[Free RPG Day 2026] Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally 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. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

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?
Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite is the quick-start for Fossilized Violence, the roleplaying game of prehistoric warrior cavemen hunt and kill the dinosaurs that are found lurking everywhere across the primeval supercontinent of Pangeon, published by R. Talsorian Games, best known for the roleplaying game, Cyberpunk RED.

Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite is a thirty-two page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?

Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite will take five minutes to set up and about an hour or so to play through.

What else do you need to play?
Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite requires a set of polyhedral dice to play, at minimum (and probably more), whilst the Game Master also needs a plenty of extra twelve-sided dice. In addition, the Game Master will ideally want some terrain and lots of plastic dinosaurs as plastic cavemen. Alternatively, if playing at home, Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite encourages the Game Master to scavage what items she can find about the house to create the arena where the Player Cavemen will fight the dinosaurs.

Who do you play?
Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite includes four pre-generated Player Characters. They are all Cavemen Warriors armed with a variety of weapons.

How is a Player Character defined?

In Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite, a Player Caveman is defined by three stats—Attack, Defence, and Trait. These are defined by a die type, up to maximum of a twelve-sided die. He eight Traits—Brain, Eyes, Mouth, Skin, Arms, Hands, Legs, and Feet. Each has a Difficulty value attached to it, four at Difficulty 6, three at Difficulty 7, and one at Difficulty 8. He will also have some Hit Points, some armour, and some weapons and gear.

How do the mechanics work?

Mechanically, to have his caveman attempt a task a player rolls his caveman’s Trait die plus the four-sided die of Fate and compares the total with value of the associated Trait for the task. If the roll is higher, the Player Caveman succeeds. If the roll is failure, the player can reroll, but loses the ability to roll against that Trait until the next session. The four-sided die of Fate also explodes on a roll of a four and a player can keep rolling and adding as long as the result is four each time.

How does combat work?

Combat in Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite is where it gets exciting! To make an attack, the attacker rolls his Attack Stat die plus the four-sided die of Fate whilst the defender rolls his Defence Stat die plus the four-sided die of Fate. If the result of the Attack roll is higher than the Defence roll, the attack succeeds. If the roll is five or more higher than the Defence roll, the attacker inflicts a Critical, and if it is ten or more higher than the Defence roll, the attacker inflicts a Super Critical. There are critical tables for bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing attacks, plus a Super Modifier table.

A Player Caveman is encouraged to enact ‘Fossilized Moves’ and so fight with style. ‘Battlecry’ will get a Player Caveman and an ally each a Violence Point; ‘Fight Together’ means that a Player Caveman and an ally gain a Violence Point, both temporally roll a twelve-sided for all Stats, and gets an extra Movement when the other moves; and ‘Plunge Your Weapon’, a Player Caveman thrusts his weapon into an enemy, automatically inflicting an Impale piercing Critical, but lose hold of the weapon in the process. Many of have failure conditions too and many can also be used by dinosaurs as well as a Player Caveman.

A Player Cavemen also has access to Violence Points. He starts with one when combat starts and many more can be gained from using Fossilized Moves as well as good roleplaying in and out of combat. They can be spent for a variety of effects, including rerolling incoming damage and taking the lower result; to decrease a Super Critical to a Critical the Player Caveman is about to suffer; to spend the die type rolled by a dinosaur for its Attack Stat; to increase a Critical to a Super Critical when a Player Caveman attacks; and to roll a twenty-sided die instead of a Stat die.

How does magic work?

There is no magic in Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite.

What do you play?

The scenario in Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite is not so much a scenario as an arena battle. The Game Master is encouraged to run round the house and grab a bunch of things—books, bottles, newspapers, and craft supplies—and throw that down as the arena. The Game Master also secretly sets a timer that countdowns until a point when the Player Cavemen can escape the arena. Movement is not handled in squares, and instead uses a player’s hand length or finger length to determine movement and range. If a Player Caveman’s Hit Points are reduced to zero, there is a chance that he will recover, but with one Hit Point. Otherwise, he will die and an ally will gain a Violence Point. Dinosaurs do die when their Hit Points are reduced to zero. The last Player Cavemen standing has his Stats increased to twelve-sided dice for the reminder of the combat.

Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite includes four dinosaur types. These are the Allosaurus, Anzu, Brontosaurus, and Velociraptor. The bigger ones have two attacks and all of them have their own Critical tables.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite is complete as is.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite is easy to grasp and prepare.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite includes everything for a solid battle in the world of Pangeon. It showcases the rules more than the setting, but that is good for an hour’s worth of dinosaur battling.

The Fossilized Violence QuickStart – Second Bite is available from the R. Talsorian Games.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Legend in the Mist Demo Game

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally 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. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

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?
The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 is the quick-start for Legend in the Mist: The Rustic Fantasy RPG, published by the Son of Oak Game Studio, best known for City of Mist, the Pulp Noir, Urban Fantasy storytelling game.

The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 is a thirty-two page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?

The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 includes the scenario, ‘Rite of the Oathbreakers’, a short scenario which can be played through in one or two sessions.

What else do you need to play?
The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 needs two six-sided dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 includes three pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of Higgins, a Woodward of Cedargate, a guardian warrior with a strong voice who has been exiled for falling in love with one of the enemy; Gorna, a travelling self-taught cook from the town who is accompanied by his giant boar, ‘Truffles’; and Siondella the Cairnmaker, a travelling pilgrim of the Old Ways who offers prayer and ritual services against the Unseen in return for food and coin, but who is not without an impious streak. Each of the three pre-generated Player Characters comes on a double-sided A3-size sheet.

