Miskatonic Monday #4: Plague

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was a Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise ofthe Dead, Rise ofthe Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the far reaches of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: Plague

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.

Author: Matt Ryan & Noah Lloyd

Illsutrations: Sam Mameli

Setting: Arkham, Modern Day, Lovecraft Country

Product: One-Shot Scenario

What You Get: 26.2 MB, 36-page full colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Against the clock, medical emergency to defeat the shrubbry of death

Plot Hook: The investigators are members of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team assigned to investigate the outbreak of an unknown and deadly disease in an old house.

Plot Development: Inter-team rivalries; the demands of the building's tenants; a rapidly developing disease.

Plot Support: Fully plotted out with eighteen NPCs, scenes and events, timeline, and medical investigation. Plus six pre-generated inter-connected investigators.

Production Values: Needs an edit. Clear maps. Good house map. Investigator backgrounds not with their investigator sheets.

Pros

# Works as a convention scenario

# Good one-shot or first exposure to the Mythos

# Passing resemblance to The Monolith Monsters

# Lots of well-drawn NPCs for the Keeper to portray

# Simple plot with few timed events
# Mythos underplayed
# Link to 'The People of the Monolith'
# A very giving Gug

# Easy to adapt to Delta Green   

Cons

# Finding a cure feels underplayed

# Feels like there is just the one possible outcome

# What happens next?

Conclusion

# Medical investigation underwritten

# NPC reactions and motivations nicely handled

# Limited possible outcomes

# Delivers some good 'shocks', but the one potential shock is the best
# What happens next?

Miskatonic Monday #3: Terror Itself

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was a Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise ofthe Dead, Rise ofthe Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the far reaches of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: Terror Itself

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.

Author: James Coquillat & David Naylor

Illsutrations: Alex Low, David Naylor, & Leon Fechner

Setting: Massachusetts, 1920s, Miskatonic University, Lovecraft Country

Product: Scenario

What You Get: 2.2 MB, 24-page full colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Archaeology meets things under the bed all against the clock

Plot Hook: A lonely strangeness comes to an isolated Massachusetts village after the Investigators begin an archaeological dig on an Indian burial ground.

Plot Development: Interesting archaeology and missing animals. Are strangers—the investigators?—responsible or is something else haunting the town?

Plot Support: Fully plotted out with eight NPCs, scenes and events, timeline, and archaeological investigation. Plus six pre-generated investigators.

Production Values: Needs an edit. The map could be clearer. No area map.

Pros

# Archaeological dig used as a means of investigation

# Good mix of main NPCs

# Good addition to an archaeology-based campaign

# Good addition to a Miskatonic University-based campaign

# Good mix of timed and freeform events
# Possible link to Innsmouth (in name only)
# Makes great use of shadows

# Easy to adapt to Cthulhu by Gaslight or Cthulhu Now 

Cons

# Minor NPCs left undeveloped

# No village or area map

# Sanity losses and gains too low in places

# Needs a careful read through
# Odd mix of pre-generated investigators
# Title feels like a placeholder

Conclusion

# Excellent use of Archaeological excavation as investigation

# Short, two session scenario

# Creepy and underplayed plot

# Solid addition to a Lovecraft Country campaign
# Uninteresting title
# Pleasingly unnerving in places

Miskatonic Monday #2: Isle of Madness

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was a Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise ofthe Dead, Rise ofthe Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the far reaches of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: Isle of Madness

Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.

Author: Ed Possing

Cartography: Ed Possing

Setting: Desperate Decade, 1930s (1950s), Pulp Cthulhu

Product: Scenario

What You Get: 0.996 MB, 16-page full colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The Tempest meets The Island of Doctor Moreau in the Bermuda Triangle with not-Deep Ones

Plot Hook: The heroes are shipwrecked off a secret island in the North Atlantic and get caught up in a Mad Scientist’s plans for revenge on his batrachian brothers.

Plot Development: Friendly not-Deep Ones, a big tank of water in the Mad Scientist’s lair, evil plans, and sharks. Plus a giant robot! In a volcano!!

Plot Support: Fully plotted out with eight NPCs, scenes and events, and a map of the island.

Production Values: Needs another edit and no artwork. The map is scrappy.

Pros

# Straightforward plot

# Very little investigation

# Easily shifted to the 1950s

# Easy to drop into a Pulp Cthulhu campaign, especially The Two-Headed Serpent

# Works as a short scenario or a sidetrek

Cons

# Highly action orientated

# Straightforward plot

# Sanity losses too high in places

# Very little investigation
# Where’s the Mad Scientist’s monologue?

Conclusion

# A ‘B’ Movie writ large

# Solid, though not original, plot

# A big fat punch up from start to finish

# Easy to run

# Playable in a session

# Still want that Mad Scientist’s monologue, dammit!

Miskatonic Monday #1: Shortcut of Supernaturalism: Jasper St. Jones Got The Prettiest Bones

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was a Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise ofthe Dead, Rise ofthe Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the far reaches of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: Shortcut of Supernaturalism: Jasper St. Jones Got The Prettiest Bones

Publisher: Tomb of Nyarlathotep Games

Author: Tristan Jusola-Sanders

Artists: Marco Monte, Simon Bray, David Lewis Johnson

Series Concept: The ‘Shortcut of Supernaturalism’ series provides a scenario outline in just ten pages that the Keeper of Arcane Lore can prepare for a single four-hour session with a minimum of fuss.

Setting: Jazz Age (Contemporary), Lovecraft Country

Product: Scenario Outline

What You Get: 4.2 MB, ten-page full colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: The Haunting meets 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward' meets Cronos

Plot Hook: The discovery of a vagrant, drastically dehydrated and near death, repeating over and over, “Jasper St. Jones got the prettiest bones.”

Plot Development: The vagrant was found near steam tunnels leading under a reservoir dam that the St. Joneses, a local well-to-do family is building and Jasper St. Jones is a notorious ancestor of the current St. Jones patriarch.

Plot Support: Bullet point by bullet point guide to scenario background, the six NPCs, scenes and events, and major clues; full stats for the NPCs and one new spell and one new tome; and one handout.

