Memory & Magic

The coven is where the sisterhood is safe, where memories can be made, where its members can rejoice in the company of each other, where threats can be faced together, and dangers overcome, even if that is at the cost of memories. For memories represent power. But give up too many memories, use too much power, and the afterlife may become a dark and evil existence. This is the underlying story to Last Sabbath, a storytelling game of the history of a coven of witches and warlocks. The history will take them from their calling and formation of the coven through the appearance of a threat which imperils the coven, the discovery of how that threat can be defeated, and ultimately a confrontation with that threat and the aftermath of that confrontation. As the history progresses, the events and Memories are recorded in a diary. To defeat the threats and dangers they may face, the Witches may draw upon these Memories or their life sources to power charms, spells, and incantations. As a result, they will lose the Memories or age minutes, hours, or years, and potentially die in the process. They will have an existence in the afterlife, but the number of Memories lost determines the nature of that existence. A few and the Witch will return as a familiar to the next generation, too many and the Witch becomes an evil ghost!

Last Sabbath is from the Italian publisher, Officina Meningi. It is very rules light and can be played as a group or solo, and is designed to be played without a Game Master. As a solo roleplaying game, Last Sabbath is a journalling game, whereas in a group, the journal, or diary, is shared. It is played over the course of seven Scenes—‘The Calling’, ‘Initiation’, ‘Danger’, ‘Research’, ‘Revelation’, ‘Threat’, and ‘Epilogue’—which takes the Witches through their story and the story of the coven. There is no setting beyond the fact that there is a coven and a threat, the players being free to create their own during the first scene, whether that is Witches at a school of magic, a coven fleeing the Salem witch trials, or modern day coven protecting a small town.

The Scenes are further subdivided into Rounds, either three, five, or seven, depending upon the length of game that the players want to play. Each Scene is driven by three Leading Questions and six Prompts, the latter intended to be rolled on a six-sided die, or alternatively a Divination, of which four methods are given. The push here is to use the Divination means as six prompts is not enough and does not offer enough variability for repeat play. The Divination can also be used as means to suggest a resolution also. In each Round, the players take it in turns to narrate the Story from their Witches’ perspective, inspired by the Prompt or Divination. Interaction between the players and Witches is limited, a player and Witch only able to respond directly to the narration of another player and Witch when it is their turn. At the end of her narration for a Round, a player notes a Record of it in the diary, and at the end of the Scene, the player marks one of these Records, whether it is personal or pertains to the whole coven, as a Memory. As the coven faces greater dangers and the threat, these memories can be consumed to cast ever increasing more effective magic—Charms, Spells, and Incantations. Casting an Incantation has the greatest effect, such as regenerating the whole of a burned down forest, exorcising an ancient evil, or sending another Witch through time, but also the greatest cost, either terms of Memories or the Witch’s life itself. It represents the greatest sacrifice and will likely come in the penultimate Scene, ‘Threat’, when the coven will confront the danger at the heart of their story. The ‘Epilogue’ has only one Round, in which the players each narrates what happens to their Witches, including those who died, in a single Record.

The last quarter of Last Sabbath is devoted to divination methods. Four are given—Tarot, Rune Stones, Mikado, and Tea Leaves—along with instructions on how to use them and then interpret the readings as prompts for each scene. Some are easier to use than others, and some will take longer to use and interpret, and so may slow game play down. The latter is less of an issue in solo play, but in group play, it may become a problem. The Tarot cards are likely to be more familiar and easier to interpret, whilst the Runes are more flexible and open to interpret. The Mikado is likely the least familiar and will take some adjusting to. Which leaves the Tea Leaves, the most ambiguous and most open to interpretation, but also the most charming and relaxing since it involves making tea in a teapot and drinking the tea to find the results. All include examples of interpretations. What might have been useful is a bibliography of books consulted for these methods. That said, they offer a greater variability than most journalling games do, since the prompts they provide are open to wider interpretation.

Although Last Sabbath is described as being suitable for being played as a solo journalling game, this aspect of its play is not explored beyond a single paragraph. The lack of advice on this and other aspects of play is disappointing. Last Sabbath is not a long roleplaying game, especially given that its lats quarter is given over to alternative, but thematically appropriate means of generating prompts. Arguably, one of these means could have been dropped in favour of more advice and support, especially for solo play. Or simply, the page count increased from forty-eight to sixty plages.

Physically, Last Sabbath is boldly presented in splashes of red and black with stunning artwork. The artwork really is good, but it does not always feel appropriate. The artist—Loputyn—is noted as being part of the Lolita fashion moment, and this is reflected in the art style of Last Sabbath. It means that the witches depicted are young, and often nude. The artwork is not explicit, but because it only depicts the Witches as young girls and not a wide range of ages, the look of the roleplaying game does lean towards the prurient. This is in contrast to the writing which states that the Player Characters can be warlocks as well as witches and that each player is free to decide who her witch is. As a consequence, there is a dissonance between what Last Sabbath is about and how it looks, such that it is either going to put off the audience it is intended for or attract the attention of an audience for whom it was not intended.

Where Last Sabbath is at its best is in the inclusion of its four real-world divination tools as a means of creating prompts and driving the story forward, as they bring a physicality and a verisimilitude to the play and give the players something to interact with. Yet ultimately, Last Sabbath is underwritten as a roleplaying game and definitely as a solo journalling game. It does not provide enough structure or advice on how to set-up or play the game, relying instead upon the players to provide that, giving them more work than is really necessary. With that in mind, Last Sabbath is best suited experienced players who can overcome its issues.

A Copernican Catastrophe

It is the year 1580 and one of the greatest mathematicians, astronomers, and physicians of the age has been dead these past thirty-seven years. Nicolaus Copernicus is most famous for formulating a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its centre. So, the question is, why has someone sent Doctor John Dee, court astronomer to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, Copernicus’ coffin? And why does it contain a skeleton with a silver dagger plunged into its chest plate with a note attached which reads, “Do you Believe now?” Doctor Dee knows that the skeleton is not that of Copernicus, since he had more teeth than the skeleton, but cannot fathom why someone should send both it and the coffin to him. Nevertheless, he is definitely intrigued by the delivery and strongly suspects that this is a trap. Which is why he sends agents to the village of Frombork in Poland to investigate, since they are, after all, condemned men. Condemned men whose heresy—as minor as it was—is enough for them to have been executed long ago were it not for Sir Francis Walsingham giving them a stay of execution whilst they investigate occult threats to both Queen and kingdom, are all that stand between an even greater heresy and the reordering of the cosmos that would undo all of Copernicus’ theories! This is the situation that faces the Agents in Only A Fool, a scenario for Just Crunch Games’ The Dee Sanction, the roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe.

Only A Fool is not your average scenario for The Dee Sanction. To begin with it is the winner of a scenario-writing competition on The Raspy Raven Discord which hosts a lot of online games, and then it is not set in Merry Olde England, but in Poland. This requires that the Player Characters speak Polish and Doctor Dee employs them because they can. This is not usual for the Player Characters in The Dee Sanction, so Only a Fool is better suited to play as a one-shot or convention scenario.

Armed with details of Copernicus’ life and studies, the Player Characters travel to the village outside of the Archcathedral of Frombork and from there investigate and follow the clues that lead them into the cathedral, Copernicus Tower where Nicolaus Copernicus conducted his astronomical research, and beyond the village to where his mistress, Anna Schilling, still lives. The investigation is relatively short and not overly complex, essentially a mini-sandbox with a handful of locations. However, the Player Characters will quickly realise that they are being watched and that despite the rationality of Copernicus’ thesis, there are men and women in the village and the Archcathedral of Frombork who very much still hold to the heliocentrism of the past several thousand years. Their belief is ardent and raises the questions, what else do they believe in and what powers does that belief grant them? In fact, belief and non-belief lies at the heart of the scenario and the Player Characters will be constantly asked if they are believers or non-believers. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Believers will see the acts of heresy that are carried out during the scenario, but will also be suspectable to them as well, whilst Non-Believers will not be affected by them because they cannot see them. Further, some NPCs will only readily talk to Believers and talking to some of those NPCs is vital to the plot.

Ultimately, the scenario will climax at a performance of the malign Dischordant Harmoney at a Grand Alignment Eclipse in which Belief and Non-Belief are the weapons that the enemy and the Player Characters must wield against each other. The Dischordant Harmoney is performed on the organ in the Archcathedral of Frombork, so the climax has an over the top Gothic feel. Given that Only a Fool is best used as a convention or one-shot scenario, it is a pity that a set of pre-generated could not have been included with the scenario.

Physically, Only A Fool is tightly laid out over three pages. It is lightly illustrated and does need an edit. The single map is slightly too small to be fully effective and would have benefited from being on a whole page rather than half a page. Nevertheless, everything is decently organised and easy to use straight from the page.

Only a Fool is pulpy Gothic horror scenario that really benefits from its very different setting to that usually seen in scenarios for The Dee Sanction and from the players and their characters having to explore the consequences of belief and non-belief. It is short, direct, and easy to prepare, so is a solid convention or one-shot scenario.

