Unknown Ukraine

Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine is a special book. Obviously, it is a supplement for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying , the Roleplaying Game of investigative folklore horror set in nineteenth century Scandinavia published by Free League Publishing. It is special because it something more than a straightforward supplement for the roleplaying game, though to be fair, it is actually a very straightforward supplement. Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine is special because it is the first book to be published as a result of the Free League Workshop, the community content programme for Free League Publishing’s various RPGs such as Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days, Sybaroum, and Twilight 2000. More importantly, it is special because of the circumstances of its development and publication, and that the proceeds of its sales go towards charitable causes in support of the Ukraine. These include United24, Come Back Alive, and Uanimals.

Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine is an anthology of creatures of myth and legend drawn from the folklore of Ukraine. Published by Society of Mythic Ukraine, based on an earlier project, Maloviy, which combined descriptions and details of these famous creatures with excellent artwork. This is continued in this Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine. The volume may only be a very slim one at just seventy-four pages and just twenty-seven entries, but it is superbly illustrated. Each is given a detailed write-up that runs to two or three pages which includes an excerpt from the Society’s library, a description, the creature’s characteristics, a full list of its magical powers—and all of them have this list, combat stats, the ritual associated with the creature, and examples of conflicts, plus a secret associated with the creature. The rituals are typically commonly held means of warding against the creature, whilst the conflict examples are actually story hooks that the Game Master can develop into mysteries of her own. There are three such conflicts per entry, giving her a total of eighty-one to play with! However, the creature entries in Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine do differ from those in the core rulebook. This difference is the inclusion of specific examples of Enchantments, Curses, and Trollcraft that a creature might employ. These are not normally listed in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, but are included here to make the use of each creature by the Game Master that much easier.

The collection opens with Bezdonnyk, which lives at the bottom of abysses and chasms where there is a bottomless lake or stream. It cannot stray from these locations because it represents the body of a suicide victim never found there and so never buried. When confronted, it might cause blindness or Christian symbols to shatter, or it might bestow the Gaze of the Abyss and magical power as well as knowledge of an enchantment or curse. The conflicts include looking for a missing, often bullied boy, removing the Sight from a boy who believed he has been cursed by a Bezdonnyk, and a village which secretly makes sacrifices to a Bezdonnyk to ensure its nearby springs grant healing. The grim nature of the entries in Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine continues with the Bohynka, an evil spirit born from the deaths of women who died giving birth, committed suicide, or aborted their babies, as well as from the deaths of betrothed girls who died before their weddings. She stalks pregnant women and women with newborns, stealing the babies before they are baptised and leaving behind monsters in their cradles. The stolen child is then twisted into an evil spirit. If that is not enough, Bezdonnyk also strangle people in their sleep, frighten and attack cattle, drive horses away, and devastate pastures. She appears as either an ugly old crone or a pale girl with long black hair. The conflicts include a village where the inhabitants cannot sleep feeling as if they are being strangled and a priest summoned to help was found strangled dead, a village where a new mother is being driven mad because she feels that her child is not hers, and a Bohynka who has returned to enact its revenge on those who drove her to suicide.

Other entries include the Chort, an evil spirit that is the cause of most misfortunes in the world. Cunning, wicked, insidious, and dangerous, it can inflict illness and bad luck to both people and livestock, incite people to commit evil deeds, tempt them to sell their souls to it in return for magical powers, and wilt fields and crops. A Chort is humanoid with animal features—hairy with horns, donkey ears and tails, a pig snout, and hooves—and always dresses in shades of red, typically fancy boots, a hat and a coat. The Nichnytsia is an evil night spirit that appears as a pale woman with long, dishevelled hair, bulging eyes, and a mouth twisted in terror, as well as gnarled, bony hands with long nails, dressed in a white nightdress so long that she looks like she is floating. Either the restless soul of a girl who suffered an unnatural death, a witch, or of someone who died in terrible agony or grief, she lives by day in nearby chasms, but at night sneaks into houses to pick first on children, sending nightmares, pinching and tickling, and feeding them a foul yellow milk which causes a child to be sick. She can also inflict insomnia or a lethargic sleep in which the sleeper has terrible nightmares. The Pesyholov is more typically monstrous, a wolf-headed humanoid with a single eye, believed to be descended from man-eating giants, a practice it keeps today, keeping its victims in pits, fattening them up until they are ready to eat!

Not all of the creatures or spirits in Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine are malevolent. For example, the Brodnytsia, which looks like a pretty girl with thick black braids, builds and protects fords across rivers and swamps so that people can cross them in safety as well protecting children who come too close to the water. This kindly spirit lives with beavers in their dams and will also protect places and people nearby, breaking damns to unleash the held back waters on fires or invaders! She can detect evil doers or those up to no good and lead them into whirlpools where they will drown. Since the Brodnytsia is a kindly spirit, conflicts associated with her involve things that have been done or anger her. The three include looking for the missing wife and brother of a famous hunter and tanner, who unfortunately has annoyed a Brodnytsia by hunting her beaver living companions; searching for a missing troupe of performing artists; and discovering why the dams and fords near a village keep breaking and the area flooding despite the villagers making good repairs.