Production Values: Needs another edit and the artwork consists of placeholders rather than serving the scenario.

Pros

# Straightforward plot

# Easy for the Keeper to develop or adapt

# Multiple Mythos explanations

# Suitable for smaller groups of investigators

Cons

# Investigator involvement underwritten

# Some clues undetailed

# Sanity losses too high

# Villain reactions undeveloped

Conclusion

# Feels rushed

# Solid, though not original, plot

# Would benefit from a map of the steam tunnels

# Would benefit from suggestions by investigator type to ease their involvement

# Easy to run for the experienced Keeper

# Excellent concept which needs some development to fulfil its promise

Kobold Comes of Age

Another three months and another issue of Kobold Quarterly reaches the shelves of your friendly local gaming store to provide the reader with more support for Dungeons & Dragons in the form of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, as well as Open Design’s house setting of Midgard, best typified by the Free City of Zobeck. This issue – number eighteen – brings the magazine to its “Age of Majority” and in doing so, devotes itself to the themes familiar to players of both games, that of adventurers, flaws, dragons, and magic, supporting them with the usual mix of articles and columns as well as three whole scenarios.

Unfortunately, Kobold Quarterly #18 begins with some bad news. Its first article is the only one for use with the AGE System, the mechanics seen first in Green Ronin’s highly regarded Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying – Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5, and then more recently in Open Design’s Midgard Bestiary Volume 1. Fortunately, Steve Kenson’s “Gifts of the Gods: Divine Talents for the Adventure Gaming Engine RPG,” plugs a hole that opens up as soon as you move the AGE System into any setting that resembles a Dungeons & Dragons style campaign setting. Which is that it does not delineate between the divine and the arcane roles in the same way or as clearly as Dungeons & Dragons does, but by allowing the Divine Gift to be attached to each of the AGE System's three classes – Mage, Rogue, and Warrior – Kenson enables a player to create a scholar-priest, proselytizing preacher, or crusader type character. Taking the Divine Gift also allows a character access to miraculous abilities and divine stunts tied into the Domain of the god worshipped. Of course, the Domains of the Gods of Zobeck are listed. This is an excellent means by which divine characters can be added to an AGE System game without resorting to the less flexible option of adding a whole new Class.

The class options continue not for the AGE System, but for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Ryan Costello, Jr. offers us “The Savant: Master All Trades as a Universal Hero,” a Class that writes down things that he sees and hears about as Knacks and Trades in a Notebook and then is able to recall them and bring them into play. The idea is one day he might see how a wizard casts Magic Missile or an Orc wield a double-headed axe, and then on another day he can do both or any of an array of abilities and powers that taking a single Class would not allow him to do. It presents a very flexible Class concept, though one that is not straightforward to play.

More straightforward is Tracy Hurley’s “Ecology of the Minotaur: Children of the Moon,” which describes the Minotaur for the Midgard Campaign Setting. It does a good job of mixing the race’s bloodlust and love of mazes whilst also making them an honourable people. Mike Welham and Adam Daigle provide another character option and add to the issue’s dragon theme with “The Dragon Hunter: Taking Down the Titans,” a ten-level Class focused entirely on taking down dragons, whilst “Beast Masters: Why Should Humanoids Have All the Fun?” by Marc Radle gives an alternative to the Leadership feat in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. With the Beast Leadership feat a character can take fauna as followers rather than fellow men, a useful expansion for Druid or Ranger characters.

More feats are added to the issue’s draconic and magic themes with David Schwartz’s “Into the Dragon’s Den: Lair Feats and Auras.” Written for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, it allows the GM to add spell effects to the lairs of his dragons. For example, with Inspiration [Lair], a Bronze Dragon would let its servants and visitors breathe in its aquatic environment, whilst a White Dragon might cast Fickle Flurries [Lair] to impede the movement of any intruders in its lair. This is a nice combination of colour with rules effect. Two further articles carry on the draconic theme. These include Adam W. Roy’s “Cavaliers of Flame and Fury,” which add two knightly orders to the Midgard Campaign Setting, one of which rides dragons; and Wolfgang Baur’s regular Free City of Zobeck column which also looks at dragons in the Midgard Campaign Setting.

The other magic article in the issue is Phillip Larwood’s “Synergistic Magic: Combining Spells for Twice the Power,” which does exactly what says on the tin and has the potential to add the most fun in the game. Again written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, it allows a wizard to combine two of his spells or his spells with another wizard to get extra effects. For example, combining the Maze and Summon Monster V spells gets you Claw Maze which allows the caster to not only trap an opponent in a labyrinth, but subjects them to claw attacks from the walls of the maze too!

The flaw theme comes in three flavours. It gets very personal in Anthony W. Eichenlaub’s “Soul Broker,” which details a type of contract that once signed, lets a character borrow either rare or magical items in return a temporary portion of the character’s soul. Another option allows for a player character to actually offer these contracts instead of taking them, this it suggests as being a task favoured by Tieflings. Either way, the inclusion of this in a game gives it a diabolic tinge.

Situational flaws come with a discussion of “10 Reasons Why Your Characters Should Be in Jail” for both Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Written by Russell Jones, it is really more of a generic fantasy piece that explores how to use these suggestions to create adventures rather than to punish the player characters. Philippe-Antoine Menard gives us the type of flaws that every player character wants in “The Heroic Flaw.” An actual generic article, players of other more progressive RPGs will be familiar with its concept of a player character having a personal flaw such as a Code of Honor, Vow, or Personality Quirk, and in return for bringing it into the game, the GM will reward the player with a point that can be used for a variety of effects. Familiarity should not breed contempt though, as this is good way to encourage roleplaying.

The first two of the issue’s three scenarios are written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Matthew J. Hanson’s “Silus and the Red Dogs” is a solo adventure that comes with a ready-to-play character, a Halfling Thief, and in just forty paragraphs sees Silus attempt to escape his current life as a member of a street gang. This is enough to show how the basic combat rules work and tell a decent little story, though it would have been more interesting if Silus could have been allowed to make use of his Thieves Skills. It is followed by “The Exorcists,” a scenario that combines the themes of dragons, flawed characters, and magic. Written for four characters of first level by Tim and Eileen Conners, it begins with the adventurers waking up to find themselves having been resurrected by mistake and trapped in a monastery by a rampaging, possessed Gold Dragon! This is a single-session adventure that can either be run as a one-shot or the start of a new campaign, and is a clever, well thought out little affair.

