Arkham Country Six, Sanity Zero

One of the strongest of debut books for Call of Cthulhu since Chaosium, Inc. began letting others publish for the game was New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley from Miskatonic River Press. Conceived by the late and much missed Keith “Doc” Herber, this anthology took us back to Lovecraft Country for the first time in a decade with six enjoyably callous scenarios for Call of Cthulhu’s classic period of the 1920s. For its third release – following on from Our Ladies of Sorrow, a classic in the making for Cthulhu Now – Miskatonic River Press goes back to draw from the same source as its debut. As its title suggests, More Adventures in Arkham Country provides further adventures for Call of Cthulhu’s only campaign setting, itself the creation of Keith “Doc” Herber back in 1993. It contains six more scenarios, some authored by Miskatonic River Press stalwarts such as Tom Lynch and Oscar Rios, but perhaps the most notable of contributors in this volume is Scott David Aniolowski. “Shades of Tomorrow Lost” is his first published scenario in fifteen years and comes seventeen years after his contribution to that first Lovecraft Country volume, Adventures in Arkham Country.

Now with just three titles under the Miskatonic River Press belt, it is easy to track the improvements made to the style and look of the publisher’s books. The internal illustrations have been consistently good across the three books – my favourite here being best described as “Bonnie & Clyde & Deep Ones” – but with More Adventures in Arkham Country, the layout has been tightened up and although still kept relatively clean and simple, feels that little more assured. This shows in the use of the illustrations, the maps, and the plentiful handouts to break up the text and so all but avoid the solid pages of text that might have made the book harder to digest. As an editor, I would have liked the book to have been given one more pass, but those issues are unlikely to get in the way of running its contents

The book also highlights Miskatonic River Press’ ties with other publishers. First in the inclusion of a twenty page appendix that provides conversion notes by Christopher Smith Adair for each of the six scenarios for Pelgrane Press’ Trail of Cthulhu, and second, in the twenty four pages of fine handouts once again done by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, which has also made them available separately and in colour. In addition, the book includes another six pages of nicely done maps by Steff Worthington.

Eschewing the need for a formal introduction, the book is instead topped and tailed with a pair of short vignettes that echoes both Lovecraftian fiction and the play of Call of Cthulhu in portraying the high regard with which those at Miskatonic River Press hold their founder and their determination to do as good as if he were still here. After that the book wastes no time at all in moving on to the scenarios themselves. They include Scott David Aniolowski’s “Shades of Tomorrow Lost,” which takes us back to Kingsport and a plan to spread its dreaming; “Ghosts of the Florentina,” a ghost tale in an old theatre by Bret Kramer, also set in Kingsport; and the hunting of strange beasts in Foxfield in Brian Courtemanche’s “The Crystal Cavern.” Meanwhile, Tom Lynch turns a bad trip into the drive from hell in “Engine Trouble;” Adam Gauntlett makes the children suffer in Arkham in “Spare the Rod;”and lastly, in “The Hopeful,” Oscar Rios reveals the true nature of a young man’s benefactor.

Each of the six scenarios is roughly twenty or so pages long and comes complete with its own excellent handouts. It should be noted that whilst some of the scenarios refer to various sourcebooks in the “Lovecraft Country” line, including H.P. Lovecraft’s Kingsport: The City in the Mists, H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham, Escape from Innsmouth, and Miskatonic University, none of them are essential for running any of the scenarios, but they can be used to add detail as required.

“Shades of Tomorrow Lost” opens the collection. This Kingsport set scenario by Scott David Aniolowski sees the town beset by an outbreak of narcolepsy, with at least one of the investigators being amongst the afflicted. Quarantined at the local hospital in a group that becomes known as the “Kingsport Sleepers,” this investigator has the opportunity to interview his fellow sufferers whilst the other investigators search for a cause elsewhere. The scenario contains sinister, though much underplayed Pulp elements including masked figures and strange Asians both reminiscent of the Sandman and The Shadow. Despite potential staging issues in having the investigators divided, “Shades of Tomorrow Lost” is a relatively straightforward affair, lethal in places, but with some high rewards. It is also well supported with background information and a handy list of mental illnesses that an investigator might suffer from after its play through.

We remain in fog-bound Kingsport for Bret Kramer’s “Ghosts of the Florentina,” a ghost tale that hides strange things behind more mundane goings on. The owner of the dilapidated Florentina Theatre wants to renovate the building and turn it into a modern picture house, but there are rumours that it is haunted. Finding themselves attending a séance at the theatre, a town landmark, the strange events that bring it to an end should be enough to peak the interest of any red blooded investigator. Any player with a penchant for investigative research will relish the opportunities afforded him here, the clues eventually revealing the presence of creatures from one of Lovecraft’s most well known stories. For a Mythos threat they prove to be very knowable, enabling the investigators numerous options in terms of dealing with them and the danger that they represent, all of which are supported and detailed by the author. This is a more free-form scenario, its events primarily led by the investigators’ actions.

Brian Courtemanche’s “The Crystal Cavern” takes us to Foxfield, a town invented by Lovecraft, but never the setting for one of his stories. An out of town developer recently bought land outside of the town and wants to mine the extensive quartz deposit located there, but progress has been halted after a spate of vandalised machinery and a death at the hands of a large bear or wolf. Wanting work at the site to continue apace, he hires the investigators to determine the cause of both. Their efforts though will be hampered by the scared and jumpy townsfolk, furtive locals, and a pompous big game hunter wanting to bag the “Beast of Foxfield.” Again, this is a straight forward, uncomplicated adventure, but one who’s ending is not actually determined by the investigators, which some players may be adverse to...

