Cthulhoid Choices: Ripples

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

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

—oOo—

Something terrible happened to the town of Shingleford in 1962. The enigmatic, if friendly, Peddler came to town and sold the people what they wanted. Trinkets. Trinkets which unknowingly twisted their resentments into Curses and as they became exhilarated by the eldritch power granted by their Trinkets, their owners cast Curses on others and spread the influence of the Peddler. Fortunately, due to the efforts of a troop of River Scouts led by Hilda Buckle, under the eye of the Watcher, these Curses and the influence of the Peddler were stopped in 1962. Unfortunately, it was not without loss, for it led to the deaths of several of the River Scouts. Sixty years later, the Peddler returns, spreading Curses once again, poisoning the river and the lands on either side of its banks. It is another group of teenagers, who discover the old River Scouts clubhouse, abandoned after the events of 1962, who turn it into a den and are then visited by the ghost of a young girl who told them of how she helped lift the Curse in 1962. Other ghosts asked them to read the River Scout Pledge and provide protection for the Clawfoot and Shingleford once again, presenting them with Sashes that will help them defeat the Curses.

This is the set-up for Cryptid Creeks, a roleplaying game of eldritch investigative horror, that takes its inspiration from films such as The Goonies and Stand by Me, television series like Gravity Falls and Stranger Things, and graphic novels such as The Lumberjanes. Although a roleplaying game of eldritch investigative horror, and thus adjacent to it, Cryptid Creeks is not a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror and does not involve the Cthulhu Mythos. Published by Hatchlings Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is described as ‘Cosy Horror’, meaning that it is suitable for a family audience, much like its earlier roleplaying game, Inspirales. Cryptid Creeks is also ‘Carved from Brindlewood’, which means that it is a Powered by the Apocalypse system roleplaying game, but one using the lighter, more investigative-focused variant of Brindlewood Bay. Ripples: Cryptid Creeks Curse Collection is the first supplement for Cryptid Creeks.

Ripples: Cryptid Creeks Curse Collection is primarily a collection of eight Curses, mysteries and situations, that the River Scouts can investigate, determine a cause, and ultimately resolve. Three of those are set in the present, but of the rest, Ripples takes the River Scouts—the characters and their players—somewhere interesting, and that is the past. These five Curses are the ‘Ripples’ of the title and they take place over the course of the summer of 1962. They explore what happened that fateful summer when the Peddler was stopped for the first time and the River Scouts were disbanded. They are triggered by certain situations and also tell the stories of the River Scouts who lost their lives in the effort to defeat the Peddler and whose sashes the Player Characters in the modern day were given and wear as River Scouts. They are essentially flashbacks in which the players roleplay not their usual characters, but the River Scouts of 1962.

Each Ripple is introduced by a Seed, of which three are given for each Ripple. The playthrough of a Ripple requires some changes to the play of Cryptid Creeks to take into account the fact that events of each Ripple have not yet taken place and thus not yet had an effect on present of the modern day. Thus, there is no River Phase or associated Riverbank Stops and Playbook Moves tied to the River Scouts’ Clubhouse Collection and the Sash of Ages are unavailable. Instead of the River Phase, the ‘Bond Move’ allows a one-to-one moment with another Scout to gain a Clue or Advantage on a subsequent roll. Similarly, the ‘Guidebook Move’ replaces the ‘Hilda Move’ to gain advice on the current situation. The most radical change is the inevitability of character death, since the players are roleplaying the original River Scouts who in the future will become the Clubhouse Ghosts. However, such deaths take place offscreen and River Scouts cannot recall exactly how they died, but once they do, the dead characters become Ghosts, not just for the rest of the Ripple, but all subsequent Ripples. This sets up a challenge in that Ghosts cannot communicate with the living, only themselves, and can only impart information gained from an investigation via a haunting.

Of the five Ripples, ‘The Cryptid Creek’ must be run first and ‘The Curse of ’62’ must be run last, but the others can be played in any order. ‘The Cryptid Creek’ handily takes the Navigator and her players through the process of going back into the past and into what is the very first encounter with the Watcher and the Curse he suffered at the hands of the Peddler. ‘The Curse of the Old Hackitt House’ explores a haunted house and how its owner became a figure of both fear and fun; ‘The Curse of the Lich Root’ examines how and why the flora around Shingleford changed and warped following the events of the town gardening competition in 1962; and in ‘The Curse of Heartwood Locket’, the River Scouts make a new friend as they find out why the forest became strange and seemed to strike back at the loggers working it in 1962. Lastly, ‘The Curse of ’62’ confronts the River Scout with the terrible events that led to the deaths of the remaining Clubhouse Ghosts and the temptation of Hilda Buckle aged twelve, which will set in motion of the events and involvement of the new River Scouts in the modern day.

The five Ripples are not the only Curses explored in the supplement. The other three are all set in the modern day. Children run wild in ‘The Wildren’s Curse’ and the River Scout must find out if faeries are involved or there is another cause; the people of Shingleford are beset by waking dreams in ‘The Curse of False Awakenings’ and the River Scouts must find a way to shift between the realities of ‘The Night’, ‘The Library’, and the ‘Waking World’ to locate the cause and deal with it; and lastly, ‘The Curse of the Rogue Playthings’ has the River Scouts chasing after an beloved, but beloved toy, now awakened, that is breaking into houses and toy shops to steal other toys. Of the three, ‘The Curse of False Awakenings’ is the most challenging to run and play, yet feels like a more traditional weird mystery. The other two provide inventive ways in which different aspects of childhood can be explored. Lastly, ‘Ripples’ closes with short, but entertaining piece of fiction.

Physically, Ripples is tidily organised. It is light on artwork, but what is there is good. What stands out is the layout, which is not only well done, but includes pages colour-coded to each Ripple or Curse. For example, ‘The Curse of the Old Hackitt House’ involves a haunted house, so its pages are dark grey, but ‘The Curse of the Lich Root’ involves plants and so has light green pages. It is a small detail that adds a difference between the various Curses and Ripples.

The Ripples are a fantastic idea, enabling the Navigator and her players to journey back into the past and explore the events that set up the here and now. They work better played before—as a prequel—the events of Cryptid Creeks or doing the campaign itself with the flashbacks worked into the main story. This is not to say that they cannot be played after a Cryptid Creeks campaign has been finished, but the ramifications of the original River Scouts’ actions and deaths will be not as great if run as a sequel. Any Navigator wanting to run Cryptid Creeks should definitely look at Ripples: Cryptid Creeks Curse Collection as a possible addition to her campaign because it will add depth, back story, and just for one last summer, bring the Clubhouse Ghosts to life.

