Operative’s Primer

What is it like being Operative for SLA Industries? What do you do all day? Where do you live? How do you handle BPNs? How do you get around? What do you have for dinner—a Piggy Wiggy roll or sausage and mash? When you get bored in your Downtown studio closet with its leaky basin, wipe-down, guaranteed one prior owner, roll-up futon, collapsible closet, and self-installed AA rated security locks, where do you go for a good time? Hit a Ye-Old Tavern or if you are on the up, get into the Pit, the premier Uptown nightclub? Got a hobby, like darts or hoops, gambling on the Pig Runs, or collecting BPN Coins or Carrien teeth? Do you have a side hustle such as a Sponsor, selling recovered gear on the black market, an actual second job, or even a life of crime? These are all questions a graduate from Meny University might ask, as might his player. Then how do you play SLA Industries? How does a skill roll work and what modifiers do you apply? What do you need to roll for combat—shooting your Fen 603 Auto Pistol or stabbing that carrien with your Bosh SLA Blade? How do you actually create a Player Character? What do you play? These are all questions a player new to SLA Industries might ask.

Fortunately, Operative’s Handbook: A Sourcebook for SLA Industries Second Edition is the supplement which will answers both sets of questions. This is a supplement for S.L.A. Industries, the roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism published by Nightfall Games. Specifically, it is an introductory supplement for the setting and thus the Player Character, but is also an introductory supplement for the setting and the rules, and thus the player. The supplement is designed as complete an introduction to SLA Industries Second Edition as is possible for it to be and it succeeds at this admirably. It is literally designed to be given to the prospective player who can take it away, read up about the basics of the World of Progress and how to be a SLA Operative, and then create a SLA Operative. In doing so, it more or less replaces those sections of the core rulebook and a player could even buy it and use it without the need to purchase his own copy of the core rulebook. Plus, it gives a player an accessible book to reference at the table during play. However, the Operative’s Handbook is not just for the new player and new Player Character. There is background information included that the Game Master can bring into her campaign, especially in terms of flavour, detail, and verisimilitude. There is a whole new species and new equipment too—as well as the old, so that an existing player will find the supplement useful if he does not have the core rulebook.

The Operative’s Handbook does start out with a description of what a roleplaying game is, ordinarily surprising in a supplement, but not so here given its remit. Very quickly it moves on to the World of Progress, the setting for SLA Industries, written with the worries of a recent graduate from Meny University in mind. It eases him through graduation, explaining that every six months, three hundred students graduate—always in the presence of Mr. Slayer, even if he cannot be seen—knowing that if he cannot move up the ladder before the next group graduates, he might as well count himself as a failure. It has all the worries of a graduate in his first job. Where will he live? How does my job actually work? And in answering that, gives a means of randomly determining his initial accommodation and even creating Bespoke Accommodation if his player wants to spend build points on it. Rated for comfort, security, location, and neighbours, all of these factors add to play of the game and are there for Game Master to make the SLA Operative’s downtime that little bit more ‘interesting’. This is accompanied by a good guide to Mort City, from Mort Central down through Uptown into Downtown, noting how large these areas are and that there is an area of Downtown called ‘Sector Dark’, actually two adjacent sectors currently dominated by gangs with deep DarkNight connections, where there is no surveillance as all the infrastructure has been vandalised and both SLA Operatives and Shivers are really not welcome. Numerous options for travel across and up and down Mort City are discussed, the most notable of which are the Shift Blocks, massive elevators capable of transporting vehicles, cargo, and people like a large ferry, up and down Mort City. However, to limit widescale access between districts, Shift Blocks can only lower and raise a limited number, so travellers often have to change to travel further up or down, effectively staggering their journey in order to main security.

Besides the question of where an Operative will live, there is a lengthy lifestyle section in the Operative’s Handbook. This covers food (unsurprisingly British in feel), restaurants and fast food outlets, bars and clubs, care products—for all species, clothing styles—including a fashion for wearing mock-power armour which means that an operative can mingle on a night out in his actual power armour and not look out of place, hobbies and gambling—the latter including various sports like sector racing and the bloodsport events held in the District Two Arena, and collecting. There is a great deal here that will add verisimilitude to a campaign. The supplement takes a left turn with a discussion of politics in Mort City, more interesting background that the Game Master can use to create details for her campaign, but noting that although there are numerous political parties and there are governors who control the various districts in Mort City, politics are an effective distraction for the masses for SLA Industries which has no problem replacing a governor with silent prejudice. Law enforcement is something that Operatives are more likely to be working with, made slightly challenging because laws can differ from district to district, and if one citation does not fit the crime, the Shivers usually have the time to apply another.

Whether the accused goes through civil mediation, televised arbitration, or gives himself over the bureaucratic complications of a public trial, if found guilty, the most common sentence is a fine and since most Mort City citizens cannot afford to pay this, prison time to work this off. Of course, the prison system is designed to extract the most out of its inmates, so getting out is really, really difficult. Several other forms of punishment are discussed, all of them with their own unpleasant futility.

In terms of the job, what a SLA Operative is doing is picking up BPNs—Blueprint News Files, completing them, getting paid, and gaining Security Clearance bonuses, and working up the corporate ladder. The Operative’s Handbook breaks down the Security Clearance structure, how a squad goes about getting a BPN, raises issues and gets paid either straight to each Operative’s Finance Card or oddly in cash (something that criminal gangs like to take advantage of if an Operative owes them a favour), and if there is anything amiss, how a BPN review is handled by the Auditing and Sanctions Office, which often staffed by failed Meny graduates! Since the focus of SLA Industries’ play is completing BPNs for the income and the promotion, any impediment to that is going to be frustrating, but will expose the Operative and his player to SLA Industries’ bureaucracy. In addition to a SLA Operative’s main source of income, the supplement also examines other options.

The Operative’s Handbook devotes just a handful of pages to the rules for SLA Industries. It does not need more than that to explain everything that the player needs to know in terms of rolling dice and making skill tests followed by combat.

More detailed are the rules for character creation. Every species is clearly presented and a nice touch for each is the advice for new players. This includes an ‘It’s My First Day’ box and suggestions on how to build the optimal character. For example, the ‘It’s My First Day’ box states that, “A Carrien is a skull faced dog person whose planet and civilisation was stolen from them. While you might be lovely as an individual, as far as most of Mort is concerned, you’re a scary dangerous animal responsible for unknown terrors.” It is followed by the ‘Building an Adv Carrien’ which suggests which stats to favour. Each species includes suggested values as explanations of species specific abilities, and a table of random species elements (for Carrien these are trinkets that personally value), and tables of ‘Good’ and ‘Unfortunate’ Life Events that add some background and some variation to the Operative.

In addition to doing this for Ebonites, Frothers, Humans, Neophrons, Shaktar, Stormer 313 Malice, Storner 711 Xeno, and Wraithen, it also does it for the Omaja. This is a new species introduced in the Operative’s Handbook. The Omaja, a pre-Formation Era that has recently returned to the World of Progress, are allies of the Neophron, and are trying to earn enough to buy back their original home world from SLA Industries. They are short, monkey-like, with a mane of bright blue hair for males and bright orange for females, are quadrodextrous meaning that all four limbs end in hands, have three eyes, and known for their technical aptitude. They also have a reputation for being very grumpy. In play they give any Neophron Operative a natural ally, whilst their technical aptitude means that they are good at fixing things, handling machinery, and modifying equipment, so focusing on skills that tend to be secondary for other Operatives.

The Operative’s Handbook even explains how Meny University and SLA Industries goes about organising graduates into squads as well as presenting fifteen new Training Packages as well those from the core rulebook and also the supplement, Threat Analysis 1: Collateral. The new includes the Academic Institute of Meny (representing academics who want to conduct field research into Operative activities), Advanced Ebb Training, Alternate Vendor Recruitment (handling Props and Contract Killers for SLA Operative operations), Combat Pilot Training, Combat Property Management, Construct Exploration, Employee Headcount Reduction, Media Management, Modern Policing, Motorised Recon, Radical Conflict De-Escalation Unit, Rapid Conflict Resolution Teams (previously known as ‘Kick Murder Squads’), Rapid Site, Breach & Entry, Sector Ranger Survival School, and Stakeholder Appeasement & Crisis Management. These all have minimum Stat requirements and many have electives to choose from as well. These open up the options not just in terms of the training for the Player Character SLA Operative, but the NPC too. Plus there are lists of the Skills and Traits for SLA Operative creation both old and new. Only the new are fully explained, meaning the that player may still need to refer to the core rulebook for full explanations.

