If you ain't got that...

An alternative title to Agents of S.W.I.N.G. from Postmortem Studios might be The Avengers RPG – and by that we do not mean the American comic series, but rather the iconic British television series, The Avengers, in which the umbrella swinging, bowler hatted John Steed investigated an array of Cold War, criminal, science fictional, and supernatural threats with a pretty and capable assistant by his side. Similarly, an alternative title to Agents of S.W.I.N.G. from Postmortem Studios might be the I.TC. TV RPG. For those of you not in the know, I.T.C. was a British television company headed by Lew Grade that during the 1960s and 1970s produced some of the United Kingdom’s most iconic television series and sold them worldwide. The Saint, Danger Man, The Prisoner, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Department S, The Persuaders! , The Champions, and Jason King to name but a few. What these series had in common, including The Avengers, was their genre and the fact that they were “Cool.” Their genre was that of the “Adventure Series” or “Spy-Fi” and their Coolness was borne not just of the fact that they were good shows, but also that they were British and the 1960s, Britishness was cool and London was swinging…!

In Agents of S.W.I.N.G., you get to be cool, suave, and sophisticated, working as an agent for S.W.I.N.G. – “Supreme World Intelligence Network Group,” an international espionage and counter-espionage organisation that deals with threats to world peace and security above, beyond, and below the global obsession with the West versus East of the Cold War. Just like The Avengers, the agents will be investigating an array of threats and mysteries, but Agents of S.W.I.N.G. has the capacity to push further at the envelope of its genres in a number of ways. First, it draws upon the equally as cool action films of the period, most notably the James Bond films, thus moving more towards the “Spy Fi” genre. Second, it follows both the Adventure Series and I.T.C.’s output out of the 1960s and into the grimmer, more cynical decade of the 1970s, best typified by series such as The Sweeney and The Professionals, so shifting towards the crime genre. Third, it can shift towards the supernatural and the outré with series such as Doctor Who and Sapphire & Steel, neither of are necessarily produced or distributed by, but are nevertheless both Adventure Series and thus not only part of the genre, but also cool. Fourth, it can do the Science Fiction Adventure Serial such as Thunderbirds or Joe 90.

If this seems like a lot of genres for Agents of S.W.I.N.G. to encompass, it probably is, but its actual genre is not many but one – the Adventure Series – and that genre can include elements of many other genres. It is up to the game’s GM or Control to decide how far he wants to go with any one genre with his Agents of S.W.I.N.G. game.

For its mechanics, Agents of S.W.I.N.G. uses the FATE 3 engine. First seen in Evil Hat Production’s superb pulp action RPG, Spirit of the Century, the Fate system is a Fudge variant, one in which Fate Points play a major role. Just as in many other RPGs they can be spent to gain a bonus to a roll, but here they have a greater versatility. Like many “Indie” style games, a player can spend them to create and bring small elements into the game, what is known as “dramatic editing,” but under the Fate system, Fate Points can do a whole lot more. They can be spent to invoke a character Aspect and bring it into play, to tag another character or location related Aspect to bring it into play, to power a Stunt, or to make a Declaration, adding some small element to the story. The Fate system also ditches traditional attributes, instead defining characters by Skills, Aspects, and Stunts. It plays fast and easy – the player rolls two six-sided dice, each of a different colour, and deducts one from the other to a number from +5 down to -5. This number is added to any bonuses derived from Skills, Aspects, or Stunts to try and beat a target number, or to roll higher than an opponent in a contested roll. In a contested roll, the amount by which one side beats the other determines the amount of damage or Stress inflicted, whether Physical, Composure (mental), or Social Stress.

Sometimes though, a player will need a third die – a “SWING die.” Whenever a player rolls well, he earns one of these dice and gets to keep it in front of him. Later on in the game, the player can choose to use his “Swing die” to substitute the negative or the positive die in order to get a better result.

For example, the S.W.I.N.G. agents want to get a pass from an enemy agent, Gustav Zimmerman, which would give them access to a high security laboratory. They have followed Zimmerman to a masque ball where Claudia Romanov will engage the agent on the dance floor and attempt to distract him whilst slipping the pass out of his pocket. Control decides that this will be an opposed roll against Zimmerman’s Mental rating of +2. Claudia’s player decides to use her skill of +3 (Solid) Sleight of Hand and spends a Fate point to trigger Bump and Grind Aspect. Control agrees and allows her a +2 bonus to her roll. Control rolls +3 and -6 to get a total modifier of -3, which reduces Zimmerman’s +2 Mental down to -1 Bent. This gives an excellent target for Claudia to beat and her player’s roll of +6 and -3 gives a modifier of +3, which when added to her current Sleight of Hand skill gives a total result of +8 or Atsonishing. Since this is 3 higher than the target, Control awards Claudia a Swing Die to use later. Control also rules that Zimmerman was so oblivious that he will be delayed getting to the laboratory himself whilst he looks for it!

