Magazine Madness 40: Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

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Autoduel Quarterly was Steve Jackson Games’ quarterly magazine dedicated to Car Wars, the publisher’s game of vehicular combat in a future America. Specifically, fifty years into the future after fossil fuels had been severely depleted forcing a switch to electric engines and a worldwide grain blight triggered a limited nuclear exchange that the world survived, but in the USA forced a partial collapse and fortification of towns and cities due to raiders and bandits. The USA’s armed society went from personal arms to vehicular arms as protection on the road and autoduelling is not only legalised, but organised into a sport of its own. Car Wars was a skirmish wargame in which each player could control one or more cars, pickups, vans, and motorcycles, and battle each other in arenas or on the road. Every vehicle was detailed with a chassis, suspension, wheels, engine, armour, armament, and other devices. Common weapons include machine guns, flamethrowers, and minedroppers. The appeal was not only the fact that every player was effectively driving a car armed with a machine gun, but that they could design the vehicles themselves and test them out as well as use the standard designs in the game. Inspired by Alan Dean Foster’s short story, ‘Why Johnny Can't Speed’, and Harlan Ellison’s short story, ‘Along the Scenic Route’, as well as the films Death Race 2000 and later Mad Max 2, Car Wars proved to be popular and award-winning, receiving the Charles S. Roberts Award (Origins Award) for Best Science Fiction Boardgame of 1981 and being included in the Games Magazine Games 100 list in 1985. Initial support for Car Wars appeared in the pages of The Space Gamer, also published by Steve Jackson Games, adding further vehicle designs, new rules, scenarios, and expanded background.

Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1 was published in March, 1983. The conceit was that it was also ‘The Journal of the American Autoduel Association’ and was actually the Spring, 2033 issue. What this meant was there was a duality to the magazine, one that continued throughout its forty issues, in that the authors were writing about a game being published in the eighties, but writing for a game set in the thirties of the next century. This was particularly obvious in the adverts, most notably for ‘Uncle Albert’s Auto Stop & Gunnery Shop’ which combined advertising pitches for the latest arms, armour, ammunition, and equipment which would sell the product to the reader with Car Wars stats underneath. ‘Uncle Albert’s Auto Stop & Gunnery Shop’ was a regular feature of the magazine and its content would be collected in six ‘Uncle Albert’s Auto Stop & Gunnery Shop’ yearly catalogues. The same was done with new vehicle designs, providing in-game advertising from the manufacturer and then the game stats. For Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1, these vehicles are The Morningstar from Rothschild Auto Works, a luxury automobile with turreted laser and rear minedropper as well as patented Velvet Glove trimmings, and the Conquistador Flamenco, a Mexican compact with a forward-firing machine gun and a rear Artful Dodger flaming oil jet. (Even miniatures manufacturer, Grenadier Models, Incorporated gets in on the act, if just a little, with an advert for its line of licensed Car Wars miniatures as coming from Grenadier Motors.)

The issue opens with an introduction from publisher Steve Jackson, promising that the Autoduel Quarterly would be as much a quarterly supplement for Car Wars as it would be a magazine, but that elements of the latter, such as editorials, (real-world) adverts, columns, and so on, would be kept to minimum versus the actual support for the game. This the issue manages, and it would be something that Autoduel Quarterly continued to manage fairly effectively throughout its run. ‘The Driver’s Seat’, David Ladyman’s editorial has a tentative quality, highlighting some of the content for the issue, but as much looking back to some of the support for Car Wars in the pages of The Space Gamer and forward in a request for submissions and ideas that would develop the setting of Car Wars in the twenty-thirties.

‘Newswatch’ provides a snapshot of some of the history of the future that is Car Wars, in the first issue quite broad, but in later issues it would focus on particular aspects of the setting. ‘50 Years Today’ presented snippets of news stories from 1983 as if they were being viewed from 2033 and include reports from Army magazine that the U.S. Army is purchasing fast attack vehicles from the Emerson Electric Company and a report from the Austin American-Statesman that fights, assaults, and shootings on Houston’s freeways were up 400% in under a year!

‘Excerpts from NORTH AMERICAN ROAD ATLAS AND SURVIVAL GUIDE, 3rd Edition’ describes various locations around the USA in the 2030s, giving their history and current state, describing various facilities, organisations, and hazards. In this first issue, written by Aaron Allston, the location is Midville, Ohio. This small town is the default setting for Car Wars, highlighted in the first expansion for the game, Sunday Drivers, which pitched the pedestrians, law enforcement, and autoduellists of Midville against attacking motorcycle gangs. This neatly summarises the town and the immediate region, giving an area in which to set Car Wars sessions, especially in conjunction with Sunday Drivers, and add background details that can set up storylines and reasons to duel.

The big feature in Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1, taking up almost half of its content at over fifteen pages long, is ‘Convoy’ by Steve Jackson and David Ladyman. This is a scenario, subsequently published on its own as Convoy which sees a team of duellists hired to guard a tanker carrying disease-resistant algae from Lexington, Kentucky to Memphis, Tennessee whose algae farms have been infected by a mutant bacterium, leaving the city on the verge of starvation. ConTexCo is providing the truck and paying well, but the duellists only have thirteen hours to get their charge to Memphis, and they will lose part of their fee if they are late, or the truck is damaged. ConTexCo also want the situation kept secret as it does not want it widely known that Memphis has come this close to starvation. ‘Convoy’ can be played by between one and eight players, plus a Referee, though between three and six players are recommended and each is given a budget in which to buy or build a vehicle. (It could even be played solo without a Referee, an option given in the published book.) In addition to Car Wars, a group will need a copy of Car Wars and ideally, a copy of the then newly published Truck Stop, which added trucks to the game and was only the game’s second supplement. That said, Truck Stop is not required to play and a counter for the ConTexCo truck is given on the back cover of the magazine for the Game Master to copy. However, using Truck Stop adds a lot of detail and mechanical options to the play of the scenario.

‘Convoy’ is a programmed scenario, the players’ duellists driving from Lexington down the Bluegrass Parkway and onto I65 and I40 to get to Memphis. Along the way, they will need to stop at truck stops—points of safety and respite along the way—to recharge their engines, and whilst this happening they have the opportunity to interact with the locals and other travellers and perhaps pick up some rumours about the route ahead. The main play will be with the ten encounters along the route, one after the other, some benign, others aggressive, which the players can get through with a mixture of good roleplaying and combat. In fact, the players are advised that fighting at every turn will slow them down and thus reduce their fee. The encounters do escalate in hostility, including a nasty driving challenge against a clever paint spray trap.

‘Convoy’ is a detailed, but very enjoyable scenario. It challenges the players’ judgement—as is in what is and is not a threat—and skill and luck in combat, but there is potential for roleplaying too. Of course, it also serves as an advert and showcase for Truck Stop, but it is nice touch that the scenario can be run without the supplement.

‘Creating a New Character’, also by David Ladyman and Steve Jackson expands on the roleplaying aspects of Car Wars, which are very light. It looks at the five skills of the game for characters—Driver, Cyclist, Gunner, Trucker, and Mechanic—and explains their levels and what they mean. In particular, it expands on the Mechanic skill can do and the difficulty of repair jobs. Overall, a generally useful article.

Rounding out Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1 are two regular columns. One is ‘ADQ&A’, a questions and answers forum for players to ask and receive rules clarifications, whilst the other is ‘Backfire’, the letters column. The former would have been useful at the time and the latter is interesting enough.