The Operative’s Handbook even explains how Meny University and SLA Industries goes about organising graduates into squads as well as presenting fifteen new Training Packages as well those from the core rulebook and also the supplement, Threat Analysis 1: Collateral. The new includes the Academic Institute of Meny (representing academics who want to conduct field research into Operative activities), Advanced Ebb Training, Alternate Vendor Recruitment (handling Props and Contract Killers for SLA Operative operations), Combat Pilot Training, Combat Property Management, Construct Exploration, Employee Headcount Reduction, Media Management, Modern Policing, Motorised Recon, Radical Conflict De-Escalation Unit, Rapid Conflict Resolution Teams (previously known as ‘Kick Murder Squads’), Rapid Site, Breach & Entry, Sector Ranger Survival School, and Stakeholder Appeasement & Crisis Management. These all have minimum Stat requirements and many have electives to choose from as well. These open up the options not just in terms of the training for the Player Character SLA Operative, but the NPC too.

Similarly, the Operative’s Handbook does not list or detail all of the equipment options available in the core rulebook. This is understandable as it would substantially increase the supplement’s page count. What it does do is suggest starting packages based on a SLA Operative’s Training Package, which is very useful, handily speeding up character creation. There are new items of equipment too, such as lightweight, recyclable Shiver Ties used by Shivers instead of handcuffs (which weigh too much for a Shiver to carry on patrol), the FEN 603A Automatic Pistol (a fully automatic version of the venerable FEN 603 that is much heavier and no body likes because it is unwieldly), and a host of weapon upgrades such as a bayonet mount or Klip Killer reconfiguration to fit standard weapons on armour shoulder mounts. There are several new types of ammunition, like ABC or ‘Airburst Biological Countermeasures’, which have limited applications; new armour options and options for customisation; and vehicles. The new equipment list is not extensive, but all adds to the variety.

Finally, and if players are do not have the time to create their own SLA Operatives, the Operative’s Handbook includes a complete, ready-to-play squad of five Operatives. Complete with biographies, the Squad Arnold Nutter II, heirs apparent to the infamous Squad Arnold Nutter, whose leader, Arnold Nutter, died on camera in Cannibal Sector 1, became hero to the masses, and was subsequently restored to life via the Life After Death process. Still famous, he and his squad have their own television show and his catchphrase is now, “Pigeon!”. Nobody knows why and this is not a good for a squad that looks good on camera, but not all of them want to be members and there are some serious trust and attitude issues between them. The squad would work as media darling NPCs too, but would be fun to play for a short campaign as intended.

The Operative’s Handbook is not quite perfect. As a means to create new SLA Operatives, it is still going to rely upon the content of the core rulebook in places. In particular, equipment and skill definitions. Also, Squad Arnold Nutter II is not a typical starting Squad. It is too high profile for that and playing anyone of its members could be a challenge to the target audience, that is, someone new to the World of Progress and SLA Industries. It probably works better for more experienced players who will appreciate its twisted backstory and set-up. If the supplement is missing anything, it is a map of Mort City.

Physically, the Operative’s Handbook: A Sourcebook for SLA Industries Second Edition is well presented, is full of great artwork as you would expect, and is an easy read. It does need an edit in places.

The Operative’s Handbook: A Sourcebook for SLA Industries Second Edition an impressively useful book. A solid and accessible introduction to the World of Progress and SLA Industries in terms of both setting and rules. As a quicker means to helping create SLA Operatives, it does contain a lot that is old and been reprinted, but that is point, and there is plenty of new content too, especially about the life of a new Operative. All of which the Game Master can read and take inspiration from as much as the player simply reads through it. The Operative’s Handbook: A Sourcebook for SLA Industries Second Edition is good supplement, but not one that the Game Master and her players absolutely have to have in order to play SLA Industries. However, it is undeniably very useful.

Operative Disorientation

SLA Industries is the roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism. S.L.A. Industries has its headquarters on Mort City, its rain sodden, polluted, and overly populated heart, located on the industrially stripped planet of Mort and surrounded by five Cannibal Sectors, and from here it governs the planet and the World of Progress beyond, encompassing all of known space. It is here the citizens come from far and wide to enlist in Meny to become SLA Operatives and part of the mediatised programme even as they protect SLA Industries and the World of Progress from innumerable threats from without—and some from within. SLA Operatives are the creme de la creme, whose actions caught on camera garner them sponsorship, TV deals, promotions, better missions, and the best weapons that the company can offer. Every SLA Operative is a would be star. You, however are nobody, a fuck-up in the waiting, a wannabe without the brains to realise how shit you are, thinking that you are really hot, when you are just waiting for an actual SLA Operative to slice and dice you without even thinking about it or a serial killer to add you to his kill count and his path to recognition.

This is not the subject of SLA Industries, the flagship roleplaying game from Nightfall Games, but of SLA Borg, a wholly idiotic interpretation of the setting of the World of Progress—in more senses than one—that requires an entirely different and more brutally blunt game system. That game system is Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. What this means is that SLA Borg brings the World of Progress to the Old School Renaissance, though not SLA Industries since the approach to playing both roleplaying games varies widely. Funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign, SLA Borg includes the full rules for creating very disposable anti- or non-‘heroes’, handling actions and combat, a bestiary of foes that are going to be really annoyed if the fuckwits bother them, and the means to facilitate the Broken Biscuits’ probable screwups.

SLA Borg takes the setting deep into Downtown, the home of the Broken Biscuits, the civilian housemates—so think The Young Ones believing themselves to be members of the SPG—who think they are an Operative squad. This is because in the weird architecture of their sector, the housemates have been affected by The Dream, the virulent infection that decays reality. Under the effect of The Dream and the massive influence of drugs—lots of drugs—and alcohol, the Broken Biscuits think they are doing good and daily visit the sector house to collect assignments known as BPNs or ‘Blue Print News’ files from Mr. Slayer in person. Except what is actually happening is that they scrounging ‘BPMs’ or ‘Bus Pass Missions’ off the floor under the eye of a large, black and white cat, which surprisingly looks like Mr. Slayer, and is thus therefore known as Mister Slayurrr. Then they go out, attempt to complete the BPM and so help the local community be a better place, when in actuality, the local community collectively the Broken Biscuits are useless wankers. And if they get hurt, then they can get to Mike’s Kebabs, where they can scarf down donar kebabs consisting of surprisingly aromatic meat of dubious origin doused in sauce so hot they will be glad they keep their toilet rolls in the fridge. All because the kebabs of Mike’s Kebabs are renowned for their healing properties.

Rather than creating a Biscuit from scratch, a player selects one of the housemates out of the eight included, such as Digglet, a dayglo pink Manchine who thinks he is Digger, the meanest Manchine ever; Toothy Grin, either a giant rat or someone in a giant rat suit, who thinks he is both a mascot for Big Smile Burgers and a giant rat; and Klick’s End Kenny, a glue-sniffing, cider swigging lout. Then he rolls for his Knucklehead Origin, like Asylum Escapee, Plain Ass Scuzz, and Sloppy Drunk Bum, and his Speciality, like Knives Everywhere—really everywhere, Idiot Savant, and Quest Giver, who is really good at scouring the bus terminal floor for BPMs. The Biscuit is then put through a very simple lifepath system which determines adjustments to the stats—Agility, Knowledge, Presence, Strength, and Toughness, and rolls to see if they are actually alien. If they are, they are probably either deluded—actually, more deluded—or faking it.

Mechanically, SLA Borg is quite simple. Actions and attacks require a roll of a twenty-sided die to beat a Difficulty Rating, from incredibly simple or six, all the way up to should not be possible or eighteen, with twelve being normal. Stat ratings are added as necessary. Combat typically requires a roll against a Difficulty Rating of twelve and the combat rules do cover the use of firearms as well as melee weapons. This includes simple rules for handling ammunition. Rolls of twenty are critical and rolls of one are fumbles. The mechanics are player facing, so that a player will roll for his Biscuit to attack and then roll for his Biscuit to avoid being attacked.

So what do you play in SLA Borg? It includes ideas for BPMs of all types—Mauve, Pink, Starch, Bleu, Lemon, Brown, and because Nightfall Games is a Scottish publisher, Tartan and Paisley. There are almost all sixty or so ideas contained in the BPM section. They vary in detail, a few being ready to play, most requiring some degree of preparation. There is a bestiary too and details of various drugs and alcoholic drinks. Despite this, SLA Borg is not really suited to long term play. After all, there is no means of improving a Biscuit, no means of moving up or getting out...

Physically, SLA Borg is very well-presented. The artwork is as good as to be expected for a vaguely SLA Industries-related supplement, the writing is decent, and it gets away with not needing an index with its relatively short page length.

