Micro RPG IV: To Elfland and Back

The forest stands on the edge of the village fields or not far from the town walls, but it is somewhere to be feared. For under that canopy there is dappled light at best, darkness at worst, and something lurks there, ready to prey on the peasantry and add one more misery to their lives. And now, as if to justify those fears, something has been stolen. A child, or a coin purse, or a lover. In response the peasants have banded together and the bravest of them all will journey deep into the forest in order to retrieve the stolen item from the thieves that hide amongst the trees—the fae! This is the set-up for To Elfland and Back, a minimalist storytelling roleplaying game published by Planar Compass, best known for the fanzine of the same name, which takes Old School Essentials, the retroclone from Necrotic Gnome out onto the Astral Plane and beyond. To Elfland and Back is about as simple as it gets—a motivation for the players and their characters, character creation in four steps, fast mechanics, and a set of encounters that will develop through play. It can be played through in a single session, requires no more than a pair of six-sided dice, and offers a reasonable degree of replay value.

Player Character creation in To Elfland and Back is very light. All a player does is roll for a Job, chooses three or possessions, rolls for a Personality, and names the character. It should be noted that there just six Personalities, and it is a good thing that the game does not use a seven-sided dice or the Personality of ‘Doc’ would be added, because the six listed are all named after the Dwarves from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves!

Matilde
Job: Tailor
Personality: Grumpy
Possessions: Needle, thread, thimble

Mechanically, To Elfland and Back is quick and easy. To have his character undertake an action, a player does a Challenge roll and rolls a six-sided die, consulting the Challenge Roll table for the outcome. One is a ‘Failure’, two to three is a ‘Success with negative consequences’, four and five indicate a ‘Success’, and six is a ‘Success with fantastic results’. Essentially, what you have here is the equivalent of ‘No’, ‘Yes, but…’, ‘Yes’, and ‘Yes and…’ results, and whatever the result the referee will describe the outcome. In addition, a Challenge roll can be made with Advantage or Disadvantage, the player rolling two six-sided dice and using the best result if at an Advantage or the worst if at a Disadvantage. The most obvious means of gaining Advantage will be from the Player Character’s Job, whilst the most obvious means of gaining Disadvantage is due to the Player Character’s Personality, though of course, other situations and causes will come up in play. Beyond that, the complexity of play—if any—comes from narrating the outcomes.

For the Referee there little in the way of advice, but rather a set of tables for generating various aspects of the story to be told, starting with what was stolen and where it was taken. After that, there are tables for encounters along the way, what fae can be encountered and what they might be riding, locations along the way, fae food and drink, and magic items that might be found in the fae lands. There is a table for what the fae might want in return for giving the purloined item back and lastly, because this is a fairy tale, the final table is a coda—how long have the Player Characters been gone?

Physically, To Elfland and Back is beautifully illustrated with a range of artwork, most notably medieval and Victorian pieces, as if it were an illuminated manuscript that was actually a Victorian collection of fairy tales. The writing is succinct.

Written for Fae Jam 2020, To Elfland and Back is at its most mechanical, a sparse set of tables with nothing in the way of advice or background. However, those tables are prompts that set the game up, enabling the Game Master to prepare a session quickly and easily beforehand or run a session straight from the rolls at the table. The latter makes To Elfland and Back a highly portable, low preparation game, making it great for a convention game or a pick-up game. In terms of background, this is a fairy tale roleplaying game and fairy tales are some of the earliest stories we are told as children, so most players are going to be familiar with the genre. In terms of play, To Elfland and Back is demanding in that it is relying on elements of storytelling more than mechanics, asking Game Master and player to create much of the world they go along, based upon the prompts taken form the game’s tables. Of which, there are enough to run To Elfland and Back more than a few times for the same group.

Overall, To Elfland and Back is a pleasing combination of simplicity and familiarity that is both easy to run and easy to play, and all with a genre and setting that needs no explanation.

[Fanzine Focus XXIX] Planar Compass #2

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. A more recent retroclone of choice to support has been Old School Essentials.

