[Free RPG Day 2025] :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

Two days ago, a terrorist cyber team was able to identify, isolate, and take control of an anomaly in cyberspace. An informant in the Tokyo Tangle has identified the team as belonging to the Ōgama marauders, a radical terrorist organization which has been frog-like yōkai who have been attacking civilian targets in the Megacity, likely in an attempt to destabilize the local government. The team’s target is the anomalous cyber Domain, BNZ4I-10, known to display cutting-edge or supernatural capacities with regard to data control. Now that Ōgama have control of BNZ4I-10, it has the ability to manipulate the flow of data throughout cyberspace. This includes the capacity to redirect data packets, including highly sensitive information sent from secure locations, into this anomalous Domain. With this, their cyber team has unchecked reach and significant advantage in terms of access to communication.

Although the location of the physical server hosting this Domain cannot be determined, but communications access has been gained. You will be placed in Harness and projected into the Domain’s virtual representation. Your objective is to infiltrate and take over BNZ4I-10, eradicate Ōgama presence and code, and transfer control to Section 7. As a secondary objective, identify and secure any tech or artifacts used by Ōgama operatives to control or access the server.

Mission begins.

This is the set-up for :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game, a quick-start for :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG, published by the Son of Oak Game Studio, best known for City of Mist, the Pulp Noir, Urban Fantasy storytelling game. It is a narrative roleplaying game set some time during the next century in which the Player Characters are inhabitants of a dystopian Megacity who make a living undertaking dangerous jobs that their employers want temporary, deniable assets for. Typical tasks include hijacking, extraction, procurement, security sweeps, and so on. More recently, the Player Characters have made contact with something inexplicable, a legend or a Mythos that they hitherto only thought to be fiction, but is currently proving to be actually real. Almost as if it was out of a book of myths and legends, they find themselves capable of warping reality in a way that can only be described as magic! It uses a variant of the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics, called the ‘Mist Engine’ and the :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game includes a short strike mission, ‘BNZ4I-10 Cyber Anomaly’, that can be played through in a single session with the three pre-generated Player Characters provided.

A Player Character in :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG is defined by four sets of themed Tags. These Themes vary, but can include Esoterica, Expertise, Affiliation, Assets, Artefact, Personality, and more. Each Theme set contains five Tags which can be used as a ‘Power Tag’ or a ‘Weakness Tag’. For example, the Wilson has the Tags of ‘Oni Strength’, ‘Demonic Durability’, ‘Rapid Regeneration’, ‘Acute Sense of Smell’, ‘Muscular Overgrowth’, and ‘Easily Angered’ for his Oni Mask Theme. A Theme also has background details that develop and explain who the character is. Each Player Character has a set of items which can be used as Tags too.

The three Player Characters in the :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game are ‘Genji’, a grizzled detective working for the Bureau of Onmyu, a secret government organisation that that tracks Mytho-related activities that are a threat to Tokyo and the rest of Japan; ‘Unagi’ is a scavenger and urban explorer looking for her kid sister who has also received the boon of Unagi Hime, the Eel princess; and ‘Wilson’ is a gaijin ronin, an ex-soldier turned mercenary armed with a cutting edge rail gun, who wears an Oni mask which gives strength and endurance. Each Theme comes with some colour text which gives it and the Player Character some context. Lastly, each of the three pre-generated Player Characters comes on a double-sided A3-size sheet, with a full illustration on one side and the full stats and details on the other, including an explanation of the roleplaying game’s core mechanic.

Mechanically, to have his character attempt a task a player rolls two six-sided dice. If the result is ten or more, the Player Character succeeds without Consequences; if it is seven to nine, he succeeds, but suffers Consequences; and if six or less, the Player Character fails and suffers the Consequences. To the roll, the player adds as many Power Tags as he can and which are appropriate, but has to deduct any Weakness Tags that apply. The resulting value is the Player Character’s Power. This can be spent on various Effects—Attack, Influence, Boost, Create, and Restore. They can also be applied to Challenges and Threats in an attempt to overcome them. Each Challenge or Threat has a rating or a ‘Limit’, for example, to get past an encampment of bandits with two men on watch, the Limits might be ‘stealth: 2’ and ‘wounded: 3’. In the first example, the Player Characters would apply the Effects from a stealth-related Tag to exceed the Limit, whilst in the second, the Effects from an attack-type Tag would be used. This can be done over multiple attempts with the Effects stacking each time, but if successful will change the status of a Challenge or Threat. Thus, the ‘stealth: 2’ Limit changes to ‘evaded-2’ and the ‘wounded: 3’ Limit to ‘wounded-3’.

However, there are ramifications if a Challenge or Threat is not dealt with succinctly or is even ignored. The Narrator can apply Consequences. This might be something as straightforward as ‘bleeding-3’ for a wound, ‘burning-1’ from a fire, or ‘lost-4’ if in darkness, but Limits themselves could change. For example, the Limits for the bandits could change to ‘hunted: 3’ and ‘wounded: 4’, now that the Player Characters failed to get past the encampment. The :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game includes a list of possible Effects, advice on running the roleplaying game, and possible Challenges, Threats, and Consequences that the Player Characters might face and suffer.

The adventure itself, ‘BNZ4I-10 Cyber Anomaly’ is set within cyberspace into which each Player Character and his abilities are projected, a process known as Harnessing. What this means is that whilst what is actually happening is that lines of code are running and interacting with each other, they are visualised and anything a Player Character could do in meatspace, he can do in the virtual space too and it will look exactly what it does in the real world. BNZ4I-10 is a ‘thin place’, a place where the mythic and the real meet. BNZ4I-10 actually looks like a shrine, complete with several pagodas, a bathhouse, and a pond. These locations are not mapped out in detail, but they do not need to be. Both these locations and the Ōgama marauder threats are described in detail enough that the Master of Ceremonies—as the Game Master is known in :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG—will handle how they react to the actions of the Player Characters. The scenario be played as is, but options explore what might happen if the Player Characters are betrayed by their employer or they betray their employer.

Physically, the :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game is well presented. The artwork is good and the writing decent. All three Player Character sheets come separate from the main book and there is even a sheet of Tracking Cards to cut and use to keep track of Effects being applied to Threats and Challenges and Limits being reduced.

If the :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game is lacking anything, it is an example of play or the rules in play. Without either, it is not quite as easy to grasp as it could have been, presenting more of a challenge to learn for anyone new to roleplaying or new to the narrative style of play employed in :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG. However, for the experienced Narrator or the Narrator willing to grasp its slightly different rules, the :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game is a solid, engaging introduction to :Otherscape – The Mythic-Cyberpunk RPG, with an exciting strike mission that puts the Player Characters in the heat of the action.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure is the contribution to Free RPG Day 2025 from Edge Studio. It is a quick-start and scenario for Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game, the roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror derived from Arkham Horror board game and Arkham Horror Living Card game from Fantasy Flight Games, both of which are derived from the original version of the Arkham Horror board game published by Chaosium, Inc. in 1987. Ultimately, Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game shares a great deal of setting elements with Call of Cthulhu, but they are not the same roleplaying game. Mechanically, Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game has more in common with the GUMSHOE System of Trail of Cthulhu from Pelgrane Press, but plays very differently. Whilst Trail of Cthulhu leans more into a Purist style of play emphasising an atmosphere of menace and growing as a default, Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game—at least as far as the Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure is concerned—is more of a Pulp affair, playing up action and adventure and including Investigators who are not only aware of the Mythos, but also know a few spells too. There are elements too, drawn from EDGE Studio’s Genesys System, used to handle the perils of investigating the Mythos.

Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure includes everything that a gaming group needs. It explains the rules, provides a full scenario that can be played in a single session or so, and gives a set of six pre-generated Investigators. Apart from copies of the pre-generated Investigators, the only thing it needs is a set of six six-sided per player, plus a lot more for the Keeper and some dice of a different colour. Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure and Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game use what is called the ‘Dynamic Pool System’. An Investigator is primarily defined by ten skills—Agility, Athletics, Intuition, Knowledge, Lore, Melee Combat, Presence, Ranged Combat, Resolve, and Wits. Of these, Lore is how much an Investigator knows about the occult and how to apply it, if necessary. Skills are rated between two and six. He has a variety of Knacks, special abilities that might grant him extra dice, alter the number of dice rolled, allow special actions, cast spells, rerolls of the dice, and more. There is a wide variety of Knacks, even presented in the six pre-generated Investigators in Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure.

Lastly, an Investigator has a pool of six-sided dice, typically six. These are used and refreshed from one scene to the next and they represent a combination of an Investigator’s effort and health. In the case of the latter, when an Investigator is injured, he loses dice, limiting his actions until he can rest, heal, and receive medical attention.

When a player wants his Investigator to undertake a Complex action, such as climbing a fence in a chase, shooting cultist in a gunfight, researching a newspaper morgue for clues, or casting a spell, he takes as many dice as he wants from his pool and rolls them, comparing the results with the skill being used. For each die result equal to, or greater than, the value of the skill, a success is scored. In general, only a single success is required to achieve whatever an Investigator wants to do, but more successes are needed to trigger the effects of some Knacks. For example, Silas Marsh has ‘Skilled Shot’ and can throw a harpoon as a ranged combat action, and if his player rolls three successes, the target cannot use a reaction to avoid the attack. (This is in addition to the weapon itself, which inflicts a base of two damage—most weapons inflict one or two points of damage, and if three or more success are rolled on an attack, in Injury is inflicted and extra damage is inflicted per Injury, making it a very deadly weapon.) Complex actions can also be rolled with Advantage or Disadvantage, rolling with one more or one less die in either case.

In addition, an Investigator has a supply of Insight points. These can be spent to add an additional success to a complex action, take a Complex Action with Advantage, to add a narrative element to a scene, or to avoid certain trauma.

Play itself in Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game is handled as a series of scenes, either Narrative or Structured scenes in which Simple and Complex Actions are attempted. Narrative scenes rarely involve peril, and allow an Investigator to undertake Simple Actions without his player needing to roll dice, whereas Structured scenes do involve peril or great difficulty, such as a combat scene or a confrontation with the Mythos, require a player to roll for both Simple and Complex Actions. Although a player only has access to six dice in his pool—or less depending upon trauma and Injury, this pool refreshes from one scene to the next, and in combat, they are refreshed at the start of an Investigator’s turn. In combat, damage is inflicted in two ways. Primarily by reducing a defendant’s dice pool, limiting his capacity to act, wounding him if the dice pool is reduced to zero, after which he can strain himself to restore his dice pool to full at the cost of suffering an Injury. The other way is by a weapon specifically inflicting an Injury. Injuries are determined by rolling on the Injury Table. These are rolled on a single die, to which are added the number of injuries already suffered. Since the Injury roll is made on a single die, it takes a lot of injuries—at least five—before someone can be killed straight off. There is no little grievous Injury in the meantime, but it is difficult to kill a defendant and certainly an Investigator.

The way of handling Horror Damage or exposure to the cosmic truths of the universe is more interesting, though similar to that used for injuries. When an Investigator suffers Horror Damage—whether from a spell cast at him, seeing a creature of the Mythos, or reading a horrific tome—his player replaces a number of dice in his dice pool with Horror Dice equal to the Horror Damage suffered. Horror Dice work exactly like normal dice in a player’s dice pool and can be lost if an Investigator suffers damage. However, should a player roll a one on any single Horror Die, his Investigator gains a Trauma. The rolls a single die and consults the Trauma Table, adding one for each one rolled on the Horror Dice. Where an Investigator is physically resilient, the same cannot be said mentally. It is a lot easier in comparison to get Horror Dice, roll ones, and suffer Trauma and since there are fewer results on the Trauma Table, for an Investigator to be ‘Lost Forever’.

Horror Dice can be healed from one round to the next, as well as by certain Knacks and spells, replacing them with standard dice. This is an action though and in a Structured Scene, the Investigators might not have the opportunity. Whereas injuries can be healed though, traumas cannot, although they can recede over time. The combination of Horror Dice and Trauma is intriguing as a means of handling the escalating danger of being exposed to cosmic threat, but it does feel undercut by the ability to heal Horror Dice within a scene.

In terms of pre-generated Investigators, Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure gives six. They include a clever and helpful postal woman; strong sailor armed with a harpoon; a student with first aid skills and good at improvising weapons; a librarian who can cast spells and draw upon the horrors she has seen to gain Horror Dice and bonus dice to a roll; a prepared researcher who is good with people; and a professor who can choose to suffer an Injury or Horror Dice and who is also a skilled shot. All also have a section of equipment and besides a short background, there is also an explanation of the basic rules and the use of Insight on the back. All of the Investigators have travelled to Kingsport, some of them from Arkham’s Miskatonic University, to conduct an anthropological survey in the New England port. Players with a bit of history with roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror will appreciate that the professor in the included Investigators is none other than Harvey Walters, who appeared as the sample Investigator for the first time all the way back in the first edition of Call of Cthulhu.

The included scenario in Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure opens with the Investigators visiting the Hall School in Kingsport to examine its rare book collection. Both the school secretary and the headmaster are welcoming, but they are concerned about a member of staff, Cecil Blackburn, who has been behaving oddly, even erratically. When they encounter him, he is found in a bath of salt water, weirdly mishappen, and rage-fuelled! The question is, what has happened to him? The plot and clues link to other citizens of Kingsport acting strangely and ultimately to somewhere otherworldly and further confrontation with something even stranger. It is a solid mix of investigation and interaction leavened with some action, decently presented and written. The primary difficulty with the scenario is the need to make slight adjustments to the plot links with fewer players and Investigators.

Physically, Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure is decently presented and written. The artwork is disappointingly restricted to just the front cover and the Investigator illustrations, but still very good. A map or two might have been useful, whether of Kingsport or the scene of the scenario’s climax, and it does feel odd that the scenario is presented before the rules are explained.

Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure provides everything that a group will need to try out Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game. It is accessible and comes with a decent investigative and interactive scenario that has a certain weirdness to it. The rules are clearly explained and easy to grasp with a good explanation of the ‘Dynamic Pool System’ on the back of each Investigator sheet, making them also easily accessible. The ‘Dynamic Pool System’ itself lies at the lighter and Pulpier end of the Lovecraftian investigative horror spectrum, both mechanically and thematically. The Investigators are tougher and even augmented in comparison to other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror spectrum and because of this, the likelihood is that Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport – A Quickstart Adventure is going to divide its intended audience very much along the Purist-Pulp faultline.

[Free RPG Day 2025] The Well of Shadows

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

The Well of Shadows is certainly not the weirdest item released for Free RPG Day 2025. That prize goes the Emergency D20! scratch card from Foam Brain Games, an idea so bizarre and superfluous it is barely worth consideration. That does not mean that The Well of Shadows is not weird. It is. Simply, it is not as weird as the Emergency D20! scratch card. No, The Well of Shadows is weird because of its format and the way that it is written. The Well of Shadows is an adventure for Tales of the Valiant, the alternative to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from Kobold Press. It designed to be played by a party of four Third Level Player Characters and it comes with a quick-start guide, the adventure itself, a wraparound map that hold the two together, and a band that holds them all together.

The Well of Shadows is also weird because of the Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide. This is because the Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide is not a quick-start in the traditional sense. A quick-start will explain the different aspects of a roleplaying game and how it is played. It will explain what a Player Character and what it looks like in the roleplaying game and it will provide advice for the Game Master on how to run the game and the included scenario in the quick-start. The Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide does some, but not all of this, radically de-emphasising the mechanical aspects of Tales of the Valiant. To be honest, it gets little beyond having to roll a twenty-sided die and get equal to, or above, a Difficulty Class, to achieve what a player and his character might want to do, with the other dice being rolled for damage and other effects. It does also include four pre-generated Player Characters at the end—an Elven Battle Mage, Human Cleric of Solana, Human Waysmith (Ranger), and a Minotaur Trooper (Fighter)—but it does not discuss them in any real detail. So, what then, does the Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide actually include?

Really, the Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide is an introduction to roleplaying games in general, in good play, and to the idea of playing Tails of the Valiant. It starts off by stating that Tales of the Valiant is gateway to other games. This is delightfully refreshing, since it is not trying to lock the reader into the one true Tails of the Valiant from the start. Its introduction to roleplaying is multi-faceted, explain that it is a game, that it is a shared experience, that it is a conversation, and so on. Along with a lengthy example of play, it makes clear that the play is meant to be fun, and it explains the basic elements of the hobby, ones that we take for granted. It also explains the role of the Game Master and how to be good one, as well as how to be a good player. Whilst it does stress the useful nature of safety tools, telling the reader that their use can make everyone’s experience at the table both comfortable and safe, it acknowledges too, that some people might not need them and says that this is okay too. This is a nice way of handling an issue that some see as contentious when it really does not have to be and this approach supports that. Overall, the focus in the Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide is very much on the player rather than the Game Master, though she is given good advice and should read through the rest of the introduction as well.

However, since the Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide is not really a quick-start in the traditional sense, the Game Master is going to need to the full Tales of the Valiant rules to run the accompanying adventure, ‘The Well of Shadows’. This is designed as an introductory scenario for four to five Player Characters of Third Level. The ones included in the Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide are suitable, though a Thief type might be useful. The setting for the scenario is the Labyrinth Worldbook for Tales of the Valiant in which the Player Characters are employed by the Concord of Stars to investigate the Fane of Mot, a shrine dedicated to Mot, the ancient god of death. The Concord of Stars previously sent agents—the two-headed Dragonborn Warlock, Daarzelyn and the Human Fighter, Verric Stormheart—to investigate and shut it down, but neither of them has returned or reported back. Some are not happy with the Concord of Stars hiring outsiders and a friend of Verric will confront the Player Characters before they set out to explore the shrine. This gives the opportunity for the players see the combat system in action as Verric’s friend is likely to want satisfaction from the best fighter amongst their number and see if they are worthy of the task. The fight though, is not to the death, and however it ends, the Player Characters will walk away with a little more information and perhaps better means of healing.

At the Fane of Mot, the Player Characters can learn some more information and perhaps purchase a magical scroll or potion, from a merchant (who though benign, is not quite what he seems) before entering. The Fane of Mot consists of seven locations, placed one after another, in a u-shape. What they find inside is a shrine to death that has long been abandoned, left to spread its blight to the immediate surrounds, but which is now occupied and guarded by Shadow Orcs. Further, it is being studied and perhaps in danger of being revived and returned to its original use. Ultimately, the Player Characters will need to clear the simple complex, defeat the guards, defeat the person they are guarding, and find a way of sealing the planar portal to the Dry Lands, home to Mot himself. There is advice through on staging and even on what might happen if one or more of the Player Characters ends up in the Dry Lands!

The plot to ‘The Well of Shadows’ is quite straightforward and the players should be able to work out what is going on relatively easily. There is the option to run it with miniatures as the wraparound cover to The Well of Shadows as a whole includes a map of the Fane of Mot on its inside. The scenario should take a single or so to play through.

Physically, The Well of Shadows is decently presented and well-written. The artwork is excellent and the map clear and easy to read.

The Well of Shadows is a disappointing in the sense that it is not really a quick-start in the true sense. A Game Master and her players will need The Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide at the least to run it. That said, ‘The Well of Shadows’ is solid scenario, suitable for a single session, whether as a demonstration or not, and the Tales of the Valiant Quick Start Guide is an engaging introduction to roleplaying in general, let alone Tales of the Valiant.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Into The Living Sands

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

Into The Living Sands is a scenario for the Arora: Age of Desolation setting published by Ghostfire Gaming, one of three released by the publisher for Free RPG Day 2025. All three scenarios and settings are written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and designed to be played by a party of five to six Player Characters of Third Level. The scenario opens with ‘Welcome to the Arora: Age of Desolation’, a much needed description of the setting and its key features, because the scenario does not have a back cover blurb. What it tells the reader is that the setting for Arora: Age of Desolation is Arora, a post-apocalyptic world once ruled by dragons, but which has crumbled since they were infected with Shardscale, which causes instability and uncontrollable rage in dragons and similar creatures. Without the stability and structure provided by the dragons, the survivors fled in search of refuge. Their descendants face the constant danger of dragon warlords and their draconic warbands, whilst living in often extremely harsh conditions. In the desert region of Gallaht, they have adapted, harvesting water from quicksand, carving homes from the mesas known as ‘metehs’, which often collapse due to earthquakes, forcing the inhabitants to find a new meteh, often one that has risen from the ground due to the same earthquake activity, and race magical sand skiffs across the desert in search of resources, trade, and to avoid the desert pirates! The setting feels similar to that of Dark Sun, the savage, post-apocalyptic setting published by TSR, Inc. for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition in 1991. However, the parallels are relatively slight in that both are desert settings and both have dragons that feature at their core, but that is all.