An Intriguing Invitation

This is a beautiful artefact. Inside the stark black and alabaster box is a cornucopia of gaming content and again, all of it is beautiful. This includes a small white silk bag—almost like a wedding favour—containing two six-sided dice that are done in the style of early nineteenth dice. Below that is a hard back book. This is the fifty-four-page ‘Archeterica Invitation Rules’. Linen finish and heavy stock paper with line art. Below that is the first of three scenarios. These are ‘Game Scenario: The Good Mayor’, ‘Game Scenario: The Bastinarys’, and ‘Game Scenario: Shady Deals in Strange Alley Ways’. Each of these is sixteen to twenty-pages long and again printed on heavy paper stock, but with sturdy card covers with a linen finish. There are two envelopes. One contains nine quite lovely handouts, whilst the second contains character sheets for six pre-generated Player Characters and six blank sheets, all of which are on sturdy paper stock. Penultimately, there are thirty-four standees and twenty-four counters, the former depicting the six pre-generated Player Characters and NPCs in the three scenarios. These are laser-cut on wood. Lastly, there is a Combat Status Chart which tracks the position of the Player Characters and the NPCs and their actions in combat. Along with a letter from the publisher, this is everything in Archeterica: The Invitation. Everything is delightfully tactile and again, it is a beautiful artefact.

Archeterica: The Invitation is published The Imago Cult following a successful Kickstarter campaign. The Ukrainian roleplaying game describes itself as the ‘game of genteel conspiracy’. It is set at the Dawn of the New Times. The opening years of the nineteenth century as the world is beset by revolution and occultism. The Industrial Revolution brings changes to the daily lives of workers, bankers, and the increasingly rich industrialists, whilst actual revolution brings about political change as bright young republics burst in existence alongside the older, staid monarchies and colonial powers. All of this takes place on the Disc, for no sailor is yet to brave the edge and beyond to see whether some scholars’ claims that the world is a sphere is true. The Old World lies in the west, its continents of Adriano and Al-Avid being similar to Europe and the Near East, respectively, whilst the New World is in the east, its continents of Salmandia and Graaldo being similar to Africa and the Americas, respectively. This is an alternate world in a Napoleonic Age of its own.

This is no mundane world though. It is full of secrets and conspiracies and the paranormal. Proper society dismisses such subject matters and discussions of them as being the realm of the fool and foolishness, often pointing to the countless charlatans, pseudo-scientists, and straight-up madmen that indulge the gullible or indulge themselves in such matters to no good end. Yet there is hidden truth in the occult and the Unearthly is real. Curses are real, paranormal abilities are real, rituals that take months of study and research that when enacted have the potential to grant enlightenment or change the movement of the heavens are real. Artefacts known as ‘Diablica’, perhaps ritualistic or occult objects or devices employing technologies not yet known, brought home from the New World or constructed by the enlightened (or the mad), continue to fascinate both researchers and collectors, yet their possession is banned by churches and governments alike. The authorities consider such artefacts dangerous sources of spiritual corruption and fear the powers they grant lest they be turned to revolution. Yet interest in the occult and diablica is rife, with amateur occultists forming local societies of their own to research and discuss such matters, their interests often benign, but all too often becoming a danger to themselves and others. Other societies have transcended mere parochialism, growing in power and influence, abutting, competing, and feuding with not just other occult brotherhoods, but also secret political and criminal organisations. Fear and suspicion of these secret cabals is fuelled by the sensationalism of the yellow press which sees and blames conspiracies everywhere.

The elevator pitch for Archeterica: The Invitation is The X-Files in the Napoleonic era. It is not though a roleplaying game about alien invasion or the fear of alien invasion, but rather a roleplaying game of Napoleonic conspiracy and the occult. Inspired by the television series Sharpe and Taboo, the film The Prestige, the Assassin’s Creed series of computer games, Archeterica: The Invitation casts the Player Characters as seekers of enlightenment, occult researchers, conspiracy theorists, and so on, who investigate both signs of the occult and conspiracy and work to prevent either from having too strong an influence on society.

A Player Character is defined by a concept, Narrative Attributes and their associated Talents, Burdens, combat skills, and inventory. The concept is who he is, whilst each Narrative Attribute represents an area of expertise or knowledge, profession, background, or previous experience. For example, a student radical might be represented by the ‘Student’ and ‘Firebrand’ Narrative Attributes, muckraking yellow journalist by the ‘Agent’ and ‘Journalist’ Narrative Attributes, and dilettante occultist by the ‘Aristocrat’ and ‘Occultist’ Narrative Attributes. Talents are the skills associated with a Narrative Attribute. Burdens are his personal flaws and weaknesses and are rated I, II, or III depending on how much of a hindrance they represent. Archeterica: The Invitation gives four options for combat skills—‘Fine Choice’, ‘Resourceful Ranger’, ‘Artful Daredevil’, and ‘Peaceable Socialite’.

Ottilie van Tulleken
Concept: Campaigning Journalist

GENTLE FOLK
Мanners II, Etiquette I, Social Connections I

JOURNALIST
Journalistic Reputation I, Subtle Bribery I, Reporting II

DETECTIVE
Information Gathering I, Sharp Eye I

BURDENS
Feminist II, Adventurism I, Vanity I

COMBAT SKILLS – PEACEABLE SOCIALITE
Classic Fencing II, Shooting I, New Beginnings 2, Instinct 3

INVENTORY
Pocket Pistol, Dagger, Umbrella, Small Set of Tools (lockpicking kit) Aristocratic Wardrobe, 1 mark in savings

Archeterica: The Invitation does detail several Narrative Attributes and their Talents as well as sample Burdens. A player is free to pick these or create his own and they do give a surprisingly wide choice. The creation process is not fully explained however, and it is only clear from the example that ranks are applied to the Talents. It does include some tables for character ideas, suggesting a character’s home country, social class, and former secret society. The entries for the table of home countries do draw parallels between the nations of the Disc and those of our Napoleonic era. Alternatively, the players can instead use the pre-generated Player Characters included in Archeterica: The Invitation. They include a ‘Gentleman Incognito’ with the Narrative Attributes of ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Malefactor’; a ‘Barricades Queen’ with the Narrative Attributes of ‘Revolutionary’ and ‘Commissar’; a military ‘Pioneer’ with the Narrative Attributes of ‘Sapper’ and ‘Expeditioner’; a ‘Foreigner’ with the Narrative Attributes of ‘Secret Broker’ and ‘Mystic’; a ‘Modern Day Hero’ with the Narrative Attributes of ‘Doctor’ and ‘Businessman’; and a ‘New Times Child’ with the Narrative Attributes of ‘Courier’ and ‘Opportunist’.

Mechanically, whenever a player wants his character to undertake an action in Archeterica: The Invitation, he rolls two six-sided dice, attempting to beat a Narrative Test Difficulty Level, which ranges from three and ‘Trivial’ to twelve and ‘Desperate’ with eight and ‘Challenging’ being the median. A player can lower the Difficulty Level by using his Talents, but the Game Master can increase it depending upon the character’s Burdens. Talents at Rank II or Rank III also enable a player to ‘Flip’ a roll, that is, to Flip it up or down, by turning the dice over to reveal and apply their reverse faces. In general, a player will want to perform an Upward Flip to have his character succeed at a task, but certain situations might mandate a Downward Flip. A player may only perform an Upward Flip once every twelve hours and it always incurs a complication of the Game Master’s choice. This might be to suffer Stress, which if ever reaches twelve means that the Player Character breaks down under the mental trauma, but it could also be a time delay, a loss of reputation, and so on.

In comparison to the core mechanic, combat in Archeterica: The Invitation is more complex. Actions require the expenditure of Action Points, whether that is step from one hex to another, run, aim, shoot, reload, cock a weapon, and so on. However, the number of Action Points a combatant has each round is rolled randomly. An attack requires a Mastery Test determined by comparing the attacker’s Mastery against the target’s Difficulty and rolling equal to or higher than the given target value. Although there are plenty of firearms listed, fencing is the preferred form of combat. It allows a combatant to attack as well as react to an attack against him. Such a reaction also costs Action Points, so it is wise to save some for that very purpose. Five styles are given, including ‘Classic’, ‘Savage’, ‘Court’, ‘Knightly’, and ‘Trickster’, and each comes with its form of attacks, reactions, and stances, all with their own Action Point costs.

Success indicates a successful strike and damage is rolled on two six-sided dice—for all weapons and attacks, though it can be modified depending on the weapon or type of attack. Some armour is available, which blocks damage, but all Player Characters have twelve Endurance Points whilst NPCs have ten. When a combatant’s Endurance is reduced to zero, it indicates that he has suffered an extra effect, the severity depending upon the amount of damage inflicted with the blow that reduced his Endurance to zero. This might be an insignificant scratch, being knocked out, receiving a scar, a severe wound, or death. Once every twelve hours, a player can Flip Down the damage his character receives in a single blow to reduce it. Each combatant’s number of Action Points and Endurance Points can be tracked on the Combat Status Chart.

