The Best Witches

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. However, there is a tradition of telling stories about witches, often aimed at younger readers, such as in the Harry Potter stories or The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy, and if your players are fans so either, a book like The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is probably not going to the most appropriate option. In which case, Tales of the Village might be.

Tales of the Village is an introductory roleplaying game published by Arion Games, best known for reprinting the Elizabethan-era Maelstrom and its other iterations, such as Maelstrom Domesday. The roleplaying game is intended to be played by younger players, aged between seven and twelve, but run by an experienced Game Master. Each Player Character is a young witch, living in a small, rural village, helping out with day-to-day tasks, but also helping the sick, finding lost animals, and dealing with such threats as greedy bandits, mischievous faeries, and scary ghosts! Or at least they aspire to do so, because being young, they show plenty of promise, but have only recently graduated as fully fledged witches.

To create Witch, a player rolls first for her Background, which explains what her parents do and grants her an appropriate skill. For example, the daughter of weavers learns Clothworking, whilst if the parents are castle guards, the Witch knows Brawling as a skill. A second roll determines how she became a Witch, such as a local witch shouting and pointing at the aura around the young Witch or because the Witch’s memory proved to be so good that a witch took her on immediately. Whatever way in which the Witch became a Witch, she is granted a random ability, and then two more, one from the training she receives from her Witch teacher and another from a life-changing event towards the end of her training.

Name: Ottilie

Class: Witch

Background: Minstrels

Skill: Entertainment

How Did You Start: Drove a mischievous faerie away

Teacher: conventional Witch

Event: Lifted a cure of locusts

Gift: Broomstick

Abilities: Naturebond, Potion Making, Shapechange

All of the backgrounds and events as well as the skills and abilities are nicely expanded upon and clearly explained. In the case of the abilities, there are some examples of their is too and the Witch creation process is supported with an example too.

Mechanically, Tales of the Village is simple. To have her Witch undertake an action, her player rolls three six-sided dice. Each result of five or six is counted as a Success. One Success is required if the task is Awkward, such as catching a pig; two Successes are required if the task is Difficult, like catching a sheep; and three Successes are required if the task is Very Difficult, such as catching a goat or wild hill sheep. This represents a Witch who is untrained, but if a Witch is trained in a skill, her player only has to roll four, five, or six to succeed, and if the skill or ability is mastered, her player only has to roll three, four, five, or six to succeed. The advice for failure suggests that it need not be absolute, and that if a player rolls Successes, but not enough to succeed, her Witch might get half way there or do most of a task, and so on. The consequences for failure comes into play in when the Witch loses in a mental, physical, or social contest. In which case, the player ticks a box on either the mental, physical, or social track. On each track, the Witch starts at Fine, but will go from Fine to Shaken to Beaten to Defeated. It is up to the player to roleplay most of these conditions, but if ever one of the tracks is reduced to Defeated, the Witch has failed at the adventure!

The advice for the Storyteller Guide  is simple and straightforward. This is to set up minor challenges, a mix of challenges related or unrelated to bigger challenges, and even the main challenge. Overcoming such challenges should not wholly rely upon the Witches’ skills and abilities, but allow for player ingenuity and roleplay. The more minor challenges that the Witches overcome or deal with, the easier it should be to confront and deal with the main challenges. Unfortunately, there is no advice on running Tales of the Village for the specific age range it is intended for, and what this means is that the roleplaying game relies upon the experience of the Storyteller Guide more than anything else.

In terms of support, the Storyteller Guide is provided with a scenario, ‘Goblin Rings’. It is set in a happy, fairly ordinary village except that it is home to the Witches and there are unseen threats roundabout. The scenario consists of a series of small events, such as a child being sick or sheep going missing, the child being a sickly green in colour and there being no trace of the sheep. As the Witches solve each problem, they earn Success Points, and these can be used to ease the final confrontation against the villain responsible for the situation. None of the problems are overly challenging, should not take too long to play through before the final encounter, and is thus suitable for play by its intended audience. ‘Goblin Rings’ is a charming scenario with a fairy-tale feel that its audience will enjoy.

Physically, Tales of the Village is neatly and tidily presented. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is certainly cute.

In the strictest of senses, Tales of the Village is not an introductory roleplaying game, one that anyone new to the hobby can pick up and start playing. It is, as intended, best suited to be run by someone who has some roleplaying experience and can therefore run the game for the intended audience—younger players who like witches and fairy tales. Yet as playable and runnable as it is, it is underwritten in places and the lack of advice on running roleplaying games with a younger audience is disappointing. And, of course, once the scenario is played through, the Storyteller Guide will need to write some more, and again, the advice to that end is underwhelming. Overall, Tales of the Village is a serviceable roleplaying game that does what it sets out to do and does it with a little charm, but it feels like it could have done a little more.

Magazine Madness 12: The Warlock Returns Issue #01

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Back in the nineteen eighties, at the height of the popularity of the solo adventure books which had begun with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and Fighting Fantasy in 1982, there not one, but two solo adventure magazines. Warlock, published between 1984 and 1986 by Penguin and then Games Workshop, ran for just thirteen issues. Its counterpart, Proteus, was published by IPC Magazines Ltd. and then Wimborne Publishing between 1984 and 1988, and ran to nineteen issues. Although both published solo adventures, Proteus was not a Fighting Fantasy-oriented magazine, but a ‘A Complete Fantasy Adventure Game Magazine’, whereas Warlock definitely was. The focus of Warlock was fantasy with an emphasis on the Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook series. The focus of its successor is much broader. Published quarterly by Arion Games, The Warlock Returns is devoted to Advanced Fighting Fantasy, the full roleplaying game based on the Fighting Fantasy solo adventures series and its Science Fiction equivalent, Stellar Adventures.

The Warlock Returns #01 was published in September, 2020. It presents a medley of things, from monsters to scenarios, from weapons to cartoons, from advice to settings, and more. It opens with Andrew Wright’s entry for the ‘Denizens of the Pit’ column. He details three types of Chaos Dragon—the swamp-dwelling, acid-spitting Yellow Dragon; the wilderness and ruin-dwelling, superheated wind exhaling Orange Dragon; and the jungle and ruins-dwelling, green slime breathing Purple Dragon. These are nicely detailed and tied into the history of Titan—the setting for Advanced Fighting Fantasy—when Death walked the lands and breathed Chaos into the hidden places where dragons were sleeping, mutating some of them into these three forms. They suffer from mutations today. All three are fearsome great beasts and not something that an unprepared adventurer would want to encounter.

The issue includes two lists of equipment. The first is ‘Jungle Mania’, by Stuart Lloyd. Just a page in length, it lists the sort of equipment that adventurers’ might want to prepare themselves with before setting out into the jungle. They include mosquito netting, mosquito repellent, the machete, blowpipes, darts, and poisons. All fairly serviceable, but with little tweaks here and there. For example, the machete is treated as a shortsword which is more effective against plants rather than creatures. Similarly, the weapons listed in Terry d’Orleans’ ‘Chinese Inspired Weapons for the Isles of Dawn’, are also tweaked. They range from the Gong (bow) and the flexible Qiang (spear) to the Liuxingchui (meteor hammer) and the Hudie Shuangdao (butterfly swords). For example, the Liuxingchui can be used to disarm an opponent rather than inflict Stamina damage and the Shengbiao (rope dart) to inflict a penalty to all physical actions rather than damage.

