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In 2009 James Raggi IV launched Lamentations of the Flame Princess with a very singular calling card—Death Frost Doom. Inspired by the dark imagery of his musical tastes and the horror he liked to read, Raggi’s scenario was unlike anything that the Old School Renaissance had seen, although in the five years since, he has brought numerous weird horror scenarios to the hobby—many of which I have had the pleasure to edit or review. Death Frost Doom was remarkable for its atmosphere, for it was a scenario in which almost nothing happened. Further it could be dropped into almost any setting. It consisted of lonely, snow bound and wind swept mountain, one with a dark, unspoken reputation that means that the local populace of the valleys below avoid it. This is despite their believing that the halls within the mountain are said to hide a great treasure, though one protected by an ancient, slumbering evil.

If the player characters ascended the mountain what they found was a lonely, mad old man, a strangely furnished cabin, and below it an oddly empty dungeon containing almost nothing and no-one to fight. Unfortunately, the locals are correct—the mountain does harbour an ancient evil and if the player characters are too curious, they will let loose not just the ‘Doom’ upon themselves, but upon everyone in the valleys below and beyond.If all goes well, the scenario is designed to end with the ‘heroes’ fleeing down the snowy slopes with an army of the undead hard on their heels, knowing that it is entirely their curiosity that has got them there. Also notable, was what replaced the things to fight and the things to kill of any other Dungeons & Dragons-style scenario were details that added atmosphere and a sense of the weird to the exploration before the ‘Doom’. Death Frost Doom remains a classic scenario, arguably one of the best published as part of the Old School Renaissance.

Arguably though, Death Frost Doom was not perfect. Its elements were disjointed and the only thing that would bring about its deadly denouement was player curiosity. The primary motivation for the players in the scenario—unless the GM added more—was to find out if there was more to the dungeon than was readily apparent. To answer the question, “Is there more to it than this?” It is some of these issues that the new, fifth anniversary edition of Death  Frost Doom addresses as well as answering that question. Co-authored with Zak Smith—best known for Vornheim: The Complete City Kit and A Red & Pleasant Land—the new edition comes as a handsome little hardback, complete with new artwork and new maps. This is a major revision of the scenario, one that does not violate either the scenario’s structure or its story, but adds detail and pacing that makes it much more of a coherent whole.

In fact, this new edition comes with a wealth of detail, begun in the cabin atop the mountain and here continued into the dungeon below. Here every room is fully detailed and many more of the rooms have a purpose, typically to hint at the secrets that lie at the heart of the dungeon. The stand-out room here is the Chapel, which in true grand guignol style includes a giant organ with human finger bones as its keys and human thigh bones as its pipes. The effect of this detail is to intrigue the players and thus push them to investigate further.  This process is also eased by the pacing—there is a timing mechanism, a countdown, that moves events in the dungeon onto its intended  denouement and the secrets themselves are ever so slightly easy to decipher.

Where the original dungeon had almost nothing in the way of NPCs, the dungeon now has a several of them, a set of vile creations that will have the players rueing that they ever encountered them.  They are though, evidence that the new edition there comes with a marked change in tone—twice. The first of these is in the horror, which as the scenario progresses becomes more physical  and sanguinary in nature. The second is Zak Smith’s writing style, which is lighter in tone than that of James Raggi IV and in places does suffer for it, descending as it does into silliness. Fortunately, enough of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess trademark ‘screw the players’ elements are present to keep the tone on track.

Lastly, what has been replaced in this anniversary edition is the secondary adventure, ‘The Tower’. To be honest, it is no great loss, and anyway, the inclusion of James Raggi’s retrospective of the original Death Frost Doom and its art is far more appropriate.

The new edition of Death Frost Doom is physically a far superior book. It comes as a handy little hardback, with better maps and much more oppressive artwork. Its contents are better organised and easier to spot on the page with pertinent facts highlighted in almost bullet point fashion.

There is no doubt that the original Death Frost Doom was a great dungeon. Seeing it back in print was always going to be welcome, but some of the changes in the anniversary are perhaps not so. The addition of the blood and the gore take away from the subtlety of the original, but the wealth of new detail more than makes up for that.  Death Frost Doom was, and still is, a great scenario, strong on atmosphere and rich in detail.

The Indigo Ivory Depths

Tony Dowler is best known as the cartographer who developed, How to Host A Dungeon, a toolkit that enabled the GM to create an ancient dungeon complete with history, inhabitants, denizens, treasures, and more. He also draws micro-dungeons along a series of different themes, each a quirky little affair often drawn in both two dimensions and three isomorphic dimensions. Now he an actual dungeon adventure that you purchase: The Purple Worm Graveyard.

Published through his Planet Thirteen Games, The Purple Worm Graveyard is a mini-dungeon of just fifteen locations designed for a party of first through third levels. It is written for use with Labyrinth Lord, but can just as easily be used with other “Edition Zero” fantasy RPGs. Equally, it can be dropped easily into most worlds and even added as easily to most dungeons, and presents a thoughtful challenge that should provide an evening’s worth of interesting play, either as part of a campaign or as a one-shot.

The purple worm graveyard of the title is said to lie below the barren Rockspyre Mountains. It is thought to be where the largest and most ancient of purple worms go when they approach the end of their lives. Commonly thought to be a legend, it is rumoured that the graveyard itself holds an untold treasure of purple worm ivory. Now, a sage has discovered its location and hired the adventurers to travel there, confirm its location, and explore its limits.

The purple worm graveyard actually turns out to be located beyond another underground complex, this one a temple devoted to an ancient worm god. Its influence spreads outside of the temple, such that at certain times, the players can commune with it, fall under its spell, and of course, be driven to madness. The god itself does not make an appearance in the scenario, but its presence adds a pleasing eldritch element to the proceedings.

In addition, The Purple Worm Graveyard adds a set of “Dungeon Moves” mechanics. This provides a table that the DM can roll against to gain a die modifier for a particular situation. As is traditional, the scenario adds a new monster and a new treasure or two. The monsters are variations upon creatures that we have seen before, are but feel perfectly suited to the dungeon, whilst the new treasures are thoughtful if simple little affairs.

At just twelve pages long, The Purple Worm Graveyard is a quick and easy read. In places it takes a moment to ascertain exactly what a certain rule is for or how it pertains to the adventure, but this becomes clear relatively quickly. The booklet is nicely illustrated, and the map feels pleasingly heavy. That said, the map, located on the inside of the card sleeve, could have done with more detail, but what detail there is, is excellent.

Ultimately, The Purple Worm Graveyard is an entertaining, pocket friendly dungeon. It would work well with most “Edition Zero” fantasy RPGs, but given its eldritch feel, then it would work well with Lamentations of the Flame Princess’ Weird Fantasy Role-Playing. Nicely themed, requiring just a little thought or so to overcome its challenges, The Purple Worm Graveyard is a charmingly petite adventure.

Kobold Comes of Age

Another three months and another issue of Kobold Quarterly reaches the shelves of your friendly local gaming store to provide the reader with more support for Dungeons & Dragons in the form of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, as well as Open Design’s house setting of Midgard, best typified by the Free City of Zobeck. This issue – number eighteen – brings the magazine to its “Age of Majority” and in doing so, devotes itself to the themes familiar to players of both games, that of adventurers, flaws, dragons, and magic, supporting them with the usual mix of articles and columns as well as three whole scenarios.

Unfortunately, Kobold Quarterly #18 begins with some bad news. Its first article is the only one for use with the AGE System, the mechanics seen first in Green Ronin’s highly regarded Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying – Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5, and then more recently in Open Design’s Midgard Bestiary Volume 1. Fortunately, Steve Kenson’s “Gifts of the Gods: Divine Talents for the Adventure Gaming Engine RPG,” plugs a hole that opens up as soon as you move the AGE System into any setting that resembles a Dungeons & Dragons style campaign setting. Which is that it does not delineate between the divine and the arcane roles in the same way or as clearly as Dungeons & Dragons does, but by allowing the Divine Gift to be attached to each of the AGE System's three classes – Mage, Rogue, and Warrior – Kenson enables a player to create a scholar-priest, proselytizing preacher, or crusader type character. Taking the Divine Gift also allows a character access to miraculous abilities and divine stunts tied into the Domain of the god worshipped. Of course, the Domains of the Gods of Zobeck are listed. This is an excellent means by which divine characters can be added to an AGE System game without resorting to the less flexible option of adding a whole new Class.

The class options continue not for the AGE System, but for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Ryan Costello, Jr. offers us “The Savant: Master All Trades as a Universal Hero,” a Class that writes down things that he sees and hears about as Knacks and Trades in a Notebook and then is able to recall them and bring them into play. The idea is one day he might see how a wizard casts Magic Missile or an Orc wield a double-headed axe, and then on another day he can do both or any of an array of abilities and powers that taking a single Class would not allow him to do. It presents a very flexible Class concept, though one that is not straightforward to play.

More straightforward is Tracy Hurley’s “Ecology of the Minotaur: Children of the Moon,” which describes the Minotaur for the Midgard Campaign Setting. It does a good job of mixing the race’s bloodlust and love of mazes whilst also making them an honourable people. Mike Welham and Adam Daigle provide another character option and add to the issue’s dragon theme with “The Dragon Hunter: Taking Down the Titans,” a ten-level Class focused entirely on taking down dragons, whilst “Beast Masters: Why Should Humanoids Have All the Fun?” by Marc Radle gives an alternative to the Leadership feat in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. With the Beast Leadership feat a character can take fauna as followers rather than fellow men, a useful expansion for Druid or Ranger characters.

More feats are added to the issue’s draconic and magic themes with David Schwartz’s “Into the Dragon’s Den: Lair Feats and Auras.” Written for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, it allows the GM to add spell effects to the lairs of his dragons. For example, with Inspiration [Lair], a Bronze Dragon would let its servants and visitors breathe in its aquatic environment, whilst a White Dragon might cast Fickle Flurries [Lair] to impede the movement of any intruders in its lair. This is a nice combination of colour with rules effect. Two further articles carry on the draconic theme. These include Adam W. Roy’s “Cavaliers of Flame and Fury,” which add two knightly orders to the Midgard Campaign Setting, one of which rides dragons; and Wolfgang Baur’s regular Free City of Zobeck column which also looks at dragons in the Midgard Campaign Setting.

