Symbaroum's Promise

Ambria is a young kingdom. Barely two decades old, it was founded on the ruins of the ancient and long-lost empire of Symbaroum as the refuge for the survivors fleeing north over the mountains from the Kingdom of Alberetor as it fell to an onslaught from the necromantic Dark Lords. Ruled by its young queen, Korinthia, Ambria sees itself as the last bastion of civilisation and its duty as to drive back the darkness that pervades the Davokar Forest that dominates the land to the north and which has no end. Already, the capital, Yndaros, is a shining beacon of culture and civilisation, but towns have been established closer to the eaves of the forest, such as Thistle Hold. From Thistle Hold and these other towns, treasure hunters, theurgs of the Sun God, Prios, mystics of the Ordo Magica, and others set out to explore the dark under the forest canopy, hoping to learn its secrets, locate long lost ruins of Symbaroum, and perhaps return with treasures of the past that will make them rich.

In conquering the verdant lands that have become Ambria, the kingdom has also subdued barbarian clans and goblin tribes, whilst pushing to explore and exploit the Davokar Forest, it may have done worse. It may have broken the Iron Pact. This is an agreement between mankind and the elves, the ancient and mysterious folk of the forest, that the forest would remain untouched. Now as mankind probes ever deeper under its shadowed canopy, elves strike at the interlopers and more—they besiege villages and they swap human babies for changelings… Many of the barbarian clans and the witches that advise their chieftains still hold to the Iron Pact, but there are worse dangers than barbarians and witches and elves in the forest. There are creatures and plants and places that blight explorers, corrupting their souls, perhaps unto darkness. This is in addition to the dangers that many bring into the forest themselves. In particular, magic. Casting any spell or ritual may also corrupt the soul as much as it aids the caster and his allies. The disciplines of theurgy, witchcraft, and wizardry are means to use both magic and withstand its corruptive influences, but there are Sorcerers who practise magic unheedful of the corruption. There are even others who embrace it... 

This is the set up for Symbaroum, a Swedish RPG published by Järnringen that was released in English following a successful Indiegogo campaign. Now distributed by Modiphius Entertainment, it is surprising how quickly Symbaroum has made it to the English-speaking market. It was originally published in 2014 and then published in 2015 in English; foreign language RPGs usually take much longer—in some cases, decades—to appear in English. What Symbaroum presents is a dark, earthy fantasy RPG, in effect set in a limited region, on the edge of civilisation, with a strong sense of the foreboding. From this set up, certain parallels can be drawn between Symbaroum and other RPGs. The first is Dragon Age RPG Core Rulebook from Green Ronin Publishing, primarily for its tone with the threat of impending demonic invasion, but also for its three character Class (plus options) structure. The second is Monte Cook Games’ Numenera, with which Symbaroum also shares a three character Class (plus options) structure as well as having player facing mechanics. Yet perhaps the RPG that Symbaroum has the most common in with, is the French RPG, Les Ombres d'Esteren or Shadows of Esteren, in particular in its tone and presentation. It also shares the same sense of isolation, but Symbaroum is much more focused RPG with a smaller playing area than Shadows of Esteren and where the horror in Shadows of Esteren verges upon the Lovecraftian sense of a greater unknown, that of Symbaroum is earthier and more primal in its feel.

Essentially the setting for Symbaroum amounts to a pair of regions. The first being Ambria, the newly founded kingdom, the other being Davokar Forest. Both regions are detailed in the opening quarter of the Symbaroum Core Rulebook. In particular, it details the capital of Ambria, Yndaros; Thistle Hold, the northernmost outpost from where a great many expeditions set out into the Davokar Forest just a few hundred yards from its palisades and which has grown rich on the finds that some survivors bring back; and Karvosti, the great cliff that rises from the forest that is home to home to the High Chieftain of all of the barbarian clans and chief witch or Huldra, the site of the twice-a-year market or Thingstead, and which worryingly for both the High Chieftain and the Huldra, has more recently become an important site for the Church of Prios. Although there are many gods—and each barbarian clan has its own as well as respecting nature, in Ambria, Prios has become all but the only faith because it the light of the Sun that guided Queen Korinthia to safety and will bring light beneath Davokar’s canopy. All three locations are described in some detail, including notable places and peoples, but of the three, it is Thistle Hold that is given the most attention, since in the default set-up for Symbaroum, it is from here that the player characters will set out into the forest, having already purchased their Explorer’s Licenses. In comparison though, the description of Davokar Forest feels all too brief, and whilst this is at the front of the book in a section intended to be read by player and GM alike, it does have an effect on the game as a whole—as will be seen in the GM’s section.

Each character in Symbaroum is defined by his Archetype, Attributes, Race, and Abilities. Symbaroum gives three Archetypes—Warrior, Mystic, and Rogue—which can be defined by an Occupation. There are five of these for each Archetype, each one suggesting important Attributes and Abilities as well as an appropriate Race in order to create that Occupation. This means that a Warrior might be a duellist, knight, or sellsword; a Mystic a witch, wizard, or Theurg; and a Rogue a witch hunter, treasure-hunter, or ranger. This gives quite a good mix of character options, but of course, a player is also free to design his character as he wants. Each character has eight attributes—Accurate, Cunning, Discreet, Persuasive, Quick, Resolute, Strong, and Vigilant—that range between one and twenty. There are five choices when it comes to Race—Ambrian (Human), Barbarian (Human), Changeling, Goblin, and Ogre. Changelings are the replacements left behind after the Elves have stolen a Human child. They look Human when babies, but grow more Elf-like as they age and their very strangeness usually means that they are rejected by their human families and forced to fend for themselves. The short-lived Goblins are little tolerated, but used as labour in many towns. They are also short-tempered and have a tendency to survive their knockabout existence. Ogres are also little tolerated, but they are long-lived and tough. They lumber out of the forest with no idea of who they are and goblins or humans typically take them in and teach them. Each of the Races has its own Traits, for example Ambrians have Contacts or Privileged, Ogres tend to have Robust, and Changelings have Shapeshifter. 

Where each Race has its own Traits, all characters have access to Abilities, each of which represents a skill or knowledge. There are over thirty of them listed in the game, ranging from Acrobatics, Alchemy, and Backstab to Witchcraft, Witchsight, and Wizardry via Berserker, Loremaster, Shield Fighter, Strangler, and Twin Attack. Each has three Ranks—Novice, Adept, and Master—as do some Traits. So for example, at Novice Rank, a character with the Men-at-Arms Trait knows how to use his armour for maximum effect and increase its protection value by one die step—for example, from a six-sided to an eight-sided die; at Adept Rank, armour no longer impedes actions based on the Quick Attribute, including Defense; and at Master Rank, he can use his armour to stop the armour-piercing effect of armour-piercing arrows or bolts.

Character creation itself consists of a player selecting an Archetype and an Occupation followed by a Race. Either eighty points are divided amongst the eight attributes or a package of set points assigned to the eight. Whichever method used, a player character can have no Attribute higher than fifteen or lower than five. Then he has five points to spend on Abilities (and some Traits), with no Ability Rank being higher than Adept. This can either be  two abilities at Novice level and one at Adept level or with five abilities at Novice level. Lastly each player should define two further aspects about his character. One is his character’s goal, but the other is his Shadow, an expression of his spiritual essence and alliance. For example, characters allied to nature have a Shadow expressed in natural colours, whilst that of those allied to civilisation, have a Shadow of metallic tones. A corrupted or blighted Shadow may appear aged or chipped, blackened or spotted, and so on. The nature of a character’s Shadow can be discerned by certain magics, such as Witchsight.

