Above & Below

Underground, Overground: The Case File Collection is an anthology of scenarios—and more, for the roleplaying game based on the Rivers of London novels by Ben Aaronovitch. In this roleplaying game, as magic returns to the world, there is the need to deal with the mysteries, oddness, and secrets of the ‘demi-monde’, as well as investigate crimes committed by those within it and those associated with it. In this urban fantasy game, this need is fulfilled by the London Metropolitan Police Service’s special magic branch, also known as ‘the Folly’, and the Player Characters are its newly recruited members. Magic plays a big role in Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game and some of the Player Characters are practitioners—Apprentice Newtonian Wizards—who will need their magic to best solve the mysteries that lie at the heart of the mysteries of these four scenarios as well as general investigative abilities, some taught at Police College and some learned on the street. Together, the quartet will do things. First, they will take the Player Characters across London as well as below the city and along the banks of the River Thames, second, they will take the Player Characters through a series of increasingly challenging and more involved cases. In terms of timeframe, the scenarios in the anthology are still set in 2016, but the content does take into account of the events of the novella, What Abigail Did That Summer.

It should be noted that four of the the three scenarios in Underground, Overground: The Case File Collection are not new, having previously been available as PDFs, whilst the first two scenarios are suitable as introductory scenarios as well as convention scenarios. The first of the four scenarios is ‘Going Underground’, a short mystery which takes place in an ‘ghost’ or unused station on the London underground, this being the British Museum station closed in the thirties. The British Museum station is now a ‘ghost station’—and it is this conflation of ‘ghost’ and ‘station’ which the author takes advantage of and should arouse the interest of the players and their characters. The Player Characters are awoken by a telephone call in the night from Sergeant Jaget Kumar, the Falcon Liaison Officer for the British Transport Police, who reports that ghost has been sighted on the station. The Player Characters are able to conduct a little research before making their way to the station entrance (it is quite close to the Folly) before descending to the remanets of the station where most of the action will take place. This is a constrained investigation, focusing upon making contact with the ghost there and finding out about what happened to them. However, this hides a deeper mystery connected to the British Museum next door, which is reputed to have been haunted by its very own ‘Unlucky Mummy’.

If there is an issue with ‘Going Underground’, it is that there is not a lot of action to the scenario, so some players may be disappointed. However, it is written as an investigative and social scenario and it has a gentle, almost cosy feel to it. This is a genuinely lovely scenario very nicely supported with some well-researched background.

The second scenario, ‘Font of Evil’, is much more of traditional investigation—and fact, a murder mystery—and does include an actual threat. Potentially problematically, the scenario is that it set on a specific date—Thursday, 19th May, 2016—as it is tied into the ebb and flow of the Thames tidal estuary. There is advice on moving the date, so it is flexible. The scenario concerns the strange death of Edgar Marsh, a young man whose main activity is ‘mudlarking’, that is the practice of searching the exposed riverbeds of the Thames at low tide for historical artifacts and lost objects. It quickly becomes apparent that he is not the only one obsessed with the activity and some of the things Edgar Marsh found. This will give the Player Characters a prime suspect and the second half of the scenario revolves around confirming his connection to the Edgar Marsh, and then tracking him down and confronting him. Another issue with the scenario is there is information that the Player Characters will probably want to know right at the start of the scenario, but saves it until later in the scenario. So, the scenario needs more attention paid to it during the Game Master’s preparation. The scenario will definitely end in a confrontation with the villain of the piece and what he is trying to bring about, so has a much more physical feel to it.

‘Font of Evil’ is very much a London-inspired scenario and much darker in tone than the previous ‘Going Underground’. Whilst the scenario does explore the consequences of Player Characters’ actions, it does not address what happens if they fail, so the Game Master will have to improvise. Otherwise, ‘Font of Evil’ is a dark and nasty affair.

‘The Goat-Man is Coming!’ is the third scenario in the anthology and is the only not have been published before. When the Folly is alerted by the local police liaison officer about an assault by a supposed ‘Goat-Man’ on the Parkland Walk, a linear green pedestrian and cycle route in north London, Inspector Nightingale asks the Player Characters to investigate as the ‘Goat-Man’ is a figure of local myth and has not been seen since the seventies. Much of the action of the scenario is along the few kilometres of the Parkland Walk as the Player Characters investigate the assault and check the veracity of the ‘Goat-Man’ myth. This is very much a step up in terms of the investigation’s sophistication with numerous NPCs to interact with—some of whom are quite challenging to interview—and multiple leads. The players will definitely need to make notes to keep up with the amount of information their characters can discover and learn. The scenario also presents an opportunity for the Player Characters to interact with members of the demi-monde, including a Len Deighton-inspired fox whom the Game Master will have a lot of fun portraying.

However, this scenario is tinged with sadness and it does involve children around whom the Player Characters will need to work with care and sensitivity. There are dire consequences for the Player Characters if this aspect of the investigation is handled poorly, both within the demi-monde and without. Otherwise, this is an entertaining scenario that should take two or three sessions to complete. If there is a downside, it ignores the question that a player and his character might ask, “What if the ‘Goat-Man’ is a faun or satyr?”

The fourth and final scenario in the anthology is ‘Jimmy’s Last Dance’. Like ‘The Goat-Man is Coming!’ before it, this scenario starts with an assault. However, not by a supposed ‘Goat-Man’, but by a pirate in the borough of Putney south London and when the Player Characters investigate, it is clear that magic was used. What follows is a detailed investigation which involves a lot of standard Police procedure—interviews, surveillance, and so on—mainly confined to Putney, bar the occasional return to the Folly to conduct research. Over the course of the investigation, the Player Characters will be conducting multiple interviews, all of which nicely presented to help the Game Master answer their questions and portray the various NPCs. Beyond the fact that a pirate attacked the operators of a cannabis farm in south London, the investigation will lead the Player Characters to a criminal gang, a solicitor with less than ethical standards, a rotten son-in-law and a barely suspecting daughter, and an old lady with interesting secrets of her own. Their efforts will seem to weave in and out of the movements of the pirate, but eventually they will be able to find him and discover who he is and what he wants.