“Engine Trouble” by Tom Lynch is designed to run between other adventures in Lovecraft Country, beginning in media res with the investigators having got lost and discovering their way blocked by a crashed truck. With the driver and one passenger dead at the scene, and their cargo missing, where exactly do the tracks lead to in the surrounding woods? All too quickly the investigators will find themselves facing the Mythos equivalent of velociraptors, and what is the likelihood that the investigators are travelling armed for bear, let alone velociraptor? The shortest scenario of the six, this has the potential to get very, very bloody... It is stated that the author channelled his “inner slasher-film monster” to create “Engine Trouble,” and this shows. The scenario feels at odds with the bulk of the others in this collection, and despite the strong set up, it will only find favour with those who prefer their adventures Pulpy

Adam Gauntlett brings us home to Arkham itself for another ghost story in “Spare the Rod.” A New York author of supernatural fiction – the author giving one Eric Adams, but suggesting that he could be replaced by another, including our good friend Jackson Elias of Masks of Nyarlathotep fame – to conduct some research on New England folklore. At the height of heat wave, the investigators are tasked with following down the author’s leads and in doing so, determine that there might more than a grain of truth to one of them. Has a vengeful ghost returned to exact bloody revenge, or is it a simple case of children having run away? If there is an issue with “Spare the Rod,” it is that it involves a nearly unstoppable foe, but there is at least more than a single solution to this problem if the investigators look hard enough. Otherwise, this makes excellent use of its source material to present a chance for the investigators to explore Arkham.

Rounding out the collection is Oscar Rios’ “The Hopeful,” a scenario that will take the investigators from Arkham to shunned Innsmouth in search of a young man’s benefactor. Andrew Fisher is a swimming sensation, certain to represent the USA at the Amsterdam Olympics, but a background check might reveal the unknown source of his trust fund, and so jeopardise his chances of making the team. With clues pointing towards Innsmouth, “The Hopeful” serves as an excellent means to introduce the investigators to the town and its batrachian inhabitants, giving them a crash course in its secrets via a well realised set of mundane clues that point the investigators in the direction that they need to go rather than simply informing them. Once in Innsmouth there are opportunities aplenty for the Keeper to roleplay some of its inhabitants and thus make it a worthy prequel to the events described in Escape from Innsmouth. In comparison to the other scenarios in the collection, the Sanity rewards for successfully completing “The Hopeful” feel a bit light, but this is another fine piece of work from the prolific Rios.

When Miskatonic River Press’ first book, New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, was released, it was an impressive debut. As follow up to that anthology, the truth is that More Adventures in Arkham Country does not quite match its standards, the book lacking just a little of that debut’s drive and energy. This does not mean though, that any one of the six scenarios can be considered as bad, the least interesting being merely average. They are all at least, solid affairs, with “Shades of Tomorrow Lost” marking the welcome return of Scott David Aniolowski to the Call of Cthulhu fold with an eerie visit to Kingsport and Bret Kramer providing a pleasingly low key investigation in “Ghosts of the Florentina.” The stand out scenarios both come at the end. Adam Gauntlett’s “Spare the Rod” would stand out in any collection, being an excellent introduction to Arkham and exploration of its history, but it is eclipsed by “The Hopeful.” Oscar Rios’ scenario is a delight, edging us ever closer to Innsmouth, but without revealing its full horrors. Despite reservations about some of the scenarios herein, More Adventures in Arkham Country is a decent collection and solid support for Lovecraft Country.

Definitely Bigger Than #13

Just in time for Gen Con 2010, Kobold Quarterly #14 hits our virtual door mats bigger and bolder than before. At one hundred pages, Open Design’s magazine continues its support for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, along with articles aplenty that have a wider, though still no less specific application. By which I mean that the articles in question are specific in their contents, but can be applied to most Dungeons & Dragons variants. What you have in issue #14 then is another trove of advice, ideas, and support, which happens to be appropriate given that its theme is “treasure”!

Support for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game begins with James L. Sutter’s “Prince of Wolves,” a full write up of Radovan, the Hellspawn Bodyguard who makes one half of the central duo from the novel Prince of Wolves, the first in the Pathfinder Tales line that will make its debut at Gen Con 2010, and also happens to be reviewed in the “Books Review” column. To be honest I am more used to seeing such a write up after a book has appeared, so this is more advertising than a preview – since there are no excerpts from the book itself. The write up is not badly done though, especially as it includes one or two nice spells and magical items, and it would be nice if we could see it joined by an equally full write up of Radovan’s charge, the half-elf, Varian Jeggare.

This is issue’s “Ecology of...” article by R. William Thompson is devoted to the Tengu, the avian humanoids inspired by the Japanese monster-spirits. It’s an enjoyable read, full of little ideas that can be added to a game, the article being accompanied by a sidebar that discusses their place in Golarion, the default setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, from their home in Tian-Xia to around the Inner Sea, where they are found as thieves, mercenaries, and piratical mascots. They retain an oriental feel and can be excellent mimics – which is exploited by the Tengu Streetsinger Prestige Class which replicates the sounds around him to distract his opponents, both features that the GM can use to make memorable NPCs, and if the GM allows it, a player to create a memorable character. For devotees of the Free City of Zobeck setting, Wolfgang Baur devotes his regular column to the Tengu in the world of Midgard, providing a broad overview of where they can be found.

Paladins receive a double feature in Kobold Quarterly #14, first with James Graham’s “Healing Hands,” several new feats for the class that work with the Mercy class feature in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game to enhance his Laying on Hands feature such that he can cure anything. Then with Dan Voyce’s look at alternative Paladin Codes in “Men of Honor,” that like the Paladin role itself, draws from history to provide codes of conduct drawn from Norse, piratical (!),ancient Chinese, and duelling traditions. Pure role-playing inspiration for anyone who likes to play a Paladin in any fantasy RPG.