Ottilie van Tulleken is conducting an investigation in a rookery when she is set upon by Albert, a thug who does not like her poking her nose into things. Albert has ten Endurance Points as an NPC, plus Savage Fencing II and is armed with a club that does three to seven points of damage (2d6/2+1). In the first round Ottilie has five Action Points and Albert has ten! Albert opts for a Battering Assault as part of his Savage Fencing Style. It costs him seven Action Points and will leave him with three. This enables him to attack twice. Ottlie opts for a Clean Block as a Reaction, using her umbrella. It costs three Action Points and will leave her with two. Not enough to repeat the action though. The Target Difficulty for Albert is seven because Ottilie has Classic Fencing II, which reduces it to five. Similarly, Ottilie’s Target Difficulty is also seven because of Albert’s Savage Fencing II and her Classic Fencing II. The Game Master’s Mastery Test for Albert’s first Battering Assault is ten, meaning his first punch lands, but Ottilie’s player’s is twelve meaning she blocks the first blow with her umbrella. For Albert’s second Battering Assault, the Game Master’s Mastery Test is nine and his second connects. This time Ottilie cannot defend against it and the Game Master rolls for damage. This is on two-sided dice and halved because it is non-lethal. The Game Master rolls ten and Ottilie’s Endurance Points are reduced to seven.

In the next round, Ottilie’s player rolls eight for Action Points, whilst the Game Master rolls four for Albert. With little he can do, Albert backs off, but not before Ottilie thwacks him one with her umbrella. This is a standard test and her player’s Mastery test result is six, meaning that she has succeeded. Unable to defend himself, Albert takes five points of damage from the Thrust. Ottilie still has four Action Points to spend. In turn, she uses two Action Points to draw her pocket pistol, another to aim it, and her last one to cock it. Albert finds himself at the point of her gun and steely gaze when she asks him, “Who sent you to lay your hands on me?”

Throughout, a Player Character can suffer Stress, which is tracked on a twelve-point scale, from ‘Clarity of Mind’ to ‘Onset of Madness’. The Game Master imposes Stress upon the Player Character, anything from a minor misfortune like the death of an acquaintance, worth one or two points, to the five or six points from the loss of a loved one, regarded as a major tragedy. That said, a Player Character resist Narrative Stress by making a Desperate Test, halving the number suffered, and when suffering an Archeshock from encountering the Unearthly, a Player Character can force himself to forget the experience and replace the memories of it with something mundane, or retain it and suffer the Stress. In the long term, taking a holiday or engaging in a hobby can reduce Stress. If however, the Player Character’s Stress exceeds twelve, he does go insane and he gains a point of Deep Stress, which cannot be removed. The nature of the insanity is a matter of discussion between player and Game Master, giving the player control over the effects. Should a Player Character’s Deep Stress also rise to twelve, the madness is permanent and he becomes an NPC. One side effect of Stress is that if the Action Point roll in combat is under a Player Character’s Stress level, he panics rather than acts.

In terms of Player Character development, players are rewarded three types of points. The first is Narrative Points which are used to buy and improve Talents. The second are Combat Points, used to improve Combat Techniques. The third are Burden Points which can be exchanged for Narrative Points, Combat Points, or used to reduce a Player Character’s Stress. The neat aspect is that the higher the Ranks of the Burden and the more of a hindrance, the better this exchange rate is. Although more complex than simple Experience Points, this encourages players to roleplay all aspects of their character as they will be rewarded for doing so.

Mysticism is the study of occult secrets and otherworldly knowledge, found in the whispers spread in the most select salons, in spirits that haunt the edge of vision, and tomes of esoteric knowledge that appear to be nothing more than the ravings of the deluded. However, the line between delusion and the actuality of the Unearthly is uncertain, giving scope for the charlatans, the believers, mystics and occultists, and the unfortunate who have been driven mad by their experiences. Archeterica is the pseudo-scientific study of Occultism and all that relates to the Imagosphere, the otherworldly plane of ideas and images, the Hexen Cauldron where the boundary with the Imagosphere is at its weakest and where most Diablica are found, and the Vladyfus, the ethereal rulers of Otherworld who have attained True Enlightenment and who most occultists want to emulate. All beings and some artefacts have an Imago, their esoteric essence and reflection of their soul. This is manifested in mystics, otherworldly entities, and artefacts as their mystical powers and represented by Imago Strings, ranging from between one and twelve. The greater the number of Imago Strings, the greater an Imago’s power.

For the Player Character, it is possible to increase the number of Imago Strings he has. To do so, he has to acquire Focus Points, whether through spiritual practices, studying occult literature, suffering shock enlightenment, or experiencing events of historical significance that further herald the Dawning of the New Times. He can also purchase Mystical Abilities such as Intuition, Manipulation, Fortune’s Favourite, and Anomaly Compass. Only six such Mystical Abilities are detailed and they are relatively low key in their application. As with the capacity to either ‘Flip Up’ or Flip Down’, they can only be used once every twelve hours. Conversely, a Player Character or NPC can gain a Metamorphosis, the mystical manifestation of a sin that they have committed, such as hearing ‘Wicked Voices’ or suffer ‘Sinner’s Shame’. There are ways of Absolving yourself of a Metamorphosis and its sin, but this would be a demanding task.

Rounding out the ‘Archeterica Invitation Rules’ are details of several of the Shadow Clubs, Shadow Leagues, and Shadow Empires lurking across The Disc. These are its secret societies, from local clubs to grand conspiracies, such as ‘The Evercourt’, the society of aristocrats and kings and queens, many of whom who have been forced into exile following revolutions; ‘The Blackwater Marauders’, Strangers from the other side of The Disc who have inveigling their way into societies across this face of The Disc; and the travelling warlock communities known as ‘The Wandering Cities’. Each description includes details of known agents, known vassals, and associated conspiracy theories.

‘Archeterica Invitation Rules’ is surprisingly comprehensive, but far from complete. The secret societies details are large rather than small and there is no advice for the Game Master or any discussion or presentation of any threats. So, no monsters or NPCs. The description of the occult is understandably brief, but one of the pre-generated Player Characters does have Mystical Abilities that will show off that aspect of the setting in play. However, what Archeterica: The Invitation does have is three scenarios. Each of the three comes with a good introduction, some character hooks that can be used to get the Player Characters involved, a breakdown of the plot, the dessert, and handouts. Some also include some lore as well, but the ‘dessert’ actually gives the supplementary information for the Game Master, including the stats for any NPCs or Imago.

The first of these, ‘Game Scenario: The Good Mayor’ is designed as an introductory scenario that can be played through in a single session. The Player Characters are employed by the Senate Special Services in the small town of Tsaplyny in the Brasian Republic to stifle any news of the death of the town’s mayor. It quickly escalates into a search for the body and a race to get a new one! The second, ‘Game Scenario: The Bastinarys’, switches the action to the end of the eighteenth century during the revolution in the Spohledian Protectorate that led to the founding of the Brasian Republic. It takes place in the capital of Bramastadt where the Revolution Commissary appoints the Player Characters to take control of the Bastinarys, the city’s royal fortress prison. They have to decide which faction they need to align with and free the prisoners previously incarcerated by the monarchy. Unfortunately, one of the inmates is much more than they expect and ultimately, they need to avoid ending up being executed by the Revolution Commissary. The third scenario is the most sophisticated of the three. ‘Game Scenario: Shady Deals in Strange Alley Ways’ begins with the Player Characters in possession of a mystical tome as they attempt to find a seller in Bramastadt without attracting the attention of the authority. Each of the scenarios in their own way deal with the occult elements of the setting, but not the conspiratorial elements. That will have to wait for a fuller longer scenario or game.

Physically, Archeterica: The Invitation is—as already mentioned—lovely. The quality is amazing and the artwork is superb. The writing is not always as clear as it should be, but the examples of play help illustrate the rules and make it easier for the Game Master to grasp them. Of course, it is so lovely that really, as the Game Master, you do not want your players getting their grubby little mitts on it.

As a starter set, what Archeterica: The Invitation is missing is perhaps ready reference material for both the Game Master and her players. Some tables and explanations of what various aspects of each Player Character are and how they work would have been useful. The setting itself probably does not receive as much attention or explanation as it should, and in places the rules really rely upon the examples to impart full understanding of them. It also leaves the reader wanting to know more about the Occult and the things that threaten the real world.

Of course, what grabs the reader first about Archeterica: The Invitation is its stark physicality. This is a gorgeous boxed set whose contents are genuinely delightful. Yet this is not just a pretty box with pretty contents. Inside the very well appointed quick-start not only makes a ‘I want to play now’ elevator pitch of a Napoleonic-era meets The X-Files world of the occult and conspiracies, but whilst not quite perfect in its execution, delivers on that promise. Archeterica: The Invitation is absolutely worth accepting and it would be impolite not to try this, the introduction to the first Ukrainian roleplaying game to reach the English-speaking hobby.

Blood for the Blood Queen!

