Every Week It's Wibbley-Wobbley Timey-Wimey Pookie-Reviewery...

Monday 18 March 2024

Miskatonic Monday #271: Tiger in Human Skin

 Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu InvictusThe PastoresPrimal StateRipples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in EgyptReturn of the RipperRise of the DeadRise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—
Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Agata Brig

Setting: Swindon, Lovecraft Country

Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-one page, 1.47 MB Full Colour PDF

Elevator Pitch: The circus always leaves chaos in its wake...
Plot Hook: When a monster crosses your path...
Plot Support: Staging advice, four NPCs, one Mythos monster, and a piglet
.
Production Values: Plain.

Pros
Begins en media res
# Easy to slot into an existing campaign
# Easy to adjust to other times and places
# Coulrophobia
# Achondroplasiaphobia
# Tigriphobia

Cons
# Needs a slight edit
# Linear
# Easy to spot the villain
# Feels as if the background could been more accessible for the Investigators

Conclusion
# A circus came to town and left a monster in its wake
# Linear push to get the Investigators to the showdown without any real investigation

Miskatonic Monday #270: A Murder at Heck’s Peak

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu InvictusThe PastoresPrimal StateRipples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in EgyptReturn of the RipperRise of the DeadRise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—
Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Vovina Games

Setting: Colorado, 1877

Product: Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
What You Get: Forty-eight page, 80.69 MB Full Colour PDF

Elevator Pitch: Strangers and murder don’t mix
Plot Hook: Hell comes to Heck’s Peak—or has it already left?
Plot Support: Staging advice, seven NPCs, and eight Mythos monsters
.
Production Values: Plain.

Pros
Scenario for Down Darker Trails: Terrors of the Mythos
# Lengthy investigation
# Clear information on what every NPC knows
# Mythos on Mythos action
# Ichthyophobia
# Scotophobia
# Phagophobia

Cons
# Needs a good edit
# No maps
# Parts of the backstory left undeveloped
# Could have been better organised

Conclusion
# Solid mix of investigation and action let down by poor organisation
# Expect to be deranged on the range in this Mythos mix-up showdown

Sunday 17 March 2024

Dogs & The Devil’s Due

You are a Dog. You are a Dandy Dog. You are one of the Devil’s Dandy Dogs. You are a creature made of the Devil’s shadow and a shadow of what you once were. As a Dandy Dog you are tasked with collecting souls for the Devil. This will take you back to the world that was once your home and face numerous peoples, visit various places, confront creatures, engage in experiences that perhaps might recall your memories, and solve conundrums. You may even be Tempted. In the process, you will gain a Soul, through agreement or through guile, but never force, that you return to your Master. Neither good nor evil, the Devil is smart, wily, debonair, wicked, generally willing to play by the rules, a cunning conversationalist, a fierce and loyal protector of their dogs. Thus, he will be grateful for the Soul, but he will always have one more task and that is for you to tell him of how you gained the Soul. In other words, he wants to be entertained.

This is the set-up for The Devil’s Dandy Dogs, a storytelling game published by Monte Cook Games. Best played by four or five players, who together make up a pack, plus the Diviner—as the Game Master is known—it is designed to be played with a minimum of preparation, and more! That more is very easy set up by the Diviner and play straight out of the box for the players. In fact, a would-be Diviner could open the box, read through the rules in thirty (at the very most) minutes and be ready to run The Devil’s Dandy Dogs. All of which is facilitated by quick and easy character or Dandy Dog options and creation, and equally as easy, card-driven, scenario or soul fetch creation. It can be played in a single session or over multiple sessions, making it suitable for both one-shots and convention play, as well as extended play. Play itself is collaborative with the Diviner establishing the set-up and soul fetch and then working with her players building the world that their Dandy Dogs will operate in. This world can be historical, it can be fantasy, it can be horror, it can be Science Fiction, it can be today or it can be yesterday. This is decided upon by the Diviner and her players, as can the tone and mood of the game. No matter who the soul belongs to that the Dandy Dogs have been sent to collect and the problem they need to overcome or condition they need to fulfil in order to do so, when the session begins, the Dandy Dogs will already have succeeded in bringing a Soul to the Devil. And since they have already succeeded, the Dandy Dogs will be telling the story of what has happened and so The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is played in the past tense. This facilitates a certain play style, such as being able to remember what happened next and ask another player what happened next, meaning that the “I did this” of The Devil’s Dandy Dogs rather than the “I do this” of other roleplaying games brings a certain nuance to play.

The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is a boxed game. Below the handy ‘What’s in the Box?’ sheet, there are two books, a playmat, eleven character sheets, four dice, and over one hundred cards. The first book, ‘The Devil’s Dandy Dogs’ explains the rules and how to set up a game, whilst the second, ‘The Devil’s Playbook’ is the reference for the thirty-six cards of the ‘Diviner’s Deck’, explaining how the cards are used on the ‘Soul’s Arrow’, the cloth playmat where the spread of cards is placed after it is drawn. The eleven character sheets are mini-portfolios, one each for the roleplaying game’s eleven roles, with explanations of how the roles work in play and how the game’s mechanics work. Three of the dice have the symbol for success on one face and the symbol for failure on one face, with the other four blank. Successes and failures are named different things depending on the situation. The Temptation die has the success symbol on four faces and failure symbol on two. It can be rolled during an action to bring a Dog’s Drive into play, but has a chance of the Dog falling prey to his Temptation. The cards are large, Tarot-card sized, done on glossy stock and done in very full colour. Their primary use is to set up the ‘Deal with the Devil’, the details of the Soul Fetch that the Dandy Dogs have to undertake, including the Person, the Place, the Pact, the Complication, and more.