As with the other scenarios in Underground, Overground, the issue with ‘Jimmy’s Last Dance’ is when it is set, but add to that is its political dimension. It is set in 2016 and it involves a political scandal that was at its height at the time. This is The Windrush Scandal. Of course, the authors advise the Game Master to handle the issue with care and it is certainly not a problem that The Windrush Scandal is part of the scenario—in fact, it is actually woven into the plot of the case file—but rather that the timeframe is quite specific and thus difficult to shift the case file to another year. Elsewhere, there is advice on how to portray a pirate without sounding like Robert Newton. Overall, a very nicely detailed investigation that combines parochially British charm and menace, but like a modern Ealing comedy, can have a cosy ending.

All four scenarios are ably supported by advice and suggestions for the Game Master, whether that is written in the author’s voice or that of Peter Grant or even Ben Aaronovitch. There is advice on what character types that each scenario needs, referring to the pre-generated Player Characters in the core rulebook and, also how to run each scenario using Player Characters who are not affiliated with the Folly. Most of the scenarios have relationship maps and a plot progression charts too, to help the Game Master keep track of their particular investigations. Perhaps the oddest advice is on various pieces of British vernacular, such as the meaning of the term ‘old bag’ when used as a pejorative to describe a woman, old or not. Whilst a British audience will find this amusing, for a non-British Game Master, it explains the vernacular and gives alternatives where necessary. This gives her the choice of enforcing the verisimilitude with the given terms or using less pejorative ones.

Underground, Overground: The Case File Collection comes to a close with a trio of appendices. The first presents ‘New Spells’ from Bortnik, an old Russian peasant spell designed to drive bees away temporarily so that a hive’s honey can be harvested and Trip Trap that ties shoelaces together to Indagare Aliquem which creates a pair of linked metal items each of which knows where the others are (one the examples of its use is by New York Librarians with paired paperclips to track where certain books and items are) and Snow Stove which compacts a mass of snow into a compact cylinder that releases heat for several hours. There is a wide variety of spells here drawn from the novels with some of them amusingly commented upon by Ben Aaronovitch as to what Abigail, Peter Grant’s niece might do with them if she could. The third is a useful ‘Bibliography & Resources’.

However, topping and tailing Underground, Overground—or is that ‘snouting and tailing’?—is a look at Foxes in the Rivers of London setting and Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game. The anthology opens with ‘The Absolutely True and Accurate Account of How the Foxes Got Their Voices Back’, a new short story by Ben Aaronovitch, which gives the vulpine explanation as to how and why they learned speak. Speaking foxes, larger, longer lived, and more intelligent than their silent brethren, first seen in What Abigail Did That Summer, are going to be a big draw for some players to Underground, Overground as it comes to a close with a complete guide to creating and playing talking Foxes. This adds a new option to playing a member of the demi-monde, but in many ways a much more challenging one, since these are not anthropomorphised Foxes. They can speak, read, but cannot write and do many things because they lack opposable thumbs (not a problem for Talking Raccoons, the option suggested for play in the USA with Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA). It is suggested that two Occupations are suitable for a Fox Player Character. One is the ‘Boffin’, the equivalent of a Lecturer, who has to teach the young fox kits, but the other preferred option is the ‘Spy’. Now this can be used to create Human spies, but Fox spies specialise in surveillance, especially in urban environments. Fox spies also think and talk like spies, especially fictional spies, so the roleplaying potential is rife with entertaining clichés and can be huge fun if a player knows his spy lingo. Fortunately, there is plenty of detail to help the Game Master and the player portray a talking Fox as well as creating one with the right skills and advantages. (Of course, it sets up the challenge of writing an all-talking Fox scenario!)

Physically, Underground, Overground: The Case File Collection is very nicely produced. It is well written, the illustrations are excellent, the cartography good, and the handouts decent.

Ultimately, the only issue with Underground, Overground: The Case File Collection is the time frame in which its scenarios are set, often quite tightly bound to 2016. This is not an insurmountable problem, and the individual scenarios do each give advice how to handle this if the Game Master wants to set them else when. This aside, all four scenarios are thoroughly entertaining, whatever their degree of detail and investigation, exploring different parts and aspects of London, as well introducing further elements of the demi-monde. Players will love it for the means to create and roleplaying talking Foxes, but that is just extra to the collection of intriguing investigations and mysteries in Underground, Overground: The Case File Collection that provide great support for the Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game.

Magic in the USA

Just as with the works of fiction it is based upon, the Rivers of London series of novels and graphic novels by Ben Aaronovitch, the Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, focuses upon the demi-monde of the city of London and the wider British Isles. However, the novel Whispers Under Ground and the novellas The October Man and Winter’s Gifts, opened up the wider world to suggest that magic and the activities of the genius loci—or river spirits—and the fae are on the rise in as faraway places as Germany and the USA. Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA does exactly the same for the roleplaying game in the USA. It primarily explores two things in the USA. One is the history of the magic and magic practitioners in the USA and the other is law enforcement in the USA, supporting this with factions and scenarios and more. Together this highlights the differences between the United Kingdom and the USA, as well as suggesting options and ways as who the Player Characters are and how they investigate case files that deal with magic and the demi-monde. It supports this with plenty of advice and case file hooks for the Game Master, a pair of scenarios of differing complexity, and a set of ready-to-play Player Character investigators.

Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA starts by explaining the cultural differences between the United Kingdom and the USA in terms of magic. The most obvious is that there is no equivalent of the Folly in the USA, so no equivalent of ‘magic cops’, and no Federal oversight of magic. This does not mean that there is no Federally-connected organisation that deals with magic and magic-related crime. One is the Critical Incident Response Group of the FBI, to which Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds belongs, the other is Alderman Technical Solutions, previous incarnations of which were the de facto magical law enforcers for the US government, but which is now a private military contractor whose primary remit remains the investigation and suppression of hostile genii locorum. More common are lone practitioners or independent organised groups. One such is the ‘Librarians’ of the New York Library Association from False Value, which are fully detailed and statted here. Others include a variety of hedge wizards, monster hunters, and so on, including a coven of New Orleans witches; the luchador-inspired Las Serpientes vigilantes which hunt vampires and street gangs in Southern California; and the Cryptid Kickers, a team which makes an online paranormal reality show. Also described is Mr. Sunday, a magical fixer who can be used to bring disparate Investigators together, and last, and definitely worst, the ASU or ‘Against Spiritual Usurpation’, who most radical members hunt practitioners because they believe them to leeching magic from the natural world.

All of this is written as if a report put together by Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds, including—as she wryly notes—her own Critical Incident Response Group. She notes that the origins of Newtonian practice in the USA were in the craft that Benjamen Franklin and Thomas Jefferson learned in and brought back from Europe. Their different philosophies, culturally divided along the Mason-Dixon line, saw the founding of two societies, Franklin’s ‘Virtuous Men’ and Jefferson’s ‘Virginia Gentleman’s Company’, which would clash in the American Civil War and refuse to serve alongside each other in the Second World War. The ‘Virtuous Men’ were disbanded following revelations made to the House Un-American Activities Committee, whilst the ‘Virginia Gentleman’s Company’ was re-founded as Alderman Technical Solutions.

The consequences of all of this is that magic and its practice in the USA—and the demi-monde to some extent due to the suppression programmes conducted by the ‘Virginia Gentleman’s Company’—is steadfastly disorganised and disparate in feel and nature. In comparison to Player Characters in Great Britain, those in the USA will have no official police (or federal) law enforcement authority and little to no official magical training. There will also be no ‘official’ telephone call in the night instructing the Player Characters to investigate a strange incident, though there may unofficial ones from a journalist or law enforcement officer aware of the Player Characters’ interest in such matters. Player Characters will often have no back-up and have to work alone, often avoiding entanglement with the authorities, and perhaps going as far as using forged identification to pass themselves as members of law enforcement. If they are magic practitioners, they are likely to be hedge wizards or strongly allied with the Librarians. One option discussed as a possibility is an Indigenous practitioner, but this is not developed and left very much in the hands of the player to develop with the help of the Game Master.

The disadvantage of this is that it is more difficult to set-up a game in the USA because there is less of a readymade structure and the Player Characters will be less capable. The advantage is that there is less of a stricture as to who the Player Characters might be and how they might go about conducting an investigation. The Game Master also has more options in terms of the type of campaign she wants to run and where she wants to set it, and lastly, the players are going to know less about the setting and its American demi-monde than they might in a Rivers of London campaign set in the United Kingdom.

Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is rounded out with five appendices. The first details the six members of the Cryptid Kickers, an online paranormal reality

Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA does include a decent explanation of American law enforcement from local to federal, plenty of case seeds for the Game Master to develop, and details about the demi-monde in the USA. The most amusing of which is where nazareths, or goblin markets, are held. This is at gun shows, which brings its own challenges, of course, and at Science Fiction & Fantasy Conventions, which lends itself to members of the demi-monde openly being themselves as cos-players! Either way, the Player Characters are going to have approach either type of event with such care lest they stick out from the crowd to both the mundane and the outré attendees.

Almost half of Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is dedicated to a pair of highly detailed case files. The first, ‘Woolly Bully’ takes places in the depths of Red Cedar Forest in Montana where the body of a local meth dealer has been found dead after a bear attack, although there is speculation that it as a bigfoot attack! The scenario involves some investigation in the nearby town of Merriweather, but is primarily focused on what lies in the woods and what secrets are hidden out there. The Player Characters will need to conduct at least one excursion into the woods, which the local sheriff will discourage. Once the Player Characters do go into the woods, the scenario is fairly linear, the Game Master having the option to add further encounters. There is advice too, on how to get the Player Characters involved, depending on who they work for or if they are independents, and lots of advice on how to stage various scenes to the extent that the ‘Woolly Bully’ is good introductory case for a Game Master to run. However, the scenario does have the potential to turn violent and end up with the Player Characters facing a tough opponent, so does not quite feel like a traditional Rivers of London case file in that way. Otherwise, a straightforward, but well done case file.

The second case file is just as detailed, but switches the mystery to the West Coast of Los Angeles as well as keeping it in Montana. ‘A Regular Picture Palace Drama’ is a more complex affair than ‘Woolly Bully’, but it can be run as a sequel. It is a MacGuffin hunt, one which concerns a very magical piece of Hollywood and which some desperate people and organisations are desperate to get hold of, and will literally chase people down to do so. The investigation begins with news of a magical artefact, a revolver known as a buntline special, has surfaced and set the demi-monde gossiping. Attempting to track it down in Bozeman, Montana, where it was seen at a gun show, reveals the efforts to which some people will go to obtain it, including robbery and murder and car chases, but by the end of the first act, the Investigators will have learned that the artefact has been taken to Los Angeles. This being Hollywood, this is where the scenario gets weirder and where the authors being to have their fun, as the Player Characters begin experiencing oddly spectral recreations of old Hollywood films leading to a showdown with whichever one of their chasers has survived so far. Despite the increased complexity, the case file comes with plenty of staging advice and could be used to set up a campaign in Los Angeles, perhaps a new West Coast Critical Incident Response Group office after the outbreak of even weirder weirdness or one involving the Arrowsmith organisation which deals in the preservation of rare Hollywood films and relics. The scenario closes with eight case file seeds, some of which do include Arrowsmith, others some of the factions detailed elsewhere in the book.

‘A Regular Picture Palace Drama’ is definitely the more interesting and more entertaining of the two scenarios. If there is anything missing, it is an opportunity for the Player Characters to actually go to a gun show as described earlier in the book as an American nazareth.

