Ice Box

Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden is the eleventh release for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, the spiritual successor to Gamma World published by Goodman Games. Designed for Second Level player characters, what this means is that Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden is not a Character Funnel, one of the signature features of both the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game it is mechanically based upon—in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. In terms of the setting, known as Terra A.D., or ‘Terra After Disaster’, this is a ‘Rite of Passage’ and in Mutants, Manimals, and Plantients, the stress of it will trigger ‘Metagenesis’, their DNA expressing itself and their mutations blossoming forth. By the time the Player Characters in Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden have  reached Second Level, they will have had numerous adventures, should have understanding as to how their mutant powers and how at least some of the various weapons, devices, and artefacts of the Ancients they have found work and can use on their future adventures.

The set-up for Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden casts the Player Characters as members of the tribe known as ‘The Ones Who Dig’. For centuries, the tribe has been digging deep into the ground and has finally broken into an underground complex built by the Ancient Ones. This is the long-buried entrance to the Garden of the Gods, which is said to be the repository of the Seeds of Creation, the seeds and biological records of all life of Terra A.D. from before the Great Disaster. It was foretold by the prophet, Boxx the Curious, that one day, a tribe would dig deep enough to locate the Earth Canoe which would take the faithful to the Garden of the Gods—and now that day has come. Unfortunately, the Player Characters are not among those deemed worthy to take the first journey in the Earth Canoe. They will be present though, when things go very wrong. Not everyone wants anything of the world before the Great Disaster restored to Terra A.D., and they would not only deny it to others, but destroy it too!.

Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden begins with a bang and quickly throws the Player Characters into the action and then the quest. This takes them into a seed vault—a little like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, but of course, updated for the twenty-ninth century and then turned upside down by the events of the Great Disaster. After the confrontation and the escape aboard the Earth Canoe, the majority of the scenario takes place in the seed bank, which is described in no little detail across its two levels. This detail combines weirdness of both the twenty-ninth century and Terra A.D., such as lickable walls and rabbits all with the same face of an old man, but everything is well explained. The latter is necessary because there is a lot of information to impart to the players as their characters explore the complex. This comes not just in the form of the purple text of the room descriptions, but also the secrets to be discovered by the Player Characters. Of which, there are a lot and most of which come in the form of audio-visual recordings, and as well as revealing what has been happening in the Garden of the Gods for the past three millennia do also hint about life before the Great Disaster.

Although there is some combat involved, the emphasis in Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden is on exploration and examination of the strange place in which the Player Characters find themselves. Instead of artefacts and devices, the Player Characters will be mostly discovering secrets, and there really is very little ‘treasure’ to be found in the adventure. However, the adventure could have done with a little more combat, or at least, more threat. Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden opens with an attack upon the ‘The Ones Who Dig’ tribe by the Gene Police, a faction of human fanatics, an attack which is problematic in terms of storytelling—not once, but three times. The first problem is that attackers successfully carry out at the beginning of the scenario and then do not appear again. Essentially, they serve as means to sabotage the expedition and get the Player Characters getting to go instead, which seems a wasted opportunity. Having set up a ‘Chekov’s Gun’ of the Gene Police attack, it seems a wasted opportunity to leave the possibility of their following the Player Characters to Garden of the Gods and attempting to destroy it, giving the adventure a greater sense of urgency in the process.

The second really stems from Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden being written for Second Level Player Characters. It leaves both the Judge and her players to wonder what their characters were doing before the events of the scenario begin. In terms of Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, what they were doing on their Zero Level Character Funnel, and subsequently, when they were First Level. With such questions, it leaves the scenario to be run as a one-shot, or worked with difficulty into the Judge’s own campaign, and just like Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, there is no real advice on setting up or working the scenario into a campaign. There are no answers to the questions, “What if the Player Characters do not come from ‘The Ones Who Dig’ tribe?” and “What if there is no ‘The Ones Who Dig’ tribe?”. The third problem stems from the first two—just who are the Gene Police? The adventure describes them as having inveigled their way into the ‘The Ones Who Dig’ tribe, but does not say who they are or give them personalities. They are just treated as throwaway enemies and that seems like a wasted opportunity.

What happens after the scenario is much less of an issue, since the author includes notes for continuing Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden. These are useful, since the discoveries to be found in the Garden of the Gods have potentially major ramifications for both the future of Terra A.D. and the Judge’s campaign. It would be nice to see these explored in a sequel to this scenario, if not multiple sequels.