How is a Player Character defined?

In Legend in the Mist, a Player Character is defined by four sets of themed Tags. These Themes vary, but can include Circumstance, Magic, Past, Devotion, Trade or Skill, Trait, Personality, People, Trait, Possessions, and more. Themes are categorised as either Origin, Adventure, or Greatness Themes, which define where the Player Character came from, how he works to affect the world, and what he is good at, respectively. Each Theme set contains five Tags which can be used as a ‘Power Tag’ or a ‘Weakness Tag’. For example, Gorna has the Companion Theme of ‘Truffles the Giant Boar’ to represent his companion. It has the Tags of ‘Sniffing Out Scents And Tracks’, ‘Strong And Sturdy’, ‘Harnessed Food Court’, ‘Sharp Tusks’, and ‘Adorable Antics’. A Theme has tracks for Experience—gained when a Tag is used as a weakness, and Decay, gained for acting against a Theme—that is, out of character—and which if filled, will lead to the replacement of the Theme. Each Player Character has a set of items which can be used as Tags too.

How do the mechanics work?

Mechanically, to have his character attempt a task a player rolls two six-sided dice. If the result is ten or more, the Player Character succeeds without Consequences; if it is seven to nine, he succeeds, but suffers Consequences; and if six or less, the Player Character fails and suffers the Consequences. To the roll, the player adds as many Power Tags as he can and which are appropriate, but has to deduct any Weakness Tags that apply. The resulting value is the Player Character’s Power. This can be spent on various Effects—Attack, Influence, Boost, Create, and Restore. They can also be applied to Challenges and Threats in an attempt to overcome them. Each Challenge or Threat has a rating or a ‘Limit’, for example, to get past an encampment of bandits with two men on watch, the Limits might be ‘stealth: 2’ and ‘wounded: 3’. In the first example, the Player Characters would apply the Effects from a stealth-related Tag to exceed the Limit, whilst in the second, the Effects from an attack-type Tag would be used. This can be done over multiple attempts with the Effects stacking each time, but if successful will change the status of a Challenge or Threat. Thus, the ‘stealth: 2’ Limit changes to ‘evaded-2’ and the ‘wounded: 3’ Limit to ‘wounded-3’.

How does combat work?

Combat uses the same mechanics.

How does magic work?

Magic uses the same mechanics, but is not a key feature of the Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026.

What do you play?

‘Rite of the Oathbreakers’ takes place in and around the village of Hillsend, which sits below Dire Hill, in the quiet rustic region of the Dales where legends of the Creatures of Twilight and the Great Thaumaturges of old are fireside tales told about of far beyond the Wanderlands. The Player Characters are visiting Hillsend for its harvest festival and as they are escorting an elderly goatherd home, first must rescue Tulip, one of her goats when she mysteriously bolts into the surrounding forest and second learn from the goatherd that livestock has been going missing over the last few months. This has been attributed to bandits, but not just any bandits—‘Oathbreakers’! Former Red Marshals, sworn to protect the Dales, but now turned to banditry.

When the Player Characters investigate, they discover the top of the hill surrounded by a ring of animal bones at the centre of which is a barrow and three very haggard and wary Red Marshals. The Player Characters must persuade the Red marshals that they mean no harm, discover what they are doing atop Dire Hill, the cause of the ring of bones circling, and ultimately enter the barrow atop the knoll and confront an ancient evil.

The scenario is a solid, challenging affair that will reveal some of the secrets threatening the Dales and the consequences of that revelation.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 is complete as is. (An example of play would not have gone amiss though.)

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 is easy to grasp and prepare. The adventure requires a close read as it is quite detailed.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 includes everything for a solid introduction to the Legend in the Mist rural fantasy setting that can be run as a one-shot or as a campaign starter.

The Legend in the Mist Demo Game 2026 is available from the Son of Oak Game Studio.

[Free RPG Day 2026] The Weaver & The Redcaps

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally 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. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

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?
The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps is the quick-start for Dolmenwood, the weird fairy tale adventure game. It is published by Necrotic Gnome, best known for Old School Essentials, the retroclone based on the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh.

The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps is a twenty page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?
The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps includes the scenario, ‘The Weaver & the Redcaps’, a short scenario which can be played through in a single session.

What else do you need to play?
The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps needs a full set of polyhedral dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps includes six pre-generated Player Characters. They consist of a Human Cleric, a Human Fighter, a Human Friar, a Breggle Magician, an Elf Thief, and a Mossling Hunter.

How is a Player Character defined?

In Dolmenwood, a Player Character is defined by his Kindred, Class, Level and Abilties. These will help determine his Armour Class, Hit Points, Attack, Speed, Magic Resistance, Save Targets, and Skill Targets. The six Abilities are Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. Of the pre-generated Player Characters in Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps, Elves are fairy folk, a Breggle is a goat-headed humanoid whose folk rule part of south-west Dolmenwood, and a Mossling is a part-mortal flesh/part-plant or fungus humanoid from the dank, fungal-infested lowlands to the east.

How do the mechanics work?

