goodman Games that there will also be a version compatible with the publisher’s flagship Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game in the form of the Xcrawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Until then, fans of the Xcrawl setting or fans of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, can experience the setting with the scenario, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2017 Holiday Module: Xcrawl New Year’s Evil.

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2017 Holiday Module: Xcrawl New Year’s Evil is a short scenario for Second Level Player Characters which can be used in one of two ways. First, it can used as written, with the Player Characters are dedicated Xcrawlers looking to break into the next league up. Second, it can be run as some kind of weird dream for Player Characters who come from another fantasy setting and awake to find themselves fully aware of where they are and what they are about to do. Either way, the players will be using standard Dungeon Crawl Classics Player Characters rather than those creating the earlier versions of Xcrawl. Of course, with the forthcoming version of the Xcrawl Classics Roleplaying Game—or its XCC beta rules—the Judge could run Dungeon Crawl Classics 2017 Holiday Module: Xcrawl New Year’s Evil using a version of those rules and thus the appropriate Classes of Athlete, Blaster, Jammer, Gnome, Half-Elf, and Half-Orc. (Alternatively, pre-generated Player Characters can be downloaded here.)

Dungeon Crawl Classics 2017 Holiday Module: Xcrawl New Year’s Evil is set in Toronto on New Year’s Eve and the Player Characters are members of a Division III team which has unexpectedly found itself entered into the Toronto New Year’s Eve Xcrawl. If successful, they are assured of sponsorship and opportunities for promotion. All it will take them is heroic play, dedicated teamwork, and the occasional grandstanding. However, the gods—or rather the one god—has decided to intervene and turn the event into a raucous, alcohol-sodden festival which can be enjoyed by everyone, including the Player Characters, the event staff, and the audience, and if that disrupts the event, that just adds to the fun. Drink is a recurring motif throughout the adventure and is supported with rules for various degrees of inebriation, from being tipsy to wrecked. Also included are a glossary of terms particular to the setting and several rules that the setting requires. These include the Mojo Pool, which each Player Character has and which provides points that can be spent as modifiers in play. They can be gained for rolling a natural twenty in game and for exciting game play, but all are lost whenever a player rolls a natural one. However, a player cannot use them on his own character, but instead must give them as bonuses to his fellow players’ characters. This encourages teamwork, of course.

A Player Character can also grandstand and work the crowd. This is a Personality check and earns a Player Character a point of Fame. Expressed as a percentage, this is measurement of the Player Character’s recognition. However, it does not actually have any mechanic effect in Dungeon Crawl Classics 2017 Holiday Module: Xcrawl New Year’s Evil. So unless the Judge has access to the Xcrawl Classics Roleplaying Game, the inclusion of the Fame rules have no effect as the scenario takes place entirely in the area.

The Toronto New Year’s Eve Xcrawl consists of twelve locations and is, like most other Xcrawl ‘Dungeons’ a linear affair. This makes sense, since an Xcrawl can be run again and again and a team’s progress can be measured against that of other teams, and infamous Xcrawls can be rerun at a later stage, in the case of the Player Characters, likely with a tweak or four to take into account the fact that they have gone up a Level or two or three. In the main, the Xcrawl itself consists of three big set pieces, although that was not originally the case, since the meddling god has also made a few changes to the Xcrawl and it no longer runs quite as smooth as the designer originally intended. There is jousting, a sailor cap-wearing devil with horrid biting pugs—one under each arm, paper monsters, riddles and puzzles to solve, and a finale in the cubicle from beyond the grave, complete with Office Zombies, Maintenance Skeleton, and Ghoul Bosses. There are a few side rooms along the way, but these do not represent any significant danger to the Player Characters after the meddling of the god. It should take a session, perhaps two, to play through the whole of the Xcrawl, after which the Player Characters should acquired some decent treasure, sponsorship gifts—some are also available at the beginning of the scenario depending on which sponsor the players selected, some fame, and perhaps a chance at promotion to the next league.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2017 Holiday Module: Xcrawl New Year’s Evil is cleanly and tidily presented. The map is easy to read and the artwork throughout good.

The change from the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game to the Xcrawl Classics Roleplaying Game requires a little adjustment and getting used to because of its very modern setting—at least by the standards of Dungeon Crawl Classics. However, its novelty value is worth it, because the setting is different and the emphasis in an Xcrawl is all on action with some puzzles to solve, and playing to the crowd by being heroic, and so on. Of course, the novelty factor will go when the Xcrawl Classics Roleplaying Game appears, but until then, Dungeon Crawl Classics 2017 Holiday Module: Xcrawl New Year’s Evil is a diverting, entertaining one-shot.