Relatives at Risk

Nephews in Peril: A Collection of New Mysteries in BRINDLEWOOD BAY is a companion volume to Brindlewood Bay: A Dark & Cozy Mystery Game. Published by The Gauntlet, Brindlewood Bay upended the traditional concept of murder mystery scenarios in roleplaying and changed what we play. In the traditional murder mystery scenario, the Keeper has the answers to hand—the victim, the suspects, the culprit, the means, and the motive—and the players and their characters have to deduce which of these is correct. In Brindlewood Bay, there is no set solution, but there are plenty of suspects and motives, and it is up to the players and their characters to hypothesise who the culprit is and why he committed the murder, and put it to the test. If passes, the murder mystery is solved. If not, the players and their characters must continue their sleuthing. Plus, the players are doing this with elderly female amateur detectives as their characters, such as Jessica Fletcher and Miss Marple, for example. Brindlewood Bay changed how we thought about investigative scenarios in roleplaying and how we played them. Besides the rules, Brindlewood Bay: A Dark & Cozy Mystery Game also detailed numerous murder mysteries, the Dark Conspiracy behind them that threatens the future of the quiet New England tourist spot, and a little about the town itself. Nephews in Peril: A Collection of New Mysteries in BRINDLEWOOD BAY presents the Keeper and her players—and their Mavens—with even more of this.

Nephews in Peril: A Collection of New Mysteries in BRINDLEWOOD BAY gives the Keeper a total of twenty new Mysteries, seven of which are of a new type of Mystery, which change the way in which Brindlewood Bayy is played—ever so slightly, and details more of Brindlewood Bay itself. It does not waste any time beyond simply listing the contents and describing the first mystery. After all, the Brindlewood Bay Keeper already knows what she is getting as far as the content goes. Each follows the same format as the core rulebook, with sections labelled, ‘Presenting the Mystery’, ‘Moments’ for various particular scenes, ‘Suspects’ complete with their quotes, ‘Locations’ with a guide on how to ‘Paint the Scene’ at each, ‘Clues’, and ‘Void Clues’, the latter connecting the mystery to the Dark Conspiracy playing out behind the scenes in the town. Also included is a ‘Complexity’ value, which represents the number of elements of the solution that the players and their Mavens need to discuss and hypothesise before they can make the ‘Theorise Move’ without a penalty. Some of the Mysteries do include elements that only come into play once parts of the Dark Conspiracy have been revealed, so the Keeper will need to pick which ones she wants to run and when. Further, some also have special rules, such as that for Brindlewood County Charity Poker Tournament which the Mavens can enter in the first mystery, ‘Dead Man’s Hand’.

The mysteries vary in tone. So, ‘Dead Man’s Hand’ takes place at a charity poker tournament, whereas ‘Lies and Dolls, or A Very Brief Tenure’, in which a corpse is discovered at the Museum of Brindle-Dolls, home to a collection of historic, locally-made dolls, and is thus a bit creepy. There is a sequel to ‘The Great Brindlewood Bay Bake-Off’ , with the Mavens again judges, but this time at Faversham’s Favourite Fudge competition at a farmer’s market in a neighbouring town, in the process, expanding the world of Brindlewood Bay, if only a little. The title of the latter, ‘Fudge, Jury, and Executioner’ is in the running for the best named mystery in the book, although ‘The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soulless’ and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Murder’ are almost as good. There are classic locations for murder mysteries too such as auctions, high school reunions, and carnivals, but also odder ones too, such as at a high school wrestling tournament. One of the most potentially fun is ‘A Throng of Vice and Liars’, set at the Mavens’ own headquarters, The Candlelight Booksellers which is hosting fantasy author, Herb L. L. Paxton, currently facing some criticism about how long it is taking him to finish the sixth volume of what was originally planned to be a trilogy. It very knowingly and amusingly pokes at fandom and fantasy, both onscreen and on the page.

Seven of the Mysteries are ‘Sweeps Week Mysteries’. These are designed emulate the type of stunt episodes of a television series in the USA in the eighties and nineties, typically involving a weird plotline or celebrity guest star, intended to attraction higher advertising revenue. In Nephews in Peril, ‘Sweeps Week Mysteries’ are intended to be played late in Dark Conspiracy campaign, as Mysteries after the campaign has been completed, or as one-off Mysteries. ‘Sweeps Week Mysteries’ emphasis the supernatural rather than murder, and to account for this, instead of solving a murder, the Mavens are answering key questions about the mystery. Further, there are limitations on the mechanics, most notably negating the effect of several Maven Moves, removing the Occult Move, and the replacement of the ‘Theorise’ Move with the ‘Answer A Question’ Move. Where in normal murder mysteries, there are Suspects, here there are Side Characters, and where in normal murder mysteries, solving a mystery would be enough, here the Mavens get rewards. These can come in the form of new Moves, recurring Side Characters, decorations for the Cosy Little Place, and so on.

The ‘Sweeps Week Mysteries’ start out with the amusingly named ‘The Hex Files’, which finds the Mavens on a road trip to Who Dunnit? Con, a mystery book convention in California when they discover an overturned car in a ditch outside of Devilwood, New Mexico—a New Mexico which looks surprisingly like Vancouver—and it so happens that there are bodies of two dead FBI agents in the vehicle with files about missing persons on the road on their person. ‘Dressed to Kill’ shifts the mystery to the Peak District in the United Kingdom, whilst in ‘Let the Night One In’, the Mavens are invited to visit another famous crime writer, this time living in an isolated town in the Canadian north in deep winter when the sun never rises and people are going missing… There is a good mix of mystery types to these ‘Sweeps Week Mysteries’ and they show off the flexibility of the Brindlewood Bay mystery format, though with some mechanical changes.

The third part of Nephews in Peril is devoted to ‘The Village of Brindlewood Bay’. This expands greatly upon the setting presented in the core rulebook that add a mixture of new and old businesses, old and new locations. So, there is Historic Brindlewood Congregational Church, The First Well Historic Restoration Trust, and Minuteman Memorial Statue versus the Foam coffee house and Nerdcore, which caters to nerd culture including players of Sorcery: the Coalescence! Each entry includes a description that explains what it does and its role in the community, details of its proprietors and employees, and with ‘Pose a Question’, a reason why a Maven might visit. The sense of Brindlewood Bay as a place is further developed in the last part of the supplement is ‘A Cozy Little Place’ which gives advice for the Keeper in bringing the town to live and playing up its cosy nature, developing each Maven’s attachment to both her home and community. The aim is to provide a counterpoint to the rash of murders that beset the town and the growing realisation that something else is going on with the Dark Conspiracy. The advice is optional, but if used it can enhance the setting of Brindlewood Bay.

