The Other OSR: Vast Grimm – Space Raiders

It has been over six hundred years since the First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass. The SIX, the Disciples of Fatuma, who following the prophecies put down in the Book of Fatuma, made a pilgrimage to the Primordial Mausoleum of THEY and deployed the Power of Tributes to decrypt the Mystical Lock sealing the Mausoleum. It was then that the They drew in the stale air of the Mausoleum, becoming one with the THEY and breathing out the parasites. The Six scattered, bringing the word and the infection of THEY to every corner of the ’verse. Then the Gnawing began. The parasites of THEY gnawed their way out of the infected. They spread. They gnawed their way out of planets. They spread. The infected split open. The planets split apart. Now mankind clings to life, looking out for any signs of THEY or hiding it inside them in the hope that it never erupts and spreads… The Earth is gone. Shattered into large pieces. There are places and planets where the remnants of Mankind survive, squabbling over resources and power, fearing the parasitical infectious word of THEY, but not without hope. There are whispers of a means to escape the end of this universe by entering another, one entirely free of THEY. It is called the Gate of Infinite Stars. Yet time is running out. The First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass and so has every other Prophecy of Fatuma since. Except the last Seven Torments. Will the last Seven Torments come to pass and allow the Würms and the Grimm to consume the ’verse and with it, the last of Mankind? Or will the lucky few find their way to the Gate of Infinite Stars and at last be free of the Würms and the Grimm in a better, brighter future? That is, of course, if everyone fleeing through the Gate of Infinite Stars is free of the gnawing…

This is the set-up for Vast Grimm. Published by Infinite Black, it is a pre-apocalypse Science Fiction roleplaying game compatible in tone and structure with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. In the near unspeakable horrors of the future that is Vast Grimm, the survivors do what they can to survive, banding together as Legions that can work together to explore what remains of the galaxy, scavenge what they can, deal with emerging threats to survivors, and all as long as they can until they and the survivors can flee this universe. Not all choose to join a Legion. Instead, they band together to raid other survivors, to plunder and pillage what remains of civilisation, to salvage what they can, and survive in whatever way they can—and that way is not always humane or even necessarily human. They are not Legion. They are Space Raiders!

Vast Grimm: Space Raiders introduces a new way to play Vast Grimm—Factions! To go with the Factions, it adds new Classes and then it adds a galactic hexcrawl, as well as presenting a history of Space Raiders. The Space Raiders of old mostly picked through the wreckage of failed colonies and stations, with only a few groups being more sinister and vicious. That changed with the Prophecies of Fatuma coming to pass and the infection of THEY beginning to spread. The nastier, more rapacious groups have grabbed their own territories and only in recent times have their ships been seen beyond their borders. It cannot be too long before they are fighting. There is a map in Vast Grimm: Space Raiders onto which the Game Master place the factions. The new Classes are the Brutal Savage, the Merciless Mercenary, the Plunderluster, and the Salty Dog, whilst the Factions are the Claws of Doom, Cybersharks, Killer Clowns, Greyskrulls, Jolly Dodgers, Reapers, and Revenants.

The Brutal Savage is almost soulless, but very ferocious scoundrel. Strong and tough, he may have been a survivor who would have starved had he not eaten the flesh of his dead comrades or was thrown into an airlock by her mother before she and the colony he grew up on became one of The Grimm. ‘Skillz’ might be having ‘Gangrenous Goo’ for an arm that feeds on his arm, but can also rots away at anything that it touches, or he might have a stare so worthy of the Abyss that it saps morale. What morals the Merciless Mercenary had have long since been replaced by greed, having either been maltreated by Shit King Saule once too often and grown tired of being his muscle or dreams nightly of a display tank of decapitated heads that with enough credstiks will be his. Strong and menacing, his ‘Skillz’ might be good with building bombs or as a natural troublemaker, whether it is his attitude or the smirk on his cut up face, he attracts attention at the start of every fight, giving his allies an advantage. The Plunderluster does everything with a swagger. Graceful and charismatic, he either grew up in a troupe of traveling performers, stealing as they performed, or is actually a service bot, reprogrammed to talk like a pirate! His ‘Skillz’ might be that everything he does is done with flair, increasing his Critical roll range, or that his Grimm Compass has been hacked to spin wildly when The Grimm are near! The Salty Dog grew up a raider, perhaps after having been found by raiders abandoned in an escape pod and not eaten or even thirteen years ago, was teleported from an ancient festival where he was dressed and acting like a pirate into this hell of a future and has yet to work out if he is actually hallucinating. His ‘Skillz’ include being able to talk to ships and thus has a bonus to repair or modify them or is a skilled pillager and has a bonus on scavenging.

These are just some of the options for each Class, but all four play around with a combination of the classic pirate figure and the space pirate or raider a la the film Serenity. So, some are of a more brutal and nastier nature than others, the Brutal Savage and the Merciless Mercenary versus the Plunderluster and the Salty Dog. Vast Grimm is a bleak, often savage setting, and all four Classes fit its ‘Grim Dark’ post-apocalyptic future. Of course, it is up to the Game Master to decide whether they fit the game she is currently running, but all are going to require mature players.

All seven Factions are given a quick description, some Netwürk Chatter about them that can be speculative, partially proven, or cross-reference, and some further details that can include sample NPCs and crew descriptions as well as equipment. The Claws of Doom is an all-MAnchiNE raider Faction whose members replace a single arm with a strong claw and are led by DOOM-1, whose has replaced his other with a pincer, the crevices of his cyberware filled with dried blood. The Cybersharks crew ships which attack other ships with tentacles and replace their jaws with metal mandibles. The Killer Clowns want to make the ’Verse more colourful and wear clown masks and carry brightly coloured balloon animals filled with toxins on balloon belts, lead-filled rubber chickens, or squirting flowers that shoot acid! They even know the Collapsible Clown Car Tribute that miniaturises a starship and kills everyone aboard. This is intentionally, absurdly silly and are even available as a Space Raider subclass which replaces the ‘Skillz’ of another Class.