Rounding out Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is a set of five appendices. The first details the members of the Cryptid Kickers paranormal online series investigators as Player Characters, potentially ready to play the two scenarios in the supplement. There are four members of the Cryptid Kickers, plus a couple of friends who help out. Two of the Cryptid Kickers are practitioners, though in secret. The second appendix details several new spells. For example, Treaclefoot is used to stick two things together temporarily, people’s shoes to the floor most obviously; Casus Levis, softens a person’s landing after a fall; and Winter’s Breath is cast to radically drop the temperature in a small sphere, including causing a violent bronchospasm if cast on a victim’s head. The ‘New Creatures’ appendix introduces malignancies and despairs, types of hostile spirits; ‘Talking Racoons’ as the American equivalent to Foxes; and ‘Old Soldiers’, lower fae with an affinity for conflict having been reborn on a battlefield after extended fighting. They are available as a Player Character option. The fourth chapter lists and describes the most notable cryptid in most of the states. It is only marginally useful since it leaves the Game Master to create the stats for them and the lack of those is really the only shortcoming to Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA. The last appendix consists of an extensive list of inspiration from books, graphic novels, films and television series, podcasts, and more.

There are some limitations to Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA. The lack of further cryptid stats and the limited options if a Game Master wants a more organised set-up for her campaign. They are understandable, since not everything has been detailed in the Rivers of London series of novels and books. Plus, they do leave a lot of room for the Game Master to create her own content for her campaign.

Physically, Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is very well presented. The book is an engaging read, full of interesting details, and there is a Ben Aaronovitch vignette at the start—sadly too short. The artwork is also good, although one has to wonder what it is that Bob Ross was going to paint.

There is very likely much more to explore in the USA in the world of Rivers of London as Rivers of London: In Liberty’s Shadow: A Guide to Case Files in the USA is a not a complete guide to the setting. It is, however, a solid introduction that presents the Game Master with both plenty to use in her campaign and room to develop her own, backed up with two entertaining scenarios.

The Putney Pirate

When you are called into to investigate a violent assault at an address in Putney, Southwest London, it sounds like any other day on the job in Putney, let alone London. When it turns out that that the assailant is described by an eyewitness as looking like, “… [S]omething straight out of one of those pirate films.”, then you know this is no ordinary case. It is, instead, a case for The Folly. Or rather, the ‘Special Assessment Unit’ of London Metropolitan Police Service, which in particular deals with magic and the Demi-Monde, and under the command of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, registered practitioner of Newtonian magic, is increasing the number of its operational staff as crimes involving magic also rise. Which includes the Player Characters, who are then assigned to investigate the affray at the house in Kingsmere Close. Whilst the victims of the assault are not saying much, it quickly becomes clear that they are up to no good, as they have turned the house into a cannabis farm and are not the actual owners of the house. Further, once an Initial Vestigium Assessment has been conducted, it confirms that magic was used in the assault, and that very definitely means that this is a case for the Folly. So where is the owner of the house? Who is the man dressed like a pirate, quite likely an unlicensed practitioner of magic, and why did he attack the operators of a cannabis farm in a quiet corner of Southwest London? All pressing questions in Jimmy’s Last Dance: A Swashbuckling Case File of Family Intrigue.

Jimmy’s Last Dance: A Swashbuckling Case File of Family Intrigue is an investigation and case file for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, based on the Rivers of London novels by Ben Aaronovitch. Published by Chaosium, Inc., this is a lengthier case file than previous releases for the roleplaying game, one that will probably take two or so sessions to play through. Or it can be added to campaign, perhaps run after ‘The Bookshop’ from the core rulebook or the case files, Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game and The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames. One issue perhaps with the scenario is that it set in a specific year and that it involves a political scandal that was at its height at the time. The year is 2016 and the scandal is The Windrush Scandal. Of course, the authors advise the Game Master to handle the issue with care and it is certainly not a problem that The Windrush Scandal is part of the scenario—in fact, it is actually woven into the plot of the case file—but rather that the timeframe is quite specific and thus difficult to shift the case file to another year.

There are multiple plot strands to the investigation, ones that will lead the Player Characters to a criminal gang, a solicitor with less than ethical standards, a rotten son-in-law and a barely-suspecting daughter, and an old lady with interesting secrets of her own. Then ultimately to the ‘pirate’ who attacked the cannabis farm and who has his own agenda throughout the scenario. Sometimes that and his movements will intersect with those of the Player Characters and their investigation. Although they can return to the Folly to conduct research, most of the investigation is confined to the borough of Putney itself and involves lots of Police dogwork—interviews, surveillance, and so on. Over the course of the investigation, the Player Characters will be conducting multiple interviews, all of which are nicely presented to help the Game Master answer their questions and portray the various NPCs. In addition, there are some decent handouts that the Player Characters will be able to find through various research avenues.

There is good advice for the Game Master throughout the scenario. This starts with suggested Player Character types and roles, how to portray a pirate without sounding like Robert Newton, and continues with notes from both Peter Grant and Ben Aaronovitch. It is recommended that at least one Player Character be a police officer or detective and that one be a Newtonian apprentice or hedge wizard. Suggestions are given too, if the players want to roleplay pre-generated characters from the core rulebook. The oddest advice is on various pieces of British vernacular, such as the meaning of the term ‘old bag’ when used as a pejorative to describe a woman, old or not. Whilst a British audience will find this amusing, for a non-British Game Master, it explains the vernacular and gives alternatives where necessary. This gives her the choice of enforcing the verisimilitude with the given terms or using less pejorative ones. The structure of the scenario is nicely supported with both a relationship map and a plot progression chart, to help the Game Master keep track of the investigation and more importantly, the location of the ‘pirate’.

Physically, Jimmy’s Last Dance: A Swashbuckling Case File of Family Intrigue is clean, tidy, and easy to use. The maps and plot progression diagram are easy to use, the advice is good throughout, and the portraits of the various NPCs are excellent.

Jimmy’s Last Dance: A Swashbuckling Case File of Family Intrigue is a richly detailed investigation that combines parochially British charm and menace, backed up with good advice for the Game Master—and if things go right, a cozy ending.