Physically, Nephews in Peril is clean and cosy, and thus in keeping with the main rulebook. It is well written and engaging, but the illustrations by Cecilia Ferri are stunning, veering between showing the Mavens joyously having the time of their cosy lives, not just in Brindlewood Bay, but around the world.

Although entirely optional, Nephews in Peril: A Collection of New Mysteries in BRINDLEWOOD BAY can be both expand the play of Brindlewood Bay: A Dark & Cozy Mystery Game and continue its play even after the Dark Conspiracy at its heart has been confronted and thwarted and the campaign is over. Nephews in Peril: A Collection of New Mysteries in BRINDLEWOOD BAY simply gives you more. More mysteries and more cosiness and more of Brindlewood Bay itself, but also a slightly different way to way to play which remains faithful to the inspiration for the roleplaying game itself.

Mavens, Mystery, Murder, & Mythos

Just occasionally, along comes a roleplaying game that makes you sit back and think. A roleplaying game that upends your expectations. Brindlewood Bay: A Dark & Cozy Mystery Game does exactly that. It changes how you think about how you roleplay investigation in mystery games and it changes who you roleplay. The mystery—as opposed to the mysterious, which has always been there—has long been a part of roleplaying, all the way back to The Maltese Clue, the scenario published by Judges Guild in 1979. It really came to the fore with roleplaying games like Call of Cthulhu, Gangbusters, and Justice, Inc. and more recently seen in the GUMSHOE System with roleplaying games such as Mutant City Blues, which combines superheroes with the police procedural. What these all do with the mystery is provide the Game Master with a plot and a set of clues that the players and their characters investigate and hopefully piece together the clues to uncover the mystery. In other words, there is always a set solution as to who did what to whom and why. And in such roleplaying games, the investigators are detectives and investigators, typically young and in the prime of their careers. Neither is the case in Brindlewood Bay. Instead, Brindlewood Bay asks what if there was no set solution and instead the solution to the mystery could be constructed from the clues uncovered by the players and their characters and would be, if not absolutely correct, then very nearly so? Very nearly so that when hypothesised and put to the suspects, turned out to be case solved? And instead, Brindlewood Bay asks the players not to roleplay police detectives or private eyes, but asks them to take the roles of elderly, retired women turned amateur sleuth in the manner of Miss Jane Marple or Jessica Fletcher.

There is more to Brindlewood Bay: A Dark & Cozy Mystery than just this, but at its heart, this roleplaying game is Murder She Wrote with a semi-improvised plot/mystery and everyone being Jessica Fletcher. Of course, Brindlewood Bay offers more options than just playing Jessica Fletcher, but the idea of roleplaying elderly female amateur detectives is utterly delightful. Published in 2022 by The Gauntlet following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Brindlewood Bay is designed to be played by between two and four players as well as the Game Master and casts the Player Characters—known as Mavens—as retirees in the eponymous small coastal Massachusetts town, a former whaling port that has long since transformed itself into a charming tourist spot. The Player Characters are members of the Murder Mavens, a mystery book club that meets weekly on the top floor of The Candlelight Booksellers every Saturday evening, and has done so for a decade now. Their favourite writer is Robin Masterson, the author of The Gold Crown Mysteries series by featuring the globe-trotting super-sleuth, Amanda Delacourt. As well as their own hobbies and activities, sometimes and much to the chagrin of the local authorities who resent their meddling, the Mavens stumble onto crimes and through a combination of astuteness, savviness, and the fact that old ladies often get overlooked, solve crimes. Brindlewood Bay can be played as a one-shot, but it is really set up to played as a campaign. The campaign unknowingly pitches the Mavens against a dark cult known as the Midwives of the Fragrant Void, Hellenic death cult working to summon the ‘Children of Persephone’, chthonic monstrosities that will bring about the End of All Things. As the campaign progresses, the Mavens and the cult conspiracy will become aware of each other, and ultimately, the Mavens will not only be solving murders, but saving the world too! (Though there are possible other outcomes as well…)

A Maven is defined by five Abilities—Vitality, Composure, Reason, Presence, and Sensitivity—each rated between ‘-3’ and ‘+3’, a name, a Style that reflects her outlook on life as much as how she dresses, and a Cosy Activity that is her favourite hobby. The Style might be ‘Alexis Carrington Colby’, ‘Hippy Dippy’, or ‘Office Hours’, whilst the Cosy Activity will be something like Cooking, Gardening, Knitting, Pointing, or Scrapbooking. It should be noted that Brindlewood Bay is a very American game, so some of the references, especially the Styles may not necessarily be familiar and may require a little research. A Maven also has a Maven Move, a special action or benefit that can be brought into play. For example, the ‘Frank Columbo’ Move means that society’s elite underestimates the Maven and whenever she is amongst the rich and famous, her Meddling Move will always grant her an extra clue; the ‘Dale Cooper’ Move increases a Maven’s Sensitivity and the Keeper—as the Game Master is known—will grant Void Clues in the form of a disturbing dream at the beginning of each session; and the ‘Jim Rockford’ Move means that the Keeper narrates an answering machine message that the Maven receives asking to undertake a task that if completed will earn her Experience Points and will get odder as a campaign progresses. Ironically—and self-admittedly—all of the Maven Moves are named after male detectives, highlighting the lack of strong female roles within the genre. That said, the extra and alternative Maven Moves do include some named after female detectives. All of the Maven Moves are delightfully clever, if not actually witty, and like any good Move in a Powered by the Apocalypse they tell a lot about the Mavens.

To create a Maven, a player chooses a name, Style, and Cosy Activity, as well as defining her Cosy Little Place. She assigns a single point to one of her Abilities and chooses one Maven Move. The creation process is simple and easy and made all the easier by fitting onto a third of the character sheet that is as much worksheet as character sheet and by the step-by-step process being explained by the section that takes both the Keeper and her players through the first session of Brindlewood Bay from set-up through safety tools and character creation to the first mystery and beyond.

Name: Pearl
Style: Jackie O
Cozy Activity: Charity Events

STATS
Vitality 0 Composure +1 Reason +1 Presence +2 Sensitivity -1

MOVES
Jonathan Hart

Mechanically, Brindlewood Bay uses a stripped down version of Powered by the Apocalypse, the mechanics first seen in Lumpley Games’ Apocalypse World. To undertake an action or ‘Move’, a player rolls two six-sided dice, adds one of his Maven’s Stats, adds his Maven’s Investigative Style and aims to roll high. The results are either ‘No’, ‘Yes, but...’, ‘Yes’, and ‘Yes and…’. A result of six or less is a ‘No’ and lets the Keeper add a Complication; roll between seven and nine, and the result is ‘Yes, but…’, and successful, but comes with a Complication; a roll of ten or eleven and the result is a ‘Yes’; and a result of twelve or more and the Move is ‘Yes and…’, indicating that there is a bonus to the Move. A Complication hinders the Maven’s investigative efforts and is primarily played by the Keeper as a Reaction to a Maven’s action. This Reaction can be environmental such as the Maven getting lost, aggressive and have the killer attack the Maven or sabotage her efforts, or social, like being threatened with being blackballed at the country club. A Reaction at night will place a Maven in greater danger than one in the day, and it even possible for a Maven to be killed. One special Reaction, allowed just once per mystery, is ‘Cut to Commercial’ when the Keeper lets the player of an imperilled Maven narrate a commercial of some kind (there are prompts), when the story returns, the Maven will have found a way to succeed.