Despite the issues with its set-up and follow through of that set-up, Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden is an enjoyably detailed and entertaining adventure. It wears its inspirations openly on its sleeve—or at least in the colour gem in the palm of its right hand—and these are fun for the Judge and players alike to spot. This shows most obviously in the change in environment which the scenario undergoes as part of its story line, which is radically different to that for most scenarios for Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden.

Physically, Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden is nicely presented. It needs an edit in places, but is generally well written and the artwork is decent. The map is rather plain though.

Mutant Crawl Classics #11: The Omnivary of Eden is a thoroughly likeable scenario, designed to be played in two sessions or so, and full of detail and flavour. Whilst it should be fun to play as is, to get the most out of it, the Judge will need to develop more of the set-up and the consequences of the outcome of the scenario.

Retrospective: Plunder

By 1980, RuneQuest had begun to mark itself as a roleplaying game and setting in the form of Glorantha, which was very different in comparison to other fantasy roleplaying games. It was skill-focused and emphasised every player characters’ faith and belief system and world view in the context of the world of Glorantha, especially in the form of the superlative Cults of Prax. Then came along Plunder, a supplement detailing some six-hundred-and-forty pre-generated treasure hoards and forty-three magical treasures of Glorantha. Plunder does not add as much to the world of Glorantha, but it does support it, both in terms of the mechanics and the background.

The first half of Plunder consists of ten tables, each an eight-by-eight grid, thus providing sixty-four results in each table. In each space is the listing for a treasure hoard that the player characters might be found in their intrepid adventures in Glorantha. This might be nothing; 38 Clacks; 406 Clacks, 364 Lunars, 30 Wheels, and a single gem or piece of jewellery; or 1068 Clacks, 1383 Lunars, 332 Wheels, four gems or pieces of jewellery, and a special item. When the Game Master needs to determine the contents of a hoard, he turns to a table and rolls two eight-sided dice to get a result. Two further tables enable the Game Master to determine what the gems and jewellery are if there are any and what the special items are if there are any. So the gems and jewellery might be an excellent gemstone worth 900 Lunars or costume jewellery worth 45 Lunars, and special items might be a scroll written in Stormspeech which grants a +5% bonus to the Dagger skill if studied, an eleven-point Power storage crystal, or a wand with the Glamour matrix on it.

Mechanically, this all ties into the use of Treasure Factors from the second edition of RuneQuest, recently republished as RuneQuest Classic. Treasure Factors are are means of determining how much loot a monster or an NPC might. The Treasure Factor for any one creature derived from its Hit Points, combat skills, how many extra dice are rolled when it inflicts damage, armour, combat spells, special powers, any poison used, and any extra attacks. If there is more than one monster or NPC, their individual Treasure Factors are added together, and the final value broken down into groups of a hundred. When it comes to using Plunder, the Treasure Factor is used to determine which table the Game Master will roll on when it comes to generating the hoard for a monster or an NPC. So for a single Trollkin with a Treasure factor of six, the Game Master would roll on the very first table in Plunder, but add a whole lot more Trollkin and mix in a Dark Troll or two, and the Treasure Factor rises rapidly so that the Game Master will be rolling on a table later in the book. In general, if the Game Master knows the Treasure Factor, she can generate a treasure hoard with just a handful of rolls.

The second half is dedicated to just some of the magical devices to be found on Glorantha. These range from the marvelously mundane, such as the Golden Torches which never go out, even underwater or in great darkness or Soup Bones which can always be boiled to provide soup, to amazingly magical, like Tora’s Hammer, a stone Warhammer wielded by a hero during the Dawn Ages who slaughtered untold numbers of Mostali with it and which returns to the hand if thrown, and Glass Butterflies, tireless magical messengers which will deliver a spoken phrase anywhere in the universe! Many are very particular in terms of who can use them, such as Morokanth Thumbs, black lumps of thumb-like flesh which when Power is sacrificed, the thumbs can attach to a Morokanth’s hands and enable him to be as dextrous as any human, whilst others are tied to a particular cult. For example, the Lightning Bands once worn by the bodyguards of a high priest of Orlanth Thunderous, which when imbued with Power, enables the wearer to blast out a bolt of lightning via a spear. There are treasures from the Aldryami and the Mostali, Chalana Arroy, Chaos, Kyger Litor, Dragonewts (and from Dragonewts), Waha, Stormbull, and more. Some have more generic links such as Fire or Sky cults.