Terry d’Orleans also offers advice for the Director—as the Game Master is known in Advanced Fighting Fantasy—in ‘Sizing Up Monsters’, which explores ways of making encounters and combat more interesting and enjoyable by unbalancing them for and against the adventurers. The aim here is not to make them extremely easy or extremely challenging, but appropriate to the situation, perhaps to make a fight against minions slightly easier and that against their villainous master or mistress that much harder. It is a well thought out article, and solid advice for the new Director and experienced Director alike.

Adrian Kennelly provides two lists of twenty things to be found and read. ‘For the Bookworms’ is a list of books which can be used to flesh out bookshelves, so as to hide that all too important tome which the Player Characters might need to find, which ‘Notes and letters from Arion’ is a list of notes and missives which might be found in pockets (whether their owners are dead or alive) or dropped on the floor, and which might spur an encounter or adventure. There is a certain mundane to some of the latter, but both articles, written for the setting of Arion, would an extra degree of verisimilitude to any Advanced Fighting Fantasy campaign. They could easily be adapted to other settings if necessary.

The Warlock Returns #01 contains two specials. One is a new character sheet for Advanced Fighting Fantasy designed by Dyson Logos, whilst ‘In Their Element’ is a one-page dungeon designed around the elements and their alchemical symbols, along with those for the metals copper, silver, gold, and platinum. By Peter Endean, it is the first of two adventures in the issue and is serviceable enough, emphasising puzzles as much as combat.

Calfiero Risaliti’s ‘Welcome to Arion’ is the second and much longer adventure in The Warlock Returns #01. It takes low-experience adventurers from Allansia and the Old World to Arion, from where they plan to explore Khul. It is not suitable to more than the single magic user, and requires Travels in Arion as well as the standard rulebooks as necessary. It takes a while for the adventure to get going in which the adventurers, along with the rest of the city, find themselves under a curse. To solve the curse, the adventurers have to race round Arion to find and solve a series of riddles. It feels rather lengthy and could have done with editing for clarity. One notable issue is that it does not actually state what is going on for the benefit of the Director until three pages in, which is just too late.

The Warlock Returns #01 has its own comic strip in the form of ‘The Legend of Gareus: The Hero of Karn’. Written and drawn by Shaun Garea, this tells of the adventures—or rather, not-adventures-of the cowardly anti-hero, Gareus. This is quite fun and nicely done, and Gareus is a chancer and a git. Hopefully in future issues, he might even be loveable! Gareus returns at the end of the issue as ‘Agony Aunt Gareus’ with the sort of useless titbits and pieces of advice that you would imagine that only he could offer.

After all of that fantasy, Martin Proctor offers some Science Fiction with a setting for Stellar Adventures. ‘Tora’ is the first part in a series describing the desert world of the same name. Most of its inhabitants reside in clusters of cities where they toil in a strict class system maintained by the wealthy and the Enforcement, which imposes law and order. Travel between the cities—even the clustered ones, is limited; protests and riots by the poor are common; and any potential rebellion made all the difficult by limited access to arms and armour. However nomads do survive in the desert wastelands and smugglers conduct trade off world and between the cities. Guidelines are suggested for finding a home base for the Player Characters, hiring followers, income and prices for vehicles and other equipment, and multiple group combat. The inference here is that the Player Characters establish a base on world and then attempt to overthrow the various cities’ governments or become a criminal network, and so on. It is an intriguing campaign set-up, although not fully realised in terms of the setting here as descriptions of the world’s factions are saved for the next part of ‘Tora’. This though is a solid introduction which has a Mad Max/Blake’s 7 feel and it should all come together with the next part.

Physically,The Warlock Returns #01;is a bit rough around the edges. Although the layout is okay, much of the magazine would benefit from better editing—why every occurrence of the letter ‘l’ is in bold boggles the eyes, let alone the mind. The artwork is decent though.

The Warlock Returns #01 sits at that point between fanzine and proper magazine. It is more a ‘prozine’ than a magazine. There is a certain scrappiness to it and much of it needs an edit to really make the contents easier for the Director to use. It is though a first issue, and its problems can be put down to that. Hopefully, The Warlock Returns #02 will be better in terms of design and presentation. Nevertheless, The Warlock Returns #01 is worth the time to read through and check out its content if you a fan of Advanced Fighting Fantasy and especially so if you are a Director of Advanced Fighting Fantasy.

In Sorcerous Service

Ur-Turuk is the oldest and largest of mankind’s cities. Located in Turukstan, it stands on the Gulf of Tharita and is home to a great ziggurat temple to the god Enu, father of the sun and lord of fire, as well as a Vahnam—an association of Sorcerers and their retinues. The primary concern of each Sorcerer is improving his magic, which requires the recovery of ancient Alulim artefacts—the Alulim being giant Ancients who harnessed magic and enslaved mankind long ago—and then deconstructing them to extract the magic. The recovery requires research and then expeditions to travel out beyond Turukstan, but the extraction takes time and solitude, so the Vahnam needs to be protected from outside influences. This is the task of each retinue, who in serving and protecting their sorcerous masters will get involved in city politics and manipulate Ur-Turuk’s various factions, not just the city government and the city guard, but the priesthoods including the Line of Enu, the Temple of the Red God, the Cult of the Blind Serpent, and the Cult of Nissa, as well as the trade guild, the Brotherhood of Coin, the beggars’ guild, the Dust, and various underworld factions, such as the Vanishing Hand and the Black Face.

Sorcerers can cast great magics. They can summon and create things of nature and the elements as well as demons and ghosts. They can also destroy them and shape them, but they cannot use magic to transmute one substance into another, nor can spells be cast to learn things. So a Sorcerer is unable to cast a spell that would determine a cause of death, decode an encrypted scroll, or overhear a conversation from afar. In each case, an expert on the spot would be required—a physician, a scholar, a thief, and so on—to learn such information. Further, the effects of magic are not permanent. A magically constructed wall will collapse or fade, magical food will satiate the appetite and nothing more, and magical healing will only temporarily stave off the effects of wounds and damage. Should a warrior suffer too many wounds and receive magical healing, then when that healing fades, the wounds will return and he will be ripped apart! In such cases, it best to proper, non-magical healing lest a warrior’s wounds should overcome him.

This is the set-up for Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk, a roleplaying game of magic and politics inspired by ancient Persia published by Arion Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Mechanically, it uses the d6 System first seen in 1987’s Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game from West End Games, but structurally it uses the ‘troupe style’ of play pioneered by Ars Magica, currently published by Atlas Games. What this means is that each player controls a Sorcerer; a Major character—perhaps a master swordsman, a high priest, an oracle, an assassin, a noble, and so on; and three Minor characters—a Soldier, a Servant, and a Specialist. Characters are defined by six attributes—Might, Agility, Wits, Charm, Toughness, and Perception—and various skills from the forty-five available. Sorcerers also possess magical skills. Characters also have Perks and Complications.

