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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/06/08/tabletop-review-doctor-
who-adventures-in-time-and-space-eleventh-doctor-edition/
When I got my grubby little paws on this game, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve seen some pretty terrible licensed games and I’ve seen some fantastic ones. I love RPGs, and I’ve been a Doctor Who fan since Christopher Eccleston took on the role for the 2005 restart series. My wife had been trying to convince me to watch the show long before then, but I’m stubborn, and I’d only seen part of an episode of Sylvester McCoy’s run and it was a Dalek episode and I had no idea what was going on. So the 9th Doctor was the perfect in for me. I’ve since picked up the 8th Doctor audio adventures and devoured whatever I could find of the others through episodes and audio dramas, but the 8th has held a special place for me. That’s not to say I don’t like Matt Smith’s take on it, I love it, but each actor brings out a different aspect of the Doctor, and while I do think the Eleventh is fun, let’s face it everyone ends up having “their” Doctor, and the 8th just happens to be mine. But I digress. What you get with this boxed set is a slick looking, well thought out RPG that’s as easily accessible for people who’ve never played an RPG as it is to veterans.
It’s broken down like most boxed sets are, and I got the PDF version so I didn’t get any dice (I already have access to over twenty sets so I’m good), but they do have printouts for the tokens and equipment cards in the PDF. The meat of what you get though is character sheets, a 97 page Player’s Guide, a 164 page GameMaster’s Guide, the 44 page Adventure Book, and a quick start guide. Like the Tenth Doctor’s Boxed Set, the GameMaster’s Guide does double up on information present in the Player’s Guide a bit, but it is nice having them in entirely separate books, even as PDFs.
The Player’s Guide is broken down into 4 chapters, the first giving some very brief but useful information about the Who-verse and roleplaying games. The second very lengthy chapter deals with creating characters and how they fit into the Who-verse, the third is all the rules a player might need to know as far as what will need a roll and what won’t and life and death and timey-whimey bits, and the last chapter is a little more in depth bit on roleplaying games and how it all works. Overall I like the layout and the guide does exactly what it’s supposed to do and introduce players to the universe and things they need to know to be able to play. There are some layout errors in the PDF for this book, re-displaying the same chapters titles from the first chapter all throughout the book along the edge of the pages, but the main chapter page for each chapter is fine. It’s a little thing, but it might make it a bit difficult if you’re not using PDF bookmarks to get where you need to go to quickly.
The Game Master’s Guide has seven chapters to it, but don’t get too excited as three of these are basically slightly expanded chapters from The Player’s Guide, which I mentioned earlier, as the GM would need these as well. If this was a standalone set I’d be more picky about this, but as a boxed set you get everything you need and you don’t have your player’s hogging your book looking up rules and information this way. The first chapter is a very brief intro and a warning that there are, as River would put it, Spoilers ahead if you’re reading and aren’t the GM. Very cute. The second chapter deals with character creation with a few touches here and there the GM might want to know about but player’s might not need. Chapter three delves into the rules with again, more information that the GM will need to know about resolving conflicts, combat and awarding points for player use. Chapter 4 gets into the ins and outs of time travel and is again expanded on what was in the Player’s Guide. Chapter 5 finally gets into stuff we haven’t seen or hasn’t been expanded on, in this case, aliens and monsters. There’s a nice variety of them here, most carried over from the previous Doctor but would run into again and a few new ones. The classic Who aliens and monsters are here as well, at least the big ones anyway. Chapter 6 gives you helpful hints on running a Who game and GMing a session in general and Chapter 7 follows up on that with how to run a single shot story and turn that into a campaign by creating new adventures or using the seeds they’ve provided in the Adventure Book.
The last book in the box is the Adventure Book, another GM only book. This one is broken into three parts, the first two being fully fleshed out adventures, one featuring the Cyber-Men and the other the Daleks, both tying into what’s been going on in the more recent series story-wise since Smith took over as The Doctor. The last section is a selection of adventure seeds. The seeds aren’t fully fleshed out adventures, but give enough information that they can easily be fleshed out by a GM into full blown adventures with a few minutes to a few hours work, depending on how much improvising you can do on the fly. There are 8 adventure seeds to go with the two fully fleshed out adventures giving you ten of them just about ready to go, which is three adventures short of a full series, or two over a series if you’re going by the audio adventures.
Overall I like how the books are written. They get specific when they need to, don’t over complicate when they’re talking about rules and make things pretty clear and concise, something I love in a good gaming book or set. It all feels very much like Matt Smith’s run on the Doctor, the visuals fitting right in instantly. You know which series this was written for and it looks very splashy and clean with that slick feel the new series has had. The main basic rule to determine success is pretty easy to learn and applies to pretty much everything you do in the game. It makes it very fast and easy to play. Character creation is pretty much the same way. This is not an experience based game, but a game based on points, so actually doing something in the story and using your character’s strengths will help your character grow, which is very dependent on the GM as to how fast that happens. If you really want to play fast you can pass out pre-generated characters and hand out the ‘Read This First’ page that has all the information you’d need to really start playing and just go.
As a self-contained box set, the PDF price is very good. This is something I’d pick up for an afternoon or two of fun and the price there is very comparable to a board game that you’d play about the same amount of time and you get to be more inventive. While you could do a campaign with it, and I would love to at some point, it’ll require the right group to do that with. I think one of the better things this does is let you play with or without the Doctor, meaning the GM could step in as the big guy, or you can have a player do it, or you can have them playing as random people who never meet the Doctor and just get sucked along these adventures, or one of my favorites, as Torchwood or UNIT members. I’m not fond of the GM based leveling system. I’ve had too many stingy GMs over the years who don’t like to reward players for doing extraordinary things. The Storyteller and West End Star Wars games used this system and I think if you have a stingy GM you may not have as much fun. With the right group though, this game would be a blast and I’d recommend it easily to any current Doctor Who fan, or even an older fan, as you can just regress the Doctor back to a previous incarnation and run that one instead using the same rules.
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/06/04/tabletop-review-achtung
-cthulhu-zero-point-part-1-the-three-kings-call-of-cthulhu/<
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The Three Kings is the first part of a trilogy of adventures for Modiphius’s Achtung! Cthulhu line. It uses the Call of Cthulhu rules system, which has had an amazingly good year with releases like Cthulhu by Gaslight 3rd Edition, Children of the Storm and more. Even non-Chaosium publishers have been putting out some really great stuff for CoC this year as Goodman Games’ A Dream of Japan shows. With all this in mind, I was pretty excited for Acthung! Cthulhu as I really enjoyed the pre-WWII adventure in Children of the Storm and was interested to see how a full WWII era campaign would far.
…as it turns out, not very well. Don’t get me wrong: there is definitely some potential to be had here. It’s just you can really tell that this is a first time publisher’s first ever piece as you flip through it. It’s got some formatting, typographical and layout issues and the full colour PDF is layered very poorly, causing tablets like the Kindle Fire and iPad to have problems loading it. You’ll be able to read it on there, but expect some bits to load later and a good deal of stalling between some pages. These are all things that will improve with time as Modiphius learns and grows as a company. The other problem with The Three Kings however isn’t something you can really fix and that’s that this adventure just doesn’t feel like a Call of Cthulhu adventure. It’s more action than investigation, more violent than cerebral, and the Mythos creature in question might not even show up in the adventure, and when it does, it more or less takes a back seat to zombies (Ugh. ENOUGH with zombies already – and this is coming from a person who wrote for All Flesh Must Be Eaten!) and it just feels thrown in rather than having any real relevance to the story. Any large Mythos creature could be interchanged without a lick of difference and that’s not a good sign. A monster should be a key part or the cornerstone of the adventure and not something just pulled from the core rulebook. The final and worst problem with the adventure is that the writers suggest blowing away said monster with Nazi weaponry, including tanks. This should pretty much be a red flag to all Call of Cthulhu players as this is pretty much the opposite of what CoC gamers want from an adventure. There’s a reason there was such an uproar with Dark Corners of the Earth and the whole “Kill Dagon with a rocket launcher” incident. So as the majority of Call of Cthulhu gamers are looking for adventures that are heavy in thinking skills and low on hack and slash violence, this isn’t an adventure I can recommend to most of them, because it’s the exact opposite of that.
Now that said, if you’re looking for something more akin to a Dungeons & Dragons style dungeon crawl, just with Nazis instead of orcs, Czechs instead of villagers and a castle in Prague instead of a castle in some fantasy realm, you pretty much have it here. Truly, this adventure would be better off with a system like Top Secret, Chill, or something else that is geared for a spy motif. Neither the mood nor story really fits the Call of Cthulhu setting. It’s more akin to survival horror/espionage mash-up than anything remotely close to what a Mythos writer like Chambers, Bierce, Lovecraft et al would have written. That doesn’t make this a BAD adventure; it just means it’s not a good fit for Call of Cthulhu. I’m eager to see the Expeditions or Savage Worlds variations Modiphius is planning on releasing as it might feel more thematically correct there.
So we’ve established this adventure isn’t a good fit for Call of Cthulhu but it DOES use the basic rules and system of Chaosium’s BRP (Basic Role Playing System) decently. There are quite a few noticeable modifications to the system however, which is always a clear cut sign that the adventure should be using a different system because it’s not an easy fit. There’s also some odd statements like, “The Call of Cthulhu rules don’t deal with combat between vehicles. Now not only is that statement poorly worded and grammatically incorrect, but it’s also not true. I’ve seen quite a few adventures that have vehicle based combat, ranging from the 1920s era to Cthulhu Invictus which even has chariot combat rules. Just because something isn’t in the core rulebook doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I do like the new skills (Cryptography, Jury Rig and Scrounge) along with the parachuting rules so again, there are some good ideas in Acthung! Cthulhu; it’s just the inexperience with the system shows.
The actual Three Kings adventure is twenty pages long, with the other twenty four pages being devoted to art, maps, pre-generated characters, NPC stats and more. I think the maps are the best part of the PDF. It’s just too bad the full colour version of the PDF loads so slowly/funny as they are definitely better looking in colour.
So now let’s talk about The Three Kings itself in terms of content. The adventure consists of five “episodes,” each of which are comprised of several scenes. The fifth episode is optional and I do agree with the writers that it will be anticlimactic to actually run it, but it does add a bit of realism to the adventure. Do not think that this adventure is going to have your characters in libraries researching must old tomes or exploring the home of a recently deceased dilettante solving mysteries. No, in The Three Kings, players are members of Section D (what would eventually become MI-6) who are parachuting into Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia in an attempt to uncover some wartime atrocities being committed by the Third Reich. Uncovering what is going on in Prague may be just what England needs to officially declare war on the Axis. The players’ mission is to go into Prague, make contact with the resistance movement there, and discover just what kind of shenanigans the Nazis are up to.