A Dandy Dog is defined by his Role, Name, Goal, Devil’s Mark and Traits. The Roles include The Beloved, The Hearthed, The Faithful, The Vermillion, and more. Each Role gives a Dandy Dog his personality, Drive, Temptation, Tricks or supernatural gifts, and storytelling style. The player picks his Dandy Dog’s Role, Goal, decides on the Devil’s Mark, and decides whether his Dandy Dog is Good in one Trait, Very Good in a second, and Best in a third. The three Traits are Devil, which represents supernatural and magical actions, such as Dreamwalking, Sensing Magic, Shadowwalking, and Soulbearing; Dandy, used in social situations and interacting with the world; and Dog, which is all about the things a dog can do. Each Dandy Dog must be unique, different from one player to the next.

Name: Dasha
Role: The Frolic
Devil: Good Dandy: Very Good Dog: Best
Drive: Play
Temptation: Hunger
Goal: To become a real dog
Tricks: Become Dog, These Violent Delights
Devil’s Mark: A Dog Chasing Its Tail

Mechanically, The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is simple. To undertake an action, a player rolls a number of dice equal to the rating of the Trait used. Three for Best, two for Very Good, and one for Good. A roll of six or ‘Devil’s Eyebrow’ means the Dandy Dog succeeds superbly; two, three, four, and five are blank and are the ‘Devil’s Duty’, meaning the Dandy Dog has succeeded without being either entertaining or exciting; and one or ‘Devil’s Delight’, means that the Dandy Dog has failed and done so spectacularly. In combat, a six becomes ‘Devil’s Tooth & Claw’ and a one becomes a ‘Devil’s Concern’. During a scene, the Diviner can use ‘Call & Response’ to bring a Dandy Dog into narrative and go back and forth to the Dandy Dog’s player who narrates what he does according to each result on a die. It is possible to save one die if a Dandy Dog has any left over at the end of this, and if he does run out, a Dandy Dog can ask a packmate to ‘Throw Me A Bone!’ if another Dandy Dog has kept one spare.

In addition, a Dandy Dog can bring his Drive into play if relevant. If a roll of three, four, five, and six, then the Dandy Dog succeeds and something amazing happens. However, on a role of one or two, the Dandy Dog’s Drive overtakes him, he gains a Temptation card, and he cannot act until his Pack helps him. (Notably, the symbols are not named on the Temptation die, unlike on the standard dice for ordinary and combat results.) There are also two further outcomes. ‘Fates Folly’ is triggered when three ‘ones’ are used in a scene by the Pack as a whole and the Diviner adds a ‘Fates Folly’ card to the ‘Soul’s Arrow’ playmat. A ‘Devil’s Door’ card is added to the ‘Soul’s Arrow’ playmat by the Diviner when the three ‘sixes’ are used in a scene by the Pack as a whole.

The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is structured into several beats. In ‘Hearth & Home’, the players collectively describe what their Dandy Dogs’ Devil is like—this is the character that the Diviner will be portraying, and then in ‘Deal with Devil’, the Diviner draws the three cards and plays them on the ‘Soul’s Arrow’. One for the Person who made the Pact with the Devil—that person already having made the pact to give up his or her Soul, second for the Place where the Person can be found, and the third for Pact between the Person and the Devil. Each card has a corresponding entry in the ‘The Devil’s Playbook’ which can be used to guide the Diviner. Each Pact involves a Deal, and this can help the Person retrieve something or someone important, achieve mastery or success, complete unfinished business for them, protect or heal someone for the Person, or Assist the Person in some way… These options give some great situations and set-ups that essentially complicate what the Dandy Dogs will have had to do in order to obtain the intended Soul, which will be played out the third best, ‘Fun & Games’. The last beat is ‘Dark Night of the Soul’, in which the Dandy Dogs face their toughest challenge in obtaining the Soul, but the Diviner also presents three Pact of the Pact cards from which the Dandy Dogs can choose from one. This will give them a collective ability such as the Dandy Dogs assume a ‘True Form’ all together, a single solid creature with all of its advantages and disadvantages, or ‘Through Time’ when the Dandy Dogs step out of time and place into a safe, warm comfortable place and then return with ‘real’ no time passed, but subjectively having had a chance to plan, discuss, and prepare to continue the resolution of the scene. Lastly, the Dandy Dogs return to ‘Hearth & Home’ and the Soul Fetch.

There is another best, ‘The Devil’s Interlude’. It is an optional best, which can be used to add a scene between the other beats, pause the story, or to add a moment of levity. Whilst in the short term, a Dandy Dog and his pack are trying to retrieve a promised Soul, in the long term a Dandy Dog can be working towards his Goal and the gaining of Memory Shards. The latter are primarily gained for collecting a Soul and go towards completion of a Goal, but they can also be expended to ‘Mend a Tear’ and heal the damage that would disconnect a Dandy Dog from the Devil’s shadow or together with other Dandy Dogs keep a Pact of the Pack card.

As much as The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is a lovely looking game, the main, but minor issues are due to that physicality. First, the cards could have been slightly thicker. The cards are also quite bendy. Not all of the card types are readily named so that does impede play slightly. Secondly, the symbols on the dice are consistent across the standard and Temptation dice, but are not consistently named in the game, which is confusing.

Physically, The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is very well presented. The artwork on the cards is great and the rulebook is very well written. This includes good examples of play and solid advice from start to finish.

