The 'I Got The Altered Morphology Blues' Quartet

The RPG, Mutant City Blues posits a near future in which following the outbreak of ‘Ghost Flu’, approximately 1% of the population exhibits ‘Sudden Mutation Event’ (SME) and subsequently manifests strange and wondrous powers and abilities. Most of these individuals go on to lead normal lives, some of course, become celebrities and politicians, whilst others turn to crime. In response, most big city police forces establish a Heightened Crimes Investigation Unit (HCIU) or similar department, staffed by the super powered and tasked to investigate and solve SME related crimes, whether committed by or against SME sufferers. The HCIU also serves as a combination liaison/bulwark between these mutants and ordinary folk, both civilians and fellow police officers. Written by Robin D. Laws and published by Pelgrane Press in 2008, and powered by the GUMSHOE System, Mutant City Blues was not a superhero RPG in the traditional sense, but rather an investigative Police Procedural—such as NYPD Blue or C.S.I.—with and about powers rather than a ‘Four Colour’ affair. Sadly, Mutant City Blues received just the one supplement, Hard Helix.

Hard Helix is an anthology of four scenarios for use with Mutant City Blues designed to follow on from both the setting and the scenario in the core book and involve the player characters, members of the city’s Heightened Crimes Investigation Unit, in the politics of SME and the city. The collection opens with ‘The Hard Helix’. This throws them into the political deep end when they have to investigate the death of Sidney Dorris just before he is to speak at a conference on Anamorphological Research, this the study of the morphology of those who expressed SME—like the investigators. Dorris is a controversial figure because of his radical theories about SME and he was set to announce a new theory at the conference. So suspects include Lucius Quade, the father of Anamorphology as well as members of the anti-mutant and mutant rights movements. This is a good opening scenario that calls for the characters to use their Investigative Abilities more than their superpowers. It also brings them further to the attention of the leading figures in both SME politics and research—and they may be useful contacts to have in the long term.

Where ‘The Hard Helix’ is primarily an investigative ‘murder mystery’ affair, ‘The Vanishers’ is a more physical scenario and involves more traditional crime. A jewellery robbery proves to be hiding something more, but getting to this means playing through a couple of fun scenes, including one straight out of an 80s action cop movie! The clues here reveal that old organised crime is up to its old tricks, but is making it new by mixing it up with new super-powered crime. The cops not only have the opportunity to use their powers in this scenario, they also have the chance to go undercover and this means double roleplaying for the players! The GM does not miss out on the roleplaying though as he is given a fun mix of NPCs to portray in ‘The Vanishers’. These NPCs are a whole lot tougher though and ‘The Vanishers’ is a dangerous investigation.

In the wake of an anti-mutant riot in Helixtown—home to the majority of the city’s enhanced activities—the HCIU is called in to investigate a death. There seems to be nothing out of the ordinary about the victim—he was not part of riot, nor is he a mutant. So why exactly was he killed and who did it? Investigation points to a gang member gone rogue, but why is the Street Interdiction Task Force, a team set up to take down the city’s drug gangs, warning the investigators off? This is the set up for ‘Super Squad’, a grimmer scenario in which the investigators have to investigate fellow police officers. This is much harder and grittier scenario than the previous two because as much as the player characters’ suspicions are raised by the Street Interdiction Task Force, its members seem to be in the good graces of their bosses. This may result in the scenario being a scenario being an exercise in frustration, but this is perfectly in keeping with the type of investigation it handling, ending as it does in a big shoot out as the bad guys make their escape.

The last scenario is ‘Cell Division’. It opens with a bit of comedy and small mutant crime before switching to the big time—mutant supremacists mount a terrorist attack at a tourist site in the city. They are fanatical to the point of suicide, but there seems little to go on until the Mutant Revolutionary Front claims responsibility for the attack. Its announcement also promises further attacks, which causes panic and uncertainty across the city. This combined with political pressure leads to a fun scene for the player characters where they have to calm the public under the questions of a television show host! After this comes the second attack, a major scene in the scenario and one drawn from a similar real world event. The fanaticism of the antagonists in this scenario makes this the most challenging scenario in the anthology and whatever the outcome, relationships between mutants and the public are likely to altered forever…

Physically, Hard Helix is well written and decently presented with some excellent greyscale artwork. Each of the four scenarios comes with a full list of the NPCs involved and included at the end of the book is a summary of the Clues and their values to be found in each of its four scenarios.

One problem with Hard Helix is the setting, or at least the implied setting. This is a city where the police are armed and the criminals have access to heavy firearms. What this means is that these scenarios are easier to place in some cities than others, for example, in the United Kingdom. Of course, Mutant City Blues and these four scenarios are set in the future, so policing could have changed… Perhaps in response to SME?