In the first Episode, players will be trying to enter Prague undetected. In the second, they’ll be trying to make contact with the Resistance. In Episode Three you’ll have the same goal but this time you’ll be trying to contact a priest under the codename of ANGEL. Episode Four has you storming a castle and dealing with both the undead and perhaps even a Mythos creature while Episode Five has you fleeing the Prague and returning to England with the information you’ve discovered. Again, as I’ve mentioned throughout this review, this adventure really doesn’t jibe with a Call of Cthulhu feel. It’s very fast paced and action-oriented. There is a lot of fighting and very little detective work. As a one –off, this adventure might be a nice change of pace. However, Modiphius is planning a full line of adventure (Indeed, it’s meant to be a CAMPAIGN!) for CoC in this fashion. So what might seem like a nice one-off for a Keeper and his troupe, definitely will feel tired and forced if they play any other of these adventures. What’s here is okay, but definitely feels shoehorned into the system and setting. It just doesn’t have the slightest bit of Lovecraftian feel towards it. It’s more Hammer than Mythos.
All in all, if you really want to run a hack and slash adventure in a Call of Cthulhu setting where players will be shooting up Nazis and zombies instead of casting spelling of researching how to hold back the old ones, this adventure is an okay one. I’d strongly suggest “The Tracate” from Children of the Storm as a better example of how to blend Nazis, WWII era happenings and the Cthulhu Mythos instead of this. What’s here is okay, but it’s like trying to get some D&D players together and telling the players that today they’ll be in Spelljammer and that they have been hired by Mr. Johnson to break into a corporation and plant false evidence of wrongdoings there so said company gets some negative PR. It might be a cute idea, but that’s what we have Shadowrun for. Actung! Cthulhu uses the Cthulhu system decently enough but it fails to capture the mood, theme and inherent reason why people play Call of Cthulhu in the first place. You can purchase The Wasted Land for less if you really want wartime Cthulhu stuff.
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Originally published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/06/01/tabletop-review-faces-o
f-thedas-varric-dragon-age/
I’m not really a big fan of licensed RPGs, but there have been three big exceptions in the past: TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes game, Mayfair’s DC Super Heroes game and Leading Edge Games’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which is obscure but has a really great system attached to it. That’s not to say I haven’t owned other licensed RPGs, but those are more a curiosity than anything else. I’ve owned Guardian of Order’s Tenchi Muyo and Slayers games, but if you’ve ever played them then you probably understand why they stay on the shelf rather than see any play time. Dragon Age is one of those RPGs. It’s well made, but like many people I show it to, I guess I’d rather play the video games the tabletop system is based on if I’m going to have a Dragon Age craving. Like the old Diablo tabletop RPG, I just can’t fathom a time where someone would really have a strong desire to use this system and setting when you could play the video games or something originally born and bred for pen and paper gaming instead.
Faces of Thedas is a new, PDF only line for the Tabletop game that focuses on the heroes from Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II. The line starts with this ten page document on Varric, the narrating dwarven rogue from Dragon Age II. I was happy to see Varric be the pilot character for this project as he’s my favorite in the series. What you get is about five pages of information on the character that might be of interest to both video game and tabletop fans of the Dragon Age franchise followed by five pages of tabletop stats. For a mere buck and a half, this isn’t too bad of an idea, but there are a few stumbles along the way.
The first page of the document introduces Varric and Mary Kirby, the writer who created him for Bioware. The introduction isn’t really needed because honestly, if you’re playing the Dragon Age tabletop game you’ve almost certainly played the video games. That’s like picking up a licensed super hero game without reading a comic book. It makes no sense. The second page of the document is an interview with Mary Kirby and is definitely the bit that all DA fans will enjoy. It’s a nice look at not only Varric himself, but how he came to be and the creative process that spawned him.
The third page of the document is Varric’s biography up to the start of Dragon Age II. It’s a nice little write-up and it helps to flesh out the character’s back story in case you missed/forgot any of it from your Dragon Age II playthrough. The next two pages are a gobblygook of information ranging from “hints” about what might happen to Varric when he encounters the Champion of Kirkwall, adventure hooks where your party might encounter him, ways to rewrite his story for those that want to use Varric but don’t want to strictly follow DA2′s history, and finally thematic use for Varric. All this is interesting, but not necessarily useful. The “Varric & Champion” section is pretty useless because once again, if you’re picking this pdf up, you already know who Varric is and you’re interested in using him. Why? BECAUSE YOU PLAYED DRAGON AGE II. Oy vey. The books attempt at not giving out “spoilers” is laudible, but unnecessary because the game is over two years old at this point and for the third time, if you’re playing Dragon Age the tabletop RPG, there is a very. VERY small chance that you haven’t played one or both video games.
Pages six through ten are all tabletop gaming stats, although very little of it is actually Varric-centric. For example, the PDF goes on for one and a half pages (spread over three pages) about the Contacts talent. That’s over ten percent of the document. The rest of the info is pretty useful though. They give you stats for both a level 1 and a level five Varric, information on how to creature a signature weapon for players and then finally three short sections on The Hanged Man Tavern, Varric’s leather duster and Bianca, Varric’s crossbow.
So there’s not a lot of in-depth material on Varric, either in general or specifically for the tabletop setting, but with only ten pages Green Ronin decided to do a lot of little topics rather than a lot of substantial information on a few. Either way has its positives and negatives, but I do think there’s a lot of unnecessary content here that could have been cleared out since nearly everyone who picks this up knows who Varric is and his relationship with the Champion of Kirkwall. I think two or three pages could have been cleared out completely for more useful information such as different builds for Varric, a more in-depth look at the character containing info left out from DA2 and more. For only a dollar-fifty, this isn’t too bad if you’re a fan of Varric, but there’s a lot of untapped potential in this PDF and so overall I’m a bit disappointed. At least it’s not going to be too hard on your wallet.
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Originally published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/06/01/tabletop-review-clockwo
rk-and-chivalry-2nd-edition/
The original Clockwork and Chivalry was a D100 system based off Mongoose Publishing’s RuneQuest II rule set. With Mongoose losing the Runequest license back in 2011, Clockwork and Chivalry creators, Peter Cakebread and Ken Walton decided to evolve Clockwork and Chivalry, using the OpenQuest rules and the original Runequest SRD as a base while putting their own spin on it. The result was the Renaissance system, which was used for the Second Edition of Clockwork and Chivalry. While different in some details, the general mechanics remain the same. So those familiar with either the 1st Edition of Clockwork and Chivalry or Mongoose’s Runequest will be at home with the new Renaissance system.
For those that may not be familiar, Clockwork and Chivalry is set in the 17th Century during the English Civil War. At this time the Crown and Parliament were at war with each other for control of the kingdom, while many other factions are trying to influence the outcome of the conflict. But this England isn’t an exact historical recreation of our own world. In the world of Clockwork and Chivalry, magic and alchemy is real and giant clockwork machines are used as weapons of war. So it does have some fantasy elements as well while using real world history as a foundation. Just do not expect to find elves, dwarves, or other demi-humans running around. They are not present like they were in Cubicle 7’s Victoriana, so if your role-playing must include pointy ears, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Clockwork and Chivalry characters have seven main stats called characteristics. They are strength, constitution, dexterity, size, intelligence, power (which represents a characters will power) and charisma. You determine your strength, constitution, dexterity, power and charisma by rolling 3D6. Your size and intelligence are determined by rolling 2D6 and adding 6 to the result. There are also some secondary stats called attributes that are calculated using your base characteristics. You have damage modifiers, hit points, movement rates, major wound levels (Damage taken from one attack over this amount cause serious or grave wounds. More on this in the combat section.), and if you use witchcraft, you also have a Magick attribute.
The attribute generation is simple and straight forward. Your base characteristics will be familiar to anyone familiar with a D20 based system, with power being somewhat analogous to wisdom. The secondary attributes are simple to calculate, and after a short time you should be able to calculate them on your own without referencing the book.
Now we move on to selecting the characters’ previous experiences prior to adventuring. This is where you determine the social class, profession, and faction of your character. The most important of these is your social class, for it will affect your profession choices. Your choices are Peasant, Townsman, Middle Class, Gentry, and Nobility. You really want to put some thought in to thia decision. You social class for one determines your starting money amount. The higher the class, the more money you have to start. Also each class gives you bonuses to the common skills every character starts with, as well as giving your character access to other advanced skills. Each social class is different in these regards. Finally, the most import aspect of character creation your social class affects is your profession. Different professions are available to each class, and if you want to play sailor for example, you can be of Nobility. There are just some jobs that nobility would not lower themselves to. Just like if you are a peasant, you cannot be a cavalier. Someone of such a low social standing would never be accept into such highly respected positions.
This is the point in the character creation process you really need to have good idea of the character you want to play. I recommend looking over all the professions before selecting your social class, finding the profession you want then selecting the appropriate social class. Otherwise you may find that your townsman is locked out of becoming an alchemist.
The final portion of character creation is selecting your faction. The English Civil War, while primarily involved the Royalists versus the Parliamentarians, had many other groups trying to influence the outcome. So there are many choices when it comes to what faction you wish to be a part of. You can of course choose to be a Parliamentarian or Royalist. You can also be Catholic or Presbyterian. For the more evil of character, you can also be a Satanist or a member of the Horsemen’s Word. You even have the choice of Self-Interest for those that’s primary motivation is benefiting themselves. There are twenty-five different factions in total. All have a different world view and ideals they live by. You might even think of factions as a sort of alignment system, since each group has a specific set of belief they follow.
Your Righteousness points also come into play when dealing with the various factions of the game. Righteousness points represent how dedicated to the cause of your faction. A starting character’s Righteousness points are equal to the sum of their charisma, powers, and faction zeal. If you have a lot of righteousness points, then you are a zealot of your cause. If your points drop to zero you could be converted to another cause. These come into play when you get into a debate with a rival faction. Say you get into an argument with a drunken Royalist at the tavern; you both would make a roll against your Righteous points. You would try to roll under your RP, while the opposing character would do the same. You would compare the results of the check and depending on what was rolled; you and your opponent could either gain or lose RP points, showing how persuasive both parties were. Righteousness points will also change if a character is victorious or defeated by an opposing group, or if the character hears of a overwhelming victory or defeat of his group. This one would come in to pay when the player hears the results of major battles he’s not directly a part of. Overall I find the concept of righteousness interesting. Often times over the course of a war, a person’s convictions to one side waxes and wanes, and I think this does a good job representing that. However, some players may dislike the idea their character may be converted to a different belief system, strictly based on die rolls.