Miskatonic Monday #146: Ravishing Beauty

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. 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.

—oOo—

Name: Ravishing Beauty

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Dr. Benjamin Will

Setting: Italy, 64 C.E.

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty page, 1.41 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Sometimes the walls are given a will

Plot Hook: A stay at a wealthy villa reveals the nastiness of the owners
Plot Support: Staging advice, four pre-generated Investigators with backgrounds, three maps, six  NPCs, and three Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Plain.

Pros

# One session scenario for Cthulhu Invictus

# Unpleasant NPCs

# Pleasing sense of claustrophobia

# Decent pre-generated Investigators

# Inventive use of the representation of myth

# Easy to move to elsewhere and elsewhen in the Roman Empire

# Potential campaign starter

# Sportaldislexicartaphobia

# Automatonophobia

# Artophobia

Cons

# Underwritten primary NPC interactions

# Includes scene where rape and sexual assault is a possibility

Conclusion

# Claustrophobic scenario which makes inventive use of the representation of myth

# Solid scenario for Cthulhu Invictus that can be worked into a campaign or used as a campaign starter

Miskatonic Monday #134: A Balance of Blood

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. 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.

—oOo—

Name: A Balance of Blood

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Matt Puccio

Setting: Kingdom of Armenia, Second Century C.E.

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Forty-two page, 5.18 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Identifying the greater evil can be a diplomatic challenge

Plot Hook: Diplomatic envoys discover a house of horror and woe
Plot Support: Staging advice, six pre-generated Investigators with backgrounds, three maps, six  NPCs, one spell, one Mythos tome, and two Mythos monsters.

Production Values: Decent.

Pros

# Scenario for Cthulhu Invictus

# Interesting location for a Cthulhu Invictus scenario

# Pleasing sense of tension

# Every NPC is monstrous!

# Potential Cthulhu Invictus campaign starter

# Detailed investigation

# Good advice for portraying the NPCs

# Nicely illustrated

# Gerontophobia

Cons

# Needs an edit

# Some locations not mapped

# Illustrations could be used as handouts, but no handouts!

# Needs a careful read through by the Keeper

Conclusion

# Investigators must face night terrors and day terrors in a meaty investigation at the edge of the empire where identifying either victim or ally will prove challenging.
# Solid scenario for Cthulhu Invictus with an interesting historical background and setting.

A Sex Horrificam II

Fronti Nulla Fides—or ‘there is no trusting appearances’—is an anthology of six scenarios for The 7th Edition Guide to Cthulhu Invictus: Cosmic Horror Roleplaying in Ancient Rome using Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. Published by Golden Goblin Press, this setting presents new challenges in investigating and confronting the Mythos in Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying, shorn of its reliance upon libraries, newspaper archives, and Mythos tomes, instead requiring the investigators to ask others lots and lots of questions, do an awful lot of watching, and sneak about a fair bit. In other words, more detective legwork rather than research. Similarly, the reliance upon firearms found in conducting investigations in the Jazz Age of the 1920s, makes such investigations and confrontations with the Mythos more fraught affairs. The sextet in Fronti Nulla Fides see the investigators conducting a raid on a house of tinkers, a rescue mission to a city of white apes, a terrible sea journey, and in turn, hunts for a slave, a dragon, and a barbarian.

The anthology opens with ‘The Clockwork Oracle’, the first of three contributions by  publisher Oscar Rios. This is set in Corinth in Greece—though it could easily be moved to another city—and has the Investigators hired by a trio of brothers and sisters whose father has become obsessed with mechanisms and clockwork devices, in particular, a mechanical jay known as The Clockwork Oracle, which he believes can tell the future. This obsession has grown to the point that he is spending much of his wealth upon them, has allowed a gifted tinker to move into his home, and when confronted by his children, threw them out of the house. Amongst other things, siblings want the tinker removed from the house, their father separated from The Clockwork Oracle, both him and the household slaves kept safe, their family’s financial records secured, and more. Of these other objectives, each of the siblings has his or own objective and the scenario divides them between the Investigators, so adding a slight divisive element when it comes to the scenario’s set piece. Oddly, the biggest challenge in the scenario for the Keeper is portraying the squabbling siblings as they talk across each other, but otherwise this a short and straightforward scenario that provides an opportunity for the Investigators to conduct some classic detective work before the scenario’s grand set piece—the raid on the house. Here the scenario is almost Dungeons & Dragons-like, with much more of an emphasis on stealth and combat in comparison to scenarios for Call of Cthulhu, but this should make for a fun change of pace. The scenario also has numerous different aspects to its outcome which will need to be worked through, depending upon how successful the Investigators have been. Overall, ‘The Clockwork Oracle’ has a two-fisted muscularity to it, but still packs in plenty of story.