Physically, Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1 is well presented. The artwork is good and the writing clear. The cartography is simple, but the vehicle layouts are slightly rough.

In 1983, Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1 would have provided welcome support for Car Wars, at a time when the game only had two supplements—Sunday Drivers and Truck Stop. The issue really is packed with useful content. The background to Midville, new equipment and vehicles, questions answered, so on. There is no fiction in this first issue, something that Autoduel Quarterly would become known for later (and has been since collected into a single volume, Autoduel Tales: The Fiction of Car Wars), but instead has the terrific scenario, ‘Convoy’. This is certainly a scenario that many, many Car Wars fans will have played over the years, and it appeared here first in the pages of Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1. Were it not for the fact that Convoy is available separately, Autoduel Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 1 would be worth revisiting for that alone, but this is a still good issue with a good mix of content that set a blueprint for the issues to come that it would stick to.

1984: Toon

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

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It is interesting to note that two of the hobby’s mostly highly regarded humour roleplaying games were co-designed by Greg Costikyan and both were published in 1984. One, the dystopian Science Fiction roleplaying game, Paranoia: A Role-Playing Game of a Darkly Humorous Future, published by West End Games, was most obviously published in 1984, because after all, that was the year that George Orwell’s eponymous novel is set. The other was Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game. Published by Steve Jackson Games, it was based on an original idea by Jeff Dee which was inspired by a conversation about genres that nobody had then yet designed roleplaying games for. As its title suggested, that genre was cartoons. Not the cartoons of Saturday mornings, but rather the short, sometimes violently anarchic cartoons of Warner Bros’ Looney Toons, Hanna and Barbera’s Tom and Jerry, and Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies and others. This is a genre that almost everyone is familiar with, making the resulting roleplaying game incredibly familiar in terms of what you were playing and the world in which it took place. However, Toon also asked a great deal of its players in terms of how it was played, because in many ways it was asking them to do everything which other roleplaying games had taught them not to do.

In almost every other roleplaying game, the player not only wants his character to survive, to grow, and to thrive, which invariably means plotting and planning, and taking the time to come up with the best tactics or strategy to achieve all three. Not so in Toon. Let alone the fact that a character in Toon cannot die—only fall down for three minutes of real time—the play is all about the immediate. What does my character want? How does he achieve that right now? What is the simplest and more direct way of getting that? It does not matter if that direct way is not the most logical, for it serves its purpose right now. So rather than ‘think before you act’, the credo of Toon is ‘ACT before you THINK’. The roleplaying game will even punish a player if he thinks before he acts or attempts to think before he acts, rendering his character Boggled and unable to do anything until his next turn. This is a roleplaying game played at high speed, even breakneck speed, in which the action passes from one character to the next in a flurry, in which Short Subjects and Feature Films always take place in Anytown, Outside of Town, The City, and Outer Space, where there is always a mailbox close by to receive that thing you just ordered, logic has a way of being illogical in an entirely logical way, coincidences are perfectly normal and to be expected, cause and effect might go one way for one character, but not another, and nobody reads the fine print until you write it and persuade everyone as to its veracity.

Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game is a roleplaying game with a genre that everyone will know and will understand how its worlds work, supported by simple, fast-playing mechanics, good advice for the Animator—as the Game Master is known, and four Short Subjects and one Feature Film. One of the Short Subjects is designed to teach the game and so with a quick read through and copies of the characters ready, the Animator really could be running her first game in fifteen minutes.

A character can be anything. An ant, a robot ant, a sea serpent, a kangaroo, a pig, a parakeet, and so on. He can run and talk, take part in the Cartoon Olympics, go to Outer Space, and more, whether he is a Milkman, a Retired General, a French Chef, or a Cowboy. He has four attributes—Muscle, Zip, Smarts, and Chutzpah—which determine how strong, how fast, how intelligent, and how pushy he is. They are range in value between one and six. Each attribute has a number of skills, which range in value between one and nine. He will have a natural enemy, such as a cat for a dog or a park ranger for a bear; a Belief and a Goal, for example, “I hate elephants” and “Stop the hunter from hunting me in Rabbit Season”; a possession or two; and Shtick. A Shtick is an amazing ability that breaks rules. For example, a Bag of Many Things from which innumerable objects can be drawn, Shape Change, Hypnosis, and so on. Mechanically, they are rolled for just like skills to see if they work.

To create a character, a player rolls a six-sided die for each of the four attributes. Species, Occupations, Beliefs, and Goals can selected or rolled for, or selected, whilst Natural Enemies are always chosen. The base value for each skill is equal to its associated attributes, but a player has thirty points to divide between them. Alternatively, a character can have a Shtick, which costs five skill points and always begins play with a value of five. This cannot be increased during character creation, only later through experience. The process is quick and easy and takes five minutes.

Doctor Freuderick “It’s pronounced ‘Frederick’” von Mesenme (Actually Joe from Pittsburgh)
Species: Human
Natural Enemies: Patients and other doctors
Belief: I always know what is best for my patients
Goal: Get rich
Hit Points: 9

Muscle 3
Break Down Doors 3, Climb 3, Fight 6, Pick Up heavy Things 3, Throw 3

Zip 2
Dodge 7, Drive Vehicle 2, Fire Gun 2, Jump 4, Ride 2, Run 4, Swim 4

Smarts 5
Hide/Spot Hidden 5, Identify Dangerous Thing 7, Read 5, Resist Fast Talk 8, See/Hear/Smell 5, Set/Disarm Trap 5, Track/Cover Tracks 5

Chutzpah 6
Fast-Talk 9, Pass/Detect Shoddy Goods 9, Sleight of Hand 6, Sneak 6

Shticks
Hypnosis 5

Possessions
Medical Diploma from The Republic of Užupis University of Universal Study, Pocket Watch, Pipe (for bubbles), medical forms

Mechanically, Toon is simple. To undertake an action, the player rolls two six-sided dice, and aims to roll equal to or lower than the skill or attribute. It is a simple yes or no mechanic. Situations where there is an opposed roll, such as a fight or a chase or a competition, the outcome is determined by who rolls successfully and who fails. Thus, in a chase, the character who makes a successful roll with either Drive Vehicle, Run, or Swim will get away from the character who fails his roll, whereas if both make a successful roll or fail, neither makes any progress. Combat uses the Fight or Shoot Gun skills, with brawls and bust ups being opposed rolls. In general, if neither side is successful, that is, makes a successful roll whilst the other fails, then after three rounds of both making successful or failed rolls, both characters fall down exhausted. If a character is successfully hit in a fight or shot, then he suffers a six-sided die’s worth of damage. If he loses all of his Hit Points, the character will Fall Down. This is bad, but not actually that bad, because unlike every other roleplaying game, the character is not dead. Instead, he is out for the count, but can bound back, because that count is three minutes of real time. After that, the character and his player are back in the game with full Hit Points, ready to play.

The mechanical aim of play is to earn Plot Points. These actually reflect how well a player has roleplayed his character and served the genre of the Short Subject or the Feature Film. Each Short Subject and Feature Film has a budget to divide amongst the Player Characters at the end, but a player can earn more when his character makes another Fall Down, roleplays the character’s Beliefs & Goals, has his character make a Natural Enemy Fall Down, roleplays his character in a clever or entertaining fashion, and even for making the Animator laugh. Conversely, he loses them if he does not roleplay the character’s Beliefs & Goals or if the character is made to Fall Down by an NPC. Plot Points are used to increase a Player Character’s skills and shticks, including buying new shticks.