The other magic article in the issue is Phillip Larwood’s “Synergistic Magic: Combining Spells for Twice the Power,” which does exactly what says on the tin and has the potential to add the most fun in the game. Again written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, it allows a wizard to combine two of his spells or his spells with another wizard to get extra effects. For example, combining the Maze and Summon Monster V spells gets you Claw Maze which allows the caster to not only trap an opponent in a labyrinth, but subjects them to claw attacks from the walls of the maze too!

The flaw theme comes in three flavours. It gets very personal in Anthony W. Eichenlaub’s “Soul Broker,” which details a type of contract that once signed, lets a character borrow either rare or magical items in return a temporary portion of the character’s soul. Another option allows for a player character to actually offer these contracts instead of taking them, this it suggests as being a task favoured by Tieflings. Either way, the inclusion of this in a game gives it a diabolic tinge.

Situational flaws come with a discussion of “10 Reasons Why Your Characters Should Be in Jail” for both Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Written by Russell Jones, it is really more of a generic fantasy piece that explores how to use these suggestions to create adventures rather than to punish the player characters. Philippe-Antoine Menard gives us the type of flaws that every player character wants in “The Heroic Flaw.” An actual generic article, players of other more progressive RPGs will be familiar with its concept of a player character having a personal flaw such as a Code of Honor, Vow, or Personality Quirk, and in return for bringing it into the game, the GM will reward the player with a point that can be used for a variety of effects. Familiarity should not breed contempt though, as this is good way to encourage roleplaying.

The first two of the issue’s three scenarios are written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Matthew J. Hanson’s “Silus and the Red Dogs” is a solo adventure that comes with a ready-to-play character, a Halfling Thief, and in just forty paragraphs sees Silus attempt to escape his current life as a member of a street gang. This is enough to show how the basic combat rules work and tell a decent little story, though it would have been more interesting if Silus could have been allowed to make use of his Thieves Skills. It is followed by “The Exorcists,” a scenario that combines the themes of dragons, flawed characters, and magic. Written for four characters of first level by Tim and Eileen Conners, it begins with the adventurers waking up to find themselves having been resurrected by mistake and trapped in a monastery by a rampaging, possessed Gold Dragon! This is a single-session adventure that can either be run as a one-shot or the start of a new campaign, and is a clever, well thought out little affair.

The third scenario, by Jonathan Roberts, is for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. Designed for a party of four characters of fifth level, “Who Watches the Watch Fires?” opens with the adventurers discovering not only the dead bodies of some border guards, but their watchtower still manned and foreign troops making their way beyond the border. Can the adventurers find out who now mans the watchtower and ensure that the fires are lit to warn of the impending invasion? This is an efficient, short adventure whose focus is primarily upon the Skill Test, which only serves to highlight one of the reasons why I dislike Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, that skills are a feature of the game, sort of a bonus to all that combat. (Open Design is to be commended for having Josh Jarman, author of the Midgard Bestiary, Volume 1, do a conversion of this scenario for the AGE System and make it available for download on its website).

Of the other articles, Paul Baalham’s “Elementary, My Dear Wizard: How to Build a Rock-Solid Mystery” works as well for other fantasy RPGs as much as it does for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition which it is written for. “Tools of War – Siege Weaponry” by Matt James is also for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, adding these weapons of war to work with the rules given in Open Design’s Soldiers of Fortune supplement.

All of which of course, is supported by the usual selection of cartoons, advice columns, book reviews, and more. Amongst the assortment is “Battle Wizards & Sword Maidens: Essential Asian Movies for Gamers” by David Gross, which provides a nice introduction to the Wuxia genre.

If there is a downside to Kobold Quarterly #18, it is there are fewer articles for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. That is subject of course, to Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition being the game of your choice. Not so this reviewer, but it seems only fair that said reviewer point that out. That aide, this is another fine issue, the mix of articles achieves a pleasing balance and the inclusion of three scenarios makes the issue all the better.

A Batrachian's Evening Play

Kiss of the Frog God is several things. First, it is the first Third Party support to appear for Lamentation of the Flame Princess’ Weird Fantasy Roleplaying Game. Second, it is the first scenario to be written and published for the game that has not written by the game’s designer, James Raggi IV. Third, it is part of Postmortem Studios’ “6-Pack Adventure” series, each designed with a “pick-up and play” functionality, which in the case of Kiss of the Frog God includes pre-generated characters, a battle mat, and tokens for use with the battle mat as well as the scenario itself. The aim of the “6-Pack Adventure” series, just like that six-pack of cans of your favourite beverage, is for it to be consumed or rather played through in a single session.

Designed for a party of four to six characters of third level, Kiss of the Frog God finds the adventurers on a pilgrimage, each of the six pre-generated adventurers possessing a reason to seek religious atonement. One of the stops along the way is the village of Morbury, which sits atop a hillock amid a festering swamp. Morbury was once a reasonably wealthy village, its income coming from farming, hunting, and logging, but the curse of a swamp witch and the near constant rain has turned the surrounding fields and forest into a sodden quagmire. With a down turn in the village’s fortunes, the outlook of the villagers has turned inward and insular.

The adventure itself is quite simple. The visiting pilgrims are asked to find two girls that have gone missing, the village priest suspecting that their sinful ways have lead them into the forest. Within a matter of hours their bodies will be found mutilated at the forest’s edge and blaming the swamp witch, the villagers will ask the pilgrims to seek her out deep in the forest and revenge not only the deaths of the girls, but end the curse.

Despite its simplicity, there is quite a bit of detail to Kiss of the Frog God. The backgrounds and motivations of the various NPCs are well drawn as are all six of the adventure’s encounters. Plus there is room enough for the GM to add more if needed. In terms of rules, it is simple enough to run for other Retroclones such as Labyrinth Lord or other Old School Renaissance style games, although it is specifically written for use with the Grindhouse Edition of the Weird Fantasy Roleplaying Game. If there is anything lacking in the book it is overall advice on running the adventure and perhaps advice on adding to it or scaling to different numbers or levels of characters.

Physically, Kiss of the Frog God is decently put together. The full colour card cover provides a map of Morbury and the battle map, but because both replace the front and back cover, as a product it lacks the title to tell the potential purchaser what the book is called and a blurb on the back to explain what it is, what game it is for, and what level characters the adventure is designed for. Indeed, there is no indication of what level the scenario is designed for until the reader examines the pre-generated adventurers. Inside, there is a lot of white space, but this means that each of the pre-generated adventurers has its own sheet for easy copying, as do the scenario’s monsters and the tokens for both with use of the battle mat. The internal artwork is also good, it being a pity that it appears only in black and white.

In terms of editing, Kiss of the Frog God is a little disappointing. There is a certain degree of repetition and whilst I can agree with the author and publisher’s attitude towards homosexuality, I do think that it could have been better handled with a degree of subtlety that should have been applied throughout. The issue here is that in dealing with the sexuality of two of the pre-generated adventurers, the tack taken by Kiss of the Frog God is to preach at both the GM and the potential players. In comparison, almost nothing is said regarding the relationship between the missing girls bar the fact that the village priest considers it to be unclean and unholy.

There are plenty of Dungeons & Dragons style adventures that deal with the village in peril to the point at which the format is a cliché. Kiss of the Frog God gets away from the cliché by depicting a low fantasy setting in which the grot has set in and have the adventurers face a very grimy foe perfecting in keeping with the “Weird Fantasy” of the Weird Fantasy Roleplaying Game that it is written for. Pocket friendly and session friendly, Kiss of the Frog God is straightforward and enjoyable.

Villains Never Get Even

After a change of straplines with the last issue, Kobold Quarterly returns to its ever faithful, “The Switzerland of Edition Wars.” Which is a little odd, because this edition also happens to contain material for Green Ronin Publishing’s’ Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying, and that is yet to get involved in the fraternal squabble that is Dungeons & Dragons. Nevertheless, there are enough articles in this edition to satisfy devotees of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game alike. As to the theme behind this latest issue of Open Design's Kobold Quarterly, it is one of villains and villainy, and since villains never truly get even, it seems appropriate that the issue number is seventeen.

Getting under villainy’s hood begins with Michael Kortes’ “So We Meet Again!” Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, this gives optional extra powers called Adversary Abilities to both player characters and NPCs when they become sworn enemies, such as Ears to the Ground which grants a Diplomacy bonus when gathering information about your nemesis. Adversary Abilities are graded, so that initially only Returned Foe abilities can be gained, but after surviving subsequent encounters with each other, both will learn better ones, right up to Arch-Nemesis abilities. This is a neat idea that progressively gives an edge to the player characters whilst still making the villain more capable and more likely to survive a meeting with his foe. With “The Right Way to Do Wrong,” Brandon Hope switches scale in describing a nonet of cons and tricks that can be pulled by player character and NPC rogues alike. Although again written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the article is relatively light in terms of rules and mechanics, so they can be adapted to most games.

Stefen Styrsky’s “The Scourges of Vael Turog” describes the results of villainous efforts long in the past of Open Design’s forthcoming Midgard Campaign Setting. Derived from magical research the three diseases have mutated over the years, one being transmitted by handling magical items, another actually becoming a physical hazard and one last has gained a certain sentience. Although possible encounter groups are listed and a potential adventure detailed, what flavour the article has is lost under the mundanely mechanical rules of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. Complementing all of this practice is “The Value of the Monster,” Monte Cook’s exploration of the monster and the villain in his regular Game Theories column, which nicely puts the meaning back in monster.

It is my heartfelt belief that every issue of Kobold Quarterly should include an adventure, so issue seventeen has given me no cause to grumble. “Ambush in Absalom” by Mark Moreland is an Official Pathfinder Society Quest, so is specifically designed for use as part of Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign. This is a quick, and since it takes place in a sewer, a dirty affair that has the player characters attempting to locate a lost messenger who took a shortcut underground. Their instructions are that if they cannot find the messenger, they should at least find the message and deliver that. A mostly combat orientated affair for low level characters, this could be slipped into a game set in the Free City of Zobeck. Likewise, “The Black Goat,” the Zobeck tavern famed for its mundane magic show as fully described by Richard L. Smith II is located to a locale of the GM’s choice, along as the horror in the basement goes with it, of course.