Hard Helix presents four scenarios that showcase the type of investigations and police stories that can be run in Mutant City Blues. ‘Hard Helix’ is a classic murder mystery, ‘The Vanishers’ feels like an 80s action movie, and both ‘Super Squad’ and ‘Cell Division’ are grittier scenarios of the 90s and 00s. All four involve mutants and superpowers to one degree or another, but at same time they also involve subjects for police investigation—the Mob, the Police themselves, terrorists, and so on. So there is the sense of progression through the themes and elements of genre mash-up that is Mutant City Blues. Ultimately, whilst Hard Helix is a fun quartet, it seems a shame that it was also the last support for Mutant City Blues, itself a fun and engaging twist upon superheroes and the real world.

Make a Saving Roll to Heal

Back in 2008, Pandemic from Z-Man Games was a big hit. The game pitched members of the Center for Disease Control against four global epidemics—red, blue, yellow, and black—in a race to save humanity. The game was one of the first titles to really popularise co-operative games, games in which the players were playing not against each other, but against the board and the game itself. The players raced around the world, travelling from city to city in an effort to treat diseases and find a cure for them whilst staving off the effects of outbreaks that would spread these diseases from one city to every adjacent city. Too many outbreaks and the players will fail and humanity is doomed. Fail to find cures to all four diseases and the players will fail and humanity is doomed. Like all co-operative games, Pandemic is designed to be difficult to beat and can be made even more challenging through the various expansions.

Of course, Pandemic has been made all the more popular with the release of Pandemic Legacy, a version of the game played as a campaign, with various factors having a permanent effect on the board, the cards, and the game itself. Before that, there was another release for Pandemic. Not another expansion, but a standalone game, one that has the same theme and objectives, yet introduces a physicality to its mechanics. Pandemic: The Cure is a dice game, continuing the trend of taking well-known board games and re-implementing them as dice games, from Catan Dice Game and Carcassonne: the Dice Game to Bang! The Dice Game and the more recent, Roll for the Galaxy. In Pandemic: The Cure the diseases have become dice, rolled randomly to determine where they appear. Similarly in Pandemic: The Cure the players’ actions have become dice, rolled randomly to determine what they can do from one turn to the next.

With the dice as disease, the players now have to undertake two tasks if they are to find a cure for each disease—collect samples and then roll to find a cure. A sample is one disease die that has been treated and collecting a sample means that a player must sacrifice one of his action dice to store that sample until the cure can be rolled for.

This rolling of dice has a number of big effects. For starters, and obviously, it adds a random element to the Pandemic design. The original board game was card driven and as the game progressed it became easier to predict which cities were likely to be infected again and again because they had been infected before. The ability to predict which diseases are going to appear and where has been lessened in Pandemic: The Cure because the dice are pulled blindly from a bag and then rolled to see where they appear. Some prediction is still possible—the players can still track the colour of the dice available on the table—but no more than that. Unable to predict exactly what dice will appear and where, the players are forced to be slightly more proactive than reactive than in the board game. 

Another difference between Pandemic and Pandemic: The Cure is that diseases cannot be eradicated. They still keep coming back out of the bag to infect Region Tiles anew and can still trigger Outbreaks, though like the boardgame, once a cure has been found, they are easier to Treat. This further forces the players to track the number of Infection dice in play.

With each player having their own dice and being able to re-roll undesired results, the number of actions a player may have from one turn to the next can vary wildly. Some turns it might be none, others it might be as many as five. As a game progresses though, a player will find himself giving up dice to take samples, so will find himself with fewer actions.

The game consists of a plastic hoop—the Treatment Centre—with peg holes to track both the Infection Rate and Outbreaks; six numbered disks—the Region Tiles—each one corresponding to a continent, plus another disk representing the CDC headquarters; seven role cards and corresponding pawns and sets of action dice; a Cured Disease card and ten Event cards; a cloth bag; and forty-eight Infection dice in four colours.  At game start, the Region Tiles are laid out in order around the Treatment Centre, everyone receives a Role card and the corresponding dice, both in matching colours. Then twelve Infection dice are rolled, the numbers rolled determining which Region Tile they are placed on.