The issue’s theme gets underway with “Perfumes of Bourgund” by Stefen Styrsky with another feature for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Set in the same world as Zobeck, with the appropriate feats an alchemist can become a Perfumer, capable of creating and identifying particular scents, whether to hide a stink, enhance a charisma, or create an allure or a lure. Michael Furlanetto’s “Hoard Magic” might be written for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, but the numbers are not all that far away from the Dungeons & Dragons variant of your choice that you could just as give that dragon or dwarf lord the enhancements that having a big stash of coins, jewellery, and other treasures would grant, such as a Liche Lord’s hoard enhancing necrotic damage and reducing the effect of healing magic. Just in their respective lairs of course, but it gives a hoard a little more meaning than just being pretty.

With “Paper Treasures” John Baichtal gives us not just books, but a quintet of adventure seeds, while Adam Daigle gets all bourgeois with the type of “Middle Class Magic” favoured by the merchants of Zobeck. Want to enhance the flavour of your drink? Then the Spicebox Spoon contains the condiments you need, while a Tailor’s Clasp will scuttle across your clothing tightening buttons, repairing fraying hems, and so on, being just one the various little knick knacks that make the upwardly mobile man’s life that little bit easier.

Lastly, Phillip Larwood takes a big step up from the more mundane magical items to provide us with new “Figurines of Wondrous Power” each a small statuette of an animal that contains the bound spirit of the depicted animal. When summoned the creature faithfully serves you, usually as a mount or in battle. From the Citrine Toad (mobile storage device and battle toad) to the Tourmaline Crab (a battle mount that grants water breathing) the ten on show here could easily become objects of veneration or desire with a little effort upon the part of the GM.  An aid towards this is inclusion of Maker’s Marks that can add an extra power or a curse to the figurine.

Perhaps the least immediately useful article in issue #14 is Sigfried Trent’s “How to Create Feats” dissecting as it does what makes a good Feat. Unless getting under the hood of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is something that you like to do, the likelihood is that the contents of this piece will be too dry. It is at least worth reading the once, if only to gain an insight into the designer’s theories and practice on Feats.

From industry stalwarts Monte Cook and Ed Greenwood, there is excellent advice. The former discusses how randomness can improve your storytelling in “Dice versus Story” while the latter talks about “How to Create Memorable Characters.” It would be churlish of me to say that there little that is really new in either of these articles because the advice given in both is worth saying again. Another stalwart, John Wick gets together with Jesse Heinig to reinvent the last of the core races in the “Wicked Fantasy” series.  Here the race in question is us, the Humans. In this reinvention, the humans are the first race, a species predicated not on looking to the gods for their inspiration and insight, but on themselves and the human spirit, on learning, philosophy, and so. What is interesting here is that the authors pick up the explanation of a gaming element often used to balance the human race against the extra abilities of other player races and actually develop it into flavour and mechanics. So there is a reason for the human drive, resilience, and flexibility. Not only do the authors support it with a new racial profile, but with new racial Feats and an ideal or philosophy rather than a god. This ideal is the “Elevation of Man,” which for human clerics adds the Humanity and Philosophy domains. This might well be all too radical for some, but it nicely fits in with the previous three entries in the series and just what you would expect of Wick.

For Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, the focus in issue #14 is skills. “Skill Battles” by Matthew J. Hanson shows you how to add skill checks to a battle or to make skills the focus of a battle, supported by examples that have the heroes attempting to prevent the opening of a dimensional rift, hunting for golden hares, and so on. Although they will not have the same name, “Skill Battles” are regular features of other RPG adventures, so their discussion here is a welcome addition to Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition and shifts its focus slightly away from one skirmish after another. Scott A. Murray finds new ways to use a character’s skills in “Art & Expertise.” He gives two or three suggestions for each skill, such as using the Acrobatics skill to determine the slight angle of a floor or to locate perfect vantage points for observation with the Perception skill. Most come with little pieces of flavour text that nicely enhance the suggestions just as these new skill challenges would add to a game.

Both articles could complement Mario Podeschi’s “Courtly Games of the Wizard Prince,” which looks at the types of games and competitions that a noble wizard would hold. Whether participating in Basilisk Baiting (played with mirror shields), the competitive weaving of illusions in Glamers, or Shoves, a ball game played with an adamantine ball and spells, these courtly games could add much to a game, whether that be simple competition, rivalries, or intrigue, with all fitting into a high magic setting.

Also for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition is “Aasimar: You Can’t Keep a Good Aasimar Down” by Kolja Raven Liquette which presents a new divine race descended from angels native to the Supernal Realms. It comes complete with the three Tier Feats and Path Features and should appeal to anyone who wants to play a character of divine origins with strong religious inclination. Lastly for fans of the game, issue #14 includes an enjoyable interview with its lead designer, Rob Heinsoo.

Of note is Jeff Tidball’s “Moral Choices That Matter,” an article not for Dungeons & Dragons, or variant thereof, but for Green Ronin Publishing’s Dragon Age: Origins. The latter game happens to be one of the better introductory RPGs to appear of late, and this article is certainly welcome. Although its subtitle is “Creating Serious Dilemmas for your Dragon Age Campaign,” the author is essentially using that game’s setting as the basis for his examples, because setting up situations in which a player’s decision has repercussions – whatever his choice – is just as applicable to Dungeons & Dragons or the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This should be excellent food for thought for any GM and done right, will add depth to both his game and the player characters.

Rounding out Kobold Quarterly #14, as is traditional, is a short scenario. This is “Amber Heart” by Tim and Eileen Connors, an adventure for third level characters that ties in with Open Design’s forthcoming Tales of the Old Margreve supplement. Just as easy to drop into any setting with a forest inn during the depths of winter, this sets up a fight for survival in a locked room situation with a nasty, gooey monster.