The Greyskrulls are former reapers, sympathetic to The Grimm, but with only a couple of known Crew detailed, are under described and developed, as are the Jolly Dodgers, a faction of smugglers lead by a captain known as Princess pain for her capacity to withstand torture at the hands of Shit King Saule. In comparison to the other Factions, there is not a lot of flavour to them and the Game Master will need to develop the Netwürk Chatter a little harder to attract the attention of his Legionnaires. The Reapers are the oldest Space Raider Faction and are infected by The Grimm, whilst the Revenants are led by Captain Sully Bloodbeard, who was vented by his crew over three centuries ago and returned as a Void Revenant, occupying one body after another, his remains hidden deep within the Graveyard where the best wreckage can be found!

The Revenants are the target in the hexcrawl adventure included in Vast Grimm: Space Raiders. The Player Characters’ Legion is hired (or bullied) by a Space Raider Faction to search the Graveyard for the remains of Captain Sully Bloodbeard or Shit King Saule levies a bounty on Captain Sully Bloodbeard’s ship, the Revenant’s Revenge. Collect either, or even both, and the Legion gets plenty of credstiks, a possible ally, and an even greater reputation. Deckplans are given for the Revenant’s Revenge as are a set of tables for generating the ships—including their type, condition, and what might be found aboard—within the Graveyard and the location of Captain Sully Bloodbeard’s remains. This can be run as a procedural adventure on the go or prepared by the Game Master, perhaps with access to Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers to provide expanded detail about the ships found in the Graveyard, and ultimately brings the Player Characters up against a major faction in the major Vast Grimm universe that will likely end in an epic battle aboard the Revenant’s Revenge.

Lastly, Vast Grimm: Space Raiders details some extra Tributes besides Collapsible Clown Car and some Space Raider Mods such as Black Flag and Plank Walker. A set of tables also provides plenty of Space Raider booty for the Player Characters to loot.

Physically, Vast Grimm: Space Raiders adheres to the Artpunk aesthetic of both Vast Grimm and Mörk Borg, with its use of vibrant, often neon colours and heavy typefaces. It looks amazing, a swirling riot of colour that wants to reach out and infect everything, but where the core rules were not always the easiest to read, the simplicity of the content in this supplement make it easier to read and use.

Vast Grimm: Space Raiders sends the Vast Grimm universe off in another direction, piratical at the very least, but likely even grimmer than Vast Grimm. This is a sourcebook of Space Raider adversaries, but also a sourcebook for roleplaying Vast Grimm as even more self-interested space bastards than usual. The latter probably lends itself to a shorter, one-shot scenario or campaign than the former, but either way, Vast Grimm: Space Raiders makes the Vast Grimm universe an even grimmer—and with the addition of the Killer Clowns (from outer space)—sillier future.

—oOo—

The Kickstarter campaign for Vast Grimm – Escaping Stasis, a starter set and expanded rules can be found here.

The Other OSR: Vast Grimm – Blood Altared

It has been over six hundred years since the First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass. The SIX, the Disciples of Fatuma, who following the prophecies put down in the Book of Fatuma, made a pilgrimage to the Primordial Mausoleum of THEY and deployed the Power of Tributes to decrypt the Mystical Lock sealing the Mausoleum. It was then that the They drew in the stale air of the Mausoleum, becoming one with the THEY and breathing out the parasites. The Six scattered, bringing the word and the infection of THEY to every corner of the ’verse. Then the Gnawing began. The parasites of THEY gnawed their way out of the infected. They spread. They gnawed their way out of planets. They spread. The infected split open. The planets split apart. Now mankind clings to life, looking out for any signs of THEY or hiding it inside them in the hope that it never erupts and spreads… The Earth is gone. Shattered into large pieces. There are places and planets where the remnants of Mankind survive, squabbling over resources and power, fearing the parasitical infectious word of THEY, but not without hope. There are whispers of a means to escape the end of this universe by entering another, one entirely free of THEY. It is called the Gate of Infinite Stars. Yet time is running out. The First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass and so has every other Prophecy of Fatuma since. Except the last Seven Torments. Will the last Seven Torments come to pass and allow the Würms and the Grimm to consume the ’verse and with it, the last of Mankind? Or will the lucky few find their way to the Gate of Infinite Stars and at last be free of the Würms and the Grimm in a better, brighter future? That is, of course, if everyone fleeing through the Gate of Infinite Stars is free of the gnawing…

This is the set-up for Vast Grimm. Published by Infinite Black, it is a pre-apocalypse Science Fiction roleplaying game compatible in tone and structure with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. Yet there is news of an incident that threatens the future of the survivors even as the ’Verse is abuzz with word of another Torment about to come to pass. Doctor Hellina Hazel, lead quantum scientist working on the Gate of Infinite Stars, has been kidnapped! Although multiple factions have claimed responsibility, the abductors have been identified as members of an elite sect of the Devout. Worse, rumours over the Netwürk suggest that she has been transported to the Mausoleum of They where she will be sacrificed to a giant würm. Without Doctor Hazel’s knowledge, the likelihood is that the Gate of Infinite Stars will never be completed and thus all hope will be lost for mankind.