The Infection dice are where the game begins to get clever. The opposite sides of normal six-sided dice always add up to seven; not so here. Instead, the numbers are weighted so that they will always land on certain Region Tiles. For example, rolls of five only appear on black or yellow dice and when rolled are placed on the Africa Regional Tile, whereas rolls of one appear on blue or red dice and are placed on the North America Region Tile. Then are the player dice. All have the same set of symbols—an aeroplane (Fly to any Region), a Ship (Sail to an adjacent Region), Hypodermic Needle (Treat an Infection die and move it to the Treatment Centre), a Bottle (Treat an Infection die in the Treatment Centre and save it for a Cure attempt), First Aid (used to buy Event cards), and lastly, a Biohazard symbol. When rolled, this moves the syringe along on the Infection Track and increases the chance of an epidemic.

Every set of role dice also has its own symbols, representing special actions. For example, the Medic has multiple Hypodermic Needles on some dice which allow him to Treat multiple Infection dice with one action, whilst the Dispatcher has the Helicopter symbol which can be saved to airlift anyone to any Region Tile before the Dispatcher’s next turn. 

On his turn, a player rolls his dice. He can either use them as necessary or he can re-roll, travelling to the different Regions, Treating Infection dice, collecting Samples, and so on. Biohazard results cannot be re-rolled. Just like the board game, the players need to Treat the Infections and find a Cure, which is done by Treating Infection dice and moving them to the Treatment Centre, and from there collecting Samples which can be rolled to find a Cure.  The latter simply involves rolling the collected Samples and beating the target. At the end of his turn, a player draws more Infection dice from the bag and rolls to see where they appear.

Like Pandemic, there is one way to win—find the four cures, and like Pandemic, there are multiple ways to lose. These are  running out of time (the infection rate syringe reaches the end of the Infection Track), too many Outbreaks (eight or more), and too many people infected (not enough Infection dice to be drawn from the bag).

Of course, Pandemic: The Cure is like Pandemic, a co-operative game. The players need to work together and every player’s turn is about discussing the possible optimal actions as well as carrying them out.

Ultimately, the rolling of dice and and the design of the playing area do undermine the game. The problem is that it abstracts the Pandemic concept and hinders a player’s engagement with the game. No longer is he trying to save Istanbul or Shanghai, but rather the world in general. Yet the dice add variability and frustration to the game in equal measure as well as tension—is your next roll going to save humanity or help destroy them? Rolling dice also add a physicality, making the game more hands-on and engaging.

Streamlined and quicker to play, Pandemic: The Cure is Pandemic’s lighter, simpler, and more family friendly brother. Perhaps a little overpriced, Pandemic: The Cure is the slick addition to the Pandemic family.

Colouring Cthulhu

Okay. The year is 2017 and the weird thing is that colouring books are popular once again. Not just for children, but for adults. Walk into any bookshop and you can find a colouring book on any subject or for any intellectual property you care to name, from the Harry Potter Colouring Book, the Vogue Colouring Book, and The Kew Gardens Exotic Plants Colouring Book to the Lonely Planet Ultimate Travelist Colouring Book, the Day of the Dead Colouring Book, and the Escape to Shakespeare's World: A Colouring Book Adventure. I have given them as presents, but in all honesty, I have no interest in colouring books. Except that Chaosium, Inc. has published a colouring book and it is inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Not just because of that, but also because I want to see if I can review something like a colouring book.

Call of Cthulhu – The Coloring Book: 28 Eldritch Scenes of Lovecraftian for you to Color comes with almost thirty line drawings taken from the tales of cosmic horror told in both H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction and the setting described in various supplements for the roleplaying game, Call of Cthulhu. In their way, these scenes are all iconic moments caught as line drawings. Thus we see Randolph Carter encountering the guide before ascending higher into the cosmos from ‘Through the Gates of the Silver Key’; the madness of the dimension just a little to the side found in ‘From Beyond’; and the Norwegian, Johansen ramming the yacht, the Alert, into the great horror from R’lyeh in ‘The Call of Cthulhu’. The scenes taken from the various Call of Cthulhu RPG come mainly from the game’s iconic campaigns. These include a depiction of the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep, being worshipped under the Bent Pyramid from Masks of Nyarlathotep; the investigators flying over the unknown mountains in the Antarctic in Beyond the Mountains of Madness; and the appearance of Jeremy from Fungi from Yuggoth (more recently released as Day of the Beast); and more.

In all cases, these are done as double page spreads, the main piece of art on the right hand page, while on the left there is a quote from the inspiration and a secondary piece of art. So accompanying the Alert ramming into Great Cthulhu is a quotation from the short story, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’, and a depiction of the famed idol that New Orleans police detective John Raymond Legrasse asked to be identified in 1908 by an archaeological society. While the illustration from Fungi from Yuggoth depicts Jeremy flowing up from the well that is his home, the quote on the left is a letter from Baron Hauptman to his Jeremy’s father. The illustration on the left is of the street where Jeremy and his mother resides. Unfortunately, the left-hand illustrations inspired by the Call of Cthulhu campaigns are not quite as effective as those inspired by the fiction.