My grumbles about Kobold Quarterly still stand. A longer scenario, a Sterling price on the cover, no game reviews, and so on. Also, and given that it describes itself as “The Switzerland of the Edition Wars,” should it not also be devoting a few of its pages to “Edition 0” too? Grumbles aside – and they are just exactly that, because I just checked and I am repeating myself – issue #14 of Kobold Quarterly is another good read. Of this issue’s theme, the best of the treasure articles is “Middle Class Magic,” full of little items that add to the game, yet there are better articles still. “Ecology of the Tengu” is excellent, making me want to play one or add one as an NPC to my own game, while both articles on the Paladin make me want to play that class again. Once again then, Kobold Quarterly delivers lots of good articles, even the ones that are not written for the game that you play, that are all well written and all food for thought. 

Cthulhu Who?

Ken Hite is Call of Cthulhu’s number one fan. He might not own the number one copy of Call of Cthulhu, but is more than qualified to write what is essentially an initiate’s guide to Cthulhu and the Cthulhu Mythos. His Cthulhu 101: A Beginner’s Guide to the Dreamer in the Deep is that guide, a pocket-sized book from Atomic Overmind Press that explains who Cthulhu is, where he is from – both in and out of the fiction, what he does and does not do; who H.P. Lovecraft was, what he wrote, and what were his inspirations; discusses the good and the bad of August Derleth – kept Lovecraft’s writings in print, but wrote bad stories and claimed too much when it came to copyrights; all before suggesting an awful lot of bests and not-so bests. The best and not-so best stories, comics, movies, television, music, games, and toys, plus suggested next steps.

In places it gets as basic as, “How do you pronounce Cthulhu, exactly?” In others, its gets a little more complex, such as in the discussions of Lovecraft’s inspiration for his creation, and what exactly, Cthulhu might symbolise. For the most part Hite gives us just the facts, but Derleth does not come out of this in a wholly favourable light.

Much of Cthulhu 101 will be familiar, being too basic for some. Basic can still be useful though, a handy reference. It is easy to imagine Hite delivering this as the Power Point presentation from R’lyeh, so worth having.

Dungeons & Deep Ones, Oh My!

Almost as I complain at the lack of a campaign to go with the otherwise excellent Sunken Empires, Open Design publishes a scenario that takes the adventurers quite literally From Shore to Sea. Designed for use with Paizo's Pathfinder RPG, it can be used with any variant of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, but its constant references to the Pathfinder Bestiary means that From Shore to Sea really is a Pathfinder adventure. Also, it is set in the Pathfinder default world of Golarion, but then it can just as easily be set elsewhere. More definite though, is the fact that it is written for a party of sixth level characters, it does take the heroes along the Hellmouth Gulf to reveal dark secrets of the ancient and lost Azlant Empire, and it does combine elements of high magic with the Innsmouth taint. Lastly, this review of From Shore to Sea brings to a close an opportune trilogy of sea borne reviews that began with Wrack & Rune, was continued with Sunken Empires and now comes to an end with this module.

More specifically,  takes place in the diabolical empire of Cheliax, its events opening as the party is travelling along the road of the rugged and ragged coast of Hellmouth Gulf. Cries for help alert them to a fisherman being attacked by giant crabs, and after going to his aid, he appeals for their help. His village of Blackcove has been beset by creatures of the deep, things that shamble from the sea and steal the villagers by night. Can they investigate and put an end to the threat? Coming to the isolated village, the heroes find the remaining inhabitants cowed and holed up in the lighthouse. What little they can learn points towards Nal-Kashel, an island out in the Gulf that is traditionally visited by a bride and groom on their wedding night. Then again, can the problems that beset them be due to their pallid looks, their lank hair, and the hint of something batrachian in their features? Even as the party begins to elicit the events of the past few weeks from the recalcitrant and scared peoples of Blackcove, the lighthouse floods and tentacles thrust forward to steal yet more of the populace.

Nal-Kashel turns out to be very strange indeed. Remnants of towers orbit its skies, will-o’-wisps flit hither and thither, gillmen are herded to work, strange energies have warped the island into tiers, and the visitors find themselves taking on a corruption that hints at the island’s secrets. Discovering more of these secrets will take further investigations around the island, revealing some of the high magics of the Azlant Empire. Eventually though, the heroes will have to face the true villain behind the disappearance of the villagers of Blackcove, and in doing so will face a threat from Dungeons & Dragons’ ancient past.

What is obvious about From Shore to Sea is its inspiration, author H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadows Over Innsmouth” with its strange brine encrusted town and its offshore inhabitants, the Deep Ones. Bar the obvious appearance of Dagon, there is no appearance of the Mythos in this scenario and nor is it written in Call of Cthulhu mode. Here the adventurers are expected to be truly heroic and will not have to suffer the need to make Sanity checks, or indeed be sent mad by what they see. Naturally, the emphasis in this adventure is never far from combat, but a great deal of investigation is needed too, primarily among the strange ruins of Nal-Kashel.  In fact, the scenario could be played without anyone making the parallels with Innsmouth, but for those in the know, such parallels add a salt encrusted edge to its events.

In physical terms, From Shore to Sea is a slim booklet at thirty-two pages, but full colour is used throughout and it is printed on good glossy paper. The artwork is also good and the book as whole has a clean, tidy, and easy to read layout. If there is an issue with the writing, it is that it requires a slightly closer read than a more straight forward dungeon module might need. This it should be pointed out, is due to the weird nature of the adventure’s setting rather than the fault of the author. Structurally the scenario’s plot is fairly linear, with just a little room for deviation as the party explores the island.