Now let’s talk about the professions in a little more detail. In all there are thrity-seven different professions to choose from. Each profession has a social class requirement and provides bonus to common skills and some advanced skills as well. These professions really run the gamut of 17th Century society. You can be a farmer or a merchant, a ruffian or an outlaw, or if you want something a little more dignified, a courtier or a scholar. If magic is more your thing, you could choose witch or devil’s horseman. Each profession has a detailed description as well, giving you a good idea of the type of people the profession usually attracts and what their work details. These professions represent your life before the game begins and whether you continue on this work in the game is up to you. With so many choices of professions are a bound to find several that spark interesting character concepts.
With so many possible character concepts, having a cohesive adventuring party develop out of some very different professions and social classes can be a difficult task. To aid in this, a random event table is provided that players can roll on and it provides little hooks that can be used to connect to players. By using this you can develop reasons why players know each other and would be willing to take part in dangerous adventures with each other. The initial, “Why do these characters know each other?” is always something I’ve struggled with when running games, so having a nice little chart I can use to connect everyone makes my job as game master a whole lot easier.
After choosing your faction, social class and profession, you can now determine your skill values. Every character starts with certain common skills these are basic things such as close combat, first aid, perception, range combat, dance, and athletics. Also depending on your social class and profession, you will have more advanced skills that not everyone else has. The values for tour skills are determined by using your characteristics. Some skills will add two characteristics together to get your value. Others may be two times one characteristic. That results ends up being your base value. Now is the time you add in any bonuses provided by your social class or profession and that gives your final skill total. Now whenever you go to use a skill you roll a percentile and attempt to roll under your score.
The combat system works the same way. Roll under your range or melee combat value it hit. Characters that are being attack also have defensive options as all. When hit with a close combat attack or hand thrown missile weapons, a character can once per round try to dodge or parry the attack; this give the character a change to either reduce the amount of damage taken or avoid it all together. This adds an extra dynamic to combat and more resembles an actual sword fight.
Combat in Clockwork and Chivalry is rather lethal when compared to your typical roleplaying gaming. If you take more than your major wound level in damage from one attack, you consult the major wounds table. Using the ones die roll from the attack roll, you cross reference this chart and determine hit location and the results of the hit and additional effects that this blow had. You could end up with losing an eye and receiving facial scars, or you receive a nasty stomach wound and start losing 1 hit point a round until you are patched up. Or if you take a bad blow to the heart, you die instantly. So even the mightiest of heroes can be maimed or killed in Clockwork and Chivalry. So players should not expect to be able to hack and slash their way through every situation. Sometimes running is the best solution.
When it comes to magic in Clockwork and Chivalry, there are two distinct flavors: Alchemy and Witchcraft. Alchemy draws itS powers from the elements while witchcraft draws it’s from much darker places. Alchemy is the more acceptable of the two, with would-be alchemist documentation being freely available in the Oxford University library. Witchcraft, much like you would imagine, is feared by the populace and there are those that will hunt down and kill witches or those mistaken for witches.
For alchemical spells to be cast, the alchemist must first construct a philosopher’s stone. This stone acts as a magic power battery, and as the alchemist cast spells power is drained from the stone until it is an empty useless rock. To create a philosopher’s stone an alchemist must make an alchemy check for every hour of construction. Every hour of construction adds two magick points to the stone, but on a failed check it’s possible a mishap happened that can cause serious damage to the alchemist and those around him. Anything from taking major damage from an explosion or suffering permanent constitution loss due to noxious fumes can happen. This is why very large, powerful stones are rare. They are too dangerous to construct. After successfully making a stone, the alchemist can then cast spells, which each spell draining its magick point cost from the stone until the stone is down to zero MPs. At this point the stone is useless and the alchemist must make another. Also the Alchemist must make an Elemental Casting roll of the appropriate element, success meaning the spell works and failure meaning the alchemist was unable to control the elemental forces and at times this can have dire consequences.
Witchcraft is a much darker form of magic. Yes, there are the unaligned “good” witches if you will, but the most powerful are the satanic witches. Witchcraft uses to stats when casting spells, the witchcraft skill and the Magick attribute. The witchcraft skill roll determines if the spell succeeds. The Magic Attribute determines how strong the spell is and how powerful of spells can be cast. The reason satanic witches are the most powerful? Only those that are aligned with Satan can increase their magic score after beginning the game. Much like the dark side of the force tempts people with power in Star Wars, so do the dark powers of witchcraft in Clockwork and Chivalry.
I’ve also been torn when it comes to magic systems in role playing games. I tend to prefer the Vancian style of magic where, if a caster uses a spell, it just works. The spell system of Clockwork and Chivalry is far from Vancian magic. The magic comes across more wild and people have less control over it than they would like to think. Fumbling a skill roll for either form of magic can have dire consequences, requiring rolls on their respective fumble charts. The results can then be anywhere from an annoyance to very lethal. It does help play into the common peoples wariness of it though, considering even the “experts” have issues controlling the forces they claim to control. This lack of control fits in with the game setting nicely and for this particular game works far better than Vancian magic.
Now we go from the magical to the mechanical as talk about clockwork devices and their creation. The clockwork devices range from massive machines of war capable of turning the tide of any battle to a bible page turner. Clockwork devices can be constructed to perform most any task and the book provides a nice variety of both military and civilian clockwork devices. While the list of clockwork devices is quite nice, most players will at some point want to build a device of their own creation. Fortunate for them as rules for clockwork creation are provided.
Clockwork creation is a three step process: design, funding, and construction. The first stage is where the GM and player work out what the device will do and how complex it is to construct. This involves some work on the GMs part has he has to determine the complexity and effects on his own. Some guidelines are given but this is more of an art than an exact science. So new GMs to the system may find this daunting since the possibility exist to create a game breaking device if you give in to the player too much. I highly recommend any GM to reference to the predesigned devices and use them as a reference for what should be allowed in the game. Anything that does way more than anything in the book, I probably wouldn’t allow just because of that game breaking potential. After the GM and player work out the complexity and game effects, then the player makes a clockwork design roll. This determines how well the character’s design process went. If all goes well, they could complete the design quicker than expect or the devices works a little better than originally intended. Rolling poorly however can result in either wasted time, as it takes longer than expect to design, or worse, the device has a design flaw not obvious to the designer. After the initial design stage we move on to the funding stage.
Now that the character has their design, they have to find a way to pay for it. The cost is determined by the complexity level, the size, weapons, armor and speed (if a vehicle) of the device. The more complex, the more weapons, the better the armor and so on, the more it will cost. This phase is where the GM can have some fun roleplaying with the players, as they try to find a way to pay for the construction of their creation. Maybe the local lord will fund the creation provided they will do some dirty work for him. Maybe they’ll be all to charm some rich merchant into investing in their new creation. The possibilities are limitless and the creative GM will find a way to tie the funding in with the great story of the campaign.
Now that the money has gather it’s time to construct the device. The complexity level determines the time it takes for construction and the size determines how many helpers are needed. At the end of the first day of construction and every week thereafter, a Craft (Clockwork) roll is made. If the roll succeeds construction continues as normal. If it fails construction is delayed. If it was a fumble then the construction mishap chart is rolled on. This is where characters can suffer industrial injuries or severe damage can be done to the device ruining raw materials, increases the cost and construction time of the device.
There is a lot to the clockwork creation system. The design process involves a lot of fudging by the GM to create a device. The cost of the device must be calculated, funding sources must be obtained as well as raw materials. Then the construction itself involves several roles and possibly a month or more of in game time, not to mention the in game time spent creating the device. It’s a rather exhausting process that can easily take a character out of the game for a while, during the design and construction. It reminds me a lot of magic item creation in other systems. It always really time consuming and most players will be excited at first to create something of their own, then realize the amount of work that goes into it and say never mind. I think the same will apply for the clockwork construction rules. I like the rules overall. They make sense, but they are too time consuming and when mixed with the amount of GM fiat required, I really don’t see them being used that often.
Lastly we’ll talk about the setting itself. As I admitted earlier, my knowledge of The English Civil war is minimal. Fortunately a wealth of information is provided so you do not have to be a 17th century scholar to run a compelling game of Clockwork and Chivalry. The background of the lands is provided which helps set the stage for the civil war. The major players for both sides are profiled. You also are given information on the current customs, the legal system, fashion, and other aspects of daily life. There’s just enough detail to give the GM an overview of the society, without getting bogged in minutia. A map of the providences of England and Wales are provided along with who controls each. There is a lot of information in the background chapter. It’s actually overwhelming in some ways, since this time period was heavily personality based and there are a lot of important figures on both sides of the war. My thought is to just skim this chapter and focus on the parts need for your game, then read the rest as needed. There is too much to consume at once and don’t expect your players to know everything either. Just carve out the parts you need and focus on that, and you can run an enjoyable game. No need to get bogged down in details you won’t need.
A small bestiary is present. It has a mix of everything from the undead to dragons to wild animals. Running just fourteen pages, it’s a little on the small side, but most of the combat in the game will be human versus human so I can understand the lack of depth in this. Still I’m sure a GM will want a type of animal or creature not listed and it will be up to them to stat them out themselves.
Clockwork and Chivalry is an interesting system especially if you’re looking for something from your standard D20 fair. The base mechanics are simple, just expect to spend some time referencing charts since just about every system be it spell casting, combat or device creation involves them. Combat can last longer as well because of the parry and dodge mechanics, as it slows the game down a little while increasing the realism.
Overall I like Clockwork and Chivalry. The setting is rich and not overplayed out like many other games. Mechanically it’s easy to understand, even though the chart referencing can slow the game down. The Clockwork creation aspect isn’t extremely newbie GM friendly, but I’m not expecting it to see much us either so it shouldn’t be a major concern. If you are looking for something different from the standard D20 fair, give Clockwork and Chivalry a chance. It’s one of the better D100 systems out there and after a few sessions you’ll be running epic battles between witches and clockwork ballistae.
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Originally published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/05/23/tabletop-review-deus-vu
lt-the-hoffman-legacy/
In the wake of the change of hands of the rights to Glorantha, Mongoose Publishing took the rules set they’d created in a more generic, setting-independent game. That, of course, necessitated some additional work to create some pre-designed, official worlds for new GMs and those who weren’t interested in engaging in full-scale world creation. One of the worlds that was created is the setting called Deus Vult (“God Wills”) – set in 12th Century Europe, with players taking part as members of a secret order within the Catholic church, organized to “save humanity’s soul from the predation of supernatural evils.”
The Hoffman Legacy is an adventure set in the Deus Vult “universe”, detailing the life’s work of a man driven mad in the pursuit of inventions to help stave off the workings of the supernatural.
The adventure revolves around the titular Hoffman, an artificer (specifically a Prior Artifex) within the Order who was well known for his amazing inventions – the most famous of which was also the least well known. Hoffman was in the middle of working on it when a horrible accident drove him permanently insane. In his brief lucid periods, he has spoken of the device and even sketched out some details, a device he calls a de-arcanizer, a device that can stop magic from working. This information, gathered and provided to the players, leads them on a hunt for the device, before it falls into the wrong hands.