The Devil’s Dandy Dogs is a very good game in a box and it is a very quick game in a box, combining portability, ease of set-up, and mechanical simplicity with scope to tell the great stories of the final moments of those who have sold their soul to the Devil. Honestly, once the Diviner has learned how to make a ‘Deal with the Devil’ and read through the rules, she can run The Devil’s Dandy Dogs at any time. Mechanically, it is that simple. The complexity comes in the Pact made between the Devil and those willing to give up his Soul and ensuring that it is fulfilled, that is, in the story not the rules. Beautifully presented, The Devil’s Dandy Dogs’ combination of easy-to-learn rules and challenging storytelling make it the perfect pick-up, no preparation, be a good dog, dance with the Devil roleplaying game.

Saturday 16 March 2024

A Hoard of Heresies

In 1307, the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar, were summarily attacked and arrested by French forces, on orders from King Philip IV of France with permission from Pope Clement V. It marked the beginning of the end of the order, which for two hundred years had dedicated itself to protecting Christians making their pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Its leaders would be tried for heresy, but before the arrest their arrest in Templar’s Parisian stronghold, the Enclos du Temple, they would issue one final set of orders: the last Templars were to take the secrets of the order to safety. They would be the last thirty to escape the fallen stronghold and theirs would be a perilous journey across Europe in search of sanctuary, harried all the way first by forces loyal to King Philip, and then the Inquisition. Their story and their efforts to find sanctuary, perhaps in the process discovering the true secrets of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, are told in
Heirs to Heresy: The Fall of the Knights Templar, a roleplaying game published by Osprey Games.

Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear is the first supplement for Heirs to Heresy. That roleplaying game is essentially a toolkit to run a single type of campaign, one that tells of the Player Character Templars’ flight away from Paris to a sanctuary, whichever one that is… Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear is a companion volume, providing a range of support and content that adds to that toolkit, thus giving the Grand Master more options to enhance her campaign or even run a new campaign. The supplement includes the advice and warning from the core rulebook about dealing with the negative aspects of both history and the portrayal of the Knights Templar, before getting on with the new content. The first of which is three new knightly orders—the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which was concerned with protecting and ensuring the sanctity of the holy sites; the Knights Hospitaller, which operated hospitals for the benefit of pilgrims; and the Order of Saint Lazarus, Leper Knights who aid commoners who have been harmed or hurt. Each Order has two special abilities. For example, a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre has ‘First Among Equals’ and ‘Secure the Holy Spaces’. The first of these gives the knight an advantage when dealing with other orders because the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is the oldest order, has precedence, and reports directly to the Pope, whilst the second increases their Damage Reduction when defending a sacred or consecrated sites. The inclusion of these three orders open up Player Character and NPC options, and perhaps because none of the three orders have been arrested by the French King and accused of heresy, also perhaps as a more general roleplaying game involving militant orders rather than one dealing with the last actions of the free Templars.

Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear does include a fourth order, the Teutonic knights. They are not, though, included as a Player Character option, but as NPC villains. Several options are suggested as to why, from Teutonic Grand Master simply coveted the Templar wealth to the Teutonic Order having been corrupted by some dark influence. However, as a possible ally, a location somewhere in the Teutonic Order’s lands might become the sanctuary that the Player Characters are trying to reach and that lends itself to a campaign with a Gothic feel located in Eastern Europe.

‘Modes of Play’ gives rules for solo play or play without a Grand Master. This includes the ‘Yes/No Oracle’, a simple means of resolving player choices, and tables of Action and Theme options to inspire and prompt the player. A set of tables, based on their Health level, whether Full, Halved, or Quartered, provides random actions in combat for NPCs, whilst another provides reactions out of combat. A further set of tables enable the Grand Master to create a conspiracy and the basis of a campaign using the content in this supplement and the core rulebook.

In Heirs to Heresy, a Player Character Knight can bring his faith and commitment to bear on a situation. To reflect this, he has Faith points to spend on various effects, including adding his Faith Attribute to a single Test, damage total, or reducing incoming damage by the same, to reroll a single Test, and if they factor into a campaign, power esoterica, Gifts, and Relics. Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear adds an option for using Faith called ‘Acts of Faith’. These include ‘Acts of Exorcism’, ‘Acts of Foresight’, ‘Acts of Healing’, and ‘Acts of Sacrifice’, the latter enabling the Player Character to protect a fallen ally against a grave threat. All four ‘Acts of Faith’ require the expenditure of a point of Faith and a may require a Religion skill test. The converse, ‘Acts of Fear’, including ‘Acts of Deceit’, ‘Acts of Incitement’, and ‘Acts of Violence’, require Corruption points, which are gained for committing sins, to be used. It is possible for a Player Character Knight, to be corrupt and have fallen from the Grace of God, and use these ‘Acts of Fear’. However, should such a Knight become too corrupt, there will be no way back for him to the Grace of God, and he becomes an NPC under the control of the Grand Master and likely a major threat to the Player Characters.

‘Strongholds and Sieges’ adds rules for building bases, such as castles and fortifications, and then laying siege to them. These include natural caverns, towers, and new fortifications, and a stronghold has actions of its own that the players can trigger. This can be to Fortify, Repair, or Upgrade the structure, Hire an employee (such as a Blacksmith, Builder, or Priest), Rest, or spend time in Introspection. Rest grants temporary Stamina points and Introspection points to spend on advancing Faith. Strongholds have Traits of their own, such as Famous, Gnostic Monastery (which grants an esoteric benefit), Living(!), and even Religious Sanctuary. The Siege rules are an addition to the Mass Battle system and are fairly quick and dirty, the aim being to reduce the Army Strength of one side to zero. Both Attacker and Defender have a limited number of options—Assault, Resupply, Sabotage, or Starve Out for the Attacker and Fortify, Repair, Sally Forth, and Smuggle in Supplies for the Defender, but can undertake four actions per day. There is room too for Player Character actions and roleplaying too, but the rules are quick and simple.