As with other Pathfinder modules, From Shore to Sea uses the “medium XP advancement track,” and while there are plenty of Experience Points to be gained from defeating various creatures, the player characters will be rewarded for other actions as well. There is very little in the way of monetary or magical reward though, but what magical items there are to be found, are invariably a little different. They are not just left lying around though...

When it comes to Dungeons & Dragons, or indeed Pathfinder, the influence of the Cthulhu Mythos is relatively slight. It is there, but it is small, perhaps the best example being The Freeport Trilogy from Green Ronin Publishing. It is still small, even a decade on, but From Shore to Sea hints at possibilities, both for Pathfinder and its setting of Golarion. To be fair, this is all that From Shore to Sea was intended to do, its main remit being to explore just a little of the secrets of the Azlant Empire. For the GM wanting to add more dark secrets to his campaign, From Shore to Sea is a good choice, its combination of high magic and the Innsmouth look being surprisingly effective, giving the former a certain unpalatable taint.

Election Lite

I have always had an interest in American Presidential politics, usually fuelled by the excellent coverage we get on radio and television here in the U.K. (I doubt that the reverse is as true...), so when I was looking for something to read the other week, I picked up a copy of Race of a Lifetime: How Obama Won the White House by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. My interest peaked, I have begun re-watching the first season of The West Wing as well, which leaves only my politics and my gaming itches to be combined. Not wanting to get out and take the two hours necessary to play, I decided against the otherwise excellent 1960: The Making of the President, instead opting for Campaign Manager 2008.

Both games are from Z-Man Games and both are designed by Christian Leonhard and Jason Matthews who have also designed the forthcoming Founding Fathers, a multi-player game about the writing of the United States Constitution from Jolly Roger Games, another game that I am looking forward to. Not surprisingly, there are plenty of parallels between 1960: The Making of the President and Campaign Manager 2008. Both are two-player card driven games that simulate a US election, the first between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy in 1960, the second between John McCain and Barack Obama in 2008. Both are built around capturing the States necessary to gain the Electoral Votes that will vault the candidate into the White Office, but while the first has the candidates battling for all fifty States, the second concentrates on just twenty key or “battleground” states. This is the main difference between the two games, but Campaign Manager 2008 is also a much shorter game, with less of an emphasis on historical detail and the issues it was fought over.

Also, in Campaign Manager 2008, the players do not take the roles of the candidates, but their campaign managers, constructing and using a deck of cards to gain Support or voters and swing the issues in each of the twenty States at stake. The cards represent the strategy and the resources each manager has at hand, and each will be able to use them again and again as they are drawn from a refreshed deck. What cards and thus what resources a manager has to hand will also rise and fall – going all out to win that all important State will mean burning through resources that he will have to garner later on, leaving his opponent to win other States...

Opening up the box finds some ninety Campaign Strategy cards, twenty Breaking News event cards, twenty Battleground State tiles, a Scoring Chart, twenty Scoring Tiles, twenty-four wooden Support Markers, four wood Issue Markers, a single Going Negative die, the Going Negative Chart, plus an eight page Rule Book. All of these components are done in full colour, either on good card stock or in solid wood.

The focus of the game, essentially the playing area, are the twenty Battleground State tiles, ten of them the key target States for Obama, ten of them for McCain. They are Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia for McCain, and Colorado, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin for Obama.

Each Battleground State tile is three-and-a-half by five inches and depicts the State itself broken down into its voting districts, plus its abbreviation and the number of Electoral Votes it possesses. At the top and bottom of the State is an identical row of circular spaces in three colours representing the Voters in the State. Red circles support McCain, Blue support Obama, while white circles represent Undecided Voters. The row at the top of the State reflect the opinions of the Voters on the Defence Issue and is next to the Defence Symbol (a tank), while the bottom reflects their opinion on the Economy, likewise next the Economy Symbol (the almighty Dollar). Between the Defence and Economy Symbol on the left hand side of the State runs a four-space Issue Track. Throughout the contest for each State, the importance of each issue will change, reflected by an Issue Marker which will point towards the Defence or the Economy Symbol. The Issue that the Issue Marker points towards is the Majority Issue, while the one it points away from is the Minority issue. On the right hand side of a Battleground State tile are two spaces for Demographic Groups. Throughout the game, a Key Demographic marker sits in one of these spaces to indicate that it is the current Key Demographic in that State. It is possible to target the current Key Demographic to sway the State’s Undecided Voters (represented by empty white Voter spaces).

Taking Florida as an example, it provides twenty seven Electoral Votes, and its Key Demographics are either Jewish Conservatives or Latinos. Along the top and bottom are five Voter spaces. Alongside the Defence Issue they break down as two Red (McCain), one Blue (Obama), and two White (Undecided), while alongside the Economy Issue they break down as two Red (McCain), two Blue (Obama), and one White (Undecided). In order to win a State, all of its Voters need must support his Candidate in the Majority Issue. In general, McCain is stronger on Defence issues, while Obama is stronger on the Economy.

In order to win a State, a Campaign Manager has to play Campaign Strategy cards gain both Voters and shift the Issue Marker to the Issue that has most Voters in. There are ninety of these cards, divided equally between the two campaign managers, with blue backs for the Democrats and Red for the Republicans. Each Campaign Strategy card lists its type, its title, and its game instructions, along with an appropriate photograph and some colour text, the latter a note to the campaign manager’s team. For example, “Judgement To Lead” is an “Advertising: Minority Issue” type card for Obama. In game terms it provides one Support (or a Voter) in the Minority Issue of a single State and shifts the Issue Tracker in that State one space towards its Minority Issue. The photograph shows Obama at a podium with the attached note, “We need to contrast McCain’s experience against BHO’s judgement.”