So… SLA Borg is a dumb game. Intentionally so. It is meant to be dumb. You are playing dumb characters, doing dumb things, because they hold dumb beliefs. Yet the Biscuits in SLA Borg are more victims than they are inadvertent monsters (though they may end doing foolishly monstrous things), victims of the World of Progress, victims of the hopelessness, victims of The Dream. Ultimately, they are victims because they actually want to be better and they want to make a difference, because they know that is what a SLA Operative is meant to do in order to get famous, but none of this is attainable and their attempts to do better and be better, are doomed to failure. SLA Borg is dumbass fun, playing fuckups who are going fuck up, just for a ‘Bus Pass Mission’ or two, but at the same time, it does shine a light, from below, on just how rotten SLA Industries and the World of Progress really is.

A Murderous Miscellany

There have been times when it was very hard to find any support for SLA Industries and times when it was hard to support SLA Industries. The roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism, has had a somewhat roving publishing history, but back in 2020, when the publisher, Nightfall Games, just as it was preparing SLA Industries, Second Edition, COVID-19 struck. In response, the publisher released Ex-Mass, a PDF supplement of support that fans of the roleplaying game could play quickly and easily with relatively little preparation. This was followed up with a new series, Progress Reports, which provided further support for the World of Progress, in the form of BPNs, campaigns, threats, and more. By 2022, Nightfall Games had managed to publish SLA Industries, Second Edition and would continue to publish further Progress Reports through the COVID-19 lockdowns and beyond. Today, Nightfall Games has classified the first, Ex-Mass, as a Progress Report, and collected it into a slim volume of its own, Progress Reports Codified – Zero to Five. They are each separate in the supplement, so they come complete with their editorials as they originally appeared, so they feel just a little like time capsules from a very strange time.

Progress Reports Codified – Zero to Five opens with what was Ex-Mass, but is now SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Progress Report Issue Zero, a short piece which offers a Hunter Sheet, ‘Copycat Jack’, in which the Operatives are tasked with tackling a vandal, dressed like a cartoon version of Halloween Jack, who has gone from being a nuisance to a danger. The scenario is built around Halloween as a festival and event on the Contract Circuit, which is popular across the whole of Mort, and is short, but escalates in a surprising, though in both an annoying and a challenging way. Accompanying this is a short history of the battle taxi, which does feel too short, but still informative. A picture or two, would have been useful too, but it is a nice little article.

SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Progress Report Issue One, steps up and provides the Game Master with a campaign. This is ‘The Uptown Funk’, which gets down and dirty and into the Mort’s sex trade—one of several adult themes which run throughout the supplement. Involving a private member’s club and extortion, this is as dark and seedy as you would imagine, and has a nasty sting in the tale for one Player Character. Accompanying it is ‘Family Ties’, an updated scenario that originally appeared in Role Player Independent Volume 1, Issue 12. It opens with the Player Characters working for the Department of Investigation to investigate the death of an Operative. It haphazardly (by intent) shifts into a hunt for a serial killer. The hunt is made all the more challenging by the nature of the serial killer, although it will help if one of the Operative is an Ebon. The scenario is nicely detailed and the updating has been handled well. Rounding out the issue are two NPCs, a Shaktar Operative who is not a warrior as is traditional for his people, but a medic—and one with an embarrassing secret, whilst the other is Wraithen sniper with a sense of humour. Full stats are provided and they can be used as replacement Player Characters too.

SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Progress Report Issue Two expands in size and content, focusing now on new additions for the then new second edition of SLA Industries. Here it is upon the Carrien and the Cannibals and their activities, previously explored in detail in the superb Cannibal Sector 1. First, the idea that the Carrien each might collect trinkets and keep them in boxes is weird and quirky, but ‘Sector Treasures’ shows that they do and provides tables for what might be found in their trinket boxes. Second, the Harridan is a new type of Cannibal, previously unseen, which has been penetrating Inner Downtown where it has been leading cults dedicated to Rawhead. Her description is accompanied by four BPNs that if played through, reveal more and more about the Harridan. ‘Old Meg Rattlebones’ has a folkloric feel, with children in a Downtown Sector telling tales of a hideous witch lurking at their bedroom windows at night, her entry foiled by a cat skull placed on the windowsill. Of course, the authorities have been ignoring such bedtime stories and now it is too late! There are more BPNs in ‘The BPN Cookbook’, ten hooks that the Game Master can develop into fuller missions. ‘Red Head’ is one of several pieces of dark fiction the Progress Reports and Progress Reports Codified – Zero to Five that shows how bad or at least, how bleak, life on Mort is.

SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Progress Report Issue Three carries on from SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Progress Report Issue Two with the second half of ‘The BPN Cookbook’, adding a further six missions for the Game Master to develop. However, the most interesting entry here is ‘Vevaphon: The End’ which explains why the Vevaphon is no longer in SLA Industries, having been introduced in the Karma Sourcebook, published by Wizards of the Coast in 1994. This is an in-game explanation that also charts the rise of the Doppelganger Institute that developed the Vevaphon and not only its fall from grace with the failure of the programme, the efforts of SLA Industries to disavow its sponsorship of the programme and destroy all the remaining Vevaphon. It is an engaging colour piece that is backed up with a campaign seed that begins with a Hunter Sheet for a rogue Manchine and leads into revelations about the last of the reviled and sad creatures. It also enables the game Master to use the Vevaphon in her own campaign. The issue also describes The Pit, the premier, most famous and infamous, night club in Mort, open to SLA Operatives, and a detailed scenario, ‘Beyond the Wall, which needs expanding, but takes the Player Characters on what is supposed to be a milk run into Cannibal Sector 1 to provide protection for a documentary crew. Of course, it goes wrong and the Player Characters find themselves stranded and long way from the wall that separates Mort from Cannibal Sector 1. The issue comes to a close with some good NPCs, including a very pushy Soft Company salesperson, an overly helpful young ganger, and more!

SLA Industries does focus on Cannibal Sector 1, so it is good to see coverage of Cannibal Sector 2 in SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Progress Report Issue Four. However, its description of a former industrial site dedicated to provision of water to Mort is not nearly as interesting as the wealth of information and background given in Cannibal Sector 1. There is much more development required here before the Game Master can use this in her campaign, but she is helped by the addition of stats for common threats and some mission ideas. Overall, a good introduction to the area. ‘Conflict Aliens – Cyclones’ introduces one of the species that SLA Industries is in long term conflict as part of the ongoing wars and their response which would ultimately result in a bioengineered virus being unleashed upon Mort. This is the ‘Cyconaviridae’ virus, which quickly transforms the infected into an enhanced member of a collective that together methodically and quietly works to further spread the infection. It is accompanied with some scenario hooks such as having a viral outbreak amongst a Shiver outpost at a Bridgehead in Cannibal Sector 1 or an accidental outbreak in Downtown. There are no specific BPNs attached to the ideas, but the ideas are very workable if the Game Master wants to bring the horror of infection and loss of personality into her campaign. More light-hearted are ‘Making a Killing’ and ‘Cannibal Run’, although neither sound it! The former discusses the trade in BPN Coins, rewards from SLA Industries for completing missions that Operatives can purchase and if they want, subsequently sell to the thriving market of civilian collectors. It provides another revenue stream for the financially strapped Operative and adds yet more flavour to the World of Progress. The latter, ‘Cannibal Run’, makes entire sense given that one of the SLA Industries authors is a very dedicated racing fan and provides some suggestions races might be run in Cannibal Sector 1. The Game Master will need to develop them further and flesh events with more detail, but the concept is perfect for the Operative with a high Drive skill.

Progress Reports Codified – Zero to Five comes to a close with SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Progress Report Issue Five. It opens on a sombre note, highlighting the sad death of Morton T. Smith, one of the earliest contributors to SLA Industries, at the age of 53. Likewise, it ends on a typically bleak note with ‘The Murder of Croaks’, the last fiction in the issue and the anthology. The issue consists of the single scenario, ‘Here Piggy, Piggy!’. This exposes the Operatives to corporate shenanigans at Bonk!, a soft company specialising in advertising. The ventilation tunnels of the Bonk! Offices have become infested Landorian Bullet Pigs and the managing director has already been attacked. The Operatives are assigned by the Department of Sanitation to clear out the contamination and present the invoice to those responsible! This is an entertainingly detailed scenario with an emphasise on interaction and investigation whose possible outcomes are explored in similar detail. This includes advice on sponsorship and the use of catchphrases in game. Overall, this is a real change of tone from the horror and combat typical of other BPNs and is a really fun scenario.

Physically, Progress Reports Codified – Zero to Five is very well-presented. It needs a slight edit in places, but the artwork is as good as to be expected for a SLA Industries supplement, the writing is decent, and it gets away with not needing an index with its relatively short page length.