Every item follows the format. A description, followed by a listing of the cults associated with the item as well as those friendly, hostile, or enemy to it; a discussion of how common knowledge of the item is, ranging from common to one of a kind or owner only; its history and the procedure required to use it (and sometimes make it); and lastly powers and value. The latter should one come up for sale. For example, Bajora’s Shield is a large iron shield with a glowing Death rune on it. It is associated in friendly fashion with Humakt and knowledge of it is automatically known to Humakt’s cult, though it is a cult secret, it is famous and one of a kind. Its history is that it was originally carried by Bajora, a friend of Humakt who sacrificed his life to save Humakt from a thing of Chaos. All that was left of Bajora was his shield, which Humakt carried for the rest of Godtime in his honour. Humakt refused to use it though and so since time began, none of his followers can either. They do know of the shield’s powers, so anyone wielding it and wanting to use if to its fullest powers needs to be on good terms with Humakt’s cult.

The procedure to use it requires the wielder to be a Rune Lord of a cult not an enemy of Humakt. He must then sacrifice a point of Power. Once attuned it grants a +20% bonus to the wielder’s Shield skill, the same effect as the Shield 4 spell when in melee, Light spells on command with no expenditure of Power, and immunity to Sever Spirits when cast anyone other than a Humakti. The value 120,000 Lunars and selling it would offend any Humakti (although buying it to donate to the temple is fine).

One issue perhaps is that a few of the items are unlikely to come into play, for example, the Aluminium Tridents of various sea cults, and of course there are some treasures which are unlikely to fall into the hands of the player characters—mostly Chaos related. Plenty of the others though will be desired by the player characters and some will certainly be subject of great hero quests. If there is an issue with the selection it is that there are few treasures related to the Air and Earth cults, but that is likely due to the contents of Plunder, like Cults of Prax before it, being set in Prax rather Sartar and its surrounds.

Physically, Plunder is again a book of two halves. The first is tables—large, open, and easy to read tables, but tables nonetheless. The second is more open, with one or two entries per page. Some are illustrated, some not, but the artwork is decent, if a little ‘Swords & Sorcery’ in style in places. If any of the artwork is disappointing, it is the cover, which comes from the ‘chainmail bikini’ school of female depiction in fantasy. The skull panties are a notable feature.

At the time of its release, critics could not agree about Plunder. In Space Gamer Number 33 (November 1980), Forest Johnson said that, “About half this book is not very useful. It consists of a shorthand method for generating treasure. (This does nothing to lighten the real work – adding up all those cursed treasure factors.)”, but ended on a positive note, concluding that, “The lack of exotic magic items has heretofore been a weak point in RuneQuest. These items have authentic Gloranthan flavour, complete with history and cult affinities. The discreet use of these items will add spice to a campaign without reducing it to Monty Haul.” Conversely, writing in The Dungeoneer’s Journal Issue: 25 (February/ March 1981), Clayton Miner said, “The variety of the items, and the detailed information included with the great treasures is sure to make this book very useful to Judges. Of more use to a Runequest Judge is the first section of Plunder, which presents easy to use tables for determining that value of a lesser treasure…” and that, “…[T]his book would make a welcome addition to a Judge’s stock of Runequest items. Plunder is definitely a useful piece of work and shows a great deal of imagination, and the only question I had with the book as a whole is, why so none of the items listed under Treasures of Glorantha have a negative side effect on the user.”

Other reviews were more balanced. Oliver Macdonald, reviewing Plunder in White Dwarf No. 25 (June/July 1981) awarded the supplement just five out of ten, adding that, “All points considered Plunder is an interesting but by no means essential RuneQuest play aid, certainly not worth buying if you have a limited budget.” Plunder was reviewed by John Sapienza, Jr. in Different Worlds Issue 12 (July 1981). Of the first half, he wrote that, “I think that a bit of reflection will let the GM realize just how dull it is putting treasure descriptions together, particularly those that get improvised during gaming. Once you realize this, the usefulness of this play aid makes it attractive.” He was more positive about the second half, saying that, “…[T]he treasures are, by and large, not out of balance, and most of them come complete with cult associations that provide effective limits on their use. Other limits are the tendency of certain races to take offense and kill the wearer, such as a suit of dragonewt skin armor. Use this at your own risk, in other words. Neat.” before concluding that, “Plunder is a useful idea, and well done. I recommend it to all RQ GMs.”