The Planar Compass series takes Dungeons & Dragons and the Old School Renaissance on a journey that out where it rarely goes—onto the Astral Realm and out between the planes. Of course, the option for travel in this liminal space has always been there in Dungeons & Dragons, most notably from Manual of the Planes all the way up to Spelljammer: Adventures in Space and the Planescape Campaign Setting. Whilst those supplements were for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, the Planar Compass series is written for use with Old School Essentials, and it not only introduces the Astral Realm, but adds new Classes and rules for one very contentious aspect of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—psionics! Planar Compass #1 introduced both the setting of the Astral Realm, presented Dreamhaven, a first calling point for the Player Characters to visit and explore, and provided details of several new Races found across the Astral Realm as well as the rules for psionics. Which turned to be easy to use and did not break the game. Planar Compass #2 takes the Player Characters further out onto the Astral Realms, or rather prevents everything that the Referee will need to take her campaign further out into the Astral Realms.

Planar Compass #2 was published in November 2021. Following on from Planar Compass #1, it promises strange sights, ever changing environmental dangers, and monsters the likes of which the Player Characters will never seen. Opening with a quick table listing all of the planes and explaining that the contents of issue are designed for mid-level play, Fourth Level and higher, and what titles are required to use it contents. It notes that the waters of the Astral Realms are the thoughts, hopes and dreams, and nightmares of all sentient beings of the multiverse, physical matter alien to it and are always either an intrusion or a traveller. Such waters are endless and there are many places that a good crew with a solid ship will be able to sail far and away to strange places—if both survive the dangers of the Astral Plane, many of which are intrusions and breakthroughs from other planes.

The dangers begin with the monsters—oddly placed before the sections on astral ships, astral sailing, and so on. These are all native to the Astral Realm and include Bubonic Barnacles which feeds on the wood ships and can grow into humanoid forms or algae blooms; the Astral Amphiptere, a semi-translucent dragon which dwells in island caves, and whose can cause planar tears which it can escape through or even others to use; Psychic Dugong, capable of telepathy, whose Psionic Milk restores psionic energy; and the Kear Imago. This last is a much-feared astral predator which scoops up ships and feeds on the psionic energy of their crews, leaving them husks ready for their larvae to occupy and grow in… A table of ‘Pirate Encounters’ is ready for the Referee to flesh out.

The rules for Astral Ships use the rules for water vehicles found in Old School Essentials, but adds five classes of Saving Throw similar to those for Player Characters and monsters. These are Storm, Collison, Fire, Water, and Plane Shift. These are rolled when a ship is subject to wind and gale forces, strikes an object or is struck by an object, is subject to flames or extreme heat, is subject to facing huge waves and torrential rains, and when transitioning between planes or suffering planar stress respectively. Two pieces of artillery are given to outfit ships on the Astral Plane—ballista and the Onauki fire thrower. Stats are given for ten types of astral ship, which include pirate ships and trading ships and warships, more or less what a Referee will need to run an Astral Sea campaign. They range from the Aldhelsi Drakkar and the Aldhelsi Knarr to the Tortuga and the Psionic Ship! Some of these, like the Human Catamaran, lie within the scope of a group of Player Characters purchasing the, rather than travelling on ships belonging to others. There are pirate ships and trading ships and warships

A handful of magical items are detailed too. The nastiest is the Sword of Astral Tether Cutting, a cruel, thin blade made from the remains of a meteor which can cut the tether between the physical and Astral bodies of the target, killing them instantly! The most interesting is the Sand from the Shores of Dreams, which can be sprinkled on someone so that the next time he sleeps, everyone nearby experiences his dreams. This presents interesting story possibilities, potentially another realm to explore and more.

The rules for astral sailing uses what it calls a ‘hex-flower’ or rosette to determine prevailing conditions around an astral ship, the direction of nearby encounters, and the direction of movement. Effectively, it sits under the astral ship as it sails from one hex to the next. Each turn of movement is handled through the same sequence of play in which the players roll for navigation, weather, and nearby planes, which the Referee uses to determine hazards and create encounters, and rolls to see if a Kear Imago has detected the vessel. The Referee and her players work together to describe the region the ship is sailing through.