From its title, it is clear that Matthew J. Hanson’s “Elf Needs Food Badly” has been inspired by one computer game at least, though with recipes as diverse as Candied Spider and Gnomesalt Taffy, it could just as easily been influenced by a more modern MMORPG. Anyway, this article for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, describes fifteen magical foodstuffs and a Feat with which to cook them. When eaten during a rest, each provides a bonus to any Healing Surge plus an extra effect such as Poysenberry Pie’s poison resistance. This could be a fun addition to your Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, but tastes will vary. Candied Spider anyone…?

“Secrets of the Four Golden Gates” by David Adams provides support for the monk in Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition with four new societies and their associated items. For example, adherents of the Path of the Singing Sparrows greatly value nature, and sparrows and songbirds in particular. Their bamboo flutes are capable of inflicting damage when played, and each day, will grant a listener extra Hit Points. The items are themselves well done and nicely supported with plenty of background.

For anyone with a penchant for pyrotechnics, Jonathan McAnulty offers up “Magical Squibs, Crackers, and Fireworks” for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Often just as dangerous for the user as they are for the target, these offer something a little more than just bangs and bedazzlements. For example, a Blinding-Goblin Cracker explodes in a blinding flash, whilst the sparkles from a Guiding Rocket always drift to the North. Anyway, these can add pleasing bang to your game, and would be sure to fascinate any overly curious Halfling.

Completely ignoring the Edition Wars, Quinn Murphy’s “On the Streets and In the Books,” which details two new sets of rules for Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying, both of which come with their own Stunt Tables for when the players roll well. As the title suggests the second of these sets covers research, whilst the former handles chases and fights in chases. Both new rule sets are useful, but there is an imbalance between the two, the rules for chases being more detailed, but have fewer options on the Stunt Table, whilst the opposite is the case for the research rules. It is the concept behind the Stunt Tables in Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying that Jeff Tidball discusses in “Feats of Stunning Might and Brilliance,” looking at how they work and why they are fun before suggesting how concept might be applied to Dungeons & Dragons. As a bolt on feature this does not add much in the way of complexity to earlier iterations of the game, but to later versions that have Feats, it does and in part, would it actually being doing that existing aspects of the Dungeons & Dragons rules are meant to be doing already?

Tom Allman’s “Lackeys, Hirelings, and Henchmen” and “Group Concepts” by Mario Podeschi all but complement each other. Both are generic articles, although the latter is written for the Midgard Campaign Setting suggesting as it does ways, means, and reasons as to why the player characters come together. It gives several campaign frameworks under which they can do so, from all playing members of the same race or species, profession or organisation to being from the same family or on the same quest. Accompanying each framework is a number of examples particular to Midgard, though there is nothing to stop a DM adapting them to his campaign setting, each of which shows how a framework can give a campaign direction. Once a group concept and its particulars has been decided upon, the player characters are going to want some hired help and the DM some interesting NPCs, to which Allman’s “Lackeys, Hirelings, and Henchmen” provides a serviceable introduction. Plus, if the characters want a four legged friend, Skip Williams describes everything that you might want to know about owning a guard dog in “The Barking Kind of Party Animal” for column, “Ask the Kobold.”

“Getting Ahead” is about as bad a title you could get for an article devoted to the power of the severed head, but fortunately, there is a deliciously evil streak to relish in Ben McFarland’s article for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The Craft Shrunken Head Feat is one that every tribal shaman or necromancer should consider taking. Lastly, should an adventure result in character death, then “It’s Not Supposed to End This Way” by Scott A. Murray describes six ways to avoid it, though not without consequences, which should be entertaining to play.

As we have come to expect, this issue of Kobold Quarterly is rounded out with its usual supporting features. There are the cartoons, the letters page, the book reviews, and the regular column that ends every issue, Free City of Zobeck. This is in addition to Monte Cook’s already mentioned theories about monsters, but there is also another interview with “If You're Having Fun,” this time with Jeff Tidball, author of supplements for RPGs as diverse as Ars Magica, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and The Edge, and co-publisher of the excellent Things We Think About Games.

After the previous issue, Kobold Quarterly #17 is as a whole, not as interesting an edition. Understandably, Kobold Quarterly #16 had more of focus and more of a reason for that focus in the announcement about the Midgard Campaign Setting, but it also had more energy to it. This is not suggest that there is any one bad article in this issue or that it being an odd numbered issue that it is suffering from Star Trek movie curse, but rather as a whole this issue is not quite as satisfying. Nevertheless, the articles are themselves good, with “Getting Ahead,” “Group Concepts,” and “The Right Way to Do Wrong” all being excellent, making Kobold Quarterly #17 another solid issue.

West is Still Best

Having an interest in the Old School Renaissance and currently being engaged in an ongoing Legends of the Five Rings campaign, I was more than interested to take a look at Ruins & Ronin, a supplement from sword+1 productions based on the Swords & Wizardry White Box rule set that sets out to use the samurai movie as the basis for swords and sorcery adventure in a mythical, medieval culture that is almost like Japan. Its aim is not to create a culture game like the aforementioned Legends of the Five Rings or the classic Bushido, but one full of adventure and mystery in which Bujin, Shugenja, and Sohei explore strange ruins out in the wilderness and delve into deep dungeons below crumbling pagodas, encountering strange spirits and creepy monsters, and finding fantastic artefacts of great power. The idea behind Ruins & Ronin is that samurai should be allowed to go dungeon delving just as much as his Western fantasy counterpart. Unfortunately, Ruins & Ronin fails to live up to all of those aims.

As with Swords & Wizardry’s core rules, Ruins & Ronin presents just the three classes. In Swords & Wizardry, they are the Cleric, the Fighter, and the Magic-user. In Ruins & Ronin, their analogues are the Sohei or warrior-monk, the Bujin or samurai or ronin, and the Shugenja. The bujin can perform a “Follow Through” manoeuvre, striking at another opponent delivering a killing blow, and is unrestricted in terms of what arms and armour that he can use, though the shield is not found in this setting. The Shugenja can cast spells, and like the Magic-User cannot wear armour and is restricted to using Tanto (daggers), Uchi-ne (throwing blades), or Bo (staves) only. Sohei can cast divine spells and turn undead, and cannot wear very heavy armour, or use a katana or a bow.

The playable races to be found in Swords & Wizardry, the Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings, are not present in Ruins & Ronin. Instead, it has the single playable race, Half-Ogres. As with the races to be found in Swords & Wizardry, Half-Ogres advance as Fighters or Bujin, and as you would imagine, Half-Ogres are very strong, do extra damage in combat, and resist disease and poison better. Similarly, neither Swords & Wizardry nor Ruins & Ronin have a Thief-like player class. Now while this is understandable given that Swords & Wizardry draws for its inspiration from the earliest of Dungeons & Dragons books that lacked the Thief class, surely in a game inspired by samurai movies, you would want to have the Ninja as a class? Were Ruins & Ronin to be a culture game based on Japan in which the role of the ninja is downplayed, its absence would be far from objectionable. Here, the lack of the ninja feels like a major omission. After all, the ninja is very much part of the genre.

In general, as can be seen from the example below, characters in Ruins & Ronin do not look very different those from Swords & Wizardry. Very simple and very easy, but lacking in flavour.

Megumi the Pious, Level 1 Sohei
Str: 6 (-1) Int: 14 Wis: 15 (+1)
Con: 12 Dex: 6 (-1) Chr: 4 (-1)
Hit Points: 4 Save: 14 (+2 vs. Death & Poison)
Armour Class: 5 Ascending Armour Class: 14
Masakari (1d6); Haidate, Hara-ate, Jingasa; 17gp

In terms of support, Ruins & Ronin comes with a complete spell list for both the Shugenja and the Sohei character classes; a complete set of monsters; and an array of magical items. Unfortunately, the spells on both lists appear to have been lifted wholesale from the lists for the Cleric and the Magic-User classes from Swords & Wizardry without either a single re-design or single re-naming. So another opportunity to add flavour to the game has been lost. That changes though, when it comes to the monsters and the magical artefacts. Classic monsters from Dungeons & Dragons, such as Black Puddings, Gelatinous Cubes, Hell Hounds, and Treants are joined by an Oriental bestiary that includes Bakemono-Toro, Fox Monks, Kyonshi (Hopping Vampires), Oni, and Tengu. Some classic Dungeons & Dragons monsters have been altered, such as the Lizard Samurai and the Naga, but on the whole, the number and type of monsters listed is impressive, even if it feels odd to mix them up so. The magical items are more straightforward. Basic weapons, wands, scrolls, potions, and so on, work in Ruins & Ronin just as well as they do in Swords & Wizardry, but the author adds items such as the Brush of Translation, which allows the wielder to understand any spoken language; the Dancing Fan, which gives the user a Charisma of 18 when dancing; and the Scholars’ Fan, which automatically swats flies, shields the owner from the sun, and flutters gently to provide a breeze. Thee really do add touches of detail and flavour to the game, and hint at the potential in a samurai themed Retroclone.

So far then, that is what is to be found in the pages of Ruins & Ronin. This leaves what is not to be found between its covers. The first of these is an adventure, so we have no idea how the game is meant to be played, an adventure being perhaps, the best way of showcasing this aspect of the game. The second of these is advice for the GM. Well, to be fair, Ruins & Ronin does include some advice for the GM. Yet that advice amounts to barely more than a page, and the rest that takes the advice for the GM up to a page and a half is a guide to when and how to hand out Experience Points. The actual advice though, can be best summed up as, “Make it up yourself.” Or rather, “Make everything up yourself.” Even then, it is not original, being another section reprinted from the Swords & Wizardry White Box rule set.