Plunder is a curio from a bygone age and another style of play. That style of play is one in which plunder is important. In Dungeons & Dragons, it was treasure and it would directly count towards the number of Experience Points a character gained in addition to that gained from killing monsters. In RuneQuest and Glorantha, the plunder paid first for any dues you owed to your cult and temple, second any monies owed to a cult, temple, or guild for prior training, and third for any skill or spell training undertaken with your cult, temple, or guild. Certainly in RuneQuest II, all of this would cost a character thousands of Lunars. Not so in the latest iteration, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, which presumes that a character’s training has already been paid for, though a character still owes his tithes to his cult and is encouraged to purchase further training. So there is less of an emphasis today on plunder when roleplaying and exploring Glorantha, as evidenced by advice given in the back of the core rulebook to cut the value of the treasure found when playing classic scenarios. 

So, forty years ago in Glorantha, the need for treasure was greater. Player characters had debts. Thus, the Game Master had to seed his scenarios with plunder aplenty—well not too aplenty because the characters had to have a reason to be coming back for plunder and the peril which went with it—and that took time and effort. Forty years ago then, the tables in the first half of Plunder were useful as they helped speed the process. Not so now when they feel redundant. Similarly, the second half of Plunder with its listing of forty-three magical treasures was useful forty years ago because so few of them had been then detailed in the early days of RuneQuest. So the forty three were useful, many of them tying into the cults described in Cults of Prax and so helping to build the world of Glorantha just a little further. 

Conversely, at this point in the history of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, the current iteration of the roleplaying game has the same problem—few if any treasures of note have been detailed. There is background and detail to many of these forty-three items that the Game Master could bring them to her Glorantha today and they would still work. Doubtless, new supplements will appear detailing new treasures of Dragon Pass, but the conversion process is anything other than challenging. Until such a supplement is published, Plunder is actually more than a curio.

There can be no doubt that Plunder is no Cults of Prax, for it is very much a curate’s egg. Its dual focus and character—divided equally between the mundane and magical—mean that one half is at best utilitarian, at worst bland, whilst the other by comparison rich in detail and flavour. Conversely, the Game Master is likely to have got more use out of the Treasure Tables than the individual items, even if they are mundane, but nevertheless, the actual treasures in Plunder further showcase the more fantastical nature of Glorantha.

Mutant Magic Eight Ball?

Mutant Crawl Classics #8: The Data Orb of Metakind is the eighth release for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, the spiritual successor to Gamma World published by Goodman Games. It is also radically different to all of the previous releases for Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The previous seven releases for the post-apocalyptic roleplaying game have all been scenarios. These have either been standard scenarios like Mutant Crawl Classics #6: The Apocalypse Ark or Mutant Crawl Classics #4: Warlords of ATOZ, or scenarios designed for use with player characters who are Zero Level. Such scenarios, like Mutant Crawl Classics #1: Hive of the Overmind and Mutant Crawl Classics #7: Reliquary of the Ancient Ones are known as Character Funnels, one of the features of both the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game it is mechanically based upon—in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. In terms of the setting, known as Terra A.D., or ‘Terra After Disaster’, this is a ‘Rite of Passage’ and in Mutants, Manimals, and Plantients, the stress of it will trigger ‘Metagenesis’, their DNA expressing itself and their mutations blossoming forth. Mutant Crawl Classics #8: The Data Orb of Metakind is not a scenario, but a supplement—and a supplement dedicated to just the one artefact.

That artefact is the most holy of ancient relics, the Data Orb of Metakind, a device which has been handed down from shaman to shaman, from mystic mutant to mystic mutant for generations. Only Shamans, Mutants, Manimals, and Plantients can use the hand-sized golden orb—Purse Strain Humans cannot—and they need to be intelligent to do so. Once the user has understood and bonded with the device, what he gains access to accumulated knowledge of everyone who has ever handled and used it. So thousands of memories and experiences, knowledges, skills, and more. Though usually only a few times a day. Each time the character interfaces with the Data Orb, it is usually to extract a specific piece of information or answer to a particular question, but every time the character does so, his player has to make a roll to determine the character’s success. Now the likelihood of a player character extracting the information he is after is quite low, but it is possible.