Edogai is the son of Ambrian nobility, disowned for his dissolute ways even in the face of the onslaught of the Dark Lords. He fled north over the Titans to the new land of Ambria, hoping to find a place for himself, but he became no more than a sellsword and a drunk one at that. Family ties remain strong though and with each refugee caravan that passes over the Titans he yearns for news of survivors, if not to learn of what happened to them. He does not fight to kill, but to show off his skills and sometimes he is too proud of his sword arm.

Edogai
Race Human (Ambrian)
Archetype Warrior Occupation Duellist
Traits Privileged
Accurate 13 Cunning 10 Discreet 05 Persuasive 15
Quick 11 Resolute 10 Strong 09 Vigilant 07 
Abilities Acrobatics (Novice), Dominate (Novice), Man-at-Arms (Novice), Quick Draw (Novice), Twin Attack (Novice)
Weapons Fencing Sword (1d8), Parrying Dagger (1d6)
Armour Lacquered Silk Cuirass (1d8)
Defence 11
Toughness 10 Pain Threshold 05 Corruption Threshold 05
Equipment 
Shadow Rippling Quicksilver
Goal To learn of his family’s fate

Symbaroum uses a straightforward set of mechanics. At their core is a roll against an appropriate attribute on a twenty-sided die. All rolls are made by the player—the GM never has to roll the die. So a player character might roll his Vigilance to spot a guard, but the same guard would not roll to spot the player character, but rather the character would roll his Discreet to avoid being spotted. Modifiers tend to be static or opposed. Both type range between -5 and +5, but the former are simple modifiers typically based on the circumstances, for example, how complex a lock might be to pick or the icy conditions under hand and foot when climbing a wall. The latter are determined by the opposing character’s Attributes, whether a player character or an NPC. So if the NPC opposing the character has a low attribute, the character receives a higher bonus, if the NPC has a high attribute, the modifier is low.

For example, Eodogai has fallen out with the landlord of the Lothar’s Lodgings over an unpaid bill and the landlord has kept some of Edogai’s belongings. The young duellist has sneaked into the landlord’s room and is searching for them. The GM calls for Edogai to make a Vigilant [-2] to hear the maid coming down the corridor. With a Vigilant of 7, Edogai needs to roll a 5, but rolls an 11 and is surprised by the maid entering the room. Fortunately, Edogai is quick thinking and when the maid asks him what he is doing in her boss’ room, he turns on the charm and attempts to seduce her. The GM asks for a [Persuasive←Resolute] roll. This means that Edogai’s roll will be modified by the maid’s Resolute Attribute, which is 9 and gives him a +1 modifier. So his target is 16 and Edogai rolls a 7 and succeeds…

Combat uses the same key mechanic. Accurate is rolled to make attacks and Defence is rolled to avoid them, but both Damage and Armour—called effect dice—are rolled. What is interesting is that there is no initiative roll. Instead Initiative is conditional. So a character with a spear or polearm might attack first because his weapon has reach, but only on the opening attack as after the first round his opponent has stepped inside the weapon’s reach. Other Attributes also have an effect on initiative, such as Quick Draw. Once in combat, a character typically receive one movement action and one combat action per round. Any damage suffered by a character is deducted from the character’s Toughness. Notably, should a character suffer damage in one blow equal to his Pain Threshold, he is knocked down and can suffer further attacks. Most monsters and NPCs will die when they lose all of their Toughness, but player characters are merely dying and make a Death Test until they get better, die, or someone stabilises then.

For example, after his tryst in the landlord’s bed of Lothar’s Lodgings with the maid, Edogai has slipped out of the building into the dark streets of Thistle Hold. Making his way to his new lodgings, the duellist hears a sound from a nearby alley—that of fist upon flesh. It is followed by a man saying, “That was for the last Elf attack you Changeling bitch!” Stepping into the alley Edogai can see three burly thugs standing over a slim, female Changeling who is on all fours in the dirt of the alley floor. The young duellist clears his throat and when the two thugs turn towards him he says, “I don’t think that two on one is fair fight, do you?” The thugs look at each other unsure how as to answer, which gives Edogai the chance to taunt them with, “I think that the three of you against me is much fairer fight.” With that the thugs heft their clubs and charge towards the duellist.

As yet, Edogai does not have his weapons drawn, so he uses his Quick Draw Ability to draw his weapons as a Free Action. This requires a Quick Test. Edogai’s Quick is 11 and his rolls a 9—the duellist has both fencing sword and parrying dagger in his hands as the thugs lumber towards him. For his first attack Edogai is not going to use his Accurate Attribute, but instead use his already taunt together with Dominate Ability. This allows him to test his Persuade rather than his Accurate. The thugs each have a Defence of +4, so this is added to Edogai’s Persaude to give him a target of 19! Edogai also gets a +1 to this attack because his fencing sword has the Precise quality, but since a roll of 20 is always a failure, the attack is as high as it can be.

Edogai rolls a 5 to hit with his fencing sword and then 1d8 for a result of 8 for the damage. Now where a player character would roll to determine how much protection his armour would give him, an NPC has a set value for his armour (as well as how damage his weapons do). In this case, the thugs are wearing hardened armour and this gives each thug two points of protection. These two points are deducted from the damage, so the first thug suffers 6 points of damage. Not only is this deducted from the thug’s Toughness of 10, but it beats the thug’s Toughness Threshold and causes him great agony, causing him to fall to the floor with a very nasty slice to his forearm. This also allows Edogai a Free Attack in addition to the second attack he gains with the Twin Attack Ability. The GM rules that the Free Attack is a standard attack rather than one using Edogai’s Dominate Ability. So the attack is equal to his Accurate (13) plus the Precise Quality (+1) of his sword and the modifier for the thug’s Defence (+3). So still 17 and with a roll of 10 to hit and 4 for damage, this enough to leave the thug with a Toughness of 2 and seriously rethinking his decision.

Meanwhile Edogai has a second attack with the parrying dagger. The target is just 16 (Accurate 13 plus thug’s Defence of +3) and with a roll of 9 to hit, followed by 5 on the damage die, Eodgai flicks the short blade to nick a second thug with 3 damage as he moves into flank the duellist. Now Edogai has to roll to avoid the thug’s attacks. These are against his Defence (11), modified by the Balanced Quality of the parrying dagger (+1) and the Twin Attack Ability (+1), for a total of 13. The two thugs remaining crowd in on him, in the process gaining an Advantage by Flanking him. This gives the thugs -2 to Edogai’s Defence rolls and an extra two points of damage in addition to the standard four they would inflict if Edogai cannot defend himself with his re-adjusted Defence of 11. Edogai rolls 7 for the first attack and successfully parries, but with a roll of 12, cannot stop the second attack. For his Lacquered Silk Cuirass armour Edogai only rolls a 2, so he takes a 4 point bash to the shoulder. With a Toughness left of 6, Edogai needs to deal with the thugs fast…

Magic in Symbaroum is divided into four Traditions—Sorcery, Theurgy, Witchcraft, and Wizardry, and each tradition has its own set of spells and rituals as well as there being spells and rituals shared between them. Sorcerers believe that the world is already corrupt and dying and embrace Corruption, and have spells and rituals like Unholy Aura and Enslave. Theurgs are devoted to Prios, the Sun God, and preach their faith as well as having spells and rituals like Holy Aura and Command Confession. Witches embrace nature, their primitive nature consisting of spells and rituals such as Entangling Vines and Turn Weather. Wizards study magic and thus approach it in a more logical fashion. In Ambria they are members of the Ordo Magica and know spells and rituals like Brimstone Cascade and Clairvoyance. 