At the beginning of Into the Living Sands, the Player Characters have travelled to the Claw of Khulud, the only permanent city in the Tremoring Badlands. Their metehs, all four of them, recently collapsed, forcing their inhabitants to resettle in a larger, single meteh. However, this has left the new meteh short of supplies and the Player Characters to obtain what they need and to entreat merchants to set up a regular water trade route to their new meteh. Unfortunately, Khulud was recently hit by a storm that destroyed supplies and depleted water stores. To replenish the latter, the city’s Trade Council is organising a ‘Great Water Race’, a daylong event in which participants go in search of water and attempt to bring back more than the other competitors. They are popular in Khulud and although dangerous, participants are well paid for the water they bring back and the winner is feted throughout the city. The Player Characters have already decided to enter the race, hoping that the money they will make on the water they bring back will be enough to buy the supplies their new meteh requires and that if they win, the local water merchants will be persuaded to set up a trade route.

Into the Living Sands is literally a sandbox. The Player Characters can go where they will in the scenario. There are pools to find and collect water from, secret locations to reach, and ruins to explore, and encounters to have along the way, including running into other competitors, being attacked by a swarm of Fulgurite Crabs with their razor-sharp shell, be misdirected by the illusions of a Wakeshark, and being chased by water pirates! The Player Characters need to make several choices, beginning with deciding upon which guide to help them crew their desert skiff and what type of desert skiff to choose. Five guides are detailed, each of whom has their own motivation and interests, some of them actually quite selfish, as well as advantages and disadvantages when it comes to participating in the Great Water Race. Some also know the locations of the secret locations, and only if the Player Characters choose them, will they be able to reach those locations. Similarly, the choice of desert skiff—either sturdy, standard, or swift—will affect what locations they can reach. The faster the skiff, the more distant places they will be able to reach. The unique and distant locations tend to have more water.

The Game Master will then tailor the scenario to the choices that the players and their characters have made. The scenario includes four locations and a total of ten encounters. Two of the encounters are categorised as ‘unique’ and do require the presence of particular NPCs, so not all of the scenario is going to be open to the Player Characters depending upon the choices made. That said, they could be added to an ongoing Arora: Age of Desolation campaign. Whichever of the locations and encounters the Game Master uses, the scenario comes to a close with a race back to the Claw of Khulud, chased by water pirates, and ultimately, the determination as to which of the competitors have brought back the most water and won the Great Water Race.

The scenario comes with several appendices. The first includes the stats for the various monsters, like the Lingering Wakeshark, Sand Elementals, and Crystal Snails, whilst the second provides rules for desert skiffs. This covers operation, combat, and mishaps, plus attachments that increase their versatility, like a boarding clamp, raider launcher, and reinforced steering sail. The third appendix covers water hunting and its rules, whilst the fourth gives the stats for various sizes of desert skiff. A set of resources is also available for all three of the scenarios published by Ghostfire Gaming. They include maps, tokens, and pre-generated Player Characters for each. One of the features of the Arora: Age of Desolation setting is that it does not have Races, species, lineages, or heritages in the traditional Dungeons & Dragons sense. Instead, the sentient humanoids of Arora have the potential to express the traits of any fantasy Race, bar the draconic Races. This leads to a diverse, mishmash set of Player Characters rather than ones delineated along traditional lines. For Into the Living Sands, the Player Characters consist of a Draconic Sorcerer and healer; an Equilibrist Rogue who likes storytelling and can talk to and understand both beasts and plants; a Legionnaire Fighter who is a good tracker and forager; a feline scavenger and cleric who worships the dragon goddess Jha-dhol; a Ranger who is a skilled hunter and is at home in the desert; and a Paladin who grew up in the darkness of caves and is lucky. All six are nicely detailed and come with some background as well as an illustration and an explanation of all their abilities and features.

Physically, Into the Living Sands is well presented. The artwork and the maps are excellent, and the scenario is well written. The only disappointments are the lack of a back cover blurb to inform the reader what Into the Living Sands actually is. That said, a map of the region without the secret locations marked would have been useful

Into the Living Sands is the most complex and demanding of the scenarios published by Ghostfire Gaming for Free RPG Day 2025. It requires the Game Master to adjust the scenario to her players and their characters rather than run a straightforward, plot-driven or exploratory scenario. If she can do that, Into the Living Sands is an exciting, action-packed scenario that introduces the Game Master and her players to a little of the strangeness that is Arora: Age of Desolation.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Legend in the Mist Demo Game

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

Life in the Dales has been good and all you have ever known. The working of the soil, the turning of the seasons, the joy of the festivals scattered throughout the year, and shared stories, some of past exploits, others of caution and calamity, and then, legends of great deeds long in the past and far away, outside the mountain fastness of the Dales. Above you know the wind as it blows cold down the mountain and into your bones or wafts along the river to warm your face and sway the barley. Of late, the wind has changed. You know it as it wails through the ruins of an ancient tower. You feel it as it brings a chill earlier in the nights than it should. You see the shadows deepen and hearts fill with uncertainty. The tales of old twist to tell of a fallen kingdom, of the Creatures of Twilight, and of Deceivers that stalked the innocent and the unwary, preying on the lost… Has an age-old threat returned and if so, why do you feel compelled to seek out the truth of the doom whispered upon the winds? To explore the extent of the Dales, before leaving its sanctuary, your home, and embark on a long journey in the Wanderlands?

This is the set-up for Legend in the Mist Demo Game, a quick-start for Legend in the Mist: The Rustic Fantasy RPG, published by the Son of Oak Game Studio, best known for City of Mist, the Pulp Noir, Urban Fantasy storytelling game. It is a narrative roleplaying game with optional tactical features intended to evoke the feeling of an old fireside tale. It uses a variant of the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics called the ‘Mist Engine’, and the Legend in the Mist Demo Game includes a short three-act scenario, ‘A Shadow in the Barley’, that can be played through in a single session with the three pre-generated Player Characters provided.

A Player Character in Legend in the Mist is defined by four sets of themed Tags. These Themes vary, but can include Devotion, Trade or Skill, Trait, Personality, People, Trait, Possessions, and more. Themes are categorised as either Origin, Adventure, or Greatness Themes, which define where the Player Character came from, how he works to affect the world, and what he is good at, respectively. Each Theme set contains five Tags which can be used as a ‘Power Tag’ or a ‘Weakness Tag’. For example, the Red Marshal has the Tags of ‘The Red Armour’, ‘Stand Watch’, ‘Reassuring Presence’, ‘Know These Lands’, and ‘Loyal Horse’ for his Devotion Theme. A Theme has tracks for Experience—gained when a Tag is used as a weakness, and Decay, gained for acting against a Theme—that is, out of character—and which if filled, will lead to the replacement of the Theme. Each Player Character has a set of items which can be used as Tags too.

The three Player Characters in the Legend in the Mist Demo Game are ‘the Apple Picker’, a young, orphaned prankster; ‘the Red Marshal’, the new village scout; and ‘the Wise One’, the village healer who knows some of the mysteries of the world. Each Theme comes with some colour text which gives it and the Player Character some context. Lastly, each of the three pre-generated Player Characters comes on a double-sided A3-size sheet, with a female version on one side and a male version on the other.