Character creation gets more complex the more important a character is in a Sorcerer’s retinue. The creation of Minor characters involves a mix of rolls, picking templates, and freely assigning dice to attributes and skills. Guidelines are included if the the GM or his players want a bit more freedom than the methods included for Minor characters. The sample Minor characters have used the standard method. So the soldier in our retinue is an ex-scout who has grumpily been assigned to guard duty where he commands a team of men. He is known for his wary and weary eye, as well as his temper when his men fail him or the Vahnam. The Servant is a Cook, an ex-pickpocket who sought another trade lest her thievery lead to her execution. She is renowned for her advice as much as her readiness to defend her kitchen domain. The Musician likes the limelight and always plays a solo when performing. Unfortunately his eye for company after the performances often lands him in trouble and he knows when to get out of the way.

Souran, Soldier, Old Guard
Might 2D+2
Mêlée Weapons 1D, Block 1D
Agility 2D+1
Missile Weapons 2D, Parry +1
Wits 2D
Tactics +1
Charm 2D
Command +1
Toughness 2D
Survival +1
Perception 3D
Assess Other +1, Awareness +1

Perks: Warrior, Toughness, Danger Sense
Complications: Sense of Honour, Angry, Slow Reactions

Weapons: Shamshir (+2D), Crossbow (4d+1)
Leather armour (+2 Protection, -1 Agility)

Hatefeh, Servant, Cook
Might 2D
Mêlée Weapons +1, Brawling 1D
Agility 2D+1
Craft (Cooking) 2D+2, Larceny +1, Stealth +1
Wits 2D+1
Charm 1D+2
Streetwise 1D
Toughness 2D+1
Perception 2D
Awareness +1

Perks: Common Sense
Complications: Obese

Megabiz, Specialist, Musician
Might 1D
Agility 2D
Dodge +1
Wits 3D
Lore (Music) +2, Language +1
Charm 4D
Music 2D, Performance 1D, Seduce 1D+1
Toughness 2D
Stamina +1
Perception 2D
Awareness +1

Perks: Attractive (Minor), Educated (Minor)
Complications: Showman (Minor), Personality Flaw (Promiscuous) (Minor)

Creating a Major character is more involved, but more freeform. Several roles are given, suggesting which attributes to favour and which skills, perks, and complications to select. Termeh has served the Temple of Enu for decades now, having the gift of being able to read into the flames. She is old now and her powers are waning, but still powerful. She has rivals who would unseat her and are currently feuding with her for her influence over the chief priest. She also serves as an advisor to her daughter, Zarif Rastegari, who is a Sorcerer in the city’s Vahnam.

Termeh, Major Character, Oracle & Priest of Enu
Might 2D
Agility 2D
Wits 3D+1
Religion 1D+1
Charm 4D
Command +1, Persuade +2, Diplomacy +2, Performance 1D
Toughness 2D
Self-Control 1D
Perception 2D+2
Second Sight 2D

Holy Power 1D+2

Perks: High Priest (Major), Burning Faith (Major)
Complications: Ancient (Major), Feud (Major)

Creating a Sorcerer is even more freeform, a player needing to assign more dice to his Sorcerer’s attributes, skills, and magical skills. Notably, a Sorcerer has access to Sorcerous Perks and Complications that Major or Minor characters do not, though Minor Magic is available as a Perk that allow a Major character to possess some magic. Zarif Rastegari is a scholar and Earth and Body Sorcerer who is fascinated with the pure nature of magic. She has inherited some of her mother’s second sight, but not yet harnessed it with spirit-related magic. Her magic must be worked through a ruby that she wears on a necklace and she is better at summoning and shaping with her magic than she is destroying.

Zarif Rastegari, Sorcerer
Might 2D
Agility 3D
Dodge 1D
Wits 4D
Research 2D, Lore 1D, History +1
Charm 2D
Barter +1
Toughness 2D
Self-Control +2
Perception 3D
Awareness 1D, Second Sight +2

Perks: Sorcery (Major), Iron Will (Major), Educated (Minor), Scholar (Major)
Complications: Sense of Honour (Minor), Squeamish (Major), Magical Focus (Major)

Elements
Mind, Light 2, Nature, Spirit, Magic 3, Body 2, Fire, Air, Water, Earth 2

Controls
Summon 2, Destroy 1, Shape 2

Lastly the players need to decide upon the nature of their Vahnam. This is the home and headquarters of the sorcerers and their retinues. It is built using a pool of points that increases the greater the number of Sorcerers and their retinues who make it their home, but it is quite a tight budget, so the players will need to make some careful choices in how they design their character’s home.

Zarif Rastegari shares her Vahnam with another Sorcerer and his retinue. It is located in Ur-Turuk’s residential district, home to merchants and craftsmen, and is a relatively small townhouse built around a central courtyard in which stands a well from which can be drawn pure water. The Sorcerers and their retinues live comfortably in the house as well as eating well. Indeed, it is renowned for its kitchen and the banquets which are beginning to attract guests from across the city. The highest room in the building is used by Zarif Rastegari as an observatory by both her and her mother. The Sorcerers plan to build a library, but the building itself will expanding and that will involve purchasing land from their neighbours.

Residential District
Small
Wealth (Comfortable) 4D+1
Security 3D+1
Facilities
Observatory, Superior Kitchen, Well
Reputations
The Line of Enu (Friendly)
The Cult of the Blind Serpent (Unfriendly)

Mechanically, the player characters are rolling handfuls of dice to beat a target, ranging from Very Easy (5) and Easy (10) to Very Difficult (25) and Heroic (30). These dice can be in any of the six attributes, the forty-five skills, and the thirteen magical skills, typically combinations of an attribute and a skill. An average NPC will have two dice in each of the attributes, some of the skills, and perhaps a few more dice in the skills he is good at or that represent his occupation. Major NPCs and of course, the player characters, will have a lot more dice in their attributes and skills, and thus more dice to roll. In addition, attributes and skills can have pips, either +1 or 2. When two or more dice are rolled, one of them is the Wild Die. When the result of this die is a one, it deducts the highest die from the total rolled, whereas rolls of six on the Wild Die enable it to be rolled again and the total added. As long as sixes keep being rolled on the Wild Die, it can be rolled again and again. 

For example, Souran is going about his rounds late at night at the Vahnam. Unfortunately, someone has sent Black Face assassins—they cover their faces in ash—to murder Termeh, the Priestess of Enu. Souran has the Danger Sense Perk and cannot be surprised, but in the dark, the GM rules that his player must roll to see where the assassins are going. Souran’s player adds his Perception 3D and Awareness +1, so has to roll 3D+1 against a Moderate (15) difficulty. Souran’s player rolls 4, 6, and 5 on the Wild die, which with the addition of the +1, gives a total of 16 and a success. Souran takes up his crossbow and goes in search of the assassins.