Now the fun of the Data Orb and Mutant Crawl Classics #8: The Data Orb of Metakind is when the player fails the roll. Then the player character’s request might be misinterpreted, partially interpreted, or simply ignored, but if misinterpreted or partially interpreted , then the Game Master gets to roll on the indicated table. Most of the supplement is dedicated to the various tables representing the various categories of information contained within the data matrices of the Data Orb. Five of these deal with various types of technology to be found in Terra A.D.—including power sources, medical, arms and armour, and artificial intelligences. This grants a player character a bit of new information, generally helpful, for example, on the Weapons & Armour Technology Table, if the player rolls Dazer Pistol, the player character learns a new setting for the weapon.

The other tables send the player character off in another direction, all of them providing them a benefit in some way, either permanent or temporary. So from ‘Voices of the Past’, accessing Bulbar the Odd’s “When confronted by an unknown creature, it is far better that you assume that it is poisonous, blindingly fast and utterly ferocious. This attitude does not condone mindless extinction of the new and the novel, but it does lessen the chance of your corpse looking surprised.” will grant the user a temporary bonus to his attack rolls. Whereas accessing the Thought Records of the Ancients, “It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.” grants the character a permanent bonus to his Personality attribute. Mutant Crawl Classics #8: The Data Orb of Metakind includes lots of fun quotes like this and back them up with juicy benefits.

On the one hand, the Data Orb of Metakind essentially acts as a Patron AI, the means by which a Shaman gains his Patron AI Bond wetware programs—the nearest thing that the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game has to spells. It does not though, actually grant wetware programs as having a Shaman praying to his Patron AI would. On the other hand, it grants access to knowledge, typically random knowledge (because the player character has failed to access the specified information he was looking for), and that is where the fun comes in. When that happens, the Data Orb becomes a source of random knowledge and benefits—tables and tables of them—much like the famed Deck of Many Things of Dungeons & Dragons. In comparison though, a Shaman can access the Data Orb again and again, several times a day.

Of course, none of this is without its dangers. Roll poorly and the user may simply get an electric shock from attempting to use the Data Orb. Roll really poorly and—well, why spoil it for the user? The Data Orb of Metakind is brimming over with secrets and dangers, all of which are best learned through play and discovery. If there is an issue with the supplement, it is that there is no scenario detailing where it might be found, but the Game Master will have to write one.

Physically, Mutant Crawl Classics #8: The Data Orb of Metakind is somewhat unprepossessing. It is fundamentally, one big set of tables, but they are all neatly laid out, well written, and easy to use. The supplement uses a range of artwork, including a fun one of the publisher himself on the back page.

The Data Orb of Metakind is the equivalent of a Magic Eight Ball in the post-apocalyptic world of Terra A.D. Think of a question, shake the Data Orb of Metakind, and see what answers, secrets, or dangers it gives. Mutant Crawl Classics #8: The Data Orb of Metakind provides a big artefact with plenty of potential for fun and failure, plus there is lots of gaming life to it, for once found, a Shaman is going to consult this again and again, making this a supplement for the whole of a Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game campaign.

The Magic of Now

Magic items have been a feature of roleplaying games since 1974 and the publication of Dungeons & Dragons and over the years they have been supported with supplement after supplement. For games set in the contemporary or modern era, such supplements are rare, and whilst there is nothing to stop a Game Master from updating items from the fantasy to the modern setting, the release of The Book of Contemporary Magical Things: A Collection of Mundane Items Imbued With Magical Power For Use In Contemporary Horror And Fantasy Roleplaying Games from Stygian Fox Publishing is more than welcome. The supplement presents almost one-hundred-and-twenty of varying power, from a Hot Spoon which always stirs your tea just right to Delgado’s Orrery which is capable of aligning the planets with many, many items in between, plus antagonists and rivals for their possession. What is important to know is that all of these items and personalities are presented in a systemless fashion, so a Game Master can take an item, write it up for the rules of his choice, and add it to his campaign as his wont.