Of course anyone can learn magic in Symbaroum, but learning a spell or ritual also gains the practitioner permanent Corruption—and this in addition to the temporary Corruption gained for casting a spell or ritual. Typically, the amatuer practioneer will gain too much Corruption and be blighted, if not burnt up, by it, that is if he is not hunted down and killed by a witch hunter. Yet this is where the benefits of belonging to a tradition come to the fore, since a Mystic will not gain the permanent Corruption that he would if he were not a member of a Tradition. This does not stop a Mystic gaining temporary Corruption and should he gain as much as his Resolute attribute, then he will become a creature of the blight and an NPC, though he will have gained possibly noticeable blight marks in the meantime (this also applies to Corruption gained whilst exploring the Davokar Forest). Essentially this mechanic counters a Mystic’s overuse of his spells and rituals though he can otherwise cast as freely as he wants or needs to.

Mechanically, each Tradition, each spell, and each ritual is treated as an Ability with the same three ranks as other Abilities. With just five points to assign to his Abilities during character creation, a Mystic is going to know just a Tradition and a few spells or rituals at most. Symbaroum does not present a wide diversity of spells or rituals, but then a Mystic is never going to know a huge selection anyway and the limited choice available is matched by the limited number of points with which to purchase them. The individual spells are nicely themed to the Traditions and are in general more grounded in practicality than they are flashy or showy.

Riamata had a happy childhood until at puberty she began to change and express elf-like features. Her family rejected her and she was forced to fend for herself until Adela, a local witch took her in. Riamata has trained with the witch for over a decade until an attack upon their village scattered the inhabitants and Adela disappeared. All that was left was Adela’s familiar which bonded with Riamata and now the Changeling searches for his missing mistress.

Riamata
Race Changeling
Traits Shapeshifter (Novice)
Archetype Mystic Occupation Witch
Accurate 11 Cunning 10 Discreet 13 Persuasive 07
Quick 09 Resolute 15 Strong 05 Vigilant 10 
Abilities Larvae Boils (Novice), Ritual—Familiar (Novice), Witchcraft (Novice), Witchsight (Novice)
Weapons Stiletto (1d6+1)
Armour Witch Gown (1d4)
Defence 09
Toughness 10 Pain Threshold 05 Corruption Threshold 08
Equipment
Shadow Leaves on the turn
Goal To find out why the Elves leave Changelings

Meanwhile back in the alley, the Changeling who was attacked by the thugs, Riamata, has roused herself after being assaulted and knocked to the ground. She looks to the end of the alley where she sees two of the thugs that attacked her have turned their attention to someone else, whilst one of them lies on the ground. The two remaining  thugs are in danger of flanking this other person, so to even things up, Riamata decides to cast Larvae Boils. This causes larvae to burrow their way out of the spell’s victim. Casting the spell requires her to make a [Resolute←Resolute] test to overcome the thug’s will. The modifier is +3, but the GM rules that the beating she has taken makes Riamata’s task more difficult and levies a -2 penalty. So with new target of 16 (her Resolute plus the thug’s modified Resolute), she rolls 11 and causes the larvae to grow and feed in the thug. This causes him 1d4 damage for as long as Riamata can maintain the spell… It also gains Riamata 1d4 points’ worth of Temporary Corruption.

For the GM there is decent advice for running the game and some optional rules that cover critical attacks, fumbles, instant kills, and even playing as an Abomination should a player character fall prey to Corruption. Advice though for handling and applying the rules feels underwritten as do the rules for handling social situations. The monsters though are nicely handled, being categorised according to the degree of Resistance they offer—Weak, Ordinary, Challenging, and Powerful—and enable the GM to pitch monsters of the right threat level at his player characters. The monsters themselves are creatures and things—things of horror and primeval nature—that would persuade you from entering the woods. The nature of the creatures, such as the spiders, has the feel of The One Ring and the creatures of Mirkwood, but rather more with the feel of the Dark Ages and something more primal. In particular, Symbaroum’s treatment of Elves stands out, their being creatures utterly alien to mankind, even inimicable, but nevertheless are creatures of nature.

Symbaroum includes a starting scenario that raises its own issues. The problem is that ‘The Promised Land’ does not take place in Ambria, but in the Titans, the mountains between Ambria and Alberetor. The player characters—there are nine sample characters provided—are making their way over the Titans, fleeing Alberetor to Ambria. Given that it takes places in a mountain pass, it will surprise no-one that it is rather linear. Broken down into three acts with a strong narrative across the three, it does a decent job of introducing the system and some of the themes, but what it does not do is introduce Ambria or indeed, Davokar Forest and treasure hunting. This only contributes further to the core problem with Symbaroum.

Mechanically, Symbaroum presents a solid set of rules whose primary focus is the player characters. In places though, they do feel underwritten, especially when dealing with social situations and in terms of advice for applying the player facing rules. Which does undermine their objective of leaving the GM to get on with running the game instead of trying to apply those mechanics. Further, whilst the advice for the GM on running and creating scenarios is good, the overall effect is to make Symbaroum an RPG unsuitable for the beginning GM and a challenge even for a more experienced GM who has no experience with as player facing mechanics as those presented here. A GM who has run Numenera or similar RPGs will have less of an issue with this. 

Physically, Symbaroum is an impressive looking book, clean and tidy with an unfussy layout. The writing in general is also good, but it is clear in places that English is not the designers’ primary language with odd turns of phrase and choice of words. In each instance, it is generally obvious what the authors mean, but another round of English language localisation would not have gone amiss. What really makes the Symbaroum Core Rulebook really stand out is its art which is superb, in turns, dark and brooding, dangerous and foreboding, majestic and mysterious, brutal and bloody… So much of the art captures the sense of what Davokar Forest is like and as good as the artwork is, it only exacerbates the problem at the heart of Symboroum.

Ultimately that problem with Symbaroum is that it does not explore or showcase its primary set-up, that of the player characters going into Davokar Forest in search of secrets. Certainly in terms of the setting it has a good starting point with the description of Thistle Hold, as this is where the player characters will set out from to go into the Davokar Forest, and it gives solid means for a GM to take his players and their characters under its canopy. In particular this means the monsters, which are often nasty, earthy creatures that really feel at home in the forest. The Elves stand out here. Yet for an RPG which is about treasure hunting in a mysterious forest, it does not take the players and their characters treasure hunting, it does not show what treasure hunting is like, and it does not begin to explore the secrets under the eaves of the forest. It is so disappointing—and yet…

The hints and the artwork in Symbaroum are so enticing! Even if the RPG does not explore its raison d'être, it provides more than enough information in pages to get a game going. This is because the small scale of the setting means that more attention can be paid to the three core places—Karvosti, Thistle Hold, and Yndaros—Thistle Hold in particular. So each location contains details aplenty that can be worked up into scenarios and adventures and thus the basis for multiple sessions, but there is still Davokar Forest… 

The Symbaroum Core Rulebook presents an atmospheric, dark and foreboding setting on the edge of a new world—though built on the long lost ruins of the old—and combines them with solid mechanics that match the brutality that the setting hints at. It may be disappointing that the RPG never delivers on the unknown of the Davokar Forest it hints so much at, but hopefully the publishers will reveal more soon with future releases.

—oOo—

Note that more information about the Davokar Forest and treasure hunting is available in supplements Adventure Pack 1 and Tomb of Dying Dreams as well as the forthcoming SYMBAROUM: Thistle Hold - Wrath of the Warden. This is the first part of the campaign, Chronicle of the Throne of Thorns, and is on Kickstarter now.

Reviews from R'lyeh plans to review these in the very near future.

Hacking the Big One

Mark Hunt is probably best known for bringing another TSR, Inc. title, GangBusters – 1920’s Adventure Roleplaying Game back to the hobby after an absence of twenty-five years. This began with the release of GBM1 Joe’s Diner and has since led to the release of GangBusters-The Blue Book Detective Agency Beginner Game, a new and introductory edition of the game that focuses on playing private investigators. This, together with a new and expanded edition of GBM-1 Joe’s Diner and Welcome to Rock Junction, formed the basis for the Gangbusters Limited Edition Box BEGINNER GAME. Of course, for professional reasons, Reviews from R’lyeh cannot review any of the aforementioned books or indeed the boxed set, but it can review the author’s World War 2 RPG, The Front.