Characters are defined by their Skills, Stunts, and Aspects. Skills are areas in which a character is trained in, his knowledge and expertise; his Stunts are related to his Skills and grant a character small bonuses or permissions within the game; while Aspects define the character in some way, such as “You won’t break me” or “Champagne Charlie” and are the more interactive elements within the game. Sample skills might be +1 (Cool) Guns or +4 (Neat) Science, while possible typical stunts include abilities like Architect of Death and Hide in Plain Sight or possessions such as Custom Ride gives you a favoured vehicle that you have added a gadget to (tied to the Drive skill). Most Stunts do not require the expenditure of Fate Points, but those that do are slightly more powerful. A Fate Point can be spent to Invoke one of a character’s Aspects and so gain a bonus, but if Compelled by Control and brought into play, so developing complications and driving the story along, then the character earns a Fate Point. Lastly, Aspects belonging to another character, or to an object, place, or a scene can be Tagged by another character, again by paying out Fate Points. When choosing Aspects for a character, the designer’s advice is that they should never be boring and it should always be possible to view an Aspect in both a positive and a negative light. Otherwise, a character cannot participate in the game’s Fate Point economy – bring negative Aspects into the game and letting it act as a story hook, gets a character more Fate Points to spend in his favour.

At its most basic, character creation is simply a matter of choosing Skills, Stunts, and Aspects. A quick method of creating characters is provided, but of course, the game wants a little more than that from its players, asking them to create a simple background and tying Aspects to their character’s Section (the department that they work for in S.W.I.N.G.), past, and cover identity before being given a free choice of another five. A player has twenty points to assign to Skills, these ranging from +1 (Cool) and +2 (Hip) up to +7 (Far Out) and +8 (Out of Sight); four Stunts to choose; and lastly some equipment to take. It should be made clear that although Agents of S.W.I.N.G. gives detailed lists of Skills and Stunts, players are expected to create their Aspects, tying them into their agents’ concepts.

The first of our two sample characters is based on a character that I originally played in a friend’s James Bond 007 RPG campaign. She is of an impoverished White Russian noble family, who followed her father into his elicit trade of theft and burglary, stealing from the rich to support the family. She worked the high society scene around the world before being caught by a S.W.I.N.G. agent into whose room she had broken. Now she commits burglary as a S.W.I.N.G. agent herself.

Name: Claudia Romanov
Concept: Reformed Jewel Thief
Section: Section 10 – Acquisition
Cover: High Flying Photographer

Section: “In and Out Without a Trace”
Past: Nobility in Reduced Circumstances
Cover: “My camera gets me in everywhere…”
Aspects: “Looks can be deceiving…”, Takes a thief to catch a thief, Like good Russian vodka, Always dressed the part, “I did complete finishing school”
Skills: +5 (Groovy) Burglary; +3 (Solid) Sleight of Hand, Stealth; +2 (Hip) Academics (French, Russian), Photography, Social Standing; +1 (Cool) Contacts, Deceit, Fists
Stunts: Acrobatics, Bump and Grind, Network of Contacts, Unruffled

Stress
Physical Stress OOOOO Composure OOOOO Social OOOOOOO

Our second example character is based upon a friend of mine who happens to be a fan of the Adventure Series genre and uses elements of characters that he has played in the past. Doctor Exton was kidnapped whilst working in Nepal and when he returned, found that he had developed strange abilities. These were detected by other members of Section 8 who recruited him into S.W.I.N.G.

Name: Doctor Simon Exton
Concept: Psychic Doctor
Section: Section 8 – Uncanny Affairs
Cover: Consultant Toxicologist

Section: “I know your body, I know your mind”
Past: It was a strange holiday
Cover: Let me through, I’m a Doctor!
Aspects: “My, that does look painful”, It’s just a scratch, Sardonic Wit, I have just the thing for that in my bag, I sense that there is more to this
Skills: +6 (Fab) Science; +4 (Neat) Academics; +3 (Solid) Fists; +2 (Hip) Empathy, Intimidation; +1 (Cool) Contacts, Mysteries, Resolve
Stunts: Cold Read, Developed Immunities, Psychic Telepathy, Sixth Sense

Stress
Physical Stress OOOOO Composure OOOOOO Social OOOOO

The setting and genre is supported with rules for equipment and gadgets, organisations, a year by year breakdown of events of the setting’s timeframe – the 1960s and 1970s, along with some notes on Superscience! and the Supernatural. If Control wants to push his game in either of those latter two directions, he might find the guidance somewhat light. Then again, both usually figure as elements within the Adventure Series genre rather than serve as its mainstay or focus. Further, the primary genre for Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is “Spy-Fi.”

Advice for Control on running Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is well done, but essentially boils down to keep the game light, keep it moving, and take your cues from the players and their agents. Agents of S.W.I.N.G. do not come with a scenario as such. Instead it includes a detailed outline that can be used as scenario, all but ready to play.

Perhaps where its Adventure Series genre is best displayed in Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is in its chapter of SWINGers. Or rather, its chapter of some thirty or so S.W.I.N.G. agents, each of them drawn from the various television series that are the inspiration for the RPG. If you know your I.T.C. and other series, then there will be certain pleasure in recognising who Cobalt and Iron, John Chain, Agent Crimson Saul Metford, Andrew Bowie and Richard Foyle, Jackson Queen, and John Swan are, and which television series that they come from. That said, there is no explicitly given use for these characters, whether as sample player agents or NPCs. The given sample “Villainous Schemers,” which include a Chinese criminal organisation, an extremist Left wing revolutionary movement, and a American neo-Nazi movement, are of more immediate and useful use, providing something iniquitous for the player agents to investigate and interdict.