Now that advice would have been fine in 1974 and Ruins & Ronin was my first RPG. Plus the fact that I had grown in Japan, and was well steeped in the chanbara movie genre. None of this is true, nor was it true for anyone in 2009 when this book was first published, and nor is it true for anyone reading this review right now. What is also true is that Ruins & Ronin is not trying to be a medieval Japanese culture game, a game of high honour in which tea ceremonies and the composing of haiku figure prominently, so the omission of such details are understandable. Yet the truth is that Ruins & Ronin is actually doing a genre, the chanbara movie genre, and the author omits any discussion of that genre. In doing so, he undermines his own work, because a discussion of the genre, and that would include a list of its inspirations much like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ Appendix N, would have explored the very point of Ruins & Ronin. That its fantasy is oriental in origin, and so is very different to the Western fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons or Swords & Wizardry. The difference between the two is why anyone would want to play Ruins & Ronin.

Physically, Ruins & Ronin is decently put together. The cover is excellent, but while the internal layout is clean and tidy, there is not another single piece of artwork in the book. None of the book’s new creatures are illustrated and neither are the new magical items. Which is a pity given how spacious the book is and how much of the book is devoted to the creatures, monsters, and spirits of the Orient, and that is before you get to the magical items.

Ultimately, Ruins & Ronin is a great title, but a wasted opportunity. It is a pity that this title has already been taken because it deserves more than what it been given here. It needs more development so that it has some kind of background beyond the mere suggestion that it is inspired by samurai movies; so that it has classes and rules that reflect that background; so it has a discussion of the genre that inspired the author which would then inspire the reader; and so that it has advice for the GM as to how to make a game of Ruins & Ronin different to that of the Swords & Wizardry White Box rule set.

Right now, Ruins & Ronin is a reprint of the Swords & Wizardry White Box rule set with renamed character classes and an extra set of monsters and magical items, and nothing more. Absolutely nothing more. The lesson of Ruins & Ronin is that if you want to present something different to a sector of the gaming hobby, even a sector that is inspired by stripped down Old School play, it should never be left up to the purchaser to do all of the work to explore your game’s differences.

This Skull Needs Flesh

If you are of a certain age, you will recall an image from the rulebook for the version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons designed by writer, Doctor John Eric Holmes. The image showed a cross section of a dungeon consisting of seven levels with two standout features. One was that the last level of the dungeon consisted of a cave system containing a lake surrounding an island that was home to a domed city. The other, more evocative feature was the entrance to the dungeon was through “Skull Mountain.” What exactly lay behind that Skull Mountain we will never know, but now Faster Monkey Games has picked up the gauntlet to present a dungeon adventure based on that map. The result is an adventure designed for a party of four to six characters of fourth through sixth levels for use with the Retroclone, Labyrinth Lord and its supplement, the Advanced Edition Companion.

Skull Mountain comes with a setting outside of the dungeon, plots going on inside and outside of the dungeon, six levels of dungeon, plus a complex within the dungeon itself. The setting outside of the dungeon is the town of Wolford, which stands within sight of the gently smoking volcano that is Skull Mountain. The town has always been prone to banditry and robbery, but of late there have attacks and worse committed against its populace. Further, Aidan, the teenaged son of the ruling noble, has been kidnapped, and the town’s seneschal, Master Grüber, needs to ensure his safe return before his father discovers his disappearance. This sets up the reason for the presence of the player characters to be in Wolford, to rescue young Aidan, and is the adventure’s initial plot.

Yet for a plot that is meant to drive the party into investigating Skull Mountain, its set up and support are both woefully underdeveloped. Their patron, Master Grüber, has been left a blank canvas and his terms for the party’s employment have also been left blank. Two pages lay out the scenario’s extensive background, but no means of presenting or just hinting at that background is given, when all that was really needed was a traditional rumour table. This omission is at odds with the treatment of the other plots in Skull Mountain which actually encourage the player characters to return to the dungeon and explore its depths after they have rescued Aidan. What this means is that a DM will need to do a bit more work than he really should to fully flesh out the beginning of the scenario.

The dungeon itself below Skull Mountain feels quite small given the feeling of space conveyed in Holmes’ original cutaway. Most of the individual levels consist of between six and eight locations, the lowest level having three times that number in total. Getting down to the level where Aidan has been imprisoned should take no more than a couple of sessions, but there is much more to the dungeon than just that. It is expected that the party will leave once it has located Aidan, hence the need for a plot nudge that will persuade them to re-enter and explore the lower levels. The route to the adventure’s final areas is unfortunately very linear, but it does start with the dungeon’s most memorable feature, a stairway that spirals down round the outside of giant stalactite. Unfortunately, the author does not make as much of it as he could have done. Later on, the characters have to walk over a lake of lava under arrow fire while being snapped at by a salamander, yet the only problem they might face on the way down is catapult, which is easy to avoid. All the characters have to do is run around the other side of the stalactite. The location itself is exciting, but it just needs something a little extra to make it really memorable.

The finale of the adventure is plotted such that it plays out as a fitting climax to the exploration of the dungeon and revelation of its mysteries, essentially delving back into the adventure’s background that goes back over a thousand years. The player characters will find themselves facing a tough foe, but will be well rewarded for that effort. As with the set-up of the adventure, Skull Mountain also fails to deal with its aftermath. There is no discussion of what happens when Aidan is returned, how the player characters are rewarded for dealing with the threat that lies at the heart of Skull Mountain, and how the villains of the piece react to the adventurers’ efforts.

Physically, Skull Mountain is a well written, well presented thirty-six page 9.13Mb PDF. Its maps are nice and clear, but its artwork budget has been saved for a set of five illustrations that can be shown to the players. These have a pleasing Old School feel to them.

Ultimately, Skull Mountain is an excellent dungeon, but not necessarily a good adventure. The dungeon is well thought out and tied into the adventure’s detailed history with some memorable locations. There are probably three or four good sessions of play to be got out of exploring the dungeon alone. Unfortunately, neither Skull Mountain as a location or its plots are as well supported or as well developed as they should have been. For the want of six or eight pages extra support and development, and Skull Mountain would have been as good an adventure as it is a dungeon. With some effort upon the part of the DM, it still can be.

Sweet Kobold 16

Almost as soon as I review one issue of Kobold Quarterly, another one appears ready for me to read. Then again, I should be reading and reviewing them – and the host of other books to hand – a whole lot faster. Then again, that is by the by, because what you really want to know about is the latest issue of Kobold Quarterly #16. The most curious thing about this issue is the strap line, which reads “Digging Deathtraps All Winter” rather than the usual “The Switzerland of the Edition Wars.” Not curious because it means I have to find something else to make an aside about other than chocolate and cuckoo clocks, but rather because the last issue was the one with the traps theme. So if the theme of this issue is not traps, what is it? Well, in continuing to provide support for both Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, its theme is that of artifice and magic, in particular the artifice that is clockwork. In addition, this is the issue that announces Open Design’s forthcoming Midgard Campaign Setting, which was begun with the Zobeck Gazetteer, and Kobold Quarterly has been visiting again and again in its various issues. This provides the background for many of the magazine’s articles and serves to give the issue a more cohesive feel.

The Midguard based articles begin with the first article, Henry Brooks’ “Ecology of the Gearforged.” We have seen a mechanically bodied player character race before, in the form of the Warforged from Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, but the Gearforged are different. Clockwork driven, each Gearforged possesses a soul which passed into it via a ritual from the elderly, the dying, the dedicated, and the convicted crook, which means that a player character can live on if he purchases the materials and undergoes the correct ritual to become a Gearforged. Gearforged are revered in Zobeck for their aid in defending the city, but there is nothing to stop a DM adding them to his own game. A nice touch is that this article is for both game systems, Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, potentially making it useful to every reader rather than dividing and disappointing them by being for one game rather than the other. As much as I am not all that much of a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, covering both games in one magazine is a clever, more inclusive move.

The second article is specifically set in the Midgard Campaign Setting, but again, its contents can be transplanted elsewhere. “Odalisques and Concubines: Courtesans of Zobeck” by Stefen Styrsky expands on a “Free City of Zobeck” column from an earlier issue of the magazine and gives rules and support for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Apart from forcing me to look up the meaning of one of the words in the title because I had forgotten it – you can guess which one – this details an interesting variant of the Bard class complete with Conversation and Storytelling as alternative Perform skills, new spells that charm and entice the victim, and new magical items like the Pillow Book which collects salacious details about the high and mighty. Although written for the Midgard Campaign Setting, this class can easily be put into any game that primarily takes place in large towns and cities, or that has an Arabic feel. Although this type of character has been seen in other RPGs and settings, its potentially prurient nature has kept it out of Dungeons & Dragons since the appearance of the Houri character class back in White Dwarf #13. Of course, that was not an official character class, but this one is and is all the better for being tastefully done.

The third article written for the Midgard Campaign Setting is for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, and is the shortest of the pieces for it. Russell Jones’ “The Royal Order of the Golden Fox” examines an ancient, but secretive organisation that dedicates itself to the hunt, sometimes of dangerous animals, but sometimes of more dangerous foe, such as murderers, necromancers, and so on. It is useful as potential patron, especially for Druids, Rangers, and similar classes. One reason to accept the invitation to join is the Order’s treasury of magical items that it rewards members for completing quests.

The clockwork theme begun in “Ecology of the Gearforged” is continued in “The Clockwork Adept: A Prestige Class of Mechanical Precision” by Jason Sonia. This details a new Arcane Prestige Class that is capable of commanding, crafting, and understanding clockwork mechanisms. This works very well with the earlier “Ecology of the Gearforged” and it would have nice this had been worked into the Midgard Campaign Setting as well. In “Clockwork Monsters,” David Adams continues the theme for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition with rules and guidelines adding clockwork and steam driven technologies to a trap or creature.

As to artifice, Michael Kortes’ “Dancing Brooms, Skittering Sconces: Animated Mayhem” provides an entertainingly obvious use for the animate objects spell in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game – bringing to life the mundane contents of the room around you, just like Micky Mouse did in Disney’s Fantasia. More artifice comes with “Magic Items of Golarion,” though all of them complete and in working order. The twelve on show here all come from Paizo Publishing’s RPG Superstar Contest of 2010 and are inventive and clever. My favourite is the “Vessel of the Deep,” a squid shaped submarine that is stored as a bottle of ink, but others will enjoy the “Tankard of the Cheerful Duellist” and the “Goblin Skull Bomb.” Lastly, the dangers of artifice are explored in Scott A. Murray’s “Potion Miscibility” for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, which looks at the potential perils and benefits of mix potions.