Of course just as you would want it, the artwork in Call of Cthulhu – The Coloring Book is striking—striking because it lacks the one thing that we have come to expect in Lovecraftian artwork after years of seeing art on-line and the various card and board games. Colour. Which if you want it, you will have to supply yourself, and that is a challenge in itself. A lot of the artwork—drawn by Andrey Fetisov—is so rich in detail that it would take hours to fill in each separate part of the horrifying thing until it is done, and this without using any shading or black tones. Let alone the fact that your colouring in might not do the artwork justice… (Fortunately, being exclusively available from Chaosium directly also means being supplied with the PDF, so download, print, and practice all you want—or have another go! Or perhaps introduce your three year old to non-euclidean artwork in readiness for preschool.) 

At the same time, this means that each of the pieces of art works as an illustration without colour and just as effectively. The lack of colour means the viewer having to supply use his imagination to supply the colour—that is, before the crayons—and so these pieces work as props or illustrations or Handouts when running Call of Cthulhu. Which begs the question, will there be colouring in books for each of the Call of Cthulhu campaigns? And if so, would they not be great handouts? (Whilst also harking back to the illustration booklets of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons modules like S1 Tomb of Horrors or S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks?)

Had not Chaosium been kind enough to supply it to review, I might have dismissed Call of Cthulhu – The Coloring Book. On one level it is a frippery, frivolous and ornamental, but on another level, the artwork is fantastic, it does illustrate the Mythos, and it acknowledges the contribution of the Call of Cthulhu RPG to the Mythos and thus to horror. Whether you are merely going to look at it, splash colour over it, or use it as a visual aid, the Call of Cthulhu – The Coloring Book: 28 Eldritch Scenes of Lovecraftian for you to Color delightfully combines whimsical nostalgic format with cosmic horror—and that is as weird a combination as you might ever hope for.

A Treasury Relic

As one of the first licensees, Judges Guild was in its heyday, a highly prolific publisher, releasing not only scenarios and supplements for Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but also Traveller, Chivalry & Sorcery, DragonQuest, Empire of the Petal Throne, Tunnels and Trolls, RuneQuest, Superhero 2044, and Villains and Vigilantes. Since its heyday of the late 1970s and early 1980s, quite a few of those products have remained held in high regard, such as City State of the Invincible Overlord, Tegel Manor, Dark Tower, and so on, these titles often being brought back into print by other publishers. That said, given the sheer number of titles published by Judges Guild, the truth is that the quality of a very great many of them was far from being professional by the standards of the day, let alone by those of today. Nevertheless, there are many that are worth examining almost four decades after they were first published and many worth bringing to your table almost four decades after they were first published. One of these is The Book of Treasure Maps.

The Book of Treasure Maps was designed, written, and illustrated by Paul Jaquays, the designer best known for the dungeons Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia. Published in 1979, The Book of Treasure Maps was a first in two ways. The first and obvious is its cover, which is not an illustration, but a photograph, this of the author and his friends engaging in a LARP. The second is that The Book of Treasure Maps contains not one, but five adventures or dungeons. Since the publication of G1, Steading of the Hill Giant Chief by TSR, Inc. in 1978, dungeons or adventures had been singular affairs, but The Book of Treasure Maps is an anthology, a quintet of mini-dungeons, the only connection between the five being that they are set in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Judges Guild’s campaign world. Of course, the DM need not set any one of the five dungeons in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, but he will need to adjust their accompanying clues to fit the campaign world of his choosing.

It is a format that Judges Guild would return to with the publication of The Book of Treasure Maps II and The Book of Treasure Maps III, and TSR, Inc. would visit the concept itself in 1992 with the release of GR3 Treasure Maps for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition. The origins of the concept lie in the fact that in the 1970s, treasure in Dungeons & Dragons did not consist of just jewels, gems, and coins, but would often include a treasure map. This would be lure enough for the players and their adventurers to follow the clues that such a map would present to an adventure that the DM had prepared. What The Book of Treasure Maps contains then, are treasure maps and their associated dungeons. The treasure maps in this anthology include not only maps but scrolls and book excerpts, notably with permission given to photocopy them and use them as handouts for the players to pore over. Of course the fact that the players were being given a handout in 1979 was rarity enough to ensure their interest. The dungeons themselves are designed for characters of medium to high level, so roughly Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Levels.