Jeffrey Moeller’s ‘Goddess of the White Apes’ is a sequel to his ‘The Vetting of Marius Asina’ from De Horrore Cosmico. ‘The Vetting of Marius Asina’ is an interpretation of ‘Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and his Family’ in which the Investigators look into the background of Marius Asina to determine if he is suitable for elevation beyond his current rank of senator. Of course, he was not, since neither Marius Asina nor his family turned out to human, let alone barely Roman citizens! ‘Goddess of the White Apes’ leans into the pulpiness of the ‘Swords & Sandals’ genre, but combines it with weird miscegenation and horror, as the Investigators are directed to rescue from the nephew of the emperor from a city to the far south beyond the furthest reaches of the empire. There they find a city which is rapidly coming to ape Rome itself as the leader of the White Apes attempts to make both their home and their society more ‘civilised’! Here the Investigators—after the travails of their long journey south (though a means of cutting the journey time is explored)—must deal with a leader more capricious than a Roman Emperor and effect an escape. The set-up of ‘Goddess of the White Apes’ allows it to be run as a standalone scenario, but it works better as a sequel to ‘The Vetting of Marius Asina’.

Whether as crew or passengers, the Investigators find themselves in peril at sea in Charles Gerard’s ‘Following Seas’. As they sail aboard the Minerva from Antioch in Syria Palestina to Ostia, the port which serves Rome, the ship’s captain veers between depression and irrationality, his mood and actions upsetting the crew as strange energies are seen to swirl about the ship’s rigging. Both investigation and action will take place aboard the Minerva in what is classic, ‘ship in a bottle’ scenario, one that quickly pushes its narrative to an action-packed dénouement. Along the way, there is room for unsettling flashbacks, either ones which have happened in earlier encounters with the Mythos or ones which each player can create for their Investigator on the spot. ‘Following Seas’ is a decent scenario, one which is easily run as the Investigators are travelling between locations—perhaps in a campaign, perhaps between other scenarios, and which can easily be transferred to times and locations which involve sailing ships and sea voyages.

Oscar Rios’ second scenario is ‘Manumission’, in which Rome’s practice of slavery is put to a vile purpose. A vigilis—the equivalent of the police in the Roman Empire, comes to the Investigators for their help. In fact, he comes to them for their help because they owe him a favour or two, so ‘Manumission’ works best later in a campaign when the Investigators who have had a run in with the authorities. The vigilis wants them to help a friend of his whose nephew has been sold into slavery by his drunkard father. Quick investigation reveals that the boy has already been sold and the buyer is not prepared to sell him back. In order to rescue the boy, the Investigators will have to follow the seller and perhaps steal him back. However, in the process, they will discover why the boy was sold and that adds a degree of urgency to the rescue attempt. This is a solid piece of nastiness, nicely set up and waiting for the Investigator to do the right thing.

‘The Dragon of Cambria’ by William Adcock takes the Investigators to the west of Britannia and into Wales where a rich lead mine has unleashed a dragon! This is a classic monster hunt in Dungeons & Dragons-style, but one scaled to Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, which means that the Investigators are likely to be snapped up in a straight fight between themselves and the creature. They will have to use their guile and planning to defeat the creature, though their efforts are likely to be hindered by rival hunters and locals interpreting the appearance of the dragon as heralding a rebellion against the Roman authorities.

Lastly, Oscar Rios’ third scenario takes the Investigators to the province of Germania Superior and beyond! In ‘The Blood Sword of Emeric’, a German tribal leader has risen in rebellion and is attacking locals and Romans alike, but is said to have a blood red sword capable of killing at a single cut and slicing through chainmail. Whether as agents employed by a merchant to recover a missing shipment, the head of a local fort beset by refugees wanting someone to bring him the head of Emeric, or even as agents of an occult society interested in rumours of the sword, the Investigators will need to get what information they can from the refugees, find a guide, and strike out beyond the frontier. The scenario is again quite straightforward and quite action orientated, but it does a nice bait and switch on the Investigators—not once, but twice!