Khukha are cute and fluffy nature spirits found in fields, forests, steppes, and caves, their forest types often waking with an incredible noise under the canopy that resembles knocking, squeaking, purring, and grunting. They do help those trouble and warn about the dangers in a forest, though some do see them as evil and vengeful. The Krynytsia is the spirit of the well or water spring, who ensures that the weather is good for the harvest and the fertility of the land. When she appears, it is as a young woman of great beauty with long, flowing blond braids. The better maintained her well or spring is, the better the weather and the better the harvests, and the more beautiful she is, but if neglected, the waters will stagnate, and the village and its surrounds will be beset with drought and evil spirits, the latter inflicting misfortune, illness, and disasters.

One of the stranger creatures in the bestiary is the Skarbnyk. Only appearing as a set of floating red eyes, the Skarbnyk guards hidden treasure, but only evil treasure that has been gained through theft, betrayal, or pacts with wicked spirits. The Skarbnyk will do this in return for the owner’s soul when he dies and if anyone does try to steal it, the treasure will turn into potsherds or snakes! However, the Skarbnyk will allow a swap to take place if the thief is willing to give up his soul. The Spryiia is the spirit of a person’s skill or talent which normally dies with the person, but it can be passed on to a child at birth, this being indicated by a birthmark. The Spryiia appreciates hard work and so will leave a person if he becomes too lazy. Mechanically, the increase in the skill is represented by a magical gift that increases a skill by two. The Zharook is either a household spirit or a god of fire that resides in the stove. This many-headed, many-eyed serpent can also be vengeful if it or the stove is shown disrespect and will set fires in the house. It can also make people gossip because it enjoys talking about rumours and news between its various heads!

Physically, Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine is a lovely looking book. The artwork is rich, wonderfully bringing its entries to life. The writing is slightly rough in places and it does need another edit. However, it would be churlish to grumble too much about this, given that the book is for a good cause and how good the book looks otherwise.

There are some common themes running through Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine, such as girls and women having suffered terrible deaths, spirits protecting streams, wells, or swamps, and so on, but this countered by the strangeness of other entries such as the Zharook or Skarbnyk. Yet all of the entries in the bestiary are going to be strange to most of the audience for it, the folklore and stories of creatures and monsters native to Ukraine having rarely travelled beyond its borders. With Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine they have, and in return, Game Masters and players of Vaesen can travel east to cross those borders and investigate mysteries new and different. Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine is an excellent introduction to Mythic Ukraine for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying.

Mountain of Madness

Ten years ago, the Abisko Mine was forcibly shut down following an explosion which killed many of the mine workers. Located in the far north of Sweden above the village of Abisko, all that remained of the mine was a crater. There were few if any survivors and no investigation, the cause of the disaster becoming first the subject of conjecture, and then rumour, as the incident was forgotten about. Recently, the mine and its surrounding area was bought by the Svea Mining Corp, owned by Karl Magnusson and his wife Sigrid. They have attracted the interest of scientists, the attention of the military, and the money of investors with rumours of the discovery of a new type of gemstone that could change the fate of Sweden and the course of the world, speeding up the pace of industrialisation which is already sweeping the country. Yet there are those who have not forgotten the explosion that closed down the original Abisko Mine, and worse, they believe that the gemstone is not something that should be exploited, but instead studied and kept careful control of, lest it fall into the wrong hands. One of these is Franzibald Hansen, Danish author and expert on Norse mythology. Although wealthy and knowledgeable, he lacks the means to investigate himself, let alone deal with the problem as he sees it beyond being a lone voice. Thus, he turns to one of his old contacts and through her, the Society, the body of scholars and adventurers based in Castle Gyllencreutz in Upsala, whose gift of second sight enabled them to see the Vaesen, the supernatural creatures who have for centuries lived alongside the folk of Scandinavia. With their help, Franzibald Hansen is sure that he can prevent the Magnussons from bringing their plan to fruition and the gemstones from falling into the wrong hands.

This is the set-up for The Lost Mountain Saga, the first campaign for use with Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the Roleplaying Game of investigative folklore horror set in nineteenth century Scandinavia published by Free League Publishing. As well as being the first campaign for Vaesen, what is also notable about The Lost Mountain Saga is that it is based on a podcast of the same name that the author has adapted for use with Vaesen. This continues the phenomenon of roleplaying podcast adaptations previously seen with Critical Role and Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn from Darrington Press and Old Gods of Appalachia from Monte Cook Games. In the case of The Lost Mountain Saga, the result  is a relatively short campaign, consisting of five parts that take place over the course of a year, from September to August. The only requirement for it is the core rules and the fact that the Player Characters are members of the society and have conducted a handful of investigations, and thus be able to improve the facilities at Castle Gyllencreutz. Optional are other scenarios for Vaesen. There are gaps of several months between the third and fourth parts and between the fourth and fifth parts where the Game Master could run another scenario or two. That said, if the Game Master decides not to run other scenarios between the five parts of The Lost Mountain Saga, then the campaign can be played through quite quickly at a rate of two or three sessions per scenario—at the very most.