At the core of Heirs to Heresy are the relics, one of which the Player Characters are attempting to get from Paris to sanctuary. The choice can determine certain aspects of the campaign, such as how Faith interacts with the Player Characters. The four here are the Ark of the Covenant, the Head of Saint John Baptist, the Turn Shroud, and the Spear of Longinus. For example, the Ark of the Covenant will slay the unfaithful, grant insight and Faith for a battle, and if unlocked, that is, a Player Character attunes to it, it grants further Faith. Of course, it is relatively large and so not easy to transport. Each one of these four is major Christian relic and will really affect the nature of a campaign.

As well as the relic they are charged with protecting, the Player Characters may have access to another resources, that of the Templar spy networks to be found in the cities and towns across Europe. Most obviously, they could be used to provide safehouses as the Player Characters flee from Paris, but they can also provide supplies and information, and perhaps they can actually be made greater use of if the Player Characters establish a stronghold and want monitor or weaken the forces hunting for them. There are tables too for creating NPCs and their personalities, for exploration and the weather, and a host of new enemies, mobs both supernatural and mundane, and supernatural foes such as the Basilisk, Maddening Mist, and Warlocks or Witches.

The supplement also comes with four adventures of varying length and complexity. ‘The Wolfcairn’ finds the Player Characters camping somewhere deep in the forest when they begin to be stalked by a massive wolf that is more than it seems; in ‘The Basilisk’s Den’ they visit a tavern of that name looking for a connection to the local Templar spy network and run against all manner of NPCs with their own interests; in ‘Last Stand’, the Inquisition has caught up with the Player Characters who will have to hold them off, perhaps giving one of their number to make a desperate final defence of the others; and lastly, the ‘Cursed Brothers’ interlude gives the Player Characters a chance for respite at a Templar castle, but their fellow brothers turn out to be as bad as King Philip IV of France claimed the order to be. All four scenarios are easy to run and include pointers on their set-up descriptions of locations and NPCs, and both consequences and possible complications. They are all relatively easy to drop into a campaign. Lastly, the supplement includes another three pre-generated Player Characters, one for each of the new orders given at the start of the book.

Physically, Heirs to Heresy is cleanly and simply presented. The book is easy to read and the artwork is excellent.

Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear is not absolutely necessary to play a campaign of Heirs to Heresy. What it does do though, is provide a range of options and rules that can be used to expand the Grand Master’s campaign. The new scenarios are the easiest to use, each one readily dropped into a campaign, whilst the rules for spy networks, sieges, and ‘Acts of Faith’ require more effort and perhaps certain situations to arise to be fully useful. Overall, Heirs to Heresy: Faith & Fear widens the number of options that the Grand Master can choose from when planning her campaign and when making it more exciting in play, so making it useful for any Heirs to Heresy: The Fall of the Knights Templar campaign.

Solitaire: Thousand Empty Light

Thank you for accepting this assignment. As a valued employee of the HAZMOS CORP we have trust in your resilience and reliability to undertake this task. TEL 022 is the only artificial structure on Unadopted Planetary Body 154, or UPB 154. HAZMOS CORP currently owns the maintenance contract on this facility and the Department of Offworld Contact Monitoring has detected that TEL 022 is currently without light or power. The Department of Offworld Contact Fulfilment has signed you, a fully trained LAMPLIGHTER, to fulfil the immediate terms of the contract. You will be transported to UPB 154. An atmospheric vehicle will insert you onto UPB 154 and you will gain access to TEL 022. Once inside you are directed to descend to the bottom of TEL 022 and proceed section by section through TEL 022. In each section you will restore power and light. In each section, please record your visual assessment and maintenance report in the MemoComm module for HAZMOS CORP records as part of the contract. You are advised that TEL 022 is a sub oceanic facility. Please record any depth complications in consultation with the PNEUMATIC AND NARCOTIC INCIDENT CHART, or PANIC reference, provided. Throughout this assignment you are reminded to adhere to the standard practice for the fulfilment of HAZMOS CORP maintenance contracts and follow the OBSERVE RESOLVE ACT CONCLUDE LEAVE EVIDENCE, or ORACLE, System. By following the ORACLE System, you will ensure your safety and HAZMOS CORP’s continued responsibility for your safety and wellbeing. Failure to adhere to the ORACLE System may threaten your safety and wellbeing, the capacity of HAZMOS CORP to fulfil the contract, and negate any liability HAZMOS CORP is contractually obliged to fulfil with regard to your physical and mental status. On behalf of the HAZMOS CORP, the Director thanks you for your attention and action in these matters and looks forward to you being a continued and valued member of the HAZMOS CORP family.

This is the set-up for Thousand Empty Light, a supplement for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game, published by House of Valley following a successful Kickstarter campaign, which is several things which together make it more than a straightforward supplement or scenario. On the one level, it is actually the manual and guidance book released by the HAZMOS CORP for fulfilling the maintenance contract for TEL 022. On another, it is actually a piece of horror fiction which follows the progress of the assigned Lamplighter as he descends into TEL 022 and makes his way along it one segmented tunnel, visually scanning each area, reading the reports recorded by the previous Lamplighter to conduct maintenance on the facility, recording his report, and coming to the realisation that there is something odd going on in TEL 022 and that HAZMOS CORP is not telling its employee the true purpose of the facility. And lastly, it is a solo adventure for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game, one whose rules can be adapted to use in other scenarios for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. As a solo adventure, it can be played as written, but the player can also record his reports, turning Thousand Empty Light into a journaling scenario. Further, given that Thousand Empty Light is designed for solo play and thus one player, it could actually be run one-on-one, with a single player and a Warden. The latter will be easier than in most solo roleplaying experiences because the structure of TEL 022 actually informs the structure of the scenario—it is linear. Although it is interactive fiction, Thousand Empty Light is literally straightforward as opposed to the non-linearity of most works of interactive fiction such as the Fighting Fantasy series.