Physically, Agents of S.W.I.N.G. comes as a three-hundred-and-fifty-six page black and white digest sized book. The layout is done as if from a series of report files, illustrated with silhouettes of ladies in various action poses, sometimes armed, sometimes not, but either way, reminiscent of the opening film credits of the James Bond series. The only other artwork in the book is the illustrations of the sample characters. Unfortunately, whilst Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is readable, both layout of the book and its editing are at best wanting. Some of the book could have been better organised, and whilst the choice of fount, Courier New, is perfectly in keeping with the book’s genre, its size is too large, often leading to ragged paragraphs because the column width is too short. As to the editing, the book just needed another polish, preferably from another pair of eyes than those of the author’s.

There is one last issue with Agents of S.W.I.N.G. and that is Mike Myers. Much like a game of Pendragon threatens to tip into absurdity a la the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a game of Agents of S.W.I.N.G. can easily lurch into a parody of its genre, the Austin Powers trilogy of films. Given the title of the RPG, there is certain inevitability to this, but it is certainly within the purview of both the players and Control to rein any such tendencies to “schwing” that way in their Agents of S.W.I.N.G..

Being a “Spy-Fi” or Adventure Series RPG, Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is anything other than a serious treatment of the espionage genre. Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is not Ron Edwards’ SPIONE: STORY NOW in Cold War Berlin or even Crafty Games’ SpyCraft, but is rather a light, almost coy take upon the espionage genre, whilst also serving as a toolkit to do other light, almost fantastical genres. So for example, whilst Agents of S.W.I.N.G. will do The Avengers or even The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with a wink, a tip of the bowler hat, and even a cocked eyebrow, with a little effort upon the part of Control, it would also do Thunderbirds, U.F.O. , or even The Six Million Dollar Man. Overall, despite lacking something of the flair its genre calls for in terms of its production value Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is a pleasingly light version of the FATE engine that demands just enough from the players to do its genre justice.

An Elizabethan Whirl's Companion

The classics are not always perfect, and so it is with Maelstrom, the Tudor set RPG published in the United Kingdom by Puffin Books back in 1984. There is much to love about the game, including its period attention to detail, its simplicity, and its two scenarios, one for solo play and the other to be run by the GM. Unfortunately the RPG was lacking in terms of certain rules, for example, those for firearms and for two-weapon fighting, and background and setting detail. None of these issues were addressed when Arion Games released a new edition of the game, but fortunately now they have with the game’s very first supplement, The Maelstrom Companion.

The Maelstrom Companion comes as a slim, oversized paperback that contains an array of additions to the game and setting. In terms of rules, the most obvious and simple additions are the new rules for firearms and two-weapon fighting, which are both so simple and easy that the reader is left wondering why anyone had to wait for so long to get them. The obvious answer is that the original RPG had been out of print for over two decades before The Maelstrom Companion was even considered… That said, none of the firearms are named, being merely listed as having differing Attack Skill modifiers, damage ratings, ranges, and so on according to their size, whether a pistol or a musket. This was an omission when it came to weapons in the Maelstrom RPG, and it is one that is continued here.

One of the best aspects of Maelstrom is its Livings, the equivalent of its Classes in other RPGs. From Architects, Doctors, and Scriveners to Beggars, Blacksmiths, and Traders via Mages, Mercenaries, Priests, and Rogues, each of the game’s numerous Livings was presented in plenty of detail. The Maelstrom Companion adds several new Livings, including the Agent, who serves a political patron and works a network of contacts and informants in his master’s service; Alchemists, capable researching certain recipes, such as that for Aqua Vitae, Blackpowder, and Fireproof Cloth; Barber-Surgeons, capable of treating wounds – unlike Physicians!; law enforcement in the form of Beadles, Constables, and Watchmen; Farmers, who can raise crops and stock, handle and treat animals, and tell the weather; Friars, who are monks that actively spend time amongst the laity, often relying upon them for charity; Hunters, excellent shots and trappers who use their stealth as either game keeper or poacher; Sailors, who not only know how to sail and swim, but climb too; the Tavern Keeper, who in the course maintaining his establishment, gains a nose for food and drink as well as for trouble; and the Witch, who understands herbalism and medicines, but also knows curses.