The Book of Treasure Maps begins with ‘The Lost Temple’. Located on a map in The Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde supplement, the clue to this dungeon comes from a journal entry describing a long and ultimately failed journey. Its thirteen room complex details an abandoned oracle, rumoured to be home to a demon. It is a relatively straightforward affair, but what it illustrates is that there is still plenty of play to be got out of a dungeon even if the players and their characters have been already been given most of its locations on the map. Despite the book being written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, there is a nice nod in the adventure to David A. Trampier’s iconic cover for the Player’s Handbook which was published the year before and depicts the attempted theft of the giant gems used as eyes in the statue of a demon. Although ‘The Lost Temple’ harks back to an era when a dungeon was a dungeon for a dungeon’s sake, it is nevertheless a short and serviceable affair.

There is no lack of purpose to ‘The Tomb of Aethering the Damned’. It is as the title suggests, a tomb, this of an evil lord and it is said, the members of his family. As with ‘The Lost Temple’ it consists of relatively few locations and its map can be found in The Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde supplement. The tomb is home to lots of the undead and some rather cruel traps. In fact, the traps feel just a little cruel by modern standards, but by the conventions of the day and given the fact that this is the tomb of an evil tyrant, they are more than fitting. This being a tomb and there being a mummy that makes an appearance there is a slight Ancient Egyptian feel to this adventure, the focus of which is on the encounters with Lord Aethering, his wife, and his son. Though all of the locations of in the tomb are quite detailed, particular attention is paid to the encounters with these three NPCs and the DM should have some fun with them and the curses involved in two of them. In particular, the possible change in gender and character following the encounter with Athering’s wife will be a challenge for the DM and player alike, but a memorable one at that.

The highpoint to The Book of Treasure Maps is the third scenario, ‘The Lone Tower’. Where the previous two scenarios have been a little pedestrian, this leaps out and buries its fangs into gothic horror in the best style of Hammer Horror. Located on a map from the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, ‘The Lone Tower’ consists of a gothic tower mansion that is home to the Lady Clearmoon and which can only be accessed on nights of the full moon. Further, the clue to its location is inscribed on a round, magical shield and is only revealed in the moonlight. From all of these references to the Moon it should be clear what the threat is in this adventure actually is—werewolves! And this is the case, the chateau-style mansion being infested with them. Although the forty or so locations in the chateau are in effect a dungeon, its design and layout as a chateau gives it a naturalism that adds to the horror themes. The adventure includes a plot or three, though the DM will need to give the adventure a thorough read through since they are not discussed up front. These involve the adventure’s main NPCs and any DM will relish getting to roleplay them.

At fifteen pages long, with more artwork and cartography, both of which fit the genre, ‘The Lone Tower’ is the longest adventure in The Book of Treasure Maps, but it does feel as if it should be longer and further developed. It feels not a little reminiscent of I6 Ravenloft, the classic Gothic vampire adventure published by TSR, Inc. in 1983—or rather, I6 Ravenloft feels not a little reminiscent of ‘The Lone Tower’. Of all the adventures in The Book of Treasure Maps, this feels like the one that the designer loved the most. 

After ‘The Lonely Tower’, the other two mini-dungeons in The Book of Treasure Maps feel somewhat underwhelming, but rather that is indication of how good ‘The Lone Tower’ is in comparison. The clue to ‘Willichidar’s Well’ is in a history book which describes a smoking well found atop a bald hill. Located on a map in Wilderlands of the Magical Realm supplement, ‘Willchidar’s Well’ consists of five locations and is just six pages long. Its design is that of a dungeon as a trap for the all too curious. Investigate too far, get just a little too greedy, and the player characters will unleash a demon lord that could very well defeat them if they do not act quickly. Perhaps the fun at this point will be when the player characters find themselves fighting alongside demons as they try to defeat the unleashed demon lord. ‘Willchidar’s Well’ is a nasty one-session adventure, but fighting alongside demons—and possibly some divine beings from other factions—will make this an epic encounter.

The fifth and final dungeon is ‘The Crypts of Arcadia’. Unlike the other mini-dungeons in The Book of Treasure Maps, this dungeon does not have a specific location, but the DM is encouraged to read through it carefully and select a place to locate it based on the background given. In fact, this background or backstory is probably more interesting than the dungeon itself. The crypts are actually the burial vaults for the Church of Arcadia, a faith that promised eternal life and flourished many years ago before being discovered that it was an inadvertent front for a deity building an army of the dead and so the faithful sealed the vaults, smashed the temple, and went back to worshipping whatever god they had been worshipping before their conversion to the now false faith. Unfortunately the vaults still exist, the local thieves guild knows of them, but not their location or that of the only map ever made. The player characters are of course, about to come into possession of the map. Thus it should be a race to get into the vaults, past the endless hordes of the undead, get the treasure, and get out again.