TEL 022, the setting for Thousand Empty Light, is situated deep under the ocean of UPB 154. It is accessed via a caisson that juts above the ocean surface, the Lamplighter descending via the caisson and undergoing hyperbaric intervention. At the bottom, the Lamplighter is tasked with proceeding through the five sections of the facility in order, each one sealed at either end. In each section, he must follow the standard WORKFLOW: review the reports previously recorded on the hand-cranked MemoComm module, assess the situation, and restore both light and power, record his own report, and check for depth complications. This includes following the ORACLE System.

Notably, the ‘O’ or ‘OBSERVE’ step of the ORACLE System uses Semiotic Standard as a means of providing a randomising factor. Semiotic Standard is actually a system of signs and symbols—‘Semiotic Standard For All Commercial Trans-Stellar Utility Lifter And Heavy Element Transport Spacecraft’—created by the American film designer, Ron Cobb, as icons for the commercial spacetug, Nostromo, in the film Alien. There are fifty of these and they are recreated on the back cover of Thousand Empty Light and numbered. Where there is a degree of doubt and uncertainty, the player can roll to determine which one will influence the actions of his character. Each has been amended with a potential outcome, either ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Yes, But’, and ‘No, but’, to prompt the player along with the icon itself. They are not the easiest of prompts to use, but their verisimilitude and the sense of worldbuilding they enforce are undeniable.

In addition, the player, as the Lamplighter, has to record incidents and near misses and record them on an Incident Form. These can be trips and falls, injury and illness, unsafe disrepair, excessive noise, newly-identified, and more. When they occur, they are randomly assigned a value between one and ten. They do not have an immediate effect, but if another incident occurs which is randomly assigned the same value as a previous incident, it triggers repercussions from that previous incident. The higher the assigned value, the greater the effect of the repercussions. It also triggers a PANIC check upon the part of the Lamplighter which requires referring to the PANIC reference. This is also required when the Lamplighter transitions from one section to another.

In terms of a Player Character and his abilities, Thousand Empty Light recommends Mechanical Repair and Jury-Rigging as skills and training in industrial equipment. Otherwise, it adheres to standard rules for character creation for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. He is assigned a flashlight, a rebreather, and a dive gauge, and some of the hazards he will face are explained—depth complications, unlit areas, corrosive seawater, flooding, raiders, and an array of strange creatures and environmental effects. Once the Lamplighter has signed a Letter of Last Resort, he enters the caisson and the first section. It is at this point that Thousand Empty Light begins to resemble a journalling game, because what the player will be in each section is using its description and the MemoComm module recordings his Lamplighter has access to as prompts to ask questions. Answers to these questions are determined by rolling on the Semiotic Standard table on the back of the book, as well as other factors. The player can then decide how his Lamplighter responds, what action he takes, and so on, following the ORACLE System again and again until the section has been fully explored and the Lamplighter has completed the WORKFLOW for that section.

As the Lamplighter proceeds from one section to the next the oppressive, often claustrophobic atmosphere grows, the unsettling nature of even the first four sections of TEL 022 exacerbating his sense of panic. This is first forced by the need to make a PANIC check when entering a new section and then by events generated by the player from the questions prompted by the descriptive content. One thing that Thousand Empty Light does not explain is what is in the fifth section. It is described as a High Value Asset early in the maintenance manual, and the Lamplighter is cautioned not to interact with it. In a sense, it does not matter, since getting to the last section will have been trial enough and asking those questions may be too much. Like the story of his Lamplighter’s progress through TEL 022, it is up to the player to decide, though there is, perhaps, the hint that it lies closer to home…

In addition, there are secrets in Thousand Empty Light that are hidden by a code. These are not decipherable without further purchase by the player. They are not necessary to play through Thousand Empty Light though.

Physically, Thousand Empty Light is impressive. The writing captures the right tone of corporate attitude and care, which of course, is never going to be enough as a playthrough reveals. Similarly, the layout adds to this and the combination of the two is why Thousand Empty Light actually works better as a piece of fiction perhaps more than it does as a solo adventure or a set of solo rules for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. Part of that is due to the fact that the explanation of how they work is written as a corporate maintenance manual rather than as a roleplaying game supplement. At the same time though, if it actually had that clearer explanation of the rules, it might actually have disrupted the veracity of the atmosphere in Thousand Empty Light.

Lastly, it should be noted that the name of the scenario has been randomly generated. By any stretch of the imagination, it is meaningless.

As a piece of horror fiction and interactive fiction, Thousand Empty Light superbly and successfully combines a sense of corporate sheen and corporate creepiness, the former ratcheted down, the latter ratcheted up, as the player and his Lamplighter proceeds further into TEL 022. As a set of solo rules, Thousand Empty Light underwhelms due to under-explaining and that, combined with their specific application by the HAZMOS CORP here, makes them difficult to apply elsewhere for MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. Perhaps a new ORACLE System and PANIC reference is required?

