Wyrd Science

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 1

 U

2 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Unboxing
Welcome to issue 4 of Wyrd Science, has much
of any import happened in the world of tabletop games
since we’ve been away?

Well, yes, it’s certainly been a strange start to the year in

many ways, not least Wizards of the Coast deciding to
take off and nuke their goodwill from orbit by attempting
Editor
John Power Jr.

Layout & Design

John Power Jr.

to revoke Dungeons & Dragons Open Game License. An Cover Artist

event that not only kicked off an almighty uproar but also Mat Pringle (matpringle.co.uk)
much to our chagrin fundamentally wrecked a brilliant
story that our writer, Rob Wieland, had just
handed in. Ah the joys of irregularly released print media. Wyrd Science is published by

Anyway, much like Chairman Mao in his apocryphal assessment of the French
Revolution, we have to say its far too soon to determine what the long term effects
of all this will be on the RPG scene.

I suspect D&D might lose a percentage point of market share, most likely to be
gobbled up by the likes of Chaosium and Paizo, but where things are already getting
interesting is how many of the bigger publishers are accelerating the release of their
Best In Show Ltd
own System Reference Documents and have been, let’s say, encouraged by all this to
do so on increasingly favourable terms for the wider community.
Get In Touch
contact@wyrdscience.online
Irrespective of the inevitable debate over the copyright of rules and whether these
are needed at all, we’re still hopeful that the opportunity for game designers to
Find Us Online
officially play around with the likes of Free League’s Year Zero System or Chaosium’s
www.wyrdscience.online
Basic Roleplaying will only lead to more games and a slightly more diverse landscape.
Twitter: @wyrd_science
Instagram: @wyrd.science
I do also have to say that in all this it’s also been incredibly cheering to see the role
that the games media, and in particular Gizmodo journalist Linda Codega, played in
This issue is dedicated to the
both breaking the story and keeping it alive. We don’t have a say in it but if we did I
memory of Princess Truffle Power,
know whose name I’d be etching on the Diana Jones Award this year.
the best little furry friend and
deputy editor that anyone
Right, I’m sure we’ll return to all this in a future issue but for now get a brew on, put
could have ever asked for. xxx
your feet up and enjoy what I hope you’ll agree is another cracking issue as we speak
to some of our favourite publishers and podcasters, investigate how RPGs of mystery
and detection have evolved over the years, delve deep into the subterranean world
All rights reserved,
of dungeon crawl board games and much, much more besides.
reproduction of any part
of this magazine without
Until next time, keep rolling!
permission is prohibited

John Power, Editor

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 1

CONTRIBUTORS
We’re doing a heist, meet some of the crew...

Mira Manga is an editor and Emma Partlow is a games writer Stuart Martyn is a writer, games Luke Frostick is a British writer
writer who regularly contributes whose work has appeared on designer and semi-professional based in Istanbul and the editor
to geek and gaming titles such sites such as Dicebreaker and tea drinker who has worked on of The Bosphorus Review of
as 28 Mag and reviewing Polygon and knows more than several RPGs and mega-games. Books and regular contributor to
Warhammer books on Arbitor a thing or two about Magic: the Three Crows Magazine.
Ian’s YouTube channel. The Gathering

Twitter @miramanga Twitter @emmmzyne stuartmartyn.com Twitter @Frostickwrites

Matt Thrower is a tabletop and Ciro Alessandro Sacco is a RPG Mat Pringle is a Margate based Łukasz Kowalczuk is a Polish
video game writer who lives in historian and collector, magazine illustrator, printmaker and arts comic artist and illustrator
the West of England. His other contributor (in 3 languages!) educator whose work draws whose work has also featured
hobbies including hiking and and co-editor of RoleZine, a from influences such as in tabletop games such as
cooking. new Italian RPG magazine. folklore, cinema, music, flora Space Weirdos
and fauna.

Twitter @mattthr dmmagazine.blogspot.com matpringle.co.uk lukaszkowalczuk.com

Twitter @matpringle Twitter @elkowalczuk

2 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Table of Contents
Wyrd Science Vol.1 - Issue 4 - SPRING 2023

Quickstart / 4-23
Get up to speed with the world of tabletop gaming as we... get a lesson in getting books into people’s hands from Zach Cox of
SoulMuppet Publishing, learn what it takes to wrap your head around over 50 different RPGs from Fiona Howat, host of podcast
What Am I Rolling?, We head across the pond where Pamela Punzalan introduces us to Big Bad Con, a gaming event with a
difference, Priyan Gami helps us take the strain out of dice rolling and finally we cast our avaricious eyes over some of hottest
new geek treasures...

Features / 24-88
24 - The Game Is Afoot - Stuart Martyn dons his deerstalker to investigate the mysterious world of detective RPGs

30 - Scry Me A River - John Power speaks to Lynne Hardy about Chaosium’s new Rivers of London RPG

36 - Bandes On The Run- Luke Frostick interviews Krister Sundelin, writer of the new comic inspired RPG The Troubleshooters

42 - Bad Moon Rising - Mira Manga strays off the path with Becky Annison, author of new Liminal supplement Werewolves of Britain

48 - Now Is The Time of Monsters - John Power quizzes Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play’s Dave Allen about its new sourcebook Lustria

54 - Dragons Are Fucking Cool, Man - No lies detected there, as Walton Wood goes on a picaresque romp with Errant’s Ava Islam

62 - Veni, Vidi, Ludo - We’re off on a Roman holiday as Ciro Alessandro Sacco introduces us to the Italian RPG scene

68 - Dungeon Crawling Classics - Matt Thrower heads underground in search of fun and adventure

74 - The Big Chill - Matt Thrower continues his exploration of dungeon crawlers and speaks to Gloomhaven creator Isaac Childres

80 - Quest Drive - Andi Ewington takes the new edition of HeroQuest out for spin and enrolls his kids in the action

84 - Trading Places - Emma Partlow speaks to Max McCall about Magic: The Gathering’s new Universes Beyond range

Hit Points / 90-110

From the rubbled streets of Stalingrad to the crime ridden corpo hell of CY, it’s your one stop guide to all the latest wargames,
boardgames, RPGs, solo games, books and comics that you should be checking out..

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 3

PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED: Soulmuppet Publishing
Launched in 2018 British publisher SoulMuppet Publishing have successfully navigated
both the RPG boom and global turmoil of the past few years to establish themselves as
one of the most forward thinking indie publishers on these tomato-less isles.

With a new game, Gangs of Titan City, out now and another, the doomed Arthurian
Western Inevitable, looming on the horizon we decided it was time to catch up with
the company’s co-founder Zach Cox and talk about the lessons they have learned
from five years of getting RPG books into people’s hands.

Interview: John Power Jr.

Art: p. 4,9 from Inevitable by Klur Arts, p.6 Gangs of Titan City cover by Ben Brown
Courtesy of SoulMuppet Publishing

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Hello Zach, so first of all please tell us about yourself and what printing, marketing, distribution and financial stuff, and had a
it is that you do at SoulMuppet Publishing? small pile of money around to help people who didn’t. What
started off as a ladder building exercise for my friends, turned
I am the co-founder of SoulMuppet Publishing, a UK based into something where I could use my skills and resources to
independent publisher of roleplaying games, mostly sad ones make money for marginalised people who wouldn’t be able to
about how capitalism is bad. You might know us from Orbital otherwise.
Blues, Best Left Buried and Gangs of Titan City, as well as the
forthcoming Inevitable. This moment put the Publishing into SoulMuppet Publishing.

I also work with my pals at Rowan, Rook and Decard, where I’ve Most of the 3rd party publishing work we’ve done since has
been a producer and project manager on stuff like Orc Borg, been focused on those marginalised folx: people from the
Hollows and DIE. global south, such as #RPGLATAM and #RPGSEA, LGBTQ+
people and those with low incomes and poor access to market.
What was your gaming background and what prompted the We’re getting stuff into print that might not happen otherwise,
move from player to game designer and publisher? and it’s making money for them which is important.

I grew up in Nottingham and was very into Warhammer, so I started We’re now starting to push into our “Kickstarter as a Service”
my RPG career at a very young age, playing a WFRP 2e campaign thing, where SoulMuppet is literally offering zero cost fulfillment
very badly when I was about 10. I then took about 10 years away to indie RPG companies. You send us books, then we send your
from RPGs. Due to an extended period where the wifi broke and backers discount codes and have them check out via our store.
we didn’t have much money to drink with, I relapsed hard in my This is another thing that drops the barriers to entry for running
second year of uni, buying a second-hand three book set and a successful project. Get your books made, send em to
then immediately running a 14 day, 11 session D&D campaign with it. SoulMuppet, and we’ll do the rest in exchange for a couple
hundred of your customers checking out our store, and maybe
I then fell into the ‘Old School’ scene through the rampant blog signing up to our mailing list or buying a copy of Orbital Blues.
scene at the time, which everyone was being very loud about
just after the death of the final days of G+. I got annoyed by We also do a great job of handling taxes, tracking and customs
dying all the time while playing B/X Essentials and Maze Rats, so I and can also help with printing, in terms of finding a printer,
wrote a fantasy horror Maze Rats hack called Best Left Buried getting your book built correctly and checking files.
with my friend Ben Brown. The rest is history.
This allows creators to focus on making the books, instead of
Before you released Best Left Buried did you have any prior setting up or hiring a multinational fulfillment company at great
experience of the publishing world? expense in time and money. This is a good example of us
building a ladder, and giving other people an access to it that’s a
Absolutely none! Before I was an RPG publisher, I did an win win for everyone.
economics degree at the University of York, worked in a call
centre and did some Data Science at an evil FTSE 100 data We’ve got an open door for conversations about what it takes
company that will remain unnamed. to make a project successful, and want to offer help to people
when we can. If Matt or I don’t know the answer to the question,
At the start did you have ambitions for the company itself, or we intend to find out. We tend to keep short conversations free,
was it just a vehicle to get Best Left Buried out into the world? and longer ones cheap.

For the first few years SoulMuppet was mainly an outlet for my As you mentioned, last year you published the LATAM
personal creative output, which at the time was Best Left Buried Breakout series, which featured several completely different
and its various adventures. Though we were looking at Orbital creative teams from Latin America, how did that come about?
Blues pretty soon after, and then more games of that ilk.
So back in 2021 I started working with Matt Sanders, who runs
While running the business supporting those games, I realised I Sealed Library. Matt did a bunch of webstore stuff for me, such
had built a pretty well vertically integrated business. I understood as purchasing indie stuff, and we got talking to some creators in

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 5

Latin America. We wanted to highlight some of these creators,
there was an amazing scene of people creating great stuff, and
many of them didn’t have access to the market or a budget to
spend on artists, editing and layout, never-mind print runs.

You literally can’t run a Kickstarter if you don’t live in the Global
North. We saw these folx and wanted to work with them, and
then LATAM Breakout came about. 5 games by 5 creators, all of
which were slick as hell.

All your games, at least in terms of premise and setting, are

quite different. Is there a thread between them, something
that you think marks them all out as a "SoulMuppet game"?

I spoke about this on a podcast with Kayla Dice recently (check

out This Is Your Lifepath). For me, all our games have some really
horrible rotten theme about not being able to escape a cycle.
Some of the best hitters are workers rights, mental health,
capitalism and a looming fear of death.

In Best Left Buried, you play professional dungeoneers getting

paid to go into ruins by colonialist banks, then either getting
eaten by monsters or going mad. Risking your body and brain to
make 10% of the profits your capitalist bosses get to take home.

In Orbital Blues, you play gig economy workers with depression,

who can’t afford to pay the mortgage on their spaceship. You’re
trapped in poverty, forced to turn to crime, and in character
creation you choose why you are sad and then get XP for it.
There is also loads of music. .
In the five years you’ve been going the industry’s
In Gangs of Titan City, you play desperate gutter-scum trying to grown and grown but, as illustrated by your work
carve out a slice of a city that is already owned by other with Latin American creators, not entirely equitably.
desperate gutter scum. You have to push yourself to even What are your thoughts on the state of it today?
survive, and everything you do has consequences that will catch
up with you one day, the only question is how long it will take. Things have gotten worse and better. I think 5 years ago the
industry was much more dependent on Kickstarter. Don’t get me
In Inevitable, you are playing Cowboy Arthurian Knights in the wrong, it’s still where all of the big hits and money rushes
dying days of your civilisation, whose doom has been foretold happen, but the number of dependable businesses that have
by certain prophecy. You can’t escape this, so you get to decide weaned themselves off it is increasing.
the time and place of your death, and how virtuous and
chivalrous you choose to remain as you struggle against Exalted Funeral is a big entity now, and other amazing indie
impossible odds. webstores are springing up in their wake. Just in the UK, there
are places like ourselves, Peregrine Press, LootTheRoom, Igloo
Basically, it sucks to be a character in a SoulMuppet roleplaying Tree, Sealed Library, Dungeonland, Antipode Zines, All Rolled Up
game. You can play someone who is cool and you can “win” in and Rook’s Press. Then internationally you’ve got Floating Chair,
the short terms, but it ain’t gonna last long. The mechanical Spear Witch, Monkey’s Paw, All The Problems In The World,
engines of our games revel in your suffering, and trap you in Knave of Cups, Third Kingdom Games, TheLostBayStudio, Ratti
cycles you can’t escape.It’s a little like real life. Incantati and hundreds of more I can’t think of.

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Those places existing and being a place to get cool indie shit The moment Amazon bought a Prime Show of Critical Role, the
online with sensible shipping and wide ranges is new and really OGL was dead in the water. Jeff Bezos making a cool couple of
fucking exciting. If you’re buying RPGs and these aren’t where million from Bigby's Invisible Hand? That's not allowed to happen.
you’re shopping for bangers, they should be. It was weird before it happened, and the whole thing was done
once that deal occurred.
DriveThruRPG hasn’t done anything in years, and there’s better
quality and cheaper PoD solutions if you want them. Itch is great I think anybody building their business on OGL territory was
in a lot of ways but really missing discoverability and royalty always playing with fire. If you’re doing a personal project, or a
splits. Getting a webstore and owning your own mailing list is side hustle, then yeah sure, sit in there. But if you’re running a
such a big thing, and a step I think every RPG business should business with salaried employees, accountants, lawyers, a
try to do if you have the skills and time. marketing function and a multi million pound turnover that is
reliant on WotC letting you make money from them for free?
I think brick and mortar stores have been left in the dust by really That doesn’t seem safe to me.
lacking distribution by the big companies, and more of them
should be speaking to us and stocking stuff that isn’t D&D or big Moan all you want about what 'irrevocable' means, but unless
licensed hardbacks on their shelves. That’s the place I feel like we someone has the resources to get into a proper extended legal
really need to improve as an industry. ‘Real people’, not the ones battle over if they can remove it then they can. And none of us
being loud on Twitter, are the secret money spenders, and they do. Maybe Paizo is big enough to have an in-house attorney or
go to local game shops. The real secret is learning to help stores two?
sell products, so they come back for more after your first sale.
Have you seen an uptick in interest in your titles since it all

“The first indie company to do a

kicked off?

good job of getting a really cool

We’re doing fine. We tend to always do fine. Drama on the
internet doesn’t affect that because wherever possible I choose

book on every game shop in the

to make games instead of loud noises. When I do make loud
noises, it’s about the games not drama.

world is going to win big. SoulMuppet has a completely open license for 3rd party

I’d like that to be SoulMuppet”

creators to develop and publish material for your games, right?

All our published games have licenses, because I think it’s needed
I feel like good relationships with stores is such an untapped market. if you want an indie game to do well. MÖRK BORG, Mothership
The first indie company to do a good job of getting a really cool Troika! and Mausritter are all a cut above the rest and a bulk of
book on every game shop in the world is going to win big. I’d that is their active third party scenes operating under free licenses.
like that to be SoulMuppet, Matt and I are certainly working on it.
Where it makes sense all our stuff will have a license. Inevitable
We've just had the big blow-up over the D&D Open Game might not, because it's a tremendously tight setting that I feel
License, what do you think might be the long term effect, if doesn’t need anything adding to it.
any, on the industry?
I also grow suspicious of anyone who wants to set up their own
I’m so utterly uninterested in OGL drama, but I have had to fancy equivalent licensing arrangement in the wake of this all
delete several very spicy takes. when creative commons or actual open licensing exists. That’s
not what I think indie licensing should look like.
I think the OGL and SRDs are weird, totally aberrant legacy
things that wouldn’t exist if Wizards made them now. Is there any I think Troika! is the gold standard for this and it’s why our license
other corporation in the world that lets you make money with looks exactly like Melsonian Arts Council’s. I would like to say
their intellectual property for free? The whole OGL sort of feels thanks to Dan for always being a straight shooter and letting me
like a legacy legal loophole. nick his license.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 7

Most, if not all, your games have been launched via Kickstarter. together. I’m hoping it’s something SoulMuppet are going to get
What advice would you give someone approaching their first better at, and we’re keen to learn more about it.
project on there?
Generally speaking, what would you say are the key lessons
Most people think being good at Kickstarter is about making you've learned over the years. Has there been anything that
money, but the real answer is that it’s about not losing it once you wished someone had warned you about?
you make it.
The big secret is about
Make something cheap and low scope with a £500 target that designing products that are
you can afford to make mistakes on without bankrupting easy to fulfill. You gotta
yourself. I think a lot of people want their first project to make make the thing easy to
five or six figures, but this is probably a bad idea unless you design, easy to print and
know what you’re doing. easy to fulfill.

Imagine your project goes wrong and your costs jump by 20%. Stay 1000 miles away
Let’s say you’re making a 40 page zine that you hired an editor from anything in a poster
and commissioned a couple pieces of art for and did some tube. Don’t overcommit
printing, and you need £500. If it goes wrong and you need to on fancy stretch goals,
do a second print run, you’ll need to spend another £100. Your especially if they’re in print. Keep your componentisation low: a
project budget just went up 20%. hundred pamphlets, dice and six different bookmarks will sink
you on time and pick rate, and just make replacements more
If that happens on a £500 project, that 20% project bump will likely because you put the wrong thing in a damn box.
probably be fine. If you make 10 times that, that project bump is
a thousand pounds, which kinda sucks. If you make 10 times that, Final super niche one, if you’re in the UK, worry about what
you’re going to go bankrupt. might happen if you suddenly need to charge VAT on something
cool like a cherry red cassette tape in a rave case, just in case
More than a few big studios have sunk because their first hit your project then pushes your business over the VAT declaration
went badly. Learn how to do things when you can still afford to line.
fail, and then you’ll be able to act without fear when you
eventually reach the big leagues. Weirdly specific example, I know, but you gotta watch out for
stuff like that.
Once you've dealt with the small matter of funding, writing,
editing, printing, publishing and distributing a game, what do Do you think there's enough mutual support in the industry,
you think is key to then ensuring it has a post-release life? especially on the publishing side? It feels like there's a lot of
advice around on designing a game but less around the more
This is something we’ve grappled with a lot, especially over the mundane yet important bit of getting it into people's hands...
pandemic when people weren’t placing face to face. Recently
our mantra with this is that successful games are ones that Making books is easy. Getting books to people is hard.
people play. We’re still working on the answer to that one.
The place you want to be for advice on that is the RPG
The easy answer is ‘support your game with modules’, like Bookseller’s discord. Lots of indie RPG people talking a heck of a
adventures or sourcebooks or whatever, but this costs a heck of lot of shop. It’s mainly about distribution, marketing and
a lot of money. People playing games on stream is also great, we fulfillment, exactly the kind of stuff most budding publishers
try to support this with affiliate links, asset packs and advertising, wanna talk about.
but unless you can land a big stream it might not do much.
The best technique for this is to find a person you think does
The smart thing to do might be to get really good VTT support good work and ask them for help. I would have crashed and
and an organised play structure (Goodman Games have a great burned pretty early if I couldn’t ask my fellows for work, and I
one), but those are such hard things for small companies to put offer the same to others where I can.

8 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

The last few years have thrown up some particularly tricky probably about spaceships and maybe drag racing around a
problems for publishers, what have been the biggest black hole.
challenges you've faced?
There are unconfirmed rumours about a Garden of Ynn
The main thing is that books have got 15-20% more expensive remaster with a lot of white space in it racing around Reddit.
to produce, and incomes haven’t gotten any better. Most places After that, I’m going to take on World of Darkness in a knife fight
right now are swallowing the margins. We’ve been lucky in a dark alley and probably lose.
because we've been able to get around price increases by
simply enjoying bigger print runs and bigger economies of scale. In five years? I hope to have a couple more folx working with us,
The price rises from paper, electricity and shipping all getting good circulation onto the bookshelves of friendly local stores for
more expensive are almost being cancelled out from printing indie RPGs across the board, and have at least a couple of trans
5000 books not 500. folx on a beach somewhere drinking mojitos whilst entirely living
off SoulMuppet royalties.
A lot of indie outfits are scared to charge what their books cost
to print. We tend to aim for 5-10 times print cost, depending on
the product, and if we’re selling it into wholesale. People also
sometimes charge shipping to customers with a subsidy, which Gangs of Titan City is out now
you shouldn’t ever do! You need to charge it at a 3-5% safety order from soulmuppet-store.co.uk
margin for when stuff goes wrong. where you can also find lots
of other great games and
Finally, what’s next for SoulMuppet Publishing, and where do subscribe to their mailing list
you hope to see the company in the next five years?

Inevitable is coming soon. The cowboys will be sad. That’ll be

pretty good. After that, we’re doing another Orbital Blues thing,

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 9

CAST POD: WHAT AM I ROLLING?
An actual play podcast with a difference, What Am I Rolling? sees host Fiona Howat and
guests work their way through a multitude of different games, showcasing the wild
diversity of RPGs today.

We spoke to Fiona to find out what inspired her to start the show, how she manages to
grapple with so many systems and what it’s taught her about being both a better player
and GM.

Interview: John Power Jr.

Photo: p.13 Jamie Drew

10 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Hi Fiona, so first things first, can you tell us a little bit about So, as part of my training, I went to a podcast workshop and by
how you got into RPGs and what prompted the move behind the end of the session, I was inspired to just start making my own
the GM's screen? content and got to work straight away when I got home.

Compared to other folks in the community, I actually got into In terms of why I make WAIR the way I do? That’s an interesting
RPGs quite late - about 7 years ago. I used to do a lot of sports question.
and one evening I was invited over to try out the first D&D 5e
starter set at a team mate’s house. Instantly I fell in love with it - There’s hundreds of RPG actual play podcasts out there and
just something about the game clicked in me as a wannabe there was a crippling fear at the beginning that my idea had
theatre kid who loved video games and story telling. already been done. I wasn’t doing anything new or exciting,
especially when you have folks like OneShot Podcast or Glass
I started looking up RPGs in general, wanting to know more, and Canon Network who have dominated the field for a long time.
amassed quite a collection of (unread) PDFs and rulebooks from
a variety of Kickstarter campaigns. But, at the same time, I realised I wanted to make a RPG podcast
that I, as a GM, would want to listen to and learn from. A podcast
I moved into GMing roughly about 6 months after starting out . which actually talks about the main game mechanics in a short
Partly this was because of the podcast but also I was getting succinct way at the top of each episode (you would be
tired of the ‘backseat DMing’ phenomenon I had been surprised how many actual plays don’t do that!) and then
experiencing in different gaming groups. A lot of experienced showcases those mechanics in an entertaining and memorable
players I gamed with knew D&D’s rules inside and out and this way over 2-3 episodes.
often resulted in a lot of meta gaming and rules lawyering which
impacted my enjoyment as a player at these sessions. At the end of the day, WAIR had always about featuring different
systems and different stories over than having a regular cast or
I was also getting a bit tired of the same old recycled stories and featuring celebrities who might be dipping in and out of gaming.
character tropes. I wanted to create and collaborate on stories
which mattered and had players be active and make choices WAIR is a learning resource from which players and GMs can
which made a difference rather than going through the motions. pick and choose what games they want to listen to rather than
That’s when I decided to offer to run different RPG systems. listening to every single episode in order. I want people to listen
to an episode, be inspired to pick up the game we featured and
My mindset was ‘If you want something to happen, you are the then run it for their own group.
first step in making it happen. Plus, no player would ever be able
to ‘backseat DM’ me as I would be the only one who knew the You’ve now made over 100 shows since 2018, do you know
rules!’ how many different games you've played in that time?

The podcast has a fairly noticeable difference to a lot of actual I have just run over 50 different game systems for the podcast,
play shows in that you don’t stick to one game or ongoing minus a couple of one-shots where we had guest GMs come in
story line. What inspired you to create the show in the first and run games.
place and in the format you did?
I am quite proud of the range of systems we’ve featured, from
So along with moving into a GM role and offering to run heavily narrative improvisational games to super ‘crunchy’
different RPG systems, I also wanted to expand my skills as a mechanical games with lots of dice.
content creator. I work in higher education and my role mainly
focuses on creating video content for healthcare courses. We have also featured games which have varying player group
sizes to demonstrate different story dynamics; from big 6 player
I have always listened to a lot of podcasts and wanted to show epics to intimate two player sessions.
educators I work with that audio was an easier alternative way to
creating learning resources compared to video, as realistically, I have even showcased several solo RPG games as it’s a rapidly
you only need a good microphone to start creating your own growing section in the community, and not too many actual
audio content. plays of one player RPG games out there currently.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 11

How do you choose which games to feature on the show? Between the actual play shows, you been interviewing game
designers, has speaking to the people behind some of the
There’s no method to my madness when it comes to choosing RPGs you've played made you look at them differently?
which games to feature!
As someone who thoroughly enjoys nerding out about how
As it is mostly a one-woman production it often ends up on game mechanics work, it’s always feels very cool to talk to
whether or not I am excited by the game’s initial premise or core designers about their passion projects; how they came up with
game mechanic. their initial idea and then developed it in to a fully fledged game.
I genuinely feel like an fan meeting their favourite author at a
The only rule I have is that the game is not D&D or relies heavily book signing!
on the 5E ruleset. That said, I have featured D&D twice - Tomb of
Horror one shot early on, and a bonus episode where my I always ask my guests what advice they would give someone
partner ran a one shot to propose to me and I unwittingly who wanted to run their game and their responses do have an
recorded it! impact on my own GMing style.

The biggest pull, for me, is if the RPG has a good quickstart One of my earliest interviewees, Zach Cox from Soul Muppet
version I can share with the players to help them during the Gaming, said doing an improv class or two would really add to
game. Bonus points if there is a beginning scenario from which I running any RPG game and I took that very much to heart,
can pull inspiration from. having now become a professional improviser regularly
performing in shows and at festivals.
Otherwise, I would always go for game mechanics over the
setting where possible. I often find that game mechanics are Recently, Ferruccio Argento from Dicetale Games, talked about
designed to tell specific kinds of stories which I would not have transparency in games and how GMs should purposefully state
considered. For example, Brindlewood Bay and The Between, what the difficulty of tasks are out loud rather than keep it
both by the wonderful Jason Cordova, are very structured hidden from the players to enhance the story experience. I’ve
which produces really fun and engaging mystery stories that started implementing this too and it’s really made a big
vary wildly in theme. Elderly women solving crime and victorian difference in my games, especially in the ALIEN campaign I’m
monster hunters respectively! currently running on Girls Run These Worlds.

Of the many games you've featured which ones have surprised With over 100 shows now, where would you recommend
you most and really stuck in the mind? someone new to the show start? Is there a particular episode
you think sums up the vibe and is a good place to dive in?
The one that surprised me the most was Jay Dragon’s
Sleepaway - a Belonging Outside Belonging game about a Hahaha! Honestly, the boring answer is search for a RPG title
group of summer camp counselors, guarding their wards against which interests you or system you want to run yourself and go
the nightmarish Lindworm. from there! It’s definitely designed to be a ‘Pic ‘n’ Mix’ actual play
podcast, where people could cherry pick what sessions they
I went into our recording with no expectations and was blown want to listen to.
away by how impactful the story became. The way the players
came together and discovered what was happening just through If you are looking for something completely different to the
simple conversations, driven by moves and tokens - I had never usual high fantasy which most actual plays are about, then I would
played anything like it before. recommend the one shots I did with one of my best friends
David playing Mars Colony (ep 53 - 54) and Mars Colony: 39
At the end of the recording, I had a good old cathartic cry as Dark (ep. 93 - 96), a 2 player sci-fi political drama by Tim C Koppang.
our story unexpectedly hit home . Since then, I have become a
massive fan of Jay’s RPG company Possum Creek Games and I am incredibly proud of the stories we created in those two
had a similarly enjoyable experience with their upcoming game sessions. Both of those games where recorded in a time of great
Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast - a slice-of-life TTRPG about a family political upheaval in the UK and it felt so good to create a story
of misfits residing in a witch’s house. which felt very relevant to the times we were both living in.

12 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

 current D&D rule set can only create certain kinds of story, aka
the big fantasy epics of good vs evil. Even if you try to tell different
stories through it they don’t necessarily have the same impact
compared to systems specifically designed to tell those stories.

“I PERSONALLY FEEL THE CURRENT

D&D RULE SET CAN ONLY CREATE
CERTAIN KINDS OF STORY, AKA THE BIG
FANTASY EPICS OF GOOD VS EVIL”
My advice would be to look at the quickstarts of other RPG
systems where the genre interests you. Quickstarts have all the
basic rules you need to get going and often include pre-
generated characters or a simplified character creation process
and a starting scenario. They’re a cheap investment and allow
you to explore more systems without necessarily committing a
lot of time and energy to learning a whole new system.

If you are not sure what genre you want to try I always recommend
checking out Grant Howitt’s one-page games on his Patreon.
Most people will have heard of Honey Heist as it featured
several times on Critical Role but he has a variety of different
and very silly one shots, all of which have easy-to-learn mechanics
and always guarantee a fun gaming experience. My particular
favourites include Jason Statham’s Big Vacation, Nice Marines,
and Goat Crashers.
If gritty sci fi drama isn’t your cup of tea, then the other
recommendation is You Awaken In A Strange Place (ep. 101 & Considering the recent OGL scandal with Wizards of the Coast
ArchaeoGaming Con 2022 Livestream), a fully improvised earlier this year and the upcoming ORC license from Paizo, there
roleplaying game for 4 players designed by Jacob Andrews. You are going to be a lot of exciting new games out there in the
literally make the adventure, the setting, the characters - RPG community, so there is no better time than now to try a
everything - on the fly by the players’ suggestions. It’s very different system and support up and coming game designers.
chaotic but so much fun!
What tips would you give to someone who wants to introduce
One of the most common reasons we hear for people not wanting a new game to their group?
to move away from D&D is that they don't want to have to
learn a new system. As someone who wraps their head around First, think about what genre and tone of game your players like
new ones on a fortnightly basis, what advice would you give? playing. Are they fully into the High Fantasy/Adventure genre?
Or do they like sci fi or horror? Perhaps even romantic comedy
Thankfully, I create enough of a backlog of episodes that I don’t or film noir/mystery? Finding a story or a setting they want to
need to learn a new system every two weeks! That would play in and explore is half the battle in my experience! Remember,
indeed be nightmarish! you are a player too!