The third scenario, by Jonathan Roberts, is for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. Designed for a party of four characters of fifth level, “Who Watches the Watch Fires?” opens with the adventurers discovering not only the dead bodies of some border guards, but their watchtower still manned and foreign troops making their way beyond the border. Can the adventurers find out who now mans the watchtower and ensure that the fires are lit to warn of the impending invasion? This is an efficient, short adventure whose focus is primarily upon the Skill Test, which only serves to highlight one of the reasons why I dislike Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, that skills are a feature of the game, sort of a bonus to all that combat. (Open Design is to be commended for having Josh Jarman, author of the Midgard Bestiary, Volume 1, do a conversion of this scenario for the AGE System and make it available for download on its website).

Of the other articles, Paul Baalham’s “Elementary, My Dear Wizard: How to Build a Rock-Solid Mystery” works as well for other fantasy RPGs as much as it does for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition which it is written for. “Tools of War – Siege Weaponry” by Matt James is also for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, adding these weapons of war to work with the rules given in Open Design’s Soldiers of Fortune supplement.

All of which of course, is supported by the usual selection of cartoons, advice columns, book reviews, and more. Amongst the assortment is “Battle Wizards & Sword Maidens: Essential Asian Movies for Gamers” by David Gross, which provides a nice introduction to the Wuxia genre.

If there is a downside to Kobold Quarterly #18, it is there are fewer articles for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. That is subject of course, to Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition being the game of your choice. Not so this reviewer, but it seems only fair that said reviewer point that out. That aide, this is another fine issue, the mix of articles achieves a pleasing balance and the inclusion of three scenarios makes the issue all the better.

Villains Never Get Even

After a change of straplines with the last issue, Kobold Quarterly returns to its ever faithful, “The Switzerland of Edition Wars.” Which is a little odd, because this edition also happens to contain material for Green Ronin Publishing’s’ Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying, and that is yet to get involved in the fraternal squabble that is Dungeons & Dragons. Nevertheless, there are enough articles in this edition to satisfy devotees of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game alike. As to the theme behind this latest issue of Open Design's Kobold Quarterly, it is one of villains and villainy, and since villains never truly get even, it seems appropriate that the issue number is seventeen.

Getting under villainy’s hood begins with Michael Kortes’ “So We Meet Again!” Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, this gives optional extra powers called Adversary Abilities to both player characters and NPCs when they become sworn enemies, such as Ears to the Ground which grants a Diplomacy bonus when gathering information about your nemesis. Adversary Abilities are graded, so that initially only Returned Foe abilities can be gained, but after surviving subsequent encounters with each other, both will learn better ones, right up to Arch-Nemesis abilities. This is a neat idea that progressively gives an edge to the player characters whilst still making the villain more capable and more likely to survive a meeting with his foe. With “The Right Way to Do Wrong,” Brandon Hope switches scale in describing a nonet of cons and tricks that can be pulled by player character and NPC rogues alike. Although again written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the article is relatively light in terms of rules and mechanics, so they can be adapted to most games.

Stefen Styrsky’s “The Scourges of Vael Turog” describes the results of villainous efforts long in the past of Open Design’s forthcoming Midgard Campaign Setting. Derived from magical research the three diseases have mutated over the years, one being transmitted by handling magical items, another actually becoming a physical hazard and one last has gained a certain sentience. Although possible encounter groups are listed and a potential adventure detailed, what flavour the article has is lost under the mundanely mechanical rules of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. Complementing all of this practice is “The Value of the Monster,” Monte Cook’s exploration of the monster and the villain in his regular Game Theories column, which nicely puts the meaning back in monster.

It is my heartfelt belief that every issue of Kobold Quarterly should include an adventure, so issue seventeen has given me no cause to grumble. “Ambush in Absalom” by Mark Moreland is an Official Pathfinder Society Quest, so is specifically designed for use as part of Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign. This is a quick, and since it takes place in a sewer, a dirty affair that has the player characters attempting to locate a lost messenger who took a shortcut underground. Their instructions are that if they cannot find the messenger, they should at least find the message and deliver that. A mostly combat orientated affair for low level characters, this could be slipped into a game set in the Free City of Zobeck. Likewise, “The Black Goat,” the Zobeck tavern famed for its mundane magic show as fully described by Richard L. Smith II is located to a locale of the GM’s choice, along as the horror in the basement goes with it, of course.

From its title, it is clear that Matthew J. Hanson’s “Elf Needs Food Badly” has been inspired by one computer game at least, though with recipes as diverse as Candied Spider and Gnomesalt Taffy, it could just as easily been influenced by a more modern MMORPG. Anyway, this article for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, describes fifteen magical foodstuffs and a Feat with which to cook them. When eaten during a rest, each provides a bonus to any Healing Surge plus an extra effect such as Poysenberry Pie’s poison resistance. This could be a fun addition to your Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, but tastes will vary. Candied Spider anyone…?

“Secrets of the Four Golden Gates” by David Adams provides support for the monk in Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition with four new societies and their associated items. For example, adherents of the Path of the Singing Sparrows greatly value nature, and sparrows and songbirds in particular. Their bamboo flutes are capable of inflicting damage when played, and each day, will grant a listener extra Hit Points. The items are themselves well done and nicely supported with plenty of background.

For anyone with a penchant for pyrotechnics, Jonathan McAnulty offers up “Magical Squibs, Crackers, and Fireworks” for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Often just as dangerous for the user as they are for the target, these offer something a little more than just bangs and bedazzlements. For example, a Blinding-Goblin Cracker explodes in a blinding flash, whilst the sparkles from a Guiding Rocket always drift to the North. Anyway, these can add pleasing bang to your game, and would be sure to fascinate any overly curious Halfling.