In terms of game play, Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game begins before Player Character creation. This gives a description the base elements of the game, how the skills work, a quick introduction to Plot Points, and some advice the Animator. All this in preparation for ‘The Cartoon Olympics’, a Short Subject designed for the Animator and two players. Taking place in the Anytown Anydome, this sports event will see the Player Characters compete in boxing matches, javelin toss, and marathon to determine the winner. They will also have to deal with Judge Mole, who of course, is blind as and also armed with a deadly starting pistol, and a bunch of monkeys. Although intended for two platers, the Short Subject includes a quartet of potential Player Characters, such as Mack the Mouse, Olga Hippopovna, Fred Bulldog, and Fifi La Feline. This is an easy to prepare Short Subject that can be brought to the table very quickly.

It should be noted that Toon also emphasises adversarial play, a feature also shared with Paranoia. Player Characters can have conflicting goals even as they work collectively towards the objective of a Short Subject or Feature Film, but more often than not, they are directing competing against each other, as in ‘The Cartoon Olympics’, and unlike in other roleplaying games, there can be a winner. Offset that though, with the fact that Toon is designed for ephemeral, one-shot play rather than campaigns, so even if the same Player Characters appear in a subsequent Short Subject or Feature Film, the events or outcome of a previous Short Subject or Feature Film will not have any real influence on the next one.

Beyond both ‘The Cartoon Olympics’ and Player Character creation, Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game explains how Beliefs & Goals, skills, and shticks all work, plus there is good advice on being the Animator. Ultimately, this boils down to keeping things moving, throwing in sound effects, playing to the genre, and transmitting the right atmosphere to her players. The advice also stresses that the most important aspect of being an Animator is to remember that the Animator is in charge, and that anything she says goes. That said, the Animator should always be open to ideas from her players and when it counts, she should act crazy.

Rounding out Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game are another three Short Subjects and one Feature Film. The extra Short Subjects include ‘The Cartoon Olympics Strikes Back!’, which really just expands on ‘The Cartoon Olympics’ with a single page; ‘I Foogled You!’ sends the Player Characters into the jungles of Darkest Africa (conveniently located Outside of Town) in search of the famed Foogle Bird, which involves lots of swinging on vines with a Tarzan-like character and his wife; and ‘Spaced Out Saps’ in which members if the Space Aeronautics Patrol Squad or S.A.P.S., take a trip to the Moon (conveniently located Outside of Town) and investigate strange activity involving The Martian and The Martian Dog. The Feature Film is ‘The Better Housetrap’ in which the Player Characters are trying to hide out in a newly built house, only for them to discover that the house is actually robotic! Each one of the Short Subjects and the Feature Films can be played in a single session and each wears its inspirations firmly on its sleeves.

Physically, Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game is cleanly, tidily laid out and organised. It is liberally illustrated with entertaining cartoon artwork. The roleplaying game is well written and easy to read and grasp.

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Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game was reviewed not once, but twice by Dragon magazine. First by Michael Dobson in ‘New heights(?) in silliness’ in Dragon #92 (December 1984), in which the opening line is, “TOON™, The Cartoon Roleplaying Game, appears at first glance to be just an elaborate joke.” before he qualifies this with, “…TOON is a genuine good idea – an original (if unlikely) concept in role-playing – that is enjoyable, fastmoving, and incredibly silly.” Although critical of the roleplaying game’s use of Plot Points, which he felt were, “…[A] holdover from traditional role-playing games that doesn’t quite fit the TOON spirit. In a straight adventure game, a character’s potential to improve may be important as a tool to motivate the player and to keep a campaign going. In TOON, this approach doesn’t make sense. Cartoon characters never get “better.”” Nevertheless, Dobson described Toon as “Inspired silliness…” Jim Bambra would follow this up in Dragon #144 (April 1989) in ‘Role-Playing Reviews’. He described it as “…[A] classic – a game which deserves the attention of everyone looking for a dramatic change of pace and emphasis in their role-playing.” before concluding with, “The TOON game provides an excellent change of pace and a shift of emphasis away from the more serious role-playing games. I highly recommend it as an evening’s entertainment and as a cure to role-playing blues.”

In ‘Notices’ in Imagine No 21 (December 1984), Mike Lewis was equally as positive, concluding his review with, “Toon is a very refreshing change from the usual run-of-the-mill rpgs which have been appearing recently. The game very firmly puts a sense of humour back into rpgs. If you are interested in cartoons, then Toon is an essential purchase — but even if you aren’t, try it for a change. I am very impressed with the ideas behind this game and hope that it gets more support than most minority RPGs have done in the past. It deserves it.”

R.A. Greer reviewed Toon in Space Gamer Number 72 ((Jan/Feb 1985) and like Jim Bambra would four years later, described it as an antidote to the roleplaying blues, saying that, “TOON is a quick cure for all your roleplaying ills, a fast-acting balm to be applied directly to your funny bone, speeding you back to those uncomplicated days of roleplaying when it was fun!” His conclusion was equally as complimentary, stating that, “TOON is a gem for those willing to work with it a little bit. (The game should have been published with a qualified Animator stapled inside.) It may not replace the weekly fantasy game, but it’s great change of pace. It is also a great introduction to roleplaying for that new to the hobby and really allows experienced gamers to let down their hair. Almost all of TOON’s problems can be solved by applying this simple maxim: “If you want to do it, exaggerate it; if it’s simple, complicate it; if you’re in a jam, take all steps to make it worse.” Follow these simple rules and you’ll advance the plot and add to the fun. Congratulations to Steve Jackson Games on a job well done.”

None other than Larry DiTillio reviewed Toon in ‘Game Reviews’ in Different Worlds Issue 38 (Jan/Feb 1985), awarding the roleplaying three stars out of four and praising its writing, stating that, “[Greg] Costikyan has clarity, wit, and the good sense to be brief, as well as an obvious love for cartoons. The rulebook not only reads quickly and easily, it makes you eager to play the game.” He advised that, “Role-players of a basically serious nature and gamemasters who prefer rigid detail are advised to stay away. On the other hand, for a few hours of silliness, Toon can’t be beat and is a refreshing change from the ofttimes leaden pace of other role-playing games. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s simple.”

Lastly, Toon was reviewed in ‘Open Box’ in White Dwarf Number 63 (March 1985) by Stephen Kyle, who awarded it nine out of ten. He concluded that, “For anyone who likes cartoons, then Toon is definitely worth looking into. It concentrates more on the Warner Brothers/Hanna Barbera type of American cartoon, rather than the more sophisticated British product like Dangermouse. Nevertheless, all of us have favourite cartoons or characters and Toon enables you to recreate them easily and with a lot of fun. I just hope it gets more support than most minority RPGs.”

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Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game does have one single problem—and it is a big one. That is the degree of buy-in that a Game Master and her players need to have to play and enjoy Toon, the willingness to accept its implied anarchy and mandatory impulsiveness of ‘ACT before you THINK’, and to break the learned habits of playing roleplaying games. A player unwilling or unable to make that adjustment is not going to enjoy or appreciate the fun that Toon has to offer.

Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game is and was a groundbreaking roleplaying game, because of its treatment of the cartoon genre and its humour, although numerous roleplaying games have visited its genre since. It is simple, even simplistic, but the simplicity of the rules and the mechanics means that Toon is incredibly easy to teach and just as easy to grasp, and when it comes to its genre, Toon has the most accessible, most familiar genre of almost any roleplaying game. After all, who has not seen a Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry cartoon? Which absolutely makes it great for convention play. That said, whilst it can be used as an introductory roleplaying game, it is not written as an introductory roleplaying game, so is best suited to be run by an experienced Game Master who can adapt to its fast pace and over the top, silly play. Similarly, this is a roleplaying game whose speed and tone is something that experienced players will also have to adapt to in order to get into the spirit of the roleplaying game and its silly, cartoon humour. Essentially, this is not a roleplaying game which the Game Master simply decides to run—her players have to buy into the whole concept, big anvil, stick of dynamite, and all.

Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game is undemanding fun that in the hands of a good Animator rewards energy, inventiveness, and impulsiveness. Toon – The Cartoon Roleplaying Game is the roleplaying equivalent of a tonic, a great pick up and play roleplaying game that enables the players to engage in all of the mayhem and madness of their favourite childhood cartoons and after they Fall Down, get back up and dive right back in.

The Other OSR: In the Labyrinth

 It is impossible to ignore the influence of Dungeons & Dragons and the effect that its imprint has had on the gaming hobby. It remains the most popular roleplaying game some forty or more years since it was first published, and it is a design and a set-up which for many was their first experience of roleplaying—and one to which they return again and again. This explains the popularity of the Old School Renaissance and the many retroclones—roleplaying games which seek to emulate the mechanics and play style of previous editions Dungeons & Dragons—which that movement has spawned in the last fifteen years. Just as with the Indie Game movement before it began as an amateur endeavour, so did the Old School Renaissance, and just as with the Indie Game movement before it, many of the aspects of the Old School Renaissance are being adopted by mainstream roleplaying publishers who go on to publish retroclones of their own. Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, published by Goodman Games is a perfect example of this. Other publishers have been around long enough for them to publish new editions of their games which originally appeared in the first few years of the hobby, whilst still others are taking their new, more contemporary games and mapping them onto the retroclone.

Yet there are other roleplaying games which draw upon the roleplaying games of the 1970s, part of the Old School Renaissance, but which may not necessarily draw directly upon Dungeons & Dragons. Some are new, like Forbidden Lands – Raiders & Rogues in a Cursed World and Classic Fantasy: Dungeoneering Adventures, d100 Style!, but others are almost as old as Dungeons & Dragons. One of these is The Fantasy Trip, published by Metagaming Concepts in 1980. Designed by Steve Jackson, this was a fantasy roleplaying game built around two earlier microgames, also designed by Steve Jackson, MicroGame #3: Melee in 1977 and MicroGame #6: Wizard in 1978. With the closure of Metagaming Concepts in 1983, The Fantasy Trip and its various titles went out of print. Steve Jackson would go on to found Steve Jackson Games and design further titles like Car Wars and Munchkin as well as the detailed, universal roleplaying game, GURPS. Then in December, 2017, Steve Jackson announced that he had got the rights back to The Fantasy Trip and then in April, 2019, following a successful Kickstarter campaign Steve Jackson Games republished The Fantasy Trip. The mascot version of The Fantasy Trip is of course, The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition. 

The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition is a big box of things, including the original two microgames. So instead of reviewing the deep box as a whole, it is worth examining the constituent parts of The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition one by one, delving ever deeper into its depths bit by bit. The first of these is Melee, quick to set up, quick to play game of man-to-man combat, followed by Wizard, which did exactly the same for sorcerers and other magic-users. The third part of this triumvirate is Death Test, which combined the two original scenarios—‘Death Test’ and ‘Death Test 2’—both originally published as MicroQuest 1: Death Test and MicroQuest 1: Death Test 2 in 1980. bringing the trilogy of mini-boxed sets together is The Fantasy Trip: In the Labyrinth. This is not yet another mini-box, but a book which combines their content into one volume and expands upon with further rules, expansions, and options which lift Melee and Wizard up from being combat and magical skirmish games respectively into an actual roleplaying game. What it lacks though is the counters and maps to be found both in Melee and Wizard, but that is not an issue with The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition.

The Fantasy Trip: In the Labyrinth is a combination of three books for The Fantasy Trip. The first two are Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard which provided expanded rules for Melee and Wizard respectively. The third is In the Labyrinth: Game Masters’ Campaign and Adventure Guide, published originally in 1980, which added a role-playing system and a fantasy-world background for the whole of The Fantasy Trip line, as well as introducing a point-buy skill system for the system as whole—rather than just spells in Wizard. The new version of In the Labyrinth collates all of that content into one supplement for The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition. It includes rules for creating characters, the core mechanics, notes on designing labyrinths, rules for both advanced combat and advanced magic, and it introduces the setting of Cidri, including a lengthy bestiary. All that, that there are two notable aspects to In the Labyrinth. First, the Game Master and her players could just start with In the Labyrinth as their introduction to The Fantasy Trip, instead of Melee and Wizard (and Death Test). That might steepen the learning curve though, and there is something to be said of the experience of trying out the basics of both games prior to coming to In the Labyrinth, though the supplement does serve as the capstone for The Fantasy Trip. Second, In the Labyrinth and The Fantasy Trip look like any other generic fantasy system, but dig down into the mechanics and the setting details, and whilst on one level, it does look fairly generic—and could be run as generic fantasy, it really is quite a bit different.

After introducing and explaining the concept of roleplaying, In the Labyrinth introduces the world of Cidri. This is a large world with an Earth-like gravity and environments, which until a few hundred years ago was the playground of an ancient all-powerful race of dimension travellers called the Mnoren. It was one of many worlds they created before they disappeared, but this has many continents, many of them connected by magical gates, and many peoples imported from the original Earth. Consequently, historical faiths and cultures of Earth can be found on Cidri, so Vikings, Aztecs, Persians, Samurai, and so on, can all be found on the world—somewhere. As can adherents of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, as well as those faith to gods and goddesses and pantheons unknown on Earth. Notably, whilst there are numerous faiths and religions to be found on Cidri, along with their priests, churches, and temples, the gods themselves do not appear in the world, and it is actually possible for the devout to achieve apotheosis. This mix of the fantastic and the real explains the cover to In the Labyrinth, which shows a wizard, a priest, a Norman knight, and a Roman legionnaire together best by monsters, a mix which otherwise be incongruous. What it also means is that almost any fantasy or historical setting can be dropped into the Cidri, such is the scale and scope of the planet.

In comparison to most fantasy settings, Cidri is relatively technologically advanced, gunpowder being known, but expensive—requiring dragon dung, and gunpowder weapons being unreliable. Despite these technological advances, magic is more prevalent and the Wizards’ Guild holds no little influence and power—far more than the Mechanicians’ Guild. Other guilds include the Thieves’ Guild, the Scholars’ Guild, the Mercenaries’ Guild. Alongside the guilds, In the Labyrinth covers various jobs and occupations which the Player Characters can have when not actually adventuring and so earn an honest (or dishonest depending upon occupation) income. 

A character in In the Labyrinth and thus The Fantasy Trip is defined by three attributes—Strength (ST),  Dexterity (DX), and Intelligence (IQ). Strength covers how many hits a character has, what weapons he can use, how effective he is in hand-to-hand combat, and for a Wizard, how many spells he can cast, each spell having a cost that is paid in Strength points, not only to cast the spell, but also maintain it if necessary. Dexterity covers how easily a Hero or Wizard can hit an opponent, disengage from the enemy, and how quickly he can attack. Intelligence governs the number of spells a Wizard knows, the maximum level of spells he knows—each spell has an IQ rating between eight and sixteen which the Wizard’s Intelligence must match for him to know, and his resistance to illusions and Control spells. With In the Labyrinth, Intelligence is also how many Talents a character knows. Both Heroes and Wizards can learn spells and Talents, but Heroes learn spells with great difficulty, just as Wizards learn Talents with great difficulty. 