Many of these are supported with new rules and expanded rules. For example, the Alchemist is supported with rules for Alchemy along with numerous recipes. Likewise, the Witch’s new rules for Witchcraft detail the nature of the Contracts that a practitioner enters with certain intelligences from the Maelstrom, be they “Demons” or “Devils” or not; her healing skills, or rather her “country wisdom;” her ability to make Curses and Charms; and her loyal Familiar. A Witch who pursues a knowledge of Herbalism cannot make Contracts or Curses and vice versa. The expanded rules cover magic, allowing a Mage to specialise as an Astrologer, an Elementalist, or a Skryer (a Mage that specialises in contacting and speaking to spirits and more). They expand and divide healing between the three Livings that become available with the advent of The Maelstrom Companion. Wounds are bandaged, internal bleeding is staunched, limbs splinted, and teeth pulled by a Barber-Surgeon, whereas the superior – in attitude, at least – Physician do not, and instead primarily treats diseases and infections. Overlapping between the skills of both is the Herbalist, who can treat minor wounds and diseases. Similarly, the Weaponsmith Living can now be a Gunsmith rather than a Bladesmith, and thus specialise in the manufacture of the firearms whose rules appear elsewhere in the book. Lastly, the Labourer Living is actually given a full benefit in that he can work for a full day and gain bed and board if not wages. Character generation overall is supported with a list of period Christian names, along with a table of distinguishing features, such as Alcoholic, Disconcerting Gaze, and Tall, that can be used to individualise a character.

Much of the contents of The Maelstrom Companion is for GM and player alike, but the GM is not ignored. He receives a supernatural bestiary, covering an array of unnatural creatures from Black Dogs to Robin Goodfellow; a short, if pertinent history that details the Tudor church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries – useful in particular if the setting provided in The Maelstrom Companion is used; and some actual campaign advice. This explores various campaign styles possible in the Tudor period – political, military, trade, business, criminal, and so on. Some of the descriptions of these styles are longer than others, but they are at least ideas and they are accompanied by sample campaign ideas. The reader though, will be left wanting more, and perhaps they could be expanded upon in future supplements.

Where Maelstrom provided information on the places along the road between St. Albans and London, The Maelstrom Companion gives a whole setting to explore and interact with. This is the Suffolk market town of Bury St. Edmunds in the year 1540 during the reign of Henry VIII. Once the county seat, the life of the town revolved around its powerful abbey, but with the break from Rome, the King’s establishment of the Church of England, and the dissolution of the monasteries, Bury St. Edmunds has lost much of its status. Into this power vacuum have moved various nobles, merchants, and guilds, each vying for influence and prestige, and each perhaps looking for a few good men (and women) who might be able to work behind the scenes to further their employer’s ends. The environs and personalities of the town are described in some detail, that latter organised by Living, and a timeline of events are given for the whole of 1540. Some adventure hooks are also given, though no scenario is included. It would be pleasing to see this further supported with actual scenarios set in the town. The Maelstrom Companion is rounded out with various useful game references, such as the Master Living list and quick guides to running both Basic and Advanced Combat.

Physically, once you get past the front cover, The Maelstrom Companion is disappointing. The layout is unsophisticated, even pedestrian. Where much of the artwork in the Maelstrom core rules conveyed much of the game’s feel, here it is murky and disappointing. For the most part, the book is decently written, but it does need another edit in places. It could also do with a reorganisation, so that the sections for the GM are clearly kept separated from those that the players can read.

The production values are this supplement’s Achilles Heel. They give the book a disparate and unfocused feel, which whilst unfair is not wholly unwarranted. For the most part, the new material is decent, especially that which builds upon the game’s primary highlight – its detailed Livings, whether that be the additional rules or the expanded ones. The supplement though points to the need for further development, whether that is in the form of expanded advice for the GM or scenarios, including those that could be set in Bury St. Edmund. Ultimately, whilst there is a goodly amount of useful and interesting information in The Maelstrom Companion, both the information presented and the book itself is let very much let down by its underwhelming production values.

A Family by Gaslight

There is a pleasing, if personal note to the start of The Havering Adventures, a trilogy of adventures for Cubicle Seven Entertainment’s RPG of manners, magic, and fantasy in the early Gaslight era, Victoriana. Editor and author, Andrew Peregrine, explains how one of the encounters in the first adventure became the combat example in the core book in what was his very first run through of that scenario. That run through was also my first play of the game’s second edition and it was my character, frustrated at the rest of the players’ indecision that initiated that combat encounter. So it was interesting to note these coincidences in returning to the first of these adventures after a decade.

Originally written for convention play to showcase the setting, the three scenarios in The Havering Adventures have been expanded to give more detail and more support for the GM, as well as adding background material for the game in general. The trilogy concerns the doings of an infamous branch of the upper middle class Havering family, best known for its shipping interests. The branch is headed by Nathaniel, an inveterate gambler, and his decidedly improper wife, the beautiful and decadent Eldren, Susanna. Accompanying them is Nathanial younger brother, Jonathan, who is a police detective at Scotland Yard, and his wife, Selina, a woman of improper origins; plus the family servants. These are the Dwarf, Patterson, Nathanial’s loyal manservant who knows how to apply his fists, and sometimes a boot to almost any situation, and Tobin, Gnome wizardly academic who is attempting to teach Nathanial the art of sorcery.

Full write-ups are given for each of these six, and although the three scenarios are written with the sextet in mind, they can be run with the characters of the players’ own creation with relatively little adjustment. There is advice for the GM throughout the adventures. Further, whilst the scenarios are written as and are designed to be played as a trilogy, there is room between them for the GM to add other adventures. In addition, each of the three scenarios adds specific background material to the world of Victoriana, including horse racing, the royal family, and playing poker. This background material is interesting in and of itself.