This is the set-up for Vast Grimm – Blood Altared, a scenario and setting supplement that expands the future depicted in Vast Grimm. The setting is the planet of K2-116B, a bare red-oxide rock renowned for its highly toxic atmosphere. The kidnapping of Doctor Hazel is not necessarily the only reason for the Player Characters to make the trip to the hellhole that is K2-116B—several other reasons are given, which makes the journey much more personal. These can be backed up with Netwürk chatter, but either way, the Player Characters find themselves on a Fatumite colony at the foot of the monolithic Mausoleum of THEY, surrounded by a Rotting Forest. Guile or stealth is required to get past the Devout of the colony and climb the giant würm bones of the tower temple. This is a race against time, a brutal brawl and trawl against fanatics dedicated to preventing anyone from stopping their divine purpose from coming to pass. Should the Player Characters fail, the ramifications are quite literally colossal and campaign changing… The Mausoleum of THEY is linear in structure, and so straightforward to run. Ultimately, the play of the scenario will vary upon how the players and their characters decide to approach it, stealth or out and out attack…

Interestingly, there is another way of running the scenario—and that is defence. There is no scenario for this given in Vast Grimm – Blood Altared, but it is difficult to imagine quite what to do otherwise with the new options for Player Characters given in the supplement. They include the Devoibot, reprogrammed to protect the Fatumites on K2-116B, though they are actually quite cynical about doing so. The character type includes reason why the Devoibots are on the planet and suggest skills such as a Big Databrain which has greater knowledge of THEY, a Blaster Bot with the blaster in its hand, or a Jammer Jaw that emits a high frequency signal that blocks all nearby electronics. The Disciplined Devout is a host to a würm and so might be able to smell the blood of those also infected by the würm, gain a temporary adrenal boost, or have it act as a back brace to increase his armour. The Rotter are descendants of the early missionaries who came to the poisonous world of K2-116B who are inured to its toxic environment, but must take and imbibe the red oxide of the world with them to survive. The Rotter might have toxic spores in his lungs that he can cough at others, an understanding of Tributes so deep that he might be able to understand encrypted tributes, or even possess his father’s skull and talk to it for advice! The Sword of Fatuma is a trained soldier of THEY, who might be tough as nails and survive situations that would kill others, wear a gauntlet made from the plated skull of a würm and bearing the mark of Fatuma, and possess battery-powered that make his eyes shine in a bioluminescent blue and thus look like one of their to the Grimm.

Numerous weapons like the Body Burner—a flamethrower fuelled by decomposing bodies, and Sonic Scream Sticks which cause the blood vessels of victims to pop when struck are detailed, as are cosmic treasures, including Fatuma’s Mitre and the Fang of Fatuma. Stats are provided for Fatumites as monsters as are the Fiendhünds, invisible hounds that hunt the wastes of K2-116B, and Rocnars, insectoid creatures that paralyse prey with a stinger, often multiple times, and then feed on their decaying flesh.

The Mausoleum of THEY, the Fatumite colony, and the surrounding Rotting Forest, are not the only places of interest on K2-116B—or rather under it. A network of caverns is home to the Rotters, those who were born and have adapted to the harsh environment of K2-116B and Teginoids, genetically and necromantically engineered humanoids. The cavern network and its Rotter colony are described in some detail, as some quite nasty weapons, like a blow gun used to target victims with the pellets of compressed Rotting Forest tree bark which causes the terrible, terrible itching, known as the ‘Scratch & Sniff’, that becomes increasingly difficult to resist… The Teginoids are the descendants of experiments which combined Würm and human DNA which live alongside the Rotters and which worship their Würm ancestors and all Würms. They are hostile to non-Rotters.

The caverns are not somewhere that the Player Characters are likely to visit readily. Though that might change by ‘Rotters on Board’, a scenario triggered by the landing of the Player Characters’ ship on K2-116B. Four Rotters board their vessel, perhaps attempting to stow away, steal parts and cargo, or even steal the ship. This could happen whilst the Player Characters are attempting to assault the Mausoleum of THEY, adding a complication to their attempts to get off world, likely in a hurry whether they have saved Doctor Hazel or not.

Physically, Vast Grimm – Blood Altared adheres to the Artpunk aesthetic of both Vast Grimm and Mörk Borg, with its use of vibrant, often neon colours and heavy typefaces. It looks amazing, a swirling riot of colour that wants to reach out and infect everything, but where the core rules were not always the easiest to read, the simplicity of the content in this supplement make it easier to read and use.

There is a weird dissonance in terms of scale in Vast Grimm – Blood Altared, with a big, bruisingly desperate strike mission against the clock to rescue an important scientist at one end of that scale, and the minor, irritating matter of potential stowaways or thieves getting aboard the Player Characters’ starship at the other end of the scale. If the Game Master runs the first mission, there is relatively little reason for the Player Characters to return and potentially encounter the second. There are a handful of adventure sparks which the Game Master can use to get the Player Characters to K2-116B, but will need to develop. Then are the Fatumites as Player Characters, just what is the Game Master to do with them when it is difficult for many of them to even leave K2-116B due to their need to inhale the planet’s toxins? Let alone the fact that they are normally the enemy in the world of Vast Grimm? Ultimately, whilst rescue mission into the Mausoleum of THEY is the selling point of Vast Grimm – Blood Altared, it really should have come at the back of the book and thus be the last thing that the Game Master sees and runs from it, enabling a campaign to build up to its momentous nature and giving to a chance for the Player Characters to explore the vileness of K2-116B a little bit first…

The Other OSR: Vast Grimm – Space Cruisers

It has been over six hundred years since the First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass. The SIX, the Disciples of Fatuma, who following the prophecies put down in the Book of Fatuma, made a pilgrimage to the Primordial Mausoleum of THEY and deployed the Power of Tributes to decrypt the Mystical Lock sealing the Mausoleum. It was then that the They drew in the stale air of the Mausoleum, becoming one with the THEY and breathing out the parasites. The Six scattered, bringing the word and the infection of THEY to every corner of the ’verse. Then the Gnawing began. The parasites of THEY gnawed their way out of the infected. They spread. They gnawed their way out of planets. They spread. The infected split open. The planets split apart. Now mankind clings to life, looking out for any signs of THEY or hiding it inside them in the hope that it never erupts and spreads… The Earth is gone. Shattered into large pieces. There are places and planets where the remnants of Mankind survive, squabbling over resources and power, fearing the parasitical infectious word of THEY, but not without hope. There are whispers of a means to escape the end of this universe by entering another, one entirely free of THEY. It is called the Gate of Infinite Stars. Yet time is running out. The First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass and so has every other Prophecy of Fatuma since. Except the last Seven Torments. Will the last Seven Torments come to pass and allow the Würms and the Grimm to consume the ’verse and with it, the last of Mankind? Or will the lucky few find their way to the Gate of Infinite Stars and at last be free of the Würms and the Grimm in a better, brighter future? That is, of course, if everyone fleeing through the Gate of Infinite Stars is free of the gnawing…