All five chapters of the campaign follow the same structure as other scenarios for Vaesen. The ‘Background’ and ‘Conflicts’ explains the situation for each scenario, whilst the ‘Invitation’ tells the Game Master how to get the Player Characters involved. In The Lost Mountain Saga, this includes letters, invitations, and the personal request of Franzibald Hansen, which will lead to the town or village where the mystery is taking place, the getting there detailed in the ‘Journey’, typically a mix of railway and coach journeys. It should be noted that every mystery has a moment or two when the Player Characters can prepare and goes into some detail about the journey. There is an opportunity for roleplaying here, perhaps resulting in longer travel scenes than the core rulebook necessarily recommends. The ‘Countdown and Catastrophe’ presents the Game Master with one or two sets of events which take place as the Player Characters’ investigation proceeds, sometimes triggered by the Player Characters, sometimes triggered by the NPCs, whilst ‘Locations’ cover NPCs, Challenges, and Clues, all leading to a ‘Confrontation’ and its eventual ‘Aftermath’. The mysteries are well organised, a mix of the sandbox and events which the Game Master will need to carefully orchestrate around the actions of her Player Characters. Only the most pertinent of the locations in each town or village is described and the Game Master is advised to create others as needed, though she will very likely need a ready list of Swedish names to hand for whenever the Player Characters run into an NPC or two. That said, the campaign is fairly linear and self-contained, meaning that relatively little preparation is required outside of the campaign itself and it can serve as an introductory or starter campaign the first time Game Master could run after she has run a few scenarios.

The campaign opens with ‘Duty and Despair’,  with news of the reopening of the Great Copper Mountain mine of Falun. This brings the portly bon viveur, Franzibald Hansen, to Castle Gyllencreutz. He has received a letter from the local priest about an outbreak of witchcraft and requests their help in investigating it. Almost everyone in the town seems charmed by the exceptionally stern Reverend Bruselius, who quickly settles on the culprit and prepares to hold a trial. Is she guilty, or is there someone else responsible and can the Player Characters identify them in time? However, in discovering this, the Player Characters will encounter another vaesan, one which will already have taken its first victim—Franzibald Hansen! It seems that he had an interest in Falun more than the outbreak of witchcraft, but quite will be revealed in the next few chapters.

‘The Beginning of the Fall’ shifts the mystery back to Upsala where the university is hosting an exclusive ball which will be attended by members of the nobility, the military, and the science community. This is because Karl and Sigrid Magnusson are going to announce the nature of the gemstones their operation has unearthed at the Abisko Mine. At the same time, there are reports of overcrowding at the city’s asylum, including a journalist who wrote an article critical of the Svea Mining Corp. Is this a coincidence? The ball is a chance for the Player Characters to mix with members of high society—military, noble, and scientific—so the Game Master may want to have some NPCs ready here, as well as a chance to get a good look at the strange gemstones. In addition, some of Franzibald Hansen’s secrets will be revealed!

The middle part of The Lost Mountain Saga is ‘Where the Sun Dies’, and it sends the Player Characters off in an entirely different direction—Norway! Norwegian Police Commissioner Olof Dahl comes to the Castle Gyllencreutz asking for their help. Contact has been lost with the island of Værøya above the arctic circle as it appears have suffered a radical fall in temperature weeks before it is normally due and to date, none of the rescue missions have returned. Having travelled to Bergen, the Player Characters set sail aboard an icebreaker commanded by one Captain Harrock—“Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!!”—and so investigate the island. From having to ski across the ace to reach Værøya to confronting the frosty foe responsible, this is an entertaining scenario that is quite creepy and unsettling in places.

‘The Prince and the Witch’ returns the action to Upsala and to the great Valborg bonfire next to the Royal Mounds of Upsala for the ancient spring festival. There a young woman asks for the Society’s help. She is a member of the Vanadisir, an organisation whose members claim to be the descendants of the Norse goddess Freja, and she wants help in rescuing her leader from an evil man in this forest. It turns out that ‘he’ is not a prince, but a snake, and not the only one in this linear encounter which draws the Player Characters back into the past. The confrontation is particularly nicely handled here.

The campaign comes to a close with ‘The Lost Mountain Saga’. A plea from an unexpected quarter sends the Player Characters back to where the campaign begins to reveal the secrets of the Abisko Mine and the true dangers that it represents to all of Sweden. The scenario literally ticks down to the climax in a race to prevent the Svea Mining Corp’s plans coming to fruition and a final confrontation.
Physically, The Lost Mountain Saga is everything that you would expect a book for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying to be. It is well written and presented, but the artwork and the cartography are both excellent, evoking a mixture of nineteenth century charm and folkloric horror. The book itself is actually a lovely artefact in its own right.

The Lost Mountain Saga is a short campaign as well as being an uncomplicated campaign. This and its year-long, but handful of chapters, structure give it space and a flexibility into which the Game Master can add or develop her own content. This may well be necessary to offset its quite linear nature and the fact that the campaign veers away from its storyline in its middle chapters. If the campaign is instead played through at pace, this may not be an issue though. Overall, The Lost Mountain Saga is a good starter campaign for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, suitable for the Game Master looking for a first campaign and the veteran Game Master looking for something lighter.