Completely ignoring the Edition Wars, Quinn Murphy’s “On the Streets and In the Books,” which details two new sets of rules for Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying, both of which come with their own Stunt Tables for when the players roll well. As the title suggests the second of these sets covers research, whilst the former handles chases and fights in chases. Both new rule sets are useful, but there is an imbalance between the two, the rules for chases being more detailed, but have fewer options on the Stunt Table, whilst the opposite is the case for the research rules. It is the concept behind the Stunt Tables in Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying that Jeff Tidball discusses in “Feats of Stunning Might and Brilliance,” looking at how they work and why they are fun before suggesting how concept might be applied to Dungeons & Dragons. As a bolt on feature this does not add much in the way of complexity to earlier iterations of the game, but to later versions that have Feats, it does and in part, would it actually being doing that existing aspects of the Dungeons & Dragons rules are meant to be doing already?

Tom Allman’s “Lackeys, Hirelings, and Henchmen” and “Group Concepts” by Mario Podeschi all but complement each other. Both are generic articles, although the latter is written for the Midgard Campaign Setting suggesting as it does ways, means, and reasons as to why the player characters come together. It gives several campaign frameworks under which they can do so, from all playing members of the same race or species, profession or organisation to being from the same family or on the same quest. Accompanying each framework is a number of examples particular to Midgard, though there is nothing to stop a DM adapting them to his campaign setting, each of which shows how a framework can give a campaign direction. Once a group concept and its particulars has been decided upon, the player characters are going to want some hired help and the DM some interesting NPCs, to which Allman’s “Lackeys, Hirelings, and Henchmen” provides a serviceable introduction. Plus, if the characters want a four legged friend, Skip Williams describes everything that you might want to know about owning a guard dog in “The Barking Kind of Party Animal” for column, “Ask the Kobold.”

“Getting Ahead” is about as bad a title you could get for an article devoted to the power of the severed head, but fortunately, there is a deliciously evil streak to relish in Ben McFarland’s article for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The Craft Shrunken Head Feat is one that every tribal shaman or necromancer should consider taking. Lastly, should an adventure result in character death, then “It’s Not Supposed to End This Way” by Scott A. Murray describes six ways to avoid it, though not without consequences, which should be entertaining to play.

As we have come to expect, this issue of Kobold Quarterly is rounded out with its usual supporting features. There are the cartoons, the letters page, the book reviews, and the regular column that ends every issue, Free City of Zobeck. This is in addition to Monte Cook’s already mentioned theories about monsters, but there is also another interview with “If You're Having Fun,” this time with Jeff Tidball, author of supplements for RPGs as diverse as Ars Magica, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and The Edge, and co-publisher of the excellent Things We Think About Games.

After the previous issue, Kobold Quarterly #17 is as a whole, not as interesting an edition. Understandably, Kobold Quarterly #16 had more of focus and more of a reason for that focus in the announcement about the Midgard Campaign Setting, but it also had more energy to it. This is not suggest that there is any one bad article in this issue or that it being an odd numbered issue that it is suffering from Star Trek movie curse, but rather as a whole this issue is not quite as satisfying. Nevertheless, the articles are themselves good, with “Getting Ahead,” “Group Concepts,” and “The Right Way to Do Wrong” all being excellent, making Kobold Quarterly #17 another solid issue.

Sweet Kobold 16

Almost as soon as I review one issue of Kobold Quarterly, another one appears ready for me to read. Then again, I should be reading and reviewing them – and the host of other books to hand – a whole lot faster. Then again, that is by the by, because what you really want to know about is the latest issue of Kobold Quarterly #16. The most curious thing about this issue is the strap line, which reads “Digging Deathtraps All Winter” rather than the usual “The Switzerland of the Edition Wars.” Not curious because it means I have to find something else to make an aside about other than chocolate and cuckoo clocks, but rather because the last issue was the one with the traps theme. So if the theme of this issue is not traps, what is it? Well, in continuing to provide support for both Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, its theme is that of artifice and magic, in particular the artifice that is clockwork. In addition, this is the issue that announces Open Design’s forthcoming Midgard Campaign Setting, which was begun with the Zobeck Gazetteer, and Kobold Quarterly has been visiting again and again in its various issues. This provides the background for many of the magazine’s articles and serves to give the issue a more cohesive feel.

The Midguard based articles begin with the first article, Henry Brooks’ “Ecology of the Gearforged.” We have seen a mechanically bodied player character race before, in the form of the Warforged from Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, but the Gearforged are different. Clockwork driven, each Gearforged possesses a soul which passed into it via a ritual from the elderly, the dying, the dedicated, and the convicted crook, which means that a player character can live on if he purchases the materials and undergoes the correct ritual to become a Gearforged. Gearforged are revered in Zobeck for their aid in defending the city, but there is nothing to stop a DM adding them to his own game. A nice touch is that this article is for both game systems, Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, potentially making it useful to every reader rather than dividing and disappointing them by being for one game rather than the other. As much as I am not all that much of a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, covering both games in one magazine is a clever, more inclusive move.

The second article is specifically set in the Midgard Campaign Setting, but again, its contents can be transplanted elsewhere. “Odalisques and Concubines: Courtesans of Zobeck” by Stefen Styrsky expands on a “Free City of Zobeck” column from an earlier issue of the magazine and gives rules and support for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Apart from forcing me to look up the meaning of one of the words in the title because I had forgotten it – you can guess which one – this details an interesting variant of the Bard class complete with Conversation and Storytelling as alternative Perform skills, new spells that charm and entice the victim, and new magical items like the Pillow Book which collects salacious details about the high and mighty. Although written for the Midgard Campaign Setting, this class can easily be put into any game that primarily takes place in large towns and cities, or that has an Arabic feel. Although this type of character has been seen in other RPGs and settings, its potentially prurient nature has kept it out of Dungeons & Dragons since the appearance of the Houri character class back in White Dwarf #13. Of course, that was not an official character class, but this one is and is all the better for being tastefully done.