This is the set-up for Vast Grimm. Published by Infinite Black, it is a pre-apocalypse Science Fiction roleplaying game compatible in tone and structure with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. To get around the shattered solar system of the Vast Grimm’s ghastly future, let alone out into ’verse, the survivors are going to need transport and places to go. This is where Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers comes to the fore.

Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers expands on the rules for starships given in Vast Grimm. It provides the means to both create and modify them, gives rules for starship combat, and it describes three new locations that the Game Master can add to her game and her Player Characters can visit. Lastly, it includes rules for generating abandoned starships. The latter is particularly useful as it adds further uncertainty to the setting, provides somewhere for the Player Characters to explore, investigate, and loot. Effectively, mini-dungeons in space, if you will. Further, such vessels also serve as a ready source of parts and resources to scavenge, as well as potential replacement starships. The latter is important because the last starship to roll out of the shipyards was three hundred years ago. In a universe where the Grimm are the biggest threat that Mankind had ever faced, building the then current spaceship models and developing new spaceship designs was very quickly low on everyone’s priorities. Which means that the Player Characters may start play with one starship and end up with another and then another, just due to wear and tear and use and a lack of parts.

Creating a starship for Vast Grimm is quick and easy. It involves choosing or rolling for a Starship Class and following the various steps listed for each Starship Class in terms of capabilities, equipment, and modifications. Then rolls are made for the Starship’s Abilities, Hit Points, characteristics, battle scars, and Modifications. There are six Starship Classes and there are six options given for each. These are ‘Minimal Crew’, ‘Transports’, ‘Cruisers’, ‘Freighters’, ‘Warships’, and ‘Shotrods’, the latter being intergalactic hotrods. The ‘Minimal Crew’ Class includes ‘Family Truckster’, ‘Intergalactic Trucker’, and ‘DIY Death Trap’; ‘Transports’ like a ‘Yachthole’ or ‘Jailboat’; ‘Cruisers’ such as a ‘Light Cruiser’ or ‘Ram Jam’; ‘Freighters’ include ‘Garbage Getter’ and ‘Crowdfunded Slow Boat’; ‘Warships’ such as a ‘Frackin’ Frigate’ or ‘Dreadnought’; and ‘Chopper’ and ‘Domed Disc’ for the ‘Shotrods’. Starship Abilities consist of Manoeuvre, Accuracy, Fortitude, and Power, ranging in value from three to eight, modified by Class.

Most Starships have an A.I. on board, but it is possible to purchase the code to install a new one or replace an old, possibly damaged one. There is a table of A.I. personalities included, but these is quite short at six entries, especially given the Starship-hopping/Starship-scavenging nature of play. The likelihood is that the Game Master is going to run out of A.I. personalities quickly.

Name: The Slim Grimm Express

Class: Transport
Type: Galaxy Express
Size: 1 Speed: 2 Crew: 2

Armour: Tier 6 (-2d6)

Hit Points: 35
Pilot Presence dR12

Well-Engineered
Starship’s Log: A.I. Overkill (each section of the starship is controlled by a different A.I. personality)
Battle Scars: All original seating gutted. Replaced with lawn furniture.

Modifications: Escape Pod, Surge Protector, Armour (Tier 2), Slam Shocker

Weapon: Laser Turret (3d8 damage)

Manoeuvre 7 (-2) Accuracy 13 (+1) Fortitude 15 (+3) Power 18 (+4)

The process is not difficult and provides a total of thirty-six Starship types from which to choose or generate. Consequently, the likelihood of the Player Characters finding a similar ship to their own is quite low and even if they do, it will still be very different. Starship operation requires minimum Power to operate and also use weapons and other capabilities. A Power Core can be recharged, but can also be scavenged from other Starships.

Starship combat is played out on a hex grid. One player takes the role of Captain, who is then responsible for manoeuvring the starship in combat. Possible other actions available to the Player Characters include using a weapon, a capability, activating a Tribute (data chips containing the Neuromantic energy released at the same time as the Grimm when THEY opened the Primordial Mausoleum of THEY and used for various effects), defending the Starship, conducting repairs, and even a launching a raiding party if the two Starships are close enough. Although the combatants do roll for initiative, damage occurs simultaneously. Critical rolls inflict double damage and reduce the target Starship’s armour by a tier, whilst on a critical Defence roll, the damage bounces back and inflicts damage on the attacker or the attack is Evaded, and the defending Starship manoeuvre’s away. Fumbles include temporary weapon malfunctions, a Player Character spilling a drink on a console and having to clean it up before it works again, and so on. If the Hit Points of a Starship are reduced to zero, then the Starship is broken, possibly leading to a loss of oxygen, all systems shutting down to maintain life support, and worse. If the damage is reduced to below zero, the damage is worse.