In what is a nice change, the issue comes with not one, but two short scenarios, both for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Christina Styles’ “Beer Run! An Adventure in the Northlands” uses material from the forthcoming Frozen Empires supplement to present the scenario and has the heroes raiding a giant’s mead hall to get back two casks of ale, and not just any ale, but ale that heals! The other scenario is more demanding and will require some roleplaying and investigation upon the part of the players. By Willie Walsh, “The Curse of The Blue Titchyboo” begins with one of the characters having his pockets picked and the culprit appearing to have run into a school. Not just any school, but a school for turning out Tengu! This is a pleasing change of pace after “Beer Run!” with the characters trying to determine feathered friend from feathered foe.

Elsewhere, Jonathan McAnulty explores and expands upon “Places of Sanctuary” for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, while monsters for Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition get a tune up in two articles. In Raymond D. Falgui’s “The Minion Academy: Making the Most of Your Minions” the mooks of the monster world get a last hurrah that will make player characters give them ever so slightly more consideration. When a minion dies – easy enough given that most possess a single Hit Point – it grants a one-shot combat ability to an ally, usually the minion’s lord and master. With “True Hit Locations: Monsters with Weak Spots and Tactical Combat” Matthew J. Hanson makes monsters more challenging with abilities and powers that can also be targeted by the heroes to negate them and weaken the creature.

As ever Kobold Quarterly#16 is rounded out with cartoons and comic strips, the Book Reviews column, a column of Ask the Kobold – this one devoted to illusions, and of course, Free City of Zobeck, the regular column that ends every issue, this time devoted to Zobeck’s armies. In addition Monte Cook tells you how he handled a really powerful magical item in “The Ring of Rule-Breaking” and in “If You're Having Fun” game designer Robin D. Laws is interviewed about his Gumshoe RPGs from Pelgrane Press; his guide to storytelling, Hamlet's Hit Points; and his Pathfinder fiction.

If truth be told, Kobold Quarterly #16 feels a much better issue than the last. There is much more of a focus to its themes and they are well served in all of the articles. There is more energy to the issue as well, partly due to the focus, but also to the fact that the Midgard Campaign Setting is announced and then supported to a greater length than has been the case in the past. I can only hope that this focus is maintained in future issues that will also further illuminate Open Design’s house campaign. The news that Green Ronin Publishing’s "age" or "adventure game engine" mechanics – used in the publisher’s Dragon Age – Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5 – has polled well with the patrons of the Midgard Campaign Setting, also signals the possibility that we will see more articles for that system in Kobold Quarterly. In the meantime, an excellent issue and Kobold Quarterly certainly deserves its sweet sixteen.

A Supplement To Treasure II?

How detailed does your fantasy game get? When playing Dungeons & Dragons or the Retroclone of your choice, does your group prefer to grab the treasure and sell it without a thought? Or does it take the time to sift through the hoard and take notice of every single item, perhaps admiring a piece or two for their beauty, while still appraising each for their value and potential provenance? If your group happens to sway towards the latter style of play, then perhaps the latest pair of supplements from Faster Monkey Games – whose scenario, Wrack & Rune I reviewed last year – might prove to be useful tools to that end. All the Treasures of the World: Gems and All the Treasures of the World: Jewels are each written as resources that can be used to add detail to your game world. Both are designed specifically for use with Labyrinth Lord, the Retroclone from Goblinoid Games, but as with so much of the scenarios and support available for the Old School Renaissance, they can be used with the “Edition 0” RPG of your choice. This time around, having reviewed the first in the series last week, All the Treasures of the World: Gems, I will review the second, All the Treasures of the World: Jewels, this week.

The first question about All the Treasures of the World: Jewels is what is the difference between gems and jewels? After all, are they not the same, and if so, why does the All the Treasures of the World series need a second supplement devoted to the subject? Well, a gem can be cut and polished and so turned into a jewel, and gems and gemstones can be worked into a setting or piece of jewellery, usually to increase its value or significance, if not both. Such items are the subject of this supplement, and while there is a means given to determine the number and value of gems of on any one piece included in its pages, the details it gives about those gems is cursory in comparison to that found in All the Treasures of the World: Gems. Thus the two supplements are designed to work together.

Since both All the Treasures of the World: Gems and All the Treasures of the World: Jewels are designed to work together, they work in a similar fashion. Where the former presented a series of tables via which a GM could determine the type and value of one gem over another, the latter provides a series of tables that will determine the type of jewel, its base material and value, and lastly, its style, and any patterns and motifs worked into it. In addition to the table devoted to gems, another details nonpareils, jewellery that has been enhanced by smaller gems, along with an explanation.

So for example, rolling on the Common Item table tells that a particular piece of jewellery is an earring. My roll on the Materials and Value table determines that it is made of gold and has a base value of 10 gp and a Décor Class of V. This table lists both precious metals and other materials, so that piece of jewellery could also be made of bone, ceramics, tin, and so on. Rolling on the Style, Patterns, and Motif table further tells me that the earring is engraved worth a further 5 gp and also patterned. That pattern is artistic and skilful, that of a beer stein. Its value is also increased eightfold. Given that its base value is 15 gp, its actual value is 120 gp, and since this is of a beer stein, it is probably of dwarven workmanship.

The supplement is rounded out with two fully worked examples. The first is of a simple piece of jewellery, while the second describes a more valuable work, one befitting a treasure hoard. In comparison with All the Treasures of the World: Gems, this supplement is much shorter, being two thirds of the length. What this means is that this supplement contains less background detail than All the Treasures of the World: Gems and is thus less informative. There is some information on coinage and heraldic jewellery, but what there is does leave you wanting more. Perhaps there is room for a further supplement that explores heraldic jewellery and its place in your gaming world.

Despite there being fewer tables in All the Treasures of the World: Jewels than All the Treasures of the World: Gems, it is a more complex affair. The results require the user to think more about the results created than All the Treasures of the World: Gems and the lack of background detail, does make this supplement more a utilitarian affair than the first in series. Not that having to think about the results of using the table is a bad thing, and whatever the outcome of the tables in All the Treasures of the World: Jewels, there is always the potential for it to be interesting, for the chance that it might add detail to the DM’s campaign, and even the possibility that it might be the basis for an adventure. Despite it not being not quite as interesting, All the Treasures of the World: Jewels is the more useful of the series to date and the one most likely to add facets to your campaign.

A Supplement To Treasure?

How detailed does your fantasy game get? When playing Dungeons & Dragons or the Retroclone of your choice, does your group prefer to grab the treasure and sell it without a thought? Or does it take the time to sift through the hoard and take notice of every single item, perhaps admiring a piece or two for their beauty, while still appraising each for their value and potential provenance? If your group happens to sway towards the latter style of play, then perhaps the latest pair of supplements from Faster Monkey Games – whose scenario, Wrack & Rune I reviewed last year – might prove to be useful tools to that end. All the Treasures of the World: Gems and All the Treasures of the World: Jewels are each written as resources that can be used to add detail to your game world. Both are designed specifically for use with Labyrinth Lord, the Retroclone from Goblinoid Games, but as with so much of the scenarios and support available for the Old School Renaissance, they can be used with the “Edition 0” RPG of your choice. This time around, I will just review the first in the All the Treasures of the World series, which is devoted to gems.

All the Treasures of the World: Gems is a short, twelve page PDF. Upon first sight, it appears to be just a series of tables devoted to its subject, and for the most part it is. From the initial table which establishes a gem’s Base Value, subsequent tables determine its type, size, and quality. For example, having rolled a Base Value of 25 gp, rolls on the other tables tell me that this is a green Tourmaline with a cat’s eye. Although slightly smaller than average, this Tourmaline is flawless, thus offsetting its smaller size and keeping its value at 25 gp. A much larger table gives me the basic information about every type of gem that appears in All the Treasures of the World: Gems. Under the entry for Tourmaline I discover that stones of this type are translucent and are polished rather than cut, usually into spheres. Noting that my Tourmaline has a cat’s eye, the author also explains that this is actually an optical effect called “chatoyancy” and is brought to best effect when by polishing the gem.

Simple rules are provided under Labyrinth Lord to allow a player character or NPC to appraise any single gem whether he wants to compare, identify, or evaluate a gem, or simply spot a fake. Jewellers, fences, and merchants all have an advantage in this, as do rogues and thieves. It is up to the GM to decide if Dwarves and Gnomes also do. The attempt to spot a fake is supported with a table of random fake gems and another of easily misidentified gems. The supplement is rounded out with a guide to buying and selling gems, including a discussion of how jewellers’ appraisal documents work, giving potential for any rogue worth a victim’s purse to run a con game of some kind. That rogue of course, being an NPC or a player character.

Given the number of tables contained in the pages of All the Treasures of the World: Gems, this supplement looks a whole lot more complex than it actually is. The GM only has to consult a few of those tables to determine the nature and value of any gem, and that only if he wants to. The contents of this supplement are designed to modular, so that he could just roll on the two tables to determine a gem’s Base Value and its type, and nothing more. The combined effect of using all of the tables and the new rules and guidelines is nothing more than one of extra added detail without overwhelming the user. To sum up with a little cliché, All the Treasures of the World: Gems is a neat little gem of a tool for your Dungeons & Dragons game.

Baby's First Outside

The Old School Renaissance is still something of a niche interest, despite some of its leading titles, Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry having appeared on the shelves of your local gaming store. Even with those two titles freely available, the biggest “Edition 0” title to have reached the notice of the roleplaying hobby at large is The Dungeon Alphabet: An A-Z Reference for Classic Dungeon Design from Goodman Games, though that might well change with the release of that publisher’s Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game in late 2011. What The Dungeon Alphabet provided was some twenty-six entries that in turn examined a particular element to be found in the classic Old School dungeon, each with a table of random explanations, additions, and further inspiration. Oddly, Goodman Games have not yet followed this tome up with a sequel that took the idea outside. James Pacek has though, with The Wilderness Alphabet: A Collection of Random Charts, Tables, and Ideas for use with various Games of Imagination.