The third article written for the Midgard Campaign Setting is for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, and is the shortest of the pieces for it. Russell Jones’ “The Royal Order of the Golden Fox” examines an ancient, but secretive organisation that dedicates itself to the hunt, sometimes of dangerous animals, but sometimes of more dangerous foe, such as murderers, necromancers, and so on. It is useful as potential patron, especially for Druids, Rangers, and similar classes. One reason to accept the invitation to join is the Order’s treasury of magical items that it rewards members for completing quests.

The clockwork theme begun in “Ecology of the Gearforged” is continued in “The Clockwork Adept: A Prestige Class of Mechanical Precision” by Jason Sonia. This details a new Arcane Prestige Class that is capable of commanding, crafting, and understanding clockwork mechanisms. This works very well with the earlier “Ecology of the Gearforged” and it would have nice this had been worked into the Midgard Campaign Setting as well. In “Clockwork Monsters,” David Adams continues the theme for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition with rules and guidelines adding clockwork and steam driven technologies to a trap or creature.

As to artifice, Michael Kortes’ “Dancing Brooms, Skittering Sconces: Animated Mayhem” provides an entertainingly obvious use for the animate objects spell in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game – bringing to life the mundane contents of the room around you, just like Micky Mouse did in Disney’s Fantasia. More artifice comes with “Magic Items of Golarion,” though all of them complete and in working order. The twelve on show here all come from Paizo Publishing’s RPG Superstar Contest of 2010 and are inventive and clever. My favourite is the “Vessel of the Deep,” a squid shaped submarine that is stored as a bottle of ink, but others will enjoy the “Tankard of the Cheerful Duellist” and the “Goblin Skull Bomb.” Lastly, the dangers of artifice are explored in Scott A. Murray’s “Potion Miscibility” for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, which looks at the potential perils and benefits of mix potions.

In what is a nice change, the issue comes with not one, but two short scenarios, both for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Christina Styles’ “Beer Run! An Adventure in the Northlands” uses material from the forthcoming Frozen Empires supplement to present the scenario and has the heroes raiding a giant’s mead hall to get back two casks of ale, and not just any ale, but ale that heals! The other scenario is more demanding and will require some roleplaying and investigation upon the part of the players. By Willie Walsh, “The Curse of The Blue Titchyboo” begins with one of the characters having his pockets picked and the culprit appearing to have run into a school. Not just any school, but a school for turning out Tengu! This is a pleasing change of pace after “Beer Run!” with the characters trying to determine feathered friend from feathered foe.

Elsewhere, Jonathan McAnulty explores and expands upon “Places of Sanctuary” for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, while monsters for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition get a tune up in two articles. In Raymond D. Falgui’s “The Minion Academy: Making the Most of Your Minions” the mooks of the monster world get a last hurrah that will make player characters give them ever so slightly more consideration. When a minion dies – easy enough given that most possess a single Hit Point – it grants a one-shot combat ability to an ally, usually the minion’s lord and master. With “True Hit Locations: Monsters with Weak Spots and Tactical Combat” Matthew J. Hanson makes monsters more challenging with abilities and powers that can also be targeted by the heroes to negate them and weaken the creature.

As ever Kobold Quarterly#16 is rounded out with cartoons and comic strips, the Book Reviews column, a column of Ask the Kobold – this one devoted to illusions, and of course, Free City of Zobeck, the regular column that ends every issue, this time devoted to Zobeck’s armies. In addition Monte Cook tells you how he handled a really powerful magical item in “The Ring of Rule-Breaking” and in “If You're Having Fun” game designer Robin D. Laws is interviewed about his Gumshoe RPGs from Pelgrane Press; his guide to storytelling, Hamlet's Hit Points; and his Pathfinder fiction.

If truth be told, Kobold Quarterly #16 feels a much better issue than the last. There is much more of a focus to its themes and they are well served in all of the articles. There is more energy to the issue as well, partly due to the focus, but also to the fact that the Midgard Campaign Setting is announced and then supported to a greater length than has been the case in the past. I can only hope that this focus is maintained in future issues that will also further illuminate Open Design’s house campaign. The news that Green Ronin Publishing’s "age" or "adventure game engine" mechanics – used in the publisher’s Dragon Age – Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5 – has polled well with the patrons of the Midgard Campaign Setting, also signals the possibility that we will see more articles for that system in Kobold Quarterly. In the meantime, an excellent issue and Kobold Quarterly certainly deserves its sweet sixteen.

Trapped in the Wilds

“Kobold Quarterly is a like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get.” Which is about as cheap a way of summing the latest selection box of articles and columns devoted to Dungeons & Dragons and its variants as you could get. After all, the cover does proclaim the magazine to the “The Switzerland of the Edition Wars” and quotes about chocolate are more prevalent than they are about Cuckoo Clocks, so I can get away with paraphrasing Forest Gump at least the once. Which begs the question, what bad quote will I use to open my review of the next issue with? No idea, but I have three months to come up with something and I really do not want to set a precedent...

Anyway, what of the latest issue, Kobold Quarterly #15? As ever it primarily provides support for Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, but both these and other articles have wider application and are suited for Dungeons & Dragons style gaming in general. Of course, you do actually have some idea as to the contents of the issue, as they are highlighted on the cover, and as with previous issues, there is a theme to the latest issue, or rather two separate themes, that of traps and nature.

First up for the nature theme is Ryan Costello, Jr.’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game article, “Nature’s Orders,” which describes three options or Orders for the Druid Class. Druids of the Bestial Order do not cast spells or use orisons, but has a deeper understanding of the animal world to gain natural attacks such as claws or constriction, better senses, and increased access to the Wild Shape ability. Druids of the Godai Order are not as bestial, but focus on casting spells that draw from the four elements and have access to the matching Clerical Domains. Lastly, Purist Druids are even more like Clerics, actually worshipping nature and able to cast Cure spells rather Summon Nature’s Ally. The article also discusses where the variants might found in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game default setting of Golarion. Of the three variants, the Purist Order is the least developed and the least interesting.