Mechanically Magic works very much as other retroclones, in particular those based on Basic Dungeons & Dragons. It is Vancian in nature, meaning that each day, a spellcaster memorises spells daily and once cast, the magical imprinting of a spell on the caster’s memory dissipates.  looks any other retroclone from the Old School Renaissance, but with minor changes. Both Ability Checks and Skill Checks are rolled on a six-sided die. For Ability Checks, the Ability modifier is applied to the die roll to beat a typical target of four. For Skill Checks, the appropriate Ability modifier is applied to the die roll to beat a target. All Player Characters have the Search and Listen skills, whilst the Thief Class will have its usual range.

Saving Throws are rolled on a twenty-sided die as per other retroclones. The five Save Categories are Doom, Ray, Hold, Blast, and Spell, each representing a different type of hazard.

In addition to the Basic Rules, the Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps also provides explanations of the supernatural abilities of clerics, friars, and magicians, the roleplaying game’s skills, and how to handle encounters and combat.

How does combat work?

Combat works very much as other retroclones, in particular those based on Basic Dungeons & Dragons.

How does magic work?

Magic works very much as other retroclones, in particular those based on Basic Dungeons & Dragons. It is Vancian in nature, meaning that each day, a spellcaster memorises spells daily and once cast, the magical imprinting of a spell on the caster’s memory dissipates. 

What do you play?

It is a short, whimsical encounter that is easily added to a Referee’s Dolmenwood campaign. Griselma Harrow, a weaver and embroiderer renowned for crafting magical garments for various notable figures in Dolmenwood and recently rejected a demand from the capricious fairy lord, Prince Mallowheart, craft him a new coat. In spite, the Prince has sent a quartet of Redcaps to persuade her otherwise and are causing chaos inside Griselma Harrow’s cottage, starting with making a mighty oak to grow underneath it and thrust it up into its boughs. This is when the Player Characters arrive, having been invited to afternoon tea by Griselma Harrow.

The Redcaps are not those of traditional folklore, so no dipping of caps in blood to keep their colour, but bandits who whilst sly and malicious, prefer to taunt, beat, and rob others. They are also not the brightest sparks in the forest and in many cases, the Player Characters can talk or trick their way past the Redcaps scattered about Griselma’s cottage. Thus, there is scope for roleplaying and interaction with the Redcaps rather than just fighting them, whereas the Player Characters are more likely to be confronting and fighting the consequences of the Redcaps’ causing chaos and havoc in the cottage. The result is a delightfully quaint adventure that captures the peculiarly eccentric nature of the Dolmenwood setting.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps is complete as is.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps is easy to grasp and prepare. The adventure requires a close read as it is quite detailed.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcapse includes everything for a great introduction to the Dolmenwood setting with a thoroughly entertaining and whimsical adventure,  whether run as a one shot or added to a campaign.

The Dolmenwood Quick-Start: The Weaver & the Redcaps is available to download here.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally 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. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

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?
The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is the preview of, and quick-start for, the fantasy version of Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game. Published by CoolMiniOrNot and Guillotine Games, Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying is the roleplaying adaptation of Zombicide: Black Plague, the medieval adaptation of the board game of Zombicide, 2nd Edition, which of course, is given its own roleplaying game with Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game.

The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is a twenty-eight page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?
The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview includes the scenario, ‘Night Hunt’, which can be played through in a single hour.

What else do you need to play?
The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview needs at least twelve six-sided dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview includes five pre-generated Player Characters. The consist of a Hedge Witch, Executioner, Pilgrim, Zealot, and Town Guard.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying is defined by his Attributes, Proficiencies, and Actions. Attributes and Proficiencies are rated between one and three and laid out on a grid with Attributes along the top and the Proficiencies listed down the side. The three Attributes are Muscle, Brains, and Grit, and Proficiencies, whilst the Proficiencies consist of Athletics, Combat, Magic, Perception, Survival, and Wit. In play, the Proficiencies are cross-referenced with the Attributes to give an Action, for example, cross-reference Magic and Muscle gives the Sense Action; Magic and Brains the Cast Action; and Magic and Guts the Ward Action.

A Survivor also has three Talents across three Tiers, though initially, he only has access to the Tier One Talent. During play, if he inflicts a critical strike or loses any Hit Points, he will increase his Fervour, representing the increasing intensity of the situation, and gain access to the Tier Two and Three Talents.

How do the mechanics work?

Mechanically, Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying is simple. A player cross-references a Proficiency with an Attribute to give an Action, the combination of values for the Proficiency and the Attribute give the number of dice to be rolled for the Action. This generates a base dice pool which ranges in size from two to six dice, but to this can be added bonus dice for the right equipment, support from allies, and the situation. Penalties such as being impaired, suffering from fatigue, or facing NPC opposition can reduce the number of dice a player has to roll. A roll of one is always a failure, but any roll of six is counted as a Success with one Success counted as an ordinary success, two Successes as a superior success, and three Successes as an outstanding success. If an Action is favoured, rolls of five also count as Successes. A player can choose to force a success by converting any results of five into sixes and Successes. This inflicts Strain on the Player Character and if done too often, leads to fatigue and a reduced number dice he rolls in a dice pool (though not in combat as adrenaline kicks in).

How does combat work?