But, I think there can be so much gained from exploring different Second, give yourself and the players a set number of sessions
RPG systems, both as a player and as a GM. I personally feel the to try out the new system and stick to it. I say 2-3 sessions if you

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 13

are just trying out a game for the first time and testing the If you are worried about having all the good player energy being
waters. Then, at the end, you can review if this is something your sucked out of the room by doing the safety and boundaries talk,
group wants to keep trying out or look for something else. It because such talk can do that, follow that up with a foundaries
might also encourage other players to have a go at running a check, i.e. ask the players what they want to see happen in the
limited campaign of a system themselves. game or what’s one thing which would bring them joy. Then all
the players can be on the lookout for those elements in the
Third, be flexible and forgiving. Players HATE change and going game and help bring them about!
outside of their comfort zone if not supported. So make it easier
for them. Give them a quick reference document with the If you need to look up something like a rule or a stat block, give
mechanics in from them to look at, do character creation yourself 30 seconds to find it. If you can’t find it after 30
together or give out pre-gens, make sure any digital tools are seconds, go with your gut and make the decision. You can
accessible, encourage questions during the game and so on. always look it up after the game so you know for next time if you
want but I give you full permission to ignore the rules in order to
Really focus on removing these barriers so they get to learning keep the game moving forward.
and playing the new system quicker. If a player doesn’t like the
way their character works, be open for them to switch powers You have a background in improv and acting, useful in this
or change characters after a session. game, and coming up you're hosting an online class showing
how those skills can make you a better role-player. Can you
Ultimately, it’s about having that open dialogue with your players give us a sneak peak of what that class might involve?
about wanting to try something different and then giving the
tools to make the change as easy as possible. It doesn’t mean Haha! Indeed - I will be teaching ‘Roll Initiative! Roleplaying for
players will want to keep playing the new system but it’s a start improvisers’ workshops aimed at both players and GMs for
in the right direction! Queen City Comedy in April this year. It’s my first time being an
improv facilitator so I’m very glad I was asked to teach on a topic
Looking back over 100+ shows what are the key lessons you've very dear to my heart!
learned about running RPGs?
In our player edition workshop, we will be focusing on
You always did the best you could. No matter if you thought you developing extraordinary characters, making creative choices in
did an amazing job running the game or if you forgot everything our scene work and engaging in collaborative storytelling with
or you are beating yourself up because you forgot one rule. You the rest of your gaming group. For our GM edition workshop, we
did great. will be looking specifically at world-building, scene painting and
creating supporting characters such as quest givers and villains.
Do session 0. Normalise going over the safety tools available and
doing a boundaries check with all the players. RPG safety admin Note, you do not have to have any previous RPG or Improv
is important for everyone but especially for you as the GM. experience to take part in these workshops. Just be ready to
jump in!

“NORMALISE GOING OVER THE SAFETY My top tip for being a better role-player is two fold:

TOOLS AND DOING A BOUNDARIES Listen (with a capital L). Active listening will help you understand

CHECK WITH ALL THE PLAYERS.

the choices being made by others around the table and also
help inform you in deciding what choice will serve the scene or

RPG SAFETY ADMIN IS IMPORTANT

the story the most. This is the most important tool in your player
and GM tool-belt so keep it sharp!

FOR EVERYONE BUT ESPECIALLY Then, make the obvious choice. Too often, we get bogged

FOR YOU AS THE GM”

down with asking questions because we don’t have enough
information to solve the encounter presented and don’t move
forward until every avenue is exhausted. Or, we try to be

14 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

deliberately witty, funny or clever and do something outlandish We are just going into our 5th series now and have covered a
or out of context, which derails the story. Simply, build upon whole range of topics, from how to create your own dungeon
what you have heard so far and ‘fill in the gaps’ as if your brain using the Dungeon Masters’ Guide to who we would cast in the
has an auto fill function. The story will move forward, often in ultimate D&D film featuring all our famous villains and NPCs.
unexpected but delightful ways, as a result!
We also developed a spin off show called The DM’s Travel Book
As well as WAIR, you’re increasingly busy DMing on other Club where we explore all 16 planes of existences as outlined in
people's shows, do you get much of a chance to step in front D&D’s great wheel cosmology. Given the announcement of the
of the screen now or are you doomed to be a Forever GM? Planescape setting returning to 5e at the end of the year, It’s
been exciting to be ahead of curve!
Haha! I don’t mind being thought of as a ‘forever GM’ if I am
honest. Especially because I made the decision early on to not Is there anything else coming up this year that we should be
tie myself down to one system or game. At the end of the day, looking out for?
the GM’s also a player in every game they run. They just have
the additional ability of ‘having the last word!’ Yes! RPG/Podcast wise - I am in the process of putting together
The GM’s Book Club, where my cohost Hamilton and I take a

“At the end of the day, the GM’s also

roleplaying game, read it cover to cover and rate, review and
discuss our thoughts about it. Essentially we are expanding on

a player in every game they run.

from The DM’s Book Club, which will still keep going, just so we
can reach a wider RPG audience, especially after the OGL news.

They just have the additional I am also planning to launch a dedicated discord server for WAIR

ability of having the last word!”

and related podcasts soon as well as a regular newsletter about
all the weird and wonderful stuff I get up to as a improviser and
as a professional GM, it’s a lot and even I can’t keep up with it
If that wasn't enough you've also started another podcast The all!. Future plans involve attending some improv festivals as well
DM's Book Club, which has more of a D&D focus, what can you as putting on more RPG specific workshops for improvisers.
tell us about that?
In the meantime, would recommend following WAIR’s linktr.ee
The DM’s Book Club is a weekly book club podcast where my and socials as those are the best places to keep up with all my
cohost Hamilton and I take a D&D topic and discuss how we RPG shenanigans.
would implement it in our roleplaying campaigns.
And finally if the game of RPG musical chairs did ever have to
The original idea was initially born out of trying to keep myself stop and you were stuck with one system for the rest of all
creative during the pandemic. During the UK lockdowns, I lost all time, what would you choose?
enthusiasm for reading for pleasure so I started reading my non
fiction RPG books and taking notes. Haha! I think I would have to cheat and make it a system of my
own design! I struggle to pick favourites so, thanks to the new
I realised there wasn’t a podcast aimed directly at Dungeon ORC license, maybe I would have a go at designing my own
Masters who wanted learn the ins and outs of the current D&D system and use the mechanics freely available which interest me
rule set (there are of course many general D&D discussion for a basis!
podcasts but nothing specific).
A cop-out but one I could very well do one day!
More importantly, I wanted to create a podcast where we the
cohosts would offer alternative suggestions to how we would
implement or change rules or of elements of an adventure and For all things What Am I Rolling?
give DMs of any level of experience the permission to ‘break’ point your browser towards
the rules as they see fit and try something new. linktr.ee/wair_podcast

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 15

MAGIC GATHERINGS: BIG BAD CON
Launched in 2011 California’s Big Bad Con is a tabletop and live action gaming
convention hoping to make a difference whilst putting the safety of its audience first.

With in person events back on the menu we asked Pamela Punzalan, game designer
and member of the Big Bad Con’s PoC Programming Committee, to look back at
last year’s edition and tell us just what makes it such a special event.

Photos courtesy of Nala Wu, Sean Nittner & Indrani Ganguly

16 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Where do we begin talking about Big Bad Con 2022?

Last October after a two year break when, like much of the
world, it moved online, this California-based event finally
returned to holding in-person conventions. Whilst it has
been running since 2011, the past few years has seen Big
Bad Con make a greater shift in its orientation towards
carving out a safer, more diverse, and inclusive space.

This pivot might just do what every decent game worker in

our spaces hopes for: fill in missing stairs, drop the ladders
down and smash the glass ceilings of tabletop RPGs.

‘Conventions have a reputation for being unsafe for not

only people of colour, but also women, femmes, non-men,
queer folx, neurodivergent individuals, and people with
disabilities. However, one convention has earned a
reputation that challenges these issues head-on’
The Babble on Equity Project

Big Bad Con had already established a reputation for itself as

a safe space for people belonging to marginalized and
underrepresented communities, but in 2019, Orion D. Black
started the Babble on Equity Project in cooperation with Ajit
George and Sean Nittner. Their goal was to raise $20,000 to
bring more people of color out to the convention.

Suffice to say, BOEP smashed through its funding goal. The

Project managed to not just fund the travel expenses of
people of colour within North America but also several game
designers from abroad, including several designers who
identified with the #RPGSEA (Roleplaying Games Southeast
Asia) movement, myself one. namely the recipients of funds from the Babble on Equity
Project – with industry professionals who had come to BBC
However, this push wasn’t just about making sure people of in search of diverse talent for their companies and TTRPG-
colour got to attend, roll some dice, make friends, and have related projects. Essentially, attendees and industry
fun and 2019 saw the start of two events within the professionals were given five names, and had 5-10 minutes
convention, the PoC Dinner, and the PoC Meet and Greet. to speak to their direct matches. Following that snacks and
Inspired by Tempest Bradford’s PoC Dinner for WisCon, Ajit, drinks were served as Meet and Greet members had time to
his wife Whitney Beltran, and other figures in the industry connect with both each other and the other folks present
sponsored the event, curating it as a space for people of who were not on their lists.
colour to simply exist with one another. Few things are as
powerful for a person of colour than to come into a The monumental success of these events emboldened Ajit
restaurant full of people who are not white, and be allowed and his supporting team, and there were plans to continue
to break bread together, talk frankly with one another, and the PoC events from 2020 onwards. At this point, I was
be themselves without fear. invited to be part of the PoC Programming Committee: a
group dedicated to finding sponsors to fund PoC Scholars
The Meet and Greet, on the other hand, was a far more and their attendance to the con, and organizing the PoC
formal event. The organizing team matched PoC attendees – Dinners and Meet and Greets.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 17

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 threw a wrench in everyone’s
plans, but finally after a two year hiatus we were back in
action.

‘I want us to own the fucking room’

Ajit George, at the opening ceremony of the 2022 PoC Dinner

Suffice to say, the moment Big Bad Con’s organizing

team confirmed that they could hold an in-person
convention, the PoC Programming Committee – Ajit,
Whitney, Sean, Surena Marie, Carlos Luna, Mario Ortegon,
Indrani Ganguly (pictured left with Big Bad Con’s star pup
Emmett), Justice Arman, Anthony Joyce-Rivera and myself –
went straight to work.

The goal this time was to expand, in a far more methodic

fashion, the number of PoC Scholars we would bring to the
convention. We focused on specific regions – North
America, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India – and
employed methods of selection appropriate to the
context of the region.

The result was that each region had at least six

people that they would offer the scholarship to.
Ajit, Whitney, Sean, Surena, and Carlos handled
scholars from North America; Mario handled
scholars from Latin America; I handled scholars
from Southeast Asia; Indrani handled scholars
from India.

The committee was careful to put extra

weight on women of color, members of the
LGBTQQIP2SA communities, neuro-
divergent people, and disabled people.
We also tried to diversify the pool of
recipients with respect to what they did in
TTRPGs. We did not just want designers and
influencers: we wanted more editors, artists,
and consultants to join the convention too.
Once lists were in Justice and Anthony
then worked to arrange matches between
our scholars and companies, professionals,
and industry workers.

This is not to say that only PoC Scholars could

participate in the PoC Meet and Greet and
Dinner. Both events were entirely open to any
person of color who could come to the
convention and signed up through BBC’s
 Next Year? Just Go...
online portal. Furthermore, there were external funding
sources to ensure that as many people of color made it to

Or Help Others Go in Your Stead

the convention as possible.

Direct donations from the likes of Critical Role, Darrington

Press, MCDM Productions, Wizards of the Coast, The Many people talk big about changing the industry for the
Adventure Zone, Dropout TV, RPG Match, and Quest Portal better, and then don’t do the work. Many more dream of
helped forty scholars from the four regions attend. Big Bad ways to help the TTRPG communities, but aren’t given the
Con also has its own internal scholarship program subsidising support they need in order to see their plans through. Big
travel costs, con tickets, or accommodations. At the end of it, Bad Con does the work, and it is capable of offering the
we had raised over $70,000 – a huge jump from 2019. tools and guidance to folks who want to transform our
industry spaces.
Of course, COVID-19 was also still at the top of everyone’s
minds, especially the convention’s organisers. Big Bad Con’s Big Bad Con and its Programming Committee plan on
team made sure to select a venue with powerful HEPA filters. continuing this practice of hosting a Dinner and Meet and
They also required all attendees to mask up at all times within Greet in the years to come. Both events could not have
convention spaces, and did not accept attendees who happened with the generous funding we received both
would not mask, or could not show any proof of vaccination. from individuals interested in our success, and companies
who recognize the need for change in TTRPGs. The best
Attendees were also required to take rapid tests regularly way to show your support would be to keep an eye out for
throughout the convention and were strongly encouraged our funding campaigns, and give what you can once they’re
to keep monitoring themselves after the con ended. The live.
convention’s discord server was utilized for COVID-19-
related announcements and the organizing team also did And, of course, if you are a person of colour, all I can say is
regular email blasts full of their guidelines. Free testing kits come and join us. I’ve gone on record several times with this,
and KN95 masks were always available to con-goers. but I’ll say it again: 2019 changed my life, and ensured that I
always have a place in TTRPGs as long as I wish to stay. 2022
The results of all these efforts were soon visible. Within just a was an affirmation of this fact, and uplifted me further even
few days after the convention, three of the attendees had as I participated in the work of bringing newer, lesser known
received direct offers for positions in TTRPGs, whilst talent into the spotlight with me.
countless others received mentoring opportunities or
freelance work. Furthermore, only one positive case of an I, and the other members of the Committee, fully believe
infection happened during the whole event. that the work never ends, and it is never about just surviving
for one person: it’s about making sure everyone in the
Big Bad Con 2022 now exists as standing proof that if a industry sees all of us. Every scholar I spoke with pledged
convention puts in the work and sticks to it through and that even as they are going to seek out ways to make sure
through, physical events of deep value to its industry they have stable careers in TTRPGs, they will also pass down
workers are still possible in this era of COVID-19. the names of their peers, and include their peers in as many
of their projects as possible.
‘It’s just a surreal experience because it makes you
feel like you’re part of something bigger. Instead If you’re interested in becoming a scholar in 2023 reach out
of just being like that little ant that’s in the crowd, to me or any other member of the committee. Be loud and
you feel a little bit more like you belong. proud about your work in the industry because you belong
here: no one in the world has the right to tell you otherwise
And I think that’s what Big Bad Con is all about: and we will do everything in our power to support you.
making people feel like they belong in the space’
Dan Munoz, Nat1Fun Big Bad Con returns Sept 28-Oct 1
bigbadcon.com
Find Pamela Punzalan online at thedovetailor.carrd.co

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 19

LOOT DROP: Automatic Dice Roller
At risk of a repetitive strain injury from hurling buckets of dice across the table but
turned off by the idea of virtual replacements?

Well, help is at hand in the pleasingly retro shape of the Automatic Dice Roller, a device
that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the rec room on board the USCSS Nostromo.
To find out more we caught up with Critical Machine’s Priyan Gami.

Interview: John Power Jr.

20 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Hi Priyan, we love the Automatic Dice Roller, but have to ask what Gamers are quite attached to their physical dice, do you think
was it that made you think, “I need to create this oddly retro- the ADR scratches that itch in our increasingly digital world?
futuristic thing”?
I think of the ADR as an addition to a table, my dice collection
I had been introduced to gaming when I went to one of the doesn’t gather dust, I still use them for low level games. I did
D&D London meetup events at the beginning of 2019. I started initially think about just using an app for those big damage rolls,
dropping in as often as I can and some time after that I was but bringing too much tech to the table never felt right. I still
playing a 7th level paladin in a Curse of Strahd game. print out blank character sheets and fill them out in pencil when
playing in person games.
On some turns I was rolling a d6 + 4d8 + a modifier for attacks
with smite. In reality, adding these up probably only took a few The ADR seems like a good middle ground, It could easily go
seconds but in my mind I was fumbling with the different dice unnoticed in an 80s D&D advert. Also making the ADR with
(because I only had one of each) and it felt like I was taking an standard push switches would have made economic sense, but
age to finish my turn. the tactile click you get with gaming switches is an important
part of the product.
I thought there must be an easier, faster way to do this.
Since you launched it seems to sell out every time there's any
So shortly after, I decided to fuse together a mechanical gaming available, what's been the biggest hurdles in manufacturing the
keyboard, calculator and a set of polyhedral dice, which resulted ADR?
in what I call the Automatic Dice Roller.
Shipping delays and lost prototypes have had a big impact on
After about 3 hours sitting in front of a domain name checker, I availability. We actually had a late-stage prototype lost in the
was surprised to see that criticalmachine.com was available. post at one point so there was a bit of waiting involved between
the first batch and the second injection moulded batch.
An elegant, if remarkably involved, solution! Do you have a
background in electronics? But things are now back to normal, both in terms of importing
parts and shipping units out to customers. There is still a limit to
Around the time I first started gaming I also started playing how many keycaps I can print in my garage, but we get most
around with Arduinos, tiny computers that can be programmed orders out of the door in a couple of days.
and customised.
You've just released the ADR in a couple of new colours but
I did GCSE Electronics at school so I knew a bit about circuits, what's next for Critical Machine, do you have any other
but it had been about 10 years since I picked up a soldering Iron. products in mind?
The first batch with the cream cases were all soldered by myself,
and the keycaps are still being printed by hand in my garage. Aside from streamlining the production process, my main focus
is to get the ADR in front of more gamers. It's hard to describe
The ADR essentially does one very cool thing, very well. Was it a the feel and the muscle memory you develop when using it.
relatively simple product to design? With some practice, you can calculate damage for a fireball in
under a second.
The first designs and drawings were started in 2019 and the ADR
went on sale at the end of 2021, so it took almost 2.5 years to As well as making more colours available, there is definitely a
develop. In hindsight the final product could have been pretty potential for collaborations with retailers and content creators in
simple to develop, but it took a lot of trial and error (and the future.
youtube tutorials) to get it finished.
I recently got back into 40k, so maybe a d6 centric ADR could
There were several prototypes over the years, some of the early also be on the table in the grim darkness of the future.
ones being about the size of a shoebox. The keycaps are also all
custom printed using a dye and heat press, I try not to think about Order the Automatic Dice Roller
the hundreds of keycaps I've accidentally melted and had to bin. now from criticalmachine.com

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 21

Loot Drop: MORE RANDOM TREASURE
Being a selection of six fine items that
may be found when looting a freshly Our cover artist Mat Pringle’s been
shivved goblin’s corpse or, alternatively, making this magazine look a lot better
purchased from some of the land’s best than it probably has any right to since
fantasy emporiums. our debut issue, so why not let him do
the same to you and get yourself
Roll on the table below or choose from covered up with this new t-shirt he’s
the list as desired... designed for London’s wonderful
Bad Moon Cafe?

badmooncafe.co.uk 1
Whether our last issue had you reaching for your horror
games and you fancy upping the spooky ambience or
you’re just a follower of the old ways and want to light a
fire this coming Beltane, Wailing Dip - purveyors of
bespoke folk horror inspired candles - have got you
covered.

Whilst their Hand of Glory candles are wonderfully

gruesome, our heart belongs to the two Wicker Man
effigies in their collection, especially the larger lad who
comes complete with a tiny wax Sgt. Howie waving at
you as you as he partakes in the May Day festivities.

wailingdip.co.uk 2

3 I Imagine there are approximately a million good

reasons why we don’t need a 3.75” scale, fully
articulated plastic Githyanki in our lives but for the life
of me I can’t seem to think of any right now.

Anyway, for their latest ReAction Figure range Super7

have gone truly old school on us with 3 new models,
the aforementioned astral pirate from the Fiend Folio,
the Sorceress from Erol Otus’s classic Basic D&D cover,
and to round things out the rather ungenial, scimitar
wielding Efreeti, we all know and love from the first
edition AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide.

super7.com

22 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

 Making a play for the title of ultimate beer & pretzels
4 game, Loading Bar have teamed up with brewery
Deviant + Dandy to produce Win or Booze, a hazy
3.8% pale ale with a fruity kick that also features an
easy-to-play-after-a-few-pints game on the reverse
of the label. Available in their London and Brighton
bars or from the brewery itself, a perfect
accompaniment to an evening playing all their latest
video and board games.

loading.bar | deviantanddandy.com

Well known for their Doctor Who audio plays, Big Finish have turned
their attention to another pillar of the British sci-fi scene with the
release of Blake’s 7: Origins, a lavish, limited edition box set featuring
seven, obviously, hardback novelisations covering the entire first
series of Terry Nation’s cult 1970’s TV show.

Highly regarded authors, such as Una McCormack and Paul Cornell,

have each tackled two episodes, using the original scripts and show
notes to retell the much loved story of Roj Blake and the not always
entirely willing crew of the Liberator as they wage intergalactic guerrilla
war against the evil if effortlessly stylish Federation.

bigfinish.com 5

6
Turntablist Kid Koala’s albums are always a little extra,
from the theatrical experience accompanying Nufonia
Must Fall to Space Cadet’s graphic novel and the
breakdance video game that Floor Kids soundtracked.

His new album, Creatures of the Late Afternoon, is no

exception. Released on April 14, the double vinyl
album not only boast the kind of scratch symphonies
we’ve come to know and love but doubles as a board
game, with some very cute looking band vans, that
sees you shuttling from studio to studio in search of
the perfect beat.

kidkoala.com

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 23

24 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
THE GAME
IS AFOOT
Whilst investigations have long been a part of our role-playing games, they
have also been a source of much frustration for players and GMs alike.
Stuart Martyn dons his deerstalker and goes looking for answers...

Art: Flops

W
hen we get together to play RPGs, we engage points dipping into ancient tomes and questioning
in playacting. We put ourselves in another’s suspects for insight. Still it’s a price worth paying to delve
shoes to learn about an unfamiliar world, the deeper into the two main mechanical approaches that our
character we inhabit and ultimately even ourselves. investigative games most often take and which best
Sometimes those shoes are the sand blasted sandals of a capitalise on the unique strengths of the medium.
barbarian, sometimes the curly toed slippers of some
arcane mage and just sometimes we get to step into the Despite how common mysteries are, even in games not
beat-worn brogues of a private investigator out to solve solely built around them, surprisingly few games actually
some of life’s mysteries. place investigative procedures at the centre of their design.
Even when it is one of the core gameplay loops you’ll often
‘Investigation in a tabletop RPG is fun and engaging find far less space in a game’s rulebook dedicated to the
because investigation is part of how we explore, unravelling of clues and piecing together of plots than you
understand, and symbolically defeat dangers within the might for combat, this can be especially jarring in games
world,’ explains Kenneth Hite, the veteran game designer where that combat is often intended to be an uncommon
behind the some of the best investigative games around. occurrence.
‘RPGs are about stories, and investigation remains the
matter of a whole lot of stories that we find fun and Investigative abilities are often condensed into just a
engaging in other media as well as at the table. Plus it gives single skill or two and this lack of mechanical support can
the weedy academic player characters something to do.’ easily make creating or running a compelling investigation
a challenge. Whilst a skilled GM knows when to improvise
At least when it comes to RPGs, investigations tend to or sidestep rules as written, working outside or even
come hand-in-tentacle with the occult so any exploration against the rules of a game can be a frustrating experience
of the design of these games risks sacrificing some SAN for anyone.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 25

So, how then can you best approach a mystery from a Still, all this does present a heavy burden on GMs who
mechanical perspective? must create a challenging, but solvable, scenario and be
ready to adapt to their clever players asking unexpected
In detective fiction there is the concept of a ‘fair mystery’; questions.
this is where the audience is presented with all the
information needed to solve the case before any grand As a result of this many investigative games default to a
reveal. For some readers, part of the experience here is prewritten mystery and, so, follow an approach closer to
trying to solve the case before the truth is dramatically the ‘logic puzzle’ school of fiction. At its best a predetermined
disclosed and, in many ways, the narrative here is as much investigation rewards player intelligence and diligence
a logic puzzle as a story. with a cohesive and engaging story for them to unpick, at
its worst it can become an exercise in railroading and
Whilst these stories may employ a gentle sleight of hand frustration. This can be especially the case as whilst the
to obfuscate the importance of clues or use later clues to mystery itself may be provided many games do not
add context to those provided earlier, making it harder to provide GMs the tools to relieve some of the pressures
infer the solution before the conclusion, readers should they face running these types of games.
still feel able to infer or deduce the secret at hand.

T
oday perhaps the premier ruleset for detail-
Of course in a purely literary mystery solving the puzzle is oriented mysteries is The GUMSHOE System.
a bonus, not the entire purpose, and getting it wrong is no Designed by Robin Laws it was created to
less fun than cracking the case. Your experience of reading specifically to counter the often fatal flaw that he identified
Murder on the Orient Express isn’t derailed if you don’t with many other investigative RPGs, the reliance on players
know how the murderer got away with their crime, and finding clues. A few unlucky dice rolls or missteps could
the book doesn’t sit idle, stalled at a red light, until you too often lead to vital information being missed,
somehow catch up. In an interactive medium, however, potentially leading to players being stuck or – in games
the audience is also the detective and this creates both a where investigation might reveal a monster’s weakness or
space for new innovations and new frustrations. the antagonists’ motives – make it more difficult or
outright impossible for the game to to reach a satisfying
The ‘logic puzzle’ approach to a mystery has been adapted ending. Not every group enjoys being defeated by
for tabletop and computer games many times over and Nyarlathotep and its cronies every other week.
resulted in some of the most celebrated, and notorious,
adventures in RPG history. Here players are required to not
only find clues and recognise their importance but NOT EVERY GROUP
perform the sorts of deductions that writers often gloss
over, a process that can prove infuriatingly linear. Whilst ENJOYS BEING DEFEATED
this provides the investigative game player the
opportunity to outdo the master detectives; after all, you BY NYARLATHOTEP
can ask the suspect whatever question you wish and think
outside the box, many a game has ended in exasperation AND ITS CRONIES
when a player cannot see the intended solution and hence
cannot progress any further. EVERY OTHER WEEK
A tabletop RPG with a GM offers an unsurpassable degree GUMSHOE’s system makes finding ‘core clues’ automatic
of interactivity and responsiveness. The case can be and offers players the option to spend points, rather than
approached from whatever angle the detectives desire, rolling dice, for supplemental clues. In addition, nearly all a
suspects and witnesses can be cross-examined with a character’s skills can be used to find and interpret clues.
degree of care and thoroughness seldom seen in other This changes the paradigm from ‘clue collection’ to ‘clue
fictions, and a skilled GM can respond to unexpected interpretation’, which is both more interesting and
inquiries and avenues without rewriting the whole game encourages players to rely on their own wits rather than
on the fly. the luck of the dice.

26 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Trail of Cthulhu and Night’s Black
Agents, two of Kenneth Hite games
that solve many of the inherent
problems with investigative RPGs

If players are ever unsure what to do, the logical course in moving but still feels like a consequence as the players
a GUMSHOE game is to look for more clues and, with don’t receive the bonus information a better roll would
almost any skill a potential source of the next revelation, a have revealed.
wide variety of clues is possible. GUMSHOE also offers
advice to GM and player alike, its mechanics ease many of One of the first games to utilise the GUMSHOE system,
the burdens of the genre, such as making it easier to add Kenneth Hite's Trail of Cthulhu, outlined a narrative spine,
clues to a mystery on the spot, and since its release has a linear series of loosely arranged scenes for players to
been successfully adapted for numerous horror, science move through. While it is easier to write scenarios in this
fiction and thriller games. way, this can too easily feel like railroading players. Indeed,
one could argue one of the simplest and most effective
GUMSHOE’s approach to skills also solves another tricks employed by countless murder mysteries – trapping
potential issue: some players choose to portray dumb the cast in a location like an old manor house – is likely to
muscle, characters of limited use when evidence must be annoy players who may be used to greater freedom in a
analysed, while those playing weedy academics seldom roleplaying game.
thrive when bullets start flying. By encouraging the use of
all skills in investigation, players don’t find themselves But there is support within the various GUMSHOE games
largely checked out of half the game. for more complex approaches and Robin Laws credits Hite
for the ‘ocean of clues’ approach he took in his later, award
These approaches are not unique to GUMSHOE of course. winning, vampiric spy thriller Night’s Black Agents. Here
Chronicles of Darkness encourages a broader use of skills, clues are scattered between both locations and NPCs
such as using the Firearms skills to examine ballistic allowing players to progress in a nonlinear fashion whilst
evidence or even combining it with social attributes to still keeping a main narrative through-line. Night’s Black
bond with gun enthusiasts. Cthulhu Dark, while much Agents also features helpful examples and surprisingly rare
simpler, follows a similar philosophy, and also includes guidance for GMs on building a conspiracy or sprawling
excellent guidance for the GM. mystery in the thriller vein.

Often with these games a ‘failed’ roll still provides the The setting of the game is also important. The rise of, for
absolute essentials to progress the story, just without example, forensic and video evidence is a mixed blessing
providing additional helpful context. This keeps the game for detective stories. Older stories had to rely more on

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 27

informants and witnesses – who could lie – with fewer
objective measures, like fingerprints, available. Changing
technology has given the investigator a wider arsenal of
tools which can lead to more professional investigations
but requires more thought on the part of a GM to ensure
the case is not too quickly or easily solved.

Further complicating this ‘logic puzzle’ approach is that

not all investigative games are set in our world, and RPGs
often visit science fiction or fantasy settings. If magic or
technology allows players to speak with the dead, peer
into the past or read minds, any scenario must walk a
difficult line where player characters’ abilities are not
useless but at the same time the case is not solved with a
simple cantrip in the first five minutes. In short, the
prewritten, ‘logic puzzle’, approach is difficult and requires
considerable dedication from a GM both before and
during the game.

At this point it’s worth noting that many, if not the

majority of mystery stories do not follow the ‘fair mystery’
paradigm. Fictional detectives often possess preternatural
skills -such as the ability to recognise a cigarette from its
ash- or are granted information -such as the distance
between footprints- that the reader, who cannot literally
examine the scene of the crime, is excluded from. A story
does not need to be a solvable puzzle to be entertaining.
just as often the mystery is simply the backdrop and,
naturally, many roleplaying games embrace a similar
approach.
Jason Cordova, writer of Brindlewood Bay - a game

A
rguably the first investigative game was 1981’s inspired by Murder She Wrote and in which old ladies solve
Call of Cthulhu – player characters are even mysteries and gradually uncover an occult conspiracy -
referred to as Investigators. The mystery existed praises the Noir genre for ‘dispensing with most of the
primarily as a vehicle to take characters to the game’s forensic aspects of the investigation and going straight to
actual focus; in this case chilling cosmic horror. Likewise shaking down shadowy characters on the docks for
an investigation can also be a vehicle for character information and rescuing femme fatales in over their
development. heads.’