Notably, the direction of movement is randomly determined, though the Onauk and Astral Sailors—both detailed in Planar Compass #1—have the ability to nudge the roll so that it is in the right direction. If the Kear Imago detects the ship, then the leviathan-sized creature will come hunting for it. Options for the encounters, weather, and planes near and far, are detailed separately along with a lovely set of hexes illustrated with icons that the Referee is going to want to be able to pull out and slip under the appropriate hex on the hex-flower. Large and small icons are used to represent everything from sighted vessel or signs of land, instruction of a plane, and more, with the size indicating distance away. Large are of course hear, small are faraway.

What is not made clear until the Referee gets to the adventure, ‘The Hunter Beneath the Waves’ is that the crew of ship needs to mask its ‘psychic load’ lest it be detected by a Kear Imago. This can be done by Astral Sailors or by consuming Psychic Ambergris, one of the magic items given earlier. If detected though, the Kear Imago will hunt the ship until either the ship and her crew get away or the leviathan swallows it whole. This lands the ship in its gut and the crew—that is, the Player Characters—have to navigate their way out of the beast. This is simulated using the hex-flower again, but here the crew are navigating the corporeal body of a beast rather than the Astral Sea, hoping to find the brain and engineer an escape. As you would expect it is nasty environment, the various descriptions of rooms such as the stomach, intestines, and waste chamber accompanied by optional tables for traps, NPCs, and location details. The rules are more or less the same for navigating the Astral Sea using the hex-flower, but instead of being able to nudge the direction roll through abilities innate to certain Classes, the Player Characters acquire ‘Travelling Points’ for encountering denizens of this ‘Kear Dungeon’, discovering and disarming traps, gaining information from friendly NPCs, and so on. The adventure is intentionally odd, surprisingly non-linear given its origins, and it does include some tough encounters. Plus although the players are unlikely to replay the ‘Kear Dungeon’ again, there is the possibility of their encountering a Kear Imago again. The fanzine does leave the Referee wondering what to do in that instance. Of course, there are always to get the Player Characters needing to climb back into a Kear Imago again, such as having to find a Wizard who has not been seen for years or go after a criminal. Lastly, the issue includes a table for ‘Astral Fishing’ and a set of adventure hooks waiting to be developed by the Referee as well a decent little comic strip which follows on from Planar Compass #1.

Physically, Planar Compass #2 is hit and miss. It is well written and it is gorgeous-looking. In places, individual hexes are are too dark and too murky, whilst the layout feels a bit tight in places and odd in others. Plus the organisation is odd with the monster descriptions placed up front. Nevertheless, it is engagingly written, the artwork is excellent, and all together, it is a lovely little book.

Planar Compass #2 is a solid set of rules taking Old School Essentials and almost any Old School Renaissance retroclone in an expected direction, out into the beyond of the Astral Sea. It does feel like a transition, going from the Dreamhaven of Planar Compass #1 to the somewhere else, but not telling you where necessarily. Ideally that will be revealed in Planar Compass #3. In the meantime, Planar Compass #2 has all the rules to enjoy boat trip or sail away to location of the Referee’s own devising across the Astral Sea and back again, effectively, ‘Astral-jammer’ for Old School Essentials.

[Fanzine Focus XXVIII] Planar Compass #1

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. A more recent retroclone of choice to support has been Old School Essentials.

Published in Autumn 2020, Planar Compass Issue One begins a journey that takes Dungeons & Dragons and the Old School Renaissance out where it rarely goes—onto the Astral Realm and out between the planes. Of course, the option for travel in this liminal space has always been there in Dungeons & Dragons, most notably from Manual of the Planes all the way up to Spelljammer: Adventures in Space and the Planescape Campaign Setting. Whilst those supplements were for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, the Planar Compass series is written for use with Old School Essentials, and it not only introduces the Astral Realm, but adds new Classes and rules for one very contentious aspect of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—psionics! Planar Compass Issue One can be divided into two halves. In the first half, it explores a place of refuge and calm amidst the Astra Sea and provides a number of adventures on and below that location, whilst in the second half, it details both the four new races and their  Classes, as well as the new rules for psionics for Old School Essentials. The second half has been collected into a booklet of its own. The Planar Compass Player’s Booklet and thus the four new Classes and the rules for psionics are reviewed here.