In addition to the rules for Starships and Starship combat, Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers details three locations that the Player Characters can visit in their vessel. They include ‘Guthrie’s Fuel & Fix’, a former waste barge turned travelling station and source of parts, repairs, and fuel. There are tables for Power Core recharge rates, availability of parts, and so on, plus stats for its operator, a short and rusty service bot that records everything. ‘Tangle Station’ is a small planetoid run by the necrotic cyborg Kid Arachnid—the only non-robot on the facility—and dedicated to keeping the Netwürk running. He will sell all sorts of information to any manner of buyers, though not all of it is safe. The ‘Roach Coach 2’ is probably the last place that anyone might want to eat, what with its ‘Mystery Meat pie’, ‘Sautéed Gooey Gland’, and ‘Crunchy Sugar Larvae’ on its menu and the fact that it is run by Cockroach Karl, Jr. Then there are the side effects, which might be positive, might be negative…

There is a brevity to the content of Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers, but in many cases that makes the content easy to grasp and use in play, even when rolling at the table. It also leaves scope for the Game Master to develop that content herself and tailor it to fit her campaign. This is made all the easier by the engaging and entertaining nature of the content.

Lastly, Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers comes with lots of tables. The main set will help the Game master determine the appearance, current occupiers, and some sample rooms that might be found aboard a seemingly abandoned Starship. Others include a table of parts that might break down on a trip and tables of things and person who might be found on a Starship.

Physically, Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers adheres to the Artpunk aesthetic of both Vast Grimm and Mörk Borg, with its use of vibrant, often neon colours and heavy typefaces. It looks amazing, a swirling riot of colour that wants to reach out and infect everything, but where the core rules were not always the easiest to read, the simplicity of the content in this supplement make it easier to read and use.

Mechanically, Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers is not as easily explained as it could have been, especially when it comes to Starship combat. Another page and probably an example of play would not have gone amiss and it would make the grasping of what should be relatively straightforward rules that much easier. This is not to say that they are difficult, but that the explanation could have been clearer. besides that, Vast Grimm: Space Cruisers neatly expands on the single aspect of the dark future that is Vast Grimm and provides the means for the Game Master to bring Starships into her campaign in greater and more entertaining fashion.

The Other OSR: Vast Grimm

The universe will not end with a bang, but a gnawing. A gnawing in your brain. A gnawing in the asteroid in which you make grimy, ramshackle home. A gnawing in the remnants of planets. A gnawing in the universe. A gnawing that will grow and grow until the parasites erupt. Erupt and unleash as Würms. Würms that will infect others and spread the gnawing. Würms that grow and grow and erupt from planets shattering them into pieces, to grow and grow and become the Grimm. There have been Würms and Grimm everywhere in the universe for centuries, where once they were only in one place. The Primordial Mausoleum of THEY. It was the Six, the Disciples of Fatuma, who following the prophecies put down in the Book of Fatuma, who made a pilgrimage to the Primordial Mausoleum of THEY and deployed the Power of Tributes to decrypt the Mystical Lock sealing the Mausoleum. It was then that the First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass. They drew in the stale air of the Mausoleum, becoming one with the THEY and breathing out the parasites. The Six scattered, bringing the word and the infection of THEY to every corner of the ’verse. Almost seven centuries have passed and the survivors cling to life, looking out for any signs of THEY or hiding it inside them in the hope that it never erupt and spread… The Earth is gone. Shattered into large pieces. There are places and planets where the remnants of Mankind survive, squabbling over resources and power, fearing the parasitical infectious word of THEY, but not without hope. There are whispers over the Netwürk of a means to escape the end of this universe by entering another, one entirely free of THEY. The Scientifics call it the Gate of Infinite Stars. Yet time is running out. The First Prophecy of Fatuma came to pass and so has every other Prophecy of Fatuma since. Except the last Seven Torments. Will the last Seven Torments come to pass and allow the Würms and the Grimm to consume the ’verse and with it, the last of Mankind? Or will the lucky few find their way to the Gate of Infinite Stars and at last be free of the Würms and the Grimm in a better, brighter future? That is, of course, if everyone fleeing through the Gate of Infinite Stars is free of the gnawing…

Welcome to the dark, grim future of Vast Grimm. Published by Infinite Black, it is a pre-apocalypse Science Fiction roleplaying game compatible with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. Not only compatible in terms of mechanics, but also in tone and structure, with little more than a handful of prophecies standing in the way of the Player Characters’ continued survival in the face of uncaring, dying world, in this case, universe. Where it differs though, is offering that hope, that chance of finding the Gate of Infinite Stars and escaping one dread future for another better one. The last Seven Torments are not set in stone though. The Game Master rolls a die, the size collectively chosen by the whole, at the start of each day. If the result is a one, then a Torment comes to pass, randomly determined from the thirty-six given. They are all eschatologically grim, such as “And a pocket will form in the darkness of space. Anything that goes near will be swallowed by its emptiness, and in 11 days the empty will have wallowed no less than 7 planets.” or “Tears of blood will flow from all who have sired children. One hour wept for each seed that has sprouted and taken root.”

A Player Character in Vast Grimm is defined by four abilities—Agility, Presence, Strength, and Toughness. Of the four, Presence is the odd one out. It is not just used for Charisma checks, but also for perception checks, ranged attacks, and wielding Neuromancy. The four abilities range in value from -3 to +3, these being equal to ability modifiers found in Dungeons & Dragons and other retroclones. He will also have a Class of which Vast Grimm offers eight. Each provides equipment, arms and armour, ability modifiers, possible past life events and skills particular to that Class. The eight include the MAnchiNe, a twisted fusion of flesh and machine who fought in the trenches with the Legions; the Soul Survivor, a wretch driven to survive no matter what the cost; the Lost Techno Maniac, who would prefer to be studying the Tributes in order to fully understand Neuromancy; the Twisted Biochemist who has become infected with the Würms in the course of his attempt to find a cure for the infection, and who yet may find that or succumb to the Grimm and self-pity; the Treacherous Merc, a bastard who thinks only of himself and will use violence to prove it; the Emobot’s mechanical mind and body means it is immune to infection, but its soul means it is not immune to the loss of people it cares about to the Grimm; the Devout is a blindly faithful Disciple of Fatuma who works to do all he can to bring about the prophecies of THEY; and the Harvester literally harvests Würms from the bodies of the dead in return for handsome bounties. To create a character, a player rolls for his Abilities, selects a Class, rolls for the details of that Class, and then for his character’s Misspent Youth, Battle Scars, Irritating Idiosyncrasies, and Starting Equipment.