In the Labyrinth and The Fantasy Trip is not a Class and Level system, but a Class and Spell or Talent system. It has only has the two Classes—Hero and Wizard. Yet, a Hero need not be the fighter of Melee and a Wizard need not be the classic adventuring wizard a la Dungeons & Dragons, guidelines being included to cover everything from the barbarian, the gadgeteer, and the merchant to the martial wizard, townsman wizard, and the wizardly thief. It is possible to create a priest, which can be a simple cleric or monk, or may actually know a limited number of spells. However, technically such priests would be Wizards with a Talent or two or a Hero who knows a spell or two. 

In the Labyrinth expands upon Wizard to include over one-hundred-and-fifty spells. These all have a minimum IQ rating to understand, from IQ 8 to IQ 20 and a ST cost to cast, and if necessary, to maintain. So they range from the simple Blur at IQ 8, a defensive spell which levies a penalty on DX when attacking the caster and costs 1 ST to cast and maintain to the IQ 20 Word of Command which costs 3 ST and affects those that fail their save for a whole minute. Typical words include ‘Believe’, ‘Come’, and ‘Quiet’, and the Wizard needs to learn the spell for each word. Similarly, it adds a range of Talents, which again have a minimum IQ rating for a character to know, from IQ 7 to IQ 14. These have a purchase cost, so the IQ 7 Talent of Brawling costs a point to purchase, whilst the IQ 14 Talent of Alchemy costs three points. Most grant the simple ability to use something like a knife or do something like diplomacy or undertake a profession such as Engineer or Theologian. Many Talents have prerequisites, so that Unarmed Combat I grants the ability to attack punches and kicks more effectively, and then Unarmed Combat II increases the effectiveness and adds ability to throw opponents or evade them, and so on up to Unarmed Combat V. 

To create a character, a player takes a base character with ST 8, DX 8, and IQ 8, and divides eight points between them with ten being the human average. Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, and Halflings have different starting values. Then, if a Wizard, the player has points equal to his character’s IQ with which to purchase spells, whilst similarly with a Hero, the player has points equal to his character’s IQ with which to purchase Talents. The process is relatively easy, but a random character generator is provided to speed the process up. 

Deodato Patriarca

Human – Hero – Healer

Motivation: Desire for adventure 

Appearance: Average (5)

Bravery: Brave (9)

Friendliness: Friendly (8)

Honesty: Less than truthful (5)

Mood: Shy (4)

Strength 08

Dexterity 12

Intelligence 12

MA 08

Talents: Diplomacy (1), Naturalist (1), Detect Lies (2), Physicker (2), Expert Naturalist (2), Woodsman (1), Courtly Graces (1), Unarmed Combat (1) 

Mechanically, In the Labyrinth and The Fantasy Trip are simple and straightforward. Whether a character undertakes an action, such as striking an opponent with a sword or following some tracks, or needs to make a Save to avoid an unpleasant or difficult situation, such withstanding the effects of a spell or dodging a falling log trap, his player rolls three six-sided dice and attempts to roll under the appropriate attribute. Rolls of three, four, and five indicate degrees of critical success, whilst rolls of sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen, indicate degrees of critical failure. The attribute may be adjusted, whether that is due to wearing armour or environmental conditions, but the main means of adjusting the difficulty of a task is by increasing or reducing the number of dice a player has to roll, and guidelines cover both critical successes and failures with the adjusted number of dice. It is simple and it is quick, and as a logical extension of both Melee and Wizard it presents a relatively easy learning curve.

Where In the Labyrinth and The Fantasy Trip becomes complex is in the advanced rules for both combat and magic. Advanced Combat is designed to cover just about every situation imaginable, starting from the combat order and options such as dodging, charging, disengaging, and casting spells to weapon types, fighting on broken ground, stairs, and in narrow tunnels, ambushes, unarmed combat, gunpowder bombs, taking prisoners, and more… The options are neatly explained and the Advanced Combat rules are backed up with a solid example of combat in play. Magic is treated as comprehensively in Advanced Magic. Thus types of spells—missile and thrown spells, control spells, illusions—including their limitations and even their disbelief by animals, and casting from both books and spells. Both of the latter take more time, but where casting from a scroll can be done in combat, casting from a book cannot. There is a complete guide to casting that most wanted spell, Wish, plus Advanced Magic takes the Wizard away from adventuring and into the laboratory with rules for alchemy, the enchantment of magical items, and more, accompanied by lists of potions and magical items that the Wizard can manufacture, or perhaps when adventuring, discover with his fellow Wizards and Heroes. 

Expanding upon Melee and Wizard, the bestiary for the world of Cidri in In the Labyrinth includes over hundred different entries, from humanoids, intelligent monsters, and ghosts, wights, and revenants to water creatures, plants, and nuisance creatures—the latter amusingly including children! All of the humanoid races are playable, with Orcs being more vicious rather than evil, Goblins being crafty and capable of giving and keeping their word rather than again being evil or nasty, and Gargoyles turn out to be tough and trustworthy, but distrust others because their gallbladders are used by alchemists in various different potions. The only addition to the humanoids on Cidri are the silly, annoying Prootwaddles, whilst the major addition to intelligent races are Octopi, which are capable of walking on land and wielding weapons and shields, but are cowardly, greedy, and dishonest! In the main, the various entries in In the Labyrinth’s bestiary will be familiar from other fantasy roleplaying games, but in many cases, there are little differences which will make adventuring on Cidri a different experience. So Vampires and Werewolves are actually suffering from a disease which they can pass on and can be cured of, and Wights, whilst undead, have a physical form that can attack and be attacked, and further, may not necessarily be evil. In some ways, it is this bestiary which showcases the default setting for The Fantasy Trip the best. 

In addition, In the Labyrinth includes rules and guidelines on creating and stocking labyrinths and on taking the game beyond the confines of such a labyrinth. Along with a few random tables to help stock both locations, these sections are relatively short, almost as if the actual labyrinths are not necessarily the focus despite the title of the supplement. There is a sample labyrinth included though, just a few locations and it is used in the example of combat later in the supplement. That said, the labyrinths do look weird done on hex maps rather than the square maps we are used to after decades of Dungeons & Dragons. Rounding out In the Labyrinth are descriptions of the village of Bendwyn and the Duchy of Dran in Southern Elyntia, both a couple of pages in length. These are very much a starting point for the prospective Game Master to develop, so a little basic, but nevertheless with a few hooks that she can employ. 

Physically, In the Labyrinth looks a little old-fashioned by being black and white throughout, and whilst the artwork varies in quality, some of it is excellent and some of it feels anachronistic in places. Nevertheless, it is a cleanly presented book and it is all very readable. 

Despite originally having been published in 1980, In the Labyrinth feels modern. Part of this is down to the presentation—clean, bright, and tidy, just as you would expect from Steve Jackson Games, but in the main, it is due to it being a point-buy system. In fact, one of the earliest of point-buy systems and probably one of the simplest. That simplicity is where In the Labyrinth shines, providing the means to run a fantasy roleplaying system that the Game Master and her group with a solid starting point upon which to add the advanced rules. The simplicity also provides a flexibility in terms character creation, suggestions being given to create numerous different types of character, but still only using what are effectively, two different Classes. Another reason that In the Labyrinth feels modern is that in its design can be seen the genesis of Steve Jackson Games’ other great roleplaying design—GURPS. So many of the elements of In the Labyrinth would go on to inform or even appear in one of the great generic point-buy roleplaying systems. 