It is 1586 and Queen Elizabeth holds Mary, Queen of Scots still prisoner. Powerful, yet on the periphery of Europe, she is anathema to every good Catholic and every Catholic majesty on the continent, and to the Pope in Rome. Philip II of Spain, once also King of England by marriage to Elizabeth’s older half-sister, Queen Mary, sees it as his divine duty to overthrow his sister-in-law as a heretic and install Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne of England. It is a year before Queen Elizabeth will execute Mary, Queen of Scots and two years before King Philip launched the ill-fated Spanish Armada to defeat England’s sea power and invade, making England catholic once again. Meanwhile, he plots and directs court to undermine the English throne at every turn. In 1586, at his bidding, his court astrologer, Abiathar Crescas, will launch a plot that will see Queen Elizabeth suborned and replaced by the end of the year! Only the condemned men and women in the employ of Doctor John Dee, heretics themselves who would have been executed long ago were it not for Sir Francis Walsingham giving them a stay of execution whilst they investigate occult threats to both Queen and kingdom, are all that stand between Spain and a dastardly demonic plot to overthrow her majesty! This is the situation that faces the Agents in Abaddon’s Puppet, a scenario for Just Crunch Games’ The Dee Sanction, the roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe.

Abaddon’s Puppet takes place in late 1586. It begins with Doctor John Dee instructing the Agents to continue investigating Christopher Marlowe after the events outlined in the scenario, ‘Ex Libris’ (which can be found in The Dee Sanction Adventures: A True & Faithful Transcription of Matters Concerning Lost Books, Strange Sorceries, Befouled Poppets, Accusations of Witchcraft, and Assorted HELLSCAPES) and word reaching the Agents of the bodies of children being found in the Thames, each one strangely withered, as if aged. This gives the Agents two lines of inquiry, one more difficult than the other. Investigating Christopher Marlowe is hampered by the fact that he has disappeared, but he was last seen coaching a young actor, Victor Smith, who has also disappeared. The Agents need to be circumspect here, since the clues point to Victor Smith working at the estate of Lord Wessex at nearby Egham. The other line of inquiry is more direct, taking the Agents along the banks of the Thames and surrounding streets on the trail of the bodies leading to an orphanage and a foundered ship just upriver. Eventually, this will lead to signs of very bloody doings in a nearby cellar. If the Agents are quick, they may well discover the perpetrators of bloody doings in situ and bring the scenario to much earlier end. However, it is more likely that they will be long gone by the Agents get there and it will be necessary to follow the other line of inquiry to the conclusion of the scenario. This takes place at Kenilworth Castle, owned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, where Abiathar Crescas and other Catholic conspirators work to bring their demonic plan to fruition and so engineer her dethronement and replacement by Mary, Queen of Scots.

Abaddon’s Puppet is a well organised affair. Each plot strand—the two investigations into Christopher Marlowe and the bodies in the water, followed by the journey to and the confrontation at Castle Kenilworth—is presented on a single page. This includes an overview and lists of clues, characters, and locations, the lists presenting the information as a series of bullet points. However, there is no direct connective tissue between the lists and it is not directly clear as to what clue each NPC knows and why. For the experienced Game Master this is not a problem as she can make the narrative connections and so bring the interactions between the NPCs and the Agents to life. For the less experienced Game Master this will be more of a hurdle and she may well want to assign each clue to a particular NPC or group of NPCs as part of her preparation. The Game Master might also want to create a few minor NPCs too should the players and their Agents want to talk to the families of the ‘adopted’ children. Otherwise, the organisation makes the scenario very easy to run from the page.

Physically, Abaddon’s Puppet is short, but decently organised and illustrated. Everything is clearly laid out and easy to find, and although lightly illustrated, it is a nice-looking scenario.

Taking some inspiration from the film Shakespeare in Love, Abaddon’s Puppet presents a dark, twisted plot against Queen Elizabeth that combines some pleasing investigation, a horrifying and challenging confrontation against the occult, and outright, bloody treason! In truth, the Agents are going to be lucky to survive the confrontation against Abaddon at the end of the scenario, but if they do, they will have proved their worth and their loyalty to the crown. Of course, having already been condemned to death and under stay of execution, their reward is never going to be more than a mere thanks and another assignment. Such is the power of The Dee Sanction.

One Bad Lock-In

If they are very lucky, for the agents of Doctor John Dee, it will be an evening like any other. Unluckily—rather luckily, for were they not such agents serving the crown, Walsingham would have not spared them their sentence for heresy—it is not going to be an evening like any other. Their employer, Mister Garland, sends the agents on what should be a simple collection task at The Admiral’s Compass, an inn in the once great port of Winchelsea, its once busy harbour silted up and its status as one of the Cinque Ports long since lost. Take possession of a valuable package and safely transport it Dee at Mortlake, they are told. Unfortunately, the contents of the package are far more dangerous than the Agents might suppose and certainly far more dangerous than the unfortunately greedy and larcenous stable boy at the inn could ever imagine. However, a furtive delivery and collection and a foolish theft are not the only events that are going to take place and be resolved at The Admiral’s Compass that night. This is the situation as laid out to the Agents in The Admiral’s Compass, a scenario for Just Crunch Games’ The Dee Sanction, the roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe.

TheAdmiral’s Compass is a short, single session scenario, published under the ‘Sanction Community Content Creation Licence’, that is location-based and could easily be run as a convention scenario, but just as simply slipped into an ongoing campaign. Its events all take place within the confines of the inn over the course of a single evening. Besides the collection of the package, the other threads—appropriately—involve a prisoner exchange with a Spanish envoy and the sad story of a young sailor whom came home scarred by his experiences serving aboard the Counter Armada launched by Sir Francis Drake in April, 1589, following the defeat of the Spanish Armada the previous year. Initially, the three strands are separate, but by mid-evening, they will crash into each other and become increasingly intertwined and involve the Agents more and more. This all takes place against the backdrop of a storm that keeps the inn isolated and its staff and patrons reluctant to step outside, plus the growing realisation that something is stalking them both. Mixed into this are at least a couple of creepy scenes, more so if either player or Agent is an arachnophobe!

Physically, The Admiral’s Compass is short, but decently organised and illustrated. Everything is clearly laid out and easy to find and there is both a floorplan and a description of the Inn. Overall, a nice-looking scenario.

The Admiral’s Compass can be run as a standard or a convention scenario or one-shot. As either of the later, the Game Master will need to prepare some ready-to-play Agents, complete with agendas of their own and agendas tied to the various members of staff and patrons at the inn. Otherwise, The Admiral’s Compass is a neat little horror scenario which takes place on a dark and stormy night.

“Let dead bodies lie”

It never pays to unearth the dead. Of late, rumours of ghosts and strange sightings have beset the London parish of Saint Poulkar, culminating in the recent attack by oddly acting rats upon a local child. These sightings have been centred near a converted Catholic estate that belongs to the Church, an estate that is recorded as having been the site of a mass burial site from the city’s last great Bubonic Plague outbreak in 1563. In addition, in response to complaints about the stench of the plague pit, ecclesiastical authorities have given permission for it to be excavated and cleared of the bones. Are the two connected? Certainly, the former is reason enough for Sir Francis Walsingham to want his agents to investigate and determine if there was something bad buried in the garden and if it represents a threat to the Crown and the natural order. And then deal with it. This is the situation as laid out to the Agents in Buried Dreams, a scenario for Just Crunch Games’ The Dee Sanction, the roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe.

Buried Dreams is a short, single session scenario, published under the ‘Sanction Community Content Creation Licence’, that is location-based and could easily be run as a convention scenario. It has a nice mix of elements. A frail old priest descending into senility after living too long near the plague pit in house belonging to the church, a ghostly woman walking at night, a team of diggers who have down tools at the conditions and the frightening apparitions, and a bullied engineer are the least of it. With some investigation the Player Characters can discover what the Catholic Church used the house for during the reign of Queen Mary I and before, what the Anglican Church did afterwards in response, and find signs of it to if they are sharp-eyed. It will be quickly obvious that all signs point to the pit and whatever it is that the church interred there, but finding someone else other than the striking labourers to dig further may prove to be a challenge and when they have discovered what was buried, what to do with it may prove to be an even bigger challenge. Ultimately, the problem shifts from one of the dig being the potential cause of the supernatural to whether it might actually be the solution in the face of a dangerous outbreak of occult activity. If the Player Characters do not act, the situation on the former estate will descend into one of murder, growing fear, and ultimately mass possession.

Physically, Buried Dreams is plainly presented. There only the one piece of artwork, used to illustrate the villain (so ideally, the Game Master should get more illustrations for the other NPCs lest it appear that the villain is being singled out) and a map of Elizabethan London. The later is nice, but too small to be of much use. A map of the estate would have been useful.

Buried Dreams is a short sharp scenario of horror resulting from misunderstanding and fear. It is easy to prepare and its London location makes it easy for the Game Master to add it to her campaign.

