Christianity & Cosmology

The Straight Way Lost: Adventuring between Heaven and Hell in a Fantastical Renaissance Italy is a campaign for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, but do not let that put you off. This is as different a campaign for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition as you could imagine. It is a low fantasy campaign that is highly fantastical. It treads a fine line between the Possibility of magic and the Permeance of non-magic. It is historical. It will take the players and their characters to places rarely thought about and rarely visited in roleplaying. Its scope is grander than ever imagined, taking the Player Characters from High Renaissance Florence to the gates of Hell—and beyond. Down all nine circles of Hell and out of the bottom to climb the Mountain of Purgatory to reach Paradise, before returning to the mortal world and stopping a great evil. Inspired by Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, the three parts of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, the campaign will literally take the Player Characters through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, and thus across a Ptolemaic model of the universe. Dungeons & Dragons has visited Hell before. Most notably with 1980’s Inferno for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, from Judges Guild, which detailed the first four circles of Hell as detail by Dante, and which has been more recently completed in Inferno: Journey through Malebolge by Spellbook Games. A Paladin in Hell, published in 1998, allowed the players to visit Hell once again, complete with actual devils rather than ‘baatezu’, whilst the Guide to Hell, followed a year later. Both were for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition. Unlike those releases, The Straight Way Lost is not designed for traditional Dungeons & Dragons-style play.

The Straight Way Lost: Adventuring between Heaven and Hell in a Fantastical Renaissance Italy, published by Vortex Verlag following a Kickstarter campaign is both a sourcebook for fifteenth century Florence, a guide to the cosmology of Dante’s Divine Comedy, and a complete campaign for Player Characters of Third Level. Should they survive and complete the campaign, they will attain Eighth Level. However, there is relatively little scope for continued play beyond the campaign and anyway, the world portrayed in The Straight Way Lost is unlike Dungeons & Dragons. It is set in High Renaissance Italy where magic is known and studied in private, but deeply frowned upon by the church since it could lead to the study and practice of necromancy. Man is not the only intelligent species in this world, though the Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves, Half-Dwarves, Tielfings, and Nephilim try not to bring too much attention themselves. There are no obviously non-Human species, but even the acceptable species ten to hide their non-Human traits. So, no Dragonborn, Halflings, or Half-Orcs. In terms of Dungeons & Dragons’ Classes, the Bard, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, and Wizard are unproblematic, whereas the Barbarian, Druid, and Monk are unsuited to the setting. The Cleric and the Paladin require some consideration in terms of their faith, though it is likely to be Christian; the Sorcerer’s magical nature is likely to at odd with the rationality of the age; and the Warlock is provided with a list of alternative Patrons to select from, though there are no ‘Great Old Ones’ to choose from. These include Archfae, Infernal, and Titan Patrons.

Besides the new species, The Straight Way Lost also introduces two new Classes and a Sub-Class. Under the Polymath, the Philosopher, who understands and uses reason and logic to weave the powers of creation, whilst the Artist uses creativity and imagination. Mechanically, both expend Weave Points to fuel a mix of powers, some which they share in common. The Philosopher begins with the powers of ‘Language Master’, ‘Linguistic Recall’, ‘Peer Connections’, and ‘Caustic Remark’, whilst the Artist has ‘Likeness’, ‘The Artist’s Eye’, ‘The Artist’s Hand’, and ‘The Artist’s Favour’. The ‘Courtier’ is a Sub-Class for the Bard which focuses on social interaction rather than performance. In addition, The Straight Way Lost adds the new skills of Arts Liberales, Courtly Manners, Diplomacy, Fine Arts, and Law. What this offers is a range of character options that emphasises brains over brawn and manners over murder—and as the authors make clear, The Straight Way Lost is a campaign that emphasises roleplay versus rampage. Yes, some martial skills will be needed, but a Player Character entirely focused upon them will probably get less enjoyment out of the campaign.

Further, to encourage player and character involvement and roleplaying, The Straight Way Lost suggests possible character motivations, reasons for group cohesion, and motivational drives. The character motivations include Family Duty, Holy Duty, Heritage, Informant, and more, whilst the group cohesion suggestions include Family, Powerful Patron, Business, and so on. Both of these can be rolled or chosen, and if two or more Player Characters share one, the Game Master is encouraged to tie their backgrounds together. The motivational drives, such as Truth Seeker, Danger Seeker, God is Truth, and Fear Itself, are designed to encourage the player to get his character involved in the campaign’s plot and its ongoing storyline, and when roleplayed, will reward the player with Inspiration.