Take for example the iconic Noir film The Maltese Falcon Many games with some kind of ‘roll investigate skill’
which is focused more on the characters, than the details approach fall into this school. The mystery is not the point.
of the case. The case drives the plot, certainly, but by the This approach can, however, still be underwhelming,
time we reach the dénouement the question of especially if players want to play detective and have built
whodunnit is no longer important. This is something we their character accordingly. In response to this several
see replicated in Greg Stolze’s noir RPG A Dirty World, a games have found another way to construct mysteries by
game which features incredibly robust mechanics for embracing another strength of roleplaying as a medium;
tracking a character’s shifting morality and almost none that it’s not just an interactive space but also a collaborative
for investigations. This is not necessarily an oversight; here one, and that many players enjoy creating the world with
the character’s inner journey is simply more important. the GM, not merely playing in their sandbox.

28 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Cordova articulates this philosophy and one of the main players each taking turns to reveal clues that support their
issues with a prewritten approach. ‘Traditional mystery version of events, and even altering their theory to
games try to present the mystery in the way a film or novel accommodate new clues, until a roughly cohesive answer
might do it,’ he explains. ‘An orderly sequence of clues, a is settled upon.
mystery that can be solved if you do everything just so or
ask the right questions. These games avoid the pitfall of feeling linear and players
are unlikely to ever become ‘stuck’ in the way they might
‘Unfortunately, other mediums have advantages TTRPGs in something where the mystery has been predetermined.
don't have: films have actors and production values, This framework also dramatically reduces the significant
novels have a forced perspective, or can otherwise place burden on the GM that the puzzle box approach creates.
the clues in the order you need them to solve the mystery. Though, just as the prewritten puzzle box can be linear,
But TTRPGs have one major advantage other mediums railroady or difficult, with improvisational games there is
don't have: collaborative storytelling. That's what's at the always a risk of what Kenneth Hite describes as ‘he who
heart of the Brindlewood Bay mystery system: it harnesses shouts loudest solves the mystery.’
the power of the medium to tell its story.’
Ultimately, neither prewritten or improvisational
In many ways these games take a diametrically opposite frameworks should be viewed as correct or superior,
approach to the likes of Night’s Black Agents where players simply different ways for us to experience being embroiled
investigate a conspiracy carefully constructed in advance in mysteries, both criminal and occult, from the comfort
by the GM. Brindlewood Bay still allows the GM to create of our tables.
the outline of the mystery through the clues they give, but
the actual outcome is somewhat out of their hands, Though a prewritten scenario puts far more of the
instead here the case is solved when players present a workload on the GM, not only designing a compelling
hypothesis and the dice agree. mystery but also guiding players through it without
frustrating or railroading them, many love the challenge of
creating satisfying mysteries for their players to solve.
THE CASE IS SOLVED Likewise whilst a more improvisational game takes much
of the pressure of the GM, sharing some of the authorial
WHEN THE PLAYERS responsibility between the group, they can sometimes feel
a little thematically incoherent and chaotic in comparison
PRESENT A HYPOTHESIS to a prewritten mystery.

AND THE DICE AGREE Unlike our fictional detective stories this is a case where
there’s no neat answer at the end but both approaches are
A similar philosophy is outlined in External Containment at their strongest when they capitalise on and build the
Bureau, a game built using the Forged in the Dark ruleset. unique properties of the RPG medium into their rules.
Players portray operatives of the titular bureau There may be no one size fits all solution but by the nature
investigating occult phenomena. They collect clues, of their interactivity, tabletop RPGs can create truly
advance a theory and roll to see if it is correct, incorrect or memorable investigative experiences for players, letting
partially correct all whilst the GM is actively advised to them experience pounding the detective beat far better
keep the clues and scenario somewhat vague and give than any book, film or computer game.
players room to come up with their own ideas.

Other games take this even further. Inspectres stating

outright that the GM’s job is not to feed clues to the Brindlewood Bay is out now
players but to give players the raw material they’ll need to available from gauntlet-rpg.com
decide what the problem is in the first place. Meanwhile
Lovecraftesque plays with the uncertainty of cosmic horror Both Trail of Cthulhu and Night’s Black Agents
– and avoids the need for a prewritten answer – with are available from pelgranepress.com

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 29

30 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
SCRY ME
A RIVER
Having inspired countless other games, the Rivers of London books are finally
getting their own RPG. John Power Jr. speaks to Lynne Hardy, the game’s
line editor, about what it took to bring one of the most loved modern British
fantasy series to the table.

Art: opposite Maurice Mosqua © Chaosium

‘C
all of Cthulhu with added hope’ is how British kind of fallen out of love with fantasy and science fiction.
author Ben Aaronovitch describes the Rivers of But then I thought, “people keep telling me these are
London RPG, and he should know being the good, I'm gonna give them a go” and promptly blasted
author of the wildly successful novels that Chaosium’s straight through however many of them were available at
new game of occult detection is based upon. that time, I think it was the first five or so, and joined the
ranks of those desperately waiting for Ben to hurry up
An urban fantasy featuring talking foxes, where ghosts and write another one.
can provide evidence and the Metropolitan Police Force
isn’t in special measures, the novels follow Peter Grant - ‘From having worked on Call of Cthulhu it was very
police officer, wizard and latest recruit to the Met’s secret, obvious that Rivers of London really would adapt nicely
magic division, The Folly - as goes up against the ‘demi- to an investigative style game. It's a police procedural and
monde’; supernatural serial killers, warring gods, occult I liked the fantasy and magical elements to it. It was
criminal gangs and the like. The books have long provided enough to make it interesting, without going down a lot
inspiration for gamers and, with a TV series on the horizon, of tired old footpaths. So I saw that there was this game
Chaosium have swooped in to bring the official RPG to in there and really it was just waiting for the right
our tabletops. opportunity to see whether it could become more than
just a pipe dream.’
Key to both securing that license, and then making the
game, was Lynne Hardy, a veteran of games such as Call That opportunity would finally arise a few years later
of Cthulhu, Achtung! Cthulhu, Blue Rose and her own when Aaronovitch was scheduled to do a book signing in
Cogs, Cakes & Swordsticks and, importantly, a huge fan of Hardy’s native Newcastle.
Aaronovitch’s books. ‘I was introduced to them via
friends, who kept telling me that I really ought to read ‘I booked off work for the day and got in nice and early,
them,’ explains Hardy. ‘I kept putting it off because I'd so I was at the front of the queue,’ Hardy recalls. ‘By this

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 31

point, I'd had a conversation with [ Chaosium Creative ‘It's not as deadly as Call of Cthulhu,’ says Hardy. ‘I mean,
Director] Mike Mason. So there's me at the front of the it can be for NPCs, but not for player characters. You're
queue, I didn’t have my official business cards, just my going to end up hurt, you may end up unconscious, but
personal one that I've written my Chaosium email it's going to be difficult to actually kill you. But then
address on, so it looked really professional. But I managed people are very seriously hurt and do die in the books. It’s
to buttonhole him and basically said, “have you ever not very often but guns do appear. And when you start
fancied having your own role playing game?” At which shooting those things people do get very badly hurt. So
point his face lit up, because apparently the answer was it's always difficult balancing that reality with making
yes and, as it turned out, he'd always hoped it would be a sure that you aren't going through a new character every
BRP game too, as he’d always been fond of that system.’ week but from our play-testing we think we've got the
balance right.
BRP, or Basic Roleplaying, is of course Chaosium’s house
system, one that for over 4 decades now has powered ‘And again, that's where Ben was very, very helpful,’ Hardy
games like RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu. Whatever continues. ‘He's spoken before about this in various
arcane rituals Hardy had been secretly performing in places, he has to have at least one gruesome death per
preparation for this meeting, the stars had clearly aligned book to keep the gruesome grannies happy. But you
over Tyneside that fateful day. don't want swathes of bodies everywhere, because this is
still set in the real world and serial killers do attract a lot
That Aaronovitch had form as a tabletop gamer probably of attention. So you've still got to find that balance.
won’t come as too much of a shock to anyone who has
read his books but him having an affinity with RPGs was ‘I mean, one of the first deaths [in the novels] is
something that would come in handy, not just during the absolutely horrific, and witnessing that has massive
game’s development but even at the earliest stages of knock on effects for the series. Not going to mention any
getting the deal done. spoilers but there are some really dark, gruesome bits in
there. But there's also that lovely humour that lifts it and
‘I always wanted him to be involved because, obviously, which makes it very British actually. Working with a
these books are his babies,’ Hardy says. ‘It’s his world, he predominantly British crew on it helped, and working
created it, he wants to look after it and make sure that we with a group of people who either were already fans of
treat it with respect, which is completely understandable. the books, or became fans of the books while they were
But also him being a gamer, that was actually very helpful working on it was also very helpful. With any property
during the negotiations, because he understood that he like this, you have to love your source material to do it.’
was never going to make his fortune from this. It wasn't a
video game, it's not TV. I mean he says it himself, this is
his vanity project, he wanted his game. “THERE ARE SOME REALLY DARK,
GRUESOME BITS IN THERE.
‘We consulted really closely with him and that was BUT THERE'S ALSO THAT
something I wanted too, because I wanted him to feel LOVELY HUMOUR THAT LIFTS IT
that he had an investment in the game and wasn't left AND WHICH MAKES IT
out of that equation. So Ben was writing spells for us, he
was coming up with little suggestions for things. If we
VERY BRITISH ACTUALLY”
had a query, we'd get in touch with him and go, “is this

T
how this works?”’ hat close relationship with Aaronovitch and the
team’s passion for the project has paid off with a
Aaronovitch’s involvement was also key to getting the game that faithfully captures both the tone and
tone of the game right. Whilst the books are more urban feel of the books, which raises another issue. With a loyal
fantasy than outright horror they do have their fair share fanbase out there, there’s a very good chance that this
of darker moments and violence, both supernatural and could be many people’s first role-playing game,
otherwise, and Hardy wanted that represented in the something that Hardy was keenly aware of during the
game. game’s development.

32 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

A new recruit’s first
day at The Folly looks
like an HR nightmare
to us...

Art: Gary Bedell

© Chaosium

‘I wanted it to be something that would encourage understand it. It's one of those systems that just clicked
people who loved the books into giving gaming a go, for me, it's how my brain works.
rather than for hardcore gamers who've been doing it for
years,’ Hardy says. ‘Of course, we'd also love it if those ‘We knew it couldn't be as simple as the Call of Cthulhu
hardcore gamers play too and perhaps discover the starter set, but we also didn't want it quite as in depth as
books in turn. In fact I've already had lots of people tell the full seventh edition rules, it kind of had to sit
me that they hadn’t heard of the books and when they somewhere in between, mainly because of that magic
saw we were doing the game have gone out and system. Magic is integral to the Rivers of London world
devoured them as well, which is fantastic. and we've got to somehow be able to deal with that.
That’s one of the reasons why I wanted Paul involved.
‘But I always wanted it to be an introductory type of Paul and Mike [Mason], did a fantastic job of updating
game. I've written games like that before, Cogs, Cakes & Call of Cthulhu to the seventh edition, so I knew he
Swordsticks was my steampunk introductory game, would be a safe pair of hands with that kind of brief.
which couldn't get more simple. Actually, when I was
running proof of concept games for Paul [Fricker] and the Streamlining the BRP system is not the only way the
various members of Chaosium to show what sorts of game aims to provide an easier experience for both first
adventures people would have in the world it was a time gamers and GMs alike and the rulebook makes
stripped down version of Cogs & Cakes that I used. particularly good use of the source material, for example
presenting the well-worn ‘what is an RPG?’ section in
‘Paul did jokingly say, “why can't we just use that system,” fictional prose with Peter Grant wrangling the other
but it's a little bit too simple for dealing with things like characters from the novels into a game of Call of Cthulhu.
magic. So we always wanted it to have the BRP DNA
underneath it. That appealed to Ben, obviously, because The new game also smartly take another cue from Call of
he's a big fan of BRP and it made sense to me, because I Cthulhu’s 7th edition, or more precisely its starter set.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 33

 Cleaning up the day
after the night at the
museum

Art; Lucas Marques

© Chaosium

Once the traditional niceties have been observed the adapt Ben’s source material to create your own case files,
rulebook goes straight into a Choose-Your-Own- which is what we’re calling scenarios.’
Adventure style solo scenario. Based on one of
Aaronovitch’s short stories, The Domestic, it’s a great way That is something that will definitely come in use, run
to ease you into the game. your average dungeon crawl and experienced GMs can
create everything on the fly with just a few tables,
‘We know that it worked in the Call of Cthulhu starter set investigations require a bit more work. For many GMs
and that's why I wanted it in there,’ Hardy explains. that’s part of the appeal, a chance to create their own
‘Because, again, we're assuming that people might not labyrinthine plots for their players to pick their way
have gamed before, or they've just had a limited through but it can still be a daunting task, especially for
experience of it. We know that Alone Against the Flames someone new to role-playing games.
is great for introducing people to Call of Cthulhu. So
that's exactly what I wanted at the front of the book To help with that the book also contains a sizeable
because we couldn't make any assumptions about who chapter of advice for GMs covering everything from tips
was playing it. for running games in general, and investigations in
particular, to the use of safety tools, how to deal with
‘And again, this was part of the collaboration with Ben problem players and when to just relax, ignore the rules
because he really liked the idea of there being a solo altogether and let the game play out.
adventure based on one of his short stories. Gavin Inglis
did an absolutely superb job adapting it, even if you've The rulebook also features a second scenario, The Bookshop,
read it there's some little tweaks to it that you're not also based on an existing short story (The Cockpit) but
going expect. So it's there to help set the tone, give you this time designed to be run by a GM for a group of
an introduction to some of the rules and the character players. Once again this provides a great example of how
creation, but it's also there to show you how you can to use the novels as material for your own games.

34 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

‘Keris McDonald wrote a section for GMs about adapting
stories whilst deviating from them, so we're trying to give HELP WITH THEIR INQUIRIES...
that support,’ explains Hardy. ‘And you'll see that in The
Bookshop scenario that there's a lot of asides and advice Whether you’re a seasoned pro, or River of London
for people who aren't used to running games. So we hope has inspired you to run an RPG for the first time, here
we've given enough support for new starters to be able are Lynne Hardy’s top tips for a smooth running
to get on with it.’ investigative game...

Still, Hardy doesn’t plan to keep players waiting too long 1. First of all, make sure as a GM that you've got all
for new material either and work on delivering that is your clues lined up. That you know what they are and
already well under way. what the key information is that the players need to
be able to figure out what the plot is.
‘At the moment, I have another three books planned,’ she
reveals. ‘There's an America source book, which will 2. Don't hide those important clues behind dice rolls
explain how to set up a game there because it's a very, if your players need that information for their
very different setting. That will have two scenarios in it to investigators to figure out what's going on. Make
again help explore the differences in tone. Then after that them work for it but don't hide that information.
I would like to do a UK scenario book. That's something
that Ben and I really want to do, so that material is there 3. Let the players roll to make conclusions because
to help people who aren't used to writing their own. The not everybody can figure everything out and not
idea is there would be some London based scenarios but everybody enjoys that Don't make the players have
also ones set elsewhere in the country, as there’s a to solve the puzzle based purely on their own
section in the rulebook about creating your own Folly, abilities, remember it's what their characters can do.
and opening new branches around the country if you
don't want to run your game in London. 4. Don't be afraid to move your clues. Because we all
know what players are like, given half a chance they'll
‘And then the book after that would be a look at all the wander off in the opposite direction. So be flexible
other types of characters you might play. For example the with where those clues happen. If they wander past
Genii Locorum,’ Hardy says, referring to the series’ it the first time just move it somewhere else.
powerful spirits, each tied to a particular location. ‘How
do you integrate that into your game without completely 5. And most importantly, just listen to your players
over balancing it? Is it a problem if you do? Or teenagers and let them lead you. Do that and they're going to
like Abigail from the book. If you want a whole gang of tell you what it is that they're interested in and how
Abigails going around investigating things, you can do they want to run the investigation.
that. And of course talking foxes! Let's face it, everybody
wants to play a talking fox. I mean, I have had
conversations with Ben about what talking creatures are immersing themselves in this world, just as she has. With
in America, but I'm not gonna say anything about that the ever growing popularity of the novels, and a TV series
yet…’ still to come, that audience could be significant, and
Hardy has overseen a game that will embrace them with
“AND OF COURSE TALKING open arms. For now at least though she can count on one
very satisfied customer, an author who’s finally got what
FOXES! LET'S FACE IT, he always wanted, a game of his books, Call of Cthulhu,
EVERYBODY WANTS now just ‘with added hope.’
TO PLAY A TALKING FOX”
Rivers of London is out now
Hardy’s passion for Rivers of London is as apparent as it is published by Chaosium
abundant and she’s clearly excited for people to start chaosium.com

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 35

TROUBLE
SHOOTERS

36 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

BANDES ON
THE RUN
Tired of tussling with tentacles? New Swedish RPG The Troubleshooters
offers a more light-hearted approach to the mystery genre. Luke Frostick
grabs his passport and goes in search of adventure with the game’s creator
Krister Sundelin

Art: opposite & throughout Ronja Melin © Helmgast

O
ver the years investigations have often played a countless espionage thrillers and criminal cat-and-
key part in our role-playing games, though mouse capers.
generally speaking the focus has been on the
threat of sinister cults in thrall to eldritch gods than the It’s the latter of these, series like Yoko Tsuno and Spirou &
more glamorous possibilities a life of mystery offers. All Fantasio, that Sundelin initially turned to when he
that’s set to change with The Troubleshooters, a new RPG conceived The Troubleshooters. With the exception of a
from Swedish designer Krister Sundelin. French language game based on the Valérian strip,
Sundelin realised that wasn’t anything based on the
A veteran of the Swedish RPG scene, Sundelin’s resume comics he loved and the jet-setting adventures and
includes titles for publisher Helmgast such as iron age criminal shenanigans their protagonists often find
adventure game Järn and Hjältarnas Tid, an introductory themselves involved in. ‘I had a lot of Spirou books and I
RPG of epic quests for hidden treasures. Believing the wondered why there wasn’t a roleplaying game for it,’ he
fantasy genre to be ‘kind of crowded’ and always looking explains. ‘Finally I got tired of waiting.’
to try to create something new, Sundelin found
inspiration for his new game in he colourful worlds of Taking further inspiration from the likes of James Bond,
Franco-Belgian comics, or bandes dessinéess. The Saint, Arsène Lupin the Third and The Avengers (the
old, British, black and white spy show) and games like
In Francophone Europe bandes dessinéess are very much Call of Cthulhu, the old James Bond RPG, and even the
a serious business, considered to be ‘the ninth art’, and a Star Wars D6 game, Sundelin set to work and quickly
world away from the world of superhero and their capes. found a home for the project with his old publisher
Whilst most English speakers will know of Hergé’s boy Helmgast,
detective Tintin, bandes dessinéess encompass a vast
range of genres and styles that, over the years, have ‘Two years ago I went to Helmgast and I showed them
ranged from saucy sci-fi strips like Barbarella to the first sketch of the cover,’ he tells me. ‘Everyone said,

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 37

 Have cat, do crimes.
The game’s primary
antagonists, the
nefarious criminal
organisation Octopus

Art: Ronja Melin

© Helmgast

“Tell nobody about this. It is so good and simple an idea ‘When I asked her if she can do something in the French
that everybody would steal it if they knew.’”’ and Belgian style she said, “Why not?”’ he tells me and
looking at the finished book Melin’s confidence was well
It is easy to see why that initial sketch would provoke deserved. Sundelin points to a French review of The
such a reaction from the Helmgast team. Ronja Melin’s Troubleshooters which laments how it was produced
cover art perfectly captures the style and the tone of euro first by a group of Swedes and not a Frenchman.
comics. Likewise the interior art of the book is equally
impressive and, in addition to just being beautiful to look That attention to detail permeates the book and
at, does a lot of work establishing the feel of the game. Sundelin also highlights the work of graphic designer Dan
Algstrand, how its clean lines, bold colours and use of
‘It doesn’t matter if you haven’t read anything from the specific typefaces, such as Le Monde, perfectly capture
source material,’ Sundelin says. ‘I think you could get the feel of the game.
what the game is about just by looking at the cover.’
But it is not just the art and design that informs the tone
Sundelin describes Melin as a bit of a chameleon and but, importantly, the writing does too. Sundelin explains
shows me the illustrations she had previously done for that he started off, quite simply, emulating the source
Järn and Hjältarnas Tid which, whilst also beautiful, are material that originally inspired him and from there
in a completely different style. quickly realised that he wanted the game to be explicitly
Eurocentric in tone. ‘Since most game authors are
American, you get this very American feel to games even
SUNDELIN POINTS TO if they are not set in the US,’ he tells me.
A FRENCH REVIEW OF
THE TROUBLESHOOTERS Much like its source inspiration an important theme of
WHICH LAMENTS THAT IT the game is globetrotting or “fantasy tourism”. One of the
reasons that people loved the Connery-era James Bond
WAS PRODUCED FIRST BY films was that back then a trip to the Caribbean or Japan
A GROUP OF SWEDES was unthinkable for most bar the very wealthy. The same
AND NOT A FRENCHMAN is true for comics like Tintin, whose adventures to exotic
locations provided readers a vicarious thrill.

38 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

High-octane
adventures on the
open road

Art: Ronja Melin

© Helmgast

‘One of the things that Hergé and Roger Leloup [creator of 1970s his earliest memories were less those of a bright
Yoko Tsuno] had in common was that they were all atomic age and more ones like the nuclear disaster at
subscribers to National Geographic and based their Harrisburg (Three Mile Island) and the referendum on
adventures on the latest issue,’ he explains. ‘I wanted nuclear power in Sweden.
players to sit down with the book and say “I want to
have an adventure in Shangri-La. I want an adventure to Still, Sundelin does recognise that not all aspects of the
go to Calcutta” or any place in the world.’ 1960s can be defined as optimistic and adds that the
prejudices of the era and some of the source material
Another important aspect of Sundelin’s world-building (looking at you Tintin in the Congo) did not fit into a game
that shines through in The Troubleshooters is its optimism. designed to be played in the modern world.
‘I'm dead tired of grim dark games,’ he tells me and explains
that the era he is trying to capture is ‘the period the ‘People can call that woke if they want, but I don’t care,’
French call the golden decades. It was a time when France he says. ‘I don’t want that in my game.’
was really modernising and building back up from the
war. There was a positive outlook on the world. Even with Likewise he also takes certain liberties with the real
the nuclear threat hanging over them, they were talking history of the period in service of the game’s tone. For
about the car of the future, space travel of the future. Everything instance both the reality of both the Vietnam War and the
was about the future and how bright it would be.’ Cold War are played down. They still exist, but he sees
The Troubleshooters as being set in ‘that sobering up
That also helped Sundelin firmly establish the game’s era, moment after the Cuban missile crisis.’
as he didn’t want characters to be able to Google stuff, or

T
get in touch via email. This decision was finally cemented he tone of the source material is also reflected
though when he discovered that ‘the cars were just more in the rules, for all the high stakes car chases and
beautiful in the 60s.’ It’s hard to disagree and Sundelin shoot-outs death is not really a part of the game.
and I spend several minutes reflecting on just how very Characters rarely, if ever, die and even the minions of the
cool the Aston Martin DB5 is. game’s perfidious criminal organisation, Octopus, are not
killed when shot. They simply have their guns knocked
Regarding the setting’s era Sundelin tells me how he just out of their hands before falling into a convenient nearby
missed out that era of optimism himself. Born in the body of water / bail of hay / puddle of mud.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 39

 Art: Ronja Melin © Helmgast

40 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

The actual core mechanics of The Troubleshooters are To maintain their central role, Sundelin had the number
based on those that Sundelin developed for Järn, a D100 of story points refresh at the start of each session. He contrasts
system testing against skills. Whilst he has nothing this with Force Points in the Star Wars D6 game which, as
against dice pool games, he explains how he doesn’t find they did not refill, he found players never used. ‘What’s
them very intuitive and wanted a system that was both the point of a story point if you don’t use it?’ he asks.
quick and very adaptable.
By codifying how story points work and letting players
‘With a D100 system you know what the value is worth know specifically how they can earn and use them,
and can easily adapt to the situation,’ he says. ‘Especially Sundelin believes this outsources the work of
when you are investigating, you have to come up with remembering them from the GM onto the players.
clues on the spot because it is not a dungeon. You have
to improvise a lot. The intuitiveness of the D100 is very Whilst The Troubleshooters is quite mechanically heavy
good for that.’ Sundelin believes that the systems that he included were
necessary to encourage the kinds of play that he wanted
The other mechanic that Sundelin views as key to the to see and that he actually cut down the number of rules
game is its Story Points system. Essentially these are during development in a way he likens to the iterative
points earned for good roleplaying, roleplaying that design process used in the car industry. ‘If there is
might in some way disadvantage the player or the party. something you can simplify or some waste that doesn’t
In turn these points can be spent to gain mechanical or add to the mechanics, you get rid of it.’
narrative advantages such as your small but inquisitive
dog finding a vital clue at just the right moment. Since its release the game has enjoyed a great response.
Its first published adventure, The U-Boat Mystery, won
As an example he describes how if a character has the silver in the Best Adventure category at last year’s ENNIE
“honest” condition, they might gain a story point when Awards and Sundelin has two more campaign books, The
they play into that and their honesty gets them in trouble. Great Champagne Galop, a Wodehouse-esque story
Likewise surrendering and getting captured rather than about horrible relations, and The Ghost Knight, about a
fighting to the bitter end might earn players a handful of haunted castle somewhere in eastern Europe, in the
story points which, in a fitting nod to the genre, can be works.
used to escape from the jaws of certain death at the very
last second. ‘You need those books early on to get the game playable,’
Sundelin explains and also tells me how he would like to
‘I wanted a mechanic that allowed players to take control make an American adventure, one that shows how the
of the dice,’ Sundelin explains. He also wanted players to US is seen from a European perspective. He is also
have the ability to directly change the game. ‘Basically working on some manuals and background books, in
because I see the game as more of a democratic conversation particular a major expansion to the setting’s villain, the
than the usual dungeon. I want players to participate, to criminal organisation Octopus.
be creative and add to the story. So with the story points
there is a legal reason to allow them to.’ Showing no signs of taking it easy he is also thinking of
doing a book of boarding school mysteries along the
“I SEE THE GAME AS MORE OF lines of Swallows & Amazons or the Fantastic Five,
A DEMOCRATIC CONVERSATION another literary area notable for its absence in our games.
THAN THE USUAL DUNGEON” Whatever comes next though, in a genre of most often
typified by its nihilistic tones Sundelin’s exuberance and
During the play testing of the game, Sundelin found that sense of optimism are a welcome burst of colour.
the economy around story points was a core feature that
players latched onto, perhaps even more so than skills The Troubleshooters is out now
and they were often asking themselves how to ‘spend available from Helmgast
story points or get them from this scene?’ helmgast.se

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 41

42 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
BAD
MOON
RISING
Mira Manga takes a walk on the wild side with Becky Annison, author of
Werewolves of Britain a hair-raising new book for urban fantasy RPG Liminal

Artwork: Opposite & throughout Jason Behnke © Modiphius

W
erewolves of Britain is the latest supplement Beginning life as a stretch goal to the original Liminal
for Liminal, the urban fantasy RPG set in a Kickstarter in 2018, Liminal creator Paul Mitchener had
United Kingdom where the veil between the tagged Annison in from the very outset trailing Werewolves
magic and mundane worlds is paper thin and cabals of of Britain as a book on ‘sexy werewolves’ whilst citing her
wizards, vampire families, faerie dynasties and more award-winning games When the Dark is Gone and
battle for supremacy in the shadows. Lovecraftesque (the latter with Josh Fox) and notably
current work in progress Bite Me!, a Powered by the
It’s a setting that will feel familiar to anyone who has read Apocalypse game ‘of werewolf pack dynamics’ that
the likes of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere or Ben Aaronovitch’s eventually was released under the name Bite Marks.
Rivers of London books and, coupled with its unfussy
rules, has ensured that Liminal quickly established itself as As we settle down to howl at the moon together, I ask
a Wyrd Science favourite after its 2019 release. Annison just how she came to be part of the Liminal world.

Having taken us on a tour of the country’s capital with its ‘When you compare UK gaming conventions to America
first supplement, Pax Londinium, Liminal now invites us and people pouring through the halls at GenCon, we're a
to stray off the path and get to know better the lycanthropic really small community, especially in the indie RPG
clans that haunt the highways and byways of Old Albion. world,’ she explains. ‘I would say outside of London that
Sheffield has the best roleplay conventions in the UK and
Written by Becky Annison -game designer, werewolf expert, they are all run by a team of interconnected friends and
and one half of Black Armada Games- and evocatively mostly at the Garrison Hotel. The connection with Paul
illustrated by Jason Behnke, the book adds plenty of came from those events and we had lots of mutual
bloody meat to the setting and provides probably the friends too. I was already writing Bite Marks and Paul had
most unique depiction of Sheffield yet committed to an joined in my first ever play test of that. He knew early on
RPG book to date. that he wanted werewolves in Liminal and I received an

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 43

email from him saying “I'm starting this game and I want ‘I love Kelly Armstrong’s werewolf novels,’ Annison
you to join me!”’ enthuses. ‘In most modern werewolf fiction, pack
dynamics are absolutely paramount. Her novels explore
Whilst Liminal features a roll call of supernatural terrors it relationships between the people and the pack. Not just
tends to err more towards dark fantasy than outright in terms of the normal relationships that we as humans,
horror unlike Annison’s previous titles Lovecraftesque, a experience in a friendship and romance or parent and
storytelling game of brooding cosmic horror, and When child, but overlaying and entwining that with wolf pack
The Dark Is Gone, where child adventurers process their structures. I found that absolutely fascinating and
trauma as adults, games that don’t fear to wander into thought nobody has written the game that I want to play,
darker territories. Is she most comfortable exploring the I was missing those mechanics that foregrounded the
dark places I wonder? pack.’

‘I suppose that anybody who knows me in real life, will ‘There came a point where my problems with anxiety
tell you that I am one of the most relentlessly cheerful became apparent and the slightly less healthy
people you're ever going to meet and that's very true. I mechanisms that I'd been using to cope stopped working
suppose it's very strange that all my RPGs are pretty so well,’ Annison continues. ‘At the same time I was
much on the dark side of dark. There's a whole genre of reading werewolf fiction and was really resonating with
light and cheerful, lovely games out there - I'm thinking the idea of having a group of people who you are
of things like Wanderhome but it's never what I've been magically connected to, a bunch of people who know
drawn to writing. I think there's something beautifully when something's wrong and who've always got your
bonding about doing darker stuff with a group of friends back. Not only that but I began exploring the idea of a
you really like and I really get something out of that.’ sense of transformation outside of your control.’