The Havering Adventures trilogy opens with “Lost Luggage.” The Havering family has returned to England after a trip abroad, but before they have disembarked, the game is afoot. Someone has made off with their luggage and thus, much to Susanna Havering’s dismay, with all of the new dresses she purchased in Paris! In order to track them down, the adventurers must plumb the depths of the capital’s underworld before attending the hottest day out at the races.

Events take an international turn as the Haverings are invited to travel aboard the inaugural voyage of the Valiant Rose, a luxury airship that is set to revolutionise travel across the Atlantic. In "Behold, the Valiant ones shall cry," the family has the opportunity move among very high society. Given its contained location, this is a very much limited adventure, the player characters having fewer options as to what they can. Nevertheless, succeed at this adventure and they can make the highest connections possible!

Where “Lost Luggage” is a chase and "Behold, the Valiant ones shall cry" all but a “ship in a bottle” affair, the third adventure, "Dead Man's Hand" is a more personal, less adventurous affair that has strong horror elements. An inveterate and fortunately successful gambler, Nathanial spends much of the adventure at the gaming tables playing poker with his wife in tow, but the other family members will busy trying to follow up on the effects of a strange artefact that he wins and must eventually play for in the climax to both the adventure and the trilogy in The Havering Adventures.

Although it needs an edit or two in certain places, The Havering Adventures is a well presented book with decent art and reasonable maps. The advice for running the adventures is also good, and suggestions are given as to both possible sequels to the trilogy and how the trilogy could be run without making use of the Havering family. This is necessary as the adventures are written with the family in mind, but the demands required to make the player characters fit the adventure are relatively slight as long as the characters come from all strata of society. That said, one or more upper class characters are absolutely necessary to play The Havering Adventures, which might be an issue with some groups.

If a playing group was looking for adventures to play after that given in the Victoriana core rulebook, then The Havering Adventures would be a good choice. In fact, these are the best scenarios available for the second edition of the game. Overall, The Havering Adventures is an entertaining trilogy of scenarios that pleasingly brings the world of Victoriana to life.

Free RPG Day 2012

Sorry if you have been wondering where the Reviews from R'lyeh have been for the last week. Please check out RPG.net for thirteen reviews of the titles available tomorrow for Free RPG Day 2012: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/ Normal service will return shortly.

Pitch Me

The Big Idea: The Game of Crazy Inventions from French publisher, FunForge, is not a new game. Rather, it is a new streamlined and re-designed version of a game originally published by Cheapass Games in 2000. As a publisher, Cheapass Games put out titles that focused on game play over components, each design coming with enough components to play the game. This invariably made Cheapass Games exactly that – cheap! Out of all of Cheapass Games’ titles, The Big Idea was always a favourite as it required a degree of inventiveness upon the part of the players, and it is this aspect of the original that the new version focuses upon, dropping the share investment element of the original all together. This very modern update now comes in full colour and is very much a party game rather than a gamer’s game in which the players have to create and pitch the “best” inventions possible. Given that the reality television series Dragon’s Den is broadcast in more than twenty countries across the globe, most people will be familiar with the idea behind The Big Idea.

Designed for play by between three and six players, The Big Idea: The Game of Crazy Inventions comes in a slim box that contains two ninety-two card “Item” and “Description” decks, six “Medal” cards, and twenty-four “Blank” cards as well as a slim rulebook that can be read and understood in a couple of minutes or so. The green-backed “Description” cards give single expressive words such as Bulletproof, Edible, and Exotic, whilst the blue-backed “Item” cards give objects such as Butler, Hanger, and Shades, accompanied on each card by a simple line of text such as “It’s like a stylin’ pair of sunglasses…” for the Shades Item card or “…that bullets cannot penetrate!” for the Bulletproof Description card, as well as a pleasing illustration. The “Medal” and the “Blank” cards are used by the players to vote on the inventions that they like and dislike.

The Big Idea is played in a series of rounds – the number varying according to the number of players – during each of which every player will have the opportunity to create and pitch a new invention. After all of the rounds have been played, the player with the least amount of negative votes is declared the “least worst” inventor and thus the winner.

At the start of a round each player has three “Description” and three “Item” cards in his hand. If a player is unhappy with his hand of cards, he is free to discard as many cards as he wants and refresh his hand of cards before putting together his invention. From these cards, he creates an invention using at least one “Description” and at least one “Item” card, although he is free to use as many cards from his hand as he thinks will be necessary for his invention. Once a player has an invention, he put the cards involved down and essentially pitches, or attempts to sell his invention to the other players. Once everyone has pitched an invention, each player votes on the inventions he has heard described. If a player likes an invention, he gives it a Medal card. To every other invention, he gives a Blank card. Any player who receives nothing but Blank cards keeps a single card from his invention as what is essentially a negative point. It is only possible to score negative points in The Big Idea.