Unlike most versions of Powered by the Apocalypse, the rules in Brindlewood Bay include an Advantage and Disadvantage mechanic. Thus, when a Maven has the Advantage, which can come from her Style, Cosy Activity, one of her Maven Moves, or the situation, three six-sided dice are rolled instead of two, and the best used. Conversely, when she is at a Disadvantage, her player rolls three dice and keeps the lowest two. Another difference between other roleplaying games using Brindlewood Bay and Brindlewood Bay is that it does not make use of Playbooks, each of which provide an archetypal character and its associated Moves. Instead, Brindlewood Bay provides a standard set of seven Moves that all of the Mavens can use. The first four Moves—‘The Day Move’, ‘The Night Move’, ‘The Cosy Move’, and ‘The Meddling Move’ are all to do with collecting Clues. The primary difference between ‘The Day Move’ and ‘The Night Move’ is that failure and Complications are likely to be more dangerous at night. ‘The Cosy Move’ is when the Mavens share a moment over a Cosy activity and in the process discover a clue that will help, but not conclusively, solve the mystery. ‘The Meddling Move’ is when the Mavens actively look for a clue.

The fifth and sixth Moves are more specialised. ‘The Gold Crown Mysteries Move’ occurs when a Maven says, “This reminds me of something that happened to Amanda Delacourt!” and together the players work out how the current situation recalls a scene from one of Robin Masterson’s mystery novels. It can only be done once per mystery and must refer to previously unmentioned entry in the series, but always results in a Yes and…’ outcome, whether an action or an addition to the mystery. It is thus a powerful move. ‘The Occult Move’ is used whenever a Maven attempts an action related to the occult and somehow tied to the Midwives of the Fragrant Void. This is unlikely to be used in the opening stages of campaign as the Mavens are unlikely to be aware of the Midwives of the Fragrant Void. It will often justification as why a Maven might attempt it and it is not without its dangers.

The seventh Move is the ‘Theorise’ Move. This happens at the end or near the end of the game when the Mavens gather their collected clues and deduce the identity of the murderer. The roll is only modified by the number of clues and secrets found so far, minus the Complexity of the murder. This is most radical and innovative element of Brindlewood Bay. The Keeper will have a body and then lists of locations, suspects, and clues that make up the mystery, but will know neither which of the suspects committed the crime and which of the clues are important. In fact, when the Keeper does give the players and their Mavens a clue, she picks a clue from the given list based not on which seems the most significant, but on which seems the most interesting. The Mavens are free to search for clues and talk to suspects and when clues are revealed, it is the players and their Mavens that assign them meaning and significance; effectively ‘play to find out what happens’ through the emerging story of the investigation.

There are two further actions which involve a Maven ‘putting on a Crown’. ‘The Crown of the Queen’ explores the femineity of the maven via a flashback to a scene involving the Maven’s late partner or a relative, a private moment, a recent romantic or sexual situation, and so on. Each can only be used once and enable a Maven to escape adversity or a dangerous situation as well giving the player to think about and roleplay a different side to his Maven. ‘The Crown of the Queen’ actions can be triggered in any order, whereas ‘The Crown of the Void’ must be triggered in order. There are fewer of them and they represent the growing influence of the Midwives of the Fragrant Void’s upon the Maven. If they are all ticked off, the last one forces the Maven to retire from play as she is lost to the Void…

Brindlewood Bay includes several ready-to-play mysteries. Each includes a description of the mystery, a way to present it, moments that the Keeper can use to set the scene or add tension, lists of suspects, clues, and locations, and a Complexity value. This ranges between six and eight and represents the number of elements of the solution that the players and their Mavens need to discuss and hypothesise before they can make the ‘Theorise Move’ without a penalty.

Now Brindlewood Bay can be played as a one-shot mystery in which the mavens investigate a mystery, but that mystery is always going to be mundane, because in the long term there is the greater mystery, the conspiracy and aims of the Midwives of the Fragrant Void. That conspiracy is the most detailed part of the Brindlewood Bay background, but unlike the clues of the mundane mysteries, the clues behind the conspiracy and its Mythos—known as Void clues—slip out inadvertently, sort of accumulating to the point where the Mavens and their players being to realise that something else is going on. It is likely at this point that the ‘Occult Move’ comes into play, it is likely that the Mavens being to dabble in occult in order to understand and stop the Midwives of the Fragrant Void, it is increasingly likely that a Maven might die, and it is even likely that a Maven might join the Midwives of the Fragrant Void. The descriptions of the Midwives of the Fragrant Void and The Children of Persephone do flirt with Lovecraftian influences, and perhaps one group might want to bring those into play more, but the Midwives of the Fragrant Void is more of cosmic threat than a Lovecraftian one. However without this conspiracy, Brindlewood Bay cannot be anything other than best suited for one-shot play as narratively it has no scope for development.

The advice for the Keeper in Brindlewood Bay is extensive and detailed, and particularly helpful in guiding the Keeper through the shift in perspective and playstyle that Brindlewood Bay demands. And then helpful in guiding her player through that same shift. Storytelling games have been around for over two decades now and when first published, they also represented a shift how a roleplaying game was played and considered, but the shift that Brindlewood Bay demands of its Keeper and player is even bigger. Not just how a roleplaying game was played and considered, but also how a mystery is investigated and played out and how the decisions of the players and actions of their Mavens determine the story and build the world around them. The advice also covers the structure of play and the structure of the campaign, it breaks down the anatomy of a mystery, and it gives an extensive guide on how to run the first session and thus first mystery of Brindlewood Bay. It takes the Keeper and her players through the Maven creation process, explains to them what to expect, and shows the structure of play, providing a template that the Keeper will return again and again.

There is not so much a learning curve to Brindlewood Bay so much as an adjustment, and the book does a fine job of helping everyone through that. However, the downside is that upon first reading Brindlewood Bay, the reader is left wondering how to create a Maven. Literally everything in the game—the situation, the Moves, the Conspiracy, and the given Mysteries—is presented before the actual process of Maven creation. This is given in the ‘Session One’ guide at the very back of the book. It is fine once you know it is there, but there is also nothing at the start of the book to say that it is. The character sheet for the Maven does help with her creation, but neither that or other sheets for the roleplaying game, like ‘The Dark Conspiracy’ worksheet is included in the book.