 The system is simple and fast. It also allows for automatic successes if a player has enough dice—up to a target of Moderate (15)—and for multiple actions, simply deducting dice for each of the actions that a player might want to do. In addition, some characters possess Hero Points, which can be used to escape the current trap or danger, to maximise the results on the dice roll, or to acquire a clue or assistance for the adventure. Combat is handled by opposed rolls between attacks and Reactions—Dodge, Block with a shield, or Parry with a weapon—followed by damage rolls to overcome the target’s armour and Toughness. Combat does take into account the effect of the excess on the attack roll, so a strike might grant a bonus to the damage roll or reduce the opponent’s armour, smash the opponent’s shield or disarm him, cleave a limb or simply kill him, and so on. Various combat options are covered, including the specific effects of various arms and armour, and in general, combat is short and brutal. 

For example, Souran comes upon the first assassin. Both Souran’s player and the GM as the assassin roll for initiative. Souran has Agility 2D+1 and the Assassin Agility 3D. Souran has 10 and the Assassin 7—Souran goes first and snap fires his crossbow. His player will roll Agility 2D+1, Missile Weapons 2D, and +1 for Souran’s Warrior Perk, a total of 4D+2. The GM will roll the Assassin’s Agility 3D as he tries to dodge, but with a penalty of -1 for armour. The GM rolls 5, 5, and 5, for a total of 14 with the effect of the Assassin’s armour. Souran’s player rolls 5, 5, 5, and 6 on the Wild Die. Then rolls another 6, followed by a 3. To this total of 30 is added +2, for a total of 32. This exceeds the Assassin’s Reaction roll by 17, so Souran’s excess can be turned into the Assassin being disarmed as the crossbow bolt strikes his wrist. The damage roll for the crossbow is 4D+1, whilst the Assassin is wearing leather armour, so has a +2 bonus to his Toughness 2D. The GM rolls 2 and 5, which with the armour bonus gives a result of 9. Souran’s player rolls 4, 5, 6, and 2, which with the +1, gives a result of 18. This is an Excess of 9 more than the roll for the Assassin, indicating that he has been incapacitated—the bolt pierces the Assassin’s wrist, ripping tendons and blood vessels, causing the interloper to cry out in pain and drop his blade as blood pumps from the wound. The other Assassins are alerted to Souran’s attack, but so are the rest of the guards.

 Of course magic lies at the heart of Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk and its approach is to make it fast and flexible. A player  has the freedom to decide the effect, range, duration, number of targets, and so on before making the casting roll for his Sorcerer. Effects can include inflicting damage, boosting the target’s attributes or boosting the effect of an object, restoring a target or object, and summoning a creature. So a Sorcerer might want to blast an enemy with fire, enhance the Strength attribute or Brawling skill of a wrestler, boost a fire into conflagration, and summon a Pegasus to escape or a demon with which to make a bargain. Once these are decided upon, the player makes an appropriate casting roll, a combination of a Control skill—Summon, Destroy, or Shape, and an Element—Mind, Light, Nature, Spirit, Magic, Body, Fire, Air, Water, or Earth. The rules explore each of the thirty combinations. 

So for example, Zarif Rastegari is searching some caves having heard that an ancient Alulim artefact might be found within its depths. Rather than have her companions light torches, the Sorcerer decides draw forth some light. Her player decides that the spell will be Fatiguing (+0), have a range of Self (+0), a duration of one hour (+6), and a ten foot radius (+13). This gives a Target Number of 19 against which Zarif Rastegari’s player must roll a combination of Summon 2 and Light 2 or 4D. 

Once the Target Number is set, all the player needs to do is make the Casting roll. If the roll is successful, the spell succeeds. Otherwise it fails, but on a roll of all ones, a catastrophic spell failure occurs, which means that the Sorcerer might lose his ability to cast magic, knocked out or stunned, or even rip him apart! In general, the more dice rolled in the Casting roll, the worse the catastrophic spell failure occurs is likely to be. Spells can also be combined, so that a Sorcerer can build spell effects. So a Sorcerer not only summon water to impress a tribal chieftain with a Summon + Water Casting roll, but then a Shape + Water Casting roll in order to shape into a fountain or direct its flow. The rules for magic include high magic areas, minor magics and sorcery, limited magic, as well as using spells defensively.

Overall, the magic and sorcery mechanics in Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk are simple and straightforward, but their freeform nature and the freedom they grant in how spells are cast and the effects they have, is not a little daunting. The guidance included helps, but anyone coming to the roleplaying game after playing in fantasy settings where there are set spell lists will still need to make some adjustments and that may impede playing time.

Magic is not the only source of power in Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk. There is also faith. Mechanically, this is represented by a religious character’s Holy Power, essentially a skill possessed by the priesthood by each faith. It is used—or invoked—to add a bonus to other skills rather than as a set of miracles a la the clerical spells of Dungeons & Dragons. If used to so enhance a skill and the skill roll fails, the priest loses his Holy Power until such times as he regain it through prayer and devotion. What this means is that sorcery is very much favoured in Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk and as a result Holy Power is more a sense of personal faith upon the part of any priest rather than drawn from any faith in a deity. This seems to undercut the influence and power of the various faiths and priesthoods in the city of Ur-Turuk and perhaps this aspect could be developed further in supplements for the roleplaying game?

Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk also includes a bestiary and an examination of ancient Alulim artefacts and how a Sorcerer deconstructs them in order draw forth their magic into himself and so improve his magical abilities. This is the only way in which a Sorcerer can improve his magic, though he can improve his mundane skills just the members of his retinue can. Although Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk does not include a scenario, it does include an outline of the opening chapters of a campaign and a discussion of what a Sorcerer and his retinue does on an ongoing basis. The core focus of the game is the conducting of research into the existence and location of Alulim artefacts, mounting an expedition to recover the artefact, and then studying the recovered artefact before breaking it down to extract its magic. This will involve one or more of the Sorcerers, but only the one Sorcerer can study and extract magic from an artefact and this takes a whole season. Major and Minor characters in a Sorcerer’s retinue will aid him in this task, providing support and protection, but whilst this is their primary role, they can also have their own adventures and their own stories. 

Since this is Troupe style play, both the GM and the players can scale up and down their Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk campaign, telling and roleplaying smaller tales with the Minor characters, larger and more heroic stories with the Major characters, and then grander epics with the Sorcerers. So the Minor characters might be involved in small tales in and around the Vahnam; the Major characters in going out and interacting with the city of Ur-Turuk, advising the Sorcerers, and then accompanying them on their expeditions; and the Sorcerers in research, expeditions, and working on artefacts as well as the politics and life of Ur-Turuk. Since each player has three Minor and three Major characters to choose from—and he is expected to switch back and forth between them—he will not only always have a character to bring into the current storyline and situation, he will also be constantly called upon to exercise his roleplaying skill.