The design of the dungeon is such that both its key encounters and content can be placed randomly, whether by DM decision or his making rolls on the provided tables. The aim being to ensure that no two playthroughs of the dungeon would ever be the same, but the result is that the DM does need to work that little extra to make it live up to the backstory.

Physically, The Book of Treasure Maps is printed on cheap paper and so feels cheap. Yet it is well written, the artwork is good, the maps are clear, and at worst, it needs another proofreading.

By the standards of 1979, all five dungeons in The Book of Treasure Maps are solid pieces of design and writing. They are all good dungeons and with a little adjustment here and there could be run using Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition or the retroclone of your choice. Indeed these are exactly the types of dungeon that the Old School Renaissance harks back to, stripped back, deadly dungeons. Yet there is atmosphere and even plot here too in one or two of the adventures and there is no reason why a group could not be challenged by or enjoy these mini-dungeons after all this time.

As good or as solid pieces of dungeon design as the five mini-dungeons are in The Book of Treasure Maps, there is one very good dungeon in the anthology. This is ‘The Lone Tower’, an entertaining slice of horror gaming that leaves this reviewer wishing that it could have been longer and that the author would come back and write some more.

Because... Just because...

If the Nazis cannot have their Antarctic base at the end of World War II, then they will they will have their base on the Moon! Unfortunately the Nazis like to keep their secrets, so what you need is a guide. Fortunately, there is such a thing! Nazi Moonbase is a complete guide to, and history of, Walhalla, the base established in the Moon in the aftermath of World War II, and the war against it in the second half of the twentieth century. Published by Osprey Publishing as part of its Osprey Adventures line, our guide in this matter is Graeme Davis, the author of several previous titles in the range, including Knights Templar: A Secret History and Werewolves: A Hunter’s Guide, as well as being the co-designer of the seminal British fantasy RPG, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Nazi Moonbase is a sequel of sorts to the first entry in the series, The Nazi Occult by Ken Hite. In both, the Order of the Black Sun plays an important role, in The Nazi Occult, driving the rise of the Nazis, but then in Nazi Moonbase, pushing first for a way to save Nazi Germany, but in the face of certain defeat at the hands of the Allies, for a way to survive beyond that defeat. Essentially, this is done by taking control of Germany’s advanced weapon programs such as the vehicles of Projekt Saucer and then initiating Protokoll Bifrost first to escape to the Antarctic and then to Walhalla on the Moon using the Haunebu IV saucer where it would form the centre of the base. No Swastika-shaped moonbase for the Nazis! There they survive, repairing and upgrading their ramshackle facilities, even developing technologies, all in readiness to strike back at those that defeated them.

In response, the Moon Race of the 1960s was as much designed to confirm and monitor Walhalla as it was a scientific program. Indeed, the near destruction of Apollo 13 was Walhalla’s response to these endeavours. The American response to this was Operation Lyre, a direct assault on the base which would end in all but total disaster. Only in the last few years has the USA decided to attack the last of the Nazis once again after decades of failed Lunar probes and satellites from various nations.

Ending with a detailed timeline, Nazi Moonbase goes into detail about all aspects of Walhalla and the response to it. This includes its location and layout, how it operates, and the development of technologies such as the Eisenmänner (‘Iron Men’) labour and combat androids and the Mensch-Maschinen androids that could pass for perfect humans or as duplicates for world leaders. The response, primarily by the USA and the USSR, is a more measured and less fantastical in tone—lunar probes and rovers, satellites and manned stations. It does end on a note saying that Boeing is developing a space-plane capable of ferrying six astronauts plus equipment… (or is that a squad of US space marines or six player characters?)

The history lends itself to numerous campaign frameworks and set-ups. So in the 1940s, it might be chasing advanced Nazi technological development to the Antarctic and beyond; in the 1950s, it might be fighting the strange attacks and scouting missions by flying saucers on the Earth or the secret infiltration of replicants from the Moon; in the 1970s and 1980s, it could involve the US and Soviet manned assaults on the moon base; and perhaps in 2010s, the final strikes using remote warfare. The obvious starting point for such campaigns—especially given the links in Nazi Moonbase to The Nazi Occult with the Order of the Black Sun—is Modiphius Entertainment’s Achtung! Cthulhu, but Cubicle Seven Entertainment’s Cold War Cthulhu may open various elements later in this future history.