Physically, Brindlewood Bay is clean and cosy. It is well written and engaging, but the illustrations by Cecilia Ferri are stunning, veering between showing the Mavens joyously having the time of their cosy lives and the foreboding nature of the conspiracy at the heart of the roleplaying game.

There are moments in a roleplaying session when the players will say something about the current storyline or situation and the Game Master will think to herself, “Oh that’s good. That is so clever and better than what I had thought of, I am going to steal that.” Brindlewood Bay does not so much make that implicit as make it part of its play. It shifts the standard mystery roleplaying set-up from having to find the clues and work out what they mean with the Game Master knowing the answers to finding the clues, working out what they mean, and then giving them meaning. And then it hands the process of that deduction not into the hands of traditional action hero detectives, but to grannies and little old ladies, asking the players to roleplay from the perspective of the older woman and use charm and wits and insight to solve the crime rather than fists and guns. Both demands are radical, but delightfully so. Brindlewood Bay: A Dark & Cozy Mystery Game is a wonderfully cosy, brilliantly innovative game that genuinely asks us to think differently about how we play and who we play.

Cthulhoid Choices: Cryptid Creeks

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

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

—oOo—

Shingleford is in danger from manipulation and catastrophe. It is not the first time that this happened to the town which stands on the mouth of the Clawfoot estuary. It happened in the autumn of 1962 and was stopped, but can it be stopped this time? The enigmatic, if friendly, figure of the Peddler has come to town, selling the townsfolk what they want in the form of little Trinkets he takes from his travelling case. When the owners of these Trinkets sleep, the Trinkets take their deepest resentments and twist them into Curses, and in this way, their owners become Cursekeepers, exhilarated by the eldritch power granted by their Trinkets and now capable of casting their Curses on others, whether that is an individual, their family or other group, or an establishment. These curses will grow and threaten to overwhelm the community. If these Curses and the influence of the Peddler were stopped in 1962, how can they be stopped today? Simply through the efforts of the River Scouts, the stories of Hilda Buckle, and the careful eye of The Watcher. The Watcher is an intelligent animal or cryptid, a spirit of the river who will inform the River Scouts of new Curses and keep a watch over them. Hilda Buckle is an old woman who lives in a shack on Bulrush Island further upriver and who has a reputation for telling fanciful stories, fanciful stories that begin to look very much the events that are occurring in Shingleford and up and down the river. The River Scouts are local teenagers who discovered the old River Scouts clubhouse, abandoned after the events of 1962, and upon turning it into a den, were visited by the ghost of a young girl who told them of how she helped lift the Curse in 1962. Other ghosts asked them to read the River Scout Pledge and provide protection for the Clawfoot and Shingleford once again, presenting them with Sashes that will help them defeat the Curses.

This is the set-up for Cryptid Creeks, a roleplaying game of eldritch investigative horror, that takes its inspiration from films such as The Goonies and Stand by Me, television series like Gravity Falls and Stranger Things, and graphic novels such as The Lumberjanes. Although a roleplaying game of eldritch investigative horror, and thus adjacent to it, Cryptid Creeks is not a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror and does not involve the Cthulhu Mythos. Which means it offers a similar style of play, but without the familiarity with or issues of anything Lovecraftian. Further, in keeping with its inspirations and with the age of its protagonists, it is designed to be played, if not necessarily run, by a teenage audience. This does not mean that it cannot be enjoyed by more mature playing group, but it is in keeping with the publisher’s other roleplaying game, Inspirales, aimed at a similar age group. Published by Hatchlings Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is described as ‘Cosy Horror’, meaning that it is suitable for a family audience. Cryptid Creeks is also ‘Carved from Brindlewood’, which means that it is a Powered by the Apocalypse system roleplaying game, but one using the lighter, more investigative-focused variant of Brindlewood Bay.

A River Scout in Cryptid Creeks is defined by five attributes—Athletic, Smart, Cool, Smooth, and Attuned—which range in value from ‘-3’ to ‘+3’, and are used to modify dice rolls. He will be defined by a Playbook, which defines the base value for the attributes, a gift from the Watcher, provides Moves or actions particular to each Playbook, gives Setback and Perks, and offers ways in which the River Scout can improve himself. The six Playbooks are Athlete, Medic, Musician, Bookworm, Sailor, and Misfit. For the most part, they conform to high school type roles, though with a couple options which fit the setting of Cryptid Creeks. These are the Sailor, who will help the River Scouts get up and down the Clawfoot, and the Misfit, who is a little bit special because he is the Watcher’s champion and can work with the Eeries, the chaotic, tiny cryptids which watch over Shingleford for Curses and deliver messages to and for the Watcher. Each Playbook also suggests touchstones, or characters from films and television, that fall within the Playbook.

To create a River Scout, a player selects a Playbook and assigns one point to his attributes. He also picks one ability as well as the Watcher’s Gift. The process is simple and straightforward.

Every Scout has access to six Basic Moves in addition to the Moves of his Playbook. The Scout Move is carried out when a River Scout wants to do something risky or face a fear; the Eldritch Move is rolled when facing or dealing with the supernatural; the Snoop Move is for searching for Clues or conducting research; the Crew Move is for clearing Misfortunes and for strengthening bonds between the River Scouts; the Hilda Move is used when a River Scout wants to do something based on a story that Hilda has told him; and lastly the Answer a Question Move is made when the players feel that their River Scouts have gathered enough clues to discuss and then attempt a hypothesis about the nature of a Curse. As Cryptid Creeks is an investigative roleplaying game, the Snoop Move is a strong focus of the game, there is a certain delight in the Hilda Move which enables a player to add detail to the setting through play.

Mechanically, Cryptid Creeks is quite straightforward. To have his River Scout undertake an action, a player rolls two six-sided dice. On a roll of six or less, the result is a miss with a reaction; a roll of seven to nine is a hit with a complication; a roll of ten or eleven a straight hit; and a roll of twelve or more a triumph with a benefit. A player can also roll with Advantage, meaning he rolls three dice and uses the two highest, or Disadvantage, meaning that he rolls three dice and uses the two lowest. Advantage may come from a Move, the situation, or a useful item from the Clubhouse Collection. Disadvantage can come from the situation or a Misfortune.