Mechanically, to have his character attempt a task a player rolls two six-sided dice. If the result is ten or more, the Player Character succeeds without Consequences; if it is seven to nine, he succeeds, but suffers Consequences; and if six or less, the Player Character fails and suffers the Consequences. To the roll, the player adds as many Power Tags as he can and which are appropriate, but has to deduct any Weakness Tags that apply. The resulting value is the Player Character’s Power. This can be spent on various Effects—Attack, Influence, Boost, Create, and Restore. They can also be applied to Challenges and Threats in an attempt to overcome them. Each Challenge or Threat has a rating or a ‘Limit’, for example, to get past an encampment of bandits with two men on watch, the Limits might be ‘stealth: 2’ and ‘wounded: 3’. In the first example, the Player Characters would apply the Effects from a stealth-related Tag to exceed the Limit, whilst in the second, the Effects from an attack-type Tag would be used. This can be done over multiple attempts with the Effects stacking each time, but if successful will change the status of a Challenge or Threat. Thus, the ‘stealth: 2’ Limit changes to ‘evaded-2’ and the ‘wounded: 3’ Limit to ‘wounded-3’.

However, there are ramifications if a Challenge or Threat is not dealt with succinctly or is even ignored. The Narrator can apply Consequences. This might be something as straightforward as ‘bleeding-3’ for a wound, ‘burning-1’ from a spell, or ‘lost-4’ if in a blizzard, but Limits themselves could change. For example, the Limits for the bandits could change to ‘hunted: 3’ and ‘wounded: 4’, now that the Player Characters failed to get past the encampment. The Legend in the Mist Demo Game includes a list of possible Effects, a very quick introduction to character creation—more of an enticement to look at the full rulebook and what it offers than anything else, advice on running the roleplaying game, and possible Challenges, Threats, and Consequences that the Player Characters might face and suffer.

The adventure itself, ‘a Shadow in The Barley’ is set in the village of Ravenhome in the Dales. One autumn morning, the three Player Characters met on the road* outside of the village. They have time to interact before they hear the scream of a child coming from a nearby field of barley. Investigating reveals a very scared child, paralysed with fear, as well as a strange feeling upon the air. Is there something lurking in the field? All is revealed when a shambling, water-logged corpse, wearing old armour and wielding a rusty sword lurches onto the road. This is a Waken Sentry and the Player Characters will realise that the only source of water nearby is that of a pond in a decrepit tower. However, before the Player Characters can investigate they need to get the child to safety and warn the villagers. This sets up a social challenge which can end with the whole village fleeing or even arming everyone with pitch forks to deal with themselves. There is scope here for some good roleplaying versus some interesting, but not always helpful NPCs. The finale of the scenario sees the Player Characters investigate the tower, encounter a strange NPC who wants their help in retrieving a ‘family heirloom’ from the pond, and discover the cause of the Waken Sentry.

* Well, it makes a change from a tavern.

‘a Shadow in The Barley’ is ultimately the introduction to a longer scenario, setting up, as it does, a mystery at the end . In the process of setting that up, it showcases how the rules apply to different situations—one combat related, one social, and one exploratory.

Physically, the Legend in the Mist Demo Game is well presented. The artwork is good and the writing decent. All three Player Character sheets come separate from the main book and there is even a sheet of Tracking Cards to cut and use to keep track of Effects being applied to Threats and Challenges and Limits being reduced.

If the Legend in the Mist Demo Game is lacking anything, it is an example of play or the rules in play. Without either, it is not quite as easy to grasp as it could have been, presenting more of a challenge to learn for anyone new to roleplaying or new to the narrative style of play employed in Legend in the Mist: The Rustic Fantasy RPG. However, for the experienced Narrator or the Narrator willing to grasp its slightly different rules, the Legend in the Mist Demo Game is a solid, engaging introduction to Legend in the Mist: The Rustic Fantasy RPG.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Deck of Worlds Sampler Pack

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

If there was an award for the most generically useful item released for Free RPG Day 2025, it would go to the Deck of Worlds Sampler Pack. Published by The Story Engine, this is an introduction to The Story Engine: Deck of World, a deck of cards designed to help users create worlds complete with cultures, geographies, histories, flora, and fauna, simply by drawing and combining cards. The Deck of Worlds Sampler Pack contains just thirty-five cards, little more than a tenth of the two-hundred-and-forty cards to be found in The Story Engine: Deck of World, all packed into a seven-by-seven centimetre box. Unlike previous offerings from The Story Engine, the Deck of Worlds Sampler Pack opens easily and then opens up fully and easily. When closed, the box holds the cards firmly in place, but when opened up, forms the instruction sheet, which takes the user through the process step-by-step.

The Deck of Worlds Sampler Pack contains six card types. These are Region, Landmark, Namesake, Origin, Attribute, and Advent. A Region card has one element which gives the setting a basic environment, like ‘Desert’ or ‘Swamp’. The Landmark expands the basic environment and provides a point of interest, such as ‘Tree’ or ‘Workshop’, ‘Peak’ or ‘Town’, and ‘Point’ or ‘Temple’. The Namesake card gives the Region a sobriquet, providing four like ‘Roaming’, ‘Of Fools’, ‘Of Glass’, and ‘That Knows’. The Origin card also has four elements such as ‘Home of a vanished People’, ‘Founded by Outcasts’, ‘Last Known Location of An Ancient Artifact’, and ‘Said To Have Been The Home Of God(s)’, which provides a lore-based background. Similarly, the Attribute card also has four elements and provides a present day feature about the Region, for example, ‘Polluted’, ‘Unusual Election Process’, ‘Hunting Ground’, and ‘Known For Fossil(s)’. Lastly, the Advent card only has two elements, such as ‘They Are Under Siege By A Foreign Power: An Army, Bombardment, or Propaganda War’ and ‘Wildlife Is Behaving Peculiarly: Aggression, Disorientation, Or Hyperactivity’. The six card types are each a different colour, front and back, and so easy to identify.

To create a micro setting, the user draws a card of each type, one-by-one. The core is the Region card, whilst the others are slipped underneath the Region card so that only one of their elements shows. For example, the ‘Island(s)’ Region card is drawn followed by the Landmark card, which presents a choice of ‘Library’ or ‘Cave’. The former is chosen, then for the Namesake card there is a choice of ‘Shattered’, ‘Of Flags’, ‘Of Strays’, and ‘That Sleeps’. Of these ‘Of Strays’ is added the micro setting. The four choices for the Origin are ‘Was Once Encased In Ice’, ‘Origin of A Popular Game Or Sport’, ‘Founded As A Claim Of Independence’, and ‘Linked To Apocalyptic Lore’. The latter is added. The Attribute card suggests ‘Religiously Diverse’, ‘Known For Street Food’, ‘Seasonal Flooding’, and ‘Carnivorous Plants’, of which ‘Religiously Diverse’ is suitable. Lastly, the Advent card suggests either ‘A Leader’s Sudden Death Is Creating A Power Vacuum: To Be Filled By Heirs, Council Members, Or A Vote’ or ‘Earthquakes Are Uncovering Something Long Buried: A Hive, Sinkhole, Or Tomb’, with the former being chosen.