Physically, Fronti Nulla Fides is well presented and edited. Each scenario begins with a full list of its NPCs and each scenario’s maps are generally good, and the illustrations, although having a slightly cartoonish feel to them, are excellent throughout.

Each of the six scenarios in Fronti Nulla Fides should take no longer than a session or two to play, each is different, and even despite their being quite short, time is taken to explore the possible outcomes and ramifications of each. Their length also makes them easy to fit into an ongoing campaign, either between longer, more involved scenarios or chapters of an actual campaign. They also provide a decent amount of physical and interpersonal investigation, showcasing just how rare it is that Lovecraftian investigating roleplaying at the height of the Roman Empire rarely involves visits to libraries or poring over Mythos tomes. Overall, Fronti Nulla Fides not only lives up to its title, but also provides the Keeper of a Cthulhu Invictus campaign with a set of six short, but enjoyably action-orientated and punchy scenarios.

Which Witch II

It is an undeniable truth that the Witch gets a lot of bad press. Not necessarily within the roleplaying hobby, but from without, for the Witch is seen as a figure of evil, often—though not necessarily—a female figure of evil, and a figure to be feared and persecuted. Much of this stems from the historical witch-hunts of the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeen, and eighteenth centuries, along with the associated imagery, that is, the crone with the broom, pointy hat, black cat, cauldron, and more. When a Witch does appear in roleplaying, whether it is a historical or a fantasy setting, it is typically as the villain, as the perpetrator of some vile crime or mystery for the player characters to solve and stop. Publisher The Other Side has published a number of supplements written not only as a counter to the clichés of the witch figure, but to bring the Witch as a character Class to roleplaying after being disappointed at the lack of the Witch in the Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. Each of these supplements draws upon more historical interpretations of the Witch—sometimes to counter the clichés, sometimes to enforce them—and presents her as a playable character Class. Each book is published under the label of ‘Basic Era Games’, and whilst the exact Retroclone each book is written to be used with may vary, essentially, they are all compatible. Which means that the Game Master can mix and match traditions, have player characters from matching traditions, and so on.

The first book in the series, Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games is written is designed for use with Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord and presents the Witch as dedicated to the Mara Tradition, that of the Dark Mother—Lilith, the First Woman, the First Witch, and the Mother of Demons. The next book in the series is The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games and its approach to the witch—whilst starting from the same base—is broader and gives more options, is less focused on ‘Evil’ or Chaotic witches, as well as being written for a different roleplaying game. Specifically, it focuses upon the Classical traditions of Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome, and Sumeria, and it is written for use with Dreamscape Design’s Blueholme Rules, the retroclone based on the 1977 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set designed by J. Eric Holmes.

The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games starts by presenting the same version of the Witch Class as in Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games, but what this means is that from one book to the next, this Class is going to serve as a template for the rest of the other supplements devoted to the Witch from The Other Side. So the Witch is spellcaster capable of casting Witch spells and Witch rituals—a mixture of arcane and divine spells, has Occult Powers including herbal healing, many are reluctant to cast ‘black’ or evil magic, many are of Lawful Alignment, and have answered the Call of their Goddess (or other patron). 

So far, so good, but where The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games begins to get interesting is in the number of options it gives beyond this. First in the Combination Classes, so Witch/Cleric, Witch/Fighter, Witch/Magic-User, and Witch/Thief. These are not treated as dual Classes, but Classes of their own with an explanation of how they work in play and in a campaign as well as their own Experience Tables. So the Witch/Fighter often, often known as a Witch Guardian, protects other Witches against persecution and so can use any weapon a Fighter can, whilst the Witch/Thief has no title, though Jugglers often find themselves labelled as Witches and Thieves, but they are typically streetwise and useful when it comes to dealing with the dangers of exploring underground. Next, the supplement looks at the tradition of the Witch amongst non-humans, from Amazons, Bugbears, and Deep Ones to the ape-like Sagath, Troglodytes, and Trolls. Each entry gives some idea as to who or what they worship, so Trolls follow either the Faerie or Winter Witch Tradition, Deep Ones worship the demonic Dagon and his consort, and Medusa worship the daughters of primordial sea god and goddess, Phorcys and Ceto. This section does not just focus on NPC or monstrous Races, but covers how the Witch Tradition is found amongst the Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, and Halflings in lengthier descriptions. With the latter, the supplement provides solid context for Player Character Witches from those Races, especially together with the Combination Classes, whilst with the former, the Dungeon Master has some background upon which to create some interesting non-human Witch NPCs.