Friday Faction: The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain

There are plenty of good guides to the weird and wonderful past of Great Britain. The country is rich in folklore, the occult, magic and mysteries, horrors and hauntings, and much, much more, and so has been subject to numerous books and guides. The Readers Digest Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain and The Lore of The Land, backed up with Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, will give anyone with an interest in the myths and legends of the United Kingdom a good grounding in the subject, but both are hefty books. So they are not easily carried on the go, and in the case of both The Readers Digest Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain, several decades old. The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain does a similar job and covers much of the same material, but differs in two important ways. First, it is a more recent treatment of the subject and second, it is smaller and thus infinitely portable. In fact, The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain is actually designed to be portable for it actually includes the post codes for each of the numerous locations and sites described in its pages—though it is unlikely that all of these sites actually receive anything via Royal Mail (other delivery services may deliver). What this means is that the sites of the various standing stones, ghost sightings, occult personages, and more, are all easy to find. The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain may not be pocket-sized, but digest-sized, it is easy to carry around.

The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain is published by Hellebore, which collates various essays and pieces devoted to British folk horror—including folklore, myth, history, archaeology, psychogeography, witches, and the occult—into a series of fanzines. It covers the United Kingdom, region by region and country by country, so Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, as well as England—with London as a separate location. It starts in the southwest in Cornwall, and moves steadily east and north. The maps are marked with clear icons, including ‘Witches and Cunning Folk’, ‘The Old Gods’, ‘Magic, Rituals, and the Occult’, ‘Ancient Megaliths’, ‘Ports to the Otherworld’, and more. So in Dorset, Bradbury Rings and Cerne Abbas are the site of ‘The Old Gods’; Avebury and Stonehenge sites of ‘Ancient Megaliths’ in Wiltshire; ‘Witches and Cunning Folk’ of Pendle in Lancashire; and the ‘Curses and Portents’ of Cleopatra’s Needle and the ‘Magic, Rituals, and the Occult’ at both the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert, all in London. This barely touches upon the hundreds and hundreds of entries in The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain.

The various regions across The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain are colour coded, each region’s entries combining a mixture of short descriptions with slightly longer pieces. For example, Worcestershire has short entries on the Fleece Inn with its three white circles inn front of its fireplace to prevent the entry of witches via the chimney and Penda’s Fen, the children’s television series from the seventies, but longer entries on Bredon Hill and Wychbury Hill, the latter the site of an iron age hillfort, several follies, and the mystery of Bella in the Wych Elm. London is an exception to this with numerous entries under several different banners, such as Bloomsbury with the British Museum, Freemason’s Hall, and amusingly, both Treadwell’s Bookshop and The Atlantic Bookshop, and Hawksmoor’s London and Doctor John Dee’s London (Dee will also have entries for Manchester and Oxford).

Where The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain differs from other books of legend and folklore is its inclusion of sites particular to film, television, and literature. As with the other categories used in the book, these are clearly marked on the maps. For example, Aldeburgh in Suffolk is listed under ‘Film and Television Locations’ for the Martello Tower there, as it was the basis for M.R. James’ ‘A Warning to the Curious’, whilst several locations across southwest Scotland are listed as locations for the classic British folkloric horror film, The Wicker Man. There are not too many of the film, television, and literature locations throughout the volume, but in the case of the film and television entries, they add visual cues in particular for the imagination.

Physically, The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain is cleanly, if tightly laid out, primarily in black and white with the occasional use of spot colour. If there is an issue with the book it is that the liberal illustrations are not as crisply produced as they could be. The book does include an index and a list of references as well.

For roleplaying purposes, The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain is a useful book to have to hand. It is a veritable fount of ideas and hooks that the Game Master could turn into roleplaying encounters, scenarios, or mysteries for her gaming group. No more than that though, for the entries are thumbnail-sized and should be considered to be pointers or starters for the Game Master who will then need to conduct a little more research to flesh out the scenario or mystery. Nevertheless, much of the content would work in a wide range of horror roleplaying games, including They came from Beyond the Grave! from Onyx Path Publishing or Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition from Chaosium, Inc., as well as specifically United Kingdom-based roleplaying games, like Liminal from Wordplay Games, The Dee Sanction: Adventures in Covert Enochian Intelligence from Just Crunch Games, Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying from Free League Publishing, or Fearful Symmetries for Trail of Cthulhu from Pelgrane Press.

The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain is an indispensable travel guide to the legends and folklore of Britain. It is not so much a definite reference guide, but more a reference starter, a point from where the reader (or gamer) can have her interest piqued and from there conduct her own further reading and investigations. Compact, but full of interesting content, The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain is an excellent little tome to take off the shelf and flip through or even have handy in the bag when you want to find something really interesting to visit nearby.

England’s Dreaming Awaits

England is falling. She stuttered after the slaughter of the Great War and the ravages of the Spanish Flu. As the Bright Young Things flung themselves into the hedonism of the Jazz Age and the working classes fomented industrial action—if not outright revolution, the fall was accelerated after the Wall Street Crash spread the Great Depression around the world. Now as Fascism rises in nearby Europe and is admired and entertained by the Upper Classes, the country is losing its way, weak and unsure of what it once was, let alone what it is now. Yet there are those who recognise the malaise, and who not only know the solution, but have the means and the power to apply it and so restore the country. Since the strange occurrences in the South Pacific in 1925, there have been men and women who have come to see there are beings and powers beyond that can be used and bargained with to ensure that England can be at least itself once again, that it can inspire great men and simple men alike, be prepared to weather the coming storm, and perhaps aspire to be the Albion of William Blake’s verse. Their means is not politics or the modern arts of mass communication, but old arts and skills—magic! Or rather Alchemy, Spiritualism, and Witchcraft, as well as the Magick of the evillest man in England, Aleister Crowley. Armed with knowledge gained from their newfound skills and researches, they will delve into the myth and folklore of the country, allay the threats they sometimes are, have dealings with creatures and persons out of fable, and encounter those non-believers, rival magicians, and fascists who do not want a return to a green and pleasant land in a secret war which will play out over the course of the Desperate Decade.

This is the setting for Fearful Symmetries, a campaign for Trail of Cthulhu, published by Pelgrane Press. This explores the clash between rationalism and romance, science and magic, Lovecraft and Blake, the Mythos and the folklore in a framework inspired by Blake’s artwork and writings, that might not involve Lovecraftian investigative horror at all! For although the often non-Euclidean mathematics of the Mythos underly the workings of the mundane magics of Alchemy, Spiritualism, Magick, and Witchcraft, as well as the existence of the Mythos creatures and races that explain many of the creatures known in folklore, this does not mean that they will be recognised as being of the Mythos. Thus, the Investigators may encounter the Mythos but not necessarily recognise as such, likely losing Stability and Sanity nevertheless, just as they will for practising magic and encountering folkloric creature. Ultimately, magic, even as it empowers the Investigators to deal with the threats to Albion and ensure its restoration, is a double-edged sword, yet one more ‘fearful symmetry’ they will face in the course of a campaign.

Fearful Symmetries begins with an introduction to William Blake and both his works and mythology, contrasting them with those of Lovecraft. This section in particular is lavishly illustrated with Blake’s paintings, but they are used throughout the book and so give it a very individual look. Here the groundwork is laid for a campaign, including whether it should be played open or closed in terms of Investigator knowledge, the style of magic the Investigators should employ—Magick is the default, the conventions of magic, what type of characters to play, and advice for the player. The counterpart to this—or symmetry—is the advice and tools for the Keeper. The Folklore Engine and the History Machine are the primary sets of tools, more a series of prompt than necessarily tools, but they enable the Keeper to build mysteries and episodes around folklore and the real world. They have their own counterpart for the players in the form of The Book of the New Jerusalem, an in-game prompt that they can draw from to direct their Investigators’ enquiries. Other tools include geographical and relationship maps, timelines, and more, the latter running all the way up to safety tools necessary for a good game. There is decent advice on setting up and running a campaign, the primary advice being that the Keeper improvise in response to her players’ and their Investigators’ actions and decisions, many of which are intended to be drawn from The Book of the New Jerusalem.

One major difference between Trail of Cthulhu and Fearful Symmetries is the power level of the Investigators. In Trail of Cthulhu—even in Pulp mode, the power level of the Investigators is low. At best, an Investigator might know a spell or two in Trail of Cthulhu, whereas in Fearful Symmetries they are magical adepts, capable of casting a variety of spells, empowering rituals, creating magical items, entreating with magical beings, and incarnating Blakean spirits. Fearful Symmetries gives ways of making the casting of Incantations—immediate spells, and the performing of rituals—longer, more involved castings, both interesting and mechanically beneficial. Magic here has to be worked, especially the rituals, which the Investigators will be regularly performing, whether this is initiation rituals to bring someone into a magical group or attunement rituals to align the casters to a magical item or node. The attunement ritual will be important throughout a Fearful Symmetries campaign as the Investigators will be working to restore and repair important locations upon England’s ley lines and this bring about a new Albion.

Although the default style of magic in Fearful Symmetries is Aleister Crowley’s Magick, three others—Alchemy, Spiritualism, and Witchcraft—are also examined in detail. Others are mentioned as an aside, but the focus on the key four means that there is a lot here for the Keeper to grasp and understand, let alone her players. Having Magick as the default offsets that, although main reason is that having the Investigators share the same magical style means that they can easier work together. The wealth of information here means that the casting of magic should never get stale.