—oOo—

The Island of Strays (‘Islands’ and ‘Of Strays’) sits at the far end of the world, awaiting the end of the world. Literally, for it is home to the Athenaeum Apocalyptica, its scholars and monks and prophets dedicated to the study of the end of the world (‘Linked To Apocalyptic Lore’). Over the centuries, it has built up the most complete collection of lore—scrolls, books, carvings, songs, and stories—about the end of the world and even has a whole school, Wisdom Pursuant Apocalyptica dedicated to determining when the end is coming. Although its members include adherents of militant millenarianism and devotees of extreme eschatology, as well as mathematical prophets and augural ascetics (‘Religiously Diverse’), only verbal conflict and debate is allowed on the island. However, the death of the Head Haruspex, Marius IX, Envoy of the Epoch, has left the Athenaeum Apocalyptica without a prime prophet. Accession would not be a matter of great consequence, but the Athenaeum Apocalyptica is approaching the turning point between millennial years and the apocalyptic belief of the Herald of Honesty will determine the belief and the funding distribution for the prophetic phrontisteries for centuries to come (‘A Leader’s Sudden Death Is Creating A Power Vacuum: To Be Filled By Heirs, Council Members, Or A Vote’).

—oOo—

Physically, the Deck of Worlds Sampler Pack is a delightfully simple package. The artwork is engaging and the instructions on the inside of the clever packaging are very well done.

The Deck of Worlds Sampler Pack is only a taster of the full The Story Engine: Deck of World—a quick-start if you will… Yet it offers a surprising degree of versatility, even with just six Region types and twelve Landmarks, on top of which the Namesake, Origin, and Attribute cards add twenty-four options of their own, that can all be combined to create micro settings that a writer or a storyteller or a Game Master can start her world from and then add to it with further micro settings, developing it micro setting by micro setting, or even just focus on the one micro setting. The Deck of Worlds Sampler Pack is a great introduction to The Story Engine: Deck of World and offers prompts aplenty for what is a release for Free RPG Day.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Nobi Nobi Quickstart Booster

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

If there was an award for the smallest roleplaying game—not the smallest item—released for Free RPG Day 2025, it would go to the Nobi Nobi Quickstart Booster. It consists of twenty-four cards which all together provides a roleplaying experience that can be played through in an hour and even be played through more than once. Nobi Nobi is a Japanese roleplaying game, published by Arclight Games, and intended to be played at board game cafes as well as with beginners as introduction to roleplaying. The four core games, each covering a different genre, are designed to be played by between one and five players, including the Game Master, and played through in thirty to sixty minutes. These four have since been translated into English by French publisher, Don’t Panic Games, following a successful Kickstarter campaign. The Nobi Nobi Quickstart Booster is easy to transport, fitting into any pocket, and requires just six six-sided dice. Which means that it can be played just about anywhere that has a flat surface.

The cards in the Nobi Nobi Quickstart Booster consist of two Epilogue cards, one of which contains the roleplaying game’s rules on the reverse; two Introduction cards, one for the Game Master and one the first Main Character; eight Scene cards; four Darkness and four Light cards; and four Character cards. The Character cards are double-sided, each side depicting a different character archetype. Altogether, the eight archetypes are Enchanter, Wizard, Priestess, Cleric, Warrior, Shieldmaiden, Huntress, and Samurai. Each has two stats, Power and Technique, rated from one to six (together they total seven), and an Ability. These are quite simple, requiring specific rolls, add bonuses, and even require dice to land on the Character card itself when rolled! For example, the Warrior has a Power of six and a Technique of one, plus the ‘Destiny’s Strike’ Ability, which grants the player a roll with straight +7 bonus rather than adding either Power or Technique, but only if the player can persuade the Game Master that “a sword could come in handy” for the Scene.

The Scene cards come in two types, a ‘Check’ or a ‘Role-play’ Scene. Each comes with a prompt and a description that the Game Master reads out and the means of resolution. For a ‘Role-play’ Scene, this might require a player to roleplay in the traditional sense, add a storytelling element, and even act out a mime! A ‘Check’ result requires a dice roll, a player rolling two dice and adding either Power or Technique as indicated by the Scene card. If the player succeeds, determined by the dice roll for a ‘Check’ Scene or the Game Master for a ‘Role-play’ Scene, he earns a Light card. If the player fails, he earns a Darkness card. A Light card grants a bonus that can be used later in the game, for example, ‘Disciple’ reads, “You can designate any player with the arrow on this card or spin it to pick one at random. From now on, the designated PC will be your disciple. To guide them in their learning, you will need to steer them gently at times, and at others, be more severe.” and grants ‘Technique +1’. Whereas, a Darkness card grants an effect that breaks the rules, such as ‘Dark Force’, which reads “A dark force capable of twisting the laws of nature, rearranging causality… Even though it darkens your soul, right now you have no choice but use it.” and gives the ‘Dirty cheat’ ability to alter a Check by +2 or -2.

Nobi Nobi is played with a revolving Game Master and Main Character. At the start of the game, the designated Game Master sets the game up by reading out an Introduction card out and drawing the first Scene card and reading that out. The player to her left is the designated Main Character for the scene and his character will resolve the scene described. This can involve one or more of the other characters and their players, but it is the Main Character and his player who resolves the Scene. Once done, the role of the Game Master and of the Main Character passes to the left. Play like this continues until all of the Scene cards have been drawn and played. Then an Epilogue card is drawn and resolved, with every Player Character participating, and the session brought to a close.

Nobi Nobi is quick and easy to play though and the Nobi Nobi Quickstart Booster even quicker. With just eight Scene cards, it plays better with either two players or four players so that every player is accorded a fair share of the Scenes. An experienced group of players will likely run through this in thirty minutes or so, whereas a less experienced group will take slightly longer. That said, the reaction to the demands of each ‘Role-play’ Scene will vary according to the experience of the players. The more experienced roleplayers will be au fait with the dice rolling, whereas the less experienced players will be more comfortable with the scenes which require something like miming to resolve.

Physically, the Nobi Nobi Quickstart Booster is a simple pack of twenty-four cards. All are colour-coded according to type and so easy to spot, whilst the Character cards are illustrated in classic Manga style. The Scene cards do each have line art on them which depicts what is going on, but due to the size of the card, the artwork is slightly small.

Nobi Nobi looks to be an interesting format and means of introducing roleplaying to a wider audience, as well as having a low presence at the game table. The Nobi Nobi Quickstart Booster is an intriguing introduction, offering both a surprising amount of play in a very small package and easy replay value with different groups.