The background to The Book of Contemporary Magical Things is simple. Since 1945, magical artefacts have begun to appear. Not the great artefacts of legends past, but common or garden items, like boxes of matches and boxes of nails, handbags, torches, stools, sunglasses, caps, trainers, rings, SIM cards, goop, cooking pots, fishing nets, watches, door handles, lamps, bookcases, laser pointers, snow globes, handkerchiefs, pistols, and on. As these have come to the attention and notice of collectors and those in the know, they have not only been sought after, but classified according to their power. The power scale runs from Mina or Cantrips up to Cosmica via Minora, Media, Majora, Maxima, Magisteria, Magnifica, and Miracula. An example Mina would be the Silver Cat Statue, which when dropped or knocked over, sends out dreams calling for kittens—it is marked with the word “Ulthar” on its base; The Senator’s Pastime are a sample Minora, an item of everyday power, cigarettes that grant the ability to sense the intent of others; and an example Media, an item of uncommon power, would be ‘Lucky’ Kowalski’s Luger, a hand built fully functional replica pistol which fires bullets that most of the time pass around cover. An example passion made corporeal or Majora, would be Grandmother Edith’s Rocking Chair which when sat in and rocked allows the rocker to see out of the nearest window and into the future or the past; an example of disaster or Maxima would Jimmy Walsh’s Flight-stick, a flight-sim joystick capable of flying any real world aerial vehicle; and The Underwater Porsche would be an example of a Magisteria or the height of mortal power. The Power Armour of Ebony Harris, a surprisingly powerful and capable cosplay suit is a sample of a Magnifica, an item with power of demi-gods, currently being used by a vigilante; the wrath of deities or Miraxula is wrapped up in something like The Bed of Ressurection; and of course, Delgado’s Orrery or ‘The Devil’s Instrument’ embodies Cosmica, both destruction and creation.

Throughout, the detailed descriptions of these items are colour coded: green for the beneficial effects of an artefact, red as a warning to its dangers, and blue for interesting facts. These are easy to spot by the reader, as is the number for each entry which keys to the maps at the back of the book marking where everything is. It is clear that the authors are having fun with the entries in The Book of Contemporary Magical Things. In some cases, they can be very specific about the details, such as Potter’s Dice, a set of polyhedrals with a twenty-sided die that can grant either good or very bad luck for a day, which can be found in the Birmingham games shop, Wayland’s Forge. Then there are some very knowing creations too, such as the Book of Laminated Dreams, a catalogue which provides the owner with the luxury goods they pick from its content, though where they come from is another matter, and Janie’s Magic Torch, which always shines brighter when pointed in the direction of what the owner is looking for.

Rounding out The Book of Contemporary Magical Things are notes on conjunctions—how certain devices work when brought together—and NPCs and organisations with an interest in the artefacts. Such persons are known as Curators, and on the rare occasions when they work together, as Guilds. They include the Gatecrashers, a trio operating out of a Paris hotel in the hunt for artefacts; Nur Allah, a radical terrorist organisation who use artefacts in its campaigns of terror; and Alice ‘Little Red Riding’ Hood, an orphaned young woman who hunts monsters using the White Flame Sword. 

Physically, The Book of Contemporary Magical Things is nicely presented. The layout is clean and the illustrations are excellent throughout. This is a good-looking book and yet… The Book of Contemporary Magical Things made this reviewer—and editor—want to cry. The problem is that the supplement is horribly overwritten and so much time is wasted saying very little. For example:

“In 1947 somewhere in Norfolk, England there was an old seaman’s chest. It passed down from an elderly man to his nephew when the old man died. The seaman’s chest had strict instructions left on it, in the man’s will, only his nephew could open it on his 20th Birthday. So in 1950 when Dan Hughes took possession of the chest, aged 20, he was able to see what all the fuss was about.

It was late one in the Hughes Estate when the young man, who could not sleep, opened the chest in his room and found it contained a letter from the old man. The letter was written in his usual cursive script, without a typewriter and using a beautiful calligraphy pen for the header.”

Alternatively,

“In 1947, in Norfolk, England, Dan Hughes inherited an old seaman’s chest from his uncle. According to the old man’s will, Dan was not allowed to open it until his 20th birthday. It would be another three years before the young man could open the chest and when he did, the first thing he discovered was a letter addressed to him, written in uncle’s familiar hand.”

Despite the disappointing quality of the writing, and indeed, the editing, The Book of Contemporary Magical Things is rife with interesting objects and intriguing artefacts. There is plenty here ready for the Game Master to bring to his campaign whether that is for an urban fantasy, horror, or superhero game. Thus, the supplement’s contents would work with campaigns similar to Supernatural, The Librarians, or The Lost Room, as well as roleplaying games like Evil Hat Productions’ The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game, Catalyst Game Lab’s Shadowrun, Onyx Path Publishing’s World of Darkness, and so on. Overall though, appreciate the art, idolise the ideas, but weep for the writing and what the writers wanted The Book of Contemporary Magical Things: A Collection of Mundane Items Imbued With Magical Power For Use In Contemporary Horror And Fantasy Roleplaying Games to be, for it is just lacks polish.