—oOo—

Chaosium, Inc. will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2025.

Typeface Terror

When the body of a man is found lying face up in his West London flat with a large hole in his chest surrounded by organised piles of books, it sounds like a strange case, and probably a case for The Folly. Or rather, the ‘Special Assessment Unit’ of London Metropolitan Police Service, which in particular deals with magic and the Demi-Monde, and under the command of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, registered practitioner of Newtonian magic, is increasing the number of its operational staff as crimes involving magic also rise. And so, it proves to be with the death of Edgar Marsh. Assiduous investigation involving close examination of the flat, interviews with neighbours, and an autopsy establish that Edgar was a loner, was obsessed with history and mudlarking on the Thames shore, died under strange circumstances, and once an Initial Vestigium Assessment has been conducted, that magic was involved in his death, and that very definitely, this is a case for the Folly. It is also the set-up for The Font of All Evil.

The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames is an investigation and case file for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, based on the Rivers of London novels by Ben Aaronovitch. Published by Chaosium, Inc., this is another short case file for the roleplaying game which can be played in a single session and perhaps used as a convention scenario. Or it can be added to campaign, perhaps run after ‘The Bookshop’ from the core rulebook or Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game. One issue perhaps with the scenario is that it set on a specific date—Thursday, 19th May, 2016. This tied into ebb and flow of the Thames tidal estuary, but the scenario need not be set on that particular date. The authors suggest that the Game Moderator can check the tides for the particular day on which she wants to set the scenario, but another option would be to still set it on Thursday, 19th May, 2016 and run it on later date as a training exercise, possibly conducted by Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale himself.

The case itself is quite straightforward—no surprise given that it was originally written as a convention scenario—and within a relatively short amount of time, the Player Characters should have a prime suspect. The second half of the scenario will involve confirming his involvement, tracking him down, and finally confronting him. Throughout, there is excellent advice for the Game Master and at every stage, there are suggestions as where the Player Characters could go next to continue or further their investigation. There are nods also to the various novels the Rivers of London series, as well as pointers to possible consequences to the Player Character actions. This is in addition to the advice given to the Game Moderator at the start of the scenario, which suggests the means of introducing the Player Characters, what Occupations are useful, and what skills will be helpful. Of the Occupations, ideally, the Player Characters should have a Police Officer or Detective and a Practitioner of magic amongst their number. The scenario even goes so far as to suggest which pre-generated Player Characters from the Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game core book are suitable, adjusting for player numbers as necessary.

Where The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames disappoints—if only slightly—is in its treatment of the wound that killed poor Edgar Marsh. The scenario suggests that not every Game Moderator and her group relish depictions of violence and bloodshed, which is fine, but consequently, the scenario obfuscates what exactly the cause of death is until quite late on in the book and initially it is difficult to work out exactly why the case falls under the remit of The Folly. When it is made explicit, the Game Moderator will need to take that information and carry it back to the beginning of the scenario should she want to work it into her descriptions for the benefit of her players and their characters. Also, the scenario does not address what might happen should the Player Characters actually fail… After all, what killed Edgar Marsh could also be threat to the monarchy!

Where The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames delights is in its pleasing combination of London life, history, and magic. The weaponisation of Doves Type has a certain elegance to it.

Physically, The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames is clean, tidy, and easy to use. The maps and plot progression diagram are easy to use, the advice is good throughout, and the illustrations are decent, a reasonable mix of the old and the new.

The Font of All Evil: Murder and Mayhem Besides the Thames is a detailed and entertaining, if short, case file for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, compact enough to be run as a convention scenario, but just as easily run at a more leisurely pace at the gaming table.

Mummies, Mysteries, & Museums

As its title suggests, Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is a scenario for the roleplaying game based on the Rivers of London novels by Ben Aaronovitch. In this roleplaying game, as magic returns to the world, there is the need to deal with the mysteries, oddness, and secrets of the ‘demi-monde’, as well as investigate crimes committed by those within it and those associated with it. In this urban fantasy game, this need is fulfilled by the London Metropolitan Police Service’s special magic branch, also known as ‘the Folly’, and the Player Characters are its newly recruited members. Magic plays a big role in Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game and thus in Going Underground, and some of the Player Characters are practitioners—Apprentice Newtonian Wizards—who will need their magic to best solve the mystery at the heart of the scenario. It is a short affair, a group capable of playing through it in a single session, two at best. It is also an introductory scenario, suitable for as a beginning scenario, but also easily played after the solo case file, ‘The Domestic’, and the full scenario, ‘The Bookshop’ in the core rulebook, or simply inserted into an ongoing campaign.

Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game can be played through with two, three, or four players, and there are suggestions as to which pre-generated Player Characters from the core rulebook are suitable as well as what spells will be useful. Werelight is definitely one of them. There are two issues with the scenario, one of which is that it is short, the other that it is set in 2016 rather than the present day. This is because the London Underground began running late-night services after that and so made accessing its tracks very much more difficult and dangerous. That said, there are notes if the Game Master wants to shift Going Underground out of London and set in another city with an underground mass transport network, such as New York’s Subway, the Paris Métro, or indeed Glasgow’s Clockwork Orange.

The scenario opens with a telephone call in the middle of night. This is from Sergeant Jaget Kumar, the Falcon Liaison Officer for the British Transport Police. He reports that an engineer conducting a patrol on the London Underground at the British Museum station got the fright of his life and Sergeant Kumar wants to determine if the incident is Falcon-related—which of course, it is. The Player Characters get to walk from the Folly to nearby Holborn tube station, through the city’s nightlife, to first interview the engineer. They do have a little time to conduct some preliminary research, which should turn up one interesting fact—there is no British Museum London Underground station. Or rather, there is no longer a working British Museum London Underground station. It was closed in 1933 and is no longer part of the running network, but was used as an air raid shelter in World War 2 and later a Cold War emergency command post. It is now used for storage. The British Museum London Underground station is what is known as a ‘ghost station’—and it is this conflation of ‘ghost’ and ‘station’ which the author takes advantage of and should arouse the interest of the players and their characters. That, of course, and the fact that the nearby British Museum is also reputed to have been haunted by its very own ‘Unlucky Mummy’.