[Free RPG Day 2025] Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

The Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart introduces the most recent version of the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine, the rules system which has underpinned a variety of roleplaying games over the past forty-five years. Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, and Pendragon, Sixth Edition all use a variation of Basic Roleplaying, and there are several others not published by Chaosium, Inc. which do not use the system. Key features of Basic Roleplaying are that its resolution mechanic is percentile-based, with rolls under the value—skill or attribute—ensuring success, low Hit Points which means that combat can be quite deadly, armour points reduce damage suffered and adaptability to a variety of different genres. Of all the releases for Free RPG Day 2025, it seems almost superfluous to review the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart, since it is the one whose contents will be familiar to the majority of the readership for this blog. Nevertheless…

The Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart is very much written as a mini-roleplaying game. It explains what roleplaying is and what it entails, what is needed to play, and so on, before explaining the rules these start with characters and their creation. A Player Character has seven attributes—Strength, Constitution, Size, Intelligence, Power, Dexterity, and Charisma, rated between three and eighteen. Character creation begins by rolling for an array of values to assign. Each attribute also has its own active value that can rolled like a skill and skills themselves are divided in six categories—Communication, Manipulation, Mental, Perception, Physical, and Combat. Depending upon the type and genre of the setting or scenario, a Player Character will need to make use of Power Points, Fatigue, Sanity, Powers, and Attack Powers. (Only one pre-generated Player Character has spells rather than powers.) A Player Character will also have a Profession which provides a standard set of bonuses to apply. The Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart includes twelve, from Cowboy and Detective to Thief and Warrior, whilst the core rulebook provides four times as many. The Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart even go so far as to provide an example of the creation process.

The system is explained simply and easily. A standard task will not modify the chance of a success, but an easy chance simply means that a player rolls only to see if the result is a critical success or a fumble. A difficult task halves the chance of success, whilst an impossible task will always fail. A critical result is one tenth of the skill chance or less, while a fumble is equal to one tenth of the chance of the Player Character failing (unfortunately, the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart does not make this clear). For opposed rolls, the quality of the rolls are compared, whether critical successes, successes, failures, or fumbles. For more granular detail, the mainstay of Basic Roleplaying, the Resistance Table is included.

The rules also coverts time for various actions and combat. The combat round is broken down into five phases—‘Preparation’, ‘Social’, Ranged’, ‘Movement’, and ‘Close’. Attacks can be parried or dodged, critical successes double base damage and ignore armour, so are very deadly. Otherwise, armour reduces damage taken, as can shields. The spot rules for cover ambushes, backstabbing, cover, disarming, knockout attacks, and more. Just as the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart actually includes an example of character generation, it also includes an example combat, which amusing involves an anachronistic fight involving an Elf with a bow and a starship captain with a laser rifle.

The Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart comes with three adventures. These are ‘The Prisoner of Richelieu’ by Anthony Warren, ‘Footsteps in the Dark’ by Nick Middleton, and ‘The Lost Temple of Garthoon’ by Troy Wilhelmson.’ These are quite short affairs and each comes with its own set of four pre-generated Player Characters. In ‘The Prisoner of Richelieu’, the Player Characters are asked by the Queen to rescue her messenger, Monsieur Treville, who has been arrested by the evil Viceroy Renault. They have to break into Viceroy Renault’s secret prison and in the process will discover his own dark nature and why the prisoners look rather pale. ‘Footsteps in the Dark’ is a Science Fiction scenario in which the crew of a starship is forced to crash land on a planet after it has been fired upon when responding to a distress call. They must fight their way past robot sentries to get to the source of the signal, and then decide whether or not they actually want to save the source of the signal. ‘The Lost Temple of Garthoon’ is a mini-dungeon delve into a lost temple for treasure in a fantasy world. Now all four come with tips for the Game Master, but all three are really extended encounters that should take a group of players a couple of hours or so to play through. Of the three, ‘The Prisoner of Richelieu’ is the best one, allowing for that much more roleplaying and planning than the other two, which rather underwhelm the reader.

Physically, the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart is clean and tidy. In terms of its content, it feels slightly dense, but the content is not at all that complex. So, it is easier to read than it looks. The artwork is good as is the cartography, the map and text do not always align as they should. It is easy to work out what the author means, it means that the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart feels rushed in places.

Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart is a basic introduction to the Basic Roleplaying because it does not cover the more advanced aspects of the roleplaying game, such as Power Points, Fatigue, Sanity, Powers, and Attack Powers. In this, it feels like an update of the Basic Roleplay introduction published in 1981 and similar in complexity to the roleplaying game built directly off of that, Worlds of Wonder, which like the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart, detailed three different settings. Overall, the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart feels old as well as new and is a good basic introduction to the Basic Roleplaying.

[Free RPG Day 2025] The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition Quickstart

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition Quickstart is the introduction to, and quick-start for The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition, which is an update and expansion to The Expanse Roleplaying Game. Both roleplaying games are published by Green Ronin Publishing, and both are based upon The Expanse series of Science Fiction novels by James S.A. Corey, and the television series of the same name. However, where The Expanse Roleplaying Game is set during the events of Leviathan Wakes, Caliban’s War, and Abaddon's Gate, the first three novels, The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition moves the action on to the Transport Union era, the thirty-year period between Babylon’s Ashes and Persepolis Rising, the sixth and seventh books in the series. The events of the series to date have taken place across a settled Solar System with tensions between the United Nations of Earth, the Martian Congressional Republic, and the Belters of the outer planets, which would lead to the establishment of the Outer Planets Alliance to protect their interests. The discovery of a strange molecular technology on Phoebe, a moon of Saturn, would lead to radical changes across the Solar System. The Protogen Corporation, the corporation assigned by the Martian Congressional Republic to study it, branded it the Protomolecule and conducted experiments which would kill millions and ultimately threaten the Earth. Fortunately, there were some who could direct the threat away from the Earth and towards Venus, where it would radically transform the planet beyond all understanding. Further conflict would arise with the discovery of the first ring gate, but the establishment of the Transport Union has placed the Belters on an equal footing with the United Nations of Earth and the Martian Congressional Republic, and given them access to over a thousand worlds beyond the Solar System.

The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition uses what has become known as the ‘AGE’ or ‘Adventure Game Engine’ was first seen 2010 in Dragon Age – Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5, the adaptation of Dragon Age: Origins, the computer game from Bioware. It has since been developed into the Dragon Age Roleplaying Game as well as the more generic Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook and a more contemporary and futuristic setting with Modern AGE Basic Rulebook.

A Player Character in The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition is defined by his Abilities, Focuses, and Talents. There are nine Abilities—Accuracy, Communication, Constitution, Dexterity, Fighting, Intelligence, Perception, Strength, and Willpower. Each attribute is rated between -2 and 4, with 1 being the average, and each can have a Focus, an area of expertise such as Accuracy (Gunnery), Communication (Leadership), Intelligence (Technology), or Willpower (Courage). A Focus provides a bonus to associated skill rolls and, in some cases, access to a particular area of knowledge. A Talent represents an area of natural aptitude or special training. A Player Character also has a Background, Social Class, and Profession, plus a Drive, Resources and Equipment, Health, Defence, Toughness, and Speed, and Goals, Ties, and Relationships. Instead of Hit Points, a Player Character has Fortune Points, which can be used to alter the result on the Drama Die or withstand damage, reflecting the Player Character’s luck being used up or running out.