Even if the Game Master has the individual issues of the Progress Reports, it is still great to have them in print and all in one place in Progress Reports Codified – Zero to Five. This is a great looking book that really is replete with highly gameable content as well as content that the Game Master can further develop herself. Elsewhere, ‘Vevaphon: The End’ is a terrific piece of world building that also neatly explains a change in SLA Industries, Second Edition, whilst ‘Making a Killing’ adds colour and flavour. Progress Reports Codified – Zero to Five is a miscellany that every SLA Industries Game Master is genuinely going to find useful and want to have with so much playable material in its pages.

Terminator Terror III

The war against Skynet and its rise focuses on three time periods. The first is the morning in America of Ronald Reagan’s nineteen eighties as Kyle Reese tries to protect Sarah Connor, whilst the second is the New World Order of Bill Clinton’s nineteen nineties as the rogue T-800 tries to protect her and her son, John, as well as target the Cyberdyne Systems Corporation. The third is the Dark Future of the twenty-twenties and beyond, as John Connor leads the Resistance against the robotic forces of Skynet in a post-apocalyptic future decades after Judgement Day. These periods have been explored in the campaign, The Terminator RPG: Campaign Book and Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG for The Terminator RPG from Nightfall Games. Yet there is a fourth period, one which has not been explored in the roleplaying game to date, that of the years following August 29th, 1997—Judgement Day. This is a period when mankind finds itself reeling from the nuclear strikes from both the USA and Russia, from the disintegration of society and collapse of civilisation, from the years of nuclear winter that followed, and eventually, from the realisation that what had been really responsible, had not been the various nation’s governments, but the machines they had put in charge, machines that were hunting them, killing them, herding them, and ultimately, attempting to manipulate the timeline that ensure the survival of Skynet.

The Terminator RPG: Resist! – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG is a slim supplement that explores the years leading up to Judgement Day and the opening years of the Dark Future. This is not wholly confined to the USA and Russia, for it also explores the fates of numerous countries and the histories of the numerous Resistance forces that rose from the ashes, and in doing so, it visits some unexpected locations. Plus, in addition to exploring the rise of MIR and the Resistance in Russia, the supplement provides rules for creating Spetsnaz Player Characters and describes the equipment used by the Spetsnaz and the Russian Technocratic Union, the machinery fielded by MIR, and Skynet’s early assets that crept out onto the battlefield. Lastly, there are rules for survival and scavenging for survivors picking over the bones of the civilisation that once was. Depictions of this Dark Future in The Terminator franchise, right from the opening moment in The Terminator when the foot of a T-800 steps on and crushes the skull of one poor victim amongst a pile of skulls, have always been grim. Make no mistake, the depiction of this Dark Future in The Terminator RPG: Resist! is equally grim.

The supplement opens with a dismantling of the nuclear doctrine that arose with the involvement of Skynet as third, if secret, antagonist. So Mutually Assured Destruction is no longer a deterrent, military and industrial targets are no longer a priority, and of course, it is no longer an exchange of fire between East and West because Skynet and MIR have thoroughly penetrated the command-and-control networks. The latter means that missiles are being fired at targets within their own country of origin; that Skynet targets sites where biological and chemical weapons are stored—including gaining control of the Centre for Disease Control in the USA; and then using the means and protocols for handling disasters, such as those established by FEMA in the USA, to effectively herd survivors and disaster management teams together and then specifically target them! Beyond these Dark Years, this desire to control continues as Skynet begins fielding Hunter Killer units and the first Terminators that herd the survivors into camps. Parallel to this, John Connor remains in hiding, often with many other survivors covering for him, but making broadcasts that begin to spread the truth about the threat that many survivors as yet remain truly unaware of…

Also discussed are the groups that do survive, some surprising, some not. Of course, the Doomsday Preppers and the Militias, though their individualistic streaks mean they are ill suited to co-operation when the Resistance begins building networks. The Mormons are better prepared to survive, but not to face the raiders, whilst the isolated nature of the Amish, Indigenous, and similar communities mean they are all but ignored by Skynet and often build nations that would survive beyond the Dark Years. US survivors would also flee north and south. In Mexico, this would trigger the Second Mexican-American War, which ultimately leave the country in the hands of the drug cartels who had transformed themselves into feudal war and slave lords, whilst in Canada, the survivors have been firmly driven out of the cities and the oil fields of northern Alberta turned into a hellhole supplying Skynet with petroleum resources.

As damaged by Judgement Day and what followed next as much as North America, the situation in Russia is different because there is not one single controlling A.I., but several, each one a separate node of MIR with a different attitude towards humanity, and also towards Skynet. This includes nodes which actively favour humanity, others that manipulate it, and some which want to destroy it, and like some Soviet-era collective, the nodes do not always agree on what action to take. So, there is likely to be a more erratic overarching feel to any campaign set in Russia, whilst still being organised on the ground with the rise of the Russian Technical Union, which claims, but does not hold all of the territory that was once the Warsaw Pact. The background, politics, and capabilities of the Russian Technical Union are backed up with the means to create Spetsnaz Player Characters. They are much more of an organised military than the Resistance in North America, and to reflect that, Spetsnaz Player Characters receive extra training represented with Supplemental Training Plans, including ‘Contact and Outreach’, ‘Long Range Reconnaissance’, ‘Refugee Support Training’, ‘Repair and Salvage Operations’, and ‘Opposition Sabotage’.

Details of what happened in the wake of Judgement Day for several other countries are also given. France managed to hold out initially due to the fact that its military infrastructure was not tied to Skynet via NATO, but eventually biological warfare followed by direct assault with Hunter Killer units from England via the Channel Tunnel saw first Calais captured and then the rest of France. What remains of any resistance in Germany hides out in the dungeons below the ruins of Castle Drachenfels(!), its leader rejecting contact with the American Resistance and blaming John Connor for Judgement Day.


The future of the United Kingdom—or the ‘Dis-United Kingdom’—is also detailed. In some ways, this feels the most traditional of post-apocalyptic futures in The Terminator RPG: Resist! in that the government is re-established in Birmingham following the destruction of London and Manchester. A chemical gas attack by Skynet followed by attacks by Hunter Killer tanks forced the survivors to flee west, first through Wolverhampton, and then where Brummies traditionally went on holiday—Wales. The survivors of the United Kingdom have fled where they always have when invaded—into the fringes of the country. The survivors in Scotland are cut off from the rest of the country the irradiated Lowlands, whilst in Wales, the survivors reopened, hid in, and expanded the country’s old coal mines. The resistance is a combination of remnants of the British Army, Welsh nationalists, and surviving elements of the IRA, with the frontlines being the fringes of Birmingham. Called Glyndwr, the slightly fractious resistance has one secret weapon—the Welsh language!

Perhaps the most interesting countries detailed are Ghana and the Philippines. Although West Africa was scarred by the effects of Judgement Day, it was not specifically targeted by Skynet. It took a decade for the region to begin to recover and be targeted by the machines. Skynet has occupied Ghana’s Volta region for its hydroelectric plant and begun strip-mining the region for its resources. In response, the West African Coalition of former states in the region, originally established to provide humanitarian aid, has transformed into a resistance movement. Communication between the resistance groups is maintained by Runners who carry messages and distribute information. This is the basis for a different type of campaign, focusing on the Runners and their movement and journeys. The Athletics, Endurance, and Stealth skills are strongly recommended for Player Character Runners, as are language skills given that some ninety are spoken in the region, but they can be anything beyond that. To this are the new skill, ‘Lore: Region’ and new Traits, ‘Forced March’ and ‘Regional Polyglot’. The latter enables a Player Character to better learn and understand the numerous languages in a region. That said, a list of some of the languages spoken in the region would have been useful, but the Director will definitely want to do more research for any campaign run in the region, and that would include languages.

In the Philippines, the hope for survival is tied to the Pag-asa, literally ‘hope’ in Tagalog. The Pag-asa is actually a former Ohio-Class submarine about to be decommissioned when Judgement Day occurred and since it was not armed with nuclear missiles, overlooked by Skynet. Instead of returning to fight and likely die for the USA, the crew elected to support the Philippines and now it spearheads the Resistance all across southeast Asia. Similar treatments are given for Oceania, including Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, as well as Central and South America. These are broader treatments, and not quite as interesting as the write-ups of the other countries.

Besides expanding the setting of The Terminator RPG into an immediately dark and nasty era, The Terminator RPG: Resist! provides rules and mechanics for prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs and for surviving in the wastelands of the Dark Years and beyond. These cover scavenging, the use of toolkits, finding ammunition from bullets to bombs, armour and clothing, and more. It includes the finding and fixing up of a dwelling, especially in the face of apocalyptic weather, and notes on foraging and hunting in the deadly new era. In terms of support, descriptions and stats are provided for Skynet’s early war forces, such as the RTAV Robotic Tracked Attack Vehicle and the RV-12 Dart Microdrone. Also given are Skynet’s post-millennial forces, such as the Cyberdyne Systems Series 100 Robotic Infantry Unit, and the forces of MIR and some of the equipment field by the Spetsnaz.