The Straight Way Lost notably eschews the standard Alignment system of Dungeons & Dragons. Instead, each Player Character will have a Dark Secret from a flaw or a committed sin; a Good Deed, committed because of a virtue; and a Happy Memory. All three will be tested and examined in the campaign, especially the Dark Secret and its associated sin in Hell. One of the advantages that the Player Characters will have in relation to the other souls in Hell is that they are mortal, should not be in Hell, and cannot be automatically confined to the Circle of Hell pertaining to their Dark Secret. The Straight Way Lost also adds a new mechanic in the form of Dismay, representing the effects of the trauma that the Player Characters can suffer as a result of traversing through Hell. Wisdom checks are made against a Difficulty Class which varies between eight and a shocking incident and fourteen and extreme terror. A Player Character’s Dismay can range in value between one and ten, and as it rises he will become increasingly apathetic and may fall into a ‘State of Dread’, a ‘State of Madness’, or ultimately, suffer a ‘Breakdown’. Both player and Game Master are encouraged to work together to portray the effects of Dismay in a manner that everyone is comfortable with.

The Straight Way Lost does include a sourcebook for the city of Florence in the year 1492. This is not an extensive look at the city, but rather a good overview and that is sufficient to run the campaign. The campaign proper begins in March, 1492, with the Player Characters invited to attend a feast hosted by the Capponi family, allies of the Medici family, to celebrate the achievements of a noted philosopher. They will have the opportunity to interact with their fellow guests and even attend an audience with Lorenzo de’ Medici, already in clearly poor health. Unfortunately, the event is thrown into disarray with the discovery of a dead woman, clearly murdered, lying in an arcane circle in the cellar. As the news of the murder spreads through Florence, it threatens to discredit Lorenzo de’ Medici and his family for simply being there, so he hands the investigation into the death to his fiercest critic, Girolamo Savonarola, a prior of the Dominican convent of San Marco. This includes Father Savonarola who will interview the Player Characters and ask them to help. This is not to investigate the murder directly—though the campaign does allow for that if the players decide that their characters want to—but rather to consult with Ofelia, a holy hermit who lives three days outside of the city and ask if she can pray to determine who has let his evil into the city of Florence…

Ofelia will direct the Player Characters on the campaign’s great quest. They will be accompanied by a guide who can advise them and help them, if necessary, but the Game Master will need to be careful in her portrayal so that it does not appear that she is not leading them by the nose. The path through the campaign is obvious, that is, down and eventually up. First descending down through the funnel formed on the other side of the world, at each Circle confronting its keeper, encountering the souls whose sins have cast them into Hell and exploring the consequences of their sins, confronting any Player Character whose Dark Secret corresponds to the Circle, and then finding a way to progress to the next lower Circle. The encounters also include famous persons from history, some of whom are pertinent to the campaign and the city of Florence, but all of whom have, according to Dante’s Divine Comedy, have been cast into Hell. The confrontation with the personal Dark Secret will automatically increase that character’s Dismay, but it throws the spotlight on the character and player, giving the latter an opportunity to examine and roleplay his character’s darker side and its consequences. It requires careful handling by both player and Game Master, whilst altogether, the group might want to spread the choice of Dark Secrets their characters’ possess. This would avoid the possibility of replication and spread such scenes out over the course of the Player Characters’ descent, rather than having them all at once. How the Player Characters get past the keeper of each Circle varies, combat invariably not being the best option. The path down is intentionally gruelling and by the time the Player Characters have descended to the lowest Circle of Hell, their Dismay levels will be quite high and they will be drawn and traumatised by what they have seen and experienced.

Fortunately, whilst the climb up the Mountain of Purgatory is more challenging, it is the path to redemption. Where the Player Characters were condemned for their Dark Secret and its associated sin on their descent into Hell, here they have them purged as they climb to the Earthly Paradise and by the time they have ascended to the top, they will hopefully be cleansed. Their time there will come as a relief after the literal hell and the Player Characters will also be able to get the answers they are looking for as well as a means to heal Lorenzo de’ Medici. With this in hand, they can return to the mortal realm, a path that will take them through Paradice, an awe-inspiring view of the Ptolemaic cosmos. Ultimately, they will descend to Earth and make their way back to Florence where they have a chance to heal Lorenzo de’ Medici, but not before a confrontation with the villain behind it all. Success is not guaranteed and failure will mean that Lorenzo de’ Medici dies and history plays out as it did in our own timeline.