For example, Chris has the “Decoy,” “Secretary,” and “Television” Item cards and the “Cute,” “Extraordinary,” and “Limited-Edition” Description cards; John-Paul has the “Gun,” “Mailbox,” and “Spectacle” Item cards and the “Amusing,” “Instant,” and “Kiddie” Description cards; and Simon has the “Beer,” “Medicine,” and “Plane” Item cards and the “Invisible,” “Sport-Utility,” and “Sweet” Description cards. Chris goes first, followed by John-Paul, and then Simon.

From his cards, Chris uses “Decoy,” “Secretary,” “Cute,” “Extraordinary,” and “Limited-Edition” to create The Limited-Edition Extraordinary Cute Secretary Decoy. He pitches this as…

“For the businessman too busy to see everyone… For the embezzler who needs a quick getaway when the fraud squad comes knocking at his door… For the accountant with an extra happy life love who just doesn’t need his wife to always know where is… The Limited-Edition Extraordinary Cute Secretary Decoy. A secretary who will always decoy or misdirect unwanted attention for her boss. Plus she’s cute.

From his cards, John-Paul uses “Gun,” “Spectacle,” “Amusing,” “Instant,” and “Kiddie” to create the Instant Amusing Kiddie Spectacle Gun. He pitches this as…

“We live in an armed society. A society with guns, but it does not always have to be an unfriendly society. Especially if we have kids, because that is why we have guns – to protect our kids. Sometimes we need a way to keep our kids happy, even if we have guns. Which is why you need the Instant Amusing Kiddie Spectacle Gun. One shot from this gun and your kid will have an amusing spectacle in an instant!”

From his cards, Simon uses “Beer,” “Medicine,” and “Sweet” to create Sweet Medicine Beer. He pitches this as…

“They always said that medicine was good for you and it was. It just never tasted as good as it was. And that remains as true as an adult as it was for you when you were a kid. Now you can have a medicine that tastes as good as the good it is doing to you: Sweet Medicine Beer.”

Once this is all done, each player votes on their favourite inventions created by his fellow players, giving a Medal to their favourite, and a Blank card to the others. In this case, Simon’s Sweet Medicine Beer garners two Medals and Chris’ The Limited-Edition Extraordinary Cute Secretary Decoy just the one. John-Paul’s Instant Amusing Kiddie Spectacle Gun ends up with nothing but Blank cards and so he must keep a single card to indicate the failure of his invention.

As much fun as The Big Idea is, it is not quite perfect. The scoring process could be easier, with players only receiving negative rather than positive points. The current scoring process, with only enough Medal cards for six players, also limits the number who can participate in a game. It would be a simple matter of ditching the current scoring process and allowing the players to give a counter to their preferred invention each round. This would allow more players to participate.

Like many a party game, the success of The Big Idea: The Game of Crazy Inventions depends on its players. Yet its simplicity combined with the entertaining nature of the cards, encourages both participation and invention upon the part of the players. The game can be played by gamers and non-gamers alike, and works just as well as a filler game as it does a party game. The Big Idea: The Game of Crazy Inventions lives up to its title and should prove a source of creative, imaginative fun every time that the box is opened.

Nazis & Nasties

It is curious to note that even after thirty years of being in print and having innumerable supplements published for it by multiple publishers, Call of Cthulhu has received neither support for it in full colour nor any support that took the RPG into World War II. You might quibble at my assertion, but whilst they are in colour, neither S. Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters: A Field Observer's Handbook of Preternatural Entities nor S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands can be really called a roleplaying supplement. You might quibble at my assertion because the beautiful Les éditions Sans Détour of Call of Cthulhu is in colour, but that though is in French. You might quibble because there is the scenario “Where Byakhees Dare” from Toying with Humans and another four scenarios in Shadows of War, which are all set during World War II, but all are only available in Monographs and thus only available direct from Chaosium rather than at your local friendly gaming shop. So no, and despite hints from both Cubicle Seven Entertainment and Pagan Publishing, no publisher has gone as far as exploring the place of the Mythos during World War II.

So anyone wanting to see such support will be pleased with Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point Part 1 - Three Kings, the first release from new publisher, Modiphius Press. The Achtung! Cthulhu line promises two-fisted, tommy gun toting action against the Nazis in a “Secret War” that will uncover terrifying ancient mysteries, legendary war machines, and ghastly dealings with creatures and entities from beyond. Several campaigns are promised, with Three Kings being the first part of the globe-spanning Zero Point campaign. It is currently only available as a PDF and only for Call of Cthulhu, but versions will be for Savage Worlds, Trail of Cthulhu, and eventually, Modiphius Press’ own new RPG, Expeditions.

Technically, Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point Part 1 - Three Kings is not set during World War II, but in the months prior to its outbreak. The British government knows that war with Germany is coming and has not only given sanctuary to the Czechoslovakian government in exile, but begun forging links with the Resistance that has sprung up in the wake of the German occupation of the country and its split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the near-independent Slovak Republic. Led by the “Three Kings” of the title, the resistance has informed London that the Nazis are conducting some kind of experiments at Castle Karlstein, south west of Prague. A four member team has been assembled by “Section D” of the British Secret Intelligence Service and will be parachuted into occupied territory where they will make contact with the Resistance in order to determine what is going on inside Castle Karlstein.