Kratar

Twisted Biochemist

Addicted to Science: Always top of the class, your peers and teachers hated you.

Misspent Youth: Distracted

Irritating Idiosyncrasies: StarDust junkie. If there’s dust around, it’s going into your oxygen tank.

Battle Scars: Missing middle fingers, flipped off the wrong person.

Agility +0 Presence +2 Strength -1 Toughness +1

Hit Points: 6

Armour: Thin grade Carbon Fiber (-d2 damage)

Weapon: Inoculation Dart Gun (range 20’, holds 8 doses)

Equipment: Portable nanotech/chemical laboratory, today’s creations (two doses of Nanite Dance Party and two doses of Ass Blastin), 50 credits

Favours: Two

Mechanically, Vast Grimm is simple. To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a twenty-sided die, modifies the result by one of his character’s Abilities, and attempts to beat a Difficulty Rating, typically twelve, but it can be higher or lower depending on the situation. Vast Grimm is also player-facing, meaning that the player always rolls whereas the Game Master does not. So, a player will roll for his character to hit in melee using his Strength and his Agility to avoid being hit. Armour is represented by a die value, from -d2 for light armour to -d6 for heavy armour, representing the amount of damage it stops. Medium and heavy armour each add a modifier to any Agility action by the character, including defending himself. This is pleasingly simple and offers a character some tactical choice—just when is it better to avoid taking the blows or avoid taking the damage?

Combat is potentially deadly. If a Player Character has his Hit Points reduced to zero, he is broken. As a result, he may be unconscious for a few rounds, lose a limb or eye and in the process also Ability points, haemorrhage and bleed to death, or possibly die! If his Hit Points are reduced to less than zero, he is definitely dead!

In addition, characters have access to Favours, of which a Player Character typically has one or two a day. They can be used to deal maximum damage on an attack, reroll any die—not just that player’s, lower the damage die rolled against a character, to neutralise a critical success or fumble, or to lower the Difficulty Rating on a test.

Instead of magic or the scrolls of Mörk Borg, what Vast Grimm gives are Tributes. These take advantage of the Neuromantic energy released at the same time as the Grimm when THEY opened the Primordial Mausoleum of THEY. This Neuromantic energy can be captured and stored on data chips called Tributes. They can be found on data chips or randomly downloaded from the Netwürk. A Tribute can be used by any Player Character. All it requires is a successful Presence Test and the expenditure of Neuromancy Points, which are derived from a Player Character’s Presence Ability. The effects are random, although some have been hacked so that work in a way that was not intended, such as “You’ve Been Spaced: One random creature within 30’ of the Tribute has the air around it sucked away for d6 rounds losing d4 damage each round.”, or still encrypted, clean and clear as intended as in, “Hive Mind Speak: To one of The Grimm, ask questions. For 3 rounds it will answer truthfully before the würm inside of them explodes.” Some twenty example Tributes are given. However, failure to activate a Tribute has its consequences. A simple failure results in the loss of Hit Points and dizziness for an hour. Worse are the results for a critical and a fumble result. Then the player has to roll on the Cataclysmic Condemnations table! (This is actually suggested as being optional, but where would be the fun in that?)

Exploring remains of the known universe, perhaps looking for the Gate of Infinite Stars, is fraught with danger. Vast Grimm both details six of these locations, whilst leaving plenty of space for the Game Master to create her own, like the ‘Waste Barges of Khallar’, the dumping ground for the universe’s trash where it builds and builds into mountains of filth and waste, protected by Shit King Saule’s rat-like army of trash people, and the Marauder’s Cryosfear, home to space raiders who have anchored their ships to the ice planet with multiple ships connected to form havens, and the threats that the Player Characters might face. The worst of these are the six parasitic Würms, which have a chance to infect anyone who comes in close contact with The Grimm. Each of the six—the Flesh Würm, the Blood Würm, the Brain Würm, the Heart Würm, the Gut Würm, and the Spinal Würm—is connected to one of the THEY and the Grimm god they each worship. Each parasite induces both pain and pleasure in the infected as it grows and grows, and has its own set of tables for the various effects, until at some point it gains total control over the character who their player must then give to the Game Master. A new character is then needed…

Other threats include random spaceships, rotten Earth Animal Mutations, Astro Zombies, Big Würms, and more, for a nasty selection of things that are almost, but not quite as bad as the Grimm. Oddly, the advice given in the back of Vast Grimm is more for the player than the Game Master, which probably would have been better placed towards the beginning of the book rather than after the entries for the monsters. The roleplaying game comes to a close with a beginning adventure, ‘DEATH aboard the CONUNDRUM: An Introductory Adventure for Vast Grimm’. The Netwürk is abuzz with rumours of an artefact, needed to operate the Gate of Infinite Stars, located aboard a spaceship, and it happens that the Player Characters are nearby. Unfortunately, so is a band of space raiders and then everyone is on their way to ransack the ship and take possession of the artefact. It is a solid ‘dungeon in space’ style adventure with lots of creeping about in the dark and dealing the people and other things already aboard… lastly, there are tables of adventure sparks, encounters, and so on, to spur the Game Master’s imagination.

Unfortunately, beyond randomly determining where the Gate of Infinite Stars might be located, Vast Grimm is short on advice for the Game Master and playing it beyond the single scenario included. Thus, there is no discussion of campaign or long-term play. In so far as the Player Characters will hopefully find the Gate of Infinite Stars and use it before the end of this universe. Then of course, what happens next... Even though it would have been useful, the experienced Game Master will probably have no issue with this, but the Game Master with less experience may struggle to develop a campaign around the nihilistically grim horror of Vast Grimm.