Initiative in Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying uses its Initiative Cards, but for the Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview, the Game Master must construct a deck from an ordinary deck of playing cards. Otherwise, combat uses the same mechanics, with only one success needed to hit and weapons inflicting a fixed amount of damage. Combat consists of ‘Opening Shots’ of ranged combat, followed by proper Combat Rounds of melee combat. Zombies are attacked in speed order, from the slowest to the fastest, unless the Survivor takes the Aim move. Damage needs to be enough to kill a zombie in one go, or not at all, and some of the zombies, like the Abomination, can withstand more damage than most weapons can inflict. In this instance, the Survivors need to master their weapons with the right Skills. Zombies attack and automatically do damage in the Combat Rounds with the Game Master not needing to roll. Armour provides protection, but can be damaged. Another option is that the Survivors can take the Evade move.

Most zombies have a Toughness of one and can be dispatched with a single hit, so if a player rolls multiple hits, his Survivor can destroy multiple zombies. Others though, have a Toughness of two and a Survivor must inflict two hits in one go to destroy them. Stronger Adversaries have both Toughness and Hit Points and will need to be hit multiple times to destroy them.

How does magic work?

Two Survivors can cast spells. One has access to a Fire Bolt scroll, the other to a Fireball scroll. It is not clear whether these are single use only or if they ned to be held to cast from, though the artwork depicts both casting magic without needing to use their scrolls directly. There is no discussion of magic in the Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview.

What do you play?

The world of Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying is one of the Old Kingdom brought low by Necromancers who raised undead hordes from cursed graves and corrupted the lands. Long deserted bar the crunch of zombies staggering, grasping, and searching for prey with bloodshot eyes, the Survivors scavenge what the dead left behind and the zombies impede access to. With no labourers and no farmers, a new threat has arisen—famine, and at the start of ‘Night Hunt’, the scenario included in the Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview, the Survivors are hungry and looking for food. When they come to the rescue of a farmer, she reveals she knows the whereabouts of a cache of food hidden away to avoid paying taxes on it. However, before they can carry it out of the nearby forest, the Survivors must defeat a horde of zombies and a giant-zombie-owl-abomination! It can have up to two attacks per round and is a fearsome opponent.

However, as much as ‘Night Hunt’ is action-orientated, it is short and will completed in an hour. If the Game Master has access to the scenario, Death Out of the Stars, she can possibly combine the two for a longer session.

Is there anything missing?
Yes. The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview does not have any rules for fear which would seem necessary for a horror roleplaying game, and really needed a discussion of magic as it pertains to two of the Survivors.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is easy to grasp and prepare.

Is it worth it?
Maybe. The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview includes everything for a very quick demonstration, but anyone wanting more of an experience beyond combat or a chance to explore the setting will be disappointed. For an hour, the Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is fun, but it is all combat and no world.

The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is published by EDGE Studio.

[Free RPG Day 2026] The Archivist’s Curse

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally 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. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

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?
The Archivist’s Curse is the quick-start for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, the roleplaying game based on Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Scandinavian Folklore as collected and illustrated by Johan Egerkrans, and published by Free League Publishing. It is an investigative horror game set in Scandinavia during the nineteenth century that explores the clash between modernity and folklore.

The Archivist’s Curse is a forty-four page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?
The Archivist’s Curse can be played in roughly a single session or two.

What else do you need to play?
The Archivist’s Curse needs at least six six-sided dice per player and a set of cards numbered from one to ten. These can be taken from an ordinary deck of playing cards.

Who do you play?
The Archivist’s Curse includes five pre-generated Player Characters. The consist of an Occultist, Private Detective, Servant, Academic, and Vampire Hunter, who all five have the ‘Sight’ and can see vaesen.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is defined by his Attributes and Skills; a Motivation, a Trauma, and a Dark Secret; a Talent and a relationship with another Player Character, a memento, and some equipment. The Attributes are Physique, Precision, Logic, and Empathy, and rated between two and five, whilst Skills are rated between one and five. Motivation explains why the Player Character is prepared to hunt down and confront vaesen, whilst Trauma explains why or how the Player Character gained the Sight; and the Dark Secret is something that the Player Character wants to keep. Each Talent is a special ability, such as ‘Medium’, which enables the Player Character to predict other people’s futures and to contact the dead or ‘Elementary’ which lets a player ask the Game Master to explain how certain clues are connected once per session. A Memento is a possession which the Player Character holds dear that by interacting with it, will help him overcome a Condition.

How do the mechanics work?

The Archivist’s Curse and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying uses the Year Zero Engine. When a player wants his character to undertake an action, he rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to a combination of his character’s Attribute and Skill, plus whatever bonus or penalty dice the Game Master awards, such as from the situation or a Talent. To succeed, the player typically needs to roll a single Success or six—though sometimes it may be more—on any of the dice. Extra Successes can be expended to gain various effects. In combat, this will be more damage, but in other situations it will usually mean learning more information.

If a player fails a roll, he can instead choose to Push the roll. This enables the player to reroll the dice which did not result in Successes in the hope of getting some or more Successes. Doing so will inflict a Condition on the Player Character, either Exhausted, Battered, or Wounded for Physical Conditions, or Angry, Frightened, or Hopeless for Mental Conditions. Suffer too many of either Physical or Mental Conditions and the Player Character will be Broken, meaning that he cannot act.

How does combat work?