The first book available for this is The Front Field Manual. Available as a PDF from the usual vendors as well as in print from lulu.com, The Front is a quick and dirty treatment of World War 2 that brings the biggest conflict of the twentieth century to the Old School Renaissance. As much as it is based in the Old School Renaissance, it draws upon more modern approaches to game play and design for its mechanics, as did the more recent The Black Hack, in being player facing.

The Front gives four Classes—Combat, Intelligence, Leadership, and Reconnaissance. A soldier with Combat Training can recover Hit Points (once per hour), make multiple attacks against opponents of lower Hit Dice, and sunder a piece of equipment to avoid damage. With Intelligence Training a soldier has the Advantage with written languages, processing prisoners, and captured documents, whilst through Logistics can locate a desired piece of equipment on the black market. With Leadership Training, a soldier has the Advantage when performing leadership challenges, providing training, and tactics, and through ‘Lead by Example’, have his men fight to the death for him. A Soldier with Reconnaissance Training has the Advantage when attacking from behind and inflicts more damage as well as having the Advantage when listening, picking locks, sneaking, and so on. In addition, each of the Classes can swap out a standard weapon for something more specialised. For example, a soldier with Intelligence Training can take a Thompson Submachine Gun instead of a pistol (though this does look like a mistake—perhaps it should have been instead of a rifle?).

One thing that The Front does address in creating a character is asking what a solider did before he enlisted or was drafted. This is a simple matter of rolling a twenty-sided die and consulting the appropriate table. The result is an occupation, from Unemployed and Plumber to Dilettante and Scientist, which when it applies to the game, the soldier has an Advantage.

Name: Harold R. Schultz Rank: Technician, Fourth Grade
Level 1 Intelligence Training 
Before the war I was a Lawyer
Strength 06 Dexterity 10 Intelligence 15
Awareness 16 Constitution 08 Charisma 11

Hit Points: 08

I have the Advantage with
written languages, processing prisoners, and captured documents, and finding a desired piece of equipment on the black market.

Equipment
Thompson Submachine Gun
Colt M1911 .45 automatic pistol

Mechanically, The Front is very simple. Whenever a soldier wants to take an action that requires a die roll, his player rolls a twenty-sided die and attempts an attribute test against the appropriate attribute. For example, if he needs to spot an ambush, then he must make an Awareness test. The Front is also player facing, meaning that the players make all of the dice rolls rather than the GM. So for example, in combat, a soldier would make Dexterity test not only to shoot his rifle at a target, but also to avoid the incoming blast from an enemy flamethrower. If a soldier has an Advantage on any roll, two twenty-sided dice are rolled and the best result used. Having the Disadvantage works the same way, but the worst result is kept. For example, if Harold Schulz needs to get some information out of a prisoner, he has the Advantage when he makes his Charisma test.

Combat itself is understandably deadly. There are rules for the different types of weapon available, from pistols and grenades to flamethrowers and machine guns, and of course, not only do they do a lot of damage, a soldier does not have a lot of Hit Points. These start out equal to the soldier’s Constitution and in a Gritty game, they do not rise as the soldier gains Levels. The Hollywood option allows for some Hit Points to be gained at each Level. In actuality, Hit Points in The Front represent the amount of damage a soldier may suffer before he is classed as being ‘Out of Action’ and cannot act. Only after an engagement is over will a soldier know if he survived by rolling on an ‘Outcome’ table. This may result in the soldier being KIA or MIA, disfigured, crippled, shell shocked, and so on.

In terms of character progression, The Front has just ten Levels. After that, a soldier is rotated out of combat or promoted away from the front. Only a relatively few Experience Points, for example, five to go from Level One to Level Two, are needed to go up in Level. At each new Level, a soldier can request new equipment, test each attribute to see if it increases in value—these have to be fail rather than succeed to gain the increase, and at Levels Three and Six, assign permanent Advantage to one of his attributes.

The Front not only discusses the nature of campaigns set during World War 2, but also offers campaign ideas. These include playing as partisans, as members of a resistance organisation, and of course, as part of an elite unit. More interesting though, is the campaign idea involving minor or ethnic nationalities. None of these campaign ideas is explored in any great depth, but The Front: Field Manual is a relatively short rulebook. That said, the discussion of the involvement of minorities in the conflict is a welcome one as it is not often addressed in World War 2 set RPGs. Lastly, the option is given to allow the war to go ‘weird’ and essentially have the Nazis unleash Dungeons & Dragons style monsters on the Allies. Again, it is a quick and dirty treatment and other RPGs, notably Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s Weird Wars: Weird War 2 and Modiphius Entertainment’s Achtung! Cthulhu have presented this very familiar idea in more depth and detail.

Physically, The Front: Field Manual is illustrated with a range of suitable photographs. The writing and the layout though, feels rather rushed and is perhaps a bit scrappy in places. If there is an issue with the content, it is twofold. First, it is written with an obviously American slant, but that is no surprise given the nationality of the author and the nationality of the bulk of the audience for this RPG. Second, that perhaps the four given Classes do not quite offer enough variety. Perhaps, the Medic and Engineer Classes would have been reasonable inclusions too?

The Front is essentially The Big One Hack—the ‘Big One’ being the nickname for World War 2. Despite its relatively low number of pages, it packs quite a lot in without getting bogged down in details. Above all, The Front is quick and dirty, but has a suitably deadly feel that reflects the dangers of the fight.

Crow's Black Agents

Things have been very quiet for over the last two years for A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, the RPG based on the fantasy works of George R.R. Martin published by Green Ronin Publishing. Indeed there have been two whole series of the television adaptation, A Game of Thrones, broadcast since the release of the last supplement, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night's Watch, back in 2012. This being the last supplement to be released—though more have been promised, including a full adventure, Dragon’s Hoard—is not its only distinction. One is that A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night's Watch won the 2013 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement, whilst another is that the supplement is the first to take A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying into the unknown and beyond the lands of the Seven Kingdoms.

A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night's Watch can roughly be divided in half, each half devoted to a campaigns equally divided by the Wall, the gigantic structure of ice, stone, and ancient magic that separates the warm lands of lords and kings of Westeros to the south from the frozen and brutal wilderness to the north. the Wall protects the Seven Kingdoms from ancient dangers—many considered to be no more than the stuff of legend—and the Wildlings, the free folk who kneel to no king and constantly work to bypass or ascend the Wall to raid lands beyond. the Wall is constantly manned by the men of the Night’s Watch, thieves, murderers, and members of the nobility who have forsworn their previous lives and pledged their loyalty to the only independent military force in Westeros. On the other side of the Wall the many tribes of the Wildlings live independently, surviving off the land, feuding with each other, but always with an eye to the rich, warmer lands to the south—if they can find a way past the Wall.

Both of the campaign options suggested in Night’s Watch are markedly different to the default given in A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, although the same mechanics are used. That default involves the player characters creating their own noble house and its leading members and attempting to navigate its and their military and political fortunes in the ‘Game of Thrones’ that dominates Westeros as best typified by A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Chronicle Starter—and of course, both the novels and the television series. When they ‘Take the Black’, whether low born or high born, the player characters will forget their pasts and former ties and pledge their allegiance and loyalty to the Night’s Watch—for life. Having done so, they will become Rangers who regularly guard the Wall and conduct missions to the north known as ‘Rangings’; Builders who patrol the Wall and the castles along it, making repairs and maintaining the structure of both; or Stewards, who keep the Night’s Watch organised and supplied. By the reign of Robert Baratheon, these tasks have become increasingly difficult as the stories of the dangers from other side of the Wall have become legends rather than history and the Night’s Watch has become more of a dumping ground for criminals, ne’er do wells, and those nobles who have lost in the constant feuding to the south than a duty to be fulfilled. This does not mean that the men of the Night’s Watch do not hold their duty and their oath to be unimportant, as after all, they face execution should they desert the Wall. Nevertheless, as their numbers and the number of castles on the Wall fully manned dwindle, only they suspect the growing threat as Winter draws near and Mance Rayder is said to have united all of the tribes of the Wildings as the King-Beyond-the Wall.