‘There are many different ways that you can interpret

“I THINK THERE'S werewolf stories,’ she explains ‘but for me it was mental
SOMETHING BEAUTIFULLY health. The analogy between an uncontrolled transformation
BONDING ABOUT DOING into a wolf where not only is the transformation itself out
of your control, but sometimes the way that you behave
DARKER STUFF WITH afterwards is out of your control too.’
A GROUP OF FRIENDS
YOU REALLY LIKE” ‘I drew on my experience of the panic attacks and
anxiety issues I have experienced for pretty much my
In Werewolves of Britain ‘doing darker stuff with a group whole life. It was very much this sense that not just was I
of friends’ is realised through the Gangs that a player can having a panic attack, but also that my perception of the
choose to swear allegiance to. Equivalent to player world could be so divorced from reality. That my
characters’ Crews from the original Liminal rulebook perception of the world could be so utterly informed not
these include the likes of The Dogs of War, ex-armed by facts, but just my brain chemistry. That sort of thing
forces members who thrive on discipline, The Lacemakers, was really powerful to me. Reading werewolf mythology
a group very clearly based on 1980’s cocaine fueled Tory where the werewolves are learning to live with their
hedonists and the powerful and terrifying Jaeger Family. nature made sense. They're learning what they need to
do. It's not something that there's a cure for but it's
In a setting filled with faerie lords and aristo magicians, something that you learn the best way to live with.’
werewolves are described as the ‘poor cousins of the
hidden world’, outcasts and outsiders for whom the It’s a thoughtful take on the lycanthropic condition, and
bonds of friendship from being part of a pack are crucial. throughout the book Annison brings a unique, indeed
These deeper social relationships and the associated wolf sympathetic perspective to the subject something that is
pack dynamics are core to the book and the way they are also reflected by the book’s art. Throughout Werewolves
presented is meaningful, stirring and strongly of Britain, artist Jason Behnke uses his considerable
represented throughout. talents to echo the wild nature, freedom and torment of

44 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

As with the both the
Liminal core rule book
& Pax Londinium,
Jason Behnke’s
stunning art helps to
bring Werewolves of
Britain to vivid life.

the werewolves in question. Notable characters from the As for which of the many characters that appear in the
setting stare back at you balefully, a pack surges across a book is her favourite Annison is hard pushed to choose,
double page spread wildly contorting as they experience in the end though she settles for Major Chandra, the pack
the various stages of their transformation and scenes of leader of werewolf gang The Dogs of War and someone
explosive, violent fury sit alongside contemplative, still inspired by the women she grew up around.
moments of beauty.
‘Parents of my friends at school who were these amazing
The collaboration between artist and writer came take-no-shit women!’ she explains.
naturally, Behnke intuitively taking his inspiration from
the text before transforming Annison’s words into the ‘I have never known a woman exactly like Major Chandra,
visceral, yet gorgeous images that grace so many pages. but I have known women who are like pieces of her. We
have a very different history to the US with a very
‘He picked up my cues so well,’ she recalls. ‘Every time I different ethnic makeup and I wanted to write in a much
saw an image it was just right. Another thing which I more diverse way, and show the diversity of the UK. I like
loved so much was where I had written NPCs that I was Major Chandra so much, I could definitely see myself
particularly keen to see portrayed, he'd independently following someone like her!’
picked those to create images of.’
‘I drew a lot from British mythology too,’ Annison
Those NPCs are dashing, diverse and as delightful to read explains of the characters and creatures you’ll meet in the
about as they are to look at. ‘What I wanted to do when book such as The Black Shuck, a fabled British ghostly
writing the NPCs was to put it through a very British lens. dog who makes an appearance alongside the slightly
As I was writing these meaty characters, I was thinking more infamous Hound of the Baskervilles. Even Sherwood
about people that I would meet and the sort of people Forest’s legendary outlaw Robin Hood gets a look in and
that it would feel natural to encounter in the UK.’ makes an appearance here in his guise as The Wolfshead.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 45

46 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
‘I grew up watching Robin of Sherwood, Annison beams, ‘These are creatures who are really, really hard. If they
referring to the cult 1980s British television show. ‘I loved ever got properly organised then they should be
that series and I knew that Paul Mitchener loved it too, so absolutely terrifying. The only reason that they're not is
Robin of Sherwood was absolutely going to get in! If because they are in these little gangs, always having their
anybody hasn't seen it, you must go and watch it. It's so own wars. The other organisations of Liminal are very
compelling, so brilliant. One of the reasons I love it is that invested in making sure the werewolves are never
it brings some slightly supernatural elements into the organised and never become a power base challenge.’
Robin Hood mythology. What’s critical is that they
always referred to him in that show as The Wolfshead. We began by discussing the Sheffield indie RPG scene
That’s another term for outlaw and it ties in perfectly.’ and end by discussing how Sheffield, City of Furnace and
Steel, features as the book’s main location.
Alongside these references to the countrty’s folklore
Annison weaves in the actual history of the British Isles ‘I think it's a shame that when people want to make
too. Liminal’s werewolf clans trace their ancestral lines things feel British, they just throw in the Houses of
back to the Saxon invasions and by adapting real events Parliament or similar. Whether it's a TV show or a book or
she’s further developed both the setting and the a movie or whatever, it's like, now we're gonna pan to
werewolves place in it. London. Oh, look!’ Annison laughs.

‘A lot of the events that I reference in Werewolves of ‘Some of the outlying parts of Britain are incredibly rich
Britain were historical events,’ she explains. ‘There was a in folklore and have a real character of their own. I
purge of wolves in England. In 1281, Edward I ordered the wanted to tell a story of a group of people who had had
extermination of all wolves in England. Years later, they their power deliberately stripped away, were being
had deliberately hunted them down to extinction, that's deliberately kept from organising - so there are some
why there are no wolves here now.’ parallels with the working class in the story that I wanted
to tell and Sheffield is a really famous working class city.’

L
iminal is not the kind of game that particularly
feels the need to overburden itself with rules, but ‘It was a kind of perfect place to kind of tell the tale of the
alongside its detailed histories and legends, werewolves,’ she concludes. ‘If you are going to have the
Werewolves of Britain does introduce several new werewolves in any city in the UK, then it would have to
abilities and traits for lycanthropic player characters. be Sheffield. It’s a stone's throw from the edge of Sheffield
to the Peak District National Park. So if you want a space
‘I wanted to include add ons that didn't massively over- to run around and howl at the moon you have that, and
balance the game, but which still gave a lot of options to then can just return to the city!’
make it feel more wolfy,’ and Annison explains how
werewolf PCs can benefit from things such as heightened
senses when on the hunt, the ability to partially change
just one part of their body into that of an animal and Werewolves of Britain is out now
rapid healing. available from Modiphius
modiphius.net
“I WANTED TO INCLUDE
ADD-ONS THAT DIDN'T Keep up to date with Becky Annison’s latest
MASSIVELY OVERBALANCE on Twitter @BeckyAnnison
THE GAME, BUT WHICH or over at blackarmada.com
STILL GAVE A LOT OF
OPTIONS TO MAKE IT
FEEL MORE WOLFY”

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 47

48 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
NOW IS
THE TIME
OF MONSTERS
After 40 years of Old World mud & blood, Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play‘s
heading off in search of new, if equally horrible, climes. John Power Jr
speaks to the game’s producer Dave Allen to see what horrors awaits us...

Art: opposite Andreas von Cotta-Schønberg, p.51 Sam Manley

Courtesy of Cubicle 7 Entertainment / © Games Workshop

E
ver since its release back in 1986 most of margin, going right back to the earliest editions of the
Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play’s focus has been wargame, where it provided the backdrop to scenarios
on the Old World, that muddy, bloody stretch of such as The Magnificent Sven that came with Warhammer
not quite renaissance-era Northern Europe that so many Fantasy Battle’s second edition.
of us have come to intimately know, love and die in
repeatedly over the years. Whilst we’ve long known After several false starts though Lustria, the book, is
about the lands beyond the Empire, and visited them in finally here and bold, or foolhardy, adventurers can now
the wargame itself, they’ve rarely, if at all, been explored enjoy the continent’s many sights, from its floating
in the kind of detail that only an RPG delivers. Finally pyramid temples to its ruined, treasure filled, cities.
that’s all beginning to change.
Being Warhammer though this isn’t exactly a tropical
Having finally completed the almost-Sisyphean task of paradise being ‘a vast death trap, subject to extreme
releasing the ‘Director’s Cut’ of the multi-, a staggering weather, festering diseases, poisonous plants, venomous
ten in this case, book campaign The Enemy Within, animals’ and, of course, Lustria’s most famous inhabitants,
Cubicle 7 have started to look beyond the shores of the Lizardmen, eight foot tall saurian humanoids and
fantasy not-Europe, our first stop a long awaited trip across their enigmatic frog mage-priests, the Slann. Unsurprisingly
the Great Sea to the mysterious continent of Lustria. neither are particularly keen on sharing their land with its
latest warm blooded invaders.
I say long awaited and, for once, that’s not just a writer’s
hyperbole. Games Workshop first promised a sourcebook We caught up with the game’s producer, Dave Allen to
for their South American analog back in the 1980s during talk about the new book, completing The Enemy Within
the WFRP’s first edition. Indeed Lustria has a bit of a campaign and to find out a little about what’s next for
special place in Warhammer history. Its first appearances the venerable RPG now that the game is moving into
pre-dating the release of the role-playing game by some these new and uncharted waters.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 49

It’s fair to say that few people have a history with the same year that Watchmen came out, which also had the
game to match Allen’s, who has been involved with the same kind of rubbing your nose in the reality of what it
game in some way almost since its first release, and would be like to try and do this. It was something in the
fewer still are better suited to shepherding it into this air at that time.’
new age,
By the 1990s Allen had joined Games Workshop as a web
‘I first became aware of Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play developer, eventually settling at the newly launched
shortly after it was released in 1986,’ he recalls. ‘I was Black Library who were then publishing the roleplaying
becoming a bit too old to play with Transformers and a game. Whilst working on the company’s websites he
friend of mine had just bought the Goblin King's Chariot began to contribute original material for WFRP’s second
and plastic Skeleton Horde boxset, I was obsessed with edition, which eventually led to him working on Fantasy
goblins and those Kevin Adams goblins in particular. Flight Games’ third edition and then his initial freelance
work with Cubicle 7 when they published the game’s
‘The local department store that sold Citadel Miniatures current, fourth, iteration.
also carried the [WFRP] rulebook and the modules for The
Enemy Within. I remember finding it really repellent at the That long history with the game would put him in good
time, I sort of thought “why has that ogre got a mohican stead as he oversaw the final stages of revamping The
and what’s with all the blood spurting out of that orc’s Enemy Within and its byzantine plots. For all its plaudits
chest” but that initial repellence grew into a bit of an the campaign has always suffered from the rushed
obsession as I kept going back to it.’ circumstances around its original release which led to a
somewhat disappointing conclusion and, over the years,
That obsession led to the first of Allen’s several play- at least two, unreleased, attempts to correct it.
throughs of The Enemy Within, the acclaimed if flawed,
campaign that is often cited as one of RPG’s best and Cubicle 7’s ambitious new Director’s Cut of the campaign
which notably put as much, if not more, emphasis on replaces the patchy penultimate book Something Rotten
politicking and intrigue as it did on your usual dungeon in Kislev with an entirely new one, The Horned Rat, and
crawling. Like many of us who encountered it at an early reworks the campaign’s conclusion Empire In Flames,
age Allen admits that much of it went over his head on now titled Empire in Ruins, tying up many of the loose
that first attempt but looking back he can identify many ends left dangling by previous editions, in particular how
of the things that set both Warhammer and its flagship the campaign’s later book deal with The Purple Hand, the
campaign apart. shadowy chaos cult whose plots drive the initial plot.

Along with the five main books of the series they have
“IN THE LATE 80S WE HAD THAT also released five equally substantial ‘companion’ books,
further developing the campaign and it twisting storyline
SORT OF DECONSTRUCTION OF of Machiavellian machinations, both daemonic and
GEEKY MEDIA GOING ON IN mundane, at the highest levels of The Empire. It’s a
remarkable achievement but has also meant that for
COMIC BOOKS AND ROLE- much of the fourth edition’s life it has been retreading old
ground. Finishing this mammoth means that the game
PLAYING GAMES WHICH can finally look forward again, something that Allen
admits has given him mixed feelings.
THE ENEMY WITHIN FELL INTO”
‘On the one hand, The Enemy Within is something that
‘In the late 80s we had that sort of deconstruction of generates an awful lot of interest, and you get an awful
geeky media going on in comic books and role playing lot of analysis of it,’ he says. ‘It's very comfortable
games which The Enemy Within, either deliberately or knowing what you're doing, working on something that I
accidentally, fell into,’ he says. ‘It was more pointedly like genuinely enjoy and appreciate myself. A lot of that is
“this is actually quite a grim experience” right? It was the now quite a bit harder, now we’re breaking new ground.’

50 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Harder it may be, but it’s definitely a good time to be ‘And then we have some new careers that can play a
moving the game forward. Whilst Games Workshop may particular role in Lustria, and what it’s like to go there,
have called time on Warhammer Fantasy back in 2015, specifically how many diseases you're likely to get within
literally blowing up the world to replace it with the Age the first couple of minutes of arriving, how many of the
of Sigmar, the older setting is currently the most popular local plants can kill you, how many of the local
it has been for many years. invertebrates can kill you, all sorts of things like that.
Really it’s a very dangerous place to go to and the
Much of that is due to the huge success of the Total War: experience of those who do is usually penury and failure.
Warhammer video game series. Its huge success has But the option’s now there if you're mad enough.’
introduced a whole new audience to the setting many of
whom will have never played the original tabletop game. I suspect that for those of us who have been waiting
Still, Cubicle 7 deserve their fair share of the plaudits too. decades for the opportunity to be assaulted by the
Despite being handed a dead setting the Irish game continents myriad deadly flora and fauna there will be
studio have done a great job developing a new edition, few complaints. As we’ve come to expect from Cubicle 7
updating what was best about the much loved first and the book is filled with gorgeous art and evocative descriptions
second editions, without losing its unique feel. of Lustria’s deadly landscape. It may all sound horrible,
but it also sounds like a great place for the kind of
With over 50 supplements released for it to date and a misadventures that Warhammer was made for.
thriving community around the game, Warhammer
Fantasy has, ironically perhaps, never felt more alive.
Even Games Workshop are returning to it themselves
with The Old World , a new rank and flank miniatures
game due for release within the next year or so.

Lustria then, as Allen says, breaks new ground, our first

truly in-depth look at the wider world and a hint of what
might be to come and Allen and his team have combed
through decades of history to pull it together.

‘It’s a sort of compilation of ideas and

information from the army books and
novels that have featured Lustria over the
past 20 years and even further back for
the occasional easter egg,’ he explains.

‘So for example, we talk about Lizardmen temple cities in

general but then there’s a much more detailed
description of the cities of several select Slann. We talk
about the human settlements on the isthmus of Lustria,
Skeggi in particular, and we talk about the Vampire Coast
in some detail, the High Elf Citadel of Dawn, and Quetza,
a ruined Temple City, that has been overrun by Skaven
several times in the past and may still contain a few.

‘That's the background section of the book, and then we

have a section that's more intended for the players. So
part of that is a discussion about what different people
in the Old World think about Lustria, what they know
and actually just how accurate their ideas are.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 51

 Is everybody in?
The ceremony is
about to begin

Art: JG O'Donoghue

Courtesy of Cubicle 7
Entertainment / ©
Games Workshop

Interestingly Lustria also not so much reintroduces but Talking of things that are appropriate though, Allen and
brings back to the fore many of the, somehow, even his team may have indulged in more than a bit of old
stranger parts of the Warhammer Fantasy setting that get school wordplay throughout the book but they have also
less attention when the focus is on the realpolitik of the been careful to update the setting’s sensibilities. For all
Empire. The book’s timeline takes us right back to some that the RPG was groundbreaking in its depiction of the
20,000 years before the game’s present day, when hyper Empire as a more realised, slightly lower-fantasy setting
advanced aliens, the Old Ones, first arrived on the planet, Warhammer also revelled in being bombastic, over the
terraformed the land and evolved many of its species, top and happily embraced, stereotyped, lampooned,
including their principal servants and the inheritors of satirised and appropriated countless real world cultures.
their great plans, Lustria’s Lizardmen and Slann.
When that source material has been closer to home, such
Yes, long before Space Marines were a thing Warhammer as the game’s depiction of orcs as gleefully violent
Fantasy had its own ancient astronauts. Whilst they’ve English football hooligans it can result in refreshingly
never been hidden away it’s been a while since this subversive takes, but that’s certainly not always been the
aspect of the setting has been giving so much prominence. case. Lustria has definitely suffered from this in the past,
This also allows the writers to indulge in some of the whilst the pink haired techno-lesbian Amazons of early
often terrible humour that, for all its grim dark reputation, editions could probably work in some way today, more
is written through the game like a stick of rock. Take for egregious missteps such as the continent’s pygmy
example the Sentinels of Xeti, giant monoliths tuned to inhabitants have been wisely consigned to history.
the heavens, its Skink attendants desperately listening for
a transmission from the long departed old ones. To ram ‘There are no pygmies in our Lustria,’ Allen emphatically
the pun home Xeti is, of course, overseen by the Slann states. ‘And as far as sensitivity issues beyond that go I
mage-priest Qrl’Zy’Ken. Feel free to roll your eyes or emit feel that Games Workshop have evolved Lustria into a
a mild chuckle as appropriate. more mature direction. By the time they published the

52 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

2003 Lizardmen army book, I don't think there's much about for a long time, I'm interested to see how that goes
there that I would baulk at detailing and elaborating in a down. I'm also interested to just see how people have
role playing game. So certainly the last 20 years, and the received The Horned Rat and Empire in Ruins. I haven't
direction it’s been moving in, that is how we approached heard of a lot of groups having played through them yet,
the new material. obviously people are still stuck in Death on the Reik or
Power Behind the Throne. So I'll be very interested to see
‘There is some talk about the Amazons and the Norscan how the fans respond to the material when it's on the
settlements and human habitation in general. But again, table as opposed to just reading through it.’
the experience of humans trying to carve out their own
fiefdoms in Lustria is a terrible one and we're very much That, of course, brings us to the question of whether we’ll
emphasising that.’ ever see a new campaign on the scale of The Enemy Within.
‘I would love to have the opportunity to design another
large campaign, ‘ Allen says. ‘But I think there's a few
“THE EXPERIENCE OF HUMANS different perspectives to consider. Personally do I think
that such a campaign could be envisioned and written?
TRYING TO CARVE OUT THEIR Yeah, I think it could be. I think there are some challenges
in that. Just as a sort of professional pride I don't think
OWN FIEFDOMS IN LUSTRIA you would want to do another one that was very heavily
IS A TERRIBLE ONE AND WE'RE invested in dungeon crawling, or sort of chase the
components of an artifact and stick them back together
VERY MUCH EMPHASISING THAT” again. That feels like it's been done a lot before.

L
ustria is certainly an exciting new stage for ‘So you'd need to think of a sort of USP for the campaign,
WFRP. The book not only giving players new and then have the will to see that through. I think where
lands to explore and more than enough barbed The Enemy Within really gets it right is it has a strong,
adventure hooks to get stuck into but flips many of the intriguing hook. You're then presented with a series of
game’s established ideas on its head. The few human sandbox environments that all sort of develop that hook
settlements that are eking out an existence on the more and more. Whilst there is some railroading in the
continent have a very different approach to the burn first campaign, it's very light, and I think most people appreciate
and ask questions later approach to Chaos in the Old the fact that they can muddle their way through. It'd be
World. Likewise for those after a very different experience interesting to try and do that again with a different sort
there’s also rules to play Lizardmen characters, promising of hook. It would just be coming up with one, and then
a very different kind of Warhammer experience. the environments within which you could develop it
properly and make sure that it was as entertaining.’
But what then’s next for WFRP? Now that we’ve touched
upon our first distant shore can we expect to see more Whether that comes to pass or not, it’s still an exciting
the map filled in? Perhaps even following Total War’s long time for WFRP. Dungeons & Dragons high-powered
journey east to Cathay... Allen is cagey but still seems full fantasy may still dominate the gaming landscape but as
of ideas of where he’d like to take the game next. ‘I think Allen says, pointing at the likes of Game of Thrones and
WFRP has benefited very much from the human-centric Dark Souls, the ‘grim dark, or more mud and blood and
presentation,’ he says. ‘But I would like to look in more guts, aesthetic is now quite predominant in geek culture.’
depth at the other species of the Warhammer world and
their perspective on it. Both species that you can play Looking around, it’s hard to disagree as whatever was in
with at the moment and ones that we haven't released the air back in 1986 sure feels like it’s still with us today,
any material for yet. So that'd be an ambition. the Old World is dead and now is a time of monsters.

‘Then we should shortly be releasing Archives of the Empire Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play - Lustria
Three, I think that will have a lot more focus on minor or is out now published by Cubicle 7
forgotten religious perspectives that we haven't talked cubicle7games.com

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 53

54 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
 “DR
In which Walton Wood embarks on a picaresque romp
through the ruins of the OSR in the company of
Ava Islam, the creator of Errant, a new ‘rules light,

A
procedures heavy’ role-playing game in the ‘classic

G
fantasy tradition’...

ARE ONS
Art: Ian Hagan (p.78, 82), Charles Ferguson-Avery (p.81)
Courtesy of Kill Jester

F
COO UCK
L, M ING
AN”
T
hat sentiment drove young Ava Islam headfirst For example, how do parties move across hexes? What is
into a book titled Dungeons & Dragons. She that action’s formal basis as part of the game instead of
started role-playing with 2e loyalists, one of whom just an utterance at the table?
gave Ava a copy of the Mentzer red book (the B in BECMI).
She convinced her father to purchase a big box set, but Ava scoured the blogosphere, used what she found to fill
instead of containing the treasures she knew and loved, it in those cracks and then rebuild the emaciated
confronted her instead with the D&D 4e Starter Set. infrastructure entirely. She did not intend to design (or
rather, compile) a game; she just wanted to play one. But
RPGs passed out of Ava’s life for years until 5e landed on for her, it was more than a matter of entertainment.
her gaming table. Imagination rekindled, she unwittingly
ventured into the online OSR scene, and after absorbing ‘[I was] broke, constantly on the verge of homelessness,
the ideas and play-style, she set out to implement both dropped out of university after being the “golden child”
in 5e. of my middle-class immigrant family, spending every day
getting high out of my mind till I could drink myself to
It didn’t work, and it left Ava hungry for a game that sleep,’ Ava said. ‘The only thing really keeping me sane
delivered the desired experience. At the time, that game was running my games and writing Errant.’
—the game— was The Black Hack. Its rules-lite system,
though, raised new obstacles. The almost microscopic Errant harkens back to fantasy adventure gaming’s roots
cracks that other gamers easily stepped across appeared while diverging from them and the overall trends in the
to Ava as unbridgeable chasms. genre’s almost 50-year history. Fantasy RPGs infamously

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 55

labor under the mechanical bloat inherited from wargames. forward is increasingly optional - an inventory system,
Errant reduces the cognitive load for all players, especially character classes and attendant magic systems, sub-
the GM, through its light rules, its comprehensive procedures, procedures for different types of activities in each turn
and their efficient presentation. type.’

In its every aspect, Errant minimizes the rolls and arithmetic Throughout the text, important game terms are stylized
necessary to determine an action’s outcome. At the same in small caps, and other relevant terms are italicized.
time, specific aspects —narrative positioning and These direct readers and players to the combined
qualitative advantage, combat feats, arcane and divine glossary-index, which overviews core concepts, links
magic and many others— provide guardrails for player them to related ones, and provides page numbers for
creativity and agency without straitjacketing them. further reading.

The procedures —fighting an enemy, running a business, ‘I cannot stress to you how much grief this passing
mass combat, overland travel and every other situation moment of folly has brought me,’ Ava said. ‘So many
fantasy adventurers conceivably find themselves in— hours spent fiddling in the document just cross-
guide players through the four turn types. Initiative, referencing and making sure everything that was meant
exploration, travel, and downtime turns can instantly to be small caps was small caps, and that things that
and seamlessly shift to accommodate players’ immediate weren’t meant to be aren’t.
goals.
‘Eventually each page was just overwhelmed by the
None of this is novel to Errant; it self-admittedly deploys horde of small caps terms, and the italic/small caps
a structure as old as RPGs. Errant innovates by excavating distinction came about as just a stopgap attempt to
and explicating this structure and bolstering it with manage that. I remain torn about it, as I think visually it
streamlined procedures across the system. It empowers errs just too far on the side of busy, and creates a fairly
gamers with clear cognitive models of how play progresses strange reading flow, though it is far easier to reference at
at all scales, how different subsystems flow and how a glance.’
these components interlock and interact.
The book’s front and end matter include quick-reference
Errant’s emphasis on simplicity is the ‘rules light’ aspect sheets for GMs and players, further facilitating swift,
of its tagline. The diversity and structural support for player engaging play.
goals is the ‘procedure heavy’ bit. A single procedure is
mechanically light; the vast spread of procedures —from ‘The quick reference sheet was again something that I
melee to mass combat, running a business, standing trial, had always wanted, at least in some form, to help keep
pursuing a rivalry and beyond— is heavy in scope, but all the game feeling manageable,’ Ava said. ‘A stroke of luck
coalesce into a robust whole artfully delivered in linear in terms of printing logistics left us with just enough
form. spare pages to fill to allow us to fit them in across the
pages and in the interiors of the cover.’
‘I found the traditional organization where character
creation and classes are introduced right after the core Wrapped around that cover is Ian Hagan’s artwork, a
mechanics fell flat for me personally, as without an surreal and macabre wimmelbild/memento mori. Ava
understanding of the foundation of the system it didn’t originally intended to use details from Bruegel’s The
feel like players would have any framework with which Triumph of Death, but Hagan’s composition fits perfectly
to make decisions regarding character creation,’ Ava said. with both the OSR’s aesthetic and Errant’s themes.
Skeletons skirmish with the living; enormous faces, along
‘As the book began to find its identity more solidly as a with other body parts, adorn the ruined landscape and
toolkit, it just made more sense. The stuff at the buildings; an infernal nude kneels before a trephinated
beginning of the book is the most essential to the system, priest hung on the wheel of fortune; everywhere, skulls
core resolution mechanic, the turn structure, and how to stare back at the reader. Death (and worse) pervades the
adjudicate conversations, and everything continuing Errants’ world.

56 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

But the art goes beyond aesthetics to make a self-
reflexive commentary. The front cover’s foregrounded
skeleton is emblematic: it drains a tankard, pouring drink
over its breastplate and down an absent throat; oblivious
to its own death, it persists in activities of everyday life,
just like the Errants themselves.

‘Ian Hagan’s illustration for the cover is pretty much

directly after Bruegel, which is a tall order for anyone,’ Ava
said, ‘but I think he knocked it out of the park with a
piece that is clearly an homage but also stands on its
own in terms of imagination and style. I think he
captured that same sense of hopelessness and futility,
but also humour and playfulness, while also adding some
delightfully surrealist fantasy elements in there. I know
he’s also fond of inserting authors into cover illustrations,
and I suspect that the woman confronting the cart-
driving skeleton is supposed to be me.’

“I AM NOT REALLY INTERESTED

IN SUBVERTING THE COLONIAL
UNDERPINNINGS OF ADVENTURE
GAMES; I AM FAR MORE INTERESTED
IN OWNING UP TO IT”

T
he cover art’s duality and ambiguity persists
within the book itself. There are no set ‘races’,
only Ancestries that grant a small perk and carte
blanche to be any creature the player likes, pushing the
fiction of race into absurdity. Similarly, what would be a
bestiary in any other RPG is titled ‘NPCs’, further blurring
the line of personhood drawn by traditional fantasy
gaming.

This reverses OD&D’s practice of categorizing anything

that isn’t a party member as a monster—and therefore
something that PCs can guiltlessly murder and plunder.
Errant’s use of NPC seems a defiant gesture against
adventure games’ roots as colonialist power fantasy, but
that couldn’t be further from fact.

‘I am not really interested in subverting the colonial

underpinnings of adventure games; I am far more
interested in owning up to it,’ Ava said. ‘I am a colonial
subject, and I have irreducibly colonial pleasures. I think
it’s more interesting when we don’t front about that. In
that sense I think naming them NPCs rather than
monsters is perhaps a failing, a sanitization of that.’