Some Campaign Strategy cards are marked with the symbol of a six-sided die. When this card is played it indicates that the campaign has gone Negative. The card in question is invariably highly effective, but playing it has consequences, providing a random benefit to a campaign manager’s opponent. The effect in question, including adding Support, shifting an Issue, or altering the Key Demographic in a State, as well as allowing the opposing campaign manager to draw extra cards is determined randomly by rolling the die against the Going Negative Chart.

There are also twenty Breaking News event cards, representing random events that come into play when a State is won and a new one enters play. Each of these comes into play once per game and usually applies to the new State, unless one campaign manager has a Media Support Campaign Strategy card in play, in which case he can control which State it affects. For example, the “Campaign Fatigue?” Breaking News – breaking on ZNN or Z-Man Network News, that is – forces the removal of all Support (Voter) markers from the affected State.

Lastly, there is the rule book itself. It is easy to read, explains everything clearly, and makes the game easy to both understand and teach.

Setting up the game is quick and easy. Each player chooses two Battleground State tiles and places them in the middle of table adding the Key Demographic and Issue Markers as indicated on each tile. Each campaign manager then drafts from the forty five Campaign Strategy cards that he has available to him, a deck of fifteen cards. This is the Campaign Deck that he will use throughout the game. From this Campaign Deck, he draws a starting hand of three cards. If neither player wants to go through the draft process or chose their initial Battleground States, then the game does come with quicker set up solution that also works for those new to the game. Fifteen of the Campaign Strategy cards for each candidate are marked with a star, as are two of the Battleground State tiles for each candidate – Florida, Michigan, Missouri, and New Jersey. Each candidate will play the game using these fifteen Campaign Strategy cards and start play using the two starred Battleground State tiles.

Once set up is done, for example, with the beginning States of Florida, Michigan, Missouri, and New Jersey, the campaign begins. On his turn, a campaign manager can undertake just one action. He can either play a Campaign Strategy card or he can draw one from his deck. He will need to do the latter because he will quickly use up the cards in his hand, the trick being to know when. Having more cards in your hand gives a campaign manager more options, allowing him to increase Support for his candidate in a particular State or to respond to his opponent’s activities. Fortunately, some Campaign Strategy cards allow an extra card to be drawn after it has been played, thus ensuring that a campaign manager has options in his hand. A campaign manager also has to be careful when to play Campaign Strategy cards that force him to Go Negative – as powerful as they are, and as useful as they are in grabbing that all important big State, they do have consequences.

Play continues until a State is won. Its winner gains its Electoral Votes which are marked with the Scoring Tile that corresponds to the State in question, the Scoring Tile being placed on the Scoring Chart. Essentially, the Scoring Chart looks like the kind of graphic you would find on television on its coverage of an election night. The Scoring Tiles do not quite fit on the Chart, but this is more a problem of the tags being left on each Tile after their having been punched out. To be fair, both players only need to know their positions relative to each other and what matters is who gains those all too important two-hundred-and-seventy Electoral Votes. This is how a Presidential Election and Campaign Manager 2008 are both won.

The winner of a State also gets to chose which new Battleground State is added to the fray. A Breaking News card is drawn and its effects are applied to the new State. Play continues as normal.

Play in Campaign Manager 2008 tends to ebb and flow. Not just in the way in which Campaign Strategy cards pass through each players’ hands, but the way in which momentum can be gained and lost as one campaign manager wins a State and is able to bring another of his target Battleground States. It also offers each player plenty of choice: what Campaign Strategy cards to draft, when to play or draw a card, which States to target or defend, and then which new State to bring out.

A game of Campaign Manager 2008 is supposed to last about forty five minutes, although we found that it generally lasts longer. Each of the games we have played has been very tight, invariably coming down to a single State that would win either candidate the Presidency. The wins have also been balanced between McCain and Obama, no candidate having a real advantage over the other. Thematically, Campaign Manager 2008 feels a little odd. It is strong in terms of handling an actual Presidential Election, but not that strong in terms of the 2008 US Election. What this means is that there is less opportunity or reason for “table talk,” to really bring out the personalities and issues of the campaign in roleplaying terms. Conversely, this means that the election’s politics do not get in the way of the game. Of course, this is not an issue with the longer, deeper 1960: The Making of the President.

From our plays, we were also unsure about the game’s card mechanics. They do add a strong resource management aspect to the game, their movement through a campaign manager’s hand representing the ebb and flow of resources and stratagems available, but we have been experimenting with being able to draw from all of a campaign manger’s Campaign Strategy cards, adding a draw phase at the end of a player’s turn. It makes for a faster game, but does mean that the ebb and flow feel of the game is reduced.

What Campaign Manager 2008 really offers is solid thoughtful play for two players in something longer than a filler game, but shorter than a bigger game. Its theme is strong enough that it really does feel as if you are battling out for the Presidential Election, but without the raucous nature and politics of the actual election and its issues getting in the way. The game play is simple, but the ideas underlying the game are complex and require the players to think about their decisions rather than rely on luck. If neither you nor your opponent has $2.4 billion between them, Campaign Manager 2008 is about the quickest, easiest, cheapest way to see if you can become the leader of the free world.

Add Depth To Your Shallows

Taking your average Dungeons & Dragons character and dropping him into the ocean and what you get is, well, for want of a better term, “a fish out of water.” The problems that arise when a character takes to the sea are threefold. First, his movement is restricted – he is no longer walking but swimming. Second, his weapons are no longer as effective – thrusting, piercing weapons work better than those that cut or bludgeon. Third, it is no longer the right atmosphere for him – few if any, player character races can breathe underwater. Although it is possible for a character to take feats and acquire magic items that allow him to take to a life in the deep, the problem with that is that it means that he is limited on both land and at sea. The option then is to take the whole campaign to sea, which is what Sunken Empires: Treasures and Terrors of the Deep, the latest supplement from Open Design for the Pathfinder RPG does, but rather than focus on a life on the ocean waves, it dives off the coast and into Dungeons & Dragons’ ancient past.