Physically, Vast Grimm shares a lot of its production values with Mörk Borg. Both embrace the Artpunk aesthetic with its use of vibrant, often neon colours and heavy typefaces. It looks amazing, a swirling riot of colour that wants to reach out and infect everything, but it has to be said, it is not always the easiest of books to read.

Vast Grimm could be seen as Mörk Borg in space and that would not be an unfair assessment. However, Vast Grimm scales up the eschatological horror of Mörk Borg’s pre-apocalypse to cosmic levels and scales it down to make it horribly, infectiously personal with the plague of the Würms contaminating and breeding within every aspect of the universe, including, possibly, probably, the Player Characters. Then it offers hope, an objective, in the form of the Gate of Infinite Stars, for the players and their characters to aim for, though sadly it does not develop this aspect of the setting. This objective, though, is just enough to balance out the dread—even ever so slightly—as a glimmer of comfort and hope, and that actually makes Vast Grimm not quite as, well, grim. Overall, Vast Grimm is a eschatologically nasty Science Fiction horror game made all the more enjoyable because there is hope.

Quick-Start Saturday: Vast Grimm

Quick-starts are a means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps two. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

—oOo—

What is it?

I Want Your Skulls Quickstart Rules & Adventure is the second quick-start for Vast Grimm, the art-filled, punk-fuelled Old School Renaissance role-playing game about the few humans remaining in a universe being consumed by growing parasitic würms. Sometime in the future, the Earth has been shattered, carved up, and gnawed upon by würms such that all remains are vestiges. All that remains of humanity resides in habitats and spaceships, scavenging what it can, surviving the best that it can, everyone hoping that they will not fall prey to the infestation that will turn them into one of the würms, that they can find some kind of surviving civilisation, or perhaps they can find escape via the Gate of infinite Suns. The first quick-start was Into the Würmhole Quickstart Rules & Adventure, which was released for Free RPG Day in 2021. It is published by Infinite Black.

It includes rules for actions and combat, an adventure, and four ready-to-play, Player Characters.

It is a sixteen-page, full colour booklet.

It takes its design cues from Mörk Borg in its use of strong colours. Here they are done mostly as text boxes of psychedelic blue and pink, typically against a black background or swathes of bloody, meaty pink, suggesting something intestinal… The writing is generally clear, but given the short length of the booklet, does suffer from a certain brevity.

How long will it take to play?
I Want Your Skulls Quickstart Rules & Adventure can be played through in a single session.

Who do you play?
The four Player Characters include an Emo|Bot with an ability to access any computer and a desire to be an assassin, a selfishly hard-nosed Treacherous Merc who has probably faked a fearsome military record, a MAnchiNe whose scavenged robot arm emits a healing ultraviolet energy, and a Twisted Biochemist desperate to find a way to neutralise The Grimm, including his own infection. Each is given a neat, if busy character sheet.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character has four attributes—either Strength, Agility, Presence, or Toughness—which range in value between -3 and +3. He has a Class, which grants a Class Skill, plus Daily Neuromancy Points, and Tributes and Favours. Tributes are the equivalent magic in Mörk Borg. A Player Character typically has some arms and armour, some personality pointers, and at least one Battle Scar, suffered as a result of his survival.

How do the mechanics work?

Vast Grimm shares its mechanics and much of its tone with Mörk Borg. Like Mörk Borg it is player-facing in that the players do almost all of the dice rolling, a test requiring a player to roll equal to, or greater than, a given Difficulty Rating, typically twelve, usually modified by the appropriate attribute. Thus in combat, a player will roll for his character to avoid being attacked as well as his character making an attack.

Tributes are the equivalent to magic in Mörk Borg and cost Neuromancy Points to use, whereas Skillz, which represent skills and other abilities. Lastly, a Player Character has a number of Favours each day, which might grant maximum damage, allow a reroll of any dice, reduce damage taken, neutralise a critical strike or a fumble, or lower the Difficulty Rating of a test.

How does combat work?
Initiative is determined by an Agility test made by the player, and because Vast Grimm is a player-facing game in terms of its mechanics, a player will roll for his character to avoid being attacked as well as his character making an attack. Armour prevents damage, but a random amount rather than a set amount.  If the Hit Points for a Player Character are reduced to zero, he is considered to be ‘Broken’. This requires a roll on the accompanying table, which might result in the Player Character being rendered unconscious, before making a small recovery or the Player Character might simply bleed out. The combat system is designed to be short and brutal.

How does magic work?
Tributes are the equivalent to magic in Mörk Borg and cost Neuromancy Points to use, and usually require a Presence Test to activate.

What do you play?
The scenario in I Want Your Skulls Quickstart Rules & Adventure is ‘Into the Asteroid’. This a mini-hex crawl set in a ring of asteroids. A colonist group on the outskirts of the Belt of Despair put a distress signal. When the Player Characters respond, the local mayor explains that two children have disappeared, the latest in a rash of disappearances in the mini asteroid belt. This is an investigative scenario which will see the Player Characters bouncing from asteroid to asteroid, asking questions, looking for clues, and uncovering secrets. There is more than just the disappearance of the two children going on here, and as well as uncovering secrets, the Player Characters are likely to have one or more dangerous encounters too.

Is there anything missing?
I Want Your Skulls Quickstart Rules & Adventure could have benefited from a clearer background to make it easier to present it to the players.