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 57

58 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
The titular Errants, though, are anything but sanitized. thing they were doing before: assuming the role granted
They are certainly not heroes, not even decent people. to them by the system, and fulfilling its obligations. It is
The Archetypes (classes) showcase their natures in their only the role itself that has changed.
names: the Violent (fighter), the Deviant (rogue), the
Zealot (cleric), and the Occult (mage). Errant’s Alignment ‘This really deflates the heroic fantasy, which is based on
metric eschews moralistic (and arbitrary) pretenses of a liberal idea of will and agency. It doesn’t matter if your
good and evil, using exclusively law and chaos, self- adventurer is fighting for law or chaos, to avenge their
interested control and liberty. homeland or retrieve a sacred relic, or whatever your
special character backstory is, if the process by which
The Errants begin as downtrodden outcasts who survive they do that is always the same participation in an
at society’s fringe, and things only get worse from there. extractive economy. Whatever personal ideals and values
They earn XP and Renown (levels) by wasting wealth and you have will be subsumed by the system; the system
suffering material or financial losses—in addition to their has incentives, and incentives are what drive behaviour.’
mandatory lifestyle expenses.
For these reasons, leveling up amounts to throwing cash
‘The two rules that I chose most explicitly for what they’d at pursuits like feasting, gaudy self-adornment, intellectual
contribute to the game on a narrative-aesthetic level were pretensions, moral elitism and any other excess a player
the XP for waste and the lifestyle rules,’ Ava said. ‘I really chooses to indulge in. The procedure is called ‘Conspicuous
enjoyed how much they added to the picaresque feel in Consumption’, a term derived from economist Thorstein
play, with characters always blowing through their cash Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class.
and therefore in need of another job.’
‘Conspicuous consumption I think signals the sort of
Should an Errant be unlucky enough to achieve high bathetic strain of economic humour that runs through
Renown, they’ll find they’ve become the same rich, self- Errant, particularly in the downtime section,’ Ava said. ‘I
indulgent kingdom builder they initially despised. This wanted to key my players in to the fact that the kinds of
character arc is inherent in traditional fantasy adventure activities they should be describing here are absolutely
games, but Errant deliberately underscores and then not to be taken seriously. I suppose it also works to tie
emphasizes it. into that deflationary effect […] wherein any notion of the
Errants as heroic autonomous units is contrasted against
SHOULD AN ERRANT just how circumscribed they are by the socio-economic
structures they exist within, and how that shapes the
BE UNLUCKY ENOUGH architecture of their agency.’
TO ACHIEVE HIGH RENOWN, Errant, as a Frankenstein’s monster made in OD&D’s
THEY’LL FIND THEY’VE image, likewise questions player agency within the
BECOME THE SAME RICH, structure of the fantasy adventure RPGs that trace their
lineage to the same primogeniture. For Ava, ‘knowing
SELF-INDULGENT how to play a game’ amounts to knowing that game’s
underlying procedures rather than particular rules
KINGDOM BUILDER variants. Many designers try to force novel variants
THEY INITIALLY DESPISED without changing those procedures, attempting to create
new experiences without addressing the formal basis
‘The only kinds of people who would become adventurers undergirding the experience. Such uncritical praxis
would be people [in the situation I was in], with no results in nothing new, just a more or less cumbersome
respectable options left. And of course those people set of house rules.
would really just be more grist for the mill, used and spat
up in service of the system they hated,’ Ava said. Neither Ava nor Errant have pretensions of doing
‘Statistically, some of them are going to make it. And something radically new or profoundly game changing.
what do they do when they have made it? The same At the same time, Errant is also self-evidently not a

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 59

reclamation of some lost heritage or golden age of dabbler and dilettante, my predilections are maximalist,
roleplaying. In this sense, Errant’s inherent plot arc is a and I prefer the variegated and novel over the standard
microcosm of the OSR that produced it. and familiar,’ Ava said. ‘I have to imagine this stems from
growing up in Bangladesh, where meals are judged by the
‘The OSR definitely has the delusion that they’re some quantity of dishes on the table and asses in seats. With
kind of maverick firebrand industry outsiders,’ Ava said. white rice as a canvas, all the different flavours and
‘But the OSR isn’t built on revolution, it’s built on textures of every item on the table becomes a choose
revanchism. […] Beyond that, you’ve got people so your own adventure of culinary delight, to be
entrenched in the dogmas and truisms spouted on blogs experimented with and combined with gusto.
and forums and written in the Principia Apocrypha that
the scene itself has become as entrenched and stale as ‘Bangladeshi eat with our hands; the word “makha” in
mainstream trad was when the OSR turn started. Bengali is incredibly polysemous; in the realm of food
alone it refers to any culinary techniques involving
mashing, muddling, mixing, macerating, etc.; a class of
“BUT THE OSR ISN’T dishes that are made by such a method; and the simple
BUILT ON REVOLUTION, method of gathering and mashing together the food on
your plate into a morsel to be placed in your mouth.
IT’S BUILT ON REVANCHISM”
‘In this concept is a delight and unique appreciation for
‘To be a little navel gaze-y, Errant, being my project to the materiality of the hand; I vividly remember how
summarize the OSR for myself, feels like it could only be different food tasted when I was young when fed to me
completed because the project of the OSR itself has by my mother’s hand versus my aunt’s or my grandma’s.
mostly run its course. The well is dry there, all that it […] The unique way in which each individual’s
really is good for now is tagging as a search term on physiognomy and predilections would shape and tear
DriveThruRPG. Something is arriving to take its place, and break and bend the constituent components of the
perhaps several somethings, and I’m sure they’ll all rebel different ingredients together to create a bite that was
against Daddy OSR as being stodgy and conservative. But wholly, uniquely theirs.
as Grandpa Abe prophesied in The Simpsons, “It’ll happen
to you too.”’ ‘How some people have the best hands for one dish or
another. But above all, in the absolute delight of one’s

T
he OSR failed to recreate an ur-D&D, and its own individual hand, the irreducible joy of feeling
innovators simultaneously failed to turn D&D everything from the muscles in your fingers to the oils on
into not-D&D. Ingredients change to suit taste your skin contribute to the moment of a bite that is
and temperament, but designers and players still follow made just for you, by you.
the same recipe. Errant is a coherent and complete system,
but it’s also modular; players can make substitutions to ‘Whenever I make Bangladeshi food at home, far too
achieve their desired flavour and consistency without rarely, the primary joy is the tactility of feeling the rice
game-breaking knockback on other subsystems. and dhal on my fingers, squeezing lime and mashing chili
into each bite, the wonderful taste of my own hand.
Ava is already tweaking encumbrance, movement in
combat and other aspects as she works toward the ‘I hope for my games to be like that, and yours. To taste
expanded version, which she projects to be about five so delectably of one’s own hand.’
years away from publication. But in its current and future
forms, Errant merely presents Ava’s own preferred flavour
of dragon game.
Errant is out now
‘I can’t help but feel like my predilections in terms of published by Kill Jester
game design, visual design, et al. is indelibly linked to the killjester.com
food culture I grew up in. I have always been an inveterate

60 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 61
ITALIAN
RPGS

62 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

VENI,
VIDI,
LUDO
Pack your dice-bags we’re going on a
Roman Holiday as Ciro Alessandro Sacco
takes us on a through the past and exciting
present of the Italian RPG scene…

Collage art: Jean Verne

U
ntil around 20 years ago Italy was never usually the equation and at long last many Italian publishers and
considered a major player in the tabletop gaming designers groups are producing Italian and English
scene, but that all began to change with the language versions of both new RPGs and their D&D 5e
global success of Emiliano Sciarra’s spaghetti western campaign settings. Whilst the focus is still primarily on
card game Bang!, released in 2003 and soon followed by the not so big but familiar Italian market, Italian RPGs are
the likes of Wings of War, War of the Ring and many others starting to appear more frequently on people’s shelves
that found an eager international audience. and tables worldwide. But how did RPGs come to Italy?

Since then there’s been an explosion of new boardgames, a As elsewhere in Italy there was an interest in wargames
new generation of publishers and more and more titles (or as we called them ‘simulation games’) and especially
produced in multilingual versions and available overseas, the new generation of these games that were being
firmly putting Italy on the board game map. published in America in the 1960s and 1970s by
companies like SPI and Avalon Hill. Imported by Italian
Sadly this was not the case with RPGs, where the rulebook companies you could find these games in toy and hobby
is the game itself and not just one component that can stores and even occasionally big department stores.
be easily adapted for international editions. Apart from
pioneers such as Asterion Press with their Quintessential These games were popular enough that many clubs
series for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 it was rare for even the devoted to military models and miniature wargames
best Italian RPGs to be translated into any foreign language, sprung up and they were often featured and reviewed in
let alone English. Pergioco, the very first Italian tabletop games magazine.
But these wargames weren’t the only American imports
Over the past five years though, thanks to Kickstarter and and roleplaying games soon made their appearance too,
the crowdfunding phenomenon, this situation has finally and often in the same circles, a 1978 Italian military
begun to change. This evolution has completely changed model magazine featuring an announcement from a

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 63

group playing RuneQuest just a few months after the Strongly influenced by AD&D, I Signori del Caos is a
game had been first published in America. fantasy RPG set in the world of Arret, where in a
somewhat Moorcockian fashion Chaos is the supreme
Interest in these roleplaying games grew and grew and power of the universe. Some of you might have spotted
Pergioco soon started a D&D column whilst unofficial that Arret is the Italian word for Earth, Terra, reversed and
translations of books like the Advanced Dungeons & likewise its geography is upended too, what is land in our
Dragons first edition Player's Handbook and Tom Moldvay's world is sea in Arret, and vice versa.
D&D Basic Rulebook began to appear. Whilst these
translations were not of the highest quality, for example Due to distribution problems and the scarce appeal of
some spells received absurd names, Cure Light Wounds the product I Signori del Caos did not achieve much
becoming The Light That Heals The Wounds, they nonetheless success in its day. Whilst it would eventually go through
opened up these games to non-English speakers. three different editions today its is almost forgotten if
something of a collector's piece.
At the same time there were more and more student
exchanges taking place and many an Italian student sent In 1984 though a second RPG, Kata Kumbas was released
to the UK or US found themselves being dragooned into by Orion Editrice and this game was far better written
D&D sessions, only to return home as converts, keen to and produced. Set in the wonderful lands of Rarte (this
show off these amazing games to their friends and time an anagram of Terra) and the kingdom of Laitia (an
further spread the word. anagram of Italia), Kata Kumbas presented a fantasy and
picaresque version of Italy itself.
The very first Italian company to produce wargames, and
not just historical ones but games with fantasy and science Notably Kata Kumbas did not use any Anglo-Saxon or
fiction themes too, was International Team. Founded in Germanic fantasy themes, preferring instead to use as its
1979 they were truly ahead of the curve producing their source material Italian legends and folklore. The world of
games in multilingual versions and successfully exporting Laitia is presented as a somewhat medieval if magical
their titles back to countries such as the US and Japan. land, featuring the summoning of demons and other
extraplanar creatures, low levels of violence (combat is
In 1982 International Team would release two games that rather discouraged) and a nice dose of humour.
whilst being boardgames incorporated a lot of RPG
elements, VII Legio, set in a future Solar Republic with Alas, Kata Kumas did not meet with sales success as Bero
strong Ancient Rome elements, and Magikon, where you Toys, its distributor and an important toy company, went
play a group of adventurers who must enter a strange bankrupt. Still it was a far better effort, was reprinted in a
forest full of magic. new and revised form in 1990 and still has a strong
following here today. The original, boxed edition is
In truth VII Legio was originally conceived as a 'true' perhaps the most sought after and costly Italian language
Science Fiction RPG but the company’s marketing RPG item ever, with complete copies going for upwards
department believed that Italy was not yet ready for such of 350 euros!
complex products. As it happens of the two it was VII
Legio that sold quite well and to this day enjoys a cult Of course whilst these homegrown titles were starting to
status among gamers and collectors but it meant Italian appear D&D was still gaining popularity and the real Big
gamers would have to wait just a little more for their first Bang for RPGs in Italy would happen in 1985 with the
true homegrown RPG. release of the famous D&D Red Box by Editrice Giochi, at
the time the biggest Italian mass market game company.
That breakthrough finally came in 1983, when Auro Miselli
and Franco Tralli published I Signori del Caos (The Lords Editrice Giochi, who included such mega hits as Monopoly,
of Chaos), the very first Italian language RPG. Released Risk and Scrabble in its catalogue, were able to distribute
through their own company Black Out Editrice, truthfully The Red Box everywhere from toy, game and model shops
it was quite a crude effort, both in design and graphics, to department stores and even supermarkets and so at a
but it was a start. stroke created an entire new generation of gamers.

64 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Alas in a familiar story the sales, albeit extremely good for expect pre-1994, new companies were appearing and the
a RPG, were not good enough for a publisher used to slow march to better times had begun. In 2003 there was
selling hundreds of thousands of copies of a single title in even an Italian edition of both Dragon and Dungeon
a year and it would be another three years before the magazines launched too, something long held impossible,
much awaited Blue Box (Expert Set) was finally released. a sure sign of the scene’s return to health.

Still the genie had escaped the bottle and the RPG market Today, like all around the world, RPGs in Italy are again
was now both established and growing. New specialist experiencing a boom period thanks to a combination of
RPG magazines appeared, Crom first in 1989, soon RPGs making favourable appearances on TV and
followed by the likes of Rune, Kaos and Excalibur, whilst streaming shows like Stranger Things and Critical Role, a
more and more games hit the shelves. both translations sense of 'computer fatigue' and, of course, the effects of
such as Call of Cthulhu in 1990 and AD&D’s Second the pandemic.
Edition in 1993 and more original Italian creations like
1994’s Legione, the very first Italian language RPG about Dungeons & Dragons is still, by far, the most sold and
superheroes. most played RPG here, a situation only likely to be
cemented with release of the new D&D movie (even
Whilst D&D and AD&D were – by far – the most popular 2000’s much maligned D&D movie was somehow a
RPGs here, this was a golden age for RPGs in Italy, one success in Italian theatres!), the long march to the game's
that sadly would only last until 1994 when the Italian 50th anniversary in 2024 and its new edition. Still there is
edition of Magic the Gathering was released and suddenly a strong and growing interest in other RPGs such as Call
everything changed. of Cthulhu and Vampire the Masquerade here, alongside a
vibrant Old School scene and, of course, another equally

T
he release of Magic the Gathering was vibrant community of indie RPG fans.
Armageddon for RPGs in Italy. Over the next few
years, with the exception of Stratelibri, who as it On the homegrown front things are looking up too with
happened had the license for Magic the Gathering in titles such as Sine Requie, the most popular Italian RPG
Italian, every publisher stopped releasing both new ever, and Lex Arcana, which for a period had the record for
games and expansions. Many of them would go on to the most successful crowdfunding campaign for an Italian
fold, along with every gaming magazine, including the RPG, once again coming to the fore and Italian designed
venerable Kaos who finally bid farewell with their 75th games reaching beyond our shores.
issue.
Alongside all this we now have a very active convention
It was a hard period for RPGs and their, few, faithful fans scene, with dedicated events like FabCon in the lovely
and even Stratelibri who had maintained a trickle of RPG city of Fabriano and RPGs once again a big presence at
releases in the years between 1994 and 1997 went out of major pop culture conventions such as Play (almost
business too. It seemed that in Italy at least, RPGs were 40.000 visitors in 2022) and Lucca Comics & Games
headed straight to the antiques market, fated to be the (almost 320.000 visitors in 2022!). 2023 has even seen
curious pastimes of a scattering of middle aged people. the succesful launch of our own new magazine,
RoleZine, that is entirely devoted to RPGs, a sure sign if
It wouldn’t be until 1998 that we would start to see the anything of the renewed health of the Italian scene and
first green shoots of recovery. That year a new publisher, its promising future!
25 Edition, started printing the AD&D 2.5 core rulebooks
with encouraging sales. With the big dog back on the
scene the situation slowly started to improve with a
trickle of new RPGs, both Italian and translated ones, Inspired to dive in to the world of Italian RPGs
being released again. and find your favourite new Gioco di Ruolo?

Whilst the print runs for the non-D&D games were far Turn over for Ciro’s handpicked selection of games
smaller, perhaps a quarter of that a publisher might designed in Italy and available now in English

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 65

 Non Parli If you don’t know Italian but would like to dip your toes into
the world of Italian RPGs then you’re in luck as, finally, more

Italiano?
and more titles are being translated and made available for
international audiences.

Nessun
Here then are our suggestions of a few notable releases that
all have, at least, English language quickstarts available and

Problema!
are well worth checking out!

on Games)
Lex Arcana (Acher ble RPG is
ed in 2020, this venera
d in 199 3, with the latest edition releas still going strong though beset by
First publishe tury CE is
e that in the fifth cen.
set in a Roman Empir an e and sup ernatural
dangers both mu nd
s, those of a
by the Roman legion
ry me na ces to the Empire are handled Pretorian Guard called the
Whilst ordina l unit of the e
dealt with by a specia ry corner of the Empir
spookier nature are ana, whose agents can be found in eve
Cohors Auxili aria Arc
and beyond.
yers belong to.
which group the pla
No prizes for guessing

Prima Vennero / First They Came (MS Edizioni

)
Prima Vennero, now available in English under the
GM-less indie RPG where the players take on the rolename First They Came, is a
1942, hunted by the Nazis for either political reason of fugitives from Berlin in
orientation. s, their ethnicity or sexual

Notably this RPG must be played with your eyes closed

comes with a special audio track to help visualize the or blindfolded and it
Designed for one shot games and obviously just for various part of the history.
Vennero has proven to be a very sobering as well as mature gamers, Prima
deeply original experience.

es)
a (Need Gam
Fabula Ultim se computer RP
Gs, Fabula
pane gs
is based on Ja s or recreate existing settin
lian RPG that ld
An original Itamers create their own woron epic adventures.
Ultima lets ga urite games and embark
from your favo cs has
urful mechanial
the gam e’s simple yet flavo ith the physic
ly in 2022 d abroad w
Released in Ita success both at home an in shops very soon.
led the to hugeEnglish rulebook expected
version of the

66 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

 VHS (Aces Games)
An RPG for fans of horror
of three different core rulemovies VHS has the unusual feature
genre of cinematic chiller books each one devoted to its own
s.
Fans of slasher movies, à
la Texas Chainsaw Massa
head for Bloodlust, Overpla cre, should
SF horror films such as Aliegue is for recreating your favourite
book, Unchained, covers n or The Thi ng, and the
Exorcist. 'supernatural' horror like third
The

Whilst every rulebook is

they are also fully compatcomplete and independent
you want to throw yoursel ible with each other for wh
en
ultimate Xenomorph vs Fref into the middle of the
ddy Kruger crossover...

ings
ragons 5E Sett
Dungeons & D & Dragons 5e m
aterial
eons
n designed Dungannounced. Among the
se, a lot of Italia g
There is, of cour ore new projects always beinchecking out:
available with m ones there we’d
recommend
more intriguing
rok (Mana Project Studio)
gna
Journey to Ra that have been ttings
the Italian 5E seis set in a Scandinavian world
andaddy' of all
Perhaps the 'gr English, Journey to Ragnarok e last step to the titular
translated into red an eternal winter which, th
which has ente Nordic end of the world.
Ragnarok – the for power as
clans struggling yond
e as a mem be r of one of the six
yo u to lands far be
Take your plac power and adventure takes lds.
your search for d even into the other Nine Wor
Scandinavia an
io)
a Project Stud
Historia (Man has a dark
of Gea, Historia
inen t of Ve steria in the world table difference, the
Set in the cont rope feeling but with one no with over 50 different
Renaissance Eue all anthropomorphic animals
protagonists ar ers to choose from.
critters for play
earms, Historia
and rules for fir to
ith new ba ck grounds, classeses, corruption and mysteries
Complete w ur e, excit ement, intrigu
promises ad vent
solve.
s)
cheron Game
Brancalonia (A n-made setting
s
inde ed m os t successful Italia ost Italy' where
t recent and set in an 'alm
One of the mos Brancalonia is appropriately ne'er-do-wells, though often
released for 5E,are mercenaries, ruffians and
the characters en heart.
ones with a gold a series of
the players into
ard w inning setting throws ntures, and takes a lot of
This ENNIE Aw nable adve leone and
morally questio Army of Branca
picaresque andmovies such as The Incredible
m
influence fro ne.
Soldier of Fortu

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 67

68 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
DUNGEON
CRAWLING
CLASSICS
Whilst the history of Dungeon Crawl board games is as long as that of its
RPG cousins, it has often been seen as a mere adjunct to the likes of D&D,
but for many these games are the gateway to a life of fantasy and
adventure and increasingly they’re becoming the stars of the show.

Matt Thrower dons his hard hat to explore the genre.

C
aves have a primal allure. Yawning in the rough Hewitt tells me. ‘There's also the general sense of
stone of a hillside, even the most claustrophobic heroism, where your small group of heroes takes on wave
person might pause to wonder what’s inside and after wave of enemies.’
just how far they go. Perhaps it's something instinctual
about seeking shelter. Either way, imagine how much Much like their role-playing cousins, dungeon crawl
more alluring - and claustrophobic - it might be if that board games began life in the 1970s at TSR. First off the
cave was in a fantastical realm filled with all manner of blocks was the oft-derided Dungeons & Dragons spinoff
equally fantastic possibilities. Dungeon! that despite, or perhaps because of, its
randomness still makes for a good family game with
‘It's an easy dopamine hit,’ enthuses James M. Hewitt of plenty of variety and excitement. Other iconic titles soon
Needy Cat Games. You might not know his name but followed in its footsteps, including The Sorcerer's Cave
you’ll likely recognise many of his games from his time as from 1978 and 1985’s DungeonQuest, itself an Anglicised
a design staffer at Games Workshop, such as Warhammer version of the Swedish game, Drakborgen.
Quest: Silver Tower, or his later freelance work on titles
like Mantic’s Hellboy: The Boardgame. Still, these titles remained relatively niche, more often
than not seen as an adjunct to role-playing, a side
‘People love games with exploration and character serving for those already in the hobby. It would be
development,’ he continues. ‘Reveal new cards! See what's another game, some fifteen years later, that would bring
in the next room! Get a new ability!’ the joy of dungeoneering to the masses and, in a story
that will be familiar to many late eighties children, get
Once they’ve lured you in, however, dungeon crawl Hewitt into fantasy gaming.
games can reveal surprising complexity. ‘They give
players the chance to get clever and use a variety of items ‘The first one I owned was HeroQuest,’ Hewitt reveals. ‘My
and abilities in cunning combinations to great effect,’ dad got it for my birthday and then staunchly refused to

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 69

play with me until I finally wore him down. It didn't are reluctant to take the helm, preferring instead to roll
matter, though, it fired my imagination all the same.’ with the excitement of the unknown. It’s a split that’s
plagued the genre throughout its development.
That same iconic title also served as the gateway game
for Dan Hughes, the co-designer of recent Kickstarter ‘I often find the most interesting games are the ones that
success CoraQuest with his eight year old daughter, Cora. have a foot in both camps,’ Hewitt muses. ‘It's what I was
‘I remember playing it with friends after school on my aiming for with Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower. I wanted
bedroom floor,’ he fondly recalls. it to feel like the game was a gamesmaster, pulling out
little surprises and tricking you, while still maintaining a
Released by Milton Bradley Games in partnership with fairly constrained ruleset.’
Games Workshop HeroQuest went to some lengths to
mimic the genre’s inspiration in role-playing, casting one The original Warhammer Quest from 1995 was the
of the players as a games master who revealed the culmination of the HeroQuest line, following Advanced
labyrinth to the other players and played the monsters. HeroQuest. It shed the games master role and was instead
That gave it the familiarity of a board game combined fully co-operative, a rarity at the time. Although fondly
with the mysteries of a role-playing game, a combination remembered - Hewitt describes it as having ‘left an
that was key to its success. indelible mark on my soul’ - it hasn’t aged well.

But it begs another question: why not just role-play ‘It's been surpassed many times over in terms of its core
instead? game design,’ Hewitt admits. ‘But in terms of ambition,
scope and the freeform nature of its ongoing campaign, I
‘A dungeon crawl is invaluable for taking the burden of think it's still hard to beat.’
preparation from a games master,’ Hughes opines. ‘It can
often be more relaxing and “beer and pretzels” than an As part of his attempt to maintain the feel of role-playing
RPG. It also requires less commitment from everyone within a modern board game’s mechanical framework,
round the table and can be embarked upon more Hewitt populated Silver Tower with text paragraphs and
spontaneously. It’s usually more visually and tactically mini-games.
satisfying too, as the components are tailor made to fit
the game rather than cobbled together.’ ‘I wanted to incorporate the puzzle-solving element that
you see in a lot of dungeon-based RPGs, but I didn't have
Hewitt has a different take. ‘Why not play both,’ he quips. the option to include extra components,’ he explains. ‘So
‘Seriously though, to me, the biggest difference is that the challenge was reusing components in clever ways.
while an RPG is great for a freeform experience, with a Most players have encountered the dice-stacking game.
GM who acts as narrator and arbiter, a dungeon board There were other fun encounters. I wanted the game to
game has a lot more constraint, and can be a lot more surprise players, blindside them, and keep them guessing.’
focused.’

W
hile players were still enjoying the original
“A DUNGEON BOARD GAME Warhammer Quest, board gaming was
upended by the 1996 release of Settlers of
HAS A LOT MORE Catan. In its paradigm-shattering wake, the old-
CONSTRAINT, AND CAN fashioned dungeon game fell out of fashion with only
sporadic entries for almost a decade. When a new
BE A LOT MORE FOCUSED” contender for the crown did arrive, however, it blew a
blast of fresh air into the moribund, cobwebbed corridors
This gets to the heart of what dungeon board games are of its forebears.
often missing, the sense of creativity and imagination
that comes from having someone run the game. The fact That game was Descent. It resurrected the games master,
HeroQuest asked someone to step into that role is part of now known as the Overlord, and in a new twist, pitted
what made it special. Yet, at the same time, many players them against the players in a competitive game. It also

70 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Cora and her able
assistant Dan about
to embark on a new
quest together

added some of the design sensibilities from games like former game appeared in 2012 and was another big
Catan, resulting in a game that combined the narrative milestone in the genre. Aimed at that old HeroQuest
adventures of old with richer tactics and strategy. audience who were now old enough to want to
recapture its magic with their own children, it included a
However, it remained plagued by another common flaw big book of narrative text to add meat to the adventures.
of the genre: very long play times. It was also quite It also leveraged improved production techniques to
mature in content and tone. In addition to the demands include a book of heavy duty map boards, much more
of time and complexity Descent was a violent and bleak appealing and convenient than the cardboard tiles of
game. yore.

‘Over the years as the original audience of HeroQuest has That same year also saw a new edition of Descent which
grown up the dungeon crawling genre has been pulled jettisoned the random dungeons and sprawling play in
up after them, without leaving any crumbs for the favour of tighter, more scripted scenarios. ‘It’s my favorite
generations that follow,’ opines Hughes. ‘Dungeon dungeon crawler,’ Hughes admits. ‘This is primarily
crawlers are increasingly aimed at adult players, with because the group I played with were incredibly
grim dark and gritty fantasy almost becoming the default entertaining and enjoyable people to play with. The game
settings. I feel there is still plenty of room left to take a mechanics were complex enough to be interesting, but
sidestep from this direction and explore other tones and straightforward enough to be able to get out of the way
settings.’ Which is, of course, exactly what he’s aiming to of our fun.’
do with CoraQuest. He admits, though, that he isn’t the
first designer to notice this. While the second edition of Descent was released with
the same one-versus-many setup of its predecessor, four
‘There are the fantasy games from Jerry Hawthorn, Mice years later the series would be at the forefront of another
and Mystics and Patchwork Fables,’ he observes. The revolution in the genre. The previous year the game’s

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 71

publisher, Fantasy Flight, had released the co-operative Despite the increased competition in the space Hewitt is
XCOM: The Board Game which utilised a companion confident there’s a lot of life left in the genre. ‘I think
mobile phone app to drive an enemy AI. They followed there's still plenty of room for innovation, and a lot of
this with the Descent: Road to Legend app which allowed that can be found by combining the dungeon genre with
players to enjoy the game as a fully co-operative other types of game, or borrowing mechanical ideas from
experience, without an attendant Overlord. other genres,’ he says.

It was divisive. ‘There were concerns about apps

becoming obsolete and unsupported,’ recalls Hughes.
“THERE'S STILL PLENTY
‘The more players are involved the more intrusive they OF ROOM FOR INNOVATION,
feel an app becomes, as table talk and banter starts AND A LOT OF THAT CAN
having to be halted to focus on the app. They assist the
narrative of the game, but do risk negatively impacting BE FOUND BY COMBINING
the more meta joy in gaming with others.’ THE DUNGEON GENRE WITH
Hewitt sympathises. ‘I totally understand people who
OTHER TYPES OF GAME,
like their board games to be analogue experiences,’ he OR BORROWING MECHANICAL
says. But at the same time, both are huge fans of this
innovation. ‘They have to be done well, but if they are
IDEAS FROM OTHER GENRES”
they can really enhance a game,’ Hewitt continues. ‘I've ‘Whenever we talk to new designers, we tell them that
also really enjoyed seeing apps that read out written they need to play as many different types of game as
passages of text for you. If someone's got to read a possible. If you want to create the next big dungeon
descriptive passage and, let's face it, there are often a crawler, don't just play dungeon crawlers, because all of
load of those in this style of game, I'd rather have it done your inspiration will be stuff that's already been done.’
by a professional voice actor than have to do it myself.’
In fact, at time of writing, it looks as though modern
Between the increasing sophistication of apps and the production techniques and crowdfunding are about to
incorporation of design lessons from other genres, the bring the genre full circle. Fantasy Flight Games have
popularity of dungeon crawl games exploded. Now, recently released a new title in the Descent series,
players could enjoy complex and dynamic strategic Descent: Legends of the Dark, featuring wargame quality
challenges with relatively simple rules without the need miniatures and a ton of cardboard terrain which harks
for one of them to run the game. It also went sideways. back to HeroQuest. A game that, in turn, has received its
Star Wars: Imperial Assault and Warhammer Quest: own loving re-release raising over a million dollars in
Blackstone Fortress weren’t the first sci-fi dungeon crowdfunding. Trends come and trends go but after 40
games: HeroQuest had a classic spin off called Space years the dungeon crawl looks here to stay.
Crusade. But, alongside Mansions of Madness and
Zombicide which took the genre into the horror space, ‘They’re the blockbuster action films of board-gaming,
they rode the latest design trends with style. Hughes concludes of their enduring appeal. ‘They provide
excitement and camaraderie within a familiar framework,
With the rise of apps, and the hobby’s increasing focus on and you know exactly what you are going to get before
heavy strategic games, you’d be forgiven for thinking you buy your admission ticket.’
these games represented peak dungeon crawl. But you’d
be reckoning without 2017’s Gloomhaven, which
combined dungeons with the heavy strategy the hobby CoraQuest is out now
hungered for. The result cut across multiple fanbases and with a new expansion due later this year
was a critical and commercial triumph. It spawned a order now from coraquest.com
digital version, an affordable small-box prequel,
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion and the Kickstarter for its For all the latest from James M. Hewitt
sequel, Frosthaven, raised almost thirteen million dollars. check needycatgames.com

72 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 73
FROSTHAVEN

74 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

THE BIG
CHILL
Few games in recent years have made an impact on the scene quite like
Cephalofair’s dungeon crawling mega-hit Gloomhaven.

Matt Thrower caught up with the game’s designer Isaac Childres to discuss
both its success and its newly released sequel Frosthaven.

Frosthaven photos: Kovray Studios

G
loomhaven is a phenomenon. Coming out of ingredients, any dungeon game can be fun, if not great,
nowhere on the back of a 2015 Kickstarter it has due to its very nature.’
become an all-conquering ur-game. Acclaimed
by critics and players alike, it spans multiple genres by Yet despite this, Childres shared the same common
marrying the depth of a strategic board game with the frustrations with role-playing that many players have. ‘In
narrative of a role-playing dungeon crawl. It’s seen a roleplaying game, someone always has to DM, and that
multiple reprints, despite a high retail price, and has someone is always inevitably me,’ he says. ‘Being a good
spawned a prequel, a sequel and successful PC DM requires a lot of preparation. With a board game, you
adaptation. can just break it out and play, which is nice.’

The game’s designer, Isaac Childres, was startled by its But that’s not the only reason. Prior to Gloomhaven,
success. ‘I wasn’t thinking too hard about genres or Childres designed and published another game, Forge
breaking new ground,’ he says. ‘I was just trying to make War. With its fantasy theme paired with a heavy engine-
the game as fun as possible. Just simple decisions of “is building system this could be seen as a dry run for its
this fun or not?”’ Still, while Childres might not have set successor and marked its designer as someone with a
out to create such a diverse melting pot, he’s aware that’s keen interest in exploring tactics and strategies, things
what he created. ‘That's a reasonable characterization,’ he not often found in role-playing games.
admits.
‘Every RPG I've encountered relies heavily on dice rolling
The game grew out of Childres’ enthusiasm for role- to resolve combat and skill checks and everything else,’
playing games. ‘If you give me a dungeon filled with he complains. ‘I understand why, as asking players to
monsters and tell me to run around killing them all, I'm engage in deeper gameplay can take away from the
probably going to have a good time,’ he laughs. ‘What I primary goal of an RPG, which is the roleplaying aspect.
think is nice about them is that even without other But that is a definite turn-off for me. I enjoy roleplaying,

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 75

but I wouldn't mind some deeper gameplay alongside. An Gloomhaven didn’t come out of a role-playing campaign:
emphasis on choice over randomness. Deep character rather it was designed specifically for the game,
progression. Variability through monster types, dungeon something that may be obvious from its stridently non-
goals, and playable characters. And a campaign world Tolkeinian setting.
that feels alive and is affected by the choices you make.
All the ingredients I added to Gloomhaven’ ‘We've all seen enough elves and dwarves and orcs in our
fantasy,’ Childres smiles. Yet despite the depth of the
Hence Gloomhaven’s winning combination of cooperation, narrative presented in Gloomhaven and its spin-off
rich strategy and wordy narrative, so central to its success. games, the setting wouldn’t leave its designer alone. ‘I got
What’s surprising, though, is how few titles had even a little invested in it,’ he admits. ‘I wanted to keep
attempted that combination before, let alone done so exploring it and just bring people deeper into its story.’
successfully.