As much as In the Labyrinth effectively explains and showcases the mechanics of The Fantasy Trip, it is less successful at showcasing the world of Cidri. At best the description of the giant multi-continent world of Cidri is an introduction to and explanation of why it is, but at worst, that explanation is bland and uninteresting. The problem here is that Cidri is presented as an every-world, a world that can have every historical setting in it plus fantasy, and whilst that gives the Game Master a lot of scope, it is also intimidating and it really does not give the Game Master a starting point. It should feel fantastic, but despite being fantasy, it does not. A more experienced Game Master will have less of a problem with this and be able to develop more of the setting herself, playing around with the potentially intriguing mix of real world and fantasy cultures rubbing up against each other. 

In the Labyrinth is a great supplement, packing a lot of well-explained and well-presented options into its pages. The result lifts the combat and magic-focused play of Melee and Wizard into a fully rounded The Fantasy Trip roleplaying game.

2001: Munchkin

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

Sometimes the choice of game to review is not yours to make. So, it is, once again, with this review. This review came as a surprise and was completely unplanned. But with the sad news of the death of Andrew Hackard at Steve Jackson Games, it seemed timely to review the card game which he was in charge of and would take out into the gaming hobby with versions like Munchkin Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Munchkin Pathfinder, and Munchkin Gloom. Then into the mainstream with editions which date have included Munchkin SpongeBob SquarePants, Munchkin: Disney, Munchkin: Disney Duck Tales, Munchkin Harry Potter, Munchkin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Munchkin Shakespeare. Then when Reviews from R’lyeh checked when Munchkin was first published, the year 2001, it was obvious that a twentieth anniversary review was warranted, and when upon finding that the nearest copy to hand had never been opened, an Unboxing in the Nook, was also required. So this review is both a retrospective and an acknowledgement that the hobby has lost another who by all accounts was a good friend and will be much missed.

—oOo—

Munchkin is many things. It is a fantasy roleplaying game without any roleplaying. It is a fantasy card game which parodies fantasy roleplaying. It is a silly fantasy card game with a clever design. It is a fantasy card game which parodies Dungeons & Dragons. It is a dungeon exploration game without a dungeon. It is a fantasy card game which parodies a particular play style of fantasy roleplaying. It is a fantasy card game which understands its genre. It is a fantasy card game with simple rules, but sophisticated interaction of its cards. It is a fantasy card game whose format has become a template for numerous variations, iterations, licences, and accessories. It is a fantasy card game which won the 2001 Origins Awards for Best Traditional Card Game. Above all, it is a fantasy card game which is not just fun to play, it can be laugh out loud fun to play.

So the first question is, what is a ‘Munchkin’? The most obvious answer is the race of little people from Frank L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, enslaved by the Wicked Witch of the East. In roleplaying parlance, a ‘Munchkin’ is the type of roleplayer—typically a roleplayer of Dungeons & Dragons (but it applies to any roleplaying game)—who will always try and maximise his character’s stats, kill anything in his path for the maximum Experience Points possible, find and optimise the best gear and/or magical items possible, and acquire as many Levels as he can, all the while ignoring the roleplaying aspects of the game, his character’s personality, and that of any other Player Character around the table to the detriment of everyone else’s fun. Unless of course, everyone else is also a Munchkin, in which case, all bets are off! Munchkins are not always fun to game with and to an extent this can be true of the Munchkin card game. It can outstay its welcome. However, Munchkin is both fun to play and funny.

So in Munchkin the card game you are attempting to be the most munch-kiny. To out-munchkin your fellow munchkins. To be the munchkin’s munchkin. To win, to be top Munchkin, you need to be the first to acquire Level Ten—and you start at Level One. To go up a Level, you need to kill monsters. Kill a monster, gain a Level. Monsters can be hard though, and you need better treasure and better gear which will improve your ability to kill Monsters. Better treasure and better gear comes from killing monsters. Sometimes you are never going to kill a monster on your own—you are just not enough of a munchkin. So you negotiate with your fellow munchkins for a share of the treasure, and together you might defeat that tough monster—but you gain the Level. Ultimately, when Level Ten is in sight and you have chance of being the uber-munchkin, negotiating and working together is not going to work. It is just you and the monster (and whatever monsters and perils your rival munchkins can throw into your path) and your bestest gear. Never fear though, YOU will get to Level Ten!

First published in 2001, Munchkin from Steve Jackson Games is designed for three to six players, aged twelve and up. It has a playing time of an hour, but games typically last half that time. It consists of two decks of cards—Dungeon cards and Treasure cards. Dungeon cards have a dungeon door on the back whilst Treasure cards have a pile of loot. Chief amongst the Dungeon cards are the monster cards, from the lowly Level 1 Potted Plant and Drooling Slime to the dread Level 20 Squidzilla and the Level 20 Plutonium Dragon. Defeat them and not only are your rewarded with Treasure cards, but also a Level or two, depending on the toughness of the monster. Fail to defeat them and a monster might kill you (it’s okay, you can start again back at Level One), make you lose a Level, or lose an item. Others includes Curses like ‘Curse! Income Tax’ or ‘Curse! Duck of Doom’ which force you to discard items; and Classes, Races, and Genders—Cleric, Thief, Warrior, and Wizard, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling (Human is the default), and Male and Female. The Classes, Races, and Genders will often determine what gear you can and what magical items and weapons you can wield, and lose the wrong one or have it changed to another, perhaps because of a Curse! and you lose the associated items.

The Treasure cards include single use items like potions, like the ‘Polymorph Potion’, which turns a monster into a parrot which flies away, leaving behind its treasure, and spells, like ‘Magic Missile’ which adds a one-use bonus in combat. Then there are magic items—lots and lots of magic items. These include the ‘Kneepads of Allure’ which force another player to help you, and ‘Boots of Butt-Kicking’ and ‘Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment’, both of which add bonuses when you fight monsters. There is a limit to how many items you can carry—one item of footwear, one item of head gear, suit of armour, an item in each hand, or an item in both hands, just as you would in a fantasy roleplaying game. 

Munchkin is quite simple to play. At the start of the game, you and the other players receive four cards, receive two Dungeon cards and two Treasure cards, and equip yourself from them as best you can. On your turn, you ‘Open a Door’ and draw a card from the Dungeon deck. If a monster, you fight it or you run away. If not, the card goes into your hand or is equipped immediately, or if a Curse!, played immediately. If you did not encounter a monster, you can ‘Look for Trouble’ and play one from your hand. Either way, if you defeat the monster, go up a Level, and you can ‘Loot the Room’ and draw cards from the Treasure deck.

To defeat a monster, the total of your Level, plus bonuses from any items equipped and any one-shot items must be greater than that of the monster’s Level. However a rival can play cards which will hinder you and so prevent you from defeating the monster. Then you have two options. One is to run away, but doing so may have consequences depending on the monster faced, as well as losing any opportunity of gaining any treasure. Alternatively, you can ‘Ask for Help’. Essentially, bribe another player into helping you defeat a monster that you cannot defeat on your own, typically with the treasure, or the best of the treasure that you will find when you ‘Loot the Room’. This can become a negotiation and even if another player agrees to help you, it does not stop a rival from throwing in cards to further hinder you.