From a gaming standpoint, it is good to see Nazi Moonbase include a list of games that would work well with this system-less sourcebook. Previous entries have always included a bibliography, but never included games that could be used with such material or reference similar material. There is no RPG that does so directly—though with its depiction of United States Space Command special forces fighting terrorism, Fantasy Games Unlimited’s Year of the Phoenix, might be the nearest—so these are pointers and the GM will need to develop the ideas and background in Nazi Moonbase himself. The bibliography covers fiction and non-fiction, comics, games of all types, and movies and television programmes.

Physically, Nazi Moonbase is very nicely presented. The artwork is excellent and the book is an engaging read. Nazi Moonbase is not so much one campaign idea, but several, spread over a secret history lasting over seven or so decades. As a secret history, it gives you enough details and pointers to take away and develop into your own game, whether that is a war game or a roleplaying game, though there is an obvious inclination towards the latter rather than the former. Either way, Nazi Moonbase provides an engaging alternate background around which a GM can develop a campaign against the evil space Nazis from the Moon!

An Unpublished Gem

The publication of The Old School RQ Source Pack, funded by the Kickstarter campaign for RuneQuest: Classic Edition, the reprint of RuneQuest II has provided both support for the reprint and a snapshot of the type of support that was being published for it in late 1970s. RuneQuest Scenario Pack 1: Balastor’s Barracks provided a base dungeon, whilst RuneQuest Source Pack Alpha: Trolls and Trollkin, RuneQuest Source Pack Beta: Creatures of Chaos 1: Scorpion Men and Broos, and RuneQuest Source Pack Gamma: Militia & Mercenaries between them provided a mix of enemies and allies for RuneQuest: Classic Edition as well as background and supporting material to varying degrees of interest and usefulness. The fifth and final entry in The Old School RQ Source Pack is SP8 The Sea Cave and is perhaps the most interesting.

SP8 The Sea Cave is the second scenario included in The Old School RQ Source Pack after Balastor’s Barracks. Originally written in 1979, it has sat in Chaosium’s archives since then and is now only being made available ‘incomplete and unfinished’ as a ‘work in progress’. Now this is something of a misnomer, since ‘The Sea Cave’ actually contains a complete adventure and the only ‘incomplete and unfinished’ aspects are the caves and dungeon complex beyond this adventure, the hand drawn maps, and the handwritten entries and notes on the monster sheets for ‘The Sea Cave’. The former is only detailed in map of the greater complex—‘The Cave of the Wyrm’—which is marked up with notes and annotations enough that a GM could further develop the adventure himself. ‘The Sea Cave’ adventure itself is designed for use with between four and eight medium level player characters, that is, those with a weapon skill of at least 50% and three points of armour. Now this does highlight an issue with both RuneQuest: Classic Edition and The Old School RQ Source Pack, which is that there is no support for the beginning GM and players straight out of the book.

‘The Sea Cave’ is set east of Corflu on the coast of Prax where the men of a fishing village have been attacked by some kind of sea monster. The local priest blames this on the village not having built a new temple to the sea god, Magesta, but the head fisherman thinks otherwise and hires the adventurers to investigate the attacks. He believes that the creature responsible has its lair in the nearby sea cave. Getting into the cave is a challenge in itself, given that the tide can hamper or even block access. This also affects the conditions within the caves nearer the sea, perhaps meaning that adventurers will need to row or wade through sea water, or just be careful of their footing on the slippery cave floors, all depending upon the height of the tide. The complex consists of just nine areas—caves and tunnels—mostly inhabited by a mix of cave trolls and sea creatures.

Each location is described in some detail, providing the GM with notes as what the adventurers will see upon first glance and a closer look, what hidden spots that may be found, any denizens, and so on. These notes nicely pull the GM into understanding each area, each also having the chance of being the location where a major piece of treasure might be found—this in addition to any already there. There is also a pair of plots running through the adventure, one set against the other and the other a decent bit of bait and switch. These though are written up at their respective locations rather than in the introduction, so the GM will need prepare these before running ‘The Sea Cave’.

What is notable about ‘The Sea Cave’ is how sophisticated it is in comparison to Balastor’s Barracks. As well as the aforementioned plots, there is a greater depth and detail present here in just nine rooms than there is in the twenty or so rooms to be found in Balastor’s Barracks, and as a result, The Sea Cave has flavour and atmosphere where Balastor’s Barracks is lacking. Nevertheless, this is still a challenging adventure and an adventuring party may want to make one or two attempts in exploring the far reaches of the caves in order to complete it. Notably, the GM is given advice that, “When adventurers are slaughtered or run screaming, the Monsters get experience rolls too.”