Also for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is Jonathan McAnulty’s “Ecology of the Giant Ant.” This not only examines the Giant Ant, but also adds a dozen variants upon the species, from Acrobat and Carpenter Ants to Trap-Jaw and Treecutter Ants. The lighter mechanics in this means that it is easier to adapt to other Dungeons & Dragons variants. Rounding out the nature theme is Stefen Styrsky’s “Children of the Wood,” also for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This is in effect, a companion piece to the publisher’s forest adventure anthology set near the Free City of Zobeck – of which there is a review to come – Tales of the Margreve. This is written for the spellcaster in your game, providing a new Bloodline for the Sorcerer – literally the Blood of the Green, that embodies the natural powers of growth and renewal; Forest and Harvest Domains for Clerics and Druids; and the School of Nature for the Wizard who has studied life and death under the green canopy, represented by the Conjuration and Necromancy schools.

For Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, David Adams corals innumerable options for the rider in “Reasons to Ride.” These include new riding gear, but they primarily consist of new Feats such as Fury of the Horselords, which enables a Barbarian horseman to use a Rage Strike attack when charging. There are also several new mounts described that are more fantastical in nature. Overall, this is an excellent article for the DM that wants to take his campaign onto horseback.

The traps theme is explored in three articles. The first is for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition and explores a logical development for anyone with the Thievery skill. It really works for the Rogue Class, because with “Rig This!” by John Flemming, he not only gets to disarm traps, but set them too! Not ones in situ mind you, but ones prepared earlier and carried on his back. In a concept reminiscent of the alchemical rituals discussed in Adventurers’ Vault, Rogues with the Trapsmith Feat can learn Schematics, each one the instructions for a clockwork, oiled, and alchemically fuelled bigger-than-a-bear trap. The article is supported with numerous examples and begs to fall into the hands of the inventive and wily Rogue. The second article for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition offers an interesting approach to the trap. “Jack in a Trap” by Philippe-Antoine Menard combines monsters with traps and traps with monsters to create hybrids. The examples given have more of a Science Fiction feel than fantasy, despite their stone dressings. The third article devoted to traps is for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is more obvious in its contents. Older gamers will find the nastiness of the traps described in Andrew Hinds’ “Pits of Despair” more than a little reminiscent of Flying Buffalo Games’ Grimtooth’s Traps, and if you are not aware of that venerable series, then Necromancer Games has released The Wurst of Grimtooth’s Traps! Anyway, if you do do dungeons – and if not, why not considering what the magazine is for? – then you can never have enough pits.

Theme aside, Kobold Quarterly #15 includes several articles for both games. For example, Anthony Eichenlaub expands upon the concept of skill powers first seen in the Player’s Handbook 3 to provide thirteen new skill stances in “Masters of Great Skill.” While the concept is welcome given how Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition has de-emphasised skills, the author never quite develops it fully. The problem is that the flavour text for each Utility or stance feels at odds with its effect and the effects themselves are often more powerful than the flavour text suggests or warrants. The DM would be wise to consider carefully if he wants these in his campaign. Better developed is Quinn Murphy’s “A Call to Awesome” for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition in which he expands upon the critical roll. Where in the past that would have just given a player greater damage, with Critical Actions and Scene Criticals that natural roll of twenty can be used to trigger more interesting and longer lasting effects such as trying to being able to climb a behemoth and so gain access temporarily to a weak spot. This is an excellent article that nicely develops an idea. It will take a little set up by the GM to set up, but if done right, the heroes get to be more heroic than just hitting an opponent with an axe! Jobe Bittman gives us a nasty dungeon denizen, the Horakh in “King of the Monsters.”

Michael Kortes’ “Collaborative Killers” for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game keeps things mechanically simple for a discussion of tactical manoeuvres that a group can co-operate in performing. They include the “Eldritch Flank” for spellcasters, the “Lure” for pack animals, and “Pile On” for when the heroes need to overpower an opponent. Of course, there is nothing to stop a GM from turning them on his player characters! This is followed by “Blades from the Past” by Alex Putnam which describes ten historical weapons for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and suggests where they are used in Golarion.

Penultimately, in Mario Podeschi’s “Going Vertical” we are given a system-less discussion of side view dungeons exploring the fun, excitement, and danger of adventuring in the vertical rather than the horizontal. It comes with a full sample setting and suggests that the DM look at old fashioned side-scrolling video games for further inspiration. Lastly, Kobold Quarterly #15 returns to the Free City of Zobeck a second time for its more traditional visit, this time to explore the Cartways as its undercity is known.

Of course, there is always more to an issue of Kobold Quarterly than gaming articles and Kobold Quarterly #15 is no exception. Historians of the hobby will enjoy “Those Dark Dungeon Blues,” James Lowder’s look back at the hysteria surrounding Dungeons & Dragons in the 1980s, while anyone with an interest in how we roleplay will enjoy Monte Cook’s opinion on simulation versus game play in “Simulating Game Reality.” Besides the usual fiction reviews, the latest issue includes an interview with the author and publisher, Margaret Weis. The fiction reviews are likely to be of more use than the interview or the issue’s two cartoons, and as good or as humorous as they are, they are just extras and hardly what the reader will come back to in the future.

Available as a seventy-six page magazine or a 33.59 MB PDF, Kobold Quarterly #15 is cleanly laid out and written to the magazine’s usual standard. It feels a little light on colour and technical in style. That said, much of the information it has to impart is technical and has to be technical to get that information across. With that limit in place, Kobold Quarterly #15 is as always, readable.

While not every article in Kobold Quarterly #15 hits its mark – “Masters of Great Skill” sadly letting the side down, there is as ever a plethora of ideas to be found in its pages. All of them are well presented and all of them are worth GM or DM leafing through to see what he can borrow and adapt. Sadly there is no scenario this issue, though my wish for some “Edition 0” material is all but answered in both “Going Vertical” and “Pits of Despair,” both of which have a pleasingly Old School feel. It is a pity that there are only three article devoted to its traps theme, though these articles are well done. As are all of its articles, with options aplenty for both the DM and the player alike. If I have to pick favourites it would be “Rig This!” for its portable traps, “Going Vertical” for forcing the heroes up (or down), “A Call to Awesome” for opening up both the action and the story, and oddly, “Those Dark Dungeon Blues” for its history, but then I like that kind of article.