The Wilderness Alphabet does not come as a hardback, but as a slim, A5-sized paperback. It too comes with some twenty-six entries comprised of themed tables full of appropriate, but still random elements. It is a self-published affair, so is never going to be as professional a product as its inspiration. Even so, The Wilderness Alphabet is heavily illustrated, primarily with publically available artwork, and it is neatly laid out. Not all of the artwork is appropriate, particularly the author’s own. Much of the choice of artwork though, does give the book a more classical, romantic look and feel, rather than the “Old School” stylised Dungeons & Dragons look we saw in The Dungeon Alphabet.

The book’s tables to roll on are not just confined to the entries given for each letter of the alphabet. They start with the Table of Contents, so that a DM with his handy percentile dice can randomly determine what table to roll if he is short of inspiration. Of course, he could just flick through the pages... The actual lettered entries go from the obvious “A is for Archway” and “B is for Barrow” to “W is for Waterfall” and “Z is for Ziggurat,” but the author has to work hard for some of the other letters, or rather be “inventive.” Thus we have “J is for Jousting,” “K is for Krokus,” “X is for X Marks the Spot,” and “Y is for Yangtze.” Of these, “K is for Krokus” is actually devoted to trees as “T is for Tower” and “Y is for Yangtze” covers rivers because “R is for Ruins and Residences.”

Appropriately, most of the tables have twenty or so entries, with the minimum being eight. Many of the entries have subsidiary tables. For example, rolling on “T is for Tower” I can determine its construction, colour, surface, style, size, occupant, and oddities, if any. Thus the Bone Tower is a hexagonal shaped structure built of iron, but tiled in ivory. It is relatively short, with just three levels, and its primary denizen is actually a vampire! It should be noted that rolling for the tower’s colour is one of the few times that I have had to roll a thirty-sided die.

Most of the table are simple and straight forward. “R is for Ruins and Residences” is the one exception. It first determines the sub-type, each entry referring to a sub-table; then its condition and the nature of its corruption. The complexity comes in working out the inhabitants of the ruin or residence, their shops, businesses, guilds, and other structures, the DM purchasing them using a pool of points derived on the place’s population size. This process actually takes more time than the primary point of The Wilderness Alphabet, the quick creation of outdoor elements during play.

The Wilderness Alphabet though, is not limited to its alphabeticised tables. The Bonus Tables cover adventurers and NPCs, magic and powers, curses and the undead, other places, strange sounds, mines, and gods. Amongst their number is a double entry, this for “L is for Labyrinth.” None of these extra tables come with the book’s most interesting aspect – the author’s voice. At the end of some entries, he discusses how each element figured in his own “Queston Campaign.” For example, under “A is for Archway,” he describes how the ancient wizard Urk built and left archways that enabled instant travel across the land, but with the unfortunate side effect of partially draining the traveller’s life, his magical items of their power, or having some otherworldly creature travel with him. These asides are not only entertaining, but they are just a further little bit of inspiration for the reader.

Whilst it is definitely “Systems Neutral,” the feel to The Wilderness Alphabet is not particularly “Old School.” Part of that is due to the choice of artwork; another part being due to its content which by its very nature is more expansive and devoted to creating and exploring the world at large; and one last part due to the need to fit the weirder elements into a more natural setting, that of the world at large. Nevertheless, The Wilderness Alphabet: A Collection of Random Charts, Tables, and Ideas for use with various Games of Imagination is one of those books that is best described as “handy.” It sits as easily alongside the DM at the table, its contents ready to be rolled on when he needs to fill in certain details of his campaign world when his player characters are out and about, as it does ready to be pulled off the shelf when the DM is preparing his next session and wants inspiration.

Trapped in the Wilds

“Kobold Quarterly is a like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get.” Which is about as cheap a way of summing the latest selection box of articles and columns devoted to Dungeons & Dragons and its variants as you could get. After all, the cover does proclaim the magazine to the “The Switzerland of the Edition Wars” and quotes about chocolate are more prevalent than they are about Cuckoo Clocks, so I can get away with paraphrasing Forest Gump at least the once. Which begs the question, what bad quote will I use to open my review of the next issue with? No idea, but I have three months to come up with something and I really do not want to set a precedent...

Anyway, what of the latest issue, Kobold Quarterly #15? As ever it primarily provides support for Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, but both these and other articles have wider application and are suited for Dungeons & Dragons style gaming in general. Of course, you do actually have some idea as to the contents of the issue, as they are highlighted on the cover, and as with previous issues, there is a theme to the latest issue, or rather two separate themes, that of traps and nature.

First up for the nature theme is Ryan Costello, Jr.’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game article, “Nature’s Orders,” which describes three options or Orders for the Druid Class. Druids of the Bestial Order do not cast spells or use orisons, but has a deeper understanding of the animal world to gain natural attacks such as claws or constriction, better senses, and increased access to the Wild Shape ability. Druids of the Godai Order are not as bestial, but focus on casting spells that draw from the four elements and have access to the matching Clerical Domains. Lastly, Purist Druids are even more like Clerics, actually worshipping nature and able to cast Cure spells rather Summon Nature’s Ally. The article also discusses where the variants might found in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game default setting of Golarion. Of the three variants, the Purist Order is the least developed and the least interesting.

Also for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is Jonathan McAnulty’s “Ecology of the Giant Ant.” This not only examines the Giant Ant, but also adds a dozen variants upon the species, from Acrobat and Carpenter Ants to Trap-Jaw and Treecutter Ants. The lighter mechanics in this means that it is easier to adapt to other Dungeons & Dragons variants. Rounding out the nature theme is Stefen Styrsky’s “Children of the Wood,” also for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This is in effect, a companion piece to the publisher’s forest adventure anthology set near the Free City of Zobeck – of which there is a review to come – Tales of the Margreve. This is written for the spellcaster in your game, providing a new Bloodline for the Sorcerer – literally the Blood of the Green, that embodies the natural powers of growth and renewal; Forest and Harvest Domains for Clerics and Druids; and the School of Nature for the Wizard who has studied life and death under the green canopy, represented by the Conjuration and Necromancy schools.

For Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, David Adams corals innumerable options for the rider in “Reasons to Ride.” These include new riding gear, but they primarily consist of new Feats such as Fury of the Horselords, which enables a Barbarian horseman to use a Rage Strike attack when charging. There are also several new mounts described that are more fantastical in nature. Overall, this is an excellent article for the DM that wants to take his campaign onto horseback.

The traps theme is explored in three articles. The first is for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition and explores a logical development for anyone with the Thievery skill. It really works for the Rogue Class, because with “Rig This!” by John Flemming, he not only gets to disarm traps, but set them too! Not ones in situ mind you, but ones prepared earlier and carried on his back. In a concept reminiscent of the alchemical rituals discussed in Adventurers’ Vault, Rogues with the Trapsmith Feat can learn Schematics, each one the instructions for a clockwork, oiled, and alchemically fuelled bigger-than-a-bear trap. The article is supported with numerous examples and begs to fall into the hands of the inventive and wily Rogue. The second article for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition offers an interesting approach to the trap. “Jack in a Trap” by Philippe-Antoine Menard combines monsters with traps and traps with monsters to create hybrids. The examples given have more of a Science Fiction feel than fantasy, despite their stone dressings. The third article devoted to traps is for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is more obvious in its contents. Older gamers will find the nastiness of the traps described in Andrew Hinds’ “Pits of Despair” more than a little reminiscent of Flying Buffalo Games’ Grimtooth’s Traps, and if you are not aware of that venerable series, then Necromancer Games has released The Wurst of Grimtooth’s Traps! Anyway, if you do do dungeons – and if not, why not considering what the magazine is for? – then you can never have enough pits.

Theme aside, Kobold Quarterly #15 includes several articles for both games. For example, Anthony Eichenlaub expands upon the concept of skill powers first seen in the Player’s Handbook 3 to provide thirteen new skill stances in “Masters of Great Skill.” While the concept is welcome given how Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition has de-emphasised skills, the author never quite develops it fully. The problem is that the flavour text for each Utility or stance feels at odds with its effect and the effects themselves are often more powerful than the flavour text suggests or warrants. The DM would be wise to consider carefully if he wants these in his campaign. Better developed is Quinn Murphy’s “A Call to Awesome” for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition in which he expands upon the critical roll. Where in the past that would have just given a player greater damage, with Critical Actions and Scene Criticals that natural roll of twenty can be used to trigger more interesting and longer lasting effects such as trying to being able to climb a behemoth and so gain access temporarily to a weak spot. This is an excellent article that nicely develops an idea. It will take a little set up by the GM to set up, but if done right, the heroes get to be more heroic than just hitting an opponent with an axe! Jobe Bittman gives us a nasty dungeon denizen, the Horakh in “King of the Monsters.”

Michael Kortes’ “Collaborative Killers” for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game keeps things mechanically simple for a discussion of tactical manoeuvres that a group can co-operate in performing. They include the “Eldritch Flank” for spellcasters, the “Lure” for pack animals, and “Pile On” for when the heroes need to overpower an opponent. Of course, there is nothing to stop a GM from turning them on his player characters! This is followed by “Blades from the Past” by Alex Putnam which describes ten historical weapons for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and suggests where they are used in Golarion.

Penultimately, in Mario Podeschi’s “Going Vertical” we are given a system-less discussion of side view dungeons exploring the fun, excitement, and danger of adventuring in the vertical rather than the horizontal. It comes with a full sample setting and suggests that the DM look at old fashioned side-scrolling video games for further inspiration. Lastly, Kobold Quarterly #15 returns to the Free City of Zobeck a second time for its more traditional visit, this time to explore the Cartways as its undercity is known.

Of course, there is always more to an issue of Kobold Quarterly than gaming articles and Kobold Quarterly #15 is no exception. Historians of the hobby will enjoy “Those Dark Dungeon Blues,” James Lowder’s look back at the hysteria surrounding Dungeons & Dragons in the 1980s, while anyone with an interest in how we roleplay will enjoy Monte Cook’s opinion on simulation versus game play in “Simulating Game Reality.” Besides the usual fiction reviews, the latest issue includes an interview with the author and publisher, Margaret Weis. The fiction reviews are likely to be of more use than the interview or the issue’s two cartoons, and as good or as humorous as they are, they are just extras and hardly what the reader will come back to in the future.