Sorcery & Souvenirs

Published by Lost Pages, Wonder & Wickedness is a book of magic and magic things for the fantasy roleplaying game of your choice. Primarily written for the Old School Renaissance, it collects and collates content from the author’s blog to present some fifty-six spells divided into seven schools, a whole new system of magic, and a total of fifty magical items. The spells are accompanied by catastrophe after catastrophe should the spellcasting go awry; the seven schools are Diabolism, Elementalism, Necromancy, Psychomancy, Spiritualism, Translocation, and Vivimancy; the new system of magic is Level-less a la Original Dungeons & Dragons and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay; and not a single one of the magic items is a plain and ordinary +1 item. All this is capped off by exquisite illustrations by Russ Nicholson, which are just lovely.

The simple idea behind each of the spells is that they can all be cast by First Level arcane spellcasters. These are not weak spells, but spells that scale with the caster’s Level, both in terms of damage done and duration. Some spells require the application of sigils and a spellcaster can expend memorised spells to provide defence against other spell attacks or to inflict damage. Sample spells include Miasma, a Diabolism spell which summons the poisonous atmosphere of Hell for a random effect, like instant death, uncontrollable retching, burning blindness, and so on; Trapped Lightning is an Elementalism spell which traps lightning in bottle to be unleashed at a later date; the Necromancy spell, Soul Harvest collects and bottles souls for the caster to be used later as a bonus to a roll, temporary Hit Points, or as currency with other casters; and the Psychomancy spell, Fascinating Gaze, enables the caster to capture the eyes of another force them to answer yes or no questions. Second Sight is a Spiritualism spell which allows the sorcerer to the magic radiated by enchanted items and other casters; by casting the right sigil on a living being, the caster can turn him into a Living Gate to be used by the caster and his companions with this Translocation spell; and the Vivimancy spell Bloodlust instills exactly that in another, claws and all.

All these spells are simple enough and easy enough to add to campaign. They can be added to a campaign as written or they might form the basis of a wizard’s particular studies or the curriculum of a college of magic. As written, there is a wonderful sense of the weird to a great many them, for example, Occult Consultation. To cast this Necromancy spell, the caster digs a square pit and fills it with wine, herbs, and a sacrifice in order to summon a throng of ghosts and enter conversation with them. With possession of their true name or treasured possession, the caster can even summon a specific ghost. Afterwards, when the spell ends, the caster can follow the ghosts back into the lands of the dead—with no guaranteed promise of easy return, if at all!

There is always a danger in casting spells and so it is in Wonder & Wickedness. There is catastrophe aplenty to throw at the wizard should his casting go awry. At first these appear to organised in an odd fashion, but in actuality they are simply arranged so that the Game Master can either roll a twelve-sided die to get a result for a specific school or percentile dice to get a random result from any one of the eighty-four results (rolls of eighty-five and above are re-rolled). These outcomes to miscastings, wizardly death, and so on, add to the archness of the book, and this is very much continued in the book’s last third.

Wonder & Wickedness ends with some fifty new magical items. They include a Dagger of Divergent Precipitation, which when plunged into a large body of water, draws heavy clouds around the wielder and even causes lightning strikes; a statue of a Fascinating Cat who catches the gaze of those who looks on it to the point of starvation—unless the statue covered up; the Goblin-birthing Knife, which will cause a loyal, if stupid goblin to be born from the belly of any victim killed by the knife; a Meteor Lure, used to attract meteors from which star metal might be smelted; the black iron block-headed Orc Mace, which causes humans to be transformed into orcs; and the Shadow Loom, from which cloaks, hoods, and gloves can be drawn. The first allows the wearer to hide in shadows, the second protects the wearer from all sorcery when not in direct light, and the third let the user draw spells out of a sorcerer’s mind!

Wonder & Wickedness has a plain black cover which hides a simple layout and very, very good art. There is just not enough of Russ Nicholson’s illustrations in this supplement, but that is because his art is simply excellent. 

Although there is a simplicity to the writing and presentation of Wonder & Wickedness, there is a lovely detail to the spells and the magical items it describes. There is an archness to the design of both and they will add shade to any campaign, delivering on the promise of the wonder and the wickedness of the title.