Initiative in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying uses Initiative Cards, numbered from one to ten, which determines when a Player Character, NPC, or Vaesen acts each round, though it is possible to swap Initiative cards between Player Characters and/or friendly NPCs each Round. In each Round, a Player Character has a Slow action and a Fast action. A Fast action is typically movement or a reaction—such as dodging or parrying—whilst a Slow action will usually be an attack, whether ranged or melee. Each weapon has a base damage, which can be increased with extra successes on an attack roll, whilst some weapons also grant a bonus to attack rolls. Damage from combat is also inflicted in terms of Conditions.

In general, vaesen cannot be killed or destroyed in combat. Investigators in Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying usually confront and fight a vaesen long enough to perform a ritual that will drive it away or destroy it.

How does fear work?

A Fear test is required if a Player Character encounters a vaesen or magic, the number of Successes required determined by the Fear value of the creature, magic, or situation. Although it can be bolstered by the presence of allies, if a Fear test is failed, the Player Character can suffer from one or more metal conditions, but will be Terrified. In which case, the Player Character will either flee, freeze, faint, or frenzy. A Terrified Player Character can attempt a Fear Test on subsequent Rounds to act normally.

What do you play?

The Archivist’s Curse includes the scenario of the same name. It is not a traditional scenario for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying in terms of its set-up. Usually, after the Player Characters have each had an encounter with one of the vaesen, they are individually invited to join The Society, an organisation dedicated to investigating and cataloguing the vaesen and their clashes with mankind. Unfortunately, The Society was dissolved and nobody has been investigating the vaesen for decades. The Player Characters are handed the keys to its decrepit headquarters, Castle Gyllencreutz, in the Swedish city of Uppsala, and directed to begin its activities once again. In ‘The Archivist’s Curse’ all five Player characters have reasons to visit the National Archives on Knights’ Isle in central Stockholm in Sweden. The set-up also requires that two Player Characters appear first in the scenario, one after the other.

The scenario is entirely location bound in the four-storey building of The National Archives. It combines a haunting and a family tragedy which are revealed over the course of the Player Characters’ investigation and exploration of The National Archives—the Esoteric and Egyptology Sections in particular. There are plenty of handouts, a superb map of The National Archives, and a countdown of weird and spooky events which will drive the story to its climax. Overall, it is a very well done investigation.

However, ‘The Archivist’s Curse’ is set up to tell the story of one particular Player Character, whilst another Player Character has been hired to investigate the other. This calls for careful roleplaying upon the part of the two players assigned those characters. The scenario also does not involve traditional vaesen and players expecting a Nordic threat may be disappointed. The scenario also works best with all five Player Characters.

‘The Archivist’s Curse’ can be played as a one-off scenario, but it could also be used as a prequel, especially if the players decide to keep the same characters from the scenario. This can be as a prequel to both the Vaesen – Starter Set and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying itself, the former providing a short, but effective introduction to Castle Gyllencreutz and the activities of The Society. Another option is as a prequel to Vaesen: City of my Nightmares, an urban-based campaign set in and around Stockholm which involves a scenario in The National Archives.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Archivist’s Curse has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Archivist’s Curse uses a familiar set of rules in the Year Zero Engine and their explanation is very clear and includes several examples of play.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Archivist’s Curse is well-appointed with great artwork, good handouts, and a superb set of floorplans of The National Archives. The scenario is excellent and a very good introduction to Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying.

The Archivist’s Curse is published by Free League Publishing, and is available to download here (coming soon).

Quick-Start Saturday: Time Without Tide

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?
Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is the quick-start for Time Without Tide : Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog, a post-apocalyptic steampunk horror roleplaying game set during the Time Without Tide following the Victorian Age of Decadence during which the moon fell from the sky, vaporising as it hit the ground, splintering cities, shrouding the ruins in Lunar Dust, and unleashing the Unknown, an unforgiving horizonless fog that mutates anything unprotected by bright light.

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is a sixty-two e page, 22.91 MB full colour PDF.

It is well produced with excellent artwork. The maps also very good.

How long will it take to play?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes the scenario ‘Lonely Phareflaw’. It can be played in a single session.

What else do you need to play?
The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog needs several six-sided dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes six pre-generated Player Characters. Six are given and are members of the Dowsing Odd relay crew. They include a steadfast protector who wields a Greatlight, a heavy, double-handed lantern to burn protect the fog and protect her allies; a charming socialite who is a radical freethinker and a good shot; a sturdy mechanic who wields a pickaxe to smash monsters; an orphan with a lot of luck; a noble turned reluctant assassin with amphibian traits; and a reanimated corpse turned doctor.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in the Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is defined by his name and pre-delving resumé, Traits, Skills, Health, and Records. Each Trait—Body, Mind, and Will—has a score value and a health value, which range which one and five. The six skills—Culture, Industry, Navigation, Skulduggery, Survival, and Violence—are rated between zero and five. Records are what makes a Delver special. They consist of Items, Features, and Adaptations. Items are equipment that a Delver takes with him and things he found. (Notably, it is assumed that a Delver is competent enough to replenish supplies and so basic supplies do not need to be tracked.) Features are specialities and skill focuses that make each Delver stand out. Adaptations reflect exposure to the Unknown, evolving the infecting with malign detrimental powers or beneficial mutations. All Records take up slots. For Items, they take up Body slots; Features take up Mind slots; and Adaptations take up Will slots. Records can be depleted and typically require a safe or three-day rest to restore.