Unfortunately, Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk does not feel quite complete. True, it includes everything that the GM needs to run the game and that the players need to play the game, but the setting itself feels underdeveloped. Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk is meant to be inspired by ancient Persia and that does not quite come across. It feels Middle Eastern rather than specifically Persian. Further, whilst there is a reasonable amount of background on the city of Ur-Turuk, certainly enough for the GM to work with in the initial stages of his campaign, beyond its walls, there is virtually nothing given, which is an issue since this is where the Sorcerers and their retinues are going to be going on expeditions.

Physically, Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk is a well presented, full colour hardback. It feels as if it could be better organised—there is a lot of information in terms of the mechanics and the background to get through before the reader gets to the mechanics for character generation. The artwork varies in quality, some of it very good and nicely capturing the exoticism of the setting, much of it good, but some of it somewhat scrappy in quality. Overall, it is handsome book.

Mechanically and conceptually, Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk does not feel like an original roleplaying game. The d6 System is a tried and tested set of mechanics and Troupe-style play is a tried and tested campaign set-up and so will be familiar to many. The combination is more than effective though, the d6 System being simple and fast, the combat mechanics adding a brutality to the game, whilst the Troupe-style play adds roleplaying opportunities aplenty. Both sit well in the interesting setting of Ur-Turuk where a campaign can start, but not really go beyond the city walls. Ultimately, Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk promises much, but its setting really needs to be fleshed out and further developed if it is going deliver the full potential of Troupe-style play.

—oOo—

Arion Games will be at UK Games Expo which will take place between June 2nd and June 4th, 2017 at Birmingham NEC. This is the world’s fourth largest gaming convention and the biggest in the United Kingdom.

A Yuletide Domesday

The Yuletide Spirit and Trouble at T'Mill is the second supplement released for Maelstrom Domesday, the Norman set RPG published by Arion Games as a prequel and second edition to the highly regarded 1984 RPG, Maelstrom. This new RPG is set in 1086, some twenty years after the Norman invasion of 1066, and presents a country still recovering from repeated invasions—by the Scots and the Danes; from repeated rebellions and suppressions within; and finally from the ‘Harrying of the North’, the violent suppression of not just a series of Anglo-Saxon uprisings, but of the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the region, resulting in the death of tens of thousands. This is the year in which the Domesday Book, a great survey of the men and lands of the King William the Conqueror is completed, even as the king’s attention continues to be divided between consolidating his rule over England and holding off the French king’s designs upon Normandy. Thus the king’s men cannot be everywhere and when his peace is disrupted, the taxes cannot be collected, there are further signs of rebellion, or things that cannot truly be explained, other powerful men of the kingdom are prepared to step in to support both king and church. Often they cannot act directly and arrange to have their agents act for them—agents such as the player characters, who each have had some kind of encounter with the supernatural that is the Maelstrom…!

Characters in Maelstrom Domesday are ordinary men and women—they can be archers, beggars, craftsmen, huntsmen, knights, ladies, men-at-arms, outlaws, peasants, priests, squires, and wisemen/wisewomen. In the default campaign set-up, the characters each have an encounter with something weird and been employed by a local lord to investigate strange things going on in his holdings. It should be noted that this is historical game, which means that there are many occupations that will not be available to female characters. Further whilst magic using characters are possible, it is rare that one will be rolled up during character creation. In fact, it is far more likely that character will have theological knowledge than knowledge of magic, though knowledge of the supernatural will also not be uncommon, though frowned upon.

The Yuletide Spirit and Trouble at T'Mill presents two short adventures that can each be run in a single session or so. Like The Beast of Ledsham, both are set in isolated locations and both involve hauntings of a sort. Trouble at T'Mill was originally packaged as the Maelstrom Domesday Quickstart, whilst The Yuletide Spirit was released on its own. In The Yuletide Spirit, the player characters have been sent by their liege lord to investigate sightings of a black dog in a nearby village. This could have been the ‘beast of Ledsham’, but now in the depths of winter, they find themselves caught out as the weather turns and they are forced to seek shelter. This is at an isolated grange or monastic farm which belongs to the abbey of St. Mary’s in York. It is worked by a mix of monks and lay brothers, who will welcome the characters with some slight reluctance, though mostly because they are busy with their farm work and their religious observances.

All this takes place on Christ Mass Eve and after they bed down for the night, they are awoken by ghostly chanting in Latin. The question is, what is the cause? As investigators into the odd and the supernatural for their liege lord, the characters are bound to investigate. This will not actually take all that much investigation, but it is enough for a single session.

With a title echoing a certain Monty Python sketch, Trouble at T'Mill takes place in the manor and village of Welburn. The characters are sent there for two reasons. First, their patron has an important guest and wants them out of the way. Second, Welburn has not been sending the milled grain it should, only unmilled grain, and their patron wants to know why. This is a lengthier, more involved scenario than the earlier The Yuletide Spirit, with more villagers to interact with, as the characters attempt to find out why the miller has stopped working in the mill.

The greater array of NPCs means that the Referee will have more to work with and have more in portraying them. Similarly he should have as much fun, if not more, portraying what happens if the characters spend any time in the mill. The cause of the problem is a relatively obvious and straightforward and it is a plot that has been seen elsewhere before. This should not necessarily be held against the scenario or its author, as it is handled in as unfussy a manner as you would wish.

Physically, The Yuletide Spirit and Trouble at T'Mill is presented in an open and accessible fashion. It feels untidy and the layout could be cleaner and easier. It should be pointed out that the book does not include the pre-generated players characters that it says that it has. Further, there is no advice as what the Referee should create in terms of pre-generated characters, though some suggestions can be extracted from the text. Better advice would have been a nice touch.

Unfortunately, there is little in the way of support for Maelstrom Domesday and The Yuletide Spirit and Trouble at T'Mill presents two decent scenarios that are easy to run and add to an existing campaign. Or indeed, used as one-shots to showcase the RPG. Of the two, Trouble at T'Mill is the better, deeper showcase, but The Yuletide Spirit is the easier of the two to run and the easier to run in a short time frame. As its title might suggest, The Yuletide Spirit would make a good adventure to run at this time of year. Both scenarios are easier to run and better presented than The Beast of Ledsham, as well as being more accessible. If there is an issue with The Yuletide Spirit and Trouble at T'Mill it is that there are similarities between the two scenarios that might preclude their being run too close together. Their brevity also highlights the fact that Maelstrom Domesday would benefit from longer deeper support, especially in terms of scenarios. Nevertheless, The Yuletide Spirit and Trouble at T'Mill presents a pair of solid scenarios that are easy to add to any campaign or run as one-shots.