Kingdom of Consternation

Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland is sourcebook for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the Sweden-set roleplaying of folkloric horror set during the nineteenth century published by Free League Publishing. In fact, it is the first sourcebook for the roleplaying game, one that takes the roleplaying game to new territory—though not new territory for roleplaying—and there confront new creatures amidst familiar tensions. Between superstition and modernity. Between industrialisation and rural traditions. These are joined by new, heightened tensions. Between the rich and the poor. Between employers and employees. Between North and South. Between the cities and countryside. The setting is Great Britain and the United Kingdom during the latter half of the reign of Queen Victoria. The British Empire is reaching its heights, trade flows in and out of the county’s ports bringing wealth as well as foreigners not to be trusted, the demand for goods means bosses drive their workers harder and install new and more powerful machines to increase production. Yet across the isles, as in Sweden, the supernatural lurks at the edge of society. In Sweden, it is the Vaesen, the supernatural creatures who helped out on the farms, gave a hand when it came to calving, ensured that lost children would find their way home, and kept everyone alive during the harsh winters of Northern Europe, and in return would receive milk and grain from the farms. In the British Isles, it is the fey or fairies, who make their homes in parallel realms of their own, but slip into ours, their mercurial interactions with mankind often leading to mysterious encounters at best, bloodshed at worst. Fortunately, just as Sweden has the Society—or Order of Artemis—dedicated to investigating supernatural threats and preventing interactions between them and society leading to further bloodshed or exposure, Great Britain and Ireland has the Apollonian Society.

Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland can either be used as an expansion to Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying or a whole new campaign setting. In other worlds, the Player Characters could travel from Sweden to investigate the mysteries of sceptred isle, or indeed to fey it presents shifted to Scandinavia, but it could also be used as the basis for a Britain-set campaign, with the Player Characters being English, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh rather than Swedish. This is its default, but it has notes and suggestions as to how to involve Swedish Player Characters. That default has its advantages. In particular, the period and setting will be familiar to the English-speaking gaming hobby, as after all, this is the land of Charles Dickens, Sherlock Holmes, the Hound of the Baskervilles, and Jack the Ripper. Similarly, there will a certain familiarity in the fairies it details, such as the Banshee, Pooka, Redcap, or Selkie. However, as much as this familiarity makes it easier to engage with, it loses some of the mystery, which the Swedish default setting of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying always maintained because it was unfamiliar. However, the supplement maintains enough mysteries of its own, whether that is the strange locations it describes, the fairie threats it details, and the scenarios it presents.

Funded following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland is written by Graeme Davis, co-author of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and The Enemy Within campaign, as well as most notably, GURPS Faerie. Which given the wealth of research and detail that the GURPS line is famous for, means that the author has a certain expertise when writing about the supernatural threat that the Player Characters will face in the United Kingdom. The book includes an overview of Britain and Ireland, a gazetteer of strange places, details of the fae and their realms, the Apollonian Society, new Archetypes, a host of supernatural creatures, and three lengthy mysteries.

Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland opens with an overview of Mythic Britain and Ireland. This is not intended to be a historical treatment of the setting or period, in part because there is insufficient space and in part because the setting is familiar. Instead, it opts for a combination of history and fantasy. This shows in its inclusion of notables of the period, so that alongside figures such as Charles Dickens, Florence Nightingale, and Oscar Wilde, there are also fictional characters like Sir Harry Flashman, A.J. Raffles, and Sherlock Holmes. All are given thumbnail descriptions, as are the important cities of the Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. London is understandably given more attention, covering the city’s important locations, railways, and other institutions. Particular attention is paid to the tensions rife across all four countries, with suggestions as to how include Fenian fairies (and others) agitating for home rule, Social Class, and more in a Vaesen game set in the British Isles. Many locations—in and out of London—are accompanied by a short description of a haunted place, whether that is the Blackley Boggart of Boggart Hole Clough near Manchester or suggestions that spirits haunting Hackney Marshes might be of Roman or older origins. Several Mysterious Places, like the Cerne Abbas Giant and Loch Ness are described too, before the supplement dives in deeper detail about the parallel worlds of the Fairie. This provides solid background for the Game Master to involve her players and their characters in visits to Annwvyn, Tír Na nÓg, fairy glades and rings, and so on.

The equivalent of the Society in Britain, the Apollonian Society, whilst linked to the one in Sweden, has a history all of its own. The Apollonian Society was originally founded by Doctor John Dee, scientist and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, together with Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen’s spymaster, and Edmund Spenser, whose epic poem, The Fairie Queen, would threaten to reveal too much about the Fairie and their realms. Much of its archives are based upon the records and correspondence of William Stukely, noted antiquarian and often regarded as the ‘father of archaeology’. The Apollonian Society even has its own headquarters in the form of Rose House, complete with its own seemingly ageless butler, Hawkins. Options are suggested to who or what Hawkins might be. Overall, there is a nice sense of the historical and the fantastical to the Apollonian Society and of course, Rose House has the same scope for development as Castle Gyllencreutz in Upsala.

Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland includes three new archetypes for Player Characters—the Athlete, the Entertainer, and the Socialite. These are perhaps the easiest of the content in the supplement to transfer back to roleplaying game’s default setting of Sweden, and indeed, any setting of the period. There is a pleasing flexibility to the Athlete, so that the archetype’s main skill and Talent vary according to their sport, for example, for cricket, the main skill is Agility and Talent is Gentleman, whilst for Tennis, the main skill is Force and Talent is Fleet-footed. The illustration for Archetype, a prize fighter, is delightfully suitable. Conversely, it is a pity that the same is not done with the Entertainer archetype, which simply has to rely on the Manipulation skill and Performer Talent. ‘Expanded profession and ‘Life Event’ tables support the inclusion of the three new archetypes in the supplement as well as those in the core rulebook.

One option for Player Character and NPC interaction is the aforementioned rules for Social Class, deference meaning that those of a higher gain a bonus to Empathy tests when dealing with those of a lower social class, whilst conversely, those of a lower social class suffer a penalty with dealing with their social betters. This reflects the nature of social class throughout the Victorian era and beyond, but the rules do paint a broad brush and lack nuance. Ideally, the Game Master should adjudicate their use as necessary on a case-by-case basis.

The highlight, of course, to Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland are its English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh equivalent of vaesen. Drawing upon a mixture of Celtic myth and local folklore—sometimes very local folklore—the supplements discusses the nature and common features of many of the isles’ fairie creatures, including their invisibility, invulnerability (except of course, for a loophole particular to each type), the nature of fairie challenges, favours, and forfeits, even impossible tasks. Some thirteen fairie are detailed, each given a two-page spread as in the core rules, complete with Apollonian Society notes by William Stukely, the possible ritual necessary to defeat the creature, three example conflicts between the creature and mankind, and variants. The conflicts for the Banshee, the first fairie entry in the supplement, include a Banshee who will not howl, a Banshee who reaches out in dreams, and banshee who wails despite the last of the nearby family line not wanting to die. The variants include the Caoineag, a water-bound version who is almost impossible to interact with and the Bean-nighe, a crone-like creature who washes the clothes of those who are about to die in a stream. The other fairie include the Black Dog, Boggart, Glastig, Hag, Knocker, Nuckelavee, and several others. there are even notes on adapting the vaesen from the core rulebook to Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland setting.

Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland includes three mysteries. All three clearly present their conflicts, countdowns, and catastrophes, the latter occurring if the Player Characters fail to act in time. Clues are given location by location, and each scenario ends in a confrontation, climax, and possible aftermath. All open with a latter to the Apollonian Society which will draw the Player Characters hither and thither, first to rural Gloucestershire where a young man has been arrested for the murder of his sweetheart and the ground about his village has been beset by unusually late and cold frosts, to the north of Wales where a rash of accidents in a slate mine suggest something unchristian, and then back to London to locate a missing brother last seen at an artists’ colony upsetting the middle class propriety of Hampstead Heath. They can of course, be played in any order. Taking up almost half of the supplement, all three scenarios are excellent, highlighting conflicts between tradition and reason, tradition and modernity, the mysterious and the mundane, as well as depicting the social differences and attitudes in all three locations. Although there are notes to adapt the scenarios to the Swedish default setting of Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland is , doing so would lose some of the flavaour and nuance to be found in each scenario.

If there is an issue with Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland, it is that it does skimp on the history and background to its setting. It does have the benefit of familiarity though, so a Game Master and her players can rely on knowledge they may already have, but if not, it does mean that both will need to conduct more research. Thankfully, neither is all that difficult to research, and in addition, there are plenty of books readily available on the folklore of all four countries.

Physically, as you would expect, Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland is a lovely looking book. The cover is ominous, but inside the various fairie and NPCs in the scenarios are brought to vivid life by the artwork of Johan Egerkrans. The book is well written, the handouts are well done—if a plain in places, and the cartography is excellent.

Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland takes the structure and style of Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland and places it in what be the familiar for much the English speaking hobby. That familiarity may lead to clichés, but this is actually not all that much of an issue given the supplement’s mix of the fantastical and the historical, meaning the Player Characters can don deerstalkers and tramp the moors in search of malicious or mischievous wee beasties or hunt for horrors on the fog-bound streets of London and neither would be out of place. Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland is an excellent supplement, opening up the world of Vaesen to a whole new realm and making the fairie something to fear.

—oOo—

Free League Publishing will be at UK Games Expo

from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th, 2023.