How do the mechanics work?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog uses a dice pool of six-sided dice. The dice pool is equal to the value of a Trait and a Skill. This can be any pair suitable for the situation. Each roll of a five or six is a counted as a success or Mark. A standard difficulty requires a player to roll two or more Marks, but the difficulty can range from one and easy to five and very hard. An ally can spend a whole action to assist and add half his dice to the pool and if the roll is a failure, a Delver can strain, suffer damage to the Mind, and reroll any dice. Any Marks in excess of the difficulty become Boons. These can be spent on extra effects. This is generally to halve the time of a task or to improve its quality, but this is not covered in any depth in the Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog, although they are used for combat.

How does combat work?

Combat in The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog uses a combination of the Violence Skill and Body Trait to hit things, the Violence Skill and Mind Trait to shoot things, and the Violence Skill and Will Trait to scare things. Initiative is a simple roll of a six-sided die and a Delver can take one major and one minor action. The action is fought across zones, each of which has room for four combatants.  The Unknown floods the battlefield and not only deplete Will, but make things harder to hit. The only way to counter this is to cast the light from a Lantern, which will hold back the Unknown, protecting the Delver and perhaps his allies. Exposure to the Unknown can lead to a loss of Will.

Combat includes a number of a number of Boon options for surplus Marks. For example, if a Delver is wielding two weapons, he can use a Boon to trigger Flurry and make an extra attack or increase the effect of a Invigoration on another ally Boon by Boon.

Most damage amounts to either one or two points depending upon the weapon and benefits gained from Boons. Damage represents an injury rather than a scrape or bruise. If the Health of any Trait is reduced to zero, the Delver is on the verge of dying. A simple recovery test will restore the Delver to one Health, but if failed, the Health of the Delver is still restored, but suffers a malignant Adaptation (for example, he becomes an ‘Overthinker’, his brain swelling painfully against the inside of his skull, meaning that it is harder for him to Strain), is closer to death, and everything is harder to do.

How does travel work?

Travel is a major part of play in The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog as the Delvers leave their Safe Harbours and explore the World of Fog to preserve the fading light. The day is eighteen hours long and divided into three segments. Each segment spent travelling requires the assignment of the Ward or effect of a lantern, rolling to overcome any obstacles that the Game Master places in their path, and dealing with random events—two dice are rolled and for each six, a random event happens. Yes, this means that two can occur in the same Segment. During any Segment spent in camp resting, a Delver can also take a major one-hour action and any number of immediate actions. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog only provides a basic introduction to travel.

When travelling on an expedition, the Delver will carry a Relay, a ‘Decadent Device’, that is, a relic from the Age of Decadence, which are calibrated beacons. Using the Relay, a Delver party can teleport to any beacon they have calibrated their Relay to, typically using it to return home after an expedition.

What do you play?

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes the scenario ‘Lonely Phareflaw’. The scenario involves an expedition to the Phareflaw Lighthouse, which went dark during Deep Winter. The Delvers are hired by the Saltport council to restore Phareflaw’s light travelling aboard the Riverboat Drastic which will be used to construct a Tenderhold, a fortified settlement around the lighthouse. The scenario begins with the Delvers’ arrival on the beach below the lighthouse and once ashore they will need to make their way up the cliffs to the lighthouse. The latter is indeed dark and the Delvers will need to break in and in exploring, restore its light. ‘Lonely Phareflaw’ is a solid, action-orientated scenario that in a very, very slight way feels like a Dickensian version of Aliens.

In addition to the scenario, The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog includes an introduction to the Delvers’ home port of Saltport, the Last City. It is accompanied by a fetching map. As well as including the pre-generated Delvers, the appendix includes a good introduction to the setting and the roleplaying game for the benefit of the players.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. Although The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog does feel slightly out of order in places, it is relatively straightforward and not too challenging to prepare.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is a well done, solidly engaging introduction to the basics of The Time Without Tide: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog. Anyone looking for a post-apocalyptic, Dickensian steampunk horror roleplaying game should definitely give this a try.

The Time Without Tide Quickstart: Mirth & Misery in the World Of Fog is published by Chaosium, Inc., and is available to download here.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally 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. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

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?
The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules is the quick-start for Wizard Riders, the post apocalypse roleplaying game of (mostly drunk) wizard bikers riding maguscycles they are bonded to across the world in the very far future of Orth under a red sun.

The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules is a thirty-nine page, 10.28 MB full colour PDF.

How long will it take to play?
The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules includes the scenario ‘The Vanishing of Dotshire’. It can be played in roughly a single session.

What else do you need to play?
The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules needs a standard set of polyhedral dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules includes six pre-generated Player Characters or Wizard-Bikers. They include a lucky Wizard-Biker, a Natural Wizzer Wizard-Biker, a Wizard-Biker who likes to plan, a perceptive Wizard-Biker, an ace maguscycle-riding Wizard-Biker, and a threateningly ambidextrous Wizard-Biker.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Wizard-Biker in the Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules is defined by his name, and then six attributes, which are Brawn, Twitch, Daring, Brains, Presence, and Fortune. Of the six, Twitch is a Wizard-Biker’s dexterity and agility, whilst Fortune is his Luck and points that can be spent to activate special powers. Each attribute also has one or more associated skills. Each attribute and skill has is represented by a single die type, typically ranging from a ‘d4’ to a ‘d12’. An attribute or a skill can be marked as having an ‘Upgrade’, for example, ‘D8+Upgrade’. This means that a die in the Feat Pool for any action involving that attribute or skill can be upgraded to a larger size. A Wizard-Biker has a Gift, an advantage which grants him a bonus under certain circumstances. For example, ‘Juryrigger’ allows a die to be re-rolled for a Repair Feat whilst ‘Ambidextrous’ lets a Wizard-Biker make attacks with both hands in one round and only suffer a single Downgrade to each attack. This also includes ‘Wizzer Power’, which can be taken multiple times, each time granting the Wizard-Biker a spell-like power.