There is a very archaeological feel to Sunken Empires: Treasures and Terrors of the Deep, exploring as it does the upper reaches of the lost sunken city of Ankeshel and above it, the twin towns of Cassadega, the upper established by sages to study the undersea ruins, the lower by Merfolk to handle trade with the surface folk. Just eighty years ago, the opening of the tomb of priest-king Thalassos IV revealed incredible artefacts, pieces of technology long lost, including weapons such as spears, nets, and tridents powered by Vril Batteries. In the years since, Cassadega has become a haven for both sages and treasure seekers, the town growing to support both...

Although Ankeshel serves as an adventuring location and Cassadega as a base for those adventures, neither are never more than sketched out in Sunken Empires, but their inclusion serves as example of what the DM could create, and almost every element in the supplement easily supports this setting, not one of those elements is so tied to the setting that he not could use them in his own campaign. This shows a certain lightness of touch in both the intent of Sunken Empires and upon the part of authors.

All of this is underpinned by the Classics. The Classics in Dungeons & Dragons terms with not only a discussion of the ecology of the Aboleth, the Lawful Evil eel-like psionically capable Aberrations that first appeared in I1, Dwellers in the Forbidden City back in 1981 (which also introduced the Yuan-ti), but also “A History of the Aboleth.” This is written by the author of I1, Dwellers in the Forbidden City and the creator of the Aboleth, David “Zeb” Cook, and serves as the introduction to Sunken Empires. The Classics in terms of classic lost civilisations, as the supplement examines in turn, Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu with a nod to H.P. Lovecraft along the way, drawing elements and aspects from each to create Ankeshel.

In order for an adventurer to explore Ankeshel or other sunken locale, Sunken Empires introduces the Pelagic Class, each a variation upon the core classes – for whichever version of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, you are using – adapted to work and explore beneath the waves. For example, the Pelagic Barbarian is a pearl diver or whaler from the islands, who can swim like a shark and grapple like a kraken, while the Sorcerer can be born with the bloodline of the Aboleth, the ocean itself, or Ankeshel’s Vril energy. These Pelagic Classes are supported with a range of aquatically themed Feats, plus oceanic Domains for the Cleric and Glyph schools – which let a Wizard store his magic into inscribed esoteric symbols – for the Wizard, while the new player character race, the Maeran or Half-Merfolk, is a perfect addition if the DM intends to take his campaign back and forth between Upper and Lower Cassadega, and then down into Ankeshel beyond.

The H.P. Lovecraft references continue with the inclusion of Shoggoth Polyps – grow your own Shoggoth, anyone? – in the various lists of aquatic equipment and lost technologies. Once a GM takes his game to the waters, the various devices and weapons here will get plenty of use. There are gaff hooks and sawfish swords, suits of sharkskin armour complete with a snapping shark jaw helmet, a deep compass which always points up, sea rot powder which will rust any iron or steel it touches, and the new Cassadegan electromagnetic coil and cryothermic guns – built upon Ankeshelian relics – that will have a player champing at the bit to own and use. Equally, the DM will enjoy outfitting his villains with the new items described in Sunken Empires, some of which do verge upon being quite pulpy in nature.

Magic has a chapter all its very own, providing new spells aplenty for all of the core classes and magic items for all. Both of these continue the marine theme, with detailed spells such as Defy Depth and Ink Cloud, but the Wizard’s Glyph schools and the associated spells given here are just as likely to find a home in land based campaigns as they are in ocean based ones. Of the magic items, many are enchanted versions of equipment already described, but many are quite specific. There are Sharktooth Daggers and Stingray Whips, Buoyant Chests and Everbreath Masks, Obscuring Sands and Octopus Bracers – instant tentacles! – but by far, one item stands out as it continues the book’s Cthulhu references. Actually the reference is more octopoid than Cthulhuesque, the Tentacled Shield possessing tentacles that can be commanded by the wielder to animate and attempt to disarm an opponent!

For the GM there is a chapter on running a Sunken Empires campaign, which guides him through the possibilities and dangers of running an underwater game level by level and describes the hazards to be found between the shore and the Underdeep. He also has a handful of new monsters to throw at his players, from the humble Goblin Shark to the Isonade, a gargantuan beast that delights in the destruction of seaside communities. There are new Familiars too, such as the Horseshoe Crab, the Blue-Ringed Octopus, and the Sea Horse, perfect for the Wizard who does not want to get his Weasel wet.

Physically, Sunken Empires is a fantastic looking book. The artwork, even though done by several artists, has a uniformly heavy style and a feel of foreboding throughout. The cartography is equally as good, but you just know that both the book’s maps and many of its illustrations would look even better in colour. 

As an aside, Sunken Empires begins with an excerpt from a Derro A-B-C nursery rhyme, which begs the question, exactly where can I find the rest of it? Or is it being saved for a Derro sourcebook? My musings aside, what do I think of Sunken Empires? To begin with, not one of its eighty pages goes to waste, each and every one them being packed to the gills with useful information – information that the authors manage to keep in perfect balance between being setting specific and generic in nature. That the information builds nicely upon classic Dungeons & Dragons elements will be enjoyed by the long time fan of that game, that the information is developed into the basis for a campaign all of its very own will be appreciated by all.

With the potential to add new depths to the shallows of your campaign, Sunken Empires: Treasures and Terrors of the Deep literally the only thing that this supplement is missing is a full campaign of scenarios set in Cassadega and Ankeshel.

Look Up! Look up!