The adventure is separated into a few distinct acts, starting with information on where Hoffman had been, and who he had been working with, when he was working on the de-arcanizer. With a name and a location, the players play at sleuthing out the location of Hoffman’s workshop, and hopefully find the invention.
Of course, if it was that easy, you’d not need a fully-fleshed out adventure. Instead, the players find that the man who had been helping Hoffman had the device, and intended to use it to make a name for himself in the Order, but the plan went awry, and he landed himself in hot water – calling upon the players to save him and find out where the de-arcanizer has landed.
This leads them further along, to a secret auction, and even, eventually, to Rome, right under the nose of the Mother Church – who must never know about the work of the Order.
The Hoffman Legacy, like any published adventure, can feel a little rail-roady at times, with some events needing to occur, sooner or later, for the adventure to progress. In the hands of a capable GM, however, it ought to be easy enough to maintain a level of flexibility without leaving the players floundering for ideas on how to proceed.
As a first adventure, I think that The Hoffman Legacy ought to be a great way to get new players involved, and give them a taste of the sort of issues that await them in 12th Century Europe, working for the Catholic church, but unable to speak of their doings to any outside of their order.
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/05/15/tabletop-review-shadowr
un-hazard-pay/
When I first heard about Hazard Pay, I was expecting it to be like other recent Shadowrun compilations, like The Twilight Horizon, Corporate Intrigue and Jet Set. All of those books were about a third flavor text, then two-thirds adventure rundowns. So imagine my surprise when Hazard Pay turned out to be more like Conspiracy Theories, in that it was ninety to ninety-five percent in-character metaplot flavor text, ten percent mechanics and absolutely no adventures at all. That really threw me for a loop. The fact that Hazard Pay plays out like this isn’t a bad thing, as all this substance without rules-mongering really makes the book feel more like a collection of Shadowrun fiction than a supplement. Now, whether you’ll like that or not depends on why you read/purchase Shadowrun books. I love the setting and tend to be more about the story and light on the rules when I run Sixth World stuff for my friends and/or test group, so I found this wonderful. However, if you’re looking for exact rules on damage that is taken when your space suit ruptures or exact mechanics for running combat in zero gravity, this isn’t the book for you… although you should probably pick up Arsenal.
Hazard Pay is divided into five topics, preceded by an opening short story, and ends with a “Game Information” recap which compiles all the in-game rules and stats found within the book. This is a nice way to close out the book, as it ensures that everything is in one area, making it easier to search for a new vehicle, spell or weapon. Each of the sections in Hazard Pay goes pretty in-depth about each topic, as well as the history of the “region” in general. I loved that they gave a historical background in addition to what is going on in the current time period of the game. One of my problems with Conspiracy Theories was that the writing assumed you new all the past stuff that has gone in the Shadowrun setting up to that point, making little or no attempt to explain things to newcomers or casual fans. My thought has always been that every supplement can (and will) be someone’s first exposure to a game, so they need to be as inviting as possible. Hazard Pay hits one out of the park in this regard.
All of Hazard Pay is written from the perspective of Jackpoint. Now most Shadowrun books have some Jackpoint version in them, but there aren’t a lot where the entire book is written as if it takes place on the Sixth World equivalent of a chat room/message board. I personally love this style, but I know there are some gamers that skim over these. Again, if you are looking for hard rules or adventures, this isn’t the book for you. If you want substance and style without rules, though – you’ll love this.
The first section is “Protectors and Despoilers” and talks about environmental activist organizations in the Sixth World, followed by a rundown of some infamous Toxic Shamans, Insect Shamans and Blood Mages. I really enjoyed this, as Shadowrun has always spent a lot of time on pollution, but rarely goes in-depth about the cleaning up or who does it. This section alone will give GMs plenty of ideas for campaigns you don’t normally see in Shadowrun. Perhaps you’ll have an entire team of players working for a specific environmental organization, taking out polluters, or engaging on runs against large corps who are despoiling the land. Maybe you’ll have a team comprised of people working for several different environmental organizations who are trying to work together, but also realize only one non-profit is going to get an elusive grant and/or a bounty. The sky is the limit here. The same is true for all the “despoilers.” You could craft multiple adventures based on players picking up the bounties for some of these guys and gals. “Protectors and Despoilers” really can let players and GMs look at the Sixth World in some neat new ways.
“Deep Sea” pretty much says it all with its title. This section looks all the different things going on in the oceans of the Sixth World. Topics include floating prisons, salvage and recovery operations, living in an underwater research and development labs, floating corporate owned metropolis known as Arkoblocks and ancient ruins. You’ll get to read what all the mega-corps are doing out at sea and even read a journalistic expose on the true cost of living out on the ocean. Sure, water based runs have been covered before in several other adventures and supplements, but this bring a few new things to the table and includes some things that an enterprising GM can easily turn into an adventure or three.
“Arctic Wastelands” covers both the Arctic and Antarctic and how technology and metahumans alike have to adapt when in extremely cold temperatures. This was my favorite section of the book as it went really in-depth as to what happens to a Runner when exposed to the cold and all the dangers that await one there –and it did it without reducing things to “take x number of damage per y.” It gave everything in real world terms while staying completely in-universe. That’s a sign of a quality supplement. We get everything from atmospheric phenomenon to things the average gamer might not think about such as how easy it is to sunburn in flat snowy regions to how different kinds of clothing can help or impair one in inclement weather.
It’s also worth noting that there are several new spells (and one Adept ability) in this section. It’s also the first to include “plot hooks.” These are sidebars with that contain about one to three paragraphs of potential adventure starts for GMs that need a little push. I’m not sure why the earlier sections don’t jave these but everything from “Arctic Wastelands” on does, but while it’s a nice idea, it really makes the book feel thrown together or piecemeal. About here is where I thought that CGL might have been better off doing this book as five eight dollar short supplements rather than one big book. It would have made them more money in the long run and let gamers pick and choose which environments that they wanted to read about. After all, not everyone is going to care about all five sections here.
A few last thoughts on “Arctic Wastelands” before we move on. The first is that this section also has a nice range of creatures, both Awakened and otherwise to help flesh out an adventure or even a campaign set in this part of the world. I also noticed what appeared to be direct references to At the Mountains of Madness and Who Goes There, (which is the inspiration for John Carpenter’s The Thing). Of course maybe it’s just because I know both of those stories like the back of my hand and I have just reviewed FIVE straight new Chaosium releases for Call of Cthulhu, but the thought of a Shoggoth Vs. Lowfyr made me all kinds of giddy.
“Space” is the fourth section in the book and my least favorite. It’s not that it wasn’t well written; it was. It’s just that we’ve had quite a few space related adventures from CGL lately that this doesn’t feel as novel as it should. I also own Arsenal, so for me, it felt kind of like a “done that, been there” piece. Now for newcomers or those that haven’t played any of the recent “Runners in SPAAAACE!” adventures, this section will actually be really interesting as it breaks down all five regions of space, how to get up there and how insane it can be to try and do a run on a space station, satellite or shuttle. The history of space exploration in the Sixth World was extremely well done and I loved Orbital DK’s “Guide For Not Becoming Dead in Space.” There’s some information here about various facilities that players can do a run on and even a nice little “get out of dying horribly” card that you a GM can use when players mess up in the form of the SRS (Space Rescue Service). Honestly the SRS, with its odd paradox of being extremely white hat oriented in a game where 99% of the population is wearing grey or black and yet is funded by ALL TEN megacorps was the most interesting thing in the section to me.
We finish things off with “Desserts.” Again, because there are so many published adventures that take place in the Middle East or with desert conditions (several recent ones like Damage Control or Metahumanity Ablaze from The Twilight Horizon), I wasn’t as interested in this as I was the arctic and environmental bits, but it was still a solid read. Shadowrun really isn’t a game where players and GMs tend to keep track of food and water, so it was nice to get a description of how to work dehydration and other hot weather effects similar to what “Arctic Wastelands” gave us earlier in the book. It is of note that this is the only section that doesn’t start off with a story and that just goes straight into JackPoint, which again makes the book feel thrown together. There isn’t a lot of substance to this section though, as it pays lip service to the events around Las Vegas, gives a little info on the Mojave, a little on the Sahara and a bit on a few others like the Gobi or the Aussie Outback, but it’s definitely the lightest, weakest and least interesting section of Hazard Pay. If it was up to me I’d have excised the desert bit and have included asmaller sections – one of the Ring of Fire (or volcanic activity in general) and then increased the “Deep Sea” pages with info on whirlpools, tsunamis, the effect of hurricanes on these manmade structures and other water based events that I’m surprised weren’t covered here.
Parabotany, there some really nice outside the box ideas that will do wonders for a creative GM looking for some new and interesting adventure ideas to run his players through. Basically “Protectors and Despoilers” and “Arctic Wastelands” are well worth the price of admission, “Deep Sea” is enjoyable but could have used some more fleshing out, “Space” was interesting but the topic has been covered more than enough by CGL lately and “Deserts” was lackluster. At $35, this probably isn’t a must buy for anyone, but if CGL does decide to break the book down into five smaller PDFs, run at them brandishing money in exchange for the two sections I outright recommended. I do think this is my favorite 4e Shadowrun cover of all time though…
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Originally published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/05/11/tabletop-review-destiny
-beginner/
Destiny Beginner is a role-playing game in the style of traditional fantasy that is geared toward either beginning role-players or experienced players who want a simple, straightforward system. You’ll find familiar tropes here: elves, dwarves, dungeons, fighters, mages, etc. There are some nice twists though that makes it a little more than just another fantasy RPG.
Overview
This game is, as far as I can tell, a little brother to a game called Destiny Dungeon by the same author, but in German. I assume that Destiny Beginner is some sort of lighter version, but I have no idea of the similarities because I haven’t seen the original game.
Character Creation
Character creation is quick and easy, in the PDF it only takes up one page. Basically you start by envisioning the character you want, and then you choose an attribute from one of two tables (each with four attributes) to be your main attribute. The attribute should follow what you want your character to be about; for example, if you choose “Strength”, you are going to be some sort of fighter or warrior (what’s the difference). Once you choose the attribute from one of the tables, you get that attribute at the highest starting value, and the other attributes on that table at a lesser value. You can then move your attribute numbers up or down by 2, taking any increases from another attribute.
Characters may also have a “great gift” that is basically a special ability than be a spell, or a special attack, or anything that the GM allows and fits with your character. That’s about it! Pick an attribute, pick an ability, write down you hit points, then later get yourself some gear and your character is ready to go.