Play continues like this until a player reaches Level Nine and looks ready to get to Level Ten and win the game. Then all bets are off. Up until this point, players have been hindering each other because they can, because it is funny, because they do not want to see another player gain a hoard of treasure cards, but now… But now, they have to stop the player in the lead from winning. If there is another player in the lead, then give his opponent a potion which will increase its Level, send a Wandering Monster in his way and increase the number he has to fight, Backstab him (if you are a lowdown, sneaky Thief), or curse them with a Curse! card—it is all legal. Expect the same response though, if you are the one in the lead…

However, there are many criticisms levelled at Munchkin. That it is too luck-based, that it is too random, that it is unbalanced, that much of the game play is exception based, that it involves too much ‘take that’ style of play between the players, and that this is exacerbated as a game gets closer and closer to one player attaining Level Ten, and everyone else gangs up on the player about to win. All of those criticisms are true. Yet that does not mean that Munchkin is a terrible game—far from it. Yes, it is luck based in that you are drawing from two large decks—larger once any of the expansions are added—and you might draw a monster you cannot defeat or start off with a hand of cards you cannot use, but then so might the other players or if they have better hands of cards than you, they might have worse hands in another game. So game play can swing this way and that, but part of the play is getting the best out of the cards in your hands and going on to get better cards—or worse, and perhaps winning the game. And even if Munchkin ditches the roleplaying aspect that it draws so much inspiration, there is still a story to be told in those ups and downs, the good fortune and the bad.

Munchkin is also exception based in its game play and many of the cards will run counter to the core rules, but again, that is the point. Those exceptions are where much of the game’s flavour and humour come into play and enforce the many aspects of the genre it is parodying. As to Munchkin being too much a case of too much ‘take that’ in its game play, that is also true, just as it is true that the game play gets more and more back-stabby towards the end of the game and there is a chance that someone will win. And again, this is in the genre and the style of play that the game draws from and parodies. The clue is in the game’s subtitle—“Kill the Monsters • Steal the Treasure • Stab Your Buddy”.

Ultimately, the answer to the accusation that Munchkin is that too luck-based and too random is that it is not a Eurogame. It is not designed to be balanced or necessarily fair in its game play, and the fact that it is luck based, that it is simple to play, and that it is heavily, heavily thematic, actually makes it a fine example that the antithesis to the classic Eurogame. In other words, Munchkin is classic Ameritrash. Lots of luck, lots of theme, and lots of fun.

However, there are legitimate criticisms that can be levelled at Munchkin. It is designed for players aged ten and up and this leads to a several issues. One is that the artwork on the cards can be suggestive in one or two places, and the second is that jokes may well be lost on younger players because they are unlikely to be as familiar as the type of fantasy and play that Munchkin is parodying. The latter may be ignored at least if younger players are prepared to embrace the silliness and humour of the game, and the former can be addressed by older players or adults pruning the cards in play to ensure that some the more suggestive ones—and they are no worse than that—are removed. Another is that the ‘take that’ backing-stabbing element is not friendly and so not necessarily suited to younger players. Altogether, that may mean that Munchkin is not necessarily family-friendly, but of course, that may depend upon the family and the type of games that its likes to play. Lastly, as simple as the game play is, learning what card works with which other cards, can be a little daunting, especially if the players are not familiar with the genre. This is one of the problems with the exceptionalism built onto the game’s cards, but a play through or two and this should be less of an issue.

Issues aside—and to be fair, they are far from being either major or insurmountable issues—Munchkin is plain, simple silly fun. In fact, it can be laugh out loud round the table fun. This starts with the titles of the cards and the artwork on the cards. For example, on the ‘Magic Missile’ card, instead of whatever dweomer-driven dart the spell normally suggests, the caster is actually holding a rocket-powered missile; that on the ‘Curse! Change Race’ card, the victim’s pointy ears have popped off, as if he was losing his Elfiness; instead the Level 1 monster being a mall rat, it is a ‘Maul Rat’, an actual rat with a maul!; and the Level 16 ‘Wight Brothers’ are not a pair of undead brothers, but a pair of undead mechanic brothers! Game play, the back and forth of the cards can be as equally as funny. After all, it is undeniably funny when you are about to defeat the easily beatable Level 1 ‘Drooling Slime’ and a rival whammies you with the ‘Ancient’ card (illustrated with a bespectacled old dragon) which adds ten levels to the monster and makes it unbeatable.

Then, there are the in-jokes and the references. Munchkin is rife with them, each time taking the joke or the reference and poking fun at them, making us laugh at a memory or a story, and reminding us how silly they are. Whether that is the title of the game itself, Munchkin, or the ‘Gelatinous Octahedron’ or ‘Gazebo’ monsters, or ‘Bribe GM with Food’, ‘Whine at the GM’, and ‘Invoke Obscure Rules’ cards which grant you an extra Level, and which all invoke a certain style of play or occurred in a session of Dungeons & Dragons long ago that you were definitely not playing. Munchkin then is poking fun at us and it is funny.

Physically, Munchkin is well presented. Both rules and cards are easy to read, and the cards are fantastically illustrated by John Kovalic in sepia tones, with many of the characters from his long running Dork Tower comic strip making appearances. It is clear that a great deal of thought has gone into the look of the game and into getting the jokes, in-jokes, and the humour right. Even now, not have played it in a few years, just looking at the cards and their jokes are still funny. However, there is a lot of space in the box, so the owner will need to add dividers or means to stop the cards from sliding around, but that does mean that there is room for expansions! And what expansions there were! In the past twenty years Steve Jackson Games has taken the format of Munchkin and not parodied other genres, from pirates in Munchkin Booty!, vampires in Munchkin Bites!, and Science Fiction in Star Munchkin to facing cosmic horror in Munchkin Cthulhu, superheroes in Super Munchkin, and martial arts in Munchkin Fu—and a whole lot more. There can be no denying the success of the format and its adaptability, and it has remained Steve Jackson Games’ best seller for years.

Munchkin is not a great game and it is not a classic, and yes, ultimately, its humour can outstay its welcome, and if you prefer more balanced play, then it is probably too much of an Ameritrash game for you. It is instead a joke-filled, funny filler of a classic beer and pretzels game, that really can make you and your players laugh out loud round the table when playing it, and how many games can do that? Munchkin makes us laugh at ourselves and our hobby and that is what makes it fun to play.

The Other OSR: Death Test

It is impossible to ignore the influence of Dungeons & Dragons and the effect that its imprint has had on the gaming hobby. It remains the most popular roleplaying game some forty or more years since it was first published, and it is a design and a set-up which for many was their first experience of roleplaying—and one to which they return again and again. This explains the popularity of the Old School Renaissance and the many retroclones—roleplaying games which seek to emulate the mechanics and play style of previous editions Dungeons & Dragons—which that movement has spawned in the last fifteen years. Just as with the Indie Game movement before it began as an amateur endeavour, so did the Old School Renaissance, and just as with the Indie Game movement before it, many of the aspects of the Old School Renaissance are being adopted by mainstream roleplaying publishers who go on to publish retroclones of their own. Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, published by Goodman Games is a perfect example of this. Other publishers have been around long enough for them to publish new editions of their games which originally appeared in the first few years of the hobby, whilst still others are taking their new, more contemporary games and mapping them onto the retroclone.