Beyond the expected stats and descriptions for all of the NPCs and monsters in the campaign, The Straight Way Lost includes notes on what could happen next and potentially allow play beyond the end of the campaign. These are only suggestions though and, in each case, the Game Master will need to develop herself. An appendix suggests music for the campaign, provides a list of Italian Renaissance names, and a bibliography. There is an index for the NPCs in the campaign and a general index as well as a de’ Medici family tree.

Physically, The Straight Way Lost is an incredibly fantastic looking book. Notably, its pages are colour-coded. A light, earthy brown for Florence and its surrounds, deep black for Hell, a smoky blue-grey for Purgatory, and rich gold for Paradise, the effect enhancing the tone and feel of each of the associated acts in the campaign. In addition, the illustrations by Jana Heidersdorf, Mark Smylie, and Gwenevere Singly are excellent and should definitely be used by the Game Master to show to her players. On the downside, the book does need an edit in places and it is a little untidy in places. That said, the writing is clear and the advice for the Game Master never less than direct, even pointed at times.

The Straight Way Lost: Adventuring between Heaven and Hell in a Fantastical Renaissance Italy is a campaign for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, but not really a campaign for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. At least not in the traditional or the mechanical sense. Mechanically, its stats, Races, Classes, and monsters are written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Yet beyond that, the mechanical complexities within the campaign are so light that it does not feel like Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Adapting it to a system that the Game Master and her players prefer would take some effort, but not necessarily as much effort as a more traditional campaign would demand.

In the traditional sense of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, The Straight Way Lost is unlike any campaign for the roleplaying game—or indeed any roleplaying game. Its themes of sin and redemption are mature subject matters and given its nature, it should be no surprise that there are scenes of terror and torture. Yet there are also scenes of hope and succour. Structurally, The Straight Way Lost is a journey and does want to tell a story, so it is linear, with no real options other than forward. Thus, the player agency comes in the individual scenes and small decisions that the characters are faced with. It is not a long campaign by any means, but requires no little commitment because of its themes and nature, as well as the roleplaying required in exploring the sins and Dark Secrets of the Player Characters.

The Straight Way Lost: Adventuring between Heaven and Hell in a Fantastical Renaissance Italy is not so much a fantasy campaign as a campaign of classical fantasy. It takes the players and their characters to places unseen and of wonder and of awe, and it challenges their roleplaying too. The Straight Way Lost: Adventuring between Heaven and Hell in a Fantastical Renaissance Italy is proof that sometimes the system matters not—not when you have a campaign as unique and literately inspired as this.

da Vinci’s Dystopia

The year is 1510. Italy is not just being transformed by the Renaissance, but by the New Science that is driving the Republic of Florence to new prominence. Water-powered looms and assembly lines radically alter its industries and their output, gliders soar above the city’s skies and provide reconnaissance and a message service, paddle steamers ferry goods and people far and wide, and the republic’s military fields new rapid-firing organ guns, armoured turtle-tanks, and more, that have seen it defeat all traditional armies sent against it. At the heart of the city is the Gran Meccanismo, a complex calculating engine driven by water clocks, windmills, and capstans turned day and night by prisoners of war and debtors, which uses the new mathematics to forecast the weather and provide calculations for a wide variety of projects, military and civil. With the rush to mechanise and advance the New Science, the Florentine Republic has thrown off the shackles of old social attitudes. Neither women nor Jews are seen as secondary citizens, especially if they can contribute towards the New Science. Yet all is not well in the Republic of Florence. Pope Julius II denounces the New Science as a Satanic design, the Venetian Republic sends its spies to ferret out the secrets of its new arisen rival’s technology, and worse, the Gran Meccanismo may yet become an engine of uniformity and control. Already Florentine citizens are required to carry a Catalogo identity card, although they are not yet commonly checked, but if some apostles of hydronetic management theory have their way, how far and how rigid will its control go? Imagine a world if Niccolò Machiavelli, military commissioner of the Republic of Florence, had not seen the potential in the drawings and designs of Leonardo da Vinci and instead left him to his painting?