‘They are very different skill sets, so finding someone who

“WE'VE ALL SEEN
can execute both may be rare,’ Childres muses. ‘But game ENOUGH ELVES AND
development teams can have multiple people with
different skill sets, so it shouldn't be hard to combine
DWARVES AND ORCS
them.’ IN OUR FANTASY”
This begs the question of just why there hasn’t then been The result is his newest game, Frosthaven, another
more cross-pollination. ‘I think it goes back to the old colossal cooperative box of strategy and adventure set in
dichotomy of Eurogames versus American games,’ the same world. Childres chose to launch it on
Childres says. ‘These were two different cultures of games Kickstarter again despite that platform being very
that developed for a long time independent from each different from when he raised funds for the original game.
other. And I'm not saying I'm the first, but it seems that Back then, it was still very much an environment where
Gloomhaven got in there early enough and executed it niche projects could find funding and prosper. Using it
well enough to emerge as a prime example of merging again, as a well established and acclaimed designer,
narrative and heavy strategy. Certainly, since emphasises the way it has changed to become a
Gloomhaven, we've seen a lot more games successfully playground for bigger publishers.
blend the two. A lot of Awakened Realms stuff, and
Descent: Legends in the Dark is a great example as well.’ ‘If I had launched that [Gloomhaven] campaign now, it
most certainly would just get crushed,’ Childres admits.

W
hen creating Gloomhaven Childres drew on ‘You have to have a really polished project and a large
ideas from established games as well as his audience to get noticed now, which is unfortunate because
own creativity. He’s also a particular fan of both those things cost a lot, and Kickstarter should be
multi-use cards. ‘They’re a big thing. Glory to Rome and about raising money rather than spending money.’
whatnot. The idea that your cards can do multiple things
and it is up to you to decide on the best way to use them.’ But he still needed the platform to get Frosthaven
funded. ‘It wasn't about trying to offset production risks,’
But there’s one in particular he feels he owes a debt to. he explains. ‘Even with the huge success of Gloomhaven,
‘The event cards in Robinson Crusoe inspired the event we wouldn't have had the capital to print and ship the
cards in Gloomhaven. That idea that you could make a number of copies we wanted to make without the
decision, and then something could get shuffled back Kickstarter funds.’
into the deck for you to encounter later. But that is more
of a narrative thing than a strategy thing.’ You might imagine that given the amount of play time
you could get out of the original box, appetite for another
Narrative isn’t the only aspect of role-playing that huge set might be limited. But the passion of the game’s
enthuses Childres. ‘I've dabbled a lot in making my own fanbase remains undimmed and the Kickstarter for
worlds running games,’ he says. But the setting of Frosthaven almost reached a cool thirteen million dollars.

76 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Much like our
adventurers here
Kickstarter helps
publishers like
Cephalofair keep the
wolves from the door

Childres is honest that only a proportion of those backers Childres’ zeal for creating worlds and sharing them with
will have finished Gloomhaven. ‘Maybe a quarter,’ he others shines through our whole interview. ‘Big, expansive
estimates. ‘And that seems like a very optimistic guess.’ worlds are one of the things I am most passionate about,’
he admits. ‘So when I started working on a sequel, that's
Some players have proven to be very dedicated, however. immediately what made sense to me. I wanted to make
‘At Gen Con, someone came up and told me that they've another giant playground for people to explore.’
run through the Gloomhaven campaign seven times,’
Childres says. ‘In truth, Gloomhaven wasn't designed as a This is the reason he opted for a big-box sequel rather
game that you were expected to necessarily finish... than another smaller spin-off set like Gloomhaven’s
Obviously, there's a final boss and an ending but I saw it prequel Jaws of the Lion. ‘That’s a great product that I am
as more of a world that people could just sit down and really proud of, but it isn't everything that Gloomhaven is,’
explore, and there was always some new thing hiding Childres explains. ‘The campaign isn't nearly as expansive
around the corner that you hadn't seen yet. That was the and a lot of the legacy elements like retirement had to be
exciting part for me.’ cut out.’

“IN TRUTH, GLOOMHAVEN Communicating such a novel world through the static,
impersonal medium of a board game seems a difficult
WASN'T DESIGNED AS task, but Childres feels it has its advantages. ‘If you look at
Forge War, I did go with a lot of fantasy tropes because it
A GAME THAT YOU was a Euro game and the only way to really
WERE EXPECTED TO communicate the theme was through quest titles, which
was very limited,’ he opines. ‘If you're making a narrative-
NECESSARILY FINISH...” based game, I'd argue that you want to do the opposite.
You don't want to just fall into the standard stereotypes

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 77

 Frosthaven’s new
classes, such as the
Deathwalker,
introduce several
new ways of playing
the game

and tropes because you want to provide your players creates a lot more strategic decisions because there's an
with a narrative that is fresh, and you have the space to extra layer to think about. I also really tried to dig down
fully communicate it. I'm not saying Gloomhaven wasn't into the mechanics and more fully explore them. You can
without its tropes, but I'm still working on improving, see this in the Drifter, who is all about managing their
and I think Frosthaven is going to be much better in that persistent limited-use bonuses, and the Banner Spear,
regard.’ who is all about setting up positioning with their allies.’

O
f course, there’s more to Frosthaven than just a One of the other core additions is well trailered: the
new narrative. While it retains the core addition of a crafting system. This involves not only
mechanics of the original, it’s packed with fresh gathering resources to craft items but building an entire
ideas and mechanics. ‘We have 17 new character classes settlement in the frozen wastes. As players add new
that play very differently from all the classes in previous facilities to their growing outpost they’ll unlock new
games,’ he says. ‘Plus more monsters and more varied powers and paths within the game’s narrative.
scenarios.’
Between them these additions elevate the downtime
Childres is confident that there’s enough novelty inside to between dungeon adventures into a comprehensive and
offer new challenges to veteran players. This is a bold engaging aspect of play in itself. Other new features
claim that benefits from an example. ‘A common theme though are less well advertised.
through a lot of the classes is the use and management of
additional resources,’ Childres offers. ‘The calendar system is another prominent mechanic,’
Childres explains. ‘Like I was saying earlier about shuffling
‘The Blinkblade has time tokens, the Deathwalker has event cards back into the deck, there's still a lot of that,
shadows, the Boneshaper uses their health very much as but it can be very random when that event pops up again.
a separate resource. Adding in these other resources Sometimes it made more sense to specify exactly when

78 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

 F
some story element was going to pop up again. So now, or all the new material, Frosthaven also preserves
sometimes you'll get prompts from events or scenarios what’s best about the original game. As well as
that say to put section X into the calendar in Y weeks.’ the core mechanics, that includes its clever spin
on cooperation which sees players keeping individual
As ever, the calendar started as a narrative addition rather money pools. Getting treasure in the game demands
than a strategic one. ‘The goal is to, through events, really players waste critical actions to do so, creating a
make the players feel an ebb and flow to the defense of fascinating dichotomy between the needs of the group
the outpost,’ Childres says. ‘The calendar is important for and those of individual players. This helps give everyone
the flow of seasons throughout the game, progressing individual motivations and creates an uneasy
from summer to winter and back again. You can build up cooperative dynamic that’s unique to the game.
in the summer, but then you're going to get hammered
by events in the winter so that you will celebrate when ‘I feel like that just came naturally,’ Childres recalls. ‘It's
summer finally arrives again.’ pretty common in role-playing groups to have a little
friendly rivalry going on. Who did the most damage, who
“THE GOAL IS TO REALLY got the most loot, that sort of thing. And it just made
sense to foster that a bit.’
MAKE THE PLAYERS
It also allowed him to explore a genre he’s curious about.
FEEL AN EBB AND ‘There's also some influence from semi-coop games like
FLOW TO THE DEFENSE Dead of Winter or Battlestar Galactica. It's a very
interesting genre, but it's an extremely hard line to walk,
OF THE OUTPOST” because it always has to come down to the binary of did
you win or did you lose?’
Frosthaven also builds on ideas first found in
Gloomhaven’s spin-offs and expansions such as the Childres feels that the cooperative nature of Gloomhaven
additional story details found in Forgotten Circles. In and Frosthaven helped him solve that problem. ‘With a
Frosthaven that means the inclusion of a 200 page campaign game, things can become much more granular
section book which, in addition to adding detail, melds because your progress is simply carried over to the next
the narrative and strategic aspects of the game. game,’ he continues. ‘If you got more loot than your
friends, that has a meaningful advantage for you in future
‘Very often when you do anything impactful in the game, games, even if you all still technically won as a group.’
you'll be directed to this section book to read some
snippet of narrative and then also get some mechanical Even after all the work he’s put it to developing these
reward,’ Childres explains. ‘So the section book really ties games and their settings, he’s not done yet. ‘We recognize
everything together in terms of telling the story of this that there are people who just are just there for the
outpost and its survival under harsh conditions.’ gameplay and don't need the commitment of the giant
campaign,’ he says. ‘So we might do something similar to
Together, Childres is confident this is more than enough Jaws of the Lion again in the future.’
to keep players of the original invested in the new box.
‘Even without the new mechanics, I would say all the But perhaps the ultimate sign of his commitment is that
content itself is novel enough to motivate players to Childres continues to delight in his own creation. ‘The
explore it,’ he says. new Descent was executed well,’ he admits. ‘I enjoyed the
gameplay of that and the narrative was really strong. But
‘And I'm really hoping that the stronger narrative and all in terms of dungeon games is it weird to say that
the new town-building and calendar stuff will get people Gloomhaven fully scratches that itch for me?’
even more excited to play through a scenario, do
meaningful things with the stuff they've collected from
the scenario, and follow along with all the different Frosthaven is out now
threads of the story.’ check cephalofair.com for availability

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 79

80 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
QUEST
DRIVE
Cruelly denied the experience of owning HeroQuest as a child, author
Andi Ewington leapt at the chance to pick up the game’s new edition, but
how does the classic dungeon crawler stand up today and can it lure a new
generation away from their screens and into a life of adventure gaming?

Art: Łukasz Kowalczuk

N
ostalgia can be a dangerous thing; the use them2)—but to me, it was worth it just to scratch a
temptation to own something synonymous nostalgic itch that has been bothering me since 1989.
with your youth can be enormous—this is
precisely where HeroQuest comes in, stage left. I guess it’s a good time to introduce the test subjects for
this thick slice of gaming nostalgia. My eldest, Zack, is a
Full disclosure here—I never owned HeroQuest, but that chip off the old block, a board game ‘junkie’ who enjoys
‘not owning’ bit bugged the hell out of me. Of course, playing just about everything from Nemesis to Gloomhaven
nowadays, it’s easy enough to dip a toe into the second- and Unmatched to Root. He’s used to complicated games
hand market and purchase a copy from eBay, but finding with rules that make your brain hurt3 and enough dice and
one that hasn’t been battered to death by years of use is a counters to make a kleptomaniac leap with joy. While my
quest in itself. youngest, Neve, is just like my wife, she only enjoys games
that are quick and easy to follow, nothing too heavy; for
I once managed to get my hands on a copy of Dark Future them it’s all about the fun-factor—which is exactly what
that cost a kidney and my first-born, only to find it filled HeroQuest is, or at least I hope.
with broken cars and missing weapons1. So, imagine my
delight in 2021, when it was announced that HeroQuest Before we venture a little deeper into this much-loved
was digging itself out of its nostalgic grave—in search of dungeon romp, I would ask you to spare a moment of
fresh meat to feed upon. Yes, it was inevitable I was going thought to my poor wife, who has endured my board
to order it, and, as expected I still paid waaaaay too much game obsession for many years now—and whose heart
for the core game and all the expansions (because I need must fill with dread every time a delivery driver with an
all the expansions regardless if I’m actually ever going to oversized Kickstarter box turns up on our doorstep. But, as

1
If anyone reading this has a good copy they want to give away, then I have an equally good home that is more than willing to accommodate it.
2
I admit I’m a completist—I find it exceedingly difficult to have gaps in any of my collections, they call out to me accusingly.
3
—and my wife weep.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 81

I say to her with a fixed Cheshire cat-like grin on my face, check that needed a natural ‘20’ to pass without breaking
these games will only increase in value; not that I’m ever something8. We decided to leave it until Sunday when my
planning on selling them while I still draw breath. wife would be away and we could unbox everything
properly and commandeer the dining room table.9
However, if I were to shuffle off this mortal coil it would

S
leave my precious games at the mercy of my wife’s eBay unday —or HeroQuest Day, as we had been calling
account. Fortunately, that’s where my children come in. If I it all week- came around quickly. As Neve sat
can stir those same warm feelings in them that I had watching another Friends episode10, Zack tore through
playing these games as a youngster, then I know my all the boxes, almost instantly placing all the campaigns
collection will be (relatively) safe. for the core game and expansions in front of me. I admired
his enthusiasm, but I prefer to deal with one thing at a
I was still at work when the sizable HeroQuest box turned time and felt it was best to focus on the core box for now.
up on our doorstep unannounced. Quite honestly, I was
expecting a barrage of text messages from Zack pleading if The expansions were quickly placed back into their boxes
he could open up the box, and perhaps one from my wife and filed away for another day. Zack then set about
telling me she was going to kill me and pack my cold popping the tiles out of their sheets11 and setting up the
corpse inside it when I got home. Fortunately, all I received board—although the figures were left for now, neither of us
from her was a photo message with the words ‘THIS fancied attempting to remove them from their trays. What
arrived.”4 Impressively, Zack contained his excitement long we really needed next was a volunteer to read the rules12—I
enough for us to unbox it together. As expected, Neve was looked at Zack—Zack looked at me. I sighed as resigned
nonplussed—board games frequently enter this house, and myself to opening the rulebook.
unless it’s a Friends themed game, then it’s not going to
rank highly on her barometer of interest5. Now, I’m okay with rule reading though it can sometimes
leave me screaming in frustration before I admit defeat
Within a few minutes of stepping though the front door, I and sheepishly search online for help. Fortunately,
was immediately accosted by Zack and frogmarched HeroQuest’s rules take the pain out of explaining—simple is
towards the still-sealed box sat in the front room. As I an understatement, it makes Nemesis seem like the
carefully sliced open the package, Zack’s immediate glossary for War and Peace13.
reaction was one of utter joy; his eyes lit up at the sheer
number of tile sheets, dice, monsters, doors, chests, and Within fifteen minutes of reading and five minutes of
furniture6—it was a delight to behold. setting-up, both Zack and I were ready to jump into our
first quest. Coincidentally, Neve had just finished watching
His second reaction was one of concern as he stared at my her episode of Friends and wandered in to see what we
rapidly reddening face and trembling hands as I struggled were doing. Zack, sensing an opportunity to involve her,
to remove a single figure from a plastic tray that refused to immediately gave her the Dwarven character (he had
yield without a fight7. It felt like every figure was a skill already bagged the Barbarian for himself).

4
As I’m sure many of you know, text messages written in capital letters are either sent by mistake from those who are less tech-savvy, or as a thinly
veiled warning of serious harm at some point in the immediate future
5
Neve’s barometer of interest would literally explode if a game allowed you to play as Phoebe Buffay.
6
All displayed like a bumper box of Milk Tray chocolates.
7
In all seriousness—there’s absolutely no way a tray should hold onto plastic figures with a grip that would put a Terminator to shame. I still haven’t
managed to free the rats from their plastic prisons.
8
I subsequently discovered that a warm hairdryer works wonders for such issues—mind you, I’m a little hesitant to use sustained heat on something
that is prone to melting.
9
Looks like takeaway is back on the menu, kids…
10
The One Where Underdog Gets Away’…
11
There’s something really satisfying about doing this—like popping bubble wrap
12
And slowly explain them to the other person playing it.

82 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

One of the best things about HeroQuest is how quickly a seemed keen to press on. We did one more quest before I
newbie like Neve can pick it up, while still offering threw in the Zargon-sized towel and began packing
someone like Zack enough to keep them entertained. I everything away.
know HeroQuest isn’t really the kind of game Neve enjoys,
and I don’t think she enjoyed it as much as Mysterium, but As we carefully placed all the components back in the
she seemed curious enough to want to play. To her credit, box17 we chatted about our game time and what we
she lasted one campaign before growing bored and thought of HeroQuest. We both really enjoyed how easy it
heading off to play with her Lego Central Perk and Friends was to learn, and how fast we could get into it. Zack’s one
Apartments. word review was ‘Cool!’ which, as I understand, is high
praise indeed from Generation Z.
In case you’ve missed the HeroQuest phenomenon the first
time around it’s a simple enough conceit, explore a Inevitably, our conversation turned to what we didn’t like
dungeon in search of ‘X’, kill numerous ‘Y’ enemies and and, if we had to be critical of the game, both of us felt it
ideally get out alive. Additional rules include secret door fell a little flat the moment the dungeon had been cleared
searching, room searching, trap searching and trap of enemies. We found the final act of escaping was a bit
disarming— but beyond that, the game pretty much redundant—often we preferred to simply end the
follows a rinse and repeat format14. adventure the moment the ‘X’ was found or the ‘Y’ was
defeated. We also both agreed that the game could have
The reward system is straightforward enough too. If you’re done with a few more surprises; narrative cards that could
lucky you can find useful items as you explore from room deepen the gameplay and bring a level of unexpectedness
to room15, or you can spend your hard earned coin on a to each adventure—but these are minor gripes in what
small selection of items to toughen up your hero just in was an otherwise perfect game to play on a rainy Sunday
time for their next adventure, and it was this part of the afternoon. I hope that’s where the expansions will come to
game probably gave Zack the most enjoyment, and he the fore, filling in the narrative void and taking the game to
revelled in his Barbarian turning from an armour-shy the next level.
warrior into a fully-tricked out tank.
So, three decades on, I’m glad I finally got to scratch my
The biggest laughs came via the plethora of hidden traps HeroQuest itch. Even though both my kids are probably a
scattered throughout each adventure. As I was playing the little too young to appreciate the concept of nostalgia18,
role of Zargon, I had, perhaps unwisely, decided to modify I’m hopeful that with games like HeroQuest, they’ll look
the rules a little so certain monsters16 were forced to make back on these days with the same fondness I had and still
a roll for moving through these traps. Hearing Zack almost continue to have. As for the future, I wonder if I can just
cry in laughter as my army of zombies fell one-by-one to make out the faint groans of Advanced HeroQuest rising
their deaths (having originally died once before being from the nostalgic grave…
reanimated and furnished with a sword and target shield)
was priceless. The new edition of HeroQuest and its expansions
are available now from Avalon Hill
The game follows a formulaic process of moving via dice
rolls combined with the choice to fight monsters, or Andi Ewington’s new book
search for traps/secret doors/treasures. That in itself is The Hero Interviews is out now
perfectly fine, but after the third campaign on the trot I follow him on Twitter @AndiEwington
was slowly beginning to fatigue—Zack on the other hand

13
Seriously, Awaken Realms—for the love of God, please add a glossary!
14
Although players sadly won’t end up slowly ruffling their luscious hair in front of an out-of-focus windmill…
15
Or if you’re unlucky, you’ll find a wandering creature or a trap
16
Zombies, Mummies and Skeletons—who have a lack of a brain to contain any common sense…
17
Careful not to lose a finger to the plastic tray waiting eagerly to snatch back the plastic figurines.
18
Although I’m sure Neve will look back on her ‘Friends’ obsession with fondness later in life.

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 83

84 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4
TRADING
PLACES
Noticed the likes of Aragorn or Abaddon the Despoiler popping up in
Magic: The Gathering? Emma Partlow speaks to Wizards of the Coast’s
Max McCall to find out what it takes to bring these universes together.

Art: (opposite) Tze Kun Chin © Wizards of the Coast / Games Workshop

H
aving spent much of the past 40 years cris- collaborating with them on the Commander decks was a
crossing the planes, Magic: The Gathering is now lot of fun.
expanding its horizons even further, setting its
sights on other, familiar looking, universes. First ‘Wizards employ a ton of Warhammer fans, and we hit it
announced in 2021, Magic the Gathering: Universes off right away—lots of “Hey, here’s our take on this
Beyond is Wizards of the Coast's strategy to introduce character—what do you think?” “Oh, that’s awesome, you
outside intellectual properties to the game, hopefully could even go further by emphasising this in the art or
luring fans from far flung, disparate corners of the fantasy that ability word” “Oh, that’s brilliant, we’ll do that for
and science-fiction scene into the card game’s fold. sure!” They were lots of fun to work with.’

Unofficially starting with The Walking Dead in 2020, Fun as that does sound, when two titans of the tabletop
Universes Beyond has since expanded to incorporate scene like these come together, that also means two,
franchises such as Fortnite, Arcane (League of Legends), often notoriously hard to please, audiences to contend
Street Fighter and Stranger Things, and last year brought with. Always a challenge but especially in the case of a
the grim dark Warhammer 40,000 universe to Magic. setting as vast as Warhammer 40,000’s where it's always
The collaboration with Games Workshop has so far hard to make every fan happy, something McCall admits.
spawned four prebuilt Commander decks, that spotlight
some of the most iconic characters from 40K universe, ‘By far the trickiest thing about bringing Warhammer to
such as Magnus the Red and Inquisitor Eisenhorn. Magic was having to pick and choose what we could
include in the decks and what we’d have to leave behind.
‘Working with Games Workshop was great,’ says Max Warhammer’s lore is so rich and detailed that we knew
McCall, Principal Product Designer at Wizards of the we’d be heartbroken by some of the characters and
Coast. ‘Games Workshop is every bit as obsessed as we factions we’d leave out,’ McCall reflects. ‘We went with
are with sculpting delight and joy for their fans, and the Imperium of Man, the forces of Chaos, the Tyranids,

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 85

and the Necrons, but even within those groups, there cumbersome template, and extra combat steps that are
were so many cool characters and moments we couldn’t weird for newer players. But if you know what a
find a card for.’ Bloodthirster is in Warhammer 40,000, you know this is
an angry daemon that just attacks everything within
Despite these limitations, Wizards were still able to reach, and that’s exactly what it does as a Magic card.’
reference many of the defining events from Warhammer
40,000's history into the new Magic cards. ‘The folks at “IF YOU KNOW WHAT A
Games Workshop were great about helping us find ways
to sneak new references onto cards, ‘ explains McCall.
BLOODTHIRSTER IS IN
‘Like using the fall of Cadia as the art for Past in Flames. It WARHAMMER 40,000,
was super cool to work with folks so reverent of their YOU KNOW THIS IS AN
past.’
ANGRY DAEMON THAT JUST
From the hundreds of Black Library novels to the vast ATTACKS EVERYTHING
amounts of art produced over the years, one of the key WITHIN REACH, AND
things that Warhammer 40,000 is known for is the depth
of its world building and Wizards were fully aware of the THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT
high expectations they had to meet with this project. IT DOES AS A MAGIC CARD”
‘We wanted to do as much as possible to make folks feel Another great example of how the Magic team have used
like these Magic cards were part of the Warhammer this power of recognition to ease new players in is with
40,000 universe, and we knew the art was going to be a the Triumph of Saint Katherine card. A centre-piece
huge component of that,’ says McCall. ‘Warhammer is a model for the Adepta Sororitas faction in the wargame,
totally different setting from Magic, and we wanted to its Magic card comes with an ability called Miracle, a nod
make the cards feel as Warhammer as possible. Space to the powerful Miracle Dice, a feature exclusive to the
Marines juxtaposed with Merfolk seemed too weird to us, Sororitas in Warhammer 40,000. These abilities may
so we knew we would want to get new art for all of the function slightly differently in their respective games, but
cards in the Commander Decks—even the reprints.’ these minor details can still help Warhammer 40,000
players familiarise themselves with how Magic works
With this Universes Beyond release, each Magic card through association.
comes with its own unique Warhammer 40,000 artwork

O
to aid world building and lore from a gameplay f course this isn’t the first time that Wizards of
perspective, something that is also true for the numerous the Coast have dabbled in collaborative releases,
reprinted cards within this release. having cut their teeth with other Hasbro-owned
IPs, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Transformers.
As Universes Beyond is designed with attracting players
who are potentially new to Magic in mind, threading the Whilst going forward the focus of Universes Beyond will
needle to create easy-to-understand game pieces that be with non-Hasbro properties McCall looks back at the
also accurately represent the setting’s lore was a two massive D&D expansions, Adventures in the
challenging, yet rewarding, task for McCall and his team. Forgotten Realms and Battle for Baldur's Gate, as a
valuable exercise that taught them ‘plenty about what it
‘Complexity is certainly the biggest obstacle to teaching means to bring Magic to a setting from another game.
Magic,’ admits McCall. ‘Universes Beyond is helpful in that
regard – if a complicated Magic card is a reference to ‘Normally, we’re building the world as we’re building the
something that you recognise that can do a lot to help rest of the set, and there are plenty of opportunities for
you understand it.’ the world building and the card design to riff on one
another.’ he explains. ‘When the world is already built, as
McCall cites the Bloodthirster as a good example, the with D&D or Universe Beyond, we can go all out on fitting
Greater Daemon of Khorne’s card has a ‘slightly the cards and the art into that world. It’s a lot of fun.’

86 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

The Triumph of St.
Katherine, and
Warhammer’s own
nuns with guns, the
Adepta Sororitas.

Art: David Astruga

© Wizards of the
Coast / Games
Worksop

This coming together of universes is something that audience. ‘We want to make the coolest stuff possible
players have also readily embraced with many of those with partners whose work we adore. We do that by
who have picked up Warhammer 40,000 cards using looking at each universe for what would be the most fun
their existing miniatures as token game pieces to further to bring to Magic. For Warhammer 40,000, that meant
help submerge themselves into Magic’s gameplay. Commander decks to bring 40K characters from across
time and space together in the same product. For Lord of
The same is true for Dungeons & Dragons, where many of the Rings, we’re excited to see and Draft with the
D20 enthusiasts have picked up the crossover Magic characters from the original trilogy. We’ll keep looking at
cards to help illustrate their campaigns. During RPG future Universes on a case-by-case basis,’ says McCall.
sessions, it's now not uncommon to see a player cast
Magic Missile, Fly, or Power World Kill by waving the The next in the series, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of
corresponding Magic card in the air as a visual representation. Middle Earth, follows this June and will become the first
Universes Beyond release to receive full booster support.
This is an under-looked aspect of these Universes Beyond Before this Universes Beyond products arrived as Secret
collaborations, especially when the association in question Lairs, a lucrative product that included a smattering of
is another tabletop game, and players can use Magic cards cards available either for a limited period or as pre-
as a visual aid to improve their other game-playing experiences. constructed decks, as seen with the Warhammer 40,000
release.
As Universes Beyond becomes an ever more expansive
sub-brand of Magic it's interesting to see how Wizards Following The Lord of the Rings will be a Doctor Who set
approach each new set, tailoring their product strategy before Final Fantasy and Assassin's Creed join the
on the IP in question and how to best accommodate the Universes Beyond lineup in 2024. Expect to see Cloud

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 87

 Battle of Pelenor
Fields art from the
forthcoming
The Lord of the Rings
- Tales of Middle
Earth set

Art: Tyler Jacobsen

© Wizards of the
Coast

Strife or Ezio featured in countless Magic games upon Involved as they are the Universes Beyond releases aren’t
release, which you could easily mistake as something going to divert attention away from main Magic
from Super Smash Bros. given the assortment of expansions such as Dominaria United or The Brothers'
characters who’ll be incorporated. War, they are simply another way for players to engage
with their favourite settings in another medium while
While these are the only confirmed collaborations also opening Magic up to new audiences.
announced so far, expect to see more announcements
soon. Given the breadth and depth of Warhammer Whether you like it or not, these new sets are re-
40,000 lore and the success of last year’s Universes invigorating the scene, especially casual play, and
Beyond release it certainly wouldn't be a surprise to see a enticing Fortnite gamers, Warhammer miniature
further collaboration there with the likes of the Aeldari, collectors, and Netflix viewers into the world of Magic:
Orks and Tau finally rendered in cardboard form too. The Gathering, cultivating a whole new generation of
players of the iconic trading card game.
Despite rumblings in the Magic community about the
shift towards cross-marketing and card accessibility, it’s
hard not to look at these releases and admit this Magic: The Gathering - Universes Beyond
approach is successfully attracting new players and Warhammer 40,000 is available now
growing the game. Playing Magic isn't the time-sink
before a Dungeons & Dragons session anymore, nor is The Lord of the Rings - Tales of Middle Earth
competitive play only seen as a meaningful way to play will be released this June, for more info check
the game these days. magic.wizards.com

88 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 89
 UNDAUNTED
HIT POINTS UNDAUNTED
REVIEW STALINGRAD GAME
OSPREY GAMES OF THE
Your one-stop guide to what the Wyrd Science team
have been reading, playing and pushing around the What had once been a paved street
MONTH
table at the moment! was transformed into a morass. The
buildings on either side were pockmarked.
One had collapsed entirely. Smoke hung in the air.
GAME OF THE MONTH The ground bristled with hastily placed mines. Fire roared on
either side. Snipers and counter-snipers. Anti-tank guns
UNDAUNTED STALINGRAD sheltered by rubble. Two scarred tanks prowled forward.
Squads of men darted into the open, protected only by haze. It
ROLE-PLAYING GAMES was now or never. They would halt the Tigers or they would fall
back, ceding one more city district to the invaders.
CY_BORG
BLADE RUNNER STARTER SET This is Undaunted: Stalingrad, Trevor Benjamin and David
OUT OF THE ASHES Thompson’s third outing of their much-acclaimed Undaunted
IRONSWORN STARFORGED series. It is a terror. It’s also part of a new wave of wargames
A FOLKLORE BESTIARY that’s more interested in being approachable to newcomers
HERBALIST’S PRIMER than in accurately recreating every stitch of its belligerents’
NOTORIOUS uniforms.
RUNE
EMPTY CYCLE As surprising as it may sound, the easiest point of comparison
for Undaunted is Dominion, the gentle medieval kingdom-
builder by Donald X. Vaccarino that introduced the world to
WARGAMES deck-building. If you haven’t heard of a “deck-builder” before,
the concept is deceptively simple. Everybody at the table
SPACE STATION ZERO begins with a starting deck of around ten cards. On your turn,
you draw a portion of those cards and use them to purchase
better offerings, eventually crafting a deck that can do in a
BOARDGAMES single draw what would have taken three or four turns to
accomplish previously.
BEYOND THE RIFT
DUNGEON BOWL - DEATH MATCH Dominion was like coming home. There was a naturalness to its
JUDGE DREDD rhythms, the adding and subtracting of cards, the intensity of a
well-honed deck, the little intrusions inflicted by rival players.
Vaccarino’s system sparked a wildfire. The following years
BOOKS witnessed a thousand imitators in every conceivable setting
and permutation. Most of them, to put it politely, were
DICE MEN shameless cash-ins. For every title that earned public attention,
EVERYBODY WINS a dozen others faded into forgetting. Eventually deck-building
HALO JONES - THE COMPLETE OMNIBUS settled into equilibrium, one tool among many for aspiring
I AM THE LAW designers.