Is it easy to prepare?
The compact nature of I Want Your Skulls Quickstart Rules & Adventure, both in terms of format and length means that its content feels condensed. Much of the details of the scenario will be generated from tables during play which requires some adjustment upon the part of the Game Master who is not used to that style of play. Although I Want Your Skulls Quickstart Rules & Adventure is not straightforward enough to make preparation easy, it is a matter a taking a bit more time than other quick-starts might require.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The I Want Your Skulls Quickstart Rules & Adventure quick-start manages to pack both rules and a grim and dangerous scenario into a few pages. The ‘Into the Asteroid’ mini-hexcrawl is a mini-mystery that reveals some of the accommodations that the desperate survivors have had to make in this dark future and in terms of the plot, is more player-driven than other quick-starts.

Where can you get it?
The I Want Your Skulls Quickstart Rules & Adventure is available here and here.

[Free RPG Day 2021] Into the Würmhole

Now in its fourteenth year, Free RPG Day in 2021, after a little delay due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, took place on Saturday, 16th October. As per usual, it came with an array of new and interesting little releases, which traditionally would have been tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Of course, in 2021, Free RPG Day took place after GenCon despite it also taking place later than its traditional start of August dates, but Reviews from R’lyeh was able to gain access to the titles released on the day due to a friendly local gaming shop and both Keith Mageau and David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3 in together sourcing and providing copies of the Free RPG Day 2020 titles. Reviews from R’lyeh would like to thank all three for their help.

—oOo—

Into the Würmhole is a disgusting adventure set in the Vast Grimm universe, a standalone, art-filled, punk-fuelled Old School Renaissance role-playing game about the few humans remaining in a universe being consumed by growing parasitic würms. Some time in the future, the Earth has been shattered, carved up, and gnawed upon by würms such that all remains are vestiges. All that remains of humanity resides in habitats and spaceships, scavenging what it can, surviving the best that it can, everyone hoping that they will not fall prey to the infestation that will turn them into one of the würms, that they can find some kind of surviving civilisation, or perhaps they can find escape via the Gate of infinite Suns. In ‘Into the Würmhole’, the Player Characters are members of a Legion, investigating an urgent distress call from inside a dark and foreboding asteroid… Into the Würmhole includes every necessary to play—an explanation of the rules, the short four-page ‘Into the Würmhole’ scenario, and four ready-to-play pre-generated Player Characters.

Published by Infinite Black, Vast Grimm shares its mechanics and much of its tone with Mörk Borg, and indeed they are compatible, although not from the same publisher. Thus it is player-facing in that the players do almost all of the dice rolling, a test requiring a player to roll equal to, or greater than, a given Difficulty Rating, typically twelve, usually modified by the appropriate attribute—either Strength, Agility, Presence, or Toughness—which ranges from -3 to +3. Thus in combat, a player will roll for his character to avoid being attacked as well as his character making an attack. A Player Character also has a Tribute, for example, Grimm Reaper enables the character to command Grimm (Grimm those infected by parasites and würm things) for a number of rounds, whilst Strength of 1,000 Würms lets the character increase the strength of another character or creature. Tributes are the equivalent magic in Mörk Borg and cost Neuromancy Points to use, whereas Skillz, which represent skills and other abilities. For example, ‘Schwarze’s Stoogie’ is a mechanical cigar that always tastes like a fine Cuban and once per day its ash can be flicked at an enemy to blind him for a short while, whilst ‘Last to Die’ means that the character is weak and puny, never seen as a threat, and always the last to be attacked! Lastly, a Player Character has a number of Favours each day, which might grant maximum damage, allow a reroll of any dice, reduce damage taken, neutralise a critical strike or a fumble, or lower the Difficulty Rating of a test. 

The rules are explained in a single page of a small booklet, so there is a certain brevity to them. However, anyone with any roleplaying experience should have no difficulty picking one of the pre-generated Player Characters and beginning play, whilst the potential Game Master will need a little experience under her belt. Both will find Into the Würmhole easier to play or run if they have any experience with Mörk Borg—or any of the more minimalist retroclones. In fact, an experienced Game Master could easily pick up Into the Würmhole, read through it in five minutes, brief her players how everything works, and be running the scenario in ten.

The scenario, ‘Into the Würmhole’ sees the Player Characters descend into the carcass of a dead Würm which had burrowed deep into an asteroid. This is in answer to a distress call from another Legion, and inside the decaying corpse of they will encounter former members of the Legion turned Grimm, a variety of foul stenches and miasmas, and giant Leukocytes and Immunigoblins—humanoid defence mechanisms that attempt to immobilise any intruders, such as the Player Characters, so that the body of the Würm can digest and decompose them.

To play the ‘Into the Würmhole’ scenario, Into the Würmhole provides a quartet of pre-generated Player Characters. These include an Emo|Bot, a former communications ’bot which suffers from kleptomania, but which can access any computer; a Treacherous Merc; a Lost Technomaniac, who is accompanied by a Borg Bat, a cybernetic bewinged rat who acts as a scout; and a Soul Survivor. These are a mostly rotten bunch, intentionally so, desperate survivors, attempting to get by, make it to the next mission…

If there is an issue with Into the Würmhole, it is that it does on occasion refer back to Vast Grimm. So it suggests referring to the rules for further random monsters and it does not include any rules on what happens when a player fumbles a test for using a Tribute. Really it could have done with one less encounter table and a table of fumble results instead.

Physically, Into the Würmhole takes its design cues from Mörk Borg in its use of strong colours. Here they are done mostly as text boxes of psychedelic blue and pink, typically against a black background or swathes of bloody, meaty pink, suggesting something intestinal… The writing is generally clear, but given the short length of the booklet, does suffer from a certain brevity.

Except with a minor issue or two, Into the Würmhole and its scenario is incredibly easy to grasp and easy to bring to the table. Its scenario is short, probably offering no more than a couple of hours’ worth of play, but will nevertheless, provide a taster of the future that Vast Grimm has for us—an icky, festering, vile future with what is essentially a grim and perilous version of Fantastic Voyage.