Kobold Quarterly #15 marks another solid issue for the magazine. Solid though for Kobold Quarterly is still good though and what else would you expect but more ideas and more food for thought from a magazine with standards as high as it has?

Lonesome Fears

How the lone Call of Cthulhu player doth suffer? In the past the fantasy fan has been well served with solo adventures aplenty, from Tunnels & Trolls to the phenomenon that was the Fighting Fantasy series. The horror fan was and always has been less well served, though the Call of Cthulhu devotee has had four titles that he could play on his own. These included two from Chaosium, Alone Against the Wendigo and Alone Against the Dark; one from Pagan Publishing, Alone on Halloween; and lastly, Triad Entertainment’s Grimrock Isle. The combined solo adventures and a small campaign, of the solo adventures, is the only one still in print. With all but one of those books unavailable, there is another option. One that involves a single player and a single Keeper rather than the single player, and one that is free.

Monophobia: A Fear of Solitude, made available for download by Unbound Publishing as a 1.3 Mb sixty-page black and white PDF. Describing itself as “An opuscule of adventures for lone investigators in the world of Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu,” an “opuscule” being a small or minor work, Monophobia presents a trio of adventures that a Keeper can run for a single player. All three are one shots, best suited to experienced players and should provide a good session’s worth of play. An impressively detailed pre-generated investigator is provided for each scenario. The three all take place during the twenties or thirties, but with a little effort the Keeper could set them else when.

The anthology begins by discussing the nature and issues inherent in the format. That while pitting the lone protagonist against the alien forces of the Mythos perfectly emulates stories by Lovecraft himself, such as The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Shadow Over Innsmouth, it places a lot of responsibility upon the shoulders of the player. No longer does he have his colleagues to rely on for his safety and to discuss the threat that they face with. The Keeper has also more to do, no longer can he sit back and listen as the players and their investigators interact, and so he will have to the adventure moving. Potentially, an adventure is more deadly, there being just the one victim, the player character, to suffer the physical and mental depredations that come with facing the Mythos. The authors suggest that some of these issues can be addressed mechanically, with Idea Rolls, with the careful choice of Sanity losses, and by making the “monsters” more circumspect in their actions. On the upside, the single investigator gets to feel the full dangers of the Mythos, and above all, the single player and Keeper set up enables the exploration of situations impossible with more participants. At the very least, one of the scenarios in this collection does that very well.

The first of the trilogy is “Vengeance From Beyond,” which explores a situation familiar to Call of Cthulhu – revenge form beyond the grave. It has an antiquarian investigator hired by a collector to locate a Mythos tome that was stolen from him. Finding both culprit and tome is relatively easy, but it also results in the death of the culprit. When the collector is driven to suicide it seems that the investigator will not be far behind him as visions threaten his sanity. Discovering the cause is again easy, but stopping it involves lots of detective work during which time the Keeper can have lots of fun haunting the investigator. This is perhaps the most traditional of the scenarios in the book and for that the least impressive.

“Of Grave Concern” is the second scenario its highlight. It is also the longest. It opens in media res with the investigator waking up in a corpse, in a coffin, in a mausoleum. Rather than being stuck as a walking corpse for the whole scenario, salvation comes with the investigator awakes once again in his own body, but the question, who was responsible for the transfer between bodies and what has he been up to while in control of the investigator’s body? This scenario sees the investigator bounce back and forth between the bodies, having only limited opportunities for investigation while in each. The scenario calls for an experienced investigator with some knowledge of the Mythos, but it also requires an experienced Keeper to handle both the pacing of scenario and the flow of clues and information to the investigator. This is a pleasingly clever scenario, one that really would only work with a single investigator and makes not just the best of this set up, but the most innovative.

The last scenario takes the investigator – the given one provided being an explorer – to a spot visited in classic Mythos fiction, but rarely in Call of Cthulhu. “Robinson Gruesome” opens with the investigator being stranded on an island near infamous Ponape. Alone, his initial concern will be for his survival, for food, water, and shelter, but soon learns that the island has regular visitors, ones that come to placate an ancient creature only they are aware of. With few resources and none of the benefits of civilisation to rely upon, this is the most combative scenario in the book, as it climaxes in a fight to the death. The antagonist has the advantage in terms of magic, but hopefully the investigator can rely upon his ingenuity.

Not since “Paperchase,” the single player and Keeper scenario that appeared in The Cthulhu Companion, has this set up been as well supported. These are not only interesting scenarios, but professionally written ones too, with one of them being quite exceptional. Although the collection needs one very last edit, by any standards you care to set, Monophobia: A Fear of Solitude is about as ready for publication as you could get. All a publisher has to do is prepare it for its layout style and it is ready to go. Indeed, if it wanted to, a publisher could use what Unbound Publishing has done with the layout, although it is simple. The question is then, why has this collection not seen publication? Compare this to the Call of Cthulhu titles published in the last decade and the question is even more puzzling.

The truth is that Monophobia: A Fear of Solitude has a limited audience as it is a niche product. Yet for that target niche, the Keeper and the single player, the collection is all but perfect – it would be perfect if the collection could be played through using just the one investigator and if it had made as full use of its set up in all three scenarios as it does in “Of Grave Concern.” This is the highlight of the trilogy, one that could grace the pages of any Call of Cthulhu anthology and still stand out. That Monophobia: A Fear of Solitude is free is not its selling point, but its bonus. That Monophobia: A Fear of Solitude is a good collection is the point.