Planar Compass Issue One starts with a quick introduction, explaining how old Palio One Eye, once a fearsome and notorious pirate on the Astral Seas, accidentally discovered the location of what was to become Dreamhaven by wrecking his ship upon it. Then when another ship anchored off its coast, instead of capturing the ship and resuming his career of piracy, he instead started selling his cargo of Aldhelsi mead to the other ship’s crew and thus he had a bar. Soon others were coming to Dreamhaven—the Onauk, behorned barbarian pirates, the Aldhelsi, short fey psionicists, the short and furry Belsorriso known for their charming smile (very Rocket Raccoon-like!), the Skullga, goblinoids with deer-like heads who are excellent shipbuilders and tinkerers, Chanicoids, clockwork beings serving a higher master, and of course, Humans. (The Onauk and the Aldhelsi, along with the Psion and the Astral Sailor are detailed as Classes later in Planar Compass Issue One and also in the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet.) Dreamhaven is actually quite small, but has extensive docks, adheres to Central Ordo Time or the time of Ordo, the plane of Law as marked by a series of clocks around the island, and although there is no night and day, no sun which sets and rises on Dreamhaven, the island keep to a day and night cycle of Central Ordo Time.

‘Beach Psiombies’ is the first of two short adventures in which Palio, still short of supplies, takes the Player Characters out on his clockwork, glass-bottomed boat, to go fishing for dinner. Unfortunately, they reel in something much worse—Psiombies! This is primarily a combat encounter, but again there are some moments for levity. The second shorter adventure is ‘All That Glitters’. Leonid, extravagantly wealthy high-Level Wizard and patron of The Slipstream Bar, covets an item of jewelry, currently in possession of his rivel, the Half-Ogre, Otis. Leonid will pay handsomely, or provide a significant discount to his magical services—including the casting of Teleport if the Player Characters are eager to get off Dreamhaven, if they can retrieve the necklace from aboard Otis’ ship, the Rude Awakening. As written, this is an assault upon the docked ship amidst a Psychic Storm which makes it all very challenging, but it is only the Psychic Storm which makes this encounter interesting. In fact, ‘All That Glitters’ is decidedly underwhelming in comparison to the other three scenarios in the Planar Compass Issue One.

The fourth and longest scenario in Planar Compass Issue One is ‘Deepwarren’. Various inhabits of Dreamhaven have an interest in what might be found in the Deepwarren, so by the time the Player Characters decide to explore it (they have an opportunity to do so earlier, but advised not to), they may have several motivations or at least several employers willing to pay for what they discover. The Deepwarren is a short, but detailed dungeon, which hides several secrets, including Dreamhaven’s  true nature. Revealing that nature has disastrous consequences for Dreamhaven, which will bring the mini-campaign to an exciting conclusion. However, these secrets need not be revealed all at once and if the Game Master hands out the offers of employment in a more piecemeal fashion, the Player Characters can explore the Deepwarren more than once and have the consequences of their exploration play out at a less tumultuous pace. One location in the Deepwarren does consist of a maze and it really does not serve any purpose in the dungeon except to get the Player Characters lost. It is nicely done, but really the Player Characters could just wander around to no real effect. Otherwise, ‘Deepwarren’ is a nicely detailed and flavoursome dungeon whose contents will bring the campaign in Dreamhaven to an end.

Physically, Planar Compass Issue One is very nicely done. It is engagingly written, the artwork is excellent, and all together, it is a lovely little book.