In terms of background, Fearful Symmetries gives a good guide to life and cultures of mundane England of the thirties, details several of the occult groups operating in England in the period (these can be rivals, groups the Investigators can join, and so on), points to ordinary groups such as ramblers and potholers as useful contacts and NPCs, numerous creatures and beings from British folklore are described and given stats, as are various items and occult books. Occult England—or Albion—takes in not just the notable magical places across the country, thus tying in with The Book of the New Jerusalem, but also extends beyond into other places. These include Fairyland, the astral plane, even Death, as well as John Dee’s Aethyrs, the planes surrounding the Earth. Combined with the ley maps in the appendices at the rear of the book and The Book of the New Jerusalem and what Fearful Symmetries provides an occult sandbox which the Keeper can develop a campaign from and the players and their Investigators can explore in pursuit of a restored Albion.

The default or sample campaign in Fearful Symmetries comes oddly placed in the middle of the book. In ‘Fearful Symmetries’ the Investigators begin as newly initiated practitioners whose mentor is suddenly snatched away in front in of them by what is arguably Blake’s most well-known motif. Once the ritual is completed and now both initiated and incarnated as one of Blake’s Zoas, or primal spirits, they can begin following the clues in search of their mentor and discover who or what abducted her in front of their eyes. The plot thickens with a Lovecraftian antagonist, trips out into the English countryside and across seedy London (potential here for a crossover with Bookhounds of London and The Book of the Smoke, the London counterpart—or symmetry?—to The Book of the New Jerusalem), and in the second part or series, confrontations with England’s growing obsession with fascism. Just fifteen pages long, this is an excellent outline, which together with the background, should develop into a good campaign.

Rounding out Fearful Symmetries is a bibliography and a set of appendices that examine the ley lines network across London, worksheets, lists of alternate names for folkloric creatures, a glossary, a lengthy list of other occult books, and maps of the lay lines detailed earlier in the book. In particular, the examination of the ley lines network across London ties into the sample campaign and potentially turns Fearful Symmetries into a sequel to the earlier Bookhounds of London.

Physically, Fearful Symmetries is cleanly and tidily presented, its tight blocks of text broken up by Blake’s artwork as well as the liberal inclusion of quotes from Blake himself, plus William Shakespeare, H.P. Lovecraft, Aleister Crowley, Arthur Machen, and many more. This makes the book a lot easier to read given the wealth of information it provides. If there is a downside to the book, it is the lack of index, inexcusable given just how much information there is in Fearful Symmetries.

Fearful Symmetries is not a traditional campaign or setting book for Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying, let alone for Trail of Cthulhu. Of course, Pelgrane Press has form here with Dreamhounds of Paris, which combined Surrealism with the Dreamlands, but Fearful Symmetries is not really about the Mythos, although it is present, hidden under layers of Blake’s mysticism and the occult traditions practiced in the thirties. So the Investigators may never even encounter it. Nor is it a case of encountering a great ‘evil’ and thwarting its plans necessarily, as is the usual in a campaign of Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying, but rather of restoring and rebuilding an ideal. This is Blake’s Albion, the old Albion, as opposed to the ‘new’ Albion that the English fascists might be dreaming of, again, one more of the symmetries to be found in the supplement. One way in which Fearful Symmetries can be seen, especially in its emphasis upon Aleister Crowley’s Magick, is as a spiritual successor to Pagan Publishing’s The Golden Dawn.

Fearful Symmetries takes Trail of Cthulhu and the GUMSHOE System into the realm of occult investigative roleplaying, and whilst it does not leave Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying behind, it does prove that it is as dangerous as the Mythos. There is a bucolic richness to this realm, both in the mundane and the magical, that begs to be explored and appreciated, but there is complexity too, more so than will be found in a typical Trail of Cthulhu or Lovecraftian investigative roleplaying campaign. There is also, a sense of hope to Fearful Symmetries, a yearning for England to be a better place, and as dangerous and as difficult as the attempt will be, that the Investigators are rebuilding and restoring the country, directing her down a different path, rather than saving the country against an unknowable and uncaring foe. In hindsight, this can also be seen as restoring England as she once was spiritually and thus preparing her in time for the calamities that will come in the face of war.

As English as it can be, Fearful Symmetries is a superb set of tools for a very different type of campaign. Rife with fascinating parallels and contrasts, Fearful Symmetries presents a setting and campaign of occult investigative roleplaying that will be demanding of Keeper and player alike, but enable them to explore a rich world of the occult and the folkloric, becoming the country’s secret saviours as they master dangerous Magicks, face fascist bullyboys, and bring about a better future.

Dee’s Discernments

The Sight: A True & Faithful Relation of Acts of Supernatural Foresight, Uncanny Vision, divers Readings of Occult Tokens: shewing the Particulars of SOME SPIRITS is a supplement of magic for The Dee Sanction: Adventures in Covert Enochian Intelligence. Or rather The Sight is a supplement of alternative and deeper magic for The Dee Sanction. For in The Dee Sanction, all Agents of Dee have magic. For under the terms of the Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts, it permitted those with heretical knowledge to work off their sentence in service to, and in protection of, Her Majesty, Queen Elisabeth. This includes the one Favour, the very low key magical, Angelic means of influence that the Agent can bear upon the world, learnt through study of a corrupting tome or tutelage at the hands of a secret society. Theirs is a minor magic, but amongst their number, since after all, the authorities are on the constant lookout for any capable of even minor magics, there will be those capable of more—much more.

The Sight is a short supplement which introduces to four new talents—Aura Reading, Prophecy, Scrying, and Token Reading—to The Dee Sanction. It also provides guidance on visions, communing with spirits, possession, hypnosis, and the miraculous intervention of the Divine Chorus. Potentially, it increases the magical potency of the Player Characters or Agents, as well as adding a degree of uncertainty when using their magic. To determine if an Agent or indeed, an NPC, has the Sight, the supplement uses an expanded table over that given in The Dee Sanction. When a player uses the table, he either rolls larger dice types or draws from a full deck of playing cards to account for the increased number of entries. Standard rolls or number playing cards indicate that the Agent has a Favour, as in the core rules for The Dee Sanction, but here every entry has a list of three options, which the player can choose from or take all three, depending how much magic the Game Master wants her player to know.

Rolls of elven or twelve, or draws of either a Jack, Queen, or King, if using cards, determines whether has the Sight. Aura Reading enables an Agent to view and interpret someone’s supernatural aspects, Prophecy to see the future, Scrying to see things that are unseen, and Token reading to examine the lore and history bound up in objects. They are further divided into three, the die result or card determining which particular one an Agent has. For example, Prophecy includes Danger Sense, Things to Come, and Fortune Telling, whilst Scrying includes Visions, Divinations, and Summoned Advisor. There is some overlap to these, but there is every effort to make them different and feel different in play. Divination, for example, allows an Agent to experience the environment around a specific person, place, or event once a significant connection is established with them, which would require the blood or hair of the person, or an object from the location. Whereas Things to Come gives brief visions or warnings of threat, perhaps upon meeting someone, and is always involuntary.

Use of the Sight requires a player to succeed at a Supernatural Challenge. However, unlike the angelic nature of Favours, the Sight is supernatural in nature and therefore fickle. Which means that even in a player facing roleplaying such as The Dee Sanction, the Game Master gets to roll as well as the player. This elevates what would be a Supernatural Challenge in an Uncertain Challenge. The results of the use of the Sight range from Untruthful to Truthful depending upon whether the player and the Game Master both falter, one succeeds and one falters, and both succeed. The result, especially if the Agent is attempting to see the future, is only a possible future and it need not be easy to understand. In fact, it should be cryptic, and further, it should only told to the player of the Agent with the Sight, and done so in private. Further, the player should not write it down. This accentuates the uncertainty of the Sight. Inspiration for such foretellings is provided in a pair of tables.

The Sight also covers communing with spirits and talking with angels, the former answering a few questions, the latter even performing a miracle. There are rules here as well for possession and exorcism, and for both major and minor miracles. Both lend themselves to story possibilities, and of course, Enochian is the language of the angels, so it seems obvious to have talking with angels included here.

Physically, The Sight is cleanly and tidily laid out. It is lightly illustrated and consequently less obtrusive in comparison to the core rulebook.

The Sight is an excellent expansion to The Dee Sanction: Adventures in Covert Enochian Intelligence. Its rules are all entirely optional, and even if the Game Master decides not to add them to her campaign of The Dee Sanction or does not necessarily want her players’ Agents to possess them, they can remain the province of the NPCs or simply a source of ideas. However it is used, The Sight: A True & Faithful Relation of Acts of Supernatural Foresight, Uncanny Vision, divers Readings of Occult Tokens: shewing the Particulars of SOME SPIRITS still open up further story avenues and ideas as well as making the use of magic uncertain.

—oOo—

Just Crunch Games will be at UK Games Expo which takes place from Friday, June 3rd to Sunday, June 5th, 2022.