Mechanics
This is where I enjoy when twists are put on simple concepts like rolling 2d6. Destiny Beginner utilizes a d66 system where rolls are determined by two six-sided die, one dark colored and one light colored. Attribute scores start at 43 for the main, 33 for the secondary. This is important because when you roll a check against an attribute, you use the dark die for tens and the light die for ones; so if you roll a 3 on the dark die and 5 on the light die, you rolled 35. If you rolled under your attribute score that tells you that you succeeded at a check. If your success is opposed by another success (say, when you are trying to talk your way into a restricted area and you AND the person you are trying to convince succeed on a Charisma or Society test), then you will have to add the two dice together to get your “success value”. In a nutshell, if two opposed rolls succeed then it comes down to the success value: how well you succeeded without rolling over your attribute score on scale of 11 to 66.
Another cool twist is that there are “optimistic” and “pessimistic” types of checks. If it’s optimistic, meaning the check is fairly easy, you can use the higher of the two die as the tens die instead of just the dark one. The GM can also throw “Obstruction Points” at you that will make success harder, or have to happen in stages. This can help represent larger challenges or slow down particularly successful players.
Combat is pretty much handled like any attribute check. You just roll against your attribute for whatever weapon you are using (some use Strength, some use Dexterity), and your opponent will roll against an attribute to block or dodge. Very basic. If you want to use your Great Gift, this game has a system where you can spend points to do so, and they are called “Destiny Points”. What is cool about this is that you can use Destiny Points to combine your Great Gift with some other action you are performing or you can just use them to power your Gift alone. For instance, if you your power is to create storms you can declare that you want to use Destiny Points to create a storm around an opponents’ ship, and the GM will decide how big of an effect that will have and how many Destiny Points it will cost to attempt it or how many dice you will roll to inflict damage on the crew etc. There’s a little more to it than that, but I’ll let you pore over the PDF if you’re interested.
The Rest of the Book
The rest of the book goes on to describe the setting: Lys Marrah, and the various landmarks and areas associated with it. There’s some nice stuff in here, lots of ideas for the GM and danger for the players. As for races, you’ve got your standard fantasy fare: elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs and… minotaurs? Ok, minotaurs. It’s funny how the interpretation of orcs changes from lore to lore in the minds of fantasy fans, in this game they are close to animals, being described as having “predator” abilities.
The Appendix section has three adventures, even including a solo GM tutorial which guides you step-by-step, scene-by-scene through running a group on the third adventure, how awesome is that?
What Do I Think?
Well, it’s another fantasy, dungeon-crawly, everyone-is-a-hero RPG… what can I say? The good thing about this one is that it is focusing on an audience (beginning or light RPG players) and trying to serve that audience while still putting forward an interesting game. I think it does the job pretty well. The d66 system has some nice nuance and variation that feels like a developed game system, while still allowing plenty of room for role-playing. At nine bucks, it’s a little pricier than most offerings of light, easy fantasy RPGs but I think this game really has something more to offer than a lot of the flotsam that washes up on the shores of RPG Island. And I say that with the utmost respect to every RPG in existence.
I have to scratch my head at some of the layout decisions. I know that sometimes I get hung up on this, but really, in this case I see no reason why certain groupings of information should not be put together. For instance, the page of character creation is followed by several pages of mechanics, including combat, and then the Great Gift section telling you that your player gets a special ability. Shouldn’t that be right after I create my character? There is even a whole page of just listing creature combat scores (essentially a monster manual) before the Great Gift section. I think the monsters could have gone safely in the appendix. Another big annoyance was how the section describing Destiny Points started and then was explained further several pages later, AFTER subjects like NPCs, experience points, GM advice, etc. I have to ask why, why, why. Just put it together in the same place and then move on to another subject. This volume is so small and simple one page is often enough to explain the entire concept, so why not do that? Don’t spread the information across the book like it is some giant tome that has to explain all of these complicated, yet interrelated things. Rant over? Rant over.
The PDF itself is nicely done, a pleasure to read and understand outside of layout issues. The artwork is nice and simple, even a little cartoonish, but goes well with the feel of the game. I suspect this would be a great game for younger RPGers or for a lighter game with people who don’t see the cover and think they are playing some game about Link’s sister. When are they coming out with the Zelda tabletop RPG anyway?
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/05/04/tabletop-review-enter-t
he-shadowside/
Enter the Shadowside is a horror/thriller RPG about encountering the mysterious and frightening thought world known as, you guessed it, “The Shadowside”. This world is where paranormal entities exist, and where the living might go to accomplish whatever ends they are trying to accomplish: some for fun, some for profit, some for things more nefarious than anything else.
Overview
Ok, this book is part manifesto, part sourcebook; I am a little loathe to call it a full-fledged role-playing game. It utilizes my least-favorite type of mechanics: light, with math. Essentially, you’re going to be comparing two numbers and rolling a d20 against the number that lies between those two on a table (admittedly, the table itself looks pretty cool). Your number, called your “might”, is going to be based on whatever attribute applies to the action, plus some modifiers dependent on skills, items, and/or bonuses. Like I said: light, with math.
The coolest thing in the mechanics are the “belief points”, which are used to change an unfavorable die roll or to use magic. The way you get the points is pretty neat: basically, if you succeed in a roll more than you needed to, you get belief points (you believe more in yourself). If you fail by a lot, you lost points. It’s a little more nuanced than that but that’s the idea.
Alright then, I’ve covered the mechanics. Basically, figure out your number and roll against it. There are some more things having to do with magic and paranormal powers, but that’s basically it. The author isn’t big on “roll-playing”.
I remember seeing the character sheet for this game some time ago, and thinking it was pretty cool. Basically, one of the coolest-looking and most aesthetically pleasing character sheets I’ve seen. It’s pretty intuitive as well: two inner attributes contribute to the total of the outside attribute that they both overlap. Neat. When you make a character you can do point allocation or roll a bunch of d6s; I generally prefer point allocation but for this game I think die rolling is pretty appropriate theme-wise.
In Enter the Shadowside there are nine factions that lie along a matrix of Orderly, Neutral, and Anarchic and Altruistic, Neutral, and Egoistic. It is through these groups that characters will most likely find themselves engaging in “hierogamy” or, uniting with a ghost (essentially). This ghost is like a familiar that lives in you and has an intimate connection to your thoughts and feelings. In the lore of this game, the ghost is the surviving sentience of someone who has died and managed to keep themselves together in the Shadowside.
That’s basically the gist of it. Large portions of the book are dedicated to role-playing in general and setting information. This book is theme-heavy, game-light. I’m going to be totally honest: I don’t care for the mechanics at all. However, the belief points do make it more interesting, it makes the die roll more than just pass or fail; how well you fail or succeed affects your morale.
What Do I Think?
In short, if you are looking for a suspenseful game with a few neat tricks, I hesitantly suggest picking this up. It’s fairly user-friendly, and it has a good amount of compelling ideas. I think that is the book’s strong point: the ideas. The author has personal ideas (or ideals) about role-playing and the book has ideas about the Shadowside and how things come to exist and ideas about what reality is. You can buy the book for the price of a sandwich, support an indie game.
Do I think it’s a really strong product? Not really. I just don’t think this is a finished product. It’s an idea. It’s a foundation. Does it make me inspired to play? A little. I kind of want to play Shadowrun after reading this book, or some oddball like Palladium’s Beyond the Supernatural. Come to think of it, this would make a pretty badass setting for Shadowrun. If you are into this game, I suggest getting involved with it and writing some material for it. The author advocates writing scenarios or settings and submitting them to the rest of the community. This game even has its own subreddit, if you’re into that (r/shadowside).
A few notes about the art: it’s good! The art in the book is really well done, and there is even a 15-page comic in the front, lending some thematic material and really blending the artwork with the idea of the game.
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Originally published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/04/27/tabletop-review-the-one
-ring-tales-from-wilderland/
Tales from Wilderland is the first supplement for Cubicle 7 Entertainment’s recent RPG release The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild and contains 7 adventures that can be played separately or as a series. As of now the PDF is available, but the hard copy should be available in May or June. You can pre-order it at Cubicle 7′s online store.
The Adventures
I like to leave out the exact details of adventures because I think discovery is part of the fun. In case any players read this, don’t worry too much about spoilers.
“Don’t Leave the Path”
The players are traveling around Long Lake when they are stopped by a frantic boy who tells them that his father needs help in the nearby wood. The ensuing meeting is just the beginning of a journey that will take the group through parts of Mirkwood, encountering various characters and dangers as they go. Should they survive, they’ll end up at the Northwest edge of Mirkwood, near the land of the Beornings.
“Of Leaves & Stewed Hobbit”
Despite the basic premise of this story, that a renowned Hobbit chef goes missing, this adventure is action-packed. Goblins, undead, sticky situations, maybe even some cooking, all may lie in wait for the party that goes through this one. In the continued effort to rescue and return Dinodas, a lot can go wrong!
“Kinstrife & Dark Tidings”
The party makes an ominous find along the banks of the river, and seek the aid of Beorn himself to find out how to proceed. It involves a murder, and the party must seek the guilty. In their quest, they come across some twists and turns that may be deadly, and perhaps justice will be served in one way or another.
“Those Who Tarry No Longer”
The group is asked to escort an elven noble, and it would be unwise to decline. The noble is a mysterious, ancient female elf who manages to attract some unwanted attention that the party may have to deal with in…unusual ways.
“A Darkness in the Marshes”
This one is suggested to be played as a sequel to the “Those Who Tarry No Longer”. The companions are tasked with finding the source of an evil that has escaped its bounds. Their journey brings them to a secluded mountain hall and further to an ominous obstacle housing dreadful enemies.
“The Crossings of Celduin”
This scenario starts with a festival, games, and all kinds of merriment. Then something goes wrong, and the one responsible is not to be seen. It’s not as simple as one man doing a misdeed…there is much more evil to come should the party seek him.
“The Watch on the Heath”
This adventure is recommended immediately after “The Crossings of Celduin”, and there are some characters in common. The party is looking for someone, and continues to scour the land for the one responsible for much evil. In their search, they may find some strange things, and some downright terrifying things.
What Do I Think?
This is another great piece of work from Cubicle 7. I wouldn’t expect anything less, especially since The One Ring is a highly visible product and was just released mere months ago. This book of adventures should make any group happy to have plenty of material to run. The adventures are excellent: nuanced, exciting, having variety, etc. Characters will face all kinds of obstacles, using all the skills they can. There are key social encounters, and even more battle.
While I generally lament the over-prominence of combat in RPGs, I also know that it is fun and somehow necessary. I can put on a costume any day and go role-play out in a field somewhere if I wanted, but I can’t kill orcs and cast spells (of course, in The One Ring you can’t cast spells either). My one complaint about the combat scenes is that the primary foes are pretty much orcs and goblins. This is mostly due to the The Lord of the Rings lore, but I do wish there was more variety. There are definitely some special encounters though with some great enemies and neutral parties, but prepare to see your share of orcs.