By the time Benjamin and Thompson unveiled Undaunted:

Normandy in 2019, it wasn’t uncommon to see the deck-
builder being used as the underlying system for more complex

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 HIT POINTS: GAME OF THE MONTH
gameplay. Normandy still felt like a step
forward. This time around, the cards in
your hand personified squads of soldiers
on a map, caught in another recreation
of that fateful Allied invasion in June of
1944 that began the process of
liberating the Third Reich’s western
conquests.

Even as it retreaded all too familiar

ground, Normandy’s use of deck-
building gave it life. To play a card was to
activate the corresponding squad—to
move, to shoot, to scout deeper into
enemy territory. Recruiting an additional
card strengthened your presence on the
map, whether by increasing how often a
squad’s cards would be drawn or by
introducing entirely new troops to the
fray. Other cards, called “fog of war,”
clogged up your deck while simulating
overextended lines and enemy
harassment. Your troops, meanwhile, had
specialties of their own. Riflemen
advanced and seized positions while
gunners laid down suppression fire and
snipers singled out vulnerable
opponents. Photos: © Osprey Games

When hit… Well. We’ll return to that. 2019 as welcoming even among its more Almost without fanfare, Undaunted
approachable cohort. By that time, nearly advanced its own solution. Adding
For all its implied brutality, Normandy every hobbyist board gamer had played duplicate cards—say, that of a rifleman—
made an instant impression, earning a a deck-builder. That meant hands-on allows the player to activate their rifle
sequel the following year in Undaunted: training in the system’s most definable squad more often. If that sounds
North Africa, which further refined the strategies. obvious, that’s very much the point.
game’s scale and added vehicles to Compared to some of its peers, the
complement its infantry tactics. Above “Winnowing” is one such strategy. Since cards of Undaunted are downright
all, these titles stood out because they you can only ever draw a set number of simple. There are no conditional effects
were so easy to table. cards, large decks tend to be unwieldy, to trigger, no multi-step combos to
spacing out desirable options over too build. Strictly speaking, having the
Wargames have a reputation for being many hands or offering the occasional actions printed on the cards isn’t really
complex, multilayered creations, full of worthless draw. As players of Dominion necessary. If the card shows a scout, its
granular detail, sprawling orders of quickly discovered, a slender deck counterpart on the map behaves like a
battle, and as much chrome as their affords greater control—to such a scout and has access to a scout’s roster
designers can polish. Recent years have degree, in fact, that Vaccarino hadn’t of options.
sent modern design principles and predicted how dominant a tactic it
mechanisms spilling over the divide, would be to swiftly throw out as many Crucially, Benjamin and Thompson’s
making that reputation increasingly cards as possible. Ever since, designers approach to winnowing not only
undeserved. But Normandy stood out in have struggled to rein in that impulse. furthered the simplicity of Undaunted, it

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HIT POINTS: GAME OF THE MONTH
scenarios, that’s your goal: to inflict
casualties until your opponent’s force
can’t continue operations.

As game systems go, these losses have

an affecting permanence. It’s surprising
how hard it can hit. It certainly lands with
more of an impact than any number of
zoomed-out army chits. And that
permanence is the entire foundation
behind Stalingrad.

Permanence is the watchword of legacy

games, the concept that broke onto the
scene with Rob Daviau’s Risk Legacy, in
which stickers were applied to the
board, markers inked the names of cities,
and cards were torn in half to ensure
they would never appear again.
Stalingrad offers a gentler legacy.
There’s nothing preventing its players
from resetting that benighted city and its
doomed armies. It’s almost a relief, being
able to turn back the clock.
Of course, the connection was wholly
imaginary. As imaginary as a good luck Until then, however, Benjamin and
charm or the game’s WW2 setting, which Thompson have crafted one of the most
also solved one of wargaming’s bigger is to say both imaginary and as tangible gut-wrenching board games of the past
problems: its tendency to overlook the as anything. That connection made me few years. The core appeal of
humans staffing all those chits and willing to take chances when that Undaunted is secure, right down to the
markers. Evocatively illustrated by Roland specific card—that specific face— ten-sided dice that clatter across the
MacDonald, every installment in the appeared in my hand. It also made me table to determine whether a volley of
series has featured unique characters on pause, a little winded, when my scout suppression fire has taken its intended
every card. was finally killed. effect. Those bullets and shells take an
even greater toll than before.
The impact of this artistic decision That’s how Undaunted solves the
cannot be overstated. Although every winnowing problem. When a unit suffers Across fifteen sessions, squads are
character in Normandy and North Africa a hit, one of its cards is removed from transformed into ragtag bands. Surviving
is identical as a combat unit, they make your deck. This presents a constant, un- troops gradually become veterans,
themselves known as individuals as consenting winnowing, disrupting your earning fresh cards with little perks: a
they’re recruited, as they cycle through options and crippling your battlefield rifleman who’s learned to handle room-
your hand, and as they accomplish strength at an unrelenting pace. Before clearing grenades, a scout who can
themselves in battle. I remember a long, you begin to feel those absences. escort fellow soldiers through
particular scout in North Africa who A squad that’s been weakened and can’t treacherous terrain, gunners with the
always seemed more willing to act as often. A lucky scout placed off to ability to suppress wider areas.
reconnoiter the front lines and, upon the side of the table. Units broken
being sighted, seemed especially nimble entirely. Suffer enough casualties and Unfortunately, the inverse is also true.
at dodging bullets. your squads can’t recover. In some Throughout the game’s branching

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campaign, it isn’t uncommon to find harsher measure by stealing them away and revenants, locked in an eternal
oneself standing at the intersection of a forever. Once-fresh troops become struggle to command the ossuary.
dilemma. An objective has been bandaged and broken. The city itself is Despite being a game about composing
designated. To seize it, you must shattered, structures cast down to squads, executing bold maneuvers, and
navigate a killing field. Is it worth the rubble. Even veterans aren’t immune, rolling well, its sense of horror is
sacrifice in manpower? Which of your their appearance in the casualty pile undeniable.
troops will you hurl into the crossfire? doubly tragic. Those were known faces
with cultivated abilities. All gone. François Truffaut famously noted that
Those sacrifices, you know, will have there was no such thing as an anti-war
lasting effects. In this case, squads aren’t At the same time, there’s an undeniable film. Wargames have always grappled
eliminated altogether. Instead, fresh arc to these proceedings. New squads with a certain discomfort. Namely, that
troops and veterans alike are reduced to and eventually vehicles are introduced. these are horrors and playthings alike.
tattered bands. Now your rifle squad Even your squad leaders, abstracted in Stalingrad leans closer to the latter, but it
wields pistols and spades, your scouts the sense that they never appear exhibits an admirable dedication to not
limp rather than darting around corners, personally on the map, may find shying away from war’s consequences.
and your gunners are barely able to themselves touched by the conflict. The result is adrenal in the firefight but
reposition. sobering once the battle’s done.
After a handful of skirmishes,
In the process, something noteworthy bombardments and new piles of Once the bodies are stacked and the
happens. Where Normandy and North sandbags have transformed the city ruined map is put away, it lingers in the
Africa put the faces of its soldiers front entirely. In this light, Stalingrad’s thoughts. Undaunted Stalingrad is a
and center, Stalingrad resorts to an even occupants begin to resemble shades masterpiece. (Dan Thurot)

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CY_BORG
STOCKHOLM KARTELL

Ever since Swedish ‘art-punk’ RPG MÖRK

BORG hit the scene like a particularly
garish asteroid back in 2019, it has
inspired a shockwave of creativity. Other
indie titles since have certainly pulled in
more money but it’s fair to say few have
established such a vibrant community,
with a veritable cottage industry springing
up to publish third party content for the
game. From shower curtains, comics and
musical albums to single page pamphlet
adventures and even substantial hacks
of the game, the RPG scene has rarely
looked so colourfully horrific.
Art: Johan Nohr | Stockholm Kartell
After recent, lavish third party releases
that have relocated the game everywhere had a conversation online about the films and much like its parent game PCs are
from a sorcerous Caribbean to the trenches of Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven? Subtlety fragile things, easy to break if you get
of an alternative World War I, CY_BORG feels about as redundant as AI tech is too excited and just as easily replaced.
is the first official spin-off with Johan going to make most of us in the real world. For all that there’s just the one inviolable
Nohr, the game’s original artist and graphic rule, PCs must never be ‘loyal to, or
designer, joined by fellow swede Christian Much like MÖRK BORG’s setting, CY is an express sympathy for the corps, the
Sahlén, and taking us away from the rotblack evocative yet shallow thing, a petrol cops or the capitalist system’.
fantasy sludge of Galgenbeck and into the stained puddle reflecting a city’s sins
year 20X3 and the dystopian city of CY. back at it, its many miseries blasted at And that’s pretty much it, there’s a
you in a shotgun spray of hypocrisy and selection of horrible things to try and kill
Now, just as MÖRK BORG was about as horror, just enough of a look at its stygian your players with, all the tables you might
subtle as an Iron Maiden album cover, depths for you to push on discover the need to create NPCs, locations, adversaries
CY_BORG doesn’t exactly shy away from rest at your own table. Likewise the rules and adventures on the fly and a sample
nailing its neon colours to the mast. CY is a have been kept to a minimum, if you’ve adventure, the casino heist Lucky Flight
miserable, megacorp infested megalopolis played the original game you’ll be able Takedown, but as you’d expect by now,
with what feels like every cyberpunk to get to grips with it straight away whilst most of the book is given over to Nohr’s
trope, much like Nohr’s art, turned up to those who haven’t will still be able to anxiously glitchy artwork and bombastic
12 till it becomes a distorted howl of rage. pick up the basics in the time it takes to use of type, all of which sets the tone
roll on a few tables and create a character. with its admirable lack of restraint.
Is it a nuanced, subtle satire of the
capitalist excesses of today? No, not Either way you’ll be ready to go within The game perhaps lacks some of the
even vaguely, it’s about as heavy handed minutes and once the action does start bathetic humour of its predecessor, likely
as a T-800. Honestly though I’m not sure we’re very much in rules-lite, OSR fueled by it being a somewhat closer
why you’d be looking for that from the adjacent territory here. All rolls are approximation to our own benighted
people whose first game gave you a player-facing, with tests made by trying reality but even if this world is nothing
gore streaked femur as a starting weapon to hit a target number on a d20 plus but a fucked up simulation CY_BORG at
and commanded you to burn its rule relevant stat. Magic in all its forms is least offers you a chance to take a few
book at the end of play. Anyway, have basically replaced by a combination of corps down with you before the whole
you read the news lately, or even just nanotech, hacking, drugs and cybernetics thing resets again. (John Power Jr.)

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BLADE RUNNER
- STARTER SET
FREE LEAGUE

Taking a different, if comparatively bleak,

approach to CY_BORG in its depiction of
living in a horrible, neon lit, future is the
new Blade Runner RPG. As fans of the
films might expect, this is all cop - all the
way, as after 40 years of waiting it’s
finally time to, officially, hit the beat as an
officer of the LAPD’s Rep-Detect unit,
one of the titular Blade Runners.

Not that the game exactly glorifies your

job, as it’s more than likely that you’re
going to be playing a somewhat sad cop,
Art: Martin Grip | Free League Publishing
what with the world being pretty crappy,
no one particularly liking you and your surplus to those requirements is out the mainly missing the character generation
days and nights spent ‘retiring’ incredibly window. This, it should be said, is parts (pre-gens are provided), an intro
dangerous replicants - indentured robot generally speaking a good thing. There’s to the setting should you have been
servants who more often than not plenty of dystopian sci-fi games which living under a rock for the past 40 years,
display a humanity equal, or at least give you free rein to be or do whatever all the requisite dice, various cards to ease
equally lacking, to your own. you want, Blade Runner just wants to play and an introductory scenario, complete
emulate its source material as best it can. with an accompanying manila folder full
So yes, it’s the latest licensed blockbuster Importantly it also understands that of lavish maps, handouts and the like.
from Free League who having cut their source material. For all its sci-fi trappings,
teeth with the well received ALIEN RPG Blade Runner is a noir film, and at its heart That adventure, Electric Dreams, is not
have turned their attention to another noir is about cynical people, working in just a good introduction to the game’s
Ridley Scott sci-fi classic. And make no morally grey zones whilst undergoing one themes but the start of a longer
mistake this is very much a game designed existential crisis of one kind or another. campaign which, combined with the
to evoke not just the setting of that film, included playing aids, makes this as
and its recent sequel, but as much as If you’ve already played ALIEN, or indeed essential if not more than the core
possible its tone, themes and indeed plot. most of the Free League games you’ll rulebook and, together with all the fancy
have a good idea of how the core props, would definitely work as an effective
If that sounds obvious, well yes it is but it mechanics work, though like with all their if atypical introduction to tabletop RPGs.
is notable just how laser focused the game games the in-house Year Zero engine
is on doing that. This isn’t a sandbox has been tweaked, in this case with the If you want a more freeform experience
experience where you can go off and set up addition of rules for chases, investigations or generic ‘cyberpunk’ setting to play in
your own ramen stall or robo-owl sanctuary. and interrogations, and new rules for then useful setting material aside the game
Nope if you’re playing Blade Runner the dealing with the passing of time and handling itself is probably not for you. If, on the other
RPG then you’re here to get rained on, how you shift from scene to scene. Still, hand, you want a game that leans into a
feel sad, and at least try to kill some it’s all effortlessly simple really. distinctly cinematic experience and your
robots, all whilst questioning your humanity. group have no moral objections to playing
The Starter Set contains everything you robot killing cops and want to explore
Everything in the game is designed to need to play, a slimmed down but still fairly why that makes them sad then there’s a
facilitate that experience, whilst anything comprehensive set of rules which are lot to recommend here. (John Power Jr.)

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OUT OF THE
ASHES
MODIPHIUS

As is thankfully usually the case a dark

lord, in this case The Nameless Emperor,
has been defeated, cast down by a
ragtag coalition of the fair and free just
as he was poised to achieve dominion
over all. High fives all round, now chuck
his body on a pyre, light some fireworks
and let’s get the party started.

Of course, victories are rarely ever as

neat as that and more often than not
come loaded with as many consequences
as defeat. The scars of war on both
Art: Jon Hodgson
people and land run deep and the
process of rebuilding can be a long and scenery but central to the game’s play. definitely on the lighter end of the rules
painful one. All of which explains why When you start the game and create spectrum. When something needs to be
many stories, and indeed games, gloss your characters, all flavours of human by done and the outcome is in doubt you’ll
over it. the way, you also have to create your generally find yourself rolling 2d10
home as a collective endeavour, adding a relevant skill stat and hoping to
The Scouring of the Shire, the establishing its history and present hit a target of 15. Combat has a few extra
penultimate chapter of the The Lord of circumstances, its people and culture moves thrown in and there’s a relatively
the Rings, is perhaps the most famous, and importantly some of its relationships low-level magic system -which whilst
fantasy example of ‘what happens next’, with other communities. you can be a ‘wizard’ of sorts, everyone
and for its sins was excised from Peter can engage with in some way- but this is
Jackson’s films, branded an anti-climax Protecting your community from threats certainly the kind of game you can easily
after all that business with volcanos and then drives the game, whether that’s pick up during play.
pitched battles. actually manning the ramparts to defend
it from marauding forces or providing Whilst there’s nothing revolutionary
Still, the Scouring of the Shire is the players with the motivation to head about either setting or system here, Out
effectively where Paul Mitchener starts out into the dangerous hinterlands, of the Ashes unashamedly ransacks the
us off in his new RPG, Out of the Ashes. whether to forge new alliances or go in rubble of classic fantasy, myths and
The great war has been waged and won, search of magical trinkets, to make your legends for its building blocks, there is
and now the peace, an ever so fragile community stronger. It’s a solid hook for still a lot to enjoy. Its vaguely Northern
peace, must be too as the survivors a game, and one that should naturally Europe meets Celtic fantasy setting is
struggle to rebuild their communities, generate interesting developments and one that we’ve all seen a lot of before,
fight both for resources and against the storylines over the course of play, whilst but Mitchener has put a fair bit of
remnants of The Nameless Emperor’s also keeping the game focused and legwork into giving it some depth and by
forces and maybe begin the process of taking some degree of pressure off the putting the concept of community
healing the land of its taint and GM in any long running campaign. rather than personal heroics central to
corruption. the game given it a subtly different, and
Mechanically the system is an evolution interesting, flavour to many of the other
Importantly that idea of community and of the one Mitchener devised for his fantasy RPGs that it otherwise shares so
rebuilding isn’t just a nice bit of stage urban-fantasy RPG Liminal, and is much with. (Si Tolley)

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IRONSWORN:
STARFORGED
MODIPHIUS

Once again we swear an iron vow but

this time instead of venturing through a
dark fantasy land or delving into its
myriad nightmares, we instead turn our
attention to the stars.

Starforged is the third in Shawn Tomkin’s

Ironsworn series and while it can be
played like a traditional RPG with a GM
and a group of players or as a GMless
co-op game, the series is best known for
its solo versatility. With the use of
Powered By The Apocalypse style
Art: Joshua Meehan
“Moves” and extensive Oracles to give
prompts and guidance on near enough Starforged does bump into the question To veteran D&D players it’ll still seem
everything, Ironsworn has built a of “why don’t I just write a book?” and, to zippy but players of more story focused
reputation of being the perfect vehicle be honest, it’s a fair question. Most of or single roll games will certainly feel the
for anyone looking to run a game for Starforged’s gameplay is just creating pinch.
and by themselves. and writing but where it differs from the
magical art of creative writing is in the There’s also little in the way of guidance
Starforged, as mentioned above, takes uncertainty. which can drain all the excitement from
the original Ironsworn system and the experience as you puzzle over
launches it into a region of space known Whenever your character is in a situation exactly how you’re supposed to insert
as The Foundry which you’ll make up or where success is in doubt, you will have the results from the Oracle into the
generate during your solo session zero. to use one of the many Moves available current scene. In some ways, it requires a
During this setup session, which can take and chuck the dice. Each combat could lot of elasticity from the player in much
a couple of hours, you’ll be expected to be your last, each discovery could the same way as the old Fighting Fantasy
generate 14 Truths about the setting, change everything, and it is in this back- books were often much improved by the
choose 2 of the 40+ Paths available for and-forth with the book that Starforged “my finger was still on the other page”
your character, sort out your stats, really shines. It pushes you to tell stories rule that many of us used.
generate planets, settlements, and finally you wouldn’t think of and takes you
decide upon an Iron Vow which will be along for the journey as you can never Don’t deny it, you did it too!
your main quest at this stage in the be certain where the plot is going.
game. In the end, Starforged provides the same
The downside though is that even with a framework as Ironsworn but with a new
It’s a lot, it really is, but once you’re past relatively simple base game mechanic, coat of paint, loads of new character
that session zero hurdle, Starforged the sheer variety of things to do can be options and updated rules for a sci-fi
really does begin to earn its reputation overwhelming. With the fail state of setting. If you like the idea of playing a
as a system that can handle nearly every many Moves requiring you to make fully fleshed out campaign by yourself,
story you want to tell. another Move and consult an Oracle and then there really is no better option, just
make sure to adjust your rolls for your be prepared to both put in the work and
Like any solo RPG that tries to replicate various stats, paths, companions, gear, break the rules from time to time.
the freedom of a traditional RPG, etc, the action can feel quite lethargic. (Anna Blackwell)

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A FOLKLORE BESTIARY HERBALIST’S PRIMER

THE MERRY MUSHMEN DOUBLE PROFICIENCY

Whilst most of the fantasy creatures we face across the table Most people who have written their own RPG material will know
have their roots in folklore, decades of monstrous manuals and how easy it is to fall down a rabbit hole. One minute you’re
fiendish folios have divorced them from their source material, cobbling together a generic fantasy township, you go to check
often stripping them of much of their weirdness in the process. some small detail and then five hours later find yourself with an,
A Folklore Bestiary, from the publishers of Knock! is something of at least, passing understanding of medieval sewage systems. It is,
a restorative then, introducing around 40 monsters that have I suppose, a blessing as much as a curse.
been culled from folk tales around the world and statted up for
the ever reliable Old School Essentials (a 5E version is also Herbalist’s Primer then, by writer, illustrator and graphic designer
available). Anna Urbanek, is what happens when you not only fall headfirst
down one of these rabbit holes but have the skills to turn that
From Basque giants to French faeries, Chinese fox spirits to the obsessive train of thought into an actual book. The result here is
utterly bizarre Mapinguari of Brazil with its metaphysical guts, The a beautiful looking Flora containing both a practical introduction
Merry Mushmen have scoured the world for bizarre behemoths to herbalism and over a hundred wonderfully illustrated entries
and extraordinary entities alike, recruiting local writers to that cover the folklore, physiology, magical, medical and culinary
develop and flesh out each entry alongside Letty Wilson’s properties of everything from aconite to yew.
evocative art.
Described as ‘a system agnostic toolkit for game masters’ it is a
It’s often said that a good monster is an adventure in of itself thoroughly, excessively perhaps, researched book. Whilst Urbanek
and that’s certainly the case here. Alongside their stats every makes it clear that it is to be regarded as a work of fiction and
entry comes complete with the stories, myths and legends that not to be used for any medical, or indeed maleficient, purposes,
surround them plus plot hooks, wondrous treasures, motivations I’ve cross-referenced it with several other books here on both
and everything you might need to create a strange and botany and plant folklore most of that research stacks up.
unsettling encounter. And it’s almost certain that these
encounters will be both very strange and quite unsettling, in the way Without any actual ‘game’ content I struggle to imagine all but
that unpasteurised folk tales often are. the most committed-to-the-bit druid making use of more than
five percent of the material contained in this book and yet I
So if you’ve grown tired of throwing orcs and skeletons at your suspect that for many that will matter little. Urbanek’s Herbalist’s
players this charming bestiary could be just what you need to Primer is truly a senseless act of beauty and one that our little
reintroduce a touch of high weirdness to your games. corner of the world is in some small, strange way, utterly
(Si Tolley) enriched by. (John Power Jr.)

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NOTORIOUS RUNE
ALWAYS CHECKERS PUBLISHING GILA RPGs

While I never had much love for Boba Fett – a statement that is It was only a matter of time before “souls-like” – the tag given to
sure to see my house firebombed by certain diehard fans – I any game that seeks to emulate the Dark Souls series – made
can appreciate a good sci-fi bounty hunter story with the best the leap to tabletop RPGs and eventually to solo RPGs. And
of them and that’s exactly what Notorious delivers. while Rune is our focus today, it isn’t the only one.

Each game of Notorious can be thought of as a self-contained In Rune, the gods have sundered the world into various realms
episode as there’s no character progression. Sure, during each that you, an Engraved, have the unique ability to travel between.
game you can recruit locals who provide certain benefits; you’ll Your goal is to find the Rune Lord of each realm, beat them up
get boons and penalties from Exploration and Destination and steal their Rune for yourself. To do this, you explore each of
Events; and you’ll earn a bunch of things that affect your dice the 7 realms included with the game via a “point-crawl”,
rolls but once the Target’s killed, it’s back to square one and essentially a series of locations linked together with paths which
that’s no bad thing as Notorious doesn’t need more than that. limit where you can get to from each location.

All the actions you can take in the game get out of the way with As you explore each location, you’ll be presented with a variety
minimal fuss to provide you with a streamlined journaling of actions that can uncover bits of story about the realm; useful
experience that creates genuinely engaging stories. The plethora items; and, as is expected of a souls-like, lots of horrible gits to
of prompts available during the Exploration and Destination fight. Combat is where RUNE changes things up as compared to
Events go together to build a constantly expanding story. But other solo RPGS. Instead of presenting a theatre of the mind,
don’t be discouraged by the thought of a pile of creative RUNE’s combat takes place on a 4x4 grid with each combat
writing work being dropped on you as Notorious provides encounter providing the starting locations of enemies and
many generators to provide details about the Planets, Species, impassable terrain. Considering how important positioning and
and Names for the various people you’ll meet as you play. reading enemy cues is to the Souls series, this is a genuine
stroke of genius. Match this with accessible writing and this is a
I’ve praised Thousand Year Old Vampire in the past for making must buy for any Souls fan. Especially as there are fan made
me commit the cardinal sin of “talking for ages about my solo Realms to explore and templates to help make your own!
RPG character despite multiple attempts to change the subject”
and now Notorious proudly joins that list. What do you mean My one and only criticism is that, much like its video game
I’ve only got 300 words?! Fine, long story short, my bounty hunter inspiration, being low on health and having no healing items
rocks, even if they did get their butt kicked in nearly every means you often may as well die and start a fresh run. Though
fight. (Anna Blackwell) maybe I just need to git gud. (Anna Blackwell)

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HIT POINTS: ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

EMPTY CYCLE
ROOKIE JET STUDIOS

“Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary”

Being a teenager is weird. And sometimes all that insecurity,

uncertainty and frustration can only be expressed by becoming
a robot and fighting a Space Phoenix. Really.

Empty Cycle then is a TTRPG that attempts to emulate the

frenetic, chaotic energy of an anime such as Fooly Cooly. The
broad narrative here is that you are a teenager in a dull town
who is infected by an alien parasite that grants you strange
powers. Peculiar, high-concept events follow, not least because
pursuing those alien parasites are a second group of entities, the While keeping it light does give players licence to create
Reapers, who are determined to wipe the parasites out with whatever kind of characters and situations they might like, it
their ultimate weapons. Much like its inspiration the game is big would have benefited from some additional structure. In
on symbolism and makes it clear from the beginning that the addition, for such a conceptually complex game, I feel that it
parasites represent the characters' desire for maturity whilst the could have provided more hand-holding and examples of
Reapers the things they suppress. gameplay to guide players and Gms through the experience.

Mechanically the game is very rules-lite. Different size dice are In particular, a bit of thought on group dynamics would have
assigned to 6 different stats divided between both the main been helpful. It is difficult for players to have personal
player character and their parasite. Tests are passed by rolling introspective journeys when the GM is managing a table of 3 or
above a target 2 for easy, 20 for impossible etc. To beat harder 4 people. Are other players supposed to sit it out while one
tasks the player’s character must synchronise with their parasite player battles against their feelings for their absent father? Does
to gain advantages. And when things get truly out of control it detract things when an individual’s symbolic representation of
such as a local shopping mall transforming into a war machine, trauma is being beaten down by a whole party? In many ways
the player and their parasite can enter a Spill. In that state, they the game could work best as a two-player experience, with just
blend together to transform into one entity that takes on a the GM and one player.
completely different form, be that a robot warrior, superhero or
perhaps a weaponised Beanie Baby. In addition to being rules-lite, Empty Cycle is setting-lite too
though it does give you a lot of tools in terms of questions for
One of the game's innovations is that the player has control over the GM or the player to answer to start building their world,
both their character and the parasite and has to role-play them which feels like the right approach. Keeping the Reapers as
separately, though the GM can be given or take control of a vague as possible gives a lot of freedom for both players and
parasite as needed. It makes for some quite challenging role- GMs to come up with their own weirdness.
playing as the parasite and the character might not always have
the same agenda and can easily end up in conflict with each Published by Rooky Jet Studio, who are carving out an
other. interesting niche for themselves with anime inspired games -
such as the dark fantasy Red Giant and ‘Anima’ brawler Over
Whether you are going to like this game is going to depend Arms - Empty Cycle is a stylish, good looking book that makes
quite heavily on your comfort with narrarive focused, rules-lite the most of its limited art and simple layout.
games. Empty Cycle doesn’t want to limit players in terms of
how they look or what they can do, something that fits with a Rules light but conceot heavy, Empty Cycle is by no means an
genre where chaotic nonsensical fight scenes take place all the easy TTRPG to get your head around, but it is, by design,
time. It would be foolish to even try and fit that into a more experimental, flexible and strange which keeps it close to its
elaborate rules system and Empty Cycle wisely doesn’t. spiritual roots and worth checking out. (Luke Frostick)

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SPACE STATION ZERO

SNARLING BADGER STUDIOS

Last seen making the tabletop wargame world a gnarlier place

with the daemonic Reign In Hell, Adam Loper and Vincent
Venturella are back with Space Station Zero. Another miniatures-
agnostic skirmisher, this time they’ve swapped the abyssal plains
for an an unsurprisingly grim and indeed dark future, where you
find yourself marooned, along with the crews of several other
ships, at the titular derelict, an ancient and mysterious hulk
drifting through the otherwise empty void.

So, Kill Team set on board a Blackstone Fortress you might think
and whilst that wouldn’t be an outrageously egregious
description there’s a bit more to it than just that. First of all, and
quite importantly, Space Station Zero is designed to be run as a
co-operative or solo game. Yes you can just use the rules here
to grab some minis off the shelf and engage in fire fights with
your friends but the main thrust of the game is a narrative
campaign focused on exploring the bowels of the Space
Station, unlocking its many secrets and looting anything not
bolted down.

Crew creation is fairly simple, pick between four, six and eight
crew members - the lower the number the stronger they are,
decide between one of six archetypes such as explorers, pirates
or merchants - each of which unlocks different specialists, give each challenge comes with specific victory conditions that
them a special ability to personalise them and a skip full of might include fixing parts of the crumbling space station,
weapons and you’re good to go. Likewise the game itself keeps accessing a particular data node, defusing a bomb and so on.
things fast and simple and doesn’t weigh itself down with too
many rules, crew members have 5 stats, each of which equals Once you’ve successfully navigated a challenge you’re then
the number of D12s they get to roll when something related to generally presented with a few different options of what path to
that stat goes awry. Generally speaking you’re looking to roll a take deeper into the core of this rotting death trap, given a
number of evens, with natural 12s counting for two successes, all chance to recover from injuries (or not as the case may be) and
very easy to gets to grips with. potentially level up any crew members who haven’t yet bled out,
been turned into a mushroom person or otherwise come a
The game then plays out as a set of challenges that provide you cropper. As you progress through the campaign you’ll start to
with a bit of flavour text, details on how to set up and play any AI discover Space Station Zero’s secrets, revealed in a separate
controlled enemies, terrain or special rules that apply for that section at the back of the book, that provide mechanical
particular level. Whilst most challenges see you coming up benefits to your crew, poetic glimpses of the afterlife, and
against some variety of robotic sentry or crazed mutant, that’s ultimately THE TRUTH about the setting.
not all you have to contend with and there’s as much emphasis on
environmental hazards such as deadly gas leaks, viral bombs, The enemy AI is fairly rudimentary and crew customization is
mutagenic spores and frankly not up to code space relatively limited but the game has a tight narrative focus and if
architecture. you like the idea of a fast paced, easy to pick up sci-fi dungeon
crawl/wargame then Space Station Zero is a great way to get
Neither is the objective just to kill every thing in sight, though to more use out of your minis, get a game or three in when no one
be fair that will probably increase your chances of survival and else is around and scratch that narrative itch. (Eoin Ryan)

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HIT POINTS: BOARD GAMES

BEYOND THE RIFT

DRAGON DAWN PRODUCTIONS

Dungeon crawl board games are in many ways a distillation of

traditional RPGs, a pared back and focused experience that
more often than not hones in on two of the key three pillars,
exploration and combat. Whilst they may impose constraints
upon the breadth of what actions your characters can take that
often allows them to go into more mechanical depth, or at least
make combat more satisfying than just rolling to hit.