Physically, The Terminator RPG: Resist! – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG is a good-looking book. The artwork is excellent and the layout clean and tidy. However, the book does need an edit in places and feels slightly rushed.

The Terminator RPG: Resist! – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG is a slim book and perhaps a few more pages could have been included to round out its content with some scenario hooks or campaign outlines or something similar. More so for the descriptions of less familiar places such as Ghana or the Philippines, which would make their details easier for the Director to use and develop. Nevertheless, there is a lot of good content in The Terminator RPG: Resist! – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG, expanding the scope of The Terminator RPG in both interesting new regions and theatres of action and a truly horrifying and grim period of the setting’s future. It would be interesting to see actual campaign content for all of these new settings, but The Terminator RPG: Resist! – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG provides a very scary starting point for the Director to develop her own scenarios.

Terminator Terror II

Back in 1991, the release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day was not only highly anticipated, but proved to be a box office hit. The Terminator had been a surprise hit in 1984 and proven to be a big hit on video in the years that followed. Terminator 2: Judgment Day was a sequel that people wanted to see and not only introduced amazing special effects with the extensive use of computer-generated imagery to portray the liquid metal effects of the T-1000, but it also greatly expanded the lore of The Terminator universe from the simplicity of the original film. It is this second film and its expanded Terminator universe that Scottish publisher, Nightfall Games, explores in Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, as the title suggests, this is a supplement for The Terminator RPG, a companion volume to The Terminator Campaign Book which expanded upon the original film. As with the rest of The Terminator RPG line, it not only draws upon the films by James Cameron, but it also draws on the seventeen or so comic book storylines published by Dark Horse Comics between 1990 and 2019. Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG is the opportunity to explore the world of the nineties prior to Judgement Day on August 29th, 1997, and beyond into both the immediate aftermath and the Dark Future of the decades to come and look at operations conducted by both Skynet and the Resistance to alter the timeline, protect or destroy assets important to the development of Skynet and protect or destroy the foundations of the Resistance against Skynet.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG provides an overview of its themes and ideas—the darkness of metal, especially liquid metal; the negative consequences of advances in technology and the resulting technophobia; that humanity is its worst own enemy, even to the point of creating that which will kill it in its own image; and despite all this, humanity’s fate is in own hands. In the case of the latter, there can be no doubt that this is severely hampered as the supplement shows, whether that is because of the advanced technology that Skynet has access to and the Resistance only has limited access to, or because the dangers of time travel from the Dark Future to the 1990s (and back again). It also introduces the nineties, in all their flannel shirt wearing, music video watching, coffee swilling, fast food guzzling, longer working hours glory. In doing so, the supplement takes player and Game Master alike right up to Judgement Day itself, August 29th, 1997, the day which really has been lurking over the horizon of The Terminator RPG. It also adds two interesting options in terms of play. One, just like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, introduces the possibility of Terminators as heroes and thus Player Character Terminators. The other is for the players to play the elite of the Resistance, members of the Time Displacement Commandos, conducting operations from a secret base on the Moon that Skynet has no idea about.

The given history of the nineties is really very much seen in response to secret war that was being fought between forces manipulated or influenced by the Resistance and those manipulated or influenced by Skynet. Thus, on one side there are discussions of guerillas, survivalists—of various stripes, and the militias, whilst on the other, there are computer experts, federal agencies, and so on. There are interesting details of what might be found in a typical fallout shelter and stats for various NPCs on both sides, that with some effort could be adjusted so that they could be used as Player Characters. A history of both Cyberdyne Systems and its rival and eventual successor, Raven Technologies are given neatly providing a backdrop for the Player Characters’ investigations in the decade.

The Dark Future is treated in similar fashion, examining mankind’s initial responses to Judgement Day and its nuclear exchange and as they made the first steps out of their shelters and holes in the ground, to the rise of the machines and the coming of Skynet. This includes the establishment of the first Resistance settlements and how they evolved over time, as well as detailing various common character types found there—Demolitions Expert, Basic Infantry, Medtech, Sniper, and so on. Again, these are given as NPCs, but can be upgraded to serve as the basis for Player Characters. They are accompanied by descriptions of survivors other than members of the Resistance that might be found in the Dark Future, such as Junkers, Scroungers, Cannibals, Hoarders, and Raiders, plus traitors and despots. The inclusion of these push The Terminator RPG into a more traditional style of post-apocalypse setting, but also expands storytelling options available in the Dark Future, that they need not always be about the Resistance versus Skynet.

The advances made in technology means that whilst time travel is available to Skynet by 2030, it really comes into its own in the following decades and the 1990s become a battle ground for terminators and Resistance members sent back into the past. This includes the ability to return from the 1990s to the future, but this requires the means to recreate the time displacement equipment in the past. The most common method involves swallowing a large ‘Time Pill’ containing a Neural Net CPU chip and a quantum-synced isotope that is radioactive and needs to be evacuated from the body as soon as possible! Once their mission has been fulfilled, the time travellers will use the contents of the ‘Time Pill’ to construct the time displacement equipment. Other means, like the later developed Time Door, require a great deal of power that Skynet can easily spot. The primary users of the technology are the Time Displacement Commandos, effectively the elite of the Resistance and regarded with disdain by some members of the Resistance. Its history and operations and described, accompanied throughout, by advice and details of Time Displacement Commandos training which beg to be used in game. Also discussed are the possible dangers and paradoxes of time travel, such as temporal distortions, the Bootstrap Paradox (which is how Cyberdyne Systems got hold of the technology that would become Skynet), the Grandfather Paradox, and more. Some possible outcomes of the war are also discussed, but perhaps more interesting are the detailed alternative timelines in which Judgement Day take place, including one in which John Connor is killed by the T-1000 and his mother’s vengeance forces Skynet into one terrible, final retaliation, and one in which an asteroid strikes California and in response the US nuclear arsenal and Skynet were repurposed to provide defence against further strikes from space, but Skynet still destroys the world. What is made clear throughout is that time travel is fraught with danger and killing the wrong person or a random person by mistake can have consequences for the future.

Playing a member of the Time Displacement Commandos is offered as an advanced option, including new roles like Robot Fighter, Cyber Jockey, and Deep Insertion Operative, the later being supported by playing a Deep Insertion Operative, sent back into the past to monitor the activities of Skynet and those who contribute to its growth. Also included here are Agents of John Connor, the elite of his forces who report directly to him and follow only his orders. The other option is playing as a Terminator. This presents quite a change in game and out of game. In game, a Terminator Player Character must obey its programming, must seek technical rather than medical aid, and will expect to face hostility from NPCs. Out of game, a Terminator Player Character has no control over its fate and therefore no Hope Points and limited options in terms of Terminator units that the Game Master will allow in her campaign. The presence of a Terminator Player Character also limits the missions that can be played. For example, if it has to protect a scientist, that scientist has to be included in the game. What Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG suggest is that a Terminator Player Character fulfil a particular role and mission, like ‘The Nanny ’Nator’ which acts as a surrogate to a child or youth or ‘The Traitor ’Nator’ reprogrammed to attack Skynet. It is possible for a Terminator Player Character to overcome its programming, but this can cause it to corrupt, as can being reduced to zero Hit Points, suffering a hard reset, or failing a mission or objective. This begins to limit the skills it can use. However, there are plenty of ideas on how Terminators can be used with or as Player Characters, including a ‘Terminator Player Character Mission Plot Generator’.

Full stats are provided for numerous characters from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, including ‘Uncle Bob’ as John Conner nicknamed the Terminator sent back to save him, Sarah Connor post-incarceration, John Connor at ten years old, Miles Dyson, and Doctor Peter Silberman.* These are accompanied by assessments by Skynet and Doctor Silberman and some also by assessments by the Time Displacement Commandos. Several sections cover a wide array of weaponry, equipment, vehicles, and also wildlife—the latter with rules for bear hugs and vicious attacks!—from both the 1990s and the Dark Future. The book also adds a wide range of new Skynet threats from the bug-like HK-Crawler, MHK-Drone, and HK-Jet to HK-Tank MK 2, HK-Walker, and HK-Mini Walker. The first Terminator designed and built to replace human troops, the T-70, is also fully described, as is a wide range of Infiltrator models, before it details the use of Liquid Metal by Skynet. First seen in action in the T-1000 prototype sent back to the 1990s to kill John Connor, the development of the technology is explained as are its capabilities beyond those listed for Infiltrator units in The Terminator RPG. These include metamorphism, regeneration, and magnetic reader, but also vulnerabilities such as extreme heat and cold, and immersion in acid. Alongside these are precursor steps to the full T-1000, for example, ‘Dagger Tongue’ and ‘Medusa Hair’, that the Game Master can add to earlier Series 800 and Series 900 Terminators to hint at the development of the T-1000. Understandably, the stats for the T-1000 are fearsome and the special rules scary. This is definitely not a threat that the Game Master wants to throw into the path of her Player Characters unless they are very capable.