A Beast of an Adventure

The Beast of Ledsham is the first supplement released for Maelstrom Domesday, the Norman set RPG published by Arion Games as a prequel and second edition to the 1984 RPG, Maelstrom. This new RPG is set in 1086, some twenty years after the Norman invasion of 1066, and presents a country still recovering from repeated invasions—by the Scots and the Danes; from repeated rebellions and suppressions within; and finally from the ‘Harrying of the North’, the violent suppression of not just a series of Anglo-Saxon uprisings, but of the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the region, resulting in the death of tens of thousands. This is the year in which the Domesday Book, a great survey of the men and lands of the King William the Conqueror is completed, even as the king’s attention continues to be divided between consolidating his rule over England and holding off the French king’s designs upon Normandy. Thus the king’s men cannot be everywhere and when his peace is disrupted, the taxes cannot be collected,, there are further signs of rebellion, or things that cannot truly be explained, other powerful men of the kingdom are prepared to step in to support both king and church. Often they cannot act directly and arrange to have their agents act for them—agents such as the player characters, who each have had some kind of encounter with the supernatural that is the Maelstrom…!

Characters in Maelstrom Domesday are ordinary men and women—they can be archers, beggars, craftsmen, huntsmen, knights, ladies, men-at-arms, outlaws, peasants, priests, squires, and wisemen/wisewomen. In the default campaign set-up, the characters each have an encounter with something weird and been employed by a local lord to investigate strange things going on in his holdings. It should be noted that this is historical game, which means that there are many occupations that will not be available to female characters. Further whilst magic using characters are possible, it is rare that one will be rolled up during character creation.

The Beast of Ledsham is a short adventure in which the characters are tasked with visiting the village of Ledsham to the west of York—the default campaign location in the core rulebook—where it is reported that something evil lurks in the surrounding woods, preying on game and the villagers. This matter has to be addressed quickly as the Norman baron Ilbert de Lacy will move to do what the characters have been ordered to do, but he will do so employing harsh, direct methods as he thinks that the villagers have been poaching his deer.

Written for use with novice or experienced characters, The Beast of Ledsham consists of a twenty-eight page booklet which mostly consists of a description of the village and its inhabitants. In order to conduct the investigation, the characters will need to interview the villagers. In the doing so, they will be faced with a prejudice or two—Normans are not always well liked in Ledsham—and perhaps uncover one or two things going on in the village. This is necessary, since it aid in their final uncovering of what exactly is going on in Ledsham.

The problem is that The Beast of Ledsham focuses on building the suspicions of the player character and in so doing, pointing them towards the village’s other secrets. This is necessary after all, but in the process, it initially completely ignores clues about the adventure’s obvious plot and leaves the GM with the task of creating them himself. Essentially, what is going to happen is that the player characters are going to turn up in Ledsham, start asking questions about the beast that has been threatening the villagers and their livelihood, and the GM will be unable to give those answers because it is apparent that they knowing nothing! Which is a problem because the player characters are going to want those questions answered—after all, it is why they are in Ledsham in the first place.

Once the investigators get on track, then The Beast of Ledsham presents a decent enough scenario. The investigation itself involves lots interviews and interrogations and except for a minor optional encounter at the start and the confrontation with the creature at the end, it involves little in the way of combat. Indeed, none of the female characters are given stats because when it comes to combat, they will flee rather than fight. 

For the most part, The Beast of Ledsham is decently enough presented. The artwork feels a bit rough and the book could do with an edit. Ultimately, that is what The Beast of Ledsham needed—another edit, someone else’s eyes going over—to spot the fundamental omissions. The Beast of Ledsham is not unworkable or unplayable, but it needs work to get there...

A Norman Whirl

Originally published in 1984, Maelstrom is probably the first British RPG to receive critical acclaim and be successful. It helped that it was published at the height of the Fighting Fantasy craze and that it was released by the same publisher—Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Books. The slim paperback offered a semi-historical RPG set in the late Elizabethan Age, one in which nobles, professionals, craftsmen and artisans, tradesmen and labourers, as well as mercenaries, priests, mages, and rogues investigated the supernatural and had other adventures. Although the book went out of print, it was welcome news when it was announced in 2008 that Arion Games would not only be republishing the game, but would be supporting it with supplements such as The Maelstrom Companion and Beggars Companion. In 2013, Arion Games released the second edition of the game.

Maelstrom Domesday is that second edition, but it not a simple reprint of the Elizabethan-era set Maelstrom, but rather a prequel, still set in England, but the eleventh century rather than the sixteenth. Set in 1086, just twenty years after the Norman invasion, it presents a country still recovering repeated invasions—by the Scots and the Danes; from repeated rebellions and suppressions within; and finally from the ‘Harrying of the North’, the violent suppression of not just a series of Anglo-Saxon uprisings, but of the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the region, resulting in the death of tens of thousands. This is the year in which the Domesday Book, a great survey of the men and lands of the King William the Conqueror is completed, even as the king’s attention continues to be divided between consolidating his rule over England and holding off the French king’s designs upon Normandy. Thus the king’s men cannot be everywhere and when his peace is disrupted, the taxes cannot be collected,, there are further signs of rebellion, or things that cannot truly be explained, other powerful men of the kingdom are prepared to step in to support both king and church. Often they cannot act directly and arrange to have their agents act for them—agents such as the player characters, who each have had some kind of encounter with the supernatural that is the Maelstrom…!

Characters in Maelstrom Domesday are ordinary men and women—they can be archers, beggars, craftsmen, huntsmen, knights, ladies, men-at-arms, outlaws, peasants, priests, squires, and wisemen/wisewomen. It should be noted that this is historical game, which means that there are many occupations that will not be available to female characters. Further whilst magic using characters are possible, it is rare that one will be rolled up during character creation and if a player wants to specifically play one, then it should be by design rather than roll of the dice.

The creation of characters—a process which owes much to Traveller via Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay—starts with Attributes such as Attack Skill, Will, and Perception. These start out at the base level bar some minor adjustments for each character’s adolescence. Each player will then roll for his character’s Racial Origins—Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Irish, Welsh, or Dane, and his Social Class—Outcast, Peasant, Townsman, or Lesser Nobility. A character also has three characteristics, such as Education, Strong Grip, or Wise, also rolled for, with most of them being advantages. Then, at the age of thirteen, the character begins his first Career, again rolled for.

The Careers available to a character are dependent on his Social Class. Outcasts have a high chance of being Rogues, Outlaws, or Beggars; Peasants of being Peasants; Townsmen of being Craftsmen or Traders; and the Lesser Nobility of being Squires. Each Career lasts between three and five years, grants bonus points to a character’s Attributes, gives a Rank in two Abilities, the chance of receiving certain resources, some monies, and a table of Career Exits. At the end of each Career, unless the character rolls under his age and brings the creation process to an end, this table is checked to determine what Career the character will take next. Lastly, the Career indicates the table on which the character should roll for a Random Event. For the most part, a character will remain in the same Career for some time.

For example, each term in the Priest Career lasts five years. The character receives dice rolls to add to his Persuasion and Will Attributes, plus a die roll of points to assign to any Attributes; a rank in each of Religion and Literacy Abilities; and a few silver pennies and the chance of being given a Latin Bible. On the Career Exit table, the Priest will probably remain as a Priest, but might be promoted to a Deacon or Chaplain, or become a Monk, Wiseman, Clerk, or even an Outlaw. A slim chance allows a random roll on the First Career table or a player to choose. For that term, the Priest should roll on the Sedentary table for his Random Event, which might give the result that he falls madly in love, finds an ancient tome of knowledge—and improves his Knowledge Attribute, or his house is burnt down and he loses his accumulated possessions.