Friday 15 March 2024

Friday Fantasy: Tales of the Wolfguard

Blizzard Vale is the most northerly of the Empire’s provinces, a long valley cutting through the mighty Moonmaiden Range, perpetually snow-covered and marked with sparse stands of conifers, ice-covered lakes, and frigid rivers. Here can be found the clans of the barbarian Elves, long driven out of the vale by the Empire and into the surrounding mountains and much reduced from what they once were, and no longer considered a threat by the Empire. At the entrance to the valley stands the town of Ysvindur, an imperial provincial capital that would have long since been abandoned were it not for the exotic goods that merchants from the south come to buy from the Elf clans. Indeed, both the governor or legate and his various bureaucrats consider a posting by the Emperor to Ysvindur and the Blizzard Vale a disappointment at the very least, a punishment at the very most. Yet there are those who welcome assignment or exile to Ysvindur, either because they wish to make a new start on the frontier and escape whatever misfortune or scandal befell them in the capital or because they have been sentenced to serve in the north for crimes that might have otherwise seen them imprisoned or even exiled. They serve in the Wolfguard, whose members are dedicated to protecting the vale and Ysvindur. Their endeavours are explored in Tales of the Wolfguard.

Tales of the Wolfguard is a hexcrawl published by Hellwinter Forge of Wonders for use with Old School Essentials, Necrotic Gnome’s interpretation and redesign of the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh. It is designed to be played using Third Level Player Characters, ideally members of the Wolfguard, newly appointed, prepared for exile and a new life in the frigid north. The roles within the Wolfguard map onto Classes of Old School Essentials and other retroclone. As record keepers for the Wolfguard, Chroniclers are Acrobats and Bards; Priests provide spiritual and healing needs as Clerics and Druids; Rooks are its frontlines warriors and are Barbarians, Dwarves, Fighters, Knights, and Paladins; Striders are its spies and scouts, so are acrobats, Assassins, half-Orcs, Rangers, and Thieves; and Warlocks deal with arcane magic and thus are Elves, Illusionists, and Wizards. The Wolfguard also has its own headquarters, the Faraway Den, roughly a day’s ride from Ysvindur, a keep carved out of the mountainside and featuring an armoury, a thermal pool, infirmary, and temple. Fully mapped and detailed, the Faraway Den is relatively small, capable of housing only twelve members, which also indicates the maximum size of the Wolfguard. Also housed in the Faraway Den’s temple is its ‘Syare’. This is an arcane orb, part of a network which enables magical and instant communication between the sites where they are installed. Essentially, think of the Palantir devices from The Lord of the Rings. It enables the Wolfguard to maintain contact with the Legate through his Syare in Ysvindur and even with Emperor Egon Kruvaja XII, far to the south, via the Sovereign Syare housed in the Imperial Palace.

If the Game Master does decide to use the Wolfguard as her Player Character organisation—which feels similar to that of the Night’s Watch from A Game of Thrones, one of its great features—and that of Tales of the Wolfguard—is the capacity for the Faraway Den and the Player Characters to attune to each other. This is done by the players investing their characters’ Experience Points in the Faraway Den itself. Invest enough Experience Points and it unlocks a feature. For example, for nine hundred Experience Points, the orb lights in the Faraway Den will turn red whenever someone with evil intent enters Windswept Pass that leads to the Wolfguard’s base of operations. There are a total of fourteen upgrades, some of which grant Reaction bonuses with certain groups or enable the keep’s thermal pool to restore an energy drain caused by the undead once a month, and they let the Player Characters make the Faraway Den their home and collectively personalise it. This echoes the community building rules to be found in Free League Publishing titles such as Mutant: Year Zero – Roleplaying at the End of Days and Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, and are more than welcome here.

The setting for Tales of the Wolfguard, Blizzard Vale, is described in a mix of broad and thumbnail detail, the latter typically focusing on particular locations and points of interest across the valley. Ysvindur lies partially dug into a mountain, its notable buildings beside the Legate’s palace include House of Pleasures where the Last Stand is popular gambling game (its rules also included) and Kastran’s Bric-à-Brac, from the Dwarf owner sells all manner of things, including potions and even magical items. Local traditions and typical dishes, like elk jerky (dried with a blend of spices and perfect for long journeys through the Blizzard Vale) and the hearty frostberry stew, add flavour and feel. There are secrets too, including threats that belie the reputation of the Blizzard Vale as a sleepy backwater. One of them is a sect of assassins and criminals known as the Scorpion Milk, and although Tales of the Wolfguard does not actually tell the Game Master what the sect’s aim is in and around Ysvindur, it does provide a random table of its possible actions as it works to destabilise the region and take advantage of it. This is one of the features of Tales of the Wolfguard, tables that provide hooks and details.

A more obvious threat—according to some in Ysvindur—are the Barbarian Elves. This attitude dates back to the Empire’s first encounters with the Elves of the Blizzard Vale and the rumours of demihuman and human sacrifice. The Legate, Lord Rathlas, believes them to be a threat. Of course, the situation is not quite as simple and the Player Characters have the chance to interest with the Elves from the moments they arrive in the Blizzard Vale and again on a regular basis at the Barbarian Market held each month by the Elf leader, Byrde of the Ice Gaze, outside the walls of Ysvindur. This is where the merchants who come from the south can purchase the exotic goods that can be sold elsewhere in the Empire. A table of such goods is given too, and include the foul-smelling ‘Ice Grease’ which is very effective against the cold, and ‘Tnar’, a board game played by the Elves. Tales of the Wolfguard also gives the rules for the board game too along with a full sized board. The game is simplistic, but getting a player and his character to play against an NPC would add a certain verisimilitude.