Creating a character for a Night’s Watch campaign uses the standard rules from A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, but where a player character would usually select a House and a Bloodline, here the Night’s Watch replaces both. Characters will also lack the Status they once had in the Seven Kingdoms. Whatever their role in the Night’s Watch, a character also starts with one less Destiny point with which to purchase Benefits, but in its stead starts with the Brother of the Night’s Watch, which comes with three options, one per branch of the Night’s Watch. In addition to Brother of the Night’s Watch, the supplement introduces a number of new Benefits and Drawbacks, such as Defensive Engineer, Favoured of Wildlings, Convict, and Kneeler. There is still room for the various Roles in A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying—Expert, Fighter, Leader, Rogue, and Schemer—but they do not figure quite as prominently as they do in a standard A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Game. Certainly the Night’s Watch is intolerant of active thieves and there is less scope for a Schemer to intrigue, though rivalries between castles of the Wall are not unknown. 

Our sample character is Endrew Waters. He can barely remember his mother, but he recalls her death and he recalls that on her deathbed, she drew a promise from the local septon that her son would be accepted as a novice of the Faith of the Seven. Orphaned, he began training as a novice, but he found another calling—entertaining. Endrew ran away to join an acting troupe and for over a decade he travelled the Seven Kingdoms, performing before audiences both low born and high born. Two years he performed before House Bracken in the Riverlands and struck up a friendship with the heir that blossomed into an affair. This lasted a few months during which Endrew became a favourite in the Bracken Household, but it was brought to an end when the heir’s mother came to him and told him to leave. Her son she said, was besotted with Endrew and she knew him well enough that he would never consent to marriage and children if Endrew did not leave—and if there was any possibility that Endrew might return, she knew her son might follow him. She gave him a choice… Hunted down like a deer in the woods or the Night’s Watch. Endrew left for the Wall the following morning.

Endrew is a reluctant member of the Night’s Watch. He hates fighting and he hates the cold. He is beginning to find a place with his ability to entertain, but his primary duties involve the repair of other brothers’ clothing and equipment.

Endrew Waters (Adult Schemer)
Agility 3, Animal Handling 2, Athletics 3, Awareness 3 (Empathy 1B), Cunning 3 (Memory 1B), Deception 4 (Bluff 1B), Endurance 3, Fighting 3 (Long Blades 1B), Healing 3, Knowledge 4 (Education 1B), Language 3 (Common, High Valyrian, Valyrian), Marksmanship 2, Persuasion 5 (Charm 1B, Seduce 1B), Status 1 (Steward 1B), Stealth 2, Survival 2, Thievery 3, Warfare 2, Will 3

Social Background: Lowborn
Background Event: You had an affair with a member of the nobility
Reason for Taking the Black: You are avoiding a scandal
Reasons for Desertion: You cannot tolerate callous cruelty
Goal: Fame Motivation: Love Virtue: Devoted Vice: Cowardly
Qualities: Destiny Points 1, Brother of the Night’s Watch (Steward), Charismatic (Charm +2), Mummer, Trade (Tailor)
Attributes
Awareness 3
Intrigue Defence 7 / Composure 9
Move 4 (3) / Sprint 16 (14)
Combat Defence 8 (10 with shield) / Armour Rating 4 / Health 9
Attack Longsword 3+1B (3 damage)
Attack Shield 3 (1 damage; defensive +2)
Personal Gear: Longsword, Ring Mail, Medium Shield, Warm Clothing, Black Cloak

Night’s Watch campaigns primarily involve guarding the Wall, but there are plenty of other options for adventures and campaigns. There are Rangings north of the Wall, tracking down Wildlings who have made it into the Gift—the lands immediately south of the Wall, racing after a deserter before he can get too far and there is reason enough for him to be executed, and travelling south to petition for more money and men for the Wall. Most of these will involve the player characters serving at one of the few castles stilled manned, most likely Castle Black, but another option given sees the player characters being given a command of their own and assigned to castle. During the reign of Robert Baratheon, this is likely to be one of the many abandoned castles along the Wall, but during an earlier period of the eight thousand history of the Wall, it might be a new castle. Restoring and managing a castle is the equivalent of running a house in a standard A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign, except that it is more challenging, the upkeep is harder, and the player characters are not trying to promulgate their family by creating an heir…

Now there is one very obvious issue with a Night’s Watch campaign. Despite its egalitarian leanings in that all men are more or less equal amongst the Night’s Watch and most positions of authority are held on merit, it does lack female roles. Now there is no reason why they cannot be included should the GM allow them in his game, but the presence of women amongst the Night’s Watch, which is after all, a brotherhood, is neither canon to the novels or the television series. This may well be an issue in some campaigns, but not if the GM takes his campaign north of the Wall and sets it amongst the Wildlings.

The life of a Wildling—Wildling being the derogatory term used by the peoples of Westeros for those who live north of the Wall—is quite possibly nasty, brutal, and short, but it is free. Unlike the soft men of the south, a Wildling does not kneel. For he is a member of the Free Folk. Further, a Wildling must be able to survive and contribute to his tribe, hunting for food and resources, protecting the tribe and keeping it strong. Raids on rival tribes are common—more common than raids south of the Wall—and whilst most of these will be for food and other resources, it is common practice for men of a tribe to raid another for wives. Most women of the Free Folk, known as Spearwives, are as tough as the men. Most tribes are nomadic, but some have formed permanent settlements around important resources. Their technology is roughly that of the Stone Age, primarily making use of wood, bone, and stone, though some tribes have the means to make bronze and most tribes make use of arms and armour that they can take from the Night’s Watch or trade with merchants from across the sea in Essos.

Like creating a member of the Night’s Watch, creating a member of the Free Folk uses the standard rules in A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. Similarly, the various Roles—Expert, Fighter, Leader, Rogue, and Schemer—exist, but those of Fighter, Leader, and Rogue tend to dominate. Where a brother of the Night’s Watch replaces his House and Bloodline with the Night’s Watch, a Wildling replaces them with Tribe and Lands. Like the Night’s Watch, the Free Folk also place a similar lack of value upon Status as well as a lack of value on Knowledge and both are likely to start at lower values. They also have access to a host of new Benefits. Many of these relate to a particular tribe, like ‘Born of the Thenn Tribes’ or ‘Born of the Nightrunners’, but others include ‘Giant Friend’, ‘Spearwife’, and ‘Winter-Touched’. It should also be noted that the Free Folk possess a greater awareness of the old ways and Greensight, Skinchanger, Warg, and Warg Dreams are far common than they are in the south.

Our sample character is Tsersi, though not born of the Ice Wives was found and raised by them. She has worked hard to be as good as any natural-born Ice Wife, but in her heart she she does not quite feel one of them. Thus she strives to be better whilst being tolerant of her fellow tribe members, but known to be intolerant, if not outright cruel to outsiders.