Folkloric Fearsome Foursome II

Seasons of Mysteries is an anthology of scenarios for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the Sweden-set roleplaying of folkloric horror set during the nineteenth century published by Free League Publishing. It presents four mysteries which will take the members of the Society, the organisation which investigates the situations which arise from the clash between modern society and the traditions that have grown up from living alongside the supernatural creatures called Vaesen, to the boundaries of Sweden—and beyond. In turn they take the Player Characters to the central valleys of Sweden where strange things are happening—possibly an abduction, but definitely drowned cows; to an ironworks where the owner has been bewitched by a local preacher; across the Danish straits and onto Jutland to confront the guardian of the moors; and across the Gulf of Finland to northeast Russia as guests of honour at an event held by the ruling noble. What sets this quartet of adventures apart is their seasonal nature. They are all standalone, and there is one for each season—spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

All four adventures follow the same structure. The ‘Background’ and ‘Conflict’ explains the situation for each scenario, whilst the ‘Invitation’ tells the Game Master how to get the Player Characters involved. In Seasons of Mysteries, the primary form of ‘Invitation’ is the letter, which will typically summon the Player Characters to the town or village where the mystery is taking place, the getting there detailed in the ‘Journey’, typically a mix of railway and coach journeys. It should be noted that every mystery has moment or two when the Player Characters can prepare and goes into some detail about the journey. There is an opportunity for roleplaying here, perhaps resulting in longer travel scenes than the core rulebook necessarily recommends. The ‘Countdown and Catastrophe’ presents the Game Master with one or two sets of events which take place as the Player Characters’ investigation proceeds, sometimes triggered by the Player Characters, sometimes triggered by the NPCs, whilst ‘Locations’ cover NPCs, Challenges, and Clues, all leading to a ‘Confrontation’ and its eventual ‘Aftermath’. For the most part, the mysteries are well organised, a mix of the sandbox and events which the Game Master will need to carefully orchestrate around the actions of her Player Characters. Only the most pertinent of the locations in each town or village is described and the Game Master is advised to create others as needed, though she will very likely need a ready list of Swedish names to hand for whenever the Player Characters run into an NPC or two.

Also included with every scenario is a set of trigger warnings, kept to a minimum, and unobtrusively placed in the top, lefthand corner on the opening page of each scenario. Plus, there are notes too, for running each of the four scenarios with Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland, although of course, the Game Master will need to make some adjustments in terms of names and geography.

Seasons of Mysteries opens with ‘A Dance with Death’ set in the ‘dales’ of central Sweden in the springtime. Here in a traditional farming community, mostly concerned with its cattle and its music. Here a farm labourer woke by the banks of the nearby lake unaware of how she got there and two cows have been found drowned. A local farm owner asks the Player Characters to investigate. What they discover is a miasma of paranoia and uncertainty, fuelled by an undercurrent of unrequited love and a Faustian pact. There is a degree of misdirection in the scenario, including a big floating clue, and a sense that the villains are not always what they seem. There are nice roleplaying touches too, such as making friends—or at least good impression—with the locals at a party, including finding out just how well the Player Characters can dance. This scenario has a lovely bucolic feel, a twisted tale of love and desire and possession at the appropriate time of the year.

Taking place at the heart of summer, ‘Fireheart’ literally boils with heat and everything is seen through a heat haze. The mystery focuses on the Häryd ironworks on Lake Hären in Smolandia, owned by two brothers. As drought dries up the land around them, one brother grows greedier and greedier as the other comes to believe that an evangelist preacher has bewitched the first, leading to a rift between the two. There is certainly something going at the ironworks, for the brother who remains is obsessed with his wealth and his foreman, known as ‘Swine’, drives the ironwork’s labourers mercilessly. If the Player Characters can get past Swine, whether through subterfuge or stealth, they can perhaps discover something about the first brother’s obsession, but get toom close they too might end up suffering from it as well! As the temperature rises, confrontation is all but inevitable, though it will perhaps force the truth to be revealed. This is fantastical on a grand scale, a back story out of myth and fairy tale, which will lead to an encounter with the greatest of mythical beasts. Unlike the other scenarios in the anthology, ‘Fireheart’ uses a mythic not found in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, but introduces it here.

One of the themes of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is the conflict between modernity and change, and the old ways, and this best explored in the anthology in ‘The Devil on the Moor’. This is set on the moors of Jutland where the Danish Society for Moorland Reclamation is conducting an engineering project to restore the land to its former fertility. Taking place during the Autumn, the lead engineer believes that a demon is sabotaging the project. The Player Characters will have the past notes from a reputed Danish folklorist to examine for clues, but must also find a way to get the recalcitrant locals to talk as everyone seems on edge and strange mists swirl about the place and seem to make people disappear. There are some gruesome moments too, though less of a sense of misdirection as in the other scenarios in the anthology. In the notes on adapting the scenario to Vaesen – Mythic Britain & Ireland, the author suggests referring Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ The Hound of the Baskervilles for its sense of isolation and its mists swirling across boggy terrain, and that atmosphere fits this scenario too, which is a well-done retelling of a revenge from beyond the grave mystery. The scenario does not forget Linnea, the woman who originally invited the Player Characters to reform the Society, either, as she plays a central role in getting them involved in the events in Denmark.