Available as a seventy-six page magazine or a 33.59 MB PDF, Kobold Quarterly #15 is cleanly laid out and written to the magazine’s usual standard. It feels a little light on colour and technical in style. That said, much of the information it has to impart is technical and has to be technical to get that information across. With that limit in place, Kobold Quarterly #15 is as always, readable.

While not every article in Kobold Quarterly #15 hits its mark – “Masters of Great Skill” sadly letting the side down, there is as ever a plethora of ideas to be found in its pages. All of them are well presented and all of them are worth GM or DM leafing through to see what he can borrow and adapt. Sadly there is no scenario this issue, though my wish for some “Edition 0” material is all but answered in both “Going Vertical” and “Pits of Despair,” both of which have a pleasingly Old School feel. It is a pity that there are only three article devoted to its traps theme, though these articles are well done. As are all of its articles, with options aplenty for both the DM and the player alike. If I have to pick favourites it would be “Rig This!” for its portable traps, “Going Vertical” for forcing the heroes up (or down), “A Call to Awesome” for opening up both the action and the story, and oddly, “Those Dark Dungeon Blues” for its history, but then I like that kind of article.

Kobold Quarterly #15 marks another solid issue for the magazine. Solid though for Kobold Quarterly is still good though and what else would you expect but more ideas and more food for thought from a magazine with standards as high as it has?

Halloween Horror I.I

The Inn of Lost Heroes is the second scenario from Small Niche Games after Blood Moon Rising. Written for use with Labyrinth Lord, it is a horror themed adventure designed for three to six characters of third to fifth levels, though it really needs four characters, one each of the basic Class types. It should provide one good night’s worth of horror for the Retroclone of your choice, and can easily be slotted into most campaigns taking place as it does entirely within the confines of an inn, the type of establishment where a party of adventurers would want to put its feet up at the end of a day’s hard rest or dungeon delving. Unfortunately for the characters, the night’s rest that they were expecting will have to wait for another day.

The module comes as a thirty-eight page, 2.38 Mb PDF which is cleanly laid out with the occasional piece of heavy ink artwork and the inn’s various maps. While the layout is clean and tidy, it is not particularly sophisticated and the overall effect is that it lacks character itself. To be fair, this is a minor issue, but I did find that it hindered my reading of the scenario, and anyway, The Inn of Lost Heroes has a bigger problem, borne of its content and structure.

At first the inn seems to cater to adventurers, the owners and staff are welcoming, the food good, entertainment is promised, the innkeeper and his sons willing to hear tales of their exploits, and several other adventurers number amongst the patrons. Yet the rowdy behaviour of some of those patrons pitches the player characters into a strange mystery that leads them from the Living World to the Burning World and lastly the Ash World. All whilst still within the confines of the inn. The rules for each three of these self-contained worlds are slightly different and if they are to escape the inn, the heroes will have to negotiate their way from one world to the next, learning more about their smouldering prison. This is as much as a test of the heroes’ endurance as it is a puzzle as they attempt to work out where they are and what is going on. This other worldly nature echoes that of the Ravenloft setting.

Each of the three worlds is described in some detail. Besides the differing descriptions of the inn and its various rooms and locations – inside and out –between each of the three worlds, there are numerous encounters that take place in each version of the inn. This lies at heart of the problem in The Inn of Lost Heroes – the way its information is structured. The differences in the state of the inn between one world and the next require both a careful read and a careful organisation upon the part of the Labyrinth Lord or GM, and even then, running the adventure will still need some flipping back and forth. Another lesser issue, one that also affected the author’s first adventure, Blood Moon Rising, is that the GM has to read the whole of the scenario to really work out what is going on. In other words, this is not an adventure that can be picked up and run without considerable preparation.

So what is going on? The situation in The Inn of Lost Heroes is a case of vengeance from beyond the grave. A revenant spirit wants revenge on all adventurers who stay at the inn, literally trapping them within where they die or manage to escape. Escaping involves undergoing a series of debilitating tests in order to gain what is essentially a key. It is a pity given that the party has undergone so many physical challenges that the final dénouement comes down to a fight with each other rather an opportunity for roleplaying.

While some of the elements in the scenario might not be wholly original – then again, coming up with something wholly original in Dungeons & Dragons is always going to be a challenge after nearly forty years – its plot and structure are original in that they are written against the notion of hero worship of adventurers in Dungeons & Dragons. In essence, the twist to the scenario’s set up is that if the player character adventurers are not responsible for what occurred previously, their kind are and they are themselves at least the catalyst for the events in The Inn of Lost Heroes. The strength of the adventure though, lies in the details. The adventure is rich with these, small elements in each of the encounters that the GM can present to his players to provide not just clues as to the nature of their heroes’ predicament, but also atmosphere and colour.

There is no denying that The Inn of Lost Heroes requires an experienced GM. The wealth of detail in the scenario combined with the shifting nature of its setting, mean that it could be an overwhelming experience for the novice referee. Yet its wealth of detail means that the experienced GM has everything at fingertips to run a moody night of horror. Perfect for Halloween.

White Box Fever VI

Last month in September, we saw the re-launch of Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition from Wizards of the Coast with the publication of the Dungeons & Dragons Red Box Set, the first entry in the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials line. To celebrate that fact, Reviews from R'lyeh is running a series of reviews devoted to RPGs that aim to bring new players into the hobby.

We began with look at Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set, the less than successful 2008 attempt from Wizards of the Coast for Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition before slipping back in time for an examination of the hobby’s second fantasy RPG in its most recent edition, Tunnels & Trolls v7.5. These were followed with reviews of entries in the contemporary Old School Renaissance movement, in particular, Tower of the Stargazer and New Weird World, the two scenarios that come in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, the very latest and perhaps the most interesting of the Retroclones. These were followed by a step forward back in time to look at a more traditional Retroclone, the Swords & Wizardry: White Box Edition, almost the very game that inspired the “White Box Fever” series, and then, a look at an introduction to roleplaying and Dungeons & Dragons that was more a Dungeons & Dragons game than a roleplaying game, the Castle Ravenloft Board Game. Last week I examined the introductory fantasy RPG, Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits! An Introductory Roleplaying Game from Precis Intermedia. This week, in what is the penultimate review in the “White Box Fever” miniseries, the game under review is Weird Fantasy Roleplaying.

Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, or to give its full title, Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess, is perhaps the most highly anticipated Retroclone version of Dungeons & Dragons in the Old School movement in many a month. Its sole author, James Raggi IV, is best known for his atmospheric, naturalistic scenarios that evoke a sense of dread and eeriness, of which Death Frost Doom and The Grinding Gear are the best known. It is this sense, inspired by authors such as H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and others that Raggi attempts to infuse into his Retroclone, a sense of the unknowable, the inexplicable, of dread... In this he attempts to draw back from the high fantasy elements that have come to dominate the gaming genre in the last forty years, to make the world that the adventurers inhabit dark and dangerous as a matter of course, rather than in certain spots away from some rural idyll.

The first thing that strikes you about Weird Fantasy Roleplaying is that it comes in a box. Not a “white box” or a “buff box,” but a gloriously full colour depicting a lone swordswoman – who appears to be dressed to deal with the cold as much as she is with other threats, such as the snake demoness that she is, in fact, facing. Done by Cynthia Sheppard, its realistic style is not only eye catching, but it marks this game as being very different from other Retroclones available. The look of the box is quite literally a statement that demands the potential purchaser’s attention.

Open up the box and you will find that it is packed to the gunnels. The first thing that you see is a “Warning and Welcome Sheet,” but below that are a Tutorial Book, the Rules Book, the Magic Book, the Referee Book, and two adventures, New Weird World and Tower of the Stargazer, both of which I have already reviewed. In addition there is a pamphlet of Recommended Reading, character sheets, sheets of squared and hex paper, a pencil, and a set of polyhedral dice. All of the books are roughly fifty pages in length, A5 size, with full colour card covers, and black and white interiors. The artwork throughout the interiors of these books is dark and ominous. Two of the books, the Referee and Rules Books, use the box cover artwork, the latter on the female warrior, the former on the demoness. The two covers sit nicely together allowing the viewer to see to see the artwork in more detail.

Of the extras, the dice are nice, if a little small, and the pencil seems superfluous. Both sets of sheets are useful though, and the booklet of Recommended Reading gives the reader a solid introduction to the authors that inspired the game. In essence, for Weird Fantasy Roleplaying this is equivalent of Gary Gygax’s Appendix N from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and there is some crossover here, with most of the authors mentioned here also having appeared in Appendix N. In comparison with Appendix N, the authors listed in Recommended Reading are fewer in number, indicative of the particular focus in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, and are discussed rather than just listed. The Recommended Reading booklet is also the only part of the game to not be authored wholly by Raggi himself. Overall, it serves as a good introduction to the Weird Tales genre, and is more useful than the “Warning and Welcome Sheet.” This serves as the introduction to the contents of the box as whole, and while I probably agree with Raggi’s sentiment, his tone is unnecessarily flippant, even condescending. If this game goes to a second edition – and Raggi already has plans for that, then this sheet needs to be reconsidered.

The first book then, is the Tutorial Book, which the “Warning and Welcome Sheet” advises is not necessary to read if you are an experienced gamer, but it is worth taking the time to read all the same. As its title suggests, it introduces you to the game, and if you have never roleplayed before, then it really does it rather well in four easy steps. The first gives a short, but easily understood explanation of both what roleplaying is and what the dice do, while in the second, Raggi literally takes you by the hand and guides your Fighter through a strange experience in a supposedly haunted house as part of "Your First Adventure." In terms of presentation it is more a narrative with points at which the author steps in and offers the reader choices. Raggi makes it clear that this not how roleplaying works, but as the first step to that end, this “breaking the narrative” approach is highly commendable. “Your Second Adventure” is the third step, and its format will be familiar to most gamers, being the more traditional solo or “choose your path” adventure. In terms of story, it carries on from “Your First Adventure,” but it is already offering a player more choice, and indeed, Raggi packs a lot into ten locations and their exploration.