Each part inside of the adventures is well-written and often contains paragraphs about the different outcomes that can occur, not leaving it up to the GM to make it up on the spot. The feeling of continuity of story is very strong, with some outcome paragraphs describing the long-term effects of the party succeeding or failing. The GM is given options for how to play an NPC, or whether or not to add a twist, or when to introduce an NPC to the party. The book itself (at least, what I see in the PDF) is gorgeous, sharing the style of the core books. The artwork is great, and scattered throughout, sometimes really adding to the visual aspect of understanding locations or people in the adventure.
There is so much to be excited for here, and as long as you like The One Ring in general there is no reason why you wouldn’t like Tales from Wilderland, it’s just excellent, excellent stuff.
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Originally published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/04/27/tabletop-review-masks-o
f-nyarlathotep-fourth-edition-call-of-cthulhu/
Wow. What can be said about Masks of Nyarlathotep that hasn’t been said before. It’s one of the longest published adventures of all time, regardless of systems. It’s one of the most famous adventures of all time. Having won many awards and is often cited as one of, if not THE best adventures of all time. As a long time Call of Cthulhu fan, it may surprise you to learn my first exposure with Masks wasn’t until the third edition, otherwise known as The COMPLETE Masks of Nyarlathotep as the Australian chapter was excised from the campaign since it was crazy long already and placed into Terror Australis: Cthulhu Down Under. Despite my love of Call of Cthulhu, I only ever picked up one boxed adventure and that was Horror on the Orient Express, which still remains my favorite Call of Cthulhu product of all time and it vexes me that it’s not in PDF. Maybe someday…
I love the third printing of Masks of Nyarlathotep, but it’s been out of print for wow…at least a decade now, so it’s wonderful to have it back in print and in PDF format. Let me start by saying I’m exceptionally pleased with the price tag. In the mid 1990s, this thing went for $40 for the printed version, so with time and inflation being considered, paying less than twenty dollars for this Fourth Edition is such an insane deal that every Call of Cthulhu gamer should be thrusting money towards Chaosium, begging for them to take it. Masks of Nyarlathotep is that good. It’s also THAT LONG. Masks of Nyarlathotep is a massive undertaking. It covers an entire year of in game time, which each of the six sections taking multiple play sessions to get through. If you game once or twice a week with your friends, expect to be playing this adventure for months if not a full year yourself! It’s an awesome experience, but for people who can’t make the time commitment to the campaign, you might be better off just reading the adventure and enjoying it that way instead.
Two other quick words of advice on actually running Masks of Nyarlathotep. The first is that the Keeper should make a lot of the random based rolls ahead of time to streamline things and keep the game moving. This is a long undertaking after all, so if you have everything prepared ahead of time, you won’t have to stop in the middle of a gripping scene and roll to see how many cultists there are, or how many people hear the Investigators breaking and entering. The other piece of advice would be to make sure players realize their original characters will probably not survive the full campaign. There is a LOT of PC death in this, so make sure they are prepared for back-ups based on the location where the PCs currently are in-game. Masks of Nyarlathotep involves a lot of globe-trotting so if a character dies in say, Shanghai, it doesn’t make all that sense to replace him with a Samoan cricket player. I remember one time, I actually had a player sacrifice his beloved character, so he could make someone new with a few particular skills they knew they would need to properly proceed. A bit too meta for my liking, but you’ll see things like this happen in order for the team as a whole (and the world) to survive the machinations of the Crawling Chaos. Also, it made for a great scene that evening. ;-)
This fourth edition of Masks of Nyarlathotep is wonderfully done. The artwork is amazing and there’s so much detail in the little things, from character statements to scrawled insane blathering meant to be written by one of the NPCs. The Keeper is going to have to print a decent amount of the PDF off as handouts for players though, so don’t try running it straight from your Kindle Fire, Ipad or other e-reader type device. It’s important to print these bits off as it really makes the game cover alive for the players. Masks of Nyarlathotep can be a very tactile adventure at time so have some paper and scissors ready in preparation for your trip around the world. The only downside to the fourth edition is the same as the third in that the box set was truly something to behold. The box set consisted of
2 business cards & 1 matchbox kit on glossy card sheet
1 booklet of handouts
1 New York booklet (blue cover)
1 London booklet (maroon cover)
1 Cairo booklet (yellow cover)
1 Nairobi booklet (brown cover)
1 Shanghai booklet (green cover)
…and of course the box. Everything is still here (along with the Australia bits), but from an aesthetic standpoint, the first two editions were just amazing for the level of detail and the all the different booklets. On the other hand, this fourth edition is much cheaper and far easier to keep a hold of everything, especially if you get the PDF. No worries about losing the handouts or business cards here! I do miss the first edition box art though…
So what is Masks of Nyarlathotep about? It’s hard to explain without completely spoiling the story. After all, a good deal of the fun is figuring out all the crazy conspiracies going on, which ones tie together and how, and then stopping the literal decimation of the planet. The stakes have never been higher in a Call of Cthulhu adventure, because if Nyarlathotep succeeds in its plans, not only does the world get ravaged by the Outer Gods, but by the Great Old Ones as well. This my friends, is a big deal.
What starts off as a routine meeting with a friend of the Investigator(s) quickly spirals into a horrifying murder mystery with only snowballs into something much bigger from there. Players start off in New York City, but from there the adventure becomes amazingly free-form (especially for the time period in which MoN was originally written. This was light years ahead of what was being done for RPG tabletop scenarios). Investigators can find themselves visiting London, Cairo, Shanghai, Australia and Kenya (Not necessarily in that order) Each leg of the adventure contains red herrings and/or side quests to trip players up and keep the clock counting down to doomsday. Player death and Insanity are commonplace here and the end results is one of the most memorable adventures ever written for Call of Cthulhu or any other RPG system. Even if you don’t play Call of Cthulhu, you should be picking this up simply to see both how a large scale adventure is done and why so many people in the industry consider this one of the best things the entire industry has ever produced. If you read this review and don’t outright purchase the PDF or the physical copy of Masks of Nyarlathotep, then shame on you.
If you are looking for an adventure that will keep your players (and their characters) busy for months, the opportunity to save the world while fighting off legions of cultists (in proper Call of Cthulhu fashion), or you simply want to see why so many people consider this one of, if not THE, greatest adventures for an RPG system ever written, then go purchase Masks of Nyarlathotep the second you get done reading this. This will easily be the most intense, as well as the most memorable, published adventure you’ll ever experience. Just get it. Just get it and experience it. That’s all I can really say.
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/04/26/tabletop-review-travell
er-supplement-5-6-vehicles/
Back in 2009, Mongoose Publishing released two new supplements for their Traveller line – Civilian Vehicles and Military Vehicles, Supplements 5 and 6 respectively. I came to them late, and didn’t have much chance to use them before I discovered that they were in the process of rewriting them from the ground up.
It seems they were poorly received.
I read through them, and found the system presented in the original books to be deliciously complex. You measured volume in honest-to-god cubic meters. You worried about the total mass of the vehicle in comparison to the propulsion system you chose, and just how large a propulsion unit it was, and how much power it would need, and therefore how large a power unit you’d need to power it! And once you’d determined the armor it carried, and the weapons, and the people, and the cargo, you ran through the list of a dozen plus possible modifications or optional features for each item you’d picked. Then you ran the numbers and went back to the drawing board to tweak things so that your tank could, in fact, move. Or have enough fuel endurance to fight a battle.
It turns out, people – normal people, I should say – don’t like that sort of thing.
Aside from any mechanical (heh) issues with the system, and I’m assured that there were some, people balked at the complexity of the system. It wasn’t quite as thorough and math intensive as, say, GURPS: Vehicles 2nd Edition – the gold standard for vehicle design systems that have a degree in mechanical engineering as a prerequisite – but it was enough to turn them off entirely to what was, in all actuality, a perfectly serviceable little design system.
In addition to this, there were two volumes, one for civilian vehicles and the other for military – and they were the same design system! The only place they differed was in the list of pre-built vehicles in each one. Folks, understandably, cried “foul” at this, feeling like the people who read the fourth and subsequent books in Piers Anthony’s “Incarnations of Immortality” series – “Hey, this is the same stuff, repackaged! I’ve been taken for a fool!” They didn’t quite rise up in angry protest with pitchforks, but the response was, say, a touch cooler than tepid.
So, a new edition was put together. This time, the book was a single volume called Supplement 5-6. If you bought one of the earlier edition, you could return it to Mongoose and they’d give you the new one in trade. If you bought both of the prior editions, you got the new version, plus another book from the collection. Honorably done, Matt, and just plain good business sense.
Now, you’re wondering what I think of the new version. Let me begin by quoting the introduction in brief:
The new vehicle design system was created to be quick. With practice, you will be able to create small, basic vehicles in just a few minutes, allowing you to create vehicles, almost on the fly, during a game. Even a large, multi-turreted super-heavy battle tank will not take much longer than five minutes’ work.
The key to this is that the design system focuses on effect rather than components. You will not find complicated charts of different engines, reactors and other power systems – in terms of effect, we really do not care how a vehicle is propelled, we just need to know how fast it goes and what it can carry.
At the same time, you will find the system to be very elegant, taking into account changing Tech Levels that bring new forms of propulsion, new materials that are lighter and stronger and new control systems that require less crew. All of this is factored into the very simple system.
Creating vehicles in under five minutes? A laudable goal. No complicated charts of different engine types? I’ll admit, I paled at this, fearing that realism would be sacrificed at the altar of simplicity. So I went into it with more than a little trepidation, expecting the worst.
Happily, everything turned out okay.
The steps are very easy to follow, though the breadth of options will make some of them take longer than their brief description might imply: choose your chassis, choose chassis mods (if appropriate), add armor, add weapons, choose universal (as opposed to chassis-specific) mods, calculate stats.
A ground car can be had, at any tech level, in a matter of seconds complete with most of the details you’d care about, on either side of the GM’s screen, for play. The first time through the system, you read every option, and debate whether or not it would be valuable for the vehicle in question. On future builds, you start to build up a mental library of those options, and when they’ll be handy. As you build more and more complex vehicles, the time you invest definitely goes up – a quick grav tank I did in a back-of-a-napkin style while testing the system out took me closer to fifteen minutes, but it was the first time I’d really closely looked at the weapon and advanced armor rules. I’d argue that that’s still a fairly quick turn-around.
The system does gloss over power and mobility. You still have to consider things like tracks versus wheels versus anti-gravity, but they’re factored into the type of vehicle chassis you choose to work with.