In addition, each River Scout has access to a Sash, given to him by the ghosts in the Clubhouse. These can be used—and the roleplaying game advises that the players use them when a Curse is near its peak and the situation is much tougher—after a roll has been made to increase the success rating rolled. Narratively, a Sash has two effects, one that is out of game and one that is in game. The out of game effect is that it enables a player and his River Scout to view one dangerous path, represented by the poor roll, but as advised by the ghost who gave it to the River Scout, chose a path with better outcome that pushes them towards defeating the Peddler. The in-game effect depends upon whether the player chooses to lift his River Scout’s Sash as ‘The Sash of Ages’ or ‘The Sash of Endings’. When ‘The Sash of Ages’ is lifted, it invokes a nostalgic memory of a time before the character joined the River Scouts, whilst when ‘The Sash of Endings’ is lifted, the River Scout suffers from dark visions. For example, a ‘Sash of Ages’ for the Sailor Playbook is ‘A flashback showing your earliest memory in a boat’, whilst a ‘Sash of Endings’ might be ‘Ends in Ruins’ in which, ‘The townsfolk desperately search through the charred remains of the dinghy, even as the mast collapses.’ Each Playbook lists several of both types of Sashes which are crossed off as they are lifted. When a player crosses off the last Sash, his River Scout must retire.

Given its ‘Cozy Horror’ genre and the age of the River Scouts, it is no surprise that Cryptid Creeks has no combat system. Technically, it does not even have a damage system. Instead, a River Scout can suffer Misfortunes that can be physical, psychological, or supernatural, such as an allergic reaction, sprained ankle, being confused or horrified, or feeling a buzzing in the brain or being drawn to the Peddler. These can come about because of a player’s roll, of a River Scout’s action, and so on. A Misfortune means that River Scout’s player rolls with Disadvantage, and worse, when a River Scout suffers his fourth Misfortune, his player must mark off a Sash without the benefit of Lifting it. Narratively, Misfortunes and their mechanical effect can be negated by the Crew Move, played whilst travelling or at the Clubhouse.

Cryptid Creeks is played in four phases—the ‘Beginning of Episode’ Phase, ‘Investigation’ Phase, the ‘River’ Phase, and ‘End of Episode’ Phase. The ‘Beginning of Episode’ Phase includes a recap, a clubhouse montage, and the Navigator—as the Game Master is known—introduces a new Curse. In the ‘Investigation’ Phase, the River Scouts search for clues and gather information, which takes up the majority of play. The ‘River’ Phase is triggered whenever the River Scouts travel up and down the Clawfoot and enables the Navigator and players to expand the setting by adding and detailing new locations, the Navigator to showcase the setting and its eldritch elements, and the River Scout to share more emotionally touching scenes. In the ‘End of Episode’ Phase, the River Scouts claim the rewards for breaking a Curse, play out any scenes linked to Sashes lifted during the session, gain Experience Points for answering ‘End of Episode’ Questions, and in the appropriately named ‘Smores & Dreams’, the players can discuss that they liked about the episode and want to see more of.

For the Navigator, there is good advice on running the four different Phases, how to handle clues, locations, and side characters, and how to interpret the various Moves. There is also a breakdown of what a Curse looks like and the principles of being a good Navigator. These include rooting for the River Scouts, following their lead as they explore and expand the setting of Clawfoot and search for Clues, shift the spotlight between River Scouts, balance the cosy versus the eldritch, bring the world to life, embrace the otherworldly nature of Clawfoot, and keep collaboration with the players in mind. Although there is advice on how to run Cryptid Creeks as a one-shot, it is made clear that the roleplaying game is not intended to be run in a ‘monster-of-the-week’ format, but rather as a series consisting of several episodes. What this means is that although the River Scouts will initially be facing one Curse, the likelihood is that they will be facing two or three as the campaign progresses. A Curse consists of a main threat and several ‘tendrils’, associated dangers such as eldritch horrors and difficult Side Characters that typically want to stop the River Scouts. A Curse also has its own Sash, which can be Lifted like the River Scouts’ own, but without needing to tick their own off.

Beyond this, Cryptid Creeks provides the Navigator with tools and advice to create her own Curses, from concept and themes to presenting the Curse and clues to it and more. Almost half of Cryptid Creeks is devoted to the eight-part campaign or series, ‘The Peddler’s Revenge’ in which the River Scouts discover the threat to Shingleford and Clawfoot, investigate the Curses being laid upon the region, and ultimately uncover the secrets behind the Peddler. The campaign is supported by descriptions of various places in Shingleford and along the Clawfoot, but best of all, there is a pilot episode that the Navigator can use to kick-start her campaign. It provides a step-by-step guide that helps the Navigator teach the rules of Cryptid Creeks and explain what the roleplaying game is about to her players and then again, step-by-step, shows the Navigator how to show her players how to play and the flow of the game. Up until this point, Cryptid Creeks looked to be a good roleplaying game to run for a group of younger players who were new or relatively new to roleplaying games, ideally by a Game Master with some experience under her belt. Yet, the ‘Pilot Episode’ really shifts Cryptid Creeks away from this. It is very well done and really helps the neophyte Navigator—whether new to being a Game Master or new to Powered by the Apocalypse—grasp how Cryptid Creeks is run. The advice and step-by-step introduction of the ‘Pilot Episode’ make what was already a good starting roleplaying game for the players, into being a good one for the Navigator too.

Physically, Cryptid Creeks is brightly, breezily presented with engaging cartoonish artwork. The depiction of the Peddler in particular, looks like a version of David Tennant’s Doctor Who, but with tentacles coming out of his Mod suit! The roleplaying game is also well written and far from a difficult read.

Cryptid Creeks is not an introductory roleplaying game, but it definitely can be used to introduce players to the hobby and it can be a Navigator’s first roleplaying game as a Game Master. The advice to that end is very well done and this is combined with the accessibility of both the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics and the setting of Clawfoot with its cosy familiarity and the unsettling nature of the threat that the River Scouts and their home face. If looking for a ‘Cosy Horror’ roleplaying game or a Game Master’s first roleplaying game, Cryptid Creeks is a good choice. If looking for both, Cryptid Creeks is the perfect choice.

Crime at Christmas

It is the time of year when a man’s mind turns to murder. Not because he have had enough of his family and his relatives for one year—and just in one day—but because it is traditional to enjoy murder mysteries, whether on the page or one the screen. And of course, such murders should be as cozy as possible. Then, if that murder is cozy, the detectives need to be equally as cozy. When not cooing and aahing over the very latest tragic death that has occurred under their noses, they like attending to their gardens, participating in the Women’s Institute, reading the next title to discuss as part of their book club, knitting something suitable for a grandniece or nephew, organising the next village fete, and singing in the church choir. These are the Matrons of Mystery, older ladies of leisure whose surreptitious and unobtrusive nature means that they get overlooked when investigating crimes and searching for clues, and eventually putting together a solution which unmasks the perpetrator! Matrons of Mystery is an investigative roleplaying game in which there are mysteries and there are clues to be uncovered, but there is no set solution. And if the Matrons do not get quite get their solution right the first time, they can investigate further and propose another solution!This is what Matrons of Mystery: A cozy mystery roleplaying game—and Brindlewood Bay, the roleplaying game by Jason Cordova it is derived from—both do.