Where Planar Compass Issue One does feel lacking is suggestions on how to get the Player Characters there given the far off and  very strange location of Dreamhaven. Where it disappoints—in a way—is in probably bringing a campaign on Dreamhaven to an end. There is no doubt that it does so in a satisfying and appropriate fashion, but Dreamhaven is such a fun little place to adventure that more scenarios on the island would be more than welcome! After all, pirate coves and haven are not exactly uncommon in roleplaying fantasy, but the combination of its location on the Astral Sea and psionics serve to make Dreamhaven genuinely unique. It would be lovely to have a further anthology of adventures which would get the Player Characters there and give them the opportunity to explore the island a little more before the campaign proper in Planar Compass Issue One begins.

Whether it is the rules for psionics, which are as simple and straightforward as they can be, or the description of Dreamhaven, its inhabitants, and its adventures, Planar Compass Issue One is an impressively fantastic and self-contained first issue of a very well-done fanzine. If Planar Compass Issue Two is going to be as good as Planar Compass Issue One, then fine. If it is better, then Planar Compass Issue Two is going to be very good indeed.

The Old School Psionics Handbook

The Planar Compass series of fanzines takes Dungeons & Dragons and the Old School Renaissance out where it rarely goes—onto the Astral Realm and out between the planes. Of course, the option for travel in this liminal space has always been there in Dungeons & Dragons, most notably from Manual of the Planes all the way up to Spelljammer: Adventures in Space and the Planescape Campaign Setting. Whilst those supplements were for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, the Planar Compass series is written for use with Old School Essentials, and it not only introduces the Astral Realm, but adds new Classes and rules for one very contentious aspect of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—psionics! These new races and rules are collected in the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet.

The Planar Compass Player’s Booklet does not detail the Astral Realm or the setting’s central location, the port of Dreamhaven. Instead it details the four new Classes found in Dreamhaven and out on the Astral Realm and gives rules for psionics, all without any spoilers for the setting itself. The latter lack is not with its consequences. This is because as in Old School Essentials, in the Planar Compass series, Race is treated as a Class. Since each of the four new Classes in the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet is as much a race as a Class, and the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet is avoiding spoilers, their descriptions do lack context and do feel underwritten in terms of background rather than in terms of their mechanics. Nevertheless, all four Classes are very well presented and nicely adhere to the two-page layout of Old School Essentials which makes them accessible and easy to use.

The first Class in the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet is the Aldhesi, pale, slender, fey demihumans with pointed ear who are psionic warriors. In addition to their psionic powers, they have Planar Resistance, a bonus to saving throws versus effects of any plane they are on; a bonus to saving throws versus Charm and immunity to ghouls’ paralysis; and have an inherent chance of locating a planar portal. They are in effect, ‘space elves’, whereas the Astral Sailor is a swashbuckling or even piratical crewman aboard a vessel sailing the Astral Realm. The Astral Sailor has Swashbuckler, so can fight on uneven surfaces and has a bonus when duelling with a sword against an enemy also wielding a sword; gains a bonus to saving throws versus effects of any plane they are on; and can find safe Harbour, somewhere to sleep and occasionally someone to find information from. In addition, the Astral Sailor has several skills—Astral Navigation, Cartography, Fortune Telling, Heraldry, Looting, Signalling, and Shipwright. These are treated like the Thief Class skills in Old School Essentials.

If Aldhesi are ‘space elves’, then the Onauk look like ‘space orks’ or ‘space ogres’, as they are are tall, blue- or purple-skinned, have horns, enlarged lower canines, and long ears, but are really ‘space barbarians’. Their alien nature means that they suffer a Reaction check penalty, but can go Berserk and gain temporary bonuses to attack, magic resistance, and Hit Points when they attack a single target. They also have the skills of Astral Navigation, Looting, and Shipwright like the Astral Sailor. The last Class is the Psion, which simply specialises in the use of psionics.

What is interesting with two new Classes which use psionics—the Alhesi and the Psion, is that as written the Referee selects their psionic powers rather then the player. The Referee may allow the player to choose, but if not, it does allow her some leeway as what powers a Player Character has and can perhaps tailor them to her scenario or campaign.