The weapon list is a strange mix of oddly specific and maddeningly broad, for my tastes, and needed a bit more proofreading before the book was let out the door (the concept of a “destructive” weapon was omitted, unless you already have the Hammer’s Slammer’s sourcebooks, and have run into it there, for example) but provides you with a goodly selection of weapons to choose from, from a range of tech levels. The armor system is very nearly primitive in comparison, assigning a single number of points per facing, and a token bit of fluff in the name of the materials used at that particular tech level.
An area that does suffer in the simplification is weight. The vehicles wind up with a “shipping weight” that’s valuable for determining how much space they take up in a ship’s hold, but cargo is limited simply to “spaces” – and you’re left with not even a sentence telling you “as for how much weight you can carry in that cargo area, you’ll have to wing it…” It’s the biggest failing in the system that I’ve found yet.
Another failing of the book is in the build examples. I’ve talked to the author and it seems the examples were written fairly early in the process, and didn’t get updated correctly when core rules were changed after playtesting. They’ve been noted, and hopefully will be corrected for future printings and in the PDF versions.
An unexpected gem from this book, especially valuable if you’re intending a Mercenary campaign, or are keen on anime/manga style gaming, is a full set of rules for building custom Battle Dress – the long-standing Traveller version of light powered armor. It gives broad ability options for GMs to choose from, as well as adding flavor to a formerly just-barely-two-dimensional element of the Traveller universe.
The rest of the book is a huge collection of vehicles, both civilian and military this time, from a broad range of tech levels, and from a broad range of polities – Aslan, Vargr and the like from the Third Imperium, plus entries for the other universe books supported by Mongoose – Hammer’s Slammers, Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog, specifically.
So, should you buy it? If you’ve already purchased the original Supplement 5 and/or 6, you’d be foolish not to trade them in – especially as I think you only need to send them the covers to do so, meaning you can keep the meatier, juicier rules if you like that sort of thing. If you’re intending to play using the Mongoose Traveller rules, I think they’ll be hugely beneficial to you if your game is anything but primarily cerebral. If you gloss over things like ship specs or vehicle chases, you might be wasting your time with this one – or you might find that it opens your eyes to a whole new level of crunch to apply to your campaign.
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/04/25/tabletop-review-legenda
ry-factions-common-factions-1/
If you’ve read any of my previous reviews of Legend, the d100-style game based on the RuneQuest II ruleset, you’ll know that a common complaint is that, in stripping out the Glorantha-specific rules that made it RuneQuest, you’re left with a system that demands a great deal of GM prep time and world building. This is more feature than bug, however, as it gives you a huge amount of flexibility in creating just the world that you want to play your game in. It would, however, benefit from a greater breadth of examples for the budding GM to use to model his own choices upon.
One area that will absorb a great deal of world-building time is the concept of guilds, cults and factions – the power groups and social organizations of the world, their hierarchies, special magical rituals and training regimes. These sound like the very kind of “fluff” that I live for in a well-defined game world, but starting from scratch can be daunting indeed.
For those who agree with this sentiment, I highly recommend picking up a copy of the John Brazer Enterprises book Legendary Factions: Common Factions 1. A relatively short book, covering just five factions in twelve pages, it gives a novice at the art of designing such organization additional examples what can be accomplished with them, including two divine cults, a sorcerous order, a mercenary order and a guild.
Each is laid out with most of a page of general detail that could apply to any game world, or honestly any game system, explaining what it known of the history, or at least an overview of the place of the organization in the world. This is followed up by some rule-specific entries including the skills and spells that are associated with the group, and finally a section detailing the ranks and roles within the organization, and the rights and responsibilities thereof.
The book really served me well by giving me some additional ways of thinking about factions in my games – including non-magically oriented groups, for example – as well as laying out how little mechanical crunch is required of the GM in setting them up. The bulk of your time is spent on honest creativity, devising backstory and plot hooks to weave into your game and your world.
Even at the original price of $2.99 (it’s going for $1.99 right now) the book is a welcome addition to your Legend or Runequest library for a pittance. I highly recommend it, whether you intend to insert these organizations into your game wholesale, or simply use them as inspiration and a template to work from to create your own material.
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/04/24/tabletop-review-the-gho
sts-in-the-house-call-of-cthulhu/
Ghosts in the House is the latest Call of Cthulhu monograph put out by Chaosium. For those of you who have never picked up a monograph before, these things are bare bones pdfs where the author of the piece has also done the editing and layouts. Sometimes they even do the art. Chaosium is pretty hands off on these, publishing the pieces for the sake of getting more Call of Cthulhu adventures and/or supplements out there. Sometimes this turns out wonderfully. This can be seen in pieces like the recently released Children of the Storm or The Abbey. Sometimes it goes spectacularly, horribly, awry like the awful train wreck Mystic Alliances. Usually though, you get a decent little piece that has merit but, in the end, really needed an editor to guide the piece so that it doesn’t fall short of its potential. Ghosts in the House is just such a monograph.
Ghosts in the House is meant to be a full campaign taking place in upper Wisconsin near the upper peninsula. The location for all four adventures? A sub-par nursing home. It’s an interesting location, but to set a full campaign around a single building is stretching things. It also risks boring the hell out of the people playing the campaign. Four adventures revolving around any single location, no matter how cool or outside the box it is, is going to get dull. A nursing home wears out its welcome pretty quickly.
An odd thing about this monograph is that, although it contains four adventures, the first fifty four pages of the monograph contains a single adventure, leaving thirteen pages for the other three. While the first adventure is pretty interesting, the other three adventures end up feeling thrown together without any real substance. This is especially true of the fourth and final adventure in the campaign, which feels like it belongs more in something like Shadowrun then Call of Cthulhu. I can’t see any party of Call of Cthulhu players wanting an adventure that is not only primarily about violence and little else, but one that is stacked in such a way that the players can’t “win.”
Perhaps the oddest thing about the monograph is how the first adventure is laid out. I’ve never seen a more disorganized or jumbled up adventure that actually made it to publication IN MY LIFE. The thing reads horribly – as if the person writing it for the adventure wrote it specifically for themselves, and so it all made sense to them because they knew everything already. For everyone else who picks this up, you’re going to be sitting here wondering why random events are mentioned before you have any plot synopsis, while important details about specific characters are mentioned before you’re even introduced to characters, and why the thing jumps around so much without any real cohesive writing. It’s as if sections were put into the pdf in the wrong order. Again, this is where we see the flaw in many a monograph. Ghosts in the House desperately needed an editor and didn’t get one. The other three adventures are lucky that they had such little detail spent on them; otherwise they too would have fallen prey to the same fate.
There are two big problems with the adventure, however. The first is that the adventure is geared primarily for "beginning characters." However, this and the proceeding adventure both really need the "Summon/Bind Ghost" spell in order to truly ensure success. The adventure even suggests having it at points. Yet, the adventure gives no real way for the Investigators to ever get this spell. That's bad planning. As the adventure proclaims itself to be for brand new characters, this means they won't have access to magic, or have any Cthulhu Mythos exposure. Yet it still wants you to have that spell. Catch 22. Again, more proof this thing needed a professional editor to vet this stuff out.
The other problem is that the adventure feels like it is meant to be read rather than played. There is a whole bunch of information and back story that players will never encounter. Only the Keeper will know what is going on because they read the little "What's Really Going On" section. There's no way for players to ever learn this information unless the Keeper just gives it to them (which will ruin the adventure) and the way the adventure ends, the players, both in and out of character, will be left with more questions than answers, no closure and a sense of "well, that came from out of left field." It ends up being an unsatisfactory experience, and even afterwards, when you explain what actually happened to your troupe, the reaction is... less than thrilling. There's a lot of potential in this adventure and the majority of it is quite fun to run, but the ending is just terrible.
The second adventure is "A House Full of Ghosts", a direct sequel to "The Man in the Hat." How the adventure goes down depends on how "The Mat in the Hat" ended with your players. I loved that the adventure takes nearly all possibilities into consideration and gives you different ways to run it based on what your players did. This is exceptionally well thought out and is definitely the best adventure in terms of writing and cohesion. Playing the adventure though... that's where the problems begin. Again, you really need the “Summon/Bind Ghost: spell to make this adventure a success. However, the writers went a bit overboard and decided to throw TWENTY-THREE ghosts at you. What the hell? No Call of Cthulhu adventure should have that many paranormal creatures in it, especially in such a small location. What the hell were they thinking? Less is more with this system after all. It gets even weirder when the players are offered two $50,000 goals for this adventure. That’s an insane amount of money for a group of four to six players to spend a week or two in a nursing home. Honestly, I love Shadowrun, but the writers seem to think that they can write missions with monetary figures and the sheer number of enemies you encounter in that system and port it over to Call of Cthulhu without any problems. I love the idea of the story (much like “The Man in the Hat”), but there’s too much going on and at only three pages long, there’s really not enough for a Keeper to go off of. They’ll have to make up the majority of the adventure themselves, and at this point, they might as well make up something from scratch instead. Once again, this is a middle of the road affair. Great ideas, but poor follow-through. I like the emphasis on following up the first adventures and all the possibilities, but the writer really needed an experienced Call of Cthulhu editor to say, “Wait. Hold up.”
“The Hole in the Attic” is the third adventure that brings the players back to Oak Grove, and this time, it’s in an attempt to find a weird goblinoid creature. The adventure is pretty cut and dry. It’s very quick and the premise is simple. It wouldn’t be a “Ghosts in the Home” adventure without some big problems, however, and in this case, it’s about providing proof of the supernatural to the employer. Again, the adventure feels more like a Shadowrun affair. You have a Mr. Johnson, a specific extraction run, and some violence for the sake of violence. I suppose it’s fine for what it is, but “The Hole in the Attic” just doesn’t feel like a COC affair. Maybe a Chill adventure, but not something Chaosium would want its name attached to. It’s the best written of the adventures, but the least Cthulhoid. Like everything else in this collection, it’s a thumbs in the middle.
The final adventure is “The Last Gasp” and it’s outright terrible. I honestly can’t see any self-respecting Call of Cthulhu player wanting to sit through this. For an Monograph that says “The adventure emphasizes data collection and discussion over running and screaming,” they sure missed the mark big time with this one, as the entire adventure is once again, you guessed It, far more Shadowrun than Call of Cthulhu. Here players return to the “Yupper Pensinula” one last time into what will surely be their deaths. Investigators are given a MacGuffin and have to figure out what it is. Then a mysterious cult that is not given any back story (nor is even seen or heard from again) tries to take the item, by force if necessary. There are as many cultists as the players plus five and they all have twenty hit points (which is an insane number for CoC and almost impossible for a human to have). It’s almost a given that the PCs will die or lose the object and then… the adventure just ends. It’s violence for the sake of violence with no actual substance behind it. Not only is this contrary to what Call of Cthulhu is all about, it is also contrary to what the monograph espouses to be. It’s just a terrible adventure in every way possible.