After the Player Characters have interviewed the very jittery Underground engineer, they get to descend into the network and work their way to the British Museum Underground station. This is preceded by a very stern safety briefing and Sergeant Kumar’s confession that he is really looking forward to visiting the British Museum Underground station as it is a ghost station he has never visited or had reason to visit. The bulk of the scenario’s investigation and possible action takes place here. There is not a great deal to the investigation itself, but it is nicely detailed with numerous options and suggestions given and explored to deal with the handful of problems that the Player Characters find in the remains of the old station. Notably, one of these is combat, but there is certain reluctance to its inclusion here, as if not only is it not the ideal solution to the mystery, it is not one that the author really wanted to include. There is a wealth of background and historical detail to back up the scenario’s plot that showcases the research that has gone into the scenario. This includes a history of the London Underground, the British Museum station in particular, and the ‘Unlucky Mummy’. Throughout is also staging advice and suggestions for the Game Master as well as a plot progression diagram at the beginning.

Physically, Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is very nicely produced. It is well written, the illustrations excellent, the cartography good, and the handouts decent.

If there is an issue with Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, it is that it is disappointingly short, but then it does cover just a few hours’ worth of investigation. However, it is detailed in terms of plot and background, as well as the resolution to its mystery, with some fun NPCs for the Game Master to portray and the Player Characters to interact with. Ultimately, Going Underground – A Case File for Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is a very nicely done scenario that really does feel as if Ben Aaronovitch could have written it. No fan of the Rivers of London series would be surprised to see this turn up as a short story or graphic novel.

Fantasy of the Folly

As the decade of the twenty-tens began, so too began a rise in the number of events and encounters that were strange and inexplicable except when using magic as the answer. Ghosts. Men and women acting in strange ways without their knowledge. Antiques and artefacts with strange provenances being stolen. Rivers seeming to come to life. People disappearing in strange ways. Foxes seeming to talk. If you are prepared to accept that magic real, then it is obvious that its power and occurrence is on the rise, causing the life of the Demi-monde, those persons and creatures who have been touched or changed by magic, to grow and interact with wider society. Of course, the police, even London’s Metropolitan Police Service, is unprepared for such a change in circumstances. Except, that is for the Folly. The Met’s ‘Special Assessment Unit’, its headquarters in a grand building on Russell Square, has long been on decline by the twenty-tens, its operational staff having dwindled to just one—Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale—its commanding officer and a registered practitioner of Newtonian magic. With the resurgence of magic, Nightingale’s own powers have grown again and he has recruited his first apprentice in many years, Constable Peter Grant. In the decade since, Constable Grant has investigated numerous strange cases, known as ‘Falcon’ cases, both inside London and outside it, and become a significant figure within the Demi-monde himself. Yet there has also been the growing need to hire outside consultants on a range of subjects and recruit and train more apprentices. The Folly, is, once again, playing an important role in police matters, even the police’s attitude towards it is not always a positive one. This is the background to the Rivers of London series of novels and graphic novels by Ben Aaronovitch and so too, to Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game.

Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is published by Chaosium, Inc.. In it, players will take the roles of men and women newly recruited or attached to the Folly, a few able to learn and cast magic, most with other gifts and advantages. Under the aegis of the Metropolitan Police Service and its code of conduct and legal powers, they will investigate occurrences of magic and other strange phenomena, hopefully to learn more about its practice and the Demi-monde, but primary to protect the public at large and ensure that no laws have been broken. It is thus an investigative roleplaying game, one notably written for both those new to roleplaying and those not new to roleplaying. For those new to roleplaying, the Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game offers a solo case file or adventure—based on the short story, ‘The Domestic’ from Tales of the Folly—which will the player how to roleplay and how the rules work. This is much like the solo adventure Alone Against the Flames to be found in the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set , which also teaches a player the basics of the rules, how to create an Investigator, and the possible outcomes of various choices. This is no coincidence. Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game not only includes an introductory solo investigation, but it also employs the same mechanics as Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, although in a much cutdown, highly streamlined version. Consequently, anyone who has played Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition or even the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine, will be able to pick up and play Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game with ease.

It should also be noted that Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game comes with Ben Aaronovitch’s full endorsement. It uses the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine—which is always what he has wanted for a roleplaying game based on his book—and includes notes and asides throughout that add extra commentary to the setting of the roleplaying game. Here he even says that, “Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game could even be described as “Call of Cthulhu—now with added hope!” However, it should be made clear that although there are occasional elements of horror within the novels, their genre and that of Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is Urban Fantasy. Much like novels themselves, the roleplaying game ties in with Aaronovitch’s own nerdiness and geeky knowledge of games, roleplaying games, and random Science Fiction and fantasy. It also be noted that Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is set after the events of False Value, the eighth novel in the series. Consequently, there will be spoilers in the roleplaying game for anyone who has not read either the novels or the graphic novels up until then.

After the delightful opening fiction of Peter Grant explaining roleplaying to other members of the Folly by running a session of Call of Cthulhu, and ‘The Domestic’ solo case file, Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game begins explaining how to create a Player Character. An Investigator has five attributes—Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Power—which range in value between thirty and eighty. He will also have a Luck value, which ranges in value between fifty-two and seventy, but will go down as it is spent to modify and succeed at various rolls. He will have one or two Advantages, such as Connected, Fast Reactions, Silver-Tongued, or Magical. The Magical Advantage is a Major Advantage and if selected means that the Player Character can learn and cast spells, but also means that he cannot take another Advantage. He also has an Occupation—some marked as being typical of the Rivers of London setting, some not, such as Architect, Dilettante, Firefighter, Lawyer, Police Officer/Detective, or Social Worker. This Occupation lists the skills that the Player Character must have and the skills it is recommended that he have, plus contacts and possible equipment.