Naughty Boys Before D-Day

You get trends in gaming. For example, after the release of Pirates of the Caribbean back in 2003, there was a rash of piratically themed RPGs, and before that in 2001, there was a number of World War II themed RPGs, inspired of course, by the sixtieth anniversary of the USA’s entry into the conflict. Trends come and go, so it is no surprise that few of those games for either print remain in print, although many of them are available as PDFs. In fact, until the publication of Weird Wars: Weird War 2 – the Savage Worlds and thus better redevelopment of the Weird War II: Blood on the Rhine RPG for the d20 System – the only survivor from that spate of World War II themed RPGs was Godlike: Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire, 1936-1946 from Arc Dream Publishing. As its title suggests, this was an alternate take upon the war, one in which super powered individuals participated on all sides. The designer’s approach saw the player characters not as traditional superheroes, all spandex and gung ho, but as ordinary soldiers and civilians who through some stressful situation, were granted a power of some kind. Such powers might be the traditional ones of speed, flight, invulnerability, and so on, but they really could be anything. Sample powers or “Talents” as they are known might include being able to tunnel through rubble unimpeded, to fire your fingernails to deadly effect, to turn into a circus gorilla, to fall asleep and be able to send your skeleton to fight for you, and to be able to open any lock. All it takes is willpower. The Allies organised their super powered soldiers or Talents into small units and gave them commando training – soldiers first, Talents second, whilst Nazi Germany “recruited” its Übermenschen into the SS and focused on their powers. Lastly, Willpower plays an important role because normally one Talent can spot another using his abilities and if they can see each other, one can contest the other’s use of his power on the strength of his will alone.

The other thing that Godlike introduced was the “ORE” or “One Roll Engine” system, which has since powered games such as Reign, Wild Talents, and Monsters and Other Childish Things. At its heart, the rules are simple. Roll handfuls of ten sided dice and hope to get matches, the result being read with both height and the width. The height being the highest number rolled in the match, the width being the number of matches. Thus if a player rolled seven dice and got a result of one, three, three, three, three, eight, and nine, the result would be four (width) by three (height). In combat, the result would be interpreted as, for example, a shot to the target’s left leg (determined by the height) with a base damage of four (the width) plus whatever damage bonus the weapon provides. In Godlike, two extra dice types are added. The first type is Hard Dice, which are always equal to ten, while Wiggle Dice, the second, can be set at any number. Other ORE games use different dice types, but whatever the game, these dice are more expensive to buy for attributes, skills, and powers.

The point of this lengthy explanation of Godlike and how it works is to give you some background for the review in question, which is of the latest release for the game. Despite the game being nearly a decade old, there are only a few scenarios available for the roleplaying game, so the release of Operation Rascal is all the more welcome. The fact that Operation Rascal is a scenario is all the more welcome. Coming as a 2.23 MB, thirty-nine page PDF, Operation Rascal takes place during the run up to D-Day in 1944 and details one of those clever stratagems with which the Allies were able to pull the wool over the Axis’ eyes.

Although we know where D-Day landings took place – on and behind the beaches of Normandy – the point is that Germany did not, and that was how the Allies wanted to keep it. To that end, Allied intelligence ran all sorts of intelligence operations to persuade the Germans that they would land anywhere other than in North West France. “Operation Rascal” is one such stratagem. Through the use of Talents, the Allies plan to pull off an operation that would have been very difficult otherwise – to teleport Talent squads deep into northern France where they can attack specific targets, disrupt the activities of the occupying forces, and otherwise draw attention to themselves and their activities and so away from the actual landing sites.

The scenario lays the ground work for an attack on one such target in northern France, describing the location, the forces guarding it, and their response – including Übermenschen – to the attack by the player characters and their Talent squad. In fact, the scenario describes in detail the one night. First, the set up in which numerous Talent squads are assembled, briefed, and prepared; then transportation to France and the getting to the target; and lastly, the actual attack. Each of the steps is gone into in detail, the detail managing to provide the GM with just about everything that he needs to know, but also giving him quite a lot to keep track of. This issue is exacerbated later in the scenario as the GM has to control an increasing number of NPCs. Fortunately, the tactics employed by each group is clearly explained and where necessary, is supported with a round by round breakdown of their actions.

The location in question is a munitions factory. Initially it is lightly defended, no surprise given the number of other Talent squads sowing discord across northern France. This will change though, and this being a scenario for Godlike, the new opposition will involve Übermenschen. Though the player characters will not be facing a complete squad of the Nazi supermen at any one time, they will be dealing with some very nasty customers. It is always interesting to see what someone else comes up with in terms of Übermenschen as the game demands a inventiveness upon the part of the GM to design something more than a series blue-eyed, blonde Aryan clones. Curiously, the author of Operation Rascal has hewn towards that cliché just a little, with perhaps the slight overuse of Talents involving either strength or teleportation. Fortunately, this overuse is leavened with some interesting creations that will present a real challenge to the Allied Talents.

Where Operation Rascal really shines though, is in the opening scenes and in later scenes that present the Talents with a moral dilemma. Its opening scenes not only nicely capture the hurried feel of the mission to a tee, but they also provide the player characters with the opportunity to interact and shine. The nature of Talent abilities in Godlike is that while they will be regularly used in combat, they are not necessarily combat orientated and to get the most out of his powers, whether in combat or not, a player will have to be inventive. If his powers are not combat orientated, then a non-combat scene is exactly one place they can shine. The moral dilemmas come during combat and present the players with some tough choices, ones that are likely to be deleterious to their Talents’ Willpowers. In this the situations make use the rules from the supplement, Will to Power, but the guidelines given are enough for the GM to handle the situation.

Physically, Operation Rascal is well presented with nicely done maps, although a larger area map would have been helpful. It needs a little editing here and there, but the writing is never less than clear and there is advice aplenty for the GM on staging the adventure and how to handle certain Talent types. Lastly, fine use is made of the interactive PDF functions. If there is an issue, it is that the stats for the NPCs could have been more fully written out including their point costs as they are a little too abbreviated in the form given here.

Although it covers just the events of the one night, Operation Rascal should give a couple of good sessions of play, and hard ones at that. It is also open ended, with room for the player Talents to continue sowing discord and dissension behind enemy lines until they can link up with the advancing Allied lines in the weeks following D-Day, or if the GM so desires, room to get them home to prepare for a mission on D-Day itself. Modesty forbids my suggesting that he run my own scenario in such a case. Even if the GM does not run the scenario, it is decent enough for a GM to plunder for ideas and Übermenschen. Overall, Operation Rascal provides solid support for Godlike, a challenge for the GM, and an even bigger challenge for his players and their Talents.