Tsersi (Young Adult Fighter)
Agility 3, Animal Handling 4 (Ride 1B, Train 1B), Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Cunning 3, Deception 2 , Endurance 4 (Stamina 1B), Fighting 4 (Spears 1B), Healing 2, Knowledge 1, Language 2 (Common, Old Tongue), Marksmanship 2, Persuasion 3, Status 1 , Stealth 3, Survival 4 (Hunt 1B), Thievery 2, Warfare 3, Will 4 (Dedication 1B)
Social Background: Free Folk
Background Event: Stolen from another tribe 
Goal: Security Motivation: Excellence Virtue: Magnanimous Vice: Cruel
Qualities: Destiny Points 2, Animal Cohort, Blood of the Wildlings, Born of the Ice Wives
Attributes
Awareness 3
Intrigue Defence 7 / Composure 12
Move 4 (3) / Sprint 16 (14)
Combat Defence 9 / Armour Rating 4 / Health 12
Attack Spear 3+1B (3 damage)
Personal Gear: Spear, Furs, Warm Clothing, Black Cloak, Bear

Multiple tribes are described, from the Cannibal Clans of the Ice River and the Cave Dweller Clans to the Ice Wives and the Walrus Men. All of these tribes are available to play in a Night’s Watch campaign and part of playing a Wildling campaign will typically involve the players creating and directing the fate of their characters’ tribe. This is more of a requirement than it is in a campaign where the player characters are sworn brothers of the Night’s Watch, where creating and running a castle is just an option, and is much like the requirement in a standard A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign for the players to create their characters’ noble house. Like a castle on the Wall, the lands of a Wildling tribe will have access to fewer resources and have a hard time surviving, but depending on the tribe may be able to field a number of new military units, including Bear Riders, Dog Runners, Giants, and Mammoth Riders.

Being descended from the First Men, the Wildlings not only have more legends about the Others, the creatures of extreme cold from the far north, they also know them to be real rather than mere legends as the men of the south believe. A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night’s Watch not only details these legends, it also gives stats and write-ups for many of these inhuman creatures. This includes the infamous King of Winter and the White Lady—the lesser, though no less dangerous White Walkers and Wights, being described in the core rules for A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying—and it is here that Night’s Watch departs from canon. The authors explain that their new material is based upon what details are given in the books and to not include more information about the Others would have been a missed opportunity. To be honest this material is likely to be used rarely in a GM’s campaign and even then, not used directly, but rather to hint at the threat coming from the north as part of build towards a final confrontation.

As well as the detailed descriptions of the Gift, the Wall and it castles, and the lands beyond the Wall, various notables from the source material are given full write-ups. North of the Wall, these include Mance Rayder and his lieutenants, such as Tormund Giantsbane, Alfyn Crowkiller, Harma the Dogshead, and Lord o’Bones; on the Wall itself, they include Small Paul, Cotter Pyke, and Ser Denys Mallister. A notable and pleasing inclusion is that of Dolorous Edd Tollet, a fan favourite character. Notable absences include Ser Jeor Mormont and Maester Aemon. Lastly, supporting each of the book’s three sections—on the Night’s Watch, the Wildlings, and the Others, Night’s Watch gives over thirty adventure seeds and stories. These include a set of five adventure seeds for each branch of the Night’s Watch; eight fully detailed story hooks for Rangings; and another seven for the Wildlings and six involving the Others. All of these are excellent scenario ideas and nicely illustrate many of the ideas discussed elsewhere in the book. In particular there is one scenario hook where a Ranging comes across what looks to be an orphaned Wildling. This is a simple enough idea, but the authors then turn round and present the situation from the Wildlings’ point of view as a separate scenario, essentially abling a group of players to play through it twice, but each time with a different approach.

Of course, the obvious way in which to use the Night’s Watch sourcebook is as setting supplement to run campaigns either involving the men of the Night’s Watch or the Wildlings. The supplement offers plenty of scope and ideas for both options, but this does not mean that the two cannot interact. Plenty of members of the Night’s Watch have deserted and fled north to live amongst the Free Folk, whilst the Night’s Watch does take in Wildlings orphans and raise them to serve on the Wall. After all, Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, was both, a Wildling foundling adopted by the Night’s Watch who later deserted. Further, the supplement could be used to create characters from beyond the Wall who now live south of it, such as Osha, who is a member of the Stark household.

Physically, Night’s Watch maintains the standards set for the A Game of Ice and Fire Roleplaying line. The writing is excellent, the artwork good, and the book is well presented.

Taking A Game of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign to the Wall and beyond frees it from the constraints of a standard A Game of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign and its focus upon the player characters’ noble house and its and their future. There are still constraints, in particular the oath sworn by the brothers of the Night’s Watch, but the focus in a game set on the Wall and beyond is more on survival and fighting rather than intrigue and deception. Although a Night’s Watch campaign has an understandably military bent, both Night’s Watch and Wildling campaigns feel freer and much more like traditional fantasy campaigns. Plus there are actual monsters to encounter and confront, much like a traditional fantasy campaign.

However it is used, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: Night’s Watch offers plenty of scope for the campaigns it sets up and backs this up with detail and solid story hooks. It is a well written supplement that combines great source material with well realised application.

Pulp Space Wizardry

When you are at an international gaming convention and an Italian man comes barrelling at you in order to thrust a copy of his book into your hands in order to review it, then it would seem churlish not to review said book. The book in question is Dare the Stars! The Future as it Once Was, a Sci-Fi RPG based upon the Pulps of the 1930s and 1950s. Thus with Dare the Stars! we are firmly in the territory of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, et al. Published by Wild Boar Games, LLC, it is a retroclone based on the Old School Renaissance RPG, White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying published by Barrel Rider Games, which means that Dare the Stars! is not only compatible with White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying, it is also compatible with the recently released White Star Companion.

In presenting an Old School Renaissance take upon the all-action prewar and postwar Sci-Fi of the last century it provides six new Classes, rules for assistants and followers, Insights and Alien Powers, as well as a setting. In addition it also includes complete rules based on Swords & Wizardry so it can be played complete as is or expanded with other White Star compatible supplements. The six Classes are Adventurous Noble, Android, Brave Soldier, Clever Scientist, Daring Explorer, and Wise Spacer. Each Class has ten Levels and various more abilities. So the Adventurous Noble can persuade others to do his bidding with ‘Let’s Talk This Out’, inspire others with Initiative and To-Hit bonuses by leading the way ‘To the Breach’, and later gain a retinue of Brave Soldiers as bodyguards and normal humans as personal servants. The Android differs in that it is only an eight-Level Class rather than the standard ten Levels. Otherwise, the Android has high Intelligence, but low Charisma. Low-Level Androids cannot initiate combat, but every Android has ‘Keen Senses’, and is both a ‘Living Computer’ and a ‘Walking Cyclopedia’. The Brave Soldier is one of a ‘Band of Brothers’ and can organise allies to grant a To-Hit bonus, can use weapons of any type—including alien weapons, knows how to use ‘Camouflage’ to hide himself and others so that the negative To-Hit numbers for targeting with long range weapons are doubled, and as ‘War Driver’ is skilled enough to improve the Armour Class of any vehicle he drives. 

The Clever Scientist can use ‘Science!’ to repair tools, machinery, and the living as well as to build devices; temporarily fix things with ‘Jury Rig’; and as a ‘Gimmick’, disassemble two similar items of technology and reassemble them to create better, if irreplaceable prototype. For example, a Clever Scientist might redesign two pieces of armour as one to improve the new armour’s Armour Class or the wearer’s Saving Throw, or two weapons to improve the new design’s damage or rate of fire. The Daring Explorer can once per day withstand deadly damage with ‘Man of Steel’, reroll a single failed roll with ‘Hero’s Luck’, and with ‘Jack-of-all-Trades’, make a single roll with +4 bonus. He also has a ‘Signature Weapon’ that he can use faster than anyone else. The Wise Spacer is all about his prior experience, so can lend a ‘Helping Hand’ to grant another character a bonus to his roll, and once per day draw upon his ‘Secret Stash’ for that piece of equipment you really need in a tight situation and because we are all ‘Brothers and Sisters’, can persuade other not to attack him or even to become an ally. More importantly, a Wise Spacer trusts his instincts and can provide Insights into whatever situation he and his companions find themselves. The Wise Spacer has access to a wide range of these, for example, ‘As a Sibling to Me’ let's him persuade an NPC that they are friends, whilst ‘Find the Way’ means that he can always successfully plot a Jump between star systems. There are over twenty Insights given in Dare the Stars!, enabling a Wise Spacer to bring wisdom aplenty into the game as well as offering some fun roleplaying opportunities for his player. All that player has to do now is channel his inner Walter Houston.