All in all, I can’t really recommend Ghosts in the House. The majority of the piece is cluttered and unorganized, while the other three adventures are too short and bare bones. There are huge problems with each adventure that even a Novice Keeper will instantly see, and the overall content is just too weak. Now, there IS a lot of potential here. With a good editor re-arranging the contents of the first adventure, fleshing out the second, leaving the third alone and either excising or outright replacing the fourth, there could be something here well worth investing in. As it stands, Ghosts in the House is an example of where Chaosium’s monograph series falls short of its intended existence. For seven dollars, this isn’t a HORRIBLE purchase, but you can definitely find better CoC collections to spend your hard earned money on.
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/04/23/tabletop-review-childre
n-of-the-storm-call-of-cthulhu/
Sometimes a supplement or campaign setting comes along that is so elegant and ingenious that you have to wonder how no one had thought of it before now. Children of the Storm is just such a book. For use with Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu, Children of the Storm lets Investigators and Keepers play the game during the time period of The Great Depression through just before the dawn of World War II. It’s such an obvious fit. The Great Depression is a time period very close to the de factor 1920s setting that most Call of Cthulhu adventures and campaign take place in, yet it is so very different from the 1920s that it almost feels light years away. The Roaring 20s of course were full of gangsters, dancing, drinking and a general sense of upbeat positivity in America. The 30s were a time of melancholia, rampart unemployment, a general feel of pessimism and, for many, an uncertain future as to how they would pay their bills or where their next meal would come from. In many ways the bleak outlook that Lovecraft and his contemporaries predicted for mankind did indeed come about, but it was by their own hands rather than an alien creature from beyond the stars. For gamers that like taking the themes and system of Call of Cthulhu but prefer it in alternate time periods like Cthulhu Invictus or Cthulhu Dark Ages, you will more than likely fall in love with Children of the Storm as instantly as I did. For those that prefer things to be set in the 1920s, Children of the Storm is still of use to you and your players if have a long ongoing campaign. After all, you’re going to hit 1929 sometime!
Children of the Storm is eighty pages of pure awesomeness. It contains everything a fan of the 1930s could ask for…along with Cthulhuoid monstrosities to boot! The book starts off with an eight page introduction to the time period followed by four full-length, in-depth adventures. I was really surprised how much information about the 30s was packed into these eight pages. You’re given historical background about the time period, what led up to the Great Depression, how people coped and the technology of the time. You’re also given eight new character classes for the time period. These include Teen Hobo, Radical, Social Worker (two kinds), FBI Agent, Civilian Conservation Corpsman, PWA Construction Worker, WPA Artist and Documentarian. I literally squealed when I saw the section on the CCC as it’s my favorite part of the 30s and, without getting political, something I still feel should be done today when the country gets into bad spots. We’re also given three new skills: Sociology, Forensics and Cinematography. Investigators will no doubt find the first two of extreme interest. The intro then ends with eleven scenarios snippets that the Keeper can fully flesh out after they have played through all four adventures in Children of the Storm with their gaming crew.
“The Starving Ones” is the first adventure in Children of the Storm and it’s an awesome one. Travelling within a stone’s throw of the small West Virginia town my wife grew up in. Here the PCs will be investigating a rash of mysterious deaths where people seem to be…eating themselves to death. How are these deaths connected to a long abandoned home of a Confederate supporter? That’s for the investigators to discover. “The Starving Ones” is a very subtle and still very creepy adventure. Investigators have a pretty big mystery to unfold and neither the cause nor the solution are outright apparent. There’s only one possible Mythos creature that PCs might encounter, but even that is not a given. What remains is simply an adventure that really tests the player’s deductive and inductive reasoning skills. I love it. This adventure is just a great old school horror story that feels like it should have been written by Ambrose Bierce. “The Starving Ones” alone is well worth the cover price.
“To the Dust Returned” takes players to southern South Dakota near the Nebraska border. This is a very surreal adventure that involves the Dreamlands and our world converging on one sleepy little hamlet overwhelmed by dust storms. This is another adventure where the solution for success isn’t obvious and that’s part of what makes it fun. There are multiple ways to complete “To the Dust Returned,” but only two that lead to a happy ending for the majority of people involved. You get pretty much everything here. There’s redneck bigoted sheriff, a theme of religion vs. science, extremely creepy monsters which are never fully seen by the players and a weird fantasy-esque dreamworld that is superimposing itself on this little community. I’m generally not a fan of Dreamland based adventures, especially those with the cliché of the two realms merging idea, but this one is exceptional.
“ENTR’ACTE” is by far the weirdest and creepiest of the adventures in Children of the Storm and considering the first two, that’s saying something. Here players are in Northern California, near the Oregonian border. Here players will have to investigate the disappearance and/or kidnapping of some children. As the players investigate further, they find a rash of disappearances all fitting a similar profile. Are a small group of Japanese immigrants behind the missing children? What about an odd theatre group? What about Nyarlathotep? Players will have to figure out what really happened to these missing kids and the answer is far worse than they had imagined. This adventure is probably the most physical and violent in the collection. It definitely has the most gore and the highest chance of Investigators not making it out alive. The adventure is also the only one that could easily be set outside the 30s.
“The Tractate” is a wonderfully blend of a good old fashioned murder mystery, Cthulhuoid terror, secret societies, and taking down the evil schemes of Nazis. You really don’t see the Third Reich come up in Call of Cthulhu very often unless it’s the remnants in a Modern Era adventure. As such, this may be the adventure the players have the most fun with as it is straight forward, has you dealing with the SS at the height of its power and the summoning of a godlike creature from 2,600 light years away. “The Tractate” takes place in good old Arkham, MA, which makes it easy to fit into most Call of Cthulhu campaigns. This is a fun little adventure to end the book on and it’s the only one that directly forces Investigators to do battle with an ancient godlike being.
All in all, I really loved The Children of the Storm. I think the idea of a Cthulhu campaign setting during the Great Depression is a wonderful one. There’s a nice amount of information here, some fun new character classes and skills and four really great adventures that any Keeper will enjoy running. Children of the Storm is a great example of why I love Chaosium’s monographs so much. At only eight and a quarter dollars, it’s almost impossible to think of a reason why any Call of Cthulhu gamer wouldn’t pick this up.
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Originally published AT: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/04/20/tabletop-review-shadowr
un-parabotany/
Too often Shadowrunner players and GMs alike focus on two things: A run itself or a city. Many opportunities to really get to know a location, be it flora, fauna or even a simply layout are often left ignored. This disappoints me as the Sixth World is not just one where dragons and vampires do battle on a corporate level. It’s a place where magic and folklore have come to live and intermingled with a cyberpunk setting. It’s a place where living things have been Awakened to view reality in whole new ways. That doesn’t just go for humans and metahumans alike; other living things like animals and even plants have Awakened as well. I was always a big fan of Paranormal Animals of North America back in the days of First Edition, as were many FASA fans back in the day. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to have translated to the newer and or younger players of 4e/20th Anniversary Edition Shadowrun as Parazoology was kind of met with a shrug or a “meh.” Thankfully Catalyst Game Labs isn’t dropping the idea and is continuing to build on the “Shadowrun‘s not just about fragging things for nuyen.” Aspect. This is where Parabotany comes in.
In Parabotany, we are given a look at nearly fifty different plant species of the Sixth World. Some are Awakened, some are Blighted, and some are just plain weird. Each plant species is given its own individual write-up, along with commentary from Jackpoint ‘runners and some in-game information about the plant’s stats, powers, qualities and so on. You’ve got plants that sooth the savage beats, plants that can be made into extremely addicting drugs, plants than cunningly eat other living things, plants whose fruit calcify organic material if digested, and even a banana tree that can walk around! I absolutely loved Parabotany for this. To me, supplements like this are what Shadowrun is all about. You are getting a ton of world background and bits of flavor you might never actually use in a game, but JUST IN CASE – here it is. It’s a wonderful read-through and any GM worth their salt should pick this up to get their imagination kickstarted. Maybe they’ll come up with an adventure all about one of these plants. Perhaps they’ll create a botanical creation of their own. Maybe this will remind the person who reads this about all the daily issues that the Sixth World has but that so few games rarely touch on – like the lack of “real” food, the overabundance of soy-based products and that agriculture is still just as important as corporate intrigue or political machinations.
Parabotany isn’t just a rundown of a few dozen plants. It also has a wealth of other bits of information. You’re given some updates about Dunkelzahn’s will (that related to agriculture), and a look at alcoholic beverages of the Sixth World. I loved this section because so many gamers will have their characters drink a beer or hard liquor, but without realizing what exactly that means – especially in Shadowrun. We get a look at the current state of wine in the Sixth World, both in terms of grapes and an algae/yeast based derivative known as Pelagos. There’s a small section on Tir Tairngire drinks, half a page on various “beers” another half a page on drinks like sixth World sodas, scotch and caffeinated drinks, and then a nice bit on chocolate. Admit it – most of you playing Shadowrun never stopped to think that there really isn’t any true alcohol or candy bars in the Sixth World. This alone is worth an adventure. Maybe players are hired by Nestle (or whatever megacorp owns them) to uncover a large grove of cacao plants that are guarded by free spirits who are tryin to keep the plant alive/unBlighted from all the crazy crap that is in Africa in the 2070s. The simplest realization that the Sixth World lacks or outright doesn’t have something that we do can make for a wonderful adventure and again, this alone is why Parabotany is a must read.
The last half dozen pages of Parabotany give you in-game rules for plants, descriptions of new powers that are associated with Awakened/Toxic plants, how design your own paranormal flora and even guidelines for making compounds, fetishes, and foci out of these special plants. Absolutely everything I could want on the subject of freaky plant life in the Sixth World resides in these fifty-one pages. Words can’t describe how much I love this supplement.
My honest opinion is that everyone who is even remotely interested in Shadowrun should go out and get Parabotany. Sure there’s nothing in here that will help a GM figure out how to create your typical clichéd run on a megacorp to get some file or kidnapped person of interest. What is here however should help any GM realize how they should be falvoring these types of missions so they don’t feel predictable or like something his or her players have engaged in countless times before. Maybe the runners will encounter a building filled with teapot ferns. Your decker (sorry, HACKER) can’t turn that early warning system off. Maybe the team is hit by a weapon that fires Slum Slime spores instead of bullets or fire. Watch them struggle to deal with that! The bottom line is that Parabotany is a wonderful example of how creative and outside the box EVERYTHING can be in a Shadowrun game. Even if you don’t use the material contained within this supplement, just reading it should be a wake-up call to how weird and wonderful the Sixth World is and that there’s so much more to it than wetworks or forging documents. Here’s hoping we see a lot more of this type of supplement down the road.
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