Both The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games and Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games offer the one Tradition. In The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games this is the Classical Tradition, a Witch who has a familiar, the ‘Gift of Prophecy’’, can refresh many of her spells with ‘Drawing Down the Moon’, and even summon the power of her patron with the ‘Charge of the Goddess’. The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is also different because it does not offer one Coven, but many. These are drawn from Classical Tradition and various ancient cultures. These include the Brotherhood of Set from Egypt, an evil cult which practices human sacrifice and which only allows male Witches to join; the Cult of Ereshkigal, which has some crossover with the Cult of Mara from Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games and whose members serve the Queen of the Night; and the Coven of Hecate, which consist of covens of three and claim to be the first witches. In general the combination of the Classic Tradition with these Covens is designed to cover Classic, Neo-Classical, and Pagan traditions, and whilst the Covens provide no mechanical benefit, they do add further flavour and detail.

Mosco Took
Second Level Witch Guardian
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Coven: Temple of Astártē

STR 10 (+0)
DEX 15 (+1 Missile Attack)
CON 03 (-1 HP)
INT 15 (+5 Languages, Literate)
WIS 14 
CHR 15 (5 Retainers)

Armour Class: 7 (Padded)
Hit Points: 5
Weapons: Dagger, Bow, Staff
THAC0 20

Halfling Abilities: +1 to hit to all ranged weapons; Resilient: +2 bonus on all saves.
Languages: Halfling, Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, Gnomish, Dragonic, Faerie

Occult Powers
Healing balms (1d4+1/three times per day)

Spells: (First Level) – Foretell, Obedient Beast, Protection of the Dead (Ritual)

Familiar: Owl (+2 Wisdom checks)

The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games offers some hundred spells, twenty monsters, thirty magic items, or so. The spells are more of a supportive nature—though there are a few offensive spells also—and feel markedly different from the standard spells of Dungeons & Dragons. So, Athena’s Blessing fills allies with battle insight with a +1 to hit bonus and +2 bonus to Wisdom checks; Obedient Beast makes animals lie down and take no action or makes trained animals obey verbal commands; and House Spirits calls upon the ‘Lares Familiares’ to protect a home or structure. There are familiar spells too, such as Augury and Spider Climb, but these do not feel out of place and the supplement includes plenty of new spells that help add flavour and feel to the Witch Class. As do the Rituals, each of which takes multiple Witches—or a coven—to cast, many of them again being of a supportive nature, for example, Drawing Down the Sun brings down healing upon allies and fear upon enemies, all allies receiving 2d6 points of healing, a +2 bonus to all Saves, -2 Armour Class, weapons are all +1 to hit and considered to be magical, and Undead are struck with fear and react as if Turned.

The monsters also feel less adversarial, more beasts and beings to interact with rather than simply fight. Many are drawn from classical myth and legend—just as those of Dungeons & Dragons are, but more so. Thus, they include Dryads, Fauns, Hags, Lares Familiares, Sphinxes, and more. The Classical is carried into the selection of magic items, such as the Ankh of Life, a holy symbol which adds a bonus to turning undead and healing; the Book of the Dead contains spells for the protection of and speaking with the dead; the Minoan Labrys is a brass axe which is both a +1 weapon and a holy symbol; and Hydra’s Teeth can be sown onto the ground to have skeletons appear and fight for you. Rounding out The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is a trio of stats and write-ups of Classical Witches—Circe, Medea, and Medusa. These provide major NPCs for a campaign involving the Witch Class, especially one drawing upon the ancient world.

Physically, The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is generally tidily presented. It needs an edit in places, but the artwork is better handled, and the content is better organised, meaning that neither Dungeon Master nor player will need to dig quite so hard to get the most out of the book. Overall, the book is a definite improvement over Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games.

Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games was good, but The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is simply better. It would work really well with a campaign set in or inspired by the Ancient World, but then it would work with most other fantasy settings too. It provides more options for the type of witch a player wants to roleplay or a Dungeon Master wants to create with the combination of the Class and its Tradition with the Combination Classes and the Covens. Even more, it fulfils the author’s agenda of creating a Witch Class which is not inherently evil, and which is neither a cliché nor a stereotype. In doing so, The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games presents the Witch as a Class which is more inclusive, more diverse, more interesting, and thus more appealing to a wider group of players and Dungeons Masters.