Yet there are other roleplaying games which draw upon the roleplaying games of the 1970s, part of the Old School Renaissance, but which may not necessarily draw directly upon Dungeons & Dragons. Some are new, like Forbidden Lands – Raiders & Rogues in a Cursed World and Classic Fantasy: Dungeoneering Adventures, d100 Style!, but others are almost as old as Dungeons & Dragons. One of these is The Fantasy Trip, published by Metagaming Concepts in 1980. Designed by Steve Jackson, this was a fantasy roleplaying game built around two earlier microgames, also designed by Steve Jackson, MicroGame #3: Melee in 1977 and  MicroGame #6: Wizard in 1978. With the closure of Metagaming Concepts in 1983, The Fantasy Trip and its various titles went out of print. Steve Jackson would go on to found Steve Jackson Games and design further titles like Car Wars and Munchkin as well as the detailed, universal roleplaying game, GURPS. Then in December, 2017, Steve Jackson announced that he had got the rights back to The Fantasy Trip and then in April, 2019, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Steve Jackson Games republished The Fantasy Trip. The mascot version of The Fantasy Trip is of course, The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition. 

The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition is a big box of things, including the original two microgames. So instead of reviewing the deep box as a whole, it is worth examining the constituent parts of The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition one by one, delving ever deeper into its depths bit by bit. The first of these is Melee, quick to set up, quick to play game of man-to-man combat. It is designed to be played by two or more players, aged ten and over, with a game lasting roughly between thirty and sixty minutes. The second is Wizard, which brings in more options in terms of tactical play because it introduces magic to the arena. Although the two integrate well, Wizard is more complex and harder to learn, yet offers more for a player to get into. The third is Death Test.

Death Test actually consists of two adventures—‘Death Test’ and ‘Death Test 2’—both originally published as MicroQuest 1: Death Test and MicroQuest 1: Death Test 2 in 1980. The new, combined edition comes in a box which contains the two adventures and some sixty-six new counters. Both require the map from Melee and can either be played using just Melee or a combination of Melee and Wizard. Both can also be played in a number of ways. They can be played solo, one player or several players against the adventure, instructions being included in the text as to how any monsters or NPCs will react to the player characters. They can be played with a Game Master controlling and rolling for the monsters and NPCs, whether is with just one player or several. They are designed to be played by between one and four characters. Ideally, these should not be beginning characters, but unfortunately ‘Death Test’ does not say how experienced the player characters should be. In addition, although having more characters in play will provide more tactical options—especially if they include a wizard, they do reduce each character’s final score at the end of the test. If they get to the end of the test, that is. In this way, ‘Death Test’ sets its own difficulty. It is easier with more characters, but the rewards will be less.

The background to ‘Death Test’ has the character—or characters—travelling to the city of Ardonirane, which is ruled by the famous and powerful war leader, Dhallak m’Thorsz Carn. He is once again hiring mercenaries, but will accept only those that pass a test—enter the labyrinth beneath his palace and there fight animals, monsters, prisoners, wizards, and rival would-be employees—and survive! Although there is treasure to be found, what matters to Thorsz is the mercenary’s or mercenaries’ performance. The more foes they defeat or kill, the more they will rank in his estimation and the higher position they will attain in his army.

The labyrinth consists of twelve colour coded rooms connected by a series of corridors. There are no doors, but entrances and exits are marked by black curtains, or rather black magical illusions which the player characters can sometimes pass through and others not, but which they can never see through. This means that in order to find out what is in a room, one or more of the player characters must enter said room. Most of the time, they can leave the way they came. Each room then is its own discrete encounter and with just a dozen of them, it allows for variety of denizens and challenges. ‘Death Test’ is not a dungeon in the traditional roleplaying sense though, the focus being more on combat—as the background suggests—than exploring, finding traps, and so on. Nor is it really a roleplaying adventure, a ‘programmed adventure’ certainly, but not a roleplaying adventure as there is very little, if any, roleplaying involved. That said, run ‘Death Test’ with a Game Master and one or more players and then there are opportunities for the Game Master to roleplay and bring some of the NPCs to life and thus for the player characters to interact with them rather than fighting them.

Consisting of one-hundred-and-sixty-seven entries over seventeen or so pages, there is a greater physicality to ‘Death Test’ in comparison to other solo adventure titles. This not surprising though, for Death Test is an expansion for a man-to-man combat game. So instead of sitting down and reading through a book and rolling dice as necessary, this is definitely an at the table affair with the map, the counters, and the dice in front of you. In further comparison with those other solo adventure books, ‘Death Test’ has a greater replayability factor. Only score enough points to get hired as a recruit? Well, why not try again to see if you can attain a better position or try it with a different mix of characters?

‘Death Test 2’ is double the size of ‘Death Test’. Again, it can either be played using just Melee or a combination of Melee and Wizard, but it can also be played using Into the Labyrinth, which covers roleplaying, character creation and experience, and advanced magic and combat rules for Melee and Wizard. Like ‘Death Test’, it can be can be played solo, one player or several players against the adventure, instructions being included in the text as to how any monsters or NPCs will react to the player characters. They can be played with a Game Master controlling and rolling for the monsters and NPCs, whether is with just one player or several. This is certainly the case if ‘Death Test 2’ is run using the rules from Into the Labyrinth. Unlike ‘Death Test’, ‘Death Test 2’ is intended for a party of four characters rather than between one and four, and it includes advice as how experienced the player characters need to be, for like ‘Death Test’, it is not designed for beginning characters. ‘Death Test 2’ can also be run like a traditional dungeon adventure, and this is supported with advice on adding it to a campaign and on expending gained Experience Points.

The background to ‘Death Test 2’ is that Dhallak m’Thorsz Carn is unimpressed with the candidates to join his army who succeeded at getting through the labyrinth in ‘Death Test’. So he has another built, one which is more involving and more challenging. Consisting of some two-hundred-and-eighty-seven entries over thirty-six pages, ‘Death Test 2’ only adds a few more rooms in comparison to ‘Death Test’. The increased number of entries allow for more detail, more things to happen, and more things for the characters to do. There are traps and puzzles, a greater range of monsters to encounter and magical items to find, players will find their characters tested in other ways than combat—‘Death Test 2’ includes the need to make Saving Throws. This is a richer environment for them to explore and no mere complex of arenas to enter and fight in. This does not mean that ‘Death Test 2’ is not a combat focused adventure—it very much is—but it is written far more like a traditional solo roleplaying adventure and presents a richer playing environment, so is far more engaging. 

Physically, both ‘Death Test’ and ‘Death Test 2’ are plain, simple booklets with paper covers. Behind the full colour covers, they are black and white throughout. Each is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is excellent throughout.

Of course, of the two, ‘Death Test 2’ is better than ‘Death Test’. It is more detailed and offers more options than just combat, plus it supports more roleplaying, especially if Into the Labyrinth is being used. On the downside, because it has more secrets to be found, it is not as readily replayable. In other words, there is less of the simple board game to its play than there is in ‘Death Test’. Yet ‘Death Test’ should not be discounted. Its simplicity means that it can more readily be replayed, and it is easier to both set up and play. At its very simplest, ‘Death Test’ provides a reason to play Melee and/or Wizard than just fights in an arena.

Death Test is a good combination boxed set, presenting two solo adventures of differing complexity and detail that offer a great deal of flexibility in terms of their set-up and play options. More so than traditional solo adventures. If you have Melee and/or Wizard, then you should put yourself through the Death Test—both of them.