The structure of the scenario is such that between the briefing in London and the dénouement within the walls of Castle Karlstein, the investigators to act as they wish. The Keeper is provided with enough information to cover whatever course of action that the players might take. This includes plenty of supporting material that details the area around Castle Karlstein, the opposition in and around the castle, and the members of the Resistance. The latter includes the Three Kings of the title, each actually being an actual historical person. Further support comes in the form of the maps and the briefing handouts, both done as beautiful period pieces, as well as a four pre-generated investigators. Additional information details new skills, such as Jury Rig and Scrounging; new occupations, such as the Intelligence Officer (Research) and Intelligence Officer (Field); and new rules which cover the use of torture and interrogation. Lastly, suggestions are given as to how to run the scenario with characters who are not affiliated with British Intelligence.

Available as a forty-four page PDF, either as an 11.69 MB printer-friendly file or a 22 MB full colour file, Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point Part 1 - Three Kings is a nicely done document. The artwork though is pleasingly atmospheric, but the handouts and the maps are perfect. If anyone physical aspect of the scenario captures the feel of its setting, then it is those.

Unfortunately, Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point Part 1 - Three Kings is not perfect. The plot itself is far from being wholly original, but arguably, the setting and the feeling of the scenario does much to offset this unoriginality. Plus, this is campaign’s introductory scenario and it is designed to get the players and Keeper involved and interested in the next part, and it does that certainly. The real problem with the scenario is that its tone does not fit its rules. As written, it is Pulpy, but the rules for Call of Cthulhu do not match either this tone and are in all likelihood too deadly for the type of action that the scenario’s dénouement calls for. Arguably, Savage Worlds, used in co-operation with Reality Blurs’ Realms of Cthulhu will be a more suitable fit.

Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point Part 1 - Three Kings brings together perfect bedfellows – the Nazis and the Mythos. In doing so, it lays promising groundwork that the rest of the campaign will have to work hard to fulfil whilst delivering an exciting thriller of an adventure in the vein of Where Eagles Dare or The Guns of Navarone. Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point Part 1 - Three Kings is an impressive first release from Modiphius Press.

Grim, Gritty, & Detailed

Despite what you might think, we have been able to roleplay monsters long before the advent of Vampire: the Masquerade. Indeed, roleplaying was only two years old when Flying Buffalo Games, Inc. released a variant of Tunnels & Trolls called Monsters! Monsters! in which you could roleplay the creatures that the heroes – or player characters – would normally have to defeat. Over the years there have been various supplements and games that let you play the “bad guy,” from John Wick’s Orkworld to Paul Czege’s My Life With Master, but rarely for Dungeons & Dragons, a typical example being Reverse Dungeon in which the players take the roles of dungeon denizens protecting against an incursion of those grotty adventurers into their home. The opportunity to play monsters returns to Dungeons & Dragons once again with In The Shadow of Mount Rotten, a new Old School Renaissance supplement from Faster Monkey Games.

In The Shadow of Mount Rotten is written for use with Labyrinth Lord, Goblinoid Games’ interpretation of Basic Dungeon & Dragons, though it would work just as easily with other “Edition Zero” RPGs, with some effort upon the part of the GM with Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The supplement is very specific in the type of monster that can be played – Goblins, Hobgoblins, or Orcs – all known collectively as “Rotlanders,” as they are all denizens of the Rotlands, the lands that surround the lonely Mount Rotten. This cold, dry wilderness lies to the north of the adventurer’s paradise known as Lesserton and its nearby ruins of Mor (as detailed in Faster Monkey Games’ supplement, Lessterton & Mor: A Complete Guide to the Ancient Ruins of Mor and the Town of Lesserton, Adventurer’s Paradise), and is inhabited by numerous tribes humanoids that in between trying to scratch a living, war on each other, feed on each other, enslave each other, and when the circumstances are right, trade with each other. (Given all that, it is no surprise that the cover carries a warning that the supplement is not for kids).

In the default campaign for the setting, the player characters are members of a Foot Goblin tribe. In attempt to be noticed, they have risen above being a lowly tribe member and become its Warriors, who will fight for and protect the tribe from physical threats; its Shaman, who will implore the spirits to aid the tribe, protect it from malicious spirits, and when the time comes, make parley with other tribes; and its Mongers, who have the “nouse,” the memory, and the ability to count such that they can successfully trade and barter with other tribes for goods and favours. Of course, in between fighting, farting, feeding, and fornicating, a Warrior is not expected to concern himself with money, barter, or negotiation, whilst a Shaman is expected to show wisdom and never to get involved in fights, and a Monger never be a thief or lose money or favours on a deal. Each of the three major races living in the Rotlands also has its concerns and attitudes each of the three Classes. It should also be pointed out that the races have traditional and hidebound attitudes towards the place of females in the tribe, such as females not being Warriors or males being Shaman, but as the supplement suggests, this can be ignored or adjusted according to the tastes of the gaming group.