Other secrets include a race of birdmen and a set of ancient ruins. The former, the Ikaryas, reside in mystical seclusion atop the mountains, their existence is either completely ignored or regarded as nothing more than myths. The latter consists of a shattered tower that was once the home of a dark sorceress known as the Winter Crone. Although the tower itself is not mapped out or detailed, several mini-dungeons are described, including caves, temples, libraries, and more, their entrances strewn across the ruins that litter the small valley where the Winter’s Crone tower stands. Their exact locations are not mapped out, but instead triggered by the rolls on the encounter table. The dungeons themselves—each generated by Watabou’s One Page Dungeon [https://itch.io/profile/watabou]—are briefly described and the Game Master may want to flesh them out some more. Similarly, the Ikaryas have their own set of encounters.

The Game Master is further supported by stats for all of the various monsters and NPCs, a table of legends and rumours that the Game Master can use to develop her own encounters, and a ‘Quest Plot Generator’, a set of tables which determines a quest or scenario’s setting and theme, villain and his motivation, possible reward for the Player Characters, the scenario starting point, twist, and climax. Lastly, Tales of the Wolfguard includes an introductory adventure which assumes that the Player Characters are members of the Wolfguard. It begins at the entrance to Windswept Pass which leads up to the Faraway Den and sees them investigate the disappearance of the former garrison there and involves Elf Barbarians and a dark villain. The scenario mentions the villain only by name, the intention being to have the Game Master develop this herself.

In addition, Tales of the Wolfguard comes with six pre-generated Player Characters, each with a reason to join the Wolfguard. Not all of them are pleasant. They also all have magical weapons. That said, if there is anything actually missing from the pages of Tales of the Wolfguard, it is a table of reasons to join the Wolfguard should the players want to create their own characters. There is even a mini-soundtrack to play during the running of the scenario.

Physically, Tales of the Wolfguard is well presented and the layout clean and tidy. The artwork is decent and the cartography good.

Tales of the Wolfguard comes with lots of playable content and room for both the players and their characters to make their mark on the Blizzard Vale and the Game Master to develop further material. This can be her own content or it can be inspired or drawn from the many prompts and hooks to be found in the pages of Tales of the Wolfguard. This is by design, as beyond the starting scenario and initial setting content, the Game Master is expected to develop further material. That can also apply to some of the existing content, such as the dungeons, which do require further fleshing out. Overall, Tales of the Wolfguard is a good combination of hexcrawl, hexcrawl toolkit, atmospherically frigid setting, and hooks for the Game Master’s imagination. It would be great to see some further content released for Tales of the Wolfguard, but in the meantime, the Game Master has everything she needs to make it her own.

Magazine Madness 30: Parallel Worlds Issue #06

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The sixth issue—and it is the sixth issue and not the correctly numbered fifth issue—of Parallel Worlds was published in February 2020. As with previous issues, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, films, and more. Previous issues placed an emphasis on everything else—books and films in particular—rather than gaming, and although that emphasis remains, with Parallel Worlds Issue #5, the magazine began to strive for a more balanced mix of content. It also became better organised, continuing the colour-coding of the various sections, so that the issue’s interviews are together and its tabletop content is together, but just arranging the order of articles in different sections so that they flow thematically from one into the other and so give a touch of continuity in places. The articles also got more interesting and informative, resulting on a far more readable issue which covered horror and Science Fiction, roleplaying communities, films and books and computer games. In the case of Parallel Worlds Issue #5, this countered the issue that the magazine does not support the tabletop gaming hobby very well. This continues with Parallel Worlds Issue #6, which has a Science Fiction theme.

Parallel Worlds Issue #6 opens with the first interview in the issue. This is by Marc Cross with the leaders of ‘South London Warlords’, the long-running wargames club. This is part of the ‘Know Your Community’ strand, highlighting communities dedicated to tabletop gaming. In the case of the South London Warlords, it highlights their activities in making the hobby of wargaming a welcoming one, and in particular, the staging of Salute, the one-day wargaming event. At the time of the review, both it and the club have been running for fifty years, and this interview was nicely timed before the then next event. The wargaming strand continues with Rob Sawyer’s ‘BattleTech – Faster, My Giant Stompy Robot’. Written and published to coincide with the release of the computer game, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, this gives a history and overview of the now forty-year-old intellectual property which developed from the single robot combat game into a franchise that has supported numerous board and miniatures games and supplements and sourcebooks for both, collectible miniatures games, collectible card game, over one hundred novels, numerous computer games, and a Saturday morning cartoon. The lengthiest piece in the magazine, it is not wholly comprehensive, since it really only explores the original situation in the Successor States, that detailed in the original boxed set and supplements that followed, rather than the later period with the coming of the Clans and subsequent events. Nevertheless, it provides a very good introduction to the setting and even includes one or two facts that that are new to this longtime BattleTech fan.

If ‘BattleTech – Faster, My Giant Stompy Robot’ is relevant today because 2024 is the fortieth anniversary of Battletech, Chris Cunliffe’s ‘Play Safe’ is equally as relevant today because it explores the still topical issues of how to handle consent at the table in roleplaying. He makes the point that as roleplaying games have evolved and focused more on story in the last few decades, it has been accompanied by more mature and more difficult content that not every player would want to see included in what is their play. As a response, there has been a rise in the number of safety tools available which a Game Master and her players can deploy to establish the subjects and areas that they do not want to experience or explore. The X-Card is perhaps the most well-known, but not the earliest and not the most nuanced. The earliest perhaps are the ‘Lines and Veils’ introduced by Ron Edwards in 2004 in Sex and Sorcery, a supplement for the Sorcerer roleplaying game, so they date back two decades now in 2024. However, there are issues with those too, and consequently Cunliffe explores other options as well. In the process, he provides the reader with a range of choices so that he can decide which one toolset works best for him and the rest of his group. This is a solid introduction to the subject and very useful.