How do the mechanics work?

The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules uses what it calls the ‘Dice Core’ system. When a Wizard-Biker wants to attempt an action, it is called a ‘Feat’. His player assembles a ‘Feat Pool’ of three dice consisting of a Skill Die, an Attribute die, and a Feat Die. For Standard Feats, such as breaking down a door or punching someone, the Feat Die is a ‘D8’, but is a ‘D6’ for Complex Feats liked a called shot or attempting trauma care. The player then applies any Upgrades or Downgrades to any of the dice in the ‘Feat Pool’. Upgrades can come from the skill or attribute, or from the situation, as can Downgrades. The dice are rolled and totalled, the aim being equal to or beat a Difficulty Rating, which can range in value from four or ‘Rookie Rider’ to twenty-two or ‘Ace Rider’, with thirteen or ‘Standard’ being the median Difficulty Rating. If the result is exceeded by three or more, a Critical Success has been achieved and for every three-point threshold on the roll after that, a further Critical Success is achieved. A roll of three on the Feat Pool’ indicates a Critical Failure.

A Wizard-Biker also has Plot Points. In the Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules, these can be spent to perform a ‘Counterstrike’, ‘Defy Physics’ when the Wizard-Biker is riding his maguscycle, ‘Doubletime’ to move extra fast in combat, ‘Interfere’ in the actions of an NPC or other Wizard-Biker, or trigger ‘Natural Healing’.

How does combat work?

Initiative is determined by a simple roll, but after the first round, a player can spend points of his Wizard-Biker’s Daring attribute and then roll a die to change his Initiative value. The more points spent, the larger the die size can be rolled. This will come at a loss of Focus, especially on a given target. Attacks are opposed rolls between a ‘Feat Pool’ of a Weapon Skill, Attribute Die, and Feat Die for the attacker and a ‘Feat Pool’ of the Armour plus the Twitch and Daring attributes. Weapons inflict a base value in terms of damage, but this increases the more Critical Successes a player rolls. Three Critical Successes will also damage the defender’s armour, inflicting a Downgrade to future Defence rolls.

Damage can come from an attack in combat, suffering too much Fatigue, and so on. Wounds are recorded on a Wound Track with each Wound suffered applying a Downgrade to skills and attributes, and ultimately Feats, before the Wizard-Biker is knocked out or killed.

How does magic work?

A Wizard-Biker has a number of Special Powers which can be freely cast. They include Aether Lance, which gives him a lighter-than-air lance he can wield whilst riding his maguscycle; Deadeye’ grants a random number of Upgrades to apply to ranged attacks; Fireball does exactly what you expect; Ghost Hand gives a Wizard-Biker an extra hand to control at range; and Special Powers such as Smoke Cloud and Oil Slick give effects that can be used on the road. Every Special Ability has five Power Levels, so a Wizard-Biker can improve and specialise. In addition to extra effects, increasing the Power Level of a Special Power also increases the size of the Feat Die that a player adds to the ‘Feat Pool’ he rolls for the Special Power. Some twenty-one Special Abilities are detailed and all six sample Wizard-Bikers have three or four Special Abilities.

Do Wizard-Bikers Get Bikes?

Yes. A Wizard-Biker in Wizard Riders has a maguscycle. It has stats for Handling, Build, and Zoom. These are when a Wizard-Biker wants to do something extra with his maguscycle than simply go at top speed. A basic Riding Feat roll is done in two stages. First, a Riding Feat roll to gain Upgrades, and second, the Vehicle Feat roll to do the desired action, modified by the Upgrades previously generated. The rules for chases are supported by a good example of play and they also cover vehicle damage and passenger damage. All of this requires a Bond between the Wizard-Biker and his maguscycle, the process of which is also detailed. This Bond has multiple levels and each level grants a bonus to the bonded rider.

What do you play?

The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start Rules includes the scenario ‘The Vanishing of Dotshire’. The Wizard-Bikers’ club is running low on supplies. The beer is flat, the snacks stale, and the power coils for the members’ maguscycles are running seriously low. When they ride to the village of Dotshire in search of new supplies, they discover it swirled with fog. The Wizard-Bikers must ride into the fog to reach the village and find out what is happening and what caused it. It is a short, single-session scenario.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario.

Is it easy to prepare?
No. The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start is a different ruleset and will be unfamiliar to most players, so it requires a higher degree of teaching. Also, the Game Master will need to copy out all of the Player Character Wizard-Bikers onto character sheets.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start feels a bit underdeveloped in places, but it is a solid introduction to the rules and world of Wizard-Riders. Its combination of setting, Player Character type, and themes manages to be both silly and surprising given the usual gaming content that the publisher releases, but all the more fun for that.

The Wizard Riders: Quick-Start is published by Catalyst Game Labs, and is available to download here.