Dee's Occult Half-Dozen

The Dee Sanction Adventures: A True & Faithful Transcription of Matters Concerning Lost Books, Strange Sorceries, Befouled Poppets, Accusations of Witchcraft, and Assorted HELLSCAPES is an anthology of adventures for The Dee Sanction, the roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe. It collects a half-dozen adventures released as PDF titles for the original Kickstarter and subsequently funded by a second Kickstarter campaign for a print edition. All of these scenarios are set during the reign of Elizabeth I, beginning in the year 1570, when Pope Pius V excommunicates her for her heresy and her persecution of the Catholics In England and the Catholic conspiracies against her seem to run rampant. All six can be run in more or less any order, or alternatively, run as a six-part campaign. The Dee Sanction Adventures starts with advice to that end, but nevertheless, it does require some effort upon the part of the Game Master to make the connections and links between them and so have them form a whole campaign.

The anthology—and potentially the campaign—opens with ‘Window of the Soul’ and the agents out on the town for an evening’s entertainment in the drinking holes, brothels, and bear-baiting pits of Southwark. However, their revelries are interrupted when they come upon a cart driver, his wife, and their child under assault by a group of ruffians, hellbent on doing them harm. This could be a simple robbery, but they detect something arcane about the attackers. Are they cursed? Bewitched? Or something else? Clues lead them into the comings and doings of Southwark and ultimately to the highest echelons the conspiracy against good Queen Bess. This is solid start to the anthology with a strange piece of investigation and incidences of mania which seem to affect the Londoners and the Player Characters.

It is followed by ‘The Gong Scourer’s Baby’ in which Doctor Dee—or Mister Garland—asks his Agents to investigate the birth of a Miracle Baby to a Gong Farmer in Southwark. With both the Queen and Doctor Dee away for her health, the Agents make the strange discovery that there is something more to the baby than mere miracle. Tracking down the source of the child will take them along the Thames and into a maze of industry and perhaps hints as to a conspiracy against Her Majesty. ‘The Gong Scourer’s Baby’ requires some input upon the part of the Game Master to set up and a bit more complex, with multiple options to choose from and timeline which the Player Characters will initially be unaware of.

The set-up to the third scenario harks back to the Player Characters’ own recruitment working as Agents for Doctor Dee. ‘In Fertile Soil’ takes the Agents out of London to investigate a possible Witch—accused of witchcraft and murder, and perhaps recruit her as a fellow member of the Sanction (and if not that, then help administer justice). The village of Soulgrave is a hotbed of gossip, and hides plenty of secrets, all under the eye of a puritanical parson. There is potential here for one or two creepy encounters out in the woods, and for Game Master an intriguing nod to future history and perhaps a roleplaying game like the FLAMES OF FREEDOM Grim & Perilous RPG.

A larger, more obvious monstrous threat has been harrowing travellers passing through Waltham Forest and so represents a potential threat to one of the Queen’s favourite hunting grounds, which means it requires urgent investigation upon the part of the Agents. After all, who would want to arouse the ire of the Queen? In ‘In The Monk’s Cowl’, the Agents are again sent out of London, this time to the market town of Waltham Abbey where they discover strange activities around the ruins of the abbey. This is perhaps the most complex investigation in the anthology, mixed in with some Hammer Horror, with no quite clear path to finding a solution to the problem and potential for disaster.

‘The Harrowing of Harlow Hall’ is a bit of an oddity in The Dee Sanction Adventures. It is a single location of adventure, set within the grounds and rooms of Harlow Hall, the home to one of the few individuals to have earned his freedom from the Dee Sanction. Thus it feels much more like a dungeon than any other adventure. It is also a much darker adventure in terms of its tone and content, and so does come with a warning for its horrifying content. It feels initially little like Hammer Horror film, but ramps up the nastiness as the Agents explore the house. ‘The Harrowing of Harlow Hall’ comes fifth in the anthology, but could easily be shifted to earlier or later if The Dee Sanction Adventures are being run as a campaign. However, its darker, perhaps even apocalyptically oppressive atmosphere means it is better suited for later in the campaign, and even perhaps as the climax to such a campaign.

Lastly, the feel of the dungeon continues in ‘Ex Libris’, which takes place in Deptford village where Doctor Dee sends the Agents to recover a copy of The Book of Dead Names. However, as they investigate the house and its cellars, the Agents discover that they are not the only ones after the book. This sets up a direct confrontation with the cultists and adds an element of time to the scenario as the Agents and their adversaries race to find the book. Plus, depending upon when the Game Master runs the scenario, it can lead into further adventures if the Agents fail to obtain the book—which is a serious possibility.

Physically, The Dee Adventures is a short, full colour digest book. The anthology is well written and benefits from some decent handouts and maps. The artwork is variable in quality, at best decent rather than outstanding. All of the adventures are quite short and should take no more than two or three sessions to play through—some much shorter than that.

The Dee Sanction Adventures: A True & Faithful Transcription of Matters Concerning Lost Books, Strange Sorceries, Befouled Poppets, Accusations of Witchcraft, and Assorted HELLSCAPES delivers on all that its title states. This is a solid and diverse collection of adventures that will see the Agents of Dee facing a variety of threats and dangers, whether used separately, together as a campaign, or woven into the Game Master’s own campaign.

Dee's Dirty Half Dozen

England under the reign of Elizabeth Tudor is imperilled from all sides. From the Church of Rome and all of its adherent nations across Europe, as well as those within England who had not renounced their Catholicism and become members of the Church of England. And also from the supernatural and the practitioners of magick who grow stranger and more prevalent as the wall of blind faith that protected the country and the monarchy had been weakened. First, by her father, Henry VIII’s break from Rome, his establishment of the Church of England, and Dissolution of the Monasteries; second, by her sister, Queen Mary’s reestablishment of Catholicism in the country in an attempt to undo her father’s scheming; and third, by the schism in Christianity that would give rise to fanatics upon both sides. The resultant rise in magical and incidences of the supernatural were not seen as being due to a loss of faith, but to a rise in the practice of witchcraft, such that five years after succeeding to the throne, Queen Elizabeth passed an Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts, which particular made it a capital offence to employ magick to kill another and a felony to use it to maim or to consort with evil spirits, provoke love, or seek buried treasure. However, at the urging of Francis Walsingham, master of the Queen’s spy network in Europe, and Doctor John Dee, astrologer, alchemist, and companion in words to the Queen, she made an amendment—The Dee Sanction. This permitted the practice of magick in defence of the realm; it permitted those with heretical knowledge to work off their sentence in service to, and in protection of, Her Majesty; and it gave England a first line of defence against magick, its practitioners, and the supernatural. The fate of such agents would remain in the hands of Walsingham and Dee, their punishment abated—at least for the time being, and perhaps, just perhaps, despite what they have seen and what they have done, both in service of the Queen and before it, they might find absolution, they might have their sentences commuted.

This is the set-up for The Dee Sanction, a roleplaying game of ‘Covert Enochian Intelligence’ in which the Player Characters—or Agents of Dee—are drawn into adventures in magick and politics across supernatural Tudor Europe. Designed and published by the creator of The Cthulhu Hack following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a stripped back, Old School Renaissance-style (but not actual Old School Renaissance) roleplaying game of Tudor horror, investigation, and magic. The Agents of Dee, the Player Characters, are vulnerable and expendable, amateurs at best only slightly supernatural, criminals marked for death, and thus beneath the contempt of the privileged. They are duty bound to investigate and stop supernatural threats which could kill them, for should they run, they will be hunted and hanged for the criminals they are, and being expendable kept in the dark as to the truth of any situation or even any monster they might face, and ultimately if their efforts to stop the horrors and the supernatural which might threaten the realm fail, they are the ones to blame.

An Agent in The Dee Sanction is first defined by three Resources—Physicall, Intellectuall, and Supernaturall. These are rated by die type—initially a six-sided die for all, but one or more of these can be stepped down a die type in order to increase one or the other two according to the player’s preference. An Agent also has a Back Story which represents crucial steps in their life leading up to and beyond the point they stepped onto the black path that resulted in both their enlightenment and the dark mark on their soul. It also includes an Occupation, which provides a choice of eight Abilities, of which a player selects three; a damning Association and a Focus for enlightenment; and a Favour, a minor, very low key magical, Angelic means of influence that the Agent can bear upon the world. An Agent has Hits—how much harm he can withstand when wavering in face of Threats or Hazards; Unravelling, a further Resource which represents the balance of his humours, which can be upset through fear and exposure to the Unnatural; and lastly, a single Fortune token which allows a reroll. Elements such as the Back Story and Favour are determined randomly, either by rolling dice or drawing cards from a standard deck.

Mistress Conquest works the streets of London at night with a crew disposing of its rubbish. Always wanting to better herself and find a better place for women in general, in the discovery of a strange book— The Voynich Manuscript—she saw an opportunity to learn and perhaps gain knowledge that would help her. Unfortunately, she was able to learn little before the book’s previous owners came for her, but the members of The Octagon Society recognised her ambitions and believed that they could be aligned with their aims to find balance in both mind and spirit as a route to a higher purpose or form. She was able to learn a little before the society was rounded up as part of the enforcement of the Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts.