Christmas Crime: Three festive mysteries for Matrons of Mystery presents three more mysteries for the Matrons to solve, but all with a Christmas theme. Each of the three comes with a description of the theme, sets the scene with a set-up, details of the victim, suggests ways in which the Matrons can get involved, and the Teaser, essentially that scene before the opening credits when everyone’s obvious relationships are established and then the dead body of the murder victim is dramatically revealed (cue dramatic music!). This is followed by seven or eight possible suspects, each with a description and reason to want to murder the victim. Lastly there is a lengthy list of clues to be found.

The trilogy starts with ‘Oh No They Didn’t’, which opens with the dress rehearsal for the village amateur dramatics society’s annual Christmas pantomime at the village hall coming to an abrupt halt when Willow Jackson, the lovely young actress playing the lead role of Cinderella, is found lying in the middle of the stage in a pool of blood! Ideally, one of the Matrons should be playing the role of the Fairy Godmother, but the murder mystery suggests other roles too. The second mystery, ‘Bake or Death’, takes place at the village’s annual baking contest with three contests being of note—best mince pie, best biscuit, and best cake. Of these, the best cake competition is subject to the fiercest rivalries. The victim is Lisa Monroe, relative newcomer to the villager and winner of the contest three years in a row. Unfortunately, she is unlikely to winner a fourth time after she is found dead with a cake ribbon wrapped around her neck! The Matrons can be the Judges, contestants, or the organisers. The trio comes to a close with ‘Slay Ride’ in which Bob Chandler, the owner of the local stable yard, who every year plays Santa Claus and provides a carriage as Father Christmas’ sleigh for the village Christmas fete, is found dead in the stables. The Matrons can be organisers of the fete, friends of Bob Chandler, or simply like horses. The teaser as a somewhat gruesome tone when it turns out that Rudolph the Horse’s nose is not red simply because, but because it has something red on it…*

* “Why Rudolph, you’ve got red on you.”

All three cases, the various suspects have secrets and reasons to kill the respective victims. Most of them are not all that nice and all of them are rampant stereotypes typical of the genre. So, there is scope aplenty here for the Game Master to ham up her portrayal of the NPCs, since these episodes—as per the genre—is being broadcast in the middle of the afternoon or the middle of the evening, the perfect cozy, easy spots for the genre. Further, the mysteries themselves are stereotypical, even clichés, of the genre. Or rather as they are properly called, classics. What lifts these classics up above the ordinary is the fact that there is not set solution to the murders. The players and their Matrons can discover the clues, question the suspects, verify alibis, and deduce the identity of the culprit and his or her motivations, and in the process provide a comfortably cozy entertainment, whilst the Game Master gets to portray a cast riddled with jealousies, insecurities, and secrets. Plus, just like the cozy murder mysteries themselves, the murder mysteries in Christmas Crime are just as undemanding when it comes to set-up.

Physically, Christmas Crime is neatly and tidily laid out. It is not illustrated bar the Christmasy front cover. The only that it lacking is some locations for the mysteries to play out in, but the Game Master and her players should be able to improvise those.

What could be cozier than death at Christmas, than the comfortable clichés and mild murders of Christmas Crime: Three festive mysteries for Matrons of Mystery?

Mavens of Murder

The mystery—as opposed to the mysterious, which has always been there—has long been a part of roleplaying, all the way back to The Maltese Clue, the scenario published by Judges Guild in 1979.  It really came to the fore with roleplaying games like Call of Cthulhu, Gangbusters, and Justice, Inc. and more recently seen in the GUMSHOE System with roleplaying games such as Mutant City Blues, which combines superheroes with the police procedural. What these all do with the mystery is provide the Game Matron with a plot and a set of clues that the players and their characters investigate the mystery and hopefully piece together the clues to uncover the mystery. However, what if the mystery and its investigation was set up the other way around? What if there was no set solution and instead the solution to the mystery could be constructed from the clues uncovered by the players and their characters and would be, if not absolutely correct, then very nearly so? This is what Matrons of Mystery—and Brindlewood Bay, the roleplaying game by Jason Cordova it is derived from—both do.

Both Matrons of Mystery and Brindlewood Bay are Powered by the Apocalypse roleplaying games in which players take the roles of women of a certain age who investigate murder—often much to the consternation of local law enforcement. Brindlewood Bay has an American feel and behind the series of murders a Lovecraftian conspiracy, whereas Matrons of Mystery focuses entirely on the murder mysteries, employs a parred back version of the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics, and has a decidedly British sensibility being inspired by television series such as Miss Marple, Rosemary & Thyme, Agatha Raisin, Queens of Mystery, Father Brown, and so on. This is not the world of the hardboiled mystery, or even mystery on a medium heat, but that of the ‘cozy’ mystery, set in a small town or village where everyone knows everyone—except that recently arrived stranger, and of course, everyone’s secrets—and there is a strong sense of community, and is of course, suitable for afternoon or Sunday night viewing with all of the family gathered round the television.

Matrons of Mystery: A cozy mystery roleplaying game is designed for three or four players, plus the Game Matron, and each mystery ideally takes a session to solve. This makes it good for one shots or convention games, and the familiarity of its genre means that Matrons of Mystery will be easy to grasp and familiar to most players. In Matrons of Mystery, players take the roles of ladies of a certain age, who are perhaps single, widowed, or divorced, certainly retired or have more than enough time to throw themselves into their community and various activities and charities. For example, keeping the parish church clean, attending meetings of the W.I., helping run Meals on Wheels, doing the village Christmas Pantomime, and so on. Of course, when murder strikes—as it invariably does in their surprisingly high murder count communities—it is the ‘Matrons of Mystery’ who take up their handbags, put down their trowels, and ever ready to make a nice hot cup of tea, discover whodunnit before the local bobby on the beat, Police Constable Plodd, and Inspector Witless from the nearest big town, can work it all out.

Character generation and game set-up in Matrons of Mystery is quite quick. First, the players name and decide on some details about their Matrons’ village. Then, every Matron has a name, a Personal Style, a Hobby, a Background, an Investigation Style, and a Contact. So a Name might be Audrey or Nettie, a Personal Style could be ‘Smart and Classic’, ‘Punk’, or ‘Twinset and Pearl’, and a Hobby Baking, Gardening, Collecting, or Amateur Dramatics. The Background consists of answers to three questions—the first is about a Matron’s former partner or whether or not she was married, what was her career before she retired, and whether she has any children, or if not, young relatives she is fond of. Her Investigation Style—Physical, Logical, Intuitive, or Gregarious—represents different approaches to solving mysteries, and the Contact is someone that the Matron knows well from her past and can rely upon to help out in a pinch. To create a Matron, a player decides upon all of these factors, answers the three questions for her Background, and then assigns +2 to her primary Investigation Style, +1 to her secondary Investigation Style, sets a third at 0, and assigns -1 to her least favoured Investigation Style.