At the end of the character creation process, a player can freely select a Rank in any Ability for each of the two terms served. The character also ages if over thirty years of age, and can roll his name if so desired. Lastly, he needs to roll for a supernatural encounter that will bring him to the attention of his Patron, which must also be rolled for. Lastly, the player should work his character’s history using the game’s timeline along with the Random Events that have occurred to the character. Lastly, each character two further statistics; one is Favour, a measure of his Patron’s regard for him, the other is Imbalance, a measure of mental well-being.

Thus character creation is quite a lengthy process, with the results ranging from a teenage peasant to a forty year old veteran. Our sample character is Eirik Thorgestson, the son of merchant, a cousin of Sweyn Forkbeard, the first Danish king of England. He grew up strong and arrogant, ugly and ill-liked were it not for his father’s wealth and his willingness to use his fists. Apprenticed to his father’s trading house, a mentor took the young under his wing and managed to smooth some of the rougher edges of his character as well as allowing him to make some interesting contacts. He signed on with one of these contacts, a merchant who made journeys down to London and then beyond to Paris. Not though just as a merchant, for he had to help defend the merchant’s caravans and so he trained as a soldier, first as a mercenary before becoming a sergeant-at-arms. A fall from a horse, caused by the appearance of a fireball in the sky, resulted in his fracturing his right leg. The long months necessary to his recovery led to his being discharged from service.

Eirik Thorgestson is not a good looking man, but he has learned not only to overcome his ugliness, but to use to his advantage. This he can back up with his martial prowess if necessary. Currently he hopes to make more money trading, or at the least gain a better income for his sword skill. If necessary, he can survive off the land. 

Name: Eirik Thorgestson Age: 40 Gender: Male
Race: Dane Social Class: Townsman
Imbalance: 0 Favour: 10

Attack Skill 62
Missile Skill 41
Defence Skill 67
Knowledge 46
Will 44
Endurance 57
Persuasion 61
Perception 50
Speed 46
Agility 51

Characteristics
Hale (+20% to Endurance tests for disease, starvation, & poison), Hog-Head (-10% persuade, +20% intimidate), Well-Born 

Abilities
Barter II, Combat Training IV, Gossip II, Intimidation II, Riding III, Survival II

Living
Trader (8 years), Mercenary (4 years), Sergeant-at-Arms (15 years)

Resources: Mail Byrnie, Sword, 
Cash: 246 d

Events
Superlative teacher, good contact, physical training, garrison duty, fractured leg

Supernatural Event
Fireball in the sky

Unlike the majority of other RPGs, Maelstrom Domesday is not a skill-orientated game. For the most, to do anything, all a character has to do is make a Saving Throw against one of his Attributes. To swing a sword at a bandit, a character would roll against his Attack Skill, to recall a quote from the Bible would require a Saving Throw against the Knowledge Attribute, and so on. Nevertheless, from one term to the next, a character will acquire Ranks in Abilities, each Ability representing professional expertise and knowledge. For most Abilities, such as Gossip or Stealth, each Rank grants a bonus to a relevant Saving Throw. Initially, most grant the simple permission to use the Ability, for example, Woodlore at Rank I enables a character to perform basic tasks, before granting simple bonuses at greater Ranks. Others grant permissions at each and every Rank. Thus at Rank I, Religion lets a character lead common services, at Rank II have him know specific services and be able to preach, and so on. Combat Training improves a character’s expertise at inflicting damage and withstanding it, whilst Strong Draw increases damage done with the Missile Skill Attribute.

Combat itself maintains the simplicity of rules in Maelstrom Domesday, with characters making opposed Saving Throws of their Attack Skill and Defence Skill Abilities, or alternatively, their Missile Skill. Weapons are quite deadly, with both wounds and blood loss tracked separately—accumulated damage in excess of a character’s Endurance causes unconsciousness and death occurs at twenty points above that. It is possible for a character to inflict Serious and Critical Wounds, their effects being determined by weapon type. It takes time though, for a character to recover from any damage taken and the RPG’s advice is that combat be used sparingly. What combat in Maelstrom Domesday does model is that training will invariably triumph over the unskilled, character creation not allowing easy access to the Combat Training Ability.

Similarly, Magick is treated in a light fashion in Maelstrom Domesday. It is first based first around a Characteristic—either Hedge, Low, or High Magick. This indicates the degree to which a character has a natural link to the Maelstrom and limits the Rank in his Magick Ability. Unlike other Abilities, the Ranks run only from I through V rather than VI, as do the Grades of the desired spell effects, for it should be noted that Maelstrom Domesday foregoes the spell lists of other RPGs. Instead, the Referee determines the Grade of the effect that the mage or wisewoman desires, the Grade depending on its likelihood of occurring. So getting a guard dog to bark would be very likely and thus Grade I, whilst trying to run across a river would be highly improbable and so be Grade V. To cast the ‘spell’, the mage would need to make a Will test to see if he knows the spell and then a Will test for each Grade of the spell. So one Will test for Grade I spell and three for the Grade III spell.

The effect of multiple Will tests is not just that it makes spells of a higher Grade more difficult to cast, it also increases the chances of the caster rolling a ‘0’ on the roll. Each ‘0’ increases the chance of a breach in the Maelstrom, perhaps a foul miasma is released or some horrid creature is able to enter the mortal world. Will is also used to withstand mental shocks such as witnessing a violent death, starving to death, or seeing certain creatures that have from the Maelstrom. Fail these Will Saving Throws and a character acquires Imbalance, which if exceeds his Will Attribute causes him to go insane. Unlike Endurance, Imbalance is particularly difficult to recover from.

In terms of support, Maelstrom Domesday provides a short bestiary that includes a mix of ordinary and outré beasts, appendices devoted to diseases and herbs—the latter in particular a nod to the original Maelstrom, and a complete setting. This is the city of York and its surrounds, the heart of the Harrying of the North, the population still not quite accepting of their new Norman overlords and still subject to the occasional cross-border raid by the Scottish king. Over thirty manors are described, as well as the town of Selby and the city of York itself. York in particular is accompanied by numerous NPCs, 

Physically, Maelstrom Domesday is a simple black and white book, cleanly and tidily presented. Although it needs another edit here and there, the writing is solid and the game is supported with well-done examples of the rules. The sometimes poor handling of the period art is fortunately offset by the new artwork, especially that of the figure work done to illustrate each of the game’s careers and the thumbnail portraits done of the many NPCs in the game’s setting of York. The descriptions of the villages, the town, and the city are accompanied by sections devoted to local folklore as well as an adventure hook. Although there are plenty of these throughout Domesday Maelstrom, they are each quite slight and do not give the Referee all that much to work with.