This is the setting for Gran Meccanismo: Clockpunk Roleplaying in da Vinci’s Florence, a roleplaying game designed by Mark Galeotti, best known as the designer of Mythic Russia: Heroism and Adventure in the Land of the Firebird and his contributions to the setting of Glorantha, and an academic specialising in Russian affairs. Notably, he brings his experience with the storytelling mechanics of the HeroQuest to Gran Meccanismo in what is a slightly radical shift in choice of mechanics for the publisher of the roleplaying game, Osprey Games. Although set at the height of the Renaissance, Gran Meccanismo takes the machismo and bravado, fractious politics and religious orthodoxy, and rigid social attitudes and superstitions of the period and combines and contrasts them with the features of two other, connected genres—Cyberpunk and Steampunk. These two feature a combination of lowlifes and high tech, advanced and rapidly advancing technology, both a reverence for and a fear of this new technology, but one aspect of these genres that Gran Meccanismo does not include is societal collapse or decay, although there is potential for the utopia promised by the New Science and the city block-sized Gran Meccanismo to turn the Florentine Republic into a dystopian nightmare of control and uniformity.

The first third or so of Gran Meccanismo is dedicated to its background, covering the state of Italy and its various other city-states, republics, and kingdoms, including Venice, Milan, Genoa, Rome, and others. The neighbouring nations of Europe—France, Spain, England, and others—and beyond are detailed in broader detail since they are not necessarily the stage for Gran Meccanismo, although their agents possess an interest in and will doubtless want to intervene in the affairs of the Florentine Republic. This is understandable, since taking a Gran Meccanismo campaign too far away and too often from the city of Florence would in part deny access to the technological wonders that are the roleplaying game’s raison d’être. Florence is given more detail, including its bureaucracy and notable figures, such as Leonardo da Vinci, the now one-eyed engineer and inventor due to an explosion of a device, and of course, Niccolò Machiavelli, as well as everyday life, business, war and the military, medicine, scholarship, faith—both Catholicism and the heretical, vice, and more. Mostly, this is covered in broad detail, enough to both intrigue the reader and bring that flavour to the Guide’s game. Where perhaps Gran Meccanismo is a little short on detail is in its coverage of New Science and the devices that are being invented as a result of it. This leaves scope for the Guide and the Player Characters to create their own inventions, but more starting suggestions would have been welcome.

A Player Character in Gran Meccanismo is defined by his Attributes and Traits, with the Traits being grouped under the Attributes. There are three of the latter, Body, Mind, and Soul. Both Attributes and Traits are rated in terms of the number six-sided dice assigned to them, and Traits can be as simple as Swordsmanship d2 or Student of the Dardi School d6. In comparison, a simple NPC can be defined as By the Clock Bureaucrat d3 or Drunken Tough d3. To create a character, a player defines a concept, such as ‘Religious Scholar Obsessed with the God in the Gran Meccanismo’ or ‘Rake on the make’. Nine points are divided between the three attributes and then the player is given three options in terms of defining the character’s Traits. These are by Archetype, Narrative, or Improvisation. In the Narrative method, the player assigns fifteen Traits ranging in value from one to four, and in the Improvisation method, the player starts with just two Traits and defines the rest through play. The Archetype method is a case of selecting a role such as Artificer, Banker, Bravo, Nobleman and Noblewoman, Rabble-Rouser, and more. All of the Archetypes have variations as alternative suggestions. To this the player adds three goals—one long term, one medium, and one short term, again valued by a dice pool, three Nudges, and Traits for the Player Character’s Origins. The Archetype method is the easiest and most flavoursome, whilst the others are suited to more experienced players.