Henrietta Wyndham
Personal Style: Punk
Hobby: Painting
Background: Divorced (to Nigel Wyndham, Stage name: Nasty Nigel), Former Record Producer, Children include Freddy, Pandora, Ned
Contact: Gordon Blythe-White (Record Exec)
Physical 0 Logical -1 Intuitive +1 Gregarious +2

Mechanically, Matrons of Mystery uses Powered by the Apocalypse. To undertake an action or ‘Move’, a player rolls two six-sided dice, adds his Matron’s Investigative Style and aims to roll high. The results fall into the ‘Yes’, ‘Yes, but…’, and ‘No and…’ Roll ten and more and the Move is successful; roll between seven and nine, and the Move is successful, but comes with a Complication; and roll six or less, and the Move not only fails, but adds a Complication. A Complication hinders the Matron’s investigative efforts, such as her slipping and injuring herself climbing in or out of a window or the suspect taking umbrage at one or more of the questions posed to him. This can lead to an ongoing Condition, such as a sprained ankle or being thrown out of a society dinner. (If there is one issue with Matrons of Mystery, it is that it could have done with a bigger list of Complications and especially Conditions to inspire the Game Matron.)

Rules are provided for gaining Experience Points and either using them in play to improve dice rolls or saving them to improve a Matron’s Investigative Styles. They do feel optional though.

Unlike most versions of Powered by the Apocalypse, the rules in Matrons of Mystery include an Advantage and Disadvantage mechanic. Thus when a Matron has the Advantage, which can come from her Personal Style, Hobby, Background, or the situation, three six-sided dice are rolled instead of two, and the best used. Conversely, when she is at a Disadvantage, her player rolls three dice and keeps the lowest two. Another difference between other roleplaying games using Powered by the Apocalypse and Matrons of Mystery is that it does not make use of Playbooks, each of which provide an archetypal character and its associated Moves. Instead, Matrons of Mystery provides a standard set of nine Moves that all of the Matrons can use. The first five Moves—‘Investigate’, ‘Interrogate’, ‘Take Action’, ‘Lend A Hand’, and ‘Ask A Favour’ are used to gain clues and conduct the Investigation. The next three, ‘Reminisce’, ‘Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down’, and ‘Go To Adverts’, enforce both the genre and the format of the genre. ‘Reminisce’ enables a Matron to recall something from her past which will help with the current investigation; ‘Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down’ lets two or more Matrons sit down, have a nice hot cup of tea, have a chat with each other, and in doing so, each remove a single Condition; and ‘Go To Adverts’ enforces a break in the story when a Matron is in danger, ends the scene on a cliffhanger, and lets the players discuss how the cliffhanger is resolved with the imperilled Matron unharmed when the adverts end!

The final Move is ‘Put It All Together’. This happens at the end or near the end of the game when the Matrons gather their collected clues and deduce the identity of the murderer. Instead of using an Investigative Style to modify the roll, the player uses the number of clues and secrets found out so far, minus the number of suspects involved in the murder. Typically, there are eight suspects per murder, so the Matrons will need to have gathered at least eight clues and secrets to negate this, plus more to gain a modifier to the roll. Roll ten or more and the Move is successful, the Matrons are correct in their deductions and have identified the Murderer and his motive; roll between seven and nine, and the Move is successful, the Matrons are correct in their deductions and have identified the Murderer and his motive, but there a Complication which the Matrons will need to overcome in order to apprehend the Murderer; and roll six or less, and the Move fails, indicating that the Matron’s deductions are incorrect. The Game Matron has to explain why and then sends the Matrons back off to continue their investigations and try again.

For the Game Matron, there is good advice on designing a mystery, from the theme and the set-up through to defining the secrets and listing the clues. There is also good advice on running the game—both online and at the gaming table, how to handle clues, secrets, Complications and Conditions, and so on, as well as optional rules for one-on-one play and playing away from the Matrons’ home village. A short bibliography provides some inspiration for the Game Matron. Then there are three ready-to-play Mysteries, complete with set-up, teaser, eight suspects, and a long list of clues. The first is ‘Gardner’s Question Crime’ in which the village hosts the popular radio show, Gardeners’ Answers in the grounds of Hatherly Hall. With most of the village present, the guest speaker, celebrity gardener and host of the television series, Gardener’s Life, Alan Jefferson, drops dead as he is about to take to the stage. This is followed by ‘Dicing With Death’ in which the village hosts a roleplaying convention (!) and award-winning game designer, Scott Sallow, is found dead on the last day of the convention with his mouth stuffed full of polyhedrals! Lastly, ‘Ding Dong Death’ is takes place just before national bell ringing championships and with the village wanting to put on a good performance, the bell ringing team is getting in some last-minute practice. Unfortunately, the lead bell ringer, Walter Bell, is found hanging upside down from one of the bell ropes. All three scenarios are great set-ups, though ‘Dicing With Death’ feels both improbable and a direct appeal to its intended audience.

Physically, Matrons of Mystery is a tidily done digest-sized book. The cover is appropriately rural, whilst the internal artwork, all publicly sourced, is there to break up the page rather than necessarily illustrate the game. The book is well written and easy to read—especially with the slightly larger fount size.

Matrons of Mystery is fun to play and it is simple to play. Having just the one set of nine Basic Moves eases play no end. Given the age of the Matrons, it is much more of a social game than physical game necessarily, although some sneaking around is probably going to be necessary and perfectly in keeping with the genre. Although it does present her with eight suspects to roleplay, the lighter nature of the rules do provide the Game Matron with the opportunity to really focus on her roleplaying and have fun with it too. The nature of the game and its ‘no given perpetrator’ set-up also strips Matrons of Mystery of any sense of stress or competition which might arise in the players and the Game Matron as they worry whether their deductions and solution to the crime is actually right. Instead, the players and their Matrons construct the murder solution and motive from the clues, thus emphasising storytelling—both the storytelling of the murder and the storytelling of it being solved.

Matrons of Mystery: A cozy mystery roleplaying game is cleverly cozy, taking the structure of Brindlewood Bay and parring it back to focus on its core game play. It is a smart, sprightly roleplaying game which delightfully evokes its genre from the page to the table. And if you are going to play this at the table, a nice hot cup of tea is an absolute necessity.