To create a Player Character divides a pool of points between the five attributes and selects both an Occupation and one or two Advantages. He then assigns a value of sixty points to a total of six skills and rolls for his Luck value. These six skills must include the required skills for his character’s Occupation, but he can choose as many or as few of the recommended skills as he likes. Some Occupations may list less than six skills in total, so the player is free to choose other to ensure his character has a total of six. Lastly, he creates a backstory for his character, ideally including an explanation of how he came to be associated with magic or the supernatural, and then equips him. The process is easy and well explained. Apart from the fact that a Player Character can learn magic and that they have all encountered magic or the supernatural, all Player Characters are ordinary human beings. There are, however, advanced options for veteran players who want to roleplay more experienced characters—with more skills, but also Disadvantages as well as Advantages—or characters who are Fae or Quiet People. (Sadly, there are no rules for creating Talking Fox Player Characters, because after all, who does not want to play a Talking Fox who knows he is a spy!)

Avtar Chakora is a London black cab driver who got involved in the Folly when his cab began taking fares and trips of its own across the city. It turns out that it was haunted by a previous driver, Dickie Stacy, who was giving fares to other ghosts, often to various locations in the Demi-monde across London. After several near accidents and an investigation by the Folly, Dickie and Avtar have come to an arrangement. Avtar will give rides to ghosts and more recently, other members of the Demi-monde, but Dickie would advise rather than drive. In return, Avtar, a fully trained accountant only because his mother wanted him to get a respectable job and he did not get the science grades at ‘A’ Level, provides the occasional fare for Folly and consults on accounts and financial records in cases. He finds this more interesting than normal accounting, though he does do the accounts and taxes of many other black cab drivers as well as his mother’s catering business. His cab is never without a box of snacks freshly cooked by his mother.

Name: Avtar Chakora
Gender: Male Age: 32
Occupation: London Taxi Driver
Strength 50 Constitution 50 Dexterity 60
Intelligence 60 Power 60 Luck 64
Advantages: The Knowledge, Silver-Tongued
Common Skills: Athletics 30%, Drive 60%, Navigate 60%, Observation 60%, Read Person 60%, Research 30%, Sense Vestigia 30%, Social 60%, Stealth 30%
Combat Skills: Fighting 30%, Firearms 30%
Language Skills: English 60%, Punjabi 60%
Expert Skills: Accounting 60%

Mechanically, Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game uses the system as Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, beginning with the skills. These have been divided between Common, Expert, and Combat skills. All Player Characters have the Common skills and may have one or more Expert skills depending upon their Occupations. It is possible to use an Expert skill, such as Astronomy, Locksmith, or Zoology, temporarily with the expenditure of Luck points. Combat skills are broad in their application and consist of just Fighting and Firearms. It is possible to take the Signature Weapon or Signature Firearm—bearing in mind that as the authors point out, Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is a British roleplaying game set in the United Kingdom, and firearms are exceedingly rare—and this grants bonus dice for damage. Rolls under a skill or characteristic are a Regular success, under half the skill or characteristic value a Hard success, and rolls of one a Critical success. A roll of one hundred is a fumble, which will typically lead to an involuntary action such as freezing on the spot or becoming enraged. The circumstances of the skill or characteristic roll may also grant the player Bonus or Penalty dice, which work like Advantage and Disadvantage dice found in other roleplaying games.

Depending upon the situation, a failed roll does not mean that the Player Character has completely failed. He might succeed, but with consequences, or he might fail, but without consequences or perhaps learning something that will help him. If the roll is a failure, then the player has two options. He can expend Luck points to improve a roll, typically to turn a failure into a Regular success, or he can Push the roll. This allows him a second roll, but this raises the stakes. Not only does it take more time, but the player has to define how his character is undertaking this second attempt and the Game Moderator sets out consequences of failure. This is always worse than the consequences of failure for the first roll. All of the skills in Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game include suggestions for Pushed rolls and there are plenty of examples of the consequences if failed, as well.

Combat is designed to be fast and simple. It consists of a series of opposed rolls between the combatants, most commonly Fighting versus Fighting for mêlée, but a combatant can choose to dodge instead of fighting back, or even dive for cover or flee, both good options if the opponent is armed with a firearm. The results of the opposed rolls—Critical success, Hard success, Regular success, Weak success (more typically a failure in a non-combat situation), or Fumble—are compared and the combatant with the best result achieves his desired objective. Damage is determined by a Strength roll for mêlée or a Dexterity roll for firearms or spell combat. The number of points inflicted depends upon the quality of the roll—one for a Regular success, two for a Hard success, and three for a Critical success. Some weapons add to the result, such as a shotgun or rifle. This looks to be a very low level of damage in comparison to other Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine roleplaying games, and it is. This is because a Player Character does not have Hot Points. Instead, he has a Damage Condition, either Bloodied, Hurt, Down, or Impaired. Each point of damage ticks off one of these conditions, and suffering four points of damage is a Mortal Wound and five points will kill a Player Character. Consequently, firearms are really dangerous in Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, an assailant only requiring a Hard success to inflict a Mortal Wound and a Critical success to kill someone one. In general, once a fight gets to the damage stage, Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game can be brutal, but the Player Characters do have Luck on their side as well as careful play before then.

In general, the mechanics are very forgiving. Together with access to Luck points and Pushed rolls, and the possibility of failure not being absolute, but a chance of a Player Character being able to succeed, but with consequences or fail, but without consequences, there is a design choice here that focuses on the Player Characters succeeding and moving the story forward, getting to the next clue, and so on. This is not to say that there is no chance of failure in the Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, but rather that it has been de-emphasised. As a result, the chances of absolute failure—the Fumble—are very low, but when it does happen, the consequences are likely to be woeful indeed.