Christopher Jarvis’ review of the board game Lifeform is decent, but given the fact that it is inspired by the film Alien, feels as it should have been reviewed in Parallel Worlds Issue #5. The ‘Mini of the Month’, this time written by Angus McNicholl about an Authorised Bounty Hunter miniature sculpted and manufactured by Corvus Belli for the Infinity Science Fiction skirmish game, continues be an uninteresting space filler. At worst, it could be reduced to a single page in future issues, at best, it could be cancelled as a regular feature and its space devoted to almost anything else that would undoubtedly be actually interesting.

The first of two Thinkpiece articles in Parallel Worlds Issue #6 looks at the lack of female representation in various media, primarily genre media. ‘Creative Equality’ by Jane Clewett and Ben Potts looks at their role in Science Fiction, fantasy, and horror, how they have broken ground, like Mary Shelley with Frankenstein or Shirly Jackson with The Haunting of Hill House, but progress in their representation has been limited, despite for example, female writers having won the Hugo award for best novel several times in the last few years. The same situation applies in video games too, with more video game protagonists being male than female still despite the greater number of players being female. It is a disappointing article to read and a pity that Parallel Worlds is not around today to return to the subject to assess the situation four years on.

The second Thinkpiece connects to the first piece on TV & Film. In the Thinkpiece, ‘Think Bigger: Megastructures’, Thomas Turnball-Ross explores the history of the megastructure in Science Fiction, which of course, began with Larry Niven’s Ringworld. Since then, megastructures have been a feature of the Halo series of computer games, films such as Pixar’s WALL-E, and more. Not just ringworlds, but also Dyson Spheres, arks, and the Stanford torus. Numerous different media are mentioned here, such as Ian M Banks’ Consider Phlebas and Elite Dangerous, but you wish that each was given a clear and proper illustration so that the reader has some idea of what they look like. Otherwise, this is a serviceable introduction to what it describes as a civilisation’s ultimate manifestation. Indeed, one of the tropes in Science Fiction for megastructures is for them to have been abandoned and the identity of the builders lost, but rediscovered as part of their exploration. That goes all the way back again, to Niven’s Ringworld. This is a companion piece to Allen Stroud’s ‘The Big Dumb Object’ from Parallel Worlds Issue #5, and there is some crossover between the two.

There is another purpose for the megastructure discussed in the following article by Jane Clewett. In ‘Why Watch… Babylon 5?’, she asks whether one of the biggest Science Fiction television series of the nineteen nineties worth watching after almost three decades since it was first broadcast. The series really was groundbreaking in terms of its characters, the sweep of its plot and character story arcs, the presentations of its alien species, and the use of computers to create its special effects. The latter look dated now, as does its attitude to LGBT issues, but then that was not its fault and it did at least hint at their inclusion. So that is not really a fair criticism. The megastructure in the series is Babylon 5 itself , a giant space station built to facilitate and foster peace between the galactic powers, and is a character in part itself. The article does a good job of selling the series and making clear that it is worth checking to see if the potential watcher will enjoy it.

The ‘TV & Film’ articles in the issue continue the discussion pieces of ‘Let’s Talk About... The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ from Parallel Worlds Issue #03, ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’ from Parallel Worlds Issue #04, and ‘Let’s Talk About... Joker’ ‘from Parallel Worlds Issue #05. Those articles were two-handers, but in Parallel Worlds Issue #06, it becomes a three-hander between Allen Stroud, Ben Potts, and Jane Clewett. Together, they discuss Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Numerous controversaries have been and gone since the release of the third and final part of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, so the divisive nature of this film—and the trilogy in general, has faded into memory. So it is interesting to return to the divided opinions prevalent at the time and see them discussed in a courteous and enjoyable manner. Each of the three contributors has a very different opinion.

For the books strand, Connor Eddles provides a solid overview and history of the Amazing Stories pulp Science Fiction magazine in ‘Pulp Pioneers’, Ant Jones reviews The Blackbird and the Ghots and Catching Light in ‘Self-Pub Review’, and Jane Clewett delves into ‘the luminaries – chose your social media adventure’. The first two of these are quick and breezy, whereas the third uses Susan Dennard’s The Luminaries, a six-month long adventure presented via a series of choices on Twitter to direct the story, as a springboard to examine the state of interactive fiction. This covers books like the Fighting Fantasy series and television programme such as Black Books’ ‘Bandersnatch’, before ultimately returning to the starting point, unsure of whether the publication of the original ‘choose your own adventure’ story will work in print as well as it did online.

Tom Grundy’s review of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Ruin follows, whilst in ‘The Mysterious Case of Dentra Rast’, Allen Stroud returns to the fiction he wrote at the time of his work on the Elite Dangerous Roleplaying Game involving the character Dentra Rast and see what happened next. What did happen took place in another game all together, EVE Online, and is quite surprising. An interesting article for fans of both computer games. Lastly, the issue is rounded out with a short story also by Allen Stroud, ‘Lost at the Wedding’, which is quite enjoyable.

Physically, Parallel Worlds Issue #6 is cleanly and tidily presented, and on the whole, it is a bright and breezy affair. Unlike in previous issues, there is less of the stretching of the content to fit the pages, so the magazine feels fuller and tighter. However, that does not apply to ‘Mini of the Month’.

Parallel Worlds Issue #6 has a lot of enjoyable and interesting content benefiting from its strong Science Fiction theme, in particular the article on BattleTech and safety in gaming stand out. The latter in particular, feels timely and actually connected and relevant to the gaming hobby, something that gaming articles in previous issues did not usually achieve. Overall, Parallel Worlds Issue #6 continues the improvement begun in Parallel Worlds Issue #5 and it is beginning to become a magazine that you want to read.