In the basic version of Dare the Stars!, the RPG does not offer anything in the way of Race options, so effectively, a player cannot create a Alien character. As an option though, rules are provided to enable a player to create his own. Two methods are provided, one more complex than the other. The more complex method enables a player to create a variety of Races, for example, the Hawk-Men and the Lion-Men from Flash Gordon. 

The equipment list is kept relatively short, but covers most things that a Pulp Sci-Fi RPG will need. Of course it includes the Raygun, something that every good Earthman—and Earthwoman—will want to equip themselves with. It also includes the Atomic Grenade, which is of course ludicrous, but perfectly in keeping with the genre. This being a Sci-Fi RPG, Dare the Stars! gives various types of starship and vehicle, the latter including the aircar and the moon buggy, the former, this being is a Pulp Sci-Fi RPG, the atomic warship, the exploration rocket, and the gunship rocket. The various vehicles feel more workmanlike than exciting though, perhaps not helped by their bulky rather than sleek-looking appearance.

If there is a real issue with the spaceships in Dare the Stars! it is the inability of the player characters to get hold of, and crew, one. It would probably take ten player characters to roll enough starting credits to purchase their own ship and that is before they even think of purchasing their personal equipment. Really though, owning a spaceship in a Pulp Sci-Fi RPG should not be a matter of having enough money and Dare the Stars! needed to address this problem.

The combat rules covers the usual melee and missile combat common to all OSR retroclones, but it also details combat between vehicles and starships. These rules are compatible with White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying, so the spaceships and vehicles nicely integrate between the two systems. More interesting though are the rules for Followers and Assistants. These enable the player characters to hire anyone from an animal trainer or assassin to starship repairman or translator, or alternatively any of the Class-based Assistants. This is in addition to the Followers that every Class in Dare the Stars!—except the Android Class—gain as they go up in Level. Whilst a Follower is essentially a member of one of the RPG’s Classes, but of a lower Level, each type of Assistant is nicely described as what he can do and what equipment he has. These not only serve to provide the means to crew a player character spaceship, for example, they also provide a ready supply of NPCs.

The setting detailed in Dare the Stars! posits a galaxy populated by races seeded in the past by the mysterious Progenitors who have long since disappeared. Their interaction with the Space Shadows, spurred the Space Shadows to attack our galaxy just as humanity took its first footsteps beyond the Solar System. The resulting War of Shadows only ended when the Space Shadows mysteriously disappeared. Earth and the nations of the Solar System have since formed the Solar Compact to protect humanity’s colonial expansion against the predations of space pirates, the Aleph Theocracy, and the Empire of the Wolf. Various alien species, such as the (prairie) Dogs of Venus, the insectoid Moonfolk, and the blue-skinned, nomadic Truggen, all native to the setting, are also given as NPCs.

Beyond some decent advice for the GM, Dare the Stars! goes further in its appendices by detailing some of the alien races native to the RPG’s setting as playable Classes. They include the Kheethee Warrior, jolly if naive warrior reptiles allied with mankind; the four-armed, short tempered green Martian Brawler and the red Martian Nobles known for their psychic abilities and thus make use of the Alien Powers rules included in Dare the Stars!; and the cat-like Taucetian Rogue, forced to leave his homeworld. These nicely expand the options available to the player characters and showcase what can be done with RPG’s alien creation rules.

Now as much as Dare the Stars! presents the means to run a Pulp Sci-Fi game, it's content is let down in terms of its presentation. The fundamental problem is that it suffers from issues that plague too many first books from new publishers. It needs another edit. Another good edit. The problem is not necessarily the writing, which given that it is not in the author’s native tongue, is decent enough, but rather the inconsistent formatting and some of the phrasing. Worse though, it needs more development, first and foremost to make the RPG’s default background more coherent and accessible, but then to give reasons for the player characters to go adventuring. That and the means for the player characters to gain a spaceship and start adventuring. The last thing that Dare the Stars! is missing a bibliography, which is disappointing.

That said Dare the Stars! includes some a good range of artwork. Some of it nicely evokes the genre it is seeking to emulate, while other illustrations are quite creepy. Others though, are a bit bland and at best merely okay.

Where White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying very clearly drew upon Star Wars for its inspiration, Dare the Stars! draws from the very same source as did Stars Wars for its inspiration—the Pulp Sci-Fi stories of the thirties and fifties. Dare the Stars! provides the means to run an RPG game in that genre, not quite as effectively as it could, but the Classes it provides to that end are solid and the setting is not without potential, but the presentation and the lack of development undermines much of that designer’s efforts. At the moment, Dare the Stars! feels like a late draft. Neither unplayable or unuseable, Dare the Stars! The Future as it Once Was is just not quite as polished, quite as professional as the designer would have intended.

Whip-Crack-Away! Whip-Crack-Away!

Published by Asmodee and now over twenty five years old, Ave Ceasar is a quick-playing game in which the players compete to win a chariot race in the famous Circus Maximus in Ancient Rome. Designed for three to six players, they must complete three laps of the circuit and stop in the Imperial Alley to proclaim “Hail Ceasar!” using a limited supply of movement cards.

The board is double-sided, with a track for three to four players on one and a track for five to six players on the other. Each player receives a chariot, a coin (to pay as tribute to Ceasar), and a deck of cards (consisting of the numbers one through six, four times for a total of thirty-six cards). It is from his deck of cards that each player will draw a hand of three cards that will give his movement options each turn.

This being a chariot racing game, the players can only move forward, either straight or diagonally. This is done by playing a card and moving the exact number of spaces indicated on the card. It must be exact, because if a player does not have a card that will move him the exact number of spaces ahead of him, he cannot move. This happens often because only one player can occupy a space and it is part of the game that one player can block another, both maps being designed with several chokepoints. At other times, a player will find himself forced to play a card and make an unintended manoeuvre because it is the only legal move that he can make.

It is also vital to grab the inside lane on either of the circuits. This is because a player has just sufficient cards to get his chariot round the course three times and salute Caesar the once—and no more. If a player spends too long in the outer lane, then he will run out of cards and with his horses exhausted, be out of the race.

Although it would appear that the race leader has all of the advantages with the open track ahead of him, this is not always the case. He cannot play a ‘6’ card, so cannot not easily pull away from those behind him. This means that the others can catch him up if they have ‘6’ cards to hand.

Lastly a player must pay tribute to Ceasar. This means that he actually has to stop in Imperial Alley after the first or second circuit of the track. This can really limit his movement options if another player blocks Imperial Alley, forcing him to go around and try again on the next circuit. Of course, should a player fail to pay tribute, then he cannot win the game.

A race in Ave Ceasar is three circuits of the course. The game is a good filler, but can be played as a league and once the basic game has been played, the game does include several variant rules.

Ave Ceasar plays quickly and easily. It is enjoyably frustrating and its simplicity means that younger gamers will enjoy it as a good, quick race game; but seasoned gamers will enjoy turning Ave Ceasar into a cut-throat affair as they whip the horses and attempt to block each other.