[Free RPG Day 2026] Age of Vikings Quickstart

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally 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. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

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?
Age of Vikings Quickstart: Further Adventures in a Land of Sagas and Mystery is the quick-start for Age of Vikings: The Roleplaying Game, the low fantasy, deeply historical game published by Chaosium, Inc. and designed to help tell stories of home, hearth, and honour, myth and magic, and bring new sagas to life.

The Age of Vikings Quickstart is a thirty-nine page, 8.38 MB full colour PDF.

How long will it take to play?
The Age of Vikings Quickstart includes the scenario ‘Belly of the Beast’. It can be played in roughly two hours.

What else do you need to play?
The Age of Vikings Quickstart needs a standard set of polyhedral dice.

Who do you play?
The Age of Vikings Quickstart includes four pre-generated Player Characters. They include two warriors, an archer, and a skaldic poet.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in the Age of Vikings Quickstart is defined by his name, his Passions and Devotion to a single god, characteristics and skills, and personality. A Player Character’s Passions represent his values and emotional desires, and in play, they can drive him to act (and mechanically grant a bonus) and bring him into conflict with others. He starts with three: Honour, Loyalty (goði), and Love (Family). The seven characteristics are Strength, Constitution, Size, Dexterity, Intelligence, Power, and Charisma. These are rated between three and eighteen, although the minimum value for Size and Intelligence is eight. Skills include combat skills and standard skills. A Player Character’s Devotion is made to the gods that he most values and can draw upon for inspiration, represented by points of Dedication that grant him a bonus when acting according to their ideals and then spent. For example, the ideals for Baldur are light, happiness, and peace, whilst those for Óðinn are magic, war, and wisdom.

The Player Characters in the Age of Vikings Quickstart are stripped down versions in comparison to those that can be created using the full rules in Age of Vikings: The Roleplaying Game. What is not included are the Spirit Animal, Family details, and extra Devotions that such Player Characters will have. Full versions of the demonstration Player Characters are available, but not all of the rules in Age of Vikings are used in the Age of Vikings Quickstart. An experienced Game Master for Age of Vikings could easily run the scenario in the Age of Vikings Quickstart using standard Player Characters, whether the demonstration versions or ones created by the players.

How do the mechanics work?

The Age of Vikings Quickstart uses the Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine as its mechanics and is thus a percentile system. Rolls equal to, or lower than the value of the characteristic roll or the skill, and a character succeeds. A characteristic roll is typically a characteristic multiplied by three, but can be higher or lower depending on difficulty. Any result of ninety-six and above is always a failure and can be a fumble, whilst a roll of one twentieth a Critical success (the full rules also also for a Special success).

Rolls can be augmented with another skill or Passion. A successful augmentation roll will apply a bonus, which will be better with a Critical success. A failed augmentation levies a penalty whilst a Critical failure results in the temporary despair of the Player Character. Devotion points can be spent to gain a bonus and Player Character can also call upon his Wyrd to change his fate. This turns a failed roll into a successful roll, but at the permanent cost of a point of Power. Do this too often and a Player Character’s Wyrd or fate has played out.

How does combat work?
The combat rules in the Age of Vikings Quickstart and Age of Vikings are skill-based. Order of action is based on Dexterity, and during a round, a combatant can move, act or attack, and defend. Attacks can be dodged or parried and armour deducts damage, as does a shield, but only a few points in each location. Damage is done by location, but if the Hit Points in a particular location are reduced to zero, a limb becomes useless, the combatant is left bleeding to death, or knocked unconscious and dying. Damage done to locations is also applied to general Hit Points and reducing those will knock a combatant unconscious. First aid is available, but natural healing takes weeks. (Age of Vikings includes rules for healing magic.)

How does magic work?

The Age of Vikings Quickstart does not include rules for magic. Age of Vikings: The Roleplaying Game details two types of magic. These are Rune magic, which uses the Elder Fúþark and can be cast relatively quickly, and Seiður magic, which requires ritual casting and takes much longer to cast.

What do you play?

The Age of Vikings Quickstart includes the scenario ‘Belly of the Beast’. It beings in media res with the Player Characters waking up to find themselves in a strange tunnel after their boat encountered the kraken! They must extract their boat before it gets crushed and attempt to climb up out of the temple. Fortunately, the Player Characters are not alone in the tunnels and can find allies who will help them as they try and find their way out. They will also encounter monsters. The fight is clearly staged with advice and instructions for the Game Master on when the Player Characters act, what they might do, and how the monsters work. The final scene is treated in the same way.

‘Belly of the Beast’ is short and linear, but it clearly teaches the rules and advises the Game Master on how to handle and stage its encounters. There is some limited opportunity for roleplaying, but the main focus of the scenario is on action and combat. As its title suggests, the action of the scenario takes place within the belly of the Kraken from which the Player Characters must escape. It is a great set-up and the tale of escaping from it is worthy of a saga.

Is there anything missing?
No. The Age of Vikings Quickstart has everything that a Game Master needs to run the included scenario.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Age of Vikings Quickstart is direct and to the point and the advice makes the rules easy to understand and the various scenes easy to run.

Is it worth it?
Yes. The Age of Vikings Quickstart is a well done, solid introduction to the basics of Age of Vikings: The Roleplaying Game. It clearly explains both rules and the action of the scenario.

The Age of Vikings Quickstart is published by Chaosium, Inc., and is available to download here.