Psionics in Dungeons & Dragons has always been a contentious ruleset, since they were either too powerful, not powerful enough, and if neither of those, often too complex to use with ease. The rules for psionics in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons were often regarded as game breakers. Now whilst anyone who has seen or played the psionics rules of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons will recognise much of them in the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet, the rules presented here for use with Old School Essentials are clearer, simpler, and easier to use. The Planar Compass Player’s Booklet devotes more than half of its pages to psionics, psionic abilities, and psionic combat.

A psionic-using Class, like the Alhesi and the Psion has a pool of psionic energy, equal to his Wisdom, modified by his Constitution and Intelligence. This pool will increase with each new Level. Every psionic power—of which there are forty-four listed in the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet—has a range, Power Score, Initial Cost, and Maintenance Cost. The Power Score is the modified attribute—either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Constitution—under which the player must roll to activate the psionic power. The Initial Cost is the psionic energy cost to start it, and the Maintenance Cost the amount to keep it going from one Round to the next. For example, Body Equilibrium, which allows a Player Character to adjust his weight so that he can walk on water or quicksand, has a Range of Self, a Power Score of Con -3 (meaning that the player must roll under his character’s Constitution score after it has been reduced by three), an Initial Cost of two psionic energy, and a Maintenance Cost of two psionic energy per Round. Some psionic powers require the user to make contact with the target and this increases the psionic energy cost. Overall, the list and abilities of the psionic powers is straightforward and easy to use.

Psionic combat involves Attack Modes and Defence Modes. The former includes Ego Whip, Id Insinuation, Mind Thrust, Psionic Blast and Psychic Crush, whilst the latter includes Intellect Fortress, Mental Barrier, Mind Blank, Thought Shield, and Tower of Iron Will. Psionic combat does require psionic contact with the target and rather than rolling against an Armour Class or similar factor as in normal combat, opposed rolls are made by those involved in the combat. The roll is modified by the attack mode used against the defence mode, so Ego Whip has a -4 modifier against Intellect Fortress, but a +5 modifier against Mind Blank. Apart from Psychic Crush, none of the attack modes actually do damage. Rather they inflict an emotional state, like Ego Whip making the target feel insignificant, or even believing that they have lost almost all of their Hit Points, as with Mind Blast. The various defence modes also allow a psionicist to use or maintain another power in addition to the defence mode.

The rules for psionics presented in Planar Compass Player’s Booklet are neither rule breaking nor game breaking. The combat rules are specifically designed for psychic duels between psionic Classes and psionic monsters, rather than using on the non-psionic, and whilst their effects can be devastating, they are not about blasting enemies with mental power to reduce mere Hit Points. They have a much more mental effect than that. Similarly, few of the psionic powers are designed to be offensive—telekinesis and body weaponry being amongst the few exceptions, but rather useful abilities. This does not means that an inventive player could not find a potential offensive use for some of them, but that is not how they are necessarily written. Overall, these really are a solid set of rules with which to introduce psionics to Old School Essentials.

Of course, the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet is designed to be used with the Planar Compass setting. If however, the contents of the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet are added to an existing game—and they can be, they will change a game. They introduce new powers and abilities which require new rules and a new level of complexity—not necessarily all that much, but some—and having psionic Player Characters means having psionic NPCs and monsters and so on. That said, the rules for psionics are specific to the two Classes—the Alhesi and the Psion—and there is no means of other Classes gaining them presented in the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet. Which means no sudden power rush or increase in complexity because everyone has them, and ultimately, it means that they remain specific and special. That said, it is not difficult to look at the psionics rules in the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet and wonder just a little, about an Old School Renaissance version of Dark Sun—or something very like it.

Physically, the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet is well written and nicely presented. The artwork is excellent throughout and everything is very readable and easy to grasp.

Ultimately, the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet needs the Planar Compass series of fanzines to come into its own. As a companion volume to that series, it does exactly what it should, present four Classes and a major rules addition associated with two of the new Classes in an accessible fashion. As a supplement on its own, it is understandably less useful, but for the Game Master and group who want to add psionics to their game, the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet is a good choice. The rules are clearly explained and do not overpower play because psionics are limited to the two new Classes. For the Game Master and her group who want to take their game onto a cosmic level, the Planar Compass Player’s Booklet is a handy little start.