As much as I enjoy Call of Cthulhu, there are several aspects to it that are better addressed by its more modern licensed counterpart, Trail of Cthulhu. Published by Pelgrane Press and designed by Ken Hite using the GUMSHOE System first seen in Robin D. Laws’ Esoterrorists, what Trail of Cthulhu handles better is the discovery of clues (if an investigator has the appropriate skill, he gets the clue, if he wants more information, he can spend points on it), investigator motivations with Drives (which explain why the ordinary person would look into something as terrible and as alien as the Mythos), and in some ways, the feel of the game. Call of Cthulhu veers towards a Pulp style of play, with investigators often being able to recover the Sanity that they lost from encountering a Mythos entity and when they did encounter said entity, it was the application of gunfire that defeated it. While Trail of Cthulhu can do the Pulp style, its natural inclination is towards Purist style in which each Mythos entity is less quantifiable, that there is no way in which an investigator can regain Sanity lost to a Mythos encounter, and in which any resort to the use of firearms is futile. Of course, the Purist style does lend itself to the one-shot scenario rather than the continued campaign, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Of the Purist style scenarios released to date, the best has been The Dying of St. Margaret’s by Graham Walmsley. An investigation into the events at a grey and soulless all girls’ school on a remote Scottish island, the scenario proved to be a wonderfully bleak affair that made effective use of the investigators’ Drives to push and pull them in, and their Credit Rating scores to provide different avenues of investigation. Walmsley has now followed up The Dying of St. Margaret’s with The Watchers in the Sky, an affair that will draw disparate men and women to the North of England and into the clutches of a cult dedicated to a strange biology. As with The Dying of St. Margaret’s, this is another two-session or so one-shot complete with pre-generated investigators. It includes guidelines for creating suitable investigators if a player wants one of his own design. To be honest though, the characters are suitable for the scenario and creating a new investigator just delays the start of the game. Lastly and unlike The Dying of St. Margaret’s, this scenario does not contain any rules for running it in the Pulp style, but to be equally as honest, their presence would be superfluous.

Whether the players are using the five pre-generated investigators or not, The Watchers in the Sky begins with three hooks that bring them together at Brichester University. In South London, they find that an inmate at an asylum is paranoid that the birds he feeds are watching him while at a nearby scientific laboratory, others find their experiments are disrupted by strange misshapen birds that watch constantly. Lastly, at Brichester University the dissection of an unknown bird reveals a strange biology. What exactly is the secret behind these birds, each one constructed from human, animal and alien body parts?

It requires a little effort upon the part of the GM to bring the five investigators together, and to get them to the Lake District village of Rydal, replete with initially recalcitrant villagers and secrets to share... This required effort is the first of two issues of concern with The Watchers in the Sky. It is that in places, the scenario is heavy handed in getting its players and their investigators where they need to be. The other issue is that not everything in the scenario is explained, that what exactly is going on in The Watchers in the Sky actually remains as mystery. Neither of these issues it should be made clear have a crippling effect upon the scenario, though a less experienced group of players might find both experiences frustrating. The inclusion of the mystery is intentional, the author both wanting to keep the Mythos unknowable and to leave the players to wonder at the mystery, if not fill in the blanks themselves...

The author has some fun with the game’s Stability rules, introducing an alternative rule called “Drive yourself Crazy” that suggests the players take control of when their investigators suffer Stability loss rather than the GM, their being encouraged to call for Stability Checks rather than the GM hand them out. Throughout the pages of The Watchers in the Sky, the points at which Stability can be lost are clearly marked. Further, the author suggests in effect that the process be turned into a race between the players to see which of their investigators go mad first. The aim here is to have the GM and players alike explore the unwritten point of the Purist game – to drive the investigators mad.

As with The Dying of St. Margaret’s, the author also makes use of Directed Scenes to flesh out NPCs, the primary purpose these being to strengthen the links that each investigator has with his or her Sources of Stability. He also suggests that the other players be allowed, even be encouraged to have them to take the roles of friendly NPCs in these scenes. This push to get everyone involved – whether their investigators are involved in a scene or not, together with the fact that each of the scenario’s major NPCs is succinctly sketched out, complete with suggestions as to how he or should be portrayed, is indicative of Walmsley’s acting and improvisation background.

The GUMSHOE System means that finding clues in Trail of Cthulhu is very easy, yet it is made even easier in The Watchers in the Sky. For each clue there are at least two suggestions given as what skills can be applied and an explanation as how they are applied along with a result. These explanations almost work as mini-scenes in themselves, fitting alongside the other scenes in the scenario.

Available as a thirty-six page, greyscale 12.98 Mb PDF, in terms of presentation The Watchers in the Sky is up to the standards of other Trail of Cthulhu titles. It needs an edit here and there, but such errors are minor. Similarly, while not all of Jérôme Huguenin’s art quite matches the description in the text, each and every single illustration is an excellent, sometimes sombre and foreboding piece of art.

Despite some reservations about how heavy handed and lacking in explanation the less experienced will find this scenario, there is a lot to like in The Watchers in the Sky. As with the author’s earlier The Dying of St. Margaret’s, it focuses upon another aspect of the investigator rules in Trail of Cthulhu. In The Dying of St. Margaret’s, that focus was upon an investigator’s Drive, what made him look into the Mythos, but in The Watchers in the Sky it is his Sources of Stability, what keeps him grounded in our perceived reality. That said, this focus is more understated, the players being expected to become aware of certain coincidences and parallels as the events of The Watchers in the Sky unfold. The mood is also different, this scenario being more odd, more mysterious, more weird than The Dying of St. Margaret’s, which was bleak and grey in comparison.

Lastly it should pointed that since this is a one-shot scenario, and thus comes with its own set of epilogues, the format is not unlike that of a short story, except that it is roleplayed through rather than read. Another fine example of the Purist style, what The Watchers in the Sky offers then is a chance for the players to encounter the mysterious and the unknowable whilst playing out their own weird tale.