* You also get to learn in Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG that Doctor Silberman is a bigger arsehole than you thought he was from simply watching Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

However, the T-1000 is not the ultimate Terminator model in Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG. This is T-Mobius, an advanced version of the T-1000 with its own built-in Time Displacement Equipment. It is tasked with locating and shutting down time displacements before they can disrupt the timeline and threaten Skynet. Again, the Player Characters need to be very capable if they are to face this, let alone defeat it.

The supplement also expands on the rules in The Terminator RPG for Hacking. When Hacking, a player rolls Computer skill tests to generate points of Progress which can be expended to move deeper into the network, create a backdoor, capture a node, exploit a subroutine, and so on to infiltrate systems mapped out as a series of connected nodes represented by a ‘Network Architecture Diagrams’. The expanded rules cover hacking via a Terminator’s severed head, the need to learn the terminology and protocols used Skynet, and a host of tasks—logging in/out, network permissions, subroutine tasks, and more all the way up to sentience engine tasks. The problem with this is that there is more to learn and account for using these options. Since the hacking rules are designed to be played in conjunction with actions that the other Player Characters might be taking in combat rounds, this extra detail has the potential to slow play down. Simplified Hacking rules are provided, but the one set of rules that the Player Characters are likely to use are those for programming a captured Terminator. A ‘Network Architecture Diagram’ is provided for this, but much like a Player Character Terminator attempting to overcome its own programming, reprogramming the code of the A.I. of a Terminator can corrupt its systems and in game terms, potentially impede its skills.

Lastly, Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG includes three new missions. The first is ‘Into the Valley of Metal’ which lets all of the players take the roles of T-800 Terminators. Newly activated, programmed, and equipped for a seek and destroy mission on a resistance hideout, the players get to play the enemy—or so they think. Captured by the Resistance, they are hastily reprogrammed and sent back by the Resistance to strike at the heart of Skynet. This also allows the players experience a deep strike on Skynet facilities potentially long before their Resistance Player Characters might have a chance to. The scenario might also serve as a good convention scenario.

However, when the Player Characters are ready and capable enough to strike directly at Skynet, there is the second scenario, ‘Assault on Thunder Mountain’. Based on the graphic novel, The Burning earth, it is set in 2041 and can be run after the events of ‘Into the Valley of Metal’. Instead of the Player Characters being Terminators, here they are experienced members of the Resistance attacking the last redoubt of Skynet before drops nuclear bombs on every surviving settlement in North America. This is a challenging scenario combing a mix of stealth and combat.

The third and final scenario in the book is ‘Terminator Two: Judgment Day’. This is designed to emulate the events of the film as closely as the Game Master wants, whilst also allowing room for her make changes and add surprises for her players and their characters. There is advice and suggestions for running it according to the original timeline or an alternate timeline. In the original timeline, the players take the roles of Sarah Connor, John Connor, and Uncle Bob, whilst in the alternate timeline, there are more Player Characters involved. Either way, the scenario is broken down into the film’s big set pieces—the first encounter at the arcade, the chase on the roads of Los Angeles with the motorcycle and the big truck, Sarah Connor’s breakout from the hospital, and so on. As with the previous two scenarios, each scene is given a set-up, descriptions of the obstacles the Player Characters will face and the assets they have, and ways out of the scene, and on to the next. However, the film does not just consist of these big, set piece scenes. There are scenes in between and it is in these that the players are expected to roleplay the emotional aspects of the film and bring in their interpretation of roleplaying these characters. What this means is that the players get to re-enact the film and enjoy all of its big excitement and action, without having to exactly roleplay the roles as the actors did. Thus, it has just about enough freedom to be more than a simple replication.

Physically, Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG is a good-looking book with plenty of art that captures the feel of the film and depicts the ghastly nature of the Dark Future. The book is also an engaging read, but it does include some horrifying, often cruel scenes in its fiction. However, it does need an edit in places, whilst in others the layout contains a crash or two.

There is more of an emphasis in Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG on the Dark Future than the 1990s, but that emphasis is all about taking the fight to Skynet and setting up the means to jump back in time to the 1990s. In the process, it greatly expands the world of The Terminator RPG, ultimately highlighting how Judgement Day cannot be stopped, but that the secret war fought in the years leading up to it can influence the future and hopefully, save mankind. Overall, Terminator 2: Judgment Day – A Sourcebook for The Terminator RPG is a good sourcebook for both The Terminator RPG and Terminator 2: Judgment Day full of great content that the Game Master can bring the 1990s and the Dark Future—and hopefully help save mankind.

Mythos & Musketeers

The Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft and the swashbuckling tales of Alexandre Dumas are closer than you think. Or at least, they can be moved closer than you think. After all, both involve conspiracies and secrets and assignations in the night and shocking revelations and dark organisations plotting to end the current regime–whether that is a total end to mankind or a change in who controls the fate of France. However, when it comes to roleplaying, it has not been a close fit, bar the very occasional scenario. In fact, the easiest way to do it has been to combine Leagues of Cthulhu, an expansion to Leagues of Gothic Horror for Leagues of Adventure: A Rip-Roaring Setting of Exploration and Derring Do in the Late Victorian Age! with All For One: Régime Diabolique, because both are written for use with the Ubiquity System. Step forward–or swing through a window on a rope and land on its feet, rapier drawn–Nightfall Games, because the Scottish publisher has a much easier solution for you.

Musketeers vs. Cthulhu: A Simple Nightfall RPG Book is a campaign and sourcebook for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, published by Chaosium, Inc. It is based on ‘The Tablet’, a short story by Claudia Christian–yes, that Claudia Christian–and Chris McAuley from the anthology, Musketeers vs. Cthulhu in the Court of King Louis, from Black Ink. It is also based on The Three Musketeers and others in the series, includes some basic background, guidelines to creating Musketeers and other period Investigators, genre rules, and over twenty new manoeuvres, because after all, what would a game involving Musketeers be without the means to swash a buckle or two! As you would expect, it includes stats for all four Musketeers and those of the villains and villainesses they face in the course of Dumas’ classic novels. Of course, in Musketeers vs. Cthulhu, the Musketeers will face things that are much, much worse, and much more of a threat to France–and the world in general!

Musketeers vs. Cthulhu very quickly opens with the first part of its four-part campaign. It is set in 1626. King Louis XIII holds the throne with Cardinal Richelieu as his adviser, opposed to the influence of the Queen Mother, Marie de Medici, who was once regent for her son. ‘L’Affaire du Possion Rouge’ opens with the musketeers at a ‘dive’ bar on the Seine, meeting Damian De Salazar, a friend on behalf of Monsieur le Colonel de Tréville and then getting him away from the attentions of the Cardinal’s Guards and back to Musketeer headquarters. With barely enough time to take in the less than salubrious ambiance, disaster, or rather the Cardinal’s Guards strike! The clientele of the bar take strong exception to their presence and the first of the campaign’s many brawls breaks out. With the Cardinal’s Guards outside and a brawl inside, this is the perfect cover to make an escape, but in the process, the musketeers discover that the bar flies were hiding secrets of their own. Dark secrets.

At the end of the first scenario, the musketeers should have Damian De Salazar in tow, but where he ends up is down the musketeers. If they successfully get away from the bar, they should get him back to the care of Monsieur le Colonel de Tréville, but if they get captured, they find themselves before Cardinal Richelieu. If this happens, the rest of the scenario will play out as described in the book, but with the musketeers secretly beholden to the manipulative Cardinal.

The affair in the Possion Rouge sets the events of the campaign in motion as factions working beyond the shadows begin to plot against the King–and in the process against the King’s Musketeers and Cardinal Richelieu. De Salazar himself, is a scholar of the occult, and has recently decrypted and translated a document known as the Third Key of Solomon. Unfortunately, a faction of cultists known as the Court of Chaos has kidnapped De Salazar’s daughter and is demanding that he hand over the manuscript in return for her life.

In the second scenario, ‘The House of Hasteur’, the musketeers undertake a second task, the delivery of the manuscript in exchange for the life of De Salazar’s kidnapped daughter. Although they may have gained some slight awareness of the strangeness that these doings entail, it does not prepare them for the strange encounters in the house. This is not so much a ‘madhouse dungeon’ as a ‘Mythos madhouse’ in which their experiences verge into the hallucinogenic. If they succeed though, no matter who exactly they are working for–Monsieur le Colonel de Tréville or Cardinal Richelieu–the actions of the musketeers bring them to the attention of the King. He has another task for them, one that takes them to ‘The Courtyard of Miracles’ and into the Paris catacombs via a newly opened up entrance.