Janet Conquest
Intellectuall d8
Physicall d6
Supernaturall d4

Back Story
Occupation – Scavenger
Abilities – Scavenging, Night-Work, Astrology
Association – The Octagon Society
Focus – The Voynich Manuscript
Favour – Moisten (Stain, Spatter, Damp)

Hits 3
Unravelling d8
Fortune 1

Mechanically, The Dee Sanction has the feel of The Black Hack and Cthulhu Hack, but instead of deploying the standard attributes, uses its Resource mechanics instead. Thus whenever an Agent faces a Challenge, whether a Threat or a Hazard, his player rolls the appropriate Resource die. A roll of three or more and the Agent succeeds. However, if the result is a one or a two, the Challenge Falters and the Agent suffers a Consequence. This does not mean that an Agent has failed, but rather that his progress is slowed or achieved with unforeseen ramifications or a complication. In combat, this is typically not an unforeseen ramification but rather a loss of a Hit, but in other situations an Agent could be Humiliated with a social Challenge or Exhausted after an endurance Challenge. In addition, a Resource can be stepped up to the next higher die type or down to the next lower die type due to environmental factors, preparation, enemy power, and even Abilities. If the die type drops below d4, the Challenge becomes a Call to Fail, and the player has the option for his Agent to step back from the situation or take the Consequence. Combat is handled in a similar fashion, with a Moment representing a few seconds and initiative only failed on Falter. As with The Black Hack, the mechanics are player-facing, so in combat he rolls for his Agent to attack and to defend against attacks. A success on an attack and typically a single Hit is inflicted and a success on a defend, the Agent avoids harm, but suffers it on a Falter. If an Agent is reduced to zero Hits, he is dying and if his player rolls a Falter three times he dies. Otherwise, he is Out of Action and suffers a Consequence of the Game Master’s choice.

The Dee Sanction being a horror roleplaying game has its equivalent of a Sanity mechanic, in its case, the Unravelling. When the uniformity of belief divided and called into question and the Dissolution of the Monasteries scouring England’s symbols of belief, the Unravelling began… Across the country, in dense and trackless forest, along stretches of rambling roads, and within the ruins of broken churches and abbeys, somethings otherworldly snaked into the mortal world, Chaos blossomed in dark places, and there have been many nights when the Wild Hunt rides out. Exposure to unnatural horrors, rampant chaos, or the influence of other worlds is disruptive, traumatic, and unsettling, and when an Agent encounters the inhuman, the abhorrent, and the impossible, his player rolls the Unravelling Resource. Again, rolls of three or more and the Agent has the mental and perhaps moral fortitude to withstand the otherwise horrid effects of the unnatural, whilst a roll of one or two indicates a Falter. Where in other situations, a Falter indicates a success with complications, when facing the otherworldly, a Falter indicates that the Agent has suffered mental, soul scouring complications and one of his Humours has been upset. Not only is the Agent’s Unravelling die stepped down to its next lower step, the Agent suffers an Immediate Effect which lasts for a scene and an Ongoing Consequence which lasts until the Agent has had an overnight rest. Major frights may require the Unravelling die to be stepped down before the roll is made!

For example, Mistress Conquest has been directed to investigate sightings of a pony with blazing eyes in the Queen’s forests to the south. Near the village of Allum Green, she sets out to locate and confirm the truth of the matter. The Game Master says that searching for signs at night is a Challenge and will force her Intellectuall Resource to be stepped down, but Mistress Conquest’s player suggests that her Night-Work Ability would help in the situation. The Game Master agrees and Mistress Conquest’s player rolls her full Intellectuall Resource die. The roll is successful and some hours later, Mistress Conquest comes across the strange beast in the middle of a track. As it turns and snorts at its new watcher, its eyes blaze with fire and Mistress Conquest is taken afrit. The Game Master asks her player to roll her Agent’s Unravelling die. Unfortunately, the result is a Falter and Mistress Conquest must suffer the effects. Her player rolls an eight-sided die for the Immediate Effect and a six-sided die for the Ongoing Consequence. Mistress Conquest’s Black Bile Humour is up and the Immediate Effect is that she is overwhelmed by extreme emotion, her eyes filling with tears, and her body given over to deep sobs. The Ongoing Consequence is that once her tears and sobs have dried up, she is struck Sullen into a resentful silence and despondent, having been scared by the unnatural beast.

Besides their own Abilities and Resources, the Agents have access to a number of tools and devices. One set is narrative in nature, the others not. The narrative tools are six broad influences in Tradecraft—Access, Conspiracy, Kit, Magic, System, and Vigilance. Access represents contacts and associations that the Agents can take advantage of; Conspiracy dealings with anything which questions the status quo and common sense; Kit, the right equipment or ingredient; Magic, knowledge of the Other World; System, the ability to work the country’s bureaucracy; and Vigilance, watchfulness, caution, and curiosity. Each facet of Tradecraft is a shared Resource between the Agents, and just the one is chosen at the beginning of each adventure or mission, representing how the Agents plan to deal with the unexpected or unknown they might encounter as part of their investigations. At the end of the mission, that facet is lost, whether it has been used as part of the Agents’ enquiries or not. Its primary use is to counter the Marks possessed by the enemies, hazards, and other threats that the Agents will encounter. Marks are narrative objectives, representing tasks that the Agents need to fulfil in order to successfully investigate and deal with a threat to the realm, and since only one can be addressed in each adventure, they lend themselves to play over the course of two or more adventures in dealing with a single mission.

For example, the Agents have been tasked with investigating the activities of one Sidney Montague, a student at Oxford who has been taking an interest in particular books at the college and so his tutors have alerted Doctor Dee. Montague’s mother regularly attends court and so has the favour of the Queen, so the Agents have to be careful in how they proceed. The Game Master sets three Marks. One is Conspiracy to determine what the Montague is bringing into his country retreat from the continent; the second is Kit, finding the right device to deal with the Barghest Montague has summoned and is roaming the forest; and the third is System, the Agents needing to obtain a signed and sealed legal writ giving them permission to search the house.

The other tools are magical devices which aid the Agents in their investigations. They each have a Black Seal or amulet which allows them to communicate with Dee from a distance and also eventually, understand other languages and they have access to Stone Houses, a series of refuges and sanctuaries across Europe and the Middle East, that only those wearing the Black Seal may enter. Dee himself has Mercator’s Void, used as part of scrying rituals, and he can send Mister Garland, a supernatural manifestation, either a ghost or even an archangel, to serve as a briefing officer for the Agents and a contact for Dee. Specifically, the designer notes that Mister Garland serves as the equivalent of the character Al from Quantum Leap and the miniature tape recorder from Mission: Impossible, and that is an indicator of the tone of The Dee Sanction. It is an investigative horror roleplaying game set in the Tudor period, but it is not written as a strictly historical roleplaying game. It is intended to be played more as a horror mystery television series set in the Tudor period of an alternate Europe which makes the elements of magick, conspiracies, and so on, are real. And the devices themselves are reskinned anachronisms which facilitate, but break neither the narrative nor the tone of the television series.

For the Game Master there is a listing of the major enemies of the Queen, including the Pope and the Catholic Church, Mary, Queen of Scots, the Fae of the Great Wood, and more, plus a short bestiary—with it being easy to add more from other sources, background information about the Tudor Age and on both Walsingham and Dee, advice on running the game and even on converting adventures and their plots from elsewhere. Notably, it highlights how fragile the Agents are, having only a few Hits and their Unravelling almost a certainty… It also suggests that the Agents and their players keep a journal, both as means to record their progress and suspicions, and perhaps a means of the Game Master to develop further adventures from, and also a way for a replacement Agent to come up to speed quickly in an investigation should one of them die! Rounding out The Dee Sanction is the one-shot, ‘Lost in Translation’. It takes place during the great tour of European courts undertaken by John Dee and Edward Kelley in pursuit of occult knowledge, with the Agents being sent to recover a lost relic whilst they are in Poland. In doing so, they confront the creeping incursion of the unnatural that has come about with the weakening of faith across the continent, and whilst there are political benefits to be gained from a successful outcome, they will not be without their consequences… It feels a little odd to have a scenario in a roleplaying game which focuses on Tudor England set on the continent, especially in the core book. That said, as a one-shot it is fine and it can be adjusted back to England if that is what the Game Master wants, plus it would work later on in a campaign which could go abroad. Despite it being a solid introduction to the setting, it would have been perhaps stronger in storytelling terms to have gone with the pilot for The Dee Sanction television series, that is, the ‘how the Agents got into this mess and this is how they get out of it’ story and explored that aspect of the setting a bit further.

Physically, The Dee Sanction comes as a handy, digest-sized supplement. It is perhaps a little busy in terms of its layout, with a lot of bold text and so it does need a closer read in places than its then obvious simplicity warrants. The artwork has a nicely idiosyncratic feel to it and overall, there is no denying the certain charm to its physical look and feel.

Despite some missed opportunities in the choice of scenario, The Dee Sanction is a fantastical little offering of desperate horror and occult investigative roleplaying in a different age, but one with which we will be familiar from our fascination with the period. It is thus easily accessible in terms of the setting, just as is its horror and its set-up, all eased by simple mechanics that both create interesting Agents and make game play quick.