In The Shadow of Mount Rotten provides rules for creating Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Orc characters as well as each of the three new Classes. Each of these is a five level Class, this limit indicative of the cruel, harsh nature of life in the Rotlands. All are relatively simple, though. Lightly armed and armoured, Warriors learn to command less experienced Warriors and gain further weapon proficiencies, with luck these being the more durable, more effective weapons of Man. Although a spellcaster, Shaman need to invoke their spells through chants and rituals to the ancestors, rather than memorising enchantments or calling upon the divine. A Shaman can also call for a Parley with an opposing side, though they will not always listen, and later on, a Shaman can Rebuke Spirits, the Rotlands being rife with them. The spell list for the Shaman draws from the Cleric, Druid, and Magic User lists. Lastly, Mongers have “Green Hands,” so can count money, do arithmetic, trade his tribe’s excess goods, borrow and lend, and eventually set up or take control of his own merchant house. Merchant houses are usually headquartered in Rot Moot, the permanent community just inside the Rotlands inhabited by a mixed race tribe known as the Mooters. Rot Moot is also where the region’s trade caravans return to and many of its tribes come to each after the harvest for a ten day long festival of trading and bartering known as the Revel. Rot Moot is regarded as neutral territory less a tribe loses access to trade.

At first level, Rotlander Warriors, Shaman, and Mongers have little in the way of standing and with their tribe and beyond. This standing is measured by a Rotlander’s Reputation. Initially equal to a character’s Charisma, it can be earned by successfully completing missions, and acting in manner admirable in terms of both his race and his Class. Goblins as race earn Reputation by successfully carrying out pranks and laying traps; Hobgoblins for defiance in the face of danger and for killing members of intelligent races and eating them; and Orcs for beating up anyone lower than themselves. Warriors gain it for taking trophies and being victorious, but lose it for counting, negotiating, or trading; Shaman gain it for facing threats from the Spirit World and guiding the Warriors; and Mongers for carrying profitable transactions and becoming a shrewd dealer.

Reputation is important because it has effects within the game and without it also. Within the game, unless he accrues enough Reputation, a player character Rotlander cannot advance from one level to the next, so it is possible to accrue enough Experience Points, but not enough Reputation to gain a new level. Equally, when a Rotlander loses enough Reputation, he can also lose a level! In which case, his standing has gone down in the eyes of his fellow tribe members. The out of game effect is that it encourages the players to roleplay the attitudes and the culture of the Rotlanders, and this is necessary because essentially, it runs counter to the usual play style of Dungeons & Dragons, or in this case, Labyrinth Lord.

The setting of the Rotlands is described in some detail. This includes the various tribes other than the Foot Goblins, such as the Goblin Warg Riders and the Ogre Lashers, the Orc tribes that lead chained ogres into battle; its terrain types and typical settlements; its most notable locations; and the many and varied threats that the Rotlanders might encounter. A large portion of the supplement is devoted to the day-to-day survival of the player character Rotlanders and their tribe, as well as the mechanics of trade and barter. The rules for both are highly detailed, and they bring a strong resource management aspect to the game, one that will need careful application upon the part of the GM if they are not to overwhelm a campaign. Nevertheless, with this care, they should work as a spur for adventure and challenge.

For the GM there is not only a set of Encounter Tables, but also a set of table for creating events. This requires the use of a deck of cards, and by drawing a single card, the GM can determine an event that will befall the player characters’ tribe that session, perhaps a fight, or something affects the tribe’s health or wellbeing, or it could just be a random event. Besides the default campaign which has the player characters as Foot Goblins just starting out, the GM’s advice suggests several other campaigns. These include their Mooter Monkeys, staffing and protecting a Moot caravan that weaves it way across the Rotlands, or members of the Mouth Guard, the Goblin retainers who protect the shaman who stand watch in Goblin Knob, the settlement below the Hellmouth of Dristyakul, the passage that leads into the Underdeep… These are just ideas though, and perhaps some actual advice on running a Rotlanders campaign would have been useful, especially given that by its very nature it is different to the classic Dungeons & Dragons campaign of adventurers aplundering. Certainly it would have been useful had some advice been given as to how a campaign might play out.

Physically, In The Shadow of Mount Rotten comes as a 5.96 Mb, eighty-four page PDF, or as an eighty page book. Bar the imposing cover and the colour map inside – which abuts that in Lessterton & Mor: A Complete Guide to the Ancient Ruins of Mor and the Town of Lesserton, Adventurer’s Paradise – the book is done in black and white throughout. What little internal artwork there is nicely captures the scrappy nature of Rotlander life and the book’s maps are nice and clear. Overall, the book is well written and an enjoyable read.

Arguably, the level of detail here would make In The Shadow of Mount Rotten easy to adapt to other RPGs. For example, it would work well with the Savage Worlds RPG, and it would not surprise me to see it adapted so. Or indeed to any other RPG rules system.

The Old School Renaissance has often been accused of looking in only one direction and at only one style of play, and lacking innovation. Given the number of Retroclones available since the Old School Renaissance began, there is some validity in those accusations. In The Shadow of Mount Rotten flies in the face of such accusations, so although its ideas are not necessarily innovative, they are least fresh and they are given a very thorough treatment. With its wealth of detail and grim, grubby atmosphere, In The Shadow of Mount Rotten presents an impressive and entertainingly different campaign setting.