The fourth and final scenario, ‘Nuit d’Apocalypse!’, begins almost immediately after ‘The Courtyard of Miracles’ comes to a bloody close. The streets of Paris are rife with fear and fighting as it appears that the city is subject to a riotous assembly as Protestant Huguenots run amok, citizens either blockade the streets to prevent anyone from passing or hide behind locked doors, and dark forces take advantage of the chaos. A series of running street battles, including a standing battle with a Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath, build to a climactic showdown with the forces of the Court of Chaos and hopefully the opportunity to save Paris and thus all of France.

Musketeers vs. Cthulhu: A Simple Nightfall RPG Book is a short campaign. Some of the individual scenarios might only take a session to play through, though most will probably take two or three. They are also not investigative scenarios in the more traditional sense of Call of Cthulhu, so no consulting of ancient documents or perusing the shelves at libraries. Instead, the scenarios involve more interaction, and definitely more action and combat. In fact, a lot more of the latter, and although Musketeers vs. Cthulhu is written for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, it might actually be better to run it using the rules in Pulp Cthulhu, especially as there is a lot of combat and there are a lot of Mythos monsters.

The campaign can be played in one of two ways. First, the players can take the roles of the Musketeers from Dumas’ novels—Aramis, Athos, Porthos, and d’Artagnan—and Musketeers vs. Cthulhu provides full stats and background for all four. Second, they can create their own Investigators and play through the campaign. Thus, there is a guide to creating Investigators suitable for the period, beginning with Musketeer, but also including members of the Clergy, Spy, Courtier, and Occult Scholar. Along with a list of weapons appropriate to the period, there is guidance on playing with just one or two players. The given options allow for increased starting Luck, narrative style combat when fighting members of the supporting cast, and almost immediate adaptation to seeing the Mythos. The latter minimises the amount of Sanity lost for seeing a Mythos monster a second time—after all, once you have seen one Ghoul, you have seen them all!

To fit the other genre of Musketeers vs. Cthulhu, there is also a list of new Manoeuvres. These include ‘Charge’, ‘Counting Coup’, ‘Creative Flamboyance’, ‘Flipping a Table’, ‘Leaping onto a Horse’, and ‘Using a Cape’ or ‘Throwing a Drink to Blind an Opponent’. All enable the Investigators to engage in the type of swashbuckling action that their players will have seen on screen.

Lastly, there are full stats for both the other characters from the novels, such as Milady de Winter and Cardinal Richelieu—though no backgrounds as are given to the Musketeers, and all of the Mythos monsters that appear in Musketeers vs. Cthulhu. Add in the table of phrases and events and the Keeper has a few prompts with which to add colour to her depiction of seventeenth century France.

Physically, Musketeers vs. Cthulhu: A Simple Nightfall RPG Book is a short, buff, and unillustrated affair. It is well written and easy to read. It needs a slight edit in places and there are fun flourishes here and there. The cover though, is particularly eye-catching and feels not dissimilar in style to a certain series of very long running children’s story and reference books.

Musketeers vs. Cthulhu: A Simple Nightfall RPG Book leans into two things. First, the ‘Simple’ aspect of its title, the campaign being a straightforward confrontation with the forces of the Mythos rather than a convoluted investigation, and second, the swashbuckling action of The Three Musketeers. As a result, this is an action-orientated, often combat focused, Pulp-style campaign rather than a Purist scare fest. Musketeers vs. Cthulhu: A Simple Nightfall RPG Book is not just “All for one, and one for all”, but “All for one, and one for all—and all against the Mythos”, and the musketeer-mythos movie you never knew you wanted.

Quick-Start Saturday: Dracula’s Empire

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

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

—oOo—

What is it?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is the quick-start for StokerVerse Roleplaying Game, the roleplaying game of dark and twisted Gothic horror during the late Victorian era, in which the adventurers and investigators confront Vampire courts, Werewolf clans, Jekyll and Hyde, and even Frankenstein’s Monster whilst Jack the Ripper stalks the fog swathed streets of London.

It is a sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

It is designed to be played by five to seven players, plus the Author (as the Game Master is known).

It is a seventy page, full colour book.

The quick-start is very lightly illustrated, but the artwork is excellent and foreboding. The rules are a slightly stripped down version from the core rulebook, but do include examples of the rules which speed the learning of the game.

The themes and nature of StokerVerse Roleplaying Game and thus the Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start, specifically the horror and its bloody nature, the seductive nature of vampires, and the subversion of good society, means that it is best suited to a mature audience.

How long will it take to play?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start and its adventure, ‘Dracula’s Empire’, is designed to be played through in two or three sessions.

What else do you need to play?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start requires six ten-sided dice per player. One of these dice should be a different colour to the rest, ideally, black.

Who do you play?
The seven Player Characters in Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start consist of Lord Godalming Arthur ‘Art’ Holmwood, Mister Johnathan Harker, Dr John Seward, Police Sergeant Albert Enshaw, Miss Primrose Hampden, Madame Lisa De Villiers, and Mister Daniel Seagrove. Of these, Lord Godalming Arthur ‘Art’ Holmwood, Mister Johnathan Harker, and Dr John Seward will be familiar from the novel, Dracula, whilst Police Sergeant Albert Enshaw is a London police officer, Miss Primrose Hampden is a sketch artist who has the power of second sight, Madame Lisa De Villiers is a veiled medium, and Mister Daniel Seagrove is a research assistant for Van Helsing. Together, they are all members of, or connected to, The Brotherhood. All seven Player Characters have a full character sheet and

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has six stats—Strength, Dexterity, Knowledge, Concentration, Charisma, and Cool. Stats are rated between zero and six, whilst the skills are rated between one and four. A Player Character can have Traits, such as Club Tie (Polite Society), Natural Aptitude (Profession: Solicitor), Contact (Dr Phillips - Director Purfleet Asylum), Legal Authority, Unconscious talent (Shadow Sight: First Impressions), Occult Secret (Shadow Sight), and Occult Studies (Shadow sight). There is a preponderance of Contact Traits amongst the Player Characters.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start uses the ‘S5S’ System first seen in SLA Industries, Second Edition. This is a dice pool system which uses ten-sided dice. The dice pool consists of one ten-sided die, called the Success Die, and Skill Dice equal to the skill being used, plus one. The Success Die should be of a different colour from the Skill Dice. The results of the dice roll are not added, but counted separately. Thus, to each roll is added the value of the Skill being rolled, plus its associated stat. If the result on the Success Die is equal to or greater than the Target Number, ranging from eight and Challenging to sixteen and Insane, then the Operative has succeeded, but it is a ‘Close Call’ or a ‘Yes, but...’ result. A ‘Solid Success’ is a result of exactly two successes, whilst three or more success is an ‘Extraordinary Success’.

Luck can be spent to Stat by one for a single test, substitute the values of a skill dice for the value of the success die, transfer the damage of a successful attack to themselves, and to gain the initiative.

How does combat work?
Combat in Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is designed to be desperate and dangerous. Damage is rolled on five-sided dice, modified by successes rolled.

How does the Occult work?
In Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start, two of the pre-generated Player Characters have Occult abilities. Miss Primrose Hampden has ‘Unconscious talent (Shadow Sight: First Impressions)’ and Madame Lisa De Villiers has both ‘Occult Secret (Shadow Sight)’ and ‘Occult Secret (Wards)’. Both require the use of the Occultism skill. Shadow Sight provides the user with intuitive feeling about someone upon first meeting them, whilst ‘Wards’ are used to contain and restrain the forces of evil. This requires the use of a spiritualist’s kit, expending a point of its Ammo, and a two-step process. First, a preliminary barrier is created and if successful, the number of successes determines the Protection Value and Integrity of the barrier. It can be continued to be shored up, but this is emotionally exhausting.

What do you play?
In Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start, the scenario is ‘Dracula’s Empire’. This is a detailed investigation set in London after the events of Dracula. Mina Harker has gone missing , after her return to London; there has been a rash of disappearances of children and the morgues are filling up with bodies drained of blood—and there has been a cover up of both; and a mysterious dark-haired woman has been seen traversing the streets of London and attending high society balls. Are they connected? Could the mysterious woman be Mina? Or worse… Lucy returned from the dead? The scenario has multiple avenues of investigation, including tracking down the mysterious woman, attending one of the society balls—held on Mornington Crescent, no less!, digging into the missing children, bloodless bodies, and so on. Each of these is handled in scenes of their own, which are nicely detailed.