The Tutorial Book’s fourth step takes the reader onto how the game is played in general and with a proper group. This step discusses the conventions of play more than the actual rules, and while older, more experienced players might not need them, they are useful nonetheless. Rather than offering more participation for the reader, this step gives a detailed example of play with the author as the GM. Oddly, it is an entertaining read, yet fails to entertain. It goes on too long and it shows how we roleplay, including warts and all, there being one awkward player in particular, the type that sees hired retainers as cannon fodder rather than as actual help. The GM also needs to read this example, as it is also the only actual example of refereeing in the game. It has to be said that the climax of the example of play is definitely cruel, and will probably make the reader smile, but it is not an unfair result.

The Rules Book begins with character creation and the first of the mechanical changes made to the Open Gaming License. Most obviously and weirdly, character abilities are listed in alphabetical order, but the first real change is the dropping of Prime Requisites being needed for Classes and Experience Point bonuses based on them. Another is that the Intelligence and Wisdom modifiers both affect a character’s spell saves, the first against those cast by Magic Users, the second against Clerical spells. These are not the most obvious of changes, which really start with the RPG’s Character Classes.

Weird Fantasy Roleplaying has seven classes, much like Basic Dungeons & Dragons. The Cleric, the Fighter, the Specialist, and the Magic User are all Human Classes, whilst the Demihuman Classes are the Dwarf, Elf, and Halfing. The changes to these Classes are small, but have striking ramifications. The Cleric does not the innate ability to Turn Undead for example, but must instead take it as one of his spells, and since at first level, he only has the one spell slot, his player has a choice to make. Similarly, the Fighter is the only Class in the game whose ability to fight improves as he goes up in level. None of the other Classes allow this. Whether this has the effect of empowering the Fighter Class like no other version of Dungeons & Dragons or weakening the effectiveness of all of the other Classes depends upon your point of view.

The only Class to remain unchanged is the Magic User, but the Class changed the most is the Thief or Specialist. Weird Fantasy Roleplaying uses a very simple skill resolution system. All characters, whatever their Class, can attempt skills such as Climbing, Searching, Find Traps, and so on. Their chance is simply equal to a result of one rolled on a six-sided die. Where the Specialist differs from this is that he is more capable at these skills receiving points to assign to them at each level. Pleasingly, this makes the Specialist Class a better version of the Thief while using a simpler mechanic and giving a player choice as what his Specialist is good at. There are of course, not enough points for a Specialist to be good at everything. This simple skills system also leaves the other Classes not wholly incapable of attempting many of the same actions.

And then there are the three Demihuman Classes. Of the three, the Elf is probably the most playable, in that being trained as both a Fighter and a Magic User, has advantages of both Classes. Thus the Elf has more Hit Points than the Magic User and gains the same number of spells as the Magic User, but he does not improve in his ability to fight. Of the other two Demihuman Classes, there is absolutely no mechanical advantage to playing either. Neither the Dwarf nor the Halfling improve in any sort of proactive way as they gain levels except for the extra Hit Points and the improved Saving Throws, which are reactive aspects of the character. If the author has empowered the Fighter Class, then he has also weakened the Demihuman Classes to the point where their presence in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying is all but window dressing. On last aspect particular to all Classes is that they all start with the same number of Hit Points, putting everyone on the same footing, though this changes once a character rises to second level.

Our sample character is the fickle and greedy Gederick. He usually makes a living through theft or outright robbery, but would be willing to hire on to aid an adventuring party. Of course, such parties engage in dangerous activities and who is to say that they will return from one such venture?

Gedrick the Weasel, Level 1 Specialist
Chr: 6 (-1) Con: 11 Dex: 17 (+2)
Int: 9 Str: 11 Wis: 11
Hit Points: 4 Armour Class: 16
Skills: Climbing 1, Searching 2, Find Traps 1, Languages 1, Sleight of Hand 2, Stealth 3, Tinkering 1
Leather Armour, Short Sword, Dagger, Garrote; 13gp

Weird Fantasy Roleplaying keeps its Alignment system to the simple three of Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic. All very much like Dungeons & Dragons, except that it is more Moorcockian in that magic is associated with Chaos. Which means that both the Elf and the Magic User Class are Chaotic in nature. Almost everyone, including the other player characters, is assumed to be Neutral in Alignment.

Except for combat, the rest of the Rules Book has a strong fiscal slant. Not just in the extensive price list, which gives differing prices for rural and urban locations, and covers weapons, miscellaneous items, vehicles, lodging, and more, but also in the rules for property and investment (giving something for high level characters to do with their treasure), maritime adventures, and retainers. The rules for maritime adventures support the campaign adventure provided with this RPG, New Weird World, while the lack of rules for aerial travel are indicative of the game’s less fantastical tone rather than are an omission. The need for retainers is shown in the example of play in the Tutorial Book and highlights further that Weird Fantasy Roleplaying is written to create and support potentially heroic characters rather than ones that are absolutely heroic.

The combat rules in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying provide the players with more options. Fighters, Dwarves, and Elves can now attack, defend, or press their attacks, each option providing small bonuses, while all characters can choose to do nothing but parry. The game’s treatment of Armour Class is more modern than most Retroclones, being ascending rather than descending, as the lack of Class limits placed on the wearing of armour and wielding of weapons, while weapon damage has simplified into three groups: minor, small, medium, and great, the damage rising from a four-sided to a ten-sided die. Raggi does not ignore unarmed combat either, his rules being clear and simple.

This simplicity and clarity continues in the Magic Book, which covers both divine and arcane magic. The basics of both are discussed, as is the spell research, the creation of scrolls, potions, holy water, and more. Invariably, spell books are spell books, and not always the riveting of reads, but while the spells work as you would expect in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, the author has paid a lot of attention in terms of flavour and feel. For example, the spell description for Conjure Elemental begins with, “Spirits from the nether realms despise the natural world and wish to destroy it. This spell tricks one of these spirits through the mystic veil which separates our worlds from theirs, and forces them to inhabit one of the four classical elements...” On the same page, the spell Contact Other Plane has the caster contact stars such as Algol and Fomalhaut to receive wisdom rather the anodyne, if traditional Outer Planes of Dungeons & Dragons. A favourite is the description given the spell, Hold Person with which a Magic User unleashes millions of thread-thin spectral worms... which through every orifice and instantly travel to the subject’s brain, travelling through the synapses and threatening to tear the subject’s mind apart if he moves.” Not every spell is accorded this degree of flavoursome detail, and that is all it is as it adds nothing mechanically, but where such spells are, it brings out the weird elements of the RPG’s title. Any player roleplaying a spellcaster in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying should certainly be embracing this flavour text.

The last of the core books in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying is the Referee Book. This is perhaps the most personal of that quartet, the author’s voice maintaining a heavy presence throughout as he dispenses advice aimed at those completely new to roleplaying and being the referee, and those experienced gamers who are new to the Old School Renaissance. He prepares the new GM by explaining what the task of the referee is, how difficult a task it is, and how it takes time to master the skill. Here Raggi’s conversational tone is reassuring, nicely helping to allay the neophyte’s fears. As is his essay on “The Weird” which also complements the separate pamphlet of Recommended Reading. Given how his reputation has been built on writing inventive and moody scenarios it is no surprise that his advice on creating adventures is also well done, looking in turn at adventures built around events, exploration, locations, and individuals as well as the sandbox adventure.

Unfortunately, once the Referee Book moves on from discussing the various elements that make up an adventure, it is less useful, not as specific. When dealing with campaign creation Raggi cannot bring his customary attention to detail to the subject, the same issue that was a problem in New Weird World, the campaign setting that comes in the box. Rounding out the Referee Book is one guide to getting a gaming group together and another to other Old School Renaissance publishers and how to use their products with Weird Fantasy Roleplaying. All Retroclones have some compatibility, no surprise given that they share the same origin, but it is good to see the author take the time to more than acknowledge it.

One of two major disappointments in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying is the lack of monsters. Where other Retroclones have provided the GM with a readymade bestiary, the Referee Book only discusses the various types and their place in the Weird Game, looking at in turn animals, constructs, humanoids, oozes, and the undead. While Raggi has never been one to write “monster fests,” this is very much a case of the author telling the reader rather than showing. The other disappointment suffers from the same issue, being the lack of examples for magical items. These are meant to be very individual and anything other than generic in Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, but again we are only told about them. It is almost as if the RPG needed another book that covered both of these aspects.

There is, unfortunately, an identity crisis at the heart of Weird Fantasy Roleplaying. One that boils down to, “Who am I aimed at?” The inclusion of the Tutorial Book and much of the Referee Book are primarily aimed at the novice, at those new to roleplaying, yet the novice will find the lack of examples in the Referee Book unhelpful. Most obviously in the lack of actual sample magical items and in the lack of actual monsters. Worse still, this lack is likely to leave the novice wondering where to go next for both. While an experienced GM will have a better idea of how to address both issues, much of both books are likely to be familiar already. Compounding this issue is the fact that while much of the RPG is aimed at the new player or GM, its price and availability (at least physically), is not. Of course, a second printing of the game and wider distribution will address these issues.

If Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying is anything, it is James Raggi IV’s polemic on the Old School Movement. It is his labour of love, a bespoke creation that starts from where all Retroclones draw from before stripping back to make it less like fantastic fiction. The dual effect of that stripping back is first to make the play of the game harder with characters more capable than heroic, the second to leave room for its signifying flavour, the Weird. Again it is a question of scale, because Raggi does not always work this flavour into every aspect of the game, but when focusing on certain elements, such as the spell descriptions, he manages it.

Even without the monsters and the magic items, Weird Fantasy Roleplaying feels like a complete package when you take the two scenarios into account. Although very much a bespoke product – any future version that appears as a book will certainly be not so, it is not perfect. There is so much to like though in the contents of this RPG, that you would be forgiven for overlooking its deficiencies. Above all though, Weird Fantasy Roleplaying provides a fresh look at an old game, giving us a new approach rather than mere replication.