Space Wizard's Companion

This last year has proved to be a highly successful for White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying. Based on Mythmere Games’ Swords & Wizardry and published by Barrel Rider Games, the Science Fiction RPG has constantly remained in the top twenty best selling titles at RPGnow for the last twelve months. Successfully combining a clean, stripped back style and a set of influences clearly worn on its sleeves, White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying is the charming, fun Space Opera RPG that we never had in 1977. Yet it was not quite perfect, since its lack of technical and scientific character Classes meant it could not be quite the encompassing and flexible Science Fiction RPG that it had the potential to be. The good news is that Barrel Rider Games has published the White Star Companion that sets out to rectify this lack and provide much, much more.

The White Star Companion includes eight new Classes, rules for vehicle combat, new vehicles and spaceships, a skills system, new equipment, new alien races and creatures, a whole new setting, and more. The eight new Classes include the Bounty Hunter, a capable combatant and tracker who can also subdue a target; the Deep Space Explorer possesses good survival skills and can identify the basic features of any newly encountered species; the Freed Assimilant has several innate pieces of cyberware, never sleeps, and can block incoming laser fire; a Man of Tomorrow is a good in a brawl, can shrug off Critical Hits, and once per session, has Uncanny Luck; and the Novomachina are robot survivors of a civil war each capable of of transforming into a particular vehicle. The Plucky Kid takes Inspiration whenever another player rolls a natural twenty to hit in combat, can inspire others when they attempt Saving Throws, and can mimic the ability of another character if he sees them use it; the Two-Fisted Technician is good at destroying robots, can quickly learn to use alien technology, perform temporary percussive maintenance, and temporarily improve a weapon’s damage; and Yabnabs are cute, adorable, and typically underestimated. For the most part, the inspiration for these Classes are obvious, Transformers for the Novomachina, the Ewoks for the Yabnabs, Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager for the Freed Assimilant, and so on. Others are less obvious.

This octet of new Classes is a nice addition to those in the core rules, expanding the range of choices available to player and GM alike. The choice enables the GM to better tailor the Classes to his campaign. So for example, if the GM does not want to run a Star Wars-like campaign, then he might not include the Star Lord or the Yabnab. Notably, all of the eight new Classes are given as Classes rather than Races, though this is what the Yabnab really are. Accompanying the eight are rules for Multi-Classing, which allows a player to pick multiple Classes and their features but at a cost of having a acquire a whole lot more Experience Points per level.

New rules in the White Star Companion add vehicles and vehicular combat, so that the player characters can now travel and fight down the gravity well as well as up. Essentially the new rules for vehicular combat are the same as those for starship combat, but with a couple of extra options, including vehicles being immobilised if their Hit Points are reduced to zero rather than being destroyed and allowing the Pilot Class to add its Level when determining the number of points of damage repaired. The new rules are supported by a selection of new vehicles, the inspiration for which, much like many of the character Classes, are fairly obvious. So the Assault Springer, Assault Strider, Skybike, and Yabnab Glider are inspired by Star Wars. Others like the Hover Tank are more generic in origins. To this are added new starships, including the Orbital Battle Station, Orbital Shuttle—whose illustration looks like the Far Merchant from Traveller, the Scout Ship, and the Stunt Bomber. There are also cinematic rules for inflicting the effects of minor, moderate, and major damage when a vehicle or starship is reduced to three-quarters, half, and a quarter of its Hit Points as well as details of the Ion Grappler and Planetary Laser, new modifications to fit onto the Orbital Battle Station and other larger vessels.

The White Star Companion also provides a simple skill system using just Athletics, Interaction, Knowledge, Larceny, Medicine, Navigation, Survival, and Technology. Each is rated between one and five and associated with an attribute and one or more Classes, such as Interaction with Charisma and the Aristocrat and Star Knight Classes and the Navigation skill with Intelligence and the Pilot Class. Each character starts with three skills, one of which must be an associated skill, and they can be modified by attribute modifiers also. These rules are quick and dirty, but cover most situations, for example the Technology skill covers computers, Faster-Than-Light engines, robotics, and more, including hard science. So now a player can create scientist character or a better engineer for example. By broadening the types and proficiencies of characters that White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying allows, it also widens the types of Science Fiction that the RPG can do.

Likewise, the new rules for Serials enables the players to flesh out their background by rolling for their Homeworld, Family, Youth, First Adventure, Allies, Adversary, and Critical Event, though the latter is optional. Just six options are given for each, so similarities in terms of results between player characters could be used to forge links between members of a party. Our sample character originally appeared in the review of White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying and is here further developed with the new rules in the White Star Companion.

Pooma Mupoo, Level 1 Star Lord
Str: 10 Int: 13 (+1) Wis: 17 (+2)
Con: 12 Dex: 15 (+1) Chr: 13 (+1)
Hit Points: 6 Save: 15 (+2 vs. Meditations & Gifts)
Armour Class: 7 Ascending Armour Class: 12
Experience Bonus: +20%
Skills: Interaction 3, Medicine 4, Athletics 2
Languages: 3
Equipment: Star Sword (+1), Light Armour, Energy Shield, 60 Cr

Serial
Homeworld: Cosmopolitan (+1 Charisma, -1 Constitution); Family: Most of your family is dead or missing; Youth: Delinquent (Successfully pickpocket on a roll of 1-2 on a 1d6); First Adventure: Captured by Outlaws (Pick mechanical locks on a roll of
1-2 on a 1d6); Allies: Street Rat—A street urchin in a major metropolitan planet calls
you his friend (Automatically know the criminal activity on one specific sector of a planet in the galaxy.); Adversary: Void Knight (A terrible Void Knight is searching the galaxy for you); Critical Event: Located a previously undiscovered hideout, known only to you (You now have a secret base that no one else knows about, such as an abandoned space station or undiscovered planet.)

There is also new items of equipment—weapons and armours mostly—and new aliens and creatures. The White Star Companion continues its plundering of the genre, for example, Wellsians are floating tentacled brains who arm themselves with death rays; Alureans are green skinned and charismatic, so very Star Trek-like; and the Rawrarr are tall, lean, and fur covered who use a mix of technologies and live in treetop cities, so very Wookie-like. Then there are the Space Ducks…

Random Encounters provides the means for the Referee to create star sectors and planetary systems, to create the backdrop for a game. The rules are designed to be quick and easy and to provide cinematic, somewhat pulpy settings, particularly in the form of Exotic Traits, such as abandoned societies, crystal landscapes, flying islands, and so on. The suggested natives are drawn from both White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying and the White Star Companion. The chapter finally lives up its title with a set of tables for rolling up encounters in both space and on planet.

Rounding out the White Star Companion is a description of the Sterling System. It expands upon the setting of the Kelron Sector described in the White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying, but where that was set on the frontier and full of mining space stations, abandoned planets, and stellar dangers, the Sterling System lies at the heart of the Galactic Consortium, full of secrets and mysteries. Divided by Adlar’s Wall, a dense belt of asteroids, the sector is ruled with an iron fist by Supreme Lord Adlar, and might be ripe for rebellion…  This setting is not as interesting as that of Kelron Sector and does feel as if the author is trying just a bit too hard. Of all the entries in the White Star Companion, the description of the Sterling System is ever so slightly disappointing and not quite so useful in comparison.

White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying was one of the best Retroclones released in 2015, being a great toolkit for running a Science Fiction genre Old School Renaissance game. Nevertheless, there were tools missing from that kit that meant that it was not the all encompassing treatment of the genre that it could have been. With the release of the White Star Companion, the absence of those tools—of technological and scientific abilities for characters, there was no skill system, and no means to create planets, all things that a good, generic  Science Fiction RPG needs—has been addressed. Which means that  the White Star Companion makes White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying the superb Science Fiction retroclone and toolkit that it was meant to be.