Beyond The Rift takes this a step further. The sequel to 2016’s
cult hit Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift, which itself made some
interesting design choices. Whilst it came packed with the
requisite amount of dungeon tiles to explore and plastic figures
to push around, Perdition’s Mouth took several of its design
cues from the Eurogame genre. Out went dice replaced by an
element of deck building and taking centre stage was a rondel
used for activating the characters and defining what actions
they could take each round.

Its follow up flenses even more meat from the bone, removing
both board and miniatures to focus on the combat side of the
dungeon crawl experience. Whilst it’s lost the rondels Beyond a solo game, where i played multiple characters myself. Too
The Rift still retains much of what gave the original game a lot of often with co-op games I find there’s a tendency for an optimal
its flavour, most notably how wound cards are allocated to your strategy to appear, and whoever figures that out can,
characters, inexorably crowding out your hand as your inadvertently or not, dominate the play. This is particularly the
increasingly bloodied characters push their way through each case here, as unlike a traditional dungeon crawler where each
level. player may be off investigating different areas, you’re essentially
all running through one specific encounter at the same time.
Talking of characters those are the same too, indeed the story Who knows, perhaps I’m just an awful co-operative player but
picks up almost exactly where the original game’s campaign either way as a solo game it shines.
ended with the horrific death rattle of the demon that you’ve
have just eviscerated. If you’ve played through Perdition’s Mouth Even if you are planning on playing this in a group though I’d
then you’ll already know the characters and many of the definitely advise at least one player to have had a crack at it on
enemies they’ll go up against, a fairly grim mix of creatures with their own first anyway. Whilst, once understood, the rules aren’t
names like Boneworms, Rotikkas and whatever a Tharnix is. ridiculously complicated they do have their peculiarities and I
wouldn’t expect most people to just be able to pick it up and
It’s won’t affect your enjoyment of the game too much if you’re run it straight out of the box.
new to it all though, whilst the majority of the enemies are
unique to this world it doesn’t take too much to figure out that To be honest most of my issues came down to how the game
they are all basically pretty disgusting things with far too many takes something reasonably familiar, a dungeon crawl, and
teeth to go round. Still it wouldn’t have hurt to provide you with reworks it as a card game. For a good half hour I felt like I was
a little more setting background, especially as the art on the battering my head against a brick wall before suddenly it clicked
cards can be fairly indistinct at times. into place. The game’s patterns appeared, I started appreciating
how each character plays off another, whilst the zonal system -
Anyway, it’s a co-operative game for 1-4 players.Personally, like by which enemy cards move in and out of range- went from an
many of these kind of co-operative games, I enjoyed it more as infuriatingly abstract concept to a simple and elegant solution.

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Our human warrior
Bastian prepares to,
reluctantly, turn an
annoying guard into
dungeon chum

Once you’ve wrapped your head around it, the game itself is part in a film where the team finally get their shit together and
split into a series of campaigns, each comprised of around half a start working as one to overcome otherwise insurmountable odds.
dozen scenarios, though due to each campaign’s branching
structure you’ll only ever play around half of them on any one go. At the same time, and working against you, your hands are filling
up with wound and fatigue cards. These are cards that you can
Every scenario comes with its own different setup that play, at a cost to your action points, attack or defence or hoard
proscribes how to build an enemy deck, how new monsters at the risk they run out and your character dies when the next
might spawn, any special rules for that particular scenario and one is allocated. With wounds generally not healing naturally in
the relevant win conditions. It has to be said, as in so many other between scenarios, there’s a careful balance in play here and if
areas the game’s designer, Nikolas Lundström Patrakka, has done you’re not careful you can easily become overwhelmed.
an exceptional job squeezing so much juice out of relatively few
components and making the scenarios, that range from straight Once you’ve got the flow of the game, you’ll be completing
up fights to rescuing innocents, guarding dwarf miners and most scenarios in around 30 to 40 minutes and, unless you end
carousing with pirates, feel different. up being ripped apart by monstrous insects and that will happen,
you should easily be able to work through a campaign in an
Once a scenario is under way you must manage your hand and evening.
action points, work your way through the rooms, engage
enemies and play cards that variously deliver different amounts Beyond The Rift exhibits some real design craft and several ideas
of damage, boost your own defences or provide you with more that deserve to be looted themselves by other games. It may be
action points. This is where the game really shines as it is in many hampered by the odd lackluster graphic design choice and a
ways a puzzle with ts various parts spread between the different rulebook that could have done with another pass but if you’re
characters and their cards. Figuring out the interplay between looking for a gritty yet distilled dungeon crawl experience with
these and then stringing together, hopefully, devastating an interesting narrative and that can provide a considerable
combos gives you a real sense of achievement. It’s basically that challenge then it is well worth giving a go. (John Power Jr.)

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DUNGEON BOWL -
DEATH MATCH
GAMES WORKSHOP

There’s a decent case to be made that 40 years on from

blitzing its way into the British gaming public’s consciousness
that, if you’re looking for it, the beating spiritual heart of
Warhammer is to be found in Blood Bowl, Games Workshop’s
somewhat anarchic game of Fantasy Football. Whilst the
company’s wargames still like to inject the occasional bit of
humour into the midst of all the horror, both their fantasy and
sci-fi games are increasingly played straight. Blood Bowl on the
other hand still revels in both gratuitous slapstick and violence,
a custard pie to the face, that is usually swiftly followed by a
chainsaw.

This was, and happily still is, the home of goblins on pogo sticks, halflings and elves and a motley assortment of ghosts, ghouls,
dwarves with steamrollers and probably the only place you’ll skeletons, mummies and zombies who. unsurprisingly,
ever see a snotling pump-wagon again. It's a game where represent the College of Death. It goes, almost, without saying
instead of snapping up the latest game-breaking army on day that the models are wonderful, Games Workshop's side-games
one, players often purposefully chhose to play the clearly like Blood Bowl and Necromunda are home to some of their
tiered, worse teams just for the fun of it. This is all rather wonderful. most characterful models and the halflings in particular are a
joyfully portly, if inevitably doomed, bunch.
I say 'somewhat anarchic' up there though, as for all its
intentional mayhem Blood Bowl does still come with a sizeable But does the game itself do these models justice? Sadly, only
rulebook. Just as it has retained its anarchic spirit it’s still also some of the time. What feels like it should be an even
very much the vestigial remains of a wargame and can, for all scrappier, more mayhem packed version of Blood Bowl often
the tweaks it has received down the years and editions, be a a becomes bogged down in endless minutia. This is especially
bit of a fussy thing. the case when over the half the dungeon’s rooms have their
own unique rules that slow play to a crawl as you thumb your
Unfortunately this tendency is only exacerbated in Dungeon way back and forwards through the nice looking but
Bowl, a spin-off game featuring smaller teams that, as you've frustratingly index free rulebook.
probably guessed, is played in a dungeon. The idea here is that
the teams are representatives of various schools of magic, itself A case in point, during one of our first games a lumbering
a nice take on the American college football system. In a zombie lineman was confronted with a spiked pit he needed to
notable difference from the main game Dungeon Bowl teams navigate. One bad roll later and what should have been an
have access to a much wider selection of players culled from amusing moment turned into a procedural cascade that
multiple different species. required us to check around six different, wholly discrete, rules
one after the other. After what felt like 10 minutes of head
If you happen to have several Blood Bowl teams already then scratching and cross referencing we were prepared to hurl
this can be a great way to mix and match models and play with both rulebook and game into a spiked pit of its own.
some unusual combinations. If you don’t though you’re a bit
stumped and at their fairly keen prices you’re unlikely to buy But then, just as you're about to abandon all hope, the magic
two, or even three, sets just to assemble one Dungeon Bowl team. happens. Or rather absolute comic disaster does. You see in
Dungeon Bowl they’ve done away with anything as mundane
Making that process a little easier the Death Match supplement as a kick-off, low ceilings making that a non-starter. Instead the
comes with two ready-made crews. The College of Life's mix of ball is hidden inside one of 6 treasure chest scattered around

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 HIT POINTS: BOARD GAMES
Who let the dog out?

Dungeon Bowl’s
resident werewolf,
fleet of foot, furry of
face and full of
halfling

Photo: © Games Workshop

the map, the other five instead rigged to explode upon This is made all the more galling by the fact that on some level
opening, often with bloody, if morbidly hilarious, consequences. Games Workshop are clearly aware of all this and have already
solved many of the game’s problems with Blitz Bowl, another
The game that salvaged Dungeon Bowl’s reputation began Blood Bowl spinoff that strips the game back further and
with around five halflings sundered limb from limb just trying to actually applies some of the last few decade's advances in
find the ball. By the time my opponent’s Ghoul Runner had board game design. Unfortunately Blitz Bowl is one of those
finally located the accursed pigskin, well over half of both inexplicably hard-to-find games that Games Workshop
teams were dead or at least in various pieces of disrepair. In occasionally release to select stores in even more select
other games this might be a source of despair but Dungeon countries, and so for many of us remains a thing of myth and
Bowl lifts failure into sublime slapstick. legend, to be known only by the glowing reviews of those
lucky enough to bag a copy.
Deciding to risk a shortcut around a particularly troublesome
room that had already claimed the lives of two other players, Whilst familiarity with the rules does eventually speed things
our ghoul chanced his luck with one of the dungeon's up, the chances are that this is the sort of game that you’ll only
teleporters. Unfortunately for him this set off a chain reaction pull off your shelf once in a while. Which unless you’re blessed
sending four other players zipping around the table, before he with an eidetic memory inevitably means you’re in for another
finally teleported onto himself and was blasted into the aether. frustrating experience as you get back up to speed.

The ball, now free of his undead claws, was picked up by one For all its faults Blood Bowl is still a very fun game. Dungeon
of the few remaining halflings who just had to canter through Bowl makes you work even harder for those moments of joy, in
one small room to win the game. He was promptly eaten by a the end perhaps too hard. If you’re fully invested in the main
wandering werewolf. It was a sequence of events that brought game with several teams to hand then it can be a nice way to
home everything fun about this game and makes it even more get some more use out of your models but the investment
frustrating when the rules once again conspire to get in the required, both in money and time probably makes this one just
way. for the truly dedicated followers of Nuffle. (John Power Jr.)

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JUDGE DREDD
REBELLION UNPLUGGED

Whilst we impatiently await news of a new

Judge Dredd RPG, and we all know they
must be cooking something up, Rebellion
Unplugged have been keeping us busy
revisiting some of the classic Dredd board
games of the 1980s.

Following on from Block Mania, we now

have a re-release of 1982’s Judge Dredd:
The Game of Crime-Fighting In Mega-
City One, to give it its full, if somewhat
cumbersome, title. Designed by avowed
2000AD fan Ian Livingstone and originally
released by Games Workshop in 1982, the
game has been given an incredibly light
Photo: © Rebellion Unplugged
spit and polish to bring it at least a little
up to date. audience among those for whom its sure inevitably surfaces and instead of going
to deliver a nostalgia fuelled dopamine hit. on a wanton killing spree starts littering.
Thankfully the classic Dave Gibson and
Brian Bolland art has been retained with Not that it’s actually a bad game, whilst Players can assist each other in making
just the colours re-touched by Pye Parr the intervening decades have seen a lot arrests, almost a necessity for some of the
making both the game-board, a of advances in board game design, more fearsome felons, but are also able
gorgeous map of Mega-City One, and Judge Dredd is a perfectly serviceable, if to sabotage each other, making a trip to
player standees pop. Unlike the original lightweight, little number to enjoy along the Justice Department hospital all the
one-size-fits-all approach, players also with a few synthi-beers and pretzels. more likely. Throw in random events such
now get to choose between six different as escapes from Mega-City’s alien zoo,
Judges, from a fresh faced recruit to a The aim of the game is simple enough. outbreaks of radioactive spiders or the
hulking robo-Judge, each with their own Crimes are being committed and it’s your chance of having someone encased in a
strengths and special abilities. job to curb stomp the perps responsible. giant plastic bubble fall on your head
The way the game represents this is from a great height and there’s at least
For good and bad though the core rules actually one of its highlights as random no let up of the game’s murderous
have, pretty much, been left as they were crime and criminal cards are placed mayhem.
with just a few new cards and one or two together in various sectors, which you
procedures stream-lined to facilitate then need to rush to and apprehend. Whilst you don’t have to have played this
slightly faster play but if you whiled-away game as a kid to enjoy it today, you do
a grey British Sunday afternoon in the As befits Mega-City One the crimes range probably need to have some affection for
1980s, stretched out on the shag-pile from the mundane, such as Armed Robbery, the source material. Its mix of incredibly
playing this then the experience should through to those peculiar to Dredd’s simple rules, fairly arbitrary randomness
be eerily familiar. And that of course is megalopolis, like Old Comic Selling. and the take that nature of play will be a
almost entirely the point. Meanwhile the criminals are a veritable turn off for many modern board game
rogue’s gallery from Rico Dredd to the fans. But the combination of all that
I can’t imagine there’s been a huge clamour Fink Brothers. Half the fun here is the often wonderful Dredd art and the game’s
for the return of this game over the years wild juxtaposition of crime and criminal, as wholehearted embrace of the sheer
because of its gameplay but, much like when Dredd’s arch nemesis and inter- ridiculousness of his world was enough to
Block Mania, this is sure to find an galactic superfiend Judge Death win me over once again. (Eoin Ryan)

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 HIT POINTS: BOOKS
to accommodate those misgivings whilst
I AM THE LAW upholding the authority of the fascist
MICHAEL MOLCHER state he represents, and we are more
REBELLION often than not invited to cheer him on.

Where Judge Dredd the board game Molcher also takes aim at how the strip
plays up the lunacy of Mega-City One’s has, or rather hasn’t, handled race and
legal system for laughs, Michael identity politics over the years. On the
Molcher’s new book should leave you few occasions storylines do in some way
incandescent with rage at the injustices feature race relations or base stories
of our own world. around subjects such as slavery the strip
invariably falls back on a cast of robots,
Subtitled How Judge Dredd Predicted mutants or aliens to make its often
Our Future, I Am The Law is, surprisingly confused point. A problem exacerbated,
perhaps, no light pop-culture look at the Molcher points out, by the fact that in its
parallels between say meat substitute 45 year history ‘not a single writer of
munce and beyond burgers or the colour has ever worked on “Dredd.”’
excessive trivialities of our age. Rather
Molcher has penned an excoriating But, even if Dredd isn’t always the
review of the last few decades of absolutely perfect peg for Molcher to
policing in the UK and beyond, the tub- hang his ideas on, Old Stoneyface is still
thumping Law and Order politics that a more than serviceable route into
have both encouraged and hand waved through which to look at our relationship tackling some difficult ideas. The book
its worst excesses and the corrosive with both the police and the state, from not only provides an entertaining history
effect this has had on democracy. the foundational myths of Britain’s of the strip itself and the circumstances
‘policing by consent’ to the creation of that surrounded its creation and
Those not familiar with Judge Dredd, the surveillance state and increasingly development, but is a thoroughly rage
and going by the occasional tweet authoritarian systems of government. inducing introduction to several
directed at 2000AD to keep politics out heavyweight topics, the likes of which
of comics perhaps even many who are, To his credit Molcher is also pretty clear- would otherwise rarely see the light of
may be surprised by the contents of this eyed about the limitations of Dredd’s day outside the halls of academia and
book. I Am The Law is a thoroughly satire. 2000AD’s readership may skew specialist Marxist bookshops.
researched book that dives deep into the markedly older today than when it was
history of policing and totalitarian politics, launched at teenage tearaways in 1977 One final thought on this book. In many
drawing upon everyone from Weber, but it is after all still a weekly comic strip ways it’s fascinating it exists at all. Molcher
Gramsci and Hobbes through to modern designed to entertain and not ferment is 2000AD’s brand manager, for many
day sociologists and philosphers, such as revolution. As the product of dozens of years its public face, and the book is
Stuart Hall and Dardot & Laval, to make writers, all with their own, often published by its parent company Rebellion.
its often damning case. contradictory, ideas Dredd will never be This is about as official a take on who and
a perfect pastiche, more than that in what 2000AD’s star turn is and the verdict’s
Combining a social history of comics countless cases the ever increasing far from flattering. In an age of politically
with its interrogation of modern day threats to Dredd’s world would, on the driven boycotts and tedious culture wars,
policing, Molcher demonstrates how surface, seem to justify the kind of police it’s noticeable that 2000AD have become
time and again Dredd has held up a state that he’s an avatar of. increasingly assertive in their approach
mirror to the neoliberal politics that to politics in recent years and that this
gained ground in the UK and US at the Dredd is depicted as a hero as much as has led to some of its best stories, a lesson
end of the 1970s. Divided into fourteen an anti-hero and whilst he may have the perhaps for other companies who may be
chapters, each one ostensibly takes a occasional qualms about the judge’s rule wrestling with the legacy of their own
particular Dredd storyline as a prism he has, time and time again, found a way authoritarian poster-boys. (Eoin Ryan)

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HIT POINTS: BOOKS
squash club as their bathroom to their first
DICE MEN road trip to meet Gary Gygax and the TSR
IAN LIVINGSTONE W/ STEVE JACKSON team they were clearly operating on a shoe-
UNBOUND string, but hinestly it all sounds rather fun.

In recent years the likes of Jon Peterson, Even when trouble does turn up, most
Ben Riggs and Shannon Appelcline have often in the surly shape of Citadel
all done great work documenting the Miniatures’ Bryan Ansell, Livingstone
chaotic origins of both America’s RPG seems remarkably even handed. Anyone
scene and TSR, the company responsible who felt betrayed by Games Workshop’s
for so much of it. Despite the many abandonment of role-playing games in
parallels, the UK and its own gaming giant, favour of cash cow Warhammer and have
Games Workshop, is sadly yet to receive nurtured a dislike of Ansell ever since will
the same treatment. Dice Men then is a be disappointed. For any disagreements
start, of sorts, being the ‘origin story’ of they might have had over the company’s
Games Workshop as told by two of its direction Livingstone seems impressed by,
three founders, Ian Livingstone and Steve and ultimately supported, Ansell’s business
Jackson. strategy. It’s hard to argue with results.
When we do get to the end of the road
Those, such as myself, longing for a and Ansell first takes over the running of
forensic dissection of the company’s early Taking Livingstone at his word then the the company before selling it to Tom
years though will need to wait a while story of Games Workshop’s early years is Kirby, ending Livingstone and Jackson’s
longer still. Whilst the book takes us from one of almost remarkable serendipity. relationship with the company, the whole
the company’s beginning in a dingy West Having decided to start a company selling affair’s done and dusted in less than a page.
London flat right up to the point their games from their flat, they stumbled
business partner orchestrated their across Dungeons & Dragons at a board I suspect much of this equanimity is due to
departure from the company in the early game convention in early 1975 and, falling Livingstone’s many successes beyond
90s, the intervening story is told in fairly in love with the game, ordered a whole six founding Games Workshop. For most of
broad strokes. Livingstone, and this is his copies for their nascent mail order us that would be the pinnacle of our lives,
book really, is a consummate story-teller, business. Off the back of this improbably for Livingstone it was just the start of a
and many of the tales in this book have small order TSR granted Games Workshop career that would include creating Fighting
the well worn feel of ones that have been the exclusive European distribution rights Fantasy, running the company that gave
told many a time at the end of enjoyable to the game. the world Lara Croft, advising governments,
dinners down the years, all rough edges being knighted -notably for his services to
buffed away in their re-telling. Time and time again Livingstone and the online gaming industry rather than the
Jackson appear to be in the right place, tabletop world- and, to cap it all, four
That’s not to say there’s nothing of value or meet the right person at the right time decades later he’s still enjoying regular
here, Livingstone can spin a decent yarn and something epochal just happens. It’s game nights with his childhood friend
after all and if you’re of a certain age and remarkable that for a company that gave Jackson. It’s a life well lived, to be sure.
spent your youth with your nose in a copy us games like Warhammer just how
of White Dwarf or a Fighting Fantasy book bloodless much of its history appears to Still, if Dice Men does in some way present
then Dice Men will be a little like a warm, be. Whilst the early days of TSR seemed to a sanitised and abbreviated account of
comforting blanket in hardback form. It is be a frenetic mess of battling egos, Games Games Workshop’s early years I suspect
also filled with a veritable dragon’s hoard Workshop’s first decade, if equally hap- much of the intended audience will be
of photos, pictures of early promotional hazard in places, would appear to have happy enough with that and just enjoy the
material and handwritten notes culled been a much more relaxed, pleasant affair. chance to spend a few hours immersing
from the founder’s personal collections, themselves in the company of the men
most of which have probably not been Not that they necessarily had it easy, and who have given so many of us so much
seen for the best part of four decades. from sleeping in a van and using a local joy over the years. (John Power Jr.)

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 HIT POINTS: BOOKS
Wallis is an engaging writer, he both clearly
EVERYBODY knows a lot about and loves his subject
here and beyond just describing each
WINS game in depth provides invaluable context.
JAMES WALLIS Each and every winner is placed within the
ACONYTE BOOKS wider gaming landscape of their day,
showing how they were either
James Wallis will be a familiar name to representative of the current games
many British gamers of a certain age. zeitgeist or, as in the case something like
Having cut his teeth writing for White 2009’s winner, Donald X Vaccarino’s deck
Dwarf in the 1980s, he set up Hogshead building Dominion, kickstarted an entirely
Publishing in the 90s, kept the Warhammer new wave of games.
Fantasy Role-Play flame alive at a point
when Games Workshop seemed Wallis also casts his own judicious eye over
uninterested and released his own RPGs each entry, appraising whether they were
such as proto-story game The Extraordinary worthy winners and if they still stand up to
Adventures of Baron Munchausen whilst scrutiny today and even takes the time to
co-founding the Diana Jones Award. In have driven these changes, rock stars of briefly surmise each year’s runner’s up. If
Everybody Wins however Wallis turns his the German board game world, such as you’re looking to fill your gaming shelf then
attention away from RPGs and instead Wolfgang Kramer, Klaus Teuber and Reiner you’ll find enough recommendations here
towards the world of board games, using Knizia. to keep you busy for years to come.
Germany’s prestigious Spiel des Jahres
award to take us on a tour through four Of course for all its importance the Spiel Likewise if you’re interested in game design
decades of tabletop history and game des Jahres is just one award and one that is then the book is also just a fabulous
design. heavily slanted to a particular school of resource, introducing and explaining many
game design. As Wallis notes there are no of the mechanics that have been
For those unaware the Spiel des Jahres Warhammers, Pokemons or Trivial Pursuits introduced over the years. Too often game
(literally Game of the Year) is an annual to be found amongst its laureled winners. designers seem to silo themselves off into
award decided by a jury of German games No the awards are very much a celebration their own little worlds, many RPG or
critics an presented at the annual, of the Eurogame, a style of game that, wargame designers often seeming
unfathomably massive, Essen Spiel gaming generally speaking, ‘involve little direct unaware of what is happening within a
convention. With Germany being a country conflict between players and less luck than slightly different part of their own scene let
that takes both fun and boardgames traditional board games, with a central alone what neatly bearded Germans might
incredibly seriously the awards are pretty theme reflected in the game’s premise and be doing with rondels. And yet, as we see
much the Oscars of the board game world visual presentation.’ with RPGs like Dread or The Wretched that
and, as Wallis shows, a pretty decent have adopted the use of Jenga towers to
snapshot of how they have both evolved Still, for its narrow focus its undeniable that wonderful effect, there is a lot of mileage in
and thrived over the years. many of its winners, such as 1995’s CATAN looking over the fence for inspiration.
or 2018’s Azul, are the family friendly gold
Starting with 1979’s inaugural winner, David standards we look to in modern game More than just an expansive shopping list
Parlett’s Hare and Tortoise, the book design. These are the kind of titles that though Everybody Wins is as much a
diligently works its way through the years even those who might consider themselves delight to read as any of these games are
taking us right up to date with last year’s allergic to games could be coaxed in to to play and truly a wonderful overview of
triumphant Cascadia. Along the way we playing after a beer or two or a particularly what, for all the worries about the impact
get to know not just the games but see satisfying lunch and that our broadsheet of computer games, has been a remarkably
how the awards have current reflected the newspapers will hail every six to twelve successful and inventive four decades for
state of the industry and discover the months when they need to fill space with a tabletop games. A worthy tribute then to
personal histories and rivalries of many of wide eyed feature on the seemingly never these award winning games and the great
the, usually neatly bearded, designers who ending board game revival. minds behind them. (John Power Jr.)

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HIT POINTS: BOOKS

At the time The Ballad of Halo Jones was

THE BALLAD OF a radical departure from 2000 AD’s usual
action-packed fare and the readership
HALO JONES was split at first. Especially as it was rare
MOORE, GIBSON, NOSENZO back then to see a strip in 2000 AD led
REBELLION by a female character, let alone one who
didn’t conform to any “badass”
It says something about the wealth of stereotypes.
wonderful comics that Alan Moore has
been responsible for that, despite Although she does eventually go to war,
regularly turning up on Best Of lists, Halo is definitely not a warrior, a hero, an
being feted by the likes of Neil Gaiman avenger of any kind or even, really, an
and even having a Transvision Vamp adventurer. Instead she’s wonderfully
song named in its honour, The Ballad Of average - a deep space cousin, perhaps,
Halo Jones still feels like one of the of Maggie the Mechanic from Jaime
writer’s lesser known works. Hernandez’s Locas stories in Love and
Rockets. At various points throughout
It’s more or less remained in print since these three volumes she gets frustrated,
the 1980s and yet there will be many excited, lonely, overwhelmed, wistful,
readers who may love Watchmen, The angry and sad - in other words, Moore
League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V bonus, and typically verbose, Alan Moore allows her to have a full range of human
For Vendetta and the rest of Moore’s scripts from Book 3. emotions.
higher-profile American work, who have
never read this early classic, first I won’t dwell on the plot too much - it’s Reading the series again though it’s the
published in 2000 AD, or who perhaps minimal at best, anyway. Halo Jones is a deep sense of melancholy that
tried the first couple of chapters and teenage girl living in The Hoop - a particularly sticks out.
gave up, put off by its near overwhelming dumping ground for a future underclass
future slang. off the coast of Manhattan in the 50th Halo goes through a lot in these stories
century. This is a classic 2000 AD mad as she loses one friend after another, not
Well, now there are no excuses. This city, not a million miles from Judge just to battle, but because she has simply
handsome new edition from Rebellion Dredd’s Mega-City One. It’s over- grown apart from them. Her quest to get
collects all three volumes, with Ian populated and defined by rampant ever further “out” and to escape her
Gibson’s art restored and newly (well, unemployment, bizarre cults, widespread grim upbringing is admirable, but it also
back in 2018) coloured by Barbara violence and the constant chatter of the pushes her into increasingly terrible
Nosenzo. always-on media. Fed up of her dreary situations.
life, Halo decides that she wants to get
Gibson’s work can be an acquired taste “out” and as fast as possible. Nowhere is this more apparent than in
- it’s busy and frantic, both sharp and the final volume. 2000 AD has published
angular while still being cartoony - but In Book 1 (the series is split into three many, many future war stories in its long
it’s a perfect fit for Halo Jones’ mix of volumes, all collected here) that means history. I mean really, fucking loads of
absurdist comedy and nihilistic horror. leaving the relative safety of her them. None of them have quite the same
apartment on a dangerous shopping trip sense of dread and hopelessness as Halo
Honestly it’s never needed colouring, with her friend Rodice. In Book 2 Jones Jones Book 3 though.
but Nosenzo does a sympathetic job finds herself working as a stewardess on
here and it undoubtedly helps the art the starship Clara Pandy. Whilst in Book The battles here aren’t exciting or
pop, and no doubt make the series more 3, the accidental final volume, she signs cinematic, they’re brief, brutal and utterly
accessible for new audiences. The book up as a soldier to fight in the bloody depressing. In one particular bleak
also comes with a new intro from The Tarantulan war because, well, it’s a job chapter, Halo’s squad mates kill a child
Wicked + Divine’s Keiron Gillen and some and she needs to eat. soldier and then lie to themselves about

110 Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4

 HIT POINTS: BOOKS

© Rebellion Publishing

her age to appease their guilty As I alluded to earlier, Book 3 was an crushing as the gravity on planet Moab
consciences. Where most media about accidental finale. Moore and Gibson had that we didn’t get to spend more time
conflict falls into the trap of making it reportedly planned as many as nine with this character. We will never find out
seem exciting, or even fun, Moore and volumes, with the loose intention being just what happened when Jones met the
Gibson’s depiction of war is relentlessly that we’d catch up with the character space pirate Sally Quasa (Moore’s
nihilistic. every decade of her life, right through abandoned plan for Book 4) or how she
into old age. Indeed the series shows all got on with the immortals at the edge of
Even after Halo leaves the military, she the meticulous details and foreshadowing the universe (something he has
finds herself drifting back and re- that Moore’s work is famous for. suggested might have formed the basis
enlisting as it is the only option available of the series’ grand finale).
to her in that moment. She may have left Instead, a dispute between the author
The Hoop behind, but in some ways and 2000 AD’s original publishers Don’t let the curtailed nature of her
wherever she goes her problems remain Fleetway over intellectual property Ballad put you off, though as it remains
the same: the spectre of unemployment rights, meant an early wrap up, with our as imaginative, unsettling and rewarding
and the severely limited choices that hero stealing a spaceship and heading as ever. Besides, the character is so well-
poverty brings still forever chases after instead into forever unseen adventures. defined by her creators that we
her. Meanwhile, the wealthy we meet are instinctively know what Halo Jones does
oblivious, uncaring and in some cases, We’re told by a future historian in Book 2 next.
like General Luiz Cannibal who Halo that Jones does eventually become a
briefly courts, truly monstrous and figure of some repute, but how that Wherever she is in the galaxy right now
psychotic. It’s no wonder that the series happens we will sadly never know. It is she won’t hang around for too long -
still feels relevant today… still, all these years later, a shame as she’s going out. (Will Salmon)

Wyrd Science | Volume 1, Issue 4 111

 B.U.T.T.S TALES
BY PIERRE MORTEL

Follow Pierre online at

instagram.com/pierre_mortel

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