As simple as the rules are in Domesday Maelstrom, the RPG is neither a simple game nor a game suited to beginners—particularly for players. The background information necessary to play is not as upfront and as accessible as it could be, the result being that some of the nuances of, and the tensions within the setting are not as immediately obvious. Further, although the advice for the GM on the game’s mechanics and on running the game is decent enough, it could have been stronger in terms of handling and running investigations, let alone creating them. Certainly the inclusion of a good scenario as an example would have gone some to alleviate this issue. In the long term, a timeline beyond 1086 would have useful, as would a more extensive and prominent bibliography than the one included.

These all are, it should be noted, relatively minor issues, ones that should impede the creation and running of a good game in the hands of a competent Referee. In presenting a second edition of the original Maelstrom rules, Domesday Maelstrom benefits from a cleaner and tidier ruleset, an engaging means of character generation, and a setting that possesses more depth than the game might suggest at first sight.

-oOo-

The publisher recently made available a Quickstart version of the rules. The Maelstrom Domesday Quickstart can be downloaded for free from RPGnow.

A Beggarly Affair

One of the delights of Maelstrom, the Tudor set RPG published in the United Kingdom by Puffin Books back in 1984 and then more recently by Arion Games in 2007 is its Livings the equivalent of its Classes in other RPGs. From Architects, Doctors, and Scriveners to Beggars, Blacksmiths, and Traders via Mages, Mercenaries, Priests, and Rogues, each of the game’s numerous Livings is presented in plenty of detail. Every Living is interesting and capable, though often only in some small way. The more recent Maelstrom Companion added yet further Livings, expanding especially with a number of legal professions. Now there is a supplement that focusses entirely upon one type of Living with the eponymously titled Beggars Companion.

This slim one-hundred-and-twenty-two page paperback expands greatly upon the beggar and his place in the Tudor England portrayed in Maelstrom. For the player it covers how beggars rose in numbers during the late Tudor period; how they were treated by the state, the church, and society in general; the numerous types of beggars and their ‘tricks’; and the basics of the secretive language of Beggars’ Cant. For the Referee, it covers the beggars’ campaign; a set of beggars and rogues that can be player characters or NPCs; and a septet of adventure seeds as well as a full adventure.

For the player there are a total of twenty-eight new Livings, all of them beggarly professions. They range from the ‘Abraham Man’, who fakes lunacy, and the ‘Bawdy Basket’, who trades in lewd lechery and loathsome falsehoods, to the ‘Whipjack’, who fakes service as a shipwrecked mariner, and the ‘Wild Rogue’, who has known no other profession except that of beggar. Most of these can be taken by a character of either gender, but several are gender specific, such as the female only ‘Bawdy Basket’ or the ‘Father of Families’, a male only Living for which the beggar entreats his audience with tales of the loss of his wife and children. Each is accorded bonuses and penalties to his attributes as well as a ‘Nefarious Knack’, a special ability that is particular to that type of beggar. Thus, the ‘Counterfeit Crank’ is capable of ‘Loose Fall’, so that when replicating the effects of epilepsy, he is capable of falling to the ground without injuring himself.

Our sample character is Eleanor Mathews, a widow who was forced upon the road with the death of her husband, Nicholas. She uses her knowledge of herbs, and more recently spices, to work as a ‘saffroner’, a sell of fake herbs and spices to the unwary. Despite her being a woman, the Brotherhood has accepted Eleanor as she is a skilled healer.

Eleanor Mathewson
Herbalist/Trickster-Saffroner, Age 38
Attack Skill 30
Defence Skill 30
Endurance 30
Speed 30
Agility 30
Will 30
Persuasion 41
Knowledge 45
Perception 40
Equipment: Sample herbs, filler materials, clothes, pouch with 14 pennies, a day’s food, knife
Abilities: Herb Lore, Diagnosis, Assess

What comes across clearly from reading the Beggars Companion is how much of a challenge roleplaying a beggar character will be in Maelstrom. Tudor society looks upon the beggar poorly, seeing him as lazy and greedy and ill prepared to work for a living as every proper, upright, and industrious Christian ought. The state has legislated against the beggar many times, but beggars can obtain licenses to practise their ‘trade’. Such licenses can also be counterfeited. Even so, the law will often drive beggars out of a parish, or worse, punish them by placing them in the stocks, branding them, or have the gristle from their upper ears cut away as indication of their vagrancy. Further, as outsiders, beggars are rarely trusted and as strangers, can be blamed for the cause of manner of ills – diseases, thefts, and so on. That said, beggars can at times call upon the charity of the church, though the degree of help available will wax and wane… Another source of help is the Brotherhood, a fraternal organisation that provides shelter and support to beggars in good stead, but will call upon its brethren to aid in its criminal activities. What this means is that beggars must live by their wiles as well as by their ‘tricks’ of the trade in order to earn them a crust and they need to succeed without being obvious about it. 

Essentially, what this addresses is the issue at the heart of the Beggars Companion – why would the players should choose to play in campaign involving beggars. Besides the detail provided with each Living, the Knack assigned to each Living serves as a ‘roleplaying’ hook, not only something that the character can do and do well, but something that needs to be roleplayed. Not just roleplayed by the player as part of the game, but actually roleplayed by the character in the game in order to do well. Thus the challenge of playing a beggar this historical setting is only extended. Further challenges of increasing difficulty are presented in the Styles of Play, beginning with the Theatrical style that is much lighter in tone and better suited to one-off scenarios and short campaigns. This is followed by the default Historical setting, replete with filth, decay, depravity, and distrust, and then the Dark style, in which the lives of the beggar characters are under constant threat.

In addition to the Rogues Gallery, the Referee’s Section also includes a further Living. The Upright Man is a manipulator of both the beggar and the respectable, hiding behind his own façade of respectability that creates by being seen to work. Where most characters in Maelstrom have no more than two Livings, the Upright Man is a third Living, one to be taken after a previous profession and then life as a beggar. It can also be used as something for beggar characters to aspire to. ‘The Long Road’ is a full scenario, much in the style of the adventure from the core rulebook for Maelstrom. Here the beggar characters follow not just a road, but also another beggar, Old Ted. Once an Upright Man, it is believed that Old Ted amassed a small fortune so as members of the Brotherhood, the characters have been tasked to keep their eye on him. Suddenly he wanders off. Where could he be going, and why? Understandably, this is a linear affair, although given the subject matter of this supplement, it is a pity that the adventure only really allows the player characters the opportunity to practise their knacks at the beginning. Rounding out the supplement are a set of appendices that cover the physical hardships of being a beggar, more herbs, and a bibliography.

The Beggars Companion is a reasonably well presented book. It is lightly illustrated and although it is an easy read, it could have done with a closer edit in places. Overall, this is an interesting little book that nicely expands upon an aspect of Tudor England and Maelstrom. It would be nice to see it supported with more adventures and even a campaign, but in the meantime, there is plenty of detail and background material for the Referee to bring to his game.