Magic plays a big role in the Rivers of London setting and so it does in Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game. There is a discussion of Vestigia, the trace left behind by magic and of the Signare, the signature unique to every magic practitioner. To use magic, a Player Character must have the Magical Advantage. This grants him a Signare, the Magic skill, and three starting spellings. He will either be a Newtonian apprentice—studying under a master the school of magic laid down by Sir Isaac Newton, or a Hedge Wizard. Spells are organised into Orders, typically five. A practitioner must know a certain number of spells from one Order before learning spells of the next, plus higher order spells typically have their perquisites. A spell can also be mastered, meaning that the Magic skill roll is made with a bonus die, and once mastered, can be boosted with extra Magic Points to extend the duration, range, and other effects, beyond the base cost. Not quite forty spells are detailed in Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game, but this is enough. It takes time to learn and then master spells, matching the pace with which Peter Grant learned magic in the novels.

In addition, casting magic and using spells can be very dangerous—and not only to electronic components and devices, which it will turn to sand. Use too much magic, cast too many spells, and a practitioner can suffer from Hyperthaumaturgical Degradation (HTD), damage to the brain that makes it look like a cauliflower. This occurs if a Pushed roll for the Magic skill is a failure or a Fumble, or if practitioner casts magic after running out of Magic Points. To check against the effects of Hyperthaumaturgical Degradation, the player makes a Power roll. At the very least, it will result in the loss of all Magic Points, which happens whatever the result, but at the very worst, it will inflict a fatal wound on the practitioner. Consequently, magic in Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game will give a Player Character the edge in a situation, but it has to be used with care as the consequences are grave.

Police Detective Constable Winifred ‘Fred’ Messam was seconded to the Folly after investigating a case a series of forged antiques which led to an encounter with some very angry spirits which the forgeries were being used to imprison and transport the spirits. She managed to protect herself and her colleague, despite him being knocked out. When the Folly investigated, it was discovered that she had inadvertently cast her first spell—Shield. She was recruited after the case was further investigated and the culprits arrested. As yet, Winifred is unsure if she likes being a wizard. It just adds to her workload with more training and studying as well as bring up her two children as a divorced mother. Consequently, she feels tired a lot, but is trying her best, especially given that most of the recent recruits to the Folly are younger than she is.

Name: Winifred ‘Fred’ Messam
Gender: Female Age: 38
Occupation: Police Detective Constable/Apprentice Newtonian Wizard
Strength 40 Constitution 50 Dexterity 50
Intelligence 60 Power 80 Luck 62
Advantages: Magical
Disadvantages: Slow-footed
Common Skills: Athletics 30%, Drive 30%, Navigate 30%, Observation 60%, Read Person 60%, Research 30%, Social 60%, Sense Vestigia 60%, Stealth 30%
Combat Skills: Fighting 60%, Firearms 30%
Language Skills: English 60%
Expert Skills: Appraise 40%, History 20%, Law 60%, Magic 60%
Spells: First Order – Werelight (Mastered), Impello; Second Order – Shield
Signare: A clash of Indie band guitars accompanied by the smell of Belgian chocolate and the feeling of hands in a bowl of washing up

For the Game Moderator, there is a wealth of background and advice—and that in addition to advice dotted throughout the book on various rules and aspects of the roleplaying game, all give out by friendly Mister Punch. This covers law enforcement in London and the Metropolitan Police Service, including diversity, equipment, crimes and how they are investigated, police powers and how to handle them. There is advice on running the game, including handling consent and good gaming at the table, and more. It notes that the tone of Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is not gritty realism. The setting has magic after all, and is optimistic in outlook. The background for the Game Moderator includes ‘A Rogue’s Gallery’ of the various characters from the novels, such as Peter Grant, Thomas Nightingale, Abigail, and Toby. Various members of the Demi-Monde are given too, including Molly, genius loci of London’s rivers such as Beverly Brook and Lady Tyburn, Talking Foxes, and Zachary Palmer. All come with an illustration and full stats and write-up, though they are written from the point of view of Peter Grant—even himself—so there is a certain bias. If there is any write-up missing from here, it is that of Lesley May, Peter Grant’s former colleague and now rogue practitioner. There is also a history of London and magic in London, as well as a guide to central London. The Folly itself is described and mapped in some detail. Scattered throughout are case seeds that the Game Moderator could develop into a fuller adventure. This is backed up with ‘The Bookshop’, an introductory adventure adapted from the short story, ‘The Cockpit’, from the anthology, Tales from the Folly. Having already had one story adapted from the anthology, it would have been nice to have seen something original here lest the roleplaying game give the impression that all of its scenarios are going to be directly adapted from Aaronovitch’s fiction. It is also a short affair, meaning that the players could create characters and run through this in a single session.

Beyond ‘The Bookshop’, numerous additional rules are supplied for more advanced play and options. These enable experienced Player Characters or even Fae or even Quiet Person Player Characters to be created, new Occupations to be designed, and discusses the possibility of using organisations other then the Folly or even creating a Folly elsewhere. Besides revisiting various aspects of the rules, such as magic and enchantments, there is advice too on writing case file or scenarios, lastly, along with a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated Player Characters.

Physically, Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is very well presented. The artwork and the cartography are excellent, and the book is very well written, although in need of a slight edit in places. There are some amusing in-jokes dotted here and there throughout the book, and the tone is fairly light from start to finish. There are also a lot of good examples of the rules throughout the book as well.

There is only the one issue disappointing about Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game to date that is the lack of support for it and the lack further case files to investigate. Otherwise, Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is absolutely the roleplaying adaptation that Ben Aaronovitch dreamed of for his novels. Not only does it use the rules he wanted, but it presents both rules and background in a simple, straightforward, easy-to-grasp fashion that will not overwhelm the fan of the novels coming to Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game as his first roleplaying game or the roleplayer coming to the setting of the novels through the roleplaying game. Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game is an excellent adaptation of the novels, capturing their lightness of tone and detail, and delivering it to the gaming table. The Rivers of London series have long defined the Urban Fantasy genre in the United Kingdom. Now Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game can do it in the roleplaying hobby.