Artificer Viviana Valente
Origins: Florence
Knows Florence 1d, Unfazed by the New Science 1d
Body 2
Draughtsman 2d, Fine Manipulation 2d, Dressed for Success 2d
Mind 4
Gadgeteer 4d, Knows Scientific Principles 4d, Can Read and Write 2d
Soul 3
Obsessed with the New Science 6d
Goals: Discover God in the Gran Meccanismo (Long Term), Serve my apprenticeship to Madame Patrizia Moretti (Medium Term), Pass Today’s Examination (Short Term)
Nudges: 3
Equipment: Small knife (+1d), Tools of the Trade (+2d), Pen and papers

Mechanically, Gran Meccanismo employs the TRIPOD or ‘Traits In Pools Of Dice’ system. Once the player and Guide have agreed on the intent of the test and its outcome, this involves a player building dice pools typically consisting of an Attribute and a Trait plus any benefits from the situation or scene or equipment. This is rolled against the difficulty of the test, which will require the player to roll a number of successes. For an Easy Test, just two successes are required, but a Challenging Test requires six. Rolls of four or five count as one success, but rolls of six count as two. The Guide can do this for her NPCs, which will come into play if the situation requires a confrontation or contest, such as a race, a duel, or a debate. Where this occurs, the Margin of Victory table indicates the effect of each participant’s roll, which if one or more can inflict a Damage Trait on an opponent’s Attribute. If all together the value of the Damage Traits exceeds an Attribute, then the participant in the contest or confrontation will be knocked out of play. Which might be that he is successfully robbed in a mugging, flees the scene, or is forced to concede in a debate.

To some extent, once a confrontation begins to go in favour of one participant or the other, it is difficult for the other to make a successful comeback. Fortunately, each player has several Nudges that he can use each session. Each Nudge shifts a die roll up one step, from a failure (one, two, or three on the die) to a success (four or five on the die) or from a success to a double success (six on the die). The Guide also has Nudges to use on her NPCs, but these are fewer in number. Some Traits can be Flaws though, and a player is encouraged to nominate one of his character’s Traits as such each session. Then once or twice in that session, the Guide should use it against the Player Character to make his life more complicated and the story interesting and then reward him with an extra Nudge and a Minor Advancement at the end of the session. Goals also work as Traits and can also add extra dice if the task at hand is relevant. The reward for using them is fairly substantial, but if unsuccessful, the Player Character earns a Doubt Trait, which persists until the Player Character can work it off by successfully using the Goal Trait in pursuit of the goal.

When it comes to the New Science, the Florentine Republic of 1510 has yet to achieve mass production. Some devices have been standardised, mostly for the battlefield, otherwise every item is an individual piece, almost a prototype and highly decorated. The advice is thus to make almost every item bespoke and a one-off, as well as temperamental and fragile. Mechanically, the TRIPOD system means that the numbers for a New Science device equate to that for a more traditional one, and the New Science adds flavour and verisimilitude. Which highlights the fact that the New Science is also a narrative device. Further as much as the Clockpunk of Gran Meccanismo are informed and influenced by the Steampunk and Cyberpunk genres, the one aspect of either that Gran Meccanismo lacks is the equivalent of the Internet. There is though the possibility of Clockers hacking the Gran Meccanismo in Florence, either directly at the central machine in the Palazzo Altoviti, a dedicated cogent engine attached to some nascent industrial process, or one of the stations at the city’s guard posts where one day Catalogo identity card checks might be carried out.

For the Guide there is advice on running Gran Meccanismo and on the types of games that can be run. Suggestions include Missione Impossible espionage-style games, travelogues, family sagas built around noble or even crime families, and of course, tilting the Republic of Florence into a Clockpunk Dystopia. There is advice too on scaling up the game to include the clash of armies, as well as keeping combat exciting and pushing towards a cinematic, even slightly pulpy style of play, with the use of cliffhangers. Although there is no scenario included, there are hooks throughout the book, along with numerous asides and historical notes in sidebars.

Gran Meccanismo is missing an index and a glossary as well as a timeline, which would have been useful. Similarly, given the historicity of the setting, a bibliography would have been equally useful. The lack of all three does make the roleplaying game that much harder to use as a ready reference, let alone prepare a scenario or campaign.

Physically, Gran Meccanismo is a decent looking book. The artwork is excellent, the book is well written, and the flavour text helps bring the setting of Florence and its surroundings alive.

Gran Meccanismo: Clockpunk Roleplaying in da Vinci’s Florence is arguably the first storytelling roleplaying game from Osprey Games—or at least the first to use storytelling mechanics. It combines the fast-playing, easy to grasp rules of the TRIPOD system with a setting that not only can genuinely be called unique, but one to which your first response should be, “That’s a cool idea!”