Beyond the adventure itself, SP8 The Sea Cave provides further background to the setting of Glorantha, this time details of the Cult of Cacodemon, the chaos and death cult dominated by Ogres. This was included since the greater part of ‘The Cave of the Wyrm’ complex mapped but not detailed in SP8 The Sea Cave is dominated by a hidden temple to Cacodemon. In addition, SP8 The Sea Cave also lists a number of scenario packs promised, but never released. These include The Howling Tower, Expedition to Miskander’s Tower, and Illyssia’s Grove.

Physically, SP8 The Sea Cave is decently presented. It is not illustrated, but the maps are charming and the one of ‘The Cave of the Wyrm’ can spur a GM to develop the SP8 The Sea Cave further.

SP8 The Sea Cave is a good scenario and without doubt, the best entry in The Old School RQ Source Pack. This is despite its ‘incomplete and unfinished’ aspects and its rough edges, but says much about the simple strengths of ‘The Sea Cave’ scenario—the two plots, the detailed descriptions, and the sense of the environment.

Battleships with Words

Codenames is the Spiel des Jahres—or ‘Game of the Year—award winner for 2016 and that is probably enough of a recommendation to try it and add it to your games collection. Published by Czech Games Edition, it is an espionage-themed word game that works as a party game and which can be played by between two and eight players. The players are split into two teams and one person on each team takes the role of their team’s ‘Spymaster’. His mission is to communicate the code names of his spies to his fellow team members; it is their task to understand the clues given by the spymaster and identity the spies. It is designed to be played by players aged fourteen and over and a game should last no more than twenty minutes.

Codenames consists of several decks of cards. These are the Codename cards (double-sided with a word like tube, bugle, Jupiter, palm, and so on); sixteen Agent cards in two colours (red and blue, used to identity Codenames by each side); a red/blue Double-Agent card (used to indicate the starting team); seven Innocent Bystander cards (used to indicate non-Agents); one Assassin card (used to indicate the Assassin who if identified by a team means that the identifying team loses the game); forty Key cards (these determine the location of the Agents, Innocent Bystanders, and Assassin on the grid); plus a rulebook and timer.

To set up the game, twenty-five Codenames are randomly drawn and arranged in a five-by-five grid. A Key card is drawn and shared between the two Spymasters. It shows them where their Agents, Innocent Bystanders, and Assassin are on the grid. On a team’s turn, its Spymaster gives a clue to the rest of his team. This clue consists of one word and one number. The word must be associated with—but not the same as—one or more of the Codename cards in the grid. The number indicates the number of Codename cards that the clue is associated with. So for example, a Spymaster has the following Codenames that need identifying: ‘America’, ‘Cap’, ‘Disease’, ‘Ham’, ‘Horn’, ‘Mail’, ‘Spring’, and ‘Whip’. So the Spymaster decides to give the clue ‘Supersoldier Two’ to indicate ‘America’ and ‘Cap’, hoping that his team knows its superheroes (or movies). 

The team now tries to guess the Codenames from this clue. If the team picks an Innocent Bystander instead of a Codename, its turn ends. If the team picks a Codename belonging to the other team, its turn ends. If the team picks the Assassin instead of a Codename, it has lost and the game is over. A team must make one guess on its turn and can choose to make fewer guesses than the number given by its Spymaster. A team that correctly guesses Codenames equal to the number given by its Spymaster can take an extra guess. This is useful if a team wants to return to a clue given in previous turn.

The first team to identify all of its Codenames wins the game.

At the heart of Codenames are two asymmetrical challenges. For the Spymaster, the challenge is, “Can I give clues to my team members that they will understand?”, whilst for the team members the challenge is, “Can we interpret and understand our Spaymaster’s clues?”. This requires no little thought by both sides, hampered of course, by the timer. 

On the downside, the game’s theme is a bit too light and if you do not like word games, then Codenames is not something that you will necessarily enjoy. If you do like word games, crossword puzzles, and so on, then Codenames’ simple design is both a delight and challenge. The game is also simple enough to work as a party game, but still be challenging without being overwhelming in its mechanics or appearance. The fact that it is a word game means that it is approachable and accessible to a non-gaming audience, a la Scrabble (yet better). Of course, it also works as a good filler game. The high number of Codename cards and Key cards (the latter for determining Codename location on the grid) means a wide variety of Codenames and grid layouts and thus a high replay value.

My gaming group described Codenames as being ‘Word Battleships’. The fact that there is a hidden grid involved and the game involves finding things on said grid and it easy to see the comparison. That said, Codenames is a light and clever game that will challenge groups large and small again and again.