Mechanically, the AGE System and thus The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition, is simple enough. If a Player Character wants to undertake an action, his player rolls three six-sided dice and totals the result to beat the difficulty of the test, ranging from eleven or Average to twenty-one or Nigh Impossible. To this total, the player can add an appropriate Ability, and if it applies, an appropriate Focus, which adds two to the roll. Where the AGE System gets fun and where the Player Characters have a chance to shine, is in the rolling of the Drama die and the generation of Stunt Points. When a player rolls the three six-sided dice for an action, one of the dice is of a different colour. This is the Drama die. Whenever doubles are rolled on any of the dice—including the Drama die—and the result of the test is successful, the roll generates Stunt Points. The number of Stunt Points is determined by the result of the Drama die. For example, if a player rolls five, six, and five on the Drama die, then five Stunt Points are generated on the Drama die. What a player gets to spend these Stunt Points on depends on the action being undertaken. In the original 2010 Dragon Age – Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5, the only options were for combat actions and the casting of spells, but subsequent releases for the roleplaying game and then Modern AGE and The Expanse Roleplaying Game, have expanded the options. Now they include not just combat options, including firearm-related actions of all kinds, but also movement, exploration, and social situations, plus, of course spaceship operation and combat.

The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition Quickstart explains all this in twelve pages and provides everything needed for the accompany scenario, ‘Lost, But Not Alone’. The Player Characters are the crew of the Miriam Makeba, bound for Castila, when they pick up a faint distress call coming from a moon orbiting one of the outer planets. Following the signal to its source reveals the Ratel, a cargo hauler that appears to have crash-landed after being attacked. Further investigation locates the crew in a nearby series of tunnels. Unfortunately, only one has survived, the others having been attacked by something in the tunnels. The lone survivor will be able to tell the Player Characters what happened, but now they find themselves also at the mercy of what killed the surviving crew. ‘Lost, But Not Alone’ is a survival horror scenario, which takes place in a complex built by the same species which built the rings that give access to so many extra-solar system planets. It is a classic Science Fiction survival horror scenario, so not too demanding for either the Game Master or her players.

The scenario does include options for adding it to a campaign or beginning one if the Player Characters have no spaceship. There are ways—legal and illegal—included to make some money as well. Six pre-generated Player Characters are also included with the quick-start. These consist of Cho Ha-Neul, an engineer with a zest for life who’s good at fixing things and making friends; Koa Garcia, a former MCRN engineer seeking adventure and opportunity; Marcus Toussard, an ex-UN soldier who survived the devastation of Earth during the Free Navy Conflict; Olivia Anand, a former combat medic who has seen their fair share of pain and suffering; Phoenix Wu, a hotshot pilot who is still haunted by their involvement in the Free Navy Conflict; Titiana Osun, a natural leader and activist from the Belt who seeks to help those still suffering from the depredations of war and disparity.

Physically, The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition Quickstart is cleanly presented, illustrated throughout in full colour, the artwork nicely depicting the future of The Expanse, as well as its various characters. In places, it is perhaps slightly too busy in terms of its layout, sometimes making it less than an easy read. However, it is well written and an engaging read, especially the background and the advice for the Game Master on running a game.

The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition Quickstart is a serviceable introduction to what is the second edition of The Expanse Roleplaying Game. The accompanying scenario is well presented and easy to slip into a campaign, but just feels a bit too familiar.

[Free RPG Day 2025] A Great Offering: An Obojima Adventure

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

A Great Offering: An Obojima Adventure is a scenario for Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass: A 5E Campaign Setting published by 1985 Games. Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass is designed to be played using Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and describes itself as ‘leisure fantasy’, in which the Player Characters do go on adventures, but take the time to ‘stop and smell the roses’, to regard the world around them and its wonders, and interact with the fairytale creatures that might live next door or up a mountain. It is a ‘lo-fi’ setting that takes as its primary influence as the anime films of Studio Ghibli, in particular, My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away, and sets in a version of eighties Japan. The result combines the modernism of the rise of the Electronic Age with Japanese folklore and fantasy in a rural island setting. A Great Offering: An Obojima Adventure is designed for two to four Player Characters of Third Level.

A Great Offering: An Obojima Adventure opens with the Player Characters completing a hike to the base of Mount Arbora and the village of Dorrin. Mount Arbora is also home to Jumaga, the Sky Salamander, one of the three great beasts of Obojima. Islanders from all across Obojima to Mount Arbora to make the difficult ascent and leave something of value on the Ledge of Offering, in the hope of appeasing Jumaga. Most of Dorrin’s income comes from the Rockwinders, guides who take people up the mountain, although recently, Dorrin Plate, a common stone that can be broken into sheets and used as roofing tiles, crockery, and building materials, has been discovered to be also good for enhancing the magic properties of potions. Not every Rockwinder, or indeed, visitor to Dorrin, is entirely honest or scrupulous, and some do visit the Ledge of Offering to steal and sell the most valuable items left there.

The Player Characters are approached by a clearly distressed brother and sister. She will explain that they have been robbed by a gaggle of Harpy thugs who stole their money and the family heirloom they were planning to place on the Ledge of Offering following the death of their father. The Player Characters can ask around about the Harpies and their boss, and will quickly learn the location of their hideout, a rusty old pickup on a nearby cliff. In other settings, the Harpies would be portrayed as thoroughly evil creatures, but whilst they are Neutral Evil in Alignment, in A Great Offering: An Obojima Adventure, they are depicted as teenagers, wearing shorts and tee-shirts, more bullies than true villains. This sets the tone for the adventure, not without confrontation, but certainly less combative.

The second part of the adventure focuses on the climb up to the Ledge of Offering, first in hiring a Rockwinder and then in making the climb. Two Rockwinders are given, one of whom is less scrupulous than the other, so the Player Characters had better make the right choice! The Player Characters will confront the Harpies’ boss, but before that they will have a few encounters up the mountain. Some of these are quite fun, even a little silly, such as being swarmed by a flock of chicken spirits or being joined by Buttercup, a goat spirit, who is not only very chatty, but also has no break between her inner and outer voices—so she should be fun for the Game Master to portray. Others are more dangerous and so the Game Master should mix and match. Ultimately, the Player Characters will get to place the brother and sister’s family heirloom on the Ledge of Offering and survey what has been left before. The adventure does explore the possibility that one or more Player Characters might actually want to steal from the Ledge of Offering, and certainly several of the items are actually worth sealing, but such a course of action is not without its consequences. The adventure ends with the confrontation with Big Bonnie, the Harpies’ boss.

Physically, A Great Offering: An Obojima Adventure is a very good looking scenario. The artwork is excellent, whether in line drawing and full colour, imparting a delightful sense of place and wonder. The scenario is well written and comes to a close with a short explanation of Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass: A 5E Campaign Setting.

A Great Offering: An Obojima Adventure is a thoroughly charming and engaging scenario. There is a lovely sense of whimsy to it from start to finish, and it does a good job of showcasing both setting and tone of Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass: A 5E Campaign Setting.