Seasons of Mysteries comes to a close with the very, very wintery ‘A Winter’s Tale’. The Player Characters are invited by a Russian nobleman to a symposium on the strange and the supernatural at his home in the province of Ingria, once a Swedish possession, but now part of the Russian empire. Their journey is interrupted by a terrible snowstorm and they are forced to take refuge in a nearby inn, along with several other guests, some of whom were bound for the same symposium as the Player Characters—including two very well-known monster hunters! Unfortunately, not all is well at the inn. The owner’s sister died recently and as the weather closes in, the intensity of the snowstorm increases and the temperature drops, and try as they might, nobody can keep a fire going for very long. Potentially, this scenario could descend into one of survival horror, but investigation and interrogation lies at the heart of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying. There is a lot of exposition to get through at points, but it is not like the Player Characters are going very far. Plus, all of the suspects and the clues are to be found in one place, the inn, in what is a bitterly claustrophobic scenario.

Physically, Seasons of Mysteries is a lovely looking book. The cover is stark and wintery, and has a lovely tactile feel. The scenarios are all well written, the handouts are well done—if a plain in places, and the cartography is excellent.

One issue with the previous anthology, A Wicked Secret, was its lack of geography and history. Sweden at the time when Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, A Wicked Secret and Other Mysteries, and A Season of Mysteries is set, is unlikely to be a familiar place to many Game Masters or their players. There was not always the explanation of the whys and wherefores to a scenario, but that is not wholly an issue with Seasons of Mysteries. It could have done with a little more geographical explanation or a map, as to where its scenarios are set, at least for those set in Sweden, in relation the country as a whole. This is less of an issue with the two scenarios set outside of Sweden, where enough information is provided.

The investigations in Seasons of Mysteries are not necessarily wholly original, primarily because their threats are drawn from folklore and the stories around them, so there is often a sense of the familiarity to the scenarios. This does not mean that the scenarios are bad, because they are all well written and plotted, and they very effectively explore the clash between tradition and modernity, which often leads to a breakdown between man and Vaesen which is explored in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying. If perhaps there is a downside to the adventures it is that they are seasonally based, which as much as that plays into and influences the nature and atmosphere of each scenario, it means that they are not quite as versatile. Nevertheless, Seasons of Mysteries is an excellent and engaging second quartet of mysteries, each markedly different in terms of tone and feel and each presenting different challenges for the Player Characters in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying.

Bearfaced Horror II

For fans of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the roleplaying game of investigative folklore horror set in nineteenth century Scandinavia, based on Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Scandinavian Folklore as collected and illustrated by Johan Egerkrans, there is just the one supplement supporting it—for the moment. However, for Vaesen and other titles from Free League Publishing, there is the Free League Workshop. Much like the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons, this is a platform for creators to publish and distribute their own original content, which means that they also have a space to showcase their creativity and their inventiveness, to do something different, but ultimately provide something which the Game Master can bring to the table and engage her players with. Such is the case with Midnight Hunt.

Midnight Hunt is written by one half of the hosts of the podcast, What Would Smart Party Do?—the other half designed King of Dungeons and presents an engaging and entertaining mystery with a dilemma or two. It could easily be played in a single session, perhaps two at most, and would make a good option for a convention scenario just as it would for the Game Master’s own campaign. It is the author’s second scenario for Vaesen after Unbearable.

In Vasen, the Player Characters are members of the Society, which is based in Castle Gyllencreutz in the city of Upsala and which is dedicated to the study and understanding of the vaesen. Thus its members look for opportunities to investigate signs of Vaesen activity, but in Midnight Hunt, that sign comes to the Player Characters in the form of a message delivered by carrier pigeon. It comes from Ingvar Kransvik, the village elder of Snorum, who is concerned that members of a local family as well as the village priest have gone missing, as the beasts in the nearby forest are acting oddly, and the other villagers are thinking turning back to the Old Ways, the faiths their ancestors followed before Christianity was adopted.

Midnight Hunt is—like Unbearable before it—a classic ‘village in peril’ scenario, one which again involves bears, but unlike Unbearable, there is less of the cliché to it. Snorum is a quiet place (which leaves you wonder if the name itself is meant to be a sleepy joke), its inhabitants mostly friendly, if a little wary, and for the most part, co-operative. The place appears to be mouldering, even rotting in places, and there is a sense of impending degeneration to this settlement in eastern Sweden. This is present not just in the buildings, but also in a number of NPCs, most notably Ingvar Kransvik. The Player Characters’ efforts are hampered by the presence of the also elderly Algot Lindberg, a renowned hunter determined to take as trophies from the supernatural creatures he believes to be the cause of the problems in the village. Since their enquiries are likely to cross over, Algot Lindberg will seem to be hunting the Investigators as much as he is the Vaesen. The Investigators must also contend with Birgitta Blomqvist, a recently arrived spiritualist who is holding ceremonies dedicated to the Old Ways and tempting many of the villagers to attend.

The scenario details just seven locations, complete with clues and challenges. The former are all open to interpretation and there is no one real solution. This is played out against not one, but three countdowns and potential catastrophes. These are nicely detailed, as are the three potential confrontations. There are several parts of a puzzle that the Game Master will need to seed the scenario with, which can be done as part of her preparation or placed as necessary through play.

Ultimately, the Player Characters will have a showdown with the supernatural cause of the problems and deaths in Snorum, hopefully with their having acquired clues and puzzle pieces sufficient to deal with the Vaesen, as well as the more human issues. Various solutions are offered and discussed with combat not necessarily being the obvious one. There is plenty of investigation to be done in the early part of the scenario, but there are opportunities to use other skills as well.