Is there anything missing?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is complete and it even comes with advice for the Author on running the game. A map or two in places would have been helpful.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start are relatively easy to prepare. The Author will need to pay closer attention to the plot of ‘Dracula’s Empire’, in part because there is no clear explanation of what the plot is and how its strands tie together. In addition, the backgrounds for the Player Characters and their character sheets are separate, so the Author will need to ensure that they are together for each player.

Is it worth it?
Yes. It needs close preparation to bring the multiple strands of the investigation together, but Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is a meaty, bloody investigation against the background of London’s fogbound streets, official obfuscation, and the heights and lows of society.

Where can you get it?
Dracula’s Empire: StokerVerse Roleplaying Game Quick Start is available to download here.

The Other OSR: Demon Dog

You are dead. It was not a good death. It was not a good life, either. You sinned. You were condemned again and again for your sins, but those that condemned you were no better, just richer and better protected by their peers. You went to your grave a sinner. You went to Hell a sinner. Then you woke up. You are dead, but can die again. You have made a deal with a Demon Baron. You have been pulled from the charnel pit of corpses and souls and chosen by him. Do his bidding and you can walk the world again. He will even reward you with demonic gifts that will aid you in your work even as those gifts mark you out as some not quite human, not quite holy… Here then is your chance to live and breathe again, if only at the back and call of one of Hell’s Demon Barons. Then again, it is a chance to wreak your revenge upon the pious hypocrites, the sinners who cast that first stone, the rich and the corrupt… If that means you get redemption, then great. If not, and all it means is revenge, then get stuck in. This is your chance for payback from beyond the grave, to be the monster they always said you were. If their souls go to feed your Demon Baron master and not yours, then all the better. You are his Demon Dog now…

Demon Dog is a bloody horror game from Nightfall Games, best known for S.L.A. Industries, the roleplaying game set in a far future dystopia of corporate greed, commodification of ultraviolence, the mediatisation of murder, conspiracy, and urban horror, and serial killer sensationalism. Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a tribute to and designed to be compatible with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance retroclone designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. This compatibility embraces both mechanics, so that the Demon Dog is player-facing and he makes all of the rolls in play rather than the Game Master, and the tone, one of grim, pre-apocalyptic times. The joint compatibility also means that whilst Demon Dog can easily be run as a standalone roleplaying game, it can also be smashed together with Mörk Borg. Thus, when a Player Character dies (or ideally when all of the Player Characters have died) in Mörk Borg, they could return as Demon Dogs. Alternatively, the Demon Dog could be a continuing threat in Mörk Borg, perhaps even a continuing threat which turns out to be the Player Characters’ future as well as a threat in the here and now!

A Demon Dog first has a life—how he lived, and a death—how he died. These can be as detailed or as brief as the player decides, and the Demon Dog may not even recall much of his life. He has a Sin, a Demon Baron to who he owes his new existence and a Demon Baron who hates both him and his master. He receives a Gift from his Demon Baron, a Mark that indicates his service to the Demon Baron, scavenges some starting equipment, and lastly has values for Agility, Strength, Toughness, and Prescence, plus a lot of Hit Points (or at least more than you usually get in Mörk Borg.

Bronson
Sin: Graveyard Scum (Grave Robber)
Demon Baron (Master): Rellvox
Demon Baron (Enemy): Fechanalt
Demonic Rite: Sacrifice at Rellvox’s at alter, kill and place a severed head on the alter for +2 damage to all rolls.
Demon Mark: Death Maw (teeth like rusty nails, 1d6 damage)
Demon Baron’s Boon: Shout, one per day. Scare someone (Tier One)
Equipment: Shoulder bag, hangman’s noose
Weapon: Ma Wee Hammer! (Maul, 1d12 damage)
Armour: Leather (Tier 1, -1d2 damage)

Agility 08 (-1) Strength 16 (+2) Toughness 15 (+2) Prescence 15 (+2)
Hit Points: 26

Mechanically, Demon Dog is simple. A player rolls a twenty-sided die, modifies the result by one of his Demon Dog’s abilities, and attempts to beat a Difficulty Rating of twelve. The Difficulty Rating may go up or down depending on the situation, but whatever the situation, the player always rolls, even in combat or as Mörk Borg terms it, violence. So, a player will roll for his character to hit in melee using his Strength and his Agility to avoid being hit. Armour is represented by a die value, from -d2 for light armour to -d6 for heavy armour, representing the amount of damage it stops. Medium and heavy armour each add a modifier to any Agility action by the character, including defending himself. Notably though, whilst a Demon Dog can and probably will die, he can be brought back to life, though at some cost in terms of abilities. These though are not permanently lost and a Demon Dog can work to restore them. However, do this too many times and especially if the Demon Dog has superior abilities, he is returned to life with the mark of an idiot tattooed in a prominent place! Where a traditional roleplaying game might have rest or spells as a means to recover lost Hit Points, in Demon Dog, the Player Characters drink ale—a lot of ale.

Demon Dog describes in detail the seven Demon Barons. This includes their purview and their desire plus a table of ‘Busy Work’, essentially tasks that each Demon Lord wants fulfilled. This actually gives plenty of objectives for the Demon Dogs to complete, since not all of the Demon Dogs are going to share the same Baron Demon as their respective masters. This can also cause some tension in play too, since a Demon Dog can be in the service of one Demon Baron whilst another Demon Dog is in the service of a Demon Baron who hates the first Demon Dog. The Demon Dogs have an Overseer who works as their link between the mortal realm and the demonic realm. He assigns tasks and in return for their completion and other activities—such as successfully raiding abbeys for their beer and killing monks, killing rogue or escaped demons, and even rivel bands of Demon Dogs, he will reward you. This can be money, because after all, a Demon Dog still has to eat and drink and equip himself with items other than ones he has scavenged, and it can also be a Demon Baron’s favour, a one-use ability. Add into all of this, the fact that the Demon Barons feud, fight, and squabble, and each has their own Overseers, and the Demon Dogs will be dealing with the fallout from Demon Baron politics as much as fulfilling tasks, dealing with mobs, and taking down witch hunters, exorcists, demonologists, bishops, and others.

A bestiary of demons and other horrible creatures, from Blighted Hounds and Parasitic Boils to Gobshites and Grave Tappers, and even a Sodding Great Dragon(!) are all detail in ‘’Orrible Sods’. ‘Surly Chaps’ describes mortal threats such as Kings Guard, Unbroken Zealots, Blessed Torturers, Tax Collectors, Filth Peddlers, and more, all described in some detail and with a sense of humour. ‘Them That Rules’ provides a broad overview of both those in power and with influence—including the Crown, the Church, the State, and so on. The setting is medieval, but very grim and very dark, and with a streak of black, sometimes puerile humour. This is confirmed with the actual setting for Demon Dog, a region known as Baneshire, one of the many battlegrounds for the Demon Barons. As well as providing thumbnail descriptions of the various cities, town, and hamlets, the poorest wretches of the setting, the ‘Filthy Bloody Beggar are set up as the most useful, as sources of information and rumour. All of which is rounded out with some extra tables, including one of possible missions for the Demon Dogs, but given by mere mortals rather than the Demon Barons. So essentially, the Demon Dogs can undertake jobs off the books and find further use for mere mortals rather than just killing them.

Physically, Demon Dog is more Splatterpunk than the Artpunk of Mörk Borg. In many ways, this makes it more accessible and easier to read, but in some cases, there is text whose heavy, Gothic fount precludes easy understanding. The artwork though is superb, full of hairy, scary monsters and demons, exactly as you would expect from Nightfall Games. The writing style is sparse—which is not without its consequences—and there is a lairy, schoolboy streak of humour that runs through it.

If there is an issue with Demon Dog, it is that it is not obvious what the Player Characters are doing. Nowhere does Demon Dog clearly explain what is going on and how to run it, either in terms of a scenario or a campaign. The lack of a scenario does not help in that regard, and in fact, the Game Master is very much left on her own to determine this. There is much that can be inferred though, but one aspect which is not really explored is how the setting reacts to the presence and activities of the Demon Dogs. Some means of tracking this which could trigger events could have helped and helped the setting become more dynamic. The lack of one, the lack of advice, and the lack of a scenario means that Demon Dog is underdeveloped in places and definitely not a roleplaying game for the inexperienced Game Master.

Demon Dog is a bleary, sweary punch-up of a game. The Demon Dogs of the title are not just the bastards of Mörk Borg, they are the bastards of Mörk Borg on steroids, bruisers and arseholes out to batter and bash the bruisers and arseholes they hated in life. Although the Game Master will need to develop the setting and the set-up a bit more, Demon Dog is ready to serve up a game or two of snarky, vulgar bastards who want to put the boot in from beyond the grave and make sure those who deserve it, get some.