Physically, Midnight Hunt is decently presented. The artwork, which includes some nicely done thumbnail portraits of the NPCs, is decent and the maps clear and simple. It would have been useful though, if the map of the village had been included in the main body of the scenario along with the other maps. The scenario is not as well written as it could be, and a much stronger and much needed edit could have solved that issue.

Midnight Hunt is a nicely presented,  accessible, and self-contained scenario with a decent nature versus man plot and plenty of NPCs to interact with and clues to find. It is also easy to move to another location—though that location should have bears!—and easy to add to an ongoing campaign. The latter is probably easier than running it as a one-shot as it does feel busy in places. Overall, Midnight Hunt is a solid scenario for Vaesen which delivers some potentially savage horror in a moldering bucolic backwater.

Bearfaced Horror

For fans of Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the roleplaying game of investigative folklore horror set in nineteenth century Scandinavia, based on Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Scandinavian Folklore as collected and illustrated by Johan Egerkrans, there is just the one supplement supporting it—for the moment. However, for Vaesen and other titles from Free League Publishing, there is the Free League Workshop. Much like the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons, this is a platform for creators to publish and distribute their own original content, which means that they also have a space to showcase their creativity and their inventiveness, to do something different, but ultimately provide something which the Game Master can bring to the table and engage her players with. Such is the case with Unbearable.

Unbearable is written by one half of the hosts of the podcast, What Would Smart Party Do?—the other half designed King of Dungeons and presents an engaging and entertaining mystery with a dilemma or two. It could easily be played in a single session, perhaps two at most, and would make a good option for a convention scenario just as it would for the Game Master’s own campaign.

In Vasen, the Player Chaarcters are members of the Society, which is based in Castle Gyllencreutz in the city of Upsala and which is dedicated to the study and understanding of the vaesen. Thus its members look for opportunities to investigative signs of Vaesen activity and so at the start of Unbearable, they find an interesting article in an issue of Fortean Times. This is a report about Alsen, described as the unluckiest village in Sweden, having recently been beset by a rash of inexplicable events. These include bear attacks, mystery fires, and disappearances to the point that it has gained a certain notoriety amongst tourists looking for a different sort of attraction. Notably though, the journalist for the Fortean Times who was reporting on the village has also gone missing. For the members of the Society, the question is, what exactly going on in Alsen and where is the missing journalist?

Unbearable is a classic ‘village in peril’ scenario and as such brings together some of its classic clichés. Thus we have a gossipy innkeeper’s wife who leaves him to do all the work, a drunken priest who is losing his faith and does not understand what is going on, and a useless mayoral figure, and nature itself which seems to be attacking anyone and everyone in Alsen, let alone the village itself. However, just because the scenario has an almost identikit structure, it does not mean that it is either a bad scenario or a poorly put together scenario. In fact, it is really quite an enjoyable scenario, with the Player Characters having to sort through or interact with the clichés in order to get to the truth of the matter—and the Game Master hamming up the old standards for she is worth! However, there is more to Unbearable than that, and diligent investigation will reward the Player Characters with a wealth of clues as to just not what is going on, but also how to stop it. This includes a great scene involving one or more Player Characters having to work the smithy at midnight under very ghostly light and all of them getting to the home of the local bear trapper who happens to have set all his traps out roundabout. All this is against a background of growing strangeness—fungus blooming the wooden foundations of buildings, bear attacks, wooden objects throughout the village sprouting leaves, the local vicar going off in a drunken fury, and more.

Ultimately, the Player Characters will have a showdown with the supernatural cause of the problems and deaths in Alsen, hopefully having gained an advantage or two from their enquiries in the village. The primary one presented in Unbearable is physical, and although options are discussed, the emphasis is firmly on the physical resolution. The options discussed cover more peaceful means of solving the scenario, but they are not explored in terms of game play, and that is a shame. The reasoning here is that the inhabitants of Alsen are going to want an end to the situation in the village and direct confrontation is the obvious means of achieving that, and it is a perfectly understandable motivation. However, players being players, they may not necessarily want to resort to a combative resolution, and so a more detailed discussion of the other options would have been useful for the Game Master.

Physically, Unbearable is cleanly laid out and easy to read. It comes with maps of Alsen and the surround area, as well as floor plans of the inn and the article from the Fortean Times as a handout. Both maps and handout are decently done. Also well done are the thumbnail portraits for the scenario’s eleven NPCs, such that it is a pity that the PDF does not come with a sheet with their names and portraits to show to the players. The artwork is also very nicely done and chosen.

There is a lot to recommend Unbearable. It is nicely presented,  accessible, and self-contained scenario with a decent nature versus man plot and plenty of NPCs to interact with and clues to find. It is also easy to move to another location—though that location should have bears!—and easy to add to an ongoing campaign. Unfortunately, the lack of detail for other options for resolving the situation in Alsen means that it cannot be described as unbearably good. Which is disappointing, because if it did support those options it would have been worthy of that terrible pun. Nevertheless, Unbearable is solid scenario, offering a good mix of investigation and action.